As always, the world of Harry Potter does not belong to me but J.K. Rowling
Chapter Five
If Harry had any hope that things would get better once classes started, his first day back crushed them. Hermione told him that morning of a fight she had been having with Lavender about whether she believed Harry or not. Then at breakfast they found out that the first day of their week was full of all their least favorite classes, including Defense Against the Dark arts with their new professor, Umbridge. By the time they climbed back to the common room at the end of the day, his temper was near to breaking, not that it had been exceptionally long to start with. He now had five nights of detention with Umbridge and would have to miss the tryouts for Gryffindor's Keeper on the team.
The next day was hardly any better. Both Professor's McGonagall and Flitwick spent the first fifteen minutes of their classes The next day was hardly any better. Both Professors McGonagall and Flitwick spent the first fifteen minutes of their classes talking about the upcoming O.W.L.'s, and at the end of their classes assigned a staggering amount of homework, on top of everything else the fifth years already had to do. That afternoon was their first Care of Magical Creatures class of the term. Like last year during her classes, Harry spent the whole time being upset that Hagrid wasn't there, but at the same time quietly enjoying a relatively safe lesson.
As the three of them were making their way back to the castle Luna emerged from the greenhouses and made a beeline for Harry, Ginny following in her wake. Without even stopping to say hello, she declared "I believe He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back. And I believe you fought him."
"Err, thanks Luna" Harry replied, both embarrassed and thankful. A group of other students had stopped to watch what was happening and Harry could see Lavender and Pavarti giggling at Luna's outlandish fashion choices.
Not realizing they were laughing at her rather than what she said, Luna said "You can laugh. But people used to not believe in the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned- Snorkack either."
"Well, they were right. Those things don't exist." Answered Hermione.
Luna gave Hermione a look of deep loathing, and turned on her heel and flounced away, her earrings swinging wildly, to the laughter of most of the onlookers.
As everyone started moving off, Harry tugged on Hermione's sleeve and held her back.
"Would you mind not offending the only people who believe me?" He asked.
"Oh Harry, you can do better than her" She replied dismissively.
Harry didn't have an answer to that, and quietly walked away leaving Hermione to catch up. She seemed to realize that she's said something to upset him, but since they were soon surrounded by other students, she didn't press the point.
Reaching the greenhouses for Herbology, Harry found his way blocked by Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff in his year.
"I want you to know, Potter, that I's not just weirdos who believe you. I personally" and he put a great deal of emphasis on the word, "believe you one hundred percent."
For some reason, despite his liking of Luna, this public declaration of support didn't embarrass Harry quite as much. Instead of giggles from the surrounding students, there were quiet murmurs and a few thoughtful expressions. As he walked away to stand with Hannah Abbot and Justin Finch-Fletchly, Harry couldn't help but give Ernie a look over. He'd never really thought much about the blonde Hufflepuff since Ernie had come to believe he wasn't the Heir of Slytherin in their second year.
With a start Harry caught himself tracing his eyes over the curve of Ernie's broad shoulders. He was thicker in the chest and shoulder than most of the boys in fifth year, without being the oversized giants that Crabbe and Goyle were. Shaking his head as if to clear it, Harry queued up with Hermione and Ron for class.
The small amount of happiness that Harry felt during Herbology evaporated almost as soon as he reached the Great Hall for dinner that night. With his first detention with Umbridge starting in less than an hour, he didn't have time to take his bag upstairs before eating. Angelina Johnson, the new Gryffindor Quidditch captain was waiting for him in a towering temper. She wasn't pleased that he was going to miss tryouts. She implied during her tirade that he'd better put the team before his other commitments, or he might find himself replaced.
Hours later, his hand raw from being sliced open by the quill he'd been given for writing lines, Harry reached the common room. This went on all week; every night he would write I must not tell lines and see the words appear carved into the back of his hand as his blood shined on the parchment. Finally, the weekend came. Ron had surprisingly been made Gryffindor Keeper, and the first practice was set for the following day. Harry was both excited to get back onto his Firebolt again, and also saw at missing the chance to meet up with the girls. Hermione, who was on top of her homework, had told him she wanted to meet up as soon as possible.
Practice went horribly. Ron wasn't terrible but he wasn't brilliant either. His nerves got to him anytime he messed up and if he made one mistake he would soon make more. Eventually Angelina called a halt and they all returned to the castle. In the common room Ron stormed straight up to the dormitory while Harry stayed behind to talk to Hermione.
"I've got a mountain to get through tonight, but do you think we have an hour or so?" he asked her.
"Meet me there in thirty minutes." She replied and rushed off to the girl's staircase.
Harry sped up the staircase to his dormitory. He quickly showered and grabbed Heather's bag from the bottom of his trunk. Into it he stuffed his uniform and make up, even though he wasn't sure he'd have time to put any on. Half an hour later he opened the door to find Hermione was already there with Ginny, and the two of them were looking at a piece of parchment. When they saw Harry, Hermione pointed at his stall and told him to change.
Deftly he stripped off his clothes and pulled out Heather's uniform. The feeling of the tights on his legs brought goosebumps just as it had the first time he'd ever worn them. Once out he charmed his hair out to Heather's preferred shoulder length. With only an hour or so to enjoy this, he passed on applying makeup and settled into one of the chairs that had been conjured in the open area near the sinks.
"So Heather, we want to talk to you." Said Hermione, as she and Ginny also sat down.
"What about?" asked Heather.
"Well, first off what you intend to do about that horrible woman," said Ginny, gesturing at the redness on the back of his hand.
"There's nothing I can do. I'm not going to go to a teacher, and I'm not going to back down."
"You need to be careful. She can make your life difficult, here and outside of Hogwarts." Admonished Hermione, looking concerned.
"Gee, I wonder what having a difficult life would be like" replied Heather, his voice dripping in sarcasm.
"I also want to apologize for what I said about Luna," said Hermione
"I appreciate that, but you should say that to her too." Heather replied.
"I will."
"Good, because I like her a lot. I know I just met her, but I really like her." Heather said.
"Like her as in…?" asked Ginny, her voice trailing off.
"A friend." Replied Heather, her face going slightly red. "I'm pretty confident in saying that I'm not into girls that way."
"I figured as much." Said Ginny.
"Ginny, how's it going with Michael Corner?" asked Hermione
"Really well. We've been out once already this week and he's asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him."
"Whose Michael Corner?" asked Heather
"He's a boy in my year. He's in Ravenclaw which is why you don't know who he is. We met at the Yule Ball, and he asked me out towards the end of last year." Ginny replied, grinning sheepishly.
"Oooh, Ginny's got a boyfriend" teased Heather.
"So does Hermione!" cried Ginny.
"What?" gasped Heather, turning to look at his best friend. "Who?"
"Well, he's not really a boyfriend," said Hermione, who was shooting daggers at Ginny with her eyes. "It's Victor. He's been writing to me all summer."
"And you didn't tell me?" exclaimed Heather.
"I haven't told anyone!" said Hermione, "the only reason Ginny knows is because she caught me reading one of the letters."
"But why not tell me?' asked Heather.
"She's embarrassed" chimed in Ginny.
"No, I'm not!" cried Hermione, "It's just that he's so much older and so far away."
"I guess I can understand that." Said Heather.
"I'll bet you can." Teased Ginny, who seemed to be having more fun than Heather or Hermione were with this topic. She gave Heather a very pointed look which cause Heather's face to go a bright red. Charlie Weasley, Ginny's older brother and Harry's first crush, was also much older than he was and was currently far away in Romania. Heather had admitted his crush to Ginny last year, and now was regretting that.
The conversation soon shifted to Ginny's relationship again and they spent time speculating what she and Michael would get up to on their upcoming date. Heather was very curious about what dating a boy was like. He's obviously never been on a date as a boy, but imagined the experience was very different for girls. Without realizing it the three of them had spent almost two hours chatting away in their clubhouse and were soon racing to clean up and get back to Gryffindor Tower before curfew.
The cold and rain remained unbroken through the next day. That evening, still trying to get to the bottom of his mountain of homework, Harry was sitting by the fire with Hermione and Ron. It was late, with most everyone else having already gone upstairs for bed. Without warning, Harry looked up and saw Sirius's head appear in the fireplace. Quickly looking around to make sure the common room was empty, Harry got on his knees to talk to his godfather. Sirius told them that Hagrid was still on assignment for the Order and not to worry or bring attention to his absence.
Before he left his face perked up and he said, "You know, if you give me the date of your next Hogsmeade weekend, I could slip up there and meet you. Like I did last year."
"No!" said Harry, much more loudly than he had intended. "Sirius, you were recognized by Lucius Malfoy at the station. The last thing we need is you getting caught and sent back to Azkaban."
Sirius's face fell and he looked at Harry, "You're less like James than I thought. The risk would have been the fun of it for him." Without waiting for an answer he disappeared from the flames.