Saturday

Harry was nervous. Forget Quidditch games, the only time he could remember feeling this anxious was right before he'd faced the Hungarian Horntail. Andromeda is not a dragon, he reminded himself sternly. She is a girl. Like Hermione, or Ginny, or Lavender or Parvati. She is not scary.

But Harry was scared. He couldn't help it. Embarrassingly enough, this was the first time he'd actually had – well, a date with a girl. You couldn't count the Yule Ball with Parvati, or his two-year crush on Cho as anything. And he had not felt about either of them how he felt about Andromeda.

As soon as he met her in the Entrance Hall the fear seemed to vanish. She really wasn't scary, he realised happily, as they made their way into Hogsmeade. She was easy to talk to. They had no trouble finding things to say – there was so much they didn't know about each other, and were eager to learn.

Once they arrived in the village, though, it was a different matter. Suddenly it hit Harry how few things there were to do in Hogsmeade. It was a nice place to get out of the school with your friends, but with – (what could he call Andromeda? He wasn't sure) – he was just stuck.

'So,' said Andromeda, smiling, 'what are we going to do now?'

'Weeeeeeelllllllllllll,' said Harry very slowly, hoping that inspiration would come to him as he spoke (it didn't), 'we could – er…'

'Go to the Three Broomsticks?' Andromeda suggested.

'Er, yeah. OK.' And so that was what they did. A Butterbeer later, though, the inn was filling with Hogwarts students and villagers and they could barely make themselves heard over the din.

'Shall we go for a walk?' Harry shouted.

'Yeah,' she shouted back.

They walked for a while down a little street neither of them had come across before. The houses were small, untidy but pretty in an odd sort of way. 'I'd like to live here,' sighed Andromeda.

'Where do you live?' Harry asked.

'In Poddington Green,' she replied. 'It's a little village in Kent. We're just on the outskirts, with lots of green space around us, so my parents can do some magic without being noticed by people nearby. How about you?'

'Little Whinging,' Harry said darkly. Though reluctant to elaborate, he continued, 'It's in Surrey. I live with my aunt and uncle and my cousin. They're awful, I can't wait to get out. What's your family like?'

'They're OK,' said Andromeda. 'It's noisy in my house, and my parents are always working, and we've all got fairly hot tempers so it's not the most peaceful place. But we get on all right. I've got two sisters – Persephone and Ariadne – and a brother, Jason. All younger. Persephone's coming to Hogwarts next year, or should be – she's been causing things to blow up since she was three years old.'

Harry laughed at that. 'My cousin's the same age as us, he's called Dudley. He's spoilt rotten. Whereas I… I used to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs, let's just leave it at that.'

'Really? That's terrible!' Andromeda looked truly angry on his behalf, which Harry found quite touching. 'Used to? So you don't any more?'

'No, when I got called to Hogwarts they started being scared of me and since then it's been a bit better.'

'It's still horrible.' Andromeda seemed quite disturbed by this revelation. She didn't speak for a while. As they reached the end of the road, she caught sight of a bench beneath a tree and sat down heavily on it.

'It's all right,' Harry said, perturbed by her silence. 'They didn't hurt me or anything, and look what a well-rounded individual I've turned out.' He grinned, but Andromeda was still looking pensive.

'Harry, why did you ask me to come with you today?' she asked suddenly.

'Well, because – er – I like you. Quite a lot.' What a terrible way to put it!

'But why? What's so special about me?'

'Well, at first I was just shallow and thought you were pretty.'

'Really? Me?' Andromeda looked amused. 'That's not something people say to me often.'

'Well, they should. Your eyes, most of all.' Harry could feel his face turning scarlet. 'And then because you made me laugh, and you were friendly. And then we got on so well when we were working together – and I kept thinking about you. And you were nice to me, so I thought maybe… you liked me too.'

She said nothing.

'Well, do you?'

'Yes,' said Andromeda quietly. Then her eyes took on a mischievous glint and she said, 'Er – I like you quite a lot.'

Harry blushed, but smiled back at Andromeda. Then he became aware of something just outside his line of vision, and looked up.

Attached to the branch of the tree was a small sprig of mistletoe.

Andromeda followed his gaze, and seemed amused by the sight of the mistletoe hanging there inconspicuously. 'It's not Christmas any more,' she said lightly.

'But it's bad luck if you're under the mistletoe and you don't kiss,' said Harry. Honestly, Fred and George, you're a bad influence on me.

'Yeah, right,' said Andromeda with a smirk. But she kissed him anyway.