A Harry Situation
By Jill Weber/ Jelsemium
Characters copyrighted by J.K. Rowling and used without permission or intent to make a profit.

Chapter 24: Quidditch, Shopping and Other Disasters

Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor:

Madam Hooch blew her whistle. The crowd roared. Harry adjusted his old glasses and kicked off. (He still wasn't used to his new glasses and he didn't want to risk missing the Snitch.) His pre-game jitters fell away as he ascended. He reached the apogee of his flight several minutes before the other players were in position and began to scrutinize the Quidditch Pitch for a glimmer of gold. As he looked, he adjusted the canary yellow armband that both teams had donned in honor of Cedric Diggory.

Below him, he could hear the cheers from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw supporters, the polite applause from the Hufflepuffs and the jeers from the Slytherins. This early in the season, it didn't make much difference to the Hufflepuffs or the Slytherin who won. The Hufflepuffs, touched by the armbands, would applaud both teams. The Slytherins just liked to boo.

Harry caught a flash of color, blue, not gold, out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head slightly to look at the Ravenclaw seeker. Cho Chang soared past and grinned a challenge at him. Harry raised an eyebrow, and then turned away. He was glad to see Cho smiling again, but that didn't mean he was going to let her distract him. Speaking of distractions…

He shifted his weight forward and plummeted at the Ravenclaw keeper like a starving hawk. Startled, the Keeper jerked out of the way, narrowly missing colliding with Cho, who had made the mistake of following Harry.

The Gryffindors whooped and catcalled at the Ravenclaws for falling for that old trick. The Ravenclaws groaned and protested good-naturedly. The Slytherins booed, of course. Harry whipped around the pitch, pleased with himself. The wind whipped his fringe from his forehead and brought color to his face. He looked over his shoulder; Cho was pursuing him. Maybe her strategy for the game was to mark him and try to snatch the Snitch from under his nose.

Harry grinned and urged his Firebolt to greater speeds. Captain Angelina Johnson shouted something at him, but Harry couldn't make out the words. Cho was falling behind. Gleefully, Harry pushed his Firebolt even harder. Now more people were yelling at him. He could make out the Weasley twins' voices from a short distance down the pitch, and Hagrid's bellow from the long distance down below. He looked around for Cho, and caught a quick glimpse of her smile before she changed direction.

Harry frowned and started to slow… then reared back desperately as a Bludger scraped past his nose. Harry let the Firebolt drop and ducked his head. He was barely in time; the second Bludger ruffled his hair as he ducked under it. He looped one of the Ravenclaw beaters, and then blasted past the other as he gained altitude. Easier to look for the Snitch from up here. Easier to avoid the Bludgers as well.

He looked around for Cho, and saw Katie Bell toss the Quaffle though the Ravenclaw goal. He grinned; the Ravenclaw Beaters had paid for their sortie at him. Cho, far below him, was busy searching for the Golden Snitch. Harry tried to drag his mind back to his work, but was distracted by the Weasleys twin's retaliation against the Ravenclaw beaters.

George herded one Bludger towards Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw Captain. Beater Bill Harnett swooped up to intercept, only to have Fred bat the second Bludger at him. Lisa Turpin, one of the Ravenclaw Chasers, tried to take advantage of the battle of the Beaters to grab the Quaffle and sail over to the Gryffindor goals. Only a frantic effort by Gryffindor's new keeper, Ron Weasley, prevented Ravenclaw from scoring.

Angelina Johnson pounced, snagging the Quaffle and shooting towards the Ravenclaw goal posts. Terry Boot, the Ravenclaw Keeper, darted up to block. Seconds later, he was forced to dodge out of the way when Fred smashed a Bludger past his ear. Angelina took advantage the opportunity.

Harry checked the scoreboard and was startled to see it stood at 40-10, Gryffindor. Obviously, this was going to be a high scoring game… unless he caught the Snitch quickly. He looked around and finally spotted a glitter of gold from near the Ravenclaw goal posts. He kicked the Firebolt forward and closed the distance quickly.

Far below, a frustrated Cho Chang tried to gain ground. However, Harry, with a superior broom and half a minute's head start, wasn't to be caught. Well, not by the Ravenclaw Seeker, anyway. Harry was fast approaching the Golden Snitch when something collided with the back of his broom, sending him spinning off course.

For a sickening moment, Harry was afraid he was going to crash into the stands. He fought for altitude, trying desperately to right himself and get back after the Snitch before Cho caught it. He finally managed to regain control just before he went out of bounds. Fearfully, he looked around, but Cho had been diverted by George while Fred had gone after Harnett.

Harry cast a quick glance at the back of his broom, wondering if the Bludger had damaged his pride and joy. Seeing no damage, he turned his attention back to searching for the Snitch.

Angelina soared towards him. "Keep an eye out for those Bludgers!" was the gist of what she had bellowed at him. Harry blushed at her actual wording and hoped that none of the professors had heard. Many house points would go missing if they had.

He swooped around the perimeter of the pitch, keeping a wary eye out for the Snitch, the Bludgers and various other airborne obstacles. He noted that Cho was orbiting almost directly opposite him. As he approached the Ravenclaw goals, he noticed a glitter in his peripheral vision and he turned his head in surprise. The shimmer was coming from outside the boundaries of the pitch. The Golden Snitch was charmed to stay within the boundaries of the pitch, so what was glittering? This question was quickly shelved in favor of a more pressing one. There was a turbulence in the air near the Ravenclaw goal posts. Something -- clouds? Smoke? -- was billowing out of nowhere. Eyeing growing darkness warily, Harry drew back.

Frowning, Madam Hooch pulled her wand, kicked off and headed for the disturbance. She had a feeling this wasn't just a student prank.

Screams erupted from below as the sky split open and spat out a dragon.

The spectators took to their heels. Hooch knew she didn't have a chance, but she sped up, determined to buy the students some time. Harry had just enough time to register what was going on when the dragon pounced, snatching him up in its talons like an owl grabbing a mouse.

The difference between Ravenclaws and Gryffindors became immediately apparent. The Gryffindors, noted for courage, charged, the Ravenclaws, noted for wisdom, retreated. Alicia Spinnet, who had been on the verge of scoring, arrived first and heaved the Quaffle at the nearest dragon eye.

The dragon started to wheel around with its captive when the Quaffle struck it in its left eye. The intelligent thing to do would have been to continue back through the hole in sky. Western dragons weren't noted for intelligence.

The dragon whirled and spat fire towards the space Alicia had occupied moments ago. Unaware that it had missed its target, it shook its head and pawed at its face in an attempt to dislodge the Quaffle. Soon it had other worries as the Weasley twins smashed the Bludgers at its good eye.

The Ravenclaw team passed Madame Hooch on their way down. It would have been safer for them simply to fly back to the castle. However, they weren't merely fleeing; they were planning. The Chasers and Cho handed over their brooms to those more able to battle a dragon. Within moments, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick were shooting towards the conflict.

Terry Boot landed next to Bill Weasley a few minutes later, and then the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor was on his way.

The Ravenclaw Beaters had another goal in mind. Flying up to the uppermost seats, they rendezvoused with Hogwarts' groundkeeper.

Harry squirmed, but could not fly free. The dragon's talons tightened uncomfortably, but he was not injured. Either the dragon was incompetent or whoever had sent it wanted him alive. The latter thought was not comforting, as it didn't take a Ravenclaw prefect to work out who was behind this. He could see his crazy teammates as they buzzed the dragon, distracting it from its escape route.

"Get out of here!" he howled. "Get to safety!" He beat his fist against the talon in frustration over his friends' courage. Why couldn't they be more like the Ravenclaws? He yanked his wand from his robes and tried to think of a hex that would damage a dragon and not get him killed. The strongest spell he knew was the Patronus Charm, but he didn't think it would work, especially since he couldn't come up with a happy memory just then. Jelly legs was the next thing to come to mind, as that might get the dragon to release him, but repeated tries failed to make even one of the toes go soft.

Fred wasn't ignoring Harry. He wasn't about to heed the younger boy's orders, of course. However, Harry's howls were allowing Fred to gauge exactly where the captive was. This was going to come in handy in about… three minutes.

He bellowed at Angelina. When he caught her attention, he tossed her his club. He reached into his robe, wishing he had something a little more powerful. What he had would have to do. He reached into his inner pocket and extracted his wand and a bunch of Filibuster fireworks. The best place, he reckoned, would be the eye without the Quaffle in it. The nearest thing a dragon had to a weak spot was its eyes.

He touched his wand to the wicks and heaved. The dragon twitched at just the wrong moment and the fireworks went up a nostril instead. Fred sighed. That's why he was a Beater and not a Chaser, he decided as he yelled. "DUCK!"

The Gryffindors scattered as the fireworks went off. The dragon's nostril was too well protected to be damaged by anything as low powered as Filibuster fireworks. However, Fred had a pessimistic idea of what the dragon's reaction was going to be. He was right. The dragon's sneeze sent fireball billowing towards the Gryffindors. George and Alicia cried out and went spinning to the ground. One of the Bludgers was crisped to ashes.

Fred waved his wand and cursed. "STUPEFY!" It was useless, he knew. It took up to a dozen specially trained wizards working in unison to stupefy a dragon, but it was the only thing he could think of at the moment. He saw Katie and Angelina struggling to right themselves. He saw McGonagall and Flitwick heading for his brother and Alicia. He saw Harry trying to wiggle loose of the talons. He did not see the dragon's tail come whipping around, nor did he see Snape change directions to dive after him.

The dragon darted at the falling Beater, jaws agape, but just then, there was a shrill whistle near its ear. It flattened its ears in pain and snapped its head around to spit fire. Madam Hooch dodged easily and let off another blast of her referee's whistle. The dragon hadn't even noticed her attempts to hex it, so she had resorted to old-fashioned diversion tactics.

Bill came up, debating the wisdom of hitting the dragon with a Conjunctivitis curse. He shook his head. According to Charlie, that had put the one dragon in the Tri-Wizard Tournament in such agony that she had smashed half of her eggs. If this thing reacted to pain by squeezing its talons, it would squish Harry like he was made of butter. This gave Bill an idea.

"Expecto Arachibutyro!"

The dragon snapped at Hooch, only to get a mouthful of something sticky and brown.

As the dragon fought to clear its mouth, Hooch turned to Bill Weasley. "What is that stuff?" she bellowed.

"It's a potion designed to stick to the roof on the mouth. It was invented by Muggles to keep small children from whinging," Bill bellowed back. "Charlie uses it on irritated dragons all the time!"

"What's it called?"

"Peanut butter!"

While Hooch and Bill were keeping the dragon off-balance, Angelina was taking stock of the situation. She noted that three of her teammates were out of the fight. Harry was still struggling to get free. Teachers were coming, but they were distracted by falling Gryffindors, so she needed to buy them some time. She also needed to get Harry out of that thing's clutches. Also on her to do list was to get out of this fight alive, but that was rather far down in her priorities.

She whacked the remaining Bludger at the Dragon's good eye. The dragon snared it with its tongue and swallowed it. "Ah, that's why I'm a Chaser, not a Beater," Angelina decided. She heard Harry's attempts to hex the dragon with Jelly Legs and frowned. The curse would make the legs go soft and… limp. She nodded and swooped around the dragon, rounding up Katie, Ron, Bill and Madam Hooch as she did so.

"On THREE, everybody do Jelly Legs!" she ordered. "At the dragon's thumb!" She made a rude gesture at the talon that she meant. "Together now… ONE… TWO… THREE!"

Six Jelly Leg hexes flew together and just managed to loosen the muscles of the one talon. Harry pushed his way clear with strength born of desperation. Any moment now, the dragon was going to pick up on its exit cue and Harry did not want to find out where that hole in the sky went.

"JUMP! JUMP!"

Even without his teammates bellows, Harry realized that he didn't have any choice. He flung himself from the dragon's grasp just as the sextuple curse wore off. The jellied talon renewed its grip, and caught the back of Harry's Quidditch robe. Harry twisted and flailed and managed to slide his right arm out of its sleeve. Then his fall was arrested abruptly. Pain shot through his left arm, then numbness set in from where something -- the armband! -- had a death grip. Harry yelped and kicked, but the armband was too tight to slide off.

The good thing about Harry's new predicament is that it gave the teachers and the remaining students a clear line of fire at the dragon. Even so, they still didn't have enough firepower to stun the dragon. All their combined curses managed to do was to do was convince the dragon to flee. As he was swung around like a rag doll, Harry caught a glimpse of the rift that the dragon had come through. The only person between the dragon and escape was tiny Professor Flitwick.

The dragon shot forward. "NO!" Harry tried desperately to come up with a happy memory so he could summon his Patronus. Unfortunately, the thought of Flitwick getting fried was not exactly conducive to happy thoughts. He tried anyway.

"Expecto Patronum!" A silver mist shot out from the end of his wand. Not exactly the desired result, but it caused the dragon to hesitate briefly. When the mist cleared, Harry and the dragon could no longer see Prof. Flitwick. Instead, they saw two rifts in the sky.

The dragon backwinged in confusion. Then growled deep in its throat and spat out a stream of fire. The rift on the right dissolved immediately. The dragon twisted and headed for the real hole, when the last combatants entered the fray.

Rubeus Hagrid was a giant of a man… literally. He was much too heavy for one broom to carry, which is why both Ravenclaw Beaters had surrendered their brooms to him. Hagrid had never really mastered the art of flying a broom, which made trying to maneuver with a broom under each arm extremely awkward. Through sheer stubbornness, however, Hagrid managed to get the drop on the dragon, again, literally. Landing on the dragon's neck, Hagrid grabbed an ear and yanked the dragon's head around and down.

"Stop that! Put him DOWN!" bellowed Hagrid, reinforcing his command with a smack to the back of the dragon's head.

The dragon, with its head held at an awkward angle, began spiraling downward. All but two of the other combatants flew up to add the weight of their curses to Hagrid's muscle.

Ron and Flitwick darted underneath the dragon. Flitwick barked out something Harry didn't catch, but the armband and his left sleeve began to unravel. He dropped like a rock.

Ron dived and snagged the back of Harry's still dissolving robe. He almost managed to get to the ground before Harry's cloak fell apart and sent Harry plummeting to the grassy field.

***

Fred opened his eyes and looked up. Prof. Severus Snape sneered down at him. "Typical Gryffindor," he said. "Ran right into that one."

"You saved my life?" Fred asked groggily.

"Yes," Snape said sourly.

The Potions master and the practical joker glared at each other for a few moments before Fred broke the silence. "I won't tell if you don't," he said.

"Deal," Snape agreed.

***

Someone was bellowing Harry's name. In fact, several people were calling him, loudly, which made his head ache. Harry opened his eyes to find his face buried in mud and grass. His glasses, a few inches in front of his face, where snapped in half, and a trickle of blood down the bridge of his nose let him know he had at least one injury. A small part of his brain felt relief that he hadn't broken his new glasses.

"Harry?" Ron's worried voice was followed by a light touch on Harry's back.

Harry yelped in pain. Okay, that was two confirmed injuries.

"Sorry."

Harry tried to push himself out of the grass, only to find that his left arm wasn't cooperating. That brought the tally up to three confirmed injuries.

Ron helped him to sit. "So, what's the score?" Harry said, looking around and rubbing his arm.

George and Alicia were sitting up, looking scorched and dazed and inclined to comfort each other. Not wanting to see that, Harry pulled his gaze around. Angelina and Katie were crouched next to Fred, who was looking rather sour faced about something.

"Do lay still, Potter." McGonagall's voice, unexpected as it was, made Harry jump. "Sorry," she said.

"What happened with the dragon? Is everybody all right?" Harry asked anxiously.

"You and Hagrid seemed to have the worse injuries, Potter," McGonagall said. "But we'll be taking you all up to the hospital wing. Now, lie back and relax, you might have a concussion."

"Hagrid? How did Hagrid get injured?" Harry resisted Ron's attempts to make him lie down.

"The Ravenclaws handed over their brooms to the teachers," Ron explained. "Hagrid needed two of them, but managed to get up to the dragon and pound some sense into it. After you pulled free, the dragon scarpered. The gate or whatever it was closed as soon as the dragon went back inside." Ron said. "Hagrid had to jump for it. I think he hurt his leg."

"Indeed, he did," McGonagall said. "He landed awkwardly, but his main concern is for you, Potter."

McGonagall pointed to where Dumbledore, Hooch, and Flitwick were hovering around Hagrid. Hagrid was complaining loudly and trying to shrug off his attendants.

"Hagrid?" Harry called, getting the giant's attention.

"You all righ' there, Harry?" Hagrid asked anxiously.

"I'll live," Harry said.

Hagrid nodded and settled back on the grass. Harry, still resisting Ron and McGonagall's attempts to make him lie down, looked toward the castle. The fight hadn't even lasted long enough for the fleeing students to get inside. Some of them had stopped fleeing, now that the battle was over. The teachers who hadn't been in the fight had their hands full trying to herd the students into the castle.

Several of the Gryffindors eluded the roundup and were headed back. At this distance, without his glasses, Harry could only positively identify Ginny's bright red hair. He was certain, however, that Hermione was headed back as well. He sighed and gave in to Ron and Prof. McGonagall's insistence that he lie down.

"Do you think this means we have to cancel Quidditch?" Ron was saying unhappily.

McGonagall shook her head. "It depends on how the dragon managed to get onto the grounds, Weasley," she said. "Until then, we'll just have to hope for the best."

There was a slight flutter next to Harry's right ear. Absently, he raised his hand and the Snitch flew into it. "Maybe it's just me that needs to stop playing," he said, staring gloomily at the Snitch as if it would reveal the future to him.

"That, too, remains to be seen," Dumbledore spoke from beside them, causing all three to jump. "But whatever that decision is, I think it's safe to say we have won this match."

After Match (1):

"What was that hole in the sky, anyway?" Angelina asked.

Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hooch and Flitwick were holding a meeting in the Hospital Wing. Both Quidditch teams were there, as well as some of the spectators.

"It's called a wyrmhole," Dumbledore explained. "They were once used for transportation before Apparating became commonplace." He frowned. "The trouble with them is that they need a focus on either side. We must find the object that was used as a focus on this end, or we might wind up with another unwelcome visit."

"Find the object?" Hermione said. "So, it's like a Portkey? Anything could be used for it?"

"Exactly," Cho said. "We've been studying that charm this year. The object could be any size or shape. It will be very difficult to track it down."

"The Snitch," Harry said.

Everybody turned to look at him.

"It flew out of bounds," Harry explained before anybody could ask. "I saw it out of the corner of my eye."

"That doesn't make sense," Hermione said. "How could anybody sabotage the Snitch?"

"By sending the school a new set of Quaffle balls," Madam Hooch said. She had a disgusted look on her face. "Moody would be ashamed of me. I didn't even think twice when an anonymous donor sent us a free Quidditch set. I was too grateful."

"I see," Dumbledore said. He nodded. "It's not your fault, Xiamara," he said. "Let's check it out straight away."

The Snitch had indeed been tampered with, they discovered. Dumbledore and McGonagall began working on a set of procedures to check suspicious gifts (such as expensive brooms and free Quaffle sets).

"Well, at least this means that Quidditch isn't canceled," Ron observed.

Confusions of an Animagus:

Harry wondered if he could switch into cat form and sneak out past Madam Pomfrey. He sighed. It wouldn't work. McGonagall knew what his Animagus form looked like. He and Ron had been practicing under her watchful eye. The blueprint that Nicely had put into their brains was obviously a good tool; both the Abyssinian and the long-eared owl came easily to them.

He wondered if Hermione and Ginny would find it as easy. McGonagall was planning to give Hermione and Ginny their first practical lesson soon. Both of them had passed the terrible two-hour test on the theory and possible consequences of Animal Transfiguration. He wondered when they'd get their lesson, now that he was back in the Hospital Wing.

He should have known better. As soon as regular visiting hours (and Prowlery hours) were over, McGonagall was there with Ron, Ginny and Hermione in tow.

"Today will be an easy lesson," McGonagall said. "Potter needs rest, so we'll concentrate on finding what Miss Granger and Miss Weasley's animal forms will be.

McGonagall produced opened the case she'd brought in and brought out a mirror and a stand. She set it up on Harry's bedside table and pulled the table away from Harry's bed.

"Here, what you'll need to do is stare into the mirror and let your mind go blank," McGonagall said.

Ron sniggered.

"What?" Hermione demanded.

"That'll be something new for you," Ron said, grinning.

Hermione glared and Ron backed off.

"Maybe Ginny should go first," Harry said.

Hermione switched her glare to him.

"Hermione seems a tad upset," Harry couldn't help adding.

Hermione sighed. Then gestured Ginny to the mirror. "After you," she said.

"Thank you," Ginny replied with a small curtsey. She looked into the mirror and tried not to think of anything.

Harry opened Nicely up and flipped past the scorched first chapter. :I hope she turns into a worm: Nicely subscripted.

"Shh," Harry whispered automatically.

After a few minutes, Ginny's eyes went wide. "Oh, no, it's a snake!" Then her eyes went wider still. "A snake with wings?"

"A Wyvern," McGonagall said musingly. "Interesting. Most Animagi have rather inconspicuous forms, like Potter's cat or your brother's owl."

"My owl will be totally brill at spying," Ron said happily. "Think of it, you could send me in with a message and I can listen while I'm waiting for a reply! Or I could hide outside people's windows."

"What makes you think that they wouldn't notice you?" Hermione said. "They might be fooled at first, but they might connect the long-eared owl with you after a while."

"That's another cool thing," Ron said. "Did you know that long-eared owls in the wild actually use camouflage? I mean, they stretch themselves out and pretend to be branches. If that's what a wild owl can do, think of what I could pull off!"

McGonagall looked as if she might smile in a second. "Really, you've been reading up on long-eared owls," she said approvingly. "Five points to Gryffindor for taking this seriously."

Ron beamed at her.

"I'm a snake," Ginny sighed.

"Cheer up, Ginny," Ron said. "At least you'll have something to talk to Harry about."

Harry grinned. "I can practice my Parseltongue on something besides my snake rope," he added.

Ginny made a wry face. "I don't need to turn into a snake to practice Parseltongue," she reminded him.

"You two should probably practice that, it could come in handy," Hermione said.

"That will have to be a different class," McGonagall said. "Miss Granger, it's your turn." McGonagall gestured to the mirror.

Hermione took a deep breath and studied the mirror. She obviously made an effort to clear her mind. Minutes dragged past. Suddenly Hermione leaned closer to the mirror, and burst into flames.

Hermione let out a startled squawk and sat down, hard.

"Aqueous!"

The flames went out immediately. Seconds after the flames went out; Hermione was liberally soaked as all four of the witnesses conjured water out of their wands.

None of them noticed Nicely print up, : Ha, Ha! Serves you right! :

"Oh, my," Hermione said. "What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure," Professor McGonagall said. "However, I intend to get to the bottom of this."

Serving McGonagall's Detention:

McGonagall decided that Harry could serve his detentions while he was in the Hospital Wing. This is why Harry wound up assisting McGonagall by marking First Year exams. Harry expected to be hours at it, because he would have to keep referring to the textbook for the answers. However, he got some unexpected help when Dusty showed up and gave him tips on where to find the answers.

This time the ghost appeared to be in his late teens.

"I'd just tell you, but I expect Minerva will want you to note where the answer is to be found on the test papers," Dusty told him. "That's how I would do it."

McGonagall raised her eyebrow when she came to check and found that Harry had already finished. However, she couldn't deny that he'd done a good job. "Five points to Gryffindor," she said with a nod.

Millicent Gets Detention:

The good part about being hospitalized was he did not have to go the dungeons for Potions. The bad part was that Snape and Malfoy seemed to horde all their ill will for when he returned. Harry expected the first Potions class after being released to be horrible. Sure enough, Malfoy started harassing them before they even got inside the classroom.

"Potter, you have no right to play Quidditch when you could be endangering other students!" the blond boy hissed. "You should think of somebody besides yourself, sometime."

Before Harry could respond, somebody else spoke up.

"That's a hot one coming from you, you egocentric git."

Everybody's head jerked around when Millicent Bulstrode spoke up.

"Honestly, Bulstrode, a person would think that you liked Potter," sneered Draco.

The other Slytherins sniggered.

Millicent turned red.

If Draco had been the least bit observant, he would have noticed that her face wasn't full of shame, but fury. Instead, he just continued. "Imagine that, ugly old golem-girl has fallen for a Gryffindor!"

"It's not like there are any Slytherin boys in this class that are worth mooning over," Millicent said coldly. "And it's funny that you should use the words 'honestly' and 'think' in the same sentence. I wouldn't have thought they were in your vocabulary."

Malfoy gaped at her. Then his pale face took on some color and he shoved his face at Millicent. "Listen, you oversized cow…" was as far as he got before Millicent punched him in the nose.

The Gryffindors gasped, and then cheered.

Hermione moved forward. "Ten points from Slytherin," she said.

"Really, Miss Granger, abusing your power again? I shall take this up with your Head of House," came Snape's oily tones.

"Sir, she punched a fellow student in the face," Hermione said coolly. "The Prefect Handbook clearly states that deducting points in such a case is mandatory. I did take the minimum number of points as Miss Bulstrode was clearly provoked."

Snape strode into the room, dark eyes raking the students. "What happened?"

Hermione opened her mouth, but Snape held up a hand to forestall her. "Not from you! I want an unbiased account!"

"Malfoy insulted her," Blaise Zabini spoke up. "When she insulted him back, he stuck his face in hers and called her a cow."

Malfoy glared over his bloody handkerchief.

"Miss Bulstrode, you have detention," Snape growled. "Malfoy, get yourself up to the Hospital Wing. He glared at Hermione.

Hermione lifted her chin and gave him a cool look in return. "I'm sorry if you feel I was out of line," she said politely. "Please feel free to take up my behavior with Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore at any time."

Having no suitably cutting response to this, Snape just whirled and led the way back into the Potions classroom. He assigned Millicent to work with Neville, apparently in the belief she would find this objectionable.

However, they actually made a good team. Without Malfoy there to disrupt class, the Gryffindors were able to complete their potions in peace and the only cauldron that was melted was Pansy's. She'd been too busy supervising Goyle and Crabbe to pay proper attention to her own work.

Harry left Potions in a good mood for once.

"I could really learn to like Millicent," Ron said. His expression was as dreamy as the Day of the Incredible Bouncing Ferret.

"Yeah," Neville said dreamily. "I think I could, too."

After putting their books back in their rooms, the Gryffindors headed down to lunch. Ron waited for Hermione in the common room.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Erm, he went to save us a seat," Ron said. He took a deep breath. "So, erm, you were brilliant in Potions today, the way you faced down Snape."

"Thank you," Hermione said. She took a deep breath. Here was her chance! "Erm, what are you going to the Fancy Dress Party as?"

Ron grinned. "Harry's wearing those awful robes that the twins got him. Ginny's wearing her old dress robes. So I got that maroon nightmare out of the bottom of my trunk and decorated it with spangles and stuff. It's not a great costume, but it will compete with Harry for title of Eyesore of the Evening."

Hermione laughed.

"What are you going as?" Ron asked.

"I'm borrowing Harry's Quidditch robes," Hermione said, grinning.

"He's too generous, that one," Ron shook his head. "He'll be lending you his Firebolt next."

It was the perfect opening. "Maybe he'll lend me his best friend, instead," Hermione said.

Ron looked at her wide-eyed. "Huh?"

"Would you like to go to the party with me?" Hermione asked.

Ron gaped for a few minutes. "I'd love to," he said. Then, because it was the perfect moment, he leaned forward and kissed her.

When they pulled back, Hermione was starry-eyed. "Oh, so that's why everybody raves about flying," she said.

"Hermione, you're on the ground," Ron said.

"That's what you think," Hermione said, smiling.

The Fancy Dress Party:

The Hallowe'en party was almost anti-climatic. There were no trolls barging in from the basement. No petrified cats. No escaped convict slashing up the portraits. No delegations of foreign students. Just fountains flowing with pumpkin juice, tables laden with good food, and a room full of chattering students.

Fred and George did their best to cause a stir by feigning heart attacks when Harry and Ginny walked in arm in arm. However, too many people thought they were reacting to Harry's robes rather than Ginny's costume.

The main shock of the evening was the fact that a Gryffindor (Neville) came dressed as a Slytherin. His date (Millicent) came dressed as a Gryffindor. They won the award for the most daring costume. Ron won for ugliest costume. Harry won the award for "Costume most likely to be plagiarized by the Headmaster."

Cho Chang won for most beautiful costume. She came in an elaborate Empress costume, and affair of stiff silk brocade and glittering jewels. Her elaborate headdress must have taken an hour to set up.

Everybody stared at her, so Ginny tried not to feel jealous because Harry stared, too. Fortunately, Malfoy picked the moment after Cho won her award to drift over and try to start a fight.

Ginny never thought she'd be glad Malfoy was such a git. He was dressed as an executioner, which everybody agreed deserved to win for 'most appropriate.'

"You're lucky that your game was against those loser Ravenclaws," Malfoy sneered. "If you'd been playing against Slytherin, it would have been a slaughter."

Just then, the dance music started up and everyone was distracted by the sight of George Weasley, dressed as Dumbledore, waltzing by with Prof. McGonagall, who was dressed in a Quidditch uniform.

Every drifted away from Malfoy and he didn't try to follow.

Harry danced the first dance with Ginny and did his best not to stomp her feet black and blue. Then he begged off dancing, saying he was tired. "You go ahead," he said. "I don't mind."

He was perfectly content to just sit and look at the costumes. Some of them were quite eye-catching and he asked himself how they'd done that. Himself would immediately answer, "Magic, duh."

Ginny looked nice in her white robes and silvery wings. There was a glowing halo over her head that caused her brothers to shake their heads every time they looked in her direction. She was a good dancer, too.

Ron seemed to dance with everybody. "Where'd he learn to dance like that?" he wondered.

"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you," Ginny answered. She came down to sit with him after dancing with Justin Finch-Fletchley.

"Go ahead," Harry invited.

"From Pansy Parkinson. The Honey Badgers had a few do's during August and she taught us both the latest dances."

Harry shook his head. "I don't get her. How come she's nice one minute, then horrible the next?"

Ginny sighed. "She's in love. She'll do anything to win Malfoy's approval." She looked over to where the Slytherins were laughing about something.

She turned back to find Harry studying her worriedly.

"Most girls outgrow that phase," she said, taking a guess as to what was bothering him.

"You wouldn't be mean to somebody just to please me, would you?" Harry asked.

Ginny's first reaction was to say something like I can't imagine you being deliberately mean to someone for no reason. She decided that wasn't what Harry wanted to hear. "I try to make up my own mind," she said quietly. "Besides, you're no Malfoy."

"Thank you," Harry said. "Would m'lady care for another goblet of pumpkin juice?"

"Why, thank you kind sir," Ginny replied. "I would love one."

If Fred and Angelina danced, Ginny didn't see them. However, when they all arrived back at Gryffindor Tower, they looked like they'd had a good time.

Gryffindor vs. Slytherin:

November passed quietly. The Prowlers were too busy revising to get into trouble. Potions had amazingly become more bearable. With Neville and Millicent as partners, there were fewer distracting explosions. Even Snape couldn't complain about anything except the lack of opportunities to take points away from Gryffindor.

Then came the highly anticipated. Gryffindor / Slytherin Match.

As Malfoy had predicted, the game was a slaughter. The Slytherin players were very talented. However, they were also very disorganized. Goyle and Crabbe, the new Slytherin Beaters, were too focused on protecting their Seeker to pay much attention to their Chasers. As Harry had found out in his second year, having two Beaters tagging along made it virtually impossible to spot the Snitch.

After yelling himself red in the face, Malfoy managed to send Goyle off so that he only had to deal with one bodyguard.

Goyle demonstrated the strength of his arm and the deadliness of his aim mere minutes after that when he knocked the Keeper unconscious. He also demonstrated his complete lack of thought, because he knocked out the Slytherin Keeper.

Terrance Higgs, formerly the Slytherin Seeker, demonstrated his skills as a Chaser and strategist by scoring twice on Ron Weasley while he was distracted by Goyle's idiocy. Higgs also managed to lure the Bludgers into attacking Angelina so he could steal the ball and score again.

Higgs' two goals didn't help much. The Keeperless goalposts drew the Gryffindor Chasers like flowers attract butterflies and they managed to wrack up enough goals to ensure Gryffindor's victory even if Malfoy had managed to get to the Snitch.

Malfoy took a time out to explain, in very simple terms why Goyle had to act as Keeper for the rest of the game. He also explained, in very graphic terms, what would happen to Goyle if Gryffindor scored another goal.

Fortunately for Goyle, he didn't have to learn if Malfoy was bluffing or not. No sooner had play resumed that Harry spotted the Snitch fluttering just under Madam Hooch.

"Excuse me," Harry said politely as he looped the Quidditch Coach and nabbed the Snitch.

The whistle blew and Harry headed across the pitch to modestly (well, mostly modestly) accept the congratulations of his team.

After Match (2):

Harry woke up in the Hospital Wing with a headache and a very over used sense of déjà vu.

"Wha' happened?" he asked.

"You were hit by a Bludger," Olivia Guppy said.

"You mean one of those idiot Slytherin Beaters actually nailed me when I wasn't looking?"

"Actually, it was Mr. Malfoy who hit you," Nurse Guppy said. "The headmaster was rather upset with him, as was his Head of House."

"Yeah," Harry muttered. "Snape will be annoyed because I'm still alive."

"Don't talk like that!" Nurse Guppy was sincerely shocked. "Professor Snape is a nice man. Sort of. Well, once you get underneath all the layers of grumpiness. I think. Maybe."

Harry had to grin at that.

Millicent Serves Detention:

The night after Slytherin's humiliation was when Snape remembered that Millicent had to serve detention. He sent her to the Hospital Wing to have her clean out bedpans. For some reason, he thought that making her do the job she'd done during the summer would be somehow extra abhorrent. He couldn't comprehend that even such a disgusting chore would have its upside.

It wasn't in the Slytherin dungeons. Not all of the Slytherins thought that Millicent was a turncoat for dating a Gryffindor. Nor did all of them think she was an idiot for dating Neville Longbottom. However, several of them did, and they went out of their way to make their dislike known.

Not that Millicent cared much. She wasn't in love with Neville by any means. However, he was nice to her and that was all she wanted for now.

She finished her chores and made sure that her hands were clean. When she looked around, Pomfrey was nowhere in sight. So Millicent headed for the curtains around Harry's bed. Then she backtracked and washed her hands again.

She didn't know what she intended to do. She just wanted to look at him. Maybe touch him? She stood and stared. He really wasn't much to look at, she tried to tell herself. He was short and skinny with plain features that were usually hidden behind his new glasses. Herself didn't listen. So she just stared. His black hair glistened in the indirect lighting. She reached out, and then curled her hand into a fist.

A snort made her jump.

"You think he's ever going to notice you?" Pansy sneered. "Are you really stupid enough to think that perfect Saint Potter would ever pay any attention to a nobody Slytherin like you? Even if you are shagging one of his roommates, you'll never be anything more than an ugly Slytherin to him."

"He was polite in the hospital," Millicent said. She was surprised how calm her voice sounded.

"Yeah, he was sick and lonely," snorted Pansy.

"He had plenty of friends there," Millicent reminded her. "He didn't have to be nice to me. It's not like my father was his surgeon."

"You're such a loser, Bulstrode," Pansy said. "Give it up, he'll never love you."

"I know," Millicent said. "I'm not as deluded as you are."

"Me? I'm not interested in that goody-two-shoes!"

"No, you're interested in that loser Malfoy."

"The Malfoys are not losers! They're a great old wizarding family!"

"Right, great old wizarding family. They're very good at what? Politics and inbreeding! It's ironic. All Draco can boast about is his family's accomplishments. Yet, so far, all his family seems to have accomplished is producing Draco. They may as well be so many fancy Hippogriffs."

"Draco has a lot of accomplishments!" Pansy hissed. "He's a prefect! He's Quidditch captain!"

"He hasn't done much as a prefect but bully the younger students," Millicent pointed out. "And his team lost miserably today." She looked down at the blonde girl. "He doesn't love you. He never will. The sad thing is that he may marry you anyway. At least Potter would never do that to me."

Pansy stepped back. "You don't know what you're talking about! Of course, Draco loves me! He's always loved me!" With that, she whirled and left the Hospital Wing.

"Methinks the girl protests too much."

Millicent turned back to Potter and wasn't entirely surprised to see he was awake. "How much did you hear?" She didn't bother to tell him that it was 'The lady protests to much.' Pansy certainly wasn't acting like a lady.

"Something about Draco not loving her, but marrying her anyway," Harry said, sitting up. "And that I'd never do that to you."

"No, I can't imagine you marrying a girl just because your parents approve of her bloodline and bank balance."

"Oh," Harry said. "I guess that's the one advantage of being an orphan." He studied Millicent for a few minutes. "Why does she want him? Is he super nice to her or something?"

"Oh, no," Millicent said. "I have no idea what she sees in him." She shook her head.

"Millicent, I've been wondering…" Harry trailed off.

"Yes?"

"Why did you fight against the giant chess pieces?"

Millicent debated about telling Harry what it was like to be the Slytherin daughter of a Hufflepuff family. Not that her parents didn't love her, but they did not understand her in the least. The hospital didn't care what House you were in, all they cared about was that you did your job. However, all she said was, "It seemed like the thing to do at the time. Besides, I felt I owed Granger for trying to strangle her that time Lockhart tried to start that dueling club."

"Why did you try to strangle Hermione?" Harry asked.

Millicent made a face. "I was jealous," she explained.

Harry opened his mouth to ask the next question, but Millicent forestalled him. "You don't want to ask that, Potter. Now, go back to sleep," she instructed. "Madam Pomfrey will get upset if she finds you've been awakened. She's fond of you, you know."

"She is? Then why was she always scolding me?" Harry demanded in bewilderment.

Millicent laughed. "Because the only time she sees you is when you've gone and got yourself injured!" She patted Harry on the head, noticing that his hair was a silky as it looked. "Good night, sweet prince," she quoted on her way out the door.

Cho Knows:

Cho believed Harry when he said that Cedric hadn't suffered. However, she wanted to know the details. She wondered how to go about asking Harry. Being in different houses and different years, their paths didn't cross much. She didn't often see him at meals, and then it would be a case of one of them leaving while the other was arriving.

Quidditch solved that problem. One cold Wednesday in December, the Ravenclaw team arrived at the pitch for their practice to find that Ginny Weasley still practicing maneuvers on the Firebolt with Harry watching from ground.

"She's pretty good," Cho said.

Harry lowered his spyglass, startled. "Oh, hi. Sorry, I lost track of the time. We'll be off then," he said.

Cho looked around. Her male teammates didn't seem to be in a hurry to have Ginny come down. "That's all right," she said. "Harry, I know this isn't the place to talk about it, but when can we talk about… about Cedric?" She gave him a pleading look. "I have to know what happened. If I'm going to have nightmares, I at least want them to be based on the truth, not just the worst thing I imagine."

Harry winced. He knew how she felt. He took in a deep breath. "Of course," he said. It would have been cruel to say 'no.' "I'm not sure when we can get together. I have the Prowlery tonight, plus detention from Dumbledore. I'm not sure when I'll be free."

"Detention, from Dumbledore?" Cho asked. "How'd you manage that?"

"It's a gift," Harry said wryly.

Cho surprised both of them by smiling.

"How about this weekend?" she suggested. "I'll buy you lunch in Hogsmeade. There's a teashop next to the bookstore. It's a little more private than The Three Broomsticks. We can talk there."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "All right, then. Lunch it is."

"Thank you, Harry," Cho said as Ginny landed.

"See you," Harry said with a smile. Then he went to join Ginny.

When Harry reached her, Ginny was surrounded by admirers. Harry wasn't sure if they were admiring Ginny or the Firebolt. Either way, he really didn't like it. He suspected this meant that he might have those feelings for Ginny, but how can you be sure?

Detention with Dumbledore:

"Harry, you would tell me if you had any dreams involving Voldemort, wouldn't you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, sir," Harry replied as he polished. Until he had to clean them, Harry had thought Dumbledore's collection of gadgets were cool. Now he wished there were less of them.

He stopped to rest for a few minutes when Dusty floated in.

"Well, Red, it looks like you're determined to work the boy to a frazzle," Dusty said.

Dumbledore turned with a jerk. He hadn't been called 'Red' for half a century. "Dusty?" he said.

"Yes," the ghost appeared to be in his twenties now. "I was wondering if you'd indulge me, Red. We spent so much time looking for the Chamber of Secrets, that I would like to see it. Your boy there said he couldn't open it without permission."

"Is that why you've stayed on?" Dumbledore asked.

"I don't know," Dusty asked. "Sometimes I look at what I became and wonder what happened. I think having the Weasley boy ask about getting extra points for finding the Chamber of Secrets jarred something loose." He gave Dumbledore an unreadable look. "Maybe I'll finish that book of mine after all."

He drifted off, leaving Dumbledore looking thoughtful and Harry looking dumbfounded. "Sir? Was that… Professor Binns?"

"Dustine Binns," Dumbledore said. "An unfortunate name, but yes, that's who he was before he became your History of Magic professor."

Dumbledore dismissed Harry before Harry finished cleaning his instruments. Harry left, remembering the stories that Dusty had told him about how he and 'Red' had used to sneak into the Forbidden Forest to look for unicorns. He wondered how that boy had turned into somebody like Professor Binns.

Hogsmeade Weekend:

"Erm, Harry?" Ron asked Thursday night.

Harry had a good idea of what was coming. He feigned ignorance, though. "Yes, Ron?" he said, not looking up from his Divination homework. They had been told to pick one of the lesser-known branches and do an essay based on it. He had chosen Ailuromancy, divination by the study of cat movement, and the way that Crookshanks and Pixie were wrestling obviously meant that he was going to have a fight with somebody. Alternatively, maybe he was going to have to wrestle with his conscience. Poor conscience, it usually lost.

"About tomorrow," Ron said awkwardly.

"Hogsmeade, you mean?" Harry asked brightly. Did Crookshanks going over to jump in Hermione's lap mean that I'm going to start crushing on her?

"I was wondering what your plans were," Ron's voice was a little higher than normal.

Hermione gently pushed Crookshanks off her lap.

"I've got it," Harry said. "One of my closest friends is going to reject me soon."

"Huh?" Ron said.

"I'm doing my Divination homework," Harry said. "Ailuromancy. What did you pick?"

"Oh, erm, I haven't yet. Which is Ailuromancy?"

"Cat watching."

"Cool. That's easy enough to do then," Ron looked around just as Crookshanks tried to bribe his way onto Hermione's lap with a large spider.

"Erm, maybe I shouldn't pick the same topic as you, though," Ron added hastily.

"I've got a plan," Harry told him. "I will predict that one of my best friends will reject me. I'll hand it into Professor Trelawney tomorrow. Saturday, you and Hermione will go to Hogsmeade without me. Trelawney will have to give me extra points for an accurate prediction!"

"Oh," Ron eyed him narrowly. "And what will you being doing? Making a play for my sister?"

Harry shook his head. "I have some business to take care of," he said. "Besides, I have to get Hermione a belated birthday present."

"Oh," Ron said, looking both faintly relieved and slightly put out. "I'll keep Hermione busy, then. Shall we meet for lunch?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm having lunch with Cho Chang," he said.

"Oh," a female voice said.

They both twisted around to see Ginny walking away.

Harry stared after her in dismay. Had she been planning on asking him to go to Hogsmeade with her? He looked at Ron, who was frowning at him.

"Lunch with Cho? As in a date?" Ron demanded.

Harry shook his head. "Not like that," he said. "It's just that we need somewhere private to talk about," Harry swallowed. "Cedric."

Ron's eyes went wide. "Oh." He pursed his lips. "I'll explain to Ginny. You know, it's hard to think straight about… things."

"Yeah, thanks, Ron."

Ron hesitated. "So, have you and Ginny, you know, done anything?"

Harry shook his head. "No, we've just talked is all. I mean, I like her and everything, but I'm not sure if I, you know, like her."

"Is that what you said to her?" Ron asked.

"I'm not sure I was that coherent," Harry said dryly.

Ron grinned faintly. "Don't worry; she's used to interpreting boy talk." Ron wandered off in search of his sister. He reckoned that if Ginny were upset, she would probably go to Hermione. Being a prefect, Hermione was permitted to use the prefects' office. Therefore, he headed directly to the office.

Sure enough, there they both were. Probably talking about what a prat poor Harry was. Ron pulled himself up to his full height, feeling like a knight off to do battle for the honor of his best friend. He took in how good Hermione looked and amended that to second best friend.

"I mean, I knew that he had feelings for her," Ginny said mournfully. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"Boys are weird that way," Hermione said. "Maybe he wanted to find a way to let you down gently."

Ron felt a flash of annoyance and he cleared his throat, loudly.

"Yes, Ron? Did you want something?" Hermione asked sternly.

Ron scowled at her. "I'm here to defend Harry's honor from unfounded accusations of consorting with enemy Seekers," he said.

"Huh?"

"He's not dating Cho Chang, so stop thinking that," Ron said.

"Really," Hermione said dryly. "And what do you call going to lunch with her?"

"What do you call going to the Yule Ball with Viktor? How about going to Bulgaria to see Viktor?" Ron shot back.

Hermione turned red and an ugly expression crossed her face. "Ron, I told you, Viktor and I are only friends! When are you going to drop this?"

"Why do you automatically assume the worst of Harry? He never did anything to you! What makes you so sure that Harry having lunch with Cho means that they're dating?"

Hermione gaped at him.

"I mean, if you can't believe that it's possible for a boy and girl to do anything together without them being 'an item' then why should I believe that you and Viktor are just friends?"

Ginny stood up. "Oh, this is so old. I don't care what Harry does. He's probably just leading that cow on, too." She tried to walk past Ron back into the common room. Then she found herself flying through the air to land with a jarring thump on the couch of the prefects' office.

"VIRGINIA MARGRET WEASLEY!" Ron bellowed. He whipped out his wand and used it to slam the door shut, lock it and add a silencing charm on it.

Ginny opened her mouth, but Ron put his hand over it. He knelt on the couch and glared at her. "Do you remember last year? All those nasty articles that Skeeter wrote about Hermione and Harry and about Hermione and Viktor? Do you remember how much that hurt them?" He switched his glare to Hermione. "Do you remember how much that hurt? Huh?"

He glared back at Ginny before Hermione could answer.

"So what the bloody hell gives you the right to do the same thing? Cho Chang's never done anything to you, and it case you've forgotten, her boyfriend was murdered last year. MURDERED! Do you have any idea of what she's been through? Cedric wasn't just killed, he was murdered and practically in front of her. You think that means nothing to her? She sees one boyfriend murdered and you two think she's so bloody shallow that all she has on her mind is replacing him? Has it occurred to you that maybe, maybe, she wants to find out what happened? And that Harry is the only one she can ask about it? And that this isn't the sort of conversation you want to hold in the Great Hall where any dirty-minded little girl can overhear?"

Ginny's face was flushed with embarrassment and Hermione's eyes were open wide with shock.

Ron pulled his hand away from Ginny's mouth and backed away. "You don't know Cho; you have no idea what she's been through since Cedric died. Don't you dare pass judgment on her or I'll owl Mum and tell her you've been gossiping."

He shot Hermione a disgusted look. "You should know Harry better by now. If he were seeing another girl, he'd have told Ginny that straight out." He turned and yanked at the doorknob, cursed when he couldn't get the door open and then waved his wand at it to remove the charms. "Oh, and I think I'll see if the twins will let me tag along to Hogsmeade with them this time."

He stormed out, slamming the door and rattling the portraits in the common room.

"Ouch," Hermione said.

Ginny just stared at the door in shock.

Lunches with Ravenclaws:

Harry hadn't really expected lunch with Cho to be pleasant, considering the topic. He didn't expect to feel guilty about Ginny as well as guilty about Cedric. Damn, why did girls have to be so complicated?

He met Cho in The Ex Libris' teashop and they sat down in a booth. They didn't make an effort to sit in a back booth. Neither of them wanted to look like they were trying to hide. The tearoom was subdued and quiet, not the solemn hush of the library, but with a serene stillness that was conducive to contemplation and… healing.

Oddly enough, the distress he felt over hurting Ginny's feelings helped him deal with the pain over Cedric's death. At least, it helped numb him to it. He remembered Sirius said that other emotions would push his guilt about Cedric to the back of his mind. This made him feel even guiltier.

He sighed.

"I'm sorry," Cho said. "I don't have the right to make you go through this again."

"It's all right," Harry said. "Talking about it does help."

He told her about the Maze. How he and Cedric had wound up working together. He stressed how Cedric had come to his aid against the Acromantula. He told her how Cedric had been willing to let him take the Cup all by himself. "I talked him into taking it with me," he said bitterly. "It's my fault." He closed his eyes. "I'll never forgive myself."

Cho laid her hand on his forearm. "Then I will forgive you," she said quietly. "You both wanted to do the right thing. Under other circumstances, what you did would have been noble. Unless you can look me in the eye and swear that you knew that the Cup was booby-trapped, then you have nothing to feel guilty about."

Harry looked her in the eye and felt an immense flood of gratitude toward her. He'd been told this many times, but somehow it meant something from her.

He took a deep breath and told her how Cedric died.

Then he skimmed a little until the part where the ghosts had come out of Voldemort's wand. "He asked me to take him back to his parents. So when I got away from the Death Eaters, I grabbed him and summoned the Cup and we were Portkeyed back to the pitch."

Cho was wide-eyed. "You saw your parents? Oh, Harry, it's so awful that you never got the chance to know them!" She excused herself for several minutes. Harry poked at the food in front of him. So engrossed in his story, he had barely noticed the dainty little sandwiches he'd been eating.

When Cho came back, she was dry eyed and calm. "Harry, you haven't … have you seen Cedric since then?"

Harry shook his head.

"I'd give anything to see him, just once more," Cho sighed. "I wish I could at least say good-bye." She sighed. "I know he's gone, but every where I go, there's something that reminds me of him. I keep feeling like I'll just turn the corner someday, or walk into the library, and he'll be there…" she sighed. "I have an invitation to transfer to Beauxbatons for my final year. I may take them up on it. At least there I won't expect…" she trailed off. "I guess that's running away, isn't it?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "I don't remember my parents at all. I guess you have to do what's right for you." He fidgeted with his teacup. "I wouldn't think you were running away if you wanted to transfer, if that's any help."

"Thank you, Harry. Yes, it does help."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Then Harry broke it. "Would you… tell me a little more about him? I really don't know much about how he lived."

Talking about Cedric's life made them both feel a little better. Then they forced themselves to talk about everyday topics. Quidditch, O.W.L.s, Quidditch, N.E.W.T.s, Quidditch, the upcoming Yule Ball, Quidditch, the Patronus Charm.

Cho thought that Harry should give a class in that. "It will look good on your resume."

"That's what Hermione says," Harry admitted. "She's tutoring students in Muggle studies and Arithmancy. Ron's teaching a chess class. I guess I could try teaching the Patronus Charm." He made a face. "The worst that can happen is that I make a total fool of myself."

"You couldn't be worse than Lockhart," Cho pointed out.

"Thank you," Harry said.

"I have an ulterior motive," Cho confessed.

"You want to learn it, too?" Harry guessed.

"Exactly," Cho answered. "It will be worth extra points on my N.E.W.T. next year."

They both made a conscious effort not to dwell on the fact that Cedric should have been studying for his N.E.W.T.s right now.

"Speaking of Hermione Granger," Cho said. "I was wondering. Are you two dating?"

Harry shook his head.

"Are you dating anybody?"

Harry frowned at her. That almost sounded… No, he wouldn't even think that. He shook his head again.

Cho studied him thoughtfully. "You know, there's the perfect girl for you right under your nose."

"Meaning who?" Harry asked.

"Ginny Weasley," Cho said. She cleared her throat and blushed a little. "I know it's none of my business, but I thought I could get away with saying something. Besides, it doesn't take a Ravenclaw prefect to see that you make a good couple," added the Ravenclaw prefect.

Harry smiled ruefully. "I'm not offended."

"Any chances of you two getting together?" Cho asked, almost managing to get a twinkle in her eye.

"I don't know," Harry confessed. "I like her. We'll see what develops." Assuming, of course, that she would ever speak to him again.

Shopping:

After leaving the Tea Room, Harry headed back to The Three Broomsticks. Part of him wanted to apologize to Ginny. Another part was annoyed that he'd have to fee that he needed to apologize to Ginny. He'd told her he wasn't sure how he felt about her. What business was it of hers if he had lunch with Cho Chang, anyway? If she wanted to know what was going on between Cho and him, why didn't she just ask?

His internal tirade was interrupted when he saw Ginny looking in the window of a shop he'd never been in. When he came closer, he noticed that the shop was filled with jewelry and frou-frou and other things he'd never had occasion to buy.

Harry walked up to her and tried to gauge her mood by her expression. She looked tired and unhappy. It didn't look like she'd been crying, so maybe his lunch with Cho hadn't been a devastating blow after all. He sighed. He was glad that she wasn't devastated, wasn't he? Or did he want her mooning over him? Why were emotions so bloody complicated anyway?

He looked at her reflection in the window and tried to guess what she was looking at. After a few minutes, it he realized that she was looking at his reflection in the window. That seemed like a good time to say something. He wished he could think of something that would make her feel better. He couldn't think of anything witty to say at all.

"Erm, hi," he finally said.

"Hello, Harry," Ginny said. She swallowed. "Did you and Cho have a good time?"

"No," Harry said. He looked into the shop. "We just had some things we… that we had to talk about."

"Cedric?"

Harry nodded. He took a deep breath. "Ginny, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings."

Ginny shook her head. "You have the right to talk to anybody you want to, or date anybody you want to."

"I don't think Cho's up for dating yet," Harry said.

Ginny chewed the inside of her cheek. "I know. Ron read us the riot act over assuming that you and Cho were, well… He was genuinely upset on Cho's behalf, not just yours. I never would have suspected him of it."

Harry turned his head slightly to look at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I mean, he doesn't even know her," Ginny continued.

"That doesn't mean he can't stand up for her," Harry replied. "He is, after all, a Gryffindor, and we're supposed to be chivalrous."

Ginny looked at Harry out of the corner of her eye. "You have no idea what it's like to see your pouty brother suddenly don shining armor."

Harry grinned. "That must have been almost as big a shock as your brothers suddenly realizing that you were a girl."

Ginny sniggered.

Harry turned back to the window, feeling a little better. He studied the items in there. There were fancy jewelry boxes, silver backed hairbrushes, glittery atomizers and a host of other sparkly items he couldn't identify. After a few seconds, he said, "I'd have told you if I was dating someone." He thought about what to add to that, but decided to leave it.

"Thank you," Ginny said softly.

"You're welcome," Harry said. He hunted around for something else to say. "Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"They didn't come," Ginny said. "They were too busy rowing."

"Oh. About what?"

Ginny shot him a sideways look.

"No, they weren't arguing about me!"

"Well, Ron was put out by the fact that Hermione didn't instantly realize that your lunch with Cho wasn't a romantic date. Then he brought up Viktor Krum."

"Oh, dear."

"They started last night, after you told Ron that you were having lunch with Cho."

"Heard that, did you?" Harry said ironically. "Eavesdroppers shouldn't complain about what they hear."

Ginny sniffed disdainfully. "I wasn't eavesdropping. I wanted to know what you and Ron had planned for today. I just happened to overhear what you said."

"Oh."

"Ron said that he was going to come to Hogsmeade with the twins, but they had different plans. So Ron decided he just come alone. Then he met up with Hermione just after you left. That's when I left. In fact, there was a mass exodus then. Ron and Hermione looked ready to start throwing hexes at each other."

Harry heaved a sigh. "I should write this all down."

"What for?"

"For my best man speech when they get married," Harry said matter-of-factly.

Ginny laughed.

Harry grinned. "I should get them some sweets. Ron especially will be upset if he runs out of Sugarquills."

"Think he'll let you buy him sweets?" Ginny asked.

"He's never objected to me buying him food," Harry said. Just then, his stomach gave an enormous gurgle.

Ginny laughed again. "I thought you had lunch!"

"Have you ever had tea? All they served are these tiny sandwiches. Half the time I couldn't even tell what was in them."

Ginny giggled. "Do you want something else to eat?"

"Yeah," Harry shot her a look. "But first I have to get Hermione a birthday present."

"You should have bought something in the bookstore," Ginny said.

"Maybe, I'm not sure what books she has," Harry said. "I bet she's got more books than Ex Libris, anyway."

Ginny had to acknowledge the truth of that.

"This would be a good place," Ginny said, nodding at the shop. "They opened last year."

"Do they have anything like that fountain puzzle?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. I've never actually been inside." Ginny turned to look at him. "Are you really planning on playing a prank on poor Hermione?"

"Let me think… Yes," Harry replied.

"Good," Ginny said.

"But while I'm shopping, I think I'll get her a real Christmas present. What do you suggest?"

"Let's see what they have," Ginny said.

They went inside. The shop smelled of lavender, cedar and talcum powder. After wandering around for a few minutes, Harry was unpleasantly reminded of Privet Drive. His Aunt Petunia loved bric-a-brac and this store was filled with the whatnots and what-is-its that she loved.

"Oo, these are nice," Ginny said.

Harry went over to see what she was looking at. There was a glass case filled with pewter, glass and porcelain animals. "You think she'd like one of those?" he asked.

"She loves animals," Ginny said.

"Oh, right," Harry went back to studying the animals. There were all sorts of animals that Muggles thought of as being mythical, including a very nice glass Hippogriff, which he pointed out to Ginny.

"Oh, I'd get her the glass unicorn," Ginny said.

"Why? Is that your favorite?"

Ginny nodded.

"I think I'll go with the Hippogriff," Harry said. When he went over to ask about the price, he asked about both. The proprietress understood completely when he asked that Ginny not be allowed to see that he'd bought the unicorn as well as the Hippogriff. "I'll see to everything," she promised.

Harry liked her. She saw his scar. Acknowledged it with a slightly raised eyebrow, but otherwise made no reference to it.

"I need to see if I can find something for Ron to give to Hermione for Christmas," Ginny said. "He asked me to get him something romantic for her."

The proprietress showed them some glass roses. They looked almost lifelike in their vase.

"Ooh, they even smell like roses," Ginny said.

"They even stick like roses," Harry complained, sucking on his wounded finger.

Ginny had to make an effort to keep from licking her lips. "Those will be perfect. I'll have to tell Ron to come get her one."

"I'll have to rework the charm," the proprietress said. "Can't go around wounding my customers." She took the roses off the shelf and went into the back for a bandage.

The proprietress also had some healing ointment for Harry's poor finger and he was grateful that he wouldn't have to ask Ron or Hermione for a healing charm. He didn't want to do more revising than he already was, and who knew what Ron would ask in payment?

"Let's go look for something for Hermione's birthday," Harry said.

"We have plenty of nice gift items, Mr. Potter," the proprietress said. "I'm sure that we'll have something that will please her."

"Well, she gave me a jigsaw puzzle of a water fountain," Harry said.

The proprietress held up her hands. "I understand completely," she said. "I've been soaked down myself. I have a suggestion. Instead of some crude joke from Zonko's, may I suggest a more sophisticated prank?"

"Sophisticated?" Harry asked.

"She'd never expect that from you," Ginny said, poking him in the ribs.

"Thank you so much, Miss Weasley," Harry said, poking her back. "What did you have in mind?"

"How about a nice puzzle box?" the proprietress suggested. "We have a nice selection of them right here."

There were elegantly carved boxes ranging in from the size of a pack of cards to the size of a wardrobe.

"Why do you call them puzzle boxes?" Harry asked.

"Try to open one," the proprietress invited.

They spent several hours trying to open the boxes. They managed to get one of them open without hints. They managed to get another one open with hints.

Finally, Harry decided on a deceptively simple looking box decorated with cats.

Harry's stomach complained bitterly when they were through shopping.

"I guess we can grab a bite to eat," Ginny said.

"Nah, it's too late," Harry said. "We need to get back to the castle. It's almost time for dinner. We have just enough time to hit Honeydukes on our way back."

He paid for his purchases, and was gratified to find that the proprietress had packed up the glass animals without Ginny suspecting anything.

When they got back to the castle, Harry ran up into his room to put his purchases away. His shoes being wet, he sat down to change them. He fell asleep in the middle of the process.

Tricked Again:

Harry woke up, sweating and shaking, in the Hospital Wing.

"Harry? You awake?"

He forced his eyes open to see Mr. Parkinson leaning over him.

"Mr. Parkinson? What happened? Did I have a relapse?" Harry asked. It hurt to breathe, much less talk. Maybe he'd come down with pneumonia again. He frowned. Wouldn't he have felt something sooner?

"Not of the Kirttimukha hemorrhaging," Mr. Parkinson said. "You've been very sick. I'm afraid that you will have to stay in here for a few weeks."

"But…" Harry's protest died away as he realized something. Mr. Parkinson was the chief of surgery at St. Mungo's. He wouldn't have come for a mere case of pneumonia.

"Sir, what happened?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I'm going to have to leave the explanations up to the headmaster."

"But," Harry's protest died away when Mr. Parkinson held up his hand.

"I'm sorry, Harry, it will have to wait. Now, I need you to drink this," he held a goblet to Harry's lips.

Harry started to lift his hand to guide the goblet, when he realized that he couldn't move his arm. His legs were cold and he couldn't feel his feet. His eyes widened.

"It's all right, Harry," Mr. Parkinson said soothingly. "You are going to be all right. We caught this in time. Now, you had better drink this."

Without giving himself time to think, Harry swallowed the contents of the goblet without even tasting them. He let his head fall back onto his pillow and his last conscious thought was… I was poisoned.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to Anne at GryffindorTower.net, my marvelously fast Beta-reader! Chapter 25 is beta'ed and only needs a final read through!

Good night, sweet prince is Shakespeare, if memory serves.

Methinks the girl protests too much – paraphrased from MacBeth.

Terrance Higgs was the Slytherin Seeker in the first book. He might have left school after that year, but I was always under the impression that he was bumped off the team when Malfoy bought his way onto the team. Anyway, I thought it would be nice if he got to play some more, so that's why he's on the team my AU.