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

Edited to fix an unfinished sentence.

Chapter 25: Unlikely Allies

Christmas Break:

The next time Harry woke up, he found out that he had slept through the Yule Ball.

"And the end-of-term exams," Hermione added grimly.

"You make that sound like a bad thing," Ron said.

"He'll have to make them up," Hermione said grimly. "You can imagine how happy Snape will be when he has to give make-up exams."

Harry sighed. "I may as well throw in the towel now," he said. "I'll never pass one of Snape's make-up exams."

"You can do it," Hermione said bracingly.

"What if I don't want to?" Harry said. "I'm sick and tired of that greasy git. Maybe I should just fail his damn class and be done with it."

Ron and Hermione were both taken aback by this.

"You don't want to just give up," Ron said. "That would make Snape to happy." He sighed. "Besides, I need moral support in that class."

"Why? Your marks have been excellent," Hermione said. "You even beat me on that last exam."

"Good job," Harry said. He paused. "So, how did the Yule Ball go?" He couldn't say that he was disappointed that he hadn't gone. He didn't have many good memories of the last ball. Correction, he had no good memories of the last ball.

"Ron was as big a hit at the Yule Ball as he had been at the Fancy Dress party. He had girls lining up to dance with him."

Harry grinned at them. "Way to go, Ron!" He shot a sly look at Hermione. "Hermione will be getting jealous, next."

"She was jealous," Ron said smugly. "Don't think I don't know why the heel of Parvati's shoe suddenly broke. Not to mention the trouble Padma was having with the hem of her dress. And why Eloise Midgen suddenly had such a giggle fit that she had to retire to the bathroom. I'm only surprised that you didn't do something to Bulstrode."

"Millicent kept her hands in the proper place," Hermione said. "Besides, she's got a boyfriend."

"Not to mention that she's bigger than you are," Harry added. "Remember the dueling club?"

"And I was going to be nice and tell you that Cho asked after you," Hermione sniffed.

"Oh, well, tell her thank you," Harry said. "After you get around to telling me that she said anything, of course."

"You should have seen Ginny," Ron added. "She had a line of boys fighting to dance with her."

"Who did she go with?" Harry asked.

"Dennis Creevy," Ron said.

"What, but he's only a Second Year!" Harry protested.

"And only a few inches shorter than you," Ron added.

Harry glared.

"Colin would have taken her, but he was too busy taking pictures," Hermione interjected hastily.

"I hope he saved some for me."

"He did, I have some here," Ginny said. She had just walked into the room wearing her dress robes and looking like she'd stepped out of a painting by Monet.

Harry's breath caught in the back of his throat and now he really understood why her brothers had been floored. She was… Ginny was… beautiful. He'd thought it before, but he couldn't even think now.

Ron and Hermione shared an amused look, then left to let Mother Nature do some matchmaking of her own.

After Hours:

Dumbledore came in while Harry and Ginny were holding hands and talking about Quidditch.

"I hate to interrupt young love," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

"The love of Quidditch knows no age limit," Harry said wisely.

Ginny giggled. Then she grew somber.

Harry struggled to sit up straighter and yelped when he tried to use his hand.

"Easy, Harry," Dumbledore said. He helped Harry to sit up straighter.

"What's wrong with my hand?" Harry asked.

"Harry, I'm afraid that you were poisoned on your last Hogsmeade visit," Dumbledore said gravely.

"Um, oh," Harry said. "But what does it have to do with my hand?"

"Because that's how the poison was put into your system," Dumbledore said quietly.

Harry looked at him blankly, until memory flooded back. "The glass roses!"

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "When Professor Weasley and I went to investigate, we found the real proprietress of the shop stupefied in the back room."

"It was a trap?" Harry frowned. "But why set up an ambush in the curio shop? I've never been there before."

Ginny's eyes crunched up and she looked ready to cry. "It's all my fault."

"Stop that!" Harry said. "You're not to blame because somebody wants to kill me!"

"No, but I lurked outside the curio shop all morning. It's right near the tea shop where you…" She gave a little hiccup here. "… You and Cho had lunch. I knew you'd have to walk past me to get to Honeydukes and The Three Broomsticks."

Harry patted her hand awkwardly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, but I really, really needed to talk to Cho." He shot an anxious look at Dumbledore.

The headmaster studied him gravely. "Were you telling her about Cedric's death?"

Harry nodded, feeling his own throat tighten.

Dumbledore nodded. "That was the right thing to do," he said. He looked grave. "Although there are those who will take it the wrong way."

Ginny made a small sound in the back of her throat. "Like me," she said. "I knew you weren't romancing Cho. I was just…" She hung her head.

Harry didn't think she had any reason to be ashamed, and he said so. "You have feelings," he said. "I guess I should have said something."

Ginny shook her head. "I don't own you; we're not even, erm, going together or anything." She took a deep breath. "All you owe me is the truth."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at her. "The truth can be a terrible thing," he warned.

"At least truth doesn't leave you covered in slime," Ginny darkly.

Dumbledore was apparently impressed with this.

Harry thought he understood what Ginny was referring to. Riddle's lies had caused them both to wind up in the Chamber of Secrets covered in slime and blood. Well, he'd been covered in blood, anyway. Harry was distracted when a horrible thought struck him. "Was anybody, erm, hurt?"

"No, nobody was killed, Harry," Dumbledore assured him. "The proprietress of the curio shop will recover after a few days." His beard twitched. "The official story is that you two interrupted a robbery in progress. The thief didn't escape with much."

"And I just happened to get sick afterward?" Harry asked with a trace of irony.

"Exactly," Dumbledore said. "You have spent a lot of time in the hospital wing this year. Nobody was particularly surprised that you would fall ill again."

Harry sighed. "I can't even go to Hogsmeade anymore, can I?"

Dumbledore didn't answer for a few minutes. "I'm sorry, but it would be better if you did not go."

Ginny squeezed Harry's good hand.

Harry stared off into space. "I don't get it," he said. "This just doesn't seem like Voldemort's work at all."

Ginny almost broke Harry's hand, but gave no other sign that the name upset her.

Harry looked at Dumbledore. "I mean, it's too low key. Last year, he had an elaborate plot to set me up to be a Hogwarts' champion so I'd wind up being kidnapped in front of half the wizarding world. It would have been easier to just owl me a Portkey."

"There are safeguards against that," Dumbledore said. "But yes, this does seem somewhat too self-effacing for Voldemort."

Ginny twitched.

"I suspect that one of his minions is behind this," Dumbledore continued. "Possibly even a minion who is acting without orders. Right now, both sides seem to be doing the same thing. We're all gathering up our forces." He sighed. "I'm afraid this is just the calm before the storm."

Harry felt nauseated. "What about the presents that I bought?"

"They are quite safe; Professor Weasley and I checked them over."

"Do you suppose I could return them?" Harry asked. "I… I don't think I could stand looking at them."

Dumbledore looked tired. "I suppose I can't blame you. I'll speak to the proprietress." He rose and gave Harry a smile that was surprisingly unconvincing. "You two continue on with your activities. Don't let a doddering old man like me disrupt your plans." He headed out the door. "I have some sweets on my desk, I mean, paperwork on my desk that needs my attention."

Harry and Ginny's grins faded after the headmaster closed the door. There was an awkward silence.

"Do you want to play a game or something?" Ginny asked.

"No," Harry said. "I'm kind of tired."

"I'll let you get some sleep then," Ginny said as she rose.

"Ginny?"

"Yes?"

"You look, erm, really nice in those robes," Harry said. He gave her a sweet smile that made her pulse flutter.

"Thank you," Ginny debated kissing him, but lost her nerve and just left.

Christmas Eve:

Harry woke up with a start.

"Sorry," Sirius said.

"S'okay," Harry said, rubbing his eyes. He picked up his new glasses and settled them on his nose. "Happy Christmas, Dad," he said. A smile spread across his face.

"Happy Christmas to you, Leo-mine," Sirius said. "Have you told Ron and Hermione about your new nickname?"

Harry shook his head. "I've hardly seen them. I've spent most of the year in the Hospital Wing."

"Poor kid," Sirius said. "I've brought you a present."

"You shouldn't…"

"I fixed it myself. These are easier than wands." He held out a familiar, long package. "I bought this Wishing Star broom for you when you were three days old. Saw it in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies and couldn't resist."

"Did you try?" Harry asked interestedly. He unwrapped the broom and stared at it. It was unfortunately cute, but it was his first broom.

"Leo, I'm trying to be sentimental here," Sirius scolded. "I can't stay long. However, I wanted to give you this and see that you were all right." He paused. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too, Dad," Harry said. "I don't have your gift here. It's still at Ollivander's."

"Don't worry about it, I'll make do," Sirius said. He pulled a flask out of his pocket. "Here's some eggnog. How's about a New Year's toast while we're at it?"

Harry accepted a goblet. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said.

"Mischief managed," Sirius returned.

Later, Harry would kick himself for not giving Sirius his Christmas card from Lily.

The Thought that Counts:

Harry was awakened from an uneasy sleep to the sound of whispers.

"It's almost eight!" Ron hissed.

"He's been ill, he needs his sleep!" Hermione hissed back.

"He can sleep all day!" Ron protested. "I want to open presents!"

"You could have stayed in your dormitory, you know."

"All by myself? On Christmas?"

" 'M'wake," Harry muttered feeling he'd been through this once already.

"YES!" Ron was triumphant.

Harry pried his face off his pillow and groped for his glasses.

"Here," Ginny said.

Harry blinked at her and wondered if she'd been watching him sleep. He found himself blushing at the thought.

Fortunately, Ron provided a distraction then by ripping open his presents.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Ginny protested. She disappeared around the screen that surrounded Harry's bed.

"Well, quit snogging under the mistletoe and get out here," Ron said.

Harry sighed and considered going back to sleep, but he wanted to see how his quickly improvised Christmas presents were received. He owed Colin Creevy a debt of gratitude for even trying.

Ginny had made Knitten Owls for the three of them.

"Her Knitten Kritters are becoming popular," Ron boasted. "Fred and George are thinking of carrying them in their shop." His pride in his sister was so obvious that Ginny blushed and Hermione blinked rapidly against a suspicious brightness in her eyes.

Harry shook his head. Honestly, girls cried at everything.

"It's legal here and everything," Ginny added. "I asked McGonagall. Not even Filch objected to me knitting animals." She grinned. "I think it might have something to do with Mrs. Norris liking her Knitten Mousie."

"Barking, that's what you are," Ron said fondly.

Ron's gift to Ginny was a box of multi-colored yarn. "So you won't run out of material any time soon." He gave Harry a box of chocolate frogs and a set of chocolate chessmen. "The chocolate frogs came in so handy last time," he said. "The chessmen should be even better in a fight."

"Do they move?" Harry asked.

Ron shook his head, grinning. "Nah, not really. But they're fun to play with because you get to eat the pieces you capture." He started fidgeting when Hermione opened her present.

"Oh, a charm bracelet!" Hermione said. "Thank you Ron!" she held up the silver bracelet. A miniature silver book dangled from it.

"It's only got the one charm on it," Ron said a bit awkwardly.

"That's all right," Hermione said. "I'll collect more over the years." She beamed at him. "Thank you!" Naturally, she flicked open the book to see if there was any writing in it and burst out laughing.

"What does it say?" Harry asked.

"Don't read now, it's Christmas!" Hermione quoted.

"Do I know you or what?" Ron boasted.

"I guess you do," she said smilingly as she handed him his gift.

It turned out to be a miniature chess set that replayed some of the greatest chess matches of all time.

"Cool! I can really analyze them this way!" Ron said.

Harry cleared his throat. "I have something for the three of you," he said. Handing the playing card sized packages around.

"I told you not to buy me a present, Potter," Ron said.

"You said that I could get you a card," Harry replied blandly.

The cards turned out to be ersatz Chocolate Frog cards, with their pictures and their most memorable moments.

Ron's card said that his most memorable moments included defeating McGonagall's giant chess set and facing down Aragog.

"I really don't think you should have put in the part about me beating Malfoy around the head," Hermione said as she studied her card. "Although I admit it was memorable."

"I did not single-handedly tackle Sirius Black," Ginny put in. "There were three of us." She read further. "How did you know that I was the first one in my class to master the Wingardium Leviosa spell?"

"Where'd you get these?" Ron asked.

"From Colin," Harry said in answer to both questions. "I didn't buy them, either. I traded for them fair and square."

"So he got that autographed picture of you after all?" Ron sniggered.

Harry decided to change the subject and ripped open his other presents.

Mrs. Weasley had sent them all jumpers and a big tin of treacle fudge. Ron's jumper was maroon, Ginny's was pink, Harry's was gold and Hermione's was lavender.

Hagrid had sent all of them palm-sized, hand-carved wooden griffins.

"Cool," Ron said holding his up and admiring it.

"He's really quite talented," Hermione added.

Hermione's parents sent her a porcelain music box that played "That Old Black Magic."

The Dursleys sent Harry a handkerchief, which Harry hastily banished to the rubbish bin as soon as he realized that it had been used. "EURGH! Just when you think they can't get any lower," he muttered.

The other three looked around for a distraction. Once again, Ron came through.

"So, where's your present for Harry, Hermione?"

Blushing, Hermione pulled a box the size of a teacup out from under her chair.

"It's nothing romantic, is it?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"No," Hermione said. "It's just extremely sentimental."

"Oh, dear," Harry said. He opened it as cautiously as he would a present from the twins. Inside was a smaller version of the pensieve that Dumbledore kept in his office.

"I've been working on this since August," Hermione said. "Rather, Mr. Parkinson, your grandfather and I have been working on this. It has some of your grandfather's memories in it."

Harry stared into the Pensieve wide-eyed. He could see glimpses of a Christmas tree, a man teaching a messy-haired boy how to fly a broom, that same boy teaching the man how to read under the bedclothes so no one could see.

"It's not exactly the same as being able to talk to your grandfather, but I hope it's a decent substitute," Hermione added a trifle nervously.

Harry tore his eyes away from the Pensieve. He wanted to see more, but he wanted a little privacy. He was afraid he might burst into tears. He cleared his throat a few times as he tried to think of some way of thanking Hermione for this gift. "Erm, I reckon there won't be any payback for that fountain puzzle," he wound up saying.

"You're welcome, Harry," Hermione said, relief evident in her face.

Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw (2):

The poison had weakened Harry's immune system, so Harry spent the rest of the holiday coming down with one lung infection after another. He spent the first two weeks of January in the Hospital Wing. The upside to this was that he didn't have to endure Potions with Snape. The downside was that he couldn't play Seeker in the second Gryffindor – Ravenclaw match.

The replay was the weekend before Harry was released. Even if he hadn't been hospitalized, Madam Pomfrey and Madam Hooch would have forbidden him to play.

Parvati, claiming it was too cold to be outside, came and sat with Harry. They took turns using his mother's spyglass to watch. Twenty minutes into the game, Harry's eyes pained him so much that he had to quit.

"Ow!" he said.

"What's wrong?" Parvati asked.

"Dunno," Harry said. "All of a sudden, it was like somebody was poking pins in my eyes." He pushed his glasses up and swiped at his eyes with his sleeve.

"Maybe it's your new glasses," Parvati suggested.

"Don't rub at them, Potter," Madam Pomfrey said. "That will only make it worse." She bustled over to him. "Let me see," she said. As she examined his eyes, she shot of questions. "Did you feel something enter your eyes? Did you see a flash of light?"

"No and no," Harry replied. "All of a sudden it felt like my eyes were on fire."

Madam Pomfrey frowned. Then she tried a simple 'finite incantatem'. Much to her surprise, it worked. "You are not using that thing until Professor Flitwick checks it over thoroughly. She held out her hand for the spyglass and Harry reluctantly handed it over.

"Then it was a curse?" Parvati asked.

"We'll find out," Madam Pomfrey said.

"Now we'll have to wait to hear what happens," Harry said in disgust. "I hope Hermione's Omnioculars are working well."

Surprisingly, the team came bursting in less than twenty minutes later, amid a hail of confetti and thunder of wet-start firecrackers.

"It's over?" Parvati asked in surprise.

"Oh, yes," Fred chortled. He handed Parvati a Gryffindor rosette and a bottle of Pumpkin Fizz.

"What happened?" Harry demanded. He accepted a bottle of Pumpkin Fizz from George and studied the cap to see if it looked legitimate.

"Weren't you watching?" Ron asked in astonishment.

"I, erm, had some problems with the spyglass," Harry confessed. He decided that the Pumpkin Fizz was safe and opened it.

"Madam Pomfrey confiscated it," Parvati added. She sipped on hers and visibly braced herself for some sort of reaction.

"Damn! Why'd she do that?"

"Ron! Language! And you're ruining Ginny's moment!" Hermione scolded.

Ron blushed, then grabbed Ginny's hand and raised it over her head. "The winner and new champion!"

Harry grinned at her. Ginny's grin was a flash of white amidst the red blush and red hair. "I was lucky," she confessed.

"Luck is often a matter of doing the right thing at the right time," Hermione said.

"Congratulations," Parvati said.

"So, what happened?" Harry asked.

Hermione held up her Omnioculars. "I've got it saved for posterity." She said.

"It was a brilliant day, visibility was good and we were playing a civilized team," Ron said. He held his bottle like a microphone and did a credible imitation of Lee Jordan.

Harry laughed. "It couldn't have been a very long game," he said. As nothing had happened to Parvati, he decided to take a drink.

"About twenty minutes," Ginny said. "You still hold the record. I can't even say that I caught the Snitch."

Harry raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat.

"I was circling the pitch, not too low, not too high, just like you told me, coach." Ginny's grin was becoming infectious. "Cho tried to feint, but she couldn't fool me. I could see that the Snitch wasn't there. Then I went towards the Ravenclaw goal as if I'd seen something. She didn't buy it either. Then I dived under a Bludger. Just as I started to gain some altitude…" She had to stop for breath because her brothers were laughing too loudly to be heard over.

"I saw all that," Harry said. "The Snitch showed up just after the Bludger almost hit MY broomstick!"

Ginny made as if to whack him with said broom.

"That's when the spyglass started acting up," Harry said. "It spiked me in the eyes!"

"That must be what the warning was about," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Harry sighed very loudly.

Ginny laughed and delivered the punch line. "The Snitch flew down the front of my robes."

Harry and Parvati sniggered.

"No way around it," Seamus said. "That thing was created by a man."

That set everybody off.

"So how does that explain what happened to Harry?" Parvati asked when they had calmed down enough to speak.

"Well, the inscription warns against trying to look in the boys' dormitory," Hermione said. "I think there's probably a spell to prevent the spyglass from being used for voyeurism."

"Peeping down a girl's cleavage must also be a no-no," Lavender giggled.

The twins and Ron made strangled noises and Lavender gave them a puzzled look.

"Ignore them," Ginny said. "They aren't used to the idea that their ickle sister has, as they say, cleavage."

Parvati, Lavender and Hermione thought this was very funny.

"Looks like our fears about the future of Gryffindor Quidditch were groundless," Fred said.

"May I propose a toast to the future of Gryffindor Quidditch?" George asked.

"To the future of Gryffindor Quidditch!" the others chorused.

Everybody drank except the twins, which is why the twins were the only ones who didn't turn orange.

The Weasley Twins Explain All

"It's a potion/ incantation combo," Fred explained as he and George dangled, head down, from the ceiling. "The drink is perfectly safe until you say the trigger phrase."

"It will wear off in a few hours," George added in a placating manner. "We designed it for Quidditch fans, so they could show support for their teams."

"I think you should bring them down now, Poppy," Dumbledore suggested gently.

Poppy scowled at the twins. "If Mr. Potter has a bad reaction to that potion, I shall see you both expelled."

The twins looked at her in shock.

"Harry's on medication for his lung infection," Dumbledore pointed out sternly. "Mixing potions is not a good idea."

The twins looked stricken.

Fortunately, Harry did not have a bad reaction. In fact, his lung infection cleared up quickly after that incident. Reluctantly, Madam Pomfrey looked into the formula that the twins had used in case it had actually done something useful.

The Patronus Class

February saw Harry actually putting Cho's idea to work and starting a Patronus class. The Prowlery was too small for the crowd that had signed up, so Dumbledore had agreed to let them use the Great Hall for this occasion, provided that he had some teachers supervising.

Harry was nervous. He wasn't used to public speaking and he'd never taught anything to anybody, unless you counted teaching Hermione how to break rules. Which he didn't, because he didn't want Hermione to hit him with the Fire-starting Glare of Extreme Huffiness.

Now here he was, expected to teach his a crowd. There were the usual Prowlers, plus a few more fifth-years, plus some sixth, plus some seventh years, plus some teachers! To top it all off, one of the teachers was Snape.

Malfoy and his cronies were nowhere in sight. For that small mercy, Harry was dutifully grateful.

He stood in front of the crowd and wished he could have had some practice sessions with a smaller group. However, there was no turning back now.

He tapped his throat with his wand. "Sonorus," he said. Then he addressed the crowd. "Can everybody hear me? Can everybody see me?" He was so struck by his resemblance to Lockhart that he almost bolted. Seeing Ron, Seamus and Dean sniggering in the corner didn't help his confidence any.

"Right, then, what we're going to learn is the Patronus Charm; can anybody tell me what that is for?"

"It's a charm to ward off Dementors," Justin Finch-Fletchley said.

"Yes, do you know how it works?"

"A Patronus contains positive emotions, but Dementors can't feed on them because a Patronus can't feel despair," Hermione recited.

"Right, there are two things you have to do, the charm itself is easy: 'Expecto Patronum'."

The crowd repeated the words.

"That's right; try it a few more times."

After a few minutes, Harry went on to the next part. "The next part is the hard part. You have to come up with a happy memory. I mean a really, really happy memory."

"How's that hard?" Terry Boot wanted to know.

"Remember, you're faced with a Dementor. Your mind is going to be filled with horrible memories."

"The Patronus works on Lethifolds, too," Susan Bones pointed out.

"Yeah," Millicent said. "Do you think it'll be easy to come up with a happy memory while you're being squashed and suffocated?"

"Ah," Susan said. "Point taken."

Dumbledore leaned back as the students started trying to combine the charm with their happiest thoughts. Snape crossed his arms and scowled. McGonagall leaned forward and folded her arms on the table in front of her.

"He's a natural for this, Red," a voice said from behind them. "Why not hire him?"

They turned to see the ghost Dusty standing there.

Snape snorted. "Potter? As a teacher? That would be a disaster." He looked Dusty over. "I don't recall seeing you before."

"We've met," Dusty said. "I see you far too often for my tastes." He turned back to Dumbledore. "So, how about it Red? We've got to see if all is secure down there, after all."

Dumbledore made a wry face. "You may have a point, Dusty."

"Besides, it's for the sake of my history book," Dusty said. "I can't rest until I finish it, and I'm rather stuck at the moment."

"I'll think about it, Dusty," Dumbledore said.

"You might want to think about that time you broke into Dippet's private wine cellar because you were convinced that the entrance was in there. Wouldn't want your students to emulate what you did when you realized that was a dead end." Dusty grinned. "How long did that hangover last, anyway?"

"That was a long time ago, Dusty. I don't recall," Dumbledore said with dignity.

"Why?"

"I was young," Dumbledore said in tones that strongly suggested that the topic was closed.

"You were a professor at the time, you can't hide behind that 'boys will be boys' alibi," laughed Red.

McGonagall and Snape looked at the headmaster in astonishment. Dumbledore ignored them and continued to watch the students. He had a lot of practice in not blushing.

The Weasleys Talk About Romance:

People were actually starting to feel sorry for Slytherin. Their performance on the Quidditch Pitch was nothing less than atrocious. Malfoy could not coordinate his team to save his life and it was only Terrence Higgs' masterful coordination with the other Chasers that prevented the games from being a total walkover.

The Gryffindors couldn't even bring themselves to gloat, much, at least, not where Snape could hear them. Professor McGonagall was too much of a lady to gloat. In fact, she went out of her way to be pleasant to Snape and remembered to smile at him at every opportunity.

The students just went on with their lives. Harry's Patronus Class was a huge success. People were talking about his chances for becoming the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher straight out of Hogwarts.

"He's already overqualified," somebody said.

Hermione was so absorbed in her studies, prefect's duties and teaching House-elves how to read, that she didn't realize what the date was until a large bouquet of pink roses appeared under her nose.

She stared at it blankly. Then her gaze traveled up the length of the arm holding it to Ron's smug face.

"Bet you thought I'd forget, didn't you?" Ron challenged.

"Forget what?" Hermione asked.

"Valentine's Day!" Ron exclaimed.

"Oh. OH!" Hermione's eyes went wide.

Ron shook his head. "I don't get it. I thought that Valentine's Day was supposed to be a big deal for girls."

Hermione blushed. "Well, I guess I'm just used to, well, not getting anything." She realized she was being less than appropriately grateful and she threw her arms around Ron and gave him a big hug.

Meanwhile, Harry presented Ginny with a bouquet of white carnations.

Ginny was equally floored. "Oh, Harry, how… erm."

Harry winced. "I got the wrong kind of flowers, didn't I? I should have got roses." He sighed.

Ginny's brain finally wrapped itself around the fact that HARRY POTTER was offering her flowers for Valentine's Day. She yanked them out of his hand before they could be withdrawn. "No! They're lovely." She inhaled the spicy scent. "They smell wonderful, too!"

"That's one of the reasons why I chose them," Harry said. He looked at his now empty hand as if he were checking for blisters.

Ginny looked at him curiously. "What was the other reason?"

"Well, the roses, erm, clashed with your hair."

Ginny laughed out loud.

"And carnations don't have nasty thorns to poke you."

The common room became uncommonly hushed.

"What?" Harry said, looking around in bewilderment.

Ginny made a "snrking" noise that told Harry he had stuck his foot in his mouth.

The twins advanced on him. "What's this about poking our sister?" Fred asked with a maniacal glint in his eye.

Head Girl Johnson, engrossed in her bouquet of red roses, pretended not to notice.

"Poking our sister? Who's talking about poking our sister?" Bill appeared out of nowhere, as if he'd been lying in ambush all the time.

"My guess that it was Potter," Ron said. Ron advanced and Hermione giggled into her bouquet.

The twins grabbed Harry by the arms and picked him up bodily.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Harry protested. "You know bloody well I was talking about roses!"

"I think it's time we had a little man-to-man talk," Bill said gravely.

"Put me down!" Harry began to flail about.

"Oh, no," Ron said, grabbing Harry's legs. "If you're going to go around giving our ickle sister flowers, then you have to sit through the Weasley version of The Talk."

"As told by Fred, George, Ron and Bill," Bill said sternly.

They carried the protesting Harry out of the portrait hole.

"Don't damage him!" Angelina called after them. "We still have Hufflepuff to obliterate!"

The portrait hole closed with a thump amidst a storm of giggles.

Ginny looked at the bouquet of carnations in her hand and grinned. She was actually getting somewhere.

Time to Take a Break:

If Ginny thought it would be easy from now on, she was soon disabused of that notion. She had a formidable rival for Harry's time, if not his affections.

As the year wore on, the O.W.L.s loomed portentously over the fifth-years' thoughts. The Prowlery was almost never unoccupied. Large sections of the library migrated there, seemingly of their own accord. Previously lackadaisical students suddenly found themselves glued to their textbooks. (In Ron's case, that was literal the time he let the twins take him by surprise.)

Several students took a Practice O.W.L. for the first time, gaped at the results, and joined the Prowlers in their study sessions.

"Maybe it's a good thing Hermione didn't schedule any time to get into trouble, after all," Ron muttered to Harry. "With this course load, we'd never get around to it, anyway."

There was one aberration during this. The Easter holiday saw a bloody rebellion against books.

Okay, Harry got a paper cut and decided that it was a sign that it was time to take a break. He declared that there were more important things right now than books. His health demanded that he gain some weight and there was all this chocolate on hand just begging for the opportunity.

Ginny would have taken the opportunity to assist him, if she hadn't managed to get detention for most of the Easter break.

"Ginny, I am ashamed of you!" Ron scolded.

"Well, Malfoy had it coming," Ginny muttered, rubbing her newly healed hand.

"But you did it when I wasn't there to see!" Ron complained.

"I got a picture!" Colin said happily. "I'll make up a new Chocolate Frog card for you, Ginny. Most notable accomplishment to date, blackening Malfoy's eye!"

"Don't forget pasting Viktor Krum," Ron crowed.

Harry wandered over and Ginny hoped that he would offer to kiss her hand and make it better. However, all he did was mention Quidditch and the need to practice. He did, however, hold Ginny's hand on the way to the pitch.

Most of the Prowlers followed Harry's example and abandoned the Prowlery from the Thursday before Good Friday to the Monday after Easter. Only Hermione, with Ron in tow, went up there during those four days.

However, they did not study.

Time to Start Panicking:

Study resumed with a vengeance after the Easter break. Snape, apparently in retaliation for Neville and Millicent making such a good team, decided to divide the rest of the Potions class up into Slytherin/ Gryffindor teams.

Hermione was partnered with Goyle, which had the effect of bringing his grade up dramatically.

Harry was paired with Crabbe, which had the effect of dramatically increasing the number of melted cauldrons. This made Snape happy as he finally had a chance to deduct points from Gryffindor.

Lavender was paired with Pansy, which drove the Slytherin girls into a hissy fit. "She keeps smiling at me!" she complained bitterly. "Never trust a smiling Gryffindor!"

Lavender's constant grinning eventually got to Snape and he put her back with Parvati, as had been her intention all along. Pansy was reassigned to work with Blaise and they spent more time arguing than all of the Slytherin/ Gryffindor teams put together.

Ron was paired with Malfoy. Snape must have expected Ron to lose control so he could assign detention. Uncharacteristically, Ron managed to keep his temper. Snape was only able to take points off for Ron's temper calming mantra: 'bouncing ferrets, bouncing ferrets.'

Snape was eventually forced to switch partners again. Pansy seemed a lot happier with the arrangement than Malfoy did. Blaise and Ron worked so well together that their grades started challenging Hermione's.

The idea of someone beating Hermione must have made Snape happy, because he left the partner arrangement standing for the rest of the school year.

Patronus Finals:

The only other class worth mentioning was the weekly Patronus class. Much to his surprise, Harry found that he actually enjoyed teaching. He was thrilled when one of his students managed to produce a misty Patronus.

Harry laughed aloud with delight. "Good work, Zabini!"

"Yours was a stag," Blaise protested over the storm of congratulations.

"It didn't start out a stag," Harry said. "Yours will get stronger with practice." He made a face. "Or tremendous motivation. I hope you don't ever have that kind of motivation. I mean, you'd probably do very well if I brought in a Dementor, but that's a bit extreme."

"I heard that Professor Lupin brought in a Dementor to train you on," Blaise said.

Harry shook his head. "No, he just used a Boggart." He didn't feel the need to explain that the Boggart would only turn into a Dementor if the person it was facing feared Dementors more than anything else. He didn't think it was necessary as they supposedly all learned this in third year.

Blaise nodded and went back to practicing.

Harry was actually disappointed when his class started shrinking over the weeks. Some left because they became discouraged, some because they had too much other work, and some because they felt they'd learned enough.

He wasn't sorry when Eloise Midgen left, though. She was a nice girl, but had as much luck with spells as Neville did. She managed to produce a misty Patronus, but she also managed to throw Harry half way across the room and later to turn his glasses into slime.

By June, the class was down to the determined, the desperate, and a handful of sixth-years who had nothing better to do than to start studying for their N.E.W.T.s.

The Weasleys had managed to turn the Patronus lessons into an intense case study of sibling rivalry. Each of the five Weasleys was dead set to learn the Patronus first. Bill, as eldest and a professor, was particularly determined not to be outdone by his younger siblings. The twins and Ron spent a lot of time twitting Bill about his inability to produce one.

Ron became obsessed with the idea of producing the Patronus first. Hermione had never seen Ron so focused on anything outside of chess and wondered if she'd be able to get him to concentrate that hard in sixth year, too.

Ginny took it as a personal affront that Harry would not give her private tuition. However, anytime Harry tried to be alone with her, one or more (usually more) obsessed brothers would tag along demanding Patronus coaching. (That was their story, anyway.)

This made it difficult for Harry to flirt. What really hurt was that Ginny didn't even seem to notice when he did work up the nerve to try. He sighed and concentrated on getting the first Weasley Patronus to appear. Surely, that would calm things down.

It didn't. When Harry suggested that they concentrate on Christmas at The Burrow, each of them managed to produce a misty Patronus. That only turned the race into one to produce a stronger one, like Harry's stag.

"Help me," Harry appealed to Hermione, Cho and Angelina, the only non-Weasleys left in the class at that point.

"Sorry, Harry," Cho said. "I'm still trying to get past the heavy mist stage myself.

Angelina grinned. "I have an idea." She walked over to Fred. "Hey, Fred. I know what memory you should use."

"What?" Fred asked.

"No fair!" George protested.

"How about the memory of me kissing you in front of the whole class?" Angelina suggested.

Fred frowned. "I don't… mrph." His complaint was cut off by Angelina suiting action to words. Then she whispered something in his ear.

Fred pulled away, looking first shocked, and then overjoyed. He took one step away from Angelina, whirled around and bellowed, "Expecto Patronum!"

Silver mist condensed into the shape of… a giant canary.

The unofficial Weasley Patronus Challenge was over.

"Class dismissed!" Harry cried. He saw his opening and he was going to take it. "Today, the first Saturday of June, I officially declare the Patronus class closed for the year. Full marks to all of you. Two hundred percent to Mr. Fred Weasley and I'm starved. Anybody want to go on a picnic?" He looked at Ginny when he said that and, for once, none of the Weasley boys tried to interrupt.

Ginny turned Weasley red.

Deciding to interpret this as a yes, Harry grabbed her hand and headed for the kitchen.

"A picnic sounds like a good idea," Ron said.

"I think we should go to the Prowlery," Hermione said.

Ron frowned. "Hermione! It's summer! It's Saturday! The Prowlery will be empty!" He thought that one over. "What are we waiting for? The Prowlery will be empty!" He led the way upstairs.

No Picnic:

A picnic seemed such a reasonable idea. They didn't even have to break any rules, well, not many rules. Sneak into the kitchen and persuade the house-elves to give them a small picnic basket (instead of the laundry hamper that was the house-elves' first choice). Harry hung the picnic basket on his Wishing Star broom and he attached his snake rope to the broom.

They strolled hand in hand to the lake, with the Wishing Star tagging behind like an obedient puppy. Harry noticed that two or three Weasley brothers were in sight at all times. He decided to pretend that he thought this was a coincidence.

The food was good and they ate hungrily as they chatted about school. Then they ran out of things to say.

Ginny wondered if she should ask why he was wearing his ugly old glasses, but decided that wasn't a very nice thing to say.

"So, what do you think of the Cannons?" Harry ventured.

"Oh, don't start, I get enough of that from Ron," Ginny sighed. "Can we talk about something other than Quidditch?"

Harry looked deflated.

"Do you like poetry?" She could have bitten her tongue. Not only was it highly unlikely that Harry read poetry, this was the perfect opportunity to bring up "His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad…"

"Erm, I guess," Harry said. "Don't know much about it though." Oh, great. Poetry? Of course, girls want to talk romantic stuff on a date. I should have asked Hermione for some pointers.

Of course, a date isn't going to act the same as a brother. Still, it had been a stupid question. What were you supposed to talk about on dates? She sighed. Harry was going to start thinking of her as that tongue-tied hero-worshipping little girl in a minute.

I must be the world's worst date. Ginny and Parvati will probably form a club. If they're lucky, they'll be able to find some of those 'Potter Really Stinks' buttons.

"Read any good books lately?" Harry ventured.

Do I want him to know I read Sickle Romances? Ginny asked herself. Hell, no. She cast around frantically for something safe. "Erm, nothing that wasn't related to schoolwork or, erm, poetry. You?"

"Nothing that didn't relate to school or Quidditch," Harry replied glumly. He looked around for inspiration. "Want to practice Parseltongue?"

"Erm, no," Ginny said. "You want to pick a fight?"

Harry looked at her blankly.

"Well, whenever Ron and Hermione run out of things to say, they start a fight," Ginny explained. "Never mind, it was a dumb joke."

"Oh." Harry said. "I thought we were going to be quieter than Ron and Hermione, anyway."

Ginny shot him a sideways look. "Irritated banshees are quieter than Ron and Hermione," she said.

Harry grinned. "True." He looked around again. It was a lovely day. The sun was shining, the lake was sparkling and Ginny was smiling. It should have been perfect. It would have been perfect if he wasn't such a dull stick that he couldn't carry on a decent conversation that didn't revolve around Quidditch, school or Voldemort. He resorted to drastic means.

"I spy, with my little eye, something red!"

Ginny actually laughed. "My hair!" She looked around. "Okay, I spy, with my little eye, something green!"

Harry looked around. "The grass?" he guessed.

Much to Harry's bewilderment, Ginny found this hilarious. Pity I don't know how to make her laugh intentionally. Harry looked around for something else green, oblivious to the fact that he'd need a mirror. His green eyes were drawn to the lake, where a familiar shimmer was taking place. He leaped to his feet and yanked Ginny up, too.

"RUN!"

"What?"

"Sonorus! EVERYBODY BACK TO THE CASTLE! NOW!"

Heads jerked around at Harry's enhanced bellow. Some of the students, recognizing the phenomenon as Harry had, sprinted madly for safety. Everybody else was enlightened when the dragon arrived.

"Not again," Harry growled. "GO!"

Ginny and Harry ran.

It took Ginny several minutes to realize that Harry was not running the same direction that everyone else was. She swore as she looked around. As she expected, Harry was heading away from the rest of the students, and the castle.

The dragon, of course, went after Harry.

Ginny could see why Harry was being so insufferably noble. The front door was blocked as students tried to shove their way in. Some of the smarter students elected to run around to the back, opting for a longer run over a longer wait at the door. Ginny saw Cho Chang trying to sort out the panicky students. Ginny shook her head and turned back. She had no idea what she was going to do if she should catch up to the dragon, but if she was going to be torched, she was going out in a fight, not a traffic jam.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that she wasn't the only one heading for the fight. It didn't surprise her at all that most of the crowd sported red hair.

"Will you get out of here?!" Harry bellowed. The sonorus spell was obviously still in effect.

"No," Ginny said, mostly to herself. What could she use against a dragon?

Harry had apparently been thinking of the same thing. He dodged the dragon's grasp, slipped on the grass and raised his wand. "Expecto Patronum!"

The silver stag shot out of Harry's wand, took one look at the dragon and gave Harry a look that plainly said, You're kidding me, before attacking.

"Expecto Patronum!" Then Fred's Giant Canary was flapping around the dragon's head, too.

Seconds later, a heavy mist drifted in as George and Angelina sent their Patroni into the fray.

Taking advantage of the diversion, Harry managed to dodge around the dragon and head back to the castle. Most of the students were inside, now. The teachers should be coming any minute. Ginny crouched, ready to run and she looked at her wand in disgust. She was too far away for her misty Patronus to help, and she couldn't think of anything useful to try.

The dragon battered past the Patroni and headed for the castle.

"Expecto Arachibutyro!" Bill bellowed.

The dragon was ready for him this time. The giant gob of peanut butter only made it pause for a second. Then the dragon made a hawking sound and spat. Liquid peanut butter shot out of its mouth and pinned Bill to the ground like a fly caught in amber.

"GINNY! RUN! DAMMIT!" Harry bellowed.

Not having any other ideas, Ginny turned and ran for the castle. What else worked against dragons? She didn't know the charm that Fleur had used, or the eye hex that Viktor had used. Then an idea came. Half turning as she ran, she bellowed, "Accio Wishing Star!"

The baby broomstick flew past the dragon, smacking it with the picnic basket as it passed.

Ginny touched her throat. "Sonorus." She let out a hiss to tell the snake rope to slash at the dragon.

Dragons are notoriously tough creatures, but even they will notice getting smacked in the eye by a rope. The dragon's head whipped around, but the baby broom and the rope slithered past it. The stag and the giant canary continued to harass it, but the dragon turned its attention back to the fleeing Harry.

Ron and Hermione had just entered the entrance hall on their way to lunch, when they found it filled with panicking students.

"DRAGON!" somebody screamed.

Hermione touched her wand to her throat. "Sonorus. YOU NEXT TO THE GREAT HALL, GO INSIDE, FIND TEACHERS! PREFECTS! GET EVERYBODY ELSE TO THE DORMITORIES! NOW! MOVE IT!"

The crowd started to move and drain out of the entrance hall. Ron and Hermione ran to the door to see what was going on. George, Angelina and Fred were to the right of the castle, out of the direct line of fire. Bill was to the left, also out of the line of fire, but pinned down and out of the fight. Ginny was several meters in front of the main doors, looking back at the lake.

Running full tilt from the lake was Harry, of course. They could see the two Patroni harassing the dragon, but they were fading rapidly.

Bill shouted something that made the dragon roar and paw at it eyes. Harry managed to get a lead on it, but the dragon began half-flying, half-staggering after him. Somehow, it knew exactly where Harry was.

Ginny shook her head. Blinding it wouldn't help. There was something besides sight leading the dragon to Harry. Something that had acted as the anchor.

Harry stumbled a little but gained his feet. Automatically, he pushed his glasses up firmly on his nose.

Glasses?

The silver stag rammed the dragon when it came down to earth. The dragon's tail swatted the stag and it vanished.

Harry staggered as if he'd been hit.

Fred's canary was torched out of the air. Fred sat down abruptly.

George and Angelina grabbed him and hauled him away from the castle and the fight.

Ron and Hermione came up behind Ginny, ready to dodge back into the castle.

"Expecto Patronum!" yelled Ron. A silvery mist shot out of his wand, obscuring Harry from the dragon's sight.

Ginny and Hermione summoned their Patroni as well, thickening the fog that was now shrouding Harry from their sight.

Sight. Glasses.

"Get inside!" Bill roared.

Harry almost made it.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny were dashing into the almost empty front hall so they didn't see exactly what happened. They all heard Harry cry out. Then there was a thud.

The three whirled and went back out, followed by a third girl. Harry was lying in a bloody heap on the steps. The dragon's talon was reaching for Harry. Apparently, it was still under orders to bring him back to its master.

Ron started forward, only to be cut off by the third girl. "Expecto Patronum!" Cho called.

It wasn't a shapeless mist that came out of her wand to tackle the dragon. It was a human, on a fast moving broom. Ron's eyes went wide when he realized that Cho Chang's Patronus was Cedric Diggory.

The dragon snapped at it, but the Cedric-Patronus buzzed around its head as Harry had buzzed the horntail during the First Task. The dragon lunged, only to have Cedric-Patronus slip aside at the last second.

Still half-blind from the misty Patroni, the dragon collided with the castle wall, causing it to shudder.

Half-blind. Glasses.

A set of images came to Ginny's mind. Harry coming into their compartment on the Hogwarts Express without his glasses on. He hadn't got them back until after school had started. He'd worn them during the Ravenclaw game, but not in the match against Slytherin. He'd been wearing them in Hogsmeade when he'd been poisoned. He was wearing them now.

"CEDRIC! Harry's glasses! The dragon's after Harry's glasses!"

The Cedric-Patronus dived and snatched Harry's glasses. Then he hurled the glasses away from the castle. The dragon turned and pursued them.

Seconds after that, the teachers arrived.

"Move!" bellowed Dumbledore.

Dumbledore called something in a deep and terrible voice. He brought his wand down and lightning curled and crackled around the dragon's head.

The dragon fled. The teachers' curses flew after it, but the dragon managed to get back to its wyrmhole and disappear.

Ron and the girls dived for Harry. "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Ron bellowed. He took a look at his best friend and was almost sick. Harry was lying in a pool of blood. Ron chased everybody back. "His spine could be damaged. If you touch him, you might kill him!" he warned the girls.

McGonagall knelt beside Harry, waving her wand over him. "He's alive, but Weasley's right. The vertebrae in his neck has been cracked It's sheer luck his spinal cord wasn't snapped."

"Luck had nothing to do with it," Ron muttered, mostly to himself. "He's too damn stubborn to die."

Madam Pomfrey arrived so quickly, Ron almost suspected that Dumbledore had accio'ed her. The entrance hall was blocked off while she stabilized Harry's condition.

After an hour, Fred, George and Angelina were able to free Bill from his glob of peanut butter.

"Remind me to repay Charlie for that one," Bill muttered.

"We'll be happy to extend a family discount," Fred remarked.

None of them really felt like joking as they patrolled the outside of the castle to keep people from interrupting the healing session.

Hours later, they were able to move Harry to the Hospital Wing.

"Come along," McGonagall said to the Gryffindors.

Prof. Flitwick took Cho in hand and gently led her to Ravenclaw Tower.

The End of Year Five:

The Prowlery was disbanded.

Madam Pomfrey made it abundantly clear that nobody was to sneak into the Hospital Wing to try to see Harry. She also declared that the traffic caused by the PROWL sessions might possibly interfere with the medical specialists who had been called in to treat Harry's injuries.

"As usual, Potter gets special treatment," sneered Snape after dinner one evening.

"Do you think I'd treat any other gravely injured student differently, Severus?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

Snape was silenced. His usual sneer returned to his face when he saw Hermione and the Weasleys approaching. "What do you want?"

"We wanted to talk to the headmaster," Hermione said politely. "Sir, what about Harry's O.W.L.s? Even if…" She swallowed. "Even if he wakes up soon, he won't be in any kind of condition to take them."

"Why, Miss Granger," purred Snape. "I'm surprised at you. There is a very simple way for Mr. Potter to arrange to take the O.W.L.s later in the year, as long as he takes them before the beginning of his sixth year."

"There is?" Hermione said blankly.

Snape looked around and saw a large group of students had drifted closer to the Head Table to listen. All of the teachers were listening, including the two that Snape thought of as mock-teachers, Weasley and Binns.

"Weren't you saying something about that earlier, Flitwick?" Snape purred.

"Certainly," Flitwick looked happy. "This isn't the first time that a student was too badly injured to sit his O.W.L.s at the appointed time. All Potter needs to do is have his guardians fill out a Request for Deferment form."

Snape smirked before adding. "Then the headmaster will present the petition to the Board of Governors so they can decide if the circumstances warrant granting the student a second chance."

"The Dursleys will never sign," blurted Ron. "They hate magic."

"Oh, dear," Flitwick said. He looked at Dumbledore for reassurance, but found none.

Snape's smile was triumphant. He knew that the Board would grant a deferment, there was no reason not to. However, the cognoscenti knew that the Dursleys would sign the form around the same time that Lucius Malfoy joined a monastery.

Dumbledore couldn't get around this by having Sirius Black sign the form, because the petition would have to go to the Board of Governors. They wouldn't be as lenient about Black's status as Dumbledore had been.

Before Snape could get into a full gloat, however, a small cough brought everyone's attention around to Professor Binns.

"There is another way," Binns said mildly.

"Yes, Dustine?" Dumbledore said politely. There was something close to a pleading look in his eyes.

"If a student cannot take the O.W.L.s at the appointed time, but has earned an Honorary O.W.L., he is given an automatic postponement until August 31st." He gave Snape a severe look. "The Honorary O.W.L. would permit the student to move up into his Sixth year, so the tests are merely a courtesy. He need not take them at all."

Snape stared at Binns with something akin to horror in his eyes.

Binns opened a ghostly folder. In 1873 Frank Calvert & Heinrich Schliemann were awarded honorary O.W.L.s for proving the existence of the fabled city of Troy." He looked at Snape. "They weren't even wizards. Just a pair of Muggles who never even knew that they had been so honored."

He looked at Dumbledore. "Mr. Ron Weasley asked me to find out if he and Mr. Potter could get bonus points on their History of Magic O.W.L. for discovering the existence of the Chamber of Secrets. That got me thinking about the Chamber again. I did some research and I've concluded that their discovery rates considerably more than a few extra points. I'll present the Board of Governors with a petition to grant Mr. Harry Potter and Mr. Ronald Weasley with Honorary O.W.L.s in the History of Magic."

Snape's mouth moved, but no sound came out.

"An excellent suggestion, Dustine," Flitwick said happily.

Snape's head whipped around and Dumbledore's reaction was hardly less dramatic.

Flitwick smiled. "Mr. Potter not only mastered the Patronus charm, he managed to teach it to several students. Several of whom demonstrated their skill with it under fire." Flitwick scrambled to the top of the Head Table to add a little more authority to his statement. "Further more, the number of spells that he learned for the Tri-Wizard Tournament is a truly worthy feat. I have no doubt that he can pass the Charms O.W.L. with flying colors, and I intend to see that he gets his chance."

Bill cleared his throat.

"Let me guess," Snape snarled. "You intend to present the Board with a petition of your own."

Bill raised a coppery eyebrow. "Refresh my memory, how many times since Harry started school has he faced Voldemort and survived?"

The majority of people flinched.

Ron answered the rhetorical question. "There was the time in the forbidden forest, when he found You-Know-Who drinking unicorn blood. Then when he was protecting the Philosopher's Stone."

The students and several of the faculty gasped, hearing this for the first time.

"There was the affair in the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione pointed out. "Not to mention the fact that he killed the Basilisk down there."

"Don't forget the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament," added Ginny.

"Somehow I don't think that the Governors will turn this petition down, either," Dumbledore said. His eyes regained their usual twinkle. "Yes, I think we will be seeing Mr. Potter next year, Severus. Thank you for your suggestions, all."

Epilogue:

Harry knew he was in the Hospital Wing before he was properly awake. Opening his eyes only confirmed the ugly truth.

"Harry?"

Whatever happened must have been bad, if Sirius was allowed in here during the daytime. Harry looked, but could not focus his eyes.

"It's all right, Harry," Sirius said. "You're going to be all right. I'm going to be grey-haired or bald, but you'll be all right."

There were a million things he wanted to say to Sirius, but all that came out was, "Dad?"

He didn't stay awake long enough to realize how much that one syllable meant.

The next time Harry woke up, he found Dumbledore sitting next to his bed.

"Wha' happened?"

"Do you remember the dragon?" Dumbledore asked.

"Quidditch."

"No, that was last year," Dumbledore said. "Get some sleep. We'll talk about it later."

Harry was asleep before he could protest that he'd just woke up.

Harry woke up from a nightmare about failing his O.W.L.s and having to live with the Dursleys forever. He blinked at the ceiling and realized that he probably had failed his O.W.L.s. Even if they weren't over by now, he wouldn't be able to take them.

"Hello, Harry. Back with us, are you?" Dumbledore's voice was gentle.

"I've failed."

"Not at all," Dumbledore said. "You survived the second dragon attack. You managed to lure it away from the door long enough to everybody to get inside. Nobody was killed."

"I meant my O.W.L.s," Harry said. He tried to turn his head, but nothing seemed to be working. Faint memories of the dragon attack began to trickle in.

"You haven't failed those, either," Dumbledore said. "You've been granted a postponement until August 31st. I'll let your friends fill you in."

The Weasleys and Hermione came in as Dumbledore was filling in Harry on the battle. "I was impressed with your courage before," Dumbledore said. "I am impressed with you again. You have proven yourself to be true Gryffindors."

"Don't forget Cho Chang," Hermione said. "Her Patronus helped a lot."

"It did indeed," Dumbledore said. "I'll leave it to you to fill in the details."

He left and Harry looked at his visitors.

"If you try to thank us, we will be forced to sew your lips shut," George said.

Harry cleared his throat. Deprived of that topic, he went with his usual topic. "So, who won the Quidditch Cup?" Harry demanded.

"Listen to him, out of a three-week coma and his first thought was Quidditch," George said.

"He's a natural," Ron said.

"He's a nutter," Fred added.

"I didn't catch the Snitch this time," Ginny said. "Sorry, I guess I'm not very good."

"Not good! You were brilliant! You kept fooling Eloise about where the Snitch was so she didn't catch it either!" Ron said.

"So who won?" Harry asked.

"Angelina and the Hufflepuff captain eventually agreed to call it a game," Fred explained.

"Hufflepuff won the game on points," Hermione said. "However, that left Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tied for the Quidditch Cup. It will have all your names on it this year."

"It's going to be beautiful," Fred said with genuine emotion. "George and me as Beaters, Ronnie-kins as Keeper and Ginny as Reserve Seeker. Four Weasleys and an honorary Weasley on one Quidditch Cup."

"How'd you do on your O.W.L.s?"

"Hermione set a new school record, of course," Ron said proudly.

"Ron did exceptionally well," Hermione added.

"It helped that I didn't have to sit for the History of Magic O.W.L.," Ron admitted.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"Because you and I were granted Honorary O.W.L.s for discovering the Chamber of Secrets," Ron said. "Flitwick and Bill managed to finagle you O.W.L.s, too, but it was Binn's idea. McGonagall didn't petition the Board for a Transfiguration HOWL, though. She doesn't think you should advertise that you're an Animagus."

"She has a point," Harry said. He sat there, shaking his head. "Binns, of all people. I can't believe it."

"Of course, you'll have to show him the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione pointed out. "He'll need verification that you can open it. In fact, I think he came up with the idea for the HOWL just so he'd have an excuse to get you to open it."

"I see," Harry said.

"But it doesn't have to be until next year," Ginny added.

Harry grinned. "Guess Snape will have to endure me for another year," he said.

"With any luck, the Weasley clan will have to endure you for the summer," Ron said. "You, too, Hermione."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "My parents would like to do some enduring, too," she said.

Harry smiled gratefully.

Just then, Cho walked in. "Am I interrupting?"

"Oh, no," Ginny said. "We were just leaving." She ushered her brothers out of the door. She wasn't going to be petty and jealous of Cho. After all, Cho's Patronus had saved the day. Ginny could be gracious enough to give the Ravenclaw some privacy with Harry.

For at least five minutes.

Maybe six.

Cho smiled as they left. "I don't think Ginny likes me," she said.

"She does," Harry said. "You didn't get turned into a giant canary, did you?"

Cho grinned. Then she took a deep breath. "Did they tell you about my Patronus?"

"Only that it saved my life," Harry said.

"It's Cedric."

Harry stared. "Oh."

"I hope that you get a chance to see it someday," she added.

"You sound like I won't get the chance any time soon," Harry said.

"I've decided to go to Beauxbatons," Cho replied. "It's not running away, now. I'll always have Cedric with me." She paused. "Does your Patronus have meaning?

Harry reached over to the bedside table and picked up a box that contained odds and ends, including the ring that his mother had bought for his father.

"The stag was my father's symbol," he said, showing it to Cho.

"So your Patronus is your father." Cho took it and looked it over. She read the inscription silently.

"My mum gave it to him," Harry added. "It's too big for me."

Cho nodded. "I have an idea," she pulled a black silk cord from around her neck. There was a coppery disk with some sort of design stamped into both sides. "One side has the Chinese character for 'long life,'" she explained. She showed him the other side. "This bird is a feng... a Chinese phoenix." She threaded the ring on the cord, then hung the coin and ring around Harry's neck.

"Thank you, Harry. For everything."

"Erm, I don't have anything for you," Harry said.

"You gave me my Patronus," Cho replied. "And some peace of mind. I hope this can bring you some luck." She gave him a small peck on the cheek before she left.

Transfer of Feeling:

It was the last day of school. Tomorrow night, Harry would be the only student left at Hogwarts. It was almost too depressing to make up for not having to return to the Dursleys, but not quite.

Everybody was at the leaving feast except for Harry and Ginny. Ron and Hermione would come by later, he was sure. Right now, they seemed determined to give him some time alone with Ginny.

Hagrid had come by before the feast had started and had given Harry a hand-carved carrying case for his Wishing Star broom. Harry showed it off to Ginny.

"That's nice," Ginny said. She paused to think of something to say. "So, you and I can study for O.W.L.s together this summer?" she asked rather than stated.

"I guess," Harry sighed. "I hope I pass one of them. People will say I got preferential treatment."

"Only idiots like Skeeter or creeps like Malfoy," Ginny said calmly. "Ignore them."

"What if they're right?" Harry asked.

"They aren't."

"I wish I could be that certain."

Ginny looked at him speculatively. "Actually, I know a way that you can be."

Harry cocked his head. "Really? How?"

"It's a simple Transfer of Feeling spell," Ginny explained. "It's not as dangerous as what Nicely did," she added quickly.

"How does it work?" Harry asked.

Ginny moved from her chair to sit on the edge of his bed. "Well, we look each other in the eye. I say 'transferro me' and you say." She stopped and bit her lip. "No, sorry, it's the other way. I say 'transferro te' and you say 'transferro me.'

"Transferro me," Harry repeated obediently.

"But you have to remember to keep eye contact, and we have to say it at the same time." She took his new glasses off and cupped his cheeks in her hands. "Ready?" she asked.

Harry nodded.

"Okay, go," Ginny said.

"Transferro mmph!"

Harry couldn't complete the spell because Ginny kissed him.

He stared at her, wide-eyed. "You tricked me!"

"No I didn't," Ginny said indignantly. "I said it would transfer emotion!"

"You said it would transfer feeling," Harry corrected her.

"Well, didn't it?"

Harry stared at her for a few minutes and Ginny felt her face heat up.

"I don't think it worked," Harry said. A very small grin crept across his face. "Maybe we should try that again?"

Ginny grinned.

The End

Dedicated to my wonderful Beta-reader at Anne, my Beta-reader at SugarQuill, Seldes Katne, Moey, for all her hard work and my sister, Karen, because she will read this someday, so I'd better mention her.

Also dedicated to you wonderful people who read and review!

Hope you liked this story. I had a ton of stuff that I wanted to do with Sirius, Ginny and Hermione's Animagus forms, why Malfoy helped Harry in chapter 21, Winky the Evil House Elf, and the articles in Lily's trunk.

Some of that went into "A Sirius Situation", which is finally finished! Yay!

Re: The end of the Gryffindor Hufflepuff match: According to Quidditch Through the Ages (page 28): "A game of Quidditch ends only when the Golden Snitch has been caught, or by mutual consent of the two team captains."