Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 27: Hogsmeade
Harry was released from the Hospital Wing the day after Hermione had come to rescue him from Parvati though Madam Pomfrey seemed more than happy to get rid of him this time. After nearly being bitten by Parvati, Harry was more wary about going to sleep each night. Hermione saw this and helped him put him at rest by assuring him that she would make sure that nothing would happen to him.
Since the O.W.L.s were coming up in May, the teachers began to drill the students more rigorously to make sure they knew the material. However oddly enough, Walter and Sepet were absent during some of their classes and Harry was left wondering where they were.
The Water Guardian kept her part of the bargain and instructed Harry on dancing each evening in an empty classroom though Harry was still stumped as to who she could go to the ball with. Some of the students still hadn't found dates yet but Harry was quite surprised to find that Neville was going with Ginny again.
At the end of the week, the students were allowed to go to Hogsmeade to shop for their outfits for the ball. Although Harry was a little disappointed that Hermione would be going with Ron, he was still looking forward to going with Cho.
On Saturday morning, Harry awoke slowly to the familiar scene of his dorm room. Crawling out of bed, Harry lazily made his way to the bathroom to shower and changed into his school uniform and buckling his sword belt under it before going down to the common room to wait for Ron and Hermione.
Once Ron and Hermione came down, the three of them went down to breakfast.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A bit into breakfast, Cho came to join them dressed in her school uniform.
"Hi Harry," she said.
Harry returned her greeting happily and offered her a seat next to him which she took gladly.
"Hi Cho," said Hermione, sitting next to Ron across the table. "Will you be joining us for the trip to Hogsmeade today?"
Cho nodded. "Yes I am. I was also wondering if you'd like to go together to shop for our dress robes for the ball while the guys search for theirs, how does that sound?"
"Sure, I'd love to but Ron already has some brand new dress robes that his brothers were nice enough to get for him," Hermione replied.
"That's okay," Harry chimed in. "Ron can help me look for mine. I'm not entirely sure what I should wear."
"I think I'll go for something in red," Cho said thoughtfully. "What do you think?"
"You'll look great in red," Hermione agreed, putting a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth.
At that moment, Professor McGonagall entered the Great Hall. "Would all the students planning on going to Hogsmeade this weekend please follow me."
"Time to go," Harry said finishing up the last of his breakfast and got up from his seat, extending a hand to Cho to help her up. She took it gladly and the two of them walked side by side to the carriages with Ron and Hermione following closely behind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Outside, the horseless carriages were already waiting for the students to take them to Hogsmeade. However flanking each carriage were four skeletons in groups of two. Half the skeletons were carrying fireballs and the other half were wielding swords and shields. Walter was standing outside the lead carriage offering his hand to Professor McGonagall and helping her into the carriage with Hagrid following soon after.
Walter then signalled to the skeletons and all at the same time, the skeletons carrying fireballs on the side facing the side of the school dispelled their fireballs and opened the carriage doors.
"Harry, would you mind if Hermione and I went together in our own carriage?" Ron asked him from behind.
"Sure Ron, I don't mind," Harry replied though he was somewhat dismayed by the thought.
"There's an open carriage there Harry," Cho pointed out. "Let's go before it's taken."
Harry and Cho made their way towards the carriage but as fortune would have it, Malfoy and Pansy arrived a bit after they did with Crabbe and Goyle on either side of them.
"Back off Potter," Malfoy announced, "This carriage is ours."
"We got here first Malfoy," Harry said coolly. "I believe that we have the right to sit in this carriage."
At that point, Malfoy noticed Cho. "I didn't know that Chang here took a liking to you Potter. It's probably because she feels sorry for you since Weasel stole your mudblood girlfriend from you."
"I suggest you go away Malfoy," Cho cut in smirking mischievously, "I'm sure you don't want to find yourself in the hospital wing before we get the chance to leave the school."
"Not this time Chang - Crabbe - Goyle, secure this carriage for us," Malfoy ordered his two goons.
Crabbe and Goyle lumbered towards Cho and Harry who reached for their wands in their robe, however they soon found they didn't have to for the skeletons around them apparently sensed hostility and moved to act.
Two seconds later, Crabbe and Goyle found themselves surrounded by armed skeletons, some of them ready to hurl their burning fireballs at them.
Seeing his skeletons moving out of formation, Walter made his way over to their carriage to see what was causing the disturbance.
"Is there a problem here?" Walter asked as the circle of skeletons parted to allow him to walk through.
Malfoy's goons shook their heads and turned to their leader for instructions.
"No Professor," Malfoy said trying to sound as victimized as possible. "I was going to enter this carriage with Pansy but Potter here wouldn't let us."
"Then I suggest that you all get into the carriage together before they are all taken," said Walter.
Harry glared at Malfoy and extended a hand to help Cho into the carriage before entering himself, putting his sword across his lap before he sat down. Malfoy and Pansy entered soon after them but Crabbe and Goyle were forced to sit in another carriage by Walter.
At Walter's command, the skeletons closed the doors to the carriages with the exception of the last carriage and the convoy started moving in the direction of Hogsmeade. Walter watched each carriage pass to ensure that everything was going well and as the last carriage passed, he hopped into it and closed the door behind him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Just what I needed," Malfoy said bitterly. "A trip to Hogsmeade with Potter."
"It's not our fault," Harry shot back. "You were the one that wanted to sit in this carriage."
"Only because you don't deserve to ride in one Potter. You should be walking alongside the carriages with the rest of these servants. In fact, Weasel should join you too since he's servant material. Too poor to afford anything."
"That's enough Malfoy," Cho threatened. "We may not be outside and your friends may not be in here but I still have my wand and I'm sure you wouldn't want to have rumours going around that you were beaten senseless by your girlfriend."
Malfoy opened his mouth to respond but shut it again once the thought of Pansy slapping him around the carriage registered in his mind. Cho gave Malfoy a smug smile and leaned back into her seat, keeping one hand on her wand the entire time. For his part, Harry was a bit paranoid that Malfoy might start some trouble since he did have his hand on his wand so Harry did likewise and kept his hand on his wand.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they arrived in Hogsmeade, Harry and Malfoy glared at each other as they got out on opposite sides of the carriage, keeping their one hand on their wands at all times. Cho and Pansy then made their exit afterwards while the two boys kept an eye on their rival. Crabbe and Goyle soon joined their irritable leader but they both looked a bit frightened with all of the armed skeletons around them.
"Hey Harry," he heard Hermione call from the left. "Over here!"
Harry and Cho ran over to join Ron and Hermione.
"How was the ride?" Hermione asked.
"Simply horrible," Harry replied. "We had to sit with Malfoy and Pansy."
Hermione gasped. "I'm sorry, next time you'll definitely get to sit with us."
"I agree," Ron said. "Having to ride with Malfoy would be absolutely dreadful."
"It wasn't that bad. Cho kept him quiet the entire time by threatening to use the confusion hex on him while Pansy was there," Harry said with a laugh. "That would mean that he'd get beaten senseless by her and I don't think he would enjoy that too much."
Hermione and Ron laughed at this and the four of them started to walking along the dirt road.
"Where would you like to go first?" Ron asked Hermione. "Let me guess. the bookstore?"
Hermione smiled at him. "Where else do you think I want to go silly?"
Ron sighed. "Typical Hermione but I'll put up with it this time - lead the way."
Harry gave Ron a quizzical look for he knew how much Ron hated going to the bookstore. If nothing else Ron would rather have gone to the joke shop.
"Harry," Cho said. "Can we go to Honeydukes? I want to get some chocolate from there."
"Sure Cho - How about we meet back here in two hours for lunch?" Harry suggested to Ron and Hermione.
"All right," Hermione agreed. "We'll meet you back here in two hours."
With that Ron and Hermione headed towards the bookstore while Harry and Cho headed over to Honeydukes to browse around.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
At Honeydukes, Harry and Cho ran into Dean and Seamus.
"Hey Harry, what are you doing here?" Seamus asked but then he noticed Cho. "Oh, I see you're with Cho. What happened to Hermione?"
"She's off with Ron at the bookstore," Harry explained. "Cho wanted to come here and I didn't mind."
"I see, so are you two together?" Dean asked curiously.
Both Harry and Cho turned slightly red. "No, we're only here together because we want to look for our dress robes for the ball."
"Lucky you," said Dean, grabbing a box of chocolates. "We don't have dates yet but we have a few girls in mind. These chocolates should help."
"Who are you planning to ask?"
"I'm going to ask Parvati," Seamus announced. "Dean is going to ask her sister, Padma. I mean they're the best looking girls in our year, why wouldn't we ask them?"
Harry looked at Seamus as if he was on his deathbed. Seamus had no idea that Parvati was a vampire and would probably get bitten.
"Uh Sea...," Harry started to say.
"Still.," Dean interrupted. "I wonder how you always manage to get the best looking girls around Harry."
Harry and Cho turned even redder but Harry thought it might be best to press the point.
"Seamus," Harry repeated. "I don't think asking Parvati is such a good idea."
"Come on Harry, you can't have all the girls for yourself," Seamus said jokingly. "You went with her last year so let us have a chance."
"That's not what I meant," Harry said quietly to himself but Cho overheard him.
"What did you mean Harry?" Cho asked.
"I'll explain later," Harry whispered. "You see Parvati isn't exactly normal anymore."
Cho nodded uncertainly and Harry attempted once more to try to convince Seamus not to ask Parvati to the ball. "Seamus, haven't you noticed something wrong with Parvati lately?"
"No, she looks a bit sick but she hasn't been bedridden yet. I mean she still joins us for meals and everything," Seamus argued. "It's not like she's going to die Harry. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous."
Harry let out a sigh and turned away, giving up all hopes of trying to convince Seamus.
*You have no idea do you Seamus, * Harry thought as he led Cho away from Seamus.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cho eventually settled on getting a box of chocolates and some sugar quills and the two of them exited the store.
"How about we go to the joke shop next?" Cho suggested, offering him a sugar quill. "I think that will be more to your liking."
Harry took it and grinned back. "Yes it would."
They had about an hour and a half so the two of the headed over to the joke shop to browse around.
Over there Harry and Cho saw Fred and George who were trying to get the shop owner to buy some of their canary creams.
"Harry!" a voice called.
Harry turned around to find Hermione and Ron looking around the shop as well.
"Weren't you looking around at the bookstore?" asked Harry.
"Hermione agreed to let me come here since I came with her to the bookstore," Ron explained. "I must say I was bored stiff but this is more to my liking."
"Not my fault you agreed to come along," Hermione countered.
"If I didn't know better," Cho whispered to Harry. "I'd say those two liked each other."
Harry nodded and for the next hour or so they looked around the joke shop then the four students made their way over to the Three Broomsticks.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hullo you four," Madam Rosmerta greeted them as they entered. "What can I get you?"
"Four butterbeers please," Harry requested and they found a seat in a quiet corner of the pub; Harry sat next to Cho and Ron and Hermione took a seat across from them.
Looking around, Harry noticed that the teachers were sitting at a table in the centre chatting idly amongst themselves. Walter was sitting next to Professor McGonagall who was laughing at a joke that Hagrid had told though Harry thought that Hagrid looked a bit drunk. Hagrid had a glass of red currant rum in front of him while McGonagall and Walter had butterbeers.
"So how was the bookstore Hermione?" Cho was asking.
"It was very interesting. I found some spellbooks that would have been great for transfiguration or charms but they cost too much," Hermione stated.
"Really Hermione," Ron said. "You should get around more often instead of having your nose stuck in a book all day."
"Ron, if you would read more often, your grades would be a lot better than they are now," Hermione scolded.
Ron rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. You've told us that at least a hundred times, right Harry?"
Harry nodded but something at the entrance to the Three Broomsticks caught his eye for Parvati had entered the pub with a hood over her face, much like Sepet did when he was walking around in the morning. Unfortunately Harry had forgotten his ring back at the dorm and so he didn't have any advanced warning that she was coming. Hermione however didn't forget and her ring was glowing a faint reddish colour.
She sat down at a table next to the one the teachers were sitting at and ordered a butterbeer.
"Isn't that Parvati, Padma's twin sister?" Cho asked Harry.
Harry nodded.
"That reminds me," Cho said, looking back at him. "Harry, what were you going to tell me about Parvati? She looks normal except that she's wearing a hood like Professor Sepet does when we go on our missions. Funny how those two seem to avoid sunlight."
Harry leaned over to whisper in her ear. "Parvati and Sepet are vampires. That's why they don't like the sun."
Cho looked a bit horrified. "But that means that..."
Harry nodded. "Yes, the attacks that have occurred so far were because of them."
"But how is it that they weren't turned into vampires too?" Cho asked.
Finally noticing the conversation going on between Harry and Cho, Ron decided to jump in.
"Walter saved Alicia though we thought he killed her," Ron said.
"Filch was attacked too but Professor McGonagall made sure that he would be okay," Hermione added.
"No wonder you were trying to convince Seamus not to ask Parvati," said Cho. "You wanted to make sure that she wouldn't attack him."
"Seamus is going to ask Parvati to the ball?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, we ran into him at Honeydukes and I tried to convince him not to go with Parvati but he didn't listen," said Harry.
"Looks like we'll have to keep an eye out for him at the ball and make sure he doesn't get hurt," Hermione commented.
"Only if Parvati says yes," Cho pointed out.
"Say, I'm hungry," Ron said, changing the subject. "I say we order lunch, how about you?"
Hermione rolled her eyes but agreed nonetheless and the four of them ordered something to eat.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After lunch, the four of them headed over to Gladrags Wizardwear so that they could pick out their dress robes. Four witches greeted them as they entered the shop and the four of them broke into pairs so that the witches could measure them out for new robes. To Harry's annoyance, they argued for a bit over who would help him but eventually one of them wearing blue robes won out and ushered him towards one of the measuring areas.
"I'm not looking for dress robes," Ron protested as a witch pulled him in the direction of the mirror. "They're for him."
The witch looked disappointed but happily went to attend to Harry while the other two helped the girls pick out their robes.
"Here are all the robes that we have Mr. Potter," the witch said handing him a book full of different robe designs. "Take your pick."
With that, the witches left Harry to browse through the book. Ron was looking over his shoulder and pointing out designs he thought were good though Harry thought that some were rather appalling and wouldn't suit him.
Eventually one of the designs caught his eye. It was a gold coloured dress robe with red trimming and a split on each side.
"I think that would look good on your Mr. Potter," said a voice that caused Harry and Ron to jump. "Your house colours - very nice."
Harry turned around to find himself looking at Walter who was also looking through the book for some dress robes.
"You almost gave us a heart attack," Ron panted, checking his pulse to see if it was still there. "How is it that you always manage to sneak up on us?"
"Bad habits from long ago," Walter said with a grin. "However I am also here to buy some dress robes."
"Really?" asked Ron in disbelief.
"Yes," Walter said. "Even professors and bodyguards need to look nice every now and then."
"Have you settled upon a design?" Harry asked Walter.
"Unfortunately not but I hope to find one before we return, otherwise I'll have to come back and look for them on my own time."
At that moment the two witches returned and asked Harry if he was done which he gave them an affirmative answer. Then they spent the next few minutes getting Harry's measurements, taking his order down on parchment and getting him to pay for it.
The robes were expensive but Harry thought it was worth the trouble.
"Your robes will be delivered by owl," the witch told him. "They should be ready by the first week of February. If you need adjustments made afterwards, please give us an owl and we'll be over to make them personally."
"Thank you," Harry said and he paid the bill.
"I don't think Hermione and Cho are ready yet. Let's wait outside for them," Ron suggested.
Then the two of them said good bye to Walter, who reminded them that they would be going back to the school in an hour, and exited the shop to wait for the girls.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was a while before Hermione and Cho came out with smiles on their faces.
"We found the prettiest dress robes that you'll ever imagine," Cho told Harry. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the ball."
"Same with you Ron," Hermione added, "but I'm just digressing. How about we head back to the Three Broomsticks until we have to go back to school?"
The boys grinned at them and the four of them headed back towards the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As they entered the Three Broomsticks, Hermione's ring began to glow once again and they saw that Parvati was still there but now her twin sister Padma was with her. However they could see that Padma's face had worry written all over it as she talked quietly with her sister.
Now that Cho was aware that Parvati was a vampire, she suggested that they sit where they could keep an eye on her.
Ron and Hermione agreed so they took a seat at a table overlooking both Parvati's table and the door.
Madam Rosmerta came over to take their order. "Back already? - Well what can I get you?"
"I'll have a butterbeer," Harry said, "What about you Cho?"
"I'll have the same thing," she said to Harry.
"Make that three," Ron added.
"Four," said Hermione.
Madam Rosmerta smiled at them. "Four butterbeers it is. I'll be back here with your order in a bit but until then, enjoy your stay."
The door to the Three Broomsticks and a very bashful Dean and Seamus entered the pub carrying a box of chocolate behind their back.
They walked over to where Parvati and Padma were and asked if they could sit down. Padma nodded her head and the two boys took out the box of chocolate and offered it to them, asking if they would go to the Valentine's ball with them.
Both girls looked at each other for a moment before giving Dean and Seamus a reply. Apparently it was a 'yes' since the two boys broke into smiles of relief immediately afterwards and the four of them began to talk amongst themselves.
Madam Rosmerta soon came with their drinks and Harry paid the bill in advance.
"Looks like we'll have to be alert during the dance," Hermione said.
"Oh great," Ron said disappointedly, "We won't get to enjoy the dance now."
"Be quiet Ron," Hermione chastised, "You'll still get to enjoy the ball but if Parvati leaves, we need to follow."
"But what if she leaves in the beginning?" Ron whined.
Hermione glared at Ron. "Which is more important? The life of your dorm mate or your ability to have fun at the ball? If Parvati keeps biting people, there won't be anymore students at the school and then there's no way you'll be able to have fun. Got it?"
Ron sighed. "I never win an argument against you, do I?"
"You haven't yet Ron and I don't think you will," Harry teased, trying to lighten up the mood.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once they had finished their butterbeers, it was time to go and the students headed back towards the waiting carriages that would take them back to Hogwarts.
The skeletons once again opened the doors and this time Harry and Cho were able to sit in the same carriage as Ron and Hermione.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they arrived at the school, Harry excused himself and walked with Cho back to the Ravenclaw tower.
"I enjoyed spending the day with you Harry," Cho said once they arrived at the portrait leading to the Ravenclaw common room. "I hope that we can do this again but I'll see you at dinner."
Harry grinned. "I enjoyed the day too Cho. Take care and I'll see you later."
Cho smiled at him and gave him a hug before saying the password and entering the portrait.
Harry stared at Cho's figure until the portrait closed again and made his way towards the empty classroom where his practices were always held with the Water Guardian.
However Harry was curious to see what the water guardian looked like in human form and made a little detour outside to collect some dirt for the Earth Guardian.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once he got into the empty classroom, Harry first placed the dirt on the ground and summoned the Earth Guardian.
The dirt multiplied and gathered from the ground up to form the humanoid figure of the Earth Guardian. Then Harry lit a fire in the fireplace that was on the far end of the classroom so that he could summon the Fire Guardian.
The fire roared and Harry jumped back to avoid getting burned by it.
A head soon appeared from the fire and it spread to form a neck and torso. Two arms formed from there and eventually the whole form of the Fire Guardian crawled out of the fireplace and stood in front of Harry.
Once that was done, Harry summoned the Air Guardian in another corner of the classroom. The air in the classroom swirled around the room blowing out the fire in the fireplace, but leaving the Fire Guardian relatively unharmed, and formed a nearly invisible figure made completely out of air in front of Harry.
Finally, Harry transfigured a desk into a cup and created some water in it so that he could summon the Water Guardian.
Pointing his wand at the cup, Harry said the spell to summon the last of the four guardians.
The water level in the cup rose and eventually spilled into the floor but then the water particles congregated and rose up like a fountain to form the figure of the Water Guardian.
The four guardians then gathered and stood in a line facing Harry.
*Your bidding? * they asked in unison.
Harry pointed his wand at the Water Guardian as she had told him previously and said, "Dominatus Water!"
The figures of the four guardians faded and glided sideways through the air, eventually combining in the space occupied by the Water Guardian. The figure then solidified once again only this time it took on the appearance of a human female, a foot taller than Harry with flowing chestnut coloured hair that fell down past her shoulders. She was clothed in a light blue dress that came down to her ankles with light blue arm length gloves and a pair of elegant light blue heeled shoes.
"Hullo Harry," the woman greeted him. "I'm glad to see that you pulled it off."
Harry grinned at her. "I was curious to see what you looked like as a human, though you are taller than me."
"Would you prefer that I adjust my height to match yours?"
"You can do that?"
"Sure," the woman said and she reduced her height until she was about the same height as Harry.
"Do you have a name?"
"I don't have a given name; my masters call me whatever they like but my previous one called me Ruby."
"So.," said Ruby, "are you ready for your dance lessons?"
"Yes," Harry replied. "However I still haven't found a date for you yet."
Ruby's face fell. "Well, you still have three weeks to do that so I guess I'll let it pass. Let's get started shall we?"
For the next few hours, Ruby continued Harry's dancing lessons. This time he didn't step on her toes and she even let him lead her until he messed up. Having a Guardian as his mentor had its advantages for unlike the teachers at Hogwarts, Ruby was quite patient and didn't yell at him for making mistakes. Instead she would guide him slowly through the steps until he got it right again.
By the time dinner rolled around, Harry was quite hungry and he requested that they stop for the day.
"Aw, how about we go through the steps one more time?" Ruby pleaded.
"Oh all right," Harry conceded. "I don't think the others will mind if I'm a bit late for dinner."
They danced once again though this time Ruby sang a slow tune for them to dance to. Harry found himself very much entranced by the sound of Ruby's voice and soon lost himself in the sound of it.
In fact, Harry was so taken in by Ruby's voice that he didn't notice that the door to the classroom open and a figure carrying a sword and wearing a long black cape entered. Seeing the two of them dancing alone in the middle of the empty classroom, the figure took a seat in one of the empty desks and watched them intently.
After about four minutes, the song ended and Harry brought himself back to reality only to find a lone figure sitting in a chair applauding him.
"Excellent performance," the Count said. "A bit awkward with the lady leading but otherwise excellent. My apologies for intruding but I was patrolling the halls and I heard someone singing in here."
Harry looked at Sepet rather strangely since he was expecting him to draw his sword at anytime rather than comment on his dancing ability or Ruby's singing.
"However," Sepet continued. "You are late for dinner and I expect that your friends will be waiting for you."
"Yes Professor," Harry said. "I'll be on my way."
"One question though Mr. Potter."
"What's that?"
"Who is this lovely lady present by your side?" the Count asked looking at Ruby. "I don't believe I've seen her here before."
"That's because I don't go to this school," Ruby answered before Harry could do so. "My name is Ruby. Who might you be sir?"
Sepet got up out of his seat and walked towards Ruby. "I am Count Vladimir Sepet, the duelling teacher at this school. I certainly hope that you aren't some student that has been sneaking out of another school because you would be in very deep trouble if your headmaster found out."
Ruby's figure grew until she was only a head shorter than the Count, prepared to defend herself and Harry in case Sepet decided to start some trouble.
"You aren't a normal human either," Sepet commented, noticing Ruby's change in height as he approached with one hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Of course not, I'm Harry's guardian."
Then Sepet did something that Harry hadn't seen before, he smiled. Not an evil smile like he'd been seeing either but a genuine one.
"That changes everything. It is a pleasure to meet you, Ruby. I haven't seen one of your kind in years and I didn't think I would encounter one again," Sepet said with a slight bow.
"Really now..When did you last encounter one?"
"Years ago when I was still training to hunt down vampires, I had the fortune to meet one during a visit to London," Sepet said, finally pausing a foot away from them. "She was quite lovely too, just like yourself."
Ruby blushed slightly at the compliment and Harry became quite suspicious. If the Count was trying to throw Ruby off, Harry wouldn't know since he didn't have his ring.
"Mr. Potter," Sepet said suddenly. "Normally I do not request favours from students but I will make an exception here."
"What would that be?"
"I would like your permission to escort this lovely lady to the upcoming Valentine's ball. I haven't found anyone to bring yet but I think my search will have come to an end."
Harry thought about it for a moment. On one hand, he was quite surprised by Sepet's request but on the other, this would provide him with a better opportunity to keep an eye on Sepet during the ball. If he was with Ruby the entire time, Sepet would be less likely to bite people and Harry's task would only be limited to watching Parvati.
Glancing at Ruby, Harry saw that she was giving him an anxious look. "You can go with her Professor."
"Thank you Harry," Ruby squealed in delight. "You've made me very happy by keeping your part of the bargain."
"Thank you Mr. Potter," the Count said, making his way back towards the door. "I will look forward to the ball but for now, you may want to head to the Great Hall for dinner before it ends. Good night."
With that the Count made his exit and Ruby gave Harry a hug. "Thank you again Harry. I'm glad you kept your promise."
Harry grinned. "You're welcome but I think it's time for you to go. I'll see you tomorrow."
Ruby let go of Harry and stood in the centre of the classroom. Harry then pointed his wand at Ruby and said, "Finite incantatem."
Immediately Ruby's figure began to fade and eventually disappeared out of existence. The dirt that Harry had gathered earlier was back in a small pile where he had placed it earlier and the fire in the fireplace was burning once again. The only difference was that the transfigured cup that should have been full of water was completely empty.
Afterwards, Harry tidied up the classroom and headed out the door down to dinner.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Sorry it took a while. Had to think of what subplots to stick in the chapter and that took quite a few days but thank you all for your reviews. Up next: The Valentine's Ball.
Phoenix of Light: As the story progresses, I'm finding it harder to come up with good things to put in the chapter. There will be a few more missions later and some interesting plot twists that hopefully no one's seen in any other fanfic before.
Rogue1615: Harry will do something about Dumbledore's imprisonment, don't worry about that one.
Temporary Insanity: Thank you for the review. I think you're right about the pairings so I'll keep that up during the story.
CrazyLuv15: As much as I'd like to take credit for the spells, no I didn't make them up, I only came up with the incantations with a few exceptions. Those spells are from games that I've played and I thought they were really good so I put them in the story.
Hermi: Wow, Thank you for the compliment. Don't worry about me not finishing this fic. I will finish it because it's the readers like you that make it worth the effort.
Angelis: Sorry but this chap was a bit slow. I'll try to do better with posting of the next one though I'll have to think about how to write the dance scenes and what to do with the plot before and after the dance.
Kodomo: Harry will find the forbidden magic at some point in his elemental book, I just haven't found a fitting place to put it in. I may even add more spells in the elemental branches for the next fanfic. Unfortunately there isn't a guardian for the forbidden magic but if you want, I can add one. I'd expect it'd have to be very hard to control and very destructive.
Blackdragoneye: Don't worry about not posting every chapter. I don't mind if you give me a review or not, just sometimes people suggest things in their reviews that help the story along. Temporary Insanity also said the same thing about the pairings so I'll keep it that way. I don't know when I'll start writing the next fic, most likely after I come up with a basic storyline to make it easier to come up with the subplots. That way I won't have to rush to come up with how the plot develops each night like I was doing with the first 17 chapters.
Quis: I'm glad you liked that part. More action to come in the later chapters though I'll warn you that the upcoming missions may be extremely bloody, something like what happened during the first mission.
Marba50: Cho isn't addicted to Harry, she just wants to make up for turning him down last year. As for Cedric, she's still somewhat sad about it but doesn't show it. It's there though cuz she mentions that she doesn't want to lose another person she was close to.
ARGHHHHHHHH: I assure you that as much as this may not have an original title, the plot is really good and it has quite a few things that most people probably haven't seen in other fanfics (I hope).
Julie: If you've gotten this far, hopefully Walter's comment about saving Alicia makes more sense. If not, ask me and I'll explain it.
kal_23: I won't stop writing so don't worry about that. The person flaming me happens to be someone from my high school. He's was an asshole in high school and it appears he's become even more of one. However I do applaud him for flaming me because being the only flamer out of 196 reviews only makes people want to read this even more =). In a sense, I should be thanking him for flaming me and getting more readers rather than hurting me.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 27: Hogsmeade
Harry was released from the Hospital Wing the day after Hermione had come to rescue him from Parvati though Madam Pomfrey seemed more than happy to get rid of him this time. After nearly being bitten by Parvati, Harry was more wary about going to sleep each night. Hermione saw this and helped him put him at rest by assuring him that she would make sure that nothing would happen to him.
Since the O.W.L.s were coming up in May, the teachers began to drill the students more rigorously to make sure they knew the material. However oddly enough, Walter and Sepet were absent during some of their classes and Harry was left wondering where they were.
The Water Guardian kept her part of the bargain and instructed Harry on dancing each evening in an empty classroom though Harry was still stumped as to who she could go to the ball with. Some of the students still hadn't found dates yet but Harry was quite surprised to find that Neville was going with Ginny again.
At the end of the week, the students were allowed to go to Hogsmeade to shop for their outfits for the ball. Although Harry was a little disappointed that Hermione would be going with Ron, he was still looking forward to going with Cho.
On Saturday morning, Harry awoke slowly to the familiar scene of his dorm room. Crawling out of bed, Harry lazily made his way to the bathroom to shower and changed into his school uniform and buckling his sword belt under it before going down to the common room to wait for Ron and Hermione.
Once Ron and Hermione came down, the three of them went down to breakfast.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A bit into breakfast, Cho came to join them dressed in her school uniform.
"Hi Harry," she said.
Harry returned her greeting happily and offered her a seat next to him which she took gladly.
"Hi Cho," said Hermione, sitting next to Ron across the table. "Will you be joining us for the trip to Hogsmeade today?"
Cho nodded. "Yes I am. I was also wondering if you'd like to go together to shop for our dress robes for the ball while the guys search for theirs, how does that sound?"
"Sure, I'd love to but Ron already has some brand new dress robes that his brothers were nice enough to get for him," Hermione replied.
"That's okay," Harry chimed in. "Ron can help me look for mine. I'm not entirely sure what I should wear."
"I think I'll go for something in red," Cho said thoughtfully. "What do you think?"
"You'll look great in red," Hermione agreed, putting a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth.
At that moment, Professor McGonagall entered the Great Hall. "Would all the students planning on going to Hogsmeade this weekend please follow me."
"Time to go," Harry said finishing up the last of his breakfast and got up from his seat, extending a hand to Cho to help her up. She took it gladly and the two of them walked side by side to the carriages with Ron and Hermione following closely behind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Outside, the horseless carriages were already waiting for the students to take them to Hogsmeade. However flanking each carriage were four skeletons in groups of two. Half the skeletons were carrying fireballs and the other half were wielding swords and shields. Walter was standing outside the lead carriage offering his hand to Professor McGonagall and helping her into the carriage with Hagrid following soon after.
Walter then signalled to the skeletons and all at the same time, the skeletons carrying fireballs on the side facing the side of the school dispelled their fireballs and opened the carriage doors.
"Harry, would you mind if Hermione and I went together in our own carriage?" Ron asked him from behind.
"Sure Ron, I don't mind," Harry replied though he was somewhat dismayed by the thought.
"There's an open carriage there Harry," Cho pointed out. "Let's go before it's taken."
Harry and Cho made their way towards the carriage but as fortune would have it, Malfoy and Pansy arrived a bit after they did with Crabbe and Goyle on either side of them.
"Back off Potter," Malfoy announced, "This carriage is ours."
"We got here first Malfoy," Harry said coolly. "I believe that we have the right to sit in this carriage."
At that point, Malfoy noticed Cho. "I didn't know that Chang here took a liking to you Potter. It's probably because she feels sorry for you since Weasel stole your mudblood girlfriend from you."
"I suggest you go away Malfoy," Cho cut in smirking mischievously, "I'm sure you don't want to find yourself in the hospital wing before we get the chance to leave the school."
"Not this time Chang - Crabbe - Goyle, secure this carriage for us," Malfoy ordered his two goons.
Crabbe and Goyle lumbered towards Cho and Harry who reached for their wands in their robe, however they soon found they didn't have to for the skeletons around them apparently sensed hostility and moved to act.
Two seconds later, Crabbe and Goyle found themselves surrounded by armed skeletons, some of them ready to hurl their burning fireballs at them.
Seeing his skeletons moving out of formation, Walter made his way over to their carriage to see what was causing the disturbance.
"Is there a problem here?" Walter asked as the circle of skeletons parted to allow him to walk through.
Malfoy's goons shook their heads and turned to their leader for instructions.
"No Professor," Malfoy said trying to sound as victimized as possible. "I was going to enter this carriage with Pansy but Potter here wouldn't let us."
"Then I suggest that you all get into the carriage together before they are all taken," said Walter.
Harry glared at Malfoy and extended a hand to help Cho into the carriage before entering himself, putting his sword across his lap before he sat down. Malfoy and Pansy entered soon after them but Crabbe and Goyle were forced to sit in another carriage by Walter.
At Walter's command, the skeletons closed the doors to the carriages with the exception of the last carriage and the convoy started moving in the direction of Hogsmeade. Walter watched each carriage pass to ensure that everything was going well and as the last carriage passed, he hopped into it and closed the door behind him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Just what I needed," Malfoy said bitterly. "A trip to Hogsmeade with Potter."
"It's not our fault," Harry shot back. "You were the one that wanted to sit in this carriage."
"Only because you don't deserve to ride in one Potter. You should be walking alongside the carriages with the rest of these servants. In fact, Weasel should join you too since he's servant material. Too poor to afford anything."
"That's enough Malfoy," Cho threatened. "We may not be outside and your friends may not be in here but I still have my wand and I'm sure you wouldn't want to have rumours going around that you were beaten senseless by your girlfriend."
Malfoy opened his mouth to respond but shut it again once the thought of Pansy slapping him around the carriage registered in his mind. Cho gave Malfoy a smug smile and leaned back into her seat, keeping one hand on her wand the entire time. For his part, Harry was a bit paranoid that Malfoy might start some trouble since he did have his hand on his wand so Harry did likewise and kept his hand on his wand.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they arrived in Hogsmeade, Harry and Malfoy glared at each other as they got out on opposite sides of the carriage, keeping their one hand on their wands at all times. Cho and Pansy then made their exit afterwards while the two boys kept an eye on their rival. Crabbe and Goyle soon joined their irritable leader but they both looked a bit frightened with all of the armed skeletons around them.
"Hey Harry," he heard Hermione call from the left. "Over here!"
Harry and Cho ran over to join Ron and Hermione.
"How was the ride?" Hermione asked.
"Simply horrible," Harry replied. "We had to sit with Malfoy and Pansy."
Hermione gasped. "I'm sorry, next time you'll definitely get to sit with us."
"I agree," Ron said. "Having to ride with Malfoy would be absolutely dreadful."
"It wasn't that bad. Cho kept him quiet the entire time by threatening to use the confusion hex on him while Pansy was there," Harry said with a laugh. "That would mean that he'd get beaten senseless by her and I don't think he would enjoy that too much."
Hermione and Ron laughed at this and the four of them started to walking along the dirt road.
"Where would you like to go first?" Ron asked Hermione. "Let me guess. the bookstore?"
Hermione smiled at him. "Where else do you think I want to go silly?"
Ron sighed. "Typical Hermione but I'll put up with it this time - lead the way."
Harry gave Ron a quizzical look for he knew how much Ron hated going to the bookstore. If nothing else Ron would rather have gone to the joke shop.
"Harry," Cho said. "Can we go to Honeydukes? I want to get some chocolate from there."
"Sure Cho - How about we meet back here in two hours for lunch?" Harry suggested to Ron and Hermione.
"All right," Hermione agreed. "We'll meet you back here in two hours."
With that Ron and Hermione headed towards the bookstore while Harry and Cho headed over to Honeydukes to browse around.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
At Honeydukes, Harry and Cho ran into Dean and Seamus.
"Hey Harry, what are you doing here?" Seamus asked but then he noticed Cho. "Oh, I see you're with Cho. What happened to Hermione?"
"She's off with Ron at the bookstore," Harry explained. "Cho wanted to come here and I didn't mind."
"I see, so are you two together?" Dean asked curiously.
Both Harry and Cho turned slightly red. "No, we're only here together because we want to look for our dress robes for the ball."
"Lucky you," said Dean, grabbing a box of chocolates. "We don't have dates yet but we have a few girls in mind. These chocolates should help."
"Who are you planning to ask?"
"I'm going to ask Parvati," Seamus announced. "Dean is going to ask her sister, Padma. I mean they're the best looking girls in our year, why wouldn't we ask them?"
Harry looked at Seamus as if he was on his deathbed. Seamus had no idea that Parvati was a vampire and would probably get bitten.
"Uh Sea...," Harry started to say.
"Still.," Dean interrupted. "I wonder how you always manage to get the best looking girls around Harry."
Harry and Cho turned even redder but Harry thought it might be best to press the point.
"Seamus," Harry repeated. "I don't think asking Parvati is such a good idea."
"Come on Harry, you can't have all the girls for yourself," Seamus said jokingly. "You went with her last year so let us have a chance."
"That's not what I meant," Harry said quietly to himself but Cho overheard him.
"What did you mean Harry?" Cho asked.
"I'll explain later," Harry whispered. "You see Parvati isn't exactly normal anymore."
Cho nodded uncertainly and Harry attempted once more to try to convince Seamus not to ask Parvati to the ball. "Seamus, haven't you noticed something wrong with Parvati lately?"
"No, she looks a bit sick but she hasn't been bedridden yet. I mean she still joins us for meals and everything," Seamus argued. "It's not like she's going to die Harry. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous."
Harry let out a sigh and turned away, giving up all hopes of trying to convince Seamus.
*You have no idea do you Seamus, * Harry thought as he led Cho away from Seamus.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cho eventually settled on getting a box of chocolates and some sugar quills and the two of them exited the store.
"How about we go to the joke shop next?" Cho suggested, offering him a sugar quill. "I think that will be more to your liking."
Harry took it and grinned back. "Yes it would."
They had about an hour and a half so the two of the headed over to the joke shop to browse around.
Over there Harry and Cho saw Fred and George who were trying to get the shop owner to buy some of their canary creams.
"Harry!" a voice called.
Harry turned around to find Hermione and Ron looking around the shop as well.
"Weren't you looking around at the bookstore?" asked Harry.
"Hermione agreed to let me come here since I came with her to the bookstore," Ron explained. "I must say I was bored stiff but this is more to my liking."
"Not my fault you agreed to come along," Hermione countered.
"If I didn't know better," Cho whispered to Harry. "I'd say those two liked each other."
Harry nodded and for the next hour or so they looked around the joke shop then the four students made their way over to the Three Broomsticks.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hullo you four," Madam Rosmerta greeted them as they entered. "What can I get you?"
"Four butterbeers please," Harry requested and they found a seat in a quiet corner of the pub; Harry sat next to Cho and Ron and Hermione took a seat across from them.
Looking around, Harry noticed that the teachers were sitting at a table in the centre chatting idly amongst themselves. Walter was sitting next to Professor McGonagall who was laughing at a joke that Hagrid had told though Harry thought that Hagrid looked a bit drunk. Hagrid had a glass of red currant rum in front of him while McGonagall and Walter had butterbeers.
"So how was the bookstore Hermione?" Cho was asking.
"It was very interesting. I found some spellbooks that would have been great for transfiguration or charms but they cost too much," Hermione stated.
"Really Hermione," Ron said. "You should get around more often instead of having your nose stuck in a book all day."
"Ron, if you would read more often, your grades would be a lot better than they are now," Hermione scolded.
Ron rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. You've told us that at least a hundred times, right Harry?"
Harry nodded but something at the entrance to the Three Broomsticks caught his eye for Parvati had entered the pub with a hood over her face, much like Sepet did when he was walking around in the morning. Unfortunately Harry had forgotten his ring back at the dorm and so he didn't have any advanced warning that she was coming. Hermione however didn't forget and her ring was glowing a faint reddish colour.
She sat down at a table next to the one the teachers were sitting at and ordered a butterbeer.
"Isn't that Parvati, Padma's twin sister?" Cho asked Harry.
Harry nodded.
"That reminds me," Cho said, looking back at him. "Harry, what were you going to tell me about Parvati? She looks normal except that she's wearing a hood like Professor Sepet does when we go on our missions. Funny how those two seem to avoid sunlight."
Harry leaned over to whisper in her ear. "Parvati and Sepet are vampires. That's why they don't like the sun."
Cho looked a bit horrified. "But that means that..."
Harry nodded. "Yes, the attacks that have occurred so far were because of them."
"But how is it that they weren't turned into vampires too?" Cho asked.
Finally noticing the conversation going on between Harry and Cho, Ron decided to jump in.
"Walter saved Alicia though we thought he killed her," Ron said.
"Filch was attacked too but Professor McGonagall made sure that he would be okay," Hermione added.
"No wonder you were trying to convince Seamus not to ask Parvati," said Cho. "You wanted to make sure that she wouldn't attack him."
"Seamus is going to ask Parvati to the ball?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, we ran into him at Honeydukes and I tried to convince him not to go with Parvati but he didn't listen," said Harry.
"Looks like we'll have to keep an eye out for him at the ball and make sure he doesn't get hurt," Hermione commented.
"Only if Parvati says yes," Cho pointed out.
"Say, I'm hungry," Ron said, changing the subject. "I say we order lunch, how about you?"
Hermione rolled her eyes but agreed nonetheless and the four of them ordered something to eat.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After lunch, the four of them headed over to Gladrags Wizardwear so that they could pick out their dress robes. Four witches greeted them as they entered the shop and the four of them broke into pairs so that the witches could measure them out for new robes. To Harry's annoyance, they argued for a bit over who would help him but eventually one of them wearing blue robes won out and ushered him towards one of the measuring areas.
"I'm not looking for dress robes," Ron protested as a witch pulled him in the direction of the mirror. "They're for him."
The witch looked disappointed but happily went to attend to Harry while the other two helped the girls pick out their robes.
"Here are all the robes that we have Mr. Potter," the witch said handing him a book full of different robe designs. "Take your pick."
With that, the witches left Harry to browse through the book. Ron was looking over his shoulder and pointing out designs he thought were good though Harry thought that some were rather appalling and wouldn't suit him.
Eventually one of the designs caught his eye. It was a gold coloured dress robe with red trimming and a split on each side.
"I think that would look good on your Mr. Potter," said a voice that caused Harry and Ron to jump. "Your house colours - very nice."
Harry turned around to find himself looking at Walter who was also looking through the book for some dress robes.
"You almost gave us a heart attack," Ron panted, checking his pulse to see if it was still there. "How is it that you always manage to sneak up on us?"
"Bad habits from long ago," Walter said with a grin. "However I am also here to buy some dress robes."
"Really?" asked Ron in disbelief.
"Yes," Walter said. "Even professors and bodyguards need to look nice every now and then."
"Have you settled upon a design?" Harry asked Walter.
"Unfortunately not but I hope to find one before we return, otherwise I'll have to come back and look for them on my own time."
At that moment the two witches returned and asked Harry if he was done which he gave them an affirmative answer. Then they spent the next few minutes getting Harry's measurements, taking his order down on parchment and getting him to pay for it.
The robes were expensive but Harry thought it was worth the trouble.
"Your robes will be delivered by owl," the witch told him. "They should be ready by the first week of February. If you need adjustments made afterwards, please give us an owl and we'll be over to make them personally."
"Thank you," Harry said and he paid the bill.
"I don't think Hermione and Cho are ready yet. Let's wait outside for them," Ron suggested.
Then the two of them said good bye to Walter, who reminded them that they would be going back to the school in an hour, and exited the shop to wait for the girls.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was a while before Hermione and Cho came out with smiles on their faces.
"We found the prettiest dress robes that you'll ever imagine," Cho told Harry. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the ball."
"Same with you Ron," Hermione added, "but I'm just digressing. How about we head back to the Three Broomsticks until we have to go back to school?"
The boys grinned at them and the four of them headed back towards the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As they entered the Three Broomsticks, Hermione's ring began to glow once again and they saw that Parvati was still there but now her twin sister Padma was with her. However they could see that Padma's face had worry written all over it as she talked quietly with her sister.
Now that Cho was aware that Parvati was a vampire, she suggested that they sit where they could keep an eye on her.
Ron and Hermione agreed so they took a seat at a table overlooking both Parvati's table and the door.
Madam Rosmerta came over to take their order. "Back already? - Well what can I get you?"
"I'll have a butterbeer," Harry said, "What about you Cho?"
"I'll have the same thing," she said to Harry.
"Make that three," Ron added.
"Four," said Hermione.
Madam Rosmerta smiled at them. "Four butterbeers it is. I'll be back here with your order in a bit but until then, enjoy your stay."
The door to the Three Broomsticks and a very bashful Dean and Seamus entered the pub carrying a box of chocolate behind their back.
They walked over to where Parvati and Padma were and asked if they could sit down. Padma nodded her head and the two boys took out the box of chocolate and offered it to them, asking if they would go to the Valentine's ball with them.
Both girls looked at each other for a moment before giving Dean and Seamus a reply. Apparently it was a 'yes' since the two boys broke into smiles of relief immediately afterwards and the four of them began to talk amongst themselves.
Madam Rosmerta soon came with their drinks and Harry paid the bill in advance.
"Looks like we'll have to be alert during the dance," Hermione said.
"Oh great," Ron said disappointedly, "We won't get to enjoy the dance now."
"Be quiet Ron," Hermione chastised, "You'll still get to enjoy the ball but if Parvati leaves, we need to follow."
"But what if she leaves in the beginning?" Ron whined.
Hermione glared at Ron. "Which is more important? The life of your dorm mate or your ability to have fun at the ball? If Parvati keeps biting people, there won't be anymore students at the school and then there's no way you'll be able to have fun. Got it?"
Ron sighed. "I never win an argument against you, do I?"
"You haven't yet Ron and I don't think you will," Harry teased, trying to lighten up the mood.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once they had finished their butterbeers, it was time to go and the students headed back towards the waiting carriages that would take them back to Hogwarts.
The skeletons once again opened the doors and this time Harry and Cho were able to sit in the same carriage as Ron and Hermione.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they arrived at the school, Harry excused himself and walked with Cho back to the Ravenclaw tower.
"I enjoyed spending the day with you Harry," Cho said once they arrived at the portrait leading to the Ravenclaw common room. "I hope that we can do this again but I'll see you at dinner."
Harry grinned. "I enjoyed the day too Cho. Take care and I'll see you later."
Cho smiled at him and gave him a hug before saying the password and entering the portrait.
Harry stared at Cho's figure until the portrait closed again and made his way towards the empty classroom where his practices were always held with the Water Guardian.
However Harry was curious to see what the water guardian looked like in human form and made a little detour outside to collect some dirt for the Earth Guardian.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once he got into the empty classroom, Harry first placed the dirt on the ground and summoned the Earth Guardian.
The dirt multiplied and gathered from the ground up to form the humanoid figure of the Earth Guardian. Then Harry lit a fire in the fireplace that was on the far end of the classroom so that he could summon the Fire Guardian.
The fire roared and Harry jumped back to avoid getting burned by it.
A head soon appeared from the fire and it spread to form a neck and torso. Two arms formed from there and eventually the whole form of the Fire Guardian crawled out of the fireplace and stood in front of Harry.
Once that was done, Harry summoned the Air Guardian in another corner of the classroom. The air in the classroom swirled around the room blowing out the fire in the fireplace, but leaving the Fire Guardian relatively unharmed, and formed a nearly invisible figure made completely out of air in front of Harry.
Finally, Harry transfigured a desk into a cup and created some water in it so that he could summon the Water Guardian.
Pointing his wand at the cup, Harry said the spell to summon the last of the four guardians.
The water level in the cup rose and eventually spilled into the floor but then the water particles congregated and rose up like a fountain to form the figure of the Water Guardian.
The four guardians then gathered and stood in a line facing Harry.
*Your bidding? * they asked in unison.
Harry pointed his wand at the Water Guardian as she had told him previously and said, "Dominatus Water!"
The figures of the four guardians faded and glided sideways through the air, eventually combining in the space occupied by the Water Guardian. The figure then solidified once again only this time it took on the appearance of a human female, a foot taller than Harry with flowing chestnut coloured hair that fell down past her shoulders. She was clothed in a light blue dress that came down to her ankles with light blue arm length gloves and a pair of elegant light blue heeled shoes.
"Hullo Harry," the woman greeted him. "I'm glad to see that you pulled it off."
Harry grinned at her. "I was curious to see what you looked like as a human, though you are taller than me."
"Would you prefer that I adjust my height to match yours?"
"You can do that?"
"Sure," the woman said and she reduced her height until she was about the same height as Harry.
"Do you have a name?"
"I don't have a given name; my masters call me whatever they like but my previous one called me Ruby."
"So.," said Ruby, "are you ready for your dance lessons?"
"Yes," Harry replied. "However I still haven't found a date for you yet."
Ruby's face fell. "Well, you still have three weeks to do that so I guess I'll let it pass. Let's get started shall we?"
For the next few hours, Ruby continued Harry's dancing lessons. This time he didn't step on her toes and she even let him lead her until he messed up. Having a Guardian as his mentor had its advantages for unlike the teachers at Hogwarts, Ruby was quite patient and didn't yell at him for making mistakes. Instead she would guide him slowly through the steps until he got it right again.
By the time dinner rolled around, Harry was quite hungry and he requested that they stop for the day.
"Aw, how about we go through the steps one more time?" Ruby pleaded.
"Oh all right," Harry conceded. "I don't think the others will mind if I'm a bit late for dinner."
They danced once again though this time Ruby sang a slow tune for them to dance to. Harry found himself very much entranced by the sound of Ruby's voice and soon lost himself in the sound of it.
In fact, Harry was so taken in by Ruby's voice that he didn't notice that the door to the classroom open and a figure carrying a sword and wearing a long black cape entered. Seeing the two of them dancing alone in the middle of the empty classroom, the figure took a seat in one of the empty desks and watched them intently.
After about four minutes, the song ended and Harry brought himself back to reality only to find a lone figure sitting in a chair applauding him.
"Excellent performance," the Count said. "A bit awkward with the lady leading but otherwise excellent. My apologies for intruding but I was patrolling the halls and I heard someone singing in here."
Harry looked at Sepet rather strangely since he was expecting him to draw his sword at anytime rather than comment on his dancing ability or Ruby's singing.
"However," Sepet continued. "You are late for dinner and I expect that your friends will be waiting for you."
"Yes Professor," Harry said. "I'll be on my way."
"One question though Mr. Potter."
"What's that?"
"Who is this lovely lady present by your side?" the Count asked looking at Ruby. "I don't believe I've seen her here before."
"That's because I don't go to this school," Ruby answered before Harry could do so. "My name is Ruby. Who might you be sir?"
Sepet got up out of his seat and walked towards Ruby. "I am Count Vladimir Sepet, the duelling teacher at this school. I certainly hope that you aren't some student that has been sneaking out of another school because you would be in very deep trouble if your headmaster found out."
Ruby's figure grew until she was only a head shorter than the Count, prepared to defend herself and Harry in case Sepet decided to start some trouble.
"You aren't a normal human either," Sepet commented, noticing Ruby's change in height as he approached with one hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Of course not, I'm Harry's guardian."
Then Sepet did something that Harry hadn't seen before, he smiled. Not an evil smile like he'd been seeing either but a genuine one.
"That changes everything. It is a pleasure to meet you, Ruby. I haven't seen one of your kind in years and I didn't think I would encounter one again," Sepet said with a slight bow.
"Really now..When did you last encounter one?"
"Years ago when I was still training to hunt down vampires, I had the fortune to meet one during a visit to London," Sepet said, finally pausing a foot away from them. "She was quite lovely too, just like yourself."
Ruby blushed slightly at the compliment and Harry became quite suspicious. If the Count was trying to throw Ruby off, Harry wouldn't know since he didn't have his ring.
"Mr. Potter," Sepet said suddenly. "Normally I do not request favours from students but I will make an exception here."
"What would that be?"
"I would like your permission to escort this lovely lady to the upcoming Valentine's ball. I haven't found anyone to bring yet but I think my search will have come to an end."
Harry thought about it for a moment. On one hand, he was quite surprised by Sepet's request but on the other, this would provide him with a better opportunity to keep an eye on Sepet during the ball. If he was with Ruby the entire time, Sepet would be less likely to bite people and Harry's task would only be limited to watching Parvati.
Glancing at Ruby, Harry saw that she was giving him an anxious look. "You can go with her Professor."
"Thank you Harry," Ruby squealed in delight. "You've made me very happy by keeping your part of the bargain."
"Thank you Mr. Potter," the Count said, making his way back towards the door. "I will look forward to the ball but for now, you may want to head to the Great Hall for dinner before it ends. Good night."
With that the Count made his exit and Ruby gave Harry a hug. "Thank you again Harry. I'm glad you kept your promise."
Harry grinned. "You're welcome but I think it's time for you to go. I'll see you tomorrow."
Ruby let go of Harry and stood in the centre of the classroom. Harry then pointed his wand at Ruby and said, "Finite incantatem."
Immediately Ruby's figure began to fade and eventually disappeared out of existence. The dirt that Harry had gathered earlier was back in a small pile where he had placed it earlier and the fire in the fireplace was burning once again. The only difference was that the transfigured cup that should have been full of water was completely empty.
Afterwards, Harry tidied up the classroom and headed out the door down to dinner.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Sorry it took a while. Had to think of what subplots to stick in the chapter and that took quite a few days but thank you all for your reviews. Up next: The Valentine's Ball.
Phoenix of Light: As the story progresses, I'm finding it harder to come up with good things to put in the chapter. There will be a few more missions later and some interesting plot twists that hopefully no one's seen in any other fanfic before.
Rogue1615: Harry will do something about Dumbledore's imprisonment, don't worry about that one.
Temporary Insanity: Thank you for the review. I think you're right about the pairings so I'll keep that up during the story.
CrazyLuv15: As much as I'd like to take credit for the spells, no I didn't make them up, I only came up with the incantations with a few exceptions. Those spells are from games that I've played and I thought they were really good so I put them in the story.
Hermi: Wow, Thank you for the compliment. Don't worry about me not finishing this fic. I will finish it because it's the readers like you that make it worth the effort.
Angelis: Sorry but this chap was a bit slow. I'll try to do better with posting of the next one though I'll have to think about how to write the dance scenes and what to do with the plot before and after the dance.
Kodomo: Harry will find the forbidden magic at some point in his elemental book, I just haven't found a fitting place to put it in. I may even add more spells in the elemental branches for the next fanfic. Unfortunately there isn't a guardian for the forbidden magic but if you want, I can add one. I'd expect it'd have to be very hard to control and very destructive.
Blackdragoneye: Don't worry about not posting every chapter. I don't mind if you give me a review or not, just sometimes people suggest things in their reviews that help the story along. Temporary Insanity also said the same thing about the pairings so I'll keep it that way. I don't know when I'll start writing the next fic, most likely after I come up with a basic storyline to make it easier to come up with the subplots. That way I won't have to rush to come up with how the plot develops each night like I was doing with the first 17 chapters.
Quis: I'm glad you liked that part. More action to come in the later chapters though I'll warn you that the upcoming missions may be extremely bloody, something like what happened during the first mission.
Marba50: Cho isn't addicted to Harry, she just wants to make up for turning him down last year. As for Cedric, she's still somewhat sad about it but doesn't show it. It's there though cuz she mentions that she doesn't want to lose another person she was close to.
ARGHHHHHHHH: I assure you that as much as this may not have an original title, the plot is really good and it has quite a few things that most people probably haven't seen in other fanfics (I hope).
Julie: If you've gotten this far, hopefully Walter's comment about saving Alicia makes more sense. If not, ask me and I'll explain it.
kal_23: I won't stop writing so don't worry about that. The person flaming me happens to be someone from my high school. He's was an asshole in high school and it appears he's become even more of one. However I do applaud him for flaming me because being the only flamer out of 196 reviews only makes people want to read this even more =). In a sense, I should be thanking him for flaming me and getting more readers rather than hurting me.