Chapter 5
"Yes Harry, it's me. I've been hiding out in the Weasley's home and it
turns out it's the best hiding place I've had yet. No one's thought to
check here for me."
"Oh Sirius, I thought something may have happened to you. Is that
you I heard last night? Before I went to bed I could have sworn I
heard a man cough and I knew it wasn't Mr. Weasley."
"Yeah, it was me." Sirius laughed. He was so happy to see Harry.
Harry was sitting up now and gave Sirius a big hug.
"But wait, what about Sue? She's here and you're here and.."
Sirius interrupted, "It's okay, we've already met. And I told her my
name was Tom. She's really attractive by the way. I haven't been able
to associate with a woman in a long time... well with the exception of
Mrs. Weasley," he laughed, "but anyway, remember Tom, okay?".
Harry nodded his head. He couldn't stop smiling. Things were starting
to look better. He was living with Ron AND Sirius!!!
"Well breakfast is ready so come on down when you're ready, okay?"
"Okay... Sirius..."
"Yes?"
"I... I love you", Harry hesitantly said. He had never told Sirius how
much he meant to him, how good it was to have him in his life.
Sirius smilied, "You better". They both laughed and Sirius left Harry's
room and went down stairs. Harry got out of bed and walked into the
hallway. He figured since he lived there now, he'd just stay in his
pajamas. He walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. He said
to himself, "I need a haircut".
He brushed his teeth and then realized he should of waited until after
breakfast to do that. He walked out of the bathroom and down the
stairs and into the kitchen. The table had magically extended. There
were eight chairs and all of them were filled except for two. Mrs.
Weasley was up getting Harry's plate ready and Harry walked over to
her.
"Thanks for everything.. mmm that food smells good!"
"Well good morning Harry, I hope you like eating food as much as you
do smelling it!"
Harry laughed and walked over to the empty chair in between Sirius
and Ron.
"So Tom, what kind of work are you in?", Sue asked.
Sirius was caught by surprise and quickly thought up something, "Oh
me? I'm .... a gardener! Yes, I love to work outdoors." .
"Oh well maybe that explains your good body...", Sue giggled.
Ron was drinking some milk and he started laughing and milk starting
coming out of his nose. By this time everyone was holding in the
laughter
Harry whispered to Sirius, "A gardener?". Sirius shrugged.
"May I be excused?", asked Ginny.
"Yes dear", said Mrs. Weasley.
"Me too!", Ron jumped up and said.
"Okay".
Hermione waited on Harry who hadn't finished his food. While he was
eating his eggs, it donned on him that Hedwig hadn't been anywhere
in the house that he had seen.
"Does anyone know where Hedwig is?"
"Oh, I hoped you wouldn't mind Harry, I wanted to send my parents a
letter telling them how I'm doing and things like that," answered
Hermione.
"Oh okay, I just wanted to know where she was".
Harry finished up the rest of his eggs and before Harry and Hermione
could ask to be excused Mr. Weasley told them to go on, the adults
had some things to discuss.
Harry and Hermione walked outside and didn't see Ginny or Ron, so
they started to walk around the Weasley's land looking for them.
"Umm Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"Is umm, is Ron interested in anyone? I know he went on vacation for
a week and well, did he meet anyone?"
"Not that I know of why?"
"Oh, no reason..." Hermione said quickly.
"Okay", Harry said awkwardly.
"Hey Harry up here!"
Harry looked up and Ginny was above him. She dove down and
stopped right in front of Harry and Hermione. Harry was amazed at
how good Ginny had gotten at riding.
"Wow Gin, nice dive, almost as good as mine", said Harry jokingly.
"I don't think I'll ever get that good but I'm going to try", and with
that she flew off.
Ron was on his Firebolt that Harry got him for his birthday. He was
floating in mid-air behind Hermione but neither her nor Harry knew he
was there.
"So anyway, has he .. said anything about me? Wait never mind this is
getting awkward." Hermione said
"Hermione, have you fallen for Ron?"
"I'll race you to that fence! Ready, set, go!", Hermione shouted
changing the subject. They started running and Harry stayed at a fast
jog so Hermione wouldn't feel bad.
Ron on the other hand, just sat there on his broom, stunned.
Hermione likes him! He was so happy. He started doing flips and all
these tricks on his broom without meaning to. And he had an
audience. Hermione, Harry and Ginny were all watching him as he
came down.
"Someone's in a good mood.", Ginny commented.
The next few weeks went by rather fast. Sandie Sue had left after a
week of staying. Sirius didn't want her to go. They'd grown fond over
each other. They'd kissed goodbye and for all they knew might not see
each other again.
Hermione and Ron had been spending a lot of time together which left
Harry and Ginny alone. There wasn't an attraction between the two
but they became really good friends. Anytime that Harry wasn't with
Ginny, he was with Sirius. Sirius and Harry grew really close and
created a father-son relationship. But everything changed because it
was a week until school would start. Harry had to say goodbye to
Sirius.
"Now you stay out of trouble and remember not to go wandering off
where your not supposed to. If anything happened to you, I wouldn't
have a reason to be hiding."
"I won't. I'll miss you. Make sure to write okay? I don't want to worry
about you getting caught by someone."
"I'll write, now you behave."
"Goodbye"
"G'bye"
"Ok everyone, time to go!", Mr. Weasley yelled.
Harry ran back up to his room to make sure he didn't forget anything.
When he got in there, Pig was on his bed.
"What're you doing here? You're supposed to be with Ron. He's going
to be mad when he finds out you snuck out of your cage. Now c'mon."
Harry raised his arm and Pig flew on it. Harry double checked his room
and everything was gone. He ran back down the stairs and Ron saw
Pig.
"Pig! There you are. Thanks Harry, I just saw he was out of his cage."
Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Harry all put there stuff in a pile. Mr.
Weasley then used a spell to shrink everything except the children's
wands and Hedwig, Pig and Crookshanks. They all put the little trunks
and other things into the trunk of the car. Mrs. Weasley came out and
they packed into the vehicle. Sirius watched from the window of the
highest room in the Burrow and waved goodbye.
"How many rooms will you need?", asked the clerk at the LeakyCauldron.
"Two", Hermione replied. Ron's parents had already left and for the
first time, they all got to shop for their school supplies together, and
best of all adult free.
Harry and Ron carried their trunks into their room. It was pretty big.
There were two beds at the opposite ends of the room and there was a
fireplace in the middle. Everything was a deep-set purple and red.
There were two little dressers and one big closet and a big bathroom.
There was a mini kitchen that had a little button that you could press
and talk to someone and get food. Ron loved this part. Harry said that
Muggles called it room service. And best of all, there was a big window
for Hedwig and Pig to get out of that had the best view over Diagon
Alley. Tomorrow they would go there and get their school supplies
(and to buy Ron a new cloak, Harry thought). But now they had to
meet the girls in the lobby for dinner. Ron and Harry talked them into
letting them decide where they would go eat.
"Hey, so where are we going you two?", Ginny said.
"It's a surprise", Harry grinned.
Hermione came down and they left the lobby of the Leaky Cauldron.
They walked down Diagon Alley. It was a great place to be in the
daytime but at night it was beautiful. All the street lamps were lit and
everything would shine. There were candles in every window. A band
would always being playing on a corner. The air smelt so fresh, like the
very beginning of spring and the temperature was perfect. It was just
so peaceful. You could see the stars. It was the perfect place to go on
a date. And that's exactly what Harry and Ginny had planned for Ron
and Hermione. Harry and Ginny walked behind them talking.
"Come on you can tell me where we're going!"
"Ginny, no!" Harry laughed
"You think Ron will finally get up the courage to ask Hermione to be
his girlfriend?", asked Ginny.
Harry started to think about the ring he had given Ron. Tonight would
be the perfect night.
"I hope so...", Harry replied.
"Yeah, me too."
"Ahh here we are", Harry said as he held out his arm for Ginny to link
hers in.
"Madam", Harry said as he opened the door to Manifit Surlea for
Ginny.
"Why thank you kind sir," she said giggling. Ron and Hermione
followed.
Hermione looked beautiful tonight. She had on a long black dress that
went down under her shoulders and had her hair up. She had a
beautiful necklace on that Harry had given her for Christmas last year.
Ron actually looked half decent. Harry thought maybe he had actually
tried to comb is hair.
They walked into a great hall where a man greeted them. He counted
how many people there were and told them to follow him. Ron
whispered something to him and the man nodded. As they walked
down the hall they saw pictures of beautiful places, like mountains and
one had Hogwarts in the winter time with all the white, fluffy snow.
They went up a staircase which was covered in a velvet carpet and
were lead on to a balcony. The man seated them and gave them their
menu's and said he would be right back.
"Wow, Harry, this is beautiful", Ginny said.
"I'm glad you like it, it's new."
"Was this the old library?", Hermione asked.
"Yeah, the library's moved to a bigger building", Ron answered.
The waiter came back and asked them what they wanted to drink. He
also brought along some candles, which he lit on the table. It was all
quite romantic. Harry figured this was Ron's doing.
"I'll be back in about ten minutes for you orders", the waiter said after
he gave them their drinks. Ron and Hermione carried on their own
conversation while Ginny and Harry talked.
"I can't wait to get back to school", Ginny said.
"I wish Malfoy wouldn't be there, then it'd be perfect."
"Yeah... but having you there makes up for it." Ginny started to blush.
Harry didn't know what to say. He knew Ginny had liked him when she
was younger, but he thought she'd moved on.... not that that's really
what he wanted.
"Umm... Where do you want to go after dinner? We need to go some
place where Hermione and Ron can go off alone."
"Oh Harry I know! The park that's right in the middle of Diagon Alley.
It'd be perfect. There's fountains and everything. If he wants to ask
her I'm sure it'd be there."
"Great then that's where we'll go. Oh here comes the waiter."
They all gave there orders to the waiter and the food magically
appeared on the table.
"Who cooks for you?!?!?!", Hermione demanded.
"Hermione calm down, what's ...."
"I said who cooks this food?!?! Is it house elves?"
"No ma'am, everything on the menu is made a head of time and when
you order we just send it up... and it's not made by house elves either
ma'am", the waiter reassuringly said.
Hermione took a sip of her water and calmed down. They all ate their
dinner and had a good time talking. Then they got up and the girls
went on down the stairs and waited outside. Ron and Harry paid the
bill, which was very expensive, and made there way out of the
restaurant.