Chapter 16
Revelations
"Can we talk?" she asked, looking him in the eye, which made him considerably more nervous.
"Sure" he replied, trying not to look petrified. In fact, Harry mused, he felt more worried now than when he faced Voldemort in his first year. Admittedly Voldemort had been only a shadow of former self, an ugly head in the back of Harry's Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher.
"Not here, somewhere private."
"Well I was going to the library, but I could go via the Room of Requirement."
"Perfect", she replied and they wandered up the stairs to the seventh floor, Harry not looking at the girl next to him in case he got too nervous and decided to run for it.
Harry opened the door to the room, thinking mentally of a nice place to talk. Walking in, he found the room had been cleared apart from a couple of sofas facing each other with a low table in-between them. Once Ginny had entered, he closed and sealed the door and went and sat in the sofa opposite the one she had chosen. Finally looking up at her, he decided to try and diffuse a volatile situation and spoke first.
"If this is about yesterday, I'm really sorry I shouted at you at breakfast" he said, not breaking eye contact.
"Well that's part of it, but not all. I wanted to say sorry for that anyway, I was wrong to try imply you did that for me, I know you wouldn't do something to jeopardise the team."
Harry smiled, maybe this wasn't going to be so bad "I didn't help it much at practice, I went a bit far."
"It doesn't matter, the team will be better for it, but that's not really what's been bothering me." She looked down and saw the belt she had bought Harry for his birthday and smiled. "That really suits you." she added.
"Is that's what bothering you?" questioned Harry, getting very confused.
She giggled a bit and said "No stupid, I'm nervous. I'll just say it: are we still friends?"
Harry was shocked. He knew he had feelings for her beyond friendship but he would always think of her as a friend too, "Of course. Why wouldn't we be?"
Ginny looked more relieved. "It's just you haven't been hanging round with us much anymore, I mean you still knock about with Ron and you are always chatting and studying with Hermione, but whenever I'm there you seem to go off on your own. It just feels like you don't want to be around me."
"Oh," said Harry, now getting more nervous again. He knew he didn't want to avoid her but maybe he had been subconsciously. He thought for a bit longer, and then decided he should be as honest as he felt comfortable with, without admitting now he felt about her. "It's just ... you know about Ron liking Hermione right?"
"Sure it's been obvious for a few years; I think even Hermione's noticed now that Ron has actually pulled his head out of..."
"The sand" finished Harry.
"Err...Yeah that's what I was going to say." Ginny replied, with a little smirk on her face.
"Well... And you're seeing Neville, it's just I don't really feel comfortable coming over and being there when it's like couples. I'm not trying to avoid anyone, I promise, I mean rather than get in the way I guess I just found something else to do, I didn't think I was upsetting anyone." Harry rather surprised himself with this explanation, he had been pretty busy since the start of school, but he had to admit he hadn't wanted to intrude on the two couples.
Ginny buried her head in her hands, and Harry was a little taken aback. He was reminded about the time the previous year when Cho had kissed him and started crying. He had clearly upset Ginny but had no idea how; awkwardly he got up and sat next to her, putting his arm over her shoulder. "What's up Ginny?" he asked softly. Then, trying not to sound totally insensitive, "Have I done something wrong?"
Ginny moved her head onto his chest and put her arms around him, an experience that, if it weren't for the awkwardness, he would have enjoyed a great deal. "I'm so sorry Harry, since the start of the year I've been getting mad at you because I thought you were shutting me out and now I realise it's not you at all, but me who has been doing it."
"You can't blame yourself for that, it's silly. It's me who was being stupid by ..."
"You don't understand..." she paused, as if she was thinking if she should say something, then she started and the words came out like a locomotive: "I don't really fancy Neville. I do really like him as a friend, he's sweet and funny and very easy to get on with, but I only like him as a friend, I only decided to see him so I could be better friend with you, Ron and Hermione. I thought if I was seeing one of your friends you'd accept me more and let me part of everything you do. I feel so stupid I ended up alienating the person I wanted to be closer to."
Harry's mind was whirring, this was far too much to take in; it would take him a week to get over this conversation and figure out what was going on. He remembered Hermione's advice after he told her about Cho crying when she kissed him: 'you just had to be nice to her' and tried to think of something nice to say. He was struggling to come up with something, then he thought 'maybe I could make her feel more part of the group, tell her something no one else knows. I told Ron about being friends with Godric and Hermione about my Charms work and even Hannah about the Potions, so there's only one thing left'.
"You know that when you're part of the group you sometimes have to keep secrets from everyone of your friends and it's not very nice."
"I know and I know it's not always fun and you're always in danger, but you've always done everything together and I've been jealous. I haven't got friends like that."
"Well you have now. Do you want to know one of the things I've been doing over the summer? You realise you can't tell another soul, not one!" This seemed to have done the trick and Ginny looked up at him with big eyes and a small smile on her face. Harry knew, deep down, he'd do almost anything to see that look again.
"Would you, really?"
"If you promise."
"I promise." she said, without hesitation.
"Well, you remember when you hugged me that time, and I said my stomach was rumbling? Well, I was lying, I was actually purring because I was happy."
"That's not much of a secret." she interrupted, looking a bit disappointed.
"If you'd let me finish…" he said, smiling at her. "The reason I was purring is because over the summer I started Animagus training and I'm almost there, another month and I should be able to do the complete transformation."
Her look changed quickly from disappointment to a mix between excitement and disbelief. "Can you show me?"
"I'm sorry, I can't at the moment. I can't do any magic for another week, and the transformation takes quite a lot..." seeing her face start to look disappointed again he quickly added: "How about as soon as I can do it, you're the first person I show it to?"
"Yes!" she said definitively, smiling at him again and then pushing her head against his chest, hugging him tightly, making Harry realise just how intimate this was and making him feel very nervous. "Harry, your animal, you're a cat right, like Professor McGonagall?"
"Sort of." he said, feeling her loosen her grip on him. "I'll tell you another secret if you like and then you can guess."
"Okay" she replied, talking into his chest and he could feel the heat of her breath on his torso, and the smell of the apple shampoo she used.
"Well Godric wasn't brought here to teach the sixth years the difference between magical and non-magical creatures, he was brought here for me."
Now she released him and sat up staring at him. "You're kidding, no, you're not; by Merlin you are aren't you, you're a lion. That explains everything, trust you not to go for a nice little tabby." she added giggling, then sobered slightly. "Harry why did you tell me all that?"
Harry didn't think about the answer too much, which was, he realized immediately, not a good idea. "Because I like you and I trust you," he stated and then the implication hit him, "and you are part of the group." he quickly added, hoping he hadn't betrayed his feelings for his best friend's sister. Ginny was smiling at him again and he felt his face start to flush, so he tried to move the conversation on as quickly as he could, "So what are your plans for the day?"
Still smiling, Ginny replied, "Oh I have to get a potions assignment finished. After I get my things I'm off to the library."
Harry was dreading actually parting with Ginny in case he was supposed to do something or not supposed to do anything; his experience with members of the opposite sex were rather limited so far; after all, he only had two categories to divide his experiences into: friends and unimaginable disasters. So, seeing a chance to remove the problem, he said, "Oh, I was going to the library to read up on some potions; I'll go with you if you like and give you a hand? I'm not brilliant but I remember most of last year's stuff."
"That would be great, but I think it's a different topic from last year. Apparently 'Polyjuice Potion' came up in the OWLs and so Professor Snape set us an assignment on it."
Harry laughed and got up, unsealing the door. "Ron didn't tell you about what we did in the second year then? The three of us decided we were going to get some information out of Malfoy and made Polyjuice Potion in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."
"You're kidding?" she said laughing, as she followed Harry out of the room.
"Nope, if you didn't have to stew the lace wings over a full lunar cycle I'd help you make some for extra credit. Didn't you ever wonder why Hermione was in the infirmary half way through the year? I'm not sure I should be telling you this, but she accidentally used a cat hair instead of a human hair; the results where none too pretty." Harry finished.
Ginny grinned mischievously "Oh that's horrible" she said "but finally, something to tease her about."
"Don't you dare! She'd know exactly who told you and she'd make my life a living hell."
Still grinning, Ginny changed the subject. "That room's rather handy isn't it? Do you take all your secret dates there?"
Harry laughed again. "If I even talk to a girl it's on front page of the 'Daily Prophet' with pictures." He was by now feeling considerably more relaxed.
"Oh, listen to you; I just hope they take a picture of my good side then." And they both laughed.
They spent the day in the library. Harry got 'Moste Potente Potions' and the book about incurable poisons entitled, 'Now You've done it, that'll teach you to test things on yourself.', and divided his time between reading and helping Ginny with her assignment, feeling happier than he had in a while. Eventually they went back to the common room and joined their other friends in chatting about their days. Both Harry and Ginny left out the rendezvous in the Room of Requirement, thinking it really wasn't something they wanted to discuss. They all stayed up late and it was almost midnight when the friends finally went to bed, bidding goodnight to each other as they went to their respective towers. Harry smiled to himself, he had succeeded in avoiding the awkwardness of parting company with Ginny.
Over the following week, the only notable differences in Harry's routine were when he was practising with the rest of the Quidditch team. The Gryffindor team practiced several days a week after classes, taking advantage of the light in the evenings. Harry also undertook several trips to the Owlery, partly to check on Hedwig, who was very happy to see him and partly to give her some work, which she was equally happy to do. He asked her to pick up his pre-ordered present for Hermione's birthday on the 19th, the coming Friday. Actually, Harry was getting two presents, one from himself, the other from Ron. Harry guessed Ron had probably forgotten and wouldn't remember in time to find anything, other than a box of confections and Harry was planning on doing a bit of match making. His present was a book he had seen in a list from Flourish and Botts named 'Beyond the NEWTs and You Still Want to Know How it Works:Very Advanced Arithmancy'. The second was a bit more elaborate and Harry planned to mislead Ron about the cost, but he had noticed it in a catalogue that the assistant from the muggle department store had put in his bag. It was small locket on a fine gold chain, in the centre of the locket was set a deep blue sapphire, Hermione's birthstone. He knew it was too intimate a gift for him to give her, but was perfect for Ron. Harry had already obtained a tiny print of a picture of the trio walking arm-in-arm from Collin, which he had carefully trimmed and fitted into the locket and replaced it in its box.
Come the Thursday morning Ron had, as predicted, cornered Harry asking if he knew it was Hermione's birthday the following day and if he had bought her anything. When Harry replied he had, Ron's face fell. He started asking what he was going to get her in a day and asking if he could borrow Harry's cloak and the Marauders Map to go to Honeydukes. Harry was having fun and couldn't help teasing Ron, telling him that Professor Bones had the map so there was no way he could get out of the grounds without security catching him. Ron's face was that of pure panic and Harry couldn't take it anymore, he laughed and asked Ron who his best friend was. Ron looked confused and said "you are but if you don't stop laughing, I might change my mind to Neville." Harry smiled and told Ron he had bought a present for Hermione for him too and that he owed him a couple of butterbeers if they were ever let out to Hogsmead. Ron wanted to know what it was but Harry wasn't about to tell him in case he wouldn't accept it and just told him to write a little card and he'd give it to him before they handed them to Hermione tomorrow morning. He then walked off to his next lesson, leaving Ron floundering. The thought of encouraging his friends a little was amusing and gave him a smile for the remainder of the day.
The following morning Harry gave Ron the small, inexpertly wrapped, box and they took their gifts to common room awaiting their friend's arrival. They did not have to wait long before Hermione skipped down the stairs smiling. The boys chorused 'Happy Birthday' to her and offered her their gifts, with Harry going first. Hermione opened the wrapping carefully and smiled then laughed when she read the title of the book, thanking Harry and giving him a hug, then Ron stepped up. Harry quickly stepped a little further back to give the pair room, and watched the Hermione's reaction as she took the small box off his nervous looking friend. She removed the box from the wrappings carefully and opened it, her eyes widening in a strange mixture of shock and delight as she pulled the small locket and delicate chain from the case.
"It's my birthstone too, oh Ron it's beautiful." She opened the locket and smiled broadly at the little picture of the trio smiling and waving. Harry saw a tear in her eye and smiled when she lunged at Ron giving him a big hug and then leaning back and kissing him tenderly on the lips before hugging him again. Finally letting go she asked Ron to put it on for her. She handed the locket to Ron who was glowing like a beacon, his eyes looked at it carefully as she turned round and lifted her hair away from her neck. Ron fumbled with the clasp, finally getting it open and moved one arm carefully over her head, and fumbled again, carefully fixing the clasp together. When Ron had finished she released her hair, and turned, admiring the locket hanging just below the neckline of her top, then she grasped Ron's hand and walked towards Harry taking his hand and they walked to breakfast together like that.
They ate breakfast together; Hermione, who had her usual small meal, finished before the two boys and went to show her necklace to Ginny who was sitting further down the table with Neville, Seamus and Dean. After she left, Ron turned to Harry and asked, "Why did you do that? I mean, why didn't you give her the pendant?"
Harry smiled. "Because I wouldn't have got that reaction and she wouldn't be smiling like that still." he said, nodding in Hermione's direction.
"You shouldn't have bought that though and let me make out it was from me."
"It was from you, I just know you well enough to know that's what you wanted to get her. I just found it for you" It was a tenuous argument but it was just about enough.
Ron thought about this, and then resigned himself to it, since it had made Hermione happy; he half nodded "I owe you."
"Don't be silly. That's what friends are for, now you don't do anything stupid like say it was from me because it wasn't and she'd be disappointed."
"Why would she be disappointed? She's still have the locket."
"You really don't get her do you? You said Ginny is the only girl you understand, well I understand Hermione, and if it was from me, to her it would just be a trinket, but because it's from you, that's what makes it special and I bet she never takes it off."
"You're telling me she likes me?"
"You think so?" said Harry in his most sarcastic voice.
Their conversation ended as Hermione returned with Ginny. Both girls were smiling but Ginny had a mischievous glint in her eyes "I think I'm going to have to completely re-think my opinion of you Ronald." she started. "Remember my birthday is in January, I expect a decent present this year now I've seen this" she said, pointing at Hermione's locket which was still hanging in front of her top. "Sixteen years of nothing then you have this much taste, you'll start dressing like Harry next."
It was Harry turn to blush, but he was spared temporarily from the embarrassment as Ron replied "What do you mean, dressing like Harry?"
It was Hermione who replied matter-of-factly "You haven't noticed how Harry looked after the summer? It was all most of the girls in the school talked about for the first week back, that and his new physique."
Harry buried his head in his hands, thinking to himself that 'Remus had told me, but I hadn't noticed anything different'. Harry was overjoyed that it was time to leave for lessons and he quickly gathered his bag and headed out of the hall, much to Ginny's amusement; she was grabbing Hermione's arm for support as she almost collapsed from giggling.
The day's lessons were a breeze; his extra work with Hannah in potions had left the Slytherins struggling to keep up with the two students, who had become so diligent and were working as a team. Professor Snape was forced to all but ignore them and had resorted to marking their assignments down for spelling mistakes, much to the pair's amusement. It was charms that Harry had found hardest; he knew all the spells, charms and jinxes the little Professor had taught in the past three weeks. While he had spent the last two weeks without magic, he had been reading about more and more spells that he wanted to try. Harry knew he would be overjoyed when he got his wand back the next day and looked forward to going to Room of Requirement, feeling really to try the complete transformation, minus a few tweaks that Professor McGonagall had mentioned. Harry was forced to sit alone at the back of the class reading and occasionally chatting to the Professor as the rest of the students paired off and hurled basic jinxes at their opponents, who were practising the newly taught shielding charm, another one of Harry's specialities. He had a sneaky suspicion that the lessons had been tailored so they covered material Harry already knew so as to not make him feel overly left out. The double lesson still dragged though and Harry was pleased when it ended and he could meet his friends for dinner and maybe a game of chess with Ron afterwards.
*****
A/N: I am sorry for the delay posting this chapter, I'd like to say it was intentional cause I got more reviews. The truth of the matter is someone put a gremlin in my brilliant beta readers computer.
Revelations
"Can we talk?" she asked, looking him in the eye, which made him considerably more nervous.
"Sure" he replied, trying not to look petrified. In fact, Harry mused, he felt more worried now than when he faced Voldemort in his first year. Admittedly Voldemort had been only a shadow of former self, an ugly head in the back of Harry's Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher.
"Not here, somewhere private."
"Well I was going to the library, but I could go via the Room of Requirement."
"Perfect", she replied and they wandered up the stairs to the seventh floor, Harry not looking at the girl next to him in case he got too nervous and decided to run for it.
Harry opened the door to the room, thinking mentally of a nice place to talk. Walking in, he found the room had been cleared apart from a couple of sofas facing each other with a low table in-between them. Once Ginny had entered, he closed and sealed the door and went and sat in the sofa opposite the one she had chosen. Finally looking up at her, he decided to try and diffuse a volatile situation and spoke first.
"If this is about yesterday, I'm really sorry I shouted at you at breakfast" he said, not breaking eye contact.
"Well that's part of it, but not all. I wanted to say sorry for that anyway, I was wrong to try imply you did that for me, I know you wouldn't do something to jeopardise the team."
Harry smiled, maybe this wasn't going to be so bad "I didn't help it much at practice, I went a bit far."
"It doesn't matter, the team will be better for it, but that's not really what's been bothering me." She looked down and saw the belt she had bought Harry for his birthday and smiled. "That really suits you." she added.
"Is that's what bothering you?" questioned Harry, getting very confused.
She giggled a bit and said "No stupid, I'm nervous. I'll just say it: are we still friends?"
Harry was shocked. He knew he had feelings for her beyond friendship but he would always think of her as a friend too, "Of course. Why wouldn't we be?"
Ginny looked more relieved. "It's just you haven't been hanging round with us much anymore, I mean you still knock about with Ron and you are always chatting and studying with Hermione, but whenever I'm there you seem to go off on your own. It just feels like you don't want to be around me."
"Oh," said Harry, now getting more nervous again. He knew he didn't want to avoid her but maybe he had been subconsciously. He thought for a bit longer, and then decided he should be as honest as he felt comfortable with, without admitting now he felt about her. "It's just ... you know about Ron liking Hermione right?"
"Sure it's been obvious for a few years; I think even Hermione's noticed now that Ron has actually pulled his head out of..."
"The sand" finished Harry.
"Err...Yeah that's what I was going to say." Ginny replied, with a little smirk on her face.
"Well... And you're seeing Neville, it's just I don't really feel comfortable coming over and being there when it's like couples. I'm not trying to avoid anyone, I promise, I mean rather than get in the way I guess I just found something else to do, I didn't think I was upsetting anyone." Harry rather surprised himself with this explanation, he had been pretty busy since the start of school, but he had to admit he hadn't wanted to intrude on the two couples.
Ginny buried her head in her hands, and Harry was a little taken aback. He was reminded about the time the previous year when Cho had kissed him and started crying. He had clearly upset Ginny but had no idea how; awkwardly he got up and sat next to her, putting his arm over her shoulder. "What's up Ginny?" he asked softly. Then, trying not to sound totally insensitive, "Have I done something wrong?"
Ginny moved her head onto his chest and put her arms around him, an experience that, if it weren't for the awkwardness, he would have enjoyed a great deal. "I'm so sorry Harry, since the start of the year I've been getting mad at you because I thought you were shutting me out and now I realise it's not you at all, but me who has been doing it."
"You can't blame yourself for that, it's silly. It's me who was being stupid by ..."
"You don't understand..." she paused, as if she was thinking if she should say something, then she started and the words came out like a locomotive: "I don't really fancy Neville. I do really like him as a friend, he's sweet and funny and very easy to get on with, but I only like him as a friend, I only decided to see him so I could be better friend with you, Ron and Hermione. I thought if I was seeing one of your friends you'd accept me more and let me part of everything you do. I feel so stupid I ended up alienating the person I wanted to be closer to."
Harry's mind was whirring, this was far too much to take in; it would take him a week to get over this conversation and figure out what was going on. He remembered Hermione's advice after he told her about Cho crying when she kissed him: 'you just had to be nice to her' and tried to think of something nice to say. He was struggling to come up with something, then he thought 'maybe I could make her feel more part of the group, tell her something no one else knows. I told Ron about being friends with Godric and Hermione about my Charms work and even Hannah about the Potions, so there's only one thing left'.
"You know that when you're part of the group you sometimes have to keep secrets from everyone of your friends and it's not very nice."
"I know and I know it's not always fun and you're always in danger, but you've always done everything together and I've been jealous. I haven't got friends like that."
"Well you have now. Do you want to know one of the things I've been doing over the summer? You realise you can't tell another soul, not one!" This seemed to have done the trick and Ginny looked up at him with big eyes and a small smile on her face. Harry knew, deep down, he'd do almost anything to see that look again.
"Would you, really?"
"If you promise."
"I promise." she said, without hesitation.
"Well, you remember when you hugged me that time, and I said my stomach was rumbling? Well, I was lying, I was actually purring because I was happy."
"That's not much of a secret." she interrupted, looking a bit disappointed.
"If you'd let me finish…" he said, smiling at her. "The reason I was purring is because over the summer I started Animagus training and I'm almost there, another month and I should be able to do the complete transformation."
Her look changed quickly from disappointment to a mix between excitement and disbelief. "Can you show me?"
"I'm sorry, I can't at the moment. I can't do any magic for another week, and the transformation takes quite a lot..." seeing her face start to look disappointed again he quickly added: "How about as soon as I can do it, you're the first person I show it to?"
"Yes!" she said definitively, smiling at him again and then pushing her head against his chest, hugging him tightly, making Harry realise just how intimate this was and making him feel very nervous. "Harry, your animal, you're a cat right, like Professor McGonagall?"
"Sort of." he said, feeling her loosen her grip on him. "I'll tell you another secret if you like and then you can guess."
"Okay" she replied, talking into his chest and he could feel the heat of her breath on his torso, and the smell of the apple shampoo she used.
"Well Godric wasn't brought here to teach the sixth years the difference between magical and non-magical creatures, he was brought here for me."
Now she released him and sat up staring at him. "You're kidding, no, you're not; by Merlin you are aren't you, you're a lion. That explains everything, trust you not to go for a nice little tabby." she added giggling, then sobered slightly. "Harry why did you tell me all that?"
Harry didn't think about the answer too much, which was, he realized immediately, not a good idea. "Because I like you and I trust you," he stated and then the implication hit him, "and you are part of the group." he quickly added, hoping he hadn't betrayed his feelings for his best friend's sister. Ginny was smiling at him again and he felt his face start to flush, so he tried to move the conversation on as quickly as he could, "So what are your plans for the day?"
Still smiling, Ginny replied, "Oh I have to get a potions assignment finished. After I get my things I'm off to the library."
Harry was dreading actually parting with Ginny in case he was supposed to do something or not supposed to do anything; his experience with members of the opposite sex were rather limited so far; after all, he only had two categories to divide his experiences into: friends and unimaginable disasters. So, seeing a chance to remove the problem, he said, "Oh, I was going to the library to read up on some potions; I'll go with you if you like and give you a hand? I'm not brilliant but I remember most of last year's stuff."
"That would be great, but I think it's a different topic from last year. Apparently 'Polyjuice Potion' came up in the OWLs and so Professor Snape set us an assignment on it."
Harry laughed and got up, unsealing the door. "Ron didn't tell you about what we did in the second year then? The three of us decided we were going to get some information out of Malfoy and made Polyjuice Potion in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."
"You're kidding?" she said laughing, as she followed Harry out of the room.
"Nope, if you didn't have to stew the lace wings over a full lunar cycle I'd help you make some for extra credit. Didn't you ever wonder why Hermione was in the infirmary half way through the year? I'm not sure I should be telling you this, but she accidentally used a cat hair instead of a human hair; the results where none too pretty." Harry finished.
Ginny grinned mischievously "Oh that's horrible" she said "but finally, something to tease her about."
"Don't you dare! She'd know exactly who told you and she'd make my life a living hell."
Still grinning, Ginny changed the subject. "That room's rather handy isn't it? Do you take all your secret dates there?"
Harry laughed again. "If I even talk to a girl it's on front page of the 'Daily Prophet' with pictures." He was by now feeling considerably more relaxed.
"Oh, listen to you; I just hope they take a picture of my good side then." And they both laughed.
They spent the day in the library. Harry got 'Moste Potente Potions' and the book about incurable poisons entitled, 'Now You've done it, that'll teach you to test things on yourself.', and divided his time between reading and helping Ginny with her assignment, feeling happier than he had in a while. Eventually they went back to the common room and joined their other friends in chatting about their days. Both Harry and Ginny left out the rendezvous in the Room of Requirement, thinking it really wasn't something they wanted to discuss. They all stayed up late and it was almost midnight when the friends finally went to bed, bidding goodnight to each other as they went to their respective towers. Harry smiled to himself, he had succeeded in avoiding the awkwardness of parting company with Ginny.
Over the following week, the only notable differences in Harry's routine were when he was practising with the rest of the Quidditch team. The Gryffindor team practiced several days a week after classes, taking advantage of the light in the evenings. Harry also undertook several trips to the Owlery, partly to check on Hedwig, who was very happy to see him and partly to give her some work, which she was equally happy to do. He asked her to pick up his pre-ordered present for Hermione's birthday on the 19th, the coming Friday. Actually, Harry was getting two presents, one from himself, the other from Ron. Harry guessed Ron had probably forgotten and wouldn't remember in time to find anything, other than a box of confections and Harry was planning on doing a bit of match making. His present was a book he had seen in a list from Flourish and Botts named 'Beyond the NEWTs and You Still Want to Know How it Works:Very Advanced Arithmancy'. The second was a bit more elaborate and Harry planned to mislead Ron about the cost, but he had noticed it in a catalogue that the assistant from the muggle department store had put in his bag. It was small locket on a fine gold chain, in the centre of the locket was set a deep blue sapphire, Hermione's birthstone. He knew it was too intimate a gift for him to give her, but was perfect for Ron. Harry had already obtained a tiny print of a picture of the trio walking arm-in-arm from Collin, which he had carefully trimmed and fitted into the locket and replaced it in its box.
Come the Thursday morning Ron had, as predicted, cornered Harry asking if he knew it was Hermione's birthday the following day and if he had bought her anything. When Harry replied he had, Ron's face fell. He started asking what he was going to get her in a day and asking if he could borrow Harry's cloak and the Marauders Map to go to Honeydukes. Harry was having fun and couldn't help teasing Ron, telling him that Professor Bones had the map so there was no way he could get out of the grounds without security catching him. Ron's face was that of pure panic and Harry couldn't take it anymore, he laughed and asked Ron who his best friend was. Ron looked confused and said "you are but if you don't stop laughing, I might change my mind to Neville." Harry smiled and told Ron he had bought a present for Hermione for him too and that he owed him a couple of butterbeers if they were ever let out to Hogsmead. Ron wanted to know what it was but Harry wasn't about to tell him in case he wouldn't accept it and just told him to write a little card and he'd give it to him before they handed them to Hermione tomorrow morning. He then walked off to his next lesson, leaving Ron floundering. The thought of encouraging his friends a little was amusing and gave him a smile for the remainder of the day.
The following morning Harry gave Ron the small, inexpertly wrapped, box and they took their gifts to common room awaiting their friend's arrival. They did not have to wait long before Hermione skipped down the stairs smiling. The boys chorused 'Happy Birthday' to her and offered her their gifts, with Harry going first. Hermione opened the wrapping carefully and smiled then laughed when she read the title of the book, thanking Harry and giving him a hug, then Ron stepped up. Harry quickly stepped a little further back to give the pair room, and watched the Hermione's reaction as she took the small box off his nervous looking friend. She removed the box from the wrappings carefully and opened it, her eyes widening in a strange mixture of shock and delight as she pulled the small locket and delicate chain from the case.
"It's my birthstone too, oh Ron it's beautiful." She opened the locket and smiled broadly at the little picture of the trio smiling and waving. Harry saw a tear in her eye and smiled when she lunged at Ron giving him a big hug and then leaning back and kissing him tenderly on the lips before hugging him again. Finally letting go she asked Ron to put it on for her. She handed the locket to Ron who was glowing like a beacon, his eyes looked at it carefully as she turned round and lifted her hair away from her neck. Ron fumbled with the clasp, finally getting it open and moved one arm carefully over her head, and fumbled again, carefully fixing the clasp together. When Ron had finished she released her hair, and turned, admiring the locket hanging just below the neckline of her top, then she grasped Ron's hand and walked towards Harry taking his hand and they walked to breakfast together like that.
They ate breakfast together; Hermione, who had her usual small meal, finished before the two boys and went to show her necklace to Ginny who was sitting further down the table with Neville, Seamus and Dean. After she left, Ron turned to Harry and asked, "Why did you do that? I mean, why didn't you give her the pendant?"
Harry smiled. "Because I wouldn't have got that reaction and she wouldn't be smiling like that still." he said, nodding in Hermione's direction.
"You shouldn't have bought that though and let me make out it was from me."
"It was from you, I just know you well enough to know that's what you wanted to get her. I just found it for you" It was a tenuous argument but it was just about enough.
Ron thought about this, and then resigned himself to it, since it had made Hermione happy; he half nodded "I owe you."
"Don't be silly. That's what friends are for, now you don't do anything stupid like say it was from me because it wasn't and she'd be disappointed."
"Why would she be disappointed? She's still have the locket."
"You really don't get her do you? You said Ginny is the only girl you understand, well I understand Hermione, and if it was from me, to her it would just be a trinket, but because it's from you, that's what makes it special and I bet she never takes it off."
"You're telling me she likes me?"
"You think so?" said Harry in his most sarcastic voice.
Their conversation ended as Hermione returned with Ginny. Both girls were smiling but Ginny had a mischievous glint in her eyes "I think I'm going to have to completely re-think my opinion of you Ronald." she started. "Remember my birthday is in January, I expect a decent present this year now I've seen this" she said, pointing at Hermione's locket which was still hanging in front of her top. "Sixteen years of nothing then you have this much taste, you'll start dressing like Harry next."
It was Harry turn to blush, but he was spared temporarily from the embarrassment as Ron replied "What do you mean, dressing like Harry?"
It was Hermione who replied matter-of-factly "You haven't noticed how Harry looked after the summer? It was all most of the girls in the school talked about for the first week back, that and his new physique."
Harry buried his head in his hands, thinking to himself that 'Remus had told me, but I hadn't noticed anything different'. Harry was overjoyed that it was time to leave for lessons and he quickly gathered his bag and headed out of the hall, much to Ginny's amusement; she was grabbing Hermione's arm for support as she almost collapsed from giggling.
The day's lessons were a breeze; his extra work with Hannah in potions had left the Slytherins struggling to keep up with the two students, who had become so diligent and were working as a team. Professor Snape was forced to all but ignore them and had resorted to marking their assignments down for spelling mistakes, much to the pair's amusement. It was charms that Harry had found hardest; he knew all the spells, charms and jinxes the little Professor had taught in the past three weeks. While he had spent the last two weeks without magic, he had been reading about more and more spells that he wanted to try. Harry knew he would be overjoyed when he got his wand back the next day and looked forward to going to Room of Requirement, feeling really to try the complete transformation, minus a few tweaks that Professor McGonagall had mentioned. Harry was forced to sit alone at the back of the class reading and occasionally chatting to the Professor as the rest of the students paired off and hurled basic jinxes at their opponents, who were practising the newly taught shielding charm, another one of Harry's specialities. He had a sneaky suspicion that the lessons had been tailored so they covered material Harry already knew so as to not make him feel overly left out. The double lesson still dragged though and Harry was pleased when it ended and he could meet his friends for dinner and maybe a game of chess with Ron afterwards.
*****
A/N: I am sorry for the delay posting this chapter, I'd like to say it was intentional cause I got more reviews. The truth of the matter is someone put a gremlin in my brilliant beta readers computer.