Chapter 6
Three days had passed, and Hedwig hadn't returned. Harry had barely spoken to anyone, and he wouldn't have eaten if it Hermione and Ron hadn't forced him to. He sat staring off into space until Hedwig flew down in front of him. She was clearly exhausted, and he quickly have her a piece of toast and some bacon. The he took the letter, and read it anxiously.
ShadowWolf-
We just barely got your letter in time. (We're all going to chip in and get Hedwig a huge package of owl treats by the way) Our home is gone however, along with parts of the surrounding territories- including Rider, although I'm sure you were more worried about us than it. None of us, our allies, or our enemies were seriously injured, though I unfortunately cannot say the same for the other people living and/or working in the area. There were a lot of deaths. I'm just thankful we got your warning in time. We await your next orders.
WolfSong
Harry leaned back and sighed in relief. 'Oh thank god. I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't been ok,' Harry thought.
"Harry? Are they ok?" Hermione asked.
"Fine. They got my letter in time. Their- our home is gone though. I'd rather have it gone then them though. Thank you Hedwig, why don't you go take a long rest in the owlery." Hedwig flew off after he gave her lots of owl treats. Harry stood up.
"Where are you going?" Ron asked.
"Just for a walk, I need to try and get the jumpiness out," Harry explained. Ron nodded.
"As long as you get to class on time," Hermione warned. Ron and Harry looked at each other.
"Hermione," Harry said slowly, "Today's Saturday."
She grinned, "Gotcha," and left, persuadably for the library.
"What-" Harry started, looking at Ron.
"-just happened?" he finished, turning to look at Harry. They both shrugged, and Harry left too.
'We await you next order' she had said. Unfortunately, he had no idea what that may be. He didn't want them to stay in London, not with what was happening. But, it had been their home for as long as he could remember [Dementor-induced memories not withstanding] and he didn't want to force them to give that up either. He sighed, and wished he knew what to do. If Voldemort found out about them- provided he hadn't already- Harry had no doubt he would capture them and use them as bait to get Harry away from Hogwarts. And Harry knew he would go after them, just like if Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Remus or Ginny were captured. They were as much a part of his family as anyone he had met since coming to Hogwarts. He sighed again, one more 'weakness' as Dante put it, for Voldemort to exploit. Lovely. He turned back to his original train of thought. And came up blank again.
'What am I going to do?' Harry thought, 'I'm not just going to stick WolfSong in charge and leave them to fend for themselves. I can't do that to her again, and I can't do that to them again. Damn. That still leaves me with no ideas.' Harry looked up from his musings, and noticed he was standing on the edge of the lake. 'Wow. Glad I didn't fall in, I never actually learned how to swim...' He could see it now: Boy-Who-Lived dies by falling into lake. The Slytherins that he hadn't made peace with would have a field day... Harry sat down and stared out across the lake. Suddenly, he thought he saw something moving- a black blur on the other side. Curious, he stood, and began to walk around the lake. The black blur came closer, and Harry recognized it to be his godfather.
"Hey Snuffles, where've you been?" Harry asked. Sirius, in dog form, grabbed Harry's robe with his teeth and pulled him. "Ok, ok, I'm coming," Harry said. They got to a semi-secluded spot and Sirius transformed.
"I heard about the Wolves, are they ok?" he asked.
"Fine, they all got out in time," Harry replied, "Stupid connection comes in useful every so often."
"Now, are you ok?" Sirius asked. Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"
"Just dandy. But it's my job to worry about you, not vice versa."
"Can't help it. Sirius..."
"Yeah?" Harry handed him the letter. He read it. "That's good that they're all right. Sorry about your territory though."
"We can rebuild," Harry said, waving it off, "Read the last sentence."
"'We await your next orders.' Mm-hmm..." he glanced at his godson who was staring at the clouds, and wondered what was wrong.
"I don't know what my next orders are, Sirius. That's the problem."
* * *
-Wolves
Lay low for now. Stay with an ally and write me at least twice a week. Be extremely careful. There's a lot of horrible stuff happening right now. Don't do anything stupid, hotheaded, or anything that could remotely place you guys in danger. Voldemort would have no problem using you as bait, but I'll see him in hell before I willing let that happen. Just lay low, and write soon.
-HW
"Can you take this to WolfSong for me, girl?" Harry asked Hedwig. She nipped him affectionately in the ear and allowed him to tie it to her leg. Then she flew off. Harry sighed. He did not like this two separate worlds colliding thing. Not at all.
* * *
Two months passed. The Wolves wrote regularly, and he hadn't had any further dreams. That morning at breakfast, Dumbledore made an announcement.
"Since Valentine's Day is just two weeks away, we will be having a dance to celebrate! And every student must go with a partner."
Ron and Harry looked at each other. "Partner!?"
* * *
Having just gone as a group last year, the idea of partners was a very scary thing for Ron and Harry.
"You have any idea of who you're going to take?" Harry asked Ron.
"I was thinking of Hermione, actually... you don't mind do you?"
"Why would I?" Harry asked.
"Just checking," Ron said, "Do you have any idea who you're taking?"
"Nope."
Meanwhile...
"Who are you going to go with, Hermione?" Ginny asked.
"I was hoping Ron would ask me," she replied after a moment, "What about you?"
"Harry. Do you think he would?"
"I think Harry's clueless around girls. I'm just glad he got over that crush on Cho. That was just embarrassing," Hermione said. Ginny grimaced and nodded. "Give him a week. If he doesn't ask you, you should ask him." She nodded.
* * *
As it turned out, Ginny didn't have to wait a week. The next morning on the way to breakfast, she saw Harry cornered by three Hufflepuffs she didn't recognize. He looked extremely flustered- like he wanted the floor to open up and swallow him.
"So Harry, if you're not taking anyone..."
Ginny walked over.
"Actually," Harry said quickly, spying her coming, "I'm taking Ginny. Sorry." He hurried over to the aforementioned girl standing there with her mouth open and quickly steered her to the Great Hall.
"I'm sorry," he stared. She winced. 'Here it comes,' she thought sadly, 'He didn't really want to take me, he just wanted out of there...'
"I meant to actually ask you," he said apologetically, "But uh- Doyouwanttogotothedancewithme?"
She blinked. That was not what she'd expected. Not entirely sure if he was serious, she just looked at him.
'He really means it,' she realized.
'Oh god, she going to say no,' Harry thought.
"Of course!" she replied. Harry looked surprised.
"Really?" She gave him a look. "Er, right, dumb question... Do... Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me today? I know it's short notice, but I, er, need new dress robes and, well, I'm completely hopeless when it comes to clothes." He looked so sheepish that she burst out laughing.
"Of course I'll go," she said once she calmed down. He offered her his arm.
"Shall we go in?" She grinned.
"You're supposed to save the gentlemanly act for the dance," she teased.
"Act? No no no, this is protection. Ron won't pulverize me if you're standing next to me... I hope..." She laughed.
"Harry, can I ask you something?" she said, just as they were going in.
"Sure," he replied.
"How close are you and WolfSong?"
"Meaning you don't want her to beat you up?" Harry grinned. She nodded. Sirius did a double take when he saw them.
"Wow," he whispered to Albus, "I never realized how much Ginny looks like Lily..."
"Except for the eyes," Albus agreed, "Harry has Lily's eyes, but Ginny have eyes like James." Sirius nodded.
"She's more like a sister to me," Harry reassured her, "Going out with one of her... it'd be like you going out with Ron." She shuddered. "Exactly."
"Harry," Ron started suspiciously, "Why exactly is my sister on your arm?"
"Ummm...." Harry paled rapidly.
"Because I'm going to the dance with him," Ginny said. Harry began to back up slowly.
"Harry," Hermione said in a stage whisper, "Run." He needed no prompting.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER! GET BACK HERE!" Ron bellowed.
"SIRIUS, SAVE ME!" Harry yelled, running to hid behind his amused godfather.
"YOU CAN'T HID BEHIND HIM FOREVER!"
"RONALD WEASLEY, SIT DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Ron looked meekly at Hermione, who was striding up to him. Harry sprinted out.
"Hey!" Ron ran after him, Hermione chanced after Ron. Poor Ginny stood next to the Gryffindor table looking confused, then she and Sirius burst out laughing. A few minutes later, Harry popped his head back in.
"Is it safe?" he asked. Ginny nodded, and he cautiously sat down. Fred and George, who had missed the earlier excitement, wandered up to Harry.
"You wouldn't have any idea why-" Fred started.
"Our baby brother is trying to find you-" George cut in.
"To beat you up, would you?" They finished together.
"He's taking me to the dance," Ginny replied.
"Ah, is that all?" they said together.
"We need to go have a chat with him then," George said.
"Can't have our seeker in the hospital wing," Fred agreed. They left as suddenly as they had come. Ginny rolled her eyes. Harry looked relieved.
Once they had eaten, and Ron had sufficiently calmed down after much persuasion from Hermione and promising Harry that he would get the crap beaten out of him if he hurt Ginny, they went to go get ready to go to Hogsmeade. Both boys seemed to have forgotten Harry could very well beat the crap out of Ron easily.
* * *
With only minor protesting from Ron, the four were headed down the road. Ron dragged Hermione into Zonko's, and Ginny and Harry went into the robe shop. Ginny looked wistfully at the white silk dress robe in the window, then ushered Harry into the men's robes. Harry glanced at the robe. It was lovely, he had to admit. It looked more like a dress, with little rosebuds around the waist and neckline. When he went off to the dressing room with a pair of green robes like the ones he had last year, he whispered something to the saleswoman. She smiled and nodded, then Harry went to try his robes on...
* * *
They met Ron and Hermione at the Three Broomsticks an hour later, after having visited Zonko's and Honeydukes. Ron and Hermione were bickering about something. Harry and Ginny looked at each other, agreed not to ask, and ordered butterbeers.
* * *
The night of the dance the whole tower was buzzing. The girls had recently vacated the common room to prepare. Hermione and Ginny were in the fifth year dorm, as Lavender and Parvati were in the bathroom putting on makeup. Ginny had pulled her dress robe from her trunk and looked it over. It was light blue, and while it looked great and all, she couldn't help but think of the one in the store. She sighed, but denied anything was wrong when Hermione asked.
"Oh shoot, I forgot my ribbon," she said, slapping her forehead. She headed back into her room, and started in shock at what was now laying on her bed. The dress robe from the store was lying on her bed. On top was a note, and a matching ribbon.
Thought I'd say thanks for helping me shop. Hope it's right,
Harry
She changed quickly- it fit perfectly.
"Ginny? Where'd you go? We need to start doing our hair," Hermione called, "The way mine is, if I don't start now- wow. Ginny, you look beautiful!"
"Harry bought it. He must have seen me looking at it in the store," Ginny said.
"Wow. It looks great! Let's get your hair done, though," Hermione said. Lavender and Parvati came back in, and immediately began to help...
Meanwhile...
Harry was unsuccessfully trying to tame his hair. Ron was laughing up until Harry threw his brush at him. Harry gave up, and he and Ron headed downstairs to wait for Ginny and Hermione.
Ten minutes before the dance was to start, Hermione and Ginny came down. Ron and Harry stood up and gaped.
"W-Wow," Ron stuttered, "Hermione, you look great!"
"Ginny... you look... wow..." Harry got out. They laughed.
"We shocked them speechless," Ginny grinned as they reached the bottom step. Harry offered her his arm, as Ron did the same with Hermione. The four exited for the Great Hall.
~~~~~
Next chapter, the dance! Sorry for the wait!!!! It won't take so long next time- promise!!! I didn't have the computer for two weeks or the internet for three- blame my dad!
NSW