Chapter 1: Summer Sessions

It was a late July evening and the murmur of a summer holiday's trip lingered through the immaculate rooms of number four Privet Drive like the aroma of something fresh from the oven. An excited sort of buzzing seemed to seep through the walls of the upstairs landing making it impossible for the fifteen-year-old boy in the smallest bedroom of the house to ignore.

Harry Potter replaced his circle rim glasses and, abandoning his vein attempt to fall asleep, rose grumpily from his bed to opened the window; thinking longingly of the time he had climbed through it and right into the flying Ford Anglia that use to belong to his best friend Ron Weasley's dad, and hoping for a moment that it would once again come to his rescue.

Sliding the window open Harry drew in a deep breath and sighed. He was not upset that he would not be going with his aunt Petunia, uncle Vernon and cousin Dudley on a two-week long holiday to the States. The fact that his Uncle Vernon's sister Marge would be joining them was even more of a reason for Harry not to go.

To say that Harry did not like Marge would be an understatement, but the prospect of having to continue occlumency lessons made Marge and the rest of the Dursleys a little more bearable. This was not due to the difficulty of occlumency lessons, but rather, the fact that the subject often brought back feelings of guilt and self-loathing at the thought that it might have prevented the death of his godfather, Sirius Black.

His eyes began to water and, blinking hard, he turned automatically to Hedwig's empty cage. Because of the ban on owls his uncle had imposed the instant he returned form school, Harry did not even have his faithful friend Hedwig to keep him company. Harry had sent her off to Ron with a note explaining the situation, and the fact that she had not yet returned made Harry assume she was safe at either number twelve Grimmauld Place, or the Burrow, where he also longed to be.

But Hedwig's company was not the only thing lost in her extended absence. Now Harry had no way of sending messages to either Ron Weasley or his other best friend, Hermione Granger, whom Harry noticed he had been thinking of more often than before. He was constantly feeling a huge range of emotions that would have made him easily disagree with a comment Ron once made; "One person can't feel all of that at once, they'd explode."

Harry now had so many questions he thought must be typical for a boy his age that each and everyday he could not send Hermione a letter asking her for an explanation made him only too happy to retreat to his chores, and even a bit resentful when he finished with them.

He can vividly remember the look of half shock, half bewilderment on his aunt's face when he offered to do the gardening for her one afternoon. The fact was that Harry wanted to stay busy because his mind did not seem to want to think about anything else when he wasn't, and he feared what Dumbledore, Lupin, or Shacklebolt might think if they were to see all these memories of Cho Chang during his occlumency lessons.

It was hard to clear his mind of any emotion when, as often as angry thoughts of Cho seem to invade his calm, he would be alternately filled with fury, confusion, dread, or sadness; and with no Hermione to siphon off his thoughts to, there was no hope at all for an clear mind.

"Occlumency will keep Voldermort out of my head," Harry said sternly before reassuring himself that there were other consoling factors besides this obvious one. "At least I don't have to learn from Snape," he said, but before he could stop it his mind had instantly snapped onto Snape's worst memory, as it usually did whenever he thought of his least favorite teacher.

Harry cleared his head with a shake, before thinking out loud once more. "I get to see Professor Lupin." He felt a slow grin appearing on his face, and nodded to himself encouragingly, "and Kingsley Shacklebolt, an auror. Cool!" His excitement grew for a second before the spreading grin froze and Harry's mind snapped onto the image of Marietta Edgecombe and her blank gaze after Kingsley's memory charm, and as it always did, this image led to thoughts of her friend.

Suddenly, and not for the first time this evening, memories of Cho Chang came to mind. She was saying hello to him on the Hogwarts Express. She was crying. The two of them were talking about quidditch. She was kissing him. Harry lingered on this memory a little longer. And finally, she was blushing the very last time their eyes had met.

Screwing up his face in determined concentration, Harry continued. "I get to stay at Ms. Figg's house and I don't have to see the Dursleys, for two weeks." His grin returned but left just as suddenly. Remembering that he would be turning sixteen tonight, he looked down at the clock on his desk which read 9:56 PM.

"Another birthday by myself, then," he said, sinking into his chair. The thought of another birthday alone had not crossed his mind for some time now, but this last revelation had forced him back into bed, trying once more to ignore the buzzing of the impending holiday from down below, with the hope of fading into unconsciousness before any more depressing thoughts revisited him.

; )

He was in a dark, empty room and he could see a person about a hundred feet away. When he started walking towards him, the person too approached. Harry noticed several cushions and books strewn about the floor. Was one of the books flickering or was it something shinny on its cover?

Harry continued to approach the figure and called out, but the person did not answer. After a few more steps, Harry tried to call out again, but before he could finish he suddenly saw that there were more people appearing behind the distant figure. Harry froze, and as he did, so did the others.

Harry awoke quite suddenly as the all-to-familiar "Get up boy, no lying in!" thundered through his room, Uncle Vernon hammering away at his door. "I'm up," he said, surprised at his own calm for having just been so rudely awoken.

When Harry had found his glasses, he rolled out of bed and stood surveying his empty room. His trunk was packed away in the cupboard under the stairs and his open wardrobe was empty. Harry smiled; he always like the feeling of leaving this room behind for a long period of time, perhaps because doing so put him in mind of the day he would finally leave it, along with this house, and the Dursleys, for good. A day he had decided would be exactly one year from today.

He walked into the kitchen and avoided looking over at the portly figure sitting at the table. When Harry reached the refrigerator however, the woman spoke. "Get me another cup boy, this one's not washed properly, no doubt by you, and there's no telling what's been in it—what with all the odd things you do." Harry felt his face heating up as he turned slowly and walked over to the dishwasher, opened it, and pulled out the top rack.

Surveying the half-dozen or so glasses, one immediately caught his eye and he quickly remembered a round electric blue glass eyeball spinning about in water. Erasing the mischievous grin that had appeared on his face at the thought of Marge drinking from this cup, Harry turned and placed it on the table besides her sausage like fingers, and without so much as a backward glance, walked out of the kitchen suppressing a laugh which was intensifying with each step he took towards his room.

"Not a minute too soon," Harry said to himself, after the doorbell rang an hour later. Sure enough, there was Ms. Figg, standing in her usual carpet slippers and accompanied by a boy in rather baggy clothes whom Harry did not recognize. When Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia reached the door, the boy cracked his knuckles menacingly at Harry.

"My nephew Nicholas, on holiday from London," Ms. Figg said to Harry's uncle and aunt, indicating the boy next to her, who was still grinning evilly at Harry but looked up politely and greeted them with an insincere smile; the kind one would relate to beauty pageant contestants. "Oh, very good then," said Uncle Vernon, while Aunt Petunia smiled, revealing her horse teeth. "Get your stuff, boy."

Harry said nothing as he walked out of Privet Drive a moment later in between Ms. Figg and Nicholas feeling both confused and a bit apprehensive. He heard a rather girlish giggle from the boy on his right, but there was something oddly familiar about it, and when Harry chanced a sideways glance at the boy, a broad grin spread across his face.

It wasn't a boy at all, it was Tonks. She smiled and greeted him in a whisper. "You really didn't know it was me, did you?" she asked. Harry grinned still broader. "When did you get here?" "I've been here all week, patrolling your block." Harry thought for a moment.

"You were all those different kids that kept passing through, weren't you?" he asked, fore he had just remembered noticing different neighborhood children walking through Privet Drive, which was conspicuous because most children avoided Harry's street altogether. This was due to the rather unfair treatment they'd usually receive at the hands of Dudley and his gang.

"What are you doing girl," Ms. Figg hissed, "you're not to change in broad daylight, and in the open like this." Tonks immediately screwed up her face in concentration and, although Harry thought it looked more like a grimace of pain after a good telling off, soon saw the face of the boy he had just met.

Harry smiled for a moment before something in his brain clunked into place. Of course Tonks had been there all week. His safety was still in question, and after last summer's attack, he supposed he should have realized there would be some sort of guard around him still. They continued in an uneasy silence that was punctuated by Ms. Figg's flapping carpet slippers until they finally reached her house and promptly entered.

"Hedwig!" Harry's snowy owl was perched atop Ms. Figg's dining room china cabinet. She fluttered down to his arm as he approached her and hooted warmly. "How are you," he said softly, gently stroking the top of her head, "and what are you doing here?" "She's been coming and going all week," said Tonks, as Ms. Figg walked over to an end table, picked up a small bundle of envelopes, and placed them on the dining table in front of Harry before heading off to the kitchen.

"Dumbledore's been having all of your mail forwarded to Hogwarts, so your owl's been delivering them here," said Tonks, and she too entered the kitchen, perhaps to give him a little privacy. The door had just closed when the unmistakable sound of a frying pan hitting the floor with a clatter followed and Tonks could be heard apologizing.

Harry picked up the bundle of envelopes and Hedwig scaled his arm slowly until she reached his shoulder and sat there quietly, as though she were interested to read the very letters she had delivered. He tested the weight of the bundle in his hand and grinned at Hedwig. "You must be tired," he chuckled.

Harry turned his attention to the envelopes now in hand and, when he saw that the first envelope had writing much like Ron's, made to open it first, half-tossing the others back onto the table so that they slid apart when they landed.

He had just ripped open the envelope he was holding when he noticed that the bottom envelope, now visible after its landing, bore an official looking seal, and Harry knew instantly what it must be. The one bit of post he was sure he would be getting this summer—the only other thought that invaded his calm with feelings of dread and nerves.

As though in a trance he reached for it and at the same time, placed the already open envelope down on the very edge of the table where it teetered slightly. Harry took in a deep calming breath before setting his eyes resolutely upon the official seal and broke it open carefully.

Whatever the top letter said, Harry didn't read, or care. Instead, he merely scanned it before he flipped to the next page. Harry registered three clearly written items and then gasped; Subject: Defense Against the Dark Arts, Examiner: Professor Tofty, Grade: O.

His pounding heart caught up with him and his hands shook with excitement, making Hedwig hoot and fly onto a chair's high-back, looking startled. The first envelope fell to the floor after the down-draft of Hedwig's sudden flight and, looking down, not daring to believe what he had just read, Harry noticed that a ticket had slipped out of the folds of the parchment peaking out of its torn envelope now on the floor.

Placing his O.W.L. results carefully onto the table, Harry knelt down to pickup the fallen items, receiving yet another shock. The ticket was for a quidditch match between Puddlemere United and Tutshill. Numbly surprised Harry very slowly rose from the floor and gazed at the letter.

Harry,

Happy birthday! Sixteen is a very important age because it only comes once in your lifetime. Hope you're doing well. This is your birthday present from me and George. But mum's told us that you have some summer sessions to be going on with, so you might not be able to go. It'd be a real shame if you can't make it. We got ourselves, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione tickets as well, and we're gonna catch up with Oliver after the match. If you can make it, come to 99 Diagon Alley on Friday morning... If you can't make it, we'll come get you ourselves on Friday morning.

Remember, today is the first day of the rest of your life, so make it a good one.

Cheers,

Fred and George

Harry examined the ticket closely, his excitement building again, and immediately resolved to put much more effort into his upcoming occlumency lessons than he had with Snape. He looked around, intending to seize his things and pull out the meditation book he had brought back from Hogwarts when Tonks came back into the dining room.

"Hey Tonks, is there any chance I could go to this quidditch match," Harry asked, more out of excitement than anything else. She reached for the ticket and grinned rather weakly, which made Harry's heart sink. "You know it's not really up to me, I mean, you should ask Dumbledore," she answered pleasantly. "Well, that's not a no", Harry said hopefully. Tonks gave the ticket back to Harry with an almost longing expression. "You know where your room is, right?" she asked, "I'll be right next door."

The next two weeks were some of Harry's happiest. Besides making excellent progress in occlumency, which almost guaranteed that his birthday present from Fred and George would not go to waste, Harry had also found another home away from Hogwarts that was almost as good as the Burrow.

Harry was able to watch whatever television programs he wanted and eat whatever he pleased. He'd thought less and less of Sirius there, and even when he would lament about his late godfather, he would find happier memories to think about instead. He had quite a few now that Remus Lupin had shared some of their more happier times, with the help of Dumbledore's pensive of course.

And his batty old neighbor Ms. Figg was indeed batty, but only outside of her house. This was for the sole purpose of blending into a neighborhood that would not be complete without a little old lady whom every kid avoided talking to for too long for fear of being the next kid accused by the others of actually knowing her.

The muggle family Ms. Figg had in the states was quite interesting to Harry, and Tonks. Harry even learned about American school dances and formals when he had once asked about a prom picture of Ms. Figg's niece and her date. She entertained them with stories of her family so much that, after a while, Harry and Tonks would bring up their favorite family members during their own conversations.

But the thing that made it feel most like a home to Harry was the older sister he suddenly had in the bedroom next door. One night Tonks had asked him if he had feelings for any particular girl. Harry's first thoughts were of Cho Chang, but he didn't think his aggravation and anger were the feelings Tonks had in mind.

"Can I ask you," Harry said, his frustration overcoming him, "why are girls mental?" "That's because boys make them like that," Tonks answered, half amused, half surprised. "Why, who d' you know that's mental?" she asked, and Harry recounted everything that had happened with him and Cho during the last two years.

Harry didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified to hear that what had happened between them was quite normal, and it was two o'clock in the morning before Harry fell asleep, somehow feeling both more enlightened and just as confused.

"I didn't know you liked to dance," said Ms. Figg excitedly one afternoon after she had spotted Harry trying to dance along to some music show. "I'm swearing off television," Harry said miserably to himself as Ms. Figg dragged him to the middle of the living room. Sure he had danced before, but it had entirely been Parvati leading him around after all, and he only did so because, as one of the school champions, he had to.

It wasn't until the arrival of Tonks, who was actually eager to learn swing, that Harry finally allowed himself to be taught, eventually enjoying it, although not nearly as much as Tonks seemed to. In all the hoopla Harry hadn't noticed Hedwig's return until she gave a soft hoot, a small envelope attached to her leg.

Harry felt a small pang of disappointment at Fred and George's note when he read that Hermione was on holiday with her parents and would not be making it to the match. "It's not so bad," said a small voice in his head, "What are the chances you'll need to talk to Hermione, I mean, you only want to tell her how you plan to tell off Cho next time you see her."

He had just looked at Hermione's ticket, which she had offered to Harry when it hit him. "Hey Tonks," Harry said playfully, "you don't know anyone who'd want to come to the quidditch match tomorrow night... only I've got an extra ticket and—"

Harry had never seen anybody move so fast before in his life. Tonk's knocked over a chair and sent a few cats scurrying off in every direction. Harry closed his eyes, fearing a collision, but the ticket was swiped from his hand as he was pulled into a tight embrace.

; )

Ginny led the way down the row and towards their seats while Harry, who was paying attention to her feet so as not to accidentally trod on them, followed closely behind rather than look ahead, often glancing out at the enormous pitch and raised stands.

"These should be ours," Ginny said as she double-checked the number on her ticket to the nearby seats. Then she let out a small gasp and, with a mixed expression of pleasure and surprise, kicked the seat she had just past, which was now in front of Harry.

The occupant, who had been talking animatedly next to two other teenagers, turned around suddenly. It was Michael Corner. He gave Harry a dirty look, before he recognized him and then goggled at Ginny. His eyes flicked over to Ginny's far right and then back at her and his expression quickly changed from shock to delight.

Surprisingly, he moved toward Ginny, arms outstretched. Ginny looked taken aback by his gesture but moved almost automatically to receive his hug. As she leaned over Harry saw whom Michael had quickly glimpsed. To his great surprise, sitting in the seat right next to Ginny's, was Cho Chang, her Tornados badge pinned to her Ravenclaw scarf tied around her waist.

The usual anger and frustration that would flare up at the thought of her was replaced by a kind of numb and hollow feeling. They stared at each other in astonishment for a moment before Cho smiled softly. The familiar feeling of excitement, that had not been there for some time now, suddenly returned and pushed what little anger had been building up completely out of him. Rather easier than he had expected, Harry returned a sincere smile.

Cho blushed and then turned to the person on her other side who was already looking over at him. Harry froze as he registered a man around Bill's age looking up at him, but as Cho turned to regard him once more, he realized that this man looked very much like an older version of her, and only looked away when Ginny came back into view, blocking Cho from sight. "Hullo Michael," Harry said dully, noticing Ron's right arm shooting back to his side as Ginny wheeled around towards Cho.

Harry had barely remembered that Tutshill's quidditch team was the Tornados, and that Cho had been a fan of theirs ever since she was six years old when the announcer's opening introductions began and silenced the crowd.

When the Tornados' seeker was introduced, Harry, assuming this woman would be Cho's favorite player, shot a sideways glance at her and, sure enough, Cho was watching the zooming figure in fascination. Harry was still watching Cho when her eyes, having followed the seeker fly past, flicked onto his and quickly looked away feeling quite embarrassed and thought he heard Ginny giggle, but when he turned to her, Ginny had a strait face and seemed to be over-interested in two chasers who were soaring by.

After a few minutes the game began and Ron, who had been talking to Fred, George, and Tonks, turned to Harry and said, "Puddlemere's got some really good Chasers. They'll probably start off with an Owl-wing formation or something... no wait, Tornados' chasers are a bit slow and don't defend the dive very well so, probably—"

He looked pensive for a moment. "The Falcon's dive, I'd bet on it," he concluded. Harry didn't dwell on what Ron had just said and instead, pushed the play-by-play button on top of his omnioculars and brought them up to his eyes. Three eagles formation flashed across the top of his vision for a minute, but as he watched, it changed to Falcon's dive. In a matter of seconds most of the stands erupted into applause as Puddlemere United scored the first goal.

Harry took a moment to admire Ron's scouting, but then the two seekers zoomed past and immediately caught his attention. Harry, being a seeker himself, continued to watch them zoom around amidst the other players. Puddlemere's seeker was marking Tutshill's, and it was clear to Harry why.

Tutshill's seeker was an excellent flyer, and helped disrupt Puddlemere's chasers just by nearly missing them, or else flying in between their passes. Then the Tornado's seeker began blocking Puddlemere's. Harry smirked as he recognized some of the moves he was watching, remembering with a feeling of nostalgia that Cho had used some of the same blocks on him their first and only match against each other.

Ginny leaned forward in her seat, Ron's omnioculars pressed against her eyes. Harry chanced another sideways look at Cho by partly turning his head away from his omnioculars without moving them, and to his amazement, she was watching him out of the corner of her eye, wearing what was unmistakably a guilty grin. With the same feeling of embarrassment that had made Harry look away last time, he chuckled to himself and lowered the omnioculars, grinning back at Cho.

His feeling of nostalgia was now replaced by a happy sort of feeling in the pit of this stomach, which was now moving slowly upward into his chest. Michael Corner turned again and stared at Ginny until she noticed him. She removed the omniocular's strap from around her neck, edged forward almost halfway onto Harry's seat, and then turned an ear to him.

She wore a giddy expression—Ron's, mild interest or disgust, Harry couldn't tell. He could tell, however, that Michael Corner was, in part, looking for a reaction from Cho because he kept shooting hopeful looks at her, which she did not seem to notice. Cho was busy applauding as the stands erupted again, this time in a collective groan, Tutshill having just scored their first goal.

She's definitely a lot prettier when she's happy, Harry thought, that funny feeling now warming every part of him. Harry looked out at the match, smiled, and before he realized it, had begun to clap as well. "You're rooting for the Tornados?" asked Ron in surprise. Harry froze, but as he did came Fred and George's voices. "Who is? Who, Harry?" Why not, said a voice in Harry's head. "Why not," he answered, and rather proudly, "their seeker's brilliant." He saw Tonks glance over at him, a wry smile playing on her face.

But Fred, George, and Ron were now sniggering and Ginny wore a smirk as she gazed from Ron to Harry. Her eyes glinted teasingly, and then she smiled. "Well, Harry can switch with me, then," she said, standing up. Confused, Harry watched her walk into the tiny space between him and Ron. For a split second Harry thought she was going to sit on his lap when he suddenly found himself being pushed into her vacant seat.

Harry, scooting to his right and still goggling at Ginny, felt his leg hit something on the chair and knew he had just knocked over Ron's omnioculars. He turned just in time to see Cho catch them an inch or two from the floor and heard a collective sigh of relief from the Weasleys on his other side.

Cho offered the omnioculars back to Ginny, reaching over Harry's lap to do so. Harry had been this close to Cho before but hadn't realized this intoxicating scent at the time because his attention was completely focused on her advancing towards his lips.

But before he dared take in a deep and would-be obvious breath, Ron snatched up his omnioculars just as they reached Ginny's fingertips. "Thanks," Ron said with a smile at Cho and a glare at Ginny. Harry's eyes, which had followed the omnioculars all the way into Ginny's hands, now looked at her half embarrassed, half amused expression. Harry felt Cho's eyes on him, or at least he hoped he did, and turned to her.

As if expecting this, Cho spoke immediately. "Harry, this is my brother Xiausai," she said, turning to the person beside her. "This is Harry, my friend from school," she said. Xiausai grinned and they shook hands.

"How's your holiday been," asked Cho, as though there wasn't a quidditch match going on in front of them. "It's been okay, better than last summer." "That's good. Mine's been dreadful. I've been thinking about the upcoming term and—" Cho broke off with a sigh and a shrug. "Well, no point in worrying about that now," she finished. She smiled at Harry for what felt like a minute. She seemed to be scanning his face. Then she blushed and turned back to the match.

"Have you ever used one of these?" Harry asked, indicating his omnioculars. He didn't know why but he felt keen on keeping Cho's attention. "No," Cho answered, with a hint of excitement. "Here, try them," Harry said, pulling the strap off from around his neck. He placed it around Cho's neck and then his excitement suddenly abated.

A tiny voice in his head, which sounded a bit like Ron's, instantly sliced through the warm feeling he'd been enjoying. "What are you doing, mate? Remember what happened last time?" Suddenly an awkward feeling pushed all excitement out of him and he felt his face turning red.

He noticed his and Cho's legs touching and, on the pretence of getting more comfortable, moved away slightly. Harry decided she was more likely to get angry if he continued to flirt with her like this and decided to avoid any more physical contact, accidental or otherwise. During his explanation of all the omnioculars features, he thought he had done the right thing because Cho seemed to be doing the same, or so he thought.

The match continued for another twenty minutes or so of fast paced action. Ron continued to make such accurate predictions that even Fred and George were speechless. Not until Michael Corner's keeper uncle took two bludgers, one to his right arm, the other to his head, did Fred and George finally stop goggling.

"Bet you didn't see that coming did you little bro!" said Fred. But even as Ron sniggered Harry realized that Oliver Wood, his old team captain, would be replacing the injured keeper. Sure enough, a familiar figure came zooming out to the goal posts while the crowd cheered; the Weasley's and Harry at the top of their voices.

Perhaps Michael Corner did not enjoy the obvious upsurge of applause for Wood as he prevented two consecutive goals because he stood up, looking irritated, and began making his way to the aisle. A few seats down, he paused and, with a meaningful look at Ginny, jerked his head in a silent plea for her to follow.

From what Harry could tell Ginny was only slightly concerned about what Ron was thinking because she stood up and made her way out with only a quick backward glance and a shrug to her older brother. Harry watched Ron watching Ginny until Ron finally turned to him with an I-don't-care-what-she-does-as-long-as-she-doesn't-take-him-back look on his face, before returning to the match with a roll of his eyes, and it was Harry's turn to snigger.

To Harry's delight he and Cho were able to watch the match and, at the same time, keep a running conversation about flying, Hogwarts, and quidditch in general that, unless he was very much mistaken, she was also keen to continue. Harry remembered how easy it was at times to talk to Cho, like on their stroll to Hogsmeade last term.

He was however, starting to regret not being able to use his omnioculars, having refused them each time Cho had offered them back to him. Then he realized that Ron's pair was lying on Ginny's now empty seat. He watched Ron out of the corner of his eyes, waiting for the next time Ron would crane his neck in the direction in which Ginny and Michael had disappeared.

Instead, the crowd suddenly rose to its feet as Puddlemere's chasers scored a spectacular goal. Harry quickly lifted Ron's omnioculars even as he heard Cho's voice. "Harry, are you sure you—" she began, but stopped as Harry turned to her and beamed, Ron's omnioculars clutched to his chest. Cho grinned mischievously and softly bumped Harry's thigh with her hip.

"It's a race for the snitch!" the announcer's voice cried out. A brief look of shock flashed between the pair of them before they wheeled around to face the match, omnioculars flying into position. Harry quickly spotted the two seekers about sixty feet apart and both diving in a forty-five degree angle that made it look as though they would collide some twenty feet from the ground, exactly where the golden snitch was hovering.

The crowd gasped as two bludgers barely missed one of the seekers, causing some of the chasers to stop mid-flight while the announcer's voice cried out once more. "They're going to collide!" The resounding intake of air was such that it sent a chill up Harry's spine while the excitement that only a dive could produce coursed through the rest of his body.

In the second or two in which most of the crowd watched the Puddlemere seeker pull up sharply from his dive, Harry focused on the golden snitch clutched tightly in the hand of the Tutshill seeker as she briefly spiraled out of control, having been hit by the Puddlemere player.

And even as, "Did he get it?" echoed throughout the stunned crowd, still on its feet, Harry and Cho threw up their arms in triumph and turned towards one another. Before he knew it, they had let their arms fall around each other in a celebratory embrace while they jumped up and down in excitement.

They parted when the people around them groaned with realization and shared an embarrassed grin before turning away, Cho towards her brother, and Harry to the Weasleys. But it was Ginny he spotted first, perhaps because she was staring right at him, a look of utter shock on her face as she made her way back to her seat.

Ginny was still several seats away when the need to ask overcame him and Harry silently mouthed, "What?" Ginny, now looking as though she were on the verge of giggles, calmly shook her head and slowly mouthed back, "Nothing."

When Ginny reached the others, Tonks grabbed her and whispered something to her, making her grin and nod excitedly, all the while avoiding eye contact with Harry. In no time at all the announcer had made his closing remarks and most of the crowd had filled the exit aisles in a disappointed rush to depart.

He heard another voice echo throughout the stands, this one sounding very familiar. "Wood, to your right!" Heads everywhere turned in all directions for the source of the voice. Harry, however, turned to the twins and saw George ignite his wand-tip and wave it slowly above his head as Fred uttered, "Quietus", his wand still pointed at his throat.

With a feeling that all-good-things-must-come-to-an-end, Harry turned to Cho. She removed the omniocular strap from her neck with a flick, making her long, shiny hair whip to her front. "Thanks... I ah," she began in a small voice, not meeting his eyes, which was good because Harry was busy staring at her hair and had to blink hard before he could reply.

"No problem," he finally said, in as casual a voice as he could manage after realizing the empting feeling, rather like a balloon slowly deflating inside him. Cho appeared on the verge of saying something but, instead looked into his eyes and smiled rather timidly. She handed Harry's omnioculars back carefully, as though she were handling something very special to her.

"See you around," she said, almost questioningly. Harry began to say, "I'll see you at school," but the memory of Cho Chang finding him on the train just to say hello last year flashed before him and, "I'll see you on the train," came out instead.

Cho looked just as shocked as he felt, if not more so, but before either of them could recover, Oliver Wood's voice broke in, "Harry, good to see you." Cho looked down and Harry turned to his old captain. "Brilliant goal tending Oliver," he greeted.

Oliver nodded sheepishly and Harry knew he was trying not to feel too proud with himself. "Listen everyone," Oliver said, "I'll catch you up in a few minutes, out by the main entrance, alright?" They nodded and Oliver kicked off and zoomed back out to the pitch.

Harry turned back to Cho, a feeling of dread beginning to spread inside him. A tiny voice in his head spoke. "We can't go more than an hour or so before something goes horribly wrong, let alone a whole train ride. We'll have a fight before the snack trolley comes along."

"Well..." Harry began, but Cho interrupted. "I'm... well, I'll be in Hogsmeade a few days before term starts, so I won't be on the train," she said breathlessly. Far from being relieved by this news, Harry's dread tuned instantly into disappointment, which he tried very hard to hide. "Oh, well I'll see you at school then," he recovered quickly.

"It was really good to see you Harry," she said with the same soft smile she had greeted him with. Harry's spirits rose. "Well, bye then," she said. "Yeah, bye," he said, and with that Cho turned and followed her brother to the exit aisle, glancing every so often back at Harry and the others.

For some reason Harry wasn't sure how or what to feel at the moment. So many things were going through his mind now; happiness, relief, disappointment, loneliness, all washed over him so that he didn't even notice Tonks standing beside him. "Have a seat Harry," she finally said, snapping him out of his daze.

Thankfully the Weasleys were all still engrossed in the match, especially in Ron's scouting, which he compared to Wizard's Chess, that Harry's inattention went unnoticed. It wasn't until Ginny asked about Harry's holiday that he finally said anything more than, "yeah" and "that was good."

Immediately Tonks answered for him, "He learned how to swing dance." Harry felt his face heating up at Ron's appalled expression. "What's swing dance?" Fred, George and Ginny chorused together. "It's a kind of muggle dance you do with a partner," said Tonks brightly.

"Don't you have a partner whenever you dance anyway," asked Ginny, almost giggling. "You need a partner to swing around, not just keep in front of you..." Tonks explained, "and Harry's a really good leader." "It's popular in the States," Harry said, feeling he had to justify his learning to dance to Ron.

"How do you know about the States?" asked Fred and George together. "Ms. Figg... she's got loads of family there," said Tonks, and she and Harry shared a grin. Harry gratefully seized on the change of subject.

He and Tonks told the four Weasleys all about the stories they'd heard from Ms. Figg. When they got to the part about the socials and proms, Fred and George mentioned how they were developing orbs that, when opened, would release a mini fireworks display to accompany whatever songs it reproduced.

"Weasley's Portable Parties," Fred and George said hopefully. "Really," asked Harry, who had just envisioned the Gryffindor common room filled with music and lights that made it resemble one of the shows he had seen on television.

When Oliver caught up with them, they eventually decided on a private room at The Leaky Cauldron. To many disappointed protests Tonks bid them goodbye and stated that she would return for Harry later. But Harry knew she would not be far. Indeed, he was quite certain that she'd be very close, making sure that they were all safe... that he was safe.

So it was with a bit of guilt that Harry enjoyed dinner and drank pumpkin juice with everybody else, all the while swapping stories with Oliver about the last two years. After three wonderful hours the night came to an end and Harry found himself saying his goodbyes to everyone.

"How are you getting to the train, mate," asked Ron curiously. "Oh, I think my uncle Vernon would rather take me to King's Cross station than let Tonks and Mad-eye pick me up... from their house... in broad daylight," Harry said, with an eerie emphasis on the last part. They all laughed.