(A/N: Important Notice! The Sal Fan Club was started way back before Fanficton.net did E-mail alerts when somebody posted. Once FFN started that, the club was rather useless and was discontinued. Unwilling to give up the idea, I've tried something else. There is now Livejournal community for the Sal Fan Club. If you join the community you'll be able to post in it, and comment on chapters or complain about how long it's taking for the next one. The community will be controlled by myself and my co-creator Gwen. In the community I will post the newest chapters, so should FFN not be working, you will always have access to the latest by me. There will be other bonuses in the community too. You'll probably hear about things before they're actually written, such as getting drafts for hat songs or such. Eventually Gwen and I would like to do a puppet version of YoT which we would link you to from the community. So, if you are a LJ member, please join. If you are not, you should be, and when you are, please join. You can link to the community from my profile, or you can go to www.livejournal.com and search for the user SalFanClub. Thanks for reading.)
Chapter 13
Nastily Exhausting Wizard Tests
Walking into the school was like stepping into a hot shower. He shivered harshly for a minute, attempting to shake the cold out of his body. He was used to flying long distances during the summer, but he was not used to it in the heart of winter. In Quidditch games it was different, because you weren't moving all the time, which give you a moment to fight off the wind chill. There was no break when you were traveling.
He licked his lips, chapped from the wind, and set out for McGonagall's office. She instructed that he inform her when he arrived, then his test would start first thing in the morning. He made his visit to McGonagall quick, waiting impatiently for a real hot shower and to sleep on the couch in front of the fire in the chamber.
When he did finally curl up by the fire, his hair still wet, he was struck by how quiet it was. He suddenly wished he had brought Sally along, but he hadn't thought she, being cold blooded, would be able to handle the trip.
Alone for the first time in months, he decided to make the most of it. Laying back, he tried to organize his thoughts. He had to figure out what to do next.
He and Ginny liked each other. She'd liked him since, well, if she had never stopped liking him, since she'd first seen him. He grinned, even though there was nobody to see. It was just so, very perfect.
But now what? They'd spent the entire vacation avoiding each other. That was the exact opposite of the desired result. But he was so lost now. He'd spent so long hoping that she might return his feelings he'd never considered what would happen if she actually did.
Where they still just friends now? Where they something more? How were they supposed to go about doing, well, whatever it was they were supposed to do?
'When two people like each other, don't they start dating? Should we date? Where, and when?'
The answer came to him as he remembered that a trip to Hogsmeade was coming up in February. So, he should take her somewhere. Maybe that little place they had found on their first trip to Hogsmeade together? The restaurant with Patrick and Kimberly. They had only been back there once and it would be a nice setting.
Nerves made his stomach knot. He didn't know how to ask her, what to do once he asked her, or what to do when they got there.
The nerves suddenly reminded him of something else he had to worry about. He had two N.E.W.T.s to take first thing in the morning, and he was sitting up worrying about something that didn't have to be dealt with until later.
Shutting off his mind, he turned to his side and closed his eyes. Exhaustion from the ride took over as soon as he let it, and he fell fast asleep.
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Because Charms was marginally easier then Transfiguration for most people, Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall had decided to start Harry with that. Harry felt he'd probably be the opposite, but he liked to get the hard one over first anyway. He took the written part first. He tried not to panic when he didn't know the answers to half the questions. McGonagall had assured him that it would be the case because no matter how much he had studied in the past four months, he was still skipping two full years of schooling. She was counting on his ability section to balance the written. She said she didn't expect him to do well on his N.E.W.T.s, just to pass them.
When he moved on to the talent part, he thought it would be a relief, but discovered the exact opposite. It was hard. Not that he didn't have the power to back up what he did, but the concentration and determination it took to actually perform charm after charm on his barely rested body was difficult.
At present he was attempting several charms at once; two complete opposite (holding a floating object to the ground and floating a grounded object) and one charm that was completely unrelated. It was a test to see if he could make his mind hold two extremes, while doing something else. He was managing it, just barely, and it frustrated him how difficult it was. It would have been so nice if he could have just blasted them all and made them stay where they were so he wouldn't have to think about it anymore. He'd never been more grateful for his fake wand. If he'd have had to worry about avoiding a wand core at the same time, he would have lost it.
He could only imagine what Sally would have to say if she were here. He was becoming to dependant on just powering things down, and forgetting that some things took skill and practice in order to accomplish them.
It was late afternoon when they finally did finish the first N.E.W.T. He collapsed into a chair, grateful for even the uncomfortable support it provided, and let his forehead fall against the cool surface of the wood. It was stiflingly warm in the room, or at least it felt that way to him.
"Well, Mr. Potter, I'm proud to say that you managed to pass," Flitwick said, hoping down off of a desk.
"By how much?" Harry asked, looking up.
Flitwick smiled. "By enough."
Harry sighed, relieved. The written part for Transfiguration wasn't nearly as difficult as the one for Charms was, but the talent part was. However, Transfiguration was slightly different. If you didn't know the short cut incantation that could make an object into something specific, you still could just blast it with power to make what you wanted.
And yet, he was so bone weary that he doubted he'd even be able to manage that.
McGonagall walked in a few minutes later. Harry had moved to press his head against the cool glass pane of the window. She took one look at him and reconsidered her plan.
"Mr. Potter?"
"Yes?" he answered as respectfully as he could with out looking at her. He didn't want to part with the glass quite yet.
"Do you remember what Professor Dumbledore told you last year during Advanced Curses, about pulling for more power?"
She was talking about his block. But she didn't know he already knew that it was a block, and she had no idea that there wasn't a block anymore. His heart sped, glad he wasn't looking at her as he had a secret to protect. "Yes, Professor I remember."
"You are not pulling are you?"
"No, Professor, I'm not," he answered truthfully. There was no need to pull at anything anymore. "I know doing that makes me tired. But that's not why I'm tired. It was just really exhausting and I flew most of last night. I'm not pulling."
"Perhaps, we should wait until tomorrow before we try the next one?" She phrased it as a question, trusting him to know his own limits.
Harry looked up, grateful. "Could we? It wouldn't be too much of a problem?"
McGonagall shook her head. "The other students will be returning tomorrow, but classes will not begin until the next day, and there is nothing that needs done tomorrow that I could not do right now."
"I'd like that," Harry admitted, almost embarrassed that he was worn out already.
McGonagall agreed with a nod. "You need a full night of sleep."
Not needing any more encouragement, Harry headed for his dorm, too tired to bother getting into the chamber. He might have bothered with the chamber if he would have remembered his dorm wouldn't be empty. Dean and Seamus bombarded him with chatter the moment he walked in.
He gathered that what they were talking about was Neville's gift, as a blushing Neville was smiling but silent. He attempted to listen as he moved to the window, opening it despite the fact that it was winter. He leaned on the sill, careful not to knock the plants off, letting the cold air blow across his face.
"Guys," he said after another moment of trying to take in what they said. "I, can't, right now okay? I'm sorry, and I really am very happy for you Neville, but I just took my Charms N.E.W.T. and I'm so drained can't see straight. Can you tell me all about it tomorrow after I take my Transfiguration N.E.W.T.?"
Dean and Seamus looked disappointed, but at least Neville looked like he understood. He even pulled the curtains back of Harry's bed for him. Harry threw him what he hoped was a grateful smile, and collapsed into his bed, asleep seconds later.
When he woke early the next morning, he didn't exactly feel fully refreshed, but at least he didn't feel sluggish. He laid where he was for a moment, thinking about yesterday.
He felt a bit like an idiot. He'd gotten so accustom to being able to do things. To be able to do what ever he set his mind to, and usually perfectly in just a few tries.
'I've gotten vain. I am human, I do have limits. I've got to start realizing that.' His thoughts suddenly flew to Ginny, and his eyes widened with a sudden realization. 'That's why she's always worried I'm overdoing things. I don't even consider the fact that maybe I can't do something. That's why all last year she was right behind me. She knew that I wouldn't know when to quit.'
It was funny how everything always seemed to come back to Ginny. No matter what he thought about, his mind always seemed to find a way to relate it to her.
He had slept in his clothes. He knew he needed a shower, and yet, he was just going to work himself into another sweat as soon as he started his test. He figured it wasn't even worth getting another set of robes dirty. He'd just test in what he was in and then shower and put on fresh clothes afterwards.
He pulled himself out of bed. Neville was awake and reading. "Morning."
Neville looked up. "Good morning Harry. Did you sleep well?"
He nodded, and looking around, noticed the new addition to their dorm room. Plants sat all around, on tables, by Neville's bed, and covering the window sill. He'd seen them last night but had been too tired to give it any thought. "Are these all yours?"
Neville nodded, blushing. "Professor Sprout says that plants will grow much better if I take care of them. So she gave me all these. They're hers really, I'm just caring for them for her."
Harry glanced at his watch. "I've got a few minutes, want to tell me about it before Dean and Seamus try to do it for you?"
"Sure," Neville said, putting his book down. "Though even I don't know all of it yet. Nobody really does, so I'm doing a lot of reading."
Harry sat down on the corner of Neville's bed. "So what does this gift really mean?"
"Part of it is kinda like, plant empathy," Neville started. "I used to think I was just weird. But when I looked at a plant, I would know what it needed. Like, that one on the table there," he said, pointing, "she's starting to get thirsty, so I will have to water her later. The one on the sill there wants to be turned around, so that the sun hits her other side."
"Are they all female?" Harry asked, curious as to why Neville now used "she" instead of "it".
Neville shrugged. "They don't really have a gender, but I don't know, the feel more like girls, and they act like girls. They're needy." He wrinkled his nose and Harry laughed. "Not that I don't like them," Neville added quickly. "I do like them a lot. But it just doesn't feel right to call them "it" when I can tell what they feel. And so, I decided plants were going to be female."
"Is there anything else that the gift does?" Harry asked, wanting to get all the facts before he had to leave.
Neville grinned, his blush finally fully gone. "There's the cool part."
Interested, Harry shifted to sit better on the bed. "I'm not that good at it yet, I have to practice." He was pulling a tray from off his bedside table. It had a bunch of tiny little pots. There were three places that were empty, but Harry was pretty sure he had seen three little pots by the window sill with tiny seedlings sprouted out of them.
Neville took one of the pots out and wrapped his hands around it. He stared at the pot, as if he could see through the black soil. Harry watched, with a growing smile, as two tiny little leaves pushed their way out of the dirt and spread themselves open into the air.
Neville let out a sigh, his shoulders sagging. Harry took the pot from him so he didn't have to worry about dropping it. "That's really impressive Neville."
The teen flushed with pride. "It gets easier every time I do it. Professor Sprout says that once I've got sprouting down, I can start trying to make plants grow faster."
"Really? How good will you be once you've practiced enough?"
"We're not really sure," Neville admitted. "But, back when a lot of people had the gift, some were able to put a seed in their palm and have it sprout grow and flower within a few minutes, without water or soil."
Harry shook his head, still smiling, as he stood. "That's great Neville, congratulations."
"Thanks," he said. "So did you have a good holiday?"
Harry grimaced. "Mostly. You?"
"Same as any Christmas as Hogwarts, wonderful and magical. What do you mean by mostly?"
"I went to a party with the Catapults and managed to get completely drunk. But otherwise, it was great being with the Weasleys."
"You got drunk?" Neville asked, his eyes widening.
Harry nodded as he walked Neville's plant to sit with her siblings on the window sill. Neville snickered. "You, Harry Potter, drunk? How drunk?"
"Drunk enough that I don't remember most of it and spent the night emptying my stomach into Rose's toilet."
Neville laughed out loud. "Did her mother find out?"
"Luckily, no. Hermione, Ron, and Rose covered for me, but it was close. And I had such a hangover the next morning I'm pretty sure I've sworn off alcohol for the rest of my life."
"Hangover?" came Dean's voice, once again out of Seamus' bed. Seamus had a nasty habit of passing out wherever he was when he was tired, and Dean seemed to lose his bed more often then not. "Harry, with a hangover? When did you get drunk?"
Harry glanced at his watch again. "Neville can tell you, I've got to go, or I'll be late."
"Good luck Harry!" Neville called.
"Thanks," he answered.
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The actual talent section of the test consisted of several parts. It was set up in levels, and rather then having a list of things you had to do, you just completed as many of the levels as you could. When you didn't think you could go any further, you just stopped and hoped that the level you reached gave you enough points to pass.
First there was inanimate objects into other inanimate objects of similar size. Each of the levels had thirty things you had to change into something else. The part that became tricky was if any of them changed back, you didn't complete the level. Harry had never tried to hold thirty ties at once, but at least with small inanimate objects it wasn't too hard to manage.
Once he had all thirty of them transfigured, he was required to hold it for a full five minutes. Then he was supposed to change them all back at once. He knew that was easy, but he also knew if you didn't have a good grasp of the concept of "power lines" it would throw you. If you knew what the lines were, it was easy to just let them all go at once. This also kept you from tying off the lines. When you tied it off the spell would hold its self for a while, but you had no real idea of when it was going to fade back to what it was.
Then came inanimate objects with drastic size differences. This required a bit more in the actual change part, as you had to either supplement the mass that the first object just didn't have, or extract the excess. It still required about the same amount to hold the change though, once you had completed it.
The next level was changing non-living things into living things. It wasn't difficult for Harry to actually create the animal, but after four he wasn't sure how to hold them anymore. Lines that were in a sense, "alive", moved. They tugged, and shifted. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold thirty of them.
He stopped before turning the hat into a peacock. McGonagall didn't question his pause. The test was timed, but the limit was twenty four hours. He could sit there and stare at it until class started tomorrow if he wanted.
He had to figure out a way to combine them. "Professor, am I allowed to undo and redo them if I chose?" he asked. She nodded, her eyes suddenly curious.
He changed the hat into a peacock, and knew that five was as far as he was going to be able to make it if he did it this way. But he had an idea. He let the power passing through the lines fade, allowing the animals to become objects again, but keeping the line intact. He mentally shoved all the lines together, almost braiding them, then shot power through them again.
It didn't work, exactly. The peacock came back, and the bucket had turned back into a turtle, but the other three did nothing. He knew what was wrong though, he could feel where the lines tangled. But he knew how to do it now.
He dropped all the lines and started over. The first wasn't a problem. Then he did the second and carefully wound the two together. He then added a third. It worked surprisingly well. Curious, he altered the three lines, just at the very end, where they connected to him. In theory, at the end that connected to him they were all the exact same thing. It was only the end that connected to the object that had to be different. So, if he could interlock them, just at the very end, then, maybe…
He tweaked at it. It was like breaking through a very thin skin. They resisted at first, but if he added just enough pressure, they meshed. Now he had only one line, connected to him, and though it still moved around and was larger, he was able hold it.
He got the first ten objects into one line. Then he started to worry about it getting a little too big for him to control, so he started another one. At the end he had just three very large lines and a happy grin on his face. McGonagall smiled at him as she counted the five minutes. It was easy to tell that he'd just figured out how to do it, without any guidance.
She really wasn't sure what he did. There really was no way to teach how to do this, because it was different for every person. They spent most of seventh year learning and practicing and attempting to hold this many objects at once. She was proud of him for figuring it out on his own.
It was still very hard to hold everything, it took a lot of concentration. On the next level, which was transfiguring living things into different living things, he got distracted by the goat he was trying to turn into a dog when it tried to charge him. As a result he lost his one line, his first ten animals turning back into what they had originally been, and he had to start that level basically all over again.
Before attempting to start it again, though, he grabbed a chair. There were no rules against sitting and though some people felt they had to stand in order to do it, he wasn't one of them. Besides, he didn't want to chance the goat rushing him again.
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He walked out of McGonagall's office with a smile. He smelled, he knew it. He looked horrible, he knew it. But in his hand he was clutching two N.E.W.T.s. He'd done much better on his Transfiguration one then his Charms, which McGonagall told him he'd actually just passed.
He wanted to run to the dorm. He knew that his friends would be back by now. But he didn't have the energy to do much more then drag his feet slowly up. He couldn't wait to tell them.
When he did finally make it to the portrait hole he felt like he might fall over, but he was still grinning. He nearly tripped over himself attempting to climb in.
The room was crowded with students who'd returned from break, sharing holiday stories in the common room. Harry's eyes immediately sought one corner, where his friends sat.
Ginny whipped around, feeling her necklace glow, to see a very dirty and very tired Harry standing, or rather leaning against the portrait hole. He caught her eye, grinning and holding up the papers in his hand.
"Harry!" she squealed. "You did it!"
She ran over, followed by Hermione and Ron. Ron reached him first, having the longest legs. He offered Harry support, which the other teen gladly took. He allowed Ron to half carry him over to their corner, where he fell down into a chair.
"Congratulations!"
"Thanks," he answered with a sleepy smile.
"Was it really hard?"
"Yes," was all he said, before closing his eyes. If he was actually asleep or not was hard to say, but he didn't answer any more of their questions.
Ginny very carefully removed the papers from his hand and gave them to Sally to take up to his dorm. The actual scores went on his file, so the papers weren't important to prove that he had actually earned his N.E.W.T.s, but they did have a lot of sentimental value. She supposed he'd get a frame or something for them.
Ron was eager ask him exactly how hard it really was, so he figure out how much he should be studying for he upcoming O.W.L.s, but Hermione forced the red head to leave Harry alone.
"Ron, they're called "Nastily Exhausting" for a reason you know. He's exhausted, let him be."
Ginny sat herself on the arm of Harry's chair. They used to sit like that a lot, one in the chair and the other on the arm, either watching what the other was doing or just being close. They hadn't sat like that since that night on the tower.
She studied him out of the corner of her eye. He was covered in sweat and dust, but he actually looked much better then he had the night he'd been drunk. She was a little jealous that he could be such a mess and still manage to look sexy. Of course, that opinion might have been a little biased on her part. She'd yet to find a time she didn't think he was sexy. Still, there was something to be said for how attractive hot and sweaty could actually be.
After an hour or so, Harry opened his eyes and sat forward, resting his head in his hand. Ginny still hadn't left his side. "I'm gonna go grab a shower before dinner," he said, glancing at her as Ron was across the room studying and Hermione was attempting to help him. His cheeks tinged. They hadn't been alone like this since, well, since that night.
"Alright," she answered. "We'll wait for you."
He hesitated. He might not get another chance with her alone before the next Hogsmeade trip. He had to be cautious because of Ron, and he shouldn't let a chance like this pass him by.
"Rose?" he said, clearing his throat.
"Yeah?" she already felt a blush approaching, and she didn't know what he was going to ask her. But the way he'd said her name, and the way he was looking at his feet, told her what she needed to know.
"There, there's a Hogsmeade trip coming up." He stopped, unable to finish his point.
"I know," she said, simply to fill the gap so it wouldn't get more awkward then it already was. She wasn't exactly sure what he was getting at yet, but she hoped her guess was right.
"Well," he went on, stalling. "I was wondering. We might be able to get away from Ron and Hermione and if we could, I mean, if you want to, maybe we could you know, go, ah, somewhere."
He was ready to commit mental suicide at how absolutely stupid that had sounded.
She didn't want to torture him, but she had to be sure. She couldn't sit there and second guess herself as to if they were really dating or not.
"Go where, exactly?"
He didn't respond at first, choosing a point on the wall to stare at. He swallowed deeply. "I was thinking, that place, that we went after the art museum last year."
"Alright," she answered, almost cautiously.
He didn't look at her. "Okay," he finished, his face hot. He didn't seem to be able to get anything intelligent out. He stood up and left before he embarrassed himself anymore, nearly running up the stairs.
He was so shocked when something flew at his face that he'd blasted the pillow into a pile of feathers before he'd known what it was.
"Well, sor-ry, Harry," Seamus said indignantly.
Harry looked sheepish. "Sorry Seamus, it was a reflex. Please continue."
All forgiven, he and Dean continued with their pillow fight. Neville was guarding his plants with his pillow, but still laughing.
"So, Harry Potter, the boy who lived, the bane of You Know Who, got himself smashed on Christmas?" Seamus asked, jumping from his bed across to Ron's then onto Harry's.
"It was an accident," Harry defended.
"Do you know what I would pay, Harry, to see you drunk?"
Harry raised an eyebrow at Seamus. "Is this some sick new obsession you've got?"
Seamus shrugged. "Dean and I just discussed it. He thinks that you'd be a quiet drunk. I think you're the type that I could get to streak through the Great Hall drunk. I'd pay a lot of money to see that too," Seamus added, looking thoughtful.
"There's his sick obsession," Dean said, smacking a pillow right into the back of Seamus' head.
Harry chuckled. "Well, I wasn't exactly quiet and I didn't streak."
"So what did happen?" Dean asked, grabbing a pillow out of mid air so it wouldn't hit the plants on the window sill.
"Well, I sorta lost control of my magic, which as I have quite a bit of it, wasn't the safest thing ever." He didn't add that quite a bit meant a whole hell of a lot, and that not safe meant frighteningly dangerous.
"That'll teach you," Dean said, hitting Harry with a pillow.
"I think more then that the next morning taught me," Harry added with a snicker.
"I'm willing to bet that sspewing your gutss into the toilet in front of Rosse might have had a lot to do with teaching a lesssson," Sally added, coming out from under the bed. "Your paperss are over there on the table."
"Thanks," he answered. He tracked down a bit of tape and stuck the two N.E.W.T.s above his bed.
"Are those it Harry? Did you pass?" Neville asked.
He nodded before falling back into his bed. He really had to shower, but all he wanted to do was sleep. "Congrats, Harry," Dean said, chucking his pillow at Seamus who was now on Ron's bed. "Though, you look disgusting."
Harry gave Dean a rude gesture, and received in return a pillow in his face. He laughed as he stood. Dean and Seamus had an amazing ability to cheer him up, even though he had just made an idiot of himself in front of Ginny, again.
"What is that smell?" Dean said as Harry walked passed, holding his nose. Harry grabbed Ron's pillow and threw it at Dean, missing him and hitting Seamus instead.
Seamus' retaliation was blocked by the bathroom door. Harry opened the door again, and called to Sally in Parseltongue. She followed him into the bathroom.
Sally curled around bar meant to hold towels while Harry got into the shower. "What iss it?" she asked. She knew that he had something he wanted to talk about because he didn't usually drag her into the bathroom with him. Not that she minded, the steam made it pleasant, especially in the winter, for her cold blood.
"I asked her out," he answered.
Sally blinked. "You what?"
Harry peaked his head out from the curtain to look at her, though without his glasses he really couldn't see much. "I asked her out. I wasn't exactly smooth about it, but I managed to do it, kinda."
"I'm very impressssed. I would have expected that to take monthss like everything elsse sseemss to with you two."
"Oh come on Sal, help me out here."
"What, can't bathe yoursself?" she retorted sarcastically.
"Sal," he pleaded. "I don't know what I'm doing. I know you had all these reasons for not telling us how the other felt but can you at least keep me from screwing this up?"
"I'll help you ass much ass I can Harry, but I won't tell you anything about how she'ss feeling or anything she'ss told me."
Harry growled under his breath. "When will we get to bypass that formality?"
"When you're married."
Defeated, he sighed. "Okay, you won't tell me how she's feeling. What about helping me figure out what to do about getting away from Ron?"
"You're going to attempt to keep thiss from him?" she asked, surprised.
"I know I shouldn't, but, Ron's kinda scary when it comes to her. I'll tell him, just, not yet."
"Doess Hermione know yet?"
"Yeah, she pretty much does. Why?"
"Issn't it obviouss? She'ss Ron'ss girlfriend. If anybody can get him away from you it'ss her. Assk her to cover for you, or jusst assk her if they can go ssomewhere together, which leavess you and Ginny alone by default."
That should have been the obvious answer, Harry realized. He was thankful Sally was here to keep him on track. He suddenly remembered what he'd realized last night about his limits. Though he was changing the subject, he told her about it.
"I could hear you in my head, Sal, berating me for being vain and dense."
"Well then, that ssavess me the trouble of actually doing it now then."
He turned off the water and wrapped a towel around himself. Offering her his arm, she made her way up onto his neck. He gave her a quick spur of the moment hug. Just one night without her and he'd realized how much a part of him she was, and how he never wanted to have to be without her.
"It'ss not jusst your imagination," Sally said.
"What isn't?" he asked. Sally had a tendency to do that, pretend she
was reading his mind and commenting on what he was supposedly thinking. Sadly she was usually right.
"We are closser
now then before."
"Why?" He knew there must have been a reason, or she wouldn't have brought it up.
"Two reassonss. One, we fought, and made up. That alwayss bringss you closser together. The other iss becausse you and Rosse have finally admitted to liking each other. Ass I'm bonded to both of you, that bond between you two kind of tightenss the triangle."
"So the closer Rose and I get the closer you and I get?"
"In a ssensse, yess."
Harry smiled. "Then I better go cancel our date…"
Sally smacked the back of his head with her tail.