Ch. 11

Hogsmeade Weekend

Harry awoke to Ron shaking him. Looking up, Harry groaned and rolled away from him.

"Come on Harry, it's Christmas!" Harry sat up and noticed Hermione sitting on Ron's bed with a present in each of her hands. She was watching them and smiling.

"What time is it?" Harry asked, grabbing his glasses from his bedside table.

"Just after seven." Hermione answered. Harry groaned again, but went to the end of his bed to open his gifts. Ron had given him chocolate frogs and a book. Harry opened it and realized that it was a journal. He gave Ron a puzzled look and Ron responded by blushing.

"Its to write down curses or tactics for the DA, that way, you can just look up everything you want to get through or remind them." Harry was quite impressed by Ron's gesture, and by the look on Hermione's face, she was as well. He received a picture of his parents by Remus as well as a few of the Mauraders' old tricks that Remus thought he would enjoy. After finishing opening up the rest of his gifts, he turned his attention to Hermione who was bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Ok, Hermione, Harry's finished, now give us our gifts." Ron demanded. Hermione shot him a dirty look before handing them their gifts. Harry opened it and found a black box. Inside the box held a lightening shaped pendent hanging on a thin chain.

"It's a way to communicate with people in the DA. It turns green and burns when you have a new meeting time and the date will appear and if anyone is in trouble, the pendent will turn red and burn while revealing the name of whoever is in trouble. Of course it'll only work for the people who know how to use it and are wearing it." Hermione had a broad smile on her face as she watched Harry and Ron, who had also been given one, examine the pendent. "I gave one to Ginny, Remus, and Tally. I also made 30 more for everyone who is still willing to be in the DA."

"This is amazing Hermione, you did this all by yourself?" Harry asked, putting the pendent around his neck and noticing that she already had one around hers.

"Actually, I started working on them last christmas with Remus and...Sirius." Harry looked up at Hermione, she was biting her lower lip and gazing sadly at Harry. Harry smiled and thanked her for the wonderful gift.

The trio made their way down to the kitchen where Remus, both Adams, Ginny, and the Weasleys' sat at breakfast.

"Hermione, thanks again for the lovely necklace." Tally said as they took their seats.

"It's not really a necklace Tally, it has a deeper meaning. We'll explain once we're back at school." Hermione replied. They ate talking merrily about their gifts until Tally became tired and Harry walked her to her room.

"Harry, I have a gift for you."

"You do? But I didn't get you anything." Harry panicked.

"I didn't expect you to. Don't worry, I would have given it to you even if it hadn't been Christmas." Tally walked to her trunk and pulled at a small package. When she gave it to him, Harry cautiously unwrapped it and saw that it was a framed picture of a large group of people. "Josh and I found this when we were moving all our things. He gave me it and so I made a copy." In the very first row, Harry spotted a very young looking James, who was surrounded by his three best friends, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

"Why did your dad have this?" Tally pointed to a man, who looked to be one of the older ones in the picture.

"That's my dad, he's was in his seventh year at Hogwarts. He asked McGonagall to take the picture of all the Gryffindors so that he can have it as a reminder of the good years. Your parents were in their first year then." Harry continued to look at the picture and finally spotted his mom, who wore pigtails. Harry also spotted Neville's mom and did a double take because she looked so young and happy. "You look just like your dad. Which one is your mom?" Harry pointed out his mother. "Oh, she's quite pretty. You have her eyes."

"You look a lot like your dad." Tally laughed.

"Yeah, I do, but I also look a lot like my mom. Its really funny if you think about it. Both Josh and I resemble both parents so well." Tally reached over Harry and showed him another picture. He immediately recognized Adams, although he looked over ten years younger. Beside him sat a little girl whom Harry guessed was Tally and behind them their parents sat laughing about something their children had done. Tally was right, she looked just like both parents. She has her mother's dark green eyes and dark brown hair, but her father's olive skin and smile. Josh has their father's eyes, lighter brown hair, and long nose, but his mother's curly hair, olive skin, and smile. It was amazing how much they each looked like both.

"I don't see your mom among the Gryffindors."

"That's because she didn't go to Hogwarts. She was an American and met my father at St. Mungos. She was a Healer working there and he had injured himself on duty as an Auror. They fell in love and were married a year later. Dad moved to America and transferred jobs there, so that Mom wouldn't have to leave her dad. He was dying and the only family she had left, besides my dad. A couple of years later they had Josh and named him after my mom's dad, who had died the year before his birth. And then 13 years later, out I come. Bit of a surprise if you ask me." Harry laughed with her and set the pictures aside.

"Thank you, this is wonderful." He kissed her lightly and stood to leave. "I better let you rest before your brother gives me a telling off." Tally laughed. When Harry reached the door, she stopped him.

"Harry, I know what you gave me for Christmas."

"What?" Tally smiled,

"Hope."

Soon the end of Holiday was upon them and they boarded the Knight Bus with Tonks, Remus, and Moody. The ride didn't seem to last long as the bus pulled to a stop in front of Hogwarts in the town of Hogsmeade while Ron pulled himself off the floor for the tenth time, looking white as a ghost and mumbling incoherently to himself. The five of them made their way slowly up the path that led to Hogwarts grounds.

"Are the two of you going to tell everyone that you are dating?" Hermione asked. By the end of Holiday, Tally and Harry had been acting like a couple: kissing, holding hands, going off together. Harry thought about it and glanced at Tally, who seemed to be lost in her own world.

"I don't really think it's their business. I guess we'll act like we would any other time. People will catch on."

"You know, Cho still likes you Harry." Ginny said, walking up beside him. Harry was quite surprised to hear this, since he knew she has had at least three boyfriends since summer. Ginny laughed at the sight of his face. "You can be so oblivious, Harry." Tally started laughing too and Harry looked at her. She was walking on his other side, holding his hand.

"Harry isn't the only one who's oblivious." Tally nodded her head in the direction of Ron and Hermione who were in front of them walking very close, but awkwardly avoiding each other. Harry and Ginny laughed when they realized who Tally was indicating.

"How do you know Cho still fancies me?" Harry said, only out of curiosity.

"Everyone notices it, Harry, even Tally." Harry looked at Tally, who nodded in return.

"She is constantly watching you, haven't you had even the slightest notion of it?" She asked, an amused look placed on her face.

"No, not really. I just assumed she was still hung over Cedric. She's had plenty of other boyfriends though." Harry shrugged his shoulders causing the girls to laugh again, but neither elaborated.

They reached the Great Hall and found that everyone was already seated at their tables. They walked through the hall and towards the Gryffindor table. Along the way, many heads turned in their directions and a few people pointed at them.

"Well, that was easy. Now you are no longer the most eligible bachelor in Hogwarts. I wonder how many hate-mails I'm going to get?" Tally whispered in his ear. She was right. Many of the girls were glaring and hissing angrily to one another.

"Don't worry, you have the great Boy-Who-Lived to protect you." They chuckled and sat down. A few moments later Neville sat down beside Tally.

"Hey guys!" They greeted him back. "When did you two start dating?"

"Er-the day before Christmas." Tally answered, her eyes skrewed upward in thought.

"Well, you both better be careful, there are some really upset people now that you both are taken." Tally looked at him thoughtfully.

"I can understand Harry, but why would people be mad that I'm taken?" Neville laughed loudly at that.

"First, because you are wanted amongst the male population. You are the 'new girl' and therefore, unknown territory. Second, some people thought we were dating and now believe you broke my heart for Harry." Tally looked utterly shocked at this news before breaking out into laughter.

"Oh, no offense Nev, but us, dating?" Neville shrugged his shoulders and laughed too, he didn't look all that offended. "And I'm wanted, seriously? I have never been wanted before..." She raised her eyebrow to Harry, "You better watch it now Harry, I'm wanted! You might have to fight to keep me yours." She laughed again, causing everyone around who had heard her to laugh too. Then she leaned in closely to Harry, their lips barely touching and whispered, "And if any girl ever tried to take you, I'll strip her naked and hang her by her ankles from the Great Hall ceiling." Harry guffawed and was silenced quickly when Tally's lips met his.

The rest of dinner went on pleasantly while they all chatted about their holidays. Tally left early with Neville because she had grown tired and wanted to get a good nights rest. Harry left later with Ron and Hermione to keep him company.

"So it looks like you were able to finally get a girlfriend, Potty." The three of them turned to see Malfoy and his goons standing a few feet from them. "Too bad she's a muggle lover. What did you have to do, pay her, curse her?"

"Just because you can't find a girlfriend without having to use force, Malfoy, doesn't mean everyone else has to." Harry said angrily.

"What, jealous are you ferrat?" Hermione retorted, causing Malfoy to sneer and walk away. Ron laughed and they made their way back to the common room. "Better get used to it Harry, Tally too. You guys will be hearing a lot from people now that you two are together." Harry sighed. Great this is just what I need, like my life isn't complicated enough.

It was now the end of January and the second meeting of the DA. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had recruited many more students to replace the ones that had left. They never took anyone under fourth year, except for Dennis, who was apart of the DA last year, and people on the Gryffindor Quittach team. Their first meeting consisted of passing out the necklaces and allowing the old DA members time to practice what they had already learned. They only practiced the basics and helped the new members learn them. Harry had been quite impressed by what they remembered and how much they accomplished.

Now it was the second meeting and everyone was anticipating practicing some of the more complicated hexes and curses they had learned. Some of the newer members were still learning the simpler ones with the help from Hermione and Harry. Tally, who apparently had talent in defense from both her brother and her father, did not take long to catch up with everyone and so, ended up helping some of the younger students who were having trouble. While everyone was practicing, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Tally stood off to the side, watching.

"Are the two of you going to go off alone in Hogsmeade?" Ron asked.

"Why would we do that?" Harry asked, Hermione answered.

"Because it's Valentine's day. Don't you two want to spend time together." Harry looked over at Tally.

"Nonsense, we spend time together everyday. Hogsmeade is a time to hang out with friends and have some fun." Tally answered, waving her hand at them. Harry didn't know whether to be offended at her lack of wanting to be alone with him on Valentine's Day or happy that she didn't. Tally looked at him and noticed his confused look, "I didn't mean that I don't love spending alone time with you, Harry. It's just Valentine's Day is just another day, that's all. I want to spend time with everyone and forget all the bad." Harry nodded and smiled.

The rest of the meeting went without a hitch and everyone was able to review all that they had learned while helping the newer members. The next meeting they would continue where they had ended, the Patronus. Tally left with Ginny and Neville while Harry, Ron, and Hermione cleaned up. The three of them set off toward Gryffindor tower when Harry was called aside by Cho Chang.

"Harry, can we talk?" Harry glanced over at Ron and Hermione and shrugged his shoulders. He walked over to Cho,

"Sure, what is it?" Cho stood awkwardly in front of him, blushing slightly.

"Er-I just wanted to apologize for my behavior last year. I know that I was being selfish and unreasonable. I was just so confused by everything."

"It's alright. You had a lot on your mind, Hermione explained it to me." Cho's face darkened slightly at the mention of Hermione, but made no snide remark about it.

"Are you going to Hogsmeade?" Harry nodded, "Would you like to go with me?" Harry stood watching her. He couldn't understand it, she knew he was with Tally, so he didn't know why she was asking him.

"Er-well, actually, I was planning on going with Tally."

"You can't really be serious about that girl, can you? We don't know a thing about her, she could be a spy for Vol-Voldemort." Cho said loudly to Harry, causing some students to look at them.

"Just because you don't know anything about her doesn't mean that I don't. I know she isn't a spy for Voldemort anymore than Ron is. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my common room." Harry made to turn away from Cho when she grabbed his arm painfully,

"She isn't right for you Harry, you two don't look good together. I told you I'm sorry for how I behaved, shouldn't that be enought? Now stop being silly and go to Hogsmeade with me!" Her face was bright red and a little frightening. Harry released her grip on him and hurried back to Ron and Hermione, who had witnessed the whole event.

"Wow Harry, she's completely crazy! Do you always have that effect on women?" Ron joked.

"I don't know what her problem is. She just didn't want to move on." Harry replied, Hermione remained silent.

Soon it was February. Voldemort's attacks were as ruthless as ever, but Harry was now advanced in his occulmency lessons that he was rarely placated by visions. There were a few students who had lost loved ones in this war, mainly muggle-born or half-bloods, though, occasionally a pure-blood would die at the hands of Voldemort. Tally had befriended Zambini one afternoon because he no longer considered himself a Slytherin.

"His parents were found dead a couple of days ago. The Dark Mark was floating above his house. He doesn't want anything to do with people who might be associated with Voldemort. I told him he is more than welcome to hang out with us. Is that okay?"

"I don't see why not. Do you think he would want to join the DA?" Harry asked her.

"I can talk to him about it. He seems really upset by the whole matter and now none of his so-called friends want anything to do with him. I think he's worried about being in the dorms with them at night."

When the Hogsmeade weekend came, Tally invited Blaise to come. He had eagerly joined the DA in hopes of making new friends and learning how to better pretect himself. Over the last couple of weeks leading up to Hogsmeade weekend, Blaise had ate every meal with the Gryffindors and Harry had come to like him. He was quiet and very intelligent. His opinions were well informed and he never insulted anyone. Harry could see why Tally felt the need to befriend him.

The group walked to the Entrance Hall, where they met up with Blaise and Luna and waited in line with everyone else. Filch was impossibly slow today, seeming in a terrible mood and wanted everyone else to suffer with him. Harry looked around and noticed Cho walking towards him.

"Oh crap."

"What?" Ron asked. Harry nodded his head in Cho's direction, which caused Ron to laugh. "Doesn't seem to take the hint, does she?" Tally, who had stepped away to grab Blaise and Luna, now made her way back to his side and took his hand. Harry had been watching Cho and jumped slightly at her contact. Cho's eyes narrowed.

"Everything alright?" Tally asked.

"Not really, Cho's heading this way and she looks like Umbridge." Tally had heard about Umbridge and shot her head around to look at Cho.

"Hello Harry, ready for Hogsmeade?" Cho asked in a pleasantly girly voice.

"Well, as you can see, I am." Cho walked directly up to him and pushed Tally aside and into Ron, who caught her easily. Cho then grabbed his hand and said nothing more. Harry was stunned by these events and didn't know what to do. He turned to Tally and saw that Ron was having a very difficult time restraining her. "Er-Cho, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why are you here with me?" Harry took his hand out from his and faced her. "I'm with Tally, I told you that before. I don't know why you can't seem to understand that." Cho tried reaching for his hand again, but he held it out of her reach.

"I don't know what you are talking about Harry."

"I-don't-want-to-be-with-you, understand that?" Harry felt bad as he saw tears well-up in her eyes, but he was angry that she was bothering him and making it all the more difficult for him.

"Fine, Harry, fine! You'll see what you're missing and you'll wish you were with me!" Cho then stormed off and found some of her friends, to which she began crying to. Tally was finally released by Ron and angrily made her way back to Harry's side, she too, had tears in her eyes.

"Tally, are you alright?" She had her arms crossed and her chin was firmly shut to keep herself from crying.

"No, I am just tired of this."

"Tired of what?"

"Of defending myself to everyone." She turned to look at Harry and he placed his arm around her, he was a head taller than her and she rested her head on his chest. "No one trusts me now that I'm with you. They think I'm only dating you to get information. It's just not fair, all these stupid rumors and people silently cursing me in the halls. It's just so irritating." Harry had never heard her talk about anything of this before.

"Why didn't you tell me about all this?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"I didn't want to worry you, besides I'm a big girl, I thought I could handle it. I guess this was the last straw." She pushed away from Harry and looked up at him. "Yesterday, while walking with Blaise to class, some girl tried to push me down the stairs, Blaise was able to grab my robes to keep me from falling. I don't know who the girl was, but if Blaise wasn't there, who knows what would have happened." She shuddered slightly and slipped back into Harry's arms. They walked in silence until outside of the castle.

Harry, Tally, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Blaise walked together talking about classes and summer holidays. They are suppose to meet up with Ginny and Dean later. Tally whispered into Harry's ear

"Neville wants to be alone with Luna, so we have to find away to separate from them."

"Luna is the one that Neville likes?" Harry whispered back, but Tally only laughed. She slid away from Harry and linked arms with Hermione and whispered into her ear. Hermione giggled and turned to Ron and whispered into his ear as Tally went to whisper to Blaise. Ron cried outloud, but was silenced quickly by Hermione. Neville and Luna looked back at them, but only returned to their conversation immediately. Tally slowly made her way back to Harry with Blaise beside her.

"Okay, so Hermione said she will take Ron away into some shop. Like that's such a chore for her." Tally added, amused, "And the three of us will slip into another store. Hopefully we can do all this without them noticing." Harry nodded and noted the smile on Blaise's face.

"You guys are just as sneaky as Slytherins, only you are more discrete about it." Blaise commented. When they reached Hogsmeade, Hermione and Ron immediately walked into the closest shop without Neville or Luna noticing. Shortly after their departure, Neville looked back,

"Where's Ron and Hermione?"

"Oh who knows, probably off snogging." Blaise answered causing Harry and Tally to laugh. Even though he has only been around them for a couple of weeks, Blaise caught on quickly with who likes who. Neville returned his attention to Luna. Tally took this opportunity to pull both boys into the nearest shop, which happened to be a flower shop. She peeked out the window and watched them until they were out of sight.

"Okay, coast is clear." Harry had never been in this shop and he began to look at all the different flowers. He noticed that some were just regular flowers while others had a more...dangerous quality about them. The three of them looked around, laughing when a flower would attack them or running to get away. Harry had wondered off a bit when he heard a shriek. He walked quickly and found Blaise on the floor, a flower branch wrapped around his neck and Tally trying frantically to remove it. He ran up beside her to help.