Chapter 9: Announcements
The common room remained silent as a tomb for the next two minutes out of pure shock. Then, as if someone set off a bomb, the room exploded in chatter. The first and second years displayed looks of absolute terror and some cried for their 'lost' friend. Every single student was scared but the older ones seemed to be dealing a little better than the youngsters. The chatter around the room merely gave testimony to the feelings of all. Finally, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry snapped out of their shock and took in their surroundings.
"SILENCE!!!" bellowed Ron. Instantly, the room fell silent.
"Okay. I need everyone to try to remain calm. Hysterics won't help any of us. We need to go down to breakfast now. Harry, Ginny, stay here while we send up Professor Dumbledore," Hermione ordered. At their nods, she and Ron herded the Gryffindors out of the room and down the hall to breakfast leaving Harry and Ginny as the sole occupants of the room.
"Harry, what are you thinking?" Ginny asked softly.
"Honestly? I'm thinking this shouldn't have happened and Voldemort is using his cowardly ways again. And I want to get him. Aarg! He makes me so mad! Why can't he come out and openly challenge me? Why-" Harry cut off his ranting when he felt Ginny's hand land on his back.
"You know that would make too much sense and not enough people would suffer for his taste. Voldemort works in ways that provoke terror from the unknown, not the obvious. Unfortunately, it's natural for that method to be more effective. People are always going to be more scared of what they don't know than what they do know. As such, we need to turn this particular case into something that we do know about; get some questions answered. That's the best way we can help our classmate."
Harry turned around to look at her and saw the firm determination burning in her eyes. Taking a deep breath to regain control, he nodded. "You're right. Sorry about that. Can you try to look at the paper and see if there is anything left on it that might help us or give us some clues as to what is going on here? I'm going to see if I can counteract the spell and get him breathing again. Oh, be careful, there might be some traps left on the paper."
Ginny nodded and walked over to the note, her own injuries from the night before were the last thing on her mind. Carefully extending her hand, she ran it above the piece of paper, testing it to find any residual magic as Dumbledore had instructed her. At finding none, she dropped her hand to a mere centimeter above it and scanned again. Again, it was clear so she picked up the paper and turned it over. On the inside, in blood red letters, was the message that had been delivered no more than five minutes ago. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine. Quickly, she glanced up to see if Harry had any luck.
For his part, Harry walked over to the statue of the second year and scanned for any traces of the spell used to petrify him. Nothing. Confused, Harry looked deeper. 'There has to be something here,' he thought. A closer inspection merely yielded the same results as the first. 'No residue has to mean it wasn't a spell, but what does that leave then? The only other way to turn to stone is to look a basilisk in the eyes, right?' Harry released a sigh and turned back to Ginny to see what she discovered and found her watching him.
"Did you find anything?" he asked.
"There's no residual magic but the message is written here in what looks like blood, but I'm not sure. How about you? Any luck?"
"No. Again, there're no traces of magic but that would mean he had to be petrified another way. As far as I'm aware of, only a look in a basilisk's eyes or Medusa's eyes will turn you to stone. Obviously, that didn't happen, in this case."
"Could it have been some sort of a potion, then?"
"I don't know. I guess it's possible but we would have to ask Professor Dumbledore or Snape about it."
"That's Professor Snape to you two," Professor McGonagall said as she and the headmaster stepped into the common room.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley, can you please explain what happened here? I'm afraid Miss Granger was too wound up to give us too many clear details," Dumbledore said, a serious look on his face but a twinkle in his eyes at the last sentence. Together, Harry and Ginny explained the events, in detail, and ended the story with their findings, or lack thereof, from the letter and the student. Dumbledore simply listened through their tale. At the conclusion, he picked up the letter and turned it around examining it from every angle before moving on to the student. Again, he examined the statue as much as he could without any specific tools.
"'Harry Potter. Your days are numbered and your downfall will come. Hold tight to your treasures and they will slip away. On the wings of night and the tail of pain, your final warning is spoken.' Any idea what this means?" the headmaster inquired.
"Only the last sentence, Professor," Ginny spoke quietly. When she failed to continue, Harry picked up the explanation.
"Last night, Voldemort got very aggressive," he said. "I figured that's what the note meant since the attacks happen at night, and Ginny certainly endured a lot of pain."
"That sounds like a very plausible explanation. However, could it not be something else? Maybe something that might hit a little closer to home than the suffering of one of your friends?"
"No, sir. I don't think you can get much closer. You know me well enough to know the answer to that, I should think. I'd rather know if there was something in there that tells us what to prepare for. If we can prevent another episode like this from happening, I want to stop it."
"I understand that, but Harry, in order for that to happen and be prevented, we need to make sure we don't miss any warnings hidden in this note. I'm going to take it from here and I want you two to concentrate on your classes. Speaking of classes, Harry, I would like you to join Miss Weasley and me tonight during her extra class."
"Yes sir."
"Miss Weasley, it was mentioned that you had a difficult night last night. Are you feeling better?"
"Yes, sorry. I provoked him, so I didn't think I needed to inform you of it last night. Um, Professor, I don't mean to be rude, but I lost some blood last night, and I'm really hungry. Is there anything else you need me for right now?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, yes. My apologies. Mr. Potter, please join her. If anything else comes up that needs to be addressed, we will discuss it tonight in class. Now, go join your classmates." Without another word, both Gryffindors left the room to the professors.
"Albus, this couldn't be the chamber, again, could it?"
"No, Minerva. If that were the case, I believe we would have had a full room of statues and very possibly a few deceased students. No, this is something else, but we must determine what it is. Please have Severus analyze this. I want to know if there are any traces of a potion or powder left that we can connect to someone or something." Dumbledore finished as he and Professor McGonagall left through the staff entrance to the common room.
*********************
In the hall, Harry and Ginny turned to each other and a silence stretched between them for several minutes. Finally, they each took a breath and began speaking simultaneously.
"What do you think-"
"Why did he-"
They laughed; the tension that had inexplicably formed dissipated as they laughed at themselves.
"Alright, you first, Harry."
"Never mind. What were you going to say?"
"Heh. I can't remember now. Well, shall we go to breakfast now?"
"That sounds good to me. Milady," Harry said as he offered her his hand. Ginny laughed and slipped her hand in his.
"Thank you, good sir." With another round of chuckles, they made their way down to the hall for breakfast, both deciding to leave the events in the common room alone for the time being.
When they finally reached the Great Hall, time was very short so they simply grabbed some toast and biscuits before dashing off to their classes. The day went by quickly and the students were kept busy so there was no time to talk with their friends. Evening fell before Harry and Ginny found themselves together again as they headed up to Dumbledore's office for their final lesson of the day. Pushing open the door, they walked in to find it completely rearranged. The desk and chairs were gone and the pictures hung behind some form of a protective screen. Fawkes sat on his perch in the far corner and racks of various weapons lined the walls instead of books. Harry and Ginny simply stared at the room. For a moment, they thought they went to the wrong place but that couldn't be right either.
"Welcome. I see you find my change in décor rather interesting," Dumbledore chuckled as he broke the two students out of their trance.
"I guess so. What's all this for, Professor?" Ginny asked hesitantly.
"I asked Mr. Potter to join us today because I feel it is time you two learn to work together and sharpen your dueling skills."
"If that's the case, why are all the weapons here? In dueling we just work with our spells and wands, right? We've done that for years and haven't needed any of this protection and stuff here," Harry inquired.
"Quite right, Harry, quite right. In the next several weeks, you will be learning to refine your magical dueling skills as well as adding hand to hand combat skills and eventually, combining all those skills together. Yes, most Death Eaters only use magic and their wands, but there are a few who exist who do use weapons and those are the most dangerous opponents, next to Voldemort, that you will have to face. I want both of you prepared for if and when you meet them. However, today we will start a little slower and, as I would like to think, safer but it is you two who are in question. Please take your spots for a duel and face each other. On my count you may begin and try not to hurt each other. Begin!"
The minute the words were out of his mouth, spells began flying around the room. Both students began using their wands but they quickly became a hindrance instead of an aid. Harry threw spell after spell at Ginny and with each one blocked, he stepped the duel up a notch. The spells became harder, flew at their target quicker, and kept Ginny very much on her toes. For her part, Ginny quickly broke the rules of engagement and used both her wand and her free hand to block and fire the spells off. Ten minutes later, Harry continued the pace he set but Ginny struggled. The months with Dumbledore had built up her reserve strength and power but she still had a long way to go to match Harry spell for spell.
"Expeliarmus!" Harry cried. This time, the spell reached its target. Ginny, too tired to continue blocking efficiently, found herself wandless. "Stupefy!" Harry took advantage of the momentary pause from Ginny's shock to stun her and end the duel. Walking over to her prone form, Harry released her from the spell.
"Very impressive, you two. I must say you have both come a very long way in your skills. Miss Weasley-" Dumbledore let the rest of the sentence hang as he and Harry stood over her figure. She simply stared up at the men without moving and her chest heaving with effort to pull in some much needed oxygen.
"Okay, so maybe I still have a ways to go. Would you kindly wake me up at the end of the lesson, please?" Ginny asked before rolling onto her side to get more comfortable.
"I'm afraid we don't have time to let you get a quick nap. I still have a lot of information to give you before we begin even thinking about the weapons on the walls." With a flick of his wand, Dumbledore transformed the office back into its original décor. Harry assisted Ginny to one of the chairs, which she promptly fell into and both turned to listen to the headmaster as he resumed speaking. "The history behind each of these fighting techniques is fascinating, but very long and in depth, so I won't bother you with all the details. However, you do need to know key points about each item. The ax you saw came from the late 1400's ..."
The lesson continued with Dumbledore passing along the 'necessary' facts. Later than either student would have liked, Dumbledore came to the end of his lecture.
"I think that should do it for tonight. Take tomorrow night off to recover and catch up on your other studies. My goodness, time has gotten away from us again. You need to hurry downstairs to dinner as I am sure you don't want to miss any important announcements," he said as he got to his feet.
"Thank you, Professor," they chorused as they left his office. He simply smiled as he watched the tall, black haired young man and the scarlet haired young woman leave. 'Just like Lilly and James,' he thought. 'A great match, if only they'd realize it.'
*****************
Down in the Great Hall, the tables teamed with life as students waited for Professor Dumbledore or the food to arrive, whichever came first. Of course, the general hope was for food. Harry and Ginny joined their friends at the table just as the headmaster walked in the room. All around, murmurs of discontent arose since it was obvious they had to endure some announcements before getting to eat. McGonagall's fork against her glass silenced the hall and Dumbledore rose to his feet.
"By now most of you have heard about the events in the Gryffindor common room, this morning. I am not going to lie to you; Mr. Jones was petrified in stone but Madam Pomfrey, Professor Snape and Professor Sprout are working on the cure as we speak. I want to take this moment to remind each of you not to pick up anything unknown to you or not addressed to you. Every witch and wizard needs to display caution in these times." Dumbledore paused as he let his words sink in. No one moved or spoke, waiting for him to continue. "With that in mind, I think it is safe to announce our first trip this year to Hogsmeade. Remember, this is only for students in years 3 and up and with a permission slip. For those of you who fall into that category, the trip will be this weekend."
Again, Dumbledore paused, but this time because the hall erupted in chatter and waves of excitement began rippling around the room. The old headmaster smiled. If this was their reaction to the Hogsmeade trip, his next piece of information will have them rowdy all night. He raised his hand to continue and did so once the chatter died down.
"I have one more piece of information for you. This next event is for the upper years only. Since it was such a success three years ago, it has been decided that we will hold another Yule Ball." The noise that rose from this was astounding. This time, the waves of excitement rolled off the students like the ocean crashing against the beach. The headmaster's smile only grew as he sat down and the food appeared.
At the Gryffindor table, everyone spoke of the dance and only that. The third years and younger discussed what it was like years ago and speculated on how much grander this year's ball would be, their voices laced with longing. Of course, Harry and friends were no exception. While Ginny and Hermione began speaking quite animatedly about it, Ron sat watching his girlfriend, a mischievous glint to his eyes. Finally, Hermione noticed.
"Uh, Ron? Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.
"My dear Miss Hermione Granger, will you do me the highest honor and accompany me to the ball?" he asked in his most regal voice possible.
Hermione turned several shades of red before nodding meekly, rather hoping to get swallowed up by the table. That didn't happen but Ron did save her by plastering on one of the goofiest grins he ever used. The action pulled Hermione out of her embarrassment as she rolled her eyes.
"What? I wanted to make sure I didn't make the same mistake twice. Believe it or not, I can learn from my mistakes," he said. All four students laughed and broke into conversation about the ball and the weekend's trip. Ginny found herself so engrossed in the subjects that she completely forgot about her exhaustion.
Dinner went by without any problems and soon the four students made their way up to the common room. When they arrived, they noticed their fellow classmates moved about as if the morning's events never even happened. They surmised that was the whole motivation behind dinner's announcements. As they made their way over to the fireplace, Parvati squealed in delight as Seamus obviously asked her to the ball. Ginny shook her head as she settled down in the couch next to Harry. Before long, the four lost themselves in talk about classes, Quidditch, and just about anything they could think of. Ginny's exhaustion finally caught up with her again and she laid her head on Harry's shoulder. Harry pulled his arm up from under her and wrapped it around her shoulders, creating a comfortable niche for Ginny's head. In the comfort of Harry's embrace, a pleasant, dreamless sleep quickly claimed her.
Hermione watched the two and couldn't help the corners of her mouth twitching and turning up at the sight. Ron seemed too engrossed in the Quidditch talk to care. At that, she did smile. With everything those two had been through, and were still going through, they really needed each other to lean on.
Eventually, conversation drifted off and the students simply sat together, lost in their own worlds and staring into the fire. When the clock struck eleven, Hermione slowly climbed out of her boyfriends embrace to go to bed. Ron stood behind her and turned to his friend.
"Harry, we should get to bed, too," he said. When he didn't hear a response he turned around. On the couch he found his sister curled up in Harry's arms and both slept soundly, bathed in the warm light from the fire.
"Come on, Ron. Let's let them be. They could use the sleep and I really don't think I could get Ginny up the stairs on my own. We can come down early to wake them up so they don't get into trouble." He nodded and they ascended the stairs to their own dorms.
A/N: HAH! TWO WEEKS! Ok, so I hope that's going a little better for you guys. I was going to make this chapter longer but some people voted on a quicker update than a longer chapter so here it is. The next one shouldn't be too much longer. Again, any questions or comments are greatly appreciated. Until next time, tchuss!
The common room remained silent as a tomb for the next two minutes out of pure shock. Then, as if someone set off a bomb, the room exploded in chatter. The first and second years displayed looks of absolute terror and some cried for their 'lost' friend. Every single student was scared but the older ones seemed to be dealing a little better than the youngsters. The chatter around the room merely gave testimony to the feelings of all. Finally, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry snapped out of their shock and took in their surroundings.
"SILENCE!!!" bellowed Ron. Instantly, the room fell silent.
"Okay. I need everyone to try to remain calm. Hysterics won't help any of us. We need to go down to breakfast now. Harry, Ginny, stay here while we send up Professor Dumbledore," Hermione ordered. At their nods, she and Ron herded the Gryffindors out of the room and down the hall to breakfast leaving Harry and Ginny as the sole occupants of the room.
"Harry, what are you thinking?" Ginny asked softly.
"Honestly? I'm thinking this shouldn't have happened and Voldemort is using his cowardly ways again. And I want to get him. Aarg! He makes me so mad! Why can't he come out and openly challenge me? Why-" Harry cut off his ranting when he felt Ginny's hand land on his back.
"You know that would make too much sense and not enough people would suffer for his taste. Voldemort works in ways that provoke terror from the unknown, not the obvious. Unfortunately, it's natural for that method to be more effective. People are always going to be more scared of what they don't know than what they do know. As such, we need to turn this particular case into something that we do know about; get some questions answered. That's the best way we can help our classmate."
Harry turned around to look at her and saw the firm determination burning in her eyes. Taking a deep breath to regain control, he nodded. "You're right. Sorry about that. Can you try to look at the paper and see if there is anything left on it that might help us or give us some clues as to what is going on here? I'm going to see if I can counteract the spell and get him breathing again. Oh, be careful, there might be some traps left on the paper."
Ginny nodded and walked over to the note, her own injuries from the night before were the last thing on her mind. Carefully extending her hand, she ran it above the piece of paper, testing it to find any residual magic as Dumbledore had instructed her. At finding none, she dropped her hand to a mere centimeter above it and scanned again. Again, it was clear so she picked up the paper and turned it over. On the inside, in blood red letters, was the message that had been delivered no more than five minutes ago. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine. Quickly, she glanced up to see if Harry had any luck.
For his part, Harry walked over to the statue of the second year and scanned for any traces of the spell used to petrify him. Nothing. Confused, Harry looked deeper. 'There has to be something here,' he thought. A closer inspection merely yielded the same results as the first. 'No residue has to mean it wasn't a spell, but what does that leave then? The only other way to turn to stone is to look a basilisk in the eyes, right?' Harry released a sigh and turned back to Ginny to see what she discovered and found her watching him.
"Did you find anything?" he asked.
"There's no residual magic but the message is written here in what looks like blood, but I'm not sure. How about you? Any luck?"
"No. Again, there're no traces of magic but that would mean he had to be petrified another way. As far as I'm aware of, only a look in a basilisk's eyes or Medusa's eyes will turn you to stone. Obviously, that didn't happen, in this case."
"Could it have been some sort of a potion, then?"
"I don't know. I guess it's possible but we would have to ask Professor Dumbledore or Snape about it."
"That's Professor Snape to you two," Professor McGonagall said as she and the headmaster stepped into the common room.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley, can you please explain what happened here? I'm afraid Miss Granger was too wound up to give us too many clear details," Dumbledore said, a serious look on his face but a twinkle in his eyes at the last sentence. Together, Harry and Ginny explained the events, in detail, and ended the story with their findings, or lack thereof, from the letter and the student. Dumbledore simply listened through their tale. At the conclusion, he picked up the letter and turned it around examining it from every angle before moving on to the student. Again, he examined the statue as much as he could without any specific tools.
"'Harry Potter. Your days are numbered and your downfall will come. Hold tight to your treasures and they will slip away. On the wings of night and the tail of pain, your final warning is spoken.' Any idea what this means?" the headmaster inquired.
"Only the last sentence, Professor," Ginny spoke quietly. When she failed to continue, Harry picked up the explanation.
"Last night, Voldemort got very aggressive," he said. "I figured that's what the note meant since the attacks happen at night, and Ginny certainly endured a lot of pain."
"That sounds like a very plausible explanation. However, could it not be something else? Maybe something that might hit a little closer to home than the suffering of one of your friends?"
"No, sir. I don't think you can get much closer. You know me well enough to know the answer to that, I should think. I'd rather know if there was something in there that tells us what to prepare for. If we can prevent another episode like this from happening, I want to stop it."
"I understand that, but Harry, in order for that to happen and be prevented, we need to make sure we don't miss any warnings hidden in this note. I'm going to take it from here and I want you two to concentrate on your classes. Speaking of classes, Harry, I would like you to join Miss Weasley and me tonight during her extra class."
"Yes sir."
"Miss Weasley, it was mentioned that you had a difficult night last night. Are you feeling better?"
"Yes, sorry. I provoked him, so I didn't think I needed to inform you of it last night. Um, Professor, I don't mean to be rude, but I lost some blood last night, and I'm really hungry. Is there anything else you need me for right now?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, yes. My apologies. Mr. Potter, please join her. If anything else comes up that needs to be addressed, we will discuss it tonight in class. Now, go join your classmates." Without another word, both Gryffindors left the room to the professors.
"Albus, this couldn't be the chamber, again, could it?"
"No, Minerva. If that were the case, I believe we would have had a full room of statues and very possibly a few deceased students. No, this is something else, but we must determine what it is. Please have Severus analyze this. I want to know if there are any traces of a potion or powder left that we can connect to someone or something." Dumbledore finished as he and Professor McGonagall left through the staff entrance to the common room.
*********************
In the hall, Harry and Ginny turned to each other and a silence stretched between them for several minutes. Finally, they each took a breath and began speaking simultaneously.
"What do you think-"
"Why did he-"
They laughed; the tension that had inexplicably formed dissipated as they laughed at themselves.
"Alright, you first, Harry."
"Never mind. What were you going to say?"
"Heh. I can't remember now. Well, shall we go to breakfast now?"
"That sounds good to me. Milady," Harry said as he offered her his hand. Ginny laughed and slipped her hand in his.
"Thank you, good sir." With another round of chuckles, they made their way down to the hall for breakfast, both deciding to leave the events in the common room alone for the time being.
When they finally reached the Great Hall, time was very short so they simply grabbed some toast and biscuits before dashing off to their classes. The day went by quickly and the students were kept busy so there was no time to talk with their friends. Evening fell before Harry and Ginny found themselves together again as they headed up to Dumbledore's office for their final lesson of the day. Pushing open the door, they walked in to find it completely rearranged. The desk and chairs were gone and the pictures hung behind some form of a protective screen. Fawkes sat on his perch in the far corner and racks of various weapons lined the walls instead of books. Harry and Ginny simply stared at the room. For a moment, they thought they went to the wrong place but that couldn't be right either.
"Welcome. I see you find my change in décor rather interesting," Dumbledore chuckled as he broke the two students out of their trance.
"I guess so. What's all this for, Professor?" Ginny asked hesitantly.
"I asked Mr. Potter to join us today because I feel it is time you two learn to work together and sharpen your dueling skills."
"If that's the case, why are all the weapons here? In dueling we just work with our spells and wands, right? We've done that for years and haven't needed any of this protection and stuff here," Harry inquired.
"Quite right, Harry, quite right. In the next several weeks, you will be learning to refine your magical dueling skills as well as adding hand to hand combat skills and eventually, combining all those skills together. Yes, most Death Eaters only use magic and their wands, but there are a few who exist who do use weapons and those are the most dangerous opponents, next to Voldemort, that you will have to face. I want both of you prepared for if and when you meet them. However, today we will start a little slower and, as I would like to think, safer but it is you two who are in question. Please take your spots for a duel and face each other. On my count you may begin and try not to hurt each other. Begin!"
The minute the words were out of his mouth, spells began flying around the room. Both students began using their wands but they quickly became a hindrance instead of an aid. Harry threw spell after spell at Ginny and with each one blocked, he stepped the duel up a notch. The spells became harder, flew at their target quicker, and kept Ginny very much on her toes. For her part, Ginny quickly broke the rules of engagement and used both her wand and her free hand to block and fire the spells off. Ten minutes later, Harry continued the pace he set but Ginny struggled. The months with Dumbledore had built up her reserve strength and power but she still had a long way to go to match Harry spell for spell.
"Expeliarmus!" Harry cried. This time, the spell reached its target. Ginny, too tired to continue blocking efficiently, found herself wandless. "Stupefy!" Harry took advantage of the momentary pause from Ginny's shock to stun her and end the duel. Walking over to her prone form, Harry released her from the spell.
"Very impressive, you two. I must say you have both come a very long way in your skills. Miss Weasley-" Dumbledore let the rest of the sentence hang as he and Harry stood over her figure. She simply stared up at the men without moving and her chest heaving with effort to pull in some much needed oxygen.
"Okay, so maybe I still have a ways to go. Would you kindly wake me up at the end of the lesson, please?" Ginny asked before rolling onto her side to get more comfortable.
"I'm afraid we don't have time to let you get a quick nap. I still have a lot of information to give you before we begin even thinking about the weapons on the walls." With a flick of his wand, Dumbledore transformed the office back into its original décor. Harry assisted Ginny to one of the chairs, which she promptly fell into and both turned to listen to the headmaster as he resumed speaking. "The history behind each of these fighting techniques is fascinating, but very long and in depth, so I won't bother you with all the details. However, you do need to know key points about each item. The ax you saw came from the late 1400's ..."
The lesson continued with Dumbledore passing along the 'necessary' facts. Later than either student would have liked, Dumbledore came to the end of his lecture.
"I think that should do it for tonight. Take tomorrow night off to recover and catch up on your other studies. My goodness, time has gotten away from us again. You need to hurry downstairs to dinner as I am sure you don't want to miss any important announcements," he said as he got to his feet.
"Thank you, Professor," they chorused as they left his office. He simply smiled as he watched the tall, black haired young man and the scarlet haired young woman leave. 'Just like Lilly and James,' he thought. 'A great match, if only they'd realize it.'
*****************
Down in the Great Hall, the tables teamed with life as students waited for Professor Dumbledore or the food to arrive, whichever came first. Of course, the general hope was for food. Harry and Ginny joined their friends at the table just as the headmaster walked in the room. All around, murmurs of discontent arose since it was obvious they had to endure some announcements before getting to eat. McGonagall's fork against her glass silenced the hall and Dumbledore rose to his feet.
"By now most of you have heard about the events in the Gryffindor common room, this morning. I am not going to lie to you; Mr. Jones was petrified in stone but Madam Pomfrey, Professor Snape and Professor Sprout are working on the cure as we speak. I want to take this moment to remind each of you not to pick up anything unknown to you or not addressed to you. Every witch and wizard needs to display caution in these times." Dumbledore paused as he let his words sink in. No one moved or spoke, waiting for him to continue. "With that in mind, I think it is safe to announce our first trip this year to Hogsmeade. Remember, this is only for students in years 3 and up and with a permission slip. For those of you who fall into that category, the trip will be this weekend."
Again, Dumbledore paused, but this time because the hall erupted in chatter and waves of excitement began rippling around the room. The old headmaster smiled. If this was their reaction to the Hogsmeade trip, his next piece of information will have them rowdy all night. He raised his hand to continue and did so once the chatter died down.
"I have one more piece of information for you. This next event is for the upper years only. Since it was such a success three years ago, it has been decided that we will hold another Yule Ball." The noise that rose from this was astounding. This time, the waves of excitement rolled off the students like the ocean crashing against the beach. The headmaster's smile only grew as he sat down and the food appeared.
At the Gryffindor table, everyone spoke of the dance and only that. The third years and younger discussed what it was like years ago and speculated on how much grander this year's ball would be, their voices laced with longing. Of course, Harry and friends were no exception. While Ginny and Hermione began speaking quite animatedly about it, Ron sat watching his girlfriend, a mischievous glint to his eyes. Finally, Hermione noticed.
"Uh, Ron? Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.
"My dear Miss Hermione Granger, will you do me the highest honor and accompany me to the ball?" he asked in his most regal voice possible.
Hermione turned several shades of red before nodding meekly, rather hoping to get swallowed up by the table. That didn't happen but Ron did save her by plastering on one of the goofiest grins he ever used. The action pulled Hermione out of her embarrassment as she rolled her eyes.
"What? I wanted to make sure I didn't make the same mistake twice. Believe it or not, I can learn from my mistakes," he said. All four students laughed and broke into conversation about the ball and the weekend's trip. Ginny found herself so engrossed in the subjects that she completely forgot about her exhaustion.
Dinner went by without any problems and soon the four students made their way up to the common room. When they arrived, they noticed their fellow classmates moved about as if the morning's events never even happened. They surmised that was the whole motivation behind dinner's announcements. As they made their way over to the fireplace, Parvati squealed in delight as Seamus obviously asked her to the ball. Ginny shook her head as she settled down in the couch next to Harry. Before long, the four lost themselves in talk about classes, Quidditch, and just about anything they could think of. Ginny's exhaustion finally caught up with her again and she laid her head on Harry's shoulder. Harry pulled his arm up from under her and wrapped it around her shoulders, creating a comfortable niche for Ginny's head. In the comfort of Harry's embrace, a pleasant, dreamless sleep quickly claimed her.
Hermione watched the two and couldn't help the corners of her mouth twitching and turning up at the sight. Ron seemed too engrossed in the Quidditch talk to care. At that, she did smile. With everything those two had been through, and were still going through, they really needed each other to lean on.
Eventually, conversation drifted off and the students simply sat together, lost in their own worlds and staring into the fire. When the clock struck eleven, Hermione slowly climbed out of her boyfriends embrace to go to bed. Ron stood behind her and turned to his friend.
"Harry, we should get to bed, too," he said. When he didn't hear a response he turned around. On the couch he found his sister curled up in Harry's arms and both slept soundly, bathed in the warm light from the fire.
"Come on, Ron. Let's let them be. They could use the sleep and I really don't think I could get Ginny up the stairs on my own. We can come down early to wake them up so they don't get into trouble." He nodded and they ascended the stairs to their own dorms.
A/N: HAH! TWO WEEKS! Ok, so I hope that's going a little better for you guys. I was going to make this chapter longer but some people voted on a quicker update than a longer chapter so here it is. The next one shouldn't be too much longer. Again, any questions or comments are greatly appreciated. Until next time, tchuss!