Okay... well, I think the last time I updated I may have mentioned that I had just had to format my computer... if I didn't, then, well, not only did I have to do it then, but at least four times in quick succession in the lead up to December. I got it running again, all set up, and got Half-Life 2... technically for Dad for Christmas, but I wanted to... test it... yeah, that sounds right. So basically, I lazed around for a bit, what with work, final assessments for work etc etc...
And it didn't help that I'd lost the last three chapters. I had started on Chapter 7, was about a third of the way through it. The first of the four times I formatted my computer was kind of an emergency one, and I didn't have a chance to get on to back everything up(stupid XP and it's grace period...). Then I got stuck reading other stories... some awesome stories out there...
shakes head Okay, now I'm ready. Out of a job, so while I'm waiting for callbacks I'm gonna start writing again. And it will be better than the original Chapter 7. That... that was horrible. Welcome to the redone Chapters 1-6, with Chapter 1 being heavily redone, the others merely cosmetically touched up. ENJOY!
"Welcome to Grimmauld Place!" he said, laughing at the group hug that had enveloped him.
The crowd of Weasley's continued with the massive group hug for a few more minutes, before they began to break off and collect their luggage to take it up to their rooms. Soon, only Harry, Ron and Ginny were left kitchen, Lupin and Tonks having taken off in the milling confusion of the arrival.
Harry examined his friends. Ron had grown, again, by at least four inches in the month since they'd last seen each other. He'd also filled out some more, broader in the shoulders. He was wearing a short-sleeve shirt, and Harry faintly winced at seeing the scars from where the brain attacked Ron at the Department of Mysteries. Ha, a brain attacking Ron Weasley…
Now Ginny caught his attention. And one word just echoed through his brain. Wow. The youngest Weasley had filled out as well, in decidedly more... feminine ways. Harry almost brought his fist up behind his head. Merlin, Potter, it's Ginny! Try anything and forget Voldie, Clan Weasley will tear you apart! All he could do was think that he was in for a rough year. Especially since he had an odd vision of Ron enlisting him to help screen Ginny from any potential suitors.
While Harry had conducted his examination, he in turn had been given the once-over by his oldest school-mate and his younger sister. Harry had grown, almost to the height Ron had been before the holidays, and had filled out quite a bit. He no longer had that look that hovered on the borderline of starvation, he actually looked like he got fed regularly and got plenty of sleep. Harry was tanned and fit-looking, and both of them approved, though their approval took widely different paths.
Ginny could feel herself fighting down a blush. After all, she was over him, had dated other boys, and even though she had been winding Ron up about Dean on the trip back from Hogwarts, he had asked her out before the train left. They'd been exchanging letters over the break, but she hadn't quite made up her mind whether or not to accept. Now, here was Harry. For some reason, the words Quidditch Sex God suddenly appeared in her mind, almost causing her to burst out laughing, and making the blush much harder to fight down. Harry was one of the most oblivious boys on the planet when it came to girls, though he would probably notice this year after having to wade through the pools of drool that would be sure to spring up wherever he went that had nearby girls. She shook her head, and watched as Ron again approached Harry.
Ron could only approve of Harry's improved appearance. He looked... alive. That was the only way he could describe it. The face was still slightly guarded, but that would always be part of Harry, just as a curious openness even within that shell would always be there. Part of him had been worried by how Harry was coping with Sirius's death, but it seemed to him like he was fine. He walked up to him, drawing him into a back-slapping hug. "Well, Harry, the time has come. You are no longer the midget of the Gryffindor Boys."
The three burst out laughing, and Harry punched Ron in the arm as they broke apart. "Come on, you two, I'll take you up to your rooms. Same as last year, pretty much. Only the house has changed, not where everything is." Picking up some of the bags that remained on the floor, he led the way out of the kitchen and up to the second floor.
The first stop was what was now Ron's room. Harry dropped the bag of Ron's things that he picked up, and turned to see his friend looking around the room with a slightly confused look on his face. "What's wrong, mate?"
"Where's your bed?" Ron asked, a puzzled frown appearing on his face. Harry laughed, and pointed in the direction of his room.
"Got my own room, don't I? Are you going to come in, or do I need to push you out of the way so I can drop Ginny's stuff in her room?" Ron smirked at him in a challenge. "Is that so, Mister Weasley? Think you can take me on now? Well, we'll have to see about that!" Harry dropped his shoulder and dove up from the ground, the two meeting solidly in the doorway. Ron almost fell over, due to the fact his trunk was practically under his legs, and Harry came stumbling out of the room, almost colliding into the opposite wall.
Ginny tutted, and swept onto her own room, leaving the two boys chuckling at each other. Harry brought himself up off the wall, and turned back to Ron. "Come up to my room after you've settled in. I think you'll like my room. Pretty nice, it is." With a wink, he left Ron to drag his trunk in and dropped into the girl's room.
He was barely in the doorframe when he was hit with some soft flying object. Surprise accounted for his lack of reaction, and he could see Ginny sniggering at him, before she blasted him with a question.
"Why has Ron got his own room, and Hermione and I are still sharing?" Standing with her hands on her hips, she glared at him in mock-anger. Pretending to quail before her, Harry bent down to pick up the pillow, and dropped it along with Ginny's bag on one of the beds. Then, bowing deeply, he spoke in a servile tone.
"Because, Miss Ginny, I get my own room, hence Master Ron gets his own room, while you have to continue to share with Miss Hermione. We is sorry for the trouble!" The last sentence he added in the high-pitch tone of a house-elf, which had Ginny giggling a bit. He bowed again, and began to back out the door. "After you've finished settling in, do you want to join Ron and me in my room? It's just down the hall."
Ginny nodded, still giggling at his house-elf impersonation(which he didn't honestly think was that funny) and Harry left her alone to settle in. Returning to his own room, he picked up the domestic charms book, placing back into the bookshelf before picking up The Marauders Guide. He started to flick his way through it, and soon happened across something that explained one of the rules in the Prefect list. Wow, they got a new rule added in. I wondered who got the inflatable sheep? I don't think my dad or Sirius would have had easy access to the Muggle world during the holidays, was it Remus or Wormtail?
Harry was snapped out of his pondering by a knocking on his door. Looking down at his watch, he noted a full half-hour had passed since the Weasley's had arrived. Calling out for the person at the door to come in, he tapped the Guide with his wand, returning it to its blank state. The door opened, and Ron's jaw dropped as he looked around the room.
"Blimey Harry! Where did this come from? When the hell did it come from? And... are those our chairs from the common room?" Ron walked over to the chairs and ran his hand along the back of his. "Bloody hell! These are our chairs from the common room? How'd ya swing that mate?" Collapsing into his seat, Ron was looking in amazement at Harry, who was laughing at his reaction.
"Well," Harry began, calming down, "Sirius made this my room after Christmas, began working on it then. The chairs, well... we have Dobby to thank for that. For some reason, Dumbledore gave me them, Dobby having picked them out. Once we're back at Hogwarts, they'll be taken back to the common room, and when we come back here next summer they'll be here again. Or so Remus told me."
"Wow..." Ron sighed, leaning back into his seat with wide eyes. He looked around, noting the crammed bookshelf and the desk, along with the giant bed and the wardrobe. The only other item of furniture, apart from the chairs and the little table in between them, was Hedwig's cage. And the room was just so... Gryffindor. Scarlet and Gold. Fitting, in a way, Ron thought.
The two sat silently for a moment, before Harry leant forward. "So, how did you do on your OWLs?" he asked.
"I did okay... better than Fred and George, at least. O in Defence, E's in Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures, A's in Herbology, Potions, Divination, Charms and Astronomy, and P in History of Magic. Overall, got eight OWLs. Almost as good as Charlie!" Ron said, grinning at doing so well with the exams. "How about you, Harry? How was the damage on your end?"
"O's in Care of Magical Creatures and Potions, E's in Charms, Herbology and Transfiguration, A in Astronomy, P in Divination and a D in History. Apparently, my Defence score was so good that I would have gotten more than an O, but since you can't get higher, I had to take it as well. Eleven OWLs overall." Harry saw the look of disbelief on Ron's face. "Yeah, I know, Potions! I got an O! Not a full O, got an E in the practical, but still!"
Ron's mouth moved soundlessly, before he seemed to gather himself together and actually produce noise. "You... you aren't going to... continue with Potions, are you?" he asked softly, almost dreadingly. Harry put on a sombre look, and nodded slowly. "But why, Harry? No more greasy git! Why put yourself voluntarily in his presence for the extra two years? Why?"
Harry scrunched up his face, laughing at the expression on Ron's face. "Merlin, Ron, you make it sound like I'm heading into my death! NEWT Potions is very important for being an Auror, mate. Even though I'm not quite sure that's what I want to do anymore, it still opens a lot of doors for other jobs. Besides, he can't really doing anything about it, I made it into his class far and square, he has to accept that I have some skill with potion-making." Harry finished, voice filled with reason. Ron continued to look horrified, and Harry burst out laughing. "What is it this time, Ron?"
"You... you... Hermione... sound like Hermione... scary... oh no, it's contagious!" Ron stammered out, before burying his hands in his face. Harry turned to Ginny, and they both shared looks of amusement before laughter overcame them. Harry got up, and came around to pat Ron on the shoulder.
"There there, Ron, it's not all that bad." Ron merely groaned, setting the other two off again.
Once the laughter had died down a bit, Ginny pointed over at the parchments on his desk. "What are those, Harry? You don't have homework do you? I mean, I didn't think that you got summer homework after the OWLs. I don't remember Bill, Charlie, Percy or the twins getting any, and Ron certainly hasn't done anything. What have you been up to?" she asked, and went to pick them up.
"Oh, it's nothing. Just new Defence spells, for the DA and all, things I'm hoping to teach them next year. Basically, that's all I did this summer. What about you lot, what have you gotten up to?" Harry asked. Ron snapped his mouth shut, and his eyes slowly returned from their widened state back to normal.
"Again... work... summer... not homework... actually working..."
Turning away from Ron and ignoring him, he raised an eyebrow at Ginny, who was grinning at Ron again. She shifted in her seat for a bit, before beginning to speak. "Well, basically we've been stuck in the Burrow for the month, with Mum going on and on and on about the Department. Occasionally Fred and George drop around and ask us to help them in their store. You should see it, Harry, it's awesome! They've done so much with it already, and the amount of customers they get is unbelievable! Word seems to have really spread about their escape last year, and all the things that happened afterward. And to think Mum was angry with them, it was the best possible advertising they could have got." she said, almost bouncing with excitement.
"Yeah! Although, there is a downside to working with them. Product testing" The two siblings looked at each other and shared a wince, echoed by Harry as well. "But even then, they're pretty good to work for. It was a lot of fun, just getting out of the house. I mean, they even paid us! Well, they offered to, but I turned them down, said since they were family, I just wanted store credit." Ron was grinning, oddly reminiscent of the twins infamous "grin of doom" as Harry had heard Ron himself call it. Ginny also had the grin on her face, although a much toned down version.
"I wasn't so discriminating. I wanted some spending money for this year. But I didn't say no to the things they offered as bonuses as well!" Harry grinned as an evil twinkle entered the youngest Weasley's eye. "It's going to be an interesting year, to be sure. Fred and George are going to be offering a discount to Hogwart's students during the next few weeks. I think they're trying to get Filch to ban the products before they even get to the school!" The three laughed at this. It didn't seem likely, but what an enormous boost it would be to sales... having all your products banned before they were even first used. Talk about advertisement!
As the laughter trailed off, the door to Harry's room was flung open, and the figure in it threw itself towards them. Half-starting, with his wand already halfway out before he found himself staring down at a bundle of bushy brown hair, enclosed in a crushing hug. Looking down in shock, he could barely make out the stream of words flowing out of the girl's mouth. He heard a soft snicker, and glanced at Ron, who had his hand up over his mouth.
"Ah... Hermione... would you mind... letting me go... need to breathe..." Harry gasped out, which caused Hermione to gasp in shock and suddenly let go of him. Rubbing his sides, he heard her quickly babble an apology, before she exclaimed and shot off, this time at Ron. Now it was Harry's turn to snigger into his hand, as Ron went almost as red as his hair as Hermione took him in a similarly crushing hug. Soon Hermione released him, and tackled Ginny, who managed to respond with as much enthusiasm. The two boys shook their heads in unison, and shared a look. Girls. Mental.
Harry righted his chair, which he'd tipped over, and sat back down as Hermione and Ginny stopped their hug. "Not that I'm exactly complaining or anything, Hermione, but... what's with the enthusiastic greeting and all? It's only been a month, after all!" Harry said, and watched as a faint blush crossed her face. Now that he could actually see her, he noticed that she'd been somewhere with plenty of sun. Either that, or lots of time in a solarium, which he didn't think she'd be caught dead in. She was tanned, and looked... well, vibrant was one word that came out of nowhere for Harry. Must have had a really good holiday then...
"Sorry Harry, I just had a really good holiday, got a lot done, did lots of reading, spent a lot of time in the sun... it was really really good!" Her voice raced with excitement, and she was grinning, when she suddenly seemed to be yanked on a chain. Her grin faded, and she almost seemed mortified at something. "Gods, Merlin, Harry, I'm sorry, I must be really insensitive, pulling a Ron on you like that, going on about how good my holidays were after-"
Harry stood up and held a hand up, palm facing her. "Stop Hermione. It's okay. Don't worry about. I haven't had the best holiday, but...well, that's no reason for you not to have enjoyed your own. I'm fine, really. Not good, but fine." An awkward silence sprung up, the four exchanging nervous looks. Harry sat back down, and gestured for Hermione to sit as well. "So... where did you go?"
Hermione sat on the hand-rest of Ginny's seat, and began telling them about her holiday. "Well, first I just spent some time with my parents, and then we went to Majorca for two weeks! Purely a Muggle vacation, but I still went to the wizarding quarter there, spent some time looking through the bookshops" mutual eye rolls from the boys "but mainly just relaxed. I couldn't really do all that much, my parents kept yanking books out of my hands! They wanted me to do nothing, they actually hid my school supplies from me. I mean, that's unbelievable! Hiding away my things like that!" Again, eye rolls from the boys, to which Hermione responded by poking her tongue out at them, which had them and Ginny laughing at her. "After that, we came home, and I spent some more time with them just in the house. And today, I came here! So, what have all of you been doing?"
They spent the next few minutes re-hashing their stories, Harry and Ginny going first, before Ron told his story. When he got to the part about getting prank material from the twins in exchange for working there, Hermione clucked disapprovingly. "Honestly, Ron, you're a prefect! What do you think your going to do with that stuff? You can't exactly use it, can you?"
Ron grinned broadly. "Ah, but that is not so, my dear Hermione! I have resigned myself from that position of burden, handing it over to some other poor sap to be chosen by McGonagall. I am now free, free, free!" Ron had jumped out his seat when he began talking, bowing floridly and continuing to grin broadly. Hermione's jaw gaped, and Harry, Ron and Ginny all laughed at the incoherent noises coming out of her mouth.
"But... but... but why?" she managed to ask. Ron sobered himself up, and sat back down.
"Well... to be honest, I wasn't much of prefect, was I? I wasn't doing very much, I didn't enjoy the extra tasks, and although it was nice being in the position... I'd much rather focus on Quidditch and my homework. You know, the most important thing in the world, and the thing which-I-have-to-do-or-you'll-nag-me-to-death." Ron grinned after he finished the last statement.
"Speaking of Quidditch, Ron, McGonagall was here earlier, wanted to have a word with me. She gave me this, said to hand it on to you later!" Harry dug the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain's badge out of his pocket, and handed it to Ron, who's jaw dropped. Ginny jumped up, almost screaming, and gathered Ron into a hug, closely followed by Hermione, while Harry laughed softly to himself.
Now it was Ron's turn to croak out "But... but... but why? How?"
Harry locked eyes with Ron, whose eyes slowly started to lose their shocked look. "Ron, you're the best man for the job. Katie already turned it down, Kirke and Sloper are barely adequate as Beaters, let alone Captains, Ginny doesn't seem the sort to be captain, at least not yet" he said, and ducked the pillow which suddenly came flying towards his head "and me... well, I think I've got enough of my plate already. Like I said, I'm going to be keeping the DA going, and McGonagall gave me your prefect badge. And, like I told McGonagall, your Quidditch-mad, the one who beat her giant chess set in your first year, and the Keeper is always a better spot than Seeker for the Captain. It might interfere with me catching the Snitch, after all." Harry again dodged a pillow, only to smack right into another one, a whole volley having mysteriously been launched his way. "What?"
"You're the new Prefect!"