Chapter 12
Harry awoke before the first rays of the morning sun had even touched the castle of Hogwarts. Climbing out of bed he went about getting dressed for his usual morning run. Unlike every other time he had ever woken up early to run, today Harry felt like he was dragging himself far more than usual.
Last night, for the first time in a month, Harry had actually gotten less than a fantastic night of sleep. His dreams had been somewhat disturbing, but every image was so foggy and unclear that it was difficult for Harry to even remember what he had dreamt about. All Harry knew was that whatever had happened in his dreams last night had definitely cost him some much needed sleep.
Shrugging off the feelings of confusion and frustration, Harry stepped out of his room and made his way to the front entrance of the castle. Checking his watch, Harry sees that it's 6:30, that means that he had an hour and a half to make it back before breakfast. Harry stretched for a few minutes before starting to jog at a mild pace. Harry ran to the perimeter of the castle grounds and began to circle the entire grounds. For the entire run, Harry was on the border of either the castle gates or the forbidden forest.
As Harry ran he allowed much of the stress he had been feeling to wash away from his thoughts. The feeling of the crisp morning air, the light fog that only covered the first two inches off the ground, and the freshly formed morning dew on the blades of the grass seemed to reinvigorate Harry in a way that's nearly impossible to describe. For Harry there was no thoughts about the war with Voldemort, no thoughts about his friends still sleeping in the castle, and no thoughts about his ever impending destiny. For Harry right now, there was only the feeling of his lungs beginning to burn slightly, the sound of his breathing, and beating of his heart.
Almost too soon Harry had ran around the entire castle grounds. Harry estimated the distance to be about five kilometers. Not a bad run, but Harry felt like adding on a bit more than just that. Not wanting to repeat any of what he had just run, Harry decided that he would venture into the forbidden forest for the dual purposes of having some rough terrain to run over and make the run a bit more interesting, and to simply go where he hasn't before.
Harry only ventured about a kilometer into the forest, before he began to loop back around to the edge of the forest. Harry immensely enjoyed running over the fallen trees and avoiding the tree roots jutting out of the ground. Several times Harry thought that he had heard something close to him, but he never actually saw anything, so other than trying to avoid falling flat on his face the run was nicely uneventful.
When Harry emerged out of the forest he checked his watch and saw that it was now 7:20, he estimated the run to be about eleven kilometers in total, possibly just shy. Harry quickly stretched and decided that he had enough time to quickly lift weights before breakfast. Quickly moving through the castle, Harry soon arrived outside the room of requirements and concentrated on needing a place where he could lift weights just like he had been for the past month. When Harry entered the room, he couldn't help but be impressed. The room wasn't huge but it was quite a bit larger than it had been last night when he had been talking with Ron and Hermione.
Harry noted that the room had provided him with everything he could possibly need to lift weights, even making one of the walls a mirror so he could see himself and make sure he was lifting properly. As it was a Monday, Harry did a chest and triceps workout. Harry particularly enjoyed these days as the chest was one of the easiest muscles to workout and get strong with quickly. Already in the month that he had been working out, the most improvement by far had been made to his chest muscles.
Harry was so caught up in the workout that he didn't notice as eight o'clock came and passed. It was only when Harry realized that it was 8:15 that he cursed and left the room with the intent of catching that last fifteen minutes of breakfast. Harry had hoped to finish lifting a bit earlier so he might have showered and changed before going to breakfast, but he couldn't very well do that now. Harry looked down at his clothing and cursed again as his white sleeve-less shirt was clinging to his chest like a second skin and was nearly transparent from sweat.
Harry wasn't one to be overly self-conscious about his appearance or be embarrassed from it. But he knew exactly what was going to happen when he entered the great hall. When Harry finally reached the great hall, he was not at all surprised with the reaction.
It seemed like every girl gasped at the sight of him and couldn't tear their eyes away. Harry forced himself to keep his blush from showing on his face as he valiantly kept his eyes forward and made to sit down next to Ron and Hermione. Hermione actually had her jaw hanging open as Harry sat down but quickly snapped out of it as Ron said loudly, "Holy shit, Harry! You smell terrible, what have you been doing?"
Harry laughed and replied, "Just a bit of running and exercise, Ron. I meant to shower and change before I came down, but I lost track of time and now I feel like a bloody idiot."
Ron grinned and said, "Well you may feel like an idiot, but you look like god's gift to women. So cut it the fuck out, Harry, competition is tough enough here without you looking like some kind of amazing sex god."
Hermione playfully hit Ron in his arm and said, "Hey, what do you care about competition, you don't need to be impressing any other girls!"
"Oh come on, Hermione, I saw how you were looking at Harry. If he wasn't my best mate, I might have had to beat him senseless. But now you can't get upset with me when I oggle those attractive Ravenclaws," Ron said.
Almost immediately Ron realized what he said and fearfully looked at Harry. Fortunately Harry didn't seem to mind the comment about attractive Ravenclaws. His attention was more or less on trying to ignore the looks he was getting from quite literally every girl in the school. I guess this is how Fleur must feel, Harry thought thinking that it was almost like he was some kind of gender-reversed veela.
Harry was saved from much further thought on the subject when the morning post arrived. As people began reading copies of the Daily Prophet, Harry prepared himself for the next kinds of looks he was sure to be receiving. And sure enough within moments of the first copy of the Daily Prophet being unfolded and the cover story read, Harry began to receive looks of awe, shock, and some fear.
Harry didn't even bother to ask Hermione to read the paper, he already knew exactly what it would say. No doubt it would mention the attack on St. Mungo's, more to provide context, and then focus on how the "boy-who-lived" miraculously has returned, saving the aurors, rescuing the innocent, and returning to fight the good fight. No doubt that soon enough stories would start to appear that claimed to have detailed accounts of where Harry had been since the attack on Diagon Alley.
All in all, Harry felt rather sick at the idea of so much publicity. But then Harry simply reminded himself that he had much more important things to do than worry about what the papers were saying about him.
Harry did have one question about the attack, though, "How many people died, Hermione?"
Hermione looked several shades paler than usual after reading the paper (something Harry couldn't help but find odd, after all he did tell her about all this last night). "Twelve wizards and eight muggles died, many more injured, but it doesn't say exactly. One of the aurors was killed, the other is being treated for severe spell damage. You killed seven death eaters and injured the last one, it says. Apparently there were more death eaters inside St.Mungo's but there was more auros resistance in there and they had to pull out before they could do much damage. I guess you happened to pop up where they needed you most, just as usual," Hermione said forcing a smile to her face.
"Bunch of fucking bastards," Harry said more to himself than to the people around him listening. "I can't believe that people are so scared of Death Eaters, they're just a bunch of untalented, inbred pureblood cowards. Attacking the sick and dying, what a glorious day it must have been for them. Why don't they try and pull that shit here, I wonder? Probably because they know that Dumbledore and the staff would fuck their shit right up!" By the end, Harry wasn't muttering so much as ranting, and nearly everyone in the Great Hall had quieted down to hear what he was saying.
Harry quickly finished his breakfast and stood up to leave the Great Hall. Before he can leave, Ron and Hermione ask Harry what he's going to do for the day, if he wasn't going to go to class. Harry just responded with "Training" before he walked out of the Great Hall.
No sooner had Harry stepped foot outside the Great Hall did he run into someone he had dreaded running into.
"Cho," Harry said evenly and nodding his head slightly.
"Harry . . . I can't believe it," Cho said, her voice already trembling.
"Yeah, neither can I," Harry said curtly. Side stepping around her quickly, Harry walked away. Harry didn't know what else to do, as soon as his eyes rested on hers, his emotions were already spiraling completely out of control. Despite every ounce of control that he had practiced with occlumency, when it came to Cho, his mind was a wreck. The only way for Harry to keep himself from doing something he might regret, was to simply avoid her at all costs. She was a problem that Harry just didn't have the time, or energy to deal with.
Later Harry would feel like a jerk for just brushing by Cho without so much as a "How have you been?" but the fact was that Harry already knew all he needed to. She had moved on and that's all there was to it. Harry might not like the situation one bit, but it was no longer his place to get involved in her life. Harry's purpose in life was on the battlefield, not in the arms of the girl he . . . loved . . . a lifetime ago.
Harry went straight back to the room or requirements, except now the room had become a perfect replica of where Harry used to practice his martial arts. Moving straight over the heavy punching bag, Harry began launching a furious assault of punches and kicks. Time lost all meaning as he worked out every bit of frustration and confusion that he was feeling.
Finally, Harry punched the punching bag one last time and decided that he had enough. Checking his watch, he realized that he had been punching the bag for almost 90 minutes. Harry was completely soaked from his sweat, the shirt he was wearing was plastered to his chest and his hair was a total mess. Harry decided that he had enough time to take a shower and read a bit before he went to lunch.
Harry remembered that McGonagall had suggested that he use the prefect's bathroom as his room was very close to it, and so Harry made his way to the entrance of the prefect's bathroom. Harry quickly said the password, "Emerald steam," and the portrait swung open for him. The bathroom was just as he had remembered it being back in his fourth year. Except this time, Harry had no intention of using the huge pool-like bath, instead he made straight for the shower stalls at the back of the room. Harry made sure he had a towel and quickly shrugged off all his clothing and jumped into the shower.
Harry showered off pretty quickly and used the towel to dry himself off. It was then that he realized he had made an idiot mistake. He had completely forgotten to go back to his room and grab some clean clothes. He couldn't very well put on any of the sweaty clothing he had just taken off, and the only thing he had now, was a towel around his waist. Harry still had enough modesty that he wasn't about to go traipsing around the halls of the school in nothing but a towel.
Thinking quickly, Harry decided that he would try and use a cleaning spell on his clothes so that he could just put them back on, just to get him back to his room. Harry held out his hand and cast the spell. The pile of clothing glowed for a moment and then the spell ended. Harry went over to his discarded shirt and gave it a smell.
"Ughh!" Harry exclaimed as the shirt still smelled every bit as bad as before. Apparently the cleaning spell had nearly no effect on the clothes. This must be what Dumbledore meant by not being able to cast rudimentary spells as well as combat spell, Harry thought.
Cursing his luck, he thought about what he could do for the next few minutes, when an idea popped into his head. He could just transfigure the towel he was wearing into a pair of slacks, and transfigure another towel into a shirt. He would have to make do without shoes, but that wouldn't be too bad, especially as his room was rather close by.
Harry waved his hand over the towel around his waist and was soon standing in a rather comfortable pair of slacks. Harry grabbed another towel and transfigured it into a simple white t-shirt. He grabbed the reeking pile of clothes and left the bathroom. No sooner had Harry taken four steps from the bathroom, than a group of 5th and 4th year Hufflepuffs come around the corner. Harry couldn't help but smile; it literally only took about thirty seconds to get from the bathroom to his room, and yet in that time someone had crossed his path. Harry just thanked whatever higher power there was that he hadn't just decided to risk it with nothing but a towel.
Once back in his room, Harry dispelled the clothing he was wearing, turning them back into towels. Rummaging through his trunk, Harry soon found some suitable clothing to wear for the rest of the day. He still didn't have any Hogwarts robes or his old uniform, but as he wasn't technically a student there any longer, it wasn't really much of an issue.
Harry pulled out the book he was currently studying and began to memorize the knowledge contained in the pages. At the moment he was reading the book on battle spells that he had bought in Knockturn Alley. Although he had read the book through before, he wasn't actually trying to learn everything from it. Now, his goal was to learn and perfect every spell that he considered useful in the book. And considering that nearly the entire book was on battle spells and tactics, there wasn't really all that much that he would be skipping.
Harry only worked on learning the new spells for about an hour before he decided to go down for lunch. Despite what he had told himself when he first returned about how he couldn't allow himself to become too attached to anyone again, he couldn't help but just start to fall back into the friendship he had with Ron and Hermione. He was doing a fine job keeping himself distant from everyone else, but with Ron and Hermione, it was like he couldn't keep himself away from them anymore than he could keep himself from breathing. It was almost as though, after having only those two for any kind of serious friends, that Harry felt like his friendship with them was just as much a part of who he is, as his magic was.
Harry felt like his friendship with them transcended the normal bounds of understanding. It was more like they all shared some deep bond that intertwined all of their destinies. Even after being away for so long, Harry only needed a few moments with them to understand everything that they had been through in his absence, and likewise he could just tell they understood what he had been going through. It was a much deeper understanding than legilimency could ever bring. And Harry couldn't care any less where this bond came from, or what it meant, all he knew was that as long as it was there, he had no intention of ever doing anything to disrupt it.
Harry snapped out of his musings when he entered the Great Hall, once more becoming the focus of everyone's attention. Harry resisted the urge to look around the room and see exactly who was staring at him, and instead made a bee-line right next to where Ron and Hermione were already sitting.
"Hey guys, how was class?" Harry asked as he sat down.
"Eh, pretty much the usual," Ron replied as best he could with a mouth full of food.
"What about you, Harry? What have you done since this morning?" Hermione asked, her face brimming with barely contained curiosity.
"Not too much," Harry shrugged, "After breakfast I went to the room of requirements to practice some martial arts. It was kind of a waste though because all I ended up doing was beating the hell out of a punching bag for and hour and a half. It was a decent workout, though," Harry said recalling the events of the morning.
"A waste of time? Why would a punching bag be a waste of time?" Hermione asked, perplexed.
"Well generally, when I practice, I usually do something that focuses the mind and body a bit more, like an exercise, or sparring with someone. Going ape-shit on a punching bag is good to keep the punches strong and all that, but not much is accomplished in the way of actually becoming a better fighter. There's no discipline to beating the hell out of a punching bag," Harry responded.
Ron nodded, accepting Harry's answer, while Hermione said, "Oh, I get it. So what did you do after that?"
Harry couldn't help but smile, this was almost exactly how Natalie had sounded when she had asked him what he did during his days. But then, thinking of Natalie brought a swift ache to his chest, as though the pain in his heart was manifesting physically. Harry pushed the feeling aside with the help of his occlumency training and answered Hermione, "Well, after that, I went and showered."
Harry told them about how he had been given access to the prefect's bathroom, and how his room was pretty close by. He even told them about his dilemma with the towels and of course how with his luck, he was still spotted by a bunch of people. Ron and Hermione both laughed good naturedly at their friend.
"Hey mate what are you doing tonight?" Ron asked Harry.
Harry shrugged and answered, "Haven't really thought about it too much. Probably just more studying and practicing magic. Why do you ask?"
"Well, if you're not too busy in the evening, maybe you could come to Gryffindor tower for a bit and just hang out with us all for a bit," Ron said.
Harry could tell that there was something that Ron wasn't saying about tonight, but he could also tell that there was no ill-intent behind what he was saying. After thinking about it for a few moments Harry finally asked, "What time should I be there?"
"Yes!" Ron exclaimed, "Glad to hear it. I was afraid I might have had to drag your sorry arse to the tower. But anyway, we'll just meet you outside your room at say . . . 9, and we'll take you the tower. You said your room was behind the golden set or armor near the Prefect's bathroom, right?"
"Yeah that's right," Harry asked now feeling rather excited about whatever it was that Ron was cooking up for him at that moment.
"Alright, we'll see you after class then," Ron said standing up to leave for his afternoon classes.
"See you later, Harry," Hermione said as she too stood up. Harry quickly finished his lunch and returned to his room where he continued to practice spells and wait for whatever it was that would be happening tonight.
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The rest of the day flew by for Harry. The only pause in his training was when he quickly went to the Great Hall for dinner. Harry would have stayed longer, but Ron and Hermione weren't there so he ate quickly and left before too many people could come up to him and ask him all kinds of annoying questions.
For the past two hours Harry had found himself trying to stop glancing at his watch waiting for Ron and Hermione to show up. He was far too distracted to really get anything done by reading his books so instead he passed the time by finally unpacking his trunk and putting all his clothes into the dresser and placing various things around the room, like a few pictures he had of him with Ron and Hermione, and a few others of playing quidditch, and of course, the one picture of him and Natalie. That picture was placed right on his bedside table at an angle so that nobody except someone on the bed would be able to see it.
Checking his watch, he still had fifteen minutes, so Harry decided that he would pass the time by finding something to wear. To be completely honest, Harry had no problems with what he was wearing now, but he knew that a decent way to pass time in this situation would be to try a few different things and see how it looked. In the end, Harry only managed to try on two different outfits before he was satisfied with how he looked. Harry opted to go for a pair of extremely fashionable jeans that Natalie had picked out for him. According to her and her roommates, the jeans were "sexy as hell". Harry decided that he would just wear one of the black t-shirts that he had with it and was very pleased with how he ended up looking. Most unfortunately he still had ten minutes.
Fortunately, Ron and Hermione chose that exact moment to show up, ten minutes early. Despite badgering them with questions about what was really going on, they both remained secretive the entire trip to Gryffindor tower. When they finally arrived at the portrait of the fat lady Hermione spoke the password, "Remember Harry."
Harry looked at Ron and Hermione questioningly until Hermione said, "I guess we can change that password, now."
"Why was that the password?" Harry asked.
"Do we really need to answer that, Harry?" Hermione asked.
Once again Harry couldn't help but feel bad at the pain he caused when he disappeared.
The feeling passed quickly as Ron and Hermione led him through the portrait into the Gryffindor common room. As soon as he was inside, the entire room just came to life.
It seemed like nearly every person in Gryffindor was there along with all the members of the DA from last year. "Welcome home, Harry," Ron said to him just before he was assailed by the entire crowd. Harry couldn't help but smile as his back was slapped by nearly every guy in the room, and was hugged by all the girls.
There was an entire table set up with foods from the kitchens, no doubt the house elves were happy to supply a table full of food for the "Great Harry Potter". Someone must have had a wizard wireless, because music started playing and before Harry knew it, he was in the middle of a full all out party.
Turning to Ron and Hermione, he yelled over the music, "Did you guys do all this?"
Ron answered him, "No, it was everyone else's idea, all we did was bring you here."
"This is fantastic!" Harry had to yell to be heard above the music.
As Harry looked around at all the different people at the party, he noticed that there were two members of the DA that were most definitely not present.
"Hey, Ron, where are Cho and Marietta?" Harry asked.
"Well obviously we didn't invite the sneak," Ron said with a particular emphasis of distaste on the word "sneak". "The others wanted to invite Cho, but we told them that it was probably better that we not do that. After what you told Hermione and me last night we figured that you probably would want to confront on your own when you're ready."
Harry nodded and silently thanked Ron for his insight. Harry had no idea what would happen when the inevitable confrontation between him and Cho finally occurred. All Harry knew was that it would most likely be a very unpleasant experience for both of them.
Pushing thoughts of Cho out of his mind, Harry made his way to the food table and helped himself to some of the snacks. Next to all the food was another table that seemed to be holding pitchers full of pumpkin juice and . . . butter beer? Harry didn't think that Hermione would ever approve of an alcoholic drink (however weak it might be) being served at a party.
I guess that shows how much things really have changed, Harry thought. Harry turned to the person standing next to him, who happened to be Seamus, and said, "Hey, what's the deal with the butterbeer? I didn't think we were allowed to drink it in the castle," Harry said.
"It took a bit of doing, but we managed to smuggle a whole case of the stuff from the Three Broomsticks. We figured a party wouldn't be complete without a bit of the stuff. You should see some of the girls after they've had like 6 or 7. They get all flirty and fun, it's an absolute blast, mate!" Seamus said back.
"You mean you guys actually try and get buzzed off butterbeer?" Harry asked barely being able to contain his laughter.
"Hey, it's the only thing we can get. They would never sell anything stronger to a Hogwarts student," Seamus said defensively.
Harry chuckled to himself for a moment before saying, "I think I can help you out with that. I'll be back in a few minutes."
With that Harry made his way to the boys dormitories where he went into the 6th year room and locked the door behind him. Using a powerful charm he made sure that no one would be able to come in through the door. Harry then went over to the window and opened it up. Transforming to his phoenix form, Harry flew out the window and in just a few moments was in Hogsmeade. Harry made sure no one was around before resuming his human form and walking into the Three Broomsticks.
Harry walked right up the counter where Madam Rosmerta was cleaning a glass having little more to do on a quiet night without much business. She must not have recognized him at first because she said, "I didn't think that today was a Hogsmeade weekend for Hogwarts. But allow me to just congratulate you on managing to sneak out of the castle. What can I get for you?"
Harry smiled and said, "Could I get a case of Firewhiskey? Ogden's if you have it."
Madam Rosmerta laughed and said, "I don't think so. I make it a policy never to sell anything more potent than butter beer to Hogwarts students."
Harry's smile widened as he responded, "I guess it's a good thing that I'm not a Hogwarts student then."
Madam Rosmerta laughed again, "Nice try. You might look a bit old for a seventh year, I'll give you that. But I'm still not about to sell you firewhiskey."
"You don't believe me?" Harry asked.
"Sorry," she said.
Harry thought for a moment before he said, "Well, look at the facts. It's not a Hogsmeade weekend, yet here I am. My cloak doesn't have any of the house crests on it. And if I was a student I wouldn't be able to do this," and with that Harry waved his hand and the bar top, which had before been a bit scuffed up and marked with scratches and blemishes was instantly restored to a pristine finish.
Madam Rosmerta gasped as she saw Harry do this wandlessly. Looking at him now, Harry could almost see as she realized who he was. "Harry Potter," she said in a voice little more than a whisper.
Harry smiled and said, "So how about that case of firewhiskey?"
A few moments later Harry walked out the pub with a case of Ogden's Finest shrunken and placed in his pocket.
It only took Harry mere moments to get back to Gryffindor Tower. Upon entering the 6th year room through the window, Harry resumed his human form and closed the window once more. Unshrinking the case of firewhiskey, Harry unlocked the door and went down back to the party.
"Harry! Where'd you go off to, mate?" Ron asked as soon as Harry came down the stairs.
"Just a little errand that had to be run," Harry said looking at the case of firewhiskey that he was holding.
"Merlin, Harry! How the hell did you get this stuff? I thought it was impossible for students to get this!"
Harry just grinned and said, "Just a little something to kick that party up a notch."
"How are we supposed to drink this?" Ron asked with excitement shining in every inch of his eyes.
"Out of a cup?" Harry responded not quite sure what Ron was asking.
Ron gave Harry an incredulous look and said, "Very funny, Harry. No, I'm serious, I saw my brothers drink some of this one time and they were coughing and spluttering like mad. At the time it was really rather amusing, now I find it less funny."
By this time the other boys had seen what Harry and Ron were talking about and came over. Seamus spoke up first saying, "Whoa, firewhiskey! This stuff is wicked!"
"How are we going to drink that?" Neville asked not realizing that Ron had just asked that same question not more than thirty seconds ago.
"What's wrong with drinking it straight?" Harry asked honestly not understanding why everyone seemed to be so excited about this stuff and yet be afraid to drink it.
"Harry, that's firewhiskey," Seamus said like he was explaining it to an idiot. "You can't drink that stuff straight. Well I shouldn't say that, my dad can drink it straight, but he's Irish! And even then he still coughs after a shot. I remember one time I asked my dad if I could try some of it. He gave me a few drops of the stuff and said it would put hair on my chest."
"Your point?" Harry asked.
"Let me just say that it most definitely put hair on my chest. Hell, it put hair on my chest, face, and just about everywhere else you can imagine!" Seamus said, getting a laugh out of everyone that heard him. "This stuff will knock the magic right out of you," Seamus said.
"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Harry asked. Harry took a bunch of the cups near the pumpkin juice and transfigured them into shot glasses.
Harry uncorked the first bottle and poured everyone a shot of the fiery looking drink. As Harry looked from face to face at everyone who was holding a shot he could practically feel the nervous excitement rolling off of them all in waves.
Harry raised his shot into the air and said, "Gentlemen, here's to hair on the chest." And with that toast Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean, Neville, and a few boys from the other years all downed their shots.
Harry couldn't help his eyes water up and tears fall down his face as he swallowed the firewhiskey. This was unlike anything he had ever drank before in his life. There was no way that alcohol alone could burn like this, it was like he had literally swallowed burning liquid. He could feel it burn a trail down his throat and finally dissipate as it hit his stomach. Despite all his experience with alcohol Harry let out a very wheezing cough as soon as he was able.
In a voice that was so raspy it could be barely recognized as his own he managed to say, "Whoa."
Harry looked around and realized that his reaction to the firewhiskey was by far the most controlled. Apparently his experience with drinking had helped him because as he looked around at those who had taken a shot with him, he almost laughed as he saw nearly all of them coughing and spluttering, completely helpless to do anything about the burning sensations that they were all obviously feeling at that moment.
Hearing laughter, Harry turned to see Hermione and nearly all the other girls laughing so hard they could barely stand up. "Hey, why don't you try some of this and then see if you still feel like laughing," Harry said with a grin on his face.
"No thanks," Parvati responded.
"Yeah, we'll drink that the intelligent way," Lavander piped in.
For a moment, Harry reflected on the irony of being lectured about intelligence from none other than Lavender Brown.
Harry would have said something just then had Hermione not spoken up saying, "Give that bottle here, Harry. I'll make us all some drinks."
Harry simply couldn't help it as his jaw nearly hit the floor. Now Hermione of all people was going to tell Harry how to drink?
What the hell is going on, here? Harry thought.
Still not able to completely wipe the look of pure shock off his features, Harry wordlessly handed Hermione the bottle of firewhiskey. Hermione took the bottle and began to make pour it into cups that she then mixed with pumpkin juice. Handing one of the cups to Harry she said, "It's called a pumpkin spike, it's one of the most well-known drinks that magical people make, Harry. After all it's pretty easy to make, all you do is add firewhiskey to pumpkin juice."
Harry took the cup from Hermione and tried to keep himself from just dying of surprise. Now, on top of everything else tonight, he was about to drink the wizard's version of a screwdriver. Reasoning that nothing else could possibly shock him any more than he already was, Harry laughed and said, "I never thought that Hermione Granger would ever condone, let alone distribute alcohol to students."
Hermione just grinned right back and said, "Well technically, you're the one distributing, I'm only improving the means of consumption. Besides if anyone asks, I'll just blame the whole thing on you."
Harry laughed and tried some of the pumpkin spike. The burning feel of the whiskey was still present, but the edge was nicely taken off by the pumpkin juice. It was actually a very nice drink, easily as good as anything he had in the muggle world.
Soon nearly everyone had a pumpkin spike in their hands and the party soon became something that Harry was entirely more familiar with. The laughter grew in frequency and in volume. The first bottle of firewhiskey was soon killed and a second was opened up to meet the demands of the partying teens. Harry couldn't help but join in on the laughter as people all around him steadily grew more red in the face and all kinds of inhibitions began to be tossed into the wind.
It didn't take very long for Harry to find himself dancing to the blaring music. It was Padma, who surprisingly dragged Harry to the dance floor. Needless to say, all the Gryffindor girls were surprised that Harry didn't put up any kind of a fight when Padma took him over to the dancing area. Soon enough everyone else joined the Gryffindors in their shock as they watched Harry begin dancing. Apparently everyone still harbored the notion from the Yule Ball two years ago that Harry still couldn't dance to save his life. Nobody expected the raven hair teen to dance like he had been doing it all his life.
Despite the alcohol that he had consumed, Harry was still very much in control of himself as he danced with Padma. He could feel the eyes of everyone on him and knew immediately what they were all staring at. Harry couldn't help but smirk as he began to dance much closer to Padma, pressing himself against her as they both moved to the music.
Surprise clearly showed on Padma's face, but only for a few moments before it was replaced by one of pure delight. It didn't take very long for the rest of the girls in the tower to get up and try and get a dance in with Harry.
Harry felt a soft hand on his shoulder and turned around to find Parvati. In an instant, Harry wasn't quite sure how it happened, he was turned around somehow and was now dancing with the other Patil twin much in the same way he had with her sister.
Harry couldn't help but smile as he reflected on how lucky he was to be dancing with amazingly beautiful twin girls. Out of the corner of his eye Harry caught Ron and Hermione dancing with each other. It looked like Ron had lost a lot of his clumsiness on the dance floor as he moved pretty well with Hermione. Hermione, on the other hand, was something completely unexpected. She had her back to Ron and was dancing in a very sensual and downright sexy way with Ron. For the first time in his life, Harry finally realized that Hermione was actually a very sexually attractive girl. The way she moved her hips and the expression on her face as she grinded against Ron was enough to actually make Harry slightly jealous of Ron right at the moment.
Harry danced with Parvati for about five minutes before the song ended and he was pulled away from Parvati by none other than Ginny.
"Mind if I could catch the next dance?" she asked in a voice that hinted of all kinds of innuendo.
Harry just smiled as the music started up and they began dancing. Harry had no idea when Ginny would have found time to dance but he couldn't help but be impressed. She moved with a lot of confidence and in a way that Harry couldn't help but be aroused by. (A/N: just for clarification, Harry is not aroused in a way that would be poking someone)
Ginny danced in a way that was quite a bit more aggressive than Parvati or Padma had been. She really pressed herself into Harry and made a lot of motions that had her ass really rubbing against Harry's pelvic area. Harry leaned in and asked, "When did you learn to dance, Ginny?"
Ginny grinned back and responded, "I might ask you the same question."
Harry laughed and continued to dance with Ginny enjoying himself immensely. Harry danced with her for quite some time, until other girls made their way to Harry, some of them dancing in groups of two or three, not that Harry minded at all. At one point a very buzzed set of Patil twins came back to Harry and were not so much dancing with Harry as much as it seemed they were about to have sex with him right there on the dance floor.
But soon enough the effects of way too much alcohol consumption began to make themselves known. The lucky ones who hadn't gone nuts on the pumpkin spikes soon went to bed or passed out on a couch somewhere. The not so lucky ones ended up in the bathrooms puking with all their might. Harry noticed that with the exception of him and Ron, nearly all the boys who had taken the firewhiskey straight had ended up chucking before the end of the night. The only girl that ended up "worshipping the porcelain god" was Lavender, which Harry wasn't surprised about as she had drank way too much way too quickly and was raging drunk before nearly anyone else.
As the party really began to wind down Harry couldn't help but have his mood fall with it. Being at a party like this was so much like the times that he had spent with Natalie. For the first time since he had left her, he truly began to miss her. He missed everything about her, her soft hair, her delicate skin, the scent of her perfume, but most of all, and especially right at that moment, he missed her presence. He missed the very warmth of her as he would hold her softly.
Feeling his emotions take a very sudden dive Harry looked around for someone to talk to. Unfortunately for Harry the first thing he laid eyes upon was the sight of Ron and Hermione on a couch snogging each other with such passion that not even Harry could find it in himself to begrudge them. Instead Harry went over the table where the firewhiskey bottle stood about one-third full. Lifting the bottle up, Harry hesitated for only a moment before putting the bottle to his lips and taking a healthy swig.
The whiskey once again brought tears to his eyes, but he fought through the pain in his throat relishing in the feelings that were distracting him from his own emotions. Feeling the pain begin to subside, Harry took yet another swig, and another, and another. With every swallow, the firewhiskey burned less and less. By this time everyone left in the common room that had any of their wits about them still had noticed Harry chugging the bottle and watched on, stunned that their hero would drink so heavily.
Finally, after only about five minutes, Harry drank the last of the firewhiskey. His vision was all blurry and he found that he could barely walk at all. But something hadn't worked. The last time he felt like this, the alcohol had made him happy, but this time Harry could still remember everything he was trying to forget.
Becoming infuriated that he couldn't escape his own emotions he tightened his grip on the empty firewhiskey bottle and suddenly with all his might hurled it against the wall. The bottle shattered as it hit the stone wall and glass flew everywhere.
Suddenly Harry felt the effects of all the alcohol he just drank hit him full force. He stumbled backwards and nearly tripped over one of the armchairs. The room was now spinning and Harry couldn't find wherever it was that he was supposed to go.
Feeling blackness begin to creep into the corners of his vision, Harry was aware of soft hands gently leading him. The feeling of a warm body pressed against his was that last thing that Harry was aware of before the darkness took him.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Opening his eyes very slowly, Harry winced slightly at the soft light in the room. Rubbing his eyes a bit he slowly began to take in his surroundings. Currently he was on a very comfortable bed in a room that could be described in no other way except, girly. Massaging his temples to try and rid himself of the slight headache he had, Harry concentrated on remembering what had happened last night after he drank the bottle of firewhiskey.
As much as Harry tried, other than a few blurry images, he had no recollection of anything that happened much past that. Sitting up in the bed he made a very important discovery, he had no clothes on. Well he wasn't entirely naked, he was sill in his boxers, but still, waking up to find yourself in a strange bed in a strange room with practically no clothes is very disconcerting.
Before Harry could think much more he suddenly realized that there were other four poster beds in the room, and that there was red and gold everywhere. Realizing the truth, Harry knew he must be in a girl's dormitory.
His conclusion was proven a moment later as Parvati, Padma, and Lavender all walked into the room. Parvati was the first to notice that Harry was awake, "Finally up then are you? How are you feeling?" she asked.
Responding truthfully, Harry said, "Well I have a bit of a headache, but nothing too bad." Harry paused awkwardly before asking, "Do you know where my clothes are, by any chance?"
The three girls all laughed and Padma said flirtatiously, "Are you so sure you want to find them so quickly?"
Harry felt himself blush slightly at the comment and said, "It would probably be best if I got out of here quickly. After all, a bloke in the girls' dorms, what would people think?" Harry said laughing just a little.
"Well nobody seemed to mind that much when we told them that Harry Potter spent the night with us," Padma said.
"What?" Harry asked, "What did you say?"
Parvati sighed like she was explaining to a toddler, "When some people asked what happened to you last night, we just said that you ended up in our room, with us."
"Oh, sod it all," Harry said as he buried his face in his hands. This was the last thing he needed. One day back and already a rumor is going to float around that he slept with three girls. Wait a minute . . . did I sleep with three girls?
Hesitantly, Harry asked, "What . . . happened last night?"
"We had an amazing party and most of Gryffindor got drunk off their ass," Parvati said.
"No, I mean, after . . . when you brought me here," Harry clarified.
Parvati explained, "Well, Harry, you were so drunk that we didn't want you to walk around the castle and fall down a flight of stairs. At the same time we didn't want you to have to sleep on one of those uncomfortable couches down in the common room. So we brought you up here and put you to bed."
"And my clothes?" Harry asked.
"We undressed you," Padma said, "Didn't want to get your clothes all wrinkled."
At that moment, Harry noticed the sleeve of his shirt poking out from under the bed. Making sure to keep most of himself covered in the sheet, he reached under the bed and pulled out his clothes which looked like they had been dropped on the floor and hastily kicked under the bed.
"For some reason, I think you had some other motive," Harry said.
Parvati and Padma just smiled and walked over to Harry and Padma leaned close to Harry and said in a low voice, "The truth is that its much more nice to sleep with someone when there aren't any clothes in the way."
Harry winced as she said that saying, "So I slept with you then?"
"Not just her, Harry," Parvati said, winking.
"Oh no," Harry said once again burying his face into his hands.
"Oh would you two stop being so cruel," Lavender finally spoke up.
As she said that, the twins broke out into laughter that just confused the hell out of poor Harry.
As they finally regained control, Parvati said, "Don't worry, Harry, nothing happened. You were out like a light."
"So wait a minute, I was completely passed out, and you still slept in the same bed with me? Why?" Harry asked.
"Why not," Parvati responded.
"Is there anything wrong with a pair of lonely girls wanting someone to keep them warm on a cold night?" Padma asked with a faked expression of innocence.
Harry finally smiled and said, "Nothing wrong at all."
Getting out of the bed, Harry didn't bother to cover up at all, After all, turnabout is fair play, Harry thought to himself. Suppressing the urge to grin at the obvious lust in all the girls eyes as he stood before them in nothing but his boxers, Harry reached down to grab his clothes and began to get dressed.
As he was dressing, he asked the girls, "How did you get me up here last night? I mean I thought that there was some kind of an alarm that prevented boys from getting into the girls' dorms."
Padma answered, "Well, you couldn't really walk at all, and we couldn't carry you up the stairs, so we just levitated you. The alarm only goes off when a boy tries to walk up the stairs. I guess no one thought about the possibility of someone floating up."
"Makes sense," Harry said more to himself than to the girls. "What about you Lavender? Were you also in bed with me last night?"
Lavender laughed and said, "No, I was a bit . . . out of it last night, so I didn't really get a chance."
Oh yeah, Harry remembered, she was sick last night. Harry was nearly completely dressed when something else occurred to him, "Wait, where was Hermione last night? Was she in here also?"
Parvati laughed and said, "Are you kidding, as soon as she had three drinks in her we all knew that there was no way she was going to be separated from Ron. She spent the night with him in his bed."
Harry didn't comment on that. Part of him still couldn't believe that Ron and Hermione were actually . . . shagging. Harry realized that he was going to have to abandon the childhood notions of his two best friends. They've grown up every bit as much as you have, Harry thought to himself.
Once Harry was finally dressed he waved a hand over his clothes to magically smooth out the wrinkles and made to leave the room. "Well, ladies, I guess I'll be seeing you around. Thanks for giving me a place to sleep last night."
Parvati leaned in close to Harry and said so only Harry could hear, "If you ever want to try sharing a bed with me and my sister again just let us know. Maybe next time we'll skip the sleep."
Harry looked at Parvati who was grinning broadly and then to Padma, who winked at him, before saying in an equally low voice, "I just might do that." Harry then turned and left the room. Descending the stair quickly, Harry thought to himself, I will most certainly never do that.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The rest of the day passed relatively quickly. The party had been the entire source for the day's gossip, and would probably remain so for at least the rest of the week. For the first time in more than a month, Harry missed his morning run, but made up for it by an unusually intense weight lifting session in the weight room.
By far the most annoying aspect of the entire affair were the girls that approached Harry the day after the party. Apparently the main focus of all the gossip had been centered all around Harry, and the way he had been dancing like a pro and flirting with all kinds of different girls. The fact that there was an even more spicy rumor going around how he slept with the Patil twins that night as well made Harry the most talked about subject in Hogwarts.
The girls of Hogwarts were quick move in on the "new and improved" Harry. Whenever Harry had not either been in the room of requirement or in his own room, he had always run across at least two groups of giggling girls, where at least on girl asked him to the Halloween dance. Although Harry couldn't help but enjoy the attention he was receiving from all the very lovely girls, he was also becoming immensely irritated that he seemed to have picked up a group of girls that seemed to literally follow him everywhere. These "fan" girls would follow him when he went to lunch or to the library or they would wait for him outside his bathroom or his room, which by now everyone seemed to know where it was.
After Harry had finished with studying magic in his room for the day, he went down to the Great Hall to eat dinner with Ron and Hermione. He hadn't seem them since the party last night and he wanted to hear what they had thought about it. Harry did his best to ignore the giggling girls following him, occasionally, with his enhanced senses, hearing a comment on how "nice his arse looked" or "how she could just run her hands though his hair for hours". Some of the comments actually made Harry blush as he would fight to keep from laughing.
Fortunately for Harry, the girls had at least some modicum of décor and didn't try and sit with him as he sat down next to Ron and Hermione, once he made it to the Great Hall.
"Hey, mate, where have you been?" Ron asked as Harry sat down.
"Just taking care of my usual stuff," Harry said in a dismissive tone. "What did you think about the party last night?" Harry said allowing his curiosity to sparkle in his eyes.
Ron chuckled for just a moment before saying, "Pretty wild shit."
"My thoughts exactly," Harry said grinning.
Hermione asked the obvious question next, "Tell me something, Harry, when did you finally discover the ways of dancing?"
Harry just winked at her and said, "Ah, but that would be telling, my sweet Hermione."
Hermione just smiled and rolled her eyes at his purposefully annoying response. Ron on the other hand asked, "Harry, are the rumors about you and the Patil twins . . . accurate?"
Harry forced a half smile to his face and said, "If you're asking if they dragged my arse up to the girls' dorms, and put me in their bed, and then proceeded to fall asleep next to my passed out body, then yes. If you're wondering if I possess carnal knowledge of either twin, then, my good sir, the answer is no."
"Oh," Ron muttered looking thoroughly disappointed.
For Harry, dinner was a blessedly uneventful affair. The only bump in the whole time was when a girl came up to him and asked him to the dance. Harry had decided that he wasn't going to bother attending the dance at all, he had better things to get done. When he told the girl that he wasn't going at all he watched as she went back to her friends and undoubtedly told them what he had just said.
Much to Harry's dismay, he was able to hear that some of her friends said, conspiratorially amongst themselves, that the girl was just really unattractive and Harry was no doubt trying to save her feelings by saying he wasn't going. Harry just sighed as he resigned to accepting the fact that he would be asked to the dance by almost every girl in Hogwarts before the end of the week.
After dinner, Harry followed Ron and Hermione up to Gryffindor tower just to talk with them for a while. After hanging out for about two hours, Harry decided to leave, as they had to do homework for tomorrow. Harry returned to his room where he opened up one of his books and began to study. Unfortunately Harry found that without his morning run, he had way too much energy at this time and just couldn't settle himself down enough to focus.
Finally, Harry closes the book and looks around his room for something to do. As his gaze rests upon his firebolt, Harry looked outside and decided that he could fly for a bit before turning in for the night. The firebolt had been delivered to his room earlier that day with a note from Professor Dumbledore. At the time, Harry had just dismissed the broom as he thought he would never have the time to indulge himself in something like quidditch. But at that moment, flying for an hour or two sounded like a damn good idea.
Harry grabbed the firebolt, went to the nearest window and leapt right out. Harry let himself free fall for a moment before he swung his legs over the broom and pulled out of his dive. Harry immediately noticed something different about flying now. It was almost as though, because he had experienced flying as a phoenix that flying on a broom became even more natural to him. Harry just felt instinct take over to make him fly faster and balance himself more than he had ever been able to before.
Harry flew over to the quidditch field where he began to practice his dives and spins. Just as every time he had ever flown, Harry just let the world around him wash away. There was nothing except the cool night air in his hair, the feeling of the hairs on his arm pricking up every time he would start a dive, and the ultra smooth almost intangible vibrations of the firebolt as Harry pushed it to its limit.
Time lost all meaning for Harry as he let himself go and simply let his instinct take over. The feeling was absolute bliss.
But in an instant the feeling was shattered as Harry sensed someone approaching him. Feeling an immediate surge of anger wash over him, Harry turned to the new comer. Harry could scarcely believe that someone would have the audacity to intrude on his personal time like this.
As advanced as Harry's eyesight was, he still couldn't make out who it was, until a cloud in the sky moved and revealed the nearly full moon. Pale moonlight washed over the entire sky and Harry gasped as the shroud of darkness over the face of the mysterious intruder was lifted.
It was Cho.
In that instant a million thoughts flashed before Harry's eyes, part of him wanted to yell and scream at her. Another part wanted to just rush to her and wrap his arms around her and never let go. And another part wanted to just leave her and never see her again.
But all he did was wait. Like a deer frozen in headlights, Harry just sat there, completely numb to the world, as he awaited the moment he had been dreading for so long.
And suddenly, there she was, barely three feet away meeting his gaze with her own. For a moment that seems to stretch for an eternity, the two simply behold the other trying to force their minds to catch up to the real world.
Harry is the first one to break the moment when he breaks off eye contact and says in a hollow voice, "Hello, Cho. Didn't expect to meet you here of all places."
Cho does not shift her gaze one bit as she replies, "Hello, Harry."
Harry looks back to Cho just in time to her make a quick movement with her hand, and suddenly her broom propels her right into Harry. Without even thinking Harry wraps his arms around her as Cho wraps her arms around him and buries her face into his chest.
"Why didn't you come back for me?" Cho asked as she sobbed into his shirt.
Whatever moment they were having was brought to an immediate halt as Harry heard her say that. Recoiling away from her as though he had been burned Harry stared right into her eyes. In that moment, Cho knew she had said the completely wrong thing, as Harry looked at her in a way that she had never seen before, and spoke in a tone completely filled with anger and betrayal.
"Why didn't I come back for you?" Harry repeated as though he couldn't possibly understand why she would ever ask him that. "I did come back for you! And you know what I saw? I saw you in the arms of another man! So maybe the better question is, why didn't you wait for me?" Harry practically yelled at her.
"What are you talking about?" Cho asked in a trembling voice, horrified at the possibility that Harry had known about Stan.
"I'M TALKING ABOUT YOUR FUCKING BOYFRIEND!" Harry exploded in a towering rage. "I'm talking about the guy that you were shagging while I was being tortured! I'm talking about the guy that I saw you snogging on the night of September the 20th! Not even two months after I was taken away! Am I just so easily replaceable? Or maybe you never loved me at all? Were all those things you told me just nice words, said to make me fall in love with you?"
Cho had long since started crying when Harry began yelling at her. As she cried she said, "I was so sure you were dead, Harry! I just . . . I just didn't want to be alone anymore," she wailed.
"It took you over a year to get over Cedric," Harry accused, "And that was with a body! Why then, if you claimed to love me so much, did it take less than two months to get over me? Especially with no body! Why am I so easily dismissed?" Harry demanded.
Cho was crying uncontrollably at this point, she had her head cast down as she just cried, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Harry had opened his mouth to yell some more when he noticed that the windows in the castle were all filled with students intently watching the scene he and Cho were making.
Not wanting to be in the spotlight for any longer than necessary he softly says to Cho, "Listen, we were doomed from the very beginning. I told you that no one before you had ever said they loved me, what I've realized is that there is a reason for that. It's not you fault that we didn't work out, Cho. It's mine. My fate, my destiny, is such that I'm not ever meant to be with anyone." Harry had to force himself to continue on, "I'm the person who will end this war. I'm not . . . meant . . . to fall in love. It's my place to die alone and young, to save this world. You're better off without me." It killed Harry to say that, but it was time he finally put this whole thing to rest. "I wish you all the happiness in the world, Cho. Goodbye."
And with that Harry leaned in close to her and softly kissed her tear soaked cheek. As he pulled away from her he held her gaze for last, lingering moment before turning away and heading back to the castle.
To the outside, Harry's face was impassive, but on the inside Harry was screaming. It felt like he had his heart ripped from his chest. Harry just flew as fast as he could back in through his window where he threw the broom into a corner and flopped down onto the bed trying to rid his mind of everything that he was feeling before sheer exhaustion kicked in and Harry soon fell into a an extremely restless sleep.
A/N: Sorry for the long delay, this chapter was just agonizingly slow to write. I wrote some parts kind of quickly so if you see and mistakes in grammer or spelling or just dumb shit like that please let me know and I'll change it, cause I really can't stand that in fanfiction. I'm really kind of tired right now so I'm not going to say much else, expect the next chapter in about 2 weeks . . . maybe less but probobly not. I hope you all enjoyed.
Cheers - Midnight