Chapter 19: Halloween

During the following days, Ron decided not to trust Harry or Ginny too much. The feeling that they had a secret was increasing day by day. Ron tried to be with Harry as often as possible, because he didn´t want his best friend to have a chance and get closer to his younger sister.

Harry and Ginny had of course noticed, that Ron was following them everywhere and he never left them any opportunity to be on their own.

Hermione often tried to convince Ron to accompany her instead of chasing after Harry and Ginny. But Ron didn´t listen to her. With all his might, he tried to keep Ginny and Harry away from each other.

On October the 31st, the four of them had breakfast together, in the Great Hall. As it was Halloween, and Saturday too, they needn´t go to school and were able to relax a little.

Suddenly, Hermione looked up at the High Table.

"What is Lupin doing here?", she asked in bewilderment.

At this, Harry and Ron looked up too. The last time they had seen Lupin was at the incident in the Ministry of Magic, where Sirius had died.

"It seems to me, that this place will soon be crowded by Order Members", answered Harry, not knowing wether Lupin´s presence was planned or only a coincidence.

But he slowly had the feeling, that Dumbledore thought Harry would be safe if half the Order of the Phoenix was surrounding him. Harry felt as if he would be emprisonned in a large cage. Even though he was glad to see Lupin, Harry wished that everyone had realised that only he himself had the power to destroy Voldemort. Dumbledore knew about the prophecy, so why was he making all this fuss about Harry?

They kept looking at Lupin for a while, but he didn´t seem to notice them and kept talking to Dumbledore. While they continued enjoying their breakfast, Dumbledore suddenly got to his feet and rose his voice.

"Please forgive me all, if I disturb you on a day like this, but there are a few announcements I wish to make. First of all, the sixth-years should notice that some supplementory lessons will be added to their timetable. But don´t worry", he smiled as most students groaned, "the subject to be added is no must. You can take it voluntarily, after the first time. You should at least try to go there once, to see what it is all about. The subject´s called ´Analysis. As the name already says, it´s about analysing the behaviour of wizards. You will be taught, how to find out if wizards are dangerous or not. Everyone who fancies a job as an Auror, should notice that this class is very important. But everyone is welcome to take part in this class. Now, I will present you your Analysis teacher. Please welcome, Remus Lupin."

Every single student, except for the Slytherins, cheered as an friendly- faced, shabby-looking wizard in second-hand robes got up from the High table and waved at the crowd.

"So that´s why he´s here!", shouted Ginny as she cheered along with the crowd.

"I wish I´d be in sixth year. His classes were the most interesting I´ve ever had!"

"I do think the same way", grinned Harry.

Remus Lupin had been Harry´s Defence against the Dark Arts teacher three years ago, in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Professor Lupin was a werewolve and many people considered him to be very dangerous. But due to a special potion, Lupin was able to transform into a harmless wolve, lock himself in his office and so he harmed nobody.

Dumbledore beamed at his pupils and continued: "Secondly, I want to announce a special Hogsmeade visit today, for today is a special Halloween. Tonight, every student will have to disguise himself. The best costume will be awarded. Have a good day and I´ll see you all at the feast!"

There were excited voices all around Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny.

A Halloween feast with costumes, that would be fun. Now, all they had to do was find the right costume.

So the four friends decided to go straight to Hogsmeade and start looking for anything good enough for the feast.

After having lunch in a small snackbar, they visited Zonko´s and the Quidditch supplies store.

Harry and Ginny tried all the time to get rid of Ron and finally they managed it, thanks to Hermione´s help.

"Oh, Ron. My feet are aching. Would you mind if we just go and have a butterbeer in the ´Three broomsticks? In the meantime, Harry and Ginny can look for costumes."

Ron nodded and followed Hermione. He was glad to spend some time alone with her, but he didn´t like Harry being alone with his sister. As soon as they entered the pub, he forgot about his troubles and concentrated on Hermione.

Again he wondered why he hadn´t seen earlier that she was the most beautiful girl he´d ever seen. He was falling in love with her, he knew it. He felt it. His heart was beating very fast when he looked into her brown eyes and he was eager to catch every single word she said.

Meantime, Harry and Ginny were relieved to finally have escaped Ron. He was bothering them all week and they didn´t have an opportunity to get private. But now, Ron wasn´t there to disturb them anymore.

In an excellent mood, they entered the costume shop and grabbed some of the costumes in order to try them on.

Harry and Ginny put on their costumes and then they stepped out of their cabin. Harry was wearing a huge lobbster costume, while Ginny was dressed as a mermaid. They laughed hard at the look of each other.

They had much fun trying different costumes. Harry tried Dracula, werewolve, knight and he even found a silly houself costume. Ginny had tried witch (such as the muggles suggest them to look like), vampire, dragon and banshee.

At long last, Harry had decided to go as pirate while Ginny would be his pretty hostage.

"How do I look?", asked Ginny, gazing in the mirror, frowning at her own portrait.

She wore a long white dress, long gloves and a white hat. On her feet she had high-heels and she looked gorgeous. Harry didn´t know what to say, he was amazed.

"You look splendid. Wow, I don´t know who could possibly be prettier than you are", he replied.

Ginny blushed and said: "You do look good too, you know? You look like a filthy, bad guy who hasn´t shaved his beard for five days. I love it."

Harry hugged her and Ginny tore him towards her into the cabin. They were kissing and hugging, when they heard the door open.

Hermione and Ron had finished their butterbeer and they had decided to look for Ginny and Harry. Besides, they had to get their costumes too.

Ron opened the door, but neither Harry nor Ginny were to be seen.

"What do we do now?", whispered Ginny anxiously. "Ron will see us together. Oh no."

"I have a plan. Ginny go out and tell Hermione to come with you. I´ll stay here and then you´ve got to distract Ron somehow, then I´ll be able to slip into my own cabin, right? It´s gonna be fine. Trust me."

Ginny nodded and walked out, trying to look as if everything was fine. She pulled Hermione away from Ron and quickly told her about the dangerous situation.

Hermione understood immediately and told Ron to help her looking for a costume, in the farthest corner of the shop.

Harry took the opportunity and quickly slipped into his own cabin. He changed into his normal clothes and payed for his costume.

"Harry. There you are! Already finished?", asked Ron, surprised.

"Yes. I think I will go back to the castle. You can look for a costume with Hermione. I see you later, bye."

"Wait Harry, I´ll join you. I still need to finish my essay about vampires", said Ginny and followed Harry out of the shop.

Once again, they had succeeded in escaping Ron today. It was too good to be true. Hand in hand they walked back to the castle. They didn´t take much care not to be discovered until...

"Blimey! Yer two told me not ter tell anyone about yer and yer strollin´ hand in hand through the grounds! Soon they all gonna know..."

Hagrid had appeared out of the Forbidden Forest. Ginny and Harry suddenly realised, that Hagrid was right. If anybody saw them together, Ron would soon know all about them.

"Thanks Hagrid. We will take security mesures", grinned Harry.

"See you at the feast", he added and walked up to the castle.

Back in the costume store, Hermione and Ron were trying several costumes, but none of them seemed to be good enough.

"I give up. I don´t find anything that suits me in here. I think I´ll have to make my costume on my own", sighed Hermione.

"You go ahead, I´ll just look for one here, ok?", asked Ron.

Hermione nodded and left the shop.

Ron was looking everywhere for a costume. He knew which costume he would like to wear, but he needed to find it first. And then at long last, he found it.

It was perfect. He payed for the costume and hoped Hermione would like it.

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Sakaki151363 : Thanks for reviewing. I didn´t expect any reviews at all. I know I have to add some more ideas, especially with Cho. If you want me to change anything or give me ideas, feel free to tell me. I hope you like this chapter. I have 3 more on my computer, but I haven´t updated them yet :o))