A/N: Thanks to Riz, Rain, Omair, wolfawaken, Sheep, BlazingPhoenix, Maze, Akasha, Tilly Jeanne, Ninde Annare and AlphaPhi for the great reviews! Made my day!
Riz, Thank you very much! Will keep on updating!
Rain, Thanks! Were you talking about Intervallum? That's half my baby. :winks: There would be descriptions coming very soon. I have started experimenting with writing (finally!) So, you would be seeing the difference soon enough.
Omair, As always love to hear from you Ernie Mon! Don't ever underestimate your Potter knowledge, sometimes you do catch onto tiny important facts. About DD, well, he himself saw what happened by not giving the right info to Harry in OoTP, so he's not letting the crap hit the fan this time. :winks:
Wolfawaken, Welcome to shadows! Thanks for liking the story, here's another for you!
Sheep, Thanks! Happy belated Birthday. Are you the same, whose been smsing me since New Year's Eve?
BlazingPhoenix, Thank you! Here's another and I hope you like it.
Maze, Thanks, matey!
Akasha, I hope it wasn't a heap of information, at least you got it. :smiles:
Tilly Jeanne, Welcome! You are very much right on 'invertebrates.' I knew about it as I took biology in my High School, but thought better of it and used the 'non-word' to make it more clear. But, as it was not that important, I didn't really thought about it. Anyways, thanks for the tips and liking the story, if you could guess, all my work would go down the drain, you know. :winks:
Ninde Annare, Hey! Thanks girlie! I love your work too. Thanks for your encouraging comments!
AlphaPhi, Thank you! I will, definitely.
So, just repeating myself again: THANK YOU! You all make my day with your reviews.
Here's another update, just for my wonderful readers.
It was Colin Creevey who shoved him aside to a corner. Harry was amazed to see that a whole gang of gnomes, patrolled by Peeves were heading towards some specific destination.
Only the sound of left, left, left right left, left, left, left right left, was missing from their organized line.
"What are you doing, Colin?" Harry almost screamed. But he had to change his tone instantly by looking at Colin who was laughing manically.
"Isn't this just great?" Colin asked, laughing hysterically.
"What?" Harry was wrong-footed. What is it with Colin?
"Letting loose the gnomes after the house-elves?" Colin provided, grinning toothily.
"You are doing WHAT!" Harry yelled, alarmed.
Between bouts of laughter Colin managed incoherently, "I dunno how; Peeves did it or may be it was because of Mrs. Norris? He just liked my idea and combined all the gnomes of Hogwarts to scare off all the house-elves from the kitchen."
Harry couldn't believe his ears. "But- but, what would you get from scaring off the house-elves?"
He tried to rationalize with him, while all along S.P.E.W. was circling his mind. Harry was never too vociferous about house-elf rights like Hermione, who kept badgering everybody who would listen to donate money for the cause. According to him house-elves liked the life they led but if they wanted wages like Dobby, there was no harm done in giving them the status they desired. But pranking them without any apparent reason was nothing but cruel.
"Colin! Are you out of your mind? You'll have detention for a whole month for only thinking of doing such a stunt. McGonagall will eat you for lunch! Come with me, we'll stop Peeves before he herds all the gnomes in the kitchen."
Colin looked at him in disbelief, like he was looking at him with a new light and didn't like what he was seeing-as though suddenly his Hero image of Harry was shattered.
"Why would I stop Peeves? It's such a great idea! The whole school will know what a superior prankster I am," Colin puffed out his chest and shook his head resolutely.
Harry didn't know how to handle this situation. If he ran to any professor, Colin would be in trouble and if he didn't do something about the situation, the house-elves will be in trouble and he didn't have any time to rationalize with Colin, who was still grinning broadly.
"Er... Colin, why don't you run along? I have to go to the Library, all right?"
"Yeah... erm ... okay. Why don't you announce to the students sitting in the Library that there's a funny show near the kitchen?" Colin asked hopefully.
"Err... I will see," said Harry, giving him a look.
Harry pelted towards the common room like an arrow, jostling people out of his way.
"Hey, watch where you going!" a Slytherin girl shrieked at him, but he pretended not to notice.
As predicted, Hermione was poring over an Arithmancy book in the common room. He ran straight towards his room for his invisibility cloak, hollering at Hermione, "Red Alert!"
She didn't understand but became ready for Harry to return. In a flash he was thundering down the steps leading to the Boys Dormitory.
"Let's go! We don't have any time to waste," Harry said hurriedly.
"What happened?" Hermione asked flabbergasted.
On their marathon towards the kitchen through tapestries and secret passageways, he was only able to utter, "House-elves in trouble."
"WHAT! But- but, who would-"
Harry cut off Hermione. "If we hurry, we'll still be able to reach the kitchen before them. We'll discuss the finer points later on, okay?" Harry finished between huffs of breaths.
"Them whooooo?"
Halfway through the way, they bumped into Neville and Harry availed the timely appearance instantly.
"Neville, do us a favor, will you? Find Nick and tell him to tip off any professor about Peeves disturbing the house-elves and don't go running to any professor yourself. Okay?"
Neville blinked like he didn't believe what he was hearing as his eyes narrowed, but by looking at their strained expressions, he replied, "Okay."
They bolted again. Harry pressed a block behind a moldy tapestry which slid halfway through to reveal a well-lit corridor, decorated by portraits of many exotic fruits.
"In the cloak!" Harry whispered, motioning to Hermione. They could hear commotion, near the stone staircase.
"Hermione, think of some trick to stop all the gnomes."
"Gnomes!"
Before even hearing the response, Harry got an idea. "Blocus Cloturio," he whispered, directing his spell on the stretch of the corridor just beside the portrait containing the ticklish green pear.
A golden mist came out of his wand and sparkled that stretch of the corridor, its tiny particles catching the light of the torches.
"Harry, what did you?" Hermione sounded amazed.
"Shush, Hermione. Just clear off Colin from there; he'll be in big trouble if he gets caught," Harry gave her directions to the stairways, dodging the golden mist.
Hermione was instantly on the case by the time first gnome flipped in the mist. He saw her drag Colin into the passageway. At that exact moment Professor Vidal jumped the steps to reach the corridor. He doubled over, laughing heartily on the scenario of the whole gnome army upside down, trapped in the golden mist. The bonus prize was, Peeves, also stationary and screeching madly-not at all his cackling self.
Trapping gnomes was alright, Harry smiled to himself, as he made his way towards the common room.
When he entered the common room, Colin was sitting subdued in a corner and Hermione was pacing in front of him, ignoring all other students.
"Was everything okay?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"Yes, nobody kidnapped the house-elves," he said cheerily. "Professor Vidal came just in time." He wasn't sure to discuss any further.
Sensing his trepidation, Hermione started, "Colin's fine. He just wanted to stir things up a bit before everybody went for holidays."
"You all did troublemaking all the time!" Colin said defensively.
"Well, Colin, we never hurt anybody intentionally," Harry reasoned simply.
Not too distant from the window of the Gryffindor tower, someone was pacing a stretch of Hogwarts' ground, brooding and not at all happy.
My plans keep on failing. How will I go home this holiday and face... let's just not think about that right now...
Why does Harry slither from every trap I set? Why do his stupid lucky stars never leave him?
It's high time that I get some help... reinforcements... YES!
Ron recovered in two days and he only had a day of practice for their next match against Hufflepuff. In their second match of the season, Gryffindors very predictably hammered the Hufflepuff team. The game was over in twenty minutes. The match only lasted that long because of the weather-it was gusty and difficult for Harry to glimpse the Golden Snitch in such conditions.
As soon as he did, he caught it without any trouble in spite of the fact that the Hufflepuff seeker had a Nimbus2003.
There was an all-night party in the Gryffindor Tower and a kind of farewell for the students who were leaving for Christmas holidays.
Mrs. Weasley had already informed them that they would be staying at Grimmauld Place for Christmas. Hermione would join them halfway through, as she would be staying with her parents for the first half of the vacations.
Hogwarts was again flowing with Christmas trees and dwarfs singing Christmas carols. Most of the students were packing their trunks, getting ready to leave.
It was the second year in a row that Harry was leaving Hogwarts for Grimmauld Place for Christmas. Hogwarts have always been his home-what he never got from the Dursleys, he got from Hogwarts. Leaving was not always easy and he still had some old memories to overcome.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were taking a walk near the lake. It was their last day at Hogwarts and their Defense Against the Dark Arts class was cancelled. So, they planned on enjoying themselves fully with a visit to Hagrid's hut. Ginny was still attending classes, as it was her O.W.L. year and no teacher was ready to compensate.
"It was a very nice cameo appearance, Hermione," Harry teased Hermione on her rescuing Ron. "Come-back with a punch." He grinned.
"Oh stop it, Harry!" she said going red, while Ron's grin widened.
"Whoa!" Ron exclaimed as Hedwig came soaring towards Harry. A small piece of parchment was tied to her leg. They joined their heads to read the scrawled writing.
"Meet m e in the Room of Requirement, today at half past eight. - Cho"
Ron ahemed and Hermione went, "Oh dear!"
Harry was still squinting at the parchment while Hedwig was annoyingly nibbling his ear. But except the writing the message was clear as daylight.
Harry patted Hedwig and told her there was nothing edible in his pockets, on which she huffily took flight, beating her wings on his face.
"Girls!" Harry rolled his eyes and was awarded with a glare from Hermione.
"What are you going to do, mate?" Ron asked uncertainly.
"Dunno... meet her, I guess?" He looked pleadingly at his friends for some words of wisdom but Hermione and Ron both became quite tight-lipped on the subject.
"Why don't we visit Hagrid?" Ron suggested, changing the subject.
They pounded on the hut's door and heard Fang's scratching. As they opened the door he launched himself on Ron, slobbering all over him.
"Good boy, Fang – now gerroff me!" Ron yelled from underneath.
Hagrid, as they found out, was not home.
"On some errand maybe," Hermione rationalized, looking disappointed.
"Visiting Grawp and Krucky, I guess?" Ron provided.
"Yeah, that would be it," Harry said detachedly, his mind still on Cho's note.
The afternoon wore on to evening. After eating dinner they were playing chess in the common room-Ginny verses Hermione-and Ron was whispering commands in Hermione's ear, much to the annoyance of his sister.
"Cheater!"
"Yeah, yeah." Ron grinned.
Harry was examining a particularly jagged part of his chair's handle. It was eight o'clock and Ron was signaling him to get a move on. He thanked Gryffindor, Merlin and his fates, as he went out of the common room, that Ginny didn't notice his departure.
He strode straight towards the statue of Barnabas the Barmy, surveying the corridor and Marauder's map for being absolutely sure. Except the dots reading Chang and Potter there was no one else on the floor.
He opened the door, with his heart doing a boom-doom beat against his chest. The first thing that he noticed after entering the room was a peculiar whiff of scent which wafted all over him. The room was not as big as he remembered but was welcoming in its own way, filled with dim wavering lights and drapes, and decorated with fluffy looking couches and colorful portraits.
"Er... Hi, Cho." He was feeling wrong footed from the beginning.
"Hello, Harry," Cho said shyly.
She was looking different somehow. It was her hair or clothes, Harry couldn't put his finger on it.
"So, you wanted to talk to me?" he asked, coming to the point.
"Yes, Harry." She looked nervous as she stepped closer to him, rubbing her thumb on the sides of her index finger.
"Harry... I was really insensitive last year... I- I just wanted to talk to someone... you know, really talk... and I was sooo torn, so torn between you and- and Cedric..." She sighed.
Oh boy!
"I didn't know what I was doing, whether I was right or not... it was very wrong of me to break it off with you like that... but it was never the same again, Harry... the way I felt with you... I have never felt with anyone," Cho came closer and Harry could see her shining eyes, shadowed by her silky hair.
Oh damn it!
"It was never the same again... Harry... I think I-I love you..." she trailed off as she came closer than Harry could handle.
In the Gryffindor common room Hermione check-mated Ginny. And Ginny pondered, Why it felt like she was losing more than a game?
