By next morning, Adrien was back to normal. It took a while for Kit to convince her that Ron would never take Malfoy's advice. Reluctantly, Adrien believed her, and dozed fitfully until dawn.
As Adrien descended the dormitory stairs at seven the next morning, she heard someone mumbling on the couch by the fire. Creeping closer, she realized it was Ron, and tried to shake him awake.
Meanwhile, in the sixth year boys' dormitory, Kit was desperately trying to find a way to wake up Harry.
"Leave her alone," he mumbled, thrashing about so violently that Kit didn't dare stand too close to him.
"Leave who alone?" she whispered, glancing around for something that would wake Harry up effectively.
"Don't just stand there, Ron," he mumbled, louder this time.
"Why not?" Kit whispered, finally seizing the one thing that she knew would wake him up.
"You're in love with her!" he shouted, and Kit stopped what she was doing.
"In love with who?" she asked him curiously.
"For Merlin's sake, SAVE HERMIONE!"
Her eyes wide with the statement ringing through the room, Kit executed her plan.
"What did you do that for?" he asked, shaking his sopping head and spitting out water.
"To wake you up," Kit explained, setting the water jug back on the nightstand. "You were having a nightmare; screaming and thrashing about."
"At least it wasn't real," he mumbled, running a shaking hand through his wet hair.
Kit chose not to comment, and instead busied herself with rifling through Harry's trunk.
"Leave my stuff alone," he moaned, propping himself up on his elbows.
"Hold on a second," she muttered intent on finding something.
"What are you looking for?" Harry asked, yawning.
"Hold on," she said, sounding the slightest bit exasperated. Finally triumphant, she stood up, throwing a jumper and a pair of trousers at Harry. "I'll wait downstairs," she said, and left Harry to peel off his soaked pyjamas.
Five minutes later, Harry ran down the steps to the common room. The first thing he saw was Kit, standing as though petrified, staring at the scene in front of her. As Harry's gaze followed hers, he found Ron thrashing about on the sofa, with Adrien sobbing into her hands.
"Just give me the drink!" Ron roared, and Harry leapt forward to wake him up.
"Give it to me!" he roared again, as Harry began shaking him. "I need it!"
"No you don't!" Harry yelled, hoping his voice would help wake him up.
"Yes I do!" Ron yelled again, "I need it! Give to me! I nee–"
"No you don't," Harry whispered, helping Ron up into a sitting position.
It took a couple of seconds before Ron realized what had happened, at which point he buried his face into his hands.
"I'm so sorry," he mumbled, shaking head, "I didn't mean any of it." He took his face out of his hands and caught sight of Adrien, crumpled on the floor, sobbing. "Please believe me," he begged her, sliding onto the floor and wrapping an arm around her.
Slowly, she lifted her face out of her hands. "Of course I believe you," she whispered, falling into his embrace and sobbing even harder.
Kit put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Let's go get some breakfast," she whispered in his ear, and, leaving Ron and Adrien, they walked down to the Great Hall.
"Counsellor never told us about that, did she?" Kit asked shakily, sitting down at the Gryffindor house table.
"Nope, but we should've expected it," Harry said, grabbing a piece of toast and spreading jam on it.
Kit watched him for a moment, before getting up.
"Where are you going?" Harry asked.
"Library," she tossed over her shoulder, and walked out of the Great Hall without a backwards glance.
"Trouble in paradise?" a voice behind him asked.
"No," Harry said, turning around to Remus. "But how are you?"
"I'm alright," Remus replied, pulling out a chair. "Too bad it's the full moon tonight."
"Yeah, but this way you can't get plastered like everyone else."
"Not like you would, though, right?"
A dark look crossed over Harry's face. "Never," he snapped.
"What's going on, Harry?" Remus asked, concerned for his best friend's son. "You can tell me anything. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know that," Harry replied, "but we've already worked it out."
Remus gave him a shifty look. "Alright, if you're sure."
"I am sure," Harry said, a little too quickly for Remus' liking.
"Okay then, I'd better be off," Remus said, dismissing the subject.
"Okay," Harry said. "Good luck tonight."
"Thanks," Remus said, and smiling weakly, left the Great Hall.
That night a small party was held in the Gryffindor common room to celebrate the New Year. Jonathon Granger joined in, and they all welcomed him with open arms. He was a very funny person, and, as Neville said, it probably was a learned trait.
At around ten o'clock, just as some of them were beginning to slow down, there was a knock on the portrait hole.
"Who do you think it is?" Kit asked Harry as the small group inched their way towards the hole, wands raised.
"I don't know," Harry whispered. He leant close to the opening and called, "Who is it?"
"Purveyors of Magical Mischief," came the reply from not one, but two people. "We've come to liven up your party."
With a laugh, the older students put their wands down, and Harry pushed open the Portrait door.
"Good man, Harry," George said, as he climbed into his old common room.
"Yes, awfully good chap," Fred agreed, passing a bulging bag of unknown contents to his twin.
"So, let's get this party started!" Ron yelled from across the room. Everybody laughed, and Fred and George proceeded to set up their "bar".
After the twins had assured them all that none of the food was experimental or tampered with in any way, shape, or form, they all dug in. Fred and George managed their drinks just like bartenders, and increased the energy by one hundred percent.
Once everyone present had a butterbeer, George pulled Ron away slightly.
"Now, since you're the last of the Weasley boys to be in Hogwarts, what do you say we toast to it?"
Fred poured three shots of Firewhiskey. George picked up two and offered one of them to Ron. Ron took it from him, and looked at it blankly.
Across the room, emerged in a conversation about the D.A. meetings, Harry saw Ron take the drink from his brother. Losing the gist of the conversation, Harry stepped away from the other boys.
"What's the matter?" Fred joked. "Never seen a shot before?"
As the twins chortled, Ron said, "I think I'll pass on this one."
Harry saw Ron slam the drink down and turn away from his disappointed brothers. They both caught each other's eyes, and Harry gave his best friend the thumbs up.
Ron grinned and made his way over to Harry.
"I'm proud of you," Harry said quietly as Ron joined in on the conversation.
"So am I," he smiled, grabbing a handful of crisps.
About ten minutes to midnight, another knock came at the portrait hole. As Fred and George quickly hid the real alcohol, Ginny asked, "Who is it now?"
The answer was revealed when Harry pushed open the portrait and found Kristina outside in the corridor. She had a scared look on her face, and Harry knew she needed to talk in private.
He turned around to the curious faces assembled in the common room. "I'll be right back," he said, and went out to meet Kristina.
"Hi, Harry," she said lamely as he stood across from her.
"Hi. What's going on?" he asked.
She sank down onto the floor and started sobbing. Harry, at a loss for what to do, did the only thing he could think of. As he wrapped his arms around her, the sobbing increased, but words were distinguishable.
"I can't believe we would actually be that stupid!" she sobbed, now breaking down completely. "And it's too late to do anything about it now! If his mum finds out what happened, she'll be so disappointed! I hate it when people are disappointed in me! What am I going to do?"
She moaned as if in pain, and Harry realized what had happened.
"He didn't leave, did he?" he asked, concerned for both of them.
"N–no, he – he doesn't know yet," she whispered, looking up at the sixteen year old.
"When are you going to tell him?"
"At the wedding," she said, beginning to calm down. "But I don't want to ruin it for Sasha and Oliver."
"You won't," Harry reassured her, giving her a little squeeze. "Sasha is going to be ecstatic when she finds out."
"You think so?"
"I know so," Harry said with a laugh. "So, when are you due?"
"June sometime," Kristina replied, lighting up. "The doctor doesn't want to set a specific date until next month."
"I'm so happy for you!" Harry exclaimed, hugging her.
"Thanks," she said, getting to her feet. "I'm just worried about what Molly'll say."
"Don't," Harry told her. "She'll get over it, just be happy."
"I will, Harry," she said, picking up her purse. "But I better be going now, tell the others for me, will you?"
"No problem," Harry said. "See you at the wedding."
"See you," she said, and disappeared down the corridor.
Harry walked back into the common room to find everyone staring at him. He stopped halfway across the room.
"Kristina and Charlie are having a baby!" he shouted, causing several people to drop their drinks, and other to scream out in joy.
"Are you for real?" Fred asked him, looking as though his birthday had come early.
"Yep," Harry said, opening another butterbeer. "But Charlie doesn't know yet."
"What?" Ron gasped.
"She's going to tell him at the wedding," Harry reassured them.
"Did you notice a ring on her finger?" Ginny asked.
Harry smiled. "Yeah, a really modest one, too," he said.
All the girls sighed a collective "aww!"
But the twins' attention was turned back towards the clock.
"Ten," Fred said.
"Nine," said George.
"Eight… seven… six…" they all joined in.
"FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" they all screamed. As everyone kissed, applauded, sang, cheered, drank, and hugged, Kit and Harry were finally able to slip out of the portrait hole, invisibility cloak in hand.