The Old Lot, Chapter Four
The Plan
The cell was eerily quiet. Movement was not possible while his arms were chained above him to the hard, cold stone wall.
The taste of blood lingered in his mouth, but he didn't care anymore. Years in this place had told him to get used to it; it would never get better. Not as long as painful thoughts wandered aimlessly through his head.
Where was Ginny?
Was she OK?
Did she have our child safely?
Had she gotten over me and married someone else?
Harry never stopped thinking about Ginny. She had been the light of his life, his world. Love wasn't something one could forget too easily. And Ron and Hermione . . . how he had loved the two of them; He missed them so much.
But never as much a Ginny.
A shadowy mist took over the cell, and Harry's vision blurred. Though his vision was always blurred, without his glasses, it was even more difficult to see than usual. Then he heard a lock click some feet away, in front of him.
Damn.
The large, heavy wooden door swung open, and two figures, one much larger than the other, entered the room. Harry had no idea what they looked like, but who else would be coming here? Surely not visitors with get well cards.
"So, Potter, how was your Christmas? That was the last time I saw you, wasn't it?" Harry groaned. The smaller figure laughed cruelly. "Yes, it was. But you can't have missed the smell of cooking, or baking cookies. You won't have remembered what those wonderful things were like."
"How kind of you to remind me," Harry replied with gritted teeth.
"What was that Potter? I didn't catch your gibberish." Harry didn't answer. He didn't feel like it. "I said," the small figure drew back his arm and thrust it at his cheek. There was a loud crack, and blood seeping into the corners of his mouth told him the whip had created a long cut across his cheek. "What was that Potter?"
"I said," Harry spit blood out of his mouth, surprisingly right into the figure's face, "'how kind of you to remind me'." The figure's anger was tangible and Harry closed his eyes, bearing down for anything. Sure enough, the figure shouted, "Crucio!" and Harry felt extreme pain surge through his already weak body. Normally, he would be able to fight all of it, but right now he was too exhausted and caught almost all of the pain. Finally, when he released a cry of agony, the figure lowered his wand, also lowering the curse. Then he laughed audaciously. "Had enough, Potter? Don't worry, I'll come to visit again." He turned to the silent, bulky figure, "Come Goyle, we're finished here for today."
*
Harry flexed his hands. With every movement new pain coursed through his veins, and he made silent moans, almost as if to prove it to himself. He opened his tired eyes, and almost passed out. But a new figure approaching him instead caused him to blink. "Sirius, what are you doing here? You're... you died, in fifth year. You're not supposed to be here." The ghastly figure laughed silently, but Harry could almost hear the bark like laugh.
Almost immediately after it laughed, another apparition came into view. "Dad... you're... I must be... Lupin?" The mild man nodded with a slight smile. Then the second man, remarkably similar in appearance to Harry, glided smoothly toward him.
When within a few feet, the man began to whisper something that Harry could not hear. "Dad, I can't... I can't hear... you're speaking too softly..."
"Don't tire yourself son. Don't give up." Harry heard these words inside his head, as though he were the one who was thinking them. But he couldn't have.....Why would he have...
"Dad... Sirius... Lupin... You must go... they're here... they'll see you..."
As Harry drifted into an uneasy sleep, dreams of voices inside his head, the cell remained quite empty.
*
As Ginny made the morning coffee she heard movement from the stairs. She turned to see who it was and smiled, "Good morning, Uncle Ronnie."
Ron, his hair tousled and his eyes still slightly closed with sleep, jolted to awareness and scowled at his sister. "Blast it Ginny, need I remind you of my real name, as well as remind your daughter?" Ginny couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, Ron. Couldn't resist. After all, you sort of look like an Uncle Ronnie at the moment; have you looked in the mirror?"
"Yeah, and it told me to 'get on and wash up my face, you dirty young man', just like every morning. Honestly, they're freckles." He rubbed his cheek irritated. "I think I might have to curse them off my face one of these days."
"Oh no you don't, Ronald Weasley," Hermione said behind him. Ron turned around. "That's right, you're not getting rid of the one thing I actually like about you." Ron frowned, hurt, and Hermione laughed. "Oh, you're absolutely ridiculous. Of course I love every bit of you, you great git." She stood next to him and kissed him smack dab on the lips.
Ginny groaned, "Please, you're niece will be down any moment and she doesn't need to witness any R-rated scenes in the near future, especially ones including her godparents." Hermione pulled away from Ron, who was as always red in the face, and smiled. "Good morning," she said cheerfully.
"Gor-mowng..." Ron coughed loudly. "So, Gin, what's for brecky?"
"I dunno, you tell me. I'm not going to fix breakfast for you every morning. Neither are you, Hermione." Hermione had just begun to get up from her seat when she sat back down again. "Ginny's right, Ron, it's your turn to cook."
Ron looked at them appalled. "Me? Do you remember what happened the last time Mum made Harry and me cook? Well, do you?"
Ginny coughed and turned away. "Well I suppose you're right. Maybe you can just break the eggs then. In a bowl this time, though." She stood and conjured a few more than half a dozen eggs, carefully lowering them onto a thick placemat. Summoning a large bowl from the cupboard, she turned to Ron. "Now, just crack them gently in the middle, and mind you don't drop any shell in."
Ron moved resignedly to the bowl and got cracking. Meanwhile, Ginny started the stove to medium and placed a large frying pan in the surface. "Hermione, would you mind setting the table for the four of us?"
"Not at all," she replied, and she got up to find cups, silverware and tableware.
When all three adults were busied with their tasks of preparing breakfast, a small, dishevel haired girl staggered in, rubbing her eyes. Ron, who was eager to get out of his particularly boring assignment, was first to notice her arrival and jumped to twirl her in the air. "Morning, sleepyhead!"
Ivy's giggles were muffled into his shoulder, but the women still noticed. Even though she was annoyed with her brother abandoning his duty, Ginny smiled. "He's going to make a great father someday," she murmured to Hermione. The other woman blushed. "I know, but for the time being he's my kid." They laughed, and Ron carried the still giggly girl to the table. "Breakfast will be served in a few minutes, madam." Ivy squealed with laughter as he proceeded to bow low, almost touching his nose to the table. Ginny shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Well, it won't be unless these eggs start cracking themselves into their bowl." When her back was turned, Ron made faces at her. Ivy could have possibly stopped breathing in her state of hilarity.
When the scrambled eggs were all served onto plates and brought to the table (Ron had made quite a thing out of it by playing waiter), the adults made conversation while Ivy paid almost no attention while playing with her food. Ginny didn't even notice.
"Well, I think we should write down all probable places, then take it from there." Ron had assumed his chess face, sort of hard and serious, as he suggested ways to go about finding their friend.
"Of course, but as I mentioned last night, there could be so many places that it's going to be impossible to pick one place." Hermione still found it easy to argue with her husband.
"Hermione, we only need to keep track of all of the places so that we can eliminate ones that won't work," Ron explained, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"And how do you suggest we go about doing that, eh? How are we supposed to know where he is or isn't? If we knew that, he could be home now." Ron started showing signs of irritation, but tried not to explode at his own wife. There could be dire consequences if he did, most prominently not finding Harry.
"I understand that, but there are ways to find simple reasons why a place would not be possible. Even though you still clearly don't agree with me," he added hurriedly as Hermione opened her mouth to speak, "I think we need to try it. Trust me." Ginny gathered parchment, ink and quill from the desk across the room, and she paused her hand on the paper, prepared to write.
"Ok, let's just start brainstorming a few places," Ron said. "Even if someone doesn't agree, we still put it down. It's only brainstorming, and we need to think of all potential locations." He thought for a moment, then spoke again, "Malfoy Manor."
"Ron that place has been searched so many times-"
"I know Hermione, but we have to put everything down." Hermione huffed and crossed her arms, but didn't argue further. "The Riddle House," she said, mildly interested in her comment. Ginny scratched the quill across the parchment, then voiced her own idea, "Azkaban."
Ron nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that place has been abandoned for years." As Ginny wrote this latest one down, the group became silent.
"The Hog's Head." All eyes turned to Ivy. Ron laughed, "Ok, Ginny, put The Hog's Head down." He smiled at the little girl.
Ron then coughed and mumbled a new idea. "Sorry, what was that Ron?" Ginny asked. Ron cleared his throat. "I said, er... Durmstrang." The two women gave him disapproving looks, but Ginny wrote it down nonetheless.
The group fell into silence once again, all most likely considering their ideas before voicing them. Then Hermione finally spoke up, as though she didn't even want it considered. "Hogwarts," she sighed. "Or even the Forbidden Forest, you might as well consider that one separate." Ginny wrote them down in no time.
"Well, now I think we should go over some of these," Ron said, and he grabbed the list from Ginny. "Well, Malfoy Manor has been searched, but who knows how large that place is and how many secret passageways and whatnot they've got there." His face became soft, "In second year, when Harry and I had taken the Polyjuice Potion, Malfoy told us that his father had a secret chamber underneath their drawing room floor." Ron became lost in thought as he remembered the very day him and Harry had become Crabbe and Goyle.
Hermione was first to break the becoming silence. "Riddle House should have been searched, too. But Voldemort pulled it off last time, hiding there, so it could be possible that anyone's hiding in there." She paused. "I think he might actually be there."
All faces looked grim, probably mentally slapping themselves. "Well . . . " Ron started, "Azkaban is possible . . . obviously I've never been there, but it's supposed to be huge. Surrounded by water . . ."
"An island, Ron," Hermione said, not looking up. "Yes, an island," Ron said. "No one would suspect an old jail, would they?"
"I don't think so," Ginny said, "The dementors left our side short into the Second War, so they probably hadn't been there much after they left. Obviously there wouldn't be any left there now; they were wiped out by Dumbledore, weren't they?" The other two nodded mutely.
After a while Ron spoke, "My brain hurts."
"Big surprise there," Hermione teased in a mumble. Ron looked at her, a look reserved to say 'I hate you so much I love you.'
"All right, you two," Ginny said. "I think Ivy and I better be getting home." She stood up, and the couple followed suit. "Are you sure, Ginny?" Hermione asked. "You're really welcome to stay here all you like."
Ginny thought it over. "Well, we do have things to work out . . ." She glanced over at Ivy, sitting at the end of the table holding conversation with her doll again. She looked back at Hermione. "It would be a lot easier to get things done . . . Without young ones around." Hermione nodded. "We could ask someone to watch her." She thought for a moment. "Maybe bring her down to the Burrow?"
"Yeah, Mum and Dad would be delighted to have her stay," Ron said. "They always say how they don't get to see her much. I could probably floo with her this afternoon." Ginny considered it. "She's a lot to handle, you know, despite what you may think."
"Yes, but you don't think Mum could handle it after all of us?" Ron looked at her seriously. Ginny blushed, "No, I don't suppose I do. But how long do you think we would be?"
Hermione spoke up before Ron had a chance, "How ever long it will take." Her eyes were a bit glossy, but the strong young woman held her tears. Ginny smiled weakly. "Yes, you're absolutely right. Ivy," She bent down to the girl's level on one knee, "What do you say Uncle Ron takes you over to Grammy Weasley's house for a few days?" Ivy smiled brightly at her. "Oh yes Mummy! That would be wonderful!"
While Ron accompanied Ivy to the Burrow, Ginny and Hermione stayed back and did some things around the house. They started in fixing up a guest bedroom for Ginny.
"What's this?" Ginny held up an extremely stiff . . . well, she didn't know exactly what it was, hence her query. Hermione studied it with wonder. "I have no idea. Toss it in the bin, will you?"
"Gladly," Ginny said with sheer disgust, and she held it with two fingers over the wastebasket (which was already overflowing with garbage) and dropped it in. She clapped the grime off of her hands and placed them on her hips. Overall, the room looked a lot better; the room itself hadn't been too terrible, but the closet was where all of the surprises waited for them.
"Do you think that's all of it?" Ginny asked. Hermione wrinkled up her nose. "I hope so." She looked around and sighed. "We should have waited until Ron got back and made him clean all this up."
Ginny snorted, "Are you mad? He'd scream like a girl and say 'No way you two, you can't make me, ew ew.'" She paused for the effect and the two women started cracking up, both grasping the stitches in their sides, then to each other for support.
"What's so funny?" Ron had just entered the room. "You two look like you've been laughing for an hour." Ginny snorted again, "So what if we have? You were the punch line of the joke, after all." After she had finished saying this she stopped laughing. "Oh Ron, I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean that."
Ron, to the other's amazement, chuckled. "It's all right. As long as it wasn't about me being a girl. Again." They couldn't take it. All of them started cracking up again.
Harry could almost hear their laughter in his dreams.
The Plan
The cell was eerily quiet. Movement was not possible while his arms were chained above him to the hard, cold stone wall.
The taste of blood lingered in his mouth, but he didn't care anymore. Years in this place had told him to get used to it; it would never get better. Not as long as painful thoughts wandered aimlessly through his head.
Where was Ginny?
Was she OK?
Did she have our child safely?
Had she gotten over me and married someone else?
Harry never stopped thinking about Ginny. She had been the light of his life, his world. Love wasn't something one could forget too easily. And Ron and Hermione . . . how he had loved the two of them; He missed them so much.
But never as much a Ginny.
A shadowy mist took over the cell, and Harry's vision blurred. Though his vision was always blurred, without his glasses, it was even more difficult to see than usual. Then he heard a lock click some feet away, in front of him.
Damn.
The large, heavy wooden door swung open, and two figures, one much larger than the other, entered the room. Harry had no idea what they looked like, but who else would be coming here? Surely not visitors with get well cards.
"So, Potter, how was your Christmas? That was the last time I saw you, wasn't it?" Harry groaned. The smaller figure laughed cruelly. "Yes, it was. But you can't have missed the smell of cooking, or baking cookies. You won't have remembered what those wonderful things were like."
"How kind of you to remind me," Harry replied with gritted teeth.
"What was that Potter? I didn't catch your gibberish." Harry didn't answer. He didn't feel like it. "I said," the small figure drew back his arm and thrust it at his cheek. There was a loud crack, and blood seeping into the corners of his mouth told him the whip had created a long cut across his cheek. "What was that Potter?"
"I said," Harry spit blood out of his mouth, surprisingly right into the figure's face, "'how kind of you to remind me'." The figure's anger was tangible and Harry closed his eyes, bearing down for anything. Sure enough, the figure shouted, "Crucio!" and Harry felt extreme pain surge through his already weak body. Normally, he would be able to fight all of it, but right now he was too exhausted and caught almost all of the pain. Finally, when he released a cry of agony, the figure lowered his wand, also lowering the curse. Then he laughed audaciously. "Had enough, Potter? Don't worry, I'll come to visit again." He turned to the silent, bulky figure, "Come Goyle, we're finished here for today."
*
Harry flexed his hands. With every movement new pain coursed through his veins, and he made silent moans, almost as if to prove it to himself. He opened his tired eyes, and almost passed out. But a new figure approaching him instead caused him to blink. "Sirius, what are you doing here? You're... you died, in fifth year. You're not supposed to be here." The ghastly figure laughed silently, but Harry could almost hear the bark like laugh.
Almost immediately after it laughed, another apparition came into view. "Dad... you're... I must be... Lupin?" The mild man nodded with a slight smile. Then the second man, remarkably similar in appearance to Harry, glided smoothly toward him.
When within a few feet, the man began to whisper something that Harry could not hear. "Dad, I can't... I can't hear... you're speaking too softly..."
"Don't tire yourself son. Don't give up." Harry heard these words inside his head, as though he were the one who was thinking them. But he couldn't have.....Why would he have...
"Dad... Sirius... Lupin... You must go... they're here... they'll see you..."
As Harry drifted into an uneasy sleep, dreams of voices inside his head, the cell remained quite empty.
*
As Ginny made the morning coffee she heard movement from the stairs. She turned to see who it was and smiled, "Good morning, Uncle Ronnie."
Ron, his hair tousled and his eyes still slightly closed with sleep, jolted to awareness and scowled at his sister. "Blast it Ginny, need I remind you of my real name, as well as remind your daughter?" Ginny couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, Ron. Couldn't resist. After all, you sort of look like an Uncle Ronnie at the moment; have you looked in the mirror?"
"Yeah, and it told me to 'get on and wash up my face, you dirty young man', just like every morning. Honestly, they're freckles." He rubbed his cheek irritated. "I think I might have to curse them off my face one of these days."
"Oh no you don't, Ronald Weasley," Hermione said behind him. Ron turned around. "That's right, you're not getting rid of the one thing I actually like about you." Ron frowned, hurt, and Hermione laughed. "Oh, you're absolutely ridiculous. Of course I love every bit of you, you great git." She stood next to him and kissed him smack dab on the lips.
Ginny groaned, "Please, you're niece will be down any moment and she doesn't need to witness any R-rated scenes in the near future, especially ones including her godparents." Hermione pulled away from Ron, who was as always red in the face, and smiled. "Good morning," she said cheerfully.
"Gor-mowng..." Ron coughed loudly. "So, Gin, what's for brecky?"
"I dunno, you tell me. I'm not going to fix breakfast for you every morning. Neither are you, Hermione." Hermione had just begun to get up from her seat when she sat back down again. "Ginny's right, Ron, it's your turn to cook."
Ron looked at them appalled. "Me? Do you remember what happened the last time Mum made Harry and me cook? Well, do you?"
Ginny coughed and turned away. "Well I suppose you're right. Maybe you can just break the eggs then. In a bowl this time, though." She stood and conjured a few more than half a dozen eggs, carefully lowering them onto a thick placemat. Summoning a large bowl from the cupboard, she turned to Ron. "Now, just crack them gently in the middle, and mind you don't drop any shell in."
Ron moved resignedly to the bowl and got cracking. Meanwhile, Ginny started the stove to medium and placed a large frying pan in the surface. "Hermione, would you mind setting the table for the four of us?"
"Not at all," she replied, and she got up to find cups, silverware and tableware.
When all three adults were busied with their tasks of preparing breakfast, a small, dishevel haired girl staggered in, rubbing her eyes. Ron, who was eager to get out of his particularly boring assignment, was first to notice her arrival and jumped to twirl her in the air. "Morning, sleepyhead!"
Ivy's giggles were muffled into his shoulder, but the women still noticed. Even though she was annoyed with her brother abandoning his duty, Ginny smiled. "He's going to make a great father someday," she murmured to Hermione. The other woman blushed. "I know, but for the time being he's my kid." They laughed, and Ron carried the still giggly girl to the table. "Breakfast will be served in a few minutes, madam." Ivy squealed with laughter as he proceeded to bow low, almost touching his nose to the table. Ginny shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Well, it won't be unless these eggs start cracking themselves into their bowl." When her back was turned, Ron made faces at her. Ivy could have possibly stopped breathing in her state of hilarity.
When the scrambled eggs were all served onto plates and brought to the table (Ron had made quite a thing out of it by playing waiter), the adults made conversation while Ivy paid almost no attention while playing with her food. Ginny didn't even notice.
"Well, I think we should write down all probable places, then take it from there." Ron had assumed his chess face, sort of hard and serious, as he suggested ways to go about finding their friend.
"Of course, but as I mentioned last night, there could be so many places that it's going to be impossible to pick one place." Hermione still found it easy to argue with her husband.
"Hermione, we only need to keep track of all of the places so that we can eliminate ones that won't work," Ron explained, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"And how do you suggest we go about doing that, eh? How are we supposed to know where he is or isn't? If we knew that, he could be home now." Ron started showing signs of irritation, but tried not to explode at his own wife. There could be dire consequences if he did, most prominently not finding Harry.
"I understand that, but there are ways to find simple reasons why a place would not be possible. Even though you still clearly don't agree with me," he added hurriedly as Hermione opened her mouth to speak, "I think we need to try it. Trust me." Ginny gathered parchment, ink and quill from the desk across the room, and she paused her hand on the paper, prepared to write.
"Ok, let's just start brainstorming a few places," Ron said. "Even if someone doesn't agree, we still put it down. It's only brainstorming, and we need to think of all potential locations." He thought for a moment, then spoke again, "Malfoy Manor."
"Ron that place has been searched so many times-"
"I know Hermione, but we have to put everything down." Hermione huffed and crossed her arms, but didn't argue further. "The Riddle House," she said, mildly interested in her comment. Ginny scratched the quill across the parchment, then voiced her own idea, "Azkaban."
Ron nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that place has been abandoned for years." As Ginny wrote this latest one down, the group became silent.
"The Hog's Head." All eyes turned to Ivy. Ron laughed, "Ok, Ginny, put The Hog's Head down." He smiled at the little girl.
Ron then coughed and mumbled a new idea. "Sorry, what was that Ron?" Ginny asked. Ron cleared his throat. "I said, er... Durmstrang." The two women gave him disapproving looks, but Ginny wrote it down nonetheless.
The group fell into silence once again, all most likely considering their ideas before voicing them. Then Hermione finally spoke up, as though she didn't even want it considered. "Hogwarts," she sighed. "Or even the Forbidden Forest, you might as well consider that one separate." Ginny wrote them down in no time.
"Well, now I think we should go over some of these," Ron said, and he grabbed the list from Ginny. "Well, Malfoy Manor has been searched, but who knows how large that place is and how many secret passageways and whatnot they've got there." His face became soft, "In second year, when Harry and I had taken the Polyjuice Potion, Malfoy told us that his father had a secret chamber underneath their drawing room floor." Ron became lost in thought as he remembered the very day him and Harry had become Crabbe and Goyle.
Hermione was first to break the becoming silence. "Riddle House should have been searched, too. But Voldemort pulled it off last time, hiding there, so it could be possible that anyone's hiding in there." She paused. "I think he might actually be there."
All faces looked grim, probably mentally slapping themselves. "Well . . . " Ron started, "Azkaban is possible . . . obviously I've never been there, but it's supposed to be huge. Surrounded by water . . ."
"An island, Ron," Hermione said, not looking up. "Yes, an island," Ron said. "No one would suspect an old jail, would they?"
"I don't think so," Ginny said, "The dementors left our side short into the Second War, so they probably hadn't been there much after they left. Obviously there wouldn't be any left there now; they were wiped out by Dumbledore, weren't they?" The other two nodded mutely.
After a while Ron spoke, "My brain hurts."
"Big surprise there," Hermione teased in a mumble. Ron looked at her, a look reserved to say 'I hate you so much I love you.'
"All right, you two," Ginny said. "I think Ivy and I better be getting home." She stood up, and the couple followed suit. "Are you sure, Ginny?" Hermione asked. "You're really welcome to stay here all you like."
Ginny thought it over. "Well, we do have things to work out . . ." She glanced over at Ivy, sitting at the end of the table holding conversation with her doll again. She looked back at Hermione. "It would be a lot easier to get things done . . . Without young ones around." Hermione nodded. "We could ask someone to watch her." She thought for a moment. "Maybe bring her down to the Burrow?"
"Yeah, Mum and Dad would be delighted to have her stay," Ron said. "They always say how they don't get to see her much. I could probably floo with her this afternoon." Ginny considered it. "She's a lot to handle, you know, despite what you may think."
"Yes, but you don't think Mum could handle it after all of us?" Ron looked at her seriously. Ginny blushed, "No, I don't suppose I do. But how long do you think we would be?"
Hermione spoke up before Ron had a chance, "How ever long it will take." Her eyes were a bit glossy, but the strong young woman held her tears. Ginny smiled weakly. "Yes, you're absolutely right. Ivy," She bent down to the girl's level on one knee, "What do you say Uncle Ron takes you over to Grammy Weasley's house for a few days?" Ivy smiled brightly at her. "Oh yes Mummy! That would be wonderful!"
While Ron accompanied Ivy to the Burrow, Ginny and Hermione stayed back and did some things around the house. They started in fixing up a guest bedroom for Ginny.
"What's this?" Ginny held up an extremely stiff . . . well, she didn't know exactly what it was, hence her query. Hermione studied it with wonder. "I have no idea. Toss it in the bin, will you?"
"Gladly," Ginny said with sheer disgust, and she held it with two fingers over the wastebasket (which was already overflowing with garbage) and dropped it in. She clapped the grime off of her hands and placed them on her hips. Overall, the room looked a lot better; the room itself hadn't been too terrible, but the closet was where all of the surprises waited for them.
"Do you think that's all of it?" Ginny asked. Hermione wrinkled up her nose. "I hope so." She looked around and sighed. "We should have waited until Ron got back and made him clean all this up."
Ginny snorted, "Are you mad? He'd scream like a girl and say 'No way you two, you can't make me, ew ew.'" She paused for the effect and the two women started cracking up, both grasping the stitches in their sides, then to each other for support.
"What's so funny?" Ron had just entered the room. "You two look like you've been laughing for an hour." Ginny snorted again, "So what if we have? You were the punch line of the joke, after all." After she had finished saying this she stopped laughing. "Oh Ron, I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean that."
Ron, to the other's amazement, chuckled. "It's all right. As long as it wasn't about me being a girl. Again." They couldn't take it. All of them started cracking up again.
Harry could almost hear their laughter in his dreams.