Harry was being kept busy by preparations for his second Quidditch match, and what he tended to view as his first real one, given that there was an interfering Dark Lord present during the last. He had explained to Oliver that Quirrell had been the cause of his misfortunes then, and it made the captain honestly excited, believing that if Harry managed to catch the Snitch in spite of his broom being jinxed, it would be a piece of cake this time. "Just let us play a little too, would you?"
That gave Harry a pause. "So if I see a Snitch real early in the match, should I go for it or not?" He asked.
"Go for it, by any means," Oliver said immediately. "I don't want our chances to win the cup ruined because I wanted to enjoy myself a little more."
The other team members were rather inclined to make Wood eat his words when Harry had ended the match after five minutes. "Just two goals, that's all!" Angelina was complaining in the changing rooms. "We didn't have time to do anything more! It barely even counts as a match!"
"I'm sorry," Harry muttered sheepishly.
"Don't you be sorry," Fred Weasley said, "it's somebody else's fault for giving you such advice," and he looked intently at Wood.
The captain was unrelenting, however. "You will thank me when we win the cup," he said, but the other team members looked doubtful.
All in all, Harry was rather glad to get out to the rest of his House. There, the mood was celebratory in an uncomplicated way, and especially Ron was practically jumping up and down with excitement. "You were bloody incredible!" He shouted.
"Thanks," Harry muttered, and accepted the much more muted congratulations from Neville, too.
"It's a pity it didn't last a little longer," Sophie opined. "I mean, the last time we were too worried about you to enjoy it properly, and now it was almost over before it began!"
"You should go talk to Angelina about that," Harry mumbled. "She could give you an earfull." Though, thinking about it, maybe she really should go talk to Angelina – Harry had a feeling the two girls would understand each other very well.
"See, that's another proof that football is superior to Quidditch," Dean commented sagely. "You can never have a football match that ends this soon."
"Too true," Sophie agreed, and their more wizarding-inclined friends only rolled their eyes.
"Why would anyone prefer a sport with only one ball, where no one flies, to Quidditch?" Seamus expressed all of their opinions succinctly.
Hagrid pushed his way to Harry through the crowd. "That was great, Harry, so great! I've never seen anyone fly that way before! Not even yer father could fly like that."
Harry turned to him curiously. "You remember my dad's flying? You never mentioned him..."
"Makes me sad to speak of him, 'specially with you," Hagrid muttered. "But he was great. Seems to me, though, yer even better."
Harry blushed a little. "Thanks," he said. "There's some discontent about how quickly I caught the Snitch."
Hagrid waved his hand. "Ah," he said, "you'll learn to time it better to your team's needs in time. But that talent you have, well, that can't be learned, you know?"
"Gee, thanks," Seamus muttered under his breath as Hagrid turned to leave.
"What?" Harry asked curiously
"Well, I'd really like to be a good flyer one day, you know...but I don't really have the talent. I thought with enough practice...well, seems Hagrid doesn't think so."
"I don't think Hagrid is exactly s Quidditch specialist," Ron observed. "I wouldn't take his words too much to heart.
"I'd love to have you on the team one day!" Harry added, trying to cheer his team up.
"Thanks," Seamus said, giving him a grateful smile.
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The Burkes and the Shacklebolts were dining at Travers Manor that evening, and Alduin was only half attending to the conversation, looking at Nathan speculatively and considering.
It's been over a month since he had heard the prophecy, and over a months since he started spending good part of many of his nights drinking in his study. Just a few days ago, upon seeing his guilty look at breakfast, Alexandra had sighed and said: "You're not a child, Alduin, so don't expect me to treat you as such" in such a resigned tone he thought he would go up in flames from all the same he felt. So that was when he told himself he had to stop, or at least start to get better. A month was enough, had to be enough, he told himself. He had given himself time to cope, and now was the time to act.
That was why he was looking at Nathan. Just as he hadn't talked to Abdullah after his parents died, he had talked to Nathan, as soon as the first wave of grief passed. He needed to plan what to do, and Nathan with his wealth of relevant knowledge was the perfect person to talk to.
This was not a war, of course, but still, habit was pushing him in Nathan's direction. He needed a concrete plan of action if he wanted to break the vicious circle he managed to get himself into. He was about to have a son, and Harry needed him. This was no time to break down. Back in the war, he could drink and no one was the wiser. Well, at least… Eliza had known, of course, she had known perfectly well, but she didn't have to witness it. Alexandra was involved in a more direct way, and she didn't deserve that.
He had no right to be so whiny, anyway. It wasn't even his life that was ruined by the bloody prophecy. If he reacted like this to only hearing it, how would Harry react, the one it actually concerned? Let's just hope he's made of tougher stuff than you are, Alduin thought self-deprecatingly.
But it was just hard. All he wanted, ever since he woke up from that coma, was to have a family again, and to keep it safe this time. It seemed that was simply not in the cards for him.
His thoughts were interrupted when Theodore quietly spoke to him, standing very close. "Whatever it is that is going on, you should get a grip."
Alduin blinked at him.
"I'd say it's none of my business," Theodore continued, "but Alexandra is my sister, and she is expecting your child. She has certain rights."
Alduin was still mostly confused. He was well aware that he didn't always look completely put together by breakfast, but he also knew for absolute certain that there was never a hair out of place on him by the time he was in public. His good friends would be able to tell, but Theodore wasn't one of those. "I'm not sure what you're referring to..." He began.
Theodore gave a small sigh. "Alexandra doesn't exactly complain, you see, but I can see she's worried. And Isobel said she and Abdullah both noticed something was not quite right. As I said, I don't mean to poke my nose into your personal business, but whatever it is that's bothering you, I very much doubt it's more important than the birth of your son, which, let me remind you, is just around the corner."
He was right, Alduin realized. Somehow, in all that had been going on, he had forgotten how near Alexandra's delivery date was. Whatever he wanted to do about Harry, whatever discussions he wanted to have with Nathan, it could all wait. There was just one thing he should be concentrating on right now, and damn him for forgetting that even for an instant, let alone for a month.
He nodded stiffly. "Thank you," he said.
Theodore gave him a careful look. Whatever he found, he seemed satisfied with it. "You're welcome," he said simply, and left. Alduin took a deep breath.
He should probably ask Alexandra's forgiveness. He could only hope she could actually grant it.
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Ron's birthday was coming up, and Harry and his friends were trying to figure out a way to celebrate it properly at Hogwarts without having any opportunity to go anywhere special, or get special food.
"Fred and George always seem to know where to get food," Sophie pointed out. "Maybe we should ask them."
"Good point," Harry admitted. "And maybe I could ask Alduin for a tip for a good place for celebration...even though I'm not sure he's the right person, but he might have heard something from my father or someone." Harry couldn't imagine his cousin doing anything but studying while at Hogwarts. Even his friendship with Mr. Abdullah was probably built on reading together or something.
"It's definitely the best option, at any rate," Neville commented, and Harry had to agree. He couldn't imagine trying to ask Neville's Gran, and Seamus' mother hadn't gone to Hogwarts.
Fred and George were helpful enough, and explained how to get to the Hogwarts kitchens. Harry was very grateful for his invisibility cloak now, and was planning the expedition with Sophie and Neville – he couldn't really fit more than three people under it, even that was difficult – when the letter from Alduin arrived.
It didn't really contain any particular tips. From the way he told it, it seemed like in Ravenclaw, birthday parties basically meant giving the person in question a lot of books and leaving them alone to read them. But it did tell him that if there was someone who knew everything about Hogwarts rooms it was the ghosts and portraits and "I suppose the house-elves, too". And since they were already headed to the kitchens anyway, they decided to try their luck.
On the way there, they ran into Ernie and Justin. "Harry!" Ernie cried, clearly surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Um...we're going to the kitchens. "
"Is that allowed?" Justin asked curiously.
Harry wasn't sure. He had hoped no one would ask.
"It's very improper at least," Ernie stated primly. "I'm surprised at you, Harry."
Harry wondered if the surprise would carry him far enough to write home about it. He prayed not. "We have a very important mission," he said, and Ernie shook his head at him and left him in the corridor feeling vaguely guilty.
It was worth it, though. The results exceeded any expectations they might have had. They were promised as much food as they could possibly want, and as for the location… "There is the come and go room, Miss and Sirs," one of the elves said.
"Come and go room?" Harry asked, confused.
"It is a room that can change into anything you want it to change into," another one explained. "Lotty will show you!"
She did, and they were amazed. This was going to be the best party ever.
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Ron was amazed as well, once he got to see it. "You really didn't have to," he said, staring at the piles of food before him. Dean had made a fantastic banner saying "happy birthday, Ron," they charmed it to change colours and hung it in the room. It looked very festive.
"But we wanted to," Sophie pointed out, and plopped down into one of the comfy armchairs the Room provided.
Harry grabbed a plate and piled some sweets on it. "Besides," he said, "we get to stuff ourselves too, so it's not like there's nothing in it for us."
"Word," Dead agreed, or at least Harry thought so – the boy's mouth was full, so it wasn't easy do decipher what he was saying.
Neville was the most moderate of them all. At their looks, he only shrugged uncomfortably. "My Gran always says I should be careful about what I eat," he explained.
"Neville, mate, it's my birthday," Ron argued. "I want you to enjoy yourself and forget what your Gran says for a while."
"Besides," Harry added, "I don't think Alduin would exactly agree with what I'm doing here either, but that's part of the charm of Hogwarts, isn't it? That our guardians don't find out what we get up to here."
The others were nodding enthusiastically, and so Neville relented and took some more cake.
"I can't believe Ron's the oldest here," Seamus commented, sprawling in an armchair. "He certainly doesn't seem it, does he?"
"Hey!" The birthday boy protested.
"He is right, you know," Sophie said, sticking out her tongue. "But then I'm not that much younger than you are, and girls are known to be mentally older than boys, so-"
"Really?" Seamus said, sniggering. "So why don't you spend more time with Parvati and Lavender?"
Sophie made a face. "Okay, some girls," she qualified her statement. They had had a long discussion whether to ask Parvati and Lavender to the party, but in the end, they decided not to. Lately both girls seemed to spend most of their time whispering to each other and giggling, and even when they talked to the rest of them, there were always many meaningful looks and winks. It was rather tiring, and Ron complained about it frequently. The others have decided that since it was his birthday, he had the right to have a break from something that irritated him.
"But maybe they really are older," Dean mused. "I mean, we're all supposed to turn into teenagers and start snogging left, right and centre soon, aren't we?" A bunch of disgusted faces was his answer, but he continued undeterred: "So maybe they really are ahead of us, because the seem much more willing to do that than I feel!"
Everyone laughed. "You may have a point here, mate," Ron admitted.
"Wait, have you actually seen…?" Neville wondered.
"Ugh, no! But they do talk about it a lot, don't they?"
"About snogging?" Sophie asked, looking faintly revolted.
"Not exactly, but about dating people, and who dates whom, and such."
"It's true," Seamus supported him. "I heard them discussing who some guy called Maurice was dating just yesterday, and I don't even know who that is..."
"Maurice is dating someone?" Harry and Neville asked at the same time, and laughed.
Seamus blinked at them. "Er, yeah, apparently? But who's…?"
"He's a Gryffindor fourth year," Harry replied. "Maurice Shacklebolt. We know him a little – but he didn't really talk to us much during the summer, being all grown up already, you know."
"You see?" Dean commented. "It's like I said. All grown up, means he's dating someone." He paused. "How do you go about staying eleven forever?"
There was another bout of laugher. "I dunno about that," Ron said then. "I mean, I have a bunch of older brothers, remember? And none of them seem to really...I mean, I'm pretty sure Fred and George aren't dating anyone, and Percy certainly isn't. And if Charlie did, I bet I'd have heard about it. I dunno about Bill, he's too much older and too much away for me to have any idea."
"My eldest brother totally has girlfriends," Sophie said. "A new one every month, or so it seems to me. One dumber than the other to be honest. It didn't exactly convince me that this whole dating this was something I should try."
"Let's make a pact not to do it," Dean proposed.
"Sounds like something we might regret later," Neville pointed out.
"Uh-huh, Neville, got your eye on someone?" Ron asked with a laugh.
Neville went crimson red. "No, that's not what I meant," he muttered.
"Leave him alone," Harry immediately jumped to his friend's defence. "Why are we talking about this, if we just agreed we were completely disinterested? Let's not forget Hufflepuff is playing Slytherin next week. That's what I want to discuss."
Seamus rolled his eyes. "What's to discuss about that? Slytherin will flatten them."
"Listen to the man for he is wise," Ron agreed. "The Puffs don't stand a chance, as sorry as I am to say it."
"I dunno," Harry mused, "I think Diggory is a decent Seeker."
"What are you talking about?" Dean asked. "You beat him in like five minutes!"
"Yeah, but I got really lucky in that match. Did you see him against Ravenclaw? They stood no chance."
"The Claw team is the worst," Seamus conceded, "but still, I don't think one good Seeker can balance out an entire team."
"That's what I said," Harry pointed out, "depends on how lucky you get. If he spots the Snitch early on, well, that's the Hufflepuff victory in the pocket. If not, then it goes to Slytherin, I agree. Their Chasers are second only to ours."
"What would you say is the Gryffindor's team's main weakness?" Dean asked him curiously.
"Huh. That's really hard to say. I mean, Fred and George are brilliant at their job, but Wood is pretty good too, and like I said, our Chasers are a well-oiled machine..." He frowned. "Can we have no weaknesses?"
Dean laughed. "Well, it'd explain the two victories, one in five minutes and another in spite of having a handicapped Seeker."
"Our weakness is being too gentle," Ron interrupted. "The Gryffindor team – except my brothers I guess – is too unwilling to play dirty, and sometimes you need to do that."
Everyone looked at him in amazement. "You're right," Harry realized, "that was spot on."
Ron's ears turned bright red.
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