Chapter 22

Returns

Cody spent a few extra peaceful minutes at the top of The Statue of Liberty on his way home. He knew his mom would be awaiting his return and she wouldn't allow him much peace until she was satisfied she'd heard every last detail of the night.

So, he stood and pondered his evening as he took in the sights and sounds. It truly had been a rollercoaster of a night, but what to make of the things that had come to pass towards the end? That was still up in the air and he wouldn't get any resolution for at least a week, and probably not even then. Once the chill of the wind became more than he cared to tolerate he decided to head home.

He walked out of his room and found his mom, Sirius and Dominique sitting on the couch together, watching TV, the latter two sitting a little closer together than just casual acquaintances. He couldn't help the inward smile that grew but he kept his expression stoic.

'How was the dance?' Jennifer exclaimed in excitement.

'Yeah, tell us all about it,' Dominique added. Her presence was unexpected. Sure she was one of his extra moms, but she wouldn't have ever been waiting for his return like this. There was something brewing between her and Sirius, not that Cody was upset by that. Sirius needed some more human interaction.

'It was fun. I'm really tired, so—'

'Oh, no you don't! Sit your little tushy down,' Jennifer commanded.

'Can't I get out of my tux first?'

'No, cause then you won't come back.'

'Fine,' Cody relented as he sat in the unoccupied sofa chair. 'What do you want to know?'

'Well, everything. But just start at the beginning. What was Ginny wearing?' Jennifer asked.

Cody went through the night describing attire, and decorations when prompted.

'Hold on!' Jennifer interrupted. 'Did you just say you danced with Daphne while you were pretending to be Harry?'

'I don't pretend to be Harry,' he replied in indignation. 'It's just another version of me.'

'Sure sure, it's just hard for me to wrap my head around. Did she recognize you?'

'I don't think so. I let my eyes be my natural color and I was taller. And I used my British accent—'

'I've got to hear this,' Dominique declared. 'I love Sirius' accent. Tell us the rest of the story with it.'

'No.'

'Please, Harry,' Dominique said with a playful smile.

'Fine,' he relented with a small shake of the head. He continued his story much to the satisfaction of the women while Sirius buried his head in his hands.

'What is it? Isn't his accent cute?' Dominique asked Sirius.

Sirius looked up, 'No, it's horrid.'

'What do you mean?' Jennifer asked.

'It sounds like he is from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.'

'Well, it is just me picking up words and stuff from my classmates.'

'Exactly, it's a miracle no one picked up on it,' Sirius added.

'Maybe so, but I didn't talk to that many people.'

'I think it's cute,' Dominique reiterated. 'Go on, tell us more about this second dance with Daphne. This is the one you like, right, Jennifer?'

'Yes, I think she has spunk. Celine is nice and friendly from all I can gather,' Jennifer answered.

'Maybe a little too friendly,' Dominique suggested with a waggle of her eyebrows, drawing a glare from Jennifer and a chuckle from Sirius.

'Will you two stop?' Cody scowled.

'Ok, I'm sorry, please continue,' Dominique said, twirling her hand.

Cody went on describing his interaction with Daphne.

'Finally got someone to do the transformation with, that's good,' Sirius said.

'But I thought you said she hated school?' Jennifer asked.

'She hates doing schoolwork, but she likes learning things,' Cody answered.

'I can relate to that,' Dominique said.

'I think we all can,' Sirius added.

'Now, this sounds wonderful, Cody, but you made a pretty big faux pas in not finding your girlfriend for your first dance,' Dominique opined.

'Uh, yeah, about that. . .' Cody said bashfully, and he related what took place next.

'Oh, honey, I'm so sorry,' Jennifer consoled.

'Aww, your first breakup, I wish I could tell you it only gets easier. . .' Dominique added.

'Yeah, it's not what I was expecting, that's for sure,' Cody said.

'But it seems like you might stay friends, that's better than most,' Jennifer added in an upbeat tone.

'Right, I guess that's good.'

'It is,' Sirius declared. 'Trust me, you don't want a scorned woman after you, justified or not.'

'Have you left many broken hearts in your wake?' Dominique asked.

'I know better than to answer that question,' Sirius said with a grin. Then changing the subject, he asked, 'So was the Ball over when you got back?'

'Not quite, and get this. . .' Cody was much happier in describing his guitar performance and he could see the happiness in his mom's face. He tried not to exaggerate anything but he also attempted not to downplay anything either. He knew it might sound a little arrogant to an outsider but he just wanted them to hear the truth, and the truth was he rocked out.

'Now I'm upset I wasn't able to go,' Jennifer exclaimed. 'I can barely get you to play at home and yet, you play for your whole school.'

'I just kinda got caught up in the moment.'

Cody didn't go into the mental connection he had experienced with Daphne. He wasn't sure what it even was and his mom would only badger him further and she was being so comforting, he didn't want to spoil that right now.

'And you played my song,' Jennifer said wistfully.

'Yeah, it finally came in handy. Thanks for making me learn it.'

'It was for selfish reasons but I'm happy it was useful.'

'You know what this means, right?' Sirius asked, as much to Jennifer as to Cody.

'What?' he answered in curiosity.

After pausing for a beat and glancing between Cody and Jennifer, Sirius explained, 'Well, once it gets out that you are single again, you're gonna get a lot more attention.'

'I don't know about that,' Cody replied.

'Just wait, you'll see. You might've flown under the radar before, but after your guitar stunt, that won't be the case anymore.'

'I guess we'll see,' Cody said dismissively while Jennifer sported an apprehensive look. Despite all the evidence at hand, she still didn't like to admit her little boy was growing up. 'But I really am tired, so I'm gonna go to bed now.'

'Ok, Goodnight, sweetie,' Jennifer said as he walked to his bedroom.

The next day Cody was walking the streets with his friends telling them some of his experiences from the day before. They weren't as persistent about hearing some of the details his mom was and even Victor was sympathetic to his breakup.

'Breakups suck but it sounds like you got off easy,' Victor said.

'You would say that,' Cody teased.

'Good news is now you will find out if that other chick likes you.'

'Oh? And how do you figure that?'

'Well, once she finds out that you broke up, if she likes you, she will break up with her boyfriend,' Victor explained matter-of-factly.

'Oh, really?' Cody replied challengingly.

'Yeah, if she hasn't broke up by the time you get back, you can just move on.'

'Don't listen to him,' Jamal declared. 'I mean, maybe that's right, in one scenario, but there's no way that's the only thing that could happen.'

'You just don't want to admit that I'm right,' Victor said.

'The only thing you're right about is that he shouldn't get hung up on just one girl. If she is with some other guy then you should date whoever you want.'

'Well, I'll keep that all in mind,' Cody said.

As they walked they noticed various people cleaning up their Christmas decorations and many of them dragging their dying Christmas trees out to the side of the road to be picked up by the garbage truck.

'How fast do you think those things would burn?' Victor asked.

'That one is still pretty green. I don't know how easy it would catch,' Jamal observed.

'I'll bet it would still catch,' Cody said.

'And in a couple more days. . .' Victor added with a gleam in his eyes.

'Man, we can't just go lighting stuff on fire. There's a word for that, I just can't remember it,' Jamal stated.

'It's called arson and we'd only get in trouble if something important burned,' Victor replied calmly.

'See! You couldn't even say you were ignorant.'

'What if we found a place to burn them?' Cody asked.

'A bonfire! Yeah! But where?' Victor asked.

'Hey, people do bonfires at the beach,' Jamal said.

'That's good, but how are we gonna get enough trees there to make it good?'

'Miles, from the team, has a truck.'

'Hey,' Cody called out as he was pulling a tree down a nearby alley. 'Come here.'

Victor and Jamal followed him until they were out of sight from the street.

'What—' Victor started.

'Whoa!' Jamal breathed.

Cody had shrunk the tree to fit in the palm of his hand.

'We can take as many trees as we want.'

'Alright! But we should probably still have Miles take a load or two so people don't get too suspicious,' Jamal added.

'Ok, let's go get the word out. Let these trees dry out for a couple of days, then we can light them up,' Victor said with excitement.

A couple of days later they pulled up to the section of beach that permitted fires along with Miles and a truck bed full of trees.

They had only told a few people about their plan but word seemed to have spread like wildfire and there was lots of chatter about how many kids were going to join them that evening.

Miles left with his friends to get another load of trees while Cody, Jamal, and Victor stayed behind to set up the fire pit and get the other trees in order. Cody pulled out a backpack, started pulling out miniature trees and enlarging them as he set them next to the line of trees to be thrown into the fire. He had more than doubled the number of trees that the truckload had hauled in.

Victor and Jamal grinned.

'What are we gonna tell them when they get back?' Cody asked.

'Don't worry about it,' Victor responded assuredly.

'I don't like the sound of that, but oh well.'

Over an hour later, Miles and his friends were stunned at the number of trees that were present upon their return.

'Where did you get all those?' he asked.

'Magic,' Victor replied with a cheeky grin.

'Oh, come on! You're not gonna tell us, are you?' Miles asked as they all took part in unloading the truckbed of trees.

'A magician never reveals his secrets.'

'You obviously have someone else bringing them in. That's fine. More trees to burn, better fire.'

Victor just nodded and winked at Cody, who shrugged.

'Well, I guess that worked,' Cody said softly to Jamal.

'Unless you actually showed them, no one would ever believe it. So, let them come up with their own ideas and let them think they are right,' Jamal replied.

Cody nodded to that. He had forgotten how hard it would be to believe the things he could do without being able to witness them. And even then, he knew most people would be skeptical at first.

The sun was setting and more and more kids from their school were showing up, some even bringing along friends or family that were in town for the holidays.

Once darkness set upon the beach, Victor took a match and set a tree on fire. It didn't take long for the pyramid of trees that were leaning against each other to light ablaze and the flame shot into the sky.

Oohs and ahhs, along with gasps of admiration were heard amongst the crowd, who all had to start taking steps back from the heat that was generated.

They spent the next while feeding the fire and standing around it, enjoying the heat. While standing around the fire he met eyes with an old nemesis who was approaching with a couple of his own friends.

'What are you doing here?' Cody asked.

'Didn't know you had a claim on the public beach,' Brandon retorted. He had grown considerably, a different build than Dudley but likely still in the same weight class.

'I can tell you that you're not welcome here.'

'What are you going to do about it?' Brandon asked while extending his arms in a challenging fashion. 'England making you soft, Cody?'

Cody stepped forward but his friends didn't let him go alone and they were right by his side.

Chelsea had been nearby and quickly came up and grabbed his arm, 'Cody, just leave it. He's not worth the effort.'

'Yeah, listen to Quasimodo and just run away,' Brandon sneered.

Cody started towards Brandon but Jamal firmly grabbed his arm to hold him back. Chelsea had her arms wrapped around Victor and she was whispering in his ear to calm him down, his face portrayed a ferocity to rival the Hungarian Horntail from the first task.

Others, who had only been faintly paying attention before heard the last comment and quickly became more engaged in the potential altercation. Many of the kids that had been in observational mode quickly congregated behind Cody and his friends, completely skewing the balance of power.

'Good job, Brandon, now you'll never get him one on one,' one of the friends said as he noticed the mounting number of supporters on Cody's side.

'It wouldn't have mattered. He never would've gone through with a fair fight,' Brandon responded.

'Give me a break, there is no chance of a fair fight between us. Not that you would deserve it anyway,' Cody spat.

Brandon's friends were already taking a couple of steps back, not wanting to have this escalate any further given the numbers of their adversary.

'I know it was you! You and your stupid friends. Don't think I've forgotten!' Brandon seethed.

Cody quirked a corner of his mouth and gave a noncommittal shrug.

'We should go,' one of the friends said.

'Let's go Brandon!' the other one said more forcefully.

'You're lucky,' Brandon declared, pointing a finger at Cody. 'But it won't always be like this. One day you won't be lucky.'

'Just get out of here,' Cody responded.

Brandon was already turning his back on the crowd and he and his friends were soon gone.

Cody spent the next while mingling, reminiscing with friends and making sure the fire was properly fueled. Eventually, he was ready for a break and he saw Jamal sitting by Sierra on a blanket with Stephanie on her other side. He decided to talk to her and sat himself on the blanket.

'Hey, I almost thought you were avoiding me,' Stephanie said with a playful smile.

'I—Uh.'

'I'm just teasing you, Cody. This is wonderful. Would've been a shame to spoil it by getting in a fight,' she said with a slightly reproachful look.

'What? I didn't start anything,' he claimed in innocence.

'Riiight. Well, it's good to know England hasn't changed you too much. This was such a fun idea and there's so many trees, it must've taken you guys forever to get all these down here.'

He looked down to see Jamal covering up a smile.

'Yeah, it is cool but it didn't take all that long. We had loads of help and we didn't really have much else to do.'

'Well, it's nice you guys thought of this. Tell me more about England, I know writing gets boring. And you said no wrestling team, so are you playing any sports?'

'No, they kinda play weird sports there and I haven't really taken to them.'

'Do you mean like soccer and rugby? I've heard they play those a lot more than here.'

'Yeah, kinda like those. So I just keep up with my own exercises to stay in shape for when I come back.'

'You might come back!?!' Stephanie exclaimed as she perked up.

'No, I just meant so I can whoop up on Jamal and Victor when I'm here on vacation.'

'Ha!' Jamal cried from the other side of the blanket and the girls laughed along and Cody pondered the hope that he had detected in Stephanie's voice.

'Oh, yeah. I remember you saying you were gonna finish high school there. I thought maybe you were changing your plans.'

'That's still the plan,' Cody said somewhat somberly.

'I'm still jealous,' Stephanie said more joyfully, wiping away her somewhat downcast moment.

Then Sierra piped in with what she thought was a joke, 'So, Cody, have you had any British girlfriends while you were there?'

'Try French,' Jamal said in a muffled cough that didn't actually hide the words.

Both girls shot wide-eyed glances back and forth between Jamal and Cody to try and decipher if this was some joke set up between the two of them. The miniature scowl on Cody's face, combined with the slight grimace on Jamal's proved that the truth had accidentally been revealed.

'I better get some more trees on the fire,' Jamal said, jumping to his feet.

Sierra caught him by the wrist, 'Oh no you don't, not without me.' She got up and the two hurried away towards the stack of trees awaiting their demise.

'So, about this girlfriend. . .' Stephanie started slowly, a teasing smile on her face. 'I'm guessing she's from one of the foreign schools you mentioned'—she let out a little laugh—'I guess they're all foreign to me.'

He also laughed at her little joke, 'Yeah, she's from France.' The bit about them recently breaking up was about to leave his mouth but he held it in. That could lead to a bunch of other questions he didn't want to have to answer, or dodge, so he let her fill in her own puzzle.

If she was sad she wasn't letting it show, she appeared more pensive than anything. 'And. . . so. . . why didn't you tell me about her?' she asked rather hesitantly. He could tell she was very unsure of whether or not to ask the question.

He thought about the question for a moment, one he had never considered much before.

'Hmm. I don't really know. I guess—well, for one thing, we never really said we were boyfriend and girlfriend.'

She shot him a knowing look. 'Come on. Really?' She wasn't going to accept that answer.

'Uh, well, I guess, I always knew she was going back to France at the end of the school year. So it was never going to be some long-lasting thing. And maybe I assumed you wouldn't want to hear about that sort of thing.'

She pursed her lips slightly while in thought, and nodded her head a bit. 'Hmm,' she said, a small, almost satisfied smile appeared on her face. 'I guess I'll have to accept that. It's getting cold now that Sierra left, do you think your girlfriend will care if you warm me up a little?'

She snuggled into him, not waiting for a response, her shoulder under his arm which had no choice but to wrap around her.

'No, actually, I don't think she will mind at all,' he replied with a bit more surety than a guy with a girlfriend should.

Stephanie turned her head up at him sharply, eyebrows raised in question, her brown eyes with a new, yet recognizable gleam in them.

This was not what he had anticipated.

Did Wrackspurts follow him here? Or did he just bring them with him? He must be an endless pool of confusion.

His heart started beating faster. He was free of any commitments. There would be no harm in doing something here. But the thought of another girl, a girl he had never had any commitment to, gave him pause, and he couldn't even exactly say why.

The hesitancy must have shown on his face because before he had time to make any move or comment, Stephanie turned her head back down and rested it on his shoulder.

She let out a satisfied sigh, still expressing her contentment with the current situation.

He wasn't all that displeased himself.

'You smell so piney. I like it,' she said.

He just hmmmed a response, unsure what else to say.

People began trickling away as the last of the trees were thrown on the fire, there would be heat emanating from the pit for a long time.

Stephanie looked at her watch then sat up. 'I better get going. It's been good seeing you again, Cody. I'll do better at writing you. You better do the same,' she said forcefully but with a friendly smile.

'I will. It was good seeing you too.'

She gave him an extra long hug and left with a couple of her friends.

Sierra walked up to the three boys and took Jamal's hand. 'This thing is going to take forever to go out,' she said, indicating the bright orange embers. 'Walk me to my car?' she asked Jamal.

They walked away together.

'Should we start throwing sand on it?' Victor asked.

'Nah, let's just wait for everyone to go. We'll have it out in no time.'

Victor smiled in response. He liked watching magic.

Jamal came back to the group and the last of their friends left after exclaiming how cool the experience had been.

'Alright, Cody, what cool trick are you going to show us now?' Victor asked with excitement.

Without directly answering the question he fired off an Aguamenti Charm and steam erupted from the firepit. He kept the water flowing until the steam lessened and all that was left was the charred black coals.

'Just water?' Victor asked in disappointment.

'Out of thin air,' Jamal cried in amazement. 'Where does the water come from?'

'I don't know, man. I don't ask those kinds of questions. I just do the magic,' Cody replied.

'Ok, well, fire's out, guess we can go home now,' Victor said, and they made their way home.

They spent the next few days just hanging out and one day the topic of the second task came up.

'What's your plan for the second task?' Sirius asked.

'I'm thinking of getting some scuba gear,' Cody replied.

'What's that?'

All the boys added their descriptions of the equipment involved. Sirius seemed to grasp the idea pretty well.

'Are you going to show up with it on? Or what?'

'I hadn't really thought about that yet.'

'You know this is as much a test of your use of magic as your ability to complete the task, right?' Sirius explained.

'Hmm, I hadn't considered that either. What if I shrunk them and then enlarged them as part of the task?'

'That would be something . . . simple, but better than nothing, I'd say,' Sirius agreed.

'You don't think scuba gear is too non-magical?' Cody asked, interested in his opinion.

'I do, and that's why I'll encourage it. The faces on those wizards when you start using muggle technology to defeat their magical competition will be priceless.'

'But if I found a way to incorporate more magic, I'd have a better chance at getting a higher score?'

'Definitely.'

'Cody, I think the scuba thing is a fine idea but I think there are some regulations on the equipment. I don't know that just anybody can obtain it,' Jennifer said.

'Do you think we could find out at one of those diving stores?'

'Yeah, that's probably the best way to go about it. If this is your plan, that is.'

'Might as well try it out first, I guess.'

It took them a while, but eventually, they found a dive shop. They quickly learned that, yes, a person needed to have a certification before equipment would be rented or sold to them. That was disappointing but when the worker explained some of the complications that could happen if things were done improperly, the training made sense.

'Well, starting in January, we will have a weekday course that will run six weeks, and a weekend course that will run three weeks, if you are interested in a certification,' the worker explained.

'The weekend course would be best,' Cody said.

'Ok, let's get you signed up. Good thing your mom is here, we'll need a waiver form signed by her. Anyone else want to sign up?' he asked the others in the group. They all shook their heads, even if they wanted to, wrestling season wouldn't allow the free time to take the course.

Once all the paperwork was done, Cody got measured and had his equipment fitted to him. His courses would be the last three Saturdays in January, the first two at a pool, then the last session would be a dive in open water. After completion of the course, he would be free to purchase or rent equipment whenever he liked.

He wondered how much McGonagall would make him tell her when he requested three consecutive weekends off this close to break. He didn't dwell on this for long though, he was content with the outcome of this excursion and the return to school was coming too quick for him to give it any more of his brainpower.

Sunday arrived before he knew it and although Monday was a Holiday and there was no school, Professor McGonagall had asked that he arrive back at school Sunday evening, which meant he had to leave late morning from Los Angeles.

He rounded up Key who wasn't exactly thrilled about going back to the cold but came willingly, said his goodbyes to his friends and his mom, who was staying in California for the time being. The goodbyes were made easier by the fact he would be returning fairly often over the next month. Then, he and Sirius Portkeyed their way back to England.

He dropped Sirius off at the manor, though Sirius insisted on not living there permanently, he still had a certain rat on his mind that he suspected would turn up at or around Hogwarts at some point. But Sirius had expressed an interest in taking up his offer to use the House Elves for some travelling, visits back to California, in all likelihood. And Cody smiled knowingly when Sirius brought up this topic, there was no point in fighting it.

'Just don't mess her around,' Cody threatened playfully, even though he didn't feel Sirius was going for any of that, he still had to tease him.

Sirius made a defensive look before realizing Cody was teasing. 'I'd like to say those days are behind me,' Sirius said. 'But since you are only available on the weekends, it'll be nice to talk to some people the other days of the week.'

'Yeah, I'm glad you all get along. Guess I'll see you around,' Cody said before stepping through the floo into Professor McGonagall's office.

He looked around the office but didn't see any signs of his Head of House. A House Elf he hadn't noticed squeaked in surprise.

'You are to stay here. I go get Missy Minny,' the House Elf said before popping away.

He figured that the Elf was just doing her job so he took a seat and helped himself to a biscuit from the plate McGonagall always had at the ready.

Soon enough, Professor McGonagall entered the office and quickly made her way around to her side of the desk.

'I apologize for not being here for your arrival but I realized we hadn't set a specific time and I had some tasks to work on,' she said.

'That's ok, I haven't been waiting long.'

'And you made yourself comfortable.' She indicated the biscuits that he had obviously been eating. 'But no tea?'

'I wasn't feeling adventurous,' Cody replied with a coy smile.

'Oh, it's just mint. You might like it, give it a try,' she encouraged.

'Ok,' he said without putting up a fight. He scooped heaps of sugar into the cup to ensure he could tolerate the tea.

She watched rather intently as he took a sip.

'It's good,' he declared.

'Very well,' she said in satisfaction.

Something told him this was something of a mission for her, to get him to like drinking tea. He would continue to hold out for the time being.

'I'm guessing you want to go over my schedule for the semester. There are a bunch of classes I don't need to take anymore,' he said.

'Precisely. You will still need to take those classes, just not with the first years. If things go as well as they did for the first half of the year, you'll be done with all third-year class work at the end of term.'

They went over the class schedule and it was going to be just as busy as before. He was going to have to rely on his tutors to catch him up with the third year material but Professor McGonagall had no doubts he could pull it off.

'And considering tonight is New Year's Eve you are free to stay up but not outside your common room, sorry,' she said consolingly. She seemed to think she was delivering bad news.

'Oh,' he said as he realized why she'd think that would be disappointing to him. 'I guess I'll get by. But I do have a bit of a request,' he prompted, ready to use her sympathetic mood to his advantage.

'And what is that?' She asked while lacing her fingers together and leaving forward, resting her elbows and forearms on the desk.

'As part of my preparation for the second task I have some training to do on the weekends—just the last three of January.'

'Three weekends in a row? What kind of training are you doing that you need to go all the way home for?'

'It is a non-magical swimming aid I need to learn how to use, since I'm pretty sure I'll be in the lake for the task.'

'Oh,' she gasped, obviously, she wasn't privy to the specifics of the task, yet.

'I plan to use magic too,' he added.

'Well, that will play better with the judges, I'm sure. And I suppose if you are preparing for the task you can have leave on those weekends.'

'Great, thank you, so much.'

'Well, you should go have some fun. The Great Hall should still have food if you're hungry but don't be out of your common room past curfew,' she instructed.

'Alright,' he feigned displeasure just to satisfy her instructions. 'Good night, and Happy New Year.'

'Happy New Year to you as well, Cody. Good night.'

He left the office and decided the Great Hall was a good option for now. He wasn't terribly hungry but that wouldn't last long and if he was going to be stuck in the common room for a few hours, he thought it a good idea to fill up now.

There were few people in the Great Hall, small groups here and there but none that were familiar to him. Then he saw a blonde girl sitting alone at the Ravenclaw table and he recognized her.

He stood opposite her and said, 'Luna, right?'

She looked up at him with her wide eyes and a smile crossed her face. 'Yes, Cody, how are you?'

'I'm good. Do you mind if I sit?'

'It's not my table.'

He laughed to himself as he sat.

'How has your break been?' he asked.

'Oh, it has been lovely.'

'What are you reading?'

'The Quibbler. It's my father's magazine.'

'Upside down?'

'It's the only way,' she replied. She paused and observed him.

He had a small smile on his face, the comment was weird but it was more the way she said it so convincingly that had him smiling. He didn't really have an answer so he just looked back at her.

Luna broke the silence, 'Well, aren't you going to say how weird it is?'

'No, if you already know it's weird, you don't need me to tell you,' he said back, smirking.

Again, she stared back at him, expressionless. Then she bellowed out a loud laugh and dipped her head before throwing it back, a large smile on her face. 'Why didn't you tell me you had a sense of humor?' she asked playfully.

'Didn't know I was supposed to reveal all my secrets from the start,' he said, eliciting a smile from Luna. 'And I can't be critical of anyone else's abnormalities. I have too many of my own.'

'Yes, you do. I got to see that at the Ball. Some might confuse those with talents.'

'Yeah, I guess. Did you have fun at the Yule Ball?'

'It had its ups and downs but mostly ups. You should know, you're part of what made it great. That performance was quite memorable.'

'Yeah, that was really fun. I certainly didn't plan anything like that.'

'How could you? Well. . . I take that back, you could've, and denying it is exactly what someone who did, would say,' Luna said, trying to look at him skeptically.

'You got me,' he said, holding his hands up.

'I knew it. Either way, I still enjoyed it tremendously. And it got my date back out on the dance floor so I suppose I owe you a "thank you." '

'You don't, but I accept anyway.'

'So why aren't you in your common room? Surely, the party has already started.'

'I wanted to get something to eat before being confined to the common room for the night. What about you? You aren't exactly eating anymore.' The plates around her were completely empty.

'No, but I was. I just didn't feel like walking all the way up to the library when it was rather peaceful in here, for a change.'

Cody suspected there was more to it than that, but he didn't press.

He began eating and Luna went back to reading her magazine. He had to strain to figure out the upside-down words on the cover of the magazine.

'Blubbering Humdinger? What is that?' Cody asked.

'It's Blibbering Humdinger, it's a very elusive magical bird. Haven't been seen around here in years but there are reports of a recent sighting in the Netherlands. It's given us a ray of hope they aren't extinct. They are a bit of a misnomer though. See, they don't actually hum, nor do they blibber.'

'Oh, wow, that's. . . something. Are they like Wrackspurts?'

'No, not at all. I notice your Wrackspurt infestation has lessened,' she stated calmly.

'My infestation?' He tried to just sound curious and not display the fear that she had seen right through him the whole time.

'Yes, I wasn't close enough to get a great look at the Ball but you definitely had much more then. It made for a nice esthetic while you were up on stage though, I'd say you could start a new fad if others were perceptive enough to see them.'

'Oh. . . Yeah, I was a big mess at the Yule Ball,' he agreed pleasantly, a giant wave of relief washed over him.

'I wouldn't say it compared to Harry Potter but you had a substantial infestation nonetheless.'

'Harry Potter? Sorry, I missed the first part of the evening.'

'Oh, yes! We danced. He had the worst Wrackspurt infestation I've ever seen. I think he might be in love with me.'

Cody inhaled sharply and choked on the food in his mouth. He took a moment to pound on his chest with a fist to dislodge the bolus from his throat.

Luna continued without paying mind to Cody's plight, 'It was either me or Greengrass that triggered it—she had her fair share of Wrackspurts herself but that's to be expected when meeting someone so famous, even if she's already with Krum—so one can only deduce from that that he fancies me,' Luna said matter of factly.

'And how do you feel about that?' he asked, mimicking the tone of therapists he'd seen on daytime TV.

'It's ok, I guess. I mean, who knows if he will ever figure it out, boys are notoriously bad at that sort of thing.'

Cody couldn't help but laugh a little, 'We really are bad, aren't we?'

Luna just nodded.

'Well, maybe he will someday,' Cody suggested, unsure what to say about the topic but he didn't want to completely dash her hopes.

'I sure hope not. He seemed nice enough but I want someone to go on adventures with and he seemed far too content with his secluded lifestyle.'

Again, he couldn't hold back all his laughter. Luna was a surprise at every turn.

'Yeah, I don't imagine he would want to give that up,' he agreed.

'And that's why it'd be best if he never realized his feelings for me, I wouldn't want to lead him on.'

'You're too nice, Luna,' he said with a big smile.

'You can never be too nice.' Her serious look sobered his joviality.

'Hmm,' Cody wondered aloud as he was finishing his food. 'Well, it's been nice talking to you, Luna. I'm gonna head to my common room now.'

She smiled at him and said, 'It has been an interesting conversation. Have a happy New Year.'

'You too. Bye, Luna.'

'Bye, Cody.'

He entered the boisterous common room without anyone noticing and he quickly slipped up to his dorm and dropped off his things. He did a few Warming Charms on some old t-shirts and stuffed them in a small cardboard box. Then he cut a small flap that Key could push through to get in and out of the box and warm up as she desired. He set up Key in the box and hid it under his bed.

The night sky drew him to the window and he looked down, moonlight dancing over the snow-covered grounds. He could see the Durmstrang ship floating on the lake and the Beauxbatons carriage on the grounds. Celine never would tell him where her room was but she also said it wouldn't matter since the interior didn't match the perception from the exterior and wherever she told him it was wouldn't be the right spot anyway.

He always pictured it to be one of the back windows, she was good friends with Fleur after all, who was a champion and probably got a little more seclusion than the common student. So, that is where his gaze fell and he felt a sense of longing, a week of distraction hadn't completely driven away his feelings for her. He wondered if she might be missing him in the same way he was realizing he was missing her.

He was broken from his musings by Neville entering the dormitory.

'Hey, when did you get back?' Neville asked.

'Oh, not too long ago. I was just dropping my stuff and looking out at the snow. It's still so foreign to me.'

'Yeah, well, it gets old pretty fast. But you should come down. We got tournaments of Exploding Snap, Gobstones, and chess. Not to mention a bunch of treats and drinks.'

'That sounds fun, I'll be down in a minute. Thanks, Neville.'

'Sure,' Neville said as he grabbed something out of his trunk and headed out of the room and back downstairs.

Cody took one last glance out the window then made his way down the stairs to the party.

His foot barely hit the floor of the common room before someone grabbed his wrist and pulled him off to a semi-secluded corner.

It was Ginny, her brown eyes blazing, with what, he couldn't tell.

'Nice going, Cody!' Ginny hissed in accusation.

'Huh? What are you talking about?' He was surprised by her anger, yes, it was clearly anger that was burning in her eyes. He could understand her being mad at him had Harry not responded so favorably to their joke but he had made sure that wasn't an issue.

'Didn't you realize that scar would be a memory of Harry's dead parents?'

'Uh, no. I didn't—' Hadn't they been through this already? They had, Ginny just didn't know it. And he couldn't let her realize that either. That meant pretending to be sorry, eating some crow, and letting her chew him out if she so desired. 'Sorry, I should've thought about that.'

'Yeah, well, you didn't. And I was left to do damage control.' Her gaze stayed fixed on him. She sure did a good job at suppressing this during the dance, he was sure she had gotten over it.

'Was it that bad?' His pride was taking a hit but he just wanted to get this over with.

Ginny ducked her head and her shoulders began to tremble and her head shook.

Goodness, was she crying? Come on.

He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder and apologized again, 'Ginny, I'm really sorry. I wish—'

Ginny raised her head and though there were the beginnings of tears in her eyes, they weren't of the sad sort. No, she had a mirthful grin spreading across her face and her shoulders were bouncing with laughter. 'You are so gullible,' she stated.

'Huh?' Again he played dumb, but on the inside, he let out a sigh of relief that she was just teasing him. He would much rather be the butt of a good joke than have to deal with a crying girl.

Ginny went on to explain to him all the things he already knew about how their prank had played out and he responded happy and surprised at all the right times.

'So I take it you had a good time?' he asked.

'The best! He was such a good dancer. I could barely move the next day. I was so sore.'

'That's good. I got there for like the last hour but I don't remember seeing you. What were you up to then?' He added a set of raised eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes. 'Not you too.'

'Me too, what?' He really didn't know what she was referring to here.

'Everyone thinks we went to snog that whole time,' Ginny replied in exasperation.

'Well. . . did you?' That hadn't crossed his mind either and he had to fight the laughter from escaping him.

'No!' she declared. 'Not that I would've minded but we didn't, and nobody believes me.'

'I mean, if you two were just hiding out for an hour, people are going to suspect things.'

'Yeah, well, none of it's true. I just showed him all around the castle. Honestly, I got the feeling he might have a girlfriend.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, but that's just my suspicion, I never asked or anything.'

'Ginny!' Their attention was drawn by one of Ginny's friends calling for her, it was her turn in the Gobstones tournament.

'Did you get in the Gobstones tournament?' Ginny asked.

'No, but I'll come watch,' he responded and followed her over and settled in amongst the students that circled the area set up for the players.

He watched a few games before extricating himself from the hoard of people. He immediately regretted his decision as he was ambushed by Lavender and Parvati.

'Cody! You're back!' Parvati cried.

'We've been waiting for you. You are such a good singer. Will you play us a song?' Lavender asked.

'Uh, sorry, I don't have my guitar on me.' This was technically true, since it was upstairs, which he hoped nobody was privy to.

'Aww, that's boring,' Lavender replied.

'You don't need a guitar,' another girl piped in, 'You can just sing to us.'

He turned and recognized the girl, Romilda.

'Yeah, I don't think so,' he replied.

He caught a glimpse of Hermione from a lounge chair, her legs draped over the arm. She was smirking at him over the top of her book but when she saw him look in her direction she put on an exaggerated pouty face.

He mouthed, 'Not funny,' to her and she laughed to herself and went back to her book.

He grabbed a butterbeer, and after rejecting a few more petitions to play the guitar and sing, was finally left alone. He sat and watched as the various tournaments crowned their respective champions, prizes of pride were all that was offered.

Midnight was drawing near and couples were beginning to pair off. Cody overheard Seamus and Dean discussing who they wanted to pair off with and how they might convince them.

That was when one of the older boys chimed in, 'Let's do a spin the bottle game!'

'Yeah,' the others agreed excitedly.

The older boy yelled out his idea and almost anyone that hadn't already paired off with someone gathered around. They disappointed some of the younger kids when they limited it to fourth years and above.

Cody tried to stay put but Lavender and Parvati were not having it. They each took a side and scooped him up by his elbows.

'You have to play!' they declared as Romilda and another of her friends came behind him to push him along as he tried half-heartedly to resist.

He didn't fight particularly hard. This wasn't the worst thing that could happen and he wasn't attached anymore so a New Year's kiss with a random girl wouldn't be unwelcome. 'I—' His fake protest was cut off by another girl stepping in front of them to impede their progress.

'Stop it. If he doesn't want to do it, he doesn't have to. And he has a girlfriend anyways.' It was Katie that was giving the sharp reprimand.

The girls looked slightly abashed but Lavender was not entirely swayed. She did a quick scan of the group before declaring, 'If he doesn't play we don't have an even number.'

Katie smiled victoriously. 'I'll be out then.'

Cody shook free of the arms that had been holding him. If Katie still thought he had a girlfriend that meant the news hadn't been spread all over the school yet. That was a bit of a surprise, but a welcome one.

A decision had to be made, and he decided to go with Katie and the perception that he still had a girlfriend and hopefully a slight reprieve from the swarming attention of Lavender and Parvati. That last point won the day and he maneuvered towards Katie. 'I think I'll have to pass,' he said, trying to sound like he didn't have a choice.

'Spoilsport,' Lavender pouted, though she relinquished her hold on him and went to join the group.

He went and sat with Katie as the spin-the-bottlers began their game and started to pair off.

'Thanks, I don't know that they would've taken "no" for an answer,' he said.

'No problem, they are like piranhas,' Katie replied.

'What did you expect after your performance at the Yule Ball?' Hermione chimed in from her nearby seat. 'I mean, the first song was more fun but that romantic stuff at the end, that's just asking for it.'

'Hey, I just did what was necessary to keep the dance going,' Cody replied.

'And you sure did that!' Katie said with some admiration. 'It really was super impressive. I can't entirely blame those girls for wanting you to play for them. They're just a little too. . . relentless about it.'

Hermione let out a little snort. 'Relentless. That's putting it kindly.'

'And accurate,' Katie countered and received a conceding nod from Hermione. 'You have a talent, you shouldn't be afraid to share it.'

'Is this your attempt to get me to play?' Cody asked.

'Is it working?' Katie replied.

'It's better than the other one,' he said, indicating the group of girls that swarmed him.

'Well, that's a step in the right direction. Do you know any Weezer songs? They are my favorite.'

'Really?' This lowered his defenses, for whatever reason, he didn't expect people to know much about non-magical music, let alone band names.

He told her he did know some and they started talking about music together and their favorite bands and songs. He hadn't realized how popular muggle music was amongst some of the students, the topic had never come up before.

They could've continued the conversation for hours but were soon interrupted by cheers of, 'Happy New Year!'

They turned to face the crowd of students, almost all of whom had paired off with someone, at least the older ones. Some were full-on snogging, but the majority shared what could barely be classified as a peck, and even then, their cheeks turned bright pink.

He shared a look with Katie, a bit more than just a casual glance, an unasked question being passed between the two. For the second time in less than a week he had the proverbial ball in his court, and again, the face of a girl to whom he wasn't even committed flashed through his mind and he snapped his head forward. He shifted in the chair, focused on the blazing fire and blinked a few times as he tried to process these confusing emotions and feelings that kept popping up.

He felt Katie shift her weight and he thought she was just turning back around as he'd just done. He was only half right and he soon felt her lips pressed against his cheek. They weren't there long, just long enough.

'Happy New Year,' she said as she pulled back and sat in her previous position.

He snapped his head in her direction, eyebrows slightly raised.

'Sorry. It's New Year's, I have to kiss somebody,' she said with an impish grin.

He couldn't be mad at that face, and anger wasn't even his initial reaction, more surprise than anything.

'Oh, yeah, it's ok. Happy New Year.'

'Alright! We stayed up till midnight, now everyone go to bed!' Hermione announced.

She was met with groans of disapproval.

'Well, I did my part. I'm heading to bed,' Hermione then said more quietly to Katie and Cody.

'Night, Hermione,' Katie said as Hermione walked towards the stairs. 'She doesn't actually care if people stay up, as you will see but she feels like she has to at least say something.'

'Good, cause I'm really not tired right now,' Cody said.

'Serious? Why not?' Katie asked using a hand to cover her yawn. Cody yawned in turn, which caused Katie to laugh and say, 'Not tired, huh?'

'No, yawns are contagious, didn't you know that?' Cody asked.

'I didn't.'

Cody went on to explain about the time difference, and why he truly wasn't tired at the moment. This led to a whole bunch of questions about his muggle life. Katie was far more interested in his muggle activities than the majority of other students had seemed and that had him opening up to her more than he had to any other Gryffindor to this point in the school year.

'I can't believe you don't like Quidditch, or even flying for that matter,' Katie said.

'Yeah, I don't know what it is. Maybe I just like having my feet on the ground.'

'That just sounds like a lame excuse,' she teased.

'Maybe it is,' Cody said through a yawn.

'You can't say that was contagious,' Katie replied through a yawn of her own.

'No, I'm getting tired now.'

'Well, it is almost two so . . .'

'Are you serious?'

'Yeah, but at least you can have a lie-in tomorrow.'

'No, I can't. I gotta get up at a normal time.'

'But there's no school.'

'Yeah, but if I want to get my body clock back on track it's best to just rip off the band-aid.'

'Band-aid?'

'Oh. Um, it's a bandage for small cuts and stuff but they stick to your skin and it hurts when you pull them off, so they say it's best to rip it off fast and make the pain quick instead of pulling it off slowly and making the pain last longer.'

'Huh, so they're not magical then?'

'Not physically, but for kids, it can magically make them think their owie is better. There's a different kind of magic involved, you could say.'

'Interesting. Well, you better go to sleep then. I don't want to hear you blaming me for keeping you up.'

'Thanks but it's not your fault at all,' he said while he was getting up and she followed suit. They walked to the bottom of the stairs together. 'Goodnight, Katie.'

'Night, Cody,' she answered with a beaming smile that disappeared as they went up their separate staircases.

He lay in bed that night, an odd sort of anticipation filling his soul. Not the same first-day-of-school jitters that developed every year, there was no school tomorrow, after all. No, it was Victor's comment that kept coursing through his brain, "if she broke up with him." Just the thought of it made his heart thud against his chest. He imagined sitting in the Great Hall and watching Krum walk along the Slytherin table only to find a seat somewhere other than right next to Daphne. He realized it was that hope that she was now single that had caused him to pass up a couple opportunities that he never would have before.

Of course, that didn't stop another part of his brain from throwing a wet blanket over all the thoughts of hope and happy endings. Why would she break up with an internationally famous wizard? How do you know she even feels or felt anything for you? You are wasting your time.

He tried to push those thoughts aside but deep down, he knew the situation was far more complex than Victor had made it out to be. Sure, it could play out as he had described, but that was just one of an infinite number of ways things could happen.

So, although, he knew tempering his expectation would be better for his emotional health, he let hope, anticipation, and excitement flow through him as he drifted off to sleep.