(PoA) CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: Back to Hogsmeade

Ellie spent the next week getting back to her roots as best she could—going to see Sirius, spending time with Ginny and Hermione, bonding with Buckbeak, whose trial was fast approaching, and even asking Harry and Lupin to help her learn the Patronus Charm for herself.

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Harry told her when her first Patronus-learning session ended in utter failure. "It's taken me all year to get to the point where I can even produce a bit of silvery string."

Ellie hadn't been under any delusions that she'd be able to produce a complicated charm like that overnight, but she did find it exceptionally hard thanks to the requirement: happy memories. Her problem wasn't a lack of them—she had dozens, if not hundreds. Her problem was that almost every single one included Fred, and every time she thought of him, she became sad again.

He hadn't spoken to her since the concert. George was putting a bit more effort in now, obviously pleased with the honesty and vulnerability in her lyric choices, but still nothing from Fred.

She approached Oliver every day, multiple times a day, begging him to give her just five minutes of his time. It took a full week, but finally he agreed to take a walk with her.

"Right—so you have me now," he said as they started walking. "Best get this over with."

She blinked up at him, unsure what he meant. "Get what over with?"

"The breakup. That is—if you ever even considered us a real couple to begin with."

Ouch. They may not have been the most conventional couple, given how they had started, but she had certainly considered them real. "I did. Did you?"

"I don't know, Ellie." He looked frustrated. "I mean, yeah, I considered you my real girlfriend—after the first few weeks, at least. But I s'pose I never really thought of myself as your real boyfriend."

"Because I still had feelings for someone else?"

He nodded.

That was fair, she supposed. "I tried to be honest with you. I never meant—"

"It wasn't a complaint. You were honest with me. I chose to be with you in spite of the… Fred of it all."

She tried not to cringe at that. At least he wasn't upset with her about that. But then… what was he upset about? "I wasn't planning on breaking up with you, Ollie. But if that's what you want—"

"Hang on." He looked confused. "You sang a song called Stupid Girl complaining about all the poor choices you've been making lately, and you didn't want to break up with me?"

She had to laugh at that, in spite of herself. "My poor choices didn't have to do with you, despite what everyone seems to think. You never pressured me to do any of it, and I don't blame you for any of it. If anything, I blame…"

But she didn't finish her sentence. As angry as she was with Fred, it wasn't fair to blame him, either. Ultimately, her choices had been her own.

"So you're saying you actually want to stay together?" asked Oliver.

"Well… yeah. Do you?"

A smile broke out on his face for the first time, and suddenly he was slinging an arm around her and shaking his head.

"I must be a bloody fool," he said as he guided her back toward the common room. "But, yeah, crazy girl—I do."


"Harry," Ellie said to Harry the morning of the next Hogsmeade trip. "Come with me this time."

Hermione glanced up, frowning. She and Ron were with Harry in the common room, where Ellie had approached them. "Harry can't go to Hogsmeade. He doesn't have a slip."

"No, but I know a secret way in," Ellie said easily. "And Harry has the cloak—"

"Hang on," said Ron. "You know of a secret route between Hogsmeade and Hogwarts? Who else knows about it? Couldn't that be the way Black is getting in?"

Ellie and Harry exchanged a look at that. "Black doesn't know about it," Harry said shortly. "And yeah, Ellie—I'd love to go."

They spent the next ten minutes arguing with Ron and Hermione about the safety of their plan, but ultimately Ron took their side, and Hermione, seeing that she had been outvoted, proceeded to pout in silence.

Ellie didn't feel quite as confident getting to Hosgmeade without the Maurauder's Map, which of course was still in the twins' possession. But she remembered the route, and that, combined with Harry's invisibility cloak, did the trick.

It was strange being in such proximity to him again. It was impossible not to remember their time as a couple, and it brought both sadness and satisfaction to her. She missed feeling loved—even feeling love in return, whether it was the same as what she felt for Fred or not—but she also knew that they were better off as friends.

"Can I ask you a question?" Harry asked as they strode through the long tunnel leading to the cellar of Honeyduke's.

"Of course," she said easily. "You can ask me anything." She meant it; now that the Sirius cat (or, in his case, dog) was out of the bag, she had no more secrets from Harry.

"Okay." He cleared his throat, suddenly looking nervous. "Well, you didn't deny it when I said it seemed like something had gone down between you and Fred. I mean, it's common knowledge, I s'pose, since you don't talk anymore."

Already, she didn't like the direction this conversation was going in. But for Harry's sake, she did her best not to shut down. "Okay. And?"

"It's just… I can't help wondering what did happen. Y'know—to make you hate each other so much after being so close."

She didn't want to tell him. She had just had to go through a similarly painful conversation with Sirius; the last thing she wanted was to relive things yet again. But she also liked the idea of someone at Hogwarts actually knowing the truth; even Oliver didn't know the whole story.

"We kissed," she finally admitted. "Well, first I almost kissed Oliver, then Fred got all upset, I called him out for being a coward, and then we kissed."

Harry looked intrigued. "He kissed you, or you kissed him?"

"He kissed me. Changed his mind about five seconds in, though. I must be a pretty terrible kisser."

Harry laughed out loud at that. "Trust me—you're not."

"Well, at any rate, that was it. He shut it down. I tried to tell him I was in love with him, and he told me I wasn't being 'fair to him.' Which then launched him into a saga about how many other guys I've dated that became more and more cruel by the second, and then, finally, we parted ways. Permanently."

Harry remained quiet for several seconds at that. They had reached the Honeydukes cellar, but neither of them seemed quite ready to head upstairs.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Harry finally asked.

"Please."

"Okay." He shot her a sideways grin. "Try kissing him again. Another five seconds are sure to do him in—I know from experience."

She laughed out loud at that, shoving him playfully. They were still beneath the cloak, though less concerned about exposure in the darkness of the basement. She knew he wasn't flirting with her—knew they were beyond that now—but his words had made her smile, all the same.


They had a great time at Hogsmeade, stuffing their faces with sweets and Butterbeer, laughing with Ron and teasing Hermione for being so uptight. But then they headed for the Shrieking Shack to peer nervously at it from the outside, and it was there that they ran into trouble.

"What's the matter, Weasley?" sneered the all-too-familiar voice of Draco Malfoy as he approached Ron and Hermione, the only two he could see. "Without Potter, your only friends are Granger and the ghosts at the Shrieking Shack?"

"Oh, give it a rest, Malfoy," said Ron, whose good mood instantly seemed to deflate.

"And who's going to stop me if I don't? That filthy little mud—"

Harry did it so suddenly that he surprised her—bent down, packed in a tight, little snowball, and threw it straight at Draco's head.

She had to cover her mouth with her hand to stop from laughing out loud.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Draco demanded, whirling around. "Was that you, Granger?"

This time, Ellie went for it. Before long, both she and Harry were tossing balls at Draco and his cronies so fast, they went running.

But before any of them could relish in the brilliance of having made Draco scream, cry, and run away, Hedwig showed up with a letter.

"Crazy," whispered Ron as he quickly reached out to let Hedwig perch on his arm instead of Harry's, which was still cloaked. "Guess owls can see through cloaks."

"D'you mind if I open it, Harry?" asked Hermione as she untied the letter from Hedwig's leg. "Looks like it's from Hagrid."

"'Course," said Harry, frowning. "Odd that he'd write me, innit? We've got his class tomorrow."

Hermione nodded in silent agreement as she opened up the letter. She scanned it for several seconds, then sighed, suddenly looking quite upset.

"What is it?" asked Ron.

"It's Buckbeak. He lost the trial. It'll go to appeal, but in all likelihood…"

Ellie nodded, starting to understand. She knew from chatting with Hermione over the past few months that Hermione had done all she could to provide Hagrid with legal examples of why Buckbeak should be acquitted, but apparently it wasn't enough. And judging from her expression now, the appeal wouldn't go any differently.

"I should have helped," she said quietly.

"I should have, too," said Ron. "I will this time."

"Me, too," said Harry.

But none of them sounded particularly hopeful.


Not quite as much excitement this chapter, but some nice bonding between Ellie and Harry, who are starting to have a sweet little friendship, don't you think? Review away and don't forget to follow as well if you haven't. See you soon for the next chapter!