Harry spent the time between the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament and his first Hogsmeade weekend attending his lessons, sessions of the Duelling Club, and even managed to take some time to practise his flying. As the date of the weekend grew ever closer, however, he couldn't stop worrying about the arrangement he'd made with Giovanna – and whether it was a good idea to invite a girl he barely knew to a place he'd never been before.
But by the time the weekend came, it was too late to rearrange, and Harry didn't want to do that anyway. So just after breakfast – and after a quick dash back to the dungeons to get ready when Blaise disapproved of his outfit - Harry went to meet Giovanna outside the Entrance Hall where the carriages waited to take students into the village.
Harry knew his friends wouldn't be too far behind, although he had negotiated an agreement with them that they'd wait at least five minutes after Harry and Giovanna had gone. He didn't want to be totally alone, but he certainly didn't want an audience on his first ever date with a girl, either.
Back up, support, and someone waiting just in case things went catastrophically wrong, but at a distant and far enough away Harry could pretend they weren't there.
Harry arrived outside the castle first. He stood far enough away from the thestral-drawn carriages that he didn't look strange for lingering, and then waited for Giovanna to arrive from Durmstrang's enchanted ship. Harry had suggested going to meet her off the ship, but that had apparently been an unacceptable – to Karkaroff, rather than Giovanna – breach in Durmstrang's security protocols.
So Harry waited outside the grand doors to the castle for Giovanna to arrive, glad that he'd worn a warm outer robe for the crisp December morning air. After about five minutes waiting around, Harry saw Giovanna walk up the path from the lake. She'd dressed in a fairly thick, fur-lined hooded robe, her hair done up in a simple bun.
She looked pretty.
Although Harry had been waiting for Giovanna to arrive, when she did he found that he didn't quite know what he was supposed to do. Was he meant to hug her? Offer to shake her hand? Lean in for a kiss?
But fortunately, Giovanna seemed just as unsure of what to do as Harry was, and in the end they both settled on a rather awkward little wave as they greeted one another.
"Alright?" said Harry. "It's quite a nice morning, isn't it?" he said, because weather was always a safe topic. "Are you ready to go?"
Giovanna nodded.
"Yes. We use the enchanted carriages? Do we just ... take one or is there a system...?" she asked, gesturing to where a few carriages and their thestrals stood just behind Harry.
"Oh, er, yeah. No system. They go and come back all day. They take up to four, but they'll go with just one, apparently, so we can just..." Harry said. He thought about mentioning the thestrals, since Giovanna evidently couldn't see them, but then realised that bringing up seeing dead people wasn't the best thing to do on a date. Or at least, not right at the beginning of it, anyway. Perhaps if it came up more naturally... He shrugged. "Er, after you."
Giovanna selected one of the carriages and climbed aboard. Harry followed after her and once both of them were safely on board the thestral started to walk along the path that led to Hogsmeade village.
Unfortunately for Harry, he couldn't think of anything to say that wasn't 'I killed my teacher last year so that's why I can see the creepy winged death-horse pulling our carriage', so for the first few minutes of the trip neither teen said anything at all.
"The grounds are very beautiful," said Giovanna eventually as their carriage passed along the outskirts of the Forest on its way to the village. "Durmstrang is not so ... vibrant, I think is the word. We have a forest too, but it is very cold."
"The Forest is actually a reserve for endangered creatures," Harry said, remembering the furore that had happened last year when the Ministry delegation had effectively invaded the centaurs' territory. "There's like a treaty about it, something like that, anyway. I've never read it. But there are centaurs in there, and acromantulas, and nicer stuff like bowtruckles and unicorns."
"Acromantulas?" echoed Giovanna. "But they are very dangerous!" She paused. "And they live in tropical jungles! Who put them there?"
Harry shrugged.
"To be honest, no one knows. No one knew they were here until last year, believe it or not. The Ministry sent a task force to come and have a look but, er, the centaurs kidnapped them and some of them died..." Harry paused when he realised that dead Ministry officials was hardly a romantic topic, so he changed the topic. "But the unicorns sometimes come near the edge of the Forest so we get to see them then. The foals, too. I think after Christmas in Magizoology we'll be learning about the unicorn foals as well."
"So the beauty has an edge," murmured Giovanna, staring off into the Forest. "Perhaps not so unlike the forest at Durmstrang, then. But I still miss the lights. We do not see them here, but at school, they are always there."
"The Northern Lights?" asked Harry. "I've never seen them. I hear sometimes we can see them at Hogwarts, but not since I've been here..."
"They are very special. Did you know there are some spells that—" Giovanna cut herself off midway through her sentence. "I should not mention this," she said with a little smile. "It is a secret, they say... but I will say it anyway. There are spells—and rituals—that can only be done under the aurora. I have not done them yet, of course, but later in my schooling..." She shrugged. "I thought it was interesting."
"It is interesting," agreed Harry. "I'd never thought about it but it makes sense that stuff like that could be used in magic..."
"Yes!" said Giovanna. "Magic is wonderful, isn't it? I do not understand how muggles are able to live never knowing the magnificence of magic, toiling in the dirt..." she paused. "Oh, I am sorry—I do not mean to offend. I know that your family..."
"It's not bad living as a muggle," said Harry carefully. "It's just different. They don't have magic, but for a lot of things, you don't even notice it's missing because there are other ways of doing it. I'm not saying I'd choose to be one, right," he said, "but it's not... it's just a different way of living, that's all. Muggles have a lot more, erm..."
Harry wasn't quite sure how to phrase what he wanted to say. 'Muggles have more culture' sounded rude, although wasn't exactly untrue. Although Harry enjoyed what wizards produced – from the music to books and sports and everything else – there wasn't quite as much of anything as he was used to from the muggle world. And although 'more' didn't mean 'better', it did still mean 'more'.
"Muggles make more cultural things," Harry settled on in the end. "There's just loads more... well, everything, really," he continued. "You know how there's only a few really popular bands and singers and stuff around at the moment? I don't know what it's like in Italy or... wherever else you go but here, we've only got like The Hobgoblins, The Weird Sisters, stuff like Celestina Warbeck... not many, anyway. But muggles have got hundreds and they make music in different styles and sing different things and it's just... for muggles, it's like that for everything. Even stuff like the Triwizard Tournament—they've got hundreds of things like this that are happening all the time with dozens of schools in every country."
Harry thought that was probably explanation enough. He'd said similar things to some of his friends in Slytherin before—and even to Ernie—but he didn't want to lay it on too thick. But he did think it was important to get the point across.
Harry shrugged.
"Didn't mean to go off on one," he said, "but I've had this conversation loads of times with people in Slytherin. Most of them have never been around muggles before either, so I just... already had the answers and maybe I went on a bit..."
"I did not know this," Giovanna said. "At school, we are not taught... this is not what we are told, you should understand," Giovanna said. She seemed to be choosing her words just as carefully as Harry had. "So it is very interesting for me to hear this. Thank you for telling me. It is strange to consider but not unwelcome."
Both Harry and Giovanna were silent for a while after that, and Harry worried he'd ruined the date with what he'd said. But on a bit of reflection he didn't really regret it, since his only remaining family was comprised of muggles, and his mum had been muggleborn, so Harry felt right in having said it. If Giovanna couldn't cope with the idea that muggles had some good things going on, that was all Harry needed to know about Giovanna.
By the time the carriage meandered through the Hogwarts gate and reached the edge of the village, Giovanna and Harry both had moved on from the topic of muggles and some of the tension was gone.
"The houses are so pretty!" said Giovanna. "They look just like they do in the paintings! Do you see?"
Harry did see. Row after row of cosy little cottages and small houses which appeared to be built from local stone – although had likely been constructed of transfigured materials instead – lined the pathway up ahead, which transitioned from a dirt track into a cobbled road just before the train station.
The thestral stopped just at the boundary of the village proper, and Harry and Giovanna disembarked. The thestral turned in a wide arc and went merrily back on its way to the castle, leaving Harry and Giovanna to wander along Hogsmeade village's main thoroughfare.
Many of the houses had additional storeys added on, visible through their dormer windows, some of which were improbably steep and stacked upon one another and held up only through clever application of magic. Hogsmeade was quite large, by wizarding standards, and as Harry and Giovanna wandered along the main artery of the village they saw snaking, winding little streets branch off into the distance.
Quaint and traditional though the houses were, Harry had seen architecture like that in many muggle villages throughout the length and breadth of Great Britain – with the exception of some of the more flamboyant architectural flourishes – so he thought he was perhaps not quite as excited by the display as Giovanna.
Harry decided it would be wiser not to say that, and instead nodded and pointed out some of his favourite buildings.
"We have been—my friends and I, I mean—very excited to visit the village," said Giovanna. "There is a village on... the grounds of Durmstrang, too, but it is very small next to this one. And this one is so very old, too! As old as Hogwarts, they say."
"I've been wanting to come here, too," Harry said. "We're not allowed in until second year. Not sure why. But some of my mates live in the village—Ernie and Millie, you met them at the Cultural Fayre, I think—so I do know a bit about it. There's a really good sweet shop here, it's called Honeydukes... I've had their chocolate before and it's really good. We can go in a bit later, if you want."
"Yes, I would like that," Giovanna said. "And I wanted to go to the... I think the name was Spintwitch? The sports shop, anyway—Fraulein Daryna said there was one here. Do you know it?"
"Er, Spintwitches Sporting Goods, I think it's called," Harry said. "I mean, I've never been obviously, but I have heard of it before. I don't know where it is but we can go have a look, I'm sure it won't be too far off the main street..."
"And I have been told of a place... a pub? But it is meant to be a very nice place to go, especially on a cold day. So I would like to go there, as well."
"Oh, er, yeah," said Harry. "The Three Broomsticks—everyone says it's really good there. We can a bit later, have some lunch if you want."
"I would like that," said Giovanna.
The pair of students ambled from shop to shop although didn't go into very many of them at all, preferring instead to gaze through the windows while chatting about the sorts of inconsequential things people chatted about. A couple of times Harry passed some of his friends and Giovanna hers but, apart from offering polite waves, neither Harry nor Giovanna seemed to think the outing was going so badly as to need any sort intervention from an outside party.
Which was about as good as Harry had hoped for if he was honest with himself.
Giovanna was most interested in visiting Spintwiches, so although they did look through the windows of other shops on the way, both Harry and Giovanna spent more time looking for the sporting goods shop. They found it midway along Hogsmeade's winding main street, tucked between two grand townhouses.
"I wanted to get some broom wax," said Giovanna once they'd got inside. "I brought some with me of course, but I've used it all up already!"
Harry had seen the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang lot up in the air practising for the flying competition, but he hadn't spent much time on his own broom because of the duelling. For Giovanna to have run out of broom wax already, she must have been really putting the hours in.
"Getting a lot of airtime in, then?" asked Harry in what he hoped was a casual tone. He didn't want Giovanna to think he was trying to scout out an advantage, after all, but he did want to get a sense of where the Durmstrang contingent was with their flying.
And it was good conversation.
"Of course!" said Giovanna. "It is why I am here. Well, mostly why I am here," she said with a little wink at Harry. "I want to win the prize – professional training at the European level is very hard to get into. But you must know this already."
For Harry, the prizes for winning were truthfully far less important than the winning itself. Although seeded entry to the European Circuit's summer tournament would have been nice – along with professional quality race, hazard and Quidditch training – Harry thought he had a lot more to worry about than summer fun. Voldemort was out there lurking, no doubt planning all sorts of nefarious things with his servant Wormtail and mucking about on a broom was probably not the best of ideas.
But even so he did realise that the prizes on offer were all extremely sought-after by the vast majority of students – and not just for the monetary value. Flight schools were usually booked years in advance, and entry to the European Circuit's summer tournament was a gruelling process ordinarily.
So Harry just nodded along.
"Well, that's fair. What sort of wax do you use on a Hayami? I use Wakefield's on my Firebolt, but the Hayami is made of that cherry wood, isn't it?"
"Hayami makes its own wax," said Giovanna. "I'm not sure if they will have it here—this shop seems quite small—but your Wakefield's wax will probably be okay, also."
"Well, I think the broom stuff is over there," said Harry, pointing towards a section of the shop where there were some brooms, Quidditch gear, and more specialist equipment like the odd quodpot. When they passed by the quodpot stuff, Harry gestured towards it. "Have you ever played quodpot? Or seen it, even? I've heard of it but we just don't do it at Hogwarts, and I don't think there are any proper matches here so I've never seen it."
Although to be fair, Harry had only seen two professional Quidditch matches, so that wasn't saying much.
"I saw a match once with my family – in Bohemia if you can believe it. They have the only professional league in Europe!" said Giovanna. "It is very strange." She held up a jar of wax. "Is this a good price for wax?" she asked. "I am still not used to your money."
"Five knuts is really good for Wakefield's," said Harry. "Actually, I think I'll pick some up as well." He grabbed his own jar and then looked around to see if there was anything else he wanted, although he couldn't really think of anything.
He'd outfitted himself fairly thoroughly during the summer and hadn't made much of a dent in his supplies since coming back to school.
"I'm looking forward to getting back in the air again," Harry said while the two of them were waiting in a queue to pay for their wax. "I've not done much because of the duelling but I think I'll do more between now and Christmas. Especially since there's no more events until after the new year... well, except that Ball, I suppose," he said.
"I think you should," said Giovanna. "When I beat you in the hazard racing, I want it to be because I'm better, and not because you were out of practise." Although her tone was jocular, Harry could tell there was a serious undertone. It was a sentiment Harry understood well.
"I promise that if you beat me, it will be because you're better at flying," Harry said. "I mean, you won't beat me, but if you do, it will be because you're better." He grinned.
"We will see about this, Harry Potter!" said Giovanna.
They each paid for their wax and then left the shop for the bracing Highland air.
"Where do you want to go next?" asked Harry. "We could go get some lunch, if you want, or... well, it's up to you."
"I have heard of this ... Screaming Shack? Would you like to go and see it?" said Giovanna.
Harry nodded.
"The Shrieking Shack. It's meant to be the 'most haunted' building in Britain, isn't it? I think it's on the edge of the village so... er... it's this way," Harry said, pointing.
Harry and Giovanna made their way through the winding Hogsmeade streets and towards the edge of the village proper where the cosy cottages and picturesque houses with their little gardens gave way to a rather desolate moor.
Harry knew they'd reached the Shrieking Shack as soon as he saw it. Stood off on its own amidst what had surely once been beautifully managed grounds was a tall building that looked as if it had been grand once. Half-rotten wood panelling hung from broken supports, showing the pock-marked stone beneath. The spaces where half a dozen windows had once been lined the front face of the house, although each of them had been boarded up. The door to the house had been bricked up, then boarded over, although some of the boards had fallen off.
Apart from the Shack's generally neglected and disused appearance, Harry could see nothing that might indicate it was a haunted house, however. There were no ghosts milling about the grounds, nor any poltergeists that Harry could see or even hear. He supposed that there could have been some inside the Shack, but every last point of ingress to the building had been secured, so Harry couldn't even check.
The least the resident ghosts could have done was drift about outside. Be seen, maybe do a spooky wail.
Harry and Giovanna walked along the outside of the dilapidated old building but found nothing except for an overgrown garden and more blocked off windows.
"Is that it?" Harry asked after they'd reached the front of the Shack again. "It's just a creepy old house." He paused. "And it's not even that creepy. Maybe at night..."
Giovanna let out a laugh.
"Oh, I am so glad that you said it! I was thinking that too, but I did not want to offend you in case you were impressed! There are not even any ghosts!" she said. "There are more ghosts on the docks at Durmstrang!"
"There are dozens of ghosts just hanging about Hogwarts, too!" Harry said. "In fact, I bet that Hogwarts the most haunted building in Britain!"
"It is true that there are many ghosts," said Giovanna. "So maybe you are right! Have you met all of them?"
Harry shook his head.
"Nah. There are some ghosts that only haunt specific bits of the castle, like one room in the dungeons or the library annex... stuff like that, and the castle is massive. So unless you really go looking for them it's hard to find them all. I heard there's even one who haunts the girls' toilets on the second floor!" Harry said.
"No!" said Giovanna. "Really? Who would want to haunt a toilet?"
"No idea," Harry said. "It sounds like an awful place to spend eternity, doesn't it?" Harry shrugged. "I'd never come back as a ghost, anyway—sounds really boring. But to come back to haunt a toilet... Anyway, want to go get some lunch? It's about lunchtime and I wanted to go see the Three Broomsticks. It's meant to be really good."
"That would be nice," said Giovanna, and so the pair set off in search of the village's most popular pub.
They found it on Hogsmeade's main street, about halfway along, and ducked inside out of the cold.
Inside smoke from a roaring fire rose lazily through the air until it settled above the heads of the pub's many customers as they sat, chatted, ate, and drank at the tables scattered throughout the room. The combined noise from dozens of different conversations melted together to form a kind of indistinct buzzing sound, not altogether pleasant but easy enough to ignore.
Harry and Giovanna found seats at a small table tucked behind a nice alcove, which Harry thought perfect to grab some lunch – it was out of the way of prying eyes, quiet enough that they could still chat, but with a good enough view of the room.
After a while a kind-faced and rather buxom older witch came to their table to take drinks and food orders, and then returned with a butterbeer each for Harry and Giovanna, which they drank over a nice conversation while waiting for their food to arrive.
Some time later the witch – Madam Rosmerta, Harry remembered from stories the uppers had told – came back with their food and then left them to it.
The food – a steak and ale pie with thick cut chips and mushy peas – was a hearty meal, although not the best food Harry had ever tasted. But it was more than good enough and filled the hole left by the cold December morning. Even the setting, which was markedly different from the Great Hall in Hogwarts, was a nice change of pace.
The pretty girl helps, too...
Towards the end of the meal, and interrupting a rather tasty blackcurrant tart, a blonde witch wearing bright red painted nails carrying a crocodile-skin handbag appeared at Harry and Giovanna's table. Behind her was a tall, scruffy wizard carrying a heavy-looking old-fashioned camera.
"Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet, Mr Potter," said the witch in a sickly-sweet tone. She glanced back at her companion. "That's Bozo, my photographer. Could I take a few moments of your time for some comments on the Triwizard Tournament?"
Harry frowned. While he'd had 'news' articles written about him before while at Hogwarts, he had never been directly approached by a member of the press, and he found that he didn't like it. Certainly not while trying to enjoy lunch with a pretty girl, anyway. Maybe with a prior appointment...
"I'd really rather not, actually," Harry said. "If you didn't realise I'm here with... er... well, we're trying to have lunch and I don't think it's really appropriate to just barge in while we're eating."
"Oh, of course Mr Potter," said Skeeter, "but it's just so difficult to contact you! And my readers would like to know your opinion on the Champions and perhaps we could even get you to comment on your very skilful wins in the duelling!"
Giving an interview was quite far from what Harry wanted to be doing at that very moment. More than that, he didn't think Giovanna particularly wanted to watch him give an interview. But Skeeter looked quite determined, had even dragged her photographer along with her. If Harry brushed her off, his picture would probably still end up in the paper and the story would be far less positive than if he just said something.
Harry sighed.
"If I give you a comment will you go away?" Harry asked. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to give in to the journalists, but if she really only wanted a comment, Harry thought it would be easier than an argument. And at least then she wouldn't go ahead and write a column about how rudely she'd been treated by the Harry Potter.
"Oh, of course," said Skeeter. "It's like I said—we just want a few moments of your time. Then you can go right back to having lunch with your little friend there."
"Alright," Harry said. "I don't really know the Champions from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, but they seem nice enough. Everyone knows about Krum, obviously. I'm going to be flying against him later, so I'm really excited about that. I know Cedric Diggory from the Duelling Club. He's really good at duelling and I hope he wins. Is that enough of an opinion?"
Skeeter had been unprepared for Harry to immediately jump into his comments and so scrambled to get down what he'd said on a hastily whipped out sheaf of parchment.
"Oh, I'm sure we can do something with that," replied Skeeter with a smirk. "Now, about the duelling...? What did it feel like to win? Can you answer that for me?"
"Er, yeah," said Harry. "It was great. I've been doing a lot of practise for the duelling on my own and in Duelling Club—"
"And with your pretty little muggleborn friend? What's her name, again?" interrupted Skeeter.
"Tracey Davis, and she's halfblood, actually, like me," Harry said. "But yeah, we practise together a lot because we're doubles partners, obviously. But I was saying that it's good when you win, since it makes you feel like all the hard work was worth it in the end," he said. "So... are we done?"
"Just a couple more questions, Mr Potter! My readers will love these answers and this little featurette will no doubt boost your profile nicely!"
"I don't really care about—" Harry started to say, but Skeeter spoke over him.
"What's your favourite part of a duel?"
Harry suppressed his desire to be rude and thought of a nice, polite answer.
"I'm really good at casting jinxes and hexes," Harry said, "and they're always exciting to get off. But what I really like is having to think on my feet and adapt to new strategies right then and there."
"Excellent, excellent," said Skeeter. "Now, for my last questions... Who is this enchanting young lady, and have you kissed her yet?"
Harry knew he should have immediately jumped to Giovanna's defence, but all he could do was open and close his mouth dumbly as his throat closed up and his face went bright red. Fortunately, Giovanna wasn't quite so easily embarrassed as Harry, and jumped in to deal with Skeeter herself.
"I am Giovanna Fantoni, and it is none of your business!" she said.
"I thought you had the look of a foreigner about you," murmured Skeeter. "Well, that's fair enough, but a good reporter always has a go. I think we've got everything we came for, right Bozo?"
"No picture," grunted the cameraman.
"Oh, that's right—go on then, snap a quick one and we can go," said Skeeter, although she'd already gathered her parchment up and put it into her bag.
Before Harry could refuse consent, Bozo snapped a photo and then both cameraman and reporter turned and left the bustling little pub.
Harry shook his head as he watched the pair of them go, then turned towards Giovanna.
"Look, I'm really sorry about that—this has never happened to me before, but it's still not fair that you should have..."
Giovanna just shrugged.
"It was not your fault—it was hers," she said. "It hasn't ruined my day. I hope it hasn't ruined yours, either... but if it has, please blame that awful woman!"
Harry grinned.
"It hasn't ruined my day either! I mean, I could have done without it, but..." He shrugged. "I'll just go and pay for the lunch and then we can go back to the castle? If you're happy to go back, anyway, I just thought... well, you never know who's lurking about and I just thought..."
"You don't need to pay," Giovanna said. "I have enough money, let's just split the meal, it's fairer that way..."
"No, it's alright, really," Harry said, "I—"
He had been about to say 'I have too much money anyway', but that gave off entirely the wrong sort of vibes. Instead, he settled on something much nicer.
It was still true, but it sounded nicer, and that was better.
"I want to," he said. "And you know, you shouldn't have to sit through that with that Skeeter woman, so really, it's fine."
Giovanna acquiesced and Harry went away to pay, and once they'd both pulled on their outer robes, they left the Three Broomsticks and headed back towards where the thestral-drawn carriages picked up returning students. They spent the journey back in a mixture of idly chatter and companionable silence, and when they were always back at the castle Harry decided he would ask Giovanna to go with him to the Yule Ball. He'd been hoping for their little date to Hogsmeade would go well enough for that to be an option, since with the Ball looming the idea of dates was on all the boys' minds, and it seemed like the date had gone well enough.
Even counting Skeeter's obnoxious interruption.
When the thestral dropped Harry and Giovanna off at the castle it seemed as if neither of them knew quite what to do or say, and they both stood there in agonising silence for a few moments. But then Harry found the courage to speak and blurted out his question.
"I was just thinking if maybe you'd like to go to the Ball with me?" he asked. "Er, I didn't mean—wait, I mean, actually no, I think that was what I meant..."
Harry waited what felt like an eternity for Giovanna to answer. He felt his face turn red, start burning.
What if she says no? What if she doesn't say anything? Harry wondered.
"I will go to the Ball with you," she said, and as soon as Harry realised that she'd agreed a big grin appeared across his face.
"Really?" Harry asked. "Er, I mean—that's brilliant! I was worried..."
Giovanna leaned over and kissed Harry on the cheek before stepping away.
"Don't worry," she said. "And please—practise your flying! I will see you soon and you had better have been up in the air at least once!"
Giovanna walked away, but after a few paces stopped and glanced back at Harry with a little smile before continuing on, while Harry went weak at the knees.
It wasn't a proper kiss, but it was something, and he had a date to the Yule Ball, too. That was honestly more successful than he'd thought possible earlier that day, so he counted it as a rather big win. The date had been marred a bit by that annoying reporter, but that was only a little thing. Harry returned to the dungeons happier than he'd set out and settled in to wait for his friends to return from Hogsmeade, glad that his first date had gone well enough to secure him a partner for the Yule Ball, too.