CHAPTER 8:

Harry rushed to the door, rolling his eyes as his old school friend pushed the doorbell every two seconds. He threw open the door to see Dean and Seamus. Dean had grown even taller and Seamus's hair had darkened slightly to more of a honey color. Harry embraced them both in turn and smiled at them.

'Hey, guys,' he said, ushering them into the living room. 'What have you been up to?' he asked, really curious as to what his mates had ended up doing.

'Well, it's my job to go out and convince muggles who have seen magic that it wasn't really magic. I get to think on my feet and come up with cool fake facts,' Seamus said, laughing a bit and lounging on the couch, putting his feet on the table. Harry pushed them off, much to Seamus's chagrin and Dean's amusement.

'I'm on a semipro Quidditch league and I'm being considered for the real pro team,' Dean said excitedly. Harry clapped him on the back and congratulated him. 'And I have this girlfriend that I really like and I'm thinking of asking her to marry me,' he admitted, blushing what must have been deeply to have been able to see it, what with his dark skin.

'If you like her that much, go for it,' Harry advised. 'I learned recently that if you like someone a certain way, it's almost a give in that they like back,' he said wisely, smiling slightly.

'Thanks, mate,' Dean said sincerely. It seemed he'd been teetering on the edge for quite awhile, just needing one more opinion to push him over. 'So, what do we want to do for Neville's last night as a free man?'

'I was thinking porno and strip clubs,' Seamus suggested.

'I don't think Neville's really into that kind of stuff,' Harry said, thinking back to the blundering, girl-shy boy they had known in their younger days. Seamus frowned and nodded. Apparently, he had been looking forward to an excuse to do something of that sort.

'I do think we should do something like a club, just not a strip club,' Dean said. 'Somewhere for him to have fun but not feel like he's cheating on Luna. He's always been a very guilty person, thinking everything will upset someone. Luckily, Luna trusts him a lot.'

'Okay. We stay at one all night or go to more than one or what?' Harry asked, pressing them for ideas. He wanted this to be a fun night with many backup plans in case one wasn't as fun as they thought it would be.

'I know a really good one we can start out at and, if he doesn't like it, we can go to any number of others. My favorite's a magic one so we can just go crazy!' Seamus suggested. Seeing the looks on their faces, he sighed exasperatedly. 'And, no, it's not a strip club,' he sighed.

'Okay. We go to Seamus' club and we have any number of backups. Everyone agreed?' Harry asked. The others nodded. 'Great. Now we need to call Neville.'

Harry picked up the phone, dialed Neville's number and waited for it to ring.

'Hello?'

'Hey, Neville. How you doing?'

'Hey, Harry. I'm doing good. What's up?'

'You need a bachelor party, right?'

'I guess…'

'Well, look no further! Me, Dean and Seamus have got one all planned out for you,' Harry said proudly.

'Really? Wow, thanks, guys! When is it?'

'When do you want it to be?'

'I dunno,'

'How about tomorrow starting at ten PM?'

'Sure. I'll have to tell Luna, though-'

'Don't tell her anything about it. Well, not specifically. Just tell her you're going out and won't be back until really late, possibly the next morning,' Harry cautioned.

'Um, okay. I hope she'll trust me enough.' he said, sounding a bit nervous.

'It's your last night out with the guys as a single man, Nev! You can't let her know what's going on. We don't know what the girls are doing, so they don't know what we're doing. It's only fair, you see.'

'I guess that makes sense. Okay. See you tomorrow. Thanks, again.'

Harry hung up the phone. 'Great. Tomorrow at ten o'clock PM. You guys can be there?' Nods. 'Good. Now we all just have to sneak away from our respective girlfriends.'

'You have a girlfriend?' Seamus asked.

'Yeah, didn't I tell you?'

'No!'

'Oh. I'm going out with Hermione now,' Harry said happily.

'WHOA!' both the others said loudly. 'That's big, Harry,' Dean added.

'Why?' Harry asked, confused and a bit surprised.

'Because you're dating your best friend's ex! That's, like, against the male code, or something,' Seamus said.

'Uh, if you haven't noticed, Ron's not exactly around to claim her anymore,' Harry pointed out awkwardly. 'And she consented. We're a perfectly happy and content couple. Neville and Luna had no objections to us going out.'

'Okay, never mind. I take it back,' Dean said.

'Yeah, though reluctantly,' Seamus sighed. Harry rolled his eyes at him. 'What?'

'You're so weird sometimes,' Harry chuckled. Seamus bristled defensively. 'In a good way…usually.' Seamus proceeded to throw a pillow at him, which lead to an all-out pillow fight.

'Will you guys keep it quiet up there!' Hermione yelled from downstairs.

'Yeah! We're trying to get things done!' Ginny called up after her.

'Sorry, we're working on the…oops! You aren't supposed to know! Never mind!' Harry called down, laughing at the gasps and curious squeals he heard. 'It's only fair,' he added to his friends, who were laughing right along with him.