Goblin's Quarrel and Merlin's Beard, Chapter Three
Before Ginny and Harry reached Gringott's, they met up with Hermione and Ron. They were eating sundaes outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. They seemed to have made up; Ron was wiping some ice cream that Hermione had gotten on her nose, and they were both laughing and smiling.
"Ginny, would you like one?" asked Harry, he felt like a small treat himself. He was just inside the door when the owner spotted him. Mr. Fortescue was a very short man, who seemed to enjoy his ice cream as much as his medieval history. He had been of particular help to Harry in the summer before his third year. Harry was having trouble on an essay on Witch burnings. Mr. Fortescue would give him free sundaes and tidbits of information he could use in his essay.
"Harry, my boy! It has been a long time. How did that essay on the witch burnings turn out?" he put his arm around Harry, then noticed Ginny, "Well, who do we have here?"
"Oh this," Harry paused for a split second, are they dating again? "This is Ginny, Ginny Weasley. Ginny this is Mr. Fortescue." He looked at Ginny when he said this; he looked into her eyes as if to ask, does this mean that you and I are together? She seemed to understand and gave a small nod before Mr. Fortescue continued.
"Well then," Mr. Fortescue said, not seemingly a man of ignorance in these situations, "two heaping sundaes for the two of you, on the house." When Mr. Fortescue had finish serving them huge bowls of ice cream, Harry tried to pay with what was left of his money but Mr. Fortescue insisted, "besides, what kind of person would I be not to treat The Harry Potter and his lady friend to some of my ice cream?" Being careful that they did not spill the heaping bowls, they found seats next to Ron and Hermione.
"Well what have you been up to since…" Ron started then looked at Hermione then continued, "Since the book store?" Ginny turned a bit red has Harry explained what they had seen and purchased at the Quidditch store.
"Well seeing as how you are the Head of House Harry, I understand why you would want your Seeker to have the best, but is that really the best thing to be doing Harry?" asked Hermione. "I mean that I want you two…well I like you both. But I am sure that there would be some kind of rule against student-teacher relations."
"Oh Hermione, leave it alone. We aren't at school, yet," responded Ginny, but she looked over to Harry, and grasped the hand she was still hold even tighter. "What is going to happen, Harry?" Harry was speechless. He thought that he had finally had reached a point where they could be together, where it was safe for them to be together. The thought that rules could get in the way of that angered him. But he held his tongue and much as possible.
"I think we will have to talk about that," Harry responded, taking Ginny's other hand, "We will figure something out, together."
"Oh look at the time!" shouted Ron, who seemed to have just looked down at his watch, "Hermione needs to get to Gringotte's before they close, do you need to go too, Harry?" Harry nodded, finishing as much of his ice cream as possible and then got up. They seemed to have made it in the doors of the Great bank just in time; the goblins guarding the doors stopped a large witch from entering behind them.
When they got inside, they noticed that there was a disturbance in the center of the room. Neville was struggling on the ground with a goblin on top of him. Bill was there too, trying to remove the goblin from Neville, without success.
"Get, erm off me!" yelled Neville, "Why-what do you want?" Harry moved closer to try and help. The goblin was Griphook, the goblin that had helped Harry and his friends break into Gringott's last year.
"You and-and your filthy lying friends tricked me!" Griphook yelled, "You knew that the sword would not stay in my possession!" with this he attempted to bite Neville's ear, but Harry was able to stop him and help Bill separate the two.
When Harry and Hermione finished their business, they walked out with Neville and Bill.
"What happened in there?" asked Harry, "How did Griphook know you where friends with us?"
"I believe I am to blame for that," replied Bill, "I was speaking with Neville and asked him about drawing the sword from the sorting hat." He took out a cloth and put it on Neville's bloody forehead.
"Yeah, I guess that that goblin heard and got angry and attacked me," Neville continued. Harry, Ron, and Hermione apologized to him for the incident.
When they reached the Leaky Cauldron, Professor McGonagall was still there with George, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. They had moved over to the bar and seemed to have finished shots of Firewhiskey when Harry and the others entered.
"Well there you are, we were beginning to worry," said Mrs. Weasley, almost falling off her bar stool. She looked slightly more intoxicated from the firewhiskey then the others, "Wait, what happened to Neville!" she screamed to them when she saw the bloody cloth he was holding to his head.
"Just a little problem at Gringott's , Mom. I'm afraid it was my fault. Griphook's still angry about the Gryffindor sword," Bill said, smiling weakly to his mother. Mrs. Weasley seemed to sober up immediately as her motherly instincts kicked in, "Tom could you get some water and clean rags?" Within a few minutes, Neville's forehead was cleaned and then healed.
"I never understood the goblin's sense of ownership," began McGonagall, "I mean for instance this sword, and the goblin sword smith engraved the name, Godric Gryffindor, on it. Was there any believing that it would be returned to him, I think not," after she spoke there was a moment of silence. Harry knew why, the goblin and human relations have never been very good.
"Well," began Ron after the long silence, "Harry bought himself and Ginny new brooms!" as he finished speaking, Harry gave him a swift kick in the shin under the table. Ron let out a yelp of pain.
"Really! What kind, I heard that the new Clean Sweep just came out!" asked George, excited. Ron looked like he was going to respond, but looked at Harry and stopped. "Or was it a Firebolt?" continued George. No one said anything. Mrs. Weasley gave Ginny a guilty and threatening look.
"Umm, Harry ordered the n-new W-Wind Rogue for Quidditch," Ginny managed to spit out. Her ears went red. Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared between Ginny and Harry.
"Wow!" exclaimed George, "Ginny'll be nothing more than streaks above the pitch this year. I'll have to stop by to check it out." Mrs. Weasley's expression changed, but Harry could not tell what it meant.
"Well that is very generis of you Harry, but we simply cannot accept this," Mrs. Weasley said, turning abit red. Then Harry realized what was going on. She was embraced because they could not afford the broom themselves. Mrs. Weasley tried to keep a smile as she looked to Mr. Weasley for backup.
"If I may," began Professor McGonagall, "as the Head of House, Harry has the right to do what he thinks is best for the house and Quidditch team. While I find this particular choice in broom a bit extravagant, there is nothing stopping him from purchasing a broom for one of his," she paused for a moment, looking between Ginny and Harry, looking slightly sterner every moment, "one of his students. I myself purchased Harry his first broom, which was slightly above my pay grade. But I stand by the decision" She gave a little chuckle. "Well," she said, "I think I'll need to be off soon, could I have a word with Professors Weasley, Granger, and Potter as well as Miss Weasley," she pointed to Ginny, "As for you Professor Longbottom, I believe Professor Sprout will be in contact with you."
A few minutes later, they were all packed into one of the private tea lounges off of the main bar room.
"I want to inform you four that, while there are no rules the explicitly prevent you from seeing other teachers or students, I dare say it might strike some unwanted controversy. Please do not get me wrong, the love and care you each seem to have for each other, Ron and Hermione and Harry and Ginny, is very touching," McGonagall paused for a moment, "However, during the school year, I will have to ask all four of you to keep such signs of affection hidden. But, I dare say you will have time on weekends and holidays when we can be less stringent with this agreement, am I understood?" All four of them nodded their heads. "Well then, good luck preparing for your classes, and Harry, I will be in touch about your N.E.W.T exam," with that she left them to themselves.
"Well then, that wasn't so horrible," began Ron. Hermione did seem as optimistic. She looked between Ron, Ginny and Harry.
"I think this is going to be harder than you might think, Ronald. We won't have much time together this year it seems, outside of class that is. If we are teaching and studying for our N.E., this is going to be a very stressful year."
"Well at least Harry, here has one less exam to take at the end of the year, and he will be helping us pass it," Ron said with a grin.
"Oh that reminds me, what are you planning on taking?" asked Harry, he glanced at Ginny hopefully first.
"Well, of course I am taking Defense Against the Dark Arts, as well as Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration, History of Magic, and Potions," Ginny listed, and looked hopefully at Harry.
"Brilliant! Accept for History of Magic, I'll have the same schedule," said Harry. He wasn't sure if he could take the classes though, if they conflicted with his Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons. But still, that was only four classes, he was sure that he would be able to manage.
"Well, I have already sent a letter to Professor Flitwick asking about the schedule. I hope to take Ruins, Astronomy, and History of Magic on top of everything else," said Hermione. Ron looked at her in shock.
"Are you planning on taking any holiday's or weekends off?" he responded, looking sad, "I was thinking of dropping Potions, so that I would have only four classes like Harry."
"Ronald, honestly. This is your education we are talking about. You really should take Potions, besides who will be my partner if you don't, seeing as Ginny will be in there as well," Hermione said, shaking her head towards Harry and Ginny who had resumed holding hands. In the end Ron agreed to take Potions.
After a few minutes of sitting in silence, they all got up and went back into the Bar. George had gone back to his flat in Diagon Alley, and Mrs. Weasley had gone to bed. Mr. Weasley was talking to Tom, wishing him goodnight.
"Well my young scholars," he said with a smile, "It seems we will be having a big day tomorrow. Ron, you received a letter from Hogwarts asking you to be in Hogsmeade by noon. Its seems that Hermione and Harry have received similar letters. I'll expect that it has something to do with the level of disrepair we left Hogwarts with in June." He then handed Hermione and Harry their letters. Harry's had an additional paper with McGonagall's handwriting on it"
Dear Professor Potter,
When you arrive tomorrow, I wish to have a word with you regarding your N.E.W.T. examinations. New information has been passed down from The Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Thank you,
Minerva McGonagall
It seemed that both Hermione and Ron had the same note. Mr. Weasley rushed everybody upstairs, insisting they go to bed so that they could get enough sleep before they left in the morning. Ron was staying with Harry while Hermione and Ginny took another room. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley took their own room. When Harry opened his door, he found a huge pile of books on his bed. He had forgotten about all the books he had purchased earlier that day. He would have to ask Hermione if he could use her charmed bag to pack the books.
In the mean time, Harry and Ron spent several hours looking through all the books. Harry got a chance to take a better look at The Patronus Defense. It was a very interesting book that theorized on the origins and applications of the Patronus Charm. Harry himself had learned the charm in his third year with Professor Lupin in Defense Against the Dark Arts. That was he truly began to enjoy the subject. The book suggested that Merlin himself had first crafted the spell almost two thousand years ago:
Historical documentation is very rare on any accounts of Merlin Grey Beard of Stone House (we must distinguish this Merlin from two other famous Merlin's of magical history, Merlin Grey Beard of Clifton and Merlin Black). However, we can deduce that Merlin was the only fully trained wizard in the century from which the charm was conceived in the North Country. While evidence to support this invention is not confirmable, we have found an account from one of Merlin's apprentices that claimed to have seen a silvery Phoenix fly from the top of Merlin's staff during the legendary Siege of Camelot.
"Hey Ron look at this, it says that Merlin invented the Patronus Charm," exclaimed Harry, "I didn't know Camelot actually existed!"
"Well of course it did! Haven't you heard the King Arthur? Oh wait, maybe you haven't," Ron responded
"Well of course I have. I have heard many stories of King Arthur, Camelot, the Round table, and of course Merlin," replied Harry.
"The round table?" Ron said, confused, "Oh, you mean the Circle Pact, but that's just a load of rubbish, something fit for The Quibbler. But Camelot did exist." They soon tired and went to bed.
