The next morning, Harry woke up before anyone else in his dorm. He
almost didn't remember it was Christmas day, as his dorm mates were
all still in their beds and usually it was just him and Ron right now.
But after putting on his glasses and seeing the stack of presents at
the end of his bed, a large smile spread across his face. He swung
his legs over the side and stood, just as Ron began to stir.
"Happy Christmas," Harry whispered as Ron pulled the curtains back from around his bed.
"Happy Christmas Harry," he replied with a grin. His eyes fell hungrily on the presents and Harry laughed out loud.
"You never change, do you?" he asked.
"What's so wrong about wanting presents?" Ron asked defensively, as he got out of the bed. He scooted quickly to his pile and began sifting through them.
"Nothing," Harry replied with a grin, "nothing at all."
He went to his own pile and began to pile the parcels on top of each other.
"C'mon," he said over his shoulder to Ron. "We're meeting the girls downstairs, remember? They can't come in here this year because everyone's still here."
"Oh yeah," Ron said, taking his hand away from the package he'd been about to rip open. He piled his up the same as Harry's and together they went down the stairs. Hermione, Ginny and Cho were already there in front of the fire, waiting for them.
"About time!" Ginny called out when they appeared in the doorway.
"Happy Christmas to you too," Harry said sardonically, but smiled at her.
Good morning," Cho said as he sat down on the floor beside her. "Sleep well?"
"Very," Harry replied, smiling at her. "You?"
"I'm still tired," she said in a soft voice, laying her head on his shoulder. He kissed her hair gently, feeling her warmth against him. Glancing across at his friends, he saw Ron and Hermione were not getting on quite as well. Ron had tried to give Hermione his present and she wouldn't even touch it.
"I don't want it," she said stiffly. "I'm not even speaking to you right now."
"You just spoke to me then!" Ron pointed out angrily. Harry looked down at Cho who was rolling her eyes at Ron's comment.
"Fine, I will speak to you," Hermione said suddenly, spinning to face Ron. "What you did the other night was mean and uncalled for. You embarrassed Trevor, who certainly didn't deserve that, and now I'm not going to the ball with anyone. I probably won't go at all! So thank you very much and I hope you have a lovely Christmas." She glared at him fiercely before standing up and walking to the opposite side of the room, where she plopped angrily into a chair.
Ron's face was redder than his hair, and he looked pleadingly at Harry.
"I can't help you with this one Ron," Harry said with an apologetic shrug.
"Apologize to her," Cho said evenly. "If you really care for her that's what you'll do. You just need to swallow your pride and go for it."
Ron set his jaw stubbornly, showing exactly what he thought of that idea, when Ginny spoke up.
"You really should Ron, I've never seen her so mad at you before." She looked from her brother to Hermione and back, before nodding in Hermione's direction, trying to prompt him to move.
"Looks like you're both going stag then," Harry commented, with a pointed look at his friend.
Ron finally huffed loudly, standing up.
"Fine, fine." he muttered as he trudged across the room towards Hermione.
"Are all your Christmas' together this pleasant?" Cho asked as they watched Ron go.
"Nope, just this one," Harry half-laughed. They quieted down when Ron began to talk.
"Hermione," he began. "Look what I did the other day.it was just a joke." he trailed off, shrugging.
"Well it wasn't very funny," she said curtly, refusing to look at him.
"I didn't hurt anyone." Ron pressed on, sounding frustrated.
"Yes you did," Hermione said fiercely. "You hurt Trevor the same way Malfoy hurts people. He embarrasses and ridicules people for his own petty reasons. I didn't believe you'd ever stoop so low."
"Malfoy and I are nothing alike!" Ron said vehemently, raising his voice. "I can't believe you'd ever compare me to that slimy git!"
"Don't try to turn this on me!" she yelled back. "I'm not the one acting like a git! You're being enough of one for both of us!"
"Guys, guys!" Harry called from his seat on the floor. "Could we try not to bring the whole house down here, maybe? Unless you'd like an even bigger audience."
"I'm finished anyway," Hermione said, standing up. She pushed past Ron and sat down between Ginny and Harry. Ron stood where he was, a look of shock on his face. Slowly, he made his way back to them, but instead of moving past to his seat, he knelt down behind Hermione and leaned forward.
"I think I started off wrong back there," he whispered. "What I meant to say was, I'm sorry."
"You're only saying that because you know it's what I want to hear," Hermione said, evenly, but the look in her eyes was softer.
Ron leaned closer still.
"No, I'm saying it because I mean it. I'm sorry because I didn't know how much what I did hurt you. In my defense, I only did it so I could go to the ball with you."
"Well why haven't you even asked me then?" Hermione said throwing her hands in the air and sighing. She bit her lower lip, almost ready to cry.
"Hey," he said, putting his arm around her. She looked for a moment as if she might pull away, but instead rested her head on his shoulder.
"Hermione, I really didn't mean to upset you this much, really, I mean it. I'm so sorry," he whispered into her hair. Reaching down, he cupped her chin in his hand and brought her face up to his. "Forgive me?" he asked, sheepishly.
She looked at him, obviously wanting to say yes, but remained silent, waiting.
Ron looked at her, almost desperate now, when suddenly he began to laugh. Harry, Cho and Ginny were leaning forward where they sat, anxiously.
"I see how it goes," Ron said as his laughter died down. Clearing his throat, he raised Hermione's hand in front of him. "Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the Yule Ball this evening, my lady?"
Hermione's face broke out into a huge smile and she threw her arms around Ron's neck.
"Yes," she said, nodding happily. "Yes I'd love to go with you."
Harry, Cho and Ginny smiled, as Ron brought Hermione's face to his and they kissed.
"Awwww!" Ginny squealed, waving her hands in front of her. "You two are just so cute." she said dramatically. Everyone laughed, but not just at Ginny. The tension in the air was gone and the fighting was over. Harry heaved a sigh of relief as he exchanged a glance with Cho. The one thing they did not need right now, was fighting amongst themselves.
"Okay," Harry said clearing his throat. "How about we get to the presents before everyone else really does get down here?"
They started by exchanging gifts with each other first; Harry got the normal presents from his friends, candy, books, photos, and sweaters, but loved each and every one of them. He had gotten a very delicate gold locket for Cho, and adored the look in her eyes when they widened in shock.
"I.I love it." she whispered as he leaned over to kiss her.
"Happy Christmas," he said just before their lips brushed.
"Well?" Ron said, looking at Ginny. "Where's their 'awww?'"
"Shut up Ron," Ginny laughed, swatting her older brother before going back to her presents.
"Who's that one from Harry?" Hermione asked pointing to the last gift in his pile.
He lifted the small box wrapped ever so neatly in red paper.
"I don't know.there's no card." he said, turning it carefully in his hands.
"Probably from Dumbledore," Ron said, leaning forward. "C'mon then! Let's have a look!"
Harry shrugged, placing the box on the floor, before beginning to tear the paper away.
As the last of the red paper was torn away, Harry saw the box underneath was dark green. Glancing around at his friends, he slowly pulled the top off, placing it on the floor beside him.
"What is it?" Ron asked, leaning even further forward.
"Hang on," Harry said, absentmindedly as he sifted through the wad of tissue paper. His brow furrowed in confusion as he looked back up at his friends.
"It's a bottle," he said, uncertainly.
"A bottle of what?" Hermione asked.
Harry reached into the box and bulled out a short round bottle that had a very thin neck. It was cerulean blue and sparkled where the light hit it.
"Nothing," he said, examining it carefully. He shook it gently, before popping out the cork and peering inside. "It's empty."
"Who would send you an empty bottle?" Ginny asked.
Harry shrugged, still searching for anything on the bottle, though he didn't know what he was even looking for.
"Well it's very lovely," Cho remarked.
"A very lovely dust collector," Ron said. "I bet it's from the Dursley's."
"No," Harry said, shaking his head and looking up. "They'd never send anything this nice.and they certainly wouldn't have bothered to wrap it."
"Nice?" Ron asked, skeptically. He threw a look at Hermione that said how crazy he thought that statement was, and she just rolled her eyes at him.
"Just because you don't like it." she began, playfully.
"Well what is it good for?" he asked, gesturing towards the bottle. "It's such an odd shape, you can't exactly use to drink out of, you'd never fit any flowers through that thin neck, not that any guy would want a vase anyway, and it doesn't appear to actually do anything. So it's completely and totally useless."
"It's a decoration," Ginny said defensively.
"Yeah but why?" Harry asked. "I wouldn't look at this and get it for another guy, and if it's really so useless then why did the person who sent it not leave a card? Do they not want me to know who they are? What for?"
He looked around at his friends' blank faces and sighed.
"I guess I'll just have to ask Dumbledore about it." he said, trailing off.
"Well if he is the one who gave it to you at least he'll be able to explain what it does," Ginny pointed out.
"I guess," Harry said, still feeling confused.
"C'mon, let's get changed. We'll ask him at breakfast," Cho said, beginning to pile her presents on top of each other. The five of them brought all their things upstairs, just as the rest of the Gryffindors were on their way down. Changing quickly, they met back in the common room, before setting out together and heading for the great hall.
As soon as they'd finished breakfast, Harry and the others made their way up to the teacher's table to speak with Dumbledore.
"Happy Christmas," Dumbledore said cheerily as they reached him. "And how are all of you doing this morning?"
"Happy Christmas Professor," Harry said with a smile. "I don't mean to be a bother to you, especially today. But I received something this morning.and I don't know who it's from or why they sent it."
"What was it?" Dumbledore asked, looking serious.
"Well," Harry began, feeling slightly embarrassed as it didn't seem like anything worth worrying about now. "This is going to sound silly.it's a bottle. An empty, blue bottle."
"No note?" Dumbledore asked.
Harry shook his head.
"Nothing. It came wrapped like any other present, but that was it. A blue bottle with a thin neck and a tiny cork."
Sirius, who had been listening to the conversation from just next to Dumbledore, spoke up.
"I'd like to have a look at this present, is it up in your room Harry?"
"Yes, it's near my bed, I can show you."
"I'll come too," Marzia said, from next to Sirius.
"Er, okay." Harry said, uncertainly.
"Sirius," Dumbledore spoke up. "If either you or Marzia don't recognize the bottle, if you are uncertain even in the least, I want it brought to me immediately."
"Believe me," Sirius said, "That's exactly what we'd do." He stood up, pushing his chair away from the table, Marzia doing the same, and the small group made their way to the doors, leaving the great hall.
"Why did she have to come?" Ron whispered to Harry as they walked through the halls, gesturing at Marzia.
"Well, what if the bottle is from Faerun?" Harry suggested. "She'd recognize it before Sirius would. Probably even before Dumbledore would."
"I'd rather it take longer than have her near it," Ron replied, looking warily at Marzia just a few feet in front of them.
"What do you want me to do?" Harry asked. "I can't exactly ask her to leave."
"Why not?" Ron asked.
"Because she hasn't done anything! Not to me, at least, and I've never seen her act harshly towards you or any other student. I'm really sorry Ron but I just need a bit more.proof.that she's as bad as you think she is."
Ron shook his head, his expression unreadable, but didn't argue. They'd made it to the portrait now, and Hermione had opened it for everyone.
"Lead the way, Harry," Sirius said once they were all in the common room.
Harry and Ron lead Sirius and Marzia to their dorm, while Hermione, Ginny and Cho waited downstairs for them.
"Here," Harry said, pulling the green box out of the pile and opening it. He lifted the fragile bottle, holding it out towards his godfather. Together, Sirius and Marzia examined it carefully.
"Well?" Sirius asked after a few moments, looking at Marzia, "What do you think?"
"I think it's as harmless as can be. I don't recognize it, and honestly it looks more like something you'd see in a muggle home, as a decoration, maybe."
"There you have it," Sirius said, handing the bottle back to his godson.
"Um.that's it?" Harry asked, exchanging a confused glance with Ron. "You're not going to bring it to Dumbledore?"
"What for?" Sirius replied with a shrug. "He said to bring it only if we think it's dangerous."
"No he said if you're uncertain," Ron said, pointedly.
"Well we're certain it isn't dangerous, so we don't need to bring it to him," Sirius said. "Was there anything else?"
Harry felt his jaw drop and clamped it shut quickly.
"Er.no. No that was.that was it." he managed to get out.
"Great," Sirius said, smiling brightly. "Enjoy the rest of your Christmas, and I'll see you all at the dance tonight." He grinned broadly, taking Marzia's arm and leading her downstairs, leaving Harry and Ron to stare after them in shock.
"Okay, what has gotten into him?" Ron asked, his eyes still wide with shock.
"I don't know," Harry said quietly shaking his head. He looked at the bottle in his hands, trying to think.
"Well you don't believe them do you?" Ron asked. "They couldn't possibly be able to tell in just."
"I don't know what I believe," Harry interrupted. "But I know I don't want this anymore. Whatever it is." He looked over at Ron for just a second, before turning to his closet and pulling out his winter cloak. "C'mon," he said. "We're going outside."
Ron didn't question him, simply grabbed his cloak as well and followed him downstairs. It took a moment to convince the girls to wait for them there, but finally got them to agree. Harry ran through the halls with the bottle held tightly against his chest, under his cloak, Ron right beside him. They reached the front doors quickly, and burst through them into the biting cold winter air.
Harry's hair whipped in the wind and both their cheeks were as red as Ron's hair. They walked quickly, their legs numbing from the snow that was rubbing up against their pants, drenching them. Finally, they reached the edge of the forest, coming to an abrupt stop. Harry looked from Ron, to the bottle, to the forest, before bringing his arm back and throwing it with all his strength. They watched it for just a moment, before it was completely out of sight in the darkness.
"Much better," Harry muttered, as he and Ron turned around. They began the trudge back up to the school, both feeling greatly relieved.
"I still think you should have just brought it to Dumbledore," Hermione said for the umpteenth time later that evening. The five friends had been walking through the school, discussing anything and everything. The bottle, the defender, the entities, Marzia, Gazten, Sirius' behavior, and Neville, coming up with no real answers. They were on their way back to the tower, to prepare for the dance, and Hermione wouldn't stop admonishing Harry for his all too quick reaction.
"I just wanted it gone," he said, exasperatedly. "Sorry you can't understand that." In truth, he had wanted to bring it to Dumbledore, but on the same note, he didn't want to have Sirius find out and feel insulted that his godson didn't trust him.
Hermione shook her head, knowingly, but stayed silent. When they reached the tower, the girls immediately headed off to their dorms to get ready. Cho was going to help with hair and make-up, since she wasn't going to attend.
The boys went to their corner to have a game of chess, knowing exactly how long it would take them to get ready as opposed to Hermione and Ginny. An hour later and another defeat for Harry, they decided to get changed.
"Where are you meeting Mel?" Ron asked as they made their way up to their own dorm.
"In front of the great hall, at half-past seven," Harry replied as they entered the room.
"Cho's alright with you going with her?"
"Well she hasn't said anything negative about her since that day," Harry shrugged.
Ron simply nodded, noncommittally, as he headed to his closet. Both of them pulled out their black dress robes and began to change. Less than five minutes later, they were downstairs, waiting.
"What could possibly be taking so long?" Ron asked, thoroughly bored after a half hour more had gone by. The common room was mulling with quite a few Gryffindors, and all of them were male.
Harry laughed.
"What did you expect? Don't you remember last year? The year before? It's always this way."
"I know but honestly, if they're." he began but stopped abruptly. Cho had just stepped into the common room, grinning at both of them.
"Please tell me they're ready," Ron said, standing up.
Harry laughed at Cho rolled her eyes at Ron.
"You need to learn patience," she said, grinning. Pushing the door open behind her, Hermione and Ginny stepped out.
"Wow," Ron whispered as the two girls neared them.
"Hello to you too," Hermione said, stepping in front of Ron. Her hair was completely straightened and the top was parted in a criss-cross pattern, the raised pieces were twirled once and held in place with tiny clips that matched her hair so they wouldn't stand out. The dress robes she wore were soft pink and her makeup was a mixture of gentle earth tones.
"You look.beautiful." he said quietly. Hermione's cheeks flushed as she looked away shyly.
"Thank you."
"Ahem," Ginny cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention.
"Sorry," Ron said with a smile. "Didn't mean to exclude you."
"Don't lie, brother dear," Ginny laughed. She stepped forward, twirling for effect, before stopping to face them. Her brilliant red hair was left down, with small sections on the sides pulled back loosely, leaving wispy tendrils down the sides of her face. Deep blue dress robes brought out the blue in her eyes beautifully, and her makeup was so soft it looked natural.
Harry let out a low whistle.
"You're a knock-out Gin, your date will be on his back when he sees you."
Ginny blushed intensely at Harry's comment, and giggled nervously.
"Hey," Ron spoke up, "you haven't told us who you're going with! C'mon then, I want to know who I'm gonna have to watch all night."
"Ron, stop," Ginny said, trying to sound serious. "You're not that much older than I am."
"But you're still my little sister," Ron replied. "And as your big brother.I have certain responsibilities to." he stopped abruptly as Hermione slapped her hand over his mouth. She looked at Ginny and winked.
"Don't worry, I'll distract him for you."
Ginny smiled, gratefully as Ron pulled Hermione's hand away.
"Well I still want to know who," he said.
"Calm down Ron," Ginny said. "I'm only going with Elliot Treiber."
"Elliot who?" Ron asked.
"A friend of mine. He's in Ravenclaw but we have Herbology and History of Magic together. You'll like him, don't worry."
"Uh-huh," Ron murmured, "sure I will."
"Come on 'older brother,'" Harry said with a laugh. "We better get going."
"Have fun!" Cho said, grinning. She hugged Harry and they kissed quickly, before the four students headed for the door.
They reached to doors to the great hall, where Elliot was standing, leaning against the wall next to them. His eyes nearly popped out of his head as Ginny neared him and his face broke out in a large grin.
"Calm down," Hermione said as she felt Ron's grip tighten on her hand. "She's not a baby."
"I know," Ron muttered, not taking his eyes off of Elliot. Ginny was blushing and giggling at what he was saying to her, pushing her hair back from her face every five seconds, nervously. After a moment Elliot offered his arm, which Ginny took, delicately, and the entered the great hall together.
"You don't mind if we go on ahead, do you Harry?" Ron asked, looking after them.
Harry laughed.
"Ron it's not as if she's never had a date before." he trailed off, shaking his head at his friend's expression. "Go, find a table, save us a seat," he smiled.
He watched as Ron and Hermione disappeared through the doors and leaned up against the wall. Looking at his watch, he saw it was exactly half past seven; Mel should be there at any moment. He stood and watched as couples entered the room, saying hello to those he recognized, nodding to anyone that waved.
The minutes ticked on and soon enough, it was ten to eight. He wasn't sure if he should be worried that something happened to her, or if perhaps she'd decided it'd be funny to stand him up. Just as he was about to head inside, maybe she'd gone in without him, he heard his name behind him.
Spinning around, he saw Mel coming up the hall as fast as she could walk.
"Sorry," she said breathlessly as she neared him, "I completely lost track of the time." she trailed off, looking up at him. "What?" she asked, blushing. "You're staring."
"You.you look." he stuttered as she stifled a nervous laugh. Her shoulder length blonde hair was, for the most part left down, with tiny braids scattered here and there throughout it. Her pale green dress robes had a velvety feel to them, and her makeup was all earth tones.
"I look?" she asked, playfully.
Harry grinned, clearing his throat.
"You're beautiful."
She looked at him, a rosy blush filling her cheeks, but she didn't avert her eyes.
"Thank you," she said softly. "You look very handsome yourself, and as always, I love your hair," she smiled, looking up at his unruly hair. He brought up a hand self-consciously and began trying to pat it down.
"No don't," Mel said, grabbing his arm and smiling. "I think it's cute like that."
"Well, you're certainly the first person that's said they love it," Harry laughed. "My aunt used to want it chopped off.once she even did chop it off, but it grew back the next morning." he trailed off, remembering back to when that had happened. Before he knew he was a wizard, before he knew about Voldemort.
"Well I'm glad it did," Mel said, "how awful of her to do that."
"Yeah," Harry said with a shrug. "That's my aunt and uncle though, anything to make me unhappy." he shook his head. "Sorry, what am I doing? We have a ball to go to," he said wiping the thoughts from his mind and looking at Mel. "Shall we?" he asked, holding out his arm. She slipped hers through it easily.
"Let's go," she said with a smile. Stepping forward, he led her to the doors, and into the great hall.
The hall was decorated beautifully in silver and white. The walls were all mirrors that reflected everything back as far as you could see, and the enchanted ceiling was showing a crystal clear evening, with millions of stars.
Harry spotted his friends immediately and led Mel through the groups of scattered students back to their table.
"What took so long?" Ron asked as they sat down. "I was ready to come and look for you."
"I was running late," Mel said, sheepishly. "Sorry, didn't mean to make you worry about him."
Harry laughed.
"Worry about me? I'm not the one who was missing."
Ginny, who had been across the room with Elliot getting drinks, came back to the table then, her date just behind her.
"Oh, hello Mel," she said as Elliot pulled out her chair for her. "Glad you finally made it." She paused for a moment, as Elliot sat beside her, before turning to him, "Elliot, this is my friend Harry Potter, and that's Mel Tristen."
"Well of course I recognize Harry," Elliot grinned. "Nice to meet you both."
Harry nodded, wishing for once he could be introduced to someone who didn't recognize him, but didn't say anything. They looked at the menus for dinner, going over all the delicious items, trying to make a decision.
"Hey," Mel whispered, leaning towards him. "How about we order for each other?"
Harry laughed.
"You want me to pick your dinner for you?"
"Only if I get to pick yours as well," she smiled.
"There's nothing you can pick that I won't eat," he said with a grin. "Choose away."
Looking carefully at the menu, she finally found one that she liked and held it over to Harry.
"There you are, Mr. Potter. Your dinner for this evening."
Harry looked at where she was pointing and his brow furrowed.
"How do you even say that?" he asked, moving his face closer to the menu. "Fill-ett Mig-nawn?" he asked uncertainly.
Mel tried to stifle her laughter as she corrected him.
"It's pronounced Filay Minyon.Filet Mignon, got it?" she asked.
"Got it," Harry nodded, hoping it wasn't something horrible. "Your turn," he said, beginning to search the menu again. "Alright, this one," he said at last, showing her the dinner.
"Oooh, goodie," Mel said with a grin. "I love Italian."
"So do I, which is why I picked it," Harry said, smiling. "If you really did give me something horrible I'll steal some of yours."
"Hands off my lasagna, mate," Mel replied, playfully. "And trust me, you'll like yours."
They took turns ordering their dinners, and Harry was pleasantly surprised to see his dinner wasn't something disturbing, but a very juicy steak. The dinner was quite pleasant, the six of them eating and chatting away. All in all, it was turning out to be a very nice evening.
When dinner was over the dancing began. Harry watched as Ron and Hermione got up to dance, just as Elliot had asked Ginny.
"A bit overprotective, isn't he?" Mel asked as she noticed Ron kept glancing at Elliot.
Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"You can say that again. He was never like this with the other guys Ginny's gone to the dances with.but he knew all of them."
"I see," Mel smiled.
Harry glanced up at her, then back down at his hands again. He opened his mouth to ask her to dance, but stopped as he looked up at her. Sirius and Marzia were walking up to the table.
"Hello Harry," Sirius said cheerfully. "Having fun?"
"Hi Sirius," Harry replied tentatively. "How are you feeling?"
"How am I feeling?" he asked confused. "Fine, why do you ask?"
Harry shrugged.
"Just curious. Hello Marzia."
"Happy Christmas Harry," she replied, sweetly. "You too, Mel."
"Thank you," Mel said, grinning.
"Well Harry I don't want to keep you from your ball. You kids have fun tonight, okay?"
"We will," Harry replied, forcing a smile. He watched as the two adults walked back across the hall.
"Is everything alright?" Marzia asked, looking from Harry to Sirius and back. "You seemed a bit.strained, with him."
Harry looked at her, hesitating just a moment, before shaking his head.
"No, everything's fine. Don't worry about it." He glanced around at the now very crowded dance floor and grinned.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked, holding out a hand to her.
She took it, smiling, and together they crossed to the middle of the room. Harry held Mel closely to him, she smelled so wonderful. Not that Cho didn't as well, but it wasn't the same. They moved together, swaying to the soft music, not paying much attention to what was going on around them. When Harry felt a soft tap on his shoulder, he looked up, expecting to see Ron.
"Neville?" he asked, coming to a halt. Mel looked back and forth between them curiously.
"Hello Harry, sorry to bother you," he said, looking apologetically from him to Mel. "But there's something I need to ask you."
"What is it?" Harry asked, evenly.
Neville hesitated a moment, considering what to say.
"Well, I happened to notice your stack of presents earlier.one of them being a blue bottle. Do you remember it?" he asked.
Harry tensed immediately, but kept his voice even as he answered.
"Yes, what about it?"
"I noticed it wasn't there this afternoon. I was just wondering.what did you do with it?"
Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Why do you want to know?" he asked.
Neville looked away, appearing somewhat frustrated.
"Look, can you just tell me? Please? I only want to know where it is. Did you give it to Dumbledore?"
"Tell me what you know about it and then I'll tell you where it is," Harry replied.
"I'm just.curious.that's all. It seemed like such a strange gift."
"You're lying," Harry said flatly.
"Okay fine, I really don't know what it is, I just need to know where it is," Neville said exasperatedly.
"Did you send it?" Harry asked. "Or do you know who did?"
"No, the first time I've ever seen it was this morning, right before you brought Sirius and Marzia to see it."
"You were there?" Harry asked, surprised. "What, were you hiding?"
"Well it didn't appear as if you wanted company at that moment, so yes I kept out of sight. I saw you and Ron leave with the bottle. Where did you take it?"
"I got rid of it," Harry said with a shrug. "Now if you'll excuse me." he trailed off, turning back to Mel who was looking entirely confused. He whisked her away as far across the room as possible, before finally slowing down. As he once again pulled her closer to him, she spoke up.
"So, should I even ask what that was all about?"
Harry sighed.
"Honestly, I don't think I could give you an answer, because I'm not completely sure myself."
Mel looked up at him for a moment, staring into his eyes.
"Alright," she said at last, nodding. "Consider it forgotten."
"Thank you," he said, smiling as they continued to dance. Gradually he moved them back into the middle of the floor, wanting to see how his friends were doing, and finally catching sight of Ron's bright red hair.
"You'll never believe what just happened," he said as they neared each other.
"Hang on," Ron replied quickly, barely even giving Harry a second glance. Harry looked past to where Ron was staring, to see Elliot and Ginny dancing, very closely.
Hermione sighed loudly.
"I'm just loving this romantic evening, let me say. I'm so lucky to have a guy like you."
"He's all over her!" Ron hissed, looking at from Hermione to his sister.
"Ron, stop it already," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "It's no worse than anything you've done."
"Oh now that's just not true," Ron began spinning around to face his friend.
"Wait," Harry cut him off. "Before you go off on this little tangent, I need to tell you something."
Talking as quietly as possible, he explained what had just happened with Neville.
"Why would he want to know that?" Hermione asked. "Do you think Gazten has anything to do with this?"
"I don't know," Harry said. "But it does seem likely, since Neville didn't seem to know what the bottle was. She probably asked him to do that."
"But why?" Ron asked.
"That's what we have to find out," Harry said. "Maybe she sent it. Or maybe she knows who did."
"Oh good, that won't be hard at all. I'm sure she'll be all too willing to just tell us what she's up to," Ron said, sardonically.
"I didn't say we'd ask her, but maybe we could." Harry was cut off as he felt Mel pull away from him roughly. Turning around, he saw Malfoy had grabbed her by the wrist and was trying to drag her across the room.
"Stop it Draco!" she yelled, tugging at her arm. "Let go of me!"
"No, we have a surprise for you, come see," Malfoy replied, gleefully.
Harry lunged forward, he was able to get ahead as Mel was holding Draco back, and stepped in front of them, blocking the path.
"Let her go Malfoy," he said, evenly.
"Oh shove it, Potter," Malfoy spat. "Get out of the way. You shouldn't even be here with her."
The students closest to them had stopped dancing, and were forming a loose circle around the three of them.
"Whatever you need to show her, you can do it another time," Harry said in a low voice. Slowly, he reached his hand into his pocket, wrapping his fingers around his wand. The last thing he wanted was to fight, but knowing Malfoy, he was ready for anything.
"You're right, I can," Malfoy hissed, looking around Harry at something behind him. Harry barely had time to turn around, as he felt something hit him forcefully in the back. The impact shoved him forward and he hit the floor hard on his knees. He heard Mel cry out, but for a moment, couldn't move or see. He knew the people closest to him had begun to crowd around as he could hear their chatter grow louder. His eyes began to burn and for a split-second he wondered if he was going to have another vision, but the pain only increased.
"Harry, are you alright, what happened?" he heard Mel's voice close to him as she knelt down at his side.
"I don't know," he said in a strained voice.
Concentrating with every ounce of strength in him, he cleared his mind of everything, and focused only on the pain. The voices around him became muted, as he forced his breathing to become regular and tried to remain calm. Little by little, the pain went away, until it was entirely gone.
Opening his eyes slowly, he found he still couldn't see. It was as if he'd never opened them at all. He barely had time to let this sink in, when the crowd around him suddenly became louder.
"What did that slimy git do to you?" Ron's voice came from his left side, sounding concerned.
"Harry what happened?" Remus' voice broke through the crowd. "Who did this?"
"I can't." he began, about to tell them he couldn't see, when suddenly his vision started to return, and quickly. Everything began to blur in such a way that it looked as if he were staring out the window of a speeding vehicle when it all came to a screeching halt. Blinking several times, he looked up to see he was surrounded by many concerned faces.
"You can't what?" Remus prompted.
Harry glanced around quickly, searching for Malfoy, but he was gone.
"Who hit me?" Harry asked. "It wasn't Malfoy, because it came from behind."
"I don't know," Ron said, "All I saw was you falling forward and Malfoy letting go of Mel and taking off."
"You were hit with a curse?" Remus asked angrily.
"It was so dark you could hardly see it," Mel spoke up. "But I did, it hit him in the back."
"What's going on?" came Sirius' startled voice from back behind the crowd. He broke through to see Harry kneeling in the center of it all and rushed forward. "Are you alright? What happened? Who did this to you?" he began shooting out questions too fast for anyone to answer.
"Someone hit him with a curse," Remus said. "We still don't know who."
"Look, can we not talk about this here?" Harry asked, glancing again at the now very curious faces.
"You should go to see Madam Pomfrey," Sirius said immediately.
"No," Harry replied firmly. "I'm fine. Let's just move to a different part of the room or something."
"But if you were cursed." Sirius began again.
"I'm not.I don't think, not anymore at least. I'll tell you what happened in a moment."
Pushing himself up and taking the hand Sirius held out to him, he stood up. The small group walked out of the circle where Remus was now telling everyone to go back to what they were doing and made their way to the corner of the room.
When Remus and Ginny joined them, telling Elliot she'd only be a minute, Harry explained very quickly what he'd felt when the curse hit him.
"He tried to blind me," Harry said when he finished. "Or whoever actually sent the curse did."
"Didn't anyone see who cast it?" Sirius asked, looking around at the others. Everyone shook their heads.
"None of us were close enough," Ron said.
"Except maybe Mel," Ginny added pointedly.
"I didn't see who it was," Mel said, sounding a little irritated at Ginny's accusing tone. "And if I did see.or if I find out, believe me I'll be telling you who it was."
"Why did he go after you first though?" Harry asked, looking at Mel.
"Probably just to get you out in the open," Hermione said. "You saw what was happening when you and he were arguing, the crowd pulled back to watch. It gave whoever cursed you a clear shot. I think Mel was just a distraction."
"Well it worked then," Harry said, rubbing his back.
"But did it?" Hermione asked. "You can see fine. No curse wears off that quickly, and usually for something like that you'd need a counter- curse."
Harry stared at her blankly.
"I don't know then.I couldn't see for a few seconds there, but then it all came rushing back."
"Could the git have done it wrong?" Ron asked, smirking.
Harry shrugged.
"Well we're going to find out exactly what was done," Sirius spoke up suddenly. "I'm going to speak to Dumbledore about this, and then we're going to have a chat with Mr. Malfoy," he spat in disgust. He looked at his godson, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Harry nodded.
"I'm fine. I promise, everything's okay."
"Alright," Sirius said, smirking. "Take it easy and don't stay up too late!" he said with a wink as he turned and headed towards the door.
Harry smiled after him, before looking again to his friends.
"You kids have fun," Remus said, "and if Malfoy shows up I want to know, understood?"
They all nodded; telling him they would let him know, before he too walked away, back to watch over the ball. The other teachers that were chaperoning came up to him one at a time, probably to ask what had happened.
"Where's Marzia?" Ron asked suddenly, looking around. The other began doing the same.
"I don't see her," Hermione said at last. "Was she here earlier?"
"Yes," Harry and Ron answered at once. "I saw her with Sirius," Harry said.
"Same here," Ron added, narrowing his eyes.
"Well she must've left with him too," Hermione said.
"Let's not get into this here," Harry spoke up. "Please?" he asked, looking at Ron.
"Fine," Ron answered.
Harry nodded his thanks.
"So," he said turning back to Mel with a smile. "I believe we were in the middle of a dance."
The rest of the night went off without a hitch and Harry could hardly believe how late it had gotten when the dance was coming to a close.
"Thank you," Mel said as they walked to the door side by side. "I had a really good time."
"So did I," Harry smiled. "Well except for that part about getting cursed.but otherwise." he joked.
"Oh yes, there was that, wasn't there?" Mel replied, matching his tone. Her expression turned serious, however, as she continued. "I really am going to try and find out who it was, you know. I'm sure Draco had someone else in Slytherin do it. Most likely so he couldn't be blamed for it."
The two of them came to a halt, now outside the great hall. They moved off to the side to continue their discussion.
"You don't have to do that," Harry said quickly. "Not if you don't want to. I know how upset you are already.about how mean he's been to you because of me."
"Don't worry about that," Mel said, trying to shrug it off, but Harry could tell it was bothering her. "He's the one that turned this into something it didn't have to be. On top of that he used me to try to curse you, and that makes me more angry than upset. Now it's personal."
Harry couldn't help but smile as she said this.
"You know," he began, "my friends have got to get to know you better. They'd love you, I swear."
Mel blushed and grinned up at him.
"Well I'm all for that. I'd like to know them better too."
"We're just gonna have to hang out more," Harry sighed, making it sound as if it were a chore.
"Only if you can fit me in to your busy schedule, oh popular one," Mel joked, rolling her eyes.
"Hey," Harry said, pretending to be insulted. "That's Mr. Popular One to you." He squinted his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her.
"That's attractive," Mel laughed.
"I thought so," Harry replied, feigning arrogance.
"You're nuts!" Mel cried at last, a broad smile on her face.
"That's what everyone tells me," Harry said, scratching his head. "I can't imagine why." Putting his hand down he looked back at Mel and grinned. "Okay, seriously though. Thank you for coming with me tonight. I had so much fun, really."
"Thank you for asking me," Mel replied. They looked into each other's eyes and suddenly neither of them had anything to say. It wasn't awkward, just nice. The students leaving the great hall shuffled by unnoticed, no one paying attention to the two of them standing there.
After a few moments, Harry cleared his throat.
"Well, I guess we should probably get going.it's pretty late." he trailed off.
"Yeah, I'm actually more tired than I thought," Mel said, not really seeming it.
"Should I walk you?" Harry asked, looking down the hall that led to the dungeon area.
"Not a good idea," Mel said with a nervous laugh, "I don't think you should be anywhere near the Slytherin dorm, especially not right now."
"You know I don't care about that," Harry said. "I really can take care of myself against them.it's when I'm attacked from behind that it gets bad."
"Which is exactly what they'd do, I'm sure," Mel said. "Honestly I don't need you to escort me there, I've done it a million times on my own. But thank you, for offering." She smiled sweetly at him. "Good night, Harry. Thank you again for a lovely evening."
"Good night Mel," Harry replied. "Sweet dreams."
"You too," she said as she began to walk down the hall. Looking back over her shoulder, she waved her good bye, before turning around and heading towards her dorm.
Harry watched her go until she was out of sight, when she turned the corner at the end of the hall; he finally started off in the opposite direction, towards the Gryffindor tower. Saying goodnight to the few students who were mulling around, he found Ron and Hermione waiting for him at the opposite end of the hall.
"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked, seeing the cloudy expression on Ron's face.
"Elliot's walking her back to the tower and she," he said pointedly, gesturing at Hermione, " wouldn't let me follow them."
"Harry, please tell him he's an idiot," Hermione said flatly.
Harry grinned at her before turning back to Ron.
"You're an idiot."
"Hey, whose side are you on?" Ron asked, heatedly.
"No one's," Harry shrugged. "I refuse to get in the middle of your fights anymore.oh and by the way Ginny's sixteen. Just so you know, there's a one in front of the six."
He smiled at their stunned faces and passed by, calling out as he moved up the hall.
"Good night guys! Happy Christmas! See you in the morning!"
When Harry reached the portrait of the fat lady he immediately went through into the common room. Many students were still awake and talking about the dance, but he spotted Cho in the far corner of the room, reading a book and waiting for him.
"Good morning," he said cheerfully as he neared her.
"Is it that late already?" she asked, lowering her book.
Harry pulled out his watch.
"Quarter past one," he read, before placing it back in his pocket.
"Wow." Cho yawned. "I didn't realize how much time had passed." She paused, looking up at him and grinning. "So, c'mon then. How was the ball?"
"It was great," he smiled, leaning on the arm of the chair behind him. Starting from when they reached the great hall, he began to tell her all about the night. Everything from choosing dinner, to Ron's behavior towards Elliot, to Neville asking about the bottle, to the incident with Malfoy.
"But they still don't know who cursed you?" Cho asked, concerned.
Harry shook his head.
"No, but Sirius and Dumbledore are looking into it, they'll let us know when they find anything. Besides, whoever did it, did it wrong," he laughed.
"Are you sure you're not hurt?" she asked, searching his eyes. She knew very well how much he liked to hide any pain he might be feeling.
"Very sure," he nodded, gazing back at her. Standing up, he stepped towards her and she moved aside as he slid down beside her in the seat. "But thank you for asking."
"I had to be sure," Cho replied with a knowing smile. Harry looked deeply into her eyes. He'd never seen any that could compare to hers, they were just too perfect.
"You know.I missed you tonight," he said, leaning closer.
"Did you?" Cho asked, playfully. "Sounded to me like your evening was too busy to think of anything other than what was going on at the ball. I doubt you thought of me at all the entire time you were there."
"Trust me," Harry said, leaning closer still. "I did." Their lips brushed and he kissed her softly, feeling her return it. Bringing her hand up to his face, she began to kiss him harder. He felt her other arm come up and around his neck, pulling him closer and he wrapped his own arms around her back.
They were lost in each other, caught up in the moment, oblivious too everything around them, when someone very nearby cleared their throat; loudly. Pulling away from one another, they looked up to see Hermione grinning down at them.
"Sorry to interrupt you two," she began and gestured over her shoulder with a slight nod, "but there are children present, in case you hadn't noticed."
Harry put a hand up to his face, wiping at his mouth and Cho began patting her hair down, self-consciously. They both looked in the direction Hermione had pointed to see several of the younger Gryffindors that had stayed up to hear about the ball pointing and laughing at them, whispering to each other.
Harry looked over at Cho, giving her a lopsided grin, to which she immediately began giggling.
"Sorry!" he yelled across the room cheerfully, beginning to laugh as he went on, "Show's over."
The two of them couldn't stop laughing for a moment, and Hermione settled into the chair Harry had been leaning on earlier, smiling at them.
Cho was able to regain her composure first, and looked over at Hermione.
"And where's the ever tactful Mr. Weasley?" she asked, trying not to laugh. "Don't tell me he went to bed without saying goodnight."
Hermione rolled her eyes and pointed across the room. Ron was standing near the portrait hole, talking with Ginny.
"Giving his poor sister the third degree on Elliot."
"Oh, I feel so bad for her," Cho remarked.
"So do I," Hermione said. "But no matter what I've tried.he still won't let up."
"Look at the poor thing, she looks so tired," Cho said as the three of them watched Ginny yawn widely. She looked as if she were pleading with Ron now to drop the subject but he was paying no attention.
"Okay, I'll do it," Harry said at last, pushing himself forward. He leaned down again and gave Cho a quick kiss. "Goodnight you two, see you in the morning," he said to them as he headed across the room to the others. Ron was in the middle of saying something, heatedly, when Harry strode up beside him and took him by the arm.
"Just wanted to say good night Ginny, hope you had fun tonight!"
"Oh you too Harry," Ginny smiled, exhausted.
"C'mon Ron," Harry said, taking his friend's arm. "Let's go."
"Hey!" Ron exclaimed as Harry pulled him away from his sister. Ginny didn't waste any time, with a quick wave to Hermione and Cho, she bolted through the doors to the dormitories and out of sight.
"I'll take it from here," Hermione joked as she came up beside the two of them. "Thank you Harry."
"Good night," Harry said again, smiling. He headed for the door; now feeling pleasantly tired, and started up the stairs.
The next morning at breakfast, Harry could feel his eyelids drooping. He'd gotten only a few hours of sleep before Hermione had burst into the boys' dorm to wake both him and Ron.
"C'mon you two!" she called, sounding far too chipper. "We promised Hagrid we'd help him out today and we still need to talk to Sirius about last night. Up, up, up!"
She went to both of their beds, yanking back the curtains as far as they would go, before doing the same to the ones at the window, letting the sunshine fall across their faces.
"What time is it?" Ron mumbled, rolling over on his side to avoid the light.
"Seven," Hermione replied, brightly.
"In the morning?" Ron whined. "I'm not getting up now, forget it."
"We promised Hagrid we'd meet him at nine," Hermione admonished, now pulling the covers back from Ron's bed as well. "And if we want a chance to talk with Sirius and Dumbledore we'll have to do it now, because we won't have time to later."
"Okay, okay, alright," Harry finally muttered, sitting up in his bed. "Just keep it down," he said, looking from Hermione to Neville's sleeping form and back, pointedly.
"Oh, sorry," Hermione said quickly. "You're definitely up though? I'm not gonna have to come back to."
"We're up, I p-promise, just give us a few minutes," Harry yawned.
"Alright," Hermione said, looking uncertainly at them. She turned and headed for the door, coming to a stop just as she reached it. "Oh, and remember," she called in a loud whisper. "Wear clothes that you don't care about.because it's gonna be messy when."
"I remember," Harry hissed, waving his hands to shush her. "Don't worry, we'll be there in just a few minutes." Harry waited until he heard Hermione's footsteps descending the stairs before he finally stood.
"C'mon Ron," he said, giving his friend a shake. "We really have to get up now."
Ron let out a muffled groan before forcing himself to sit up.
"Why did we promise Hagrid we'd help him in his garden today anyway?" he asked, miserably. "It's the middle of winter for the love of Pete! And for the entire day, no less."
"Which is why he asked for our help," Harry said, looking through his trunk. Hagrid had said it would be very messy, and he knew exactly what he was going to wear. Rummaging around he finally found what he was looking for; a t-shirt, flannel and oversized pants; all formerly belonging to Dudley.
"You still have those?" Ron asked incredulously as Harry began to change.
"Hey," Harry began, pulling the t-shirt over his head, "you never know when they'll come in handy. I always thought it would be for cleaning rags or something.but this is just as good."
"If you say so," Ron shrugged, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He changed into one of his mum's many sweaters for him and an old pair of pants, before the two of them headed downstairs together.
Now they were at breakfast and just about finished. Barely anyone else was in the great hall as they were all still sleeping, tired from the ball the night before.
"Do you think Sirius will have found anything out by now?" Ginny asked, as they were just about finished.
"I don't know," Harry shrugged, tiredly. "I guess we'll find out.when we find him."
"Looks like we won't have to," Hermione remarked. Everyone looked up at her and she nodded up towards the front of the hall, where Sirius and Remus were making their way over.
"I didn't expect you to be up so early," Sirius began as he reached them. "We checked your tower first and didn't find you there, so we came down here."
"We should be there," Ron said pointedly. "But we're helping Hagrid do who knows what in his garden today."
"Even with all this snow on the ground?" Remus asked, confused.
"Exactly why I don't understand it," Ron remarked.
Sirius shrugged.
"Well, I'm sure Hagrid has his reasons," he said, rolling his eyes. His expression darkened, however as he continued.
"I'm afraid to say we still have very little to tell you about what happened last night. It appears no one saw who cursed you, and Malfoy is staying silent."
"I'd expected as much," Harry said, noncommittally. "It doesn't matter, we know it was done wrong, whatever they were doing.probably either Crabbe or Goyle."
"This would be so much easier if Dumbledore would let us use Veritaserum on the little git,' Sirius said in a low voice.
"Sirius, my friend," Remus began, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You know he'd never let that happen, no matter how untrustworthy the student is. Someone's life would have to be at stake before he'd allow that."
"Well it very well could have been, for all we know!" Sirius shot back, not looking comforted in the least.
"Sirius, I'm fine," Harry spoke up, suddenly feeling the need to reassure his godfather of this. "Really, whatever he tried to do, it failed, and it didn't seem very harmful to begin with."
"I don't mean to interrupt," Hermione spoke up suddenly, looking very apologetic. "But we really have to go. We said we'd be at Hagrid's by nine and that's only five minutes from now."
"Oh, you best get going then," Sirius said, forcing a smile. "Be careful, stay alert," he said to Harry.
"Promise," Harry said, reassuringly. They stood up together, and walked towards the doors. Sirius and Remus started off in the opposite direction, still discussing last night's events.
Reaching the entrance to the school, Harry and Ron pushed the doors open, allowing Hermione and Ginny to go first, before following them down towards Hagrid's hut.
"'Allo you four!" Hagrid cried happily as he caught sight of Harry and his friends coming up to him.
"Hello Hagrid," they all said at once, sounding like a big jumble.
"I see yeh's aren't quite awake yet, eh?" he laughed, "We'll soon fix that, yeh'll see, we will indeed! C'mon 'roun back nohw, all eh yeh's. Iy'll get yehs all sum shovels an' we can get started."
"Shovels?" Ron asked loudly as the followed him around back. He had already started their project for the day and had several shovels laid out on the ground, ready for them.
"There yehs are," he said, pointing. "Sorry they ain't all very small, but them's the on'y ones I got. Iy'll leave it for yeh's ta decide who gets which one."
The four of them moved closer, to see four abnormally large shovels in front of them. Hermione and Ginny immediately made grabs for the smaller ones, leaving two for Harry and Ron. One large, one much larger. Ron looked at Harry miserably for the umpteenth time that day and Harry rolled his eyes.
"Oh just take the smaller one, you big baby," he said as Ron smiled gleefully, grabbing the shovel. Harry leant down and grasped his own shovel tightly, before heaving it into an upright position. It was nearly as tall as he was.
"Right, yeh's all set then?" Hagrid asked, looking at each of them in turn. They nodded, trying not to look too unhappy as he went on. "Good, okay, here's what we're doin."
Hagrid explained how they needed to break through the ground, which was very hard due to the extreme cold temperatures, to reach the roots of the plants in the garden. Once they got down that far, they needed to pull the roots out and place them in the jars which, the four of them saw, were lined up along the opposite side of the garden.
"This'll take ages," Ron commented as he tried to break the ground with the tip of his shovel, stepping down on it with all of his weight.
"Why did you agree to help if all you're going to do is complain?" Hermione asked, irritated.
"I think you agreed for me," Ron replied. "Remember? He asked you about it after our class last week.you told him we'd be glad to help. I never had a choice."
"Okay you two," Harry cut them off. "We've just started and I really don't want to spend the entire day arguing. It'll only make it take longer and I'd like to see Cho at some point today, even if it's just for a little while."
Ron didn't look any happier about it, but stopped complaining for the time being. Harry moved across to where Hagrid was working and started talking to him about everything that had been happening. Most of it Hagrid was already aware of as Gazten and he had been talking about everything, but when Harry tried to ask about her, Hagrid would only change the subject, asking him about something entirely off topic. Finally, Harry gave up trying to press Hagrid for information, and had a regular chat.
By the time they stopped for lunch, they were no longer wearing their winter cloaks. The four of them were anything but cold and had their sleeves rolled up, sweat dripping down their face. They trudged back up to the school and went directly to the great hall, drawing strange looks from everyone around them.
"This is taking forever," Ron commented, shoving a piece of chicken in his mouth. "We're not even going to be halfway done by the time the sun sets. What does he need all these roots for anyway?"
Hermione shrugged.
"Maybe he's collecting them for Gazten," she suggested. "Sometimes you use the roots of different plants for healing potions and such."
"Well than she should be out there digging," Ron replied.
"I wonder where she is anyway," Harry spoke up. "I didn't see her as one of the chaperone's last night.and she's not up at the teachers' table right now."
"She's not the only one that isn't here," Hermione said. "Look around. Neville and Draco aren't anywhere I can see."
The other three did as she said, before looking back at her.
"How interesting," Harry said, not knowing what to make of it.
"Where's Cho anyway, Harry?" Ron asked, taking a large forkful of potatoes.
"She said there were a few things she needed to do today," Harry explained. "If she isn't in the common room when we're done, then she might not be in till late. I think there are a few things she's going over with Dumbledore.about her parents, mostly."
The others nodded, and went back to their food. When they were finished, they again made the journey down to Hagrid's hut and began to shovel into the hard, cold dirt.
Harry was stopping every few seconds as sweat kept dripping into his eyes and his hair hung in his face. He kept pushing back the oversized sleeves on the large flannel but the wrists on it were too big even to stay in place on his upper arms. Several hours went by and discussion was at a minimum, everyone too tired to do anything except concentrate on the task at hand.
By the time the sun began to set, they'd made it three-quarters of the way through the garden. Hagrid thanked them profusely for taking the time to help him, and sent them on their way with his infamous rock- hard brownies, which they politely accepted.
After what seemed like one of the longest walks of their lives, every muscle aching and screaming, they finally made it back to their tower.
"I'm going to bed," Hermione said immediately, barely bothering to say good night.
"Same here," Ginny murmured, her eyes already closed as she followed Hermione to the door.
"Sorry Harry, I think I'm turning in too," Ron said when he didn't notice Cho anywhere in the room. Harry glanced around once more, lingering hopefully on the portrait hole, before finally deciding there'd be no way he could stay awake for any length of time anyway.
"Don't be sorry," Harry said, "I can't wait either. I'll talk to Cho in the morning, hope everything went alright for her."
The two friends made their way upstairs and each of them headed for his own bed. Harry was so tired he didn't even bother to get changed. He plopped onto his bed in his muddy, oversized clothes; falling asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow. The two of them had been so exhausted, and desperate for sleep, that neither of them paid any notice to the blue bottle with the cork in it, sitting on Harry's bedside table.
What should have been a deep, well-needed sleep for Harry was anything but. Nightmares plagued him, causing him to toss and turn fretfully for hours. To make it worse, it wasn't a dream playing out before him, it was images flashing, unattached to one another, of the people he loved most in pain. Over and over he watched as his friends were tortured, and killed, all because of him. He saw their bodies lying lifelessly, but the second each picture entered his mind it would pass, pushing forth the next gruesome image.
Voldemort's face loomed into view; Harry could hear his high cackling laugh, feel the heat from his burning red eyes. Unable to stand it any longer, Harry shot up in bed, fully awake, his scar searing with pain. He clutched his head in agony, biting his lower lip, trying not to cry out. His hair was drenched with sweat, which was dripping down his face and into his eyes, but he didn't care. He waited, for what seemed like ages, until finally the pain subsided.
Letting out a shaky breath, he tried to reassure himself it was just a dream. Voldemort was not here, his friends were alive and well, and it was going to stay that way.
Still feeling too stuffy and hot, he pushed the curtains back from around his bed, just realizing he was still fully clothed in his muddy attire from the previous days activities.
He was about to get up to change, when a glint of light caught his eye. He looked at his bedside table to see the moonlight sparkling off of the blue bottle and his stomach twisted slowly.
How did that get there? he thought worriedly, standing up and leering over it. He looked at it for a few tense moments, before shaking his head, letting out a nervous laugh.
"Don't be dumb, Harry," he whispered to himself. "It didn't get here all by itself." Deciding that this time he had to show it to Dumbledore, explaining both Sirius and Marzia's reaction to it, and how it had mysteriously reappeared, he reached forward.
His hand stopped dead, however, when the bottle began to admit a bright glow from within. Harry took a step back, feeling his jaw drop, as the small object began to tremble. The movement became more violent and the bottle was teetering dangerously close to the edge, but Harry was unable to move, frozen to the spot.
He watched, both fascinated and frightened, as the bottle gave a final lurch, pitching over the edge of the table, and landing hard on the floor, ceasing all movement.
"It didn't break." Harry whispered, keeping his eyes on the delicate bottle. He stood in tense silence, entirely unsure of what to do. The bottle seemed to have stopped whatever it was doing, but he had no desire to be anywhere near it. Finally, he decided it would be best to bring the headmaster here, someone obviously wanted it in his room, so what were the chances of it being gone when he returned?
He tore his eyes away and started for the door, when his attention was brought back around by a popping noise behind him. Harry's eyes widened in shock as he saw the cork was no longer in the bottle. Taking a tentative step forward, he leaned down to peer at it closer, trying to see clearly in the dark room when suddenly a dark flash shot out of the bottle's mouth.
Harry jumped back, looking around for whatever had just entered the room. He could hear tiny footsteps, sounding everywhere at once. All of his instincts were telling him to get out of the room, find Dumbledore, get help, but he couldn't. He couldn't because his friends were in here with whatever it was, and he refused to leave them.
Thrusting his hand in his pocket, he pulled out his wand.
"Lumos," he whispered, watching as bright light instantly emitted from its tip.
The noises the small creature was making were now centered near his bed, and he slowly made his way over. Moving ever so slowly, he knelt down, shining the light underneath it.
Nothing.
He stood up and moved around to the other side, searching every crack and crevice he could find, but coming up empty each time.
As he knelt down to search behind his trunk, he could tell this was it. He could hear the little creature's breathing, and a horrible stench assaulted his nose. He drew back a little, aiming the wand into the darkness, when he felt an intense pain in his hand. Looking down quickly, aiming the light, he barely caught the movement of the small creature retreating, but his attention was drawn to his hand. It was bleeding hard, a very deep slash across the top of it. He pulled it towards him and instantly grabbed the tail end of his shirt, pressing it against the wound to stop the flow of blood. Cursing vehemently, he pointed his wand in front of him and stood up quickly.
The dizziness hit immediately and Harry swayed on his feet. This can't be right, he thought, I've barely lost any blood at all.
But the sick feeling only increased and Harry clutched his stomach in pain. The room was spinning, madly, out of control and his head hurt to look at it. He lowered his head, keeping his eyes shut tightly, willing the nauseas feeling to stop.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he looked up slowly, glancing around the room. Everything was still moving, but not as it was before. This time, the room was growing, becoming larger around him. Harry felt his stomach lurch as he looked down again. His wand was doing the same thing as the room, it was growing too big for him to hold. Looking around in fear, the reality of what was happening dawned on him. The room wasn't growing.
He was shrinking.
"Happy Christmas," Harry whispered as Ron pulled the curtains back from around his bed.
"Happy Christmas Harry," he replied with a grin. His eyes fell hungrily on the presents and Harry laughed out loud.
"You never change, do you?" he asked.
"What's so wrong about wanting presents?" Ron asked defensively, as he got out of the bed. He scooted quickly to his pile and began sifting through them.
"Nothing," Harry replied with a grin, "nothing at all."
He went to his own pile and began to pile the parcels on top of each other.
"C'mon," he said over his shoulder to Ron. "We're meeting the girls downstairs, remember? They can't come in here this year because everyone's still here."
"Oh yeah," Ron said, taking his hand away from the package he'd been about to rip open. He piled his up the same as Harry's and together they went down the stairs. Hermione, Ginny and Cho were already there in front of the fire, waiting for them.
"About time!" Ginny called out when they appeared in the doorway.
"Happy Christmas to you too," Harry said sardonically, but smiled at her.
Good morning," Cho said as he sat down on the floor beside her. "Sleep well?"
"Very," Harry replied, smiling at her. "You?"
"I'm still tired," she said in a soft voice, laying her head on his shoulder. He kissed her hair gently, feeling her warmth against him. Glancing across at his friends, he saw Ron and Hermione were not getting on quite as well. Ron had tried to give Hermione his present and she wouldn't even touch it.
"I don't want it," she said stiffly. "I'm not even speaking to you right now."
"You just spoke to me then!" Ron pointed out angrily. Harry looked down at Cho who was rolling her eyes at Ron's comment.
"Fine, I will speak to you," Hermione said suddenly, spinning to face Ron. "What you did the other night was mean and uncalled for. You embarrassed Trevor, who certainly didn't deserve that, and now I'm not going to the ball with anyone. I probably won't go at all! So thank you very much and I hope you have a lovely Christmas." She glared at him fiercely before standing up and walking to the opposite side of the room, where she plopped angrily into a chair.
Ron's face was redder than his hair, and he looked pleadingly at Harry.
"I can't help you with this one Ron," Harry said with an apologetic shrug.
"Apologize to her," Cho said evenly. "If you really care for her that's what you'll do. You just need to swallow your pride and go for it."
Ron set his jaw stubbornly, showing exactly what he thought of that idea, when Ginny spoke up.
"You really should Ron, I've never seen her so mad at you before." She looked from her brother to Hermione and back, before nodding in Hermione's direction, trying to prompt him to move.
"Looks like you're both going stag then," Harry commented, with a pointed look at his friend.
Ron finally huffed loudly, standing up.
"Fine, fine." he muttered as he trudged across the room towards Hermione.
"Are all your Christmas' together this pleasant?" Cho asked as they watched Ron go.
"Nope, just this one," Harry half-laughed. They quieted down when Ron began to talk.
"Hermione," he began. "Look what I did the other day.it was just a joke." he trailed off, shrugging.
"Well it wasn't very funny," she said curtly, refusing to look at him.
"I didn't hurt anyone." Ron pressed on, sounding frustrated.
"Yes you did," Hermione said fiercely. "You hurt Trevor the same way Malfoy hurts people. He embarrasses and ridicules people for his own petty reasons. I didn't believe you'd ever stoop so low."
"Malfoy and I are nothing alike!" Ron said vehemently, raising his voice. "I can't believe you'd ever compare me to that slimy git!"
"Don't try to turn this on me!" she yelled back. "I'm not the one acting like a git! You're being enough of one for both of us!"
"Guys, guys!" Harry called from his seat on the floor. "Could we try not to bring the whole house down here, maybe? Unless you'd like an even bigger audience."
"I'm finished anyway," Hermione said, standing up. She pushed past Ron and sat down between Ginny and Harry. Ron stood where he was, a look of shock on his face. Slowly, he made his way back to them, but instead of moving past to his seat, he knelt down behind Hermione and leaned forward.
"I think I started off wrong back there," he whispered. "What I meant to say was, I'm sorry."
"You're only saying that because you know it's what I want to hear," Hermione said, evenly, but the look in her eyes was softer.
Ron leaned closer still.
"No, I'm saying it because I mean it. I'm sorry because I didn't know how much what I did hurt you. In my defense, I only did it so I could go to the ball with you."
"Well why haven't you even asked me then?" Hermione said throwing her hands in the air and sighing. She bit her lower lip, almost ready to cry.
"Hey," he said, putting his arm around her. She looked for a moment as if she might pull away, but instead rested her head on his shoulder.
"Hermione, I really didn't mean to upset you this much, really, I mean it. I'm so sorry," he whispered into her hair. Reaching down, he cupped her chin in his hand and brought her face up to his. "Forgive me?" he asked, sheepishly.
She looked at him, obviously wanting to say yes, but remained silent, waiting.
Ron looked at her, almost desperate now, when suddenly he began to laugh. Harry, Cho and Ginny were leaning forward where they sat, anxiously.
"I see how it goes," Ron said as his laughter died down. Clearing his throat, he raised Hermione's hand in front of him. "Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the Yule Ball this evening, my lady?"
Hermione's face broke out into a huge smile and she threw her arms around Ron's neck.
"Yes," she said, nodding happily. "Yes I'd love to go with you."
Harry, Cho and Ginny smiled, as Ron brought Hermione's face to his and they kissed.
"Awwww!" Ginny squealed, waving her hands in front of her. "You two are just so cute." she said dramatically. Everyone laughed, but not just at Ginny. The tension in the air was gone and the fighting was over. Harry heaved a sigh of relief as he exchanged a glance with Cho. The one thing they did not need right now, was fighting amongst themselves.
"Okay," Harry said clearing his throat. "How about we get to the presents before everyone else really does get down here?"
They started by exchanging gifts with each other first; Harry got the normal presents from his friends, candy, books, photos, and sweaters, but loved each and every one of them. He had gotten a very delicate gold locket for Cho, and adored the look in her eyes when they widened in shock.
"I.I love it." she whispered as he leaned over to kiss her.
"Happy Christmas," he said just before their lips brushed.
"Well?" Ron said, looking at Ginny. "Where's their 'awww?'"
"Shut up Ron," Ginny laughed, swatting her older brother before going back to her presents.
"Who's that one from Harry?" Hermione asked pointing to the last gift in his pile.
He lifted the small box wrapped ever so neatly in red paper.
"I don't know.there's no card." he said, turning it carefully in his hands.
"Probably from Dumbledore," Ron said, leaning forward. "C'mon then! Let's have a look!"
Harry shrugged, placing the box on the floor, before beginning to tear the paper away.
As the last of the red paper was torn away, Harry saw the box underneath was dark green. Glancing around at his friends, he slowly pulled the top off, placing it on the floor beside him.
"What is it?" Ron asked, leaning even further forward.
"Hang on," Harry said, absentmindedly as he sifted through the wad of tissue paper. His brow furrowed in confusion as he looked back up at his friends.
"It's a bottle," he said, uncertainly.
"A bottle of what?" Hermione asked.
Harry reached into the box and bulled out a short round bottle that had a very thin neck. It was cerulean blue and sparkled where the light hit it.
"Nothing," he said, examining it carefully. He shook it gently, before popping out the cork and peering inside. "It's empty."
"Who would send you an empty bottle?" Ginny asked.
Harry shrugged, still searching for anything on the bottle, though he didn't know what he was even looking for.
"Well it's very lovely," Cho remarked.
"A very lovely dust collector," Ron said. "I bet it's from the Dursley's."
"No," Harry said, shaking his head and looking up. "They'd never send anything this nice.and they certainly wouldn't have bothered to wrap it."
"Nice?" Ron asked, skeptically. He threw a look at Hermione that said how crazy he thought that statement was, and she just rolled her eyes at him.
"Just because you don't like it." she began, playfully.
"Well what is it good for?" he asked, gesturing towards the bottle. "It's such an odd shape, you can't exactly use to drink out of, you'd never fit any flowers through that thin neck, not that any guy would want a vase anyway, and it doesn't appear to actually do anything. So it's completely and totally useless."
"It's a decoration," Ginny said defensively.
"Yeah but why?" Harry asked. "I wouldn't look at this and get it for another guy, and if it's really so useless then why did the person who sent it not leave a card? Do they not want me to know who they are? What for?"
He looked around at his friends' blank faces and sighed.
"I guess I'll just have to ask Dumbledore about it." he said, trailing off.
"Well if he is the one who gave it to you at least he'll be able to explain what it does," Ginny pointed out.
"I guess," Harry said, still feeling confused.
"C'mon, let's get changed. We'll ask him at breakfast," Cho said, beginning to pile her presents on top of each other. The five of them brought all their things upstairs, just as the rest of the Gryffindors were on their way down. Changing quickly, they met back in the common room, before setting out together and heading for the great hall.
As soon as they'd finished breakfast, Harry and the others made their way up to the teacher's table to speak with Dumbledore.
"Happy Christmas," Dumbledore said cheerily as they reached him. "And how are all of you doing this morning?"
"Happy Christmas Professor," Harry said with a smile. "I don't mean to be a bother to you, especially today. But I received something this morning.and I don't know who it's from or why they sent it."
"What was it?" Dumbledore asked, looking serious.
"Well," Harry began, feeling slightly embarrassed as it didn't seem like anything worth worrying about now. "This is going to sound silly.it's a bottle. An empty, blue bottle."
"No note?" Dumbledore asked.
Harry shook his head.
"Nothing. It came wrapped like any other present, but that was it. A blue bottle with a thin neck and a tiny cork."
Sirius, who had been listening to the conversation from just next to Dumbledore, spoke up.
"I'd like to have a look at this present, is it up in your room Harry?"
"Yes, it's near my bed, I can show you."
"I'll come too," Marzia said, from next to Sirius.
"Er, okay." Harry said, uncertainly.
"Sirius," Dumbledore spoke up. "If either you or Marzia don't recognize the bottle, if you are uncertain even in the least, I want it brought to me immediately."
"Believe me," Sirius said, "That's exactly what we'd do." He stood up, pushing his chair away from the table, Marzia doing the same, and the small group made their way to the doors, leaving the great hall.
"Why did she have to come?" Ron whispered to Harry as they walked through the halls, gesturing at Marzia.
"Well, what if the bottle is from Faerun?" Harry suggested. "She'd recognize it before Sirius would. Probably even before Dumbledore would."
"I'd rather it take longer than have her near it," Ron replied, looking warily at Marzia just a few feet in front of them.
"What do you want me to do?" Harry asked. "I can't exactly ask her to leave."
"Why not?" Ron asked.
"Because she hasn't done anything! Not to me, at least, and I've never seen her act harshly towards you or any other student. I'm really sorry Ron but I just need a bit more.proof.that she's as bad as you think she is."
Ron shook his head, his expression unreadable, but didn't argue. They'd made it to the portrait now, and Hermione had opened it for everyone.
"Lead the way, Harry," Sirius said once they were all in the common room.
Harry and Ron lead Sirius and Marzia to their dorm, while Hermione, Ginny and Cho waited downstairs for them.
"Here," Harry said, pulling the green box out of the pile and opening it. He lifted the fragile bottle, holding it out towards his godfather. Together, Sirius and Marzia examined it carefully.
"Well?" Sirius asked after a few moments, looking at Marzia, "What do you think?"
"I think it's as harmless as can be. I don't recognize it, and honestly it looks more like something you'd see in a muggle home, as a decoration, maybe."
"There you have it," Sirius said, handing the bottle back to his godson.
"Um.that's it?" Harry asked, exchanging a confused glance with Ron. "You're not going to bring it to Dumbledore?"
"What for?" Sirius replied with a shrug. "He said to bring it only if we think it's dangerous."
"No he said if you're uncertain," Ron said, pointedly.
"Well we're certain it isn't dangerous, so we don't need to bring it to him," Sirius said. "Was there anything else?"
Harry felt his jaw drop and clamped it shut quickly.
"Er.no. No that was.that was it." he managed to get out.
"Great," Sirius said, smiling brightly. "Enjoy the rest of your Christmas, and I'll see you all at the dance tonight." He grinned broadly, taking Marzia's arm and leading her downstairs, leaving Harry and Ron to stare after them in shock.
"Okay, what has gotten into him?" Ron asked, his eyes still wide with shock.
"I don't know," Harry said quietly shaking his head. He looked at the bottle in his hands, trying to think.
"Well you don't believe them do you?" Ron asked. "They couldn't possibly be able to tell in just."
"I don't know what I believe," Harry interrupted. "But I know I don't want this anymore. Whatever it is." He looked over at Ron for just a second, before turning to his closet and pulling out his winter cloak. "C'mon," he said. "We're going outside."
Ron didn't question him, simply grabbed his cloak as well and followed him downstairs. It took a moment to convince the girls to wait for them there, but finally got them to agree. Harry ran through the halls with the bottle held tightly against his chest, under his cloak, Ron right beside him. They reached the front doors quickly, and burst through them into the biting cold winter air.
Harry's hair whipped in the wind and both their cheeks were as red as Ron's hair. They walked quickly, their legs numbing from the snow that was rubbing up against their pants, drenching them. Finally, they reached the edge of the forest, coming to an abrupt stop. Harry looked from Ron, to the bottle, to the forest, before bringing his arm back and throwing it with all his strength. They watched it for just a moment, before it was completely out of sight in the darkness.
"Much better," Harry muttered, as he and Ron turned around. They began the trudge back up to the school, both feeling greatly relieved.
"I still think you should have just brought it to Dumbledore," Hermione said for the umpteenth time later that evening. The five friends had been walking through the school, discussing anything and everything. The bottle, the defender, the entities, Marzia, Gazten, Sirius' behavior, and Neville, coming up with no real answers. They were on their way back to the tower, to prepare for the dance, and Hermione wouldn't stop admonishing Harry for his all too quick reaction.
"I just wanted it gone," he said, exasperatedly. "Sorry you can't understand that." In truth, he had wanted to bring it to Dumbledore, but on the same note, he didn't want to have Sirius find out and feel insulted that his godson didn't trust him.
Hermione shook her head, knowingly, but stayed silent. When they reached the tower, the girls immediately headed off to their dorms to get ready. Cho was going to help with hair and make-up, since she wasn't going to attend.
The boys went to their corner to have a game of chess, knowing exactly how long it would take them to get ready as opposed to Hermione and Ginny. An hour later and another defeat for Harry, they decided to get changed.
"Where are you meeting Mel?" Ron asked as they made their way up to their own dorm.
"In front of the great hall, at half-past seven," Harry replied as they entered the room.
"Cho's alright with you going with her?"
"Well she hasn't said anything negative about her since that day," Harry shrugged.
Ron simply nodded, noncommittally, as he headed to his closet. Both of them pulled out their black dress robes and began to change. Less than five minutes later, they were downstairs, waiting.
"What could possibly be taking so long?" Ron asked, thoroughly bored after a half hour more had gone by. The common room was mulling with quite a few Gryffindors, and all of them were male.
Harry laughed.
"What did you expect? Don't you remember last year? The year before? It's always this way."
"I know but honestly, if they're." he began but stopped abruptly. Cho had just stepped into the common room, grinning at both of them.
"Please tell me they're ready," Ron said, standing up.
Harry laughed at Cho rolled her eyes at Ron.
"You need to learn patience," she said, grinning. Pushing the door open behind her, Hermione and Ginny stepped out.
"Wow," Ron whispered as the two girls neared them.
"Hello to you too," Hermione said, stepping in front of Ron. Her hair was completely straightened and the top was parted in a criss-cross pattern, the raised pieces were twirled once and held in place with tiny clips that matched her hair so they wouldn't stand out. The dress robes she wore were soft pink and her makeup was a mixture of gentle earth tones.
"You look.beautiful." he said quietly. Hermione's cheeks flushed as she looked away shyly.
"Thank you."
"Ahem," Ginny cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention.
"Sorry," Ron said with a smile. "Didn't mean to exclude you."
"Don't lie, brother dear," Ginny laughed. She stepped forward, twirling for effect, before stopping to face them. Her brilliant red hair was left down, with small sections on the sides pulled back loosely, leaving wispy tendrils down the sides of her face. Deep blue dress robes brought out the blue in her eyes beautifully, and her makeup was so soft it looked natural.
Harry let out a low whistle.
"You're a knock-out Gin, your date will be on his back when he sees you."
Ginny blushed intensely at Harry's comment, and giggled nervously.
"Hey," Ron spoke up, "you haven't told us who you're going with! C'mon then, I want to know who I'm gonna have to watch all night."
"Ron, stop," Ginny said, trying to sound serious. "You're not that much older than I am."
"But you're still my little sister," Ron replied. "And as your big brother.I have certain responsibilities to." he stopped abruptly as Hermione slapped her hand over his mouth. She looked at Ginny and winked.
"Don't worry, I'll distract him for you."
Ginny smiled, gratefully as Ron pulled Hermione's hand away.
"Well I still want to know who," he said.
"Calm down Ron," Ginny said. "I'm only going with Elliot Treiber."
"Elliot who?" Ron asked.
"A friend of mine. He's in Ravenclaw but we have Herbology and History of Magic together. You'll like him, don't worry."
"Uh-huh," Ron murmured, "sure I will."
"Come on 'older brother,'" Harry said with a laugh. "We better get going."
"Have fun!" Cho said, grinning. She hugged Harry and they kissed quickly, before the four students headed for the door.
They reached to doors to the great hall, where Elliot was standing, leaning against the wall next to them. His eyes nearly popped out of his head as Ginny neared him and his face broke out in a large grin.
"Calm down," Hermione said as she felt Ron's grip tighten on her hand. "She's not a baby."
"I know," Ron muttered, not taking his eyes off of Elliot. Ginny was blushing and giggling at what he was saying to her, pushing her hair back from her face every five seconds, nervously. After a moment Elliot offered his arm, which Ginny took, delicately, and the entered the great hall together.
"You don't mind if we go on ahead, do you Harry?" Ron asked, looking after them.
Harry laughed.
"Ron it's not as if she's never had a date before." he trailed off, shaking his head at his friend's expression. "Go, find a table, save us a seat," he smiled.
He watched as Ron and Hermione disappeared through the doors and leaned up against the wall. Looking at his watch, he saw it was exactly half past seven; Mel should be there at any moment. He stood and watched as couples entered the room, saying hello to those he recognized, nodding to anyone that waved.
The minutes ticked on and soon enough, it was ten to eight. He wasn't sure if he should be worried that something happened to her, or if perhaps she'd decided it'd be funny to stand him up. Just as he was about to head inside, maybe she'd gone in without him, he heard his name behind him.
Spinning around, he saw Mel coming up the hall as fast as she could walk.
"Sorry," she said breathlessly as she neared him, "I completely lost track of the time." she trailed off, looking up at him. "What?" she asked, blushing. "You're staring."
"You.you look." he stuttered as she stifled a nervous laugh. Her shoulder length blonde hair was, for the most part left down, with tiny braids scattered here and there throughout it. Her pale green dress robes had a velvety feel to them, and her makeup was all earth tones.
"I look?" she asked, playfully.
Harry grinned, clearing his throat.
"You're beautiful."
She looked at him, a rosy blush filling her cheeks, but she didn't avert her eyes.
"Thank you," she said softly. "You look very handsome yourself, and as always, I love your hair," she smiled, looking up at his unruly hair. He brought up a hand self-consciously and began trying to pat it down.
"No don't," Mel said, grabbing his arm and smiling. "I think it's cute like that."
"Well, you're certainly the first person that's said they love it," Harry laughed. "My aunt used to want it chopped off.once she even did chop it off, but it grew back the next morning." he trailed off, remembering back to when that had happened. Before he knew he was a wizard, before he knew about Voldemort.
"Well I'm glad it did," Mel said, "how awful of her to do that."
"Yeah," Harry said with a shrug. "That's my aunt and uncle though, anything to make me unhappy." he shook his head. "Sorry, what am I doing? We have a ball to go to," he said wiping the thoughts from his mind and looking at Mel. "Shall we?" he asked, holding out his arm. She slipped hers through it easily.
"Let's go," she said with a smile. Stepping forward, he led her to the doors, and into the great hall.
The hall was decorated beautifully in silver and white. The walls were all mirrors that reflected everything back as far as you could see, and the enchanted ceiling was showing a crystal clear evening, with millions of stars.
Harry spotted his friends immediately and led Mel through the groups of scattered students back to their table.
"What took so long?" Ron asked as they sat down. "I was ready to come and look for you."
"I was running late," Mel said, sheepishly. "Sorry, didn't mean to make you worry about him."
Harry laughed.
"Worry about me? I'm not the one who was missing."
Ginny, who had been across the room with Elliot getting drinks, came back to the table then, her date just behind her.
"Oh, hello Mel," she said as Elliot pulled out her chair for her. "Glad you finally made it." She paused for a moment, as Elliot sat beside her, before turning to him, "Elliot, this is my friend Harry Potter, and that's Mel Tristen."
"Well of course I recognize Harry," Elliot grinned. "Nice to meet you both."
Harry nodded, wishing for once he could be introduced to someone who didn't recognize him, but didn't say anything. They looked at the menus for dinner, going over all the delicious items, trying to make a decision.
"Hey," Mel whispered, leaning towards him. "How about we order for each other?"
Harry laughed.
"You want me to pick your dinner for you?"
"Only if I get to pick yours as well," she smiled.
"There's nothing you can pick that I won't eat," he said with a grin. "Choose away."
Looking carefully at the menu, she finally found one that she liked and held it over to Harry.
"There you are, Mr. Potter. Your dinner for this evening."
Harry looked at where she was pointing and his brow furrowed.
"How do you even say that?" he asked, moving his face closer to the menu. "Fill-ett Mig-nawn?" he asked uncertainly.
Mel tried to stifle her laughter as she corrected him.
"It's pronounced Filay Minyon.Filet Mignon, got it?" she asked.
"Got it," Harry nodded, hoping it wasn't something horrible. "Your turn," he said, beginning to search the menu again. "Alright, this one," he said at last, showing her the dinner.
"Oooh, goodie," Mel said with a grin. "I love Italian."
"So do I, which is why I picked it," Harry said, smiling. "If you really did give me something horrible I'll steal some of yours."
"Hands off my lasagna, mate," Mel replied, playfully. "And trust me, you'll like yours."
They took turns ordering their dinners, and Harry was pleasantly surprised to see his dinner wasn't something disturbing, but a very juicy steak. The dinner was quite pleasant, the six of them eating and chatting away. All in all, it was turning out to be a very nice evening.
When dinner was over the dancing began. Harry watched as Ron and Hermione got up to dance, just as Elliot had asked Ginny.
"A bit overprotective, isn't he?" Mel asked as she noticed Ron kept glancing at Elliot.
Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"You can say that again. He was never like this with the other guys Ginny's gone to the dances with.but he knew all of them."
"I see," Mel smiled.
Harry glanced up at her, then back down at his hands again. He opened his mouth to ask her to dance, but stopped as he looked up at her. Sirius and Marzia were walking up to the table.
"Hello Harry," Sirius said cheerfully. "Having fun?"
"Hi Sirius," Harry replied tentatively. "How are you feeling?"
"How am I feeling?" he asked confused. "Fine, why do you ask?"
Harry shrugged.
"Just curious. Hello Marzia."
"Happy Christmas Harry," she replied, sweetly. "You too, Mel."
"Thank you," Mel said, grinning.
"Well Harry I don't want to keep you from your ball. You kids have fun tonight, okay?"
"We will," Harry replied, forcing a smile. He watched as the two adults walked back across the hall.
"Is everything alright?" Marzia asked, looking from Harry to Sirius and back. "You seemed a bit.strained, with him."
Harry looked at her, hesitating just a moment, before shaking his head.
"No, everything's fine. Don't worry about it." He glanced around at the now very crowded dance floor and grinned.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked, holding out a hand to her.
She took it, smiling, and together they crossed to the middle of the room. Harry held Mel closely to him, she smelled so wonderful. Not that Cho didn't as well, but it wasn't the same. They moved together, swaying to the soft music, not paying much attention to what was going on around them. When Harry felt a soft tap on his shoulder, he looked up, expecting to see Ron.
"Neville?" he asked, coming to a halt. Mel looked back and forth between them curiously.
"Hello Harry, sorry to bother you," he said, looking apologetically from him to Mel. "But there's something I need to ask you."
"What is it?" Harry asked, evenly.
Neville hesitated a moment, considering what to say.
"Well, I happened to notice your stack of presents earlier.one of them being a blue bottle. Do you remember it?" he asked.
Harry tensed immediately, but kept his voice even as he answered.
"Yes, what about it?"
"I noticed it wasn't there this afternoon. I was just wondering.what did you do with it?"
Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Why do you want to know?" he asked.
Neville looked away, appearing somewhat frustrated.
"Look, can you just tell me? Please? I only want to know where it is. Did you give it to Dumbledore?"
"Tell me what you know about it and then I'll tell you where it is," Harry replied.
"I'm just.curious.that's all. It seemed like such a strange gift."
"You're lying," Harry said flatly.
"Okay fine, I really don't know what it is, I just need to know where it is," Neville said exasperatedly.
"Did you send it?" Harry asked. "Or do you know who did?"
"No, the first time I've ever seen it was this morning, right before you brought Sirius and Marzia to see it."
"You were there?" Harry asked, surprised. "What, were you hiding?"
"Well it didn't appear as if you wanted company at that moment, so yes I kept out of sight. I saw you and Ron leave with the bottle. Where did you take it?"
"I got rid of it," Harry said with a shrug. "Now if you'll excuse me." he trailed off, turning back to Mel who was looking entirely confused. He whisked her away as far across the room as possible, before finally slowing down. As he once again pulled her closer to him, she spoke up.
"So, should I even ask what that was all about?"
Harry sighed.
"Honestly, I don't think I could give you an answer, because I'm not completely sure myself."
Mel looked up at him for a moment, staring into his eyes.
"Alright," she said at last, nodding. "Consider it forgotten."
"Thank you," he said, smiling as they continued to dance. Gradually he moved them back into the middle of the floor, wanting to see how his friends were doing, and finally catching sight of Ron's bright red hair.
"You'll never believe what just happened," he said as they neared each other.
"Hang on," Ron replied quickly, barely even giving Harry a second glance. Harry looked past to where Ron was staring, to see Elliot and Ginny dancing, very closely.
Hermione sighed loudly.
"I'm just loving this romantic evening, let me say. I'm so lucky to have a guy like you."
"He's all over her!" Ron hissed, looking at from Hermione to his sister.
"Ron, stop it already," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "It's no worse than anything you've done."
"Oh now that's just not true," Ron began spinning around to face his friend.
"Wait," Harry cut him off. "Before you go off on this little tangent, I need to tell you something."
Talking as quietly as possible, he explained what had just happened with Neville.
"Why would he want to know that?" Hermione asked. "Do you think Gazten has anything to do with this?"
"I don't know," Harry said. "But it does seem likely, since Neville didn't seem to know what the bottle was. She probably asked him to do that."
"But why?" Ron asked.
"That's what we have to find out," Harry said. "Maybe she sent it. Or maybe she knows who did."
"Oh good, that won't be hard at all. I'm sure she'll be all too willing to just tell us what she's up to," Ron said, sardonically.
"I didn't say we'd ask her, but maybe we could." Harry was cut off as he felt Mel pull away from him roughly. Turning around, he saw Malfoy had grabbed her by the wrist and was trying to drag her across the room.
"Stop it Draco!" she yelled, tugging at her arm. "Let go of me!"
"No, we have a surprise for you, come see," Malfoy replied, gleefully.
Harry lunged forward, he was able to get ahead as Mel was holding Draco back, and stepped in front of them, blocking the path.
"Let her go Malfoy," he said, evenly.
"Oh shove it, Potter," Malfoy spat. "Get out of the way. You shouldn't even be here with her."
The students closest to them had stopped dancing, and were forming a loose circle around the three of them.
"Whatever you need to show her, you can do it another time," Harry said in a low voice. Slowly, he reached his hand into his pocket, wrapping his fingers around his wand. The last thing he wanted was to fight, but knowing Malfoy, he was ready for anything.
"You're right, I can," Malfoy hissed, looking around Harry at something behind him. Harry barely had time to turn around, as he felt something hit him forcefully in the back. The impact shoved him forward and he hit the floor hard on his knees. He heard Mel cry out, but for a moment, couldn't move or see. He knew the people closest to him had begun to crowd around as he could hear their chatter grow louder. His eyes began to burn and for a split-second he wondered if he was going to have another vision, but the pain only increased.
"Harry, are you alright, what happened?" he heard Mel's voice close to him as she knelt down at his side.
"I don't know," he said in a strained voice.
Concentrating with every ounce of strength in him, he cleared his mind of everything, and focused only on the pain. The voices around him became muted, as he forced his breathing to become regular and tried to remain calm. Little by little, the pain went away, until it was entirely gone.
Opening his eyes slowly, he found he still couldn't see. It was as if he'd never opened them at all. He barely had time to let this sink in, when the crowd around him suddenly became louder.
"What did that slimy git do to you?" Ron's voice came from his left side, sounding concerned.
"Harry what happened?" Remus' voice broke through the crowd. "Who did this?"
"I can't." he began, about to tell them he couldn't see, when suddenly his vision started to return, and quickly. Everything began to blur in such a way that it looked as if he were staring out the window of a speeding vehicle when it all came to a screeching halt. Blinking several times, he looked up to see he was surrounded by many concerned faces.
"You can't what?" Remus prompted.
Harry glanced around quickly, searching for Malfoy, but he was gone.
"Who hit me?" Harry asked. "It wasn't Malfoy, because it came from behind."
"I don't know," Ron said, "All I saw was you falling forward and Malfoy letting go of Mel and taking off."
"You were hit with a curse?" Remus asked angrily.
"It was so dark you could hardly see it," Mel spoke up. "But I did, it hit him in the back."
"What's going on?" came Sirius' startled voice from back behind the crowd. He broke through to see Harry kneeling in the center of it all and rushed forward. "Are you alright? What happened? Who did this to you?" he began shooting out questions too fast for anyone to answer.
"Someone hit him with a curse," Remus said. "We still don't know who."
"Look, can we not talk about this here?" Harry asked, glancing again at the now very curious faces.
"You should go to see Madam Pomfrey," Sirius said immediately.
"No," Harry replied firmly. "I'm fine. Let's just move to a different part of the room or something."
"But if you were cursed." Sirius began again.
"I'm not.I don't think, not anymore at least. I'll tell you what happened in a moment."
Pushing himself up and taking the hand Sirius held out to him, he stood up. The small group walked out of the circle where Remus was now telling everyone to go back to what they were doing and made their way to the corner of the room.
When Remus and Ginny joined them, telling Elliot she'd only be a minute, Harry explained very quickly what he'd felt when the curse hit him.
"He tried to blind me," Harry said when he finished. "Or whoever actually sent the curse did."
"Didn't anyone see who cast it?" Sirius asked, looking around at the others. Everyone shook their heads.
"None of us were close enough," Ron said.
"Except maybe Mel," Ginny added pointedly.
"I didn't see who it was," Mel said, sounding a little irritated at Ginny's accusing tone. "And if I did see.or if I find out, believe me I'll be telling you who it was."
"Why did he go after you first though?" Harry asked, looking at Mel.
"Probably just to get you out in the open," Hermione said. "You saw what was happening when you and he were arguing, the crowd pulled back to watch. It gave whoever cursed you a clear shot. I think Mel was just a distraction."
"Well it worked then," Harry said, rubbing his back.
"But did it?" Hermione asked. "You can see fine. No curse wears off that quickly, and usually for something like that you'd need a counter- curse."
Harry stared at her blankly.
"I don't know then.I couldn't see for a few seconds there, but then it all came rushing back."
"Could the git have done it wrong?" Ron asked, smirking.
Harry shrugged.
"Well we're going to find out exactly what was done," Sirius spoke up suddenly. "I'm going to speak to Dumbledore about this, and then we're going to have a chat with Mr. Malfoy," he spat in disgust. He looked at his godson, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Harry nodded.
"I'm fine. I promise, everything's okay."
"Alright," Sirius said, smirking. "Take it easy and don't stay up too late!" he said with a wink as he turned and headed towards the door.
Harry smiled after him, before looking again to his friends.
"You kids have fun," Remus said, "and if Malfoy shows up I want to know, understood?"
They all nodded; telling him they would let him know, before he too walked away, back to watch over the ball. The other teachers that were chaperoning came up to him one at a time, probably to ask what had happened.
"Where's Marzia?" Ron asked suddenly, looking around. The other began doing the same.
"I don't see her," Hermione said at last. "Was she here earlier?"
"Yes," Harry and Ron answered at once. "I saw her with Sirius," Harry said.
"Same here," Ron added, narrowing his eyes.
"Well she must've left with him too," Hermione said.
"Let's not get into this here," Harry spoke up. "Please?" he asked, looking at Ron.
"Fine," Ron answered.
Harry nodded his thanks.
"So," he said turning back to Mel with a smile. "I believe we were in the middle of a dance."
The rest of the night went off without a hitch and Harry could hardly believe how late it had gotten when the dance was coming to a close.
"Thank you," Mel said as they walked to the door side by side. "I had a really good time."
"So did I," Harry smiled. "Well except for that part about getting cursed.but otherwise." he joked.
"Oh yes, there was that, wasn't there?" Mel replied, matching his tone. Her expression turned serious, however, as she continued. "I really am going to try and find out who it was, you know. I'm sure Draco had someone else in Slytherin do it. Most likely so he couldn't be blamed for it."
The two of them came to a halt, now outside the great hall. They moved off to the side to continue their discussion.
"You don't have to do that," Harry said quickly. "Not if you don't want to. I know how upset you are already.about how mean he's been to you because of me."
"Don't worry about that," Mel said, trying to shrug it off, but Harry could tell it was bothering her. "He's the one that turned this into something it didn't have to be. On top of that he used me to try to curse you, and that makes me more angry than upset. Now it's personal."
Harry couldn't help but smile as she said this.
"You know," he began, "my friends have got to get to know you better. They'd love you, I swear."
Mel blushed and grinned up at him.
"Well I'm all for that. I'd like to know them better too."
"We're just gonna have to hang out more," Harry sighed, making it sound as if it were a chore.
"Only if you can fit me in to your busy schedule, oh popular one," Mel joked, rolling her eyes.
"Hey," Harry said, pretending to be insulted. "That's Mr. Popular One to you." He squinted his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her.
"That's attractive," Mel laughed.
"I thought so," Harry replied, feigning arrogance.
"You're nuts!" Mel cried at last, a broad smile on her face.
"That's what everyone tells me," Harry said, scratching his head. "I can't imagine why." Putting his hand down he looked back at Mel and grinned. "Okay, seriously though. Thank you for coming with me tonight. I had so much fun, really."
"Thank you for asking me," Mel replied. They looked into each other's eyes and suddenly neither of them had anything to say. It wasn't awkward, just nice. The students leaving the great hall shuffled by unnoticed, no one paying attention to the two of them standing there.
After a few moments, Harry cleared his throat.
"Well, I guess we should probably get going.it's pretty late." he trailed off.
"Yeah, I'm actually more tired than I thought," Mel said, not really seeming it.
"Should I walk you?" Harry asked, looking down the hall that led to the dungeon area.
"Not a good idea," Mel said with a nervous laugh, "I don't think you should be anywhere near the Slytherin dorm, especially not right now."
"You know I don't care about that," Harry said. "I really can take care of myself against them.it's when I'm attacked from behind that it gets bad."
"Which is exactly what they'd do, I'm sure," Mel said. "Honestly I don't need you to escort me there, I've done it a million times on my own. But thank you, for offering." She smiled sweetly at him. "Good night, Harry. Thank you again for a lovely evening."
"Good night Mel," Harry replied. "Sweet dreams."
"You too," she said as she began to walk down the hall. Looking back over her shoulder, she waved her good bye, before turning around and heading towards her dorm.
Harry watched her go until she was out of sight, when she turned the corner at the end of the hall; he finally started off in the opposite direction, towards the Gryffindor tower. Saying goodnight to the few students who were mulling around, he found Ron and Hermione waiting for him at the opposite end of the hall.
"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked, seeing the cloudy expression on Ron's face.
"Elliot's walking her back to the tower and she," he said pointedly, gesturing at Hermione, " wouldn't let me follow them."
"Harry, please tell him he's an idiot," Hermione said flatly.
Harry grinned at her before turning back to Ron.
"You're an idiot."
"Hey, whose side are you on?" Ron asked, heatedly.
"No one's," Harry shrugged. "I refuse to get in the middle of your fights anymore.oh and by the way Ginny's sixteen. Just so you know, there's a one in front of the six."
He smiled at their stunned faces and passed by, calling out as he moved up the hall.
"Good night guys! Happy Christmas! See you in the morning!"
When Harry reached the portrait of the fat lady he immediately went through into the common room. Many students were still awake and talking about the dance, but he spotted Cho in the far corner of the room, reading a book and waiting for him.
"Good morning," he said cheerfully as he neared her.
"Is it that late already?" she asked, lowering her book.
Harry pulled out his watch.
"Quarter past one," he read, before placing it back in his pocket.
"Wow." Cho yawned. "I didn't realize how much time had passed." She paused, looking up at him and grinning. "So, c'mon then. How was the ball?"
"It was great," he smiled, leaning on the arm of the chair behind him. Starting from when they reached the great hall, he began to tell her all about the night. Everything from choosing dinner, to Ron's behavior towards Elliot, to Neville asking about the bottle, to the incident with Malfoy.
"But they still don't know who cursed you?" Cho asked, concerned.
Harry shook his head.
"No, but Sirius and Dumbledore are looking into it, they'll let us know when they find anything. Besides, whoever did it, did it wrong," he laughed.
"Are you sure you're not hurt?" she asked, searching his eyes. She knew very well how much he liked to hide any pain he might be feeling.
"Very sure," he nodded, gazing back at her. Standing up, he stepped towards her and she moved aside as he slid down beside her in the seat. "But thank you for asking."
"I had to be sure," Cho replied with a knowing smile. Harry looked deeply into her eyes. He'd never seen any that could compare to hers, they were just too perfect.
"You know.I missed you tonight," he said, leaning closer.
"Did you?" Cho asked, playfully. "Sounded to me like your evening was too busy to think of anything other than what was going on at the ball. I doubt you thought of me at all the entire time you were there."
"Trust me," Harry said, leaning closer still. "I did." Their lips brushed and he kissed her softly, feeling her return it. Bringing her hand up to his face, she began to kiss him harder. He felt her other arm come up and around his neck, pulling him closer and he wrapped his own arms around her back.
They were lost in each other, caught up in the moment, oblivious too everything around them, when someone very nearby cleared their throat; loudly. Pulling away from one another, they looked up to see Hermione grinning down at them.
"Sorry to interrupt you two," she began and gestured over her shoulder with a slight nod, "but there are children present, in case you hadn't noticed."
Harry put a hand up to his face, wiping at his mouth and Cho began patting her hair down, self-consciously. They both looked in the direction Hermione had pointed to see several of the younger Gryffindors that had stayed up to hear about the ball pointing and laughing at them, whispering to each other.
Harry looked over at Cho, giving her a lopsided grin, to which she immediately began giggling.
"Sorry!" he yelled across the room cheerfully, beginning to laugh as he went on, "Show's over."
The two of them couldn't stop laughing for a moment, and Hermione settled into the chair Harry had been leaning on earlier, smiling at them.
Cho was able to regain her composure first, and looked over at Hermione.
"And where's the ever tactful Mr. Weasley?" she asked, trying not to laugh. "Don't tell me he went to bed without saying goodnight."
Hermione rolled her eyes and pointed across the room. Ron was standing near the portrait hole, talking with Ginny.
"Giving his poor sister the third degree on Elliot."
"Oh, I feel so bad for her," Cho remarked.
"So do I," Hermione said. "But no matter what I've tried.he still won't let up."
"Look at the poor thing, she looks so tired," Cho said as the three of them watched Ginny yawn widely. She looked as if she were pleading with Ron now to drop the subject but he was paying no attention.
"Okay, I'll do it," Harry said at last, pushing himself forward. He leaned down again and gave Cho a quick kiss. "Goodnight you two, see you in the morning," he said to them as he headed across the room to the others. Ron was in the middle of saying something, heatedly, when Harry strode up beside him and took him by the arm.
"Just wanted to say good night Ginny, hope you had fun tonight!"
"Oh you too Harry," Ginny smiled, exhausted.
"C'mon Ron," Harry said, taking his friend's arm. "Let's go."
"Hey!" Ron exclaimed as Harry pulled him away from his sister. Ginny didn't waste any time, with a quick wave to Hermione and Cho, she bolted through the doors to the dormitories and out of sight.
"I'll take it from here," Hermione joked as she came up beside the two of them. "Thank you Harry."
"Good night," Harry said again, smiling. He headed for the door; now feeling pleasantly tired, and started up the stairs.
The next morning at breakfast, Harry could feel his eyelids drooping. He'd gotten only a few hours of sleep before Hermione had burst into the boys' dorm to wake both him and Ron.
"C'mon you two!" she called, sounding far too chipper. "We promised Hagrid we'd help him out today and we still need to talk to Sirius about last night. Up, up, up!"
She went to both of their beds, yanking back the curtains as far as they would go, before doing the same to the ones at the window, letting the sunshine fall across their faces.
"What time is it?" Ron mumbled, rolling over on his side to avoid the light.
"Seven," Hermione replied, brightly.
"In the morning?" Ron whined. "I'm not getting up now, forget it."
"We promised Hagrid we'd meet him at nine," Hermione admonished, now pulling the covers back from Ron's bed as well. "And if we want a chance to talk with Sirius and Dumbledore we'll have to do it now, because we won't have time to later."
"Okay, okay, alright," Harry finally muttered, sitting up in his bed. "Just keep it down," he said, looking from Hermione to Neville's sleeping form and back, pointedly.
"Oh, sorry," Hermione said quickly. "You're definitely up though? I'm not gonna have to come back to."
"We're up, I p-promise, just give us a few minutes," Harry yawned.
"Alright," Hermione said, looking uncertainly at them. She turned and headed for the door, coming to a stop just as she reached it. "Oh, and remember," she called in a loud whisper. "Wear clothes that you don't care about.because it's gonna be messy when."
"I remember," Harry hissed, waving his hands to shush her. "Don't worry, we'll be there in just a few minutes." Harry waited until he heard Hermione's footsteps descending the stairs before he finally stood.
"C'mon Ron," he said, giving his friend a shake. "We really have to get up now."
Ron let out a muffled groan before forcing himself to sit up.
"Why did we promise Hagrid we'd help him in his garden today anyway?" he asked, miserably. "It's the middle of winter for the love of Pete! And for the entire day, no less."
"Which is why he asked for our help," Harry said, looking through his trunk. Hagrid had said it would be very messy, and he knew exactly what he was going to wear. Rummaging around he finally found what he was looking for; a t-shirt, flannel and oversized pants; all formerly belonging to Dudley.
"You still have those?" Ron asked incredulously as Harry began to change.
"Hey," Harry began, pulling the t-shirt over his head, "you never know when they'll come in handy. I always thought it would be for cleaning rags or something.but this is just as good."
"If you say so," Ron shrugged, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He changed into one of his mum's many sweaters for him and an old pair of pants, before the two of them headed downstairs together.
Now they were at breakfast and just about finished. Barely anyone else was in the great hall as they were all still sleeping, tired from the ball the night before.
"Do you think Sirius will have found anything out by now?" Ginny asked, as they were just about finished.
"I don't know," Harry shrugged, tiredly. "I guess we'll find out.when we find him."
"Looks like we won't have to," Hermione remarked. Everyone looked up at her and she nodded up towards the front of the hall, where Sirius and Remus were making their way over.
"I didn't expect you to be up so early," Sirius began as he reached them. "We checked your tower first and didn't find you there, so we came down here."
"We should be there," Ron said pointedly. "But we're helping Hagrid do who knows what in his garden today."
"Even with all this snow on the ground?" Remus asked, confused.
"Exactly why I don't understand it," Ron remarked.
Sirius shrugged.
"Well, I'm sure Hagrid has his reasons," he said, rolling his eyes. His expression darkened, however as he continued.
"I'm afraid to say we still have very little to tell you about what happened last night. It appears no one saw who cursed you, and Malfoy is staying silent."
"I'd expected as much," Harry said, noncommittally. "It doesn't matter, we know it was done wrong, whatever they were doing.probably either Crabbe or Goyle."
"This would be so much easier if Dumbledore would let us use Veritaserum on the little git,' Sirius said in a low voice.
"Sirius, my friend," Remus began, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You know he'd never let that happen, no matter how untrustworthy the student is. Someone's life would have to be at stake before he'd allow that."
"Well it very well could have been, for all we know!" Sirius shot back, not looking comforted in the least.
"Sirius, I'm fine," Harry spoke up, suddenly feeling the need to reassure his godfather of this. "Really, whatever he tried to do, it failed, and it didn't seem very harmful to begin with."
"I don't mean to interrupt," Hermione spoke up suddenly, looking very apologetic. "But we really have to go. We said we'd be at Hagrid's by nine and that's only five minutes from now."
"Oh, you best get going then," Sirius said, forcing a smile. "Be careful, stay alert," he said to Harry.
"Promise," Harry said, reassuringly. They stood up together, and walked towards the doors. Sirius and Remus started off in the opposite direction, still discussing last night's events.
Reaching the entrance to the school, Harry and Ron pushed the doors open, allowing Hermione and Ginny to go first, before following them down towards Hagrid's hut.
"'Allo you four!" Hagrid cried happily as he caught sight of Harry and his friends coming up to him.
"Hello Hagrid," they all said at once, sounding like a big jumble.
"I see yeh's aren't quite awake yet, eh?" he laughed, "We'll soon fix that, yeh'll see, we will indeed! C'mon 'roun back nohw, all eh yeh's. Iy'll get yehs all sum shovels an' we can get started."
"Shovels?" Ron asked loudly as the followed him around back. He had already started their project for the day and had several shovels laid out on the ground, ready for them.
"There yehs are," he said, pointing. "Sorry they ain't all very small, but them's the on'y ones I got. Iy'll leave it for yeh's ta decide who gets which one."
The four of them moved closer, to see four abnormally large shovels in front of them. Hermione and Ginny immediately made grabs for the smaller ones, leaving two for Harry and Ron. One large, one much larger. Ron looked at Harry miserably for the umpteenth time that day and Harry rolled his eyes.
"Oh just take the smaller one, you big baby," he said as Ron smiled gleefully, grabbing the shovel. Harry leant down and grasped his own shovel tightly, before heaving it into an upright position. It was nearly as tall as he was.
"Right, yeh's all set then?" Hagrid asked, looking at each of them in turn. They nodded, trying not to look too unhappy as he went on. "Good, okay, here's what we're doin."
Hagrid explained how they needed to break through the ground, which was very hard due to the extreme cold temperatures, to reach the roots of the plants in the garden. Once they got down that far, they needed to pull the roots out and place them in the jars which, the four of them saw, were lined up along the opposite side of the garden.
"This'll take ages," Ron commented as he tried to break the ground with the tip of his shovel, stepping down on it with all of his weight.
"Why did you agree to help if all you're going to do is complain?" Hermione asked, irritated.
"I think you agreed for me," Ron replied. "Remember? He asked you about it after our class last week.you told him we'd be glad to help. I never had a choice."
"Okay you two," Harry cut them off. "We've just started and I really don't want to spend the entire day arguing. It'll only make it take longer and I'd like to see Cho at some point today, even if it's just for a little while."
Ron didn't look any happier about it, but stopped complaining for the time being. Harry moved across to where Hagrid was working and started talking to him about everything that had been happening. Most of it Hagrid was already aware of as Gazten and he had been talking about everything, but when Harry tried to ask about her, Hagrid would only change the subject, asking him about something entirely off topic. Finally, Harry gave up trying to press Hagrid for information, and had a regular chat.
By the time they stopped for lunch, they were no longer wearing their winter cloaks. The four of them were anything but cold and had their sleeves rolled up, sweat dripping down their face. They trudged back up to the school and went directly to the great hall, drawing strange looks from everyone around them.
"This is taking forever," Ron commented, shoving a piece of chicken in his mouth. "We're not even going to be halfway done by the time the sun sets. What does he need all these roots for anyway?"
Hermione shrugged.
"Maybe he's collecting them for Gazten," she suggested. "Sometimes you use the roots of different plants for healing potions and such."
"Well than she should be out there digging," Ron replied.
"I wonder where she is anyway," Harry spoke up. "I didn't see her as one of the chaperone's last night.and she's not up at the teachers' table right now."
"She's not the only one that isn't here," Hermione said. "Look around. Neville and Draco aren't anywhere I can see."
The other three did as she said, before looking back at her.
"How interesting," Harry said, not knowing what to make of it.
"Where's Cho anyway, Harry?" Ron asked, taking a large forkful of potatoes.
"She said there were a few things she needed to do today," Harry explained. "If she isn't in the common room when we're done, then she might not be in till late. I think there are a few things she's going over with Dumbledore.about her parents, mostly."
The others nodded, and went back to their food. When they were finished, they again made the journey down to Hagrid's hut and began to shovel into the hard, cold dirt.
Harry was stopping every few seconds as sweat kept dripping into his eyes and his hair hung in his face. He kept pushing back the oversized sleeves on the large flannel but the wrists on it were too big even to stay in place on his upper arms. Several hours went by and discussion was at a minimum, everyone too tired to do anything except concentrate on the task at hand.
By the time the sun began to set, they'd made it three-quarters of the way through the garden. Hagrid thanked them profusely for taking the time to help him, and sent them on their way with his infamous rock- hard brownies, which they politely accepted.
After what seemed like one of the longest walks of their lives, every muscle aching and screaming, they finally made it back to their tower.
"I'm going to bed," Hermione said immediately, barely bothering to say good night.
"Same here," Ginny murmured, her eyes already closed as she followed Hermione to the door.
"Sorry Harry, I think I'm turning in too," Ron said when he didn't notice Cho anywhere in the room. Harry glanced around once more, lingering hopefully on the portrait hole, before finally deciding there'd be no way he could stay awake for any length of time anyway.
"Don't be sorry," Harry said, "I can't wait either. I'll talk to Cho in the morning, hope everything went alright for her."
The two friends made their way upstairs and each of them headed for his own bed. Harry was so tired he didn't even bother to get changed. He plopped onto his bed in his muddy, oversized clothes; falling asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow. The two of them had been so exhausted, and desperate for sleep, that neither of them paid any notice to the blue bottle with the cork in it, sitting on Harry's bedside table.
What should have been a deep, well-needed sleep for Harry was anything but. Nightmares plagued him, causing him to toss and turn fretfully for hours. To make it worse, it wasn't a dream playing out before him, it was images flashing, unattached to one another, of the people he loved most in pain. Over and over he watched as his friends were tortured, and killed, all because of him. He saw their bodies lying lifelessly, but the second each picture entered his mind it would pass, pushing forth the next gruesome image.
Voldemort's face loomed into view; Harry could hear his high cackling laugh, feel the heat from his burning red eyes. Unable to stand it any longer, Harry shot up in bed, fully awake, his scar searing with pain. He clutched his head in agony, biting his lower lip, trying not to cry out. His hair was drenched with sweat, which was dripping down his face and into his eyes, but he didn't care. He waited, for what seemed like ages, until finally the pain subsided.
Letting out a shaky breath, he tried to reassure himself it was just a dream. Voldemort was not here, his friends were alive and well, and it was going to stay that way.
Still feeling too stuffy and hot, he pushed the curtains back from around his bed, just realizing he was still fully clothed in his muddy attire from the previous days activities.
He was about to get up to change, when a glint of light caught his eye. He looked at his bedside table to see the moonlight sparkling off of the blue bottle and his stomach twisted slowly.
How did that get there? he thought worriedly, standing up and leering over it. He looked at it for a few tense moments, before shaking his head, letting out a nervous laugh.
"Don't be dumb, Harry," he whispered to himself. "It didn't get here all by itself." Deciding that this time he had to show it to Dumbledore, explaining both Sirius and Marzia's reaction to it, and how it had mysteriously reappeared, he reached forward.
His hand stopped dead, however, when the bottle began to admit a bright glow from within. Harry took a step back, feeling his jaw drop, as the small object began to tremble. The movement became more violent and the bottle was teetering dangerously close to the edge, but Harry was unable to move, frozen to the spot.
He watched, both fascinated and frightened, as the bottle gave a final lurch, pitching over the edge of the table, and landing hard on the floor, ceasing all movement.
"It didn't break." Harry whispered, keeping his eyes on the delicate bottle. He stood in tense silence, entirely unsure of what to do. The bottle seemed to have stopped whatever it was doing, but he had no desire to be anywhere near it. Finally, he decided it would be best to bring the headmaster here, someone obviously wanted it in his room, so what were the chances of it being gone when he returned?
He tore his eyes away and started for the door, when his attention was brought back around by a popping noise behind him. Harry's eyes widened in shock as he saw the cork was no longer in the bottle. Taking a tentative step forward, he leaned down to peer at it closer, trying to see clearly in the dark room when suddenly a dark flash shot out of the bottle's mouth.
Harry jumped back, looking around for whatever had just entered the room. He could hear tiny footsteps, sounding everywhere at once. All of his instincts were telling him to get out of the room, find Dumbledore, get help, but he couldn't. He couldn't because his friends were in here with whatever it was, and he refused to leave them.
Thrusting his hand in his pocket, he pulled out his wand.
"Lumos," he whispered, watching as bright light instantly emitted from its tip.
The noises the small creature was making were now centered near his bed, and he slowly made his way over. Moving ever so slowly, he knelt down, shining the light underneath it.
Nothing.
He stood up and moved around to the other side, searching every crack and crevice he could find, but coming up empty each time.
As he knelt down to search behind his trunk, he could tell this was it. He could hear the little creature's breathing, and a horrible stench assaulted his nose. He drew back a little, aiming the wand into the darkness, when he felt an intense pain in his hand. Looking down quickly, aiming the light, he barely caught the movement of the small creature retreating, but his attention was drawn to his hand. It was bleeding hard, a very deep slash across the top of it. He pulled it towards him and instantly grabbed the tail end of his shirt, pressing it against the wound to stop the flow of blood. Cursing vehemently, he pointed his wand in front of him and stood up quickly.
The dizziness hit immediately and Harry swayed on his feet. This can't be right, he thought, I've barely lost any blood at all.
But the sick feeling only increased and Harry clutched his stomach in pain. The room was spinning, madly, out of control and his head hurt to look at it. He lowered his head, keeping his eyes shut tightly, willing the nauseas feeling to stop.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he looked up slowly, glancing around the room. Everything was still moving, but not as it was before. This time, the room was growing, becoming larger around him. Harry felt his stomach lurch as he looked down again. His wand was doing the same thing as the room, it was growing too big for him to hold. Looking around in fear, the reality of what was happening dawned on him. The room wasn't growing.
He was shrinking.