The Hogwarts reunion snuck up on Harry, Ron, and Hermione as if it were Mrs. Norris. "Ron! Hurry up!" Hermione yelled. "We don't want to be late?"
"Why can't we just Apparate there, eh?" the tired redhead grumbled.
"You can't Apparate into or out of Hogwarts grounds, how many times do I have to tell you?" she snapped.
"Give it a few more tries, maybe we'll remember when we hear it on attempt number 100," Harry smirked. He gave Ginny a peck on the cheek as she walked in from the kitchen, munching on a bagel. "Good morning, dear."
"S'not a good morning yet," she yawned. "Haven't had my coffee…"
Susan brought over a mug. "Here you are, Ginny," she smiled brightly. She, Neville, and Hermione were the "morning people" of the house, a fact that Harry and the Weasleys both appreciated and resented. It was nice that not everyone was miserable, but at the same time, the sleepyheads were expected to be chipper—an impossible task.
"C'mon everyone," Neville urged them, but he was too nice to inject any sort of bossy tone into his voice.
"Right, this should sort everyone out," Hermione grinned. Harry frowned. That smile reminded him of Fred and George…
He thought, "What's she pl-"
"Aguamenti!" she cried, directing a blast of ice cold water into Harry, Ron, and Ginny.
"Make it s-sto-stop!" Ron choked.
"Fin-Finite Incantatem," she choked out around a laugh.
"I'm sorry," she gasped at the dripping wet trio. "But you all looked so darn unhappy just because you had to be up a bit early on a weekend..."
"Well, it's not like Hogwarts wouldn't be there if we arrived later!" Ginny scowled. "Just cause YOU wanted to get there at the crack of dawn. And now I'm soaked. Thanks." She stormed off, her shoes making squishing noises as she walked.
"Couldn't have thought of another way to wake us up, eh?" Harry grunted.
"I'm sorry, I just thought it was funny! You're all telling me to lighten up, and the one time I go and take the mickey out on some people…" she rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'll know better next time."
"It was…kinda funny," Ron admitted. "What's the-"
"Oh, right, drying spell…Exaresco!"
Harry felt a blast of hot air blow past his body and rubbed his hoodie. It was completely dry.
"Thanks, Mione. I'll go get Ginny and then we'll be off?" he asked.
"I guess so," she replied, biting her lip. "Could you please tell her I am really sorry, Harry? I don't think she'll want to hear it from me right now."
"Sure thing," he assured her.
Harry collected his girlfriend and dried her off. The subdued group left the house, got in Susan's magically expanded Ford Explorer, and were off for Platform 9 3/4.
After a fairly uneventful trip (save for Ginny hitting Malfoy with a surreptitious Bat Bogie Hex), the group of friends found themselves at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall was at the front door, sitting behind a large table. "Bones. Granger. Longbottom. Potter. Weasleys." She gave the group a rare, warm smile. "Nice to see all of you again. Now…your peers are on…" She consulted a list. "The seventh floor. Lunch will be served at 1 in the Great Hall. Now, move along, don't want this line to get too congested."
"Thanks, Professor," they chorused.
The group split off a bit as they reached the seventh floor. Ron met up with George and Lee Jordan to discuss ways to sneak their products into Hogwarts. Ginny ran into Madame Hooch, who was excited to ask her about her success with the Chudley Cannons.
"Well, where d'you wanna go?" Neville asked the rest of them as they wandered down an empty hallway near the Room of Requirement.
"How nice it is to see all of you again," a dreamy voice popped out. A light scent of sherry came along with her.
The group scattered, leaving Harry alone with his "favorite" professor.
"Er…hello, Professor Trelawney," he muttered, hoping to get away quickly. "How're you?"
"I have been better…Mars still glows with anger, despite the peace we have enjoyed for the past few years." She sighed. "I fear Dark magic will always possess an appeal for certain people. What are you up to these days, my dear?"
"If you're a Seer, shouldn't you have been able to predict my future career?" Harry thought. Still, there was no need to make the Hogwarts reunion unpleasant. He replied, "I'm finishing up Auror training."
"Continuing to fight, then?" Suddenly, she clutched Harry's arm for support. "Potter," she whispered.
"P-Professor? D'you need Madam Pomfrey?" For an older woman, she had one hell of a grip.
"You will make a choice…that is not a choice. You will gain something unexpected, but at an extraordinary cost," she droned, then took a deep breath, and snapped her head up.
"So how is your work as an Auror going, Harry?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Er…fine. Listen, I've got to go meet up with some friends before the feast, Professor," he stammered, backing away and trying not to walk too quickly. He almost ran smack into Lavender.
"Hi, Harry. Have you seen Professor Trelawney? I heard she was around here."
"Yeah, just ran into her, actually," he nodded. "She's near the Room of Requirement."
"Oh, great, I want to say hi. Thanks!"
After the interruption, Harry made it his goal to find one of the fastest descending staircases in the castle. He met up with Ron, George, Hermione, Ginny, Bill, and Fleur to eat and gave them a quick recap of his run in with the Divination professor.
Hermione gave an exasperated groan. "Don't tell me you actually believe her, Harry."
"She's definitely dodgy," Ron agreed. "She always predicted doom and gloom for you, mate. Just playing the odds."
"Put it out of your mind, love," Ginny advised.
Harry tried to enjoy his meal and the company of his friends, but couldn't stop worrying. He recalled how Trelawney had spaced out after making a prediction involving Peter Pettigrew and his betrayal.
Following the Hogwarts party, nearly the entire Weasley clan and Neville decided to go out to The Leaky Cauldron for some drinks. Harry, Hermione, and Susan declined.
"Right, well, see you at home." Ron gave a cheery wave, kissed Hermione, and gave a whispered "I love you" before he vanished.
Ginny, meanwhile, was still trying to cajole Harry into going.
"C'mon, dear," she urged. "You haven't gone out in ages, and besides, you're Harry freaking Potter! I doubt it'll matter if you show up late or a bit hungover for one Auror meeting—"
He kissed her on the cheek and apologized. "Sorry, Gin. Much as I'd like to skive off work, I can't. We've received…" her face clouded over at the apprehensive tone of his voice. "We—the most recent Auror inductees—have received very firm instructions from Kingsley to maintain our focus at this time. He said it's common for people to slack off once they become initiated, and that could jeopardize security."
"Fine," she grumbled.
"I'll come out next time. In a weekend or two, for sure," he promised, giving her hand a squeeze.
"Alright. Love you."
"Love you too," he replied as she disappeared with a "pop."
Once they arrived back at their house, Harry, Hermione, and Susan got to work in the study area. Susan, however, left rather quickly, saying she was tired and wanted to call it a night.
Harry read the same paragraph on the reappearance of Dementors in Wizarding Britain three or four times before putting The Prophet aside. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a beer. "Want anything?" he called to Hermione.
"A cherry soda would be great, thanks."
He returned with the drinks and read a smidge of an article over her shoulder. It sounded an awful lot like something he would've studied in Binns' History of Magic class:
"Though Wizarding history stereotypes goblins as untrustworthy, such claims could be refuted by new evidence of the goings-on at Gringotts Bank. According to the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Law Enforcement, only three goblins have ever been indicted of theft—an astonishingly low number, considering how very many goblins have worked at Gringotts since it was established in 1474. This anecdote, along with the Gringotts motto—"Strength through Loyalty"—suggests that goblins are much less greedy than the average wizard or witch would like to believe."
"Er…what's this for, Hermione?" Harry asked, hoping his tone didn't come across as mocking.
"Well, the Magical Creatures Department has a new initiative: to get goblins wands," she explained. "Of course, the general public isn't at all receptive to this idea, as you can imagine, so we're trying to pass a small bit of legislation that allows goblins restricted wand rights. So, I'm responsible for putting together a defense of goblin character, you could say."
"Well…err…good luck." Harry couldn't think of much else to say. Nor could he help but admire Hermione's determination to improve the Wizarding world for all manner of creatures. "Not that you really need luck," he added quietly. "You're brilliant."
She looked up from her research and gave Harry a genuine smile. "Thanks." She pointed at his beer. "So you did want to go out."
"A bit," he admitted. "Not sure I would've been up for more than one drink, though. And I wanted to take a look at this." He indicated the Dementor article in the paper.
"I thought there was something you weren't telling Ginny earlier," Hermione commented.
"Well, I don't like to worry her unnecessarily—my job is enough cause for concern. But…it's hard to ignore things like Dementors coming out of hiding. Plus, Dawlish has some Muggle relatives. One of his pureblood cousins married a Muggle—their house was blown up last week." Hermione's face blanched. "It's…it's nowhere near bad as it was with Voldemort. But the attack had us shaken. We apprehended two suspects, but they're definitely working on someone else's orders."
Hermione gripped Harry's arm. "You can't hide things like that from people, Harry. We all should know."
"We all deserve some peace," he replied shortly, then gave a laugh—or, really, more of a bark. "At least now we only have to worry about accidentally eating one of Ron's treats." Now he actually did grin, and got up to throw away his empty beer bottle. "Don't need constant vigilance."
Hermione smirked. "Still, as an Auror, shouldn't you know better than to keep your wand in your back pocket? Moody would turn you into a ferret for that."
"I've been a wizard for how long, Hermione, and it's never hurt me before," he laughed. Then…"OW!"
Hermione had applied a light Stinging Hex to his wand. "Well, now it has."
"You'll pay for that, Granger," he drawled.
"Really?" She cocked an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge to a duel, Potter?"
"I believe so." They went out to the backyard and cast a few Lumos spells into the lanterns that surrounded the large garden.
"Have we ever dueled before?" Harry asked after bowing.
"I don't think so…Expelliarmus!"
Harry blocked it with a quick Shield Charm. "C'mon, you think I wouldn't know to expect that?" He clicked his tongue at Hermione and gave his best teacher voice. "You're capable of better, Miss Granger."
"Right, then…Rictusempra! Petrificus Totalus!"
Harry dodged, then responded with a Jelly Legs Jinx. Hermione neatly deflected it right back at him, and he only barely sidestepped it.
Suddenly, the pair were hanging upside down.
"Harry, you git!" Hermione screamed shrilly.
"I'm the git? You hit me with a Levicorpus, too, Hermione!" he yelled.
"Well…sorry! I always wanted to use it on someone, and this happened to be a convenient time." Her upside down face scrunched in discomfort. "How do we get out of this, exactly?"
"Er…I'll let myself down first, then get you?" he suggested.
"That'll hurt!"
"I've fallen off my broom and been fine, this won't be that bad." He waved away her concern. Harry pointed his wand at himself. "Liberacorpus!" He crashed to the earth and got up on wobbly legs.
"Right…ready?" He positioned himself under Hermione.
"Yeah. Liberacorpus!" she cried.
"Impedimenta!"
Her less than graceful descent slowed to a gentle fall, and Harry caught her easily.
"Thanks…sort of," she laughed and picked a few blades of grass out of his hair.
"You're partially welcome." He rubbed her hair out of her eyes. Hermione normally kept it fairly well tamed, but he rather liked the messy, undone look on her.
Harry dropped her at the loud crack that marked a successful Apparition.
"Er…what're you two doin out here?" Ron's speech was a bit slurred.
"Why's Hermione on the ground?" Ginny asked.
Harry and Hermione laughed and led the slightly less sober members of the household inside.