To Lillian Hope Black, Lily Ann Potter, thank you so much for sticking with me! And to the Wonderful Guest who reviewed Chapter 41, I'm so glad to see that you've read all of the stories in the series! I am desperately trying to finish Goblet of Fire because I am so eager to begin Order of the Phoenix. That being said I have full intensions of finishing the whole series. I also have a few companion stories planned out in my mind. To everyone out there, please keep reading and reviewing!
Chapter 42 Waffles
This time when Fred and Harry insisted on throwing me a victory party I agreed, deciding that the second task was a victory worth celebrating. My one condition was that they invited Neville too because if it weren't for him I never would have been able to complete the second task. It was decided that Fred and George would head to the kitchen to get the food and in one hour we would all meet in the same classroom as before. Harry and Ron ran off to the Gryffindor tower. I could only imagine what they had in mind. Emily and Hermione disappeared just as quickly. I guessed they were off to find Ginny. Still wrapped in the blanket Madame Pomfrey had given me I began my search for Neville Longbottom. It was surprisingly easy for me to find him since he was waiting for me in the Entrance Hall.
"Alice!" He called as I walked in.
"Hey Neville!"
"Great job out there." He congratulated.
"Thanks Neville, but really I couldn't have done it without you. If you hadn't shown up at the library last night I would have ended up just like Fleur, stranded on the shore waiting for someone else to rescue Fred."
"Well I noticed you had been skipping meals a lot recently and I asked Emily if you were alright. She said you were fine but that you were having a real hard time trying to figure out the second clue. So I thought maybe I could help. It was nothing really."
"It was a life saver is what it was!" I exclaimed. "You're really smart Neville, and you should never down play that." Neville looked down at his shoes his face was pink with embarrassment. "Say Neville a few of us are getting together to celebrate the end of the second task, would you like to join us?" Instead of looking happy Neville just looked more embarrassed.
"Oh Alice you don't have to do that." He said talking to his shoes.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Invite me to your party because you think you owe me something for helping you."
"Neville I'm not asking you to come alone because I think I owe you. Like I said it's a party to celebrate the end of the second task. If it weren't for you I'd never be able to complete the second task. I'm asking you to come along as a friend, please?"
"Maybe after I finish my astronomy homework..."
"Well if you change your mind, we'll be meeting in the abandoned charms hallway, third classroom to the left. I'll be heading over there in about an hour." I smiled and thanked him one more time before moving down the stairs to the Slytherin common room. Once inside, I kicked off my shoes and carried them to the room I shared with Emily. Everything felt wet. The clothes I had pulled over my suit, the blanket Madame Pomfrey had given me, even the shoes in my hands. I tossed everything in a damp heap on the floor. After a nice warm shower I pulled on a pair of jeans and a tshirt. Still freezing I searched for the Dragon sweater Mrs. Weasley had knitted me. I pulled the soft wool over my head and smiled at the warmth it gave off. Once I pulled my feet into a warm pair of boots I walked back up the steps to the Entrance Hall to slowly make my way to the abandoned charms hallway. Knocking four times on the door, I entered the classroom to see Emily, Hermione and Ginny already there perched on the top of two desks. In their hands they each had a magazine.
"Hey there you three! Reading anything good?" I asked hopping up on an open desk next to Hermione.
"Emily was just showing us some of the witch gossip magazines."
"I see she saved the best for last." I said picking up a recent copy of Witch Weekly. "Or worst depending on your opinion." I added opening the magazine up to a random article. "Oh this can't be good." I said reading the title to myself.
Harry Potter's Secret Heartache
A boy like no other, perhaps - yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss. Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Viktor Krum, Bulgarian Seeker and hero of the last World Quidditch Cup, Miss Granger has been toying with both boys' affections. Krum, who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to visit him in Bulgaria over the summer holidays, and insists that he has "never felt this way about any other girl." However, it might not be Miss Granger's doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate boys' interest. "She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it."Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potters well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart on a worthier candidate.
"What can't be good?" Hermione asked looking over.
"Have any of you read this?" I asked handing the article over. Rather than turning into an angry or tear-filled mess like she usually did, Hermione just laughed.
"If that's the best Rita Skeeter can do, she's losing her touch. What a pile of old rubbish." She said tossing the magazine on the floor. "There's something funny though." She muses as she stared at the spot where the magazine had landed. "How could Rita Skeeter have known . . . ?"
"Know what?" I said looking over. "You and Harry haven't been having a hot steamy romance without telling any of us have you?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" she laughed again. "How did she know Viktor asked me to visit him over the summer?"
"He did?" Emily asked looking over in surprise.
"Well yeah. He asked me right after he'd pulled me out of the lake. After he'd got rid of his shark;s head. Madam Pomfrey gave us both blankets and then he sort of pulled me away from the judges so they wouldn't hear, and he said if I wasn't doing anything over the summer, would I like to…And he did say he'd neer felt the same way about anyone else, but how could Rita Skeeter have heard him? She wasn't there…or was she? Maybe she has got an invisibility cloak. Maybe she snuck onto the grounds to watch the second task…"
"Either way you lot have to be more careful what you say from now on." Ginny told us from across the room.
"You're right Ginny. There's no way of knowing how she's getting her information. That goes for the boys too we'll have to tell them when they get here." Ron and Harry were the first to arrive their arms bursting with sweets from Honeydukes and I suspected Fred and George as well.
"How do you two still have any teeth left?" Ginny asked as they dumped the sweets on a nearby desk.
"Maybe they've just become immune to the effects that sweets have on their teeth." Emily suggested.
"More like their teeth have become dependent on sugar." I added laughing.
"Very funny Alice." Harry replied less than amused.
"Well Harry since the girls are so against sweets I guess these are all for us." Ron said as he opened a package of Jelly slugs. We all watched as he violently bit the head off a slug.
"Now Ron I know mum taught you how to share." Ginny said as she plucked up a jar of lemon drops from the pile. Ron looked like his sister had just stolen his first born son. He opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off.
"Now now, Weasleys play nice." I playfully scolded. "This is supposed to be a party."
"Did someone say party?" George chimed in right on cue as he and Fred barged into the room with dozens of floating trays of food. Everyone broke off into their own conversations as Fred came to sit next to me.
"Brought you something special." He grinned.
"Oh really?" I asked looking over at him.
"Yup." He said producing a plate from behind his back. I looked down noticing it was a plate full of waffles, smothered in strawberry sauce. "I asked the house elves to make you these, because I know waffles are your favorite." Fred handed me the plate and a shining silver fork. Taking them from him I took in a big bite of waffle.
"Mmmm." I murmured as I swallowed. "How did you know?" I asked him.
"Of all the breakfasts you've eaten at the Gryffindor table or at my house, you thought I'd never noticed?"
"I never knew, someone paid so much attention to my eating habits." I told him through bites.
"Well normally I don't but I wanted to bring you something to say thank you."
"Thank you? For what?" I asked,
"Saving me from that lake." He answered very seriously.
"But Fred you said it yourself there's no way Dumbledore would leave you at the bottom of the lake."
"That doesn't erase the idea from my mind. It was brave of you to stay down there and make sure everyone was alright. I just thought someone should tell you that."
"Thanks Fred." I whispered before leaning forward to kiss him on the cheek.
"Well aren't you two getting mighty cozy?" George called from across the room.
"Don't be cross because you haven't got anyone to kiss Georgie." Fred hollered back. The room burst into lighthearted laughter. We almost didn't hear the soft nock on the door.
"I'll get it!" said hoping down off the desk. I opened the door to see a very shy looking Neville Longbottom staring at the door expectantly. I smiled back at him. "Hello Neville, glad you could join us."
"I thought m-maybe this p-party could use some m-music?" He stuttered holding up a portable radio.
"What do you think guys, music for the party?" I called back into the room. Everyone was nodding their heads and cheering in agreement. "Come on in Neville!" I said ushering him inside. Thanks to Neville we now had music. We were eating and dancing and laughing. It was like a miniature Yule Ball. Only instead of fighting Ron and Hermione were trading Chocolate Frog cards. Emily and Neville played round after round of exploding snap. While George showed Harry some of him and Fred's newest ideas. Fred and I danced to nearly every song that played off Neville's radio that night. Even without his enchanted shoes Fred was still a decent dancer. It was the most fun any of us had in a long time. It was probably the longest any of us had gone without fighting in our four years together. Despite all that, I couldn't shake the feeling that that night would be like a calm before an oncoming storm.