Chapter 16: The Horror in the Neighborhood
It's really Voldemort! Here, at Hogwarts ground floor hallway! Harry felt the terror overwhelming him as he tightened his grasp on his wand. At the moment, he felt so taken aback that he just didn't know what he should actually do right now – should he attack immediately of should he wait for his dreadful opponent to make a move? Moreover, it seemed that the girl's fear was somehow making his enemy more powerful, more determined to approach her and do with her what he had intended to do – and it was obvious that his intentions weren't good at all.
Having standing still for three seconds, Harry promptly hurried to save Romilda – if she is going to be attacked, he'll try to defend her and himself with all his might. The young man stood in front of the horrified girl, and then at least her cries stopped as soon as she didn't have to look at the scary creature.
The moment Harry had covered the girl from the monster's sight, the figure stopped as if he was a little distracted, then he raised his hand having long, scabbed fingers and adjusted the hood of his cloak so that his eyes were barely visible.
Wait a minute, Voldemort actually had pale fingers, and why should he have to occupy himself with the scaring of innocent girls in empty hallways of the castle? Suddenly, a thought popped into Harry's mind. It's not Voldemort at all, it's just a Boggart.
Harry almost made a smile. He imagined how the figure clad in its dark cloak trips on the brim of its robes and falls to the floor, and he yelled loudly and strictly, "Riddikulus!" The figure indeed fell to the floor and even did a somersault, and after one more precisely aimed Riddikulus it turned into a cloud of black smoke, which was already gone just after a few moments.
"Are you alright?" Harry said as he turned to the frightened girl, who he had practically pressed against the wall with his back. She was just crying and sobbing uncontrollably, apparently being scared for her life. However, it turned out Romilda had actually heard his question even due to her tears, so she half nodded half shook her head, shrugging her shoulders, and then she inhaled loudly as her tears continued to flow down her cheeks even more rapidly.
It was obvious she wasn't alright at all, and Harry couldn't just leave Romilda alone in the hallway when she was so apparently scared. At least he had to calm her down somehow.
"Everything is going to be fine, it was just a Boggart. Could you just calm yourself down?" Harry asked carefully, putting a hand on the girl's upper arm. Romilda immediately clung to him and kept sobbing at his chest. Harry patted her back awkwardly. Now, though, it was the least necessary for Ginny to show up here. Harry looked around – oh, here was that broom closet, at least they could sit down there, and maybe in there, she could be able to calm herself down.
"Look, I'll take you into that broom closet… and stay with you until you calm down, okay?" Harry added quickly as she sniffled even louder. Harry slowly and carefully approached the closet door, opened it and slid in the cupboard with Romilda. He kept the door open for a small gap through which a tiny amount of light came in, so that they could see a few buckets and several mops and cleaning brooms. He gingerly seated Romilda on a rolled-over bucket and sat down opposite to her. Meanwhile, she was trying hard to wipe her eyes dry, but her tears still reappeared again.
"Try to be brave; you're a Gryffindor, aren't you?" Harry asked her gently. He didn't want to be offensive, but after about fifteen minutes Ginny is going to be waiting for him here, so he wasn't in the mood to sit with some other girl in a broom closet.
Romilda just sobbed even louder as she heard his question, though a moment later she managed to take in a few deep breaths and tried to calm herself down. Meanwhile, Harry was silent and just looked at Romilda. He needed to get ready for his date, but to leave a crying, helpless girl sobbing in some dark and scary place – he didn't feel like being such a monster.
"T-thank you Harry," Romilda finally managed to say.
"Luckily it was just a Boggart, it wasn't real. It just really scared you," Harry tried to reassure her.
"Well, I guess I'm probably the most cowardly Gryffindor ever. I got so scared over just of one silly Boggart," Romilda scolded herself.
"Tell me, actually, how did you happen to be here?" Harry asked, hoping that a simple conversation could help her recover sooner.
"Well, I and Miles came here to, well – you know, here – and then there appeared that haze, and I got so scared that I couldn't move anymore, but that prick just run away," Romilda said as she wiped a new burst of tears out of her brown eyes.
"You'll be fine, you just need to calm down," Harry insisted, and an idea struck into his mind since he just had remembered a good old advice Lupin once taught him. Harry snapped his fingers and summoned Kreacher. He whispered the task into the elf's ear quietly and told him to be quick.
"Look, but if you came here with this Miles, then at least you have let Neville be, am I right?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Have let Neville be? Really, did my attempts look that desperate?" she asked a counter question, and there was some bitterness in her voice.
"To be honest, in Express your move with that Fanged Frisbee wasn't the smartest one," Harry added with a smile.
She made a tearful smile, which was gone after a moment, though. "You know, my parents are Muggles, and my father is a sports trainer in a high school. So he raised me and my brother in a sporty kind of manner – he taught us to always strive for victory. He always used to say that we need to dare to reach our goal, no matter how many times we fall. And if you fall, it just means that you have to get up on your feet to keep going. If there was something that has to be done, such an option as giving up simply just didn't exist for him."
"That sounds awful," Harry admitted after he had listened to her story, "So that's why you were so persistent, at first on me, then on Neville?"
"Yes," Romilda said with a bitter laugh, "Of course we were not only restricted to give up, but we had always to be the best, too. And since I'm mediocre in studies, I don't have any excellent flying skills, and I'm one of the worst even in such a senseless club like Gobstones Club; then, you see, I decided I had to make one of you my boyfriend, no matter what. At least then maybe there'll be a reason for my father to finally be proud with me."
"Do you want to know what I think? I think you have been sorted into Gryffindor for a good reason, so you have to be brave enough to find yourself into your life. And at least as far as I know, life is not some kind of competition or sports game at all, so you have no obligation to compete with anyone," Harry told her his thoughts about the meaning of life. Always being the first and the winner? How can a parent continually keep demanding something like that from their child? Though, his further pondering was distracted by a silent pop as Kreacher had returned to the broom closet, holding a golden object with scales in the size of a pretty big ostrich egg.
"Thank you, Kreacher," Harry took the imitation of the dragon egg made of chocolate and given him by Charlie from the House elf, then he stood up and gave it to Romilda; meanwhile, Kreacher teleported away again with a quiet pop. "Here, take it; it's Romanian chocolate. Professor Lupin once taught us it's good when encountering Dementors, maybe it'll help you recover from a fear caused by Boggart, too. I have to hurry now." – He suddenly shot a gaze over his shoulder to look into the hallway, because it seemed to him that he had heard the sound of impatient steps coming from outside – "Eat some chocolate, sit down for a while, calm down, and then in the evening, do remember to come to the Halloween feast. Everything will be fine, it was just a Boggart. Bye, Romilda," Harry wanted to say goodbye to her as soon as possible, but the girl leapt to her feet with a weak squeal and a half-sniff, and thankfully kissed Harry on his cheek. Feeling awkward, Harry carefully pushed her away from him, glancing at the door, and then he patted her shoulder and ran out of the broom closet. Suddenly, his heart froze with fear as he heard hasty steps rushing down the hallway and they disappeared just around the corner along with vivid red locks of the ponytail.
Harry quickly looked at his wristwatch, and to his even greater horror, it showed ten minutes over three. He had spent almost half an hour, sitting in that broom closet with Romilda, but meanwhile, Ginny had waited patiently outside, until, out of curiosity, she had decided to peek at what was going on in that closet, and, of course, she had to see the most awkward of all possible moments.
Oh shit, it really had to concur like that, Harry thought angrily. Now he wanted to get to Ginny whatever it takes and explain to her what had actually happened in that broom closet, but she had disappeared out of his view, and in the Entrance Hall, people were scurrying all over the hall, going to the Slytherin or Hufflepuff Common rooms, or going out or coming inside the castle from their stroll.
Worriedly, Harry took the Marauder's Map out of his mokeskin pouch hung around his neck, unfolded it and promptly muttered the well-known incantation. Ginny hadn't gone outside; oh, there she was going up the first floor stairs. Maybe she was heading to the library thinking she is going to find Hermione there?
He hurriedly cleared the map and ran to the library, but it seemed that almost every classmate felt obligated to remind him excitedly that they'll have to attend the long-awaited Halloween feast in the evening.
"Look, Luna, I'm really in a hurry right now, let's just meet at the feast," Harry cut off his friend, and at least she stopped bothering him and just wished Harry good luck. Although there were times she seemed a bit crazy, but at least she could always feel the importance of the situation.
As he had threaded through a bunch of excited first-years who had completely blocked the stairs on the Library Wing, Harry ran into the library, heavily breathing. He shot around a quick look, he, of course, didn't see Hermione here, who was still decorating the Great Hall, or Ginny. He felt his heart pace quicken – he desperately hoped she hadn't gone into the girls' toilets and wasn't crying a river right now. He took a few steps to the right, stretched his neck out and peeked into the adjacent aisles, but there were only several Ravenclaws – it seemed they were mad enough to do their homework even on the holiday, then he ran to the left, and finally saw Ginny. She looked undoubtedly anxious as she was trying to get out of the library.
"Ginny!" Harry immediately exclaimed, feeling glad at least about the fact that he had found her. Ginny hesitated and stopped, and Harry ran close to her.
"Ginny, I'll explain everything to you, it was a silly misunderstanding," he said in a single breath, grasping for air.
„I'd like to think so, too," Ginny replied, though her voice sounded forced, as if she was barely restraining her tears. „For now, it's hard for me to understand why you did invite me there if you wanted to hide in the broom closet at the same time... with Romilda."
„It happened by accident, that wasn't..." Harry was making excuse, but Ginny interrupted him angrily, „By accident? So what do you mean? You actually had something to do with that Romilda then?!"
"Ginny, it wasn't like that. I have nothing to do with her; she was just frightened and she needed to be comforted, that's all," Harry said desperately, besides, it seemed that his growing panic didn't let him think clearly, and Ginny's shocked gaze told him that his explanation wasn't helping at all.
„Woohoo, Harry and Ginny, it's Halloween; it's party tonight!" Anthony exclaimed at his classmates as he was passing them by, having put his arm around Terry's shoulders. „We need to get ready for tonight!"
„Wait, I don't understand anything right now. Why on earth were you with her at all, and why she had clung to you then?" Ginny said as soon as the Ravenclaws had gone further away. Though, her voice sounded a bit strained at the end.
„Ginny, I'll expl-" Harry began desperately, but he was interrupted by the voice of another girl.
„I thought I'll find you here, Harry," Romilda spoke as she approached him behind his back, touching his shoulder with her fingers. Harry shrugged and turned his gaze to the dark haired girl, who was now standing next to him. „I opened your egg and the chocolate really did help."
Harry stood there like stunned for a moment. Well, how on earth I could get rid of that Romilda? Right now I don't need her here at all. In addition, there sounded a faint sob from Ginny's direction as she hurried past him, but in the meantime, Romilda had stretched out her right hand with her palm up and just continued to talk, „And then I found this golden dragon inside it and so I wanted to bring it back to you; it was yours anyway."
Harry was the least concerned about the chocolate eggs and golden dragon figurines at the moment. „Let it stay with you as a reminder... um, for your bravery. I really have to go now," Harry cut off her and started to rush after Ginny even before he had finished his sentence.
Luckily, he managed to catch Ginny while she was still far away from the girls' toilets. When he grabbed her by her shoulders and turned to face him, her eyes were full of tears. He hugged his girlfriend tightly and whispered softly in her ear, „Please, please do listen to me. I'll explain you everything from the very beginning, how it really was. There didn't happen anything between me and Romilda. Please, let's go down to Firenze's classroom again; I was preparing a surprise for you since yesterday. It's a peaceful and quiet place and we will be able to talk everything out, okay?"
Harry felt the girl slowly calming down. A few moments later she took an unsteady breath and nodded in agreement. Then he took her palm and with no hurry led her down to the ground floor at the door of Firenze's classroom.
Harry said softly, "Alohomora," as he pointed his wand at the lock, and it opened immediately with a soft clicking sound. He pushed down the door handle as he opened the door, which showed the entrance to the centaur's classroom. Stepping into the wooded room, he noticed that it still looked the same as Harry remembered from a few years ago – it was more like a meadow in a middle of a forest than a classroom. There was a large, flat stump in the middle of the glade, and the floor was covered with a thick undergrowth of moss and short shrubs, giving the scent of the fresh forest breeze. Behind the windows, though, the sky was covered with dense, steel-grey clouds so the twilight had set upon the Firenze's classroom. Harry waved his wand, whispering under his breath as he turned in a circle, pointing his wand around the room:
"Rite, rite the light,
Let it twinkle all the night."
And soon there showed up little golden balls, casting a cozy, dim glow like candles everywhere in the room. Harry saw Ginny's eyes widening in excitement as she wiped the tears out of the corners of her eyes with her fingers.
"Harry, then tell me. What did actually happen there? Right now, I really want it to be just a particularly obnoxious misunderstanding," Ginny stated, trying to force out a smile.
"And it was!" Harry exclaimed as he sat down on the stump himself and seated her next to him and he started telling her everything from the very beginning – how he had wanted to arrive here a few minutes earlier to make sure everything was fine, but then that Boggart had showed up. Ginny even gasped when Harry told her how it looked like. Then he told Ginny the details of how desperately anxious Romilda has been and that he simply couldn't leave her crying on the floor. When he had told everything about the whole incident, then Harry added, "Ginny, I'm so sorry. I really wanted to see you as soon as possible, but I simply didn't know how to get rid of her. I'm really, really sorry that you had to wait for so long and had to see me in such an awkward moment."
Harry shyly lowered his gaze, but Ginny took his palm, and their eyes met. "Harry, I've always trusted you and this time I really wanted to believe it was just a nasty misunderstanding. Only when that Romilda came to you in the library, I could no longer resist imaging the scene how she had clung to you. But I'm really, really glad that you hadn't intended to play such a cruel prank on me," she said, half laughing half serious.
"Play a cruel prank on you? Never! You know I love only you," Harry insisted.
"Now I know it, but, you see, for the last three weeks I wasn't so sure about it anymore," she replied with a sad smile.
"Yeah, I know I've been a jerk to you and I want to apologize about that, so that's the reason I invited you here," Harry explained, ashamed. Then he snapped his fingers and summoned Kreacher.
"Good day, sir! I was already expecting you to call me earlier. How can I serve you?" the elf asked obediently. Ginny looked at the old, skinny elf with a slightly amused and rather curious face.
"There was a little delay. Have you prepared everything I asked?" Harry inquired.
"Of course, sir. I personally made sure everything was done as best as possible. Do you want me to bring it here now?" the elf offered helpfully.
„That would be great, Kreacher," Harry replied with a smile, and the old elf bowed before he disappeared into the thin air, but a moment later he reappeared with a soft pop, holding a silver tray with carvings of floral ornaments carrying a corked bottle, two tall glasses with stems and several plates with a variety of snacks, both salty and sweet. "Thank you, Kreacher; now could you please just leave the two of us, okay?" The old elf bowed again as his gray tufts coming out of his ears practically touched the ground, and then he vanished into the air, leaving them alone.
"Harry, what's that?" Ginny asked, slightly amused.
"Darling, this is my apology to you. You've deserved a hundred times more for my terrible behavior over the past few weeks, but for now, please do accept this modicum I've prepared for you tonight," Harry explained to his girlfriend, now feeling a little bit happier. Perhaps this evening could actually turn out to be quite enjoyable.
"If you say so. Well, and what is this? What is this thing I'm supposed to settle with tonight?" she asked with a grin.
"That is called champagne, Ginny," Harry replied, also grinning.
"Oh, Harry, Harry," Ginny chuckled reproachfully as she shook her head, "and how did you manage to get that drink into Hogwarts? I truly doubt that we have a wine cellar here at Hogwarts. Or had you found one during your lonely wanderings? Hm?" Her voice sounded half interested half ridiculing, but Harry didn't feel offended about it.
"It was nothing like that. I was just lucky enough to successfully persuade Kreacher into going to Aberforth," Harry simply explained as he took the bottle with a sheepish smile. "Would you like to drink some? As you can see, I happened to accidentally have exactly two of the glasses here."
"Champagne from the goat man's stock. Oh, Harry, I thought I meant something to you," Ginny was teasing him as she took one of the two glasses by its stem. Meanwhile, Harry was trying to figure out how to open the bottle.
"Stop joking around, I need to concentrate – I don't know exactly how to open it," Harry said playfully, but Ginny already had a wise suggestion.
"I would advise you to start with that narrow top right there." She pointed with her finger to the neck of the bottle wrapped with a wire and silver paper.
Harry looked at her with amusement, murmuring, "You don't say, oh, the smart one." Soon, he had peeled off the neck of the bottle and was looking at the cork now. But what's next? In the summer, on their birthdays, Arthur had opened their champagne bottles for them, so he had only a vague knowledge of the skill how to do this particularly complex task. Trying to move the cork with his hand, Harry realized it wouldn't come out that easily, so he gave up, took out his wand and whispered, "Accio cork!" The cork indeed shot out of the bottle with a pop making Ginny squeal a bit, and there flowed out a spurt of the sparkling drink.
"Oops," he just said and stretched out his hand in order to move the bottle farther away so he wouldn't splash it on his clothes.
"Now it's better," she added as she stretched her arm with the glass closer to him, and Harry gingerly poured champagne into the tall glass, the drink making too much foam. Then he poured the wine also into his own glass and put the bottle back on the tray.
"What's the toast, then?" Ginny asked as she looked at Harry with her head tilted.
"The toast is that I'll never have such a stupid idea that I should avoid you for a few weeks," Harry said with a tinge of sadness in his voice.
"And I would like to add that it would be nice if we could spend time together like this, even if you hadn't done anything you'd like to apologize for," she added as she raised her glass with a wink.
"Then this is the toast for us to have a nice evening," Harry concluded, also raising his glass in the air, then both young people drank a big sip of the sweet, sparkling wine.
"Hmm, it's not bad," she admitted as she licked her lips. "And what are these wondrous things?" She pointed to the various mini snacks, little bread cups with filling, and cake bites neatly lined up on the tray.
"They are all the masterpieces of Kreacher's cooking. I can imagine he was trying so hard at my request that even the single last piece of it could very well fit as the best quality even for the finicky stomach of Slughorn," he explained, taking one of the cups with some kind of salty filling. After biting off a tiny piece of it, Harry realized gladly that the food was truly delicious. Kreacher indeed had been trying hard to please him since regaining the Regulus's locket, and even more so since the elf had revenged the memory of his former master.
Meanwhile, Ginny took one of the sweet mini cakes with a whipped cream topping and bit off half of the cake, and then she also ate the rest of the cake, savoring the taste.
"Well, how was it?" Harry asked curiously, looking at her. Ginny had a smudge of the whipped cream on the corner of her lips, and he smiled about it at first, but then his thoughts immediately suggested that he should clear it with his own mouth. He leaned closer to his girlfriend and pressed his half-opened lips to the corner of her mouth – Ginny seemed slightly surprised – then Harry pressed his lips together, eating off the whipped cream, and then he pulled away. He explained, gesturing with his index finger, "There was a whipped cream on your mouth. I just helped you to clean it off."
Then Ginny leaned closer to him and pressed a soft kiss on his lips, slowly sliding her mouth over his lips. Harry felt a hot wave shooting through his stomach. Then she pulled away a little, saying, "But I just simply wanted to kiss you."
"Gin," Harry only managed to mutter breathlessly as he gazed into her gorgeous, dark eyes; then he embraced her tightly and kissed her again. Ginny gasped and kissed him back.
They had thirsted for each other too long, so Harry kissed her mouth, neck, throat, until Ginny pulled him by his hair back to her mouth, and then a few moments later she started to kiss his neck. Harry felt like it's getting unbearably hot, especially since they were wearing these thick Hogwarts robes which were just trapping their hands, so they couldn't properly touch each other.
A minute later, both of their black robes were tossed over the moss, and, clad in a blouse and a skirt, Ginny was sitting on Harry's lap and was deeply enjoying his kisses she was longing for so much over the last few weeks. Her hand slid under the brim of his t-shirt, and Harry took a deep breath as he felt an electric shot running over his whole body. He felt so great at the moment, though he still wanted to get somehow closer to her that it was hard to endure. His hands also slipped under the bottom of her blouse, stroking her back, and Ginny stiffened from his touch with a gasp. Harry pulled a little bit away from her and noticed that her eyes seemed unnaturally large in the twilight. Her eyes are so big and beautiful and loving and kind and… passionate.
Harry slouched with Ginny from the stump to the ground and then leaned over her as they both pressed into the soft moss that seemed to cool their hot bodies but not their minds. He didn't break his gaze with her eyes, and they both were breathing deeply and heavily.
There was a teeny, tiny, barely audible thought in the deepest part of his mind whispering that it might not be a good idea to continue what they had begun, but all his instincts were protesting against it. Before he could figure out how to make this feeling clear to Ginny, phrasing it in words, she had already managed to put her hand behind his neck as she pulled his mouth again into a kiss. Now they didn't hesitate to search over each other's back, stomach, hips, and legs with their arms.
Only when Ginny had pushed him aside off of her, and had pushed up his shirt to his chest, and pressed her first kiss on his stomach, there did struck a thought into Harry's mind that now they had gone far enough. They had to stop. Of course, it was a bliss being with Ginny, but to be even closer to her was something he wanted to do later; at least certainly somewhere else – definitely not at the rooms of Hogwarts where somebody could find them at any moment. It had to be some place that was just for the two of them.
"Ginny," Harry managed as he gathered all his willpower – it seemed as if after her kisses, there had appeared a huge horde of electric butterflies in his stomach. "Ginny," he said a little louder and grabbed her hands as she was running her palms up to his chest.
"Harry," Ginny replied breathlessly.
"I think… I think we should… stop for a moment," he said, breathing deeply.
"Then it means you didn't like my kiss on your stomach?" Ginny said, pouting.
As he heard her question, he felt a hot heat wave shooting from his stomach up to his cheeks and ears, tickling all his skin on the way. Didn't I like it? I rather loved it…
"I could rather say… I liked it too much," he answered breathlessly. He wanted to smile at her, but he could only look at her face, her pink, full lips, until all sane thoughts were gone completely out of his head, so he pressed his lips to her mouth hungrily. Harry kissed her tightly as he ran his tongue over her lips and touched her tongue for a moment, pressing her into the soft moss and running his hands up along her sides. She gasped from the touch and bent her back.
As he made a trail of kisses along her cheek and neck, Harry pulled away from her and lay down on his back beside her. "If you want, you can count it as an answer to your previous question," Harry said and even managed to form a smirk on his face.
"Oh, so you actually liked that kiss?" Ginny replied, also grinning as she tried to catch her breath. She rolled onto her side next to him and put her hand over his stomach, making Harry take another deep breath. "Then maybe I should do it again?" she added a moment later as she stroked his stomach under his t-shirt.
"Maybe we should do it some other time? Otherwise, I suspect we'll never be able to get out of here," Harry declined her offer. She just smiled instead of giving an answer.
"I must say I really appreciate all of this. This really looks like a beautiful and romantic place now," she admitted after a moment as she glanced around, taking in the wooded classroom and the dim light bulbs.
"Thank you. I really wanted to make something beautiful for you; you definitely had deserved it," Harry admitted softly.
"You know, Harry, what was the hardest thing for me at that time?" she asked, sounding a little sad.
"The fact that I avoided you? Or the fact that I was chased by a mob of crazy girls?" he made a guess, but both answers somehow didn't seem quite correct.
"No, Harry," Ginny chuckled. "I was so sad about the fact that you were willingly driving yourself into despair and were not allowing anyone to help you, not even me. It was really painful for me to see you so sad and tired every day."
Harry felt a lump in his throat. Of course, Ginny wasn't actually that angry with him for not showing any attention to her, but rather she had been really worried about him during the last few weeks.
"Well, then let's make an arrangement – if I ever show any signs of wanting to skulk alone for a long while, you just smack me in the head, okay?" Harry proposed a deal.
"I agree. But if you like it, then I can smack you in the head just like that without any particular reason," she teased him, grinning.
"I suppose you rather don't if there's not a good reason," Harry chuckled as he turned his head sideways to look into her eyes. He leaned closer and kissed her on her forehead. "Actually, I like kisses much better."
"No problem," the girl said cheerfully and kissed him on his lips quickly. Harry already began to follow her lips, but then he stopped as he forced his willpower to take over his instincts. Really, how are we going to stop?
"Look, what do you think – maybe we can still go to the Halloween feast?" Harry asked as he also rolled on his side facing Ginny and playfully walked his fingers over her side.
"Maybe we should actually do that; otherwise Firenze later will have to kick us out of here, using the force," Ginny replied.
"Then let's dress up properly and let's go to the Hall," Harry agreed with a smile.
A while later, after putting back on their robes, they exchanged a few more kisses, though, not as passionate as the ones earlier, and before leaving, they enjoyed each other's embrace for a moment as they breathed in their own and the surrounding scents.
As they left, Harry asked Kreacher to remove the empty glasses and leftovers, then he turned off the lights and the wooded classroom sunk into the darkness; then he locked the door and they slowly made their way to the Great Hall as Harry held Ginny's hand.
They had missed the supper – though, now they felt like they are full just by being with each other anyway – and everyone was watching the show which was a usual part of the Halloween celebration. This year, McGonagall had invited a fire artist, and now as Harry and Ginny was stealing to the Gryffindor table, there was a swarm of gigantic fire snakes twisting all over above the hall with their wide fiery mouths, but on the stage – if Harry could see it correctly from the far end of the Gryffindor table – there stood a short wizard clad in black suit and top hat, blowing out of his mouth a flame of various colors. Then the wizard turned to the spectators and blew out a large cloud of smoke, which turned into a huge bat, which started to chase the fiery dragons.
"Harry, is it just me or are those dragons from the Weasleys' Wheezes?" Ginny whispered in his ear, sitting next to him.
Her warm breath made Harry feel a tingle on his neck, but he quickly gathered himself together as he looked closer at the fire beasts and confirmed her observation. Soon, the bat had extinguished all the dragons, and then it disintegrated into a whole bunch of smaller bats that joined to the horde of the previously summoned flying animals by Hermione and Malfoy.
Then the wizard quickly dropped something on the floor and started immediately writing some kind of word in the air with his wand. The tip of it left a bright, streaky light in the air, as if it were drawn with a sparkler. When the word was soon written in the air, everyone could read clearly that the letters were forming 'HOGWARTS'.
As he finished his spell and turned off the light at the tip of his wand, a new wave of admiration spread over the hall – suddenly, there grew up six gorgeous Fireflowers, each of them shining in every color of the rainbow. The flowers were glistening and sparkling as the spelled word of 'HOGWARTS' began to rise in the air, then it fell on its side and, flying above the heads of the students, showered them with the rain of stars, though, they vanished once they touched any kind of surface. When the word of 'HOGWARTS' had levitated over all of the students sitting at the long tables, the letters straight up again, facing children and gradually disappearing as they descended.
The wizard finished his show with a wish for everyone, "Bless you all tonight!" and then he bowed deeply to everyone in the hall. Harry and Ginny also were applauding vigorously along with the others. Harry indeed couldn't have imagined even a more beautiful ending of his date with Ginny. Then they climbed slowly up to the Gryffindor Tower along with the flow of students in no hurry, excitedly talking about the magnificent performance and debating about the fact what would George say about the use of his Fireflowers in the show.
Coming into the Common Room, Harry didn't feel even the slightest surprise that there had already been organized a party with a few pumpkins glowing here and there on the windowsills; Dean and Seamus seemed to have brought piles of treats out of the kitchen, and Lavender had somehow managed to get a box full with bottles of Butterbeer.
They sat down at a vacant table, and shortly afterwards Hermione and Ron joined them. It seemed to Harry that they may have been arguing about something.
Sitting down opposite Harry, Hermione promptly formed a smile and asked, "Is then everything all right with the two of you, now?"
Ginny right away nodded affirmatively, and Hermione said, relieved, "Thank God, finally!"
"And how about you?" Harry asked with a little suspicion. It was not uncommon for Hermione to argue with Ron, most often about utter nonsense, but then he realized that he actually had avoided his friends for quite a time, so even if there had been any changes in their relationship, he knew nothing about it.
"Of course, everything is fine. Why?" Hermione asked, though Harry seemed to notice a feeling of anxiousness in her eyes.
"Sorry for asking. I just wanted to know that everything is all right with both of you; it just seemed to me for just a tiny split of a second that you had argued about something. Well, if that may be true, then at least I hope it's not my fault," Harry said shyly.
"Then now you want to put your nose into our business?" Ron retorted angrily. "It's not enough that you have been walking around being so haughty for almost the last month that you can't say even hello to your friends. You know what; the world doesn't revolve only around you. And besides, it had nothing to do with you." It seemed that the red headed young man was not far from firing bolts with his look. Feeling guilty, Harry turned away from his friend's gaze, ashamed.
Meanwhile, Ginny said, sitting next to him, "Wait a minute, what does it mean then – are you actually arguing about something now?"
Hermione hurried to respond first, "I wouldn't quite call it 'arguing', rather I would like to say we had a healthy exchange or our views."
"A healthy exchange of our views?" Ron snorted. "So that's how you call the imposition of your opinion now?"
"I'm not imposing my opinion; I was just expressing my thoughts, and then I listened to your thoughts, too," Hermione strictly opposed. Harry was starting to get aware – his friends really had some kind of disagreement, but it wasn't clear to him what the reason of it was.
"Yeah, you listened and then acted as if they were completely wrong," Ron argued as he crossed his arms and turned his head, facing Hermione.
"Whoa, whoa, guys, may I ask you – what exactly are you talking about right now?" Ginny asked gingerly, raising her hands in the air as she gestured.
"While climbing upstairs, we were discussing the Mr. Flame's show. You did see it, right?" Hermione asked with suspicion.
"Yes, we did," Harry confirmed and noticed that Ginny next to him had a barely visible blush on her face. Well, they hadn't seen the whole show from the very beginning, but he wasn't going to explain it to anyone now.
"So, then what do you think of the show?" Hermione asked.
Harry began to suspect that there were some hidden reefs he should avoid before giving his answer. "Um, well, the ending was beautiful with the falling stars, but, well, we noticed that some of the products were from the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. I wonder, does George know about this show?"
"Exactly, Harry. And this is the fact I was telling Ron when we came up here, that he was using George's products. And that's why I'm not going to be so much excited about this Mr. Flame like Ron, who is so enthusiastic he's practically leaping out of his pants," Hermione finished in a louder and stricter tone as she crossed her arms and legs, glaring at Ron.
"Hermione, but didn't you hear at all Harry also saying that the show was beautiful? Regardless of whether he used George's fireworks and my Fireflowers or not – Harry, you saw them; George had made them a little more durable and brighter – now they look really impressive; all of this was a beautiful thing to watch, no matter how much of it Flame had invented himself," Ron argued, now turning solely to Hermione as his dark blue eyes were glistening with spite.
"Ron, but you have to understand that these I'll-show-you-something-pretty kind of artists are just dilettantes. They only know how to use other people's work; they put something together and end up making money for practically doing nothing," Hermione objected.
"Well, and is it such a big deal that he uses products invented by other wizards? The whole show actually was his doing. No one told him when to launch the light spheres, or when the firework dragons should show up, or that the stars had to fall at the end. I think that is exactly what people call art," Ron insisted.
"Ron, I even admit that I truly understand your argument, but I want to repeat it once more that I do not tolerate neglect and poor work. Besides, he had chosen to use the Fire magic – there're no difficulties at all to make something pretty out of it." Hermione theatrically drew out her wand and wrote Ron's name with the same sparkling letters. "Yeah, so behold the greatest wonder in the world, and now everyone gasps in excitement – and yes, thank you, thank you very much." With a flick of her wand, she dispersed the letters in the air and bowed overly dramatically, still sitting in the chair.
Harry had a feeling that this was just a beginning of their argument, but tonight he really had no desire to listen to their bickering. He squeezed Ginny's hand and pointed his head in the direction of the box of Butterbeer bottles as a hint. Ginny smiled affirmatively as she nodded.
"But, Hermione, you see, all that is beautiful doesn't have to be also complicated. Things can be beautiful just because they are such," Ron replied again to Hermione, not letting her firm stance break him.
"But people aren't always making money out of all simple and beautiful things. In my opinion, however, if a wizard ever wants to call himself an artist and make money with it, he has to work hard on his show," she said, but Harry didn't hear the further controversy between his friends, because he and Ginny had submerged into the general chattering of voices in the Common Room. "They really are experts on finding such minor subjects to argue about," Ginny laughed softly.
As they came at the box of Butterbeer, they met Ritchie Coote, the member of their Quidditch team, who gladly offered them two bottles of Butterbeer, which Harry and Ginny took, smiling. Soon they were engaged in exciting conversations about the Halloween feast, and it seemed that in the Gryffindor Common Room Hermione was the only one who was dissatisfied with the evening's show. Later, conversations turned into simple chatter and jokes, so when he got back to his bed late at night, Harry realized he had a goofy smile on his face.
This day actually had turned out to be so extraordinarily nice. He had saved Romilda, settled his relationship with Ginny, and had enjoyed his best Halloween feast ever. What could go wrong anymore? He just had to fix his friendship with Ron, but he was certain everything will turn out fine with his old friend, and Harry slowly fell asleep as he thought back about Ginny's kiss on his stomach, feeling butterflies in his stomach.
The next morning dawned cloudy as the heavy raindrops fell down, hitting window glasses, but Harry felt unusually spirited and despite the depressing dark autumn weather, it seemed to him like the world had gained a few more colors – it felt so bright and full with light. Today was Sunday, so it was free of studies and there'll be plenty of time to hang out with his friends.
Harry looked at Ron's bed and saw that it was empty, so it meant his friend had already headed to breakfast. Downstairs, in the Common Room, he didn't meet any of his seventh-year classmates there – apparently he had woken up as one of the last ones.
"Harry, Harry, was it true that you did capture You-Know-Who's snake last year at Halloween, but later it managed to escape?" a brave boy asked him a question the moment he had seen his famous member of Gryffindor House – though, Harry had started to think that this kind of behavior could be counted more as the audacity.
"No, someone clearly had told you nonsense," he said. Oh, right – you just had to come downstairs with a faint smile on your face, and the youngest members already considered it as an invitation to ask a new flood of questions, worshipping him. Harry had no desire to listen to such things, so he quickly slipped out of the Common Room and jogged down to the Great Hall, where the biggest part of the Hogwarts population had already gathered.
Arriving at the Gryffindor table, he sat down next to Ginny, and on the other side of Ginny was Ron, but Hermione was opposite to them, eating an omelet from her plate with small bites. After greeting his friends, Harry grabbed the nearest butter muffin, poured a glass of pumpkin juice and began to devour his food with a healthy appetite.
"It's so terrible weather outside," Ginny spoke up, "I think there'll be no point of today's Quidditch practice."
"Actually, I wouldn't mind spending a dry day indoors with you," Harry stated, murmuring softly at the end, as he put his hand on her back and prickled her neck with his nose. Ginny made a silly smile, but Ron just rolled his eyes.
"But really – what do we have to do today?" Hermione asked curiously. "Ron, maybe you have some ideas on what we should do today?"
"It's funny you're actually asking my opinion now. Weren't you yesterday trying so hard to prove that you wouldn't give even a single Knut for my thoughts all the evening long?" Ron retorted Hermione rather harshly and then he pursed his lips.
However, Hermione collectedly raised her eyes off her breakfast plate as she looked at Ron for a moment, and then replied, "Ron, the fact that I spent the whole Halloween evening talking to you just means that I feel interested to listen to your opinion, I find your thoughts valuable and interesting and I think highly of them, even though our opinions sometimes tend to differ. Simply put, if we couldn't engage ourselves in intelligent and exciting conversations, we would definitely have tired of each other already a long time ago."
Ron apparently hadn't expected such a response as he simply continued to sit in his place with his mouth open and his ham sandwich halfway to its destination. Finally, he found his voice somewhere in his throat. "Then you really do think I'm intelligent?"
"Please, Ron," Hermione chuckled as she rolled her eyes, "If I were actually considering you such a silly person, do you really think I'd had even the slightest desire befriending you?"
"Well, Hermione, you already know that everyone near you feels like an inept first-year," Ron replied, grinning as his mood had improved considerably – especially if Hermione herself thought he was interesting and wise enough. However, Harry began to feel a little bit uncomfortable as he listened to their conversation; it seemed they should rather continue it just between the two of them without any other listeners.
While Hermione and Ron continued to exchange their affections, Ginny leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear, "Listen, maybe you should suggest Ron to use Firenze's classroom as well? It looks like they should also spend some time alone."
Harry chuckled at that, but a moment later, he felt a chill running down his spine for some unknown reason. It seemed as if he subconsciously had sensed that something was wrong, something was not right. Another moment later he realized what had caused him such an unpleasant feeling – suddenly there had flown the owls in the Great Hall, fluttering their wings, and there was indeed a quite huge swarm of them. Of course, it was not uncommon at all for students to receive mail in the morning, but today was Sunday, which meant the Daily Prophet wasn't delivered, and Halloween was yesterday when the caring parents sent the bags full with sweets to their precious children.
Soon a gray owl landed in front of Hermione, stepping with one foot on the side of her plate, causing the breakfast plate to tilt in the air, and the leftover juice of the omelet dripped down on the table. Hermione broke in the midsentence, already wanting to agree with Ron that maybe they really could devote only half of the day to their studies, but instead she turned to the owl. It shuffled its legs as it stepped off of the plate, and then it reached forward its leg with a rolled up package and a very small black bag. Hermione rummaged in her pocket and managed to draw out of the deepest corner of it a few Knuts which she placed in the owl's little bag, and the owl left them the newspaper before it made a quiet hooting sound and took off.
"The owl of the Daily Prophet; on Sunday," Hermione said, unable to believe her own eyes. She hurriedly rolled out the newspaper and there on the front page was a sound headline, saying, "DEATH EATER ATTACK ON HALLOWEEN!" And under it there was a moving picture of the dreadful Dark Mark.
"This is the special edition of the Morning Prophet," Hermione said in a weak voice as she devoured the article with her eyes. After reading it record fast, she hurriedly gave it to Ron. Ron spread the newspaper in front of Ginny so that also Harry could easily read the article as he leaned closer to her.
A horrendous Death Eater attack on the household of the Diggory, belonging to the Magical Community of the village of the Ottery St Catchpole, has taken place after 9PM on All Hallows' Evening or Halloween. At the time of the attack, the reputable Mr. Amos Diggory, an official of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, was taken hostage by the Death Eater group currently led by Rodolphus Lestrange, the most loyal officer of the former Dark Lord.
According to the testimony given by Mr. Diggory, Lestrange had broken into his house after suppertime and had requested information on the exact location of Molly Weasly and the precautions taken by the Ministry to ensure her continued protection. (Ed. Note – Mr. Diggory's neighbor, Molly Weasley, killed Lestrange's wife, Bellatrix Lestrange, during the Battle of Hogwarts, so the You-Know-Who's trusted Death Eater has sworn to take revenge on her ever since.)
Because of his extreme courage in refusing to cooperate with the Death Eater group, Mr. Diggory had to endure countless episodes of torture for hours until almost at midnight due to the fearing of the proximity of the sensory perception spells set within a certain radius around Mrs. Weasley's house, the Death Eaters decided to leave the house of the Diggory family, first giving a message to Mrs. Molly Weasley.
Lestrange ordered Mr. Diggory to send Mrs. Weasley a message that he is going to continue to visit her neighbors one by one if she is going to keep hiding inside her Burrows. The Death Eater invites Mrs. Weasley to a duel, otherwise – quoting Lestrange – "Your next neighbor won't end up as lucky as Diggory when I'll be done with him." Then, before the fleeting, the current leader of the Death Eaters shot a powerful Reductor Curse at Mr. Diggory's back and conjured the terrifying Dark Mark in the yard.
In the following pages, there was an interview with the Aurors on their duty of the last night, who had noticed unusual activity at around midnight because of security systems in the area of the Ottery St. Catchpole, and had immediately reacted by organizing a rescue team. The next page showed an invitation for families in the closest vicinity of Ottery St. Catchpole to contact the Aurors and follow the emergency evacuation plan as soon as possible. Then there was an opening with long and extensive descriptions of the horrors of Lestrange's atrocities, and the final page reported the in-depth interview of a healer about the state of Mr. Diggory's health, which summarized that Mr. Diggory's spinal nerves, considering his current condition, were most likely cut off permanently, making Mr. Diggory's legs stay paralyzed for the rest of his life.
Harry was trembling as he inhaled a shaky breath and looked around the Great Hall. Suddenly, it seemed as if all the joyful light of this morning had gone out, turning the world a few tints grayer and darker, and the raindrops were shattering the windows and the earth with unusually great force.