The remainder of the school Easter holidays seemed to fly by. Harry and the others really seemed to be quite badly affected by it - for they seemed to spend every second revising. Blaise being Blaise was extra concerned about brewing every Potion in the curriculum 3 times without the instructions, so they barely saw him except for meals and breaks. Harry really focused his remaining time revising Arithmancy and Ancient Runes - though he spent more time on the former, as he considered it his hardest and worst subject. Runes was basically memorising grammar and structure, since you were allowed a Runes Dictionary in your exam anyway, which made it that bit easier. On Tuesday, Harry nearly mushed his brain with the amount of Arithmancy work he did all in that one morning period.
"Hey, did you not hear Theo's mum calling? It's lunch time." He heard a voice from his doorway, which turned out to be Barnaby Lee.
He flinched a bit, but relaxed when he saw him. "Oh gosh, sorry, I think I've just killed every last one of my brain cells."
The fourth year laughed at that. "Let me guess - Arithmancy?"
Harry nodded. "I'm assuming you don't take it?"
"There's no way I'd be able to understand it. I take Runes though - apparently I have family in Canada that translate them for a living, according to my mum. She thought it fitting if I took it, in hopes I might set my sights there one day."
"Canada?" Harry was surprised at that.
"Yup." Barnaby said, popping the p. "Not that her opinion even matters now though, now that I don't live with her and dad. I really have no clue if I ever will go there, but there's time to decide I guess."
Harry got up, thankful for a break at last. He walked beside Barnaby as they went down to the kitchen to grab some much-needed lunch. Theo's mum had made some toasted sandwiches for them all, which made the kitchen smell amazing. Ditsy and Dippey were handing them plates as soon as they got into the kitchen, ever loyal to Ophelia Fortesque.
After lunch, Harry felt a bit cheesed that he had to get back to Arithmancy revision. He only had two more topics to go, but they were by far the hardest. Though they did involve the Personality Numbers, which Anthony had helped him with, he still needed to cement it into his mind. He remembered he did make a few mind maps, flashcards and other revision stuff with Susan though… He would fish them out of his bag.
On his way to his own bedroom, he walked past Theo's. "Hey, mate." He said goodnaturedly.
Theo looked up from his desk. "Hello," he called back, a bit tiredly.
"How's revision going?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.
"Terribly," his sister's boyfriend replied, "well, not as bad as I thought, but lately it feels as if things go in one ear and out the other. Barnaby helps when he can, but he is only a fourth year after all."
"What are you trying to revise now?" Harry asked.
"Transfiguration." Theo replied. "I've made some flashcards. Do you want to test me?"
He agreed, thinking this a good way to have a break from Arithmancy but still be revising. He stepped into the boys room, and Theo gestured to him to sit on his bed. "Right, here's the cards. They should all be question-side up. Fire away."
Harry nodded, and picked the first one up. He read it aloud: "What is the incantation to turn a rat into a wine goblet?"
"That's second year stuff - Vera Verto." Theo answered with confidence.
Harry nodded, and shuffled the flashcards so that a new question was in front of him. "What is the purpose of the spell Duro?"
Theo had a thought. "Erm, is that the one that transforms things into stone?"
Harry flipped the card round to double-check the answer. Theo was correct.
This little impromptu study session carried on for about ten minutes, until they got back to the first card again. Overall, despite the fact Theo thought Transfiguration was his worst subject, he was actually quite good at the theory stuff. The Slytherin's didn't have Transfiguration at the same time as the Gryffindor's, so Harry couldn't judge how good the boy was at actually casting the spells, but he assumed he was decent at that side of things too.
That evening at dinner, they were just tucking into some enchiladas when Sirius made a little announcement at the head of the table. "I have to be at Grimmauld Place in an hour for an Order meeting," he had said, "and you kids are coming."
"Ooh, why?" Dorea asked.
"Well, Blaise, Barnaby and Theo want to have a look through the library there with my permission, and I reckon you three will want to be seeing the Weasley's?"
They all perked at that, and nodded. Harry would ask the boys about what books they were planning to look for after. His heart fluttered when he realised that there was an entirely possible likelihood that Ginny was bound to be there. He willed himself to all but gobble his dinner down, no matter how hot and spicy it was.
Ten minutes before they had to leave for the meeting, Harry walked on to the staircase and caught sight of Dorea and Amelia looking quite suspicious. Amelia had her wand out, which he was startled at, but then remembered they could use magic as they were in a highly secret location. "What are you two doing?" He asked suspiciously.
"Shrinking this," Dorea answered, holding a box. Harry realised it was the box containing the muggle record player that his god sister had bought during her day out with Andromeda Tonks in London.
"And these," Amelia supplied, his twin producing vinyl records from inside her jacket, which were promptly shrunken down with a Reducio.
"What on earth are you two planning? Why are you taking the record player to Grimmauld?"
"Let's just say this - the adults won't let us in on the meetings, so as punishment, we're going to give them hell for it." Dorea responded, the two girls bursting into cheeky giggles.
Shaking his head but still smiling nervously, Harry followed them down the stairs and chose to keep silent when they put the shrunken items into their pockets.
"Right, are we ready?" Sirius asked as he walked into the entrance hall of Black Manor. He had just evidently pulled on a thick coat, though Harry wondered why he would need it if they were going to be inside the house. "Okay, since there is a Floo connection between the two houses, we can just go on straight away. Oh, before I forget - Theo, Blaise, Barnaby, read this bit of paper, but don't say anything, just memorise it,"
Sirius handed Barnaby the sheet of paper first - which assumedly was the same bit of paper Harry had seen at the start of summer; the one detailing the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Barnaby quickly read it before passing it to Theo, who then skimmed over it and passed it to Blaise, who silently read it.
Sirius went to the Floo first. "Number 12, Grimmauld Place!"
With that, he was gone, presumably to the house. Dorea went next, then Amelia, then Blaise had a go. Theo went in after him, and then Harry offered to bring up the rear, so Barnaby went next. Lastly, Harry went in, and said loudly and clearly the address of the house.
When he got there, he immediately recognised the cavernous kitchen. Everyone else was in there. He was immediately met by Hermione and Ron.
"Oh, Harry, we've missed you too!" Hermione said, immediately swamping him in a hug.
"Let him breathe, 'mione." Ron jested, before hugging him straight after. As Harry gladly accepted the hug, he opened his eyes and realised Ginny was in his line of sight, and was looking at him from across the room. His eyes fluttered a bit, before he forced his gaze away and to pull back from the hug.
"Right, the meeting starts in five minutes. Sirius, show the boys where that library is, quickly." Mrs Weasley announced. Sirius nodded, and took Theo, Blaise and Barnaby supposedly out of the room and up the stairs. "The rest of you youngsters, out!"
Fred and George grimaced loudly, though they led the way to the stairs, Harry and the others following suit. He realised he was right beside Ginny as they walked up the stairs. "How has your break been?"
She grinned at him, "Shouldn't I be asking you that, after the Floo conversation?" She laughed. "It's been good. Really good, actually. Astoria and I had great fun when she came over."
"That's great," Harry said honestly, "I knew you two wouldn't be bored for a moment. Did she say how Daphne was doing?"
"She's been studying hard, but other than that she's been taking it easy. Oh, and guess what?" Ginny replied, though she didn't give him a chance to even guess before giddily answering, "Anthony Goldstein finally asked Daph out, and she said yes!"
Harry smiled brightly then. Both at Ginny's happiness and the fact that his two close friends were finally in a relationship. He knew that those two had been in the talking stage for quite a while, but he felt delighted for them. Gosh, it's kinda down to me that they met in the first place, he realised, they met through the DA, my creation, after all… He couldn't wait to congratulate them both when they went back on Sunday.
They finally arrived at the boys room, where Fred and George had led them to. As soon as they were inside, Dorea and Amelia immediately scrambled to get the shrunken items out of their pockets.
"What on earth?" Hermione asked, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.
"I don't know what's going on here but I like it." Was all Ron said, eyes wide and curious, wondering where this was going. Harry just held a mirthful look.
"Right, babe, what's this then?" Fred asked, walking closer to Dorea.
"Well, you know what the adults are like with us in terms of the Order - very hush-hush."
"As they should be!" Hermione quickly cut Dorea off, clearly not liking where this was going.
Dorea just rolled her eyes playfully. "Well, since they're not going to let us in on the meetings anytime soon, let's just annoy them until they do."
Ginny, Ron and the twins immediately caught on and made noises of approval and triumph. Then it was a mad rush to help get the record player and vinyls to normal size and to get them set up, whilst Hermione protested and sulked in the corner.
Blaise, Theo and Barnaby came into the room just in time, each with dark looking books in their hands. They had looks of surprise on their faces. "What's happening?" Theo asked.
"Oh, just going to have a little sing-song, babe." Amelia said excitedly.
Five minutes later, they had formulated their plan. At ten minutes past seven, the chaos would begin.
Remus really thought this Order meeting could have waited for another day, truly. He had no idea why they were even meeting at this time anyway - he was a busy man, especially with term resuming in literally less than 48 hours. He had lessons to plan, work to mark. Plus, the OWL Defence Against the Dark Arts exam paper had been sent to him - in the highest confidentiality, of course, - for him to have a look over and verify. All in all, he had so much to do, with so little time to actually do it.
He was slipping his focus in and out of this meeting, in all honesty. He had contributed enough to previous meetings, surely this warranted some other people to speak? Remus had no clue what they were even talking about, that's how disinterested he was. He wanted to do nothing except drift off to sleep. Hell, if Mundungus was allowed to literally sleep at the table, then surely that could apply to him too?
He was all but jolted to life when a sudden screeching noise from upstairs started blaring, suspiciously sounding like it was coming from the room directly above.
"What the hell was that?" Sirius let slip.
Remus's werewolf senses picked up that the kids were protesting, albeit very quietly amongst themselves. Just what are they doing? He wondered. They had left the room before the meeting very meekly and unsuspiciously, and none of them looked like they were planning anything. He swore he heard Ron saying something along the lines of, "No, not like that George, you idiot, that'll just ruin it!". He also picked up Blaise Zabini speaking - "Scaramoosh? Let me do the - what are these lyrics?"
What…
Dumbledore carried on the meeting as normal, as if it was a mild inconvenience - as if it was as normal as birds chirping. Just as the old man had resumed whatever point he was previously making, though, this time a very loud and audible blare could be heard, and everybody in the kitchen could hear it.
"Galileo! Galileo! Galileo! Galileo! Galileo figaro!-"
"Eh?" Came from Fletcher.
"-Magnifico-o-o-o!"
At the head of the table, Sirius seemed to shrivel up a bit, and all he did after that was place his head in his hands.
And then the kids voices could be heard, shouting the rest of whatever song this was.
"I'M JUST A POOR BOY, NOBODY LOVES ME!" Was all but shouted by the girls.
The boys then seemed to pick up a reprise. "HE'S JUST A POOR BOY, FROM A POOR FAMILY!"
All together, the kids shouted in various levels of screech: "SPARE HIM HIS LIFE FROM THIS MONSTROSITY!"
Snape, sitting opposite, looked like he wanted nothing more but to shrink into his chair and pass away,
Over the shouting, the various members of the Order were trying to figure out what on earth the kids were even shouting about. Clearly, this was a muggle song. Remus tried to think what song it was, but he didn't know enough to know.
"Black," Snape sneered at Sirius after a chorus of "We will not let you go!" was shouted. "You clearly have planned this. Do you not value this organisation? Is this some sort of joke to you?"
"I'll have you know-"
"LET ME GO-O-O-O-O!"
"-Severus, that I am just as mortified as everyone else-"
"-Oh, Mamma mia, mamma mia! Mamma mia, let me go!"
"-that-OI! SHUT UP YOU LOT! This has none of my support whatsoever-"
"-...Has the devil put aside for me, for me, for meeeeeeee!"
The singing stopped then, but they could hear the very audible sounds of the kids now jumping around instead, as the song reached an instrumental period. A deep corner of Remus's soul perked up a bit, as he thought to himself, This song actually sounds quite fun…
The Order members were now sitting awkwardly, in silence, as the noise from above made it impossible to even argue amongst themselves. Molly Weasley shot a death glare at her son Bill, who muttered that the song was wicked cool. Tonks had long clamped a hand around her mouth to keep the others from seeing her smirk, though Remus noticed it.
"This is clearly a sign of protest," Arthur Weasley broke the silence.
"Protest?!" Mrs Weasley near barked, "What do they have to protest exactly, Arthur?"
The Weasley patriarch cleared his throat. "W-Well… For long enough they've craved to be included at these meetings. Fred and George especially."
He stopped at that, as his wife looked close to exploding.
"Will someone go and shut them up?!" Snape barked.
Since Sirius looked… close to tears, Remus stood up immediately. "I'll go."
"Be quick about it!" Molly said a bit harshly, though he knew her anger wasn't aimed at him.
As soon as he was out of the kitchen and up the stairs, Remus felt safe to let out a bit of a chuckle. He wondered just who had formulated this great idea - the big question was, was it the Weasley twins or the Potter twins plus Dorea's idea? He supposed he was about to find out.
Though the music was blaring so loud it could possibly damage their ears, the Weasley's, plus Hermione and the Black Manor residents, were having great fun jumping around the room to the music playing loudly on the record player. Fred and George were causing the most ruckus, - if they weren't singing they kept running around. Ron was currently piggybacking off Barnaby. Amelia and Theo were attempting some sort of crazy waltz, grinning lovingly at one another as they did so. It was saying something that even Blaise and Hermione were joining in at this point.
Harry really liked Queen and their music. He felt like quite the rebel just screaming and jumping about like a madman, knowing the adults downstairs could hear every word.
When the lyrics resumed, he found himself facing Ginny. Before he could even comprehend, she had grabbed his hand and spun him under her arm, completely randomly.
"So you think you can stop me and spit in my eye?" They all resumed singing (well, shouting).
"So you think you can love me and leave me to die?"
"This is madness! Complete madness!" Ginny tried to say to him over the loud commotion, grinning from ear to ear.
"I'm amazed none of the adults have come barging in telling us to shut up!" He tried to say back before he joined the chorus of others in shouting: "Just gotta get out, just gotta get right out of here!"
Another instrumental bit hit, and this time Harry felt a bit bolder. He spun Ginny around this time, which she wasn't totally expecting. It took him a second to realise they had been holding each other's hand throughout their whole exchange. Just as their eyes connected, the door to the room swung open.
Moony was standing in the doorway, looking a little bit exasperated. They stopped what they were doing, though the music kept blaring. "Will you turn that down?" He tried to tell them over the sound.
George reluctantly did so. Harry imagined a huge sigh of relief was made amongst the Order members downstairs. "What's the meaning of this, then?" Moony asked nobody in particular. "We're trying to have a meeting downstairs, as you all know."
"We don't know what you're talking about, Lupin," Fred said in a faux-innocent voice. "We're just having a blast up here. We're that excited to get back to school, y'see."
"Oh, can you lot hear our music? Terribly sorry about that." Dorea added.
He swore Lupin smirked. "Yes, we can hear the music and your stomping about very clearly."
"You can all come and join in if that's what you're wanting." Ron added, causing Hermione to giggle.
Remus actually laughed then. "I know you are upset that you're still not being allowed in on the meetings, but it is not my decision to make. Fred, George, you two only have to wait until your graduation before you'll likely be allowed to join, so take comfort in that. Now, I have to get back to the meeting. Keep the noise down."
The days after that steamrolled by, so much so that on the last full day before they went back to school (the Saturday), they were glad to finally have a day relaxing totally - well, it was at the urge of Sirius and Ophelia, who were concerned they'd done a bit too much studying. Harry was delighted in that regard - he could finally stow all his work away in his bag and rest his mind.
They had another quidditch game outside, as the weather was pleasant. Though there was a problem - they wanted to do it girls vs boys, but there was only Amelia and Dorea, whilst the boys had Harry, Blaise, Theo and Barnaby. But then Regulus came outside and surprised them all by wanting to play, and to make things fair he joined the girls. After much urging from Amelia, Theo joined the 'girls' team too.
The girls team won the match somehow. Harry and the others were amazed at how good Regulus Black was at quidditch. When they touched back down, there were amazed questions. "How on earth are you that good?" Barnaby asked in wonder.
"Surely you were on the Slytherin team at school?" Blaise added.
Regulus grinned. "I was. That was many moons ago, though, but it was brilliant to blow away those cobwebs."
It was fair to say that Amelia and Dorea didn't let the boys team live it down. Like when the boys won last time, they kept goading and rubbing it in their faces that they'd won right up until dinner, and even then were reminded to not make too much noise.
After dinner, Harry offered to stay and help clean up with Theo's mum. The others were either in the living room or up in their own bedrooms. The two of them worked efficiently together, and even though the only sound in the room was Ophelia humming away to herself, it was a comfortable silence.
Just as Harry closed the cutlery drawer, he decided to speak up. "Theo told me you're starting work at St Mungo's tomorrow?"
The pretty woman lit up. "Oh, yes! I have a trial shift, but I'm quite optimistic it will go okay. It's on the children's ward, so I can't wait for that. I'd almost lost hope that they'd forgotten about me… I can't wait to finally earn my own money."
Harry felt his heart lurch at that last statement - never feeling more glad that a delight of a woman such as Ophelia Fortesque had gotten out of her horrid relationship with Rohan Nott. The man had restricted every part of her life, even so much that he didn't even allow her to get a job. "I really hope it goes well for you too, Ms Fortesque." He replied earnestly.
"Oh please, Harry, call me Ophelia." The woman replied.
He nodded. Then a thought came to him. "Would it be alright if you tell me how it goes? I was just wondering because… well, me and my sisters take a Healing course at school, and I've been wondering what a typical day in the life of a St Mungo's worker might look like. I've been thinking of my career lately, y'see."
Ophelia nodded. "I will. Most definitely. It's good that you're thinking of your options now. I'll send an owl to you by Wednesday."
He thanked her in advance, and they both seemed to go back to their tasks. Just as Harry was about to wash his hands, Ophelia spoke to him again. "How has Theo been getting on at his studying? Tell me honestly."
"I studied Transfiguration with him just a few days back. He's good, though he says it's his worst subject. As far as I can tell, he's been revising well."
She breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. As a mother I can't help but wonder if he actually revises or just spends his time with your lovely sister. He's smitten with her, as we've all noticed."
He smirked. "Smitten with each other. It feels like they're never apart."
Ophelia smiled broadly. "That's all I want for him."
They concluded their tasks then, and Ophelia left the room then. Harry stayed behind just a little bit longer - he went to the fridge to get himself a glass of juice. Just as he was about to go back up to his room with his cup, Sirius came in.
"Finally got my lesson plans done." His godfather said, yawning and stretching a bit.
"Please don't go too hard on us when we're back in class, I think I've killed my brain enough." Harry said, jokingly.
"First week back will be chilled, I promise." Sirius answered, though there was a twinkle in his eye that Harry didn't particularly trust. "Have you packed your trunk yet?"
"Almost done," he replied truthfully - he only needed to clean his Firebolt and pack it, and he was ready.
"Make sure you double-check, just so there's no mad scramble in the morning. Wouldn't want to be at King's Cross and then realise you've forgotten your textbooks or something." Sirius said. Harry nodded, and went back up to his room to do just that.
Once he was triply sure that literally everything he needed for going back to Hogwarts was in his trunk, Harry could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Sitting down on his bed, he gladly leaned back and felt himself at ease - despite the fact that school would only be chaotic when they got back due to exams. Thinking about the exams… Harry knew he was as ready as he could be at this stage, yet even though there was still work to be done, he knew that with the push of himself and his friends, he would get through them all without any hiccups.
He was excited to see Ron and Hermione again - though it had only been two weeks, he had missed them terribly and kept wondering at certain moments what they were doing. He knew Hermione would have had her nose in books every waking moment of Easter holidays, preparing for the OWLs as if they were happening the day they got back.
Thinking of Ron and the other Weasley's made his mind wander to Ginny. Again. She had barely left his mind ever since that Floo call from last week, where she had called him, in a rush, wanting to know if he'd been okay after the news of Skeeter broke. She had stayed with him on the call after Fred and George had been called away too; it had been bliss just sitting and talking, though it didn't last long. There was also that pioneering moment at Grimmauld Place, just days before, where they had had a little defining moment during that time where they blared Bohemian Rhapsody on Dorea's record player. He would be seeing her again tomorrow, as early as half past ten - only a little over sixteen hours away… Harry couldn't remember another time he had wanted the time to steam on so quickly. He felt a strange yearning to see Ginny again - though he couldn't place his finger on just what the feeling was.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Theo from out in the hallway - "Blaise, have you seen my blue socks?"
He cursed slightly, being distracted from his thoughts about Ginny. He rubbed his temples and sat up a bit. What has become of me? He wondered. Why do I feel this way?
"It's because you have a crush on her."
Starting, Harry whizzed round at once. It was Blaise, looking very coy in the doorway. "Did I say that out loud?"
"Mmm-hmm." Zabini walked further into the room. "I was wondering how long it would take you to realise your feelings for her."
"Wait," his eyes widened, "am I… obvious? Like, really obvious?"
Blaise burst out laughing, which Harry glared at him for. "Honestly? I think this crush you have on Ginny has just come upon you at once, you know that? Like a tidal wave - it's like one day you just looked at her and thought, 'oh my god, wow, she's so amazing'. I've noticed it, Theo's noticed it, your sisters have noticed it, Barnaby will probably have noticed it too."
"Oh gosh," Harry put his head in his hands, not pleased with that predicament. "I've probably been really creepy about it."
"Not that I've noticed." Blaise pouted. "If it makes you feel any better, I think she likes you too."
Harry hadn't noticed before how much he liked hearing that sentence. "Really?"
"Yeah boy. During that pinnacle at Sirius's old house - I think everybody was glancing at you two spinning each other round and holding hands."
"But that was in the moment," Harry protested a bit, "it was just having fun, during that part of the song."
"Oh, Harry," Blaise patted him on the shoulder, "this crush really is going to hit you like a tsunami. Just admit you like her."
With that, Blaise quickly got up and left before he could even comprehend. "W-wait, Blaise!" He quickly jogged into the corridor. "How do you propose I go about that? Hey, Blaise!"
Blaise Zabini was quickly back in his own room, but the last thing he said before giddily shutting the door to his bedroom was, "Oh, mate, you're going to have to work that one out yourself!"
Feeling a bit glum, Harry walked back into his bedroom and all but slumped down onto his bed again. He thought long and hard about Blaise's words to him. How on earth was he going to go about this? He was hopeless with these sorts of things, utterly a liability.
He knew Blaise was right, though. He did like Ginny. How he was going to go about a) finding out if she actually liked him back, and b) admit his feelings to her, was another story though.