Chapter 5 – Bed and Breakfast

It was a strangely quiet procession that Percy led back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry was too caught up in his own thoughts to do much more than put one foot in front of the other. Ginny had a million questions for Harry but was also just trying to take in the castle she had heard so much about but never seen herself. Percy, too, also had many questions but restrained himself at Professor Dumbledore's orders.

Percy led them around various corners, up and down different stairways, and finally down a corridor that ended with a portrait of a large woman in a dress. Percy turned and spoke to Harry, "This is the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. You have to give the password to the portrait, and then it will open. Caput Draconis."

True to Percy's word, the portrait swung open, and the three students climbed inside. There, Harry found a round room full of sofas, desks, red rugs and tapestries, and a large fireplace. Percy pointed at two doors across the room, "Those doors lead to the dormitories. The one on the left is for the girls, the right is for the boys. However, for tonight, you two will stay through here…"

Percy led Harry and Ginny through a door hidden behind a tapestry, which opened to a small chamber that had two more doors. "Ginny, you will be through on the left; Harry you will take the door on the right. Each room has its own bathroom, a perk normally given to the head boy or girl who would use these rooms. Headmaster Dumbledore seems to intend for you two to remain hidden for the night, so I recommend you retire to your rooms and remain there until someone retrieves you tomorrow morning. If there is nothing else, I need to return to the feast so I can guide the rest of the first years to their dorms."

Ginny stepped forward to say goodnight to Percy, but he had already turned and left. She turned to face Harry, who had slightly opened the door leading to his room. Ginny stepped up behind Harry, and when Harry turned to look at her, she gave him a small smile and gestured for him to go inside.

Both children stepped into the head boy's room. The center of the room was dominated by a large bed with deep red blankets and fluffy looking pillows. Harry looked around and saw two doors side by side, and a chair and desk with a lamp. Harry stepped forward and opened the first door, which turned out to be a closet, with Harry's bag on the floor inside. He closed that door and opened the other, which revealed a bathroom, complete with a shower.

Ginny looked around and thought the room looked very nice. It was a little larger than her bedroom back home, and as one of seven children the idea of your own bathroom struck her as complete luxury. "It looks nice, don't you think?"

Harry was jolted out of the silence that had existed since Percy had left them. Nice? Harry thought he wouldn't even begin to know what to do with this much space. Harry had never slept in a room larger than the closet he had opened, let alone the main bedroom. He looked up at Ginny, who seemed to be waiting for a response. "Oh, yeah. Very nice." Harry pressed down on the mattress, finding it somewhat firm but very comfortable feeling, and incredibly far removed from the thin pad he was used to. He tried to be nonchalant. "Nice bed too, I think. Should we check yours?"

Ginny nodded her head, and both children left Harry's room. Ginny opened the door to hers and stepped inside. Harry went to follow but found that he couldn't; the door was wide open, but Harry felt like he had run into a wall in the doorway, and he bounced back slightly from the attempt with a slight "Oof." Ginny heard Harry and noticed he had not followed her. "What's wrong Harry?"

"I can't come in" Harry said. He tried to press forward with his hands, but they slid off an invisible barrier in the doorway. "It's like there's a glass door in the way, but I can't see it. I actually can't see anything in your room; I can see the door is open, but… everything looks all fuzzy, like I'm not wearing my glasses."

Ginny walked back out into the antechamber, and as before had no issue passing through the doorway. She crossed back and forth again freely, while Harry continued to find the doorway impassable. Ginny's face lit up, "It's probably a ward to keep boys out."

"Why?" said Harry, simply.

"My mum says it isn't proper for a boy to be in a girl's bedroom. At my house, none of the boys are allowed in my room. It must be something similar here."

"But girls can go into boys' rooms?" asked Harry. Ginny shrugged, "That's how it has always been at my house, so I guess so."

"Oh" said Harry, more than a little puzzled. After a few moments, he felt somewhat awkward standing alone in the hall. Ginny called out "It looks the exact same in here as yours anyways, so there isn't anything new to look at." Then, Ginny came back out into the antechamber and stood in front of Harry.

Harry found himself simply staring at Ginny, not really knowing what to say. Ginny took the initiative, "Well, I guess this is goodnight. I'll see you in the morning Harry…" she trailed off. Then, she stepped forward and once again enveloped Harry in a hug, which he immediately returned.

"Thank you, Ginny. I don't know how you got here but thank you for coming."

Ginny smiled and pulled back from the hug. "I don't know how I got here either, but I'm glad I came. I got to see you again, and the castle is amazing! Now, Professor Dumbledore said we were going shopping for your things at Diagon Alley tomorrow, so we should get some sleep. Goodnight Harry." With that, Ginny turned and entered her room, gently closing the door behind her. Harry remained still for just a moment, before turning and sealing himself inside his own room.

Ginny was normally not much of a morning person, preferring instead to sleep late. This particular morning, however, she hopped out of bed fully awake, nearly vibrating with excitement. To her surprise, she had slept very well at Hogwarts; she had never slept away from home before, and was a bit nervous at first, but quickly found herself too comfortable to care.

But what had Ginny so excited this morning, of course, was the prospect of going to Diagon Alley with Harry. She always loved visiting Diagon Alley with her family; there as just so much going on and so much to look at, and it all made a kind of coordinated chaos that Ginny found simply enthralling. Additionally, she had the benefit of getting to help Harry with his shopping as well, though she did not actually know how much help she would be.

As Ginny took advantage of her private bathroom to prepare for the day, her thoughts turned to Harry. She found herself spending a small bit of additional time brushing her hair as she thought of the boy. Other than Luna, Ginny had never had any friends outside of her family, and she found herself very intrigued by Harry, and she was inordinately happy to have made a new friend. Harry seemed happy too, but he also seemed scared - or perhaps sad - and she did not know why.

Ginny finished combing her hair, and was ready for the day, or for breakfast at least. She stepped outside her room into the small alcove and decided to knock on Harry's door to see if he was awake yet. When she knocked, she heard some noise through the door; someone was moving around the room. After a moment, Harry opened the door.

"Good morning, Harry!" Ginny stepped through the open door. "Good morning, Ginny."

Ginny looked at Harry, and then at his room. Harry was dressed in a worn, over-large shirt, and Ginny could just see the edge of some shorts poking out from beneath the shirt. Harry's shirt looked like the huge shirts that had once belonged to her father that were Ginny's preferred sleeping clothes. His bag was packed back up and rested on top of Harry's neatly made bed. Harry's room looked almost exactly like it had the night before, and other than the presence of Harry himself she would be hard pressed to tell that anyone had spent the night in the room. She thought back to the mess of bed sheets that she had left in her own room; perhaps she was a messier person than she thought. On the other hand, maybe Harry was just a very neat person. Not knowing what else to say, Ginny said "You think we can go get some breakfast?"

Harry nodded, "I hope so, I'm pretty hungry." The two of them stepped out of Harry's room and tried to open the door leading to the Gryffindor common room, but the door did not budge. Suddenly they heard a small pop from behind them.

Harry spun around, his left arm pressed Ginny behind him as he turned to face the source of the noise. There, right in front of the two children, was a small creature with very large ears, wearing what seemed to be a pillowcase with holes poked in it for its arms and legs.

"Good morning, Misses Ginny and Misters Harry. I am Thimble, a Hogwarts house elf. I has your breakfast, I will sets it up in Misters Harry's room." With that, the house elf vanished with a soft pop, leaving Harry and Ginny staring at the now empty space.

The two children cautiously stepped forward and opened the door to Harry's room, finding the room completely changed. The bed was now pushed off to the side, Harry's bag with it, and instead the center of the room was now home to a small dining table and two chairs. The table itself was already loaded with a full selection of breakfast items. Thimble the elf was standing just to the side of the table, looking at both of them.

"Eats now, Misters and Misses. Master Dumbleydore will be here at 9 to get yous. You can calls Thimble if you need anything else!" Without waiting for a response the elf vanished again with another pop.

"What was that?" Harry asked Ginny, as they sat down. Once she had sat down, Ginny replied, "House elves work for old families or at big buildings like the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. My brother Fred told me that Hogwarts has lots of them working here, doing the cooking and cleaning."

Harry seemed to absorb this while he began eating. Ginny loaded her plate up with scrambled eggs and sausages, her favorites, and quickly began eating. After a moment she looked up and noticed that Harry seemed to be very carefully taking one bite of each item on the table. She found herself unable to contain her curiosity and asked him why.

Harry blushed and shrugged a little. "I've never had most of these, so I want to try them all while I can."

Ginny frowned a bit at that; she looked at the table, mash, bacon, eggs in a few styles, kippers, sausage, tomatoes, toast, pancakes, cereals, and a bunch of different things to drink. Nothing on the table was particularly exotic, and Ginny was fairly sure she had eaten them all at some point. Harry's family must serve very boring breakfast, she thought to herself. "Well, you can try them all today then. Eggs and sausage are my favorite, as you can see!"

The two children continued eating, and after trying everything Harry circled back around and ate the rest of two pancakes. As she finished eating, Ginny said "So, the pancakes were your favorite then?"

Harry still had a mouth full, gave her a big grin, before swallowing. "They are so big and fluffy, it's hard to make them that way!"

Something about that sounded wrong to Ginny, but she quickly became distracted when Harry began gathering up much of the remaining food and trying to pack it onto a single serving platter. Once everything was piled high, Harry started to look around the room. Ginny could no longer contain her curiosity. "What are you doing, Harry?"

"Oh, um… I just wanted to save some for later, just in case. Plus, it would be a waste. But… I don't know where to put it."

Despite a small bit of confusion, Ginny said "Oh. Um, maybe the house elf can help? Thimble?"

Upon being called, Thimble popped back into the room. "Thimble can help Misses Ginny?"

"Thimble, Harry wanted to save some of this breakfast for later. Can you help with that?"

Thimble turned his attention to Harry with a look of confusion on his face. "Saves for later?"

Harry simply nodded his head. Thimble thought for a moment and then said "If Misters Harry wants, Thimble will saves the rest. Misters Harry can call Thimble later and I will brings it back." With that, the house elf snapped his fingers and both the food, and Thimble herself, vanished with another pop.

In the silence that followed Thimble's departure, Ginny decided it was time finish getting ready for the day. "Can I use your bathroom Harry? I want to brush my teeth, and you can get dressed so we can go to Diagon Alley."

Ginny took a step towards the bathroom, but then paused. Harry had not responded; he was instead looking down at the floor with a flushed face. "Harry?" she called. Harry shuffled his feet for a moment, before replying, "I am dressed."

Ginny could tell Harry was embarrassed, and she was mortified; it was her fault. "Sorry, Harry. It's just… I sleep in big shirts that my dad gives me. I thought… I thought that's what you were wearing."

Harry continued looking down, slightly shaking his head. He seemed to gather himself a bit before looked up at Ginny. "This is all I have. But… I do want to brush my teeth, so I'll come too." At that, Harry opened up his bag and grabberd his toothbrush from inside, and then stepped past Ginny and into the bathroom.

Ginny didn't immediately follow Harry; instead, she took a step and peered into Harry's bag that he had left open. Inside, all she could see was more clothes that all seem even larger or more worn than what Harry already had on, along with socks that stood no chance of fitting Harry at all. She stepped into the bathroom, her own toothbrush in hand, and said "Maybe we can get you more than just robes while we go shopping." Harry didn't respond, but both children began brushing their teeth.

As they finished, Harry and Ginny heard a knock at the entrance to Harry's room. They both hurried to finish brushing, and then Harry darted out to open the door. Dumbledore beckoned the children out into the common room, which was apparently now empty. Harry and Ginny scrambled out, and only then did Harry get a proper look at Professor Dumbledore. He was dressed in a shiny purple set of robes with large golden hourglasses embroidered all over it, and a large equally purple hat. Harry stared at the hourglasses with amazement; they were animated, repeatedly turning over as the sewn bits of sand tumbled through them. "All ready to go, Mr. Potter? Miss Weasley?"

His reverie broken, Harry squeaked out "Shoes!" and darted back into his room, leaving an amused headmaster and Ginny behind. In the brief moment of privacy, Ginny turned to the headmaster.

"Professor, I was just wondering… how is it you're taking Harry shopping personally? Isn't being headmaster a really busy job?"

Professor Dumbledore took a moment to fiddle with his beard before replying. "One would think so, Miss Weasley. As it happens, all of the other professors are busy teaching class. This time of day I often find myself with nothing to do but play with my beard, so I think shopping will be a fine distraction. Ah good, Mr. Potter has found his shoes, we can be off."

Ginny nodded, surprised that being headmaster is such a laid back position, but she was immediately distracted by Harry, specifically his shoes. Growing up in a large family without a lot of money, Ginny was used to hand-me-down clothes and second-hand things in general. With that said, she couldn't help but notice that Harry's shoes were so far gone that surely they could not be repaired, even with magic. They seemed to be held together with some kind of gray colored tape, wrapped around the center. Mentally, she added shoes to the running list in her head of things that Harry should replace.

Professor Dumbledore stepped towards the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. "Now, Mr. Potter. Today we will be traveling via floo, and while I am sure that Miss Weasley is familiar with this method of transport, I am almost certain it will be your first time. Am I correct?"

Harry had absolutely no idea what traveling by floo could possibly mean. "Uh, that's right. Sorry, I don't know what that is."

"Nothing to be sorry about Mr. Potter, everything is new to each of us at some point. The floo network is a series of interconnected fireplaces, accessed via floo powder, and it allows witches and wizards to very quickly move between those fireplaces by name. To someone unfamiliar it might sound unusual, and it is somewhat disorienting, but I assure you that it is quite safe. Miss Weasley, is my assumption correct that you know how to travel by floo?"

Ginny nodded. "Yes, Professor, I do."

"Splendid," said Professor Dumbledore. "Then, in that case, I shall proceed first, so that Mr. Potter may see how it is done, and you and Mr. Potter may follow after me. Might I suggest that you travel together. Each of you will want your own pinch of powder, simply hold hands and both clearly speak the destination, which is The Leaky Cauldron. Are you comfortable with that, Miss Weasley? Mr. Potter?"

Ginny looked over at Harry, who wore an expression of complete confusion on his face, so she answered for the both of them. "Yes, Professor. We will go right after you."

Professor Dumbledore gave Ginny a wide smile, and then held out a small pouch towards Ginny and Harry. Ginny reached in and took out a small pinch of a powdery substance, and then nudged Harry so he would do the same. Professor Dumbledore took his own pinch, and then tossed it into the fireplace, loudly announcing "The Leaky Cauldron". The fire flared bright green, and the headmaster stepped into the fire and vanished. Harry stared unblinkingly at the now empty fireplace.

"Come on Harry, it's our turn." Ginny held out her hand, and Harry grasped it in his. "Like Professor Dumbledore said, we'll toss our powder into the fire, say The Leaky Cauldron, and then step in. Don't be afraid, it is not hot. Are you ready?"

Harry nodded, clearly nervous but willing to follow along. The two children stood directly in front of the fire, and at a squeeze of Ginny's hand they tossed in their powder, shouted "The Leaky Cauldron" and disappeared.