A Night Out with Friends
Chapter 26
A Night Out with Friends
"Sorry we're late…" Harry stated as he and Hermione joined the full table at the pub.
"What kept you?" asked Ron which caused him to be elbowed by his wife.
"We had a couple of things to discuss," said Harry.
"Actually, Mr. 'Roaming Hands' wouldn't let me change clothes!" protested Hermione. "He sets this up and can't even arrive on time to his own party."
"Thanks for that mental image, Hermione," said Ron evenly. "You can count me out for dinner."
"Be quiet, Ronald," chastised Luna. "We just got here ourselves, Hermione. Ronald ordered quickly then drank most of his drink in one swallow, so you wouldn't notice. He was feeling a bit frisky himself before we left."
"I'll…er…go grab you guys your drinks…" stammered Ron as he left the table.
Harry laughed at his friend's embarrassment. While it was unexpected that Hermione mentioned what had kept them, he wasn't discomfited. Quite the opposite, he didn't care who knew they were together, which is why he proposed the way he did. He'd learned his lesson with Ginny.
He spotted Ginny on the other side of the room surrounded by her usual crowd. He floated to the other side of the high table beside Luna, hoping Ginny wouldn't spot him.
"I don't blame you," Luna said. "She'll not see you with your back to her."
Hermione looked across at Harry with understanding. "If she comes over here, I'll have a word with her."
Colin Creevey stopped by to chat. "Hiya, Harry!" he said. "I stopped by your flat to see if you wanted to grab a drink with me the other day. You weren't there."
"I've moved, Colin" stated Harry evenly. "Hermione and I bought a house."
"I'll get the address from you later," replied Colin.
"You do that…" Harry replied skeptically. There was no way he was going to give his address to Colin and wondered what excuse he would accept.
Ron returned with their drinks. Ginny saw her brother and came over to join him.
"Oh," she said when she saw Harry. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to intrude."
"That's fine," Hermione chirped. "I wanted a word with you anyway."
"Oh…" Ginny repeated with trepidation. Hermione and Luna dragged Ginny to the back of the bar for a private chat.
Harry looked on with amusement. He almost felt sorry for Ginny having to face the two women.
"She deserves it, mate," said Ron. "Even if you hadn't been hurt, which makes what she did worse, Hermione needs this chance to sort her out. Kind of sexy anyway, isn't it?" Ron asked.
"Oh, yeah…definitely!" said Harry, his eyes never leaving the trio in the corner.
The two girls headed back to the table and dragged their dates out to the dance floor. Harry wrapped his arms tightly around Hermione as they swayed to the music.
"Ginny had no idea you knew she'd slept with Ian," said Hermione questioningly. "Why didn't you confront her?"
"What was the point? She knew what she'd done. I didn't have to spell it out for her. In my opinion, cheating and faithfulness are more a pact you make with yourself than your partner."
"How astute," applauded Hermione. "Many men think of it as a game. They think they've won if they can escape getting caught."
"I know," agreed Harry. "I find that to be rather sad. It's very easy to allow yourself to be seduced. The hard part is keeping your promises to yourself, as well as your partner."
"I find this side of you very arousing, Mr. Potter." purred Hermione. Harry captured her lips in a fiery kiss.
"Hey! None of that please…" growled Ron. "I may need to launder my brain."
"Shut up, Ronald. We can show them how it is done." said Luna as she pressed herself closer to Ron.
Harry laughed and released his date. When the song was over, they returned to the table to find that Lupin and Tonks had arrived.
"Wotcher, Harry!" greeted Tonks. "I saw you out there. You'd better watch out. You'd hate to have a recurrence of the last time…" she nodded her head over toward Ginny who was watching them closely.
"We won't have any trouble from her," Hermione said. "We've come to an agreement. She promised to leave Harry alone and I promised not to hex her into oblivion. It's a win-win situation." Hermione grinned proudly.
Harry stood behind Hermione and wrapped his arms around her. Lupin offered to buy the next round of drinks. Harry switched his order from butterbeer for firewhiskey. Ron followed suit.
Seamus came over to welcome the group to his pub. "So have you tried my pizza yet? Me mother comes in on Thursday to make enough for the weekend. She makes the best pizza this side of Rome, I tell ya."
"Well, let's be having four then…" said Harry. "My treat. We are celebrating my new post."
While waiting for the pizzas to arrive, Harry and Ron somehow got into a drinking contest. Harry could drink his shots faster, however Ron didn't need to stop and take a breath after each one. The contest was declared a draw when Harry reached for the next shot and missed the table, grabbing Hermione's breast by mistake. After taking a bit too long to realize his mistake, in Hermione's estimation, he was rewarded with a slap on his hand.
"Sorry… I got distracted," he muttered and rubbed the back of his smarting hand.
The pizzas arrived and were quickly devoured. More dancing followed, then more drinking. No one knows exactly how it came about, but Harry and Lupin wound up in a drinking competition as well, which Lupin won easily.
Hermione hadn't seen Harry so giggly since their first year. She vowed to make sure he regularly has an opportunity to let his hair down this way. Harry excused himself to the loo and floated that direction in a not very straight line.
After longer than it seemed necessary for Harry to return, Hermione made her way to the back. She found Harry quickly enough, however the sight of him leaning against a wall made her wary. "Are you alright?" she asked him.
"Mmmhmmm" he answered without opening his mouth or eyes.
"Did you want to go home? It's very late."
"Cmffrbl" he slurred.
"Need any help?" Lupin asked from behind her.
"I need to get him home," she explained. "He's had a long day and WAY too much to drink."
"You go ahead" Lupin offered. "Tonks and I will get him home"
Lupin called the Knight Bus to take Harry home.
"Whass a'matter wif' 'Arry" asked Stan Shunpike, the conductor of the bus. 'Zee been drinkin'?"
"Yes, Mr. Potter had a bit more celebrating than he's used to. Please take us to this address. We can get him home from there." said Lupin as Tonks bound Harry to one of the poles in the center of the bus. "Don't answer any more calls until we get off. We'll pay handsomely for your assistance."
"Ya 'ere that, Ern?" Stan asked the driver. "They want t'pay extree fir a drect route."
Ernie Prang nodded to Lupin, and then put the bus into gear.
"Take 'er away, Ern" stated Stan and with a tremendous BANG, the bus set off. As the bus moved thunderously at over a hundred miles per hour, Harry in his brackles swayed back and forth like a pendulum. Tonks was on hand close by to preserve his modesty.
"You guys sleepin' over?" a giggly Harry asked.
"We can if you wish…" said Tonks amused.
"We can have a party!" beamed Harry. "We can play all sorts of sleepover games."
"That'll be nice, Harry," stated Lupin, sharing an eye roll with Tonks. "I'm demanding a bonus if I have to play 'Truth or Dare' he added under his breath.
"Truth or Dare?" Harry asked, his bloodshot eyes barely open. "Wha's that?"
"It's a muggle game of questions and answers. You have to tell the truth to any question the asker wishes."
Harry wrinkled his nose. "I dun think I'd like that…" he slurred.
Tonks and Lupin smiled at each other. "Even pissed he guards his secrets…"
Tonks laughed. "That's Harry for you. I just hope he tells someone the whole story. I'd hate for some of his secrets to be buried with him. A lot could be learned about the final battle from his experience."
"I have a sneaking suspicion…" Lupin replied, "…that he's filled in Hermione. She's seen him through several of his bad nights. She's not the type to not find out what's behind them."
Finally they arrived at the address Lupin provided. They had a bit of a walk to get to Harry's but Lupin didn't want to give away Harry's location. Tonks enlarged her broom and flew, dragging a floating, sleepy Harry. Lupin flew along side on his own broom.
Hermione met them at the door and levitated Harry inside. Harry seemed to perk up at the sight of her and kept grabbing at her.
"Harry! Stop it this instant!" she shrieked afraid she would drop him.
"I can walk…" he mumbled as he struggled to get his feet underneath him.
"No, you can't. That's the trouble," she answered. "You guys make yourselves at home while I get him into bed."
"He asked for a sleep over party, but I think we'll head out, Hermione. Give him our…regrets," stated Tonks as she and Lupin headed back out to apparate.
The next morning Harry's head felt like it had bludgers raging inside it. "Serves you right," said Hermione softly as she offered the hangover potion.
"Thanks," he said and downed the potion without making a face.
"Did you have a good time last night?" she asked.
"I think so; however the details seem to have escaped my memory. I didn't do anything stupid, did I?"
"No, you were fine. Your public image is intact. Tonks and Remus saw you home," she answered.
"The Knight bus…" he remembered.
"How did you manage that?"
"Tonks lashed me to the pole. I just swung about as the bus careened. Say Hermione, can we plan a dinner party? I need to talk to Ron and Tonks about my ideas for the department. I don't want to discuss it in public."
"You are going to ask them to join you…" Hermione guessed.
Harry looked at her quizzically. "How did you know?"
"I know you. There is no one you trust more than them and you always surround yourself by people you trust." she replied as if she were speaking to an overtired toddler.
Harry inclined his head in agreement and asked, "So does it sound like a good idea? Tonks is terrific and no one can beat Ron at strategy."
"I think it is brilliant. The department will be in fine shape no matter who you choose."
"You have that much faith? I've never done anything like this before, Hermione. I'm a bit out of my element. I haven't even worked in a year! I…"
"You'll be fine. You are an expert at Defense against the Dark Arts. Your instincts toward Dark Activity are astounding. So you've been out of the loop for a year, big deal. The Aurors have done fine; your last days at work caused the capture of remaining Death Eaters. They have no ruler and few followers…no one. If anyone decides to revive the evil, then you'll be in place to handle that before it ever reaches the proportions it did before. Stop worrying. You were given this post as a reward for your past actions. Your future actions will only affirm that this is your rightful place."
"I can only hope you're right. Do you think Ron will want to accept?"
"With the proper persuasion, I think he might," she replied. "Now that we've got that settled. I don't work until later. What did you want to do today other than planning your dinner party?"
"I'm open for suggestions…" he murmured.
"We can plan our wedding" she offered.
Harry groaned. "I'd like to elope. I had enough of that lacy stuff in New York."
"Okay" she agreed. "I'll make you a deal. I'll handle all of the 'lacy stuff' and you can take care of the food, drink and guest list. The Ministry might have protocol, since you are a Department Head now."
Harry groaned again. "Are you sure we can't elope?"