Unofficial Portkey Archive

Here we go, thanks again to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter.

Chapter 31: New Year's Resolutions
**************************Grimmauld Place***************************

December 31, 1997
11:10 pm

A subtle, almost subliminal force had pulled the quartet back together soon after Christmas. The draw of their natural families had pulled them apart, rightly so, for a bit, but they needed to see the ones that they had chosen far worse. Well, that and the fact that Ron had to sneak Luna in every night to the Burrow put a damper on their celebrations. And as Luna's house was out due to the fact that Luna's father had protective wards around their house that frankly put some of Dumbledore's best work to shame, Ron and Luna had arrived back in the secret hideout, tumbling in the door with Luna's arms and legs wrapped around Ron like she hadn't seen him in a year. It had been thirty-five seconds since she had side-along Apparated from the Burrow with Ron. Their familiars, Pig and Greymalkin had flitted or sauntered in as case the case might be, and at least in the case of the odd Kneazle-like creature, rolled its eyes. That had been two days after Christmas and he and Luna had not left their room for an entire day.

After three blind, random Apparations to make sure that no one could back trace them to Godric's Hollow, Harry and Hermione had arrived a day after them, Apparating from Leeds directly into the Library where Hermione had immediately settled in with research on Scrying, to get ready for the next attempt to locate the Staff.

Now, two days later, Harry walked into the Library and handed her a Butterbeer, pausing to kiss the top of her head as he passed. He walked over to the large Library table, picked up a thick sheaf of notes and paced back to Hermione. He settled in, moving his arm automatically to let her curl up next to her. His arm crossed under hers, still holding the notes as he began to read.

"Oi, what are you two doing?" Ron said, rolling his eyes in seeming utter exasperation. Luna giggled slightly as she ran up behind him and jumped on his back. Ron didn't even seem to notice her weight as he reached down to grab her legs to hold her up, "It's bloody New Years' Eve."

"We're drinking, see?" Harry replied, not looking up and holding up a beer bottle. Hermione just nodded and absently took a sip of her beer, before settling back against Harry with a soft sigh. Harry looked over a page of notes, frowned and read it again, remembering something Dumbledore said, "Mione, I think that we can use the Mark against them."

"Not enough," Ron put in, annoyedly. Harry glanced up at him, noticed idly that Ron was completely sober despite his implied desire to be sotted, shook his head and returned to his studies.

"What do you mean Harry?" Hermione glanced over at him, crooking an eyebrow. She licked her finger, turning a page in Looking High, Looking Low, a Seer's Guide to Remote Viewing. She took another sip of her beer and leaned over Harry to snatch a half slice from the pizza sitting under a Warming Charm on the couch side table next to him. She took a bite and looked up at him though her lashes with a small shrug.

I was wanting that.

Share? Hermione replied sheepishly, and held up the slice to him. He took a bite, and watched as she floated the slice in front of her, and picked a piece of pepperoni off and ate it.

"You two are disgusting you know that, right?" Ron grunted and took a complete slice and ate it in three bites. Harry didn't comment, before he looked back to Hermione. Luna jumped down from Ron's back and hopped up on the table, swinging her legs absently as she started to pet Crookshanks and Greymalkin alternately where they lay together on the table.

"Think about it, Mione," Harry replied as another slice floated past his face to land next to Luna. She slipped her wand back behind her left ear and starting to pick the toppings off. "The Dark Mark is a modified Protean Charm right?" Hermione nodded, and took a sip of her drink. "The Protean Charm connects objects on a sympathetic level, where they act on each other, right?"

"I don't think we can use them to really damage them or something, Harry," Hermione bit her corner of her lip and her eyes rolled up and left, as if reading something off her frontal lobe, "I mean I thought about it, Harry." She reached down and squeezed his knee, "It's a good idea, love, but--sympathetic magic can't alter the basic structure..."

"I know, Mione, but..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione replied as her eyes opened slightly. "I see-"

"Luna and I will just be over here," Ron said loudly and pushed the slice of pizza out of Luna hand and leaned in, kissing her, and pushing her back onto the table. Crookshanks hissed at them and jumped down from the table as Luna's hands came up to tangle in Ron's hair, Greymalkin on the other hand took two paces to the left and laid back down on a two-foot-high stack of books on Jinxes and Countercurses and closed his eyes.

"Yeah," Harry continued, "the charm is used to communicate, more or less. Tom wouldn't be stupid enough to use something that could injure another of his vermin or maybe himself every time some Auror takes one out. But if we had a prisoner with a mark..."

Hermione nodded and summoned a partially filled notebook from the table next to where Ron and Luna were busy snogging. A book fell to the ground with a large thump and Hermione glared over at them, before returning her attention to Harry, "So you are thinking what? A means of tracking them?"

"Yeah...maybe," Harry agreed, and took a sip of his drink. "But I remember what happened fourth year, and then some things Dumbledore told me. Tom created it to summon his Death Eaters; they are supposed to come to wherever he was if he touched it. What if we could find a way to make them come to us?"

"Trap them?" Hermione finished the thought, and frowned. "Maybe, depends on the spell used exactly. I mean, I doubt we could summon more than a few at a time, I doubt that any of the inner circle could be drawn in that way."

"Run it by Remus and Mad-Eye, they would be in the best position to do that?" Harry went on for them both, "We can't afford to get to tied down in a long term operation like that, we have to concentrate on the Horcruxes, but..."

Hermione shrugged, "But we need to keep them off balance as much as possible." She took a drink, thinking, "I'm not sure we can lure them in, honestly, now that I think about it." Harry turned his head, waiting for her explanation, "I love the idea Harry, but as far as we know, only Voldemort can summon them with the mark, Yes?" Harry nodded, slowly. "I mean we've not heard of say Lucius using it to call in their minions," Hermione stated, "So I would say that the summoning function of the Mark is probably keyed to him and him alone, most likely either through his wand core, which even yours wouldn't match identically, it's a brother not a twin, or through his own magical signature." Harry sighed and shook his head. Hermione gave him a small smile, and reached up to fix the collar of his shirt where it was poking out from under his jumper, "However the part that allows the Eaters to communicate with him, and I suspect, allows him to leech from them if need be, that part of the spell should resonate within certain, set criteria. We should be able to detect that resonance flux, maybe with a modified anti-Apparation ward," she mused, and started to write out an equation in a notebook.

"Are you two going to sit here all night?" Ron asked as he pulled Luna up from the table. She wore a slightly vacant grin as she hung on Ron's arm and looked up at him with utter adoration. Harry and Hermione's eyes met, finding shared amusement in the sight, before she completed the equations she was working on, closed the notebook and vanished it with a flick of an ivy-wood wand.

"Fine, Ronald," Hermione said in an uncanny imitation of Luna's exact speech pattern, "what do you suggest?" She gave Harry a covert wink and crawled into his lap, turning so she was straddling him. "We were already going to spend the rest of the night..."

"And tomorrow," Harry added helpfully, before leaning forward to press his lips to hers. Hermione forgot what she was saying for a minute, lost as her fingers slipped up from behind his neck to tangle aimlessly in his hair as their tongues dueled. She broke away, panting slightly, before the tiny corner of her mind that had not shut down reminded her of what she had been saying.

"And tomorrow," Hermione agreed, and let out a seemingly involuntary moan as Harry kissed her behind the ear. "We were thinking of spending it in bed, Ron. But if you'd rather, Harry and I can start celebrating right here." Hermione glanced down, not looking back at Ron as she began to play with the hem of Harry's jumper. Is he bothered yet? Hermione whispered, hiding her grin.

Just how much of that over the years was you picking on him? Harry muttered in return, as he kept her from tipping backwards from her precarious location, and, yeah, he's a touch red.

Honestly, Harry, would I do that...most of it was his fault, I never started it...she replied with an air of utter conviction, before she twisted, and leaned into Harry's hands on her hips, trusting him to hold her up, "Why Ron, do you have something else in mind, other than just getting sotted?" Ron didn't answer directly. He pulled his wand from his back pocket, and flicked it through the air. A pair of black, winter cloaks appeared, and he threw them at his best friends. "And just where are we going, Ron?" Hermione crooked an eyebrow, as she caught the garments and set them on the couch next to her and Harry.

"Luna and me-"

"Luna and I, Ron." Hermione and Luna muttered as one.

"Bloody hell," Ron growled, "Fine, Luna and I are going to Diagon Alley for the New Year's celebration they have every year, I've never been."

"They are still having it?" Harry muttered glancing down at Hermione, "I'd thought that the Ministry wouldn't want to have anything that public since the...problems that happened at the Ball." Harry sighed silently, thinking of the fate of the Minister of Magic, who still clung by an acromantula's thread in St. Mungo's to life.

Ron shrugged, "Well the old sponsors, Madame Malkin's and the Daily Prophet, backed out so-" Ron reached into his back pocket, and pulled out a deep purple flyer. It was full of fiery explosions, dancing couples and in the middle, Flashing green and white letters spelled out:

NEW YEAR'S IS ON!

COME WATCH THE HIPPOGRIFF DROP!

WWW branded gifts, souvenirs and vital supplies will be available at a substantial discount.

Hermione looked at Harry, he shrugged, "Watch the Hippogriff drop?"

"Yeah," Ron said as he held out Luna's cloak for her, and watched as she buttoned the shimmering white cloak at her throat. "Fred and George got the idea from something the Muggles do in the colonies; they have this bloody huge Hippogriff, that they've put like...thousands of fairy lights on it. They are going to drop it at Midnight."

Hermione looked to Harry, with both hands over her mouth, giggling. I've got to see the giant Hippogriff...think it's named Buckbeak?

Shall we then? Harry returned, and with a small nod, and a kiss to his forehead, her lips catching the edge of his scar, Hermione hopped backwards and flowed to her feet. Harry followed and hung his cloak around his shoulders. He held hers out and draped it around her shoulders before leaning forward to plant a kiss on her hair. They vanished between breaths without a sound.

********************************Diagon Alley**************************

11:30 pm

The streets of Diagon Alley were filled with revelers. A distinct difference from the days prior when the Wizarding center of London was almost abandoned due to the visitors living in fear. Of course the difference might be in the time; the fact that many of the inhabitants were fueled, at least to a degree, by some type of liquid courage was immaterial of course.

Harry and Hermione appeared, and immediately ducked as a flaming, hissing Great Golden Dragon, or at least the Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes Grand Conflagration version of the same ripped over their heads. Hermione laughed as several more partiers dove to the ground, obviously not as used to the Twin's antics as they were. She stepped back into Harry, moving out of the way of a chattering heard of several young witches who looked to be about Tonks' age, or a bit younger. They looked back at Harry and giggled. Hermione frowned, slightly, before she leaned back and grinned as Harry automatically wrapped his arms around her.

The shops lining the street were brightly lit and full of revelers. Gringotts marble edifice was glowing from the result of several Spotlight Charms. The effects of the lights on the gold trim sent sparkles of light down the street, shining off the members of the crowd. A look down towards Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes showed the store covered in lights. A large glowing sign outside proclaimed, "Fun Headquarters, inquire within." Harry shrugged towards the store, Hermione nodded, and they stepped aside, just as Ron and Luna appeared just where they had been with a soft CRACK. "OI, HARRY!" A familiar brogue roared across the street, and the quartet looked up to see Seamus and Dean heading across the street from outside of Flourish and Blotts.

"What are you two doing here?" Ron asked, pausing as Luna bent down to pick up a shiny trinket from the ground and examined it. He shook his head slightly as she grabbed his hand and leaned against him, smiling up at him. Seamus and Dean rolled their eyes sniggering softly. Ron looked over both of them critically, "What's wrong, mates, couldn't find a date?"

Seamus glanced around, and seeing no one close enough to overhear, "No, Weasley, neither of us needed to give a ring to bring a date." He looked down pointedly at Luna's left hand where the diamonds and sapphire of her ring were splitting the lights of the fireworks and strings of Fairy Lights strung along the storefronts.

"Careful, Seamus," Hermione warned, as a soft, dangerous smile slid onto her lips. Her eyes glittered slightly, as Dean and Seamus swallowed together. "You wouldn't want to spend the time until graduation as a little, cute mouse," she held her fingers up, about an inch apart.

Seamus reached up and swept off his bright green top hat, and bowed, sweeping the space in front of him, "Forgive this poor miscreant, M' Lady." He grinned broadly as he straightened and replaced his hat on his head, "For he knows not what he does."

"You got that right," Harry smirked, "have you seen anyone else you know?"

"Yeah," Dean replied, glancing around and pointing in various directions, "Katie, Angelina, and Alicia are in the store. Katie's here with...Oliver Wood," he waggled his eyebrows slightly and the Gryffindors laughed. "Hannah and Ernie were here earlier, I think that they are down near Gringotts in that new coffee shop the Twins opened. Susan and Sasha are around somewhere." Dean paused and glanced at Seamus, they both laughed at something before they looked back to Harry, Hermione, Ron and Luna. "Smith was about half sotted, he tried to hit on Susan...she decked him."

"Good for her, he always was a prat," Ron said a touch too loudly, Hermione crooked her eyebrow, but nodded after a moment's reflection. Her sense of propriety had undergone a great deal of reflection since she was eleven and boarding a red train for the first time.

Just as Ron was about to ask something else, Padma appeared next to them, and leaned on Seamus' arm. "Hello," she said happily to the group before she rose up on her toes and kissed Seamus on the cheek. He blushed slightly, as the rest of them laughed. "Neville, Parvati and Lavender will be by in a-" she was interrupted as a BANG, SNAP and POP cracked next to her ear and Neville appeared with the girls on each arm.

"Glad you could join us," Harry said wryly, "It looks like the gang's all here." He looked at Ron, "Did you plan this?" Ron just shrugged and shook his head, and waved towards WWW.

"Let's go, before the crowd appears." The rest of them followed, laughing as a small girl who looked to be no more than fifteen walked past them wearing a sweatshirt under her open cloak, that showed what was probably a Death Eater running from a small fluffy bunny armed with a wand.

They stopped outside of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and looked up as a pair of thundering, familiar voices boomed out of the darkness. "HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!" The entire crowd joined them in looking up, as hovering in mid-air above the Weasley's shop, a shimmering, shining platform appeared. Through the ostensibly millions of multi-colored Fairy Lights two tall, red-haired figures could be seen standing waving out over the crowd.

"WELCOME TO OUR LITTLE CELEBRATION!" said Fred, as he placed a huge top hat on his head that flashed New Year's greetings around the brim as he stood. He held his hands up, as if commanding the crowd to silence.

"THERE ARE A FEW RULES FOR THIS GATHERING," added Fred as he held up a bottle of butterbeer and saluted the crowd. Several already slightly inebriated patrons shouted encouragement at him, and laughed heartily as he touched his wand to the stand and a half-dozen Weasley's WhizBangs went off.

"FIRST," George announced, "IF YOU ARE HERE WITH A DATE..." the twins looked down at Harry and the rest, and smirked, "AT MIDNIGHT, YOU WILL BE...REQUIRED TO GIVE THEM A KISS..."

"AND NOT A LITTLE PECK EITHER," Fred put in.

"A REAL HEARTSTOPPING, BLOOD RUSHING TO THE NEITHER REGIONS, LET'S GET A ROOM, RIGHT NOW ONE, OR..." George said with a leer.

"THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES," Fred finished. He waved out over the crowd, and a trickle of light followed his wand as he waved it through the air in front of him. A fiery symbol appeared for an instant that suspiciously seemed to greatly resemble the Ogden's logo.

"OW!" Ron hissed as he reached up and rubbed his head. Several more Witches and Wizards cried out in shock or surprise as Ron bent down and picked up a glass tumbler glowing with the characteristic faint orange glow of an Unbreakable Charm on glass. He glanced over as Harry snapped a pair of glasses out of the air as they fell towards his and Hermione's heads. Harry held them out and watched, slightly perplexed, as they filled with an amber liquid. A quick, hesitant sniff identified the liquid as Ogden's. He handed one to Hermione and took a tentative sip of his. Ron followed Harry's example, downing the tumbler quickly and watching as it refilled itself. "Cool," he exclaimed, and shared a odd, happy look with Seamus and Dean. The other two boys clinked their glasses with Ron and swallowed them down.

In the shadows of the lee of the Twins' shop, a slight figure flicked the hood of her cloak up over her head and nodded, her heart sinking slightly as she looked up at the Twins, and then over at the gathering of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, that if not for her actions she would have, probably, been in the center of, even though Molly would not have wanted her to attend. Another, taller, also-cloaked figure came up behind her, and slipped his arms around her. "Let's go, Red," he muttered in her ear in a faint drawl.

"I want to stay," she whispered back, not making a move to escape the light grip he had on her, "please?"

"Alright," he conceded after a moment, as they both listened to George add some rule about minimum consumption, and Fred tack on that souvenir hats, t-shirts and sweatshirts were available by stopping into the shop or by Owl order. "But let's go a bit up the street, we don't want to attract any attention from the do-gooder crowd."

Ginny nodded and took his hand, and let him lead her down the street towards Gringotts, trying not to reflect as she did so on how her life had changed so utterly. She glanced up and to the side, catching a brief glimpse of his face as they passed unseen next to Ernie McMillan and Hannah Abbot, Hannah was pushed back against the wall with her fingers tangled in Ernie's dark hair, evidentially they had taken the Twins' warning to heart and were practicing. Ginny glanced back, at the Twins, and back down at the crowd next to the store. Through a gap in the crowd, she saw Luna as she jumped up on her brother, and wrapped herself around him, snogging as if she had not a care in the world, and next to them, Ginny let slip the tiniest of nods as she saw Hermione's arms wrapped around Harry's neck, with his hands resting on the slope of her bum under her cloak. The two of them were dancing to music that only they heard as Harry leaned down slightly to kiss her, Ginny could see them as the kiss broke for a moment, and Hermione laughed at something, her face alive and her eyes dancing in the lights of the Fairy Lights and fireworks.

Draco looked in the direction of her gaze, but didn't say anything, other than giving her hand a small squeeze and gently tugging her forward.

"AND NOW," Fred hollered, and flicked his wand. A large, floating, glowing stage appeared and the fairy lights started to strobe in time to a new beat line that erupted out of the nothingness. "THE MUSICAL STYLINGS OF THE WEIRD SISTERS."

*Do the Hippogriff, The Weird Sisters.

Many of the girls, young women, and several of the younger men screamed as the Weird Sisters began their surprise set. The stage they were on dove and swooped over the crowd, like a demented broom, as the enchanted speakers cleverly hidden about the alley boomed out the music. A crowd that, like the party in general, seemed to be made up of Wizards and Witches all under thirty or so, started to dance along with the song, bouncing and gyrating in time to the music.

Harry looked up at the stage as it flew over them, and smiled. He was standing behind Hermione with his arms wrapped around her as they sort of danced to the music. She grinned and bent her head back and to the side enough to share a quick kiss, when a voice that Harry hadn't heard in three years, in person, came out of the night.

"Her-my-on-ninny," the voice said and they both turned to see the form of the Bulgarian Seeker appear out of the night and walk towards them. The group of their friends with them looked at each other, but didn't say a word as they all took a casual step back, even the ones such as Dean, Seamus and Ron, who were well on their way to getting blitzed.

"Viktor," Hermione said warmly, and smiled up at him as he stopped in front of them.

"Viktor," Harry said calmly as he extended a hand to his former rival for the Tri-wizard Cup--and possibly other things. "I...we didn't know you were in town."

"I have just gotten in," Viktor explained as he casually flicked his eyes over Harry and Hermione, and noticed that even though Harry's grasp on Hermione was light, she had made absolutely no effort to escape. He smiled and clasped Harry's hand with his right as his left came up to cup Harry's elbow. "I was in talks with Puddlemere, over their Seeking position." He paused and took a breath, "I have noticed that congratulations are in order, yes?" Harry gave a small nod, and a relatively easy smile. Hermione beamed up at Krum, as she settled back against Harry.

"Thank you, Viktor," she replied. All three of them ducked as another WhizBang, this one in the shape of a Hippogriff to the tune of the song, roared overhead.

Viktor looked at them, and nodded, "I must be going, I saw you and thought I should give my greetings." He held out his hand again to Harry, who shook it then to Hermione. She glanced back at Harry for an instant, before she stepped forward and gave Viktor a quick hug. Hermione took a step back and smiled slightly as Harry's arm wrapped around her again. She glanced up at Harry; he smiled down at her.

"Let us know how that works out, Viktor, we should get together sometime," Harry said loudly, enough to be heard over the noise of the rapidly ever-more inebriated crowd, the fireworks and the band. Krum nodded and headed off with a small wave. He started through the crowd, pausing to sign several autographs as he went as fans recognized him.

Thanks, Harry, Hermione whispered as she leaned back. Overhead the Weird Sisters started in on their new hit, Broomride.

You're welcome, Mione, Harry replied, slightly puzzled as he glanced in the direction of Gringotts, having, just for an instant felt an oddly familiar presence that he knew he should have recognized, but didn't. It didn't seem to be intending him ill, so he shrugged and kissed the side of Hermione's hair, I didn't see the need to worry, I don't see you getting all worked up over Cho anymore...who's over there by the way.

Yeah, I noticed, Hermione confirmed, Love you, Harry.

You too, Hermione, Harry responded and smiled as she reached up and back, wrapping her arms around his neck as she danced slowly to the ballad playing on the night. They looked over to see Luna deep in conversation with Parvati over something. Ron was drinking with Seamus and Dean, toasting to something. Harry flicked his wrist, summoning a pair of butterbeers from the air. He handed one to Hermione, she took a sip and parked it in mid-air, hovering next to them.

"Harry, Hermione," the pair glanced up, a smidgeon annoyed, as another person who seemed to know them shouted from the crowd. Their annoyance faded as they looked over to find a tall, red-haired, pony-tailed man striding confidently through the crowd. A svelte woman with pale blonde hair that caught the flickering colored lights clutched his hand and followed him closely. He looked back at her every few paces, protectively. Almost every male eye, and a few female ones, followed her progress as they meandered through the crowd towards the Gryffindors. Several of the men started to follow her as if being led by a chain until stopped by their dates, sometimes with unsubtle slaps. Hermione giggled softly under her breath as the pair came up to Ron, and both of them gave him a huge hug. The woman rose on her toes and gave Ron a kiss on the cheek as several of the crowd looked on enviously, before they moved on to stand next to Harry and Hermione, close enough so as they didn't have to yell, too much, over the noise.

"How are you doing, Harry, Hermione?" Bill said loudly. Harry glanced around, palmed his wand, and sketched out a five-pointed star near his leg. A cone of silence appeared around them, muting the crowd and party noise around them. "Nice," Bill commented, "traveling Cone of Silence," he paused to look around, "I admit that I am surprised to see you out here, it is a touch...exposed."

"Not really," Harry remarked, wryly, "Didn't you notice Mad-Eye stomping around near Gringotts, or the ten Aurors on the roof there. Not to mention the twenty or so, I've noticed in plainclothes, walking around, or the five brooms on high cover or the ten or so that are on top of 'Wheezes."

"You forgot the ten Dark Detectors, Love," Hermione added, "though the two nearest here are Confunded."

Bill and Fleur laughed, "So they are," Bill agreed, "I would bet the Twins did that. If they were the Ministry ones, I'm sure they were set so that they might-interfere with their business." His face darkened slightly, as he glanced back at Fleur, "I'm sorry that you weren't welcome at the Burrow, Harry, Hermione...that wasn't, our..."

Hermione's eyes flicked up and back to catch emerald ones, "That's alright, we don't hold it against either of you, honestly." She frowned slightly, "It's history; it'll play out as it does. Or it won't."

"'Arry....'Ermione," Fleur said after a bit, looking between her husband and the others, "Gabrielle, haz told me, about thingz." Hermione looked back at Harry, and nodded, slightly. "Thank you, 'Arry, 'Ermione, for zaving her."

"Is she coming back to school?" Harry asked softly, guiltily.

"Yeah," Bill supplied, with a slight grin for some reason, "she thinks she's a Gryffindor or something," Fleur's face held a small scowl as she looked at him, before sighing, Bill squeezed her hand, "she demanded to go back to school, before we could even get her off the train." Fleur just nodded as Bill reached out to throw his arm around her waist, and pull her into his side. "We are going to go see to the shop, see what Gred and Forge have cooked up now," he sighed, "I suppose that we should be going." They gave the pair one more nod and stepped backwards breaking the cone and allowing the noise and mayhem of the celebration in once more.

Hermione looked around the crowd, Anyone else we know? she asked, slightly bemused.

I hope not, who would have thought that we'd run into so many people we knew? Harry shrugged and looked around as well, slightly uneasy again for some reason as he scanned towards Gringotts but shook it off. So, Mione, can we still spend tomorrow in bed?

Best idea I've heard, Hermione agreed, as she turned around in his arms and wrapped her arms back around his neck, the band segued into another song, and Hermione looked up, biting her lip, Remember this song?

The one Luna played at our wedding? Harry asked as she dropped her head to his shoulder.

It was also playing at the Yule Ball...that last song when Ron and I were sniping at each other.

It's alright, everything worked out in the end, she grinned up at him before laying her head back to his shoulder. They moved slowly back and forth, more or less dancing as the song played, testing the limits of the Silencing Charms surrounding Diagon Alley.

"ALRIGHT," George's voice boomed out over the night as the song died. He waved his wand and a huge, flaming clock appeared in the night sky showing only two minutes until midnight, "IT'S TIME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN." Another flourish of a wand, and a huge, shining Hippogriff, made up of innumerable, multi-colored lights appeared on a large, shimmering pole.

"AS WE SAID BEFORE," Fred added, "YOU MIGHT WANT TO FIND YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER..."

"OR JUST SOME RANDOM BIRD OR BLOKE..." George put in, as the clock ticked down to one minute till midnight. The glowing Hippogriff began to pulse softly as the second hand on the glowing clock hit thirty seconds. "HERE WE GO..." The clock hit ten seconds, and the Hippogriff started to slowly slide down, "TEN...NINE...", the crowd joining in, "EIGHT...SEVEN..."

Who am I to argue with tradition? Harry grinned, as Hermione reached up, winding her fingers in his hair. Their faces slid together, and eyes slipped closed as mouths opened and tongues met their mates. The noise of the crowd only vaguely impinged on their consciousnesses, as Hermione jumped up to wrap herself around him, and felt herself being held up automatically. Behind them, Luna had pushed Ron against a wall, and was snogging him enthusiastically, while Neville, Lavender and Parvati were sharing a three-way smooch, which probably wouldn't make the front page of the Prophet in the morning due to the censors. Flashbulbs went off near them, not that they noticed, and a pair of Wizarding Paparazzi grinned and escaped back into the crowd, already laughing at the bonus they would get from the Prophet.

In their glee, they never noticed the faint trail of light from the CounterDeveloping Jinx that Mad-Eye cast on their cameras. He put away his wand and tipped his bowler to Harry and Hermione, before vanishing back into the crowd.

"THREE...TWO..."

Harry staggered back slightly as he adjusted his wife's position, as to not drop her as Hermione began to move more passionately. A loud purring sound slipped from her throat as she pulled back to breathe for an instant before they crashed together again.

"ONE...HAPPY NEW YEAR..." The shining Hippogriff hit the bottom of the pole, and the entire length of Diagon Alley exploded in light and sound. An entire year's production, or at least it seemed as such, of WWW's best WhizBangs went off, filling the night sky with flaming Catherine Wheels, immense Dragons, and giant fiery letters spelling out such things as "Snogging Here", "Get A Room" and "Drinking, Much?" among others.

The duo broke apart a bare couple of inches, panting, and glanced around. Hermione grinned slightly as she realized that Harry was using magic to hold her up, leaving his hands free to roam under her cloak. She crooked an eyebrow and he laughed. She joined him as they looked around to see several human-sized chickens standing, clucking confusedly. They obviously had not believed the Twins' warnings. Hermione giggled as one particularly clueless chicken wearing a orange fedora ran into a wall and fell down.

"Happy New Year, Hermione."

"Happy New Year, Harry."

A/N: Ok there we go, next chapter, a return to stark reality. The songs, Do the Hippogriff, and Magic Works are actual songs from the Weird Sisters, and are tracks 22 and 24 on the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Soundtrack. Broomride I just made up.

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