Disclaimer: Because I'm not the owner of these characters, some people might not like the things I do to them.
6. Tears and Beers
When Harry Apparated himself (and Hedwig) to the Burrow, he had expected to find a multitude of people milling about, but the only sign of life he could see was the steady stream of smoke coming from the chimney. As he approached the back door, he only had a moment to take in the smells wafting out of the kitchen before being assaulted with a fierce hug from Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh Harry dear, I'm so glad you made it alright. You have no idea how worried I was when you didn't show up with the Express, and then we found Ron and Ginny petrified on the train, but oh, it doesn't matter now, you're safe. It's so good to see you, and it looks like those Muggle relatives of yours actually managed to feed you this year."
"It's good to see you too, Mrs. Weasley. I'm really sorry about the whole train thing. I assumed Professor McGonagall would have told you all that Hermione and I were seeing ourselves back."
Within a single move, Harry found himself swept over to the kitchen table, where a plate of breakfast was already waiting for him. "It's no worry, dear, now eat up; there's so much that needs to be done around here. Bill and Charlie managed to put up the alter by the pond without killing each other, but we still have to arrange all of the seating there. Once all that is done, the tables and chairs need to be set up on the other side of the garden for dinner. We still haven't finalized what we will be having for the meal, and of course they all decide that they all need to go out today and get their robes fit, leaving me all alone to deal with everything else-"
Harry was slightly amazed that Mrs. Weasley was letting loose what he hoped were all of her frustrations towards him. After a minute of just nodding along with her rants, all he could think to say was, "It's okay; I'm here to help. Where should I start?" She made him finish his meal before sending him outside to start arranging chairs.
It took him almost an hour before Harry gave in and started using magic to arrange the chairs (there had to over a hundred of them). He was about to call in Dobby to help him, when Hermione appeared, cradling Crookshanks in her arms.
"Oh Harry, you're here already! Are you out here all by yourself?" He quickly filled her in on what he was doing before sending her in to see if Mrs. Weasley needed anymore help in the house. After a moment Crookshanks came back alone out to play with the gnomes, so he assumed she had been tasked with another job.
After finishing the chairs and getting a good start on the dinner tables, which had been stacked next to Mr. Weasley's shack, Harry decided it was time for a break. The sun was high overhead, and it was beginning to play tricks on his eyes (he kept thinking he saw shadows where there weren't any). Inside he found Hermione sitting at the table transfiguring a box full of pins into forks, knives, and spoons. "That looks great, Hermione. Definitely better than anything the Dursley's he ever had." She beamed up to him as Mrs. Weasley rushed back into the kitchen.
"Oh Harry, you're finished already? Well, I suppose you're up for a spot of lunch then." A plateful of sandwiches glided over to the table for the three of them. As they tucked in, Harry couldn't help but notice the bags under Hermione's eyes, and wondered just how much trouble she had gotten in when she returned home that morning. He really hoped it wasn't too bad, but something in the back of his mind was worrying that her parents would be mad at him for keeping their daughter out all night.
"Mrs. Weasley? Do you think Hermione's parents could come over for the wedding?" Both women looked surprised by his request, but Hermione was slightly smiling, which soothed the voice in his head. "It's just, I'm sure all they know about magic is what Hermione's told them, and whatever they've seen in Diagon Alley. It might be nice for them to actually see a bit more of our world, and I'm sure Mr. Weasley would love another chance to talk to them."
"I'm sure he would, and don't worry. I always plan for extra, so they are more than welcome." After they finished their lunch, and as Molly was filling them in on their afternoon assignments, the fireplace roared to life in a mass of green flames, letting in a line of people, four of which had red hair.
"HARRY!" The smallest of the redheads grabbed him so hard, he was knocked from his seat; before he could even greet the other people in the room, he found himself being pulled along out to the area he had just setup.
"Ginny, wait! I need to get back to work." Harry tried to plead with her, but found himself shoved down in a chair looking up at a furious girl.
"Not before we've had a discussion. My dad told me you got the letter I wrote you, why did you never write me back?"
"I did. Didn't Ron show you?"
"That's the best you could do? If this is going to work out for us, you had better come up with some better answers!" He could see the anger welling in her eyes, and the first thought that shot through Harry's mind was I miss her being too shy to talk around me. This was what he had been dreading ever since he had skipped out on the Express, and he had completely missed his chance to act on Hermione's warning. Now he was cornered.
"Ginny, I told you before. We are done. I tried to make that clear in the letter I sent. I love your entire family, and I'll always be here for you if you need a friend, but as a couple, it's over." The scowl on her face quickly changed to a mix of fear and despair as she fell to her knees.
"But I thought you were happy with me. What did I do?"
"Nothing. It's not your fault, Gin. This whole past year has been really though on me, and for some stupid reason, I just tried to ignore it all and be like everyone else. When I told you it was like something out of someone else's life, I meant it. It's almost like after the Department of Mysteries, I tried to make myself into a different person, hoping maybe then I could leave some of the trouble behind; be normal, and not get hurt. Of course none of it worked, and I ended up getting Dumbledore murdered," she immediately tried to object, "I know, everybody says it's not my fault, but he got hurt when we were away. I hurt him, even though he ordered me to do it, so it's at least partially my fault."
"How Harry? You say he ordered you to do it, what did he make you do? I can't be your fault, you don't have it in you to hurt anyone on purpose," there was a pleading quality to her voice, and Harry was tempted to correct her, but couldn't bring himself to.
"It doesn't matter anymore, Ginny. I was just keeping a promise to a friend."
"Harry, if you'd just open up to me, I'm sure I could help you through this. We'll work it out together, and then you won't have to carry so many burdens yourself. I'm here," she said while reaching up to cradle his head in her hands, "you'll never be alone again."
He gently removed her hands, "I'm not alone at all Gin. I'll always have your brother, and Hermione-"
"And Me! You just have to stop being so pig-headed about everything and talk to me!"
"Ginny, there are things I could never tell you," he was looking anywhere but her face, "Things I've seen. Things I've done…"
"I'll never be ashamed of you Harry-"
"I'm not even ashamed, it's just… Some of the choices I've made."
"But that doesn't change who you are. Harry."
"It's our choices, far more than our abilities, that show who we truly are," Harry thought he heard the voice of Dumbledore echoing in his mind as he spoke.
"And I choose to be with you-"
"Ginny," he finally looked her directly in the eye. She needed to understand this. "You were never with me. I chose, wrongly, to try to be `normal.' I wanted to be like everyone else, not worrying about anything other than winning at Quidditch and finding a girlfriend. I spent almost all my time trying to find a way to snag you away from Dean, thinking that would finally let me be happy; I wanted to forget about everything else. It worked, too well, and reality caught up violently. I used you to pretend I was someone else, and I'm sorry for that. Feel free to rage at me all you want, I've earned it."
Ginny stared unbelieving into his eyes for another moment before the tears came. Harry prepared himself to be assaulted, but she merely turned around and fled back up to the house.
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As Harry approached the door to the Burrow, he heard the familiar sound of his two best friends yelling at each other. Peaking through the window, he noticed the four Delacours sitting around the table with Molly Weasley and her two eldest sons. They all had their heads turned to the source of the disturbance, which could clearly be heard from outside the house.
"Well why wouldn't you want to come here? We could have spent the last two weeks relaxing, and playing Quidditch, instead you've probably just been sitting around re-reading Hogwarts, A History!" Ron shouted.
"No, Ronald, I do not spend all of my time reading, in fact, I've read more staying in the hospital wing than I have in the last two weeks. I simply wanted to spend as much time as possible with my PARENTS before we head off searching for…" she clapped a hand over her own mouth, and Harry realized how flustered she really must be to almost let something that large slip.
"Well then whatever happened to us staying with Harry? I know how stubborn he can be, but you should have made him wait at the train station, and we could have all gone back there. You have no idea how bad it is for him there; they lock him up and hardly feed him! I still can't believe that Muggles are allowed to treat their kids like that!"
"They're not allowed, and believe me, if Harry had let me, I would have turned his uncle into a slug and threw him out in the dirt where he belongs!"
"Hermione, you've never even met-"
"Actually Ronald, I've been sneaking Harry meals ever since that whale attacked him," the shock showing on Ron's face told Harry that he had not been told what had happened upon his arrival on Privet Drive, "but Harry made me promise not to use any magic on them."
"Well, you should have ignored him and hexed them all anyway, they're just Muggles." All seven people around the table winced, but Ron was to worked up to notice.
"My PARENTS are Muggles too, Ron! Maybe if you stopped and thought about it long enough, you'd realize that you are being as insular as Voldemort," everyone except Harry winced, "towards people like my FAMILY! Honestly, how can you keep this up? If it wasn't for Harry, I'm sure we never would have talked to one another!" Hermione stormed straight out to the garden, and Harry wanted nothing more that to go and try to calm her down, but was interrupted.
"HARRY!" The tiny form of Gabrielle Delacour slammed into him, hugging him tightly around his waist, and almost unseating Hedwig, who was faithfully perched on his shoulder. Fleur came up behind her sister, and seeing Harry's gaze following Hermione across the grass, told him that she would take care of her.
Harry was pulled into the kitchen and introduced to Fleur's parents, Raphael and Amandine, who thanked him profusely, albeit needlessly in Harry's mind, for rescuing Gabrielle during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. At one point Raphael, who was in extremely high spirits, said he only wished Gabrielle was a little older, so they could have a double ceremony. The small girl immediately blushed a color that even Ron couldn't achieve, and had to run from the room.
Once he had joined everyone else at the table, Harry noticed Ron had gone missing, and sincerely hoped that he wasn't tracking down Hermione, but since Fleur hadn't returned, he doubted it. Mrs. Weasley expertly steered the conversation towards the dinner menu for the reception, which he guessed she had been trying to do for some time now.
Being that Harry was the youngest person left in the room by close to a decade, it didn't take him long to decide to go back to arranging the tables for the reception. After everything was arranged, and he had begun conjuring tablecloths, Harry started to worry. Fleur had still not returned from looking after Hermione. He was about to dig out his mirror, when Ron's voice completely startled him.
"Harry? What did you do to my sister?"
"We just had a bit of a talk, why?"
"I could hear her as I was coming downstairs. She's hysterically crying, that one. Been shut in her room since she came back in from talking to you." Harry looked at his friend, and wasn't surprised to see anger brewing in his features. He knew it was his fault; he had been a pretty horrible friend the last couple of weeks, and now he had turned his friend's little sister into a human hosepipe.
"I broke up with her after Dumbledore's funeral, and she was just trying to get things started again. I told her no, and she apparently doesn't like that very much."
"You broke up with Ginny?" Harry nodded. "But why? You both looked happy when you were together. You even spent time talking to her, not just attached at the mouth like I was with Lavender." Harry sighed; at least Ron hadn't punched him yet.
"After everything that happened at the Ministry last year really sunk in, I made a really, really bad choice. I decided that I wanted to be normal for once in my life; that I was just going to worry about Quidditch, and not failing all of my courses. I decided that one thing I really needed was to find a girlfriend. I spent the last year living in a fantasy. Sometimes it was like the only times when I was truly myself were in my lessons with Dumbledore, and maybe when I was trying to tail Malfoy."
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, looking fairly annoyed. "You were you all year. I think I'd notice if my best mate's acting all fruity around me."
"And I bet you were really noticing a lot while you were attached to Lavender." Ron hung his head, looking a little ashamed.
"Okay, so I might not have been paying that much attention, but I still say you weren't acting any different."
"It's just like it was back in fourth year. When they announced the tournament, I wanted to be the Hogwarts champion more than anything, and I got what I wanted. I won the cup, but Cedric had to die for it. I tried to pretend I was something I wasn't, and people died. I tried again this year, and we lose the Headmaster. I can't keep pretending Ron; I need to keep my mind on where I am, and what's happening around me. Ginny's just a distraction from what I have to do."
"You could just tell her what's going on, and she could help-"
"No Ron. She belongs at Hogwarts," Harry stated, trying to put the matter to rest. "We might need some help without Dumbledore around, but I wouldn't ask anyone to leave school to do it. It's bad enough you and Hermione are doing it." Ron was again looking at his shoes, and Harry wondered if he was having second thought about going along on his quest.
"Harry, why did you keep sending that demented House-Elf after me and Ginny?"
"Well, when you were on the train Hedwig was already on her way to the Dursley's," Harry motioned to the owl, watching their conversation from the back of a nearby chair, "and honestly, I've been a little afraid about sending her out for post. Ever since she was attacked in fifth year, I've tried to keep her close, and lately she's been keeping herself especially close, like she's afraid to let me out of her sight." The owl hooted loudly from her perch.
"Maybe she's just trying to keep you from doing anything stupid," Ron said, trying to be a little helpful.
"Yeah, maybe. And besides all that, I really trust Dobby." The Elf suddenly appeared next to him, causing Ron to jump back in shock. Unfortunately, he landed on a chair, and promptly tumbled to the ground.
"Why do you have to keep doing that?" Ron angrily asked Dobby.
"I's sorry Mister Wheezy, Dobby hears Harry Potter calling his name, and had to see if he needed Dobby's assistance."
"Nice dive there, little bro," came Bill Weasley's voice from the back door of the Burrow. Harry knew without looking that Ron's face would make the perfect camouflage for a tomato.
As Bill came up to the group, Harry noticed Dobby, who usually was very shy around new people, was looking at Bill with his eyes as wide as he'd ever seen them. "You're the one the bad wolf-man bit," he managed to squeak out.
"That I am," Bill said, fingering one of the lingering scars on his face, "but my brother Charlie still thinks his dragon burns look more macho than my chewed-up face. Bill Weasley, nice to meet you," he reached out and shook Dobby's hand.
"Such great friends…" was about all Dobby could manage as a response; Harry could already see the tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
"This is Dobby," Harry said, patting him on the shoulder, "and he's just stopped by to see if we needed any help."
"Well, I don't think there's much left for him to do, it looks great out here already Harry. I'm sorry to breakup your little talk, but I have to get Ron back to Madam Malkin's." Ron's head rolled back as he groaned.
"Do we really have to go back there?" he whined.
"Well, we could always wait for Fleur to get back with Hermione, but I thought we might get a bit more accomplished without the women for a bit." There was a mischievous look on Bill's face that Harry thought wouldn't look out-of-place on Fred or George, and he wondered if he had other plans than looking at robes.
Once it was just Harry and Dobby left in the garden, he turned to the elf, "I think I have everything set up now, so unless you know any good decorating charms-"
"Of course Harry Potter sir! Dobby will make the garden glow, if he wishes!" The excitement coming from him was contagious, and suddenly Harry was imagining the wall of gnarled trees covered with the same decorations he had watched Professor Flitwick put up in the great hall over Christmas.
For the better part of the next two hours, Harry and Dobby transformed the garden. Harry found he was quite good at some of the landscaping spells he had looked up during his fourth year; the lawn, which had been quite weedy, became lush, evenly mowed grass. Harry conjured golden baubles and candles to cover the trees, and Dobby ran about wiggling his fingers in the air, leaving behind a canopy of fairy lights.
After finishing with the reception area, Harry found Dobby standing up on the alter, staring out into the pond. Slowly the little elf brought his arms up in the air, and Harry amusedly watched as the water churned, two forms rising up from it, eventually forming two swans, whose beaks touched outlining a heart between them. Dobby snapped his fingers with one hand, and a fountain erupted behind the figures; then snapped with his other hand, turning the swans to ice so perfect, it could have been crystal.
"Dobby," Harry beamed coming up behind him, "that was brilliant. Have you done this before?"
Looking anywhere but Harry, and toeing the ground, Dobby said, "My old masters used to require many of the most impressive decorations for many events…"
"Well then, at least one good thing came out of working for the Malfoys'. How about just one more touch?" Harry swept his wand over the pond, leaving behind a trail of pink and white water lilies. "There, that should do it, now let's go see how things are going inside the house." They never quite made it inside, as Fleur and Hermione Apparated right in front of them. The looks on the two women's' faces made Harry's heart fill with and intense pride; they were gazing wide-eyed, taking in everything with extreme smiles. The sun was finally setting, and the reflections of Dobby's lights in Hermione's eyes were slightly mesmerizing.
"'Arry! Zis is so beautiful! An' all for Bill and I, oh thank you!" Fleur kissed Harry several times on his cheeks, and embraced him tightly; when Harry looked over her shoulder towards Hermione he wasn't surprised to find a slightly annoyed look.
"It wasn't all just me Fleur, my friend Dobby here helped a lot-"
"Oh, you `ave anozer `ouse-elf? I am so glad he izz so good with ze decorations."
"Dobby is a free elf who is honored to help Harry Potter whenever he can," Dobby proudly stated.
Hermione swooped down to embrace the elf, "Oh Dobby, this is so beautiful, I'm sure everyone will love it."
Fleur beamed down to Dobby, who Harry thought looked embarrassed enough to vanish any second, "Of course everyone weel love eet, you must show me what you deed." With that she pulled Dobby away towards the pond, leaving Harry with a slightly embarrassed Hermione.
"I'm really sorry about earlier, Harry. When Ron started badgering me about not coming over sooner, I sort of lost my temper, and well, you heard."
"Don't worry about it. I heard what he said about your parents and all. You might want to keep clear of him until tomorrow though, he found out about Ginny and I; thought he was going to punch me for a minute there. Lucky Bill came and rescued me, really. Where did you and Fleur go?"
"Oh, she just took me out for a glass of wine," Hermione said dismissively.
"A glass? That was hours ago."
"Well we did talk a bit. She's really not as bad as I thought, once you get her alone. Apparently her and Bill have suspected that we're up to something for a little while now, and after what I almost let slip earlier, well, now they're sure, and they wanted us to know they'll help any way they can. Even if they have to leave the Order."
"I don't know how good of an idea that is-"
"Harry, you did promise to ask for help if we needed it-"
"I know Hermione, it's just, we can't be letting everyone we know or like in on this. I've seriously been considering letting Remus in on it, but then I'd be asking him to keep it from Tonks, and I don't want to be responsible for them having to keep secrets from each other."
"Harry," he and Hermione both jumped at the sound of a voice coming from nearby. They both looked just in time to see Tonks pulling off an invisibility cloak.
"Tonks!" Harry shouted, "What the hell are you doing hiding out like that?"
"Sorry Harry, but there are a few of us still taking shifts watching out for you," he was about to protest, "and there's no use getting all twisted up about it, between Remus and the Weasleys, you'll never be less than a top priority in the Order's eyes."
"So the Order really is still functioning? Fleur said there haven't been any real meetings since the Headmaster died," Hermione said.
"Well," Tonks explained, "things are a lot less formal now, but most of us had been given some long-term goals to accomplish, and we had to pull in Filius to recast the Fidelius Charm on headquarters, which reminds me," she pulled out a slip of parchment and handed it to Harry, who recognized Lupin's neat writing telling him the location of the headquarters was in a house Harry suddenly remembered he owned. "It's slow, but we're still moving," Tonks finished as Harry passed the slip to Hermione.
"So, were you hanging out around my aunt and uncle's house without telling me too," Harry asked.
"Didn't really need to, between the two of you, we were pretty well informed on what you were doing most of the time, though if I had to guess, I'd bet there were a few times you snuck off without telling us," Tonks said, leaving both the teenagers stammering for an excuse. "But I'm not here to yell at you. Harry, what you said about wanting Remus to help; he'd be more than willing, and I don't mind being left out of the loop. Unfortunately it's already a part of our relationship with me being an Auror and all."
"You mean you don't tell him what you're up to?" asked Harry.
"Can't. It's part of the job, and besides, with You-Know-Who threatening everything that breathes, it's not that hard to figure out what all the Aurors have been up to lately."
"Well then, if you see him later," which he was pretty sure she would, "could you tell him that we need to have a pretty long talk. Probably after the wedding. That's okay with you, right Hermione?"
"Of course it is, but why wait? I'm sure Molly wouldn't mind if we left to have a chat with him now, or even tomorrow."
"No, Harry's right about waiting," Tonks answered, "with the full moon tomorrow night, he's not in the mood for company right now."
"Isn't he taking the Wolfsbane Potion anymore?" Hermione asked.
"The git was the one that always made it for him," answered Harry.
"And no one else in the Order has quite gotten it right. Fleur tried, and was pretty close, but when he transformed, he didn't howl; he roared. I couldn't even wake him up for three days," added Tonks.
"Well, I suppose if you have the ingredients, I could give it a go. I found the instructions in the restricted section of the library last term, and I think I might be able to pull it off," Hermione said, and Harry wondered if she was eager to do something Fleur had failed at.
"Well, I know it needs to be started at half-moon, so I'll try and get the stuff together by then. Now, if you two think you can behave yourselves for the rest of the night, I think I should get back to Remus." Tonks made a quick detour into the house for a slab of raw meat before Disapparating. Dobby was busy making centerpieces with Fleur for all of the tables, so Harry and Hermione went in to see how things were going inside.
As soon as they entered, Mrs. Weasley swept Harry back outside, closing the door between them and everyone else.
"Harry, I've just been up with Ginny, and-" She suddenly stopped and looked in wonder at what had become of her garden. "Harry, this is wonderful! Did you do all of this? Well, you couldn't have, you're not yet of age."
"I did do a lot of it, Mrs. Weasley, but don't worry, I won't get in trouble, and Dobby over there helped a lot," he motioned over to the pair going between tables, leaving behind little ice sculptures of swans, hippogriffs, and dragons.
"Oh, well thank you so much, dear. My, it even smells wonderful, whatever did you do?"
"Well the smell is just the landscaping charm I put on the grass, and most of the decorations I picked up from watching Professor Flitwick at Christmas time. Dobby did the lights, and the fountain."
"You must remind me to properly thank him later, but I'm getting side-tracked here. I've had a chat with Ginny, and she's finally told me why she's been so depressed lately. I know I'm in no position to intrude into your life, but you've just broken my only daughter's heart. She seems to think you'll come back to her after this infernal war is over, as if you were in some sort of fairy tale, but I don't see you as the type to do that, am I right?"
"No Mrs. Weasley. It really is over, and I'm sorry I've hurt Ginny," Harry mumbled out, staring at the ground.
"Everything will work out in the end, so don't you worry Harry. You were Ginny's first crush, so I can only imagine what a whirlwind of emotions she's been though. I'll try to help her back to normal as best I can, though I suppose she'll be shut-up in her room as much as she can be with you around-"
"We'll be gone right after the wedding."
"We? Are you taking Hermione with you back to your relatives?"
Harry looked at her slightly dumbstruck for a moment, "Hasn't Ron told you? The three of us are going off to Godric's Hollow, to see where my parents are buried, and then we have sort of have other things we need to do…"
"Before school begins again, you mean?"
Did Ron ever talk to his parents? "We weren't planning on going back. What we have to do might take longer than that, in fact, I'd be shocked if we even had half of it figured out by September."
Mrs. Weasley looked as if she was about to cry, but Harry was pretty sure he'd only told her what she needed to know. "Well, it appears Arthur and I need to have a chat with Ronald, but anyway… It's suppertime, help me bring out the dishes, will you Harry. You've done such a wonderful job out here, it'd be a shame to eat in the kitchen."
Mr. Weasley finally returned home as they began to eat, and after taking everything in, offered Dobby a seat at the table. The little elf had disappeared before Arthur had finished his sentence, which made Harry a little sad that his friend still didn't think he should be treated totally equally. With Ron, Bill, and Charlie still missing, and Ginny shut in her room, the Delacours made up half of the table; they kept accidentally slipping into French, leaving Harry and the Weasleys clueless, while Hermione seemed to pick up some of it.
"Well dears," Mrs. Weasley began, looking over to Harry and Hermione, "it will be a bit cramped, but I think we've finally sorted out the rooms. Harry, you'll be sharing with Ron and Charlie. The Delacours and Gabrielle have Fred and George's old room, Bill's in Percy's, and Ginny's in with Arthur and me. That just leaves Hermione and Fleur in Ginny's room. I'm sorry Fleur, I truly wished neither you nor Bill had to share before your wedding, but there's just too many of us-"
"Mrs. Weasley," Hermione interrupted, "I could always just go home for overnight. It really is no trouble now that I can Apparate."
"Hermione dear, I would never ask you to displace yourself. You're welcome here whenever you want, and especially now," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Really, it couldn't work out better," Harry added, receiving stares from everyone at the table, "I can go with her and stay in their guest room, if I'd be allowed, and then on Saturday, Hermione and I can Side-Along her parents over for the wedding."
"Harry, you don't have to feel uncomfortable staying here just because of Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Ginny?" asked Mr. Weasley, quite perplexed.
"I'll explain later, Arthur. Both of you, there's room here, and when the time comes, we can have a couple of Order members bring your parents by, Hermione," Mrs. Weasley said.
"I'll just check with Mum and Dad, and see what they say about Harry," Hermione said before Disapparating, not even bothering to standup. Barely a minute later she popped back, and announced that the Grangers would be happy to have them both staying over. Fleur looked quite relieved.
After gathering their bags, a cat, and an owl, Harry and Hermione arrived back at the Granger's. It was quite late at night, and everyone needed to be up early, so after taking turns brushing their teeth, everyone said goodnight, and went to their respective rooms. It wasn't until he was almost asleep that Harry realized he still didn't know where in the world Ron had disappeared to.
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The sun had barely risen when Harry was woken up the next morning, something that annoyed both him and Hedwig greatly. Apparently Dan and Emma had to rearrange their schedules to make it to the wedding, meaning they were already on their way to work. After some not-so-gentle prodding from Hermione, Harry showered and was soon set to return to the Burrow for breakfast. The last thing they expected to find was an extremely angry Molly Weasley scrambling a batch of eggs so violently that they were splattering all over the stovetop.
"Is everything alright Mrs. Weasley?" Hermione asked as gently as she could.
"Oh, good morning Hermione, dear, and Harry. Everything is as well as can be expected after being awoken at three in the morning by your sons coming home from a night in the village pub. Woke the entire house, just be glad you decided not to stay, I couldn't imagine if Harry had been up in that room. It seems Fred and George met them, and they all decided to spend the night in Ron's room; I thought the noise was just the ghoul in the attic, but it's their snoring."
"Would you like me to go wake them?" Harry asked, having already pulled one of the twins' fireworks out from his bag.
"No… I'm afraid they'll just wake everyone else again. I've barely gotten breakfast started, and with Ginny in the state she's in it looks like I'll be doing nothing but cooking from now until the ceremony starts." Before Harry begin harassing himself for giving Mrs. Weasley more trouble, Hermione sprang up from her chair, and ran out the door. Harry could vaguely hear her talking, but wasn't awake enough to care who to.
"Mrs. Weasley," Hermione cautiously asked as she came back in the kitchen, "would you mind if Harry and I hired you a bit of help, just to take care of things in the kitchen."
"Hermione dear, whatever are you talking about? I've more than enough experience cooking for this many people." Hermione slid from the door, revealing Dobby and Winky, both looking somewhat nervous.
"Well, I just thought, given how many people you've apparently invited…"
"I wouldn't want either of you wasting your money hiring out a pair of House-elfs," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Winky is a good elf who takes no pay!"
"And Dobby would gladly help for any of Harry Potter's friends for no pay!"
Harry slowly got up and went over to the pair, "Dobby, you snuck off before I could pay you for your help yesterday, so if you do anything else around here, I'm paying you double. Winky, if you want to stay and help, since you have nothing to do at Hogwarts right now, we'd be happy to have you around, and if you decide you want anything for your time, just ask. I'm sure I could get it."
"Harry, really, this is completely unnecessary," Mrs. Weasley tried to reason with him.
"If you're having trouble justifying it, just think of it as my way of saying `thanks' for taking me in over the holidays. It's meant more to me than you'll ever know." Harry turned to go back to the table, completely missing Mrs. Weasley's teary eyes. He sat down and put his head in his arms, falling asleep immediately.
He was awoken a short time later by Hedwig poking him in the back of the head, "Oww! What was that for?" Dobby and Winky seemed to be happily making massive amounts of food, and there was an overloaded plate sitting in front of him.
"I think she's been waiting for you to share your bacon," Hermione said from across the table, "Mrs. Weasley's gone back for a bit more sleep, and she suggested we do the same, but I don't know if we should leave them here alone. I've already had to stop them from making more than a dozen stacks of pancakes."
"Good one on bringing them in and all, but what are we going to do now? Dobby and I set everything outside up yesterday, and with the food taken care of, that's it, right?"
"Well, some more plates are going to need to be made up, but I suppose anybody could do that. You might want to consider what you're wearing tomorrow. There's no way your dress robes from fourth year still fit, and I thought we could help Ron with his Apparating, maybe taking him in for his test. We should also think about finding Fleur and Bill a wedding present, I'm just not sure what is usually given at a wizarding wedding."
"Great, wake me when it's time to go." He got his head almost all the way back down before he was kicked under the table, "Alright I'm up! You know… If we're going to take Ron in for his test, you could apply for a Side-Along license at the same time…"
"I don't think I'm really ready for that, Harry."
"Nonsense. We've got nothing to do until everyone wakes up, let's go outside and try," and before she had a chance to argue, Harry had pulled her from the room, leaving an entire table of food for a cat and an owl, both of whom tucked in.
As Harry had always guessed, most of Hermione's problems stemmed from a fear of failure, and even after he demonstrated by popping them both around the pond several times, she still couldn't work up the nerve. She was already comfortable carrying Crookshanks, but the difference in size between Harry and a cat was scaring her. He eventually convinced her to try with Dobby, and she was able to do it on her first try. He decided to try another way of getting through to her.
"Hermione, close your eyes," she complied, and he walked up to her, put his arms around her neck, hugging her closely.
"Harry, what are you doing?"
"Just keep you eyes closed, and put your arms around my back," she slowly followed his directions while inhaling deeply. "Now don't worry about anything. Dobby is still right here if anything happens. I want you to imagine you're only holding on to him, and not me."
"Harry, I can't-"
"Yes you can Hermione," he leaned in and dropped his voice to a whisper, "I trust you, and I know you have it in you. The first time you Apparated Crookshanks, you were scared about doing it, right?" She slightly nodded, "But everything turned out fine, and now it doesn't take any extra effort, does it?"
"None," she breathed back.
"Then just forget that I'm even here, or imagine that I'm a part of you; just put yourself on the other side of the pond, and-"
She didn't even wait for him to finish his sentence before she tried, and succeeded, at Apparating the both of them. She was slightly giddy for a moment, and when that passed, Harry had her take him across the garden, then to her parents' house and back. They arrived back in the Weasley's kitchen just as the Delacours came down for breakfast, and soon, thanks to the smells now wafting through the house, everyone there (even Ginny) was enjoying a hearty meal.
"What are you so happy about?" Ron asked from across the table.
Harry hadn't realized that that he'd been sitting back smiling in his chair for most of breakfast. The chaotic warmth of the Burrow in the morning had always been slightly intoxicating to him, and he decided to have a little fun at Ron's expense. "It's Friday." Hermione almost spit out a mouthful of orange juice, realizing he was mocking her.
"Okay, It's Friday. Why should I care?" Ron said, not understanding what his two best friends found so funny.
"Honestly Ron," Hermione piped in, "if you hurry up and get ready, Harry can take you to the Ministry for your Apparation exam."
"You want me to take a test? This early in the morning?"
"Really Ron," Harry said in his most helpful voice, "the morning is the best time to go. The examiner hasn't had to deal with a bunch of kids landing in shopping carts all day." There was an indignant noise, and a glob of flying something coming from Charlie's direction, which Harry easily banished with his wand.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron excused themselves before they could be blamed for starting a food fight; out in the garden, Ron had finally warmed to the idea of being a licensed Apparator, and after a few practice runs he let Harry guide him along to the Ministry, closely followed by Hermione.
Harry had wanted to avoid going past the entrance, trying to keep his name out of the paper, but Hermione guilted him into following them in ("Well I was nice enough to help you during your test.").
In the test center, they found a slightly pale Neville Longbottom waiting all by himself.
"Neville! What are you doing here, did you fail your test the first time around, too?" Ron asked.
"No Ron, his birthday's the day before mine," Harry pointed out, "so he couldn't take it the first time around."
"When did I tell you when my birthday is?" Neville asked in a shaky voice, but his answer was delayed by Wilkie Twycross emerging from his office.
"Mr. Potter! Looks like you've convinced your friends on the benefits of coming in early."
"Benefits?" Ron asked.
"Of course, Mr. Weasley. Unless you'd rather wait through the three hours it takes Evelyn Schmidt to fail everyday. Now, are you all here for a standard license?"
"Ron and Neville both are, and I'm here to try for a Side-Along permit," Hermione answered.
"And I suppose Mr. Potter here is just moral support?" Ron and Hermione nodded, "Well then, we'll be leaving him behind, unless he cares to hide himself for one of you?"
Ron and Neville looked highly confused, but it sounded like a good idea to Harry. When he offered up the Shrieking Shack as a hiding spot, Twycross initially declined saying Hermione could probably figure out where he was and cheat, but when Harry told him he'd be inside the shack, the old man just sighed and gave in, telling him to be careful. Harry didn't think Twycross would believe him if he told the truth.
As Harry sat waiting on the bed, he realized this had been the longest he'd been away from his owl since his own test, and he missed her more than he would have ever guessed. He waited for close to an hour, remembering the last time he was in this room, before the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and Neville Longbottom landed in a heap on the bed next to him.
"Harry! I can't believe that actually worked," Neville said, looking completely amazed.
"Really well done, Neville! How's everything else going?"
"Ron and I both passed, and I'm pretty sure Hermione did as well, but we didn't follow along where ever they went. When Mr. Twycross explained this, I thought he was just talking to Hermione, but he said Ron and I could try as well. They haven't shown up… Where are we?" Neville said, finally noticing his surroundings.
"Well, don't worry, everything's fine. We're inside the Shrieking Shack."
"WHAT?" Neville had lost all the color in his face.
"Really Neville, this place was never haunted, the people just heard Professor Lupin transforming while he was at school and assumed the worst."
"How do you know that? It could just be a line somebody made up to trick us into coming in here," Neville said with a shaky voice.
"He told me himself, here in this room. It was the same night I found out Sirius wasn't an escaped mass murderer," Harry explained, "well, he did escape from Azkaban, but he never murdered anyone."
"You're positive?" Harry nodded, "Alright then. I know you wouldn't lie about your Godfather."
"Harry?" a voice called from his pocket. He pulled out his mirror to greet Hermione, but as soon as she saw the room behind him, "I knew you'd go to the shack! Is Neville there? He made a weird little popping noise when he disappeared, and we're all a little worried."
"He's right here, we were just having a chat. Do we need to come back now?" She said yes, and he put his mirror back in his pocket while explaining to Neville where he'd gotten them.
"Harry, what if they've moved since I left, we don't know where to meet them," Neville pointed out.
"Umm… Well, I can Apparate to Hermione, so do you just want me to bring you along?" Harry asked.
Neville took his arm, and they were engulfed in warmth as before, but now, it seemed almost hot, though far from uncomfortable. "What was that?" Neville asked, shaking his head clear.
"It didn't feel like that when you did it?" Harry asked.
"Not even close. It was weird, not like the normal squeezing feeling. It was almost like somebody gave me a bit of a shove, then I crash landed on that bed," Neville said, looking as perplexed as Harry felt.
"It's all tied to emotion boys, so it will feel different for everyone," Twycross said while handing Neville his license. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I'm sure Evelyn is waiting."
"Barmy old coot, that one," Ron said after he had Disapparated.
"You're just mad he laughed at you for constantly checking your eyebrows," Hermione snapped back.
"So you both passed?" asked Harry.
"Of course," they answered together.
"What now? Do you think your mum needs you back home, Ron?" Harry asked.
"I suspect so, she said something about rehearsing everything so nothing goes wrong tomorrow, honestly, like Charlie and I need to practice walking down an aisle," he complained.
"Well, Harry still needs robes, and we need to find Fleur and Bill a present, so I guess we'll see you around lunchtime," Hermione said, the tone of her voice leaving no room for argument.
"Right then," Ron mumbled before disappearing with a crack.
"Well, since the two of you have plans," said Neville in a put-off voice.
"You don't have to go Neville," Harry interrupted, "if you don't mind Hermione dragging you around," he was quickly silenced with a slap to the back of his head.
"Actually Neville, you wouldn't happen to have any idea the kind of presents Wizards give for weddings, do you?" Hermione asked.
"The last time I went to a wedding I think I was five, but I remember Gran picking up a tea set as a present. The pot kept trying to pour hot water over my head," Neville said, looking slightly disturbed with the memory.
Harry looked around; they were standing on the corner next to Dervish and Banges in Hogsmeade. "Let's look in there, maybe something will jump out at us." He started to make his way there, but Hermione stopped him.
"Robes first, Harry. Come on, just get it over with."
Harry sent a pleading look to Neville, who just shook his head and laughed, following along as Hermione marched him off to Gladrags Wizardwear. As soon as they entered the shop, Harry found himself being assaulted with hugs from both Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell.
"Harry, What are you doing in here?" Alicia asked.
"We've just stopped in so Harry can get some new robes for the Weasley wedding tomorrow," Hermione answered for him.
"Well then, you should get up on the box so Alicia can measure you up," Katie said.
"When did you start working here?" Harry asked.
"Just after I left Hogwarts, which you would have known had you come in at all last year. Really Harry, you need to get a new wardrobe, the grunge look went out years ago," Alicia replied while tugging off the old flannel of Dudley's he was wearing. Over the years he had magically helped along some of the old clothes the Dursleys had given him, and thrown out even more. Most of what he was left with was either only slightly too big, or the things Mrs. Weasley and Dobby had knitted for him.
"So what do you want to wear, Harry?" Alicia asked, making Harry look helplessly over to Neville who just shrugged. Hermione, who had been looking through the racks, called Alicia over to offer a suggestion, and soon the three women were huddled together quietly talking, and occasionally laughing.
"You do realize how much trouble you're in right now, right?" Neville asked Harry.
"Do you suppose I should go make sure they aren't going to dress me in anything frilly?" Harry said while absently trying to wave away the magical tape measure.
"Might be best to leave them to it, besides, I doubt Hermione would let them get too out of control."
"I don't know, sometimes Katie, Alicia, and Angelina all used to act like I was their little doll. They've probably been waiting to play dress-up since first year," Harry grumbled.
An hour later, the women had settled on black dress robes that were heavily accented with deep red velvet. They had also talked Harry into exchanging the clothes he was wearing for some newer things (he thought they were too tight, but even Neville agreed he looked better in them).
"So are all of you going to this wedding tomorrow?" Neville asked as Harry and Alicia were settling his bill.
"Angelina and Alicia are going with Fred and George, and I assume Harry and Hermione were invited as soon as it was scheduled. I wasn't technically invited, but I think I'll just crash it," Katie told him with a smirk. "I thought about trying to get Oliver to come along, but he's starting against the Magpies tomorrow."
"You really don't have to worry about being unwelcome, when Harry asked if my parents could come along, Mrs. Weasley said she always prepares for more," Hermione said.
"Harry got your parents invited? I thought he was dating Ginny," Katie said with a slightly confused look.
"They broke up at the funeral, but what does that have to do with my parents?" asked an equally confused Hermione.
"Oh nothing. I just thought that maybe the two of you were…" Katie trailed off, and it took Hermione a moment to realize where she was going.
"Harry and I are just friends. He happens to be staying at my house for the time being, but that's just because the Burrow is so overloaded with people."
"Why did he break up with Ginny?" Neville asked.
"He mentioned something about how he only went out with her to feel more `normal,' and when they first saw each other at the Burrow they had a talk. Ginny ended up running up to her room crying, but I never talked to her about it."
"What are you all talking about over here?" Harry asked coming back from the counter.
"The girls are just gossiping," replied Neville.
"I do not gossip, Neville," Hermione stated.
"Harry, I'm sorry to hear about your break-up," Katie said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Harry looked over at Hermione, who covered her mouth.
"Oh my God. I was gossiping," she whispered.
"Well, the world didn't end, so let's go find that present," Harry said over the laughs of the others.
"Do you mind if I tag along?" Katie asked. "I was just in here visiting since all of my other friends have gone on holiday or left the country for, other reasons. Makes for kind of a lonely birthday."
"Happy Birthday!" Harry, Hermione, and Neville all exclaimed. "We should all take you to lunch," Harry added, "Why don't you and Neville go get us a table at the Three Broomsticks while Hermione and I finish our shopping." They said good-bye to Alicia and parted ways. Inside Dervish and Banges Harry found a decent size Foe Glass and actually managed to talk Hermione into letting it be the present from the both of them. Harry's moneybag was a little on the light side after buying his clothes, but the clerk let him pay with a Gringotts draft (Hermione had insisted on paying for lunch to cover her half).
Harry Apparated to the Burrow to let the Weasleys' know not expect them (and pick up Hedwig), while Hermione dropped off their purchases at her house. When they both got back to town and entered the Three Broomsticks, they were both a bit surprised to find Madam Rosmerta sitting at the table, tearfully trying to apologize to Katie for giving her the cursed necklace last fall. Their lunches were all on the house, which caused Hermione to sit back, slightly annoyed.
"I swear, this happens every time I try to pay you back for anything," she said in a huff.
"Well, I guess it just makes you responsible for Katie's birthday present," Harry answered her, but the sudden look of glee that came over his former teammate's face scared him, a lot. When she put a privacy bubble up around herself and Hermione, Neville moaned and put his head down on the table.
"You're a great prat," Neville said, "now they're going to want to shop around all day. I should have gone home when I had the chance."
"Don't suppose there's anything your Gran needs help with around the house is there? I'm handy-"
"No, the house-elf takes care of it all-"
"Don't tell Hermione that-"
"Oh I know. My S.P.E.W. badge is still in my trunk somewhere," Neville said, making both of them laugh just as the bubble dissipated.
"What's so funny here?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing," Harry and Neville chorused.
"So are you both ready to go?" Katie asked.
"Go where?" Harry asked. "I mean people are already staring at us-"
"Even those goblins in the corner-" Neville added.
"And if you two think you're you can just drag us down Diagon Ally or someplace like that, it won't work. People will start coming out of nowhere looking for the bloody `Chosen One,' then the next thing we know, we'll have a group of Death Eaters on our tail. We can't have that happening, it's too soon," Harry finished looking directly at Hermione with a stern glare. She should know better than that, he thought to himself.
"I know all of that Harry," Hermione replied looking him straight back, oblivious to the looks they were getting, "but you won't have to worry about that where we're going."
"And where's that?" Neville asked warily.
"Where isn't as important as what we're doing there," Katie pointed out.
"Which is?"
"We're going dancing," Katie simply stated causing two young men to slam their heads into the table, and Tonks (who was sitting a table over disguised as an old woman) to bite her lip until it bled, trying not to laugh.
><><><>
Back outside, Katie Apparated away with Hermione since Harry and Neville should both be able to find her. Harry found it hard not to laugh at the look on Neville's face just before he popped away. As he was tucking Hedwig up against his chest he noticed an old woman watching him from the doorway, and after a second, he thought he recognized her. "That you, Nymphadora?"
The old woman scowled at him before returning to her normal state, "How'd you know?"
"I think I've seen you like that before, I just forget when. Then there's the fact that you've been following us all morning," Harry replied.
"'Right then, hot-stuff," Tonks said, earning her own scowl from Harry, "You gonna tell me where you're off to, or do I have to go home and tell Moony you snuck off on me?"
"I don't even know; I'm just Apparating to Hermione. If you've still got your cloak I can bring you along. I don't know what all they're planning, and it might be good to have some backup, just in case." Tonks agreed, and threw her invisibility cloak over herself. When Harry felt her take hold of his arm, he brought them both through what he was beginning to think of as a tube of fire, opposed to the normal rubber tube. When he arrived he could have sworn he heard Tonks whisper "That was interesting," but couldn't ask what she meant without giving her away.
"What took you so long, Harry?" asked Neville, looking a bit relieved.
"I was just getting Hedwig all set," Harry said as his owl flew to a nearby tree. Hermione looked like she wanted to question him, but Harry didn't give her that chance. "So, where are we?"
"We're in the lovely town of Eastbourne," Katie said happily.
Harry slowly looked around. There was a heavy salt smell to the air, which reminded him a little too much of his trip with Dumbledore, but the area around was not as rocky as where they'd been, instead there was a wide beach and a massive pier.
"Isn't this where the Muggles go when they retire?" Neville asked.
"Well, it does have a certain reputation," Hermione answered, "but Katie and I thought that would just help keep a low profile. There's probably not another Witch or Wizard for miles, much less any Death Eaters."
"And we are here to go to the Tea Dance," Katie said as she grabbed Harry's arm to drag him up the street, and he could have sworn he heard Tonks sniggering nearby.
When they arrived at the hall, Harry and Neville were relieved to find out they were a couple of hours too early, and thought they'd use the time to try and talk their way out of participating. Katie put on a small pout, and reminded them it was her birthday, dooming them both. When the time came, Harry put a Disillusionment Charm on Hedwig so she could come inside.
Thankfully, Katie and Hermione both had a good supply of Muggle money to pay for their tickets; once inside Harry (who was slightly ashamed to have someone else pay his way) dumped the remaining contents of his moneybag into Katie's purse. He wanted to offer some form of an apology, but no words came to mind, and since she seemed to be enjoying herself, he left it there.
Once they were seated and a round of tea and biscuits were served, an organist started playing causing several couples (most of whom Harry noted had either grey or white hair) to begin dancing. Accepting his fate, he looked across the table to the girls, who were discreetly tapping their shoes with their wands, and to Neville, who had the same look of resignedness. "Why exactly do we have to do this?"
"Because it's my birthday," Katie immediately answered.
"And it will be good practice for tomorrow," Hermione added.
Harry tried to retort, but Neville beat him to it, "I'm not even going to that wedding, no one invited me!"
"Technically I'm not invited, but I'm not going to let that stop me. If you do well enough tonight, I just might be forced to bring you along," Katie said before dragging Harry out on the dance floor.
After an hour of some traditional slower dances and a few waltzes, the music changed to something that Harry guessed to be a tango; he quickly excused himself and fled for the table, joined almost instantly by Neville.
"Well, I'm surprised you two lasted as long as you did," Hermione said as she sat back down between them.
"And I don't think I even needed the Imperturbable Charm on my shoes," Katie said as she sat four large glasses down on the table.
"What's that?" Neville asked
"These, are pints Neville."
"Is that the stuff Dean's always going on about?" he asked Harry while taking a glass.
"Well, the beer inside is," Harry told him as he took one for himself. "You really shouldn't have bought these, it's your birthday," he added looking over to Katie.
"I think you've more than paid me back," she replied as she opened her purse and shook it a bit, letting them all hear the coins happily jangling around inside. "Wait a sec, why did you have a S.P.E.W. badge with your money Harry?" Katie asked pulling out a small green disc.
Harry quickly snatched the badge from her hand, "Oh, you never know when you might be asked to show your support," he said, earning him another smack to the head from Hermione, even though she had an amazed smile on her face.
The four of them sat out the rest of the dance. At one point one of the younger girls in attendance asked Harry to dance, which he politely refused (she reminded him too much of Pansy Parkinson), and they enjoyed a good laugh when she started shrieking about bird droppings in her drink shortly thereafter.
They walked around the city for a while afterwards. Neville surprised them all when he led them into a pub, and after Hermione bought both the boys and Katie several rounds of drinks ("Well someone needs to be able to Apparate you all home"), Harry realized he was in quite a good mood. His only real experience with alcohol had been cleaning up after Uncle Vernon and Aunt Marge when she visited; he used to think that drinking brought out the worst in people, but now with some first hand knowledge he decided it was just them.
Venturing back towards the pier sometime later, Harry was reminiscing about his time in Hagrid's hut with Slughorn. "Neville, have you ever heard of some old bloke named Odo?"
"No, but I'll find him, Harry," he nearly shouted back as he pulled out his wand. "Accio Odo!"
"Neville!" all three of the others screeched.
"I think I saw him move Harry, I'll go get him!" he shouted back as he took off towards a bandstand down the way. They all immediately tore after him, but once they reached the bandstand Harry and Katie both collapsed against a railing laughing furiously.
"It's a good thing there's no Aurors around, Neville could be in some serious trouble," Katie said once she got her breath back.
Harry suddenly remembered Tonks had been following him around, "Well, I'm sure if there were an Auror here, she would realize where her help would be needed," he said a little louder than he need to. The sound of someone cursing softly followed by retreating footsteps made him sure his point was taken.
"Who's `she?' You have some new Auror girlfriend hiding in the bushes?" Katie asked with a smirk.
"She's not my girlfriend, she's Remus's. He still thinks I need a minder so she tails me when she's not on duty. I think Moody takes over for her when she's busy," Harry told her, being entirely too truthful.
"Moody? Remus? Is that how you got so good at Defense, hanging out with all of our old professors?"
"Well, I don't hang around Mad-Eye if I can help it, and Remus was one of my dad's best mates when he was in school, along with Sirius Black."
"Is that why you have people watching out for you, because Black's still out there?"
Harry looked at her like she was stupid, "Sirius, my godfather, never did anything wrong. Well, anything illegal. Well, he didn't belong in Azkaban. The rat he was tracking down killed all those people and snuck away in the sewers. I went to the Department of Mysteries last June to save him, but it didn't work. He's dead now." Harry's good mood had evaporated without him realizing it and he found himself seated on the ground leaning back against the railing.
"I'm so sorry Harry. I didn't realize…" she sat down next to him and tightly embraced him.
"I can only imagine what he'd say if he found us all here today."
"You think he'd be upset?"
"No, he'd be proud. Probably end up buying us all another pint, or more."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Katie said as she roughly pulled him to his feet.
In an instant, Harry's world felt like it had been turned on end. Everything blurred and he could have sworn every drop of blood in his body had suddenly rushed to his head. "No, I don't think another pint is a good idea after all," he said, quickly sitting back down with his head between his knees.
Katie laughed softly, "Oh Harry, I never would have guessed you'd be such a lightweight."
"Am not," Harry said indignantly.
"So you would have no problem dancing with me right now?"
"But there's no mus-" he cut himself off as he realized there in fact was music coming from the stage where a small band dressed in military uniforms were playing.
Katie once again pulled him to his feet, though much slower this time. Harry was still a bit disorientated, so it took everything he had to simply put his arms around her waist and slump his head onto her shoulder (luckily she was nearly as tall as he was). She put her arms around his back and gently swayed them both around for a bit, which somehow slowly helped to clear his head. "Feel better yet?" Katie asked as she ran a hand through his hair. Harry just nodded and held her a little tighter. He felt fairly - comfortable.
"You know Harry, back in your third year, the week after we'd beaten Ravenclaw in Quidditch; I almost asked you to go to Hogsmeade with me." His head shot up and he took in her very nervous expression. "I even asked George about it. He told me you didn't have permission to go, but he would help you sneak out if I was serious. I didn't want you to get in trouble, so I decided to stay behind and keep you company, but then I couldn't find you anywhere in the castle."
He stared blankly at her for a long moment then, "I was in Hogsmeade under my Invisibility Cloak."
"You have an Invisibility Cloak?"
Harry pulled his cloak out from his magically enlarged back pocket and discreetly slid it over them. "It was my dad's, but Dumbledore ended up having it when he died. He gave it to me for Christmas my first year."
"I should have asked you after the game, like I wanted to," Katie said as she placed a hand softly on his cheek.
When she touched his face, Harry suddenly realized just how close they were; he realized just where this situation could end up, and before the rational part of his brain could do anymore realizing, his mouth started working on its own. "You know, you were the first girl to kiss me, that day after the match."
"I know," she said while blushing.
"But not just that day. You were the first ever, well I suppose my mum kissed me plenty; I just don't remember it. I barley noticed Alicia and Angelina, I was so surprised when you-" before he could finish she had rammed her lips up into his. Acting purely on instinct he tightened his grip on her; sliding one hand up her back to the base of her neck, while the other traveled in a different direction. An indeterminate time later Katie made a noise that half-way resembled a gasp which further confused Harry, until he noticed one of his hands had wandered up underneath her shirt. Blushing madly, and slightly afraid of being hit, Harry pulled back. The dreamy expression on Katie's face vanished as she opened her eyes, replaced with one of utter terror.
"Oh Harry, I'm so - I mean I never - damn it all-" and without finishing a sentence, she took half a step back under the cloak, and Disapparated.
Harry didn't know how long he stood there, but as far as he was concerned, no matter how long he thought about it, he would never understand women. He was brought out of his stupor by Neville calling his name, and after slipping his cloak back into his pocket, he found his schoolmate walking towards him carrying a bucket full of bottles of beer.
"Harry! I couldn't find that Odo bloke, but I think I remember my great uncle Algie singing a song about him dying. Is he a ghost?"
"Neville; where did you get that bucket, and where is Hermione?"
"Is Hermione still here? I haven't seen her since we left the pub, figured Katie pulled her along somewhere."
"No, Katie just went home, I hope, and Hermione went after you when you were trying to find Odo. Now what about the bucket?"
Neville looked down at his hands and examined what he was carrying, "Oh yeah, there was some bloke selling these outside a pub a ways back, but he was chatting up some blonde, so I just took it and left him some money," Neville said while gesturing in three different directions, one of which only led to the sea, before handing Harry one of the bottles.
"And how did you pay for it?" Harry asked before taking a long drink.
"I left him a couple Galleons. Should be more than enough when he gets it exchanged." Harry, who had completely forgotten that Muggles wouldn't even realize what the gold coins were, saw no flaws in his logic, so the two of them took the bucket and went down to the beach, figuring Hermione would find them eventually.
><><><>
As Harry and Neville were finishing off the last of their beverages, Hermione and Tonks (who given up using her cloak due to too much running) finally found them sitting in the sand laughing hysterically about nothing at all.
"Oh, now this is perfect, they're completely pissed," complained Tonks, drawing Neville's attention.
"Harry, that girl has green hair. What if she's a Slytherin sent here to spy on you?" Neville said quite loudly.
"Honestly Neville, that's professor Lupin's girlfriend you're talking about now."
"Oh," Neville said going wide eyed. "I'm sorry about that Ma'am."
Tonks flinched at being addressed that way, "Where's the other girl, Katie is it?"
"Harry scared her away," Neville pointed out.
"And we didn't know where you were, so we just found a place to sit down and wait for you," Harry added. "What took you so long to find us Hermio-" he cut himself off when he saw how furious she looked. He knew he had done something wrong, he just wasn't sure what; all he could do was lower his head and say, "I'm sorry."
"You'd better be. Tonks and I have spent the last hour confounding Muggles so we could swap the Galleons they seem to be finding for sterling."
"That was him," Harry quickly pointed towards Neville, or at least a spot three feet to the left of Neville.
"Hey! You weren't complaining when we were splitting the bucket!"
"But Hermione wasn't mad then."
"Alright you two," Tonks interrupted, "it's time to get you both home." She pulled Neville up, who swayed for a moment before falling back to the sand.
"Where's Hedwig?" Harry asked in their general direction.
"Over on that light post, that's how we found you," Hermione told him. "Now come on." She carefully stood him up, and once the owl joined them, she Apparated them all to her parents' house, leaving Tonks to deal with Neville.
It wasn't very late when Hermione led a staggering Harry through the house, and her father soon discovered them. "Is everything okay Hermione?"
"It's fine dad. Harry and one of our friends just decided to split a pail-full of beers, and I don't think he's had much experience drinking alcohol."
"Do you want me to take him upstairs for you?"
"That's alright. If I have trouble, I can always levitate him."
"No…" Harry piped in. "Spinning… No leviosa."
"Well, it just teaches you not to go off drinking with you friends," Hermione snapped, leaving her laughing father behind them.
"But Her… Hrr… `Mione, you made us… With the dancing…"
"Well, it was Katie's idea, and being her birthday and all-"
"Katie kissed me… Then she left. Maybe Ron was right and I am a bad kisser."
Hermione had almost dropped Harry at the entrance to his room from the shock, but quickly recovered and set him on the bed. He seemed to be unable to move anything below his neck, so she began taking his shoes off for him. "From what I've heard from Ginny, that's not the problem Harry."
"She said she almost asked me out in third year, but she ran away tonight, so I must have done something wrong."
"Harry," she said with a sudden burst of sympathy, "most girls are scared of being associated with you, especially now. At first you were just the Boy Who Lived, and they liked the mystery, but were afraid you would get them in trouble because of it. Now that they think you're the Chosen One, they know it's not safe to get too close to you, figuring that will just make Voldemort target them specifically. I'm sure everyone will assume you broke up with Ginny for the same reasons."
"You're not scared," he pointed out.
"Well, I'm sure by now he knows how close we are, so short of marrying you, I don't think there's much I could do to be a bigger target."
"I can just imagine the look on that wanker's face. Another Muggle-born Mrs. Potter, that would be great, except I'd spend most of my time worrying about you." If he'd been able to open his yes, Harry would have seen her blush brilliantly.
"You deserve better than me, Harry. I'm not some tall, beautiful thing like Cho, or Katie, or even Ginny."
"You're certainly not tall…" he managed to get out before completely passing out, leaving a slightly confused Hermione kneeling at his bedside.
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