Chapter 11 - Hogsmeade Weekend
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!
AN: Here you go another chapter :D, thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work once more!
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Harry was sitting in the changing rooms, along with his fellow team-mates. Wood was pacing back and forth in front of them; today they were starting training for this years Quidditch tournament.
"Well! This is my last chance…my last chance to win the house cup for Gryffindor. We have had many things go wrong, injuries and such, which has caused us to miss out on the cup the last couple of years." Wood said shooting a glance at Harry, "But I know we have the best team here, and THIS YEAR WE ARE GOING TO WIN!" The team cheered at his.
"We have a great team and the best seeker that has graced this school in over a century… oh and we have me." Wood said a little sleepily.
"And a fine Keeper you are too Wood." Fred said happily.
"Bloody good." said George.
"Smashing!" said Fred, who then looked over at Harry, Harry just nodded.
"We actually have something to tell as well." said George happily,
"Our wonderful…"
"And Handsome…"
"Seeker here has decided that if Malfoy wanted to donate brooms, then he would too." The twins said. Everyone was looking around excitedly, it was then that Fred leaned over and pulled off Harry's cloak from out of thin air. When the cloak was removed, everyone was staring at the brooms in awe…Firebolts!
At once everyone jumped up and tackled Harry who just laughed…everyone except for Wood that was who was standing in the same place staring at the brooms, his mouth hanging open slightly.
"H-Harry… this must have cost a fortune… we couldn't take them." Wood said softly. All the team members seemed to think on this and nodded in agreement.
Harry just grinned, "Well you have to… I can't take them back, they're already register to you. Oh and they each have your last name engraved on the handle. You should have seen the look on the guy's face when I asked for seven Firebolts…" Harry said shaking his head in amusement.
"How could you afford this…?" asked Katie.
Harry just gave her a small half smile, "Malfoy may brag about having lots of money… I don't." Harry said softly. Katie just nodded; everyone guessed it was from his parents.
"OK! We will take them Harry… and thank you so much, BUT we do NOT tell anyone! I want to surprise Slytherin." Wood said with a large grin. Everyone nodded in agreement and then went out to practice.
*------*
The rest of the week went fairly fast, it was now Friday and tomorrow they would be going to Hogsmeade for the first time. Well first time in this… time. Harry, Hermione and Ron were all sitting in the common room before it was time to head out for classes. It was rather weird, they all seemed to wake up early, though put it down to the excitement of going to Hogsmeade.
"OH it's going to be great! I heard that there's a shop that just sells quills!" Hermione said excitedly, Ron snorted at his, though Harry looked at him.
"Oh I don't know Ron… you do know you can buy auto-note quills don't you? And auto-correcting quills." Harry said seriously, he nearly laughed as Ron brightened at this.
"Really!? I have to get one. Um…Harry you wouldn't be able to lend me some money if I need…I'll pay you back." Ron mumbled. Harry was shocked, Ron was usually jealous that Harry had more money, and not once had he asked to borrow some.
"Sure Ron… it's no problem." Harry said with a small smile, which Ron returned.
"That's just like you Ron, buying a quill that will…" Hermione started but was cut off by a loud meow from Crookshanks who then went running for something in the corner. It was then Harry saw it…Scabbers! Ron must have also seen his pet rat/Death Eater since he quickly ran to rescue him but the two pets had already left the common room. When they got outside they found Crookshanks sticking his paw into what looked like a mouse hole.
Harry was cursing inside; he had been looking out for the rat ever since he got back to Hogwarts! If only he had the marauders map! It would be so much easier to find him!
"Your stupid bloody cat Hermione! Why did you even buy the thing!" Ron yelled, "I've been looking for Scabbers since I got back to Hogwarts and when he finally shows up your thing chases him away!"
"All cats chase rats Ron! It's in their nature! Maybe if you took better care of your animals he wouldn't have run away in the first place!" Hermione hissed back at him. Ron seemed offended by this comment.
"I look after Scabbers! It's you! You don't care if your thing eats other people's pets!" Ron yelled.
"YOU HAVE NEVER CARED ABOUT YOUR BLOODY RAT BEFORE! IN FACT I REMEMBER YOU SAYING THAT YOU WISHED HE WOULD JUST DIE! Don't you dare say I don't care! You're the one that does not care!" Hermione yelled before stalking down the great hall. Harry followed her.
"You're taking her side!" Ron accused Harry.
"Nope, I'm taking no sides in this, I just want some breakfast." Harry replied. Ron soon realized too that it was time for breakfast and followed after them.
The day went normally though Ron and Hermione didn't utter a word to each other. In fact Hermione had been very cosy with Harry the whole day, making a point to kiss him and snuggle close to him. Harry knew that she was trying to annoy Ron but could also tell through their link that she was rather enjoying herself.
It was nearly the end of transfiguration when Professor McGonagall called the lesson to end, "Now tomorrow is Hogsmeade weekend. Since I am your head of house, you will need to hand your permission slips over to me today." she said.
Neville slowly raised his hand, "Umm professor I think I left mine at home…" he said nervously.
"Your grandmother has already sent it through Mr. Longbottom." McGonagall said.
Everyone then got up and handed their slips to McGonagall and left the classroom. Harry waited behind though.
"Yes Mr Potter?" she asked.
"I'll need another slip to sign… I left mine at the Dursleys before I left there." Harry said.
"You need your guardian to sign it Mr Potter, you cannot sign it yourself." She said sternly, Harry just gave her a half smile.
"Well… they're not my guardians anymore… I'm classified as an adult. I got emancipated during the summer actually." Harry said. McGonagall's eyes shot up at this announcement.
"I will need to check the files first. Wait here, I'll be back in a minute." Professor McGonagall then walked into the office in the back of the classroom. She came back out two minutes later with a permission slip in her hand.
"Just sign this, and you're allowed to go." she said handing Harry over the slip which he quickly signed and handed back to her. Harry then turned to leave the classroom.
"Mr. P-Harry?" she called before he left, Harry turned around to see she was smiling at him, "I'm glad you got out of their house… though I don't think Dumbledore will be too happy about it. I will keep it quiet for you." she said, Harry just smiled.
"Thank you." he said before he left the classroom.
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Harry, Hermione and Ron arrived at Hogsmeade and just stood at the entrance to the town, looking around at all the shops. Hermione took Harry's hand before she rushed into the street. Ron was laughing at the two of them as he followed.
The first shop that they came across that they needed to visit was Dervish and Banges to get Ron's sneakoscope looked at. When they entered the store Harry noticed lots of simple dark detectors hanging around the shop. He also noticed some of the things that they had modified in the future to do different things.
Ron handed over his pocket sneakoscope, saying that it seemed to be going off for no reason some times. After the clerk carefully examined it he handed it back saying that there was no problem with it, that it was working fine and that when it went off something must be happening without them knowing or seeing it.
Harry knew the reason it went off was because of Peter but he couldn't really tell Ron that his pet rat was actually an animagus Death Eater. They left the store when a ringing sound came from Harry pocket. He pulled out his mobile and saw that Ron was just looking at him strangely.
"What's that Harry?" he asked though Harry shushed him as he pressed the answer button and put the phone to his ear.
"So you're at Hogsmeade?" Sirius asked,
"Yeah… we're there now… have the whole day here. Are you coming?" Harry said talking into the mobile phone.
"Yes, I'll be there in about an hour. I'll meet you at the entrance in my usual disguise… don't forget to call me Maurice Sampson." Sirius said, happy since he was going to be seeing Harry again.
"Ok, so we will meet you in an hour then." Harry said before he hung up the phone and put it in his pocket. When Harry put the device away, Ron decided it was ok to speak again.
"What in the name of Merlin was that thing?" Ron asked pointing to his pocket where the phone now was.
"You know the muggles how they have a telephone?" Harry asked. Ron nodded, remembering something about that and the way muggles used them to talk to each other.
"Well that was a portable one of those." Harry said. Ron just nodded, still not completely understanding what he was talking about.
"Who was it Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Oh it was Maurice… he's going to be meeting us in about an hour at the entrance." Harry said. Hermione nodded, knowing who he was talking about, Ron though didn't.
"Who's Maurice?" he asked.
"Oh, he's someone I met during the summer, helped me out with a lot of banking stuff and things to get me away from the Dursleys." Harry said. Ron just nodded again.
"So where to now?" Ron asked.
"Well… Scrivenshaft's Quills is just over there." Harry said pointing out the quill shop. They then headed over there.
They were in the store for about thirty minutes as Hermione was looking through the hundreds of different kinds of quills. Harry had given Ron some money and he too was hunting through them.
Hermione ended up buying an auto-notes quill and about ten other different kinds of normal quills as well as some more ink.
Ron had also bought an auto-notes quill as well as an auto-correction quill and an auto-copying quill that copied the text from one piece of parchment to another. Harry had just brought an auto-notes quill; he didn't need any new quills but knew this one would be handy in History of Magic.
After that they headed into Honeydukes. Ron when wild, again Harry had lent him some money. When they finally came out Ron had two large bags, packed full of lollies, most of the students were looking at him in amazement. The amount he had was ridiculous! Hermione was muttering something about a waste of money, while Harry was just chuckling to himself. He knew any normal person wouldn't be able to eat all the sweets Ron had… but then again when it came to food, Ron wasn't exactly normal.
By now it was time to meet Sirius, so the three of them made it back to the entrance. They were waiting for a couple of minutes before a familiar blonde walked up to them.
"Hello Harry, Hello Hermione." he said, he then turned to Ron, "and I don't think we have met before." Sirius/Maurice said holding out his hand to Ron.
"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley" Ron said.
"Ah yes of course, Harry's other best friend…well his best friends without… advantages." Sirius said with a raised eyebrow at Hermione which caused her to blush. Ron started laughing, he already like this man.
"So! What do you say we head to the Three Broomsticks?" Sirius/Maurice said with a large grin. The three teens nodded and walked down to the pub.
When they got to the pub they saw that it was fairly crowded. Looking around they could see heaps of different people. There were a couple of vampires in a dark corner of the bar and there seemed to be two ogres in here as well.
The four of them ended up finding a free table towards the back of the pub. A young lady came up to them and took their drink orders. Ron, Hermione and Harry all ordered Butterbeer while Sirius/Maurice got a Firewhiskey. Hermione was on the edge of her seat when she got her drink. She took a quick sip and let out a small groan.
"Oh this is great!" she said before taking another small drink. Harry just laughed softly and Hermione scooted over closer to him, so that Harry could wrap his arm around her.
Ron was taking small sips of his Butterbeer but seemed to be eyeing Sirius' Firewhiskey. Sirius also seemed to notice this and called the waitress over again and ordered another three shots of Firewhiskey.
When the lady was gone, he passed one to Ron and another to Harry. Hermione's eyes went wide when he did this.
"You can't give them this! They're underage!" she hissed at Sirius. Sirius just grinned, there was that sparkle back in his eyes again. Harry pulled Hermione back and softly whispered in her ear.
"Trust me… nothing's going to happen, in fact watch Ron…" Harry said with a grin.
Ron picked up the shot of the amber liquid, he looked at Sirius with admiration, "You're the best adult I have ever met!" he said with a large grin on his face before he gulped the shot down. Instantly, his eyes went wide as steam shot from his ears… Sirius just laughed, he then lit his drink, letting it stay on fire for a bit before he blew it out and drank the drink.
"You have to light it up first." Sirius said with a grin, "Or else that happens."
Hermione seemed to be stifling her laughed as Harry also lit his drink, then blew out the flames. He offered some to Hermione. She took a tiny sip before putting it back down and drinking half her Butterbeer.
"Now I now why it's called Firewhiskey." Hermione said, "It burns the hell out of your throat."
Harry just chuckled before slamming the shot down. He after all had been drinking this on occasion in the future.
They spent the rest of the day in the pub talking about a number of different things. One of the main topics was Quidditch between Ron and Sirius. When this happened Harry and Hermione would usually have their own little conversations and gave each other small light kisses every now and again. When Ron saw them this caused him to make gagging sounds, which earned him a glare from both Harry and Hermione.
When it was time to go, they said their goodbyes and Harry promised to call Sirius more. They then left and walked back up to the school.
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AN: There you go! Will what did you all think? R/R!