Harry Potter and The Tomb of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and

The Tomb of Hogwarts

Chapter 16

The Date

The rest of the week went by quite quickly, most noticeably in Duelling class.

The A Class showed him slightly more respect than they had in previous classes, but it was barely noticeable except that their questions seemed to have a bit more thought behind them as though they might be trying to impress.

Class B was quite the same, although the Slytherins did seem to be quite a bit quieter than in their previous class.

However, Classes C and D seemed to have been much more affected by Harry's now infamous victory over Malfoy.

Class C, for instance, seemed to hang on Harry's every word, even the Slytherins, and every challenge and demonstration was answered with hands up by all students, Slytherins included.

The D class, of course, was the most severely affected class of all. This was started by the opening remarks Snape made when class began on Friday.

"Before we begin today," Snape began, "I would like to make something very clear. Wednesday's challenge was a one time only challenge, and I expect that Professor Potter had quite well displayed his abilities to teach this class."

The class was completely silent as he let these words float for a moment, staring down everyone who seemed to challenge this thought. Of course, this was a very short list, comprised mainly of Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and one or two other Slytherins sitting near by.

"In addition," he continued, "for any of you who feel that Professor Potter was lucky in that Duel, I recommend you do not. Professor Potter and I have, and continue to have Duels twice a month and I can assure you that you have not seen but a small taste of Mr. Potter's abilities. Of course, if you still wish to question his abilities I might suggest you speak to the Headmaster, as he and Professor Potter also duel on a regular basis."

Many of the faces around the classroom went pale as they turned their attention to Harry, awe and wonderment in their eyes. Here was the boy who lived, duelling with the only wizard You-Know-Who ever feared.

The remainder of the class went on very quickly. They grouped together as they had before and continued to work on the basic spells, going back and forth trying to disarm their partners with one of three different spells. Of course, Malfoy did his best not to do anything in the class, but Snape whispered something in his ear, and a few moments later he paired up with Crabbe and began practicing with the rest of the students.

At the end of class, while the students headed off to their own classes, Harry sat back and relaxed. Fridays were his one day where he had no classes after Duelling, so he would lay back and relax at his desk.

Just before Snape descended into his passageway, Harry asked him about what he whispered into Malfoy's ear.

"I told him that his best chance at showing you up would be for him to learn everything he could from you. That way, the next time you met he would know everything you know as well as those few spells he knows which you do not."

Harry smiled. "I take it you hadn't mentioned that Professor Dumbledore is also teaching me a few new spells."

"Oh, is he. You know, the thought had never occurred to me," he replied with a grin. "I will see you Sunday evening, then?"

"Yes sir," Harry replied.

He spent the rest of the period just laying back and thinking of his first week of classes. All in all, it had gone much better than he had hoped.

And so the week had finally come to an end.

Now, Harry was getting dressed again in his dorm room after having taken his second shower of the day, even though it was just coming up on nine o'clock in the morning.

He wanted to look extra nice today for Amanda, hoping to make a good impression. His previous first date was with Cho and lord knows that didn't go well. Half way through the date, he'd opened a can of worms that led to an entire month of misery before he was able to even speak to her again, and by then things had changed quite a bit.

But that wasn't going to happen this time. He was two years older and a lot wiser when it came to women, especially after seeing how Ron and Hermione acted with each other. He would not make the same mistakes. Plus, she already knew that Ron and Hermione would be coming along, so that was another problem that would be avoided.

He finished getting dressed and headed for the sink where he shaved, even though he had barely grown any hair on his face within the past week. Then he tried to pull his hair back, but it wasn't quite long enough for a ponytail and he was done waiting for it to grow. It was taking forever.

"Just grow already, will yah?" he shouted.

And that's all it took. As though watching a movie on fast forward, Harry's hair began to grow, and grow, and grow some more, until it finally stopped just a few inches from the floor.

Laughing at himself for a moment, Harry pulled out his wand, and with a quick flick his hair was cut so that it lay a nice and neat six inches down his back where he pulled it back into a ponytail.

He looked at himself in the mirror and found that it seemed to age him a bit. He could surely pass for a seventh year this way, perhaps even a first year graduate.

Quite pleased with himself he headed down into the common room where he found Hermione, also dressed up quite nicely, and Ron, sitting eagerly with Parvati Patel, as though showing her off. Harry figured it was all an act, trying to show off to Hermione who seemed to be putting on a show of her own by not paying notice to either of them.

But it seemed that Harry's reason for being there was to draw their attention as they both noticed him at the same time and called out to him at the same time.

"Harry! Ready for a great day out at Hogsmeade?" Ron bellowed.

"Wow, Harry. You look fantastic," Hermione repeated after her first attempt was overshadowed by Ron.

"Thanks, Hermione. You don't think it's too much, do you?" Harry replied nervously.

"Oh no, I think it looks very nice. It's really quite becoming. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were the same age as the twins."

"What are you talking about?" Ron interrupted. "I don't see a difference... Oh, you grew your hair out. I hadn't noticed."

"Of course you hadn't noticed. After all, it took you four years to notice I was a girl, now didn't it?"

"What? How... Oh, forget it. I've got better things to do than to argue with... Hey, where are you going?"

Hermione, having settled the argument in her own mind, was walking to the portrait hole, looking back just as the door was opening.

"I'm going to get my date, if that's alright with you, Ronald," she spat.

"Right then," Harry said unenthusiastically. "Well, off we go then. And by the way, Parvati, you look quite nice today. Don't you think she looks nice Ron?" he added, trying to give Ron the hint.

"Oh yeah. She looks very nice. Honestly I was a bit surprised she said yes, you know, after how big of a git I was to her sister at the Yule Ball."

"Yes," Parvati replied politely. "Well Professor Trelawney said that I would be spending a lot of time over the next year with a tall red-headed boy and that, after he got over a certain social problem, I would find him to be very charming. She said it would be a rough start, but by Christmas things would work themselves out and I would be quite happy with him for the rest of the year."

Harry wondered if that meant the school year, which ended six months later, or the actual year, which meant three months of misery would grant them one week of happiness. But for Ron's sake, he decided not to bring it up.

So they all headed out of the portrait hole and proceeded to the Entrance Hall where they found Hermione, waiting politely and in rapid talks with one of the exchange students Harry immediately recognizes as the Collin wanna-be. His head dropped for a moment, then he noticed who was with them and his spirits rose so quickly he thought he could jump the whole flight of stairs in a single bound.

It seemed to take forever for them to finally reach the ground floor. When they did, Amanda stepped forward quickly and wrapped her arm around Harry's, pulling him firmly to her as though they had done this for the past year, and it felt remarkable comfortable to Harry.

After a series of introductions around, they all headed out the front door and came to Filch's line where he was taking names to make sure that only those with permission were allowed to go to Hogsmeade.

Hermione and David went first, followed by Ron and Parvati, and finally Harry and Amanda. When they stepped forward, Harry was in for another little surprise.

"Alright," he said, looking over Amanda's paper. "It looks like everything is in order, Miss Johnson. You may go."

Then, turning his attention to Harry, he nodded and, with a slight nod he added, "Mr. Potter."

That was it. He didn't check Harry's paperwork, and after a few moments he asked, "Don't you need to see my permission slip, Sir?"

"Of course not, Mr. Potter. You're still a Professor, aren't you?"

"Well, yes, I guess I am," he replied with a smile.

"Well then, you don't need a permission slip now do you, or have you not read the complete admittance packet for all staff?"

He hadn't, but he wasn't about to admit it. "Oh, that's right. Sorry, I've just been a bit overwhelmed with this week, being my first week as a professor and all. Well, thank you, Mr. Filch."

"Have a good trip, Professor. And do try to remember that the rules about Dungbombs apply to both student and teacher, will you?"

"Yes Sir. Thank you," he added, pulling Amanda with him as they took their leave.

"He sounds like a load of fun, doesn't he?"

"Oh, the stories I could tell you. Come on, we need to catch up to the group."

And so they rushed off to meet up with Ron, Hermione, and their two dates.

Hogsmeade was filled with quick chatter as the students were hopping from one store to the next, picking up candy and butterbeer, Dungboms and Fizzing Wizbees.

They first headed over to Honeydukes to pick up some treats, then headed over to the Three Broomsticks for a round of drinks. Ron and Parvati seemed content on talking about the DA while Hermione and David chatted about America. He was showing her a small silver box which Harry could only barely see, but it seemed to have Hermione's undivided attention.

Meanwhile, Harry and Amanda sat by the window and talked about Quidditch, the Triwizard Tournament, and their first experiences with magic.

It seems that purebloods are extremely rare in the states and almost all wizards and witches find out what they are only by doing accidental magic, and even then they usually don't know for sure until they do something big enough to get the attention of the Federal Department of Magic.

"That's how I found out," said Amanda, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "It was my eleventh birthday and all I wanted was a pet dog. I begged Mom and Dad for weeks to get me one, but when my birthday came around, all I had was a stuffed animal. So, on the morning of my birthday, just after breakfast, they told me I could only open one present. I found the biggest box, of course, and opened it, hoping as hard as I could that it was a puppy. Well, that's what it was supposed to be, sort of."

Harry gave her a quizzical look, but she just grinned before explaining.

"Well, I used to collect stuffed animals when I was young too, and since Mom and Dad thought I was still a bit too young for a read dog they gave me a big stuffed Dalmatian instead. Only, when I opened the box, out jumped a real Dalmatian, barking and jumping around all over the place. I was so happy I hadn't noticed the shock and horror on my parent's faces until the suddenly grabbed me and pulled me away from the dog, shouting and trying to bat it away with the broom. Of course, they were just scared because what was supposed to be a stuffed animal somehow turned into a full sized dog."

Amanda took another sip of her butterbeer and Harry joined her, never taking his eyes off her beautiful face.

"This stuff is really good," she commented, taking another sip.

"Yea, real good," Harry said dumbly. She just smiled back.

"So anyway, about a minute after they pulled me back, watching the dog run around the room, here comes a knock at the door. The thing was, Mom and Dad were so shocked to see the dog that they didn't move. Honestly, I don't even know if they head the knock, so after the third knock, I walked over and opened the door. Enter Mr. and Mrs. FDM, flashing their badges and waving around these weird cell phones. The moment they pointed their phones at the dog, all of the sudden they started ringing. Just as normal as you like, this lady waved her hand towards the dog and just like that, it turned back into a stuffed animal. Boy, if you think my parents were scared before, you should have seen them after that. They nearly jumped out of their own skins, literally."

"So what happened?" Harry asked intently.

"Well, they sat us all down and told us what happened, explained that I was a Sorceress and that there were special schools for us. Of course, at first Mom and Dad were really scared and they had to be paralyzed to stop from going nuts, but after half an hour everything had been settled and I was on my way to a new school."

"They paralyzed your parents? Isn't that a bit harsh against a Muggle?"

"Well, I thought it was at first, but you know how the government is. They always have to have their own way. So, I moved to a new school and Mom and Dad got a deduction on their taxes each year because I'm a Sorceress. After they got used to the idea, everything else went along just fine."

"Wow. And your parents are okay with everything now?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Oh yeah, they're just fine now. But with the law surrounding Magical knowledge, you'd kinda have to be. I mean, with all the cover-ups out there, when you find out the truth, there's no going back."

"Cover-ups? What do you mean?"

"Oh, that's a long story which I'll save for our next date, but let's just say that most of America's history was impacted by magic a lot more than any Norms would think."

Next Date? Harry thought. Well, that's a lot better than being scolded for having friends before running out on me.

"Uh, sorry, what's a Norm?" He asked, trying to recover from his own thoughts.

"You know, Norms. Normal people. Muggles."

"Oh, got it." he replied stupidly.

"But enough about me, what about you. How did you first find out that you were a Sorcerer, I mean wizard?"

And so Harry launched into the whole story about Voldemort killing his parents, growing up with the Dursleys, including Dudley, and his first year at Hogwarts.

They sat there for the rest of the day, just drinking butterbeer and chatting about nothing, everything, and anything in between. They reminisced about their first few years of magic school, and the world they grew to know after they discovered that magic was real.

One thing Harry came to realize as they were sitting there and talking was that each time the conversation lead towards Voldemort she would change the subject. But what really caught his attention was that it never felt like she was avoiding the subject, but it more as though she just didn't care enough about Voldemort to discuss him.

Harry wasn't sure if she was doing it on purpose or not, but as it was a nice change from the norm, he decided that if she wouldn't mention it, neither would he.

It was just getting dark when Madam Rosmerta came by and reminded them that it was time for them to return to Hogwarts.

They finished their drinks and looked around to find the place all but deserted with Ron and Hermione nowhere to be seen.

"That's odd. I don't see Ron or Hermione anywhere."

"Oh, they left hours ago," Amanda responded with a slight giggle.

"Really. I can't believe I hadn't noticed." Then realizing why and before he could stop himself he added, "I had so much fun just talking like this, I can't believe I didn't notice them..."

But before he could finish his sentence, Amanda had reached over, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and quickly pulled him into a soft but very firm kiss. All other thoughts vanished from Harry's mind.

Time drifted away, dusk having melted away in mere seconds as Harry lost himself in her kiss, so soft and smooth, yet firm and strong at the same time.

It was only after the fourth reminder from Madam Rosmerta that he pulled himself away from her long enough to check his watch. It was a quarter to seven, nearly two hours from the time they were supposed to have left.

"Come on," he said hurriedly, jumping out of his chair. "We're late. We should have been back at the castle nearly two hours ago."

She got up, pushed in her chair, and followed after him, all the while smiling as she watched Harry bump and trip over anything and everything in his path.

When they got outside Amanda made to the right for the path down towards the castle but Harry had turned left, heading up the street. She paused only a moment before shrugging her shoulders and following him up the street, turned a corner, and headed through a broken down fence.

When they reached the door to the Shrieking Shack Harry pulled out his wand, opened the door, and headed upstairs to the same room where he had first learned that Ron's pet rat was Peter Pettigrew.

When they entered the room, Harry quickly walked over to the one window, which was not completely boarded up, and pulled out his wand.

"Give me a few minutes," he said softly. "This is going to take a bit of time and a lot of concentration."

Harry Raised his wand, closed is eyes, and whispered, "Accio Cloak."

For five minutes Harry stood there, eyes closed, his hand tightening around his wand as he concentrated on the spell.

Another five minutes passed and Harry's fingers began to go white and began to feel numb, but Harry continued to remain unmoving, holding the same pose without any sign that he was even awake. As the fifteen-minute mark approached Amanda made for Harry's shoulder, likely to see if he was still conscious when quite suddenly his other arm shot out of the opening of the window and grabbed at something Amanda couldn't quite see.

Pulling the cloak back through the window, Harry's first move was to check the inside pocket. Just as he hoped, the map was right there where he last left it.

"All right, then?" he asked Amanda pleasantly.

"Uh, sure, I guess. But, what may I ask is that?" she added, pointing to the shimmer covering his arm.

"It's a little present my dad left me. I got it when I first came to Hogwarts. It's an invisibility cloak. And this," he said opening the map, "is a little present the Weasley twins gave me when I was in my third year. Watch."

Harry tapped the top of the map and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The look on Amanda's face at his words was priceless, but there was little time to bask.

"It's a special map that shows the whole of the Hogwarts grounds, as well as anyone on the grounds and where they are. You see, we'll be taking a passageway from the basement which shows up right here and leads to the Whomping Willow."

"Wait a minute. I've heard of that. Isn't that the tree that beats up anything that comes near it?"

"The very same. But there's a little notch you can touch at its base that calms it down, for a few minutes anyway. But I'll show you when we get there. If we don't hurry, we might not get back in time."

"But we're already late," she said, though she didn't seem too concerned.

"Trust me. Come on."

He took her hand and led her down to the dungeon, through the trap door, and into the passageway that lead back to Hogwarts.

They talked very little as they were walking at a very fast pace, and a little more than half an hour later they began to ascend back up towards the roots of the Whomping Willow.

When they finally got to the small opening at the base of the tree Harry poked his head out, making sure the Willow was still about, which of course it was.

He dropped back down, smiled, and unfolded the cloak.

"Okay, here's what we do. I'll put the cloak over the both of us and we'll head straight for the front door. If we can make it there, everything else will be fine. It looks like we've still got just about an hour to pull this off. That should be plenty of time, if we don't get interrupted."

"Lead the way," she replied with a smile.

But before he could move, she planted another big kiss, and before he knew it, they had lost another fifteen minutes. The feeling he got when they kissed was nothing like what he had with Cho. It was electric. The hairs on his head, even as long as they now were, still began to stick out whenever her hands were not combing through them.

Finally, in a moment of sanity he broke away, totally fixated and summoning all the strength he had not to fall back into her arms, he wrapped the cloak around them both, grabbed her by the hand, and headed out.

Remembering where the notch was, he quickly tapped it. Immediately all the branches of the willow came to a still halt, and he continued out of the hole, offering Amanda an assisting hand.

When they were both out, Harry re-adjusted the cloak and headed for the front door as quickly as possible. It was a nice twenty-minute walk to the front door and Harry checked his watch no less than thirty times in the process.

"So far so good," Harry said as they approached the front steps.

No sooner had the words come out of his mouth when the front doors swung open and the people walked out in a hurried fit.

"We've got to check the grounds," came a familiar voice. "I know she's an adept sorceress in her own right, but she's still a student and I'm quite aware of the dangers surrounding the school."

"As am I, Professor," responded the second wizard. By now, Harry knew the first wizard to be David, Amanda's Professor, and now he knew from his voice that the second and tallest of the three was Dumbledore, and the third would likely be Filch, which was confirmed by Dumbledore's next statement.

"I understand your concern, I truly do. But if what Mr. Filch here has told us is true, then she is with Professor Harry Potter, and I dare say there is no wizard or witch student in this school that I would trust further with her safe return, if indeed they are not already here." Dumbledore stopped just a few feet from the bottom step and looked around, gazing at the vast Hogwarts grounds."

"Remember too that this is a very large castle and it is quite possible that they have fallen through our initial search. In fact," he added as his gaze fell upon Harry and Amanda, "I would not at all be surprised if we come to find that they had inadvertently passed through our search by using one of the secret passages throughout the castle."

Harry could swear that Dumbledore had given a slight nod as he said this, but before he could be certain Dumbledore had turned his gaze off towards the Forbidden Forest.

"You see," he continued, "there are many secret passages throughout the Hogwarts Castle and Mr. Potter is familiar with most of them. Why don't we go back inside and check their dorm rooms again, and then perhaps we the Duelling classroom."

Harry took his queue and led Amanda past the headmaster and his two colleagues, doing his best to be as silent as possible, and headed for the front door even as Dumbledore continued talking to Professor Dave.

As soon as they had made it inside the Entrance Hall, Harry took a deep sigh of relief before leading Amanda to the portrait hole near the Great Hall that led up to his classroom.

After first stepping inside and checking up the staircase to be sure nobody was there, Harry finally pulled the cloak off the two of them and lit his wand.

"See? No problem," he began to say, though he was quickly silenced by Amanda who had taken it upon herself to give way to her instincts and took him into another long embrace.

"Come on," Harry interrupted after a few minutes. "If we hurry we can get back up to my office before anyone finds out what's been done. Then we can just take the long way back to the staircase and nobody will be the wiser."

"Except Dumbledore, that is," Amanda added with a shiver.

"Yea, that is a bit eerie, isn't it," he responded with a nod. "Every time I wear this around him I get the feeling he can see through it. I just can't figure out how."

Harry reviewed his previous experiences with Dumbledore looking at him while he was wearing the invisibility cloak and the other times where he had said as much.

"I don't know. Maybe he's got some kind of magic bifocals or something."

"I wouldn't be surprised, but I don't think so. Not Dumbledore, anyway. I don't know. I just think he has a way of looking straight into the basic depths of anything magic and turning it to his will. I mean, when I duelled him last week..."

"Wait a minute," she said in a very cautious tone just a few steps from the classroom. "Do you mean to tell me that you've really duelled Professor Dumbledore?"

Something in her tone sent a chill down Harry's neck and blanked out every word she said, so he simply nodded in reply.

"My god. He's like one of the top five most powerful Sorcerers in the world."

"And where am I on that list?" Harry asked stupidly.

"Oh, you're right there at the top," she replied in a sexy voice. "Come on, we can talk more after we get out of here. These passageways are cosy, but a bit too dark and dank for my tastes."

She then proceeded to give him a quick peck on the cheek before starting back up the last few stairs.

They came out into the classroom, finding it exactly as they expected it, empty. Harry headed into his office, opened one of the drawers from his desk, and grabbed a short stack of papers. He came out a moment later waving them in the air.

"I'll take these back to the dorm with me. That way, if anyone asks, we came back here for them so I could make some corrections before I go to bed. See? And we're leaving here with five minutes to spare."

"Five minutes to spare for what? It's not even nine yet."

"Right. But don't you have to be back in your dorm by nine?"

"Not on Saturday I don't. We don't have to be back until ten, and we've come back much later when we've been with a Professor, and last time I looked, you qualified."

"Yea. Okay, you've got me there. But if we want people to think we were back when we were supposed to be, we have to be seen. How about a late dinner? After all, if we're on a date, we should at least eat something, right? I mean, I may not be the best date, but even I know that much."

"Right you are. Let's go."

"Just remember, if we get stopped, let me do the talking."

Amanda just smiled in reply.

And so, arm in arm they left his classroom and headed downstairs. As he expected, they made it about half way down when they ran into Dumbledore and Dave, and after a few moments of explaining they were let on their way.

They headed down to the kitchen where Dobby and his friends gave them more than enough to eat, and after they were plenty full, they headed back to the staircase for their final farewell for the night.

"I've had a great time today," Harry said with a silly grin.

"Yeah, I've had fun too. You're not a bad date, Harry Potter. At least, not after you're loosened up a bit."

Harry blushed ten shades of red in less than a second. He knew she was talking about their first kiss at the Three Broomsticks and all the fun they'd had since then, but it was the comfortable feeling he had with her, like they belonged together, that just made everything else seem right.

They spent the next five minutes saying goodnight without speaking a word. Finally, Amanda broke away, gave him a final peck on the cheek, and headed east to the Hufflepuff dorm while Harry headed up the staircase to the Gryffindor Tower.

Unfortunately for Harry, his night was not quite over yet. He had barely made it to the fifth floor when he found himself face to face with a very displeased Headmaster.

"Harry," he said shaking his head. "I would have hoped you would have been a bit more responsible with your time, now that you've take post as a Deputy Professor."

"I've very sorry, Sir. It was a complete accident. We just lost track of time. I don't know what happened."

Dumbledore's eyes sudden widened. A knowing smile crossed his face and a glitter shone in his eyes that was not there before, almost as though a thick fog had suddenly been lifted.

"I see," he said with an amused tone. "Well, I expect we won't be having this problem again, so I will not go into how much trouble this could have caused us. However, I would like to remind you that you do have a full day tomorrow and it looks like you still have some papers to finish grading before you go to sleep."

He was right, of course. There was a full day of Quidditch practice, followed by at least four hours of work with Snape going over the previous weeks work and preparing for the coming week.

"Yes Sir," Harry answered with a slow nod. "Well, I guess I'd better get going if I want to get to sleep before two."

"Very good. And do try to keep a close eye on that watch of yours. We don't want our guests getting the wrong impression of us, now do we?"

"No sir," Harry responded guiltily.

"Very good. I will see you next week then. Professor Dave should be informed of your return," Dumbledore said with a final nod, then turned and continued down the stairs.

Harry watched for a moment, thinking about Dumbledore's sudden change in demeanour. Did he know of Harry's feelings? Harry knew he couldn't have read his mind because he was wearing the medallion. He couldn't have been that transparent, could he?

This brought Harry's thoughts back to Amanda, and he spent the rest of his climb to Gryffindor Tower thinking about the incredible day he'd had with her.

Their talks, the way she never let the conversation turn towards Voldemort, and the way she felt.

Oh, the incredible way she felt in his arms; the caress of her hands; the softness of her lips.

Harry was so distracted in the delight of thinking of her that even as he walked through the portrait hole and into the common room, he was blissfully ignorant of Ron and Hermione's calls to him.

He made it halfway up the stairs to the dorm room before Ron caught up to him, tugging at Harry's robes to get his attention.

"Oh, hello there Ron," Harry said with a half silly, half shocked look on his face. "How are you?"

"A lot better than you, mate. Hermione and I have been calling after you since you left Dumbledore on the fifth floor. Didn't you hear us?"

"Hear you?" Harry asked with a blank look. "Why would I hear you?"

"Harry," Hermione chimed in, "are you alright? You act like you don't even know where you are."

"Of course I know where I am. I'm at Hogwarts." He said with a silly grin. Something about saying this seemed to echo in Harry's head for a moment, when all of the sudden, the last past twenty seconds came flooding back to him.

The moment it finished playing out, Harry burst out laughing.

"He's bloody well lost it. Completely mental. Should we get McGonagall?"

"I'm fine, Ron," Harry replied, trying to recompose himself. "I'm just fine. I've just been a bit distracted since I got back to the castle, and I just realized... Oh never mind. It's too hard to explain."

"Only if you're trying to explain it to someone like Ronald over here," Hermione added in a snide tone.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" cried Ron as he turned to face her.

It was becoming an everyday occurrence for Harry to walk away from them as they began fighting, so why should this time be any different.

Ron came into the dorm room half an hour later, finding Harry already in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"What a flake. I mean, really. What was that all about back there?"

"How should I know? I've barely seen you two all day, and we were all supposed to be there together. What happened to you two?"

"Well, I didn't want to leave, but Parvati and Hermione thought you two needed some time alone, and that David chap sided with them, stupid git, so we all headed to Honeydukes, and then over to the park for a bit of R and R. We spent the rest of the day there, and then came back here for dinner. After that, we found out that nobody had seen you or Amanda, and that's when we were all asked to search the castle for you two, thank you very much. A perfectly good Saturday night wasted looking for someone who didn't want to be found. And by the way, where were you two anyway?"

Harry was too tired to go into the whole story, and he knew he'd have to repeat himself to Hermione in the morning, so he gave Ron a quick abridged version.

He was done in just over a minute, as to stop Ron from asking any stupidly embarrassing questions, he decided he needed to stop him before he got started.

"Well, any how, I don't know about you, but I've had a long day and we've both got a full day tomorrow, especially with Quidditch practice and all, and I've got to do class planning with Snape, and I've got duelling lessons with Dumbledore's, and... oh God, I've got to get to sleep."

Ron gave up after only a few failed attempts at goading Harry into talking. Harry guessed his day had been pretty long too because one moment he asked how good of a kisser Amanda was and the next, he was snoring.

Harry took a bit longer to fall asleep, as thoughts of his full schedule drifted through his mind. But never did they stay for long, as his thoughts always and quickly came back to his date with Amanda. With so much to do and so little time, Harry knew a day like this was not likely to come by again any time soon.

But until the next time, at least he had the memories of a date of fun, excitement, and a passion he'd never before felt with a woman before. And come to think of it, that's how he thought of Amanda, as a woman, not a girl. He'd never thought of Cho that way, but he couldn't imagine thinking of Amanda any other way.

And so once again Harry fell asleep, a huge smile across his face, dreaming of a magical date that would never end with a woman who'd shown him a world in such a short time that he never before knew, and together they explored possibilities he'd never have tried, but dared to dream.