Harry Potter and the Loss of Innocence

Chapter Thirteen: Madame Puddifoot's Anyone?

You are pulled from this wreckage
Of your silent reverie,
You're in the arms of the angel,
May you find some comfort there.
~Sarah McLachlan: Angel

When you are with me
I'm free... I'm careless... I believe...
~Creed: My Sacrifice

The next day, Harry and Ron headed down to their last potion class of the week, slightly early. They were talking quietly about the other houses' chances of putting together good quidditch teams.

"I'm just worried about the Slytherin team," Harry whispered. "With Malfoy as captain, they could be vicious."

"Yeah, I'm with you on that," Ron answered back. " But, he wouldn't do anything too bad, would he? I mean, he wouldn't do anything to get himself expelled?"

"I don't know," Harry answered. He stopped suddenly. "What was that?" Ron shrugged and both boys listened. Someone was yelling at the end of a side passage. Harry exchanged a look with Ron and then headed down it.

Harry felt his jaw tighten as he realized that Draco was tormenting someone. A second corridor ran into the one they were in and Draco's voice was coming from around the corner. They couldn't make the words out yet, but there was no mistaking that pompous, sneering voice. They crept up to the corner and Harry took a quick peek around. Draco was yelling at a terrified Sephra. Ron tugged on his sleeve. Harry backed up and Ron took a peek.

"How dare you join that half-blood's club?" Draco yelled at her. "He's garbage and no sane Malfoy would even think about joining. And yet, you did! What do you think you are? You're just a girl. You have to learn to obey me."

Sephra said something that Harry couldn't understand. "Blaise won't be able to protect you either! Wait until his parents find about what he did. He'll be in as much trouble as you are now!"

"Dear cousin," Malfoy continued in a sickly sweet voice, "I can't punish you here, but wait until Christmas break. I don't want to punish you. But your actions deserve it. Do not do anything else to warrant more punishment. Just accept your new life. It'll be easier on you if you do." Draco's footsteps receded down that corridor. Harry pulled Ron's arm and they rounded the corner.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked her gently.

"Yeah," Sephra answered bitterly. "He's so full of himself! I just want to bring him down a peg or two."

"Join the club," Ron said, offering her a hand up. She took it and stood up. "You shouldn't let him push you around like that."

"He won't do anything bad, so I'll let him strut around," Sephra assured them. "And if he tries something here, I have a few surprises up my sleeve." The bell for the end of lunch rang. "Well, I have Ancient Runes this hour. See you guys later." She left down the passage the two boys had come by.

"What was that about?" Ron asked in wonderment.

"No idea, but if Draco hurts her," Harry promised to Ron, "I'll pound him into the ground."

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September seemed to melt away for Harry. His days were packed with everything he had to do. There were classes to attend and homework to do. Harry was enjoying every class he had, even Potions. Of course, Snape still hadn't broken the silence towards the Gryffindors, so that might have been the only reason Harry liked it.

Training with Thia was a blast. She had decided to teach him some Dark Arts, not for him to use, but so that he would be prepared for the spells and know how to defend himself. She was also teaching him how to duel, which was good, because Harry needed to know how to teach it for the D.A.

The D.A. was about halfway through the review Harry had planned for them. They grumbled about it, but Harry knew that the new members needed to go slower than the others. They met about once a week, but many complained about that too. Harry had to explain that he didn't have time to have the meetings on other nights. Unless they wanted to meet on the weekends also, they could only meet once a week. The other nights were filled with training with Thia and Quidditch practice.

Harry and Katie made a good coaching team. Between her and Ron, they had come up with a wonderful offensive plan. And the three chasers flew with one mind. Harry knew that they would be a better combination than Alicia, Angelina, and Katie had been. It was too bad that this was Katie's last year. Ron's keeping ability was superb. He hardly let the three girls score. And the beaters, well, they were hitting the targets Harry had floating around the pitch.

It was soon early Saturday morning of the last week of September. That day was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year. Hermione and Ron were going to go on a date, so Harry planned to bum along with Ginny. He hoped she, or her friends for that matter, didn't mind too much.

He was alone in the common room, staring into the fire. It was only three and the night was still pitch black. He'd gone to bed as normal, but the nightmares had been especially bad tonight. He had already woken Ron twice that night. So the last time he woke, he'd gone downstairs to think.

He was slightly mad at himself. He had planned to ask Ginny out, but his nerves had deserted him every time he had tried to bring it up. What Ginny thought about Harry couldn't be good. They'd had several weird conversations, because Harry had come up with bad excuses to talk with her.

An hour passed slowly and Harry was still thinking. What would he do if Ginny and her friends wouldn't let him tag along? Harry couldn't think of anything. Maybe he'd just stay at Hogwarts. No, he wanted to go to Fred and George's new shop. So, he'd go alone then. Harry heard the door to one of the dorms open and close and he looked up at the stairs. There was Ginny, standing at the entrance of the girl's dorm looking at him curiously.

She turned to go back to her room, but Harry motioned that it was all right. "Hey, Gin," he said when she sat in the chair beside his.

"Hey, Harry. What are you doing up?" Harry was just about to ask her the same thing, but decided to answer her first.

"I couldn't sleep. Ron kicked me out of the room because I kept waking him up," he added lying. "He said that he needed his beauty sleep for his date today. What are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep either," she answered shyly. She paused for a moment then said, "I don't feel well."

"What's the matter?" Harry asked. She seemed to blush slightly and Harry wondered why.

"Oh, just a stomachache," she answered evasively. "Nothing to worry about. What were you dreaming about?"

Oddly, that question didn't bother Harry as much as it would have coming from Ron or Hermione. It was one of the reasons why Harry wanted to ask her out: he could talk to her about stuff. "Tonight, it was mainly the graveyard, but the Revelries showed up once or twice." He stood up to look into the fire. "It was bad enough living through that stuff once, but to re-live it every night...." He shook his head in disgust.

"Ask Madam Pomfrey for a Dreamless Sleep Potion," Ginny offered quietly.

"I did a little research," Ginny seemed surprised and impressed, "about that potion. It isn't recommended to take it regularly. I'll wait for nights I need sleep. Like before games or major tests." Harry glanced at Ginny. She seemed unsure about something, indecision was written all over her face. "What's the matter, Gin?" She must have made up her mind, for it was now filled with determination.

She stood, crossed the space between them, and gently kissed Harry's lips. Harry was stunned. It was amazing. He was kissing a girl he really liked and she wasn't crying. Not only that, it was an incredible sensation. She broke away, tears filling her eyes. He then realized that he hadn't reacted to her in anyway. She turned and started to run to the stairs. Harry's long strides caught up to her quickly, within five feet of where they had kissed.

He grabbed her arm and tried to turn her around. She fought him, tears silently streaming down her face. "Gin, look at me," he begged her. Her body stopped fighting, but she wouldn't turn. That was fine with Harry, because months of strength building allowed him to turn her around easily. He lowered his head and kissed her, reaching around to hug her close to him.

She was surprised at first, but soon she reacted to his touch. They broke the kiss reluctantly and Harry led her back to the front of the fire. He stood facing her, staring at her surprised. He hadn't expected that. But he had to admit that it was a nice surprise.

"What was that for?" he finally asked her. She looked nervously at the floor. "I'm not mad, Gin. That's the best I've felt in awhile. I just wanted to know what it's for, 'cause I thought you got over me."

Ginny smiled and said quietly, "I thought so too. But watching you go through all of that trouble just to rescue Sirius reminded me of my first year. Which, in turn, reminded me why I liked you and showed me that I hadn't really gotten over you." She looked at him sheepishly. "I was glad Dean cheated on me, because it gave me a reason to dump him. I mean, it hurt but not as much as it could have." She looked back at the fire. "Why'd you run after me?"

It was Harry's turn to look at the ground sheepishly. "Gin, I've been meaning to ask you out for a little over a month now. But every time I've gotten close, I chickened out." He glanced up at her smiling face. "I was so surprised that you were actually kissing me that I didn't react." She was watching his face intently, and Harry smiled at her. He continued, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. And I also wanted to kiss you again," he added quietly. She leaned up and quickly brushed her lips against his.

"Thanks, Harry. And no need to apologize." He nodded and took her hand.

"Gin, would you like to go to Hogsmeade as my date today?" Harry didn't think she'd turn him down, but the butterflies were still fluttering in his gut.

"I would love to, Harry." Harry hugged her and tilted her face up so that he could look in her eyes. They were so beautiful and filled with love and comfort.

"I'm happy you said yes," he said, leaning down so that his lips would meet hers. They were happily kissing, when a loud angry voice startled them.

"Mr. Harry James Potter, what are you doing with my sister?" Ron jumped down the last few steps and sprinted towards them. They broke the kiss, but Harry kept her hand in his.

"Nothing, Ron! Nothing that you need to worry about," Ginny answered angrily.

Ron took a deep breath and started yelling again. "It sure didn't look like nothing, and it bloody well does concern me. I wake up to find my best mate," Harry didn't like the way he said that, "missing from his bed. I go downstairs to talk to him about his nightmares. To be nice, you know. I come down the stairs and find my best mate man-handling my little sister in front of the fireplace. Now, tell me how this doesn't affect me?"

"Ron, it was just a kiss," Harry said hurt. "I'd never do anything to hurt Gin, you should know that." He was getting a little angry with Ron for being so over-protective.

"Just a kiss? Just a kiss? Have you even thought about bothering to ask her out properly? And what's up with you calling her 'Gin'?

"He just asked me out, Ron," Ginny answered, trying to placate him. "And I'm the one who made a move on him, not the other way around. Please apologize to Harry. He wasn't acting improperly."

"No, I want to know why he has been calling you 'Gin' all summer and only just got around to asking you out." Ron sat down in his normal chair and motioned fro them to sit too.

Ginny sat, but Harry stood next to her chair. "I'm not sure why I started calling her that. It just felt right and we could talk about stuff. As for why I just asked her out, why did we go to the Yule ball with the Patil twins? Because we were too chicken to ask anyone else out sooner."

Ron shook his head and sat thinking for a moment. Harry watched as the anger seeped from his body. "Just don't let me catch you guys snogging again. I don't mind you dating her, Harry, but I don't need to watch you guys make out." Ron stood and walked up the stairs to their dorm.

"He's a pain in the rump," Ginny complained when he was gone. Harry laughed and pulled her up so that she was standing in front of him.

"At least he's there to be a pain." He kissed her again, running his finger through her long, loose hair. He broke the kiss and whispered in her ear, "'Night, Gin." He pulled away and went to bed. He glanced over and noticed that Ron was pretending to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry woke up from four hours of dreamless sleep. He couldn't believe that Ginny had kissed him and he had asked her out. He was going to go to Hogsmeade with her. How lucky could he get? He got up, showered and dressed warmly for the chilly autumn day.

When he got the Great Hall, he saw Ginny talking with her friends. She caught his eyes and smiled. She broke away from her group to walk over to where Harry sat, next to Ron and Hermione. She took the seat next to him and squeezed his hand excitedly. Then letting it go, she turned to Ron.

"You get your beauty sleep, Ron?" she asked innocently.

"It would have been a better night had I not caught you two kissing," he grumbled quietly and took another bite of his cereal.

"What's this?" Hermione asked curiously while suppressing her excitement for Ginny.

"Harry asked me out last night. We were kissing when this prat came downstairs, screaming like a banshee," Ginny answered scornfully. "I'm surprised he didn't wake everyone up."

"Oh, I'm glad he finally asked you," Hermione replied. "It was about time."

"Do girls always have to talk about us," Ron mumbled to Harry, "as if we aren't here?"

"I don't know, but it's really annoying," Harry replied, not truly meaning it. He reached over and grabbed Ginny's hand and held it. It managed to distract her quite efficiently.

When they were done eating, Harry and Ginny went to get their cloaks. Ron and Hermione were leaving right away because they had brought theirs to breakfast. They said goodbye and Harry hurried up the stairs with Ginny.

Once outside, Harry and Ginny walked down to the school gates silently. Harry wanted to hold her hand again, but he didn't have the courage to take it. He could face Voldemort, but he couldn't hold a girl's hand. He shook his head in despair. The irony of life amazed him at times.

"What's the matter?" Ginny asked, sensing his irritation.

"What?" He looked at her startled. "Oh, nothing. Just thinking that I was a fool for not having asked you out sooner." Ginny nodded, but he could tell she wasn't convinced. "What do you want to do, Gin?"

"Oh, let's go to the twins' shop first. I really want to see them and their new shop." Harry nodded. "You guys talked a lot about it. Why?"

"You don't know about the money I gave them?" Ginny shook her head no. "Well, I gave them my Triwizard prize. It was an investment into their joke shop. A pretty good investment by the looks of it." They had just reached the brightly painted red building with a sign that read in huge red letters, outlined in black "Weasley Wizarding Wheezes."

They entered the crowded shop and pushed their way to the front. The place was crammed with Hogwarts students from the third year up. Harry glanced around at all the products and was amazed. How did the twins manage to come up with all that's in here?

"Ginny! Harry!" one of the twins shouted over the noise. "Follow me! Hey, Lee, take the counter for a moment!" Lee Jordan came out of an office in the back and started helping customers check out. A young witch was helping him.

"Much better," the twin said after he had shut the door to the office. Harry couldn't tell which one it was, but Ginny knew.

"Yes, much better, George. Where's Fred?" George hit his head and went back into the hallway. He came back with Fred in tow.

"Hey, Ginny," he said giving her a hug. George followed suit. "And Harry, our first investor. It is a huge honor to have you with us." Fred shook his hand solemnly. George hit him over the head.

"We don't have a lot of time, so don't waste it being a fool." Ginny and Harry smiled at each other. They knew George had hit Fred only because the opportunity had presented itself. "So what are you both doing in our humble business?"

"Just looking around," Harry answered. Fred looked at the two of them and smiled knowingly.

"So what plans do you two have today?" Fred asked slyly. "Going to go to Madam Puddifoot's after this?" Ginny and Harry both blushed, though Harry thought Ginny's was one of anger.

"Don't start, Fred. Or you, George. I'm sure mum would love to hear about your parties, all eight of them." They both blanched.

"How'd you find out about those?" Fred asked surprised and a little worried.

"Katie Bell told us all about them," she answered smoothly. "Anyways, you guys like Harry, so leave him alone."

"So this is a date," George said surprised. "Well, this a very romantic spot to take her, Harry. And a smart idea. If you had your date under the very noses of two of her brothers, then the other three can't kill you."

Harry thought for a second, adding up the Weasley boys. "Wait there's six of you."

"No," Fred responded curtly, "the Prat doesn't count."

"He's lost all rights to the Weasley brotherhood," George continued.

"What's he done now?" Ginny asked off-handedly.

"You guys hear about the vote of no confidence this week?" Fred answered annoyed. They both nodded. The department heads were reviewing Fudge's behavior since the spring of Harry's fourth year. If they found that he acted irresponsibly, they would vote for no confidence and have him removed.

"Well," George continued, "Percy got caught removing files from Fudge's office yesterday. He was going to destroy them." Harry shook his head and Ginny sighed.

"They were notes from meetings Fudge had over the year. The Heads had asked for copies the day before." Fred shook his head in disgust. "I don't know why he didn't come back and apologize when Voldemort's return became public knowledge."

"Well," George said brightly, "we shouldn't keep you love birds any longer. Besides, we must get back to business."

Harry and Ginny left the shop embarrassed and uneasy about Percy. They entered different shops, but they couldn't find anything to talk about. Harry couldn't believe how uncomfortable it was. He'd never felt like this with Ginny. She and Hermione were always the two girls he could talk to. As they left the last shop on Main Street, Harry was frantically looking for something to talk about. They had been able to talk just this morning.

"You feeling better, Gin?" Harry asked, remembering why she had come downstairs in the first place.

"What?" she answered. She looked confused.

"You had a stomachache last night. I was wondering if you felt better." Harry watched as a blush reddened her face. What was she embarrassed about?

"Oh, yeah. I feel much better, Harry. Thanks for asking." They walked in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes heading back up the street. "You sleep all right, when you went back to bed?"

"Yeah. It was a nice peaceful, dreamless sleep, the first time this school year and most of the summer," Harry said quietly. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He wanted to hold it as they walked, but she let go, so he couldn't. "Want to get a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks?

"Sure," she said. They headed back and entered the crowded place. There was an empty table for two by the door, so they sat down.

"Hold the table, Gin. I'll go get our drinks." Harry left the table and went to the bar and bought two butterbeers. "Here you go, Gin. It's on me."

They sat in silence, both desperately trying to find something to talk about. After about ten minutes, Harry drank the last of his butterbeer and they still hadn't found something to talk about. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. Was something wrong with him? What was it about him that wouldn't let him be comfortable with a date?

"What's the matter, Harry?" Ginny asked slightly worried.

"Nothing," he answered automatically.

"Then why'd you rub your hand through your hair?" Harry looked at her startled, he'd done it without actually realizing what he had done.

"It was in my eyes," he lied. Harry knew that Ginny didn't buy it. If it were in his eyes, he would have just brushed it aside. He wouldn't have run his hand through it. They sat in very uncomfortable silence for a little bit and Harry noticed tears start to form in Ginny's eyes.

"What's the matter, Gin?" Harry asked concerned.

"Stop calling me that!" she yelled. Some of the closer people turned to watch, but Harry ignored them. "Answer me one question honestly, Harry." He nodded. "Do you like me?"

Do I like her? Harry thought to himself dumbfounded. Of course he liked her; he liked her a lot. He looked at all the people watching, for more had turned. He couldn't tell her that with so many eavesdroppers. He wanted to tell her that somewhere private, where he didn't need to worry about staring people or furious brothers.

He must have hesitated for too long, because she jumped up and ran out of the pub crying. That's happened to me on both of my dates, Harry thought. He sat there, stunned. He noticed that the crowd had turned away from him, embarrassed. What should he do? He noticed that Ginny had left her cloak. He could wait for her to return for it. But no, she wouldn't come back.

"Harry, Harry, Harry," the kind, scolding voice of Thia interrupted his thoughts. "If I had a knut for every time I saw your father left abandoned like that, I'd be a very rich witch."

"That's not helping me," Harry mumbled sullenly as Thia, Remus, and Tonks sat at the table, conjuring chairs and crowding around the small circle.

Remus smiled reminiscently, "That's what James told Thia every time he was abandoned. What happened?"

"Can we go talk else where?" Harry said getting up. He didn't want everyone listening.

"Harry, what happened?" Hermione said, pushing her way through the crowd, Ron in tow.

"Follow me," Remus said quickly and everyone got up to leave. Harry grabbed Ginny's cloak and followed him out the door. Remus led them up the path to the Shrieking Shack and over to a boarded up window. He pried one of the boards loose and they all entered.

"So, what happened?" Tonks and Hermione asked at the same time. Harry put his head in his head and sighed.

"We were ok, until we visited the twins. They were teasing us, which wasn't so bad, but then Percy got brought up. He got in some trouble yesterday and that seemed to... I don't know. We couldn't find anything to talk about after that. We looked through some shops and then headed back to the Three Broomsticks." He stopped, re-living those minutes again.

"We still couldn't find anything to talk about. She had said that she wasn't feeling well, earlier this morning, so I asked her how she was."

"Oh," Hermione said softly. "You didn't really, did you, Harry?" He nodded.

"She said it was a stomachache and I just wanted to know if she was better." Hermione gave Thia and Tonks a knowing looking and they both had to cover a smile. "What? What did I do wrong?"

"Harry, she'd kill me if I told you," Hermione answered. "So you weren't talking... What was she yelling about? I couldn't hear the words."

"She told me not to call her Gin and then asked me if I liked her. I didn't want to tell her with everyone looking and listening. Then she ran off."

"Harry," Tonks said softly, "it looked like you were looking for a way out of the place. And you looked distressed."

"Well, I was. I mean, I wasn't looking for a way out, per se. But I was distressed. I like her, but I didn't want everyone listening."

Remus laughed, "You're just like James with his crush. He'd go on and on to Sirius and I about Lily, but he always seemed to botch it up when she was around. Lily left him on so many of their dates, it surprised us all when he managed to keep her." He put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Look, Harry. Go find her. Then tell her the truth. Make sure she knows that you're telling the truth."

"How am I going to find her?" Harry asked despairingly. "I don't want to lose her. Not when I finally asked her out."

"If you don't tell her that I told you, I'll tell you where she likes to go think," Hermione bargained with him. Harry nodded. "She likes to think by the lake. There's a log next to the water, where the lake goes under the castle. She'll more than likely be there." Harry got up and headed towards the window.

"Take it from a Marauder, Harry. It's faster if you take the tunnel." Harry nodded his thanks to Remus and went to the entrance of the tunnel and headed down it. "I can't believe how much he's like James, at least with girls. He's had a crush on Ginny for a long time and he ruins the first date."

Thia started to laugh. "James finally convinced Lily to go out with him, not that it was hard at that point, and he botched it all up. If it wasn't for us... James was so hopeless with stuff like that."

"Harry hasn't had a crush on her for more than two months," Ron said angrily.

"No, Ron. He liked her when I was teaching, he just didn't know it until two months ago." Remus and Thia nodded knowingly.

"How could you tell then?" Hermione asked.

"Remember what I told you?" Remus asked her. She looked slightly confused. "That day, the three were playing Quidditch?" She nodded. "Harry is very good at saying things without saying them. I lived with James for years and Harry has many of the same tell tale signs." Thia interrupted him with a loud laugh.

"Thia, be quiet. I was pretty sure he liked her. If you had watched him at meals that year, it would have amazed you how many times Harry's eyes traveled over to Ginny. And I bet he never noticed it. I knew for sure that day when they were flying. Lily and James used to fly a lot together. They were both on the Quidditch team and it was their favorite thing to do on dates."

"They had perfected the art of flirting on brooms by the middle of fifth year," Thia added happily. "Lily might have pretended to hate him, but really she was just disappointed in him. But it didn't stop her from flirting once or twice."

"Trust me," Remus added. "He's liked her for awhile. I'll bet that it's a little deeper than that.

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Harry was sprinting around the lake watching for the first sign of her. He saw her red hair first and stopped to catch his breath. She was crying. Her body was shaking from the sobs coming from her soul. Harry's heart broke seeing her like that, and he knew that he had caused it.

He hesitantly walked over to her and draped her cloak over her shoulders. She looked up at him, but seeing who it was turned away. "You looked cold. I thought I should give this back."

"How'd... how'd you f-find me," she managed to sob out.

"Marauder's map. Up in the dorm." He had come up with that as he walked. He sat next to her and softly grabbed her chin. He turned her face until he could see her eyes. He gently rubbed the tears away.

"I'm sorry, Gin."

"Don't call m-me the-that," she said angrily.

"I'm going to call you that, so live with it, Gin," he told her with a smile. "I was wondering if I could have another shot at the question you asked me. I panicked with everyone watching us. Oh, please stop crying, Gin. I don't want to see you cry." This only made the tears fall harder. He tried to wipe them all off, but there were too many of them.

"I thought that you liked me," she started after a few minutes of deep breaths. "The way you held me last night and the way you always talked to me. But then you wouldn't answer the question and I knew I was wrong."

"Gin, am I a shy person?" Ginny looked at him surprised. "I want you to answer that."

"Yeah," she answered quickly, "you're one of the shyest people I know."

"Do you think a shy person would want to answer a question like that with everyone listening?" She shook her head. "Then how could you expect me to? Gin, I like you. I was too embarrassed to say that in the Three Broomsticks. But Gin, here I'll say it." He tilted her chin up and kissed her softly.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I should have known that." She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Gin, I like you but I don't know how to show that," Harry said, looking out at the lake. "You're going to have to teach me how to show you. I don't know what it's like to have any other kind of love besides between friends. Ron and Hermione were the first people to show me that." Ginny looked up at him sadly. "Don't feel sorry for me, Gin. Show me how to, I don't know... how to love." He stopped for a moment and lifted his arm from her back and ran it through his hair.

"I'm not sure what I feel for you. It's more than for my best mate's kid sister or for a friend. And it's not the same kind of crush I had for Cho. I don't know what it is."

Ginny held him tighter, her heart breaking with every word he said. How could everyone not see how love deprived Harry was? He didn't know how to act around her. Well, how was she going to teach him? She just knew, after years of living with her parents, she just knew. She'd try though.

They sat together in each other's arms until the sun set later that evening. They headed back up to the castle talking quietly about nothing at all. Harry had grabbed her hand as soon as they had stood, and she had glanced at it surprised. Every so often she would look at the joined hands in disbelief.

At the doors, Harry kissed her lips quickly and then her hand. They entered the school and heard the chatter from the eating students. Harry led her by the hand to the Great Hall and they entered. No one turned to look at them, but they saw Ron and Hermione smiling at them. Harry couldn't think of a happier time in his life.