Harry Potter and the Time of Shadows

- Chapter Fourteen-

The Date

"The Ravenclaw common room?" said Fred when Harry asked him after they had got back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Yeah, could you just tell me where it is?"

"You don't need us for that. Just check the Marauder's Map and see where all the Ravenclaws are."

"Er, I don't have the Map anymore."

"What?" said George urgently. "Who's got it then?"

Harry gulped. "Professor Fudge."

Some kind of silent explosion seemed to happen inside both Fred and George. Both their faces had started to go red.

"The Minister for Magic's brother has the Marauder's Map!" said George with repressed hostility.

"He knows whenever any of us are out of bed or out of bounds!" Fred added.

"How did he get it? Did he confiscate it?"

"No," Harry answered. "Moody took it last year. He left it in his desk and Fudge found it. He said that he wouldn't tell anyone about it."

"Oh," said Fred. "Well at least that's something."

"So?" Harry pressed on. "Where is the Ravenclaw common room."

"Hmm," said Fred. "I don't remember off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure it's on the top floor."

"Yeah," George interrupted. "It's on the tenth floor on the East Side. The entrance is marked by a huge suit of armour. I don't know the password. It would be on the Map. It tells you all of the passwords in the whole castle, even the ones that are changed all the time. I tell you, the people who wrote that thing are geniuses."

"Yeah," said Harry with a knowing smile. "I bet they were."

*

Harry climbed to the highest floor in Hogwarts. The only thing higher than it were the towers. He looked around for a giant suit of armour, but found only several normal-sized ones. He looked all along the east wall, and could not find it. When he reached the very end of the wall, in the north-east corner, he finally found it.

The suit of armour towered twelve feet tall. It was silver, unlike the others, which were gold. It moved its neck smoothly to look down at Harry.

"Password?" it said in a deep, booming voice.

"Er," said Harry. "No idea."

"Password incorrect," said the armour with no emotion.

"I'll wait for someone to come out," Harry said to it.

"Password incorrect," it repeated.

"No, I wasn't saying that was the password, I'm just saying that I'll ask the next person to come out to let me in."

"Password incorrect."

Harry was about to say "Never mind," to it, but he knew what its response would be.

Harry sat against the wall for ten minutes waiting for a Ravenclaw. Finally, the armour stepped to one side, and an older girl came out of a gap in the wall.

"Hi," Harry said to her.

"Harry Potter?" she said.

"Er, yes. Could I come in to talk to Roger Davies please?" he asked.

"Talk to him?" the girl said. "From what he's been saying to the rest of us, you'd think you were going in to kill him!"

Harry forced a laugh. "He told you all about that? Well, that's why I'm here. No! Not to kill him!" he added, when her eyebrows were raised so high they almost blended in with her hair. "I mean I came here to apologise to him."

The girl seemed to think for a minute.

"Alright, I don't think Harry Potter is the killing type."

Harry laughed again. She stepped towards the now closed suit of armour, and said to it:

"Emerald Green."

"Password correct," it said in its monotonous voice.

It stepped aside, revealing a square hole. Harry walked through it into the Ravenclaw common room.

Harry had been inside both the Gryffindor and Slytherin common rooms. The Ravenclaw one was different from both of them. It was neither round with big squashy armchairs, nor a long low tunnel. It was a large square room with bookshelves covering one of the walls, and another wall was entirely replaced with a huge window that filled the room with natural light. At the time it was quite late in the day at the end of November, so the night sky was visible out of it. Several Ravenclaws were sitting in cushioned wooden chairs by the fire.

A lot of them looked up when they saw Harry, obviously wondering what he was doing there.

"Um, hi," he said to them weakly. "Is Roger Davies here?"

"I think he's up in his dormitory Harry," said a boy that Harry recognised. It was Boot from his Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Harry couldn't remember his first name; it was something like Todd or Tyrone.

"Thanks," Harry said to him.

He walked up the stairs marked 'boys' and found the door labelled 'seventh years' and knocked on it.

"What?" Davies's voice came from the other side.

"It's Harry Potter," he said.

There was a pause on both sides of the door, and then Davies said:

"What do you want Potter? Come to have another go at me?"

"No," Harry replied. "I've come to say I'm sorry."

Davies opened the door. "I'm listening."

Harry walked in and looked at the room. Blue velvet was draped from the six four-poster beds. One bed had a model of a Quidditch pitch next to it.

"You were saying?" said Davies in an arrogant way.

Harry felt quite angry with him. He was trying to be the bigger man by apologising, and he was not helping in the slightest. He took a deep breath and said it.

"I'm sorry I got so mad with you. I had a lot of things on my mind and I was just taking out my anger on you."

Davies did not speak, or even move. Eventually he spoke:

"Apology accepted."

"Good," said Harry, smiling uneasily. He turned to leave when Davies called him back. Harry stopped to listen.

"I'm sorry too," he said with some hesitation. "I had a few things on my mind as well. Quidditch mainly, I bet I don't have to tell you what that's like."

"True," said Harry.

"And I'm sorry I was so hard on Cho," Davies continued. "It's just that I really want that Cup this year. In my first game as captain we were up against you and your Firebolt, we didn't really stand a chance. And we won the Cup the year before that, or two years before that, because the tournament was called off once. After you won the Cup I wanted another chance to beat Gryffindor, but it was called off the year after too. So I just keep thinking that this is my last chance to win."

Harry nodded, knowing the overwhelming desire to win.

"So what do you say Harry? Forgive me?"

He held out his hand, and Harry took it.

"I forgive you Roger."

They shook hands, and Harry left the room. He walked back down the stairs to the common room. He pushed the suit of armour away and walked back out through the hole.

"Ouch!"

Harry had left Ravenclaw House and bumped hard into someone coming out. She had fallen to the floor, and her backpack had opened, spilling its contents over the floor.

"Sorry Cho," Harry said, offering her a hand to get up. She took it and bent down to pick up her things.

"It's OK," she said. "Accidents happen."

Harry helped her gather all of her books. When they had eventually collected them all Cho did not go straight into her common room.

"What were you doing in there?" she asked, pointing at the armour.

"Um," Harry replied.

"Were you looking for me?" Cho said, smiling.

"Maybe," said Harry, trying to sound cryptic.

"Well, you found me. What did you want to say?"

Harry tried to think of something fast, but decided to just be honest.

"Actually," he said. "I came here to apologise to Roger Davies."

"Oh," said Cho, her face falling.

"But now that you're here," Harry said, determined to cheer her up. "There's no reason we can't talk."

She smiled again. "Good, because we never really got to finish our conversation this afternoon."

"Oh yeah, what were you going to say?" Harry asked.

"I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out with me sometime? Maybe on the next Hogsmeade visit?" she said.

"What?"

"Is that a no?" Cho asked with an offended tone.

"No, it's not. It's just that I wasn't expecting it," he admitted.

"Oh, well what do you say?"

Harry thought hard, unable to exorcise the image of Cedric's dead body from his mind. He saw his lifeless eyes that seemed to be staring up at him. He remembered Cho crying at the end of year assembly when Dumbledore was honouring him. He could not do it.

"Sorry, I can't," he said, hoping he did not sound too blunt.

"Oh," said Cho, the hurt returning to her voice in double. Harry could not bare the disappointed look in her eye. He had to give her a reason besides "I feel so guilty over your last boyfriend's death that I can't get him out of my head whenever I'm around you."

"It's just that I already promised Ron and Hermione that I would go to Hogsmeade with them. We've all been through quite a lot lately and we really need to spend some time together."

"Alright," Cho said. "I don't mind going with them as well."

"Oh," said Harry, trying to think of another excuse but failing. "OK then."

"Great," she said. "It's a date."

"Yeah, a date," said Harry, nodding.

"Well then," Cho regained her cheerfulness. "I should go. I've got a load of homework."

"I know what that's like."

Cho stood in front of the suit of armour.

"Password?" it said.

"Er," Cho said.

"Emerald Green," Harry cut in.

"Password correct." It stepped aside.

Cho looked at Harry. "How did you --?"

"You should never underestimate me," Harry, trying to seem casual and light-hearted.

Cho laughed, and walked in. Harry panicked, he had a date with Cho Chang. He somehow felt that he was betraying Cedric. He did not know what to do to get out of it.

He walked back to Gryffindor Tower, thinking of ways to let her down easy. He still could not find a rational excuse.

"Password?" said the Fat Lady. She was a great deal less boring than that suit of armour.

"Jupiter's Moon," Harry said. He wasn't completely sure that was the new password, it may have been Saturn's Moon.

But, the portrait swung forwards and Harry walked through. Harry wanted to tell Ron and Hermione about what had just happened. He looked around for them but could not see them in the common room. He looked closer, thinking he may have just not noticed them. But he still could not find them. He looked around for anyone who might know where they were.

"Neville!" he said when he saw him by the fire. "Have you seen Ron or Hermione?"

"Uh, I think I saw them both go up to our dormitory about twenty minutes ago," Neville replied.

"Both of them?" Harry said, surprised. "What would they both me doing up in our bedroom?"

The answer hit Harry suddenly, and it was so obvious that he felt around five years old for not thinking of it straight away.

"Do you think that they're --?" he said to Neville.

"They're what?" Neville said with a confused expression.

"You know!" Harry stressed.

Comprehension dawned on Neville's face. "You think they're... wow!"

"I know, but they could be."

"Isn't Hermione with Viktor Krum though?" Neville said.

Harry thought. Would Hermione cheat on her boyfriend with Ron? No, he thought, there had to be some other explanation.

"You're right," Harry said. "I don't think Hermione would do anything with Ron as long as she's with Viktor."

"Maybe," Neville agreed. "But they have been up there for a while..."

Fred and George walked over to them.

"What's up?" Fred asked. "You both seem kinda serious."

"It's nothing," Harry quickly said. He wasn't sure what the twins would think of it.

"It didn't seem like nothing. You both look a little worried," George added.

"Ron and Hermione are up in our dormitory together and Harry thinks that Hermione is cheating on her boyfriend," Neville told them.

Thanks a lot Neville, Harry thought. He made a mental note to never tell him any of his secrets.

"Oh," George said. "I really don't think that our brother's up there getting it on with Hermione. He just doesn't seem like the type."

"If you want," Fred started, a familiar mischievous smile dawning on his mouth. "We could go up there and make sure that Ron isn't doing anything he shouldn't be."

"I really don't think that's a good --" Harry said, but they had both already sprinted up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

Harry put his head in his hands, wondering what they would find up there. He pretended not to hear when Ginny said "What's going on?".

Before long, the twins came back down the stairs. They were not laughing, which Harry thought was a bad sign.

"Well?" he asked them.

"Er, they're not doing what you thought they were doing," Fred said. "But I think you should go up there Harry."

"Why? What are they --"

"Just go up there."

Harry nodded, and walked up the stairs. Surely nothing else could have happened, he thought.

He heard the sound of Hermione crying. He ran up the rest of the stairs and opened the door.

They were both sitting on Ron's bed (fully clothed). Hermione was crying, Ron was doing his best to comfort her. He had his arm around her shoulder and was holding some tissues. By the look on his face it was making him feel very uneasy to be so close to her.

"What's wrong?" Harry said as soon as he saw them.

Hermione sobbed, and pointed to a dark owl perched in the corner. There was a note at its feet, which Harry picked up and read. He did not recognise the handwriting, but knew instantly who it was from.

Hermione,

I am very sorry, but I cannot keep seeing you. It is too hard for me to just write letters to each other, I think you feel the same way. I was not sure if I should tell you this, but I have met someone else. She is the reserve Chaser for the Montrose Magpies. We have been together for a week now.

I hope you are not too upset about this, and I hope you will be happy without me. I did not want to hurt you.

Viktor.

Harry briefly marvelled at the standard of Krum's written English; it was certainly much better than his speaking. But Hermione's continued sobs brought him back to his senses.

"He broke up with you?"

Hermione nodded, and blew her nose on a tissue given to her by Ron. Harry suddenly felt guilty for thinking that they were doing anything wrong.

"That idiot. It's his loss you know."

Hermione looked up at him.

"Ron's already tried that," she said.

"It's the truth," Harry said.

"Where have you been?" Ron asked him.

"Um, I was in the Ravenclaw common room, talking to Roger Davies and Cho Chang."

"Did you and Davies sort things out?"

"Yeah, and I told Cho that I would take her to Hogsmeade next time, but I can cancel if you need me."

"No," said Hermione. "That's not for two weeks, I'm sure I'll be fine by then."

"Are you sure?" said Harry, thinking that it would get him out of the date.

"I'm sure Harry, you have fun. Ron, I guess it will be just you and me next time then."

Ron nodded, and shot Harry a look of panic.

Harry and Ron stayed to try and cheer Hermione up. Eventually, they managed to get her to stop crying, and she left to go to bed early.

"Oh great," said Ron as soon as she left. "Now I have to spend a whole day alone with her. How am I going to make it through without saying anything stupid?"

"You think you've got problems?" said Harry. "I've got a date with a girl whose last boyfriend I saw be murdered right in front of me!"

They were both silent while they thought of a solution to their situations. Finally Ron said something that summed up everything:

"We're screwed."

*

Hermione was very depressed in the next few days, and nothing Harry or Ron said or did could cheer her up. She seemed to throw even more energy into schoolwork (if that was possible, Harry thought) and did not ever want to talk about Krum.

"I'm fine," she said, as Harry tried to get her to open up for the fifteenth time in the common room.

"Are you sure?" Harry said doubtfully. "Because you've been working even harder than usual."

"It's alright," she said, turning the page of her enormous Rune dictionary. "I just have to do this by tomorrow."

"You don't even have Ancient Runes tomorrow!"

"I know -- but I -- I just want to --"

Harry thought that he might finally be getting somewhere.

"I just want to get a head-start on my work."

Harry sighed, she was in denial.

"You don't just have to mope around here every day just because that idiot Krum --"

"Don't you have to be somewhere now?" Hermione interrupted.

"Oh no!" said Harry, checking his watch. "Quidditch practice started ten minutes ago. Er, we'll talk about this later."

"Talk about what?" she said casually.

Harry ran towards the portrait hole, but heard a sobbing sound behind him. He spun around and saw that a single tear was trickling down Hermione's face.

"Fine, go!" she said moodily. "Everyone leaves me!"

Harry came back; Quidditch could wait.

"Are you OK Hermione?" he asked her.

"OK? OK? Of course I'm not! That jerk broke up with me!" Her cries grew louder, and Harry looked around for some tissues, finding none.

"It'll be alright," Harry tried to reassure her.

"What do you know Harry?" she burst out. "No one's ever left you! You're Famous Harry Potter!"

"No one's ever left me?" Harry repeated, trying to be sensitive to her selfishness because she was upset. "How about my mum and dad? I think that they left pretty suddenly! And Hagrid! The man I owe everything to could be dead right now for all anyone knows! What about Sirius huh? He was taken from me less than two weeks ago!"

Hermione recoiled, she seemed to have stopped sobbing from the shock of Harry's outburst.

"I'm sorry Harry," she whispered. "I've just been thinking of myself. It's not even like I was in love with Viktor. He was just my boyfriend for a while. It's just, he was my first boyfriend. No one's really taken much interest in me before. Boys, I mean. They just see me as someone who knows everything and just happens to be a girl. I've always been the smart one. I mean, I'm a Prefect and I'm the top of the year and everything."

"What about Ron?" Harry said, not really sure if he should have brought it up, especially when they seemed to have moved past it.

"What about him?" Hermione said carelessly.

"He's in love with you."

"He didn't know what he was saying," said Hermione, sounding like her know-it-all self again. "Ron isn't really in love with me. We're just kids, we're not mature enough to feel that way about anyone."

"Oh yeah?" said Harry. "Well what do you call someone who spends days trying to make you feel better when another boy breaks up with you? And someone who walks into a forest full of giant spiders to try and help you recover from being Petrified?"

Hermione did not speak.

"Only someone who really loved you would risk his life to help you."

"You did all those things," she said softly.

Harry did not know what to say.

"Maybe you're right," Hermione said eventually. "I shouldn't just worry about work to try and take my mind off Viktor. It's just hard, you know. I feel so worthless right now."

"Well if you ever need proof that you are worth something, that there is someone who really cares about you, you don't have to look very far."

Hermione nodded. She looked at her watch and said suddenly "You'd better get to Quidditch practice."

Harry walked out of Gryffindor Tower, deciding it was best to not mention that conversation to anyone, one person in particular.

*

By the next Hogsmeade visit it was already mid December. The grounds were covered by a thick layer of snow, and it was so cold that Harry had combed the library for a good warming spell that did not contain some kind of fire.

He went with the rest of the school to the Entrance Hall to wait for the carriages to take them to Hogsmeade.

He quickly found Cho in the crowd, she was wearing a long, elegant silver cloak and had her long hair tied back in a braid.

"Hi Harry," she said when she saw him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Harry replied, wondering if he should tell her how nice she looked. "It looks like it's just gonna be you and me after all. Ron and Hermione are going by themselves."

"Oh," Cho said. "Great."

Harry looked around and saw the two of them standing nervously next to each other. Hermione had definitely recovered since she had opened up to Harry, Ron was looking half pleased about spending time alone with her, half terrified about what he might say. Suddenly, he thought as he looked back at his date, they were growing up.

He looked around again and saw Roger Davies standing alone, an odd look of anticipation on his face. Malfoy was with Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle lurking behind them.

He looked back at Cho. She seemed to have been staring at him while he was looking away. She smiled at him, and Harry could not help but smile back.

Cedric weighed on his mind again, he did not know what to do. He really did not want to disappoint her. He tried to look at it logically; he was not doing anything wrong. He was simply going on one casual date with a girl whom he found attractive. But then, why did he feel so guilty?

They got into a carriage, and were not joined by anyone else. Cho sat next to him and they talked all the way there. They talked about several things, and there were no awkward silences in the conversation. Cho had just told Harry about the custom-made broomstick she had received from her parents as a reward for her good O.W.L. scores.

"So I'll have to watch myself in the Quidditch Final," Harry joked.

Cho laughed. "Well it's no Firebolt."

"How many O.W.Ls did you get?" Harry asked.

"Ten," Cho replied. "I was lucky to get one in Defence Against the Dark Arts, that's never really been my best subject."

"Really," said Harry. "That's my favourite subject!"

"No surprise," Cho responded. "Harry Potter, the one who defeated You-Know-Who."

"Defeated?" said Harry. "More like detained."

Cho opened her mouth to speak, but closed it without saying a word. Harry did not intend to scare her off with talk of Voldemort.

"Sorry," Harry said quietly. "I've just had a lot to think about."

"It's OK," Cho said, sliding a little bit closer to him. "We've all had a lot to think about."

There was the first silence between them, and Harry decided to change the subject.

"How do the O.W.Ls actually work, anyway?" he asked. "I mean, the number you O.W.Ls you can get."

"Well, it's simple really," Cho explained. "You take a test in every subject, and the teacher will either give you one, two, or three O.W.Ls. You'll usually get one or two, it's pretty rare to get three in a subject."

"Are the they really as bad as everyone says?"

"Oh yeah," Cho replied. "They're terrible. I really did horribly in Potions, but I got a good mark in Ancient Runes. I think that's quite an easy subject."

"I wouldn't know," Harry said. "I don't take it. I chose Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. I wish I hadn't picked Divination, Trelawney's a real downer."

"Yeah, so I've heard."

When they reached Hogsmeade, it had started to snow. The picturesque scene that met them when they got out of the carriage made Harry feel better. The cold on the other hand, was making him feel worse.

"Do you want to get a Butterbeer?" Harry asked Cho.

"Sure," she said.

They headed for the Three Broomsticks. It was as packed as ever with Hogwarts students. Harry ordered two Butterbeers, and sat at a table with Cho. He saw Roger Davies sitting at the next table, but he was no longer alone. Fleur Delacour was sitting next to him, wearing beautiful green robes that shone in the light.

"'Arry!" she said when she saw him. "'Ow are you?"

"I'm OK thanks, you?"

"I am good thank you. Work iz going very well."

Roger smiled at Harry. "How's your team coming along?" he asked.

"We're alright. How are the Ravenclaws? Not working them too hard?" Harry said, feeling able to joke about the disagreement that the two of them had had.

Roger gave Harry a friendly smile. "No, we're all doing fine. Our Seeker is doing a terrific job."

Cho laughed. "Thanks," she said.

"Roger," said Fleur, looking at her watch. "We 'ad better be going. Adieu 'Arry," she added to him. Harry guessed that 'adieu' was French for 'goodbye'.

Fleur and Roger got up from their table, leaving Harry and Cho alone.

After they had finished their Butterbeers, they left the tavern to walk around Hogsmeade. They both bought their Christmas presents. They visited the Shrieking Shack, where Cho told Harry some things she had heard about the ghosts that lived there. Harry refrained from telling her that the screaming sounds that had come from it were made by Lupin instead of ghosts.

Harry noticed the mountain that hid the cave that Sirius had hidden in. His sadness, which had taken a back seat since the Quidditch match, now returned in full measure. He stared up at the rock face, remembering how he and the black dog had come out of it and walked back to the village. Then Sirius had tried to steal a newspaper from the restaurant, and the old man had tried to scare him away. Then he had crashed into the woman with her scolding soup, and then --

"Harry!"

Harry looked away. He had been lost in his thoughts about his godfather. Cho was looking at him with some concern.

"Sorry," he said to her. "Like I said, I've had a lot to think about."

Cho nodded. They continued to Honeydukes, where they each bought a few sweets, but not that many. They were just leaving when Cho stopped to talk to a very glum-looking boy, who was all by himself.

"Hi," she said. "Are you OK?"

"Oh hi Cho, I'm alright," said the boy listlessly.

The boy looked up at Harry.

"Are you Harry Potter?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am."

The boy gave a small smile, but then his eyes filled with tears. He wiped them on his sleeve, then looked back at Harry.

"Sorry," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm Gavin."

"Nice to meet you Gavin," said Harry, shaking his hand. "What year are you in?"

"I'm a third year," Gavin replied. "A Hufflepuff."

"Oh, so how do you know Cho?" Harry asked.

"Well, um, she dated my brother for a while."

Harry had to stop himself from gasping. He noticed Gavin's grey eyes and dark hair.

"Gavin Diggory?"

Gavin nodded. Harry immediately understood his sadness, and the fact the he almost cried upon seeing him, Harry Potter, the boy most associated with his brother's death. He did not even know that Cedric had a brother, and felt terrible about the kind of pain he must have felt.

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

"Don't be sorry," Gavin said evenly. "You didn't do anything wrong. And I want to thank you for bringing back Cedric to Hogwarts. That was a very brave thing to do."

It was Harry's turn to nod. Gavin seemed to be very mature for his age. Although when your brother is murdered when you are thirteen, you are forced to grow up, Harry thought.

"Cho, can I talk to you?" Gavin asked.

"Of course," she replied. "Do you mind Harry?"

"No, you talk," Harry said. "I'll see you around."

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and Harry walked away. He left Honeydukes, and tried to think of what he could do with the rest of his time. He certainly did not want to interrupt Ron and Hermione. He decided to look for someone else he knew, anyone. Fred and George, Colin Creevey, Neville, Ginny. But he could not find a single person.

He was still wandering around, when he heard a voice call out to him.

"Harry!"

He looked around, and saw Ron was there, alone. His face was red, and he was breathing heavily. It seemed that he had been running for a while.

"There you are," he said. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Well now you found me," said Harry, still thinking of Gavin Diggory.

"Come with me," Ron said. "It's important."

"What?" said Harry urgently. "Has something happened to Hermione?"

"Huh? No, don't worry, it's nothing bad, just follow me."

Ron then started running off away from Harry, and Harry had to sprint to catch up with him. They ran to the houses and stopped in front of a small house near the middle of one row. There were a few people standing in front of it.

"Hi Harry!" Mrs Weasley said as she waved to him.

"Mrs Weasley! Mr Weasley! Bill!"

The three Weasleys smiled at him. He went up to the house, and Bill opened the front door, ushering everyone in.

The house was very spacious from inside (Harry suspected that it had been magically enlarged).

The five of them sat in the sitting room. There were many comfortable chairs. Bill gave everyone a cup of tea, and sat with them. Harry noticed a lot of moving pictures of the family, as well as one of Bill standing in a desert with a very pretty, exotic woman.

Harry remembered Mrs Weasley telling him on his birthday that Bill had moved into Hogsmeade. Harry would quite like to own a place like it after he had finished school.

"I was walking around here and I saw mum standing outside this house," said Ron. "And she said that her and dad were here visiting Bill. Can you believe it?"

"I had no idea you kids had a Hogsmeade visit today," added Mrs Weasley. "Strange coincidence."

"Yeah," said Harry. "So how are you all?"

"I'm good," said Bill. "The goblins have been givin' be a bit of bother, but it's nothing I can't handle."

"I've been getting a bit of agro' from work too," said Mr Weasley. "We found a store on Oxford Street that are selling expensive socks to rich Muggles, but one sock in each pair disappears! I mean, how can they not notice that they don't have both socks? What do they think, they keep getting lost in the wash?"

The Weasleys laughed, Harry wondered if that was the reason that Uncle Vernon would always seem to lose his socks.

"How are you Harry?" Mrs Weasley asked gently.

"I'm fine thanks," he replied, not wanting to depress them all with details from his personal life.

"He had a hot date today!" Ron joked. "With Cho Chang from Ravenclaw!"

"Nice one Harry," said Bill, finishing his tea and pouring himself a shot of what looked like vodka.

Harry smiled and told them a bit about what happened, but did not mention Gavin.

"So where is she now?" Ron asked.

"I'm not sure," Harry lied, thinking of her consoling the small boy. "Where's Hermione?" he asked.

Ron' cheeks went slightly red. "I don't know. I think she's with Neville, or Parvati."

"Did you see Fred or George anywhere Harry?" Mrs Weasley asked. "Ron tried to look for them, but he couldn't find them."

"No," Harry replied. "I was looking for them myself for a while."

"Oh, well we wanted to ask you all something, and Charlie too, but he says he's busy at work. I was going to send him an owl, but if you ask him it'll save Errol a journey. By the way, how is Professor Weasley?" said Mr Weasley smiling.

"He's a great teacher," said Ron.

"We miss Hagrid of course," Harry added.

Bill nodded. "I heard about Hagrid, I was really shocked. Have you got any idea where he is?"

"Not a clue," said Harry, staring absentmindedly at a picture of Fred and George as babies, pulling on Percy's hair.

"He hasn't been seen all year, right?" Mr Weasley asked. "Last I heard he was abroad with the headmistress of Beauxbatons, with the giants."

"Well he definitely got back, but then Fudge gave him the sack and he disappeared."

"Maybe he got a job somewhere else, somewhere far away?" Ron suggested.

"I don't think so," Harry said. "He wouldn't just go without telling anyone, he would at least keep in contact."

Everyone stayed silent. Harry really missed Hagrid, just like he missed Sirius, and Hedwig. He did not have a lot of people left in his life, but he did not intend to lose them.

"Anyway," Ron said. "What was it you wanted to ask us?"

"Oh right," said Mr Weasley. "We wanted to ask you if you wanted to come home for the Christmas holidays, you too Harry. Of course, we'd understand if you wanted to stay at Hogwarts, it is the safest place for you, but if you felt like a change, the offer is there."

"What do you think Harry?" said Ron. "Do you want to?"

"Sure I do," said Harry. "But I don't think Dumbledore would let me. He wouldn't let me come to your house over the summer, remember?"

"I know dear," said Mrs Weasley. "But it couldn't hurt to ask him. We'd all love you to be there, especially Percy."

"Percy?" said Ron.

"Yes, it was his idea to have the whole family around for Christmas, and you Harry. You'll ask Hermione too, won't you?"

"Of course," said Harry.

"Why did Perce want us around?" Ron asked. "We haven't all been together at Christmas for four years, and even then Bill and Charlie were never there."

Bill suddenly looked guilty for his past disregard of family. "Well maybe he thought now that me and Charlie are here, we should act like a family. Since everything that happened, we have to stick together."

"You're right," said Harry. "I'll ask Dumbledore."

"Good," said Mrs Weasley. "Then we can spend the holiday like a normal family."

After they left Bill's house, Harry felt a great deal better, he was going to be at Ron's house for Christmas. Just like a normal family.

"Oh no," said Ron as they were walking towards the carriages that would take them back to Hogwarts. "I just thought of something."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"I haven't bought any of them a present!"