Harry Potter and the Guild of the Night

Katling

Story Summary:
Harry suffers a terrible injury at the Dursleys that leaves his ability to face Voldemort in doubt. But with the help of Remus Lupin and a mysterious new teacher he has a chance to become more than he was before. Features a grudgingly neutral Snape and a Ginny who knows what she wants or rather who she wants.

Chapter 11

Chapter Summary:
It's Harry's birthday! Lots of presents abound! We get some news about the Dursleys and its time for Ginny to get into the story.
Posted:
07/06/2004
Hits:
7,456
Author's Note:
To Numba1 - Warning! Warning! Ginny alert! Jst for you! :) There's Harry/Ginny ahead, be warned! *LOL*


Chapter 11

Any thoughts of training, as well as breakfast, were thrown out of Harry's mind when he and Remus got back to the suite. They walked in to find the room crowded with people who burst out with 'Happy Birthday, Harry' the moment the door was opened. Remus gave Harry a gentle push into the room and watched with a smile as he was engulfed by his friends.

They pulled him over to the couch, pushed him down onto it and started handing him the presents that had been piled onto the table to unwrap. The Weasleys all insisted that their parent's present be the first unwrapped and handed it to Harry with a great deal of anticipation and a lot of grinning.

Harry accepted it and fumbled the wrapping open. Inside was a small wooden box and when he opened it, a clock hand was revealed that had Harry's picture on it. Harry ran his hand over it gently to try and identify what it was and looked up with a question on his face. Mrs Weasley sat down next to him and gave him a quick hug.

"It's your clock hand, dear," she said with affection, "for home."

Harry looked down and ran his fingers over the clock hand again. He looked up with a huge smile on his face and tears in his eyes. "Thanks, Mrs Weasley," he said in a choked voice and she drew him into another hug. She gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and took the box from him.

"Just give me that now, dear, and I'll see that it's put on the clock as soon as possible," she said with a smile and got up to allow him to move on to the rest of his presents. Harry blinked back the tears and accepted his next gift.

There was much laughter over the next half-hour as Harry unwrapped his presents.

Hermione's was probably the most useful. She had found a magical device that could be used on books. Once it was attached to the book, it acted as a kind of wizarding audio book. It could read the entire book or it also had an index facility that allowed you to go straight to the section you wished. It could also be magically adjusted to the individual user so that the sound could only be heard by the user. Harry had been extremely impressed with this; he had been wondering how he was going to manage any kind of independent study.

Fred and George's present was the most fun, of course; though it was quickly hidden from the teachers in the room, much to their amusement. It contained a wide selection of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and came with a whispered suggestion that perhaps Ron and Ginny would be willing be his personal aides in their use. Harry laughed as Ron and Ginny agreed almost immediately.

Finally he was down to his last two presents. Hermione handed him the largish one that was wrapped in plain green wrapping. She looked at the small card attached to it and her mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Er, Harry, this one's from Professor Snape," she said slowly.

Everyone but Harry turned to the Potions Master in surprise. He had been standing in the corner of the lounge room watching the proceedings with a disgruntled expression on his face. This turned into a fully-fledged glare and snarl when everyone turned to him. Harry ignored this and slowly opened the present. It was a book and Hermione gasped in delight when she saw it.

"Oh, Harry!" she said. "It's The Complete Potions Compendium! Its one of the best reference books for potion-making that there is. It's almost impossible to get the ones in the library; someone's always got them. I hope you'll let me borrow it!"

Surprise crossed Harry's face and he looked up towards where he had heard the Potion Master's snarl come from. "Thank you, sir!" he said.

A discomforted look crossed Snape's face. "Your Master tells me you are to study Potions, Potter. If you wish to do better than you did in my class perhaps you should study that book," he said sharply.

Harry grinned; only Professor Snape could turn a 'You're Welcome' into a lecture and an insult. The other teenagers had started grumbling at Snape's response but were startled into silence by Harry's grin. He mouthed a 'Later' at them and Hermione put the book on the table and handed him his last present.

"This one is from Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said and the giver in question stepped forward.

"Harry, before you open your present I wish to say a few things," the Headmaster said with a twinkle in his eye. "After the events in my office at the end of the last school year, I took the liberty of assuming that you wish to join the Order of the Phoenix. While you are not yet considered of age in the wizarding community, I have spoken to Remus, Arthur and Molly and they, as your guardians, have agreed to this. I trust I can rely on your discretion when it comes to discussing Order matters with your friends. I also hope that I can rely on you to come to either myself or one of the other Order members here at Hogwarts at any time if you should need our help or advice." The words 'unlike last year' went unspoken but clearly heard. "Inside your present you will find the amulet that identifies you as a member of the Order. It provides you with a means of contacting fellow Order members if needed; merely hold it in your hand, speak the word 'Affor' followed by the name of whomever you wish to speak to. It will also act as a Portkey and will always bring you to my office here at Hogwarts if you hold it in your hand and activate it with the word 'Violet Crumble'."

Harry nodded and opened the present. He placed the chain around his neck and tucked the amulet under his shirt along with his Guild charm.

"Excellent!" said Dumbledore with pleasure. "Now I believe there is a rather nice cake down in the Great Hall for you, Harry, which I am most anxious to taste. Shall we go and find out just how good it is?"

Harry laughed and nodded and the entire group trooped down to the Great Hall. The one exception was Professor Snape who used the movement to slip away. Harry didn't notice however and his impromptu party continued through the morning and into lunch. After lunch, he was approached by Remus who said he needed to speak to him after dinner. He was then led away by Master Nhean.

When they got to the classroom, Nhean sat him down and asked for a detailed explanation of the attack by the Lethifold. Harry told him about all that had happened from the moment he had stepped into his bedroom, including his use of Oversight and his use and the subsequent dropping of his sword. Nhean listened to the entire tale in silence and then considered the events.

"Well, Harry, considering your current level of expertise, I think you did well," Nhean said finally, to Harry's surprised pleasure. "You were very quick to realise that there was something in the room with you. You remembered very quickly for someone at your stage of training to instigate your Oversight. You made some astute tactical moves and you were able to remember how to deal with the creature in spite of your rather acute situation. Your only mistake was to drop your sword but, at your current stage of training, I cannot count that as being a major mistake. You may have done more damage to yourself trying to use it without training." He stopped and smiled at Harry's pleased expression. "However I do believe that whether this was a deliberate attack or not, we must increase the pace of your training."

Harry sighed with relief. "I was going to ask you about doing that. I felt pretty helpless last night."

Deep amusement caused the Night Master's face to crinkle. "You may regret that eagerness shortly but I can understand your feelings last night. Now, do you feel comfortable moving around in those clothes?"

Harry thought about the clothes that Remus had brought him that morning. He was wearing jeans, t-shirt and sneakers so he nodded.

"Good," said Nhean and he led Harry out of the door.

******************************

Late that afternoon Harry limped back into the suite, surprising Remus who had been reading.

"Harry! What happened to you?" Remus said with sympathetic humour.

Harry rolled his eyes and all but fell down onto the couch. "Master Nhean agreed with me about speeding up my training so he had me walking and running all over this whole damn castle this afternoon."

"Why?" Remus asked, stifling his laughter.

Harry groaned. "Because I have to be comfortable moving around before he'll start any kind of training in those martial arts he's going to teach me."

Remus couldn't stop himself grinning. "So are you comfortable?"

Harry scowled. "You're laughing at me, aren't you? You're saying to yourself that I asked for it and I got it," he said grumpily and then laughed. "Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable and I did it all without Oversight. It'll be easier when I start using that more often."

Remus reached over and ruffled Harry's hair, making it stick up even more than normal. Harry batted his hand away and tried to smooth it down again, making Remus laugh.

"Give it up, Harry," he said. "In all the years I was friends with James, I never saw him get that mop of his under control so I don't think you're going to succeed either. And speaking of success, I'm glad you had some today." Harry gave a wry grin and Remus hesitated before he continued. "Harry...I was going to wait until after dinner to tell you this but I might as well get it over and done with now. The Dursleys have been found."

Silence greeted this announcement and Harry's face became expressionless. Remus eyed him with worry.

"How?" Harry asked finally. "Where were they and what's going to happen to them?"

"The muggle authorities found them yesterday," Remus said carefully, "and handed them over to the Ministry of Magic last night. They were in New York and lying pretty low. It was only sheer stupidity on their part that allowed them to be discovered. They insisted on bragging about Dudley at a dinner party they'd been invited to and mentioned he had attended a school called...Smeltings, I think. One of the other guests at the dinner party was a social worker and he remembered the name from the alert that was sent out. He was able to question them and get enough to tentatively identify them. The information was passed onto the wizarding authorities in the US and they moved in and ascertained the truth. A hearing will be held in the Wizengamot in four days."

Harry was silent again for a moment. "Will I have to testify against them?"

"We don't think so," Remus said kindly. "Professor Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, Professor Snape and I have all given testimony about what we saw and heard. We're hoping that will be enough. Also Professor Dumbledore has notified them that he would be willing to allow them to see what you told us via his memory in a pensieve. Besides, I think under the circumstance the Wizengamot will authorise the use of Veritaserum. They've been hinting that whenever we have spoken to them."

Harry nodded and Remus scooted closer and put an arm around his shoulders. Harry smiled weakly.

"Its okay, Remus," he said. "It's just...I had kind of managed to not think about them." He paused and thought hard. "I...I want to go to the hearing."

Remus gaped at him. "Are...are you sure, Harry? You don't have to, you know?"

"You're going, aren't you?" Harry asked

"Well, yes, but that's because I have to give my testimony."

"I want to go," Harry said firmly and then sighed. "I...need to go, Remus. I...I need to see this through to the end." He gave a wry smile. "So to speak."

"Alright," Remus said with a resigned sigh.

Harry relaxed. "Thanks."

Remus sighed again and stood. "You'd better go and have a shower, Harry. I'll go and tell the Headmaster that you want to go to the hearing." He stopped and his voice took on an earnest, caring tone. "Are you really sure that you want to go?"

Harry nodded firmly and stood. Remus patted him on the shoulder and left the suite.

Harry showered and changed in to fresh clothes. He left the suite and started to make his way down to the Great Hall but quickly changed his mind. He wasn't really that hungry any more and really wanted to think about things for a while. He turned and made his way up to the Astronomy Tower.

*********************************

Ginny wandered along the corridor trying to figure out where Harry might be. He hadn't come down to dinner and Mum had been frantic. Remus hadn't been too worried; he seemed to think that they should just leave Harry be for a while but Mum had refused to take that as an answer and Remus had refused to elaborate. Ginny wasn't sure which way to go; there was a part of her that wanted to wait on Harry hand and foot for the rest of her life but another larger part of her reacted in horror and scoffed at that idea and told her that Harry wouldn't appreciate it. She'd spent the better part of the last year being very confused about Harry and she had reacted by trying to be as normal as possible and dating a few boys. It had kind of worked; she had managed to get rid of her little girl crush on him. She snorted and shook her head; that had been embarrassing for all concerned. It was certainly much more fun being around Harry when she wasn't being a complete idiot and he wasn't sitting there dumbfounded and unable to figure out what to do. She'd almost felt as though she was part of the Gryffindor Trio a few times.

Last year had also enabled her to figure what she really felt for Harry and she'd come to the conclusion during the summer that she thought she might be in love with him. She wasn't really sure; she'd never been in love before. But then the news had come of Harry's blinding and now she didn't know what to do or to say or to feel. It had been really hard coming to Hogwarts and she had nearly burst into tears when they had walked into the Entrance Hall. He had been standing there with Remus and when he heard them all come in he had grinned with such happiness. He didn't smile like that very often and he'd seemed genuinely happy that they were there. But it had been so hard to look at him, so hard to see those green eyes staring blindly like that. She'd been hoping beyond hope that Madam Pomfrey or Professor Dumbledore or anybody really had been able to fix his eyes.

She sighed; she had spoken about this over the course of a few nights with Hermione and Luna. She'd told them how she felt and that she didn't know what to do now. The other two girls hadn't been that surprised and had given her some good advice but it was the times that each of the two girls had pulled her aside privately that had been real eye-openers. Hermione's talk had been hard to take...

**************

*Flashback*

"Ginny?" Hermione whispered one morning at breakfast. "Can I talk to you? Privately?"

Ginny, her mouth full of eggs, nodded and quickly swallowed. "Sure, when?"

"After breakfast."

Ginny nodded again and the two girls turned back to their breakfasts. After they were finished they excused themselves from the table and wandered up to the empty Transfiguration classroom. Ginny sat on one of the windowsills and Hermione propped herself against Professor McGonagall's desk.

Hermione looked down at her shoes for a moment and then took a deep breath. "Ginny, I...I wanted to talk to you about what you've been telling us about the last couple of nights. You know, you're feelings for Harry. 'Cause something happened last night that...well, I...well, it was really important."

Ginny looked confused and a little apprehensive and Hermione sighed and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Look, Ginny," Hermione said firmly, "I know you're still a little confused about your feelings for Harry and what his blinding means to him, to you and to everyone else but I can tell you this, if it's just a silly little schoolgirl crush than...well, forget it. Don't do anything. Harry...Harry was inducted into the Guild of the Night last night and, well, a few things came out. We didn't get a lot of details but from what we did find out, Harry has to kill Voldemort."

Ginny gasped, a horrified look on her face. She opened her mouth to say something but Hermione beat her to it.

"I don't know why or how, Ginny, but he seems pretty convinced and Remus was there and he didn't contradict Harry so I think it must be true. And I'm sure you've noticed how he's been acting since we got here. He's been acting more like an adult which I suppose isn't that much of a surprise. What happened to him and that fact that nothing can be done about it has matured him. Finally." Hermione rolled her eyes as she considered some of the hair-brained things Harry and Ron had done. "I don't doubt the fact that you may be in love with him, Ginny, but you need to work out what kind of love that is. If it's nothing more than a fleeting thing, then let it go. I don't think Harry needs the distraction right now. But if you really love him, deeply and truly, then think carefully. He has to face Voldemort and you know what he's like about being protective towards his friends. It'll be a lot worse if you're his girlfriend and you have to face the fact that he may die. If you don't think you can handle that then don't get involved with him that way. But if you think you can, remember that you have to be there for him and not back away when it gets hard, when he gets angry and upset, when he feels betrayed or lonely." She gave a wry smile. "It's not always the easiest job being Harry's friend but it's always worth it."

Ginny stared at her, tears in her eyes and Hermione's expression faded into one of kindness.

"Look, Ginny, I know I laid that on pretty hard but it was all true. Really think about this before you do anything"

Hermione walked over and gave Ginny a hug and then left the room. Ginny didn't follow her; she had far too much thinking to do.

*End Flashback*

*************

As hard as listening to what Hermione had to say had been, she had to admit that the older girl was right. This was not something she could throw herself into willy-nilly, without thinking. Even though it did give her a headache. But even more interesting had been when Luna pulled her aside....

*************

*Flashback*

"Ginny, might I speak with you?" Luna asked airily.

"Sure, Luna," Ginny replied with a smile. She liked Luna. The Ravenclaw girl could sometimes make you doubt her sanity but Ginny had absolutely no doubts that Luna was one the cleverest people she knew. Hermione was the stand out but Luna ran a close second.

The two girls wandered out of the castle and sat on the grass by the lake.

"I have been considering your situation with Harry," Luna said almost absent-mindedly, "I have some words."

"Of advice?" Ginny asked carefully.

"No, not really," Luna replied serenely. "I don't think you need advice. I think you already know what you want. I think you are just afraid to take it."

"Afraid!" Ginny burst out.

"Yes," Luna said calmly, "it's not surprising really. What you want is difficult and complicated. Things always are when your emotions get mixed up in them and when what you're talking about is someone as intriguing and complicated as Harry."

Luna lay back on the grass and stared at the clouds rolling by overhead with interest. She turned and regarded Ginny with the same look.

"He doesn't let any of you all the way in to see the real Harry, you know," she said matter-of-factly. "He's afraid too. That all of you won't like him if you know what he's really like. Silly really but he is a boy. Oh, you've seen most of who he truly is but you haven't seen all the doubts and fears and all those things that boys are so silly about talking about."

She sat up again very suddenly and pinned Ginny under her wide-eyed gaze. "You could be very good for him, if you have the courage to take what you want." She smiled suddenly, the wide, wafty smile Ginny was so used to, got up and walked back to the castle without another word, leaving Ginny sitting there, slightly stunned.

*End Flashback*

*************

Ginny turned a corner absently as she considered what the two girls had said. They were both right, of course, she had to absolutely sure of what she wanted and then she had to grab it with both hands.

She came to sudden stop as she realised she was standing in front of the door to the Astronomy Tower. She contemplated it for a moment and finally decided there was no harm in checking. She meandered up the stairs and into the classroom. There was no one there but she did see that the door to the roof was open. She walked up the stairs and there was Harry, sitting on the ground, his back against the battlements. His eyes were closed and his head was tilted backwards a little, he seemed to be thinking awfully hard. She carefully cleared her throat.

Harry jumped and his hands shifted on his cane. He stopped and frowned. "Who is it?"

"It's Ginny."

Harry relaxed and smiled wryly. "Oh, hi Ginny. Are you part of your Mum's search party?"

Ginny laughed and walked up the final steps. She sat down next to Harry. "Yes, Mum's frantic."

Harry grimaced. "I don't know what to do," he said with a helpless shrug. "You know I love your Mum but she's driving me crazy. She keeps treating me like I'm about to break or I'm three and it's getting on my nerves."

Ginny laughed. "She loves you, Harry," she said kindly, "and now she's got official permission to treat you like one of her kids, not that she hasn't always done that. Now you know what we all go through." The two of them had a good laugh at that then Ginny continued. "You've just got to learn to do what the twins do, head her off at the pass. Don't let her get herself worked up about things. Answer matter-of-factly as though there's no other response. She'll get all teary and make really embarrassing remarks about how you're growing up so quickly and then she'll move on to your next piece of trouble."

Harry laughed. "Lessons from the master, I assume." He sobered and turned to face her. "And what about you?"

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked, startled.

"How do I get you to stop treating me like I'm something fragile or that this is all some great tragedy?" he asked, waving towards his face with the last part. He really wanted to get Ginny past this. During that interminable week when he was waiting to find out about his sight he had spent a fair amount of time thinking about Ginny. He admitted to himself early on that he liked her, though she confused the hell out of him but he supposed that was normal when it came to girls. After all, Hermione seemed to confuse the hell out of Ron. He was pretty nervous about doing anything about Ginny, after all, it wasn't like he'd had much experience with girls. But he wanted to know if there was anything between them. He hoped so, though he was a bit nervous about how the Weasleys would react.

"I...I..." Ginny stammered and Harry relented and groped gently for one of her hands.

"Ginny, I'm okay, really," he said with a gentle smile. "I mean, of course I don't like being blind and I'd take my sight back in an instant of someone offered but...I'm okay. Master Nhean has shown me that I could be something really great if I work hard enough and..." Harry's voice took on a note of wry amusement. "I've got all these really good friends who won't let me protect them and who insist on helping me and coming with me into insanely dangerous situations. So how can things be bad?"

Ginny bowed her head and stared at their joined hands. She liked the look of them and she made a decision.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to upset you." She lifted her head, a bit of her normal steel coming back into her eyes. "And of course we're going to help you, what are friends for? Besides someone's got to watch your back because you're the one who insists on going into these dangerous situations alone. Bugger that!"

Harry laughed aloud and Ginny joined in a little sheepishly.

"That's more like the Ginny I know," he said with delight.

Ginny bit her lip and decided on the 'its-now-or-never' approach, spurred on by the fact that Harry's thumb was making gentle circles on the back of her hand. She leaned forward and kissed him.

Ginny was in heaven. After Harry got over being startled, the kiss became everything she could have hoped for from her first kiss with Harry. It was sweet, soft, a little awkward but oh so loving. Eventually they pulled back from each other, Ginny with a smile and Harry with an almost pleading look on his face. He was thrilled but at the same time scared. He hadn't realised that she liked him that much and now all he could think was that he didn't want her to get hurt.

"Ginny?" he whispered. "Why?"

"Because I think I'm in love with you," she said and then gasped; she hadn't meant to say that just yet. Harry sat back against the wall, his face becoming expressionless. He did not let go of her hand however and she took some heart from that. She watched him with growing fear.

"Ginny, I...I really like you," he said finally, "but...I..." He seemed unable to articulate what he wanted to say. Ginny remembered Hermione's little talk and what she said Harry had revealed about the prophecy and realised what he was trying to say.

"I don't care, Harry," she said firmly. "Hermione told me about what you said the prophecy said but I prefer to think that you will win and we will have plenty of time together. That's why I don't want to rush things between us; we've got time." Harry looked doubtful at that but Ginny continued on relentlessly. "We've got plenty of time to talk to each other and find out about each other. Plenty of time!"

A small spark of humour began to kindle in Harry's eyes. "You're pretty determined about this, aren't you?" he said weakly.

"Absolutely!" she said and then put on an airy tone. "Besides it's not Voldemort you have to worry about, Harry. You do remember that I've got six brothers, don't you?"

"They'll...they'll be pleased, won't they?" he said plaintively. "I mean, I'm not Draco Malfoy or anything."

Ginny started laughing and leaned against Harry. Much to her delight, he put his arms around her and drew her close. He hardly dared to believe that she actually liked him. He'd been a bit clueless around her after all and he was sure that he'd deeply offended her at least once. But if she'd decided that she liked, maybe even loved, him anyway, he was prepared to go with it. He determinedly did not think about Voldemort; the moment was too good to ruin.

"That's right," he grumbled good-naturedly. "Make fun of the blind guy."

Ginny laughed again and kissed him. "They'll be thrilled," she reassured him. "Mum'll start doing cartwheels. Dad'll just want to ask you about living with muggles. Bill, Charlie, Fred and George will all play stuffy older brother and then be thrilled and Ron will threaten to kill you if you ever hurt me. And then he'll be thrilled because you're his best friend."

"What am I letting myself in for? Ow!" He rubbed his chest where Ginny had smacked him. That prompted him to remember why he had come up to the Tower.

Ginny noticed his change of mood. "Harry? What's wrong?"

He hesitated a long moment before answering. "I...came up here...because I wanted to think. They've...found the Dursleys."

"Where?" Ginny asked.

"In America but they've been brought back to England. There's a hearing in four days."

"Do you have to go?"

"Well, no," Harry said slowly, "I don't have to. They don't think they'll need my testimony but I'm going anyway. I have to see this finished, Ginny. I have to know that it's over." His voice became very quiet. "And I have to know why my Uncle did this to me."

"I'm coming with you," Ginny said firmly and put her hand over Harry's mouth before he could open it to argue with her. "I'm coming with you."

Harry pulled her hand away and smiled. "I wasn't going to argue with you. I think I've finally realised the futility of that. I'd actually had the idea of asking Professor Dumbledore whether you, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna could all come. I think I'm going to need the support." His face became somewhat grim.

"I'm sure that they'll all want to come," she said. "I mean, if we could face Voldemort's Death Eaters without blinking then the Dursleys won't be a challenge."

Harry laughed and hugged her then hesitated and leant down and kissed her. This kiss started out like the first one but quickly became a little more heated, spurred on by Harry's gentle touches to her face. They pulled back from each other, breathing heavily and something occurred to Harry.

"Er, Ginny, what about Dean? Aren't you supposed to be going out with him?" he asked carefully.

"Oh, we broke up," she said matter-of-factly. "It was kind of mutual. I mean, I was really only going out with him because I was annoyed with Ron and that wasn't fair to Dean. And he was only going out with me to try and make Lavender jealous, which he realised wasn't fair to me...or Lavender."

Harry blinked at this news. "Okay, I'm not sure I really want to know more about that."

Ginny laughed and stood up, grabbing Harry's hand to pull him up. "Come on, we'd better get back. You've got to be hungry after your day and Mum'll be just about ready to burst a blood vessel." She paused and grinned. "We'll just tell her we're dating now, that'll distract her."

Harry laughed and let her help pull him up and they headed down to the Great Hall.


Author notes: Thanks again for all the reviews. It's great getting all the encouragement.

Numba1 - Well, Ginny's in the picture now. Hope I didn't disappoint you too much. :)

LSP80 - Thanks for picking up that error. I was watching COS while I was writing that part and Hermione says it in the movie. Got my moive and book worlds mixed up. I've corrected and reposted. Thanks again! :) And I'm glad you like Master Nhean - I wanted someone a bit interesting and I've become rather attached to the little man! *LOL*

Hermione123 - Yes, there will be some more Ron and Hermione action once the school year starts and I'm afraid Fred and George don't get too much af a chance to play tricks. They've eventually got to go back to work, though their birthday present promises mayhem on the part of Harry, Ron and Ginny! :)

Gwaihiril981 - Hoorah! Congrats for registering! *puts hands on hips* It's about time! *cough* Er, okay, I'll stop channelling Molly Weasley now! *L* I like the sarcastic and snide Snape, I don't think he'd ever be really nice. And I don;t think he'd be Snape without the sarcasm and snarky remarks. He's much more fun that way! *L* And yes, you see more of the training and some swordwork. And you'll definately get more once the school year starts.

flashgordon - Yes, you will see Hagrid in a few chapters. He's been busy with Order business and er, consulting with Madame Maxime but he'll be back soon. And as for the pet....er, well, I guess you'll just have to wait and see!

Spaz - Hope you enjoyed the whole bit with Ginny!

Hippychick83 - Ah yes, the start of the school year. They have a discussion or two regarding that in later chapters. You'll just have to wait! *LOL* :)