Resonance

Chapter 33 -- Old Wounds

A few weeks went by. Harry and Penelope had to change crates yet again as their wombat grew. It now ate fruit exclusively and it started to not want to return to the crate. Dean accused them of using a larger crate to make people wonder. They had to choose times to take care of it when others weren't coming up to check on their own projects. As they arrived one night during dinner time, Malfoy was just leaving. He looked angry and his whole hand was blue.

They took care of their wombat, using less bedding this time since they didn't have a larger crate, and it was crowded, which it didn't seem to mind. As they worked, Harry could not keep his mind off Malfoy's wombat. His eyes kept straying over to Malfoy and Parkinson's crate in the corner. He felt bad that he had forgotten his concern when he had first watched them take one.

As they closed the lid on their crate, Harry stepped over to the far one. "Want to check on it?" Penelope said from behind him.

"Yeah." He ran a long string of curse breaking spells on the crate, getting two flashes on random ones as the spells released. Then a series of unlock spells, which revealed nothing.

"Wow," Penelope breathed after the long series of spells.

Harry lifted the lid. Inside was something more like a chrysalis. "What is that?" he asked aloud. The stiff skin of it rippled as something inside moved. Unnerved, Harry closed it and respelled it. "It's in some kind of defensive mode, I guess." He felt badly for it.

"What can we do?"

"Complain to Hagrid. I'll do that after class tomorrow."

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Greer stalked around the classroom as they brewed. She paused beside their bench and peered into Frina's cauldron appraisingly. "More heat," she stated smartly.

Frina moved quickly to adjust the flame. Greer then eyed Harry's potion while he mostly ignored her. "And we are not allowed to say anything negative about Mr. Potter's potion," she said quite snidely.

Harry held off just barely on rolling his eyes or just snarling at her. His expectation that she'd grow bored of this theme had proved wrong. Clearly either his guardian or McGonagall had spoken with her at some point. He continued to ignore Greer as he ground beetle wings into the finest powder he had ever managed. Luckily, she had stopped asking him questions as well and he hoped it was because he almost never got them wrong. Padma fell under the teacher's unrelenting scrutiny next. She added too much rat brain powder and a cloud of noxious grey smoke mushroomed from her cauldron. The Slytherins jeered in whispered singsong and Padma looked as though she wanted to knock her setup onto the floor. Greer waved the contents away with a falsely sympathetic grin.

"Poor dear, perhaps next time," Greer said.

Padma bit her lip and took out her notes and sat down to review for the remainder of the session. The rest of them shared pained looks.

"She is too soft," Frina stated sadly.

"Greer is too--" Hermione began sounding unusually vicious, but was cut off by the teacher asking her a question that was not in the reading, but she answered it correctly anyway. Under her breath after Greer turned to praise the Slytherin potions and assign them some points based on her praise, Hermione said, "If nothing else, we will ace our N.E.W.T.s if we survive this class."

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"Don' worry, Harry," Hagrid said when he and the gamekeeper were in his cabin after class. "Can't really harm 'em. You weren' supposta look ya' know. That's cheatin'."

"We were worried about it," Harry explained.

"Ah, yer a softhearted one, Harry. Have time for a spot o' tea?" Hagrid asked, lifting the big bucket off the fire to take it to the pump out back.

"Not really. I'm going to be late as it is for double Defense."

Harry ran to the Defense classroom and still was five minutes after the start, which Snape pointed out as he entered.

"You took five points from Slytherin last time I was late," Malfoy complained.

"You're right," Snape said, "Five points from Gryffindor," he breathed and gave Harry a look that dared him to challenge it.

Harry frowned and sat down. Penelope gave him a sympathetic smile which made it all right. The dark look she gave Snape after, made him a little uneasy.

After class Harry went to the front and said quietly, "I was talking to Hagrid about something important."

"You should have done it later. I have to be hard on you, or I could lose control of the class," Snape said.

"Or at least the Slytherin part of it," Harry commented with a sly grin.

"Perhaps you will do me a favor next session," Snape said as he flipped through the parchments that were turned in.

"After that?" Harry asked with false sharpness.

Snape touched him on the arm and said with a small smile, "Yes, after that. I want to split the room up to cover two different things next week during the double session. Can you and Ms. Granger cover the examination review for the regular students, while I cover curse detection for the Durmstrang students? The Durmstrang students are not taking end of term examinations and it is a good chance to catch them up.

"Sure," Harry conceded.

Snape reached into the drawer of the desk and took out a roll of parchments tied with black ribbon. "Here are my notes for the term. Please don't lose them. Starred topics will be tested. Don't show that to anyone but Ms. Granger."

Harry nodded and put it in his bookbag. He said goodbye and stepped away, surprised to find Penelope hovering by the door, apparently waiting for him. "Thank you, Harry," Snape said as Harry crossed to the door.

"No problem, sir," he replied over his shoulder. Penelope considered him closely as he approached.

In the corridor, when they had almost reached the portrait hole, she said in a low voice, "Professor Snape was good friends with Headmaster Karkaroff, you know."

"I wouldn't have said, 'friends'," Harry breathed. He led the way into the common room. As they joined Ron and Hermione, Penelope looked like she wanted to say more. "Don't hold back because of them," Harry said to her.

"What's up?" Hermione asked in concern.

"She is trying to warn me about Professor Snape, insists he was friends with Igor Karkaroff."

"Oh," Hermione snipped. She gave Penelope a pained smile. "Don't wade into that," she suggested.

Penelope gave her a dark look before ranting, "He was evil. You don't how bad it was when he came back. It was a nightmare. He caused so many to die. And anyone who was with him, with Voldemort, well . . ." She looked them all over sharply, eyes bright. As she spun away to leave, Ron caught her with one of his long arms and dragged her back. "Let me go," she protested.

"Sit down," Ron said, exchanging places with her, so he was standing, holding her down in the chair by her arms.

Harry stared at Penelope's distressed face. She had her long hair pulled over her shoulder and ran her hands over it repeatedly in a form of self-comfort.

"Stay," Ron said before releasing her.

"It was terrible. Everyone took sides. Some took Karkaroff's because dey thought he would restore order. Dey foolishly beliefed him." A tear dropped out of her right eye. She rubbed it away angrily. "It is zo much nicer here. De place where Voldemort came himself. I don't understand."

"That was mostly Dumbledore's doing," Hermione said. "He worked hard to keep the outside world at bay." She glanced at Harry and they shared a frown.

Harry said, "Professor Snape is my adoptive father. He isn't a dark wizard. Even if he did know Karkaroff from way back."

She stared at him in surprise. "Dis is true?" she asked the assembled. When they nodded, she dabbed at her eye primly. "You would trust him? To be alone with him?" this she directed at Hermione.

"Harry lives with him," Hermione pointed out.

Harry nodded to confirm this and said, "If you need someone to talk to about what happened with Karkaroff. Professor Snape might be willing. I'll ask him if you want."

She looked alarmed at the notion, then relented slightly. "Perhaps I am keeping it too boxed up inside," she said dazedly. "But I would not have thought to talk to him."

"Or talk to any of us," Hermione offered.

Penelope looked over at her. "You faced twenty-two Death Eaters." She shook her head. "We only had to face each oder," she said sadly.

"Sounds worse," Ron said. "It helps to know who your enemy is."

The other students in the common room were quieting to listen in. Ginny came over and crouched beside the chair. "Discussing bad stuff over here?"

"I would have wanted revenge," Penelope said as she stared at the far wall.

"Surprised Harry didn't," Ginny said. "Why was that, Harry?"

"Let's not go into the Harry part of it," he said.

"Keeping it all boxed up too?" Ginny teased.

"Yes. Thank you," Harry snapped at her although it had a playful edge to it. Ginny laughed.

"It's almost the end of term," Ron said. "We're coming up on the bloody anniversary, you know."

Ginny teased in a falsely excited way, "That means the press will be here."

"Merlin," Harry breathed.

Penelope looked at him with sad eyes. "It is so unreal to be here with you all," she breathed. "Wit the Destroyer of Voldemort and his friends. I write home to my mum and dad and I don't think dey belief me."

"We would have taken out Karkaroff during the Tri-Wizard Tournament had we known," Ron said with feeling.

"Dumbledore would have kicked your arse," Ginny said to him.

"True," Ron said with a little alarm at the notion. His stomach growled at that moment. "It is dinner, right?" he asked hopefully.

"Why don't I take you to the girl's toilet to wash up," Hermione said to Penelope. "Ginny, can you get her kit? It is the purple one on the first night stand on the left." Ginny jumped up and went to the dormitory stairs.

In the toilet as Penelope washed her face, Hermione asked, "Did you lose someone?"

"My brother. My boyfriend."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said, choking up herself at the thought.

"It vas terrible. Every day or two dere vould be more bodies. You start to get used to it and just . . . check if dey are someone you know," Penelope said. Ginny came in and handed over her purple toiletry kit.

"Why didn't you leave?" Hermione asked.

"Durmstrang Institute, it is not like Hogwarts School. It is spelled in more ways to hide it and protect it. You cannot just leave. De headmaster controls dat."

Hermione looked horrified. She swallowed hard and helped Penelope put a bit of base under her eyes.

"I should just skip dinner," she said, looking at herself in the mirror.

"No. That isn't a good idea," Hermione insisted. "You have to stay around your friends. People who know what happened to you."

"Works for Harry," Ginny said as she crossed her arms and leaned against the next wash basin.

"Ginny," Hermione chastised her.

Ginny retorted, "Hey, thinking about how messed up Harry was always made me feel better. I never had Dementors in my head. Just Voldemort like he did."

Penelope froze as she put on a bit of blush. "He had Voldemort in his head?" she asked in a stunned voice. "You had . . . ?"

"Ginny, you are like Ron; I'm going to have to smack you to get you to shut up," Hermione said angrily. "If Harry feels like sharing stuff like that, he can do it himself. He has a hard enough time getting treated normally without you two reminding everyone of how messed up things have been."

"I tink he is very ordinary," Penelope opined carefully.

"Good," Hermione said forcefully. "Tell him that sometime, will you?"

"I did before." She started putting away her makeup. "He did zeem pleased to hear dis."

"I'm sure he was." Hermione said, moving to open the door. "It's a lifelong dream, I think."

Dinner passed in dead quiet at their part of the table. Everyone moved on automatic as they served themselves and ate. Harry had a sense that they were being watched and he finally turned and challenged the gazes from the head table. McGonagall looked away a little guiltily. Snape narrowed his eyes at them and stood up.

"Oops," Harry said as he turned back. "We're about to have company."

Hermione turned and watched Harry's guardian approach. Snape stopped behind Harry and asked, "Everything all right here?"

Harry watched Penelope across from him, studying Snape in a pained, worried way. "Uh," Harry started, then noticed that much of the table, up and down from them, were listening. "I'll explain later, sir."

Snape's hand fell on his shoulder. "Yes," he confirmed simply before walking back to the front.

At the end of dinner, Snape waited beside the hearth where Harry joined him. Standing in silence, they let the rest of the students and staff file out. When the Great Hall was empty, Harry checked the doors and saw Penelope hovering there. She had a fondness for that, apparently.

"Come in if you want," Harry invited.

"And the topic is?" Snape prompted.

"Durmstrang. Karkaroff," Harry replied levelly.

"I see," Snape breathed. "By all means, Ms. Tideweather. Come in," he invited dryly.

She stepped in silently and came over to them. The lamps in the Hall had dimmed themselves and now the fire provided most of the light. "Karkaroff was a desperate man," Snape stated, his gaze sliding over to her. "That kind is always the most dangerous."

"How well did you know him?" she asked.

"Hm. Better than average, I suppose," he replied reluctantly.

Harry stepped back and sat on the nearest bench, facing the fire.

"You are saying that is why he did it?" Penelope challenged him.

"He did it because he was weak. Durmstrang and its spells were a tool and a kind of shield, a powerful one built up by centuries of respelling. Taking over the school bought him time.
Snape turned to look back at Harry sitting behind and to the side of him. He seemed to be deciding how best to proceed. "Only a weak man like Karkaroff would work so hard to take so many down with him when he fell."

"He took many down," Penelope agreed sadly. Her eyes darted around the Great Hall. "The risk here of de same?"

Snape replied, "The risk of that here is much lower--most of the magic left by the Hogwarts founders has been reduced to only the most passive spells."

Harry snorted quietly.

"Well, mostly," Snape admitted. "Harry had the misfortune his second year to be led into a trap left by one of Hogwarts' founders."

"Who led you in?" she asked Harry, clearly distracted from her own dark musings. "The ghost of the founder?"

"Voldemort," Snape supplied.

"What?" she blurted in surprise.

"This school, for all its protections allowed Voldemort access many times. Isn't that right, Harry?" Snape prompted.

Harry, worried at Snape's tone, replied quietly, "A few, yeah."

"Your first year as I recall and your second."

"Voldemort was here--?" Penelope began in alarm.

Snape continued over her, "Your fourth he had to abduct you, since he couldn't access the castle, but yet again you prevailed."

"That was a draw at best," Harry pointed out.

"It made him mortal, therefore killable," Snape refuted in a hard tone. "Fifth, he certainly got the better of you. Sixth of course, we all know. Five times, Potter. My goodness."

"And your point is?' Harry asked in an annoyed tone. He didn't want to meet Penelope's gaze. The glimpse he had of it made it appear far too awed.

"That if you, with your penchant for feeling sorry for yourself, can persevere, then anyone can," he stated with a bit of his old rudeness.

"I had a lot of help. And I think having friends pitted against each other would be worse then facing clear evil."

"Hm," Snape replied noncommittally. To Penelope, he said flatly, "Healing and the blessing of failing memory take time. Be patient. Dwelling in the tragic past only keeps it alive."

She wrapped her arms around herself and looked between them with a strained expression. Harry gave her a soft frown, not finding anything useful to add. He didn't like the pained, wishful expression she was wearing now; he thought she was hoping for too much from him.

Snape crossed his arms and added, "It may help you to consider it an expensive lesson; next time you will see it coming. Such things do not happen because of only one person, especially when that person is a rather mediocre wizard at best."

She looked away with an unsatisfied wrinkle to her lips. When they'd fallen silent a long time, she stepped away, her expression closed and inward.

After the tall door closed behind her, Snape put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "And you are doing how?"

"All right," Harry said with a doubtful tone. "You really think it works to make someone feel better by telling them how much worse someone else has it?"

"Yes."

Harry shook his head, but didn't argue.

---------

The next morning, their wombat, now actually the size of a small bear, outrightly refused to go back in the crate. It clung to Penelope and made a sad screeching noise when they tried to unhook it. "I'll keep it," she said.

"All day?"

"Why not?" she countered, patting it on the head. "It will eat from de fruit bowl at breakfast. Let us take it down."

"Okay," Harry agreed doubtfully, although he would have felt very bad about forcing it back into its box, so he was glad from that perspective, but he thought she was a little optimistic.

They were early for breakfast. Penelope sat with the wombat on her lap feeding it orange sections.

"Slowly. Otherwise it will get full before breakfast is over," Harry commented.

The other students who were studying or talking stopped and looked over curiously. Penelope's matching blue hair with orange stripes was something to see. Ron and Hermione came in and froze. Hermione ran over. "Is that your wombat?" she asked. "Ours has barely grown at all and it's all blue. How did you get it to eat anything? Wow."

Harry laughed at her pile of comments. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would!" she said sharply. "We are completely missing this assignment," she complained to Ron. They sat down, still gaping. Others came in and stopped by, amazed by the creature.

"Heh!" Hagrid said as he came in with McGonagall. "Look at that, will ya? Harry, that yours?"

"Yes." Harry glanced at McGonagall who looked neutral on the topic of blue wombats.

Hagrid leaned down and patted the wombat on the top of the head. "Orange was a good choice," he said.

"I let it choose," Harry said.

"Interestin'," Hagrid drawled, then winked at Harry. As he passed by Hermione and her frustrated expression, he patted her on the head as well, though not as gently.

---------

The day's classes went better than expected. The wombat mostly slept, although it insisted on being held. It turned out most anyone was more than eager to do this, so Harry and Penelope did not have much to do with it except keep track of its whereabouts.

By dinner its orange strips were bright and made of much longer fur, making it look a bit like a caterpillar. Hagrid stopped by again while Hermione was holding it. "Aye. She's a beaute. Must 'a had a lot of attention today."

"It did," Harry confirmed forcefully.

"Yer pretty much done," Hagrid said, plucking at the long blue claws resting on Hermione's shoulder. "Can't grow much more than that." He put his sizable pinky against its mouth and it sniffed it before turning away. "Well tempered ta boot. Ya got a place to keep 'er for the night?"

Hermione and Penelope nodded vigorously. "We've already set up a crate in the girl's dormitory," Hermione said as she patted it on the back and put her nose against the top of its head the way she did to Crookshanks.

Harry found himself starting to feel sorry for the thing.

---------

Exhausted after his tutoring with McGonagall, Harry made his way down from the headmistress' office. As he passed one of the unused classrooms along a darkened corridor he thought he heard something. He quietly backed up a few steps and listened. Giggling followed by Malfoy's voice speaking low, came from behind the closed door. Harry rolled his eyes and stepped more quietly away, fearful of being detected. He just got out of range as Parkinson sighed and said something he really didn't want to hear clearly.

Literally shutting down with tiredness, Harry used the handrail heavily down a set of staircases. He wanted nothing more than to sleep, but he really needed to work on his Potions essay. As he trudged down the next corridor, Hermione came up to him.

"Harry," she said nicely. "Could you please help us with our wombat?"

Harry grinned at her tone and amiably walked along with her. "If I knew what I did, I would. But it was kind of an accident."

"Well . . . what happened?" she asked impatiently.

"The first night I couldn't sleep so I went up to check on it. It was about three in the morning. I didn't find quite the same thing in the crate."

"Oh," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I'll have to check the moon phases, zodiac, cloud cover, Merlin what could have caused it? We've been up there at one or later and it has been the same." When Harry shrugged, she said, "Maybe Frina and I will just sleep up there with it. Or take turns."

Harry was still working on his essay in the common room when Hermione and Frina headed up to the attic. "Want company?"

"Sure," Frina said eagerly. "Since we're babysitting your project."

"I'll take it to our dormitory," Harry offered.

"You can't have it," Frina countered stiffly, then laughed gaily.

As they walked, Harry feared they would all hear some couple having a rendezvous, and he blushed warmly just thinking of facing that with these two. Fortunately the way was quiet this time. Up in the attic Hermione went to their crate, opened it, and took out their wombat. "Boy, that is small," Harry commented, garnering a dark look from his friend.

"Hermione said you told her your one turned into something else," Frina said.

"I don't know why it did, though," Harry admitted.

"You are just very lucky," Frina stated matter-of-factly.

He pulled out his parchments and worked on his essay as the two of them sat talking. Frina took the wombat after a while. Harry looked up as they changed over, amused by the shifting hair color. Hermione looked better with redish brown hair than blue. As he worked and listened, he was amazed by the things they talked about : personal things about growing up, interesting people they knew, bizarre relatives, parental annoyances. He couldn't imagine sitting around with Opus and doing the same thing, not a chance.

Harry finished his essay, finally. As he rolled it up, Hermione held her hand out for it. "Thanks," Harry said as he gave it up. He stood up to stretch and paced the length of the gable. At the window he remembered Malfoy's strange creature. He stood before it and described to them what he'd seen. "Hagrid wasn't happy I'd looked."

"Let's look again," Hermione immediately said, setting Harry's essay aside to stand up. He stepped aside for her to run through the un-cursing spells herself. The same ones were on it as before. Inside the box was now a hard-shelled blue chrysalis that was attached to the inside of the wood by an organic blue cord with root-like tendrils.

"Whoa," Hermione breathed. "What'd he do to it to make it do that?"

"I hate to think about it," Harry said, re-closing the lid. "At least it looks safe now."

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Revising for end of term examinations and Quidditch practice occupied the next week. Harry did not think it possible for him to cram any more information into his brain, but somehow he seemed to manage, going from classes, to constant studying to quizzing by his friends without much rest in between.

Harry was taking a break, a nap really, on a window seat on the fifth floor. It was midday and McGonagall came by, stepping sprightly. "Everything all right, Harry?" she stopped and asked in concern upon seeing him there.

"Just tired, ma'am." He bent his knees to move his feet out of the way for her to sit down, which she did. The sun lit her robes as it slanted through the glass beside her. Harry commented, "If I try to learn anything else, I think my brain will explode." As she smiled in real humor at that, he marveled that he was sitting here so casually with the headmistress of all people. He shifted up the stone frame to sit up part way.

"Looking forward to a holiday, then?" she asked nicely.

"Very much so."

"And you filed an application for the Auror's program?" she asked factually, sounding way too much like Dumbledore.

"Yes, ma'am."

She smiled. Harry thought of mentioning what Hermione had told him, that demonstrating an Animagus spell at the N.E.W.T testing was worth thirty bonus points. He hadn't made any progress since revealing something of his form, but then again he also had not had much time. Then again, they were not supposed to be working on it at all; he was pretty certain.

"It will all be over soon," she said helpfully.

"I don't necessarily want it to be," he said.

She smiled more at that. "Even you will look back on this time with fondness, I think." She patted him on the leg. "Why don't we skip your tutoring until you return from break."

Harry nodded that he thought that was a good idea.

"I'll let you get back to your nap," she said with a smile in her voice.

---------

"You are playing today?" Penelope asked as Harry hurried through of the common room. He needed to get down to the pitch early for a strategy meeting with Ron and Ginny. Ron didn't want to discuss it in the school--he thought someone might be listening in.

Harry paused long enough to reply, "Yes."

"I vill be cheering for you," she said.

At the portrait hole, Harry said, "Thanks," with sincerity.

In the changing room they suited up with pads. Ron said, "Overconfidence is our biggest enemy today." He paced before them, talking sternly. He went on in this vein for a while before going over a few plays he wanted to try out today before facing Ravenclaw later in the year. Harry considered pointing out that treating Hufflepuff as practice smacked of overconfidence, but he held back, mostly because he was feeling confident.

It was warmer today than the last game, although Harry still had one of his rabbit lined gloves on his left hand with which held the broom. His right he kept against his side, warm, until the whistle blew.

The match was long, although Gryffindor held the lead throughout. Harry paced Janet, the new Hufflepuff Seeker, for most of the match, confident that he could overtake her if she made a move. She didn't even try to fake him out, which Harry would have done in her place, frequently. In the end the snitch came up from behind. Harry caught sight of it in his peripheral vision, turned hard, and gave chase.

Janet followed, never managing to get position on him despite the heavily dodging snitch giving her a few openings. The crowd was on its feet and shouting as the chase went on, raising Harry's spirits as he gained on the elusive thing. It looped around him and he had to foot spin to catch it. He was still dizzy from the maneuver when he landed on the grass with the snitch in hand. The team landed as well and thumped him hard, elated with the win even though it was not much of a contest. Hermione and Penelope came out as the team was moving to the changing room.

"You are very good," Penelope said, eyes bright. He had not seen quite that expression on her before, it was vaguely worshipful, but it didn't bother him for some reason.

"Thanks," Harry said with a broad smile, as the team moved off the pitch, slowing to wait for him. "I'll see you later, when I'm presentable," he added over his shoulder with a smile as he brushed his mussed hair back. He brought Hermione into that with a glance and found she had a far too pleased of a look on her face.

In the changing room Ginny said, "Well, that went all right." She sounded a little put out in contrast to the words.

"It went really well," Ron countered.

She shrugged and tossed her wrist guards haphazardly into a locker before bending and unsnapping her shin guards with quick, annoyed movements. Harry and Ron shared a perplexed look. Ron shrugged and ignored her. Harry figured Hermione would be better to talk to her than himself, so he didn’t question her either.

---------

"You've got it, I think," Hermione said excitedly. "Try again and think of your form this time."

Ginny closed her eyes and stood still for long breaths. Colors rippled over her robe like sunlight through water. A long time passed before a warping sound started, startling all of them. A fluttering thing fell to the floor and scrambled at the stones. Hermione was the first to react. She stepped quickly but carefully over and tried to lift the hawk up by the feet.

"All right!" Ron exclaimed, stepping over too.

The bird was too awkward to balance even with Hermione helping and it fluttered back to the floor, wings and claws scraping.

"Ginny, you remember how to disrupt the energy to release the form, right?" Hermione asked the bird, a little loudly and in a very concerned way.

Harry, in his usual seat off to the side, watched things with growing worry. He huffed and stood up as Ginny reappeared, half-sprawled on the floor. The room erupted in cheers, making Ginny grin broadly through her blinking disorientation.

Harry stepped right up to her. "No flying," he said firmly.

"What?" she replied.

"No flying. That's final." No one said anything immediately.

"You're no fun," she snapped at him.

He followed closely as she turned away. "Ginny, I mean it. You don't know the first thing about it. And what if you change back a hundred feet off the ground."

"Actually . . . " Neville started to say, holding up one finger. When Harry turned his hard gaze to him, he fell silent.

"I kinda have to agree with Harry," Ron said reluctantly.

Ginny huffed in frustration. "All right, all right," she breathed. She took a seat on the side bench and put her chin on her hands. "I'm sure I can find a cage to perch myself in," she muttered.

"You did great, though," Ron added in a concessionary way. "Wish I could do it.”

"Yeah, you are all just jealous," she commented with another huff.

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