Harry Potter and the Last Goodnight

Chapter Nineteen - A Midnight Visit to Hogsmeade

"You coming to bed?" Ron questioned.

Harry shook his head. "Not yet."

"G'night," he mumbled as he practically floated towards the dormitory stairs.

"Good night," Harry called. He laughed. He didn't even need to think up an excuse about why he wasn't going to bed yet.

Harry didn't know if the pairing of Ron and Hermione was such a good match. Would things be different between the three of them in the morning? Would Harry have to put up with displays of public affection? When they fought - and he knew they would - would he be forced to choose a side? He tried not to think of what a disaster this could all turn out to be and tried to concentrate on the fact that his two best friends had just made each other extremely happy.

If only he could find that kind of happiness for himself.

A few minutes after Ron had disappeared, Harry checked his watch. It was midnight. He quickly pulled out the Marauder's Map and the invisibility cloak from his bag. He had Eva's package stashed carefully in the bottom.

After searching the Marauder's Map for any signs of wandering teachers or Filch, Harry was confident enough to step out of the portrait hole. He slipped the cloak on, just to be safe. He couldn't even trust the portraits in times like these.

He made his way to the third floor and hurried over the statue of the hump-backed, one-eyed witch. He tapped the statue once with his wand and whispered, "Dissendium!"

The hump of the witch opened and Harry squeezed through it. He couldn't help but notice that he was quite bigger than the last time he sneaked into Hogsmeade. As he made his way through the dark and twisted tunnel, his legs felt like jelly at the prospect of seeing Eva. The journey seemed to take even longer than it had before. He was so nervous. He tried to rehearse what he'd say to Eva when he saw her.

There was no good explanation for why he'd decided to come in the middle of the night, except for the fact that he wanted to see her again. He could say he didn't trust the barmaid to give it to her, but then there was always the chance that the two of them were friends. She did seem to know a lot about Eva's whereabouts.

Finally, the path seemed to be going upward, and before he knew it, he'd hit his head on the trapdoor that led to the cellar of Honeydukes. He put the map away in his backpack and made sure that the cloak was covering him completely. He took a deep breath and climbed out of the hole.

Harry quickly found his way through the cellar and climbed the stone stairs to the actual store. The only light in the store was from the ashes of a fireplace long forgotten. He was careful not to make any noise as he unlocked the door and slipped outside into the cold night.

The streets seemed deserted, but as Harry approached the Hog's Head, there were more and more people gathered outside on the chilly October night. Perhaps it was the only pub open. There were no lights anyplace else.

Harry carefully made his way through the maze of witches and wizards. There were even a few hags sharing a pipe near the entrance. When he finally made it inside of the pub, there was thick smoke in the air and it was hard to breathe. Bottles of Butterbeer littered the floor and along with the containers other drinks that Harry didn't recognize.

But he did recognize Eva right away. She had just cleared a table and was bringing empty glasses back to the bar with a tray in her hands. She stuck out in the crowd. Her hair was pulled back in a loose knot with some strands of coppery curls hanging on the back of her neck. She was dressed like a Muggle in jeans and an oversized sweatshirt with apron draped around her waist. But no one appeared to be paying any attention to her. She just went about her business behind the bar.

"'At's enough for tonight." The same barmaid who Harry had talked to earlier that day appeared from the kitchen. "Go on up. I've got you covered."

"That's okay, Annabelle," Eva replied. "I need the tips." He'd forgotten what her voice sounded like. It was a comfort to hear it again.

Annabelle pulled the tray away from Eva. "No, ya don't. You need some sleep. Go on."

Eva looked at the old, white-haired bartender for approval. He nodded. She sighed. "All right, I'll see you in the morning."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Annabelle replied with a wink. "Oy, I forgot to tell ya. Ya had a visitor this afternoon."

"I did? Who was it?" Eva questioned. "Was it Nora?" she asked excitedly.

Annabelle shook her head. "No." Harry tried to ignore the disappointment he saw in Eva's eyes. "It was a boy."

"A boy?" Eva looked perplexed.

"Not just any boy, either. It was none other than the famous 'Arry Potter!" Annabelle hissed under her breath, careful that none of the patrons closest to the bar would hear.

"Harry?" Eva asked. "Are you sure?"

"'Course I'm sure!" Annabelle cried. "Saw his scar with my own eyes an' everyfin'!"

He wondered if there was there a sparkle in her eye that Harry hadn't noticed before. She grinned broadly. "And what did he want?"

Annabelle shrugged. "I don't know. He had a package with him, but he didn't leave it for ya. Maybe he was just visitin'."

Eva's smile faded. "I doubt it."

"And why shouldn't he be visitin' a smart, sexy, hard-workin' girl like yourself?" Annabelle demanded.

"I'm a Muggle," Eva said flatly, "nothing more."

Harry was disturbed by the way she said it. Like she was filth to him. Didn't she know that he had only been a Muggle himself up to a few years ago? Didn't she know he was raised by a whole family full of Muggles?

"Aye, and nothing less, either," Annabelle said. "Don't let them old wizards get ya down. If all the Muggles of the world are 'alf as good as you are, I wouldn't mind workin' with 'em."

"Thanks," Eva replied sheepishly. "Well, I'm off to bed then."

With one last smile and a wave to the bartender, she took off her apron and set it behind the counter and picked up her bag. She turned and headed up the stairs, not bothering to hide her yawn.

Harry saw his chance. He took a step forward into the smoke but his foot hit something hard. A beer bottle was sent flying across the floor. Harry inhaled sharply. Nobody seemed to notice the bottle rolling on its own accord.

Nobody but the bartender. Harry quickly looked up into the kind eyes of the old man and he had the distinct impression that he could see him right through the cloak. There was something familiar about those eyes.

But the old man went back to the drinks he was preparing without another word. Harry quickly took to the stairs and followed Eva up to her room.

The smoke seemed much worse on the second floor. Eva's room, he noted, was the third door on the right. Harry wasn't sure what to do next. He could uncloak himself now and scare her half to death, or he could wait. Wait for what, he wasn't sure. He was a little put off by her attitude towards him. Had he come off as a pompous, big-headed wizard who didn't have time for Muggles that day at St. Mungo's? But then in the letter, she had said that he was such a gentleman, and he was so caring...

The contradiction combined with the smoke was enough to make Harry's head spin. Eva had left her door open a crack and he decided to stay put outside, looking in for the perfect moment to deliver the package.

The first thing she did was goto her window and open it. She leaned out, breathing in gallons and gallons of fresh, cool air from outside. She pulled her hair out of the bun and it bounced on the back of her shoulders. Harry tried desperately not to find it the least bit attractive.

He lost track of the minutes that she stood at the window. She looked so luminous in the moonlight that he didn't mind watching her. Her breathing became heavier. Harry wondered if the smoke was getting to her, when she suddenly turned around and sniffled.

She was crying.

Harry felt his heart break as tears streamed down her face. He couldn't figure out why she was crying. Did it have something to do with his visit earlier that day?

After fumbling with a few matches she lit a nearby candle, illuminating the room around her. Harry saw it for the first time. There were letters spread all over the bed, along with pictures and photo albums scattered across the floor.

Eva shivered and pulled a nearby afghan around her shoulders. She grabbed a handkerchief and wiped away her tears, but they still continued to flow. Harry was now realizing just how cold it was in her room. He inspected the fireplace and it looked as though it hadn't been lit in weeks.

How can she live like this?he wondered. Did she only sleep here? Was this her only home?

She picked up her bag and emptied the contents. There was a frilly dress inside, which she hung up neatly in the almost-empty closet. She also pulled out a pin that he recognized from the Ministry of Magic. It read Eva Finnigan, Muggle Relations. She opened a drawer and added it to a pile of identical buttons.

She dumped out the rest of the contents on the nearby desk. Eva was by no means a neat and organized person. There were newspaper clippings on the wall and all over the floor. When he looked closer, Harry saw that they were all ads for seasonal flats in the upper-class division of London. Was she trying to save up enough money to move away?

Her crying only became worse by the time she actually took a seat on the bed. Harry wanted to burst into her room and hold her, or shake her shoulders to make her stop. It was one of the most terrible things he'd ever seen in his life. If he had caused such pain in her, he didn't know if he'd be able to live with himself.

From the nightstand, she pulled out a piece of parchment and a ball-point pen. She quickly began writing. From his perch at her door, he could see it was addressed to Nora. The first thing she wrote was that she hoped that everything was okay, because she hadn't heard from her little sister in over a week.

Of course! Harry thought. That's why she was crying. Nora hadn't been able to send her any letters because all of the owls had gone missing. It wasn't because he'd dropped by. He felt incredibly stupid now that he'd ever thought Eva would cry over him.

But he knew just the thing to cheer her up. He had wanted to deliver the package in person, but in her current state of tears, he felt uncomfortable barging in on her. It was bad enough that he had been watching her all this time.

Without another second's hesitation, he took the package out of his bag and set it down in front of her doorway. Then he knocked on the door and quickly got out of the way.

Eva jumped. She got out of the bed and wiped her face, then opened the door. She saw the package on the floor and looked around for the person who knocked. She bent down and picked up the box and brought it over to her bed.

First, she took out Seamus's letter and opened it up. Harry watched her read a few words, but as soon as she figured out who it was from, she threw it on the floor without giving it a second glance. Then she pulled out Nora's letter and began reading.

Harry was glad to see a smile on Eva's face. She even laughed a little. But her smile quickly faded. She put the letter down on the bed and stormed over to the door.

Harry quickly backed away as she stuck her head into the smoky hallway and looked around in the darkness. "Harry?" she called. "Are you out here?"

He realized that Nora must have written something about how he was supposed to deliver the package. He should have known. But there was no way on earth he was going to show himself to Eva now. It had been a huge invasion of her privacy for him to be watching her like this.

He breathed a sigh of relief as she turned to go back inside her room. She was just about to close the door behind her when Harry was going to leave for good. Suddenly, she changed her mind and threw the door open with full force, knocking Harry sideways into the wall and his glasses off. He cursed loudly.

"I knew you were out here!" Eva shouted triumphantly.

Harry scrambled to shove his invisibility cloak inside his bag. It was no use taking cover now that she'd assaulted him with her bedroom door. He could feel warm liquid trickling out down lips and into his mouth. She had hit him square in the nose. It was a lot more painful than taking a Nosebleed Nougat.

"Oh my god!" she cried when she saw the state that Harry was in. "I'm so sorry, Harry, are you all right?" She rushed over to him and helped him to his feet. He was still seeing stars. "Of course you're not. I'm really sorry."

Harry managed to string some words together, but his tongue felt like sandpaper, and his mouth tasted of blood. "It's... I'm... Okay..."

Eva took him by the arm and led him into her room. He heard a soft crunch under his foot and realized that he'd just stepped on his glasses. She took charge and cleared a spot for him on the bed. She quickly found her handkerchief that was still wet from her tears and held it up to Harry's bloody nose. "Truly. I'm so sorry." But even with his blurred vision, he could tell she was grinning.

Once Harry had recovered a little and the bleeding stopped, she pulled the handkerchief away. Harry suddenly became very aware that her opposite hand was on the back of his neck and her touch sent shivers down his spine. "Just what were you doing anyway?" she questioned. "Were you spying on me?"

"Er... I wasn't... Well, I didn't mean to..." Caught, he hung his head in embarrassment, causing a droplet of blood to fall out of his nose and onto his pants.

"Whoops. Better not do that," Eva said. She tucked his chin up so that he had a great view of the smoke clouds near her ceiling. She began to rub the back of his neck and between his shoulder blades. "Pinch your nose," she added. "Feel better?"

"Yes, thanks," Harry managed to reply. "And I swear, I didn't mean to spy, it's just that, you were..." His voice trailed off.

Eva smiled sadly. "Aye, I was crying. I guess you didn't want to walk into that train wreck. I don't blame you." She continued to rub the back of his neck. "You could have left me package with Annabelle, you know?"

"I know, but then I wouldn't have gotten to see you." Harry inhaled sharply. The truth had come out of him before he'd even had a chance to stop it. He tried to rectify it. "I wanted to, er, thank you for the letter."

"You're welcome," Eva replied. "I think the bleeding's stopped."

Harry let go of his nostrils and sniffled. There was still a little pain. He'd probably have a nasty bruise in the morning. He gestured to her handkerchief. "Sorry about that."

"Don't you dare apologize," Eva scolded. She took a seat next to him on the bed. "You know, I felt like someone was watching me." She grinned wickedly. "Imagine: the famous Harry Potter reduced to nothing more than a Peeping Tom."

Harry frowned. "I hate being called that."

"What? A Peeping Tom? This isn't your first offense?" She punched him playfully on the shoulder.

"No," Harry replied. "I hate being called famous."

"Well, you can't deny what you truly are," Eva said. "As a Muggle recently introduced into the Wizarding World, it is my regret to inform you that you really are quite famous. If your name is merely mentioned in the pub, people toast to you at least three times."

Harry covered his face with his hands. He knew he should feel completely mortified by all of this, but somehow Eva made it feel okay. It was true. He would never be able to escape the fact that every wizard and his children knew his name.

"Want to help open the rest of me gift?" she asked. She slid back on the bed so that she could lean against the headboard. Harry, now just realizing that he was on a girl's bed, with a girl, no less, felt incredibly uncomfortable. He cleared some letters from the foot of the bed and sat opposite Eva. She grabbed a letter opener from the end of her nightstand and ripped open the brown wrapping on the package. Inside, there were two jars filled with some sort of sand. She tossed one to Harry.

He was a little weary of opening his jar, but Eva opened hers without any hesitation. She lifted the jar to her nose and breathed in. "Mmm..." she mumbled. "Chocolate-chip cookies. What's yours?"

Harry opened his jar, which was filled with some purplish sand, and did his best to take a sniff without causing his nose to bleed again. It smelled familiar - flowery even. He should be able to recognize it after all the hours he'd spent in Aunt Petunia's garden. "I think it's lilac," he replied.

"My favorite," she said.

"What are these?" Harry asked, gesturing to the jars.

"Smelling salts, I think. For the room," Eva added. "In case you haven't noticed, the smell from the pub is terrible in here. I mentioned it to Nora and apparently she's come up with some kind of concoction to clear the room of horrible odors." Her eyes looked far away. "God, I miss her so much."

Harry was afraid that she was going to cry again, but Eva did look like she was quite capable of holding herself together. "I forgot," he said suddenly. "Seamus told me to tell you to read his letter."

Eva suddenly snapped back to reality. Her eyes narrowed. "Did he now?" Harry nodded. "Well, I already did read it, and you can tell him that it's filled with bullshit. Sorry," she apologized for cursing.

"It's all right," Harry said, rather confused. He didn't want to get in the middle of a family feud, but he couldn't help but wonder what was going on between them. "Seamus... He's your cousin?" Harry questioned, though he already knew the answer.

Eva stood up from the bed and picked up Seamus's letter off the floor. She strolled towards the window for some fresh air. "We're only family by blood and not in any other sense of the word."

Harry knew exactly what she meant. "I've got a family like that too."

"You do?" She turned to him.

He nodded. "Every summer I have to go and stay with my aunt and uncle in Little Winging. They hate anything weird or abnormal." He got up and joined her at the window. "So that means they pretty much hate me, as well."

He didn't know why he was telling Eva all of this, but once again he found words slipping out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Your aunt didn't seem like the friendliest person," Eva said quietly.

Harry shook his head. "They used to be much worse. They would lock me in a cupboard under the stairs before I found out I was a wizard."

"That's terrible." Eva shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I guess you haven't had good experiences with Muggles, eh?"

Harry grinned. "This one seems to be going just fine."

And for some reason he found himself taking a step closer to her. Maybe it was the way the candlelight danced across her face, or how the moonlight made her hair look more red then brown. Maybe it was the fire in her eyes or the way she smiled at him. He wasn't sure what made him do it, but before he realized it he was only inches away from her face. He'd never noticed how beautiful she was up close. And when she turned to him, her eyes serious and thoughtful all at the same time, he couldn't hold back. He couldn't look away. He was only conscious of his lips moving closer and closer to hers.

"Don't," she whispered.

Harry, as if awakened from a dream, jumped back to the other side of the window. He felt his cheeks redden as they never had before. He didn't know what to say. He had never felt so attracted to someone. But it wasn't just because she was beautiful. It was because she was easy to talk to. She was removed from the intensity of world that he lived in at Hogwarts. Who would have predicted that there would be a time in his life when he needed to escape the only place that had felt like home to him?

But now he'd crossed a line somewhere. He felt ashamed. "I'm... I'm sorry." He realized how this must have looked to Eva. First he was spying on her, and now he was trying to seduce her? What was wrong with him?

"We just... we shouldn't," she said simply, tuning back to look out the window.

"You're right," Harry agreed. He tried to laugh it off, but he knew he wasn't fooling anyone.

"It's just..."

"No, you don't have to explain." Harry took another step away from the window. He tried to look away from her, because he knew his face was bright red, but he just couldn't. "I understand."

Eva grinned and turned to face him. "I don't think you do." She pointed at his nose. "It would hurt something awful."

Harry lifted a finger to his nose and poked it gently. He winced as pain spread from his fingertip to his eyes, which started to water. "Oh. Right. You're right. Bad idea."

She shook her head. "Good idea, bad timing." She grinned at him, but when she met his eyes, she looked away. Was Eva actually bashful?

"That'll teach me to spy on a girl," Harry laughed nervously.