Showtime at Hogwarts

In the morning, Harry woke up early to the sun streaming into the room. He quietly got dressed and ready to go down to breakfast, and said good morning to a now stirring Ron as he was exiting the dormitory. He walked down the spiral staircase and into the empty common room. But as he was walking by, he saw Ginny asleep in one of the chairs by the fire.

“That can’t be very comfortable,” he said to himself, walking over to wake her up. When he stood in front of her, he noticed how peaceful her face looked, despite the awkward position, and decided against waking her up. Then he felt a funny tingling in his nose, and he sneezed rather loudly. He looked down at Ginny to see if he had aroused her, and noticed that she was blinking a little bit.

“Oh, Harry,” she said as she recognized the face standing before her. She turned her head left and right at her surroundings and realized she was still down in the common room. She sat up quickly. “I – er – fell asleep. And… er –“

“What are you doing down here?” Harry asked her. “You went up to your dormitory really early last night.”

“Well, I couldn’t sleep and fancied a walk would make me tired enough to get to sleep,” she said, remembering that much. She couldn’t recall exactly what happened after that at first, but then blushed when it came back to her. “I got a little – er – distracted it seems.” She got up quickly, bumping into Harry.

“Sorry,” she said as he moved back a few steps. “I’ll see you down at breakfast then?”

“Yeah.”

Harry watched as Ginny turned around and walked back up the stairs to her dormitory, passing Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown on their way down. He took a deep breath and sighed at the thought of how tranquil she looked. And then you had to sneeze, you git, a small voice sounding like Ron’s said from the back of his head.

“Good morning, Harry.”

He looked up from his revelry and saw Parvati smiling at him. “Good morning,” he said back. He turned slowly and followed a few steps behind them and went down to the Great Hall.

In about ten minutes he was joined by Ron and Hermione, who sat down on the opposite side of him.

“Morning, Harry!” Hermione said in a chipper voice.

“Er – morning,” Harry said behind sleepy eyes. He grabbed for a piece of toast and noticed that Ron already had his plate full and was now scarfing down on a croissant. “Hungry Ron?”

“Starving,” he said with a mouthful of pastry.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” Hermione said in a disgusting tone.

Ron furrowed his eyebrows and scowled at her after swallowing his bite. “Don’t even start,” he said, taking another bite.

“What? Didn’t your mum –“

“First it’s ‘don’t talk with your mouth full!’” Ron said in a higher voice. “Next it’ll be ‘you should really be stu –‘“

“Oh, sod off Ron,” she said back to him. “I was just making a simple request for basic manners, which I’m assuming you’ve got.”

“Yeah, well maybe you shouldn’t assume so much…”

Harry rolled his eyes as his two friends went on bickering and spread some marmalade onto his toast. Soon Ginny had come down and took a seat next to Harry.

“Already at it, are they?” she said, gesturing to Ron and Hermione with a nod.

Harry smiled. “I think they’ve made a new record. They usually make it until the first lesson.” Ginny chuckled at this, grabbing an orange and unpeeling it. “I expect it’ll be getting a little bit worse this year though.”

“What, they’re bickering?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “Ron’s been sending me letters every so often this summer. Each one mentioned a little bit more about Hermione.”

“So he’s finally admitted his feelings for her then?” Ginny said with a hopeful grin.

“Well, no, not exactly. I think he’s a bit worried that she doesn’t fancy him back.” He sighed. “So I think he’s just going to be more irritated by her, since that’s how he seems to cover up that he fancies her.”

“Who fancies who now?” Ron asked. Apparently their first row for the year had ended. Harry’s mouth was gaping a little when Ginny spoke up.

“Dean. He fancies Lavender now,” she said coolly. Ron’s eyes enlarged and his face became red with fury.

“The git! Where is he? I’ll kill him!!” he said, stand up and looking around. Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Ron, it’s all right,” she said, pulling him back down into his seat. “Ginny and Dean broke up months ago.”

Harry and Ron both looked at Ginny. “You did?” they asked at the same time. Ginny

“What happened? Did he hurt you?!” Ron said once more, standing up. “I’ll kill him!” Hermione pulled him down again.

“No, no, it was nothing like that, Ron. I broke up with him.”

“Why?” Harry asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

She blushed. “Well, he – he was getting way too jealous over nothing. Made a right big deal out of it.

At that moment, they all looked up to see the hundreds of birds that were now flying into the Great Hall bringing in the morning post. One fluttered down to Hermione, carrying a Daily Prophet. Hermione put five Knuts into the delivery owl’s pouch and it flew away as she concentrated on the front page. Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall was handing out schedules to the students in Gryffindor. Ginny took Hermione’s for her and laid it down on the table while Ron and Harry checked out their new schedule. They both frowned what they saw.

“Double Potions, straight away!” Ron moaned, looking up at Harry. “How did we get stuck with that? And it’s with Slytherin!”

“That’s really rotten luck,” Ginny said.

“I’ll curse the one who did this, the bloody –“

“What have you got first, Ginny?” Harry asked in an attempt to cover up Ron’s swearing.

She took a sip of her orange juice and glanced down at her schedule. “I’ve got Transfiguration. Not nearly as bad, is it?” she smiled.

Ron looked up with a scowl. “Nothing’s as bad as this. But… you’ve got – you’ve got O.W.L.s this year,” he said with a malevolent grin. “You’ll be loaded with homework, you will.”

“Even on the first day?” Ginny asked fretfully.

Ron nodded. “Yeah, it’s awful.” He thought back to his own fifth year, and began to pale. “Quite dreadful, really.

Hermione closed her paper and put it on the table. “It wouldn’t have been so awful if you would’ve used that homework planner I gave you for Christmas,” she said. Ron was about to retort, but Hermione went on. “Just stay on task Ginny. That’s all you really need to do to keep from becoming stressed out.”

“Coming from the one who about went mad the week before exams,” Ron said behind his hand to Harry.

“I heard that,” Hermione said. “Honestly, Ron, I’m sitting right next to you.”

“Come on, we should get going,” Harry said, not wanting another argument to begin. “We don’t want Snape to have a reason to be irritable with us the first day back.”

They all got up and walked out of the Great Hall, and said good-bye to Ginny at the stairway that lead down to the dungeons. They walked down the hall to Snape’s classroom, where many of the students were already waiting. Draco Malfoy was with his usual gang of Slytherins, and seemed to be telling a very interesting story. When they looked up at Harry, they all laughed.

“Just ignore them, “ Harry heard Hermione whisper. He decided to listen to her this time, and turned around to face his two friends. Before they were able to start too deeply into a conversation, however, the door to Snape’s classroom opened and they all filed in. Ron, Harry, and Hermione found their usual place in the back, and sat down.

Once the class was settled with the ringing of the bell, Snape tapped his wand on the board, and the ingredients and directions of a potion appeared in chalk.

“Today,” he said coldly, “We will be reviewing the Draught Of Peace, one that is O.W.L standard, so everyone in here should be able to handle it, being that this is an advanced course. However, I’m sure there will be those few,” he looked at Harry, “that merely scraped by in their exam last summer, and will have difficulty with this spell. You may begin.”

Harry vowed that he would not screw this one up. He checked and double-checked this list of ingredients, how much to put in, when to put it in, and all the other instructions. But for the second time that day, he felt an annoying tickling sensation in his nose just as he was about to put some into a small flask to hand in, and he sneezed uncontrollably directly into the concoction. It immediately turned from its rightful color into a shade of orange. He quickly looked up at Snape to see if he had noticed anything, and saw his lip curl up at the sight.

“Once again, Potter, you’ve failed to make this potion correctly,” he sneered. “You are dismissed,” he added to Ron and Hermione; they gave a weak smile to Harry and left with the rest of the class, and Harry turned back to the greasy-haired professor.

“But Professor, I – it was perfect! I can’t help it if I –“

Snape shook his head at him and began to walk towards his desk. “Excuses will not give you the right potion, and they most definitely will not work during your Auror training, so excuses will not get you through my class. So I suggest you stop making them and take responsibility for your actions.”

“But I snee –“

“I don’t need glasses, Potter, I saw what happened. Maybe you should take out a handkerchief the next time you feel your sinuses acting up.” With that, he pointed his wand down at Harry’s cauldron. “Evanesco. That’ll be a zero for today then. Not a great way to start of the year, is it Potter?”

“One the contrary, Severus, I feel he deserved top marks for that draught.” They both turned and saw the headmaster standing in the doorway. Harry was relieved to see him standing there, but he heard Snape take a quick breath of air at the interruption.

“Ah, Professor Dumbledore,” he said through clenched teeth. “I forgot that you were coming down to speak with me today.”

Dumbledore smiled at him with a twinkle in his eye. “And what of Mr. Potter’s potion then? It indeed looked quite correct before the sudden sneeze, which I’m sure you can’t blame him for. I find myself sneezing at most unexpected times every now and then.”

Snape looked from Dumbledore to Harry, and back to the headmaster once more before he muttered, “Right then. Top marks, Potter. You are dismissed.”

Harry packed his things back into his bag as Snape walked over to Dumbledore to discuss something in hushed voices. He strained to hear them as they spoke, but he couldn’t hear a word. The headmaster left right as Harry swung his bag onto his shoulders. He walked out of the room not looking at Snape, but he chastised him nonetheless. “Don’t be counting on anyone bailing you out like that again, Potter.”

“Yes, sir.” He left without another word.

Professor Snape turned back to face his empty classroom enraged. He had nearly had Saint Potter on that one, but Dumbledore had arrived just one moment too early. He couldn’t stand how nice some people were to the boy, especially after he’d turned out as much like his father as he did. He bellowed out in his loathing.

Just you wait, Harry Potter, just you wait!
You'll be sorry, but your tears'll be too late!
You'll be broke, and I'll have money;
Will I help you? Don't be funny!
Just you wait, Harry Potter, just you wait!

He flicked his wand and a small, ghostly replica of Harry came out of it and stood hovering silently above the floor, and continued to sing off-key to it.

Just you wait, Harry Potter, till you're sick,
And you scream to fetch a doctor double-quick.
I'll be off a second later and go straight to the the-ater!
Oh ho, ho, Harry Potter, just you wait!

He jogged back to his office and slammed the door, where a target was hung up with Harry’s face on it, he picked up a dart and through it, hitting directly in his left eye.

Ooooooh Harry Potter!
Just you wait until we're swimmin' in the sea!
Ooooooh Harry Potter!
(He through another dart and it stuck in his right eye)
And you get a cramp a little ways from me!
When you yell you're going to drown
I'll get dressed and go to town!
Oh ho, ho, Harry Potter!
Oh ho, ho, Harry Potter!
Just you wait!

He threw the last dart, which punctured the lightning bolt shaped scar, and laughed maliciously. He bourréed over to the chair behind his back and delicately sat down in perfect posture, hooked his right leg over his left knee, placed his hands on top of the right knee and fluttered his eyelashes.

One day I'll be famous! I'll be proper and prim;
I’ll turn back to the dark side, and I’ll gladly serve Him!
One evening Vold’mort will say:
"Oh, Severus, old thing,
I want all of England your praises to sing.
Next week on the twentieth of May
I proclaim Severus Snape Day!

"All the people will celebrate the glory of you
And whatever you wish and want I gladly will do."

He stood up and faced an imaginary Voldemort and looked gracious.

"Thanks a lot, Lord,” says I, in a manner well bred;
“But all I want is Harry Potter dead!"
"Done," says the Lord with a stroke.
"Wormtail, run and bring in the bloke!"

He ran over and threw open the door, then ran back to the hovering image of Harry and began to poke him in the back with his wand in front of a line of blindfolded Death Eaters that he had conjured up.

Then they'll march you, Harry Potter to the wall;
And the Lord will tell me: "Severus, sound the call."
As they lift their wands higher, I'll shout:
"Ready! Aim! Fire!"

A flash of green light came out of the wand of the center Death Eater, and the imaginary Harry instantly wisped away. Snape began to dance in and out of the cloaked wizards, patting them all on the back and cackling between phrases.

Oh ho, ho, Harry Potter,
Down you'll go, Harry Potter!
Just you wait!

The imaginary Death Eaters vanished to leave Snape with his legs shoulder-width apart, turned to the side, his wand up in the air, head facing up, the other arm down to his side, fingers spread apart. After a moment he realized the music had stopped and he was in the cold, empty classroom. He stood up straight, pushed his greasy hair out of his face, straightened his robes, and walked back into his office, slamming the door shut. Another dart hit the target behind his door.

The first day back to school had been rather uneventful, except for the incident in Potions, which Harry had told Ron, Hermione, and Ginny about at lunch. They were all now in the common room, sitting at a table talking while Ginny attempted to finish some of the work she was given that day. The room was starting to become empty as people were going up to bed when she slammed her Herbology book shut and looked up.

“You weren’t joking when you told me how much more homework I’d have, were you?” she sighed to them. They gave her looks of sympathy. “I think I’ll give it a rest for tonight. I’ve been working for hours.” She stole a glance over at Hermione, who didn’t show any hint of disapproval, so she leaned back in her chair and stretched.

“I still can’t believe Snape was going to give you a zero for sneezing,” she said to Harry. “It’s not like you can help when you sneeze.”

“Well apparently Snape thinks he can,’ Ron said.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Well really Ron, he could’ve turned away or something.”

Harry shot her a look and Ron turned to her with his eyebrows scrunched. “Come off it Hermione, what are you taking his side for? Harry’s you’re friend, remember?”

“Well, yes he is but –“

“But nothing then. Come off it.” Ron turned away from her. There were a few moments of awkward silence.

“I’m hungry,” Ron said suddenly, still a hint of irritation in his voice. “I’m going to the kitchens.” He got up and walked over to the small hole, pushed open the portrait and left. The three of them sat in silence once more, Hermione looking ashamed.

“I – I’m sorry, Harry,” she said to him.

“Er – it’s all right.”

She stood up and pushed her chair in under the table. “I’m going to go talk to Ron. There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask him and I keep forgetting. I’ll see you guys later, okay?” Just as she left the room the last few people were filing out of the room and up the spiral staircase, leaving Harry and Ginny alone.

“These chairs are so uncomfortable,” Ginny said, getting up and rubbing her lower back. “That cozy sofa’s calling out my name. Shall we?” Harry’s lips formed a smile and they walked over to the couch. Harry crossed one leg underneath himself, while Ginny pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. They talked for a while about various things; Quidditch, O.W.L.s, Quidditch a little more, and then began coming up with random insults about Snape, Draco, and the other Slytherins. When there was a hiatus in the conversation, they sat and listened to the cracking fire burning before them.

Meanwhile, Hermione was winding her way to the kitchens, hoping she’d catch up with Ron. She didn’t really have anything specific she needed to talk to him about, but she figured she’d take the opportunity to leave Harry and Ginny alone for a while; she always hoped something would spark up between them.

She found Ron standing in front of the painting of the bowl of fruit right outside the kitchens. He was laughing at himself as she approached.

“What’s so funny?” she asked him.

He looked up at her and smiled. “I’ve gone and forgotten the password.”

She smiled back. “Ron, there’s no password,” she giggled. “You just tickle the pear, remember?” She did that, and the portrait swung right open.

“Oh, yeah!” Ron said. They walked in and the painting swung shut. They were immediately surrounded by a bunch of house-elves offering them food and drinks. Dobby was standing on a table in the middle of the room, and he began to sing.

Be… our… guest! Be our guest!
Put our service to the test!
Tie a napkin round you neck, cherie,
And we'll provide the rest.

He jumped off the table and walked toward Ron, who was tapping his toes to the beat.

Soup du jour!
Hot hors d'oeuvres!
Why, we only live to serve.
Try the grey stuff, it's delicious.
Don't believe me? Ask the dishes!

“Dobby!” Hermione shouted, nudging Ron’s side, and the house elf stopped singing.

“Yes, miss?”

“There’s really no need for you to – to sing. We just came down to get a snack.”

“Oh,” he squeaked as ears fell slightly. “All right then.”

“How are you doing, Dobby?” Ron asked, grabbing a piece of cake from one of the other elves and shoving it into his mouth.

“Dobby is fine, just fine. How’s Weezy?”

Eying Hermione cautiously, he swallowed. “All right, I suppose.”

“And how’s Winky, Dobby?” Hermione asked.

The small creature sighed. “Winky is doing better. Winky is helping out a lot more, isn’t crying as much. But Winky is still drinking the butterbeer too much.”

“Oh,” Hermione frowned. “At least she’s feeling a little better.” She looked up at Ron to see if he had finished yet.

“Well, thanks for this you guys.” They all began bowing to them as they started out.

“That really isn’t necessary,” Ron heard Hermione tell them. When they were back out in the hallway, they slowly began strolling back to the common room.

“So why’d you come down after me?” Ron asked as they rounded a corner.

Hermione looked up at him. “Well, I figured I’d give Harry and Ginny some time to be alone,” she said apprehensively. Noticing there was no outburst from Ron, she went on. “You know, see if anything happened.”

“Oh, yeah?” he said. “Not a bad idea, really. I’d rather have Ginny date Harry than Dean anyway.”

“You mean rather than any guy, don’t you?” she smiled.

“NO! I mean… well… I suppose you are right. He’s the only guy I trust to treat her good enough.”

“And if not, he’s got you to answer to, right?”

Ron looked down to her. “That’s absolutely right! And don’t forget Fred, George, Percy, Charlie, and Bill.” They laughed as they passed a girl from Ravenclaw, who looked up at them.

“I think that’s really cute though, you being so protective of Ginny,” Hermione said to him. Ron blushed.

“Well, I know this is a little cheesy, but she’s the only sister we’ve got. And she’s the youngest, so we all look out for her.” They were coming up on another corner when he was abruptly reminded of the last heart to heart he’d had with Bill. He was talking to him about his feelings for Hermione.

“You’ve just got to look for an opportune moment,” is what he said. Nearly around the corner, he took a big breath, let it out, and turned to step in front of her.

“What are you doing, Ron?” she said, looking up at him and chortling. He was much taller than her when they were like this.

“Er… y - you know,” he stammered, blushing profusely, “us Weasleys, we… er… w-we take real good care of our own women, too.”

She looked at him with confusion on her face. “What? What are you talking ab –“

Before they knew it, a student had rounded around the corner at a very fast pace, and knocked them clear over, Ron landing on top of Hermione, but the student just muttered their apology and kept on going down the hall.

Ron was now staring into Hermione’s eyes, who was as much indulged in his as he was hers. He could feel his weight pressing into her body. She started to apologize, but he caught his lips with hers before she could do so. He immediately pulled back, his face a daring shade of red.

“I – I’m sorry,” he said.

She stared back at him. “For falling on me, or for kissing me?”

He didn’t answer, but pushed himself up off of her, and walked brusquely around the corner. Hermione propped herself up with her hands and stood up. She took a few steps to see around the corner and watched Ron till he disappeared up a staircase.

“So what do you think Hermione wanted to talk to Ron about?” Harry said with a snigger.”

Ginny chuckled back and said, “Don’t get your hopes up too much. I’m sure she just went to bicker with him about Snape some more. You know her; she likes to get the last word in.”

Harry nodded. “That is definitely true. I try not to argue with her too much. I know I’d probably end up losing, so I don’t even start.”

“Well, it’s not like she really argues that much with you anyway,” Ginny pointed out. “She really seems to save all that for Ron.” She looked at the fire in thought, then said, “You know, I’m really not sure what she sees in him anyway.”

“You mean she does fancy him then?”

“I’m not completely sure. She always seems to change the subject whenever I get close to asking her about it. But from what I can tell she does. I just think she’s apprehensive about it, is all.”

“What do you mean?” He scooted over closer to her on the couch so that he was right next to her.

“I think that she just wants Ron to make the first move. Maybe she thinks if he’s not willing to risk asking, then why should she? See what I’m saying.”

“I guess. But there’s really not much of a chance that he’ll make the first move. He seems to not want to deal with girls. And I don’t blame him. Down right confusing, they are. Some of them are hopping mad.”

“Hey, we’re not all bad you know!” Ginny said defensively through a grin, giving his shoulder a small shove. “Besides, you’ve only gone out with Cho!”

“And look at her! Hopping mad!”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t judge all of us off of Cho. There are plenty perfectly normal girls out there.”

Harry’s heart was racing, and butterflies were beginning to form in his stomach. He decided to be bold and go for it. “Oh, and I suppose you’re one of them, are you?” he said with a smirk.

Ginny blushed. Was he coming on to her? “Er – well, yes. I suppose I am.”

“So I’d be perfectly well off if I dated someone like you?” Harry said. Then he added, “Er – hypothetically speaking, of course.”

No, he wasn’t. “Hypothetically speaking? Well, yes, of course.”

“Oh. Right. Er - good to know…”

They were suddenly very aware of how loud the fire was. Harry glanced down at his watch and, seeing it was nearly two in the morning, decided to call it a night.

“Well, Ginny,” he stuttered. “I think I’m going to… you know, go on up now.”

“Oh… right. G – goodnight then.”

“Goodnight,” he said. Then he leaned over and gave her a small kiss. He pulled back and they stared into each other’s eyes. Neither of them moved for a moment. Then he stood up and quickly walked over to the staircase leading up to his dormitory, leaving Ginny sitting on the couch in front of the cracking fire. She’d never notice how stunning his green eyes were.

She got up and walked over to the entrance to the stairs, but stopped suddenly.

Am I drunk? Or maybe I'm dreaming,
I ought to be screaming! He suddenly –

She turned back to look at the couch. He couldn’t have…

Just like that, without any warning,
At two in the morning, he suddenly –

But he did. She thought back to their conversation…

Were there signs, and I didn't see them?
A random remark, occasional sigh,
That day in the park, the gleam in his eye...

Ron burst through the small hole and stormed through without a word, and went straight up to his dormitory. To Harry’s dormitory… ‘Hypothetical…’ He’d added that after a stutter… Old feelings were rushing back to her, but this time, they were completely justified. She started back over to the couch and began singing with a smile.

Harry, oh Harry, silly boy.
Gee, what a real swell guy.
Harry, oh Harry, oh what joy!
He makes my troubles fly!
His glance had fireworks in it.

She closed her eyes to relive the moment…

We kissed, my heart did a
Whiz-bang, flip-flop,
Heaven for a minute.

She sat down on one of the chairs next to the couch and turned to face in the direction of Harry, now probably sound asleep.

Harry, oh Harry, don't you know
What I can't quite confess?
So coax me, implore me;
I promise you won't bore me!

She smiled and walked back towards the stairs.

Harry, I might say yes!

Hermione was taking her time back to her dormitory. She was deep in thought about what had just happened. He had actually made the first move. She never thought it would actually happen. She’d had always told herself that if he did, she wouldn’t hesitate to start a relationship with him. But it had happened so quickly. She stopped and looked back to where they’d just been, and couldn’t help but belting out her thoughts.

He makes my troubles fly!
His glance had fireworks in it!
We kissed, my heart did a
Whiz-bang, flip-flop,
Heaven for a minute.

She started back to the Gryffindor more confidently now, her speed increasing with every word.

Ronald, oh Ronald, don't you know
What I can't quite confess?
So coax me, implore me;
I promise you won't bore me!

She stopped at the Fat Lady, quickly said the password, and climbed into the empty common room with a huge smile that lit up her entire face.

Oh, Ronald, I might say yes!

More to come soon!