Harry Potter and the Silent Siege

Chapter 8

Ships that Pass in the Night

The Wednesday before the Hogsmeade weekend saw a rather unusual Defense Against the Dark Arts class that, at the time, seemed more comical than serious but in retrospect was very significant. Professor Nevins began by announcing that he would introduce the class to a tricky spell that students normally did not learn until their seventh year, if that, but that he felt confident the sixth years could master. Without first telling the class what the new spell was and what it would do, Nevins lined up the Gryffindors and Slytherins into two rows facing each other. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had been sitting together as usual and Ron and Hermione had ended up standing across from one another while Harry was paired up with Seamus. The odd one out was Dean, whom Professor Nevins moved to the front of the class as a "volunteer."

Once the rows had sorted themselves out, Nevins looked at some of the pairings and allowed himself a toothy smirk. It was clear he was enjoying some kind of private joke at everyone else's expense. He walked back to the front of the classroom and turned to face Dean. He drew out his wand and became serious.

"Now, if everyone could please join me in taking out their wands. This spell has two parts, both of which must be put into action very rapidly for it to work. One of the pair - it does not matter which one - must first point his wand at his - or her - partner - and enunciate, please - say Synchronis Totalis. A curious effect will then occur." Nevins smiled again. "The two wizards or witches casting the spell will experience a magic link. During this link, the consciousness of the two partners will be shared. Then - "

"E - Excuse me, Professor." Neville was shaking like a leaf. "Do you mean that we'll be able to read each other's thoughts?"

Nevins smiled, rather cruelly, Harry thought. "Very good, Mr. Longbottom, yes."

A low murmur rose like a ripple around the classroom. Parvati and Lavender started giggling furiously.

"You needn't worry," Nevins added as Neville looked on the point of collapse. "At your present level, I doubt the effect will last more than a few seconds, nor will your partner be able to penetrate much further than your surface thoughts. If your private thoughts embarrass you, then you only need to force yourself to concentrate on something mundane for a few seconds until the spell wears off."

The class continued to murmur and fidget. Harry looked over at Seamus who was chuckling. He decided he must be very careful to keep any thoughts of Sirius - or Cho - out of his mind. Suddenly, he felt a sharp tug on his elbow. He looked around to see Ron staring at him anxiously.

"Harry," he squeaked. "Couldn't you switch with me? I mean, you and Hermione could - "

"No. Why? What's the matter?"

"Please, Harry."

Harry was suddenly aware that he and Ron were the only ones talking. Nevins folded his arms and walked over. "Is there a problem, Mr. Weasley?"

Ron shook his head.

"Good. As interesting as all this to you all, it is the second stage of the spell that makes it useful." Nevins then spoke loudly and slowly so that the class would be sure to catch the point. "After you have cast the initial spell and while the two partners are linked, the effects of any subsequent spell will be experienced by both."

Ron frowned for a moment. "What good does that do?"

There were a few gasps but Harry and Hermione did not react. They knew by now that Ron had formed a very strange relationship with Professor Nevins on that first day of class and the professor seemed especially pleased when Ron provided the role of a foil in his lessons. Ron still tried to appear offended but Harry sensed his indignation was not genuine. Both he and Nevins seemed to be enjoying an unusual private game.

"Pardon me, Mr. Weasley?"

"Well, I mean, if you want to curse someone, just curse them. If you get all wound up together, then you'll curse yourself as well, won't you?"

Nevins scowled. "I do not want to do all your thinking for you, Mr. Weasley, but please promise me that I'll be the first person you tell when you discover how useful this spell really is."

"All right." Ron folded his arms in mock defiance.

"Good." Nevins turned his attention back to the rest of the class. "Now, I will begin by demonstrating with Mr. Thomas." He walked over to Dean who looked slightly nervous. Nevins took out his wand and pointed it at the boy.

"Synchronis Totalis."

A flash of blue light left Nevins' wand and hit Dean squarely in the chest. At first it seemed nothing had happened but then a blue flash bounced back off of Dean like a ball in a squash court and hit Nevins.

Nevins smiled and Dean looked confused.

"It seems Mr. Thomas gives a generous amount of thought to West Ham football."

There were a few giggles in response.

"And now." Nevins raised his wand again. "Lumos Reformo."

Another flash of wand light quickly left Nevins' wand and zigzagged back and forth between him and Dean. Both Nevins and Dean then glowed briefly like a negative image before returning to normal.

"And there you have it." Nevins put down his wand. "Now, I will give everyone else a chance. Please use the same two spells."

The first pair was Millicent Bulstrode and Crabbe. On establishing the link, they both broke into hoarsey Slytherin laughter. Harry wondered that there was anything in Crabbe's head at all. The next few pairs were fairly uneventful until Draco Malfoy was matched up with Pansy Parkinson. Pansy looked a little nervous while Malfoy had a snide calculating curl to his lips. They completed the link and the curse. After their appearances had returned to normal, Pansy looked at Malfoy in astonishment and suddenly broke into a sobbing fit. Malfoy merely continued to stare back at her, unperturbed.

The Gryffindors, who mostly segregated themselves in their classes with the Slytherins, ended up being the last to go. Harry was constantly aware of Ron shifting back and forth next to him and was tempted to tell him to keep still. The first pairing was Neville and Parvati. Harry suddenly became aware that Neville was even whiter than usual and beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. Parvati seemed quite composed and, on seeing Neville's obvious discomfort, smiled at him engagingly. This seemed to make things even worse, however: Neville started moving back and forth on his feet like Ron and seemed to visibly tremble.

When Neville just continued to stare at her, Parvati raised her wand and said smoothly:

"Synchronis Totalis."

Neville lifted up his hands to protect himself but the beam quickly bounced off his chest and reverberated back to Parvati.

Parvati's smile faded abruptly. She took a step backwards and put her hands over her gaping mouth. Neville looked back at her in terror.

Parvati's finger suddenly shot out as surely as the wand light and pointed back at her partner.

"NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD THINK - "

"Miss Patil," Nevins interrupted. "We are not interested in what Mr. Longbottom is thinking. We are waiting patiently for one of you to complete the spell."

Neville quickly grabbed his wand and forced himself to steady it at Parvati.

"L - L - L - Lumos Reformo."

Harry was suddenly afraid that Neville's stuttering would cause the spell to mutate horribly but it seemed to have the same effect. As soon as they had returned to normal, however, Neville's wand dropped to the floor with a clatter. He quickly retrieved it and excused himself hurriedly to the toilet, grabbing his stomach. Parvati continued to stare after the space where he had stood and ignored all attempts from Lavender to find out what had happened.

Parvati and Neville's ill-fated experiment in thought sharing, though obviously judged a success by Nevins, had seriously unnerved those who had yet to take part. Lavender and Morag McDougal were next followed by Harry and Seamus. With a devilish smile on his face, Seamus decided to cast a "Riddiculo Tikkilo" spell instead of the "Lumos Reformo." Both Harry and Seamus burst into giggles and Seamus earned a mild reprisal from Nevins but Harry was secretly pleased at him for breaking the tension.

A quick sideways glance to Ron, however, told Harry that it had not been enough. While everyone else was giggling at Seamus' prank, Ron continued to stand rigid, his brows furrowed in nervous concentration as he pointed an unsteady wand at Hermione. Harry could see that his other best friend did not look much better. Hermione was biting her lip and twirling her wand nervously in her hand which Harry could see from the light of the window behind her was glistening with sweat. What was going on?

Harry finally became aware that it was now Hermione and Ron's turn but his two friends continued to stand facing each other, neither moving to begin the spell.

"Well, will one of you please start?" said Nevins impatiently. "I would hate to have to keep anyone into lunch time."

Without wavering in the slightest, Hermione and Ron straightened their wands and before the other realized what was happening, cursed each other in unison. Harry gasped as light flew out of both Hermione and Ron's wands and zigzagged back and forth four times. He could sense every muscle in their bodies contracted in tension before Hermione quickly cried out "Lumos Reformo." Both Ron and Hermione glowed negative for a moment, then put their wands down.

As they had been the last to go, Nevins launched into some further explanations about the properties of the Synchronis Totalis spell. Harry could see Ron and Hermione still standing there staring at each other, rigid with concentration, but ignoring whatever it was that Nevins was saying.

The class packed up relatively quickly and moved out into the corridor. There were murmurs and giggles which soon blended with a noisy rush of humanity as students from other classes filed out of their classrooms and made their way toward lunch. Neville had emerged from the bathroom, still looking pale, and was deep in animated conversation with Dean and Seamus when Harry, Ron, and Hermione passed them.

"It was awful," Neville was saying, deadly serious. "The more I tried to get it out of my head, the more I couldn't."

Harry noticed that Dean and Seamus were laughing so hard tears were rolling down their cheeks.

He turned back to look at Ron and Hermione who were paying no attention to Neville's conversation. They were both still staring straight ahead, appearing to concentrate hard lest some remnants of their link remain. Harry was now sure that, as strange as it seemed, both of his best friends had something to hide from each other - and from him, but he did not know for the life of him know what that was.

"So, er," he started, trying to break the reverie. "A bit of an awkward class today, I suppose."

"Too bloody right," Ron muttered.

***

Snape's eyebrows contracted in concentration as he moved stealthily behind the Granger girl and the Weasley girl who were having some kind of conversation. He was still trying to think of some way to insert himself into their plans for the weekend without arousing suspicion and could not imagine how he was going to do so. But first he would listen. They had not heard him approach, of course; no one ever did.

" - This is your best chance," Granger was saying. "Or he really will ask her."

"I don't know, Hermione."

"Look." Granger touched the Weasley girl's arm. "I've got it all figured out. The four of us will go down to the Three Broomsticks together. Then I'll make some excuse and Ron and I will slip out and then you will ask him."

The Weasley girl seemed to hesitate for a moment and then nodded.

Snape quickly moved away before either of them noticed he was in earshot and allowed himself a relieved smile. It had all been too easy.

***

That same night, a restless Ginny Weasley was having another nightmare. This nightmare seemed somehow normal compared to her strangely intense dreams of the summer. In this dream, she had asked Harry to the dance. Instead of responding, however, his lips had curled up grotesquely in an expression of disgust and he had moved quickly away from Ginny. He then had gone to whisper to Ron and Hermione, who were sitting at the same table. On hearing the news, they both got up and recoiled as if they had just eaten something rancid. Amanda and Catherine had then burst in and walked over to her, shaking their heads in disbelief. Soon everyone in the Three Broomsticks had moved away from Ginny like she carried a plague. Finally, she just sat all alone in the empty pub.

It was at that point, when her dream had reached its disturbing conclusion, that Ginny woke up and decided to pour herself a glass of water and move to the common room. She picked up her worn copy of Not Just Mail Machines: Caring for Magical Owls and moved down into the Gryffindor common room. She sat on a high backed chair, moved it close to the fire, and began reading. Ginny really wished she had brought Mr. Sunshine with her to school; she very much needed someone who could tell her what she wanted to hear about herself even if she knew that was all it would say. She needed to banish her nightmare completely if she was ever going to ask Harry to the ball.

At this moment now, she would have to settle for a familiar book. She shuddered slightly from the chill of the dream and the cold of the autumn evening. She moved her chair so that it was facing the fire and sank down lower, letting its warmth slowly caress her body. She imagined that the flames could make the cold stares of the haunting phantoms in her dream slowly melt away.

***

That same night, after a particularly late and exhausting Quidditch practice, which had earned him some complaints from the team, Harry quickly sunk into an exhausted sleep.

Harry often hoped he would not dream for his dreams often contained those dilemmas which he managed to put aside in his waking moments. But on this night, he would not get his wish.

In this dream, he was strangely not himself. It was as if he was watching a film or seeing events through another person's eyes. The central character in the dream seemed to be his Uncle Vernon. In this dream, Vernon was not the gruff, narrow, miserly figure Harry remembered from real life. He seemed younger, full of hopes and dreams, his wife, Harry's Aunt Petunia, was no longer haggard; the lines on her face from years of scowling had disappeared; she was young and beautiful. Vernon's heart rose in his bosom as he bent over to kiss her good morning and left for the office. He trod through the corridor of his modest but beautiful new house, pausing only to collect his coat which hung neatly in the cupboard underneath the stairs. He made a side trip to the living room where his beautiful baby boy Dudley was giggling delightfully in his crib and tickled him under the chin. With a reluctant but satisfied sigh, Vernon then moved toward the front door, turned the handle, and stepped out to greet the clear morning air.

But something caused Vernon to pause and look to the ground. There, on the front steps, was a small bundle of something, wrapped in blankets. A letter addressed to himself and Petunia rested neatly on top of the covers.

Vernon's smile suddenly faded, replaced with a frown of concern. Had someone left a baby on their doorstep? With a tone of alarm, he called for his wife. The urgency in Vernon's voice brought Petunia running to the front door, gasping as she saw the bundle.

"What should we do?" she asked her husband.

"Well." Vernon suddenly found his authority again. "Pick it up, I suppose."

Vernon had barely finished speaking when the blankets started to shift by themselves. Vernon and Petunia took a step backwards. There was clearly something alive inside. The blankets began to shift more vigorously as the baby inside squirmed and the letter fell onto the stone steps. Vernon was almost on the point of collecting the baby and making it more comfortable when the blankets fell to the pavement completely and the thing that had been inside moved out and stood on the porch, turning to face the Dursleys.

And Vernon and Petunia screamed. They screamed so loudly someone must have heard, but in fact, there seemed to be no one about that morning. They kept screaming as the thing that was most certainly not a baby continued to stand in front of him, the thing which now looked exactly like the emaciated creature that had been Lord Voldemort before he was restored to full size by his servant Wormtail. It raised a slender wand which looked much too large for it and pointed it at Vernon and Petunia, gurgling grotesquely to itself, nearly choking on its own spittle. The light from its wand struck the Dursleys. Still gripped with fright, Vernon and Petunia fell to the ground dead. The creature silently slipped back inside the folds of the blankets, pulled them over its head, settled the letter into place, and chuckled softly to itself.

Harry woke up in a cold sweat. He grabbed his glasses and moved over to the window to pour himself a glass of water. Harry didn't always remember his dreams but this one boiled in his mind in vivid detail. Worse, although he had forced himself to repress the memory, Harry knew that the Dursleys had died in no less horrible a manner in real life.

On this revelation, Harry decided it was not yet time for him to return to sleep. Walking gingerly on his still aching body, he took out the now tattered Quidditch Through the Ages book that he kept under his four-poster bed and took it and the glass of water and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

He moved down into the common room. He could see that someone had left the high-backed chair pushed up against the fireplace. It was certainly a cool evening and Harry thought of taking the seat for himself. But the heat of the fire seemed harsh to Harry as he moved closer. It reminded him too much of the raw red scaly skin that had covered the thing which had once been Lord Voldemort and the malevolent fury that had shined in its snake-like eyes as it had shot down the Dursleys. Harry settled for a familiar seat next to the small table where he and Ron often played wizard chess.

Harry tried to read but it wasn't long before he realized he had read the same paragraph several times over. He put the book down with a sigh. Harry felt as if the relative calm he had built up over the past six weeks was beginning to crumble, having proved only as strong the precarious foundations onto which it had been placed.

Just then, the door to Gryffindor sixth-year boys' dormitory opened again and Ron stepped out. He gave a lazy yawn and walked down the stairs to join Harry at the table.

"All right, Harry?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

Harry suddenly felt the crushing burdens that threatened to overwhelm him immediately begin to subside with Ron's question. Until Ron had walked down the stairs, he had almost forgotten how he had overcome the burdens of the past two years but now he remembered. It was because of his friends. Harry resolved that he would tell Ron about his dream and his guilt about the Dursleys' death before it became something with which he no longer felt capable of dealing.

"I had a nightmare," replied Harry.

"About You-Know-Who?"

"Sort of." Harry hesitated. "It was about the Dursleys." He looked up at Ron suddenly, as if seeing him properly for the first time. "Did I wake you up?"

"No, I - I've been awake for hours. I made it to sleep quite quickly this time but then I woke up again and I haven't been back to sleep." Ron rubbed his eyes again. Harry noticed they were shot with lines as bright red as a fire engine. "It's the same nearly every night." He sighed.

"Maybe you should go to see Madam Pomfrey? I'm sure she can give you a sleeping draught."

Ron shook his head. "I don't think she has anything that can cure my problems." He frowned woefully.

Harry was certain he was not going to let things pass this time. "Ron, what's wrong?" he asked insistently.

"You know, Harry," replied Ron, almost thoughtfully. "I - I'm not sure I can really bring myself to tell you. I mean, not because of you - we're best mates and everything - just because, well, if I told you, I'd be admitting it to myself and then it would just be more real and I'm still hoping it will go away. D - do you understand?" Ron looked up hopefully into Harry's eyes.

Harry shook his head. "Not really."

Ron sighed again. "I - If I tell anyone, it'll be you, all right?"

Harry nodded. "All right, Ron."

"Tell me about your dream then," Ron added quickly.

Harry told Ron about the dream, surprising himself at how luridly he imagined the details. Even Ron gulped nervously when Harry described how the "baby" had proved to be the unformed body of Lord Voldemort.

"You know what it means, of course?" asked Harry.

"You-Know-Who is hiding out in the infirmary under a bunch of sheets?" Ron swallowed nervously.

"No," replied Harry. "I killed the Dursleys, just as surely as if I had been Voldemort."

Ron cringed at the name, though he had stopped telling Harry not to use it. He then shook his head. "That's ridiculous, Harry. It was You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters. You didn't kill them. They did."

"If it weren't for me, Voldemort wouldn't have cared about them. Just like Cedric."

Ron wasn't going to let the "C" word stop him this time. "Harry, you can't keep holding yourself responsible. Cedric chose to take that cup. He knew there was a risk surrounding the competition. He could have simply refused your offer and let you take it alone. And from what you told me, Sirius begged the Dursleys to come with them. It was their choice, too."

"No, it wasn't, Ron," Harry insisted, so loudly Ron was afraid he would wake up the entire house. "I brewed that Polyjuice Potion and then Sirius slipped it into Dudley's pudding. It wasn't fair."

"But Dudley was miserable to you your whole life."

"That doesn't mean he deserved to die."

"Look," said Ron, after a moment. "Maybe you're right, Harry, but he's dead. There's nothing you can do about it." Ron realized as soon as the words came out of his mouth that it had been a dangerous mistake.

"I think I should say something to Sirius."

"No, Harry," Ron shook his head vigorously. "How can you tell Sirius? He saved your life. What are you supposed to say, 'Thanks for saving my life but I can't forgive you for what you did to my awful cousin?' What would he think? Who's more important to you - him or Dudley?"

"That's not the point, Ron, I - "

Harry was abruptly cut off as he heard the portrait outside the Gryffindor common room suddenly swung aside. Harry and Ron waited to see who was coming in at this hour but there was no one there.

"Who is it?" asked Ron nervously. "Harry," he added, in a sudden panic. "I think it must be You-Know-Who. That dream was a warning. He's come - "

"Relax, Ron," said Harry. "It's Hermione." Harry failed to notice that Ron's frightened expression hardly seemed to change at the news. "I gave her the invisibility cloak so that she could stay after hours at the library. But I didn't think she'd be this late." He frowned and looked at his watch. It was a quarter past four.

The folds of the invisibility cloak parted and the vision from Ron's nightmares looked back at them, unable to repress a slight smirk.

"Hermione," said Harry, "What are you doing staying out this late? We have classes tomorrow. You can't keep killing yourself!"

Hermione's smirk quickly disappeared. "I - I just have to get this done. There's only just over a week until the ball. It won't be like this every night." Hermione rubbed the sleep out of her left eye. "Anyway," she said, looking from Harry to Ron, "what are you two doing up?"

Before Harry could stop him, Ron launched into an account of his nightmare and their subsequent conversation.

Hermione folded her arms and frowned at Ron.

"I'm not sure you gave him the best advice, you know."

"Go on, then." Ron quickly moved on the defensive. "You have a go."

"You just want Harry to keep things bottled up inside. Just like he always does. You just want him to avoid dealing with things."

Harry was about to add that he didn't think this was quite fair when Ron leapt to his own defense.

"How would you feel if you were Sirius and Harry just told you he didn't want you killing Dudley?"

"This is not about Sirius. It's about Harry."

"And you think Harry's going to feel just fine afterward?"

"Better than if he just keeps it all to himself and pretends everything's all right when it really isn't."

"Hello, I'm over here, you know." Harry waved his arms but neither of his two friends seemed to take any notice.

Ron's eyes narrowed. "This is all pretty rich coming from you."

Hermione stared back at him defiantly. "I don't know what you mean."

"Well," Ron continued, a dangerous look in his eyes. "Here you are sneaking into the library in the middle of the night, planning goddess knows what, rushing away from meals, not telling your friends anything."

"I don't think Hermione - " Harry started, but stopped as he saw Ron and Hermione staring at each other with daggers in their eyes, clearly no longer aware of his existence.

Hermione's clenched teeth were suddenly visible. "I don't what your problem is, Ronald Weasley. If you're so interested in the plan for the ball, why don't you just join S.P.E.W.? You can even help us. I just didn't think you were interested, that's all."

"You were right the first time, Hermione. I have absolutely no interest in what you are planning for the ball."

"You're doing a pretty good job of pretending it."

The argument continued to go back and forth. Harry felt a throbbing headache start to pulse in his left temple. If Ron and Hermione thought they were helping him, they were very much mistaken. Harry was about to excuse himself and let his friends get on with it when he heard Ron say:

"- and I suppose it's normal for you to spend Defense Against the Dark Arts seeing if you can remember all the Hogwarts headmasters in order?"

"Well at least I'm not pathetic enough to amuse myself trying to remember all the different types of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans."

Harry suddenly realized that Ron and Hermione had stopped being angry at each other. While he had absolutely no idea what they had just said, his two best friends were suddenly staring at each other with a curious, almost frightened expression that Harry had never seen before. They immediately stopped talking and held the look for what seemed like quite some time. Then Hermione suddenly cleared her throat.

"Well, er, good luck, Harry," she said, turning to him as if breaking out of a dream. "I - I think I'd better go to bed now. I - I'm just too tired to stay up. Here's your cloak." She gave the invisibility cloak back to Harry and walked up to bed, a strangely clouded expression covering her face.

Harry said good night although he wasn't sure he heard Ron do the same. The two of them silently walked up to bed.

The door shut behind them and for a moment everything was silent in the Gryffindor common room. Then there was the soft sound of a book being closed, a book whose owner had not moved past the first page.

Ginny stood up from where she had been sitting beside the fire, her crimson curls having been obscured behind the back of the tall chair into which she had sunken herself. Her eyes were wide and thoughtful as she slowly crept her way back up the stairs to her dormitory. She planted her feet as softly as a cat's as she passed the sixth-year room. She did not want Hermione to hear her. Ginny had accomplished what she had set out to do before she came down to the common room: her nightmare was now completely forgotten. But she still doubted whether she would get much sleep for the remainder of the night.

***

A white knuckle double potions session on Friday afternoon finally came to an end and the first Hogsmeade weekend of the term rolled around. The Gryffindor common room was alive with chatter on Friday night, especially among the excited third years who were visiting Hogsmeade for the first time. Seamus was doing his best to take over the role of the now absent Fred and George in describing with great embellishments the numerous attractions and threats Hogsmeade presented. Anyone who listened to him would have thought that Hogsmeade was the last amusement park on earth rather than a small wizarding-only village.

The third years woke up early on Saturday morning for their first visit. It was nearly mid-morning, however, before Harry and Ron, after staying up late talking about a rumored Quidditch-only store that had just opened, finally made their way down to the Gryffindor common room where Hermione and Ginny were waiting.

Ron looked at Ginny and frowned. "I thought you were going with your roommates."

Ginny returned her brother's frown but it was Hermione who said:

"Ginny is helping me buy some new robes."

"I don't mind if Ginny comes with us," said Harry innocently, trying to avoid having the day begin with another row.

Hermione stepped between Ginny and Harry so that Harry couldn't see Ginny look down and blush furiously.

"Well, then," she said. "I suppose we'd better get going."

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry made their way down through the castle and out onto the school grounds.

"Of course," Hermione was saying, earning a silent groan from Harry, "I'll be looking for some extra supplies for our action at the ball."

"I didn't know they had an explosives shop in Hogsmeade," retorted Ron.

"Actually, I was thinking of the jokes shop," replied Hermione, grateful to have earned Ron's curiosity.

Harry was wracking his brains to think of a way to change the topic of conversation. He wished Hermione and Ron could get through one day without talking about S.P.E.W. or maybe even without trying to goad one another into an argument. First, it had been Ron but now it seemed that Hermione was just as bad. Harry turned to look at Ginny and was surprised to see her looking down on the ground and kicking a small pebble as they continued to trot down the path leading to the main gates of the school. She suddenly seemed very out of place and Harry wondered why she really hadn't gone with her roommates. He wasn't entirely sure he believed Hermione's excuse. Whatever the case, he didn't think she should be left out, but he wasn't very sure how to include her. He suddenly realized that he knew very little about his best friend's younger sister.

"So, Ginny," Harry finally said, not noticing Hermione stop abruptly in mid-sentence. "Where do you want to go today?"

"Oh," said Ginny, suddenly turning around, surprised. "Oh, well - nowhere in particular, the Three Broomsticks, I suppose." She did not look up at Harry.

The four Gryffindors passed under the wrought-iron gates of the school.

"Funny those flying boars," said Ron, pointing to the twin statues that topped the stone columns which flanked the entranceway. "I always wondered why they had wings instead of feet."

Ginny suddenly let out a small cry and clutched her forehead.

"Ginny, are you all right?" asked Hermione.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione stopped and closed around Ginny who was bending over, her face closed tightly in pain. After a brief moment, she stood up straight again, still rubbing her head.

"I don't know," she said. "My forehead just started hurting. It seems all right now. Perhaps I haven't had very much sleep lately."

Ron looked down at Ginny with sudden concern. He noticed that Ginny looked as if she'd had as little sleep as he had. He wondered what was bothering her but realized this was hardly the place to ask.

Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Ron continued to walk into Hogsmeade, starting to talk again after a few minutes of silence. This time, Harry managed to successfully steer the conversation onto the topic of the new Quidditch shop and was pleased to find that all of his friends, including Ginny, managed to join in.

It wasn't long before the first Hogsmeade buildings started to come into view. They passed the Shrieking Shack first and then Transfiguration, the clothing store (Hermione said that they could visit there later, earning a suspicious glance from Ron). The street soon began to fill up with Hogwarts students, wearing a varied mix of casual robes and even Muggle pullovers and jeans in contrast to the typical uniform black of their school robes. Hermione noted with disapproval that lime green and canary yellow striped knee-length socks had come back into fashion once again.

"Hello, there, Gryffindors!" said a gravelly voice.

Hermione jumped back a little and all of the Gryffindors looked to their left to see Lord Ravenhurst staring back at them. Lord Ravenhurst was the portrait that marked the entrance to the only all-wizard public lavatory in Britain. Lord Ravenhurst was invariably jolly and seemed to pride himself on remembering the names of all the students and staff. Indulging Lord Ravenhurst in conversation was an acknowledged rite of passage for all third years but most of the older students tried to avoid him if possible. He was also known to chastise frequent visitors with sayings like "too much Butterbeer's not good for the liver, you know." He was partnered on the other side of the building by Lady Picklewick, a demure portrait with a drawn face and a high backed collar who marked the entrance to the only all-witch public lavatory in Britain. Unlike Lord Ravenhurst, Lady Picklewick rarely said a word. There had been talk of removing Lord Ravenhurst a few years before when, in a particularly frisky mood, he had attempted to move into Lady Picklewick's portrait and she, while trying to escape, had moved back into his. This had generated a great deal of embarrassed confusion.

"Hello, Lord Ravenhurst," said Harry, "enjoying the day?"

Lord Ravenhurst frowned. "The third years don't seem quite so sociable this year. I'm afraid someone might have warned them."

Harry was about to reply when he felt Ron tugging on the sleeve of his sweater.

Cho Chang had emerged from underneath Lady Picklewick, flanked by two of her seventh-year Ravenclaw friends. Cho smiled at Harry and walked over to him. Harry suddenly felt his legs turn in some sort of liquid substance.

"Oh, hi, Harry," she said. "Have you seen the new Quidditch store yet?"

"I - er - well, I - er - no, I - we, that is, just got here."

"Oh," said Cho, seeming not to notice the difficulty Harry was experiencing getting out a simple sentence. "Well, it's just down the road next to the Three Broomsticks." She turned around to smile at the other Gryffindors. Her smile only made it as far as Ron, who returned her greeting with a rather pale smile of his own and then faded abruptly as she was met with frosty stares from Hermione and Ginny.

"Well," said Cho, at a rather embarrassing pause in the conversation. "I - I think we're off to Transfiguration now. I'll see you later, Harry?"

Harry nodded awkwardly. "Er, O - OK," he croaked.

Cho smiled, apparently satisfied, and left with her tittering friends.

Before Hermione could say anything, Ron yanked on Harry's elbow and pulled him in the direction of Lord Ravenhurst.

"Harry and I have to make a convenience stop for a moment. Please excuse us," he said to Hermione and Ginny.

"What?" replied Harry. "But I don't - "

His protests died as Ron forcibly pulled him in through the entrance to the toilet.

Hermione bit her lip anxiously as Harry and Ron disappeared. This was not part of the plan. She turned to Ginny to reassure her but noticed that the younger girl had turned around to look at the retreating Cho and her friends. There was an almost demonic glint in her eyes as she watched Cho stop and talk to a tall Hufflepuff who looked just as nervous as Harry, occasionally running her finger up and down his forearm.

***

Harry pulled his arm away from Ron and stopped just in front of the goblin-accessible toilet.

"Ron, what are we doing in the middle of a men's lavatory?"

"Well, they do it."

"You have something to say to me?"

"Look, Harry, back there just now talking to Cho, you didn't seem like someone who had already asked her to the ball."

"That's because I haven't."

"Harry, what are you thinking? The ball's just over a week from now. A girl like that, someone else is going to ask her. I'm surprised if they haven't already."

"I've just - I've had a lot of things on my mind lately. I haven't had time to think about it."

"Well, I would start thinking about it if I were you."

"All right, Ron, I will. I will, I promise."

"You don't have to promise anything to me, Harry. I'm just trying to help you. I don't mind if you want to ask someone else or if you don't want to go at all for that matter. You just said you wanted to ask Cho."

"I do, I do, Ron."

"Look, Harry, I've got an idea. Why don't you go run after her? Ginny and Hermione want to go to Transfiguration anyway and I can go in with them."

"No, Ron, I - I just don't think it's the right time. But I will," Harry added quickly, before Ron could protest, "soon."

"All right, mate." Ron smiled and he and Harry left the bathroom to find Ginny and Hermione waiting for them.

"Feeling comfortable now, then, are we?" Hermione asked acidly.

"Very," replied Ron defiantly.

"Good."

The next logical stop, of course, was the Quidditch shop and Ron and Harry lingered for some while. Even Hermione and Ginny seemed to take an interest. They then headed to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. Harry and Ron were so engrossed in their discussion of the new Firebolt servicing kit and the self-levitating Omnioculars that they did not notice that Ginny barely touched her food. They washed down a delicious lunch of Hag's pie with generous supplies of Butterbeer. Harry felt as if a roaring winter's fire had been lit inside of him that penetrated to every extremity of his body.

Ginny had ordered her fourth Butterbeer before Ron finally said:

"Steady on, Gin. I know you miss the stuff, but - "

"You can't get drunk drinking Butterbeer," replied Ginny. "Unless you're a house-elf. And I'm not that short." Ginny was still thinking about Cho and how she had towered over her. She did not explain that she was drowning in Butterbeer so that her complexion would have already turned scarlet by the time she had to ask Harry to the ball and he wouldn't notice any difference.

"So." Hermione abruptly stood up, ignoring the baffled expressions on Ron and Harry's faces and that Ginny's complexion had now changed to a Christmas-like mix of green and red. She looked pointedly at Harry and Ginny. "Ron and I need to do a bit of shopping now. So if you'll excuse us."

Ginny forced a wave of bile back into her stomach. Hermione could hardly have been more ostentatious.

"We do?" replied Ron incredulously.

"Come on." Hermione grabbed Ron by the arm and dragged him up. "We won't be long." She looked meaningfully at Ginny. "I'll explain on the way," she said to Ron.

Ron looked back at Harry who shrugged and grudgingly walked out with Hermione.

"What are we shopping for then?" he said as they got to the door. "I'm not joining S.P.E.W., you know?"

Hermione turned back to Ron as they reached the door and said in a whisper. "Don't you think we should get Harry something from the Quidditch shop, for Christmas?"

Ron frowned. "But Christmas isn't for two months!"

"Well," Hermione seemed to hesitate just for a moment. "The next Hogsmeade weekend isn't until just before Christmas. All the things will be gone by then."

Ron looked searchingly into Hermione's eyes for a moment, then shrugged. "OK, I guess."

Hermione dragged Ron out of the Three Broomsticks and back in the direction of the Quidditch shop.

***

Ginny stared at Harry like a deer blinded by the headlights of an oncoming car. Harry suddenly looked up from his Butterbeer and Ginny immediately looked down again. Several agonizing minutes had passed since Ron and Hermione had left and neither of them had said a thing. It was painfully obvious that they had no conversation topics. Ginny couldn't seem to stop getting the nightmare from the other night out of her head. She found herself looking around the Three Broomsticks to see if Amanda and Catherine were secretly hiding in the corner, ready to admonish her like their phantom selves in her dream.

Harry suddenly started looking out the window behind them, obviously to see whether Ron and Hermione were returning. Or perhaps if Cho and her friends were coming up the street again. Ginny felt a wave of failure rush over her. She imagined that she and Harry would sit there the whole time saying absolutely nothing until Ron and Hermione finally returned. But she steeled herself and forced this negative emotion back down. She clenched her fists under the table. She was going to try. She was going to shake Harry Potter's world so that he would never think about Cho Chang again.

"So," she said suddenly, causing Harry to turn back around and look at her. What was that she was seeing in his eyes? Surprise? Relief, even, that she had found something to say?

"I heard you got a new broomstick," Ginny continued shyly, feeling the blood surge to her face.

"Oh," said Harry. "Yes. It's a Firebolt II. It's very fast."

"Perhaps we'll win the cup this year."

"I hope so."

"I'm sure we'll do well with you as captain." Ginny cursed herself inwardly. She sounded like a simple-minded prat. Worse, she sounded like Cho.

"Oh, well, thanks," said Harry, rather stiffly.

The small talk continued for several more excruciating minutes. Instead of making Ginny feel more at ease, the conversation seemed to make her more tense and she could sense somehow that Harry felt the same way, too. She felt her new-found determination begin to ebb away. Try as she might, she could not turn a conversation about Quidditch into an invitation to the ball. It was with great relief that she spotted Ron and Hermione out of the window coming back toward the pub. They were soon sitting again back at the table. Ginny noticed Ron was trying with some absurdity to hide a package behind his back. At this, she instantly felt the tension start to slip away. It returned only for a moment when Hermione glanced over at her almost imperceptibly and frowned when Ginny shook her head.

Ginny spent the rest of the day feeling strangely relieved. She laughed with Ron and Harry as they visited Zonko's together, leaving Hermione to mysteriously gather supplies in bulk in the little seen back room. She and Hermione had then gone to Transfiguration supposedly to buy Hermione new robes but ended up looking at elaborate dresses neither could afford. Ginny was grateful when they ran into Amanda and Catherine who were buying Catherine's outfit for the ball so that Hermione could not drill her about her failure to ask Harry. They then reunited again with Harry and Ron. Hermione claimed she couldn't find any robes that suited her, an explanation that seemed to satisfy Harry but not Ron, and they walked up the main street together back to the school. There was only one slight misfortune. As they passed under the school gates, Ginny felt another sudden pain come on in her head. Ron speculated that the entranceway might be haunted and Harry wondered whether there was some energy left from the Dementors when they had guarded the gates three years before, though he found it strange that he did not feel anything.

Harry made it up to the castle entrance before he realized that Snape had been right. There had been no attack by Voldemort that day. Whatever Dumbledore and Sirius were doing, it was working.

And that made Harry feel as happy as if he had bought out the whole Quidditch shop.

As they came back into the Gryffindor common room, Ron and Harry went up to their dormitory to study their purchases more closely. Ginny was about to return to hers when Hermione caught hold of her arm.

Ginny turned to look at her. "I'm sorry," she said before Hermione could say anything.

"You don't have to be sorry to me, Ginny. Look, don't think about today. He obviously still hasn't asked Cho. You can tell by the way he talked to her. You can still - "

"Hermione," Ginny interrupted. "I'm really sorry but I've already decided I'm not going to ask him. I really appreciate all your help but this is just killing me. It took me a long time to where I could really feel comfortable talking to Harry but now I feel I'm right back where I was my first year. I can't even ask him about his stupid broomstick without blushing."

Hermione touched Ginny's wrist. "That's because you're so close, Ginny."

Ginny shook her head. "No, Hermione. I really appreciate what you've done for me and what you've told me. I - I'm not sure why I said what I did to you but - "

"Yes, you are, Ginny."

Ginny chose to ignore the interruption. "I started off the year with the goal of being his friend," she said. "I - I just think I'd better stay with that right now. And it's obvious I can't be his friend if I'm always thinking about inviting him to some ball."

"Fine, Ginny," replied Hermione. "But I don't see how you be someone's friend when you're keeping so much of your feelings away from them." Hermione turned on her heels and walked back up to her dormitory.

Ginny sunk down in one of the soft chairs of the common room and let out a long sigh.

***

Voldemort sat in his forest staring at the diary which now rested on a patch of damp black earth. Soft spots of rain splattered its front cover and fell down the front of the Dark Lord's robes but he did not appear to notice. Anyone who approached near enough would have noticed that Voldemort was panting heavily as if he had just run a race.

Voldemort forced himself to concentrate on what he had learned. It had been nearly an hour since his link to Ginny Weasley had been severed abruptly at the entrance gate to Hogwarts. Much of his plan had been a success. He was sure she had not felt the link. She had experienced some momentary discomfort when Voldemort had initiated the link and when it had been severed but that was all. And he had seen into her thoughts. He also knew that Harry Potter had spent the entire day together with her and even when they were briefly apart, she knew exactly where he was. Voldemort told himself that this was sufficient for his plans. He did not need to possess her. Which was good.

Voldemort fought back a wave of anxiety as he reflected on how difficult it would have been to control this girl if he had tried. She had been so much easier to manipulate in her sleep. He had supposed her to be simple-minded but he could see that he had been wrong. He clutched his head as he tried to struggle to control and repress the alien emotions that sped through his mind, emotions that seemed to constantly erupt to the surface of Ginny's consciousness: hope, love, courage, fear, and despair - feelings she seemed to cling to one moment and force down the next. Voldemort recalled a distant memory of a boy, too young yet to have begun his schooling at Hogwarts, whose witless mudblood father had strapped him into a small child's roller-coaster at a carnival and watched in amusement as he had run around and around the track. Voldemort remembered how helpless he had felt, how someone else and not he himself had been in perilous control of his every movement, how he had vowed never to feel that way again.

And now Ginny Weasley had forced him to recall that memory. And Voldemort was sure he did not like that.

Voldemort tried to recover his composure. He knew he could not face his Death Eaters in this state. And there was so much still to plan. He needed to find another forest. He needed to feed again. He imagined the thrill of power that would come trapping another unicorn, the energy that would surge through him on drinking its blood. Yes, he would certainly feel much better then.

***

Halloween came and went in an unusually uneventful fashion. The feast had been especially delicious this year and Hagrid had outdone himself with the enormous size of the pumpkins he had grown for the event. Hermione had been extremely busy with whatever she was planning for the Guy Fawkes ball. She was constantly meeting with Colin, Neville and now, Arabella, and whatever it was she had bought at Zonko's had mysteriously vanished. When Harry had finally told Ron about his conversation with Winky in Dumbledore's office at the beginning of the term, Ron suspected that the items were being stored down in the kitchens. Whatever the case, as the week went on, Hermione seemed to grow more exasperated. It soon became apparent that the house elves were getting cold feet about their part of the arrangement, and it was starting to look as if the whole thing was going to be called off. But Hermione continued to work at all hours, desperate to put some part of her plan into effect.

Though they might not have thought she had taken any notice, Hermione could see that as the week went by and the Guy Fawkes ball grew nearer and nearer, Ron and Harry were experiencing a great deal of barely controlled mental anguish. They were hardly eating any of their food and seemed as frightened during History as Magic, which was now given over to Binns' announcements of upcoming arrangements for the ball, as they were in Professor Dibble's potions lessons from hell. Hermione could not stand this behavior. For her, inaction seemed totally pointless. You just asked the girl to the dance. If she said no, you asked someone else. And then finally, at breakfast on the morning of the day before the ball, Hermione made her feelings clear.

"Neither of you have asked a girl to the dance yet, have you?"

Harry dropped his spoon into his cereal bowl, causing milk and wizard puffs to splash all over the table.

"I'll take that as a no." She sighed and shook her head, turning back to her own breakfast and the open book next to her on the table.

"Well, Hermione," Harry began. "We just haven't had chance."

"Oh, please!" Hermione tried to force herself to calm down. "Look." She suddenly took Ron and Harry's hands in hers. "They're - only - girls. This is not You-Know-Who we're talking about. This is not a troll. Or a Hippogriff. Or a Three-Headed Dog. You've both faced much worse things. All you have to do is go up to the girl and ask. Harry," she said in a business-like manner. "You want to ask Cho, right?" She sighed. Clearly Ginny was not going to ask him. At this point, he might as well ask Cho if it could put him out of his misery.

Harry just nodded.

"Right, then," said Hermione methodically. "Cho has History of Magic at 2 pm on Tuesdays, which is today. You, Harry, do not have class during the period before. You will go down to meet her before class and ask her to the ball. OK?"

Harry and Ron both looked at Hermione in amazement.

"You know, you really are frightening sometimes," said Ron. "How on earth do you know Cho Chang's schedule?"

"Binns is right next to the Arithmancy room, isn't he? My class always gets out the same time as hers. Besides she's hardly easy to miss. There are always half a dozen boys hanging off her robes." She turned to Harry and smiled weakly. "Never mind that, Harry. If you want to ask her, go ahead. This afternoon."

Harry knew better than to do anything but nod.

"And now, you." She turned to Ron, who equaled her stare. "I don't suppose you've asked anyone yet?"

"No, I've only just last night made up my mind who I'm going to ask."

Harry looked at Ron in surprise. He wondered if he was bluffing for Hermione's benefit.

"Really?" replied Hermione incredulously. "And who would that be?"

"I'm going to ask the beautiful girl in the school." Ron suddenly downed his orange juice in one gulp as if it were a shot of vodka and stared back at Hermione, daring her to defy him.

Hermione opened her mouth in surprise. "And I suppose the most beautiful girl in the school is not taken, the day before the dance?"

"That's right. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some planning to do."

And with that Ron stood up, grabbed his bag and left the Great Hall.

Hermione looked back at Harry but could see he was just as bewildered. She raised her eyebrows in surprise, finished a large piece of sausage, piled her books into her bag and made her excuses to leave. She had exchanged good-byes with Harry but something made her stop and turn back.

"Harry," she said softly. "If she says no, it's because she's not good enough for you. You know that, don't you?"

Harry suddenly felt a lump in his throat. He forced himself to smile and nod.

Hermione smiled back at him more fully and then turned to leave the hall.

Harry watched her go for a moment and then looked down at his food. He knew Hermione was right. He had been stupid to put it off for so long. Cho wasn't a monster or a Death Eater. This afternoon, he was going to wait for her, take her aside, and then ask her to the dance. He had done it before and he would do it again.

***

Hermione left the Great Hall and made her way quickly to the library. If she could just find that one book Arabella had said she'd seen, then she knew that Dobby would see things her way. A voice behind her made her stop.

"Hermione."

It was Ginny.

"Wait."

Something in Ginny's voice made Hermione turn around and stop. Ginny walked over to her. Hermione could see she looked a little frightened and almost a little sad.

"You were right, Hermione," said Ginny quietly. "I've thought it over. I can't just be his friend."

Hermione sighed. "Then you want to ask him?"

Ginny didn't say anything for a moment but then nodded.

"I suppose he's already asked Cho," she added.

"No," said Hermione in exasperation. "Honestly, you two are made for each other. He's going to ask her this afternoon after her History of Magic class. You'd better get there before he does."

Ginny nodded.

***

It wasn't as if Ginny didn't seen Harry that day. They said hello to each other when they left for mid-morning class and Ginny sat mere meters away from Harry at lunch, pretending to listen to Amanda's excited description of her attractive Ravenclaw partner for the ball. But she found herself frozen to the spot like an icicle. And there always seemed to be so many people around.

As she walked to Care of Magical Creatures that afternoon, Ginny knew that her opportunities were fading fast. She felt her emotions raging in a private war inside her mind. She'd thought a lot about what Hermione had said ever since they had talked the weekend before. She had even experienced the same nightmare again, still in the now anachronistic setting of the Three Broomsticks. But on the second occasion the dramatis personae in her dream seemed more like caricatures than real people. The whole scenario seemed so absurd that the dream had the effect of laying open Ginny's fears for her to examine and find that they were baseless. The worse that could happen, she tried to tell herself, was that Harry would say no. And even if he did, he would have to think about her a little differently than he did now. And Hermione was right. She couldn't just be his friend anyway; she knew that now. She knew she couldn't keep her feelings from him once they became close, and she knew deep down that they hadn't become friends yet for that same reason.

But thinking and doing are two different things and Ginny's body didn't seem to want to do what her mind was trying to force it to. As she walked across the grounds toward Hagrid's cabin, Ginny looked at her watch. It was now just before 1:00. Hagrid's class lasted until 1:50. She'd never make it to Binns' classroom before Harry did, unless....

She ran up to Hagrid just before the class began.

"Hagrid," she said.

"Hallo, Ginny." Hagrid's face broke into a broad smile. Ginny was not as close to Hagrid as Ron, Harry, and Hermione but she knew that he had a soft spot for all the Weasleys and Ginny had always enjoyed a natural gift with animals.

"Hagrid, can I ask you a favor?" she said quietly. "Can I leave ten minutes early today?"

Hagrid frowned. "Well, Ginny, yeh know I'm not really supposed teh do that."

"Please, Hagrid," said Ginny softly. "I wouldn't ask unless it was really important."

Ginny could see Hagrid was undecided. Finally, he shrugged and nodded.

"I 'spose I'll do it fer a Weasley," he said, making Ginny smile. "But just don' say it was me that let yeh out."

Ginny shook her head. "No, never, Hagrid."

Hagrid frowned at Ginny. "What yeh need the time fer anyway?"

"Oh." Ginny suddenly seemed frightened. She thought of a hundred excuses but settled on saying: "I'm sorry, Hagrid. I can't tell you."

""S alright," said Hagrid. "I'm sure it's a good reason, anyhow."

Ginny nodded. If only he knew, she thought.

***

Harry spent the hour after lunch sitting in the almost empty Gryffindor common room with his arms folded, staring up at the clock. He watched it turn 1:40 and then made his way down to Binns' classroom, not knowing that outside on the castle grounds, Ginny had just slipped away from class and was headed for the same destination.

Harry's legs felt like led as he forced himself down the staircase and through the corridors to the History of Magic classroom. A part of him hoped the staircases would change, that Peeves would attack him again, anything to slow down his progress, but on this afternoon, none of these things occurred. He finally walked off the last set of stairs and down the corridor adjacent to the History of Magic room. As soon as he turned the corner, he knew the classroom would move into sight.

And then something happened that Harry had not expected. Binns suddenly floated past him, smiling like a ruptured apricot. Of course, thought Harry. Today was the day the Ghostly Ghoul Orchestra was arriving. Binns would have let class out early to meet them. All that time he had been sitting in the Gryffindor common room and Cho was already out of class.

He suddenly broke into a trot and turned the corner to where Binns' classroom was located. With a sigh of relief, he saw that the seventh-year Ravenclaws were still milling outside in the corridor.

And then he froze.

Cho was standing in front of the Ravenclaw classroom door talking to Justin Finch-Fetchley. Harry first noticed they were smiling at each other. Then he noticed they were holding each other's hands.

He stopped in the middle of the corridor. He could see there was no need to approach any further. Even Hermione would have agreed it would have been absurd to ask her under the circumstances. It was plainly obvious to Harry who Cho would be going to the dance with. Harry didn't really want to see Cho right now. He didn't want her to smile at him and feel something funny happen to his insides. He simply turned around to walk back the way he had come.

Harry felt suddenly very calm. It was all over now. He wouldn't go to the ball at all. He had never really wanted to go anyway. He suddenly wondered why he had been so hung up on asking Cho. She wasn't lonely at all. Harry even felt himself smile and felt suddenly hungry. He wondered whether he could go down to the kitchens and persuade Dobby to give him something to eat before Potions.

***

Ginny ran panting up the stairs. Ten minutes had seemed like a long enough time but it had been a long walk from the castle grounds. She could hear the sound of classes finishing and students emerging into the corridors all around the castle. She ran down the corridor adjacent to the History of Magic classroom and then turned the corner.

And like Harry, she froze.

The corridor was full of students but Ginny only saw two people. The first was Harry. He was walking away from the History of Magic classroom and back toward her. There was a broad smile on his face. At first, Ginny felt a strange warmth filling her whole body. She hadn't seen him look this happy since the night he had been rescued by Fawkes, the night he had held her in his arms. But then she realized what had happened.

For at that moment, Ginny saw something that Harry could not see because he was facing in the opposite direction, although from her perspective, the significance of this was lost. Cho now stood alone, in the middle of the corridor, and she was looking back at the retreating Harry with a thoughtful expression on her face. Ginny stood still in the corridor as Harry slowly walked past her, immersed in his own private thoughts, not even noticing she was there. It was obvious to Ginny what had just taken place. Harry had asked Cho to the dance and she had accepted.

Ginny decided that she did not want to continue walking in Cho's direction. She turned around and followed behind Harry at a distance. Then when he went down the stairs, she went up them to her next class.

***

Later that night, Harry sat next to Hermione, trying to finish a long parchment about the properties of the Synchronis Totalis curse. Hermione, who had not failed to mention to Harry that she had finished the parchment days ago, had a large folder of S.P.E.W. parchments sprawled out over the table to her right and her Arithmancy book placed in front of her. It seemed to Harry that she was looking at both at the same time. Every now and then, Colin, Neville, or Arabella would draw up and whisper furtively in her ear. She would then nod and whisper back further instructions.

Ron had disappeared after dinner, saying that he had something to take care of. Harry suspected that this had something to do with the girl he was supposedly planning to ask to the dance, but he wondered why he hadn't told him anything. It was certainly not like Ron. Harry looked at his watch and saw that it was nearly 9:00. He was about to ask Hermione where she thought Ron had gotten to when he was aware of a tall, lanky figure walking up and standing across from Hermione's chair. He knew that it was Ron without looking up and continued to concentrate on his parchment as he had reached a rather tricky explanation that he did not want to have to think over twice. He was just beginning to think it strange that Ron hadn't pulled up a chair to sit down when Ron said:

"Hermione."

"Yes," Hermione replied, without looking up from her work.

"I - I wondered if I could ask you something."

"Ask away."

Hermione still kept her nose down in her Arithmancy book, but there was an edge to Ron's voice that made Harry look up. He was shocked to see that Ron did not look very well at all. He had a sickly green pallor and his eyes were glazed over. He kept looking furtively behind him as if he expected a Boggart to leap out from behind the wall but all Harry could see there was the boys' bathroom.

"I - I - I was wondering whether you - well, whether you would go to the ball with me."

Harry's jaw dropped but Hermione continued to look down at her Arithmancy book. Harry did notice, however, that color started to rise in her cheeks.

"Ron," she said slowly. "I thought we'd discussed this two years ago. If you want to ask me to the dance, you have to ask first and not because someone else won't go with you."

But Harry could already see that Hermione had seriously misunderstood the situation. He watched as Ron's lower lip began to tremble. Harry pushed his chair back a little as if to guard himself from an imminent explosion.

"Anyway," Hermione went on, oblivious, turning another page in her book. "I already told you I'm not going. And what happened to the most beautiful girl in the school?"

"SHE'S SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME BUT SHE'S TOO BLOODY THICK TO NOTICE!"

Suddenly no one in the Gryffindor common room was doing any work. Harry's parchment rolled up with his quill still inside. Hermione's Arithmancy book fell to the floor with a loud crash as she looked up at Ron.

For a moment, there was total silence. Harry watched as a single tear fell down Ron's left cheek.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you earlier, Hermione," Ron continued, his voice thick with emotion. "It's not easy to tell the girl you like how you really feel about her."

Hermione stood up. Harry could see she was in complete shock. So was he.

"R - R - Ron," she finally stammered. "B - but I didn't know, I didn't think - "

"That's right, Hermione," said Ron. "And now, I'd just like to ask you one more time. Just so you're clear. I am asking you, Hermione Granger, to stop whatever it is you were going to do and come with me to the ball."

And without waiting for a response, Ron turned on his heel, walked into the boys' bathroom, and closed the door behind him.