Harry Potter and the Return to the Riddle House

Chapter Ten

Rachel's Story

Harry awoke the next morning to the smell of pumpkin pie drifting through the corridors. He rolled out of bed in high spirits; the Halloween feast was tonight, the first Hogsmead visit was scheduled for a week from tomorrow, and further Occlumency lessons seemed unnecessary. Classes were easy, as the teachers knew they couldn't hold their attention, except Potions, which was always difficult, and History of Magic, which was always boring.

In Potions, they were set into pairs, making a tricky antidote to Glumbumble secretion. Harry caught Rachel's eye and moved towards her desk, but Malfoy, who was closer, was suddenly standing next to her. He smiled at her and said something Harry couldn't catch, Rachel shook her head and motioned towards Harry, but Malfoy already had his arm around her shoulder and was steering her towards his cauldron. She tried to move towards Harry, but Malfoy was piloting her rather forcefully and chatting loudly over her. She looked over at Harry and mouthed 'sorry'.

Harry spent so much time watching the two of them that his partner, Hermione, ended up making the potion almost entirely by herself-- but she, too, often glanced nervously in their direction. The potion ended up fine, theirs and Rachel's were the only ones that weren't to thick to pour, but Harry was constantly knocking over ingredients and scales as he whipped his head around to look at her and Malfoy. At five minutes before the bell, he dropped a large bundle of Alihotsy leaves he was carrying back to the store cupboard when Malfoy touched Rachel's hand-- he was only telling her he would take their potion sample up to Snape's desk, but Harry had to fight not to hit him right there. Snape made him stay back to pick up all the small leaves, and then went into his office to get something for his next class. Harry could see Malfoy stall Rachel until everybody else was gone, and then lean casually against a wall to talk to her.

"So," he said. "First Hogsmead visit is next weekend. You want to come with me? I'll show you around."

He gave her what he clearly thought was a charming smile.

"I don't think so," replied Rachel flatly. She had been looking more and more annoyed throughout the lesson. She moved to the door but Malfoy sidestepped her.

"Come on," he said. He lowered his voice and edged even nearer to her. "You've got to get the full experience. I know the place like the back of my hand, I could show you all sorts of things."

Harry was frozen, kneeling on the floor. Malfoy was getting very close to Rachel. He was talking more quietly all the while, in a clear attempt of tenderness, still giving her that idiotic smile. Harry felt his face redden from anger. In a second he would curse him from here.

"Get away from her, you prat, she wants to leave..." He was muttering to himself again.

Malfoy was whispering now.

"You'll have fun..." He leaned in even closer, his chest was against hers, he ran his hand from her ear along her cheek-- what was he thinking? It looked like he was going to kiss her. Harry grabbed his wand and leapt up, but before Malfoy's lip even touched Rachel's, she slapped him across the face with a resounding crack.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" she said furiously. Malfoy's entire cheek was already red; he looked up at her viciously but before he could speak, the office door burst open.

"What's going on here?" Snape demanded. He was carrying a jar of what looked unpleasantly like pickled baby seahorses and was trying to look only slightly concerned, but a familiar vein in his temple was flickering. Malfoy and Rachel looked up at him; he didn't seem to notice Harry, who stuffed his wand back in his bag.

"Just... nothing," Rachel said. Snape looked at her piercingly for a few seconds, then glanced up at the door, noticing Harry.

"Connor, go to lunch. You too, Potter. Malfoy, stay here."

Rachel and Harry left the classroom together, Rachel still reddish from anger. Harry was breathing heavily, too. They entered the Great Hall and sat down across from Ron and Hermione, and Malfoy followed a few seconds later, looking confused and angry. They heard him mutter from the Slytherin table something like 'he gave me detention' to Crabbe and Goyle.

"He shouldn't have done that..." Rachel said quietly, now looking anxious. Harry pretended not to notice. She was probably worried that it would seem odd Snape punished a Slytherin for messing with a Gryffindor... Harry hoped one time wouldn't make to much of a stir; from what he could hear of Malfoy's ravings behind him, Snape had only asked him a few more times what had happened, and when he wouldn't reply, given him the detention. It would seem like that was the reason. Hopefully...

"What's up?" Ron asked curiously. Rachel muttered a brief version of the story and returned to her potato.

But by dinnertime, she was perfectly cheerful again, and Harry was pleased, too, because she was talking to him happily. The Great Hall looked as amazing as always, with the giant jack-o-lanterns and Peeves the poltergeist bouncing around; the feast was excellent, and the conversation light and merry. At dessert, Rachel excused herself to get some more pumpkin juice from the Ravenclaw table. Harry watched her chatting with Luna Lovegood, she laughed and Harry grinned as well. He liked her smile.

"Harry? Harry!"

"Mmm?" He turned around. Ron and Hermione were both looking at him over a large bowl of Honeydukes sweets with apprehensive expressions.

"What?" he said, his grin still not completely gone. "What's wrong?"

"Harry... you've been staring at Rachel all night," Hermione said, nervously suspicious. She sounded like she had been gearing up to say something for a while.

"No I haven't," he said. "Well, not all night..."

"And what about in class?" Ron cut in, glancing at Hermione and speaking in the same tone. "You-- you look at her all the time, and you get this weird little smile whenever you talk to her."

"What... no I... Ron, c'mon, it looks like you're staring at Hermione sometimes, but you're just looking out of a window or something," he said. Ron went red for some reason and Hermione replied,

"But Harry, there's no window over there."

"Well-- it doesn't have to be a window..."

"Harry, she's..." Ron leaned into him and said, barely audibly, "Do you remember who she...Harry, do you realize what Snape would do?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "But so what? I mean, I'm just looking at her, I could be looking at anyone in the entire Hall, or just off into space... and if we hung out in Hogsmead or in Gryffindor Tower or something, how would he even know?"

"So you do have feelings for her?" Hermione said swiftly.

Harry felt warm.

"Well... I--" He looked at his friends faces, he was caught. "I mean, she... um.... Fine." He said. "A bit."

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"Alright, I-- I do. Happy?"

Hermione sighed, then smiled at him.

"Then I'm not saying don't, Harry. Just... be careful."

***

At the Halloween feast, Hermione had acted like Harry was going to ask Rachel out. He was fairly surprised; sure, he liked her, but he never said he was going do anything. He hadn't really thought about it. He had pictured the two of them together, the same way he used to picture himself and Cho. But now he wondered if he should do something, he saw Dean Thomas glancing at her a little too often after he and Ginny broke up (much to Ron's relief), and a dark-haired Ravenclaw boy watched her walk all the way down the long main hallway once. Was he going to have a lot of competition if he did ask her? What if she fancied somebody? He wasn't sure what to do.

On the Wednesday before the first Hogsmead visit, Harry was in the library looking up further information on Panaeoluses (Panaeolusi?), as his was starting to grow purple at the stalk, and he couldn't remember if this meant it was approaching maturity or was diseased. He saw Rachel walk by towards the Creature reference section, and he made up his mind. Before he lost his nerve, he strode after her. He found her in one of the aisles, humming softly and looking for her book. She was beautiful... Harry felt even more determined and walked up to her.

"Oh, hey," she said, and gave him that smile. "Just doing that Care of Magical Creatures homework."

Harry made an unintelligible reply that may've been 'Cool' as he grinned back. He cleared his throat.

"Listen, I was wondering..." No! He wasn't going to lose his nerve, not now...

"Um... would you like to... go to Hogsmead with me Saturday?"

Her face fell and she paused.

"Oh... Harry, um, I... I can't..."

Harry went red. But no, she was right, it was a stupid rash thing to do...so many things could... and if they were found out... but he couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed.

"No, Harry, it's not that... I-I like you, honestly, I just... really can't..."

She looked so upset Harry felt sorry he asked. He cast around for something to make her feel better.

"No, it's okay, I understand," Harry said. He smiled. "Really, it's alright."

But she still looked guilty and worried, he could see her train of thought-- she thought he thought she didn't like him, and they wouldn't be friends anymore, and Ron and Hermione would probably be awkward around her too... he could see why she was upset. What if she felt awkward around him in the future... had he just ruined their friendship?

"I do," he repeated, and said with an amused grin, "I mean, can you imagine what your father would do to me if..." Horror-struck, Harry trailed off. Rachel was looking at him intently.

"What?" she said.

"Um... nothing," Harry said, but he knew it was no use.

"No, what did you say about my-- my father?" Rachel lowered her voice and looked intently at his face.

Harry looked wildly for some excuse, but it was hopeless, he couldn't cover up what he just said.

"Wha--how--who else knows?" Rachel whispered urgently.

"Just-- just Ron and Hermione," Harry said. "Um... see, the night you came to Grimmauld Place--"

He cut himself off sharply, as Ernie Macmillan walked past them with a polite nod. Harry realized just how exposed they were.

"Listen, we're in front of everybody, we need to go somewhere more private..."

"I know, I know... can you meet me in front of the fire in the common room with Ron and Hermione? After everybody's gone to bed?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "I'll tell them."

Rachel nodded distractedly and walked away with a worried expression. Harry strode over to the table Ron and Hermione had just sat down at and put his bag down.

"Um, I have to tell you two something..."

***

At midnight, when everybody in Harry's dormitory was sleeping, he slipped out of bed and nudged Ron, who followed him silently down the stairs. Rachel was already curled in a chair in front of the slowly dying flames. Hermione joined them a few minutes later.

"So... what happened?" Rachel said quietly.

Harry told her about the night she arrived at Grimmauld Place, about the Invisibility Cloak and the Extendable Ears. When he was done, she looked relieved.

"Oh, that's not too bad, I guess... you're sure nobody else knows?"

They nodded.

"There's no way," Ron added.

There was silence.

"You... you must be curious about... well, everything..." Rachel said.

"If you don't want to tell us..." Hermione began.

"No, it's alright."

Rachel took a deep breath.

"This is all stuff Lupin or the Connors told me, so I don't know everything. But--

I suppose it begins with my parents...um, my mother's name was Airelle Rosier; she was a shy sort of girl in my father's grade. They started dating around their sixth or seventh year. From what I gathered, it was more to prove they could date somebody more than because they liked each other. They were both teased a lot..."

Harry glanced away for an instant.

"My dad was a Death Eater, you knew that... so was my mother, and her brother, but they were both much higher up then she was; she was nobody. After she found out my father had turned spy for Dumbledore, she left him... she was scared, for herself and for me, even though she was only something like a month pregnant. She found somebody else rather quickly, a man called Pyrites, I think, so when she began to show, anybody who cared thought it was his, including him. But she and Dad both knew the truth, and she didn't know what to do. She really wanted to come over to Dumbledore too, but like I said, she was scared. So she finally decided to go to You-Know-- I mean, Voldemort, with my dad's name, so he wouldn't come for her and me if he found out on his own.

Rachel looked fleetingly downward, but cleared her throat and continued.

"But somehow the Order knew she was going to tell, so they came to convince her to join them, or to stop her if they had to. That same night a Death Eater was going to come over to get whatever information she had, and she went into labor...gosh, probably from all the stress.... She managed to get a midwife, and I was born about a month premature, just as the Order members arrived. My dad was one of them. They couldn't talk to her, because she wouldn't stop bleeding, or something, and she died... a few hours afterward. The Order members left with me before the Death Eaters showed up, or maybe right when they did. They spread around that I had died too, from complications of a difficult birth. Voldemort never got the name."

Rachel was now gazing into the fire; her voice was becoming slow and hypnotic and she seemed to be almost speaking to herself.

"There were actually already plans for me to possibly be adopted, because my mother wasn't sure how long she would live, being a Death Eater and all, and Pyrites was killed just before I was born, battling Aurors. So she set up something with my father... who probably couldn't keep me even if he wanted to... which he probably didn't.... Um, anyway, the Connors... They had just moved from London, but they had plans to move again, to the house in Vermont. My mother, I mean, Mrs. Conner, had family there, and they were going to try and get more Americans involved; you know how the Order always needs foreigners. And they wanted to get pretty far from Voldemort, because--well, Chris was only five and..."

Rachel shuddered.

"You see, back then, a lot of Death Eaters got information from people by using their kids, it was horrible. There were, I think... four or five little kids, all younger than ten, who died because their parents knew something Voldemort wanted to. And a bunch of others who didn't die, but still had the Cruciatus Curse on them so many times their parents gave in.... And a lot of them weren't even Order members. The Conners must've wanted to protect Chris from all that. They adopted me and moved when I was about two months old. I lived with them in Vermont all my life. Then when I was fourteen, and-- he came back, my parents told me everything, and then Chris... it was a bit of a shock.... well, you know the rest, I suppose. Sometime last year Voldemort found out my dad was the spy he had been looking for, and a little while later somebody told him about me. Voldemort sent some Death Eater to get me, to use against Dad... and when I wasn't there..."

She stopped, blinking hard.

"It's okay, we know," Harry said hastily. "Um... sorry..."

"No, it's okay. I mean, at least now we both know everything about each other... we don't have to pretend anymore..."

They all nodded vaguely. There was a bit of a pause.

"Well... I guess we should go to bed then," said Hermione.

"Yeah," Rachel said. "Um-- Harry... listen, ah..."

She shifted slightly in her seat.

"Well... everybody knows we're friends; I imagine my father hates it, but he knows too. Um-- if we could go with Ron and Hermione, to Hogsmead, I mean, it wouldn't seem odd, like we were just going as-- as friends," she said again. "And then we could split up after a while, and it wouldn't look like anything... I mean, if-- if you want to..."

She flushed slightly.

"Oh," Harry said, realizing what she meant. He smiled. "Okay. Yeah, we could. That--that would work..."

He knew he had a stupid grin on his face, but he couldn't get rid of it. Rachel was smiling, too.

"We could make it a double date, if you want," said Ron in a strange voice.

There was a few second's pause as everybody slowly realized what he meant. Hermione's head snapped towards him, he was staring straight at her. Ron's ears were turning red, but he wasn't breaking his gaze.

"Er, if you don't want to, that-- that would be fine..." he said after a while, looking mortified.

"No-- no, I'd... I think I'd like that..." Hermione looked embarrassed too, but now she and Ron were sharing the same silly smile Harry and Rachel were.

Rachel laughed.

"Oh, that's perfect!" she said, and blushed more darkly. "I'm sorry, I'm hopelessly soppy..."

But Harry's giddy, goofy smile lasted well into the night as he looked at the velvety top of his four-poster, and, judging by the absence of Ron's usual snoring, he wasn't the only one.

Chapter Eleven

Hogsmead

The next day, everybody was rather shy around each other, but by Saturday, they were almost normal. Still, Ron and Harry greeted Rachel and Hermione at the base of the stairs nervously. They chatted in a cautious sort of way as they walked down the path to Hogsmead, after passing a beady-eyed Filch. When they reached the entrance to the village they relaxed slightly, with more things to comment on and more people around. Harry pointed out the post office, Zonko's Joke Shop, Honeydukes, the Three Broomsticks, and the Shrieking Shack to Rachel, who was properly awed. They went to Zonko's first, although they all agreed Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes was much better. After touring most of the village, around noon, they decided to get lunch at one of the tearooms. They entered the Grinning Griffin and were trying to find a free table when Ron suddenly exclaimed, "Ginny!"

Harry glanced over his shoulder at him and did a double take. Ginny was sitting at a small, round table with none other than Neville Longbottom. Harry couldn't help staring, but Hermione gave them a casual,

"Hi Ginny, Neville."

They said "Hi" back, looking sort of anxious and pleased at the same time.

Ron was working his mouth oddly, like a fish, but Hermione took him by the elbow and steered him off to another table before he could say anything, then hissed at him,

"Don't ruin their first date!"

"Date?" Ron managed. "Ginny and-- and Neville?"

"Yes, and they'll be getting enough from the Slytherins without you going at her too!"

"I-- I don't get it," Ron said. "Since when...?"

Hermione sighed.

"He came up to her last week and said he'd liked her for ages, and he was so sweet she said she'd go out with him. Then they went for a walk around the lake and now she thinks she might have a bit of a thing for him, too. And they'll be teased enough without you giving her a hard time like you did with Michael and Dean, so please leave her alone; she can look out for herself." She said all this in one breath.

"I never said I'd give them a hard time," said Ron in an amused voice. "I was just surprised. And how do you know all this?"

"Well, she talked to me after their walk," Rachel said.

"Yes, and me," Hermione said, and added exasperatedly, "She just wanted advice from another girl, it's nothing personal," when Ron looked rather hurt.

As they ate, they managed to steer the topic away from Ginny and Neville, and began to feel rather nervous again. It hardly felt like a date at some times, like when they were all laughing together. It felt completely normal, much better than when he went out with Cho and they didn't really know each other. When the conversation lulled, however, Harry began to wonder if he looked stupid in his shirt or if he was supposed to be acting differently, and he saw Ron and Hermione glance at each other awkwardly.

When they finished lunch, they walked around the main street for a while, and Rachel found a little back road where they could see a bit of the Hogwarts lake and Forbidden Forest, against the mountains. Ron and Hermione stayed near the gate, while Harry and Rachel, since nobody could see them, walked together about fifty yards ahead. Harry wondered what to say.

"It's beautiful..." Rachel murmured. "I wonder why nobody else has discovered this place."

"Maybe we're trespassing, and somebody's about to set the dogs on us as soon as we get into range," Harry said, which made her laugh. They spent a few happy minutes talking about the Quidditch match next week (Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw) and Harry noticed it was snowing over one of the mountains. A cold wind blew, and Rachel shivered slightly and tightened her cloak around her. A few more minutes passed in silence. Harry pretended to be enjoying the view like Rachel, but was worried that he should be doing something more. An idea flashed into his head, he wondered in Rachel would think him sweet or a berk if he put an arm around her shoulder or something when the next wind blew. He was considering this when he heard a sound, like a creaking of a gate. Harry winced and looked over his shoulder for an angry villager--but nobody was there. As Rachel turned, however, she gasped softly, ran a few feet to a patch of mud, and knelt beside it. Harry followed her, utterly mystified. She scooped up what he thought was a clump of mud until it mewed--that had been the sound. Rachel was holding the tiniest kitten Harry had ever seen.

"The poor thing, it must be freezing!" she said, and wrapped it in her cloak against her chest. "Do you think the Three Broomsticks will have any milk?"

They hurried down the path, followed by a concerned Hermione and an annoyed Ron, who was finally beginning to be able to talk to Hermione without offending or irritating her. Fortunately, Madam Rosemerta was as enchanted as all the other females in the vicinity, crowding around Rachel to pet the tiny kitten, who was happily lapping milk. Now that the mud was cleared off, they saw it was pale gray with darker flecks, had slightly overlarge ears, and a curiously tufted tail, like a lion's. Everyone offered Rachel suggestions for potions to help it get bigger, or stronger, or survive without a mother when it was so young, while Harry and Ron stayed in the back and wondered what it was with women and cats-- especially little ones. Harry was a bit annoyed. He didn't want the kitten to die or anything, but... he had liked it with Rachel back at the path. However, it was not a total loss. Rachel came up to him after the excitement had died down a bit, which took a while. They sat against a steamy window; Ron and Hermione close enough to look like they were all together to any student who entered the pub, but far enough to continue their conversation. They were smiling cautiously and there seemed to be only a few odd pauses. Harry was dimly jealous. But Rachel leaned closer to him and put the tiny kitten, which she had christened Sprite, into his hand, cupping her palm under his. She smiled, in the same shy way, and he laughed as the tiny animal looked around, confused. He gave it back to Rachel when it began to mew, but she didn't let go of his hand. His heart was pounding again. They talked for a while and she still didn't pull away.

Harry was beginning to relax and worry less about what to say. It was very pleasant in the warm, crowded bar, the conversation was enjoyable, nobody could see them, and their hands were safely hidden behind the table, on the windowsill. Her skin was soft, and she laughed whenever he said something funny. Hermione poked him in the back a little while later and told him to look at his watch. He received a slight shock; it was nearly five-thirty. They hurried back to the castle; Rachel went to drop off Sprite in the common room where it was warm and Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down just in time for dinner next to Ginny and Neville. They were all acting in the same rather giddy way, but Harry and Rachel had to disguise it as happiness for their friends. Dinner passed as a cheerful blur. When they went to the common room that night-- besides discovering that Sprite was apparently very attached to Rachel, judging by the way she rocketed toward her, mewing hoarsely-- they all flopped happily into armchairs. Hermione, Rachel, and Ginny sat in one corner and Harry, Ron, and Neville, in the other. They talked for a bit, the girls rather giggly and smiling, the boys talking fairly little but also grinning quite often. Then the girls went to bed with Sprite and a somewhat suspicious Crookshanks. Harry stretched out in his chair and yawned. He wondered why he ever thought this a bad idea.

Chapter Eleven

Hogsmead

The next day, everybody was rather shy around each other, but by Saturday, they were almost normal. Still, Ron and Harry greeted Rachel and Hermione at the base of the stairs nervously. They chatted in a cautious sort of way as they walked down the path to Hogsmead, after passing a beady-eyed Filch. When they reached the entrance to the village they relaxed slightly, with more things to comment on and more people around. Harry pointed out the post office, Zonko's Joke Shop, Honeydukes, the Three Broomsticks, and the Shrieking Shack to Rachel, who was properly awed. The four wandered around until around noon, when they decided to get lunch at one of the tearooms. They entered the Grinning Griffin and were trying to find a free table when Ron suddenly exclaimed, o

"Ginny!"

Harry glanced over his shoulder at him and did a double take. Ginny was sitting at a small, round table with none other than Neville Longbottom. Harry couldn't help staring, but Hermione gave them a casual,

"Hi Ginny, Neville."

They said "Hi" back, looking sort of anxious and pleased at the same time.

Ron was working his mouth oddly, like a fish, but Hermione took him by the elbow and steered him off to another table before he could say anything, then hissed at him,

"Don't ruin their first date!"

"Date?" Ron managed. "Ginny and Neville?"

"Yes, and they'll be getting enough from the Slytherins without you going at her too!"

"I-- I don't get it," Ron said. "Since when...?"

Hermione sighed.

"He came up to her last week and said he'd liked her for ages, and he was so sweet she said she'd go out with him. Then they went for a walk around the lake and now she thinks she might have a bit of a thing for him, too. And they'll be teased enough without you giving her a hard time like you did with Michael and Dean, so please leave her alone; she can look out for herself." She said all this in one breath.

"I never said I'd give them a hard time," said Ron in an amused voice. "I was just surprised. And how do you know all this?"

"Well, she talked to me after their walk," Rachel said.

"Yes, and me," Hermione said, and added, "She just wanted advice from another girl, it's nothing personal," when Ron looked rather hurt.

As they ate, they managed to steer the topic away from Ginny and Neville, and began to feel rather nervous again. It hardly felt like a date at some times, like when they were all laughing together. It felt completely normal; much better than when he went out with Cho and they didn't really know each other. When the conversation lulled, however, Harry began to wonder if he looked stupid in his shirt or if he was supposed to be acting differently, and he saw Ron and Hermione glance at each other awkwardly.

When they finished lunch, they walked around the main street for a while, and Rachel found a little back road where they could see a bit of the Hogwarts lake and Forbidden Forest, against the mountains. Ron and Hermione stayed near the gate, while Harry and Rachel, since nobody could see them, walked together about fifty yards ahead. Harry wondered what to say.

"It's beautiful..." Rachel murmured. "I wonder why nobody else has discovered this place."

"Maybe we're trespassing, and somebody's about to set the dogs on us as soon as we get into range," Harry said, which made her laugh. They spent a few happy minutes talking about the Quidditch match next week (Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw) and Harry noticed it was snowing over one of the mountains. A cold wind blew, and Rachel shivered slightly and tightened her cloak around her. A few more minutes passed in silence. Harry pretended to be enjoying the view like Rachel, but was worried that he should be doing something more. An idea flashed into his head, he wondered in Rachel would think him sweet or a berk if he put an arm around her shoulder or something when the next wind blew. He was considering this when he heard a sound, like a creaking of a gate. Harry winced and looked over his shoulder for an angry villager--but nobody was there. As Rachel turned she gasped softly, ran a few feet to a patch of mud, and knelt beside it. He followed her, utterly mystified. She scooped up what he thought was a clump of mud until it mewed--that had been the sound. Rachel was holding the tiniest kitten Harry had ever seen.

"The poor thing, it must be freezing!" she said, and wrapped it in her cloak against her chest. "Do you think the Three Broomsticks will have any milk?"

They hurried down the path, followed by a concerned Hermione and an annoyed Ron, who was finally beginning to be able to talk to Hermione without offending or irritating her. Fortunately, Madam Rosemerta was as enchanted as all the other females in the vicinity, crowding around Rachel to pet the tiny kitten, who was happily lapping milk. Now that the mud was cleared off, they saw it was pale gray with darker flecks, had slightly overlarge ears, and a curiously tufted tail, like a lion's. Everyone offered Rachel suggestions for potions to help it get bigger, or stronger, or survive without a mother when it was so young, while Harry and Ron stayed in the back and wondered what it was with women and cats-- especially little ones. Harry was a bit annoyed. He didn't want the kitten out in the cold or anything, but... he had liked it with Rachel back at the path. However, it was not a total loss. Rachel came up to him after the excitement had died down a bit, which took a while. They sat against a steamy window; Ron and Hermione close enough to look like they were all together to any student who entered the pub, but far enough to continue their conversation. They were smiling cautiously and there seemed to be only a few odd pauses. Harry was dimly jealous. But Rachel leaned closer to him and put the tiny kitten, which she had christened Sprite, into his hand, cupping her palm under his. She smiled, in the same shy way, and he laughed as the tiny animal looked around, confused. He gave it back to Rachel when it began to mew, but she didn't let go of his hand. His heart was pounding again. They talked for a while and she still didn't pull away.

Harry was beginning to relax and worry less about what to say. It was very pleasant in the warm, crowded bar, the conversation was enjoyable, nobody could see them, and their hands were safely hidden behind the table, on the windowsill. Her skin was soft, and she laughed whenever he said something funny. All too soon, Hermione poked him in the back and told him to look at his watch. He received a slight shock; it was nearly five-thirty. They hurried back to the castle; Rachel went to drop off Sprite in the common room where it was warm and Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down just in time for dinner next to Ginny and Neville. They were all acting in the same rather giddy way, but Harry and Rachel had to disguise it as happiness for their friends. Dinner passed as a cheerful blur. When they went to the common room that night-- besides discovering that Sprite was apparently very attached to Rachel, judging by the way she rocketed toward her, mewing hoarsely-- they all flopped happily into armchairs. Hermione, Rachel, and Ginny sat in one corner and Harry, Ron, and Neville, in the other. They talked for a bit, the girls rather giggly and smiling, the boys talking fairly little but also grinning quite often. Then the girls went to bed with Sprite and a somewhat suspicious Crookshanks. Harry stretched out in his chair and yawned, wondering why he ever thought this a bad idea.