Disclaimer: In the books, not mine, not in the books, all mine.
Chapter 9: A Weekend Away
First Hogsmeade weekend was upon the castle of students. Harry feared that either he would have to stay in the castle for his safety, or that he'd have to stay since Sirius was dead and the form might become void because of that. Loss lumped into his throat as guilt burned in his stomach for even thinking about his godfather's death in such a trivial manner.
Guilt not withstanding, Harry was allowed to go to the wizard town on the first weekend. He was looking forward to this more than ever considering his more strenuous workload this year. He and Luna had made their plans for the weekend next. They decided to meet in the entrance hall and then go to the town. The morning would be theirs and then they were to meet up with their friends for lunch.
One night after a humorous lesson in Stealth and Intrusion, where Moody became so aggravated with Tonks' clumsiness that he tied her to a chair, Ron approached Harry in the dorm.
"Hey mate, can I ask you something?" Ron asked.
"Sure, what is it?"
But instead of talking Ron led Harry to a more private section of the room.
"I…um…well, I was thinking about asking Hermione to go to Hogsmeade with me," he said very fast.
Harry had wondered when Ron would come around, but he fought his grin from forming on his face. Instead he decided to have a little fun, "OK, but doesn't she always come with us to Hogsmeade?"
Ron's cheeks went slightly pink and said, "Well, I was thinking about, you know, asking her there…privately."
"You mean you don't want me hanging around…" then Harry put a shocked look on his face, "you! You want to go out with her?"
"NO!" Ron shouted defensively, and then continued in a lower tone, "Well…yeah. I've liked her since last year. You don't mind do you?"
At that question Harry lost it and laughed.
"You don't have to laugh at me you know," Ron said, his pink cheeks vanishing to be replaced by reddening ears.
Harry reigned in his laughter and said, "No, I'm not laughing at you. No, really," he said taking in Ron's doubtful face, "I think you two would be great together."
Ron finally broke in to a smile.
Hogsmeade was three days away and Ron had been looking paler and paler each day since his conversation with Harry. Whenever he was around Hermione he would start fidgeting with whatever was available to him. During lunch on Wednesday when he fidgeted with his goblet once too many times and spilled his pumpkin juice on Harry, Harry finally had to say something.
"Just ask her already."
"What if she says no?" Ron asked while his face turned very pale. "I don't know if I could take that kind of rejection."
"What if she says yes?" Harry retorted. "You want to go out with her yet you expect it to just magically happen. Like you'll wake up tomorrow and somehow she'll just know you two will be going to Hogsmeade together.
"Look, I know you're right ok? Bugger this," he finished and left the table. Harry couldn't tell if he was finally going to get the nerve to ask, or if he was going to give up. He was hoping for the former.
Thursday after a grueling wandless magic training lesson, where Ron had lost some of his control and instead of transfiguring the desk he disintegrated it, Harry decided to prod his friend a little.
"Ask her now, hang back a little, and just ask."
Ron seemed to lose his voice as he opened his mouth and slightly croaked. He quickly shut his mouth again and then grimly nodded. Harry was able to get Ginny and Neville away by discussing some SOUL details with them. Harry had wanted everyone on the lookout at Hogsmeade this weekend, just in case.
"Here," he told his two friends handing them a mirror each. "These are two-way mirrors. Hermione has dealt with the communication problem. The way they work is: you just look in the mirror and say the name of who you want to call." Harry then pulled out his own mirror and said, "Ginny and Neville," and the mirrors in Ginny's and Neville's hand warmed slightly and the mirror vibrated.
"To answer the call, say your name and then the word 'here'."
"Ginny here."
"Neville here."
The mirrors in the other two SOUL members' hands faded from their own reflections to Harry's face. They both broke out in smiles.
"To end the call one person says their name and the word 'out'," Harry finished explaining. He then said, "Harry out," and his face vanished from Neville's and Ginny's mirrors.
"This is brilliant," Ginny smiled even wider. Harry could almost see the possibilities dancing in her eyes.
At curfew Harry was starting to worry. Ron had not been back to Gryffindor tower since he left him with Hermione. He thought that maybe he had prefect duties or rounds or something. He finally gave in to curiosity and retrieved his mirror.
"Ron," he said looking at himself in the mirror. He waited and waited. Harry noticed dully that his scar wasn't as prominent on his forehead has it had been last year. "Ron," he said into his mirror again, but only his face remained looking back at himself.
An uneasy feeling wormed its way into the pit of Harry's stomach. He got out of bed and retrieved the Marauder's Map from his trunk. After activating the parchment he started scanning the map for his friend's name. He found it after a couple minutes of scanning. Ron was in the kitchen alone. With a frown Harry cleared the map and tucked it into his pocket. He then wrapped himself in his father's invisibility cloak and left the boy's dormitory.
He made his way to the kitchens. He narrowly missed Mrs. Norris once. Harry still suspected that the cat could either see, smell, or hear him so he quickened his pace. If Mrs. Norris suspected a student out after curfew then Filch would show up soon. The caretaker Filch and his cat seemed to have some unholy mental connection so whenever the cat saw trouble Filch wasn't too far behind.
Harry made it to the kitchens without further incident. He tickled the pear and walked in. Once inside he removed the cloak and started looking around for Ron. Ron was sitting at a counter. On the other side of the counter was Dobby, and the house elf was keeping Ron company and handing out butterbeers to the prefect. Harry glanced and saw that Ron had already made his way through many.
"What's up Ron?" Harry asked sitting beside his friend.
"Bloody hell Harry, she said no. No, she didn't only say no. She said someone else had already asked her."
"Who?" Harry asked. She hadn't let him on this little detail either.
"That's what I asked. But she wouldn't say, said I'd laugh. So I said, 'oh great, bloody fourth year all over again. Who is it this time? A bloody Slytherin?'"
"You didn't…"
"Yes, I did! You know, if she thinks I'm going to laugh at her about these things why does she go out with these types of people."
"Krum wasn't that bad…"
"He was from Durmstrang Harry," Ron said, making Durmstrang sound like something vile and disgusting.
"Ron, you really need to get over putting everything in these broad categories. So what, Krum was from Durmstrang, he was still an ok bloke."
"Oh what? Are you going to start spouting off this house unity garbage too?" Ron asked with a hint of a threat in his voice. "Gonna start being all chummy with the Slytherins?"
"You know what Ron, maybe I will. Tell Scabbers hello when you see him at the Gryffindor House Reunion."
With that Harry left his friend to stew by himself. He knew if he stayed it would all just tailspin out of control and he'd say something else to regret. Before he knew it he was already back in bed reinforcing his Occlumency shields before he drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
On Friday Harry called the S.O.U.L. together for a meeting before everyone was off to Hogsmeade. He needed to make sure everyone was on guard and that everyone had their mirrors. That taken care of he breathed slightly easier. He wasn't sure why but everyone's safety was his top priority at the moment.
At dinner Ron sat wearily beside Harry.
"Look mate, I'm sorry I blew up at you last night. I was just in a bad mood since…you know."
"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have brought up the rat…"
"No, what you said makes sense. Maybe all this house pride stuff is garbage. Look at the first years," he said nodding his head to the fifth smaller table. "They all get along, but if they had been sorted into the houses they would have ended up hating each other."
Harry smiled. It seemed that his friend was finally wising up.
On Saturday morning Harry met Luna at the entrance of the castle. Students lined up and milled around so that conversation was near to impossible with all the voices floating and bouncing around the stone walls. Slowly they all made their way through the doors. Filch watched, nodded, and checked names on his parchment as students passed. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as Filch merely nodded to him as he walked by. Luna's hand intertwined with his as they set off to the town of Hogsmeade. Through idle chat about classes and Quidditch, Harry tried to keep a lookout for his friends. Specifically, Hermione and who she was with. He could almost understand her keeping her date a secret from Ron, but he didn't know why she would with him. Thoughts of his friend's love life were driven out of his mind though once he was in the wizarding town. He and Luna visited various shops, stocked up on Honeyduke's finest, and in general had a very pleasant morning. Harry was amazed at the quickness of time when he was with Luna. He grinned remembering the time he spent with Cho at Madame Puddifoot's. Every minute seemed to be agonizingly slow with the awkwardness of every little thing he had done.
At noon he and Luna made their way to the Three Broomsticks. He noticed various SOUL members coming and going. None of them were by themselves, and each seemed to be watchful and alert. This gave Harry a chance to smile slightly, Luna noticing this smiled as well, squeezing his hand in hers. In the very packed pub, Harry noticed Ron sitting at a table by himself. Zigging and zagging the couple made their way to their very disgruntled looking friend.
"Bloody Neville!" Ron burst out before Harry even sat down.
"What?" he asked in confusion.
"Neville, Neville's the one who asked her. And she accepted!"
"Oh," was all Harry managed to reply with.
"Why would a pity date make me laugh at her?" Ron asked, his hand rising above him in a grand gesture.
Luna replied, "Maybe it's not a pity date. Maybe she's interested."
Ron laughed and in his chuckles said, "Yeah, and maybe his toad has magical properties."
Luna looked at Ron in an almost pitying way before going back to looking over the menu.
The afternoon was spent with Harry and Luna listening to Ron rant on about Hermione. At first it was mildly amusing to here Ron's viewpoints on how someone so smart could act so dumb. But as he continued, it just became tiresome. The three ended up walking back to Hogwarts sooner than needed. Hogsmeade was a wonderful place, but the novelty of it was running thin the more they went. Once back to the school they all ate dinner with Sira and Jenks, who were not allowed to go to the town this weekend. Harry didn't bother to ask why. Neville and Hermione sat a few feet away and talked quietly amongst themselves. Ron, scowling at the two of them, left without dessert. This distressed Harry, more than any ranting could have done. After a lengthy kiss goodnight from Luna in a broom closet, Harry made his way to Gryffindor Tower. Ron, was no where to be found in the common room, so Harry decided to try the dormitory. Ron's bed was surrounded in the drapes.
"Ron?" Harry asked, but heard no reply.
Deciding it was best to leave his friend alone for the time; Harry changed and lay in his bed, being sure to check his Occlumency shields. It had been a good day, and reflecting on it made him smile. Neville came into the dorm with a similar grin. Harry was torn, knowing his best mate was sulking brought him down a little, but if someone else needed something to make him smile, it was Neville. Secretly, Harry felt that Hermione had done the right thing by taking pity on their friend.
A/N1: Anyone keeping tabs knows I suck. I'm sorry for the delay, and I know most of you are probably gone by now. A great culmination of events happened, and well, there you go. Anyone interested can find a better version of the first few chapters at Thanks for the comp, I'm hoping to get back on track.
Sodapop: Sorry bout that cliffy. This story will not be abandoned.
Aquafairy: Yeah, this is my first. It's being revised for WT though. It's much better. Wow, thank you for the huge compliment in the 2nd review :)
Anonymous: Ok, I can't defend the choice of Snape, other than Harry needs to know, and Snape can teach him.
alen: lol, it is like the graphics card. nope not H/Hr. New students are trying to avoid the ovious and the cliches. Thanks, I like Luna as a main player, damned HBP. Harry hasn't learned his full political power yet.
fanastygirl721: Still writing, and thanks. My laptop died with all my info, so yeah. Sucks. No worries on Knockturn, I still haven't written the next story for it.
Sodapop: lol, well, it is hard to see it as beautiful. The event sure, the proces... Shanker's was fun to come up with, and the person without heart or lungs is not Jenks. Actually a nod to a different fandom all together. 50 points to anyone who guesses it. Death Eater Minister, too good to pass up, and Fudge is too big a joke to just make him one. Still writing, hopefully on a better schedule.
Manatheron: Thanks for the comps, sorry bout the delay.
Treck: Thanks.
worthlesspoet: Vile, I'll take that. The upload issue is a looong story.
Ponyboy: I'm continueing, no abandonment.
Zozia: I'm glad you enjoi. No abandonment, I promise. Though hate me cos surely you've forgoten what's happened so far.
Dallas: Thanks for the tip. I am continueing, just a really rough patch for me + fanfiction for a while.
Moonlight: Sorry to lose you. There was just some bad times. I'm back and hopefully on schedule here on out.
Slayerstoryguy: Thanks.
the-gothic-furby: thanks, no abandoment here.
Moonlight333: I'm glad you liked the story. And thought I didn't explain this, I think once the core is broke, the wand is useless.
A/N2: Anyone still around? Thanks for the reads and the reviews. I'm so sorry about the delay, and promise to try and be a better FF writer from here on out. Lates.