A/N: DISCLAIMER: I borrowed a funny line from 'ALIAS'... something about frosting pies. ;)
And I'd like to thank everyone who takes the time to review, your thoughts, encouragement and criticisms (yes, please, it's fine to criticise me!) are greatly appreciated.
Chapter 14: The Perfect Gift
Harry was back in the common room working sleepily on Transfiguration homework by the time Ron and Hermione had returned from their meeting with Dumbledore. Hermione was practically bouncing with excitement, while Ron, carrying a large bottle of red potion, looked happy but somewhat reserved.
“How’d the meeting go?” Harry asked.
“Dumbledore thinks the ball is an excellent idea,” Hermione gushed. “And he says that Ron is going to be perfectly fine…”
“I just have to take this horrible potion every night and take Elimency lessons…” Ron groaned.
“Elimency?” Harry asked.
“It’s like Occlumency… but different,” Ron said. “My mind isn’t being invaded from an outside force, but… um “ what was it again Hermione?”
“He needs to eliminate his subconscious intruder,” Hermione explained “Repression will only push the thoughts away until he is emotionally weakened again, but Elimency helps to remove certain thoughts fully and safely from your mind. It involves magic similar to that invoked for Pensieve use.”
“Oh… okay,” Harry said, trying to smile gratefully at Hermione for answering his question so thoroughly.
“But that’s not all…” Ron said.
“There’s more?” Harry said disbelievingly.
“Oh “ not about the Elimency,” Ron said grinning. “Something I asked Dumbledore about “ something for you…”
“Is that so?” Harry said, feigning surprise. “I had no idea you were planning anything…”
“There will be a seventh-year only Hogsmeade trip this Friday,” Hermione told him.
“So you and Katie will be able to see each other for your anniversary,” Ron added.
Harry felt a happy leap in his stomach
“Really?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Ron said. “Thought you might like to see her…”
“Thanks, Ron “ and Hermione,” Harry said, fighting the urge to kiss both of them. “This is brilliant; I have to go write Katie…”
With that, he ran upstairs to his room, quickly pulling out a fresh piece of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink.
Dear Katie, he wrote,
Just got news from the Ron and Hermione that there’s going to be a Hogsmeade trip on Friday. Write me back and tell me when you can meet me. Can’t wait to see you.
All my love,
Harry
When he finished, Harry quickly went up the Owlery and sent Hedwig off with the letter, before returning to his dormitory, where he realized how sleepy he was and got ready for bed. As he changed into his pajama bottoms, he noticed that Ron was snoring peacefully across the room, tossing gently rather than trashing violently as he had been the night before.
“Hurrmionee, dontfrostthepie!” he mumbled urgently, before resuming his snoring.
Harry gave a small laugh; Ron’s biggest concern at the moment seemed to be making sure Hermione didn’t ‘frost the pie’, and Harry would be seeing Katie within a matter of days. As he climbed into his bed he felt, for once, that their lives weren’t going so badly. And it wasn’t long before he drifted of into a peaceful sleep
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Harry had received a reply from Katie the very next morning upon sending his owl, informing him that she would meet him in The Three Broomsticks at about four. That Friday, he set off from the castle to the village two hours early, in hopes of finding an anniversary gift for Katie, not quite sure of what exactly he was looking for.
Harry walked in and out of a few shops, stopping at Honeydukes for Chocolate Frogs and Fizzing Whizbees, but otherwise not finding much. He walked swiftly past Madam Puddifoot’s, grinning as he caught a glimpse of two familiar heads of hair, one bushy brown, the other flaming red, nuzzled near a corner window.
Harry looked down at his watch, and saw that he had an hour to go before he met up with Katie. He suppressed the urge to skip, as he felt a surge of excitement run through his body. He was sure he must have looked slightly mad, as he was walking down the street grinning widely at apparently nothing.
He took a left turn at the end of the street, and came upon Virgo’s Wizarding Treasures, a quaint little store that looked promising. He entered to the sound of a magical chime, and was greeted by a small, elderly witch with graying black curls and crystal blue eyes.
“Good afternoon! It’s Mr. Potter, is it not?” she said excitedly.
Harry nodded politely and smiled at the woman; he felt reminded of someone, but he wasn’t quite sure who.
“Are you looking for something in particular, Mr. Potter?” she asked, as she waved her wand over some glittering rocks on a nearby shelf, making them organize themselves accordingly.
“A gift,” he said, glancing around the story at the various items, hoping something might jump out at him. “For my girlfriend. It’s our first anniversary.”
“Ah,” the old witch smiled knowingly. “Young love.”
Harry couldn’t help but grin, and found himself blushing slightly as he turned away and sauntered casually about the store.
“Just take a look around,” she said kindly. “I’m sure what you’re searching for will show itself to you.”
Harry smiled appreciatively. He walked down the aisles, seeing jewelry boxes and antique wands, glass slippers and magical paint sets “ all lovely, but none were perfect; Harry wanted the gift to be perfect.
Suddenly an item fell from the shelf ahead of him, and he walked over to restore it to its place. As he picked it up, he saw that it was two bottle green journals, bound together with gold ribbon. He had to admit they were rather nice looking.
‘Oh, those are a personal favorite of mine,” the kind witch said when she spotted him looking at the journals.
“Is there something special about them?” Harry asked, curiously.
“Oh, those journals are very special indeed, Mr. Potter,” she replied. “And I think they’re just what you’re looking for.”
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Forty minutes later, Harry found himself sitting in a small booth in a more private corner of the Three Broomsticks, sipping a butterbeer, very proud of the find he had made at Virgo’s Wizarding Treasures, and making a mental note to return there more often in the future.
There were a good few people in the pub, less crowded than it usually was during Hogsmeade trips due to the fact that it was seventh years only. Harry found himself looking quickly to the door every time he heard it swing open, slightly disappointed when Katie didn’t walk through.
The door creaked open again, and the pub was cast in a small amount of light, Harry jerked his head over to the door, through which came a girl with a head of long fiery red hair: Ginny.
Harry lifted his arm to wave her over, when suddenly he felt a cold plunging feeling inside him, and his breath stopped short.
Ginny’s dead.
Harry looked back at the red-headed girl; he didn’t recognise her. She was just a girl who resembled Ginny. Harry let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes as he leaned back against the soft padding of the booth. His happiness had evaporated rather quickly.
“Harry?”
Harry opened his eyes quickly at the sound of Katie’s voice, and upon seeing her standing next to his table he jumped from his seat and wrapped his arms around her.
“Katie…” he breathed.
He had expected to be excited and overwhelmed with joy upon seeing her, but instead he was relieved and comforted by her presence. He pulled back slightly, and leaned down to her face, giving her a long kiss. It had only been three weeks since he had kissed her, but it had been far too long.
When he pulled away, Katie was smiling happily, but she gave him a concerned look.
“Are you alright?” she asked quickly. “You looked rather upset when I came in…”
“I’m fine,” Harry explained slowly. ““ it’s just, for a moment, I thought I saw Ginny…”
“Oh,” Katie said, looking downhearted. “That’s terrible; I’m sorry.”
“I’m fine, really,” Harry reassured her. “Sit down.”
He took his seat in the booth, and moved over for her to sit beside him. Once she was seated, he put her arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder.
“You know, that happened to me last week,” she said quietly. “A girl came into St. Mungo’s, and for a fleeting instant… I thought it was Ginny.”
“I think it’s natural,” Harry replied sadly. “It’s just “ it can come as a real shock… for one second it’s like you’ve forgotten, and then it all happens all over again.”
Katie murmured in agreement, and then lifted her face to look at him.
“But how are you doing… you know, overall?”
Harry sighed.
“Pretty well,” he said. “It’s been interesting to say the least…”
“How’s Ron doing?” Katie asked in a hushed tone. “I know you haven’t been willing to write too much in your letters.”
“He’s doing much better; he’s sleeping every night now, and he’s calmed down a little, too,” Harry answered. “Though we still don’t know anything about, you know… Aurora.”
Katie bit her lip.
“And what about Hermione? Has she decided what she’s going to be yet, if not an Unspeakable?”
Harry stopped for a moment, and realized he hadn’t even thought about it.
“You know, I completely forgot to ask her,” he said, feeling bad. “I guess I was distracted.”
“By what?” Katie asked, playfully raising her eyebrow. “You’re not seeing another girl, are you?”
“No, don’t worry about that,” Harry laughed, before becoming serious again. “No “ Alex told me about the Sphinx Militia, Katie.”
“Oh, yeah… that,” Katie said tonelessly. “I tell you Harry, there causing a lot of problems.”
“And what about your dad?”
“Well, he agrees with them, doesn’t he?”
“What do you think?”
“What do I think of unprovoked murder?” Katie bitterly. “I’m not a big fan, actually.”
“Katie… seriously...”
“I’m being serious, Harry!” she said, trying her best to keep her voice down. “The Order has things under control! Five arrests have been made since last May, all brought in by the Order. These Militia members are just giving the Death Eaters more incentive to retaliate with violence.”
Harry was quiet, giving her a moment to calm down a bit.
“You don’t agree with it, do you?” Katie asked.
“No, of course I don’t,” Harry answered. “I just think we need to understand where your dad is coming from, or we might make things worse.”
“We?” Katie said, no longer angry as she smiled at him.
“Yes, ‘we’…” Harry said, grinning back at her and giving her a kiss on the forehead. Katie lifted up her left hand and put it on the table, where they both saw her engagement ring sparkling beautifully on her finger.
“I must stare at it for at least an hour every day,” she told him.
“Mm,” Harry murmured, looking at the glittering diamond, transfixed not by its physical beauty, but what it stood for.
“Have you told anyone yet?” he asked after a minute or two of comfortable silence.
“Nobody.”
“Not even Libby?”
“Ha!” Katie scoffed. “I couldn’t even tell her if I wanted to.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s always ‘Charlie this’ and “Charlie that’… “Charlie’s so sweet”, “Charlie’s so strong”, “Charlie’s so funny” “ she doesn’t pay a moment’s attention to anything else.”
“Are they together now?”
“No, they’re still dawdling around, pretending not to like each other. Honestly…”
Harry gave a small laugh.
“What about you?” Katie asked. “Have you told anyone?”
“Not a soul. I’ve almost slipped up a couple of times though…”
“You should tell Ron and Hermione soon,” Katie said warmly. “They’ll go mad that you’ve been keeping it from them. Hermione especially…”
They fell quiet again, just enjoying being close to one another, not knowing when they might get that chance again. Suddenly Harry remembered the gift he had bought Katie.
“Happy anniversary,” he whispered.
“You remembered,” she said happily.
“’Course I did…” Harry said.
Katie just raised her eyebrow skeptically.
“Err…” Harry said nervously, before conceding. “Oh, alright. Ron and Hermione’s anniversary is the same day as ours “ so I had a little help.”
“As long as you’re honest about it, I won’t be mad.”
“Do you want your gift now?” Harry asked.
“Of course,” Katie said, grinning. “But first, here’s yours…”
Katie whipped out a box in blue wrapping paper, almost as though it was from nowhere. Harry gave her a wink and tore off the shimmering blue paper, and opening the box. Inside he found a new camera and several rolls of film.
“I was looking at the walls in Grimmauld Place “ and realized all the pictures you put up were mostly old ones, of your parents and Sirius and all…” Katie explained. “I thought you might like some more photographs of your own. Other than the ones Colin takes, of course.”
“It’s brilliant!” Harry said. “Thank you.”
He carefully closed the box and put it away beside him as he took out Katie’s gift and handed it to her.
“Your turn,” he said.
She unwrapped her gift to find one of the green notebooks, accompanied by a green quill and a bottle of emerald ink.
“Oh, this is magnificent,” she said, holding the notebook carefully, and examining the quill’s shimmering feathers and precise tip.
“There’s more to it,” Harry said, pulling out the matching set of the notebook, quill and ink. “I have a set, too “ they all go together.”
“So, we have matching journals?” Katie asked.
“They’re not really journals,” Harry told her.
“Well, what are they then?” Katie said dubiously.
“Watch this,” Harry said, and proceeded to demonstrate what the old witch in the shop had shown him. He opened his own notebook, dipped his quill in the ink, and scribbled something across the front page. Katie watched patiently, and quite suddenly, her own journal began to glow a soft gold. Curiously, she picked it up.
“Open it,” Harry nudged.
Katie did as he said, and upon opening it to the first page she drew in a breath of surprise.
“I love you “ Harry,” she read aloud softly.
“Like it?” Harry asked tentatively.
“Anything we write in one magically appears in the other?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Harry answered. “I figured Hermann and Hedwig needed a break from all the flying. And this is quicker, too. So now we can send each other short little messages whenever we feel like it.”
Katie was quiet for a moment, looking adoringly at Harry and then at the message inside her journal.
“So, do you like it?” he asked again.
She leaned over and kissed him very softly on the lips.
“I love it,” she said. “It’s perfect.”