Chapter 5 “ Last Year at Hogwarts
Katie stared open mouthed at the white-gold diamond ring Harry held out to her. Harry was sure they had both stopped breathing.
“Harry,” she said slowly, ripping her eyes from the ring. “Are you sure about this?”
“Well… I thought I already told you that you’re one of the only things I’m sure about.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Katie said.
“Very serious.”
Katie’s eyes kept flickering from Harry’s face to the ring and back.
“You’re killing me here…” Harry said, laughing nervously.
His words hung in the air, and Harry felt the urge to fill the silence with more words.
“You probably think I’m crazy “ but we can be engaged for a year, and by then, I’ll have left Hogwarts, I’ll be eighteen and you’ll be nineteen… and I don’t know, well, that’s almost as old as my mum and dad were when they got married “ and they hadn’t even gotten together until their seventh year. I don’t know “ this just feels right. I don’t see any reason to wait “ I never feel like there’s enough time to be waiting “ ”
“Harry, shut up,” Katie said, grinning at him.
Harry fell silent and waited with trepidation for her to speak again.
“Yes… I’ll marry you,” she said.
“You will?”
“Yes “ I can’t believe I’m saying yes… but yes. I’ll marry you,” she repeated.
Harry let out a huge breath.
“Now, I want that ring…” Katie said.
“Oh “ yeah…” Harry said, taking the ring and placing it on her finger. It slid on perfectly, as though it was destined for her hand. “This ring has a charm on it … it can only be seen by someone who we’ve told of our engagement.”
“I’m guessing there’s a good reason for that…”
“Well, I don’t want anyone knowing. I imagine the Daily Prophet would have a field day if they saw you with this ring - If Voldemort finds out we’re engaged, he’s going to go after you. There’s no question about it…”
“So, we have a secret engagement?” Katie whispered, smiling conspiratorially.
“Yes “ I mean you can tell Libby or your dad if you like,” Harry said. “But I think I’ll be waiting awhile before I tell anyone. Even Ron and Hermione…”
“Me too... I think it will be fun,” she said.
They were quiet a moment, as Katie held out her hand with the sparkling diamond ring and they both admired it.
“Well, are you going to kiss me or not?” she asked.
Harry smiled and kissed his new fiancée, before they both lay down on the bed and fell asleep in each other’s arms.
---
The next morning was the usual flurry of chaos that took place when leaving for the Hogwart’s Express. Fred and George had, of course, lived up their reputations and hidden Ron’s Head Boy badge.
“WHERE IS IT?” Ron bellowed after them. “We have to leave, this isn’t funny!”
Harry, in the meantime, was glad he’d taken care of everything the day before, and was free to spend his morning with Katie.
“What is with the two of you today?” George asked, interrupting their quiet conversation at the breakfast.
“Yeah… you’re acting like Bill and Fleur,” Fred said. “No worse “ Ron and Hermione!”
Both the twins grimaced identically in eerie unison.
“WHERE’S MY BADGE?” Ron shouted again, entering the kitchen from the hall.
“What’s he talking about, George?”
“No idea, Fred…”
“What about you, Perce?” Fred said slyly.
Behind a copy of the Daily Prophet, Harry saw Percy’s ears turn red.
“YOU!” Ron said. “They turned you!”
He yanked Percy’s paper out of his hands. The paper hit Hedwig’s cage, which was seated between Harry and Percy, and Hedwig gave a loud irritable squawk.
“I was reading that!” Percy said superiorly.
“Where’s my badge?” Ron growled. “I know you have it!”
“How dare you accuse me “ ”
“Accio,” Ron said, his wand pointed at Percy’s pocket, and surely enough Ron’s badge came whizzing towards him. He caught it and pinned it on to his tie, glaring furiously at Percy, then at the twins.
“Ron, Harry “ are you ready?” Charlie asked, popping his head inside the kitchen.
“Yeah “ and Katie’s coming to King’s Cross to see me off,” Harry said, standing up from the table, grabbing Hedwig’s cage.
“That’s fine “ but we all need to leave now,” Charlie told him.
“Bye Harry dear, be careful,” Mrs. Weasley said, hugging him tearfully.
“You, too Mrs. Weasley,” Harry told her, “I’ll see you at Christmas.”
Harry and Katie left the kitchen and spotting Charlie going down the hall, levitating two trunks and heading for the front door, Harry made to follow him, but Katie stopped him.
“What about Sirius?” she asked.
“Oh… yeah,” Harry said. “I’ll be after you in a minute, Charlie.”
“Make it quick…”
Harry and Katie doubled back to the end of the hall and stopped before the portrait
“Hey Sirius,” Harry said. “I just thought I’d stop by one more time, before I leave…”
Sirius smiled at him.
“Have a good year, Harry,” he said happily. He then dropped his voice to a barely audible whisper. “And congratulations on the engagement…”
“How did you “”
“I know more about what goes on in this house than you realize,” Sirius said with a mischevieous wink.
Harry just smiled and shook his head.
“Well, alright then “ we better get going. I’ll see you again.”
“Bye,” Sirius replied, and Harry and Katie dashed down the hall and out the door into the car, which Charlie drove off almost as soon as they’d gotten inside.
They got to the train station unusually quick, and actually had twenty minutes to spare.
“What was the rush for?” Harry asked, looking at his watch, confused. When they boarded Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, there were barely any students there yet.
“Hermione said that as Head Boy and Girl, we should both be here a half-an-hour before the train is scheduled to leave,” Ron said nervously. “So according to her, I’ll be ten minutes late…”
“There you are Ronald “ I’ve been looking all over,” Hermione said bossily, approaching them. Harry almost sensed a frighteningly powerful glow around her and for some reason, she looked taller. Harry turned away from her and Ron just as she began to readjust his tie, and fix the placing of his badge.
“So… this is it,” he said to Katie. “Won’t be seeing you for three and half-months…”
“No “ I’ll be in Hogsmeade for every trip you get,” Katie said.
“How could I have forgotten?” Harry grinned.
“You don’t mind if I start planning the wedding?” Katie asked. “While you’re gone…”
“By all means go ahead,” Harry said. “I’m not all that interested in flowers and colors, and whatever else goes into all that…and I have some other things to worry about, besides.”
“So if I pick serpent green and silver…”
“We’ll have to break off the engagement,” Harry said darkly.
“You don’t mean that…”
“Try me,” Harry said, raising his eyebrow.
In response, Katie just kissed him spectacularly. He felt his breath taken away. She pulled away, too soon in Harry’s opinion and flashed him a seductive grin.
“Kiss me like that again and Draco Malfoy can be my best man if you want…”
“Harry, Katie,” Hermione said seriously, racing frantically toward them. “I’ll have no more of that kind of kissing around here. This platform is regarded as school premises, and we’ll have young kids running around here any minute now.”
“Yes, Miss,” Harry said, trying to keep a straight face, as Katie buried her own face against Harry’s shoulder, where he felt her trying to smother her laughter.
Hermione eyed them suspiciously for a moment, and then walked off in the opposite direction towards a frantic looking first year.
“Maybe you should get on the train…” Katie told him.
“And waste a single moment with my new fiancée?” Harry said. “Not to mention that I’m not much in the mood to getting one step closer to going back to school…”
“Don’t worry so much, I’m sure this year will be great...”
Harry gave snort of laughter.
“That’s likely,” he said sardonically.
“Well, I really should go “ Charlie’s eyeing me impatiently…”
“You can Apparate home…”
“You know we can’t Apparate from the platform…”
“Apparate when you leave the station…”
“London is fully Muggle-inhabited for miles, Harry…”
“You can slip inside a phone booth, like Superman…”
“Who’s Superman?”
“Never mind, just go,” Harry sighed, checking for any sign of Hermione before kissing Katie again.
“Bye,” she said weakly.
“See you soon,” Harry called, watching her as she melted away through the platform barrier. Harry, hoisting Hedwig under his arm, picked up his trunk and dragged it onto the Hogwarts Express.
He found an empty compartment, something he was sure had never happened before, and settled in comfortably, hoping that Hermione and Ron’s Head duties wouldn’t occupy them for too long. After a few minutes he was joined by Neville Longbottom and Susan Bones.
“Hey Neville, Susan,” Harry greeted them warmly. “Nice summer?”
“It was alright,” Neville said.
“I’ve had better,” Susan said, flopping down across from Harry. “My mum would hardly let me out of the house, after what happened…”
“I know that feeling,” Harry said sympathetically.
Susan and Neville had both been among Harry’s friends involved in the abduction to Voldemort’s Headquarters last May. It was understandable that Susan’s mum would have been more protective.
“How are the Weasleys doing?” Neville asked quietly.
“They’re doing quite well, actually,” Harry said. “Bill getting married really helped get everyone through… the loss “ as did Ron getting Head Boy…”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Susan said. “And I was at the wedding “ it was beautiful. And you and Katie looked lovely…”
Harry nodded thanks.
“Looking forward to our last year?” Neville asked.
“Not exactly…” Harry sighed, looking out the window at the younger, more excited students rushing about and catching up with their friends.
“Did you hear anything about that Death Eater they found killed?” Neville asked suddenly.
“Yeah, I did,” Harry answered. “Can’t say I’m too sad about it, though.”
Susan leaned in towards Harry and dropped her voice.
“My auntie says that the Ministry thinks he was killed by “”
She was interrupted as the compartment door opened and Ron and Hermione joined the three of them.
“What are you two doing in here already?” Harry asked, moving closer to the window so they could sit down.
“Well, the prefects have all arrived, and been instructed, so now we’re free to do nothing,” Ron said, smiling.
“What were you saying, Susan?” Harry asked.
“My auntie said “”
“Hello there, you don’t mind if I join you?”
Luna Lovegood entered the compartment.
“Come in,” Neville said, and he and Susan scooted down the seat for Luna to sit down.
“Good summer, Luna?” Hermione asked.
“It was alright “ my Dad was going to take me to Germany to look for Tinkly Deerts, but after what happened…”
Luna had also been involved in the abduction incident.
“Know the feeling,” everyone said together.
“He wasn’t killed by a Death Eater or You-Know-Who…” Susan said quickly.
“What’s going on?” Hermione asked, confused.
“The Death Eater they found killed,” Neville said.
“Who was he killed by, then?” Harry asked.
“Nobody’s sure “ but there are some suspicious circumstances, and the Ministry thinks there’s some kind of rogue group who are taking matters into their own hands.”
Harry shared a significant look with Ron and Hermione “ it sounded like Susan might be talking about the Order, after all, the general public didn’t know about them. But he doubted any member of the Order would actually commit murder.
Everyone was uncomfortably quiet for a moment.
“So how’s Katie?” Luna asked.
“Oh “ she’s fine…” Harry answered, unable to suppress a smile.
“The two of you have seemed closer than before this summer,” Hermione said.
“You should have seen them this morning, you wouldn’t have thought there was anybody else in the kitchen,” Ron said.
“Believe me, Ron “ I saw them on the platform “ I know…” Hermione said.
“Well, after what happened last May, it’s not surprising for them to be closer, is it?” Neville said.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” Hermione said.
“Still “ I always thought Harry and Katie moved pretty quickly “ I’m surprised the two of you haven’t been engaged yet,” Ron joked.
Harry felt his cheeks grow hot.
“Anything seems quick compared to you and Hermione,” he retorted.
“So we took our time,” Ron said.
“Five years, Ron?” Harry asked, smirking.
There was a knock on the compartment door, and Ron opened it to find a short, silver haired first year girl standing outside.
“’Ello Ronald,” the girl said timidly. “Is thair room for me?”
“Oh, sure, come in Ella…” Ron said.
It was Gabrielle Delacour, Fleur’s younger sister. Harry moved closer again to the window, as did Hermione, making room for her.
“Nice to see you again, Ella,” Harry said warmly.
“You too, ‘Arry… and you ‘Ermione.”
“Looking forward to school?” Hermione asked sweetly.
“Oh, yes,” Ella said excitedly. “I cannot wait to begin my classes.”
“Sounds like you, Hermione…” Ron said.
“Is there something wrong with that?”
“No, of course not…”
“What house do you think you’ll be in?” Hermione asked, after throwing Ron one more dark glance.
“Oh, I would like to be in Gryffindor “ that is your ‘ouse, no?”
“Yeah,” Harry said. “But Susan here is Hufflepuff and Luna “” Luna smiled at Ella ““ is in Ravenclaw.”
“Oh, well “ I will be glad to be in any ‘ouse…” Ella said. “I am just so glad to be attending school in England. Fleur told me she actually preferred ‘Ogwarts to Beauxbatons,”
“Did she really?” Hermione asked.
“…she said only because the boys were much more attractive,” Ella replied, blushing furiously. “But I know she much prefers the weather here, also, because there eez not so much sun…”
“And the sun is too much for her delicate skin,” Harry said, grinning. “We know.”
The group chatted away for the remainder of the trip, before finally arriving in the dark, rainy station down the curving road from Hogwarts. Ella departed towards Hagrid’s booming voice for the traditional first-year crossing of the lake, and Harry, Susan, Neville, and Luna climbed into a thestral-drawn carriage, while Ron and Hermione assisted in the direction of students before climbing into the front carriage designated for them.
The carriage moved along the bumpy road up towards the towering turrets of the magnificent castle of Hogwart’s. Harry watched it grow closer out the window, and despite the foreboding gloom he was feeling about the year, there was a small part of him that felt the familiar warm, welcoming atmosphere that had always surrounded Hogwarts upon his arrival.
Harry turned to his three friends and sighed.
“Perhaps this year won’t be too bad after all…”