A/N: This is not one of my favourite chapters, but it does have its moments. Sorry for any discrepancies, but I think they're fairly constant throughout the rest of the story
Chapter 3- Bend and Break
Diagon Alley was full of Hogwarts students- new and old. Harry saw little kids walking in and out of stores with their parents, barely believing that they would be starting their first year in a couple weeks. They looked so small.
Outside Florean Fortescue's, a group of teenage witches who Harry recognized as Hufflepuffs, were sharing a copy of Teen Witch, discussing the famous young wizards.
"He just turned 17," one said. "He'll be starting his seventh year."
"Really? Oh, he's gorgeous. I wish I could date him," said the one on the left.
"He has a girlfriend," the girl in the middle said in a bored voice.
"No!" Her friends hissed.
"Yes."
"Who is it?"
"A Quidditch player."
"Not that Ravenclaw girl that's playing for the Tornadoes now, is it?"
"No, a Gryffindor Chaser." She flipped the pages of the magazine.
"Which one?"
"The pretty one." Ginny, who had overheard the entire conversation, laughed and told Hermione, who also laughed. Harry and Ron looked at their girlfriends and shrugged.
"Oh my god! There he is!" One of the girls said, pointing at Harry.
"I can't believe it," the sensible one of the three said. "He goes to our school, sits at the next table, and we see him every day. Get over yourselves." Her friends punched her in the shoulders and continued to stare at the incredibly sexy Harry and question the middle girl.
"Who's that with him? The tall red-head."
"Ron, he's the Keeper for the Gryffindor team."
"He's cute too."
"He's got a girlfriend."
"Who?"
"Her," the one holding the magazine pointed at Hermione.
"That is so not fair. Why do the cute ones always have girlfriends?"
"Because their cute."
Harry and Ron heard the last bit of the conversation and realized what the girls were laughing at. They looked over at the Hufflepuffs and waved. Ginny and Hermione glared at the girls reading Teen Witch and dragged their boyfriends away.
"I think I'm in love," the blonde girl sighed as Harry and Ron were pulled into Madam Malkin's.
**
The group had finished shopping by noon and met in the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. Hermione had stopped to buy a copy of the Teen Witch issue the Hufflepuffs were reading. "Get this, Harry," she said, reading an article, "you're an international heartthrob."
"You're kidding!"
"It's perfectly understandable. You're smart, charming, funny, athletic, and the man who saved the entire wizarding world. And look at that, you're fairly photogenic, too." She slid the magazine across the table. Harry saw a picture of himself from a Daily Prophet story that had run around Christmastime. He had been at St Mungo's visiting Order members who had been injured in the final battle when a photographer for the Prophet had taken his picture in the corridor. Even though his photo self was annoyed and miserable, he was still extremely attractive.
"This is ridiculous." Harry laughed in spite of himself. He felt violated by the invasion of privacy, but he thought it was hilarious that he was an international heartthrob. "What about Krum? I thought he was Quidditch's poster boy."
"Viktor? Well, he got married, so he's not very popular with young witches," Hermione said, sipping her tea.
"How'd you know he got married?" Ron said.
"You know we're still pen pals, Ron. Besides. It was on the cover of Teen Witch in April."
"Who'd he marry?"
"Fleur Delacour."
"Really?" Harry said. "I thought she was dating Bill."
"She was," Ginny said. "He proposed, she dumped him, then married Krum two weeks later."
"That's harsh."
A large shadow loomed over the table. The four sat silently, looking at each other nervously. "Happy Birthday Ginny, and to you too, Harry!" Hagrid boomed. "Ready for a new term?"
"Can't wait," Harry said.
"Teen Witch? Hermione, I thought you were smart enough to not read that rubbish."
"I normally wouldn’t, but it was a special circumstance."
"And what would that be?" Hagrid said in a friendly manor.
"Harry's an international heartthrob," Ginny laughed. "Isn't that ridiculous?"
"Hey!" Harry looked indignantly at Ginny, which made her laugh even harder. "Three Hufflepuff girls are in love with me, and you thinks it's ridiculous."
"What's ridiculous is that you've only noticed those three," Hermione said. "Every single girl at Hogwarts follows you around."
"I don't believe it," Harry muttered.
"Neither do I!" Ginny was still laughing.
"I can't believe those girls consider you the pretty Chaser," Ron said to Ginny. She glared at him and pulled out the pouch he gave her for her birthday. "Don't you dare."
"Try me." She took some blue powder out of the bag and held her hand in front of Ron's face.
"Harry, help me!"
"No way. You have to get out of this yourself."
"Hermione?"
"Are you kidding? I want to hear an explanation myself, since Ginny's the only female Chaser."
"Ginny, you misunderstood. I didn't mean you weren't pretty, I just meant-"
"Meant what?"
"Fine, do whatever you want. It's useless." Ron gave up. Ginny blew the powder into Ron's face, which was immediately covered in blue polka dots.
**
Ron was forced to walk around Diagon Alley with the polka dots all afternoon. Harry claimed to not know the counter curse, even though Ginny had told him three times. Hermione said she would if she could, but she was still 16 and couldn't risk any underage magic, being Head Girl and all. Unfortunately for Ron, the three Hufflepuffs were in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes when they walked in.
"This could be fun," Ginny said, holding Harry's hand. She watched the girls look at Ron, start laughing, and leave.
"You're cruel, you know that?" Ron said.
"I think that's enough torture for today. Harry, would you mind doing the counter curse?" She asked politely. Harry shrugged and muttered a couple words. The spots turned purple, then vanished.
"Thank you."
"I love the start of a new school year," Fred said, walking up to them. "Sales have gone way up in the past week."
"Can we interest our four favourite Gryffindors in some new and improved Skiving Snack boxes?" George held up a snack box.
"How exactly are they improved?"
"We've added something just for our overachievers, extra Migraine Mint antidotes."
"And, for the fifth and seventh years, we've made special snack boxes with just the antidotes."
"Since when have you two helped those in need?" Ron asked.
"Well, when you consider the side affects-"
"They aren't much help at all."
"Side affects?" Hermione put a snack box back on the shelf.
"Well, once the antidote wears off, you're symptoms come back twice as bad."
"And how long does the antidote last?"
"A couple days."
"So if you've got loads of Homework on Wednesday-"
"And it's all due Friday-"
"And you take one of the Migraine Mint antidotes-"
"You'd spend the weekend in bed with a paralysing headache."
"You are warning your customers of this, aren't you?"
"Of course we are," Fred said indignantly.
"It's on the label, too." George pointed to the side of the box where the side affects (which were minimal in number) were listed in detail.
"I'm willing to take my chances," Ron said, reaching for the shelf.
"Don't even think about it, Ronald," Hermione said. "You're Head Boy. You have to set a good example for the students!"
"Head Boy?" The twins exchanged worried looks.
"Get out before Percy sees you," George said quietly. It was too late. Percy was already strolling up the aisle, puffed up like the pompous git that he was.
"Congratulations, Ron. I knew you could do it." He pumped Ron's hand.
"Thanks, Perce," Ron said.
**
After a quick look around and Hermione chastising them for every item they picked up, they left the store and walked up the road to the tavern where Mrs Weasley was waiting. A particularly uncomfortable trip by Floo powder later, Harry and Ginny retreated to their Secret Room.
"I could spend the rest of my life in here," Harry said, eating some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "As long as you were with me."
"Well, we'd have to do some serious redecorating. This could get a little boring if we spent the rest of our lives here." Ginny was laying on the floor, blowing bubbles with the Drooble's gum she had picked up earlier.
"We would definitely have to do something about those bubbles." Ginny's bubbles were floating up to the ceiling and bouncing off each other. "Ugh! Liver."
**
Harry, for once, wasn't thrilled about being back at Hogwarts. Every single girl in the Great Hall had read Teen Witch and looked at Harry with great admiration. Ever since Harry stepped on to the train just hours ago to when he walked into the Great Hall, girls had been watching him, pointing at him, and wishing to trade places with Ginny. Ginny, on the other hand, was fed up with these girls, not that she was jealous. Not one of them could hold Harry's attention for more than five minutes.
The hall went silent- Professor McGonnagall was leading the first years up the aisle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables. The students, from "Aaron, April" to "Zurich, Walter," were sorted.
"Welcome," Dumbledore said, "to a new year at Hogwarts!" Harry was glad the attention wasn't on him anymore. "Before I get to the list of forbidden objects that Mr Filch has no doubt amended, I would like to introduce to you our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Nymphadora Tonks."
"That's Tonks?" Ginny said, clapping along with the rest of the school. Tonks had long, straight bluish-black hair and a very small noise- it was a new look for her.
"So that explains The Shrinking Book of Shrinking Spells," Hermione mused.
Dumbledore then went on to explain to the first years that the Forbidden Forest was forbidden, and mentioned Filch's new additions to the list, now numbering 502 and growing, thanks to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.
Food appeared on the gold platters in the centre of the tables. Ron piled his plate with everything in reach.
"Hey, Harry!" Collin Creevey shouted down the table. "When's the first Quidditch practice?"
"Next month, Collin, as usual!" Harry shouted back. "You'd think that if you play Quidditch, you know when the season starts."
"I think Collin's been hit in the head a few too many times by the bludger," Ginny laughed.
"Blame Dennis," Ron said. "He always knocks Collin off his broom."
"More than once a match."
"Uh, Harry? Don't look now, but your fan club is coming this way."
"Peachy. 'Mione, what's the password?"
"Carpe Diem."
"Thanks." He and Ginny left the hall, barely avoiding the girls. "This is nuts!"
"They're following us."
"I don't believe it."
"At least they aren't Gryffindors. Then that'd be a real problem."
"Carpe Diem," Harry said when they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Well, hello to you, too," she said sarcastically, swinging open.
The common room was exactly as Harry remembered it. The chairs were even in the same places they had been moved to for an End of Term party in June.
"It's so good to be home," he said, flopping onto a couch by the fireplace. "I'm gonna miss it here."
"So fail your NEWTs and stay an extra year. Graduate with me."
"And have your mother kill me? I think I'll pass."
"That was lame, Harry." She sat on his lap and kissed him.
"I know."
The portrait hole opened. Hermione was leading the first years into the common room. "Most of the time, you'll find fellow Gryffindors in here doing homework-"
Harry and Ginny sat up suddenly, making Hermione stop.
"The boys' dormitories are up the staircase to your right. Girls' dormitories are up the stairs on your left. Your trunks have already been brought up." She left the first years and joined Harry and Ginny by the fire, glaring at Harry, who shrugged and said:
"Where's Ron?"
"Talking Quidditch with the Creeveys. They're trying to guess who's going to be the new Chaser."
"New Chaser? Right… Jenny left last year. I hadn't even thought of that."
"We should encourage the first years to try out. They never do," Ginny suggested.
Harry looked over his shoulder at the first years on the other side of the room. "Oi! Any of you play Quidditch?" He asked. A couple of them did. "Good. We're going to need a Chaser this year. I'd better see you two a tryouts!" They nodded nervously. "There." He looked at Ginny. "Now they'll have a fair chance."
"The only problem is, they might break your record for the youngest Quidditch player in a century."
Harry shrugged again.
**
As the evening went on, the seventh years drifted over to the fireplace and talked about their summers, eventually ending up on the subject of Neville.
"That's horrible," Parvati said, on the verge of tears. It was the first she had heard of it.
"We should have an Irish wake," Seamus said.
"Trust the Irishman to turn anything into a party," Ron said.
"Well, it would be fun," Hermione said, "and it is a nice way to remember a person."
"Plus there are a lot of funny stories to tell about Neville," Dean said, thinking of the countless potions Neville barely managed to make successfully.
"I wonder what happened to Trevor?" Lavender asked. Neville's death was, now a source of humour. It was the perfect way to remember a friend, all the good and funny things he'd done, rather than sitting around being depressed.
"He probably croaked." Harry ducked as Ginny hit him with a pillow.
"That wasn't funny!" She laughed.
"Tomorrow night, we have a wake!" Seamus said enthusiastically.
"We shouldn't be laughing about this," Hermione giggled. "It's disrespectful."
"Do you really think Neville would want us to be all depressed, or do you think he'd want us to have fun?"
**
Ginny and Ron snuck into the kitchens after supper Saturday night and brought piles of food and butter beer up to the common room. Dean had drawn a sketch of Neville, which Hermione enlarged and placed on the mantle with a black bow.
"I think we're ready." Harry turned on a stereo that he had enchanted to play without electricity. It played a mix of Muggle and Wizarding music.
It was nearly midnight. Pretty much any student in third year or below had gone to bed, but the music had drawn them to the common room.
A group of fourth year girls were sitting by the staircases. "He was kinda cute," one girl said.
"In an unconventional way."
"He was sweet, and charming."
"And smart, even though you couldn't always tell."
"I always felt sorry for him, living with his grandmother. He wasn't exactly confident."
By 1:00, all stories anyone knew about Neville had been told, and the wake had turned into a full-fledged party. The music got louder and everyone got crazier. Every so often, someone would find a bottle of fire whiskey and the older students would toast Neville. "To Neville!" they drank to cheers. "And his toad!" Another shot and another outburst of clapping. The toasts got more ridiculous as they drank. "To his nimble mumble tonia!"
"That's not even close," Harry said to Seamus, who had made the last toast. It's 'Mimble- Mimble tonia…" he made several more attempts to say "mimbelous mimbletonia, but to no avail. "If anyone can name Neville's plant, they get a free bottle of fire whiskey!"
Hermione was sitting on a couch with Ginny while their boyfriends drank to Neville. Even though they had protested, not only because it was against school rules, but because Mrs Weasley would kill them if they got in trouble, plus Ron would be replaced as Head Boy, and Harry would be off the Quidditch team.
"Well, it is an old Wizarding tradition," Ginny said. "When someone dies in battle, their mates often toast them, but usually with something a little more fitting than fire whiskey."
"They do that in the Muggle world, too, especially during a war. His friends would fill a shot glass and place it on a ledge with his picture, then have a round themselves."
"It is an Irish Wake, so, when in Rome…" Ginny drank her butter beer along with another toast to Neville.
Ron walked over, wobbling slightly, and sat in a chair across from Hermione. "I've had enough," he said.
"Have a butter beer." Ginny handed him a bottle. "Where's Harry?"
"With Dean and Seamus." Across the room, the three boys started to sing "Danny Boy."
"They aren't half bad, even if they don't know the words," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"That's because they're half drunk."
"I'm going to bed," Hermione said, finishing off her butter beer and standing up. "Good night, Ron." She gave him a quick kiss and headed for the girls' staircase.
"I'm gonna go to bed, too," Ron said. "G'night, Gin." He stumbled up to the boys' dormitories.
Ginny watched the crowd around Harry, Dean, and Seamus from the couch, joining in on the toasts with bottle after bottle of butter beer.
By 4:30, everyone had gone to bed, except for Ginny. And Harry, who had fallen asleep- or passed out- about half an hour ago beside her.
**
Sunday Morning (or afternoon for most Gryffindors), was painful. Harry had woken up when the sun shone in his face and went up to his dorm to get some more sleep. Ron and every other person who had been drinking slept straight through to lunch.
"Never drink fire whiskey when toasting a dead friend," Seamus groaned. "Stick to butter beer. That way, you won't get a hangover."
"Too little, too late," Harry said, burying his head in his pillow. Ron, however, managed to actually get up and get dressed without complaining of a headache.
"I quit early," he explained when he noticed the rueful looks he was getting.
"Makes sense, I mean, we wouldn't want a repeat of my birthday, now would we?" Harry sat up, very slowly, and put on his glasses.
"Why? What happened?"
"He passed out around one and his mother found him on the kitchen floor when she came down to make breakfast. Ginny and I couldn’t wake him- it didn't seem fair to deny his mother the satisfaction."
**
Harry and Ron were reprimanded by Ginny and Hermione the second they sat down. Well, Harry more than Ron, since he had been the one to pass out.
"You realize you broke about a million rules, don't you?"
"Don't exaggerate. There aren't even a million rules," Harry groaned, avoiding eye contact with Hermione.
"And since we didn't get caught, most would consider last night's party to be bending the rules," Ron said optimistically.
"I don't care. I'm Head Girl and, even though I should be taking points off for this, I won't. But next time-"
"There had better not be a next time," Harry said. The thought of having another wake instantly sobered him up. He spent the rest of lunch trying to put it out of his mind while he ate.
A/N: I told you so.