Sara walked into her husband’s office carrying a tray of food. She had hoped to have lunch with him, knowing that he would not be able to join her in the Great Hall, but found him asleep with his head on his desk. Setting the tray off to the side, she walked behind him and gently placed her hands on his back. “Kevin,” she said, softly. She pressed her fingers into his back. “Kevin, time to wake up sweetie.”
The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor stirred under his wife’s gaze. “Yeah, I’m up,” he said. “It was hard to stay awake in that first year class. Those kids didn’t feel like talking at all.”
Sara pulled a chair close to him. “How late were you and Hagrid out there? I didn’t even see you when I woke up.”
Kevin rubbed sleep from his eyes. “We pulled an all-nighter. He let me catch a few hours sleep in his cabin, though. Grawp is making progress, though. He’s learning to control his temper and his language is coming along well. Hagrid is a real good teacher.” Kevin yawned and Sara got up to retrieve the tray of food.
Grawp was Hagrid’s brother and, for the past summer, had been under his brother’s tutelage in the hopes that he could be of use to the Order. Hagrid had done his best to teach Grawp English and to keep his emotions in check. It was the hope of Dumbledore that Grawp could be taught to help persuade the giants to join in the war effort. So far, it looked promising.
The couple ate together discussing their classes over the past two days. When the food had been devoured, Sara brought up the subject of Harry. “He’s been trying to get in touch with you for a while. He has a lot of questions to ask you.”
Kevin nodded. “I know and I’ll try to talk with him. But from what I understand, he’ll be busy tonight, so I don’t want to disturb him.”
Sara wrapped her arms around his neck. “What makes you think that?”
Kevin slid an arm around her waist. “From what Stacy tells me, someone in Ravenclaw is working hard tonight to see that he thinks of nothing but her.”
***********************************************
Harry stood outside a room on the fourth floor, the room that the note had told him to be at. He had a good idea who had sent the note, but he wasn’t sure if he was happy about it or if he should be nervous. Reaching out a hand, he turned the knob and opened the door. Inside the Room of Requirement, he found a small table set in the middle with two plates on it. Candles were set across the room and Cho was sitting on a couch, a smile on her face. She looked very calm with her legs folded under her.
She smiled as Harry walked in. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said. “I was a little nervous you might decline my offer.” She patted the spot next to her, telling Harry to sit down.
He did, still unsure of himself. They room was silent as the two young wizards sat together. Cho moved slightly closer to Harry and touched his hand. “Are you ok, Harry? I get the feeling that you don’t want to be here.”
Harry shook his head. “No, that’s not it. I do want to be here.” What made that statement strange is that he felt that he really meant it. He wrapped his hand around hers. “Of course I want to be here. I’ve dreamt of this moment for a long time. Now that’s it here, though, I’m just a little nervous. I mean, this is the room where we first…” He couldn’t finish his sentence. He had had his first kiss in this room with Cho. It was as if the fates were giving him a second chance, and he wasn’t about to blow it.
He leaned in close to her face and pressed his lips to hers. Now, more then ever, he knew that this was right.
*********************************************
Ginny Weasley sat up late in the common room that night. She had been pouring over some notes from her defense Against the Dark Arts class. Kevin was a very interesting teacher, but he was stricter then she would have thought. For their first lesson, he had reviewed over everything they were supposed to know up to this point. For the most part, her class was up to date on what they should know, but there were a few points where her year was behind. For that, he had assigned a worksheet that had information and questions, which would catch them up.
Her attention kept waning from her work to a notice that had been placed on the Gryffindor board in the common room. It was an announcement that Ron had put up earlier that night telling the whole dormitory of Quidditch tryouts this Friday. She wanted so badly to be on the team for another year, but was unsure if she wanted to be on a team that had Harry as a captain. She was unclear at this moment how she was really feeling about him.
Ginny forced her mind away from Quidditch and forced it back to her work. She was just finishing the section on curses and counter-curses when the portrait hole opened and Harry walked in. She knew it would be impossible for her to finish her work now. Harry had a look of pure bliss on his face. He walked as if he were walking on clouds. She looked up at him. Keeping her voice low, she said, “You’re out late, aren’t you? Never knew you were the type of person to be out after hours on your own.”
Harry flopped down into an armchair, smiling. “Yeah, normally I don’t stay out late, but tonight was special.” Ginny forced herself to look back at her homework. She really didn’t want to hear where he’d been; she already had a good idea. He looked at the smoldering embers in the fireplace for a minute, and then turned back to her. “Hey, did you see the notice about Quidditch tryouts?”
She looked up at him. “Yeah, I did, but I’m not sure if I’ll try out.”
“How come?” Harry asked.
Ginny shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know if I’ll have the time with my O.W.L exams and all. It would really take up a lot of my time.”
“If you wanted,” Harry replied. “You could be a reserve. Ron and I are training a reserve team this year in case someone gets injured. Besides, don’t you want to try out that new broom that Bill and Charlie sent you?”
Ginny blushed. Of course Ron would have told him about the Nimbus 2000X that her two oldest brothers had bought her for becoming a prefect. It was the latest in the Nimbus series and would make a good Quidditch broom. She had asked for something simple, like Ron had gotten a year before, but her brothers tended to spoil her a bit. There were advantages to being the only girl in a family of boys. “Well, I might give it a try.”
Harry stood up. “You should.” He walked up the stairs to his dormitory, completely oblivious to the fact that he had just had a conversation with the one person he had wanted to talk to for the past two days.
Author’s note: Now I know that this chapter is shorter then my past two, but I needed to develop a few things before I can dive headlong into moving the plot along. Side note: for all of you out there who may be thinking dirty thoughts about Harry and Cho, nothing serious happened. I wouldn’t do that to Ginny. Anyway, school is now in full swing again, so it may hinder my updating skills. I will try my very best to update as often as possible. My goal is to get this story finished (and the sequel I plan to write) before July 16th. Keep hope alive.