After the game the atmosphere was very different. On one hand this was an improvement but on the other a complete deterioration. The air between Ron and Harry had been sufficiently cleared as to allow them to sit at the same table. They still had difficulty saying anything to each other and when they did it was oddly formal, but at least it was a step closer than they had previously been. Hermione was feeling decidedly cheerful about this progression and was convinced that by the end of the next week they would be back to normal, however, Ginny wasn’t very impressed. She had been overheard complaining to one person that she couldn’t believe that Harry had forgiven Ron after the way he had treated the team, and then told someone else that it was unfathomable that Ron could act like nothing had happened when Harry had said those terrible things. Even poor Hermione wasn’t spared an attack. One night when the Head Girl had gone up to bed, Ginny was waiting for her in her dormitory and questioned her about how she could put up with the two of them. She then accused Hermione of settling for the easy life and not making enough of an effort to encourage Ron and Harry to apologize.
When the notice about the fancy dress Halloween Dance was put up there was a dramatic change in the atmosphere in the tower and a slight improvement on the one between the three friends. “What are you going as, Harry?” Ron suddenly asked him without the slightest hint of the formal pleasantries that they had been employing for the last few days.
“Not a clue, but Dumbledore says that the costumes are usually…interesting,” Harry replied.
“I’ll bet. I wonder what Hermione’ll go as?” Ron’s face came over all dreamy and wistful; Harry really didn’t want to think about the image that must now be floating across Ron’s hormonal brain.
“Maybe she’ll go as a Veela,” Harry snorted. Ron’s eyes immediately lit up, his obsession for the beautiful women that were the Bulgarian Quidditch Team’s mascots was well known. This situation was made all the more difficult by the fact that his older brother Bill was currently going out with one.
“I most certainly will not!” Hermione spat at him. Her dislike of the Veelas was almost as well known as Ron’s love of them. His face fell slightly when she disposed of this idea but he was quick to cover it.
“Good, who needs a Veela when I’ve got you,” Ron said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. Hermione beamed at him before she strolled away to pick up her book bag, which was tucked away in the corner.
“Where did you learn to do that?” Harry asked him in amazement. Ron looked at him hard for a moment before he answered very carefully.
“You must really like Ginny if you didn’t pick up on the charm coming from Fleur this summer,” he said without looking Harry in the eye. “Ever since Charlie and Ellie announced their engagement Fleur’s been pushing Bill to ask her to marry him, she keeps turning on that Veela thing to try and catch him off guard. The only problem is that Bill seems to be immune to it and she keeps getting everyone else instead. Ellie caught Charlie seconds away from kissing Fleur four times in the first week that we were home and she went ballistic; Hermione said that she had words with Fleur as well. Anyway, Charlie’s come up with this thing he calls ‘Diversionary Tactics’ and basically any time you get within five feet of Fleur, or a conversation about Veela comes up, you just talk down about them, ‘Who needs a Veela? There’s nothing special about them,’ and poof!” Ron snapped his fingers. “You’re out of trouble.”
“I think I need to remember that.” Harry nodded.
“Remember what?” Hermione asked. She was still gazing at Ron with the utmost adoration.
“That I need to stir the Wolfsbane Potion three times instead of five…” Harry had never really been that good at making up lies on the spot, nine times out of ten he might as well have had a big flashing sign above his head that said ‘LIAR’ in megawatt bulbs.
“Actually, you need to stir it seven times, not five.” Hermione was looking at him pitifully and Harry managed to turn his huff of relief into a groan of stupidity. He caught a glance at her, and was pleased to see that she thought he was a Potions dunce rather than a liar. Ron was standing behind her giving him double thumbs up and an encouraging smile.
“Yes, we know that you are the Potions Queen, Hermione, was there ever really any doubt?” Harry said quickly and with emphasized grumpiness to his voice. Ron nearly doubled up with laughter and mouthed ‘Nice one!’ to him over the top of Hermione’s head. She was now blushing profusely and mumbling something about not quite being the Potions Queen and how she wasn’t anything special. Harry and Ron just grinned at each other. Unfortunately, the grinning didn’t last long. Ginny had come down from the girl’s dormitory and edged her way to the front of the crowd that was now gathered around the notice board.
“Doesn’t it sound like fun?” asked a girl with brown hair and a pale face. Harry happened to know that she was in Ginny’s year, but didn’t know her name.
“It does, yeah. I think I’ll see if Michael Corner’s free, at least he isn’t petrified of what my brothers might do to him if he goes out with me,” Ginny proclaimed loudly as she gave Harry a disparaging look. Everyone that was queuing up to see the notice turned around to gaze at him. He knew from the pitying look on Hermione’s face that he was probably about the same shade as the ruby coloured wall behind him.
“So…breakfast sounds good…” Ron said, breaking the uneasy silence and pulling Hermione towards the portrait hole.
“Yeah,” mumbled Harry as he quickly followed them. Asking Ginny to this dance was going to be a lot more difficult than he thought.
During the rest of the week, everyone was hyperactive and every spare breath was spent talking about the Halloween Dance. Gossip reached Harry that Ginny had decided against Michael Corner and was being taken to the dance by Colin Creevey instead. He hated the whole school knowing every detail of his love life; everywhere he went whispers followed him. This wasn’t really all that different from the years gone by, but this time the whispers were somewhat more hurtful because they all surrounded things that Ginny had supposedly said about him; things that he wouldn’t have put it past her to say during the foul mood that she was in. The problem was that, whether Ginny had said these things or not, he was starting to get very insecure about himself.
“She only went out with him because he’s famous…”
“Reckons she felt sorry for him because he hasn’t got anybody else…”
“She says he’s a terrible kisser…”
What if he was a terrible kisser? He didn’t have that much experience with girls, well less than Ginny had with boys. He’d only ever kissed Cho and that didn’t exactly go very well, maybe he had been so bad at kissing that it had made her cry and she just didn’t want to tell him that. Maybe she did feel sorry for him because he had no one else; a lot of people pitied him when it came to the absence of his parents. Why should Ginny be any different? The more attention he started to pay to these rumours the worse he began to feel and when he returned to the common room late on Friday night he felt positively dizzy.
“Everything okay there, Harry? You look a bit sick,” Hermione asked him with concern.
“I’ll be fine, I’m just tired. What time are we going down to Hogsmeade at tomorrow?” The usual visits to Hogsmeade had been cancelled due to the need for increased security but for this one day only, they were going to be allowed down to the village. The day had been split into ten, one-hour time slots, and each year group above third year had been divided into two, each group was going to have an escort made up of teachers and Aurors.
“Well, the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor third years are due out at seven o’clock tomorrow morning, the village shops are opening up early at Dumbledore’s request, but because we’re the oldest we have to wait until last thing. We’re going down with the Slytherins at four o’clock.”
“That’s just peachy. How did we get stuck with the Slytherins?” Harry asked grumpily.
“You know how few of the Slytherins are in the DA, Dumbledore feels that if there were to be a Death Eater attack then they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves properly. Where as, all of the Gryffindor seventh years are more than capable of taking care of themselves and others. Thanks to you,” Hermione added hastily.
“Yeah, well the Slytherins are the group most likely to make life difficult for us if we get attacked, aren’t they? They’d be too busy trying to get one over on us to fight Death Eaters.”
“Harry, you really have the wrong attitude, we’re supposed to be promoting house unity here!” she protested.
“No, Hermione, you’re the Head Girl, you’ve got to promote house unity. I, on the other hand, am the Gryffindor Quidditch team captain and it’s my duty to make sure my team realises that they can smash all the other house teams to pieces!” Harry stated.
“What an awful thing to say!” Hermione screeched with her strongest scandalized tone.
“He’s been doing that a lot lately,” Ginny sniped as she brushed by them and up the stairs to the girl’s dormitory.
“How do I fix that?” Harry shouted at Ginny’s retreating robes, he looked at Hermione for an answer.
“I’m not sure it can be fixed, you really hurt her with what you said,” Hermione answered sympathetically.
“I didn’t mean it though!” he raged.
“I know, but it’s difficult for Ginny. She’s beginning to wonder if you still like her at all.”
“Of course I still like her! Why would she think anything else? I said they ‘might’ have put me off her, I didn’t say that they had!”
“It was more what your words implied…” she said quietly.
“I’m confused, talk to me, Hermione, tell me what I did that was so wrong!”
“Well, you basically said that you’re terrified of all Ginny’s brothers…”
“Not quite terrified, more extremely wary,” Harry corrected her.
“Technicality. Anyway, you said that they might have put you off and you would have saved yourself some hassle…”
“I believe my exact words were ‘a stupid conversation,’” he once again rectified.
“Promise me you won’t get angry?” Hermione suddenly said doubtfully.
“I promise.”
“Ginny told me about what happened in the broom cupboard on the fourth floor,” she admitted.
“Which part?” Harry knew that at this very second his face was turning scarlet.
“The part where you pulled away from her. The thing is, after what you said, she thinks that you don’t like her anymore and haven’t dumped her because you’re afraid of what the boys will do to you.”
“I don’t want to dump her! I do still like her, Hermione, I love her!” he whispered urgently over the tabletop.
“Then you better hurry up and tell her before she ends everything for good.”
The next day things were very hectic in the castle, groups of students were constantly milling around the front doors to impatiently wait for their turn to visit the village. The first and second year students were scampering around throwing jealous looks at the older students; their request to attend the dance had been refused. Thankfully, people were now so preoccupied with talking about what they were going to go as, that they forgot to gossip about Harry. That worked well for him, he was able to wander around the castle for a whole day without hearing someone whisper his name once. At half past three the last batch of students were starting to gather in time for their outing. Draco Malfoy stood in a corner of the Entrance Hall talking loudly to the large group of Slytherin hangers-on that were standing around him. Harry noticed that he had his arm draped around Pansy Parkinson’s shoulders. “Yeah, so the junior Weaselbee says that you’re a crap kisser, is that true?” he shouted over at Harry, who was stood next to Hermione, Ron and Neville.
“Not as bad as you, from what I’ve heard!” Hermione retorted on his behalf, she gave Pansy a very pointed look. Draco looked at the girl next to him and removed his arm in disgust, he immediately started chatting to another girl who had been standing to the left of him and was obviously desperate for him to talk to her. Draco said nothing else to them for the duration of their visit to the village.
When the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students had returned they were finally allowed to venture out into the crisp, late autumn air. Waiting for them at the school gates were, Professors McGonagall, Weasley, and Hagrid. Just behind them were a line of Aurors; Tonks, Kingsley, Dawlish, two others that Harry recognised vaguely as Proudfoot and Savage, and another witch that he had seen before but couldn’t name. “Come along now, we haven’t got all day,” McGongall said with exasperation. She and Professor Weasley led the group down the hill towards the village; Hagrid was behind them with three Aurors on either side of them. Several of the Slytherin students looked slightly unnerved by the very cautious approach that was being taken to this journey. Once they were down in the village they went straight to Gladrags Wizard Wear and were allowed into the shop five students at a time. The proprietors had shipped in a selection of outfits especially for the dance and everyone had a fair amount of fun picking out their costumes. With everyone’s shopping complete they were escorted back up to the castle with guards that seemed to be extra alert. When he passed by Ellie at the school gates he heard her release a long and deep breath.
“Everything all right there, Professor Weasley?” he asked.
“It’s been a long day,” she huffed. With the last student safely within the confines of the school grounds, she began to walk with them up to the castle. “I see that you two have made up?”
“Yeah,” they both replied sheepishly.
“Good, and what’s this I hear that you’ve fallen out with Ginny?” She fixed Harry with one of those steel bending stares that she had inherited from her grandfather.
“They had a silly row but it’ll all blow over, won’t it, Harry?” Hermione supplied when it became obvious that Harry wasn’t really sure how to answer.
“You listen here, Harry, and you too, Ron, I know Quidditch is important to both of you but it isn’t the be all and end all of life. There are things that are much more important, and you shouldn’t let a daft game get in the way of that. Love comes first, it has to, nothing in this world matters more than loving and being loved. Once you’re in love, everything else will pretty much take care of itself,” she smiled.
“This comes from the girl who nearly killed herself and her fiancée, AND destroyed her broom all in the name of winning a Quidditch match,” Harry said sarcastically and waved an accusatory hand over Ellie.
“Yes, but I’m the one who is happily married here, so I obviously know the value of love,” she replied equally sardonically. She bade them goodbye and swept up a nearby staircase with her handful of bags.
“You know, as far as teachers go, she’s pretty cool,” Seamus said to Harry as he strolled alongside them.
“She really is,” Harry admitted with admiration as he watched her go.
It had taken Harry, Ron and Neville a long time to decide what they were going to dress up as; in the end all three of them had made interesting choices. Neville had used every ounce of imagination he had and every spell he could think of to turn himself into a giant Mibulus Mimbletonia. He had acquired a set of dull grey robes and a hood to match, and with the help of Hermione, he had managed to attach Stinksap filled pouches to both items. He was pleased as punch when he tried it on and realised that the whole thing worked. Ron had jokingly attacked the clothes with a sharp quill and had received a face full of the smelly substance that formed its defence mechanism. As desperately as he tried to clear the stuff off, the odour still hung around him and he was eventually forced to go for another shower.
Ron had come up with a disguise that he thought was a masterstroke of genius, Harry wasn’t so sure. During their perusal of Gladrags, Ron had come across a set of sky blue robes that were almost identical to ones that Gilderoy Lockhart had worn during one of their second year classes. This had given Ron the brilliant idea that he should dress up as the former professor. He had also pointed out to Harry that Hermione fancied Lockhart like mad. Harry had wanted to argue that Hermione’s obsession had existed a long time ago and before they had known that he was a big, fat liar, but he wasn’t sure if their renewed friendship was strong enough to handle an argument yet. So Ron now stood before him no longer reeking of Stinksap, in robes that matched his eyes startlingly well, and with a curly blonde wig, that contradicted his freckles, perched on his head. In his left hand he had a pot of Merlot’s ‘Pallid Phizog Paste’ and his right hand was smothering the said goo over his freckles, which quickly faded and left Ron with an almost china white complexion.
It was Ron that had come up with the best suggestion for Harry’s costume; he had suggested a stag. Harry liked this idea much better than Neville’s proposal that he goes as a Clabbert. At Gladrags, Harry had picked out robes that were dazzling silver, he had also, by some bizarre coincidence, managed to find a set of antlers that he had painted silver using a nifty spell that Ellie had shown him. He had then owled Fred and George for one of their Wonder Witch products, named Sparkling Speckles, on the pretence that it was for Ginny, which it wasn’t. When he applied it to his face the little flecks of silver glitter had spread out across his features giving the impression that he now had silver skin.
In a feat, most probably never seen at Hogwarts before, the male students took ten times longer to get ready than the girls. This particularly dismayed Ron, Seamus and Dean because their companions had tired of waiting for them and gone on ahead. “But how will we know what they look like?” Dean asked. He was wearing a West Ham United football kit.
“You mean you don’t know what Lavender looks like?” Ron chuckled.
“They’re all in fancy dress! How will we know who’s who?” Seamus, who was dressed as a leprechaun, interjected to stop Dean from strangling Ron.
“Let’s hope that they can spot us,” Neville suggested helpfully.
“That’s all right for you, Nev, you’re not one of the most eligible blokes in school,” Ron said vainly as he straightened his robes.
“Don’t worry,” Harry said to the mildly offended Neville. “Neither is Ron.” Dean, Neville and Seamus watched the smile slide off Ron’s face and howled with laughter.
Down in the Entrance Hall several people were milling about, obviously waiting for their partners, Hermione, Lavender and Parvati were not amongst them. However, Susan was, she was dressed in a St. Mungo’s uniform and greeted Neville very enthusiastically. His seventh year colleagues looked on in wonder; none of them knew that he had it in him!
The Great Hall was a sight to behold; it was decked out in the traditional orange and black. A mixture of carved pumpkins and black candles provided light, the blue and orange flames cast an eerie glow over the room. There was to be no feast at this event, instead there was a long buffet of finger foods (literally in the case of one platter). At either end of the large spread there was a barrel of Mulled Mead and a collection of Butterbeers, both of which restocked themselves automatically. This year the stage had moved to the staff table’s usual spot, there was a band in the process of setting up. They were dressed in black robes with white skeletons on the front, “Who are they?” Harry asked Seamus, who was scanning the room in search of Parvati.
“The Knee Knockers, they’re not bad,” the Irishman muttered in his ear before rushing towards an exotic looking woman who was sitting just to their right. A second glance revealed it to be Parvati dressed as an Indian Princess, Harry had to admit that she was very good looking.
“Where is she?” Ron yelled. “I can’t see her!”
Harry shifted his gaze back to the crowd and couldn’t see Hermione either. Their task was made all the more difficult because so many people’s faces were obscured by their costumes. He did find Ginny though; she was standing next to the stage with…Harry! His girlfriend wore a look of intense displeasure at being seen with the fake Harry and when the figure turned around he recognized the small features of Colin Creevey. The sixth year boy had donned a messy black wig, glasses and a Gryffindor Quidditch uniform with Potter sewn on the back. When the light fell across Colin’s face, Harry saw that he had even drawn a lightening bolt scar across his forehead. His eyes fell back on Ginny, who looked more beautiful than ever. She was wearing long white robes of a light and floaty fabric that swayed in a non-existent breeze. She had white feather wings slung across her shoulders and a glittering golden halo floating above her head, she looked magnificent. Her eyes met Harry’s and she quickly turned away. “I’m sorry, mate, I can’t see her,” he said to Ron who was still frantically looking for his girlfriend. “Why don’t you mingle with the crowd, that’s the only way that you’ll find her,” he suggested.
“You’ll be all right on your own?”
“I’ll be fine. Go and find Hermione,” Harry smiled; at least Ron cared enough to ask him instead of just abandoning him. With Ron departed, Harry decided he was in need of a drink. He managed to manoeuvre his way to the table past a very busy knight, wearing a head to toe chain mail suit, who had his tongue stuck down the throat of a girl in a long black ball gown and masquerade mask. The pair of them were swaying all over the place. He grabbed a goblet and began to fill it up with Mead; he nearly spilled it everywhere when someone suddenly whispered in his ear.
“Hello, Harry.” He turned around and came face to face with a girl who was done up as a golden Phoenix.
“Is that you, Ellie?”
“It most certainly is,” she grinned as she pulled her cardboard beak away from her mouth. She was wearing a large flowing dress that had gold feathers all over it. Like Ginny, she had a pair of wings, although hers were the metallic colour rather than white. Her long hair was pulled into an impossibly tight bun at the crown of her head and she had painted her face to match the rest of her. She was a vision in gold and feathers. “How’s your night going?” she asked as she reached around him for a Butterbeer.
“Not very well, Ron can’t find Hermione, Ginny still isn’t talking to me and Colin Creevey came dressed as me,” he tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice but couldn’t.
“First off, Hermione and Ron aren’t your problem so forget about that. Secondly, you can fix the problem with Ginny if you try…”
“She won’t listen to me!”
“Well make her!” Ellie said forcefully. “And as for Colin, there’s definitely nothing you can do about that, besides, there are other famous wizards here.”
“Like who?”
“I saw Merlin ten minutes ago, he was dancing with a rather ugly cat,” she laughed. She promptly stopped when Ron came jogging towards them.
“I can’t find her anywhere and no one’s seen her!” he said worryingly.
“We’ll soon sort this out,” Ellie said firmly. She pulled her wand out and pointed it at her throat before saying ‘Sonorous.’ “Would the Head Girl please report to the golden phoenix by the buffet table,” she said loudly. Harry and Ron looked at her incredulously. “You two have no sense of humour!”
The girl in the black ball gown prised herself away from the knight she was still engaged in tonsil hockey with, and tugged him towards the buffet. “Yes, Professor?” she inquired breathlessly.
“Hermione?” Ellie squealed. She was looking from Ron to the knight and back to the girl in front of her. Everything in the hall came to a standstill, silence fell over everything, the band, the dancers and the conversationalists; everything stopped.
“Is something wrong?” The girl lifted her mask to reveal that she was indeed Hermione.
“Who’s your new friend?” Ron growled, thrusting his chin towards the knight. Harry and Ellie shared a horrified glance.
“Ron?” Hermione yelped. “But…but then, who are you?” she asked the knight. He pulled his chain mail hood down to expose the steely eyes and white blond hair of Draco Malfoy.
“I can see why you stick with her, Weaslebum, she’s a bit over eager with her tongue, isn’t she? The ugly little Mudblood reeks of desperation,” he spat vindictively. Ron bellowed something at such a level that Harry didn’t make out a word of it. The fake Lockhart then launched himself on the knight, kicking, punching and screaming obscenities.
“Petrificus Totalus!” Rang through the air twice. “Give me a hand, Harry,” Ellie urged as she tried to pull Ron’s still form away from Draco’s. By this time Professor Snape had rushed forward, he levitated his pupil out of the hall before anybody could stop him. “Finite Incanatem!” Ellie pointed her wand at Ron. He unfroze and nearly overbalanced until Harry reached out to help him.
“How could you?” Ron whispered to Hermione in a deadly voice that was wracked with pain, before he stormed from the hall. The Head Girl collapsed into a sobbing heap in Ellie’s arms. Harry spotted Ginny’s movement through the crowd and gave chase; he caught her at the foot of the main stairs.
“Where are you going?” he asked as he reached out for her arm.
“After Ron, not that it’s any of your business!” she snapped.
“I want to talk to you first.”
“I’ve got nothing to say!”
“I’ll do all the talking, you just have to listen,” he replied reasonably.
“I don’t want to hear it. I’ve got better things to do!” she pulled her hand from his grasp and climbed another few stairs.
“We’re going to talk now!” Harry said fiercely as he reached out and gripped her forearm firmly.
“Fine, you’ve got two minutes!” Ginny sniped. She alighted the staircase and shot out the castle’s front doors. After a deep breath, Harry followed her.
A/N: Do you hate me? Good. The next chapter is…Apologies.