Chapter 626: Hogsmeade weekend

Slughorn had clearly made a misjudgement. Felix thought to himself as he handed the mead to a stoic-looking Snape. Slughorn would have come to this conclusion after remembering the cross-house friendship between Severus and Lily back in the days before the First Wizard War in that special time. There was no surprise in this; Professors tended to be well-informed, but what they knew was merely superficial, and they would rarely delve into the deeper conflicts and emotional entanglements between students.

Combined with seeing Harry using an old textbook in class - Harry isn't short of money - with the importance Slughorn placed on Harry, it would be possible to discover, with just a little attention, that the textbook had belonged to Snape.

"It's for you, Harry ... Oh, I forgot, you're underage." Felix retracted his hand that had been extended.

"Oh, don't be too strict, Felix. It's okay to drink a little bit sparingly." Slughorn said with a wink.

He also seemed to notice that Snape and Harry were not as close as he thought and changed the subject smartly as he patted Harry on the shoulder, "It seems I've kept you occupied for too long, you should go find your friends, and yes ... take it Harry." With that, he grabbed a goblet from a tray held by a passing house elf and handed it to Harry casually.

Wanting nothing more than to get out of this mess as quickly as possible, Harry said thank you and left quickly. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the sharp, glaring gaze move away from the back of his head, and Professor Slughorn's vibrant voice faded behind him.

"... Amelia Bones, she's doing well, thinking back ..."

"Harry?" A familiar voice called.

"Neville, what are you doing here?" Harry asked in surprise as Neville hid beneath a wide golden drape, with a string of small, constantly flickering coloured lights flying above his head and his face reflected in the multicoloured light.

"I, I came to rest for a while." Neville said cautiously.

Harry followed his gaze and saw the Greengrass sisters, dressed in beautiful emerald green gowns, surrounded by a small group of people like stars. He asked, somewhat puzzled, "What did they do to you?"

"They ... talked to me." Neville stammered, with lingering fear on his face.

"Is that all?"

"Of course - not only that, there was Blaise Zabini, Marcus Belby, even Malfoy!" Neville said with a shocked look on his face, "They're behaving strangely like they're different people." He looked up suddenly, seemingly stunned by his own words.

Harry understood somewhat. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NʘvᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"Do you think they've been under an Imperius Curse, or have been replaced using a Polyjuice Potion?" He asked quietly.

Neville looked carefully at Harry's face, "You know the reason, don't you?"

"Well, I guess that's just some kind of social etiquette they practice." Harry said grumpily.

The two men looked at each other in silence and Neville glanced at Harry's goblet and asked wryly, "Where did you get that juice?"

"Professor Slughorn gave it to me." Harry said vaguely, as he emptied the sweet, creamy juice in a gulp, feeling stuffy in his throat. He pulled out his wand, transformed the goblet into a small stool, and sat on it. Neville stared straight at Harry's stool.

"Do you need help?" Harry asked.

"Thanks so much." Neville said quickly.

So the two simply hid behind the curtain and sat on the small stool chatting happily. Harry after a few tries, managed to use a non-verbal spell to bring over a plate of beef pies from the table.

"Would you like some?" Harry asked, picking up a pie.

"Thank goodness, I'm starving." Neville grinned.

The two of them gobbled it up, all the while looking around at everyone else in the office. It wasn't until the singing from the ceiling died down that the two emerged from behind the curtain.

"Oh, my God!" Hermione suddenly appeared, almost bumping into them, "Where did you come from?" She stared at the suspicious grease stains around the corners of their mouths - Neville was still holding the empty plate - and then over their shoulders at the golden drape behind Harry and Neville.

"Never mind," Harry said, hiccuping, while simultaneously pushing the little stool further into the drape with one leg stretched in without moving, "party's over?"

"I guess it is ...," Hermione said, turning her head away.

At that moment, Professor Slughorn walked to the centre, and said with a big smile on his face, "I hope you all had a good evening, and I can assure you, it won't be the last ..." Those involved left one by one, and Felix and Snape walked across the corridor, talking in whispers.

"What's hiding in classroom seven?" Snape asked bluntly.

Felix raised his eyebrows.

"The sudden closure of the room this academic year and the poor quality of the temporary room opened next door, I heard students complaining about it," Snape said, "and the interest shown by that Professor Bagshot on .... "

He said a couple of brief words and turned to leave.

Was that a reminder? Felix thought, as far as he knew, Snape had been keeping a low profile since the start of the school year, and it seemed that after Voldemort's downfall, he had stopped wanting to talk to Harry and Dumbledore altogether.

In mid-October, the first Hogsmeade weekend was finally announced.

Harry woke up early that morning, it was dark outside, the wind was howling, and he stared at the curtains of his four-poster bed for a long time, but had trouble sleeping, so he simply rummaged under the bed for the Advanced Potion-Making book to pass the time.

He refused to bring this embarrassing textbook to Potions class after that unpleasant little party and spent the next two weeks sharing the same book with Ron until Ron's owl, Piggy, brought the new textbook back from the Flourish and Blotts Bookshop.

Since then, the book, Advanced Potion-Making, had been tucked away at the back - under his bed, to be precise.

Hermione's words saved its fate when she shoved a magic rune into a phantom book. "Objectively speaking, it's actually quite a good book, not to mention it has quite a few of Professor Hap's notes on it."

Harry mused to himself, the book had ended up in his hands solely because he was the only one who could barely make out Snape's slimy, messy notes at the time, and during the O.W.Ls exams of the school year, he had been specifically tasked with sorting out the useful points, and by the time the new school year started, its value had diminished considerably.

Harry opened the book from the back of the centre and stared at the incantation, Sectumsempra, written in the margin, with the simple words 'For enemies' under it. In fact, there were two other comments below it in two different fonts, each in small, neatly written words.

One of the comments addresses the spell itself: Cutting spell, fast and silent; with a little practice, it can cut off a person's head, and it even works well against stone and metal. The counter-spell for it is a healing spell, for maximum effect, the incantation had to be repeated thrice (personally accepted by the spell's inventor).

This paragraph alone once repulsed Harry.

And Hermione's comment followed below Professor Hap's review (you can tell she was vexed), 'Awful comment, are boys of that age all violent in the head? And I can guarantee that this is an illegal spell ...'

Harry grinned and laughed wordlessly. He could well imagine what kind of emotion Hermione was feeling as she wrote this, but, although he wasn't sure why the Professor had linked it with cutting people's heads off - Harry found that thought quite frightening - it undoubtedly served as a blatant warning to him.

Professor Hap likewise left rather unusual comments on other handwritten spells -

Toenail-growing hex (a minor hex with a nice comedic effect); Dangling Jinx (make sure your opponent is wearing trousers, or maybe not, depending on how much you hate him); Muffliato Charm (a must in the library, with additional notes from Hermione: Gotcha, Professor!); and Langlock (which has the effect of gluing your tongue to your palate and can be used as an aid when practising non-verbal spellcasting).

Harry stared at the description of the Langlock spell and for a moment his thoughts drifted elsewhere. Would this spell help when practising Animagus? Sirius had told them a particularly unreliable suggestion: using the Stunning Spell and Full Body-Bind Curse would prevent them from unconsciously swallowing (or chewing) mandrake leaf while sleeping. Harry thought that if they combined the Langlock spell with that, they wouldn't have to worry about it during both day and night ...

Harry shook his head vigorously, this was an absolutely terrible idea.

Animagus lesson is scheduled right after Halloween and counting him, Ron, and Hermione, there are a dozen students who meet the requirements. They would be given almost a month to learn the theory and then would begin their first attempt around Christmas, which would minimize the distress caused by the difficulty of speaking.

In the morning, the students stood in a long queue and passed through Filch's scrutiny for a trip to Hogsmeade, amidst the envious eyes of the younger wizards.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron asked at the oak gate.

"Still fiddling with her Book of Runes, she can't wait to fill it up." Harry said, looking around as he did so.

"Well, looks like it's just the two of us today," Ron said with a sigh, but he quickly perked up, "Shall we go to Zonko's first? After that a trip to Fred and George's shop, and the Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, I need to restock some quills, and finally a drink at the Three Broomsticks ..."

"Er, actually-" Harry looked at Ron with some embarrassment.

"Hey, Harry!" Ginny appeared from behind them and happily patted Harry on the shoulder, "Let's go."

Ron stared incredulously and exclaimed, "You're coming with us?"

Ginny raised her pretty eyebrows and stepped forward to take Harry's arm, and looked at Ron provocatively. Feeling weird inside, Harry tried to quietly jerk his arm back, but Ginny insisted on not letting go.

"I think," she looked straight at Ron, "it's time to show an example of a good brother."

Ron's jaw dropped.

"Are you guys gonna leave or not?" Filch looked at them and growled fiercely.

"Leaving!" With a twist of her head, Ginny's hair rose in the air like flames for a split second as she dragged Harry away. Harry had never felt like this before: the journey from school to Hogsmeade had been so long that he hadn't felt the happiness from the date at all, and even though Ginny was right next to him, the occasional ragged breath behind him reminded him that Ron never left them.

"Where are we going first?" Ginny said briskly.

"Er ... how about Zonko?" Harry racked his brains.

"And then what?"

"I think ... we can go to Fred and George's shop," Harry said slowly, "we might be able to bump into them."

"Good idea! What else?"

"... Go to the Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop and buy some quills and finally have a drink at the warm Three Broomsticks. How's that for a plan?" Ron asked sullenly, in a snappy voice.

"Oh, awful." Ginny said with disgust.

They parted at the entrance to Hogsmeade village - and although Ron wasn't too happy about it, Ginny glared at him and refused to budge. "What kind of person would follow their sister on a date?" Ron mumbled something and walked away kicking the stones.

Harry and Ginny made their way to Zonko, but that place is sealed off with planks of board.

"Oh, crap." Harry called out suddenly as they made their way towards the 'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes', and abruptly turned up a fork in the road with Ginny in tow.

"What's wrong?" Ginny probed and looked behind her.

"It's Professor Slughorn." Harry said nervously and Ginny giggled softly in his ear, tickling Harry's heart as he completely threw thoughts about leaving Ron alone in the street in the freezing wind - "How about a cup of tea at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop?" Harry asked, mustering up the courage.

It is a recognized date spot for Hogwarts couples.

Ginny looked at him, her eyes seemed to twinkle with stars.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked fumblingly, his face burning a little as he wondered if his little thoughts had been discovered.

Ginny grinned from ear to ear, "Great." She said as she straightened up and smoothed her messy hair.

The teashop was already packed tight and when they entered everyone stared at them intently, two younger girls in the corner pouted, the one with the prominent chin and long black hair chattered something to her friend.

"Leave them alone." Ginny said condescendingly, tugging Harry inside, but even as they circled the smoke-filled room, they couldn't find an empty seat. The two underclass girls, who had been just about to leave, sat back down dramatically, linking their arms together, and squinted at Ginny in unison.

"That's Romilda Vane, she had discussed how to give you Love Potion at the club." Ginny said, looking around impatiently as she hoped to find a pair of empty seats.

"What?!" Harry exclaimed.

"Oh, don't make a fuss, some of the ideas were pretty interesting." Ginny said casually, then her eyes lit up, "Let's go over there!"

Harry mentally grumbled, he thought it was obvious that Ginny was there, but instead of stopping it, she got involved in the conversation herself, or at least heard quite a few 'interesting ideas'. This annoyed him greatly, and then a key question struck him, the club? What club?

A chilling shadow of foreboding clouded Harry's mind, perhaps he should find a chance to talk to the Creevey brothers about the management of the club, this matter needed to be discussed urgently for safety reasons ...

They went to the window seat where two people stood up, one of them is a refined-looking old woman who was elegantly buttoning her coat, then she handed a gift box to Daphne Greengrass.

Harry once again saw a delicate smile on Daphne's face, to which he was somewhat allergic.

"... pass it on to him for me."

Daphne nodded and the two walked out of Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop and separated left and right.

On the other side, Ron wandered aimlessly through the streets of Hogsmeade, sucking on a liquorice wand with a belly full of grievances. Then he saw an old woman in grey tattered clothes pass by, and Ron glanced at her, without thinking twice about it, but the clumsy fellow following behind the old woman caught his attention.

"Hey! Don-" Ron called out excitedly.

Suddenly, a wand pressed against his rear end.

"One more word and I'll kill you."