Harry Potter and the Serpent's Eye by Marauder9744
Chapter Notes: Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I can't tell you how much I appreciate them! Also, a big thanks to my beta, LucyLupin – I couldn’t do it without you. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story so far, and please, please leave review if you can. Thanks again!
Chapter 14 - Harry, Ron and Hermione do battle with Bellatrix, Greyback and the other Death Eaters; the trio visits Hogsmeade where they meet up with three Hogwarts students who they haven’t seen in a long time.
Harry stood frozen on the spot for only a moment before he took off at a run, up the stairs and down the hall towards his room. He figured he had only mere moments before Bellatrix, Greyback and the other Death Eaters found the room. They had to move quickly.
He threw the door open and, once he was in the room, shut it tightly behind him. He ran to his bedside table, grabbed his wand, and rushed back to the door.
“Colloportus!” he muttered, tapping the doorknob with his wand and perhaps buying them a few more precious seconds.
Ron and Hermione were now fully awake and sitting up, both with very confused looks on their faces.
“Get up – Death Eaters – on their way up here!” Harry yelled at them, staring around the room, looking for a means of escape. His gaze turned to the lone window in the room and he immediately rushed towards it and opened it.
“Quick, out the window!” Harry urged, his wand aimed squarely at the locked door.
Harry grabbed Hermione by the arm and led her over to the open window, but she only had only swung one leg outside when Harry heard a loud thump on the door.
“They locked it, you fool. Move aside!” shrieked the muffled voice of Bellatrix Lestrange.
There was a flash of red light and a loud bang before the door flew open and Bellatrix strode into the room, followed closely by the other Death Eaters. Harry had to act quickly – he pushed Hermione, a little rougher than he would have liked, but she tumbled out of the window, out onto the roof, before jumping down to safety.
Harry rolled to his left and, just as he expected, all the Death Eaters focused on him, leaving Ron free to jump down to safety as well. Ron, much to Harry’s dismay, did not jump, but drew his wand instead, and pointed it squarely at Greyback.
“Hey, stinky!” he yelled, causing Greyback to turn menacingly towards him. “Yeah, you… nice fingernails. Levicorpus!”
Ron’s spell, however, missed, and in what seemed like no time at all, Greyback dove through the air, his teeth bared and his sharp nails set to strike. Ron took aim with his wand again, but Greyback landed on his chest and knocked him to the floor before he could cast another spell.
Harry tore back across the room as a flurry of spells from the other Death Eaters narrowly missed him.
Greyback’s teeth were nearing Ron’s neck when Harry rammed into Greyback, throwing him clean off Ron. Harry, acting quickly, lifted the mattress off the closest bed and pushed it in front of them, blocking the Death Eaters so that he and Ron could jump to safety. Harry forced Ron out of the window and made to jump out himself when a Reductor Curse struck the mattress, destroying it completely and causing Harry to fall on his back into the room.
“Stupefy!” Harry yelled from where he lay, and a jet of red light left his wand and struck the closest Death Eater, dropping him to the floor.
Harry jumped to his feet and dove again, avoiding another Reductor Curse. The curse struck the wall behind Harry, causing the room to fill with dust and small pieces of debris.
“You fool!” shrieked Bellatrix, through the cloud of dust. “Where is he?”
Harry looked up from his spot on the floor and saw his chance. Doing his best to stay low, he dashed through the gang of confused Death Eaters and out of the door before any of them had realized what had happened.
“Avada Kedavra!” he heard someone yell from behind him, but the Killing Curse missed him as he tore down the hallway.
He reached the stairs and took them four at a time. He could hear the raised voices of the Death Eaters above him as he raced through the front door and out into the still driving rain.
Harry ran to the right and around the corner of the Inn to where he thought the window to his room was.
“Harry!” he heard from the trees nearby.
Ron and Hermione were sitting low in a nearby bush where the back car park ended and the forest began, their wands drawn.
“Harry, get over here!”
Harry hurried towards them and into the bushes. He noticed that the rain was not nearly as fierce under the protection of the trees, and he was grateful for that.
“Did they see which way you went?” whispered Hermione, her voice shaking slightly.
Harry did not have a chance to answer before he heard Bellatrix’s cries coming from the front of the Inn.
“Find them!” she yelled, “Greyback, take Rodolphus and Rabastan and search the nearby buildings. The rest of you, follow me, we’re going to search the forest!”
Hermione let out a small gasp and she, Ron and Harry scurried along the ground from where they were kneeling to a more secluded spot a little deeper into the forest.
“Here, turn around, Hermione,” Harry whispered.
He tapped her head, Disillusioning her, and then did the same to Ron. Ron did the same to Harry and all three of them now blended perfectly into their surroundings.
They sat in the heavy brush, waiting and listening. Finally, Harry heard movement to his left and turned to see Vincent Crabbe’s father wobbling towards them.
Harry felt Hermione grab onto his arm and squeeze tightly as Crabbe came within a few feet of where they sat. Crabbe stopped, now very close to them, and called out.
“I can’t find them anywhere!”
“They may be Disillusioned – use your wand!” cried Bellatrix from somewhere behind where Harry, Ron and Hermione sat.
Crabbe pulled out his wand, aimed it in the opposite direction of where they were and began firing a flurry of spells into the tall grass. Harry took careful aim at Crabbe with his wand, doing his best not to make any noise, and with a flick of his wrist he cast a nonverbal Stunner. A flash of red light erupted from Harry’s wand and struck Crabbe in the back, causing him to come crashing down onto the forest floor.
“Crabbe?” called the voice of Bellatrix, once again from behind them. “Crabbe? Goyle, Alecto, get over here – quickly!”
Harry, Ron and Hermione got to their feet and ran from their hiding spot, further into the forest.
“He’s been stunned, Bella,” said a voice.
Harry, Ron and Hermione hurried down an uneven path deeper into the woods as fast as they could, not turning around or stopping until they could no longer hear the Death Eaters' voices.
“Harry, we have to go back to Headquarters and inform the Order,” Hermione whispered desperately in his ear, clutching a stitch in her side.
“No,” Harry answered reluctantly.
“No?” Hermione said, looking utterly stunned.
“We left everything at the Inn, remember?” Harry answered, cursing himself for doing so.
Hermione gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth.
“The two-way mirror, your Invisibility Cloak, Regulus’ notebook – if Bellatrix gets hold of them…” her voice trailed off.
But Harry wasn’t quite listening to her. He had just thought of something that could get both Ron and Hermione out of harm’s way.
“Look, we can’t all go back to Headquarters. One of us has to stay behind to make sure that the Death Eaters don’t escape. Why don’t you two Apparate back to Headquarters and –” Harry tried, but he was cut off by the look on both Ron and Hermione’s faces.
“Absolutely not, mate,” Ron said with a wry smile. “You can’t get rid of us that easily. Now come on, let’s get back to the Inn.”
Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way as quietly yet as quickly as they could back towards the Inn. As they got closer and closer to their destination, Harry couldn’t help but feel uneasy. He was, once again, leading his friends into danger and wasn’t sure whether or not to merely abandon his belongings and escape to safety.
“Harry,” began Ron, seemingly reading Harry’s mind, “we can’t turn back. If the Death Eaters get their hands on Regulus’ notebook, then we might as well quit now because V-Voldemort will know we’re coming for his Horcruxes.”
Maybe it was due to the gravity of the situation, but Harry was quite sure that this was the first time Ron had used Voldemort’s name. This seemed to stiffen Harry’s resolve and he set off at a run, Ron and Hermione hurrying along beside him.
They came out of the woods, raced across the back car park and back around to the front of the Inn. Harry realised at once that although they could not feel the rain when they were under the cover of the trees, once they had left the forest’s protection, the rain was as fierce as ever. They hurried towards the front of the Inn and once they came around the corner they saw three Death Eaters, including Bellatrix and Greyback, across the street, standing in front of a closed down barber shop.
They looked along the pavement, towards the entrance to the Inn, and saw two more Death Eaters, though Harry could not see who, guarding the front door. Where the rest of the Death Eaters were, Harry did not know.
Even though they were all still Disillusioned, Harry did not like standing in plain view of Bellatrix, or any of the Death Eaters for that matter. He jerked his head sideways, motioning for Ron and Hermione to follow him back to the car park behind the Inn.
“Do you think we can climb up to the room from down here?” Ron asked, once they had hurried back around the Inn and were now staring up at the open window above them.
“I don’t know, but we’ll have to try,” Harry answered, searching for an idea.
His eyes found a rather large dustbin that was lying on its side at the end of the parking lot.
Both Ron and Hermione knew what Harry was thinking and within moments they had placed the dustbin so that they could climb up it and then clamber onto the roof.
Harry was the first to climb and he, with much difficulty due to the slippery, wet roof and the driving rain, reached the bedroom window much more frightened of heights than he had been before. He turned backwards and saw, with much relief, that Ron and Hermione were right behind him.
Harry peered into the window and saw that there was, thankfully, no one in the room. He swung one leg over the windowsill and crossed the room in three long strides. He let out a sigh of relief when he opened his trunk and saw that it had remained undisturbed.
He quickly shrank his trunk and pocketed it and then did the same to Ron and Hermione’s before he hurried back to the window. He had just barely reached out to take Ron’s helping hand when he felt a sharp pain in his leg – someone had hit him hard in the knee.
“I’VE GOT THEM, BELLA, I’VE GOT THEM!” cried the sickeningly excited voice of a Death Eater from Harry’s right, but the blinding pain in his knee prevented him from seeing who it was. Harry dropped down on his uninjured knee and his wand fell from his hand.
He looked up to his right only to see the Death Eater aim his wand squarely at Harry’s chest.
“Good-bye, Potter,” the Death Eater snarled menacingly. “Avada Ked – Ahh!”
Both Ron and Hermione had dived through the open window and knocked the Death Eater off balance, causing him to crash down onto the bed. Harry looked up and saw Ron grab a lamp that was lying broken on the floor and smash it against the Death Eater’s head, knocking him unconscious. The sound that the lamp made against the Death Eater’s head was eerily familiar and Harry quickly realized that the Death Eater must have used the same lamp to strike Harry’s knee.
“Oh, Harry, we’ve got to get out of here,” Hermione urged.
Harry tried to stand but his leg could not support him and he crumpled back down to the floor.
There was a loud bang and footsteps coming from one floor below. The other Death Eaters would soon be up in the room.
“Can you stand?” Hermione asked, a heavy note of panic in her voice.
Harry shook his head.
“Well, then,” Ron began, grabbing Harry under his arms, “We’ll just have to carry you.”
Ron helped Harry up to his feet and, with Hermione on the other end, carried him as quickly as he could to the window.
Hermione helped Harry out onto the roof and into the heavy rain.
Both Harry and Hermione were nearly at the end of the slanted roof when they heard another loud bang, this one very close by. Harry knew that this meant that the Death Eaters had entered the room.
“Ron!” he yelled, fighting out of Hermione’s grip.
Hermione released him and they both scrambled up the roof and towards the window.
Harry reached the window and saw, to his horror, Bellatrix, Greyback and four other Death Eaters advancing on Ron, their wands aimed at his chest.
Bellatrix immediately noticed Harry standing in the window and her wand, as well as all of the others, shifted towards him.
Suddenly, without warning, Greyback leapt out of the window and landed on top of Harry, sending Harry’s wand flying as both he and Greyback slid down the slick, rain-soaked roof until they reached the end.
There was nothing he could do. The pain in his knee and now on his chest was so great that he had no strength to fight off Greyback.
Harry felt the werewolf’s warm breath on his face as Greyback slowly lowered his jaws onto Harry’s throat.
“Sectumsempra!” cried Ron from somewhere above Harry, and Harry felt Greyback fly off of the roof and land down on the hard pavement below.
Harry looked up and saw Ron and Hermione slide down the roof, with Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters clambering out the window after them.
Ron and Hermione each grabbed on of Harry’s arms and dragged him off the roof and down to safety.
“Stun them!” Harry heard Bellatrix cry from behind, as jets of red light flashed all around them.
Ron and Hermione hurried Harry into the safety of the trees as the last Stunners missed harmlessly.
“Harry, we have to get back to Grimmauld Place and inform the Order,” Hermione pleaded, stealing nervous glances behind her for she knew, as did Harry, that Bellatrix would reach them in mere seconds.
“I’ll take care of that,” Harry answered quickly. “I want you two to Apparate to Hogsmeade.”
* * *
Harry awoke early the next morning to a sharp pain in his knee and the soft pitter-patter of rain against the roof his tent.
The previous evening had been an eventful one to say the least. Harry had Apparated back to Grimmauld Place where he informed the Order of what had transpired at Godric’s Hollow.
Despite his protests, Mr. Weasley would not let him accompany the Order in their search of Godric’s Hollow. Instead, he stayed behind, allowing Mrs. Weasley patched up his wounds to the best of her abilities.
Mrs. Weasley also insisted that Harry stay the night at Grimmauld Place, but as he said, he could not leave Ron and Hermione alone and unprotected on the outskirts of Hogsmeade.
Ron and Hermione had pitched the tent less than a mile from the village of Hogsmeade. They had remained awake until Harry came back to tell them what happened.
The lack of sleep was beginning to tell on Harry, but there was nothing he could do about it. He got out of bed and made his way out of his room and out of the tent to where Ron was sitting, wand in his hand.
“Morning,” Harry said, sitting down on the ground, next to Ron.
“Morning, yourself,” he answered sleepily, yawning heavily. “Hey, you never got around to telling us what Mum said last night. How’d you manage to escape from her?”
“Oh, it wasn’t that hard” Harry answered with a small smile. “She did want us to have an escort of about fifty Aurors next time we go anywhere, though.”
“That wouldn’t be so bad, come to think of it,” Ron said offhandedly.
They shared a long-needed laugh before Ron got out of his chair, stretched, and then sauntered away into the tent. Harry remained outside for a moment, thinking, while he watched the sun rise over the high mountains in the distance.
He closed his eyes and was beginning to fall back to sleep when he heard raised voices from inside the tent.
Harry entered the tent, half expecting to be forced to break up another one of Ron and Hermione’s arguments, but what he found was a frightened Ron holding Ginny’s picture at arm’s length as it bellowed at him.
“WHERE IS HARRY?” Ginny yelled, through the picture.
“Er… Harry, I think she wants to talk to you,” said Ron quickly, throwing the picture at Harry. “She sounds a little… put out.”
“Harry Potter!” Ginny cried, once Harry had looked properly at the picture. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d been attacked?”
She sounded very much like her mother, which scared Harry immensely.
“I… er… we….” he began, but Ginny cut him off.
“Do you have any idea how worried I was?” she said, sounding slightly hysterical. “If I hadn’t heard McGonagall mention something about Godric’s Hollow being attacked to Flitwick earlier this morning then I…”
“Ginny, I’m so sorry, I… well, I didn’t want you to worry and, well, I kind of wanted to surprise you. We were going to come to Hogsmeade today.”
“You… what?” she asked; her angry tone had immediately dropped.
“Yes, Ginny,” said Hermione, who seemed to feel that it was safe to speak up now that Ginny had stopped yelling. “It was my idea, really. Harry did want to talk to you last night, but I told him you were probably asleep and it might be better if he surprised you. I’m so sorry.”
This was the truth, Harry thought, and he was grateful that Hermione was the one who chose to voice it.
“Harry… I… that would be wonderful. I’ve missed you so much, all of you. Well, not so much Ron but….”
“Oi, I heard that!”
Harry smiled at his Ginny, whose icy demeanour had immediately been replaced by a loving look.
“Oh, I’m so excited,” she squeaked happily. “Meet you in the Three Broomsticks around noon?”
“We’ll be there,” Harry answered, and with one last smile, Ginny’s face faded from view.
“Blimey, she’s scary when she wants to be,” said Ron, emerging from the kitchen where, if Harry didn’t know better, Ron seemed to have been hiding.
“She was just worried, Ron,” Hermione answered fairly. “Incidentally, Harry, you should have spoken to her last night.”
“But you said…” Harry began.
“I know what I said. You didn’t have to listen to me though, did you?”
Harry shook his head and stalked off to his room, though happy that his worries had turned from Death Eaters to the more benign subject of understanding the workings of the female mind.
* * *
The rain clouds seemed to have moved from the north and followed them to Hogwarts, but the rain had ceased for now.
They left the tent around midday and set off down the rocky path towards Hogsmeade. They soon passed the familiar stile and emerged on the High Street. It had just occurred to Harry that it would not be a good idea for them to be seen in Hogsmeade – there were far too many chances for someone unfriendly to spy them and possibly inform Voldemort.
Ron and Hermione both seemed to be feeling the same way and within moments all three of them were safely hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak.
“We don’t all fit under here anymore,” Hermione whispered. “Ouch, Ron!”
“Sorry,” he muttered.
Harry shook his head in mock annoyance and they all set off down the High Street, passing many familiar faces. After only a few moments, they were standing outside the Three Broomsticks.
“Reckon we should wait inside?” Ron whispered.
Although it was only late September, the wind, coupled with the greying sky, made the weather rather chilly. Harry nodded and the three of them piled into the crowded pub.
Harry led them to the back of the pub, where they found an empty table. Hermione charmed a nearby plant and moved it so that it concealed them somewhat. Harry removed the Cloak, fairly satisfied that they were well hidden.
They didn’t have to wait long before Ginny entered the pub, followed closely by Neville and Luna. Hermione peered out from behind the plant and motioned for them to come over. Ginny rushed over and when she saw Harry, she leapt across the table into his arms and gave him a deep, long kiss.
“Hi,” she said, once she finally came up for air. Harry was, for the moment, at a loss for words.
“Oi, will you two get a room!” said Ron angrily.
“Sure,” Ginny responded quickly and she immediately jumped off Harry’s lap. “Let me go and check with Madam Rosmerta – I’m sure there’s an empty one upstairs.”
Ron grabbed her arm before she got too far away and pushed her gently back towards Harry, muttering “figure of speech” under his breath.
“Hi, Neville, Luna, how are you?” Hermione asked, pulling over two more chairs for them to sit in.
Neville was dressed in normal school robes but Luna was sporting her usual – or unusual for sane people – necklace of Butterbeer corks along with her radish earnings.
“Oh, excellent,” replied Luna, a dreamy expression plastered across her face. “Although, I am a little upset about Professor Flitwick.”
Neville looked away, seemingly embarrassed and Ginny tried hard to suppress a giggle.
“Oh, because he was attacked?” Hermione said, a sympathetic look growing across her face.
“No, no, he’s retiring,” Luna answered plainly.
Harry saw Hermione raise her eyebrows so high that they disappeared beneath her hair.
“Come again?” she asked.
“Oh, haven’t you heard? He’s joining up with the Weird Sisters. I’m going to miss his Charms classes, but hopefully he’ll be able to get me tickets to one of his concerts.”
They sat in stunned silence for a few seconds before Ron spit Butterbeer out of his mouth and began laughing hysterically.
“I… er… I hadn’t heard that yet... thanks, Luna,” Harry said, laughing along with Ron.
“Oh, you’re welcome,” she said simply and then folded her hands in her lap, another dreamy look covering her face.
Ginny smiled at her and then turned back to Harry.
“Are you all right?”
Harry gave her a non-committal nod, which earned him a stern look from Ginny.
“What happened?”
With a glance around to make sure no one was listening he told Ginny, Neville and Luna about Bellatrix and the Death Eaters, but leaving out the fact that they were at Godric’s Hollow – why, he did not know. At the mention of Bellatrix, Neville’s face went white but he said nothing.
“And you didn’t recognise anyone that could have tipped the Death Eaters off?” asked Ginny, once Harry had finished telling the story.
Harry looked to Ron and Hermione and then shook his head.
“We didn’t see anyone, aside from the receptionist and two or three others, but we only saw them in passing,” Hermione answered.
“Did anyone else know you were going to…?” Ginny began to ask but she stopped short and looked as Neville and Luna apologetically.
“Sorry, we’ll let you guys talk in private,” Neville said and he made to stand up but Harry shook his head.
“No, Neville, I’m sorry. We were at… we were at Godric’s Hollow, the town where my parents were killed. You don’t have to leave. I’d trust you with my life – you as well, Luna,” Harry said, motioning for them to sit back down.
Neville gave Harry a small smile and he sat back down.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Harry,” Luna said, “I couldn’t even keep my Winged-Thunderback alive for more than a week.”
“Your what?” asked Hermione, a note of hysteria in her voice.
“My Winged-Thunderback,” she said. “It’s an eight-foot, invisible lizard that only lives on the beaches of Denmark. I found one over the summer when Dad and I holidayed there. I named it Edward. It only lived a week before it died – we did give it a proper funeral, though,” she added, as if not giving Edward the Winged-Thunderback a proper funeral would have been something completely ludicrous.
They were now all trying to suppress giggles.
“How did it die?” asked Hermione, with a look of not really wanting to hear the answer.
“It got run over by a car.”
Hermione had a look of absolute disbelief on her face while Ron was doubled over in fits of laughter. Ginny smiled towards Harry again who couldn’t help feel how lucky he was at that moment.
“But if it’s invisible, how would you know that it got run over?” Hermione said, a very apparent note of scepticism in her voice.
Luna opened her mouth to respond, but Ginny cut her off.
“Anyway,” she said, throwing Ron a furious glance to get him to stop laughing, “as we were saying, you don’t have any idea how the Death Eaters found out you were at Godric’s Hollow.”
Harry, Ron and Hermione all shook their heads.
“Who knew you were going there?” asked Neville.
“No one, besides Ginny… oh, and Lupin,” answered Harry.
“And I’m pretty sure that neither of them gave us away,” Ron added.
“Oh, that reminds me,” Ginny said, “I heard McGonagall yelling at Lupin earlier today. He was up at the school in her office and, from what I heard, she wasn’t too happy that he didn’t tell anyone where you went, Harry.”
Harry frowned slightly before speaking.
“She should be mad at me, not him. He knew I didn’t want anyone to know where we went and he was just trying to protect us.”
Ginny shrugged.
“She’s just trying to help – we all are, Harry. It’s just so… frustrating.”
Harry smiled and she leaned in closer to him.
“Wanna go for a walk?”
His smile widened and they were soon under the Cloak and outside the pub, making their way down the High Street.
“Hey, there’s Davey,” said Harry, as they passed a group of Ravenclaws.
Ginny noticed him and giggled slightly.
“Thank goodness. He’s been sick the past week or so… poor bloke.” Ginny said, sympathetically. “He’s always asking me for relationship advice, though.”
“That’s my little matchmaker,” Harry teased as they walked further along.
Ginny poked him hard in the ribs.
“Don’t call me little,” she teased, smiling.
“Would you rather I call you my big matchmaker?” Harry asked, smiling back.
Ginny poked him again, but a little less hard and then she got closer to him, rubbing his back soothingly.
“Where are we going?” she asked after a few minutes, snuggling closer to him as they walked.
“Impatient little thing, aren’t you – ouch!”
Ginny had poked him again.
“I told you not to call me little.”
They walked a little further and finally came to the patch of land with a view of the Shrieking Shack where, thankfully, there was no one in sight.
Harry removed the Cloak, found a nice spot for them to sit down and flopped onto the ground, taking Ginny with him. Ginny wiggled into Harry’s arms and, without warning, they began some serious snogging.
Harry finally pulled away after they had gotten a little too carried away. Panting heavily, he rolled onto his back, allowing Ginny to rest on his chest.
“You know… I’ve been told that I have special talents that you, my dear, were lucky enough to experience. You’re welcome,” she said, doing her best to imitate Harry.
“Hey, you’re not allowed to say that to me… I said that to you,” Harry teased.
“And what are you going to do about it, Potter?”
Harry paused for a second and then began tickling Ginny unmercifully.
“Harry… stop… please…” but she could not say any more due to her uncontrollable laughter.
Harry finally stopped but they continued laughing for a long while afterwards. They sat in the grass seemed for what a very short time, but in reality for nearly an hour.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier,” Ginny said suddenly, looking up at Harry.
“It’s all right – it’s my fault. I should have talked to you first thing,” he answered truthfully.
“Well yes, obviously, but... oh, no… don’t do it… don’t do it… stop tickling me.”
Both Ginny and Harry dissolved into laughter again.
* * *
Finally, much to the dismay of both Harry and Ginny, they sat up, got back under the Cloak and made their way back towards the Three Broomsticks.
“When do you have to leave again?” Ginny asked once they got nearer to the pub.
“More than likely tomorrow,” answered Harry, with an air of disappointment in his voice.
“Where will you go?” she asked. “Back to Grimmauld Place?”
Harry took a second to think about this.
“I don’t know,” he finally answered. “I think we’ll start researching Helga Hufflepuff next – hopefully we’ll be able to find out something about her Cup.”
Ginny looked up at him with a look of disappointment.
“But no matter what, we’ll definitely stay the night here,” he added, indicating the Three Broomsticks.
Ginny gave him a fleeting look but then frowned.
“What?” Harry asked, noticing her facial expressions.
“Nothing,” Ginny answered slyly, “I was just imagining, in a different, safer world, what I might do if I had Harry James Potter all to myself for one night.”
Harry’s heart skipped a beat and he nearly crashed headlong into an oncoming group of students.