***
"Hey Harry!" exclaimed a voice from behind the skinny figure looking
out of a window at the top of Gryffindor Tower. He turned, glasses covering
his eyes and making them unreadable. Long fingers played with a wand polished
to perfection.
"Yes, Ron?" the figure asked. In the light of the quarter moon, Ron could
see that there was a suspicious redness around his friend's eyes. He hesitated
for as moment, then remembered what Hermione'd said. He's moping around
too much, Ron. Get him down here to celebrate. You-Know-Who's dead, and
our N.E.W.T.s are over. He's got to snap out of it! Sighing, he awkardly
reached over to pat Harry's back. "C'mon, old man," he said with forced
cheerfulness. "If Hermione's partying, you've got no excuse to not join
in the fun. And there are piles and piles of sweets down there- Seamus
raided Honeydukes yesterday, and- c'mon Harry!" He tugged at Harry's sleeve.
The young man sighed, swiped at his eyes and followed reluctantly.
***
The common room contained total chaos.Tables surrounded the party-goers,
stacked high with food. It looked as though Seamus had raided the kitchen
in addition to Honeydukes Harry was dragged over to a table by the fire.
Hermione stood there, watching Neville nervously as he passed, loaded
down with drinks.
She smiled, tossing a bag of Every-Flavor Beans. Then, on some unknown
signal, the Creevey brothers leaped up from their positions behind another
table. They began pelting Harry with Chocolate Frogs and, as Ron watched,
Harry seemed to jerk himself out of a trance, smiling for the first time
in weeks.
He ducked behind Ron and, grinning, joined the fray, shooting Canary
Creams innocently left there, no doubt by Dean. A full-scale battle ensued,
and, in its midst, Hermione caught Ron's eye. "You did it!" shewhispered,
as they were besieged from all sides by Cockroach Clusters. He grinned
back. Mission accomplished.
Gryffindor Tower echoed with laughter until McGonagall, clad in a yellow
wrapper, gusted into the room and, eyes snapping, ordered them to bed
before the sun came up. In twos and threes, they drifted off laughing
and giggling, still on a sugar high. Harry, Ron and Hermione were among
the last to leave, and as they exited, Ron caught a rare smile from the
Professor. Still clutching a Chocolate Frog, Harry yawned, waved Hermione
to sleep, then stumbled behind Ron into their dormitory.
In the reddish light beginning to over take the castle, Harry unwrapped
the piece of candy, popping it into his mouth. He turned the card over
in the disinterest of someone who has stayed up far too long in order
to see which wizard was on the front of it. He let out a gasp and Ron
turned to face him, concerned.
"Oh, my, god Ron! I'm on a Trading Card!" Harry, probably overcome by
lack of sleep, junk food and utter shock, slid into what to Ron looked
like a very uncomfortable position on the floor.
Peering into his friend's hand, he slid out the card that lodged there.
A young man with messy black hair, glasses and a lightning bolt scar winked
up at him. He read aloud:
Harry Potter
Talented Seeker and avid Quidditch fan, Harry Potter
is best known for the defeat of the Dark Lord in 1981
as
a baby, then subsequent successes in defeating the
Dark Lord, culminating to the Final Defeat of the
Dark
Lord in 1998. He also has the distinction of being
a
Parselmouth, one of the rare few who can speak to
snakes.
Ron laid it onto his nightstand, planning to show it to Hermione. There
had to be a law against shocking wizards like that.
