Ginny's Gift, Chapter 12
Rated: PG-13
Summary: Ginny gives Harry a special birthday present, but the consequences are unexpected.
Almost before Harry knew it, term was coming to an end, and everyone was getting ready for Christmas. The Great Hall was decorated with the usual twelve Christmas trees, and perhaps in an attempt to make things more festive, the suits of armour had been enchanted to sing Christmas carols as they had been during Harry's fourth year. They hadn't learned the words any better in the interim, apparently, and Peeves was once again in his element as he supplied the missing verses.
But in spite of the attempts to liven things up, the mood in the castle was quite sombre. Most students had signed the list to go home for the holiday--travel was being arranged by Port Key--and there was a definite feeling, unspoken but present all the same, that this could be the last Christmas that some families spent together.
Harry was, of course, staying at Hogwarts as he did every year. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were staying on as well. In the Weasleys' case, there had been an owl from their mother informing them that there would be no special celebration at the Burrow this year. Bill and Charlie were apparently unable to get away from their duties on the continent. Harry wasn't sure, but he wondered if Mrs Weasley somehow thought they'd all be safer at Hogwarts. At any rate, he was grateful for the company.
Harry left Herbology, his last class on the last Friday of term, in a pensive mood. Normally there would have been a Hogsmeade weekend the following day, and it would have been nice to get out of the castle and do some Christmas shopping. He was rather short on ideas for what to get Ginny, and Ron hadn't proven very helpful with his suggestions. Harry didn't think Ginny would appreciate anything from Zonko's, and sweets from Honeydukes seemed too obvious. In any case there was no chance of even getting into Hogsmeade to visit the shops. Harry hadn't ever heard anything further about whoever had attacked him the day after Halloween, but Hogsmeade visits were still cancelled.
He entered the Entrance Hall with Ron and Hermione to find it packed with students. There were some staff on hand, as well. They soon found out what was happening. Making their way through the crowd, Ron craned his neck and said, "It's Fred and George."
Hermione stood on her toes in a vain attempt to see over the other students. "What are they doing here?"
"Dunno. Looks like some sort of demonstration."
Harry could see very little until they'd pushed their way nearer the front. Now he could see that the twins had set up some sort of table and were showing a variety of Zonko's products to the assembled students. At one end of the table was a pile of parchment sheets that looked a lot like order forms to Harry.
"Perhaps you'll like this, then." Fred was talking animatedly to a seventh year Ravenclaw, while he held up what looked like one of the fake wands the twins had invented. "If you hold it and give it a shake, it repeats the name of your worst enemy."
"What good would that do me?" asked the girl.
"Could be informative. Give it to someone who doesn't like you and trick them into shaking it. You can find out who really doesn't like you, then, and that's aside from the annoyance factor of them having to listen to the name of their enemy over, and over, and over…
"I get the idea." The girl looked as if she was ready to walk away.
"Wait, I know just the thing…" Fred's eyes seemed to flash at her as he leaned closer and lowered his voice. He reached under the table and pulled out a pair of enormous, vividly red lips. He gave them a bit of a push with his hand, and they flew up into the air and kissed the girl's cheek with a very loud smacking noise. She blushed and began to smile slyly.
"I don't know…"
Fred leaned even closer to her, a knowing grin broadening over his face. "You won't find better than this. Invented that myself, I did."
"As I remember, he had some help." George had come up to Harry, Ron and Hermione. He was watching his twin brother and the girl.
"What's all this, then?" asked Ron.
"When Mohammed won't come to the mountain, you have to move the mountain to Mohammed." Ron looked blankly at his brother. "It's good business. No Hogsmeade for the students so we're giving them a chance to do their Christmas shopping."
"Yes, but everyone's off home tomorrow," Hermione pointed out.
"We're only taking orders today. All orders to be filled by owl post, with delivery by Christmas guaranteed," George said, indicating the order forms. "Gift wrapping included. So…" He leaned closer to Hermione and lowered his voice, much as Fred had done. "Can I interest you in a deluxe selection of our finest Dungbombs? A bargain at only one Galleon, five Sickles."
"Erm, I don't think so," said Hermione.
"Come on. Ronnikins will love it. Unless you had something else in mind…" George's tone had become decidedly suggestive.
But Dungbombs reminded Harry of something else. "Erm, George," he said. "I hate to interrupt, but I'd like a word with you."
"What is it, young Harry? Need advice on what to get our sister for the holidays? Because I have just the thing…"
"No, actually, it's about my socks."
George looked lost for a moment, but then realisation dawned. "Oi, Fred!" he called.
Fred looked up. He was still taking the Ravenclaw's order. Harry suspected that Fred had been chatting her up.
"Fred, come over here for a minute. You ought to hear this."
"What is it? Can't you see I'm in the middle of a sale?" He did not sound pleased with the interruption.
"This will only take a moment of your time, brother dear. Then you can go back to what you were doing." George's tone indicated that he was as suspicious as Harry as to Fred's true motivations. When Fred had joined them, George continued. "I believe you owe me five Galleons."
"What for?"
"I believe we had a wager, one which I have won."
Harry had no idea what any of this had to do with the disaster that had befallen him in Potions class. "You can work this business about a wager out later," he told the twins. "I just want to know what you did to my socks!"
"If you're even asking us about them," said George, "you must surely have an idea. I thought the particular fragrance would make it obvious…"
"All right," replied Harry. "But did you have to fix it so they'd go off in the middle of Potions class?"
Fred and George exchanged a look and burst out laughing.
"Potions class?" said Fred, once he'd got his laughter under control. "Too bad Snape wasn't there to see that…"
"Fletcher's much worse than Snape ever was."
Fred put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'm sorry if I got you into trouble. It's my fault. I told George you couldn't possibly dream of wearing those socks. That's why I chose them to hex. Didn't imagine you'd actually put them on. They're just so…"
"Colourful," supplied George. "Original. And being a man of taste, I bet Fred that you would wear them."
Fred cleared his throat, interrupting his twin. "George wanted to nick those socks. He has a shirt that matches them."
"And now you've all but admitted to wearing them," said George, ignoring Fred's comment. He held out his hand to his brother. "Cough up."
Fred sighed, and reached into his pocket. When he'd handed the coins over to George, he turned back to Harry. "Listen, let us make it up to you. Anything you want from Hogsmeade, we'll arrange to get it for you. Gift-wrapped and ready to give. Come on, what do you say?"
Harry hesitated. On one hand it might help him out with Ginny's present, that is, if he could think of anything to get for her. On the other, he definitely didn't trust the twins not to booby-trap the box. Before he could answer, Ginny had joined them.
"Sorry," she said a bit breathlessly. Harry felt her slip a hand into his. "Fletcher made me stay after class and do some extra cleaning." She pulled a face. "What's going on?"
"We're trying to make up for lost business this holiday season," said Fred. "Speaking of which..." He went back to the Ravenclaw girl, who was still waiting for him to complete her order.
"Listen," said George, "I'll need to get back to work soon, as well, but as long as you're all here, and you're staying on for the holidays, why don't you join us down in Hogsmeade on Christmas day?"
Hermione bit her lip. "I don't know if we'd be allowed. They cancelled Hogsmeade visits for good reason, you know."
"Well, it's not as if You Know Who's going to find out about it," put in Ron. "He might find out about the whole school going into Hogsmeade, because that takes organisation, but the four of us are a different matter."
"Yeah, and it's not like we don't have more than one way of getting there," added Harry with a wink to George.
"Well, think about it," George said. "If you want, I'll talk to Dumbledore about it."
Before anyone could reply to this, there was a loud slapping sound. They all turned to see Fred holding his cheek and the Ravenclaw girl stalking off. Fred was holding what looked like a blue dwarf dressed in white trousers and a white pointy hat.
"Argh!" said George. "I knew those Muggle cartoon characters were a bad idea."
*
Harry entered the boys' dormitory later that evening to find Ron already there. He was sprawled across his bed reading. This was quite surprising considering that the Christmas holiday officially began tomorrow.
Ron did not look up as Harry came over. He merely stated, "They're all mental, you know."
"Who are?"
"Girls."
"What have you done now?"
Ron threw his pillow at Harry. "I haven't done anything but misinterpret something Hermione said. And that's hardly surprising. Listen to this." He began to read a passage from the book:
When a girl tells you she's not upset, don't believe it. Of course she's upset. Similarly, if she tells you, 'It's not you, it's me', she means the problem lies with you, and woe betide you if you don't find out what it is and do something about it as quickly as possible. Tread carefully, however, if she says, 'I'm fine.' You may think she means just the opposite, but this is not always the case. The phrase 'I'm fine', when uttered by your girlfriend, may mean any or all of the following:
I'm perfectly fine, what are you on about? What have you done?
I'm not fine, and I won't be fine until after I've been good and hacked off with you and told all my friends what a stupid git you are.
I'm not fine, but you're supposed to be able to guess what's wrong and fix it.
I'm frustrated and taking it out on you.
I'm not fine, and I want you to take me out and make me feel better.
If you have to ask, I'm certainly not going to tell you.
I'll be fine after I've worked out my feelings. Check back in a year or two.
Sod off.
Ron paused for breath as he slammed the book shut. "What did I tell you? Perfectly mental, the lot of them."
"So what did you say to Hermione?"
Ron mumbled something.
"What was that?"
"Well, she asked an unfair question! She asked me if I thought Ami was pretty."
"Who's Ami?"
"That Ravenclaw Fred was chatting up. She's in Hermione's Arithmancy class."
"And I suppose you didn't give the right answer."
"All I said was, 'I suppose so'! And then Hermione went all quiet, and she got this, this look she gets. Sort of like McGonagall, you know? So I asked her what was wrong, and she said, 'Nothing. I'm fine.' "
Harry wanted to laugh but restrained himself. "So you're looking up how to interpret what she means? Ron, it's obvious you answered her question wrong. She was expecting you to tell her Ami wasn't as pretty as she is."
"Yeah, I know. I just read that part. You seem to know a lot about it. Has Ginny tried that one on you already?"
"Erm, no." Thank goodness, he added to himself. Then something else struck him. "That's not what I think it is, is it?"
"Dr Zog? Yeah."
"I thought Neville still had it."
"I guess he was done with it. When I came up here, it was lying on your bed."
"Suppose put it there when he was packing up to go home," said Harry, but he wasn't sure he was convinced of this.
"Yeah, but it's weird, you know? I was thinking as I came up here there might be something in this book about what girls really mean when they say certain things, and I was going to ask Neville if I could borrow it. And there it was."
Harry wasn't sure he liked this. That book kept turning up. Harry remembered the introduction of the book, which claimed the text had been charmed to adapt itself to the reader. He wondered if there was more to it than that. This was getting a bit too much like Tom Riddle's diary for his liking. He couldn't see where this book kept its brain either.
But something didn't make sense. Why would Sirius send him a possessed book? Harry knew he wouldn't have done so knowingly. And the book certainly seemed to have a sense of humour, if Harry's suspicions were correct about the book wanting to be found.
"Ron," he asked, "do you think there's anything odd about the book itself?"
"Like what?"
"Well, it seems to have a mind of its own, doesn't it?"
Ron thought for a moment. "I suppose it does. Just now, I opened it up to just any page, and it turned out to be the right one. And last summer when I was looking for, well, something…" Ron's ears went pink. "And it did the same thing. I've just now remembered that."
"Now that you mention it, I don't remember ever seeing anything in there that explains what girls mean when they say certain things."
"You're right. Hey! Just how much of this have you read, anyway?"
"A good bit of it. Listen, think of anything, anything at all, and open it to any page."
Ron shut the book and thought. When he opened it again, Harry saw his eyes widen. "It worked. I dunno if I like this."
"I know."
"But Sirius wouldn't knowingly send you something evil."
"No, he wouldn't. Let me try something. Give me the book."
Harry took the book from Ron, closed it and concentrated on the author. When he opened the book again, he read, "About this Book" at the top of the page. "Dr Zog has been educating young wizards in the subtleties of relationships for several decades. He has decided to put this knowledge into one easy-to-use volume. It has been magically enhanced to determine the reader's most pressing questions so that the reader may readily find what most interests him. This book has also been magically endowed with the author's own sense of humour. The reader is warned to keep close watch on this volume, lest it stray."
He showed the page to Ron. "I guess we'll just have to believe it."
"Yeah, until it gets us into trouble, that is."
"I don't know. I think Sirius is probably having a good laugh over the thought of me with this book."
"Yeah, you're probably right, Harry."
*
Saturday afternoon found Harry in the common room building a castle with an Exploding Snap deck since he was at a loss for anything better to do. Apparently Ron and Hermione had made up their differences and had gone off somewhere. Or perhaps they were in the process of making up their differences. The other Gryffindors were gone; they'd left that morning by Port Key.
He carefully placed another card on the castle, which teetered dangerously, and wondered where Ginny had got to. She had disappeared after lunch without a word to anyone. What could she be doing the first day of holidays that would require her to disappear for the afternoon? It couldn't be homework, and he was sure she didn't have detention--not even Professor Fletcher was that mean. He'd see her at supper, he told himself, and he'd worm it out of her then. Or maybe not. He set another card on the pile and grinned in spite of the fact that his castle was now smoking ominously. Perhaps he'd wait until later. There were very few students left at Hogwarts, which meant some of the more popular trysting spots ought to be free. With any luck, they wouldn't even have to leave the common room.
Smoke was now pouring from his card castle, and Harry leapt out of the way just in time as the entire thing exploded, sending bits of singed card all over the table. He'd have to find something else to do now. His mind settled on Sirius' book. He told himself he wanted to experiment with its trustworthiness some more. His desire to look at it had nothing whatsoever to do with curiosity.
He went up to his dormitory only to see that that book was lying out in plain sight again. He knew he'd put it away in his trunk last night. "Cheeky thing," he muttered.
He opened it at random and was surprised to find a page full of locator spells. "Ha, ha," he said to the book. "Very funny. This isn't Hermione you know."
He opened to another page and saw more of the same. "Well, I don't think I'm missing anything, am I? If George came up and pinched my socks, he's welcome to them."
Still, something made him set the book down and look in the trunk. At first glance it was difficult to tell if anything was missing, as he never paid that much attention to the way he stored his things. Then he noticed his Sneakoscope was on top of this socks. He usually kept it cushioned at the bottom of everything to stop it from going off unexpectedly. It was silent at the moment.
Harry straightened up and thought. If someone had gone through his trunk, what had they been after? His first thought was the necklace. He opened the drawer of his night table, and there it was in the same spot he'd left it back in November. He was about to turn back to his trunk when Ron came in.
"Looking for something, Harry?"
"Dunno. You didn't happen to take anything from my trunk, did you?"
"No. Has someone been through your things?"
"Looks that way. I'm just trying to see what's missing." Harry began to go through his trunk once more. "Ron, my invisibility cloak isn't here."
"Who would have taken that?"
"Dunno." But then he suddenly did know. "Ron, do you know where Ginny's got to? I haven't seen her all afternoon."
"No idea. D'you think she's taken it?"
"Who else knows about it besides you and Hermione?"
"Dumbledore, Sirius, Remus Lupin, Snape…"
"Of them, only Dumbledore is here, and he's hardly going to make off with it, is he?"
"Colin!"
"Left this morning for the holiday."
"Well I haven't seen Ginny, but if she's taken the invisibility cloak there's not much chance I would, is there?"
Harry gave Ron a dark look. There was something about the situation he didn't like. "I'm going to see if I can spot her on the Marauders' Map." He rummaged in his trunk again. "Damn it, it looks as if she's taken the map, as well."
"How does she even know about that?"
Harry willed himself not to blush and looked Ron straight in the eye. "She's seen me use it."
"Well, perhaps she's said something to Hermione."
Harry left for the common room without further comment. Ron followed.
"There you are," Hermione said when they appeared. "It's almost time for supper. Shall we go?"
"Hermione, where's Ginny?" Harry asked.
"Isn't she back yet?"
"I haven't seen her since lunch, and she seems to have taken the invisibility cloak and the Marauders' Map. They're not in my trunk at any rate. And what do you mean, she's not back yet?"
Hermione bit her lip and went pink.
"Come on, Hermione, you know something," said Ron. "Where did she go?"
"I don't know right off. Only she told me she was going out this afternoon and to try and stall you if you asked any questions."
"You must have an idea where she went," Harry pointed out.
"Well it is the holiday. Best not to ask too many questions and spoil people's surprises."
"Are you saying she went Christmas shopping?"
"It would make sense."
"But that would mean she's gone to Hogsmeade. Shouldn't she have come back by now?"
"Not if she hasn't found what she's looking for. Or maybe she stopped by to say hello to the twins."
Harry knew Hermione's explanation was perfectly reasonable, but he still felt there was something funny going on. He wasn't going to feel any better until he saw Ginny again. "She saw them yesterday," he pointed out. "I'm going after her."
"Wait," said Ron, as Harry moved toward the portrait hole. "We'll come with you."
Without the Marauders' Map to guide them, Harry, Ron and Hermione had to be careful not to let anyone see them, as they headed for the statue of the humpbacked witch on the third floor. Luckily they met no one. Harry drew his wand, tapped the statue and muttered, "Dissendium." Soon all three of them found themselves in the underground passage, which led to Honeydukes. Ron and Hermione had never been through it before. They hurried, but the tunnel was long, and the air was stuffy. By the time they arrived in the Honeydukes' storeroom, they were all breathless and sweaty.
Now they had to be extremely cautious so as not to get caught. The last time Harry had used this way to get to Hogsmeade, the village had been bustling with students, and it had been easy for him to blend in with the others. But today the village was likely to be empty, as the shops would have just closed for the day. Harry realised with a jolt that Ginny definitely should have been back at the school by now or at the very least they should have crossed paths with her.
He turned back to Ron and Hermione, exchanging a look of understanding with them. Total silence was necessary. He motioned to them and they all tiptoed towards the front of the shop. It was indeed closed for the day, and luck was once more on Harry's side, as the owners seemed to be in their private apartments upstairs. The shop door was locked, but it opened easily to a whispered "alohomora".
The village of Hogsmeade was silent and dark. The sun had set over two hours ago, and the only lights came from above the shops where the owners resided and The Three Broomsticks. There was no sign of Ginny anywhere.
"Where is she, then?" Harry asked Hermione once they'd walked through the village and back. His tone was harsher than he'd meant it to be, but this was worrisome.
"You think she's still got the invisibility cloak on?" asked Ron.
"Why would she do that?" asked Harry. "She couldn't get much shopping done if she was invisible, could she?"
"Let's ask at Zonko's," said Hermione sensibly. "Maybe she's there, or maybe she at least popped in."
But she hadn't. When they asked, Fred told them he hadn't seen her since yesterday. "She's giving you the run-around already, is she?" he said, nudging Harry, who had no choice but to go along with the joke. He couldn't let the real reason he was worried on to the twins. They might ask him questions he didn't want to answer.
They went to The Three Broomsticks, since it was still open, and asked Madam Rosmerta. "No," she told them, "I haven't seen anybody from the school today. No students, I should say. A few of the teachers were in for a drink earlier."
"What are we going to do now?" asked Harry as they left the pub.
"We'll have to go back to school and tell Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione.
"Or she may be back by now," said Ron.
Hermione frowned. "I doubt it. We would have met up with her."
"What if she took a different path back to the castle?" asked Ron, but Hermione didn't look convinced.
They made their way back to Honeydukes and through the underground passage once more. At the bottom of the chute, which led back up to the statue of the witch, Harry noticed something in the pale light coming from his wand-tip that he'd missed earlier.
"Hold on a moment," he said, bending down. It was the invisibility cloak, and under that lay the Marauders' Map. "Look at this. She just left this here."
"I guess she didn't think she'd be needing them until she came back," said Ron.
"Which means she hasn't come back," concluded Hermione. Harry's insides twisted uncomfortably, and he knew it wasn't hunger pangs as a result of missing supper. He shown his wand on the map, which hadn't been erased, and this only confirmed his fear. Ginny wasn't in the castle anywhere.
"We have to go to Dumbledore," Hermione said again. Harry really didn't want to do that. He wanted to go back to Hogsmeade and knock on all the doors until he found Ginny, or at least had something to go on, but he resigned himself to the inevitable and began to climb the chute.
As Harry, Ron and Hermione emerged from the statue of the humpbacked witch, Harry looked at the map out of habit. It seemed that if they followed the most direct route to the second floor, they would encounter Mundungus Fletcher. Technically they were out of bounds, and although they had good reason to want to see the headmaster, Harry really didn't want to run into the Potions master. If anyone were going to be unreasonable and prevent them from reaching Dumbledore's office, it would be he.
Harry pointed this out to Ron and Hermione so that they took a more round-about route. But as they were passing along the western wall of the castle, they came to an outer corridor lined with windows. A distinct tapping could be heard, and they soon discovered the source of the noise: an owl was trying to get in. Hermione opened the window, and the owl immediately flew to Harry and held out its leg.
A feeling of foreboding overtook him as he took the parchment and read it:
Oh ye of little faith, take care lest you fall into a trap. She whom you seek is not yet beyond your reach, but she will be if you do not act quickly. Come alone and tell no one.
Harry read it again, but it made no sense. What did the first sentence mean? He showed the letter to Ron and Hermione, but they weren't able to make any more of it than he was. Someone had Ginny--that much seemed clear--and whoever it was wanted him, Harry, to come after her alone. He was ready to do that, but where was she? How was he supposed to find her based on this letter?
Suddenly he knew, and he turned away without a word and sprinted back to Gryffindor Tower. "Boar's head!" he panted to the Fat Lady before scrambling through the portrait hole and running the rest of the way up to his dormitory. He had no choice now but to trust Sirius' book. It had wanted to show him a locator spell earlier, and now he understood why. It had to be a sign…
He opened the book at random, fighting off a rising sense of panic, and saw the same page as before. He read the first spell through carefully, concentrated, pointed his wand…
"Reperio!"
A vision of a rocky hill with the ruins of a tower on its top, bleak against a leaden sky, swum into view. Somehow he knew where this was, although he'd never seen this place before in his life. Ron and Hermione burst, breathless, into the dormitory even as the vision faded before Harry's eyes.
"She's in Wales," he told them.
A/N: First of all I have to credit Ami and Ali for coming up with the joke items the twins were selling. Also the passage Ron was reading from Dr Zog was inspired by The Secret Language of Girls by Josey Vogels. Josey Vogels writes a dating advice column in my local newspaper, and excerpts of her book were printed in it last week.
I still appreciate your feedback. Special thanks go to Sue, Monique, Yolanda, Kat, Rosie, Debbie, Melissa, Jack, Harry (just not Potter), Paula, Cait, Amy, JK and Imogen for their kind words. An extra-special heartfelt thanks to Diane for the laughs she gave all of us at GT.
Chapter 13
Summary: Ginny gives Harry a special birthday present, but the consequences are unexpected.
Almost before Harry knew it, term was coming to an end, and everyone was getting ready for Christmas. The Great Hall was decorated with the usual twelve Christmas trees, and perhaps in an attempt to make things more festive, the suits of armour had been enchanted to sing Christmas carols as they had been during Harry's fourth year. They hadn't learned the words any better in the interim, apparently, and Peeves was once again in his element as he supplied the missing verses.
But in spite of the attempts to liven things up, the mood in the castle was quite sombre. Most students had signed the list to go home for the holiday--travel was being arranged by Port Key--and there was a definite feeling, unspoken but present all the same, that this could be the last Christmas that some families spent together.
Harry was, of course, staying at Hogwarts as he did every year. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were staying on as well. In the Weasleys' case, there had been an owl from their mother informing them that there would be no special celebration at the Burrow this year. Bill and Charlie were apparently unable to get away from their duties on the continent. Harry wasn't sure, but he wondered if Mrs Weasley somehow thought they'd all be safer at Hogwarts. At any rate, he was grateful for the company.
Harry left Herbology, his last class on the last Friday of term, in a pensive mood. Normally there would have been a Hogsmeade weekend the following day, and it would have been nice to get out of the castle and do some Christmas shopping. He was rather short on ideas for what to get Ginny, and Ron hadn't proven very helpful with his suggestions. Harry didn't think Ginny would appreciate anything from Zonko's, and sweets from Honeydukes seemed too obvious. In any case there was no chance of even getting into Hogsmeade to visit the shops. Harry hadn't ever heard anything further about whoever had attacked him the day after Halloween, but Hogsmeade visits were still cancelled.
He entered the Entrance Hall with Ron and Hermione to find it packed with students. There were some staff on hand, as well. They soon found out what was happening. Making their way through the crowd, Ron craned his neck and said, "It's Fred and George."
Hermione stood on her toes in a vain attempt to see over the other students. "What are they doing here?"
"Dunno. Looks like some sort of demonstration."
Harry could see very little until they'd pushed their way nearer the front. Now he could see that the twins had set up some sort of table and were showing a variety of Zonko's products to the assembled students. At one end of the table was a pile of parchment sheets that looked a lot like order forms to Harry.
"Perhaps you'll like this, then." Fred was talking animatedly to a seventh year Ravenclaw, while he held up what looked like one of the fake wands the twins had invented. "If you hold it and give it a shake, it repeats the name of your worst enemy."
"What good would that do me?" asked the girl.
"Could be informative. Give it to someone who doesn't like you and trick them into shaking it. You can find out who really doesn't like you, then, and that's aside from the annoyance factor of them having to listen to the name of their enemy over, and over, and over…
"I get the idea." The girl looked as if she was ready to walk away.
"Wait, I know just the thing…" Fred's eyes seemed to flash at her as he leaned closer and lowered his voice. He reached under the table and pulled out a pair of enormous, vividly red lips. He gave them a bit of a push with his hand, and they flew up into the air and kissed the girl's cheek with a very loud smacking noise. She blushed and began to smile slyly.
"I don't know…"
Fred leaned even closer to her, a knowing grin broadening over his face. "You won't find better than this. Invented that myself, I did."
"As I remember, he had some help." George had come up to Harry, Ron and Hermione. He was watching his twin brother and the girl.
"What's all this, then?" asked Ron.
"When Mohammed won't come to the mountain, you have to move the mountain to Mohammed." Ron looked blankly at his brother. "It's good business. No Hogsmeade for the students so we're giving them a chance to do their Christmas shopping."
"Yes, but everyone's off home tomorrow," Hermione pointed out.
"We're only taking orders today. All orders to be filled by owl post, with delivery by Christmas guaranteed," George said, indicating the order forms. "Gift wrapping included. So…" He leaned closer to Hermione and lowered his voice, much as Fred had done. "Can I interest you in a deluxe selection of our finest Dungbombs? A bargain at only one Galleon, five Sickles."
"Erm, I don't think so," said Hermione.
"Come on. Ronnikins will love it. Unless you had something else in mind…" George's tone had become decidedly suggestive.
But Dungbombs reminded Harry of something else. "Erm, George," he said. "I hate to interrupt, but I'd like a word with you."
"What is it, young Harry? Need advice on what to get our sister for the holidays? Because I have just the thing…"
"No, actually, it's about my socks."
George looked lost for a moment, but then realisation dawned. "Oi, Fred!" he called.
Fred looked up. He was still taking the Ravenclaw's order. Harry suspected that Fred had been chatting her up.
"Fred, come over here for a minute. You ought to hear this."
"What is it? Can't you see I'm in the middle of a sale?" He did not sound pleased with the interruption.
"This will only take a moment of your time, brother dear. Then you can go back to what you were doing." George's tone indicated that he was as suspicious as Harry as to Fred's true motivations. When Fred had joined them, George continued. "I believe you owe me five Galleons."
"What for?"
"I believe we had a wager, one which I have won."
Harry had no idea what any of this had to do with the disaster that had befallen him in Potions class. "You can work this business about a wager out later," he told the twins. "I just want to know what you did to my socks!"
"If you're even asking us about them," said George, "you must surely have an idea. I thought the particular fragrance would make it obvious…"
"All right," replied Harry. "But did you have to fix it so they'd go off in the middle of Potions class?"
Fred and George exchanged a look and burst out laughing.
"Potions class?" said Fred, once he'd got his laughter under control. "Too bad Snape wasn't there to see that…"
"Fletcher's much worse than Snape ever was."
Fred put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'm sorry if I got you into trouble. It's my fault. I told George you couldn't possibly dream of wearing those socks. That's why I chose them to hex. Didn't imagine you'd actually put them on. They're just so…"
"Colourful," supplied George. "Original. And being a man of taste, I bet Fred that you would wear them."
Fred cleared his throat, interrupting his twin. "George wanted to nick those socks. He has a shirt that matches them."
"And now you've all but admitted to wearing them," said George, ignoring Fred's comment. He held out his hand to his brother. "Cough up."
Fred sighed, and reached into his pocket. When he'd handed the coins over to George, he turned back to Harry. "Listen, let us make it up to you. Anything you want from Hogsmeade, we'll arrange to get it for you. Gift-wrapped and ready to give. Come on, what do you say?"
Harry hesitated. On one hand it might help him out with Ginny's present, that is, if he could think of anything to get for her. On the other, he definitely didn't trust the twins not to booby-trap the box. Before he could answer, Ginny had joined them.
"Sorry," she said a bit breathlessly. Harry felt her slip a hand into his. "Fletcher made me stay after class and do some extra cleaning." She pulled a face. "What's going on?"
"We're trying to make up for lost business this holiday season," said Fred. "Speaking of which..." He went back to the Ravenclaw girl, who was still waiting for him to complete her order.
"Listen," said George, "I'll need to get back to work soon, as well, but as long as you're all here, and you're staying on for the holidays, why don't you join us down in Hogsmeade on Christmas day?"
Hermione bit her lip. "I don't know if we'd be allowed. They cancelled Hogsmeade visits for good reason, you know."
"Well, it's not as if You Know Who's going to find out about it," put in Ron. "He might find out about the whole school going into Hogsmeade, because that takes organisation, but the four of us are a different matter."
"Yeah, and it's not like we don't have more than one way of getting there," added Harry with a wink to George.
"Well, think about it," George said. "If you want, I'll talk to Dumbledore about it."
Before anyone could reply to this, there was a loud slapping sound. They all turned to see Fred holding his cheek and the Ravenclaw girl stalking off. Fred was holding what looked like a blue dwarf dressed in white trousers and a white pointy hat.
"Argh!" said George. "I knew those Muggle cartoon characters were a bad idea."
*
Harry entered the boys' dormitory later that evening to find Ron already there. He was sprawled across his bed reading. This was quite surprising considering that the Christmas holiday officially began tomorrow.
Ron did not look up as Harry came over. He merely stated, "They're all mental, you know."
"Who are?"
"Girls."
"What have you done now?"
Ron threw his pillow at Harry. "I haven't done anything but misinterpret something Hermione said. And that's hardly surprising. Listen to this." He began to read a passage from the book:
When a girl tells you she's not upset, don't believe it. Of course she's upset. Similarly, if she tells you, 'It's not you, it's me', she means the problem lies with you, and woe betide you if you don't find out what it is and do something about it as quickly as possible. Tread carefully, however, if she says, 'I'm fine.' You may think she means just the opposite, but this is not always the case. The phrase 'I'm fine', when uttered by your girlfriend, may mean any or all of the following:
I'm perfectly fine, what are you on about? What have you done?
I'm not fine, and I won't be fine until after I've been good and hacked off with you and told all my friends what a stupid git you are.
I'm not fine, but you're supposed to be able to guess what's wrong and fix it.
I'm frustrated and taking it out on you.
I'm not fine, and I want you to take me out and make me feel better.
If you have to ask, I'm certainly not going to tell you.
I'll be fine after I've worked out my feelings. Check back in a year or two.
Sod off.
Ron paused for breath as he slammed the book shut. "What did I tell you? Perfectly mental, the lot of them."
"So what did you say to Hermione?"
Ron mumbled something.
"What was that?"
"Well, she asked an unfair question! She asked me if I thought Ami was pretty."
"Who's Ami?"
"That Ravenclaw Fred was chatting up. She's in Hermione's Arithmancy class."
"And I suppose you didn't give the right answer."
"All I said was, 'I suppose so'! And then Hermione went all quiet, and she got this, this look she gets. Sort of like McGonagall, you know? So I asked her what was wrong, and she said, 'Nothing. I'm fine.' "
Harry wanted to laugh but restrained himself. "So you're looking up how to interpret what she means? Ron, it's obvious you answered her question wrong. She was expecting you to tell her Ami wasn't as pretty as she is."
"Yeah, I know. I just read that part. You seem to know a lot about it. Has Ginny tried that one on you already?"
"Erm, no." Thank goodness, he added to himself. Then something else struck him. "That's not what I think it is, is it?"
"Dr Zog? Yeah."
"I thought Neville still had it."
"I guess he was done with it. When I came up here, it was lying on your bed."
"Suppose put it there when he was packing up to go home," said Harry, but he wasn't sure he was convinced of this.
"Yeah, but it's weird, you know? I was thinking as I came up here there might be something in this book about what girls really mean when they say certain things, and I was going to ask Neville if I could borrow it. And there it was."
Harry wasn't sure he liked this. That book kept turning up. Harry remembered the introduction of the book, which claimed the text had been charmed to adapt itself to the reader. He wondered if there was more to it than that. This was getting a bit too much like Tom Riddle's diary for his liking. He couldn't see where this book kept its brain either.
But something didn't make sense. Why would Sirius send him a possessed book? Harry knew he wouldn't have done so knowingly. And the book certainly seemed to have a sense of humour, if Harry's suspicions were correct about the book wanting to be found.
"Ron," he asked, "do you think there's anything odd about the book itself?"
"Like what?"
"Well, it seems to have a mind of its own, doesn't it?"
Ron thought for a moment. "I suppose it does. Just now, I opened it up to just any page, and it turned out to be the right one. And last summer when I was looking for, well, something…" Ron's ears went pink. "And it did the same thing. I've just now remembered that."
"Now that you mention it, I don't remember ever seeing anything in there that explains what girls mean when they say certain things."
"You're right. Hey! Just how much of this have you read, anyway?"
"A good bit of it. Listen, think of anything, anything at all, and open it to any page."
Ron shut the book and thought. When he opened it again, Harry saw his eyes widen. "It worked. I dunno if I like this."
"I know."
"But Sirius wouldn't knowingly send you something evil."
"No, he wouldn't. Let me try something. Give me the book."
Harry took the book from Ron, closed it and concentrated on the author. When he opened the book again, he read, "About this Book" at the top of the page. "Dr Zog has been educating young wizards in the subtleties of relationships for several decades. He has decided to put this knowledge into one easy-to-use volume. It has been magically enhanced to determine the reader's most pressing questions so that the reader may readily find what most interests him. This book has also been magically endowed with the author's own sense of humour. The reader is warned to keep close watch on this volume, lest it stray."
He showed the page to Ron. "I guess we'll just have to believe it."
"Yeah, until it gets us into trouble, that is."
"I don't know. I think Sirius is probably having a good laugh over the thought of me with this book."
"Yeah, you're probably right, Harry."
*
Saturday afternoon found Harry in the common room building a castle with an Exploding Snap deck since he was at a loss for anything better to do. Apparently Ron and Hermione had made up their differences and had gone off somewhere. Or perhaps they were in the process of making up their differences. The other Gryffindors were gone; they'd left that morning by Port Key.
He carefully placed another card on the castle, which teetered dangerously, and wondered where Ginny had got to. She had disappeared after lunch without a word to anyone. What could she be doing the first day of holidays that would require her to disappear for the afternoon? It couldn't be homework, and he was sure she didn't have detention--not even Professor Fletcher was that mean. He'd see her at supper, he told himself, and he'd worm it out of her then. Or maybe not. He set another card on the pile and grinned in spite of the fact that his castle was now smoking ominously. Perhaps he'd wait until later. There were very few students left at Hogwarts, which meant some of the more popular trysting spots ought to be free. With any luck, they wouldn't even have to leave the common room.
Smoke was now pouring from his card castle, and Harry leapt out of the way just in time as the entire thing exploded, sending bits of singed card all over the table. He'd have to find something else to do now. His mind settled on Sirius' book. He told himself he wanted to experiment with its trustworthiness some more. His desire to look at it had nothing whatsoever to do with curiosity.
He went up to his dormitory only to see that that book was lying out in plain sight again. He knew he'd put it away in his trunk last night. "Cheeky thing," he muttered.
He opened it at random and was surprised to find a page full of locator spells. "Ha, ha," he said to the book. "Very funny. This isn't Hermione you know."
He opened to another page and saw more of the same. "Well, I don't think I'm missing anything, am I? If George came up and pinched my socks, he's welcome to them."
Still, something made him set the book down and look in the trunk. At first glance it was difficult to tell if anything was missing, as he never paid that much attention to the way he stored his things. Then he noticed his Sneakoscope was on top of this socks. He usually kept it cushioned at the bottom of everything to stop it from going off unexpectedly. It was silent at the moment.
Harry straightened up and thought. If someone had gone through his trunk, what had they been after? His first thought was the necklace. He opened the drawer of his night table, and there it was in the same spot he'd left it back in November. He was about to turn back to his trunk when Ron came in.
"Looking for something, Harry?"
"Dunno. You didn't happen to take anything from my trunk, did you?"
"No. Has someone been through your things?"
"Looks that way. I'm just trying to see what's missing." Harry began to go through his trunk once more. "Ron, my invisibility cloak isn't here."
"Who would have taken that?"
"Dunno." But then he suddenly did know. "Ron, do you know where Ginny's got to? I haven't seen her all afternoon."
"No idea. D'you think she's taken it?"
"Who else knows about it besides you and Hermione?"
"Dumbledore, Sirius, Remus Lupin, Snape…"
"Of them, only Dumbledore is here, and he's hardly going to make off with it, is he?"
"Colin!"
"Left this morning for the holiday."
"Well I haven't seen Ginny, but if she's taken the invisibility cloak there's not much chance I would, is there?"
Harry gave Ron a dark look. There was something about the situation he didn't like. "I'm going to see if I can spot her on the Marauders' Map." He rummaged in his trunk again. "Damn it, it looks as if she's taken the map, as well."
"How does she even know about that?"
Harry willed himself not to blush and looked Ron straight in the eye. "She's seen me use it."
"Well, perhaps she's said something to Hermione."
Harry left for the common room without further comment. Ron followed.
"There you are," Hermione said when they appeared. "It's almost time for supper. Shall we go?"
"Hermione, where's Ginny?" Harry asked.
"Isn't she back yet?"
"I haven't seen her since lunch, and she seems to have taken the invisibility cloak and the Marauders' Map. They're not in my trunk at any rate. And what do you mean, she's not back yet?"
Hermione bit her lip and went pink.
"Come on, Hermione, you know something," said Ron. "Where did she go?"
"I don't know right off. Only she told me she was going out this afternoon and to try and stall you if you asked any questions."
"You must have an idea where she went," Harry pointed out.
"Well it is the holiday. Best not to ask too many questions and spoil people's surprises."
"Are you saying she went Christmas shopping?"
"It would make sense."
"But that would mean she's gone to Hogsmeade. Shouldn't she have come back by now?"
"Not if she hasn't found what she's looking for. Or maybe she stopped by to say hello to the twins."
Harry knew Hermione's explanation was perfectly reasonable, but he still felt there was something funny going on. He wasn't going to feel any better until he saw Ginny again. "She saw them yesterday," he pointed out. "I'm going after her."
"Wait," said Ron, as Harry moved toward the portrait hole. "We'll come with you."
Without the Marauders' Map to guide them, Harry, Ron and Hermione had to be careful not to let anyone see them, as they headed for the statue of the humpbacked witch on the third floor. Luckily they met no one. Harry drew his wand, tapped the statue and muttered, "Dissendium." Soon all three of them found themselves in the underground passage, which led to Honeydukes. Ron and Hermione had never been through it before. They hurried, but the tunnel was long, and the air was stuffy. By the time they arrived in the Honeydukes' storeroom, they were all breathless and sweaty.
Now they had to be extremely cautious so as not to get caught. The last time Harry had used this way to get to Hogsmeade, the village had been bustling with students, and it had been easy for him to blend in with the others. But today the village was likely to be empty, as the shops would have just closed for the day. Harry realised with a jolt that Ginny definitely should have been back at the school by now or at the very least they should have crossed paths with her.
He turned back to Ron and Hermione, exchanging a look of understanding with them. Total silence was necessary. He motioned to them and they all tiptoed towards the front of the shop. It was indeed closed for the day, and luck was once more on Harry's side, as the owners seemed to be in their private apartments upstairs. The shop door was locked, but it opened easily to a whispered "alohomora".
The village of Hogsmeade was silent and dark. The sun had set over two hours ago, and the only lights came from above the shops where the owners resided and The Three Broomsticks. There was no sign of Ginny anywhere.
"Where is she, then?" Harry asked Hermione once they'd walked through the village and back. His tone was harsher than he'd meant it to be, but this was worrisome.
"You think she's still got the invisibility cloak on?" asked Ron.
"Why would she do that?" asked Harry. "She couldn't get much shopping done if she was invisible, could she?"
"Let's ask at Zonko's," said Hermione sensibly. "Maybe she's there, or maybe she at least popped in."
But she hadn't. When they asked, Fred told them he hadn't seen her since yesterday. "She's giving you the run-around already, is she?" he said, nudging Harry, who had no choice but to go along with the joke. He couldn't let the real reason he was worried on to the twins. They might ask him questions he didn't want to answer.
They went to The Three Broomsticks, since it was still open, and asked Madam Rosmerta. "No," she told them, "I haven't seen anybody from the school today. No students, I should say. A few of the teachers were in for a drink earlier."
"What are we going to do now?" asked Harry as they left the pub.
"We'll have to go back to school and tell Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione.
"Or she may be back by now," said Ron.
Hermione frowned. "I doubt it. We would have met up with her."
"What if she took a different path back to the castle?" asked Ron, but Hermione didn't look convinced.
They made their way back to Honeydukes and through the underground passage once more. At the bottom of the chute, which led back up to the statue of the witch, Harry noticed something in the pale light coming from his wand-tip that he'd missed earlier.
"Hold on a moment," he said, bending down. It was the invisibility cloak, and under that lay the Marauders' Map. "Look at this. She just left this here."
"I guess she didn't think she'd be needing them until she came back," said Ron.
"Which means she hasn't come back," concluded Hermione. Harry's insides twisted uncomfortably, and he knew it wasn't hunger pangs as a result of missing supper. He shown his wand on the map, which hadn't been erased, and this only confirmed his fear. Ginny wasn't in the castle anywhere.
"We have to go to Dumbledore," Hermione said again. Harry really didn't want to do that. He wanted to go back to Hogsmeade and knock on all the doors until he found Ginny, or at least had something to go on, but he resigned himself to the inevitable and began to climb the chute.
As Harry, Ron and Hermione emerged from the statue of the humpbacked witch, Harry looked at the map out of habit. It seemed that if they followed the most direct route to the second floor, they would encounter Mundungus Fletcher. Technically they were out of bounds, and although they had good reason to want to see the headmaster, Harry really didn't want to run into the Potions master. If anyone were going to be unreasonable and prevent them from reaching Dumbledore's office, it would be he.
Harry pointed this out to Ron and Hermione so that they took a more round-about route. But as they were passing along the western wall of the castle, they came to an outer corridor lined with windows. A distinct tapping could be heard, and they soon discovered the source of the noise: an owl was trying to get in. Hermione opened the window, and the owl immediately flew to Harry and held out its leg.
A feeling of foreboding overtook him as he took the parchment and read it:
Oh ye of little faith, take care lest you fall into a trap. She whom you seek is not yet beyond your reach, but she will be if you do not act quickly. Come alone and tell no one.
Harry read it again, but it made no sense. What did the first sentence mean? He showed the letter to Ron and Hermione, but they weren't able to make any more of it than he was. Someone had Ginny--that much seemed clear--and whoever it was wanted him, Harry, to come after her alone. He was ready to do that, but where was she? How was he supposed to find her based on this letter?
Suddenly he knew, and he turned away without a word and sprinted back to Gryffindor Tower. "Boar's head!" he panted to the Fat Lady before scrambling through the portrait hole and running the rest of the way up to his dormitory. He had no choice now but to trust Sirius' book. It had wanted to show him a locator spell earlier, and now he understood why. It had to be a sign…
He opened the book at random, fighting off a rising sense of panic, and saw the same page as before. He read the first spell through carefully, concentrated, pointed his wand…
"Reperio!"
A vision of a rocky hill with the ruins of a tower on its top, bleak against a leaden sky, swum into view. Somehow he knew where this was, although he'd never seen this place before in his life. Ron and Hermione burst, breathless, into the dormitory even as the vision faded before Harry's eyes.
"She's in Wales," he told them.
A/N: First of all I have to credit Ami and Ali for coming up with the joke items the twins were selling. Also the passage Ron was reading from Dr Zog was inspired by The Secret Language of Girls by Josey Vogels. Josey Vogels writes a dating advice column in my local newspaper, and excerpts of her book were printed in it last week.
I still appreciate your feedback. Special thanks go to Sue, Monique, Yolanda, Kat, Rosie, Debbie, Melissa, Jack, Harry (just not Potter), Paula, Cait, Amy, JK and Imogen for their kind words. An extra-special heartfelt thanks to Diane for the laughs she gave all of us at GT.
Chapter 13