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A couple more weeks passed, and Harry and Flamia encountered a new difficulty, one that was entirely to be expected, though that did not make it any easier. Both he and she acquired admirers and admirresses. Various invitations became more frequent, often disguised under one favorable pretext or another. Most, after receiving a fairly direct refusal, left them alone, but there were also the persistent ones, and the most annoying thing was that many of these persistent people were Gryffindors. Particularly persistent were a certain Romilda Vane from the fourth year and that very McLaggen, whose looks in Flamia's direction Harry had disliked from the very first day. The latter was simply impossibly pushy...
"I can't take this anymore!" Flamia declared one evening, sliding along his body. Recently, they had developed a habit of discussing issues related to their classmates' advances while in bed, almost as if to spite everyone. "That Cormac is going to drive me insane! I don't even know what to do with him anymore!"
"Oh, I see how he comes up to you every evening. Makes me want to flee the common room..."
"Exactly! Though I see it's not always easier for you..."
"Oh yes! That Vane... She sits down next to me and starts chattering away... Thank Merlin Ron and Hermione understand how I must feel and do a good job distracting her, or just chasing her away..."
"Lucky you. There's no dealing with this McLaggen. I even tried setting him against a Ravenclaw guy, but that one preferred to vanish immediately..." Flamia let out a heavy but satisfied sigh as she lay down beside him. "Harry, I think we'll have to announce that we're both taken..."
"You think that'll help?"
"Well... Surely not everyone will flirt with us if they know we're dating. I don't think we need to say any more than that."
"I'm not sure, Flamia. And even if these ones give up, the cure might be worse than the disease..."
"Everyone will be too jealous?"
"Yes, but all the girls will turn against you for stealing the Boy-Who-Lived, and everyone will dislike me for winning over 'That Stunning Little Veela'..."
"Is that what they call me?"
"Yep. I accidentally overheard our friend Zacharias Smith discussing all your, quote, charms with Blaise Zabini!"
"With a Slytherin?"
"Yes. Though, to give him credit, he doesn't seem quite as fanatical as most of them. But that's not the point. I can't say where I got this from, but for some reason I'm sure that if we tell everyone we're together, things will only get worse. So I think sooner or later they'll either find out or suspect anyway, and I'd rather that happen later than sooner..."
"It's not that I agree, but if you say so..."
Little by little, October arrived. Eventually, McLaggen crossed a certain line and was sent to Professor McGonagall's office. After that, he spent some time looking thoroughly miserable: the formidable deputy headmistress had an effect even on him. At the same time, Harry began noticing strange looks Hermione occasionally cast at Flamia. She was clearly starting to suspect something. Something odd was happening with Ginny too. Harry admitted to himself that he hardly thought about his best friend's sister anymore. And yet she seemed determined to remind him of her existence. Far too often, in the most unexpected corners of the castle, Harry would run into her, usually together with Dean. Was she trying to tease him or something?
The Headmaster still had not remembered the additional lessons. Harry and Flamia did their best to fill that gap themselves, and their arsenal of spells gradually expanded. One of Harry's favorite spells became the forceful "Lansul," which could hurl an opponent away with tremendous power. He never got the chance to test any of this arsenal on Malfoy. The latter had become strangely quiet, almost invisible, even somewhat pale. Besides that, Harry continued practicing Occlumency and achieved some success. Flamia, incidentally, also became interested in it. She learned to clear her mind very quickly; obviously Harry's experience helped her considerably...
The time came for the first trip to Hogsmeade. At first Harry feared that, due to the security measures, the outing would be canceled, but his fears proved unfounded. He was more than happy about that, as he felt he had spent too much time cooped up in the castle. But the day went wrong from the very beginning. First, all the students wishing to visit the wizarding village were lined up in a long queue, and a maliciously scowling Filch began waving some ominous-looking device over them, which Hermione identified as a new lie detector.
After they survived that procedure (Ron, who was more talkative than he should have been, got it twice as badly), it turned out that the weather, already dreadful in the morning, had become even worse. Barely able to stay upright against gusts of wind strengthened by snow and rain, they staggered all the way to Hogsmeade, where another blow awaited them: Zonko's was closed and boarded up.
Harry took it as an omen but deliberately ignored it. Eventually, they ended up in Honeydukes. A few minutes later Flamia appeared there as well. Harry once again noticed the distinctly interested look Hermione gave her. Though Hermione was hardly the only one looking at the beautiful Nightfolk girl, the others' gazes were of a different nature.
There they were intercepted by Professor Slughorn, who did not miss the opportunity to invite Harry, Hermione, and later Flamia to yet another one of his gatherings. This finally ruined Ron's mood. He had long been irritated by the fact that the Potions professor barely noticed him outside class. Harry could understand him; he himself attended those parties without much enthusiasm, though he had to admit they were occasionally quite interesting, provided one ignored Slughorn's endless chatter. One could actually meet interesting people there, such as employees of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement...
It is well known that when you're in a bad mood, you're willing to do anything to ruin everyone else's mood too. Trying to avoid that, Harry suggested they go to the Three Broomsticks. To some extent it worked. While they were battling the wind, Ron physically could not grumble. But near the pub stood a pair of people who distracted all three of them from thoughts of Slughorn.
First Harry recognized the barman from the Hog's Head, and then he recognized the second man as none other than Mundungus Fletcher. The latter was clearly not pleased by the encounter, which startled him so much that he dropped his suitcase, the contents of which explained a great deal. As it turned out, the suitcase was packed with items from Number Twelve Grimmauld Place—Sirius's belongings, Harry's belongings, if one thought about it. Though Harry only remembered that last part afterward. At the time he was simply pinning the damned thief against the wall while reaching for his wand. But before he could try one of the curses that sprang to mind, Mundungus managed to reach his suitcase and Apparated away in an unknown direction.
It took some time to calm Harry down, even with Tonks arriving in response to the commotion. Eventually she led them inside the Three Broomsticks, sat them at a table, and left after supplying them with butterbeer.
"Can it really be that the Order of the Phoenix can't even make sure nobody steals things from headquarters?" Harry demanded in a furious whisper, still seething.
"Quiet... I understand..." Hermione began.
"Understand? I don't think so... What a bastard! Fine, next time Dumbledore deigns to appear at the school where he's supposedly Headmaster, I'll tell him exactly what his friend does in his free time." Harry hissed, his anger somehow spilling over onto the Headmaster, who had once again failed to notice something. "And if he does nothing about it... then so much the worse. I'll have to use another method." He finished ominously, considering which of his new acquaintances would be best to approach.
So although Ron forgot that he had intended to sulk for the rest of the day, nobody's mood improved. Therefore they all sat and drank their beer in silence. Ron openly tried making eyes at Madam Rosmerta... Hermione surveyed the room, repeatedly glancing toward Flamia, who had settled nearby. Harry too looked around the hall while sipping from his bottle... There went Madam Rosmerta somewhere... Over there was Katie with her friend whose name he couldn't remember... The Quidditch captain was leaving too... Ah, nonsense, probably going to the toilet... Right, and now she's coming back.
Harry himself could not have said exactly why he practically jumped the moment he looked at Katie. Something was wrong. That package—where had it come from? Harry certainly had not been examining the girl closely when she went to the toilet, but he would have bet something valuable that her hands had been empty. And understandably so; people didn't go in there carrying paper parcels...
"Katie? What's that?" came her friend's voice. Harry suddenly remembered her name—Leanne—and listened carefully.
"Oh, it's a surprise. Someone asked me to bring it back to the school..." Katie answered casually, almost dreamily. Her voice sounded nothing like the one he knew.
"Wait..."
"Why wait? Let's go. I'm tired of sitting here anyway. It's boring. Might as well deliver this as soon as possible..." And Katie decisively headed for the exit. Something about that determination deeply unsettled Harry. He cast a quick glance around the room. Flamia looked back at him. No words were needed; they had reached the same conclusion. Nobody else had noticed anything suspicious. Harry rose swiftly and slipped toward the exit after the girls.
Katie and Leanne were already halfway across the square in front of the Three Broomsticks. Katie strode ahead with almost fanatical determination. Her friend did her best to keep up and kept talking, raising her voice higher and higher as if trying to shout some sense into Katie, apparently without success. Harry rushed after their disappearing silhouettes through the blizzard, struggling against the wind.
He did not see Ron and Hermione run out after him in confusion—he had forgotten to tell them anything at all—or the worried Flamia, nervously biting her lips.
Harry soon caught up, because Leanne had simply stepped into Katie's path. The wind was blowing from the side, and even standing nearby Harry still could not hear their words. Then he reached them and moved up beside them.
"Oh, Harry!" Leanne exclaimed happily. "Try talking some sense into her! Someone gave her some strange object"—she nodded at the package Katie still held in her hands—"and she wants to take it back to school. I keep telling her it's stupid to bring something unknown there, especially since they'll search everyone at the entrance anyway, but she won't listen! She won't even say what's inside!"
"Leanne, this is none of your business... someone asked me, and I want to do them a favor..." Katie moved the precious package slightly away from herself and closer to Leanne, as though that would somehow convince her.
"Katie..." Harry began, feeling for his wand. He had a theory about the cause of all this.
"Mate, what's gotten into you? You burst out of the tavern like you'd been scalded and didn't say a word..." Ron's loud voice sounded beside his ear, and a heavy, though undoubtedly friendly, shove landed on his shoulder.
Harry was thrown forward—not hard, but hard enough. He had been leaning forward to get a better look at the package, and his friend's shove was sufficient to make him lose his balance.
Harry felt himself falling, falling directly onto what Katie was holding. Instinctively he thrust out his hands to soften the impact with the ground. And of all things, that very package happened to be in the path of his right hand...
Time slowed extraordinarily...
Harry managed to notice Flamia, who was already close and racing toward them at full speed. Then his hand knocked the package from Katie's grasp. A faint crack sounded, probably the sound of tearing paper. Harry caught a glimpse of something green glinting through a hole in the wrapping, and then his palm went straight into that hole...
It felt as though an entire swarm of bees had stung his hand at once. Harry tried to pull his hand away from the object but could not. He tried to scream from the unimaginable pain but could not do that either. The next moment he felt his feet leave the ground... Another moment later the pain weakened, as though someone had taken part of it upon themselves. Harry felt someone pulling him by the leg. Then the pain vanished, and that sensation, and all the others...
Harry saw everything as though from the outside. He saw himself hanging in the air, with Flamia pulling him downward... On the ground Ron and Hermione stared at him in shock, while Leanne held Katie in place as she struggled desperately, seemingly trying to reach the precious package...
It lasted only a couple of seconds. Then everything began moving again. Harry and Flamia fell to the ground and remained motionless. Katie broke free from Leanne's grasp and lunged toward the package lying in the snow with a predatory, almost desperate motion. Leanne stood frozen, clutching her cheek, where her friend's nails had left several deep scratches... Hermione rushed toward the fallen pair—or rather toward Harry—while Ron remained standing with his mouth hanging open in astonishment...
Katie had almost reached the necklace that had fallen from the package, a necklace that seemed vaguely familiar to Harry. But then Tonks slammed into her. Apparently she had been nearby and had seen everything. Katie tried to break free again, but Tonks was not someone to trifle with, and the Gryffindor captain went limp, probably stunned by a spell. Only then did Harry realize that not a single sound was reaching him. It was as though he had gone deaf, though that did not concern him very much at the moment. Very little concerned him at all. He was simply curious...
Another Auror joined Tonks. They hurriedly examined Harry and Flamia. Harry could not see very well from where he was, and he could not move, but it seemed their faces had gone pale. The motionless bodies of the three Gryffindor students were loaded onto hastily conjured stretchers. The necklace was also collected, wrapped in something, and taken along. Harry, Katie, and Flamia were carried back to the school. Behind them followed a confused, frightened, and sniffling Ron, Hermione, and Leanne.
Then all three were taken to the hospital wing. The teachers gathered there as well... apparently the Headmaster was still not in the school. The students were evidently explaining what had happened to the professors while Madam Pomfrey and Snape examined the patients, cast various spells, and poured various potions down their throats... Special attention was paid to Harry and Flamia, and then only to Flamia. Harry seemed to have been deemed either hopeless or out of danger. Gradually everyone left the hospital wing. Katie was moved somewhere else. Harry and Flamia remained alone.
Harry himself watched all of this with complete detachment. He merely noted that he was floating beside himself the entire time. More time passed, and then Flamia opened her eyes...
Harry was no longer watching her so calmly. He could feel emotions and feelings awakening within him again, foremost among them fear. The girl looked around frantically, saw Harry on the neighboring bed, and practically launched herself from her own. A moment later she was beside him. Horror was written across her face. For several seconds she shook him desperately, as though hoping to wake him up. Harry tried to shout to her, to tell her that he was here, but she clearly could not hear him. He himself felt very strange. The moment she touched him, he—or perhaps his spirit—felt something astonishingly warm and pleasant touching him FROM WITHIN. And something began pulling him, though only very weakly for now, toward his body.
Tears streamed from the girl's eyes, and every time one fell onto his face he felt a fresh surge of warmth and bliss, and the pull grew slightly stronger. With an expression of despair, Flamia, as though obeying instinct, pressed her lips against his.
And Harry felt a jolt. This time it was a jolt of tremendous force...
The next instant he opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the beautiful eyes of the girl leaning over him, eyes filled with indescribable emotions...