Emma's cheeks were already red from the combination of laughing and crying, but it was obvious now that she was blushing. "Dan! You weren't supposed to tell her!"
"It's just a fun family story! We'll all look back on this one day and laugh." Dan continued, "Well, despite a few setbacks, like how much you hated ballet, you pretty much had the childhood Emma dreamed of giving you. Until we all found out about Hogwarts, that is."
"You can't possibly mean..." Harry started, quick to defend his girlfriend, even from her parents. Hermione was speechless.
"No! We're proud that Hermione has magical talent, and we fully support her. It's just... the little things that we're missing out on," Emma said.
"Your mum wanted to, you know, help you with homework after school, watch you beat out all the others in the maths contests, win first prize at the science fair..."
"...and getting you a dress and meeting your date for your school formal," Emma finished. "I never heard about a school formal for Hogwarts, so I'm guessing this one is special? It's only because there's that tournament this year, right?"
"And Harry," Hermione said, linking her elbow with Harry's. "In fact, I'm guessing the only reason they made it open to fourth-years is because Harry's a fourth-year, otherwise they probably would have kept it for sixth and seventh-years only. That's how it's been traditionally."
"Then I have to thank you again, for making me and my daughter happy," Emma told Harry as she gave him a hug. Harry hugged her back. Between the dinner yesterday and the presents today, it was the best Christmas he could have ever hoped for.
Several hundred kilometres north inside a castle in Scotland, one red-haired boy was having one of the worst Christmases he could remember. He stared absent-mindedly at an unopened gift sitting at the base of the Gryffindor Christmas tree, already knowing what was inside. It was a hand-knit sweater from his mother... to Harry.
"I take it mum hasn't heard about your little fallout with Harry, has she?" Fred asked Ron.
"You're just lucky she stopped reading Skeeter's articles ever since that woman slandered her favourite author, Emmaline Rickards," George said. "Claimed she was writing all of her romance novels from personal experience."
"And the only reason Ginny hasn't told is because she's hoping Harry might still want to stay over next summer if you two make up..."
"And a Howler from Mum wouldn't help things along those lines."
"So, our dear, littlest brother, what are you going to do about it?"
"Why are you defending him?" argued Ron. "He's the one who got his name into the cup while you two took the blame!"
"Ah, but you don't know the prankster's code," Fred said mysteriously. Ron gave him a blank look.
"After a prank goes wrong, it's every man for himself," George said.
"That's why Lee gets away with helping us so often."
"Not that we mind, we could always use the extra hand every now and then."
"But don't you two always end up in detention together?" Ron asked.
"Only because the teachers can never figure out which one of us is which."
"And they figure if one of us did it, the other had to know, at least."
"So you two aren't even mad that he's up in front of the crowds when it could have been you two?" Ron was completely bewildered by his brothers' attitudes, as he wanted to be the one standing on stage with the crowds cheering for him.
"Ron, get your head out of your arse," George said.
"We just wanted our names in the cup."
"Yeah, we're not stupid enough to try to go toe-to-toe with Krum in a duelling arena."
"We just like a good prank, and we can appreciate one that wasn't done by ourselves."
"Yeah, did you hear the Marauders managed to turn an entire classroom into a swamp? We've got a few ideas to try to one-up them."
"And you'd better stop eating Harry's mince pies."
Ron, who had absentmindedly opened one of the packages from his mother, also failed to look at who it was for. It smelled delicious, and Ron was certainly missing out on a box of chocolate frogs that Harry got him each year. He could do without a homework planner or alarm-calendar from Hermione, but he did miss having something sweet to munch on under the tree on Christmas day. He'd already cleared off half the pies that his mother had sent. As the twins left, he looked back at the box. It wouldn't do to give Harry an opened package with half the contents missing. He wouldn't miss what he didn't know about, would he? Ron shrugged, and picked up another. He was interrupted by Ginny, clearing her throat behind him.
"If you keep being such a slob, you'll never get yourself a date for the ball," Ginny said.
"Why would I want to go? It's just some stupid dance," Ron said, moving the pie towards his mouth again.
"Yeah, just some stupid dance where the stupid Minister of Magic, the stupid Viktor Krum, and the stupid all-star chaser of the English National Quidditch Team, Tavin Macalister, are all going to be there. Oh, and I heard from Percy he's going to be there as well, but he actually is a pompous git."
"What? Macalister's going to be there? What for?" Ron dropped the pie into his lap in shock. That was the star player on Ron's favourite team. In fact, he was quite possibly the only reason people still bothered betting on them, despite their ten-year losing streak. Unfortunately, one chaser's skill didn't make up for the rest of the team's lack of it, especially their seeker, who was quite possibly the weakest in the English league.
"He's going to try to convince Krum to sign on to Chudley Cannons next year. Don't you ever read the newspaper? Even the sports section?"
Ron just shook his head. "Why the Cannons? Krum plays for Bulgaria's national team, doesn't he?"
"His contract ended when he was picked for the tournament. The ball's been the first time people other than the press have been allowed into Hogwarts, so there'll probably be tons of recruiters trying to cozy up to Krum on New Year's Eve. Macalister's the only one I know for sure." Ginny smiled, knowing the setup was complete. Ron would never give up a chance to meet his favourite player of all-time, in person.
"I... I've got to go to the ball, then!"
"You can't go without a date, Ron." Ginny giggled inside, but desperately tried to keep her face in an angry scowl.
"Date? I haven't even got dress robes! What'll I do?" Ron was panicking.
"Don't worry about the robes, I'll just tell mum to send you a set. Just worry about finding yourself a date," Ginny told him. "Oh, and this is just girls' gossip, but I think all the girls from fourth year and most of third year already have dates. You're pretty late to the game. Happy hunting!" She skipped away, leaving Ron to ponder the dilemma of trying to ask a second-year girl to the ball, or taking the once-in-a-lifetime-chance to actually meet his Quidditch hero.
Just outside Gryffindor tower and around the corner from the Fat Lady, Fred and George were waiting.
.
.
.
.
🎉The novel is available in PDF, visit us in our Ko-Fi store🎉
🎉ko-fi.com/madarasama125🎉