Best of All Time {Dean Thomas}

chapter 21

Not far from number twelve, Grimmauld Place, a boy packed his battered trunk, reddying for the upcoming school year while The Clash vinyl spun in the record player.

A copy of The Daily Prophet was laying on his desk. This edition's headline read Possibly Deranged Boy, Harry Potter, Escapes Expulsion. A grey scottish fold cat pawed at the corner of the paper.

"Is Ham in here?" Laura opened the door of her older brother's room without knocking. "There you are!"

Laura ran toward the unsuspecting cat, messily scooping the poor creature into her little arms and hugging her tightly. Ham let out a frightened hiss, startling Laura into releasing her grip, dropping the cat onto the ground.

Ham scurried underneath Dean's bed, wishing to be left alone.

"Laura, you have to be gentle with her." the older boy knelt beside his bed, peering at his fearful pet.

"Sorry," Laura shrugged. "Mum says be ready in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes?" Dean glanced at his barely packed trunk. "Er, alright."

Ham took this time to bolt out from underneath the bed towards the open door. Laura followed after the feline in hot pursuit.

Hastily, Dean started throwing discarded clothes from off his floor into his open trunk.

After several minutes of rushed packing, he finally slammed his trunk shut and hoisted it off his bed onto the floor. The boy gave his room one last look, trying to spot anything he forgot to pack.

His desk was bare, and there was nothing on his dresser he needed to bring, though the small framed photo positioned on top of it caught his attention for an instant.

Dean had taken it with a disposable camera third year. The photo captured Eve, Seamus, Neville, and himself, smiling gleefully on their last day of school. They were all dressed in their Hogwarts robes, glad to be done with another year.

In her last letter, Eve wrote that she would arrive back home on the day before the start of term via the floo network, then immediately set off for Kings Cross station. Though he was happy they would be able to see each other on the Hogwarts Express, Dean found it peculiar that she could not visit a single day during the holiday.

Setting this thought momentarily aside, Dean looked around his room one last time, knowing he would not see it again for several months.

"Hmmmm..." Sirius stared at the chessboard in front of him. "I think I'll move my lil' horsey-"

"I'm a knight!" The small black knight figurine yelled up at the man, indignantly. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Right, my apologies, good sir, I'll move you forward two squares."

"Rookie mistake. You've freed yourself right up for my queen to take you."

"Oh, damn."

Eve smiled down at the board, leaning back in her chair as her queen demolished Sirius' knight.

"In my defense, the dementors back in Azkaban never offered to play chess with me, so I'm rather rusty."

"Evangeline?" Mrs.Weasley entered the room. Her face was a bit pink, as she had just finished yelling at Fred and George. "Time to go, darling."

Eve stood up quickly, excited to be leaving Grimmauld place. She turned to Sirius, whose happy expression had faltered slightly. Eve suspected he was not looking forward to being left alone in this house.