Harry Potter and the Year After

Chapter Forty-seven: Under the Invisibility Cloak

Chapter 47: Under the Invisibility Cloak

Harry woke up with the sun brightly shining in his face. His head was throbbing.

He was lying next to Hermione, who was still asleep and lying next to Ron, who was awake and staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.

Harry quickly realized that most of the clothes were in a pile on his side of the bed. He stood up and dressed quickly. Ron was pretending to still be sleeping, Harry saw from a quick side-glance as he pulled his trainers on. Stowing his wand in his pocket, he grabbed the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map too because he didn't want to have to see Ron or Hermione today... or perhaps ever again.

He left the room as quietly as he could so he wouldn't wake Hermione. Then, he strode purposefully down the empty classroom, wordlessly unlocked the door, and nearly tripped over Ginny, who was curled up asleep on the floor there.

Harry shut the door and thought about just letting her continue to sleep, but he definitely didn't want her to see Hermione and Ron exit his room, even though he knew Ginny would never guess what they had done together the night before.

"Gin... Ginny... wake up," Harry said softly, shaking her awake.

"What?" she said groggily. "Harry!" she said, standing up quickly. "What are you doing here? Wait, where am I?"

"You fell asleep outside the door to my classroom," Harry explained, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why did you fall asleep outside the door to my classroom?"

"You smell bad," she said, taking a step away from him. "You know, I'm starting to wonder if you're not starting with a drinking problem."

He wanted to ask her if she even cared whether he lived or died at this point, but he really needed her to get away from this door... "Want to join me for breakfast... er, lunch?" he said, looking down at his Wizard's Watch that he'd left on from the day before.

"Yes... no!" she said, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry, Harry. Please, just stay away from me, alright? It's for your own good," she said, turning away as she spoke. She hurried away.

"I'll stay away if you stop sleeping outside my door!" he called after her. He laughed as he watched her round the corner without looking back. Vaguely, he wondered if he wasn't a tad drunk still.

"That was strange," Harry said to no one.

As he was thoroughly hung over, and the thought of breakfast made him queasy, he instead conjured a goblet of water for himself (and couldn't help but think of Dumbledore when he did). Then, after slipping the Invisibility Cloak on, he went down the corridor the same way that Ginny had gone.

He thought about following her but then wondered if she'd still be able to smell him. So instead, he went to the Prefects' bathroom. He took off the Invisibility Cloak and took a shower in one of the stalls in the corner of the room rather than getting in the huge bathtub. After scourgify-ing his clothes, he dressed again and pulled the Invisibility Cloak back on.

He decided to stroll around the lake for a while. He wasn't sure if he was tired or just bored. Just when he was starting to think that maybe he should check the Marauder's Map to see if it was safe to go back to his room to get some homework done, he spied Hagrid through the window of his hut.

Harry pulled off the Invisibility Cloak while he walked to Hagrid's hut. When he knocked, Fang immediately started barking.

"Harry," Hagrid said, answering the door. Harry smiled despite his headache. "Yeh look like yeh've had a rough night of it, eh? Come in, come in."