Hope In Hiding (Book 2 of the Lost Potter Series)

Invitations?

They were woken up on December fifteenth by an owl pecking at their hair. Sirius woke up first, grabbing the letter and shooing the owl. The response from Harry turned out quite different than what they wanted:

Dear Sirius and Olivia,

Thank you for agreeing Snape and Draco can both be brats. I think Draco's changed since you've known him, Olivia, or he just really hates me. I know for sure Snape hates me.

Here's the biggest issue with you two visiting— most students are staying for break because there's a ball being thrown as part of the Triwizard Tournament. The students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are here, too, so the castle is more packed than ever.

The Yule Ball is on Christmas Day, and I'm really not looking forward to it. As a champion I have to attend, and that means I have to have a date. I'm still trying to build up the courage to ask Cho Chang (she's a Ravenclaw girl a year above me) but I doubt that will work. Why does asking a girl out seem more daunting than facing a dragon?

Happy Christmas, -Harry

P.S. Hermione's letter is on the back, since Ron also wanted to write and Pig can only handle two letters at maximum.

"Why's the owl named Pig?" Sirius asked, looking at the small, hyper owl oddly.

"And since when does Ron write?" Olivia asked, grabbing the other letter Sirius had and flipping to Ron's, reading it:

Dear Olivia,

Sorry for not writing. You know me, not wanting to write unless I  have to.

If you haven't already read Harry's letter, read that first. He explains the Yule Ball better than I can. Hermione explains it best, but she won't let us see her letter for some reason. Says it's "girl things" whatever that means.

I'm writing to ask you if you wanted to go to the Yule Ball. We've talked it over, you see, and Hermione figures you could fly to her room and she could perform some transfiguration to keep you from being recognised. There should be a lot of people there anyway, so you'll be fine. That is if you want to come, of course.

-Ron

"I think Ron asked me to the Yule Ball," Olivia said with an unsure frown.

"What?" Sirius snatched the paper out of her hands, scanning over Ron's scratchy handwriting, "I thought he was the idiot one?"

"He is. Or he was. He kinda is," Olivia argued with herself. She felt no sort of gushy feelings about the invite, more just excitement for being able to go into Hogwarts in human form.

"And you're wanting to go? With him?" Sirius asked with a suspicious eyebrow.

Olivia felt slightly repulsed at the idea of dating Ron, but tried not to voice it, "Let me read Hermione's"

Sirius handed over the letter, which Olivia read to herself:

Dear Olivia,

The scarce writing is all my fault, really. Harry's told us that you're back and I had plenty of opportunities to do so, I just didn't know if you'd want to hear from me.

Of course I'm going to stick by Harry. I agree that Ron was being a bit daft, but they were both true idiots over the whole thing. It was so relieving to see them make up, honestly, I thought I'd be stuck between them for the whole tournament!

Speaking of the Tournament, I'm sure you've read Harry's letter outlining the Yule Ball. And if you haven't already noticed the other letter, Ron wrote to ask you to it. He's assured Harry that it's a friendly thing, of course (Ron's expressed his attitude about only dating the really attractive girls, the idiot) and we're all excited to see you again.

Don't worry about the details— I've picked up a book on cosmotology spells and my parents sent me an extra dress that should work. I'll make sure the other girls don't see you before you're disguised, and we'll pass it off as you being a younger year or from another house/school. I'm thinking you could be a third year Hufflepuff or something, if anyone asks that is. Make sure to fly in around nine am or so, the other girls should be at breakfast and I'll open the window for you when it's safe.

Oh and another thing— has Harry told you much about the other champions? There's Cedric, the other Hogwarts one, Fleur, the one from Beauxbatons, and there's Victor Krum, who's from Durmstrang. He's also some huge Quidditch player, not that I know much about that. He's always got girls giggling at him in the library, which I found annoying as anything, but then you'll never guess what happened: he asked ME to the Yule Ball! Me! I've kept this a secret from everyone so far, I'm not sure how they'll react, but I just had to tell someone!

Anyway, looking forward to seeing you on Christmas! -Hermione

"And Hermione even snagged the other champion! Wow I must be really out of the loop." Olivia muttered to herself, flipping the page to make sure she hadn't missed anything (she'd managed to forget about Harry's letter being on the back).

"And those three planned you coming all on their own?" Sirius looked highly suspicious now, which just alarmed Olivia.

"It sounds like it. Why? Is there a plot against me?"

Sirius waved her off, grabbing a pristine letter from his satchel, "No, no, well not that I know of— it's just that Dumbledore wrote me the other night talking about the Yule Ball and suggesting you could come while I roam the grounds in case anything happens. They didn't mention Dumbledore at all? They just planned it?"

Olivia shrugged, secretly relieved, "I doubt they talked to him, but I guess you never know. So this means I can go then? To the Yule Ball?"

Sirius looked at her strangely, "Why wouldn't you?"

"Oh, I don't know," Olivia rolled her eyes, "I thought I might need permission from my father figure, but since none of those are around..."

Sirius was about to quip back when he realised what she said. Olivia saw his face go from playful to genuine, "Father figure? You mean that?"

"Of course I mean that. Even if you're technically Harry's godfather, you've been a lot more a paternal figure to me than anyone else," Olivia spoke honestly, and jumped slightly as he reached for a hug inside the nest. They were kind of leaning on each other, so the hug was more a half-hug, but Olivia understood the sentiment, "I thought you would've figured that out by now, Sirius."

Sirius just chuckled, "Ah, Liv, If you haven't noticed, I'm quite slow when it comes to most things."

Olivia grinned up at him, not feeling it needed to say much more.

~~

Awwe, even more cute moments. And this chapter is back to my usual length, but now it just feels too short. Oh well, it was either this or keep in the entire Yule Ball bit, which would've been far too long.

Anyway, please leave feedback, and I hope you enjoyed!