HP8 (On Hold)

Lead up to Christmas

The run up to Christmas was very hectic, their workload was increasing all of the time, this meant that for Harry, Ron and Hermione it was even more difficult, as they hadn’t learnt any of the syllabus previously, where as most of the other returning students had at least attempted most of the charms and spells, even if the lessons had been disjointed and not very constructive.  Ron was getting more and more irritable as he struggled to keep up, another one who was noticeably struggling was Draco, as he hadn’t attended Hogwarts last year either, and he wasn’t getting the help from Hermione that Ron was.  He could be seen every night no longer sitting in the sofa’s but buried under a mountain of books at one of the tables.  And although he had always been pale in skin colouring, he now looked almost white, with deep hollows in his cheeks and dark purple smudges beneath his eyes.  It was only this that kept Ron’s spirits up, knowing someone else was finding it even harder than he was. 

Although Harry felt a little sympathy for Draco, knowing how hard the lessons were himself, he felt no compulsion to help him in any way, he felt that his debt to the family had been paid in full, it was up to Draco to cope as well as he could just like everyone else. 

Harry saw a lot less of Ginny now, not only were her lessons progressing at a different pace to theirs, but with Quidditch practice sessions as well, she had little time to spare.  The only long length of time they spent together was in Charms, but as that was a lesson they were unable to talk, though they could hold hands now and then. 

The weekend’s were not much better as this was when the Quidditch teams put in most of their practice time, and the rest of the time was spend on homework. 

The only full day they managed to spend together was the usual Hogsmead visit, Harry no longer needed to worry about having a form to allow him to go as he was of age.  Unlike the previous time when had taken Cho Chang into Hogsmead, he didn’t allow himself to be taken into the tea shop, where most couples went, he also didn’t want to try and talk above the buzz of conversation in the Three Broomsticks, so he took Ginny into the Hog’s Head, where Aberforce the landlord greeted them, he took there order for a firewhisky and a butterbeer.  Harry had got a taste of the more powerful drink, but he did water it down considerably, the butterbeer which Aberforce produced for Ginny wasn’t as dusty as the previous times Harry had seen it bought in this pub, Harry guessed it was one of those bought to provide for the Hogwart’s students who had been in hiding the previous year. 

The couple of hours they spend together in the Hog’s Head were very enjoyable if quiet.  After the first half hour, Ron and Hermione also entered, but they took a couple of chairs at a different table, although both couples acknowledged each other, they were happy to have some private time.  By the end of the two hours, a lot of the returning seventh years had visited the Hog’s Head, seeming to prefer the quiet atmosphere to the bustle and noise of the Three Broomsticks. 

As it was a Saturday, Ginny decided to put off doing her homework till the Sunday, so together with Ron and Hermione they spent a quiet evening in the returning seventh years common room, just talking about general topics. 

An event occurred in the last week of December which caused uproar in the common room, as usual a list had been put up on the common room notice board asking that students who wished to stay at Hogwarts put there names up, so the teachers had an idea of numbers of who would be staying over the holidays. 

There were a couple of names on the board, one of the Ex-Ravenclaw students by the name of James Lankin, put his name up, he explained to the others that this was because his parents were going on a skiing trip in Austria, and as he was a poor skier he would prefer to stay at Hogwarts. 

The second and third names on the list were Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy. 

When James spotted the names after his on the list, he commented to one of his friends that had he known previously who else would be staying he might have risked his neck on the ski slopes rather than have to share the common room with them.