Within You

Chapter Seven: When I Look Into Your Eyes

Harry somehow managed to keep mum about the latest developments regarding Stephen—his fake name for Severus within the therapy sessions—to Amelia when they met the following afternoon. Instead, he talked about how since Ron had paired up with Lavender, that his best friend didn't seem to have time for him anymore. By the same token, he mentioned how considerate Hermione had been, in the wake of her relationship with Anthony, and how she always was sure to make time for him.

Ron's seventeenth birthday was the next significant event on the books and, in the weeks leading up to it, Hermione helped Harry with his chemistry reading and notes. Once he read the footnotes and brushed up on his notetaking skills while in class, and read the portions in the textbook that Hermione mentioned would be beneficial, he felt more confident as time went by. In fact, he was no longer failing his papers; he was getting Very Good written at the tops of his papers now. He found that it didn't even bother him that Hermione was still getting Excellent; this meant that, when it was time to take his A-Levels a year later, if he kept this up, then he would be on track to get into a halfway decent university.

Ron's birthday fell on a Saturday, and so Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lavender, Ginny, Dean, Luna, Neville, Seamus, Rolf, and Anthony all ended up journeying down to the pier not too far away from Wartsmoth. Fred and George joined them, leaving London for the day, and got them into the restaurant that was close by. Once they got to the restaurant on the pier, they ate fish and chips wrapped in newspaper around the firepit outside, and smelled the sea air. It was an unseasonably warm late-winter evening, and they all watched the sunset together as they all toasted Ron, celebrating him turning seventeen.

The owners knew Fred and George from their time at Wartsmoth, and, provided that they acted responsibly, permitted their party some bottles of beer that evening. The Wartsmoth campus was only about a fifteen minute walk from the restaurant, so it wasn't as if they'd be operating any heavy machinery that night. They passed around the dark-brown bottles of Belhaven Scottish Oat Snout, recalling amusing memories associated with Ron as they lounged around the firepit on the beach, Trinity Crescent, as they watched the waves lap up soundlessly onto the sands' edge.

"Won-Won, how about a game?" Lavender asked after a few moments of silence, and snuggled closer to Ron. "I'll bet even Granger would like one," she sneered.

"All right," Ron said, taking a sip of beer, and Harry turned to Hermione, who snuggled in closer to Anthony at the comment from Lavender.

"You've got to go first, Ron," Fred said.

"After all," George continued, "you're the birthday boy."

Ron rolled his eyes, and drank deeply from his beer bottle. "Fine," he muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and sat up. "Harry, truth or dare?"

Harry rolled his eyes, gripping his bottle tightly. "Truth."

"How many times did you snog my sister?"

Ginny flushed. "Ron!" she shouted.

"Hey, I don't mind if Harry doesn't," Dean said with a shrug, as Harry had told him of his preferences shortly before the Christmas holidays.

Ginny huffed slightly, leaning back towards Dean, who put an arm around her shoulders. "Well, all right. As long as Harry doesn't mind."

Harry sighed. "Fine," he said, swirling his beer in its bottle. "Five or six, maybe? I'm not really a hundred-percent..."

Ron gave a nod. "Fair enough. Your turn, Harry."

Harry swallowed another mouthful of beer before turning to Fred. He was plenty buzzed now, and knew that 'reckless' was not something he should be participating in, however, he was a teenager, and he wanted to live a little. "Fred, truth or dare?"