Within You

Chapter Eight: Get Me Outta Here

Ron's trip to France came and went quickly, with many Polaroid pictures coming back with him in the wake of Victoire's baptism. There were many shots of him proudly holding her at the church and at the gatherings throughout the weekend, and a few of him with Gabrielle who seemed to be enjoying the event immensely. Upon Ron's return, he presented Hermione with a first-edition copy of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, and, for Harry, a copy of Studies on Fermentation: The Diseases of Beer, Their Causes, and the Means of Preventing Them by Louis Pasteur. Both Harry and Hermione were touched by this unexpected gesture, as they had merely expected an account of the trip and seeing the snapshots.

It was late-April now, so the sun was making more of an appearance within local weather reports, and the school was calming down significantly after midterm examinations had passed without a hitch. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were also looking forward for the yearly weekend trip down to the Water of Leith, which included days in specially built cabins close to the water's edge, all for the school, and swimming, lots of swimming. This year, Harry had plenty of new clothes to choose from for the trip; it was only for Year Ten students and up, and not every professor would be going; it would only be Professors Snape, McGonagall, Sprout, and Flitwick making the journey, as Headmaster Dumbledore was needed to look after the younger-years, who would be staying behind at Wartsmoth.

Harry and Ron packed their belongings the night before the trip together, letting the other know which bathing trunks would be better, and had finally finished by eleven that night. The departure time for the trip the following day was eight in the morning, where they would get into vans provided by the government, which would drive them to the site of the field trip. Breakfast was served from six to seven that morning, and you were expected to gather your things and put them outside and await for the vans no later than seven-forty-five. The drive itself was a bit less than twenty minutes, and you were expected to unpack and set up your beds upon arrival; you were to bring sheets, blankets, and a minimum of one pillow, to be put onto your bed of choice for the weekend.

Harry and Ron ate breakfast with Hermione, Anthony, Neville, Draco, Ginny, Dean, Luna, and Rolf that morning, and, as soon as the porridge was scraped off the bottom of their bowls and the last fragments of eggs were consumed, they went to fetch their bags. They were assigned a specific van, like always, and were soon driven through the forest, past the water itself, until the arrived at the site. Hopping out of the van, they made their way to their assigned cabin; that year, Harry and Ron would be bunking with Neville and Dean; another cabin would house Anthony, Neville, Draco, and Rolf; while one of the girls' cabins was due to hold Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Pansy.

Harry took out his crimson-colored sheets and immediately began making up his bed; he adorned it with the matching crimson duvet, and the two pillows with identical shams he'd brought. He looked over his shoulder, seeing that Ron had Manchester United-themed bedding, while Neville had moss-green bedding, and Dean had gold. Once they'd finished and stowed their duffels underneath their beds, they were instructed to change out of their school uniforms and into something appropriate for the mid-morning hike. The purpose of the hike was to get the students of Wartsmoth Academy reacquainted with the area itself, so as to ensure that they wouldn't get lost over the next couple of days.

Harry watched with a smirk as Neville and Draco proceeded to run towards one another, giving the other a tight embrace. They'd been separated because of their relationship, Harry saw that, and even though he understood it from a professors' point of view, he strongly hoped that there wouldn't be further dividers put between the young men. He looked around, seeing the Ginny and Dean had found one another, as had Hermione and Anthony, and Pansy and Blaise. Luna and Rolf had wandered ahead towards the edge of the woods together, and he wasn't surprised to see that Lavender and Seamus were having a rather intimate conversation.