"Buried, almost tangible secrets filled the space between them, and so, without a second to think, she closed it."
The scars of war opened more wounds than Harry Potter thought possible. As he returns to Hogwarts for his eighth and final year, he le...
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"Merlin's pants, Granger, just spin the bloody thing!"
Various cries of agreement sounded from the crowd assembled: An equal amount of students from each House all gathered in a circle, cheering and shouting as Hermione folded her hands in her lap, unsure of what to do for the first time.
Sitting around an empty Butterbeer bottle were familiar faces; Pavarti and Padma Patil, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, and of course, Hermione, Ron, and Harry.
There was a sizable portion of Gryffindors. They were clearly the largest of houses represented at the gathering, for Gryffindors rarely declined an invitation to a party, even if it was being hosted in the Huffepuff common room.
The circle was wide and large: Hufflepuffs scattered among the line of people, launching into various conversations with anyone who would talk to them; Slytherins just started to fill in, insisting on being "fashionably late" (which Harry deemed unnecessary and very egotistical); some Ravenclaws engaged in inter-house discussions, but most kept to themselves; Gryffindors roamed everywhere, almost all of them in the circle, but a few disappeared into random rooms and hallways they found interesting or worth exploring.
A few other houses were talking to the Gryffindors, such as Justin Finch-Fletchley, Luna Lovegood, and a large mass of seventh-year girls. Harry's friends from other houses were spread out among the circle: Luna sitting on Harry's left with Ginny at her other side, Padma Patil at his right.
Harry was sitting against the wall, half in the circle and half out. He believed in House Unity, and had been an advocator for this party (and frankly, the reason half the people had come) but found he was distancing himself from the party endeavors.
Ron was sitting cross-legged right within the circle, looking much too eager as a nervous-looking Hermione sat in front of an empty bottle of Butterbeer.
"Do I have to?" Hermione asked quietly, glancing up nervously at Harry, who shrugged.
The rest of the circle burst out into loud, agitated arguing with Hermione. One Slytherin was so irritated he dramatically stood up and sat in a corner. He stayed sitting gloomily before realizing no one paid attention, then hurriedly returned to argue more with Hermione, who rolled her eyes.
Hermione had turned slightly pink from all the frustrated yells and stared at the bottle as if waiting for it to explode.
Ron was staring at Hermione so intensely that Harry would not be surprised if his eyes were to fall out of his head. Harry shoved his shoulder, trying to snap him out of his fixated trance, but Ron shrugged him off and continued to watch Hermione become more and more flustered, holding the bottle in her hand.
