Never Is Our Always

Round Up The Ghosts 3

(Minnie pov) (a few weeks later)

"There you go," I hear Ron say. "We got as much as we could carry."

A shower of brilliantly colored sweets fell into Harry's lap. It was dusk, and Ron and Hermione had just turned up in the common room, pink-faced from the cold wind and looking as though they'd had the time of their lives.

I was guessing that they went to Hogsmeade, it's usually fun, but I didn't want to go, I felt like it was a bad idea for me to go out in the cold. My bones and my body wouldn't of survived it, to be fair.

"Thanks," Harry said, picking up a packet. "What's Hogsmeade like? Where did you go?" I liked listening to other peoples small adventures.

"By the sound of it, everywhere. Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop, Zonko's Joke Shop, into the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of hot butterbeer, and many places besides."

"The post office, Harry! About two hundred owls, all sitting on shelves, all color-coded depending on how fast you want your letter to get there!"

"Honeydukes has got a new kind of fudge; they were giving out free samples, there's a bit, look-"

"We think we saw an ogre, honestly, they get all sorts at the Three Broomsticks-"

"Wish we could have brought you some butterbeer, really warms you up-"

"What did you do?" Hermione asks, looking anxious. "Did you get any work done?" Deciding it was enough, I shut my book and left them to talk.

"Minnie, hold up a sec!" Ron shouts and I look over my shoulder as Ron jogs up to me.

"Did I do something wrong?" I ask.

"What? No," Ron replies, "anyway, listen, Fred, Lee and George were looking for you."

"Oh." I reply, "right," Ron tilted his head slightly at me. "I should put my book away and find them." He looks at me oddly before shrugging.

"Okay," he replies before going back to Harry and Hermione.

-

I reached the entrance hall and crossed into the Great Hall. It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant watersnakes.

I plant myself down beside Oliver and then laid my head on his shoulder quietly as he absentmindedly fed me a drumstick.

"Too much socialisation?" Oliver asks me quietly while eating his dinner.

"Mhm." My eyes wanted to close, but I kept them open as I ate away at the chicken drumstick.

-

The feast finished with an entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding; Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had a great success with a reenactment of his own botched beheading.

-

I stood on the stairs as they moved, but when they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, I, along with the others on the staircase, found it jammed with students.

"Honeyduke's Sweetshop is brilliant, but nothing beats Zonko's Joke Shop. We never got to go to the Shrieking Shack." I hear Ron talking to Harry before they stopped too.