Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 8/15/1993, 15:08
Harry and Bellatrix sat under the shade of the pavilion with Hardwin. Bella's sisters were both fawning over their nephew while Alice and Roxxane Greengrass were not far away watching as the little one stared up at them curiously.
The younger children were playing in the water enjoying the warmth of the sun, their high-pitched laughter echoing over the beach as they tried to remain standing when the waves washed over them.
There was a row of giggling barely teenage girls sunbathing near the water's edge while little Harry, Draco and Neville were swimming a few hundred yards off shore though Harry noticed all three boys kept glancing over at the girls.
Today the Peverells were hosting a beach party before everyone had to gear up for the upcoming school year. Harry wasn't sure how much he was looking forward to this year as he would be teaching the younger versions of his classmates which he knew was going to be very awkward for him.
This was also the last year before the twins began their first year at Hogwarts. He was already dreading the day they left for school as that would be a drastic change for him and Bellatrix.
Harry watched as Sirius and Frank began to light the grill causing a plume of bluish smoke to rise into the air.
"You're letting Sirius cook?" Bella asked looking slightly concerned.
"He'll do fine," Harry assured her as he saw Jonathan Greengrass joining Sirius and Frank by the grill.
"I hope so, I'm starving," Andromeda muttered.
"So is somebody else," Narcissa cooed as Hardwin began to cry and wave his hands toward his mother.
"He's always hungry," Harry chuckled as he watched Bella scoop him up.
"He takes after his father," Bella smirked as she unhooked her bathing suit and began to feed Hardwin.
"I think I may go take over cooking before Sirius starts the sausages," Harry said and got an approving smile from Bella.
"Good, the sausages are Bella's favourite, it would be a shame if my cousin ruined them," Bella said giving him a grateful nod.
Harry spared her one last glance before strolling over to where Sirius and the others were gathered around the grill laughing about something Sirius had just said.
"So how's the tot?" Jonathan asked by way of greeting.
"He's having his dinner," Harry beamed.
"They girls were both quite calm at that age," Jonathan said as he glanced out towards the beach where Astoria was chasing Iggy through the waves.
"Edgar was mellow as a babe, he grew out of it when he learned to walk," Sirius admitted as he began flipping the burgers.
"Same with the twins, they were calm until they learned to walk," Harry admitted.
"Neville was the opposite, he was a terror as a toddler but from what Mum told me, he calmed down a lot after his third birthday" Frank added.
"So I heard you took another trip to Africa?" Frank questioned as he glanced over at Harry.
"I did, it was pretty uneventful really," Harry said as he grabbed himself a beer.
"I suppose uneventful is a good thing in your line of work," Frank chuckled.
"I could say the same about your job," Harry quipped.
"Actually a little excitement is just what the healer ordered," Sirius corrected.
"Nothing like busting a shoplifter or arresting a peeping-Tom to get out of the office for a few hours," Frank agreed.
"Do you get a lot of peeping-Toms?" Jonathan asked, sounding amused.
"We got one the other day, two teenagers spying on the Harpies' changing room," Sirius beamed.
"We had to board up the peephole or risk Black coming back to spy on them later," Frank grinned.
"Not bloody likely, Amy would skin me alive," Sirius exclaimed.
"Can you imagine how she would react if Sirius was booked for spying on a professional quidditch team's changing room," Jonathan guffawed.
"She'd demote him all the way down to magical maintenance and have him scrubbing the loos," Frank grinned before draining the last of his beer.
"My daughter is thrilled to be taking your class this year, Peverell," Jonathan commented as he watched Sirius place another run of hamburger patties on the grill.
"I've got a great lesson planned for my new third years," Harry beamed.
"Hippogriffs?" Sirius asked.
"No, I always start my new students out studying flobberworms," Harry corrected.
"Sounds dull," Sirius said looking pleased.
"It is but it keeps me from being dragged in front of the board of governors in the event that one of my new students is careless," Harry shrugged.
"Neville is really looking forward to your classes," Frank admitted.
"If he takes to it like he has with herbology then he'll fit into the course well," Harry assured him.
"Little Harry is great with animals, I bet he'll do pretty well in your class," Sirius said giving Harry a knowing grin.
"I am sure that he will," Harry agreed.
"I think little Harry has other things on his mind this year," Jonathan said as he gestured to the beach where little Harry and Hannah Abbot were walking together along the shoreline.
"It was bound to happen eventually," Sirius shrugged though he had a look of pride on his face as he watched his godson.
"Alright budge over Padfoot, I'll take care of the sausages," Harry instructed as Sirius took the last patty off of the grill.
"By all means, I always overcook those things," Sirius said and gestured for Harry to take over.
"I know you do, that's why I'm going to cook them. Bella insisted that I make sure you don't ruin them," Harry smirked.
"My cousin has you by the bollocks," Sirius sniggered.
"What's that old saying, if you have a happy wife, then you have a happy life," Harry shrugged.
"That's even more true when your wife is very good with a wand," Frank agreed.
"Or if she's your boss," Harry added, giving Sirius a look of amusement.
"True, the last time we had a fight I was stuck patrolling Knockturn Alley at midnight," Sirius muttered.
"Bloody hell," Frank muttered giving the other man a look of sympathy.
"So any word on when Gringotts will reopen?" Harry asked as he looked over at Jonathan.
"The earliest I've heard they'll reopen is sometime after the new year and that is only if the ministry is successful in negotiating with them," Jonathan said and by the look on his face, Harry didn't think he held out much hope that the ministry would be able to do that.
"Figures," Sirius muttered as he hovered the platter of burgers over to the picnic table.
"How are things coming along at the ministry?" Harry asked looking between Frank and Sirius.
"Still trying to track down the escapees for all the good it'll do," Frank snorted.
"They'll pop their head up eventually," Jonathan said.
"I just hope they stop attacking muggles," Sirius sighed.
"I think it's about time to call the kids in for dinner," Harry mused as he cast a spell to check the internal temperature of the sausages.
"Excellent," Sirius beamed before he made his way out to where the kids were having a water fight.
Twenty minutes later everyone was gathered around the table digging into their dinner with gusto. Harry was sitting between the twins while Bella gently rocked Hardwin's pram with her foot as she ate.
Tonks and Charlie had arrived just after they had called the kids for dinner and were eating as in a manner that suggested that they hadn't eaten in a month.
Little Harry and the other barely teenagers were taking up one side of the table and were all laughing and carrying on as they ate.
"Daddy, are Harry and that Hannah girl boyfriend and girlfriend?" Carina asked pulling Harry from his observations.
"I don't know, Princess," Harry said giving his daughter a curious look.
"I think they are, they were holding hands earlier," Astoria giggled from her place across from Iggy.
"Now now Astoria, it's not polite to gossip," Lady Greengrass chastised.
"But that"s what you do at your tea parties," Astoria protested, causing Jonathan to cough into his beer.
"Astoria dear, you act too much like your father sometimes," Roxanne sighed as she shot her husband a look of annoyance.
Harry turned away from the discussion Astoria and Roxanne were getting into and turned to Bellatrix noticing she wasn't paying attention to the talking going on around her.
"Something on your mind, Luv?" Harry whispered into her ear.
"Just thinking," Bella said, giving him a meaningful look.
Harry wondered if she was thinking about the same thing that had been on his mind for the past few weeks, going after Dolohov.
Harry made a note to talk to her about it later and back to his food as his own thoughts moved to his plans for the coming week and his hopes that he and Bellatrix could accomplish their goal during their planned trip to France. Harry knew it was past time they started putting plans into motion to finish Tom for good and this would be the first step in that direction.
Harry was pulled from those thoughts as Iggy began questioning him about everything he knew about the World Cup that was coming to Britain next summer. Harry happily began speculating about which team he thought would make it to the final with his son and soon Sirius got in on the discussion as well.
Harry was tempted to place a large wager on the outcome of the final but thought it best to wait until he saw Ireland and Bulgaria play before doing anything else.
The first match of the world cup started in January. France would be playing Ireland at Ballycastle stadium and he had already acquired tickets to take his family in hopes of making up for the disaster that the last quidditch game had turned into. Harry had made plans to get tickets to the Transylvania versus England match in March so that he could gauge whether things were the same in this timeline or not.
The rest of the evening Harry pushed all of his concerns about his coming trip to France from his mind and just enjoyed spending time with those he cared for the most. He could tell that the war with Voldemort was very close to coming to a head but knew there was no point agonizing over it, what would come would come and he would deal with it when it did.
Calais, France, 8/24/1993, 19:25
Harry and Bellatrix were loitering around the ferry terminal awaiting their target's arrival. It had taken them weeks to plan this mission out and quite a few meetings with Severus Snape to learn their target's itinerary but Harry was confident that they would catch Dolohov completely by surprise today.
They had been here for hours and had taken the added precaution of setting up a muggle-repelling ward over the area around the terminal but they were waiting to raise them when Dolohov got into position so as not to tip him off.
Harry could hear the ferry's horn in the distance and felt his excitement building, he and Bella had been waiting to deal with this particular death eater for years now and he couldn't wait to hear how badly Voldemort took the loss of his best death eater.
"I see the ferry," Bella muttered after bringing her omnioculars up to her eyes.
"I do too. Remember to wait until I bring up the wards before you move in on him," Harry instructed as he spotted the boat about a mile from shore.
"Bella knows. You've been over this a lot," his wife sighed as she pocketed her omnioculars and covered her face with her silver mask.
"I'm just being careful, do you have the dagger?" Harry asked.
"Of course, I've been looking forward to using this for weeks," Bella beamed.
Harry had decided that the best way to handle Dolohov was to assassinate him. As much as he would like to capture and interrogate him, there were too many risks involved and Dolohov was a very skilled fighter. It just seemed logical to kill him and not give him the chance to fight back.
Unfortunately, the dagger he had been using to destroy the horcruxes was tucked away inside his vault at Gringotts and the goblins were not allowing customers into the bank. He could withdraw gold from other branches of Gringotts but he couldn't do that with his heirlooms. This had necessitates him to make a trip to Knockturn Alley to purchase another goblin-made dagger to infuse with basilisk venom.
Luckily he had plenty of the deadly venom on hand, so he had little trouble making another envenomated dagger. One little knick from said dagger would kill a grown man in under a minute, maybe even quicker if the rumours about the potency of Beryl's venom were to be believed.
Harry's thoughts were interrupted as the ship's horn blew again this time from only a few hundred yards out and Harry pulled his hood over his head and cast a discreet notice-me-not charm over himself.
"Be careful," Harry whispered as he watched the ferry pull into the terminal.
"Don't worry, Antonin won't see me coming," Bella promised before she cast a disillusionment charm over herself and began to move towards the people who were just starting to disembark the ferry.
Harry watched the ramp leading off of the ferry keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of Antonin. It wasn't until the last of the passengers came down the ramp that he spotted Dolohov dressed in a muggle business suit, which looked very out of place on the brutish man. There was a look of disgust on his twisted face, no doubt due to the muggles all around him. Harry waited until he was off the ramp that led off of the ferry before activating the muggle-repelling wards.
Almost immediately, the muggles on the pier began to panic and scramble toward the street beyond, creating a scene of utter pandemonium that caught the death eater by surprise which was the main reason they had set the wards up to begin with.
Harry watched from near the edge of the dock as Dolohov looked wildly around for the source of the commotion only to jerk in agony as Bella thrust her dagger into his back and ripped it back out spraying her robes in blood. Bella didn't hesitate in her steps and continued to walk toward where Harry stood as Dolohov collapsed to his knees before falling face-first onto the dock a few seconds later.
"That was very satisfying," Bella giggled as she joined Harry and turned to watch Dolohov convulse as the venom did its work.
"I know, I always enjoyed taking out my targets the muggle way, it just feels more personal," Harry admitted as Dolohov's body went still.
"We had better leave," Bella said as she pulled their return portkey out of her pocket.
Harry quickly took hold and Bella whispered, "Return," only for nothing to happen.
Harry was just about to suggest that they try apparating away from the port when he heard the 'popping' sound of several people arriving by apparition.
Harry felt his heart sink when he saw that the new arrivals were all clad in brilliant blue robes that signified they were aurors from the French ministry.
"Oh bugger," Harry muttered as they began to fan out forming a semi-circle in front of him and Bellatrix with the English Channel at their back.
"Freeze, département des aurors!" A blonde auror exclaimed as he directed his wand at Harry's chest.
"Try to use the smoke spell," Harry whispered as his wand slid into his hand.
"It's not working either," Bella gasped
"Lâchez vos baguette magique et mettez-vous à genoux," the same auror demanded.
"Don't kill them, Chimera," Harry said as he redirected a stunning spell one of the aurors had just cast at him.
"Spoil my fun," Bella cackled as she flicked her wand upward, hurling three of the aurors out over the channel.
Harry watched as her spell sent them thirty feet into the air before they plummeted downward and hit the water with a painful sounding 'smack'.
Harry didn't have time to watch his wife as the remaining aurors opened fire forcing him to defend himself from half a dozen incoming stunning spells.
Harry was immediately aware of the fact that these aurors were attacking in a coordinated way that made it difficult for him to return fire. Harry was just glad he set up the muggle-repelling wards as the spells flying around the dock were destroying everything in sight and the ferry that had just arrived was soon ablaze. The aurors seemed to be focusing most of their attention on taking him out while three aurors blocked or shielded against Bella's attack.
Harry was quickly getting overwhelmed, he was having to restrain himself from using more effective spells for fear of starting an international incident if he accidentally killed one of the French aurors. Said French aurors had no such limitations and they were using ever more destructive spells the longer the fight carried on.
Harry heard a pained scream from his right and glanced over at Bella to see she had been hit with something that had flung her across the dock. Harry felt his anger spike and gave his wand an upward flick causing the dock the underneath the aurors feet to burst into flames, forcing them to dive into the water to extinguish their robes.
Harry sprinted over to Bella letting out an audible sigh when he saw her getting to her feet though now she looked positively livid. Harry was cut off before he could say anything as he heard the sound of more incoming apparition and spun to face the newcomers.
Harry only saw a flash of bright light before his breath was knocked out of him as he was flung through the air, he barely registered landing on the dock before his vision went black as the back of his head struck the pier and he lost consciousness.
Bellatrix watched as Harry was struck by a pair of spells, the force of the impact flinging him to the very end of the dock.
Bella waved her wand and screamed in fury not even bothering to articulate a spell, her magic flowing from her wand and channelling her will, causing the dock underneath the aurors' feet to explode upward and sending them hurling through the air before their bodies slammed into the water or in some cases, into the side of the building next to the dock or onto the deck of the ferry.
"Jangles!" Bellatrix exclaimed as she continued to cast spells toward the aurors that continued to appear on the dock.
'Pop'
"Yes, Mistress?" The elf asked, ignoring the spellfire going on all around him.
"Get Harry to our villa and then come back and take me there as well," Bellatrix instructed, not pausing in casting spells at the advancing French aurors.
As Bella focused back on the battle, she couldn't help but feel giddy. The aurors were now keeping their distance and firing spells at her from shore hidden behind cover.
Bella was caught off guard when she heard a 'pop' behind her only for a tiny hand to grab her offhand.
Bella let out a sigh as she was pulled into the suffocating rubber tube-like feeling of apparition. She had enjoyed the brief battle but she couldn't deny that she had been getting concerned as more and more aurors continued to appear on the dock. As Jangles transported her to her beach house she couldn't help but feel pleased with herself at her performance and couldn't help but feel that she had done much better than in Halloween the year before.
Black Villa, France, 8/25/1993, 09:37
Harry awoke with a start as the events of the day before came flooding back to him. He let out a groan as he shifted around, pulling the bruises on his chest in the process.
"Good, you're awake," Harry heard Bella call from the doorway to their ensuite.
"Yeah," Harry croaked out as he took in his surroundings.
"I had to bring us to the Villa," Bella said as she watched him clumsily sit up.
"That got out of hand quickly," Harry muttered as he inspected his mare chest noticing two angry blue bruises that took up most of his chest and part of his stomach.
"How are you feeling?" Bella asked.
"Like I was clobbered by a troll," Harry muttered as he slowly got to his feet.
"You took a pair of bludgeoning hexes to the chest. I remember how much that hurts," Bella soothed.
"How did you get us out of there?" Harry asked curiously.
"I called for Jangles and he apparated us away," Bella admitted.
"You didn't kill any of the aurors did you?" Harry asked warily.
"No, but a few of them will be waking up in the infirmary," Bella answered, a smug smile playing on her lips.
"Good, I hope they feel at least half bad as I do," Harry muttered as he stepped into the bathroom.
"I wonder why our smoke spell didn't work," Bella mused as Harry began to drain his bladder.
"They must know how to ward against it. They shouldn't have been able to detect our presence there, I wonder why they showed up," Harry said after thinking about what she said.
"We will have to look into this before we work in France again," Bella said looking thoughtful.
"I couldn't agree more," Harry muttered as he flushed the toilet and made his way over to the walk-in shower.
"When do you want to go home?" Bella questioned.
"After lunch but we'll have to go back the muggle way," Harry said before stepping under the warm water.
"I assumed as much. The French aurors are very competent, I wouldn't put it past them to be monitoring the outgoing international portkeys," Bellatrix admitted.
"My thoughts exactly," Harry said while shampooing his hair.
"I am just glad Bella was able to get us out of there," Bellatrix said after a few moments of silence.
"So am I," Harry admitted as he turned the shower off.
"It was only fair, you saved Bella last time," Bella said looking very pleased with herself.
"True, I wonder if the attack made the pap-"
Harry was cut off as Bellatrix pressed her lips to his pushing all thoughts of the day before from his mind. Harty allowed her to lead him back to the bed where they spent the rest of the morning.
Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton, 8/26/1993, 09:38
Voldemort sat there mulling over the news that Auror Dawlish had just brought to him. He had been taken aback to learn that the Reaper had murdered his most useful servant and in broad daylight, no less!
Antonin was an invaluable asset due to his position at Durmstrang and this one incident would have far-reaching implications!
What was more concerning was the fact that Reaper had known where to find Antonin in the first place. Voldemort was almost certain that the Reaper had a spy inside his ranks, but now he was certain of it.
Voldemort rose from his seat and began to pace his study as he went over his option in his mind.
He knew he had to find this spy before he did anything else but he wasn't entirely sure how best to do it. He wasn't sure of Reaper's motives which made it difficult to set a trap using disinformation.
The only thing he knew for sure about the Reaper was that the man was after his death eaters but he had no wish to lose any more trying to capture the man. He supposed he could use the vampires, taking on a foe like the Reaper would be a good way to test their proficiency in battle.
This still wouldn't help him ferret out the spy in his ranks and that was a bigger concern to him than the Reaper himself. He knew from experience how much damage a well-placed spy could cause to an organization and he would not let the spy continue to pass on critical information! There might be a way to kill two birds with one stone but it would take some careful planning and expend a lot of resources to accomplish. Before he could do that, he would have to first narrow down the death eaters most likely to be the spies in his ranks.
In the meantime, he needed to find another foreign contact, he now regretted letting Antonin kill Karkoroff as he would have been useful to have now that Antonin was gone.
Besides these new problems, he also had a ritual he had been working on for months. He had been putting off creating his final horcrux while his soul settled into this magical form after the resurrection ritual but now he was confident he could create his sixth anchor without any adverse effects. He knew that he would have to carry out the ritual on Halloween but he also realized that that day would be the perfect time to put his plans to ferret out his spy into motion as well.
"Yes this will take very careful planning," Voldemort said to the empty room before he took a fortifying sip of his brandy.
Getting up from his seat he went to find Nagini to begin the first stages of preparing her for the upcoming ritual.
Hogwarts Express, 9/1/1993, 14:10
Harry saw familiar landmarks out the window of the train letting him know they were getting closer to Hogwarts. He was more excited than usual this year because the third years were permitted to go to Hogsmeade with their guardians' permission.
Sirius had agreed that he could go to Hogsmeade provided that Harry followed the rules that he'd laid out. Mainly Harry could not leave the boundaries of the village, not even to go visit the Shrieking shack. Harry wasn't too fussed with this stipulation as he knew the real story behind the Shrieking Shack already and it wasn't near as thrilling as most people believed.
Harry was pulled from his musings as Hannah nudged him with her shoulder giving him a curious look.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Hannah asked giving him a teasing grin that had his stomach doing flips.
"Hogsmeade," Harry said trying to fight the blush he knew must be creeping up his cheeks.
Harry couldn't help but notice that Hannah looked a lot different than the last time they were on the train. For starters, she was a good three inches taller and her face seemed to be a lot thinner. There were a couple of other things that he had definitely noticed when they were at the beach a few weeks ago that he knew she hadn't had last June.
"I am looking forward to that as well," Hannah admitted.
"I've only been a few times with Sirius and we just went to the pub," Harry said noticing the expectant look she was giving him.
"Oh Abbott, he's never going to take the hint," Susan sighed, shooting Harry a look of exasperation.
"What hint?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Shut it Bones," Hannah exclaimed, her face colouring a rosy pink.
"I believe Hannah wants you to ask her to go with you to Hogsmeade," Draco said matter-of-factly, ignoring the glare Hannah was shooting his way.
"Draco, that was very rude," Daphne admonished, though her eyes were alight with mirth at the look of embarrassment on her classmates' faces.
"Well if we wait for Harry to figure things out on his own, he won't ask her until our sixth year," Draco exclaimed.
"You can be a real wanker sometimes, you know that?" Harry said, shooting Draco a look of annoyance.
"Language, Harry," Hermione admonished.
"Yes, no matter how true something is, we must still find a civilized way to point it out," Daphne agreed.
"Right," Harry snorted, finding the look on Draco's face when he processed what Daphne had said hilarious.
"So are you going to ask her or not?" Susan demanded as she quickly got out of Hannah Hannah's reach before the blonde was able to cover her mouth.
"All of you stop it! This is none of your business!" Hannah exclaimed, her eyes boring into Susan's.
"Hannah, do you want to go for a walk?" Harry asked eager to get away from the others and their meddling.
"Definitely," Hannah agreed shooting the others in the compartment one last look of annoyance before practically dragging Harry into the corridor.
"Bloody hell," Harry muttered as soon as the door slid shut behind them.
"I really am sorry about them," Hannah said, not meeting his gaze.
"It's not your fault," Harry said, giving her a comforting smile.
"I know but Susan can be really pushy sometimes," Hannah sighed.
"Trust me, I know," Harry snorted as they began walking towards the back of the train.
"So d-do you want to go to Hogsmeade together?" Hannah asked softly.
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" Harty quipped.
"Were you going to ask me?" Hannah teased, sounding more like her old self.
"I was working up to it," Harry admitted.
"Then it doesn't matter who asks who," Hannah shrugged.
"Fair enough, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?" Harry asked, feeling his face heating up once again.
"Of course, I would or I wouldn't have asked," Hannah beamed.
"Alright then, it's a date," Harry said trying and failing to sound casual.
"It's a date," Hannah agreed as she looped her arm through his.
"Should we tell the others?" Harry asked not entirely sure he wanted to put up with Susan teasing them for the next month.
"No," Hannah answered simply as they came to the end of the train.
"Good," Harry beamed as he noticed an empty compartment and led her into it
"Ever since Susan started dating Justin, she thinks that she is the authority on romance and I don't want to give her the satisfaction," Hannah elaborated.
"R-romance," Harry stammered.
"Dating," Hannah clarified looking amused at how flustered Harry was at hearing the word 'romance'.
"Oh," Harry said, feeling a bit nervous.
"Don't worry, I'm just as new to all this as you are," Hannah assured him as the two of them sat down.
"But you do want to do all that couples stuff?" Harry asked turning to look at her.
"Maybe but we've already kissed and that is supposed to be the scariest part," Hannah pointed out.
Harry was a bit distracted as Hannah rested her head on his shoulder, causing him to forget his next question.
"You mean that we can do that again?" Harry asked in a voice that was barely above a whisper.
"I suppose that depends on how much of a gentleman you are on our date," Hannah teased.
"So no pressure," Harry snorted.
"No, though I may let you buy me some chocolate at Honeydukes," Hannah said smiling when he draped his arm over her shoulder.
"No problem, I had Sirius draw me out plenty of gold from my trust vault. I've been waiting to visit that sweets shop since first year," Harry admitted.
"There is also a first-rate quidditch shop in the village, Heidi says it's better than Quality Quidditch Supplies," Hannah said, excitement clear in her voice.
"Shame I don't have enough on me to buy a new broom," Harry said.
"There is nothing wrong with the broom you've got. It's quite a bit faster than my Cleansweep," Hannah sighed.
"It's still a twig compared to a Firebolt," Harry shrugged.
"I know, I saw them in action at the Harpies game last week," Hannah exclaimed.
"I heard that the league teams would start flying them soon," Harry muttered.
"They are so fast that the players looked like blurs," Hannah said her breath tickling the skin of his neck.
"What I wouldn't give to have one of those," Harry said with a far-off look in his eye.
"Same here," Hannah admitted as she snuggled into his side.
The rest of their trip to school was spent talking about nothing of real significance Harry realized that this was one of the things he liked so much about Hannah. Havi g conversation with her just felt almost natural and she always seemed to make him feel relaxed. The longer they sat there talking about nothing in particular, the less nervous he felt about their date to Hogsmeade, though he still felt a small thrill at the thought that they may share another kiss if the date went well.