The Awakening Power

Chapter 23: The Wizard Carnival

The Awakening Power

by Sib

Chapter 23: The Wizard Carnival

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Harry walked along the lake in the late afternoon by himself, gloomy thoughts filling his head about his life. With spring returning to Hogwarts, the day was warm and dry, which was a nice change from the recent wet weather, and he felt that he should take advantage of it while he could.

That morning, news had been sprayed across the Daily Prophet in huge letters announcing a massive Azkaban break-out. All the Death Eaters had escaped, including Lucius Malfoy. The mood at breakfast had felt very subdued, although Harry noticed that Draco's face held a particularly annoying smirk.

Harry tried to care about the break-out, but somehow the whole thing had a feeling of inevitability to him. The Ministry had apparently put in enormous amounts of security since the disappearance of the Dementors, but, in the end, it hadn't been enough. Many guards had died during the escape.

He briefly wondered what the ramifications would be, but his mind kept wandering back to more personal problems. Lately, many things had been settling down in his mind, yet many things felt extremely confusing.

One thing was certainly better, and that was Snape's class. Snape had exited the infirmary after a day (Harry had heard that there'd been quite a row between he and Madam Pomfrey about it), and in their next class, Snape began the lesson as usual with no comment about the previous events.

Although Snape's feelings about him had clearly not improved, as he periodically shot Harry looks of hatred, things had been much less tense. Instead of every lesson being a personal challenge, Snape appeared to embrace a new strategy of ignoring Harry for the most part.

Many students had seemed to look at him rather warily after the incident, but that all seemed to settle down after a week or so. In fact, many students seemed much more relaxed around him since the tension in Snape's class had died down.

One thing that didn't feel better was that Ron and Hermione had recently been spending a lot of time alone together, and Harry couldn't help but feel a bit left out. He was very glad they had finally admitted their feelings for each other, but the three of them didn't spend nearly as much time together, and he missed it. And if he were really truthful with himself, he felt a bit... envious. They were so happy together.

Most of his confusion these days revolved around his relationship with Ginny, which ebbed and flowed like a tide, as he seemed to get closer and then further away. After he'd let Valentine's Day pass without action, he had watched carefully for any sign of reaction, but all was business as usual. It was more evidence that Hermione was right – she had liked him early on for no apparent reason, had come to her senses, got over him, and was now just a friend.

And yet... sometimes she seemed to look at him as if she might want him to do something...

Harry sighed, kicking a rock into the lake. The only good thing was that he hadn't noticed Ginny spending any significant time around any other boys, although she seemed to count many boys among her friends. The biggest problem was that he just didn't know exactly what he wanted.

Sometimes at the end of their late night meals he would be so tempted to kiss her goodnight, to see what would happen... but he was fearful that he would mess everything up. It helped him so much to have her to talk to, especially with Ron and Hermione now a couple.

His situation with Cho had been such a disaster last year. What if it ended the same way with Ginny?

Somehow, when he would feel some temptation to explore where things could go, it seemed easier to maintain the status quo and not take such a huge risk. Endless problems would fill his head... what would Ron say? What would Mr. and Weasley think about their daughter going out with someone so, well, dangerous? What about Ginny's brothers?