Harry Potter and the Gift of Memories [Harry Potter Fan Fiction]

Chapter XXXII: The Train Ride Home

His preliminary observation complete, Harry smiled at the three before they could take notice of his staring.

“Morning Tracey, Blaise, Daphne.” He greeted, his head tilting, “Looking forward to heading home for the holidays?”

“You bet I am!” Was Tracey's exuberant declaration. Harry was quite sure that her excitement had less to do with returning home for Christmas and more to do with her blond friend. Her happiness was proof the two had made up and that Daphne was on the mend.

“I wonder what she's so excited about,” Hannah whispered into Lisa's ear as the group now consisting of nine continued moving forward. “I mean, she looked really depressed just a few days ago. Now she looks like she can take on the whole world.”

“Who knows,” was Lisa's response.

Harry shook his head as the two spoke. His other friends also seemed a bit perplexed by Tracey's strange attitude reversal.

Well, he wouldn't be the one to tell them anything. Whatever happened between Tracey and Daphne was no bodies business but their own.

With the trio of Slytherin's in tow, Harry and the others made it outside of Hogwarts and descended down the small path toward the carriages.

“This Christmas is going to be totally awesome,” Tracey said to them as they descended the small sloped, dirt path. The carriages were closer to the gates that kept Hogwarts separated from Hogsmeade. “I think I might finally have worn my parents down enough for them to buy me a new broom. My old Cleansweep is nice and all, but it's so, you know, old. I doubt I'll get a Nimbus 2000 or anything like that, but I'm at least hoping to get a 1700.”

“That's still a pretty expensive broom,” Terry pointed out. “Don't the Nimbus 1700's sell for something like 2,500 galleons? I don't even think all the presents I'll be getting combined would equal that.”

“Yeah, but my parents are probably better off than yours,” Tracey started, before she realized how insulting her words sounded. She quickly began to backtrack. “What I mean is my parents are pretty successful and make a lot of money. Of course, I don't know how much money your parents make, so maybe their richer than mine.”

“Must you always put your foot in your mouth, Tracey?” asked Daphne, her tone still somewhat cool, but nowhere near as bad as before. If there was a temperature that could be used to describe her tone, Harry would say it was lukewarm, though the added sarcasm made it hard to tell. Still, the mere fact that she was now speaking could only mean she was beginning to warm up to Harry and everyone else. At least he hoped so.

The mild glare Tracey sent was ruined by her pout.

“So this is something she does a lot then?” Hannah asked a tad uncertainly. She seemed slightly wary of Daphne, not that Harry could really blame her, given how the pureblood Slytherin acted before.

“She's been like this almost as long as I can remember,” Daphne said dryly, completely ignoring the betrayed look her friend sent her. “I think she picked it up from her father. He has a rather bad habit of saying stupid things in front of his wife, and getting into trouble for it.”

“Revealing my bad habits like that is so not cool, Daphne,” Tracey muttered with a small glare, cheeks puffed up indignantly. Daphne merely eyed her brunette friend with a blank look, though Harry thought he detected a hint of teasing warmth in her eyes.

“It could be genetic,” Harry commented, causing all eyes to turn his wat.

“Genetic?” Susan asked, curious about the unfamiliar term.

“It means hereditary,” Hermione started before Harry could begin to explain, “It's a trait that's passed down from parent to child. A good example would be a persons eye or hair color. You wouldn't normally see a child with blond hair if both of their parents had brown hair, or blue eyes if neither parent possessed blue eyes. Some people even think that certain personality traits are passed on through genetics, though that hasn't been proven yet.”