It was finally Monday morning and Harry couldn’t wait for DADA. The new teacher looked very interesting, mostly because was a small defenceless, young woman. How could she possibly defend herself?
Harry got out of bed and found a note on his cabinet from Ginny.
Hey there honey!
I had to go early because Dumbledore sent me a letter to meet him in his office (Fawkes brought it). It’s not bad, don't worry. And don't come marching up to the head’s office! I’ll meet you at breakfast!
Love you loads.
Gin. xoxo
Harry had to admit that he was worried but Ginny had told him to leave it until breakfast so he went to get ready for classes. He was already thinking about Ginny losing the bet and what she had to do. He couldn’t make up his mind. Ron had surprisingly won his and Hermione's bet. She obviously wasn’t a very patient young woman. Harry pitied Ron. Hermione was definitely going to be hard to live with for the rest of Ron's life, but he loved her and that was all that mattered.
Harry came downstairs, pinning his badge onto his robes. He didn’t resemble any past head boy that he could remember. Harry didn’t have his tie and top button done up, nor did he pin his badge perfectly on front of hid robes. Harry had deliberately put it a bit crooked so that it didn’t look as if he cared about his new position. He knew he looked cool and he knew that, hopefully, he’d be a better head boy than any of the others.
Ron walked into the room, without noticing Harry. He was singing a song Harry knew. It was by his favourite band. ‘It’s something unpredictable but in the end it’s right. I hope you’ve had the time of your life!’ Ron sang. Harry tried not to laugh as he watched Ron put on his Vice Head Boy badge. He too, was putting it crooked so as not to look like a teacher’s pet. Ron had to re-pin his badge several times before he was satisfied, then he hummed a little tune and hopped about the common room, occasionally checking to see that Hermione wasn’t descending them but he never looked at the other stairs. About five minutes after Ron had started his freaky dance; Harry couldn’t help himself and started laughing uncontrollably. Ron jumped when he heard him and stood nervously waiting for Harry to start the torment. It didn’t start because Harry couldn’t stop laughing. Ron finally gave in.
‘How long have you been standing there?’ he demanded.
‘The…whole…time…’ Harry managed to get out.
‘Harry, please don't tell the girls. Please Harry please!’
But Harry could still not stop laughing to give his friend any sort of an answer. He just continued to stop and when he did manage to get a few free seconds, he’d start to sing, ‘I hope you’ve had the time of your life.’
Ron lunged at Harry but Harry stepped to the side and missed. He started to laugh even more. Ron jumped at him again. This time he caught him by the ankles and would not let go.
‘Please Harry! I swear I'll never say anything about you and Ginny ever again! Please don't tell Hermione! Harry. She’ll think I'm such a loser!’
‘Yeah, but you are a loser, mate.’ Harry joked.
‘But Hermione doesn’t need to know that!’ he begged.
‘Okay, Ron. It’ll be our little secret.’ Harry teased. ‘It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s…-’
‘Harry!’
‘Ron, why are you screaming like that?’ Hermione said, coming down the stairs.
The tips of Ron's ears went red and he muttered something Harry being a dickhead but Harry butted in.
‘Ron was just practising his voice for when he’s on the quidditch pitch. We’ve got a new tactic which we cannot discuss with anyone. Right, Ron?’
‘Yeah. Right.’
Harry proceeded to tell his friends about Ginny going to the head’s office. Ron was as worried as Harry but Hermione looked rather pleased about. Harry didn’t question it. It must’ve been a good thing if Hermione didn’t seem worried. She usually did enough worrying for herself, Ron and Harry. Ron didn’t notice Hermione slight smirk. He was too worried about his sister. They went down to breakfast to await Ginny’s return and their first DADA class. Harry didn’t know which he was looking forward to most.
They ate their breakfast in the absence of Ginny. Ron ate a surprisingly small amount of food for his normal standard. Harry kept telling himself that there was nothing wrong. The note and Hermione’s face proved it…. He hoped.
Ginny didn’t come to breakfast at all, but when Harry, Ron and Hermione returned to their tower to get their bags for the day’s classes, she was waiting for them.
‘Ginny!’ Harry shouted. ‘You're alright! And you look quite happy. What happened?’
Ginny smiled a little at Hermione and gave her a little nod. Hermione shrieked. ‘Really Ginny? That’s excellent! I'm so excited! What about books and stuff? Oh Ginny!’ and she threw her arms around her best friend and wept.
‘Hermione. There’s no need to cry!’ Ginny laughed.
‘I'm just so happy! Sorry about the crying. I did overreact a bit, didn’t I?’
‘A bit… hmmm.’
‘Will someone tell me and Harry what's going on?’ Ron shouted.
‘Oh yeah. Sorry guys.’ Ginny said. ‘It’s just that, well, I went to Dumbledore's office this morning. He asked me to. He told me that I was really smart.’
‘We already know that!’ Ron said. ‘Get to the point.’
‘I'm getting there! Anyway, he said that…well…its really good…and that well…oh Hermione you tell them. I'm too excited.’
‘Okay Ginny. Well boys. Professor Dumbledore said that Ginny's OWLs were all better than Outstanding and that, if she wished; I could tutor her last year’s work at a faster pace and she could be moved up a year to do her NEWTs a year early.’
Harry and Ron stood staring at Ginny, completely in awe.
Hermione coughed and said. ‘That means she’ll be in our year.’
‘We know!’ Harry shouted. ‘That’s great, Gin! I'm so happy for you. When do you come into our class? After Christmas?’
‘Now. Today.’ she squeaked.
Hermione nodded. ‘There would be no point in learning half a year’s NEWT work to do it all next year.’
Ron was still in shock. ‘Gin…Gin…Gin. That means, like, you’re really smart.’
‘It must.’ she blushed.
‘Ha! Mum’s going to go crazy. She’ll be up here just to tell you how proud she is. Oh, I pity you.’ he came back to earth.
Ginny blushed again. ‘Yeah I know. But I suppose it’ll be worth it to be in the same class as Harry and Hermione.’
The tips of Ron's ears went pink. ‘And?’
‘Oh yeah, and you I suppose.’
Ron crossed his arms and made a huffing face.
‘Only joking big brother.’ Ginny hugged Ron. ‘You too.’
‘What about your books Ginny? You’ll need seventh year books as well as sixth.’ Hermione said.
‘Professor Dumbledore said that I can share yours until mine arrived. He ordered them before I got to school.’ Ginny replied.
‘You must have been a dead cert for him to do that.’ Harry said as he pulled Ginny closer to him. ‘I'm so proud of you.’ he whispered in her ear before giving her a meaningful kiss.
Ron coughed loudly, signalling that all four of them had better get to DADA.