What I'm Looking For...

I sat in the common-room, we had just had dinner and Harry was still in the hospital wing. Everyone knew about last night, and, suddenly, everyone seemed to want to talk to us. Hermione and Ron sat across the other side of the room; since they knew more, they had more people around them. I sat with Fred and George by the fire, though.

“I’m never playing chess again,” I said while I looked at the bandage on my left hand.
I told them all about what happened last night, everything that had happened throughout the year. They were disappointed that I hadn’t told them but soon got over it.

“Wicked,” They said after I’d finished tell them.

I smiled and nodded. Two more days went by, and Harry finally woke up. Hermione, Ron and I ran down to the hospital wing, but weren’t allowed to go in, until Dumbledore had finished talking to him.

“Harry!” Hermione said, when we finally got in.

“Oh, Harry, we were sure you were going to – Dumbledore was so worried –“

“The whole school’s talking about it,” I said. “What really happened?”

Harry told us how when he had gotten into the last room, it was Quirrell who had gotten through, not Snape. On the back of Quirrell’s head, under his turban, was, in fact, Voldemort. He was the one who had been drinking Unicorn’s blood in the forest, and he wanted the Stone to have his own body again. We gasped in all the right places, and Hermione screamed out loud when Harry told us what was under Quirrell’s turban.

“So the Stones gone,” I said finally. “Flamel’s just going to die?”

“That’s what I said, but Dumbledore thinks that – what was it? – ‘To a well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure’.”

“Always said he was off his rocker,” said Ron, looking quite impressed at how mad his hero was.

“So what happened to you guys?” said Harry.

“Well, I got back all right,” Hermione said. “I brought Ron and Corey around – that took a while – and we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him in the entrance hall. He already knew – he just said, “Harry’s gone after him, hasn’t he?” and hurtled off to the third floor.”

“D’you think he meant you to do it?” I said. “Sending you your father’s cloak and everything?”
“Well,” Hermione exploded, “if he did – I mean to say – that’s terrible – you could have been killed.”

“No, it isn’t,” said Harry thoughtfully. “He’s a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don’t think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It’s almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could...”

“Yeah, Dumbledore’s barking, all right,” Ron said proudly. “Listen, you’ve got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow. The points are all in and Slytherin won, of course – you missed the last Quidditch match, we were steamrollered by Ravenclaw without you – but the food’ll be good.”

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled over.

“You’ve had nearly fifteen minutes, no OUT,” she said firmly.

---

We all sat in the Great Hall for the end-of-year feast. The hall was decked out in Slytherin colours of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin’s winning the house cup for the seventh year in a row. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table.

When Harry walked in there was a sudden hush and then everybody started talking loudly at once. He slipped into a seat next to Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table, and we all tried to ignore the fact that people were standing up to look at him.

Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later. The babble died away.

“Another year gone!” Dumbledore said cheerfully. “And I must trouble you with an old man’s wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller then they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts. Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw have four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two.”

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. I could see Draco Malfoy banging his goblet on the table. It was a sickening sight.

“Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin,” said Dumbledore. “However, recent events must be taken into account.”

The room went very still, the Slytherin’s smiles faded a little.

“Ahem,” said Dumbledore. “I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes. First – to Mr Ronald Weasley and Ms Corey Samuels...”

Ron went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with bad sunburn, and I sat beaming, across from them, while the twins, who sat on either side of me, patted me on the back.

“... For the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor fifty points.”

Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects; “My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall’s giant chess set!”

At last there was silence again.

“Second – to Miss Granger... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points.”

Hermione buried her face in her arms; I strongly suspected she had burst into tears. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves – we were a hundred points up.
“Third – to Mr Harry Potter...” said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. “... for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points.”

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor no had four hundred and seventy-two points – exactly the same as Slytherin. We had drawn for the house cup – if only Dumbledore had given us just one more point. Dumbledore raised his hand, the room gradually fell silent.

“There are all kinds of courage,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom.”

Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. We call stood up to yell and cheer as Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. He had never won as much as a point for Gryffindor before. Harry, still cheering, budged Ron in the ribs and pointed at Malfoy, who couldn’t have looked more stunned and horrified if he’d just had the Body-Bind curse put on him.

“Which means,” Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, “we need a little change of decoration.”
He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall’s hand, with a horrible forced smile.

---

I had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To our great surprise, Harry, Ron and I passed with good marks; Hermione, of course, came top of the year. Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one. We had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. It was a shame, but as Ron said, you can’t have everything in life.

And suddenly, our wardrobes were empty, our trunks were packed, Neville’s toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; note were handed out to all students, warning us not use magic over the holidays (“I always hope they’ll forget to give us these,” said Fred sadly,); Hagrid was there to take us down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; we were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans as we sped past Muggle towns; pulling off our wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three quarters at King’s Cross Station.

It took quite a while for us all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier letting us go through the gate in twos and threes so we didn’t attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles.

“You must come and stay this summer,” said Ron, “All of you – I’ll send you an owl.”
“Thanks,” said Harry. “I’ll need something to look forward to.”

People jostled us as we moved forwards towards the gateway back to the Muggle world. Some of them called:

“Bye, Harry!”

“See you, Potter!”

“Still famous,” Ron said, grinning at him.

“Not where I’m going, I promise you,” said Harry.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I all went through the gateway together.

“There he is, Mum, there he is, look!”

It was Ginny Weasley, Ron’s younger sister, but she wasn’t pointing at Ron.

“Harry Potter!” she squealed. “Look, Mum! I can see –“

“Be quiet, Ginny, and it’s rude to point.”

Mrs Weasley smiled down at us.

“Busy year?” she said.

“Very,” said Harry. “Thanks for the fudge and the jumper, Mrs Weasley.”

“Yeah, thank you,” I said, smiling at her.

“Oh, it was nothing, dears.”

“Ready, are you?” said a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache.

Behind him stood a thin, blonde woman, and a fat boy. I’m guessing they were the Dursleys.

“You must be Harry’s family!” said Mrs Weasley.

“In a manner of speaking,” said the man. “Hurry up, boy, we haven’t got all day.” He walked away.

“Harry hung back for a last word with us.

“See you over the summer, then.”

“Hope you have – er – a good holidays,” said Hermione, looking uncertainly after Harry’s family, shocked that anyone could be so unpleasant.

“Oh, I will,” said Harry, and I was surprised to see a grin spreading across his face. “They don’t know we’re not allowed to use magic at home. I’m going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer...”

He waved and quickly ran after them.

My parents came and talked to Mr and Mrs Weasley, and they made plans for me to stay most of the holidays, seeing as my parents were going overseas. I hugged everyone goodbye, before I went home with my Mum and Dad.

“Have a good year?” Mum asked once we’d loaded everything in the car, and were driving back home.

“The best!”