Walk the Shadows

she swallowed down her curiosity, and the words of comfort she wanted so badly to give Harry, when he so obviously wanted them to just pretend everything was fine. 'I told you about my OWLS, did you get that letter?' she asked, and when Harry nodded, she continued, 'Well, my Mum was very excited, and said that as a treat, we could visit America at Christmas break.'

'Oh, you should see Disney's Mouse and the Grand Canyon, and I've heard Wideway is a smash, and Niagra Waterfalls and—'

'I doubt she's planning to Apparate all over the place,' Harry told Ron, laughing.

Hermione smirked. 'Oh, right. With my parents?'

'Yeah, see? So her trip'll probably be a bit trimmed down from that. Those places are really far apart.'

'But it's all one country,' Ron protested.

'A really big one, though,' Hermione said. 'Huge really. Almost the same size as all of Europe.'

'Wicked,' Ron breathed, eyes wide. 'But you'll go to Disney's Mouse, right?'

'And pick up some Mouse ears, just for you,' Hermione promised, noting Harry's half-smile, and how he seemed a bit more at ease than just a few minutes ago, now that they weren't pushing him for details on his summer. Though Professor Snape seemed to think he was doing . . . better, if not entirely well, Hermione knew it must be hard for him. How much harder, to think your friends would be awful to you, too?

'How did you do on your OWLS, Harry?' she asked, hoping that wasn't too much of a personal question.

'Pretty good,' he said, ducking his head a little shyly, in a way she found utterly charming. 'I'll be with you in Potions, at least.'

'Oh! That's brilliant! I've already drawn up a study schedule—'

'Big surprise there,' Ron intoned, but Hermione ignored him and happily started telling Harry all about it, even as the dark-haired boy shook his head in silent commiseration with Ron. Things were as back to normal as they could get.

TBC . . . .

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A/N: As I mentioned in recent Author's Notes attached to my other stories, my workplace has suddenly got it in mind that I should actually, you know, be working whilst I'm here. Thus, I've not got as much unfettered writing time as one would hope. I expect this new phase of theirs to last until mid-November or so, and until such time, my updates will be a bit more sporadic. I still hope to get at least one chapter up a week for each story, though. We'll see.

In the meantime, thank you to all my readers and reviewers! This chapter was rather harder to write than I thought it would be, but Hermione chose to get all emotional, and I went along for the ride. So, cheers, for bearing with me, and Mochas for everyone!

*Chapter 43*: Chapter 43

Walk the Shadows – Chapter 43

By jharad17

Disclaimer: Not mine. I imagine I'll get over it.

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Sunday, Sep.1

The rest of the students should be arriving in a few hours, but I'm not going to the Welcoming Feast. It'd be nice to see the newest first years, and make bets with Ron on who'll get sorted where, but that would also mean being surrounded by people and asked a bunch of questions I don't want to answer (like, 'How was your summer?') and having to look across the hall at Malfoy and his cronies and try not to scream at them