Chapter 15: The Unbreakable Vow
...and the Slug's Christmas party.
The word of the chapter is: beam. Luna beamed. Parvati beamed. Hermione beamed. Careful, girls. You'll get a dreadful sunburn with all that...beaming.
Harry spends the remaining days before the Christmas hols walking a tight, silent line between Snogging!Ron and Sulking!Hermione. Since he can't much talk to Ron, he spends his time with Hermione in the library, who tells him to watch out for girls bearing drinks or other ingestible items as they may contain a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes Love Potion. Good thing Harry has a girl who hangs out in bathrooms watching his back. And who actually considers Filch/Pince a likely couple. Filch/Pince?? *possible plot bunny hops by* *shoots it dead* *scrubs brain*
Taking Hermione's advice to find a date, he asks Luna Lovegood to accompany him to the Christmas party, an invite he had not intended to issue, but as it turned out, Harry was quite glad he did. Luna is, if nothing, a pleasant companion, and provides Harry an opportunity to snort half a cup of mead up his nose in amusement in front of two teachers. Hermione, though, spends her time dodging Cormac, who apparently is a heavy-lipped snogger.
But Christmas definitely comes early when Filch enters pulling Draco Malfoy by the ear, having caught the Slytherin lurking in the halls. Much to Filch's disappointment, Slughorn invites Malfoy to stay; Harry notices for the first time that Malfoy looks ill and care-worn. Then, Snape hauls Draco out of the party, and Harry--being typical, nosy Harry--follows and finds them having a very interesting conversation in an empty classroom. Thank the stars for that handy, folds-down-to-nothing Invisibility Cloak!
So what do we learn? Auntie Bella is teaching Ickle Draco Occulmency; Snape has been calling Draco to his office repeatedly, and Draco has been ignoring the summons; Draco speaks disrespectfully to Snape; Snape admits to making the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa (op.cit. Ch 2); Crabbe & Goyle really are stupid; Snape really is a good actor; and Draco does NOT want to talk about his father.
At least it gave Harry something else to think about besides trying to not to tick off Ron or Hermione.
The word of the chapter is: beam. Luna beamed. Parvati beamed. Hermione beamed. Careful, girls. You'll get a dreadful sunburn with all that...beaming.
Harry spends the remaining days before the Christmas hols walking a tight, silent line between Snogging!Ron and Sulking!Hermione. Since he can't much talk to Ron, he spends his time with Hermione in the library, who tells him to watch out for girls bearing drinks or other ingestible items as they may contain a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes Love Potion. Good thing Harry has a girl who hangs out in bathrooms watching his back. And who actually considers Filch/Pince a likely couple. Filch/Pince?? *possible plot bunny hops by* *shoots it dead* *scrubs brain*
Taking Hermione's advice to find a date, he asks Luna Lovegood to accompany him to the Christmas party, an invite he had not intended to issue, but as it turned out, Harry was quite glad he did. Luna is, if nothing, a pleasant companion, and provides Harry an opportunity to snort half a cup of mead up his nose in amusement in front of two teachers. Hermione, though, spends her time dodging Cormac, who apparently is a heavy-lipped snogger.
But Christmas definitely comes early when Filch enters pulling Draco Malfoy by the ear, having caught the Slytherin lurking in the halls. Much to Filch's disappointment, Slughorn invites Malfoy to stay; Harry notices for the first time that Malfoy looks ill and care-worn. Then, Snape hauls Draco out of the party, and Harry--being typical, nosy Harry--follows and finds them having a very interesting conversation in an empty classroom. Thank the stars for that handy, folds-down-to-nothing Invisibility Cloak!
So what do we learn? Auntie Bella is teaching Ickle Draco Occulmency; Snape has been calling Draco to his office repeatedly, and Draco has been ignoring the summons; Draco speaks disrespectfully to Snape; Snape admits to making the Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa (op.cit. Ch 2); Crabbe & Goyle really are stupid; Snape really is a good actor; and Draco does NOT want to talk about his father.
At least it gave Harry something else to think about besides trying to not to tick off Ron or Hermione.