Yawwnn.

- Same day, but much later.

“There’s going to be love in the air,” Ginny remarked, taking a seat by my side, in the common room. Harry and Ron were outside, playing Quidditch with a couple of other Gryffindors. I looked up from Hogwarts, a History, and raised an inquiring eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” I asked thoughtfully. My mind was still on chapter six, and how the book did not make so much as a bare mention of house elves, and the slavery they were required to do in the castle.

“Well, there’s a Hogsmeade weekend on Halloween, obviously,” Ginny explained, with a rather patiently impatient air – the sort of air that always made me frown and forget house elves and castles and chapter six. “Then there’s the feast. Most people will have dates for the day.”

“Oh,” I said, comprehension dawning across my face.

For a second, my mind wandered to Harry and Ron, and then I jerked myself out of my spiralling thoughts, for the better. “Do you and Dean have any plans for the day, then?”

Ginny nodded cheerfully. “Definitely. We’ll head over to Madame Greg’s – Dean says it’s the most wonderful, little teashop. We want to be alone, you see, and there’s always so much noise at The Three Broomsticks. You can’t even talk properly there, especially if it’s a special sort of day. Too many people, too much talk.”

“Madame Greg sounds wonderful,” I said sincerely. “Now, if you will let me study, it would be greatly appreciated.”

Ginny smiled, rising.

“I always distract you, I’ve noticed – though it’s not my fault, since you’re always studying,” she added, a little accusingly, before laughing in her good-natured way. “I’ll be out in the grounds if you need me, playing Quidditch with Ron and the others. See you, ‘Mione.”

“See you, Gin,” I said, waving after her.

The portrait hole swung shut and, along with it, my book. I tossed it aside, running a hand through my hair, and turning to the window. Dust had gathered along the sill, and my fingers brushed it as I stared down, into the grounds.

Down, down below, Harry threw Ron the quaffle, who tossed it to someone else – I could not make out the figure – and, slowly, time trickled by. I saw Ginny appear on the scene, Ginny talk to Ron and Harry, and Ginny join them.

My eyes followed them, Ron and Harry, and I gazed until night had fallen. The figures below dismounted from their brooms a while after, and I finally turned away from the window.

Sleep was here, and my four-posted warm and inviting.