Holly & Yew

C38

Chapter 38: There is a place that I call home ... But it's not where I am welcome ... And if I saw all the angels ... Why is my presence so painful?

THE WAR (38-47)

Their second year came to a close. Harry and Tom were more than a little apprehensive about going back. They didn't know how altered Muggle Britain would be after so many months of the war. They had been away since it started, ensconced at Hogwarts. The letters from their friends in London had become shorter and far between. Olly's parents had already sent him and Jane to the countryside.

"Come stay with us," Greta offered in History of Magic to him and Tom.

Professor Binns was calling up students to collect their final essays and grades.

"Thank you, Miss Greengrass, but we couldn't possibly accept," Tom said reluctantly.

"Oh come on. Don't stand on ceremony with me. Astrid and I can write to our parents right away. There's no way they'd say no."

"We couldn't impose on you for the whole summer," Harry said. "But, how about we meet up in Diagon Alley every so often over the break?"

Greta's eyes lit up.

"That might work," she said.

"Could I come too?" Abraxas asked, sitting back down with his graded essay.

"Of course," Harry said warmly. "It wouldn't be the same without you."

"You're our fourth musketeer," Greta said kindly, munching on a good luck oat cookie. Harry and Greta had baked oodles of them for Astrid and Eileen's OWLs with the help of the elves, frosting them with four-leaf clovers and ladybugs and hippogriff claws and unicorn horns. Some of the other fifth years had helped themselves to the cookies too, but they still had three baskets of them left.

"Why don't we set our first meeting to be a couple of weeks after school ends?" Tom suggested. "We can figure out the specifics over letters."

"Sounds good with me," Greta said.

Abraxas nodded, reaching for a good luck cookie himself.

Binns called Harry's name.

Harry nervously walked towards the ghost at the front of the class.

"Mr. Faye, please stay after class for a minute," Binns said. Harry's heart dropped, wondering if he'd done something wrong. "It's nothing serious," Binns added a moment later.

History of Magic was the last exam period of the school year. They'd already taken the multiple choice portion of the test on the last day of actual classes. Since they'd also had a final paper to write (due at the start of the week), they'd all spent the free exam period talking and relaxing, while Binns had finished the last of his grading.

"Okay, sir," Harry reluctantly agreed, though he was eager to spend the last few hours with his friends before everyone started heading home tomorrow.

Harry slowly walked back to his seat, peeking at his paper nervously for his final grade.

He gasped. An O.

He couldn't believe it was real.

Harry had written about the effect healing magic and disease had played in the outcome of the Wizarding Civil War of 1582: the war that had established Wizengamot as an official governing body of British Wixen rather than a mere advisory board. He had written two extra feet for his essay after checking with Binns to make sure he didn't mind because Harry had so much to say. It was the first time Harry had gone over the word count for one of his essays, unlike Tom who almost always did.