Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

there aren’t enough hats!’
    Harry, who had not had the heart to tell her that Dobby was taking everything she made, bent lower over his History of Magic essay. In any case, he did not want to think about Christmas. For the first time in his school career, he very much wanted to spend the holidays away from Hogwarts. Between his Quidditch ban and worry about whether or not Hagrid was going to be put on probation, he felt highly resentful towards the place at the moment. The only thing he really looked forward to were the DA meetings, and they would have to stop over the holidays, as nearly everybody in the DA would be spending the time with their families. Hermione was going skiing with her parents, something that greatly amused Ron, who had never heard of Muggles strapping narrow strips of wood on to their feet to slide down mountains. Ron was going home to The Burrow. Harry endured several days of envy before Ron said, in response to Harry asking him how he was going to get home for Christmas: ‘But you’re coming too! Didn’t I say? Mum wrote and told me to invite you weeks ago!’
    Hermione rolled her eyes, but Harry’s spirits soared: the thought of Christmas at The Burrow was truly wonderful, though slightly marred by Harry’s guilty feeling that he would not be able to spend the holiday with Sirius. He wondered whether he could possibly persuade Mrs Weasley to invite his godfather for the festivities. Even though he doubted whether Dumbledore would permit Sirius to leave Grimmauld Place anyway, he could not help but think Mrs Weasley might not want him; they were so often at loggerheads. Sirius had not contacted Harry at all since his last appearance in the fire, and although Harry knew that with Umbridge on constant watch it would be unwise to attempt to contact him, he did not like to think of Sirius alone in his mother’s old house, perhaps pulling a lonely cracker with Kreacher.
    Harry arrived early in the Room of Requirement for the last DA meeting before the holidays and was very glad he had, because when the torches burst into flame he saw that Dobby had taken it upon himself to decorate the place for Christmas. He could tell the elf had done it, because nobody else would have strung a hundred golden baubles from the ceiling, each showing a picture of Harry’s face and bearing the legend: HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!
    Harry had only just managed to get the last of them down before the door creaked open and Luna Lovegood entered, looking as dreamy as usual.
    ‘Hello,’ she said vaguely, looking around at what remained of the decorations. ‘These are nice, did you put them up?’
    ‘No,’ said Harry, ‘it was Dobby the house-elf.’
    ‘Mistletoe,’ said Luna dreamily, pointing at a large clump of white berries placed almost over Harry’s head. He jumped out from under it. ‘Good thinking,’ said Luna very seriously. ‘It’s often infested with Nargles.’
    Harry was saved the necessity of asking what Nargles were by the arrival of Angelina, Katie and Alicia. All three of them were breathless and looked very cold.
    ‘Well,’ said Angelina dully, pulling off her cloak and throwing it into a corner, ‘we’ve finally replaced you.’
    ‘Replaced me?’ said Harry blankly.
    ‘You and Fred and George,’ she said impatiently. ‘We’ve got another Seeker!’
    ‘Who?’ said Harry quickly.
    ‘Ginny Weasley,’ said Katie.
    Harry gaped at her.
    ‘Yeah, I know,’ said Angelina, pulling out her wand and flexing her arm, ‘but she’s pretty good, actually. Nothing on you, of course,’ she said, throwing him a very dirty look, ‘but as we can’t have you …’
    Harry bit back the retort he was longing to utter: did she imagine for a second that he did not regret his expulsion from the team a hundred times more than she did?
    ‘And what about the Beaters?’ he asked, trying to keep his voice even.
    ‘Andrew Kirke,’ said Alicia without enthusiasm, ‘and Jack Sloper. Neither of them are brilliant, but compared to the rest of the idiots who turned up …’
    The arrival of Ron, Hermione and Neville brought this depressing discussion to an end, and within five minutes the room was full enough to prevent Harry seeing Angelina’s burning, reproachful looks.
    ‘OK,’ he said, calling them all to order. ‘I thought this evening we should just go over the things we’ve done so far, because it’s the last meeting before the holidays and there’s no point starting anything new