Moment
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the related characters.
[A/N]: This is strictly a one-shot, set between HBP and DH. Happy reading!
"Get up!" Fred and George shouted together. Their mother had given them the task of getting Ron and Harry out of bed, and they wanted to do things effectively.
"Five more minutes." Ron groaned into his pillow. Harry sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes just in time to see both twins leap onto Ron's bed and begin jumping. He had the strangest feeling that that was not a good idea on their part.
"Get the bloody hell out of my room!" Ron bellowed. Fred and George snickered and quickly left the room, making a number of obscene gestures behind their backs.
Harry looked at Ron and shook his head. "You're in for it now," he said.
"What do you m-" but Ron was suddenly cut off by shouts many floors below.
"Ronald Weasley, you get out of bed right now and do your chores!" Molly Weasley, Ron's mother, was not one whom you wanted to anger. She was a stick of dynamite with an extremely short fuse.
Ron groaned. "It's summer, but can I sleep in? No, never." He grumbled a bit more as he stalked out the door, pulling a Chudley Cannons shirt over his head. Harry chuckled and followed his friend out of the room.
They rounded a corner, and Harry almost ran into Ginny. She blushed, the red blotches clashing violently with her ginger hair. "Hi, Harry."
He grinned. He and Ginny were an on-again, off-again couple. He had put their relationship on hold while he had been off with Dumbledore searching for Voldemort's remaining horcruxes. "Morning." he said.
Ron rolled his eyes and continued down the hallway, muttering darkly. "I'll see you downstairs." he called over his shoulder.
"What's up with Ron?" Ginny asked.
"Fred and George woke him up."
"Ah," Ginny nodded. It was common knowledge that Ron was a tad grouchy in the mornings, even without Fred and George being the ones to wake him up.
"So…" Harry said as they began descending the stairs.
"So…" Ginny replied.
"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to play Quidditch later." Harry said. "We could play three on three: you, me and Fred against Ron, George and Bill."
"Fine by me. I've been wanting to play a bit of Quidditch."
"Great. We'll head out to the orchard after breakfast then."
By then they had reached the kitchen and found Mrs. Weasley barking orders to Ron while the twins sniggered in the corner. Harry and Ginny sat down at the impeccably scrubbed wooden table. It was loaded with dishes of bacon and eggs, stacks of toast, and a jug of pumpkin juice.
Ron slammed himself into a chair and when he thought his mother was out of earshot, he said, "She's mad, I tell you."
"I heard that Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley shouted from another room. Ron groaned and dug into the food.
There was a soft sound of shuffling feet and Hermione entered the kitchen. "Good mor-," she yawned loudly, "-ning."
"Morning." the group said in unison.
Hermione joined them at the table and said, "So what's on the agenda today?"
"Quidditch." Ginny said cheerily.
"Well have fun; I'll be reviewing my Transfiguration notes from last semester."
"Oh, come on Hermione. You won't even watch us play?" Ron said.
"I can't. I want to look over all of our notes just in case we need any of the spells for when we-" she stopped. Hermione had almost given away the fact that she, Ron, and Harry were not planning on returning to Hogwarts for their final year. "Never mind," She said quickly, "one day of watching Quidditch can't hurt."
After they had eaten breakfast and done their chores Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George and Bill trooped out to the apple orchard where they played Quidditch. Fred and George carried a large empty basket between them.
When they reached the field Hermione sat down under an apple tree while the others prepared themselves for the match. Harry, Ginny, and Fred pulled on black school robes, but the others wore only their normal clothing to avoid confusing teammates, particularly the twins. They roamed the orchard for a few minutes, collecting fallen apples to use in place of a quaffle, then mounted their brooms.
"Hey, Hermione," Bill called, "could you toss apples up to us when we need them?"
"Sure," she said, pulling the basket of apples over to her tree.
"You can be the referee as well, if you'd like. We don't want any cheating, do we?" Bill looked pointedly at Fred and George who began whistling and looking off in other directions. Bill conjured a whistle and tossed it to Hermione, who caught it and hung it around her neck.
"Ron and I will be keepers," Fred said, and he flew off to the other end of the orchard, where he hovered between two trees.
Ron flew to his post while the others circled the centre of the field. On Bill's signal, Hermione threw an apple into their midst, and the game began.
They zoomed around the orchard, tossing the fake quaffle to each other. Occasionally, the apples were thrown at each other instead, resulting in Hermione blowing her whistle and calling fouls.
At one point, Ginny chucked an apple at Bill and it was intercepted by George, who beat it away with his arm. The apple smashed into a tree, leaving a sticky pulp on the bark.
"Sorry, force of habit!" George shouted apologetically as Hermione tossed another apple up to Bill.
But Ginny caught the apple instead and scored twice before anyone noticed what had happened. "Come on, Ron! It's no fun if you don't put up a fight!" she said as she flew off to rejoin the others at the centre of the orchard.
Ron's face turned pink and he tightened his grip on his broom. The next time Ginny tried to score, he kicked as hard as he could, splitting the apple in half and spraying her with bits of fruit.
They continued the game late into the afternoon. As the sun began to sink, they heard Mrs. Weasley calling them back to the house to wash up.
Ginny and Fred cheered as Harry put one last goal past Ron, winning the match.
"Good game." said Bill as he and Harry landed on the grass and dismounted their brooms. They shook hands as Ginny, Ron and the twins landed around them.
"I definitely needed that." Ron sighed, "I missed flying."
Hermione trotted over to the rest of the group. "I thought you were going to crash when you dived for the apple!"
Bill shrugged, "No reason to scream."
Harry laughed, "Yeah, Hermione. Do you know how many times I've crashed at practice?"
"Loads." Ginny and Ron said together. They laughed all the way back to the Burrow.
When they reached the front door Ginny asked for everyone's brooms so that she could take them back to the shed.
"I'll help you," said Harry. They gathered the six brooms and set off for the shed.
"All right, Harry, tell me what's going on." Ginny said as they walked. Harry noticed that she sounded hurt and distressed.
"What do you mean?" he said nervously.
"What's going on with you, Ron and Hermione? You've all been really quiet, and when I asked Ron he made up an excuse to get away from me. And when I tried to ask Hermione about it she said that she couldn't tell me."
"Ginny, I don't want to get you involved in this." Harry said sadly.
"But I want to know! I swear, Harry, if you don't tell me right now, I'll hex you and never speak to you again." There was a dangerous gleam in her eye.
Harry knew he could never stand not talking to Ginny. "This is dangerous; I don't want you to get hurt."
She glared at him.
"Fine, I'll tell you. But you have to promise me that you'll stay out of it for as long as you possibly can." he said.
"Fine."
He took a deep breath. "The three of us… we aren't going back to Hogwarts."
"What? How could you not go back to school? It's your last year!" Ginny said, shocked.
"Do you know what a horcrux is?" Harry asked her. They had reached the shed and were placing the brooms on the racks that lined the walls.
"Yes, but that's dark magic. What does it have to do with you three?" She sounded suspicious.
"Not me. Voldemort."
Ginny gasped. "Are you saying that Voldemort has a horcrux? That's terrible! Now there's not just one of him to deal with; there're two!"
"Five." Harry said gravely.
"Five? What do you mean five?"
"Four horcruxes, plus Voldemort himself. Five."
"Impossible." Ginny could not believe what she was hearing. There were, in a sense, five separate Voldemorts that Harry would have to defeat. It seemed and impossible feat. "Harry you can't!" she cried, launching herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "What if you-" but he cut her off with a kiss.
"It'll be okay Ginny." he said. "We'll all be fine, I promise."
"You can't promise that!" she wailed. Ginny buried her face in Harry's chest, soaking the front of his shirt with her tears.
"Ginny," Harry said firmly, "stop. I have to do this, whether you want me to or not. So there's no use crying over it."
Her sobbing became a bit quieter and less violent as she looked up into his face.
"Listen, if a time comes when you are absolutely needed in this fight, I won't stop you from joining in. But until then, promise me that you'll do your best to stay safe." he said, stroking her hair.
Ginny could only nod.
Harry leaned his forehead against Ginny's, "I don't want you to get hurt." she said quietly.
"I know."
"Harry?"
"Hm?"
"I love you." It was hardly more than a whisper, but Harry heard it. And it made his heart soar.
"I love you too, Ginny."
They stayed there for a few minutes, not wanting end their moment alone for fear that they may never have another.
"Come on. They're bound to be wondering where we've been." Harry said finally. Ginny reluctantly followed him back to the house, keeping a firm grip on his hand. She was utterly terrified by the fact that, once he left to track down the remaining horcruxes, she may never see him again. But for now, in the time that they had left before the end of their summer holiday, they would cherish every moment.