Chapter 2 – Invitation

Ginny really wanted to say that her hearth didn´t start beating a million times per minute as she started the read the letter that Harry had sent her. She also wouldn´t admit to anyone that she made a little happy dance in her room before she started to read and most certainly not that she sniffed at the envelope a bit. No that would be just too embarrassing.

When she started to read the letter her hearth at first swelled even more than it already had, because to be honest she never expected that Harry would apologize for not talking to her after the chamber incident. After all it was her fault for going all fangirl on him that he got scared away. Still his apology was one of the sweetest things someone ever did to her and a small smile painted her face.

But as Ginny read on it slowly started to falter. He described the nightmares that plagued his dreams for more than two weeks and it made her shudder at how realistic it all sounded. After all it probably was real due to his connection with Voldemort.

And suddenly her image of the strong, fearless and unbeatable hero faded and left what Hermione tried to explain her last year: A very complicated boy with flaws and fears like everyone else and one truly horrifying arch enemy.

From her own experience she knew how horrid nightmares could be especially with the knowledge that they were real. What made the first few months bearable was the fact that her whole family supported her and was able to comfort her when she woke up screaming. But Harry never had that kind of luxury. From what she knew his relatives were absolutely horrible people that treat him like garbage, something she luckily never had to experience.

A silent tear rolled over her cheek and dropped onto the parchment in her hand, leaving a small wet stain on it.

And then a sudden determination got hold of her, one she hasn´t felt since she threw Riddle´s diary into the toilet.

I can´t and won´t let him suffer like that!

Ginny grabbed her quill and some paper and began to write. She had absolutely no idea where all the comforting words came from but her hand seemed to know exactly what it put on the sheet. It suddenly wasn´t like writing her long time crush but a very dear friend who needed some help from her.

Maybe we could be just that for now. Friends.

The thought made her smile and it didn´t left her face until she strapped her own letter onto Hedwig and sent the snow owl back to her owner.

"I hope it help you…" Ginny whispered and threw a longing look out of the window.

A few weeks later…

Harry sat on his bed stared expectantly at his opened window, waiting for Hedwig to arrive with a new letter from Ginny.

The two of them had been writing each other for almost three weeks now and since then Harry´s mood had drastically improved. Even if he had to live with the Dursley´s for now.

A grin formed in his face as he remembered the look on uncle Vernon´s face when he told them that he was exchanging letters with his godfather Sirius. And the small lie that definitely had its perks. For example he no longer had to do all the chores around the house, nor did they ever yell at him without a reason. They were simply too afraid of what his godfather would do to them if he found out that they mistreated him.

But that was just the icing on the cake. The best part was the comfort that Ginny´s many letter brought. That he was not alone anymore and had that he had someone who understood him to share his problems with. Each day her words where always something he could look forward to, a light during dark times so to say.

After the first few days of exchanging their letters one problem occurred though and that was the fact that Hedwig wasn´t able to constantly fly between their respective homes. Eventually the poor owl just got tired and needed some sleep. Using the Weasley owl Erol wasn´t a solution either because he simply made way too much noise, namely crashing into his window frame and waking his uncle from his desperately needed beauty sleep.

So they weren´t really able to send each other letters as often as they would have liked and he swore to himself that he would find a way to solve that issue. Realistically speaking he knew that there wasn´t much of a chance to find a solution while he was stuck at his relatives house.

Maybe when I get to Diagon Alley?

A soft hoot interrupted his thoughts as Hedwig came back with her latest delivery.

Excited he jumped up and made his way over to his owl and took the letter from her after he fed her some owl treads.

Dear Harry,

I have some really exciting news! You see yesterday I talked with my mum about your upcoming birthday and that it´s not fair that you have to spend that day with those muggles. Well I asked her if you could come to us a bit earlier than originally planned and guess what? She said it was no problem! Actually she was quite upset when I told her that the muggles don´t even acknowledge your birthday at all.

My dad is going to pick you up from your relatives' house tomorrow evening if that is alright with you.

I hope I see you soon!

Ginny.

Harry gapped at the letter in awe. The fact that he would be away from the Dursley´s for the rest of the summer seemed too good to be true.

"Holy crap! Holy crap! I have to pack my things!" he exclaimed as he realized that Ginny probably sent the letter yesterday, which meant that Mr. Weasley was going to pick him up today!

He was proved right just about an hour later as he heard a loud knock on the front door, shortly accompanied by his uncle yelling "Boy! Get down here!"

Harry grinned, uncle Vernon did actually sound more scared than angry… okay maybe a little bit of both. Anyway to not leave Mr. Weasley waiting he grabbed his trunk, Hedwig´s cage and his wand and rushed downstairs to greet the red headed wizard who was looking around like a little kid in a candy store as he eyed the various muggle things in awe.

"Ah Harry!" he exclaimed when he saw him and shook his hand "How are you my boy?"

"Fine so far Mr. Weasley! Thanks for picking me up!"

Arthur waved it off "No problem at all my boy! Besides if I wouldn´t have done it, I´m pretty sure Ginny or Ron would have taken you by themselves."

Harry chuckled at that. Yea that sounded like something the impulsive Weasley siblings would do. Two years ago the twins and Ron got him out of here with Mr. Weasleys flying car and he was pretty sure that they would do it again if they had to.

Then Mr. Weasley looked at his watch and clapped his hands together "Alright we really need to go now! Molly is probably already waiting with the dinner for us."

He eagerly nodded, he was more than ready to leave this place.

With that the Weasley patriarch turned around and went outside into the garden but not without glaring angrily at his uncle.

Ginny probably told them about the Dursley´s.

Harry immediately followed the older man knowing that his relatives wouldn´t even bother to say goodbye to him, so he wouldn´t either. As they went outside he immediately noticed that there was no transport device in sight but before he could pop the question Mr. Weasley already asked "So did you ever do a side along apparition Harry?"

"A what?"

Mr. Weasley chuckled "I guess not then. Apparition is the magical ability to disappear from one place and pop up at another. Most wizards are able to do it after they leave Hogwarts, with some exceptions of course. Side along apparition is used when you want to get a group of people to one particular place, plus it only requires one wizard who is able to do it."

"Then why would anyone bother with floo powder?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows and was pretty sure there had to be a downside.

The Weasley patriarch smiled weakly, and motioned him to grab his arm "Yea the problem is that it isn´t as comfortable as the floo… a lot of people actually throw up after their first apparition."

"Wait wha…" Harry started but was interrupted when Mr. Weasley turned on his heels and suddenly darkness engulfed him. It was like someone just put a car on his chest to push all air out of his lungs and as he was sure he was going to die here it all stopped and he found himself next to the Burrow gasping for air while the red headed wizard next to him looked a bit concerned at him.

"Wasn´t so bad was it?"

Harry still trying to catch his breath just shook his head.

"That's the spirit my boy!" Arthur exclaimed and patted his back, making him fall headfirst into the grass.

Well that was the second chapter! Did you like it? Hated it? Tell me with a review!

That one was a bit harder to write than the first one, though I have no idea why. Nevertheless I enjoyed writing it so far. See you in the next one!

-Inverted Logic