Ch. 2: Returning to the Burrow
Harry awoke at 5:45am the morning he was meant to leave the Burrow. He dressed in some old sweats and a tank-top shirt. By the time he walked out the door to begin his morning run, the clock in the hallway was chiming the first hour at 6am. He ran around the neighborhood one last time for the summer before he continued his training at the Burrow, where he hoped to have a little freedom whilst running and exercising. He ran to the park and back in about close to two hours. He came back to Number 4 and did the rest of his exercise routine which included push-ups, sit-ups and working on some attack blows (punching and kicking) on a bag full of old clothing that he had hung in the closet.
He finished his workout at 8:30am and went to shower and changed into his best clothing that he had that fit so that he might look somewhat good when heading to the Burrow that afternoon. Errol had come and delivered a message stating that Mr. Weasley would be there to pick him up around 1pm. As he exited the shower and started to change, he looked at himself in the full size mirror in front of him. The month of running and various exercises had filled his upper body with a good amount of muscle, though he was still a little skinny, though not as much as he usually would be during this time of the summer. His arms and legs were getting a fair amount of muscle as well, and he was noticing the difference in his workouts. He could not wait to get to Hogwarts and begin the second part of his training, which would be the most difficult thing. This would be the magical aspect of his personal training, where he would learn some new shield and defense spells as well as some good offensive spells that might help if he would reestablish the DA.
He went down the stairs to find the house empty, so he fixed himself a light breakfast and headed back upstairs in an attempt to finish the last of his homework, Potions. He was nearly done, but wanted to try and get it to be as good as he thought were possible. He spent the rest of his time working on the assignment, and by 12:30 had finished it and thus had finished all his homework for the summer and could now focus on his exercises and relaxing at the Burrow with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.
Ginny had been a mystery to him this summer. With the letter that had pulled him out of his depression to every letter since. She had told him all about her summer so far and how her family was doing. He in turn written back to her, talking about all the hidden emotion he had been holding for so many years, and she would write back with advice and telling him that he was not at fault and kept referring to her experiences with the diary and how Tom had influenced her into doing those things, like he had used Harry into leading his godfather to his unforeseeable death.
And for himself, he started to see Ginny for Ginny, and not as Ron's little sister. He questioned himself, thinking, was he falling for her? He never was sure of what love truly meant, mainly because he never had anyone who loved him in a way different from a family member before. He knew the type of love that a mother gives to a son or daughter but not one gives to a member of the opposite sex that is not blood related to him. He spent most of his time when he was resting thinking about his feelings for her, and found that he was fiercely protective of her, as he had demonstrated by saving her life in the chamber back in his second year. And he always did find it cute when she would get flustered when he would be in the same room as her. He had also noted that she was maturing quite well now that she was starting to get older.
These thoughts kept running through his mind as he went down to the kitchen once again for another light meal, knowing that Mrs. Weasley would most likely have a buffet of food waiting for him at the Burrow. Once he polished off his sandwich and his glass of water, he walked back upstairs to make sure he had all of his possessions packed and ready to go. As he was putting his broomstick into his trunk and locking it shut, a loud crack filled the house. Acting on instinct, Harry pulled out his wand and waited as he crouched near the door. He heard footsteps coming up the stairway and after a few seconds the sounds stopped and a knock sounded on his door.
"Harry," it was Mr. Weasley, "it's Arthur, are you ready to go?" Harry about went to open the door but hesitated, he needed to be sure that it was Mr. Weasley.
"What did you warn me about before I left for Hogwarts for my third year?" he asked him loud enough for his voice to travel through to the door. He heard the man chuckle and cleared his throat softly.
"I warned you not to go after Sirius Black," he seemed to pause as if Harry was going to be enraged by someone saying his name. Harry on the other side of the door just rolled his eyes as Arthur continued his answer. "And what did you say in return, Harry?"
"'Why would I go looking for someone who wants me dead?'" Harry replied opening the door to see his father figure in the door way, a Dumbledore like twinkle in his eye.
"Hello, Harry," Arthur started to say, but stopped as he took in the figure of Harry Potter. He had grown at least three inches and had put on some muscle within the month of vacation so far. He shook his head slightly and cleared his throat. "All ready to go?" Receiving a nod, he walked over to the trunk and levitated it out of the room and down the stairs, while Harry sent Hedwig off, telling her to meet him at the Burrow.
As Harry followed the man downstairs, Harry remembered the letter that Gringotts had sent him the day before, and he needed to ask him about when they were planning on going to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies.
"Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked the older man, when Arthur turned to look at Harry, he continued, "I was wondering when we were going to Diagon Alley?"
Mr. Weasley seemed to think for a moment before he found the answer. "I seem to recall that your Hogwarts letters should arrive in a couple of days, most likely before your birthday, so we will probably go a day after the letters arrive. Why do you ask?"
Harry hesitated for a second. "Well, I received a letter from Gringotts stating that they would like to meet with me as soon as I could. I guess I will have to owl them back and let them know that I will be there in less than a week." Arthur seemed to be about to ask something, but held back and just took a piece of string out of his pocket and tied one end to one of the handles on the trunk and gripped the other end tightly. He held out his other arm near Harry.
"Grab hold to my arm tightly, Harry," seeing Harry's confused look, he chuckled. "I'm going to have to side-apparate you to the Burrow, now hold on tight." Harry did as he was told and felt a sickly sensation of being sucked through a vacuum for a brief moment before the feeling ended suddenly and he opened his eyes to reveal the home of the Weasley's, the Burrow.
Harry sighed, "Home at last." He said quietly, though not quietly enough, as Arthur heard him and squeezed his arm briefly and flashing him a smile before he levitated Harry's trunk to the door and opened it, allowing Harry to enter first.
As soon as Harry entered through the kitchen door, he was pulled into a bone-crushing hug by the matriarch of the Weasley family. "How are you Harry dear? Those muggles treat you well for the past month?" She continued to squeeze him tightly.
"Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, straining for breath, "I can't breathe."
"Oh my, I'm sorry dear." Mrs. Weasley said, finally releasing the hug, but held onto his shoulders to take a good look at him. "Goodness Harry, you aren't as peaky as usual. Did those muggles finally start feeding you better?"
Harry just grinned at her and walked through the house with Mr. Weasley who put his trunk in Bill's old room on the first floor, across from Ginny's room. Once he was settled he headed out of his room but decided to have some fun first. He walked back into his room and opened his trunk and grabbed his invisibility cloak that sat under his broomstick. He wrapped it around himself and walked up the stairs to Ron's room. He entered the room silently, finding Ron at his desk, seemingly working on homework, but on further inspection, he was reading one of the new editions of one of the many Quidditch magazines.
He slowly stuck his hand out of the cloak, making it visible and tapping Ron on the shoulder before quickly returning his hand to the safety of the cloak. Ron's reaction was priceless, as he screamed loudly, and in a high pitch that had every member of the Weasley family on the property to the top floor of the Burrow. Harry was trying extremely hard not to burst out laughing and was crying because of his held in mirth. The two parents entered the room with their wands drawn, as did the twins and Ginny as well. They all looked at Ron and finally Ginny asked what was on their minds.
"Did something happen Ron?" Ginny asked, looking somewhat concerned though her eyes said a different story as they showed that she too was holding in laughter.
"I felt someone touch my shoulder," Ron said quickly. "I was sitting up here when it felt like someone tapped me on my shoulder."
Harry could not resist and slowly and swiftly walked over to stand behind Ron, and tapped him firmly on the back, causing him to shriek in a high pitch tone before running out of the room. Harry could not hold in his laughter any longer as he let out a loud bark of laughter and fell to the ground laughing uncontrollable. As this happened the cloak had fallen from his body and he looked up to see the other three Weasley children in the same predicament as he was as the parents stood observing the four teens, their eyes twinkling with mirth as well.
It took about five minutes for the four to control themselves when they were finally able to get up off the ground, each still chuckling or giggling every few seconds. Fred and George walked over to Harry and helped him up before shaking one of his hands at the same time.
"That was great Harry," Fred said.
"Yeah, bloody brilliant if I do say so myself, dear brother," said George in reply.
"Thanks guys, nothing like returning with a nice prank," he said, before adding, "or two." He grinned wickedly as the twins actually got a frightful look on their faces before saying their farewells and heading back to their shop.
"Hi Harry," Ginny said quietly, as she blushed slightly, apparently noticing that they were alone in the room.
"Hi Ginny," Harry said in reply, but he walked over to her and drew her into a hug that would rival Mrs. Weasley's. "Thank you so much, Ginny," he whispered to her, before giving her one last squeeze and a small kiss on the cheek before exiting the room quietly.
He reentered his room and started to unpack a few things that he would need for the next month before returning to Hogwarts. He started to remove some of his books and placed them on his desk so that he could review if he had any free time and sense he did not have any more summer work to complete, he was fairly sure that he would have plenty of time for revisions. He also pulled out his broomstick and sat it on his bed, thinking of going for a ride once he had finished settling in. He rummaged through his trunk making sure he had everything he wanted out when he found two things sitting near the bottom of his trunk that he had nearly forgotten about. The first was the photo album that Hagrid had given him after his first year, and the mirror that Sirius had given him before his fifth year. He took both items out and held them loosely, he placed both items softly on his desk before he grabbed his broomstick and turned to leave the room. But someone stood just outside the doorway.
"Mighty funny prank you pulled up there earlier," it was Ron, he looked angry, but for some reason Harry knew it was not genuine. He smiled at his best mate and grabbed his broom off the bed and stared at Ron, a silent question in his eyes. Ron walked into the room and reached out to shake his hand and the two shared a one-arm hug and handshake, as the two exited the room and headed downstairs, where they told Mrs. Weasley that they were going out and flying on their brooms. Harry asked Ginny if she would join and she practically jumped out of her seat and flew out the door with the two boys, as they went and fetched their brooms. Harry decided to take off, and shot into the air like a bullet out of a loaded gun.
He fell into a rhythm as he flew quickly around the borders of the Burrow, he was not sure how high and how far the wards went and decided to stay low and near the house. After a few minutes of getting used to his broom he flew back over to the two siblings and began to help Ginny with her chaser skills and Ron with his keeping abilities.
The rest of the day flew by as Harry settled into life at the Burrow where he had always felt at home, where he felt safe and able to relax. Harry, Ron, and Ginny continued to practice Quidditch until Mrs. Weasley called them in for dinner where it was just the five of them as the twins were at their shop and the two oldest were off at their jobs, Bill still in Egypt and Charlie in Romania.
"Did Professor Dumbledore modify the wards at all around here? When we were flying I was not sure exactly how far or how high I was allowed to go." Harry asked somewhat hesitantly.
Mr. Weasley looked thoughtful before replying, "He came by a couple of weeks ago with Alastor and made a number of improvements and additions to the wards. So I imagine that as long as you did not go off the property that you could go as high as you would like," he stated. "Just don't fly too high now, you got that you three." Each of the children nodded in unison.
After dinner, Harry and Ron played a few games of wizard's chess while Ginny watched, while doing some charms homework that she had been working on for the last couple of days. After about three games, in which Harry lost, as was the usual, he stated that he was tired and headed to his room. He laid in his bed that night thinking of the year to come, and wondering what the year would bring. It seemed that all five of the previous years had been plagued by Voldemort in some form. He made a promise to himself that he would be ready for him when he next faced the man, no, the monster that took his parents and his godfather away from him. With that thought in mind, he fell into a deep sleep full of dreams of his parents and what could have been.
As the crack of the sun dawned on the town of Ottery St. Catchpole, Harry Potter stirred in his sleep as he awoke at just before 6am to continue his daily exercise routine. He rolled clumsily out of bed and put on his old sweats and tank-top shirt, stuck his wand in his sweats and headed down the stairs, being careful to avoid the squeaky step as he made his way out the door and stretched lightly before taking off in a swift run across the grounds of the Burrow. As he neared the edge of the Burrow, he suddenly stopped. He felt a large amount of energy coming from about 10 feet in front of him. He turned and looked back in the direction he had come from, and he could just barely make out the Burrow in the distance.
"Plenty of space," Harry muttered to himself as he looked at the, what he guessed was over a mile from the point he was standing to the back porch of the Burrow. He continued to follow the barrier that he felt as he continued to run at an accelerated pace. After his third lap, or about five miles or so, he burst into a full sprint that had him to the garden area in about five minutes flat. He looked at the wristwatch that had been charmed for some time to work in magical areas, showed that he had been running for a little over an hour. He checked inside the kitchen and found it still empty, so he settled on the ground and stretched out his legs, making sure they did not go stiff or get sore. He settled near the pond and continued to his workout for the next 30 minutes, and then checked to see if breakfast was being cooked yet. Sure enough, he saw that Mrs. Weasley had entered the kitchen and was being to cook breakfast, he glanced at the watch, it was now 7:50am. He figured he would have about another 30 minutes of workout time. So he settled into a free sparing mode, where he imagined opponents and started to strike out in, what would look like a complex dance sequence, but was really a martial arts routine he had picked up from one of Dudley's old belongings that had littered his room when he had returned for the summer.
Once he finished his free sparing, he stretched one last time before heading into the kitchen to see if breakfast was ready. He walked through the back door and started to set the table as he had entered while it seemed that Mrs. Weasley had gone upstairs to wake the others. After about five minutes, Mrs. Weasley came back down the stairs to find Harry sitting at the table, drinking some orange juice from a glass and seemed to be sweating somewhat profusely.
"Are you alright Harry, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked him worriedly.
"Huh," Harry asked confused, then he figured what had her all worked up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got in from exercising Mrs. Weasley. I didn't wake you did I."
"No, you didn't, you just weren't in your room or anywhere in the house." Mrs. Weasley replied as she transferred the food from the stove, to the table.
"Sorry, but ever since I got back from Hogwarts this summer, I've been trying to get into shape." Harry said as he started to place some food on his plate.
"Good for you, I just wish the others were a little more of a morning person like you dear," she said smiling at him, Harry chuckled softly, remembering all the times that Ron had nearly been late because of his deep sleeping habits.
Mr. Weasley entered the kitchen next and ate quickly before saying goodbye to his wife and Harry and heading off to work at the Ministry. Not long after that, Ron and Ginny made their way to the breakfast table and ate breakfast, all the while giving Harry strange looks. Harry looked at both of them in turn, before looking at Mrs. Weasley, who looked at him with a slight twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face as she started to clean the kitchen and shooed the three of them out of the kitchen. Each one of them took turns showering and getting changed into comfortable clothes for the day and headed back down the stairs to receive their chores for the day.
Mrs. Weasley told them to go on out and de-gnome the garden and then they would be free to do whatever they wanted until lunch. Harry led the trio out of the kitchen and into the garden where they found the garden littered with gnomes. Harry proceeded to start pulling the small creatures from their holes and chucking them a good distance out of the garden. He turned around as he felt eyes on his back and turned to see the siblings still staring at him.
"Can I help you two with something?" Harry asked mildly amused, and irritated. Though the amusement won out as both of them blushed and looked away at the same time and began chasing down gnomes as well.
About half an hour later, it was getting close to 10am and the sun was already beating down on the three teenagers. Without thinking about it, Harry removed his tank-top and placed on the bench that sat near the garden. When he turned back around, he saw that Ron was still working, but it was Ginny that surprised him. She was staring at him, gaping, at his bare chest. Ginny finally glanced up to look Harry in the eye, and when she made eye contact, he winked at her, causing her to blush and turn back around to continue work.
About another 30 minutes later, the trio finished de-gnoming the garden. Since they had about two hours of free time, they decided to go down to the pond to cool off. After returning outside from getting their swim suits, they headed to the pond. Almost immediately, the two siblings took off in a sprint to the pond while Harry calmly walked behind them. They were about half way to the water when he took off in a full sprint. He fell into stride quite easily and found himself quickly passing Ron before just barely passing Ginny before he ran onto the dock and jumped in and pulled his knees to his chest, splashing a good amount of water in a perfect cannonball.
Harry surfaced to see the Weasley's setting their things down, and Harry did not miss a beat, he silently swam to the edge of the dock and pulled Ginny and Ron into the pond as he grabbed one of each of their arms and pulled them into the water. Before they even hit, he was already moving as he quickly swam away as fast as he could and could not help but laugh as he heard both of them screaming at him.
They spent the rest of the morning out by the lake until Mrs. Weasley came out and got them inside for lunch. After lunch, Ginny and Ron went on back outside while Harry said that he was going up to his room for a moment and walked towards the stairs, while the other two exchanged looks, but went outside to practice Quidditch. Harry entered his room and shut the door and locked it. He walked towards the window that showed the backyard, where he saw Ron and Ginny, with brooms in hand, getting ready to practice. He closed the curtains of the window and went and sat on his bed.
He had been attempting to complete his Occlumency that he had been started last year with Snape. Harry had been able to accomplish clearing his mind and was now working on building a barrier around his memories so that Snape and Voldemort would not have such an easy time entering his mind. He had spent the last few nights doing this and was nearing completion on his defenses. It was nearly 3 hours later that he heard someone knock on the door that had thrown himself out of his own mind. He walked over to the door, unlocked it and opened the door. He was slightly surprised to see the worried face of Ginny on the other side of the door.
"Hey Harry," she said quietly as he walked back and sat on his bed, his back to the headboard. She walked and sat at the edge of the bed and looked at him. "You doing alright?"
"Yeah," Harry said, his brow furrowed, wondering what she was truly asking him.
"I was wondering if," she spoke hesitantly, "uh, after everyone's gone to bed, that you would like to talk about anything?"
"Uh, sure, that would be fine." Harry said, looking at her. "Let's meet on the dock at midnight, alright?" She nodded and got up, she got to the door when she turned back to face him.
"Thanks, Harry," Ginny said with a small smile, "and mom said dinner is almost ready." Without waiting for a reply she exited the room and headed down to the kitchen.
Dinner again that night was a quiet affair. The only big news that was announced came from Ron who said that Hermione would be coming over for the rest of the summer, tomorrow. Which meant that Ginny would be sharing with the older girl. Once dinner was finished, the two adults, as well as Ginny went up to the latter's room to get it set up for the extra person. While this was going on, Harry and Ron sent the time playing chess and talking about the Gryffindor's chances at the Quidditch Cup and whether or not Ron was going to try out for keeper now that Wood was gone.
Finally, around 10pm, everyone went to bed, ready for the arrival of the female part of the Golden Trio, as they were referred to by The Daily Prophet. When it got close to the allotted time for his meeting with Ginny, he threw on his exercise clothing and pulled his broom from his trunk, opened the window and flew out into the night. A few minutes later, he landed on the dock and sat the broom to the side, as he laid on the grass next to the dock and gazed out into the stars.
The area around the Burrow was quiet, and with no lights illuminating in the dark, the amount of stars that could be seen was highly increased. He gazed out at the stars and quickly found the dog constellation, Sirius. His eyes watered a little as he thought of his godfather. But instead of thinking of his death, he remembered all of the great times they had spent talking during the summer before his fifth year. And he surprised himself by laughing at some of those memories.
A couple of minutes later, he heard a twig snap and he sat up quickly and jumped to his feet, drawing his wand. He found Ginny in a similar stance, and he just beamed at her.
"Nice reactions," he praised her. "Though I'm sure glad we both didn't hex first and ask questions later." That comment was greeted with a giggle from Ginny.
"Well, you did teach us the best, Professor Potter," she teased him lightly, he just chuckled right back, not falling for her baiting.
A silence fell upon they sat on the ground apart by one a few inches. He turned to her and looked at her, what he saw nearly caused him to gasp out loud. Ginny was staring out at the pond, seemingly oblivious to Harry's staring. The light of the half moon shone down on her as if it were a halo around the head of an angel.
How did I never see her before this, she is absolutely beautiful. Harry thought, still looking at her. Its just too bad that she's moved on. As that thought ran through his mind, he dropped his head in shame, knowing that he had broken her heart, and it was like a stake driving through his heart to know that he had hurt her.
"So, how are you and Dean doing?" He said lightly, when she looked at him strangely. "I heard you telling Ron on the train that you were dating Dean now."
To his surprise, she started laughing, "Oh, no, I told Ron that just to make him a little angry. And I 'broke up' with Dean a couple of weeks ago." She said lightly. "It was great fun for sure."
He laughed a little in response, "Well, at least we know where you get it from."
"And what is that supposed to mean, Mr. Potter?" She threatened with a smile on her face.
Again, he did not allow her to bait him into saying anything he might regret. Instead he told himself not to risk her finding someone else to start dating. The smile on his face disappeared very quickly as he steeled himself for the following conversation.
"Ginny, I just want to say thank you for your letters," he said, staring out into the pond, he could feel her eyes on him. "I was in a bad state when I first returned to my uncle's house. I had no one to turn to, no one to talk to, no one to tell me it wasn't my fault," his voice kept getting quieter, until he reached his next line. "No one to tell me that they love me or to hold me when," he stopped as a strangled sob broke through his voice and he started crying, memories of his godfather, of the time at the graveyard, and of the Chamber flooded him.
Ginny was startled to see him open up to her like this, and not knowing what to do as he began crying, she crawled over to him and wrapped him in a hug, as he laid his head on her shoulder and wept. She rested her cheek on his head and silently cried for him as he cried on her shoulder. About 20 minutes later, she felt his breathing relax and released him from the hug but held onto his shoulders. She had not missed the last part of what he had said. Then it hit her. He was asking about her "relationship" with Dean because he was starting to have feelings for her, but thought that she had given up on him. She could not help but smile as he sniffed and wiped his glasses off on his shirt.
"You know," she said to him quietly, "I never really did give up on you." His head shot up quickly to look at her. "I just said that to Hermione to get her off my back and to try to convince myself that I had, but when I was going out with Micheal, there was always one problem." She looked into his eyes searchingly. "He wasn't you." She ducked her head down as she blushed lightly and was surprised when she felt his hand reach out and raise her chin so that he could look into her eyes.
Harry slowly leaned forward, his hand moved to caress her cheek and ever so slowly moved towards her. Ginny responded by closing her eyes and waiting, it seemed to take an eternity, but then it happened. She felt his warm lips on his and she kissed him back lightly at first, but as the kiss continued, she intensified it, happy that he met that intensity. After a couple of minutes, Harry pulled away, smiling whenever he heard Ginny whimper at the loss of contact.
"Ginny, I may not know a lot about what love feels," he said slowly, "but I think I love you."
She beamed at him, "Oh Harry, I love you too." With that, she pulled him back into a passionate kiss that left Harry dazed. They stayed in each other's arms for another hour or so before Harry felt Ginny start to slumber. He lightly woke her up and told her to get on his broom. He got on as she slid on behind him. They flew quietly threw his bedroom window and settled into the room. He walked her to the door, opened it, and stuck his head out of the door to find that no one was in sight.
"Alright, you should be good to go." She went to walk by him, but was stopped before she got out by his hand on her arm. He kissed her one last time and let her go. "Good night Ginny."
"Night, Harry." She said with a tired smile and exited the room.
Harry sat in bed for quite some time that night before sleep finally overtook him. He couldn't help but think that he had not been this happy since Sirius had been freed by him and Hermione. Harry only hoped that the happiness would be enough to help him when it came time to face off with Voldemort once again.
A/N: Well, there's the second chapter. I know, the H/G relationship sparked early, but I wanted to get it out of the way. This just seemed like a good place to put it. Next chapter: Hermione arrives, Hogwarts letters arrive, and Harry's meeting with Griphook. And thanks for everyone who read and reviewed the previous chapter. Hopefully Chapter 3 will be up as early as Sunday, mattering on how life goes. And once again, don't forget to review.
