Chapter 3: Older and wiser wizards than she.
A/N: Again, a reference to a film included. I loved Jim Broadbent's portrayal so much, I couldn't resist referencing the scene where Slughorn talks about Francis the fish, given to him by Lily Evans. The title of this chapter is a reference to a line uttered by Dumbledore about Ginny in Chamber of Secrets.
"Ginevra, my girl!" boomed Slughorn as Ginny entered first. And don't tell me you've brought along….yes you have….Harry m'boy! Come and join us….."
The last part of that sentence, Harry noticed, was distinctly slurred. As he tried to choke out a reply, Hagrid moved towards him, and clapped him on the back so hard that he surely would have fallen flat on his face if Ginny hadn't steadied him at the last moment.
"Harry!" Hagrid rumbled, sounding close to tears. "It's bin' too long, too long." Harry's suspicion was confirmed as Hagrid reached for his oversized handkerchief, blowing noisily with the volume and sound of a trumpeting elephant.
"So how's life treatin' yeh,' Harry? It was Valentine' Day, after all." Hagrid's bushy beard trembled, a sure sign he was grinning. Ignoring the heated flush erupting up his neck and cheeks, Harry explained what they'd done before coming to Hogwarts.
"Pity," said Hagrid thickly, swaying considerably. "I'd have thought the romance today could have been capped off with a signed photo." He winked at Ginny. "After all, she liked the idea of a signed photo from Harry, back then, didn't yeh?" Harry scowled as Ginny raised an eyebrow coolly. If Hagrid had decided to raise the time Draco Malfoy and Lockhart had misinterpreted his conversation with Colin Creevey more than six years previously, he'd presumably drunk to considerable excess. Hopefully his bladder would hold.
"Considering I was murdering chickens and communicating with a murderous teenage sociopath that year, let's just say that I needed to sort out my priorities," Ginny retorted, but with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Hagrid nodded slowly "Fair enough," he muttered. "So how's she bin goin', Horace?"
The rotund Head of Slytherin House nodded enthusiastically. 'Fantastically," he gushed. "As good as Harry, I'd have said, or lovely Lily for that matter. Appropriate, isn't it?" Apparently finding what he'd said hilarious, he wheezed loudly, before a deafening burp rudely interrupted proceedings. Patting his considerable stomach gingerly, he looked around guiltily before continuing his gush over all things Ginny. Although he hadn't yet mentioned the Slug Club, Harry knew it had returned in full force, given Ginny had told him about the latest meeting (after which Slughorn had told Ginny he'd make a favourable pitch to Gwenog Jones of the Holyhead Harpies.)
...
Some time had passed during which Harry had updated the two teachers on his progress in training, and he was recalling a very similar night in Hagrid's hut. Hagrid had finally succumbed after his fourth tankard and fallen asleep, and Slughorn was reaching the drunken stage where his mannerisms were becoming exaggeratedly sombre and deliberated. Ginny had, much to Slughorn's delight, demonstrated a magic trick that Fred and George had demonstrated to her. Slughorn, suitably impressed in his mead-sodden state, had awarded twenty points to Gryffindor.
As he looked around the crowded interior of Hagrid's, Harry felt himself warmed and amused considerably by the understanding that as a result of his Felix-taking, Hagrid and Slughorn had happily built up a much closer relationship and rapport for each other. Of course, it had been coincidental, but even so….
However, this epiphany of sorts prompted a far less positive one. He'd extracted the memory from Slughorn, certain in the knowledge that he would be unable to recall that evening. The evening's proceedings had produced sharp pangs of guilt at not having told Slughorn. Perhaps emboldened by the glass he'd accepted of Madam Rosmerta's oak-matured mead, he cleared his throat.
"Do you want to hear a secret, Professor?"
"Yes? Oh, I s'pose," murmured Slughorn, lolling in his seat. At that, Ginny shot him a puzzled look, but Harry nodded reassuringly at her.
"It's about Voldemort," Harry paused as Slughorn winced at the name. "I knew about the Horcruxes." Slughorn's face became a collage of emotion: shock, shame and even, if Harry were guessing correctly, relief.
"I told you, did I? Well, I must've. He's dead after all, thanks to you." He shook his head absent-mindedly. "How….how…..oh. Aragog's burial!" His eyes filled with tears almost instantly as Harry pulled his chair closer to him.
"If only I'd been braver," he whispered to himself, staring into the flames of Hagrid's fireplace. "If only….who knows how many I could've saved if I'd…."
"What mattered is you told me," said Harry sharply. "Via a little bit of Felix Felicis." Beside him, Ginny nodded her affirmation as she passed a spare handkerchief to Slughorn.
Wiping his eyes, Slughorn looked appalled but he eventually let out a deep, booming laugh.
"You've got a nerve, m'boy!" His face grew far more serious as he leaned in. "Dumbledore put you up to it, I assume."
"Yes, sir." Harry barely noticed his resumption of the use of 'sir.' For the first time in months, Harry felt like a rebellious pupil caught in wrongdoing. "We had to stop him – it was the only way to do it."
As Slughorn nodded slowly, he stared back into the fire, tears welling up in his eyes again.
"I know you had to. But I was such a fool," he sniffed. "Taken in by charm, by a young, intelligent and curious mind. Such a bright, brilliant boy he was….."
"Professor," Harry jumped as Ginny joined in the conversation. "You're far from the only person Tom Riddle tricked, fooled and manipulated. You probably don't know this, but remember….remember when the Chamber was opened last? You must've seen it in the paper; Dumbledore being suspended by the Board of Governors."
A cold, harsh look came over Slughorn.
"Yes I did," he replied, wiping his brow of sweat. "I didn't want to know about it at the time. Brought back too many memories of when we found her." Harry and Ginny shared a glance; Harry knew she, too was thinking about Murtle's murder, worse though for her in that Tom had gleefully described the killing to her as she lay expiring in the Chamber.
"The person who opened it last time was me," Ginny finished, in an almost matter-of-fact manner, though Harry noticed the trembling enunciation at the end of her sentence. To his knowledge, it was the first time she'd described her possession to anyone outside of the DA or the Order.
"Tom Riddle used the Horcrux he'd created after Myrtle's murder to possess me, and use me to unleash the Basilisk and attack students. He lured me in, and before I knew it, there….there was no way out." Her arm gripped Harry's as she swallowed nervously. Harry gave her a reassuring nod and she ploughed on. He knew she was still upset about Lucius Malfoy recently pleading for immunity in return for cooperation in catching the last few missing Death Eaters, given what he'd done with the Diary. Yet again, he felt a gush of affection for her strength of will.
"I….never knew," said Slughorn in a small voice, staring at Ginny with seemingly newfound respect. "I'm so…"
"But you know what happened next?" Ginny cut across him, some steely determination being injected into her voice as she looked her Potions Master right in the eye. "Harry saved me, and Dumbledore told me something important. He said I should never, not for one waking moment, blame myself for what happened. When I wrote in that diary to Tom, confessed all my insecurities, he promised me friendship, respect…everything. He used that against me, because that's what he always did. Used people." Breathing heavily, and pausing only to take a sip of Firewhisky from her glass, she continued.
"'Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort.' That's what Dumbledore said about me at the time, and he's right." Slughorn opened his mouth to object, but Ginny cut across him again. Harry was impressed – she clearly had a lot to get off her chest.
"You were one of them, Professor. From what Harry's told me of that memory he got from you, at least though you directly warned him how harmful splitting someone's soul is. And as for me, I sat on the truth for months while people kept getting attacked. You know why? Because he'd threaten me and suggest I'd go to Azkaban if I told anyone, or that he'd ensure someone close to me died. When I resisted, he made me attack Hermione."
"But Miss Weasley," Slughorn finally managed. "I sat on that memory for half a century! Rather different."
"True," said Harry, deciding now was the time to cut in and let Ginny catch her breath. "But my mistakes got my godfather killed. And a mistake of mine nearly got Hermione killed last year."
Harry," Ginny protested, but he interrupted her. "You know it's true, Ginny, I made mistakes and people paid for them. But we can't undo that. What matters is we stopped him." He turned to Slughorn.
"If you'd continued to deny us that memory, my mother would have died for nothing, and you would have disgraced her. But you handed it over, in the end."
"And you fought him, too," Ginny recalled, nodding at Slughorn reassuringly. When virtually all of your house evacuated or fought for Voldemort, you faced your old demons and fought him. Just like I did, Professor. You were a great role model for the Slytherins."
Slughorn dabbed his eyes, then leaned forward and let out a genuine, watery smile.
"I was so overjoyed when you two got together. I always see the signs early – and I definitely saw them early in Lily and James. I didn't know your parents well, at all, but still recognised they'd be together for life, Miss Weasley." Blowing his nose again he continued.
"I won't be here forever, but please do try and pop by at some point in future years. An old man's creature comforts can only take him so far without his ex-students."
"We'll try," Harry nodded affirmatively. "You might see me next year Professor - I've been thinking about an offer by Professor McGonagall. I could come in for a few special lectures, maybe."
He'd started thinking about McGonagall's offer again, perhaps triggered by the nostalgia of once again wandering about the Hogwarts grounds. He was utterly certain his path was the right one, but it wouldn't hurt to see more of the place where he'd experienced so much in his short life.
Then again, it would have to wait until after Ginny graduated with her NEWTs. It would be a decidedly unseemly sight if the pair of them were caught, say, kissing fiercely in the staffroom.
Or in the Room of Requirement…..
"And do you still have that empty fishbowl in your office?" Ginny asked.
"Yes, why?" said Slughorn, scratching his head sleepily. At that, Ginny turned to Harry with a sly grin. Knowing what she was suggesting, he gave her a stealthy thumbs-up. Slughorn after all had been rendered distraught when the magical fish Lily had given him had vanished the same Halloween night she was murdered.
With the dawning of a new, hopeful age, it was time to rectify that.
"Fishbowls aren't meant to be left empty forever. I'll make sure it's filled again –you have my word. And if there's a wedding, you'll definitely be invited, sir."
"Thank you," slurred Slughorn, rubbing his eyes. "That was such beautiful magic, so talented, she was…."
And like a candle snuffed out, he too was asleep, leaving Harry alone with Ginny and the thought whirling through his mind.
Marriage.
Did she mean that?
...
Harry and Ginny made their way away from Hogwarts and Hagrid's in silence, their fingers laced together.
"Did…did you mean that?" Harry finally summoned up all his reserves of courage and looked her directly in the eye. He felt the pressure change in his ears - a sign they were leaving the protections of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry behind them.
"Yes, I did." As Harry opened his mouth to say…..well, he didn't know exactly what, she gave a yank on his arm, forcing him to stop, and she put a finger to his lips as she leaned in. Goosebumps erupted across his entire body.
"Shush!" she whispered, her pupils dilating animatedly as she examined his facial expression diligently. "Oh, come on, Harry. It's been obvious to anyone and everyone that you and I are never going away. Who needs an official engagement anyway? So boring, uptight, and expensive, too."
Harry's heart was now doing a Weird Sisters drumroll against his chest cavity.
"I…I suppose," he whispered back, trying not to break eye contact. "I mean….you've mostly been right about you and I since we started going out…so…yeah."
Ginny's other hand slipped out of his as she backed off, folding her arms tightly across her chest in a manner similar to her mother.
"I suppose, so….yeah?" she mocked in a sing-song voice, looking indignant. "So much for the knight in shining armour that I fancied at age eleven."
Harry turned away, cursing himself. Him and his nerves, always turning him into an ineloquent, stuttering idiot around girls.
Especially this girl.
"Talk about unromantic," she sniffed. "Then again, what did I expect from you?"
"You're right," Harry said resignedly, his incredibly slow brain finally concluding she'd been merely teasing him. Hermione would've been appalled at how slow he still was in these situations. He kicked the ground.
"I'm just Harry. Bit of a tosser, really."
Ginny nodded, biting her lip as she gave Harry the sort of look that made him feel like he was being X-rayed. Aside from Dumbledore, only Ginny could master that look.
And he sure as hell had never been in love with Dumbledore.
"Yes, you are," she whispered. "And a clueless tosser is just fine by me." With a flash of hair, her lips were on his.
It wasn't like the kiss she'd given to him on his seventeenth. It wasn't the frantic, hurried passion of two people with too much emotion bottled up and all too little time to express it in. It was deep, but smooth, that of two lovers secure in the knowledge there would always be another time, and another golden day of peace ahead.
A chilled breeze whistled its way through the grounds and the Whomping Willow groaned in the background as Harry pulled her in, tighter. Absent-mindedly, he noted that Ginny still tasted of the Firewhisky she'd consumed. After a few more seconds, they reluctantly broke apart, Harry shivering in the unexpectedly cold breeze. Although he'd managed three quarters of a year without seeing her, the knowledge of not seeing her again for at least a fortnight until Ron's 19th birthday celebrations still hurt.
"Thanks for everything today, Harry," she whispered. With a final smile, she turned and headed back towards Hogwarts as Harry pictured Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place clearly in his mind, turned on the spot and vanished into thin air.