Chapter 7

Grimmauld Place's House Elves and House Parties

Harry pulled Hermione to the side. "Want to help me do something?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you ever ask for help?" Harry chuckled, "Since Ginny made the Holyhead Harpies and since I wanted to throw her a surprise party at number 12 Grimmauld Place. Interested in helping?" Hermione grinned and nodded.

Harry breathed in a sigh of relief as he returned to number 12 Grimmauld Place. Kreacher had been cleaning as if he was the happiest house elf in the world. Harry had called on him a day before and told him to keep Mrs. Black's portrait. Kreacher almost drowned the room in tears of gratitude and joy. It seemed to Harry that scrubbing the entire house was his way of returning the gesture.

Kreacher had put some different security measures on the house. Mad Eye Moody's charms were no longer necessary. A new fidelius charm had been cast on the building in addition to a bedazzling hex which made the building invisible to witches and wizards as well as muggles. It remained unplottable to much the reporters' displeasure.

"Master! Kreacher is so glad you are finally home. I am preparing supper, sir. Will it be just for Master?"

Harry smiled down at Kreacher. "No, Hermione is joining me tonight."

Kreacher said nothing and bowed out of the room. "Well, he's getting better with muggle borns at least," Harry mumbled to himself.

Hermione and Harry were ushered into the unused dining room. Kreacher had certainly been busy. While a few years ago, it had been uninhabitable due to the spider colony taking up residence, it was now sparkling clean. A faded emerald green wall paper hung on the walls. The floorboards were a dark oak brown and had been swept immaculately clean. The large chandelier had all new candle sticks and cast light around the once dreary room. The richly carved dining table was recently polished, along with the eight matching chairs.

"Kreacher, this looks brilliant!" Hermione praised as she folded herself delicately into a chair in the middle of the table. Harry sank into the chair opposite of her. As they dug into their delicious meal, Hermione spoke first. "I doubt we have that much work to do really. Especially since Kreacher has gone above and beyond with this place."

Harry chewed thoughtfully for a moment before replying, "I agree but I would like to make this place a bit happier. We could colour charm the walls and vanish the peeling wallpaper. And I want to change the rooms a bit. Move furniture and such. Although I'm not sure I want to touch Sirius' room…"

Hermione picked up on his change of tone immediately, "Harry, are you sure you want to live here? I'm sure Mrs. Weasley would love to have you at the Burrow. Or you could get your own flat if this place is too painful for you."

Harry finished chewing a mouthful of potatoes before he responded. "No, it's not too painful really. Some of my happier days with Sirius were in this house. Plus he would want me to be happy here. He said so himself. Not to mention it's a six bedroom house! I'd have to be barmy to just not use it."

After complimenting Kreacher's dinner, Harry and Hermione began the charms around the house. They decided to leave the dining room and Sirius' room alone. They vanished the peeling wallpaper around the house at first. The entry way's once dark and dreary walls were changed to a light toffee brown. The cavernous kitchen was charmed to a powder light blue. Hermione enchanted more candles to float above the room, casting light in more places that Harry had known existed. "The room looks huge now!" Hermione beamed proudly at her work. The candles were charmed to light automatically when a person (or house elf) entered the room and to extinguish themselves when the room was vacant.

On the first landing was the drawing room, Hermione and Ginny's old room and a bathroom. The Black family tree in the drawing room was somewhat of a debacle. Harry knew how much Sirius hated his family tree but was unsure of how or if he should even remove it. They repaired the threadbare furniture, restoring it to its former plush state. Frustrated with the Black family staring at him, Harry conjured a thick royal blue curtain that drew itself around the walls of the room. Hermione smirked in amusement. "Well that's one way to take care of it."

They stopped in Hermione and Ginny's old room. "What colour would you and Ginny like this room to be?" Hermione tilted her head to the side for a moment before swishing her wand. The dark walls transformed into a peaceful lilac colour. She then directed her attention to the wardrobe in the far corner away from the door. As Hermione pointed her wand to the wardrobe, a loud sound of wood stretching filled the room. Harry walked over and stuck his head in the wardrobe. Hermione had cast an enlarging charm on the wardrobe, similar to Ginny's wardrobe at the Burrow. Hermione grinned, "Now we can fit all of our shoes in there!" Harry rolled his eyes dramatically and followed a gleeful Hermione to the second landing.

Hermione was already working on Ron and Harry's old room. "Do you even need my help?" Harry inquired. Hermione glanced at Harry leaning on the door frame before changing the drab olive green wall paper into a bright cerulean blue. "Not really, but you can tell me if you don't like something. Do you like these colours? I thought bright colours would cheer the place up a bit, yeah?" With this, she transfigured the two narrow beds into a large double bed. She tapped the tip of her wand to the musty quilt and changed its colour to a rich chocolate brown. "You're much better at this colour stuff than I am, Hermione. And I do like all of the crazy colours." Hermione hurried off to the next room saying, "I read a book on colour theory once."

Harry gave up trying to help Hermione. He began to unpack his meager belongings. He arranged his clothes in the wardrobe. He then unpacked his family photo album. He pressed his wand to each picture, making copies as he went along. After conjuring frames, he went about the house using a fixing charm to place his photos on the walls. He made a mental note to purchase some portraits to fill up the extra space. He then wondered where said portraits could be purchased. Hermione clamored down the stairs into Harry's room, interrupting his thoughts. "Right, all of the rooms on the third and fourth floor have been updated. That was rather fun! Now what is the plan for tomorrow?"

Harry sat on the foot of his large brown quilt as he answered, "I talked to Mrs. Weasley yesterday. She helped create a rouse to fool Ginny. She told her that they are going to eat dinner at Bill's tomorrow evening. Since Ginny doesn't have her apparition license yet, she'll side along apparate with her mum, who will bring her here. The other Weasleys will have arrived all ready. Oh and I invited Luna and Neville. We're going to hide in the kitchen. Then when they arrive, we'll burst out and yell, "Surprise." Or something like that. Am I forgetting anything?"

Hermione chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "I suppose Kreacher is making all of the food?"

"Oh right. Mrs. Weasley insisted on coming tomorrow afternoon to help. I hope they get along better than last time."

Hermione sighed. "Poor Kreacher. You really should set him free, you know."

"I asked Kreacher what he wanted to do after the battle. He told me that he missed being here, serving me. Who am I to take that away from him? Especially after the miserable life he's led? I see your perspective, but Kreacher loves to serve. If I set him free, he would be humiliated."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't understand elves! Dobby was the only one that made any sense."

Harry's eyes bulged beneath his wire frames. "I don't know where you've been but perhaps you've forgotten of when he didn't let Ron and I onto the platform or when he tried to kill me with a rogue bludger?"

"I suppose that didn't make much sense either. Still. I understood him better than the rest of his lot." She smiled and crossed the room to hug Harry's shoulders. "I'll be off. I'm staying at the Burrow tonight, so floo of you need anything."

"Thank you for everything Hermione, I really appreciate it."

Harry fell asleep easily in his new large bed. He awoke a few times to nightmares of Remus and Tonks dying. Fortunately, morning came quickly. After Harry had breakfasted and showered, he dressed in a pair of dark jeans and an oxford shirt. He slipped on his trainers and donned his cloak, even though it was entirely too hot. Harry sighed and wondered to himself when wizards were going to finally adjust to the muggle fashions completely. It seemed that his generation of witches and wizards preferred muggle clothing to the antiquated wizard robes. As he fastened his cloak around him and pocketed his wand he thought Best wear it anyway. I bet I stand out enough in Diagon Alley as it is.

When Harry returned from his quick shopping trip, he stowed his parcel in his wardrobe. As he hung up his cloak, he heard someone apparate downstairs. Thinking it was Mrs. Weasley, Harry went downstairs calling out, "Just got back from Diagon Alley!" He stopped dead in his tracks to see Ginny standing in the front hall.

Ginny smiled, "Why did you go there? You couldn't have asked me if I wanted to go with you?"

Harry closed his mouth and began to walk slowly down the stairs, racking his brain for a suitable lie. "Didn't think you would want to watch me go to the bank. It wasn't too horribly fascinating."

Ginny toyed with the end of her hair. "I wouldn't have minded."

Harry pulled her small frame into an embrace and placed a kiss on her nose. "I'll ask you next time, yeah?"

Ginny smiled. "When did you redecorate the place?"

Harry shifted his weight uncomfortably and loosened his grip on her waist. "Yesterday actually. Hermione did it all really."

"Oh." Ginny replied. She looked away, with a slight hurt look on her face.

A huge wave of guilt washed over Harry. He hated lying! Especially to Ginny. He wished he could tell her why they redecorated without ruining her surprise. Speaking of surprise, her mum was due here any minute! Harry looked around wildly, as if the perfect ploy to lure Ginny out of the house was hiding in the old troll leg.

"All right, Harry? You're acting a little odd."

Harry avoided her beautiful brown eyes and mumbled. "Yeah, fine. Listen, do you want to do something? Maybe go watch a film? Or we could go flying…oh never mind, I haven't a broom. We could go to Diagon Alley. I can watch you run errands."

Ginny eyed him quizzically. "I do need to stop by the bank actually. Then I need to buy some quidditch practice stuff. You sure you don't mind going twice in one day?"

"Course not."

Ginny studied his face for a moment. "All right, shall we use the floo?"

"Sure, let me ask Kreacher something. I'll join you in a moment."

Ginny shrugged and walked into the kitchen to the fireplace to find that it, too, had been repainted. Why is he being so secretive? He can't be…she shoved the nasty thought to the back of her mind and waited for Harry to join her.

Harry found Kreacher in the dining room, polishing the silver that Kreacher hid from Fletcher. "Kreacher, Mrs. Weasley is coming here to help you with the party. I know you two don't always get a long, but please try. I know she's bossy and it's your kitchen, but it would make me very happy if you two could make the dinner together."

Kreacher looked up from polishing a spoon and gave a low bow in acknowledgement. "Right, thanks. And tell her please that I had to distract Ginny and take her to Diagon Alley." With that he sped across the hall and into the kitchen. Ginny handed him floo powder wordlessly and stepped into the fireplace.

After making an awkward trip to Gringotts, Harry and Ginny ducked into Quality Quidditch Supplies. The tension between Ginny and Harry was becoming palpable. As Ginny looked at arm guards, Luna Lovegood of all people wandered into the shop. Harry sighed. Luna will blow the whole surprise. Brilliant, she's headed this way. He plastered a fake smile on his face and waved to Luna as she hugged Ginny.

Ginny was smiling with a bit of surprise. "What are you doing here, Luna?"

Harry shook his head violently behind Ginny, trying to get Luna to say something, anything else than the truth. When Luna just stared at him with a vacant expression, he moved to gesticulating wildly. He was mouthing the words, "Don't tell her!" when Luna turned her attention back to Ginny.

"Shopping for you of course. I heard you made the Harpies! Dad says that you're the youngest signed in a very long time."

Harry cut her off. "Yeah the youngest chaser signed in fifty years!"

Ginny looked irritated at Harry's rude interruption. "Harry, I think I'll catch up with Luna for a bit. Are you coming to Bill's cottage tonight?"

Harry stared into space for a moment before remembering Mrs. Weasley's cover story. "Right. Shell Cottage." He focused his green eyes intently on Luna's. "Luna, are you coming to Bill's?" He raised an eye brow and hoped against all hope that she would catch on.

The shop door opened once again and Hermione swept into the shop before Luna could answer. Harry let go of his breath that he had been holding since Luna approached them. A look of surprise passed briefly across her face before she read Harry's panicked expression and swiftly joined them by the arm guards.

"Hello!"

"Hey Hermione! I was just telling Luna that we were all going to Bill's house tonight."

Hermione caught on immediately. Harry silently thanked Merlin for such a bright friend. "Yes, I invited Luna yesterday." Harry saw Hermione squeeze Luna's hand out of the corner of his eye.

Ginny smiled at Hermione. "Harry was going to go and leave us to shop. Care to join us?"

Hermione exchanged glances with Harry and quickly replied, "Sure."

Harry arrived back home at ease. If anyone could keep this party a surprise, it would be Hermione. He quickly bent over the floo and began to message his fellow Gryffindors. He may as well fill up the house if he was going to all of this trouble to surprise Ginny. He called on Katie Bell, Angelina, Alicia Spinnet, Lee Jordan, Seamus, Dean, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot. Most of them said they could attend. Harry gave them instructions to travel through the floo network. He would lift the security charms on it temporarily.

He rose from his knees and brushed the dirt off of his clothes. He smiled at the scene before him. Mrs. Weasley and Kreacher were cooking together, both trying to be on their best behavior. Kreacher was holding the oven door open while Mrs. Weasley pulled out a large cake. "That looks great!" Harry complimented.

"Thank you," Mrs. Weasley and Kreacher replied in stereo.

Mrs. Weasley wiped her hands on her apron. "Harry, dear, you best wash up. The guests should start arriving in a few hours and you have soot all over your face."

Harry nodded and hurried out of the kitchen. He could take a hint.

Harry emerged from a nice shower and pulled on a nice pair of trousers. He stood before his mirror, toweling his hair dry when a breathless Hermione appeared in his room. Harry started and hurriedly pulled a shirt over his bare chest. He slipped his glasses on to find a very put out Hermione.

"Harry, we've really mucked things up."

Harry's heart sank to the pit of his stomach. "She found out about the party then?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, nothing that trivial. I was so stupid to not think of this before!" She began to pace the floor, spinning her wand in her hand as she walked.

Harry's eyebrows knotted together in a perplexed manner. "What's worse than Ginny knowing about her party?"

Hermione stopped and stared incredulously at Harry. "Loads of things Harry! How about Ginny thinking that you are about to break things off with her? Or worse, us having an affair!"

Harry's mouth fell agape. "She….said that?"

Hermione sighed heavily. "Not exactly. Let me start over. Ginny is worried that you may break it off with her because I went and redecorated the whole house. I can't believe I was so daft!"

Harry scowled. "What's wrong with that?"

"It clearly says that you don't value her opinion!"

"Well of course I do! I was only doing it so my house wouldn't look horrid for her surprise party!"

"I know that Harry, but Ginny does not! Imagine what she thought when she found that I redecorated your entire house!"

Harry roughly scrubbed his face with his hand. "Bloody hell. No wonder she was distant today. Poor Ginny. What did she say?"

Hermione sat on Harry's school trunk that Kreacher had placed in the corner of his room. "First she complimented the colours…then she asked me if I had talked to you lately. Which I admitted that we had dinner last night…which definitely sounded terrible. Then she asked how things were with Ron."

Harry interrupted her. "Wait, what has Ron got to do with this?"

Hermione sighed in exasperation. "She asked that to see if we were happy. People don't go having affairs if they are happy in their relationships."

Harry felt slightly stupid. In attempt to distract from the blush slowly claiming his ears he blurted, "How are things…with Ron?"

"Brilliant. Fantastic. Want me to finish?" Harry nodded, feeling more stupid. "I assured her that things between us are going quite well. I tried to reassure her that you're arse over elbow in love with her…you are, aren't you?"

Harry's blush spread to his face. "Well…yes. I haven't gotten to telling her that yet."

Hermione threw her head back in frustration. It thumped against the wall loudly. "Oh Harry."

"Guess I should have told her then? I'm rubbish at this stuff, Hermione."

Hermione rubbed her eyes. "No one is perfect, Harry. But you should probably tell her how you feel. I know you two haven't been dating that long, but as today has proved, nothing good can come from lying to people."

Harry nodded in agreement. "I think this will be the last time I throw a surprise party."

Hermione rose from her perch on the trunk. "Same here. Let's go decorate the drawing and dining room. We can cover it in green and gold streamers, Holyhead colours."

Harry nodded, eager for a distraction.

A few hours later, the house was decked out in green and gold streamers. Hermione had conjured herds of miniature horses in honor of Ginny's patronus. They galloped about above people's heads. The house was gradually becoming more and more crowded. Hermione was dispensing mead while Neville passed out butter beers. Harry was putting some last minute touches to the decorations. Mrs. Weasley had brought over a picture of Ginny in her Gryffindor quidditch robes. The picture was of her landing, dismounting her broom and stalking toward the camera with a triumphant look on her face. She smirks in front of the camera and proudly holds up a quaffle. Harry had spent the last few minutes enlarging and duplicating this photo. He murmured, "Engorgio. Geminio." He placed the last poster sized photo on a stack and began to stick them to walls throughout the first two levels of the house. He greeted many of his guests in the process. As he applied a sticking charm to a few posters in the kitchen, a red head burst out of the fireplace.

"Ginny's coming in a bit! Everyone hide!"

Everyone scurried about, ducking under tables, pressing themselves against walls, and hiding behind chairs. Luna folded herself into a small cabinet in the kitchen. Various other Weasleys quickly joined the now crowded and dark kitchen. Ron had seen to the lights with his deluminator.

After a few awkward silent minutes in the dark, a sound of apparition filled their ears. Ron clicked his deluminator again. The candles lit up the entire room as a chorus of people threw themselves out of their various hiding places and yelled, "Surprise!"

Ginny jumped about a foot off the ground in shock. Harry saw her hand tighten around her wand for a moment before it relaxed. Her face then lit up with a lovely smile. She turned to her mum, "All of this is for me?"

"Of course, Ginny! It's not every day a sixteen year old witch makes the Harpies! Harry did all of the work though."

Harry blushed profusely and quickly crossed the room to embrace Ginny. "I'm sorry I was so secretive but I wanted this to be perfect. I can explain more later."

Ginny's only response was to kiss him quickly on the cheek before being assaulted by her guests with congratulatory wishes.

The party carried on very smoothly. People drank and socialized for about half an hour before Molly ushered everyone into either the dining room or the kitchen for supper. Molly and Kreacher had finally had a challenge in feeding enough people. Everyone ate more than they should, but to Harry's slight disappointment, there were not as many left-overs as he had hoped. He had planned to snack on them throughout the week.

Ginny's cake was a masterpiece. It had three tiers of varying sizes. Intricate icing designs of brooms and snitches flew about each separate tier. As a finishing touch, one of the mares from Herimone's conjured horses stood atop the cake, occasionally tossing its mane and tail in different directions.

Ginny's eyes misted up for a moment. She locked eyes with her mum and thanked her.

Harry was seated in between Ginny and Katie Bell. Harry turned his attention to Katie while Ginny was having a separate conversation with Neville, three seats over. "So what have you been up to?"

Katie smiled. "Nothing as exciting as playing professional quidditch."

"Do you think you want to do that?"

Katie shrugged. "I may. I am not really sure yet. I'm not nearly as good as Ginny."

Harry grinned proudly. "Neither am I."

Katie scoffed. "First of all, that's a terrible comparison since you two don't even play the same position."

Harry raised an eyebrow when she stopped abruptly. "And second of all?"

Katie swallowed another bite of cake. "Oh I didn't really have a second of all. Sorry that wasn't too exciting." Her face suddenly lit up like Harry had just caught a snitch. "Although I do have one exciting story. But you can't spread it around too fast, like I'm doing right now."

Harry chuckled. "All right, let's hear it then."

Katie half turned in her seat and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial murmur. "I think George and Angelina might be fooling around. At Fred's wake, we were all pretty pissed, and they snogged a good deal. I thought it was due to the fire whiskey an all. But every time I bring it up to Angelina, she clams up! She never clams up! Especially not to me. Which leads me to believe that they're having a little tete-a-tete. Just watch the way the act around each other."

Harry and Katie both turned to stare at Angelina and George at the other end of the table. George's elbow bumped Angelina's arm. George averted his eyes to his plate as his ear slowly turned pink. Angelina suddenly struck up a conversation with Michael Corner across the table.

Harry exchanged glances with Katie. "George never blushes!" he said in an incredulous whisper.

Katie smugly nodded and finished her cake.

A handful of guests left after dinner while the rest went upstairs to the drawing room. Mrs. Weasley suggested an old game that no one had heard of. "Honestly, Arthur and I used to play it at parties all the time! You blindfold a person. That person has to walk about the room and find someone else. When they touch that person, they have to guess who it is, without using magic."

Lee Jordan piped up from a sofa. "And if you guess wrong you take a shot of fire whiskey!" He looked to George for support. George quickly looked away and studied the thick blue curtains.

Ginny smiled. "That sounds like fun. Ron you go first!"

Ron looked shocked. "Why me?"

"Because it's my party, silly." She pointed her wand at Ron's face. "Obscuro." A blindfold wrapped itself neatly around Ron's head.

People everywhere scattered, giggling and knocking into one another. Ron wondered about the room blindly groping the curtains and pieces of furniture before he caught the sleeve of Neville. Neville froze, clearly hoping that Ron would guess incorrectly.

Ron felt Neville's arm for a few minutes. "I feel like a git. I don't know who it is but I guess it's a bloke." His hands traveled up to Neville's face. "Geroff!" Neville said, smacking his hands away. "Oi! It's you, Neville!"

The blindfold untied itself and settled itself snugly on Neville's face. Ron triumphantly crossed the room to get as far away as he possibly could. The game went on for some time. To Lee's disappointment, he was the only person who guessed incorrectly. He guessed that Luna was Ginny. The game wound down when Harry blindly found his way over to Ginny. As the blindfold transferred itself to Ginny, Harry bent his head down and kissed her.

The Weasley boys broke into a chorus of retching noises, which earned a loud scolding from Mrs. Weasley. Most of the guests either left for the evening, or went downstairs to help Kreacher and Molly clean up the mess.

Harry and Ginny slipped away easily enough. Harry pulled her into his redone room. "Look Ginny, about earlier. I am so sorry, I was trying to surprise you but I'm afraid I mucked everything up. I only asked Hermione to help me with the place…"

"To look nice for my party, yes I see that now." She interrupted. "It was very sweet of you. I'm sorry I was so suspicious."

Harry stroked her cheek with his free hand. "I'm sorry I kept that stuff from you. And you can redecorate anything you want here, Gin. I want to make you happy."

Ginny smiled. "I can tell." She stood on her tip toes and kissed Harry deeply.

As she broke away she studied his green eyes. "Is there something else you wanted to tell me?"

Harry blushed a lovely shade of red. It almost matched Ginny's hair. "I suppose. Here, sit down." He lead her over to the large bed and perched on the foot of it. She sank down and turned to lock her eyes on his.

"Well there's two things really. The first is hiding in my wardrobe." Harry crossed the room and pulled a long parcel out of his wardrobe. He crossed the room and placed the parcel on Ginny's lap. "Go on, open it."

Ginny's fingers trembled as she slowly tore the paper to reveal four feet of ash wood and birch twigs. A small gasp escaped from her lips. "A firebolt! Oh Harry, you shouldn't have done this."

Harry tilted her chin up to meet his eyes. "Of course I should have. You deserve it."

Ginny ran her hand across the broom. "It's so beautiful. Thank you, Harry." She tenderly placed the broom against the wall and placed herself in Harry's lap. "What's my second surprise? I hope this one didn't cost so much!"

"No, this one is free. Right, so I'm rubbish at a lot of this boy friend stuff. I'm going to tell you something but I don't want you to feel pressured to say anything back at all. I know we haven't been dating for a long time, but I've known you for most of my life so I think I have merit." Harry's ears turned a brighter shade of red as he became self conscious of his rambling. He took a deep breath and met her gaze once again. "I'm in love with you."

For a moment, Harry was scared that she would and would not say it back. He was scared she would run away screaming. He was scared that she would start naming their future children. But the most overwhelming fear was the fear that she did not feel the same. That would be the worst, to live without her love…

His negative thoughts were interrupted as Ginny flung her arms around Harry's neck. He folded his arms around her. She spoke into his ear, "I'm in love with you." She pulled away softly pressed her lips to Harry's.

The End