Title: My Own Demise
Author: Kyra
Disclaimer: Nothing but the plot is mine, so please don't sue! All you'd get is some pocket lint anyway.
Summary: Harry's tired of everyone expecting him and him alone to save the world, or die trying.
Spoilers: Through book 5, starts the following summer.
Warnings: Slight slash, nothing hardcore though, just hints of it for now.
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Chapter 7: Dinner & A Bonfire
Harry, Draco and Ginny met up at the top of the stairs to head down to dinner.
"You guys ready?" Harry asked with a grin as he looked over the other two.
Draco was wearing a pair of jeans similar to Harry's, black and loose hanging low on his hips, the bottoms dragging on the floor, the blonde's combat boots barely visible. His outfit was topped off with the shirt he had bought earlier, long-sleeved and black with the words 'You're Depriving Some Poor Village Of It's Idiot' scrawled across it in white.
Ginny was dressed in a pair of tight low-rise dark blue jeans, sneakers and the shirt she had decided to wear for the night was purple with blue lettering that was sure to piss Hermione off.
Both nodded at Harry with huge grins on their faces, "Let's go piss some people off," Draco said as he placed an arm around Ginny's waist, pulling her close.
Harry raised an eyebrow at the blonde boy's actions, "You do realize Ron's gonna flip shit if the two of you walk in like that, right?"
Ginny simply giggled, "That's the point, Harry! Now, get over here on my other side!" She looked over at Harry before adding slyly, "Or maybe you should take Draco's other side?"
Harry merely glared at her before moving over and wrapping his arm around her from the other side, "C'mon, let's go before your mum decides to come looking for us," He said.
The three of them quickly made their way downstairs and to the kitchen, pausing outside the door to share conspiratorial grins before casually and calmly strolling into the room. A quick glance around showed that, with the exception of Dumbledore, they were the last to arrive, though nobody had sat down yet. Snape stood in the darkest corner of the room glaring at everyone, Moody was talking to Shacklebolt and Professor McGonagall about suspected Death Eaters, Remus and Tonks were quietly talking about their day as Tonks petted Nyx, Mrs. Weasley was busy adding the finishing touches to dinner, Fred and George were off to the side whispering to each other, most likely about something to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Mr. Weasley was talking to Bill and Charlie who had only arrived at Number 12 earlier that day, and Ron and Hermione were the only ones sitting as they quietly talked at the table.
At the sound of the Kitchen door opening everyone looked up from their conversations, most of them going back to their previous conversations once noting that it was only Harry, Ginny and Draco entering the room then doing a double-take as their appearances finally registered. The shocked looks on everyone's faces were priceless! Kingsley's eyebrows rose so high that had he had any hair they would have disappeared into the hairline, McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley looked both shocked and scandalized. Bill and Charlie were looking at their little sister in complete shock as she casually leaned back into the two boys on either side of her who had an arm each wrapped around her waist. Fred and George were completely wide-eyed as they realized just how much their baby sister had grown up over the years. Mr. Weasley looked both shocked and like he wanted nothing more than to rip the two offending males away from his baby girl and wrap her up in an over-sized jacket…and probably would if he wasn't completely frozen from the shock. Moody had both of his eyes fixed firmly on the trio, his jaw hanging open slightly. Snape's eyes went wide before his face once more arranged itself into a scowling glare, this time focused on Ginny, Draco and Harry instead of the rest of the room. Hermione was staring at them with wide eyes and her jaw practically touching the floor from surprise and shock. Remus and Tonks just had huge grins on their faces as they tried not to laugh out loud at the expressions on everyone's faces. However, Ron's face by far the best. He was wide-eyed from shock, looked completely scandalized and was quickly turning purple.
The trio simply stood in the doorway, slight smirks on all their faces and amusement and mischief shining in their eyes.
The shocked silence could only last for so long though and a minute later their was an explosion of noise.
"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!!!!" Mrs. Weasley screeched, "What in Merlin's name do you think you're wearing?!"
"Oh My Goodness! Harry what have you done to yourself?" Hermione exclaimed.
"MALFOY!!!! Get your bloody hands off my sister!" Ron bellowed.
"Ginny! Go back upstairs and put some clothes on!" Mr. Weasley stated.
A sharp, shrill whistle cut through the yelling voices and caused everyone to turn towards Remus in shock.
"What?" He asked, "The yelling was starting to hurt my ears. Besides, silencing charm on the door or not, if you lot get any louder you'll wake up Mrs. Black."
Ron was the first to turn his attention back to the teens near the door. "Damn it, Malfoy!" He growled, "I thought I just told you to get your BLOODY HANDS OFF MY SISTER! And Gin! You look like a…a…a scarlet woman!" He hissed, earning himself a deadly glare from Ginny as well as the two boys at her sides.
Ginny angrily opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by her father's voice.
"Ginny, I must insist that you go back upstairs and change this instant," He said in a controlled voice, "And that you boys take your hands off my daughter." He took a step forward as though to pull the boys off the redheaded girl only to have the three of them step back, the boys stepping slightly closer to Ginny and tightening the arms they had around her.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Ginny demanded, glaring fiercely at her father and Ron.
"There's not enough of it!" Ron exclaimed, "And its way too tight!"
"Actually, I think she looks good," Tonks stated, "She's completely covered and its really not that tight. It just actually fits. That's how clothes are supposed to fit a girl. Only reason it looks tight is because you're all used to her in hand-me-down clothes from big brothers."
"Tonks is right," Hermione agreed, "That's how most of my clothes fit me."
Ron opened his mouth once more to say something only to be cut off as the kitchen door once more opened, this time letting Albus Dumbledore into the room.
"Ah, good, I'm not as late as I feared. I thought for sure I had missed the beginning of dinner," The Hogwarts Headmaster said as he saw everybody still standing around.
"Oh!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, "Dinner! Everybody sit! Fred, George, you two help me set the table. Bill, Charlie, you two help me bring the food over."
As the four redheads went to help their mother, everyone else moved to the table to sit down. Harry, Draco and Ginny smirked at each other before taking three of the seats across from Ron and Hermione, Draco directly across from Ron, Ginny next to him and directly across from Hermione and Harry next to her.
Remus and Tonks moved to take the two seats next to Draco and threw grins at the other three as the paused before sitting down to take off their jackets. Ginny started giggling as she saw Tonks' shirt, it was pink and had 'Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult' written across it in purple. Switching their gazes to Remus' newly revealed shirt all three burst out laughing as they took in the black shirt that plainly stated in bold red letters, 'Never Say 'Bite Me' To A Werewolf.'
The sounds of the loud laughter drew everyone's attention to them. Everybody looked at them curiously before following the teenagers' gazes to Remus' shirt. Fred, George, Bill and Charlie all burst out laughing while everyone else's eyes widened. A moment later everyone's eyes slide over to Tonks' shirt and then on down the line to Draco, Ginny and Harry's shirts. Fred and George started laughing even harder as they realized that the trio had picked their seats deliberately, Draco sitting across from Ron in his 'Village Idiot' shirt and Ginny sitting across from Hermione in a purple shirt with blue writing that read 'I Refuse To Have A Battle Of Wits With An Unarmed Person.'
Once everyone had started reading the shirts, Harry's gaze had immediately fixed on the seat directly opposite him, where Moody had sat down. A soft smirk settled on his face as he watched the ex-auror read the message scrawled in red across his black shirt, 'It IS As Bad As You Think, And They Are Out To Get You!' As soon as he finished the ex-auror leapt backwards with a yell, overturning his chair and pointed at Harry's shirt with a crazed and paranoid expression on his face, "I knew it!" He exclaimed, "I told you! I told you they were after me! CONSTANT VIGILANCE! That's the only way!" He quickly whipped out his wand and started darting his eyes around the room for any sign of attack, "I won't let 'em get me!"
While most everyone had jumped at Moody's outburst, Harry, Draco, Ginny, Tonks and Remus started laughing hysterically, Remus and Tonks leaning against each other for support and the three teens literally falling out of their chairs they were laughing so hard. As soon as Bill, Charlie and the Twins realized what had happened they too started laughing.
"Alastor! Alastor!" Dumbledore cried as he tried to get the crazed ex-auror's attention, "Alastor, everything is okay! It's just a shirt, it wasn't meant literally. Please, sit down."
Moody finally calmed down a bit and sat down again though he was noticeably twitchier than before. The Twins, Bill, Charlie, Tonks and Remus quickly got their laughter under control and composed themselves. Once everyone had calmed back down, they glanced around and noticed that Draco, Ginny and Harry were missing from their seats. A moment later a couple of soft, breathless chuckles and a quiet, breathless giggle were heard from under the table. Tonks grinned before leaning over towards Draco's seat to look under the table, "Hey, you three gonna join us up here? Or do you plan on eating down there?" She asked.
"We're coming," Harry replied before they pulled themselves back into their seats. Once they were back in their seats and comfortable again Ginny glanced up and her gaze locked on Moody, causing her to once more break down in a fit of giggles, which in turn set the boys off again. Remus and Tonks merely watched them with amusement. A few moments later the three of them finally got hold of themselves again and determinably looked anywhere but at Moody.
"So," Harry piped up, "What's for dinner?"
Everyone turned to look at Harry for a moment before Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat and started passing out the food.
Dinner passed by in a buzz of conversations, bouts of laughter, insults and glares from Ron directed at Draco, insulted and affronted looks from Hermione directed at Ginny once she realized that Gin's shirt was meant as an insult to her, annoyed looks from Harry to Ron every time the redhead would insult the blonde and one blow up from Mrs. Weasley when she finally realized that Ginny had cut he hair up to her shoulders and added highlights.
It happened about halfway through the meal and the change was brought to Mrs. Weasley's attention when she glanced up from her conversation with her husband and saw Ginny laughing with Harry and Draco. Draco had just muttered something to the other two that caused Harry and Ginny to lean against each other as they laughed. As they straightened up, Ginny's hair fell forward into her face and she absently pushed it back behind her ears, the ends resting just on her collar bone and the golden highlights catching the light as she gently shook her head before muttering something back to the blonde.
"Ginevra Weasley!" Molly exclaimed, bringing the entire tables attention to the two of them and causing the three teens to look at the Weasley matriarch, confused looks on their faces. The confusion quickly cleared as Mrs. Weasley continued, "What on earth have you done to your beautiful hair?"
Ginny grinned, "I got it cut while we were in London. Do you like it?" She asked.
Judging by the look on Mrs. Weasley's face, she did not. "Like it?! Ginny, why would you do that? Your hair was so pretty long! And did you dye it too?" She asked.
"Yeah, Mum, I did. It's just some gold highlights. I think it looks really good. And I wanted it shorter because it was too long, I couldn't do anything with it. And do you have any idea how long it took to wash it? I like it like this, I think it suits me." Ginny replied.
"Well, I think you made a mistake!" Mrs. Weasley stated as she pulled out her wand, "I'm going to fix this right now!" She pointed the wand at Ginny and muttered a quick spell that would return the younger girl's hair to its previous state. Nothing happened. A look of confusion swept over Mrs. Weasley's face as she looked at her wand before trying the spell once more. Again, nothing happened. "What-? Why-? I don't understand, why won't the spell work?" She muttered, mostly to herself.
"It won't work because I got someone to charm my hair so that only I can change it magically. My hair will grow like this until I take the charm off. Basically, this is now my natural hair color. And I don't plan on removing the charm any time soon, so you'll just have to get used to it." Ginny told her mother.
Harry and Draco nodded. "Yeah, Draco and I had the same charm put on our hair as well. All three of us like our hair the way it is now." Harry added.
Molly turned to Harry and really looked at his hair for the first time since the teens had returned from London. "Oh my goodness, Harry Dear! What did you do? There's green in your hair!" She exclaimed.
Harry simply nodded, "Yup."
"Why?" She asked.
The teen shrugged, "Cause I wanted to. I thought it would look cool…Which it does. It's…An expression of self."
"An expression of self?!" Ron exclaimed, "Harry, Mate, you're a Gryffindor!!!"
Draco snorted softly, "Oh, if you only knew, Weasel." He muttered to himself, low enough that only Ginny and Remus heard him; Ginny because she was right next to him and Remus because of his werewolf-enhanced hearing. Remus sent Draco a confused look before turning his attention back to the discussion of Harry's hair.
Harry grinned, "I thought it matched my eyes." He joked causing Ginny and Tonks to giggle and Remus and Draco to chuckle. "Look, I like my hair like this, and this is how its going to stay so get used to it." He stated before turning back to his food, clearly telling everyone that, as far as he was concerned, the conversation was over, Ginny and Draco quickly following his example.
After that everyone went back their meals and their conversations and the rest of dinner seemed to fly by. Once everyone was finished eating Mrs. Weasley shooed Harry, Draco, Ginny, Ron and Hermione out of the room so that the Order meeting could start. She looked like she wanted to try shooing the Twins out as well, but as they were adults and members of the Order she knew she couldn't. As soon as the teenagers were out of the kitchen she immediately cast an Imperturbable Charm on the door to keep them from spying on the meeting.
Harry immediately headed for the stairs.
"Harry, Mate, where you going?" Rona asked, "Don't you wanna try and listen in on the meeting?"
"What's the point?" Harry replied, "There's Silencing and Imperturbable Charms on the door, we aren't going to hear anything. Besides, I have plans."
"Plans?" Hermione repeated, "What plans? You don't have anything planned with Ron or I and it's not like we can go anywhere. What kind of plans could you possibly have? Harry?" She asked, following him up the stairs, Draco, Ginny and Ron trailing behind them, curious as well.
They followed Harry into the room he shared with Ron and watched as he started rifling through the bags of stuff he bought earlier.
"Harry! Are you going to answer me?" Hermione demanded impatiently.
"Damn it! Where is it?" Harry muttered to himself before raising his voice, "Hey, Gin, Draco, do either of you remember what bag my Zippo was in?" He asked over his shoulder as he continued searching through the bags.
"What's a Zippo?" Ron asked, his face screwed up in confusion.
"It's a type of lighter. Muggles use them as a replacement for the Incendio Charm." Hermione explained, "Why do you have a Zippo, Harry? And what kind of plans do you have that would involve one?"
"I'm gonna burn the house down," Harry replied carelessly as he glanced back over his shoulder, grinning at the looks of horror on Ron and Hermione's faces and the looks of amusement on Ginny and Draco's. "Geez, I'm kidding! But seriously, do either of you remember what bag it was in?" He asked, directing the last part at Ginny and Draco as he resumed his search.
"Sorry, no clue, Harry," Ginny replied, shaking her head, "But I'll help you look." She quickly joined Harry in digging through the bags.
"Draco?" Harry asked when the blonde didn't say anything.
"Yeah, I'm thinking, just gimme a sec." He replied. "Did you check in your pants pocket from earlier? I think I remember seeing you put it in there."
Harry smacked himself in the forehead, "Oh, Duh! I totally forgot I did that!" With that he quickly moved over and grabbed the pants he wore to London off the top of the pile of old hand-me-down stuff he had taken out of his trunk earlier and searched through the pockets. A couple seconds later he pulled his hand out of a pocket, grinning in triumph. "Found it! Thanks, Draco!" He threw the old pants back on the pile and flipped open the Zippo, lighting it and watching the flame for a second before snapping it closed again and putting it in his pocket.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, "What are you going to do with that? Why do you need a Zippo?"
Harry merely grinned at her, an anticipatory gleam in his eyes before he knelt down and scooped up as much of the old crap he'd gotten from the Dursleys as he could. "Could one of you grab the rest of that?" He asked as he headed for the door to the room and then turned toward the stairs.
Ron and Hermione stared at the clothes with a look of revulsion and Draco rolled his eyes before leaning down and picking up the last of the clothes, "Gin, do you mind grabbing those sneakers?" He asked, nodding his head toward the pair of ratty old sneakers Harry had worn to London earlier that day.
"Sure thing," She replied, grabbing the shoes and following Draco out the door and towards the stairs, following the fading sounds of Harry's footsteps.
Hermione and Ron followed after them, Hermione still worried about what Harry wanted with a Zippo lighter.
They caught up with Harry at the bottom of the stairs and followed him as he headed down the hall towards the back of the house. Once they reached the back door Harry stopped and looked at the door contemplatingly before shaking his head, "Uh, can someone get the door? My hands are kinda full."
Ginny quickly slid around Draco and Harry and opened the door and stepped outside, holding the door open for Harry and Draco, not bothering to hold it for Ron and Hermione.
Harry quickly made his way to the middle of the large back yard and dropped his arm load of clothes on the ground, Draco dropping the clothes he was carrying on top and Ginny putting the sneakers she had on the very top of the pile.
Hermione stepped in front of Harry and placed her hands on her hips, "Harry James Potter! What are you doing? Are you ever going to answer me?" She demanded.
"Chill out, Hermione! If you'd shut up and be patient, you'd get your answers!" Harry told her as he looked around for a moment before crossing the yard and grabbing a long stick of the ground. He nodded to himself, "This'll work." He walked back over to the pile of clothes and grabbed one of Uncle Vernon's old socks off the pile, slipping it over the end of the stick then reaching into his pocket and fishing out his Zippo. Before Hermione or Ron realized what he was doing he flipped open the lighter, lit it and held it out to the sock, a few seconds later and the sock was on fire.
"Harry!" Ron and Hermione shouted.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing, Mate?" Ron exclaimed as he tried to grab the stick from Harry.
"Aren't you two going to do anything?" Hermione asked, turning to Draco and Ginny. All she got in response was twin shakes of the head, they had figured out what Harry was planning as soon as Harry got his Zippo and picked up the arm load of clothes. "Ugh!" The frizzy-haired girl exclaimed before turning to try and talk some sense into Harry.
It was too late. Just as she turned back around, Harry reached out and dropped the flaming sock-on-a-stick on top of the hand-me-down clothes, grinning as he watched as the hated clothes caught on fire.
"I'd roast some marshmallows," Harry said absently, "But alas, no marshmallows. Oh well, they probably wouldn't taste too good anyway, not with Dudley's clothes and Uncle Vernon's socks roasting them." He finished with a shrug.
Ginny and Draco grinned at that and stood next to Harry watching the clothes burn. Hermione and Ron stood back a few feet and watched in horror as the clothes went up in flames.
"I can't believe you just did that," Ron muttered as he looked at the bonfire Harry had created.
"Why not?" Harry asked, "I hated those things. They deserved to be burned."
The five teens stood out there watching the flames dancing merrily for nearly an hour before they heard the back door open and Mrs. Weasley's voice calling out, "Kids?"
Mrs. Weasley caught sight of the fire and rushed outside, "Oh Merlin!" She exclaimed, pulling out her wand, "What happened?"
"NO!" Harry shouted and Mrs. Weasley's 'Augamenti' spell died on her lips. "Let it burn. It'll be out soon, anyway." He told her.
"What's going on?"
The teens and Mrs. Weasley turned and saw Remus, Tonks, Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George exiting the house, drawn out by Harry's shout. It had been Bill who'd asked the question.
"I-I don't know," Mrs. Weasley said, "I came out here looking for the kids after the meeting since they weren't inside and they were just staring at this fire. When I went to put it out, Harry stopped me."
"Harry?" Remus asked.
Harry shrugged, "It's all of my old clothes. I wanted to watch them burn, its much more satisfying than throwing them away."
"Ah," The werewolf said, understanding crossing his face, "It's alright, Molly, you go ahead and go back in, I'll stay out here with the kids."
"I'll stay, too, Molly, no worries." Tonks said.
Molly nodded and headed back towards the house, Arthur, the Twins, Charlie and Bill following her. Ron and Hermione hesitated for a moment before following after Mrs. Weasley. Harry barely noticed them leave.
Harry, Draco, Ginny, Tonks and Remus spent the next half hour in companionable silence, watching the fire slowly die and the last of Harry's old clothes burn to ashes.
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Well, what did you think? Leave a review and let me know!
I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update this! Though if it helps at all, I wrote this on one sitting; I started at around 6:30 pm and it's currently 5:45 am. I've only stopped long enough to grab a bowl of chips (eating them while typing), to go to the bathroom, and to double check what I've written before so I don't have any major inconsistencies. I hope ya'll love me for this! Seriously, I have to get up for work at 10:30! Really, the things I do for my fans! grins
I actually almost stopped this chapter in a couple of places but had stuff I wanted to get in here, though the main thing I wanted to put in still didn't make it. It'll definitely be in the next chapter though or maybe the one after that, depends on how long my next chapter ends up being.
Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter! Please review! I'm gonna go to bed now, I'm about to fall over I'm so damn tired!
Laterz,
Kyra
Oh, and if anyone cares, this chapter was 10 pages and 4,027 words long!
