Chapter 10

Sorry, no intro, I've gotten extremely lazy :L

When Hermoine woke up, it was like the old times... minus Luna and him, which I tried very hard not to think about. Even George stayed with us. Although I knew this was probably so he could hear any more news about Luna if it came up, I was surprised. Mum was stoked that we were finally behaving somewhat normally, and she invited Percy, Bill and Fleur to dinner. Percy had been staying with them for a week, now.

The night was great, and George even cracked a joke or two. We laughed, and it felt natural. I felt like I was flying.

"It should be good." I was saying. I was talking so much tonight, probably more than I'd spoken altogethere since 'that night'. "Harry, Hermoine and Ron are coming back with me."

"Ah yes, they took last year off, didn't they?" Bill asked, a small smile on his distorted face.

"Yeah," I said, trying to avoid the fact of why they'd taken the last year off. The thought gave me chills every time it came into my mind.

"So how long to go?"

"Uh... What's the date?"

"Twenty-fourth." He answered slowly.

"Of..." I said even slower.

"July."

"Well than obviously it's only a month and a half." I muttered, my stomach going hollow.

I looked at Harry, beside me. A month and a half...

"What?" Bill asked.

"It's just..." I tried to compose myself. "It's sooner than I thought it was..."

"You're right." Mum said, dishing Neville some more potatoes. "We need to go to Diagon Alley as soon as we can."

"Yeah." I muttered.

The conversation drifted, and I turned to Harry,.

"A month and a half!" I whispered urgently.

"Yeah, it's your birthday in a week, mate." Ron said on the other side of him.

I gaped. Didn't anyone else see the crisis at hand?

Hermoine leaned over Ron.

"I know, Ginny." She said.

I sighed in relief internally.

"We have to let Du-" She stopped short. "I mean... We have to let McGonagall know."

"What?" I shook my head frantically.

"What's the matter, Ginny?" Harry asked with concern in his voice.

"Doesn't anyone feel... you know?"

"What?" He asked.

"I just don't feel... ready, that's all."

"It's okay." He murmured. But there was more in his eyes. I'll be with you. But he wouldn't say that in front of everyone here.

"So what are your plans, Harry?" Percy asked, pulling us out of our little conversation.

"Oh, uh, I'm going to Hogwarts..."

"I know that, but I mean after that."

"Oh... Well, I dunno..." He frowned.

"Okay... Hermoine?"

"Well, I obviously want to carry on my SPEW."

He raised his eyebrows.

I sighed. This would take a while.

I turned to my right instead. Maybe there was another conversation that was more interesting, one I hadn't heard a million times. I smiled to see George and Neville talking animatedly to each other. My smiled faded as I realised they were speaking in too low voices for anyone to hear, and Neville looked kind of uneasy. I decided maybe I didn't want to know what they were talking about.

Sighing, I turned back to Harry. I decided just to look at him. He turned to me, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

"Hi." He murmured.

"Hey." I laughed.

Our silence was comfortable.

"So what are you gonna do?" I asked after a while.

He frowned. "I dunno... I have two houses now..."

"Oh yeah... What are you going to do with... Snape's..."

I still couldn't hack what Harry had told me about him. I'd always hated Snape. It felt strange to speak of him kindly.

"I don't think I'll sell his house... I've been thinking about it a lot, you know... everything I learned that night. It was more that I learned in the whole year before put together." The emotion in his voice melted my heart. He really sounded like he respected Snape. Maybe it was time I did too... "I think I'll just lend the house to Hermoine for her SPEW thing. She might need it."

I laughed weakly, without any humour.

"She'd like that." I said, trying to bring myself to this moment in time. Another 'down' about Harry was how he could make you so emotional that it was hard to snap out of it.

"Yeah... And I think I'm gonna live in Sirius' house..." He said.

Stop using that voice!

"What about you?" he asked, and to my great relief, he wasn't speaking so emotionally.

Thank you...

"Uh, pfft, I dunno." I frowned. I really didn't know...

"Well, I was thinking..." he said, looking down at his hands.

He didn't speak for a long time. Soon, I thought that he wasn't just building tension.

"Thinking what?" I urged, completely forgetting about the world around us.

"It's just an idea." his words came out in a rush, and there was another emotion in his voice. "I mean, you have a long time to think about it, and it's okay if you say no, I don't care or anything. I was just thinking that when school is really over, I'll have to live in the Black's house, and it's kind of a creepy house when you're alone - not that I'd be scared! But-"

I felt a huge smile spread across my face.

"Kreacher can get annoying, andI know we have this new relationship ever since - but anyway, what I was trying to say was, wait I can't remember. Oh yeah, I was just thinking that since there's a few rooms there, if we made the place more homey like we were trying to do back when - uh, I was thinking that we - as in you, and maybe Ron and Hermoine would like to - no, forget about it, it's really stupid, forget I said anyth-"

I leaned in, pressing my lips to his. Soon I realised we had an audience, so reluctantly I leaned away.

"I'd be honoured to come and live with you after Hogwarts." I whispered against his lips. "And I'm sure the others will, too." I added.

I leaned back into my seat, wishing we weren't outside eating dinner with my whole family plus Neville. The last time Harry and I had been alone was our 'goodbye', which Ron had rudely barged in on. But before that, it was at Hogwarts at the lake... I was actually sort of excited to go back to Hogwarts... This year would be good. Voldemort was dead. Life was actually coming for us. Harry could be happy. Or as happy as someone could get after losing all the people he'd lost... With a jolt, it really dawned on me... we were going to live together! Even if it was with Ron and Hermoine, it would still be amazing. Living with Harry, not just temporarily like it was now. I realised I was smiling. I smiled wider after realising, then laughed to myself.

Feeling happy was nuts.

But feeling extatic was another thing, far more than feeling just 'happy'.

"Bye, Neville." We all said, almost in unison.

He turned, disapparating.

I could have sworn I saw George winking before he left.

What is he up to?

I nudged Harry, who hadn't left my side for so long. I didn't want him to - ever. Exept for when we had to go to bed, I would do everything in my power to stay by his side. I would choose the same subjects as him when we got to Hogwarts, and now we'd be in the same year, so we'd get the same timetables. We'd do homework together, and he'd obviously be the Quidditch captain again, and I was sure he felt the same way as I did - although I didn't know why - so he'd put me in the team. Yes, I'd do everything in my power to never leave his side.

"George is up to something." I said in a low voice.

He raised his eyebrows.

"I think I know him by now." I said. "The whole time Neville was here, he was talking to him about something. And he winked at him before he left."

"Maybe Luna has another kind of competition to worry about."

I rolled my eyes, unimpressed.

"Well I dunno... I guess we'll find out sooner or later."

"Let's just hope it doesn't make Mum scream." I muttered.

We walked over to Ron and Hermoine, who looked as happy as we did.

"It was a good night." Hermoine said, smiling grandly.

"Yeah." I get to live with Harry!

"You didn't eat all of your food." Mum said, walking passed us to the kitchen. I rolled my eyes.

I get to live with Harry!

"So, you guys, Harry has to ask you something." I said, unable to hold it in any longer.

I get to live with Harry! It was about to burst through my lips.

Harry went tense. I squeezed his hand.

Just tell them!

"Yes?" Ron asked.

"Well, it's just a crazy idea."

He shrugged. "Let's hear it."

Five seconds passed. Ten. Twenty. Thirty. A minute.

"Oh just spit it out!" Hermoine burst.

"'I get to live with Harry!" I almost shouted.

They both raised their eyebrows.

"You two should come, too."

"But I thought we were going to Hogwarts." Ron said hopefully.

"After that, you git. The house Sirius left him. I think you two should really come. It would be... fun."

Their eyebrows rose further.

What is this? Why aren't you excited? Why don't you feel like kissing Harry for being so brilliant?

The last question was easily explained, but still!

"Well I don't know how Molly would feel about that." Hermoine finally said.

I sighed in exasperation.

"I think it's a brilliant idea, and if you don't want to go, then fine, but I do!" I tilted my chin up.

"You have plenty of time to think about it." Harry said quietly.

I rolled my eyes, walking with Harry back to the garden. I sat on the grass, pulling him down with me.

"You look good." he said.

I raised my eyebrows.

"I mean, you look happy." He said quickly.

I laughed softly, leaning into him.

We sat in content for a while, breathing in the beautiful night air.

The next thing I knew, Mum was waking me up, and I was still lying in the garden with Harry's arms around me...

Hope you enjoy, another chapter coming soon-esh. I'm gonna wrap it up soon, as you can tell, with everything getting better (: