Author's notes:

Standard disclaimer, it all belongs to JKR.

Harry Potter; the Unexpected Summer

Chapter X

Only One of us is Allowed to Be…

Harry gave a mental shrug. "Sounds like fun. Should we go?" he asked.

"But what are we suppose to do?" Ginny protested.

Harry grabbed his pack and headed for the door. "Don't know. Don't care. All I know is we've only got about an hour and fifty minutes left to get lost before we're going to be very sorry."

"But—"

"We can figure it out after we're safe, Gin. Let's go." Harry held the curtain open for her.

"Do not look at me," Fleur said when Ginny glanced between them.

"Might want your pack," Harry said when she started for the door without it.

"Right," she said. She u-turned to her bag and hurried to join Harry outside the tent.

"So where should we set up camp?" Harry asked.

"Don't ask me," Ginny said with exasperation. "I was trying to get answers from her. You're the one who wanted to 'get lost'." She made little quote marks in the air with her fingers.

"She wasn't going to give you any, Gin." Harry surveyed the area. To his left was the rocky area of the beach that rapidly rose in sheer cliffs over two hundred feet tall. To his left was the sandy area of the beach where Bill had run them till Harry thought he was going to die. Further down the beach gave way to a marsh and then about a hundred yards from the water, a forested area. From there, the ground began to rise rapidly into sheer cliffs again. "This way, I think," he said and started off to the forest.

"She might have if you'd let me ask a few more questions."

"Not likely."

"You're a bit pissy today."

"Only cause you're snippy with me."

"I just wanted answers, Harry. Sometimes looking before you leap is a good idea you know." Harry paused to gauge the jump from his current foothold in the marsh to the next. He jumped, slipped and managed to catch himself before he fell flat on his bum in the mud. Ginny laughed. "Case in point."

Harry shot her a look. "Shut it or I won't help you." She bit back her smile and he set his feet to catch her when she made the leap.

"Thanks," she said when he caught her. "Is there a particular reason you went through the marsh? It's not like we couldn't walk around it."

Harry shrugged and set off again. "Figured he was going to follow us so I thought I might make life interesting for him."

"You're really having fun, aren't you?"

"What's not fun about it?"

"Umh," Ginny managed.

"Knew you'd come around eventually," he teased. "Besides, the alternative is swimming the cliffs."

Ginny shivered. "Why they couldn't have found a beach on the south coast of France. I mean honestly, who swims in the North Sea for Merlin's sake?"

"Oh come on, at least it wakes you up."

"You're mood is entirely too cheerful in the mornings," she retorted. Harry stepped into the forest and held a branch back so it didn't swing back and hit her in the face. "Thanks," she said.

"Welcome," he answered. They continued on in silence for the ten minutes it took them to reach the base of the cliffs.

"Where are we going?" Ginny asked.

"I'm looking for a good spot to set up camp."

Ginny pointed to a nice little glen. "How about there?"

Harry considered it. "It's too nice."

"Too nice?"

"It's an obvious spot to set up. Even after we put up some wards and hide it, it's going to scream, 'CAMPING HERE!' to your brother."

"Or he could pass it by for the same reason you are," she countered.

"You want to set up here?"

"Yes."

Harry shrugged. "Ok, we'll do it your way this time. Next time I pick." Harry knelt down in the grassy area and dumped everything out of his pack onto the ground. He grabbed the tent from the pile and tossed it to Ginny. "See if you can figure out how to set this up."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna sneak back and see if I can't get your shoulder bag out of the rocks; maybe see if I can buy us a bit more than two hours before they come after us."

"Should I set both tents up?"

"I think one. You heard them; we're not going to be sleeping at the same time."

Ginny huffed, "Pity that."

"My bed is always open to you, Gin," he countered cheekily.

"Tosser," she retorted. "Get going. And hurry back."

"Sure thing, luv." Ginny shot him a look. "What," he asked, "you've been calling me that for the last month. I'm not allowed?"

Ginny launched a pot cover at him. "Beat it, Potter."

Harry snagged it out of the air and tossed it back. "Home soon, luv." He turned on the spot and was gone with the distinctive pop of apparition.

Ginny shook her head and muttered, "Not one person is gonna believe we aren't dating when we get back to school. Of course it'll be a good way to keep the Neanderthals from asking me out," she mused. She picked the tent up, dumped it out of its bag, spent about thirty seconds looking at the pile of fabric and little sticks with stretchy rope holding them together and gave it up as a bad job.

"Here, Gin," she grumbled. "You set up the tent. I'm gonna go prank your brother. Have fun. Piss headed toad," she added irritably. She tossed the tent to the side and went about setting a series of wards; first, an illusion charm. Anything viewing the area from outside the ward would see the forest exactly as it should be; devoid of people, their campsites and various other camp necessities.

Just inside her illusion ward she erected a physical energy wall that would prevent any human but herself and Harry from passing through. If Bill or Fleur tried they would get a nasty shock and not wake up for at least a day. At least that was the hope. But seeing as Bill had not only taught them how to set the wards, but also how to take them down, and that he could do it less than a minute, she hoped they were only being tested on having done it correctly. She grinned evilly at the thought. She did have a trick or two to try that Bill hadn't taught her.

Having set the first two of her planed four-layer defense, she took a minute for a drink and a short break. The wards might have been relatively small; only covering a circular area about twenty feet in diameter, but they took a fair bit of energy. More if you weren't particularly skilled at them. She could hardly fathom how Bill had managed to put this entire bay under the Fidelius. The total area he had hidden was nearly two square miles. And he wasn't any more powerful than she was. She pondered it for a few moments before giving a mental shrug and getting back to work.

Her third ward was a redirecting perimeter. Hopefully, anyone looking for them would find themselves unconsciously moving away from her and Harry's campsite. This ward was nearly three times as large as the first two and again took a lot of magical energy. She was barely an hour into this game and she felt like she'd followed a mile long ocean swim with two hours of running from the beach to the top of the cliffs and back again. Each round trip was two miles of torture; one mile uphill, then one mile of driving your legs into the ground going back down. In all honesty, she'd rather run up than down; pounding your legs into the ground hurt a whole hell of a lot more when you were exhausted than going up did. And after all that, you followed it up with the dreaded sand dunes. Sprinting up as fast as you could while the whole thing collapsed down, dragging you away from the top. Anything less than a full out sprint and you found yourself slipping back to the bottom. Far and away it was her most hated torture. She could hardly wait to get back to the Burrow and only have to run rats again. After setting the ward, she carefully examined her work so far and decided it was satisfactory.

"And now the one Bill didn't teach me," she said eagerly. Ginny deliberately walked all around their camp, trailing her wand from tree, to rock, to broken stump, to fern and foliage. As she did, a whisper thin strand, no bigger than a spider's thread was left behind. She wove it randomly about, creating an impenetrable web of nearly invisible silk. It was strong enough to withstand the movements of the forest and if a forest creature happened to break one of the strands it wouldn't set off the warning tone from her wand. But if a human broke the strand, then her wand would whistle and vibrate and they would know it was time to run. If it all worked properly she figured they would have between three and five minutes before Bill could bring down the rest of her wards.

"Likely three," she muttered to herself. "There's a reason he's the best ward and curse breaker in the world." She was broken out of her thoughts by Harry calling for her. "Stay where you are, Harry. I'll be there in a second." She quickly moved around the campsite to where he was standing. "Hey."

"Hey," he answered. He glanced around the area. "You either didn't figure the tent out, or decided we shouldn't camp here after all."

Ginny took his arm and walked him forward past the redirecting perimeter and the illusion ward. "Whoa," Harry said.

"Don't touch," she slapped his hand. "You aren't identified to the ward yet."

Harry rubbed at his knuckles. "Ok."

Ginny conjured a pin, pricked her finger and smeared the drop of blood on the shimmering ward. "Now you," she said and handed him the pin."

Harry followed her example and she pulled him through the ward. "Welcome home, honey," she said. She noticed Harry eyeing the tent. "I gave up on it and set the wards instead. I kind of figured they would be more important anyway. This way we're protected while we try and figure that thing out."

Harry nodded slowly and bumped her hip. "Knew there was a reason I kept you around."

"I thought it was the sex."

"You mean the sex we're not having? Your wards are brilliant, by the way," he added."

Ginny leaned against him. "Thanks, luv."

Harry snorted. "I'm really moving up in the world these days. He nudged the pile of sticks all tangled together with bungee rope at his foot before picking up the tent and giving it a once over.

"How about I organize the cooking things," Ginny offered.

Harry caught her hand. "No. You need to know how to set the tent up." Ginny scowled at him. "We both need to be able to do everything, Gin. What happens if I'm hurt, and you need to get the tent up? Once we know each of us can do everything then we can start breaking off into doing what each of us does well.

Ginny sighed. "You're right."

Harry smirked. "Mark it on the calendar; Ginevra Molly Weasley admits that she was wrong and Harry James Potter was right.

"Shut it you," Ginny said.

Harry laughed. "Or what, Gin?"

"Or," Ginny stopped to think for a second. "I'll think of something."

"Sure you will," Harry taunted. "I've been living under the threat of constant death nearly from the day I arrived at The Burrow this summer." He dropped the tent, grabbed one of the sticks from the pile and untangled it and its attached pieces from the rest.

"I will get you, Harry."

"Scared, Gin, shivers and everything." Harry gave a fake shudder.

"Oh shut up and teach me how to put the tent up."

"Only if you admit I win that round."

"It's gonna be a wet night if it rains," Ginny countered.

Harry snorted. "You would too."

Ginny smirked at him. "Damn right, I would."

"That's my girl," Harry said. "More stubborn than the rest of her family put together."

"And proud of it. Are we going to put the tent up or not?"

"Sure," Harry said. "What you do is grab two pieces like this, stretch the rope between them out, then line them up so the one end slips into the other; like this." He demonstrated for her. "The bungee holds it in place then till you pull it apart." Harry pulled it apart to show her then let it slide together once more. "So you just string the whole line of them together to make one long stick. Like this." He tossed the completed tent pole to the ground and handed her one of the two that were left to assemble. "Your turn."

Ginny took it from him and quickly pieced it together while Harry did the third. "Ok. Now what?"

"It's really easy," Harry said. "The tent is just a six sided dome. So what we do is pick one corner and feed the pole through this sleeve. Then you slip the end of the pole into this little pocket here." He handed the tent and pole to Ginny. "Hold this for me. And don't let the pole slip out of the pocket."

Ginny took it from him. "Ok, got it."

"Good." Harry quickly stepped around the mass of fabric to the opposite corner of the tent and found the little pocket he wanted. "Hold tight now."

"Got it," Ginny said.

Harry grabbed the other end of the pole, bent it into a large loop and forced the end into the pocket. "Ok, you can let go now."

"Do we do the same thing with the others?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded. "Yep."

Ginny grabbed another pole and in short order they had threaded the remaining poles through their sleeves and into their pockets. Once the tent was erected, Ginny stared at with a goofy grin on her face.

"Pretty cool, hun?" Harry said.

"That's wicked," she agreed.

"Yep, just two steps left."

"Show me," she said eagerly. Harry bent and grabbed a metal stake from the small pile left on the ground. "These are tent stakes." He stepped to the tent and bent down at one of the little pockets the tent poles fit into. "See this little loop on the pocket?"

Ginny nodded. "Yep."

The stake goes through the loop and you pound it in the ground." Harry grabbed a rock and pounded the stake down. "The hook on the stake catches the loop and then the wind can't blow the tent away on you."

Ginny quickly scooped up three of the stakes for herself and tossed the remaining two, to Harry. "All done," she said a few minutes later."

"Nice job, Gin," Harry said.

"Thanks," she said. "What's that?" She pointed at a large piece of fabric still on the ground.

Harry grabbed it, shook it out and spread it over the tent. "It's a rain fly."

A rain fly?"

"Yep. Grab this strap here and pull it down so you can hook it here." Once more he demonstrated for her. In short order the rain fly was secured over the tent. Harry stood up and surveyed their work. "Congratulations. You've set up your first Muggle tent."

"What does the rain fly do?"

"Keeps you from getting wet."

"I thought that's what the tent was for."

"It does too. But to make the tent light, the material is supper thin. If you touch the wall of the tent when it's raining it will start to leak where you touched it. So the rain fly sits over the tent. And since it's impossible to touch the rain fly if you're inside the tent it won't leak and we won't end up soaked if it rains." Harry unzipped the rain fly, tied it back and then unzipped the door to the tent and crawled in. "Coming in?" he asked. Ginny quickly followed him in. Harry laid back on the ground and she snuggled up against his side with her head on his chest "It's not much," he said. "But it's home."

Ginny found his hand and wove her fingers into his. "Our first home. You spoil me, luv. Do I get a toilet when we trade up?"

Harry snorted and pulled her tight against his side. "So tell me about your wards."

"Tell me what you did to buy us some time first," she countered.

"Well," Harry said, "I started by putting a Bludgeoning Curse on the tent flaps. If we're lucky, one of them will end up with a broken ankle. I figure that's at least two hours recovery time. Then I laced the marsh with a Fog Charm. It'll activate when they get about half way across. They won't be able to see the ends of their noses. And I put a Confundus Charm in it so hopefully not only will they be lost, they won't be able to remember that they're lost. Then I decided to go back to the tent to get something from the bathroom that would really make their lives miserable."

Ginny shifted so she could prop her chin up on her fist on his chest. "Do go on, luv. You know how I love it when you turn all evil."

Harry returned her smirk. "I took a bunch of hairs off their brushes."

Ginny made a face. "That's gross. I hate when I have to clean my brush. Why on earth would you do that?"

"So the trees would know who to attack."

Her brow furrowed. "Come again."

"When I left the tent to come back here I walked the exact path we came by the first time. And the first two trees that I had to push a branch out of my way I tied one of their hairs to it. Then I put an Animation Charm on the tree. The hair is the trigger for it. Anyone else can touch those trees and nothing will happen; but when they do, the spell will activate and the tree will think they're attacking it. They're going to think the whole forest is full of whomping willows.

Ginny grinned manically at him. "Harry, you're a bit scary sometimes. Brilliant, but scary."

Harry grinned back. "Steal that from Ron?"

"Pretty much," she answered. "You do realize they're going to be pissed at you."

Harry shrugged. "So. Besides, they're going to blame you as much as me. Heck, Bill will probably blame it all on you."

Ginny opened her mouth, closed it again, and muttered, "Wonderful."

"I say we leave ambushes all over the place for them," Harry said.

"Except that we're suppose to be hiding. When we do this for real we don't want to advertise that someone's been through the area."

"Well yeah," Harry said, "But if our lives are going to be a living hell the next few days I don't see why we can't take a shot or two at them."

Ginny considered. "Sure, if we aren't running for our lives."

"Metaphorically speaking," Harry said.

"Right," Ginny agreed.

"So do I get to hear about your wards now?"

Ginny launched into an explanation of what she'd done so far and finished with, "I was going to stop there but I think I want to add some kind of expanded Bubble-Head Charm to them."

"What for?" Harry asked.

"Well," she said. "The illusion keeps them from seeing us, but it doesn't do anything to prevent them hearing us if we're talking. And if we have a fire or cook something it's going to smell. It will lead them right to us."

"Good idea," Harry said. He glanced at his watch and patted her arm. "Come on, we've got half an hour to get that done before they come looking for us."

Ginny gave him a quick squeeze, sat up and crawled out of the tent. Harry followed her, careful to zip the door closed again. "Don't want bugs in the tent," he said when she gave him a curious look.

"Right," she agreed.

"So, Bubble-Head Charm?" he asked.

Ginny nodded. "I think it can be expanded big enough to set just inside the illusion ward."

"It needs some kind of anchor," Harry said. "Usually it seals around your neck. You take your wand, draw a line around your neck and then from front to back over the top. Then it just kind of fills in like a big soap bubble."

Ginny nodded. "So how about a ring of stones?"

Harry considered. "Let's try sticks. They'll be lighter and quicker to gather."

"Ok," Ginny agreed.

"Only pick them from the ground," Harry said. "If we break something off a tree or cut a tree down they'll know we've been though here."

Ginny nodded. "And let's make sure to erase any tracks or anything we've left outside the wards. Gather as much as you can so we have firewood too. After this, we should only enter or leave this place by apparating."

"Good idea," Harry agreed. "But where do we apparate to? We could end up plunking ourselves down right in their laps."

"Good point. Once were done here we should go set up a safe ward. We'll put these same wards on it. That will make it as safe as this place, which is about the best the two of us can do right now."

"Where do we put it?" Harry asked.

"Let's put it out on the big beach rocks. From inside the ward we'll be able to see if they're around before leaving them. And being on the rocks like that we can walk off them anywhere we want and there won't be a trail left to lead them back to the safe ward."

"We should never walk into it either," Harry said. "Because walking from the forest to it could leave a trail of mud or something."

"Right," Ginny agreed. "Campsite is apparate only; no walking in or out. Safe ward is apparate in, apparate out, or walk out but don't walk in."

"Agreed," Harry said. "Let's get the wood and that charm set. Then we should be safe for at least a day or so in here. We can figure out what else we're going to do once that's done."

Fifteen minutes later they had a large pile of sticks and small logs for their campfire and had arranged a series of the longer sticks end to end in a crude circle around their campsite. "Ready to try?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded. "But let's try that power sharing charm we read about. You set the charm cause your better at it than I am. I'll feed my power into you so you don't end up exhausted."

"Ok," Ginny agreed. She walked to the circle of sticks they had arrayed on the forest floor, bent and touched her wand to the first. "All right, lover boy," she said. "Show me what you've got."

Harry smirked at her. "You know, that could be taken to mean something entirely different than what you actually meant."

Ginny smiled innocently back. "Harry, how do you know I didn't mean both?"

"The same way you know I won't actually take you up on it. Ready?"

"Anytime, luv."

Harry pointed his wand at Ginny. "Eque qui teneam in corde ut exsequámur consurgere quod solum potuit."

Ginny gasped in wonder with the stream of light that splayed from the end of Harry's wand to her chest. "Whoa," she managed.

Harry broke the spell off. "What's it like?" he asked.

"It's amazing, Harry," she gushed. "It's like… like," she said, struggling to find an appropriate analogy. "It's like the sun decided to shine for me alone."

Harry grinned. "The book said it was generally a pleasant experience. And the stronger the feelings of the person sharing their magic for the recipient, the more pleasant it's suppose to be."

Ginny smiled at him. "Well, if I had any doubts about your feelings they're certainly gone now."

Harry frowned. "You have doubts about how much I care about you?"

"I have lots of doubts, Harry. You may have killed the bit of Tom that was in that diary, but I still have an inner demon of my own. I'll give you one guess who he sounds like now."

"Come here," he said quietly as he stepped to her. Harry wrapped his arms around her and tucked her head under his chin. "I've said it before, Gin, I believe in you. Don't ever forget that."

Ginny hugged him back. "Thank you, Harry."

"Welcome."

Ginny stayed there for another moment or two before she sighed and pulled away. "As nice as it is to have you hold me, I think we better finish these wards."

Harry sighed too. "Sometimes I wonder why I let Bill talk me into leaving my aunt's house." He pointed his wand at her again. "Ready?"

"Always."

Harry smirked and cast the Power-Sharing Charm again. "I think next time I wanna be on the other end of this."

"Forget it, Harry. I'm quite happy with this arrangement."

"You're spoiled."

"I spoil you plenty. And when I'm not, Fleur is. So quit complaining."

"Yes dear," Harry mocked her.

"Be quiet now so I can concentrate."

Harry fell silent as he watched Ginny work the charm. "Nice job, Gin," he said when she closed the bubble over them and broke the spell off."

Ginny sagged. "Whew, that was a lot after the other wards. Thanks for the help."

"Welcome. Why don't you rest a bit and I'll get the rest of this set up."

"I thought we both needed to know how to do everything."

"Yeah, Harry agreed, "But I don't think you need to help me organize our stuff and get a sleeping bag out. You can help me figure out the camp stove when we're ready to make some tea."

"Ok," Ginny said. She found a nice spot and sat down with her back against a tree. She watched Harry as he went through both their packs and organized their things.

"He's a bloody idiot if he thinks I'm not shrinking this down," Harry said. He waved his wand over one of the packs and tossed it to Ginny. "Here, keep this in your pocket." He shrunk the second pack down and stuffed it in his pocket.

"We're sharing a sleeping bag too?" Ginny asked.

"We're not sleeping at the same time, Gin," Harry reminded her. "Besides," he teased, "I thought you kind of liked falling asleep next to me."

Ginny coloured slightly. "I do. But that's on the couch with Bill and Fleur right there or out on the rocks by the ocean. It just seems a bit more intimate than I'm comfortable with; crawling into a sleeping bag with you for the night out here where we're completely alone."

Harry rocked his head back and forth. "I suppose."

"You aren't bothered by it?"

"If one of us didn't have to keep watch, it makes sense. If we have to bug out of here before we can get the tent down or the bag packed; at least we won't lose them both. Beyond that, I kind of figured that anything proper about our relationship went out the window the night you told your family you'd shag me if you wanted, and they damn well better keep their noses out of it."

"So no."

Harry shook his head. "Nope."

Ginny shook her head. "I honestly can't believe I'm having this conversation with you. This has to be the oddest friendship ever."

Harry grinned. "Haven't you figured out there's nothing normal about me yet?"

Ginny heaved herself to her feet. "You can bloody well say that again. Ready to go set up our safe ward?"

"Yep. What do you think about setting up two?"

"Maybe," Ginny said. "I'm pretty knackered from this one as it is."

"I'll set it up. You rest and make sure they don't see us doing it."

Ok," Ginny agreed. "To our spot?"

Harry took a deep breath. "Yep. And keep low. He let his wand slip from the holster to his hand. Ginny followed his lead. "Together?" he asked.

She stepped close and turned her back to his, pressing against him. Harry found her free hand with his. "On three," she said. "One, two, Now!" Two resounding pops later they landed in a crouch on their beach rock.

"Did you hear that?" Bill asked.

"Yes," Fleur said. "It sounded like someone apparating. But I am not sure in which direction the sound came from."

"Me either," Bill sighed. "I wonder which one of them came up with this bloody fog."

"I would bet, Ginevra. She is downright nasty when she wants to be."

"I won't argue that. But Harry can be just as bad when he wants."

"Yes," Fleur agreed. "But a Bludgeoning Curse on the tent flaps? It seems much more your sister than Harry. Be careful, it is slick here and your ankle is only just set."

"Maybe, but a fog like this takes a ton of power. I'm not sure Ginny's got that much juice yet."

"I think you are correct about that," Fleur agreed. "She is not at Harry's level, but it is not insignificant."

"She's matching me and she's only fifteen," Bill said. "If theory holds, she'll double her power level by the time she's thirty."

"And if that thought does not terrify your brothers, then nothing will."

Bill chuckled. "They're already terrified of her. Even Charlie's afraid of crossing her."

"It is entertaining to watch her dealing with him."

After spending another two hours setting up not one but two different safe wards along with a number of other traps for Bill and Fleur to wander across Harry and Ginny returned to their campsite to rest for a bit and get a bite to eat. Harry pulled his shrunken pack out of his pocket and dropped it at his feet before he wearily sat down. Ginny flopped down on the ground and laid back with her arm over her eyes.

"Ok," she eventually said, "Wards are brutal. Even with you funneling your magic into me."

Harry shook his head and enlarged his pack. "You can say that again." He pulled four of the MREs out of the pack and eyed them warily. "You want tuna and crackers, chicken a la king, salisbury steak, or omelet with ham and cheese?"

"Umm, I think none of the above," she answered without looking at him.

Harry tossed one of the packets at her. "Tuna and crackers it is then. Me, I'm havin' steak."

"Like hell," Ginny retorted. She snatched the packet from Harry's hands. "You know I hate tuna."

Harry smirked at her and grabbed another packet. "Thought you weren't going to eat."

Ginny sat up and ripped her package open. "I'm bloody starving after all those wards. Hell, I might even eat tuna if it wasn't ten years old."

Harry grabbed the package Ginny had discarded and read the date on it. "You're in luck. This one is only nine years old." He offered it to her.

"Get that away from me." She did an all over body shudder. "Just the thought of what nine year old tuna smells like is enough to make me vomit."

"Here," Harry said. He handed her one of the Swiss army knives along with a k-bar. "You should probably keep those on you."

"Exactly where would you suggest?" she asked eyeing the k-bar.

Harry grabbed his and undid the velcro straps on the sheath. He pulled up his pant leg, wrapped the straps around his calf and settled the knife in place. As a precaution against loosing it, he cast a Permanent Sticking Charm on the straps before pulling his pant leg down again. "Want me to tie your shoes for you too?" he teased.

"I think I can manage," Ginny retorted dryly. She quickly strapped her k-bar to her leg before opening her Swiss army knife and using it to slit open the main pouch from her MRE. She spread it open wide, and peered in before giving a cautious sniff. "Smells edible," she said. She offered it to Harry. He ventured a sniff before sticking a finger into the packet. "Hey!" Ginny exclaimed and snatched it back.

Harry ignored her and stuck his finger in his mouth. He continued to ignore the expectant look on her face and opened his pouch. "Wha?" he asked around a mouthful of chicken a second later.

"Is it ok?"

He shrugged. "I've eaten worse." He spooned out another mouthful. Ginny watched him, searching for some sign that he was about to die of food poisoning. "Actually," Harry said. He triggered the release on his wand and cast a Warming Charm on his lunch. When he was satisfied that it was warm enough he tried another bite. His head bobbed up and down while he chewed. "Not you mum's, but beats the hell out of any chicken a la king my aunt ever made." He trained his wand on Ginny's lunch. "There," he said. "Give it a try."

Ginny eyed him for a moment longer but eventually took a cautious bite. A second later she nearly gagged.

"Bad?" Harry asked. Ginny simply nodded and set her packet down. Harry frowned, picked it up and tried a bite. Ginny waited expectantly for confirmation that it was horrendous. He swallowed, shrugged and handed over his chicken. "Here, try this."

Ginny eyed it. "Do I have to?"

"Eat," Harry said. She took the pouch and tried a small bite. "Ok?" Harry asked after she swallowed.

She handed it back. "It doesn't make me want to puke."

"You eat it," Harry said. "I'll eat the steak."

"Harry, that's disgusting. You don't have to trade with me."

"Eat, Gin," Harry answered. "I don't mind."

"Harry," she protested, "it's horrible."

"It's better than what I ate growing up; so I'll eat it. You can eat the chicken; so eat it."

Ginny considered for a second longer. "You're sure."

"Positive."

She gave him a small smile. "You're a gem, Harry."

He smirked. "Emerald, right?"

She blushed. "Yeah." She shifted over to lean against him and they fell silent as they ate.

When Harry was done with his steak, he fished through the rest of the packets that had been in his MRE. "What have you got left?"

Ginny sorted through hers. "A couple cookies, a chocolate bar, dried apricots, some drink mix and coffee"

"Graham crackers, M&Ms, dried apples, a drink mix and coffee," Harry answered. "You wanna trade anything?"

"I don't really like apricots all that much," Ginny said.

"Then take the apples." Harry handed them to her.

"Do you even like apricots?"

"Don't know, never had them."

"Harry, you don't have to give me everything out of your lunch because I don't like what's in mine."

"Gin," Harry said, "My aunt and uncle were either starving me or feeding me the cheapest, grossest, nastiest, thing they could find at the market. I didn't know what good food was till I went to Hogwarts and that's nothing compared to your mum's cooking. I can eat anything. You on the other hand have never eaten crap. So it's a lot harder for you to eat this stuff. But whether you like it or not, you need to eat. And out here, like this, it's my job to take care of you. If that means letting you have everything out of my lunch that you can eat, than I'm going to. And beyond any of that, I kind of like taking care of you cause it seems to make you happy, and I like it when I do something that makes you happy."

Ginny smiled and her eyes glistened. "Harry, you're the most absolutely wonderful person I have ever known."

Harry grinned back. "I kinda like you too," he said before pulling her down to lie with her head on his chest.

"Shouldn't we be figuring out what to do next?" she asked.

"I'm thinking about it," Harry answered. "I'll let you know when I've got something; probably take a half hour or so though."

Ginny snuggled in. "Lovely," she sighed.

It was about twenty minutes later that they both bolted up with their wands drawn. "WILLIAM!" Fleur's shout echoed through their campsite.

"PETRIFY THE BLOODY THING!" Bill's voice followed.

"Sounds like they found one of your trees," Ginny whispered in the silence that followed.

Harry grinned. "Right about when I figured they would." They stiffened again.

"HARRY POTTER AND GINEVRA WEASLEY," Fleur's amplified voice crashed through the forest. "I AM GOING TO THRASH YOU BOTH TO WITHIN AN INCH OF YOUR WRETCHED LIVES!"

"She sounds a bit angry with you," Ginny observed.

"Ya think," Harry retorted. He knocked her on the head with his wand, and then himself, disillusioning them both. "Come on," he said. He grabbed his pack and pulled her by the hand to the opposite side of their wards from where he knew Bill and Fleur were.

"Where are we going?" she hissed. "We're not supposed to walk out of this place. It'll leave tracks."

"Right," Harry answered. Before she could blink he apparated them both to the top of the cliffs overlooking the bay.

"Bloody Hell, Harry," Ginny shouted. "You could give a girl a bit of warning!"

"Sorry," Harry said again. He waved his wand over his throat and turned so he was overlooking their campsite far below. "ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR, MS. DELACOUR!"

"I'M GOING TO WRING YOUR NECK, POTTER!"

"LOOKING FORWARD TO IT, SIR!"

"UNLIKE GINEVRA, I WILL CARRY OUT MY THREAT, HARRY!" Fleur shouted.

"HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A NICE DAY," Harry retorted. "YOU MIGHT WANT TO BE CAREFUL OUT HERE THOUGH. IT SEEMS THE AREA'S BEEN BOOBY TRAPPED. WE HAVE TO GO NOW. BUT DON'T WORRY ABOUT US. WE'LL BE SURE TO LET YOU KNOW WE'VE BEEN AROUND!" Harry canceled the Sonorus Charm and turned to Ginny.

She just shook her head. "Forget scary, you're insane."

"Am I still brilliant?" he asked.

"Bloody brilliant," she said. She turned and surveyed the bay for a few moments. "How the hell are we going to find this thing?"

Harry shrugged. "My bet is the caves in the sea cliffs."

Ginny turned to look at the aforementioned cliffs. "So what, we just start wandering through them? Talk about sitting ducks."

"Well why don't we start with some Detection Spells?"

"Sure," Ginny agreed. She held her wand out level, cast the spell and swept her arm from the tip of the bay on their right to the other end on their left. Her wand emitted a low warbling tone across the whole sweep of the bay. She dropped her hand. "Gee, there are pretty much magical traces everywhere. Why am I not surprised?"

"I didn't hear you offering a better idea," Harry retorted. He set off towards the cliffs anyway.

"Where are you going?" Ginny called.

"To the cliffs," he called back.

"Why? I barely got any kind of signal from that area."

"Exactly," Harry called back.

Ginny dropped her head. "Idiot," she berated herself before hurrying to catch up to Harry.

"Figured it out, did you?" he asked when she caught up to him.

"Sorry," she said.

Harry took her hand. "S'ok. Only one of us is allowed to be brilliant at a time. You can have tomorrow." He cast a glance her way and grinned.

Ginny smiled back. "Thank you, Harry. I was being a real twit."

Harry squeezed her hand. "Welcome, Gin."

"You wanna sleep first or stand watch?" Harry asked.

"Do we really have to stand watch?" Ginny groaned. Harry arched an eye. "I know," she sighed. "I'm just bitching."

"I have no comment," Harry answered.

"A wise decision," she retorted. She glanced at her watch. "Assuming my demented brother and his harpy leave us alone tonight, when do you want to get up tomorrow?"

Harry shrugged. "We should each get three or four hours."

"Four it is," Ginny said. "Go sleep, luv. I'll take the first watch."

"You sure?" Harry asked.

Ginny nodded. "I'm awake now. I won't be if you try and get me up again in four hours."

"All right," Harry agreed. He stood, stretched, and leaned down to give her a hug before heading for the tent. "Wake me if you need me."

"I will."

"K," Harry yawned. "Nite, Gin."

"We are going to leave them alone, no?" Fleur asked.

Bill nodded. "For tonight. They've done pretty well today so we'll let them sleep. Besides, after a broken ankle and getting my ribs busted up by a tree, I could use the rest. If they're going to cash for eight hours then I say we do too."

"We are not standing a watch are we?"

Bill shrugged. "I hadn't planned on it. But after today I'm starting to reconsider."

"Well stop," Fleur said. "Because I have plans for you." She gave him a come hither smile.

Bill grinned. "My mother warned me about girls like you," he teased.

"Oh?" Fleur asked. She stepped to him and gave him a searing kiss. "And what did she tell you about girls like me?"

Bill shook his head trying to regain his senses. "Don't remember," he growled and apparated them both to their room.

From inside the safety of their campsite, Ginny slowly walked the perimeter, trying to stay awake. She still had three hours left before it was her turn to sleep. As she walked, she turned the day over in her mind again and again.

She and Harry had spent nearly seven hours searching the sea cliff caves for some sign of the hidden horcrux with no luck at all. Still, Harry's idea of searching where magic detection charms returned little to no reading at all seemed the way to go. And if she thought about it, Bill had been hinting all summer about where to look when he talked about curse and ward breaking. According to him there were two routes people usually went when they wanted to hide or protect something with magic. The first was not to hide it at all. Instead you put such a tangled web of interlocked spells on it that it was essentially impossible to unlock them without triggering one or more and getting yourself killed. According to him this always failed in the end because there is always someone smarter who would eventually figure it out. And failing that, blind dumb luck.

The second method revolved around first hiding what you wished, then doing your best to remove any trace that it even existed in the first place. Usually, there were a few carefully selected protections or curses that were also hidden with the item. Bill reported far more curse breakers were hurt or killed by this method than the first. And she somehow thought this was the way Bill had gone with his horcrux. She paused for a moment as she considered the third option; hiding something in plain sight. Bill said, that it was by far the most difficult to accomplish. But if it was well done, it was also the most difficult to figure out.

No, she thought and resumed her trek to nowhere. I don't think he went that route.

Still, she wondered if a cave was too obvious. Should they be looking in the forest, or maybe the marsh? She supposed simply tossing something into the sand dunes and letting wind and time bury them was a pretty good option. Of course you'd never find it again yourself, because sooner or later a storm would come up and the sea would carry your trinket away for the merpeople to find.

And what were they looking for anyway? Voldemort could have made his Horcruxes from anything. She highly doubted all of them were diaries. Bill said they usually were objects of some significance to the owner. He said Dumbledore had been looking for years and had a few theories he would share when they all returned from France. And then, how many had he made. Dumbledore and Bill were of the guarded opinion he'd made seven; the most magical number. Ginny was certain of it. Nine months of being possessed by the bastard gave her an insight to how his mind worked that no one else could begin to fathom. The diary was one, and there were six others. She was convinced of it. She'd bet her life on it. More significantly, she'd bet Bill or Fleur's lives on it. She'd bet Harry's life on it. All of which did her no good whatsoever in finding Bill's horcrux.

Ginny sat down and dug one of the chocolate bars she had left over from her lunch and dinner out of her pocket. Two hours to go, and a sugar high might allow her to actually stay awake for it. As a precaution, she set a recurring alarm on her watch for every twenty minutes. If Bill had found them and decided to be nice because he was satisfied with their wards by not taking them down he'd change his mind in a second if he found them both sleeping.

"It has to be a cave," she mused quietly. It was obvious, but then that could be the point of it. Just like the fact that their campsite was a good spot to hide because it screamed, CAMPING HERE, a cave was a good spot to for Bill to hide his horcrux because it screamed, HORCRUX HIDDEN HERE. Hiding something there was a bit like hiding in plain sight. People would pass it over simple because it was too easy.

The problem was there were dozens of caves on the cliffs. Some of them were little more than a few feet deep and others went back hundreds of yards. A few were even connected so that you entered one place and ended up exiting in another. And none of them were particularly easy to get too. You could either swim out and climb the cliff to them, start on the rocks and work your way to the cliffs, then cling to them as you worked your way across the cliffs to the cave of your choice, or you could set ropes at the top of the cliffs and lower yourself down. The last method saved you a swim and a climb up or out, but while lowering down to the caves was relatively painless you still had to climb back up.

Between setting three sets of wards more traps and snares for her brother and Phlegm, as Ginny referred to Fleur when she was unhappy about something her brother's girlfriend had done, and seven hours of climbing up and down the cliffs it had been an exceedingly long day. And, she glanced at her watch; she still had an hour before she could wake Harry. She sighed and heaved herself to her feet again. She made three laps of the campsite to get her blood moving again before stoking the fire.

As she watched the flames a thought occurred to her and she spent her last hour moving their supply of firewood as far from the fire pit as possible. It gave her something to do and the next time she stood watch she'd have to get up to fetch wood to feed the fire when it needed to be replenished. Finally, her watch alarm went off and mercifully her watch was over.

She quickly unzipped the tent and crawled in. She hesitated for a second before gently shaking Harry's shoulder. Tired as she was he looked so peaceful she hated to wake him.

"Harry," she said softly.

"Wzat?" he mumbled.

"It's time for your watch, luv."

Harry rolled over, stretched and rubbed at his eyes before resting his arm over them. "Already?"

"I'm afraid so."

He took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "K," he said and sat up. "Any problems?" he asked as he climbed out of the sleeping bag.

"No," Ginny answered. "They either haven't found us or Bill's decided our wards were good and left us alone."

Harry shoved his feet into his boots and did up the laces. "Oh, he found us. I'm sure of it."

"Probably," Ginny agreed. She kicked her shoes off, slipped into the sleeping bag and laid back on the ground.

Harry brushed the hair back from her face, letting his hand linger for just a moment. "Sleep well, Gin," he said and slipped out of the tent.

"Night, luv," Ginny answered as he zipped the tent back up. She sighed happily and snuggled down in the sleeping bag. There were bonuses to sharing one it seemed; even if they weren't in it together. It was warm, and it smelled like Harry. It was nearly as good as cuddling up to him on the couch or the beach and letting herself fall asleep.

Author's notes:

And our favorite couple grow ever closer while continuing to deny the truth. Though maybe not. They're both admitting they're quite fond of the other. Harry is just spouting the line he's in no place for a girlfriend and Ginny isn't interested in any of the boys at Hogwarts. One might wonder if there's some wiggle room in those statements?

Translation from the online translator. If you happen to speak latin, I'm sorry.

I share with you who I hold in my heart so that together we may accomplish that which alone we could not.

Eque qui teneam in corde ut exsequámur consurgere quod solum potuit