Version: 1.0 (2006); 1.1 (2012)

Chapter 11: Hogwarts

Harry woke a little before seven in the morning and was feeling much better over all. He didn't know how he had gotten so lucky, but he hadn't had a nightmare last night while staying in the hospital. He wasn't sure how he would have explained it to Mrs. Weasley. Tonks probably would have understood, he thought.

He decided to get up and use the small bathroom attached to the room before all the females did and he had to wait. Unfortunately, Tonks heard him and woke up too; she made a noise and woke the remaining two Weasleys - Mr. Weasley had gone home last night, as he had to work the next day.

As they made ready to leave, a nurse came by with their discharge papers. She also did a last check on Ginny's hand, which showed a medium pink circle in her palm that was about the size of the end of Ginny's thumb. Or at least that was what the nurse and two guardians saw. Ginny and Harry also saw a faint larger circle there. The nurse also took a quick look at Harry's chest and pronounced it good, even though the large wound circle was now a light pink. Apparently, only the teens saw the handprint and small circle, as those marks weren't commented upon by anyone. The teens smiled at each other about their secret.

They both pulled their very small trunks out of their jeans from yesterday and Tonks enlarged them. Digging in there, they found clothes for today as well as a school robe. The robes they had yesterday were assumed gone forever. That bothered Ginny a bit, but not Harry; he planned to replace them soon.

Once dressed, after the changing screen was put back into place, Tonks shrank the trunks again and they walked to the Floo point. Tonks took the students through to Dumbledore's office, which had been connected temporarily to the Floo Network for them, while Molly went home to an empty house. Dumbledore was gone, probably at breakfast they guessed since it was about that time. Tonks shooed them out and told them to take their trunks up to their room, have breakfast, and with a laugh she tacked on to go be good students. They left with a grin.

Knowing they'd have to go to the dorm before classes anyway, they went straight to the Great Hall to eat. There were a lot of welcomes from the Gryffindor table, and a few from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff too. Harry noticed a few sneers from the Slytherin table, but he did his best to ignore them. They had grabbed a spot near Ron and Hermione and started looking at the food to decide what they wanted when Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown walked up.

Harry wasn't quite sure what to say, but Dean saved him. "Hi Ginny, hi Harry. I'm glad you're both alright." Lavender was in agreement. The battle at the train platform was the topic for the next twenty minutes for all the students within earshot. Both Harry and Ginny discussed it, but shared very little about what happened in the hospital. Harry was feeling nervous about how Dean felt, and he thought Ginny was about the same based on what he felt from her. Finally Ginny couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey Dean," she said as quietly as she could and still have him hear even though he was sitting across the table. When he looked up, she went on. "I wanted to make sure that everything was alright between us. Is it?"

"Oh sure, no problem." He looked like he really meant it. "I mean, you have a good reason in Harry there, and I think I have to agree with you about us. I think it would have been fun, but I don't think it would have lasted very long." Lavender turned to look at him while he said this. That got his attention and he blushed a bit. "Well," he continued, "Lavender and I spent some time together over the summer too and I think we're starting to look pretty good to each other." Now Ginny understood why he hadn't sounded that serious in his letters.

"I'm glad, Dean," she told him. Harry agreed.

About that time Professor McGonagall started handing out their timetables. In comparing, Ginny saw she started with Potions; Harry started with Defense. As they'd missed the welcoming feast, they wondered who the teacher was this year. Not seeing any new faces at the teacher's table, they asked Hermione.

"Professor Andrew Cobb, an ex-Auror Professor Dumbledore said last night. We'll find out first thing I see." There was much curiosity among the sixth years.

Ginny pointed to a number of blocks on Harry's schedule that were labeled "Independent Study *". "What are these?" she asked.

Harry pointed to the bottom where she saw, "* See Professor Dumbledore". He quietly told her, "That's my time with Tonks and whoever she brings with her." Ginny nodded her understanding.

In fact, as Harry looked closely, he noticed he had an independent study period immediately after lunch today. He'd no more than seen that when he also became aware of the Headmaster coming up behind him. "Ah, Mr. Potter and Ms. Weasley; I'm glad you are both safe." The Headmaster then leaned over and spoke in a quieter voice. "I would be pleased if the two of you would join me in my office for lunch. I'd like your opinion on a matter." They both agreed to come. Looking at Harry with the twinkle in his eye, or maybe a slight wink Harry thought, he added, "And if you should have any Mars bars, please bring one." The conversation was apparently over because he stood up and walked off.

Ginny asked her boyfriend, "What did he mean by that?"

Harry shrugged, "Probably his password. I guess we can meet at his stairs at noon. Come on, let's go drop our trunks off and get our books."

Ginny noticed a few girls looking their way, so she reached down and grabbed Harry's hand, which caused him to smile at her though he was totally unaware of what she saw, but he felt the small waves of jealousy and did his best to return love to her, along with his amusement. They walked back to the common room before separating to their respective dorm rooms to deal with trunks and books.


In Harry's first class of the day, Harry had to face the Slytherins. The NEWT level classes were generally smaller, so they had students from all four houses in it. Defense was no exception. Since the Slytherins tended to take the back rows, Harry sat in the front row, that also gave him a good look at Professor Andrew Cobb, ex-Auror. Harry thought he looked like a tough no-nonsense kind of guy with short graying hair, and after a few minutes of talking about what their class was going to be like, he struck Harry as very fair-minded.

He also seemed to approach class differently than most teachers, because he gave them homework in the first fifteen minutes.

"As I'm doing in all my fifth through seventh year classes, I want every one of you, no exceptions, to come up with an exercise program, because long duels take a lot of stamina." The professor seemed to pause for a second, during which Harry thought he heard a small snigger from the back. Then Harry saw him look towards the back of the room as he continued. "I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy, but any exercise you receive in a broom closet isn't going to do you any good, assuming you ever get the opportunity." That caused lots of laughs, and as Harry turned backwards to look, he saw Malfoy was red with anger at being caught and made fun of.

Once the class settled down, Cobb started on the lesson. "Today we're going to work on our shields. In addition to your normal Protego which mostly stops spell causing them to bounce a few feet at most, we're going to add a highly reflective one, which if you're really good, you can use to your advantage because you can bounce your enemies spells back at him or her, although at a slightly lesser strength." Harry thought that was pretty cool.

"Also for next class, write me an essay discussing each type of shield, the good and the bad points. Now for the practical... Yes, Ms. Granger?" Harry had noticed Hermione's hand go up.

"Professor, how long does the essay need to be?"

"Oh, right, I guess I need to explain my essay policy. When I assign an essay, I expect the question, topic, or whatever it is about to be a complete answer or discussion. If you can do that in one paragraph, good for you. If you need a few feet of parchment, then use a few feet. I just want it to be complete without extra fluff that will cause me to go to sleep because I'll have a lot of essays to read. Any questions on this?" While he looked around the room, he did give Hermione a little longer look.

"Thank you, sir," she told him looking quite happy. Harry could only imagine how many rolls of parchment she was going to go through this year for this class.

"Where were we, oh yes, the practical. Everyone, get a partner and stand across the room from each other and practice. Use minor hexes only. Anyone who uses more than a minor hex," Harry noticed he seemed to be looking at the Slytherins, "will get to have me test your shield." After a short pause he added, "And I won't be using a minor hex."

When they first cast the charm, Harry noticed that everyone's shield was curved with the edges toward them. Generally, that was a good thing because when a spell hit it, it bounced away from you, but it was hard to control the reflection. One cast he made though, he noticed that his shield was almost flat, which made aiming much easier. It was an accident, but he was pleased with himself for finding the variation.

As the bell rang to end class, Cobb quietly came over and asked Harry to stay behind. Ron and Hermione didn't wait as he'd already told them he had lunch scheduled with Dumbledore.

"Mr. Potter, I noticed you found the secret to a flat shield."

"Yes sir. I noticed the size of the loop in the cast seems to make the difference."

"Very good. You should experiment with some of the other spells. You'll find that small changes can pay big dividends. I'll see you at three."

"Sir?"

"At three, you have an independent study period then I believe?"

"Yes sir; with you then I take it?"

"Right Potter. Be back here then; and have a big lunch, you'll need it." Harry wondered what was in store for him, but he guessed he'd find out. He left his new professor to go find his girlfriend and the Headmaster.


Ginny was already waiting for him at the gargoyle guarded stairs. He said "Mars bars"; they both watched the stairs start moving. "After you," he waved his hand in the direction of the stairs. She stepped on and he quickly got on too.

She turned to him with a slight frown. "Why do guys always do that?"

"We're taught to. I think it's so that if you fall you'll land on us instead of hurting yourself. However, my sixteen year old brain has a better reason."

"What's that?" she asked as they came to the top.

"We get a better view this way," he told her with a smile as he looked at her backside, which was right in front of him. She saw where he was looking and felt his quick wave of desire. She blushed deeply, yet she was happy he thought she looked nice.

When they got to the door, Harry raised his hand to knock, but Ginny put her hand up to stop him. "I need a moment." He looked down at her and saw her face was still quite pink.

"I don't know why, I like what I see." He was giving her that melting smile again. That only made her condition worse.

He's getting good at this, she thought. She liked his flirting, but she really didn't want to look like this when she went into the Headmaster's office. Unfortunately, Harry started knocking and she heard "Enter." She took a deep breath and hoped the Headmaster would be pre-occupied enough not to notice her complexion for a few minutes.

"Mr. Potter, Ms. Weasley, do come in. I have a quick lunch waiting for us before we get started." Indeed, there were sandwiches, stew, and pudding for three on a table on the left side of the office. Dumbledore was quite friendly and polite, making light conversation with both of them about their classes. Harry was beginning to think he could work with Dumbledore again, though he still didn't fully trust all the old man's decisions.

Finishing lunch, Dumbledore rose. "I think we should have our discussion in the sitting area." He gestured for the students to precede him to the other side of the office. It had a comfy looking chair on one side, and two similar chairs on the other, with a low coffee table in the middle and his large Pensieve sitting on the table.

Upon sitting, Dumbledore started in. "I must apologize in advance for potentially giving you indigestion as I bring up some painful memories, but I really would like your opinions about yesterday. I believe there was significance in what happened, and potentially a shift in the strategies of the war. If that is true, we need to change as well or it will go badly for us." The students gave small nods as he paused for their understanding. "Now, I have asked Ms. Tonks for a copy of her memory from yesterday and she was kind enough to give it to me. Unfortunately, while it doesn't show everything, it still shows quite a bit as she tried to keep an eye on you Harry. This will allow us to watch most of the battle from a distance so we can see almost everything, then we can then discuss what happened and attempt to figure out why."

Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and went quite still for a short moment. Ginny gave the Headmaster a quiet "OK" and Harry finally nodded yes.

"I'll put it on project mode so we can see it here above the Pensieve. I think that will be less stressful for everyone." Picking up his wand, the Headmaster tapped it twice and the scene started."

They watched Platform 9 ¾ spring into view. Tonks swept the entire area with her eyes, obviously checking that it was safe. They saw themselves come into view, along with Ron and Hermione who then left to board the train. The short conversation with Tonks was there, though her vision didn't stay on them; it kept jumping around as she was on alert. As they walked away from her, Harry tightened his grip on Ginny's hand and felt hers tighten in return.

Without warning, the black robes and white masks suddenly appeared and spells started flying. Harry was momentarily rewarded with the observation that he had conjured a shield and fired his first stunner before Tonks did, though it was not by much. The battle was fierce, but they couldn't quite see it all, as Tonks was busy defending herself and taking out Death Eaters. Still, the two of them were either in her main field of view or at the edge the vast majority of the time.

It was also interesting to see his and Ginny's movements. They were almost dancing. Ginny's shield failed and then came back up. It was coming he knew, just a few more seconds. He saw his Pensieve self look over to see the Death Eater start to shoot a spell, and he saw his projected self react and then be hit and go flying to the ground. Ginny had reacted almost instantly and seemed to fling herself toward him. Abruptly, the scene changed as if everything was rising, and Harry understood that was Tonks squatting down. Her wand arm with wand came out of the bottom of the picture and a golden dome suddenly covered them. Spells bounced off the dome and maybe five seconds later he saw Mad-Eye running in from the right side and some dark red robed Aurors Apparate in. The Death Eaters seemed to disappear as quickly as they had come, then the projection ended.

Harry and Ginny were both very quiet. After a moment Dumbledore broke the silence. "I must confess that if I'd had to watch that without knowing the outcome ahead of time, I feel like I would have had a heart attack. I'm very thankful both of you came out of the battle relatively unscathed, at least after the healers helped you."

What did one say to that, or to any of it for that matter Harry thought. "It all happened so fast."

Dumbledore agreed. "From the time they arrived to the time they left, it was about fifty seconds. My best guess is there were twenty-four of them, though there may have been a few more; and we captured seven of them. No one of significance if it matters to you. I know this will be hard, but what I'd like you two to do is to let go of your emotions as best you can so we can analyze this battle. We will attempt to guess at goals later, but what observations, or facts, did you see?"

"Not sure, but I think they probably Portkeyed in," Harry started. "I seem to remember seeing one stumble and thinking it odd I didn't hear any Apparation cracks. I don't know about them leaving."

"I believe you are correct Harry," confirmed Dumbledore. "I've studied this several times now and I see them all touching their robes in the same way just before they leave."

"We, meaning the two of us, were near the middle of the platform when it happened," Ginny said. "Could they have had an observer to tell them when to come in?"

"Yes, I noticed that too," the Headmaster agreed. "That could have been done several ways, but the easiest was to watch you go through the barrier and wait a set amount of time before Portkeying in. The train station on the Muggle side is so crowded it would have been easy to hide there and do that."

Ginny gave the next one too. "They seemed to leave quickly when we fell down and Tonks put that shield over us, and when more help came. It was like they wanted a quick victory or if that didn't happen they didn't want to lose too many people."

"Excellent Ginny," Dumbledore praised her. "I'd noticed them leaving when more people came, but had not considered the cutting of their loses aspect - very insightful. That would be a new strategy for them."

"Might it mean they don't have as many people as we think?" Harry thought out loud.

"Possibly, we shall have to investigate that. What else?"

"The two of us were obviously the targets, even if they did come in around the entire edge of the platform so they could have gotten anyone." Harry struggled at figuring this out. "It was almost like they seemed to always try to fire at us whenever possible, unless they were being attacked and had to defend themselves, like with the ones Tonks was dueling. Otherwise, everyone else on the platform was left alone. Does what I said make sense?"

"Yes Harry, it does. That you and Ginny were the targets is obvious. Most of the other injuries were fairly minor, and they generally happened when the person was standing between the Death Eater and you two."

"I don't think I like thinking about that," Harry said darkly.

"Very understandable. Anything else you observed?" Dumbledore looked at them both who only shook their heads no. "I did see one other thing that I thought interesting, but I'm not totally sure about it, so I must ask. Ginny, did you feel like you were being pulled or pushed at the end just before Harry got hit?"

She thought about it. "Maybe. I do remember losing my balance like I was tripping. Why?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to watch only the very end again, with your commentary." Dumbledore tapped his wand on the Pensieve and the scene started again. A couple of taps and it sped up dramatically, and another tap and it stopped just before the end. He mumbled a word Ginny didn't catch and tapped the basin and it started playing very slowly, another tap and it stopped as Harry started to move.

"Harry, you saw the spell about to come, what were you trying to do?"

"I saw him and somehow knew it was aimed behind me, and that Ginny was there. So I tried to move my shield to block it."

"Very noble considering that left you wide open. Now let's watch Ginny closely," the old man commented, and he tapped the basin to restart it. They watched Pensieve Ginny closely and Harry could have sworn he saw her start to go one way then back again, and said so.

"Yes," Ginny agreed and was thinking very hard. "I do sorta remember starting to trip, then stopped like I ran into something I couldn't see. I'd forgotten about that."

"Hmm, that almost makes sense." Dumbledore was very thoughtful sounding. "I hadn't noticed before, but look where your wand is pointing, Harry."

It was obvious now that one knew to look for it. He had shoved his shield too far and it had gone in the direction Ginny was tripping. Harry became alarmed and his voice level went up. "Are you saying someone tried to summon her with an Accio and my shield accidentally blocked it?"

"I believe you are correct Harry."

That alarmed the young man more. "So were they after Ginny to use as bait to get to me?"

"Or both of us?" Ginny added.

Dumbledore shrugged. "It's impossible to know, but I'd say that Harry moving his shield at the last moment to protect you, Ginny, either stopped the summoning as it was starting, or else sufficiently weakened it so it didn't succeed."

The Headmaster saw Harry and Ginny look at each other and stare very intently at each other for a few moments, as if they were talking without words, or so it appeared. He also noticed they were still holding hands. "Is there anything else that happened that I need to know about?"

After a moment of looking into Ginny's eyes, Harry finally spoke out loud. "Maybe something has changed, but I can't describe it other than to say I feel like I care for her more."

Dumbledore looked at Ginny, but she looked down and she felt like she could literally feel Harry's reluctance to talk, which mirrored her own feelings; their secret was for them. "I too think there has been a change in the way I feel for Harry, but it's something I can't fully describe either - except maybe as deeper."

The Headmaster looked at them thoughtfully for a moment then let the topic go as he wasn't sure anything did happen. It could just be feelings from having survived a near tragedy together.

Glancing at his clock, Dumbledore was surprised at how much time had passed. "Ginny, I seem to have kept you far longer than I'd planned; and Professor Cobb is expecting you soon, Harry." He got up and found some parchment and a quill to scribble a note, which he handed her. "You'll probably be a bit late to class but this should help you."

Ginny squeezed Harry's hand one more time. "I'll see you at dinner," she said as she left.

"Now Harry, we have a little more time before you also must leave to meet with Professor Cobb. I thought we might talk about your classes, and especially about learning the more academic only classes via Pensieve memories to free up more of your time for the independent studies, or trainings as Tonks calls them."

"Excuse me sir; did you say learning by Pensieve memories?"

"I did," the twinkle in his eye was very pronounced. "It's not normally done as it takes a Pensieve to do this, and they are not found in every store after all, and the memories or lessons are somewhat expensive to obtain. Fortunately, I do have a Pensieve, and neither of us is poor. As I feel the burden of not having you trained more already, I shall take the expense upon myself; plus," he smiled, "you have more years to need what's in your vault for a young lady and a family than I do."

Though he couldn't say why, he felt embarrassed. Though when he thought of his favorite young lady, he also considered what they'd just been through and that concerned him. "Professor, if I can do this to have extra time for training, can Ginny do it too in case they are trying to get her?" He watched the Headmaster lean back in his chair and consider that. "I'll even pay for it."

"You care that much do you Harry?"

"Yes sir, I do," he replied very sincerely. "In fact, I can't imagine her not in my life. I know that must sound strange since I'm only sixteen, but it is how I feel." He felt he could have gone on, but it was private enough he didn't want to.

"Very well, Harry; I shall talk to Professor McGonagall and have her schedule changed. Her independent study periods will not necessary line up with yours, but I shall make sure she receives as much extra training as we can give her."

Harry was amazed and frankly thankful at that answer. "Thank you, sir! You don't know how much it means to me to help keep her safe."

"After having watched the battle, I think I have a small understanding." Harry felt a small part of his iciness towards the Headmaster melt after hearing that statement. "I believe you have a private lesson with Professor Cobb shortly. I shall start arranging all of this and Tonks will give you more details at your lesson tomorrow." Thanking the Headmaster again, Harry got his book bag and left for the Defense classroom.


When Harry arrived, a class of second year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were leaving. He smiled as he watched them leave, wondering if he was really that small in his second year. "Come in Harry and close the door."

Harry did as he was told and took a seat in the front row. Cobb finished digging a small bag out of his desk before he came and took a chair in the desk next to Harry. He handed him a small piece of parchment. "Put this in your pocket to look at later. I don't normally do students homework for them, but I want you to carefully consider what's on there."

Harry couldn't help but at least glance at it and noticed it was a list of exercises.

"Is this the minimum I should do, sir?"

"I'm not saying that Harry. It's something I want to you consider when you're coming up with your answer. Now," he said as he shifted topics, "Tonks has asked that I give up some of my free time to help you train."

"Thank you sir, I really appreciate that."

A slow hard smile crept to his face. "We'll see if you still feel that way a month from now. I'm going to work you hard."

Harry felt this was going to be worth it. "I'm up for a challenge, sir."

"Good! Let's start your first one then. Tonks suggested that we need to work on your defenses, specifically your Occlumency as a defense from visions."

"You're an Occlumens?"

"I like to think so. Now I understand Snape tried to teach you last year."

"Yes sir, it didn't go very well though."

"What did he tell you to do?" Harry described the clearing of the mind, and removing the emotions. "That's it?" Harry nodded. "That greasy git left out the last step!" The colorful description of his Potions master endeared Cobb to him. "You need more than the normal shields to protect you from these mind attacks; you also need permanent walls."

Cobb got up and moved to a clear spot on the floor. There he opened his little bag and pulled out seven crystals about the size of a Knut, which he put in a circle about six feet across. Harry also noticed they were the six colors of the rainbow plus a clear one in the very center. When he was finished, he told Harry sit near the middle on the other side of the clear crystal. Casting an Imperturbable charm on the room and a locking spell on the door, which put a block of wood across the door to the doorframe to physically hold it closed, he sat down next to Harry.

"Harry, with a complex charm I'm about to do and these crystals, we will have what you might call a psychic cage around us. While it exists, no stray thoughts or mental attacks can get to us. That means it will be completely safe for you to remove your existing Occlumency shield walls. Of course, before the field goes away, you must build new shields or walls. Yes, you need to clear your mind, and you need to push emotions away while you do this, but you must also erect walls and defenses in your mind to help keep thoughts and thought probes out. Does this make sense to you?"

"Yes it does. In fact, I wondered before why he didn't tell me something like that."

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter now since I'm going to help you. Now there are three important things you must remember. First, you must build those walls and defenses; build them out of whatever mental image or material you think is strongest. Second, there will be more than one path in to block, so look carefully. Oh, and you'll probably have some small paths to block later, but you can do that as you find them. Third, this is a very draining spell to hold, so you'll have about one hour to tear down and build back up. If you finish early, please let me know so I can quit early; otherwise, whatever state you are in when the hour is up is how you will have to deal with Him until you can finish building your defenses on your own. I won't be able to do this spell again for another week. Understand all of that?"

"Yes sir. I'll do my best to hurry."

"Hurry, but don't be careless in a rush. When you see the cage form, that's your cue to start." Cobb stretched then seemed to enter a meditative state. After about a minute, his wand started to move in a complicated pattern and one by one from red to violet, the crystals produced shafts of light. The clear crystal was the last, and it shot up a white light. At that point, all the beams of light started curving towards the white beam in the center and met forming what appeared to be a globe around them, as the cage seemed to extend into the floor. Harry was about to start when he heard a grunt of "Go" from Cobb.

Harry closed his eyes and was astounded by the complete lack of mental pain for the first time in so long he almost couldn't remember. Then a small amount of guilt intruded as he realized he was wasting valuable time. He started clearing his mind of emotions, pushing them back as he encountered them, even realizing for the first time that Ginny was unavailable to him. That feeling of loss he too pushed away knowing it was only temporary.

Looking at his defensives clearly, his old attempt was pathetic he decided. Cobb was right, he needed to just clear it all away and start over. He'd always liked the big battleships in Dudley's war movies, so he pictured plates of battleship steel, shaped for the paths in his mind. He closed down the paths that he thought Voldemort came through one by one, especially anything he thought that concerned his scar.

When he was pleased with his work, he opened his eyes to see the dome of light still there and beads of sweat all over Cobb's face. As gently as he could he spoke, "Professor Cobb, I'm done. You can stop now." He wasn't sure if Cobb heard him, but the dome suddenly collapsed and Cobb fell over on his side then slowly rolled to his back breathing great gulps of air.

"Thanks for being quick Harry. I was almost done for. Help me up, I've got a cot already set up for a long nap." Harry helped him up off the floor and watched his professor walk to a camping cot. He unlocked the door for Harry as he told him, "Eat a large dinner, get lots of rest tonight, and come talk to me sometime tomorrow," he said as he sat down.

Harry thanked him again and left with his bag. As he shut the door, he saw it glow blue briefly with a locking spell. He turned around and was hit with a wave of joy and a red-haired girl at the same time.

She was crying as she held her arms tightly around his back. He looked around and was glad the corridor was empty; this seemed like it should be a private moment. "Oh Harry, I'm so glad I found you! I thought I'd lost you forever, but you just sort of came back a minute ago and I was trying so hard not to get my hopes up."

His shoulder was getting wet but he didn't care. "It's fine now, Ginny." He slowly rubbed her back to comfort her. "I'm so sorry to put you through that. If I'd know it was going to happen I would have let you know. I promise."

"I know you would have," she could feel his honesty. "It was just so scary to search for that part of you in me and not be able to find you. I was sitting in History of Magic and I wanted to know what was happening with you so I searched and searched and you weren't there. I think I would have run out of class if it weren't almost over. I knew you should've been here, but when I came here the door was locked and I couldn't get in." Her tears had stopped, but Harry could now feel her upset feeling as she relived the memory. "What happened to you?"

"Professor Cobb created a psychic cage for me to build my Occlumency walls against Voldemort. He said it would stop all mental attacks and communication, but at the time, I didn't think about it affecting you. After I'd gone in there, I did notice that I had lost my connection to you, but I knew it was for only an hour at most. I'm so sorry you had to endure that, Ginny." He again drew her fully into his arms and gave her a tight hug.

"Did it work?"

"I don't know. Uh, hold on, and do your best to think about nothing for minute." He closed eyes and tried to relax his thoughts, but they kept coming back to Ginny. She felt so good to him and she felt more alive in his arms than ever before. His eyes snapped open. "I think I'm going to have to let go of you Ginny, you're too strong for me to block like this," he told her looking down into her eyes.

She reluctantly stepped back and he closed his eyes and tried again. Yes, better he thought. He cleared his mind and his emotions and felt his mental walls. Then it hit him, his scar still wasn't hurting. He opened his eyes again to see her looking at him and smiling. "You're feeling happy. Does that mean it worked?"

He laughed with joy. "It's the first time my scar hasn't hurt in a long time. I feel good! Let's go find dinner before it's over. I'm starving." He stepped back over to her and put his arm around her shoulder to walk her to dinner. Again that special feeling of Ginny hit him as his hand brushed her neck; it was very small when he wasn't thinking about it, but it was there. She didn't let him move though and gave him a quick kiss. "What was that for?" he asked.

"Just a quick reminder of what you have so you don't leave again," she replied in a superior tone of voice that seemed to say she should have the last word.

He enjoyed her little flights of fancy. "Do you think you can remind me again later?"

She put her arm around his waist and giggled as she told him, "I think I can do that."

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{A/N: I need to add this note to be completely honest about the one thing in the story. The Harry Potter universe is of course JKR's, this story and all original characters are mine. However, I did borrow one idea from "mjc" on SIYE, and that is learning by Pensieve memories. When I read his story, my thoughts were like, "of course, that's such an obvious extension I bet JKR does that in book 7." As we now know, she didn't. However, the idea just seems so reasonable to me, assuming you have a set of memories that were created to be absorbed and not just viewed. So my thanks to mjc for that idea, and Mike, I really hope you finished your story one day. :-}


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