-1Hermione drifted into deep thought mood as she watched Ginny leave the Common Room, the younger girl was so happy. She had spent years being told stories about Harry, she had had a huge crush on him for years, now not only were they together, Harry seemed to want to marry her, he had a way of making people's dreams come true. Her thoughts turned to her own relationship, it had taken her and Ron nearly six years to realize how they felt, and it was worth every second of waiting. Hermione sincerely hoped that Ron might take a leaf out of Harry's book and get marriage into his head.
She sighed heavily, it would probably take him another six years to get there. She didn't understand why though, it was obvious they were in love, and he had to know that, they had been through so much together, they knew each other well enough for him to be able to tell. And they had been through a lot together, who else could say that they met their boyfriend fighting a twelve foot troll? Neither of them had been through nearly as much as Harry and Ginny though, it was natural that they were closer, and natural that Harry would want to be as close as possible to the woman he loved. Her thoughts drifted idly to what they would do when the war was over, would Ron want to get married? What would they do for a loving? With her O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s she could do anything she wanted, and Ron could get a lot of jobs, the idea of being married to a star Quidditch player had its appeals.
The next morning dawned to many happy people, and a few unhappy ones. Harry awoke wondering where he was and why everything was red, before he realized he had fallen asleep face-down in Ginny's hair. He laid there for what felt like eternity, he sincerely hoped it was, before his content smile turned to concern, he was a teacher, in a school, in bed with one of his students, he was no stranger to rule breaking, but this might be pushing it. He reluctantly moved out of bed to get dressed hardly noticing the extra additions to the room until he came out of the shower. Ginny was awake by now, and getting dressed. Harry was wondering where she had gotten fresh clothes, when he noticed that another of the wardrobes was open, and there was a second trunk in the room.
"How did all of your stuff get in here?"
"I asked Dobby to bring it in last night while we were asleep." A dark crimson blush rose to her face as she told him this, which Harry found rather attractive this early in the morning.
"What in the world did I do to deserve you?" Asked Harry. Nothing as good as Ginny had ever happened to him, nor was it likely to again.
Ginny ignored the question and hummed to herself as she finished dressing. Harry could have sworn it was "Here Comes the Bride". They were greeted in the Great Hall by a bemused look from Hermione and a guilty look from Ron. Harry assumed that they had spent the night together as well, until a bright red envelope was dropped on his lap.
"Oh no, Ron what did you do?" Demanded Ginny as the envelope began to smoke.
"What? Nothing, well I might have told someone where someone else is living now, but I did think he'd send a Howler."
"You didn't think who would send a Howler?"
Ginny's question was answered before Ron had a chance to talk when Bill's voice filled the Great Hall, and the blood rushed to Harry's face.
"POTTER! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW DEAD YOU ARE! I'LL BE SEEING YOU LATER THIS EVENING, I SUGGEST YOU SET YOUR AFFAIRS IN ORDER."
"Well that wasn't so bad." Said Harry as his face returned to its normal color.
"You don't know Bill, Harry he might just actually kill you." The fear in Ginny's face was enough to make Harry gulp visably.
A large, slightly underfed dog was running through the Forbidden Forest. It was too soon to come back, he knew it wasn't part of the plan, but Dumbledore hadn't been supposed to die either, it was time to improvise, and Harry would need help. Besides he promised he would look after him. The dog ran on, heading towards Hogwarts.
Classes today had been worse for Harry then ever before, how was he supposed to teach when the whole school seemed to know, and talk about, who's bed the best looking girl at Hogwarts had slept in last night. The absolute worst was Ginny's class, she was nearly in tears by the end of the day, she had been attacked twice already, and almost every girl in the school was scathingly mean to her. Not that it was a picnic for Harry either, he had to deal with amused looks from friends and teachers, a repremand from McGonnagal, and Ginny's own class. There was so much snickering going on while he was talking it was a miracle if anyone could here him. He was blushed to his ears the entire time, and students kept shifting their eyes between him and Ginny, as if expecting them to do something out of the ordinary.
Harry was so releaved to be done with his classes, he had completely forgotten about Bill, who had not forgotten about him. The eldest Weasley brother did not look happy as he pointed Harry to a chair. Harry sat down and waited for Bill to go off on him, but was surprised by the civil tone he was addressed with.
"Well Harry it seems you have realized how fully you've captured my sisters heart. She always loved you, you know, since she was born and heard your story. I cant say that I'm happy with you two living together, but I also know it could be worse, and no one else can make her as happy as you can. So I'm going to forgo trying to scare you, I'm sure you can imagine just how bad I will hurt you if you hurt her, again, then the rest of my brothers too. Just don't to anything too consequential ok? I'm not ready to be an uncle yet."
Harry was releaved and shocked, he was pretty sure that he had just gotten Bill's blessing to sleep with Ginny, and could not find the words so he just nodded.
"Relax Harry, I already told you I'm not going to threaten you, Ginny would kill me if I did, she worse then the six of us combined you know, so be careful. Hell hath no fury and all that."
"Yeah I wouldn't want her mad at me, and don't worry, I'm not sure I could live without Ginny, and I would die before letting her get hurt."
The rest of the evening with Bill passed on more frivolous subjects, and Harry hoped the rest of Ginny's brothers would be this civil about things.
The castle loomed in the darkness, just a few miles away, and the dog faltered in its progress, wondering if he was doing the right thing. He might ruin everything by going back now, but Harry needed someone now, and who better then him? He ran on, his mind made up, heading towards the castle.
Harry and Bill were interrupted sometime later by a breathless Hermione, looking as though she had just run a marathon. She burst into the room in near hysterics screaming for him to come with her. His initial thought was that something had happened to Ginny, but if it had, Hermione wouldn't be this upset, she'd be trying to keep him calm, that meant Ron. He rushed out of the room with her, Bill right beside him, apparently thinking the same thing. They sprinted down the entrance hall together and Harry stopped dead after he saw what the commotion was about. Nearly the entire Order was there, grouped around one man, all with similar looks of amazement and disbelief on their faces.
"But… your dead! I saw you die! You cant be here… your dead!"
Severus Snape paced his chambers fuming. The Dark Lord was angry with everything it seemed, he had now twice failed to capture Potter and kill his brat. Voldemort was known for taking out his rage on those closest to him, after Bella died, it was Snape who bore the brunt of his masters anger. He been charges with killing Potter's little girlfriend, he didn't know why, every time they tried it ended badly for them and good for the Order, but he didn't question orders. But how to do it? That blasted Potter might be as aregant as his father, but he had learned, he kept his loved one close, and almost certainly had a means of coming to their aid immediately. Snape paced his chambers for several more minutes before the idea hit him. It was ingenius, so obvious he had overlooked it, and if he had, Potter would too, trusting fool that he is.
Harry stood toe to toe with a man he had never expected to see again. The haunted look was still there, but he seemed better fed then usual, the thing that really got him though was that Harry was nearly as tall as his godfather now. Sirius Black seemed to have an affinity for strange re-appearences, this was the second time he had cone it in four years.
"But I saw you die, I was there, you got hit with The Curse, then fell through The Veil, how can you be here? How can you be alive?" Everyone else had gone silent, awaiting the same answers Harry was. Sirius looked thoughtful for a minute, then decided to tell the truth.
"I was never dead, Dumbledore faked my death, I'll tell you why Harry but you wont like it," Harry nodded for him to continue. "He needed you to lose someone else close to you." The assembled people looked shocked at this pronouncement, but Harry just wanted the whole story. "That's the secret to your power Harry, think about it, twice this year you nearly lost the person closest to you, and both times you threw the laws of magic out the window to save her, that's why you needed to lose me, your fear of loss is your power."
Everyone was even more stunned by this revalation, except Harry, who had been suspecting something like this, but thought it was only Ginny that unlocked his stores of power. He embraced his godfather, happy to once again have a real father figure in his life, even if Sirius acted seventeen, and wasn't much of a father, more of an uncle.
Ha bet you didn's see that one coming? I just now decided where this story is going, so bear with me. Action comming soon, I swear, I'm back in school so things are going slower, sorry about that. But on the plus side i have an available proof reader so expect longer, better chapters, still shooting for 500,000 words, about 60 chapters now, long epilog, maybe a sequel but lets not get ahead of ourselves. READ AND REVIEW my friends
ThE wOlF aT bAy