Disclaimer: I do not, in anyway own the wonderful world of Harry Potter, or Charmed. I am just dabbling in the world they left for us.

Chapter 37

Magic Cloak.

Great Hall

Time: 1:00pm

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"How's he holding up?" Hermione asked as she took a bit of roast and put it on her plate.

Ron sighed, "I have never seen him like this, I think the Flynn thing hit him pretty hard".

"I can understand Ginny's want to find out who this guy is. I mean he just sounds so…"

"Oh, not you too Hermione." Ron said exasperatedly.

"What?" she asked innocently.

Ron just shook his head and said "Girls" causing Hermione to playfully hit him on the arm.

"Anyway back to Harry, did you ask him if he wanted to come to lunch with us?" Hermione questioned taking a sip of her water.

"Yea, but he said that he wanted to be left alone right now, and that he had some things that he needs to check on." Ron replied.

"Oh I can't wait until we start up again" Hermione said in a whisper "I mean, with Harry going through whatever training he did this past summer I bet he could teach us loads more."

"Who do you suppose he stayed with?" Ron asked as he took another bite of his mashed potatoes.

"I have no idea, but what I want to know is when he is going to tell us."

"Maybe when he feels like it." Harry said with a half smile as he slid in next to Hermione and across from Ron.

"Harry!" Hermione said jumping at her friends' sudden appearance "We were just talking about you".

"Way to state the obvious Hermione", Ron said turning to Harry "How you doing mate?"

Harry looked at Ron and smiled "I'm doing okay, just going with the flow you know". He said as he poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice.

Oh Harry, you will be okay won't you?" Hermione asked with concern.

He looked at his bushy haired friend and gave a big smile "Of course I will, but I do need to find Ginny, have either of you seen her yet?" he asked as he looked at both of his friends.

"I think that she may be in the tower, but I don't know for sure." Hermione answered, her face taking on the form of a frown "Why?"

"Oh, no reason, I just wanted to talk with her that's all." Harry replied as he stood up.

"Good luck mate." Ron said.

Harry turned back to his best friend and said "Thanks Ron, see you two later."

As he got closer to Gryffindor Tower he began to think of what he was going to say to her; sorry just did not seem to cover it and he wanted to let her know that he was really okay with her decision. After giving the password to the Fat Lady, he made his way into the common area and there sitting in the far corner of the room with a book was the person he was looking for.

"Ginny". Harry said as he sat down across from her "Do you mind if we talk?"

Ginny gave no indication that she had heard him and kept on reading. Harry sighed and tried again "Ginny look" Harry started, but when there was no movement from her he tried again, "Ginny will you please look at me".

Giving a sigh she slowly closed the book and set it in her lap before raising her gaze to meets that of Harry's. "What?"

"Look Gin I'm sorry, I was a right git yesterday and you have every reason to be mad at me, I just wanted to let you know that after I left I felt horrible…"

"As well you should have." She said cutting him off.

"I did some thinking," Harry continued as though she had not interrupted, because if he had paused, he would have more than likely broken down "And I really am glad that you decided to go with Flynn, you have become a great friend to me in these past months and I would not want to jeopardize that in any way."

"Is that all?" She asked.

"Yea, I really am sorry Ginny and if you need anything, please, don't hesitate to ask." Harry said as he stood and walked back towards the portrait hole.

This time it was Ginny's turn to sigh. Harry had been sincere in his apology and she just threw it back in his face. If she was going to be honest with herself, she had left it until the last minute to tell him whom she was going to go with. "Harry wait" She called out as she threw herself from the armchair.

"Yea?" Harry asked as he turned around to face her.

"Will you save at least one dance for me?" She asked when she reached him.

"Ginny, you can have as many dances with me as you want." Harry replied with a smile.

Returning that smile Ginny said "Good, because if this guy turns out to be a jerk, then I am calling you."

"I will be waiting." Harry said as he turned to leave.

Ginny smiled at Harry's response as she watched him leave. As she walked back over to the armchair to pick up her book she heard the portrait door opening again with a bell chiming in the distance. "Ginny!" a voice yelled.

Ginny jumped slightly and turned to face an out of breath Hermione. "Did you run here all the way from the Great Hall?" she asked with a smile.

Hermione nodded as she caught her breath and said, "We have to get ready for the ball".

Ginny's eyes widened and then grabbed Hermione's arm and yanked it towards her, pulling back the sleeve to look at the watch that was wrapped around her wrist. When she saw the time she gave a slight scream and ran off to her room with Hermione not far behind. She had so much to do before it was time for the ball and she didn't have that much time left.

"Ten hours is just not enough time" She said to herself as she pulled out the dress that she was going to be wearing.

"I know what you mean." Hermione said as she came into Ginny's room carrying her stuff so that the two of them could get ready together.

The time flew by as they talked about this and that while getting ready, and just as they finished putting on their make-up; Hermione asked, "So did Harry find you?"

"Yes he did, and we are good." Ginny answered as she moved on to her hair.

"I'm glad you both worked it out." Hermione replied.

"Me too, he even said that he was going to save me a dance" Ginny began "By the way do you know who he is taking?"

Hermione shook her head "He is not going with anyone".

Ginny stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Hermione "What, why?" she asked.

"He said something about the last Ball being to stressful and that he didn't want to go through that again." Hermione answered as she went over to her dress.

All too soon it time to head down to the common room and head to the Great Hall. "So where are you meeting Flynn?" Hermione asked as she went to open the door.

"He said that he would meet me in the Great Hall that was it." Ginny replied.

Hermione nodded as she led the way to the Staircase. There waiting at the boom of the steps were both Ron and Harry; mouths dropped in shock.

"Hermione you look Beautiful" Ron said as he handed her a single red rose.

"Thank you Ron" She said as she took the rose "You look very dashing yourself". Ron blushed as he took a hold of her hand and led her to the portrait hole.

Harry stood staring at Ginny, and not for the first time wished that she were going with him. Her red hair flowed down and around her shoulders and she wore a deep blue, strapless gown that flowed outward to the ground and seemed to shimmer with every step she took. Harry had to shake his head to come back to reality "You look magnificent Gin". Harry said as he too handed her a brilliant red rose.

"Thank you Harry." She replied smiling

"I hope you don't mind" Harry said "But I was hoping that I could have the honor of escorting you down to the Dance."

"I would like that very much, Thank you." Ginny said as she put her arm around his.

"Shall we?" Harry said to his three friends with a smile. Being met with three nods he took the lead, with Ginny still on his right arm, and exited the portrait hole.

When they arrived at the Great Hall the doors were just opening, letting the crowed of students that were assembled, in. When the four of them walked into the Hall, it was as if they had stepped out of Hogwarts and into a magical forest. There were tables scattered all throughout the forest for the students to sit at and eat, and it seemed that the clearing of said forest was the dance floor.

Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione looked at each other, smiled and made their way to an open table that had a lot more trees surrounding it than most others and was close to the dance floor. Just as they sat down at the table a voice could be heard echoing throughout the trees. "Thank you all for coming to this Enchanted Forest."

Harry and his friends smiled at each other, it seemed that they had all come to the same conclusion. The voice belonged to one Albus Dumbledore.

"Now the way that this is going to work is you can come and go as you please and you can eat before dancing, or you can dance before eating, maybe even eat while dancing. But I would recommend that you not do that as your date might not take too kindly to that." This got some laughs but for the most part people just smiled.

A little sad that this did not get more laughs than it had the Headmaster continued. "Here at Hogwarts, for one night only, I ask that you help me welcome, for your listening enjoyment, Celestina Warbeck."

The applause rang throughout the Forest as Celistina took the stage. "Thank you Hogwarts for having me, so let's start off this dance with a particularly jazzy number and one of my personal favorites, A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love."

"Do you want to join me on the dance floor?" Ginny asked turning to face Harry.

"I would love to." Harry replied with a smile and after giving a knowing look to his other two friends he followed her out to the forest clearing. They danced to the full song and when Celestina went right into the next one they decided to stay out for just one more number.

With both songs over they went back to join Hermione and Ron at their table. When they got there they found them already eating and chatting with Neville and Luna. "What's up Neville, Luna?" Harry asked as he pulled out Ginny's chair.

"Not much Harry, you?" Neville countered.

"I'm good, though a bit hungry now." He answered as he picked up a menu. It seemed that this part of the Ball was just like last year.

"You two looked very nice together out there and you look very beautiful Ginny." Luna said just before taking a drink.

"Thank you Luna, you also look great." Came her reply as she too began to look over the menu.

The six of them fell into silence while they ate, though the occasional conversation started up every now and then. One that had gotten all of them interested was the subject of Flynn when Hermione had made the comment "So Ginny has Flynn found you yet?"

"Who's Flynn?" Neville asked.

"Ginny's secret admirer and date to this ball." Ron said in between bites.

Neville blanched and asked, "You mean Harry didn't ask you?"

"Thanks Ron" Ginny said "No, he did ask me, but so did Flynn and he is supposed to meet me here. Though I don't know when he's supposed to be here."

"Yea, this guy's been sending her mail, anonymously for the last few months and Ginny wanted to find out who he really was and so she said yes to him." Harry said still a little bitter about the situation.

"You haven't met him yet?" Luna asked.

"I have met him; I just haven't seen his face yet." Ginny answered before she took another bite of her pork chop.

With that said the six of them lapsed back into silence, each enjoying their own meal. Just when everyone was about finished Harry was about to say something but he was cut off. "Excuse me, Ginny?" a voice said.

Everyone at the table jumped at the sudden appearance of the unknown figure standing just behind Ginny Weasley, who promptly turned to look at the person. He had brown hair that was spiked up in all directions, and his deep blue eyes gave his face this smooth, but focused looked. His dress robes were a neutral black that could be worn for any occasion.

"What can I do for you?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Well, I was hoping that you had at least saved one dance for your date." The figure answered.

"Flynn?" Ginny asked in shock. She had half expected him to show up in the normal black cloak that she had seen him wear, with his hood pulled up so that she could not see his face.

"I would hope so, that is who was looking back at me in the mirror this morning." Flynn answered.

"Oh very witty this one is." Harry said with a roll of his eyes.

"Harry, shush." Ginny said as she got up.

"Would you like to dance?" Flynn asked looking into her eyes.

"I would love it." Came her reply.

Harry watched, his head hung, as Flynn led Ginny out to the dance floor. With a sigh he stood up and said, "I'll see you guys later, I need to go for a walk".

"I'm coming with you mate." Ron said as he made to follow Harry.

"No, I just need to be alone right now." Harry said turning back around to stop Ron from following him.

"If you need me Harry just let me know and I'll be there." Ron said sitting back down next to Hermione, who looked sadly at Harry.

"Thanks mate." Harry said as he turned to walk out of the Great Hall.

Ginny had seen Harry leave and had wanted to go after him, but she just couldn't bring herself to let go of Flynn. She felt safe as she and Flynn glided along the dance floor, as though it had been made of ice. Dancing with Flynn was nothing compared to Harry. With Harry she felt as though she was dancing with one of her brothers, Flynn on the other hand seemed to have many more years of dancing under his belt, for each step he took seemed to complement the last and flow gracefully into the next.

When the song ended Flynn stepped back and bowed to Ginny, "Thank you for allowing me the honor of dancing with you".

"Believe me Flynn when I say, that the pleasure was all mine." Ginny responded.

"Do you mind if we take a walk outside?" He asked as he took her arm in his ever so gently.

"No I don't." Ginny said with a smile.

Flynn then led her down the steps of the entrance to the castle and out to the lake. He walked her to the edge of it and then turned to face her. "It was here that I really noticed how beautiful you are. I must say that I am very grateful to get another chance to marvel at your beauty." He said, as he looked deep into her sparkling brown eyes.

Ginny didn't know what to say, she was ecstatic that he thought her beautiful. So she smiled and said "Thank you Flynn."

"No need to thank me, it is I who should be thanking you; for giving me the opportunity to get to know you." Flynn countered with a smile.

"Can I ask you one question Flynn?

"Yes you can" He answered "And many more."

"What is your real name?" Ginny asked after some trepidation "It can't be your real name, can it?"

Flynn knew that she was going to ask this and once again he had planned for it. He stepped away from Ginny and out towards the frozen lake, looking at its still waters. After a moment he turned back to face her and stretched out his hand, smiled and said, "Ginny Weasley, do you trust me?"

Ginny looked at his hand and then back at him. While she had only just really "met" Flynn, she felt as though that she had known him her whole life. Bringing a smile to her face she looked deep into his eyes and simply nodded 'Yes'. She reached out to take his hand and as soon as his skin touched hers and their hands clasped together, a warm wind blew around them and white flames erupted around them on all sides engulfing the two in their slight warmth. And as quick as the flames had come, they left, leaving the snow covered grounds quiet once more.

The blue flames once again deposited Flynn and Ginny in the long hallway that was apart of the Sanctuary. They smiled at each other and each took the others hand as they made the trek to the sitting area that was around the Fireplace. Ginny noticed that it had not changed much, except that there was a door that had not been there before. Flynn noticed this and decided to answer her unasked question-

"I did some work to the sanctum, thus the need for the new door."

Ginny nodded and went to sit down in the chair that she had last time, while Flynn decided to stand behind his normal seat. "Now I believe that you had a question." Flynn said with a smile.

Ginny nodded and said, "I asked you if your real name is Flynn".

Flynn just smiled and said "Yes, but before I tell it to you I need to tell you something else."

Ginny repositioned herself in the armchair to show that she was paying attention; Flynn just smiled at her once again. "I could tell that when you saw me tonight that you were expecting me to show up with the cloak on and the hood still pulled up, though in a way I did." Flynn began though at seeing her confusion he continued.

"You see the thing is the cloak that I wear can do many things that a normal cloak can't." and with a 'wave of his hand the appearance of the young man melted away, and was replaced by the black cloak that Ginny had been expecting.

"I apologize for making you think I looked like that, but I was afraid that you would not accept me for what I really look like; hence the reason for the magic cloak."

Ginny stood up from her chair and went to where Flynn was standing, took his hand and said "Flynn, I don't care what you may or may not look like, but what I do care about is that you are the most gentle, and caring person I have ever met. And when I look at you I don't see; well I don't "see you", but I see who you could be and I would like nothing more than to be with you as you discover who that is."

As Flynn pulled Ginny into a hug that was both warm and inviting he leaned down and whispered into her ear "Close your eyes".

Without hesitation she shut her eyes, though she was curious as to what he had planned, she did not worry, because she knew that he would never hurt her. She was surprised however when his lips met hers and kissed her ever so softly. Ginny's eyes remained closed as she and Flynn kissed, caught in the moment, not wanting it to end.

As Flynn pulled back, ending the kiss, he leaned back down and in barely a whisper he said "And the kiss of the Beautiful Princess turned the Frog into a Handsome Prince."

When Ginny opened her eyes the breath that she had been taking caught in her chest at what she saw. There standing before her, with the dull candle light reflecting off his face was her masked man. But he was no longer masked; with his hood pulled back she was finally able to see who he really was.

A/N: So who is it that is standing in front of the youngest Weasley? Find out in the next chapter. Which will not be posted until the New Year. I do have it written, but I am going to be writing as many of the coming chapters as I can before my Holiday is over. So thank you to all of those who review my story, and chapters. It really does help.

Thank you so much. Have a Happy New Year! And see you soon.

Mudbloodpotter.