AN- Thank you to Triage the Potterfan for being my Beta :)
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Chapter 38
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"Just smile at people?" Harry asked skeptically. His eyebrows had crooked up in the middle when she'd told him that particular life hack.
Just that morning Harry had observed Ginny snorting into her cereal as she listened to some anecdote of Colin's over breakfast and he had been happy to see she and her new friends were getting on great now that they'd known each other for a few months.
It had been a slow start to her adjusting back to life at Hogwarts; there were still several curious looks given her way, but everyone had grown fairly accustomed to her now, just as everyone had eventually done with him after every crazy life event that happened to him and rumor spread. Apparently Luna had told Ginny to start smiling and that had been a turning point for her. It was such a simple thing but he certainly found people with a kind smile more approachable, so it made sense.
They'd just hidden away in the Room of Requirement for a private moment then.
"Not in a creepy way," Ginny rolled her eyes and kicked off her shoes as she made for the bed that had been conjured up for them.
Harry was rather intrigued by the sight of the bed. He had asked the room for somewhere comfortable with a fireplace and a big couch, which meant the bed suggestion had to have come from Ginny and he had no objections to that.
There hadn't been much alone time they got together. Ron, Hermione, Luna and several others were always milling about and pulling their attention this way and that. They were in different years with different schedules; Harry didn't know why he had anticipated their return to Hogwarts together would feel more like it had when they were stuck in Grimmauld Place but with less supervision. That was not at all what it had been like.
There were eyes everywhere.
He and Ron had a strict 'don't ask, don't tell' understanding because Harry wasn't too keen to hear what Ron was getting up to with Hermione that put her in such a good mood and Ron certainly didn't want to know where Harry's lips and hands had just been on Ginny when they managed to steal a minute behind a tapestry.
It was kind of disappointing to Harry that he didn't have any mate's that he felt he could share stories or ask for helpful hints. He couldn't talk to Ron because Ginny was his sister, and he couldn't talk to Sirius because he and Ginny had bonded so much when they were in isolation together. And he didn't want to start asking for helpful hints from Hermione because that was admitting he might need helpful hints. Ginny had been rather vocal or demonstrative about what worked for her when they did manage to find time together but he knew that she had been talking to Fleur and Tonks about what they'd gotten up to. Tonks had certainly given him a knowing wink the last time they'd seen each other before school started.
Ginny let out a long indulgent sigh as she fell back against the sheets. "Finally," she moaned. "Who knew we were so popular?"
"It must be that smile of yours," he teased and kicked off his own shoes.
"I don't know. Could be that whole indestructible thing you have going on," she said with a lazy wave at his whole being.
He shook his head and smiled as he came to lay beside her. "Whatever it is, we need to nip it in the bud. With all this homework crap, friends, and the Quidditch craziness of our Captain-"
"He's your friend," she argued.
"He's your brother," Harry countered.
"Yes, but I didn't decide that. You on the other hand chose him."
They grinned at each other.
Ron had been an excellent Quidditch Captain so far. He wasn't too extreme like Oliver Wood had been, he was just enthusiastic. His excitement for the game and book of play's he had them trying made Harry almost forget how ultimately pathetic Ron had been in his first match on the Gryffindor team.
"So are you going to woo me Potter, or what?" Ginny asked, biting her lower lip and attempting to look at him demurely.
"I have to woo you now?" he asked with a laugh. "I would be crap at that. I probably would have just stuttered and spilled things down my front in your presence if we hadn't been friends first."
"Aww, I wish I'd seen that," she grinned and rolled to her side so she was cuddled up against him. "Maybe you could slop some soup down your front at lunch tomorrow? Give me a taste of what I missed out on?"
"Anything for you," he told her in jest.
They only had about two hours before they knew they'd be missed but having her here in this bed with him was making him long for those nights they'd fallen asleep beside each other.
"We should have spent every night we could have together," he sighed regretfully.
Ginny gave him a kiss to his neck. "I didn't want to risk moving too fast, and didn't want you taking it for granted," she told him straight.
"I know." And he did. "Not that what we did in your Great Aunt's attic with no forethought didn't shoot that first part to shit."
"I don't know about that. You had taken a killing curse for me," she reasoned. "Shagging you was the least I could do to say 'thank-you'."
"You don't get to use that as an excuse; it was several weeks later. We did it because we both wanted to." As the words were coming out of his mouth he was already hoping to hear her confirm that. They hadn't been that intimate with each other since then, but he'd had a few vivid dreams over the last few months about a sequel, he just needed to know that she was open to it.
"We did," she said softly, her hand tracing up and down his arm.
Harry turned his head towards her, taking a moment to enjoy the sight of her warm brown eyes before he nuzzled their noses together and their eyes closed. Their lips met and inside he was smiling at the familiar feeling of them. He wished she would have been able to skip ahead a year and be in all his classes so they could spend more time together. With all their different classes on opposite sides of the castle he missed her during the day.
Until she'd left with her family from Grimmauld Place he didn't even realize how accustomed he was to being with her all the time, and how much he loved it.
Right now he was loving the feel of her hand slipping down his front and nimbly undoing the buttons there. Following her lead he began helping remove her shirt as well.
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Explicit outtake found in Compilation of Hinny- Chapter 34
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Considering all of the shoddy journalism that went on before the Battle of the Burrow they didn't know why they were surprised that there was more information coming at them from Sirius and Tonks, and even Fleur and Bill, than they were reading in the Daily Prophet. Like how the Healer that had been kidnapped back in August had only treated a few Death Eaters but there were easily several more that had escaped and were hiding out all over the countryside. How the number of prisoners that were freed from Azkaban and the number that were captured or dead after the Battle still left over fifty unaccounted for. How the main two that everyone needed to be concerned about were Greyback and Malfoy.
The prophet was reporting things as though this wasn't a concern, all the stories were about what the Ministry was up to, travel puff pieces and minor incidents that were reported.
Tonks and Sirius had different story to tell them.
There were unexplained incidents happening. Minor ones, but one's that lined up with the M.O of a few of the unaccounted for escaped criminals. The incidents weren't the unexplained parts though. The unexplained bits were how these escaped convicts would wind up unconscious in places that Auror's just happened to be stumbling across them.
One such escaped convict was knocked out and sat in the bathroom stall of a pub that was frequented by the Auror's.
"Think there could be another Order?" Ron asked Ginny who was sat back against the pillows on Harry's bed as she watched them pack up for their Christmas Holiday.
Harry and Sirius were coming to Muriel's for Christmas and she was so happy that they would be spending the break together. Not the entire time, but the majority of it. She really missed Sirius too, it wasn't all just because more one on one time with her boyfriend. And Muriel's was light and airy, particularly once they got rid of all the old lady stuff and made it look and feel more like home. She could picture it decked out in Christmastime decorations with mum's knitting clicking away in a corner of the sitting room and an apple spice scent wafting through the air.
"What if it is Sirius," Harry worried.
They were discussing who the vigilante could be.
"It isn't you again, is it?" asked Seamus in jest as he too was packing his trunk on the other side of the room. Dean and Ron chuckled at that, Harry just rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, you've been known to go missing a time or two," Dean razzed him.
"Oh, he's definitely getting up to no good at those times, but that's because he's with me," Ginny told them with a wink.
"Gross, Ginny!" Ron complained. "I don't want to hear that."
"And I'm not giving you specifics," she justified. "Just saying, there's no way Harry could be sneaking off to knock former Death Eaters unconscious when he's either in class, playing Quidditch or snogging me in darkened corners of the castle."
Harry was fighting hard to keep an amused smile off his face.
"Don't you have your own packing to do?" Ron asked her.
"I'm keeping out of that dorm until Romilda buggers off with her boyfriend," Ginny told him.
"Damn, she's still seeing Goldfinch?" Seamus asked. "Was hoping I'd get a crack at her under the mistletoe before school let out."
"Gross, why?" Ginny asked. "There are nicer girls out there."
"I'm not looking for a nice time," Seamus waggled his eyebrows at her.
"Fine, then there are other girls out there that have bigger tits," she told him. She still really did not get on with Romilda. The other girls, even Fiona, Romilda's best friend, had been getting along with Ginny fine but Romilda would sneer at her every time she saw her. It didn't matter that Romilda had a boyfriend now either, she kept saying things here and there about how Harry would get bored of Ginny eventually.
Ginny was determined not to rise to her bait though. She had endless patience.
She also had this scenario in her mind of getting Romilda into the second-floor girls bathroom, telling the sink to open and giving that bitch a push. If she did that just before the holidays maybe no one would notice Romilda was missing until they all got back from the break.
Tap, tap.
"Ron, that's Hermes," Dean pointed at the window.
Hermes was Percy's owl. He'd been around the castle regularly as Percy was really making an effort. He'd written to both she and Ron about once a week, and it hadn't been full of condescending drivel either. He'd tell them both anecdotes about what was going on at the Ministry and funny things that happened at the Twin's shop, which he'd still been popping into regularly to help them out. Ginny had gotten all the letters that Ron had kept from her, Ron claimed he was just letting her settle into school first before he planned to give them over. Most of the letters had been him apologizing for his past behavior and assuring her he knew he had no excuse. She had written Percy back a few times now but she hadn't told him what happened to her yet, nor had anyone else out of respect for her privacy. It was something she didn't want to put down onto paper as well, not just because she feared someone else might see it by accident but because it was the kind of information you told someone face to face.
They were going to be face to face in just a few days' time. Percy was spending Christmas with the whole family, save for Bill and Fleur who were going to France to spend the holiday with her family. Ginny supposed he'd proven himself now that he was determined not to take them all for granted again.
"Whoa!" Ron exclaimed after he tore into the letter. "Percy's quit the Ministry!"
"What?!" Ginny and Harry both responded.
"I thought he was trying to get on track to be the first-rate arse-kisser for the Minister forever," Ginny said.
"Well, he's working for the twins now," Ron read out.
"No!" Harry shoved the last of his clothes into his trunk and went over for visual proof.
Ginny wanted to see it written down too but the pillows were perfectly squished behind her back and she didn't want to get up. "Read it out," she requested.
"Dear Ron," Ron read aloud. "Looking forward to seeing Ginny and yourself soon. I am eager to see if my chess skills have surpassed your own by now. I wanted to let you know some big news before you hear it from Fred and George. I have resigned from the Ministry and am now taking care of the Weasley Wizard Wheezes Owl Order Department."
"He has to call it a 'Department' doesn't he," Ginny chuckled.
Ron and Harry flashed her a quick grin in agreement and Ron continued reading. "Brilliant as our brothers are, they were severely lacking in organization and were quite overrun owing to the popularity of their brilliant products. As I had been stepping in to assist them in my spare time I came to realize how much I enjoyed it. Not just the products and the atmosphere but the job itself of fulfilling orders and getting everything organized and packaged up. I approached the two of them about working for them full time and have been given a three and one quarter's year contract (They insisted on the one quarter, heaven knows why)." Everyone in the room gave a snicker at that. "Please share this letter with Ginny and be sure to fill me in on your new Quidditch plays in your next letter or when we see each other soon in case you don't have the time before break. My best, Percy."
"Er, Percy cares about Quidditch now?" Harry asked.
"No, he's just trying to figure out how to 'relate' to me. That's what Hermione said anyhow," Ron told him.
"I can't believe Percy gave up on the Ministry to run the Owl Orders for Fred and George," Ginny said in amazement.
Harry came to sit down beside her on the bed as the others continued packing up their trunks lazily.
"What are you most looking forward to?" he asked bringing his arm around her.
"Seeing Sirius, Tonks and my family again," she told him as she snuggled against him. Potentially sneaking Harry into her room at Muriel's would be nice too. Ron seemed to understand that it was none of his business last summer so long as Harry was attempting to be discreet about it anyhow.
"Same here," he kissed her temple.
There was a knock at the door right before it opened and Hermione let herself in. "Hello all," she greeted the room at large and then gave Ron a kiss before turning to Ginny. "I have something for you."
"Oh?" Ginny asked with eager curiosity.
"From Headmaster Dumbledore."
"Oh," her shoulders sagged and she rested back against Harry.
"A book he'd like you to read through."
"Urgh," she groaned.
"He's a brilliant man Ginny. The least you can do is accept this little offering of his."
"I could do way less than that actually," Ginny told her, but held her hand out for the book regardless.
"What's the Headmaster so interested in you learning then?" Dean asked. He and Seamus hadn't wondered aloud to her about any of the many rumors of what had happened to her, and she appreciated it, but they had clearly been curious and now here was an opening for a tidbit of that information.
Ginny looked down at the book in her hands and saw that it was 'The Far Reaches of Apprehending Others by Sylvia Abstractus'. It wasn't a woefully long book, and as she flipped through the pages, she was glad to note the writing wasn't impossibly tiny. No doubt it was all going to be full of 'possibilities'.
"Drivel," she answered Dean. While Ginny now understood she was some kind of Empath and there was 'potential' she could 'unlock' from that, she had done a small amount of reading on her own, she still wasn't very interested in learning about unlocking that potential. What she had done was request that Luna attempt to feel some strong emotions while they held hands and discovered that the emotion sharing thing was not specific to she and Harry. She also discovered that Luna may look complacent in nearly every situation but she could hide a lot of strong emotions behind that façade of hers.
"It could be very interesting," Hermione defended. "He wouldn't give you this if he didn't think it was important that you know."
"He's not here, Hermione," Ginny told her, "he can't hear you defending him." She said this to her as a wisecrack but it did not have a humorous effect on the Head Girl. Hermione's nostril's flared at that and she pursed her lips.
"If you won't read it, then can I?" Hermione held out her hand to take the book back.
"Nope," Ginny moved it out of Hermione's reach. "You'd read through the whole thing and then nag me until I read it anyways." Dumbledore must have known that giving that book to Hermione meant that the Head Girl would be instantly incredibly interested in reading it which meant she would do so and begin to pester Ginny about it or ask a myriad of questions that Ginny wouldn't completely understand the meaning behind. "I'll give it to you after I've read it," she told a frowning Hermione not thrilled with how that would be the only way her friend would be alright with that.
Hermione looked pleased enough with that response and settled down on Ron's bed as she waited for him to finish up with his packing, the subject in the room turning back to what everyone was looking forward to most about the holidays coming up.
Harry hugged Ginny a little closer to his side while she absent mindedly turned the book over in her hands. The main problem she saw from what she might read there is that it could result in her feeling obligated to do more with this odd ability she had and she didn't want to be obligated; that was why she had been dodging Dumbledore so much this term. Apparently he'd discovered the way to ensure she did some research.
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"I really don't understand it though," Sirius said. He'd been telling them about the number of interesting situations the Auror teams had run into. There had been several disappearances over the past few months but no one turning up dead and it was oddly similar to what had come up with the Order was the one behind disappearances before Voldemort had fallen.
Sirius said not only had there been disappearances but there had been a few reappearances as well. They would go into a location that had known Death Eater activity, or had just been attacked and it was just like it had been with the Weasley Wizard Wheezes when the Death Eaters involved in the attack had been knocked out and restrained, just waiting for the Auror's to show up and haul them away. A few of these had been unconfirmed Death Eaters that had disappeared from society.
"Someone playing both sides then?" Ron asked.
"Must be," Sirius nodded. "It has to be someone that has inside knowledge about where the attacks are going to be taking place. And it isn't every attack either. We can't figure out a pattern to them. The attack on Triple W was the first, and that was likely to let the world know that the Death Eaters were still at large and wanting to be in charge. Now it is almost monthly that there are three Death Eaters essentially gift wrapped for us."
"No more major incidents this season?" Harry asked, referring to what happened at Kings Cross last year.
"No, nothing like that. Any attacks have been on small businesses with a wide spread clientele." Sirius opened his mouth to elaborate further but then caught himself. "And that is more than you need to know."
Harry gave Ron a look. They knew that a few of the residence attacks had been at members of the Wizengamut's homes and it could have just been fear mongering, but Sirius wasn't willing to share the Auror theories with them. Tonks and Ginny had come back into the room a moment later with a tray of Christmas cookies anyhow so they didn't have time to press Sirius for more information. The Metamorphmagus would have shut down that line of questioning quickly.
Tonks was looking much more put together than she had at the end of the summer. Her belly was just beginning to show that she was expecting and though she didn't seem quite in control of her shifting powers, she didn't have the dark circles under her eyes anymore. She was still living at Grimmauld Place for now, but assured everyone it wouldn't be the case for long, she was just saving up her wages for a place of her own by living in the family house with Sirius.
Kreacher had taken to following her around the house, trying to be at her beck and call since she was carrying the next in the line of Black's, technically. He was hovering in the background wherever she went. It was sweet and creepy. Harry imagined he just waited outside her door, or possibly in the hidden stairway at the back of the closet, just in case she sneezed and needed a tissue or something.
Ginny was fawning slightly over the tiny bump in Tonks belly and telling her about the book that Dumbledore had given her.
Ginny had read through it and owled it back to the Headmaster immediately once she was done with a note telling him to mind his own business. Apparently she didn't want Hermione getting her hands on it and starting to treat Ginny as some sort of project to experiment with. When Harry asked her if she learned anything she gave him a small smirk and reached out to cup his cheek, a moment later it was like a fire was burning between his legs stroking his desire. He'd had to pull her hand away quickly and catch his breath. He hadn't anticipated she could share those emotions with him too, but that was bloody good to know.
The holidays passed with a constant back and forth between Grimmauld Place and Muriel's with discussions of what was going to happen with the Burrow and Potter Manor. Harry was planning to fix up his family estate once he was done with Hogwarts since he wasn't entirely convinced of what he wanted to do otherwise but it looked like the Burrow was going to turn into a monument to the downfall of Tom Riddle Jr., the Ministry had offered the Weasley's a sizable sum for the grounds. They hadn't wanted to sell it but all the good memories were now tainted by what had happened there.
Molly and Arthur had accepted the money and purchased another, smaller, plot of land to begin building a home on with plenty of room for a small Quidditch pitch and room for eventual grandchildren to run around. They were getting along with living at Muriel's for now, but wanted to be out in the country where they could breathe.
There weren't any attacks pulling Sirius and Tonks away over the break, there were plenty of cookies and apple cider, everyone had donned a paper crown for Christmas and a sparkly part hat for New Years. There had been a lot of time spent with Sirius, Tonks and all the Weasleys. The holiday had easily been one of the best Harry could ever remember.
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