Chapter eleven

When Harry stepped into the kitchen he saw Ginny sitting at the table and there were two letters sitting in front of her.

'Are they our Hogwarts letter's?' Harry asked as he took the cup of tea from Dobby before sitting down.

'Yes, but I got a surprise and I think you have the same surprise,' Ginny held up her head girl badge, 'Your envelope feels like it's got a badge in there. It could be the captain's badge. If you weren't given the head boy then I'm going to return this. I don't want anything taking my time away from you. I know we've been given a private room since we're married, but I don't want to patrol with some other bloke, who might annoy me with questions about you.'

'You could have opened it love, I don't have any secrets from you,' Harry smiled, kissed his wife then opened his letter. Two badges fell out, 'Head boy and captain. I'm going to have to work on a schedule. It really is ridiculous though, placing this responsibility on students especially when they have to do things like study for the N.E.W.T.s or O.W.L.s makes it harder.'

'It does, I saw how stressed Hermione got when she was prefect. She's not going to be happy about this. She always expected to get head girl.'

'We saved the world Ginny. I think a lot of people would have protested if you weren't offered the position as head girl. Even though you're only returning to be with me while I do my newts, you are still going to study. You might have been picked up by the Holyhead Harpies, they actually liked the idea you would be able to keep training with the Gryffindor team for the year while you're staying with me. So even if technically you would have to redo your sixth year, McGonagall realised it would not look good for her or Hogwarts if I refuse to return because you couldn't join me in classes. Most of the other students didn't like Hermione so if they needed anything, they would go elsewhere and most would ignore her when she goes off on one of her rants about rules. But about the badge, I had a feeling I would be offered the badge, but I wasn't sure. After Ron got prefect even though I won the tournament and saved you in the chamber, I didn't know if I would get it or not. I know it was Dumbledore who made Ron prefect but McGonagall went along with it even though she is head of Gryffindor. I wasn't really interested in being head boy but I figured I could at least keep any of the prefects from abusing there position.'

'Like Ron and Malfoy did. But I doubt anyone will cause you trouble Harry, you did kill Voldemort. Or as far as some believe, it was just you.'

'Yeah, but some, the ones that weren't marked will be angry because their parent's died. It's not like it was our fault. It was their parent's fault for allowing themselves to be branded like cattle. That's what killed them. They won't see it like that though. But at least we won't have to put up with people like Malfoy, he was marked so he died with the others. The others that were his age or older were also marked. Anyway, we'll deal with Hermione and Ron if we have to. They didn't speak to us when we were at the Burrow and neither of them attended the party at the Burrow, which we expected. But Hermione will not like having time taken away from her studies, so I doubt she will cause too many problems. She won't want to end up in detention. Ron on the other hand will not be able to help himself.'

'Ron is jealous that he wasn't involved in ending the war, I was. He's also angry that he wasn't named in any of the articles about us. All it said was your wife's family were working against Voldemort and his death eaters.'

'It's true though, your family did help and I knew Bill, Charlie and your dad did a lot. I never named them, I wasn't going to name one and not the other so it made sense to just say your family. Ron liked the fact he was known because he was friends with the-boy-who-lived. He also got jealous of it as well. Anyway, expect to put your brother in detention, a lot. We should get ready to do our shopping.'

'You know it's going to cause quite a stir when everyone spots you. It will be a short time before the reporters turn up.'

Harry moved his wand over his face, 'That's why I want us to go in disguise. With how many students will be doing their shopping, two extra faces won't be suspicious.'

'You know you have to face them some time.'

'Not reporters I don't. They should know why I will never talk to them. Right now any time one of them writes anything negative about me, they ended up covered in rotten tomatoes, or dung. Skeeter was almost killed after people heard what she was saying about me. I might release a statement, but not until we're safe behind the walls of Hogwarts and I'll get Luna to do and she can publish in the Quibbler, but I'll also send a copy to Witch Weekly, who haven't lied.'

'Alright, then cast the glamour on me and we can get shopping.'

Harry and Ginny had no trouble when they went to Diagon alley. They did overhear a lot of talk, their names were mentioned often. Some were hoping to see the famous couple so they had been coming into Diagon alley every day hoping Harry and Ginny would arrive.

All Harry and Ginny did was smile and continue with their shopping. They even sat and had an icecream when they finished. They watched everyone as they went shopping and one thing they both noticed, everyone was relaxed and happy. The last time they were in Diagon alley, everyone was stressed and rushed about to get things done quickly. Now, people were taking their time.

'At least we got everything done,' Ginny said as she flopped down on the sofa.

'Without any trouble either,' Harry sat beside his wife, 'Did you see Ron and your mum arrive as we were leaving?'

'Yep, Ron must be embarrassed that everyone saw his mum taking him shopping. His an adult, but mum just won't let go.'

'Part of Ron's problem is your mum and how she suffocates him, trying to protect him which is hindering him. He can't grow up because she won't let him. I used to get so angry when she called me a child. I had faced Voldemort five times and she calls me a child. I care about your mum, I really do but she's not helping Ron at all.'

'I know love, it's over now, you're an adult, a hero and married, she accepted that, she just can't with Ron. The only thing mum is upset with us is because she doesn't know where we are living. She got to visit that one time but when she turned up the following day we knew we had to do something or we'd always have her dropping in and when we could be making love. I even told her to write first, she didn't and we could have been in our favourite spot,' Ginny gestured towards the rug.

'Yeah, but her biggest problem is the fact that we've restricted the floo.'

'Dad understood. Apart from being newly married, he knew we'd never get any peace. But dad also knew when Ron refuse to accept our marriage, it meant we wouldn't be visiting and we didn't want them to come here. I love this place, I can't believe your parent's thought a cottage would be safer than a home hidden in the country.'

'They were talked into moving into the cottage. Sirius never knew who convinced them to move to the cottage, I think it was Dumbledore. I know he didn't mean for them to be killed, but he just couldn't believe others had better idea's than him. Anyway, we are close to Godric's hollow, so it surprises me that people haven't figured out where we are. I thought someone would figure it out. I know this place is hidden by a lot of wards, but it was known that my grandparent's lived here. One thing I'm pleased about though, it's not some big mansion like Malfoy manor. That place was so cold, no warmth at all. Even though I watched Dobby's memory, it was easy to see that the place just wasn't a home, it was a house, a show piece, something they could show off to everyone. Then you look at Grimmauld place, it was right near London, it was huge, but dark and made you uncomfortable.'

'Our place is perfect, the house, the land around it and the size. Having the space allows both of us to fly as well without the risk of any muggle seeing us.'

'And we both do that often.'

Harry and Ginny didn't leave the house again until the first of September. They did have Arthur and Molly over for dinner again. They spoke about why they wanted restrictions on who visited and why. It took a while but Molly finally accepted it, but she did make Ginny and Harry to promise to visit more often. Not right away as they were about to go to Hogwarts but during the holidays.

Harry and Ginny had Dobby take their trunks and Hedwig to Hogwarts before they sealed the house. They apparated to one of the designated apparition points in London. They had decided to leave earlier than normal so they could get on the train before the students and parents turned up. But the main reason was reporters. Kingsley did write and say there would be some hit wizards on the station, just in case Harry and Ginny got swamped. But they figured just arriving early would help.

Since they knew about the prefects carriage, they figured they might as well stay in there and get comfortable before all the prefects turned up. They did speculate on who would be prefect. With most of the older Slytherin's dying because of the dark mark there was only a few left that would be in sixth or seventh year.

When the prefects began to arrive, Harry and Ginny were surprised when Neville and Parvati joined them. They explained that Hermione had turned in her prefect's badge right after the book lists arrived. Her excuse was she would be too busy. Harry and Ginny knew it was because Hermione did not get the head girl position so she decided to lie and say she would be busy. Ron handed his badge in but he didn't say why. Harry and Ginny knew why, he was jealous and angry that Harry got head boy when Ron had been prefect.

They smiled at all the prefects as they came in and once everyone was settled Ginny began the meeting. They had talked and both agreed that Harry should just watch and listen while Ginny gave out instructions.

Harry wasn't really surprised who got the seventh year prefects for Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass and Theodore Nott. Both gave Harry a small smile before they left. He had known not all Slytherin's were death eaters nor their parent's. It had just too been too hard to figure out because of the way Malfoy and Snape behaved. No one could go against them or their life inside Slytherin house would be unbearable.

All the prefect left, apart from Neville and Luna, who sat down with Harry and Ginny.

'We were going to get a compartment but we figured since this carriage is just for the prefects, along with the head boy and girl, we'd just stay here. But if you want, we can invite our friends to join us.'

'I definitely will stay, Ron is really angry right now and Hermione just keeps huffing,' Neville said.

Neville and Luna left to get their trunks, they returned a few minutes later. The four got settled into their compartment, but Harry again sealed the door otherwise they knew everyone would be sticking their heads in to get a look at him and Ginny. If someone knocked, Neville offered to see who it was. Harry was hoping for a quiet ride on the Hogwarts express. Maybe this will be the first time he won't need to worry about danger, or just annoying people, like Malfoy used to be.