A/N - Sorry this took longer to get out - the editing has taken hours because I've been adding so much in. It would have been longer, but to make it flow better I moved the chapter break forward, so it ends earlier than it used to.
duplici exemplari means Duplicate.
I had to shrink the amount of time between Aunt Marge arriving and Harry [and Ginny] leaving from canon to fit. (Disclaimer in chapter 1).
Chapter 10 - Another Aunt Arrives
The next day, Harry headed downstairs before Ginny woke up to start breakfast. He preferred to let Ginny sleep in for as long as possible, for a few reasons. He didn't want her to feel obliged to share in his chores, he liked being able to make her a surprise breakfast with all her favourites, and he much preferred a happy Ginny to a grumpy one, and he knew a sure-fire way to achieve that was allowing her to sleep in as long as she wanted. He was interrupted on his journey to the kitchen by Uncle Vernon.
"Boy, remember that Aunt Marge is visiting this week. Make sure you behave, and your friend stays upstairs, and I might think about signing your form."
Harry had told him about the Hogsmeade form on the off chance he would sign it. It hadn't worked. All he'd got was a half-hearted promise that if he behaved during Aunt Marge's visit and Ginny wasn't seen, he might think about it. In Harry's opinion, the form was unlikely to be signed no matter what happened. Ginny had decided only to give her parents her form if Harry's was signed. No point revealing her advancement to the next year unnecessarily. It would probably just cause her mother to break down into tears again.
Just after lunch, a knock was heard on the door. Knowing it was Mr Weasley with another care package, Harry headed downstairs to open it, then invited him back up to his room. Ginny was lounging on the sofa, and he sat next to her, then wrapped an arm round her shoulders and pulled her into his side.
Mr Weasley was looked to be fighting his emotions between joy and anger. He headed over to Hedwig's cage to allow the snowy owl (who looked very pleased with herself) to jump off of his shoulder, then took a seat on a chair he pulled out from the desk opposite them, placing another hamper stuffed full of food between them.
Finally, he smiled. "What was it you sent me, and am I to assume it wasn't meant to explode in my face?" He asked cautiously.
"It's a type of muggle drink. Fizzy drinks are very popular in the muggle world, with the unfortunate side effect of exploding everywhere if you shake them before opening them." Harry replied.
"I tried one for the first time yesterday. They're really nice and I thought you would like it, especially how they get the can to open. We asked Hedwig to avoid shaking it on delivery, but she must be getting a mischievous streak, as she got a glint in her eyes and took off immediately."
Mr Weasley laughed. "That owl! Well, I did look at the can once it had finished covering me with its contents. It certainly works in a way I've not seen before. I'll have to explore it further. Anyway, what was happening yesterday to cause you to be able to get muggle drinks. I doubt your relatives would provide them?"
Harry blushed as red as Mr Weasley's hair. "I, um..., I decided to take Ginny out on a date for her birthday." Harry responded, worriedly. Ginny grinned at him being so obviously scared of her father, but knew what was coming next.
"Oh. Now I wish I hadn't asked. I don't think I wasn't quite prepared to hear you were dating, Ginny-girl. I'd only just got over the fact that your unique circumstances forced you into sharing a bed." He replied sadly.
Harry and Ginny fought a grin and another, this time shared, blush, thinking about how much more their relationship was than he thought. They'd skipped dating - they were married.
"Please don't tell mum yet." Ginny implored. "We want to be safely back at school before she finds out - give her some time to calm down before she sees us again. You know she'll take the news much worse than you did." Harry nodded his agreement.
"Yes, unfortunately she probably will. Neither of us were really prepared to see you start growing up, but for some reason its been worse on her. I won't tell her yet - you don't need the fuss it will kick up." Mr Weasley shook his head slightly, trying to clear such thoughts from his mind. "Anyway, back to what I'm meant to be here for. How are they treating you at the moment?" He hadn't had a chance to visit since before Harry's birthday - International apparition was not easy to do and highly restricted, therefore he could do it rarely to get back from Egypt.
"OK, they're still mostly ignoring us. It would be best if no one visited for the next week though. Uncle Vernon's sister is visiting for the week."
"Oh. Presumably she doesn't know about Ginny?"
"No. They've extracted from us a rather alarming promise that she never leaves the room while Aunt Marge is here, and that I am free to help with chores whenever necessary."
"Oh that won't do at all!" He stood up, and drew his wand. "This won't last more than the week unfortuantely, as it's unauthorised. Really I need a licence to do this, but it should be OK." He started twirling his wand in some complicated motions, and a door appeared on the blank wall between the door to the landing and the window. He paused for a moment, then muttered to himself, "Given I'm doing this anyway, I might as well also give you another room." Suddenly, another door appeared.
"What's behind them?" Ginny asked.
"I've expanded the room with an undetectable extension charm, but added in walls where they used to be. If any of the muggles look in here, they'll see a normal sized room. I already cast a rather specialised charm over the furniture I created for you before so it still looks as it always did. Behind one door is a garden. If you can't leave the room, you need part of the room to feel like the outside. The majority of the ceiling is glass, so because it's outside the boundary of the house you'll be able to see the sky. The other door is a bathroom. I decided since I'm doing unauthorised room expansion already, there was nothing wrong with giving you an en-suite for yourselves, so you don't have to share with the muggles."
"Thank you Daddy!" Ginny threw her arms around him. "I was worried what I would do here for a week straight!"
"That's OK. Anything for my Ginny-girl. Now lets see about the other issue." He carefully removed his daughter's arms from around him, then started off to the stairs waving a hand at them to stay put. Harry grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her down to sit next to him again. He whispered in her ear "I wasn't expecting to have to tell your dad today that I took you out on a date. That was embarrassing." His breath tickled her ear, blowing some strands of fiery hair across her face.
"What, the great Harry Potter, scared of my parents knowing your feelings for me?"
"Yep! You've got to admit Gin, we are rather young to be in this position."
"I know, but that doesn't stop me wanting to do this." She turned her head slightly, and pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss filled with her love for him. It continued until they heard Mr Weasley's footsteps coming back up the stairs, when Harry pulled away.
"As much as I love that, I don't think your dad could survive another surprise like that today." He calmed her.
"Our dad, Harry." She responded emphatically. "We're married, so he's yours as well."
"OK, but again, that's another surprise I don't want to give him right now. Do you want to tell him we won't be meeting up with them in Diagon Alley?"
"No." She sook her head. "I trust the twins to be quiet, they can keep secrets. Dad isn't so good. He won't outright tell anyone, but it will be obvious he's hiding something and as soon as mum challenges him he will break down and tell her."
Harry nodded, taking her word for it. She would know her parents better than he did. At that moment, Mr Weasley reentered the room, but chose not to comment on his daughters embrace with the young man she sat next to.
When Arthur had headed downstairs, he made his way to the living room, where he noticed people in a large black box talking to the Dursleys on the sofa opposite. "Ooh, a tellvesin! I've always wondered how they work." But as he took a step into the room it changed to static on the screen.
"Hey! What're you doing down here? You're meant to be staying upstairs with the freaks!"
"Ah, now there's the issue, you see it's just not possible for Harry to spend all day doing chores for you, all week. You can choose a maximum of 3 hours of chores a day for him to do, and if there's another hour worth he can do in his room with Ginny's help then give him that, but he must have the rest of his day free. You see, in the Wizarding World - " he ignored their flinch at 'Wizarding', " - that is considered the maximum labour a day for a growing witch or wizard. Anything else, and it must be done by an adult, or a house-elf."
"Now see here..." Vernon spluttered. "You can't just tell us what to do!" He made to get up, but the time it took to move his weight into a position where he could consider holding himself up, Arthur had taken his wand out, and muttered a handy spell to force him back into his seat.
"I think you'll find, I can." He replied, twirling his wand.
"OK, no more than 4 hours a day, one with his friend. Don't do anymore freaky stuff on us!"
"Of course not, if you stop calling use freaks. We're not, you know."
"OK. Just fix the television and get out of here!"
"Oh, television, is that how you pronounce it?" He inquired. "It should fix itself when I leave, but I don't know how much longer they'll work at all. Elektricty doesn't work near bouts of magic, such as those rolling off of a fully grown wizard, or a young more powerful one. It should start again when I leave the room, but if you anger Harry, he may render it useless for a while as well. He did take on a fifty foot snake last year."
This seemed to scare the Dursleys even more. The idea of not being able to watch TV was unheard of to them. With that, Mr Weasley left the room and headed back upstairs, slowly to avoid seeing anything happening between Harry and Ginny he didn't want to, and the static left the TV allowing the Dursleys to calm down again.
"What did you do?" Ginny asked.
"I persuaded them that having Harry doing chores all day wasn't acceptable." Mr Weasley responded calmly.
"There's more to it than that Daddy - I know it. They won't have given in that easily."
Now he looked uncertain. "No, well, I'm sure the tel, tellyves, ..."
"Television." Harry prompted.
"Yes that, going fuzzy and buzzing when I walked into the room and me drawing my wand may have had something to do with their change of heart."
"You didn't hurt them did you?" Harry asked.
"No of course not. Though I don't know why you care - they've treated you horribly." He stated.
"Well, even if they did, they're still my only surviving family." He replied, uncertainty colouring his voice.
Ginny wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a bone crushing hug worthy of Mrs Weasley. "You're too good Harry."
"Sor..." he started, but stopped as he saw Ginny's smile turn to a frown.
"Don't apologise." She said, slightly crossly. "It was a compliment."
"Oh."
Ginny withdrew and Harry wrapped his arm over her shoulders again, pulling her back into his side.
"Anyway," Mr Weasley started again, "They now can't give you more than 4 hours of chores a day, one hour of which you must be able to carry out in here with Ginny's help, though its up to you two whether she does help or not."
"Of course I will." Ginny replied promptly. "I had chores at home, and its not fair for Harry to have to do everything here."
"You don't have to... " Harry started.
"I want to." She replied emphatically, in a tone that Harry knew meant that the conversation was closed. Soon after that, Mr Weasley left for the ministry designated international apparation point to head back to Egypt.
That evening, Aunt Marge was sitting at the table. She had arrived with Uncle Vernon from the station an hour earlier through the pouring rain, and Harry had immediately been directed to take her coat, drag her luggage upstairs to the guest room, then start on cooking dinner.
While taking the suitcase upstairs, he heard a sudden yapping. It seemed Ripper the dog had been invited as well. Harry had bad memories of Ripper. When he was six, the dog had chased him up a tree and then sat at the bottom for hours, barking menacingly the whole time. On the other hand, as soon as Dudley appeared, he transformed into a well behaved pet, yapping for attention.
Harry peeked his head into his room to see Ginny laying on the bed, reading his Transfiguration textbook from the previous year. Since it seemed she would have little to do for the week, and Harry would probably not be able to pend much time with her, she had decoded that she would read all his textbooks from the previous year, so as to catch up since she was skipping the year.
"You enjoying yourself?" He asked her, quietly.
"Enough. I'll probably be bored to death by the end of the week, I'm getting through this really quickly." Harry took a step over to peer at the page she was on. She had already reached the content they had covered the previous December.
"Yeah, that's not going to last you long." He agreed.
"I heard Aunt Marge arrive. Are you OK?"
"As well as I can be. I'm not looking forward to meeting her dog again though."
"Again?" She inquired.
"Its a long story. I'll tell you when I get a chance. I don't know when I'll be up tonight, so just go to bed without me. I'll try not to wake you as I come in."
"No way is that happening!" She replied, somewhat fiercely, though still quietly, understanding the need for discretion. "I'm waiting up for you, I want to make sure you're OK when you get away."
Harry knew there was no point in arguing with her when she looked like she did now, her wonderful chocolate brown eyes glowing with the book open on her lap and her hands on her hips. She looked beautiful when she was angry, though he would prefer it to never be directed at him. "OK!" He replied quickly, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'll try to get away quickly. See you later!" He blew her a kiss from the door, then closed it behind him and headed downstairs, dreading reaching the bottom.
"There you are boy! What took so long? You're meant to be cooking - we're hungry!" Harry knew better than to respond to his question, so ducked under his arm that was outstretched to the side, and quickly made his way to the kitchen for the second time that day before Uncle Vernon decided more of a punishment was in order.
Harry quickly made his way to the hob, where several pots were waiting on a low heat. He took a peak inside them to make sire he knew what was in them, the turned the heat up under them to different amounts. It had been drilled into him since he could reach the cooker how to prepare the Dursleys favourite meals so that everything was ready at the same time.
He watched out of the corner of his eye as Aunt Marge came up behind Dudley, who was sitting lazily in one of the oversized, overstuffed couches, and grabbed him round the neck in a hug. She planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek, which Dudley sat through despite how revolting he found it. He knew what normally came next, and sure enough, a twenty pound note appeared from somewhere in Aunt Marge's pocketless dress and she stuffed it into Dudley's hand. The sight of the money meant he wasn't going to question where it came from, but Harry did in his head.
Soon he had the meal prepared, and deftly served it all onto four plates. He knew better than to try saving any for Ginny and himself, as Aunt Petunia had provided them each with a few slices of bread and butter and a glass of water earlier. It seemed they would have to make do on the bare minimum from his relatives, and the care packages sent by Mrs Weasley.
As soon as the meal was served, he was ordered to start cleaning the kitchen. He continued until they finished eating, when he washed their dishes as well. As soon as he finished, Aunt Petunia sent him to bed.
The next morning, Harry awoke sleepily at six to head downstairs and start breakfast. He quickly made up two bowls of cereal, one of which he ate himself, and the other he took upstairs and laid on Ginny's bedside table with a short note. Then, heading back downstairs, he started cooking the sausages, bacon and eggs for the Dursleys. They only got cereal for Ginny and he - they would never consider not having a full English breakfast, and wouldn't waste any on 'freaks'.
By seven thirty, he had everything ready as the Dursleys started rising to eat. He was told to prepare a packed lunch for them, as they would be going to the zoo again for the day. Once it was prepared, Aunt Petunia dumped a stack of paper, some pens, and some folders in his arms. "Take these upstairs. I want the pictures sorted into chronological order and then you can write thank you letters for Duddikins to send. I'll be checking the, to make sure you've done a good job."
"Yes Aunt Petunia." He'd long since learnt not to argue.
"Oh, and you're not to come downstairs while we're gone, except to start dinner. Have it ready for seven."
"Yes Aunt Petunia."
When the Dursleys had left, he rushed upstairs to see Ginny.
When Ginny woke up, she immediately noticed that Harry was no longer in bed. She rolled over and spotted the bowl of cereal with a note on the bedside table. She picked up the note first.
Gin,
Here's some breakfast for you. I'll try to get back up soon. Try and have some fun.
I love you,
Harry.
She placed the note to the side, tears in her eyes at how kind Harry was being to her, and picked up the cereal to eat it. Once he'd found out she'd have to spend the week inside, he'd made it his mission to keep her happy in any way possible, knowing at the Burrow she'd been able to go outside each day, despite the fact he'd been in the same position.
She didn't have to wait long for Harry to arrive, in fact she'd only just finished eating, and her attention was immediately drawn to the pile in his hands, before she looked up into his eyes.
"Thank you for the note - you're being so kind to me." She said haltingly.
Harry quickly strode over to the bed, plucking the now empty bowl out of her hand and putting it back on the bedside table then sitting down and wrapping her in his arms. "Hey, why the tears?" He asked softly while stroking his hands down her back.
"You're in the same position as me - you shouldn't have to cheer me up when its just as bad for you." She responded, a few tears leaking out from her chocolate brown eyes.
"I don't, but I want to. I like trying to make you happier. Don't think about it, just accept it, because you won't be able to stop me." Soon, she bunched her hand in the front of his shirt, pulled it to her and wiped her eyes and cheeks dry on it. She still hated how quick to succumb to tears she was nowadays. Then she leaned up and kissed him softly, lingeringly, on the lips.
"I love how kind you're being to me."
"I love doing it, and don't intend to ever stop."
"What did you bring up with you?" She asked, changing the subject.
"The chores I can do up here with you. I'm meant to..." He trailed off.
"We're meant to" Ginny cut in fiercely.
"We're meant to" He corrected hurriedly, "sort the photos in the folders into chronological order with the dates on the back, and write Dudley's thank you letters for him."
"Why are we writing the whale's letters?"
"Because he's so spoilt and would throw a tantrum if he was forced to do so himself." Harry replied dryly.
"When was his birthday anyway?"
"A few weeks before mine."
"Then surely they should have already been written?"
"Most years they're never written. It's a new chore Aunt Petunia just thought of this morning, given she wants me upstairs all day. The family will be so surprised to be thanked for once."
"I know then - lets head into the garden, get these done with, then have fun in the grass the rest of the day. You go now, I'll be along in a second." She jumped up, gathered some clothes quickly, then headed into the bathroom.
Harry took the pile of chores into the garden room. Ginny was right - it was such a lovely day that the garden was the best place to be. He laid out the paper and pens, then found the list of Dudley's presents. After marvelling over the pens having returned from the bathroom, Ginny helped Harry get down to writing the letters. With both of them working it got done in ten minutes, and they turned to the pictures.
Harry opened the first folder, and took all the pictures out of their holders, while Ginny did the second. They then did the same for the other two. Each of them now had two piles of photos. They sorted each pile into order, so the oldest was on the bottom, then merged it into one to get a large pile all in order.
Ginny grabbed a folder and opened it to the back. Harry started taking pictures off the top of the pile and adding them to the folder, as Ginny turned the pages, then when they reached the front she grabbed the next. As they reached the last picture, Harry gasped. Ginny looked up. "What is it?"
Mutely, Harry held out the picture he was looking at. It was of Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's wedding. But that's not what caused Harry's silence. It was that in the back of the picture, you could just see a glimpse of Lily Potter.
Ginny looked back up, and was dismayed to see tears in his eyes. Scrambling over to him, she quickly wrapped her arms tightly round him, pulling him into her body, nestling slightly on his lap. She was happy to feel his arms slowly come up around her to rest in her long hair he loved so much. It meant he wasn't completely frozen at the sight of his mother.
"Harry, what's wrong?" She asked worriedly. She couldn't think of any reason for him to act this way, even with what he'd just seen. Then it clicked. "Have you never seen any pictures of your parents before?"
Harry was silent for so long that she was worried that he wouldn't reply at all. But then he quietly started speaking from where his head had come to rest on her shoulder. "I have seen them before, but only since the end of my first year. Hagrid gave me a picture album with some photos from their wedding. Its more that Aunt Petunia still had a picture with my mum in it, but not once in twelve years did she ever think to show me."
Ginny felt her own eyes tear up at his plight. "Oh love, I'm so sorry. I have no idea why they hated you so much, it makes no sense. But why has she allowed you to see it now?"
"It was probably an accident - she forgot it existed." Harry started smiling at her.
"What are you grinning for?"
"You." He responded playfully. "You apologised even though it is in no way your fault. You're always telling me not to do that."
Unable to help herself, Ginny started grinning too. "Yes, but it seemed like something anyone would normally say in this situation so I couldn't help myself. Now lets put that picture in and have some fun."
"Wait, not yet." He got up and quickly went to his room, before returning with his second year charm book. "I remember a spell mentioned in here. We didn't learn it last year, but it explained the incantation and wand movement. It's meant to duplicate an object." He flicked through a few pages. "I've found it - the incantation is duplici exemplari and the wand movement is a jab at the object, then a quick slice to the left and another jab."
He practiced the motion a few times, and the pronunciation, then performed the spell on the picture. Another picture appeared next to it, showing the same image.
Harry took the duplicate back to his room to place on the bedside table, while Ginny inserted the original into the last space in the album. Looking back over what they'd done, she was upset to see that while there were many pictures displaying Dudley as he grew up, there were none that even caught Harry in a corner. She hastily wiped away her tears when she heard Harry returning, she didn't want to upset him by crying for him, as she knew it would.
After Harry had returned, they started messing around in the grass, spending a while having a tickle match in the sun before it got too hot. Harry quickly, despite his Aunt's orders, snuck downstairs to get them both a glass of water, which they downed thankfully. Rather than prepare anything for lunch that the Dursleys might notice was missing, they found a blanket under the bed, and after Ginny had cast a cleaning charm over it, spread it out on the grass under a tree, and selected a limited lunch from their hamper, knowing it would have to last the week. When they finished eating they lay down next to each other before a while, before mutually turning towards each other and starting to kiss, still going no further than they had before, until it was time for Harry to head back downstairs to get dinner ready for his relatives, while Ginny continued reading, now onto his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook.
The Dursleys arrived home just as Harry finished preparing dinner - years of practice meant his timing was impeccable. Harry tried to keep quiet while they were eating, but his feelings took over common sense.
"Why did you not tell me you had a picture of my mum?"
It was asked quietly, but the effect was just as sudden and large. They all fell silent and turned to him, with Dudley and Aunt Marge jumping in their seats. Aunt Marge had never heard him speak before, and Dudley hadn't that summer. "What did you say, boy?" Uncle Vernon growled dangerously.
Harry knew he should stop, but couldn't help himself and stood his ground. "I said, why did you not tell me you had a picture of my mum?" He was staring unblinkingly at Aunt Petunia.
"I have no idea what you are on about." She replied calmly, but the look in her eyes spoke volumes - continue and you won't be fed for a week. He'd seen it before.
"Yes you do." He responded accusingly. "In the pictures you had me sort, there's one of your wedding. My mum was in the corner. I didn't even know my mum went to your wedding."
"Petunia..." Uncle Vernon growled again.
"I have no idea what the boy is talking about. I never saw Lily at our wedding - she'd already ran off with that Potter fellow."
"Him?" Marge spoke up now. "You told me he was an ungrateful laze-around Petunia, and I must say I agree. It's quite obvious you take after him boy. My brother took you in out of the goodness of his heart..."
"Yeah, that's why I go days on end without food and get told lies about my parents." Harry muttered darkly.
"Where did you say he went to school Vernon?" Marge asked sweetly.
"Um, St. Brutus's. A Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys. The perfect school for misbehaving, ungrateful toerags like him."
"Hmm. Tell me boy, they use the cane at St. Brutus's?"
Harry's streak of ignoring the warning signs was at an end. He saw the dangerous glint in Uncle Vernon's eye, as he nodded slowly, prompting a response, from behind Aunt Marge. The glint was more dangerous than before, and the main reason Harry stopped was because he was afraid of Uncle Vernon deciding to take out his anger on Ginny instead of him.
"Oh yes, all the time." Harry responded quickly. "I've had it loads."
"Hmm. Obviously not enough. Actually, I was wrong. He doesn't take after his dad, it must be his mum."
"What!?" Harry shouted incredulously.
"Yes, you see it all the time in dogs. If there's something wrong with the bitch then there's something wrong with the pup." Marge explained patiently.
Harry could feel his anger getting the better of him, and saw through his half-closed eyes Aunt Marge's glass smash. "Are you OK Marge?" Aunt Petunia asked.
"Yes, my mistake, I have a very strong grip you know." She dabbed at her chin with a napkin. It was obvious that Uncle Vernon hadn't been tricked. He knew what it had been - accidental magic, and from the looks of Harry, it was about to get a lot worse.
One by one, Aunt Marge's cardigan buttons started popping off and flying around the room, as her body started to outgrow her clothing. Soon, she was floating out of her chair, and bumped of the ceiling. Dudley was starting to cry, and Aunt Petunia was comforting him.
Unfortunately, it was such a nice day they'd left the patio door open, right behind Aunt Marge's chair. She started floating out of the door, and Uncle Vernon lugged his cumbersome body after her. He grabbed her arm, but started floating as well. Ripper the dog closed his mouth around Uncle Vernon's leg, grabbing hold as he screamed. Eventually, Uncle Vernon said "Sorry." With a sad smile and let go, dropping back into the garden with Ripper.
Harry took one look at what had happened, having calmed down, and rushed upstairs to his room.
Reaching his bedroom, he immediately started throwing his and Ginny's possessions into his trunk. Ginny, sensing something was wrong, stood up and started helping. There would be time for explanations later. All Harry had said since arriving in the room was "we need to get out of here." The last thing Ginny did before hoisting the end of her trunk up was to tie her hair back into a sloppy ponytail. She caught Harry's disappointed look - she knew how much he loved to run his hands through it.
"Don't worry, it's not for long." She told him. "I figure we need to move quickly and its easier to do that without my long hair getting in the way."
They headed outside, and to Magnolia Crescent, where Harry called the Knight Bus. In the dark they didn't realise how close to the curb they were standing, and when the bus appeared they were forced to fall backwards onto the pavement to avoid it running over their feet. The bus stopped just past them, and they caught sight of a giant black dog.
They were unsure as to what they had actually seen, so looked again. There was nothing there. "We must have imagined it." Ginny said.
Harry nodded, then turned to the conductor, who was looking down at them from the bottom step oddly. "Leaky Cauldron please." He told Stan.
Stan grabbed both cases, and dragged them up onto the bus, placing them beside the beds at the back. Harry and Ginny sat on the two beds and had a whispered conversation, while Stan, after taking payment, headed to the front to tell the disembodied head - Ernie - to continue on. After the bus lurched into motion, Ginny started the conversation.
"Why are we leaving?"
"I accidentally blew up Aunt Marge." Harry replied, curling in on himself slightly. What would Ginny think of him, being unable to control his accidental magic.
"There's more to it than that, Potter!" Ginny growled lowly. "And what do you mean blew up?" She inquired.
"I'd asked Aunt Petunia about the picture - I couldn't help myself. And by blow up I mean she became a balloon and flew away."
"Oh." She moved across to his bed, and wrapped her arms around him from beside him in a comforting hug. "What are we going to do now then?"
"Thought we'd head to the Leaky Cauldron so we had somewhere to stay and could go to Diagon Alley."
"Oh. But this means we can't sleep together."
"I'll sort it."
"I guess it's a good thing that just before we left, I received a letter from Dad. E said he wouldn't be able to visit us any more this summer. He was going to try and continue sending the food baskets - but you know what Errol is like."
Harry winced at the thought of poor old Errol having to carry such a large hamper of food. "I guess we could write back to say he needn't bother with the hampers, and that we've found an alternative source."
Ginny moved back to her bed, and pulled some parchment from the first compartment of her trunk. She scribbled a note down, then placed it into the top of her trunk again. "So, you never told me. What is the problem with that dog?"
"What, Ripper? When I was six, I accidentally stood on his paw on my way to make lunch. He chased me up the tree in the backyard, and Aunt Marge refused to call him off till it was dark. When I finally got back inside, I was welcomed by my Uncle's dulcet tones shouting that I should have spent the time making them lunch and dinner, as well as cleaning the kitchen and two bathrooms, not playing hide-and-seek with a dog. As if I wanted to!"
"Oh Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, moving next to him again.
Harry was upset to see tears pooling in her eyes. He wrapped her up in a tight, warm hug. "Hey, don't cry on my behalf, there are much better reasons for it. Try and give me a smile Gin."
This made her start crying harder. "Harry, that's just why I should cry for you. You don't see yourself as special enough to receive attention from anyone else, even though everyone else in the world would. I intend to work on changing that about you."
Harry couldn't argue with that, so he planted a soft kiss on the head, before gently pushing her back to her bed as Stan came up to them. "We shoul' be a' the Leaky Cauldron in ten minu'es." He told them.