*Ginny*

The next day I woke up to the smell of bacon. Half of me didn't really want to get up after last night, but I was hungry. After getting ready for the day, I went downstairs and instead of bumping into my mother, I saw Harry furiously working over the stove, whipping eggs while some bacon was frying in a separate pan. He had on a simple but form-fitting red shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Over it, he wore one of my dad's aprons. It was a bit tall on him, but it would have been either that or something of my mum's with yellow flowers.

"Hey," I said, walking up to his left side.

"Good morning, Gin. Your dad, mum, Bill, Charlie, and Percy, were up most of the night. The floo got a lot of work between Dumbledore and Tonks and a couple other aurors." He turned down the fire to to let things stay warm

"Were you spying on them without me?" I teased.

"No, I was asleep actually. Fred and George however… not so much. They woke me up around five and told me they thought I should have a report, so they are going to be out for most of the morning. I bumped into your dad and Percy when they were leaving this morning for work. He asked that we stay inside for today to not worry your mum. So, probably good the twins have a lie-in for a few hours."

I smiled. "Yeah, probably."

"But I was up at that point so I thought I'd make breakfast and let everyone else relax. Is Hermione up?" I wasn't expecting him to be so chipper.

"Yeah, she wanted to get cleaned up. I already did before going to bed last night."

"I'm not sure if Ron is more tired or hungry," he said as he handed me a couple rashers of bacon, some buttered toast, and the scrambled eggs.

"Since he's not down here, I guess tired must have somehow won out."

Harry took a plate for himself and we sat down at the counter. "Happy birthday, Gin."

I blushed. "I didn't want to say anything. If you had forgot after the night you had, I wouldn't have been too upset. But thanks, Harry."

We were both pretty hungry and attacked our breakfast in silence. Neither one of us liked talking while eating. I washed it down with a cup of apple juice from our orchard with Harry watching me.

"What? Bacon in my teeth?"

"No… your dad's study is empty and there's that letter of yours that I want to discuss privately. If that's still ok with what's happened in the last twelve hours."

My heart skipped two beats and I shook my head. I offered him my hand and he took it as led me through the hallway and shut the door. I sat down in a chair as he sat next to me and I tried to patiently listen.

"I'm not really sure if this is the right thing to do… I'm not sure about any of this with what's happened, but around five thirty, I decided that I'm not letting Voldemort control my life. He's already taken so much from me."

I nodded "Go on, Harry."

"You're really important to me and I talked a lot with Sirius about things… with your dad, it was just really too weird. Sirius told me that with our situation… not just me living here, but Tom… especially now that he's back… and me being me… and how special you are to me… something more official may be better all around."

Harry lost his train of thought for a little. "I guess it makes sense. Anyway, Sirius told me that a wizard is only as good as his word and that behind the formality, all the customs worth keeping are just promises wrapped up in decoration."

He paused, searching for what to say. "Ginny, you are an amazing witch. You are caring and pretty and so strong."

I blushed a little. "Thank you, Harry. That means a lot to me."

"And you're too good of a friend for me to not do this right. You're not someone that I just want to have fun with at school. I want to court you and make plans with you. I see myself having a future with you and if I ever decide differently, I promise I'll let you know. Not that that's going to happen."

"I think… I think I can accept that. I promise I'll do the same for you." It was a pledge I didn't ever intend to invoke.

Harry hesitantly asked, "So with all that, do you still want to be with me?"

I wasn't going to answer right away, however. "Before I say anything, I get to say a few things too." He waited. "Whether it's Draco, Peter, or Tom, you fight with me, not for me."

"Ok. No more being a prat."

"Right, Harry the prat is right out. Second… don't you dare take me for granted. I deserve to be treated special."

"You more than anyone."

"Third, you deserve to be treated special so don't try to stop me."

He nodded. "I'll try." We'd work on that one.

"Last… close your eyes."

He hesitantly did as I asked. My stomach was twisting and turning more than in any Quidditch match, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his.

They were slightly rough but I could feel his strength behind them. I let him cover mine and I softly moved them a little under his pressure. Then I opened just a little and felt him hesitantly run the top of his tongue against my lips.

I couldn't feel anything else but the fire spreading across my body. Starting in my head then down my neck and chest to deep inside and then out to my fingertips. I finally stopped so I could breathe.

"Last… I expect plenty more of those from my boyfriend."

He grinned and said, "Definitely, luv." He stopped for a bit, a little scared.

I ran my hand across his cheek. "It's ok. You can say it if you want."

And then, probably the first time he said it to anyone in his life, he said it. "I love you, Ginny."

My heart was on fire just as much as from that kiss. "I love you too, Harry."

He stood up as he reached deep into his pockets. "And this is yours, for your birthday and as a token of my feelings. It didn't cost me a knut, so it's not excessive."

It was a white gold ring with an emerald stone shining in the middle. "It was in my vault, probably my mum's."

I stood up. With our height difference, I was eye-level with a little lower than his shoulder. Thankfully he wasn't growing as fast as Ron. "It's lovely."

"Just like you. I thought you would like the color." I gave him my right hand and he slipped it on my fourth finger and it automatically adjusted itself to my size.

I caught myself wishing for it to be balanced out on the other side, but I mentally shook my head. I didn't want to get ahead of myself. This was already more than I had ever expected. Luckily Harry decided to distract me in the best way possible. He had his arms wrapped around my back, pressed me close, and kissed me just as thoroughly as before.

I was so incredibly happy that I barely heard a few books hit the ground as I backed into one of my dad's shelves.

"What are you doing to my sister!"

Shite.

I turned around and saw Charlie staring at us in total shock. Suddenly he was pulling Harry away from me. My brother took him by the arm and quickly marched him into the kitchen. I ran behind him.

"Charlie!"

He roughly dumped Harry onto the closest dining room chair and then trained his wand on him. My oldest brother was sitting down eating some of the breakfast Harry had made but the twins and Ron and Hermione weren't down yet.

"Bill, get Mum," he yelled.

I jumped in front of Harry, hoping to fix this. "Charlie, what are you doing?"

"Ginny, you're probably very confused right now, but it's not your fault. Please move. I saw how Harry was attacking you. You don't need to stick up for him."

"You are the biggest..." I couldn't even put words to my thoughts and all that came out was a screech. "Argh! He was just kissing me! After I kissed him!"

Charlie reluctantly stowed away his wand, hopefully realizing that he hadn't been trying to assault me. "Are you sure he wasn't hurting you?"

Harry stood up and took my hand. I responded, "Yes, I'm fine. I was wonderful until about two minutes ago."

Finally, Harry spoke up. "This wasn't how I expected this to go. I'm sorry I scared you."

"Harry, you didn't do anything wrong." Last thing I wanted was for him to go back in his shell. I looked to Charlie and said, "Do you really think I'd let him do anything I didn't want?"

Charlie looked to the side and then back at us. "I just… I heard a crash from Dad's office and it looked like you were pinned up against the shelf. I wasn't expecting to walk in on you getting snogged like that for at least… well, I guess it's not something I've thought about. You're barely twelve. I don't think you're ready for that."

Ugh. "Charlie, what's today's date?"

"The eleventh… oh… Ginny, I'm really sorry."

Finally, Mum showed up. "A lot has happened since you've been here last, Charlie. A few weeks ago, Harry came with his godfather to ask your father to formally court your sister." She looked over at me. "I assume you said yes?"

I nodded, "Yes, I did. We both talked things over and I kissed him. My boyfriend was gentlemanly to kiss me back. I got a little carried away and scared Charlie. But we were just kissing." I emphasized 'just'.

The other four people in the house finally stumbled downstairs. Fred remarked, "We heard more noise downstairs than up."

George finished by stating, "Which is quite unusual as our mother will testify to."

Merlin, we should have just put an announcement in the Prophet. Harry said, "Ginny and I are a couple now."

Fred interrupted. "Was it before or after midnight?"

Harry looked confused by the question. "Uh, I asked her this morning."

George sighed, dug into his pocket, and placed a few knuts in Fred's outstretched hand.

"Anyway," I said, "Charlie walked in on us kissing and hence the commotion."

"Kissing?" Ron said, half in disgust.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, Ron," I said. "It's like this." I turned around and planed a soft one on his lips in front of my entire family minus Dad and Percy. It was much quicker than our previous ones though, just a chaste peck. I knew Harry was dying of embarrassment already.

George whistled. Mum said, "Oh, that's quite enough. And Ginny, Harry… I'm not quite as agreeable to this as your father so try to practice some amount of decorum."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said.

"We're done eating breakfast, so we were going to fly for a bit," I said.

"After chores."

We had to go feed the chickens and then weed and degnome the garden. I had a feeling my mum wanted to make sure we didn't have too much time to ourselves after the excitement in the morning. Harry was smiling as he spun around and chucked the last one into the yard.

I said, "I wonder if Neville knows of any gnome-repelling plants we could use."

"Where's the fun in that?"

I smiled and grabbed his dirty hand with mine. "The chickens don't bother me so much. I like the garden better. Honest work, Dad calls it."

"I like that." We started walking somewhat aimlessly towards the orchard. "I always hated slaving for the Dursley's. Even if it's not quite my own, helping family is different."

"Just let us help you too." I found a nice tree with some shade and sat down, bringing him close beside me. We spent most of the morning cuddling and trading kisses.

After my hair was thoroughly mussed up, Harry said, "We probably should stop, luv. And I imagine Charlie and your mum are about to send a search party after us."

"I'll try talking to him a bit."

"Ok. I don't want to be the cause of any sort of trouble with them."

We got a few comments at lunch, but Mum eventually shushed them. Afterwards, Ron asked, "Anyone fancy throwing the Quaffle around?"

Harry said, "You're birthday, Gin."

I nodded. "Sure, sounds like fun. I'll claim the right to pick teams though." We were all too competitive to just actually play catch. No disagreement from anyone. "How about… Ron and Bill as he Keepers and the twins and Charlie as the Chasers for one side. That leaves, I guess me and Harry on the other side. Hermione, can I get you on a broom today?"

"I think I'll referee."

"Good luck with that," Bill said. I grinned. It was all in fun, but it could get dirty. In the past, I had used my little sister eyes once or twice to get out of any punishment.

Ron was great as a Keeper and kept things even. Harry and I had the better broomsticks, so we stayed competitive and reached a score of two hundred first. He did get sandwiched several times between the twins, but Harry stole enough kisses from me to make it worth it.

Everyone sort of scattered after that. I was going to need to thank Hermione for distracting Ron for most of the day. I really wasn't worried about Dad. Harry and Sirius had talked with him and he was always trusting. Maybe too much sometimes. Harry and I were drinking some water when we noticed Charlie, standing there in front of us.

He seemed like he wanted to talk but didn't know how to begin. So I did it for him. "Harry would never hurt me, Charlie. I need you to believe that."

"I want to."

My boyfriend stood up and defended Charlie. "I know what it's like to be hurt. Bullied. Ganged up on for being different. My cousin and his parents… my childhood was beaten out of me. It took Ginny, your family, a year before feeling love stopped scaring me."

Charlie nodded. "It was still frightening the first years at school. The first couple years without You-Know-Who. Things almost got back to normal before Ginny was hurt."

"It wasn't anyone's fault but Lucius and Tom," I insisted. "Harry is going to take care of me and I him. Always."

Charlie smiled and some weight came off his shoulder. "Then I won't stand in your way. Harry, welcome to the family." They shook hands and then spent some time swapping stories of their best Snitch catches.

Everything was fairly calm by the time Dad and Percy came home. Between the chores and flying and snogging and deep conversations, I was well spent. After supper, we sat down in the living room and Dad turned on the Wizarding Wireless Network; they were broadcasting a live concert of the Weird Sisters. I was leaning into Harry's chest and he had his right arm around my shoulders.

I eventually felt a kiss on my cheek. "Gin, time to go to bed." I looked over at the clock that told the time and realized I had drifted off for several minutes. This felt just fine here with his arms around me, but I wasn't going to push my luck more today. I smiled at Harry and nodded.

I gave all my brothers and parents a hug and thanked them for what would be one of my most memorable and happiest birthdays ever. I held Harry's hand all the way up to the top of the stairs. I kissed him one more time. "Harry… dear, thanks. For everything. I really do love you."

"I love you too, Gin. I'm glad I could make you happy. You've done that for me every day this last year."

*Arthur*

Charlie, Molly, and I apparated to the front door of an old house that looked like it hadn't been updated since the Victorian period. The house itself was much older, but that was the last time the Blacks had done renovations on Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

Once we both could see the house I subtly burned the scrap of parchment that Dumbledore had given us to get passed the charm.

An ancient and half-crazed house elf met us at the door. "Three Weasleys. Blood traitors. Master Sirius wants you in the dining room, but his mother, my old mistress would not be pleased, no she wouldn't. The other Weasley, that smells like goblin, is already here."

Bill had moved into his own flat near Diagon Alley a week ago, right after Ginny's birthday. "Umm… thanks." I tried to be polite.

Besides my son, Dumbledore, Remus and Sirius were there along with three aurors, Kingsley, Tonks, and Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody. And Snape, who was sitting as far away from Sirius as he could. "Good evening," the headmaster said. "Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix."

We took our seats around an ancient oak table. Dumbledore continued, "I'd like to stress that anything that is said here doesn't leave this room. We may learn things that could be dangerous to the effort or others if they became public." He then looked at me. "And we also need to be careful with what Harry and his friends learn as well, especially considering they haven't any experience with occlumency. I'd like to thank Sirius for volunteering his house as headquarters and for helping to find some of our efforts."

"Anything I can do," he humbly said.

"And so let's begin. First, Sirius, Lupin, please tell us what you discovered.'

Remus Lupin took lead in the conversation. "Our plan had been to find Peter Pettigrew before he could cause more trouble, but after the events after the World Cup, it seems we were too late. After being told of Harry's visions, we wanted to determine their nature… if he was seeing them as they happened or they were premonitions or figments of his imagination brought out by stress."

Sirius said, "And as I suspected, Harry seems to have moments where he is experiencing the world through Voldemort's eyes. Based on his descriptions and research of the spells that could have been used to regenerate his body, we decided to visit the gravesite where Voldemort's father was buried. It was cleaned up but there was evidence of very powerful magic being practiced there recently."

Lupin added, "We also found blood splatters on the ground. Bill helped with the necessary blood charms, and we are sure it was Fudge's. He is still missing and so we believe he was killed and the rest of Harry's report is accurate."

Dumbledore looked over to Snape. "Severus, you have been busy as of late. What have you learned?"

He cleared his throat and said in his usual slow and methodical voice, "The mark on my arm did change on the night of the tenth. It was the sign of when the dark lord was summoning his followers. Dumbledore warned me that this may happen, but it was not expected so soon. When I arrived, I saw him regenerated, appearing to be close if not exactly the same as thirteen years ago. Peter and Lucius were there, along with Barty Crouch Junior." Who was supposed to be dead. "And the minister was on the ground dead."

Sirius yelled. "Why didn't you bloody say something as soon as it happened, you wanker? You made us waste a week of time."

Severus was unflappable. "It does us no good if Potter's visions or my reports are discovered if the order acts on information it shouldn't have. I'm already barely trusted after my years of teaching under Dumbledore. If every secret I'm told results in opposing action… well, I would cease to be useful."

Sirius wasn't satisfied. "But if you don't tell us anything that we don't already know, you might as well not be helping."

Dumbledore interrupted. "There are too many moving parts at the moment and we are still groping around in the dark. When it is time, Severus will tell us what we need to know."

I spoke up, "And the minister?"

Kingsley said, "I think soon enough, everyone will realize that he is either dead or incapacitated. The Wizengamot is scheduled to meet in September. When he doesn't show, his seat will most likely be considered vacant and a vote called for a replacement."

Severus went back to his report. "Peter Pettigrew was tasked with retrieving Potter for the resurrection ritual, but was obviously unable to succeed. The dark lord especially wanted to use his blood as a way to get through some of the blood protections Lily gave him. However, he still wishes to personally kill Potter, due to the prophecy."

"Which we are fated to follow." Dumbledore expounded. "Even if it wasn't destiny, Voldemort believes it so it has become the future. Miss Weasley was the recipient of a second foretelling that I think may be related, but I am still trying to determine its meaning."

This apparently was new to Snape. "A second prophecy? Related to Potter and the dark lord?"

"Well, definitely dealing with Voldemort but it was even more abstract than the first. Which likely means it is more powerful. Who or what it deals with is a mystery. Until that's been resolved, I'd rather keep its contents undisclosed."

Snape then said, "Very well. However, I'm going to have to give up something valuable to assuage doubts being held about me. If not the new prophecy, something else."

"You will need to delay that as long as possible, hopefully something will present itself. In the meantime, is there any other business?"

Charlie spoke up. "I'm heading back towards the dragon reserve tomorrow. I'll take a few days to meet up with your contacts on the continent. Then I'll be back in October for the tournament."

Moody decided to talk for the first time tonight. "Dumbledore, do you still need me to teach?"

"I have some other options and I think you'll be more valuable harassing some of the Death Eaters."

"I think I'll enjoy that more anyhow," he responded in his gruff voice."

There were a few more other matters to discuss and the meeting ended about an hour later. As we got up to leave, Dumbledore called us out. "Arthur, Molly, a quick word, if you will."

After the others shuffled out, he said, "I've been asking Horace Slughorn, your old professor, to come out of retirement. I think he will be useful at the school this year and he also has some information that I will need time to convince him to share. He hasn't committed yet, but I thought that if I could bring a potential student along, that may help. So, I was wondering if I could borrow Harry or Ginny tomorrow after supper for the evening."

The 'or' would be an issue. Since her birthday, my daughter and her boyfriend were rarely apart for more than required by basic privacy issues. "Actually, how about both of them go with you?" I was curious why he didn't ask about any of the four other Hogwarts students under my roof but Dumbledore hadn't seemed to be in a explaining-himself mood lately.

"That would be fine. I'll be by around six thirty."

After that, Charlie, Molly, and I apparated near the Burrow and walked in. It was about eleven.

Percy was sitting in the living room reading a ministry publication. My wife asked, "Everything ok?"

"Yes, mother. I did receive an owl this evening that Mr. Crouch was returning to work tomorrow, which is a relief. I also found an advertisement for a flat near the ministry that is in my means, so I'll visit it after work tomorrow."

"And the kids?" I added.

"Fred and George didn't destroy the house, not for lack of trying. The younger four were reading in Ron's room." My youngest son had insisted as of late that when they all hung out, that it be in his room rather than either of the upstairs bedrooms. "They retired about twenty minutes ago. I'm going to go to my room now, I'll need my rest if I end up moving tomorrow."

After Percy and Charlie both went to bed, Molly quietly crept up the stairs. I wanted to just get to bed. I shook my head for a moment and then followed her. Once she reached the top level, she slowly cracked open Ginny's door to make sure that the bedrooms all had their proper occupants. She closed it and then we made the way back to our bedroom.

As we lay down, I asked her, "When do we tell Harry about the first prophecy? Ginny told him about the second."

"I don't know, Arthur. He already knows that You-Know-Who is after him, so I don't know if there's any gain to tell him that he's the one that is meant to defeat him. I think Ginny's prophecy has to be related to him, it's too much a coincidence otherwise."

"Though if they're not," I said while stroking her hair, "maybe it cancels out the first? I'm not sure if anyone can be certain, not even Dumbledore."

"Let's give them the year. A year for him to figure things out, a year for Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione to be kids. He's not ready to go looking for You-Know-Who anyway."

I agreed. "Ok. One year." After a few minutes of silence, I said, "And dear, are you planning to check on them every night they're not in school?"

My wife whispered, "I know, Arthur… and they haven't given me any reason to worry. It's just… she's still my little girl."

"Yes, Mollywobbles. I know I'd have gotten caught a few times if I was in the same situation."

"I do remember the summer before our seventh year… a certain brash boy flying up on a broomstick to my window…"

"I missed you. And you were irresistible. You still are."

She grinned and nibbled on my ear for a moment. I decided that I wasn't that tired after all.

*Ginny*

Harry had disappeared on me about three in the afternoon, claiming he had some things to do in the house. We had gone to Diagon Alley the day before, so Hermione was busy, making it a point to read all her textbooks before school started. Which left Ron and I outside on the ground, practicing our spellcasting aim on Ron's targets, enjoying one of the last days of the summer.

"This is nice," I said.

"What?"

"Well, if you remember, this was how it was for two years. You and me."

"Yeah."

I loosed three shots in quick order and two converged on the same target, the third missing to the right by an inch. The practice was really helping. "Ever wish things were still simple?"

"I guess. If I wanted simple, I should have made friends with Neville instead of Harry, I suppose. Not-simple seems to follow him. Or he follows it." Two shots from him, both connecting.

I didn't feel like arguing with him on that. Harry could stick up for himself if needed. "Well, you've been a good friend. I am trying to not take up all of his time."

He rolled his eyes at me and shook his head. "He'd be useless by this point if you weren't courting him anyway. Not the same bloke at all those first two weeks of summer. I'm not thrilled walking in on my best mate snogging my little sister, but something I have to learn to live with."

"You know, you might feel differently if you were with someone… I could probably get you set up with one of the other girls in my dorm."

"No, thank you," he said adamantly. "If," with a big accent on the if, "if, I wanted to, I'm sure I could find someone without your help. And I'm fine with just being by myself for now." He lowered his wand for a moment. "Is it time to eat yet? If not, I'm getting a snack."

We walked back towards the house and then Ron almost ran headfirst into Harry who was walking onto the porch, holding a basket. "'Scuse me, Harry," he said and headed inside.

Harry looked at me, his eyes shifting until I knew he had swept up and down my body. I wasn't wearing anything special, just a pair of shorts and a green tee. When some of the other boys stared at me like that last year, I quickly felt uncomfortable or like a piece of beefsteak. Harry… I could just feel the caring in his eyes. Every time he kissed me, he was giving me his love, not taking anything from me.

Plus, I let my eyes rake across his body once or twice as well.

He said, "I haven't taken you on a proper date yet and your parents won't let us leave the Burrow by ourselves with a madman after me."

"At least they signed our Hogsmeade slips." Dad and Mum finally gave in on that. It would've been either let us go or not let any of us go, and then they'd have had a full-scale riot on their hands. And we would have gone anyway.

"Yeah. Well, that's still a bit aways. I made a picnic, if you want. Just some ham sandwiches and a treacle tart to share."

I wove my arm around his free hand. "Sounds great. Plus, I think Ron is going to eat our share of whatever Mum's cooking."

He smiled and we found a tree and a proper blanket. After we polished off the sandwiches and the pumpkin juice Harry said, "You know why this is loads better than Valentines?"

"The temperature?"

"Well, yes."

"No dementors?"

"That too."

"What else?"

"I can do this now." And with that, he leaned over and gave me a short kiss.

"That does make things a tad better. Plus, we have a tart this time," I teased.

We leaned against the tree, Harry's hands slowly running through my hair. Sometimes just being was more than enough. I almost fell asleep after the workout with Ron earlier. "Gin, probably time we get back." Right. Dumbledore wanted us to visit a potential professor with him.

As luck had it, he was stepping through the floo right when we finished putting away the dishes we'd used and the basket. The headmaster said, "Thank you for your help again. Molly, I'll make sure to have them back before too late."

"Of course. Listen to Dumbledore, you two, and behave yourselves."

There was a lot of warning about behaving lately.

Dumbledore had temporarily connected our floo with our destination. He went first, then me. I made sure to get out of the way quickly for Harry, who usually wound up on the ground after stepping through the flames. Today was no different. I suppressed a giggle and then noticed an old but not ancient man, rotund, but with a cunning look on his face that I noticed despite the large cheeks and chins.

"Horace, thanks for letting me visit. I happened to have a couple students with me that needed a few hours out, I hope you don't mind I brought them. This is Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. Children, this is Horace Slughorn, he would have been a professor when both your parents were there."

My boyfriend received Slughorn's instance attention as usual. "Harry Potter, my, it is an honor to meet you."

He shook his hand. "Thank you, sir."

Dumbledore interrupted, "If you would be so kind to pardon me, I do find myself needing to use the loo."

Horace nodded and waved him off, "First door on the right."

I looked around. We seemed to be in a relatively small flat with no sign of a woman or young children living there. A confirmed bachelor with modest means. However, there were a few trinkets scattered around that were irreplaceable. Also a signed picture of my favorite (well, professional at least) Quidditch player, Gwenog Jones. Several pictures of him and previous ministers of magic.

"And you are Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewitt's daughter?"

I smiled and practiced my manners. "Yes, sir."

"I never knew them very well. They seemed to be good kids, even with your dad taking Muggle Studies over Potions." He paused. "James Potter and Lily Evans, on the other hand… Lily was one of my most gifted students, even with being muggleborn."

Harry tried to not glare at him with the backhanded comment, but I could tell he was hiding some feelings with that. "I don't think that's terribly surprising. Other than Ginny, the brightest in our class is a friend of mine who is muggleborn."

Suddenly, I noticed a small rug on the wall with a snake on it. He must have noticed my glance. "Yes, I was head of Slytherin House when I taught, but don't hold that against me. Most of us did not turn into Death Eaters."

I said, "My father always said to take a person for who they are, not what group they are in."

Horace smiled, "Usually wise words."

I slipped my hand into Harry's. He was very sensitive about his mum. Then Slughorn looked at us like he hadn't seen us before. "Merlin, I'm not sure why I didn't see it before." He found an album on a bookshelf that was marked as the late seventies. Flipping through a few pages, he brought out a picture. Looking at Harry and then me, he said "Other than your eyes and the precise shade of your hair, you look remarkably like James and Lily. Like father, like son, I suppose, though your parents took a few more years."

I did notice some resemblance. Mrs. Potter didn't have my freckles and I didn't have her height, but in a dark room, we could have passed for them.

At that moment, Dumbledore reappeared. "I do apologize for taking too much of your time as of late. If you still are set on declining my offer, we should take our leave. Come along, Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley."

Horace sighed. "I can see what you're did, Albus, and it worked. I'll be there day after tomorrow to get ready for next term."

I wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but the headmaster did seem pleased. We were soon back home. Dad was in the living room waiting for us. "How did it go?"

"Your children were just what I needed. Horace agreed to come teach this next year." He turned to us. "What did you think of him?"

Harry said, "Well, he's definitely a Slytherin. He also seemed to be very interested in students' private lives more than most professors."

Dumbledore nodded, "Well, he does have his favourites and at one point, his office was almost a marketplace for favours between different students and even ministry employees. A recommendation here, a nudge for an appointment there. Not that he's a bad person and I want to make sure that you give him the respect due a professor. But he likely will take an interest in you, Harry, so I wanted to give you fair warning. You may find that even if you don't care for someone, they may still be very helpful."

It was looking like this next year would be quite interesting.