Malfoy dropped by our train car earlier than usual. I had decided to try something new and found out that sitting in Harry's lap was now my new happy place. It was obviously his happy place too, while we chatted about the little things that might happen this next year. There would be time later to worry about the big things.
Ron seemed to finally get over our little public displays of affection during the summer. But only after we had a private conversation. With six older brothers, I was lucky that the over-protectiveness wasn't worse than it was. Especially with our unique situation, I thought I had been fairly patient.
At this point, the issue really was Ron realizing he was the only one that hadn't ever had any sort of romance. The twins and Charlie had both had casual dates at least even if nothing lasted for more than a few weeks. Ron was jealous in several different ways, but didn't want to admit it. Meanwhile, Hermione was reading her prefect guidebook, though I was surprised she didn't have it memorized yet.
So, it was a fairly good ride so far. Or it was until the blonde-haired prat walked in.
"Potter. Hope you are enjoying your train ride with the Weaselette. Probably your last so make sure you don't knock her up. Hate to see any more half-blood orphans running around."
It was deathly quiet in the coach as his words hung in the air. I would have been shocked at the slander if I had been previously blessed with a quieter life. However, I was completely done with him and Harry didn't need to be distracted by the little piece of chicken shite. I stood up and purposefully walked over to the door. "What's died up your arse, Malfoy? Even with all the money your father has, you can't buy a decent attitude?"
Harry said, "It's probably that he's used to his Dad being in charge. Pushy houseguest getting under your skin?"
Draco glared. "I'd shut it if I were you. I, unlike you, am a prefect."
"That's fine. I, unlike you, am not a ponce and a servant to a half-blood without a nose in my own home."
"Keep talking. You'll pay for every disrespectful word. And I already have everything I could ever want and will get more than you filth could ever dream."
Ron spoke up, "Then why are you wasting your time with blood traitors and muggleborns? You can leave, now." When he didn't budge, he added, "And Hermione and I are also prefects, and will give as good as we get, so make sure you keep your trolls in line."
He scowled and left our coach. I said, "Thanks, Ron."
"Of course. No one gets to talk to you or Harry like that. We're family." That earned him a hug.
Hermione said, "We should go to our meeting now, Ronald. Please try to not get into a fight while we are there."
He got up, mumbling about the injustice of Draco being a prefect. I tried to calm down and enjoy the rest of the trip in my happy place. I dozed off until I woke up to the smell of chocolate. Ron and Hermione were taking a break from their rounds and my brother was on his third chocolate frog by the count of the cards he was looking at — another Dumbledore, one Flamel, and one of Charlie's heroes, Newt Scamander.
"Hey, any for me?" I asked as I sat up in my seat.
Harry chuckled as he handed me a box from Belgium. "You said you liked the darker stuff better, so I hid this before he could nick it."
I took a piece and let the silky goodness melt in the back of my throat. "Thanks, love." I unwrapped the box a bit more and then said, "Hermione?"
She glared at Ron and then said, "Sure, thanks."
"What?" he asked. "I offered you half a frog."
"We should get dressed, Ginny."
"Yeah, ok." We had re-promised Mum and Dad that we wouldn't be anywhere by ourselves after how the last term had ended.
Harry smirked as I got up. "I always liked you in your robes."
I gently swatted him on the top of his head while Ron pretended to dry heave and then the two boys started smacking each other in jest and wrestling. Sometimes they were still definitely boys at heart.
Nothing terribly interesting happened during the rest of the trip or during the sorting. There was surprisingly little changes to the staff. Snape was still teaching Defense and Slughorn was coming back for one last year, so the hex seemed to be broken. Hagrid however was temporarily on leave and would be back later so an older witch, Professor Grubbly-Plank would be filling in.
Then came the bad news. After introducing the new temporary professor, Dumbledore said, "And now I must regret to inform all of you that both Hogsmeade weekends and Quidditch are indefinitely suspended."
Ron threw his roll down in anger. "There goes my chance at being Keeper. And no Hogsmeade weekends? Bloody hell." A stare from Hermione quieted him, but across the rest of the room, everyone else was having the same sort of reaction.
It took a minute of Dumbledore's icy cold stare to calm the uproar. "We all realize how much these activities mean to you and trust me, they mean almost as much to me and the rest of the faculty and staff. However, the end of last term unfortunately showed that those areas are far too unprotected. The wards protecting the castle itself are as strong as ever, but the protection does not extend in strength to the pitch or the village. Your safety and well-being is the highest importance."
Hermione looked frustrated too, but that was probably because her job as prefect just got much harder. Dumbledore excused us all and she got up, saying gently, "First years, this way please. We will show you to Gryffindor tower."
When that didn't get much of a reaction, Ron blurted out, "Oi, midgets! This-away!"
Harry laughed out loud as Hermione corrected him. "Ronald, you can't call them that!"
The kids looked our way and started staring once they saw realized who it was. I grinned at his discomfort. "Yes, this is Harry Potter. But he's mine," I said with a wink at some of the girls who had stars in their eyes. Not that I could blame them. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and the young boys looked away in disgust. I grinned and held Harry's hand tightly all the way to the stairway to the girls' wing.
Hermione wasn't in bed for several more minutes and definitely looking stressed. "Everything all right?" I asked.
"Yes, of course. Just revising with my books from last year. Much of the OWLs are based on theories and techniques introduced last year."
The tests were important, but seriously… "Don't you think you're overdoing things?"
"Ginny, I can't afford to not be tops. Even if the war is over by then, I already have three strikes against me in any job. I'm a witch, I'm not that pretty, and I'm a muggleborn. I need all O's for anyone to even consider me for any real career."
I sighed and a little upset at the world and that I couldn't really argue with her view of the world. My mum had never considered applying for a position at the Ministry and Tonks' special talents and pedigree has given her a leg up. I knew Lavender spent more time looking at the boys than in her books.
Hogwarts was an exception, probably one of the good things Dumbledore did and there were witches in many jobs, but the expected life for most pure-blood witches was at home making, raising, and teaching children until they were eleven and got their letters.
I didn't think Harry felt that way, but I hadn't really talked to him about that sort of thing yet. I filed that away for another time. After I had a lot more courage to even think that far in the future.
I waited for Harry in the Common room before heading down for breakfast. Ron and Hermione had already left, wanting to make sure the first years didn't get lost. He was several minutes late. "Sorry, Gin. Didn't sleep well."
That was obvious from his appearance. "Nightmares?" I didn't bother with general questions, like asking him if he was ok, because he'd say yes and that'd be the end of it.
"Yeah, more dreams from Tom. He's not happy that they weren't able to nab me during the summer and so it wasn't a pleasant night for anyone else near him. I'll… we'll talk later, dear." He said as Parvati entered the room. We switched to small talk and then didn't have a lot of time to ourselves during Charms or Transfiguration class.
At lunch, a Ravenclaw prefect handed Harry a note. He looked at it and then folded it in his pocket. "Dumbledore wants to see us during our free period."
"Uh, ok." I hadn't been there since the end of my second year. Harry had not experienced that luxury.
After we finished our sandwiches, we walked up to the Headmaster quarters. Harry stood in front of the gargoyle in front and said, "Lemon drops." A door leading to a staircase opened.
We slowly walked inside and Dumbledore invited us to sit down. I looked around as I sat in a chair probably older than the Burrow. All around I saw different portraits of the past headmasters. Dumbledore had an entire shelf dedicated to an odd assortment of devices, whirring and generally acting almost alive. I could almost feel the power in this place and was glad that the headmaster was on our side.
"Good afternoon Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley. I trust the new school year has been treating you well so far?"
"Yes, sir," we both said.
"Good. Now, I have something to show you and something I'll need your help on." He reached into a drawer and set the shattered pieces of a cup on his desk. "I believe I was successful in destroying this horcrux, but I wanted to make doubly certain that it no longer is causing you a reaction, Miss Weasley."
I stared at it for a few seconds, trying to think about how it felt last time I was in its presence. "No, nothing from that, Professor. I think the locket is nearby?"
He smiled and nodded. "Good, and yes, it is."
Harry asked "How did you destroy the cup?"
Dumbledore stood up and reached towards a shelf behind him. "This actually also is thanks to you, Harry." He opened a case and brought out a magnificent sword. "Do you remember this, Miss Weasley?"
I shook my head. "No. Should I?"
Harry took my hand and said softly, "It's what I used to kill the basilisk."
I nodded, shaking as I slowly touched the jewel-encrusted hilt. "I was out of it during your fight… I guess you would have had it when Fawkes lifted us out of the Chamber, but everything is really hazy." And I tried very hard to not think about that night.
Dumbledore said, "The sword of Godric Gryffindor is goblin-made and enchanted to take on anything that makes it strong and reject what does not. It now has the power of basilisk venom, which only has one antidote — phoenix tears. It's ideal for this job."
"That's great, Professor, but you said you needed us for something?" Harry asked, showing some impatience.
"Yes, please forgive an old man his meanderings. I used the sword to destroy the cup, but the locket seems to have some sort of enchantment that allows it to protect itself. It is a relic of Slytherin, so I believe you are uniquely qualified to open it."
"Parseltongue…" Harry whispered.
Dumbledore placed it on the table. "Precisely. We must be prepared for the locket to fight back, so have your wands drawn and be prepared…. Now, whenever you're ready."
My boyfriend hissed something and the locket popped open.
My head exploded in pain.
I saw Tom, a few years older than I had known him, appear out of the locket. He towered over me and everything else in the room went dark. I heard a voice with just enough sweetness that it combated the general creepiness of his mannerisms. "My little Ginny. It's been a few years…"
I clenched my fists until my short nails dug into the palms of my hands. "You… you can't hurt me anymore, Tom."
"You don't seem very sure of that, do you? Another few seconds last time and both of you would have been gone. Your luck will run out like sand in an hourglass. He really doesn't trust you; you know that. Why should he? You nearly killed his best friend, a girl much better suited to him than you ever will be."
I tried breathing. "Everything you say is a lie! Harry not only forgave me for the chamber, he loves me!"
He paused for a moment but then grinned. "Yes, his greatest weakness. Love. He'll risk everything for your sake. Even his purpose. You know he needs to die, but he won't. The only way for me to be defeated is letting you go, which he will never do. I've already won." I saw Harry die a dozen different ways in my mind's eye.
I tried to force myself to refuse to believe what the shade was telling me, but there were quivering doubts inside me. Harry and Dumbledore were both shaking, probably going through their own personal version of hell at the moment as well. I strengthened my will and grabbed the sword's hilt while feeling Harry's hand on mine. "Together?" he asked.
"Together."
We lifted the sword up, which felt light but was still very heavy to move at the moment. Then we brought its edge firmly down on the locket. The image of Tom disappeared with a scream and black smoke appeared over the desk momentarily before disappearing.
I fell back in my chair, exhausted from the strain.
Harry looked at me, scared. I knew I had the same look in my face. "Did that thing talk to you too?"
He nodded. "I love you, Harry." He tried to smile as I reassured him. "That matters more than whatever rubbish it said."
"I love you too, Gin."
Dumbledore looked at us with tired but satisfied eyes. I thought I saw the remnants of some tears but tried not to stare at the headmaster. Harry asked, "It talked about the prophecies, but Voldemort doesn't know about them, does he?"
"An interesting question, Harry. I am fairly certain what we experienced was the echo of his soul acting on our memories and most powerful fears. What he said to me was something that happened before he was born, that if he knew, he would have made use of."
He paused for a moment before continuing. "The fragments of his soul are wholly split. Only regret and remorse could bring them back together. Their hold in this realm is weak, strengthened only through his hate, anger, and fear of what lies beyond. Love is infinitely more powerful."
Harry looked puzzled. It was his thinking look. I softly ran a finger through a few strands of his hair.
We sat there in silence for a few minutes until the ancient clock on the wall let out a chime. "I'm afraid that will have to close our time for now. I have an appointment with Professor Flitwick."
"Cripes, we're late for Defense," I said.
"I can excuse you two," Dumbledore offered. "You've had a tiring afternoon already."
Harry shook his head as we both got up. "No, thank you. That'll just make Snape more mad."
As we hurried away, I heard the headmaster say, "Professor Snape, Harry…"
"Yes, sir," Harry said and we quickly left, almost stumbling down the staircase that led out of his office.
We hurried and walked in the classroom door five minutes after class started. We quietly found some seats in the back as he stared daggers at us. "Mr. Potter, it's bad enough that you think surviving for five minutes in the Dark Lord's presence apparently means you don't need to take your education seriously. You've also done a thorough job of corrupting Miss Weasley. Sit down and put your wand away."
Acting like he cared a whit about me again? I counted backwards from ten to stop myself from asking how his blackboard was doing. Finally, after what seemed like ages of staring at me, he went back to his lecture. And on and on and on. We spent the entire hour listening to him drone on about competing theories of defensive strategies. It was a little bit interesting, but he was a horrendous lecturer.
Hermione was furiously taking notes, flipping back and forth between pages, as he jumped from one idea to another and back again. The rest of us gave up halfway through the class. Ron had an extremely frustrated look in his face.
Finally, the lesson was over. Snape called out an assignment, six inches on a curse he had discussed that day, and then dismissed us.
Relieved to be done with the second day of class, I felt Harry's hand take mine. "Library or Common Room?" he asked.
"Library. Work first. Pouting is not becoming, dear."
Hermione and Ron caught up with us a few minutes later. "Why were you so late to class?" she demanded.
I was going to take the mickey out of Ron and whisper something about broom cupboards to Hermione, but Harry answered her. "Taking care of some jewelry." Her eyes showed her recognition.
Ron was not in a good mood as we fell into a table in the library. "Bloody greasy git is going to get us all killed," he complained.
"What happened?" I asked.
He glanced over at Hermione and then said, "I guessed you missed most of it. Snape said it's been a mistake for our practice to get ahead of theory. Most of our classes are going to be lectures, not practicals. He said that's more important for our OWLs."
Harry looked distressed at the very notion. "Death Eaters aren't checking your OWLs before deciding to attack."
Hermione agreed. "There's more important things than tests." Both boys looked stunned that she would say anything of the sort. She hit Ron lightly over the head with a roll of parchment. "Honestly!"
Madam Pince was giving us all dirty looks so we quieted down and started into our books, but it was hard to concentrate after everything that happened that afternoon. Hermione finally said, "Harry, you should talk to the headmaster about class. He couldn't be agreeing to this."
He shook his head and whispered, "He's let Snape do whatever he wants so far, I don't see that changing."
"Well, we have to do something…" I could see her thoughts churning.
I had to wait until that night to hear more. I was in my bed reading something a little trashy when Hermione walked in after finishing the rounds she had to make as prefect. "How'd it go?" I asked.
"Nothing terribly exciting. I was with Cho Chang, she's in Ravenclaw. Seemed to have more than a healthy interest in Harry, but mainly innocent questions. I made it clear the two of you are inseparable, so you don't have to go all Duchess' wrath on her, or whomever you're wasting brain power on over there."
I smirked and rolled my eyes. "Just a healthy imagination."
"Right… at any rate, we found a couple second-years from Slytherin who claimed they were lost. Gave me a bit of cheek, so we docked them five points and escorted them to the correct staircase."
Lavender and Parvati came in a few minutes later. "Where were you two?" Hermione asked, a little demanding.
Parvati curtly said, "Professor Trelawney asked us to help take some astrological observation notes in the Astronomy Tower."
Hermione's opinion of Divination was well-known, but she did say, "Well, at least she cares about her students' education."
Lavender said, "She's not that bad if you get to know her. Better teacher than Snape."
I said, "Hard to argue with that. He wasn't horrid to me my first couple years, but since our fourth year…"
"When you started dating his least favorite student…" Lavender said.
"Maybe he's jealous?" Parvati joked.
"Ewww…" we all said.
Hermione said, "Actually, that reminds me Ginny, something I wanted to get your help on… Snape's not teaching us anything worth knowing. You've done a lot better in Defense since you started practicing with Harry…"
She laid out her plan. It made sense but my sweetheart wasn't keen on any more attention than he already received. "I'm not sure…" I said.
"He'll do it if we both ask him."
I grinned, knowing she was right. "Give him a week or so, see if Snape changes his mind. Plus, Harry's kind of grumpy about Quidditch still." He wasn't the only one.
"It's just a stupid game!"
I laughed. "And people say you're the smartest witch of your age."
*Arthur*
I nervously tapped my quill on my desk until it struck half passes ten. "Jones, I need to step out and run some errands at lunch."
"Yes, sir," said my new assistant, who looked far too young to be working in the Ministry.
Sirius was waiting for me at a small cafe in the Muggle part of London that I had never heard of before. He had a table outside on the walk he was sitting on, drinking something brown and bubbling that wasn't tea.
I took a seat. "Good morning, Sirius."
"Morning, Arthur."
"Isn't it a bit warm to be drinking something boiling?"
He chuckled. "This is cold… it's called a soda. Something Lily introduced me too. Want to try one?" My ears perked up. That was something that I had heard of, just hadn't recognized what it was when I saw it. It explained so much.
"Sure." Anything muggle I could experience, I was game. Sirius waved for the server and placed an order for a drink. I also ordered a turkey sandwich, while Sirius had ham. We didn't want anything too heavy.
"Hope this isn't another false alarm from Snivellus," he said.
"Me too… then again, it'd be better if it was." I looked over and I could make out a primary school a block away. It wasn't a new building, maybe twenty years old. It looked to have been once yellow, but the paint had faded to almost an eggshell. There was a playground outside with swings and a slide, all surrounded by a fence. None of it currently being used; all the students must have been busy with their lessons. I really hoped it was a false alarm.
I took a cautious sip of my fizzy drink. It was rather sweet and the taste and feeling of the bubbles was definitely unique. I put it down and suddenly Sirius leaped to his feet. "Time to go!"
I saw a half dozen cloaks descending on the school. They were splitting into pairs, probably to take positions at each exit and cut down the children and staff as they would escape. Sirius had already apparated closer to the school, between the attackers and the main door. I first had to send a patronus to Dumbledore. "Attack in progress at the school, at least six Death Eaters." I told my weasel to forward the message and then I joined the fight. I appeared near the side door and attacked with furiosity. Trying to torture and kill children, no matter their blood. How could someone become so twisted to find it pleasurable sport?
Sirius and I had planned to first cast shield charms on the entrances, both keeping intruders out and the occupants in. Unfortunately, they wouldn't hold long in a concentrated attack. I appeared at the back door, drew my wand to charm it, and then eyed my two opponents. They were split and in front of me, each about a dozen paces away — one to my left and one to my right.
The one on the right started firing curses at me, but he didn't seem very concentrated. Over half of them missed wildly and the rest were easily blocked by my shield. The one on my left was much better. His spells were slower but more deliberate. I disarmed the first quickly but then felt a cold pain down my leg and the feeling of blood running down my calf. The second attacker had broken through with a decent cutting curse.
If he had been more experienced, I would have felt another one on the other leg without delay. However, he seemed to pause and admire his work, which gave me an opening. I concentrated on pushing through his shield and was able to send a spell to stun him that hit the mark. Then I got the first, who had bent down to retrieve his wand.
After those two were down, I healed my leg best I could — Molly would have to fix whatever mess I was making later, and I ran to the side of the school to see Sirius. He was busy at work, but with four of them, he had been busy keeping on defense. We started throwing stunners at the hooded figures as they closed in on the front of the school. I didn't recognize any of them with their masks on, but I knew it wasn't Bellatrix or any of the strong fighters. If it was, we would be in a much worse spot than the original six against two.
Then Sirius got one of them knocked out. I froze the ground by with a layer of ice under two of the attackers who had foolishly stayed too close together. They tumbled and two stunners in quick succession finished them off. I hoped this would end soon. I wasn't twenty anymore.
The last remaining attackers stared at me, curiously and then pressed his hand to the dark mark on his left arm. Sirius took him or her out immediately, but the damage was already done.
Before we could regroup, I heard an apparition crack. I whipped around and my heart sank. The one… man… that would never wear a mask. Voldemort's eyes burned through me.
"Arthur Weasley. Sirius Black." He cocked his head and his foot soldiers were awakened. By his face, I guessed he was not pleased with their performance. "Harry Potter's guardians and protectors. You failed in that role with his father and mudblood mother, Black. Taking in that boy not of your blood, most would find that admirable… or perhaps a weakness that will prove rather costly."
He paused for a moment and I heard him yelling "Crucio!" as an echo. My entire body exploded in pain, hot stabbing knives over every inch of my skin.
But then it stopped.
I slowly got up, my joints slowly aching, and I saw Dumbledore dueling him, bright flashes of light crossing the sky like nothing I had ever seen.
Sirius was trying to keep the Death Eaters busy. Finally back on my feet, I produced my strongest shield to guard him while he stayed on the offensive. Sirius looked back at me, very surprised.
I risked a glance at Dumbledore. He seemed to be slower than he used to be, but he was more than holding his own. Voldemort was faster but he almost seemed less powerful, barely stopping the spells sent his way.
And then just as suddenly as it started, the self-proclaimed dark lord disappeared.
With their master behind, the remaining Death Eaters were quickly disarmed before they could escape. Dumbledore performed the incarcerous charm and they were trundled up like a flock of Christmas geese. Sirius ripped off all their masks. "So young… I don't recognize any of them."
Dumbledore sadly said, "I do. All Hogwarts attendees, graduated in the last few years. So sad they chose this life."
"Bloody snakes," Sirius mumbled.
"Not all, Sirius. Two Slytherin, yes, but also two Ravenclaw, one Hufflepuff and this woman was in Gryffindor, I believe in Charlie Weasley's year. Peter Pettigrew was not the only Gryffindor that I've seen serve Voldemort."
Sirius nodded and Kingsley and Tonks soon appeared. "Sorry," the senior auror said. "There was an attack on Diagon Alley as well, four young Death Eaters. This is higher priority, I'll take care of them. Tonks, please handle the muggles inside."
She nodded and quickly her hair became light brown and her face became what I'd only describe as pretty but not memorable. Her auror uniform changed to black muggle semi-formal wear with a pantsuit and she transformed a rock into a clipboard. "On it," she said.
Dumbledore and Sirius were looking at me strangely. "Yes?" I asked, not sure if I wanted the answer.
Sirius spoke first. "Don't be offended, chap, but how are you walking around? You were under the cruciatus from Voldemort for over a minute. At your age…"
"I'm not that old."
Dumbledore chuckled. "I think we all are. But he's right, Arthur. I do not think it was for a lack of trying. I must think about the events of today."
Kingsley then added, "We don't need to be drawing any more attention to ourselves here. I'll take each of your statement back at the Ministry."
Dumbledore agreed but said. "I should get back to my school, just in case this isn't the end of it. Come by my office later if you need my testimony."
*Ginny*
Harry had been battling a massive headache all day. The four of us and Neville were sitting at our table in Great Hall, working on various assignments. Neville was actually tutoring Harry in some of the finer points in herbology. Ron and I were nearly experts, at least in the basics, after helping Mum in her garden, while Hermione... well, she was Hermione. There was some subtleties that Harry had never quite grasped and after a lot of aggressive persuading, he admitted he needed help if he wanted to get his OWL.
Snape strode towards the four of us and I felt Harry tense up in a stress response. Snape glared at him and said, "The headmaster just had to step out for a few minutes. Apparently Black and Arthur were trying to help a school and have wound up facing down the Dark Lord. Maybe with Dumbledore's help, they will survive. He had to leave so fast, he left the special floo powder keyed to his office lying on his desk."
My heart skipped several beats. Hermione had her arm around Ron, who was worried to death. I was too. I looked over at Harry just to see him bolting for the door.
He wouldn't…
I corrected myself. Yes, he most certainly would.
I jumped up and ran after him. Stupid robes.
I saw him fifteen yards ahead down the main corridor. "Harry!" I yelled. "Stop!"
He didn't even slow down.
His pace wasn't one I was going to match. Stupid short legs. Once he reached the stairs, I wouldn't be able to see him again. Hoping he would forgive me later, I cast the jelly-legs jinx and with the accuracy he had taught me, they made their target. Harry collapsed on the hard stone floor. Then I disarmed him before he could stop the jinx himself.
I ran to him. Harry glared at me, madder than I had ever seen them. "Let me be, Ginevra."
Ouch. I steeled myself. "You can be mad at me Harry, as long as you stay alive." I looked at him, blinking back tears and cancelled the jinx. I tried helping him up, but he refused my hand and sat up, a massive bruise forming on his cheek from where he fell.
He anxiously yelled, "I need to help them! I can't… I can't lose Sirius or Dad… your Dad."
"Dumbledore's there, he'll take care of them. If Tom's after them, it's because he is baiting you. He wants you to run after him."
"I don't care… I'll be fine," he said quietly, but no longer so confident.
I reached my hand over and he finally accepted my touch on his shoulder. "Dear, you were so worried that a fourteen year old nothing girl just handed you your hat, bum, and everything in between."
He immediately objected."You're not nothing, Gin... you're everything." He stopped for a moment and hung his head. "I'm an idiot."
"Forgive me, Harry… dear?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No, Gin, forgive me."
We both smiled and we helped each other up off the floor. "I'll think about it," I said with a wink. "Let's head up to Dumbledore's office, see if he's back."
Harry whipped out a piece of parchment, his map. "No need. I've kept this with me all the time this year so far."
He wasn't there at first, but after a few minutes, the headmaster reappeared. By the time we found him, Dumbledore was two flights up, strolling somewhat aimlessly, which was encouraging. We hurried and after the last few minutes, I promised myself I'd start running more. We finally had him in sight. "Professor?" Harry asked.
"Yes, Mr. Potter? I gather you heard about the attack?"
We both nodded. He continued, "Not to worry. Your father suffered a deep cutting curse to the leg and was under the cruciatus for a while, but nothing resting at home and some care from your mother won't handle. Sirius had a few bumps and such but he'll be fine."
I breathed out as if I had been holding it in for the last ten minutes.
"Thank you, sir."
With that burden lifted, we started walking back to the Common Room. "Gin, you can have the map back. It's just as much yours as mine; your brothers gave it to you."
"It's fine. Your dad was one of the authors. Plus, I can get it out of your footlocker if I need it and you're not around. You can't get into my room."
"Too bad," he said cheekily. It was a rather stupid and sexist rule. Like none of the girls would ever have a mind to sneak in for some snogging or more.
I kissed his cheek. "Behave."
"It's a struggle."