A/N: I know I said something about getting this up sooner, but this chapter gave me a little trouble as, after I'd written it and re-read it, it made very little sense. So, I had to re-write it, which took longer than I anticipated. Anyway, uh, this might need a little clarification, so I don't have people wondering what's going on. Harry and Ginny are *not* going out (that should be obvious). I think of it as in that odd limbo place where they are sort of close friends and sort of something more. Oh, and I actually had to figure out the exact dates on all of this stuff, so the day today is May 24th. Also, I wanted to thank everyone that has been encouraging me with reviews to keep this thing going. Don't worry, because I plan to finish this sucker. Alright, here we go then.
Chapter Eleven
Emerald Lightening
Tension was the buzzword for all of Hogwarts--but for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny especially--as the end of the year exams loomed closer.
Ron was barely speaking to Harry--politely distant--because he thought Harry was speaking too much to Ginny. Ginny was upset with Ron for being angry with Harry, and for being overprotective, and Hermione was trying very hard to be supportive of all three, and study for her NEWT's and hold up her obligations as Head Girl. They were all stressed out with just worrying about the end of the year. When one added their other worries--Voldemort, the prophecy, Ginny being the Turner, and the headaches created by Harry and Ron's fight--well, it was easy to see why everyone's nerves were frayed.
Ginny, though, was able to escape her worries while learning everything that she could about being a Turner. The book was fascinating, and gave much more information than she had found in weeks of previous study.
So whenever she had the opportunity--and that opportunity usually came after dinner--she had taken to rushing up to her dorm, tossing her things aside and grabbing her book.
She hadn't yet tried any of the spells, instead just reading. In addition to detailing all kinds of spells that would be useful and the kinds of things she would be able to do without a wand, the book also gave a detailed history of Turners.
It was one night after two weeks of study that she finally decided that she couldn't wait any longer. The time had come to try one of the spells. She had been reading up on the Occultus Spell which was, in essence, an Invisibility Spell that required wand magic. That was the one, she'd decided, mostly because it looked to be relatively easy and the book had mentioned that it was a must for new Turners to learn.
Ginny set the book on her bed and picked up her wand, then pointed it directly at herself. "Occultus invisible," she muttered. Her hands flickered, disappeared, then reappeared again. She frowned slightly, then muttered the spell again. After a couple of failed attempts, she finally managed to conceal her entire body. Grinning widely, she left her dorm and headed down to the common room, in desperate need of distraction from her stress and from her work.
Once down in the common room, she first thought it was empty, which disappointed her greatly. But to her immense relief, she spotted one lone figure in a chair by the fire.
Harry was sitting there, hard at work studying. She thought that he looked like he could use a break as well. So she snuck over to him as quietly as she could, and stopped between him and the fire. She watched him for a minute, noticing how his brow furrowed in concentration, and how every once in a while he would absently push his hair off of his forehead. It was so wonderful just being able to watch him without being embarrassed, or worrying what someone might think, so she took her time, and decided that she loved him like this, totally unaware of the world around him and focused in on what he was doing.
She watched him run his fingers through his hair again, and she had the sudden urge to run her own fingers through his black locks. They just looked so soft. She grinned evilly to herself. Well, why not? What's the use in being invisible if you can't have any fun with it?
Closing the distance between them with another step, she then reached her hand out and lightly touched the top of his head. He jumped and looked around him, obviously trying to figure out if he'd actually felt something touch him and, if so, what it was. She could barely contain her laughter at the confused look on his face. So, to further amuse herself, she waited until he had looked back down, then took another step forward and snatched his glasses, holding them out in front of her.
She watched as Harry jumped up, obviously startled, and began glaring around him, looking for his glasses. It was too much for Ginny, and she broke into peals of laughter, which just served to startle Harry more.
"Ginny?" he whispered, his eyes wide, obviously trying to see her. "Where are you?"
Still laughing, she managed to say, "right in front of you." She had been about to tell him that she was invisible, but he had headed forward, intent on getting his glasses back. Instead, he bumped into her and sent them both crashing to the ground.
Ginny's laughter stopped abruptly as she became all too aware of Harry on top of her. His face, which had turned a remarkable shade of red, was hovering mere inches from her own. Her heart started pounding and she could feel thousands of snitches flitting about her stomach.
By the look on his face, he could feel her beneath him, even if he couldn't see her. "Um, Gin? Are you invisible?"
"Yeah," she managed, her reply much too throaty for her liking. She was going to lose it and start kissing him and Founders' knew what else if she didn't get him off now! "Uh, here are your glasses," she offered lamely.
He took them from her and put them on, staring down at her--or the ground, depending on how you look at it--for another moment before quickly getting up and walking back to his work. She lay there--disappointed and relieved--before getting up and muttering the counter-spell.
"That the Occultus Spell?" he asked her, his gaze fixed on his work.
Her breathing was still a little too ragged to her own ears, but she was able to mutter, "um, yeah." After taking a steadying breath, she scrutinized him. He still wasn't looking at her, and his face seemed flushed. "How did you know?"
He looked up at her. "We just learned it in Lupin's class."
"Ah."
The room was silent as they stared at each other, not knowing what to say or how to act.
Harry finally broke eye contact and looked back down at his work. "So, um, where'd you learn it?"
Ginny laughed--cool it!--and sat down next to him. "I was studying that Turning book and I really wanted to practice one of the easier ones. Once I managed it, I decided to come down here to see if anyone was still up."
"So since I was the only one here, you decided to harass me?"
She grinned cheekily at him. "I prefer to think of it as 'providing you with a much needed break.'"
"Of course. My mistake. You performed that task admirably, I must say."
She had begun to laugh and when he was done talking, Harry joined in. They reveled in the shared laughter, but eventually they became quiet, and Ginny was aware that Harry had begun to stare at her. She cleared her throat, trying to ignore the embarrassment and longing that his gaze caused in her. "Anyway," she said, eager to start talking again, "that was the first spell I tried."
"Oh?" he asked.
"Yeah," she answered. Is it my imagination, or is he getting closer? She quickly stood up. "Um, so anyway, I think I'll go to bed now." She yawned. "Yes, I'm quite sleepy and all." All she could hope was that she didn't sound half as nervous as she felt.
He stood up also. "Uh, well," he seemed to be stalling, "how is it going anyway? The studying, you know?"
"Hmmm?" she asked, not expecting the question. It seemed to her that he hadn't expected to ask it either. "Oh. Well, it's going fine. Great. It's all very interesting." That was very convincing, I'm sure.
"Really?"
He was getting so close, and all she wanted to do was reach out and hold him to her and never let him go. She took a step back instead and focused on answering his question. "Yes, though it's much more technical than I had anticipated." She grinned at him, feeling a little more confident. Until he grinned back. "You, uh, you have to know lots about A-arithmancy and Astronomy." Run away, run away! She took another step back. He matched it. She needed to escape, and fast. "In fact, why don't I go get the book, and you can see for yourself." Brilliant! Without waiting for his reaction, she bolted from the room and up to her dorm, where she retrieved her book and then made her way back down to the common room--at a much more leisurely pace.
When she arrived back in the common room, Harry was back to sitting in front of the fire. He looked up as she entered and smiled when she sat next to him. She handed him the book, pointing out the basic turning spell. "See?"
He took it from her and looked at it closely, frowning in concentration. "You weren't kidding," he answered after a moment, handing the book back to her. There was a pause as he studied her. "You should give it a go," he said.
"What, now?!" she exclaimed, utterly shocked that he would even suggest it.
"Sure, why not?" he asked, grinning roguishly.
She just couldn't resist that grin. "Ok," she sighed, smiling at him though she was very nervous.
They both stood up and walked to the center of the common room. She was watching him, and he smiled encouragingly. That made her feel a little better so she looked down and focused on the book's instructions.
Before you can Turn, you must learn to focus the magic inside of you. You must learn to feel your body, and to feel your magic. The most effective way of doing this is to close your eyes and to use your other senses. A tingling sensation will let you know that you are ready for the next step, which is to visualize some type of energy. This is usually in the form of a lightening bolt, but for the occasional Turner, it will be a ball of energy. In either case, you must hold onto the energy, for it is a visualization of the magic that is required to perform a Turn. Once the energy has changed to the correct color--which you will know when you see--you must say the incantation, 'Quadrivium' then the exact place and time you wish to Turn to.
Should the spell work correctly, the energy in your hands will become brighter and brighter, until you can see nothing else. The energy will flash extremely brightly, then you will pass out. Thus it is imperative that you cast one of the Invisibility spells before you Turn.
Before you Turn, you must keep in mind that for every month you travel, it will take an hour for the magic to charge up that is required to return home. The spell required to return home is 'Revenio satus.'
Ginny heaved a nervous sigh, then set the book down. She looked over at Harry. "Wish me luck," she said, a shaky grin on her face.
He walked over to her and wrapped her into a hug. "Good luck," he murmured into her hair. Before she knew quite what was happening, he had pulled back slightly, then placed a firm kiss on her lips. She stiffened in surprise, as stars burst behind her eyes and her body crackled at the contact. Almost instantly, however, she returned the kiss with all the passion she had.
It was some time before they broke apart, both breathing heavily and staring dreamily at each other. Ginny managed to snap out of it enough to whisper, "thank you."
She stepped away from him, then pointed her wand at herself and muttered the Occultus Spell. Quickly checking to make sure her entire body was invisible, she closed her eyes and concentrated on feeling the magic within her. It took a few moments of focus before she began to feel her fingers tingle. The feeling moved up through her arms and spread down her torso and through her legs to the tips of her toes. It felt as though her entire body was buzzing and, before she'd quite thought about it, she could see a small flicker of color behind her eye lids. The flicker grew into a steady, though quite dim, thread-like lightening bolt of pure white. She concentrated harder, and the bolt began to grow in size and brightness, until it was about the size of a piece of rope between her two hands. The color began to shift, gradually changing from a pure white color, to a shade of almost blue, then deeper, until it became a sky blue. It didn't stop there, shifting to a blue-green color.
The bolt, it seemed, grew warmer in her hands as the color continued to shift to shades of green that were deeper and richer. It threatened to blind her, but she continued to hold on to it, watching as it grew even more and turned to an emerald color. It reminded her of Harry's eyes, and she suddenly knew she had to say the incantation now. She'd opted to go a month into the past, and under her breath, she muttered the incantation. "Quadrivium viente y cuatro abril mil novecientos noventa y siente ibidum."
Just as she finished the incantation, the lightening bolt in her hands flashed a brilliant shade of emerald and then all went black.
***
The first thing she was aware of was her aching body. Without even opening her eyes, she had assessed that her body felt like it had been hit with a weariness curse then been beaten with a couple of Beaters' bats. She sat up, her eyes still closed, and stifled a groan as her body ached in protest. Once she had steadied herself in a sitting position, she carefully pried both of her eyes open. She was in the Gryffindor common room, and it was nighttime. Her brow knotted in confusion. Did the spell work? As far as she could tell, everything looked exactly the same as she had left it.
Slowly getting to her feet, she surveyed the room more thoroughly. It was empty. Perhaps, then, the spell had worked, as Harry was nowhere in sight. She moved slowly and painfully to one of the chairs in the common room, and virtually fell into it, glad for some comfort for her sore muscles and aching bones, not to mention that pounding in her head. She closed her eyes again, willing all of her aches and pains to go away, with some success.
After the pain had subsided to a dull ache, she opened her eyes and decided to look around, just to confirm that the spell had worked. She'd just stood up when she heard footsteps coming down from the boys' dorm. The door burst open and Harry walked in, obviously distressed. She watched in fascination as he paced restlessly around the common room.
She wanted so badly to go to him and comfort him, but she couldn't. This had already happened, and hopefully whatever had been bothering him had been worked out. So she moved to the edge of the common room, out of his path, and just watched him. It seems I've been doing a lot of that lately. She blushed, but it didn't stop her.
Though he was pacing around the room, she could tell that his mind was focused on something outside of the room. His eyes were unfocused, looking at something that she couldn't see. She was really curious as to what could be bothering him, but she reminded herself again, this time a little more forcefully, that she couldn't go to him.
She couldn't even sigh, because he might hear her, though she somehow doubted he'd be able to hear the cheers from a Qudditch match, let alone a small sigh. But she held it in and continued watching him.
It seemed as though hours had gone by but, in reality, it had only been about a half an hour. Ginny was surprised that Harry was still moving about the common room. Whatever was keeping him up was really disturbing him. She'd started speculating on the cause of his distress, when suddenly he stopped pacing and sat down. She watched with growing interest as he took out a quill and a piece of parchment and began to write. Curiosity got the better of her, and she crept quietly closer to him.
His quill was flying across the parchment, his untidy scrawl taking a moment for her to decipher. When she realized what it was that he was writing, she almost gasped in shock, but narrowly managed to slap her hand over her mouth in time. He's writing poetry to me!
Sure, he'd given her one of his poems on her birthday, but she'd always assumed he'd written it the night before, or maybe a few days before. But it was two weeks before her birthday. She'd never realized that he'd known how he felt about her for that long. She did some quick mental calculations and realized that this was right around the time that he had asked her to help him, Ron, and Hermione out with the prophecy.
I was still with Justin. Her heart went out to Harry. That must have been so hard for him. She felt awful. The minute she got back to her own time, she was going to make sure she gave him a big hug and kiss for going through all that torture, just for her.
She spent the rest of her hour just watching him write. It was really enlightening. Ginny had never known that Harry was so creatively inclined. He had a way with words that astounded and delighted her. She made a mental note to ask him to see some of the other poems when she got back.
The second half of her hour passed much more quickly than the first and, when she had waited a little longer--just in case--she stood and moved back to the middle of the common room. Closing her eyes, she went through the preparation for the incantation. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but it seemed like the process went just a bit quicker this time--she felt her body tingle almost as soon as she closed her eyes, and her lightening bolt seemed to turn emerald-colored quicker. Just before she was blinded by the image of her magic, she whispered, "revenio satus." She experienced the flash again, and, for the second time in as many hours, she passed out.
***
When she became conscious this time, she couldn't stifle the groan that escaped her lips.
"Ginny?"
Reflexively, her eyes snapped open, and she instantly regretted that they had. The light from the common room was painfully bright, and she closed her eyes again. "Yeah?" she groaned, careful to move as little as possible.
"Where are you?"
"On the floor."
"Where on the floor?"
Since her eyes were still closed, she really had no clue. "I don't know. Probably more or less where you last saw me." She thought she heard his feet moving, then decided that her body wouldn't be able to handle it if he tripped over her or something, so she spoke again before he could get too far. "Don't move yet. Let me become visible first."
"I was going to wait anyway." She heard the teasing note in his voice and had to smile. She felt around for her wand and, upon finding it, pointed at herself and muttered the counter-spell.
Almost immediately, she heard Harry rush over to her, and put his arms around her body. Before she could protest, he had picked her up and laid her down on one of the couches in the common room.
Without opening her eyes, she grinned at him. "Thanks."
She heard him chuckle. "No problem." His voice got a little more serious as he continued. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," she answered. "I'm just very sore right now. That Turning business is brutal." She felt his fingers glide over her hair and then caress her cheek soothingly. A soft little murmur escaped her lips before she could stop it. His hands were just so soft, and the way they felt against her skin made her just want to revel in it forever. She opened her eyes, and saw him smiling down at her. She smiled a soft smile. "That feels nice."
"Well, that is the point."
"Hmmm," was all she said in response.
His smile grew wider.
After a moment of just enjoying the feel of his fingers on her face, she made to sit up. With Harry's help, she finally was fully upright. Once she was, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. She hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "you write lovely poems."
His sharp intake of breath allowed her to know that he had understood the significance of that seemingly random comment. He pulled away from her and eyed her. "So you went back in time to that point, huh?"
She nodded. "I didn't stay long. I just watched you for a little while, then came back."
He had an odd sort of look on his face. "It's odd to think you were actually there while I was writing about you." He shivered a bit.
"Yeah," she agreed, musing about the experience herself. There was a pause, then Ginny blushed, thinking maybe she shouldn't have told him. "Um," she said timidly, "I hope that you don't feel, you know, weird about that. I mean, I just picked that day because it was exactly one month ago."
Harry looked at her, and smiled a little. "Well, I feel weird about it," he said slowly, thinking. He noticed her face get a little upset, and he rushed to reassure her. "But it's not in a bad way. It's just . . . odd to think I was being watched. You couldn't have known about that before you went there, anyway. It's not a problem, really."
"Really?" she asked him, her voice quiet.
His smile reached his eyes, and he answered her firmly. "Really."
She sighed with relief and hugged him tight. "Good. I was worried about that."
He returned her hug, communicating to her that he understood.
Pulling away, she grinned at him, which unexpectedly turned into a large yawn. Her grin returned, decidedly sheepish. "Guess I'd better get to bed."
He smiled at her and helped her off the couch, and proceeded to walk her over to the door to the girls' dorm. "Good night Gin," he said, giving her a final hug.
"Night Harry," she replied.
They broke the hug, and Harry watched as Ginny walked through the door, then proceeded to gather up his work and headed for his own bed.
***
The room in the house was cold, and the tall figure was backlit by the fire. Around him were many figures whose faces were hidden behind cloaks, but the tall figure's cold red eyes gleamed in spite of his shadowed face. A man knelt before him, looking at the ground. The tall figure spoke. "Is everything ready?"
"Yes master. The Turner, Virginia Weasley, is aware of her identity. She performed a Turn tonight."
"Excellent. You know what to do. When you have her, bring her here."
"Yes master." The kneeling figure stood and started to
turn around--and Harry Potter was sitting awake in his bed, sweating,
before he'd quite realized he was awake. His eyes were wide and only one
thought came to mind. Ginny!