Harry awoke the next day feeling fresh and oddly satisfied with the world. The birds were merrily chirping outside heralding the start of a glorious new day, the sky was as an endless blue, and the dormitory was peaceful and quiet for once, minus the loud snoring usually coming from Neville's bed. Yes, it was indeed a beautiful day. For once, he didn't have any bad dreams. Well, as far as Harry knew, he hadn't had any dreams the previous night at all. Right now, there was only one image that burned behind his blurry eyes: that of Ginny Weasley smiling down at him from the staircase, her hair fanned out behind her head like wildfire.
He squinted his eyes and blinked several times, pulling himself in an upright position. He reached towards his bedside chest for his glasses and put them on. At once the room came into focus: the empty beds of Seamus, Neville and Dean greeted him, and Ron's bed with the curtains drawn stood to his left. His stomach suddenly did a horrible lurch. How was he going to tell Ron? What exactly was he going to say? Before he could ponder too long, Hedwig flew in through the open window and deposited a rolled up parchment on his lap. Curiously, he opened it, and all thoughts of Ron flew out the window with Hedwig.
Dear Harry,
How are you holding up? I hope you're not letting the recent events get you down.
He sounds like Dumbledore, Harry thought wryly.
I do apologize if my recent letters to you have been nothing but bad news, but I had to keep you updated, as you requested. Now it is my turn to ask for a favour: will you be available on Monday, around lunchtime? I hope so, as we have a lot of catching up to do. I want you to update your Godfather on what you've been up to lately. Making mischief I imagine, though I hope it's good, clean, mischief.
Harry laughed out loud, remembering the prank they had played on Malfoy and his gang.
There will also be a surprise waiting for you, but I won't say anymore, lest I ruin it. I hope this is enough to convince you to cancel any plans you might have on that day. I'll see you in Dumbledore's office on Monday then?
Sirius
Harry leapt out of his bed in delight, bounded over to Ron's bed and threw the hangings aside.
"Ron! Ron! Guess what – " But the bed was empty. Where had all his dorm mates gone? No wonder the dormitory was strangely quiet. He looked over at Dean's clock and saw that it was already ten o'clock. Although students usually slept in on Saturdays, it was also not unusual to find them up and about and having breakfast a little earlier. It was strange though, how his four dorm mates had managed to get out of the room without waking him up. They usually made a lot of noise in the morning. Harry shrugged, and put the episode down to the fact that he must've been too tired to be woken up by their noise – after all, it had been many nights since he'd gotten any decent sleep.
He hurriedly got dressed and ran down to the common room, letter clutched in hand, but only to find no sign of any red hair in there. No sign of bushy brown hair either. The only people in the room were Parvati and Lavender quietly gossiping in one corner, Dean and Seamus playing Exploding Snap, and some of the younger students.
"Where're Ron and Hermione?" He asked Seamus.
"I dunno. Went outside I think."
"Did you sleep well Harry?" Dean asked him. "You were out like a light. You didn't even wake when Neville accidentally tripped over your hangings."
Harry smiled sheepishly. "Just been tired lately, that's all." He saw Parvati and Lavender look at him curiously. "What time did Ron leave?
"About an hour ago. They should be back soon."
And sure enough, just as Harry approached the back of the portrait to search for Ron and Hermione, the hole slid open, revealing his very flushed, and very dishevelled friends.
"Harry!" Hermione squeeked. She seemed a bit out of breath. Ron could only give him funny looks, which puzzled him. Harry looked them over, and was very surprised to find them holding hands. They sensed his stare though, and immediately let go. Hermione looked guilty, but Ron was avoiding his gaze entirely.
"Where have you two been?" he asked.
"Oh you know, out for a walk," Hermione said with a blush. "It being a beautiful day and all." She hid her hands in her pocket and glanced sideways at Ron. Ron now turned to him.
"So, er, did you stay up late last night?"
"Oh, not too late," Harry replied. "In fact, Ginny and I went to bed not long after you."
"You liked Ginny's company, did you?" Ron asked, in a somewhat inquisitorial manner.
"Yeah, I did, actually," Harry confessed.
"Right," Ron said gruffly. He was staring at Harry particularly hard. Hermione cleared her throat.
"I think I'll just go and get changed into something cooler. It's a bit hot in here." With a meaningful look at Ron, she strode past Harry and out of sight.
"Er, right," Ron repeated after her. "Harry – " Ron began, but Harry was too excited to notice his friend's nervous voice.
"Guess what?" He said in a lowered voice. "Sir – I mean Snuffles wrote and told me he's coming to visit!"
"Really?" Ron's eyes brightened at the news. "When?'
"On Monday!"
"Wicked!"
Harry beamed at Ron. "So…did you want to tell me something?" Ron fumbled with his too-short robes.
"No, it doesn't really matter right now."
*****
Funny how time can go really slow when one is looking forward to something. Monday lunchtime had been an agonising wait, and at last, when the moment arrived, Harry found himself in Dumbledore's office in record time – quicker than if his scar had twitched.
Upon reaching Dumbledore's office his heart was beating excitedly, and to still it, he drew in a long steadying breath…and opened the door.
The Headmaster was nowhere to be seen, and the man sitting in the chair by the desk was a complete stranger, though Harry knew him in an instant.
"Sirius!" he exclaimed, and stepped in to greet his godfather. The last few months had certainly been kind to Sirius. His newly-shaven face had filled out, his hair now nicely cropped and clean, and he was wearing fresh clean black robes, certainly a nice change from the raggedy grey ones he had worn when he was on the run.
Sirius' bright blue eyes lit up when he saw Harry, and he quickly got up and embraced him in a fatherly way, which left Harry feeling awkward. He released his grip and surveyed him at arms' length.
"It's so nice to see you, Harry! My God you're getting taller!" Sirius said with a laugh. It was true that Harry had grown a few inches over the summer, and he found it weird to be almost at eye level with Sirius. His godfather motioned for him to sit, which Harry was only too happy to do. Once seated, the two launched into a discussion on what each had been doing over the past months.
"Well, Remus and I have been busy, like I told you," Sirius explained, "and we recently found out that the Death Eaters are planning something big, though we don't know for sure where and when they'll attack next." Sirius face darkened when he mentioned the words "Death Eaters".
"Do you think they'll attack Hogwarts?" Harry asked. Sirius hesitated for a moment, before answering him.
"It's a possibility," he said quietly. "But thanks to you, we'll have a chance of stopping them before they actually do anything." Harry had a sneaking suspicion that this was the purpose of Sirius' visit.
"Dumbledore told you about my scar, did he?"
"Yes."
"Is that why…?
"No, that's not the reason why I'm here," Sirius grinned (though somewhat painfully), reading Harry's thoughts. "Like I said, I wanted to see how you were, and…" Sirius beamed and fished out something from his pocket. It was a tiny brown thing, but as soon as Sirius held it out to him, it magically expanded into a handsome something. It looked like as though it were made of dragon hide. "Surprise!" Sirius finished off triumphantly.
"Oh. Th-thanks," Harry stammered. "But what is it?"
Sirius laughed. "Just go on and take it and see for yourself!"
Harry grabbed the thing off Sirius' outstretched hand, and it suddenly opened up in his palm. It looked like some sort of diary. On the front were emblazoned the words MWPP Chronicles: 1972 – 1978 in purple ink. Harry, fascinated and excited, turned the next page. A miniature copy of the Marauder's Map was spread on it, with two figures moving about like a cartoon drawing: a tiny "Sirius Black" chasing a tiny "Severus Snape" with (what looked like) his bottom caught on fire, through the dungeons. Harry laughed out loud and stared at Sirius questioningly.
"We put that together in our final year as a way to look back on those days," Sirius answered. "Rather ingenious idea of your sentimental father, actually. Of course, it helped a lot during those days…" Sirius' voice shook a bit, and Harry immediately dropped his gaze. He turned the book again, and read the heading The Curse of the Bogies, underneath which the incantation for the spell was written, and when, where and who it was performed on, and the results. Harry immediately thought of Ron, who had vowed in their first year to learn the curse for use on Neville and Hermione, if they did anything to get them in trouble for duelling with Malfoy. He could just imagine the look on Ron's face if he knew that such a curse actually existed. He inspected the other pages, and found diagrams, anecdotes and even pictures, of his father and his friends.
"Sirius…I'm not sure what to say." Harry looked at his godfather and felt gratitude so deep he couldn't formulate it into words.
"You don't have to say anything. It's yours now. It was our dream to raise a new generation of Marauders. I dare say you might find that more than useful." Sirius winked.
"What?" Harry couldn't believe what he heard.
"Seriously. I reckon you ought to have as much fun as you possibly could this year, wouldn't you think?" Sirius said this brightly, though Harry detected the sadness in his voice. Why is everyone telling me to have fun? It's not like I don't… Harry somehow had the feeling that Sirius and Dumbledore had been exchanging too many owls.
He continued to turn the pages until something caught his breath. It was a picture of his parents, under the heading Graduation Day: 1978. James had his arm around a camera-shy Lily, who was trying to evade his kisses. They looked so young and blissfully happy. Harry stared at it until it started to swim in front of him from the tears that were rapidly filling up his eyes.
"They were the best people you could ever have known." Sirius' voice brought his attention back to the present, and Harry had to fight to keep the tears from falling. He looked into Sirius' eyes, and he had that deadened look again, as if he were somewhere far away. Harry didn't know how to reply, so he remained silent. He turned the page one final time, and discovered it was blank – in fact the rest of the book was now empty.
"Oh." That's it? He thought disappointedly.
"That was deliberately left blank," Sirius explained, sensing Harry's disappointment. "James was going to put photos of their wedding as well as photos of you as a baby to document your childhood – but he never got around to it." He sighed deeply and shut his eyes for a few moments, as if collecting his thoughts. Harry used the opportunity to quickly wipe his eyes. When Sirius' eyes opened again, he smiled. "Now Harry, it's your turn to fill those pages. I want you to have something good to look back on. Something that'll help you forget, even for a second, the troubles in your life. God knows how much help that was to us," he indicated at the book, and his eyes were shining with tears.
"Thanks Sirius," was all Harry could croak.
"Anytime." Sirius reached over and squeezed his shoulder. Then he looked at his watch and announced that Dumbledore would be coming back soon, and that he had to go. But before Sirius could even stand up to transform, Harry suddenly spoke up.
"Er, Sirius?" He was unsure how to even approach the subject. Sirius looked at him expectantly, and Harry mumbled, "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." Sirius sat back down.
"Um…my parents – they were really in love, weren't they?"
"Totally, absolutely, and hopelessly," Sirius replied with a grin.
"How would you know that?" Harry blurted. Sirius looked at him oddly.
"It was obvious."
Harry rephrased the question. "I mean, how would you know if you were in love?" There. It was out. Harry felt a good sense of relief come over him. A knowing look passed over Sirius' eyes.
"Oh, Harry, I'm afraid I'm not the best person to ask on that matter. But," he added, seeing the anxious look on Harry's face, "I once asked your father the same question when he kept falling all over Lily, and you know what his answer was?" Harry shook his head. "You just know."
*****
The next Hogsmeade visit was announced the morning after, and the Gryffindor common room was abuzz with excitement. However, while practically every student was busy discussing their plans for the upcoming village visit, two people remained oblivious to the furore. Harry had become aware, in fact he had been aware for several days now, that Ron and Hermione were not acting like their usual selves. While outwardly they displayed the same enthusiasm as everyone else, when they were alone they would heatedly discuss something in whispers, look furtively at Harry, then start whispering again. Harry had caught them on a number of occasions touching each other in places they had never previously touched: Ron's hand on Hermione's knee, Hermione's hand stroking the back of Ron's neck, Ron absentmindedly tidying Hermione's hair…
It wasn't just his two best friends' behaviour that puzzled him, but Ginny's as well. Firstly, he frequently saw her having private discussions with Hermione, looking suspiciously as though they were up to something – something that somehow involved him. The day before, he had heard Hermione say to Ginny in a whisper (though it was loud enough for Harry to hear) "So when are you going to do it?" He had no idea what it was about, but it made him nervous. Secondly, every time Ron and Hermione would go off somewhere to be alone, Ginny would somehow be around (conveniently it seems) to keep him company. If this was some type of set-up on Hermione's part he hoped that Ron was in the dark about it. However, he knew that Ron was bound to find out sooner or later.
Right now, Harry sat at a corner table pretending to do his History of Magic essay while secretly watching Ron and Hermione out of the corner of his eyes. They were whispering again, sneaking looks over Harry's direction when they thought he wasn't aware of it. He noticed they were holding hands again, but they tried to conceal it by placing a cushion on top of them. But Harry was no fool. He had known about their relationship for three days now. He held up his parchment on the pretence of inspecting what he had written, and laughed silently. Those two are so transparent.
"Harry?"
Harry looked over his parchment at Ron's pale face. Here we go. He saw Hermione disappear up the girls' staircase.
"We need to talk Harry."
He merely nodded and followed Ron to a deserted corner. Ron had a set, determined look on him. "Harry," he began. "What I'm about to tell you may come as a shock…" Ron looked around nervously to double check that no one was listening. "But I…well we…"
"We?"
"Yes, we, well me, at the moment."
"Ron – "
"No Harry, don't interrupt. I have to tell you."
"Ron, I – "
"You're going to find out anyway, and I'd rather you found out from me."
"Yes about that Ron, see a few nights ago – "
"Please Harry let me finish." Ron was starting to get agitated. "For the past few days Hermione and I…" he made a face of frustration. "Well sod it with the explanations! Harry, Hermione and I are a couple." Harry didn't react. Ron looked put out. "Well?" he demanded.
"Ron, you git, I know!"
Ron looked dumbfounded. "You know?"
Harry laughed. "You two weren't exactly discreet about it!" Ron looked highly embarrassed.
"You could've saved me the embarrassment of telling you!" he said indignantly. Harry shook his head with a smile.
"That's why I kept interrupting you, you twit! But you were too fired up." This time Ron laughed, but he seemed at a loss for words.
"So you finally made a move."
"Yeah." Ron looked more sombre now. "You don't mind, do you Harry?"
"Why would I mind?"
"I don't know. We thought you might feel…weird or something."
"Ron, don't be ridiculous. I don't mind at all. And I'm happy for you both." Ron's face lit up at his approval. Then he looked at Harry curiously.
"How long have you known?"
"Since that night I had detention with Malfoy." Ron looked at him thoughtfully. Harry could practically see the wheels of understanding turning in his head. Then Ron's eyes widened.
"That was you?" he gasped. Harry doubled over in laughter. After staring at him in bewilderment, Ron joined him. Once their laughter subsided he chose the moment (and Ron's good mood) to drop his own bombshell.
"Ron, I've got a confession to make," he said quietly.
"Yeah, I know." Ron looked at him with a deadpan expression. "Ginny, right?"
Now it was Harry's turn to look surprised. "I've been as obvious as you and Hermione have I?" he asked with an embarrassed grin.
"Not exactly." Ron grinned mischievously. "Remember that night? You, me and Ginny doing homework here?" Harry looked at him suspiciously.
"Yeees," he said slowly.
"Well, I didn't really go to bed like I said I would." There was a moment's silence. Harry didn't know whether to get angry with Ron or to laugh at how things have worked out. In the end he let out a strangled sound that was both a laugh and a grunt. Ron just folded his arms and arched his eyebrows.
"So what have you got to say for yourself, Harry Potter?" Harry shrank in his seat.
"Ron, first of all, I want to tell you that I have good intentions towards your sister." Ron scowled slightly.
"Anything else you want to say?"
Harry swallowed. "Um…I think Ginny's great and I would never do anything to hurt her." Ron didn't look convinced. Harry sighed, silently admitting defeat. "OK Ron. I want to know if my liking Ginny bothers you."
"Bother me? Of course it bothers me! But you want to know what bothers me most?" Harry felt completely miserable.
"What?"
"When are you going to make your move already?" He looked at Ron in surprise, hardly believing his ears.
"So?" Ron asked with a smirk.
"So…you're OK with it?" He was wondering whether there was a catch.
"I didn't say I was OK with it! But since she's liked you for ages, and since it's blindingly obvious that you feel the same way, I want you to tell her." Ron looked him straight in the eyes. "I don't want her to be lead on, Harry."
"Ron, I would never lead her on," Harry protested. Ron seemed to not have heard.
"And although I'm giving you permission to pursue her, it doesn't mean that I'm going to be entirely comfortable with seeing you two snogging all over the place, so just don't, OK?" Harry rolled his eyes.
"Any more conditions?"
"If you upset her then I'm going to be forced to act. Got that clear, Potter?"
"Clear as day, Weasley."
*****
Finding Ginny was no mean feat. To save himself the trouble, Harry simply took out the Marauder's Map and scanned its entire contents for her little labelled dot.
He found her in the library, working on some homework with her dorm mates. When they saw Harry approaching, they looked up in surprise, looked at Ginny wide eyed, made gestures which Harry didn't really want to know about considering his current state of nervousness, and made a hasty retreat out of the library. Once she was alone Ginny visibly stiffened in her seat, but she didn't turn around. Harry cautiously made his way to her table and sat himself down opposite her. He was silently grateful that there was a desk in front of him in which he could hide his hands, which were shaking uncontrollably.
Ginny feigned a look of surprise at the sight of him but Harry knew this was just for show: her face was redder than a beetroot. He smiled shyly at her, which to Ginny looked a little more like a grimace.
"Hey," he croaked.
"Hey," she managed to croak back.
"Homework huh?"
"Yeah, homework." She busily rummaged through her bag in a futile attempt to hide her blush.
"What subject?"
"Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"Oh." He desperately cast his eyes around for a wittier subject of conversation. They focused on a nearby textbook: Impervious to the 'Imperio' – How to Overcome the Imperious Curse.
"Moody put us under that curse last year," he commented.
"Yeah I heard about that," she said, suddenly smiling. "And I heard you were able to throw it off entirely."
"Not until I broke my knee first, though," he replied with a laugh.
"Maybe you can show me how? How did you do it?" she asked eagerly, the red tint gradually easing off her face.
"No problem Gin." Harry launched into an enthusiastic explanation, hands still secretly shaking under the desk. "At first when you're under the spell, you feel all dreamy and calm, and you forget all your problems and pain, but the trick is to ignore the person's voice in the back of your head as much as you can and -- will you go out with me?" He crossed his fingers. For a few seconds Ginny looked utterly confused, but her eyes suddenly widened and her blush returned in all its fury.
"I…I beg your pardon, Harry?" she whispered shakily.
Harry himself reddened, cleared his throat, and said in a slower, more audible voice, "Um, will you, er, go out with me?"
Ginny was floored. She stared at him dumbly for a few seconds and finally said, "Well, of course Harry!" Harry laughed with relief and Ginny laughed with him. Finally, he cleared his throat.
"The Hogsmeade trip is coming up, as you know. I was wondering if you'd like to come with me, Ron and Hermione to double date or something?"
"That's a lovely idea Harry, I'd love to come!"
*****
The mood and conversation was much lighter as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry offered to carry her books, which Ginny reluctantly agreed to, blushing to the roots of her hair. He then bravely took her hand and held it. To his surprise and delight, Ginny's fingers closed around his and gave his hand a squeeze. They walked in blissful silence until they neared the Fat Lady's portrait, where they stopped and faced each other.
"Well, where to now, Miss Weasley?" he asked her, nodding in the direction of their common room. "D'you think we should tell them or wait a little longer?" Ginny thought it over.
"We could wait until tomorrow…although Hermione may have figured it out since we've been gone a while."
"Yeah, nothing gets past Hermione."
Ginny took a deep, uncertain breath. "Actually, Harry, there's a few things you need to know. One of them concerns Hermione."
"Uh oh. Skeletons in the closet time, is it?" he asked jokingly.
"Not exactly. But I think we should at least get things out in the open before we go in there and make it publicly official, don't you think?"
"Yeah I suppose," he agreed. "What about Hermione?"
"She's been trying to set us up ever since start of term." Harry looked at her incredulously.
"She has?"
"Why do you think we've been left alone so many times in the past few days?"
"But Ron –"
"Knows nothing about it, typically. He'd been too wrapped up in Hermione to notice."
"Oh, but he's not as clueless as you think," he said with a smile, and then he launched into an explanation of how Ron had spied on them a few nights ago. Ginny couldn't suppress a laugh.
"That sneaky bugger!"
"And now it's my turn to confess," he announced abruptly. The blush started to creep in his cheeks again. "Remember that card you gave me over the summer?" Ginny nodded. "Well, I've secretly kept it under my pillow for a while now, but I didn't really realise what compelled me to do it – until a few days ago." He squeezed Ginny's hand and kissed it lightly. Ginny shivered in spite of herself.
"That's so sweet Harry," she murmured. Harry looked at her tenderly and stroked her cheek.
"So, shall we go in?" He began to lead her over to the Fat Lady, but Ginny pulled him back.
"Wait, Harry. There's one more thing."
"One more deep dark secret, huh?" Harry pulled her closer and tickled her.
"Yeah, you can say that."
"So let's hear it then, Miss Weasley." For the second time that night, Ginny drew in another nervous breath.
"Remember that letter that Malfoy faked?" She asked in a high-pitched voice. Harry looked at her in surprise.
"You're not still on about that are you Gin?" Ginny nodded sombrely. "Don't worry about it, Gin. It was just a silly letter. Quite immature of Malfoy, really," he said disdainfully. Ginny's face fell. "What's wrong?"
"Well, that's just it, Harry," she said in a small voice. "Malfoy didn't write it." Harry looked perplexed.
"Then who did?"
"I wrote it." There was a few seconds of shocked silence. Then Harry laughed.
"Yeah, very funny, Weasley!" Ginny didn't reply, but just continued to look at him morosely. The smile was quickly wiped off his face, and he immediately reddened. "Oh," he said, looking away.
"I wrote it to myself," Ginny explained quietly. "But it ended up in the laundry, where Dobby picked it up, and, well, you know the rest." Harry nodded, but was at a loss for words. Ginny didn't know what else to say, so she settled for the first thing that came to her head. "I'm sorry." To her surprise, Harry smiled and hugged her.
"There's nothing to be sorry for, silly," he whispered in her ear. "I quite fancy myself as a sex symbol." Ginny snorted.
"In your dreams, Harry Potter!"
Harry laughed, and, taking Ginny's hand, they walked towards the Fat Lady and into the common room.
The End.
Authors Notes: Well, here's the final chapter, hope you all enjoyed it! Now the big thank-you's to those of you who reviewed: Lord Tiger, Cricket, Jaguar's Revenge, Kiwi, Carly, AgiVega, Southpaw Jenn, TigerLily, Trina, Chryslin, Spitfyre, Kitty, Lilyluna, PinkRabidMonkey, Amanda, Jessica Organa Solo, Hermie13, Your Worst Nightmare, Mike Potter, Sakura, hp Groupies, Princess of Mordor, Someone special.
Author's Notes Part 2: I forgot to thank those who reviewed the previous story, Open Your Heart. So a big thank you to: Margo, Sugartwist, Rinua 3 Squall, Kewl, Someone Special, Lord Tiger VII, kozmickgrrl, Carly, SouthPawJenn, Seadach, Zgurl, maidmarian62, gentle, JilseponieAngel, Cassie Alpha, Sky Lance, Whirling Fire, grbqrl, whatever, PeachyLaura, Tai's Gurl, Fredlover 4 ever, Jessica Organa Solo, Ming Li, Fallon, Mrs. Michael Medcovitz, Lily, Amanda, Writer Angel, Margo, Mandi, Gwena, Dark Sorceress, Kat.