The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione went to Diagon Alley very early on the following day (much to the dismay of Ron, who wasn't a morning person) to buy all the new things they needed for the new term, like books, extra quills and parchment, and potions ingredients. During the whole day, since Ron and Hermione were kind of on a world of their own, Harry spent most of his time with Ginny. Not that he had anything to complain about it. He soon found out he actually enjoyed Ginny's company. She was pretty funny, and kept teasing Ron about how bedazzled he looked around the newly appointed Gryffindor Prefect Hermione Granger (something Harry had found out the previous night when he and Ron had gone to bed). Ginny's teasing made Ron very angry while making Harry laugh really hard, which in turn made Ron even angrier. And the fact that Ginny was funny wasn't the only thing Harry had noticed. Once again he marvelled at how much Ginny had grown-up since the first time he had seen her at Platform 9 ¾ at King Cross's station, where he was supposed to go into the train to his first year at Hogwarts. But then again, she was only ten years old then; now she was fourteen years old, only a year younger than Harry. Of course, he quickly dismissed these thoughts every time they popped up in his head during all day, only to reappear once more a few moments later.
When they arrived at the Burrow later that afternoon, all of them carrying a lot of bags but not as many bags as Hermione (who seemed to have bought the entire stack of Flourish and Blotts), the boys decided to play some Quidditch before dinner. One of the main reasons for that was that Ron was really hoping to join the Gryffindor House Team this year (the Keeper position was available since the previous Gryffindor Keeper and Captain of the team Oliver Wood had graduated). A few hours later, they were all gathered around the table for dinner when Mr. Weasley Apparated from his office, looking exhausted.
Mrs. Weasley stopped yelling at the boys about their unwashed hands at once, and looked at her husband with a grimace on her face, "How was work today, Arthur? You look pretty tired –," She said sounding concerned.
Mr. Weasley sat on the table and sighed. "Molly, you know that those of us at the Ministry who believe that You-Know-Who has come back are working as hard as we can in secrecy after hours to assure that we will be ready for him this time. Also," Mr. Weasley gave Harry a quick and worried glance, "we had to figure out how we could improve the security at Hogwarts. Some suggested that we used Dementors," and here he gave an almost imperceptible glance at Ginny, "but we know that, since on the year before last they almost performed their mortal Kiss on a simple student, we can't choose them. Besides, Dumbledore believes they will be among You-Know-Who supporters anyway. So we still haven't decided what we are going to do about it."
With that, the table fell silent, most of them thinking about the events on the end of last term at Hogwarts. Cedric Diggory's death and the return of Lord Voldemort were definetly the worst ones. But the parting of ways between Professor Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, who had refused to believe that Voldemort had risen again and to warn the wizard community, also came to mind.
But Harry wasn't thinking about that, even though he should be the most concerned about Lord Voldemort's return. He had noticed Mr. Weasley's almost imperceptible glance towards Ginny. And since Mr. Weasley probably wouldn't tell Harry anything, he decided he should question Ginny about it later, and he kept glancing at her constantly during dinner, until Ginny glanced at him and their eyes locked; Harry decided it was best not to look so much at her after that.
After the dessert, the twins, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went to their bedrooms, while Ron and Hermione went to the Burrow's backyard " – to look at the stars – " according to a surprisingly giggling Hermione. That allowed Harry to approach Ginny safely, since he wasn't so sure Ron would like to see him talking to his little sister, especially because Ginny had had a crush on Harry since the first time they met.
"So, Ginny," Harry stammered, not sure what to say next, or how to ask Ginny about Mr. Weasley behavior during dinner, "Are you enjoying your summer holidays so far?" He had catch up with her before she also went to her bedroom at the living room.
Ginny looked at Harry, suspiciously, without blushing like she used to whenever he talked to her during her first years at Hogwarts, "As much as possible knowing that Voldemort is back."
Harry looked at Ginny quite surprised. "I thought none of you Weasleys liked to call Voldemort by his name." Harry fell on the couch, rather than sat, still surprised, "I myself have been reminded countless times by your brother to call him You-Know-Who."
"Well, I was almost killed by him on my first year at school." She said, sitting down on the couch close to Harry. "Why shouldn't I call him by his name? He almost killed me; but I survived, thanks to you."
Ginny grinned, her eyes sparkling for a moment before her face took a more serious expression. "He almost killed me Harry. The first thing I did when I came back to school on my second year was to find out everything I could about him. It was the least I could do after all the danger I put everybody through because I was such a stupid girl." Ginny had a sad and distant expression on her face then. Harry suspected she hadn't forgiven herself yet for the events on her first year at Hogwarts, when unwillingly she had helped Lord Voldemort open the Chamber of Secrets again and release a very dangerous snake (more precisely a Basilisk) that could have killed any person at Hogwarts. "This knowledge will help me deal with him if I ever happen to meet him again, but only if I manage to control my fear. And that was very clear to me, especially after meeting the Dementors on our way to Hogwarts," she shuddered.
"I don't understand..." Harry looked really puzzled. What did the Dementors, the guards of the wizard prison Azkaban, had anything to do with it?
Ginny risked a glance at Harry and then looked at her hands on her lap, "Sure you don't. You passed out when the Dementors entered our cabin, but even though I didn't pass out, I was also affected by them."
An understanding look settled on Harry's face, "I remember now...Your brother told me that you had been shaking like mad when the Dementor appeared."
"Yeah." Ginny sighed, "That's because I was forced to remember when Tom Riddle led me to the Chamber of Secrets and then appeared in front of me right before I fainted. It was horrible. And when the Dementors entered during your Quidditch match against Hufflepuff I felt the same thing." She looked at Harry from the corner of her eyes, and continued in a rush, "So, when I discovered that Professor Lupin was helping you with the Dementors, I also asked him for help. You're not the only one who is able to conjure up a Patronus, you know..." And once again her eyes were sparkling, while he looked at Harry with a grin on her face. He could detect some pride on her voice.
After a while, Harry added, "Wait, wait a minute...How did you know that Professor Lupin helped me?"
Ginny once again focused on her hands. "Ron accidentally told me during one of the nights you were off Gryffindor Tower with Professor Lupin for practice. After that, I told Professor Lupin about what I felt around the Dementors, as well as what had happened during my first year at Hogwarts. And after much insistence on my part, he finally agreed to help me by teaching me how to conjure up a Patronus." She finished, almost whispering.
Harry couldn't believe his own ears. "You actually know how to conjure up a Patronus? What does your Patronus look like?" He asked, eagerly and excited at the same time.
She blushed for the first time since they began talking. "That doesn't really matter, does it?"
Harry was curious to know about Ginny's Patronus, but he also needed some time to digest all that Ginny had told him. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, "Why did you tell me all that?"
Ginny said simply, "I noticed how you were eyeing me during dinner after Dad had glanced at me when he mentioned the Dementors. I knew you wanted to know what that was all about, and I thought I would spare you the trouble of approaching this..." she thought for a moment, and then added, sarcastically, "rather delicate subject for me."
Harry just loved when Ginny had that mischievous air about her. And on the heels of that thought, Harry wondered if he had just said loved. "Oh. Your Dad know about all that, then?"
"Not really. He just knows I felt bad when the Dementors entered the Hogwarts Express, and that's only because Ron sent him an owl about that." Ginny laughed a bit. "Dad had asked my brothers to keep an eye on me; after all, I had almost died the previous year, and he didn't want to take any chances."
They were silent for a few moments. Harry was thinking how blind and stupid and thick he had been for not realizing before that Ginny was the only person in the world besides himself that had had a near death experience with Lord Voldemort and had lived to tell. Maybe she could be the only person on the world capable of understanding him. And, more importantly, he was possibly the only person capable to help her deal with it and he hadn't done it for the past two years!
Sure the situations were different. Harry had lost both parents and survived only because his mother had died to save him. Ginny had been manipulated by Voldemort's younger self – Tom Riddle –, forced to do things she didn't remembered doing afterwards, risked the life of some Hogwarts students – among them Hermione –, and almost lost her life, but in the end she was saved by him, Harry Potter.
Heck, thinking about it, he had to admit that her experience had been worst than his own. He was only a baby when all that happened, while Ginny was eleven-years old at the time and had understood all that she was going through. All that could've happened. She actually ended up thinking that she was evil, and she had had to cope with that on her own. The only time she tried to talk to someone about it, Percy had dismissed her supposed secret because he was pretty sure it involved him, his girlfriend Penelope, and an empty classroom. Not that Percy had told Harry, Ron and Hermione exactly what he thought that Ginny wanted to talk about with them, but that didn't matter at the moment.
Harry could sympathize with what Ginny had gone through; not only because at that same year he was believed to be the Heir of Slytherin and the one responsible for the Chamber of Secrets opening simply because he was a Parselmouth, which troubled his mind to no end, but also because the Sorting Hat almost had put him in Slytherin on his own Sorting. And, even though nobody had died when Ginny opened the Chamber of Secrets, it was a very near miss, and she clearly blamed herself for that, a feeling that Harry shared. He often blamed himself by the deaths of his parents, especially his mother (if she hadn't got in Voldemort's way to prevent him killing Harry, she could still be alive), and the death of Cedric.
Harry sympathized with Ginny. He knew how she probably had felt around that time, how she probably still felt. And he never had thought about it, always regarding her as Ron's little sister who had had a crush on him since the first time they had met, and who had shrieked every time she met him on his first visit to the Burrow. And if he sympathized and understood her, he knew that the same could be said about her towards him.
Not even Ron or Hermione had the kind of experience or insight that Ginny had. Sure they had gone with him after the Philosopher's Stone, but they never faced Voldemort there. Ron also had gone with Harry to the Chamber of Secrets to help save his sister (Hermione was petrified at the Hogwarts infirmary at that time), but once again he didn't face Voldemort. Not that his best friends were unwilling to face him; Harry knew they would have if they could. After all, when they had been confronted with Sirius Black, whom they believed to be a traitor and a murderer who wanted to kill Harry, Ron had said that to kill Harry Sirius would have to kill all the three of them. Of course that wasn't necessary; at that time they discovered that Sirius wasn't Voldemort's spy – in fact, he was Harry's Godfather. But neither Ron nor Hermione had faced Voldemort. The only people that had, besides Harry, were his parents and Cedric (well, sort of) who were dead now, and little and helpless Ginny, whom Harry had completely overlooked even after the episode at the Chamber of Secrets.
But then, for the first time, Harry finally saw that Ginny wasn't so little – Harry had to admit that she was becoming really cute – and definitely not helpless: she, like himself, was only a teenager, but a very brave teenager who had been forced to deal with things and situations that should be dealt with only by adults. They were no longer kids; they had grown older and wiser. Harry was no longer the boy who had felt embarrassed by receiving a Valentine's card from a girl when he hadn't yet been interested in girls in that romantic sort of way. But now Harry and Ginny had grown up, and their interests and worries had changed.
Harry knew how hard it was on him having all these doubts and troubled thoughts regarding Voldemort, and even though he had possibly the two best friends in the whole world, he had never told them about those. Not even his godfather knew about this. But at least he had his friends to cheer him up when he was feeling sad. Ginny, on the other hand, probably had the same kind of feelings that she never shared with anyone but, unlike Harry, she didn't have friends like Ron and Hermione. Sure she had her brothers Ron, Fred and George, who could be occasionally found around her trying to cheer her up. But that was not the same as a best friend. A best friend knew when you needed to be cheered up, when you needed just company, and when you needed to be left alone, even though not knowing exactly what you were going through. And Ginny didn't have any of that. As far as Harry remembered, she didn't have any best friends. Of course she had friends, but none of them as close to her as Ron was to Harry. Not even Hermione, whom Harry regarded as a very good friend of Ginny, was that close to her.
Harry could be the Boy Who Lived. But at that moment, and probably for the rest of his life, he would consider Ginny the Girl Who Lived. And he knew since that very moment that they would be closer than they had been the past three years, perhaps even more so than he realized.
At that moment, Ron and Hermione entered the Burrow; their faces a little flustered, and jerked Harry out of his reverie, only to notice that Ginny had already left the living room. The three of them climbed the stairs and went to bed.