Crash And Burn
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Same stuff as usual.
Author's Note: Thank you to my reviewers! I promise that there's gonna be some action soon. You'll find out exactly what's up with Harry and Ginny in this chapter too. Read on!
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Harry was the first to hear it. Water was running in the sinks again. Alarms were going off. He opened his eyes and found that Ginny was right there next to him, still asleep, the same angelic face he had thought about for so long. He kissed her forehead before shaking her shoulders a bit. "Come on hun. Time to wake up."
Ginny groaned a bit before opening her eyes. She smiled when she saw Harry was there. She blushed a bit, uncertain about what had happened the night before. "Hi. What time is it anyway?"
He chuckled a bit and kissed her forehead again. "Time to get up hun. How about I meet you down here after we change and we go to breakfast together?"
She looked up into his eyes and saw that he knew last night was no passing matter. She saw the love in his eyes. She smiled again, tilting her head up and kissing him. "Alright. I'll make sure to have that pain reliever readily available."
"Why," he asked, a faint smile on his face. He knew what she was worried about. He also heard what Ron said to Hermione last night.
"Cause when my brother sees us together he's gonna go after you then come after me."
Harry laughed a bit before getting up. The two of them parted ways and went to their respective dorm rooms. The first thing Ginny did was jump on her bed and let out a squeal that she was sure everyone else could hear. Sure enough running in comes Hermione, that Head Girl what's going on here look on her face. Then she saw it was Ginny and she broke into laughter.
"I take it things went well last night," she asked, a huge smile on her face.
Ginny just nodded and let out another squeal. "Yep! It was definitely fireworks. Definitely."
Hermione just sat there and laughed. "Well finally! Ron and I kinda figured something was going on. You two have been spending an awful lot of time together lately," giving the care to share gossipy look.
Ginny thought about it. "Yeah. He helped me out on my homework a few days ago and everything just went from there. The more time we spent together the more we realized how we felt about each other and everything came together last night." She smiled at that, remembering last night. She was sure she wouldn't be forgetting it any time soon.
Hermione just raised and eyebrow, concluding what must have happened. "Well, you'd better get ready then. I expect he'll be waiting for you to go to breakfast and you know how the boys get when they're hungry." Both girls giggled a bit before Ginny headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. She came out, got dressed, and used a charm so that her hair dried perfectly, and ran down the stairs, books in her bag.
She got to the top of the stairs and saw Harry waiting for her there, Ron still waiting for Hermione next to him. She didn't care that her brother was there either. She ran down the stairs, dropped her books, and jumped on Harry, giving him a kiss before backing away a bit and smiling shyly. "Morning," she said.
Harry just laughed a bit before pulling her into a hug, his arms around her waist. He kissed her forehead and smiled back at her. "Morning." Then the two of them turned to Ron, who had a bemused expression on his face. He thought about pulling the big brother routine for kicks but he saw how happy they were and decided against it.
"Well finally mate! You've only been going on about my sister for the entire summer! It was only a matter of time really." He patted Harry's back and started laughing as Harry's face went red and Ginny started laughing. Just then Hermione came down the stairs and saw the scene. Her eyes connected with Ginny and she winked before running to Ron and doing much as Ginny had done before. The four of them just stood there talking while the rest of the common room filled up with people staring and whispering. The four knew what was going to greet them at breakfast that day, and headed downstairs to the Great Hall, expecting exactly what would come.
Harry and Ginny walked in hand in hand and headed to the Gryffindor table amidst murmurs and stare. One stare, however, was more piercing than most. It came from a certain Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang. She had been keeping Harry on a string ever since fourth year. She liked the attention it brought her and she liked keeping him in her wing. Now it appeared as though he had forgotten about her, and she wasn't about to let that happen. She'd show Harry. Show him and everyone that Cho Chang was not one to be messed with. And her opportunity came in the hall on the way to Care Of Magical Creatures.
Harry and Ginny were walking side by side, talking about what they'd just went over in the Study of Ancient Runes and trying to figure out what McGonagall would be having them do in their first Animagi class. Cho was walking the opposite way towards the North Tower for Divination. She purposely bumped into Ginny.
"Watch where you're going little girl," she snapped, glaring at Ginny.
Ginny just stared bemusedly back. "Right Cho. Now if you'll stop with the petty first year pranks and tell me what's going on, we can get past this right now. That is, unless you want to embarrass yourself further." She felt Harry's hand go on her shoulder protectively. She turned around a bit and looked at him. "Let me handle this hun. It's between her and I." He nodded, backing away a bit but still keeping a close eye on the situation.
Ginny turned back to Cho. "You know what I think your problem is Chang? I think you're jealous. Jealous because I'm going out with Harry and you were too snide to ask him out yourself when you had the chance and now you're mad cause you don't have him." Ginny got a satisfied look on her face as she watched Cho's expression get more and more deadly, the heat rising in her cheeks as the anger was there.
Cho didn't hesitate a moment. She whipped out her wand and shouted "Expellarimus!", sending the spell towards her.
Ginny got a bored expression on her face and took out her wand, lazily drawling out "Reflecto incantatum." A mirror like shield drew up in front of her and Cho's spell bounced off and went right back to her, knocking Cho back into a wall.
Cho struggled to get back up, glaring at Ginny. Ginny said "Finite incantatum" and the shield went away. Then she walked right up to Cho, putting the tip of her wand into Cho's chest and said "Now you leave Harry and me alone or I swear to you on my ancestors I'll turn you into a permanently bouncing ferret." She smirked and turned around, going back to Harry who was trying to bite back his laughter and not doing a very good job. Ginny had huge smile plastered on her face. She picked up her books and the pair headed to Care Of Magical Creatures.
Meanwhile Cho had stood up from where she had landed and was glaring daggers into the backs of the fading pair. "I'll get you Weasley. Potter is mine."
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Ginny and Harry were sitting at dinner when their next surprise came. A letter from Dumbledore landed in front of them attached to a very pretty owl. They untied the letter, Ginny giving the owl some drink and Harry some of his bacon, and the owl twittered happily before heading off. The front of the envelope said Ms. Virginia Weasley and Mr. Harry Potter. Shrugging, the two of them opened the envelope and read on.
Dear Harry and Ginny,
I expect you'll both be wondering why I sent you this letter. It is to call your attention to a certain prophecy. It is enclosed on the next piece of parchment. We believe that it may relate to the two of you but we may not be able to test this until Christmas Break. Harry, as you are always here, I expect that this will not be a problem. Ginny, I have already requested this of your parents. I expect that you will be receiving a letter from them soon. I cannot stress enough how much you need to keep this a secret, even from those closest to you. If you have any questions, please owl me.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Harry and Ginny just stared at each other before noticing the look that Ron and Hermione were giving them. "Later" the both of them mouthed before going on to the other piece of parchment in the envelope. It looked to be more of a tale than anything, but as they read the realized what was in store. They also got a sinking feeling that it would turn out to be them in the end that the prophecy really was talking about. Grimly, they turned to each other before reading the prophecy again.
In the time of King Arthur, the magical world was in turmoil. The gods were at war, much as the mortals were. There stood a pair which could stop this war if only given the chance. One was Merlin, most trusted advisor and the highest wizard of the time. The other was a peasant girl, a young woman with fair skin, red hair like the sun. The two were destined to be together, yet it took an unfortunate incident for this to come to pass.
A day when the clash became at its greatest, Mordrid, bastard son of Hades, was charging through the Earth, wreaking havoc and mayhem everywhere, death and destruction in his path. He came upon a small farming community a bit of a ways away from Camelot. His eyes saw nothing but land to be wasted, flesh to be sliced, bodies to be strewn. And so he came, hellfire with him, and ransacked the village. All that was left when he was done was one solitary girl, one girl he could not kill. That red haired lass. She had laid waste to half his army single handedly. Nobody knew how. She carried no weapon, brought no fire. And up until then, nobody had known that women could possess such an amount of magical power. He instead tried to capture her, but she called to her a horse, white as a fresh winter snow. She mounted, the horse rearing up on its hind legs. As she rode off, dragon in tow, she turned quickly once and shouted "I swear on my ancestors you will pay for this with your blood, and it shall flow from the cut of my hand." She spun around again and was off, leaving half an army dead, her world and life behind.
She rode all night to Camelot, praying that the great Merlin would help her in her quest, for he was the only one she knew of who could possess such power as she might have shown. Weary as she rode up to the gate the next day, she requested entrance into Camelot and was immediately accepted, with a note to be given to her that Merlin wished to meet this woman. Steeling herself, she rode up to the castle. She encountered Merlin immediately. "So," he said, "the witch who would be my match has come to Camelot. Come Lady Epona. We must make haste."
"And quickly so. Mordrid is riding on Camelot and he is not happy with what I have done. He knows I am coming here and will stop and nothing to vanquish me. We need to find a way to lay waste to him and his army, once and for all. It is only a matter of hours before he is here."
"There is one way. Only one, and it needs to be performed with the combined powers of two."
"And so it shall be. Come, we haven't much time."
The two apparated outside the castle walls. The could feel the earth rumbling under the beating of thousands of hooves. Moments later they saw Mordrid's army pour over the crest of the hill. They could hear screaming and shouting inside, people panicking as they heard Mordrid's army approaching. Together Merlin and Epona stood their ground, each with one hand on Merlin's wand, and they began chanting a spell.
Evil lord you are now banished
Go now to the place from whence you came
Your army is now vanquished
Your quest at an end
And you and condemned to hell
Over and over they repeated these words, eyes closed and magic being focused through the wand. Suddenly a jet of light shot out of the wand and up to the sky above where Mordrid and his army were. A crack of thunder came and lightning lit up the sky. A small portal began to open, the red and black swirling methodically until it opened up over Mordrid. A terrible scream, unlike any that had ever been heard before, broke through the night, disturbing the odd subtle peace that had come over them. What followed that scream was even more horrifying than any could imagine.
Mordrid and his army appeared to be burning, yet flames could not be seen. Their bodies were being turned to ash and the cloud of this ash swirling up into the portal. They could see the souls being pulled into this tornado from hell, the souls desperately trying to hold on to what was their former home. Their tortured screams finally began to fade and soon the portal was closed, the screams were gone, and the army that had so devastated the earth was now in their final resting place.
Merlin and Epona decided that this wand would be hidden away, to be used when a threat such as this was once again reborn. Hidden at the base of the center stone at Stonehenge is a small lock which can only be opened by the true pair to hold this wand. They must prick their finger and allow their blood to drop once onto the sacred stone. Only then will it open to reveal this wand. This unlocking will call together the army and the Dark Lord who torments the earth. This pair must recite the incantation which Merlin and Epona originally recited and the threat will be gone. This pair must be like the original. Merlin, hair like a raven, green eyes like pools of jade. And the girl, Epona, red hair like flame, brown eyes like chocolate. They must find each other before the Yule night when the threat is highest or risk losing the chance forever.
Ginny and Harry nodded to each other, the realization already evident in their eyes. Of all the people on the earth it had to be to end this reign of terror, it had to be them. And Voldemort's threat was at its highest, with nightly and sometimes daily attacks on villages, people dying left and right, the Ministry only able to hold them off, not able to finally break his army. They knew in their hearts what would happen, knew that they truly were the ones it talked about. Suddenly dinner didn't seem so appealing and both got up silently, their faces masking the terror both felt at what they were going to have to do. Ron and Hermione watched them leave, Hermione keeping a hand on Ron's shoulder to stop him from running after the two. "Let them go Ron. I'm sure when they can they'll tell us what's going on. Right now they probably need to sort things out. Just let them be." She squeezed his hand, letting him know she was feeling the same too. He sighed resignedly, pushing his food around his plate. "I just hope things come out soon."
Ginny and Harry headed out to their willow tree on their hill, watching the sunset before going to their Animagi class. Harry leaned on the tree, Ginny against him, his arms around her waist, their fingers intertwined. They sat there like that for a while, not talking, both in their own thoughts. Then Ginny broke the silence. "Well, on the up side, I'll only have to take that wretched potion until Yule time." She started giggling, trying to suppress the laugh that threatened to break through. She supposed that this should be a serious time, but she felt Harry shaking with laughter behind her and both broke into a laughing fit, not caring if they sounded like fools.
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Cho stormed down the hall. How dare he turn her away! She was so furious that she didn't see where she was going and ran straight into Draco Malfoy. She looked at who she had run into and smiled. "Just the person I wanted to see. Malfoy, I have a proposition for you."
Malfoy smirked. "And that would be? A bit jealous of the youngest Weasley are we? Took away your precious Potter toy?"
"Don't play games with me Malfoy. Like I said I have a proposition for you. I'm tired of being pitied. Tired of being second place to everyone. And now Potter has turned his back on me."
Malfoy looked less than amused. "And this has what to do with me?"
Cho growled at him, fire and fury flashing in her eyes. "Shut up you stupid prat and let me finish. You get me in with Voldemort. You get me in and get me to become a Death Eater and I'll give you Potter's head on a silver platter."
Malfoy looked at her, his characteristic smirk back on his face. "And what exactly do you plan to do with the little Weasley, if I may ask?"
Cho grinned evilly. "Something special. Something to make her wish she was dead. She'll pay for taking away my Potter. Pay with her soul."