Chapter Three

The Vault

Harry opened the door revealing a stone staircase that led them underground at least four or five meters.
Harry immediately pulled out his wand and said "LUMOS!", starting down the stairs without a thought. Ginny also lit her wand and continued down the staircase close behind Harry.
At the end of the stairs stood another large metal door. Harry checked the knob; it wasn't locked. He turned back to Ginny with a look of pure joy on his face, like a third year entering Honeydukes for the first time.
Harry opened the door and pushed away the cobwebs covering the entrance to the room. As they entered, a torchlight suddenly lit up next to the doorway, lighting the entire room. It was much larger than Harry expected it to be. He always imagined it to be a small, claustrophobic room, with a few books here and there.
Nothing could have been further from the truth. The room was huge. Shelves lined every inch of the walls, covered in dust and cobwebbing. A large library table filled the center of the room. Quills, parchment, several books, and ink were strewn all over the desk.
"Amazing!" Ginny squealed, as she immediately went to the shelves of books, reading title after title through the dust.
Harry wandered about the room some more, gliding his fingers through dust and cobwebs, trying to get a feeling of what it was like for his mother to be down there as she was studying the ancient books.
He looked back to Ginny, who was scanning the shelves almost madly for another book. She already had three in her arms.
He tried not to laugh. "I take it you found a few interesting reads?"
Ginny looked at him with wide eyes. It reminded him of Hermione finding a book in the Hogwarts Library that she had never read.
"Well, if we're gonna be cooped up here for a while, I might as well make the most of it." she said grinning.
Harry grinned back at her. He was thankful to have found a nice diversion for her while they stayed at the cottage.

* * *

"This is the smallest oven I've ever seen!" Ginny said, as she tried to stuff a whole chicken in the microwave. In frustration of not getting it to work, she pulled out her wand to cast a heating spell.
"No! Wait!" Harry yelled, jumping over from the potatoes he was peeling, grabbing the wand from her hand. "That's not an oven, it's a microwave. You'll probably blow it up if you cast a spell on it!"
"What's a microwave?"
"A microwave?!" Harry said surprised. He shook his head and laughed. "I forget sometimes that you aren't entirely familiar with muggle appliances."
Ginny smiled to herself. "True, this was much more down dad's alley than mine." she said thinking thoughtfully of her father. "He could go on for hours about muggles. I rather miss that sometimes.'
"Yeah, he did love anything to do with 'ekeltricity'." Harry said jokingly. They both laughed at the happy memories as he helped her put the chicken into the real oven.
Their laughter continued over dinner. Ginny went on again about people at school, and Harry updated her on his friends.
"I even heard that Neville is dating Pavarti Patil now. Is that really true?" Ginny asked Harry, fascinated by the thought.
Harry chuckled. "Actually, it is. I guess once he grew out of his awkward stage, Pavarti couldn't resist."
Ginny giggled as she said teasingly, "Ah yes, Neville always was quite the charmer you know . . . "
Harry feigned a jealous look and tried to pinch her across the table, but Ginny pulled away quickly, nearly falling from her own chair. This made them laugh even harder.
I t had been nearly a year since Harry had actually sat down with Ginny and had any fun with her. Harry had nearly forgotten how much he had loved just being with Ginny. He enjoyed the fact that he could just be himself, and not the 'famous Harry Potter'. They could always laugh and play around with each other easily. It made him realize how much he really missed her over the last year.

"So, tell me about Hagrid and Olympe," Harry said, taking their plates back to the kitchen. "I heard that Hagrid has to build an addition to the house in Hogsmeade, just to make room for the baby."
Ginny giggled. "He had to, Olympe is so big from the pregnancy, she is nearly as big as the house already. Can you imagine a baby in there as well?"
"True," Harry said, rinsing off the plates. "Hagrid must be glowing though. Finally, a little monster of his own that he can actually keep!"
Ginny got up from the table and began making some tea, while Harry finished with the dishes. They retired to the living room and Harry started a fire, while Ginny began to flip through of the books she pulled from the vault. Harry sat down on the couch beside her, when she turned to him suddenly, a terrified look on her face.
"What is it?"
"Harry," she began in a soft voice, as though she was a little girl again, "What if the reason they are looking for me is to get to the vault again? Wouldn't this be the first place they'd look for us?"
"No," Harry said casually.
Ginny waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. "Well, aren't you going to tell me why?" she said, a bit irritated again by his limited information.
"My dear, I assure you that we are quite well protected here."
"Please Harry, just stop skirting the issue, and tell me why!" she said exasperated.
"All right, I'm sorry." Harry said, feeling bad for irritating her so. "We are under a Fidelius charm. No one even knows that the cottage exists but you, me and our secret keeper. If anyone even comes near the property, all they would see is the former house in ruins like before."
"Now was that so hard?" she snapped back sarcastically. "So, who is our secret keeper?"
"Now that is a different secret altogether, and not one you should need to know anyway."
"You're not going to tell me?" Ginny asked flatly.
"Nope."
"Not even a hint?"
"I'm sorry Ginny, but the less you know the better." Harry leaned in close and kissed her, then pulled away, just enough to look into her light brown eyes.
Ginny gave him a tender smile and said sweetly before kissing him again, "Potter, one day you're going to have to put me in St. Mungo's Hospital, because you will have driven me mad."