"Checkmate" Ron announced triumphantly. "Come on Harry, I know I beat you every time normally, but you didn't even try this time." He looked worriedly at his best friend as he helped clear away the chess pieces.
"Ron, could you…I mean…Do you think….?" Harry stuttered trying to get the words out. "What am I going to have to do? I know I have got to practice my DADA, but I mean what am I going to do? Storm up to Voldemort…" He ignored his best flinching at the name. "…on my own and challenge him to a duel? He and all of Death Eaters would be on me in a shot!" The fury evident in his voice as his knuckles began to go white and his nails dug into the soft skin of his palms. "I need yours, Hermione's and Ginny's help with this I cant do this on my own." He looked at his best friend pleadingly hoping against hope that they would help him.
"Harry…" Ron began gravely "You didn't think we'd made you do this on your own do you?" Harry shook his head "So what do you need me for?"
"Well, you are a chess genius, so I need a strategy. Hermione, need to research spells, and I need Ginny to help me practice, she's brilliant at learning spells I wouldn't have got through my NEWTs if it wasn't for her."
Suddenly Harry felt a warm hand fall onto each of his shoulders; he jumped slightly and spun around to find Ginny, and Hermione standing there looking at him. Ginny's eyes were unusually bright.
"Harry, I'm so glad you think so highly of us." Hermione said sitting down next to Ron.
"I didn't help you that much Harry, I'm not that good at things you were much better" Ginny said avoiding his gaze.
"Gin, I meant what I said. If it wasn't for you I would probably have failed my NEWTs, because all of the help you gave me really paid off. I'm so glad that I have you around and you two" Said looking pointedly at Ron and Hermione. Ginny gave him a quick hug and sat down next to Ron and Hermione swiping at her eyes.
"So what do you need us to do?..."
Exactly two weeks later Harry was in the library with Hermione, researching spells, charms, hexes and curses that he might be able to use. Ron sat with them working out possible strategies that Harry could use to get to Voldemort. He got up and walked towards one of the shelves in search of a book when he came across a familiar black leather bound book. He pulled it from the book shelf and read the title; Wandless Magic. He read this particular book from the beginning of his sixth year by Dumbledores suggestion.
"Oh!! Harry come look at this" Hermione cried seemingly a bit over-excited. "This could be just what you are looking for, I think that it could really help you." She shoved the book in front of Harry's face and he began to read. The spell, was one that when used, it would act like a Patronus Charm does against Dementors, on humans that mean to harm the caster. "What do you think?"
"It's seems like a really good idea, Hermione. Where's Ginny I think I will probably need her help with this one."
"Why do you need my sister to help with this stuff anyway Harry? Couldn't you find some-one else?" Ron asked looking at Harry accusingly.
"No, Ron. Ginny learns things a lot quicker than anyone else I know, except Hermione of course, but she's busy helping doing what she does best." Ron snorted "What?!"
"Nothing" Ron put his head down and continued working, refusing to answer Harry. Hermione just looked up at Harry with a knowing expression on her face. Harry gave her a quizzical look, copied down the spell and went to find Ginny.
Harry proceeded to look for Ginny, first in Gryffindor Tower but no-one had seen since that afternoon, so then he went to the Charms classroom where they last practiced, she wasn't there. He then checked in the Great Hall, the Potions dungeon, Transfiguration and he even went to look in the DA room, but he still couldn't find her. Beginning to get mildly panicked, he went to the hospital wing and then outside to look for her. He began to walk towards the lake. When he got closer he heard shouting, he recognized the voice straight away. "Ginny!!" He ran towards the noise and found her standing by the lake shouting at none-other than Draco Malfoy. He had his wand raised at her and had evidently put a silencing charm on her because the shouting had stopped but her mouth was still moving. Harry ran towards her but thought better of it and began to creep towards her so that Malfoy wouldn't find out he was there. Soon enough he was standing behind Malfoy with his wand raised at him.
"Leave her alone, Malfoy." Harry spat. Malfoy obviously startled by this whirled around, but quickly regained his composure.
"Potter, come to save your little, poor excuse for a pure blood, girlfriend again? You do like to be the Hero don't you? First you disable the Dark Lord for a while, and you countless other, Harry-Potter-I-want-to-be-the-hero things. You just don't give do you?" Malfoy sneered. "We all know it was you that killed Diggory and all those students that you have turned up with don't we Potter?" He spat.
This was the last straw, Harry lunged at him fist raised and cause a loud cracking noise as his fist connected with Malfoys jaw. He continued to smack his face into the as Malfoy decided to fight back. He shoved him off with a banishing charm, causing Harry to slam against the tree. Malfoy got to his feet clutching his jaw with his left hand and his wand pointed at Harry with his right.
"Expelliarmus!!" he cried catching Harry's wand as it flew towards him. "What are you going to do now Potter?" He snarled.
Harry stood up with help from the tree and glared at Malfoy. "Give. Me. My. Wand!!" Harry continued to give Malfoy his death glare.
"No I don't think I will thanks." He replied looking smug now he had Harry defenseless or so he thought. From behind him pounced at him knocking Malfoy forward. He stumbled but managed to stay upright. He pointed his wand at Ginny and… "Stupefy!" He cried hitting her in the chest as she stood up to pounce again. She fell face first unconscious onto the floor. Malfoy turned back around to Harry again. "Well Potter, not only do I have your wand and your girlfriend but I also have proof you attacked me." He sneered at Harry.
Harry couldn't answer this he was angry, no he was livid. After a few seconds of glaring at each other and Malfoy throwing taunts and threats at him Harry could no longer control his anger. A bush just beside Malfoy next to the lake burst into flames and fell into the water. After seeing this Harry began to control his emotions a bit better and came up with a plan. He closed his eyes and concentrated on covering up the marks and painfully healing Malfoy's face. After a second or so he opened his eyes to see Malfoy clutching his face the agony visible on his face before the pain stopped.
"What was that?" Malfoy asked in a weak voice which sounded very unlike his normal drawl it was almost a low squeak.
"You have no proof, now give me back my wand?" Harry said beginning to walk towards him.
"What do you mean 'I have no proof'?" He asked prodding his face, as soon as he did the astonishment then anger then hatred flashed across his face. "What did you do?" He snarled now more confident.
Harry smirked and raised his hand. "Expelliarmus" His wand and Malfoys flew straight to his hand, and Malfoy was knocked back several feet and landed on the floor. Harry ran to Ginny and picked her up dropping Malfoys wand on the floor as he did so and took to the DA room. He drew out his wand and muttered "Enervate" She opened her eyes and looked up at Harry.
"Wh-what happened? Why am I here?" she asked bleary eyed.
Harry explained what had just happened than asked her what she doing down there with Malfoy in the first place.
"Oh, Harry. He sent me a note, claiming it to be from you. He tried to force me to go into the Forbidden forest with him, then I started shouting at him and he put a…"
"Silencing charm on you" He interrupted "I saw it from there." She burst into to tears and put her face into her hands and sobbed. Harry sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms and let her cry on his shoulder. She clung to his jumper and buried her face in his chest. When she had stopped crying she looked up at him with her tear stained face and beautiful big brown eyes. Harry couldn't notice how beautiful they were. He looked into her eyes and felt as if he get lost in them. At that moment he wanted nothing more than press his lips over hers, but then a thought struck him. What if Voldemort found out? What if he died when he challenged Voldemort? He couldn't do that to her. He tore his gaze away and stood up. "Are you OK now?" He asked her. She looked up at him curiously.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." She stood up and pecked him on the cheek. He stood in the same spot stunned as she walked to the door. He brought his hand up and touched his cheek where she had kissed him thinking of how wonderful her lips had felt against his skin. He was broken out his thoughts by Ginny asking him if 'he wanted to go learn this or not?' He nodded and followed her to the charms classroom.
"Ron, could you…I mean…Do you think….?" Harry stuttered trying to get the words out. "What am I going to have to do? I know I have got to practice my DADA, but I mean what am I going to do? Storm up to Voldemort…" He ignored his best flinching at the name. "…on my own and challenge him to a duel? He and all of Death Eaters would be on me in a shot!" The fury evident in his voice as his knuckles began to go white and his nails dug into the soft skin of his palms. "I need yours, Hermione's and Ginny's help with this I cant do this on my own." He looked at his best friend pleadingly hoping against hope that they would help him.
"Harry…" Ron began gravely "You didn't think we'd made you do this on your own do you?" Harry shook his head "So what do you need me for?"
"Well, you are a chess genius, so I need a strategy. Hermione, need to research spells, and I need Ginny to help me practice, she's brilliant at learning spells I wouldn't have got through my NEWTs if it wasn't for her."
Suddenly Harry felt a warm hand fall onto each of his shoulders; he jumped slightly and spun around to find Ginny, and Hermione standing there looking at him. Ginny's eyes were unusually bright.
"Harry, I'm so glad you think so highly of us." Hermione said sitting down next to Ron.
"I didn't help you that much Harry, I'm not that good at things you were much better" Ginny said avoiding his gaze.
"Gin, I meant what I said. If it wasn't for you I would probably have failed my NEWTs, because all of the help you gave me really paid off. I'm so glad that I have you around and you two" Said looking pointedly at Ron and Hermione. Ginny gave him a quick hug and sat down next to Ron and Hermione swiping at her eyes.
"So what do you need us to do?..."
Exactly two weeks later Harry was in the library with Hermione, researching spells, charms, hexes and curses that he might be able to use. Ron sat with them working out possible strategies that Harry could use to get to Voldemort. He got up and walked towards one of the shelves in search of a book when he came across a familiar black leather bound book. He pulled it from the book shelf and read the title; Wandless Magic. He read this particular book from the beginning of his sixth year by Dumbledores suggestion.
"Oh!! Harry come look at this" Hermione cried seemingly a bit over-excited. "This could be just what you are looking for, I think that it could really help you." She shoved the book in front of Harry's face and he began to read. The spell, was one that when used, it would act like a Patronus Charm does against Dementors, on humans that mean to harm the caster. "What do you think?"
"It's seems like a really good idea, Hermione. Where's Ginny I think I will probably need her help with this one."
"Why do you need my sister to help with this stuff anyway Harry? Couldn't you find some-one else?" Ron asked looking at Harry accusingly.
"No, Ron. Ginny learns things a lot quicker than anyone else I know, except Hermione of course, but she's busy helping doing what she does best." Ron snorted "What?!"
"Nothing" Ron put his head down and continued working, refusing to answer Harry. Hermione just looked up at Harry with a knowing expression on her face. Harry gave her a quizzical look, copied down the spell and went to find Ginny.
Harry proceeded to look for Ginny, first in Gryffindor Tower but no-one had seen since that afternoon, so then he went to the Charms classroom where they last practiced, she wasn't there. He then checked in the Great Hall, the Potions dungeon, Transfiguration and he even went to look in the DA room, but he still couldn't find her. Beginning to get mildly panicked, he went to the hospital wing and then outside to look for her. He began to walk towards the lake. When he got closer he heard shouting, he recognized the voice straight away. "Ginny!!" He ran towards the noise and found her standing by the lake shouting at none-other than Draco Malfoy. He had his wand raised at her and had evidently put a silencing charm on her because the shouting had stopped but her mouth was still moving. Harry ran towards her but thought better of it and began to creep towards her so that Malfoy wouldn't find out he was there. Soon enough he was standing behind Malfoy with his wand raised at him.
"Leave her alone, Malfoy." Harry spat. Malfoy obviously startled by this whirled around, but quickly regained his composure.
"Potter, come to save your little, poor excuse for a pure blood, girlfriend again? You do like to be the Hero don't you? First you disable the Dark Lord for a while, and you countless other, Harry-Potter-I-want-to-be-the-hero things. You just don't give do you?" Malfoy sneered. "We all know it was you that killed Diggory and all those students that you have turned up with don't we Potter?" He spat.
This was the last straw, Harry lunged at him fist raised and cause a loud cracking noise as his fist connected with Malfoys jaw. He continued to smack his face into the as Malfoy decided to fight back. He shoved him off with a banishing charm, causing Harry to slam against the tree. Malfoy got to his feet clutching his jaw with his left hand and his wand pointed at Harry with his right.
"Expelliarmus!!" he cried catching Harry's wand as it flew towards him. "What are you going to do now Potter?" He snarled.
Harry stood up with help from the tree and glared at Malfoy. "Give. Me. My. Wand!!" Harry continued to give Malfoy his death glare.
"No I don't think I will thanks." He replied looking smug now he had Harry defenseless or so he thought. From behind him pounced at him knocking Malfoy forward. He stumbled but managed to stay upright. He pointed his wand at Ginny and… "Stupefy!" He cried hitting her in the chest as she stood up to pounce again. She fell face first unconscious onto the floor. Malfoy turned back around to Harry again. "Well Potter, not only do I have your wand and your girlfriend but I also have proof you attacked me." He sneered at Harry.
Harry couldn't answer this he was angry, no he was livid. After a few seconds of glaring at each other and Malfoy throwing taunts and threats at him Harry could no longer control his anger. A bush just beside Malfoy next to the lake burst into flames and fell into the water. After seeing this Harry began to control his emotions a bit better and came up with a plan. He closed his eyes and concentrated on covering up the marks and painfully healing Malfoy's face. After a second or so he opened his eyes to see Malfoy clutching his face the agony visible on his face before the pain stopped.
"What was that?" Malfoy asked in a weak voice which sounded very unlike his normal drawl it was almost a low squeak.
"You have no proof, now give me back my wand?" Harry said beginning to walk towards him.
"What do you mean 'I have no proof'?" He asked prodding his face, as soon as he did the astonishment then anger then hatred flashed across his face. "What did you do?" He snarled now more confident.
Harry smirked and raised his hand. "Expelliarmus" His wand and Malfoys flew straight to his hand, and Malfoy was knocked back several feet and landed on the floor. Harry ran to Ginny and picked her up dropping Malfoys wand on the floor as he did so and took to the DA room. He drew out his wand and muttered "Enervate" She opened her eyes and looked up at Harry.
"Wh-what happened? Why am I here?" she asked bleary eyed.
Harry explained what had just happened than asked her what she doing down there with Malfoy in the first place.
"Oh, Harry. He sent me a note, claiming it to be from you. He tried to force me to go into the Forbidden forest with him, then I started shouting at him and he put a…"
"Silencing charm on you" He interrupted "I saw it from there." She burst into to tears and put her face into her hands and sobbed. Harry sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms and let her cry on his shoulder. She clung to his jumper and buried her face in his chest. When she had stopped crying she looked up at him with her tear stained face and beautiful big brown eyes. Harry couldn't notice how beautiful they were. He looked into her eyes and felt as if he get lost in them. At that moment he wanted nothing more than press his lips over hers, but then a thought struck him. What if Voldemort found out? What if he died when he challenged Voldemort? He couldn't do that to her. He tore his gaze away and stood up. "Are you OK now?" He asked her. She looked up at him curiously.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." She stood up and pecked him on the cheek. He stood in the same spot stunned as she walked to the door. He brought his hand up and touched his cheek where she had kissed him thinking of how wonderful her lips had felt against his skin. He was broken out his thoughts by Ginny asking him if 'he wanted to go learn this or not?' He nodded and followed her to the charms classroom.