Chapter 20*~~
Telling Them*~~
Harry and Ginny had just gotten to work when Hermione and Ron came up. "What on earth have the two of you been doing up here for half an hour?" asked Ron.
"Nothing," Ginny and Harry said at the same moment. They cracked a grin and turned back to the box they were digging through.
"Snogging?" whispered Hermione, crouching in between them. They went scarlet and glared at her. Hermione went on the opposite side of the box with Ron. They started digging through it.
"Why have you saved almost every front page of the Daily Prophet?" asked Harry. The box was full of them.
"Our great-great-great grandfather started collecting them when he was seven and we've kept the tradition alive. There's about 200 years worth of front pages in this box," Ron explained.
"See, the outside is small but Dad put the same expanding charm that's on the Ministry cars on these," Ginny explained. Harry nodded. Hermione was gazing at one of the papers with wide eyes.
"What?" asked Harry.
"It's an article on your parents before they died," Hermione said quietly. "They destroyed the Sword of Time."
"The what?" asked Harry and Ron. Ginny rolled her eyed.
"The Sword of Time was a weapon that Merlin made. It was the most powerful weapon but it could be used for good and evil. No one knows what it does because no one alive now was alive then.
"But if your parents destroyed it that means they must have known what is did," Hermione said to Harry. "It says here that they used the magic of the flower, the animal, and the ember. Oh, I have NO idea what that means!"
"No one does," Ron said. "That's all that Harry's Mum and Dad would say about tic when they were asked."
"Maybe Sirius, Remus, and Ara know something," Ginny said thoughtfully.
"When Sirius and I spent the first night here he gave me a key to another Gringott's vault. Maybe there are some answers in there. He said it was all the stuff that they didn't want with them when they went into hiding," Harry said.
"That sounds quite interesting," Hermione said truthfully.
"We can go after we've finished the attic," Ginny said.
"Let's set this aside and we can make shelves or something for them," Harry suggested.
"Harry, this one is the whole Prophet of the day after. you know, the day your parents died," Ron said, handing it to him. The picture showed his parents holding him in front of their house.
He felt his throat tighten. "I've never seen this picture," Harry said croakily.
"Snape gave it to them," Ginny said.
"How do you know?" asked Ron.
"I had detention with him last year and he made me clean his file cabinet. I found it fallen out of the envelope. I took out the parchment that was in there. Harry's dad was apologizing for something. I didn't have time to read what because I heard Snape in the hall," Ginny explained.
"It's kind of creepy, Snape having a picture of my family I've never seen before," Harry said. A shiver went up his back. He felt Hermione's warm hand rest on it. He smiled weakly at her in thanks. She grinned back.
"Hey, Ron, it's Uncle Ian's school trunk! I had forgotten we were keeping it," Ginny said, dragging over a canary yellow trunk with black stripes.
"Why exactly is it canary yellow?" asked Hermione.
"Uncle Ian was Mum's brother. He was a Hufflepuff. Always liked to sport his house colors he did," Ron said.
"Yeah, you can't remove the paint and it we paint over it the paint will fall off in two hours," Ginny said. "That's why none of us ever used it."
"All you have to do is find out which color charm and which irremovable charm is on it," Hermione said. "It's quite simple. Then you counter them. Maybe it'll say inside. Let's open it."
"Whatever's inside was heavy," Ginny said as she fumbled with the latch. "Oh great, he sealed it with that stupid password spell."
"What password spell?" asked Harry, leaning down to help her.
"You have to say that Hufflepuff is better than whatever your house is," Ron said. "He uses it on tons of stuff. Gin, I said t last time."
"I did!"
"That would be incorrect as I did."
"It's so your turn."
"Like hell it is."
"Oh, go to the bloody god forsaken hell yourself," Ginny snapped. Hermione groaned.
"Shut-up up! God, I'll do it for crap's sake," she said. "Hufflepuff is greater than Gryffindor."
The trunk's locks started clicking and unlocking. Ginny lifted the top off. There was a pile of black robes folded neatly on top. Right under them was a canary yellow quidditch robe.
"You get to keep them?" Harry asked.
"Well, if you do you have to pay for them," Hermione said. They all looked at her. "What, I know a lot about quidditch. You just disgust me on how long you can talk about it."
"Whatever," Ginny said. "Now to the interesting stuff!"
"Books are not interesting," Ron said firmly. Hermione glared at him. They took out Ian's text books. There were a few books on quidditch and a few adventure stories.
"It's Uncle Ian's diary!" Ginny exclaimed.
"A man keeping a diary," Hermione said dramatically. "How adorable." They opened the pages and started reading about pranks and other things.
A while later they were digging through his knickknacks at the bottom. "It's a battery," Hermione said, playing with the little thing.
"This is a neat stone," Harry said. It was a sleek shiny pitch black stone. It was perfectly shaped and had a red ruby in the center.
"I don't remember seeing that," Ron said. "Uncle Ian never talked about it."
"It's amazing, that's for sure," Ginny said, running a finger over it.
"Do you think Ana knows about it?" asked Ron.
"Maybe it was Aunt Virginia's," Ginny breathed.
"Would you please explain yourselves," Hermione said exasperatedly.
"Uncle Ian was dating a Slytherin girl named Virginia Goldmann. She ended up training to be an Auror," Ron began. "She took some time off a year before I was born to have a baby. That's our cousin Anastasia."
"Then three weeks after Harry's defeated V-Voldem-mort, she went searching for Death Eaters that had killed her great aunt. Aunt Virginia was murdered. That's why my name is Virginia. Mum named me after her," Ginny finished.
"There's a picture of her in here," Hermione said. "Well, it must me her." She handed them a photo of a boy with sienna colored hair and blue eyes holding a girl with pitch black hair streaked with bright red. Her eyes were a vibrant orb blue.
"She was pretty," Harry said, looking at the picture.
"Yeah," Ron said quietly. "She was my godmother. She left me a letter before she died. I can't open it until I turn 17."
"Denied," chorused Hermione and Ginny. Suddenly there was a tapping aat the window. Harry let Hedwig in. She landed on the floor and held her leg out. Harry took off the letter and read it quickly.
"Why don't we go make dinner?" Harry suggested to Ginny. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her downstairs.
"What did Seamus say?" she asked quickly.
"Dean's over right now. I can come over anytime. Just Floo to Home of the Sawsr. Odd name for your house," Harry said. "So tomorrow morning we'll get to it." Ginny nodded.
**************************
Harry nervously clutched the Floo powder behind his back. The entire Weasley family was sitting there. Sirius, Remus, and Ara were smirking from the couch. He glared at them.
"Okay, Harry and I have to tell you something really important," Ginny said.
"We're dating and we're really serious about it," Harry finished. The twins started laughing like crazy, Molly fainted, Aruthur's mouth dropped, Charlie and Percy sat stunned, Bill moved his mouth- open shut open shut, and Ron stared. Then he shot up.
"Now is your cue," Ginny said. Harry kissed her lips quickly as Ron started towards them. He threw the powder into the fireplace and said,
"House of the Sawsr!" In a burst of green flame Harry disappeared.
He shot out of a marble fire place, covered in green soot. He coughed and felt around for his glasses. As he put them on Seamus leaned over him. "You okay mate?" Seamus asked smirking.
"Don't get smart with me," Harry snapped. He got up and brushed the green embers off.
"I don't think he can accomplish that," came a girl's voice from the couch.
"Eat dung, Cyl," Seamus said, glaring at her. Harry watched her put the book down, raise her wand, and mutter something. Seamus fell down under the jelly legs hex.
"Ooh, nice one," Dean said, walking in.
"Not to be rude but who are you?" Harry asked the girl.
"Cylix (Sill icks) Amanda Finnigan," she said. She hopped up and shook his hand.
"You look like you'd be of age for Hogwarts," Harry said. "And you look really familiar."
"I should. I'm a Gryffindor third year. You must not have been at the sorting ceremony," Cylix said.
"Seamus never talks about you," Harry said, sitting down.
"That's because all they did was hex each other until this summer," Dean said. "They still do it but not with the same passionate hatred."
"Thanks Thomas," Seamus said, standing up. Cyl had performed the counter.
"No problem," Dean said. He flung himself into a chair. "So, you said you'd tell us why you had to get away from the Burrow when you go here."
"Ginny and I are dating. We just told them so I kind of had to run from Ron," Harry said easily. His blush gave him away.
"AWW HOW CUTE!" the three said together. Harry went scarlet.
"Why is this place House of the Sawsr?" he asked.
"It stands for House of the Strange And Weird Sibling Rivals. It's really House of the S.A.W.S.R. but you can Floo here by saying Sawsr," Seamus said.
"It was our aunt's," Cyl added. "She lets us use it in the summer because she and out uncle go on trips. They're brother and sister and fight all the time. But then they flip if someone insults the other."
"That's why we've gotten over out rivalry. You do not want to end up like Sandy and Mitch," Seamus said. Harry smiled but just then ron Flooed into the fireplace, followed by Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Hermione, and Ginny. Arthur and Molly Apparated in.
"Shit," Harry said quietly. Cylix started cracking up. Dean and Seamus leapt behind the couch. Ginny glared at her brothers while Hermione grabbed Ron's wrist which was holding his wand.
Harry and Ginny had just gotten to work when Hermione and Ron came up. "What on earth have the two of you been doing up here for half an hour?" asked Ron.
"Nothing," Ginny and Harry said at the same moment. They cracked a grin and turned back to the box they were digging through.
"Snogging?" whispered Hermione, crouching in between them. They went scarlet and glared at her. Hermione went on the opposite side of the box with Ron. They started digging through it.
"Why have you saved almost every front page of the Daily Prophet?" asked Harry. The box was full of them.
"Our great-great-great grandfather started collecting them when he was seven and we've kept the tradition alive. There's about 200 years worth of front pages in this box," Ron explained.
"See, the outside is small but Dad put the same expanding charm that's on the Ministry cars on these," Ginny explained. Harry nodded. Hermione was gazing at one of the papers with wide eyes.
"What?" asked Harry.
"It's an article on your parents before they died," Hermione said quietly. "They destroyed the Sword of Time."
"The what?" asked Harry and Ron. Ginny rolled her eyed.
"The Sword of Time was a weapon that Merlin made. It was the most powerful weapon but it could be used for good and evil. No one knows what it does because no one alive now was alive then.
"But if your parents destroyed it that means they must have known what is did," Hermione said to Harry. "It says here that they used the magic of the flower, the animal, and the ember. Oh, I have NO idea what that means!"
"No one does," Ron said. "That's all that Harry's Mum and Dad would say about tic when they were asked."
"Maybe Sirius, Remus, and Ara know something," Ginny said thoughtfully.
"When Sirius and I spent the first night here he gave me a key to another Gringott's vault. Maybe there are some answers in there. He said it was all the stuff that they didn't want with them when they went into hiding," Harry said.
"That sounds quite interesting," Hermione said truthfully.
"We can go after we've finished the attic," Ginny said.
"Let's set this aside and we can make shelves or something for them," Harry suggested.
"Harry, this one is the whole Prophet of the day after. you know, the day your parents died," Ron said, handing it to him. The picture showed his parents holding him in front of their house.
He felt his throat tighten. "I've never seen this picture," Harry said croakily.
"Snape gave it to them," Ginny said.
"How do you know?" asked Ron.
"I had detention with him last year and he made me clean his file cabinet. I found it fallen out of the envelope. I took out the parchment that was in there. Harry's dad was apologizing for something. I didn't have time to read what because I heard Snape in the hall," Ginny explained.
"It's kind of creepy, Snape having a picture of my family I've never seen before," Harry said. A shiver went up his back. He felt Hermione's warm hand rest on it. He smiled weakly at her in thanks. She grinned back.
"Hey, Ron, it's Uncle Ian's school trunk! I had forgotten we were keeping it," Ginny said, dragging over a canary yellow trunk with black stripes.
"Why exactly is it canary yellow?" asked Hermione.
"Uncle Ian was Mum's brother. He was a Hufflepuff. Always liked to sport his house colors he did," Ron said.
"Yeah, you can't remove the paint and it we paint over it the paint will fall off in two hours," Ginny said. "That's why none of us ever used it."
"All you have to do is find out which color charm and which irremovable charm is on it," Hermione said. "It's quite simple. Then you counter them. Maybe it'll say inside. Let's open it."
"Whatever's inside was heavy," Ginny said as she fumbled with the latch. "Oh great, he sealed it with that stupid password spell."
"What password spell?" asked Harry, leaning down to help her.
"You have to say that Hufflepuff is better than whatever your house is," Ron said. "He uses it on tons of stuff. Gin, I said t last time."
"I did!"
"That would be incorrect as I did."
"It's so your turn."
"Like hell it is."
"Oh, go to the bloody god forsaken hell yourself," Ginny snapped. Hermione groaned.
"Shut-up up! God, I'll do it for crap's sake," she said. "Hufflepuff is greater than Gryffindor."
The trunk's locks started clicking and unlocking. Ginny lifted the top off. There was a pile of black robes folded neatly on top. Right under them was a canary yellow quidditch robe.
"You get to keep them?" Harry asked.
"Well, if you do you have to pay for them," Hermione said. They all looked at her. "What, I know a lot about quidditch. You just disgust me on how long you can talk about it."
"Whatever," Ginny said. "Now to the interesting stuff!"
"Books are not interesting," Ron said firmly. Hermione glared at him. They took out Ian's text books. There were a few books on quidditch and a few adventure stories.
"It's Uncle Ian's diary!" Ginny exclaimed.
"A man keeping a diary," Hermione said dramatically. "How adorable." They opened the pages and started reading about pranks and other things.
A while later they were digging through his knickknacks at the bottom. "It's a battery," Hermione said, playing with the little thing.
"This is a neat stone," Harry said. It was a sleek shiny pitch black stone. It was perfectly shaped and had a red ruby in the center.
"I don't remember seeing that," Ron said. "Uncle Ian never talked about it."
"It's amazing, that's for sure," Ginny said, running a finger over it.
"Do you think Ana knows about it?" asked Ron.
"Maybe it was Aunt Virginia's," Ginny breathed.
"Would you please explain yourselves," Hermione said exasperatedly.
"Uncle Ian was dating a Slytherin girl named Virginia Goldmann. She ended up training to be an Auror," Ron began. "She took some time off a year before I was born to have a baby. That's our cousin Anastasia."
"Then three weeks after Harry's defeated V-Voldem-mort, she went searching for Death Eaters that had killed her great aunt. Aunt Virginia was murdered. That's why my name is Virginia. Mum named me after her," Ginny finished.
"There's a picture of her in here," Hermione said. "Well, it must me her." She handed them a photo of a boy with sienna colored hair and blue eyes holding a girl with pitch black hair streaked with bright red. Her eyes were a vibrant orb blue.
"She was pretty," Harry said, looking at the picture.
"Yeah," Ron said quietly. "She was my godmother. She left me a letter before she died. I can't open it until I turn 17."
"Denied," chorused Hermione and Ginny. Suddenly there was a tapping aat the window. Harry let Hedwig in. She landed on the floor and held her leg out. Harry took off the letter and read it quickly.
"Why don't we go make dinner?" Harry suggested to Ginny. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her downstairs.
"What did Seamus say?" she asked quickly.
"Dean's over right now. I can come over anytime. Just Floo to Home of the Sawsr. Odd name for your house," Harry said. "So tomorrow morning we'll get to it." Ginny nodded.
**************************
Harry nervously clutched the Floo powder behind his back. The entire Weasley family was sitting there. Sirius, Remus, and Ara were smirking from the couch. He glared at them.
"Okay, Harry and I have to tell you something really important," Ginny said.
"We're dating and we're really serious about it," Harry finished. The twins started laughing like crazy, Molly fainted, Aruthur's mouth dropped, Charlie and Percy sat stunned, Bill moved his mouth- open shut open shut, and Ron stared. Then he shot up.
"Now is your cue," Ginny said. Harry kissed her lips quickly as Ron started towards them. He threw the powder into the fireplace and said,
"House of the Sawsr!" In a burst of green flame Harry disappeared.
He shot out of a marble fire place, covered in green soot. He coughed and felt around for his glasses. As he put them on Seamus leaned over him. "You okay mate?" Seamus asked smirking.
"Don't get smart with me," Harry snapped. He got up and brushed the green embers off.
"I don't think he can accomplish that," came a girl's voice from the couch.
"Eat dung, Cyl," Seamus said, glaring at her. Harry watched her put the book down, raise her wand, and mutter something. Seamus fell down under the jelly legs hex.
"Ooh, nice one," Dean said, walking in.
"Not to be rude but who are you?" Harry asked the girl.
"Cylix (Sill icks) Amanda Finnigan," she said. She hopped up and shook his hand.
"You look like you'd be of age for Hogwarts," Harry said. "And you look really familiar."
"I should. I'm a Gryffindor third year. You must not have been at the sorting ceremony," Cylix said.
"Seamus never talks about you," Harry said, sitting down.
"That's because all they did was hex each other until this summer," Dean said. "They still do it but not with the same passionate hatred."
"Thanks Thomas," Seamus said, standing up. Cyl had performed the counter.
"No problem," Dean said. He flung himself into a chair. "So, you said you'd tell us why you had to get away from the Burrow when you go here."
"Ginny and I are dating. We just told them so I kind of had to run from Ron," Harry said easily. His blush gave him away.
"AWW HOW CUTE!" the three said together. Harry went scarlet.
"Why is this place House of the Sawsr?" he asked.
"It stands for House of the Strange And Weird Sibling Rivals. It's really House of the S.A.W.S.R. but you can Floo here by saying Sawsr," Seamus said.
"It was our aunt's," Cyl added. "She lets us use it in the summer because she and out uncle go on trips. They're brother and sister and fight all the time. But then they flip if someone insults the other."
"That's why we've gotten over out rivalry. You do not want to end up like Sandy and Mitch," Seamus said. Harry smiled but just then ron Flooed into the fireplace, followed by Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Hermione, and Ginny. Arthur and Molly Apparated in.
"Shit," Harry said quietly. Cylix started cracking up. Dean and Seamus leapt behind the couch. Ginny glared at her brothers while Hermione grabbed Ron's wrist which was holding his wand.