The Draught of Living Death
Disclaimer: Harry Potter, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers, copyright 2000. Some portions of this fan-fiction are taken directly from the novel.
A/N: I don't do very many of these, but I thought I would go ahead and respond to a couple questions asked in the reviews.
Kate Potter: Not exactly. I've seen that done a number of times where Harry buys Ginny a new set of robes that she wants very badly and while her reaction is always different, the situation is almost always the same. I'm going with something a little more unique.
Lady Foxfire: As far as how George and Fred feel… well, I'm not sure they know what they're asking for at this point. In the end they just want Ginny to be safe and happy, the problem is, they may perceive that differently than Ginny does.
Ariel: Secretly in love? Well, that will make itself known soon enough.
I guess I'll go ahead and start a tradition now, I'll answer three questions in every update, so go ahead and ask it may be yours I answer. I don't mind giving small things away, as long as you're sure you want to know.
Chapter Six: To Live is a Great Adventure
Harry and Ginny entered the Owl Emporium cautiously. He had known it would not be very organized, but he had never imagined this.
Owls were everywhere, some out of their cages; some hiding inside them, even a few tucked under desks and between books. There was a whole shelf of books on caring for and feeding your owl as well as documentaries about different types of owls.
Ginny wandered around, looking at each owl that she saw. Looking up she saw the fluttering owls that were much like Pig and giggled.
"I don't know about you," she said to Harry, "But I think one owl like Pig is enough for any family."
Harry nodded his face showing great relief that she didn't decide on one like Pig.
She passed by the snowy owls, saying that she didn't particularly want one like Harry's. After all, the one thing she liked about Hedwig was that she always knew it meant a letter from Harry. She blushed and hurried to mention that it was a trait she liked about Pig too. She wanted an owl so unique that everyone would know it was hers when they saw it coming.
That was when she lifted a book up out of pure curiosity. A great fluttering arose and suddenly a ball of fluff was in her hand. It was a little larger than Pig, but not nearly the size of the other owls.
"You don't want that one," a voice said. "He's the runt of the batch. The runts aren't usually good for anything. They are very rarely strong enough to carry anything substantial and they tend to be sickly. As you can see, that one is already sickly." The owner of the voice came into view from behind a shelf.
Ginny wasn't sure how he had managed to see her pick him up from that place.
"Let me show you a popular one," the man said, plucking the tiny owl out of Ginny's hand and plopping him into a small cage. He led her to a large barn owl, much like the ones Hogwarts used. "This," the man said, "Is a very popular choice for students. He does his job, can carry large packages, and does not bother the other owls that he will no doubt have to associate with."
Ginny approached the cage but the stoic owl did not move. He merely sat there eyeing her with a glazed stare. He looked away as soon as she got near the cage.
"He doesn't seem very friendly." Ginny said softly.
"Owls don't have to be friendly," the man defended.
Harry frowned.
"Owl have to carry post and that is exactly was this one will do for you."
Ginny looked to Harry, he could tell by the look on her face that she didn't want the owl the man was showing her. Harry shook his head at the man.
"I think the lady wants to see something a little more unique," Harry said softly.
The man started to make a retort about foolish teenagers when he looked up at Harry. It didn't take the very visible scar for him to recognize who was in front of him. The man quickly shut his mouth.
"Of course," he said, obviously displeased. "As you surely know, Mr. Potter, the snowy owl is known for being friendly if the lady," the man sneered, "would like to see one of those."
"I think I said she wanted to see something more unique. She doesn't want a snowy owl as I'm sure you already heard us discussing." Harry looked down at the man as he folded his hands behind his back. "If that's all you have to show us, then I think we might look elsewhere." Harry nudged Ginny from behind. "Come on, Gin, let's go see what else we can find."
"Everyone knows," the man interrupted, "That I have the best owls that money can buy, it's why everyone comes here."
Harry turned quickly and glared. "You obviously don't have the best attitude money can buy. If my friend is going to pay a good deal for an owl then I would prefer that she get what she wants. If you're going to help us, then I suggest you do so. If you're not, then we don't have very much time left to finish our shopping."
The man's face fell. "All right, let me get one of the owls from the back, I think she may like this one." The man limped to the backroom, the sneer never leaving his body language.
"Harry, I've never known you to be quite so…" Ginny searched for the word.
"Rude?" Harry provided.
Ginny blushed. "That's not what I was looking for, but I guess it works. You weren't rude though… you were insistent. You're usually so passive."
Harry smiled. "I want you to be happy with the owl you get. I won't settle for less than that."
The man reappeared seconds later with a black and white owl. "He's a cross breed," the man explained. "But a very unusual cross breed indeed. I hadn't intended for it to happen, but apparently one of my snowy whites and one of my tawny owls chose to mate. He was the only survivor of the litter, besides that other little runt you've already seen."
Ginny's eyes strayed to the runt still sitting in the small cage.
"He's friendly, unusual for a tawny owl, but he's efficient, which is unusual for a snowy white. He's the best you'll find just about anywhere. Four hundred galleons."
Ginny almost cringed but kept her face composed. "That's a little overpriced, isn't it?" she asked.
"You wont' find better," the man told her with a hopeful look.
"Two fifty," Harry said.
"You're wasting my time," the man said. "Three hundred's my final offer."
"Not a chance," Harry said. "That's way over what's he's worth. Two seventy, not a galleon more."
Ginny stood back and watched the exchange with barely concealed anxiety. She wanted this owl, she only hoped she'd be able to get him, they were already at the amount she had… why was Harry still fighting?
"Two seventy five," the man said, "And I'll thrown in the cage."
"I expected that anyways," Harry muttered. "Fine, Two Seventy Five, plus the cage, plus the runt."
The man's face displayed shock. "You want that useless little thing?"
"Yes," Harry said, "Problem with that?"
"None," the man said with a smile. "Will save me the fee of having him put to sleep. But no returns on that one, I've warned you."
Harry nodded, not letting himself smile. Minutes later, Ginny and Harry came out of the shop, Harry carrying a small sack of food he'd managed to weasel out of the man at the last minute and the small runt sized owl. Ginny was happily carrying her owl.
Harry dug in his pocket and pulled five galleons out and handed them to Ginny.
"What's this for?" she asked.
"The extra five I ended up paying so I could get this little guy."
"But I thought you asked for him as an extra."
"I could have gotten everything for 270 if I didn't want him."
"He's not really worth it, is he Harry?" Ginny asked softly.
"Shh, Ginny, you'll hurt his feelings. And he is, he's worth it to me." Harry stroked the small owl's head as he slipped him into his front shirt pocket.
"You heard what the man said though," Ginny whispered. "He's practically useless."
"So was I at one point." Harry said softly, "But look what I've become."
Ginny shifted her bags and slipped her hand casually into Harry's giving it a small squeeze. "You've got a soft heart in there, don't you Harry?"
"Beneath everything else, yes," Harry said returning the squeeze automatically. His hand slipped away from hers and Ginny almost sighed in disappointment until he moved his arm around her shoulders and pulled her gently to him. "Cheer up, Ginny," he grinned. "You're got an owl and I have a chance to do the right thing for someone who could have ended up like me."
* ~ *
Harry leaned back against the cement wall at the back of the Weasley garden. Peace was one of those things he had realized he had once taken for granted. At the Hogwarts it was loud, creaky, damp, overcrowded, obnoxious and belligerent… but at least it was peaceful when he wasn't escaping death.
A week had passed by at the Weasley home and Harry was starting to understand why Ron could sleep through a tornado. It was quite obviously because he lived in one.
At six every morning, Molly Weasley was out of bed feeding the animals, watering the garden (she always bragged early watering was better), yelling at the ghoul and getting supplies ready to make breakfast for the other animals… that is the rest of the family.
When six thirty came, Percy was falling out of bed and bustling to the shower, shaving, combing his hair and gathering the papers he needed for work.
At seven Arthur Weasley went through the same ritual, but was more hurried since he got up a half hour later than Percy did.
At seven thirty on the dot, Molly Weasley was screaming up the stairs for everyone to get out of bed if they intended to eat (except you, Harry dear, I understand you don't get the chance to rest very often).
At 7:45 Fred and George wandered the stairs in pajama bottoms, Ron followed soon after and Ginny made her morning habit of falling down the last three stairs.
Harry always followed after Ginny, and it had recently become his job to pick her up off the floor. Harry wasn't sure why, but he seemed to enjoy being a part of the morning ritual.
For fifteen minutes there was only the sound of family member slurping food down, drinking as fast as possible and coffee and tea being poured into cups to be taken to work.
At five minutes 'til 8, Percy apparated to work, but not after giving everyone a rousing soliloquy on exactly which law he intended to review and improve that morning. Likely they would have to hear another one if he managed to forget his lunch again.
At eight, Arthur's hand on the clock began tipping dangerously towards "you're late!" and he quickly kissed Molly on the cheek and grabbed his lunch and apparated to work as well.
After that, teasing Ginny took at least an hour, running away from the twins took another hour, and chores took the better part of the morning.
At lunch the twins disappeared to their unknown "alternate location" and the house was silent for a couple minutes before Percy apparated in to pick up his forgotten lunch, which he would decide to eat at home since he was there already. For the entire lunch hour they had to listen to Percy drone on about the problems of the morning and what exactly he intended to do about them after lunch. Once the hour was over, Harry, Ginny, Molly and Ron found themselves pretty much to themselves. Molly would shoo the four of them out of the kitchen to catch up on her cleaning, and it would be the trios' job to get rid of the gnomes from the garden.
Getting rid of the gnomes always took two hours, sometimes more. After that it was already almost three and the next amount of time was spent trying to get cleaned up and shouting about how filthy everyone was. Then there was more quieting the ghoul down so everyone could have some peace followed by Percy, Fred, George and Arthur returning from their respective places. Then even more bustle and conversations, arguing, running away from the twins and boring soliloquies would follow.
Dinner was actually quite calm compared to the rest of the day. Percy talked of course, but he was too hungry to really care whether anyone was listening. Ginny, Harry and Ron always tried to keep the meal amusing by trying to get Fred and George in trouble. After dinner, the evening was much like the morning and late afternoon, with the inclusion of Percy growling about being left to do his paperwork in peace, Arthur trying to control the twins, Molly trying to get Ron to do his homework and Ginny and Harry searching their Hogwarts trunks for that bit of missing parchment or the torn page of a book or a quill they just knew they had.
Suffice it to say the Weasley home was never dull. The only reason they had any peace on this particular afternoon was just luck of the draw. Molly had to go out to do some grocery shopping, Ron was spending time with Audrey, and that left just Harry and Ginny at the house.
Harry wasn't sure where Ginny was, but he was perfectly content with the quiet. As if thinking about her alone had been enough, she appeared from around a corner.
Harry looked up at her, not willing to move from his spot just yet. "Has the horde returned home?" he asked dully.
"Not yet, you just looked lonely. We must exhaust you," she said with a grin.
"It's definitely different than the Dursley's." Harry shielded his eyes from the sun. "They exhausted me too, but more from manual labor. You guys exhaust me because I'm not used to having so many people around me who are just happy."
Ginny settled down near him, making sure she still kept her distance. "You said something, yesterday… I wanted to ask you about it."
"Go ahead," Harry said leaning his head back against the wall. "I'm all ears."
"No, you're not. If you were all ears you'd be corn."
Harry couldn't help it, he laughed. "True, but go ahead with the question anyways."
"You said you would finally get the chance to help someone who almost turned out like you. I didn't understand what you meant."
Harry sighed. "I figured you'd ask about that." He was silent for a long moment.
"If you don't want to answer," Ginny said, "I'll understand completely."
"No, it's not that, I'm just trying to think of how to put it together in a way you'll understand." Harry fidgeted nervously. "I didn't have a happy childhood, Ginny, but you know that. The thing you don't know, is just how unhappy it was."
Ginny was silent, waiting for him to continue.
Harry looked over to her and saw her deep trusting eyes. "I was a runt, just like my little guy. Not in the sense of being small and sickly, but in the sense of being unwanted. The only saving grace I had was that my uncle was too scared to get rid of me. He was afraid the wizarding world would come and destroy him if he killed me off like he wanted to. He always said he should have drowned me when he had the chance."
Ginny gasped.
Harry grinned. "Don't be so shocked, that was normal in my childhood. My aunt was no better, she always accused me of being a bad influence on Dudley, and Dudley took that as his cue to torment me until I screamed. When I was old enough, and he was big enough, the torment became more physical. He nearly beat me within an inch of my life once. I grew up as the runt, useless and unwanted until I entered this wonderful world where everyone wanted me."
Harry closed his eyes and leaned his head back again. "But the runt always stays the same. It's like a puppy. You never forget that he was the runt, that he should not have survived, and yet he did. Remember the owner said that besides your owl, the runt was the only surviving one out of the whole batch?"
Ginny nodded. "Yes."
"Well that was the way I was. I was the runt, and I lived." Harry opened his eyes again, but did not look at Ginny this time. "I survived, but I didn't triumph. I guess I see this owl as a chance to show everyone, including the people who will never care, what good a runt can be."
"You're wrong, Harry." Ginny said softly.
Harry finally looked at her again with a questioning gaze.
Ginny moved closer to him and grasped his hand, just as she had before in Diagon Alley. "You did triumph. You fixed everything for everyone. You triumphed from the day you survived Tom Riddle. From the day you saved everyone, and even to the day you saved my life, you triumphed." Ginny squeezed his hand. "You are the boy who lived." Harry almost smirked. "I know, it's an overused term, but it means so much more than you let it mean."
"I go on so many adventures," Harry mused. "I live through everything, it's as if death is staring me in the face, daring me to continue, pushing me on to the next adventure."
"To live," Ginny said, "Is a great adventure."
Harry smiled. "You may have a future in Psychology, Virginia Weasley." Harry slipped his arm around her shoulders again. "I think this could the be the start of a beautiful friendship."
"I think," Ginny said, leaning her head against his shoulder, still grasping his free hand, "That it could be the start of a beautiful beginning. It's about time you understood yourself the way everyone else does."
Harry wasn't sure why, but he suddenly leaned down and kissed her softly on the cheek. "I've told you things, in the last few minutes," he whispered to her, "That I've never told anyone… never could tell anyone. I was afraid that they would hate me for hating my past and myself. You seem to understand."
"I was a runt too, Harry," Ginny said, with her skin still softly tinged in red from his kiss. "I survived, not because I was strong, but because you were strong enough for both of us." Before she could stop herself, Ginny leaned forwards and placed a soft quick kiss on his lips. She jumped up from her place before he had time to react and started for the house.
She turned at the last moment to stare back at Harry, who was still sitting dazed from shock.
"Come on, Harry. Let's get dinner started and surprise, mum. You know she's always bugging me about learning to cook."
Harry stood up slowly and followed her. It looked like they were in for yet another adventure.