CHAPTER 4
"Harry!" Ginny called out when she saw the messy black head in front of her, she made sure that Hedwig was secure on her arm and ran up to him, "It's…Hedwig…" she puffed, "I think she's been attacked, and I think she's got a confundus charm on her, she seems really disorientated…but that could also be that she slammed into the common room wall…"
"She slammed into the common room wall, why the …bloody hell …look at her leg."
"I know…I thought I would try to find you before I went to see Hagrid…"
"Thanks, Gin." He picked the owl up gently, but she still looked at him as though he were a stranger. He started to walk away then he turned, "Ginny, do you want to come tell Hagrid what happened? It's just that I don't know what actually happened."
He's blushing, Harry Potter is blushing.
"Sure, Harry" and she ran a little to catch up with him, "So, where are Ron and Hermione?" she looked to see Harry pull a face,
"I've let them run away to their own little world…god, I thought I'd be relieved when they got together, now it's sickening and annoying." They'd somehow reached Hagrids' cabin quickly, and exchanged bemused looks when they heard what sounded like a lot of owls. Harry, nevertheless, rapped on the door impatiently, and it was quickly opened by a Hagrid covered in owl droppings.
"Well, 'ello 'Arry, Ginny." He beamed at them and then he saw Hedwig, "No' another one! Sorry 'Arry, there's a young Thestral who still hasn't learn' tha' owls aren' for eatin'" he took the owl from Harry's arm, "she's a little confused, wha' happened?"
"She just came speeding through a Gryffindor Tower window and straight into a wall." Ginny told him.
"Yea' she was probably tryin' to get away from that darned Thestral. Don' worry now though, got 'im tied up outside. She'll be right by tomorrow mornin'"
"Thanks, Hagrid." The two called as the door closed and they turned to trudge their way back through the snow, though they had only just noticed it was cold in their panic for the snowy owl.
"That's good that she's going to be okay." Ginny said in an attempt at a conversation.
"Yeah, thanks for—"
"Shh." Ginny had just seen a kitten, a stray, by the look of it, and pure white, struggling to get through the snow, she gently picked it up and wrapped it in her scarf, "hey there little guy." The cat meowed at her, "we need to get you warm, and fed, poor wee thing." She forgot that Harry was standing there, forgot that he was watching her, Harry hadn't.
She's so…feminine? God, I don't know anymore…
"Ginny, have you got any kitten food, he looks like he's still got milk teeth, you know."
"Oh…" she blushed, she had gotten such a fright when she heard him, "you're right…you know where the kitchens are, right? They'll have something won't they? And if they don't they could make something, surely?"
"Don't let Hermione hear you asking house elves to make something from scratch." He grinned, "you might not live to get what you asked for, you have no idea, what it's like to have a Hermione Granger explode in your face." He said trying not to smile, and making Ginny giggle, "Don't worry, I'll keep our dirty little secret away from her, Dobby'll be eager to help." He took off his scarf and chucked it to Ginny, "you look like you need this." He looked away.
He's blushing again...
"Erm…thanks, but what about you?"
"Haha, Hermione's had a bad influence on me," he pulled another scarf from his robe pocket, "sadly, I am now a well organised person. I'm afraid I'm going to be organised forever, noooo!" he cried earning another giggle from Ginny. He pulled her up from the snow and they scrambled up to the castle.
***
"Oof."
"Mr Harry Potter sir!"
"Hello, Dobby" Harry turned to see where Ginny had got to, and found her staring wide eyed around her,
"A-are we under the great hall?"
"Yup."
"Wow, how do—" meow, she looked down in shock at the kitten, it seemed that the mini-cat was determined to attract attention.
"Right cat, hold on. Dobby, do you have any kitten food, preferably for one with milk teeth?"
"Yes, Harry Potter sir!" The small elf scampered away to return a second later with a jar and a very small bowl, "here you go, Mr Harry Potter sir, just give the kitten some of this. Is there anything else sir?"
"No thanks Dobby, Ginny?"
"What? Oh, some milk for him maybe?…" seconds later Harry had a bottle of milk in his hands as well.
"Thanks." They stayed to talk for a little longer with Dobby and then headed back to Gryffindor Tower.
***
"How about befuddlement?"
"Befuddlement?" Ginny frowned a Ron's suggestion, "What sort of name is that for a cat?"
"Because Hedwig was befuddled and that's how you found the runty cat. Anyway, you gave my owl a stupid name."
"He's not runty, he's a kitten you idiot, and Pigwidgeon is not a stupid name, it's cute."
"Stupid." Ron whispered under his breath.
All four of them were in the Common Room watching the Kitten bat Bertie Botts Beans around the floor, and truly greatful that they were the only ones staying at Hogwarts for the Christmas Holidays.
"Snowball is too common, and too predictable…" Ginny said thoughtfully as they watched the feline delve into it's food again, "Hunger Strike? The exact opposite of what he is." She just finished her sentence when Ron suddenly came up with a list,
"Runt, Minnie, Teeney, Monster, Gobbler, errr, what was that thing dad bought home?…Garbage Sodiper?"
"Garbage Disposer, Ron." Hermione corrected him,
"Yeah that, Nibbler, Christmas, Muncher, Cake—"
"Marzipan" Harry looked up from the "Cat Names" book he'd found in the Library,
"Yeah…Marzipan, white and sweet." Ginny picked up the Kitten, "Marzipan?" it mewed loudly and bumped her nose affectionately, "Marzipan it is then, was that in there, Harry? I would have thought that was written before marzipan existed." when she looked at him she'd somehow made him blush again,
"Er, no, I just heard Ron say Christmas and Cake in the same sentence, thought of Almond Icing, which is…like…marzipan." He said the last few words increasingly quieter and with increasingly bigger spaces between them.
"Good, 'cause that name's perfect for him…" Harry looked at his lap, shocked, as Marzipan had jumped onto his lap and curled up, "…he seems to like you for it too." She smile as she witnessed yet another blush,
My GOD, that's got to be at least four blushes in one day.
Ginny got up and continued the job of decorating the tree, which she had volunteered for. Once she had finished it she extinguished all the other candles, and the tree lit up the room.
"Wow…" Hermione looked up at the tree, wondering if even she knew all the charms that Ginny had used, "how did you get it so…like that?"
"After a fluke accident in Flitwick's class, when he was teaching us Lumos, I somehow managed to light up the cushions in his cupboard instead of the end of my wand, I spent all my time the rest of the year trying to figure out how I'd done it, and then how to light up what I wanted to light up what I wanted to… you just do swish-and-flick and say Lubos, I had a cold, see." She giggled, "remember that day that Colin's hair was really bright and shiny?"
"You did that?"
"Accidentally."
"Colin was the envy of all the girls, and Lockhart." Ron snorted,
"Funnily enough, he asked me to do that to him, fortunately, I hadn't figured out how."
***
"Thanks."
"What for?"
"I don't know, I just….you know, Marzipan and all that." The clock chimed in the background.
"Merry Christmas, Ginny" Harry stood up, pulled Ginny to her feet, and kissed her. She stood shocked and staring at him,
"W-What was that for?"
"No reason, only that I love you, Ginny." He kissed her again and left her shocked as he went to bed.
***
"Harry James Potter!" Harry turned in his seat to see an angry Ginny behind him, "What on earth did you think you were doing! Would you care to explain youself?!"
"Er, what?"
"What the hell did you do that for last night?"
"I thought I told you."
"Give me a proper reason, do you know what it's like to— you ran off!"
"What's going on Harry?" Hermione and Ron were looking from Harry to Ginny as though they were watching a tennis game, "what happ—…just what?"
"Err…I…err."
"Did you kiss Ginny, Harry?" Hermione whacked Ron around the head,
"Of course he did, otherwise he wouldn't be this embarrased."
"Do you guys know how irritating it is that you know everything about me? Shut up, clear off and let me talk to Ginny, will you?"
"Fine, come on Ron, well leave these two to themselves." Hermione dragged Ron away, even though he sincerely wanted to hear what happened.
"So?"
"Ginny, I'm sorry, I thought…I thought you'd want to think about it on your own, I didn't even think about talking about it. I stuffed up didn't I?"
"Well, yeah. But you explained yourself and I forgive you." She smiled at his expression, "Merry Christmas, Harry." She handed him a small box, he looked at it for a minute before handing her one as well.
"Thanks, Gin." He opened the box and pulled out a 'Sneaking Snitch'.
"It's one of Fred and George's new creations, I think they designed it for you to use against Malfoy. You just write the opposing seekers name on a piece of parchment just before the game, feed it into this little slit here, leave it, and they'll see Phantom Snitches during the whole game, until you catch it."
"How the hell did they do that?" he started laughing, "I can't wait to see Malfoy's face when he can't figure out why the 'snitches' he's seeing are disappearing."
"Glad you like it," she pulled the ribbon off her own box and pulled out a ruby ring, "Oh my god…"
"Lupin gave it to me, apparently it was my mothers engagement ring, my grandmothers engagement ring etc. etc."
"Wow…are…are you sure you want me to have this…I mean…"
"Positive, Ginny, look at it as a promise during next year, when I'm not here." She smiled and he kissed her,
"Thank you Harry."
***
Three years later, The Potters were receiving guests for their baby's first birthday, and the last guest to arrive was Lupin, who Harry had turned to as a surrogate Godfather after Sirius died.
"Afternoon, everyone, sorry I'm late, there was a full moon last night and I slept in." as if to confirm this he let out a huge yawn, and pulled Harry away from the crowd, "I've spent the last month trying to remember this, your mother and father told me about it not long after they got married, apparently there's a centuries old prophecy about you, I thought you might like a bit of a confirmation of your defeat of Voldemort, because I know you thought that maybe he'll come back, but here's the proof he won't." he handed the parchment to Harry, who took a minute to read it.
"YES!" he yelled above the celebrations, "Ginny, come look at this." She wandered over and took the Parchment from her husband.
"Does this mean…" she looked over at her red headed daughter, Briar, and smiled, "this…it's…"
"Fulfilled." He embraced his wife, "He's gone, and he's gone forever."