Chapter 9:

Harry choked, "Y-Your mum was an auror?"

Ron sat there without speaking; mouth agape, for what seemed like an eternity and then...

"Gin, you can't be serious? I mean Mum wouldn't -would she?"

"Honestly Ron," said Ginny with amusement, "Can't you at least shoot for full sentences? Yes, Mum is teaching. Dumbledore asked her to do it until they could find a suitable replacement."

"I can't believe it," said Ron, "I really can't believe it. This could possibly the worst thing that has ever happened to me at Hogwarts."

"What do you mean," asked Harry curiously.

"Just imagine," said Ron, "Mum will be on the teaching staff, which means she will spend all her free time talking to other teachers, which means that she'll hear about anything I do and then she won't even have to bother with a howler because she'll already be there."

"Ron," said Ginny, "Are you actually planning on getting into trouble now? Mum isn't going to be everywhere."

"She'll still hear about it!" he replied shortly.

"Well the solutions pretty easy if you ask me," said Harry.

"What?" the two Weasleys asked in unison causing Harry to grin.

"Just don't get caught."

"Why are you planning on getting into trouble beforehand anyway?" asked Hermione, "Really, We've got owls this year and revision is going to take up too much time for you to get into trouble."

"Revision?" asked Ron dumbly.

"Obviously," said Hermione, "This is important. I've already drawn us up study time tables."

"Timetables?" both boys exclaimed in horror.

"Oh relax," said Hermione, "There's free time scheduled too when you can have fun."

"Fun?" said Ron exasperatedly, "Hermione, you can't schedule fun!"

Harry could sense the fight that was about to begin and decided not to stay to watch this one. He was beginning to think Ron and Hermione actually liked fighting with each other...

"Ginny," asked Harry, "Will you help me carry these bowls down to the kitchen?"

"Sure," replied Ginny who had quickly caught onto the plan.

They left Ron and Hermione in the room to bicker and headed down the stairs to the kitchen. Harry loaded the dishes into the sink and began to wash them. Ginny grabbed a towel and dried the dishes as he handed them to her.

"Really," she said, "You would have thought they'd have gotten over this whole flirting stage and admitted that they like each other. Every time I'd get a letter from Hermione there'd be a paragraph complaining about Ron and her at the house I'd have to deal with him moping around for a week before apologizing for whatever he'd done."

"You think you've got it bad," Harry snorted, "I think I would have died if I got another letter about 'Vicky' from Ron. I think he's gotten borderline obsessive over that issue. 'You don't think she'll really go see him do you?' and 'What's so great about him anyway?' and...well you get the point."

Ginny laughed, "You'd think they were married already."

"How long do you think it'll take them to figure it out?" said Harry.

"By Christmas tops," she said, "Ron's not going to pass up the chance to invite her this year."

"What do you mean," asked Harry, bewildered by her statement.

"Don't you boys ever read the entire school letter?" said Ginny, "Hogwarts is having a Christmas Ball this year."

Harry looked as if he had died for a minute.

"No, They can't have!" he exclaimed, "It's not fair!"

"What do you mean?" asked a now amused Ginny.

"Well we have to bring dates don't we?" said Harry.

"Yes," said Ginny, "But I hardly imagine that'll be a problem for you."

"Ginny," he said worriedly, "I can't bring a date."

"Don't be such a prat," she replied, "You had at least twenty girls throwing themselves at you last year."

"Ginny, I can't date anyone."

"That makes absolutely no sense. I'm sure there's someone who'll go with you. If you're that desparate you can take me but really you'll have no problem finding someone."

"Voldemort is back. I can't take anyone, especially you. Right now I'm number one on his hit list. Anyone who got that close to me would be in too much danger. I don't want someone I care about getting hurt. Besides I don't think I can handle another ball after last year."

"If it matters that much to you," said Ginny, "You don't have to go, but the whole idea of you not letting anyone close to you so that they aren't in danger is still silly."

"I can't let anyone else die because of me," he told her.

"No one has died because of you," Ginny said pointedly, "They died because of Voldemort."

Harry remained silent.

"Look you don't have to go to this ball if you don't want to," said Ginny, "but I'm not letting you sit in the common room alone. We're both going to stay there and I'm going to kick your arse at chess."

"Ginny you don't have to do that," said Harry, "You and Hermione have obviously planned for the ball in advance. I don't want you to miss out on it."

"You and you're damn nobility complex," said Ginny.

"My what?" he said, thoroughly confused.

"You won't let anyone help you and you take the blame for everything. You can't even see that people want to do things for you, that they care about you. You're always so damn self-sacrificing about everything," she replied, "Besides, I owe this to you."

"What do you mean you 'owe this' to me" he inquired, "I haven't done anything for you."

"You call saving my life nothing?" she replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Well no but-" he was quickly cut off.

"But nothing," she told him, "If you hadn't found me I'd be dead. And you saved me even after I tried to kill you and petrified Hermione."

"But that wasn't your fault. You had no idea about the diary. It's a wonder you didn't kill me. Dumbledore even said that it took and incredibly strong person to resist that kind of magic for so long. You can't just blame yourself for something you didn't even know about at first. It doesn't make sense to keep blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault. It was Voldemort's fault."

"And you didn't know about the portkey," said Ginny, "Do you finally see where we're all coming from now? When we tell you not to blame yourself? We aren't just saying it to be nice."

"I-I.."

"Yes?"

"I can't believe I was so stupid."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. It took me years to get over the diary incident and admit that I was wrong."

"Yeah," he said, still slightly unsure of himself, "Do you think we should go upstairs now? They're bound to come looking for us any minute, If they've even realized that we left yet."

"Yeah," she said, standing to go upstairs.

They reached the door and he whispered one word before he opened it.

"You're welcome," she replied, giving him a quick hug, "Any time."

Harry turned the knob and he and Ginny both gasped at what they saw...