O that 'twere possible,
After long grief and pain,
To find the arms of my true- love
Round me once again!…
A shadow flits before me-
Not thou, but like to thee.
Ah God! that it were possible
For one short hour to see
The souls we loved, that they might tell us
What and where they be.
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Chapter II: Prongs
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" bellowed Ron.
It was the morning after Harry's birthday and Ron had just awoken having heard his mother's knock on the bedroom door. At the sound of Ron's voice, Harry and Ginny bolted upright in Harry's bed.
"I… she… erm…" Harry mumbled, turning scarlet.
"Spit it out, Potter," said Ron, angrily.
"I had a nightmare last night," Harry lied.
"He was shouting in his sleep. I heard him as I was leaving the bathroom, so I came in to see what was happening," Ginny continued.
"And I didn't want to be alone, so I asked Ginny if she'd stay," said Harry. "Nothing happened, Ron, honest."
"Besides, I am not stupid enough to do anything like what you probably thought with my brother in the same room," said Ginny.
"Ok, I believe you," said Ron. "I tend to over react a bit when it comes to Ginny and boys."
"A bit?" said Ginny, raising one eyebrow.
"Ok, a lot. Anyway, Mum was shouting us before. It's time for breakfast," said Ron.
He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.
"Thanks for staying, Ginny," said Harry.
"That's ok," said Ginny.
She smiled at Harry, who grinned back. The colour began to recede from both their faces.
"You want to go down for breakfast?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah," said Harry, scrambling out of bed.
Ginny quickly followed.
"Harry, Ginny, your Hogwarts letters have arrived," said Mrs Weasley as they sat down at the kitchen table.
Harry picked up his letter. His eyes skimmed it for a moment, until they found something interesting.
Dear Mr Potter,
Please remember that the school train leaves platform 93/4 of Kings Cross Station, London at precisely 11am on September 1st.
I am delighted to inform you that you have been reinstated as the seeker of the Gryffindor quidditch team, as your ban has been lifted. In addition to your reinstatement, I have decided to name you as the Gryffindor quidditch captain for this year. It will be your duty to organise tryouts and training sessions for your team. As you will be aware there are two chaser positions open, but you may wish to once again hold tryouts for beaters as well. I wish the team good luck this year.
Professor M. McGonagall
Deputy Head
"What is it, Harry?" asked Hermione from across the table.
"I have been reinstated on the quidditch team," said Harry. "And…"
"That's excellent, Harry," interrupted Hermione.
"I knew you would be," said Ginny, smiling.
"And I've been made captain as well," Harry finally finished.
"Congratulations," said Ginny.
"You know what this means don't you?" Harry asked.
Ginny shook her head, Hermione looked puzzled and Ron apparently hadn't heard a thing.
"I get to choose who the new chasers are, which means that you're on the team Ginny," said Harry, grinning at the red head.
"Thanks, but I haven't tried out or anything," said Ginny.
"So?" said Harry. "You played really well last year. You deserve to be on the team. You will have to try out though, just so it looks fair, but you won't need to worry about it or anything."
"Thank you," said Ginny again.
"Anyway, Miss Weasley. What is that little red and gold badge that I see glinting in your hand?" said Harry, mischievously.
"Nothing," said Ginny turning red.
Harry grabbed the badge from her hand before she could tighten her fingers around it.
"If I didn't know better, Ginny, I'd say this was a prefect badge. What do you think, Hermione?" said Harry.
"It certainly looks like a prefect badge," said Hermione.
Harry held it up to the light and examined it closely.
"Give it back, Potter," said Ginny, lunging for the badge.
Harry jumped up out of the way and ran to the back door.
"I'm afraid you'll have to catch me first, Weasley," said Harry.
He opened the door and sprinted outside. Ginny leapt up from the table and followed him. She couldn't see him anywhere in the Burrow's extensive garden. She squinted and looked far ahead into the distance and spotted a head poking out from behind a tree.
"I'll get you, Potter," she muttered to herself and sprinted in the opposite direction to the tree behind which Harry was hiding.
She crept round, hiding in the bushes until she was in striking distance, then she pounced.
"Hey, Weasley, that's not fair," said harry, trying to sound angry.
"Yes it is," said Ginny calmly as she wrestled her badge from his hand.
Harry rolled over and began to tickle Ginny's sides mercilessly.
"Stop, Harry, stop," cried Ginny, who was laughing so hard that se couldn't breathe.
Harry continued to tickle her.
"Please, Harry," she pleaded.
"Oh, alright," said Harry and he stopped tickling her.
He lay down in the grass beside his victim.
"So, Ginny, prefect eh?" he said.
"Apparently," said Ginny. "But what about you, Mr Captain?"
"Don't call me that," said Harry.
"Why not? I think Mr Captain suits you."
"Fine. Then I'll start calling you Miss Prefect, and we'll see how you like it."
"Do you have any idea who'll be the other chaser, or more importantly, who will do the commentating now that Lee has left?"
"Nope, but I hope they get a Gryffindor to commentate. I can't imagine how awful it would be to have a Slytherin commentating."
"It's always a Gryffindor. According to Bill, when Hogwarts first began to play quidditch, the houses had a competition to see who would comment on the matches, and Gryffindor won."
"Cool. I wonder who McGonagall will choose."
"GINNY, HARRY! GET BACK HERE NOW!" shouted Mrs Weasley from the kitchen door.
"Oh no," said Ginny. "Ron's probably told here about last night."
"I don't think he would, Ginny," said Harry.
"We'd better go anyway," said Ginny.
Harry stood up and helped Ginny to her feet, the badge still held tightly in her hand. They ran back to the kitchen and were just sitting down again when Mrs Weasley threw her arms around her daughter.
"Oh," she cried. "My little Ginny, a prefect! Oh, this is wonderful. Your father will be so proud! I can't wait to tell your brothers, Bill and Charlie will be as proud as I am."
"Oh God," whispered Ginny.
"What?" whispered Harry.
"Fred and George are going to be unbearable," she whispered with an anguished look on her face.
"At least they won't be at school this year," said Harry.
"That's true," said Ginny. "Maybe it won't be so bad."
"We're going to Diagon Alley today," said Hermione.
"What?" said Harry.
"We're going to Diagon Alley today, to get our school supplies and tell Fred and George the good news," Hermione repeated and added.
"Great," said Ginny.
"I can't wait to see their shop," said Harry with a wide grin on his face. "Seeing as I bou…"
"What's that, Harry?" said Mrs Weasley, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Nothing," Harry muttered quickly, before turning to his bacon.
"Tut, tut, tut, Ginny," said Fred.
"Fred and I were expecting better of you, sis," continued George.
"We always thought that you would be the most likely to follow in our footsteps," said Fred shaking his head.
"But alas, we were wrong," said George wiping imaginary tears from his eyes.
"From now on you must devote your life to the prevention of troublemakers," added Fred.
"And our noble work will be lost forever," continued George.
"Forever," repeated Fred.
"The crown of troublemakers in chief will now pass on to somebody with no legal claim to it," said George.
"This is a sad day for the troublemaker's guild," added Fred.
"A very sad day," repeated George.
"And the work of the Marauders will be lost forever," said Fred.
"Their very essence has left Hogwarts for good," added George.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," said Harry, interrupting the twins' monumental speech.
"What makes you say that, Harry?" asked Fred.
"Who were the Marauders? Name them," said Harry.
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," said George.
"Yes, but what were their real names?" Harry pressed.
"I can't remember," said Fred.
"Moony is Remus Lupin," Harry began.
"Professor Lupin!" exclaimed Ginny, who had remained silent during her brothers' tirade.
"Oh yeah," said Fred, a look of comprehension dawning on his face.
"Wormtail is Peter Pettigrew," continued Harry.
"A disgusting piece of vermin," interrupted George.
"A snivelling little rat," added Fred.
"Padfoot was Sirius Black," continued Harry, only with a slight stumble when he said Sirius' name.
"Good old, Sirius," said Fred. "He was very supportive of us, wasn't he George?"
"Definitely. He told us that our pranks were worthy of being placed in the Hogwarts Pranks of Fame Book," laughed George.
"Yeah, well, I bet plenty Sirius pranks are in that book as well," said Harry. "And finally, the last Marauder. The great stag, the leader of the gang. Prongs. My father, James Potter."
"Your dad?" said Ginny.
"Yeah," said Harry "So in fact their essence has not left Hogwarts, yet."
"Well, it's up to you now, Harry," said Fred.
"We were hoping that Ginny would be able to help you, but now that she's in disgrace," continued George.
Ginny stuck out her tongue.
"The burden falls to you alone, Harry," finished Fred.
"We will give you everything you need," said George.
"You've done so much for us that it's the least we can do," said Fred.
"We'll even help you out if you're running low on ideas," said George.
"Just promise that you will cause as much mayhem as possible and drive Hermione, Ron and Ginny crazy," said Fred and Ginny hit him.
"Oh, and never forget the most sacred motto," said George.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," recited Harry. "Anyway, this shop is great."
"Isn't it?" said Fred grinning.
"It took us ages to find the perfect place," said George.
"You got any Extendable Ears on offer?" asked Ginny.
"Only for you, my dearest prefect," said Fred.
"Shut up," said Ginny, hurling a book at him.
"HEY!" he exclaimed.
Five minutes later Harry and Ginny left Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with packages full of Fred and George's latest pranks. They walked for about ten minutes down Diagon Alley when the air around them turned cold, and he sun got almost blacked out.
"Shit," whispered Harry.
"What is it?" asked Ginny.
"Dementors," said Harry.
"Dementors, oh God," said Ginny.
Harry pulled out his wand. He knew that he would be able to perform a spell as there were plenty of witnesses to the presence of Dementors. Harry could hear its rattling breath. He could feel the Dementor, see the Dementor. The great black shape of evil was reaching out. It was reaching out for Ginny.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled focusing his mind on his happiest memory.
Harry pictured Sirius' face clearly in his mind and the enormous silver stag erupted from his wand.
"Get it!" Harry commanded pointing at the Dementor.
The stag chased the Dementor down, leaving Ginny looking very pale and very weak. She collapsed into Harry's arms.
"Ginny," he said, shaking her slightly.
"Ginny," he said again.
Ginny opened her eyes. An old lady rushed over to them and gave Harry a chocolate bar.
"Thank you," Harry said and smiled at the lady.
He sat Ginny down beside a wall and gave her some chocolate.
"Are you ok?" Harry asked her.
"Yes," she said.
"What do you hear, Ginny?" he asked.
"Things that happened in my first year," she whispered.
Unshed tears were glistening in her eyes. Harry pulled her close to him.
"," she whispered.
Unshed tears were glistening in her eyes. Harry pulled her close to him.
"You're alright, now, Ginny, I promise. I won't let anything hurt you, never again," Harry whispered to her.
He kissed the top of her head.
A/N Thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter. Next chapter is the journey to Hogwarts and their first evening back. It will move quite quickly because I want to get to the interesting part. Review please!!!