Author's Note- Hello, readers! Thanks for reading! This is going to be slow as far as updates go… especially with school and my other story. Just so you know… Again, like last chapter, I'd like to thank my awesome Beta (drum roll) the one, the only… Nimbirosa. And now…
Orange Crush
By MalusMagus
Chapter Two
Harry woke up the next, oddly refreshed. For once, he had slept through the night peacefully with out any interruptions on visions. But he did have a dream concerning a certain redhead…
Stretching, he stood up from the bed and rubbed his eyes, vaguely wondering if Ginny was going to remember to bring breakfast. He gathered his clothes and headed for the bathroom, wanting to take a quick shower before he had to put up with the day.
When he got back to the room, clean and dressed, he noticed a note on his bed. It was a black colored feminine scrawl.
Harry,
Meet me in my room for breakfast, if you don't mind.
Gin
Harry picked up the note and put it in his pocket before heading to her room. When he got there, he knocked softly on the door.
"That you Harry?" she asked. "Come in."
He opened the door. Ginny was sitting at her desk, setting two places.
Looking around the room, he noticed the décor. The walls were mostly black; a red and gold stripe bordered it waist high. The bedspread was black too. Harry assumed that the black was the existing color from the Blacks that lived there years ago and Ginny just wanted a bit more color. The floor was a new red carpet whose color was the exact shade of that on the wall. All the wood in the room resembled his wand, Harry also noticed; Holly.
Harry made his way to the desk and sat in the chair next to Ginny.
"Morning, Ginny," he said.
"Good morning, Harry. Have a good sleep?" she asked amiably.
Harry nodded and help finish with the silverware. "Really good, for a change. How about you," he asked.
"Same," she said, dishing out some fruit.
Harry nodded. "That's good," he said. What else should I say? How am I supposed to change the subject? he thought exasperatedly.
"Did you finish your school work yet?" Ginny asked.
That helped, he thought. "No," he said. "Have you?"
"Of course not," Ginny said laughingly.
"Want to start it today? I'll help you and stuff," Harry suggested as he started with a piece of sausage. He stabbed at it, cut it up and moved around the pieces before actually eating one. He was surprised when it tasted remarkably good. Even for Weasley food. "Ginny, who made this?" he asked.
Ginny blushed. "I knew it wouldn't turn out good. Damn, next time I'll have mum make it…" she said to herself.
"It was you?" Harry asked incredulously. Ginny nodded, looking at her plate, the cooked food thus far untouched. "Ginny, this is better than your mum's!" he said.
Ginny's eyebrows escalated to her hairline. "You can't be serious?" she asked, in little more than a whisper.
Harry nodded vigorously. "Yeah, I am," he said, before taking a few more pieces of sausage.
The redhead blushed and started eating.
Harry thought for a minute before talking. "Hey, Gin? Do you know if Buckbeak is still here?" he asked.
Gin? When'd he start calling me that? Well, I did write it in the note… Ginny thought. "Yeah, he's still here. Why?"
"I wanted to go see him," Harry said, eating a bit more.
Ginny nodded. "I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem. We can take him his lunch," she said.
Harry gave her a small smile before finishing his breakfast. Ginny finished shortly after.
"So, how about you go get your school things and bring them in here? Unless you want to study in the other room?" she asked hesitantly.
"No, here is fine," Harry reassured her.
Ginny smiled. "Okay, I'll take this down while you get your things." She grabbed the tray of food and dishes and made her way out the door Harry held open for her.
Harry went back to his room and got his books, a quill, ink and a huge load of parchment before making his way back to Ginny's room.
Ginny was already back and throwing things from her trunk onto the bed beside her. She stood up and gave a satisfied nod at her trunk and turned to face the bed and Harry. She was startled by his silent appearance, but recovered in record time.
"Harry, I was thinking while you were gone," she began, her brow furrowed as she looked at the desk. "There isn't enough room for both of us to do homework at the desk at the same time," she said.
Harry looked at the desk. It was quite small, suitable for one person and maybe three books. He looked around the room. The only other idea he had was to use the bed. "Well," he said, not quite sure how she'd take the suggestion. "We could do our homework on the bed…" he said. She's going to think that a really weird idea. And if Ron saw us… Harry shuddered inwardly. Ginny didn't notice.
"I suppose, that's an idea…" she said as she organized her things on the bed. "It's either that or the floor. And the floor isn't comfy… I fell out of be last night, so I should know…" She laughed feebly and rubbed her right arm gingerly.
Harry smiled a bit. "Ok, the bed it is then," he said, perhaps a little too brightly. Ginny raised her eyebrows and Harry blushed and looked down, setting his things on the opposite side of the bed.
"What should we start with?" Ginny asked.
"History? It's the worst, so we should get it over with now," Harry said decisively.
Ginny nodded in agreement and they pulled out their History text and a set of parchment. They worked silently except for the occaisional question. "Who was the Head Witch of Salem in 1692?" or "When was the Goblin Revolution in Egypt?"
When they finished History almost an hour later, they moved on to Potions. After that were Transfiguration, then Charms, Divination and Arithmancy.
It was nearly lunch by the time they were finished. "That wasn't hard. Maybe we should do homework all at once during the summer… it takes less time," Ginny said. They smiled at each other and headed downstairs.
When they arrived on the first floor, they found it to be nearly jammed pack with Order members. Ron and Hermione were also down there.
"Hey, where've you two been all morning?" Ron said.
"In my room doing homework," Ginny said.
Ron raised his eyebrows and Hermione gave an approving nod. "See Ron. And I bet they're nearly finished too? It doesn't take long, really," Hermione said.
"Yeah, we finished," Harry said.
Hermione smiled. "Now you have the whole summer to have fun," she said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, yeah, Hermione," Ron said. "Spare us, will you?"
Hermione gave an indignant, "Hem!" and left for the food table.
"Oh, Ron," Ginny said exasperatedly. "Look what you've gone and done. Now Hermione's mad at you," she said.
"Well, it's not my fault," Ron said, though he wasn't convincing.
"Not your fault? Ron, you just made her mad. Just go kiss and make up before this escalates," Ginny said, rolling her eyes at him. Ron nodded and left to search for Hermione through the crowd.
"Well, that got them out of the way," Harry said gratefully.
Ginny smiled. "Works like a charm," she said. And they left to get lunch.
After lunch, one could find Harry and Ginny making their way upstairs. Harry carried an odd sack and Ginny was telling him about Buckbeak's attitude lately.
"He's been really upset. He doesn't let anyone besides Remus feed him anymore. And then, he only sits in the corner of the room and eats his ferrets quietly. But I reckon he'll let you feed him. Ron tried to come in yesterday while we were eating dinner, he told me. But he didn't bow back to him," she said in a sympathetic voice. She stopped just as they approached the door to Buckbeak's room.
Harry opened the door quietly and stepped inside the room. Buckbeak was, as Ginny had told him. Curled up in the corner of the room (as best as the odd creature could, that is.) Ginny stayed in the doorway while Harry walked in and bowed to him. Buckbeak did not stand. He did, however, give a slight nod of his head in Harry's direction. He did the same for Ginny too, even though she didn't bow to him at all. Ginny smiled and walked over to him carefully and rubbed the feathers on the top of his head.
"Hi, Buckbeak," Harry said quietly.
The hippogriff gave out a noise that, to Harry, sounded oddly welcoming. Ginny gave a small laugh. "See, I knew he'd let you in here. He likes you," she said affectionately, still rubbing the top of Buckbeak's head.
Harry nodded and started giving the ferrets to Buckbeak.
A short while later, Ginny and Harry left the room to go wash up. (Ginny suggested this after Harry was sprayed with a load of ferret insides.)
"I'll wait in here," Ginny said, sitting on his bed while Harry left to take a quick shower.
Harry replied, "Okay," and left the room.
About fifteen minutes later, Harry came back to find Ginny reading of his fifth year Potions text. "Good reading?" he asked.
Ginny was startled. "Oh, hello. I didn't realize you'd come back." She set the book down and closed it. "What do you want to do now?" she asked.
"I don't know. What is there to do?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know really," she said thoughtfully. "Last summer all we did was clean… We could just look around the house, I suppose," suggested Ginny.
Harry nodded slowly. "Okay," he considered the idea. "But where do you want to start then?" he asked.
"Well, have you looked around this room?" she asked, spreading her hands to indicated Sirius's room.
"No," Harry said simply.
"Then there's your answer," she said, hopping off the bed. "Let's go to the desk first."
They did. Harry pulled out the first drawer and looked inside. It was shallow and contained a bunch of quills and inkbottles. He tried the next one. This one was deeper than it appeared. There were files in it, lined up and labeled just so. "I might have found something," he said. But as he said that, he was thinking, these are Sirius's things. I shouldn't be going through them. It's not my place. It isn't right.
"Really?" Ginny said. She set down the eagle feather quill she was moving to the other side of the desk and looked into the drawer Harry had opened. "That's a lot of files. I bet there are more though. Pick one out," she said.
Harry did. He read the label, "Sirius's Motorcycle." Harry's eyebrows shot up, as did Ginny's.
"Sirius had a motorcycle?" she asked incredulously.
"Apparently so," Harry said, opening the file to read more.
Inside was a picture of him on his motorcycle when he appeared to be eighteen or so. He waved at the camera joyfully, before revving the engine and taking off down the road. This must've been when he first got it, Harry thought. The next piece of paper was the insurance and things of the sort.
Harry put the file away, but took the picture. He grabbed another file out of the drawer. His guilt was still there. But his curiosity overrode it.
The next file was labeled in a magnificent script, "The Noble House of Black," he read aloud. He opened the file to see pictures of each of the rooms when the house was fully furnished and in top condition. A bunch of other parchments were included in the file concerning previous owners (all, of course, had the last name 'Black'.) It didn't interest Harry at that moment, so he put it away and removed yet another file.
This one was the most intriguing by far. It was titled, "Sirius's Will." Harry had wide eyes as he stared at the file's name. Ginny looked up as he read it and put down her file.
"Well, go on. Don't you want to know what he's left for everyone then?" she asked. Harry nodded and let the file fall open. There were a few sheets of parchment in it. He looked at the one in the back first. "Sirius's Will," it read, "January 1975" Harry looked at the next one up. It appeared the same except for the date, which was "August 1980." This one was considerably longer and took up a full sheet of parchment. Harry skipped to the very front of the file and read it aloud, "Sirius's Will. July 1995."
It said under the heading, "To whom my possessions belong may be found in my previous Wills except for the following." Harry scanned the page. There were two items on it. "To Albus Dumbledore I give the Noble House of Black for use of the Order of the Phoenix."
The next one Harry didn't read aloud. He couldn't. The shock was all consuming. To my godson, Harry Potter, I leave everything else, including whatever contents in the Noble House of Black that aren't specified previously.
"Is there anything else, Harry?" Ginny asked after giving him a minute to stare at the parchment.
Harry didn't answer her.
"Harry?" she asked, slightly worried.
Silence.
Ginny took the parchment out of his hands and asked, "Harry, are you okay?"
Harry nodded.
"Well, what's the problem then?" she asked. She looked at the parchment and read the second item. "Oh, dear," she said.
Just then, all the pressure of being here, which before seemed non-existent, made Harry snap. He couldn't- wouldn't- take it any more. No, he had to leave. He had to get out of the house.
Harry got up and left the room too quickly for Ginny to stop him. He clambered down the stairs as fast and quietly as he could. As he approached the first floor he made sure he was as quiet as he could be because of the portraits. Butwhen he skipped the last two stairs, he landed loudly and Mrs. Black awoke.
"FILTHY HALF-BREEDS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS! MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF D-" Mrs. Black's screeching was cut short by Harry, who had by that time, bottled up enough of his emotions that they were all rolled into one: anger.
"SHUT UP YOU OLD BAT!" Harry yelled at the portrait.
"-SHAME OF MY FLESH THAT HASN'T B-" she screeched. Harry didn't have to ask what she said. He knew she was talking about Sirius.
"HE'S DEAD YOU OLD HAG! SHUT UP!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Mrs. Black opened her mouth to retort, but just screamed in pain. Her portrait was burning.
Harry's eyes got wide and he fled from the house through the back door.
Ginny ran after Harry. When she got to the top of the stairs, she watched as he ran out the back door. She was startled when she caught sight of the burning portrait of Mrs. Black.
She was even more startled to find that almost half of the Order of the Phoenix had seen the whole thing and were standing, shocked, in the doorway to the kitchen.
Remus stepped out from the small crowd into the hall and cast a few spells. When he was finished, the portrait of Mrs. Black was hanging on the wall, charred, drenched and silent.
Professor McGonagall was the first to speak. "What was that all about, Albus?"
There was no answer. It seemed that he was deep in thought. But Ginny wouldn't know, as she couldn't see him.
Ginny heard a muffled yelp behind her and turned around. Ron and Hermione were standing there, looking down at the Order of the Phoenix as well. It seemed as if Ron was about to speak when Hermione elbowed him in the side. Hermione put a finger to her lips in an effort to convey the need for silence. Ron nodded slightly.
They all turned back to look down at the hall. The group beneath them was talking amongst itself.
"Where'd he go?"
"-need to find Potter."
"-if the Ministry hears-"
Ginny didn't want to watch them discuss what they were going to do any longer and ran down the stairs as fast as she can and out the back door, ignoring the few calls from behind her.
The door slammed behind her and she quickly took in her surroundings. She was in the back yard. There was a set of table and chairs and a garden. The garden showed feeble signs of life, as if it had been decaying before Mrs. Weasley showed up. The only flowers that were fully blossomed were the lilies. A few were gone as if they had been ripped, though. There was no place to hide. No trees to sit in, or under. There was only a thin bush in the back corner near the fence. She couldn't see Harry anywhere.
The gate that led to the street banged shut and Ginny cursed under her breath. Harry, where the bloody hell did you go? She ran out to the sidewalk and looked around quickly.
The street was empty as far as she could tell. Ginny stomped her foot in frustration and turned back to the house. She quickly turned back, as something white caught her eye.
She ran along the sidewalk to the opposite edge of the house and picked up a lily petal. Harry, did you snatch the lilies from the garden? Ginny started running, looking around at the same time for any sign of Harry.
The wind blew fiercely and she felt as if she was flying again. Memories flooded her mind from previous summers when she would take her brother's broom and go out to the field. She remembered a move she made up. Before she could stop herself, she did a short, condensed version of it on foot and fell ungracefully onto the grass.
Thankful that she was now many blocks away from Grimmauld Place and no one could see her fall like that, she quickly got up and dusted off her pants, hoping she wasn't blushing too much.
The wind blew again and Ginny thought she heard her name. She looked around wildly, blushing, knowing that if someone called her name, they knew her, and probably saw her fall.
Ginny looked down into her hand briefly and was instantly reminded of why she was running. Harry, where are you?
"Ginny!" she heard her name whispered loudly. "Over here."
Ginny followed the sound of her name being called and her attention was drawn eight feet up an oak tree, where Harry was perched on a large branch, caressing the three lilies he held in his hand.
"What are you doing up there?" she asked. She found the lowest branch of the tree was just out of her reach. Jumping, she got hold of it and pulled herself up. She did the same thing a few more times and found herself sitting next to Harry.
"I'm sorry, Gin," he apologized. "I didn't know what to do. I shouldn't have been going to Sirius's stuff like that. It was wrong. Then I found-," Harry stopped and looked down shamefully.
Just then, Harry noticed they were at a park. Several of the swings were broken, oddly reminding him of Little Whinging and the Dursleys. The tree they were in was one on the outer edge of a small forest.
"Harry," Ginny was talking to him. "Harry, look at me," she said softly. Harry looked at her. "It's my fault, okay? Don't blame yourself. I was the one that suggested we do all of that. Don't be guilty, Harry. Please?"
"It's not that easy, Ginny," Harry said, looking away, back at the playground.
"I know it isn't Harry," Ginny said understandingly. "But you're strong. I know you can get through this. I'll help you." Ginny put her hand on his arm soothingly.
Harry closed his eyes, savoring her touch, and nodded. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes to look back at her. She smiled at him. Harry put his hand on hers and held it gently.
"Thank you, Ginny."
Ron and Hermione had special permission from Professor Dumbledore to sit in on the rest of the Order's meeting. The rest of it was about Harry.
"Why can't we just send people out to look for him first?" Mrs. Weasley raged.
"That is what your daughter is doing, Molly," Albus said calmly and patiently.
"She isn't qualified to go looking all over London for him!" she fumed.
"I don't believe Harry will go too far from Grimmauld Place," Dumbledore said reassuringly.
"Do you not remember what happened three summers ago?" she asked incredulously. "He took the Knight Bus from Little Whinging all the way to the Leaky Cauldron! And now he's in more danger and we don't know why he's even run off in the first place!"
"Molly, dear," Arthur Weasley tried to comfort his wife. "Harry will be fine. He's got his wand."
"Does he now? How do you know this?" Molly turned on her husband.
"After that bit in the hallway-," Dumbledore cut off Arthur.
"That 'bit in the hallway' although impressive, did not have his magical signature and therefore, was not achieved by the use of his wand."
Everyone that saw what Harry did to the portrait, and then some, protested.
"Had to-"
"Wandless magic-"
"No way!" Ron said to Hermione.
Hermione said nothing, but only thought about it.
"It's possible, though," she said finally. By the time she said that, many of the protests had died down and everyone could hear her. Many people turned to her. "I've read about it. The book said that only some of the most powerful wizards are able to do wandless magic-"
Snape interrupted her. "Ms. Granger," he said in a tone laced with annoyance. "Kindly take note that Potter is only sixteen and could not possibly have enough magical ability, let alone endurance, to accomplish such a feat. You've read about it and therefore realize how much energy, alone, it takes to do wandless magic."
"Professor, he did fend off a hundred dementors when he was thirteen-"
Snape cut her off again. "That could not have been one-hundred dementors, Ms. Granger-"
This time, Dumbledore cut him off. "He's right, Ms. Granger. It was more upwards of one-hundred. More like one-hundred and twenty-five," his eyes twinkled as he said this.
"Headmaster, can we get to what we are going to do about this problem?" Snape changed the subject, realizing a losing battle.
"An excellent idea, Severus," Dumbledore said. "I do believe that Harry and Ginny will be back on their own time- which will not be very long. Harry doesn't have anywhere else to go, besides perhaps the Burrow or Hogwarts. I will be back at Hogwarts for the rest of the day-and the week, actually. Someone should go to the Burrow at regular intervals until they arrive, to make sure they didn't go there.
"Also, I don't want anyone to bother Harry about why he left when he gets back. I have my theories and would appreciate it if someone notified me when he does arrive.
"If anyone does not have anything to add, then I do believe that's it," Dumbledore finished.
No one had any objections as to what was happening- except, perhaps, Mrs. Weasley, who didn't mention it. The Order slowly left Grimmauld Place after that.
It was getting a considerably darker at 6:00, considering the fact that it was cloudy all day. Harry and Ginny walked back to Grimmauld Place quietly. Mum's going berserk, I bet.
Ginny rubbed her hand where Harry had touched her. She sighed audibly, and then blushed as Harry looked at her. Harry smiled when she looked away bashfully.
"Um, Ginny," Harry said. "I've been thinking about something for a while," he said. Ginny looked at him. She didn't know what to expect. "Um, well, your mum's going to go insane when we get back- right?"
Ginny nodded.
"Should we wait before going in, then?" Harry asked.
"Yes. We can wait by the stairs outside," she suggested. Harry nodded.
Soon, they were back at Grimmauld Place. When they arrived, they sat down next to the stairs on the side of the house. Not finding anything to say, they sat in silence for about ten minutes.
At the end of ten minutes, Ginny found the silence suffocating. "I don't think that waiting is going to do any good," she said. "She might stay up and wait for us." She shuddered. "And we're going to get hungry soon enough."
Harry nodded and thought for a moment. Then all of a sudden, a thought hit him. "There's a tree by your window isn't there?"
There was. Ginny nodded. She was about to ask why, but then understood. "Let's go see if we can climb it. Then we can sneak in and escape a possible lecture." They walked to the side of the house. The tree did have low, sturdy branches leading up to the second floor of the house, oddly enough.
Harry grinned and said, "Ladies first."
"Oh, no, Harry. I don't want to be the first to break my neck," Ginny grinned back.
Harry shrugged. "Suit your self." He quickly lifted himself up to the second branch and waited as Ginny got to the first.
"Okay," she told him, and he continued up the tree. Ginny always stayed one branch behind.
I hope I don't fall. They were nearing the second floor.
Ginny shrieked as she lost her balance, but it came out a bit muffled because as her arm flew up to regain balance, it covered her mouth. In an instant, Harry got hold of her arm in one hand and a nearby branch in his other.
Harry's arm was getting weaker as she tried to get both of her feet on a branch. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Ginny got her balance back and Harry was able to let go. They sat for a moment, as Harry insisted it. "Are you okay?" he asked.
Ginny nodded. She was still out of breath but managed, "Yes. Thanks for saving me," even though it was punctured with gasps for air.
Harry smiled slightly. "Anytime."
"I'm ready," she slowly stood up. "Three more branches and a window left," she said.
Harry nodded and ascended to the next branch. They got to the top branch with out further trouble.
"Thinking about this now, I don't think this was a good idea," Harry said with a small smile. "We are going to get yelled at either for not coming in through the door, or running off."
Ginny grinned, "Or burning Mrs. Black's portrait."
"That too. I think once we get in, we should probably go tell everyone that we're back," Harry suggested.
Ginny nodded and Harry opened the window.
A few minutes later, they were both inside the house, going down the stairs. The stairs creaked as they walked down them. They could hear a few voices in the kitchen.
"When do you think they will get back?"
"Soon, I hope."
It seemed like it was Mrs. Weasley and Ron and Hermione. Maybe there were more people. The people in the kitchen kept talking and Harry and Ginny whispered to each other.
"How do you want to do this?"
"I'll go in," Ginny said. "I'll go get something to eat. You know it's 7:00 already? And you can just do what ever you want." She grinned. "Make and entrance if you like."
Harry grinned back and sent Ginny through the door.
"You're back!" Mrs. Weasley squealed from behind the door. From the sound of it, Ginny was crushed in a hug. Harry winced.
Harry silently pushed open the door a bit and leaned against it with his hands in his pockets. His hair, which was a bit longer than he would've liked, fell in front of his eyes. He shook his head, tilting back a bit, so he could see again.
It wasn't only Mrs. Weasley, Ron and Hermione that were waiting. Mr. Weasley, Fred and George were also there. Everyone was facing the opposite direction, facing Ginny, as she gathered a few things to eat.
Then the questions started.
"Where's Harry?"
"Where'd you guys go?"
"Why did you two leave?"
"Did you see the portrait?"
Harry smirked in the opposite direction. Then turned his head back to the kitchen. Ginny was silently going about her business, as if she hadn't heard any of it.
After a minute, she put everything on a tray, and turned to the door and the small crowd. Everyone watched her, hoping she was about to answer some questions. Then she smiled as said, "Let's go, Harry." Everyone looked towards the door, as Ginny started to leave.
Harry took the tray from Ginny as they left the kitchen and shut the door. Harry and Ginny smiled at each other and ascended the stairs to Harry's room for a nice, quite dinner.
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