Chapter Twenty Five: Going Home
Harry stood listlessly, waiting at Hogsmeade Station with his friends for the approaching Hogwarts Express. One more summer, and this time, no Dursleys, but somehow that thought didn't cheer him as it should have. Instead of being at number four Privet Drive, he'd be spending the entire summer at number twelve Grimmauld Place. He, Draco, Hermione, her parents, Ron and Ginny, their parents, and the Order would all be staying at number twelve Grimmauld Place, and it was going to be one heck of a summer. At least the food would be better this year, with Mrs. Weasley around to cook. Harry turned to Ron and Hermione and observed them critically. They seemed fully engrossed in something in Ron's hand. Something Draco had said months ago popped into Harry's head then. "Hiding something…almost in the palms of your hands…."
"Oi," Harry called out, and Ron and Hermione's heads instantly popped up to look at him. Harry did not miss that Ron's hand flew gracefully behind his back.
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked a little too brightly.
"What's got you two so jumpy?" Harry asked. He almost laughed as both of his best friends began speaking at once.
"We're not jumpy," Ron said.
"Oh, it's nothing, Harry," Hermione said.
"It's not nothing, and you are definitely jumpy," Harry countered them. "What are you hiding behind your back, Ron?"
"Hiding…? Why would you say that, Harry?" Ron looked extremely nervous now. Hermione just rolled her eyes and waved her hand in front of Ron to indicate that he should just go ahead and show him. Ron sighed and peered at Harry worriedly. "I dunno, mate. You're going to laugh!"
"If I promise not to laugh will you just show me?" Harry asked impatiently.
"Oh, go on, Ronald, it's not that big of a secret. He knows we were thinking about it anyway." Hermione crossed her arms in front of her chest and scowled disapprovingly.
"What?" Ron bristled. "You wanted to keep it secret as much as I did, Mione! Don't act like it's all my fault now."
"Just show him," Hermione huffed, and Ron, deprived of the distraction a row would cause, turned to Harry and opened his palm. There, imprinted into the skin of his hand was a symbol that seemed oddly familiar to Harry.
"What is that?" Harry asked as he ran a finger over Ron's palm.
"Well, it's not my lifeline, Professor Trelawney," Ron mocked him.
"Obviously," Harry grunted, his impatience getting the better of him.
"It's the Ptolemy Signet," Draco Malfoy said as he approached from behind Harry's back. Harry jumped, startled, and glared at Draco.
"First of all, don't scare me like that," Harry breathed heavily. "Secondly, what do you know about Ptolemy bonds?"
Draco ignored Harry's first statement, and smirked widely at the second. "Ptolemy bonds are rather popular among the pure-blooded segment of the wizarding world. It's almost automatic in any wizard's wedding that the bride and groom receive the Signet at the end of the wedding ceremony." Draco eyed Ron appraisingly and cooed, "Your Mum's going to just love that little trinket, isn't she! How do you intend to explain that one? Battle scar? Accident? Do you think she'll believe you?"
"I don't intend for her to ever find out," Ron growled at Draco, "And I'll pulverize anyone who tells her! Is that clear, Malfoy?"
"Whoa, whoa, no need to get all hot and bothered there, mate. I was just kidding around!" Draco sneered in a less than apologetic fashion.
"I'm not your mate, Malfoy!" Ron said defiantly.
"I'm hurt, truly I am," Malfoy whined.
"Oh, cut it out you guys," Harry interjected, his interest in the Signet piqued. "Tell me about how you got that! Ginny and I don't have anything like that."
"That's because your bond happened spontaneously," Hermione explained as though it were a classroom subject. "This is part of the ritual we looked up in the library. This tattoo is the physical manifestation of the link between us." She held up her own palm for Harry to inspect her matching scar. "Mine is the same except for his name." She pointed to a spot that read, "Ronald Billius Weasley."
Harry looked more closely at Ron's hand and found Hermione's name inscribed as, "Hermione Jane Granger-Weasley."
"Granger-Weasley?" Harry asked incredulously, staring at the two of them quizzically. "You two didn't go and get…."
"No, Harry," Hermione sighed, and Ron turned as pale as a ghost. "We didn't get married or anything. But the ritual is set up to operate between two people who are married. We had to tweak it a little to make it work."
"You had to take his name?" Harry guessed, amused.
"Yeah," Ron responded, a grin spreading across his reddening face.
"And Ronald sort of…likes…the sound of it," Hermione grinned as well, her own cheeks beginning to burn rather brightly.
Harry laughed in spite of himself. Draco was already clutching his stomach. When Ginny came over from chatting with Neville and Luna and asked what was going on, the two boys could barely contain themselves. Ginny gazed unaffectedly at Hermione and Ron's opened palms and sighed.
"I think it's very sweet, myself. I wish I had something like that to tell all the other Harry-worshipers out there that he's officially off the market!" Harry stopped laughing instantly and stared at her with wide eyes, his head not quite connected to his neck suddenly.
"Off…off the…" he stammered, blinking furiously as though his eyes had the sole job of absorbing this shocking piece of information.
"You told me so yourself," Ginny reminded him with a slightly affronted look on her face. "You said, and I quote, 'I'm going to marry you someday, if I am fortunate enough to live that long.'"
It was Harry's turn to blush. He'd meant that when he said it, but he'd never intended for Ron and Draco to hear it. Still, as embarrassing as he thought it should have been, the words just sounded right to him. He smiled through his burning cheeks and replied, "And you said you're going to say yes when I ask." Ginny's smile seemed to illuminate her entire being. She threw her arms around Harry's neck and kissed him.
"I am going to be physically sick if you Gryffindors don't quit with the mushy stuff!" Draco complained.
"Malfoy," Hermione smiled mischievously, "Isn't that Parvati over there? I think she's coming this way even." Draco whirled around, a stupid grin throwing itself on his face before he had begun to move. Parvati was indeed making her way over, and waving as she came.
"Hi," she said as she stood in front of him.
"Hi," he returned. Neither said anything more, but moved off toward the platform hand in hand as the train came into sight. Harry and his friends laughed lightly as they watched the two go.
"Now there's one thing that all Gryffindors and Slytherins have in common," Ginny said. "No one is immune to love."
"No one but Voldemort, and those who've been irreparably affected by him," Harry amended.
"Voldemort has never felt love, Harry," Ginny argued, "but that doesn't mean he's immune to it. Heaven only knows how love would affect him if it ever happened to cross his path."
"I dunno, Gin," Ron stepped in. "I can't exactly see the Old Snake settling down with a wife and children, if you know what I mean."
"No, of course not," Ginny replied. "Love is probably the one power that can truly destroy Voldemort. Because he has never felt it, he could not abide it if it came his way."
"I don't think we're going to be able to convince someone to fall in love with Voldemort in order to destroy him," Harry said. "So how exactly do we use that sort of power against him?"
"I don't know," Ginny sighed. "It was just a theory, anyway."
"And a good one," Harry smiled soothingly, "if only love could be cast from a wand."
"Should we feed him a love potion?" Ron asked jokingly as they stepped onto the train car and began to search for a suitable compartment to share.
"Love potions only create an imitation of the loving emotions," Hermione reviewed as though it had been a question on a test. "They cannot have the same effect on a person as the real thing."
"I was joking, Hermione," Ron groused, and Harry and Ginny glanced at each other, waiting for the row to begin.
"Yes, I know that, Ronald," Hermione bit back, "I was only explaining…"
"Look, let's not fight about it," Ron softened suddenly. "Don't get all upset."
"I am not upset," Hermione shouted.
"Hermione, I know when you're upset, remember?" Ron shouted back, holding his hand out, palm up. The Signet was bright red and looked slightly painful.
"I take it back," Ginny said, "I don't want one of those." Harry nodded his agreement.
Hermione sighed and sat down heavily. Ron sat beside her and put an arm lovingly around her. They sat and stared into each others eyes for a while, and Harry guessed they were discussing it in the privacy of their minds. He smiled at them and put his own arm around Ginny. They leaned back in their seats and closed their eyes. Things were going to be a lot quieter between those two from now on, Harry thought, and Ginny heartily agreed.
The End