Chapter 11: A Midnight Meeting
After he finished everyone what happened to him the last month of school, there was silence for several minutes. Looking around, Harry saw tears streaming down every female's face, even Professor McGonnagall. All the men were looking at him in shock, fear, and admiration, even Snape. Ginny, who had simply sat on his lap and listened to him tell his story, finally broke the silence.
"You must have been so lonely," she said, a quiver in her voice. "All of us thought that you had only been gone from us for a few months, but for you… it was…"
"Millennia," replied Harry quietly. "I calculated it before I left, and I spent 7,000 years there."
"Oh Harry Dear," said Mrs. Weasley. "If we had known… we would have… done SOMETHING…"
"It's OK Mrs. Weasley," said Harry with a small smile. "It was my choice to stay there, I could have left at any time, but I wanted to finish what I set out to do."
"Harry, if we had known, we would have sent more letters…" said Hermione, Ron just nodded in agreement."
"I'm telling you it's fine, I'm fine, I'm better than fine I'm-,"
"You're immortal," broke in Ginny, looking at him with an expression on her face that Harry could not define, and yet caused his insides to freeze in terror. "You'll never age," she went on. "I'll get older and older and you… you'll…."
"I will always love you," replied Harry firmly, understanding what had Ginny worked up so much. "Plus, it's not as if becoming an Arch-mage is the only way to stop aging," he said. At this Ginny looked at him hopefully.
"IS there some way that I could…that you could…"she couldn't finish the question, even though Harry knew what she was asking.
"Well…" Harry hesitated, looking around the room before answering. Ron and Hermione were looking at Harry with just as much hope in their eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were looking at Harry and Ginny with just as much hope, but it was hope that the two of them would be able to get over this crisis, not hope for themselves. Oddly, Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George mirrored Mr. and Mrs. Weasley instead of Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. Matilda and Remus looked at Harry silently supportive, not thinking at all for themselves. Professors Snape and McGonnagall looked just as hopeful as Ron and Hermoine for some reason. Professor Dumbledore just seemed interested in what Harry had to say. "There IS a way… a few in fact…"
"But they are all extremely dangerous," he went on, looking into Ginny's eyes.
"I'm willing to take the risk," she said immediately.
"Gin, wait," said Harry quickly. "Listen to the risk first before you decide anything, please." When she nodded after a moment, he went on. "The first, and most safe way would be for either you or I to create a Sorcerer's Stone, like Nicolas Flamel did. The problem with that, is that it could easily be stolen, no matter where it is kept, and if that happens, you would die within a month of your last dose, because the Elixer of Life, while making you stop aging, becomes a poison if you do not keep on taking doses of it." Ginny had looked hopeful, but had quickly become dejected again, agreeing that this was too much of a risk, especially if someone else got a hold of her Sorcerer's Stone.
"The second way would be for me to cast spells on you taking you outside of time, which I could easily do," at her hopeful expression, he added, "I won't however, because it's only a fifty/fifty chance that it will work. If I cast the spells, it will EITHER cause you to not age, OR cause you to age at such an accelerated rate that you would die of old age before even I had the chance to stop the spell. I'm not willing to risk that, not with you and NOT if it means that you could die." Again, Ginny's hopeful expression was shattered when she heard that Harry refused to cast the spell.
When Harry did not go on, Ginny frowned. "Didn't you say 'a few' ways? Is there another way?" she asked. When Harry reluctantly nodded, she pressed him. "What is it? Why won't you tell me?" she asked, feeling hurt that Harry would try to hide any possible way that they could be together for the rest of their lives.
Harry sighed. "First of all, no matter how simple this sounds, it's actually very complex, and could go wrong in so many ways that I can't even get into it. It is also an extremely dangerous and extremely painful process," he warned her.
"That's ok, I trust you Harry," she said, trying to encourage him.
He looked helplessly into her chocolate brown eyes, losing himself in their depths. I can deny her noghting. I love her too much. After another sigh, he went on. "I can't even believe that I am suggesting this," he informed her, the rest of the Inner Circle, and the Council of Arch-mages all at the same time. "What I am proposing, PROPOSING ONLY so don't smile yet love, is that I… bond myself to you."
"Bond yourself?" asked Dumbledore, "In what way?"
"Well, in layman's terms I would be 'putting a piece of me inside of her,'" replied Harry, then gazing at Fred, George, Ron, Bill, and Charlie he added, "don't even think about the double meaning to those words, unless you want to spend the rest of you lives finding out how a mushroom's existance is like FIRST HAND." Seeing all of them pale slightly, Harry looked back at Ginny to find a confused frown on her face.
"Why wouldn't you want to do that?" asked Ginny.
"Well besides, causing you an unnatural amount of pain,
which I couldn't even guess as to how much you would receive?" asked
Harry. At Ginny's nod he answered
her. "First of all, the Pain. IF you receive the Test of Pain instead of
the pain that I am thinking you will go through, then you could lose your mind,
or even die from the pain. Second of
all, this has never been tried before, so I have no clue as to whether it would
work or not, and finally it will almost definitely have… side effects."
"Side effects?" asked Mrs. Weasley worriedly, "What kind of side effects."
"Well, hopefully it will have the obvious side effect of making Ginny stop aging like me," began Harry. "But it could also do anything from make her a stronger witch to take all her powers away and make her a squib. Now do you know why I didn't want to mention this idea Gin?" he asked. "It's really just a shot in the dark, since the other two wouldn't work."
Ginny thought about this for a while. She looked from Harry's face for the first time since he had told her that he would not age, and looked over at her parents. Her mum and dad were looking quite pale, obviously frightened by the idea of loosing their only daughter. She then turned to her brothers. Bill and Charlie were just as pale as her parents, but both smile at her, telling her that they would back her no matter what she chose. Fred and George looked surprisingly grim, but Ron was the big surprise. Ron was grinning at her and nodding his head in support of her taking the risk. That decided it for her. If Ron of all people could be supportive of this, it had to be the right thing to do. She looked back at Harry whose gaze had not left hers for a moment. "I want you to do it," she told him simply.
Harry closed his eyes in silent despair, knowing that he could deny her nothing, but fearful as to what would happen. I don't know if I can do this.
*Harry, we will be with you every step of the way* said a concerned Morgana, her motherly instincts coming into play. *If there is any mistake in your spell, we'll catch it before it becomes a problem*
That's not what I'm afraid of Morgana, replied Harry. I know I can cast the spell without any problems.
*Then what is the problem?* asked Artemis.
I don't know if I can bear loosing her, he replied. I know that we've only been together for only a little bit, but I love her.
*Then be willing to fight for her* said Circe softly. *If you don't fight for her, and take this risk, you will lose her. Don't worry, you KNOW that this will work, or you wouldn't have suggested it Harry. Trust in yourself and in your abilities, all of us do.*
With Circe's encouragement fresh in his mind Harry opened his eyes and gazed into the chocolate brown eyes of the girl he had come to love with all his heart. He sighed and nodded his acceptance. He then kissed her softly, memorizing every single second of it: every taste, smell, touch, feeling, everything. He then pulled back from the kiss. Ginny was staring at him with all her love for him in her eyes. Harry picked her up, got out of the chair, and put her back in it. He then crouched down on the floor before her and took her hands. "This is probably going to hurt a lot," he warned her again. When she nodded in understanding, Harry focused inside of him, feeling the magic and shaping it into the spell that he wanted to cast, then drew it up and out studying it, making sure that every level of complexity was correct, that it was perfect, not lacking anything. While Harry was studying the spell, he began to see similarities between what he was doing and what he remembered his Transformation being like. Harry felt strange, knew knowledge and understanding flood into his mind. He processed it immediately, changing his origional spell into something else, something powerful and complex. When he was sure that it was what he wanted, Harry cast the spell.
As soon as the spell was cast, Ginny began to scream. It was an extremely loud, piercing, painful scream that ripped at Harry's heart. Knowing that she would probably need one of Morgana's potions Harry let go of Ginny's hands and stood up. Morgana? he called.
*I'm already pouring the potion Harry* came her loving reply. *It'll appear on the table in about five seconds*
True to her word, in about five seconds a large goblet full of a clear, amber colored liquid appeared as if out of nowhere. At almost the same time, Ginny stopped screaming abruptly, and sank further into the chair, boneless. Harry quickly grabbed her hand, and felt at her wrist. She still had a pulse.
"IS she?" asked Hermione in a shaking voice.
"She's alive," answered Harry, earning sighs of relief around the room. "For now," he added softly, almost to himself. He kept his gaze on Ginny, all his senses focused on her and nothing else. Every few minutes, he would check her pulse, which was always present, but that did not help his feelings of anxiety. Harry knew that she could just as easily awaken, and be a mindless vegetable should she not stand the pain that was still coursing through her body. Abruptly, everyone except for Harry gasped. Ginny began to change.
First, it was slow, but then it began to speed up. First, Ginny began to get noticeably taller, and her figure even more rounded than it had been. Her breasts got larger to that of a C cup, and her face grew older, until she looked to be a match in age for Harry. Her hair, which had been slightly over shoulder length, quickly grew longer, until it was down to her hips. All in all, she looked like she became the Greek goddess to Harry's Greek god.
Harry did not relax when he saw the change. He knew that this was the most crucial time, which would either make the spell succeed or fail. He waited until Ginny's aura started to change. It began to brighten with new strength as the large amount of power that Harry had infused Ginny with began to show. Even though Harry had already gained back the power that he gave her, he knew that Ginny was now the most powerful witch alive. She was equal in power to Merlin; Harry had carefully planned that part of the spell, forever changing her into something that he had thought it impossible for her to ever become. As Harry watched, he saw several of her gifts blossom to life within Ginny. She soon had all the known 'special' wizarding gifts, as well as some that were not known any longer. He saw her telepathic gift, which was not as powerful as his, was about normal for the Council. She also seemed to be a Beast-Speaker as well as a feline Shifter, which meant that she could become any type of animal related to the feline species, including all types of griffins. Her scanning talent was above that of a Scanner, but was not as powerful as his. She also looked to be able to perform Air and Water Elemental Magic. She did not, however, develop Harry's empathic talents, nor his SoulGazing talents. Even as he noticed this, Harry still did not relax. He still felt the large amount of pain coursing through her body, and he knew that if she took much more, she would be in danger of either losing her mind or dieing.
Right when it looked like it would be too late, when a second more would have tipped her over the point of no return, Harry felt Ginny take control of the pain and brush it off. Leaning down to check her pulse, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, and looked around with a relieved grin on his face. "She's O.K," he informed everyone. As one, they all let out sighs of relief as well. Harry turned back to Ginny in time to see her eye's flutter open. Chocolate brown eyes gazed lovingly up into his emerald green. Harry saw what no one else did, however: that her eyes were clouded with intense pain. She opened her mouth, but Harry stopped her.
"Don't speak," he said quickly. She obediently closed her mouth. "You damaged your vocal cords when you screamed," he informed her, placing the goblet full of Morgana's potion in her hand. "Drink this, it'll make you feel better." Ginny wrinkled her nose at the idea of drinking any type of potion at the moment, but then raised it to her lips and took a tentative sip. Her eyes showed her surprise, and she quickly drained the goblet, which immediately disappeared as soon as she had finished.
"You weren't joking when you said that potion tasted good," she said with a grin. "That tasted better than any drink I've ever had!"
Harry grinned back at her, and then surveyed her again. "It worked," he informed her. "You'll no longer age." At that, she yelped in surprise and happiness and jumped up from her chair wrapping her arms around Harry's neck and hugging him close. Then, as she noticed her physical changes for the first time while pressed tightly against Harry's body, she jumped back.
"Harry, Mirror, NOW" she commanded. Harry chuckled, and a mirror appeared in front of her, showing her the physical changes that occurred. To put it simply, she had become a hottie literally overnight.
She had grown a bit, and was now five foot nine inches. Her Breasts were noticeably larger, somewhere around a C cup, and her legs, looked as if they went on forever. Harry noticed, with some amusement that her dress robes had automatically fit themselves to her new body. Her hair was wondrous. Still the fiery red that it had always been, it now fell in waves to her below her slender waist, past to her shapely thighs. In other words, she had gone from being very beautiful to extremely gorgeous.
Looking back at Harry, the mirror disappeared and she asked, "Did you do this?"
"That among other things, yes" he answered, then seeing her face begin to get angry for some reason, he added, "But it wasn't intentional. It was one of the side effects that I mentioned." This seemed to pacify her. Then, she grinned impishly, stepped close to him again, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Harry's arms snaked around her slender waist, and he pulled her even tighter to him.
I think we are going to have to have another night of 'get acquainted with each other's bodies' night, he sent to her as they kissed.
You know what? I think you just might be right. Merlin's Beard Harry, did you have to make my nipples so sensitive? I'm going crazy just rubbing up against you!
Fair enough, he replied, still kissing her. I've been going crazy whenever you rubbed up against me for days. At this she laughed silently. Finally they broke apart and she turned to everyone else, still in Harry's embrace. She playfully grinded her shapely behind into his crotch, making him stifle a moan.
"Well, what do you think of the new me?" she asked looking around. Everyone had equal looking around. Everyone had equal amounts of shock and amazement on their faces, even Dumbledore and Snape.
"Depends," said Bill, a sly grin sneaking on his face. "Does the new you still steal socks?"
"Yes," she nodded with an innocent look on her face.
Fred sighed an exaggerated sigh, "I guess you'll do," he said.
Mrs. Weasley shot him a glare, and then smiled at her daughter. "Ginny dear, you look wonderful!" she said.
"Her look's isn't all that's changed," Harry informed the group. Ginny turned around again and stepped back a step so she could look at him.
"What do you mean, what else has changed?" she asked, a bit nervously.
Harry grinned mischievously. "Well remember all that stuff about no one else ever being able to become an Arch-mage because I destroyed the Sphere of Power and pretty much got an infinite amount of power?" She nodded, now looking alarmed and confused. "Well I cheated," he informed.
"Cheated?" she asked, still confused.
Harry nodded. "Cheated," he repeated. "Welcome to the Council of Arch-mages."
The meaning of Harry's words took a second to sink in, then, "WHAT?" cried out everyone.
Harry grinned again, even more mischievous than before, and explained, "Well, since I had to put a part of myself in her anyway, I decided that I might as well go all the way and put a portion of my power into Ginny as well. Since I had already talked myself into doing that, I figured I might as well go for the gold and give her enough power to become an Arch-mage."
"How powerful IS she?" asked a stunned Snape.
Harry's grin widened, and if possible became filled with even more mischief. "Oh not that powerful really," he said casually, waiting for everyone to breath a sigh of relief, then added, "She's just around as powerful as Merlin making her the most powerful witch in existence."
This shocked everyone that was listening, INCLUDING the Council of Arch-mages, who were clamoring in his head so much, that Harry simply shut off his connection to them for a few moments, then reestablished it, noticing that they were being quite silent.
"B-But won't that make you a lot weaker," asked a worried Hermione.
"No," replied Harry. "I've already gotten the power back that I gave to her, quick recharge, remember?"
At this, no one knew quite what to say. Harry, glancing at his watch, looked over at Dumbledore. "Professor, since all of us, which include a large number of your Staff, have all stayed up until three in the morning, and considering the fact that tomorrow is Friday, and the students really wouldn't learn anything that they would retain anyway, don't you think it might be a better idea to cancel classes tomorrow, and resume them on Monday?" he asked.
Dumbledore looked at Harry suspiciously, "Why do you ask Harry, and what else do you want?"
Harry grinned "Oh I just thought that if we had the extra day off, I could take Ginny to Avalon and have her get caught up on her studies, as well as meet the rest of the Council," he answered.
Dumbledore sighed in defeat. "Very well, I guess your suggestion is a wise one. Classes will start Monday morning," he said.
"Thank you Professor," said Harry. "Now then, I believe that the night's adventure has tired me out a bit. I think I am going to go back to my room. Ginny? Do you want to come along?" he asked, holding out his hand for her, a mischievous glint in his eye. Grinning impishly, Ginny took his hand.
"Why yes Harry, I think I DO feel a bit tired now that you mention it," she answered, and with that, Harry Apparated them straight to their room.
"B-But you c-can't Apparate on Hogwarts' grounds!" exclaimed Hermione, stating the fact that everyone knew, but that Harry and Ginny seemed to have just ignored.
"I don't believe that they care whether you can or cannot do it Miss Granger," said a pale, extremely shell-shocked Professor McGonnagall. "They did it anyway."