Chapter 12: Avalon, and a Surprise
As soon as Harry and Ginny returned to their room, Harry reached into the air and somehow pulled forth his magnificent Staff.
"How do you do that?" asked Ginny, as she watched him do this. "Where does your Staff go whenever it disappears like that?"
"Well my Staff can take on several different appearances," replied Harry, looking around the room for something. "It can appear as my signet ring that you saw the day of the trial." At his words, Ginny's eyes quickly dropped from Harry's to his right hand, noticing for the first time that Harry was not wearing his signet ring. "Or it could take the form of my phoenix chain, which you also saw at the day of the trial, as well as several other seemingly innocent things. It can also turn invisible, which is what happened when I let go of it down in the Chamber of the Phoenix."
"So it was just floating beside you, invisible to everyone that whole time?" she asked. Harry nodded absently, still looking around the room. "What ARE you looking for?" Ginny finally asked somewhat annoyed.
"I'm looking for the correct place to cast a spell to slow time down in here a little," Harry said, still looking around. Then he stopped and looked over at Ginny grinning. "Just because everyone else isn't going to get much sleep, if any, doesn't mean that WE have can't have a perfect night's sleep." Then his eyes widened, and he slowly strode over to where Ginny was standing, "Move over, you're standing on the spot I was looking for."
Ginny, looking somewhere between amused and annoyed at her boyfriend, quickly moved and sat down on their couch, watching him. This time, the spell that Harry cast was not wordless. In fact, it seemed extremely complicated. Harry stood in the spot that Ginny was standing in, and faced the corner of the room, muttering words in a language that Ginny could not quite catch. She saw the corner of the room that he was facing start to glow a gold color. As soon as this happened, Harry turned around 180 degrees and did the same for the opposite corner, with the same effect. He then repeated this for the other two corners, and then faced the doorway leading out into the Gryffindor Commons room. The door began to glow silver, and Harry quickly repeated this for the bathroom, and the closet doors, and then pointed his Staff at their alarm clock and muttered a word that caused the clock to start glowing a bright blue. Once he had finished this, Harry turned to face an extremely interested Ginny and grinned at the look on her face. He then slammed his Staff onto the ground, making a bright golden light spring forth from it, and cover all the walls, ceiling, and floor of their room, then all the lights and glows instantly disappeared. Ginny's mouth was open in surprise.
"How different is the time in here?" she asked.
"Not much," replied Harry, "and the spell only lasts for a few hours in real time, just long enough for time to right itself by around seven o'clock. There's a Three to One ratio time difference in this room now, which means that instead of having four hours to sleep, we've now got twelve." Harry raised his Staff again which glowed briefly before he let go of it, and making it disappear again.
"What did you do this time?" asked Ginny.
Harry grinned mischievously. "I put a silencing spell around the room," he answered.
At this, Ginny, with an exaggerated look of innocence on her face, asked, "And why would we need that?"
"Oh, well," said Harry, his grin widening, "I figure that since I was going to make you scream it would only be polite if we didn't wake up the rest of the dorm. We DO have twelve hours to kill after all." At that, Ginny shrieked playfully and jumped off the couch running away from Harry. Harry quickly caught up with her, and pulled her into a kiss, silencing her. Ginny fought for a moment, then gave in, leaning into Harry's embrace and wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. Harry felt Ginny's body pressing against his own, and he broke the kiss. Before Ginny could protest, Harry started trailing kisses along her jaw line, starting behind her ear, and slowly moving down till he was softly kissing her neck, earning gasps and groans from Ginny who was now barely able to stand, and would have actually fallen had she not been in Harry's strong embrace. Harry was enjoying the taste and smell of Ginny's skin; she tasted like strawberries and cream and smelled of roses. Not exactly knowing what he was doing, his hand's slowly started pulling at the knotted ropes that held Ginny's dress robes on her.
Ginny, feeling Harry untie her dress robes, opened her eye's and looked at Harry, stepping back from him as her dress robes pooled at her feet. She had been wearing nothing under them, and stood naked in front of Harry distinctly nervous at what his reaction would be when seeing her like this for the first time.
Harry looked at Ginny with eyes wide in admiration, as his gaze swept from Ginny's head to toe, and then back up again. He noticed that Ginny was looking up at him nervously, but he could not reassure her for several moments, since her beauty had literally knocked his breath away. Finally, he pulled in a sharp, ragged breath and said, "You're PERFECT." At his pronouncement, Ginny smiled happily at him, and blushed. Harry noticed that Ginny was literally blushing from head to toe, and decided that she looked quite fetching in that color of red. Making a mental note to somehow recreate that color for new dress robes for her, he quickly embraced her again, and resumed his exploration of her body.
Soon both Harry and Ginny were without clothes, and were in bed, but were definitely NOT sleeping. True to his words, Harry indeed did make Ginny scream, several times in fact, over the hours that they reacquainted themselves to the bodies of their Soul Mate. Harry quickly discovered that Ginny was indeed sensitive in a variety of places and enjoyed making her shiver whenever he kissed her, or groan whenever he sucked on one of her nipples, or kneaded one of her breasts. In unspoken agreement, however, they did not have sex. They found several things to do instead, but they did not have sex.
Finally, happy and exhausted, Ginny cuddled close to Harry, entwining her naked body with his own, while Harry lazily played with her rather magnificent long hair, which was now quite tangled and sweaty. After a while of this, they both drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Harry woke up, and glanced at the clock. Smiling to himself, he quickly woke up Ginny with a good morning kiss, which was long, and passionate. "You know what?" said Ginny with a radiant smile on her face. "I could get used to waking up to this every morning." Harry chuckled and got up, looking around. Their dress robes were scattered around the room, which looked as if a rampaging hippogriff had come through the room.
"I guess we overdid it a bid, huh?" asked Harry, as Ginny slowly got up and looked around the room with him.
"Looks like it," she agreed. "Do you even remember doing this last night?" she asked feeling a bit embarrassed at the mangled state that their room was in.
"No," answered Harry, "Although I do remember having other things on my mind at the time." At this statement, Ginny blushed. "Why don't you go and start getting ready while I clean up this mess." Ginny looked at him in surprise and gratitude, and then walked into the bathroom.
Harry quickly gathered their dress robes from around the room and put them carefully on the bed. He then waived his hand on at the messy room, and everything flew back into place, and the broken furniture fixed itself. With a grin on his face, Harry carefully turned to the dress robes and started folding them. Once he had two neat piles of dress robes, which he put away into drawers of both their dressers, he waived his hand at the bed, which quickly made itself. Looking around Harry grinned, the room looked perfect once again.
Two brown boxes appeared out of nowhere on the bed. Curious, Harry walked over to the bed and saw one labeled with Ginny's name and the other with Harry's. Opening his box, Harry found a nice neat stack of several sets of new black school robes, except these robes were made with a different material than what the normal school robes were made of. These robes were made of a material that LOOKED like the normal cotton robes that everyone else wore, but felt soft and silky to the touch. Noticing a letter had been included; he picked it up and read it.
Harry,
Hope you like the surprise. I thought that Ginny would like school robes that actually fit her, and then I decided that, since I never got you a birthday present, I should probably make some for you as well. I know you two will enjoy them. Congratulations! I told you everything would work out in the end.
Circe
"Gin, Circe sent us some new dress robes," he called out, walking to the bathroom where he heard his girlfriend showering. Opening the door and entering, he started brushing his teeth."
"Oh? Well that's nice of her," said Ginny as she showered. "I was slightly worried about what I was going to do about my school robes, all the ones I bought this summer won't exactly fit my new body would they?"
Finishing brushing his teeth, Harry entered into the shower with his girlfriend, watching her apply large amounts of shampoo to her wealth of hair. "They're really nice too," he said as he stepped up under the stream of hot water, taking the shampoo from her and doing the same. "They look the same, from what I can tell, but they're feel soft and silky to the touch, obviously some type of fabric that Circe makes herself."
"Oh, well, I guess we should thank her then," said Ginny, as her arms snaked around Harry's head, pulling him into a kiss.
After they had finished their shower and dried off, well, everything except their hair. "My hair's never going to dry," complained Ginny as she finished combing her wealth of wet hairs, wincing every so often as she came across a knot in her hair. Harry, in response, lifted his wand and waived it in the general direction of her hair, which instantly dried. Seeing her shocked expression, Harry grinned and informed her that he had quickly learned that little spell from Rowena after going to Avalon. "My hair isn't exactly short anymore either you know."
Their new robes were wonderful, and Circe had thoughtfully included several sets of undergarments for Ginny as well, since her old bras and panties would not fit any longer. Dressing in their new robes, they were both faintly amused to see that Circe's rendition of school robes, while being close enough to pass inspection, left very little to imagination as to the changes that had come over both Harry and Ginny. They did, however, feel wonderful to wear. Commenting about how she thought that she might get Circe to start making all her clothes, Ginny and Harry walked down to breakfast, a bit later than usual.
As the stepped into the Great Hall, everyone turned to look at the couple, and gasps of surprise sounded around the hall from students and teachers both when they caught sight of the new and improved Ginny Weasley. Several guy's mouths had dropped, and many more were looking at Ginny somewhat hungrily. Several girls had the same reaction when they saw Harry. Harry and Ginny merely ignored everyone's reaction, and calmly made their way to the Gryffindor table, where they sat down next to Ron and Hermoine.
"Decided to change your robes around?" asked Ron, a grin on his face.
"Well if we're going to have to start fighting them all of with sticks, why not flaunt it if you've got it?" asked Harry shrugging.
"What happened to YOU Weasley?" asked a drawling voice from behind them. Draco Malfoy had quietly slipped up to them, and had spoken so that most of the Hall could hear, even though he made sure that his voice did not quite carry to the Teacher's Table. "What, did Potter here pay and make you his new sex toy?"
At this, Ron jumped up, red in the face, but Ginny calmly stood and turned to face the now grinning Slytherine boy. "Yes Draco, actually he did. I mean, now that he IS one of the richest wizards in the world, Harry CAN afford the best, can't he? What's wrong Draco?" she asked, staring at the dumbstruck blond Slytherine in front of her. "Wish that you had enough money to do this," she gestured down at her body, "to your girlfriend Parkinson over there?" She nodded towards the overweight Slytherine girl standing off to one side. At her words, Draco's face colored slightly.
Suddenly Matilda Stormcloud walked into the room, several long boxes floating behind her. Seeing Harry and his friends, she quickly walked up to them and grinned at her Godson and his girlfriend. "Here you are Harry, all six of them, as ordered," she said. "I would have gotten them to you sooner, but I decided that everyone might like to have their names engraved in their own brooms, so I went ahead and did that as well." She pulled one of the boxes forward, and opened it, revealing a beautiful new Thunderbolt with Virginia Weasley engraved in gold on the handle, after the name and registration number.
"You-you BOUGHT your team TUNDERBOLTS!?!?!" exclaimed Draco, his voice reaching to all corners of the Great Hall, making every single student stare at the group of boxes by the Gryffindor Quidditch team in shock. "That's… That's…"
"Woth several hundred thousand galleons," finished Ginny cheerfully, pulling up beside her and kissing him on the cheek. "And he bought Me, Hermione, and Katie, Thunderbolts with two extra for the Beaters," she informed him. "He bought Ron a Lighteningbolt. Like I said, Harry can afford THE BEST, unlike SOME people here," she said, staring pointedly at Draco, whose face went red with anger, then he stalked off.
"I don't think I even want to GUESS what that was about," said Matilda after a moment. "Harry, I decided that I cannot except your money for these brooms," then as she saw that Harry was about to protest, "But seeing as how you are now richer than any other wizard in England, I decided that you could afford to pay for your dear godmother's retirement."
Harry grinned, as he snaked an arm around Ginny's slender waist. "You came in at the perfect time Matilda," he informed her. Matilda quickly passed out the brooms to Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Katie as he said this. "Malfoy said some very…rude… things to Ginny, and your arrival worked in perfectly with her clever retort." Matilda grinned at them, happy to be of service. "Although I don't know if I like the idea of the rest of the school thinking that I've made you into some sort of sex toy," Harry said to Ginny, which made Matilda looked shocked and a bit scandalized.
Ginny shrugged. "I don't care what they think," she said as she sat down again, and started putting food on her plate. "WE know the truth, and that's all that matters. So, since we don't have classes again today, do you guys want to go try out our new brooms?" she asked the group, earning excited grins and acknowledgements from them all.
After breakfast, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermoine, Katie, and most of Gryffindor House walked down to the Quidditch pitch to try out their brooms. Harry had decided to see what his broom could REALLY do. Katie was wondering about the future of the Quidditch team.
"I know that I can't devote enough time to be Captain," she was saying. "But I think I would really miss flying, so do you think you could still use me as a Chaser?"
"Actually, you're thinking along the same lines that I was," replied Harry. "I was thinking that you could help train the other Chasers, and demonstrate the new strategies that I've come up with. I'm not going to start having official practices for a while, so you can figure out your work-load before committing to anything. If you can't play, then you can at least help out at practices."
"Yeah Katie, then you can fly with us during whatever practices you can make, and not put you're new broom to waste," said Hermione, a grin of excitement on her face as they walked onto the pitch.
Everyone quickly mounted their brooms, and jumped off, soaring into the air. After a few moments, Colin Creevy pulled opened the box of Quidditch balls that they had brought down, threw up the Quaffle, and the Golden Snitch. Even though they didn't have another team to play against, they managed quite marvelously. Katie, Hermione, and Ginny quickly passed the Quaffle around, trying to score on Ron. Try as they might they didn't seem to be able to get anything passed Ron, even though they were all flying perfectly and beautifully, making it look like a work of art. Harry, above the stadium, was ignoring them all and testing out his new broom. It was amazing. Harry sped up to the top speed of the Firebolt, and then twice that speed, then a little more. Seeing the Golden Snitch, he directed his broom towards the ground at this insane speed, but seamlessly pulled out of the dive at the last second, not slowing down for a moment. He then sped up SOMEMORE so that he was flying at three times the speed of the Firebolt. Everyone and everything seemed to be blurs, but Harry was able to use his other senses to 'see' what was going on around him. Finally, flying up above the other players again, Harry finally flew as fast as his broom would go.
To everyone in the stands watching, Harry seemed to be flying extremely well. They watched in amazement as he sped up to an insane speed, then dived, and pulled out of that dive without even slowing down. Noticing this rest of the team quickly stopped flying, Ginny caught the Quaffle and held it, as she and the rest of the team watched Harry speed up again, now nothing more than a blur of movement, as he shot up high above the stands once more. Then, Harry disappeared. Everyone screamed in shock, thinking about the last time Harry had disappeared, in his fourth year, during the Third Task. Ginny, however, began to look around, and noticed that Harry was now on the ground, the Golden Snitch in his hand. Again, he was lying on the ground laughing uncontrollably. Pointing to him, Ginny quickly flew down and landed next to her boyfriend, the rest of the team quickly following, as well as the rest of Gryffindor house from the stands. Harry just laid there laughing in delight.
Ginny put her hands on her hips and asked, "Harry Potter, what do you think you were doing?"
Harry stopped laughing, looked up at his girlfriends, and then glanced around, seeing the worried faces of Gryffindor house surrounding him. "Nothing," he said, confused. "I was just testing out Matilda's new broom, that's all. I wanted to see how fast I could go on it safely, and it turns out that the top speed isn't really that bad at all."
"YOU FLEW AT TOP SPEED?" shriek Hermione. "HARRY, how could you! That's WAY out of the safe flying speeds set up by the Ministry."
"Hermione, I know how fast it is, I was the one flying, remember?" he said, getting up. "I wanted to see how much I could handle, so that I would know how much I could push myself safely during a match. If I wasn't confident that I could handle it, I wouldn't have done it," this he said as he looked at Ginny, his face serious. "I'm sorry if I scared you Gin, but this had to be done and better now than during a match when I could have really hurt a lot of people if I had lost control."
Ginny thought about this for a moment, then asked, "How did it feel?"
Harry grinned. "It was amazing," he said. "That broom literally anticipates my thoughts, and flying on it is like an experience that I can't even describe with words, but flying at TOP SPEED on that thing was…wow," he finished.
Ginny eyed him closely, and noticed how happy he looked. She sighed, and pulled him into a hug. "Just be careful, OK?" she asked. "I don't want you flying like a maniac and killing yourself. You're not immortal you know," this she said with a hint of teasing in her voice.
Harry returned her embrace, pulling her body even close to his own, relishing the feeling of it even more than he had the feeling of flying on his broom. "I wouldn't even dream of it," he told her truthfully.
After that, everyone decided to go back to the castle and hang out in the Commons Room until lunch. Harry and Ginny, however, went back to their room and put their brooms away in the broom closet that they had found there. Harry's Firebolt was still in there.
"You know, I need to figure out what to do with that thing," he said. "It seems like a waste just leaving it in there all the time."
"You could use it for practices, and use your custom broom for games," Ginny suggested as she placed her new broom carefully in the closet. "That way you use both brooms, and you'll work a bit harder during practices, which will make you even more ready for games."
"That's a good idea," Harry agreed. "Are you ready to go to Avalon?" he asked looking at her. She suddenly looked nervous, but nodded. "OK, let me get your tests real quick, and we'll be on our way." Harry went to the dresser and picked up the folder that Professor McGonnogall had given him the night before, then reached out and took hold of his Staff, which immediately appeared in his hand, which he used to lock the door, and put protective spells all around their room. Going over to Ginny, he took her hand in his, gave it a squeeze in reassurance, and Apparated them both to Avalon.
They appeared in front of a huge castle, even larger than Hogwarts. Looking around Ginny saw that there was a woman walking towards them on the walkway to the castle. While she walked towards them, Ginny studied her. She appeared to be about five foot four inches tall with long dark red hair, though not as long as Ginny's. She was very beautiful and wore black robes on her slender frame. Flying above her was what looked to be a snowy white owl. The woman stopped in front of them and smiled warmly. Ginny noticed that she had beautiful hazel colored eyes. "Harry," she said in a melodious voice, "Welcome Home."
Harry grinned down at the woman and hugged her. Ginny, despite herself, felt a pang of jealousy. "It's good to be back. I didn't know how much I would miss this place until I left it," Harry told the woman, as they broke apart.
"Especially now that you have found young Virginia here, hmm?" asked the woman, a slight tone of teasing entering her voice. She smiled at Ginny.
Harry grinned. "Yes, well could you blame me, Great-Grandmother?" he asked, making Ginny look from one to the other in surprise.
"Great-Grandmother?" asked Ginny.
Harry looked at Ginny, then remembered that this was the first time she had ever come to Avalon. "Sorry Gin," he apologized. "This is Queen Morgana Le Fey," he informed her, gesturing to the woman. "I call her my Great-Grandmother, because she's technically IS my Great-Grandmother, except with an infinite amount of Greats added."
"It's nice to meet you Virginia," said Morgana still smiling at Ginny, then surprising the girl by hugging her and whispering, "Welcome to the family, dear," into her ear.
"So how's the Old Man," asked Harry.
"He's having a conniption," said a voice from over head. Before they could react, the snowy white owl swooped down and landed lightly on Morgana's now outstretched arm. "Keeps muttering to himself about what you did last night."
"Hey Archimedes," said Harry, grinning at the owl. He looked at Ginny and told her, "Archimedes is Merlin's owl… well he's more than an owl now."
"MORE than an owl?" said Ginny in confusion.
"Yes, Merlin was a bit lonely before we met, so he cast a few spells on his owl, giving him the ability to speak, think, and read like a human," said Morgana, stroking the owl's feathers lovingly. "He hasn't shut up ever since. After a while, it just didn't seem right to take all that away."
"Yes, well… Harry, do you by any chance have that positively charming female with you by any chance?" asked the owl, looking hopeful.
Harry chuckled and informed Ginny, "Archimedes was rather taken by Hedwig during our stay here," then answering Archimedes, "Sorry Arch, Hedwig is back at Hogwarts, I'll make sure to send her along sometime soon so the two of you can have a bit of a visit."
"Thank you my boy," said the owl happily. "Merlin wants to speak to you. He said that he INSISTED, which as you know can never be good. He's waiting for Morgana and I to bring the two of you up to your chambers."
"MY chambers?" asked Harry. "Why didn't we meet in HIS chambers?"
"Oh Harry, be nice," chided Morgana lovingly. "He wanted to talk to you in front of the whole Council, but I convinced him that it would be better to talk to you in private. I told him to go wait in your chambers for us."
Harry sighed, and then said, "Well we might as well get this over with." He took Ginny's hand and led her into the castle with Morgana. Archimedes flew off to go hunt. As they walked, Harry and Morgana did not speak, allowing Ginny to look at her surroundings in obvious delight, the castle was extremely beautiful after all. Everywhere she looked she saw things that astounded her: suits of armour made out of gold, beautiful tapistries of ancient battles, both Muggle and Wizarding, and all kinds of new things that she didn't even know the names of yet. When they entered Harry's chambers, Ginny gasped. They walked into a huge sitting room that had several couches and chairs, as well as a huge wonderfully crafted desk with a man that looked incredibally like Harry sitting on it, not saying anything.
As she looked around the room, she saw several doors, some of which were closed, and others of which were opened. Of the open ones, Ginny was able to see a huge personal library as well as a large bedroom with a huge king size bed. This was obviously a suite of rooms fit for a king, or in this case, a prince. Finally, Ginny tore her gaze from the room and gazed at the man who Morgana had crossed to and kissed lovingly on the cheek. He DID look like Harry. His hair was a bit longer, and his eyes were a startling blue color, but besides that, he and Harry could be twins.
"Does every man in your family look exactly the same?" she asked Harry, earning a grin from him and a snort of amusement from his blue eyed twin who could be none other than Merlin the Great himself. He doesn't have a beard… When he stood, Ginny noticed another difference. Merlin was shorter than Harry was. Merlin stood at Six feet tall, making him five inches shorter than Harry. The authority that fell off him in waves, however, more than made up for the height difference.
"So, when were you going to tell us that you could create Arch-mages?" asked Merlin, his voice deep and authoratative like Harry's, but not quite the same. "We didn't think it was possible, if you remember."
"Well, I actually figured out how to do it when I was preparing the spell last night," Harry informed him, lazily sinking into a chair, and pulling Ginny onto his lap. Morgana smiled at this, but Merlin did not take his blue eyes off Harry's green ones.
"So the spell doesn't require you to place a part of yourself within another person?" asked Merlin frowning.
"No," replied Harry. "I just did that for Ginny because I wasn't sure that I would be able to do a full Arch-mage transformation. I truly thought that putting a part of me in Ginny was what I needed to do. While I was preparing the spell, I added a part to increase her powers. While I was working on that paticular part of the spell, I figured out how to induce the Transformation."
"Transformation?" asked Ginny, confused.
"Your physical transformation," answered Morgana, stepping closer to Merlin, who slipped an arm around her waist in response. "No one except an Arch-mage would transform physically due to being imbued with power. As soon as you transformed, Harry realized what he had truly done."
When Ginny looked at him, Harry nodded and added, "I wasn't happy, because I knew that if you were transforming, I had inflicted you with the Test of Pain. However I knew that making you an Arch-mage would be the only way to truly give you what you wanted. The fact that you are better protected now is an added benefit."
"Do you know which part of the spell triggered the transformation?" asked Merlin. "We were all monitoring the situation with every sense we had, but none of us could tell which part triggered the transformation.
"Yes," Harry responded with a nod. "Actually, I should have figured it out sooner." At Merlin's confused frown, he explained. "When the Sphere of Power shattered, and I absorbed it, no one knew what was going on. Then, we found out that my power level was equal to that of the entire globe, AND that I was able to recharge my power like the globe. We should have known that if I imbued anyone with power, it would trigger the transformation, just like the Globe. Now that I know about it, I can transfer power in the normal way, or with the added effect of triggering the transformation."
"Well that's good," Merlin said, sighing in relief. "I don't like the idea of everyone you strengthen with a boost of power becoming an Arch-mage. Think of what would happen if one of them turned into a Dark Wizard." At that, Harry, Morgana, and Merlin all shivered. "That also explains why Virginia here changed… the way she did."
"What do you mean?" asked Ginny with a frown.
"Well do you remember asking Harry why he HAD to make your nipples so sensitive?" Merlin asked, ignoring the blush that had appeared on Ginny's face. "Well Harry DID make you're nipples that sensitive, as well as every other change that happened."
"What?" said Harry in surprise. "I thought that Ginny's transformation was normal for the amount of power that she was given."
"Well the extent of the changes is normal," replied Merlin with a surprisingly sly grin. "But what do you think the odds are that the changes Ginny goes through makes her EXACTLY what you think of as perfect?"
"You're saying that Harry made me look like this?" asked Ginny, getting up from Harry's lap and looking at him accusingly.
"Yes, but not intentionally," replied Merlin quickly. When both Ginny and Harry looked up at him in confusion, he explained. "The spell that Harry performed was an extremely powerful Mage Level spell. If he had not added a part of himself into the mix, you still would have changed, and definitely would have become more beautiful, but you probably would not have changed in exactly the same way that you did change in reality. Because Harry added a bit of himself into the mix along with endowing you with some of his power, and triggering the Arch-mage transformation, that bit of him that was added into the mix guided the transformation."
At Harry's surprised look, Merlin reminded him, "When casting Mage Level Spells, wants, desires, and fantasies sometimes effect what happens. It's actually quite to be expected for you to have forgotten about that little bit and not compensate for it, considering the fact that you originally started creating an Enchanter Level spell if I'm not mistaken, am I correct."
Harry nodded in understanding. "When I added the power and transformation part of the spell, it made the spell infinitely more complex, pushing it into the Mage Level."
"I have a question," said Ginny, and when everyone looked at her, she went on. "You all said that I have been given a large amount of power, that I'm as powerful as Merlin now."
Merlin and Morgana both nodded. "You are," they both said.
"Well that why don't I feel any different, aside from feeling physically different. And why don't I give off an aura like all of you do?" she asked.
"Because the power that I gave you is lying dormant behind a powerful block," answered Harry. " That's another effect of the spell that I Cast. Until you learn to control it, you're power would be a danger to you, and to those around you. I am powerful enough that it wouldn't hurt me at all, but you could easily turn the entire Great Hall into newts by sneezing if you aren't controlling your power." Seeing Ginny's look of uneasiness, he added. "Don't worry, the block won't go away until you an fully handle your power, which we will work on."
"So you're planning on training her yourself are you?" asked Morgana, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," replied Harry. "I can train Ginny at Hogwarts in Godric's Secret Chamber, or any of the other Founder's chambers. Any and all of them already have time spells, so all I need to do is tweak them a bit, and it will be the perfect place."
"Why don't you want us to train her?" asked Merlin.
"It's not that I don't want you to train Ginny," said Harry. "It's just that I don't think that we should wait until next summer, and we can't keep on coming here to Avalon every day, or even every weekend. I am at Hogwarts, AND I am the Uber Arch-mage that all of you made me to be. I know EVERYTHING about magic that ALL of you know. I'm the perfect person to train her, and I'm already at Hogwarts."
Merlin and Morgana thought about this, then, both nodded in acceptance. "I'll tell the servants to set aside rooms for young Virginia here," he informed them.
"That won't be necessary," said Harry and Ginny at the same time, both blushing furiously.
"Oh?" asked Morgana in amusement, "And why not?"
"Because Ginny will be staying here in my suite," answered Harry firmly. "I'm not going to lie to either of you Great-Grandmother, especially since you both know the truth. Ginny and I are as much a couple as you and Merlin are. There's no need to split us apart." After a moment of looking at both of them, Morgana nodded, satisfied.
"We'll leave the two of you in peace," she told them. "Harry, I want the two of you to come dine in the family dining room at least once before you go, but all your other meals can be taken in your private dining room." Then, with a smile to both of them, she and Merlin left, closing the door to Harry's suite behind them.
Harry turned to Ginny, "Want to see the place?" he asked.
Ginny nodded, and Harry took her on a tour of his extremely large suite of rooms. Harry first took her into his private library, which was huge and had every single wall lined with books. In the middle of the room were a few comfortable chairs, which were clearly created as a comfortable place to read.
Next, they went into Harry's bedroom, which held a walk in closet. As soon as they both walked in, the closet widened, and several more robes appeared, all of them decidedly feminine, and in Ginny's size. The bedroom had two nightstands, as well as a fireplace with a chair in front of it, along with the huge bed. It also had two perches, and what looked to be a scratching post in one corner appeared out of nowhere. A large mirror also appeared on one wall, as well as a table with make up, brushes, and jewelry. Ginny looked at Harry in surprise, causing Harry to smile tenderly at her.
"Only the best for my Ginny," he said. "These rooms all change to my specification. The robes that you saw were created by the closet, because I wanted you to have clothes."
With this as an explanation, they went out and into another room, which turned out to be Harry's dining room. Another fireplace was in this room, as well as a large table with several places for people to eat. Golden silverware and the finest of china plates were all on the table in each place. On the far side of the room was a china cabinet with several more sets of the same thing. The next room was the bathroom, which was huge. A large walk in bath that looked to be about the size of a swimming pool was on once side of the room, with a toilet, and a few sinks on the other. Towards the back was a large shower that could easily fit two people in it with shower heads coming from three directions. The next room was an exercise room, it was filled with practice dummies, and padded so that one wouldn't get hurt if he or she was to fall. The second to last room was Harry's workroom. It had all types of potion's ingredients as well as several different types and sizes of cauldrons. A large worktable dominated the room and two chairs appeared by the table out of thin air.The final room was a family room. Couches and chairs were all arrayed in a circle around a coffee table, and several of the tables had lamps on them, causing the room to have a homey feeling.
"Well, what do you think?" asked Harry as they went back out into his Commons room again.
"It's wonderful," replied Ginny with a grin. "But I guess we won't be spending a lot of time here, will we?"
"Why would you think that?" asked Harry with a frown.
"Well, we're here to teach me the fifth year and get me ready for the O.W.L.'s," she said. "Aren't we going to the libraries that you talked about to do that?"
"No," replied Harry. "My library has all the books and what not that we need. You can use my workroom for Potions and Arithmancy. We can do transfiguration and charms in the exercise room. I can turn down the ratio of time between the suite and the outside world easily. We'll be spending all our time here." At Ginny's delighted look, Harry chuckled and told her to sit down so they could start.
Ginny's training began immediately, and she was surprised at how good a teacher Harry turned out to be. He always seemed to know what she was doing wrong, and was able to explain things to her understanding. He was also a hard taskmaster. Even when, she begged him for a kiss break, Harry refused, during their allotted time for studying, which in and of itself was a long time. From nine in the morning until lunch at noon, and then two in the afternoon until dinner at six, Ginny was working. Harry taught her, and when he was not teaching her, he was doing several other things.
While Ginny never left their suite of rooms, Harry did occasionally, when the Council needed him for one thing or another. They never had any visitors; Harry just seemed to know when he they called somehow. Surprisingly enough, Ginny didn't feel annoyed at all during this time. While Harry was teaching her, he seemed to know just how much to push her before backing off, and after dinner, they were just as affectionate as ever. They enjoyed taking bathes together at night, as well as showers together in the mornings. Harry had also revealed that one of the large windows in the Commons room opened to a large balcony, which they frequented. They would curl up in each other's embrace and watch the stars, or do other things as well. They also took their dinners outside occasionally. Overall, it was an extremely pleasant life, and Ginny was sorry to see it end. While taking the O.W.L. equivelency tests, however, she figured out something. Harry had tricked her; he had tricked everyone. Harry had apparently taught her a LOT more than the fifth year material that he was supposed to. She suspected that he also taught her the entire sixth year curriculum, though she could not figure out why. She finished all the tests with ease, and had pleased Harry and herself by making perfect marks on all of them. Their last night at Avalon, Harry finally took her to what Morgana had called the Family dining room.
As they entered, Ginny looked around, seeing a table set for six in the massive room, which was clearly made to hold many more people. Walking to the table, they both sat down at the empty chairs, and looked at the other four people sitting with them. Merlin and Morgana where both present of course, as well as Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw, who was also a redheaded witch.
The dinner was very enjoyable. Ginny found that both Harry's 'Grandparents,' as well as his 'Great-Grandparents' were all extremely nice, kind people, who put her at ease immediately. All of them welcomed Ginny to the family, and commented on how good the two of them seemed together. After a large, nine course meal, Harry and Ginny retired to what they both now considered their suite. Before going to sleep, Harry informed Ginny that he had a surprise for her before they went back to Hogwarts.
The next day, they both dressed back in the Hogwarts robes that Circe had given them, and walked to the massive doors to the castle. There to say goodbye were all four people who they had dined with the previous evening. Rowena, with a secretive grin, handed Harry two boxes and whispered something to him briefly. He nodded and whispered his thanks, and then hugged her and Morgana. After shaking both Godric's and Merlin's hands, he and Ginny walked hand in hand out of Avalon, and quickly Apparated away, but they did not arrive in Hogwarts.
Instead, they arrived in what was unmistakably the Leaky Cauldron. Seeing them, Tom, the old bartender, quickly ushered them up the stairs and into one of the rooms, which Harry had obviously rented for the night. Closing the door behind her, Ginny turned to her boy friend and asked him what was going on.
"Harry, why are we at the Leaky Cauldron instead of Hogwarts?" she asked. "Shouldn't we be getting back soon?"
"Oh we have plenty of time," replied Harry. "It's only Saturday night after all." Ginny looked at Harry in surprise. "Instead, I thought that I would take you out for dinner, on a real date, as a celebration for you passing your tests."
"Oh HARRY!" she breathed, touched. "But won't we be seen?"
"Nope," replied Harry cheerfully. "We're going out into Muggle London for a night on the town," he informed her opening one of the boxes that Rowena had given him. Inside was an exquisite evening gown. It was a dark red, which would offset her fiery red hair nicely, and looked to be quite expensive. Looking up at her boyfriend, she saw that the second box held a wonderful looking suit, looking to be equally expensive. Harry glanced at his watch.
"We should probably be getting ready, our dinner reservation is in about an hour and a half," he informed her.
As was their ritual now, they showered together, dried off and dressed. Ginny was about to put a bit of make up on, when Harry stopped her with, "Don't, you look perfect already, anything that you do would just take away from your natural beauty." Touched, Ginny blushed, but put away her make up and considered her hair. Finally, she decided to leave it down. Once they had finished getting dressed, Harry led her out of the Leaky Cauldron to a car that he had hired. They drove for about twenty minutes, and came to a stop in front of a large restaurant, with lots of people equally well dressed outside of it. They went in, and were quickly taken to a table.
It was a memorable evening. They ate a large dinner, which was perfectly seasoned and cooked just right, and then they went dancing on the dance floor that the restaurant housed. Ginny was surprised to find that Harry was an excellent dancer. He had apparently learned sometime between the Yule Ball last year, and tonight, and Ginny enjoyed swaying gently to the wonderful music in Harry's embrace. They left, finally, as the restaurant closed, Harry paying for the dinner and everything else without even caring how much he had spent. They then got back into the car, and were driven to another building. At Ginny's confused expression, Harry smiled, pulled her from the car, and led her into the store. It was a jewelry store, but not one like Ginny had ever seen before. They were the only people there, and despite the lateness of the hour, the owner smiled at them and welcomed them inside. He called them both by name.
"Ah Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley, please come this way," he said, leading them to a table that held several beautiful diamond necklaces.
"Pick which one you want," Harry told her, making Ginny's eyes go wide.
"Harry…"she began.
"Just pick one, Gin," he said. "I'm not leaving here till I've bought you a gift, so you might as well do it. And don't try and chose the cheapest," he warned her. "I'll know if you are trying to do that."
Ginny, eyes still wide, turned her gaze to the necklaces before her, trying to decide which one she liked best. I might as well pick my favorite, since he's going to buy me something anyway, she thought to herself. Her eyes fell on an exquisite necklace, and she fell in love with it immediately. It was made of gold, and had two rows of diamonds making up the chain, as well as fiery red stones that she couldn't identify in the middle, surrounding a large diamond in the shape of a flame. The diamond actually seemed to be on fire. Pointing to the necklace, she indicated her choice. She had thought that that was all, but she was wrong. She and Harry were then led to a table with Diamond bracelets, where Harry told her to choose one again. She chose a delicate gold bracelet that, again, had diamonds that seemed to be on fire. She was then taken to a table with an array of earrings and told to choose yet again. She chose gold earrings with the same type of fiery diamonds that she had chosen before. Finally, Ginny was led in front of a table that only had one thing on it, a ring.
The ring was beautiful. It was made of gold, and was extremely delicate. It had a large fiery diamond on it, the same as all the other diamonds that she had chosen. Ginny looked at Harry to find him kneeling on one knee, still holding her hands in his. She gasped as she figured out what was happening.
"Virginia Weasley," he said, looking straight into her eyes, his love for her pouring out of that gaze, taking her breath away. Ginny began to tremble. "I know that we have not been going out long by normal standards, but I feel as if I've known you my entire life, and I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Tears started to form in Ginny's eyes at his words. "So, I am asking you, my love, if you will give me the honor of being my wife. Will you marry me?"
For several moments, Ginny could not speak, her emotions running away with her. Tears were streaming down her face, and she was shaking uncontrollably. Finally, however she got control of herself enough to nod and whisper, out "Yes, Oh please yes."
At her words, Harry leapt to his feet, pulling her into a kiss, which she readily returned, tears still running down her face. Finally, after a few moments, they broke apart, and Harry picked up the ring. He carefully took her left hand, and put the ring on her ring finger, it fit perfectly. The storeowner, smiling, placed the necklace, bracelet, and earrings down on the table as well. Harry carefully put the bracelet on Ginny's right hand, and put the necklace around her slender neck. Ginny was so shocked, that she did not move, she could not. Seeing this, Harry quickly told the storeowner to box the earrings, and pulled out a large sack of what looked to be galleons. Seeing the wizard money shocked Ginny out of her dazed state.
"Harry," what are you doing?" she asked. "This isn't a wizarding jewelry store, is it?"
"No," he replied softly. "But they exchange gold here, so using galleons is fine, I checked with Bill and he said that a lot of Muggle jewelry shops accepted galleons, and it was OK with the Ministry."
"When did you talk to Bill," she asked.
"Well what do you think I was doing, all those times I left you?" he asked in amusement. "The Council never really needed me. I talked to Bill this morning, which was about three months ago for us. Then I bought the Muggle clothing. About two months ago, I arranged all this at the store, I've had reservations for that restaurant since Friday afternoon, which was the first time that I left, about a month into our stay there."
"And all the other times?" she asked as the owner came back carrying a bag filled with the boxes for the necklace, bracelet, and ring, as well as the earrings in their box.
"I had the women of the order teach me how to dance," he answered, and then turned to the Owner. "The rest of the price, as promised," he said handing the large sack of galleons over to the man, who in turn handed Harry the bag.
As they left, Ginny had another question. "What did you mean 'the REST of the price'?" she asked.
"Well when I came in here, I looked through their selection, and gave them a general idea as to what you would want, and they told me a price for everything. I made a large down payment but made sure to keep a small part of the cost for when we came."
As this sunk in, Ginny understood what Harry had left unsaid. Once they were back in the car, speeding on their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, Ginny asked him, "Harry, how much did this night cost you?"
"Somewhere around a million galleons," he replied carelessly, then looking at her shocked expression, went on. "I wanted tonight to be perfect, Gin. I've said it before, and I'll say it again," he said as he gently cupped her face with his hand, "You deserve the very best." Then he kissed her, and her worry, and feelings of inadequacy melted into nothing, as she felt her mind slipping to the sweet oblivion that it went to whenever Harry kissed her.
When they got back to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry and Ginny quickly went up the stairs to their room. Ginny was still in shock as to what had happened. Harry asked me to MARRY HIM, she thought to herself. Tonight was perfect.
Well, another Chapter finished. Sorry that it took so long to all of you wonderful readers and reviewers who were waiting. I didn't have much chance to write since the re-post. I don't know when I'll be able to get out the next chapter, because I'm a bit busy at the moment, but I'll try to post another one soon.
Ruskbyte: Thank you for your encouragement, and your blessing. I'll try to live up to the trust you've given me.
Dragongirl19: The Dursley's treated Harry so well because they were afraid of the Order of the Phoenix's threat at the end of the fifth book. You'll find that out at the end of the fic, but they really didn't care a thing about whether or not Harry went through a lot or not. Also, Harry WOULD have written to Hermione, but Ron kept Hedwig for a month, so he couldn't.
Markhp: Expect more of the Snape sideline in later chapters. I'm sorry I scared you, but I'm back, and here to stay (or at least until the next time 8P)
Athenakitty: Harry's got something, hmm what's the word.. special… planned for Bellatrix. Ron won the food eating competition, since he has absolutely no manners at all. I've got something very VERY satisfying planned for Fudge, can't say more or it would ruin the surprise. Harry will continue to make Ginny blush (He likes her in that particular color). As of yet the bouncing ferret isn't in the story, and I don't think he will make an appearance, if he does it will be towards the end. Harry does shock Dumbledore, and he will continue to do so, the Weasleys are rich, but not as rich as the Malfoy's (that's not included in the story at all, but I thought that you wanted to know, so I decided to tell you) You're going to have to keep reading to find out about Snape, but most of your snape questions have already been answered in the previous chapters. And yes, Harry hates the idea of being rich, just like he hates everything else that makes him fameous. Harry DOES have a bit of a wacky sense of humor, but Godric really went above and beyond wacky. Let me explain. Godric decided for no reason whatsoever that he just NEEDED a chamber devoted to phoenixes, so he created the chamber, and Salazar, mostly because he wanted to annoy Rowena, filled it with the most garish, gaudy statues and pictures of phoenixes that he could find. Harry knows this, which is why he muttered about Godric's wacky sense of humor. You'll have to read a bit more to find out about Remus and Snape's problems.
Anja10: From what I know about Werewolf lore, Silver is the only substance that can penetrate a werewolf's thick hide. As long as Harry doesn't try to drive the silver THROUGH Remus, there's no problem. Also, Harry gave Remus silver in particular BECAUSE he is a werewolf, but more on that later.
Hannah Abby: Thank you for setting me straight. 8) Your encouraging words have helped me know that my decision to re-post was the right one. Hope you like the latest chapter!
Shdurrani: As you see, Merlin was indeed having fits. Harry likes doing that to him though, makes the Old Man know that he can still be surprised, even if Harry is the only one who can surprise him.
ChrismKing208: Sorry again, I'll try not to piss you off again! Hope you like the latest installment! I thought it was something very McGonnogall to say at that particular time. 8)
Starlight35: I didn't think it was fair to give Harry a makeover and not let Ginny have one too. Tell me what you think of the New, Improved Ginny. 8)
RookRaven: Hope I can keep you dancing! Tell me what you think about the latest chapter.
Emerem: Until I started writing this story, I didn't think I could write either. Try doing it, you might surprise yourself. Hope you liked the latest chapter!
Bushido: Don't worry, not planning on deleting ANYTHING anytime soon. Hope you like the latest Chapter!
Theauthorthatwrites: Thank you for telling me about the anonymous reviews. I had no clue that was even possible until you pointed it out to me. I'm sorry you lost sleep over my story, hope that reading the new installments is worth it.
Angelbach: The situation between Severus and Harry isn't quite over yet, but you're right that they have finally come to an understanding. As to a love interest for Severus, I've been playing around with a few ideas. We still have to get him over Matilda first, which is of course one of the things between Harry and Severus that isn't quite over...
Angelis1: Tell me if this is spicy enough for you, or whether you want extra hot. I've got a few places in the fic where I go even hotter, but I've been trying to decide if I want to keep them in, or whether I want to keep the level of spicyness the way it is. I've checked out both GryffindorTower and Checkmated, and if need be, I'll re-post on them. Ron and Hermoine haven't quite gotten the chance to ask Harry as of yet. He HAS thought about it though, so whenever they ask, he will have an answer to give them.
reanne080: Lonliness can do amazing things to people, don't you think. Now that Severus is accepted, he's going to loose SOME of his snarkyness, but I think that he should have a bit left over just as a reminder of where he came from, don't you? As to a love intrest for him, I've got some ideas, but, as I told Angelbach, he has to get over Matlida before he can look for someone else.
Mrriddler: Remember, Harry is basically fighting Voldie's goons right now. He might have more trouble w/ Voldie himself, then again, he might not. Thanks for your words about Ruskbyte, it helps to know that readers don't think I simply stole from him.
Lisa Blair: Thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind. From now on, I promise to not let the bad reviews get me down.
KapOfDaPipers: As long as I have stuff to write, I'll keep writing! Tell me what you think of the latest chapter!
Dirkpitt: Thanks! Tell me what you think about what's happening so far!
CatatonicReaction: There's more ways to cheat than just cheating on homework. Harry could cheat by making students do things by acting like a professor, or being out after hours in a professor's form, or a load of other things. Harry was basically telling them that he wouldn't make trouble.
Arsenal: I always thought that a Phoenix would make a great pet, almost as much as I thought a dragon would..
JoNaY: I thought that a group of eternal 22 year olds would want to have fun with the newest member of their 'club' And they are, a lot of fun. The big difference between my Harry and James Bond is that Bond always gets like 50 girls, and Harry only wants one… of course he gets her…
Wadeki: Harry has a LOT of property left over from the Black family, as well as the Potter family. Who says that one of those isn't a castle? And who says that Harry doesn't have another castle somewhere? Read and find out 8)
Rayz: four words: YOU MADE MY DAY!
Hermy Weasley: Sorry I couldn't update as quickly as you wanted. Yes I had a lot of the story written, but I saved most of it. I'm still re-writing the parts that got deleted though, so updates might be slow for a while. Hope you like the latest Chapter!
MizGin: Will DEFINITELY be continuing. I already have sequals planned.
Obsidianpoet: What do you think about how Ginny handled Draco? Getting Harry gave her confidence that she didn't have before, and she finally got tired of the little ferret.
Cari: Hope this chapter didn't bore you! I'll make sure to continue writing as much as possible.
Miagurl: Thanks for the encouragement. Tell me what you think about the latest chapter!
Angel56: Thanks for your words. I'm gonna continue until I have nothignn more to say… then I'll say a bit more 8)
Friendshipanda: I have to admit I'm guilty of that myself. I try to review as much as possible, but I don't do it nearly as much as I should. Thanks for taking the time to review, it made my day!
The Dreamer87: I'm not sure whether Action/Adventure is quite right, but I thought it was the closest thing to what I wanted. Hope you like the latest chapter.
Sweetygurl: If you like my story, then you should check out the ones by GinnyK, LilyRosePotter, and Ruskbyte. They are true artists, and much better than me.
Viridis: It took me a while to figure out what I wanted Harry's transformation and training to be like, which is why I didn't include it in chapter two. I think that it worked out good where it is though. I thought that making Ginny an equal was needed. They couldn't really have a good relationship if they didn't start out on equal ground. More on that later.
Zombiewolf: Thanks! Hope you liked the latest chapter!
Callia: Glad you were able to get to the story! The computer thing was really my fault, but you're words of remorse/regret are appreciated. I hope you liked the latest chapter.
GrimmyD: Will continue as much as possible.
RLupin1003: Ron kept Hedwig for a MONTH. He should be glad that Hermoine didn't send him a mail bomb. I have to admit, I have no clue whatsoever if Adam will make another appearance. Now that you've mentioned it, I've come up with a few intersting ideas, so you never know... Harry did say in his letter that he would be returning to the Burrow, but that was because he didn't know if Hedwig would get intercepted or not, so he decided to say the Burrow instead of Headquarters and assumed that Ginny would know what he was talking about. I have to admit I'm proud of that particular line of Ron's. He doesn't say much in the way of witty remarks, and I thought that would make up for it. As to the Remus getting Silver, see my comment to Anja10. Harry and Ginny got Mrs. Weasley's permission because Harry is like a son to her, and she couldn't sit by and watch him suffer when she knew how to help him. And Remus did it because he found it extremely hilarious and he knew he would be able to tease Harry for the rest of his life. I thought that a broommaker would make a great godmother for Harry, glad someone agrees. As to the sphere... What can I say? Harry's a clutz at times. I always knew that Ginny had a Greek Goddess in her, it just took me writing it to make it happen 8).
emerald-eyes2: I was wondering when someone would catch that... Yes, Harry is the Orb of Power. Just in case you didn't catch it in this chapter, let me clarify something: Any Arch-mage can transfer power into another person, but only the Orb can initiate the Arch-mage Transformation. Harry, Merlin, Morgana, and the rest of the Council, didn't know about Harry becoming the Orb because he never triggered the Transformation until now. Sorry about posting, I haven't ahd much time to write. I'll try to do better with the next Chapter.