Harry's Charmed Sock

By Katie Melchior

"Ginny…Ginny…are you all right?" asked Harry, shaking his newlywed wife to get her conscious again. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the world around her.

"H-Harry…"

"Yes…you had a bad fall Gin. I'm just glad you're all right. Where and how does it hurt?"

Ginny showed a pained look on her face and looked at her ankle, which was swelling up by the second. "I think I fell on something…" she said, and fainted again. Harry called Ron in, who conjured up a magical stretcher, and they carried her to St. Mungo's.

"EMERGENCY!" yelled Harry as they entered the empty hospital. No reply.

"Hello?" asked Ron.

"Is anybody bloody in here!" bellowed Harry again, but as before, no reply.

"We'll have to take her to the Burrow, Harry. Hermione isn't an expert at medicine, but she knows a little…" started Ron, looking his best friend in the eye.

"Alright…I'm going to look for Dilys' picture. She might know what's going on…" said Harry quietly, almost to himself. He walked around the hospital until he spotted Dily Derwent's picture; where she was half-asleep, her mouth hanging open. "Hey Dilys…" said Harry.

She snorted and looked around. "Potter! What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story…but Ginny's hurt and…"

"You mean the only Weasley girl?" asked Dilys.

"Yeah…she's hurt…and nobody's here…" Dilys' face grew pale.

"Harry…you've got to apparate out of her quickly…this could be a trap…times are different now, and you know Voldemort's looking for you when you're exceptionally vulnerable…"

"You're right…but do you know of anyone who can help us?" asked Harry quickly.

"That Hermione Granger's got quite a mind…"

Harry smiled. "Her name's Hermione Weasley now…that's where we were headed…well, thanks for your help anyways."

"You're welcome my dear. Now get out of here before you're found…"

Harry ran down the hallway, back to Ron and Ginny.

"Ron…we've got to get out of here…it might be a trap…" said Harry, his voice out of breath.

"Right…pick her up…one…two…three…"

"Is she going to be alright, Hermione?" asked Harry, his face stern.

"I don't know, Harry. Something infected her ankle big time…and I don't know the antidote off the top of my head…"

"But there's got to be something you can do…" said Ron quietly.

"I can only do a few quick spells to take the swelling down, and remove whatever is lodged in there…"

"Do you need any help, Hermione?" asked Mrs. Weasley, who'd entered her daughter's old bedroom.

"Do you know medicine, Mrs. Weasley?" asked Hermione, biting her lip.

"A little. I was always best at…oh…what do the muggles call it…"

"Surtery, Molly…" said Mr. Weasley, coming up behind her.

"You mean, surgery, Mr. Weasley?" said Harry, grinning.

"Yeah…that thing…"

"Alright…well…two healers are better than one…" said Hermione, beckoning her mother-in-law over as they started the work.

"Well…I'd better get out of here…I think Fred and George wanted to sell me something stupid…" said Ron. "Aren't you coming, dad?"

"In a minute, Ron. I want to see…"

"NO!" said Hermione and Mrs. Weasley together.

"Alright…fine…" moped Mr. Weasley, and he dragged his feet out of the room.

"Harry?" asked Ron, looking at him.

"No…I'm just going to stay here…"

"Are you sure Harry dear?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Yeah…she is…after all…my wife. And it's probably my fault she's hurt."

Ron shrugged and walked out of the room. Harry watched Mrs. Weasley and Hermione working on Ginny's infected ankle. After they were finished, she woke up almost immediately.

"We'll let you talk to her, Harry. Bring her back to reality, if you know what I mean…" said Mrs. Weasley, taking Hermione with her. Ginny sat up straight.

"What's wrong with my ankle, Harry?" asked Ginny woozily.

"Er…well…we don't really know. All we know is that something got into it, and it's infected."

"Right…"

"But we don't think it's deadly or anything…"

"Oh…thanks for being positive, Harry…" said Ginny sarcastically, a smile on her face.

"Your welcome…" said Harry quietly, returning Ginny's sarcastic smile.

They stared at each other in a moment of silence.

"Well…we'd better get back to the apartment. Do you think you can apparate?"

"I can…but I'd rather be on the safe side and take the floo network to the lobby."

"Can you walk?" asked Harry, a touch of worrying added in his voice.

"I wish I could. I can't feel my ankle or my foot…so you're just going to carry me…" said Ginny slyly, another smile appearing on her face.

Harry gave her a look that would normally make her think twice…but she just grinned.

"Oh…fine."

Ginny clearly gave him a look that showed love and comedy at the same time. "I love you," she said, with that odd look, a smile added to it.

"I love you, too," said Harry, rolling his eyes and grinning. He carried her down the Weasley's rickety old staircase to the ancient fireplace.

"You're going to risk the floo network?" asked Mr. Weasley as he spotted them, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I wanted to try apparition…but Gin thought it was too risky…"

"I should say so! You'd get her splinched and she'd leave her ankle behind!"

"It'd be easier that way…" said Ginny under her breath.

"Besides…we've got that Hogwarts Reunion tomorrow…" said Harry grinning.

"You're that daring enough to go?" demanded Hermione.

"Sure. Why not? Besides it's not like…"

"Trap," said Ron and Hermione together.

"Oh, stop. We'll be fine," said Ginny firmly.

Harry stepped into the fireplace and said clearly and firmly, "Potter Residence." He and Ginny were once again enveloped in tingly green flames that filled their mouths with ash and soot.

Harry coughed as the flames died down. "Well…" he coughed again, "here we are."

It dawned a bright, beautiful morning….the morning of the Hogwarts Semi-formal reunion, being held at the Rosebud Goblet in Surrey. Ginny woke up, and looked next to her. Harry was sprawled out in the weirdest position. His covers had fallen off of him, and his limbs were spread way out, so that his left foot and his left hand was on Ginny.

'How the heck am I going to get out of here?' thought Ginny to herself. It wasn't the first time Harry had done this. She slowly peeled her covers off of her, taking Harry's limbs with her; and after she was sitting upright, she flopped the mass of blankets over, Harry's limbs inside. He groaned, and flipped into the covers. Ginny giggled to herself and limped over to the bathroom. And right away, she spotted what she needed.

Socks. The biggest socks Harry owned were sitting right in front of her. And for some dumb reason, they weren't white. They were bright red, with golden snitches dancing around on them. Ginny groaned. "This is never going to work, Harry," she said, looking across the room at the sleeping man.

"Hmmm…" said Ginny, deeply in thought, "Aha! Engorgio!" she shouted, and one of the socks grew to fit her infected foot.

Unfortunately, Harry heard her plan. "Whassamatter?" he asked groggily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Er…nothing…" said Ginny quickly, picking up the huge sock and dumping it in the sink.

"What do you have behind your back?"

"Er…like I said…nothing…"

Harry slowly walked towards his wife, who was smiling a very cheesy smile. "I'm not stupid, you know," he said, and he tried to look behind her, but she was still blocking him.

He paused for a moment, looking at his wife's fake little smile. "Alright…I've got to do the wash anyways…" he said.

Ginny gave a sigh of relief. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" yelled Harry, grabbing his engorged sock out of the sink. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU DO TO MY SOCKS?" he yelped in outrage.

"Well…what am I supposed to wear with this thing on my ankle?" demanded Ginny

"YOU COULD HAVE BLOODY ASKED ME!"

"Sorry…"

"YOU'RE NOT SORRY AND YOU KNOW IT!"

Ginny giggled.

"IT'S NOT A LAUGHING MATTER!"

"Yes, it is. We are fighting over a pair of socks!"

"BUT YOU…" Ginny stared at him, "yeah…you're right," said Harry, laughing at his own arrogance.

"I'll do the wash…you take a shower," said Ginny, walking out of the room.

"I don't need to take a shower!"

"Oh, yes you do. You smell like a pigsty!" said Ginny, giggling.

"I do no…oh yeah, I do."

Ginny patted his shoulder. "I'll just wash your dress robes. You take that shower."

And as Ginny washed her own red dress robes, she wondered how she could fit that sock over her foot. After all, the socks she'd stolen from Harry were the same color. She went and got dressed, and put on her dress robes, just for sizing of the sock.

"Harry…can you help me get on this bloody sock?" she called from the bedroom. She couldn't believe he was still in the bathroom after three hours. "HARRY!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming…" he said, and as he opened the bathroom door, he gasped and looked up in surprise at his wife sitting on the bed, trying to get a huge sock over her extremely swollen foot.

"Here, pull…" said Ginny, giving him her foot. "But be careful…it still hurts…a lot…"

Harry rolled up his sleeves and took a very large pull…and the sock was on. "Now, put on the other sock…or are you wearing a shoe on that foot?" said Harry, laughing at his own words. Ginny grabbed a pillow and hit him with it.

"Yes, I'm wearing a shoe with it! What else do you think I would wear over it?"

"An engorged sock?" came a muffled reply through the pillow that Ginny was now holding over him.

"Take that back!"

"No!"

"Harry James Potter, take it back or I'll…"

"Make me wear an engorged sock?"

"SHUT UP!"

"Fine…besides, we've only got four more hours until we have to leave. As you very well know, Surrey's about an hour away from London, and we can't apparate, so we're taking one of those yellow car thingys…"

"Are you telling me that we are taking a cab?" asked Ginny slowly, taking the pillow off his head.

"Er…yeah…"

"Fine…as long as you've got a good alternative place that's near the restaurant that muggles can see."

"Yep."

"Alrighty then. I'll just assume you know what you're doing…"

Four Hours Later

Ginny Makes Her Appearance

"Before we go in…does everybody know about my ankle?" asked Ginny nervously.

"Most everybody. I told Ron to tell all the people in Gryffindor House…which would be all the people that are coming. Ron only invited former Gryffindors and their spouses."

"Good. I don't want Malfoy to see me like this…"

"That's because Malfoy and his crew probably did this to you…" murmured Harry, and they stepped inside.

It was a warm colored room, considering that the restaurant was called the Rosebud Goblet. The top half of the walls were a subdued pink, the bottom half was deep red, and there was a piece of wood in the middle with carved roses on it.

Ron laughed as he saw his sister limping around in a bright red sock with golden snitches on it. "Shut up, Ron," said Hermione, "we're supposed to be their friends…"

"Yeah…but she's my sister. And she's wearing one of the socks I gave Harry for Christmas last year!"

"You gave Harry socks for Christmas?" questioned Hermione.

"Yeah…and I gave him the Firebolt 3000."

Ginny and Harry approached them. "Hey guys…has anybody else arrived yet?" asked Harry.

"Seamus and Lavender came, and then Dean and Parvarti. But Padma's overseas in India, working with muggle relations," said Hermione.

"Did anybody else?" asked Ginny.

"Not anybody that we know."

Ron burst out laughing, and Hermione gave him an elbow jab.

"So, what does everybody want to eat?" said Ron, though he was still laughing at the thought of his best friend's sock engorged, and put on his sister's swollen foot.