Chapter 11: Getting Closure

Harry spent the rest of the holiday with Ginny; talking, laughing, sipping hot cocoa by the fire. Harry was very happy about this, but he just couldn't shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that at any moment things could go horribly wrong.

They returned to Hogwarts after the holidays to find a listing of the Hogsmeade weekends for the rest of the term posted in the Gryffindor common room.

"Oh look Harry! The next Hogsmeade weekend is on Valentine's Day!" Ginny said excitedly. "Do you want to go?"

Harry grinned amusedly. Well, anything will be better than the Valentine's Day date he had last year. "Sure," he said.

The morning of that Hogmeade weekend Harry woke up with butterflies in his stomach. He couldn't understand why he was so nervous about going out with Ginny; he'd done it before. He figured the fact that the word date was attached to it changed everything.

He met Ginny in the common room before breakfast. She looked really pretty in a peach sweater and a khaki skirt. They went to breakfast in the Great Hall together and then queued up to go to Hogsmeade.

Ginny chatted away about the different things they could do that day as they walked up to the village. Harry walked quietly beside her and then looked down at her hand swinging innocently besides her. He pretended to look the other way and, as nonchalantly as he could manage, he slipped his hand into hers. Ginny paused and looked down at their interlocked hands for a moment, then looked up at Harry and smiled as she squeezed his hand.

As they entered Hogmeade, Malfoy happened to be crossing the street in front of them alone. All three of them froze and stared at each other. Malfoy's eyes slowly moved from Harry--to Ginny--to their interlocked hands. He arched an eyebrow as he looked back at Harry with interest and walked away without a word.

Harry and Ginny watched uneasily as Malfoy walked away. "Is it just me," Ginny finally said, "or does he seem creepier now?"

Harry nodded. "He's like a ticking bomb," he said quietly, "and you don't know when he'll go off." Without thinking he let go of Ginny's hand and wrapped his arm protectively around her waist.

Ginny nodded for a moment, then paused and looked up at Harry curiously. "Bombs tick?" she asked.

They strolled down the street for a while, browsing the shops and cafes. They were passing Dervish and Banges when Harry saw it. He froze in front of the stile by the store, his eyes drifting up the rocky side of the mountain. He could just make out the opening of the cave...

"Harry? Harry!" Ginny called out. Her attitude quickly changed to concern when she noticed the sadness in Harry's eyes. She touched his arm. "What is it?"

Harry opened and closed his mouth several times before any sound came out. "This is the spot where Ron, Hermione and I would meet Sirius when he was in Hogsmeade," he finally said. He raised a pointed finger and traced the path up the mountain. "There's a cave up there where he..." Harry's voice started to crack as it trailed off.

A lump rose in Harry's throat as he stared at the cave's opening before he turned away. I can't deal with this right now, he thought. I'm on a date...it's not fair to Ginny... He took a deep breath and turned resolutely to Ginny. "Let's get out of here," he said quietly. He started to walk away when Ginny grabbed his arm.

Surprised, Harry turned back to see Ginny staring up at the mountain. "What is it?" he asked.

"I'd like to see it."

"What?" Harry gaped at her.

Ginny nodded at the mountain. "I'd like to see the cave," she said.

"You can't be serious! Ginny...our date...I...I couldn't..."

Ginny wrapped her hands around Harry's arm and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I miss him too Harry," she whispered. "Besides I--I think you need this."

Harry stared at Ginny, torn about what he wanted. Part of him wanted to go up to the cave, and part of him wanted to run as far away as he could from all those emotions that connected to that place right now. He looked back up at the mountain. He figured he would have to face this sooner or later, and it seemed that having Ginny there with him would somehow make the emotions easier to handle. He took her hand and climbed over the stile.

The path was a little hard to find, but Harry managed to lead Ginny up the mountain to the cave. Ginny slipped on the rock a couple of times, but she kept up with him. For some reason, the distance didn't seem as long this time as it did when Harry climbed it with Sirius.

The cave was unchanged since the last time Harry had been there. In front of the entrance was a pile of old, yellow newspapers that were so dry they were brittle to the touch. To the left was the rock Buckbeak was tethered to--his hoofprints and clawmarks were still visible. And to the right, in a corner, was the pawprint of a large dog pressed deep into the now-dry mud.

Harry staggered up to the pawprint in a daze. He was two feet away when his legs gave out under him and he fell to his knees, tears flowing. Ginny quietly approached him, knelt down beside him, and put her arms around his shoulders. Harry wrapped his arms around her waist, leaned his head on her shoulder, and started to cry.

"Why? Why? I don't understand...why did you have to die?" he choked between sobs. He stayed in that position for a while before he could regain any control over himself. When he did start to calm down again he became self-conscious of his behavior in front of Ginny and got a little embarrassed. "S-sorry," he said and tried to pull away. But Ginny wouldn't let him.

"No Harry," she said, her voice shaking. Ginny held Harry's face in her hands and looked straight into his eyes. "Never apologize for feeling sad," she whispered. "And never feel like you have to do this alone."

Harry looked back at Ginny. Her cheeks were streaked with tears. Seeing her there, crying for Sirius, made him realize that she was right; he wasn't alone. A warm feeling rose inside him as he gazed into her eyes. Never in his entire life had he ever felt so close to another person before.

It was almost noon when Harry and Ginny finally left the cave. They were both very quiet as they walked down the street, but Harry had to admit that, after that experience, he felt better now than he had for months.

After a while they started thinking about lunch and they decided to try a little Italian restaurant called La Cafe Benigni.

"Have you ever had Italian before?" Harry asked as they scanned their menus.

"Mum tried to make pizza once," Ginny said. "The vegetables on top were a little singed, but otherwise it was pretty good. Fred and George certainly had fun with the cheese though. Couldn't get it out of their hair for days. Mum had such a fit."

Harry chuckled. "Well, Aunt Petunia was never very imaginative with her cooking. It's a wonder how Dudley got so large on that food."

Just then the waiter came. "Benvenuto signorina, signore. May I take your order?" Ginny ordered spaghetti with meat sauce and Harry ordered chicken parmesan. The waiter conjured water into their glasses and then brought them salads.

When their entrees were brought out, Ginny stared at her plate for a moment. "Now I saw how to eat this in one of Mum's magazines," she said, her fork poised over the plate. "Let's see...you put the fork in...and twirl it..."

Harry looked up from his chicken and watched, amused, as Ginny tried and failed several times before getting the spaghetti to stay on the fork. She looked up triumphantly when she finally got the pasta twirled on, but just when the spaghetti was almost in her mouth, it started to unravel. Ginny hurriedly stuffed the forkful into her mouth, but she couldn't stop the falling strand of spaghetti that wound up hanging from her lips. She looked up at Harry, her cheeks turning red, and tried to quickly slurp the pasta into her mouth. The moment she did that though, the spaghetti strand twirled up wildly and hit her on the nose, leaving a tomato sauce stain. Harry snorted and quickly looked down at his plate in an effort to hide his laughter.

"What?" Ginny asked as she wiped her mouth (but not her nose) with a napkin.

Still sniggering, Harry tapped his nose. Ginny slowly lifted her finger and brushed it against her nose. She gasped when she realized there was tomato on her nose and quickly wiped it off as her cheeks turned red enough to match the sauce.

Any effort Harry had made to hold back his laughter was gone at that moment.

Ginny was still annoyed after they finished eating lunch and left the restaurant. Harry could hardly keep a straight face as she scolded him all the way down the street.

It took Ginny a moment to calm down before she could laugh away the tomato incident. They spent the rest of the afternoon browsing the shops and other establishments. Then, as evening approached, they saw something neither of them remembered seeing before.

It was a one-story black building. Through the open doors they could see flashing lights and people dancing inside. Above the door was a flashing sign that said "Satellite of Love Discotheque."

"A discotheque? Here? I'd never seen this before," Harry said as he peered inside.

"Must have just opened," Ginny said as she looked inside with interest. "What is it?"

"It's a nightclub; you know, lots of dancing and music," Harry answered.

"Wow, that looks like fun!" Ginny said. "C'mon, let's go!" She started pulling Harry toward the door.

"Wha--? Ginny, no! I--I can't dance!" Harry exclaimed.

"What are you talking about? You danced just fine at the Christmas Dance!"

"Well yeah, but that was different, I--GINNY!" Ginny ignored Harry's protests and dragged him straight into the discotheque and onto the dance floor.

Inside multicolored lights flashed from the ceiling and bass-pumped music vibrated the walls as dozens of Hogwarts students danced wildly on the dance floor. Ginny pulled Harry in after her and, holding his hands, started to dance. He stood frozen for a few seconds, then started to move a little to the music in an effort to not stick out too much.

As Harry listened to the music he loosened up a little. He looked at some of the other students and then started trying some more daring moves. Ginny stared at him for a moment and laughed as she took a cautious step back.

"You were right; I'm sorry," Ginny said when they finally left the discotheque.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you really can't dance!" Ginny couldn't stop giggling.

Harry stopped walking and opened his mouth to protest, then shut it. "Never mind," he mumbled.

They walked back to Hogwarts and ate dinner in the Great Hall. As they headed back to Gryffindor Tower Ginny started humming some of the songs they heard at the discotheque and they danced all the way down the hall.

Harry and Ginny laughed as they climbed through the portrait hole. "I had such a great time," Ginny said.

"Me too," Harry said. He took Ginny's hands in his. "And...thanks, for...you know...what you did earlier." Ginny smiled shyly and looked up at him.

Harry's stomach turned a back-flip as he gazed into her eyes. Except for the Christmas Dance, he had never been on a date that actually went well before, and it was at that moment that he realized he didn't have a clue what to do next.

Harry slowly leaned forward, closed his eyes, and kissed Ginny lightly on the cheek. His face immediately got hot as he pulled away. Ginny's smile grew wider as she blushed too.

"Good night," Ginny said. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Harry's cheek before she let go of his hands and headed for the girls' dormitories.

"Good night," Harry whispered as he watched Ginny climb the stairs and disappear through the door.