Sorry for the long wait! I had a huge bio project to finish that I had been putting off forever. I want to warn my younger or more sensitive readers that this chapter contains a bit of sexuality toward the end. I hope this doesn't make anybody too uncomfortable, but I have decided that this story will be 'R' from now on. Consider yourselves warned.
Thank you sooo much for all the reviews. They made me want to keep writing even when I was supposed to be researching fungi and other fun stuff for biology class. Read, enjoy, and review!
Chapter 6: Letters and Lingerie
Harry excused himself from the dinner table after hurriedly consuming his meal, saying in response to the concerned looks he was receiving that he was merely tired after the trip to Diagon Alley. Ron shrugged and returned to devouring large portions of just about everything on the table. Hermione, however, adopted a worried frown and rested her hand on his arm as he stood to leave.
"Harry," she said in an undertone, "is something the matter?" Her eyes were wide and imploring, making Harry consider telling her the truth. She and Ron had been his confidants for so many years, but he somehow couldn't bring himself to mention the second letter, knowing that Ginny was the one he wanted by his side when he finally read it. She had come to understand him better even than his two best friends, for she shared a similarly dark past of manipulation at the hands of Voldemort. She alone knew what it was like to be connected to the single most evil wizard living.
"No, nothing. Tired is all. I just need to lie down." Harry gave his bushy-haired friend a reassuring smile and waited for her to look away before locking eyes with Ginny. He nodded slightly and then climbed to stairs to wait for her in his room.
When Ginny silently slid through his door about ten minutes later, closing it behind her, she found Harry lying on his bed and staring at the envelope.
Walking over, Ginny climbed onto the bed and laid down beside him, resting her head on his chest and securing her arms around. He shifted to accommodate her, basking in the comfort of her presence and relishing the feel of her body against his. They stayed that way in silence for a while, Harry absent-mindedly stroking Ginny's loose curls, marveling as they bounced back to their original shape after each pass of his hand.
"I don't know what I expect to find in here. I just have this impending sense of doom, as though something terrible will be revealed. Guess I should be used to that by now."
"You know, Harry, that whatever may be written on this parchment, whether it be as innocent as a belated birthday message or…or as terrible as news of Vold-Voldemort, whatever it says, I will be here for you. Nothing can change that."
Harry, a little shocked over her usage of his nemesis' real name, gave her a little squeeze and nodded, but still made no move to open the letter. He had heard so much bad news over the course of his life that he really didn't think he could bear to hear any more. Especially now, when he had finally found some semblance of a normal life. He had discovered happiness in a way he had never thought possible. He had found someone who got him. As simple as that. Ginny knew him inside and out. Knew when he was feeling sorry for himself and when he was allowing guilt to consume him. Perhaps most importantly she knew how do deal with his moods. That was something no other of his girlfriends had been able to do. He felt…whole when he was with her. And this letter could change everything.
"I know, Gin. It's just…everything is so perfect right now and I want it to stay that way."
Suddenly Ginny stood up and walked over to Harry's broomstick, which was leaning against the wall next to the window.
"Get up. Up with you, I say! I have something to show you."
"What?" Harry was giving her a quizzical look even as she grabbed his hand and pulled him off the bed.
She forced open the glass pane of the window and mounted the broom, scooting forward with a gesture that indicated he should sit behind her.
"Do you trust me?" Her eyes were wide and sparkling; hair springing to life as the wind brushed passed it.
"Yes, of course I do, but what does—"
"Then get on the broom!" She gave him a wide smile as he complied and then instructed him to steer out into the night, heading toward the small forest behind the house.
The sun was setting in magnificent shades of red, pink, and purple. A light breeze licked their faces, causing a chill to run down Ginny's spine. Harry slid one arm around her waist and hugged her to him tightly, burrowing his face in her hair. Another tingling sensation shot through her, though this time it wasn't from the cold.
They sped through the air, finally coming to a halt in a small clearing in the woods in which a large oak tree stood erect. Harry swung himself off of the broom and then turned to help Ginny dismount, come to find that she was already on the ground. She gave him a crooked smile, took his hand, and pulled him to a sitting position beneath the tree's bows.
It was comforting to be in the clearing, surrounded by the gentle sounds of forest creatures and the soft warmth of the setting sun. Harry leaned back against the trunk of the oak and took a deep breath, tasting the fresh air as though he had never before been given the opportunity. He could see why Ginny had brought him here, for he suddenly felt prepared to face what the letter contained.
Ginny wrapped her arms around him as he slid the parchment out of the envelope and unfolded it.
Harry,
It has been brought to the attention of the order that certain threats are growing. It is of the utmost importance that you understand the dangers of your current situation and comply with the following request.
Firstly, measures have been taken to shield the Burrow from any who wish the occupants harm. The wards, however, are not unbreakable and I fear that not only your life is endangered by your stay there. The best place for you to be right now is at Hogwarts, where you can find refuge and begin learning a number of skills that I believe will be helpful in the war.
Sources have confirmed that Death Eaters are currently involved in locating you and select others whom Voldemort has come to regard as a threat. It is imperative that you leave the Burrow and return to school. I sense, as I know you do as well, that the turning point is coming. Soon he will make his decisive move, at which time you must be ready to face him and destroy him.
It will take two days to organize a safe means of travel. On August the 15th you will be contacted. I cannot reveal to you the specifics lest this letter be intercepted. Be prepared to leave at any hour. You will not return to the Burrow before the end of the school year, so bring with you all you will need.
Those others who are in danger will receive word of they're own departure in the coming days. For they're safety I will not reveal to you via letter the identities of these individuals, though I think you can discern who they may be. Each of you will be transported separately and without any knowledge of the others.
I am truly sorry about the early termination of your summer vacation, but precautions must be taken. Tell Molly and Arthur only as much as is strictly necessary. For the time being, try not to stray away from the Burrow.
Albus Dumbledore
Harry re-read the letter just to be certain he had grasped what, exactly, Dumbledore was insinuating. The message, however, did not change in the brief amount of time it took him to skim through it again.
"Harry, are you alright?" Ginny, who had refrained from looking at the letter's contents based on principle, now questioned. Harry had tensed in her arms.
There was a rather long silence before Harry made any attempt at a response. When he finally did his hands were shaking but his face was set and emotionless.
"I'm not sure," was his slightly strangled reply.
Ginny waited, stroking his thick black hair comfortingly and resting her head on his shoulder. He shifted into a lying position and took her in his arms as she cuddled beside him, red hair now fanning out across his chest. She could hear the erratic beating of his heart, making her feel as though she were eavesdropping on an internal battle.
"Dumbledore says that Voldemort is trying to find me. Not surprising, really, considering our history together." The last words he spat out bitterly, but then, thinking better of his attitude, changed the tone of his words. These hours, after all, were the last he would have with Ginny for weeks and he didn't want to ruin them with his broodings. "He says I must return to Hogwarts; that my presence here is a liability to you and your family. I can't argue with that."
"Oh, Harry! Don't for one moment think I will let you be drowned by your self-imposed responsibilities to others. We all know that our being so close to you may attract unwanted attention. It is our decision to stand by you and support you so openly, not yours! And nothing in the world will change the fact that, when the time comes, my family and I will be right by your side. Being part of the Order puts us in harms way, anyway, so don't you dare feel accountable for any of our being in danger!" Ginny, who had sat up to deliver her speech, was bright red from her determination to make Harry understand.
Harry gave her an incredulous look and then, to her surprise, smiled and kissed her on the nose.
"There's something about you, Ginny. I don't know what it is, but you are absolutely beyond all words. Alright, then, I'm not fully responsible for the danger you and everyone else is in."
Harry pulled Ginny onto his lap and leaned against the tree. "I'm not supposed to tell anybody much, but I consider you something quite more than just 'anybody', so I guess it doesn't apply to you. Here," he said, handing her the letter, "read this. I don't feel up to explaining everything."
He buried his face into her ginger locks and breathed in her scent. Lavender and honey. He didn't know if he could last until the beginning of term to see her again; to hold her in his arms and let her caress his troubles away. She was the only one, excepting Ron and Hermione, in whom he could confide. From years of friendship Harry could almost imagine what his two best friends' reaction would be to just about anything he had to say, but with Ginny he never knew. It was exciting and comforting at the same time to know that he could say anything to her and get a response that would take him completely by surprise and make him consider angles he had not even known existed.
He had expected to see sorrow on her face or at the least an irritated expression, but once again he was caught off guard by her behavior. An actual smile was tracing her pink lips and a mischievous glint had found its way into her large brown eyes.
"Harry," she breathed, "do you know what this means?"
"Er, obviously you are seeing something in that letter that is cause for celebration. All I see, however, is that I will be separated from you for the rest of the summer. Either I was reading your signals wrong, which is extremely unlikely, and you do not feel the same way about me as I do about you, or I have missed something very important."
"Correct!"
"Wait, which part?"
"The part about your overlooking a very pleasing aspect of this letter."
"How so?" Harry was now quite curious as to what was making Ginevra Weasley so happy as to be teasing him.
"Harry! Do the words select others ring any bells?"
"Yes, but I still don't…oohhh. Do you think that you will be coming early, too? And Ron and Hermione?"
Ginny gave him an exasperated look. "Of course. Dumbledore was talking about how your staying at the Burrow was putting others in harms way. He was talking about my family and Hermione. That means that, at some point, we are all going to end up at Hogwarts early. With very little to no supervision." She raised her eyebrows and gave him a significant look.
Harry eyed her with a good amount of confusion. What exactly had been the significance behind her words? Had there been a significance, or was he reading too deeply into what she had said? The look he was giving her must have tipped her off as to his befuddlement, for Ginny decided to elaborate.
"Which means that you and I will have all those empty classrooms to ourselves. Not to mention our being the only occupants of Gryffindor tower for two weeks."
"Wait, aren't Ron and Hermione going to be there, too?"
"Yes, Harry, but you are forgetting that they are the Head Boy and Girl this year. They will be in their own wing at Hogwarts."
She was trying to relate a message to him, he just knew it. But it certainly couldn't be that she wanted to be more…intimate. Could it? She was only sixteen, after all. But, then again, so was Hermione, who would not be of age until September.
"So, er, I guess we will have a lot of free time. You know, with just the two of us." Harry decided to feel his way through this conversation by guiding Ginny into saying what, exactly, was on her mind.
"Yes," she replied with a mischievous glint about her. "Any idea of how we can fill it?"
Harry, who was sick of trying to determine if what they were thinking the same thing, grinned wickedly and replied, "Only one" before kissing her passionately.
Time passed quickly for the two of them. They joked around for a while, but conversation eventually took a darker turn. Discussion of Voldemort tapered off after about an hour into reflective silence. The moon was well past its zenith when Harry remembered, not without guilt, that they had left the Burrow without informing anyone where they would be going. And wasn't that exactly what Dumbledore had warned him against doing?
"Ginny," he whispered, for he felt a normal tone would rob the night of its pristine beauty. "Ginny, I think we should be heading back."
When the girl in his arms did not answer Harry rightly deduced that she had fallen into slumber. Rather than wake her he carefully lifted her and placed her limp body in front of him on his broom. Her small frame allowed him to succeed in this task with little trouble, and they were soon flying high over the trees in the direction of the Burrow.
As the rickety old house came into sight Ginny stirred and open her eyes, a bit bewildered as to why she was in the air when she had been under the large oak last time she could remember.
"Harry, what's happened?"
"I thought we should get back to bed and I didn't want to wake you."
"Oh," was all she said before snuggling back up against him.
Harry opened his bedroom window and allowed Ginny to crawl in before him. He had just leaned his broom in its usual corner when he realized that Ginny had not, as he had expected, gone back to her room, but was instead seemingly fast asleep on his own bed. Shrugging, he quickly pulled off his jeans and t-shirt and tugged a pair of p.j. bottoms on. He figured that his bed, which was, in fact, two mattresses put together, would accommodate both he and Ginny.
Harry was just about to lie beside Ginny when he realized that she might be caught the next morning. He crossed the room to his trunk and got out a muggle alarm clock. Setting it for five o'clock, Harry placed it next to his bed and slipped under the covers.
Taking Ginny in his arms, Harry quickly drifted off to sleep.
Harry was standing in the graveyard again. He took a deep breath to prepare himself for the coming events. Listening hard for any sign of life amid the death, Harry was surprised to feel a hand take his own. He looked down to see Ginny giving him a reassuring smile.
When Harry appraised his surrounding once again he was startled to see that they were no longer in the graveyard, but in the great hall of Hogwarts.
He could feel his muscles relax at the appearance of his school, but something in the atmosphere didn't feel right. There was a humming, as thought unfathomable amounts of energy were coursing through the very air he was breathing. His hands began to tingle, then to throb with raw and unfamiliar power as his fingers closed around his wand. Something was happening, and he wasn't at all sure that it was good.
Ginny abruptly tore away from his side, holding her stomach as though she were in great pain, her face contorting and a low moan emanating from her throat. He was about to reach out to her, to follow her as she began to sprint up the grand staircase, but something was preventing him.
A voice unnaturally high in octave was carrying toward him from somewhere in the shadows of the room.
Whipping around and trying to place where the sound originated, Harry's eyes fell upon the thin form of Voldemort, wand pointed at the scar on his forehead.
"Your time has come at last, Potter. Death has eluded you for far too long."
Harry could feel the man across from him preparing to deliver the curse that would end his life, but for some reason he was not panicked. A strange thumping sound had filled his mind, but instead of breaking his concentration it had only served to make his resolve stronger, though he could not think why.
He raised his own wand, feeling the strength and power in him reach a crescendo, his aura pulsing to the beat of the thumping noise. Thump…thump…thump…tick…tick… briiiiiiiiiig.
Harry jerked awake at the sound of his alarm clock, nearly falling out of his bed. He was damp with sweet but his skin felt as though it were on fire from within. His breath was coming out in ragged gasps and his body was shaking convulsively.
What had happened? A dream hadn't affected him this much since he had seen the vision of Sirius being attacked. This had been different, though. He couldn't quite place his finger on it. In fact, he could barely recall the nightmare at all. Only that it had taken place in Hogwarts…and Voldemort had been there…and there had been a loud thumping noise.
"Harry!" Ginny whispered shrilly upon seeing his appearance. "What is it? What's that noise?"
"You heard it too?" Harry questioned, his disorientation making him overlook the fact that his alarm clock was still ringing rather loudly.
"Er, yes. I hear it right now, actually." Ginny gave him a worried look and then glanced over at the contraption that had awoken her.
"Oh, er, right. The clock." He rolled over and shut it off before turning toward the red-head at his side. "I had another dream. But it was different from my other ones." His green eyes were dark with contemplation and bitterness.
"How so?" Ginny prompted after it became clear that Harry was content to remain in thoughtful silence.
"I wasn't revisiting a bad memory this time. Voldemort was there, we weren't in the graveyard. We were at Hogwarts."
"Could Vold-Voldemort," she finished determinedly, "be controlling your dreams again?"
Harry thought for a moment, but something in him didn't believe that the Dark Lord was behind the vision. "I guess he could be, but I don't think so. It just didn't feel the same way those other ones had when I was seeing the Department of Mysteries. But I shouldn't rule anything out; you just never know with Voldemort."
"I think you should tell Dumbledore about this. It could be important. Harry…maybe… maybe you're seeing the future." Her eyes were wide as they calculated his reaction.
Harry shrugged and replied after a moment of consideration, "It's possible. I just wish I could remember more of it. I feel like I'm missing something really important."
"It will come back to you," Ginny reassured him, placing her hand soothingly on his arm.
The darkness that seemed to creep into Harry's thoughts all too often retreated with her gesture and he turned to her with a grateful smile. He kissed her gently on the forehead and then stood up.
"We should probably, you know, separate. Wouldn't want anybody catching you in here. They might assume the worst," Harry said with a wry grin and a wink.
"Oh, and what might 'the worst' be?" Ginny looked at him slyly and came to stand directly in front of him, running her hands up his arms.
"Well, er, I don't know. Just that they might think that…we were doing things we shouldn't be," Harry stuttered out, uncomfortably aware of her close proximity and the fact that they were alone in his bedroom.
"What makes you think we shouldn't be doing…whatever it is you're talking about?" Ginny was thoroughly enjoying herself. She liked to know she had this kind of effect over Harry.
"Er…Ginny! What are you doing?" Harry jumped back in surprise as the fiery red-head began to slide his bottoms slightly downward.
She gave him an exasperated look, clearly feeling that he should know exactly what it was she was doing. She then folded her arms over her chest, pouted her lips, and turned on her heal toward the door.
Ginny had taken about three steps when she felt Harry place his hands on her shoulders and spin her to face him. The look in his eyes immediately destroyed her disposition to be playfully irritated. They were burning with something she had never before seen and they seemed to have a strange affect on her. She could feel her knees begin to wobble and her brain turn to mush. All she could think about was his eyes and his half-naked body only inches away from her.
Harry held her shoulders firmly as he searched her brown eyes, unsure of whether what he was seeing was real. But at that moment he really didn't care. He nodded and then pulled her close to him, kissing her passionately.
Breaking apart for a moment, Ginny once again caught sight of the intensity of the raven-haired boy's look. "Harry," she moaned, but she didn't seem inclined to elaborate.
He began moving her backward toward the bed and they tumbled unceremoniously onto it. His hands moved up the back of her shirt, which seconds later was lying discarded on the floor. Harry began to finger the clasps of her bra, which she still had on since she had fallen asleep in her day clothes.
Blood pumping hot waves of passion through her body, Ginny arched her back against Harry's chest, silently urging him to unhook the last bit of clothing separating their torsos. Harry complied with excellent speed.
Ginny ran her fingers lightly over his bare back, causing a tingling sensation to wash over Harry, from whose lips escaped a soft moan. Ginny inched up the bed to a spot in the middle as Harry moved with her, their half-naked bodies rubbing together. His hands were now firmly on her waist, slowly pulling her jean shorts off.
Anticipation was coursing through them as their breathing became heavy and ragged. Ginny fumbled with his pajama bottoms and succeeded in pulling them off so that he was only in his boxers.
His lips were making their way down her neck, leaving hot tingling sensations in their wake. Ginny could feel his excitement against her leg which quickly escalated her sensuality to point she had never known. She groaned loudly and assisted him in pulling off her shorts, unable to wait much longer. She had been waiting for years, after all.
Harry's mouth had just found its way to her right breast when a noise on the landing outside his room caused them both to tense and pause in what they were doing.
Hermione's voice was barely audible as she spoke to her companion, which was, most likely, Ron. "I heard something in Harry's room. I think we've woken him."
Ginny leaped out from under Harry with such speed that he tumbled over slightly, recovering almost immediately to hide his practically naked body, not to mention the form which his previous excitement had taken, under his blankets. Ginny had just grabbed her clothes and dashed behind the bed when the door handle turned and Hermione's head appeared.
"Harry? Are you awake?" Her voice was naught but a whisper and Harry was surprised he could hear it at all over the beating of his heart.
"Er, yeah. I heard you two and I woke up," Harry choked out, wishing they would just go away.
"Oh, well, if you're awake, do you and Ginny want to come with Ron and I to the pond for an early morning swim?" Harry couldn't see Ron's face, but if he had he would have seen great irritation in his friend's expression.
Without thinking Harry agreed, his mind buzzing from what had just happened and the fact that Ginny, wearing only her underwear, was hiding on the other side of the bed.
"Right, I'll just wake Ginny then, shall I?" Hermione made to leave, but Harry quickly called out to her, knowing that the room across from his was suspiciously empty.
"No, no, it's alright. I'll wake her up once I've dressed. You two go ahead." Harry was now in a right panic. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if Ron discovered his sister's absence from her bed at five o'clock in the morning.
"Oh, okay. We'll just see you down there." She smiled and then closed the door, turning back to find Ron giving her an exasperated look.
"What?" she inquired, not without some misgivings.
"What? What? What do you mean, 'what'?" Ron looked completely gob smacked over something, his ears a bright shade of red.
"Exactly what I said. What is that look for?" Her eyebrows were knitted together and her hands had flown to her hips.
Ron gaped at her for a few moments and then grabbed her hand and dragged her down the stairs, out the front door, and along the path to the pond.
"Honestly, Ron, what has gotten into you…" Hermione was about to add more when the words got stuck in her throat. She couldn't believe what she was seeing! And then she understood why Ron had reacted the way he had when she had invited Harry and Ginny to come with them for a swim.
To Be Continued…
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