CHAPTER 27: Home Sweet Home

Harry and the other made their way out of the common room before anybody could come back out of their rooms. They decided to head towards the room of requirement to hide out for a while, but they had Ginny go in first to make sure Parvati hadn't gotten the same idea. After they got the all clear signal they walked in to find a comfortable sitting room that looked a lot like the Gryffindor common room. Harry plopped himself down on the couch and stared blankly into the fire, his mind numb. Ron sat on a chair to his left, Hermione on the arm. Ginny sat down next to Harry and watched him with concern in her eyes. Neville uncomfortably paced behind the couch, his eyes intently focused on his shoes.

"You want to talk about it?" Ginny asked quietly, putting a supportive hand on his shoulder. Harry stared into her brown eyes for a moment before going back to staring into the fire.

"I'm not sure what there is to talk about," he deadpanned. "She said she loved me, I didn't think I could say it back. So she broke up with me." Ginny opened her mouth as if to respond but snapped it shut again. She turned to Hermione, who had much the same reaction as herself. Hermione simply nodded and led Ron and Neville outside.

"Why didn't you think you could say it back?" Ginny quietly prodded.

"Because I didn't think I loved her, I'm not even sure what that is. I didn't want to just say it to make her happy if I didn't actually mean it." Ginny's eyes softened even more and she clasped her hand over her mouth. Harry watched her curiously. "What'd I say? You don't need to tell me I'm bad with girls, I already know!" He snapped.

"That's not what I was going to say at all, quite the opposite actually. I don't know many guys that would've been so honest, and that's what is so great about you. If Parvati wanted a guy that would lie to her than you two probably wouldn't work out anyway. Let's face it, you're a horrible liar." Harry grinned at that for a second, but just as quickly as it came it vanished as he stared back into the fire.

"Can I ask you a question? I mean, I guess it's sort of personal…" Harry looked at her and just nodded before resuming his stare into the fire. "Well, I wanted to ask you why is it that you said you don't even know what love is?" Harry looked at her for what seemed like a silent eternity before responding.

"My parents died before I can remember, so I'll never know what it was like to love them. I hated living with the Dursleys, My one date with Cho was a disaster, and Just when I started looking at Sirius like a father he died because we were getting so close. I don't think I've ever had anyone to love before." When Harry looked at the red head sitting next to him there were tears in her eyes. She threw her arms around his neck.

"I'm so sorry, Harry." She whispered. Harry patted her arm awkwardly.

"It's not like it's your fault, Gin. We've never really talked about it before, you were always just my best friend's kid sister, and I'm sorry about that." Ginny tightened her grip on Harry, who wrapped his arms around the youngest Weasley and stroked the back of her head, "Come on, Gin, don't cry. Everything's ok." After a few minutes in that position Ginny pulled away and wiped her eyes.

"I've always really liked you, Harry. I know this isn't the best time but I can't help it. You've been through so much, and you're going to be going through so much more, but you're still so noble." Harry shook his head.

"I'm not noble, if I were noble I wouldn't have to kill anyone to win this war."

"If you were stupid you wouldn't kill anyone in this war." Ginny said fiercely, holding his head steady with her hands, forcing him to hold eye contact. "I've never said this before but you're right, if you just kept capturing them then they would just keep escaping and killing more people. You are doing the only thing possible to keep people alive, and making that kind of sacrifice is noble, whether you think so or not." Harry couldn't say anything, all he was capable of doing was staring into her eyes. She leaned in closer to him, closing her eyes.

"Wait." Harry said quickly, before their lips touched. Ginny looked up in surprise, a confused look in her eyes. "I really want to kiss you right now, but it's not a good idea. We're both just really vulnerable right now, and it wouldn't be right to take advantage of that." Ginny looked confused for a minute before smiling, another tear sliding down her cheek. Harry put his hand on her cheek and wiped away the tear with her thumb.

"See what I mean?" Harry looked thoroughly confused. "You could've just kissed me but you thought about what kind of emotional state I was in, if that's not noble I don't know what is." Harry took her hand in his right and covered it with his left.

"Wait, what about Dean Thomas?"

"I dumped him ages ago…I guess I just hadn't found the right guy yet." She looked at him suggestively.

"Go to the Yule ball with me, if you still want to kiss me after that we can make some arrangements." Ginny punched him lightly in the arm with her free hand.

"It's a lucky thing I didn't say yes to any of the other guys who asked me. Of course I'll go with you, Harry."

The next few days passed very quickly. Rumor of Harry and Parvati's break up spread quickly, but wasn't talked about in public after Ginny threw some very threatening looks at a bunch of curious first years. By the time the Yule Ball had rolled around the whole dueling tournament had been laid out. Cho had cruised past Roger Davies in the 7th year dueling finals and was scheduled to meet Ginny Weasley in the first round of the whole school tournament. Harry was scheduled to duel the fourth year champion, Dennis Creevey. Students in years one through three were participating in their own duel because it would simply be unfair to make them duel the older students. The next round of duels was to take place during lunch the first day of the second term.

On Christmas morning Harry awoke and found a small note and shot glass sitting on his night stand. The note was in loopy purple writing.

I've decided that Christmas isn't the same without your closest friends.

Take this portkey as soon as you wake up and we can begin the holiday festivities.

I chose this particular portkey because it has a history with you and if

Alastor has had any effect on you you'll wonder about the credibility

Of this letter. See you soon, Harry.

-Albus

Harry reread the note before looking at the shotglass, it was the same one he had taken to Spinner's End over the summer. Harry couldn't help but smile at the reaction McClaggan had when he saw the Headmaster's choice. As he picked up the shot glass he felt the familiar pull behind his naval and before he knew it he was sitting in the living room of a vaguely familiar house surrounded by all his closest friends. Neville, Ginny, Luna, Ron, Hermione, the rest of the Weasley family, the Grangers, and most of the Order of the Phoenix were sitting around him.

Ginny was the first to stand and approach him. She had a mischievous grin on her face and a glint in her eye as she kissed him on the cheek and whispered, "welcome home, Harry."

Harry looked around the room more carefully this time, realizing where he had seen this room before. Where he was now standing was where his crib where Voldemort failed to kill him had once been. The house in Godric's Hollow had been restored perfectly and looked almost exactly the same as far as Harry could tell, though his memories were severely limited.

"I thought, Harry, that this present would help in three ways." Dumbledore handed him a plain box and motioned for him to open it. "That, Harry, is a penseive not unlike the one I have in my office. I normally wouldn't give such a gift to a student but you are a special case. By putting your thoughts in this penseive you will be able to conjure certain…distant memories." Harry knew exactly what he referred to. The penseive would allow Harry to remember his parents for more than just the people they were in the minute before their deaths. "You will also find it necessary, I daresay, to cleanse yourself of certain extraneous memories in the near future. The final way this will help you is that your memories are not the only ones that will be in this penseive. I have placed certain memories of my own into this one, memories of all my duels with Voldemort. Study these duels and learn his style. Knowing your opponent is the first step to defeating him." Harry nodded somberly as he thought about all the memories he would be able to recall because of this seemingly insignificant basin.

"Harry, I understand that you've been training hard with the sword, but I feel that you will need more than that to defeat Voldemort. After hearing that your wand shares is Voldemort's brother, I realized that I am in a unique position to help you." An Auror he recognized as Dawlish told him in a rather raspy voice. "You will need a new wand. There are only two ways to be able to procure a new wand, one is to have a certificate signed by the Head of the Improper Use of Magic department and the Minister of Magic herself proving your wand has been broken and you are in need of a new one. The second way is to have an Auror with the title of Captain or higher right you a certificate stating that you need a second wand, no questions asked. Luckily for you, I have the required rank. I just ask that you don't tell anyone because I could be fired for issuing this to anyone other than an Auror." Harry took the slip of paper and made a mental note to stop by Ollivanders as soon as he could. "Seeing that I was already technically breaking the law, and the fact that I feel I need to make up for the lost time I spent in Fudge's pocket, I've also managed to grab something out of the armory that will most definitely come in handy. I'm not one for festivities so you'll have to excuse the unwrapped gifts." Dawlish tossed Harry two thin black contraptions. "Auror issue wrist holsters. Just strap them on the inside of your forearm, insert the wand, snap your wrist back quickly and the wand will be propelled from your sleeve. Just take some time to learn to catch it, it's tricky at first and I wouldn't want you to poke someone's eye out instead of cursing them." Dawlish had a good laugh at that, but most of the people in the room new Harry too well to chastise him, especially given his ability to catch a tiny golden ball with wings.

"I can't believe you actually broke the law Dawlish." Moody grunted. "I've never even heard of you breaking the dress code." It was Moody's turn to have a laugh, the rest of the crowd had no idea what was going on. As if sensing this Moody quickly added, "Dawlish here is the youngest Auror to reach the rank of Captain since I did it, and he did it with pure brownnosing, he doesn't have nearly my skill."

"I don't have that damned magical eye either, Moody." Moody grinned again at the comeback. If Harry hadn't known him the smile would've made Mad Eye look even more frightening.

"Seeing as you've been dealing with some rather sketchy situations, and I'm sure you'll be spending more time in the field soon, I got you a new version of my trunk." Moody grabbed at what seemed to be air, but when his hand stopped above his head he was holding an invisibility cloak. By his feet was a red and gold trunk, slightly bigger than Harry's beat up old school trunk. The only other difference was that it had seven key holes. Moody tossed Harry the keys and motioned for him to open the trunk. The first compartment was just big enough for most of Harry's clothes, the second for Harry's books, the third was filled with dark detectors that Moody must have provided, the fourth was a large room with a padded walls and a soft rug that Moody explained was for dueling practice. The padding was to protect both the people and the walls of the trunk. The fifth compartment contained a desk and some shelves which would serve as a make shift office if ever Harry needed to have a private meeting. The sixth compartment had a single hospital bed and a tray full of tools. "Interrogations," was all Moody would say. The seventh and final chamber was an open area, larger than the other compartments that Harry could decide how to use. Moody also assured Harry that the trunk was indestructible so nobody could blow up the trunk while he was inside.

After emerging from his exploration of the new trunk Remus stepped forward and tossed him a round object with red wrapping paper. Harry tore the paper away and realized that he was holding a black motorcycle helmet with a dark visor. "I figured if I was going tot each you how to ride Sirius' old bike you'd need a helmet." Harry smiled as he looked out the window and saw his motorcycle sitting in the driveway.

"When Remus here told me about your present I figured you'd be needing something else to go along with it." Bill Weasley said, stepping forward and looking as cool as ever with his ponytail and fang earing. "Charlie agreed so we picked this out for you." Charlie handed Harry a plain box, not unlike the one that contained his new dress robes. Opening the box he saw a black, dragon hide jacket. To most muggles the dragon hide would look like an expensive leather, but almost all wizards could tell the difference between dragonhide and leather. Aside from just looking cool Charlie informed him that even separated from the dragon a hide would give Harry some protection against some physical and some magical attacks. If he fell off his motorcycle anytime soon the jacket would come in very handy.

They went around the room, exchanging presents with Harry. The twins had gotten him a magical pouch that connected directly to Harry's vault. He could withdraw any money or items anytime anyplace as long as it was stored in his personal vault or his families vault. Harry made a mental note to check the Potter family vault, he hadn't even known there was one. Hagrid had compiled an album giving details of all of his encounters with the animals of the forbidden forest, including all rituals and cultural issues a wizard should know before dealing with them. Harry realized what Hagrid was not-so-subtly hinting at, that Harry would be the one that needed to strike up negotiations with the other magical creatures for the war against Voldemort.

At the end of the party Harry loaded his new things, including the massive amount of books he received, into his trunk. He had given most of the presents out but realized that he had left Hermione's back in his dorm room. With a pang of fear he also realized that he hadn't gotten Ginny anything. Quickly excusing himself he floo'd from his fireplace into the Gryffindor common room and grabbed the book on advanced healing for Hermione. Looking around frantically for something to give Ginny until he could get her some really nice jewelry he decided on the book he had found in the room of requirement, the book of Merlin. He hadn't quite finished it but he had pretty much mastered many of the more useful spells in there, he could always borrow it if he needed to look at it again. He floo'd back to his house in Godric's Hollow and distributed his remaining two presents. When he tried to give Ginny her book the whole room gasped and went silent. 'They must think I'm such an insensitive prat, giving a spell book to my girlfriend on our first Christmas together.'

"Where did you get this, Harry?" Dumbledore asked sternly, no twinkle evident in his now cold blue, eyes.

"In the room of requirement, but why is that important?"

"Because, Harry, this book was supposed to have been lost just after Merlin himself died. I have no idea how it could have possibly came into your hands, but I do know that it found you for a reason. Legend has it that Merlin would present this book to the one he chooses, and that this chosen person should, under no circumstances, allow other people to have or even borrow the book."

"But why me?" Harry asked for what must have been the millionth time in his life.

"Legend also states that one reason the person would be chosen is because he is the heir of Merlin." Hermione almost whispered.

"But-I'm-I can't be! I'm the heir of Gryffindor, I understand that, so how can I be the heir of Merlin too?"

"Harry, give me some time and I'll be able to tell you if there is any truth behind this legend. Your family tree is posted in another room in this house, and if it is true one of the people on that tree will lead back to Merlin himself." Remus said anxiously. Harry figured that if anyone would be able to follow the Potter line it was Remus, considering he had known most of his family anyway.

"If you'd all do me a favor…" Harry started, gazing at each member of the crowd waiting for signs of objection. After receiving none he said, "please don't mention this to anyone, including me. I don't want to even think about it until I know for sure if it is true."

"Harry, can I have a word in private please?" Dumbledore asked quietly, his eyes full of concern. Harry nodded and unlocked the fifth compartment of his trunk and climbed down the ladder after the headmaster. "Harry, I must tell you that if you were the heir of Merlin it wouldn't surprise me."

"What? Why not?"

"Because, Harry, one of Merlin's greatest attributes was that he could break through magical limitations, whether they be wards or simply things that should have been impossible unless using complicated spellwork. I've often wondered how you came to develop this ability, and this presents a rather interesting explanation." Harry stared at the wall blankly for a few minutes before responding.

"Even so, I'd rather know for sure before thinking too much about it. I won't give up the book for now but please just drop the subject for the time being." Dumbledore nodded and they climbed back out of his trunk.