The next few weeks were some of the best that Harry had ever experienced. He spent the early mornings watching Ginny's daily swims, occasionally joining her, and then usually talking with her for an hour or so about anything that came to mind. Sometimes they discussed Sirius, which Harry found not as painful as before. Sometimes they talked about Hogwarts or the Weasley's, or the Wizarding world.
It was so easy to talk to Ginny. She made him feel at ease and he always felt safe letting down his guard. One day, when they were chatting, Ginny asked him about his parents.
"Do you remember anything about them Harry? I know you were quite young when it happened."
Harry looked sad at the mention of them. He can't remember the number of times he had spent trying to recall any sort of memory of them.
"Not much. I vaguely remember the flash of green from Voldemort's wand and the motorcycle flight from Godric's Hollow to Privet Drive, but not much more. All I have of them is other peoples memories thru their pictures of them." Harry sighed deeply. "Oh well, at least I have the Weasleys; you can't get much better than that for family!" Harry turned to smile at her.
They were sitting in their favorite chairs down by the pond. He though that their was nothing more perfect than the quiet mornings they had spent together there.
They went on to discuss Harry's 16th birthday party that the Weasley's had thrown for him during his stay. Hermione, Neville, and Luna and a few other D.A. members had come. They spent the afternoon playing Quidditch on a portable field that Bill and Charlie had conjured up. In the evening, they had a bonfire outside in the evening and went swimming after birthday cake was served.
It was the best ever birthday he had surpassing his 11th birthday when Hagrid had come to fetch him to Hogwarts. It was a nice reprieve to the dark times that had past and the dark times that were bound to be coming.
Hermione had come for Harry's birthday and stayed. Her parents had planned to go to a dentist convention and would be gone for 10 days. They asked the Weasley's if Hermione could stay with them while they were gone. The Weasley's of course said yes, they'd be delighted to have Hermione stay.
Hermione couldn't believe the Burrow's new look. She came ladened down with books for 'a little light reading' and said she would research how and why he had transformed. When she, Neville and Luna showed up, they were given a grand tour of the Burrow and were very impressed. Hermione and Luna brought their thing to Ginny's suite and Neville went to bunk with Ron and Harry.
The day after Harry's birthday, the 6 D.A. members were sitting around the picnic table. They were laughing and having a good time talking over all the things they had done the day before. It was release for all of them after what they had gone through together. Strong and long lasting friendships were forming between the six of them even though there were different personalities.
It was Hermione who was the first to bring up the events of the Ministry that night.
"Harry, I did a bit of research on the veil like you asked me too."
Everyone looked at her. She gave them an apologetic look and carried on.
"It seems that the 'Veil of Whispers' was discovered in the Middle Ages by Merlin himself. He found it in a temple in Tibet where it was used to try and contact the next life. The only problem was, whenever anyone would get close, it would somehow pull him or her in and they were never heard from again. When Merlin heard this, he asked if he could take it and study it. They gave it to him as a gift.
Merlin took it back to England with him and studied it for years. It stood in his office where it was said; he spent long hours contemplating it. Then one day, Merlin just disappeared. They could not say where. Most believed his curiosity to get the better of him one day and he just stepped through it. It has been stored in the Ministry ever since. In fact, it was one of the first items ever investigated by the Department of Mysteries."
"Hermione, how long did it take you to look all that up? This is summer vacation you know!" Ron said flabbergasted.
"So the veil is like some sort of magical vacuum?" Neville asked. "It just sucks people in and won't let them out?"
"That's as close to an explanation as I can figure Neville." Hermione replied.
"I asked my dad about that veil and he said it was created to get rid of people who got in the way." Luna said in a soft musical voice. "It was controlled by dark forces and it lures people into its trap."
Luna and here father were considered a bit extreme as far as ideas went, so most everyone just gave here a polite nod.
"So that's it? It doesn't give us much more that what we already knew." Harry said disappointed.
"Not necessarily Harry." Ginny said. "We know that it was in Merlin's possession. We also know that Merlin was a great and powerful wizard. He was though to be very knowledgeable and one who believe in sharing that knowledge with others. He was a prolific writer and was said to have penned over 700 books on the magical world in his long life. We just have to find the book that he wrote on the veil."
This was followed by a long silence broke only by Ron.
"Who are you and what have you done to my sister?" Everyone laughed.
"That's brilliant Ginny! Of course, of course! Now why didn't I think of that? We'll have to wait till we get back at Hogwarts so I can research the library there." Hermione was murmuring plans of attack for the library.
Harry looked on at Ginny with a newfound admiration.
Neville and Luna stayed for several days. The six friends had a grand time playing every conceivable wizard games that they could think of and then started in on Muggle ones.
Three days after Harry's Birthday, Mrs. Weasley flooed Luna and Neville back home.
"See you back at school everyone. I had a great time. Thanks for inviting me Mrs. Weasley!" Said Neville.
"You're very welcome Neville. Anytime at all!"
"I had a lovely time here too." Said Luna in her dreamy voice. "Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to the D.A. club Harry. See you on the train."
Mrs. Weasley called them over to the fireplace and flooed them one by one home.
"Well, what are we going to do today?" Ron asked.
"You were supposed to teach me wizards chess today Ron. Don't you remember?"
"Oh ya, right Hermione. I'll go get my board. Do you want to watch Harry?"
"No, you go ahead. I think I'll go do some of my summer homework down by the pond."
"Ginny?" Ron asked. "Do you want to watch?"
"No thanks Ron. I've got some letters to write to Dean."
Harry frowned at this. It suddenly came back to him that Ginny was going out with one of his dorm mates. Harry wasn't sure why this bothered him so much and then it dawned on him. 'Am I getting a crush on Ginny? Yes I am!' He answered his own question. Why not? She was smart, funny, caring, and was very pretty. Why hadn't he seen this before? Was he too blinded by her early crush on him? She had gotten over him though by her third year. And she was dating Dean.
He couldn't do anything about that now could he? He gathered up some of his books and headed down to the pond to write an essay on the effects of 'Draught of the Living Death' for potions. He was about halfway done with 2 feet of parchment written ¾ of an hour later when Ginny came out and sat beside him. He noticed tears were starting to form in her eyes.
"What's wrong Gin?" Harry asked with concern in his voice.
"I was just writing a letter to Dean when an owl came from him." She was trying to control her emotions that were welling up inside her. "He broke up with me and did it in a Dear Ginny letter. Oh sure, the words were all sweet and everything. I really thought we had something." She couldn't hold back the tears now. They were streaming down her face.
"Gin, do you want me to go get Hermione? She's much better at this than I am."
"No, please don't go. I just need someone to be here right now."
"Well, he's the worlds biggest git for breaking up with you Gin! He doesn't know what he's throwing away."
He put his hand over hers and intertwined them.
"Do you really think so Harry?"
"Yes, I really do!" He squeezed her hand but didn't remove it.
She smiled up at him through her tear-stained eyes and laid her head on his arm. They sat there for a while before Harry realized that both Ginny and his shoulder were asleep. His arm was tingling, he couldn't feel his fingers anymore, but he didn't care. He was holing Ginny's hand and she was sleeping against' his shoulder! He grinned the widest grins. His thoughts drifted to a series of what ifs. What if he asked her out? Would she say yes? What if Ron had objections? What would the rest of the Weasley's think? Harry's mind was racing at top speed. He closed his eyes for a moment to slow it down. He leaned his head towards Ginny to drink in the fragrance of her recently washed hair and let his headrest on hers. And that's exactly where Fred and George found them a half an hour later: both sleeping against each other in the armchairs holding hands.
"Now don't those two look adorable?" Said Fred in a loud voice that woke them both up.
"Ya, a right cute couple they are." Said George.
Harry and Ginny were sitting upright now trying to shake the cobwebs away when they realized they were still holding hands. They let go quickly.
"We were uh, just uh, uh…" Harry stammered, a full flushed face now.
"Just what are your intentions with our little sister Harry?" The twins chimed together.
Ginny, now totally mortified, leapt from the chair and bolted up to the house, leaving the twins laughing and Harry at a loss for words.
"She um, that is… She got dumped by Dean and I um…"
"Was comforting her?" George offered.
Harry still embarrassed, was grinning too.
"That's ok mate. Your secret's safe with us. After all, you are our financial backer in Weasley Wizarding Wheezes. And we owe you plenty." Fred said. "Besides, we couldn't think of a better bloke for our little sister" George winked and Harry turned beet red once more.
"Dinner's ready and mum sent us down here to get you." George said.
They walked back up to the house and Harry tried to regain his composure.
Author's Note:
After making you wait a month for that last chapter, I thought I'd give you another one quickly for your patience. I hope everyone has a Happy Easter! Enjoy.