Yeah... erm, so you know how I said there would be one chapter left? Well... lets just say this IS the last one... it's just been split into more than one chapter, that's all...
...sorry! I just wanted the final FINAL bits to be on Ron and Hermione alone...
Harry watched in a docile fashion as Ginny's face expressed the utmost horror.
"She seems distressed. How very bizarre." He thought to himself plesantly, unable to grip onto a single thought for more than a few moments. He heard Ginny speak as if from a great distance away, and for a moment pondered on whether he should be feeling alarm, but then a strange sense of relief swept over him and this drifted away, his mind became blissfully blank once more.
"NO! That's not fair- how DARE you?" Ginny screamed, pulling out her wand and pointing it directly at George, who was making no effort to hide his mischevious grin,"Not ONE question to Harry, do you understand? Not ONE!" she pounched infront of Harry, as though this would somehow stop him speaking.
"Don't like it so much now, do you Ginny? Not so much fun when it's you that could be humiliated, is it?" Hermione taunted, smirking cruelly.
Had Harry been in a position to note the expressions on the faces surrounding him, he would have seen the twinkle igniting in Fred's eye-
"Yet why, Miss Granger, should my dear sister be humiliated by anything Harry has to say? Surely they are merely innocent acquaintances?" Ginny flushed and looked desperately at Hermione, trying to gain some sympathy. She received none.
With a dreamlike lurch, Harry realised dimly that he was being moved. Ginny was tugging rather persistantly at his arm, trying to support him up the stairs. Unfortunately, Harry's brain was completely concerntrated on...not concerntrating. His limbs had therefore decided there was no point in even attempting to move. The pair finally collapsed on the floor, Ginny struggling under the weight of Harry's passive body, which was now staring idly at the ceiling.
"So Harry," George began in a casually triumphant voice, "What're you thinking about right now? Anything in particular?"
"The ceiling." Harry replied, his mouth slightly agape.
"Once again George, you demonstrate the questioning ability of a flobberworm," Sighed Fred, heaving Harry off the floor.
Harry gazed in Fred's direction, observing in his mind as he did so, "Hey! His hair is shiny...and ginger -that's SUCH a weird colour..." before collapsing back in his seat. Ginny had by this point staggered back to a standing position, her wand positioned tightly in her grip. Fred examined her fierce face, and smiled patronisingly,
"Now, now, ickle sis- no underage wizardry for you!"
"Yeah, because with about ten adult wizards livng in the house the Ministry'll easily guess it was me!" She snapped sarcastically, satisfied to see a glimmer of fear pass through the twins' eyes.Her expertise at the Bat-bogey hex remained fixed in their minds, and this seemed to silence their original reply, until they concluded reluctantly-
"Fine. We swear. Not one question to Harry."
Ron looked furious, "What? You'll let them off the hook just like that? With all you put us through?"
Fred nodded sadly, "Alas, we've promised, and Fred and George are honourable to their word." Ron scowled and caught Hermione's eye indignantly. They then however both realised the reason why they were indignant, and looked as far away from each other as possible.
Still not quite satisfied, Ginny decided it might be best if she removed Harry from the area as soon as she could drag him away. The twins watched peacefully until she was almost out of sight, Harry lolling limply beside her, then quickly questioned in unison-
" Harry, what's happened between you and Ginny?"
Having suspected something of this sort was about to happen, Ginny was prepared, and with lightning reactions clamped her hands firmly over Harry's mouth, howling bitterly, "YOU PROMISED!"
It seemed as though George had been awaiting this accusation. He stood up, explaining serenely, "and we kept our word- not one question." He pointed to himself, "I asked one..." he pointed to George, "He asked another. They just happened to be at the same time...so that makes..." he mimed counting on his fingers," why, TWO questions I believe... "
Had one hand not been on Harry's mouth, and the other involved in the difficult process of supporting Harry's body, Ginny may well have hexed her twin brothers into ginger mush, but was forced to substitute this for a muderous stare.
Harry in the meantime was undergoing a strange feeling. The question had pierced sharply into his mind, he could think of nothing else- he had to answer, there was no other option. A strange, vague feeling of uncomfort floated somewhere in the back of his mind-
"I'm not sure whether it would be good to say this...No, no...I don't think I will, thanks. It seems kind of private-"
His mouth however had made the decision for him. It opened forcefully against Harry's will, and his voicebox automatically starting making noises, which Ginny tried desperately to cover up. With a mere tickling charm however, Ron gleefully removed Harry from Ginny's clutches, leaving her squirming momentarily in bouts of giggles. Harry's voice, distant yet certain, filled the kitchen. He seemed to have been talking for some time under Ginny's silencing hand, and was in mid-flow by the time he was actually heard-
"It's been months since we've broken up now- well two, and a few days. I had this funny thought the other day though, it was really odd."
Fred looked like the whole of Gringrott's had been donated to him, "Ho ho! You went OUT, eh?" He cried gleefully.
Ginny had recovered from the tickling attack, and was searching fervently for her wand, a look of pure madness covering her freckled face. At that point the door opened, and everyone (except Harry, who had just become slightly aware he had a nose and was wondering what it did) turned to see the arrival of Mr and Mrs.Weasley, accompanied by none other than Lupin and Tonks. Everyone paused, and whilst Mrs.Weasley registered the shock of seeing Ron and Hermione in the same room, George exchanged a desperate look with Fred. As soon as their schemes were discovered by Mrs.Weasley, they would be foiled. Fred leaned in quickly, urging Harry onwards-"carry on, keep going- you had a funny thought? What about?"
All four newly arrived heads turned sharply to Harry, expecting the news to be something concerning Voldemort, with no idea of Harry's current condition. Hermione and Ron grinned quickly at each other despite everything, and Ginny groaned. Protests were futile, and she knew it. Her only hope remained that it wouldn't be too disgraceful- it might, she thought doubtfully, not even be about her-
"I was outside, with the swans then it- appeared. The concept that I was in love with her."
Silence. Harry's voice seemed to accept this as an invitation to continue:
"I actually just said to myself, "I love Ginny" That was odd. Very odd. Problem is, the idea's stuck, and it won't leave. It's strange. Then a swan knocked me over. I hurt my left butto-" He stopped -it seemed his voicebox was not working automatically anymore.
Harry's dazed eyes passed unaware over the fact Mr.Weasley looked like he'd swallowed something large, and did not notice Mrs.Weasley bursting into joyful tears, sobbing "I- can't believe- so w-wonderful!".
Suddenly however, his mind started getting a little less hazy- he semi-understood Lupin's eyebrows were raised and his mouth was twisted in a small smile. He became more aware of the expression Tonks was wearing, her mouth open in a small "o" shape.
Harry's brain jilted once more, his awareness increasing with it. A sense of colossal dread settled on him, yet he wasn't quite sure why- he saw Hermione and Ron frozen in positions of amazement- but for what reason? It was only when he'd passed the smug looks on the twins' faces, and settled on Ginny, standing on her own, looking pale, small and almost frightened,that the memory of what he had just done hit him like four hundred bludgers.
"Oh no. No."
Ron and Hermione looked at him with satisfaction, yet their faces were more compassionate than before- not that it mattered to Harry at this moment, whose mind was in utter turmoil.
"Run! No wait, explain to Ginny- lie- no- RUN! You can't run...I have a better plan... RUN!"
Following his mind's advice, he bolted for the door, escaping in just enough time before the explosion of confusion, laughter and exclaimations from within the kitchen could be heard. Harry involuntarily strained his ears, and with a sickening lurch realised Ginny's voice was not amongst those celebrating his revelation.
After weighing out the choices, Harry had decided it would be too risky to try and steal his invisibility cloak, for fear of meeting someone before he found it. He had therefore taken to hiding in the Weasley's horrifically smelling barn, surrounding by several winged pigs, who had been locked in for a reason, as Harry found to his cost. The creatureslittle abilityofremaining still, and had taken to flying into Harry at every possible opportunity.
Several hours and many Stupefied pigs later, Harry was aching and hungry- the idea of illegally apparating to get his invisibility cloak was becoming more attractive with every passing moment. Suddenly the barn door creaked, and Harry flung himself behind the mass heap of stunned pigs, clutching his nose to avoid retching at the smell.
Within moments, a face appeared grinning down upon him, it's bright pink head bobbing with laughter.
"Wotcha, Harry!" Tonks grinned, settling herself down on a particularlylarge pig. Resigned, yet amazed at the fact he'd been discovered, Harry peered upwards, weakly mumbling-
"How'd you know I was here?"
She smiled kindly, "No offence Harry, but when I search for Dark wizards every day as a job, a ridiculously embarassed teenager is easy to find. That and you dropped your glasses outside the barn door."
Ah...So that's why the pigs had seemed like unusually vivid pink splodges.
"Listen Harry, it might not make you feel better, but the way Remus found out I liked him was worse."
"No offence Tonks, but I really can't see how. Unless ofcourse you burst into the middle of an Order of the Pheonix meeting and declared your undying love whilst wearing Ron's old dress robes..."
Tonks turned bright red. Harry stared in disbelief- "That's what you did?" He said disbelievingly.
"Well... if you remove the part about Ron's dress robes, then yeah" She muttered,bringing the pigs back to conciousness as a method of distraction. As they stirred in confusion, she sighed and grimanced reminiscently-
"Strictly speaking, this is Order buisness, so I shouldn't really say- but- well, because I'm a disgrace to her family,a year and a bit ago... Bellatrix Lestrange placed a curse on me whilst I slept. It was some twisted amusement for her, a treat for escaping Azkaban or something... anyway, it convinced me they'd...they'd killed R-Remus." Her voice cracked as she said it, the memory still apparently painfully clear. She recovered quickly at Harry's concerned face, and quickly reassured him, "Members of the Order have protection, Harry- within minutes the alarm was raised and Bellatrix fled- but I was still convinced what she'd made me see was true- so I apparated to outside headquaters, completely disregarding security issues, ran inside, and threw my arms around Remus mid-way through Podmore's report on the Prophecy... To this day I'm referred to as the love crazed loony witch by everyone."
Harry chuckled slightly at her explaination, but couldn't shake the huge weight in his stomach. She looked at him sympathetically, "You know, Harry- all four junior Weasley's have been magically locked in their rooms for now, you'd be safe to go back in, I'm sure Molly wouldn't say anything..."
"Why?" Harry said in amazement, the humiliation now mixed with the guilt that he'd caused everyone to be punished.
"Well, Molly found out that the twins had conducted, erm," She worked hard to conceal a smile, "unfair trickery upon you, so they were sent to their rooms. That was ofcourse after they'd recovered."
"Recovered?" Harry questioned fearfully.
"From the twenty or so jinxes Ron and Ginny placed on them, yes." Tonks finished, her shoulders shaking with repressed laughter. "They resembled orange Hinkypunks by the time Ginny had finished, she sent so many spells around the room it looked like an indoor firework display."
Tonks came and sat gently on the floor next to Harry, her face serious all of a sudden, "Listen Harry- I know you're only trying to protect her, but time's short- and, let's face it, none of us know how long we're going to be around, especially-"
"me." Harry finished darkly, the full weight of his life resting on him for the first time in a long while.
"All I'm saying is, you can try to hide it from you-know-who by all means, but feelings don't disappear just because you've broken up, and he'll know that Harry. He'll know how you feel- and the fact you aren't with her won't stop any actions he might take." She got up an examined Harry's thoughtful expression, before adding, "and besides, I hear you've been doing quite a bit of effective planning concerning two certain people...it would be a shame to stop now, wouldn't it?"
It took a few moments for Harry to realise who she was talking about, then he opened his mouth immediately to ask how Hermione and Ron had reacted to one another. Tonks seemed to anticipate his question, and sighed.
"Hermione apparated once Fred and George had been...dealt with. Haven't seen her since."
Harry shook his head in exasperationand stood up, shaking himself to remove variousstrands of hay and pig swill.
"Thanks, Tonks" He said gratefully, moving towards the door.
"Oh- Harry- before you go, will you do me a favour? Before you talk to Ginny, have a shower."
With a grin Harry took her advice, and headed towards the Burrow.