"The Prophecy Undone"

Chapter 2 - Harry's Revelation...

The realization came to Harry in a flash. He stared open-mouthed into space. "Of course…" he breathed. "Why didn't I think of it before?" he muttered to himself as he jumped to his feet and grabbed the discarded pile of robes from under the tree. He held out his hand and helped Ginny up, distractedly brushing them both down with one hand and starting to walk quickly back towards the castle.

"Harry! What's wrong? Where are we going?" Ginny protested and had to run to keep up with Harry's lengthy stride. "It's hours until supper time! We can stay out here all day if we want to" she wheedled. "No one will come, it's deserted! Stay here –"

"Don't worry", he interrupted. His eyes bright and shining. "Just come with me. I'll show you. It's good – I promise." His face was alight with triumph.

With this, he started to run. "Come on!" he urged, and Ginny's petite legs had to go at full pelt to keep up with him, but the look on Harry's face had promised so much more than his statement had that she didn't complain and kept pace as best she could.

They finally slowed as they neared the castle steps and then ambled as casually as they could through the doors into the main hallway. Harry glanced around to see if anyone was nearby, but luckily everyone seemed to be outside enjoying the balmy weather. It was far too nice to be indoors in a chilly dank musty castle. Ginny also seemed to think so and started protesting again in urgent whispers as they climbed the stairs. "I don't want to go to the common room Harry – there's bound to be people there and I want you alone." She emphasized the last words. " – And you can't possibly think we'll be able to go to the dormitories!" she scoffed "There are so many enchantments protecting them from that sort of thing that our bits would probably fall off if we even tried it..." she said darkly " – you know there are…" Ginny trailed off, sounding deflated.

Mentally congratulating himself for his brilliance, Harry silenced her whingeing with a look and said simply "Trust me, Gin" then winked at her. He was enjoying the suspense of this and couldn't wait to see Ginny's face when they reached their destination and she saw what he was planning. They carried on climbing until they were hurrying along the seventh floor corridor. So far they'd been lucky not to bump into a soul – not even Peeves seemed to be lurking. Just to be on the safe side, Harry put his finger to his lips making sure that Ginny kept quiet and then did a quick scan up and down the corridor. He wished he'd brought the Marauder's Map with him, but he had his Invisibility Cloak at the ready, just in case, as Dumbledore seemed to want him to carry it with him at all times lately. It would hide them both if necessary.

"Harry, what are we doing here?" whispered Ginny petulantly. "I've seen the portrait of the dancing trolls before. And as funny as it is, I'm not really in the mood for it now."

Harry ignored her and started pacing up and down before a blank stretch of wall muttering to himself. Ginny was getting exasperated. She wanted Harry all to herself, so she could concentrate on putting into practice some of the dirtier thoughts that she'd been having about him. She'd been fantasizing about Harry for years, after all and she knew she'd never feel this way about anyone else. Things between them had been hotting up for weeks now and she couldn't wait to finally be with him properly - "Now that he's finally woken up and noticed me," she thought to herself with a satisfied smirk – then with a pang recalled the deceit of what she'd had to do to get this far with Harry – "I didn't do anything wrong" she justified to herself fiercely "He just needed a little nudge in the right direction, that's all…" She quickly brushed the thought away. Now wasn't the time to confront the issue… But then, why else was he acting so strangely if he didn't suspect...?

Ginny anxiously continued to watch Harry pacing and she distracted herself for a moment by wistfully recalling how close they'd come down at the lake – she couldn't understand why Harry had broken away so suddenly. Especially when the lake had turned out to still be deserted and they hadn't been interrupted as she'd first thought when he'd pulled away. What was he worried about? Mer-people spying on them, for goodness sake! "Never mind that now", she fumed to herself. More to the point, why were they now standing in this dusty old disused corridor when they ought to be making an effort to find a place where no one would find them and she could leap on him again for a few blissful moments? She glanced up and down the corridor, assessing it. Surely, he didn't think this place would be private enough for very long? She folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. What was he playing at?

"Ginny! Quiet – I'm trying to concentrate!" Harry broke off his pacing momentarily and glared at her.

"But what are you trying to do? I don't understand!" she wailed. "Come on - let's just go, before Filch finds us!"

Harry stopped pacing and stared at her with an exasperated, bemused look; hands on hips and paused "Don't you realize where we are? he asked incredulously. He couldn't believe she hadn't caught on yet. Momentarily distracted, all Ginny could think about was how sexy he looked in his Quidditch gear when he stood with his hands on his hips like that and her eyes seemed to glaze over. Harry continued to stare at her, waiting for the penny to drop. "Where we hid from Umbridge last year?" he prompted, his eyes boring into her.

The truth dawned on Ginny suddenly. "You mean – this is where the DA used to meet?" she said excitedly, her eyes sparkling.

"YES! It's where we used to practice. In private" he emphasized. "And no one could ever find us!" a fierce light burned in Harry's eyes as he said this.

Ginny looked around her and wondered how she could possibly have forgotten about the room where they'd spent so many happy, fun and useful hours hiding from the exceedingly hateful Dolores Umbridge. Practicing spell after spell and honing their Defence Against the Dark Arts skills under Harry's excellent tutelage; helping them to defend themselves against the evil that they knew one day they'd all have to face – now that Voldemort had returned and his followers were at large once again.

"The corridor looks different somehow" mused Ginny aloud "But then I never came here alone. I'm not sure I'd have found it again by myself. And we were always rushing – trying to make sure we wouldn't be seen. I don't think I paid much attention..." She trailed off, an excited gleam appearing in her eye as she realised what this meant.

"It doesn't matter now, " he waved his hand dismissively and turned towards the wall again. "But you know we have to concentrate so that we can get inside again." whispered Harry urgently. "Come on". He took her hand and they started pacing again along the stretch of blank wall. Harry muttering fiercely under his breath with his eyes closed. He sounded like he was praying.

"Come on…. Come on…." He urged, opening his eyes and staring at the fixed, unchanging blank wall. He cursed under his breath and stood staring at it mutinously. His mind worked furiously, trying to figure out the charm that would grant them access to the Room of Requirement. His efforts were being thwarted in the same way as they had been when he'd stood here recently trying to figure out how to catch Malfoy inside and find out what he was up to. (Except that at the moment, Malfoy was thankfully the last thing on his mind...)

He resumed pacing again, all the while desperately articulating the thoughts "I need a place to be alone with Ginny… We need to be together in private… We want each other so much!" His silent pleas became more fervent and more urgent and he found himself exclaiming in his head "WE'RE IN LOVE!"

He heard Ginny gasp and for a heart-stopping moment he wondered if he'd said that part aloud. He was still reeling with the shock of actually admitting his true feelings to himself when he looked up at the wall and found himself staring at the handle of the door that he knew would lead them into the Room of Requirement. It had worked.

With a cry of triumph he reached for Ginny with one hand. Grinning wildly and with a gleam in his eye, he grabbed the handle of the door with the other hand and he pulled her through into…

…He and Ginny entered the most tantalizing room Harry had ever seen…

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Chapter 3 - "The Room of Requirement" to follow...

Hungarian Horntail - England, July 2005