"The Prophecy Undone"

Chapter 4 - Amortentia in absentia…

Ginny had started sobbing again and buried her face in her hands. "I know you'll hate me now Harry!" she wailed in despair, her wrenching sobs muffled behind her hands "I understand if you want to finish with me!" she blubbed.

Harry looked momentarily like he'd been clubbed by a troll. He didn't register at first what Ginny had said, then as her words sank in he started to feel a bit ill. "When… when was this…?" he murmured dazedly. This couldn't be happening… What he'd been feeling – it had seemed so real… Harry shifted slightly away from Ginny in his seat. He needed some space to breathe – to think…

Ginny glanced up timidly and said quickly in a small frightened voice "Ages ago… Not long after I split up with Dean… I'd been trying to get you to notice me for ages, Harry and I thought it actually seemed to be working. I noticed you looking at me more and I thought – well, I thought breaking up with Dean might mean that you'd finally make a move. At least I hoped so anyway – I'd kind of sensed that maybe you wanted to. But you still didn't…" Ginny paused.

Seeing that Harry wasn't going to add anything to the conversation – he still looked too stunned – Ginny ploughed on. "So I did it on the spur of the moment and gave you a spiked fairy cake one night in the common room when there weren't many of us in there –" The look of horror on Harry's face momentarily silenced Ginny and then made her exclaim quickly "It was really, really weak potion Harry – one tiny drop – just to see what happened." She said lamely, knowing that nothing she said could possibly justify spiking her boyfriend. "I just wanted to give you a nudge in the right direction…" she trailed off sadly, not knowing what to add, but knowing that she'd said all she needed to – the damage was done. "Harry – I didn't expect this to happen! Honestly!" Ginny said desperately.

Harry looked at her incredulously, through narrowed eyes. Her hysterical voice seemed as if it was coming from the other end of a long tunnel. He was no longer really listening. Unconsciously, he shifted further away from her on the couch; he didn't want to be near Ginny at the moment, he felt queasy. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd trusted her!

He vaguely recalled the night when Ginny had brought a box of fancy fairy cakes into the common room. He remembered that they'd been very nice cakes – Ginny had offered them round saying that Mrs. Weasley had sent them to her and he loved Mrs. Weasley's cooking; he could never resist it. Harry would have treated anything Fred and George offered him with distrust, but he'd never imagined in his wildest dreams that Ginny would ever trick him like that. Harry remembered now with faint disgust how ridiculously Ron had behaved when he'd accidentally eaten the spiked chocolates that Romilda Vane had originally intended for him and the havoc that had nearly ensued from it – if he hadn't have been there to stop Ron making a complete idiot of himself...

Harry couldn't stand the humiliation. Is this why he'd been acting like such a love sick prat these past months? Had Ginny been spiking him all along? When he and Ginny had finally got together recently, he'd been elated. Or at least he thought he had been. Could he have been more wrong about the whole thing...? Harry shook his head, trying to make sense of the jumble of thoughts and emotions swirling around his brain and body.

But the weird thing was – thought Harry suddenly – he hadn't remembered feeling any different about Ginny that night... It occurred to him that he'd been obsessing about her for ages before then. Surely the potion would have kicked-in and made him act all weird straight away – like Ron had about Romilda? He'd have probably got up and swept Ginny into his arms then and there in front of everyone, but he hadn't. It was still a while after that – when Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup – that Harry had actually got the nerve or the opportunity to act on the impulse that he'd been feeling for ages…

Harry was vaguely aware that Ginny was speaking again "…I know you probably don't want to be with me anymore after this, Harry." She said flatly. "I understand. I'd probably feel the same if it was me. I just wanted to tell you because I couldn't let us go any further under the circumstances. That would have been worse. I've been so worried about the whole thing…" she gabbled. "Something obviously went wrong. I mean – it shouldn't have had that effect – I don't understand… It was only one tiny drop, after all…" she mused, almost to herself.

Harry's thoughts had suddenly dredged up recollections of all the times recently – since they'd publicly become an item – when Ginny had poured his pumpkin juice for him at the dinner table and could have kicked himself for not realizing. He thought she'd just been being sweet. Then, Harry vaguely registered what Ginny had just said and abruptly snapped out of his thoughts. "So – it was only the once? You haven't spiked me at all since then? You – you haven't been slipping it to me regularly?" he said slowly, still trying to sort through his thoughts and decide how angry he actually was with Ginny. His feelings of initial confusion and then dazed comprehension were slowly giving way to feelings of anger, but he now wanted to hear how and why Ginny had done this.

"No!" she exclaimed, looking horrified at the suggestion. "No, it was just that one time. I swear it Harry." Ginny began to explain. "Professor Slughorn had shown us how to brew it one day in class and that was when I got the idea. He said mine was the best in the class, so at the end of the lesson, I just kept a tiny bit of it. I never really meant to use it. I was just so down after I broke up with Dean and then I thought you and I might…" she tailed off at the sight of Harry's thunderous look, then continued quickly, "But I don't even know why I did it! I regretted it as soon as I'd done it, but then nothing seemed to happen straight away, so I thought it probably hadn't worked. Like I said, it was really weak anyway, I wasn't expecting it to even do anything – you weren't meant to turn into a head-case or anything, like that time when Ron took it accidentally –" She hastily broke off when she saw Harry's grimace of disgust and she realised how he must be feeling. "It was just supposed to make you notice me..." She said sheepishly.

Harry didn't respond, but he no longer looked as angry; he appeared to be mulling over her words so Ginny risked continuing "And then, when it didn't seem to work, I didn't think any more about it until –" She paused. "Well, until – you know – when we actually got together. Then I thought perhaps something had gone wrong. That perhaps it had a slow and cumulative effect. I mean, how else can we explain this – being here?" she finished, sounding dejected and gesturing around her at the magnificent room they were sitting in. "The past few weeks have all been a bit "fast", don't you think?" she mused. "Not that I'm complaining!" she added hastily.

Harry slowly felt his anger draining away as comprehension dawned. Despite his initial anger, he'd been taking in everything that Ginny had been saying and his anger had now given way to understanding and something akin to amusement. He couldn't really blame Ginny, he supposed. Not when he thought of all the crazy and occasionally nefarious schemes he'd privately been plotting to try and get Dean out of the picture and get Ginny to himself. If Ginny could have seen into his head and found out some of the things that Harry had been thinking over the past months since he'd first started fixating about her, she probably wouldn't be feeling so apologetic about spiking him with potion (that so obviously hadn't even worked) – she'd be clubbing him with a broomstick instead. He almost smiled. He'd only been momentarily angry because he thought he'd been acting out of control and out of character; that someone else might have been manipulating him. Now that he was sure this wasn't the case, he was beginning to find the whole thing rather amusing.

He glanced over at Ginny. She looked up at him warily and misinterpreting his continued silence as anger, she started to get up to leave. "Sorry I messed things up so badly, Harry." She said sadly by way of farewell as she stood up. "I really didn't mean to be so stupid. I only did it because I care about you so much. I hope you know that…" Ginny turned to go.

"Ginny, wait!" Harry jumped up and went to her. He stood in front of her, blocking her exit and looked at her tenderly. He saw that fresh tears had sprung into her eyes. "It's ok. I'm not annoyed." He said gently, taking her hand. "Don't even worry about it. The potion didn't work" he smiled at her.

"What– ? Are you sure? How – how do you know…?" Ginny stuttered, looking up at Harry and frowning in confusion, blinking up at him through her tears.

"Lots of reasons: But for a start, I don't think you put enough potion in the cake, from what you said, for it to actually do anything." Harry smiled. "Also, because if it had worked, the effect would have been instant and I don't remember feeling any different at the time. I mean, I didn't leap up and grab you or anything–"

Ginny interrupted him. "But that's what I was trying to tell you Harry – it wouldn't necessarily have been a very noticeable effect, it was really weak, but I assumed I must have done something wrong when I brewed it and that the effect maybe grew stronger over time–"

Harry cut her off in mid-sentence, "But mainly," he emphasized, an amused look dancing in his eyes "because love potion doesn't work on someone that already loves you." he finished, grinning down at Ginny and her stunned expression. "Don't you get it, Gin?" he paused. "I've been nuts about you for ages – most of this year in fact – you could have hit me with the whole bottle and it wouldn't have increased how I feel about you."

A huge grin spread across Ginny's face and she suddenly looked radiantly happy; a huge sense of relief and euphoria spreading through her. "How do you know that though, Harry?" she asked, just to make sure. "I mean about the potion." She clarified hastily. She didn't want Harry to think she was pushing her luck and fishing for more declarations of love from him. She was already ecstatic with the one she'd just received.

"Oh. Er - well, ever since I've been Slughorn's "Golden Boy" this year, I've been paying a bit more attention in Potions. I heard him mention it once in class when he brewed it up for us and then I checked it out in the Half-Blood Prince's potion book; there was a footnote that said Amortentia won't work if the person administering it is already someone that the drinker has feelings for. They won't notice a thing!" Harry blinked in surprise that he'd actually managed to retain this fact - another thing he owed to the Half-Blood Prince. Hermione would have been insanely proud of him that he'd actually paid attention in class for once. He smiled to himself.

"Oh, Harry, you don't know how worried I've been!" sighed Ginny, relieved, laying her head against Harry's chest and snuggling into him. Harry wrapped his arms around her and held her close, resting his chin on the top of her head and smiling.

"I felt so bad about it and I felt sure you'd dump me if you ever found out." Ginny continued. "I really wanted to believe that you liked me as much as I liked you, but I couldn't help feeling that the potion must have had something to do with it." she suddenly looked up at him, her lips inches from his "We are ok, aren't we? Are you still angry?" she asked softly.

"That depends…" Harry half-frowned at her, pretending to be stern "…on how you make it up to me…" He grinned and raised his eyebrows at her suggestively and she giggled and hugged him tighter.

A sense of warmth and contentment came over them both as they stood there hugging and then Harry suddenly remembered something; given what had just passed between them, he thought it might be important to mention it. "Er – Ginny…" he began, unsure where to start.

"Hmmm?" she said dreamily, still snuggling into Harry's chest, basking in a feeling of intense relief that things were still ok between them.

"Erm – well, since we are on the subject of confessions…" he ventured. "I think I'd better come clean about something…" Ginny raised her eyebrows at him quizzically; her happy feeling rapidly sliding away and said warily. "Yeah… go on…"

"Well, erm… when you broke up with Dean, Hermione told me that you'd got annoyed at him one night because he pushed you and then you had a big row about it and broke up. Apparently, you'd said he kept helping you through the portrait hole, like you couldn't climb through yourself and it used to make you annoyed-"

"Yeah, so?" Ginny interrupted, still looking puzzled.

"Well… it wasn't Dean. It was me." Harry said. Seeing Ginny still looked puzzled, he continued. "I mean, in the portrait hole. It wasn't Dean that pushed you. It was me. I happened to be sneaking out with the Invisibility Cloak on, just as you and Dean were coming back in and I brushed against you accidentally. Dean didn't push you. I did." Harry finished.

Ginny's mouth opened and her eyes widened into a look of amused mock outrage and she punched Harry lightly on the arm. "You git!" she laughed and shook her head incredulously. "Poor Dean." she sighed. "No wonder he was so annoyed. It just made me really mad that he kept denying it and I kept on and on at him until-"

"I'm really sorry Gin." Harry said and genuinely sounded it. "Well, I'm not actually sorry you broke up with him," he said hastily "but I'm sorry to have been responsible for it."

"Don't be daft!" Ginny laughed. "I'd have dumped him anyway!" seeing Harry's look of amused shock at her callousness, she continued "Well, I suppose I was just looking for any old excuse… and there you were, giving me just the thing I needed - you devious git!" she smiled up at him. "I tell you what though Harry, it's a good job we ended up together - we seem to be a match for each other in deviousness! …Or should that be deviancy…?" she twinkled up at him suggestively.

Harry grinned. He gazed down at Ginny and his grin faded into a look of desire. "Now… where were we…?" Harry whispered as he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her deeply. When they finally broke apart after several sultry moments and gazed into each other's eyes deeply, Harry wordlessly took Ginny's hand and started to lead her slowly and purposefully back to the couch, all the while never breaking his gaze; Ginny staring back at him meaningfully and longingly.

They sank down onto the couch together, wrapped in each other's arms, kissing furiously, yet somehow the mood was different; they both felt it. Their lips broke apart for a moment and they looked at each other, smiling slightly, but wary nonetheless. Neither of them wanted to let the other one down.

"Actually Harry, I was thinking... Ginny ventured tentatively. "We don't have to do anything right now, do we? she said, thinking Harry might be annoyed that she was teasing him. But his face just broke into a grin and he said "Nah - it's fine. Let's just sit and chill out for a bit." the relief evident in his tone.

"We can stay here as long as we want to though, can't we? We're not going to be missed for hours." Ginny justified. "Besides, we can always come back now we've found this place." she mused, while snuggling closer to Harry and stroking his hair absently.

"Yeah, 'course." said Harry. He paused. Now that he and Ginny had made their peace and the mood was relaxed again, he was insanely curious about this place. His eyes had been darting all around the cabin; trying to make sense of that disquieting feeling of familiarity that had crept back again. However, he was careful not to give Ginny the impression that he was no longer interested in her. "But as we're here, we might as well have a look around a bit." he concluded, trying to sound casual. "What d'you reckon?" he looked at Ginny to gauge her reaction.

Ginny shrugged amiably and said "Yeah, ok. Why not?" Her curiosity about the place was also getting the better of her and she was already getting off the couch to join Harry in exploring. "I'd love to know what this place really is." she murmured, looking round and taking it all in. "I'll say this Harry - you know how to impress a girl on a date!" she laughed.

Harry was moving towards the huge window that dominated almost one side of the cabin. "You have got to see this!" he exclaimed, looking back at Ginny still standing by the couch. "I meant to show you earlier, when we first came in." he said and pointed at the stunning snowscape that had mesmerized him when he'd first arrived in the cabin.

Ginny appeared at his side and her mouth opened wide with shock and awe. "Harry, this is incredible!" she exclaimed, looking amazed. "Where do you reckon we are?"

"No idea!" Harry chuckled. "But it's brilliant, don't you think?" he enthused. "Could you imagine living somewhere as amazing as this and having that as your view every day?" he said.

"Yeah, right! I wish!" laughed Ginny sarcastically. She hadn't been able to keep a touch of bitterness out of her voice. The day she would ever get anywhere near a house like this, she thought, was probably the day that the Goblins at Gringott's developed a sudden insane urge to become charitable and decided to deposit several hundreds of thousands of Galleons into the Weasley vault out of sheer kindness...

Harry gave Ginny a sympathetic look, realising what she must be thinking, but didn't reply. They continued to examine the snowscape silently until something that gleamed outside in the weak wintry sun caught Harry's attention out of the corner of his eye. He followed the source of the faint metallic gleam and found himself looking at an enormous great black motorbike that was parked outside the cabin on a large raised sheltered porch to keep it safe from the elements. Harry couldn't understand how he'd missed it when he'd looked out at the snowscape before. "Hang on," he thought "Sirius had a bike like th-" The realization suddenly hit him like a bludger to the head. This wasn't just a bike like the one Sirius had had. This was Sirius's bike!

Harry's mind started churning out feverish thoughts: Maybe Sirius was here! Maybe this room was a way he could communicate with him again! "Yeah! This is the Room of Requirement, after all!" Harry thought urgently. It must have read him and interpreted how much he still missed Sirius and how badly he'd wanted to see him and talk to him every day since Sirius had been gone! He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this before! That must be why they were here - why the room had let them in! It was Sirius's way of still keeping in touch with him!

Elated, Harry began to run around the place like a man possessed, checking inside every room and laughing and calling for Sirius, shouting his name over and over again at the top of his voice as he opened and slammed a succession of doors with increasing desperation only to find each room as empty as the last.

"Harry! What are you doing? There's no one else here!" called Ginny, looking confused and a little bit worried at the sight of Harry running around the cabin like a mad man with no explanation. She'd backed away and was now standing near the spot where she'd first come in at the back of the room, as if she were too wary to enter any further again.

Harry ignored her and carried on searching the rooms, calling Sirius's name louder and more urgently. "He must be here!" he thought furiously. "Why else would the room show me this? What's it trying to tell me!"

He was just checking a door back near where they'd come into the room (that turned out to be nothing more than a broom closet) when suddenly, he felt the atmosphere in the room change. "Harry - look!" Ginny whispered urgently. He whipped round to look back into the room and saw everything start to softly shimmer; subtle changes were happening all around them as he and Ginny watched warily, their mouths agape. Harry's heart leaped at the realization that this meant he might get to see Sirius...

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Chapter 5 - "The Past is a Painful Place" to follow...

Hungarian Horntail - England, July 2005