Harry Potter and the Mind Mage

By James Milamber

A/N: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! A spelling mistake! I'm melting, MELTING! ARGHHHHHHH!

Ahem, now that that's over with, HAHA! All fixed! So there!

Anyway, enough insanity. I have another Aussie reading! G'day Blue Firefly! What the hell are you on, it should be Brisbane? Melbourne is the best city in the world, everyone knows that (course, that could just be because I'm a Melbournian. Bleh). Do you follow the Rugby? We KILLED ENGLAND! 51-15! Muahahahahaha! Teach them to beat us by one bloody point in the World Cup Final! Stupid bloody poms...whoops! Did I say that out loud?

WARNING: Fluff Alert!

Harry awoke very early the next morning and was surprised to find himself in his own bed. He had grown so used to sleeping in the common room with the others that it felt very strange to be back in the dorms. There was another thing missing, of course: Ginny's presence. He felt a pang of loss that he couldn't quite explain as he looked down and saw nothing where usually Ginny's head rested on his chest.

He thought back briefly to the first morning he had found her sleeping there. It had been strange, sure, but nice at the same time. Physical contact wasn't something that he was big on, but with Ginny he found himself constantly wishing that he could touch her face, or hold her hand, but he was usually far too nervous.

He sighed softly, opening the hangings around his bed. Dim starlight filtered through the window, augmented by a half moon. He flipped back the covers and climbed out of bed, wincing when his feet encountered the cold stone. He dressed quietly to avoid waking the others, momentarily confused to find there were now six beds instead of five until he remembered Alex.

As early as he was, however, Ginny was earlier. He found her sitting in the common room on their couch, staring moodily into the fire and absently hugging a pillow.

'Couldn't sleep?' Harry asked quietly, sitting beside her. She jumped, the pillow spilling onto the floor.

'Harry,' she scolded lightly. 'Don't sneak up on me like that.' She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. He tilted his head to rest lightly upon hers. They were silent for a long while as dawn stained the horizon with a faint orange glow. Harry was forcibly reminded of his time at Privet Drive before Ginny's arrival, when he had watched the sun rising every morning and waited for Hedwig to arrive with letters from his friends.

'This is nice,' Ginny said finally, snapping Harry's mind back to the present.

'Yeah,' he said helpfully.

Ginny giggled. 'Seriously,' she said, reaching around and playfully slapping him on his free shoulder. 'I used to think that I'd never even get to know you, because I couldn't string a coherent sentence together whenever you were around. Then the Chamber happened…' She trailed off, her eyes distant. 'It was even worse after that, because you'd saved me.'

Harry didn't know what to say to that. His hand found hers, and he squeezed it tightly.

'And then last year…' Ginny's voice trailed off again, and Harry glanced down at her face. Her eyes were closed, but he could see the tears that threatened to escape.

'Hey,' Harry said gently, catching her chin in one hand. He turned her head so she faced him; her eyes were open now.

'I don't think you realise just how much you did for me when you came to stay,' Harry said, his eyes searching hers. 'When Sirius…' He hesitated, all his suppressed feelings threatening to overwhelm him. He took a deep breath and continued somewhat shakily. 'When Sirius died, I didn't think I could go on. It was like…' He thought a moment, but couldn't put his feelings into words, so settled on shrugging. 'It nearly killed me.' He smiled wryly. 'I nearly killed Dumbledore when he tried to talk to me about it.'

Ginny's eyes were wide, and her lips parted slightly. Harry found himself drawn into those bottomless brown pools, and almost automatically his head tilted forwards, even as Ginny's eyes widened in shock and recognition. They were so close Harry could see the flecks of gold through those brown eyes. Her head tilted back as their lips touched…

A loud crash made them fly apart as if they had been electrocuted. Ginny's cheeks were flushed with the trademark Weasley blush, and Harry imagined he wasn't much better.

'Interrupting something, am I?'

Right at that moment, Harry felt an almost overwhelming urge to strangle Alex. 'Of course not,' he managed to stammer, fighting to control his homicidal impulses. Ginny seemed to sense his inner fight, perhaps because she shared it.

'We were just trying to decide whether or not to go to breakfast,' she said pointedly, although her rosy blush gave her away.

'Uh huh,' Alex was obviously trying not to smirk, and failing miserably. 'Well then, I'll leave you to it.' He winked at Harry and left through the portrait hole.

Harry let out a breath he hadn't even realised he was holding. He sat awkwardly next to Ginny, trying valiantly to decide what to do next. 'Ginny, I'm –'

'If you apologise for that, I'll never forgive you,' Ginny warned. Harry's mouth snapped shut.

'Umm…okay,' he said.

Ginny ran a hand through her hair, unconsciously shifting away from Harry a bit. 'We should probably go to breakfast,' she said finally.

'Right,' he agreed, as Parvati and Lavender descended the stairs from the girl's dorms, giggling as they saw Harry and Ginny together. Hermione wasn't far behind, and Harry leapt at the chance to put a little distance between he and the youngest Weasley, smoothly inserting Hermione in between them as they went to breakfast. Hermione looked shrewdly between them, taking in their mutual blushes and uncomfortable expressions, and broke into a smile.

========

All through breakfast Ginny kept sneaking glances at Harry, both blushing whenever their eyes met. Hermione was no help; she just kept smiling. Finally Ron arrived, and he was even worse. He took one look at both Harry and Ginny and burst out laughing.

'What?' Ginny snapped, her face colouring even more.

'Nothing,' Ron said innocently, taking a seat next to Hermione.

Ginny muttered something under her breath.

'What was that?' Cassie asked, coming to stand behind the red head.

'Nothing,' Ginny shook her head.

Sensing that this wasn't going to get any better, Harry decided to rescue her. 'Come on Ginny,' he said, standing and extending his hand to her. She looked up at him incredulously as Ron snickered. 'We have a meeting with the Headmaster,' Harry reminded her. She nodded quickly and took his hand, pulling herself to her feet. The two left the great hall, ignoring the whispers generated by their joined hands. Quite deliberately, Harry glanced back, caught Ron's eyes, and winked.

'You did that deliberately,' Ginny accused him as they climbed the marble staircase, although she didn't remove her hand from his.

'Yep,' he admitted, swinging their linked hands forward and back with a smirk. Ginny laughed.

'Oh well,' she said resignedly. 'I suppose I could do worse.'

'Thanks,' said Harry, 'I think.'

Ginny giggled as they arrived at the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Harry's mood darkened as he saw it, as he remembered his reason for being here. Ginny seemed to sense his mood change and squeezed his hand briefly before releasing it.

It was only now that Harry realised he didn't know the password.

'Erm…' He was about to start guessing when the gargoyle sprang aside and revealed the moving staircase.

'That was easy,' he muttered to Ginny as they rose up to the door at the top of the stairs. Harry knocked, and the door swung open automatically.

'Good to see you, Harry,' Dumbledore greeted, indicating a squashy armchair set in front of the desk. 'Please sit.' He hesitated when he saw Ginny. 'Miss Weasley, would you mind –'

'She stays,' Harry cut him off. A look of surprise flitted across his face, then he nodded.

'As you wish,' he said, creating another chair with his wand, which rotated briefly on the spot and then dropped with a thud next to the first. Harry and Ginny took their seats, and Harry gave the headmaster a flat unfriendly stare. Ginny was about to speak but Harry placed one finger gently to her lips, silencing her.

'Explain,' he said shortly.

'Harry,' Dumbledore said disapprovingly. 'Regardless of our personal relationship, I am still Headmaster of Hogwarts, and I would have you show appropriate respect.'

'Fine,' Harry snapped. 'Explain, sir.'

Dumbledore smiled faintly. 'Very well then, I see you are not to be swayed. In truth, I did what I did to help you.'

'Oh, really?' Ginny said, her voice thick with sarcasm.

'Yes,' Dumbledore said, clearly not bothered by her comment. 'By choosing to make your group a proper class as opposed to a club, I gave you executive rights within a classroom environment that are normally reserved for Professors.'

Harry looked at him blankly.

'In short, within your classes you will have all the authority of a Professor, such as the ability to assign appropriate punishments and give students instructions.'

'He can order students around, take points and give detentions,' Ginny summarized.

'More or less,' Dumbledore granted. 'This would probably not be necessary if you were a Prefect, as you would already have some limited authority. As things currently stand, you need to be on an equal or greater footing to the students in the class, and that means limited Professor status.'

'Alright,' Harry said finally. 'That's not so bad, I guess. The problem is that you didn't discuss this with me first.'

'Yes!' Ginny butted in, staring hard at Dumbledore. 'Harry's got enough on his plate already, he doesn't need surprises like this!'

'Miss Weasley…' Dumbledore started.

'No!' Ginny half shouted. 'You just don't get it, do you?' Her face was red again, this time from anger, not embarrassment. 'You have no idea what Harry has to go through! It was only the end of last year when everyone stopped thinking of him as a deranged mental case! All last year, people were doing everything short of spitting on him, but what did you do? Nothing! Umbridge spent the whole year putting him down, and punishing him for telling the truth!' She grabbed Harry's hand and turned it to face the Headmaster. Still faintly visible was a scar reading "I must not tell lies". 'Do you think this is acceptable?' she demanded, shaking Harry's hand rather violently. By now Harry was staring at her incredulously. He was almost as surprised as Dumbledore at her outburst. He had no idea she was this concerned, and it touched him deeply.

Dumbledore sighed, passing one hand wearily over his eyes. 'No I do not think it is acceptable,' he said finally.

'Well bloody do something about it!' Ginny half screamed.

He steepled his fingers and gazed at her from behind them as she glared at him from the other side of the desk. 'I know very well what Harry has had to go through, and I know very well exactly where the mistakes I made have forced events upon him. But I am doing everything in my power to prevent that from happening in the future.'

'Then talk to me,' Harry said quietly. 'Stop trying to make all my decisions for me. I'm a person, not a dog. I can think for myself, and I do have some good ideas occasionally.'

Dumbledore surveyed him for quite some time. 'You are right, of course. I apologise.' He closed his eyes, breathing deeply. When he opened them again, some of the twinkle had returned to his blue eyes. 'Very well Harry, I am willing to give it a try if you are.'

Harry extended his hand across the desk. 'Friends?'

'Friends,' Dumbledore said firmly, taking Harry's hand in his own and giving it a firm shake.

A/N: Muahahahaha! The obligatory interrupted first kiss. I can see those twins will come in very handy.

Okay, I was wrong. The first DADA class will be in the next chapter.