Chapter 2
Harry explained what happened with Aunt Petunia to Ron in the car.
"She gave you a present and then she hugged you?" Ron asked with his mouth hanging open.
"Yeah, it was really weird."
"Well aren't you going to open the only birthday present you've gotten from your Aunt in almost 16 years?"
"I'm going to wait until we're with Hermione, I want her to be there too."
"Oh, come off it! I want to see what it is!"
"You will Ron! Calm down you thick-headed git!" Harry laughed.
Ron turned pink and punched Harry, and they both forgot about the present in the midst of Quidditch talk until they arrived at the Burrow. Harry grabbed one end of his trunk and the present and Harry and Ron trudged upstairs to Ron's room.
After they put Harry's trunk down Ron ran into the hallway and screamed, "GINNY, HERMIONE, HARRY'S HERE, SO GET YOUR BUTTS IN MY ROOM NOW!" Harry uncovered his ears and asked, "What did you shout for?"
"I want to see what that present is!"
"You prat!"
Ron threw a stray shoe at Harry, who ducked, causing the shoe to hit the mirror behind him who said grumpily, "That's enough out of you two.".
"You hollered for us Ron?" Ron and Harry turned around to see Hermione rolling her eyes at them and Ginny trying to stifle a giggle, but not being successful.
"Come on Harry! You can open it now," Ron said while trying to get the feathers out of his hair.
"Open what?" Ginny asked curiously. Harry explained to Hermione and Ginny what happened, while Ron made attempts to open the package, and they were just as shocked as Ron.
"Well, go on, open it now," Ron shouted at Harry. Harry laughed and started unwrapping the package. When he unwrapped it, he saw it was a frame with a picture in it. It was a picture of his mother. Lily looked like she was about 17 and she was very happy, Harry also noticed a 17 or 18-year-old boy with his arms around Lily. He had glasses and unusually messy black hair, and he too was smiling broadly.
"What is it?" Ron asked excitedly.
"It's a muggle picture of my mom and dad when they were our age," Harry said softly. He passed the frame around and Hermione said, "Harry, there's a note on the back!" Harry took the frame and turned it around. And sure enough, there was his Aunt's tidy writing:
Harry-
I thought you would like to have this, it is the only picture I have of your parents and I hope you like it.
-Aunt Petunia
Harry felt completely shocked that his Aunt, who seemed to despise everything about him and his parents would actually have a picture of his parents and then give it to him as a birthday present. Harry passed the frame around again so they could read the note. They were all silent for several minutes before Mrs. Weasley bustled in, greeted Harry, and told them to wash up for lunch.
"That's weird of her, huh? I mean, you think she'd want you to die, the way she always goes on about how much trouble you are," Ron said while they were washing their hands.
"Yeah, very weird," Harry replied quietly.
Harry walked downstairs with the picture in his hands to show Mr. And Mrs. Weasley and was thinking about what would be happening right now if his parents were alive when a soft voice to his right said, "You miss them so much don't you?"
Harry jumped and turned to see Ginny talking to him with a sad look on her face and tears in her eyes.
"Yeah, I really do. Why are you crying?" Harry questioned her as a few tears slid down her face.
Ginny wiped them away and said, "Oh, it's just, you look so sad."
She then gave him a swift kiss on the cheek and walked into the kitchen. Harry touched his cheek where Ginny had kissed him and walked into the kitchen.
"Hello Harry dear! What have you got there?" asked Mrs. Weasley. Harry showed her and she smiled.
"That's very nice dear. Who gave it to you?" she questioned.
"Actually, it was my Aunt," explained Harry.
"Really? Well! That was certainly nice of her," said Mrs. Weasley with a bit of a shocked expression on her face. She swiftly set the frame down and turned to resume making dinner. When Mr. Weasley came down, Harry showed him the picture and told him who gave it to him.
"Hmm…well, that was a very kind thing to do," said Mr. Weasley as he stared down upon the photo. "Maybe later you could show me how these Muggle photos work?" Mr. Weasley asked hopefully. Harry chuckled and promised to oblige to teach him how a Muggle camera worked. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat down to enjoy a hearty meal and chatted with one another, laughter filling the house.
"Well, does the Order know anything about what Voldermort doing?" Harry asked when there was a lull in conversation. Harry noted that no one around the table except Ron and Ginny shuddered when he said Voldermort's name.
"Well, since half of You-know-Who's Death Eaters were caught, he'll be trying to lay low to figure out how to get them back or to get more wizards, witches, and creatures back. He has about half of the giants, and we expect he'll be trying to get all of the dementors back with him. Other than that, we don't know very much, and what else we do know, you can't hear, sorry to say," Mr. Weasley explained as he winked at Harry.
"Alright," Harry said, he, of course would've liked to hear everything, but understood.
"Well Fred and George's joke shop is doing quite well, they're selling stuff like mad over there. They decided to move closer to the shop, but they still come over a bunch to stuff their faces with mum's food," Ron explained while piling his plate with third helpings. Hermione saw this and covered her mouth to stop giggling, and Harry had to turn his sudden laugh into a cough. After they finished dinner, everyone went outside until the stars came out winking at them. They all climbed the stairs to their rooms, calling goodnights to each other, and climbed into their beds.
"Oh, mum said we could all go to Fred and George's tomorrow," Ron muttered half asleep.
"Awesome," Harry muttered back just as sleepily.
Harry woke with a start. He was sweating and wide-awake. He had had the same dream about Sirius, and he could still hear Lestrange's laughter ringing throughout his head. He decided to get a glass of water and grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and headed downstairs. Harry got into the kitchen and saw Ginny standing near the window, looking out, and taking a sip from a big glass of water.
"Oh, Harry! What are you doing up?" Ginny questioned softly.
"Had a bad dream actually, what about you?"
"Just woke up and couldn't get back to sleep."
"Oh." Harry grabbed a glass of water and drank deeply from it.
"So what was this bad dream about?" Ginny asked.
Harry kept drinking to avoid the question, but when he had finished drinking, he felt like telling Ginny everything, so he did. He told her how he woke up night after night, from the same dream, and how he still felt guilty about Sirius. Ginny was a very good listener and carefully considered what he had told her before she spoke.
"I honestly do not believe it is your fault Sirius died, and I know everyone has told you that, and it doesn't make you feel better, but if it wasn't for you, Sirius would've found another reason to go out in public, and I do believe, wherever he had gone, he would've been killed. As for your dreams, I think you have to truly accept the fact it wasn't your fault he died before the dreams will stop," Ginny said, choosing her words carefully.
"Thanks Ginny." Ginny came to where Harry was sitting, gave him a kiss full on the lips, and a quick hug.
"The sun's coming up, so I'm going back to my room, you might want to do the same, unless you want to help with breakfast," Ginny said with a giggle and a wink, and then she rushed back up the stairs.
Harry went back to bed very slowly, thinking about the moment when his lips connected with Ginny's. It felt like white-hot electricity went through his body the moment she kissed him. Harry lay back down in bed still thinking about the kiss when he dozed off, dreaming of Ginny, not Sirius. And despite what Ginny said about everyone saying it wasn't his fault and he probably wouldn't feel better if she said it, he felt loads better.