"So, Potter, You think you can beat me?" the wizard asked, a little irritated that he had not been able to kill Ginny.
"I know I can beat you," Harry said firmly. "But not alone."
Harry pointed to his left side. "Mãe." To his right, "Pai" and behind Tom, "Irmão."
Three ghostlike figures started to appear, conjured from Harry's memories. Lily Potter appeared first, a vengeful smile on her face as she looked on at her murderer. James Potter appeared next, his expression matching his wife's. Cedric Diggory arrived last, a small smile showing his pleasure.
"You're nothing but a spell, Tom; you've got no real power of your own. You're a memory, a remnant of old power."
Harry pointed at the Dark Lord and whispered, "Finite Incantatum."
Mirroring Harry, the other three cast the same spell, watching as the magical representation of the Dark Lord fell to the ground, twitching.
They closed in, not giving Tom any chance of escape as they poured the spell on to him. He started to shake and shrink, as steam pored of his writhing body. Suddenly it was over, Riddle was gone, permanently. The spell vanquished, leaving Harry standing there with three people killed by Voldemort.
James and Lily embraced and looked at Harry. Pride and love shone clearly on their faces as they bowed together, and then disappeared. Cedric looked at Harry for a second, before a bright smile appeared on his face. He too bowed to Harry. Harry returned the bow and smiled as Cedric vanished into the ether.
As Harry walked away from the spot, the cold room faded. It was replaced once more with a Quiditch pitch.
He took one last look around, then said "Finite Incantatum" one last time, directing the cancellation spell at himself.
Outside
Harry felt exhausted and in desperate need of a drink. The new neural pathways in his mind decided to help him.
The first sign that the others had that the battle was over was when the fridge door opened on its own and a jug of butter beer danced its way out. A glass from the cabinet flew to meet it and the jug filled the glass before placing itself back in the fridge, which promptly closed itself.
The glass then flew to Harry's hand, coming to a stop right next to his closed fist. Harry grabbed the drink and drained it in one go, whispering "Thanks" to who ever had got him the drink.
Silence reigned in the room for an endless moment, as no one had cast the spell for him, and it was the first sign of movement for sometime.
Harry titled his head. "Gone?" he asked Ginny quietly. The wide smile that he received was more than payment for what he had done. While she was still underweight, the difference in the long haired witch was obvious. Her eyes were alive and sparkling again.
No one wanted to interrupt them, the fact that Harry was alive and obviously free was just beginning to sink in.
"Tired?" he asked, noticing that she was fighting a yawn. Ginny nodded. A second later, they both vanished; a soft thump was heard from the living room a fraction of a second later.
"Blimey," was Ron's comment, before scampering to his feet and dashing into the living room. The others followed, with the adults at a more respectable face.
"I think," Dumbledore said slowly, "That we would be wise to follow their examples. Arthur, call me when they awake."
Dumbledore floo'd back to his room at Hogwarts, falling into bed immediately.
"You heard him," Mrs. Weasley said sternly, "bed, the lot of you. Questions can wait till morning."
Obediently, the others left without a word, the past few days leaving them drained. Molly stood for a second, looking down at the two people she still thought off as children and conjured a blanket.
Harry was fast asleep on his back; one arm wrapped around Ginny, who was half draped over him, her head on his chest. She too was asleep.
She placed the blanket over them, tucking them in. She whispered a blessing under her breath, then she too left for bed.
It was the first night that summer that everyone slept and no one was awakened by screams caused by a nightmare.
Morning
Harry woke slowly, twitching his nose as he felt something tickling it. Opening his eyes he was surprised to find he was sleeping in his glasses, something he never did. The next surprise was that the ceiling was neither the polystyrene tiles of his room at the Dursley's, nor the Chudley Cannons wallpaper of Ron's room.
His final surprise was when he realized that Ginny was asleep on him. He noticed he felt at peace. It was a feeling he was not used to, so he remained very still and reveled in it. Automatically his hand started stroking her hair, burying itself in the thick tresses.
The slight movement woke Ginny. A wonderful feeling of contentment was covering her from head to foot. She hadn't felt this refreshed after a sleep, well, ever. Like Harry, her mind slowly pointed out the key facts to her.
'Living room. Couch. Harry. Oh, clothing. Still, 75 isn't bad Gin,' she thought to herself with a wicked little grin. She contemplated blushing, in her half awake sense, but decided that it would be pointless, having just spent a night sleeping with him. However, that didn't mean she couldn't see if he was having similar thoughts.
She tilted her head. Warm brown eyes met sparkling green eyes. She grinned mischievously, "You know, next time we should try this without clothes." Her grin turned to a soft laugh as Harry turned bright red.
"So there's going to be a next time?" he asked, trying to regain some sort of control.
Any response was cancelled out by the rumbling of a stomach. Both of them blushed at the same time and apologized together.
Harry laughed under his breath. "Any idea how long we gone?" he asked. "I feel like it's been a week since we ate."
"It's Monday morning Harry, we went inside three days ago."
"Damn," said Harry quietly. "We should either move, or I'm going to start eating you," he said playfully. The double meaning in his words was brought to the forefront when Ginny said, "Doesn't sound so bad."
For the second time in 5 minutes, Harry blushed bright red. Ginny took pity on him and sat up slowly, stretching over him.
Harry's eyes fixed themselves firmly where every teenage boy in the worlds eyes would; her chest.
Noticing this, Ginny automatically swung her arms further over her head, and stretched backwards. The movement caused the thin material of her blouse to go tight over her chest.
Harry's eyes widened as a look of awe took control over his face.
'When did you get so brazen?' Ginny's brain asked her quietly.
'Shh,' she silently replied, 'I don't care, I'm enjoying this.'
'You are aware he's looking directly at your chest?'
'Of course, why the hell do you think my arms are above my head; for my circulation?'
'Don't you think you're a little young for this sort of thing?' her brain tried again.
'No' was the short reply.
'Why not?'
'Erm, lets see, I've been in love with him for years, even founded his fan club. I let him into my mind and he let me into his, he defeated Voldemort to protect me and I've never slept as well as I did last night. If he wants to look at my chest he damn well can.'
'Good points,' her brain admitted.
'Besides,' Ginny continued, on a role, 'I'm getting a hell of a feeling of warmth from his gaze and he's undoubtedly got a large, untapped, supply of socks I can steal from.'
Her brain thought for a microsecond. 'You know, if you undid one more button then lent forwards he'd have an even better view.'
That last thought however, was a little too much and she blushed and put her arms down. With courage Harry didn't know he possessed, he reached up and stroked her hair back.
"I meant what I said," he whispered quietly.
"What's that?" she asked, the words catching in her throat.
"You are beautiful."
Ginny could have sworn that her heart stopped beating. Everything she had been through suddenly seemed meaningless as she knew she would go through a thousand times worse to listen to Harry whisper those words to her.
Harry felt warmth shoot through him as he basked in the smile she sent his way.
He placed his hands carefully on her hips, "Come on, I'm starving."
The moment broken, Ginny's mind started to relay similar messages. It was worse for her because she had not been eating well since Tom regained power, and parts of her body were now screaming for sustenance.
She stood, unsteadily for a second till she felt his hand on her shoulder, holding her upright.
"Kitchen?" he asked. She nodded and lead the way.
As Harry entered, cupboards starting opening, the stove turned itself on and food started to cook.
"Been practicing, Gin?" Harry asked, impressed.
"Err, this isn't me." Ginny replied slowly. "I think it's you."
"Me?" Harry squeaked, then regained control over his vocal chords. "Me?" he asked again.
"Yeah, you poured yourself a glass of butter beer just as you came out of the spell last night."
"Oh," said Harry, not quite sure what else to say. "Well, lets leave it for now, we'll ask everyone else when they get up.
A well known fact of the Weasley household was that all the rooms shared a single chimney. This meant that any smell in one room quickly permeated throughout the others. This was a nightmare when Fred and George were developing some of their tricks and sweets, but always welcome at breakfast time.
Thick slices of English bacon attached themselves to a hot frying pan, sausages soon joined them. On the counter a knife started chopping up some onions and tomato's and peppers, adding themselves to another frying pan. A spatula started to stir the mix while Harry and Ginny looked on in surprise.
"I didn't know you could cook," Ginny giggled.
"Neither did I," was Harry's dry response. He was a little concerned at the amount he was cooking, he knew that they were hungry, but the food was cooking itself, removing itself from the pan and adding itself to a pile on one of the hotplates.
Harry's answer came as Ron arrived down stairs sleepily, closely followed by Hermione. "Smell's good," he murmured sitting at the table. A plate danced itself from a pile and flew in front of the row of hotplates. As it passed, food added itself to the plate before finally ending up in front of Ron. He didn't need a second to grab a knife and fork and start eating.
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, then started to eat herself as her plate arrived in front of her.
Harry looked at Ginny, amused. "Sit," he said with a smile.
Obediently, she sat. A new plate followed the same path of Ron's, only doubling the amount of food.
"I can't eat all this!" Ginny protested, eyeing the mountain before her.
"Try," was all Harry said. She picked up her knife and fork and started to eat. The food was as good as her mother cooked. "Maybe I can," she mumbled with her mouth full.
Harry grinned.
The twins arrived next, as asleep as Ron, acting on the impulse of empty stomachs and gorgeous smell.
"Sit," Harry invited cheerfully.
They did, and plates of food soon placed themselves in front of them. Like their brother, they didn't need any more of an invitation to dig in.
"Why aren't you eating, mate?" Ron asked, between bites.
"I think the food will stop cooking when I sit down," Harry explained with a slight smile.
Harry's godfather was the next to appear, and seeing him, Harry launched himself forwards, enveloping the tall wizard in a hug. "When did you get here?" he demanded.
"The same night you went into Ginny's mind, everyone was worried." Sirius decided that the smell was too good to waste, so he put his question to the back of his mind and sat down.
"What's going on here?" Mrs. Weasley asked, surprised to come down and find a kitchen half full of people and food being cooked.
"Err, breakfast?" Harry said with a grin.
Anything Molly was about to say was interrupted by the arrival of her husband. "Wonderful smell," he said enthusiastically, "could smell it all the way upstairs. It's a perfect way to be woken up."
He sat at the table and watched with barely disguised glee as his plate filled.
"Oh, Professor Dumbledore is coming for Breakfast; I called him a few seconds ago."
The Professor walked in from the living room a few seconds later.
"Nothing like a good breakfast to start the day," he said happily. The only sign of surprise he gave, as his plate floated towards him was a tiny raising of an eyebrow.
"Percy?" Harry asked, aware that the other Weasley hadn't appeared yet.
"He had to go to work early this morning," Mrs. Weasley said.
Harry looked relived and took a seat himself. His own plate soon filled itself to a level near the size of Ginny's and placed itself in front of him. He tucked in, unaware that behind him the pans were happily cleaning themselves and tidying up.
Breakfast was a quiet affair, with no one really wanting to break the silence. Mrs. Weasley was more concerned with watching her daughter eat a seemingly never ending supply of food. A firm believer in food therapy, she enjoyed the site of her daughter eating more than she enjoyed the taste of her own food.
Like all meals, this one finally came to a stop. As each plate was emptied, it carried itself to the sink, cleaned itself and put itself away.
"You really have to teach me to do that, Harry." Molly said casually, looking in amazement as the kitchen was restored to a pristine condition.
Harry blushed and mumbled, "If I knew how I was doing it, I'd be happy to tell you."
"It might be wise," Dumbledore interrupted, "if we all move to the living room and sit comfortably. We have a lot to discuss."
Everyone agreed and stood up, apart from Harry and Ginny, they simply vanished again.
Ron looked at Hermione, "He has GOT to teach me to do that."
In the living room, Harry was sat on a chair, with Ginny sat across his lap, leaning against him.
"I did NOT mean to that!" Harry explained, then a degree of self preservation kicked in, "Not that I'm complaining."
Ginny's scowl became a smile and she whispered, "Good save." Harry shivered slightly as her warm breath tickled his ear.
"Well, let's start at the beginning, shall we?" Their professor stated as the others gathered round, finding their own seats.
"Well," Harry started, "it began with a book."
