Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Harry's New Boggart – Chapter 15 – Plans

"Harry, my boy," said Mr. Weasley in a friendly voice, "Why don't we go outside and have a little chat?"

Ginny watched her fiancé walk out the door with her father, and then her mother got her attention again.

"I hope you understand, dear, that we love Harry, and frankly I don't think there is a finer young man out there. This is not about Harry. It's just that you are way too young to think about getting married."

Ginny's ears turned pink as she glared at her mother, "I'm not too young to be attacked and nearly killed by Death Eaters, but I'm too young to be happy?"

Molly jumped back a bit at that, but stood her ground. "I-I'm sorry about what happened yesterday, but that doesn't mean you're ready for marriage. How will he support you? I know he has a decent amount in his vault, but that has to be dwindling down with all he'…."

"What you've seen is only his trust fund vault! He came into his full inheritance now that he is of age, and with all he inherited from his parents, Sirius, and Dumbledore, he's now the richest wizard Gringotts is aware of!"

Molly paled, "Oh, it must be nice to have someone who can spend that much on you, but that doesn't mean you should rush…"

"MOTHER! DON'T YOU DARE ACCUSE ME OF THAT! That's one step away from a prostitute! I thought you knew me better than that!" Ginny yelled, with tears starting to form in her eyes. Ron and Hermione were remaining silent, afraid of upsetting one or both Weasley women.

Molly took a deep breath. "Ginny, I didn't mean it like that! I know you love him. But neither of you have even finished your schooling…"

"Hogwarts is closed!" shouted Ginny. She shrugged and commented, "At least we've both taken our O.W.L.s. Ginny sighed. "We talked about waiting until the war is over, but if he asks me, I'll sneak off tonight and elope with him. We are getting married. You just have to accept it."

Molly's face was crimson. "You can't get married without our permission! You're not of age!"

"I can in a few weeks when I turn sixteen! I'll just claim to be pregnant!"

Molly's face changed from crimson to pale in a split second. "You, you can't be. You're not, er, doing that, are you?"

Ginny gave her mother an evil grin. "No, he hasn't asked me, yet, but then tonight is our first night since we got engaged." Ron looked livid while Hermione looked embarrassed.

To Ginny's amusement, Molly was red again, "I ABSOLUTELY FORBID IT! I will not have you two doing that under my roof!"

Ginny shouted, "Harry does have his own roof, actually several roofs, so if we're not welcome here anymore, we do have places to go!"

Molly and Ron looked terrified, while Hermione buried her face in her hands. Ron finally spoke up, "I'll kill him!"

Ginny rounded on her brother, "What for? I already said he hasn't asked me! I'm just making it clear that if my fiancé and I choose to do anything, it'll be our decision! He won't be taking advantage of me, and I'll probably be the one seducing him! Maybe then I'll be allowed to marry him!"

Molly and Ron were speechless, Hermione was embarrassed, and Ginny was determined. Hermione tried to change the subject. "H-Harry said you were probably better protected and armed right now than anybody in England. What did he mean?"

Ginny sighed. "Oh, just a few things we picked up in his vaults." She pulled out her wand and said, "Staff," changing it into a staff, causing them all to gasp. "After seeing how powerful his levitation charm was with his staff, he made me promise not to use it against anybody but Death Eaters or Tom himself. Wand." After she stowed her wand away, she added, "We've also got mithril armor underneath our clothes to protect us from most attacks."

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Mithril? I read about it, but I didn't know any was still in existence!"

"Yes, well, among other things, his vault had two mithril suits and two staffs. He immediately insisted that I take one of each. He does his very best to protect me, and frankly he does it better than you or the Order can." She blushed while making her next statement. "When he found his parents' wedding rings, he dropped down on one knee and proposed. He was so wonderful. And we wanted to celebrate our engagement. Mother, I am happy and in love today. With this war going on, I don't know how many happy days I'll have. Those monsters couldn't even let Harry enjoy his birthday. Couldn't you please let us be happy while we can?"

Tears started slowly falling from Molly's eyes. "I-I don't know what to say." She sighed. "I-I guess if being engaged means that much to you…" At that moment, the door opened, allowing Harry and Arthur inside. Molly continued. "…and you're waiting until the end of the war, I approve."

"Er, actually," said a nervous-looking Arthur, "I advised Harry not to let V-Voldemort control his life. I told him they should set a date and stick to it."

"WHAT?!" asked a very livid Molly while glaring at her husband. Ron was also glaring, but he was glaring at Harry.

He saw the look on her face, but went on nervously, "I actually believe that the sooner they do it, the better." He took a deep breath. "I also think that eloping is the best thing they could do, because then the Death Eaters can't plan to make an appearance and ruin everything."

Everyone was now staring at Arthur. Molly started to say, "B-But…"

"I didn't say that last part to Harry, but the truth is, if those people can't resist ruining Harry's birthday, what do you think they'll do for his wedding? I think that once they set a date, it should be a secret until it's time to go."

Both Ginny and Molly looked scandalized. Ginny replied, "M-My w-wedding…"

Harry spoke up. "Dad, I completely understand your opinion, and bluntly, if it were just me, I'd do it. But I am not going to ruin Ginny's wedding day. I don't know how we'll do it. We'll have to make special secret plans or something, but when we get married, we'll have a real wedding."

Hermione spoke up, "Maybe you could have it at Hogwarts in the Great Hall."

Ginny brightened up, "Or the Room of Requirement! That'll change to exactly what I want immediately! I could make everything perfect there easily!"

Mrs. Weasley smiled a bit, "We could transfigure the wedding party's clothes."

Harry smiled, "Then we'd only have to arrange the right people to be there at the right time."

Arthur grinned, "Now all that you two have to do is set a date, but I think you should do that privately. Also, make sure to talk to everyone involved in person and not over the floo. That can be monitored."

Harry chuckled, "And don't tell Hagrid until the day of the wedding. All the Death Eaters would have to do is offer him a dragon egg and he'd tell them everything he knows about me."

Molly looked sternly at Harry. "That's not a very nice thing to say, Harry!"

"But Mum," replied Harry, completely diffusing Molly's anger, "It's true. He's one of my best friends, but he can't keep a secret to save his life. He told Voldemort how to get past Fluffy so he could get the philosopher's stone for a dragon egg in my first year. He didn't know he was betraying Dumbledore, and felt terrible about it, but the damage was done. I don't want Voldemort to know anything about my wedding, so I don't want that information to leave this house. Ginny and I will handle everything."

"Like you handled getting engaged without telling us!" shouted Ron.

"Ronald," said Hermione.

"Is that why you were so keen to have us leave? So you could shag my sister in your precious vaults! Nobody else seemed to notice, but I did! If you're wearing those mithril suits under your clothes, and that means you probably took your clothes off in the vaults! I thought I could trust you with Ginny! She was probably so, I don't know, impressed by your money that she'd do anything to make sure you'd marry her!"

"HOW DARE YOU?!" shouted Ginny, while pulling out her wand.

"Ginny, you're not of age," stated Harry, pulling out his wand, "Let me." Harry pulled out his wand and without saying a word performed his first ever bat-bogey hex on Ron.

Ron ran upstairs, pursued by his bat bogeys, while Ginny was laughing. Mrs. Weasley scolded, "Now Harry, that wasn't a very good thing to do to Ron!"

"But mum," explained Harry, making Molly blush, "You heard what he said about Ginny! He needs to learn some manners!"

"I'm sure Ron didn't really mean it, Harry," assured Hermione.

"How would you feel if I said that about you, Hermione?" asked Harry. When he saw that she wasn't answering him, he said, "If it's wrong for me to talk about my sister like that, then it's wrong for Ron to talk about his sister like that."

Hermione looked into his eyes. "You-You really do think of me as your sister?"

Harry smiled at her. "My wonderful, brilliant, beloved sister who's helped me more times than I could ever repay."

She walked up to Harry and embraced him, and kissed him on his cheek. "I could never ask for a better brother. I, I love you, Harry."

"I love you too, sis," Harry replied, while patting her on the back.

They separated and Hermione, with a few teardrops in her eyes, looked from Harry to Ginny. "Congratulations, you two!" she said as she walked over to Ginny, embracing her. When they separated, Hermione asked, "Now what are we going to do about Ron?"

The three of them walked upstairs, Harry carrying his new trunk, and ignoring Mrs. Weasley pleas to 'go straight to bed,' went to Ron's room. They knocked on the door and got no answer. Then they found that the door was magically locked, but Hermione easily got it open. They found Ron sitting up in his bed looking miserable, but the curse had worn off anyway.

"I can't believe you did that to me, Harry!" exclaimed Ron.

"If he hadn't, I would've!" replied Ginny.

"But I just…"

"Called my fiancé, your sister, a prostitute!" explained Harry. "I'm waiting for you to apologize to her!"

"Apologize? After the stuff she said about you two?" shouted Ron.

"I never said we did! I just said I could claim I was pregnant to get married without mum and dad's permission once I turn sixteen! In fact I said we haven't! It would be none of your business if we did, anyway!" Harry's face was turning pink. He did not know how to respond to this. Should he claim he didn't want to, or that he did want to? He wisely kept silent.

Ron was redder than ever. "Even if you haven't gone all the way, I know you must've done something when you put on that armor of yours!"

Harry knew he could answer this. "No, we didn't! We hid behind some of my stuff when we changed!"

Ron responded, "I'll bet you've got a lot of stuff, too! But I know you were watching Ginny, probably under that cloak of yours!"

"If he wants to see me naked, all he has to do is ask! He doesn't have to spy on me!" Ginny shouted angrily, causing Ron's face to turn purple, while Harry and Hermione's faces turned pink.

"Er, Gin, love, you're not helping. Ron, I swear I didn't spy on your sister."

"I'm saving us from future arguments, Harry," Ginny declared, taking the time to wink at him, which caused his heart to temporarily stop. She turned back to her brother, "Because if we do decide to shag, it's absolutely nobody's business except mine and Harry's! It's nothing for you, Ron, to get upset about! It's not like you think he's gonna rape me!"

Ron sat speechless with a white face for about thirty seconds. Finally he spoke. "So-so you've never, y'know?"

Ginny let out a frustrated scream. "That's not your concern, Ron! In fact, Harry, let's go sleep at Grimmauld place tonight."

"W-What?" yelled Ron, "You can't just…!"

"It's Harry's house!" shouted Ginny. "If you've cooled off in the morning, come over for our training." Ginny grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him out of the room, while he was still holding his trunk.

Ginny marched back down the stairs pulling Harry with her toward the fireplace. "And just where are you going at this time of night?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"To spend the night at," answered Ginny, throwing floo powder into the flames and dragging Harry in with her, "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place!"

They arrived to find the house empty. Ginny turned to Harry and said uncertainly, "Er, Harry, you know I love you very much, and, er, I know you love me, er, but I don't really think I'm, y'know, ready for, well, that yet. If it's all right with you, er, I'd like to sleep in separate rooms."

Harry, who'd been silent since Ginny started dragging him, finally spoke. "Th-that's fine Ginny. But why did you…"

"All but say that we were gonna shag tonight?" She smiled. "I want Ron to accept that it's none of his business, so that he'll be used to that when we finally do, whether that's before or after our wedding." She sighed. "He'll be upset that you shagged me if I tell him I'm pregnant a year after we get married! That's just who he is! This way, he's upset now, and we won't have to deal with this issue again." She took a deep breath. "That's one reason I brought you here. The other is that I want to be alone with you."

Harry smiled, but then frowned. "So, you, er, want Ron to think we're shagging."

"Yes," answered Ginny, grinning at her fiancé.

"So, er, if he asks me…"

"Tell him it was incredible!" she instructed with a smirk.

"He'll hit me," claimed Harry.

"Then hit him back!" she suggested, chuckling. "I know you can beat him! If that doesn't work, it seems you've learned a new hex to use on him. If that doesn't work, threaten to do the hex with your staff."

"How about if I try telling him it's none of his business?" asked Harry.

"He'll still hit you, but he might eventually respect that." Harry chuckled. "Now, I'd like to talk about setting a date."

Harry suddenly looked very serious. "Ginny, I love you now, and I'll love you for the rest of my life. If you'd like, I'll marry you right now. If you insist, we'll wait ten years. That is totally up to you."

She kissed him quickly and stated, "That is very sweet of you, but you must have an opinion."

Harry looked down. "Er, I'm caught in two directions. I want to be married to you as soon as possible, but I'm worried about your safety, y'know, being my…"

Ginny glared at him. "DON'T go there! I know the danger, and I already made my choice, and I stand by my decision! If I get killed, then I get killed. It will not be your fault! It'll be Tom's!" Then she smiled at him. "So your vote is as soon as possible."

"Er, yes. If it's just based off of my feelings for you, then absolutely. I don't need a long engagement to decide whether I really love you. I already know."

She grinned at him. "Maybe my birthday would be best."

"Wh-What? You mean in a few weeks?" said Harry

"Yes. Voldemort attacked your friends on your birthday, and he knows that we're dating, so he'll probably attack on my birthday, too. I think it would be best if we weren't any place that Tom might be able to get to. That means here or Hogwarts. I know my mum will definitely approve of our getting married if she thinks we're shagging right now."

Harry sighed. "You're right. Oh God! He's going to attack your family! Where else would he go?"

Ginny actually trembled at that thought. "I-I guess the only other place he might think of going would be the Dursleys."

Harry closed his eyes. "We'll have to kidnap them and bring them to our wedding. I also think that we should look at some of my houses so that we have safe-houses ready. Maybe have McGonagall perform the Fidelius on them, unless there are already enchantments protecting them."

"We should go back to Gringotts tomorrow after our training," suggested Ginny. "We should also pick up a few more things in Diagon Alley, like that sheath you want for your sword, and maybe some kind of armor for Ron and Hermione. Maybe dragon hide.

The next morning, Hermione and an upset-looking Ron flooed to Grimmauld Place, to be greeted by a happily engaged couple. "Good morning," said Harry, as Ron glared at him.

Ron explained, "I'm here to train so I can fight V-Voldemort. It doesn't mean I approve…"

"It's none of your business to approve or disapprove of," cut in Ginny. "Hermione, we have some charms and…books…from Harry's vaults that we'd like to show you. One was written by three of the founders…"

Hermione's eyes bulged out as she shrieked, "YOU DO!? Why didn't you say so last night?"

"Because, believe it or not, Hermione, we thought our engagement was more important," explained Harry sarcastically. "There's also a book on the history of the Gryffindor family. By the way, did you bring my sword?"

"Yes," answered Hermione.

Harry smiled. "Good, because I've got a matching sword for Ginny, and we found an instructor.

"An instructor?" asked Hermione. "Don't you think that's dangerous?"

"No," replied Harry with a grin, "She won't tell. She's here right now if you want to meet her."

"You brought her here?" asked Hermione.

"Don't worry," responded Ginny, "He put her in his trunk so she wouldn't know where the house is."

"IN HIS TRUNK!" shouted Hermione, horrified.

Harry and Ginny laughed. "Relax, Hermione. It's the portrait of Abigail Gryffindor-Potter," explained Ginny. "My sword used to belong to her, so she volunteered to teach us how to use them."

Ron looked down, "There, well, there weren't any other swords in your vaults, er, were there?"

"No," answered Harry, pleased that Ron wasn't yelling at him, "No, but if you'd like a sword, I could get you one."

"No, no, that won't be necessary. Never mind," replied Ron quickly.

"Ron," stated Harry, "If it's for the fight against Voldemort, then it's not charity. It's equipping my group of trained fighters. I'm getting you both some armor to wear under your clothes today. It won't be mithril. It'll probably be dragon hide. I'm also buying a sheath for my sword. I'd be happy to buy you both swords as well. I'm even considering getting a gun if I can persuade someone old enough to get it."

"A what?" asked the two Weasleys together.

"A muggle weapon that propels a projectile bullet at a target," answered Hermione.

"Huh?" replied Ginny and Ron.

Harry smiled and explained, "Basically, it does the same thing as sectumsempra, except it puts the hole in you by sending a piece of lead called a bullet through you at an incredible speed."

"Oh," said the Weasleys together.

Hermione commented, "I honestly don't know any actual magical defense against getting shot with a bullet. It takes far to long to put up a shield, even silently. The only defense I can think of is summoning the gun away before you shoot them."

"Can't the gun be charmed against summoning spells?" asked Harry.

"Yes," answered Hermione cheerfully.

"Maybe I can ask Lupin to get me one," suggested Harry. "Would any of you like one?" They all nodded, looking a bit nervous, but willing to try any weapon that they could get against Voldemort. "Okay, I'll get four of them, along with a way to hide them properly so they can be used in an emergency."

Hermione beamed at Harry. "That's a great idea!"

"Thanks, sis," replied Harry. "You never said if you made any progress at the library yesterday."

Hermione frowned. "A little, but I still don't have an address. I think I should go again, perhaps with you."

Harry looked at her strangely, "With me?"

"Well," explained Hermione, "I know you won't let me go alone, and, er, well both Ron and Ginny, well, they…"

"What about us?" the siblings asked together.

"You're too, er, fascinated by the computer, and you, er, slow down my work."

"I slowed down your work?" asked a clearly frustrated Ron.

"Er, yes, you kept asking me about what I was doing and how it worked. You actually were calling attention to us. I mean, it's not your fault. I was just as fascinated by the magical world as you are with the muggle world. But, as Harry has said many times, we can't waste our time. People are dying every day. I need to be able to concentrate."

"We'll go there today after our trip to Diagon Alley," said Harry decisively. "For now, we'll show you what we picked up at Gringotts, and then we need to start our workout."

Hermione was literally drooling over the books they'd gotten, and decided to skim through the vault contents and Gryffindor history first. They enjoyed meeting Abigail, who agreed to try to teach all four of them. Since the others were getting swords today, Harry and Ginny decided to wait one day for their first sword fighting lesson, so that they'd all be starting together. There were two necklaces that were charmed in such a way that if one was rubbed, the other would light up and allow the wearer to apparate to wherever the other one was. They agreed to make sure that whenever they split up, someone from each group would be wearing one. Since they had a lot to do that day, they skipped reading about the rest of the items and started their training.

Chapter end