"Canoodling? I wasn't … what does that even mean?" Harry threw down the newspaper in disgust, crossing his arms as Sirius picked it up and read the offending piece.
After reading it, he folded the paper and set it on the table. "Come on. You're no stranger to the gossip section," he said, raising his eyebrows. "That's better than the Auror brutality beat, isn't it?"
Harry scowled at his godfather. "Thanks for pointing that out. You were there. There wasn't any of this … canoodling or whatever the bloody hell they're saying we were doing! We were just chatting to each other!" Harry looked at his godfather with narrowed eyes. "In fact, you did your fair share of the talking. How come you're not being accused of anything?"
"Well, I'm not Harry Potter, am I?" Sirius folded the newspaper and set it onto the table. "Don't get your knickers in a twist over it, all right? This just shows that you're doing your job and taking the heat off of the department."
Only slightly mollified, Harry grunted as Sirius left the lounge and headed upstairs to his bedroom. Still brooding on the gossip piece, Harry picked up the newspaper and read it again, noting the quote about broken hearts and that Dean Thomas was her ex-boyfriend. Shame. I quite liked Dean.
Ron stormed into the kitchen at the Burrow, newspaper in hand. "Oi, what's this about, then?" Ginny looked at him in confusion as he waved it at her.
"Ron, get that out of my face. Can't you see I'm busy?" She continued to pipe out macarons, focusing on getting all of them the same size on the baking paper.
Huffing, Ron unfolded the paper with a flourish, eyes scanning the text until he found what he was looking for. "Harry Potter Caught Canoodling With Contestant," he boomed, making her squeeze her piping bag full of macaron batter too hard, sending pink goop all over the sheet.
"What? Let me see that!" Macarons forgotten, Ginny's eyes quickly found the bold lettering and she read the whole piece, Ron hovering over her shoulder. "Canoodling? What in the bloody hell? Who would even— We weren't even alone! Sirius was there and then Ostentatia came in!"
She threw down the paper and elbowed Ron in the ribs. "Stop looming over me! Look at this mess! I've got to start over and it's biscuits next time!"
Ron stepped around to the other side of the kitchen island worktop, blue eyes mutinous. "What's this about you hanging around Potter, eh? Are you trying to get into his good graces?"
Ginny Vanished the ruined sheet of macarons and gave her brother a dark look. "Is that what you really think of me?" she asked, gratified to see Ron shift on his feet.
"Well, erm, no. Not you so much, but … it's Potter, isn't it? He's always out doing things with other girls and … women," Ron said as she pulled out another sheet of parchment paper.
"So what's that got to do with anything?" Ginny's face grew hot at the thought of Harry going out with older, richer, more experienced women.
"He didn't go to Hogwarts, did he?"
"Again, what's that got to do with anything?"
Ron rolled his eyes as if she were just not understanding the obvious. "We don't know what sort of bloke he is," he hissed.
Ginny set aside her piping bag and looked at her brother. "You know what he did for all of us. I'm sure he would have much rather have gone to Hogwarts like we did, but he didn't have that luxury, did he?"
Ron had the decency to look chastened as he dropped his eyes and mumbled something indistinct. "Listen, he's just … I don't want you to get hurt or anything, all right?" he finally said.
"Ron, it's just baking! What's going to happen?" Ginny grabbed her bag full of batter and began piping out her macarons again as Ron sloped off out of the kitchen. Canoodling. We were just chatting and we weren't even alone. Shaking her head, she squeezed out the next row of macarons. Hmm, I wonder just who he's dated in the past. I'll have to see if I can find some of Mum's old Witch Weeklys …
Ginny entered the enormous marquee, walking behind Dean. She tried not to look at the empty stations that used to be occupied, but her eyes were drawn to them nonetheless. She had a brief thought about charming old Alfie Melton, let down last week by his olive and anchovy buns that Ostentatia had coldly declared, "Not worth the calories."
As she put on her apron, she caught the eye of Ella Stuckey and smiled. Ella didn't return it, turning away from her with a flip of her long blonde ponytail. Ginny's lips thinned and she tied her apron more forcefully than she intended. It seems like I'm not the only one who saw that charming little item in the Prophet.
Crossing her arms, she turned around, determined to put the pettiness of the other contestant out of her mind. At the station behind her, Dean raised an eyebrow. "All right?" he asked as the rest of the broadcast crew got ready around them.
Ginny sighed and stepped toward his workstation. "I don't know if you take the Prophet," she said, dismayed by the wide smile that spread across his face.
"You mean about the canoodling?"
"Oh, no! Not you too!" she moaned, covering her face with her hands.
"Ginny, it's fine!" Dean took her wrists and gently moved her hands away from her face. "You don't have anything to worry about. It's just stupid gossip and you told me all about it right after it happened anyway. Everyone's just jealous."
Stepping back, Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you the anonymous source?"
Dean put his hand on his chest, affecting a shocked expression. "I would never." He glanced up towards the front of the marquee and Ginny followed his eyes. Harry stood up front with Ostentatia, Luna and Lee Jordan. His shirt had the top two buttons undone, giving her a peek of dark hair at the base of his neck. Clearing his throat, Dean leaned in closer to her. "I might try a bit of that 'getting lost' myself," he whispered, making her giggle.
"Thanks, Dean." Ginny turned back to her own station, marshaling her thoughts to the three flavors of macarons she was planning for the day's first bake.
Harry wandered around the workstations, still not feeling like he belonged in this ridiculous tent with the delicious smells of baking all around him. He still smarted a bit from the gossip item in the Prophet and the ensuing conversation with the Head Auror.
"Potter!" Auror Jones had boomed from the kitchen fireplace. Full of trepidation, Harry had gone down to answer the call, surprised when the Head Auror was grinning from ear to ear.
"Potter," he said again, giving Harry a wide smile, "just read the Prophet! You're doing a great job out there! Great job! Is there any chance you can be seen with this … Ginny Weasley, was it? Is that Arthur's little girl? My God, it's been ages!"
"Auror Jones, sir," Harry began, only to be interrupted.
"I want to see a picture of you two in the Prophet next! Just the thing to make everyone forget about this Nott business!" A second later, Head Auror Jones disappeared in a flash of green light and Harry was left standing in his kitchen, alternately bemused and enraged.
And now he was free to wander around and poke his nose into any mixing bowl he wished. Giving an internal sigh, he pasted a smile on his face and nodded to Ella Stuckey. "And what are you cooking up here?" he asked, trying not to sound like the smarmy idiot he felt like.
Ella's blue eyes opened wide at him and she gave him a sparkling smile. "Oh, I'm getting my ganache together for one of my macarons!"
Harry peered into the bowl, seeing a mass of chocolate. "Erm, what exactly is a ganache?"
"It's lovely! Chocolate melted down with cream," she said, stirring the mass briskly. "I've got a special ingredient in this one though."
"Oh? What's that?"
"A bit of this!" She picked up the bottle of coffee liqueur and winked. "I figure with the competition here giving the judges a bit of booze will only help!"
Harry laughed and winked back at her. "Well, a bit of booze can go a long way!" he said, patting her shoulder. He didn't miss the light blush that spread across her cheeks.
Ginny looked up, distracted by the sound of Harry's laughter. She saw him chatting to Ella Stuckey and narrowed her eyes before forcing herself to take a deep, calming breath. Mind your own business, Weasley, she counseled, carefully stirring the orange zest into the shell mixture for her mimosa-inspired macarons.
Macarons made while angry never turn out well. She had been practicing these very macarons when Ron had shown her that horrible gossip piece. Flustered, she'd gotten impatient and put them in the oven sooner than she should have and they came out a cracked mess.
"Not this time," she murmured, carefully spooning the mixture into a piping bag.
"That's a pretty color," Harry said, appearing as if by magic on the other side of her worktop.
"You've snuck up on me again!" she exclaimed, barely managing to avoid shooting the pink mixture all over his front.
He favored her with another one of those gorgeous sheepish smiles and shrugged. "Habit, I guess." He scowled at her and wagged a finger. "Constant vigilance!" he said, making her giggle.
"Well stop it. I don't know if my heart can take much more!" She gave her piping bag an experimental squeeze and raised an eyebrow at him. "Now stop distracting me. I need to concentrate."
"Aren't you just squeezing out batter?"
Ginny leaned over her prepared sheet, focusing on squeezing out just the right amount to fill in the circle. "I am, but I need to make sure that I get the same amount in each one. Uniformity is the name of the game with macarons."
"I see," he said, falling silent until she was finished. Acutely aware of Harry's eyes on her, she managed to not make a fool of herself and successfully piped all of her orange-flavored shells.
"And now I give these a few whacks," she said, slamming the sheet of piped circles firmly onto the worktop three times as per her ritual. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry give a little jump and allowed herself a small smile. "And now I'll set these aside to dry."
"You don't bake them?" Harry asked, frowning at the other sheets with the other flavors of shells she'd already piped.
"No, you have to let them dry out first or else you end up with shells full of cracks."
"And that's bad?"
Ginny glanced over to where Ostentatia stood at the front of the tent, gray eyes seeming to see all of them at once and then looked back at Harry. "Very."
He nodded to the trays and gave her that grin again. She noticed that one of his teeth was just a bit crooked and she felt as if she'd made a momentous discovery. "Well, let's hope they all dry out, then. What's next?"
"Well now I need to make the filling." Glad she'd chosen to wear trousers today, Ginny bent over and took the bottle of champagne out of the cold box under the worktop.
"A little bit early to celebrate, don't you think?" Harry said, picking up the bottle to look at the label.
"You mean you don't have a regular afternoon glass of champagne? Then I must not be reading the right magazines!" Ginny said, covering her mouth in horror when she realized what she'd said.
Harry's lips twisted into a grimace. "Yes, well. I think we both know you can't believe everything you read, yeah?"
"I'm sorry," Ginny mumbled, trying to cover her discomfort by measuring out some sugar.
"Nah, don't be, all right? It's just gossip. I'm, erm, rather used to it, I'm afraid," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "So, this has got champagne in. Any other boozy flavors? Ella's apparently getting us drunk."
Glad to have the awkward moment over, Ginny gave him a fake pout. "No, this is the only alcohol I've got for you today. My other flavors are lavender and chocolate spiced up with some chili."
Just then, Ostentatia joined them, fixing her gimlet eye on her drying shells. "Lavender? What are you pairing it with?" she asked, her voice clipped.
"I've got coconut going with it," Ginny said, willing herself not to be nervous. It's so relaxing just chatting with Harry, but she's like McGonagall on her worst day!
"Mm." Ostentatia picked up the bottle of champagne and briefly examined the label before giving a sniff and putting it back down. "Make sure you don't go too heavy on the lavender. You don't want to make your macaron taste like granny's soap, now do you?"
"No, ma'am," Ginny mumbled, completely second-guessing her flavor decision.
"Harry, let's go see what Lucas has going. I think I smelled Earl Grey earlier and I want to see what he's putting it with," Ostentatia said, sweeping off to Lucas's station before Harry could even answer.
"Well, I'll let you get on with it, all right?" he said, moving away from Ginny's workstation.
"Oh, before you go, can you open the champagne? I'm terrible at it and it just goes everywhere."
"I think I can manage that." Harry took a moment and rolled up his shirt sleeves before picking up the bottle. Ginny experienced another flash of heat as she watched him unwind the metal cage around the cork. He stood with his feet firmly planted, the bottle cradled in one hand and his wand in the other. Breathless, Ginny watched as he focused before moving his wand in a swift upward motion, ejecting the cork with a loud pop. It sailed across the marquee and hit the other wall with a soft thud.
Grinning triumphantly, Harry took a swig of the champagne and then bowed, spreading his arms wide while Ginny and several other contestants clapped in appreciation. "Thank you," she said when he handed her the bottle, utterly convinced that he could hear her crazily beating heart. "Very well done."
"Anytime. Now I must go see about Lucas's Earl Grey." Before she could blink, he was gone.
"Ginny," Dean hissed behind her and she turned. He favored her with a wide-eyed expression, mouthing the word canoodling before breaking up into rolling laughter.
Face burning, Ginny spun around, setting down the bottle of champagne with a thump.
"When was the last time you opened a champagne bottle?" Sirius asked as they perused the luncheon table.
"Erm, New Year's, I suppose," Harry asked, helping himself to freshly fried chips. "Why?"
Sirius shrugged, picking out a few choice cold cuts and cheese. "You put on quite a show in there."
"What do you mean?"
"There are simpler ways to open a bottle of champagne," he said, nudging Harry's shoulder as he took his laden plate to the table.
Harry followed him, sitting down across from his godfather. "You saying I was showing off?" he asked as he doused his chips in vinegar.
"Were you?"
Harry put the lid back on the malt vinegar bottle and set it down before answering. "Maybe a little."
Sirius grunted and turned his attention to lunch and Harry allowed his mind to wander, remembering how Ginny's cheeks had flushed a pretty pink when he'd surprised her. "She has brothers."
"Sorry?" Harry said, brought back to reality.
"Ginny. She has brothers. Six of them."
"So? What's that supposed to mean?"
Sirius gave him a half shrug. "They're probably watching along with everyone else."
"And?"
"And you might want to watch your showboating, all right?"
Harry grunted and pushed away his plate of chips, appetite gone. So she's got brothers. So what. And I wasn't showboating.
"All right, then. My least favorite part. Who is going home today?" Harry looked at the array of treats arranged on the table in front of them. Ostentatia sat in the rustic-looking chair next to him, the corner of the equally rustic table between them. Sirius was seated in a much more comfortable chair a ways away, holding a plate piled high with macarons.
"Mm, yes," she murmured, surveying the biscuits and scones on the table. Lips pursed, she pulled one plate towards her, the one with Lucas's Earl Gray-infused macarons. Harry had found the taste of the Earl Gray so overwhelming that he'd nearly gagged, only Lucas's hopeful eyes on him keeping him from spitting the bite out.
"These were …" she began and Harry braced himself, marshaling his arguments. They look nice, but the taste ... You told me yourself that it's not enough for them to look good … Lucas has seemed a bit out of his depth … "These were not quite up to standard," she said and Harry let out a breath. Ostentatia slid Lucas's plate to the side and Harry felt that he knew who'd be going home.
"I agree. It was a bit like biting into a block of perfume, yeah? And his scones were a bit on the hard side." Harry drew the plate with Ella's macarons towards him. "I think Ella did quite well. These were nice." He resolutely ignored Sirius's snicker.
"Yes, perfectly serviceable," she said, that dismissive sound that Harry knew by now meant that the baker was square in the middle of the group. Martha received a similar assessment for her strawberry cheesecake-inspired macarons. She didn't even give poor Elliot's plate of cracked lemon, red velvet and mint macarons a glance, pulling Dean Thomas's trio towards her instead.
"These, however, are unique," she said, picking up one that Harry had thought was rather esoteric.
"What flavor is this?" he'd asked before biting into it.
"That's based on a Snickers," Dean had answered promptly. Harry raised an eyebrow as he chewed, the flavors seeming to explode in his mouth. "It's an American Muggle chocolate bar. Chocolate, caramel and peanuts," he explained. The candy bar-flavored macarons were accompanied by one that claimed to be something called snickerdoodle and strawberry lemonade.
Ostentatia had waxed poetic on the shininess of the shells, the perfect feet and the richness of the filling, leaving Harry feeling like he was missing something. And when they'd moved on to Ginny Weasley's …
"I felt these were a bit pedestrian," Ostentatia said, pulling Ginny's plate towards them.
"Pedestrian? How so?" Harry asked, picking up one of the shiny pink mimosa-flavored biscuits. Holding it to his nose, he took a deep breath, inhaling the delicate orange scent as he recalled watching Ginny pipe out the perfect circles.
"Mimosa and chocolate with chili? Not very exciting."
"What about the lavender with the coconut? That's unique." Harry hadn't been quite sure what to expect when he tasted one and he'd been pleasantly surprised, especially with Ostentatia's earlier comment about soap. "And her scones were delicious."
Despite Harry's best efforts, Ostentatia remained noncommittal. "Mm," was all she said. "Are you ready?"
"Erm, yeah, all right," Harry said, having been reminded by her that his job on this was to be good-looking, non-threatening and charming. Sirius stood as they did, his plate now empty and came to stand next to Harry as Ostentatia bustled through to the green room.
"She's got her favorite, doesn't she?" Sirius said as they followed in her wake.
"What? D'you mean Dean?"
"Yes. Seems our young Mr Thomas has quite got old Ozzie under his spell."
Harry paused just outside the entrance to the green room and turned to his godfather. "What about Ginny Weasley? Do you think she's being a bit … unfair?"
Sirius's eyebrows shot up to his hairline and he grinned. "Are you worried she might be gone before you've had another chance to canoodle?"
Face flooded with red, Harry pushed his godfather's shoulder. "Oh, bugger off with that, old man," he said. "I just think she's harder on her than she is on the other contestants, that's all."
Sirius patted him on his shoulder, making Harry feel like he was a kid again. "Well, are you a judge or not?"
Ginny perched on the stool, trying to put all of the crew out of her mind and not look as scared as she felt. Dean's hand crept into hers and she clung to it, not even a little bit sorry that hers was damp with anxiety. Lucas sat on her other side and she reached out for his hand as well, glad to feel that his was a bit sweaty as well.
Nervous chatter ceased when Luna and Lee walked in, followed by Ostentatia and Harry. Ginny stared, trying to deduce how things would go by studying their faces. As usual, Luna looked like she was surprised to find herself in the tent and Ginny knew she wouldn't get any clues there. Lee was the master of the blank expression, honed by many years of being Fred and George's best friend.
Almost against her will, she glanced at Harry, a jolt running through her when their eyes met. She reflexively squeezed Dean's hand and he squeezed back. She saw Harry's eyes flick down to their joined hands and he looked away, adopting an impassive expression.
At an unseen signal from the director, Lee nodded and smiled, obviously trying to set the bakers at ease. It was completely useless and only made Ginny's stomach churn harder. "Bakers," he said, his mellow voice doing what his smile couldn't, "you've served us some wonderful treats today."
Lucas squeezed her hand so hard she almost yelped and she knew he was thinking about his Earl Gray macarons. Ginny had tried to be nice when she sampled them, but he knew that he'd overdone it and he was on the chopping block.
"Today I get to announce the baker that dazzled us today. They gave us a taste of America in three different ways." Dean was squeezing Ginny's hand so hard her knuckles were grinding together and she grit her teeth. "Today's Magical Baker is Dean Thomas!"
The tent exploded into applause and Ginny took the opportunity to try and clap some life back into her hand. The elation didn't last long, however and they were soon all clutching hands again as they waited to learn who would be sent home and exiled from the tent.
Luna surveyed them, her big blue eyes seeming to radiate sympathy. She opened her mouth and closed it a couple of times and Ginny heard one of the crew members sigh. "Can't we do it over again and I announce who gets to stay?" she finally said. Standing to her right, Ostentatia rolled her eyes.
"You announced the winner last week. You know we switch off," Lee said. Ginny was impressed at the lack of impatience in his voice.
"But I hate delivering bad news."
The director stepped forward and took Luna's hand. "I know it's hard, love, but you'll get to announce the Magical Baker next week," he said, giving her a cajoling smile.
Luna narrowed her eyes. "Can I announce the winner winner at the end?" she asked.
Beside her, Lee started to say something, but the director held up his hand. "Of course you can. Are you ready to get on with things?" Luna nodded and the director patted her hand before letting go and stepping back. After a moment, he gave the signal and the butterflies in Ginny's stomach started fluttering at double time.
Composed once more, Luna addressed the waiting bakers. "And I have to say which one of you is going home. I don't think it's fair that I have to say it, but Lee said that since I got to announce the Magical Baker last time, that now I have to tell you all that Lucas will be leaving the tent."
Everyone in the tent seemed to let out a collective sigh and Ginny nearly swayed off the stool with relief. All of the contestants converged on Lucas and Dean. Shaking hands, hugging, commiserating and congratulating. Swept up in the emotion of the moment and the elation of having not been eliminated, Ginny hugged all of those around her, turning around to come face-to-face with Harry.
"Oh!" she gasped, her eyes practically zeroing in on the dark hairs that peeped out from under his collar. Her face flooded with heat as she raised her eyes to meet his.
"You survive to battle on another day!" he said, grinning down at her.
"Yes! It's puddings next week, isn't it?" Ginny pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, the chaos around them quite forgotten.
Harry shrugged. "No clue, really. I just show up, yeah?" He stuck out his hand and she took it once, giddy at actually touching him. "Well done."
"Thank you," she said, letting go of his hand as he moved on to the next contestant. Feeling eyes on her, she glanced up, seeing Ostentatia's cold gray eyes staring at her.
Ginny was in the back storage room sorting through the stock of shrivelfigs when she heard the bell over the door of the shop give its distinctive chime. "I'll be right out," she called as she set the basket aside for later. On the way out to the front room of the shop, she picked up a cloth to wipe her hands, nearly dropping it when she saw a tall, cloaked figure perusing the tanks of preserved eyeballs inside the largest display case.
She mentally started checking stock of the usual sorts of things that Aurors came into the shop for, hoping that this one wouldn't need more than one jar of griffon grease.
"Sorry, I was in the stock room. What can I—" The Auror turned around and she gasped. "Oh, it's you!" she said, immediately turning red at the realization that Harry Potter was standing right in front of her.
"Ginny? You work—" Harry started before slapping his forehead. "Of course. It was on your bio! I can't believe I forgot."
She stood on the other side of the display case from him, experiencing a strange sort of breathlessness that was usually not present when they were in the tent. In his Auror clothes, she found he was a much more imposing figure and nothing like the charming young man that asked her questions about bread, cake and biscuits. He seems taller somehow.
"I feel like I should be elbow-deep in dough right now," she said, giving a little laugh to try and settle her nerves at the surrealness of talking to Harry in the real world instead of in a tent full of people and the smell of cooking sugar.
Harry smiled, revealing that crooked tooth once more. "I feel like we should be surrounded by microphones."
"Well, there's none of those in here, thank goodness!" she said, gratified when he laughed along with her. "Well, Harry, what brings you in today? Do you need something for the department?"
"Oh, no! It's for my godfather. Sirius." He patted his trouser pockets, a look of panic coming over his face when he didn't immediately find what he was looking for. "Ah! There it is," he said, finally pulling out a slip of parchment out of the inner pocket of his cloak. "I, uh, have a list."
"I see. May I have it?" Harry handed her the list and she scanned the neat writing, noticing the precise quantities. "All right. We should have all of these in stock. Give me a few minutes and I'll get these together for you." He nodded and she turned around, heading back to the rear storeroom, focusing on walking as normally as possible.
Safely out of sight, she leaned against the wall and put her hand over her racing heart. What is your problem? You see him all the time! Well, maybe not all the time, but more than once! Shaking her head at her ridiculousness, she took a deep, calming breath and fixed her mind of filling her current customer's order.
Just an ordinary customer, no one famous. She reached up to the ginseng, wrinkling her nose at the sharp smell as she measured out the desired quantity and checked it off the list. And certainly not an unusual customer. Aurors come in here all the time. Using her wand, she Summoned a basket of ground bicorn horn before plucking out two sealed packets.
Pushing Harry out of her mind, she focused on filling the order until she got to the last item. Pickled chanterelle mushrooms. All right. Sounds like champagne. A flash of heat filled her as she remembered Harry opening the champagne bottle for her so she could make the filling for her mimosa macarons. The way he rolled up those sleeves and just … oh God. Dean was right. I have got it bad!
Order complete, she stood quietly and tried to will the blood from her hot cheeks and settle her heart. Once she was reasonably confident that she wouldn't trip over her own two feet, she carried the basket full of herbs and other things out to where Harry waited. His back was to her and she paused for a moment, admiring the breadth of his shoulders underneath the heavy black cloak.
He must have heard her step because he turned around, green eyes lighting up at the sight of her. Ginny's traitorous heart stuttered before it started beating again at double time.
"There you are. I was starting to think you'd done a runner out of the back," he said, treating her to a smile. "Listen, Sirius's birthday is coming up and I wanted to get him something special. What d'you think about these?" He motioned to the fine potions implements in the display case.
She set the basket with his godfather's order in it on the counter and approached the case. On display were scales, pans, knives, stirring rods and other things, all made of the finest metals. "Um, what were you thinking of?" she asked, cursing the squeakiness of her voice. All alone with him in the quiet coolness of the shop, she was much more aware of his effect on her than she'd ever been in the tent and she pressed her hand on her stomach, trying to still the trembling.
"I was looking at that trimming knife," he said, pointing at a small silver knife. It had a delicately filigreed handle and a wickedly sharp blade. Ginny already knew the balance was exquisite as she'd been the one that had laid it on the black velvet in the display case.
"That's very nice. Goblin made by Untarr Untervagen. He only releases a few pieces a year for the wizard market. Would you like to see it?" Harry nodded and Ginny unlocked the cabinet, carefully removing the knife before setting it on a velvet pad on top of the display case. Wouldn't do to cut myself in front of him, now would it?
Harry picked it up, handling it with confidence as he examined every aspect of it. "Yeah, he'll like that. Can you, erm, wrap it? I'm not very good at that sort of thing."
"Of course. All part of the service," she said lightly, giddiness surging through her at the thought of taking her time wrapping the package perfectly to keep Harry in the shop with her. It is a gift, after all.
As she prepared the shop's wrapping paper, she kept an eye on Harry as he wandered around, looking at the displays of the soaps, lotions and other herbal stuffs. Oh, please don't ask how girls like the apple blossom soap, she thought, nearly jumping out of her skin when he spoke.
"How long have you worked here?" he asked, turning away from a display of soothing tinctures.
"Oh, since I left Hogwarts," Ginny said, measuring out the precise amount of wrapping paper for the boxed knife.
"Yeah?" Harry said, approaching the wrapping table, his boots sounding loud in the quiet shop. "Did you always know what you wanted to do?"
"God no," Ginny snorted. "When I was little, I wanted to work with animals and then I wanted to play Quidditch." She looked up, pleased to see his interested expression.
"What made you change your mind?" Harry leaned a hip against the table, looking like he'd be quite happy to talk to her for a while longer yet. The idea nearly made her lightheaded.
"I had a very good Potions teacher starting in my fifth year. He really helped me see that I wasn't rubbish after all," she said as she secured the wrapping paper onto the box with a minor sticking charm.
"Was that Snape?"
"No, Slughorn. Snape was … difficult to work with at times," she said diplomatically.
Now it was Harry's turn to snort. "You're telling me. Try having him teach you—" he said before cutting himself off. Shaking his head, he gave her a smile. "He was indeed difficult to work with, yes."
Burning with curiosity to know what Snape would have been teaching Harry as he prepared to defeat Lord Voldemort, Ginny held her tongue and cut a length of forest green ribbon. The last thing she wanted to do was say the wrong thing and ruin his mood or make him leave.
"I got one, you know," he said, breaking the silence between them.
"One of what?" Ginny asked as she carefully tied the bow. She wanted Sirius to admire the package before he opened it.
"A Hogwarts letter."
A jolt of electricity went through her, nearly making her drop the wrapped package as she handed it to Harry. Why is that surprising? All magical children get one. "Did you?" she said. "What happened?"
Harry took the perfectly-wrapped gift, looking down at it for a moment before he shook his head. "Sirius wouldn't let me go. He said it wasn't safe. Dumbledore tried to convince him, but he wasn't having it."
As he talked, Ginny realized how lonely he must have been growing up and her eyes began to sting, making her blink several times. "Well, you missed Professor Binns and History of Magic, so there's your silver lining," she said, glad when he smiled back at her.
He opened his mouth, about to say something else when the bell over the door chimed and an older man walked in. "Welcome in, sir. I'll be with you in a moment," Ginny said, gathering up Sirius's order and totaling it up. "All right. That's five Galleons, seven Sickles with the knife."
"Free gift wrap?" Harry said, handing her the coins.
Ginny leaned forward over the display case that separated them. "Only for certain customers," she said in a low voice.
A slow smile spread across his face and he raised an eyebrow, giving her that tremble in her stomach again. "I'll have to keep that in mind." He picked up his packages and nodded. "See you next time," he said as he walked out of the door of the shop, the chime not sounding quite as happy this time.
BMMB Judge Spotted With Contestant!
It looks like our ginger-haired contestant is at it again, managing to get some private one on one time with Britain's Most Magical Baker's celebrity judge, Harry Potter! This time they were caught together in none other than Slug and Jiggers, the workplace of Ginny Weasley. "I don't know what they were talking about, but their heads were awfully close together," said Roger Davies, who had gone in for a bundle of Chilean Nightshade for his sick mum. "And then I saw he had an intricately wrapped package with a bow. It must have taken ages to do and I thought to myself, 'Blimey, she's gone and given him a gift, hasn't she?' I thought I'd better get a picture as proof or no one would believe me!"
Readers, in a very special Daily Prophet exclusive, we have that picture for you! Simply tap your wand on the page to make it appear and judge for yourself!