Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
If You Can Help Her – Chapter 5 – The Marauder's Map
Harry's eyes snapped open. He was lying in the hospital wing. The Gryffindor Quidditch team, splattered with mud from head to foot, was gathered around his bed. Ron and Hermione were also there, looking as though they'd just climbed out of a swimming pool. Sitting in a chair next to his bed, looking even paler than she'd been in the Chamber of Secrets, was Ginny. She just seemed to be staring blankly in his general direction.
"Harry," asked Fred, who looked extremely white under the mud. "How're you feeling?"
Harry turned his attention back to the people gathered around his bed. After finding out that Cedric Diggory got the Snitch, they'd lost the match, and his Nimbus 2000 was destroyed by the Whomping Willow, he looked at Ginny again, who was still staring at him blankly. When Madam Pomfrey came to chase everyone out, which is a habit of hers that Harry would never understand, he asked if Ginny could stay for a few more minutes so he could talk to her alone. Poppy reluctantly allowed it when Harry promised that if she didn't, he'd get up out of his bed and walk up to Gryffindor Tower to talk to her. Secretly, he wondered why she thought it was so horrible for a patient to have company when they're awake.
As soon as they were alone, Harry moved his closest hand to her cheek and asked, "Ginny, are you all right? You've been awfully quiet."
This seemed to snap her out of her trance. She glared at him and yelled, "How dare you do that to me! When I saw you fall, I thought I'd have a heart attack! You almost died!" At this moment she starting crying, stood up from her chair, and threw her arms around Harry. She cried on his shoulder for a few minutes, and then looked up into his eyes. "I'm, I'm sorry for yelling at you. It wasn't your fault. It's those bloody Dementors! I almost lost you. I was so scared. I thought you were dead when you landed on the ground." She started sobbing uncontrollably again.
He gently dried some of the tears in her eyes with his fingers. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, but everything's fine. I hate to say it, but you'll have to go before Madam Pomfrey kicks you out."
She smiled slightly and agreed, "I guess so."
Harry smiled back. "Come visit me tomorrow, okay."
"Of course, Harry."
"I love you, Ginny."
"I love you, too."
Ginny walked out of the room, and Harry tried to go to sleep.
-IYCHH-
The next morning, Harry woke up to find Ginny standing by his bedside looking at him.
"Good morning, sleepyhead!" she greeted with a smile as soon as Harry's eyes opened.
"Good morning, yourself! Have I ever told you how beautiful your hair is?"
Ginny blushed slightly, "Not today."
"Well, then I will! Ginny, your auburn hair looks absolutely gorgeous, as are your brown eyes, your face, and your outfit. I don't think I've seen that outfit before," he added as he observed the light green matching jumper and skirt set with auburn flowers. "The flowers match your hair."
She was now blushing furiously as she said, "You noticed! I'm glad you like it. Mum bought it for me last summer, and I've been saving it for a special occasion."
"It looks very beautiful, but what's the occasion?"
"Well, you um, were almost killed yesterday," she explained as her cheeks now matched the flowers on her dress, as well as her hair, "and, well, I wanted to be the first thing you saw this morning, and, er, I wanted to look my best for you." She turned her red face toward the floor at this point."
Harry was now blushing. He placed his right hand under her chin and slowly tilted her head up so that she was looking into his eyes. "That's the most wonderful gift anyone has ever given me, and the best reason I have to recover." He then gave her a quick, gentle kiss. "Thank you."
She smiled as her face started to get back to normal, "You're welcome, Harry. Colin suggested I should give you a singing 'get well' card, but I think you'd hate it."
Harry chuckled and agreed, "You're probably right."
"By the way, Hagrid sent this for you." Ginny pointed out a vase full of earwiggy flowers that looked like yellow cabbages.
Harry laughed out loud upon seeing them. "He gives the strangest gifts. Well, I guess it's the thought that counts."
"Yeah, it is. Last summer, he sent me a bunch of rock cakes for my birthday. I threw them away, but I was very touched that he remembered." She looked away for a second upon saying that.
"Those rock cakes are…Hold on! Your birthday was last summer? When?" Harry suddenly was feeling alarmed. He had no idea when her birthday was.
"My birthday is August 11th."
"I am so sorry, Ginny! I swear I didn't know! I should've asked! Why didn't Ron tell me? Why didn't you send me a howler August 12th?"
"I figured you must have forgotten. I admit that I felt a little hurt, but I knew you were already miserable with the Dursleys, so I didn't see any reason to make you more miserable. Then, when I finally saw you next, I didn't want to spoil the day by starting a row. It's not that big a deal. I love you, and you love me! That's what's important!"
"That is what's important, and I do love you, but I still feel very bad about this. I promise that I'll find a way to make it up to you!" Harry promised as he held her hand.
Ginny smiled and lightly kissed him. "If you insist, Harry. Just don't go overboard! I've got to get to breakfast before it's over. I promise that I'll be back later today, Harry."
She turned away from his bed and left him alone to think about not one, but two failures. One was that he lost his first game of Quidditch, and two that he had not done anything for his girlfriend's birthday. After a few minutes, a pair of tall red-haired, twin boys walked into the hospital wing and started toward his bed.
Harry called out to them, "Hey Fred, George! How are you doing?"
Fred answered, "We're doing fine. We just finished breakfast…"
"…and we thought we'd see how…" continued George.
"…you're doing, and try to…" added Fred.
"…cheer you up," finished George.
Harry would never get used to the way they completed each other's sentences. He replied, "Well, thanks for dropping by."
George commented, "We thought you'd like it,"
"…if we turned Cedric Diggory's…" continued Fred.
"…hand into a mallet…" added George.
"…so he couldn't catch…" said Fred.
"…the snitch," completed George.
Harry laughed at this, and then replied, "No, don't do anything to Cedric. It wasn't his fault." Then an idea hit Harry. He stated, "Fred, George, I need some help, and I think you two are just the people that can help me."
"What do you need?" asked Fred.
Harry looked embarrassed when he explained, "I just found out that Ginny had her birthday on August 11th! I didn't know, so I didn't do anything about it."
George replied, "We wondered about that."
Harry continued, "She said it was no big deal…"
"No big deal?" countered Fred, "We heard her crying from outside her room!"
"I knew it!" declared Harry, looking very sad. "I swear I had no idea!"
"No idea?" asked George, looking flabbergasted.
"We must have you confused with someone else then…" responded Fred.
"…because we brought the Harry Potter we know to the Burrow last summer…" continued George.
"…and he was at our baby sister's birthday party, along with the rest of the family," finished Fred.
Harry looked horrified! "I am such an idiot! Such a git! Such a prat!"
"Don't forget insensitive, forgetful fool," offered George, merrily.
"Or unfeeling, heart-stomper," offered Fred, helpfully.
"I know," agreed Harry, with his head hung down. "I know. Anyway, the point is that I want to make it up to her, if I can. I thought if I could get to Hogsmeade and find her some sort of really nice present, it would be a start. Dumbledore said that invisibility cloaks can't hide you from the Dementors, and the last thing I want to do is pass out while invisible. The only way someone will find me is if they trip over me. You two seem to know more about this castle than Dumbledore himself. Do you think you could help me out?"
Fred and George looked at each other while Harry watched them silently communicating. George finally said, "Possibly, but we're not sure."
"We'll let you know before the next Hogsmeade visit."
A little while after the twins left, Ginny came back carrying two schoolbags, having a hard time at it, walked into the room and dropped them on a chair. Then she strolled up to his bedside and kissed him before explaining, "I ate breakfast as fast as I could so I could get back before you got too lonely."
"Thanks, Ginny, I missed you," Harry replied, trying to be as romantic as possible because of his previous blunder, "You didn't have to do that, but I appreciate it. I love you."
Ginny blushed slightly and responded, "I love you, too. I wanted to be with you. I brought our homework so we could study together."
"Oh, Ginny, you don't have to spend the day here. I know you'd rather be in the common room…"
"I'd rather be with you!" stated Ginny defiantly. "I thought my boyfriend would like to spend time with me, but if I was wrong…"
"No, Ginny. You're not wrong! I love spending time with you! I just don't know why you'd want to be with such an insensitive, forgetful git like me!"
"I already told you, I'm not mad about you forgetting my birthday, but I will be if you don't drop it!"
"I realized that last year I was at the Burrow on your birthday. I should have remembered! Even if I didn't know the exact date! You didn't forget my birthday! You are such a much better person than me!"
Ginny sighed and replied, "Fine! I'm better than you at remembering birthdays, and you're better at slaying basilisks! Can you please drop it?"
"Okay, Ginny, whatever makes you happy. But I am gonna make it up to you, somehow."
"Fine," conceded Ginny. "I want to know how you're feeling."
"I'm fine. Madame Pomfrey's only making me stay so that she has someone to torment. Let me see my Transfiguration book, some parchment, and a quill. I have a paper due next class."
"Sure," Ginny replied, ruffling through his bag, "Would you also like some ink?"
-IYCHH-
Harry was released Monday and things got back to normal. A few weeks later, when the next Hogsmeade visit was announced, Harry realized he hadn't heard back from the twins. He'd thought about having Hermione pick something up for him, but he wanted to personally pick out what he'd give Ginny. He didn't know what he'd do now.
On the Saturday morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Harry and Ginny bid goodbye to Ron and Hermione, who were wrapped in cloaks and scarves, then turned up the marble staircase alone, and headed back toward Gryffindor Tower. Snow had started to fall outside the windows, and the castle was very still and quiet.
"Psst – Harry! Ginny!"
They turned, halfway along the third-floor corridor, to see Fred and George peering out at them from behind a statue of a hump-backed, one-eyed witch.
"What are you doing?" inquired both Ginny and Harry curiously.
Harry asked, "How come you're not going to Hogsmeade?"
"We've come to give you two a bit of festive cheer before we go," answered Fred, with a mysterious wink. "Come in here…"
He nodded toward an empty classroom to the left of the one-eyed statue. Harry and Ginny followed Fred and George inside. George closed the door quietly and then turned, beaming, to look at them.
"Early Christmas present to you, sis," he explained.
Fred added, "A few weeks ago, your insensitive, forgetful, boyfriend…" At this, Harry looked down.
"…came begging us to help him make up for his unforgivable blunder of forgetting your birthday…" added George.
"…and taking away some of your happiness." concluded Fred.
"He wanted us to help him sneak into Hogsmeade…" clarified George.
"…so he could buy you a gift," finished Fred.
Ginny smiled at Harry and commented, "That was sweet."
"…but we would never help your boyfriend…" continued George.
"…to break rules like that. What would Mum and Percy think?" asked Fred.
"So, Ginny," continued George. "We'll help you to go instead…"
"…and if you want to take him along, that's your prerogative."
Fred then produced the Marauder's Map, and the twins explained its use, to show all of Hogwarts and where everyone is.
After explaining the one-eyed-witch shortcut, George looked solemnly at Ginny and declared, "We bequeath this map upon thee for posterity, to help insure that there will always be a Weasley who will follow in our footsteps…"
"…causing mayhem, anarchy, and disorder all over Hogwarts…" added Fred.
"When we're gone. We just don't think Ron's up to the job!" explained George.
"Well, thanks guys," replied Ginny.
"Mind you behave yourselves," instructed Fred and George together as they turned to leave.
"Just remember, Harry," reminded Fred.
"Even with the map and your invisibility cloak…" added George.
"…we can still find you and make your life miserable…" continued Fred.
"…if you hurt our sister," finished George as they left.
"Well, Harry," commented Ginny.
"Well, Ginny," replied Harry.
"I guess we should try it out," suggested Ginny.
"I think we should wear my cloak," advised Harry. "We definitely don't want to get caught!"
"That's for sure."
"You wait here, Ginny. I'll be right back."
Within a few minutes, Harry had returned with the cloak, and they took the secret passage that led into the cellar of Honeydukes, thinking about what a wonderfully secluded place the passage was. They got into Honeydukes, keeping the cloak in a schoolbag until it was needed, and surveyed the store, until they noticed a few familiar faces in the crowd.
Upon seeing Ron and Hermione, Harry whispered to Ginny, "Let's get out of here before they see us. I don't think Hermione will be happy about you being here. Besides," Harry added with a grin, "I'd kind of like this to be our little secret." They then got out of that store, made sure no one was watching, and covered themselves with Harry's cloak.
"Sure," agreed Ginny, winking at him under the cloak, "Where do you want to go to first?"
"First of all," suggested Harry, "I want you to pick a gift out for yourself, and then I want to find you a few presents that I'll surprise you with on Christmas."
"Harry, you don't have to…" Ginny was interrupted by a brief kiss.
"But I want to."
"Okay, Harry," conceded Ginny, "but I'll be getting you a Christmas present while you're getting mine!"
"If you insist," replied Harry with a smirk, "What store do you want to look at first?"
They walked into a few stores near Honeydukes (taking off the cloak once they got into an empty corner of the store and putting it back on once they left to avoid being spotted as best they could), and Harry noted the objects that Ginny looked at with wonder, checked out the price tag, and left behind. After three stores, Ginny noticed that Ron and Hermione were finally leaving Honeydukes, so they went back in there.
After looking at several choices, Ginny pointed at a box of Fizzing Whizbees and announced, "That's what I'd like for my birthday."
"Ginny, I'll be happy to buy those for you, but that's not enough to spend for your birthday! You'll have to pick more than just that."
"That's all I want," insisted Ginny.
Harry realized that she didn't want him to spend his money on her, so he decided to go along with that, but make sure to spend more on her secret presents. He smiled at her and said, "Fine, whatever you want."
After that, they walked together for a while, exploring places like Zonko's joke shop, until they finally split up for Christmas shopping, Ginny insisting that Harry keep the cloak because he's the one everybody knows, deciding to meet at the Three Broomsticks, a place Ron had mentioned after the first Hogsmeade visit, for butterbeer in an hour. Neither one of them had any trouble, so Harry was invisibly standing near the entrance to the Three Broomsticks when Ginny walked toward the door. He whispered, "Ginny, it's me. I'm right behind you." She acted like she didn't hear him, walked inside, ordered two butterbeers, walked to a table in the back of the room and sat down. She wasn't the least bit surprised when Harry appeared out of thin air near her and sat down.
"Get all your shopping done?" asked Ginny, while opening her bottle.
"Yes, did you?" asked Harry, taking a sip from his bottle.
"Oh yes. What do you think of Hogsmeade?" asked Ginny.
"Well, I was…"
"Put the cloak on, Harry!" Ginny interrupted, "Ron and Hermione are here!"
They quickly pulled the invisibility cloak over themselves and their drinks, just before Ron and Hermione walked toward them. Fortunately, they picked a nearby table and not the one Harry and Ginny were seated at. Harry whispered, "Thank God! I thought for sure that they were coming to our table!"
"Me, too," Ginny whispered back. "If Hermione accidentally sat on your lap, I'd have had to hex her!"
At that moment, the door opened, and in walked Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, followed by Hagrid, who was deep in conversation with Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic. Harry noticed Hermione perform a spell that caused the Christmas tree to hide her and Ron's table while Fudge and company settled down into theirs.
Harry and Ginny at their table, and Ron and Hermione at their table, all overheard the conversation that revealed that Sirius Black was James Potter's best friend and betrayed him and his family to Voldemort. How poor, innocent, Peter Pettigrew had tried to capture Sirius, ending up being blown to bits. How Sirius was Harry's godfather, and the best man at Harry's parents' wedding.
The whole time, Ginny was holding Harry's hand under the cloak. They watched Ron and Hermione look at each other and leave. Harry could swear he heard Hermione ask Ron, "Should we tell Harry?" before they left. Staying under the cloak, Ginny carefully guided a shell-shocked Harry back to the Honeydukes passage.
When they were about half-way back to Hogwarts, Ginny grabbed Harry's arm and stopped him. She looked in his eyes and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"NO!" Harry snapped, causing Ginny to flinch, "He's a murderer! He betrayed my parents! I'm gonna kill him!"
Ginny slapped him across the face and shouted, "No you're not! If you do, you'll be just as bad as Black! You're better than that!" By this point Ginny was crying. "Do you think your parents wanted you to become a murderer?"
Harry felt his freshly slapped cheek with his left hand, and then softly spoke to Ginny, "You're right. They wouldn't want me to be a killer. It's just, I just…"
At this moment, Ginny pulled Harry into an embrace, letting him cry on her shoulder. When he was finished, he looked up at her and said, "Er, sorry."
"There's nothing for you to be sorry for," replied Ginny, whom Harry noticed had also been crying, "A lot of people, like Black, have caused you pain. I'm here to help you get through it. I seem to remember you doing something similar for me when I needed it." She grabbed his hand, instructed, "Come on," and together they walked back to Hogwarts.
-IYCHH-
Chapter end