Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
If You Can Help Her – Chapter 10 – Just in Time
Harry woke up early on the last day of his exams a bit nervous about them, but more nervous about what else this day had in store. He was secretly glad that Ginny had remembered the Chamber anniversary, because he knew that wasn't far away from their anniversary of becoming a couple. He'd asked Hermione about it, who provided the information after giving him a small speech about boys never remembering things. Their anniversary was today, and he was determined that Ginny would enjoy every part of this day (except maybe her exams).
He quickly got ready and was in the common room, sitting on a chair facing the stairs to the girls' dormitory, before anyone else had woken up. While he waited for Ginny, he was looking over his DADA textbook, since that was his first test of the day. Lupin had said it would be an obstacle course, which scared Neville but excited Harry. He thought it sounded like fun. As other students began filling up the common room, he closed his book and started watching the girls' staircase.
When he finally saw Ginny, followed closely by Hermione, begin descending those stairs, he got up and walked to the bottom of the stairs to greet Ginny. He'd gone over what he would do in his head at least fifty times, so he didn't have any problems doing it. As soon as she got to the bottom of the stairs, Harry kissed Ginny lightly. He took her hand and guided her toward a sofa while saying, "Good morning. Isn't it a beautiful day? It's the one year anniversary of the best decision I ever made!"
She blushed. "You remembered!"
"How could I forget?" He noticed Hermione rolled her eyes at this statement. "I can't tell you how happy you've made me this past year."
"You've made me happy, too," declared Ginny.
Harry's face turned slightly pink at that statement. "After our exams, I'd, er, like to spend the rest of the day with you. Can you meet me here at 3:30?"
"Yes, Harry. I'd love to." She then proceeded to kiss him quickly and walked out the portrait hole toward her exams.
The first exam went very well for Harry. He was extremely surprised that he'd actually beaten everybody in class, including Hermione, to the end of Professor Lupin's obstacle course. Both Ron and he were highly amused at Hermione's boggart. He couldn't wait to tell Ginny about it at lunch. He was thinking this when he, Ron, and Hermione ran into Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. After a depressing conversation that proved conclusively to Harry that Fudge is in Mr. Malfoy's pocket and cares nothing about justice, they got to the Great Hall and met up with a cheerful redhead that kissed him upon entering the room. She asked, "How was your defense exam? I have mine after lunch."
He looked at her and put on the best smile he could manage. "Er, fine, Ginny. I got the best grade in the class."
"Even better than Hermione? That's really great. Now tell me what's wrong. You three look like you've just been to a funeral."
After they'd told her about Fudge, and Ginny had verbally abused the Minister of Morons, er, Magic for having the executioner there on the day of the 'so-called' appeal, Harry decided to change the subject. "Lupin's exam was a lot of fun. I know it won't be the same exact one for you, but I think you'll enjoy it. We simply had to get past every creature we'd studied, except for a werewolf, which Snape made us study when Lupin was ill." Hermione huffed at this statement for a reason Harry couldn't imagine.
"So," asked Ginny with a devious look on her face, "how did you manage to beat Hermione on an exam?"
Harry and Ron chuckled while Hermione turned red and began staring intently at her plate. She explained softly, "I got stopped by a boggart."
"A boggart?" asked Ginny, knowing that, based off of the boys' chuckling, this question would be well worth asking, "What did your boggart become?"
Ron began laughing loudly while Hermione seemed to sink lower in her seat. Harry, obviously having trouble holding back his mirth said quickly, "McGonagall telling her that she'd failed all her classes," and burst out laughing. Ginny joined in the laughter.
"It's not that funny!" yelled Hermione, who was now getting a bit irritated with them.
"I'm sorry, Hermione, but actually it is that funny," argued Ginny. "Ron told me how that in your first year you were afraid they'd get you 'killed, or worse, expelled.'" She then put on a more serious expression and looked into Hermione's eyes. "It's not funny. Actually, it's sad. I would've thought your worst fear would be something more important than your grades, but apparently you don't think anything is more important."
"That's not fair!" yelled Ron, angrily, "She doesn't only care about her grades!"
"I, I do care about other things!" stated Hermione, obviously unsure of herself, "I, er, care about my parents, and, and you. I also care about Hagrid and Buckbeak! We should visit them right after our last exams."
Ron agreed, "That's a good idea. What do you say, Harry?"
Harry and Ginny looked guiltily at one another, not sure what to say. Harry decided that he'd better answer the question. "Er, well, Ron. Ginny and I had plans."
"Plans? Can't you two keep from sucking each other's faces for one bloody day?!" yelled Ron. "I mean, I've accepted that you guys do that a lot more than you should, but …"
"Honestly, Ronald," interrupted Hermione. "Today is their anniversary."
"Yes, brother, and if you don't shut up about our snogging, we'll celebrate by petrifying you again! I wonder how the Bat Bogey hex feels like to a person under the full body-bind." Ron paled at this.
Harry suggested, "If Ginny doesn't mind, I think we can compromise on this."
Ginny raised her eyebrows, "Compromise?"
"Yeah. We'll go to Hagrid's hut right after dinner instead of after classes. We'll need to get the cloak from the secret passage, though." It was decided that Hermione would be the one to retrieve the cloak, since she'd never been spotted near the secret passage before.
When Harry arrived in the common room after his Divination test, he looked pale. A concerned looking Ginny walked up to him and asked, "What's wrong?" He told her about Professor Trelawney's prophecy that the Dark Lord would return and asked if Ginny thought it was real. She answered, "I honestly don't know, Harry, but I do know that there's nothing we can do about it. I think we should try to enjoy what little time we have alone today."
"You're right, Ginny. Let me just put my stuff upstairs and I'll be right with you.
They ended up going to a rarely used room so they could have some privacy. They sat down on a few chairs that were facing each other for a few minutes, not sure exactly what to do for their anniversary. Ginny spoke first nervously. "Harry, I, er, got you something," and she pulled a small package out of her pocket that had a card attached.
"Thanks, Ginny. I got you something, too." Ginny relaxed a little and smiled. Harry then produced a package of his own with another card. They exchanged their gifts, and surprisingly, the packages looked very similar. Ginny insisted he open hers first. He opened the card and started to chuckle as he read,
"His eyes are as green as moldy old bread
His hair is as dark as a big piece of lead
It's now been a year, since I could call him dear
Can't get this boy out of my head!"
While laughing, he replied, "I guess I'll have to write another poem for your birthday," and opened the package. He got quiet as his eyes widened when he saw a white handkerchief with the initials, "H P," embroidered in green letters in one of the corners. It was very well made, and Harry guessed that she'd done it herself. "Did you make this yourself?"
"Yes," Ginny looked down. "Do you hate it?"
"No. No, I love it. It's just…Open your gift." She looked confused but started to open the package. Her eyes bulged out and she smiled when she saw a white handkerchief with red lace along the sides, and a red rose embroidered in one of the corners.
"This is beautiful, Harry! I, this is so weird! I didn't tell anyone what I was giving you, so I know you didn't know I was making you a handkerchief."
She then opened her card and read the message inside, "Thank you for allowing me to help dry your tears."
Her eyes filled with unshed tears as she embraced Harry tightly. "Thank you for caring enough to dry my tears. Thank you for putting joy in my life so that I don't always need to cry."
He put his arms around her and they held each other for a while, thanking each other for all they'd done for each other since they'd been together, and making promises for the future.
When they came, hand in hand, to the Great Hall for dinner, they found Ron looking irritated. "You're late! Couldn't you stop snogging long enough to look at a clock?"
"What is with you today, Ron?" demanded an aggravated Ginny. "I thought you'd gotten over us being together!"
"He's just realizing that you're really serious about each other," answered an annoyed Hermione. "He's been talking about it all afternoon. He had hoped you'd break up long before now, and he's beginning to wonder if you ever will."
"I hope we don't," declared Harry. "I don't know what I'd do if that happened." Then he turned to Ron and said, "I'd think you'd be glad that I'm serious about Ginny. Would you prefer if I dumped her and went after some other girl?"
"No, I," replied Ron, staring down at his plate.
"Maybe he'd rather I went after some other boy instead. Maybe Draco Malfoy would be more to Ron's liking! It might work. I am a pureblood after all!"
"Some of us are trying to eat here," responded Hermione, clearly disgusted with that idea.
"No, I don't want you dating Malfoy! I just thought you both should, you know, date other people."
"Why should I date anyone else when I've already found the girl I want? I hope Ginny feels the same way as I do, cause I can't imagine not being with her!"
Ginny blushed and held his hand, "I do feel the same way, Harry. I know that most kids our age don't feel like that. Maybe we're just strange. Maybe it has something to do with our bond. I don't know. But I do know that Ron's coming awfully close to being hexed!"
"Your bond," muttered Hermione, looking like a light bulb had just gone on in her head, "I never thought of that! I'll have to read. Don't have time today. Never mind."
The other three people with her just stared at her until Ron commented, "I hate it when she gets like that." Harry and Ginny laughed at that statement.
After dinner, Harry retrieved his cloak out of his robe's pocket and they attempted to fit together under it, but found that their feet were showing. After five minutes of trying to fit by squatting down and anything else they could think of, Hermione pointed her wand at the cloak and cast, "Engorgio." The cloak got bigger and they could all fit comfortably under it.
Harry was astonished. "How come you never tried that before?"
"I never thought of it."
Ginny suggested, "I think we'd better get moving if we're gonna see Hagrid."
They arrived at his cabin, Hermione found Scabbers to Ron's utter astonishment, and they left just before the executioners showed up. While they were headed toward the castle, Scabbers bit Ron and escaped after Crookshanks showed up. Ron got out from under the cloak to look for his rat in the darkness.
All of the sudden, a big black dog that looked like the grim caught Ron and pulled him under the Whomping Willow, breaking his leg in the process. The other three threw down the cloak without a second thought and ran after Ron. After Crookshanks had caused the tree to stop moving, they were able to follow Ron through the passage to the Shrieking Shack, only to find that the dog was actually the madman Sirius Black in disguise.
Ginny immediately jumped in front of Harry, saying he'll have to kill her first. Both Ron and Hermione made similar claims, but Sirius declared that only one would die tonight. After a long, confusing, and finally enlightening conversation which Lupin joined and Snape interrupted long enough to end up unconscious from three disarming spells and one powerful Bat Bogey hex, they found out that Percy and then Ron had been taking care of Peter Pettigrew, a.k.a. Wormtail for years, and that Sirius Black was innocent.
Just when it looked like things were going to be fine, Professor Lupin became a werewolf, thus allowing Wormtail to escape. Just before Peter transformed back into a rat, Ginny jumped at him, intent on grabbing him by the throat. He transformed before she reached him, so she ended up falling to the ground, hands first. Her left hand broke when she hit the ground. Dementors then attacked.
-IYCHH-
Harry woke up in the Hospital wing to news of Black's capture and upcoming Dementor's kiss. Dumbledore soon had the children alone to hear the real story, and had Harry and Hermione, who weren't injured, use the time turner to go back in time to help Buckbeak and Black escape. Before Sirius left on the hippogriff, he asked about the others.
"They'll both be all right," replied Hermione. "They've just got a little mending to do."
Sirius turned to Harry and mentioned, "I noticed the red haired girl…"
"Ginny," provided Harry, with a slight smile forming on his face.
"Ginny," continued Black, smiling broadly. "She seems to really care about you."
"We've, er," replied Harry, beginning to blush, "We've been going out for a year. Actually, today's our anniversary."
Black frowned slightly. "And you had to spend it rescuing me. Worse yet, she got injured. I'm sorry I ruined the day for you."
"You didn't. Pettigrew did," corrected Harry, now starting to frown.
"Anyway," continued Sirius. "I was just going to comment that your taste in women is similar to your father's. He ended up marrying a spirited redhead, himself." Sirius then looked into Harry's eyes and commented, "Ginny does remind me a lot of your mother."
Harry blushed once again at this statement. Not sure how to respond, he suggested, "You'd better go before they catch you."
But Black was still staring down at Harry.
"GO!" Harry and Hermione shouted together.
"We'll see each other again," he promised. "You are – truly your father's son, Harry…."
Black left on Buckbeak, leaving Harry and Hermione to hurry back to the hospital wing. When they finally got the chance to tell Ron and Ginny what had happened, Ron paled and Ginny blushed at Black's comparison of herself to Lily Potter.
"At least HE approves," commented Ginny, still annoyed with Ron.
"I didn't say I don't approve!" replied Ron, defensively. "I just…"
"Want us to break up," supplied Harry. "That's not gonna happen!"
"You might as well just get used to it!" declared Ginny, smiling. "In other words, dear brother, give it up."
Ron decided that if he wanted to maintain his friendships, he had to give up, at least for the time being.
-IYCHH-
Chapter end