Walking up the path everyone was greeted at the door by a smiling Mrs. Weasley who said in an airy tone "Get all of your shopping done dears?"
Ron was the first one to speak, but Harry was only vaguely aware of his voice as Ginny silently sidled up beside him and whispered into his ear "It's getting kind of dark, do you want to try it out tomorrow, or in the morning?" as she glanced up at the sky.
Harry carefully shrugged, trying his best not to drop the packages he had in his hand he said "Dunno, the morning I guess." After a few moments pause he added "That way we can see the ground rushing underneath us as we break some speed records."
Ginny couldn't really see too well in this half light but she could hear the small grin in his voice. With a gentle nudge she leant over and planted a kiss on his cheek saying "It's a deal." before she sped up to bring her share of the things inside. She left Harry standing in the dust, grateful that no one could see him blushing in the dark and wondering at how much effect she had on him. After a few moments he recovered his senses enough to make his way inside.
# # #
The Prophet was deep in thought; sitting at a small coffee shop in the airport concourse he watched as people moved by in droves. That was the beauty of muggle travel he thought; it was so easy to get lost in the crowds, to move around unnoticed, but of course there were always tradeoffs. In this case it was the speed at which they traveled.
He couldn't help but smile as he saw a woman walk by and quickly glance in his direction. The stiffness in her movements gave her away; it didn't take any amazing powers of perception to sense the anxiety rolling off of her in waves. The muggles who saw her would simply assume that she was tense from the exhaustion of traveling, and having her personal space violated by the mass of humanity that was pushing in around her.
None of them would guess that she was a bodyguard, and that she was tense because the person she had sworn to protect was so vulnerable out in public. And neither was she alone. Looking around he saw a dozen people, all of them carefully watching him from various locations; providing 360 degrees of protection without being conspicuous.
As much as his guards may be worried about happenings in the here and now he was focused on the future. The actual ritual itself would be dangerous, this he knew, and it would be best to take his time. With a knowing smile he looked at the ground beneath his feet. He was standing on the best possible evidence of what could go wrong if it was done improperly.
In a single day and night of misfortune… It was a shame that modern man had relegated Plato's warning to mere myth, even wizards didn't really believe in the city's existence. Then again, they also didn't know about the true power of the wellsprings either. The worlds various wizarding governments protected these sites out of simple national pride and a sense of history. But the Prophet new better, and he took the warning to heart. The time to strike was now but he also knew that it wouldn't be prudent either. For now they could quietly implant themselves, and gain strength.
"Lá é algo errado com esse homem, você considerou seus olhos?"
"Não tão ruidosamente, aqui you."
Looking up The Prophet flashed a smile in the direction of the young couple at the adjoining table. "Olá!, o tempo bonito é ele não?" He said as he gestured towards one of the large skylights overhead. The man went pale as he got another glance at The Prophets dark eyes. The man promptly stood up, and dragged his girlfriend away. Turning to look at the board he realised that their flight had arrived. Standing up he languidly stretched, it was time to move on.
# # #
After breakfast Harry and Ginny both quietly snuck out of the house before Mrs. Weasley could saddle them with any chores. Sneaking into the broom shed in the garden they excitedly ripped the broom from its package. Looking at it, resting on a bed of paper it was highlighted by a beam of sunlight that came from the grubby window in a corner of the shed. To Harry it was a little ironic, it looked a little bit like some sort of idol placed in an ancient temple or something.
He started when he heard Ginny say "Do you wanna be up front or behind?"
"Dunno." He said with a shrug, he really didn't mind either way.
Leaning into him a little she said "I'll be up front first, there's a place I want to show you."
"M'kay" he mumbled as he picked up the broom.
Slinking back into the yard they quickly got themselves situated on the broom, Harry wrapped his arms around her waist as they kicked off. He lost himself in the scent of her hair as they flew, he was only vaguely aware of the ground below them. When they finally came to land Harry looked around, they were near a small, lazy river. They were on a pebbly beach of smooth stones ranging in size from your thumbnail to the size of a persons head, interspersed among them were the occasional boulder.
Dismounting, they laid the broom to rest on a large boulder nearby and turning to him she said "So, what do you think?" She raised her arms expansively as she gestured for him to take in all of the sensations that surrounded them. There was a slight childlike quality to her face, with a hint of nervousness. She seemed to both be very proud of having known about this place and worried that he might not like it.
After a few seconds he smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. In a husky voice he whispered "It's beautiful."
She gave a small smile as she said "Are you talking about the locale or its inhabitants?"
Harry smiled as he said "Both."
She gave a small giggle, resting her hands on his chest she looked around for a minute. The smile faded from her face as she looked around and after a few moments she said "This is where I like to go to be alone, whenever I need to think."
Harry noticed the somber undertone, and understood; this was where she had been spending her time prior to the funeral, when she hadn't been locked away in her room or eating. After a few minutes he quietly said "It certainly is very calming."
"Yeah, it is." She said weakly. "In all of the time over the years that I have spent here I've never run into anyone else. And no one has ever found me." She said, her head still turned away.
For a few moments they stayed in silence, Harry trying to puzzle out what she was thinking. Suddenly Ginny's head snapped around and with an impish grin on her face said "A place like this, you can do all sorts of things and never get caught." At that moment Harry noticed that she had started sliding her hands from the small of his back to the front and were moving down.
Harry's face paled as his mind went blank. The only thought that came to him was oh no, not again. Harry started struggling gently, trying not to hurt her. As he tryed to work himself free he said "Ginny, don't do this." She kept going, he was almost free, he didn't know why she was acting this way. "Ginny, Ginny? Stop!" This got her attention, her arms went slack and Harry took the opportunity to get out of reach of her, hoping that she would regain her senses.
Her expression was conflicting, the raging blush on her face and ears and the slight slackening of her jaw announced loudly to the world her surprise, shock and fury at rejection. But her eyes were only filled with a lonely sorrow. They quickly began to fill with tears, and with a hurt tone to her voice said "You, you don't want me?"
"I do" Harry said in a strained tone "I really do."
"Then why won't you love me!" She screamed.
A small portion of his mind noticed how he hadn't even realized that there had been chirping birds until the yell had silenced them. The majority however was working furiously, trying to find an answer.
He took a step forward, and in reply she took one back. He opened his mouth, but said nothing; he was still trying to find the words. "Why!" She shouted again, it sounded like an accusation when she said it and paired with the hurt in her voice made it all feel like a knife to Harry's heart.
"I do love you, and I – I think we need to take our time. I know from experience grief makes you reckless and you can do things you regret. I just worry that you're trying to use this bury how you feel about your brother, and I don't want either of us to do anything we'll regret later. I'd never forgive myself if I caused you any pain, and I'm worried that this would do more harm than good." For a few moments she just stared at him, tears still welling up in her eyes. Slumping against a nearby boulder she slid to the ground and wrapped herself up in her own legs and started crying. Harry quickly made his way over and slid down beside her, and put a hand around her shoulder.
He simply held her as best he could while she cried and after a while she stopped. For some reason the silence scared Harry more than her crying; he gave her a concerned look that she didn't see as her head was still buried in her knees. Tentatively he asked "Ginny are you alright?"
That seemed to snap her out of it, looking up she turned to him and her eyes red rimmed gave him a weak but genuine smile. As she leant on his shoulder she said "No, but I will be." Harry gave her the tightest squeeze he could; right now he didn't feel like letting her go, not now, not ever.
She leaned a little bit more into him and after a few moments Harry realized that she had fallen asleep. Allowing himself to become lost in the calming noise and the warmth of the summer sun overhead his thoughts and consciousness slowly began to drift.
Harry was vaguely aware of someone gently nudging him in the ribs. Shielding his eyes against the sun overhead he opened them and saw Ginny standing over him, the rims of her eyes significantly less red than they had been. With a wan smile she said "Do you want to go back? It's probably lunch time by now."
Harry didn't want to leave, but his stomach was in disagreement with him. The loud grumbling, gurgling noise that it emitted caused Ginny to giggle a little bit. Taking that as her answer she grabbed his hand and started dragging him to his feet.
Walking back to where the broom had been left Harry turned to her and said "I think I know how much this place means to you. Thank you for showing it to me."
The smile was back on her face again, and as she grasped his hand and gave it a small squeeze she said "You're welcome."
Mounting the broom again they kicked off, this time Harry flying in front. As they flew she gave him directions, and after about a half hour found themselves in sight of the Burrow.
Touching down in the garden, they both dismounted and Harry went to place the broom in the shed. Walking into the kitchen Harry was greeted by Mrs. Weasley placing a note in his hand as she continued talking to Ginny about someone who had just left a few minutes ago.
Looking at the note he read:
Dear Harry,
I'm sorry that I missed you but Molly promised to give you this note on my behalf. Anyways I wanted to invite you and the Weasleys to Remus and Nymphadora's funeral this Saturday. I understand if you can't make it but I still wanted to make the offer. They were both so fond of you.
– Andromeda Tonks
"What is it?" Ginny inquired.
Looking up he said "Andromeda Tonks invited everyone to Remus and Tonks' funerals."
The small smile that had slowly been returning to Ginny's face disappeared again. After a few seconds she said "Ohh, okay. When is it?"
"This Saturday" Harry said.
"Right" She said, after a few moments she turned and without a word went up the stairs.
Molly moved a little closer and said in an undertone "You'll just have to bear with her dear. She and Nympha – Tonks, were very close. She was the sister that Ginny never had." Harry nodded in understanding before going up the stairs himself.
Authors Note: Hey everybody, sorry it's been a while since I've posted a new chapter. Basically life happened, but don't worry my time hasn't been wasted. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about my characters that I'm going to be creating and introducing in short order. I've also been thinking about the overall story itself and the shape and direction its going to take.
One thing that I really want to do is expand upon the wizarding world at large, I really want to build on certain customs unique to various countries and I am going to be drawing a lot of stuff from the myths and legends of multiple countries for alternatives on how magic and wizards in general can act and look depending on what country they come from. I also want to do a lot more exploring into the 'old magics' that aren't really used anymore.
As usual, I apologize for any rough patchs. To put it bluntly the mushy stuff isn't my strong suit in writeing but I think I'm getting better. I really need some feedback on it though.
Also, with school starting up and other stories I write there will be more time between chapters in general. So please bear (I think this is the version of the word I want?) with me...
BTW, please spread the word among friends. This story starts out all mushy, but this obviously isn't all that is going to happen and I'm worried that most of the people interested in this exciting stuff will be turned off by the mushy chapters at the beginning… Thanks
P.S.-Read and Review! Anyone who tries to guess where I set the airport that the Prophet is in and rests above the extinct civilization (it should be pretty obvious which civilization it is) is in the real world gets bonus points! Here's a hint, it's a small island chain.