Hey guys, I really like this chapter, myself, and I hope you do too! Please review this and (not that I don't love to hear it) I would really like to read something other than "Update!" Just because I want to get some nice, constructive criticism! Thanks so much for reading, and more to come!
After dinner, Harry and Ginny went upstairs into Gryffindor Tower, taking a separate spiral staircase that held an extra room for him and Ginny to sleep in that night. Neither planned to sleep yet, but they needed somewhere to go until the rest of the castle was asleep.
They could hear games of exploding snap, shrieks of giggles, and groans as the children downstairs lost games of Wizard Chess. But Harry and Ginny were pouring over the Marauders Map.
"I think we should to go the kitchens first," Ginny said. "I always liked it down there."
"You've been there before?" he asked her quizzically.
"Harry," she looked at him, rolling her eyes. "I'm the younger sister of Fred and George. Of course I've been there." Mentioning Fred had begun to get easier, as long as they were talking like this, about things that didn't hurt.
"Right. I forgot," he laughed. "I still can't believe we've never done this before! I snuck around Hogwarts so much in my day, yet I never did it with you." He shook his head mournfully.
"Well, we only went out for a few weeks, and I was busying trying to study for O.W.L.s. Of course, you didn't let me!" She made a face, and he leaned forward and kissed her.
"You were very fun to distract," he pointed out.
"Oh, thanks so much Harry."
"Anyway, so we're going down to the kitchens, then where?"
"How about the restricted section of the library? I've always wondered what was in there," she put in.
"Yes! We could read about all those things we were never allowed to!" he exclaimed.
"Then sneak into Slughorn's office and misplace all his things!"
"And McGonagall's office!"
"Uh... Harry?" Ginny said after a minute. "We have definitely lost our touch. It's like we've gone back in time. Why on earth would we want to mess with Slughorn's stuff? Who even cares?"
Harry sighed. "I guess you're right. Anyway, the best adventures I ever had with Ron, we didn't plan. So let's just see what we come up with!"
"Alright," she agreed. He pulled out the Marauders map while they waited, which she hadn't seen since her fifth year at Hogwarts.
"McGonagall's with Slughorn in his room!" Ginny giggled, horrified. "I wonder what they're doing."
Harry gave her a disgusted look. "Why would you want to picture that?"
She just laughed harder. "Just do it. Just imagine." Harry did, and shuddered. "Do you feel old being here?"
He thought for a moment. "Yeah, I do. But I'm still happy to be here."
"Me too. I feel the same way. Ooh, tomorrow we should go see Hagrid. I'm dying to!"
"Yes, we should. I haven't broken my teeth on one of his rock cakes in ages," Harry joked.
At midnight, Harry and Ginny crept out under his invisibility cloak and headed down for the picture of the large bowl of fruit, tickling the pear. An explosion of house-elves found them, and they fell to their knees to show their appreciation to Harry.
"Mr. Harry Potter, sir!"
"Conqueror of the Dark Lord!"
"The Chosen One!" The chanted like this in their squeaky voices until Harry demanded that they stopped complimenting him and promising their eternal servitude.
Harry and Ginny shook the more fervent ones off, out of the crowd, a very small female house elf appeared. She was wearing a navy skirt that was pressed quite neatly and a tea towel with the Hogwarts crest on it.
"Mr. Harry Potter, sir. Winky is happy to see you, sir," she bowed low, and Harry felt his jaw drop. He hadn't expected to see her again! And here she was, looking happy as could be. Remembering the last time he saw her, he had to blink his eyes again. There weren't any signs of empty butterbeer bottles, either. Quickly, he explained to Ginny to Winky was, though she had already heard most of the stories.
"I'm very glad to meet you, Winky," Ginny said kindly, leaning down and offering Winky a finger of hers to shake. "I've heard so much about you."
"Winky is honored, Madam, to meet such a lovely lady as yourself." She bowed again. "May Winky bring Mr. Harry Potter and his lady something to eat?"
They politely declined, but three house-elves ran off to make them some tea anyway. "Winky, how have you been? You seem..." he was careful with his words. "Very well."
"Ah, Mr. Potter, Winky has been well. Thank you for noticing. Would you care to know why?"
"Of course we would, Winky," Ginny said, looking excitedly at Harry, who shrugged.
Winky turned around, calling to one of the other house-elves. "Mr. Harry Potter sir, this is Frond."
The house-elf bowed, and Harry saw that it was slightly bigger than Winky. When Frond spoke, he had a lower voice than Winky. Male, then. "Frond must say how very, very honored he is to meet Mr. Harry Potter." He bowed again. "And Mrs. Ginny Potter." Harry and Ginny leaned down, shaking hands with him.
"Frond has been a very good friend to Winky, sir. He came to Hogwarts after the Battle, sir, and has gotten Winky away from the Butterbeers."
Frond spoke again. "Winky was not doing so well, but now she is much better. Frond is very happy to have helped her, sir." Harry noticed Frond take Winky's hand, and Ginny looked at him with huge eyes.
"Winky could not have done it without him, sir, but Winky does miss Dobby," she said sadly, her large brown eyes looking down at the floor. "Sometimes Winky would give anything to have her best friend back."
Ginny sat down on the floor opposite them. "Oh, Winky," she said kindly. "No one will ever replace Dobby. We've all learned that from the war. But you can still be happy."
Winky smiled. "Oh! Madam, Winky is very happy. She is still working without pay, though- Winky will never completely understand that Dobby."
Harry and Ginny asked Winky and Frond for some of the news about the school. Apparently Hogwarts was doing quite well, with little conflict and students that got along well.
"Not everything is perfect, Mr. Potter sir. See, some of those Slytherins still cause trouble for us! They come into the kitchens and bewitch the dishes to fly around above our heads. It can get pretty nasty, sir," Winky said.
"But you must not think us complaining, sir!" Frond interjected, his huge eyes worried.
"No, no," Ginny said, calming them. "But I think it's time that we should be going anyway. It was really nice talking to you, Winky, Frond." She nodded at them, and Harry did too, before they turned towards the door, trying to escape the crowd of house-elves offering them food. Harry did manage to grab a few cream-cakes on his way out of there.
"What?!" he asked, catching Ginny's look. "Ron would never forgive me if I was in the Hogwarts kitchens and didn't grab a cream cake."
As soon as they were clear of the kitchens, Ginny clutched her heart and spun around. Harry stared in shock, not used to seeing his wife like this. "Oh, Harry! Isn't that just the most romantic thing you've ever seen? House-elves falling in love- oh!" She spun around tripping on a loose stone in the floor, into Harry's arms. "Sorry," she said, blushing in the almost-pitch darkness, lit up only my torches on the walls.
"It's alright..." He looked away.
"Oh, c'mon Harry, I know you think it's pretty cute. I reckon you're just melting on the inside," she smiled, looking at him from the corner of her eye.
"Oh, alright, maybe a little!" he grunted. "Anyway... Onward!"
They slipped back under the cloak and went back upstairs to the entrance hall, both of them remembering all the times they spent there. Harry remembered Peeves dropping water balloons down on him in his first year, while he sat shivering with fear and waiting to be sorted. But the mysteries of Hogwarts called, and they found themselves going up a small staircase to the right, and walking down a deserted corridor. After several more trips like this, they found themselves right in front of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
Harry felt Ginny shiver, and he himself remembered his trip down into the chamber of secrets.
"Can we get out of here?" she whispered, suddenly very conscious of the darkness and silence around them. Harry just nodded and they went on their way in the opposite direction, up a few flights of stairs and down different ones.
"Who goes there?" came a booming voice, causing them both to jump, knocking the helmet off a suit of armor, which clattered to the ground noisily. "Cowardly knight or brave warrior?"
"Oh, no," Harry whispered, looking for the portrait of the knight on the fat horse.
"You sit atop your steeds, shivering in your armour! What is your mission? Who dares to challenge... Sir Cadagon?" Harry really did not want a confrontation with Sir Cadagon at the moment, and told Ginny so. She agreed silently and they went their way on gratefully.
But the portrait had made a great deal of noise, and as they turned the next corner, he heard Ginny gasp. Harry looked down and saw the lamplike eyes of his least favorite animal in the world, Mrs. Norris.
"Run!" Ginny whispered, and they took off, trying to keep themselves covered with the cloak, but eventually giving up and tearing it off of them, Harry stuffing it into his pocket as they ran down numerous staircases and down a deserted hallway. They had forgotten that they weren't children in the castle anymore, and their hearts were pounding that the thought of being caught by Argus Filch.
Gasping for breath, Harry wrenched open the nearest door and Ginny threw herself inside of it, followed by Harry. They caught their breaths with their backs against the ancient wood, and Ginny tapped the lock with her wand, sealing the door.
Harry opened his eyes and saw that the room was lit by a strange blueish glow. "Lumos," he murmured, curious, and his wand tip glowed golden in the room.
There, in the center of the room, on the ancient stone floors of the dungeon, lay Dumbledore's pensieve.