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Chapter 3

Harry and Ginny

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Harry awoke the next morning with an odd glow about him. He felt strangely at ease with himself, almost unable to think. This of course was a blessing, as all he could usually think about was his godfather's death. He could just felt an unexplained inner calm slide over the depression that had been there. Ginny had, while not replaced Sirius in anyway, been able to make him feel closer to whole, closer to normal again.

Harry realized that his name was being called from downstairs. He got out of bed, dressed in his daytime clothes, and walked downstairs. He hit the lower level to find the entire Weasley family arguing about something. Harry fearing that they were talking about the events of last night. He stayed back until he discovered that the arguing was not about them.

Harry realized that there was an extra person in the room. The heated discussion was because Percy was there. Harry could hear Percy trying to apologize to his family.

"I am sorry. I thought that I was on the right side."

Molly instantly forgave him, by the looks of it. She had tears running down her cheeks. Everyone else seemed to think that he was not at the point of taking back with open arms. Arthur, whom the argument had started with last summer, was still hurt by his son's actions. Harry could tell that he was ready to forgive Percy but not easily.

"Hello Harry," Percy greeted moving the attention of the room. Harry was about to join in with everyone. He had not forgiven Percy at all. He remembered the letters that he sent to Ron. It was only when he remembered last night that he thought differently about it. He was going to need Molly on his side if he was to continue to date Ginny.

"Hello Percy, I see that you are on our side again." Molly looked as if she was about to cry even harder than she was. She turned to the others and started yelling at them.

"See Harry has forgiven him; why can't you all do the same."

"Well I haven't actually forgiven him. No, I am still quite mad at him but there is a war building up. We need him. The more people we have against Voldemort the better."

Only Percy flinched when hearing the dark lord's name, but he didn't say anything about it. The rest of the room silently agreed with Harry.

"Thanks, I know it's more than I deserve. Still thank you."

Breakfast was a quiet affair. No one seemed to have anything to say. They had all settled down since the argument. No one seemed to want to stir up the commotion from before.

A noise came from the window. They looked up to see a big brown owl tapping on the glass. Harry recognized it immediately. It was an official school owl. It seemed that their school lists had arrived early this summer.

Fred caught the owl and pulled the letters from it. He handed them to Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. Harry opened his letter to see what he was going to need for school this year. A quick glance at the list told him that he was going to need standard book of spells; grade six, advanced transfiguring, defense against the dark arts; text for those who chose to pursue it further, and newt level potions. That's weird; why was he taking newt potions; he only got an A in potions. A letter was attached to his book list informing all students fourth year and above to bring dress robes. The final page Harry had to read three times before he handed it to Ron to read.

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to announce that you have been selected as Quidditch captain for the Gryffindor team. We know that you have what it takes to lead Gryffindor to victory this year. You will be in charge of team practices and will need to recruit two need chasers. Have fun this year we know you have what it takes.

Sincerely

Professor McGonagall

Ron was impressed with the letter. The more that Harry thought about it the more it seemed that there wasn't anyone else. Katie bell, the only other candidate for captain, said last year that she would turn it down if the asked her to be captain. So he was the only other person on the team that had been there for more than a year. He would recruit Ginny as a chaser no matter what. She was too good not to. His six year was looking to be the best year at Hogwarts yet. Things actually started to seem like they where going to be fine.

The only problem with it all was that Harry's godfather was not here to share his happiness. Harry heaved a sigh and walked out of the kitchen to go think about Sirius. He never knew how much he could miss someone. This was an empty hole in his heart. Ginny might have made it hang higher but she was in his heart in a different way. She could never replace Sirius. The love he shared with her was different from the love he shared with Sirius. He only wished that he could have gotten to know Sirius better than he did. Thoughts about how he acted last year weaved throughout his mind. There was so much that he did wrong.

"Why didn't I use the mirror to contact Sirius when I thought he was in danger? This is entirely my fault. Why was I being so stupid? Hermione was right. I always act the hero, and when I do, somebody gets hurt. Someone always gets hurt. What if Ginny is next? Am I like poison, no matter who gets close to me eventually they will get hurt?"

Harry's head fell to his hands. His heart filled with grief. He missed Sirius so much. And the thought of losing Ginny to Voldemort was unbearable. He knew how Molly must have felt when she faced that Bogart last year at Sirius' old house. Ginny walked in and sat herself next to Harry on the couch. He was in tears over what he had just voiced to himself. She leaned over, gave him a hug, which he welcomed, and embraced. Molly walked into the living room and sat on the other side of Harry.

"Harry dear, I am going to Diagon Alley. You look like you need some fresh air. Why don't you and Ginny come along with me?"

Harry didn't speak he just nodded. His emotions were high strung and he didn't trust his voice. He felt grateful that Molly understood his need to get out of the house.

"Congratulations Ginny, on making prefect. I am so proud of you."

Harry felt a little bit better by this news she was a prefect. He decided that he was going to get her something special while they were in Diagon Alley. Harry was pulled out of his thoughts and into a hug by Molly.

"It's going to be alright Harry. It gets easier to deal with as time goes by. Now why don't you run upstairs and get ready?"

On his way out of the living room, Harry could hear Molly congratulating Ginny. She asked her what she wanted. Ginny said that she would think about it and excused herself to change. Harry entered Ron's room and began to undress himself. He had his shirt up around his head when he heard footsteps enter the room. He pulled the shirt over his head to see familiar locks of curly red hair.

"Ginny look I am sorry for taking away your moment. I know that you must be proud to be prefect. It is just that Sirius would have liked to know what was going on. I just miss him so much and it's fault."

"No Harry, you're wrong. This isn't your fault."

"If you're going to tell me that Sirius rushed there to save me on his choice…"

"Harry, I was going to say that he died because of a witch named Bellatrix. She murdered him Harry. This is her fault and only she and Voldemort can be blamed for his death. Harry, think about what you were doing. You were rushing in there to save him, how could you expect him not to do the same thing?"

Harry was speechless. He could see tears forming in her eyes. She was breaking down in front of him. He pulled Ginny into his embrace.

"Ginny do you remember why Voldemort wanted to get me in the department of mysteries."

"Yeah it had something to do with a prophecy."

"Yes it did. Dumbledore told me what it contained at the end of last year."

"What did it say?"

"It said the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…. It's about me. Everything fits into place. My parents defied him three times. I was born towards the end of July. And the dark lord marked me as his equal."

Harry continued to stare at her. She had remained motionless. Tears were now visibly seeping down her cheeks.

"Ginny I think we should get ready to go meet your mom."

"You're right Harry."

Ginny left the room so Harry could get changed. She went down to her room and looked into the mirror. Her eyes were reddened with tears. Her mind was still fresh with Harry's words. He was the only one with the power to defeat the dark lord. The last part echoed in her mind. "And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives." That meant that Harry would have to kill Voldemort or be killed by him.

"Ginny are you almost done."

Her mother's voice pulled her out of her head. She wiped her eyes and used a concealing powder on her face to hide her tears. She changed into her robes and looked over herself in the mirror. The powder had done its job. She didn't look like she had been crying.

Ginny went downstairs to meet her mother and Harry. When she entered the room, they were waiting for her. Her mom ushered Harry to go first. Ginny watched Harry enter the fireplace and grab a pinch of floo powder.

"The Leaky Cauldron." And with that, he vanished into the flames. Her mom went next. After she had vanished into the flames, Ginny grabbed a pinch of floo powder and entered the fireplace.

"The Leaky Cauldron." The fireplace began to twirl and her vision was blurred in colors. She could feel the ground begin to materialize under her feet. She dug her feet into the stone floor and braced for landing. She walked out of the fireplace to find her mother brushing soot off of Harry's clothes.

They exited the bar and made their way into Diagon Alley towards Gringotts the Wizarding bank that was run by goblins. Harry withdrew money from his account. He took out enough for his books new robes and something to buy for Ginny. After an hour, they had brought all of the things that they needed for the four students. Harry followed Ginny into the ice cream shop and bought ice cream for them all. Molly was hesitant on taking the ice cream but decided that it was all right to except things from Harry. She thanked him and sat down at the nearest table where they began to eat.

"So Harry…" Molly had started the conversation that Harry knew was the reason both he and Ginny were there.

"You want to know about Ginny and myself right? Well I am not going to leave her. I am happy that we are dating and I will make sure I do everything in my power to protect her from everything."

"Harry it's not that. I believe you and I am happy that you to found each other even in all of this mayhem. It's just that we were worried about last night. I wanted to know what triggered Ginny to feel what you felt. What triggered you two to act like one person? Basically what did Professor Dumbledore tell you last night?"

"He didn't know what was happening to us mom. He just said that there was a link that attracted us together when our p-p-passions rose."

"Well that explains some things but not how you sent Dumbledore across our kitchen floor."

"Well we don't know that one and Professor Dumbledore doesn't either mom." Harry knew that the reason they were invited was to be asked these questions. He didn't expect Molly to be ok with him dating her daughter though.

They finished her ice cream and exited the store. Molly excused herself; she needed some more time to get some other things. The three of them agreed to meet back at The Leaky Cauldron in little over an hour and a half. Harry and Ginny where left by themselves. They watched her mom vanish through the crowd. She appeared to be heading for The Leaky Cauldron. Where was she heading? They decided to ignore it and go off and wander Diagon Alley. Harry kept his hand on his wand at all times. Even though he doubted an attack would happen in the middle of a crowded area; he still wanted to be sure that his wand was accessible at all times. Harry walked with Ginny over to the Quidditch supplies shop and they wandered around. The shop was full of posters of every team of witches and wizards that where made famous by the sport. The shelves on one side where lined with brooms and broom care kits. The other side was full of Quidditch balls and bludger repair kits and packs of portable goals. Ginny was admiring a display of the New Nimbus Lightning. The broom was on display in a sale case and the price had been cut in half. The broom that was normally fifty galleons was now only twenty- five. Harry looked around the rest of the store and the Firebolt, which he was a proud owner of, was still sitting in a display case showing everyone a superb broom of international Quidditch standards. Harry walked up to a wizard that looked to be in charge and asked about the Nimbus Lightning.

"Well this is the new model in the nimbus series. They redesigned the balance to give it superb diving speed. They adjusted the angles so that…" The shopkeeper's eyes landed on Harry's scar. "Blimey, you're Harry Potter."

"Yes,"

"Well like I said it is a good broom and they adjusted the angles to reduce the drag that was seen in the earlier nimbus models. Ever since the Firebolt came out though, I haven't been able to sell too many of them. I will sell it to you for half the sale price."

This was a deal too good to pass up so he bought the broom for twelve galleons three sickles and nineteen Knuts. When Harry walked over to Ginny, he congratulated her again on making prefect. She looked at him suspiciously when a wizard caring a box walked up to Harry and handed him it.

"Here you are Mr. Potter."

"Harry, what did you do?" Ginny asked him. Her eyes now glancing at the package he held.

"Ginny, I wanted to congratulate you properly on making school prefect. So here is a gift to show you how proud I am." Harry handed her the box. She looked up at him.

"You know I cant except this Harry."

"Why not? It's from me."

"Well Harry I wouldn't feel right."

"Just open it, please for me." And with that, Ginny gave in. She sat down and opened the rather large box. She gasped as she looked at a Nimbus Lightning staring at her.

"Harry I cant it was too much."

"No I got a great deal on it."

Ginny started to argue about it but Harry explained that with the deal he got on it he couldn't return it. Ginny had to accept it after that. She gave in and gave him a hug, which led to kissing. But before time could run and hide they stopped. Harry got to his feet and pulled her to another store.

"Ginny the Nimbus was because you made Prefect. Now I need to do something so follow me."

They walked into a store that was full of rings. Harry asked Ginny to wait in the main room while he went to find some one. When Harry returned however he came back alone.

"No ones here I guess Ginny."

Harry and Ginny exited the store and walked to a bench to sit down. He offered to hold her new broom. She handed the package to him. When he took the broom from her, he gave her a small box.

"The broom was, like I said, for making prefect. This is because I love you." Ginny opened up the box and there was a ring inside. It was a Claddagh Ring. He put the ring on her finger and smiled at her.

"In the muggle world it is the symbol of love, friendship, and loyalty. In our world it is said to increase our abilities with matters of the heart."

Ginny kissed him; this time instead of being consciously aware of their surroundings they let time flee to a stop. This passion this love there was nothing else that mattered in the world. Harry opened his eyes to stare into Ginny's eyes but instead of love, there was fear. Harry turned around to see what had caused Ginny's reaction when he saw her. There was a cloaked woman that he did not recognize pointing a wand at Harry. She had been frozen in time. Harry grabbed his wand and pointed his wand at her

"Expellaromus," Harry screamed causing a stream of light to hit her. Her wand flew from her hand into the air and Harry caught it, she was knocked off her feet as time slowly dissolved back into reality.

"Kedavera" the woman cried out, but not having a wand, the spell did nothing. She looked at Harry who was holding her wand. She was confused on how she had got on the ground.

"Stupefy" Ginny said and a beam of red light shot from her wand and hit the woman in the chest. People all around started to realize the commotion. The identity of the woman was revealed as Lavelsin. She was an escaped death eater from Azkaban. Confused looks where shot at Ginny and Harry. Harry knew that they didn't understand how they had done what they had done. An adult wizard emerged from the ice cream shop and put an anti-dissapparating charm on her. She was caught. Harry could feel a hand grab his robes. He was pulled into a nearby shop before he could turn around. Ginny was right behind him. Harry rounded on the attackers only to find that Fred and George had been the one who pulled them into their joke shop.

"Harry, how did you do that?"

"We mean there wasn't enough time to react."

"We thought that you two were dead."

"She appeared out of nowhere, and instantly started to curse you. Before she was even halfway through her curse, you had gone from sitting down talking to Ginny to standing with your wand pointing at her. You even had her wand in your other hand and she was on the ground." George breathed. The shop door open and without looking up George greeted the customer.

"Sorry mate but shop is closed right now come back in a half an hour."

Fred looked up at the doorway.

"Mum."

"Oh thank goodness. I was so worried about you two. I heard that there was an attack and I rushed over as quickly as possible. The crowd said that you two stopped an escaped death eater. What happened? Are you two alright?"

"Well you see mum, we saw the whole thing."

"Yeah but all we saw was Harry sitting talking to Ginny…"

"Then Harry standing holding Lavelsin's wand while she was on the ground…"

"Ginny cast the stunning spell."

"It was unreal."

"Their speed was beyond anything that we could see."

"I don't think anyone saw them."

"Harry, what did you two do?" And with those words, Molly knew what had happened. She said goodbye to her two sons and lead Harry and Ginny to The Leaky Cauldron to floo home. When they arrived home, Molly owled Arthur and Professor Dumbledore to tell them what happened.

Harry stood in silence. He knew that Molly knew how they had stopped Lavelsin. He didn't know how much she knew thought. Moll gave Ginny an owl that she was holding and told her that she was proud of her. Harry excused himself from their company.

"Harry, wait up. I'll go with you." They walked upstairs to see were Ron and Hermione were. Harry could hear raised voices as he walked up the steps. Ron and Hermione were arguing about something again. When they entered the room, Ron and Hermione smiled at them as if nothing had happened. But the glare that they cast each other told Harry that it was far from over.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. What's wrong?" Harry could always count on Hermione to know when he wanted to tell them something. They started telling them about the attack that happened at Diagon Alley and how useful it had been that they could stop time. Even though this was a strange thing that happened, it still saved their lives. Both Ron and Hermione seemed worried that they had been attacked in public. The war had now started it was official. Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione spent the rest of the day up stairs reading, practicing spells and admiring Ginny's new broom. Ginny named her owl, which was a brown barn owl, pepper. That named seemed to suit her according to Ginny but no one was arguing with her. She seemed to be merely convincing herself.

After seven o'clock, the rest of the family started apparating, all of which wanted Harry and Ginny to retell the story of how they took down the death eater. Around eight o'clock Professor Dumbledore showed up again to talk with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Before he left, he congratulated Harry and Ginny for there show of bravery and winked at them as they left indicating that he needed to talk with them but that it would have to wait. Harry knew it could have been worse, he knew that the Weasley's could be ridiculing him right now.

No one even seemed to mind that he was dating Ginny. He figured though that that was due to all the commotion and tomorrow would be different. At about eleven Harry and Ginny decided to turn in and went upstairs. Ron and Hermione wished them a good night and went back to there conversation.

Harry and Ginny climbed up the stairs. They were exhausted from the day. Harry followed Ginny into her room. He was actually tired but wanted to give her a proper good night kiss. Harry embraced Ginny in his arms. She placed her head against his shoulder. This had been a lot to deal with. They had been attacked in a public place with witnesses. They slowly rocked back and forth.

Ginny pulled her head back and lock her lips with his. She forced her tongue down his mouth and he wanted more. She didn't want to reflect on the day right now. She pulled him to her bed and the urge to take off their clothes was replaced with an urge to become one another. Time had no movement anymore and Ginny had Harry completely naked on her bed. She had only her undergarments on when they realized that they were about to do something that they weren't ready for yet.

They continued to kiss. Her lips were moist and soft. Her tongue eagerly explored his mouth. She dragged it over his lips and then back to his mouth. His hands moved all over her body memorizing her shape. He moved his hands down her sleek back and across her hips.

He pulled her waist into his and electricity surged throughout his body. The feeling of her sent wave after wave of indescribable energy throughout them both. He could feel her energy flowing into his as he felt his energy flowing into hers. Their minds seemed to connect and flow into each others. They could not distinguish between one another.

The feeling was too much to handle. They pulled back and stared at each other. Their feelings now mingled with each other and they knew that they loved each other. They could feel it. Their thoughts and memories crossed the barriers of each others minds. Harry could see what Ginny saw and felt what she felt when he rescued her from the chamber of secrets. He could feel what she was feeling as her hands moved across his body. Harry began to pull his clothes back on.

This feeling of being each other was strong and no words were needed to communicate. He knew what she felt and kissed her goodnight. He caught her eyes and held them with his for a short while and his mind just thought I love you Ginny. He could hear her voice return in his head. I love you too Harry. They said their goodnights.

Harry walked up to Ron's room to go to sleep. He could hear Ron and Hermione arguing in the distance. They would never change. He entered Ron's room and fell to his bed. He was too tired to change. He drifted to sleep thinking about his day and how proud his godfather would be of him for catching a death eater. Harry Potter closed his eyes for the first time in two years, not afraid to sleep, welcoming his dreams.