Harry couldn't help but worry as he packed for the holiday. They'd spent their last weeks doing all they could to make Professor Quirrell's life easier. They told people off for mocking his stutter, gave him encouraging smiles when they passed him in the corridors... All in all, his health seemed to be deteriorating, but his resolve was holding — just. It would be a bit conceited of him to think that their efforts alone were keeping Quirrell up and fighting, but he had the feeling that the anxious young professor needed all the help he could get.

He slammed the trunk shut, and sat down heavily next to it on his bed, smirking over at the random pile of clothes that was the result of Ron's 'packing'. His best friend would have work to do tonight, or more likely tomorrow morning. The other boys in their year were staying at school. Either way, they had a lot of revising to do, as Hermione had pointed out. She'd been quite passionate about it, claiming that they were vital since the results decided whether or not you could progress to the next year.

Harry sighed, picking up the revision guide she'd badgered him into making. Things didn't look so bad right now, if he was honest. Ginny had surprised him a few days ago, saying that she would work through the revision with them.

"There's not much point in me having loads of free time if you're just glued to your books."

He stood up and went back downstairs. It being a Saturday, he had Quidditch practice in the afternoon, so he decided to get on with his revision while he still had time. Ginny was already there, poring over his copy of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. Ron had A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration open in front of him, but his longing glances at the GameBoy were probably a good indication of how much attention he was giving it. Neville was happily absorbed in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, and was surrounded by notes.

Harry shook his head, grinning, when he saw that Hermione's section of the table they were sitting around was invisible. She had apparently colour coded her notes as well, since the tabs on the rolls of parchment formed a nice little rainbow across the table. There was a small pile of rolled-up parchments on the floor beside her chair. At the moment, she was using felt tips to draw some kind of spider diagram. He began to wonder just how much paper and parchment Hermione Granger owned.

He slipped into Ginny's chair next to her. 'Where have you got to?' he asked.

'The Lumos Charm and its uses against Dark magic,' Ginny recited.

'Okay, so what did I miss before that?' he asked.

'The introduction?'

He narrowed his eyes at her as she smiled innocently up at him. 'Fine. Close the book.' Once she complied, he went on, 'How is the Lumos Charm performed?'

'The wand is moved through a crescent shape through rotation of the wrist, while incanting 'loo-mos'. The counter-charm is 'nox', which is accompanied by a vertical shake of the wand.' Ginny grinned up at him. 'Are we done yet, Professor?'

'Any more of that and it'll be detention,' he smirked. 'Explain its application against the Dark Arts.'

She sighed theatrically. 'Light is a powerful weapon when you are surrounded by darkness. Some creatures such as gytrashes are vulnerable to light, and a bright light can also distract some Dark creatures. It can also be used as an offensive weapon, able to at least temporarily blind someone without too much power, since it can be focused so easily.'

Harry shifted in the seat, turning to look her incredulously in the eye. 'Okay, how many times have you read that?'

'Twice,' she grinned. 'Once at the start of term, while I was waiting for Madam Pince to get a copy of Hell Hound, and then again just now.'

'You must really love books to be such a good reader,' he said.

Ginny shrugged. 'I don't know. I suppose... Well, it's not like I was playing pranks on my brothers all the time. Most of them weren't even there all the time. When I was left behind, there wasn't much else for me to do.'

'I guess being an epic reader probably would be a useful skill right now,' he grumbled half-heartedly.

'Well, you've got one to help you out,' she said. 'Do you think that's enough?'

'I don't know,' he replied. 'Can I take you into the exams in my pocket?'

Ginny giggled. 'I don't think McGonagall would be too happy if she found out.'

'Yeah, if...'

'Oh, shut it you,' she laughed.

"What's so funny?" Neville asked. Harry smirked over at him, and Neville dropped his head, turning quite pink. "Never mind."

'You know, if it'll save this kind of rush, I might have to do some reading ahead myself over the summer,' Harry speculated.

'Careful,' Ginny laughed, 'if Ron hears you say that he'll never talk to you again!'

Harry snorted. 'Okay, the use of the Engorgement Charm...'

The brakes hissed as the air pressure was released, and the train immediately began to roll forwards. Even though the engine had been warming up for a half hour, acceleration was slow for the first ten seconds or so. Harry heard the wheels slip on the tracks, that nasty grinding, scraping noise of metal on metal that made him clench his teeth reflexively. As the six drive wheels gained purchase, Hagrid, Neville and Hermione grew smaller and smaller. Eventually, even Hagrid's enormous form was lost, and they brought their heads back inside the carriage. Harry kicked back and grinned contentedly.

"What're you so happy about?" Ron asked.

"No bloody Slytherins are going to spoil this journey," he replied.

Harry had barely closed his mouth before the twins poked their heads inside the compartment. "You lot aren't going to be revising, are you?" they said simultaneously.

"That depends," said Ginny.

"On what, sis?" George asked.

"On what else there is to do," Harry shrugged.

"Unless you've got something planned..." Ginny suggested.

They sat down heavily on the opposite bench. "For once..." said George.

"We've got nothing," Fred finished.

The twins received suspicious looks from the first years, but no-one said anything. Harry pulled out The Lord of the Rings. He was nearly finished, and hoped to have it done by the time they reached King's Cross.

Saruman turned to go, and Wormtongue shuffled after him. But even as Saruman passed close to Frodo a knife flashed in his hand, and he stabbed swiftly. The blade turned on the hidden mail-coat and snapped. A dozen hobbits, led by Sam, leaped forward with a cry and flung the villain to the ground.

He glanced up at the twins, who were tampering with a few stink pellets. He thought better of asking what they were doing, and returned to his book.

Five minutes later, Harry's eyes widened as he reread the passage. Ginny smiled, 'He's leaving, right?'

'Yeah...' he replied. 'I... didn't see that coming.'

'It's a good book,' she shrugged. 'You're not meant to be able to predict all the twists.'

'Yeah... I've got to thank Hermione.'

She smirked up at him. 'We haven't even started on her movie list yet.'

'Ginny, the Burrow doesn't have electricity,' Harry pointed out.

'Details,' she said airily. 'We'll think of something.'

Harry shut the book gently, slipping it back into his pocket. "Wow," he breathed. Ginny grinned at him. "A bit long, but still..."

"Nothing wrong with a good book," Ginny commented.

"Eh?" Ron looked around. "Aw, not you as well, Harry."

Ginny burst out laughing. "Ron, you read enough yourself!"

"Yeah, but comics don't count," he replied condescendingly.

She looked from the magazine in his hands, to Harry, to the twins and back. "Right," she drawled. "Have it your own way."

Ron shook his head and went back to reading. Fred smacked the heel of his hand into his forehead.

"Right, this has been very entertaining and everything..."

"But there's this Slytherin by the name of Flint on the train..."

"And we want to give him Hogwarts' parting gift."

With that, the twins left. Harry and Ginny looked at each other, then at Ron. They all jumped for the compartment door, but the carriage corridor was empty. The twins had just disappeared. Ginny glanced at him with a mischievous glint in her eye, before darting back into their compartment. She returned with the invisibility cloak, throwing it over all three of them. Since Percy happened to be in the next compartment with the other fifth year Gryffindor prefect, it was probably a good idea.

The Hogwarts Express made a disturbing grinding noise as mechanical parts with no direct physical connection to each other tried to synchronously slow down. Its red 'paint' glowed still brighter as the energy within it was released through a series of Transducer Charms. Metal groaned. Steam hissed out of the funnel, though there was no fire to heat it — the Motivation Charms that powered the train were dissipated more easily and safely through the water than through the train itself.

The driver sent up silver sparks, invisible to the untrained eye amongst all the magically charged steam, but a clear signal to the guard that all was well. Mere inches from the buffers, the train ground to a halt and a loud hiss from the brakes served to acknowledge the driver's signal. The doors clicked and opened of their own accord, and students poured out of the carriages, paying no heed to the centuries-old marvel they were leaving behind.

Lugging his trunk, Harry laughed aloud as he saw Marcus Flint emerge from the second carriage walking a little awkwardly. He didn't know how the twins had managed to charm the stink pellets to do that, but he took immense satisfaction in the way Flint was involuntarily displaying his discomfort. Even his mother didn't seem to want to get too close.

He looked back to Ginny, who had found their parents already, and hurried to catch up. A slight smile quirked Mum's lips when she saw him. "Hello, Harry," she said, giving him a crushing hug. "I'm glad this didn't cause too much fuss for you," she gushed.

"No, it's been fine, Mum, really," he replied with a grin.

"Well, as long as there's been no trouble," she affirmed. He tried not to shift under her gaze. It made him feel guilty in a way that Vernon's beatings and isolations never had. "Oh, Ron, how could you have grown in three months?" she asked incredulously. He was now actually noticeably taller than Mum, while the twins were the same height, and Harry was a few inches shorter. He was slightly embarrassed to see that, as Dean had pointed out a couple of weeks earlier, Ginny was now the same height as he was. She'd probably be taller than him in a month or so.

"Dunno, Mum," he shrugged, before he too was being thoroughly suffocated.

"Ron, honestly, you've got chocolate all around your mouth!" she reproved. She whipped a handkerchief out of somewhere, and started rubbing the debris off.

"Mum!" Ron complained loudly, though the sound was heavily muffled.

"Hi, Dad," Harry said brightly.

"Hello, Harry. Did you have a good journey?" Dad asked.

Harry turned to look pointedly at Flint, who was still walking as if he'd just spent a day riding bareback, and then at Fred and George, who'd only just emerged from the train. "Yeah, it was pretty good, thanks," he replied.

Dad gave a covert nod, his lips twitching slightly at the sight of the Slytherin. "Is that the Flint kid who tried to knock you off your broom?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Yup," Harry responded cheerfully. At that point, Flint glanced over. His eyes glittered malevolently as he saw Harry. Harry rubbed delicately at his lower back, smirking as the much larger boy turned away.

Harry never wanted to use the Floo network again. Ever.

Nothing in this world or the next could possibly be more humiliating...

He groaned, keeping his eyes squeezed shut and hoping he would pass out just to stop the laughing.

"Now boys, that's no way to behave. You weren't so great on your first Floo jumps, now, were you?"

That shut Fred and George up pretty quickly. Harry cracked his eyes open slowly, allowing himself to see the trunk with which he had collided. As his vision unscrewed itself, something else came into view. Ginny's head. He squinted at the trunk — it was Ginny's. She must have been sitting on it. His vision came back into focus, and the first thing he noticed was the war between sympathy and amusement on his girlfriend's face. He dropped onto his back with a thud.

"Sorry," he muttered.

The fire flared. "What on earth happened here?" Mum asked. Reluctantly, Harry opened his eyes again, and saw Ron's grinning face above him.

Suddenly, he was being pulled to his feet. "Honestly, mate, that's the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen," Ron laughed.

"Cheers, Ron," Harry replied with only a touch of sarcasm, "I feel loads better now."

"I don't think your face agrees with you," Ginny smiled.

"Aw, Ginny, you're meant to be on my side," Harry laughed. "I... I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, I'm fine," she replied brightly. "You didn't look too good, though."

He offered her a little grin. "Long as I never have to Floo-travel again, I'm good."

"Don't worry, Harry, I'm sure you'll get plenty of practice," she assured him. He groaned again, and started dragging his trunk up the stairs after the others. In doing so, he almost missed the Clock. As promised, his animated face was there, pointing at 'Home'. He beamed at Mum and Dad, who smiled back, and Harry felt a wonderful sense of fulfilment... Until he realised that Ginny, who was following him, was getting away with levitating her trunk in front of her. She only giggled at his protests, and he hurried upstairs before she decided to start 'encouraging' him.

"Harry! Ginny! Ron! Time to come inside!" Mum called from the back door. They'd been weeding the garden in and around the vegetable patch, for the most part at least. Ginny made the task fairly quick and painless by incinerating the weeds as they saw them, root and shoot, so they'd generally just allowed the day to drift away from them.

Harry could smell dinner before they even reached the door. When they did, Ron's stomach rumbled thunderously. Ginny wrinkled her nose at him, before laughing and running off to the bathroom.

"Why doesn't she just use magic?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. "Habit?"

"It's not even like she got her hands dirty though," Ron pressed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Like we did," Harry laughed. "Next time we de-gnome the garden I'm going to dare her to send them all flying to Hogwarts."

Ron sniggered. "Yeah, and set them all on Malfoy."

"We..."

They were interrupted by a pop-hiss sort of sound coming from the living room. Curious, they peered inside; they were cautious though, considering the risk of being the unwitting targets of one of the twins' experiments. A funny, dull whine accompanied the hissing now. Harry frowned. He knew that sound. It didn't make sense though, for there was no electricity at the Burrow. Electricity or no electricity, the television was definitely producing light and sound. The VCR was also on, with little blue lights shining in the display. Harry rushed to tune the TV, not caring how nonsensical it was.

"Dad?" Ron called. "You want to see this."

"What is it, Ron?" Mr. Weasley asked. "My word."

The remote was even working without batteries. Harry soon had BBC1 up, showing the news.

"Guys, I'm done in the..." They turned to look at Ginny, who was staring at the TV. "Hey, why are you looking at me? It wasn't me!"

Harry reached behind the TV and waved the unconnected power lead around. It sparked brightly, making Harry throw it down instinctively. A tiny wisp of smoke rose from the singed carpet.

"Well, it isn't muggle tech that's making this work," he said. "That's completely insane."

"It's fantastic!" Mr. Weasley said. "To think, no access to potions or enchantments, and they still make moving, talking pictures. It doesn't really respond to you, does it? Still, someone is actually sitting on that chair talking right now..."

'Well, he's remembered the stuff I told him,' Harry thought. 'How do magic pictures work? How is this damn television on?'

It wasn't long before everyone was gathered in the living room. Mr. Weasley fiddled with the aerial, marvelling at how the picture distorted and faded behind noise.

"We can all look at it after dinner," Mrs Weasley said firmly.

Harry thought there might be dissent for a moment. It was a very short moment though.

When everyone had run upstairs to wash their hands, it quickly became clear that dinner would be a sprint event. The twins obviously decided to add to the chaos, 'accidentally' trapping the end of the serving spoon under the lip of the pot of rice, so that gravy was thrown everywhere when the next person reached hurriedly for it. That person was Ginny, and Percy got flicked right in the face.

"Boys!" Mrs Weasley cried.

"Wasn't us!" they protested.

"Don't try it," she warned. "One more and you'll both be straight up to your room. Hold still now, Percy dear. Scourgify. There you are."

"Thank you, mother," said Percy. One of the twins made a face behind him.

Harry was distracted from his own food for a while as he watched Ron. His friend seemed to be having a huge internal struggle, glancing between the serving bowls and the living room. The decision was made for him as one by one the Weasley family finished their own meals. When Dad thanked Mum for the meal and put his plate in the sink, he triggered an exodus. The next was Ginny, and Percy brought up the rear. Mum seemed to give it up as a lost cause; she enchanted the dishes to wash themselves and followed them all into the living room.

"Okay!" said Fred.

"Where do we start?" asked George.

"Choose a movie, I suppose," said Harry.

"They're all here," said Percy, indicating the bags they'd left next to the television. He pulled them out one by one and started stacking them. "The Great Escape, The Jungle Book, Star Wars, err, three Star Wars movies, The Terminator, Back to the Future... three of those as well. E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, The Karate Kid, Edward Scissorhands, Home Alone and Who Framed Roger Rabbit."

"I think that's all of them," Ginny said. "They don't all sound very Hermione."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, Terminator..."

"I like the sound of that," Fred grinned.

"Dean might have added some," Ron said. "I heard him and Hermione talking about it."

"There are too many for a vote to work," Dad said. "Let's do this in alphabetical order."

The twins groaned. "But..."

"The holiday is long enough for us to see all of them," Mrs Weasley smiled.

"Sweet," said George.

"This should be educational," Percy said eagerly.

"Not sure that's the point, Perce," said Ginny.

"Percy, you realise not everything in that movie is real, right?" said Harry.

"Of course," he replied, sounding vaguely insulted. "I only mean that I have never seen one before."

Harry slotted the cassette into the machine, which whirred as the tape disappeared inside. "I'm just making sure."

"Wait, how much is real?" Ron asked.

"The story is fabricated, but if the people look real then they probably are," said Percy matter-of-factly.

"Everybody sit down then," Mrs Weasley said.

Harry offered the remotes to Dad, but he refused them. "You'd better take care of it, Harry," Dad said. "At least for now. You'll have to show me how to use them later."

He sat between Ron and Ginny on the sofa. Energy surged through him as he lifted the remote, and then they were all bathed in light. "Play," he muttered.

"So that's a movie," Ron murmured.

"Fascinating," Percy muttered. "I think I might have to ask Professor Golding how they work..."

"Don't bother," Ginny replied. "I'm pretty sure it'll be in my muggle encyclopaedia."

"You mean you haven't reached 't' yet?" Harry asked incredulously. She gave him a punch in the chest for that one.

"Thank you, Ginny," Percy replied. She flashed him one of her brilliant smiles, but he was still staring at the television set.

"So Dad..." said one of the twins.

"Can our car do that?" the other finished.

"Car?" Mum asked.

"Yeah, there's a muggle car..."

"Sitting in the shed."

"Oh no," Dad laughed. "That isn't leaving the shed, let alone 1992. I'm taking it apart." Harry got the funny feeling that he wasn't being entirely truthful.

"And why wasn't I told about this car, Arthur?" Mum asked.

"Molly, you've never much cared for these muggle things," Dad said agreeably. "I only wanted to learn how it works."

"I know a bit about that," Harry said. "I did a bit of work on Uncle Vernon's old car."

It hadn't been much, to be fair. Uncle Vernon was convinced that Harry would somehow sabotage it. But he wasn't the sort of man to turn up a chance at free labour either.

"Wonderful!" Dad enthused. "You can show me what you know tomorrow."

"Alright," Mum said. "Bed now, all of you."

No one protested.

Harry grinned as he woke. It was Sunday, and while this day held no particular significance for him, he felt almost deliriously happy. Ginny was clearly still asleep, and having a very good dream. For several months now they'd been able to feel it when the other experienced a particularly powerful emotion in the waking world, but when one of them was asleep, these broadcasted feelings were somehow made far more intense.

He jumped out of bed, feeling as if he had the energy of two people rather than one. Throwing open the curtains, he saw that it was still quite early. The sun had barely risen, and the birds were singing. Speaking of which...

"Hey, Hedwig!" he said. His owl was perched on the back of his chair, and let out a soft call at the sound of his voice. "Good hunt last night?"

She hooted in reply, flapping over to land on his shoulder. He grinned and stroked her wing contentedly. Her beautiful white feathers shone a bright gold colour in the morning sun. Giving him a gentle nip on the ear, she flew lazily over to her cage, where she tucked her head under her wing to sleep.

After changing into light clothing when he realised that the weather was being friendly for once, Harry raced downstairs, barely able to keep quiet. When he reached the kitchen, he found Mum already awake and aware.

"Good morning, dear," she said warmly. "You're up early."

"Good morning," he beamed. "It's such a wonderful day."

"Yes - not a cloud in the sky is there?" Mum agreed, peering out of the window.

"Mind if I help?" he asked. He had to admit he was a little lost here. The eggs were beating themselves quite vigorously; the bacon had just flipped itself over; there were more eggs frying in a pan; Mrs Weasley seemed able to produce melted butter, water and anything else that wasn't solid straight from her wand.

She smiled at him, sighing, "You're such a sweet boy." He felt himself blush, and she laughed softly. "Well, go on ahead and set the table, then."

Just then there was a muffled 'crack' outside, which Harry recognised as someone Apparating in. "Morning, Molly," Dad said as he came in. "Oh, good morning Harry — didn't expect anyone to be up this early on a Sunday."

He just shrugged in response, giving an easy grin. "Good morning, Dad."

"Busy night, Arthur?" Mum asked sympathetically.

"Not exceptional, but yes," he agreed. "It'll be easier on Monday."

"You'll be getting plenty of sleep before you head out again," she said sternly.

"Yes, Molly."

Harry suddenly felt his delirium fade, and the little jolt that always came when Ginny woke up.

"You can sit and eat, Harry," Molly remarked with amusement. "No-one's going to be down for quite a while yet."

"I... was going to wait for Ginny," he replied.

Mum and Dad looked up at him, both with funny little smiles on their faces. He was suddenly hit with a jolt of panic, and gritted his teeth, only to feel a rising tide of shame, excitement and yet more overwhelming anxiety.

"Harry, dear," Mum began. "Ginny never wakes up early. And on Sundays, I always end up having to get her up. Go on, Harry, just eat now."

Harry rubbed at his neck awkwardly, then sat down with a quick 'thanks' to Mum. After all, if he tried to argue, he'd have to give a reason why he knew Ginny was up. She wanted him to keep their link, or whatever it was, a secret, didn't she? He'd already finished a plate of bacon and eggs by the time he felt Ginny start down the stairs.

Concentrating hard to get the timing right, Harry stood and drew the chair next to his without looking to see where she was. Ginny looked up, blinked wearily at him, then half-collapsed into the chair.

"Good morning, Ginny," Mum and Dad addressed her, with notes of surprise clear in their voices. She merely mumbled a response.

'You okay, Ginny?'

'I s'pose...' she mumbled.

'You must have had a really good dream last night,' he said casually.

A blush rose from her neck. 'How'd you... never mind. I... just, never mind.'

'If you say so,' he smirked.

She glared at him. 'You're bloody insufferable, you are,' she growled.

Harry blinked at her stupidly.

"Mum, can we talk, please?" Ginny said, her voice tight.

"Of course, dear," Mrs Weasley said, bewildered. Then a light seemed to turn on in her head, and she pulled her wand out. When Ginny passed Dad, Mum cast some kind of ward that prevented them from being heard, or even seen clearly.

Even after Harry was done eating, he sat waiting for the conversation to finish. Dad sighed and gave him a wry smile. 'Really would've liked to try that omelette...'

Percy yawned widely, the stars on his pyjamas orbiting wildly around him under his dressing gown. "Morning," he said lethargically. He was acknowledged with an equal lack of fervour. Catching sight of the two blurs by the sink, he grimaced.

Dad returned the sentiment, and Harry was left feeling rather left out, not to mention confused. He felt a burgeoning, irrational anger. Feeling a little alarmed, he tried to excuse himself. He needn't have worried, though. Ginny and Mum emerged from their little bubble a few seconds later and headed upstairs. They heard the bathroom door open and shut, whereupon Dad gave a sad little sigh.

Still feeling as if he was way out of the loop, he looked to Percy, who had already gone back to reading the paper. Rolling his eyes, he turned to Dad, who was gazing at the stairs with an odd look on his face. It was sad, and a little bit scared, and a whole load of other things that Harry couldn't even begin to decipher. Harry resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn't find out for a long while, and squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. He didn't know how Percy could be so oblivious to it, but there was a tension in the room so thick that it physically stifled Harry.

There was a noise on the stairs; Harry turned, expecting to see Ginny, but instead he found only the twins. They approached quietly, as if a baby was sleeping in the room.

"Hey, Dad, we saw Mum and Ginny..." George began.

"Is she... you know...?" Fred stammered out.

Dad nodded jerkily. "I think so," he replied.

"Um, George," said Harry meekly. "What's...?"

"Look, Harry," Fred began.

"You've started looking at girls a bit differently, right?" asked George.

"Feeling a bit different?"

"Changing here and there?" George gestured vaguely at him, but Harry got the picture.

"Yeah, I guess," Harry said. "It's only Ginny though."

"Sure?" George grinned.

"Katie's starting to show some nice curves," Fred said.

"Don't tell me you've never flown behind her to-"

"Boys," Dad said in a warning tone. He was smiling slightly though, and he went on more quietly, "Your mother can still hear you."

For his part, Harry was bright red with embarrassment. Of course he had noticed that there were other pretty girls at Hogwarts. It was impossible not to, but none could hold a candle to Ginny. Not that she had Angelina or Katie's distracting assets. It was because Harry could no longer imagine his life without her in it. A girl he had known for a few months had taken centre stage, and no matter what confusing feelings clouded his mind when Angelina finished dressing on her way out of the girls' changing rooms, nobody was threatening to change that.

"Sure I've noticed," Harry muttered. "It's Ginny I want, though."

"Well, you've got her mate," said Fred.

"What we mean is," George said.

"She's going through her own version," Fred finished.

Harry thought of the way Dean had looked at her, and something angry reared up inside him, along with a good deal of fear. He was pretty sure that Ginny liked him as much as he liked her. Still, she was very pretty and very popular. What if she found a guy she liked more?

"I know what you're thinking," Fred said.

"How is a scrawny, speccy little thing like you..."

"Going to keep Ginny's attention?"

Harry glared at the laughing twins. "Not so scrawny anymore, retards," he snarled. He didn't usually call people names. He left that to Ron, Dean and Seamus. The twins were hitting a nerve though.

"Ooh, look," Fred mocked. "Ickle Harry-kins wants a fight."

"Boys," Dad said sternly. "None of that, now."

It took a few seconds, but Harry relaxed.

"You don't need to worry, Harry."

"That's the point."

"She'd still like you if you were a midget."

"I mean, you were, at the start of the year."

Harry finally relaxed fully. He hadn't noticed that his fists were clenched. That was new as well. He definitely hadn't been a confrontational person before Hogwarts. He remembered when Hagrid had taken him to Diagon Alley, and he had met Draco Malfoy for the first time in Madam Malkin's clothes shop. Harry had thought the boy to be as foul, if not worse than Dudley; Draco had talked about bullying his father into buying him a new racing broom, been completely unconcerned about the death of Harry's parents and spoken with incredible disdain of the absent Hagrid. The prick hadn't known who Harry was, of course, and Harry hadn't cared to tell him. Even after all that though, Harry hadn't so much as raised his voice. Maybe all these changes were somehow connected.

"Anyway, one of the things she has to deal with..."

"Is a monthly visitor."

Harry knew he had a blank look on his face. "What? She's on Father Christmas's really really good list?"

Fred sniggered. "She wishes."

"You haven't noticed girls getting cranky every month or so?"

He had sure as hell noticed the extra-savage beatings Uncle Vernon gave him about that often, when Petunia started having a go at Vernon as well as Harry.

"What's that about then?" Harry asked.

It was Dad who explained it, and briefly at that. Harry was left feeling distinctly glad that he was born a boy.

"Is she going to be okay?" Harry asked.

"She's... she'll be fine," Dad replied with a small smile.

"I don't know why everyone's getting so worked up about all this," Percy interjected. "It's a perfectly natural process. There are countless girls her age who are perfectly fine, why would she be any different?"

Dad put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Son, you'll have kids someday, and then you'll understand."

Percy shrugged and returned to the Daily Prophet.

"Who's in the bathroom for so long? I need to pee." They looked up to see Ron stumbling down the stairs.

Dad conjured a glass bottle. "Go to your room and do it in that. I'll clear it up."

Ron yawned, nodding gratefully as he took the bottle and went back the way he'd come. Harry slumped in his chair.

Maybe a minute later, Ron returned looking a bit more steady on his feet, with the bottle near-full with a slightly yellow liquid. Harry made a face at the substance, and the tips of Ron's ears turned bright red.

"Here, Ron — put that on the table, would you?" Dad asked. After Ron had complied, Dad pulled his wand. "Evanesco. Tergeo. Evanesco. Always clean the bottle first," Dad muttered, smiling at some private joke.

Ron and the twins had begun eating by the time they finally heard the bathroom door open again. Ginny was red as a tomato and didn't look particularly happy, but Harry didn't sense anything amiss. When he offered Ginny a grin, she seemed to blush even brighter, and the room itself began to feel a little too warm. Harry bit his lip and turned his attention to his pumpkin juice.

"Argh!" Harry hissed. 'Bloody gnome!' No sooner had he thought this than he felt the gnome prised off his finger. He looked up in surprise to see the gnome flying. Probably literally, since it didn't look to be losing altitude any time soon. He turned around to find Ginny grinning at him.

"Thought you could use a bit of help," she said.

"Ginny, did you throw that?" Fred asked incredulously.

"Yeah," she replied aggressively.

By this point, the gnomes were popping up all over the place, looking to see what the fuss was about. Grabbing his wand, Fred charged at them, yelling at the top of his voice. Everyone laughed at the reference, laughing still harder when the gnomes actually ran away from him. He gave every gnome he passed a hearty kick, sending them scattering.

"Oi, did that gnome come back down?" George muttered to Harry.

Harry stared off after the creature Ginny'd thrown. "Not a clue."

Fred, on the other hand, had reached the end of the road. About four metres from the hedgerow, all the gnomes turned on him. Still yelling, he ran back the way he'd come. Ginny was beside herself. The storm of little potato heads were charging him as fast as their stubby little legs could carry them.

"Rooaawwrrr!"

Harry looked up in amazement. George just grinned at him.

"Gotta love Zonko's!" Fred called.

Zonko's Joke Shop was their favourite destination on Hogsmeade weekends. George was waving his arms around and roaring loudly, though the gnomes seemed more curious than afraid.

When Fred finally reached them, there was a little swarm of gnomes on his tail. Ginny reached out with both of her hands, and her eyes narrowed to slits as she concentrated. Fred skidded to a halt in front of Ron, who had been grinning at him. The grin was fading though.

The gnomes were slowly floating upwards in the midst of a vaguely red haze. Ginny pulled her hands together and closer to her chest, and everyone watched, mesmerised, as the gnomes were drawn both closer to her and each other. She threw her hands outwards and upwards, her eyes snapping open to reveal that her normally warm brown eyes were glowing with the same vibrant orange-red hues of her hair.

"I... don't think we'll be seeing them again anytime soon," George muttered. They stared after the gnomes, who were soon out of sight over the hilltops.

"So, who was your favourite character then?" Ginny asked. They all looked at each other, and all spoke at once.

"Luke."

"Han."

"Leia."

"Kenobi."

"Vader."

They stared at Fred, who was staring at George.

"Kenobi? Come on!" Fred cried.

"He was cool!" George insisted.

"Cooler than Vader?" Fred asked disbelievingly. "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

"Sure that was cool," said George. "But remember at the end when Vader was getting all excited about killing him? Kenobi was basically all just 'try me, bitch'."

"And then Vader killed him..."

"He let him, and he was still sort of alive."

"He's having a much harder time swinging that light sword."

"Fine," George said wearily. "I can see there'll be no convincing you."

Fred smirked at him; then he turned on Ron, whose ears turned bright red. Harry and Ginny paid no heed, lost in their own telepathic argument.

'You fancy him.'

'Do not! He was funny, alright?'

'Do too.'

'Ugh! You can be such a baby, Harry.'

'I'm not being a baby!'

'Really?'

'It's that dodgy grin.'

'Oh, for crying out loud! I do not fancy him!'

Harry turned to face her, drinking in the hot glow of her face, the fire in her eyes burning furiously through her narrowed eyelids, and the twitching of her lips as she just barely restrained herself from snarling at him. If there was one thing to say about Ginny, she had an incredibly hot temper. Though he was scratching the back of his neck out of anxiety over how hot her temper was going flare, he couldn't hold back a smirk. 'You're really cute when you're mad.'

Ginny was clearly incensed, and the internal struggle when she realised that that was just giving Harry exactly what he wanted was only adding fuel to her fire.

"You know what, Fred?"

"What's that, George?"

"I think ickle Ronniekins here has a crush!"

"Maybe you're right, George!"

"But the real question..."

"... is who it's on!"

"What do you reckon, Harry...?" Fred blinked. He and George chuckled absently, trying to figure out how the conversation could in any way have inspired a reaction like that.

"Well, I guess you don't know everything about women yet."

Harry glanced at Ginny, who was keeping her eyes resolutely on the screen.

"Occasionally. When you're not acting like a scoundrel." "Scoundrel? Scoundrel. I like the sound of that." "I happen to like nice men." "I'm nice men." "No you're not, you're..."

Looking once more to Ginny, Harry noticed that she was still transfixed. Her expression was almost serene; a little half-smile was pulling at the corner of her mouth while an inexplicable orange light flickered in her eyes. Looking closer, he saw that the light was coming from the fibres in her irises, simultaneously making the glowing ones stand out, and silhouetting the others. The light wasn't static, but didn't swirl with the chaotic currents they usually did when he noticed her eyes glowing. Rather, the lights moved almost lazily from one fibre to another, as if reluctant to let go of their previous hosts.

He bit the inside of his lip and breathed out a sigh of defeat. The satisfied smirk on her lips was turned eerily dark by the glare from the TV set, making a stark contrast to the light dancing around her eyes.

"Sir! Sir! I've successfully located the reverse power flux coupling!"

The humour put him at ease, and he chuckled along with everyone else. Giving up all pretence, he put his arm around his girlfriend. She smiled an uncertain little smile, which he replied to with an imitation of Han's lopsided grin. Ginny let out a quiet snort, before snuggling in a little closer and returning her attention to the movie.

They watched in silence until...

"Sweet," George breathed.

"Even a Levitation Charm has its limits," Dad muttered in agreement.

"Nothing's impossible if you've got enough nerve," Ginny interjected, smirking at the twins, who grinned back appreciatively.

"I don't... I don't believe it..." "That is why you fail."

"We have to find some way to thank Hermione," Harry muttered. She had provided him with a list of recommended movies when he told her he hadn't really seen any. Of course, they wouldn't get through her whole list this Easter.

Ginny grinned at him. "D'you reckon she's got a book list for us too?" she asked. He smirked at her, shaking his head. "What?" she asked indignantly.

"You and your books," he chuckled.

"You're such a hypocrite!" she cried.

"Hey! I didn't say it was a bad thing to like books, did I?" he asked rhetorically. "I'm not Ron!"

"Oi!" came Ron's muffled reply from within the bathroom.

"So what's your problem, then?" she pressed, poking Harry in the chest.

"What problem?" he grinned. She narrowed her eyes at him, but he only winked at her in response, making her blush.

"I hate you," she muttered. At that moment, Ron came out of the bathroom, and Ginny raced in before he even finished shutting the door.

"So, what was up with Vader's head?" Ron asked.

"Well, I don't think he wears that suit just to look cool," Harry answered sagely.

"Too true, Harry," Fred butted in.

"Reckon this muggle stuff is growing on me, Fred," George mused.

"Yeah," Fred agreed.

"Cheers, Harry!" they said together.

He sniggered at them. "You know, I genuinely didn't see that thing about Vader being Luke's dad coming..."

"No! That's impossible!" Fred shrieked.

"Boys? Is everything alright?" Mum called.

"Yes, Mum," Harry replied.

Ginny came upon her sniggering siblings and raised an eyebrow. "Fred, are you feeling okay?" Ginny asked with concern. "Only, that was a passable mimic!"

"She wounds me!" Fred cried, sinking to his knees and clutching at his twin's arm. "Look, see the blood boil where it falls!"

"Well, as long as you clean up after yourself," Ginny commented placidly.

Fred's eyes boggled, and he slid limp to the floor. When the laughter faded, he popped up again. "Bad mimicking my ar-"

"George Fabian Weasley!"

"Come on, Harry, what's taking you so long?"

Harry clenched his teeth and tried to ignore her laughing at him. He knew he wasn't a slow climber, she was just so damn used to climbing these trees she could do it with her eyes shut.

Feeling the muscles in his arms strain as if trying to pull away from the bones, he flipped himself up and onto the branch, sitting side-saddle to face Ginny. She was lying with her back against the trunk where the first bough split off from it, just above that little hollow where she had hidden her crate. It gave her plenty of wiggle room.

"Pass that, would you?" she asked as she calmed down.

Harry shimmied closer to the trunk, reaching around to pull the box out. It was just a little too big for the hollow, it turned out, which rendered it impossible to lose inside the tree. Pulling it out by the handle, Harry noted that it weighed almost nothing.

"What the...?" Harry exclaimed.

"Featherweight Charm," Ginny explained. "It comes standard on most wizard trunks and carry-cases. Nicked that one from the attic."

"And your parents never found out?" Harry asked.

Ginny just laughed. "If there's one thing we've got lots of, it's trunks. Bugger all to put in them, but we've got them."

"How's that?" Harry asked, genuinely confused. He knew Aunt Petunia had more suitcases than she really needed, but she filled each and every one of them every time the Dursleys went on holiday and then moaned endlessly about what she'd had to leave behind.

"One of my great uncles made them," Ginny explained. "Gilbert, I think. Or maybe it was Viritus. Anyway, it's my little treasure chest now."

Popping the lock, Harry found a model broomstick and a quaffle that had clearly seen better days on top of a load of books. Harry was about to start rooting through the books when Ginny gave a delicate cough. He could feel her anxiety.

"Like I said, my treasure chest," she grinned. "Hand it over, Harry."

"Why, what's under the books?" he challenged, not digging through them any further but not moving to hand the box over either.

Ginny blushed brightly. "Never you mind. Give me my box."

"What if I want to know what's under there?" Harry grinned.

"Too bad, it's my box!" she shot back.

"Yeah..." Harry smirked. "But I've got it."

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. Quick as a flash, her arm darted out to grab it. Harry dodged. He would've felt good about it too, if he hadn't dodged while sitting on a tree branch. Ginny seemed to notice, from her horrified expression. Harry was just trying to figure out how best to lock his legs around the branch when he realised that he wasn't falling. Ginny's eyes were burning, and her hands were outstretched, as if hanging onto him by his collar.

"Merlin's balls," she gasped.

"His what?" Harry asked.

Ginny snorted. "Don't make me laugh, Harry, I'll drop you."

"Hey, you said it, not me," he pointed out. "Can you help me back up? I can't move with whatever you're doing."

Slowly but surely, Harry returned to a comfortable sitting position.

"So what would you do if a muggle turned up here?" Harry asked, putting his back firmly against the tree trunk and handing Ginny her box.

"They can't," Ginny shrugged. "There's wards on the Burrow so you can't find it unless you're trying to get there. A bit like the third floor corridor."

"We got there easy enough," said Harry.

"We're sorcerers," Ginny said flatly. "We were desperate to get away from Filch, so we were probably fighting the wards."

"Still, those wards were supposed to be protecting the Philosopher's Stone," Harry continued. "If a bunch of kids could just wander through them..."

"They do seem a bit pathetic..." Ginny allowed. "But why would the professors make it weak? False sense of security?"

"Ready to hit them with Fluffy," Harry laughed.

"A dark wizard would just use the Killing Curse," Ginny frowned. "Only dragons have enough magic resistance to deflect an AK."

"They what?" Harry gaped.

"It's no help to wizards," Ginny said sadly. "No one tames a dragon, and the scales lose a lot of their strength when the dragon dies, so dragonhide armour is no use either."

Harry stared unseeingly across the woodland area. In his mind, a great dragon came out of nowhere to consume a shadow that was creeping through the dark. He shook his head. 'Stupid dream.'

"I'm sorry," Ginny said gently. "I didn't mean to..."

"Doesn't matter," Harry frowned. "Besides, if Fluffy is basically useless, then that thing is in a lot of trouble."

"Maybe the room is booby trapped," Ginny suggested. "Some stuff could come flying out of the walls or the floor to block his spells. And he couldn't use AK, anyway, it would set off alarms at the Ministry."

"They know when someone uses it?"

Ginny looked at him, and there must have been something in his eyes because her already grave expression turned mournful. "Nothing could be done, Harry, there was no time," she whispered. "The Department of Mysteries has these sensors buried secretly all over the country that show them where magic is being done, and if any illegal curses are being used. It tells them where the magic is being done pretty clearly... Harry, I'm so sorry but... by the time a team of aurors was ready, it would've all been over."

Harry shook his head. "No, I... If the room's booby trapped, he could just open the door from the other side of the corridor and cast spells from there. The dog can't get out, and he can deal with the traps without getting hurt."

Ginny looked at him for a while, and he turned away to look down at the stream. He didn't need sympathy.

"Yeah, but I'm sure the professors have done something to make it hard for people to get through," said Ginny.

"Yeah, I've known about magic for half a year," Harry smiled. "I'm not exactly the best person to criticise their work."

"No," Ginny agreed. "But Bill is."

"Bill isn't here," Harry pointed out.

"Which totally sucks," Ginny complained. "Dad knows a little bit about wards, but if we tell him about this he'll want to talk to Dumbledore and Mum about it, and Mum'll pull us all out of Hogwarts until the Stone's gone."

"You really think so?" said Harry.

"You've seen how much she worries," Ginny sighed. "The troll was just a one-off thing, but she'd have pulled us out for sure if she knew we went after it. The Stone is just gonna bring trouble as long as it's there."

They sat there in quiet contemplation for a while. It was clear that there was going to be trouble at Hogwarts this year. He could feel it in his scar. The damn thing was beginning to burn while he was at school, and nothing he did ever eased the pain.

"Here," Ginny said, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Huh?" Ginny was holding a book out to him.

"The reason I got you to pull this out," Ginny said, indicating the box, "was so I could give you this."

The book wasn't nearly as big as Lord of the Rings, but it didn't look like something he could read over a weekend. It was The Darkness Within, written by Noveria Dryden. Harry barely even noticed this, however, as the illustration on the front cover appeared to be animated in a similar way to a magical portrait, or a chocolate frog card.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Ginny grinned.

The man was barely even recognisable as a human being. His skin looked more like stone, cracked deeply and silhouetted by fiery lava that churned and roiled beneath it. Two massive horns protruded from the top corners of his forehead, curving back on themselves to end above and behind him. He still had human-looking hair, long and black and blowing in the wind. But his lower jaw seemed unnaturally long, and his mouth was full of fire, as were his eyes... eyes that were staring right at Harry.

He blinked, and stared back. The demon grinned, revealing rows of sharp fangs in place of teeth, before extending huge, bat-like wings and flying back, away from him. This allowed Harry to see his hands, or claws, as the demon faced off against an unseen foe.

The demon was wearing half of a plate armour suit, covering his shoulders, groin, the fronts of his thighs, his lower legs and his feet. Still, he looked harder than the steel that was on him, no matter how oversized the armour was. His feet must have been absolutely monstrous considering the size of his boots, which seemed as long as the shin plate.

That was when he roared. Fire exploded from his face with such force that Harry would have expected tower blocks to fall. There weren't any, though, in the arid, desolate backdrop. There was only another demon, even larger than the first. This one wore no armour, but Harry doubted that he needed it. His skin looked twice as thick, and he was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Unlike the first demon, he had no hair, and his entire body was wreathed in flames so dense it was like he was clothed in them.

The first demon whipped his tail out. Harry hadn't noticed it before, and supposed it must have been coiled up against his back. Harry thought the newcomer was going to lose an eye, but at the last second he reached out a massive, clawed hand and snatched the tail out of the air, yanking the smaller demon towards him. He didn't predict the sword that appeared out of nowhere in the smaller one's hands, and ended up helping to drive the blade through a gap in his blackened hide, right up to the hilt.

The bigger demon coughed, sending a fireball over the other's head. He grimaced and drove the sword higher, turning the blade against one of the chest plates. However, the impaled demon was only angered, roaring at his opponent and grabbing him by the horns. Harry was sure that the smaller guy was going to lose his head, but then the sword pulsed. It was like something was fired down its length, something blue and ethereal. Whatever it was, it propelled the other demon away as if it had been shot out of a cannon, and the book itself shook a second later as the defeated beast presumably hit the ground. From the look on the first demon's face, his assailant was not getting up. He threw his head back and roared, the sword gleaming in his hand before evaporating into thin air.

Harry looked up at Ginny. "What?"

She looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. "Want to borrow it?"

"Where'd you get it?" Harry asked. He couldn't imagine Mrs Weasley giving Ginny a book like this.

"It was a birthday present from Bill," she said. "He disguised it as a kid's book, and he's so good with wards that Mum didn't even realise there was a spell on it."

A thought burst to the front of his mind, distracting him entirely. "Hey, I never asked. When's your birthday?"

"Eleventh August," she smiled. "Why? Do you know what you're going to get me already?"

"Yeah," he griped, "some patience."

"Hey, I don't have time to be patient," Ginny said obstinately.

"But you have time to dawdle in trees talking to me about your birthday?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Ginny retorted. "I fit in the other stuff around the dawdling."

"Right."

Ginny smirked at him. "Anyway, you'd better finish that in the next few days, because there's no way that it's leaving here."

Harry flicked to the back page. "You expect me to finish three hundred and ninety pages in three days?"

"I could do it in one day, no problem," she said nonchalantly. "You're not up to it?"

Harry narrowed his eyes at her. "I'll do it."

"Great," she beamed. "Come on up here."

Harry passed her the book before carefully standing up on the branch. Leaning against the tree's thick trunk, he tensed his knees and sprung up to join her. The bough was so large that he could stand comfortably on it and still have room to move.

Sitting against an upward-growing branch, he put his hand out for the book, but she shook her head, smirking at him. Harry frowned, confused. Ginny didn't say a word. Rather, she raised a hand and made a 'come hither' motion, and patted the bough beside her.

"There's no room," Harry said.

Ginny rolled her eyes at him, getting up and pushing him down where she'd been sitting, before sitting firmly in his lap.

"Oh."

"Read to me?"

"Haven't you finished this already?"

"Twice," Ginny admitted. "But I want you to read it to me."

Harry fiddled with the book, trying to find a way to read it, before realising what Ginny's game was and putting his arms around her, and his head over her shoulder. She sighed and snuggled back into him, and Harry felt his cheeks light on fire.

"Please stop moving?"

"Wh... Oh."

Harry flipped it open, and found that it was quite new — 1989. It may well have been Ginny's last birthday present from Bill, before he left for Egypt.

"The Darkness Within, by Noveria Dryden," Harry said in the most grandiose voice he could muster. "Brought to you by Potter Productions, 1992."

Ginny snorted, and he found himself grinning too.

"Chapter One. The World I Used To Know.

"A great muggle war leader once said, 'If you are going to go through hell, keep going'. As I stared down from the top of Lancashire Magical Academy's North Tower, I found myself wondering whether Winston Churchill had ever looked into that churning, fiery pit. And yet, in the dying light of this chilly autumn evening, with the stench of death drifting to me on the breeze, I knew that there was no turning back."