Chosen - a Harry Potter fanfic
By Anton B. Ingibjartsson, AKA dragonwrath7
Disclaimer: If I were JK Rowling, I'd own the Harry Potter universe. Too bad I'm not.
This story (especially this chapter) was partly influenced and inspired by the fanfic In The Words Of Ginevra Molly Potter, by TheJealousOne.
Additionally, this chapter was inspired by the film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the beautiful music of Kate Covington (katethegreat19).
THIS STORY CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS TO ALL THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THEM AND DON'T WANT THE EXPERIENCE RUINED FOR YOU, REFRAIN FROM READING FURTHER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Chapter Nine: Ginny Weasley
As he was leaving the platform, Harry looked back. Hermione was telling her parents some story or other. He heard his name mentioned. The Weasleys were getting ready to leave. Ron, the twins, Percy, Mrs. Weasley and... Ginny. She looked at him shyly. Their eyes met.
Yes. He would protect Ginny. And he wouldn't fail. He was, after all, a guardian. In his pocket, the Trinity Wand seemed to pulse.
He wouldn't fail. He refused to fail.
After Harry scared the Dursleys into letting him keep his school stuff (Uncle Vernon wanted to lock the lot in Harry's old cupboard), Harry's summer went by without incident. It was obvious from a very early point that a little someone was intercepting his mail, because he received no letters, but of course he'd been expecting that. Except for breakfast, lunch and dinner, he and the Dursleys stayed clear of each other most of the time. It was not until the eve of Harry's twelfth birthday that Uncle Vernon knocked on his door.
"Come in," said Harry, doing his best to sound polite.
Uncle Vernon opened the door but did not come inside. Harry's room was full of evidence that he'd been studying magic (a wand on the table, robes on the chair, and an open spellbook in Harry's lap) and apparently Vernon was afraid to go near any of it.
"Now, listen here, boy. I want your word that you won't come out of this room until the Masons have left."
Right. Uncle Vernon's big deal.
"No problem, but I might be getting a visitor tonight-"
"WHAT!?"
"It can't be avoided. If he doesn't come tonight, it will be soon. And I can't let him know tonight's a bad time. Don't worry, though. He won't be using the front door and his entrance will be quiet enough. Unfortunately, I can't be sure he'll be completely quiet while he's here. I suggest you tell the Masons you own a cat."
Uncle Vernon just stared at him incredulously, then slammed the door shut. Harry heard the lock click.
Locked in. Wonderful. He expected to hear the usual voice in his head try to start a conversation on the subject. When he'd realized, earlier in the summer, that he was over-doing the whole inner dialogue thing, he'd stopped bothering to answer the voice that always came from the back of his mind. This time, no voice came. For once, Harry's mind was quiet, and he could keep his focus on the book.
As soon as he heard the Masons arrive, Harry put the book away, made sure the coin he now kept around his neck at all times was perfectly concealed, and waited.
He didn't have to wait long. With a crack like a whip, a small creature, which Harry knew to be a House Elf, appeared in the center of his room.
"Good evening, Dobby," said Harry immediately, once again feeling a bit Dumbledore-ish.
Dobby did not show as much surprise as Harry had expected. Before he could respond, Harry spoke again.
"Please keep your voice low. My uncle is entertaining guests who are not aware of the magical community."
Obediently, the elf responded in a whisper.
"Dobby heard tell that Harry Potter was gifted with the Seer sight. And now Dobby can truly say Harry Potter knows the future."
"Can I have my letters back now?"
Dobby smiled, as if Harry's words amusingly confirmed his previous statement, and shook his head.
"First, Harry Potter must promise not to go back to school."
"I can't do that, Dobby."
Dobby's smile vanished.
"B-but… But Harry Potter must know-"
"Yes, Dobby. I know. I'm perfectly aware of the danger."
"Does Harry Potter not understand?" The volume of Dobby's voice had gotten dangerously high. "Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. Terrible things will happen if he does!"
"Dobby, I have to. Hogwarts is my home, and there are teachers and students there who I consider members of my family. I'm the only one who is fully aware of what's to come, so I'm the only one who can stop it. I will not sit here in safety while my home is invaded and my family killed."
Dobby just stared at him for a long while. Harry heard laughter below, evidently the meeting was going well.
"Don't worry, Dobby. I know how to prevent any of it from happening."
"No!" Dobby suddenly shouted, and Harry jumped as the letters behind Dobby's back burst into flame. "Harry Potter doesn't understand! Harry Potter is too important! Harry Potter must not put himself in danger! Dobby must protect Harry Potter, even from himself!"
There was a loud explosion, and Dobby vanished. The door to Harry's room was blown open and burning letters scattered everywhere.
Everything went deathly quiet. No conversation was drifting up from downstairs. The silence was absolute. The only sound Harry heard came from his own beating heart. Then another beating sound took over; uncle Vernon's footsteps on the stairs.
"Not to worry," he said to the Masons as he ascended the stairs, "it's probably just the- err- cat."
Just as Vernon looked into Harry's room and beheld the demolition and Harry's stunned face, an owl swooped in through the shattered window, dropped a letter in Harry's lap, and flew back out.
"What the hell's going on here!?" whispered uncle Vernon.
"My guest lost his temper," replied Harry.
It goes without saying that Harry was locked in his room and told he'd never see Hogwarts again. The good news was that, miraculously, Vernon's deal went through, which meant his temper was not as bad as it otherwise would have been. Of course, that did not stop uncle Vernon from taking away all of Harry's magical stuff once he found out from Harry's letter that he wasn't allowed to use magic outside school. Thankfully, Harry was able to pull a little trick on him. One of the things in Harry's burning mail had been a birthday present from Ron; a trick wand from some joke shop or other. According to the instructions, if you tried to do magic with the wand, it would melt away. But uncle Vernon didn't need to know that. He swapped his wand with the trick wand when Vernon wasn't looking.
As soon as Vernon had locked Harry in tightly, he pulled out his real wand. Of course he wasn't about to cast any spells, the Ministry would know immediately, and he'd already received one warning that evening. No, he had something else in mind.
For the first time since putting it on the previous spring, he pulled out the silver coin with the lightning-shaped mark.
Putting the tip of his wand against the coin's backside, he said: "To Ronald Weasley:"
The coin suddenly became very hot, and he knew that Ron's coin had heated up at the same time.
"Locked in my room, need rescue. Harry. PS: When you're done reading this, touch the coin with your wand and say: Message received."
As he spoke, the words became etched into the coin. He lifted his wand and waited. After a minute or so, the message disappeared and the coin returned to its normal temperature, telling Harry that Ron had gotten the message. Harry stuck his wand in his pocket, lay down on the bed and waited.
After about an hour of listening for any signs of a flying car, he fell asleep.
He was walking down a school corridor when he encountered a snake that filled the entire corridor. Before he could run away or call for help, the snake stared him in the eye and his entire body froze. The snake slithered up to him, seemingly becoming even bigger on the way. It opened its mouth and swallowed Harry whole.
Strangely, instead of a snake's digestive system, Harry found himself in a long, narrow, and unfamiliar passage. At the end of the chamber lay the body of a boy. Harry ran towards him, but when he reached his destination, he saw that the boy was… Harry.
And then the Harry that lay on the floor opened his eyes. Instead of seeing himself where he remembered standing half a moment ago, Harry saw a beautiful, strange creature hovering over him. It looked like a woman, but it seemed to be made of light, and on top of its head, where hair should have been, burned a towering red flame. The creature's presence brought a feeling of peace to Harry, but then something else entered his field of vision. Another creature was approaching, this time shaped like a man but made of black fire and surrounded by darkness. Crimson-red gemstones shone ominously from where the creature's eyes should have been. The light moved between the darkness and Harry, and cried out in a familiar voice.
No...
A snake slithered up from the floor onto the black flame and wove around the man's arm, which was pointed at the light.
No.
An evil, familiar laugh emanated from the darkness, and the light spoke.
"Please, not Harry! Anything but Harry! Take me, kill me instead!"
No!
"Avada Kedavra."
A burst of green flame emanated from the darkness and engulfed the light.
"NO!"
Harry awoke with a start. It took him a few moments to realize it had been a dream and that he was still in his bed at number four, Privet Drive. He looked at his alarm clock, which told him it was half past nine in the morning. Just as he was wiping the sweat from his brow, he heard the doorbell ringing downstairs.
"Who in the blazes-" began uncle Vernon somewhere in the house.
Harry heard the front door open.
"Mr. Dursley, I presume," said an unfamiliar man's voice. "I'm here for Harry."
"What… There's nobody here by that name!"
"Don't lie to me, sir. I know you've got him locked in his room."
"How… He couldn't have sent for you! I just had bars put on his window! He can't send that damn bird with his mail anywhere! How do you-"
"That doesn't matter. Where is he?"
Silence.
"Bars on his window, you say?"
Harry next heard the man's voice through the window.
"Harry! Are you in there?"
He jumped to the window and opened it as much as was possible with the bars there.
"Yes! In here!"
"Hang on, I'm coming up!"
Harry heard someone rushing up the stairs. Then the lock on his door clicked and a red-haired man opened the door.
"Harry, my name's Arthur Weasley."
Harry smiled. "Ron's dad, right?"
"That's right. Now let's get your stuff ready and get out of here."
As they fetched Harry's things in the cupboard beneath the stairs, Harry could tell Mr. Weasley was having a really hard time resisting the urge to ask about everything from the telephone to the television, but he kept his cool.
Once everything was neatly packed into Mr. Weasley's Ford Anglia, they began the drive to the Burrow. After a few minutes of silence, Mr. Weasley was unable to hold in his enthusiasm any longer.
"So, Harry, you've lived with Muggles all your life. Can you explain to me how a phellytone works?"
And for the rest of the drive, Harry was bombarded with questions about the Muggle world.
It was not until they entered the driveway of a large, rickety house that Mr. Weasley finally shut up. Harry also became very quiet. As awed as he was to actually be at THE Burrow, as happy as he was to be rid of the Dursleys for the rest of the year, and as glad as he was that he was about to meet his friend Ron, none of those were his dominating emotion. True, this building housed his friend Ron, but it also held Ginny, and Harry was incredibly nervous about meeting her again.
He didn't understand. Why did he feel this way? He hadn't been like this when they met the first time.
"Welcome to the Burrow, Harry."
Harry nervously followed Mr. Weasley into the house, but before he even got the chance to look around, he was swept into a tight hug by Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh, Harry!" she cried. "We were so worried!"
"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley," he managed to mumble past her shoulder.
"Come in, dear, please."
Harry followed her further into the house as Ron and the twins came running downstairs.
"Harry!" yelled Ron.
"Alright, Harry?" asked the twins together.
"Alright," replied Harry.
It was then that a small, timid someone slowly descended the stairs, and Harry became blind to all else. Their eyes met and both their faces turned crimson. Harry managed a tiny smile.
"Er- Hi, Ginny."
"H-hi, H-Harry," she was able to stutter back.
This did not go unnoticed. As soon as Harry was able to break eye contact with Ginny, he saw smirks covering the twins' faces and was sure they were about to say something "hilarious" about him and Ginny. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley didn't seem to have noticed anything, but Ron had. Harry half-expected him to assault him and try to twist his head off. Ginny seemed to have the same concerns. They both looked at Ron, and Harry was surprised to see that he seemed… glad. Ron wasn't the least bit angry, he was genuinely glad. Relieved, even.
Before Harry had time to wonder at the reasons behind this odd un-Ronish behavior, he and Ginny were bombarded by the twins' musings. As the insults escalated, Ginny turned to the twins, all shyness forgotten.
"Shut UP, you pair of-" and, in a towering rage that made her seem like a mixture of Ron, Hermione and Mrs. Weasley, she let loose a string of insults the likes of which Harry had never even imagined. Her imagery was incredibly inventive and included a dung heap, a pair of oxen and the backside of a chicken. Don't ask.
By the time her tirade neared its end, the twins were practically cowering before her.
"Ginny!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, which finally shut Ginny up. "I never want to hear such foul language in my house again, understand?"
"Yes, mum."
As soon as Mrs. Weasley turned her back, Harry raised an eyebrow at Ginny, and she smiled broadly at him. Mrs. Weasley had just forbidden Ginny to use foul language, but only in this house. If Ginny ever chose to talk like that again, all she'd have to do was get out of the house, and Mrs. Weasley would not have any real grounds for punishing her.
Harry divided his time at the Burrow between Ron and Ginny, and Ginny got a significantly greater allotment of Harry's time than Ron. Ron didn't seem to mind, but Harry saw him make a mention of it in a letter he wrote to Hermione. Ginny seemed ecstatic to spend so much time with Harry, and even though she still tended to be shy around him, they always had a great time.
It was a few days later at breakfast that Harry's mood turned foul for the first time since entering the Burrow. Even the sight of Scabbers hadn't invoked any anger in him, but this…
The Weasleys were still discussing the Dursleys' treatment of him when Mrs. Weasley said:
"I mean, when Ron told us about the coin you gave him-"
"What?" said Harry sharply and turned to Ron. "You told them!?"
The Weasleys seemed stunned at Harry's reaction.
"Ron! What did I tell you?" Harry was absolutely furious. "What did I tell you!?"
"I- I didn't mean to!" replied Ron, apparently a little scared of Harry. Not that anyone could blame him.
"The twins were in the room with me when the coin got all burning hot, so I had to take it out, and they saw the writing appear on the coin!"
Harry noticed Ginny, who had just sat down on Ron's other side, paying special attention. She clearly hadn't known about any of this.
"And then when I told mum and dad that you needed rescuing, they didn't believe me when I said you'd sent me a letter, because they'd have noticed if an owl came here, and, well-"
"Who else knows about this?" asked Harry.
"Nobody. Just Fred, George, Mum and Dad," replied Ron.
"And Ginny," added Harry.
"Ginny?" said Ron, confused, and turned around.
"Oh, err- Ginny! I, uh…"
"It's okay," said Harry as he began to calm down. "As long as nobody else knows. Can you all promise to keep this quiet?"
"We promise, Harry," said Ginny, very serious.
"Keep what quiet?" asked Percy as he entered the kitchen.
"Nothing," mumbled Harry and returned to eating his breakfast. The others mimicked him awkwardly.
"Oh, come now, Harry. You can tell me. I'm a prefect."
Harry could tell he wasn't going to let this go easily. He considered telling him, but knowing Percy would put the ministry before his family, he decided it wasn't worth the risk. He'd have to get Percy's mind occupied with something else.
"So how's Penelope?"
For the first time ever, Harry saw Percy blush.
"How do you- I mean, what are you talking about, Harry?"
"Penelope. Your girlfriend. How is she?"
Percy just stared at him, his face the same color as his hair. Harry smirked and tapped the side of his head.
"I'm a seer, remember?"
"Girlfriend?" asked Fred, and Harry saw he and George were about to give Percy the royal treatment. Not exactly what he'd intended. Harry turned to the twins.
"Something wrong with that?"
Apparently, the twins had not been expecting Harry to defend Percy. They were taken aback and did not answer.
Harry glanced at Ginny. "Ginny and I are practically dating. Got anything to say about that?" Harry saw Ginny blush and couldn't help doing the same.
Everything went quiet. It was an awkward silence. Harry realized, too late, that perhaps he shouldn't have made that revelation with Ginny's parents in the room. She wasn't even eleven yet. How would her parents feel about her dating at that age? But Mr. and Mrs. Weasley just smiled, looked at Harry and Ginny and then at each other, and continued eating.
The twins, however, were not so gentle.
"Why Harry," George began, "we do indeed."
As it turned out, they had a great many things to say about their sister dating Harry Potter. After a while, Harry saw that Ginny was about to explode with fury again. Their eyes met, and he shook his head ever so slightly. The tiny action seemed to have a calming effect on her, and she held her tongue. Harry got up and went to the clothing rack. Everyone stared after him, surprised. He returned with two pairs of earmuffs and slipped one of them on Ginny. He returned to his seat and looked at the twins.
"Just let me know when you're done."
He put on the earmuffs and the world became quiet once more. The twins were dumbstruck and Ron couldn't stop laughing. Harry looked at Ginny. She was no longer blushing, but grinned widely at him. He felt he could look at her forever; her smile was probably the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He smiled too, and winked at her.
Then the clouds in the sky shifted and a ray of light shone in through the window. Right onto Ginny. Covered in sunlight, Ginny literally seemed to shine, and her hair looked like it was made of fire, reminding him of-
Harry's smile vanished. Ginny reminded him of the fiery female creature from his dream. A creature that had died protecting him from the darkness.
Harry looked away, but not before seeing Ginny's disappointment and confusion at his reaction.
Over the next few days, whenever Ginny was in the same room as Harry, he couldn't help but think of his dream and as a result, he couldn't bring himself to smile, or even look at her. This was made even worse by the fact that when he did glimpse her face, he saw the same disappointment and confusion as she had shown the first time, only it was getting worse all the time. He was hurting her by behaving like this, and he hated himself for it. However, all this self-hatred did was make him avoid her so she wouldn't have to watch him like this.
Harry barely slept during this time, and when he did, he was beset by nightmares where the shining fire-creature in his previous dream was replaced with Ginny.
It was on the evening before their trip to Diagon Alley that he was finally confronted about his behavior. Not by Ginny, though. By Mrs. Weasley.
"Harry, I need a word."
Harry and Ron had been about to go to Ron's room to sleep. They both turned and saw Mrs. Weasley's fierce expression. Ron leaned towards Harry and stage-whispered:
"Wow. What did you do?"
Harry didn't answer. He sincerely hoped she was just going to scold him for not helping out that day (he'd been down by the nearest river, just staying away from the house and from Ginny).
"Ron, bed."
Ron turned to Harry and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Good luck, mate. Tell me about it after, alright?"
"If I survive," replied Harry.
"NOW!" yelled Mrs. Weasley, and Ron ran up the stairs. This left Harry and Mrs. Weasley alone in the room.
"Harry, I'm just going to get straight to the point. Why are you doing this to Ginny?"
Here we go, thought Harry.
It's not like you don't deserve it.
I know.
"I-" he began, but didn't know how to continue. He'd been hoping to avoid this, hoping to shake free of these feelings so he could start being with Ginny again without causing her pain. This wasn't fair to Ginny and he knew it.
"Why did you give her hope, and then take it away?"
Harry knew himself to be guilty. There could be no greater crime than giving someone hope and then taking it away when they least expect it.
"You tell everyone you two are practically dating, and then you spend the rest of your time avoiding her. What are you running from?"
Silence. She expected an answer this time, and Harry knew she would neither speak nor let him leave until she got it.
"She-" he faltered, then started again. "Do you know what my first memory is? My mother's screams. My mother standing over me, throwing herself in harm's way to protect me, begging, pleading with Voldemort not to kill me, to kill her instead."
Her countenance softened, but not by much.
"I thought you didn't remember anything except the green light from his spell."
"I didn't, but I do now."
"Not to be mean, Harry, but what does that have to do with Ginny?"
"I've got pictures of my parents, Molly. Hagrid gave me an album full of them last spring. My mother had a beautiful face and long, flaming-red hair."
Mrs. Weasley was cut short. Her anger seemed to dissolve completely.
"Oh."
"Ginny reminds me of her, and when I think about that, well…"
"Harry…"
Harry's head snapped up. That had not been Mrs. Weasley's voice. He turned around and saw Ginny standing in the doorway, looking at him with tears in her eyes. Suddenly, she ran at him and flung her arms around him. And it felt so natural, so right. He hugged her back and his fears seemed to melt away.
What have I been so scared of? It was just a dream, and it wasn't even about Ginny.
When they finally broke apart, he found he had absolutely no trouble smiling at her.
"Sorry, I just… I've been an idiot."
"Yeah, you have," she replied, but she was smiling.
"Alright, you two, break it up," said Mrs. Weasley, who was also smiling now. They both turned to her.
"Harry," she said, "can I trust you won't treat Ginny like that in the future?"
He looked at Ginny, who smiled at him, half-questioningly. He put his hand in hers.
"As long as she keeps reminding me why I shouldn't," he said, and smiled.
"Alright," said Mrs. Weasley, "in that case, off to bed, both of you."
When Harry left Ginny at her room, a question occurred to him.
"Ginny? Didn't you go upstairs before Ron? What were you doing downstairs?"
"Oh, just… gathering information," she replied and winked at him before closing the door and leaving him alone in the hall.
"Gathering information?" Harry whispered to himself and smiled. "Ginny Weasley, you mischievous little vixen."
The next day, they all woke up fairly early. After getting dressed and eating breakfast, they all gathered around the fireplace and, one by one, left the Burrow via the Flew Network.
When Harry arrived, right after Ron, at the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, he saw that Ron was glancing around the place, as if looking for someone.
"Where is she?"
"Who?" asked Harry.
Ron looked at him like he wanted to ask 'are you stupid?' It took Harry a few seconds to realize who Ron was talking about.
"Oh, right. Hermione."
"She said she'd wait for us here."
Ron had been in nearly constant contact with Hermione via owl mail for most of Harry's time at the Burrow, and probably even before that. Harry wondered why this was. Surely, the two weren't dating, were they? All things considered, it seemed rather unlikely, but then Harry and Ginny were almost dating (the only reason Harry did not consider them to be fully dating was because they hadn't actually gone on a date yet).
They waited by the fireplace for twenty minutes, but Hermione did not show up.
"I'm sorry, Ron," said Mrs. Weasley and looked at her watch. "We don't have time to wait here all day. Maybe we'll run into Hermione later."
Ron sighed in defeat and followed them glumly out into Diagon Alley. Once they had retrieved some of their gold from Gringotts, the group split up. Ron apparently saw someone he recognized and took off without a word. Percy mumbled something about a new quill and wandered off, and the twins met with their friend Lee Jordan.
"We'll all meet by Flourish and Blotts in one hour!" shouted Mrs. Weasley to ensure everyone heard. "Harry, aren't you going after Ron?"
"Actually, Molly, I wondered if I could borrow Ginny for a while?"
"Borrow me?" asked Ginny, and her face went a little red. Harry looked at her.
"Your birthday's coming up, right? I wanted to get you something."
"Harry," said Mr. Weasley, "shouldn't birthday presents be a secret until the actual birthday?"
"Not the kind of gift I had in mind. I can't get it without Ginny there."
Mrs. Weasley looked at him and Harry couldn't understand the serious look on her face.
"It had better not be lingerie."
Harry and Ginny's faces became tomato red.
"N-no! Of course not!"
"Well, I'm coming with you, just in case."
"Muuum!" complained Ginny. "Harry's not like that!"
Mrs. Weasley seemed to be considering whether or not to allow this, when her husband spoke up.
"Molly, I think Harry's proven himself worthy of our trust. He's quite mature for his age."
Mrs. Weasley seemed to finally relent.
"That's exactly what worries me, to be honest, but alright."
"Thanks, mum!" said Ginny before rushing from her to Harry.
"We'll meet you at Flourish and Blotts, and then you can get the rest of Ginny's stuff," said Harry before turning away and walking up the street hand-in-hand with Ginny.
He saw surprise fill Ginny's face when he pulled her into a narrow and shabby shop.
"Ollivander's? What are we doing here?"
Harry smiled at her.
"Can't have my girlfriend running around with a second-hand wand, can I?"
She half-smiled back.
"Good day," said Mr. Ollivander suddenly, right beside them. They both jumped. Neither of them had noticed him until then.
Harry turned to him, bowed, and returned his greeting.
"Mr. Potter, how unexpected. There's nothing wrong with the Trinity Wand, I hope?"
Ginny looked at Harry, surprised.
"Oh, no sir. My wand's in perfect condition. I actually came to get a wand for Ginny. Her birthday's coming up, you see."
"Ah. Ginevra Weasley. Good to finally meet you."
And he went on to give her basically the same treatment as Harry had gotten the year before, describing the attributes of her parents' wands as he looked through the shelves for wands for Ginny to try.
Meanwhile, Ginny whispered to Harry; "Trinity Wand?"
Harry realized he hadn't told her about his wand. In fact, he hadn't told anyone.
"I'll tell you later," he whispered back, as Ollivander arrived with the first wand.
"Here we are. Yew and phoenix feather. Nine inches, springy. Just give it a wave."
Ginny tried, but nothing happened. Ollivander got another wand and Ginny tried again. Still nothing. Harry sat down in the chair Hagrid had nearly broken the year before and settled in for a long wait.
About nine wands later, Ollivander seemed to hesitate.
"I wonder…"
He gave Harry an odd look and then turned to the shelves and pulled out a wand like all the others, except Harry recognized it. He clearly recalled trying that wand a year ago, when he was last in this shop.
"Is that-" he began, but something about Ollivander's countenance stopped him from completing the question.
Ollivander handed the wand to Ginny without a word, and a strange aura came over her. She raised her hand and brought the wand swooshing down. Red and gold sparks shot out of the end of it. Ginny smiled with success and looked at Harry, but his surprised and thoughtful expression seemed to douse her joy.
Ollivander took the wand back and began packing it in, mumbling to himself; "Curious… Very curious."
'What does this mean?' wondered Harry to himself. Just to clarify, he asked Ollivander: "Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple?"
"Indeed," replied Ollivander.
"Curious," agreed Harry.
"What?" asked Ginny, confused. It was Harry who replied.
"It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather resides in that wand gave only one other feather."
Ginny swallowed. She could tell this was something significant.
"It is curious that you are destined for that wand," Harry continued and lifted the hair from his forehead, "when it's brother gave me this scar."
Author's Notes:
I HAVE CHANGED THE SIZE AND WOOD OF THE TRINITY WAND - SEE "CHAPTER 3 - THE WAND CHOOSES THE WIZARD" FOR DETAILS.
Long time no see- er… write. Whatever.
I'm going to start by letting you all know that since I'm now a university student, I have less time for this story now than in the past. Chapters may therefore be further apart than usual.
Next, I'd like to congratulate myself. Yes, you read right. I'm rather proud of myself for turning what I had expected to become a short, dull chapter into an exciting read that's about twice the intended length. Go me! Hehe.
And third, I'd like to apologize to thejealousone for 'stealing' a little something from his story (yes, she WAS eavesdropping). I hope you won't hold it against me, it's just that when I read your story the first time, I liked it so much that I simply accepted much of it as fact – a natural part of the Harry Potter universe, and Ginny being an eavesdropper was one of them.
Now, let's tackle the actual issues of this chapter:
My biggest concern about this chapter now is the status of Harry's relationship with Ginny. I know they're rather young, but it's not like they're sneaking into each other's bedrooms at night or snogging the day away. I need their relationship to be at a certain stage later in the story when I drop a certain bomb in Harry's lap. That's why I'm sort of rushing things. Believe me, there are going to be complications.
And I know Molly is rather strict with Harry here, but I thought the situation(s) called for it. Plus, I just couldn't resist the lingerie thing.
Like I said at the top, this chapter drew inspiration from the sixth Harry Potter film, and this chapter, more than the previous ones, was inspired by "In the Words of Ginevra Molly Potter". Also, this chapter was pretty much SAVED by the wonderful music of Kate Covington. The feelings I experience when I listen to her songs were the inspiration for all the wonderful Ginny scenes in this chapter (except the last one (with Ollivander), which I had been planning for a while).
Okay, I'm just going to leave it here. Don't forget to comment and ask any questions you want, and I'll try to answer everything. If you hate something about this chapter, please help me understand why. Explain your case as well as you can and I'll either make changes or at least explain why I disagree. Understand that certain things in this chapter are there for a reason.
Don't forget to check out the poll – this time, the question is; What ELSE can Harry's coins do? (It should be noted that these polls are just for fun, they don't actually affect the story in any way – I already know the correct answer to each one when I write it).
Later.