Visitor to the Burrow
The next morning Healer Endlemire gave his approval for Harry's release from Saint Mungo's after he obtained Harry's promise for the third time that he would not perform magic in any way, shape or form for three more weeks. Harry was to travel to the Burrow via floo powder and he was sitting on the bed in his room waiting for someone from the Weasley family to meet him when he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in," he said.
"Good morning," Ginny said walking through the door.
"Hey, Gin. Time to go?" he asked hopefully.
"It will be once Healer Endlemire is finished with Mum," Ginny said with amusement in her voice and sitting down next to him. "From what I heard, he practically wants her to keep you under house arrest for the next several days."
"He doesn't know her very well, does he?" Harry said resignedly. "She'd be doing that even without instructions from him."
Ginny said, "She's just trying to do what she thinks is best for you."
"I know. But I hate imposing on your parents and I really don't want her to wait on me the whole time."
"She likes thinking she is taking care of you. And you know Dad loves having both you and Hermione around to talk to about Muggle life."
"Right. I still owe him an explanation about how a television remote control works, don't I?" Harry said smiling. "Although, I'm still not sure he totally understood Hermione's and my last attempt to explain televisions to him."
Ginny seemed to be lost in thought and she did not respond.
Harry was about to ask her what she was thinking when she said, "Speaking of explanations, I think you may owe me one."
"I do? About what?" he asked.
Ginny reached into the neck of her shirt and pulled out the pendant he had given her.
"Is there anything more you'd care to tell me about this?" She asked.
He said carefully, "Oh, er… I thought you liked it."
"I do like it," she replied. "But I was wondering whether you might have forgotten to mention another charm placed on it besides the one allowing only me to read the inscription."
Harry's face fell, and he said nervously, "Please don't be mad at me, Ginny. I had no way of knowing what might happen when we went after the fifth Horcrux. It was the only way I could think of to protect you. I figured if something did happen to me and I didn't make it back at least I had done something to try to keep you safe. Even if you are mad at me, it will be worth it because that necklace helped both you and Hermione in Diagon Alley the other day. And…well…the only other thing you should know is that I still mean what's inscribed on the back of it…"
He watched her anxiously, not knowing how she would react to what he had just said.
"So you are admitting to having another charm placed on it?" she asked.
Reluctantly Harry nodded and confirmed, "Yes; I specified that it be able to deflect and guard you against as many curses and hexes I could remember Death Eaters and Slytherines ever using. Not long before we left Romania I had it charmed by an old and very powerful wizard that Ivan introduced me to."
Not getting an immediate response from her, he asked, "So are you mad at me?"
She gazed back at him and shook her head slightly.
She said, "No. Actually, I think it was a sweet and thoughtful thing to do."
"You do?" he asked, but he was now only aware of the warmth he saw in her eyes and the urge he suddenly had to kiss her.
"U-hum…" she replied leaning slightly closer to him.
Her perfume filled his senses and Harry slowly moved toward her to bend his head down so that their lips were nearly touching. Suddenly, the door opened and Mrs. Weasley walked briskly into the room.
"Ready to go?" she asked.
Startled back to awareness, Harry jumped up from the bed and crossed the room to pretend to check in the closet for any belongings he may have forgotten.
Noting Harry's haste and the rising color on the faces of both teens, Mrs. Weasley asked innocently, "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"
"No!" both answered simultaneously and a little too quickly which confirmed the contrary. Mrs. Weasley smiled inwardly to herself.
"Okay then, come on," she said.
Ginny and Harry followed her down the corridor and toward the public fireplaces in silence but Harry's mind was still on the kiss they had almost shared. He was not sure what frustrated him more; the fact that he had not gotten to kiss Ginny or that he nearly did. What had he been thinking? He still had a long and dangerous journey ahead of him so there was no way he should even be considering rekindling that kind of relationship with her.
"Now, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said as he took a handful of floo powder from the bag she held out for him, "the Healer does not think traveling by floo should have an adverse effect on you in your current condition. But he did say that once you arrive at the Burrow should you feel achy anywhere, break out in hives, feel dizzy, weak, lightheaded, extremely hot, extremely cold—"
"Mum!" Ginny interrupted. "Harry has traveled by floo before. I'm sure he will let you know if he experiences any kind of side effects, won't you Harry?"
"Sure thing," Harry replied.
Harry had never developed a fondness for traveling by floo, but he was more than willing to travel by almost any means that would get him out of Saint Mungo's as quickly as possible.
"I'm sorry, Harry, I'm sure you will be fine. Okay then, off you go. We'll be right behind you," Mrs. Weasley said.
Harry stepped into the fireplace, threw down the floo powder and said, "The Burrow."
A few moments later, he was picking himself up off the floor in the Weasley's living room. Hermione was curled up on the couch reading one of the ancient books she had borrowed from Nadia.
"Harry! I wasn't sure when you'd be getting here. How are you feeling?"
"Never better. Ron still asleep?" Harry asked, stepping away from the fireplace just in time to get out of the way of Ginny's arrival, with Mrs. Weasley close on her heels.
"You know Ron, he'll always have a good lie-in if he can get the chance," Hermione replied.
Mrs. Weasley said, "Well, I think everyone else has slept in long enough. Ginny, please go and wake up your brothers. Now that I have a crowd home I'm going to take full advantage of it."
Fred came down the stairs and asked sleepily, "Who are you taking advantage of?"
"You and your brothers," Mrs. Weasley answered. "The garden needs weeding and de-gnoming, and there are several bushes of meckleberries that need to be picked. After that, the broom shed needs to be—"
"But, Mum!" Fred whined. "You insisted that George and I stay here for a few days to recover from our near death experience, yet you set such grueling labor before us?"
His mother countered, "You are here because the Ministry won't let anyone back in Diagon Alley until they have finished putting the new security charms and wards in place. Therefore, you might as well make yourselves useful while you are here! Brunch will be ready in a few minutes and you can set to work after that."
Harry and Ginny exchanged amused smirks as she passed him to go up the stairs to wake Ron and George.
Fred sat down sulkily on the couch and Harry said, "Hermione and I'll help you out so it shouldn't take that long."
Hermione nodded her agreement but Mrs. Weasley said, "You'll do no such thing, Harry Potter! The Healer said you are to rest and that is exactly what you will be doing! Now sit down and I'll call you when brunch is ready."
With that, she walked briskly into the kitchen.
An hour later Harry was sitting on the bench in the garden watching Hermione and Ginny pick meckleberries, Ron weed the garden, and Fred and George each attempting to throw their captured gnomes farther than the other. An overly plump gnome tried to escape the twins by running under the bench where Harry was sitting. As it dove for cover, Harry grabbed it by the ankle.
"Hey, I caught one!" Harry said as the struggling creature tried to bite him and slash at his hand with sharp dirty fingers. He held it away from him and walked over to where the twins were standing.
"Go ahead, Harry, give it a chuck. Mine have gone the farthest so far— out just past that shrub," Fred said proudly, indicating a low growing plant some fifteen yards away.
Harry made to throw the gnome much as he would a ball when George stopped him and said, "Not like that! You need to take it by the leg, spin it overhead a few times and let go at just the right time. Didn't see how we were doing it?"
"Okay, sure," Harry said and modified his hold on the gnome.
He was about to start his initial swing when Mrs. Weasley appeared and yelled with an exasperated tone, "Fred! George! Just what do you two think you are doing?"
They turned to face their mother and George said quizzically, "We're de-gnoming like you asked us to!"
With her hands on her hips, Mrs. Weasley said, "That's right! I asked you two to do it, not Harry, who is supposed to be resting, by the way." She gave Harry a disapproving look.
"I was getting tired of just sitting around and watching everyone else work. Besides, it's only this one—" Harry tried to protest but Mrs. Weasley interjected.
"Give it over to Fred and come back to the house. Kingsley is here to see you."
"What does he want?" Hermione asked suspiciously, bringing over two buckets full of meckleberries.
She had not forgiven Kingsley Shakelbolt for the way he had interrogated Harry in the hospital.
"Only to see how Harry is doing after what happened the other day," Mrs. Weasley said unconvincingly.
"He probably wants to hear your side of the story," Ginny added sounding irritated by the thought as she brought over two more full buckets of berries. "He spent several hours with Ron, Fred and George yesterday before you woke up."
"You mean he wants to hear what I have to say about killing Bellatrix Lestrange," Harry said quietly.
Did they think he had killed her on purpose? Maybe Kingsley was here to arrest him.
Mrs. Weasely said sympathetically, "Just tell him what happened. It will be alright."
Harry nodded solemnly and turned to follow Mrs. Weasley back to the house.
Ginny watched them go and said mostly to herself, "Harry did what he had to. I've never hexed an Auror, but if Kingsley says anything to make Harry feel guiltier about what happened, I may have to."
"Just make sure that I get the chance to take a shot at him, too," Hermione said, watching Harry and Mrs. Weasley disappear through the kitchen door.
Kingsley was standing by the kitchen table when they walked into the room. Mrs. Weasley threw him a warning glare and then continued through the room and into another part of the house, giving them privacy.
Upon seeing Harry, Kingsley said, "Harry! Please, have a seat. How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, thanks," Harry replied, sitting in the chair Kingsley indicated.
"I'd like to speak to you about what happened in Diagon Alley," Kingsley said. "But first, I want to apologize for how I acted toward you when you were in the hospital the first time. I did not mean to be so harsh with you. You went through a terrible ordeal and I truly do understand what you had to endure, probably more so than you would imagine."
Harry remained silent and Kingsley continued, "I grew up with one of the Aurors who is missing. He is more than a friend; he's been like a brother to me and when I thought you might be able to shed some light on what happened to him… well, that's all I could think about and not about what you were having to deal with."
"I understand, sir," Harry said quietly.
He would be just as adamant about trying to get information out of someone if Ron had disappeared and he thought it would help.
Wanting Kingsley to get to the point, Harry asked, "So, what would you like to know?"
Kingsley replied, "This is just a formality but I need to hear directly from you what events led up to the death of Bellatrix Lestrange. And why were you involved when it is my understanding that you are under Healers' orders to refrain from using magic?"
Harry explained to him what had happened from the point of Hermione's visit at his flat to when he had found out Bellatrix Lestrange was dead.
"The Healer thinks you lost control of your magic because you have not completely recovered yet?" Kingsley asked.
"Yes."
"Harry, was it your intent to kill her?"
"No…" Outright killing her that day had not been his intention; but he had thought about it other times after Sirius had died.
Kingsley noted the hesitation in Harry's answer and said, "You are not about to be arrested, if that is what you are concerned about. You rid the world of a particularly nasty piece of work who was responsible for the deaths of many innocent people. She was about to commit another murder openly and before witnesses. Those witnesses, including both Fred and George Weasley corroborated what you have just related to me. And just so you know, the official part of my visit is now over, so we don't have to continue this conversation if you don't want to."
Harry was quiet for a moment and then he said, "Can I ask you a question then, sir?"
"Go ahead."
"Have you ever killed anyone?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I have," Kingsley answered.
Harry said, "I didn't think about killing her the other day but after Sirius died, there were other times when I did. Snape, too, for killing Dumbledore. I thought it was what they deserved. But seeing her afterward…" a shudder when through him, recalling the gruesome scene. "I thought I would feel better or relieved or, I don't know, something. Instead it's almost like I feel worse knowing I'm the one responsible for her death, no matter what she was or has done."
Kingsley replied, "Good. I'm relieved to hear you say that."
Harry looked at him in surprise.
"Harry, I'd be more worried about you right now if you had told me otherwise. In my years as an Auror, I have seen that, for some, the taking of a life no matter how justified it may have been, made it much easier to do it the next time; even if there were other options available. They had little regret for killing those whom they felt 'deserved what they got'. I have never seen such a path end well. I am relieved to hear that you have managed to keep your compassion in tact. Holding on to our compassion and humanity may be more painful but it provides us with the strength to continue the fight. It sets us apart from You-Know-Who and his followers."
Staring down at the kitchen table, Harry said, "Ginny Weasley told me much the same thing."
"Smart girl," Kingsley said getting up from his chair. "I have another appointment I should be getting to."
He held out his hand to shake Harry's. "Thank you for speaking with me today and if you ever feel that you need to talk more about what happened, please don't hesitate to track me down. Unless I'm on assignment, the office will be able to tell you how to reach me."
"Thank you, sir. I appreciate that," Harry said sincerely.
After Kingsley left through the fireplace, Harry looked out the kitchen window. Everyone must have completed their assigned chores because Ron, Ginny and the twins were in the middle of a pick-up game of two-on-two Quidditch and Hermione was sitting on the garden bench watching and talking with Mrs. Weasley.
Harry's eyes followed Ginny as she swooped gracefully through the air, caught the Quaffle George passed to her and threw it through the makeshift goal, easily beating Fred. Watching her happily exchange high-fives with George, Harry found himself thinking how incredible she was; and he was not just thinking about her Quidditch ability.
He walked slowly out to join them and then remembered that he, Ron and Hermione would be leaving for Romania in a few weeks. When he drew closer, Ginny smiled and waved down to him from her perch up on her broom.
Waving back to her it dawned on Harry that he was not really looking forward to their trip back to Romania— especially since he had so successfully ensured that Ginny would not be coming with them.