I know it took me a while to update this, but believe me when I say that work has been insane for the past month. In a normally five person office, two people were out sick, which means I had to do the job for three people. Needless to say, fanfiction wasn't the first thing on my mind when I got home every night. I hope you enjoy... it's not the best chapter I've done, but oh well.

Lily Potter didn't say a word. It wasn't really required. She just stood over her rather sheepish looking son with her hands on her hips and shook her head very slowly. James shot a 'boy are you in for it' glance at his oldest child and helpfully closed the flimsy set of curtains that surrounded Harry's hospital bed before casting a privacy charm that would prevent anyone else from hearing the lecture that he was certain was about to happen. He hadn't gotten a chance to say anything to Harry, but when Lily was in a mood like she was, sometimes it was better and safer to just stay out of the way.

Harry looked down at his knees as the curtains closed and clenched his fingers into the blanket, feeling a bit betrayed. He didn't like that look on Lily's face. It was a strange combination of worry, apprehension, and exasperation. That, coupled with the way that she was just standing there looking at him, was enough to make him squirm nervously. The urge to explain his actions was strong, but the words kept getting caught in his throat. Somehow, he didn't think there would be any explanation good enough to satisfy his mother.

"Oh Harry, what are we going to do with you?" Lily asked after a long time. She sat down on the bed beside Harry, who was quite pleased that she didn't sound as angry as he had anticipated. In fact, her voice was calm. "I just don't understand what motivates you to... to do things like this. First the battle, and now entering the Chamber of Secrets with just your little sister for back-up? Without even telling someone that you were going? Didn't you two know how much danger you were putting yourself in?"

He flushed and kept staring at his knees, well aware of the implied "and Ginny and your sister" that hung at the end of her sentence. No wonder Ron had always been reluctant to get in trouble in his old world, if this was how guilty a parent could make one feel. It was like someone had reached into his chest and pressed their hand down on his heart, squeezing slowly. "I'm sorry," he said finally.

Lily sighed and reached out, gently running her fingers through his hair. Hair that reminded her so much of James that it hurt. "No, you're not," she said with a crooked little smile. "You're just like your father. Sorry you got caught, and sorry that you've caused us worry, and maybe even sorry that Lia and Ginny got hurt, but you're not sorry that you did it, are you?"

Surprised that Lily had been able to articulate his thoughts so well, he glanced up at her. "You... you're not mad at me?"

"Oh, I am very angry at you," Lily replied. "And don't think you're going to be able to get out of a punishment. But even more so, I'm concerned. I wish to Merlin that we had never cast that spell on you, Harry. If I had understood what it would be like..." Her voice trailed off, and her hand moved to cup his cheek, forcing him to look into her eyes. "I love you so much, but you're virtually a stranger to me, and that breaks my heart every time I remember it."

"I'm sorry," he said again, unsure of what else to say.

She smiled sadly. "It's not your fault, honey. We just have to deal with the consequences of the choices we made, even if they're not very good ones. I just wish I knew what happened to you that makes you act so... recklessly."

Those words were enough to make Harry want to spill everything about his old world – about the prophecy and Voldemort. His mother's emerald eyes were so warm, and her expression so loving. Her thumb was gently stroking his cheek, and it was the kind of tenderness that he had always dreamed about when he was laying in his cupboard as a child. Everything about Lily said that she would completely understand. But still, the words refused to come. He bit his lip, confused and ashamed.

Even that, Lily seemed to understand, for again that sad smile touched her lips and as she sat back a little, her hand dropped to rest atop one of his. "Lia says you're a parselmouth," she said.

His stomach tightened briefly. It was a change of subject, certainly, but he wasn't sure it was much better than the last one. "Yes, I am," he said uncertainly, recalling his horrible second year of Hogwarts.

Lily nodded. "I'd hoped one of you would be."

"What?" Harry said, shocked, and stared, only just now realizing that Lily didn't seem upset or startled by the news. In fact, she looked... pleased?

"Didn't you know?" Lily asked, eyes twinkling. "Harry, in order for a muggle family to produce a witch or wizard, that means there must be some form of magic that was introduced into the line at some point. It can lay dormant for centuries, but it's still there. Magic doesn't just appear out of nowhere." She paused and shook her hair out of her face, drawing it back with a gesture so reminiscent of Lia that he had to smile. "I learned about this in my sixth year of Hogwarts, and I set about tracing the Evans' family tree. It took me years to follow every line, but I did it. Several centuries ago, a distant descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself married into the line. That's where most of our magic comes from."

His jaw dropped. "We're related to... to..."

"Yes. The blood is quite diluted, of course, but Slytherin was rumoured to be an extremely powerful wizard, so it's not surprising that one of his gifts would have shown up. I imagine that the Potter blood would have brought it out in you," she added. "And over the years, I noticed that other witches and wizards have come into the Evans' line at certain points, though I was the first witch in over four centuries."

"Are you a parselmouth?" he asked blankly, which was the only question that he could think to ask.

"No, unfortunately not. I wish I was. It must be wonderful to be able to speak to snakes," Lily said, looking a bit dreamy. She must have caught sight of his tense expression, for she went on, "Don't worry about what people will say to you or about you, Harry. There's nothing wrong with having an ability like yours. It's the witch and wizard that makes magic good or evil, not the magic itself."

"Professor Dumbledore said something like that to me once," he admitted softly, still a little shell shocked over the major piece of information that Lily had just dropped on him. He wondered if this had also been true in his old world. Had anyone ever set about tracing the Evans family tree with the tenacity that Lily had? What if his parselmouth ability hadn't come from Voldemort at all?

"Lily?" The curtains parted a bit to allow James to stick his head through. "I'm sorry to disturb, but the Weasleys and Hermione Granger are here. Ginny Weasley wants to know if she can see Harry."

Lily smirked when Harry's face paled slightly. "Absolutely," she said knowingly, with nothing short of an evil smile. "You can send her right in."

"Mum!" Harry whined, just barely stopping himself from flinging his body at her robes to keep her around. Lily just chuckled and skirted the bed as she joined her husband on the opposite side of the curtains. Less than a minute later, they parted again and Ginny Weasley came in.

Like Lily, she didn't say a single word at first. She just stood there and stared at him. Harry felt a bead of sweat forming on his forehead and swallowed hard, wondering if it would be better to break the silence, or if he should just wait until she choose to speak. He didn't have to wait for long. Without any warning, Ginny snatched up one of the spare pillows that Madame Pomfrey had placed on the bed and whipped him across the head.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"It was supposed to! How could you be so bloody stupid!"

"Ow! Ginny, stop!"

"You knew how dangerous that place was and you – went – anyway!"

Harry yelped as each word was punctuated with another blow from the pillow. Lifting his hands, he grabbed the feathery weapon and held on when she tried to raise it for another hit. "I just wanted to see if the basilisk was still there!" he said, tightening his grip. "I didn't think you'd want to come because of the memories. If I'd known what was down there, I wouldn't have brought Lia along."

"No," Ginny said quietly, an emotion he didn't quite recognize in her eyes. "You would've gone down yourself and gotten killed when the Dementors swarmed over you. Or gotten eaten by that stupid snake! It's not about whether you put Lia in danger, Harry – although that was also marvellously stupid of you – but the fact that you could've been killed!"

"I..." Harry said awkwardly, staring at her. "I'm sorry?"

Ginny's eyes narrowed.

Harry sighed and released his grip on the pillow.

Five hits later (that actually felt much harder than the original ones she'd bestowed on him, if that were possible), Ginny chucked the pillow over her shoulder through the curtain and sat down on the edge of the bed with a huff, ignoring Sirius' shout as the pillow hit him in the face. She scowled at his apologetic expression and shook her head slowly.

"You just don't get it," she muttered. "Harry, no matter how bad those memories are, I would have gone down there with you."

"But I didn't want you to. I didn't want you to have to go through that."

"So you'd rather go at it by yourself?" Ginny asked wearily.

"Ginny..."

Harry had only ever been kissed once in his life. In the fifth year of his original world, he'd kissed Cho Chang just once. It hadn't been a very pleasurable experience, and he'd often joked since that if that was what kissing was like, he'd be just as glad if he never kissed anyone again, thank you very much. Cho had been wet and crying and salty and he'd walked away feeling revolted and a bit sad.

Kissing Ginny wasn't anything like that. Once he got over his shock (which took a couple of moments) and started kissing her back, he realized it was actually very... nice. More than nice. It was amazing, actually. The kind of kiss that he could feel all the way down to his toes, which curled beneath the sheets. And when Ginny sighed and started to draw back, his hands – which had somehow found their way into her fiery hair at some point – pulled her back, because it wasn't enough. Harry got the feeling, as their lips moved tenderly together, that it would never be enough.

"Whoa!" a voice choked, and this time when Ginny backed off, he let her as they turned to face Sirius, who was grinning broadly. "Sorry, kiddo, but Poppy's here to check you over."

"Great timing, Sirius," Harry muttered. He didn't think he needed Madame Pomfrey to look him over. His whole body was tingling and felt as though he'd just eaten twenty pounds of chocolate. Instinctively, he caught Ginny's hand when she went to stand and sent her a look that implored her to stay. Frowning slightly, she did, perching nervously on the edge of his bed as the nurse rounded the curtains. Sirius disappeared with a wicked grin and a wink in Harry's direction.

"Just a routine check, Harry," said Pomfrey. She shook her head as she held her wand up. "Honestly, I would have thought that you would do everything in your power not to come back here after you were so anxious to leave."

"So would I," mumbled Ginny. Harry found her hand on the bed and squeezed it.

The scan didn't take very long, and soon she stood back with an approving smile on her face. "Chocolate really is the best cure for a Dementor attack," she said, tucking her wand into a sash at her waist. "Have a bit more before you go to bed tonight, and it wouldn't hurt if you drank a Dreamless Sleep potion. A good night's sleep will do wonders for you."

Harry nodded as she turned and left, then looked at Ginny. She was staring at the floor with a faint flush on her cheeks. He wanted to say something – anything – to her, but his mind was coming up blank. Worse, he knew that they would only have a few minutes before they were interrupted again, and he had never been very good at thinking quickly under pressure. Ginny, however, took a deep breath and turned to face him. Her expression was completely serious, and her golden eyes were intent.

"I didn't know how else to make you see that you're not alone," she said.

"I thought you were in love with Dean Thomas," Harry said, remembering that last train he'd had with his friends.

"That was just to annoy Ron." Ginny flipped her hair over her shoulder and smirked. "Like I was going to let him dictate whether or not I could be with you? That's my choice. Not his."

"It worked," he told her, remembering the unattractive shade of purple that Ron had turned.

"I know."

Silence fell between them again, but this time, it wasn't quite as awkward as it had been. Harry looked down at their joined hands. He'd held Ginny's hand before, but now it felt different. He was very aware of how soft her skin was and how well her fingers fit within his. Her hand was shaking a little, twitching now and then. She must have noticed him looking, because she spoke.

"It's from the curse," she said. "It can still affect the muscles for a couple of days afterwards. The Healer told me it should go away soon."

Harry sighed. "You shouldn't have jumped in front of that curse, Gin. Who was it, anyway?"

Ginny stared. "You mean you didn't recognize her?" she said incredulously. "I mean, her voice was a little different, but..."

He flushed. "I was more focused on trying to subdue her than in trying to figure out who it was," he said wryly. "But I've had some time to think and I can make an educated guess." Or rather, he'd come up with one of the only Death Eaters who could have invoked that much rage from Ginny. "It was Bellatrix, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Ginny nodded. "Who else?"

"So I guess the Death Eaters are active in this world, though no one seems to know about them. Maybe there's just not as many of them. Or he's trying to keep them more under wraps. But why the attack on Diagon Alley? What was he trying to prove?"

Ginny shrugged. "Who knows how that psychopath's mind works?" she asked. "You know that the attacks in the old world weren't always for gain. Most of the time, it was just to scare people. Tom Riddle might be trying to build his reputation all over again."

"Ginny..."

"Hmm?"

"Can I..." Harry felt himself blushing. He knew this was an important thing to discuss, but all he could think about was how good it had felt to kiss her, and how much he wanted to do it again. "Can I kiss you again?"

She smiled and leaned forward. "You don't have to ask."

TBC. Yes, I finally moved their relationship on to the next step. I felt that it was time. Please review!