Harry and Ginny: A Love Story
Chapter 23: The Hunt Begins
Harry entered Ginny's room and found her sitting at her dressing table brushing her hair. He came over behind her and stared as she ran the brush repeatedly down through her long fiery locks.
Ginny felt him behind her and she could tell he was staring at her in fascination, causing her to giggle. "Like what you see," she said teasingly.
It took Harry a moment to answer, as he watched mesmerized, following the brush with his eyes as it travelled down through her silky, shiny hair. "Yeah, I do," he said softly, "I love how shiny brushing it makes your hair look."
Ginny sat working on her hair for a few more moments and she could feel Harry looking at her and she got a sense of want or desire, not in any sexual way, but as if he wanted to do something. "What is it, Harry?" she asked, questioningly.
"Would you mind if I brushed it for you," he said softly and hesitantly.
Ginny smiled at him and handed him the brush. His first few strokes were exceedingly light, barely penetrating her hair at all. "You need to be a little more firm with it, Harry," Ginny chided him.
"I didn't want to hurt you," Harry replied, sheepishly.
"Give me your hand," Ginny said, with a smile. She placed her hand over his and brushed it down through her hair several times, letting him get a feel for the proper pressure. After about five or six she let go of his hand and let him continue on his own.
Ginny watched his face in the mirror and she saw a huge smile develop on his face as he settled into a nice rhythm. Ginny couldn't believe how wonderful it felt as Harry pampered her. She let her eyes drift shut and concentrated on the duel feelings of the wonderful sensations of Harry brushing her hair, plus the warm, loving feelings she felt from him as he did so.
"Ummm, this feels really nice," she whispered.
"So I'm doing an okay job?" he asked in reply.
"Oh, you'd better believe it Harry, can't you feel how wonderful I think it feels?"
Harry chuckled, "Well, I do now, but I was concentrating so much on doing a good job that I wasn't really paying that close attention. Sorry about that," he answered sheepishly.
The longer Harry brushed Ginny's hair, the more relaxed she became until after about twenty minutes, he sensed she was falling asleep. He gently set the brush down and noticing the bed was turned down he tenderly picked Ginny up and carried her to bed.
Ginny snuggled into him for the short trip, a sleepy smile on her face. As he placed her gently in the bed she said, "Thank you Harry, that was definitely a special moment."
Harry slipped in beside her after extinguishing the lights and as soon as he was settled, Ginny cuddled into his side. Within moments she was asleep. Harry watched her for a few minutes, the moonlight sparkling off her hair. He felt his love for her spring forth, swelling his heart and he leaned down to place a tender kiss on her brow.
He couldn't believe the feelings that washed over him, after growing up in a house so devoid of love and laughter, coming to the Burrow was a life altering experience and he thanked God that he had been delivered from the hell that had been his life before Bonding with Ginny. With that on his mind, he drifted off to sleep.
XX HP + GW XX
Hermione headed up to her room and as her hand came to rest on the doorknob, she came to a decision. She turned and went up one flight and knocked softly on the Twins' door. She heard movement and in a moment the door opened.
Fred, or at least she assumed it was Fred because he was wearing a pyjama top with a huge F on it, but the twins were notorious for switching their marked clothing to confuse everyone around them.
"Can I talk to you two?" she asked.
The twin at the door paused a second and glanced back into the room, getting a nod from his brother he said, "Sure, come on in," with a slightly devilish grin.
"Why do I feel like the fly, entering the Spider's abode," she said softly, though grinning back.
Sure enough, the twin who had answered the door went over and sat on the bed that had George carved into the headboard. It was then she noticed he was wearing pyjama bottoms with small G's all over them. Fred was similarly attired, but just the opposite, large G top with little F's on the bottom.
"What can we do for you?" asked Fred.
"Will you guys answer some questions about Harry and Ginny for me?" she asked.
Fred and George looked at each other, and when George shrugged, Fred said, "Ask away, but we don't guarantee we'll answer everything, but we do promise to tell you the truth when we do answer."
"Fair enough," replied Hermione. She sat down on the chair by the desk near the door.
"Have you noticed anything, well, odd about them?" she asked.
Fred gave a low laugh, "What do you mean by odd?"
Hermione couldn't help but smile back, knowing what the twins considered odd could greatly differ from her definition. Taking a deep breath to fortify herself, she said "Look, I don't want to cause any trouble, but I saw something tonight that got me wondering and if I tell you and it gets to others, well it could cause a problem."
George and Fred laughed, "Hermione, if you know something we don't, we'll give up pranking for life," said George.
Hermione raised an eyebrow, but chuckled too. "Can I have that in writing?" she said humorously.
"Nah, you'll just have to take out word on it," Fred replied.
"Thought so," Hermione replied with a grin.
"So what did you see?" asked George.
"I saw Harry going into Ginny's bedroom and he closed and locked the door. He was also ready for bed, know what I mean. Doesn't this seem a little odd?" she asked inquisitively.
"Well maybe to you," said Fred.
"Unless you knew what we knew," added George, with both twins having huge grins on their faces.
"So can you tell me what you know?" asked Hermione.
Fred and George once more exchanged glances, "That depends," replied George.
"Yeah, what do you plan on doing with this information?" asked Fred.
Hermione was surprised by the question. No one had ever asked her why she wanted to know something before. "Look, I'm trying to understand what's going on. I don't plan on doing anything with it."
"So if we tell you, you won't tell anyone else?" Fred asked.
"You mean, someone like Ron?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, he's the one we'd be worried most about, but we mean anyone Hermione," said George.
"We wouldn't want it to get out exactly how much we know about things," George said.
"It could lead to all sorts of questions we really would rather not answer," Fred added.
Hermione got real thoughtful for a couple of moments, "Okay, what if I promise not to tell anyone?"
"Does that include anyone in authority?" asked Fred.
Hermione squirmed a bit but finally said, "Yes, I swear I won't tell anyone."
Fred and George glanced at one another for a moment before both gave a little nod.
"Okay, Hermione, if you swear on it, we'll answer your question," George finally said.
"I'll swear on it, but I don't have my wand with me," she replied.
"Doesn't matter, if you swear by your magic, it will be binding," Fred replied.
"Okay," she said, looking a bit bewildered, she wasn't sure if that was really true, but she figured she had nothing to lose. "I, Hermione Jean Granger, do solemnly swear by my magic not to divulge any of the information you are about to give me."
Fred and George sat up, looking much more enthusiastic than they had before.
"Okay, the first thing is, did you know that Ginny and Harry are Bonded?" George asked.
"Ron said something about that, and your Mum said something the other day when we talked about Harry, but I still don't know what that really means," Hermione replied.
"And since you haven't had an opportunity to research it, you haven't found out, have you?' said Fred, with a smug look.
"That's right,"
"From what we've been able to gather, it means that they are soul-mates," said George.
"And they're linked now, mind and soul," added Fred.
"Yeah, and they can talk to one another directly from mind to mind," said George, added, almost gleefully.
They watched in amusement as Hermione's mouth dropped open, a stunned look upon her face.
"Are you sure," she eventually stammered out.
"Yeah, they creamed us at two on two Quidditch, and when we asked how was that possible, they told us," Fred said triumphantly.
"Okayyy," Hermione said, her mind spinning, "What about Harry sleeping in Ginny's room?"
"Actually they take turns on who's room they sleep in," George said with a smile.
"Do your parent's know?"
"Yeah, Mum wasn't too keen on the idea and it lead to some really bad arguments and things, but Poppy came and helped explain to them about the Bond and she finally relented." Fred explained.
"Poppy?" Hermione asked, once more bewildered.
"Yeah, you know, Madam Pomfrey, from school." George said, grinning at her.
"And Harry didn't, like, you know, have a fit?" Hermione asked, incredulously.
"Not that we could tell. Actually she's totally different away from Hogwarts. I didn't hardly recognise her at first," said Fred.
"Yeah, out of uniform and with her hair down, she's actually a really nice person," laughed George.
Hermione's shock just kept on growing from one moment to the next. What the twins said next was even a bigger one.
"She and Aunt Minnie are really super to get to know," Fred said, laughing at the look on Hermione's face.
"Aunt Minnie?" she whispered.
"Yeah, you know McGonagall. She's one of Harry's guardians now and they've decided to call her Aunt Minnie," George replied.
"Said it was much friendlier," added Fred.
Both just looked at the stunned Hermione, "Looks like we broke her," Fred said lowly.
"Ah, Hermione?" George asked softly, "are you okay?"
Hermione's eyes flitted to George's, "I guess so, but you have to admit, that's a lot to take in. Anything else I should know?"
"Well, with this Bonding, it seems that they are hardly ever apart," George stated.
"If you've noticed, they are rarely more than a few feet from one another," said Fred.
"Though it isn't as bad any more, sometimes Dad will take Harry out to his shed to help with his Muggle stuff and Mum will make Ginny stay inside," George said .
"Though even then they don't stay apart for too long, I think the maximum has been about a half hour," added Fred.
George looked at Fred and shuddered, "Except for that day before Mum relented."
"Oh yeah, that was a really bad day," Fred said, looking just like George.
"Why? What happened?" asked Hermione.
"Dad had left for work and Mum had a big row with Ginny and Harry and she sent then to their rooms, not allowing them to be together," George said, with a frown.
"Yeah, that was early on, and I guess the compulsion to be together wasn't as strong," added George.
"So they stayed in their rooms all afternoon, but now that we know they can speak mind to mind, it explained why they were laughing and giggling all afternoon," Fred said with a smile.
"We didn't understand till the Quidditch game, when they told us about the speaking thing," George said with a chuckle.
"Any thing else?" Hermione asked, a bit apprehensively.
"Only that Dumbledore didn't know till just recently," Fred exclaimed.
"Really! What did he say?" Hermione asked, her eyes wide in horror.
"Don't know," George said with a shrug.
Hermione was sitting their contemplating what she had just learned, when they heard Ron come down the stairs heading for the loo.
"Thanks you two," Hermione said, as she rose. "You've certainly given me a lot to think about and I'd better head back to my room before Ron comes back,"
"Okay, Hermione, and this information thing goes two ways," Fred said.
"Yeah, if you find out anything we expect you to share with us too," said George.
"I will, and thanks again," Hermione said as she slipped out the door.
XX HP + GW XX
Harry's birthday was fast approaching and Ginny still didn't have anything for Harry. He was concerned because he was feeling her anxiety building and he had no idea why.
She had politely refused to tell him what was the matter and though that alleviated his fears somewhat, he still wanted to do anything he could to help his Bond-Mate.
They were sitting at breakfast when Aunt Minnie showed up, "Hey you two, how would you like to go to Diagon Alley with me?"
Harry's and Ginny's eyes lit up, both had reasons to go, "That would be great Aunt Minnie," both replied at the same time, causing them to giggle at one another. They hurriedly finished their breakfast and scampered upstairs to get dressed.
Ginny was hoping that somehow she'd be able to have some free time and get Harry's present without him knowing. Maybe Aunt Minnie would be able to help with that.
Harry could feel Ginny's excitement and slightly anxious feelings which he was surprised, mirrored his own. Today was the day he planned to spring his surprise on her.
Downstairs Minerva quickly corralled the Twins, "Boy's I'd like you two to come along, Ginny wants to get Harry's birthday present and needs a good reason to separate from him. I'd like you two to find a reason to take Harry off for maybe an hour or so. Think you can do it?"
Fred and George just smiled at one another, before turning to Minerva, "Don't worry Aunt Minnie, we're just the two for the job," Fred said gleefully.
George's face mirrored Fred"s, "Yeah if we can't accomplish such a simple task, we won't be a bit of bother to you next year."
Minerva couldn't help but laugh, "I almost want you to fail, but it means so much to Ginny that I really don't want you to."
When Ron and Hermione heard there was a trip planned to Diagon Alley, they wanted to go along too. Ron, because he actually had some money of his own to spend and Hermione because she wanted to get to Flourish and Blotts so she could check if they had any books on Bonds.
Since they had been a little late coming down, they had missed the conversation that Minerva had with the Twins. Molly laughed and decided that she'd go along so that Minerva wasn't stuck with the whole crew by herself. She quickly set the dishes to washing themselves, took off her apron, and hurried upstairs to put on something a little more appropriate for going shopping.
It didn't take long before they were all ready, and standing in the parlour to use the floo. Minerva went first, followed by Harry and Ginny, the Twins, Ron, Hermione and Molly bringing up the rear.
Once they were all assembled in the Leaky Cauldron, Minerva led them out back to the alley way, where she tapped the bricks so that the archway opened, admitting them to Diagon Alley.
As with Harry's first visit, the Alley was alive with people, all going about their business and his nose was assaulted by the myriad of odours that were so unique to the magical world. Some quite enticing and others fairly foul. (you try sniffing Toad livers sometime, especially pickled ones.)
Harry turned immediately to Minerva, "Aunt Minnie, I need to take Ginny to Gringott's," he said lowly to her.
Minerva raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything at first. She was fairly certain why Harry wanted to do so, but the manner in which he told her made her think that he hadn't informed Ginny of his plan. "Okay, Harry. Why don't we get that out of the way first."
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, so far things were going as he had hoped they would.
Minerva announced that she was taking Harry and Ginny with her, but didn't say why. She didn't want to cause a scene as she was pretty sure that Harry hadn't discussed it with Molly. Things still being a little tense between them and the Weasley Matriarch.
Molly hardly had time to protest before she was dragged off by Ron, who wanted to go to Quality Quidditch Supply. The Twins winked at Minerva, letting her know that they would stick close so they could snag Harry at an appropriate time.
Ginny gave Minerva a nervous look but was heartened when she gave her a sly wink and a smile, letting Ginny breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that Aunt Minnie had something up her sleeve.
The whole time they were making their way to Gringott's, Harry and Ginny were feeling the others emotions, both were very excited at the prospect of getting done what they had planned in secret. Though they were very circumspect about pressing the other about what was causing their elation.
To Harry it seemed to take an eternity to get to the Wizarding Bank and it wasn't till they were climbing the steps that he breathed a sigh of relief. Harry glanced up at the huge doors and remembered fondly his first visit with Hagrid just about two years ago.
Once they were through the doors, Harry slowed, not quite knowing what he needed to do. He had finally decided to go to one of the tellers to ask but before he took two steps a very well dressed Goblin approached him.
"Good morning Mr. Potter, we have been expecting your visit," he said with a bow.
They were all surprised at the Goblin's statement and were a little stunned. Minerva was the first to recover, "Why thank you for your anticipation of Mr. Potter's arrival."
The goblin smiled, "Why don't we go somewhere a little more private. I think that's appropriate, don't you agree Professor McGonagall?"
"Yes I do, Gornuk," Minerva said, smiling back at the goblin.
"Ah, you remember me then," Gornuk said, smiling back. "This way, please."
"Harry, what's going on and why did they know we were going to be coming here sometime?" Ginny asked.
"As to why the goblins were expecting us, I have no idea. As to why we're here, if I tell you do you promise not to get mad?"
While they were talking they were following Gornuk into a small conference room off to one side, once they were all inside, Gornuk closed the door and motioned for them to sit down.
Ginny hadn't had a chance to ask Harry to explain when Gornuk relieved Harry of informing Ginny why they were there.
"I'm glad that you and your Bond-Mate are here to change the status on your accounts. It would be an accounting nightmare if it wasn't accomplished soon."
Ginny looked at Harry, stunned at what she had just heard. "Is this why you brought me here?" she said in surprise.
Minerva was watching them with an amused smile on her face. She had wondered how Ginny was going to react and though she had thought it would be received rather well, she didn't really know for certain.
"Yes, Ginny," Harry said sheepishly.
"Why didn't you just tell me?" she asked, perplexed.
"I wasn't sure how you'd take it but it was something important to me, I hope you're not mad at me," Harry said contritely.
"No Harry, I'm not mad, a little disappointed, but I can understand why you did it. We'll talk about that later, okay?" Ginny replied, softly.
Harry sighed, he had debated whether to tell her before hand, but in the end was too afraid she'd say no.
Gornuk didn't seem to notice anything unusual, or if he did, he didn't give any indication. He just went about looking though a small stack of parchments until Harry and Ginny turned his attention to him.
"It's a fairly simple process, you both just need to sign several documents and then we can give Miss Weasley her key and grant her access to your vaults," Gornuk explained.
Harry got a confused look on his face, "Excuse me, did you say vaults?"
Gornuk smiled at him, "Yes Mr. Potter. It has come to our attention that you may have not been aware of your family's vault and only about you trust fund vault. Why don't we get started on signing and I'll be happy to explain about your family vault."
Gornuk set several parchments out on the table, some in front of Harry and some in front of Ginny. He produced two quills and handed one to each of them. "Please sign where indicated on the bottom of the page."
Both Harry and Ginny leaned forward and signed in the appropriate places and then Gornuk switched the piles and had them repeat the signing. "There, that wasn't so difficult, was it?"
He then produced a key and handed it to Ginny, "This will get you access to the trust vault," he said with a smile, "However for you both to get access to the family vault, I'll need a drop of each of your blood."
Harry and Ginny exchanged glances and they felt each others apprehension.
"It's really quite painless, just press your fingers onto the last parchment in the circle indicated," Gornuk explained.
Both did so and were surprised to feel a little pricking sensation and when they removed their thumbs, they saw there was blood within the circle.
"Fine, just one more thing for today," Gornuk said amiably. "We took the liberty of retrieving this for you Mr. Potter," he said as he handed Harry a signet ring. "Normally the Heir doesn't receive their ring until they become of age, but since you're the only surviving member of your family, you are due it now."
Harry slowly reached out and took the ring from Gornuk, he looked at it closely.
He was about to put it on his left hand when Minerva softly said, "It goes on your right hand, Harry."
Harry blushed in embarrassment, but Ginny sent "Don't be embarrassed Harry, how were you to know. Normally you would have seen your father wearing his and know where it went."
Even Gornuk seemed subdued as if he knew why Harry didn't know where to wear the ring. "That's everything we need to do today," he said softly.
"Thank you Gornuk," Harry said, a little more brightly. "You've been a big help and I appreciate it."
"Yes, Gornuk, I want to thank you too," Ginny said. "You've been wonderful to work with and I hope we will see you in the future."
"It has been my pleasure, and if you ever need anything here, just ask for me and I'll be glad to assist you," Gornuk said, as he rose.
As they started to leave, Ginny turned to Gornuk, "Excuse me, can you explain how you knew we'd be coming in and why?"
"Certainly, we goblins have our own ways of recording bonds and when you two bonded it was recorded in our records. It was only a matter of time till you and Mr. Potter came in to get you listed on his accounts," Gornuk said with a smile.
"If you need to access either of your vaults, just let one of the tellers know and someone will accompany you down in a cart," Gornuk said with a bow. "Here I must bid you good day and may your gold be ever increasing."
Instinctively Harry bowed too, "And so may yours," he said, automatically, without knowing why.
Gornuk's smile widened and he then turned and walked away, leaving Harry, Ginny and Minerva standing in the lobby.
Minerva looked at the two young children, "You two handled yourselves admirably with Gornuk," she said with pride.
"Thank you, Aunt Minnie. We did what we thought was right," Harry explained.
"Aunt Minnie, may we go down to my vault and get some Galleons so we can go shopping?" Harry then asked.
"You can probably just go to a teller and they can give you some and take it from your vault," Minerva explained.
"Really?" he asked.
"Yes Harry, people with accounts may forgo having to travel down to their vaults as long as they have sufficient funds to cover what they are taking from the teller," Minerva told him.
Harry then made his way to the teller and asked for a withdrawal from his account of One Hundred Galleons. The teller asked for Harry's key with which he was able to verify that Harry had sufficient funds available and he proceeded to give him the gold.
As they walked outside, Harry handed Ginny half of the gold, "Here Ginny, I want you to get something for yourself.
Ginny looked wide-eyed at the number of Galleons Harry was handing her. "I can't take that, Harry," she protested.
"Yes you can Ginny, what's mine is yours or I should say ours now. Didn't the fact that the goblins were expecting us mean anything to you?" Harry explained.
Harry felt her indecision, "Please Ginny," Harry sent softly. "It means a lot to me that I can be a good provider for us. To me it's just Galleons, something to use to provide us with things we need or want."
He felt her relenting and gave her a moment to come to the same conclusion he had, "Okay, Harry, but I'm not going overboard, we need to be prudent with our money, it's the only way I know," Ginny said, staring him in the eyes.
"I wouldn't have it any other way Ginny, remember I grew up without anything new at all, so if we can be comfortable, I think we can afford it," Harry replied.
They had just started down the steps when Fred and George came up to them, "Hey Harry, why don't you come with us for a little bit, give yourself a break from the little woman," Fred said, merrily.
Ginny eyed him threateningly, "Better watch how you say that! Little woman, indeed!"
"Ah, sorry Ginny, poor choice of words," Fred said contritely.
George saw Ginny idly fingering her wand, looking hard at Fred, "Say Fred, maybe it's time to get going. Come on Harry, let's go."
"Don't worry Ginny, we promise to take good care of him and return him in good working order," Fred said, with a jaunty grin.
Ginny knew this was her chance and silently thanked the Twins for helping her get Harry's present in their own way.
"Okay, boys, but make sure you're back here in one hour, so that I can take Harry around for some things I wish to get him," Minerva said, eyeing the Twins sternly.
"Yes, Aunt Minnie," The Twins said at the same time.
Minerva just shook her head and led Ginny away. "Now where do you want to head to?" she asked with a smile.
XX HP + GW XX
Far away up north, the prison guard pushed the food cart lazily down the cell block, pausing at each heavy iron door to slide a food tray through the slot. He hated this part of the job because it brought him in close approximation of the Dementors and even with his Patronus riding on the cart, the chilling atmosphere was hard to take.
As he came up to the next cell, the prisoner was standing in the corner by the front wall, it's bars to close together for him to do much more than slip his hand a short way through, so the guard felt no danger. The ragged man was far enough away from the door to cause any problems.
The guard slipped the tray inside and watched the man closely as he passed, failing to notice the bright look in his eyes, inside the dirty, matted, scraggly haired and bearded man.
Just as he passed, the man's hand shot out, deftly pulling the copy of the Daily Prophet the guard had sticking out of his jacket pocket. So smooth and clean was the pick, the guard didn't feel a thing.
Sirius Black went over and retrieved his tray and sat down and began to eat. He had found that the guard bringing the food around was exceeding lax in his attention to the prisoners, especially if they made no threatening gestures or sudden movements, and he did enjoy reading the paper while he ate.
He was slowly eating his meal, there being no cause to hurry, it just made the rest of the time harder to fill. He was paging through the paper reading everything because he had nothing better to do.
He turned the page and he froze, staring at the picture on the top of page three. He couldn't believe his eyes, thinking he'd finally gone mad after all these years locked up in the most ungodly place on the face of the earth, Azkaban prison.
Black got up and paced around the room, rubbing his eyes fiercely, blinking hard to make sure he was seeing clearly. He then went back and took another look at the picture.
His eyes weren't deceiving him, there, sitting on some red-headed kid's shoulder was the traitor! The one who had sold out his supposed friends, there he was, Wormtail, or if using his given name Peter Pettigrew, the one who had sold out Lily and James to the Dark Lord.
Black's mind began to race, there was the proof that he was innocent, the man he supposedly killed was alive and well. He grabbed the paper and read the article intently, memorizing every detail. The boy's name was Ronald Weasley, probably the son of Arthur and Molly Weasley, who he had known from the Order of the Phoenix.
Though he didn't know them that well, he was at least familiar with them and he knew where to start looking. It was now that he most appreciated the fact that he had been able to retain use of his magic, just enough to be able to transform himself into his Animagus form, Padfoot, the large black dog that he had become so he and the others could accompany Remus Lupin on the nights of the full moon when he transformed.
He was glad that now that the guard had been through to feed the prisoners, the Dementors would be the only ones left on guard. His secret knowledge was that they were blind and couldn't tell when he was transformed. It would give him his chance to escape and seek out his revenge on the man who had not only taken away his life, but also was responsible for the deaths of his dearest friends.
Tonight he would begin his journey, tonight he would start hunting the dirty, yellow coward who should never have been sorted into Gryffindor. Tonight the hunt began.
XX HP + GW XX
A/N: Well, fun developments, Sirius has finally entered the story and knows where to find Pettigrew.
Harry has gotten Ginny onto his account, officially tying them together in the eyes of the goblins. Though Ginny really doesn't have any idea how much they actually have, but then again, neither does Harry.
As usual, this is the place I ask you all to review.