I really feel like I'm getting my groove back. I've written more in the last month than in the entire year before that. Woo!
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Knock knock.
Harry waited patiently in the dark, suspended twelve feet in the air on his broom. After a few seconds of silence, the window creaked open. The look on her face was priceless.
'Harry!' Ginny exclaimed, barely managing to restrain herself to a whisper. 'What are you doing?'
'Get on,' he said, turning his broom to allow her access. He was unable to conceal his grin. 'I want to show you something.'
Clearly burning with questions, but trusting him implicitly, Ginny obediently climbed out through her open window and onto the broom behind him.
'How did you get here?' she asked once she her arms around him. 'What's happening?'
'You'll see,' he said, and flew over to their old spot behind the pond. As soon as they hit the ground and dismounted, he wrapped his right arm around her waist. 'Hang on,' he said, then he turned and disapparated, taking her with him.
They reappeared in his room at Number 4. There was no chance of the Dursleys hearing; he'd placed a silencing charm on his door before he left.
'Where are we?' Ginny asked, looking around. He could see comprehension slowly dawning on her. 'Is this your room?'
'My room at the Dursleys', yeah,' he said.
'What are we doing here? How are we going to get away with this?'
'Well, about that,' said Harry. 'I didn't want to say anything until I'd confirmed it, and once I had, it seemed like more fun to show you.'
'Show me what?'
'I didn't get a warning letter from the Ministry,' he said simply. He could see her confusion morphing into comprehension as she realized what that meant.
'You mean…' she began; he nodded excitedly.
'I cast a few more spells to make sure, then waited a whole extra day. Nothing. And there's no way they wouldn't be monitoring this house of all houses. I haven't got the Trace on me, Gin.' His excitement bled through in this declaration, and it was contagious. She was smiling just as wide as he was.
'That's...' she said, struggling to put her thoughts into words. 'How is that even possible?'
'I don't know,' he admitted. 'I should have it. I'm twelve years old. The only reason I can think of for why I wouldn't have it is if I'm not twelve years old.' He looked at her pointedly, seeing if she would pick up on the crazy idea he'd been tossing around in his head all day.
'What do you mean if you're "not" twelve years old? Of course you…' she stopped, looking down and touching her lips in that adorable way she did when thinking hard about something. 'Of course you're not,' she finished. 'Obviously. But physically you are. How would the Trace know the difference?'
He'd been trying to work that bit out himself. He had a theory, but it sounded so far fetched that if the entire scenario weren't as absurd as it was, he wouldn't even be entertaining it.
'The Trace breaks at seventeen,' Harry said. 'That's wizarding law. Some wizarding laws are so old and ingrained that you couldn't break them even if you wanted to. When Voldemort and his Death Eaters had complete control of the Ministry, they still weren't able to put the Trace on anyone who was of age. It just can't be done.'
'Okay, that sounds right,' said Ginny. 'But how does that explain-'
'What if it's not governed by your physical age?' Harry interrupted. 'After all, if it were, a bit of aging potion would be all you'd need to get around it, right?'
'Right, that makes sense,' Ginny said, nodding along as she followed his thought process. 'So you think it's based on your mental age or something? How would that even work?'
'Or something,' Harry agreed. 'Would it be so strange? It might be similar to how the Sorting Hat knew I'd been sorted before, even though in this timeline I hadn't been.'
'I suppose it makes as much sense as anything else,' Ginny said. 'This changes things. We'll be able to implement parts of the plan long before we would have been able to otherwise.'
'Some parts, absolutely,' concurred Harry. 'But that's not why I brought you here.'
'Why did you? Other than to show my that you could, I mean.'
'Well, we need to make absolutely sure we're right before we start changing any of our plans,' he said. 'If we are right, you shouldn't have the Trace on you, either.'
'And we couldn't test it at the Burrow; they'd just think it was Mum or Dad,' Ginny finished for him, cottoning on.
'Right in one,' said Harry, grinning. He pulled out his wand. 'A little magic with you here, and then we just wait a day to confirm I don't get a letter telling me off. All I'd have to do is use magic around you, of course, but I think you should have the honors.' He handed the wand to her and she took it gratefully.
She looked around his room, considering what spell to cast. At last her eyes landed on Hedwig's cage.
'Scourgify,' she muttered quietly. The droppings and feathers and pellets were cleaned away and the smell of the room suddenly became much fresher. Ginny smiled. Hedwig stirred slightly but kept her head tucked under her wing. She'd grown rather lethargic of late.
'You always were rubbish with that spell,' she said, handing him his wand back. 'Poor Hedwig, having to put up with you.'
'It wouldn't be so bad if they'd let me let her out,' he said, jerking his head at the door, indicating his aunt and uncle. 'I could magic her out of course, but they'd notice for sure and that would lead to all kinds of questions.'
'Well, a few more days and we'll be coming to get you anyway,' Ginny said. 'Fred and George are already plotting it; they're just waiting for the right opportunity. You're sure you don't remember which night it was last time?'
Harry shook his head. 'It was at least two or three days after Dobby; I know that much. I was getting desperate with the bars and the cat flap. And it can't have been more than four or five, because I didn't go absolutely mad.'
'That's close enough,' Ginny said. 'You'd better get me back before I'm missed. I doubt I will be, but we don't want to let our guard down this close to the goal hoops.'
'Good thinking,' said Harry. 'Come on, then.' His arm snaked around her waist again and he handed her his broom and disapparated, taking them back to the tree by the pond out behind the Burrow.
'I did miss that feeling,' Ginny said wistfully.
'Really?' Harry asked, surprised. 'I got used to it, but I never enjoyed it.'
'I didn't say I enjoy it,' said Ginny, laughing. 'Just that I miss being able to do it.'
'I suppose I understand that.'
They mounted the broom and he flew them back up to her still open window.
'You'll let me know if you get a letter about my scrubbing charm?' she asked, dismounting.
'I will, but I'm 99 per cent certain it's not going to happen,' he said.
'Just being careful,' Ginny said knowingly.
'Right. Love you.'
'Love you,' she repeated, kissing him on the cheek. They stole one final gaze into each other's eyes before he forced himself to turn and fly away to where he could safely apparate back to Number Four.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
It was two more days before Harry got a mirror call from Ginny much earlier than he usually would.
'We're coming to get you,' she said quickly. 'I have to go or they'll leave without me. Be ready.' Her image winked out again before he could respond. Harry was left blinking in shock at his own reflection for a couple of seconds before his brain kicked back into gear and he was spurred into motion.
He gathered his belongings together (he didn't have much – it was mostly just clothes) so they would be easy to collect and throw into the car when the time came. He waited for his relatives to go to bed, then he sneaked out and silenced the bottom stair, which was notorious for creaking. He considered just floating his belongings up to his room by himself, but in the end decided against it for the silliest of reasons. Sneaking down to get them with the Weasleys while trying not to wake his aunt and uncle would be exactly the sort of innocent, childhood adventure that he hadn't been able to enjoy in a very long time. Ginny was going to tease him mercilessly about it later, but it would be worth it. If she could indulge herself, so could he.
He went back upstairs and pretended to be asleep. Had to keep up appearances, after all. It would be suspicious if they arrived and it looked like he was waiting up for them.
"Pretending" turned into reality however, as the next thing Harry knew, he was jerked awake out of a strange dream involving sword fighting house-elves by a light rapping on his window. He looked up to see Ron grinning at him from the backseat of his father's flying Ford Anglia.
He dashed over to the window and opened it.
'What are you doing here?' he exclaimed, (rather convincingly, if he said so himself). Behind Ron, Ginny smiled and rolled her eyes at his performance. The twins, who were sitting up front, waved at him cheerily.
'We came to get you,' Ron answered simply. 'We reckoned there must be something going on when you didn't answer any of my letters – I've asked you to stay about twelve times! Ginny says you didn't answer any of hers, either.'
'There is something going on; I'll tell you about it later. What's with the flying car?'
'It's dad's,' said Fred from the driver's seat. 'We borrowed it. If all goes as planned we'll be back before he or Mum notice.'
'Won't they notice when I suddenly turn up out of nowhere?' Harry asked wryly.
'Details,' George said, waving him off. 'You know Mum; she'll be so pleased to see you that she probably won't look too deep into it.' Harry shared a quick amused look with Ginny. 'Now hurry up and get in so we can get moving.'
'What about all my stuff?'
'Where is it?' George asked.
'My clothes and things are here, but all my Hogwarts stuff is lucked in the cupboard under the stairs.' He could see Ginny arching her eyebrow at him, but ignored her for the moment.
'Not a problem,' said Fred, putting the car in park. 'Ron, Ginny, grab all Harry's stuff from here and load it into the back with you. Harry, George and I'll come downstairs with you to grab your trunk.'
There was a lot of shuffling around as everyone crawled through the window. Harry showed Ron and Ginny his piles of things he'd need to take with him, then led the twins out into the corridor. Already things were going smoother than they had before. There were no bars to wrench off his window, and they hadn't needed to pick the lock on his bedroom door, either.
'Be careful of the bottom stair,' Harry whispered unnecessarily as he and the twins descended. He found himself wishing he hadn't silenced it; adventures weren't as much fun if they were too easy. Then he mentally chided himself for being ridiculous.
'It's in there,' he said, pointing to the cupboard where he'd grown up.
'Is it locked?' Fred whispered.
'Yeah, but I can get in,' said Harry. He made quick work of it. After all, Uncle Vernon had originally installed the lock with the intention of keeping Harry in the cupboard, not out of it.
He snatched his broomstick while Fred and George slid the trunk out, and then the three of them began heaving it up the stairs. By the time they returned to Harry's room, Ron and Ginny were back in the car.
'Did you remember Hedwig?' Harry called to them.
'I've got her here, Harry,' Ginny called from behind Ron. During their planning, Harry had recalled almost at the last minute that during his original escape, he had forgotten to put Hedwig into the car and her resulting screeching had awoken the Dursleys before they could get away. A daring escape from Uncle Vernon would certainly be exciting, but anything could go wrong, and there was no need to be cruel to his poor owl.
Ron and Ginny pulled from within the car while Harry and the twins pushed, and slowly but surely they managed to get the trunk all the way in. Only through the magic of Mr Weasley's undetectable extension charm was there still room for three people to sit in the backseat.
'After you, Harry,' said George. He climbed in after his trunk, and was followed by Fred and George, who moved up into the front, Fred retaking his place in the driver's seat.
'And awaaaay we go!' called Fred. He put his foot down, and the car zoomed upward and away from the quiet little suburb. A little less exhilarating than the first time perhaps, but much less hassle. On his initial trip downstairs after Ginny's call, he had left a note on the kitchen table reading simply, 'See you next summer!' He didn't think it at all likely that the Dursleys would be bothered to file a missing persons report upon discovering his disappearance in the morning, but it wasn't a chance worth taking.
Ginny had taken a hairpin from her head and was already picking the lock on Hedwig's cage. Ron watched her silently, then opened the window to let the owl out into the night sky. Hedwig hooted gratefully and spread her wings, gliding alongside them.
'So – what's the story, Harry?' Ron asked at last. 'What's been happening?'
'They banished me to my room,' Harry explained. 'Probably would've locked me in there too if I'd made a fuss about it. I reckon the only reason they didn't was so they didn't have to trouble themselves if I needed to use the toilet.'
'What for?'
'That's the crazy part,' Harry said. He proceeded to tell them about Dobby, his warning, and his trick with the pudding. George whistled when he got to that part.
'You're lucky you didn't get a letter from the Improper Use of Magic Office for that,' Ron said. 'You're the only one with magic who's supposed to be in that house. It's a wonder they didn't assume it was you.'
'Maybe house-elf magic is different enough that they could tell,' said Ginny. 'Or maybe so different that they didn't pick it up at all.'
'Must be,' said George. 'You definitely dodged a curse on that one.'
'Why weren't you answering any of our letters, though?' Ron asked.
'Oh, that was Dobby too,' Harry said. 'He was under the impression that if I thought I didn't have any friends, I wouldn't want to go back to school.'
'Rotten little blighter,' Ron growled. Harry had to restrain himself from contradicting him.
'All sounds rather fishy to me,' said Fred over his shoulder.
'Definitely dodgy,' George agreed. 'He wouldn't tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?'
'I don't think he could,' Harry said. 'But I definitely got the impression that whomever he belongs to is behind it, or at least involved.' He would have liked to not have to say any more on the subject; he wanted his friends as far removed from anything to do with Voldemort as possible this time around, but it would have been very conspicuous for him to not say anything, or have no explanation for what had happened to him. The truth – or part of it, anyway – was easier than concocting an elaborate lie that he'd always have to try to keep straight.
'But you don't know who his masters are?' asked Fred.
'No idea,' Harry lied. 'Could be anyone, couldn't it? Loads of old wizarding families have house-elves, don't they?' It was fortunate that it would never occur to any of the Weasley brothers to wonder how Harry knew any of this. Playing ignorant all the time wore on his nerves.
'Think it might've been a prank?' George asked. 'Someone just having a bit of fun, trying to trick you into not going back to school?'
'It's possible, I suppose,' Harry said. 'Didn't seem like it, though.'
'Could've been Malfoy,' Ron put in, rather predictably. 'Sort of thing he'd do, isn't it? Send his house elf to you with some phony warning about danger just to wind you up.'
'Maybe,' said Harry. 'But if Malfoy was going to send his house-elf to prank me, it seems more like him to have the elf do something I'd never find out about.'
'Like steal all your letters to make you think you've got no friends?' Ron pointed out at once.
'Yeah, like that. But then why would Dobby immediately turn around and tell me he'd done it?'
Ron came up short, apparently with no answer to that.
'If it was a prank, it wasn't a very good one,' Ginny put in. 'Like Harry said, the only mean thing Dobby did, he fessed up to right away. And warning Harry to stay away from school is a lousy prank too; anyone would have to know it would never work.'
'No one ever accused Malfoy of being a genius,' Ron said. 'But I guess you do have a point. Still though, if the warning was real, what do you think it was about?'
'Guess we'll just have to keep our eyes open,' said Harry, shrugging. If he had anything to say about it, this would be the last any of them would ever have cause to think about it.
The rest of the drive passed without incident. Harry told them what he'd been up to over the summer – which admittedly was nearly nothing – and they related their own escapades, all of which he was wholly aware of already thanks to Ginny and her mirror. They'd been letting her play Quidditch with them, and she was still practically flying circles around them, though Ron seemed to feel he was getting better. Fred and George grudgingly admitted that they had noticed some slight improvement.
Eventually they touched down next to the Weasleys' old garage just as the sky was starting to shift from black to a velvety purple. They all piled out of the car, and Fred clapped his hands enthusiastically.
'Now we'll go upstairs really quietly,' he said, 'and wait for Mum to call us for breakfast. Then Ron, you come bounding downstairs going, "Mum, look who turned up in the night!" and she'll be all pleased to see Harry and no one need ever know we flew the car.'
'I think that plan may have a few holes in it,' Harry chuckled, even as Ron laughed.
'Quiet, Harry, you'll jinx it,' said George.
'Too late,' said Ginny, audibly wincing. The rest of them spun to face the house and saw Mrs Weasley marching toward them in a fury, a crumpled note clutched in her hand. Harry winced himself. He had expected this, but it didn't make it any easier.
'So,' Mrs Weasley said, advancing on them.
'Morning, Mum,' said George in his best jaunty, winning voice.
'Don't even try it,' she said sharply. 'Imagine my surprise when I woke this morning to find none of my children in their beds, and this waiting for me on the kitchen table.' She waved the note at them like a sword. 'Bless whichever of you was at least intelligent enough to think of leaving it, because if I'd come outside to find the car gone and not had any idea where you were, I may well have had a heart attack! What in the world were you thinking? You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have cost your father his job –'
She went on for a while, her children effectively cowed before her, though Harry knew it would have been a lot worse had she had to sit up waiting for them, or if Ginny hadn't left a note.
'I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear,' she finally said. 'Come in and have some breakfast.' Harry caught Ginny's eye; she loved to tease him that her mother tended to let him get away with anything, and in this instance he couldn't help but find the truth of that accusation very funny.
They ate a very rushed breakfast, Mrs Weasley continuing to rebuke them while Ron and the twins kept trying to justify their actions. She did soften up a bit when they mentioned that Harry had been confined to his room on starvation rations. It didn't stop her from sending them out to de-gnome the garden, though. Harry smiled (making sure Mrs Weasley couldn't see him). It was like reliving his very first day at the Burrow, which was one of his all-time favorite memories. And this time, Ginny was part of it. He finally understood what she'd meant about wishing things had been different, and was pleased for her sake as much as his own.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Ginny's birthday fell a week after Harry arrived, and it saw all of Ginny's brothers (including Bill, Charlie, and even Percy) pitching in with Harry to buy her a new Cleansweep Eight. Harry would very much have liked to buy her a Nimbus, but even all her brothers together couldn't afford that, as he knew she understood. As it was, she was elated to finally have her own broom again and thanked them all profusely. It was also a good excuse to hug Harry in front of everyone without eliciting any comments. Mrs Weasley had been slightly disapproving of their choice of gift, making sure to remind Ginny that she wouldn't be allowed to bring it to school, but was on the other hand visibly pleased that her sons had all cooperated for the sake of their sister's birthday.
A letter from Hermione arrived the next day, asking if they wanted to meet in Diagon Alley on the upcoming Wednesday. Harry and Ginny shared a relieved glance at this. A huge part of their plan involved being in the bookshop at the same time as Lucius Malfoy, but they had no way of knowing when that would be. But if, as it seemed, the timing of the outing had been suggested by Hermione, odds were good that things would go as they had last time.
When the time came, Mrs Weasley handed Harry the pot of floo powder. He would never forget his first experience with the substance; he had ended up at Borgin and Burke's in Knockturn Alley. Poor Mrs Weasley had been beside herself.
'Diagon Alley,' he said clearly upon stepping into the flames. The uncomfortable spinning that was an inescapable part of floo travel whooshed him away, and the next thing he knew he was standing inside the Leaky Cauldron. A few minutes later, the rest of the Weasleys had joined him and Mrs Weasley was tapping the brick that would lead them into the alley proper.
They met up with the Grangers in front of Grongotts. Mr Weasley was naturally very excited to meet them, and Hermione hugged Ron and Harry enthusiastically.
'Oh, and this is my sister, Ginny,' Ron said after she surreptitiously kicked him in the shin.
'It's lovely to meet you,' Hermione said kindly.
'Likewise,' said Ginny. 'Ron's talked a lot about you.'
'Has he?' replied Hermione, looking rather pleased. Ron's ears went slightly pink, but he held himself together.
They all went into the bank together, and the Grangers went over to the counter to exchange some muggle money (Mr Weasley looked rather disappointed he was missing it), while Harry and the Weasleys were led to their underground vaults. Ginny helped run interference for Harry while he was scooping money out of his vault; even after all these years he was uncomfortable with his wealth, particularly with regard to the Weasleys, even though he knew perfectly well that it didn't matter to them.
They split up again back on the surface. The twins went off with Lee Jordan, Percy went off on his own, Mr Weasley took Hermione's parents to the pub for a drink, and Mrs Weasley went off with Ginny. Harry wasn't particularly happy about this (nor was Ginny), but she needed robes and a wand, and nether Ron nor Hermione were likely to be interested in accompanying her for that. It was decided that they all would meet up in an hour at Flourish and Blotts.
Harry was trying to keep an eye out for the Malfoys as he and his two friends explored the alley. He knew (or rather, hoped) that they had to be around somewhere, but a lot depended on them being in the bookshop at the right time. He did not spot them, and could feel a sense of anxiety rising. What would they do if Lucius Malfoy didn't plant the diary? So much depended on them getting hold of it. Harry had to assume Malfoy would simply look for another opportunity – his entire plan had been to discredit Arthur Weasley, after all – but who knew when that would be? And what would they do if he ended up planting it on one of Ginny's brothers?
It wasn't until the hour was up and they arrived themselves outside the shop that Harry relaxed a little. There was a large crowd gathered around, and a sign out front advertising that Gilderoy Lockhart would be doing a signing of his autobiography from 12:30 to 4:30. Here at last was confirmation that they were at least here on the right day.
Harry was hoping to get in and out without Lockhart noticing him – that was certainly one thing he could do without experiencing all over again, but he had no such luck. It took the lot of them a while to make their way up the queue – Mrs Weasley was absentmindedly primping the whole time – but when they neared the front Lockhart of course noticed him and dragged him up in front of everyone just as before, making his announcement about being the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor and gifting Harry a complete set of books and everything. Harry was wondering if it had really gone on this long before when he was finally able to get away, staggering under the weight of his new books over to where Ginny was standing, looking extraordinarily amused.
'Oh, sure, go on and laugh,' he grumbled. 'At least I managed to get your books for you.' He tipped all of them into her new cauldron and her smile shifted from one of amusement to one of great fondness. She had once confided in him – years ago, now – that despite how useless they were, she had always treasured her set of Lockhart books because they had been the first things he had ever given to her. Harry couldn't help but smile back at her; he'd managed to do something right without even meaning to.
'Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?' came a familiar sneering voice from behind him. His initial surge of annoyance was tamped down by a feeling of triumph; things were going as they were supposed to after all.
'Famous Harry Potter,' Malfoy continued as Harry turned around, trying to keep his face deadpan. It wouldn't do to laugh while Malfoy was insulting him. 'Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page.'
'As if he wanted all that,' Ginny bitingly, rolling her eyes. 'You're just jealous because you do, and you'll never get it.'
Malfoy turned to face her, his eyes flashing in fury for the briefest of moments, but he recovered quickly.
'Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!' he drawled.
'Jealous of that too, are you, Malfoy?' Harry responded airily. 'I'm sure you'll find someone who can stand your presence someday.' He felt a bit guilty – bullying children was, after all, his biggest problem with Snape, and here he was doing it himself – but only a bit.
Malfoy's nostrils flared, but before he could fire a retort, Ron and Hermione had managed to fight their way over.
'Oh, it's you,' said Ron dismissively when he noticed Malfoy. He turned away from him at once. 'Let's hurry up and get out of here,' he said to Harry and Ginny.
'Surprised to see you in a shop, Weasley,' taunted Malfoy, who was not taking kindly to being ignored. 'I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for that lot.'
Ron went red, but before he could do anything, Harry and Hermione had each put a hand on one of his shoulders.
'It's not worth it, Ron,' Hermione said softly. Mr Weasley came over and started to herd them out before anything else could happen. That is, until Lucius Malfoy appeared. He began taunting Mr Weasley, which Harry knew was only a pretense to pick up one of Ginny's second-hand textbooks so he could slip the diary into it. It was very skillfully done. Even Harry, who was waiting for it and had an auror's trained eye for such things, barely noticed the sleight of hand.
Harry would have stepped in to end things right there if he'd known how, but neither he nor Ginny had been able to think of anything, and it all happened so fast that he might not have been able to anyway. Mr Weasley launched himself at Lucius Malfoy, and there was a lot of yelling and scuffling until finally Hagrid stepped in and broke it up. Mr Malfoy thrust the old book back at Ginny and stormed out of the shop, Draco tailing after him.
Hagrid led the Weasleys out soon after, Ron and the twins excitedly discussing what had happened, Hermione trying to soothe her parents, who looked scared out of their wits, and Mrs Weasley furiously berating her husband.
'Harry, get this thing away from me,' Ginny whispered frantically from his side while everyone else was distracted. He looked over and nearly swallowed his tongue, jumping in shock. She was white as a sheet and looking at him with wide, desperate eyes.
'I thought I could handle it,' she said. 'I thought it would be okay, but now that I know it's in there...I don't want to touch it; I don't want to look at it – just please get it out of there, get it away from me, please.'
Harry nodded, and quickly stuck his hand into her cauldron and snatched the little black diary out while no one was looking, stowing it in his pocket. It wasn't quite as clean a move as Lucius Malfoy's, but he was confident no one had noticed. Hermione was still at the front of the group with her parents; she would have been the only one he'd really have to worry about.
'Thank you,' Ginny said, tension draining out her shoulders and color returning to her face. 'I didn't expect – I mean, we've been talking about it so much and it never once occurred to me what it would be like, being near it again.'
'It'll be all right,' said Harry. He had never wanted to put his arms around her more than at that moment. Not doing so was almost physical agony. 'It's going right to the bottom of my trunk until we get to school, and then we're getting rid of it as soon as we possibly can.'
'No,' said Ginny, shaking her head firmly. 'No, we're not altering the plan just because I had a panic attack. As long as we keep it buried and out of the way, we can still go along with what we prepared for.'
'We can move it up a couple of weeks, surely?' Harry asked, concerned.
'Later,' she said with a tone of finality. 'Come on, they're waiting for us.' The two of them had started to fall behind the rest of the group; Ron was calling for them to hurry up.
'We'll talk about it tonight,' said Harry resignedly, and the two of them picked up their pace to catch up with the others.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
The rest of the month passed without incident. Harry was thoroughly enjoying just being young again with little to concern him (outside his and Ginny's grand plan, at any rate), and Ginny was thoroughly enjoying her new broom.
Now that she had her own wand, they had decided to once again try to get a read on whatever it was that was affecting them. Harry spent the last few weeks of the holiday trying to teach Ginny the various diagnostic spells he knew, and she was starting to get the hang of some of them by their last night at the Burrow.
'We'll have lots of time to work on it once we get to school,' she said that evening behind the pond. The smell of smoke from Fred and George's end-of-summer fireworks was still faintly on the air. 'No one knows about the Room of Requirement yet, so we'll be able to use that.'
'We'll still have to be careful,' Harry reminded her. 'Ron and Hermione are bound to notice if I'm not around half the time, not to mention your dorm mates. And there's Fred and George and the map to consider.'
'I know, I know,' she said. 'I wish it hadn't taken me so long to get these spells down,' she said. 'We could have started already.'
'You got it faster that some aurors I know,' he said. 'Though to be fair, they're working on other things at the same time, but they also have more than just a few hours a night to practice.'
'All right, all right, I get your point,' she said. 'I think. It does at least feel like we're making progress.'
'If all goes well, we might not have to worry about everything that's supposed to happen this year,' Harry said.
'That would be lovely,' said Ginny, 'but I'm glad we planned for it all the same. No more flying by the seat of our pants like last year.'
'We planned things out,' Harry said, somewhat defensively.
'Haphazardly, and only one thing at a time,' she countered. 'I feel like we've got a really solid plan in place now, with contingencies and back-ups and everything.'
'It does feel good,' he admitted. 'But speaking of the plan, we'd better get to bed. It's going to be an early day tomorrow and you know what'll happen if we're late to the station.'
She nodded, and he took her back to her bedroom window where they said good night. Tomorrow the plan would be put to its first real test.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
In the morning, things were hectic as always. Even so, they managed to get moving at a reasonable hour. Harry and Ginny both remembered having to go back several times that morning, though neither could recall exactly how many. They'd done their best to make sure everyone had remembered to pack everything (and given that at least one return trip had been for the diary, which was still safely tucked away under an oversized pair of Dudley's old trousers, they wouldn't have to worry about that). In the end, they'd only needed to return to the house once; George had forgotten his box of fireworks, and he'd remembered only a few minutes into the journey. Harry and Ginny considered this a success.
They ended up arriving at the station at quarter after ten. Plenty of time to spare. Harry didn't know if Dobby would still attempt to stop him making it through the barrier when there was so much time and so many people left, but he and Ginny had a plan to deal with that.
They strolled through King's Cross at a leisurely pace, and when they arrived at the barrier, they started making their way through one by one. Percy went first, and Mrs Weasley motioned Ginny to go next. She, however, was bent over retying her trainers, as planned.
'I'll go next, Mrs Weasley,' Harry told her. She was starting to look a little frazzled, despite the lack of urgency.
'All right, dear,' she said. 'I'll send Ron right behind you.'
Harry lined up his trolley and began walking toward the barrier. He was inches away, and was starting to think maybe he'd make it through.
Bonk.
It was hardly the clang of two boys running full tilt at the wall, so it mercifully didn't draw any attention from the surrounding muggles. It did, however, alarm both Mr and Mrs Weasley.
'What's wrong, Harry?' Mr Weasley asked.
'Dunno,' he said. 'I can't get through.' He pushed his trolley against the now very solid barrier for emphasis. Mr Weasley stepped forward and placed his hand on the barrier, pushing hard. It did not give.
'That's odd,' he said. 'I wonder what's wrong.' He pushed again, then looked around, then looked at his watch.
'Molly,' he said to his wife, 'I'm going to pop over to the other side and see if anyone knows what's going on. We're going to end up with a scrum here if they can't open this back up again.' He hurried off to find a secluded spot from which he could disapparate. Harry looked around and sure enough, there were already a few other families headed in their direction with heavily-laden trunks. The muggles were sure to notice if a whole lot of people with lots of luggage started milling around an area where there wasn't a train scheduled to leave.
'He'd better hurry,' said Ron, looking at the clock. It was twenty minutes to eleven.
'He won't take long,' said Mrs Weasley confidently. 'Harry dear, keep trying. As soon as they fix whatever's wrong, you should be able to get through'
Harry did as she asked and leaned against his trolley. He couldn't see Dobby keeping up his sabotage once someone got wise to him. Sure enough, after about a minute or so, Harry's trolley started rolling forward. He cried out, caught off-balance for a brief moment before catching himself and walking through to Platform 9 ¾. The plan had passed its first test.
They had lost a little bit of time, so Fred and George said a quick good-bye and hurried off to find Lee Jordan. Percy had already gone to join the prefects (and his girlfriend Penelope, if memory served).
Ron and Harry boarded the train with the goal of procuring an empty compartment and waiting for Hermione. Ron wisely said nothing when Ginny came with them.
Hermione, it turned out, had beaten them to it and was waiting for them in an empty compartment near the end of the train. They stowed their trunks, but Ginny didn't sit down with them.
'I'll be back in a bit,' she said, and exited back into the corridor.
'Where's she off to, you reckon?' Ron asked no one in particular.
'Maybe she simply needs to use the loo, Ron,' said Hermione.
'That makes sense,' Ron said. 'It was a long drive, after all.'
Harry knew exactly where Ginny had gone. She had told him numerous times over the last year how much she wanted to see Luna, and constantly lamented that she could never come up with an excuse to do so. The two of them had only ever met two or three times before Hogwarts apparently, and the Weasleys and Lovegoods didn't often have reason to socialize. Of course Ginny would take the first real viable opportunity to go and find her best friend. He couldn't blame her; he'd sought out Ron and Hermione as quickly as possible, after all. Hermione much sooner than he had before.
The train was getting ready to move when Ginny finally came back, followed by a young blonde girl with protuberant eyes and a very dreamy expression. Harry's heart soared at the sight of her. He was very fond of Luna himself. He stood up to help her stow her trunk, for which she smiled and thanked him in an almost sing-song way. He'd never known Luna when she was young. He was looking forward to this.
'Everyone, this is Luna Lovegood,' Ginny said to the compartment once she'd closed the door. 'Luna, this is my brother Ron, his friend Hermione Granger, and-'
'You're Harry Potter,' Luna said. He smiled; he seemed to remember their first meeting going something like this the last time, too.
'I suppose I am,' he said. 'Pleased to meet you.'
'That's nice of you to say,' Luna said dreamily, taking the seat across from him.
'Er, is this your first year as well, Luna?' Hermione asked, attempting to break the ice.
'Yes, it is,' said Luna. 'I was fortunate that Ginny came along when she did; it didn't look like there were any other places to sit.'
'You're always welcome with us,' said Ginny brightly. She was as buoyant as Harry could ever remember seeing her since they'd first found each other again exactly a year before.
'Yeah, sure,' added Ron. Harry suppressed a chuckle; he'd seen Hermione nudge him slightly with her toe.
Harry spent the morning bouncing between conversations. Ron and Hermione were bickering back and forth over what kind of teacher they thought Lockhart was going to be, and whether or not Snape would be as loathsome this year as the year before. Ginny and Luna were discussing all manner of things; Harry could tell Ginny was merely enjoying being in her friend's presence again, and was basking in all the typically Luna-esque stories and ideas the other girl was throwing out. Harry was enjoying himself as well, for that matter. He'd gotten so used to hearing how much Ginny missed her ("She's the only person in the world I love almost as much as you!"), he hadn't realized until he found himself near her again just how much he'd missed Luna Lovegood, too.
The trolley came at lunchtime, and even though Mrs Weasley had packed them sandwiches, Harry bought them all more snacks and sweets than was perhaps advisable. He made sure to ask Luna what she liked, even though he knew perfectly well it was Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans ('They're so unpredictable! It's just like life, isn't it? You never know what the next bite will be like.') He was surprised to hear her ask instead for him to choose something for her.
'I like to be surprised,' she said.
He bought her the beans.
'If you like to be surprised, I can't think of anything better than those,' he told her, handing them over. She was delighted.
'You wouldn't happen to be in Ravenclaw, would you?' she asked, popping a yellow bean in her mouth and puckering almost immediately.
'Gryffindor,' he answered, shaking his head. 'Why, were you testing me?'
'Oh, no, I wouldn't do that,' she said earnestly, washing the sour taste out of her mouth with some of the pumpkin juice Harry had bought for her. 'It's just that you seemed to understand what I was saying very easily. A lot of times people need things explained, and I'm not very good at that.'
'Harry's good at a lot of things,' Ginny said fondly. Hermione looked over at them quizzically, but apparently didn't see anything she deemed unusual and went back to eating Ron's corned beef sandwich.
They had a few visitors in the afternoon. Malfoy came by with his cronies, but when he didn't manage to get a rise out of anyone he left in something of a huff.
'He seems awfully desperate for your attention,' Luna remarked when the door closed. Ron laughed for three minutes straight.
Neville stopped in to say hello at one point, and Cornfoot came by with Natalie Moon to set up a time for his and Ron's first chess match.
They were within a half hour of Hogsmeade when Hermoine left to use the toilet; Ron had fallen asleep from too many sweets. Luna seemed to have been waiting for this, which in itself seemed odd; she normally said whatever she was thinking whenever she was thinking it. Of course, that was the older Luna that Harry was used to.
'You two seem very in tune,' she said to Harry and Ginny.
'How do you mean?' Ginny asked.
'Oh, I don't know,' she said. 'Just like you've known each other for a long time.'
'We didn't meet until last Easter holiday,' Harry said, hoping he wasn't sweating. It wouldn't be the first time Luna had seen through something with no effort whatsoever.
'We just sort of clicked, you know?' Ginny said. 'I got the same feeling when I met you in the corridor.'
'I felt something, too,' Luna said. 'Only it wasn't as if we'd met before or anything like that. It was something about your eyes.' She took a moment to think. 'Your eyes, too,' she said to Harry. 'I don't know how to explain it; I've never seen anything like it before, and Daddy's never said anything about it, and he's usually heard of everything. I don't remember my mother ever talking about it either.'
'What is it?' Harry asked.
'Nothing bad!' Luna assured him quickly. 'I think you're both very nice! It's just...you both somehow seem...older than you really are.'
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
That seems like a good spot to end things!
I've been looking forward to this for a while, and I was determined not to put in a chapter break until I got to it.
Please leave a review if you liked it (or even if you didn't)!