Chapter 5: the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry remained ignorant of this arrangement, he was frightened for days, but Professor McGonagall never alluded again to what had happened and soon he calmed down. Ginny continued to look for him at night, sleeping next to him.
And the little orphan boy was never as happy as when he was hugged by Ginny at night, Hermione had hugged him once but it was quick, and never did it again, Mrs. Weasley did too, but her arms felt so tight and uncomfortable that he could only stay static. However, with Ginny... ah... her arms were sure and reliable, sometimes when he woke up in the middle of the night from the old habit of getting up early to make breakfast and found himself with his head resting on Ginny's smooth chest and with her arms around his neck, he came to think that if his life ended there he could not complain about anything he had to live.
Little by little he became dependent on her, and when Ginny woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare, he felt so useful comforting her, listening to the dream, and discussing what it could mean.
He was a little grateful to Tom for teaching Ginny so many spells and incantations, including the Muffliato, which was placed every night when one or the other went to sleep. There were whole nights, usually Fridays or Saturdays, in which they would talk.
"You didn't tell me about football," Ginny said one night as they were arm-in-arm at 1 a.m. on a Friday near the end of the school year. Harry's eyes twitched and he looked at her embarrassedly.
"You saw it?" Harry tried to keep his tone steady, but he couldn't bear the embarrassment that his Ginny had seen him like this, at his most vulnerable and horrific moment.
"Yes, your uncle is a pig, Ginny said in a venomous tone. "Are all Muggles like that?"
Harry opened his mouth to defend the Muggles, but closed it without being able to say anything, hadn't he been treated badly? From his family, the people who should love him, to his teachers, who, even if they shouldn't love him, at least had an obligation to protect him. They had all decided to ignore his mistreatment.
His silence was the response needed by Ginny, who was furious, sometimes unable to modulate her emotions, like when she saw those fleeting memories that weren't hers. Harry was playing soccer at school at age 6, Harry won when he put a ball into a net that a fat, ruddy kid was defending. She also saw the moment he came home, the savage beating by his uncle, the broken bones, purple rectangular papers in the hands of men in shiny yellow vests. Harry writhing in pain through feces and urine, under a filthy, cold staircase. The teacher visited the house with a jaded face and after only asking when he would return to school, left in annoyance.
To the acceptance that no one would ever help him, to never ask for help, to never push himself for fear of excelling and being punished again.
It was too painful; it was how she lived it herself.
Ginny let go of his arms, and to Harry's surprise, she interlaced her fingers and squeezed his hand. Then she turned completely to him and touched Harry's face with her left hand, delicately running her fingertips over the eyebrows, cheeks, nose, and finally the lips of the young man beside her. She touched it as if he were the most delicate and precious thing her hands had ever touched, and Harry, too dazed by the caresses, could only take Ginny's hand and kiss it gently.
Nights went by, and when Harry could tell her anything he thought and she would never judge or scold him. She only scolded him when he wasn't eating, but even that scolding didn't bother him, and it made him feel warm, almost as if someone finally loved him.
He wanted to know more about her, so he finally decided that at least one of his electives would be Divination, at least he could understand her better.
o-o-o-o
For Ginny life went back to the way it should have been, with the past years and previous experiences, she was finally able to learn to cope with nightmares, and now she just wanted to figure out how to stop the horrible visions that she had never made much sense of. Little by little, she remembered the books she had hidden in the Lovegood house, and as soon as she went on vacation, she would go every day with Luna to read them again.
At Professor Dumbledore's suggestion, almost in order, she went to find Professor Trelawney to teach her how to control her clairvoyance, but she was disappointed.
It was a pity that the last great seer of the Trelawneys was a drunken homeless woman. She could scarcely bear to remain with her for half an hour and drink the loathsome tea she had prepared for her. She was almost determined to go and ask Dumbledore if he thought she was a joke to dare to put her on the same level as that charlatan, when, at the moment of taking the teacher's hand to say goodbye, she saw it.
A brief flashback from the past, with a less old Dumbledore and Trelawney.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."
Luckily, she had already learned to control her face and expressions.
"Professor, you… with Lord Voldemort."
"Dear girl, don't mention that name, you know it's a bad omen, now I'll have to clean this place, go to your rooms, I'll wait for you in a week to continue with your private lessons."
Ginny nodded and walked out calmly, she met Luna and Colin in the library as they had planned to do homework, they went to dinner, and then, using the Invisibility Cloak that she now almost always wore on her, she got into bed with Harry.
The first thing she did was tell him everything and Harry was stunned with surprise. Was that the reason his parents had died? He was horrified, it was all his fault, and because of him they had died, what would happen when Voldemort returned? Because it was sure to happen, Ginny saw it in many of her visions.
He walked away from her, Voldemort would come for him, and if Ginny stayed by him, she would be affected. Ginny immediately realized what he was thinking and took his hand.
"Don't be thinking noble nonsense Harry, we're about to go on vacation and I won't let you leave me." She said brusquely, she didn't accept so much nobility from him, and she almost turned green with jealousy at the thought that while she was gone, he could get close to someone else.
At the silence of Harry, who felt like a cockroach, unworthy of anyone caring about him, Ginny lunged at him, and to Harry's surprise, she sat on his lap, while she imprisoned his arms above his head. Harry was stronger and could defend himself, but he didn't dare move for fear of throwing her down.
"You won't leave me, Harry, everyone already knows about my clairvoyance, right?" she asked as she leaned towards him and brushed his lips, and Harry nodded, Ginny had started a profitable little business where she was paid to guess things and her reputation was already well established. "Then it's obvious that I'll be a target when Tom comes back, too, will you leave me because of that?"
"Of course not, I'd never leave you," Harry said immediately, and to his great surprise, Ginny leaned over and brushed her lips with his.
A sweet kiss that sealed the beginning of their relationship.
o-o-o-o
The school year ended without any further setbacks, and Harry and Ginny separated at the station to go to their family homes.
As soon as they left the station, Ginny, indifferent to her family, suggested almost randomly that they buy a lottery ticket, and two weeks later they won the lottery. Ginny was glad, as her mother promised that they would buy her a wand for her. But they wanted to go on a family trip to Egypt to visit Bill, and she didn't want to go, she didn't want to live with her parents, and even less with Bill, she still remembered how he had spread her legs helping in the ritual, and that he had been the one who performed the forgetfulness incantation.
Her father tried to convince her after Molly angrily exclaimed that she couldn't make those kinds of decisions. But Ginny wouldn't budge, and her parents had so much guilt in their consciences that they finally relented.
Ginny went to the Lovegood house, they agreed that she would love them for the month of the trip and that at the beginning of August, they would come back for her. She took advantage and continued to read those books written by the Weasley women, and felt sorry for Professor Trelawney, it was evident that she only had the trade books written by people who did not possess the gift of clairvoyance.
At least she was right about something, the inner eye.
But detailed guides on how to provoke each vision, and how to see the past, present, and future were invaluable, those books were passed from witch to witch, from aunt to niece, and she would write her own, the more she discovered things about her clairvoyance the more she had to write and leave her experience for her descendants to use.
She spent those weeks quietly, just waiting for Harry to inflate his aunt so he could catch up with him in Diagon Alley
o-o-o-o
Harry spent all those weeks miserably, he missed Ginny, he missed Hogwarts, and he also missed the food. His aunt and uncle were more bitter than usual, and their bad mood increased with that call, which they mistook as a joke.
Ginny didn't write to him, and even though she had told him she wouldn't, he felt abandoned.
On his birthday he received only one note from her:
I'll see you soon, I love you
Harry read the note several times until he thought that if he read it one more time, he would tear it up, and then he took Errol's packet, tore the brown paper, and discovered a gift wrapped in gold foil and the first birthday card of his life. He opened the envelope with slightly trembling fingers. Two pieces of paper fell: a letter and a newspaper clipping.
He knew that the newspaper clipping belonged to the Wizarding World newspaper The Daily Prophet because the people in the black and white photograph moved.
Harry picked up the clipping, smoothed it out, and read:
OFFICIAL OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC RECEIVES THE GRAND PRIZE
Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet, "We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as a curse-breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank". The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend.
He looked at the moving photograph and the smile that was forming disappeared as he saw only 8 Weasleys in front of a huge pyramid, waving at him: the petite and plump Mrs. Weasley, the tall, bald Mr. Weasley, and their six sons. Ginny wasn't with them, had something happened to her?
Like an automaton, he opened and read the letter Ron sent him
Dear Harry,
Happy birthday!
I'm so sorry about the phone call. I hope the Muggles didn't give you a hard time. I've told my father and he thinks I shouldn't have screamed.
Egypt is great. Bill has taken us to see all the tombs, and you wouldn't believe the curses that the ancient Egyptian sorcerers put on them. It was full of Muggle mutant skeletons that had desecrated the tomb and had various heads and things like that. In case you were wondering, my mother allowed Ginny to stay in England, she's with the Lovegoods.
When my father won the Prophet's prize, I couldn't believe it. Seven hundred galleons! Most of it has gone away during these holidays, but they are going to buy me a magic wand for the next school year.
We're going to London to buy the magic wand and the new books. Could we meet there? Don't let Muggles get you down!
Try to come to London.
Ron
P.S.: Percy has won the Annual Award. He received the notification last week.
He had also given her something called a sneakoscope. Then he took the package Hedwig had brought.
It also contained a paper-wrapped gift, a card, and a letter, this time from Hermione:
Dear Harry,
Ron wrote to me and told me about his phone conversation with your uncle Vernon. I hope you're doing well. I'm in France on vacation right now and I didn't know how to send this to you (what if they opened it at customs?), but then Hedwig showed up! I think she wanted to make sure that, for a change, you got a birthday present.
I bought the gift from the catalog via Owl. There was an announcement in The Daily Prophet (I've subscribed, you have to be aware of what's going on in the wizarding world).
Did you read what happened to poor Professor Lockhart? Poor thing, last week when he was on an adventure in China he suffered a horrible accident, and a forgetfulness spell brushed against him, he has been to St. Mungo's.
Have you seen the photo that came out of Ron and his family a week ago? I bet he's learning a lot of things; I'm dying of envy... the sorcerers of ancient Egypt were fascinating. Here, too, they have an interesting past in terms of witchcraft.
I've had to rewrite the entire essay on the History of Magic to include some things I've found out. I hope it won't be too long: it includes two more scrolls than Professor Binns had asked for.
Ron says he's going to London the last week of the holiday. Could you go too? Will your aunt and uncle leave you?
I hope so. If not, we'll see you on the Hogwarts Express on September 1st.
Hermione
P.S. Ron told me that Percy has received the Annual Award. I imagine Percy will be on a cloud. Ron doesn't seem to be very amused.
She, too, had sent him a gift, a broomstick servicing kit that surprised him, and Hagrid had also sent him a letter and a small gift.
His birthday wasn't so awful, but the next day was.
The whole thing went by like a blur, and then he barely remembered Aunt Marge puffing up like a big toad after comparing her mother to a bitch. He remembered running away from that house, the huge black dog stalking him, the ride on the night bus, getting to Diagon Alley, and being helped by Minister Fudge. Sirius Black's fugue note barely crossed his mind.
And that night, back in his chambers, he almost screamed when he felt someone climb onto his bed, but calmed down when he felt the familiar touch of Ginny's hands on his body.
"Happy birthday honey," Ginny said as she snuggled up to him and hugged him while resting her head on his chest. And Harry, already used to it, hugged her and rested his nose on her redhead, sucking calmly. As he processed what the girl in his arms had called him, he blushed until his ears went numb with embarrassment, but at the same time, he felt something strange in his stomach, a warmth he had never felt when someone said that word to him.
"I'm sorry I didn't send you anything on your birthday, but I was planning to surprise you today." Ginny lifted his face and kissed Harry gently on the lips, who reciprocated shyly. It was a strange experience for both of them as the kiss deepened, and Harry stopped it when he felt something strange and uncomfortable, gently pulling her away from him, as he sat down and hid her lap.
"I missed you, ho... Honey," he said blushing as he stammered that infamous word, which elicited a singsong laugh from Ginny.
"You don't need to call me that if you're so embarrassed, Harry, she said with a smile as she kissed him again, but this time on the cheek.
"Bu-but, I want to do it and I also want you to call me that, I like it." It took all the courage he had to be able to express those words, but he felt the proudest person in the world when he saw her smile.
"Then you can call me love, treasure, or precious," the girl's smile grew as Harry's blush spread to his neck. "I'm kidding Harry, you can call me Honey, I'll be the one to give you the other nicknames. " Then she curled up on his neck and fell asleep.
o-o-o-o
It took several days for them to get used to their newfound freedom. Especially Harry, who had never been able to get up at the time he wanted, or eat what he liked. Ginny had never done anything like this, with Luna's help, she escaped from the Lovegood house through the Floo network, while Luna pretended to be still at home, Xenophilous wasn't the most worried father in the world anyway.
They could go wherever they pleased, as long as it was in Diagon Alley, and as this long, cobbled street was brimming with the world's most fascinating witchcraft shops, Harry had no desire to break his word to Fudge or to wander into the Muggle world. But first, with Harry's help, Ginny got a potion of color, to make her hair color a few shades more discreet, and hid it by tying it in a tight bun under a hat.
So, they had breakfast in the mornings in the Leaky Cauldron, where they enjoyed seeing the other guests: funny little witches who had come from the country to spend a day shopping; venerable-looking magicians discussing the latest article in the magazine The Modern Transformation; primitive-looking sorcerers; scandalous dwarfs; and, on one occasion, an evil witch in a thick wool balaclava, who asked for a plate of raw liver.
After breakfast, they both went to Diagon Alley. They spent those long, sunny days exploring the shops and eating under brightly colored umbrellas on the terraces of the cafes, where the occupants of the other tables showed each other the purchases they had made ("It's a lunascope, my friend, no more walking around with moon maps, do you see?") or discussed the case of Sirius Black ("I'm not going to let any of my children go out alone Sirius return to Azkaban.")
Harry no longer had to do his homework under the blankets and by candlelight; now he could sit, in broad daylight, on the terrace of the Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour with his girlfriend, and finish all the work with the occasional help of Florean Fortescue himself, who, in addition to knowing a great deal about the burning of witches in medieval times, gave the couple a free cream and caramel ice cream every half hour.
After filling his purse with gold galleons, silver sickles, and bronze knuts from his vault at Gringotts, he needed a lot of mastery not to spend it all right away. He had to remind himself that he still had five years left at Hogwarts and imagine asking the Dursleys for money for spell books. But with Ginny by his side, it was very hard not to force her to agree to let him pay for everything.
She constantly reminded him that she had her savings from her small fortune-telling business. Still, Harry insisted on paying for everything, and eventually, Ginny finally resigned herself and allowed it, but now she avoided even seeing something nice because Harry would insist on buying it for her.
And there was things Harry had to buy. They went to the apothecary's shop to stock up on ingredients for potions, and when Ginny pointed out that his school robe was too short in both his legs and arms, she forced him to go to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and bought a new one.
They also took the opportunity to buy The Monster Book of Monsters which was on the school list, a book that almost killed them.
He only interrupted his routine on Ginny's birthday, when she returned to the Lovegood house, she knew her parents would call her and she would have to be there. She soon convinced them to extend their stay with Bill, she was very comfortable with the Lovegoods and they could return in the last days of August for shopping.
Her mother didn't want to, but her father soon made her see that it was a good plan and that her daughter would be fine.
So, Ginny got a couple more weeks with Harry and agreed with Luna on a mechanism to let her know immediately when his parents announced his return. And she quietly continued her stay with Harry.
Soon Ginny, after much thought, seeing Harry's reactions to many of his comments, was determined to do something.
"Love," the word, though often spoken, still embarrassed and thrilled him. "I won't consciously see anything related to you again, I think I make you suffer and you don't like me to know your things before you do, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."
Ginny found his almost shrill tone funny; her dear love was changing his voice and he sounded like a mouse at times. He just nodded and watched as something close to relief flooded his face, and then panic flooded his face. "But you won't leave me, will you? I know you haven't had nightmares anymore and maybe you don't want to be with me anymore, I know I don't deserve to be loved but I swear you..."
"Harry, I would never leave you of my own free will, maybe I shouldn't say it, and you don't understand it because of how you were raised, but I love you and always will. I still have nightmares from time to time, but that's not just why I'm here with you, I do it because I like being with you." Harry first observed Ginny blushing, but when he heard her, he did too. "Since the blood came, I've been able to control clairvoyance better, and at least I can choose what to see and how to block it. The books I told you about have helped me a lot, and I've understood a lot, besides, I'm still discovering all that dark future that I've always seen, I still can't understand everything, but I'll concentrate on that.
After more pleading, Harry finally nodded, relieved, he didn't like Ginny knowing everything about him without telling him, maybe in the future that would change, but now he didn't want it.
:D