Revelio
Some secrets are shared around the Pensieve by the Golden Trio. Ginny is having none of it.
Just a fun, silly story.
#everything is Harry's fault
The bolded words are from the books / movies.
"Oh the Pensieve!" Hermione said excitedly as the four of them entered the living room at Grimmauld Place. "You got it from Dumbledore's office?"
"Yeah. I'm just storing it here temporarily. It'll go back to Hogwarts eventually when things are rebuilt." Harry explained.
They had returned from dinner out and were all determined to keep the conversation light, avoiding any topics relating to the war or its aftermath. Ginny swooped in to change the subject.
"This is excellent! We can finally show you our Quidditch victory when Gryffindor won the Cup!" She smiled as she squeezed Harry's hand.
"It feels like you spent half of Sixth Year stuck in detention mate." Ron commented as he sat down on the sofa. "I had so many great saves that final match. Wait til you see, remember the one I told you about, where I dove and blocked it with my foot at the last second."
"Let's use my memory of the match Ron. I want to show Harry how I outraced Cho for the snitch." Ginny beamed. Harry grinned right back as he pulled her in to sit down beside him.
"Psh! Of course you'd all want to use the Pensieve to watch Quidditch." Hermione rolled her eyes with a smile as she tucked into Ron's side.
"Oi! Quidditch is a big deal!" Ron poked Hermione affectionately. "You were the one who thought it mattered enough for Harry to actually waste his precious Felix Felicis potion on me."
"You thought he'd done it too!" Hermione shot back. She pulled away to look at him seriously for a moment and they locked eyes.
"I know now that wasn't really why you were so angry with me. And honestly, it's almost just as much Harry's fault for not telling me the truth as it is Ginny's for saying that about Viktor and I in the first place."
"What?!" Harry exclaimed. He tried to swallow his shock and nearly choked. "If I'd have told you Hermione, then you'd have been angry right back at him! Fat lot of good that would've done." He sputtered.
"Harry! My relationship with Ron is far more important than Quidditch!"
"Not the night before our first match against Slytherin." Ginny replied with Harry nodding fervently in agreement beside her.
Hermione huffed in annoyance.
"Oh, c'mon love. We're sorted. It's ancient history." Ron coaxed as he bumped his leg against hers. Since they'd started dating, Ron now possessed the uncanny ability to get Hermione to uncross her arms and unfurrow her brow. This was no exception as she visibly relaxed while looking into his eyes.
"I suppose you're right. And it is a bit hypocritical of me. Certainly, there were things I didn't tell you back then as well."
"What d'ya mean?" Ron asked.
"Hermione." Harry said as a warning. She glanced across at him but continued.
"Let's just say that I'm not entirely above being pulled into Sixth Year Quidditch fanaticism either."
Harry groaned, bringing his hands up to cover his face and rub his temples. "If you're planning on having that row tonight, could it not be in my living room?"
"Row? About what?" Ron questioned.
"Yeah. What did you do Hermione? Rig it so Ron made the team?" Ginny joked, looking over at Harry.
But Harry had ducked his head to avoid any eye contact as he cleared his throat dramatically. Hermione suddenly looked embarrassed and bit her lip. The room was quiet a moment too long.
"Really?!" Ginny said with surprise as she leaned forward.
"Oh no." Ron stammered, looking between them with a panicked expression. "No, no, no! No, no, no!"
Harry groaned again, bracing for impact. Ron rounded on Hermione.
"You really didn't think I could do it? Fuck! My entire Gryffindor Keeping career is based on a lie?!"
"No! Of course not Ron. I knew you could do it! And I really really wanted you to do well." Hermione emphasized.
"And?" Ron prompted.
"And I didn't do anything to you because I knew you'd be brilliant and make the team on your own."
They looked at each other with bated breath.
"And?"
"And you were perfect. You saved every shot during the tryouts. That was all you."
"And?" His voice becoming irrationally high pitched.
"And…I confunded Cormac McLaggen because he's vile and terrible. He was awful to me at Slughorn's party. So, I don't regret it."
She clenched her jaw and folded her arms in defiance. Ron just stared at her with wide eyes. Then he laughed.
"You confunded McLaggen during the tryouts?!" He said incredulously with poorly concealed glee. He turned to Harry and pointed at him aggressively. "And you knew?!"
"Erm…afterwards I did." Harry said feebly, but Ron had already turned his full attention back to Hermione.
"You really did that?"
"Yes."
"You did that…for me?"
"Yes."
"You really confunded him?"
"Yes." She said somewhat self-consciously.
Ron let out a pleased puff of air as his chest swelled with pride. He looked exceptionally happy.
"Hermione Granger. Broke the rules. For me."
"Why are you so shocked?!" She retorted, perhaps a bit too forcefully. She'd been gearing up for a fight that had yet to materialize.
"You act like I'm some uptight, prissy, goody two shoes! I broke the rules plenty of times, usually right alongside you and Harry!"
"I know, but this is different." Ron stated with confidence. "This wasn't anything to do with Dumbledore's Army or sneaking off to the Restricted Section of the library for research." He emphasized the last two words with air quotes before he continued.
"Your life wasn't in danger. You weren't trying to keep Death Eaters out of the castle or keep Harry alive for a few bloody minutes in a row. You did it. On your own. Completely unprovoked." Ron finished smugly.
Hermione opened her mouth but found she had no response to such indisputable logic.
"Well some team captain you are!" Ginny proclaimed as she shoved Harry playfully. She used her fingers to enumerate his wrongdoings.
"First of all, you let your best friend get away with confunding a player during your Quidditch tryouts. Second, you let it slide in order for your other best friend to make the team. After that, you convinced Ron that you'd literally drugged him just so he'd play half way decent!"
"You're making it sound a lot cooler than it actually was." Harry smirked, with a quick glance over at Ron.
Ginny gave an amused laugh. "Let's just hope word doesn't get out about what you made me do as your girlfriend in order to keep my spot as Chaser."
Hermione laughed and Ron groaned.
"Hey!" Harry protested with a grin as he played along. "I can't very well blackmail you about that if you go around telling people."
"We wouldn't want to ruin your spotless reputation." Ginny flirted as she reached over to ruffle his hair.
"I was a very fair captain." Harry insisted as he brushed her hand away and then attempted to flatten his hair.
"Unlike Hermione, I never actually did anything to Ron. Or to you for that matter." He clarified. "Although I did want to hex McLaggen myself a time or two."
"The rest of the team almost did when he put you in the hospital wing with that Bludger." Ginny said.
"See, I knew Ron was meant to be the Gryffindor Keeper. I was just trying to help." Hermione justified.
"Hermione you interfered with the integrity of the whole Quidditch tryouts!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Oh rubbish! It's not like I cheated on an exam or something. It's only Quidditch!" Hermione said.
This was met with three loud collective groans.
"I was worried that you had a thing for him when you went to that party together." Ron admitted.
"I only asked him because I thought it would annoy you the most."
Ron looked stunned. "You could've asked a blast ended skrewt. I'd still be insanely jealous."
"I spent all of Slughorn's party trying to get away from him."
"He's a complete prat. I'll bet you made him look really stupid." Ron said.
"It wasn't that difficult." Hermione smiled. Ron looked at her with adoration.
"Show me."
"What?"
He nodded towards the Pensieve. "Show me. How'd you confund him?"
"I want to see the part where our fearless captain endorsed it." Ginny added.
"Alright." Hermione agreed. "I've only read about how to do this though. How exactly does it work Harry?"
"Oh. I suppose you have to pull the memory out of your head by focusing on it. I've never actually done it either." He admitted.
Hermione put her wand to her temple and a silvery thread appeared. She stood up to place it into the Pensieve.
"How do we see it?" Ginny asked.
"I've always just sort of dunked my head in." Harry replied.
The four of them gathered around the Pensieve, took a deep breath and dove into the memory.
To Harry's great disappointment, Cormac McLaggen saved four penalties out of five. On the last one, however, he shot off in completely the wrong direction; the crowd laughed and booed and McLaggen returned to the ground grinding his teeth…
As they came into the castle they spotted Cormac McLaggen entering the Great Hall. It took him two attempts to get through the doors; he ricocheted off the frame on the first attempt. Ron merely guffawed gloatingly and strode off into the Hall after him, but Harry caught Hermione's arm and held her back.
'What?' said Hermione defensively.
'If you ask me,' said Harry quietly, 'McLaggen looks like he was Confunded. And he was standing right in front of where you were sitting.'
Hermione blushed.
'Oh, all right then, I did it,' she whispered. 'But you should have heard the way he was talking about Ron and Ginny! Anyways, he's got a nasty temper, you saw how he reacted when he didn't get in – you wouldn't have wanted someone like that on the team.'
'No,' said Harry. 'No, I suppose that's true. But wasn't that dishonest, Hermione? I mean, you're a prefect, aren't you?'
'Oh, be quiet,' she snapped, as he smirked.
'What are you two doing?' demanded Ron, reappearing in the doorway to the Great Hall and looking suspicious.
'Nothing,' said Harry and Hermione together, and they hurried after Ron.
"Ha! I'd forgot that he'd walked into a wall! Stupid oaf." Ron laughed.
"That was amazing! Being inside a memory, it felt just like being there." Ginny said. "Let's do another!"
"Ron picked that one, so I'll pick next." Hermione said, turning to her boyfriend. "I want to see something I don't know about you."
"Hermione." Ron complained.
"I just revealed a secret to you. Fair is fair. Something that happened where you thought I'm not telling Hermione."
"Oh this should be good." Ginny muttered quietly to Harry.
"There's no way this night ends without a fight in my living room." Harry whispered back.
"Erm…you're putting a lot of pressure on me." Ron rubbed his head.
"Because you have too many to choose from?" Hermione teased.
"No!" Ron shot back. "There isn't much you don't know about me at this point."
Harry sighed. He decided to help Ron out.
"Tell you what mate. There's that night outside at the Burrow. You know, before Bill and Fleur's wedding."
"Oh." Ron startled. "You'd want me to? I mean, you uh…you don't mind then?"
Harry shrugged. "It's fine."
"Okay. What've I got to do Hermione? Just think about the memory?" Ron asked.
"Yes. Concentrate on it."
Ron put his wand to his temple and they all leaned in to see it.
'Going somewhere?'
'Nobody else is going to die. Not for me.'
'For you? You think Mad-Eye died for you? You think George took that curse for you? You may be the Chosen One, mate, but this is a whole lot bigger than that. It's always been bigger than that.'
'Come with me.'
'What, and leave Hermione? You mad? We wouldn't last two days without her…Don't tell her I said that. Besides, you've still got the Trace on you. We've still got the wedding —'
'I don't care about a wedding. I'm sorry. No matter whose it is. I have to start finding these Horcruxes. They're our only chance to beat him… and the longer we stay here, the stronger he gets.'
'Tonight's not the night, mate. We'd only be doing him a favor.'
"I can't believe you were really going to slink out in the middle of the night like that, you noble prat!" Ginny whacked him.
"What did you even have in that rucksack?" Hermione was aghast.
"Just the usual stuff." Harry said casually. "You know, the sword of Gryffindor, some basilisk fangs, a snitch with the resurrection stone inside of it."
"Ha ha! As if you think you could've done a better job on the packing!" Hermione snapped.
"Right, because that was the problem. I got up in the middle of the night and went after him because I was worried Harry'd forgotten a copy of Hogwarts; A History." Ron said sarcastically.
"I'm sure Harry could've lasted at least three days without it." Hermione returned his sarcasm.
Ron snorted and looked away, shaking his head. Hermione placed her hand on his arm and they looked at each other.
"It was very sweet Ron." She said seriously.
"You know I'd never want to leave you behind."
They smiled at each other lovingly and Hermione sighed softly. "If only I'd remembered to pack food." She said wistfully. Ron leaned in close to her as he spoke.
"Next time I'll bring a whole crate of Mom's treacle tarts."
"Oh no! No next time!" Ginny roared, turning to Harry. "You better not even think of leaving like that again." She said fiercely.
Harry sucked in a noisy breath through his teeth, his expression somewhere between embarrassment and a smirk.
"Maybe you'll want to reconsider that in a few minutes. Because if you didn't like that one, then I've got another memory from Bill's wedding that you're really not going to like." He said.
"Oh? What did you do?" Ginny smiled at him with curiosity. Harry loved when she looked at him with that glint of mischief in her eyes.
"Technically, I didn't do anything. This was all your cousin Barny." Harry pleaded.
"No way Barny can get into more trouble than Harry Potter can in one evening." Ron stated.
"Especially when the whole point was for Barny to be keeping a low profile." Hermione added with concern.
Harry shrugged and pulled the memory out with his wand to place in the Pensieve. "See for yourselves."
'That's Xenophilius Lovegood, he's the father of a friend of ours,' said Ron. His pugnacious tone indicated that they were not about to laugh at Xenophilius, despite the clear provocation. 'Come and dance,' he added abruptly to Hermione.
She looked taken aback, but pleased too, and got up: they vanished together into the growing throng on the dance floor.
'Ah, they are together now?' asked Krum, momentarily distracted.
'Er – sort of,' said Harry.
" Sort of?!" The real Ron yelled at Harry, pulling him by the back of his shirt out of the Pensieve as they all surfaced. "Sort of?!" He repeated in disbelief.
"Well I don't know!" Harry exclaimed. "You were…sort of." He glanced at Hermione for help, but she was looking away, hiding her face in embarrassment.
It was Ginny that came to his rescue.
"Ron, how do you expect our long lost cousin Barny to know the intricacies of your slow, and I mean slow burning, multi-year journey to go from friends to possibly slightly more than friends with Hermione?"
"That's not the point! Harry knew who he was talking to, he should've made it clear…"
"Alright, look." Harry raised his voice to interrupt. "You know I don't like being in the middle of things with you two. And that's not even the part of the memory I was trying to show Ginny." He finished annoyed.
"Fine." Ron mellowed, motioning for them to resume watching.
'This girl is very nice-looking,' Krum said, recalling Harry to his surroundings. Krum was pointing at Ginny, who had just joined Luna. 'She is also a relative of yours?'
'Yeah,' said Harry, suddenly irritated, 'and she's seeing someone. Jealous type. Big bloke. You wouldn't want to cross him.'
Krum grunted.
'Vot,' he said, draining his goblet and getting to his feet again, 'is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?'
"Are you serious?!" Ginny's voice cut through the haze as they jolted back to reality.
"See, I knew he knew what to say." Ron muttered to Hermione.
Ginny stood with her arms folded facing Harry.
"Are you telling me that I could've been dancing at Bill's wedding with Viktor Krum?!" She scolded.
"I was only showing you for a laugh. It's not a big deal."
"You don't know what could've happened!" She admonished, trying desperately to keep a straight face. "One dance could lead to more. I could've been Mrs. Viktor Krum by now, having his massive Bulgarian babies!"
"Ginny!" Harry winced. "Let's not get carried away."
Ron chuckled. "You know, it's kinda funny when it's not happening to you."
"Ron, be nice." Hermione nudged him, looking anxiously between Harry and Ginny.
"What? She's just messing with him." Ron waved his hand. He knew his sister; he'd seen Ginny angry enough times to know when she was pretending. "And as far as I'm concerned, Mr. Steal Your Girl could use to sit out a few dances."
But Ron's dismissal only made Ginny want to play things up even more. Channelling her inner Mrs. Weasley, she pointed her finger at him.
"Bad enough all my brothers acting like this my whole life!" She rounded on Harry. "But I thought better of you!"
She grunted in frustration and looked around. Seeing nothing useful, she grabbed the sofa cushions and launched one at Harry.
"When are you all going to learn that I am the only one with any say in who I date?!"
"Ow! Ginny! I was just trying to look out for you!"
"Really? And which one of you was it then? Harry, my jealous, meddling ex-boyfriend or Barny, my overprotective, overstepping cousin?"
"Erm…both of us?"
"Wrong…" She threw a pillow. "Answer." The second cushion made impact with him.
Harry threw his arms up to protect himself and scampered behind the large armchair.
"Wait! Just…just let me say one thing!" Harry pleaded.
Ginny paused.
"What?" She asked skeptically with her arm still raised.
"He's too old for you!" Harry shouted before immediately ducking down behind the chair.
Whack!
"And I don't regret it!" Harry cried.
Whack!
"Alright. It's time to leave before she gets anymore violent." Ron said, turning to take Hermione's hand as they headed for the door.
Ginny was amassing a pile of soft projectiles and Harry was fortifying his defenses by sliding the furniture together.
"This was fun. Let's do it again." Hermione said cheerfully to the disheveled living room as she waved goodbye.
Harry, now ensconced in his furniture fort, called out his reply. "Absolutely not!"