Of course things had to happen this way. Things always happened this way to them.
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
"I'm not leaving you," Ginny protested.
"You're the captain– you can't miss your first training session. I'll be fine for a few hours, I promise," Harry responded.
"Not much point in having it without you there," Ginny grumbled.
Harry snorted. "We both know that's not true. I'm literally the least important person for training."
"What if something happens to you and I'm not here?" she tried now, trying to think of a way to stay with him. She usually wasn't this clingy, but he'd only woken up a few hours ago, and she was still shaken by the events of the previous night.
"What's going to happen to me in the Hospital Wing? Madam Pomfrey's checking on me, and if anything happens, she'll let you know right away. Give it up, Gin, you've gotta go today. There's no training more important than the first one."
She sighed after a moment of contemplation. "You promise not to leave your bed?"
"Well, I might have to use the loo at some point."
She crossed her arms and glared at him, and he raised his hands in surrender. "Okay… not in a joking mood. I won't leave the bed."
"And you'll send me a Patronus if anything starts bothering you?"
"Yes ma'am," he responded compliantly, drawing an eye roll from her.
"Fine. Then I'll only be gone for a few hours, and then you're not getting rid of me again."
He smiled. "I'll hold you to that." She had no doubts that he would. Ginny bent over the bed and kissed him before walking towards the door, turning to wave at him a little nervously, and then she left.
Ginny stopped off in the Great Hall on her way down to the pitch to grab a piece of toast and some bacon, ignoring some curious looks she was getting. There wasn't any reason for anyone to know that something had happened to Harry beyond the argument with Grimhall, but, then again, rumours did have a rather infamous way of speeding through Hogwarts faster than a Firebolt.
When none of her teammates were surprised that Harry wasn't with her, Ginny knew that they knew something, which was confirmed when Zoe Williams, the new Keeper and youngest member of the team, asked, "What happened to Harry?"
"What do you mean?" Ginny replied, not wanting to give away something they didn't already know.
"Charlotte was coming back from the library last night when she heard Hagrid crying, walking through another corridor. He was talking to some woman about Harry being in the Hospital Wing," Zoe answered.
"And we've all heard about what happened with Grimhall," Demelza added, sounding very pissed off.
Damn. So everyone knew more than she thought. That was just great. "Umm… yeah, Harry's in the Hospital Wing right now. He's okay, so don't worry about him, but he couldn't make it to training today."
"But what happened?" Zoe asked again.
"What was his detention?" Demelza pressed, just as eager to know as Zoe apparently.
"Nothing too bad," Ginny lied. "Come on, he told me that the first training session is the most important, and we've got better things to do than standing around talking about Harry. Let's get up in the air!" She mounted her broom and kicked off without waiting for more questions from the rest of the team, even though she saw the dissatisfied expressions on their faces. If Harry wanted people to know, that was his decision, and she certainly wasn't going to make it for him.
After leading the team through some warm up laps around the pitch, they took the Quaffle and made a circle in the air, rapidly firing passes at each other to improve their reaction time, aim, and catching abilities. It was comforting for Ginny to note that her Chasers and Keeper were especially adept at this drill, and she was a little surprised that Jimmy and Ritchie weren't too bad either. Then again, they had to have quick reflexes to be Beaters.
Once she was satisfied with their fitness, she split herself, Zoe, and Jimmy from Demelza, Natalie, and Ritchie. "We're going to scrimmage. No Keepers, and we'll only use one Bludger since each team has one Beater. Zoe, I know you're not a Chaser, but I want you to be able to think like one. That'll help you when it comes to defending against opposing Chasers."
Zoe took her word for it, and they began. Ginny was pleased that the other team performed much better than her team. She'd been expecting Natalie and Demelza to overrun herself and Zoe, considering Zoe's natural position was Keeper. However, she did notice Zoe improving throughout the scrimmage, particularly in positioning and anticipating where the Quaffle was going before it went there.
They finished training by practising attacking formations and giving Zoe some practice with defending against multiple Chasers at once. She did much better than Ginny would've expected for a first training session, and by the time she landed, nearly three hours after they'd begun, she felt incredibly excited at the potential that this team had. There was a lot of training to do, and nothing mattered until the matches were played, but she couldn't help but think that they had the potential to be a really great team.
Ginny was also relieved that the intensity of the practice had apparently made her teammates forget to ask more questions about Harry that she didn't want to answer, so she quickly showered and changed before returning to the castle. She was about to open the door to the Hospital Wing when she heard laughter coming from beyond the door. Curious, she cracked the door open slightly to peek in.
Harry's face appeared to be covered in soot, but he was laughing hysterically with Emily, who was sitting next to his bed. "I can't keep up with you," he complained through his laughter, holding his wand over the rapidly shuffling deck of cards.
Ginny watched as Emily beat Harry to tapping her wand on an identical pair of cards, earning herself a point. "It's not that hard," she informed Harry, who chuckled and shook his head.
"Easy for you to say. You've beaten me twice already."
Suddenly, the deck of cards exploded again, and they collapsed into another fit of laughter. It took Ginny a moment to realise that a tear was running down her cheek. She wasn't a crier. But she couldn't help but get emotional watching the man she loved playing a silly game with a girl so many people his age wouldn't have given any time to. And to think that he was just a few hours removed from a traumatic panic attack that probably should've fazed him more than it did… it was just amazing to her.
The only thing that could make it better was being a part of it, so Ginny wiped her eyes, still smiling at the scene in front of her, and entered the room. She somehow warmed even more, seeing the way both of them, especially Harry, looked so happy to see her.
"What are you two up to?" she asked, sitting on the foot of Harry's bed.
"I'm losing at Exploding Snap," Harry answered, winking at Emily who giggled.
"Did you find out Harry was up here from Charlotte?" Ginny asked Emily, who nodded immediately.
"Yep. She told me about it this morning, and when I saw you in the Great Hall without Harry, I thought he'd still be up here."
"She's been doing a great job keeping me company," Harry added.
Emily shrugged. "That's what friends do. You did it for me when I was in the hospital. Now it was just my turn to do it for you."
Ginny smiled. "You're right. This is exactly what friends do for each other. So… can I play this round?"
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
After being defeated repeatedly at Exploding Snap, first by Emily and then by Ginny, Harry was ready to get out of the Hospital Wing. He'd given Madam Pomfrey a few hours of peace before he brought it up, and he wasn't surprised when she was resistant to the idea.
"I feel fine though," he argued.
"Have you considered that might be because you're resting under my care?"
"Er– you haven't done anything, Madam Pomfrey," he pointed out. It wasn't a slight; it was just the truth. She didn't know what to do to help him, and he couldn't blame her for that. But he didn't see why he couldn't rest somewhere other than the Hospital Wing.
"I promise I'll make sure he keeps resting," Ginny offered, shooting Harry a reproachful look for antagonising his caregiver, especially considering what he was asking for.
Madam Pomfrey huffed. "You're an adult. I can't make you stay here. It's my professional opinion that you shouldn't engage in any sort of physical activity for the next few days. Not that anybody cares what I think," she muttered as she walked away into her office.
"Huh. That was easier than I expected," Harry commented to Ginny, who nodded.
"Let's get you out of here before she decides that she wants to try to make you stay in here."
Harry definitely didn't want to risk that happening. Ginny stood next to him and held his hand for support as he slowly pushed himself out of the bed. His knees were admittedly a little wobbly as he pulled himself out of the bed, and Ginny tightened her grip on his hand, holding his forearm with her other hand now. He gave himself a moment to adjust and saw the dubious and concerned look she was giving him.
"It wouldn't kill you to stay in here another night," she said.
"You can't prove that," he responded, grunting slightly as he began stepping forward. "Besides, I know I'm not the only one who wants to check out the Head Boy dormitory," he added, smiling to himself at the brief moment of hesitation Ginny had at that idea.
"You're impossible," she muttered, but she couldn't hide the mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she helped him out the door.
"Aww, Blaze, you know you wouldn't want me any other way."
"Well…" she trailed off suggestively, and Harry laughed, already feeling like it was much easier to walk now than it had been just a few steps earlier.
"Could we stop and get some food first though? I'm famished," he said, feeling his stomach grumbling.
By the time they made it to the Great Hall, he was feeling good enough to walk without any help from Ginny, but he didn't let go of her hand. Thankfully, there weren't loads of people eating lunch when they arrived, but it was obvious to him that Emily wasn't the only person who'd heard about him being in the Hospital Wing.
"Hope you're feeling better, Harry," Dennis Creevey commented to him as he walked past them, and Harry nodded, wondering if anyone knew why he'd been in the Hospital Wing, if anyone had connected the dots from his detention with Grimhall to him being in the Hospital Wing.
They sat with Mia, who had been looking over a book while eating a sandwich until they joined her.
"That was quite the scene yesterday," she said, giving him a sarcastic smile.
He shrugged and began eating a sandwich he took from the platter.
"Someone had to say it though," she added after a moment. "Wish I'd spoken up."
"Hopefully it doesn't happen again," Ginny added, even though she didn't sound very hopeful.
"So… how was detention? Grimhall doesn't really seem like the kind of professor that would make you write lines. And… I mean, everyone knows you spent last night in–"
"Fine," Harry said quietly, keeping his eyes on the plate in front of him. Mia must've gotten the hint that he didn't want to talk, and he felt a little bad. She wasn't intrusive and probing like the rest of Ginny's roommates, and he thought she was pretty cool, but he just couldn't talk about it. He hadn't really even talked about what had happened with Ginny, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to.
After a couple moments of silence, Mia tried broaching conversation again. "I heard Sluggy's gonna try and start up his club again."
Harry choked on the potato he was chewing. After coughing extensively, he asked, "Seriously?"
"I think so. A couple people have already been asked to join. I'm surprised the two of you haven't heard anything about it."
"I'm sure he'll be asking Harry about it soon," Ginny assured her with a grin.
"Fantastic," Harry muttered, stabbing another potato with his fork.
After lunch, they visited Hagrid, who was still very upset about the previous day's events, but he was in much better spirits by the time they left. He made Harry promise to never go back to the forest again, which Harry was more than happy to agree to, and he wasn't surprised that he had to talk Hagrid down from paying Grimhall a visit. The last thing he wanted was Hagrid getting sent to Azkaban, trying to get revenge on his behalf, and he was fairly certain that would be a possibility if Hagrid and Grimhall were anywhere near each other again. Interestingly enough, Hagrid had said that Grimhall hadn't been at breakfast, and Harry wondered if McGonagall had scared him so badly that he was afraid of leaving his office. That thought made him much happier, and it also might've saved Grimhall from being killed by a half-giant.
The sun was setting when they returned to the castle, and they were both very eager to see their new living quarters. Once they reached the common room for the evening and were sure nobody was watching, Ginny snuck up the stairs to the boys' dormitories, and Harry followed almost immediately. She was waiting for him at the first landing, where McGonagall had told them that the entrance to the dormitory would be. They exchanged a look, and Ginny nodded encouragingly.
"Godric's Gargoyles?" Harry whispered questioningly.
There was no sound, no magical moment, no door at all. "Well that was anticlimactic," Ginny said wryly.
Harry nodded, moving forward to examine the wall. Had McGonagall accidentally told them the wrong location? He sighed, not seeing anything that remotely resembled an entrance.
He began leaning against the wall. "Maybe we should– oof!"
Harry raised himself up on his elbows, trying to understand how he'd fallen. If he hadn't been so surprised, he might have screamed when he saw that a wall was currently cutting his body in half, and he couldn't see his legs. He only realised what had happened when Ginny walked through the wall, laughing so hard that her face was turning red. Harry groaned and pulled his legs into the room.
Ginny was still laughing and wiping her eyes now. "Might check on your boyfriend who was just released from the bloody Hospital Wing," he grumbled.
"Sorry, that was just so funny," she giggled. "You're okay, right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, taking her hand to help him stand up. For the first time, he took in the room. Just like the regular dormitories, the room was very red. There was a large four-poster bed against the wall opposite with small stands on either side. A wardrobe was against the wall to Harry's left, while a door was the only notable feature on the wall to his right. Curious, he opened it, impressed to see a large shower, toilet, and sink with lion-shaped fixtures.
"No bath," Ginny said disappointedly from behind him.
He chuckled and put an arm around her, kissing the top of her head. "I'm sure we'll manage."
Within a matter of minutes, they were both in bed, entirely exhausted from the start to the weekend. Harry smiled as Ginny curled up next to him, completely ignoring the leftover space in the bed. She kissed his cheek.
"Sleep good. I love you, babe," she whispered.
"I love you too," he responded before hearing her breathing slow almost immediately. She'd had a long day and night before that, and he was sure he would've been much more of a wreck than she'd been if their roles were reversed. But he was okay, and she was okay. He exhaled slowly and closed his eyes.
He was surrounded by the bodies of his family.
His eyes immediately shot open. He tried steadying his breathing again. Everything was fine. He wasn't alone anymore. He closed his eyes.
He saw red eyes and a lipless smile.
His eyes were open. Maybe everything wasn't okay. What was happening to him? He'd always been fine with Ginny next to him. He took another deep breath and tried to close his eyes again.
A flash of green light shot across his vision.
He flinched, and his involuntary movement instantly woke Ginny, who sat up and looked at him.
"Are you okay?" He nodded instinctively, and she narrowed her eyes. "Really?"
Harry frowned. "I– I don't know," he admitted after a moment.
"You thinking about last night?"
"I… yeah. Not on purpose. Just every time I close my eyes…"
She kissed his forehead, then his cheek and his lips. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently.
He sighed and thought about what he could even say. "There's not really anything to talk about. Last night was… horrible. It was like I was in all the panic attacks I've ever had at once, and they were all worse than ever, and they wouldn't stop. But it wasn't anything new that should be bothering me this much."
She gave him a weird look. "You're not serious." When he raised his eyebrows in confusion, she shook her head. "You are honestly unbelievable sometimes. After everything you've been through, I'm still amazed sometimes that you're not struggling more with things."
"It's just… I feel so weak when I'm like this. I felt weak when Grimhall made me go to the forest. I feel weak every time I become utterly helpless in one of these panic attacks. I mean, what am I gonna do if there's another fight some day and I can't do anything because I'm keeled over, imagining that Voldemort's coming after me again? It's just… I feel so pathetic."
Ginny's face was turning slightly red. "You are not weak. I've never met someone stronger than you, and I'm not just saying that because you're my boyfriend. Harry, your whole life, you've done things that nobody else could've done. Dumbledore trusted you to do what he couldn't and defeat Riddle. And you did."
"Because of some stupid prophecy and a bunch of luck," he grumbled. Before he knew it, Ginny was standing. "What are you doing?"
"I'm not gonna sit here and listen to you accept what Grimhall said about you winning because you were lucky. I know what you had to do, and you know it too, so take that back or you can sort this out yourself," she fumed.
Harry stared at her for a couple seconds before exhaling slowly and nodding. "I– you're right. He was wrong about that. I just– I don't know what to do, Gin."
Her expression softened and she got back into bed, kissing him again on the cheek. "You start by remembering that you're strong and brave and, even when you don't feel good about yourself, you're still loved. I can't imagine how hard what you're going through is, but I'm here with you. And that won't ever change."
Harry swallowed a lump forming in the back of his throat. "You– you really are amazing," he finally said.
She smiled a little at him. "That makes two of us."
He snorted and kissed her. "I think you're being a little generous."
"Do you think I'd fall in love with someone who wasn't at least as amazing as me?" Ginny challenged, making him laugh, feeling much better than he had a few minutes earlier.
"I think you'd be alone forever if you were really looking for someone as amazing as you."
"Guess you're not the only one in this relationship who can do the impossible then," she replied immediately, kissing him for good measure.
He smiled at her and held her close to him. "I really love you, Gin."
"That's good because I really love you too. And I'm not going anywhere."
He nodded, finally daring to close his eyes once again. Now, he saw Ginny, and that was definitely an image he could fall asleep to.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
The first few days back at Hogwarts had been interesting. It was a little odd, hanging out with students in the year above her, especially considering they weren't the students she'd spent most of the past several years wanting to be with. Over the summer, she'd spent every day with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but now that they were at Hogwarts, she'd been hanging out with Dean, Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati.
Quidditch trials were coming up soon, and, after a summer filled with daily Quidditch, Ginny was incredibly excited to get back to real matches. Especially considering Harry was captain. Not that she still had feelings for him or anything. She just knew he'd be a good captain, and they'd spent all summer playing together, so she was sure they'd have a good time on the same team.
No, she didn't have any feelings for Harry. Even though their relationship had changed, particularly over the summer. Hermione was infuriating, with her suggestive glances and nudges, but Ginny was more than happy to be just friends with Harry. It'd taken this long to get to a point where she was comfortable around him and he treated her like a friend, and she wasn't interested in seeing how long anything further would take.
Besides, she was very happy dating Dean. She'd always thought he was cute, and he was easy to talk to. He was sweet and thoughtful and always checked to see how she was doing. She was happy.
It was just disappointing that she didn't share a class with any of the people she spent all her time with. Obviously, she would've preferred to be in class with her boyfriend, but she would've enjoyed being in class with someone like Hermione or maybe even Harry. Instead, she went to her first Potions class of the term with Mia and took a bench in the back of the classroom.
Ginny thought Professor Slughorn was a bit of an odd man. She'd thought so since he'd caught her casting a Bat-Bogey Hex on Zacharias Smith and invited her to lunch in the train. Despite his peculiarities, it was interesting to see the sorts of potions he was demonstrating, like Polyjuice Potion and Veritaserum.
However, the potion it seemed like most of them were curious about was Amortentia, which was in a gold coloured cauldron at the front of the classroom. When Slughorn described its properties, including that it smelled differently to everyone depending on what attracted them, Ginny found herself wondering what Harry smelled in it. Almost immediately, she corrected herself and wondered what Dean might smell in it. She'd have to remember to ask him. After all, he was her boyfriend, and she was very happy with that.
Once class was over, Ginny joined the line of girls at the front of the classroom, waiting to smell Amortentia. When it was her turn, she leaned over the cauldron and inhaled the gently swirling fumes. She grinned despite herself, lost in the scent of the leather of a Quaffle and chocolate and… her eyes snapped open and she walked away from the cauldron immediately, hoping that her face wasn't as red as it felt.
Maybe Dean also smelled like a Firebolt. Surely that's what it was. He was her boyfriend, after all. But when she walked past Harry that night on the way to her dormitory, she knew she couldn't lie to herself. It was definitely him that she smelled in Amortentia. That certainly didn't help things. Damn it.
Ginny woke earlier than Harry, smiling as she freely inhaled the scent of him that she'd become so familiar with. It was funny, thinking now about the crazy paths they'd followed to this point. They'd been through so much together, and she still felt her heart skip a beat whenever he smiled at her. She hoped that never changed.
The past few days had been incredibly difficult. Thankfully, it seemed like Harry wasn't having any nightmares, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't have moments when she woke in the middle of the night just to make sure he was still there and okay. She'd been that way back when they'd first gotten back together too. It had just seemed so unreal, and she didn't want it to slip away while she was sleeping. Now she was worried that something bad would happen to him again if she let her guard down. But so far, they were both making it through.
They actually had Potions that morning, so after breakfast and sending a letter to Amelia to let her know that Harry had fully recovered, they went to the dungeons, where Slughorn was continuing their lessons on brewing Veritaserum. It was interesting to learn about, even if the Ministry had mandated that they spend a week discussing the ethics of the potion before learning how to brew it.
She shouldn't have been surprised when Slughorn wanted to speak to the two of them after class, given what Mia had told them a few days ago. He clapped Harry on the shoulder with a heavy hand and smiled through his moustache at them both.
"Harry, m'boy! I'm hosting a small supper tonight in my office, and I want you and Miss Weasley to join me. "
Ginny was about to answer when Harry beat her. He was probably so used to coming up with excuses for these events that he'd already thought of one before Slughorn started talking. "I'm sorry sir, but we can't tonight. We have Quidditch practice."
"Ah, you're too busy! You'll have to be sure and make it to my suppers in the future, then."
"Of course, we wouldn't miss it if we didn't already have plans," Ginny sweetly assured him. He nodded and smiled again.
"Well then, here's to next time. Off you go, then. Don't want you to be late for your next class on my account."
He didn't need to tell them twice. They immediately left and exited the dungeons as swiftly as possible. Only once they were in the main corridors of the castle did they slow down, although Ginny still noticed Harry looking over his shoulder periodically.
"So… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're not practising tonight," she told Harry, who whipped his head around and looked at her with wide eyes.
"Why not?"
"Because Madam Pomfrey said you should wait a few days before doing any sort of physical activity, remember?"
"But last night–" Harry began, and Ginny cut him off with an elbow to the side.
"In case you forgot, we are in public," she whispered through her teeth. "And if you recall, I stopped you from doing anything that was too strenuous."
"Oh yeah," he responded in a thoughtful voice, and she snorted. "But I feel fine."
She stopped and pulled him to the side of the corridor. "I know, and I'm glad that you do, which is why I want to make sure you stay that way. I'm asking you not to go out there as your caring girlfriend, but if you insist on it, then I'll ban you from practice tonight as your captain."
Ginny didn't like feeling like she was threatening Harry, and she certainly didn't like the look of shock he had on his face. "You'd really do that?" he asked quietly.
She crossed her arms resolutely. "Not because I want to. I want nothing more than for you to be out there practising with us. But I care more about you and your safety than Quidditch, and you've already shown that you're willing to put yourself in danger even when you don't have to. So yeah, if you can't make the right decision and keep yourself safe, I'll make it for you."
He looked at her for another moment. "Fine," he said in a low voice, pivoting and stalking away from her without looking back. She stared after him and then followed him to Herbology. She noticed Neville looking at them curiously from time to time, and she wanted to talk to Harry, but she didn't know what she'd say. She couldn't apologise; she was right to be protecting him.
They met some of their friends for lunch, and the odd looks continued. Harry hadn't actually said a word to her since their argument, and as soon as he was finished with lunch, he excused himself and left the Great Hall.
"What the hell was that?" Demelza asked as soon as he was gone.
"What?" Ginny responded as if she didn't know what her friend was talking about.
"I've never seen the two of you go that long without talking," Mia chimed in.
Ginny sighed. "I… I don't know what's going on. I mean I do, but I didn't do anything wrong, so I don't know how I can fix it."
"What did you do?" Demelza asked.
"I guess… you both know Harry was in the Hospital Wing this weekend. Madam Pomfrey said he needed to avoid physical activity for a few days, so I told Harry that he shouldn't go to practise today. When he acted like he still wanted to go because he felt fine, I said that I'd ban him from practice today as captain if he insisted on coming."
"Oh," Demelza replied.
"Yeah, so I guess he's upset about that, but I don't know what I should've done differently."
Mia cleared her throat awkwardly. "I mean… I think you're the one in the wrong here, Ginny."
"What?" she asked incredulously, growing even more surprised when Demelza nodded her agreement. "How am I wrong for trying to protect him?"
"Well… Harry's an adult. And he's never struck me as the kind of bloke who likes people telling him what to do," Mia responded.
"But–"
"And he probably also doesn't like people acting like they know better than him about things," Demelza added.
"That's not–"
"Think about it this way. How would you feel if the roles were reversed, and Harry told you that he was going to ban you from practising if you didn't listen to his advice?" Mia asked, looking at her thoughtfully.
Ginny shook her head. "Harry would never do that."
"Why?" Demelza asked, her expression almost perfectly mirroring Mia's.
"Because he–" she started before her eyes widened. Her friends nodded at her as she came to a rather obvious conclusion. "Because he trusts me to make the right decision… and respects me enough to let me have that freedom. Bloody hell, I messed up," she moaned, putting her head in her hands.
"A little," Mia agreed.
"I need to go find him," Ginny said, standing up abruptly and leaving the Great Hall, running into Dean almost immediately.
"Hey, are you heading to Arithmancy?" he asked.
"Huh?" she replied, barely hearing what he said.
He waved a hand in front of her face. "Hello? Ginny? Arithmancy starts in a few minutes."
Ginny blinked and then realised what he said. "Damn. Okay, yeah, let's go," she said, thinking that she couldn't really afford to get behind on Arithmancy even though she cared significantly less about it than what was going on between her and Harry right now.
Class went by incredibly slowly, and she realised that going to Arithmancy didn't really matter if she couldn't pay attention in it. She found herself wondering where Harry was and if he was still upset at her until class ended, and then she was gone immediately. She looked around the castle for him but didn't find him anywhere, so she was forced to grab her broom from the girls' dormitory and head down to the pitch for practice, planning to search again for him afterwards.
It turned out that wouldn't be necessary because he was waiting outside the changing room, leaning casually against the wall. If she wasn't certain that he was still pissed off at her, she would've thought he looked incredible. Actually, he did look great, even if he was upset. She walked up to him, and he was looking at her with an expression she couldn't quite identify.
She met his eyes but looked away almost instantly, feeling guilty and unsure how to express that. When she looked back at him again, he was still looking at her expectantly. She took a breath and then spoke.
"I'm sorry for trying to control your decisions. I just– I got so scared about the idea of something like what happened the other day happening again that I forgot that the most important thing in our relationship is trusting each other. I would've lost my shit if you'd done what I did today, but I realised that you wouldn't ever do that because you respect me enough to not try and make decisions for me. But if you feel like you're okay… I trust you. It absolutely– well, it broke my heart seeing you upset at me today. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I was wrong. I– I hope you forgive me," she said, looking back into his eyes again and seeing that his gaze was much softer now. Then he reached out and took her hand.
"I definitely forgive you. I just– I always want you looking out for me. And I always want us to make decisions together. I was okay talking it out with you, but when you said you'd force me to not practise, I got upset and couldn't figure out how to tell you why that wasn't fair. But what you just said is right… the most important thing is trust. I trust that you're always looking out for me, just like I'm always looking out for you. I love you, Gin."
Her chest warmed considerably, knowing that they were okay. "I love you too." She stood on her toes to kiss him but stopped. "Can I kiss you now? I mean, we're okay, right?"
He stared at her for a moment before snorting. "We're definitely okay. And I've said it to you before– if I ever say no to that, you can hex me until I remember how lucky I am to get to kiss you."
Then his lips were on hers in a very satisfying kiss that washed away the anxiety she'd been carrying around for the past several hours. It took a moment to catch her breath, and when she did, Harry was still smiling down at her. Merlin, she loved this boy. She squeezed his hand and started to pull him into the changing room, but he stopped her.
"Aren't you coming?" she asked.
He blushed and shook his head. "No, I– you were right about me not practising today. I actually asked Madam Pomfrey after lunch, and she told me I could practise on Thursday if I was still feeling okay, but it wasn't a good idea today. So I just came to watch. If my captain isn't gonna ban me," he teased.
She tapped a finger on her chin in a thoughtful manner. "I suppose I can allow it this time."
He grinned. "Thanks," he said with a wink before going up the stairs to the stands, while Ginny went into the changing room to get ready.
After another great training session and a delicious dinner, Harry went up to their room while she waited for an opportunity to sneak up without anyone noticing. When that opportunity finally came, she bolted up the stairs.
"Godric's Gargoyles," she whispered before stepping through the wall. Ginny was unsurprised to see Harry sitting on the bed, but she was distracted by the presence of new decor in their room. Turning around, her eyes widened as she saw the family portrait they'd taken in Diagon Alley over the summer, the magical portrait of their first kiss that Harry had given her for their anniversary, the Daily Prophet printing of Harry's letter, and Emily's painting of Harry that she'd given him for his birthday.
"When did you do all this?" she asked in disbelief.
He smirked at her. "While you were in Arithmancy. I'd been meaning to do it but didn't have the free time. I figured if we made up, it'd be a nice surprise."
Ginny realised that her flurried emotional search of the castle had been flawed from the start when she never checked their bedroom for Harry. That was a tad stupid. Not that it mattered now. She jumped on him and kissed him.
"Now it feels like home," he said, smiling again at the images on the walls.
She shook her head and gripped the front of his shirt. "No… this–" she shook her hands lightly "– this is what feels like home."
After they'd been kissing for several minutes, Harry broke away. "What happened to no physical activity?"
Ginny grinned at him. "I thought you liked breaking the rules."
His eyes brightened. "Well, when you put it like that…"
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
"And you're positive you have to go today?" Ginny asked him.
He glanced at her as he finished getting dressed. "I can't very well start skipping Defence classes and still expect to get my N.E.W.T. Besides, McGonagall said she took care of it, and I trust her."
"I know that. You shouldn't keep skipping. But today– I just don't want you to think that people would think less of you if you didn't want to go today. You know McGonagall would understand."
Harry shook his head. "I would think less of myself. And… he'd think even less of me too. And I– I know. I'm going to work on that, but this isn't something that's putting me in danger, so it's okay. After everything… I'm not gonna give him the satisfaction of thinking that he beat me."
She sighed. "I was afraid of that. But I wouldn't love you so much if you were any different. I guess we'll get to see if McGonagall really got to him."
Rumours had spread throughout the past few days about what had happened with Harry and his detention with Grimhall. Thankfully, not many people talked to him about it, but from what he gathered, mostly through Mia being very well informed, most everyone in the school agreed with him and was pissed off at Grimhall for what had happened, even if nobody knew what Harry's detention had been or figured out just how connected it was to him being in the Hospital Wing. There were also a lot of rumours about what McGonagall had done to punish Grimhall for it. Harry didn't really believe that McGonagall had frozen Grimhall's bits, and he was fairly certain that she wouldn't have made him write ten thousand lines of 'I'm a stupid git and Harry Potter is better than me.' Based on what everyone was saying though, Grimhall had seemed reserved and almost mellow in his classes so far.
In his first class with Grimhall since the detention, Harry saw that whatever McGonagall had done had clearly gotten to Grimhall, somewhat at least. Grimhall didn't say anything that he felt was meant to be a slight against him. He did keep shooting him looks that might've been construed as attempted menacing glares, but he'd had much scarier wizards look at him like that and survived, so he wasn't too bothered.
It felt like everyone in the class was on edge. Harry knew he, along with a lot of his classmates, wouldn't have been here if they weren't confident that there was some truth to the rumours about McGonagall punishing Grimhall. It was definitely in the professor's best interest to be very neutral and not antagonistic in his instruction. Harry thought several people were probably more prepared to argue with him if necessary than they had been in his last class, and they were all watching him closely, expecting him to stir something else up.
The rest of the class also kept looking at him, but Harry suspected that was more because people were surprised to see him back in class after the way he'd stormed out last week and his detention. Or they were hoping to see another fight. He couldn't really blame them for that.
Grimhall concluded his unit on duelling theory today, without giving any provocation to the class to come after him, and he promised that they'd begin practical lessons at the next meeting. Harry was admittedly excited for that. He didn't miss anything about the dangers of the past several years, but they had provided him with an abundance of opportunities to practise duelling, and he enjoyed the adrenaline rush of it all, especially in situations where he knew his life wasn't actually on the line. Besides, he'd hopefully get to duel Ginny, and he'd get to see her all worked up. That would be brilliant.
The next day, Harry was ecstatic to finally be able to participate in Quidditch training. He felt great, and the afternoon couldn't come soon enough. Ginny was hanging out with Luna after their Care of Magical Creatures class, and Harry couldn't wait any longer, so he decided to go to the pitch for some conditioning. Not that he really needed it. He was zipping around the pitch very quickly, still savouring the feeling of flying the Firebolt after flying a Cleansweep Five all summer at the Burrow. He didn't even realise how much time had passed until he saw people standing on the pitch and figured it was about time for practice to really start.
He landed next to the rest of the team, and he saw Ginny smiling at him before she assumed a much more serious expression and launched into a discussion of tactics that she was wanting to try out. She'd even brought the chalkboard from the changing room onto the pitch, reminding Harry of Oliver Wood for a brief moment as she made the tactical drawings animate and move with one tap of her wand.
Luckily, there wasn't much that Harry had to remember. As the Seeker, he was fairly removed from the rest of the team's overall strategy, although Ginny did spend several minutes talking about a strategy that they probably wouldn't ever use, where a Chaser started looking for the Snitch in an attempt to help him have a better chance at being the one to catch it. It almost seemed like an idea that someone who'd never played Quidditch would have come up with, and Harry was still very comfortable with being the only one on the team searching for the Snitch.
After the lengthy strategy discussion, they finally got to go up into the air, where they practised reflexes by throwing the Quaffle as quickly as they could at each other, a drill that Harry had learned from Oliver and used a couple years ago as captain. He had been awful at it when he'd first started playing Quidditch, but summers at the Weasleys had improved his Quaffle-handling skills, at least to the point that he was doing a little better than Jimmy and Ritchie.
Then, while Ginny had the rest of the team scrimmage, she instructed Harry to search for the Snitch with one eye closed, which he thought was a tad ridiculous, but he did it anyway because she was in charge. He was surprised to find that it was incredibly difficult, and even though he had a headache by the time he caught it once with each eye closed, he was reasonably proud of himself. He had no idea if that would help at all with finding the Snitch quicker, but it was a neat trick at least.
Practice didn't last much longer after that, and Harry was about to go to the showers when Ginny caught his eye and jerked her head toward the door. He narrowed his eyes slightly in confusion but followed her.
"What's up?" he asked as they exited the changing room with brooms carried over their shoulders.
"I was just wanting to get back up to our room," she answered, glancing over and looking him up and down. "You know, you look really good after playing Quidditch."
He laughed, thinking the exact same thing about her. "I think that's my line."
"Mine now," she replied with a wink.
"So what are we doing once we get back to the room?" Harry asked as innocently as he could.
She glanced at him again, and he saw a smile creeping onto her lips momentarily. "I guess we'll see," she answered vaguely. It took everything in Harry not to sprint to their dorm. He managed to control himself until they arrived, looking eagerly at her as soon as she entered the room behind him.
"I'm going to go take a shower," she informed him, walking into the bathroom.
Harry frowned and sat on the edge of the bed. "Oh… okay, then."
A couple moments later, she opened the door again. He glanced over, eyes widening at the sight of his gorgeous girlfriend, stark naked and dripping wet. "You're a bit daft sometimes," she commented even though she was smiling at him. "The shower's big enough for both of us, you know." With that, she turned and reentered the bathroom, leaving the door open this time.
"Oh… yeah, okay," Harry said to himself, probably breaking a record for undressing speed as he raced to join her in the shower.
The next day, they were packed and ready to return home to the Burrow as soon as they finished with classes. At the start of the term, Harry had thought it lucky that Defence was the last class of the week. It had always been his best class, and he figured it would help the weekend feel like it was arriving faster. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect, and the weekend felt further away than ever as he entered the Defence classroom with Ginny and their friends.
Grimhall seemed to be in a better mood than he'd been in a couple days earlier, almost smiling at them all as they entered, which was actually more disconcerting than when he glared at them. With an uneasy feeling in his gut, Harry took his usual seat in the back row, and Grimhall began speaking once everyone else had taken their seats.
"As we've been discussing for our last several meetings, duelling is a complex and sophisticated dance of skill and instinct. I've done my best to prepare you with the theory of duelling; however, I am afraid that theory can only take you so far. It's like how you can read all the books on Quidditch that you want, but it won't help you throw a Quaffle better or catch a Snitch faster. The theory is there as a foundation, but the way you actually improve is through practice. It's why it takes an Auror three years of constant, rigorous training before they enter the force.
"What I'll teach you regarding practical duelling is not meant to be comprehensive. Instead, it's meant to provide you with the basic knowledge you need to protect yourself and incapacitate an adversary as effectively as possible. Duelling is a tricky and dangerous business. I'm sure you've read in the papers how many people died in the past year, and I shudder to think how many of those deaths could've been prevented if practical duelling knowledge was commonly taught in our society."
Harry pressed his lips together and bounced his leg agitatedly. Just another hour and he'd be free. He could make it, especially if he got to duel Ginny.
"Before we begin our practice and training, I'd like to demonstrate what a proper duel looks like. But I will need a volunteer."
Harry immediately saw what the plan was. Of course, Ginny saw it too, shooting him a look and shaking her head adamantly. He shrugged, trying to tell her that he wasn't about to volunteer for it, but that wouldn't help him if–
"No volunteers? I suppose I'll just select someone then." Grimhall's eyes roved over the seated students, as if he didn't already have his volunteer selected. Sure enough, after making a dramatic show of evaluating his options, his eyes landed on Harry. "Mister Potter, I seem to remember you feeling strongly that you were experienced in duelling. Would you mind assisting me with this demonstration?" he asked in a disgustingly patronising tone.
Every single eye in the room was on Harry instantly. He exhaled slowly, knowing he couldn't refuse Grimhall without looking like a coward, and he wasn't about to do that. Ginny seemed to be pleading with him to not accept the offer based on the way she was looking at him, but he didn't have a choice.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to her before standing up and wordlessly walking to the front of the classroom. Grimhall was still smiling as he had the rest of the students move to the edges of the classroom and swept the furniture aside with a flick of his wand. Everyone was silent, unable to believe what was about to happen.
Turning to address the class, Grimhall said, "We'll observe proper pleasantries for this duel, but it is important to note that your opponent may not always do this. In that case, you have to be ready for an attack at any moment. But in a proper duel, opponents bow to each other."
Grimhall bowed his head to Harry before he glanced up. "I said, bow," Grimhall repeated in a stern voice, and for a brief second, Harry was in a different place. The classroom was the cemetery of Little Hangleton. The students were Death Eaters. And the one he was duelling was–
He blinked and he was back in the Defence classroom. He inclined his head forward ever so slightly, gripping his wand tightly.
"And now–" Grimhall began, and Harry shot one last look over to Ginny, feeling more nervous than he probably should've been for a demonstration duel. She looked caught between terrified and pissed off. But her eyes caught his, and the fire in them made him feel stronger.
He looked back toward Grimhall, who was raising his wand. "– We duel."
"Expelliarmus!" Grimhall cast quickly. Harry parried the attack with a shield charm, and he suddenly realised how important it was to not let himself be disarmed. He still wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of attacking a teacher, even one he despised as much as Grimhall, so he stayed on the defensive, repelling several spells in rapid succession.
Then Grimhall was launching a desk at Harry, and he watched as it narrowly missed several students, including Ginny, on the way to him.
"Reducto!" he cast, breaking the desk before turning back to Grimhall. Somewhere in the back of his mind, something snapped.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
Of course things had to happen this way. Things always happened this way to them. They were so close to a fun weekend at home when Grimhall decided to derail their plans by asking for a volunteer to duel him. Immediately, Ginny had been concerned that Harry would volunteer, but when she saw the look on his face, she knew he wasn't wanting to have any part in it.
Of course that didn't matter. Nobody was going to volunteer to duel Grimhall, and Ginny guessed that he'd expected that, which was probably why he looked so excited to ask Harry to duel with him. She desperately wanted Harry to refuse, but she knew that he wouldn't. She heard him apologise to her as he walked to the front of the classroom, but that didn't really help now. She didn't know what she could say to him. As she joined all the students in surrounding Harry and Grimhall, she felt uneasy at best, and the looks of their friends around her reflected that sentiment. If Harry had been duelling any other professor, she would've trusted that they wouldn't take things too far, but Grimhall had already shown a penchant for taking things too far when it came to trying to hurt Harry.
Her stomach was turning as Grimhall made Harry bow before duelling him. It was disturbing how much he was enjoying this. Ginny genuinely hated him. She didn't know what the duel demonstration would be like, but she wanted Harry to hold his own and prove himself, not just to Grimhall but to himself. When he locked eyes with her, she hoped he knew she believed in him. And then the duel began.
Unsurprisingly, Harry wasn't wanting to be the instigator in the duel. Grimhall, on the other hand, had no such reservations, throwing spell after spell at Harry, who repelled them all without any attempts to go on the attack. Then Grimhall threw a desk, and Ginny had to duck under it to not get hit. Harry destroyed it before it could reach him in an explosion that shook the room, and she watched as he looked quickly at her before turning to Grimhall with something like rage on his face. And then the duel really began.
Grimhall's sneer was wiped from his face as he concentrated on parrying Harry's attacks. Harry's wand was a blur as he wordlessly launched a barrage of spells at the professor. But it wasn't long before Grimhall began pushing back, and they were exchanging attacks and counterattacks at breakneck speed. She couldn't even identify half the spells that were being used because of how fast everything was moving.
The next desk Grimhall threw thankfully didn't come near any students, and Harry incinerated it before responding by throwing three desks in a row. Grimhall somehow transfigured the desks into spinning blades, which he sent flying at Harry. For the first time, she was genuinely terrified for Harry's safety, and she was halfway to pulling out her wand when Harry directed the blades into the floor between them. She didn't have a moment to exhale or relax because the battle raged on, but she forced herself to put her wand back.
Harry caused two chalkboards to pull themselves off the wall and attempt to sandwich Grimhall, but they had been transfigured into walls of water by the time they reached him. Now, Grimhall was soaked, which made him look even scarier than he had before. He sent a jet of fire at Harry, who again repelled it with a shield, sending flames around him in a vortex, and then they were back to moving at incredible speeds as they attacked and parried.
The air was becoming hot in the classroom, and Ginny noticed cracks forming in the stone underneath their feet. She could hardly stand to watch, feeling her chest constricting in horror at the sight before her. She'd never seen a duel like this outside of a literal battle, but the longer this went on, the more it felt like a life or death battle rather than something for show.
"Holy shit," Mia muttered as Grimhall transfigured another chalkboard into a wall of spikes that he slid across the room at Harry, who had to tumble out of the way. Harry started to stand before ducking again under a curse he wasn't quick enough to repel and fired a leg-locker back at Grimhall, who jumped over it. While he was still crouched, Harry summoned Grimhall's desk in front of him, apparently giving himself a moment of protection, which Grimhall didn't like. He threw the desk out of the way, wand raised to continue the attack, when he froze, and Ginny saw why. Harry was gone.
Grimhall turned around furiously, causing water droplets to fly off his hair and beard. "Where is he?" the man half growled as if any of the students knew where Harry had gone.
Incidentally, Ginny understood what had happened. Not that she was going to reveal Harry's secret. But Grimhall must've seen something in her eyes because he was suddenly in her face. "Where'd he go?" he repeated, now pointing his wand at her.
Ginny didn't waver as she glared back into the face of her professor. "Where'd he go?" Grimhall demanded. A moment later, he got his answer when his wand flew out of his hand. Ginny looked over his shoulder and saw Harry pulling his Invisibility Cloak off before catching Grimhall's wand.
"Potter, I'm not finished with you," Grimhall threatened, which was a little less menacing now that he had no wand.
Ginny saw Harry look at her for the briefest of seconds before casting another piercing look at Grimhall. He spoke in a low, sharp tone– the voice of an assured man rather than a scared boy. "We're finished. And get the hell away from my girlfriend."
An instant later, Grimhall was on the ground, the victim of a Body-Bind Curse. Harry flicked his wand once more and the professor slid across the floor until he hit a wall. Then Harry looked up at everyone, still holding a bit of the hard look in his eyes. There was stunned silence that Harry broke when he dropped Grimhall's wand to the ground and immediately walked towards the door, catching her eye before he left.
Ginny didn't wait for anyone to regather their senses. She followed him, quickly catching up to him and taking his hand. It was cold, and he was trembling, much less sure of himself than he'd been a moment ago when he'd incapacitated the professor. It looked like he might be trying to speak, but she squeezed his hand and shook her head, thinking he needed a break.
"Let's get out of here first," she instructed. Harry nodded, and they quickly grabbed their packed bags from the dormitory and made it out of the gates of Hogwarts without being stopped by anyone. Ginny gave him a reassuring look, and they spun on their heels together, leaving behind the troubles of school with a soft pop.
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
A/N: Oh boy, I'd been waiting a long time to post this chapter! Thank you to all of you who stuck with me even though Grimhall's behaviour was confusing outrageous and there were questions about why he was still employed. I hope things feel a bit more resolved now that you know where I was going with everything. This major story arc isn't entirely complete yet, but Harry duelling Grimhall was really the big plot point that I had in mind early on, and I developed the ideas of the detention in the forest and Harry's panic attack as ways to make the fight justified and meaningful because I thought it was such a cool scene to imagine, and I hope you all think it was fun to read too!
I think there's sometimes a challenge in fanfiction about representing Harry's abilities well. In some fics I've seen, he's like an overpowered badass who's able to do magic nobody's ever seen before or can compete with, which doesn't feel very consistent at all with canon. In other fics, he's basically average at best and outclassed by pretty much everyone around him, which is also not canon at all. Harry shows, over and over again throughout his time at Hogwarts, that he's exceptional, not average, at Defence and combat. He's able to go toe to toe with Death Eaters on several occasions, only getting overpowered by the very best of the best. I also headcanon that Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent a lot of time practising defensive magic during their time on the run because there's just sooooo much time that's unaccounted for during that time, and it's impossible for me to imagine that Hermione especially wouldn't have wanted them to continue practising. I don't know that I really need to justify Harry being able to barely survive the fight with Grimhall, but for what it's worth, that's some of my reasoning for it (other than the fact that I can't very well kill the main character lol)
Just as an aside, it was very fun for me to finally write an actual fight scene after writing like 400k words without a real one, so thanks for sticking with me throughout all of it, and I hope the first fight was compelling and exciting to read!
Another very big thing in this chapter is the fight between Harry and Ginny. From my perspective, they're both in the wrong here. Ginny obviously shouldn't be trying to control Harry and telling him she'll ban him from practice, but at the same time, Harry shouldn't be immediately ignoring Pomfrey's instructions after what happened to him. And for Ginny, a big part of the reason she overreacts here is that Harry's saying he'll voluntarily put himself at risk, just like he did with the detention, and she's still pissed off about him doing that, even though they haven't talked about it yet. Don't worry though- him agreeing to fight Grimhall will definitely lead to her voicing her feelings about him putting himself in danger.
And… that's about all the notes I have! I'm so glad we've made it to this point in the story, and I hope you all enjoyed seeing Grimhall finally get everything that was coming to him! Oh, and speaking of, Harry telling Grimhall to get the hell away from his girlfriend was very inspired by Sirius telling Lucius to get away from his godson in the OotP movie because it just fit so well.
Now that officially does it for my notes! As always, comments and feedback are hugely appreciated, and thank you so much for reading and continuing to follow along with this story!
Coming Friday: Defensive- He noticed several people shooting him looks like he'd just been given a death sentence.
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Lilly: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! I totally agree with you, and one of the big reasons I wanted them to fix the Room of Requirement in the first place was so that they would be responsible for having a safe place to sleep together in their first days at Hogwarts. It was also a cool storyline in SoR and presents other fun opportunities later in this book, but the biggest one was that it made their time spent on it totally worth it, even if I did always plan on them getting that upgrade to the Head Boy dormitory eventually. And McGonagall knowing about them sneaking out was a very fun idea for me. I have no idea how it happened, but I find it difficult to believe that she and Dumbledore before her wouldn't have been able to know if people left the dorms if they wanted to, even if they typically don't do anything about it.
Guest: You're right, Neville and Hannah as a couple is something stated on Pottermore as being canon. For me and for this book, canon is only the content of the seven books. The two big reasons for that are that I disagree with a ton of the content of Pottermore, like what relates to Harry's future after the Battle, but that's pretty obvious I think considering they're at Hogwarts right now lol. The other reason is that I think it'd be impossible for me to keep up with everything on Pottermore and that JKR has said outside of that to make everything 'canon-compliant' by those standards, so I just don't. But I will look over some stuff from Pottermore and, if I don't have different ideas that I like more, I'm not opposed to keeping them. So if Neville and Hannah do get together, it'd be because I don't like any other ideas better and/or had some ideas related to the two of them that I wanted to write instead of just putting them together because Pottermore says so.
I'm also going to try to keep up with comments on SoR where I feel like it makes sense to, particularly for people who I know are getting to this point in the story. Same rules apply, I'm not going to be offended if you don't read this stuff, but it's the only way I have to engage with readers so I'm going to keep doing it!
qUg060: I've been seeing your comments coming in on SoR over the past week or two and wanted to wait to write a response to some of them for you to read once you made it over here, so hopefully you see this! First, thanks so much for your support, and I'm very glad that you enjoyed SoR so much and that you like the direction I'm taking with ToG! It truly means the world to me!
I don't think I've ever explicitly stated it, but I've always headcanoned that there's a magical barrier keeping people from being able to apparate into Diagon Alley. Apparition out works just fine, but it seems like everyone always enters through The Leaky Cauldron, so that's the explanation I've come up with to make it make sense.
I actually really like your explanation of the Trace and think it makes a lot of sense. The biggest issue I see with it is that it implies that there is a way to track all adult wizards, even if it only applies to the Trace, because then it feels like the Ministry under Voldemort would've figured out a way to use that to track anyone of interest. In general though, your explanation might work even better than mine. I just wish there was an actual logic to it instead of it making no sense at all. Like the Trace can detect that a Muggle was nearby when Harry casts a Patronus, but it can't detect that Harry wasn't the one who cast a levitating charm when Dobby does it in CoS? Just no consistency, so we're all guessing out here lol.
Nightwing2013: Gotta say, I love that you're revisiting SoR while waiting for this chapter! Not writing a byline for these articles, or any articles so far, has been very intentional, as has keeping the Editor of the Prophet nameless. The in-universe explanation for no byline is that a lot of the articles amount to nothing more than tabloids, and it feels extra sleazy for names to not even be attached to the articles because it gives people the freedom to write anonymously. The author explanation is that I wanted to leave my options open for what to do with things like the reporters and Editor for future stories because I knew I wasn't going to deal with it in SoR. I will say that the first article with a byline actually comes in Chapter 8 of Book 3, so when there's a reason for it, I am sure to add them!
And... I really, really love the theory about who wrote the article about all of Harry's possible girlfriends in Chapter 19 of SoR, but... I don't know if Rita Skeeter wrote it or not haha. I truly do my best to plan everything out, and I have way more plans for future books than I think anyone could possibly imagine, and I do know that both Rita Skeeter and the author of these articles will eventually come into play. I just truly haven't planned enough to decide if they're the same person or not, so Ginny calling the reporter a cow is really just insulting the anonymous writer of the article, even if it definitely also fits for Rita.