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Chapter 11
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Things were still not quite as smooth and figured out between Harry and his new girlfriend as it always looked to be for Ron and Hermione. He and Ginny just hadn't clicked properly yet. They had the attraction and the snogging figured out, yet it was like they were two pieces of Lego and they were the same size, those two by four block bits, but they kept trying to connect to fit perfectly while not being properly lined up, there was always at least two squares that wouldn't sync up.
He knew what would help those final squares click into place, but for whatever reason it still didn't seem like the right time.
Hermione had been giving him these looks the last week of school before break as well, the look that told him he should tell Ginny who he really was.
He couldn't yet though. There was Christmas coming up, and then he and Sirius had been invited to The Burrow for a New Years celebration as well.
Another reason he didn't want to say anything to her right now; Ginny had been more open about the two of them being a couple and letting the whole student body see them together, and he wanted to enjoy that for longer before he potentially shot it all to shit by telling her. He really loved the feeling that came over him when she would walk up beside him and simply clasp her hand inside his.
The warm feelings she brought up in him were keeping his demons at bay.
He'd been sleeping better, his anxiety over the teen drama that was centered around the confusion about where he stood with her, that was gone. He was intentionally trying not to think about how he needed to tell her who he was, and Hermione's looks weren't helping.
He hadn't mentioned Dean's warning to him about her, not to Ginny and not to Ron or Hermione.
Harry had mulled over it though. He'd noticed of course that Ginny could be in one mood one minute then it was like she was fighting an internal battle that had her snapping at someone the next. She was still beloved by Professors and students alike, save for some Slytherins. Even the Slytherin's though, Ginny didn't act cold towards them, if anything she was the one stopping others from taking out their angst against them.
The morning that everyone was leaving for the holidays it felt like everyone was congregating in the Seventh-Year boys dorm; Ginny, Hermione and a few other girls were there and some of the boys from Sixth were in there as well. Everyone was given a scheduled time for using the Floo from their Head of House office instead of taking the Hogwarts Express this year to Kings Cross.
It made Harry wonder vaguely if the train was in complete disuse save for a single day in September and June. It didn't used to be, before Voldemort's return; he remembered Hermione taking it to Kings Cross to see her parents for Christmas.
Anyhow, everyone in the dorm was chatting about what their plans were and there was a ball being tossed back and forth between the four-poster beds.
Ginny had settled herself snug against him, between his legs and resting her back on his stomach as he'd been sat back against his pillows. It was a fairly innocent position. He could smell her shampoo though and it made him want to bury his face in her hair and just keep his eyes closed while he continuously inhaled. He had two hours left to appreciate and memorize the smell before it was his turn to leave and meet up with Sirius at Grimmauld before they took off to Majorca or somewhere.
He was denied the opportunity to do that when the ball came flying over and whacked him in the side of the head.
"Oi," he protested.
"Look sharp," Euan chuckled. "You'll see her again in a few weeks."
Harry rolled his eyes and summoned the ball to him, tossing it across the room to a Sixth Year named Daniel that was chatting with Dean, whom Harry hadn't been paying any attention to since Ginny walked in and he caught the first glare.
"I just don't get it," Harry whispered to her finally. "What is up with Dean? It's like he's in love with you, but he's seeing someone else."
He could feel her growl against his chest. "I can assure you, he's not in love with me. He never talks to me anymore. And it's not like we were together for that long, but I was going through a phase and it was… I was kind of taking my anger out through, er, less harmful means?" she offered.
Harry cringed, not liking the picture that was forming in his mind. "So, he's jealous he's not getting more of that? And he's decided he dislikes me now because of it?" Clearly, she'd meant some heavy snogging and petting situations had happened. He didn't know how far they'd gone, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
Ginny adjusted her head so it was resting back on his shoulder, getting as close as her lips could be to his ear for her to whisper. "There was an incident during the Battle last year too. Not like I stopped fighting for a quick snog break," she prefaced. "He was just trapped in a fight, and I was nearby and had the advantage, so I took it." She gave a sigh. "The way he'd looked at me after, he just… I think he thought it meant something more than it did."
"You're his hero," Harry realized. He didn't have to guess at what that felt like, he could remember Colin Creevey following him around like a lost puppy his first year at school, and Harry hadn't even saved him from anything. That had been unwanted attention. Now Colin was on the other side of the room talking with Euan. "Yeah. I guess that would explain why he was trying to warn me off you."
"He what?!" She was still trying to keep her voice down and he felt her body tense then.
"Don't worry about it. Obviously, it didn't work." He buried his nose in her hair again. "I don't scare easy."
She let out a huff of a laugh. "One of the reasons why I like you."
"Hmm. And what are the others?" he asked, not really caring, just wanting to keep sitting here with her like this and smelling that intoxicating scent.
When they'd napped together last weekend at the Shrieking Shack, he could swear it had been the best kip of his life. He'd woken up to her still cuddled against his side. It had been dark in there with just enough light that he could make out her features and a few freckles. He hadn't imagined that they would have gotten as carried away as they had, they'd been so wrapped up in each other and it had felt so incredible. He'd tried to exercise a bit of control, but how in the hell was he supposed to have said no when she did that thing with her hips though?
Now was not the time to reminisce about it. She would obviously feel if he got aroused and they were in a room with ten other people around them.
She leaned her head back again and gave a small kiss to the spot just under his ear. "You're smart, but don't flaunt it. You're great at Quidditch. You've also got this air of mystery about you, even now after all we've… done." She said this while running her hand against his thigh, stopping when he gave a shaky breath. He could almost hear her smirking at how easy it was to get him worked up.
"Be nice," he pleaded.
Ginny moved her hand back to her own lap. "I also like looking at you."
He snorted. "Because I'm so pretty?"
"Yes," she chuckled back. "You're spending the holiday on some tropical island?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Mhmm. Not sure which one. My Godfather has a taste for sun and sand right now. I wouldn't mind laying in a hammock and enjoying doing nothing all day for a bit."
"So long as that 'nothing' doesn't involve some bikini clad girls hanging off you," she said wryly.
"What's this? Is Ginny Weasley feeling a little territorial?" he teased.
"Be grateful I haven't got my branding stick with me."
Harry couldn't help the loud bark of laughter that escaped his mouth then. It caused everyone else to look over towards them and he turned a bit red from the attention.
"Go back about your business," Ginny told them easily.
"Is everyone packed and ready?" Hermione asked the room.
The grumbled response meant they all knew that it was time for everyone to clear out that didn't belong in that dorm so they could gather the last of their things. Ginny moved, with a groan of protest, to get off his bed. "Wait a moment," Harry got up with her. "I've got something for you, and something for Ron as well, for Christmas. I'd give it to him to take home, but I don't trust him not to open it before Christmas morning."
"That is a very safe assumption," Ginny smirked. "What if I too have impulse control?"
He ignored the innuendo and opened his trunk, grabbing the wrapped-up sweets he'd gotten for Ron and the small box he'd gotten the shop lady to wrap properly for him containing the gift for Ginny. If he'd tried to wrap it himself it would have looked terrible.
"You didn't have to," Ginny told him, a lovely blush coming to the apples of her cheeks.
"Yeah, I did. I wanted to. Thankfully, what we decided last week confirmed that it wouldn't be weird if I did." Boyfriends got their girlfriends gifts at Christmas, him having the title now meant that he was allowed.
And he was so glad that he had that title now.
"I've something for you too," she admitted. "Or, I will. We tend to go with homemade gifts in the Weasley household, the things I got my family last week was only part of it. I won't be owling it to whatever island you wind up on though, so you'll get it when you come to ours at the end of the month."
His heart gave a small skip at that, and he couldn't help wishing that it was going to be a Weasley sweater. He'd missed getting them the past few Christmases, and getting one from Ginny, particularly if she made it special for him, well, he'd just cherish it. Probably it would make him break down into tears over the memories of the first time he'd gotten one and all that had changed and he'd missed out on, and then he'd be too embarrassed to hang around her anymore.
"I'm sure I'll love it," he told her tenderly and gave her one more sweet kiss.
She went to pull away from him and paused before fully backing away, opening and closing her mouth a few times, just at the brink of telling him something.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I just… I'm fighting with myself over whether I should say this," she admitted.
His shoulder gave a twitch, Harry wasn't sure why. Something in her voice. He wasn't sure what exactly she was trying to hold back herself from saying. Certainly it was too soon for… that. "Go on," he got out.
"Alright," she started quietly. "Don't, don't take this the wrong way. But, if you cheat on me, I will hurt you," she said quickly, bracing herself for his response.
"Oh," he internally sagged with relief. "Really nothing for you to worry about there," he laughed.
"Oh, okay, good," she too relaxed.
"I'll see you in two weeks," he gave her one more kiss, then she walked out and he turned back to finish packing up a smaller bag, making sure he had only what he needed.
Harry had no doubt that she would get some kind of revenge on him if he stepped out on her. It was a ridiculous idea that that could happen. Then again, he'd never been afforded the luxury of choice when it came to females. The attention he'd gotten when he started back at the beginning of the school year had been new to him. The type of attention anyhow. There may have been a few females giving him a looking over, but the whole of the student population was still wary of any unknowns, and he was most certainly an unknown then.
This would really be the first time he'd be going somewhere with, for the lack of better term, options.
He had it too good with Ginny though. It was exciting, confusing, frustrating and much too new for him to ever consider cheating on her like he was some pompous prat.
No, he was going to simply lay back, drink in hand, and enjoy the heat and quality time spent with Sirius.
That was exactly what happened too.
He and Sirius spent a blissful ten days on an island just south of Ibiza, doing nothing but listening to the waves and moving from hammock to beach chair having someone bringing them food and drink. Harry really couldn't begrudge Sirius choosing to live like this for a while after all they'd been through. After all he had been through; eleven years in Azkaban and then having to go into hiding and form a resistance against an evil wizard, Sirius deserved this.
Hell, they both deserved it.
Harry felt like his brain had turned into mush by the time they were to return to Britain. He wished he'd somehow arranged for Ron and Ginny to join him out in paradise instead of going back to the cold.
"So, the story is that you're my godson," Sirius said again as they were dropping off their bags in the dark and depressing sitting room of Grimmauld Place once more. "And that you were safely stowed away at one of many Black properties during the war?"
They had to come up with some story as to how Sirius and he were linked without letting on to all the Weasley's that Harry had actually been there at Order Headquarters the whole time the war had been going on. There was a chance they were going to think Sirius had been a hypocrite for not allowing his godson to be involved, there was another chance that they would have respected him for keeping Harry out of the conflict though.
It was the safest plan.
"Yeah," Harry said tiredly as he rubbed his eyes. Portkey travel was not his favorite. It had been the only option for getting back from the Spanish island to this one though, excluding the Muggle way which would take all day.
He needed a cup of coffee and to get his head on right before they used the Floo to get over to The Burrow. He was excited to see Ron and Ginny again, and Hermione who was also supposed to be going there today, he just needed his body to cooperate and help show the enthusiasm.
Sirius had tried to give him some razzing over having his first girlfriend. It had been good-natured, but the way Sirius talked about it made it sound like it was going to be the first of many relationships for him. Harry couldn't help thinking that it was because Sirius had only casual encounters with women since he'd been put away. Sirius had made mention of one girlfriend that he'd had at Hogwarts, and every time he'd mentioned her there would be this melancholy he'd exhibited over what might have been, because she'd been killed early on in the first war with the Death Eaters. That could have been why Sirius seemed so against the idea of a permanent relationship; because his heart had been broken.
Even when they had spent so long in hiding and doing surveillance for ages with nothing to occupy their time but conversation between each other, Sirius didn't mention much about her.
It was still early on in he and Ginny being together, but Harry wasn't willing to discuss it with his godfather like she was just a passing ship.
They went on into the kitchen and Harry crossed his arms on the table and rested his head on them. "Do we have any Pepper-Up here?"
Coming from a tropical climate to this one was also lowering his spirits. The curtains were all drawn so it wasn't like he knew that there was cloud coverage and a layer of ice outside, but he knew. Seeing it wouldn't be fun. The gloomy grey skies of London and dirty brown snow outside his bedroom window would not be a welcome sight.
"Wouldn't trust it if we do," Sirius told him as he poured out two cups of coffee. "It's been a year since we touched the potions supply in the bathrooms here. Maybe Molly will have some."
Harry nodded and took the cup. As he sipped it down, he wondered over the chances that he could sneak up to Ginny's room and have a kip with her. Maybe Ron's room would be less conspicuous.
Then again, the rest of her brothers might be there right now too, and they may want to hurt him if he tried anything.
"What's all this?" he asked, seeing a few letters that were scattered on the table that had the Gringotts stamp on them.
"Urgh," Sirius groaned. "Remember when I had to come back for a bit when you were in mid-term? Well, it was because Gringotts was having the damned of a time finding out who the new owners were of a few properties and vaults that they traced back, and back, and finally landed on them being my problem to sort through as the Head of House Black."
"And the rich get richer," Harry joked darkly. "Is it such a problem that you have even more to your name?"
"Yes it is, because I don't know what to do with it all and they are wanting me to figure it out as soon as possible. I'd say to just sell all the properties off, but I want to at least see them first and assess their worth. Same for the vaults, I need to see what's in them. I also need to look up who they supposedly belonged to that died or went missing. They were all cousins, some a few times removed. They just sent me another letter the other week about another property they have decided is my problem as well. And what really annoys me is that we all just went through a war, how did none of these relatives of mine have a will done up?"
"Do you have a will done up?" Harry wondered. He didn't have a will done up.
"Yes, and right now it says that it all goes to you, with some provisions about what charities I'd like some of the money to go to."
"Does that mean that I become the Head of House Black?"
"No. Once the surname disappears then so does the title. The Head of House Potter simply becomes much richer."
He wanted to say it, but making a humorous comment about how the both of them better get to finding women willing to start carrying their children so their surnames could live on would only pave the way for Sirius to start brooding or to start poking fun at him about who he planned on having his kids and when.
"Just how many cousins of yours have gone missing?" Harry asked instead.
"I've got five properties that need visiting and about eight vaults at Gringotts, with this last letter I received."
"I was talking to Ron a while back about how the suspected Death Eaters are still disappearing, like they did before the war when we took care of them. Any idea what's going on there? The Daily Prophet is theorizing that they've fled the country."
"Some of them might be fleeing, but I wouldn't have received all of these," he gestured at the letters, "if they weren't presumed dead."
Harry frowned at the letters.
None of the newly disappeared Death Eaters had shown up anywhere. From the first reported missing persons to the most recent; that was almost seven months of persons gone missing that no one seemed very concerned about.
He wasn't sure he was all that concerned either. Mostly, right now, he was just tired and didn't want to think about it.
An hour later and they found their motivation to get to the Floo; Sirius found his motivation in a glass of cognac and Harry started getting antsy, looking forward to seeing his friends again. There were going to be more people visiting The Burrow right now than just Hermione too; she'd gone to France with her parents to spend Christmas with her grandparents that lived in Paris and was back now, she'd included a letter with his Christmas present telling him all about it.
Sirius went first through the Floo, Harry was a minute behind him and came into the Weasley sitting room as Sirius was still making his initial round of greetings.
"Molly, Arthur, I'm sure you've heard about my godson Harry by now," Sirius introduced them.
Mrs. Weasley had the same welcoming energy that she'd always had and came to give him a hug in greeting. "Harry dear, good to meet you finally. I'm surprised it was Ron that I first heard about you from," she gave Sirius a little disapproving glance at that. "Now I hear you've got our Ginny's approval as well."
"Uh," Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to say now. "I, er, she's a great girl. Really, erm, strong minded, and… smart." He sounded like an idiot.
It was enough to make Mr. and Mrs. Weasley laugh though.
"Nothing to be nervous about dear," she said with a hand to his cheek, giving him a pat. "Best to keep your jacket on, the kids are outside right now. Why don't you go find them? We'll get to know you a bit better later."
She always knew just how to put someone at ease.
Mr. Weasley held out his hand in greeting and gave it a shake before heading to the shelf he kept his spirits on and getting a glass of something for he and Sirius.
Being back in this house was like a balm had been spread over his heart. It was the first place that he'd ever felt truly welcome. Hogwarts had been a home for him, but the Weasley's had all treated him as though he was family. And treated him like proper family, not like the way the Dursley's had been with him. It was loud, there was delicious food, everyone had chores and was treated the same. There was mess, and pictures everywhere, and love.
Merlin, had he missed this home.
He passed through the kitchen and thought back to the first time he'd seen it, with rolls sitting warm and ready on the table and pots and pans scrubbing themselves clean in the sink. It was the first place he'd met Ginny too. Harry chuckled internally at the memory of how shocked she'd been to see him there, and how she'd run away not long after.
Then there was the porridge and butter dish incident.
He headed outside and heard them all before he saw them. They were down the hill a ways and sitting around a bonfire. It was Ron, Hermione, George, Charlie, Angelina Johnson, another girl he didn't recognize, and Ginny.
Laughter was carrying through the wind to his ears and he watched as a bottle was being passed around. The way George and Angelina were sitting close together it wasn't a stretch to see they were a couple. And it looked like they'd left a seat open between Hermione and Ginny for him.
"Harry!" Hermione called out happily as he drew nearer. Even from this distance he could see her eyes were a little glazed from drink. "Everyone, this is Harry! Isn't he super tan?"
Harry's steps faltered a bit in surprise at that comment. "Er, well, I have been enjoying the sun a bit," he chuckled.
There was a round of greeting from everyone. Everyone except for Ginny who was giving him a look. A hard look.
He furrowed his brow in question as he sat beside her. "Hi?"
"Hello," she said back. That was it. No kiss, no hug, not even a smile. She just said hello and then turned to George. "I think you need to hand him the bottle. He needs to play a bit of catch up with the rest of us."
Harry glanced around at the rest of them to see if they thought Ginny's mood was as odd as he did. From their expressions he gathered that she'd been a bit off. George shrugged, giving his sister a funny look, and handed the bottle of Firewhiskey to Harry.
"What game are you playing exactly?" Harry asked him.
"Truths," Ron answered. "If your answer is 'yes' to any question asked, then you have to take a drink."
Harry took a glance at Ginny, her expression was giving him nothing.
"I'll go first," Hermione announced. "Have you ever gone skinny dipping?"
If she'd asked him that before his holiday he wouldn't have been taking this drink. As it was, he took a sip down and felt the burn in his throat, coughing twice at the feel of the liquid. "Sirius convinced me to go into the sea without my trunks just last week," he admitted. "Felt pretty nice."
"Oh, it so does," Charlie agreed with him. "Alright, I'm next. Charlie, by the way," he introduced himself. "And this is Anush." He gestured to his girlfriend. "Have you ever had a one-night stand?"
Of course Ginny's brother would ask him a question like that. It looked like Charlie was glad to see he didn't drink from the bottle at that one, so was George.
Charlie and Anush were the only one's to take a drink from that question, neither looking abashed.
"Alright, alright, my turn," Angelina jumped a bit in her seat, it looked like she'd taken a few sips from the bottle herself before he'd shown up.
"No, my turn," Ginny cut in and leaned forwards so she was a little closer to him. "Has anyone here ever fought a Troll?"
Harry was sure his heart had just stopped at that question.
How could she have known about that?! No one else could have given her the key. He turned to Ron and Hermione to see if they had told her but the two of them were staring at Ginny with equally dumbfounded expressions on their faces.
He looked back at Ginny, her blazing brown eyes glaring directly at him.
Fuck.
Unable to think of anything else that he should do at that moment, he took a sip from the bottle. Ron took a sip from his cup too, but no one was paying attention to him.
There were exclamations of surprise from the other side of the bonfire. There hadn't been any Trolls involved in the Battle, there was every other kind of magical creature, but not Trolls. Trolls were too dim witted and couldn't be trusted. Thus, of course the others had questions about when and where this happened.
Ginny just kept her eyes level with his own, not blinking, and that was all he could pay attention to.
"Do you four mind excusing us?" Hermione asked them, sounding much more sober than she had been a moment ago.
Clearly the others knew there was something bigger going on that they didn't understand. A minute later it was just He, Ron, Hermione and Ginny sitting there in front of the fire.
"Ginny, what," Ron started.
"How did you," Hermione picked up, also unable to finish the question.
Ginny glared at the two of them as well. "So, I see you two knew about it."
"How do you know about it?" Ron asked her.
She pulled a book out of her pocket. It was pink and the edges of it had been colored on. It looked like a diary.
"I got bored the other day and decided to clean up the mess in my room," Ginny started. "That's when I came across this." She held it up. "It's my diary from when I was ten."
Harry was sure that any move he was to make right now would result in him throwing up. He could feel it in this throat. The color had drained from his face.
"I opened it up expecting to read about how boring it was being at home all by myself with mum and dad for the first time ever. I thought I'd be reading about our trip to Romania for Christmas; there is a bit of that in here." She paused for a moment and gave them all a deadly look in turn. "You know what else it's full of?" Her voice had growing steadily angrier as she carried on and the three of them were sat there, frozen, knowing what was coming next.
Ginny put on a voice, impersonating a little girl and looking at him, "You'll never guess who I met at Platform 9 ¾ today! Harry Potter! He seemed so normal, just like a regular person. I can't believe it! And I spoke to him." Her eyes turned to Ron as she flipped a page. "Ron finally sent an owl home today. It turns out he and Harry Potter are friends! That is so amazing!" Then she looked at Hermione and flipped another few pages. "Mum got a letter from Hogwarts today, apparently Ron and Harry Potter fought off a Troll to rescue a girl from Gryffindor." Now she turned her gaze back on him and opened the book, flipping page after page without looking at them. "Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter." She stood up, closed the diary and chucked it at him. "Why the fuck was I writing about you with that kind of obsession when I was ten, and why the fuck don't I remember it?"
Harry sat there dumbstruck and staring at her before Ginny turned and stomped off down the hill towards the pond, too angry to wait for a reply.
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