"That is definitely the best film I've ever seen."

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

The start of a new year brought with it the start of a new term at Hogwarts. The ride from London began without incident, but Ginny should've known her friends were up to something based on the looks she was getting from Mia, Demelza, and even Luna. Half an hour into the journey, Harry excused himself to go to the loo, and he was met by Astoria trying to enter the compartment.

Once they'd switched places and Harry was outside the compartment, Astoria greeted them all before focusing on Ginny. "How was your break? Get any new–" she began before glancing down at Ginny's hand and frowning.

"Um, my break was good. Got any new what?" Ginny asked, thinking she understood what Astoria was getting at but wanting her to actually say it.

"She was gonna ask the same thing we were gonna ask before she saw your hand, I guess," Demelza cut in disappointedly.

"Christmas is a time that people find romantic. It wouldn't have been surprising to see that Ginny was wearing an engagement ring," Luna added, making Astoria and Mia look at her like she had just spilled some big secret.

"Oh, is that what you all were wondering about?" Ginny asked, feigning cluelessness.

Mia looked somewhat apologetic for making assumptions, even though she didn't really have anything to be sorry for. "We just thought, considering how in love you and Harry are, and the fact that you two basically live together in and out of school, that he might've thought Christmas was a good time to propose."

"Hmm. Well, I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but there was no proposal from Harry. You all do know that we're both still teenagers right? There's not really a rush," Ginny replied, but she wouldn't have complained at all if Harry had decided there was a rush.

"We know that. It would just be a lot of fun to have a friend who was engaged, and the two of you seem so perfect together," Astoria said kindly.

"Exactly. Besides, I've heard Harry's rich, and I'd love to see the size of the rock that he'd get for you!" Demelza joked, making them all laugh, even though Ginny felt herself blushing a little at the idea that her friends all thought she should be engaged to Harry.

"What's this about a rock?" Harry asked as he reentered the compartment, shutting everyone up instantly. His expression seemed to be purely curious, but Ginny thought she caught a bit of a twinkle in his eyes that suggested he knew more than he was letting on.

Surprisingly, Luna was the one who provided the explanation. "The Moon Frogs in my stream brought rocks back from the moon. Daddy and I have been collecting them to make a small moon for our living room."

The response was so absurd, but Ginny had long since learned that Luna specialised in the absurd, and she wouldn't put it past the Lovegoods to actually be trying to collect what they thought were moon rocks in their backyard. Everyone else in the compartment seemed flabbergasted by what Luna said.

Harry nodded, a little blankly. "Makes sense," he responded.

"Er– so how were your breaks? Demelza?" Ginny asked, needing to change the subject before she burst out laughing.

Demelza didn't seem too enthusiastic about describing her break. "Oh… I mean, it was Christmas, so it was good, I guess. My mum didn't have time to see me over break with her new family, so it was just me and my dad."

Ginny did her best to hide a wince as she remembered that Demelza's parents were divorced. She felt awful for asking because clearly it was bothering Demelza.

"I'm sorry, Demelza," Mia said, putting a hand over Demelza's on the bench. "That must've been really difficult."

Demelza seemed to be getting slightly red in the face, remembering her break. "It– it's fine. Gotta get used to it since this is how it's gonna be from now on. How was your break?"

Mia smiled sadly at her. "Quiet. My parents spent most of it working, so I was home alone for a lot of the holiday. They did manage to get Christmas off at least, which was nice."

"Wish you'd come by my place. It would've been way more fun then," Demelza commented. "How was your break, Astoria?"

"Not quiet," she responded with a smile. "My family insists on doing elaborate celebrations and everything, even though all my sisters and I want is a normal Christmas with our parents. But they don't think it's Christmas if there aren't at least five formal dinners in the weeks surrounding it."

Astoria was so normal, kind, and down to earth that it was easy for Ginny to forget that she came from a wealthy pureblood family, and Ginny suspected that happened for everyone else who knew her as well. That was a great thing in Ginny's book. Too many rich purebloods thought that was all that mattered, and Astoria was definitely the opposite of that.

"Oh, sorry everyone, but I've gotta get back to the Prefect's Carriage. I just wanted to stop by and see how you all were doing," Astoria added, winking at Ginny before leaving the compartment.

"What was that wink for?" Harry asked innocently, but Ginny just laughed, almost positive that Harry knew exactly what had brought Astoria to their compartment.

HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG

"Godric's Gargoyles," he heard a high, raspy voice whisper.

The room was completely dark as he looked around, searching for the source of the whisper. On his second pass of the room, he jumped, seeing two red eyes, almost glowing through the darkness.

He scrambled for his wand as Voldemort laughed. His wand was nowhere to be found, and Ginny was still sleeping, unaware of the danger in front of them.

"Pity. At least your parents could stand up and fight. No matter though. You're both meeting the same end. Avada–"

Harry jerked awake and immediately felt Ginny's lips on his head. As real as it had felt, it had just been a nightmare. He hugged her tightly, needing to feel her warmth as he calmed himself. She kissed his head again and swept some hair out of his eyes.

"Been a while since you've had one of those," she said after a moment.

He nodded against her. "I thought they might've been gone for good. Guess that was a bit stupid."

"No, it wasn't stupid. None of us know how these work, so we just try to do the best we can with them. It's been a few months since your last one, so maybe they're just really slowing down now."

He sighed and rolled back onto his pillow, wishing that they didn't need to worry about things like how much time had passed since his last panic attack. Then, he had a realisation. "This one wasn't as bad as most of them. I mean, it was still awful, but nowhere near as intense as any of the other ones."

"That's another good sign, then," Ginny offered encouragingly. "You're fighting these off, Harry, and one day, they'll be gone for good. I promise."

Harry leaned over to kiss her. He longed to have her confidence that these would end, but there was some hope to be found even though he'd had another panic attack. Maybe she was right and they would eventually stop.

"What would I do without you, Gin?"

She smiled before they turned the lights off. "You'll never have to find out."

Panic attack aside, they settled into the new term very well. Quidditch practices resumed even though they were flying in the snow. Ginny had insisted that they needed to be prepared for any weather conditions, and, a little uncomfortably, Harry noticed a resemblance between her and Oliver Wood as captains. Everyone was too afraid of her to complain about practising though, and Ginny seemed satisfied with their efforts after a couple of hours in frigid temperatures.

School was a little bit tougher. Their professors had decided that no review was necessary after the break because they were all apparently behind in their schedules. Harry didn't really understand why the students were being punished for that, but he wasn't about to express that feeling to someone like Professor McGonagall, so, instead, he worked as diligently as he could in the library with Ginny after class every day to stay on top of things.

A few days into the term, Harry groaned and dramatically dropped his head into his Herbology textbook. Ginny looked up from her Care of Magical Creatures homework, clearly fighting a smile as she looked at him.

"Problem?" Ginny asked.

"I can't remember all these plants," Harry mumbled into his book.

"We can work together on trying to memorise them if you want," she offered. "Or I'm sure Neville would be happy to tutor you."

"Or we could stop doing homework," he suggested.

She sighed and set her quill down. "Did you have something better in mind?"

Harry sat up, not thinking she'd actually consider his proposal. "Er– not really," he finally said, watching the opportunity slip out of his fingers.

Ginny reached for her quill. "That's a shame. I think I could use a break too."

As soon as she dipped her quill into the inkpot, Harry slapped his hand on the table, making her jump and spill her ink. She shot him a dirty look as he blushed and looked away while she syphoned the ink off the desk and back into the pot.

"Sorry about that. I've got a good idea though. It's a surprise."

She looked like she didn't believe him. "Really? You have an idea now?"

He nodded, grinning as he did. "Yeah. You'll really like it too, I promise."

She mentally weighed her options, even though Harry was pretty confident she'd give in. Eventually, she rolled up the parchment she'd been working on. "Alright, I'm trusting you to come up with something good though."

"Literally anything would be better than homework, but this really is. Come on," he said, standing and partly pulling her out of her chair before she got up and followed him up a couple flights of stairs and down two corridors before they reached their very familiar destination.

"Well, I've gotta admit you're starting out rather promising," Ginny said, seeing the wall where the entrance to the Room of Requirement was concealed.

"Oh, just wait," Harry replied before pacing back and forth in front of the wall three times, picturing the room he wanted to find. When he finished his third pass, he turned and saw the door materialising.

"You're gonna love this," he promised before opening the door and laughing at the sight in front of him.

They were in a cinema. On one wall, a large screen was hanging, and there were several rows of plush leather seats facing in that direction. Across the opposite wall was a counter full of snacks and drinks. It was just like they were on a date in the Muggle world.

Ginny was actually speechless. Then somehow, the first words out of her mouth were, "I thought Muggle technology didn't work at Hogwarts."

Harry almost laughed again, thinking that she sounded an awful lot like Hermione, but instead, he just shrugged. "Honestly I didn't think about that. Apparently the room figured out a way to get around that rule. Do you like it though?"

Now Ginny grinned. "I love it. It's a brilliant idea. What are we gonna watch though? Please don't pick a sad one," she added, smiling a little brighter as she reminded Harry of some of the depressing things he'd taken her to see over the summer.

"Er– I honestly don't know a lot of films. Pretty much anything I saw was in school when I was way younger. So I don't… wait a second. Okay, I've got an idea. I don't really remember everything, but I'm pretty sure it's not a sad movie."

That was good enough for Ginny, who was just eager to watch another film. So they brought a load of snacks to their seats, and Harry asked the room to get rid of the armrest between them so they could cuddle close together. Then he asked the room to play the film he wanted, and somehow, it knew exactly how to do it. Harry settled in as he saw the words Mary Poppins on the screen.

Throughout the film, he kept glancing over at Ginny, unable to stop smiling at her expressions of awe and wonder at the different kind of magic she saw on the screen. She was completely entranced by the entire film, and even after it ended, she still seemed amazed by it all.

"I know I don't have a lot of options, but that is definitely the best film I've ever seen," she informed him.

"Mine too," he agreed. "I used to get to watch it every year before the summer holiday in school. The songs are absolutely brilliant."

"I know! I couldn't possibly pick a favourite song. They're all gonna be in my head for weeks now!"

"Right? Whoever wrote them knew how to make them all really catchy."

Ginny nodded excitedly. "But the story was so great too! And the characters were brilliant too, especially their dad."

Harry was unable to hide his surprise. "Really? You liked their dad the most? Why?"

"Because he changed. He wasn't a good father or husband, but he learned from his mistakes and became a better man. I think that makes him a very good character. Why? Who's your favourite?"

Harry started to answer but then laughed as he thought of it. Seeing Ginny's confused look, he explained, "My favourite character is Mary Poppins. I guess it might be a little boring for her to be my favourite, but I liked her when I was younger because I used to imagine she'd come to my house and tell me about magic and make everything better. But… I'd never realised that Hagrid did almost exactly that when he told me I was a wizard."

Now Ginny laughed too. "So Hagrid's basically your Mary Poppins?" That got a laugh out of him too, and pretty soon, they were rolling around in their seats, howling with laughter.

"He even has an umbrella!" Harry gasped, sending them into a new wave of laughter that lasted several minutes. It was absolutely ridiculous, but this had definitely been more fun than doing homework.

HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG

Ginny was still humming Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious when she entered the first meeting of the Defence leads for the term. Harry heard it and grinned at her, but it didn't seem like anyone else noticed as she took her seat. A moment later, once Justin and Owen arrived, Harry began the meeting.

"Alright, I hope you all had a great break and are ready to get back to it. Since none of the professors are taking their time getting back into things, we're gonna jump right in with something new too. So how many of you can produce a Patronus?"

Ginny was a little surprised that this was what Harry was starting the term with. She raised her hand, along with Justin, Luna, Dean, and Owen. Astoria and Mia looked a little embarrassed, but Harry assured them it wasn't a problem.

"That's totally okay. I figured not everyone would be able to. I don't think they really try teaching it until seventh year anyways, so this is more of a N.E.W.T. lesson, although I think we could try teaching it to fifth years and up. I thought we'd spend a couple weeks making sure all of you are sort of comfortable with it before we start teaching everyone else."

"Couldn't you do it in your third year?" Astoria asked, sounding impressed.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I did. But I had a really good teacher and had some good motivation. I didn't wanna risk falling off my broom again. Dementors don't really seem to be as much of a threat now, but I still think it's good for everyone to know how to do it, even if there isn't going to be the same motivation as there was when we did it in Dumbledore's Army a few years ago.

"So just to review, the incantation is Expecto Patronum. You wave your wand as you say it, and the real trick behind it is that you have to think of your happiest memory. But it's more than thinking about it. You need to be able to put yourself in that moment, feeling completely surrounded by joy so that you can produce the Patronus. Because essentially, the Patronus is an embodiment of that happiness that gives dementors nothing of you to feed on. And the rest of it is just practice. Nobody gets it the first time. Once you do get a feel for it though, it becomes much easier, and then you can do it without thinking, like this. Expecto Patronum."

Ginny watched as Harry's stag bounded gracefully around the Great Hall before coming to a stop and standing behind Harry, keeping a watchful eye on everyone. It was pretty cute, seeing Harry showing off a little with his Patronus. Everyone seemed suitably impressed by it, especially Mia and Astoria, who couldn't yet produce them.

Harry told everyone to practise, so Ginny cast it, and her new Patronus sprang to life, dancing around before reuniting with Harry's stag. Everyone was giving her and Harry looks as her doe nuzzled against the chest of his stag before they both disappeared.

"That was beautiful," Luna said plainly.

"That's… a really big deal," Dean added, not even sounding jealous about it.

Ginny just smiled and saw that Harry was wearing a proud grin as he told everyone to get practising for real. He focused his attention on helping Astoria and Mia, who said something quietly that made Astoria laugh and Harry blush. Ginny was about to walk over there when Dean approached her.

"Seriously, I don't wanna be weird, but that was really cool and… I'm happy for you guys."

"Thanks, Dean. That means a lot," she replied, and he nodded. She was about to say more, but Harry interrupted the conversation with an announcement after seeing Astoria producing a silvery vapour from her wand.

"Something I thought about when I taught people how to do this a few years ago was that the feeling of danger sometimes makes you able to do things you couldn't before. I couldn't really get a dementor in here, but I brought the next best thing. Hagrid and Professor McGonagall helped me get a boggart, which is in that trunk over there," Harry gestured to a large trunk against the wall that Ginny hadn't noticed before now.

"When the boggart sees me, it'll take the shape of a dementor. So I'll stand in front of it, and everyone else will stand off to the side. Let the people who haven't cast one before have a go, and if nothing's changed, someone else can cast it to get it to move before I get rid of the boggart. Sound good?"

Nobody else voiced any concerns, although Ginny knew how badly dementors affected Harry and wondered if this was really a good idea. He seemed pretty confident in the plan though, so she kept quiet and hoped this would help Astoria and Mia with casting their Patronus.

Once everyone was gathered to the side of Harry, who was standing in front of the trunk with a hardened look on his face, he nodded. "Alright, here it goes. Be ready."

He flicked his wand at the chest, which snapped open. Ginny was expecting to see a black, ghostlike figure emerging from the chest, so she was surprised when she saw a flash of red. A moment later, it became clear that this had been a horrible mistake.

Ginny was looking at herself. Or, almost herself. This version of her was much more beautiful than Ginny had ever actually looked. She was helped by the fact that she was also in a stunning wedding dress, and, for an instant, Ginny couldn't believe that Harry's worst fear was her in a wedding dress. Then her groom appeared.

The man standing in a suit next to her was very tall and clearly muscular. She had no idea if he was handsome or not. He had no face. Every time she tried to look into his face, she saw an oily, swirling mist that she couldn't focus on. It was clear though that the man was not Harry, which made everything make a bit more sense.

Suddenly, the Ginny in the dress turned on Harry. "You were never enough for me. How could you be? I was never happy with you. I trusted you, and you betrayed me. But I'm so glad you did! Now I can be happy with someone much better than you."

Harry was staring, petrified as she now kissed her groom, hotly, passionately.

"Riddikulus, Harry!" Ginny heard herself shouting, but he didn't seem to hear her.

Then everything changed, and Ginny watched as the more beautiful version of herself held her chest as blood spread underneath her hands.

"All your fault," the boggart-Ginny choked out before falling to the ground lifelessly.

It was disturbing to watch herself die, but Ginny didn't have time to think about that as she saw Harry sinking to his knees, like he'd completely forgotten that he was looking at a boggart. He wasn't in any shape to get rid of it, so she stepped away from the group of leads, sure that they were as confused as she had been, and threw herself between Harry and the boggart.

An instant later, the boggart changed. She saw a small, black book lying on the ground, and she was about to cast the spell to get rid of it when she heard a voice, so cold and charismatic that it gripped her heart.

"After everything, it all comes back to me. You can't escape me, Ginny. When you try to, bad things happen. People you love die. And it's all your fault. Give in, or Harry won't be the last person you love who dies."

The boggart changed, and Ginny involuntarily stepped backwards, seeing Hagrid holding Harry's limp body in his arms. This wasn't real, she reminded herself, even though her body's own reaction said otherwise. Her heart was pounding, and her hand was shaking when she raised her wand.

"Riddikulus!" Ginny cast, and she heard another voice behind her say it too. Harry jumped out of Hagrid's arms, and they performed a tap dance together before flying back into the chest. A second later, the lid of the chest slammed shut, trapping the boggart inside again.

Ginny turned and saw Harry holding his wand up. His face was red, like he'd just been in a fight, and he was breathing heavily. He stood up, shaking his head as he did.

"Should've known it would change," he muttered in a shaky voice.

Ginny threw her arms around him, not caring if everyone was watching. He faltered briefly, not expecting it, but he hugged her tightly too.

"Are you–" she began, but he shook his head.

"We'll talk about it later," he promised before looking up at everyone else, who were all staring at them, very shocked by the unexpected turn of events. "Er… sorry about that– that whole look into our deepest, darkest fears. I– er… yeah. Didn't realise that my biggest fear would change from what it was when I was thirteen. So… anyways, let's just get back to trying to cast them without any dummy dementor."

Their friends were kind enough to not say anything about the deeply personal thing they'd just witnessed. Ginny was a little more embarrassed by it now, but she did her best to act like it hadn't bothered her throughout the entire meeting and subsequent lesson with the rest of the students.

After Defence, she waited around for Harry to finish catching up with the younger kids who wanted to talk to him. Astoria and Mia both smiled bracingly at her when they left, but they must've known she didn't feel like talking with them at the moment because they didn't try to speak with her.

Harry finally broke away and met her at the door. "Tree?" he asked, and she just nodded, thinking that sounded exactly like what she needed.

It had been another long week of studying in preparation for the O.W.L.s. Ginny had been so busy with her study group that she'd barely gotten to spend any time with Harry, which was really the only thing that was saving these from being the most dull days of her life. But instead, these days were the best, as long as she had a chance to be with him. And right now, that sounded a hell of a lot better than reciting History of Magic dates with Luna yet again. Half the time, she quizzed Ginny on made up events anyways.

Harry wasn't in the common room when she left the library to look for him. She started to consider other locations before deciding that he'd meet her at the place they always met when they needed each other.

A few minutes later, she sat down against their tree, mostly focused on the view over the Black Lake. With no structures interrupting her view, she could almost imagine that this was the most peaceful spot in the world, and all her worries could melt away. And the only thing that could make it better snuck up behind her while she was looking away from the castle.

Harry halfway tackled her in a hug that left her laughing as she pulled grass out of her hair. "Sorry about that," Harry said, not sounding even remotely apologetic.

"I'm sure you are," she replied, leaning against him and kissing him.

"So what's up?" Harry asked as she tucked herself against him.

"Why does anything have to be up?"

Harry gave her a look like he couldn't believe she'd dared to ask that. "It doesn't. But I know you well enough to know when something's up. And something is definitely up right now."

She laughed again and held his hand up, playing with his fingers as she tried to explain. "I'm sick of studying for these O.W.L.s. They're boring, and they keep me from spending time with you. Honestly, who even needs them anyways?"

Harry smiled at her, clearly understanding and empathising with her pain. She remembered then that Harry had dealt with studying for O.W.L.s while everything with Umbridge was going on last year. She supposed that would've made studying pretty difficult too.

"Well, I guess nobody's stopping you from doing what Fred and George did and leaving."

She huffed. "They still managed to scrape a handful of O.W.L.s."

"True. And something tells me your mum would have an even harder time being okay with it than she did with them."

Ginny tried not to groan at the thought, already picturing the flood of Howlers she'd be drowned in. "I'm not gonna quit. I'm just saying that these things are stupid, and I'd rather be anywhere other than here if you weren't here."

Harry feigned being touched by that. "Aww, Ginny, that's such a sweet thing for you to say! I'm the only reason you're sticking around? It has nothing to do with your mother or your inability to admit defeat?"

Ginny stuck her tongue out at him, which made him laugh. "Fine. There are other reasons. But you're the main one," she said, much more earnestly this time.

Harry tilted his head down and kissed her again. "I feel the same way, you know? And I've gotta admit, I'd like to see more of my girlfriend too. So… what if I help you study?"

"Seriously?" Ginny asked, finding it hard to imagine Harry would want to revisit O.W.L. material.

"Yeah, why not? I already took these once, and I can probably help out with most of them. Besides, sixth year exams aren't anywhere near as bad as O.W.L.s, and I'm pretty sure they won't hold me back a year if I don't pass anyways. And I get to hang out more with my girlfriend. Seems like a win-win to me."

Ginny didn't love that assurance, although the idea of being in the same year as Harry was very intriguing. He'd hate being a year behind Ron and Hermione though. She shook those impossible thoughts out of her head and smiled at his offer.

"Alright. If you don't think it'll be too much of a bother for you, I'd so much rather study with you. But you can't distract me too much while I'm studying. I wanna spend more time with you, but I also wanna pass."

"Me? A distraction? I can't believe that," Harry joked.

Ginny grinned. "I dunno, Potter. I think you're plenty distracting to me," she informed him before pulling him down to kiss her again, feeling very grateful that visiting their tree had brought her exactly what she'd needed.

It seemed like Ginny blinked and she was sitting with Harry at the very same tree. If it wasn't cold outside, she could almost believe no time had passed at all. But then she remembered the rather uncomfortable scene they'd just left in the Great Hall. Some of their closest friends had seen their boggart forms, which, remarkably, mirrored each other's in almost heart wrenching fashion.

"So… that happened," Harry said simply, apparently waiting for her to say more.

She just nodded, and they sat in silence, holding hands without speaking.

"Guess it was stupid for me to think my boggart would still be a dementor," Harry commented, a little wryly, after several moments.

She shook her head. "Not really. I think our fears can change without us realising sometimes. I know mine did."

"What was yours before?" Harry asked. When she didn't immediately answer, he started to apologise, but she squeezed his hand to stop him.

"Believe me, Harry, it's not a secret from you. When Professor Lupin showed it to us in my second year, it was the diary, and I heard Tom's voice in my head. The first time, I couldn't get rid of it, and he had to have someone else go ahead of me. He let me practise later in his office. I don't know if he knew what that was. He probably thought it was some little girl drama or something. But I eventually got it, shredded it to pieces. I should've been able to do that right away today, but it surprised me," she almost whispered, hanging her head, disappointed with herself.

"Hey," Harry said, putting his arm around her. "You actually did manage to cast Riddikulus. I was the one who completely forgot that it was a boggart and dropped to my knees like an idiot. Some Defence teacher I am," he snorted.

"That's not fair. You've faced down more fears than anyone else. You've stood up when nobody else would. You–" Ginny stopped her hot defence of him when she saw him smiling at her.

"A while ago, I told you I loved you because you never let anyone say anything bad about me, including myself. You haven't changed one bit, Blaze. And Merlin, I love you because you're always gonna fight to protect me," he said, kissing her so sweetly that she completely forgot what she was so worked up about.

She was smiling when he pulled away, but she saw that he was too. Then she remembered what they'd been talking about, what she'd seen that his greatest fear was.

"Harry, you know I'd never do something like that, right?"

He nodded, but he seemed a little shaken at the reminder of his boggart.

Ginny placed a finger under his chin and turned him to face her again. "I mean it. First of all, I don't ever want to even think about marrying someone else, but I'd never, and I mean never, say those horrible things to you. You make me happier than anyone else possibly could, and I know you'd never betray my trust. I just– I love you so much. And I don't want you to ever forget that."

She thought his eyes looked a little misty as he smiled down at her. "I know. Your Patronus did change, after all," he reminded her with a small smirk that told her he was going to be just fine.

So she just laughed. "It sure did. All because of you." And that made Harry's grin grow even wider.

But then he remembered that he'd seen her boggart too, and his expression of mirth changed to one of concern. "Are you okay? I mean… Riddle's voice wasn't just in your head that time. And what he said… well, it's like what you just said. You could never do anything that would hurt me, Gin. Not a chance. And I promise, I'll do everything I can to keep you from ever having to see something like me and Hagrid again."

Ginny nodded, feeling surprisingly less upset by everything than she'd expected. She was unfortunately used to seeing Hagrid carrying Harry's body in her nightmares, and she'd dealt with Riddle's voice in nightmares for years before that. And she was so damn tired of being scared of him. Hadn't they all decided that they were done being frightened by him? Wasn't that what it meant when she and Harry chose to love each other and embrace the new world they lived in without him?

"I know. Although I'd love to see the two of you do a tap dance routine like that," she said, taking Harry by surprise and making him laugh and kiss her because this was just how they handled things. They'd dealt with terrible trauma over the past several years, and they'd tried their best to make their lives as happy as possible in spite of that. After the battle, they did their best to laugh in the face of Harry's panic attacks. When they remembered the loved ones they'd lost, they tried to laugh with happiness at their memories rather than grieving what could've been. Laughter had long been the key to triumphing over the darkness.

Ginny had not had a good day. Her classes had been awful, especially Defence, and then Dean had pissed her off when he kept insisting that some snogging would make her feel better. It didn't help that it was her least favourite time of the month, and the weather outside was cold and wet, which made Quidditch practice miserable. For the first time in months, she'd put in a shit performance, and she was just fed up with it all. Dean, the prat, left practice with Jimmy and Ritchie, completely ignoring her. Demelza and Ron had both clearly sensed her frustration with everything and didn't want to be caught at the end of her wrath. Somehow though, that same fear wasn't keeping Harry away.

She noticed him watching her curiously as she ripped her worn out gloves off. "What?" Ginny almost barked at Harry, not even feeling bad that he might be put off from her if she acted like this.

The corners of his mouth might have twitched. "Nothing. Captain's gotta be the last one out."

"Sorry to be such an inconvenience."

He shrugged and sat down calmly in front of his locker. "No inconvenience. I'm not too eager to get back out into that mess anyways."

She grunted and sat down in front of her locker, opposite him, and ripped off her shin and arm guards.

"Not your best practice," Harry commented, and that really should've pissed her off, considering the mood she was in. She shrugged stiffly, not trusting herself to say anything. He continued, "I was afraid you were gonna see Ron's red hair and think he was the Quaffle with how you were playing, to be honest."

Her eyes widened and she looked up at him, ready to fire back a retort when she saw him grinning like a child who'd just done something he knew he shouldn't have. And she couldn't help but snort at that.

"It wasn't that bad," she said in a low voice.

He chuckled. "Maybe not. It wasn't good though. So what's going on?"

"Nothing," she responded immediately.

"Mmm. And here I thought we were past the point where you couldn't talk to me," Harry said innocently, but once again, he had that damn smile on his face. And all she could do was exhale sharply and shake her head before leaning back against the locker.

"Bloody hell, you sure do have everyone fooled with the whole Chosen One thing. You're really just a pillock like all the other boys, aren't you?"

He smiled and shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time a girl's thought I was stupid." Ginny almost asked what he was referring to before he continued, "So is it boys who are pillocks that's got you forgetting how to play Quidditch?"

She imagined for a second that there was some hope in his voice. "That's part of it. I mean… I dunno, you probably don't wanna hear about any of my problems."

Her heart did a somersault when Harry refuted that. "Sure I do. That's what… friends do, right?"

Harry definitely hadn't hesitated before calling her a friend, like he wished there was a better word for what they were to each other. It was just her imagination. "In that case… yeah, Dean pissed me off earlier. Honestly… honestly, sometimes I wonder why I'm still with him. He's nice enough most of the time, but then he does stupid stuff where he acts like I can't take care of myself. Or today, I was already in a shitty mood, and instead of talking to me about it, he suggested a snog to take my mind off things, as if I'm just some spoiled brat that needs a man to kiss her and shut her up!"

Harry bounced his leg, glancing down at the floor before looking back up at her. "Ah– er– I've gotta be honest. I don't know what to tell you about Dean. I'm not… exactly well-versed in the dating department. But… he's a good friend of mine, and I think… maybe he's just a little confused. Anyone who knows you knows that you're more than capable of managing by yourself. But if– if you really like him, you should… probably talk to him about it."

Harry sounded like it almost hurt him to say that, and Ginny wondered if he was still bothered by the time he'd seen her and Dean kissing after Quidditch practice several months ago. Surely that couldn't be what was bothering him about talking about her boyfriend. He did give good advice though. The only question was: did she really like Dean enough to keep trying?

"You're probably right. I– I'll think about talking to him about it. So… no dating experience since the disaster with Cho last year?" Ginny asked, smirking at Harry's dumbfounded look.

"How did you–"

"You and Ron aren't the only people Hermione talks to, you know?" Harry shook his head in disbelief. "I just thought maybe you'd have found someone new in the past year," she added, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

Harry looked at her for a moment. "Nope. There's… er– there's not anyone. I'm a bit preoccupied with more important things. Quidditch, for one," he said, and she laughed at his attempt at a joke, as if Quidditch was really the most important thing on his mind these days.

"I suppose I'll never understand what it's like to be a hero," she replied in a joking voice that made him chuckle and roll his eyes.

"Whatever. I'm about tired of it all anyways. But… wait, so why were you in a bad mood before you talked to Dean then?" Harry asked, immediately concerned for her again. She shook off the notion that his concern was anything more than a friendly worry.

She started to tell him it was nothing, but then she realised he was one of the only people she could really tell. "In Defence today, Snape was lecturing on dangerous creatures. He spent an exceptionally long time on basilisks, and for some strange reason, I was the only one he wanted any answers from when he asked questions about them. 'How long can a basilisk grow? What causes a basilisk to be born? What does a basilisk eat? What does a basilisk's stare do?' It was just unbearable, and the whole time, I'm trying to act like it's not bothering me because the last thing I need is for people to start asking questions about it."

Harry's face was stony, his eyes intense with anger. "I fucking hate him." Ginny was a little surprised. It was pretty rare to hear Harry swear. "First he outs Lupin for being a werewolf, and now what? He's trying to out you as the one who opened the Chamber? Fuck, I hate him. It's like I'm not allowed to care about anyone here because that's some great personal offence to him."

Ginny's brain went a little fuzzy, hearing Harry say that he cared for her, even if it was in the same sentence as him saying he cared for Professor Lupin. Harry apparently caught what he said because he added, a little belatedly, "You're a really good friend of mine, you know? I don't… well, I don't want to see you get hurt, especially not by him. Or the Chamber. You deserve to be able to put all that behind you."

She nodded, feeling grateful that he was defensive of her without trying to fight battles for her. But the truth was that neither of them were going to be able to do anything about Snape. For whatever reason, Dumbledore kept him around, even though he made everyone miserable, and it was up to Harry, Ginny, and everyone else he tormented to find ways to make life bearable.

"It's fine. I reckon he's just jealous that I was friends with the snake he's always dreamed of meeting." Harry almost goggled at her as she continued. "I assume that's why his hair's so greasy. He's trying to lure a basilisk to him by smelling like the Chamber. Although, with that big nose, he might have better luck sniffing the basilisk out himself."

She had more that she could've said, but it wasn't necessary. Harry was hunched over his knees, laughing madly at her joke. She grinned and laughed with him, feeling a surge of pride that she'd made him laugh like this. Harry was wiping tears from his eyes with how hard he was laughing, almost tumbling off the bench, and she felt certain that this was the best way to make it through the tough things they were dealing with.

Their laughter faded into chuckles, then silence, and then they were just staring at each other. Some inexplicable voice in the back of her head told her to kiss him, but she'd been fighting that voice for years and suppressed it with relative ease. Harry was still staring at her, and another small voice begged him to ask her out. Unfortunately, he didn't hear that internal encouragement, and he shook his head a second later like he'd just woken from a daydream.

"Er– I think I'm gonna take a shower," Harry said, nodding towards the team showers and muttering something about clearing his head.

"Oh. Yeah, no problem. I guess I'll head back up to the castle then. I think the rain's letting up now," Ginny replied, doing her best to hide her disappointment that they wouldn't be walking up to the castle together.

"Yeah. That's good. Listen, Ginny…" she looked up at him expectantly, and he hesitated for a second. "Make sure you remember how to throw a Quaffle by next practice."

Ginny snorted and gave him a one-fingered salute before exiting the changing room, thinking she heard Harry muttering to himself again as the door closed, though she wasn't sure what that was about. He'd be fine though. And if he wasn't, she'd clearly proven that she had a knack for making him laugh, and she was rather proud of that.

HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG

Harry would have been lying to himself if he'd pretended that what had happened with the boggarts hadn't freaked him out. He was almost as scared of his reaction as he was by what he'd actually seen. It had been a long time since he'd been completely petrified by fear. Logically, he understood why that made boggarts challenging, even for fully grown and competent wizards and witches. He remembered how Molly had been unable to handle a boggart on her own at Grimmauld Place, and he felt like he'd been in the same position.

A boggart always knew the thing most likely to paralyse their victim with fear. But Harry had grown accustomed to it since he thought he knew what it would be. His boggart being a dementor was also easier to handle because there was a straightforward way to fight a dementor that he'd mastered. But at the same time, the fact that he felt equipped to fight that fear may have made it less of a fear for him. He knew his boggart had been a dementor at least until his Defence O.W.L. exam, but this was the first time he'd faced a boggart since then, and it would've been a lie to say things hadn't changed much.

The boggart was yet another sign that his priorities in life had changed. He felt completely confident in his ability to fight dementors, and more than that, he had made peace with the loss of his parents, as painful as it still was, and that was what had really scared him more than anything. Now… well, he supposed it made sense that he was afraid of the things the boggart had shown him.

He wasn't so much terrified of Ginny marrying a faceless stranger as he was of the things that the boggart-Ginny had said to him. He logically knew that she would never say those things to him. Her reassurances at their tree had done as much to remind him of that as simply being around her, remembering her Patronus and everything she'd done to show her love for him. But it didn't change how horrible it had felt for boggart-Ginny to say she'd never been happy with him and he'd betrayed her. Then that betrayal played out in the most horrific sight of all– Ginny dying, with her final words blaming him for it.

It was no wonder he had difficulty repelling the boggart, even though he still felt weak, thinking about it in hindsight. He doubted that anyone else would've had as many issues with it. Ginny had faltered, but she was much stronger than him when push came to shove, and she was able to cast Riddikulus at the same time he did. It was way easier for him to do it when he wasn't looking at his greatest fear. It wasn't a secret to him that she was stronger than him. He guessed she thought the same about him, even though he knew he was the correct one. Still… there was a small, slightly prideful part of himself that hoped it didn't get out that he couldn't beat a boggart.

And in the end, the way they'd worked through it was laughing together. It was silly, irreverent, and altogether ridiculous, but it was also them. They made each other happier every day, and they tried to make each other laugh as often as possible. Harry knew there wasn't a better sound in the world than Ginny's laugh, and he felt a swell in his chest every time he caused one. When they laughed together, everything seemed less scary, even the things they'd seen from the boggart.

Amazingly, it seemed that none of his friends had said anything because the weekend passed without him hearing anybody mentioning the boggart incident. Then again, it shouldn't have been too surprising to him that his friends were willing to keep a secret for him. It just felt good to know that he had more friends like that than he used to, back when it was just Ron and Hermione.

At dinner on Sunday night, everyone was very interested in an announcement from Professor McGonagall.

"I trust that you all have settled into school once more and have put the carefree spirit of the holiday behind you. These are important times in your education, and it is critical that you do not waver in your commitment to learning. However, I am aware that it is difficult to focus entirely on learning without any breaks for the mind. I also believe that the Yule Ball we held at the end of last term was a great success for our efforts to improve relations between houses and create more enjoyment of each other at Hogwarts. Because of that, I have planned a new sort of activity with your heads of house. For the first time ever, we will be holding an Inter House Hogwarts Scavenger Hunt."

Excited whispers spread throughout the Great Hall, and Harry grinned at the friends sitting near him. This sounded awesome.

McGonagall cleared her throat. "Yes, I'm very relieved to hear that you all approve of the idea. However, there are a few rules I must mention. Every student must pair up with someone in another house to make a team. Each team will be given a parchment with an invisible list of things inside the castle to find. Only the first item in the hunt will be visible. Once you find what you are seeking and write whatever is asked for, you will be able to see the next clue on the parchment. Teams are not permitted to solve more than three clues per week, and there are thirty clues in total. Therefore, the fourteenth of March will be the earliest that the competition can be completed. The winners will earn fifty house points each, in addition to a plaque in the Trophy Room. All teams must register tomorrow morning at breakfast in order to receive your parchment."

With no further explanation, McGonagall sat down and near-pandemonium ensued. The first person to reach them was Owen, which wasn't much of a surprise considering the Hufflepuff table was right next to the Gryffindor one.

"What do you say, Harry?" Owen asked, gesturing between the two of them.

Harry grinned and stuck his fist out to bump Owen's. "We've got this," he replied confidently.

"No doubt," Owen agreed with a grin of his own before returning to his table.

The next person to meet them was Luna, and Harry expected that she'd team up with Ginny. It was a fool's errand to predict what Luna would do though, and she proved that when she asked Mia to be on her team. Harry couldn't tell if Mia or Ginny was more surprised, but Mia happily agreed.

"What about me?" Ginny asked Luna.

Luna raised her eyebrows, apparently perplexed by the question. "You're my best friend. But Mia is a new friend, and I'd like to spend more time with her. Besides, someone else will want to be your partner."

Harry tried to conceal his laughter with a cough, but Ginny elbowed him lightly in the side, apparently not deceived. Luna's prediction was accurate though. Astoria arrived at the table seconds later.

"You don't have a partner yet, do you?" Astoria asked Ginny hopefully.

"Nope, I'm all yours. We're gonna win this easily," Ginny boasted, and Astoria laughed.

"I hope so. It'd be a shame for someone younger than us to win when we know the castle the best."

Harry decided that he'd have to keep the Marauder's Map close by, and possibly away from Ginny, throughout the competition. It might come in handy, and, as much as he loved her, he didn't love losing to her. Ginny clearly felt the same way.

"You're right. And we can't let our boyfriends beat us," Ginny pointed out.

Astoria grinned at Harry. "Oh, did you team up with Owen?"

"Yep."

"Well, that'll make it easier to beat you both then," Astoria laughed before leaving to return to the Slytherin table.

"I swear, she's the strangest Slytherin I've ever met," Harry said, shaking his head and trying not to laugh.

"She's awesome. And she's right. We're totally gonna beat you," Ginny said with a bright smile.

"Maybe we'll have to make a bet on it then," Harry responded.

"I'd be interested in that," she replied with a wink that made him very eager to continue the conversation in their bedroom that night.

"Great, all my friends are taken. Who am I gonna partner with?" Demelza bemoaned, apparently out of options since Luna and Astoria had partnered with Mia and Ginny.

"Maybe it's time for you to be nice and make a new friend," Mia suggested, hiding her smile by ducking her head.

"Ha. Ha. I can be friendly," Demelza replied dryly.

"Prove it," Mia challenged. Demelza reddened slightly with annoyance before standing up and stalking away to find someone who didn't have a partner yet.

"She's gonna drive her partner crazy," Ginny said.

"Absolutely mental," Mia agreed.

Demelza returned minutes later. "For your information, I can be friendly, and my partner is Matthew Combs."

"The Hufflepuff Beater?" Ginny asked at the same time that Mia asked, "The cute sixth year?"

"That's the one," Demelza replied happily, smirking at Mia, who looked annoyed that Demelza hadn't had a problem finding a teammate.

"Maybe you can do a little scouting…" Ginny thought aloud, and Demelza scoffed at the idea.

"No chance. I'm focused on winning this competition. Besides, we saw the same Hufflepuff-Slytherin match a couple months ago, and I bet you could rattle off his weaknesses right now based on how Slytherin thumped them. I may be your teammate in Quidditch, but right now, you're all my enemies in the scavenger hunt."

"Oh, brilliant. So McGonagall's sacrificing people in the same houses liking each other in favour of better relations between houses. Good to know," Harry joked.

"You know, you may be onto something there. Sorry Harry, but I think you're gonna be sleeping on the floor until this whole thing is over. Can't be caught in bed with the enemy," Ginny teased him with a wink, and everyone, even Demelza, laughed at that.

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A/N: Yes, I may have written the entire scene of Harry and Ginny going on the date in the RoR for the sole purpose of making the joke about Hagrid being like Mary Poppins. It was worth it! And for what it's worth, I know Muggle technology isn't supposed to work at Hogwarts, but I would contend that there doesn't actually need to be any technology at play for them to see the film. If Harry at least has a subconscious recollection of the film, I think the magic of the room can replicate it without violating the non-technology rule. I personally don't think the room could play a film that neither Harry nor Ginny had seen before, but that's just me making up rules. And, as a tiny piece of PotterSloth trivia, Ginny's favourite character is Mr. Banks primarily because, back in high school, I was Mr. Banks in my school's production of Mary Poppins. So that's a dorky tribute to myself haha!

I think the boggarts changing is even more predictable than Ginny's Patronus changing a few chapters ago. I just believe that Harry has changed too much as a person since the battle to still have a dementor be his greatest fear. And really, I think the reason they still scared him more than anything as late as his fifth year was entirely due to the fact that he hadn't made peace with his parents' deaths. He's been healing and recovering, and the visit to Godric's Hollow, combined with the war finally being over, has allowed him to start making that peace and moving on, and I think it's perfectly natural for his fear to shift to something related to Ginny. It's a lot like Molly's boggart from OotP, and, honestly, I think that a boggart should have that paralysing effect more often than we see. In the context of the third year classroom in PoA, the fears are more funny things, but adult fears tend to be much more serious, and I think it fits for Harry's greatest fear to have shifted rather dramatically. And Ginny's obviously followed with that, with Hagrid carrying Harry being a very clear choice for her greatest fear. And I will admit, I have laughed far more than I probably should've over the past several months at the idea of the two of them tap dancing together.

And really, the only other note I can think of for this chapter is just that I'm excited for the Scavenger Hunt to get kicked off! Choosing the partners for Harry and Ginny was pretty easy for me because I love both Astoria and Owen's characters and giving each of them a bigger role through the scavenger hunt is a lot of fun for me because it gives me a chance to give some more depth to their characters and their friendships with Harry and Ginny like we've been getting with Mia and Demelza, and I hope you all are enjoying getting to know these more original characters as much as I enjoy writing them!

So that'll do it for Chapter 17! We're back at Hogwarts, and the big break is out of the way, so there's a lot of school left to come! As always, comments and feedback are immensely appreciated, and thank you to everyone who has commented/followed/favorited/given kudos/done anything else to let me know you're reading… every time I get a notification that someone new has done something like that, it's always a massive boost and makes me feel like I should be at my computer continuing to hammer away at Book 3 for you all! And since I brought it up, just as an update, I am well over 200k words in and coming up on some chapters that I am unbelievably excited to write, so things are still going great even though my schedule is busier than ever with school and all that fun stuff.

But enough about me, I know you're all waiting for that teaser. I do have to say that I sometimes know right away when I write a sentence that it'll be a teaser, and sometimes I have to find it in the chapter after completing it. This teaser was one I knew immediately, and I've been excited to release it since I wrote it like ten months ago, so I'm very sorry for it in advance, but this is fun for me!

Coming Friday: Sisters- "We're pregnant!"

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Guest (1): Definitely not weird to me. It honestly is a really sad story, but I figured any story about the Cannons would be really sad with how long they've gone without winning. Hopefully Ron can help turn things around though!

BgIta: Wow, thank you so much! It genuinely blows my mind every time I find out that I'm connecting with someone in another continent, so thank you so much for letting me know that you're loving this story all the way from Italy! I'm really glad that you're enjoying this story and the way I've structured it; it was definitely very important to me to be able to show both Harry and Ginny's perspectives on their lives since the original books are solely from Harry's point of view, and from there, it naturally followed for me to want to tell as much about Ginny's past as possible too. I'm beyond excited for that day when I can finally release all of Ginny's memories and show the way they all fit together into a cohesive narrative. It's kind of crazy, but I've already written almost 90k words of memories for Ginny, so it really will be like another book by the time it's done!

Guest (2): Ginny and Harry playing for Chudley would definitely be very special and fun to read, especially with Ron there! I'm not sure if I've ever seen it done before (my fanfic knowledge isn't the best outside of my universe lol), but that sounds like it'd be a crazy twist on how things usually go. We'll see if they end up taking that path or go down others... there's still a lot left to go in ToG!