The first part of this chapter was, as I mentioned in my end notes last time, originally part of chapter 8 until I decided I wanted to cut it at the moment of Harry and Ginny's meeting. Gave me some nice momentum going into this one.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Harry almost laughed; it was so unlike the Ginny he'd first met that he would have worried Ron and the others would think something was up, but of course they'd never seen that version of Ginny. That memory only existed within the two of them.
'Didn't know you were coming, Gin-Gin,' said George, looking around. 'Where's Mum?'

'Back at home,' Mr Weasley said. 'She wants you all to be able to eat a hot meal when you come in the door.'

'Not surprising Ginny came along, really,' said Fred. 'Considering who we've got with us, after all.' He glanced at Harry and grinned, clearly thinking he was taking the mickey.

'Well obviously,' she said. 'No sense coming all the way out here just to see you lot. I see far too much of you as it is.' Harry noticed that her smile was much more fond than teasing, but Fred didn't. He was grasping his chest, pretending to be heartily insulted. Ron, meanwhile, seemed taken aback that Ginny hadn't even bothered trying to deny she'd come to see Harry.

'Ickle Ginny's toughening up, Fred,' said George. 'We're going to have to up our game.'

'It's good to see you too, you gits,' she said, and she hugged the twins. Then Ron. Then Harry, so he 'won't feel left out,' she explained to her brothers. 'It's lovely to meet you, Harry,' she said sweetly. 'I've heard a lot about you, you know.' Her eyes twinkled. So that's how it was going to be.

'Er, yeah. Likewise,' said Harry, still feeling a little loopy. He'd known she was going to be here – she'd told him – but it looked as though he hadn't mentally prepared himself nearly as much as he'd thought.

'We'd better get a move on,' said Mr Weasley at last, looking at his watch. 'We've still got a bit of a drive ahead of us.'

They wheeled their trunks out of the station, Ginny all the while chattering away excitedly about everything under the sun. Harry could see what she was doing; far beyond just having some fun with him – he'd get her back just as soon as his heart slowed back down and his head stopped spinning – she was worming her way into the group of them right out of the gate before Ron or the twins had a chance to shoo her away. And she was doing it in a way that wouldn't seem out of character to the brothers who'd grown up with the girl who, as Ron always said, 'Never shuts up.'

'And there's a great big paddock out behind the house,' she was saying as they loaded their trunks into the car. 'Big tall trees all around it so Muggles can't see you flying as long as you don't go too high. And - '

'Merlin, Ginny, breathe for a second, would you?' said Ron as they climbed into the back of the old Ford Anglia. Ginny sat in the middle of the long, bench-like seat, with the twins on her left and Harry and Ron on her right. At no point did she even allow for the suggestion that she would sit in the front, apart from them.

'Harry already knows about the paddock, Ginny,' said George.

'I expect it's because we've been talking about it all week,' said Fred.

'Oh, right,' she said, not losing a step. 'Did you tell him about the pond out back? I reckon it's still too cold for swimming, but we might get lucky. And in the village - '

'Blimey, Ginny, give him a minute to think,' Ron interrupted again.

'It's all right,' said Harry. 'What about the village?' He, for his part, wanted it made clear right from the start that he intended to include Ginny. Ron had followed his lead with Hermione; would he do it with his own sister? Well, it wouldn't matter if he didn't, but it might make for an awkward first few days at the Burrow.

'Well, I was just going to say that there's a shop that sells all kinds of Muggle snacks. I thought maybe, since you grew up in the Muggle world, you might like some of them.' She knew he did, of course. Harry had been practically conditioned to like all kinds of snacks and sweets growing up. Since Dudley never let him have any, any time he did was always a rare treat. He was one of the few people he knew of who enjoyed Muggle junk food as much as magical, though he'd turned Ginny on to some of it.

'That sounds brilliant,' said Harry, before Ron could tell her off for reminding him of the Dursleys or something. Honestly, he meant well, but he really needed to stuff a sock in it.

'Can't hold a candle to the sweets on the train, can it?' asked Fred.

'Oh, I don't know,' said Harry. 'They're definitely different, that's for sure, but there are plenty of Muggle sweets that are just as good.' The three brothers looked doubtful, but there was no more discussion on the matter.

'Your mother or I will have to come with you if you want to be going into the village,' Mr Weasley told them from up front. 'As Percy decided to stay at school.'

Harry was surprised. He'd expected vociferous complaints at this, but there were simply mutters of acknowledgment and only the slightest bit of grumbling. It took him a moment to realize he was thinking of how the older versions of Ron and the twins would have reacted; it had been a long time since he'd seen them this young around their family.

Then Ginny started up again, asking Ron and Harry about their classes and what they thought of Hogwarts. This put Ron in a better mood; he rarely had a chance to experience things before any of his siblings, and was happy to tell Ginny about anything she asked. She winked at Harry behind Ron's back when he was telling her about Snape.

'And he's got it in for Harry,' he was saying. 'Should have seen him; first lesson, asking Harry all kinds of questions out of nowhere. Course, Harry knew the answers somehow, but Snape just decided he was trying to show off and took points from him anyway.'

'That doesn't seem very fair!' said Ginny, pouring it on a little thick, in Harry's opinion. He understood why a moment later when she put a hand on his knee and said, with the greatest air of concern, 'I'm sorry he's so mean to you, Harry.'

Harry ached to put his hand on hers, but the reaction from her brothers (Ron in particular), though no doubt amusing, would likely be more trouble than it was worth in the long run. So he simply said, sincere as he could manage it, 'It's all right. I've sort of grown used to it by now; I hardly even notice anymore.' That much was true. He had all but mastered the art of tuning Snape out, which no doubt infuriated the Potions master, who still attempted every single lesson to get a rise out of Harry to no avail.

'What about you, Gin-Gin?' George interrupted from her other side. 'What have you been up to at home all by your lonesome?'

'You'd know that if you ever wrote like you promised,' she said, giving them a sidelong glance. It was obvious to Harry she was just winding them up, but apparently they seemed to think she was serious.

'Er, yeah, sorry about that,' said Fred sheepishly. 'Meant to. Really. Been busy, you know.'

Harry could see her shaking with silent laughter. She let it drag on for a few more moments before letting them off the hook, chuckling aloud.

'You two really are off your game if I can get you going that easily,' she teased. 'Out of practice? Been leaving Ron and Harry alone? That's awfully nice of you.'

'She got us again, Fred!' George groaned, while Fred just shook his head ruefully. 'I don't remember you being quite so good at this,' he said to Ginny.

'I'm sure there are a lot of things you don't remember,' she said. 'But I still think you've gone a bit soft.' Harry wondered if she was subconsciously remembering them as their older selves, too.

'Well, we sort of have to go easy on Harry,' said Fred. 'He's our seeker. Need him on our side.'

'Sure, sure,' she teased, waving her hand. 'But anyway, to answer your question, George, I've been doing absolutely nothing. I'm bored out of my mind and you lot showing up has saved me from going completely round the twist.'

Fred and George looked at each other. Something seemed to pass between them.

'Listen, Ginny,' said Fred, 'we were planning to play a fair bit of Quidditch while we're home. If you wanted to come and watch, or try playing, I mean...'

'I want to play,' Ginny said fiercely, and for a moment her young girl facade was forgotten. She picked it right back up again, though. 'You lot never let me play, and now you're home for the first time in months and you're not going to leave me by myself again.'

'That's what we're saying,' George defended.

'And Ron?' she asked, turning to face her youngest brother.

'Right, yeah, okay,' said Ron from Harry's other side. He had something of a guilty look on his face. 'You're right, that's not fair. If you want to play you can; Fred and George were already talking about it on the way back.'

'And apparently their friend Hermione gave him something of a telling off about it, too,' added George, jerking his head at Ron.

'Blimey, Harry, why did you have to go and tell them about that?'

'It just came up,' said Harry, shrugging innocently.

'I think I'd like to meet Hermione,' said Ginny airily, but Harry could hear the twinge of longing in her voice.

'Make sure you get into Gryffindor in September, then,' said Ron.

'I'm not worried about that,' she said.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The stars were out in force by the time they pulled into the drive at the Burrow. Ron's stomach had been growling for the last half hour, and Harry was starting to feel hungry himself.

They had barely stepped out of the car when the front door opened, and Mrs Weasley was standing there in a rectangle of light from inside the house, greeting them. Ron made straight for the house, but his father called him back at once.

'Take all of your things inside, and then we can have supper,' he said. Ron grumbled, but trudged back to the car's now open boot and began heaving his trunk out. Harry and Ginny shared a look and grinned.

They made a sort of train, each person holding the front of one trunk and the back of another, all charmed light by Mr Weasley. Fred led the way, followed by George, Ron, and finally Harry. Ginny held the back of his trunk despite his perfunctory claim that she needn't bother herself, which she waved aside expertly for the benefit of her father and brothers.

Once they were inside, the delicious smell of stew permeated Harry's nostrils. Looking around surreptitiously, his heart filled with the familiar sights of his favorite house in the world. More than just the look and smell of it though, there was a feel to the Burrow – something about it that he could detect in his bones, a comfort that laid itself over him and wrapped him up in it. It was good to be home.

'Come in and get some stew,' Mrs Weasley called to them after they'd piled their trunks inside the door. 'You can take those upstairs afterwards.' They filed into the kitchen and sat around the table, where a large tureen of beef stew sat waiting for them. Ginny immediately sat to Harry's left, and while nobody commented on this, he could tell they all noticed.

'Oh, it's so nice to have you all home,' Mrs Weasley said as they all tucked in vigorously. 'And Harry, dear!' she beamed at him. 'It's lovely to finally meet you! Ron's told us so much about you in his letters, of course. That dreadful incident back in January. I won't pretend I wasn't worried, what with the rumors that were flying about. I hope that hasn't sullied Hogwarts for you. Have you been enjoying your first year at school?'

'Yes, very much,' said Harry, not entirely truthfully, but it was what the young Harry would have said. 'Thanks so much for having me, Mrs Weasley.'

'Oh, it's our pleasure, dear!' she said cheerfully. 'We've wanted to meet you, and I daresay you could do with a holiday. Quite apart from run-ins with You-Know-Who, Ron's mentioned that, well...' she trailed off awkwardly. Evidently, she hadn't meant to bring this up.

'It's all right, Mrs Weasley,' Harry assured her. 'My relatives aren't the nicest people in the world, it's true, but I'm used to it by now.'

'Oh, but I still think...,' she said, looking a little embarrassed now. 'Well, never mind. You're here now and I hope you enjoy yourself. Ron tells me you've never been in a magical home before.'

'That's true,' Harry lied easily. 'You'd have to look far and wide to find a house that's less magical than the Dursleys'.'

Mrs Weasley smiled, seemingly put at ease. Then she turned to her sons. 'What were you all planning on doing tomorrow?' she asked them.

'Thought we'd play some Quidditch,' said George between mouthfuls of stew.

'I thought as much,' she said. 'Just make sure you stay below the tree line so the Muggles don't see you.'

'We know, Mum,' said Ron exasperatedly.

'And make sure you clearly point out the boundaries to Harry,' she continued on as if she hadn't heard him, 'as he hasn't flown here before and won't know what they are.'

'Right you are, Mum,' said Fred jauntily. She eyed him suspiciously, but said no more on the matter.

'Well, if that's your plan, I expect you'll want to make an early start of it,' she said. 'Ron, why don't you take Harry upstairs after you've finished eating so he can settle in?'

'All right,' Ron said. He turned. 'We're all the way up at the top, Harry. Might want to take the trunks up one at a time.'

'I can help,' Ginny offered, and before anyone else could react, Harry told her that was very nice of her, and thanked her very much.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

'Sorry about Ginny,' Ron said as they were setting themselves up for bed in Ron's bedroom. Ginny herself had just left after helping carry their trunks upstairs, and then hanging around to talk for several more minutes.

'What do you mean?' Harry asked innocently.

'Well, I mean, she's always been the type to talk your ear off,' Ron said. 'And she's always wanted to meet you; talked about you all the time when we were growing up. Didn't expect her to attach herself to your hip the moment we got on the platform, though.'

'It's not a problem,' Harry said. 'I think she's nice. And anyway, I'd kill to have that kind of confidence when meeting people. Especially if it's someone I admired.'

'Hadn't thought about it like that,' Ron admitted. 'But if she does start bothering you, let her know, okay? I mean, don't be a berk about it or anything obviously, but you can tell her to lay off a bit.'

'I'll keep that in mind,' Harry said, only just failing to hide his amusement. The truth was, as a real eleven year old, he probably would have been uncomfortable with how obviously forward Ginny was being. There was no need to give Ron that impression, though.

'Well, as long as you're all right with it,' Ron said, looking dubious. 'I think it'd drive me mad, personally.'

'She's your sister. Isn't she supposed to do that?'

Ron laughed. 'Well then she does a cracking good job of it. What time did you want to get started tomorrow?'

'As early as you can,' said Harry, knowing Ron was much more likely to sleep in than he was. 'Being away from school and the Dursleys at the same time is a rare treat. I want to make the most of it.'

'Best turn in, then. Mum'll be up with the sun, so we won't have to worry about waiting for breakfast before we go out.'

They spent a few minutes arranging their things and making themselves comfortable before climbing into bed – Harry into the all-too-familiar camp bed – and dousing the lights.

'Night, Harry,' said Ron. And despite the relatively early hour, he rolled over and was snoring within minutes.

Now Harry faced a dilemma. It would be hours yet before he could sneak outside and meet Ginny as they'd planned. What was he to do in the mean time? If he went to sleep, he risked not waking back up and then missing their rendezvous, which was naturally out of the question. He couldn't cast his usual alarm charm; deep sleeper though Ron was, he was sure to notice a great klaxon going off in his bedroom in the middle of the night. Even the milder form using bell chimes ran a risk, though a much smaller one, considering Harry didn't one hundred percent trust it to wake him up, either.

His other options were to sneak downstairs early – dangerous with Mr and Mrs Weasley still up (and if Fred and George had gone to sleep, he'd eat his wand) – or to sit in the darkness of Ron's room for several hours waiting for everyone else to go to bed. That option appealed to him least of all, because quite on top of it being incredibly boring, there was always the chance he'd nod off without meaning to.

It took Harry several minutes of thinking before he hit upon a solution, which made him feel incredibly foolish for not thinking of it earlier. He didn't need to sneak downstairs and into the backyard. He didn't need his invisibility cloak. He didn't need to wait for everyone else in the house to fall asleep. He wasn't at Hogwarts, which meant there was absolutely nothing stopping him from simply apparating into the back garden right from where he sat.

He hadn't apparated since becoming a child again, but that didn't concern him. Like riding a broom, it wasn't something you forgot how to do once you'd learned. Besides, he'd apparated so often and under such strenuous conditions during the last year of the war that he doubted whether he could ever splinch himself even if he tried.

The problem would be the noise. As an auror, he'd trained to minimize the tell-tale cracking sound that accompanied apparition, and had managed to reduce his to merely a small pop. A silencing charm would prevent Mr and Mrs Weasley from hearing anything, but he'd have to simply trust in Ron's deep sleeping ability to keep him from waking.

Slowly and carefully getting out of his camp bed, he pointed his wand at the door and non-verbally cast a silencing charm. Then he stepped over to his trunk, took out his invisibility cloak and threw it over himself. Finally, he grabbed his broomstick from where it was leaning against the wall, and with a last look to make sure Ron was definitely asleep, he turned on his heel and disapparated.

He appeared a moment later behind the large willow tree that grew on the far side of the pond from the house. Looking back toward the Burrow, he could see a few lights in windows, but Ginny's was not one of them. She was either asleep or – more likely – pretending to be.

Taking care to make sure his invisibility cloak was wrapped tightly around him, he mounted his broom and took off into the air. It wasn't perfect; anyone standing directly beneath him would be able to see his shoes at the very least, but it would serve his purposes for the moment.

He glided – slowly, so the cloak wouldn't blow off – up to Ginny's window and glanced in. With no light, he couldn't see much, but he could at least be sure her parents weren't in there. Raising his right hand, he gently rapped his knuckles on the glass.

He could make out movement. Evidently Ginny was trying to determine whether or not she'd heard anything. He rapped again. This time she rose and strode over to the window. Opening it, she looked around.

'Harry?' she whispered. He pulled the cloak back just enough to reveal his face.

'That's a big risk you just took,' he whispered back, teasing her. 'What if it wasn't me?'

'Idiot,' she said fondly. 'Who else would it be? What are you doing here? I thought we were going to wait until after midnight.'

'I didn't want to,' he said with a shrug, then remembered that she couldn't see it. 'Anyway, can you come out now? Your parents aren't going to check in on you or anything, are they?'

'No. Why would they?'

'Oh, I don't know,' he said. 'Maybe to make sure you haven't sneaked upstairs to see the handsome boy staying in your brother's room?'

'Right,' she said, rolling her eyes. 'I don't think they're especially worried about that. They think I'm ten, remember?'

'I don't know, you were being awfully direct about your intentions this evening,' he carried on. 'They might be getting ideas.' It was hard to tell in the dark, but he thought she might have blushed.

'Wish fulfillment,' she muttered.

'What?'

'Nothing. Never mind. If we're going to go, let's go; my parents might not notice I'm not asleep, but having a conversation out my open window is kind of pushing our luck.'

He slid back on his broom and turned sideways so she could climb out onto it in front of him. He made sure to lift the invisibility cloak enough so that she could see what she was doing, then once she was situated he draped it back over the both of them.

Even though it was purely out of necessity to grab the broom, it was heaven to have his arms around her again. It had been nearly a year since he had held her like this, though admittedly the last time had been far more intimate. It would be much longer still before they'd be able to do anything like that again.

He slowly flew them back out to the willow tree. He had to be very careful not to lose his concentration on what he was doing, because Ginny was leaning back into his chest in a very contented sort of way, and the combination of that and the feel and smell of her hair was almost enough to drive him to complete distraction.

They said nothing as they drifted over the pond, and Harry eventually brought them down behind the willow. No one who wasn't specifically looking for them would be able to see them from the house.

Ginny dismounted, but Harry barely had time to lament the loss of contact. Hardly had she slid off the broom and stood up than she spun around and threw her arms around him, catching him in one of the most bone-crushing, soul-warming hugs he had ever experienced in his life.

It was strange, Harry reflected as his own arms wrapped themselves tightly around her; in their current prepubescent states, he felt none of the burning physical desire for his fiancee that he'd become so accustomed to over the years, but the ever-present yearning to be near her, the comfort he derived from her touch, the euphoria of holding her in his arms, were all just as strong as ever.

'I missed you so much,' she whispered in the darkness, never once loosening her grip on him. 'I wish I could kiss you, but...it would feel really weird.' Her tone begged for his understanding, his forgiveness.

'I get it,' Harry said, relieved he was not the only one experiencing these strange, conflicting feelings. The emotions of an adult did not mix will with the hormones of a child, it would seem. He could feel her relax at his affirmation, the acknowledgment that her aversion to physical intimacy was valid.

'This will have to do for at least a few years, I reckon,' he said, stroking her back and catching some of her hair in his fingers.

'Not that long, I hope,' she said. 'If I'm not all right with at least kissing you by my second year, I'll be very disappointed with myself.'

'Twelve and thirteen year-olds kiss, right?' he asked. His own experience on the matter was sorely lacking.

'Some of them do, I'm sure,' she replied. 'I myself was too fixated on one boy in particular to pay attention to any others who might have been interested in me at the time.'

'Bloke sounds pretty oblivious,' Harry said. 'Hardly worth wasting your time on.'

'Oh, he was. He got better, though.'

'Just in time to find you dating someone else, I'll wager.'

'It was just as well. I don't know that I'd ever have gotten the nerve to talk to him, otherwise.'

'You would have,' he said, pulling back enough to look her in the eyes – familiar, beautiful eyes that had not changed at all, though the rest of her body had. 'You're one of the bravest people I know. Braver than me. I never once had the courage to approach a girl I fancied. They always had to do the hard work for me.'

'I'm not going to dignify that ridiculous statement with a response,' Ginny said. 'Anyway, give me your wand. The urge to shag your brains out may be gone for the time being, but if I go one more day without doing magic it might not matter since I'll go mad and kill us all.'

Chuckling, Harry handed over the holly and phoenix feather wand. Ginny took it gratefully and immediately waved it, causing a number of stones around them to levitate.

'Oh, that's feels so good,' she said in relief. 'I'd almost forgotten.' She swished his wand again and the stones started flying around them in a circle. One final flick and they all dropped to the ground again.

'Careful doing anything too flashy before your parents go to bed,' Harry cautioned her. She gave him a mildly irritated look out of the corner of her eye, but nodded.

She continued casting spells for several minutes, relishing the feel of a wand in her hand and magic flowing through it after so long a term without. All told, she made a patch of twigs dance a jig, turned several leaves into crickets, silenced a frog sitting near the pond, conjured a stream of wine (of which she drank a bit), changed the color of her pyjamas three different times, and was about to conjure a patronus when she remembered herself and finally lowered the wand.

'I bet it'd have been the easiest one I ever did, too,' she said, handing Harry his wand back. 'I can't remember being this happy in a long time.'

'I'm glad,' said Harry, pleased to see her so ebullient, yet incredibly relieved all the same that she hadn't summoned a shining silver horse in the middle of the night within view of her parents' house. 'You can borrow it any time you want all week as long as we're careful about it. But now you've got it out of your system, I've got some spells to cast.'

'Diagnostics?' she asked. 'You think you can find out what's happened to us?'

'Well, I've got a better chance checking us both at the same time than I did by myself, but I can't guarantee anything.'

'Of course, of course,' she said, waving her hand impatiently. 'Go on, then.' She sat down on the ground cross-legged and closed her eyes, making it easier for him to examine her.

Slowly, he moved his wand over her and between them, using every method of dark magic detection the Aurors had ever taught him, but came up with nothing. Thinking he ought to branch out, he began searching for any traces of magic that were not Dark – anything at all that shouldn't be there. This was a bit more difficult, as it wasn't what he was trained to specialize in, but he knew the general theory. He remembered Dumbledore once telling him that all magic leaves traces; if only he knew where to look, or indeed what it was he was looking for.

Several minutes passed. Ginny sat completely silent and still, patient and uncomplaining. He was about to give it up for a bad job when finally, he thought he sensed something.

He must have gasped or given some other sign, because Ginny popped an eye open at once and asked, 'What is it? Did you find something?'

'I'm...not sure,' he said, carefully positioning his wand between them and recasting his last revelio charm. 'There's...something. I'm not sure what it is or how to describe it. A...a resonance,' he managed. There was a faint thrumming; he sensed it in his chest more than he felt any actual vibrations. 'I don't even know if it's not supposed to be there.'

'What do you mean?' she asked. 'Surely anything at all you find is going to be unnatural, some kind of enchantment.'

'I don't...I don't know,' he replied lamely. The truth was, he was embarrassed to say what he was thinking. That faint, almost imperceptible thrumming he felt in his heart...it was as if there was a tether connecting the two of them. For one wild, insane moment, he imagined he was detecting their love for each other, the bond that held them together. He wondered what Dumbledore would say to that idea. He also resolved never to give voice to the thought, even to Ginny; he already felt an idiot for entertaining it even for a second.

'Can you remove it?' she asked. 'Cancel it, whatever it is?'

'No,' he said, perhaps too quickly. He lowered his wand and the faint sensation went away. 'Like I said, I'm not even sure what it is. I could cause real damage if I tried to do anything without more information. Whatever it was, it was definitely attached to both of us.'

'Attached?'

'No, that's not the right word,' he said, shaking his head. 'Affecting? Caused by? Anyway, it definitely has to do with us both, so it could be related to what brought us here, but I can't say for sure.'

'What else could it be, though?' she asked.

'I couldn't say,' he said, feeling the heat of a blush at the remembrance of his soppish fancy, and glad for the darkness that hid it from her. 'But it would be dangerous to try anything under the circumstances. Now I have something to go on though, I can maybe try and track something down in the library.' He doubted this very much, but it was the biggest lead they'd had in nine months.

'We'll have to keep trying every night,' Ginny said deliberately. 'Maybe now you've got a read on something, you'll be able to hone in on it.'

'Maybe,' he agreed, 'but this isn't the sort of thing I was trained for. I was basically making things up as I went along.'

'So you'll feel your way through,' she replied, full of confidence in him.'You're good at that. And if you haven't figured it out by the time I've got my wand, I can help you.'

Buoyed by her resolve, Harry nodded. 'Right,' he said. 'You're right. We can figure it out. In the meantime though, we should work on some of our other plans.'

'Later,' she said, gently putting her hand up to his mouth. 'We have a whole week, and you're supposed to be here to relax and have fun. You should try doing it.'

He wanted to retort that they didn't have time for relaxing and fun, that there were important details they needed to hash out for the coming year, but she leaned into him and hugged him again, and he was compelled to just hold her in the dark, enjoying a sense of rightness and completeness that he'd been missing since he woke up in his Aunt and Uncle's cupboard.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

'Harry, wake up!'

Ron's voice jolted him awake, and he was greeted by a bright beam of sunlight shining through the window directly into his face.

'Agh, what time is it?' he asked groggily, mentally cursing himself. He was usually up before Ron; sleeping late might look suspicious. He was so tired of worrying about everything looking suspicious.

'Half seven,' Ron replied. 'I thought we were going to try to get an early start?'

'Yeah, sorry,' said Harry, rousing himself and putting on his glasses. 'Had a bit of trouble getting to sleep.'

'Was it the camp bed?' Ron asked. 'We can take turns with it if it's that bad.'

'No, nothing like that. Just had a lot running through my head; couldn't seem to shut it down.'

'Ah, I know that feeling,' said Ron, nodding. 'Doesn't happen often, thank Merlin, but it's the worst when it does, eh? Better luck tonight.'

'Thanks.' They dressed quickly and began heading down the stairs. Ginny's bedroom door was still closed, and Harry's mind drifted back to the real reason he hadn't gotten to sleep last night.

He and Ginny had stayed out for an indeterminate length of time, until long after Mr and Mrs Weasley had gone to bed. They talked about everything and nothing, enjoying each other's company, and gazed at the star-strewn sky.

Finally, Ginny said, 'We should go back in. Especially if we want to wake up early tomorrow morning.' She stood up and stretched, facing the house and waiting for him to follow.

'About that,' Harry said. He had refrained from mentioning this concern thus far, knowing it might upset her. 'I was thinking maybe I should sleep out here or something and sneak back in in the morning.'

'What?' she asked, her head whipping around so fast her hair was thrown across her face. 'What ever for?'

'Well, you know I've never been a peaceful sleeper,' he said. 'It got better when we moved in together, but after a year sleeping alone again, well...'

Her startled features melted into a look of tenderness and concern. 'Oh, Harry. Are they that bad again?'

'Not as bad as right after the war,' he asserted quickly. 'But bad enough. At school I have my bed curtains and a silencing charm to keep anyone from noticing. Here though, even Ron's bound to notice if I start thrashing around like mad, or wake up shrieking my head off.'

'How often…?'

'Not every night,' he assured her. 'Not that bad, anyway. But often enough that it's a good idea to take precautions.'

'Yes, I see your point,' she said at last, nodding. 'I can't silence my room without a wand, of course, so I've frightened Mum and Dad out of their wits a few times. Luckily, I can usually wake myself up without screaming, so they don't notice anything.'

An icy feeling washed over Harry, not unlike unexpectedly walking through a ghost. 'You too?' he asked.

'Of course,' she replied calmly. 'Mostly about the battle and that year at school under the Carrows, but I've seen Hagrid carry you out of the woods more than once. That's usually when I wake Mum and Dad.'

'Oh, Gin,' he said, and he stepped forward and placed his arms around her. In addition to wanting to comfort her, he felt guilty. She'd mentioned once or twice that her bad dreams were returning too, but he'd had no idea how bad they'd really become.

'It's all right,' she said, hugging him back. 'It's to be expected, isn't it? Anyway, we do have to figure out something for you while you're here because you're right; Ron would definitely notice. I managed to brew myself some dreamless sleep potion once, but I have to take it sparingly because I can't afford to keep nicking Mum's potions ingredients and expecting her not to notice.'

'You should've asked,' Harry said without thinking. 'I could have bought some supplies and sent them to you with Hedwig. No one would even know.'

Ginny blinked. 'I hadn't thought of that,' she said plainly. 'Now I feel a bit dim.'

'I'll order some when I get back and send them to you,' he said. 'I don't know that we'd be able to find the time to brew anything unnoticed this week.'

'Definitely not,' she agreed. 'In any case, it doesn't solve our immediate problem. I'm not letting you sleep out here, Harry; that's ridiculous.'

'But what if…?'

'Play it off as a nightmare,' she interrupted. 'Boys do have those, right? It's normal to have a bad dream every now and again. Ron's a prat, but not that big of a prat. He won't ask any awkward questions if you don't give him reason to.'

'If you say so,' Harry said. He wasn't entirely on board with Ginny's plan, but didn't have the energy to argue the point. They began their trek back to the house. Now that everyone was asleep, it was easier to walk and just use the broom at the last minute.

When he let her off at her bedroom window, he felt the urge to kiss her despite their younger bodies. Something about the moment just screamed for it; there were no hormones involved, only emotion. Evidently she felt the same, because once she was inside she turned around, leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

'Good night, Harry,' she whispered. 'Sleep well.'

'You too.'

Both of them understood this as more than merely a typical goodnight expression.

Harry lowered himself back down to the ground, keeping his eye on her window. She had wisely closed it and gone straight to her bed, or else the two of them could have been another half hour before actually turning in for the night. He himself would be apparating directly back onto his camp bed. It was less risky than trying to come in through the window, from which he would have to climb over the foot of Ron's bed to enter the room. If Ron did wake up, Harry would be able to play off the sound as just him moving around.

Concentrating very hard on his target – it would defeat the entire purpose if he landed right on Ron's knees – he turned on his heel and vanished from the back yard. A moment later he was once again sitting in the dark attic bedroom. Nothing had changed since he'd left. Ron was still snoring away, and his silencing charm still held. Wordlessly, he removed it before taking off his glasses and stowing his broomstick and invisibility cloak back with the rest of his things.

He lay back on the camp bed and pulled the covers over himself, but did not close his eyes right away. No matter how Ginny tried to reassure him, his anxiety about having a nightmare he couldn't explain would not leave him. He remained awake for what felt like another hour, staring at the players of the Chudley Cannons zoom around the walls in grey robes he knew would be a bright orange had there been any light. Eventually, exhaustion caught up with him and he fell asleep only to be shaken awake by Ron several hours later.

Now he was seated at the breakfast table, dimly taking in all that surrounded him. Fred and George were already up and dressed, and by the looks of it had mostly finished breakfast by the time he and Ron started tucking into theirs.

'You all right, Harry?' asked Fred, a sausage on his fork halfway to his mouth. 'You look a little haggard.'

'Hard time falling asleep,' he repeated. It was nice, he reflected, to be able to give people an excuse for something that was the actual truth for a change, even if he was technically omitting parts of it.

'Good news for us,' said George cheerily. 'If you're off your game today, we stand a better chance.'

'Hang on, how come you two get to be on a team together?' asked Ron. 'That's a bit unfair, isn't it? You've got a lot more experience than we have.'

'Ah, but surely you want to be on a team with your best mate, right Ron?' said Fred.

'Besides,' George added earnestly, 'Harry's good enough naturally to make up for any experience gap. I wasn't kidding about our chances, you know.'

'I guess that's true,' Ron conceded.

'You didn't want us to be on the same team?' Harry asked.

'No, I didn't mean - ' Ron started, but broke off when he saw Harry was grinning at him. 'Blimey, you're just as bad as they are. Anyway, George is right. Even if I'm rubbish, you're good enough that we should be a match for them.'

'I'm not sure I'm comfortable with all the faith everyone seems to be putting in my Quidditch ability,' Harry quipped. A bit late, he realized it wasn't a very eleven-year-old thing to say, but nobody seemed to notice and he breathed a sigh of relief. It would be so much easier when he started getting closer to his own real age and he didn't have to watch what he said so much anymore.

'Where's Ginny?' Fred asked. 'I thought she wanted to come with us. I expected her to be at the door with a broom in her hand before we even came down for breakfast.'

'She's still sleeping,' Mrs Weasley informed them, placing a second helping of bacon onto Harry and Ron's plates. 'I can send her along once she's ready if you like.'

'We can wait for a little while at least,' Harry said, careful to sound neutral. 'I'm not sure I'm one hundred percent awake yet anyway.'

'Fair enough,' said George, clearing his plate away. 'Wouldn't want you falling off your broom or anything.'

Ginny finally made her way downstairs just as Ron and Harry were finishing their breakfast, Harry insisting to a very skeptical Mrs Weasley that he really couldn't eat another bite.

The moment Ginny entered the kitchen, her eyes found Harry's and she beamed at him. He smiled back drowsily, which was lucky. It was an instinctual action for both of them, but it was not missed by the other occupants of the kitchen and had his answering look been as bright as hers, questions would have been forthcoming. As it was, Ginny received appraising glances from the twins, a somewhat confused one from Ron, and a knowing smile from her mother as she took a seat at the table. Next to Harry, of course.

'Thanks for waiting,' she said to the lot of them as she hurried to eat her breakfast. 'I meant to get up earlier, but I had some trouble getting to sleep last night.'

'A lot of that going around,' said Fred, sounding very amused. 'You must be excited about something.'

'Wonder what it could be?' asked George innocently.

'Clobbering you two at Quidditch, of course,' said Ginny between bites without missing a beat. The twins laughed.

'We've got our work cut out for us, George,' Fred said.

'Whose broom are you going to use?' Ron asked her.

'Charlie left his old one here, remember?' Ginny said. 'It's a little worn down, but it'll do, I expect.'

'We can all take turns riding my Nimbus,' Harry offered. 'I don't want to have any unfair advantages.'

'Brilliant!' exclaimed Ron.

'Mighty big of you, Harry,' said George, though he too was unable to hide his enthusiasm for the idea.

'Let's get going, then,' Ginny said.

Fred did a double take. 'Did you finish eating already?'

'Like you said; I'm excited,' she replied. Harry barely suppressed a grin; he knew she was practically bursting at the seams to see their faces when she outflew them all on an obsolete broom.

'All right, let's go, then,' said Fred. 'Thanks for breakfast, Mum.' The five of them made their way out into the backyard and toward the broom shed. Harry, of course, was already carrying his own broomstick.

'Wish we could fly up to the paddock,' said Ron once they'd retrieved their brooms. Harry was briefly taken aback. In his later years at Hogwarts, they'd taken to playing Quidditch in the the back yard of the Burrow itself. It was smaller, but considered safer, and allowed for the use of actual Quidditch balls. Thus despite the fact that they'd been talking about it for a week, in his sleep addled state he'd momentarily forgotten that in his first few visits to the Burrow, they'd played in a paddock away from the house, and that they'd had to fly low and use apples out of fear of Muggles spotting them.

'You and me both,' said George. 'But rules are rules,' he added in a fair imitation of Percy.

'How far a walk is it?' asked Harry, having legitimately forgotten.

'Not too long,' said Fred. 'We'll be there in under ten minutes.'

They trekked on through what remained of the morning mist. There was not a lot of conversation beyond how much fun it would be once they got in the air. At last they arrived, and Harry was shocked. He'd forgotten how spacious the area really was; it was almost worth the limitations. In fact, once he could find a way to convince Mr and Mrs Weasley to put some concealment charms on it, it could almost serve as a bonafide Quidditch pitch.

'Nice,' he said appreciatively.

'Remember, we can't fly too high,' Ron reminded him. 'The Muggle village is near enough that someone might see if we go over the trees.'

'That'll be fine,' said Harry. 'It might force us to be more creative with our maneuvers.'

'Never thought of it that way,' said George. 'But I like it.' Ginny was beaming. She always loved talking Quidditch strategy.

'So,' said Fred abruptly. 'Ron, you and Harry are on a team. And George and I. Ginny - '

'I'm on Harry's team,' she interrupted calmly. All three of her brothers widened their eyes for the briefest of moments, but appeared to accept her declaration.

'All right, then,' said Fred. 'We can handle three on two, right George?'

'I reckon we're about to find out,' said George.

Ginny surreptitiously caught Harry's eye and they both smiled. This was going to be fun.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
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I could've kept right on going through the rest of the week at the Burrow, but it's been a long time and I wanted to get something posted.

I've recently uprooted and moved after three years living overseas, and took a short vacation in the process. I'm still in something of a transition period, but I'm making sure to write a little bit each day, even if it's only two hundred words or so. Rest assured I'm still having fun with this story, and other adventures I've made up for Harry and the gang.

As always, reviews and feedback are much appreciated. Thank you in advance, and I'll see you next time.