"His hair is as dark as a blackboard."
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
It took some time before Ginny and Harry felt mostly recovered from the day they spent in Somerset at Andi's house. They weren't overly emotional or even talkative about it all, but it was obvious to both of them that it would take a few days to feel back to normal. Taking care of Teddy and being around family at the Burrow the following weekend had helped significantly, and Ginny thought they were both feeling much better by the time they arrived at Hogwarts for the last week of January.
She and Astoria had come to the conclusion that the scavenger hunt was poorly designed. There wasn't any reason that teams wouldn't be able to solve three clues in a week, and since there was no incentive to finish early, they took their time with the clues rather than prioritising solving them as quickly as possible. Which is exactly why they were solving their final clue on Friday afternoon, even though they were running a bit behind schedule.
"How are we supposed to know about where Helga Hufflepuff is from?" Ginny complained, walking with Astoria near the Hufflepuff dormitory in desperate hope that something would catch their eye.
"I suppose Hufflepuffs might know," Astoria replied lightly, even though Ginny could tell it bothered her that they hadn't solved their last clue of the week yet.
"Probably," Ginny agreed glumly before brightening as an idea came to her. "I bet you could get Owen to tell us."
Astoria laughed at that. "I kind of doubt it."
"Why not?"
"Do you think you could convince Harry to help you with a clue?"
Ginny thought about it for a moment before some rather wicked ideas crossed her mind and she grinned proudly. "Yes, I definitely do."
Astoria put her hands on her face as she laughed again. "Forget I asked. Owen and I have a bet that whoever wins will buy the other one lunch in Hogsmeade. So I doubt he'd be willing to help me and risk losing that bet."
Ginny wondered why she and Harry hadn't ever placed a bet. Probably because they were competitive enough without any extra motivation. "So the two of you… things still going good?" she asked, changing the subject even though she was annoyed that they may not be able to solve this clue.
Astoria smiled, maybe a little unconsciously, and nodded. "Yeah, I– he's a really great guy. I mean, I knew that when we started getting to know each other as prefects, but last term, being around each other way more, it was very obvious to me then."
"That's great! You two definitely deserve to be happy together. Any special Valentine's plans?"
"He won't say, but I think he's got something planned. What about you and Harry?"
Ginny tried not to seem too excited, but every time she thought of the prospect of their first real Valentine's Day together, she felt giddy. "Harry told me he had everything figured out. I guess we'll see what that means."
"That's really sweet. I'm sure he'll have something great planned."
Ginny nodded, smiling fondly at the idea. "He usually does." A moment later, she remembered why they were in the basement of the castle. "Any more ideas on Hufflepuff by the way?"
"Other than me sneaking into their dormitories to look at their parchment, no. And something tells me that's not exactly what Professor McGonagall was wanting from the competition."
Ginny snorted at the idea. "I guess we'll keep that as our backup plan. Well– wait, you can't get into the Gryffindor dorms anyways since you don't have the password, so it'd have to be me."
"Sure I do. Head Girl privileges," Astoria replied with a slightly mischievous smile.
"Seriously? That's a thing?"
Astoria nodded proudly as the bells rang to indicate that it was two o'clock. "Oh… that's not good."
"Damn it," Ginny muttered, realising that they'd lost track of the time. They quickly abandoned their discussion to make their way down the corridor and up the stairs before entering the Great Hall, where the rest of the Defence leads and Harry were already gathered.
Ginny tried to give Harry an apologetic look, but that didn't spare her from his jokes. "And here I thought the two of you were just skiving off class because I was a boring teacher or something."
"Don't worry. Things haven't gotten that bad yet," Ginny replied, making everyone laugh as they took their seats in the circle of chairs.
"Gee, thanks," Harry responded sarcastically, even though he was smiling still. "Anyways, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, Professor McGonagall told me that I needed to be sure to go over Unforgivable Curses with you all. I know you learned about them from… Professor Moody a few years ago, but she wanted me to refresh you all on them and talk more about the theory behind them rather than just explaining what they do."
Nobody seemed to be very comfortable with the notion of discussing Unforgivables, but Ginny understood that it was an unavoidable part of the curriculum, even if she wished it wasn't.
"I'm not gonna try to sugarcoat things. You're all adults, and we're all more familiar with these curses than we should be, but we still have to cover them. So the first one we'll talk about is the Cruciatus Curse. Obviously, the intent behind this one is to cause…"
Alecto smacked her across the face without any restraint. Ginny flexed her jaw before spitting out blood. She looked defiantly at her pig-faced attacker, unable to fight back with chains holding her arms above her head.
"I know that you had something to do with that kid disappearing. This isn't the first time you've given us trouble, but it is going to be the last. Either tell me where he is, or we'll make you talk."
Ginny's mind raced to Sam Collins, the Ravenclaw student who had been seen leaving Amycus' office after setting up a portable swamp inside. Something in Amycus had snapped, and he'd started screaming that he was going to kill Sam. Thankfully, Sam had been hidden in the Room of Requirement, proud of his handiwork, until Ginny had told him he couldn't leave. Somehow, Neville got the room to make a passage out of the castle, and Sam had escaped somewhere– Ginny didn't even know where the tunnel led yet.
The Carrows had grabbed her minutes after she left the room, satisfied that Sam would be safe. And now she was in the dungeons, chained up and subject to their brutal interrogation. This wasn't the first time they'd tried to get answers out of her. It wouldn't be the last. She wouldn't talk. She was responsible for keeping everyone safe, and she could keep her mouth shut, even if it hurt.
"You know I'm not going to talk," Ginny growled back at the woman she despised.
Alecto shrugged. "Guess we'll go with the hard way then. You're up, brother."
He grinned like a child opening a Christmas present. "Crucio!" Amycus practically laughed as her body erupted in burning pain, like her bones were dissolving as her muscles tried to devour them.
She never talked. But that didn't stop them from keeping her in the dungeons for two days, chained up, hungry, and dehydrated. That didn't stop them from casting the Cruciatus on her every hour.
Ginny knew she was mirroring the pained expressions on the faces of her fellow leads, listening to Harry describing the Cruciatus Curse. It was impossible for them to not think of the horrors they and their friends had endured last year as victims of that very curse.
Harry did notice it though. "I really am sorry about having to talk about this. I know it's not easy for any of you." Everyone nodded, but nobody complained about it. They braced themselves as Harry continued.
"Essentially, the curse works by shocking your nerves so badly that they tell your brain that every part of your body is in agony. There are definitely other effects it has, especially like tightening your muscles, but most of it is basically burning up your nerves to cause maximum pain. Someone can't cast it without truly wanting to see a person suffer for the fun of it. It's a dark, dark thing. There's no advantage to using it over another spell in any sort of combat. It's purely designed as a sadistic method of torture, and it's horrific."
Harry had a dark look in his eyes as he talked about it, and Ginny remembered for the first time in a while that Harry had cast the Cruciatus on Amycus Carrow. The thought wasn't a happy one– she didn't like imagining Harry like that because he was too good for it. But that pig had deserved the Cruciatus more than anyone.
Like the rest of them, except maybe Astoria and Justin, Harry also knew what it was like to feel the Cruciatus Curse. He may not have felt it as many times, but one time was more than enough to know exactly how terrible it was. And like he'd said, it had no use other than hurting people senselessly. It was horrible.
"We can move on from it though. You all know enough about it already. The next one is the Imperius Curse. This one is entirely about will. The Imperius is a battle of minds. The spell puts you in a sort of trance, where it feels like the only sensible thing to do is whatever the caster is telling you to do. Usually, people under its effects seem a little off, but the best casters are said to be able to change nothing but the intentions of their victim, leaving their personality completely unaffected. But it's possible to fight that trance by questioning why you have to do that. As long as you can hold onto something outside of the trance and focus on it, it's possible to resist. It's easier when the caster isn't strong enough or fully committed to what they're casting, but… it's possible even with more powerful wizards. There's not really a way to practise it though since I'm not about to cast it on you all like Moody, but at least in theory, it–"
"Moody cast it on you?" Mia asked, sounding incredibly surprised. Ginny remembered now that Harry had mentioned that during his hearing last summer, but they'd never talked about that afterwards.
"Yeah. Did he not with–" Harry didn't need to finish the question. Everyone but Dean, who would've been in that class with Harry, were shaking their heads vehemently.
"Oh," Harry said as it hit him, and all of them, that Barty Crouch Jr., who had been posing as Moody, had only practised the Imperius Curse with the Gryffindor fourth years. Ginny was sure Harry knew that was likely because Crouch was wanting to test him, but she wasn't going to say that.
"You fought it though, Harry," Dean remembered, even though he looked a little distressed at the memory of having the Imperius cast on him.
"Wait, really?" Astoria asked, apparently impressed.
"How?" Owen asked at the same time, stunned at what really should've been impossible.
"Er– yeah," Harry answered, still seeming uncomfortable with the notion that his class had been targeted for something like that because of him. "I… guess I was able to figure out that what I was being told to do wouldn't actually make me happy or anything like the voice promised."
"But he was a Death Eater," Mia pointed out. It hadn't stayed secret for long that Moody had been an impostor all year.
"I– yeah. Er… it's just something I've been able to do, I guess. It's not like I had a bunch of practice with it."
Harry seemed to grow more uncomfortable with it the more that he was asked about being able to resist the Imperius, even though these people were all his friends. Ginny decided not to mention that he'd also said in his hearing that he'd resisted an Imperius from Voldemort himself.
"Didn't– I hope this isn't a sore subject, but you have cast the Imperius Curse before," Owen stated, bringing up another revelation from that widely publicised hearing.
Harry grimaced, and Owen quickly added, "Not that there was anything wrong with you doing it. You didn't have a choice, and I think we're all really glad that you did what you had to do. I guess… I was wondering how it felt. Was there anything we should know about what the person who might be casting it on us is thinking?"
Harry opened his mouth and closed it again, and for a moment, Ginny thought he just wasn't going to answer. Then he spoke in an almost brittle voice. "It's– I'm not proud of it. But someone who's casting it has to give orders and pay enough attention to know if their… victim is breaking out of it. Recasting it helps. But I wasn't very good at it, so I guess… for people who have practised, it might be much more passive. Supposedly, the really powerful or smart ones– people like Dolohov and Rookwood… and Riddle, of course– were able to keep people under the Imperius Curse for really long periods of time without much effort. But as to how it felt… more tempting than I expected," he settled on, frowning as he did.
Everyone was quiet, taking in that answer with stoic expressions. Owen looked sick, sorry that he'd brought it up at all.
"You're too good to want to do it again though," Luna said confidently, like there hadn't been a break in the conversation at all.
Harry exhaled a soft breath and smiled at her. "Thanks, Luna. Er– let's get back to it. The last one is obviously the Killing Curse. There's no shield or countercurse that can stop it. It's been suggested that it works like the Cruciatus, but way more powerful, basically overloading nerves and organs with an electric pulse so quickly that the victim dies without any sort of trace."
Ginny remembered that Amelia had explained her theory to Harry in a letter she'd sent them after his terrible panic attack in the forest. She'd told Ginny about it in the Hospital Wing the night Harry was unconscious too, but Ginny was so distraught that she'd forgotten it until the letter.
"Is that why the– the scar's a lightning bolt?" Justin asked hesitantly.
Harry shrugged. "I dunno. A Healer I know was the one who suggested it, and she thinks that's the explanation. Apparently my body's sort of… vulnerable to electric problems now, I guess? So that's apparently part of where she got that theory from. I don't know enough about it to be sure, and I've got no clue how it works, but it does make some sense to me. At least it's not something I should really run into again… I hope."
Ginny could almost sense other people in the circle burning with questions. She supposed it wasn't often that the opportunity was there to speak about the Killing Curse with the only known survivor of it, but somehow, none of them asked anything.
However, Owen did open his mouth to say, "You're the only person who's experienced all three and lived to talk about it." He sounded almost in awe.
"Well, duh. He's the only person to survive the Killing Curse," Mia replied, like that was much more obvious than Owen made it out to be, which made him redden slightly.
"Right," Harry interjected, a bit uneasily. He seemed to have given up on the lesson very quickly. "Anyways, I don't know that that was a very good lesson, but I didn't really know what else to say about Unforgivables that you don't already know. They're horrible. End of story. We're supposed to talk to fifth years and up about them though, so Owen, Mia, and Dean, let's talk a little bit more about how to do that. Everyone else, we've got about fifteen minutes before the rest of the students show up, so enjoy the free time, I guess."
Ginny stayed where she was while Harry and the three leads he'd called were huddled, discussing how to speak to students about Unforgivable Curses. She shivered. It was awful that they needed to learn about these, let alone that they existed in the first place.
"Sorry about Owen," Astoria apologised suddenly.
Ginny shook her head. "Nothing to apologise for. Harry knew it was in the paper. He seems to be getting more comfortable with having people paying attention to him, but I don't know that he'll ever stop feeling weird when people compliment him or talk about the great things he's done."
"That's a shame, considering he's done more than anyone," Astoria replied in a quiet voice that marked her respect for him.
"Yeah, I agree, but that's Harry."
"It certainly seems that way. I can't say I blame him for not wanting to talk about Unforgivables though. I know I have no interest in it."
"Ditto," Ginny replied grimly, doing her best to not think about her experiences with them.
Class started soon after, and Ginny's mood brightened from the depressing lesson they'd had as she worked with Emily's class on Leg-Locker Curses. Emily commented that she was immune to those, and Ginny felt ashamed for laughing until she saw how much Emily was laughing too.
After class, Ginny waited for Harry, who seemed to be eager to leave the Great Hall as well. They didn't talk at first, and Ginny tried to think of something to bring up other than Unforgivable Curses. Finally, she settled on the only other thing in her mind.
"D'you know where Helga Hufflepuff was from?"
Harry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a moment before they raised as he smiled. "Oh, you're on that one?"
"Wait, you've already had it?" Ginny asked, thinking she could definitely convince him to tell her the answer.
"Yep."
"Could you… maybe… tell me what the answer is?" Ginny asked as sweetly as she could.
Harry chuckled and shook his head. "Not a chance."
It was time for more desperate measures. "Then I guess I won't kiss you until you do."
Harry laughed out loud. "I don't buy it."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't buy what?"
"That you can keep from kissing me if I don't tell you," Harry replied confidently.
"Wow. Someone sure does have an overinflated view of himself," Ginny responded in a sarcastic tone.
He shrugged. "I'm just saying, based on how we usually are, we can't go very long without kissing."
Ginny stopped walking, leaned against the stone wall, and crossed her arms. "Guess we're gonna have to now."
Harry met her gaze, quirking the corners of his mouth into a small smile. "What if I give you a hint?"
"We'll see," Ginny replied noncommittally.
In response, Harry stepped closer until he was practically pressed against her. Then he bent down and brushed his lips against her ear, making her very close to breaking her no kissing rule.
"Try reading a history book," he whispered before dropping a kiss to her neck.
Ginny gasped at the contact and tugged him back up so he was looking down at her again. "A history book?" she asked, feeling closer and closer to breaking the rule after that.
"A history book," he confirmed. "Is that a good enough hint?"
She squinted her eyes in thought, making him smile again. Finally, she sighed. "Yeah, I g–"
Ginny's mouth was covered by Harry's before she even finished her sentence. Not that she minded. She had what she wanted– a hint and something even better too.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
"Come on, why are you so nervous about this?" Harry asked, almost angrily.
His reflection offered no answer.
Harry groaned and splashed some water on his face. Valentine's Day was just around the corner, and he was terrified. He thought a lot of blokes would've been grateful for an extra year to plan what they'd do with their girlfriend for their first Valentine's Day, but it only ratcheted his nerves up even more. He wanted everything to be perfect, as if he could make up for missing the last one. He and Ginny had been together close to two years now, and it had been a while since he'd really been nervous about something regarding their relationship. He wasn't worried at all that she'd be upset with anything he did; he just knew that she deserved the absolute best after everything they'd been through, and he was determined to give it to her.
Which made the fact that he had no idea about what to do even worse.
It wasn't that he hadn't given thought to it. He'd probably given too much thought to it, if he was being honest. Last Valentine's Day, he'd been so pissed off about not being able to see her that he'd almost hexed Ron and Hermione, wanting nothing more than to be alone if he couldn't be with Ginny. At the time though, he wasn't really thinking about plans for a date he'd take her on. He was more focused on imagining just how perfect she'd be if he could've seen her again.
He'd started thinking more about Valentine's after they'd returned to Hogwarts at the start of the term and learned that the holiday coincided with a Hogsmeade weekend. His one experience with being in Hogsmeade for Valentine's had left very unpleasant memories in his mind that he'd rather not relive. Not that anything that bad could possibly happen with them, but still, his nerves weren't helped by the knowledge that he'd failed at a Hogsmeade Valentine date before.
Ginny wasn't helping matters by being so damn adorable with everything. Granted, that's how he literally always saw her, but still.
For example, today during Quidditch practice, Ginny was really worked up going over their strategies for the upcoming match against Hufflepuff. Three days earlier, they'd watched Slytherin handily defeat Ravenclaw to remain undefeated. That meant that Gryffindor had to beat Hufflepuff to set up a winner take all match with Slytherin at the end of the season.
Ginny had taken that Slytherin victory as motivation, throwing herself into their tactics and trying to come up with ways to ensure they won in a couple weeks. Not to mention she and Harry were trying to look good for any potential scouts.
She'd told him last night in bed that she was grateful that he'd promised her that he'd take care of everything with Valentine's Day because it made it easier for her to focus on Quidditch. He couldn't possibly tell her that he still didn't know what they would be doing yet.
After going over more strategies with them, they took to the air, and Ginny played like a woman possessed, streaking around the pitch like a fiery red missile, intent on scoring goals. Every time Harry caught sight of her face, she had the blazing, determined look that he loved, and it only weighed on him more that she was counting on him to have something special for Valentine's Day.
And as usual, she looked so bloody good after practice was over that it took everything in him not to jump her when they landed. He almost wondered if Ginny expected him to when they trailed behind everyone else walking back to the castle after the sun had set.
"Is everything okay?" Ginny asked as she laced her fingers through his.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Everything's fine. Just thinking about stuff," Harry answered, even though he knew the ambiguity in his answer would invite more questions.
"You thinking about scouts coming to the game too?" Ginny asked.
That certainly was a thought that had crossed his mind briefly tonight. "Er– yeah, that's part of it," he answered, deciding that was honest enough.
"I'm nervous too. I think we'll win. I actually feel really good about that. And I know I'm a damn good player. We both are. So the scouts should like us. But… it's all becoming real for me, you know?"
He smiled over at her. "Yeah, I know. But like you said, you're a damn good player. You're gonna have your pick of teams. It's gonna be just like your first match as captain– as soon as you get in the air, it's still just another game of Quidditch."
"I'm glad I keep you around. You're pretty good with the advice from time to time," Ginny teased him with a sly grin.
He laughed. "At least I'm good for something then. I was beginning to think you'd gone mental, keeping me around for no reason."
"Oh, I wouldn't say there's no reason. You do look pretty spectacular after playing Quidditch."
Ginny took the words right out of his mouth before stopping to kiss him quickly. He knew he was grinning stupidly as they grabbed each other's hands again and followed the rest of their team up to the castle. He would've stayed outside and continued that kiss, but it was cold, and there was no way their teammates would leave them alone about it. At least they did still have a bedroom where Harry hoped they'd pick up where they left off.
Unfortunately for him, that would have to wait. Demelza had apparently been seized by some sort of Quidditch inspiration on the walk, and she pulled Ginny and Natalie to a corner of the common room to discuss some sort of Chasing strategy or tactic that Harry didn't need to be involved with. So instead of going up to his bedroom with his girlfriend like he'd hoped, he was stuck sitting in a plush armchair, trying not to look too sour about being delayed.
It took him a couple minutes to notice that Mia was sitting next to him, also looking towards the group of Chasers, like she was lost in thought. "You waiting for Demelza?" Harry asked, preferring talking over staring off into space to pass the time.
Mia looked surprised that she was being spoken to and seemed to take a second to process what he said. "Oh… no, not really. Why?"
He shrugged, thinking it was obvious. "Aren't you two like best friends?"
She smiled and pulled on a strand of her brown hair that had fallen out of place. "Kind of? Demelza's not really one to talk about stuff like that, but I think Ginny's the only other person she's really close to. I guess you're waiting on Ginny?"
He chuckled and leaned further back into the chair. "Yup."
Demelza and Ginny were both talking animatedly with their hands while Natalie nodded along with whatever they were saying. Harry grinned absently, loving how passionate Ginny was with Quidditch.
"Any big plans for Valentine's?" Mia asked in a bit of a vague tone. Harry pulled his eyes off Ginny to look at Mia, who seemed a bit lost in thought again.
"Er– actually, I can be honest with you, yeah?" Harry asked, even though he already knew the answer.
Mia's attention snapped back over to him. "Yeah, of course."
Mia was a bit of an enigma to him. She definitely had some rough edges, capable of scaring both younger students and her roommates into falling in line if she needed to, based on what Harry had seen. But she was also very emotionally inclined, far more than Demelza, with whom Harry never would have dreamed of broaching this subject. Mia had proven herself though, through her handling of Ginny's panic attack and other, smaller moments in the past few months.
"So… I feel like I should be planning something really special considering I missed last Valentine's and this is our first real one together. Between that and me having only been on one Valentine's date that was an absolute disaster, I'm kinda lost on what to do that isn't a disappointment."
Mia smiled at him, like he was missing the point entirely. "Harry, I don't think Ginny's going to be too bothered about whatever the two of you do on Valentine's. It's an important day because it's a chance to focus on how much you love each other, not because you need to make some elaborate show of publicly declaring your happiness. And considering how unhappy Ginny was last Valentine's, I promise that all she cares about at all is spending it with you."
Harry remembered talking about last Valentine's with Ginny several months ago. Hagrid had mentioned Ginny being upset, but he didn't realise it would have been obvious to other people who were here last year too. "She was that upset?"
Mia's smile faded a little. "Ginny… didn't have the freedom to show many emotions last year. But around this time a year ago, she became even stonier and quieter. When she thought nobody was looking, she would just stare off with a sad look on her face. I think we all knew what it was about, but nobody wanted to mention it."
It made him sad, but he also felt his heart beating a little faster, knowing she'd missed him as much as he'd missed her. He'd known that, of course, but it still felt like a new revelation to hear it from Mia. "It was a hard day for me too."
She gave him a sympathetic look. "Like I said, as long as the two of you are together, she'll be happy. Beyond that… I think if she cares about anything more, it would probably make her feel good to know that you'd actually taken some time to figure out something."
Harry nodded, getting the first inkling of an idea. "Any thoughts on going to public places for a date like that?" he asked, curious about getting the opinion of one of Ginny's friends, even though he already had an idea of how he and Ginny would feel about it.
"It's too distracting to me. The Three Broomsticks will be a madhouse, and I'm sure you know that Ginny's not gonna like Madam Puddifoot's."
Harry laughed. "Funny enough, I'd already worked that one out."
"Good. At least you're not completely hopeless then," Mia joked with a wide smile. "Obviously it's completely up to you, but I imagine both of you would enjoy privacy on Valentine's."
Harry started nodding again before he noticed that the Chaser meeting seemed to be adjourning. "Thanks, Mia. That helped a lot, actually."
She shrugged. "No problem, that was easy."
A second later, Ginny and Demelza were standing next to them. "I'm exhausted," Ginny informed Harry.
He grinned and stood up. "Maybe we should do something about that then. Night you two," he said to Demelza and Mia, the latter of whom winked at him as they walked away. He thought he heard Mia mentioning Valentine's and hoped word didn't get back to Ginny that he was still figuring out his plan. At least he was pretty sure he could trust Demelza to keep the secret too, if necessary. Or, more accurately, he hoped he could.
"What were you and Mia talking about?" Ginny asked curiously once they'd entered their bedroom.
Harry flopped back on the bed. "Stuff. Probably not anything as exciting as Chasing strategies."
Ginny laughed. "Demelza had some pretty good ideas, actually. We'll try them out at practice on Thursday. So did Mia say anything about Valentine's?"
Harry was about to ask how she knew about that when he realised Ginny probably was asking about Mia's own plans for Valentine's. "No. You'd probably know about anything like that way before I'd hear about it."
"I guess so. I'm surprised she doesn't have a date though. She hasn't gone out with anyone in a couple years."
"She's probably been a bit busy, like the rest of us were last year," Harry offered, but his train of thought became sidetracked when Ginny pulled her sweaty shirt off.
"Yeah, you're right. Maybe we should– Harry?" Ginny asked.
"Huh?" Harry replied, blinking as he looked back up at her smirking face. "Sorry," he apologised halfheartedly.
"You know what? We can talk later. I'm pretty sure we have some unfinished business to attend to," Ginny said in a low voice, quickly jumping on top of him. As he gave way to her wave of kisses, he thought that, if all else failed, this would be a pretty great way to spend Valentine's Day together.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
Another month had passed with no news of the trio. There were rumours that they'd shown up in some wizarding villages. Just a couple days ago, Potterwatch had reported on the rumour that Harry had been spotted in Upper Flagley, but Lee had been quick to dismiss it as incredibly unlikely because it would 'be nicer camping in the woods than staying in Upper Flagley.'
Even though she didn't really believe any of the rumours, she absorbed them all almost ravenously. It was her only respite from the constant push and pull of fighting the Carrows and being punished for it.
The Carrows, especially Alecto, had gotten smarter though. They had suspended all Hogsmeade weekends a month into the first term, but they were suddenly allowing students to visit Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day. Based on Alecto's sneer at Ginny upon the announcement, she had a pretty good guess as to why they'd done it. Why settle for breaking her physically when they could attack her emotionally?
She knew she was withdrawing from her friends in the couple of days leading up to that dreaded holiday. It was just an impossible burden to bear. Her nightmares were incessant, seeing terrible ways that everyone she cared about could die. When she'd wake, Roary was hardly any comfort, and her thoughts of Harry, memories of the past and hopes for the future that had once been her refuge, only made her heart ache more. She wondered sometimes if it had all been in her head.
The mood inside Hogwarts was happier than it had been all year on Valentine's Day. Every third year and older was out of the castle as soon as possible.
Ginny had no will to get out of bed. Nobody going to Hogsmeade cared at all about having a date, and she probably shouldn't have either, but it was just such a painful reminder of everything she was afraid to lose. Nobody else could possibly understand what it was like. She'd spent years pining after Harry before becoming his friend for a couple years. Then finally, he returned her feelings, and they'd spent an amazing month and a half together before he broke up with her for a bloody noble reason that hadn't even worked. They'd shared one more kiss, six months ago, and since then, she'd been terrified that any day, news would arrive that he, Ron, and Hermione had been captured… or worse.
This was supposed to be their first Valentine's Day together. They should have been out, laughing at the other lovesick couples as if they weren't just as bad. Maybe they'd have had a picnic near Hogsmeade or something. They'd smile and laugh and kiss just because they could, and it would be perfect. Would have been perfect.
Ginny wondered, from behind the hangings of her four poster bed, what Harry was doing at that moment. Did he feel the same, like they'd been robbed of a momentous occasion in their relationship? Did he even know it was Valentine's Day, or was he too preoccupied with thoughts of saving the world to care? Would he–
She forced herself to stop thinking about that, unable to handle even imagining him right now. She needed a distraction. After she dressed and left the nearly vacant common room, she contemplated meeting some of her friends who'd invited her to The Three Broomsticks. The only problem with that was that Ginny wasn't sure that she could stand being around everyone in such jubilant moods. They deserved to be happy– this was likely the only break they'd get from the Carrows until Easter. But it just didn't feel right to her.
Without even realising where she was going really, Ginny found herself outside of Hagrid's. Apparently her mind worked better when she didn't try to think of solutions to her problems. Hagrid was about the best person for her to be around right now, so, before she could question herself, she knocked on his door.
He seemed surprised to have someone wanting to come in, but when he saw her, he smiled kindly. "Come on in here," he said, hugging her warmly, almost like he knew exactly why she was there.
The tea wasn't very good, but it was warm, and it provided a distraction from Harry. Or at least it did, until Hagrid proved that he definitely understood the reason she was there.
"Did you ever hear abou' the firs' time I met Harry?"
She shook her head, wishing Hagrid would talk about literally anything else, but she couldn't even get the words out. So instead, she listened to him talk about how difficult it had been to track down his Muggle family that had been running away from the letters from Hogwarts. How on Harry's birthday, Hagrid broke into the little shack they were at in the middle of nowhere. Hagrid blushed telling her about trying to transfigure Harry's cousin into a pig, making her promise to keep that a secret. That got the first smile out of her in several days.
"Anyway, I sat him down an' started talkin' to him. O' course, I thought he already knew most o' the stuff abou' our world, but he was completely clueless. Yeh shoulda seen his face when I said he was a wizard. Eyes as big as Galleons, and he couldn' shut his mouth, he was so surprised." Hagrid smiled fondly at the memory. "Seems like it was jus' yesterday tha' he was so little an' didn' have a clue 'bout nothin'. But now… well, he's grown up alrigh'."
Ginny nodded, thinking that Hagrid had a tear in his eye that he was refusing to wipe away. He sniffled once and then looked at her brightly again. "I'll bet he never told yeh abou' the time we saw dragons with yer brother, Charlie."
Somehow, as Hagrid recounted years of memories he'd made with Harry, Ginny started feeling better. It reminded her of better times, and that there could still be hope for times like that again. Some of the stories made her laugh, and some made her question how Hagrid had managed to keep a job teaching children, but they all continued improving her mood.
Hagrid had just finished telling her about how excited Harry had been after his first few weeks at Hogwarts, when she said, almost wistfully, "If only he could've stayed that happy."
Hagrid smiled at her. "Believe it or not, I've seen him happier, yeh know?"
"When?" Ginny asked, finding it hard to imagine another time in Harry's life that had been that happy. Maybe after he'd won the Quidditch Cup?
Hagrid's chuckle was uplifting. "I seem ter remember a month at the end o' last year when he spent an awful lot o' time with a girl with red hair. Don' think I've ever seen him happier."
Ginny's cheeks were red, but she smiled still, even though that made her almost as sad as it did happy. "I wish he was here. It's been so hard doing all this without him. And it's been so long without him that I'm starting to forget little things. I'm worried everyone's gonna forget if it keeps going on like this. I just… if he could just show up, even for a little bit, I think everything would be easier for everyone."
It pissed her off that it was impossible, but Hagrid seemed intrigued by the possibility. "Well, I don' think he'll be able ter show up here any time soon. But… maybe we could do summat to get folks' spirits up. We can remind everyone abou' him and wha' we're fightin' fer."
"Like what?" Ginny asked, excited by the idea, as unrealistic as it seemed.
"I think Rosmerta would help me get butterbeer in here. If we could sneak folks down here… maybe we could put together a party ter show our support for Harry, or summat like that. I dunno. Jus' a thought, but if yeh really think people need summat ter be happy 'bout righ' now, I'll do whatever I can ter help."
Ginny nodded slowly, feeling more resolved than she had in at least a week to do something that mattered. She was stronger than this. She missed Harry and everyone else so much, but she couldn't let it keep her from doing what she had to do. And it wouldn't be possible to do it if everyone was stuck in paralysing despair. Besides, this wouldn't be the worst Valentine's gift for Harry, even if he'd probably never find out about it.
Her smile was as wide as it had been all day, hearing stories of Harry. "Let's do it."
Ginny suddenly woke from her dream. She exhaled slowly and closed her eyes again, allowing herself a moment to breathe after the emotional whirlwind of that dream. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Harry standing next to the bed, smiling at her, and her heart leapt happily.
Then he was in bed again, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her. He was real, and this was real. And it was already an infinitely better Valentine's Day than any she'd had before, particularly last year's. No matter what, they weren't going to be separated again.
"Happy Valentine's Day," Harry whispered to her as he kissed all over her face, making her giggle.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Harry," Ginny answered, kissing him soundly once more.
He looked so happy and perfect and real that Ginny almost lost her breath. "I love you," she added quietly.
"I love you so much," Harry replied with another kiss before rolling halfway over and slapping his hand blindly on the table by their bed. "I got you something."
"You didn't have to–"
Ginny was interrupted by Harry looking back at her, holding a flat box and a single rose. "I know. It's not much, but I just wanted to–"
It was her turn to interrupt him, taking the box from him with a kiss. She laughed when she opened the box to reveal a dozen Exploding Bonbons.
"I figured it was kind of tradition at this point. Besides, chocolate and flowers is a pretty good first Valentine's gift, right?"
"Definitely," Ginny agreed, raising the rose to her nose to smell its delicate fragrance. She wasn't sure where Harry had gotten a rose from– maybe he'd conjured it himself, considering they didn't grow these in any of the school greenhouses. "I'm just sorry I didn't get you anything." That wasn't completely true, but he'd find out soon enough.
"Believe me, all I need is to be with you today."
His intense look, like she truly was all he wanted, made her smile uncontrollably. "Me too," she replied seriously. "So what do you have planned for us today, Mister Potter?"
He chuckled at her sudden formality, which admittedly did seem a little out of place while they were in their pyjamas in bed. "That's a surprise, Blaze. If you wanna find out, we're gonna have to go to Hogsmeade."
"I wouldn't have complained if you'd said that we're just gonna stay in bed all day," Ginny responded, and Harry looked like he was considering it for a moment before shaking his head, smiling still.
"I promise, we'll have plenty of time for that. But I think you'll like what we're doing in Hogsmeade."
He seemed so eager to show her that Ginny didn't delay too long in getting out of bed. It's not like Harry was complaining about the extra snogging anyways.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
It had taken some time, but Harry had finally figured out what he thought would be the perfect way to spend Valentine's together. He'd gotten up much earlier than Ginny to get it ready, and now, he was just excited to see if she liked it.
They took their time walking the path towards Hogsmeade, strolling hand in hand without a care in the world beyond each other. As they drew closer to the village though, Ginny started trying to get him to reveal the surprise.
After the third or fourth attempt, Harry rolled his eyes and smiled at his persistent girlfriend. "The only thing I'll tell you is that it's not Madam Puddifoot's."
Ginny snorted. "That's good. You'd have to find a new girl to go with if you were planning on going there for Valentine's."
"Yep, that's the woman I love," Harry laughed. Ginny just smiled sweetly at him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, wanting to be even closer to her.
A few minutes later, they were walking through the village without stopping anywhere. He didn't see any of their friends, who were likely already in their own private corners of Hogsmeade.
"Okay, so it's not The Three Broomsticks, and I'm pretty sure it's not The Hog's Head. That leaves… actually, I've got no clue," Ginny said, sounding a little frustrated that she hadn't worked it out. Harry would've been stunned if she'd guessed anything close to what they were actually doing.
"Harry, you do know we've left Hogsmeade, right?" Ginny asked after a moment, glancing around at the trees lining both sides of the path.
"Yep. It's just right around this corner," he assured her.
"Okay. Just don't go crazy and try to kill me or anything," Ginny joked.
"Like I could take you anyways," Harry teased back, making her laugh and sending his heart soaring again. "And here we are!"
Ginny looked around, apparently very confused. "I'm not stupid, right? Because there's nothing here."
She was technically right. They were on the opposite side of Hogsmeade from Hogwarts, on a path nobody ever took. In front of them was a secluded clearing, nestled between the trees that were blanketed with the snow that had fallen overnight.
"Not yet," Harry corrected before sending a jet of fire to melt a patch of snow in the middle of the clearing. He could feel Ginny watching as he raised his wand again to cast warming charms on the area, using a spell Hermione had used several times while they were on the run last winter. Finally, he conjured a large blanket and several pillows for them to recline on together.
Ginny's expression was one of pure joy. "This is perfect!"
Harry laughed as she jumped on him in a hug before they sat down on their blanket together. "This isn't even the best part. Accio Basket!"
He and Ginny watched as a small dot near the castle grew larger and larger until it landed at his feet. "I thought we could have a picnic," he said hopefully, gesturing to the basket in front of them.
He didn't realise that Ginny's smile could get even wider. Her eyes were shining happily. "I love it," she told him earnestly, making him smile proudly. He'd gotten it right.
The house elves in the kitchen, led by Kreacher, had done brilliantly, packing a lunch of sandwiches, cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, and butterbeer. He and Ginny tucked in eagerly, devouring several sandwiches before sharing desserts, feeding each other the strawberries in a way that was somehow silly and romantic at the same time. He was in heaven by the time they finished eating and lay back on the blanket together, looking up at the sky through snow-covered branches.
"I was a little nervous about all this. It took me forever to decide what to do. I just wanted it to be perfect," he admitted.
She turned onto her side to look at him. "You know, I think every day I spend with you is pretty perfect."
Harry reached up to brush a piece of hair away from her face. "Me too. I just thought… it should be special, considering we didn't get to have one last year."
Ginny nodded, probably feeling similarly even if she hadn't wanted to say anything about it. But the happiness in her eyes chased away any possible negative feelings for both of them. "This feels pretty special to me. I'm on a Valentine's Day date with you. We're happy, and we're safe. And we've got a lifetime of Valentine's Days to look forward to."
He smiled as he kept brushing her hair. "Nobody makes me happy like you do. I love you so much for that, Gin."
Ginny's eyes were sparkling when she leaned forward to kiss him softly. "Right back at you, Potter," she replied quietly before kissing him again.
A while later, Harry remembered that he had something else for Ginny. "You know, some blokes would probably be thinking about proposing to the girl they want to marry on Valentine's Day…"
Ginny sat up very quickly, looking at him with an almost inscrutable expression. He was fairly certain she looked interested and possibly excited by what he was saying.
"I'm not one of those people though," Harry laughed, and Ginny reddened slightly as she swatted his shoulder.
"Not cool," she muttered, even though she didn't seem too upset.
Harry sat up now. "Were you actually expecting me to propose to you today?"
Ginny hesitated before shaking her head slowly. "No, not really. I mean… I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it, but I sort of figured we'd probably have more serious conversations about something like that before you actually… popped the question or whatever."
She hadn't seemed distressed about the possibility of him proposing though. Then again, with all the jokes they'd made over the past few months about it, it was pretty safe to assume they were both pretty comfortable with the idea of it. Even if they'd never really sat down and talked about it yet.
"I want to do that too. Not today… but soon," he promised, definitely meaning it.
Ginny nodded firmly. "Deal. So was there something else you were gonna give me other than a ring, then? Or were you just being mean for no reason?"
Harry chuckled. "No, I do have something. What I've got is probably more valuable than a ring. It's the deepest thoughts of my heart."
Ginny's eyes widened as she looked incredibly interested. Harry fought to keep the grin off his face, looking at her eagerly adoring expression. And then he went for it.
"Her eyes are brighter than all the twinkling stars. Her hair's as red as a fiery blaze. I'm so glad she's mine, she's really divine. The hero who deserves all my praise."
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
Ginny was on her way to Transfiguration when she saw Harry coming the other way. Quickly, she tried to fix her hair, even though it probably wasn't any use. If he was going to pick a day to notice her though, this was the perfect one.
Those hopes vanished as he was tackled, rather brutally, by a dwarf holding a harp. Her heart sank, hating that she had to watch him receive a singing Valentine from some other girl. She wasn't surprised that other girls had realised how perfect he was though.
As Harry wrestled with the dwarf, her attention was pulled away by something that had fallen out of his bag in the midst of the scuffle. Lying on the stone floor, ignored by everyone, was the diary. How had he found it? She'd tossed it in that girls' bathroom nobody used ages ago. Why was he carrying it? Her heart almost stopped. Was Tom talking to him like he'd talked to her? Was he telling Harry everything she'd said about him?
Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, she heard the dwarf begin singing a familiar verse.
"His hair is as dark as a blackboard," the dwarf crooned in a crackly voice.
Ginny wanted to melt into the floor, unable to hide her embarrassment. So maybe she had written that in her diary at home last summer after Harry came to their house, but she never would've sent that to him like this. She wanted his attention, but she didn't need to use a dwarf to get it.
She covered her face and prayed that it would end quickly. The laughter around her continued ringing out, and she felt certain that Harry would hate her if he ever found out she was the one who had written it, even if she hadn't sent it.
Ginny looked back up when she heard a commotion and the laughter ceasing. Harry and that prat Draco Malfoy were fighting over… the diary. She wasn't sure who she wanted to have it less. Either way, she was afraid that she'd need to get it back for safekeeping. The last thing she needed was Harry finding out anything she'd said about him.
Of course, Harry had no problem dispatching Malfoy and retrieving the diary, and Ginny felt her mind racing, trying to figure out how she could get it back without him knowing she'd been the one to take it. She was about to walk into the classroom when Malfoy locked eyes with her.
As loudly as he could, he announced, "I don't think Potter liked your Valentine much!"
Horrified, Ginny covered her face again and ran into Transfiguration. She didn't know how he'd guessed that, but now Harry would think he was responsible for it when it wasn't even really her fault. Her roommate, Mia, tried to comfort her, but Ginny was too distraught to pay too much attention to her. She had to get the diary from Harry. But after what had just happened, she also thought she needed to pay a visit to her twin brothers, feeling very sure that they were responsible for the singing Valentine that had just derailed her chances of impressing Harry anytime soon.
Ginny's jaw was hanging open. "I cannot believe you just did that."
Harry grinned like he was extremely proud of himself. "Neither can I. It was hard to match the syllables up, but I think I did a pretty good job. I mean, I'm no poet, and I didn't use a dwarf like you did, but I liked it anyways."
He didn't even know, and it was hard for her to keep from laughing. "Harry… I guess we never talked about it, but I wasn't the one who sent you that singing Valentine."
His eyes widened, like he couldn't possibly believe that. "What do you mean? Everyone thought it was from you."
She shook her head. "No– I mean, I did write the poem while you were at our house the summer before that year, but I wouldn't ever have sent it to you like that. Fred and George found my old diary that Christmas and sent it without me knowing. They told me they were just trying to mess with you anonymously and didn't plan on me being there to see it all, but… well, you remember."
Harry still looked a little surprised, but he did crack a smile at her explanation. "You know, that makes a lot more sense. I mean, it was awful at the time, but when I was writing that for you a couple days ago, I started wondering what you were thinking, sending a dwarf after me to deliver a poem like that."
She giggled. "Yeah, it definitely wasn't me. I take full responsibility for the terrible poetry, but the delivery was all Fred and George."
"It wasn't an awful poem," Harry protested, and Ginny rolled her eyes.
"I know you're my boyfriend, but you don't have to say everything I do is perfect. I was barely eleven when I wrote it. It's okay that it wasn't good. I know how much it embarrassed you anyways."
"No, it's… well, you're right, it's not great. Not that I've got any room to judge anyone for their poetry skills. But everyone laughing at it… I think they were laughing more at me being wrestled to the ground by a dwarf than the poem itself."
"I compared your eyes to a fresh pickled toad," Ginny reminded him.
He grinned so easily that she almost believed he saw that as a good thing. "And nobody's ever said that to me, before or since. It might be the most unique compliment I've ever gotten."
She rolled her eyes again, laughing at his silly compulsion to always be fully affectionate with her. "You must really love me to say something nice about that."
"Well, yeah. Didn't my poem confirm my undying love for you?" Harry asked, laughing at himself.
"Your version was way better than mine. And very adorable," she said, kissing him in gratitude. "Which makes this next part even funnier."
"Next part?" Harry asked.
Ginny winked at him. "His love is as deep as the largest oceans. His strength is as great as an earthquake. His smile brings me joy, my fears he destroys. Forever my heart is his to take."
She could've lived in the moment of Harry staring at her, speechless with love and awe, forever. He seemed too stunned to say anything, which made her redden with pride.
"You– wow. That was way better than mine," he finally said, and Ginny laughed.
"I dunno. I thought yours was pretty great," she replied.
He shook his head. "Not like that. That was something else."
Now he leaned over to kiss her, and she smiled against his lips. "I can't believe we both had the same idea."
"Almost like we're connected or something," Harry responded, smiling fondly at her.
"Something like that," she agreed, returning his smile. She lay back down on the blanket next to him and kissed his cheek. Her hand rose to feel the locket he'd given her for Christmas, shaped like a heart and embossed with their initials, just like the tree that held proof of their promise of forever.
"We really are gonna be together forever, you know?" Ginny said, so quietly that she thought Harry might not have heard her.
But she could practically hear the smile on his face when he answered. "I'm counting on it. Next year, my poem's gonna be even better."
They laughed together as Ginny rested her head on his beating heart. He kissed the top of her head before breathing deeply. "I love you, Gin."
She kissed his chest, hugging him tighter. "I love you too. Thanks for– for being here. That's all I wanted for the best Valentine's ever."
The confidence in Harry's promise covered her like a warm blanket, feeling the security and love his words brought. "I'm never leaving you again."
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A/N: I hope you all appreciated arguably the biggest plot twist of this entire book! Come on, there's no way in the world that Ginny actually sent a dwarf to deliver the Valentine to Harry! For what it's worth, literally the only canonical 'evidence' for Ginny being the one to even write the poem is Malfoy saying it came from her, which makes no sense if you really think about it. I wouldn't dare not make her the author of the poem because it's hilarious and amazing, but taking Malfoy's word for it is a little sketchy at best. Just personally, I think that even when Ginny was at her most desperately lovesick as a young child with Harry, it wasn't ever in her character to have someone else be the one to deliver that message, especially in an embarrassing fashion like that. Fred and George finding the poem (which, by the way, is a reference to the box of Harry stuff she keeps under her bed with Christmas gifts) and then pranking Harry makes wayyyy more sense to me, so that's my canon now!
Ginny's other memories build off things from way back at the beginning of SoR. She told Harry about Sam Collins, the first student the Carrows went after, in Chapter 4, and she and Harry talked about their missing Valentine's Day in Chapter 6, specifically how Ginny and Hagrid sort of used it to launch the planning for the eventual Support Harry Potter party that led to Hagrid going on the run before the Battle. I have to say that I absolutely loved getting to show Hagrid being a kind of father or uncle figure for Ginny in that memory because he knew her (and Harry) well enough to know that he was doing the exact right thing in how he was talking to her, and I just think it was a really sweet moment between them, when we don't really see them alone all that often.
In case it's not obvious, I'm not a good poet haha. I don't think I'm particularly eloquent with words even in my normal writing, but poetry is a whole different thing. It was way harder than I would've expected to get the syllables in both Harry and Ginny's poems to match up right, but I'm like 97% sure they do, and the poems make sense, so that's about the best I've got! I had the idea of them doing that for a long time before I wrote it, but I put off writing the poems as long as I possibly could… unfortunately for me, it's not the last time Harry and Ginny will ever write poems for each other haha! If only there was someone in charge of this universe that could keep that from happening…
That's about all the notes I have for this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed a very romantic Valentine's Day with Harry and Ginny, particularly considering how bad their last one was! But even though the romance will obviously continue, we've got a lot more action coming next week…
Coming Friday: Fired Up- Three months between matches was way too long for this feeling to come around again.
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Sirenstrong0617: Awww, thank you so much! That means the absolute world to me, and I hope you continue loving this story as we keep getting further into it!
Padfoot-Prongs05: Haha, I really appreciate that! I wish I could do multiple chapter releases a week too, but my goal is to have Book 3 ready to start releasing as soon as I'm done releasing Book 2, and releasing once a week has allowed me to be relaxed with my writing instead of it taking up all of my time. If I kept on with two chapters a week like I did with SoR, the final chapter of this book would actually be released today, which makes me crazy anxious to think about considering I want to have way more of Book 3 done before then. I promise the waits will be worth it!
Finnspa23: Hahaha, you're right! And now, the HP/Mary Poppins/MCU crossover I've been planning can finally start!