Harry sat up, rubbing his head gingerly and blinking slowly, thinking that he might have passed out for a moment.

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

Professor McGonagall fixed her with a typical hard look. "Weasley, as you know, this meeting is for you to discuss your career ambitions in order to be sure you take the correct classes in your sixth and seventh years. Have you given any thought to your future after Hogwarts?"

Of course, Ginny had known that this meeting was coming. It just hadn't occurred to her that she might find it difficult to really think much on what she wanted out of her future. She wanted to play Quidditch more than anything, but that wasn't exactly the most pressing concern anymore.

"Staying alive would be a good start," Ginny replied dryly.

McGonagall's stern look flickered into a small smile. "I'd venture to guess that's everyone's top priority. I'd suggest Defence Against the Dark Arts for that."

Ginny snorted to herself. "Yeah, I'd like to keep doing that. I dunno… I like most of my classes, other than History of Magic and Astronomy. Do I need to know what I want to do right now, or is it okay to just stick with the classes I want to take?"

McGonagall surveyed her closely, pursing her lips. "It isn't necessary to have a career ambition, but it would be prudent to have something in mind, Weasley. The hope is that, one day, you'll be able to enjoy whatever future you have planned."

Ginny nodded, looking at the pamphlets scattered around the desk. One in particular caught her eye. She reached forward and took it, spinning it around to look at moving image of a man flying on a broomstick. Above the man were the words 'British and Irish Quidditch League.'

"This is an option you help students with?" Ginny asked, holding the pamphlet up.

McGonagall's eyebrows raised slightly. "Madam Hooch typically handles helping interested players. But yes, it is most certainly an option that some of our most talented students pursue. I believe your brother considered it for a while."

"If this was… something I was interested in, are there any classes I'd have to take, or could I just do whatever I want?"

"There are no educational requirements to become a professional Quidditch player. I feel I should mention, like I do every time a student expresses an interest in this path, that professional athletics is a risky career. I can say without reservation that you are a highly gifted player–" Ginny blushed at the surprising compliment "– but promising players do not always become professionals. I wouldn't advise you against this if it is what you want, but you should consider having a second plan in case things change."

"I– I'll think about that, Professor. But if that's the case, is it okay if I just take what I'm taking now, minus History of Magic and Astronomy, next year?"

"Yes, that'll be fine, Weasley. You're free to leave, but please do continue giving consideration to your future beyond Quidditch. Just to be safe."

Ginny nodded and exited McGonagall's office, still holding onto the B.I.Q.L. pamphlet. She looked down at it again, opening it to read about the recruitment process, which wouldn't even happen until her seventh year. She still had two more seasons left, plus the upcoming match against Ravenclaw.

There was something else nagging at her a bit, with McGonagall urging her to consider her future beyond Quidditch. Her relationship with Dean had been on the rocks for weeks at this point, and it was impossible to not consider what a possible future would look like with him now. The thing was that she just didn't see it. She didn't see a future with Dean. And she kind of doubted that he saw one with her either. Ever since their fight after the Quidditch match, when he'd made fun of Harry's injury, they'd basically been walking on dragon eggshells around each other, which didn't really feel healthy to her. She'd told herself that she was giving him one last chance, and so far, he'd been about as perfect a boyfriend as anyone could be.

But her feelings remained unchanged. When she thought about her future, allowing herself to forget the death and destruction that lay beyond Hogwarts, she wasn't thinking of Dean. Instead, she imagined playing Quidditch for the Harpies. And maybe in the family box, cheering along with the rest of her family, there might be a black-haired boy with round glasses and an adorable smile. Maybe. That was really just in her head, and in a future so far away that she couldn't really think on it too much. There were more important things at hand for now. The future would come when it was ready.

"Our future after Hogwarts?" Ginny asked, pretty sure that she'd heard him correctly the first time.

"Er– yeah. Like… I really want to talk about it."

Ginny pulled her legs underneath her and turned to face him completely. Even though there wasn't much light, she could see that he was wearing a serious expression, although his cheeks were a little red.

"Okay. Let's talk about it," she replied, letting him make the first move on whatever it was he wanted to talk about. The possibilities running through her head were making her heart race though.

Harry nodded before seeming to realise that he actually had to say more. "So… I guess the first thing is that I think… well, I wanted to talk to you about it, but I've been thinking a lot about it for a while, especially since the last match, and I– I really think I want to play Quidditch after we graduate."

He said it like it was some unexpected bombshell, but Ginny had been hoping to hear this for a while now. She laughed as she hugged Harry. "That's great news! Now that you've said that, I'll be honest– I was really hoping you'd pick Quidditch."

He laughed too. "Really? I never would've guessed."

"Hey, I did my best to hide it! I guess I didn't do that very well, but I tried at least to not influence your decision."

Harry smiled at her as he absently trailed his fingers over her arm. "It's okay. Honestly, I was leaning towards it, but I really started thinking that it was the right decision after the last match. I realised that I didn't want our match against Slytherin to be my last ever Quidditch match."

"That makes a lot more sense. I thought you were taking it all in because you were realising that you were almost done with Quidditch," Ginny replied, very grateful that she'd been wrong in that assumption.

"Nope, not at all. But… well, I still wanted to talk to you about it, you know? Before I really start talking to teams and everything. Because if we're both playing professionally, chances are we'll be on different teams, so that might make it hard to find a place to live together."

"Harry, you do know apparition exists, right? It's not like we would have to live wherever we were playing."

"Yeah, I know that. I just thought it might be inconvenient, you know. Like if you were playing for Holyhead and I was in Portree or something. I don't want you to feel like you're giving up part of the experience if you're not living in the same town."

Ginny placed a reassuring hand on his knee. "I won't feel like I'm giving up anything to live with you. Once we know where we'll be playing, we'll figure out where we want to live, and if we both have to apparate to make it to our teams, that's fine by me. This–" she pointed between the two of them "– is always the most important thing to me. If Quidditch is what you want to do, then you're going to play Quidditch, and I'll support you the whole time. Except when we play against each other."

They laughed together before Harry exhaled and leaned back against the tree. "I'll never understand how I got so lucky." He raised his hand and cupped her cheek, and Ginny leaned into the touch. "I love you for that. For us being the most important thing because it is to me too. More than anything."

Ginny kissed his hand. "Is that on the list then?"

He laughed again. "Definitely."

"You know, I'd love to see the full list at some point," she joked with him.

"Maybe one day. It's still growing though," he said, giving her a very loving look that made her kiss him.

"So… we're both gonna be playing Quidditch and living together next year. I like the sound of that future," Ginny said a moment later.

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, me too."

"Was there anything else you were wanting to talk about?" Ginny asked curiously, having an idea but not wanting to pressure him if he didn't want to discuss anything further.

Harry swallowed a little nervously. "Um… actually, there was something else."

Ginny nodded expectantly. "Okay…"

"So Hermione told me earlier today that–"

"You talked to Hermione today?"

Harry flushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Er– yeah. I kinda sent her a Patronus last night and asked her to meet me."

"For what?" Ginny asked, rather perplexed at the apparent urgency of whatever Harry had to talk to Hermione about.

"I needed her advice on… well, this."

"Oh," Ginny replied simply, thinking she might have a better idea of what had happened now and growing appreciative of Hermione.

"Yeah. So Hermione told me that if I was gonna propose, I needed to know what your answer would be already. But we haven't ever talked about it seriously. It's all been jokes or brief mentions, so I wanted to talk to you about it for real."

Ginny's eyes were wide, and her mouth was a little dry. "Propose? Like… propose propose?"

Harry cleared his throat and nodded, his cheeks beginning to redden. "Yeah. If– if you're not ready to talk about it, that's–"

"No!" Ginny quickly cut him off. "I want to talk about it. I was just surprised."

He exhaled in near relief and smiled. "Well I did tell Hermione I wanted to surprise you with a proposal."

"You're not– this isn't how you're proposing, right?" Ginny asked, wanting to be sure he had a little more sense and that she hadn't spoiled the whole thing.

"Merlin, no! No, not at all. But I am wanting us to talk about it– marriage, I mean– if you want to. I was telling Hermione that I didn't know if other people, like your family, would think we were moving too fast, or if you would. But–"

"Do you think we are?"

Harry shook his head. "I've been ready to marry you since last summer. Remember when we fixed the Room of Requirement?"

Ginny smiled at the memory. "You drank Rowena's wit sharpening potion. And after it was fixed, you said that after we graduated, you were gonna marry me. Do you remember what I said after that?"

Harry narrowed his eyes for a second before widening them and wetting his lips. "You said… whenever I asked, you'd say yes."

"That hasn't changed. I don't care if everyone else says we're insane or stupid or whatever else. When you ask, I'm gonna say yes."

Harry's grin seemed to break up the darkness of the grounds. He hugged her tightly. "I love you."

"Believe me, I really love you too," she responded, tilting her head up to kiss his cheek. "For the record though, I don't think anybody's gonna be upset about it. Mum may be a little… hesitant, and Charlie will probably give you a load of shit, but… I mean, we're already godparents together, and we practically live together already anyways. It can't be too much of a surprise."

"I guess not. I'll talk to them at some point about it," Harry replied, a little more casually than she would've expected.

Ginny blinked before smiling. "You're gonna get their permission?"

"Well… I mean, that's the thing to do, right? Maybe– maybe not permission from your brothers, but I'd like your parents to be okay with it."

Ginny kissed him again. "You are unbelievably adorable, Harry Potter."

He chuckled. "Why won't the Prophet ever print anything like that instead of the usual stuff?"

"Probably because I'd hex anyone else who called you adorable," Ginny replied, perhaps a little fiercely, which only made Harry laugh more before he looked at her seriously again.

"Just to be clear, and I'm not saying I have a plan or anything because I really haven't thought about it at all, but I wanted to check with you just in case. Would you have a problem with me proposing before we graduate? I dunno if that would make things awkward for you since you'd have a ring and everyone would know."

She shrugged and shook her head. "No, I wouldn't mind. Something tells me that whenever it does happen, it'll be in the papers pretty quickly anyways, so I don't care when you do it. It'll be perfect regardless."

"No pressure," Harry commented sarcastically, making Ginny giggle.

"Don't even. You've been completely on top of romantic gestures for the past year. Whatever you end up doing, I'll be surprised and it'll be perfect and I'll say yes."

Harry smiled and kissed the top of her head as she leaned against his shoulder. "Don't make me wait too long though," she added. "Now that you've brought it up, I'm gonna start getting impatient, and I will propose to you if you take too long."

He laughed. "I thought you could handle waiting after last year."

Ginny shook her head. "Nope. That was a one time deal. I will never be that patient again."

Harry brushed his lips against her ear. "I promise it won't be too long."

Ginny felt goose pimples running down her arms. "Good." A moment later, she added, "Not that I'm complaining at all, but what was the rush with having this conversation now? You couldn't have waited to talk to Hermione until we went back home in a couple weeks?"

She thought Harry blushed a little as he ruffled his hair with the hand she wasn't holding. "I sorta realised… after I saw Teddy walking and you with him yesterday, it like… felt like everything shifted, almost. And all I could think about was how much I wanted to marry you and have a family, I guess."

If she'd been excited by what he'd said to this point, her heart was absolutely bursting now, and she couldn't help but smile at him. "So that's what did it, huh? You've liked the preview and want the full parent gig now?"

"Not– I mean… I guess I would like that. Our hands are pretty full right now, but… yeah, I've definitely thought about having kids. With you, in case that wasn't clear."

She squeezed his hand. "I've definitely thought about it too."

"Really?" Harry asked, sounding a little surprised.

"Yeah, of course I have. Seeing you with Teddy, it's like… hard not to think about having our own kids someday. It's definitely something I want in the future for both of us. Not anytime soon though."

"Agreed. Teddy's still really young, and we're gonna be busy starting our careers."

"Plus, I'd definitely like to enjoy married life for a while without any kids," Ginny added with a wink that made Harry grin. "Have you thought about how many you'd want, or if you'd want boys or girls?"

"No, not really. I'd like to have a couple though, close enough so they can be friends with each other. And I guess… this is gonna sound dumb, but I think it'd be nice to have a daughter that looks like you."

Yet again, Ginny was unable to keep herself from kissing him, which made Harry laugh. "We really should have these conversations more often if I'm gonna keep getting kisses for it."

"When you're this sweet, I'll always kiss you," she informed him.

He laughed. "I'll keep that in mind, then. So what about you?"

Ginny had given a little more consideration to the question already. "I would really like at least one of each. But I can't handle as many kids as my mum had, so I'd give up after three or four if we didn't have a daughter."

"Honestly, that's a relief. I wouldn't be able to handle that many kids either," Harry said, grinning with that relief actually evident in his voice. "But yeah, that's a long way away."

"Yeah, I want to have at least a few seasons under my belt before we start getting serious about it since I'll have to take a lot of time off for it. I am glad we're talking about it though. I like thinking about this sort of stuff."

"Me too," Harry agreed. "And it'll be totally normal to have conversations like this when we're married too," he added, sounding very excited at the prospect.

Ginny kissed him once more. "I like the sound of that. So we've covered our careers, marriage, and kids. Is there anything else you were wanting to talk about?"

Harry thought for a moment before an excited look spread across his face. "How do you feel about a late night flight?"

HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG

Between flying and even more fun things in their bedroom afterwards, Harry felt like he was sleepwalking the next day. McGonagall took advantage of that in their weekly combat transfiguration lesson, nearly fracturing Harry's skull with a stone bust of some Muggle with a beard and a rather sharp helmet.

"I would ask, Potter, that in the future, if you must break school rules for romantic dalliances, don't let it interfere with your studies. Sir Bedivere could've seriously injured you."

Harry sat up, rubbing his head gingerly and blinking slowly, thinking that he might have passed out for a moment. Then he realised what she said. "Er– sorry, Professor. It won't happen again." He also thought there was a decent chance that the statue had seriously injured him and hoped, if he passed out again, that she'd take him to the Hospital Wing instead of lecturing him.

"The rule breaking or falling asleep in our lesson?"

Harry started to lie but figured she wouldn't appreciate that. "I won't fall asleep again," he assured her, and he thought he saw her smile briefly.

"Are you ready to continue then?"

Harry stood, a little shakily, but nodded. McGonagall clearly wasn't going to let up on him because he was tired and possibly had brain damage, so he gritted his teeth and continued with the lesson. At this point, it was more just training and practice than anything else. He'd become very capable with the concepts behind it all, and throughout the course of the past few months, he'd proven his ability to transfigure all sorts of deadly objects, from knives to chairs to walls of spikes.

Today, McGonagall was testing him with incredibly heavy objects, like the stone bust that had tried to bust his head open. The challenge with these was that transfiguring them into something softer wouldn't make them weigh less, so he had to focus on changing both the weight and material of the object as it flew on a deadly path towards him. Harry was still displaying a knack for combat transfiguration though, and he took no more blows to the head from anything heavier or harder than a pillow.

Once the lesson was over, McGonagall was about to dismiss him when Harry thought he might as well let her know about his decision sooner rather than later so she wouldn't be hung out to dry.

"Er– Professor, I thought I should let you know that I've given a lot of thought to your offer to continue teaching next year, but I– I've decided that I'm going to play Quidditch instead."

He forced himself not to wince as he looked at her, almost wondering if he'd get some sort of rebuke for making a foolish decision, but McGonagall just nodded. "I can't say I blame you, Potter. You'll be an excellent player, just like you have been at Hogwarts. I do ask, selfishly, that if Montrose offers you a spot… give it some consideration, as a favour to me."

McGonagall seemed much younger to him in that moment. "Are you a Magpies fan, Professor?" Harry asked, smiling in spite of himself.

"Born and raised," she affirmed with a proud nod. "We're not particularly in need of a Seeker at the moment, but I am still holding out hope that you or Weasley end up playing for them."

Harry chuckled. "I'll be sure to tell Ginny to consider any offer she gets from Montrose then. Sorry it means you're stuck trying to fill the Defence position though."

McGonagall waved her hand dismissively. "I expected that I'd have to do it after the fiasco with Grimhall. You've given me several additional months to find a replacement, and I do still appreciate that greatly. And I will tell you the same thing Kingsley did when he offered you a Ministry job– if you ever change your mind, there will be a job waiting for you at Hogwarts."

"So Kingsley talked to you about it?" Harry asked, unable to help his curiosity.

"He talked to Albus and I about it before offering you the position. We all agreed that you were well-suited for it, but, as usual, Albus proved how well he knows you when he warned Kingsley that you would turn him down."

Professor Dumbledore winked at Harry from his position above McGonagall's chair. McGonagall continued, "I personally expected you to take a break from it all and disappear for a few months."

Harry tilted his head. "Really? Why?"

McGonagall gestured to a newspaper in front of her. "After all the attention you have received, justly and unjustly, I believed you might have called it a job well done and tried to return to a private life."

"Ah– I guess I've just come to terms with the fact that the papers are gonna say what they want about me. It doesn't really bother me. After everything we've been through, I'm not gonna let some writers make me feel like I can't live the life I want."

McGonagall smiled, more than usual. "This may be obvious, but nobody can accuse you of lacking bravery, Potter."

"He does, however, possess an inordinate amount of stupidity, declining positions at the Ministry and Hogwarts in favour of playing a child's game."

Harry rolled his eyes before casting a disdainful look at Snape, who was responding with a smug look of his own.

McGonagall sighed frustratedly. "Honestly, Severus. Harry has earned the right to pursue whatever he chooses. He's given more than enough already without anyone expecting him to continue serving as an Auror or a professor."

"I seem to recall you being interested in playing Quidditch, once upon a time, Severus," Dumbledore added in a serene tone that made something click for Harry.

"You were jealous… of my dad, for being good at Quidditch, weren't you?"

Snape's nostrils flared. "I'd be careful, Potter. It'd be a pity for–"

"You don't get it, do you?" Harry asked, almost feeling sorry for the man. "You're dead. You can't threaten me. And even if you were still alive, do you really think I'd be afraid of you now?"

McGonagall seemed to be a little amused at how Harry had shut Snape up, and it was clearly effective enough– Snape had disappeared from his portrait altogether.

"I wasn't wrong," Harry added, even though he really didn't need to worry about defending himself.

"No, you were not. I wish his temperament had improved now that he's confined to his portrait, but unfortunately, he still seems to be the same Severus," McGonagall said disappointedly. "If there wasn't anything else though, it would be best for you to leave before he returns."

Harry chuckled and stood. "Sure thing. Thanks again, Professor," he said, nodding to both Dumbledore and McGonagall before leaving, rubbing his head and wondering if he needed to see Madam Pomfrey.

Ginny made the decision for him. Thankfully, Pomfrey wasn't concerned with the damage, saying that she'd seen him with far worse injuries in the past, so Harry was still able to practise that evening with the rest of the team.

Unfortunately, having no lingering effects from his hit to the head meant that they didn't have an excuse available to use in order to skip attending a Slug Club dinner a few days later. They'd only had to attend one since the start of the winter term, and they were just as dull as ever. The one bright spot was that Harry and Ginny could relax with Astoria and Owen, and thankfully, Slughorn seemed to pay them less attention as he'd expanded their group over the course of the year.

Now, there were close to fifteen students in the club, as opposed to the seven that had been present at the first meeting they'd attended this year. Slughorn had apparently decided that winning the Scavenger Hunt earned Emily and Lucy spots at the table, and Emily was thrilled to be there, even if Lucy appeared completely bored. She barely answered any of Slughorn's questions about her older brother who played for the Tutshill Tornados. Most of the other additions were fourth years or younger, but Harry was more than a little surprised to see Anton Shafiq back at the opposite end of the room from Emily, who didn't seem to care at all that he was there. Anton kept glancing at him nervously, and Harry decided that he wasn't going to be drinking anything at dinner.

"Did you know he was going to be here?" Ginny whispered to Astoria while Slughorn was talking loudly to a Ravenclaw boy.

Astoria apparently didn't need any clarification on who Ginny was talking about. "No, I didn't. But… I know you won't want to hear this, but he hasn't done anything wrong since then." Seeing their indignant expressions, she continued quickly, "It doesn't excuse what he did to Emily at all, and I honestly can't believe he's here regardless. I don't think he should be here, but he does seem to be attempting to change, unlike the others who were a part of it. I suppose Slughorn has seen that, not that that makes it okay. I'm just glad Emily doesn't seem bothered by him."

"There's no way he'd try something again, now that he knows we're all onto him," Owen added, trying to reassure them.

Ginny didn't seem convinced, but, now, Anton was looking at them like he could tell they were talking about him, so they dropped the subject completely. Harry didn't know whether Astoria and Owen were right or not, but he wasn't about to risk being slipped another potion regardless, which meant he was parched when they were finally able to escape Slughorn's office.

That inspired a thought as they entered their common room. "You know, when we go to Hogsmeade next weekend, we should see if Rosmerta would sell us a case of butterbeer or something. It'd be really nice to have that upstairs."

Before Ginny could answer, someone else asked, "You want a butterbeer?"

Harry was surprised to see Dennis Creevey sitting nearby with a Divination textbook in his hands, looking expectantly at him. "Um– yeah, I wish I had some right now."

Dennis gave them a crooked smile. "You want one too, Ginny?"

"Sure…" Ginny answered cautiously.

"Wait one second," Dennis said, leaving his Divination textbook on the table and running up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

"I'm gonna be really impressed if he comes back with two butterbeers," Ginny said, crossing her arms while they waited.

"I'm gonna be really happy if he does," Harry replied with a grin. "Man, I do not miss this stuff at all," he added, looking down at the textbook, which was opened to a page about prophecies.

"Divination? Or prophecies?"

Harry chuckled. "Both, actually. I was talking about Divination though. Never learned anything in that class."

"I'm glad Hermione talked me out of taking it. I thought it sounded really interesting, but after her bad experience with it, I didn't bother."

"Honestly, I don't know if it's the teaching or the material. It just seems like a load of guessing," Harry replied. "Or, at least, that's how Ron and I did it."

"That's how I do it too," Dennis agreed, walking over to them holding a bag that was making a faint clinking sound. "Don't open this down here or everyone will be asking for it. I really only share after Quidditch matches."

"Hang on. You're the one who smuggles butterbeer here from Hogsmeade?" Ginny asked incredulously.

Dennis shrugged like that was obvious. "Who'd you think did it? I've been doing it ever since I found this secret passage to Hogsmeade behind a statue on the third floor a few years ago. I guess the Carrows filled it in last year though because I had to clear it all at the start of the fall term. Took bloody ages."

"Did… anyone show you that passage?" Harry asked, knowing exactly what he was referring to.

Dennis shook his head. "Nope. Found it myself. It's worked out brilliantly though. Everyone loves the stuff, and when I've got extra, I can make some pocket money."

Harry was a little surprised that Dennis had somehow managed to figure out how to access the passage to Honeydukes without having someone to tell him the password, but apparently there was quite a bit he didn't know about Dennis.

"Not a bad plan," Ginny commented. "Thanks for sharing these with us for free."

Dennis brushed it off as he sat back down. "No big deal. Nice distraction from trying to decipher prophecies."

"She's having you decipher prophecies?" Harry asked, not remembering that from when he took Divination in his fifth year.

"Yeah, sort of. She told us to pick a method of divination and explain how to interpret it as best as possible to someone without the 'Inner Eye' thing she's always going on about. I think she's just trying to get us to tell her how to teach everything better since none of her students ever have that ability. But I picked prophecies because… well, there's rumours that she's actually delivered prophecies before, and sometimes, she'll say stuff that doesn't sound like her normal voice, and I've read that that could be a sign of delivering a prophecy."

Harry and Ginny were both intrigued by that, having much more knowledge about the prophecies that Trelawney had delivered than Dennis did. "What is it that she's saying?" Harry asked, pulling up a chair to sit across from Dennis. Ginny followed his lead.

"Some really weird stuff. It's all broken up, you know. I've only heard one clear line: 'eternal circles and burrowing dangers collide.' Whatever that means. And she says 'spring' a lot. Sometimes it's 'shadows spring,' but other times she'll just keep repeating 'spring,' almost like a stutter. And there's other weird stuff, like slanted streets and something hanging. I dunno. I'm pretty sure she's a little too into the sherry when she's talking about that though. I imagine any street would look slanted when you're that far gone."

"Yeah… I think she just makes stuff up sometimes too," Harry admitted, thinking that sounded much different than the two actual prophecies he'd heard Trelawney give. Next to him, Ginny nodded, but she was frowning and looking down at the table.

"I dunno. I was thinking I'd make something up for that prophecy, if it even is one, but I've got no clue what it means. And she doesn't seem to remember whenever she says parts of it anyways. If you ask me, she's off her rocker. I might be better off switching to tea leaves or something."

Harry chuckled and stood up. "Just a tip if you go that route– when all else fails, the tea leaves look like the Grim. She'll eat it up."

Dennis grinned. "There's an idea. Sounds way easier than making sense of her ravings."

"I'd say so. We'll leave you to it though. Thanks for the drinks," Harry replied. "Gin," he added, putting a hand on her back when she didn't come with him.

She blinked and looked up at him. "Right, sorry. Just thinking about that prophecy thing. Night Dennis," she said, smiling at the prefect before they walked up the stairs together.

Harry gratefully began drinking the butterbeer as soon as they entered their dormitory. "I can't believe he found that passage, but I'm so glad he did."

Ginny didn't seem to process what he said. "Did you think that prophecy stuff was a little odd?"

Harry raised his eyebrows as he took another swig. "No," he responded once he swallowed. "You weren't ever in class with her. That sounds pretty much like how she always was. She's getting older too, so maybe it's getting a little worse, but I doubt there's anything in it. Dumbledore only kept her around because he didn't want Riddle finding out about the prophecy, not because she was actually good at Divination."

Ginny nodded and took a sip of her butterbeer. "I guess you're right. It's just weird… some of that stuff Dennis said sounded a little familiar."

"Burrowing dangers? You think someone from the Burrow's gonna do something dangerous?" Harry joked, which only made Ginny chuckle and roll her eyes.

"I can see why you were never any good at Divination."

"Hey, I took three years of it! I'm more qualified to be interpreting prophecies than you."

"Right. And you got what on your O.W.L.?"

"Poor," Harry answered, shrugging. "It's all made up anyways though."

Ginny laughed. "Whatever you have to tell yourself to feel better."

"It is!" Harry protested, but Ginny only laughed more. He had a feeling he wasn't going to win this debate.

HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG

Compared to last term, this one had been a breeze. Classes were harder, but that was to be expected. Otherwise, neither of them had had to fight anyone, whether that be school bullies or a psychotic professor, and there hadn't been anything quite as diabolical as the Veritaserum or Polyjuice. The worst they'd encountered since the winter term began was their boggarts, dishonest newspapers, and a black book in Ginny's locker, which all felt easier to look past for some reason. Somehow though, the more peaceful term had rushed by very quickly, and suddenly, it was the end of March, only a week before the Easter holiday.

The weekend promised to be a relaxing one. Their professors had all apparently decided to spare them from extra homework, knowing that the N.E.W.T.s would be demanding all their free time once they returned from the holiday, so all Ginny and Harry had planned was a visit to Hogsmeade with some of their friends. If they could get them all on the same page.

"We could be out practising instead of going to Hogsmeade," Demelza suggested at breakfast. "It's not raining or anything. Perfect flying conditions."

"I swear, the day you think about literally anything other than Quidditch, you'll…" Mia started before trailing off.

"I'll what?" Demelza challenged, leaning across the table towards her.

"You'll… enjoy it more. Honestly, you're obsessed. It can't be healthy," Mia replied, shaking her head.

Demelza scoffed. "You're right. I am obsessed. Nothing wrong with that, right Ginny?"

Ginny really didn't feel like getting involved in this tired argument between the two of them, but she nodded anyway. "I'm obsessed with Quidditch. But it's okay to do other stuff too. Which is why we're going to Hogsmeade."

"Exactly," Mia said smugly, even though Ginny hadn't fully agreed with her.

Demelza rolled her eyes, and when Mia turned to talk to the other seventh years, Ginny whispered, "Maybe we can get some practice in later today."

Demelza grinned and didn't say anything more about Quidditch around Mia. A short while later, they left the Great Hall, meeting up with Luna, Astoria, and Owen on the way to Hogsmeade.

"No Noah this weekend?" Ginny asked Luna teasingly about the boy she seemed to be dating.

Luna remained unfazed. "No. I told him I wanted to be with my friends today."

"You could've invited him," Astoria said, smiling to herself.

Luna blinked a couple times before replying. "Yes. I could have."

Owen, Harry, and Demelza all chuckled at that, but Luna didn't seem to notice, and none of them mentioned Noah to Luna again. They reached Hogsmeade shortly after and began walking around the village. They knew they were going to stop at The Three Broomsticks later in the day, but until then, they contented themselves by browsing the wide variety of shops. It wasn't a surprise that many of them would've been happy to spend the entire day in Spintwitches Sporting Needs, but Owen and Astoria encouraged them to spend some time in Dervish and Banges. Everyone could agree on packing into Honeydukes and buying far more candy than any of them really needed though.

Properly laden down with bags of candy, they continued their journey around Hogsmeade, passing by Zonko's on the way to The Three Broomsticks.

"I wish that place hadn't closed down," Demelza commented, causing everyone to look at the shuttered storefront that hadn't been tended to in more than a year.

"It's kinda weird that it hasn't ever come back. I mean, everything's safe. If the owner was in hiding, they should've come back by now," Owen added.

Everyone was quiet, having stopped to look at the joke shop. Ginny knew that none of them wanted to say what they were all thinking. It'd been almost a year since everything had ended. If the owner still hadn't come back, there was a decent chance they wouldn't ever return.

To their great surprise, the door to Zonko's suddenly opened. Next to her, Mia and Astoria both flinched. Ginny was more surprised at who was walking out of the store.

"Hey sis!" George exclaimed, smiling at her. "Great timing!"

"George? What are you doing here?" Ginny asked as she moved to hug her brother.

"That's top secret information," George asked, glancing suspiciously at the group of her friends behind her before grinning. "Nah, I'm just kidding. It's a business trip. I was gonna pop into the pub in a bit to see if you were there though."

"You thinking of buying the place?" Harry asked, walking up next to them.

"Nope, I'm not thinking about it. I just did."

"You bought Zonko's?" Ginny asked, incredibly surprised and delighted by the news.

"Yep. Just finished signing the papers with the village. It's mine now."

"That's great! I guess business has been good since reopening in Diagon Alley?" Harry asked.

George chuckled and nodded. "That'd be an understatement. We're busier than ever. Percy and Lee told me that we basically had to open a second location just to make it easier to handle the demand. And you know, Fred and I almost bought Zonko's a couple years ago, so it made a lot of sense."

"So the old owner…"

George shook his head and frowned. "Hasn't been seen in more than a year. The village took ownership of the shop a couple months ago."

Ginny sighed while Harry pressed his lips together tightly. George clapped him on the back. "Come on, let's go to The Three Broomsticks. It'd be great to meet your friends," he said with a grin that made Ginny slightly worried about what he might tell them.

Mere minutes later, Hannah was seating them at a large table in the back of the pub, and everyone George didn't already know was introduced to him.

"You were one of our best testers," George remembered, pointing at Demelza with a grin.

"Testers?" Astoria asked as Demelza chuckled at the memory.

"Yeah, they gave us free products they were developing to try out. I got out of so many History of Magic classes with that Nosebleed Nougat."

"Were you the one that had the week long nosebleed?" George asked, almost academically.

Demelza shook her head. "Nope, that was Sue. She's a year younger than me. Pretty sure I haven't seen her eat candy since then, actually," she said thoughtfully.

"Sorry, you were testing products on younger students?" Astoria asked, in disbelief, reminding Ginny of Hermione's reaction to their experiments.

George nodded like it wasn't an issue. "Yeah, that was the only way we'd work out the kinks like the week long nosebleed. Nothing too bad ever happened though."

Owen snorted. "Tell that to Sue."

"I stopped eating candy that year too," Mia recalled. "People kept swapping out normal stuff with your products. Isabella passed out at dinner once because of your Fainting Fancies. Took an hour for us to figure out what had happened."

"That seems really irresponsible," Astoria said, apparently conflicted between her typical humour and her sense of responsibility as Head Girl.

"Eh. Maybe a little, but we always tested the stuff on ourselves first. And we've got more… ethical testing methods now," George assured her. "Honestly, when you think about it, those kids got a steal. We sell boxes for ten sickles now."

Astoria smiled at his logic and shook her head exasperatedly. "Yeah, I wish I still had some," Demelza said. "Get this store opened over the summer, and you'll have loads of people packed in there."

"That's the plan. Hogwarts won't know what hit it next year," he replied proudly.

"It won't be your problem," Owen said, seeing Astoria starting to say something. "That's for whoever the next Head Boy and Girl are."

"Ah, I had no idea you were Head Girl," George said, looking amused. "Makes a bit more sense. Hermione gave us hell for it when she was a prefect, even though Ron and the sixth-year prefects never said anything."

"To be fair, they all were using your Skiving Snackboxes too," Ginny remembered, thinking about the time she saw Lucas Rathmani vomiting his way out of a Potions class.

George grinned. "Well, yeah. There was that. Those were the good old days," he said before getting a faraway look in his eye.

"I liked that year too," Luna agreed. "I made friends that year."

"We were friends before that, Luna," Ginny reminded her.

Luna nodded. "Yes, we were."

George became a little more subdued in the conversation after that, but he did still chime in periodically as they reminisced about that year. Everyone present had been part of Dumbledore's Army, other than Astoria, who seemed fascinated by the stories they were telling. It was fun to relive that time, aside from the deadly risks they put themselves in, and nobody mentioned the Department of Mysteries.

"I think a lot of us heard rumours about what was happening. I guess– well, most of the people I heard about it from were trying to catch you all," Astoria said apologetically.

"At least we were pretty good about hiding," Harry said. "Most of the time, anyways."

George didn't seem to be in a rush to leave, and they didn't have anything else to do, so they stayed at The Three Broomsticks for several hours. Neville joined them for a while after visiting with Hannah, and when he left, they all seemed to realise that it was growing late.

"I'd better get going. We've gotta do inventory back at the shop tonight," George said, standing from the table.

Everyone else rose with him and began walking towards the exit after paying Hannah. Once they left The Three Broomsticks, something seemed to catch George's eye before he disapparated. Ginny followed his line of sight and saw that he was looking at Dennis Creevey, who was walking towards Honeydukes, presumably to take the shortcut back to Hogwarts.

"Alright, I'll see you all," George said, clapping Harry on the shoulder.

Ginny gave him a hug. "We'll be home next weekend, but since the first is before that, happy early birthday!"

George pulled back with his brow furrowed and lips pressed into a tight line, and Ginny immediately realised what she'd said. "George, I'm–"

He shook his head and cleared his throat. "No problem. Thanks. I'll see you next weekend."

George turned and walked stiffly away from them, rubbing the back of his head as he did. Ginny sighed and turned back to look at her friends, who'd watched the awkward exchange and pretended they didn't notice anything wrong. Harry did though. He had a sad look on his face, following George's path away from them.

"Let's get back to the castle," Mia suggested, pulling everyone's attention away, and Ginny and Harry trailed behind the rest of the group as they walked towards Hogwarts.

"I'm an idiot," Ginny muttered.

"No you're not," Harry immediately responded.

"I am. He's been doing so great recently, and I just go and remind him of that without even thinking about it. It was stupid."

Harry caught her hand, and she considered pulling away for a second before relaxing. "I promise that you didn't remind him of anything. He talked about Fred a lot with us today– way more than usual. I– I think he probably spent so much time with us because it was easy to remember happy memories of Fred instead of thinking about the birthday coming up."

"He must be hurting so much," Ginny whispered.

Harry squeezed her hand, but he didn't say anything more about it until they reached their bedroom later in the night.

"Are you feeling okay? I know you're worried about George, but… I dunno. I just thought I'd ask."

Ginny looked at him for a second before shrugging. "I don't know. I miss Fred, and I feel terrible for George. What he's going through has to be so much worse than anything I'm feeling, and I–"

Harry interrupted her. "Nope. You don't get to say that."

"It is worse, Harry," Ginny responded firmly, but he shook his head.

"You can't compare that. You've said it to me before. Your grief, your feelings… they're yours. You don't need to feel like they're not valid because of what someone else is going through."

Ginny exhaled slowly before feeling a lump growing in the back of her throat. "I just– I miss Fred. And this is the first birthday he's missed."

Harry's arms were around her as the first tears fell. It'd been months since she'd cried like this for her brother. It felt like she was releasing so much pressure that had built up inside of her, missing him. She loved and adored George, but she couldn't help but remember that Fred should've been there too every time she was around him. She couldn't even begin to imagine how difficult it was for George.

"I miss him too," Harry said quietly, kissing her head and running his fingers soothingly through her hair. Ginny sniffled and nodded against his chest, but she couldn't say anything more. She didn't need to. They both knew how badly they wished Fred could've been here to celebrate his birthday.

Ginny was asleep when she heard the screams. She jolted awake and heard her mum screaming again. Panicked, Ginny threw the covers off herself and had just stood up when her door was flung open.

"We have to go. Two minutes," Fred said, without a trace of amusement in his face, before running back up the stairs without any further explanation.

They'd discussed what they might have to do if they ever needed to run, but Ginny hadn't expected it to happen in the middle of the night while she was home on holiday. There wasn't any time to think though. She scrambled around, shoving random clothes into the largest bag she had without bothering to see if they matched. She grabbed her wand and, without thought, her stuffed lion, Roary. She placed Arnold inside the bag too, just for now. He'd forgive her later. For the briefest second, she considered grabbing the box under her bed but decided she didn't have time to carry something that heavy.

Less than a minute after Fred had come to her room, she was on the landing outside her bedroom, where she almost ran her mum over. Her mum was pale and shaking terribly. Her dad steadied her mum as the twins ran down the stairs.

"Aunt Muriel's parlour. One of you take Ginny," her dad instructed.

George immediately grabbed her. "Hold on," he said, and Ginny held his arm tightly as she caught one last glimpse of her bedroom before it all vanished into a blur.

A second later, she felt solid ground beneath her again. Her heart was pounding as Fred and then her Mum and Dad arrived in the darkened parlour of Muriel's house.

"What–" Ginny began, but her mum shushed her.

Ginny watched as her dad's face screwed up in concentration. He was muttering under his breath as he waved his wand in a series of complex patterns. After a very long minute, Ginny felt the faintest breeze moving through the house, and her dad exhaled like he'd been holding his breath.

"Can any of you tell me where we are?" her dad asked very seriously.

Ginny opened her mouth because the answer was obviously– wait. Where were they? She saw her brothers and mum wearing similarly confused expressions. Her dad exhaled again.

"It worked then. I've never cast a Fidelius Charm before. We're at Aunt Muriel's house."

Of course. They'd all apparated into the parlour of Aunt Muriel's house. That explained why she hadn't been able to remember before. But that didn't explain why they were there.

"What happened?"

Her dad and mum exchanged a worried glance, and Ginny could almost feel a cold hand gripping her heart. Next to her, Fred and George seemed to not have any more idea than she did.

Her dad sighed, and she heard the worry in his voice with the very first words he said. "Bill sent us a Patronus. Said the Death Eaters were coming. That's all we know."

"But… how would he know that?" Ginny asked.

"Unless…" Fred said quietly, staring at the ground.

"We don't know yet. I'm going to send a Patronus to Bill to tell him where we are so we can find out what's going on," her dad answered before sending his weasel Patronus through the window.

Ginny's heart felt like it was in her throat and she could almost hear Tom Riddle's whispers as they sat in Muriel's parlour. Nobody had bothered to wake her yet, until they knew more. She likely wouldn't care if their lives were in danger or not– she'd be more concerned with them dirtying her house.

They'd been waiting a minute or two when a large silver Patronus– Bill's husky– burst through the wall of the house.

"Be there soon," Bill's voice said.

"He must be safe then," George said as the husky faded away.

Her parents nodded, but they still looked worried, like how she felt. Nobody else said anything. They all just waited. And waited. The nervous tension in the room continued building as time seemed to crawl by. Just when Ginny thought she couldn't possibly take any more waiting, there was a flash and a crack, and Bill was standing in the middle of the parlour, wearing a travelling cloak and looking more than a little out of sorts.

As if they'd rehearsed, they all started bombarding him with questions, but he couldn't possibly answer them all at once, so he raised his hands until they quietened down.

"What's going on, Bill?" her dad asked once everyone else was silent.

Bill's face was grim, almost wolflike, as he sat down in a wood chair. "Ron, Harry, and Hermione are at Sh– um… they're with Fleur now."

Ginny almost lept out of her seat, and the rest of her family reacted similarly, bombarding Bill with questions again. "Merlin, let me finish talking and then I'll answer the questions," he interrupted loudly.

"They showed up close to an hour ago with Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Ollivander, a goblin, and a house elf."

Ginny's jaw nearly dropped. She didn't think she could've put together a more unlikely group to be with the trio if she'd tried.

"They haven't told us much yet. They were captured by Death Eaters. The others, other than the elf, were already prisoners. They escaped with the elf's help before You-Know-Who showed up, but the elf was dead. Ron told me Bellatrix Lestrange threw a knife at them as they disapparated, and it hit the elf. Hermione's badly shaken up– Ron didn't want to talk about it, but it's… pretty clear she was tortured there. The goblin's legs are broken, but Fleur will be able to help with that. We cast a Fidelius Charm, so we'll be safe."

Ginny was still in shock, but she was immensely grateful when her mum asked the question burning within her. "And the others? Ron and Harry, are they okay?"

Bill nodded. "I'd say everyone else is about as okay as you could expect them to be. They're all really thin, and they look exhausted, but they're not injured. Ron's been pretty attached to Hermione since they showed up, not like that's a surprise. And Harry… I think he'll be okay, but the house elf dying has really affected him."

That sounded like Harry. Always caring more about others than himself. And Ron being attached to Hermione was completely expected. He probably still hadn't said anything about how he felt about her either.

"Did they say anything about what they've been doing?" Fred asked, and Ginny guessed this was because Fred and George had been speculating about this for months now. It was part of the reason they'd started Potterwatch with Lee in the first place.

Bill shook his head. "Not yet. They may talk more later, but they're all pretty quiet right now."

"Can we go see them?" Ginny didn't even realise she'd asked a question until she heard the words in the air. All she could think about was that several of the people she cared about the most were all at– she couldn't remember where Bill lived.

To her surprise, Bill was the one who shut her down instead of one of her parents. "I really don't think that's a good idea. I'll talk to Fleur about it in a couple days, but like I said, they're all really shaken up right now. And it's pretty obvious, looking at Ron, Harry, and Hermione, that they haven't finished whatever it was they're doing, and they had their reasons for not telling any of us about it before. I'm guessing that hasn't changed now. And we also really don't want to tell anyone the secret of where they are, just to keep them as safe as possible."

Ginny didn't particularly care about their mission. She just wanted to see them. All of them– even Dean– although she would've been lying if she'd said that her other ex-boyfriend at wherever Bill lived wasn't her main motivation.

She must've been making that obvious from her expression because Bill said, "I'm sorry, Ginny. But they're safe. That's more than we've known in months."

Ginny sighed and nodded. She wasn't entirely in agreement with Bill's judgement, and if she could apparate and knew where it was, she'd probably already be at Bill and Fleur's house, but she was forced to be okay with just the news they had. And that news was incredible. It just would've been easier to celebrate if she didn't know how close she was to being able to see them and not being allowed to.

"That's the best news we could've gotten," her mum said, almost like she was reading her mind. Ginny was positive that her mum was having just as difficult a time knowing that she couldn't go there either.

"Honestly, that's about the best birthday gift we could've gotten," Fred commented, leaning back on the sofa like he could finally relax now.

In all the chaos, Ginny hadn't even realised that it was, indeed, very early on the first of April, Fred and George's birthday.

"I'm still holding out for a new ear, but this is pretty good too," George added with a grin, and somehow, everyone in the parlour was laughing.

Ginny could breathe again. There was no cold hand gripping her heart anymore. Tom's whispers were gone. For today at least, they were all safe, even if they weren't all together.

"I think we'll be celebrating quite a bit today," her dad said, smiling even though his concern for the rest of his family still was present in his eyes.

"Right, because your sons turning twenty isn't a good enough reason?" Fred joked.

Bill chuckled and stood up. "I'm going to get back and see what's going on at home. If there's any news, I'll let you all know. Otherwise, stay safe, and happy birthday, you two."

Her oldest brother hugged them all before disapparating, returning to wherever her friends were. The mood in the house flattened slightly after Bill left, but it was still a massive improvement on them all fleeing the Burrow without knowing anything about what was going on.

Ginny had been right– Muriel's first concern when she woke up and found them all was that they'd ruined the rug in the middle of the parlour because "magic just doesn't clean right." After they explained the gravity of the situation to her, she was pissed off that they'd made it her problem and came to live with her when they surely had "dirty Muggle friends who could've helped."

After that, they decided to try and avoid Muriel as much as possible, which wasn't too hard. She lived in a very large house, which made Ginny wonder how she could afford it when her family had always struggled with money. Then again, Aunt Muriel wasn't exactly the type of person to share something as important as money.

Once they got out of her way, the day improved drastically. Ginny couldn't help but keep wondering about what was going on at Bill's house, but she was able to allow herself to enjoy the twins' birthday. The only game they had was Exploding Snap because George had been smart enough to stuff it in his pocket before they left the Burrow, and they learned that her dad was actually a master at the game.

"You've been holding out on us," Fred accused with a grin.

Her dad chuckled. "I did make a fair amount of money at Hogwarts with this game."

"Arthur! Don't tell your children you were gambling," her mum scolded.

"Sorry, Molly," her dad apologised, but when her mum wasn't looking, he winked at them, and Ginny had to hold in her laughter.

Towards the end of the day, after they'd eaten cake that her mum had somehow convinced Muriel to let her make and her parents had gone to bed, she was back in the parlour, sitting with Fred and George.

"I can't believe they're okay," Ginny whispered to herself, but they both heard her.

"Neither can I. Now we're gonna have to lie on the show about not knowing anything," Fred replied, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "Remus was just on the one last night, convinced that Harry was still alive. I suppose we can't tell anyone that we know."

"Probably not. But at least we know," George replied solemnly. Fred and Ginny both nodded, and they sat together for several minutes with nothing but the ticking of an old clock filling the silence.

"I'm gonna tell you both right now," Fred suddenly said, sitting up straighter with a grin on his face, "Next year for our birthday, we're all going out to a pub and getting completely pissed. Even you, sis. You'll be of age. And you'll bring that specky boyfriend of yours, and he probably won't be able to handle his liquor, so you'll be holding his hair back and trying to keep his glasses from falling in the toilet."

Ginny and George were practically rolling with laughter at the idea of Harry getting drunk. George worked out through his laughter, "Maybe Ron will finally fess up to Hermione if we get him drunk too."

"Fat chance," Ginny managed.

"I dunno, George. I reckon we might have to confund him to get him to start thinking straight on that," Fred replied.

That got them all laughing again. Ginny was wiping tears from her eyes as they finally calmed down. They'd just needed something to laugh about, and it felt so good to let herself laugh.

"It's a deal then. Next year, we're gonna go to a pub, make The Chosen One hurl, and play matchmaker for ickle Ronniekins. I already can't wait for our twenty-first, Fred," George said with a wide grin and his arm slung around his brother's shoulders. And they all laughed again. It was easier to do that when everyone was safe, even though none of them knew for sure how long it would last. They were safe for now, so they could laugh as much as they wanted.

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

A/N: There we have it! Finally, some clarity on their plans for their future! Obviously, with their luck, anything can happen, but it's nice to finally see that they know what they want, both in a career and with everything else. The future is definitely a difficult thing though, so I'm going to have to recuse myself from talking anymore about it because I don't want to risk spoiling a thing!

I feel like every time Snape comes up in my writing, it's in an incredibly negative context, which like… isn't entirely unfair. Him calling Harry inordinately stupid is totally in character though, because Snape being on the right side at the end didn't magically change his personality to make him less of a bully. I feel like him being jealous of James is absolutely implied, and Dumbledore is totally trying to give Harry that piece of information when he brings it up. That doesn't excuse James bullying Snape in any way, to be clear, but it is an important part of that relationship to me that had to come up eventually.

Slughorn's another character I admittedly am not a big fan of, and I feel like he'd absolutely give Anton another chance if he thinks having him in the Slug Club would be worth it. Even if Astoria is completely right about Anton trying to change, it's still crazy to have him there while also inviting Emily, but, honestly, Slughorn would be the one person I could see doing it.

Every once in a while in the books, it's mentioned that butterbeer would be smuggled into Gryffindor Tower, and there's never any mention of who actually did it. That was one of the ridiculously unimportant questions I wanted to answer in this book, and I loved the idea of an existing character being responsible. Dennis has shown a penchant for mischief as early as falling into the lake on his first day to tricking Harry into speaking at Colin's funeral, and I loved choosing him, especially considering he's also a prefect. It just felt like a great fit, and this won't be the last sort of mischievous thing we learn about him doing in this book either!

Zonko's is mentioned as being closed in one of the first Hogsmeade visits of HBP, and, later that year, Fred mentions that they were planning on buying it before changing their mind because people weren't going to Hogsmeade anymore. So it made sense to eventually have WWW officially expand to Hogsmeade, especially since it goes to show just how successful things are with the shop in Diagon Alley. If it does eventually get opened, that would be huge for George, Percy, Lee, and everyone at Hogwarts! And, speaking of WWW, I have to say that Demelza isn't ever actually mentioned in the books until HBP, so she isn't 'canonically' one of Fred and George's testers, but I will die on the hill that she would've been one of the first people in line to try out any of their products.

There's never any specific mention of how the Easter holiday works at Hogwarts, as far as where Easter tends to fall in the break. The way I've written it is that the holiday is two weeks, and it basically goes wherever I need it to go in relation to Easter for timing to make sense. For some reason, I really, really loved the idea of Harry, Ron, and Hermione escaping Malfoy Manor on Fred and George's birthday. That would've been like 11 days before Easter in 1998, so it does *technically* work, even if that's not really great design for a break. But yeah, there's no real date in the books for when they get captured and escape, other than we know it's some day in late March or early April. So I figured I'd take that creative liberty and say they escaped on 1 April. And yes, this is more thought than JKR ever gave to looking at a calendar and making dates match up in all seven of her books combined. Also, as a random aside, I had to check several times to verify, but they do escape Malfoy Manor in the middle of the night in the book, while the film makes a change and has them arriving in the middle of the day, so, in case that was confusing, I definitely misremembered the book scene at first too.

There's so many issues with the Fidelius Charm that this scene in the books presents that I won't get into here, but if anyone's interested, I can elaborate in the comments and explain my theories. I tried my best to make things make sense in the memory, at least. For fun though, in that scene, I made Bill's Patronus a husky. I felt like it being a dog made sense for obvious reasons, and huskies are known for being one of the toughest and smartest dogs, which I thought described Bill pretty perfectly!

And with that, we are heading on to a chapter that has some highs, some lows, some romance, some family, and, possibly, drinking to excess! I can't wait!

Coming Friday: Take a Shot- He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting– the Weasleys were some of the most competitive people he knew.

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KidChaos: I'm glad you liked it! I had someone on another site mention something similar about believing a Slytherin repeated their seventh year because they failed their NEWTs. It's so specific that I feel like it has to be right, but I haven't been able to find anything, either in the books or HP Wiki that specifically mentions it. The one thing I've come up with is that I believe in some printings of PS, Flint is said to be a sixth year, but since he's in the books through PoA, it's implied that he failed his seventh year. The digital version I use has him as a fifth year, but my physical copy of the books has him being a sixth year, so that makes sense to me!

Percabethforever: Muchas gracias. Esto es un añadido perfecto al comentario anterior, pero no creo que sea posible suspender los NEWT hasta el punto de tener que repetir curso. Es posible que suspender los exámenes finales de Hogwarts suponga tener que repetir curso, pero dado que los NEWT los administra el gobierno, supongo que es más probable que la gente que suspenda pueda volver a hacerlos sin necesidad de estar en el colegio, en lugar de tener que repetir curso para volver a hacerlos. Pero eso es sólo lo que yo sé de los exámenes, así que tus suposiciones son tan buenas como las mías.

(Thank you so much! This is kind of a perfect addition to the comment above, but I don't think it would actually be possible to fail NEWTs to the point of needing to repeat a year. Failing Hogwarts' final exams could possibly result in needing to repeat a year, but since the NEWTs are administered by the government, I would guess that it's more likely that people who failed could take them again without needing to be in school rather than having to repeat a year of school to retake them. But that's just based on my understanding of the exams, so your guess is as good as mine!)

Dust1423: Oh totally, Ginny being protective of Harry is one of my favourite traits in her, and it's a joy to continue writing moments that show that, both in this book and future works! And Hermione definitely knows what she's doing with her advice- she's their biggest fan and also their relationship coach when they need it haha!

Melissa Cox: I know Harry and Ginny's conversation sort of addresses part of your comment from last chapter, but you're completely right about Harry being a typical guy. Something that I find in my writing is that, as developed as Harry and Ginny's characters are in canon, I see so much of myself in both of them in my writing, and it's cool to be able to give them each parts of my personality and traits that fit them. Harry wondering about whether Ginny would actually accept a proposal is absolutely how I would be in the same position. We're both a little clueless when it comes to feelings from time to time!

I'm so glad you liked the Easter Egg memory! I've added moments from earlier in their friendship that hint towards something more in the future, but that moment and Ginny kind of putting him in his place in Grimmauld Place in OotP are by far the two biggest suggestions before HBP of a future relationship, and it's very cool to get to see Ginny's POV of them. Although, to be fair, I haven't actually written that particular Grimmauld Place memory yet, but I am looking forward to it eventually! And I agree, Harry and Cho always felt strange to me, but it sort of fits with teenage infatuation not living up to expectations. The one thing that I love about that relationship though is that there were only a few things Harry and Cho had in common that made him attracted to her, and everything else was awkward. Ginny has pretty much all those same traits, plus a lot more in common with him, so he was sort of narrowing in on his 'type' before finding the right one!

Finnspa23: Thanks! I hope it lived up to expectations haha!

Lilly: Thank you so much! It would've felt a lot more angsty to have family conflict stemming from Ginny's decision to play Quidditch, and I don't think it would've fit at all with how I've characterised the Weasleys so far. They care more about being there for each other than anything trivial like careers or anything else! I'm also really glad you liked the scavenger hunt! It was a really fun, lighthearted way to make the second term seem more full of activity while also presenting chances to get to know Astoria and Owen better. Plus, it serves as a nice set up for a kind of big part of the rest of the book, which we'll learn a bit more about next chapter!