She'd made a lot of plans when she was younger.
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
"Where d'you want this?" Dean shouted as he levitated something above his head.
Harry squinted, trying to make out what it was in the dying light. "Is that the boggart?"
"No, I've got the boggart over here!" Astoria called out.
"It's the combat dummy!" Dean corrected.
Harry pointed to a space about a hundred feet from himself. "Over there! It'll be in the corner once this is all finished!"
While Dean followed his instruction, Harry added the finishing touches to a mechanism Professor Flitwick had helped him charm that would shoot disarming spells when someone approached.
"You know, the kids are gonna love you for this," Ginny commented as she walked up next to him, holding a cage of sleeping pixies.
"I got the idea from Remus. Remember the obstacle course he made when he was teaching Defence?"
Ginny smiled fondly at the memory. "I thought that might've been your inspiration. Great way to end your teaching career."
He chuckled. "I'll feel better once I know everyone didn't fail their exams."
She rolled her eyes and patted his arm before starting to walk away. "I think there's gonna be a lot more Os than usual this year."
Harry tried not to feel too proud at that thought as he made his way around the half-built obstacle course to thank all the Defence leads who'd volunteered to help him build it, even though they all had N.E.W.T.s to be studying for. This was really the first break he and Ginny had taken since she found Gryffindor's breastplate in the forest several days ago. Granted, they were cramming because they were returning home for a night since they'd gone a while without seeing Teddy and missed him, but everyone else hadn't necessarily been studying as much as them already. It said a lot that they were all completely willing to drop everything to help him out with this one final project for Defence.
Everything was in place, and Hagrid had offered to put walls up to make it more of a maze, which Harry thought was a great idea. With the daylight completely gone now, they all returned to the castle to make up for the studying they'd missed. Harry had thought studying for O.W.L.s was a lot, but N.E.W.T.s were somehow even worse. The one saving grace was that Hermione wasn't there. He loved her, but he was certain that if she had been there, he wouldn't have been able to be in the same room with her insane study habits.
Harry made a quick stop at Professor Flitwick's office while everyone else continued on to their various dormitories for the night. He wasn't surprised to see the professor marking up essays from behind his desk, even though it was rather late to be working.
"Ah, Mister Potter, how is that machine of yours working?" Flitwick asked in a squeaky voice once he saw Harry.
"It's great, Professor. I just wanted to stop by and thank you for your help."
Flitwick smiled. "Always happy to help. Particularly fellow members of the faculty," he added with a wink.
Harry grinned. "I'll keep that in mind. Have a good night, Professor."
"You too, Professor," Flitwick replied happily before returning to the large stack of essays in front of him.
Harry made it about halfway to Gryffindor Tower before he was stopped by someone he'd done a rather good job of avoiding all year.
"Hello, Peeves," he said in as neutral a voice as he could.
The poltergeist cackled and flipped in the air. "Goodness, me! Is that really ickle Potter, all by his lonesome?"
He did his best to keep from rolling his eyes. "It really, truly is."
Peeves giggled again. "No ball and chain today?"
Now he couldn't help but roll his eyes and started to just walk past Peeves, but, unfortunately, Peeves was persistent. "Potty's lost his ball and chain, time for Peevsie to have some fun again!"
Peeves swooped down and dropped a handful of chalk dust on Harry's head. He sighed, getting rather annoyed. "Why are you the way that you are?"
Peeves grinned. "Mischief and fun is my game, there's nobody who's the same!"
"Your rhymes aren't good," Harry grumbled.
Peeves turned upside down in the air and looked at him. "I've got a good rhyme! Potty can't catch a Snitch, and his girlfriend is a–"
"Langlock," Harry cast, shaking his head. "Really? That's the best you could do?"
Peeves, who was forcibly trying to detach his tongue from the roof of his mouth, suddenly stamped his foot in mid-air. Then he mimed drawing something in front of him, making four slanted lines: w.
"You really expect me to believe you meant to say my girlfriend is a witch?" Harry asked dubiously.
Peeves did a flip and nodded vigorously.
"Okay. In that case…" Harry waved his wand at Peeves but nothing happened. He shrugged. "Believe me, I meant to do the countercurse. Oh well."
He couldn't keep the smile off his face as Peeves made a rather rude gesture and bolted away, either to find someone to lift the curse or to wait for it to wear off on its own. He had to admit, it was pretty fun to mess with Peeves for a change.
Thankfully, Harry made it back to the common room without any further delays, and Ginny was waiting for him in their bedroom. He was expecting that they were going to try another round of studying Herbology flashcards, not that those were much help, but he wasn't too surprised when he saw that she was looking at a book of a very different sort.
"Thinking we'd better find the last piece?"
Ginny nodded, studying the ancient book. "Yeah. I found where the last–" she caught a glimpse of him and started smiling. "What's in your hair?"
Harry frowned and ran a hand through his hair. There was white powder on his hand when he pulled it back. "Ah– ran into Peeves. He threw chalk dust on me."
She smiled even wider and brushed it all out of his hair. "I hope you got back at him."
"Oh, I did," he promised.
"Good," she replied proudly. "So the last suit of armour label in the book was on a page about the kitchens."
"Makes sense, I guess. That was Helga Hufflepuff's room."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too. Just wondering how we can show one of her virtues once we're down there. Are we supposed to work in the kitchens for a day?"
He chuckled. "I doubt it. Maybe it'll be clearer once we get there. Are you wanting to go now?"
She nodded. "Yep. Just not feeling like studying right now."
"Sounds good. Although, every time I say I don't feel like studying, you still make me study."
Ginny smirked proudly but didn't have a reply. Instead, she grabbed his hand, leading him out of their bedroom. It wasn't quite curfew yet, but he did have the cloak with him, just in case it got to that point. The common room was so full of people engrossed in what they were studying that nobody paid any mind to them exiting through the portrait hole.
Harry checked the Marauder's Map as they were walking, not really wanting to run into Peeves again tonight, but luckily, the coast was clear, and they were standing in front of the giant painting of a bowl of fruit in no time.
"I've never actually been in here before. I know Fred and George used to all the time, but I didn't even find out that it was here until a year or two ago."
"I've only been in it once. There's a lot of elves in there, but they're really friendly. I'll let you open it for us though. Just tickle the pear."
Ginny cracked a small smile as she reached her hand out and tickled the pear. It squirmed and giggled before transforming into a green handle that she pulled on. The entire portrait swung open, and they quickly stepped inside.
Ginny's grin grew wider as she observed the massive room that was an exact replica of the Great Hall, but with a very large kitchen as well. There was no food since dinner was over, but there were close to a hundred house elves all bowing and smiling. Harry even thought he saw a few of them wiping away tears.
"Er– hello," Harry said just before an old elf stepped to the front and bowed low to the ground.
"Master Harry, welcome to the kitchens," Kreacher croaked.
Harry grinned and knelt down so he was at eye level with Kreacher. "Hey, Kreacher. How are you doing?"
"Master is asking how Kreacher is doing," Kreacher said in a distressed voice. "Kreacher is happy, sir. He is enjoying his work in the kitchens with other elves."
"That's great!"
Harry wasn't sure if house elves could blush, but Kreacher might've done the closest thing to it before bowing low. Behind him, Harry saw another familiar elf, with large brown eyes and a nervous temperament.
"Winky?" Harry asked in disbelief.
The elf nodded and shuffled forward slightly. "I is Winky," she confirmed. "I remember you."
He nodded. "I remember you too. I… er– I see you're not drinking butterbeer anymore."
She reflexively hiccupped before putting her hands over her mouth and shaking her head. "I has not drank anything in a year!"
That didn't sound exactly healthy, but Harry was pretty sure she was exaggerating. Or, at least, he hoped she was.
"Well I'm glad you're doing better."
Winky nodded and, hesitantly, said, "I is sorry about Dobby. I knows he was the greatest friend of Mister Potter."
Harry smiled, promising himself he wouldn't get choked up at the reminder of his old friend. "He really was. But he'd be happy to know you're both happy here."
"We is very happy, sir. Very happy!"
"That's great!" He glanced back up at Ginny, who was smiling affectionately at him but hadn't said anything. He suddenly remembered the purpose of their visit. "Ah– I have kind of a weird question. Do any of you know anything about crystal piece of armour that might be somewhere down here? It would be sorta yellow too."
Winky blinked twice. "Is gloves counting as armour?"
"Yes!" Ginny answered excitedly. "Gloves would definitely count."
She nodded. "We knows were those are."
Harry watched as, without instruction or communication, an elf grabbed a box from underneath the copy of the Hufflepuff table. The box was passed along from elf to elf until Winky passed it to Kreacher who passed it to Harry.
Harry looked back up at Ginny again, who nodded, and he lifted the lid of the box. Inside, on a white pillow, were two crystal gauntlets with traces of yellow inside. He passed the box up to Ginny, who took it before helping him stand back up.
"Thank you," Harry said gratefully. "I– we really appreciate it."
The elves, even Kreacher, were just smiling at them.
"Would Master like some food to take with him?" Kreacher asked.
"Ah– you know, I would, but we just ate dinner a bit ago. It was a great dinner though. You all did brilliantly."
Kreacher bowed again. "Kreacher is only asking because Master Creevey is often wanting food after dinner."
"Master Creevey– Dennis?" Ginny asked. "He comes down here?"
"All the time!" Winky replied happily.
Harry snorted. "I still cannot believe he's a prefect."
Ginny grinned and shook her head. "Thank you all for the offer. Maybe we'll come back down and get snacks soon."
They left the kitchen, followed by plenty of bows. Once the portrait was closed behind them, Ginny laughed out loud. "Hermione and Percy would have a fit if they knew what Dennis did as prefect!"
"I think it's brilliant. The school could use more of that," Harry replied, still laughing at it.
"No arguments here. So…" Ginny changed the subject just as quickly as she brought the first one up. "What do we do now that we've got all the pieces?"
Harry frowned, not having any idea what the answer to that question was. "Maybe there's something more in the book that we missed?"
She shrugged. "That's about the best place to start, I guess."
There wasn't anything more in the book. They reexamined the original message from the founders, but there wasn't anything there that said what to do once they found everything.
Ginny was rereading the passage yet again while Harry slid the gloves onto his hands. Like the other pieces, they were remarkably light, but he felt confident that if someone tried to cut his hand off, a sword or dagger would just bounce off the armour. He was about to place the gloves back in the box when he noticed a small strip of yellow at the bottom, underneath the white pillow. Curious, he lifted up the pillow and was greeted by the sight of what they'd been looking for.
He nudged Ginny and removed a brittle piece of yellowed parchment from the box. She looked on eagerly as he unfolded it, being careful not to rip it, and read:
You have almost reached the end of your quest. If you have not already, find all the emblems. On the summer solstice, unite the houses and unite the armour. It is the only way to complete your quest and prove your mettle.
"It's signed by Godric Gryffindor again," Harry added after reading the message aloud.
"Unite the houses and unite the armour. That's not vague at all," Ginny commented wryly.
Harry chuckled as he handed her the parchment, returned the gauntlets to the box, and got on his knees to slide them under the bed with everything else they'd collected. The floor underneath their bed was starting to look like a miniature Gringotts vault with all the glittering crystals.
He shouldn't have been surprised that he couldn't quite pull himself up using the bed, so Ginny quickly set the parchment down and helped him up. He kissed her hand in thanks, even if he wished desperately that he could've done it himself. It would make things so much simpler.
"Maybe… we need someone from each house?" Ginny suggested.
Harry nodded. "That makes sense. The pieces make up a full suit of armour. And the four houses make up Hogwarts. So maybe someone from each house has to help put it together?"
"I think that's it," Ginny said, smiling, almost in wonder, at the idea. "Or at least, that's the best idea we've got. Now we've just gotta wait four more days."
"I'm sure we'll find other stuff to do, between going home and studying."
Ginny waved her wand to put the lights out before climbing in bed. "We're gonna be busy."
Harry nodded and kissed her. "Busy's good."
As bad as N.E.W.T.s were, he couldn't possibly take being busy for granted now. He still carried guilt at the tragedy he'd put everyone through two months ago, even if it wasn't totally his fault. He knew how lucky he was to be able to be busy and know why he was busy. A busy life was a hard life, but he knew from experience that it was also a good life. Actually, it was more than that. Everything, from spending time with friends and family to searching for thousand-year old artefacts, made it a magical life. Especially Ginny. And, even though he didn't really have anyone to talk to about it currently, he was starting to get tired of her not having a ring on her finger.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
"Any questions?" Harry asked the massive crowd in the Great Hall.
Ginny recognised the girl raising her hand as the Hufflepuff first year who'd won the scavenger hunt with Emily a few months ago. In a nervous voice, Lucy Cruz asked, "We're not gonna have to do the same course as the seventh years, right?"
Harry quickly answered, "No, definitely not. We're gonna change the course for each year so that nobody's getting something they're not ready to handle. So we're gonna start out with the first and second years, then we'll make some changes for third and fourth years, then fifth and sixth years will go, and then the seventh years will go last with the hardest course."
The girl nodded, looking a little relieved. When nobody had any further questions, Ginny, Astoria, and Harry took the first and second years outside to run the obstacle course. Harry was to be inside the course, observing everyone's performance and helping if someone got stuck in one of the challenges, not that they expected that to be an issue.
The course for the younger students wasn't too difficult, and they wouldn't be graded on it anyways. Harry and the leads felt confident that everyone had attained enough skill to perform well, and Ginny was also pretty sure that Harry didn't want to deal with the hassle of grading all the students.
The first years went ahead of the second years, so Ginny spent some time encouraging the second years that she'd been leading all year. They were a pretty bright bunch, and she felt like they were pretty close to where she'd been at when she was their age and Remus was her Defence professor, which showed just how good a job Harry had done teaching this year.
"You nervous?" Ginny asked Emily teasingly.
Emily boldly shook her head. "Nope. I'm gonna kill it. And if I don't, my chair can get me away before anything hurts me!"
Ginny laughed. "You know Harry wouldn't let any of you be in any real danger, right?"
She nodded. "Oh, yeah. I know that. Still though, it can be handy having such a fast chair!"
"I still wanna ride on it some day," Margaret Ashford, a second year Ravenclaw, told Emily, who grinned widely.
"If you go faster than me through the obstacle course, I'll let you ride."
"Can I get that deal too?" Rebecca Lewis, a Slytherin second year, asked.
Within a couple minutes, Emily made deals with half a dozen of her classmates, and Ginny couldn't help but smile. There weren't very many people who could've taken the sort of thing that Emily had been through and found something good in it. It reminded her of George joking after he lost his ear. Because he acted like it was so normal, she didn't even notice it anymore, and the same was true for Emily being in a chair because she couldn't walk. She was still so buoyant and full of life that it was easy to forget the horrors she'd seen.
Soon enough, the first years finished with the course and it was time for the second years to go. Astoria came over and watched the line dwindling down as students emerged from the other side, celebrating the completion of the course.
"They're loving this," she said to Ginny, who nodded immediately.
"I knew they would. He gets kids better than he realises," she replied, watching as Emily took off into the obstacle course.
When Astoria didn't respond, Ginny glanced over to see her friend smirking. Ginny rolled her eyes. "Don't even," she said, even though she couldn't help but smile a little.
"I didn't say anything," Astoria responded innocently without the smirk leaving her face.
Ginny shook her head. "Whatever."
"I mean, that's good information to have. Just in a general sense, you know?"
"Mhmm."
A couple moments later, Astoria commented, very obviously, "He'd probably be a good dad."
Ginny used Emily finishing the course as an excuse to leave the conversation behind, running over to celebrate with her. When she glanced back though, Astoria was still smirking, not that Ginny could blame her. She'd be lying if she said that the thought didn't cause a bit of fluttering in her stomach.
Two of Emily's friends made it through the course faster than she did, but, once all the second years finished, she let all her friends have a turn on her chair while she sat on the ground and laughed at them speeding around her.
Ginny happily watched from a distance, waiting for the seventh years' turn. Astoria came back over and sat with her, but she didn't bring up any of Harry's paternal qualities again. Instead, she asked Ginny what the latest news was with her future Quidditch career.
Ginny and Harry had both received all their contract offers, which were sitting in a pile near their bed, untouched as they procrastinated, more interested in enjoying the last month at Hogwarts than cementing their plans for the years after. They still hadn't seriously talked about it since they'd received their offers, a little over a month ago.
"That's a great question," Ginny responded vaguely.
Astoria cracked a smile. "I guess you don't have an answer yet?"
Ginny shrugged. "Not really. Harry's got loads of offers to choose between."
"And you?"
She didn't answer right away. When she did, it wasn't confident at all. "I've wanted to play for Holyhead my whole life."
"It sounds like there's a 'but' coming."
"I don't know. There shouldn't be. They've been my favourite team for as long as I can remember, and they've practically guaranteed me a starting job. I've wanted this forever. It's a no-brainer."
Astoria picked at the grass before saying, slightly cautiously, "Maybe what you want has changed… if it's not as easy a decision as it seems."
"I still want it," Ginny said quietly.
"But… is there something you want more?"
Ginny pressed her lips together in a line, looking past the obstacle course towards the lake. She could see the top half of the memorial statue. It didn't seem like that had all happened a year ago. It was hard to believe how much things had changed since then. And things had been changing for a long time before that. How different was life compared to when she and Harry had first gotten together? Or compared to when she'd started at Hogwarts? She'd made a lot of plans when she was younger. Some of them, like dating Harry Potter, had worked out surprisingly well. Others, like the unspoken plan of not having to fight in a war as a teenager, hadn't panned out. Some things hadn't been in her control.
Her mind was wandering in so many different directions that she completely forgot that she'd been talking to Astoria, until her friend nudged her. "Hey, I'm sorry for bringing it up. I was–"
Ginny blinked a couple times before registering what Astoria was saying and shaking her head. "No, don't apologise. There wasn't anything wrong with it. It's just… I guess… maybe I've got more to think about than I thought I did."
Astoria smiled reassuringly. "Good thing you've got a lot of people around you who care about you and are willing to help you with it… starting with him."
Ginny followed Astoria's line of sight to see Harry lining up the third and fourth years, laughing at something that Zoe was saying. The sight made her smile, even though she'd seen him interacting with kids all year.
"Thanks," she said, taking Astoria's hand and squeezing it before asking about her plans for the future.
She blushed slightly. "You know, it's kind of silly, but I've never given a lot of thought to it. My family… it'd always been more of a thing where the women get married and have children and the men continue adding to our Gringotts vault. But I don't want to do that. Audrey never did that."
Ginny remembered that Astoria's eldest sister was one of the youngest serving members of the Wizengamot. "You don't seem like the type to just settle for a life of staying at home," she admitted.
"I don't think so either. I just need to figure out what I want to do instead."
"I'm sure you will," Ginny replied confidently. "Good thing you've got a lot of people around here who care about you too."
Astoria laughed and nodded gratefully. They spent the rest of the wait talking idly about nothing really, but Ginny was well aware that moments like this would soon be rare. So even though it didn't feel significant, she did her best to savour every second of the time spent with her friend.
The rest of the leads slowly joined them as the students they were responsible for finished the obstacle course. It was rather late in the day when the last of the sixth years finished the course and Harry emerged, sweating rather profusely. He'd apparently been doing a lot more work than Ginny had realised.
"Just give me a couple minutes to get everything set up, and then we'll get started," he told the assembled seventh years before disappearing back into the maze-like course.
"Any idea what he's getting set up?" Mia asked.
Ginny shook her head. "Not a clue."
"Maybe he's got a Heliopath," Luna offered hopefully. "They had to go somewhere after Cornelius Fudge got sacked."
"Er– yeah, maybe he does," Dean agreed half-heartedly, and Ginny had to fight not to laugh at his sudden acceptance of Luna's sometimes odd beliefs.
Harry came back out, pulling his shirt up to wipe some sweat off his face. Ginny swallowed, feeling her heart beating a little faster. It wasn't fair that he had that effect on her without even trying.
"Alright, same as everyone else. Alphabetical order by last name, starting with Sophie. When you're inside, there's gonna be some things that are pretty obvious what you're supposed to do, and if it's not obvious, there's probably a sign up that explains it. Any questions?" Nobody answered. "Okay then. Good luck, and I'll see you in there." Then, once again, he returned to the heart of the obstacle course.
"You've got this," Miles said to Sophie, kicking off a round of supportive cheers for her as she ran into the course after Harry.
Slowly, the group of Ginny's classmates thinned until Dean ran into the course, leaving her to be the last one waiting. She assumed everyone else had either gone up to the castle for dinner or was waiting at the exit to the course. She'd heard some bangs coming from within the course, and Dean's run was no different.
Finally, after growing more and more impatient, she saw green sparks shoot over the course, indicating that it was time for her to go. She took a deep breath and ran in.
It was far more like a maze on the inside than she'd realised. That must've been Harry and Hagrid's idea. She took a sharp left and then a right before seeing a training dummy with a sign saying: Stun Nonverbally. That was easy enough, and, without her making a sound, the dummy was thrown back against the wall of the maze.
She continued on through the winding corners before she heard a sound that was out of place. Instinctively, she cast a Shield Charm around herself, just before a spell rocketed towards her. It bounced harmlessly off the shield, and she saw that it had come from the machine Harry had made with Professor Flitwick. She kept an eye on it and had to block another Disarming Charm before taking a turn out of the line of fire of the machine.
Ginny was surprised to see the next thing in the course was crossing a set of potholes filled with Red Caps. It was exactly like Remus' obstacle course, and it was much easier to handle now than it was when she was a second year. She dispatched them easily with stunners.
The next thing she encountered startled her momentarily. Somehow, without any of them knowing, Harry had made a fake dementor. It looked less real the longer she looked at it, but it was definitely shocking at first glance.
Thinking of kissing Harry after winning the Quidditch Cup, Ginny produced a very bright silver doe from her wand. It sniffed and padded around the ground near the fake dementor, but once it sensed there was nothing to fight, it calmly returned back to Ginny. She quickly reached out to thank it, and, as it disappeared, she ran on, hoping to have one of the top times in the group.
The next corner she turned revealed an open wardrobe. In the split second it took her to realise what it was, Tom Riddle's voice invaded her mind.
"After everything, it all comes back to me. You can't escape me, Ginny. When you try to, bad things happen. People you love die. And–"
Ginny knew how this ended, and she refused to watch Hagrid carrying Harry's body again. She shouted loudly, "Riddikulus!" The small black book that had been partially concealed by the overgrown grass suddenly started shredding itself. Ginny forced out a laugh before waving her wand and dispatching it back into the wardrobe, which closed with a resounding thump.
Undeterred, she pressed on, dispatching more training dummies and a set of Hinkypunks before she caught sight of the exit. Sprinting hard, she grinned as she saw Harry and everyone else in her class watching. She started to celebrate until the last thing she ever would've expected happened.
Harry fired a stunner at the ground near her feet.
Ginny threw a shield up and stared at him in shock as she felt the anticipation and eager tension building within her classmates. "What the–"
"It's part of the course!" Harry quickly cut her off, grinning both impishly and apologetically, like a child who got caught stealing a biscuit.
"And this was the way to tell me?" Ginny snapped.
"This was how they all found out!" Harry responded defensively. "It was supposed to be a surprise!"
She rolled her eyes. "Mission accomplished. So what, I'm supposed to duel you?"
He nodded, satisfied that she wasn't too upset. "Yeah. Feel free to try doing whatever you want to me. I'm gonna be trying to disarm or body-bind you."
Ginny couldn't help but smirk, and she knew everyone around her appreciated it. "Anything I want?"
He grinned and shrugged. "If you think you can."
"Vespertilio!" Ginny shouted suddenly, forcing Harry to duck underneath a Bat-Bogey Hex that had been heading straight for his face.
He was still grinning, and she thought he was going to make a joke, but he caught her off guard when he fired three Disarming Charms at her in quick succession. She blocked the first two before dodging the third, responding with a Leg-Locker Curse that he blocked.
She came at him with all sorts of offensive spells, hexes, curses, and jinxes, and he seemed to be putting almost no effort into deflecting them. His wand was a blur, a natural extension of his body, and he'd respond with counterattacks of his own far faster than she would've expected from anyone else. She knew, obviously, that he was an exceptional duellist. She'd witnessed it. But being on the receiving end of it felt so different.
He was still only using a small handful of spells, which should've given her the upper hand. It was infuriating, feeling like she was losing, especially when she knew she was better than a lot of seventh years in combat.
That annoyance got the better of her, and she tried to surprise Harry with a chain of Stunning and Disarming Charms. She was so focused on being quick with her delivery that she was completely surprised when Harry dropped to the ground.
"Expelliarmus!" She'd heard it from him so many times before and knew how powerful it was coming from him, but she was still surprised when his Disarming Charm flew under her spells. Her wand flew out of her hand of its own accord, right into the waiting hand of Harry, who was sprawled out on the ground, grinning from ear to ear.
"Damn it!" Ginny shouted, making everyone around her laugh, even as they took a step back, which was a little ridiculous considering she was unarmed.
Harry didn't seem afraid though, still smiling at her as he sat up. It took her a moment to remember why he wasn't standing up, but when she did, she hurried over and offered a hand out to Harry. When he reached up to take it, she pulled her hand back.
"My wand first."
He laughed and handed her her wand, which she stuffed in her pocket before helping him up. He was a little shaky on his feet and, like she'd noticed earlier, dripping in sweat. And now that she was up close to him and not duelling him, she could see that he looked exhausted.
"Have you been fighting everyone?" Ginny asked.
He shook his head. "Just the fifth years and up." Like that made it better.
"What the hell, Harry? That's more than a hundred people!" Ginny exclaimed loudly, thinking now only of his health, even though it had been more than a month since he'd had any internal pain.
He shrugged like it didn't matter. "Most of them were over pretty quickly. You gave me a harder fight than anyone," he added, sounding rather proud.
"Still didn't beat you," she grumbled. It didn't particularly matter that, if asked before today, she would've said that Harry was a far superior duellist to her.
"That was so awesome!" Mia practically screamed in both their ears as she ran up, apparently having decided that Ginny and Harry weren't going to start fighting again.
"Absolutely mental," Owen agreed.
Harry laughed again. "I was seriously second guessing my decision when I saw her face after I shot that spell at her feet."
She grinned. "I took it easy on you. Last thing I want is that pretty face getting messed up."
Pretty much everyone laughed loudly at that, and Harry pulled her into a tight hug. "Seriously, you did better than anyone," he whispered. She smiled into his chest, feeling pride welling up in hers. She may have been mostly over getting beat by him, even though it was still annoying, but it felt really good to know that she was the best. Or second best, behind him, but that didn't count. Harry was too good, and she loved that about him.
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
It had been several weeks since Harry and Ginny had last been at the Burrow, and, even though the term would be over in two more weeks, they didn't want to wait any longer. Especially when it meant they got to see Teddy.
They got home just before dinner was ready, and Andi was there with Teddy, along with Ron and Hermione, who'd come to dinner because they knew Harry and Ginny would be there. Over dinner, they caught the family up on what they'd been doing– hunting down treasures left by the founders themselves and studying for N.E.W.T.s. Nobody was interested in any of that when Ginny mentioned that they'd duelled just an hour or two ago.
Ron thought it was hysterical that Harry had beaten Ginny. If Harry had been sitting next to him, he would've kicked him. Ginny had gotten over losing surprisingly quickly by her standards, but he wasn't exactly eager to test the resolve of her sportsmanship. He was fairly certain Ginny, and possibly Hermione, had kicked Ron's shin though, so he figured the message got passed along.
Hermione and Molly were much more concerned with him potentially overexerting himself, but he hadn't been exaggerating to Ginny earlier. Obviously, he was still exhausted, but most of the duels had been over in less than thirty seconds. There were only a handful of sixth years who could give him any sort of challenge– Frank Guthrie had deceptively fast reflexes and the Ravenclaw's Stinging Jinx was one of the only spells anyone managed to land on him all day. And even though most of the seventh years were pretty good, it was really only the Defence leads who'd made him actually work for it. Ginny especially. She'd been incredible. He got so lucky when he slipped and had the open shot to disarm her. His leg had just sort of given out, so he was probably more tired than he thought, but he decided it was best for Ginny to just be impressed with his 'quick thinking' that led to him disarming her.
Andi left after dinner, so then it was just the six of them and Teddy in the living room. Molly and Arthur sat in their easy chairs, watching the rest of them on the floor with Teddy, who was very happy to chase his favourite badger and lion toys around. It seemed like every time they saw him, he was getting better and better at walking. He still wasn't steady on his feet, and, most of the time, he'd only take a few steps before needing some sort of assistance or encouragement, but it was still so exciting to watch every time.
Around the time that Teddy started blinking slowly and yawning, Molly and Arthur stood up.
"We'll put him to bed for you. You four take some more time to catch up," Molly encouraged.
"Thanks, Molly," Harry replied gratefully before kissing Teddy's cheek.
Teddy giggled. "i," he said as Ginny kissed him too.
"Close, Ted," Ginny said with an adoring smile.
"i," he tried again after Arthur picked him up.
"Hi," both Harry and Ginny said at the same time. Teddy grinned before his eyes closed for good, even before Arthur had taken him out of the living room.
"You all did good tiring him out," Arthur commented. "Night, kids."
Once he left and the four of them were alone, there was a weird sort of silence that settled in the room. Harry couldn't figure out what was causing it, or why Ron and Hermione were exchanging looks with one another like they knew something he and Ginny didn't.
That suspicion was all but confirmed when Hermione blurted out, "Harry, can I talk to you?"
Harry tried not to look too confused as he nodded before glancing over at Ginny, who looked as puzzled as he felt. "Er– sure, I guess. Not here?"
"Outside will be fine," Hermione replied like they were scheduling a business meeting.
"Okay…" Harry said before trying, and struggling, to stand up. He was able to support himself enough on the sofa to make it up without any help though. As he walked out the door, Ron gave him a look that was almost pitying. It was like he knew Harry was walking towards a punishment; Harry just wished he knew what he was being punished for.
He sat down on the porch swing while Hermione stood, arms crossed, looking at him as if she expected him to start the conversation. It hadn't been his idea to do this late at night or to do it at all for that matter.
Hermione suddenly threw her hands up in the air and exhaled exasperatedly. "Honestly, Harry!"
"What, Hermione?" Harry asked, wishing she'd just spit it out.
"You know what."
He sighed, trying his best not to let her get on his nerves, even though he wasn't succeeding at that currently. "I really have no clue."
"Why are you not engaged to Ginny yet?"
That hit him like a charging Graphorn. If he'd had to guess, he would've thought maybe she was going to lecture to him about not pushing himself too much physically with things like the obstacle course today. He definitely hadn't been expecting that.
"Er– probably because I haven't proposed yet," he offered, knowing it was such a lame answer.
Her hands were on her hips now. "And why is that? We all know when you got the ring, Harry. She knows it too. I know you know that. So what's the point in not asking?"
He mumbled something about not finding the right time for it, but Hermione refuted that immediately. "What about your anniversary? Hmm? Ginny told me she was thinking you might do it then, and I know you two went down to that beach you like."
"You wouldn't understand," Harry finally tried, wishing she'd just drop it. He felt bad enough for it as it was.
"I doubt that," Hermione replied matter-of-factly. "It's actually incredibly simple. All you do is get the ring, get down on one knee, and–"
"I can't!" Harry finally snapped, hearing his heart pounding in his head. He heard the quiet hum of conversation in the living room stop completely. Hermione was looking at him with wide eyes, and it took him several seconds to calm down. Thankfully, Ron and Ginny had apparently started talking again.
"I can't. I– I can't get down on one knee and stand up again. I've been practising for weeks, Hermione. It's hardly gotten any better. And after everything we've been through– that she's been through… I– I just want to be able to do that. To give her the proposal she deserves."
Somewhere in that, his voice had started breaking and tears had started welling up in his eyes. He'd dealt with so much guilt over not proposing that he hadn't considered the emotional effect it was having on him. He wanted to be engaged to her. So badly. But he had to do it right for her, even if it meant hurting himself in the process.
Hermione bit her lip and sat down slowly next to him on the swing. Then suddenly, she turned to Harry and flung her arms around him, sniffling as she hugged him tightly. He was surprised, but it was better than when he was worried she might hit him or hex him for not proposing to Ginny yet.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I didn't even think– you must hate me. I'm so–"
"I couldn't ever hate you," he interrupted, patting her a couple more times on the back, hoping it was reassuring. "You're like my sister. Sure, you annoy me sometimes–" Hermione let out a watery giggle "– but I'm always gonna love you."
She smiled a little and blinked a few times before wiping her eyes. "Still… I'm sorry for assuming you were just being stupid."
"It wasn't that crazy an assumption."
She shook her head. "No. You're– well, I don't agree with it, but… I understand it. But Harry, you have to know all she wants is to be with you forever, and she wants to be engaged to you. She– she was prepared to be with you if you'd lost all your memories. I don't think she could care less about how you propose. I mean, if you could've seen…"
In a thick voice, Harry asked, "Seen what?"
Hermione sighed and swiped at her eyes again. "Nobody's ever doubted that you two love each other. We all see the way you look at each other. You went back to Hogwarts to be with her, her Patronus changed, you have Teddy… still, Ginny dealt with so much when you were in the hospital, Harry. I know you did too, but she– she thought you were dead, and then she thought you weren't going to wake up, and then she thought you weren't ever going to remember her. She was stronger than I could've been, stronger than I was. But it– it was so hard for her, Harry. She hates not being in control, and that took everything out of control for her in the worst way possible. If you could've seen the way she was when you first got to the hospital, you'd know."
"Know what?" Harry asked, once again feeling tears welling up, hating what he'd put her through.
"That she was terrified you'd never be together again, that you'd never propose to her. Compared to that, Ginny won't care at all if you can stand up when you propose. She may even be on the ground with you."
Harry squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed the back of his neck. "I should've done it a long time ago."
Hermione put a hand on his knee and nodded. "Probably so."
"You– you really think–"
"I think she cares more about how long you're taking than that you may not be able to do the whole down on one knee thing properly. It wouldn't be as big of a deal if she didn't know about the ring and everything, but you're both ready, and you both deserve it."
Harry exhaled slowly. "Has anyone ever told you that you're pretty smart?"
Hermione chuckled. "It may have come up before. Are– are you okay?"
He shrugged and nodded. "Yeah. I need to think more about it– how to do it, I mean," he clarified, seeing Hermione's look. "But… yeah, I'm good. Thanks. For this. I– I needed it."
Hermione smiled and hugged him again. "What are sisters for other than to tell brothers what to do?"
He laughed and started to stand up, but she put her hand back on his knee. "Ron's going to be out here in a minute."
Harry groaned and leaned back. "You two really had this whole thing planned out, didn't you?"
Hermione grinned in a mischievous way she rarely did. "You know how much I love planning."
With that, she returned inside, and, sure enough, Ron was outside less than a minute later. Unlike Hermione, he made no air of disapproval. Instead, he just sat down next to Harry.
"Sorry about this."
Harry chuckled. "Don't worry, I know it wasn't your plan."
"Not most of it. I definitely didn't have anything to do with whatever Hermione just did to you."
"It wasn't that bad," Harry said. "Just… a little forward."
Ron snorted. "I think that's about the nicest way of saying annoying."
They both laughed at that, but Harry shook his head. "No, I just told her that I needed to hear it. She was right."
"Good to know her ego won't be bigger than usual for the next week," Ron quipped sarcastically. "So… you are gonna do it then?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, I am. Not quite sure when yet. But I want to do it soon."
For a moment, there was no sound outside other than the very faint hum of Hermione and Ginny's conversation, which was apparently quieter than Ginny's with Ron had been.
When Ron started to speak again, Harry thought for a moment that it was going to be to give him some sort of advice on the timing of the proposal. Instead, Ron said, "And what about Quidditch?"
"Huh?" Harry asked, surprised by the topic shift.
"Well, it seems like you've got one major decision mostly out of the way. Just wondering about the other big one."
"Oh. I– I don't really know. It seems… I was telling Ginny a couple weeks ago that it seems like everyone's just wanting to use me to sell tickets and merchandise. Like I'm not just gonna be a Quidditch player. I'm also gonna be the circus act or something."
"I mean… you are Harry bloody Potter, mate. There's a lot of people that would pay a lot of money to see you play Quidditch."
Harry sighed. "Yeah, I get that. And I don't care about that. The business is the business, that's whatever. It just– it bothers me when everyone seems to act like that's the more important thing. Like I should base my decision off who can sell the most kits or give me the biggest contract after my rookie deal. I don't want that. It doesn't matter to me. I want to play for a team that cares about me as a player and as a person, not as the cash cow for the team."
Slowly, Ron asked, "Were… all the teams like that?"
Harry picked up on the conversation's direction much faster this time. "No. And I think you know that."
Ron shrugged innocently. "I guessed. Mister Trumble actually didn't tell me anything about his meetings with you two other than that he really likes you and hopes you have a great career and are happy."
Harry smiled in spite of himself. "Seriously, is he real? Because he's so different from literally everyone else I met with that day."
"He's really special," Ron agreed. "No other club would've hired me on to help coaching, just a year out of Hogwarts. Granted, it takes a special kind of person to stick with Chudley for as long as he has."
"Honestly, that's like… the big thing that worries me about Chudley."
"Oh, all the people are great. It's not a bad thing that we're a special–"
"Not that," Harry interrupted Ron's passionate defence of his club. "I get that. It takes a special kind of person because Chudley hasn't won in over a century. But… mate, I'm not playing for money. I don't need that. I'm playing because it's fun and I want to win. I don't– I don't want to risk playing for Chudley and never winning anything in my career, you know?"
He expected Ron to be hurt, but Ron simply nodded understandingly. "Yeah. Believe me, I do know. I think about it every time we lose a match. The nice thing as a player is that you could just not sign a new deal with them, and go play somewhere else if it didn't work out. For real fans… we're kinda stuck. I'll never support another team, even if I never see the Cannons win a championship. It's just the way it is."
The honesty in Ron's voice was very evident. He'd waited his whole life to see Chudley win a championship. Mr. Trumble had waited over a hundred years.
"Be honest with me. Do you think Chudley could ever win a championship? I'm not asking you as a fan. I want to know, as a coach, and someone who gets Quidditch better than most people do, will they ever have a shot?"
Ron looked out into the night for several seconds before answering. "It's possible."
"Why?" Harry asked immediately, wanting a real explanation.
"We play twenty-four matches every season. A good Seeker can guarantee you eight wins a season on their own. A great Seeker might get you closer to ten or twelve. That's just the way the game works. A team that wins close to half of their games is around the top half of the table. Good players want to play for teams in the top half of the table. So, hypothetically, if Chudley had a great Seeker, we win close to half our games in the first season, and we could sign some players whose contracts are expiring. There are some players who are mercenaries and will only play for the highest bidder, but a lot of the best ones care way more about winning.
"I honestly don't know how many people on our team now could ever be on a championship team. Maybe Karl? He's one of our Beaters. Alana and Lewis… possibly, if the rest of the team was great. It would take a couple years to get good enough to compete, if everything went our way. But… I have to think that we have the right people in place at the top of the club, especially Mister Trumble, and our luck could turn around. It's just… not without a Seeker."
Harry nodded, understanding Ron's point. It actually made a lot of sense. He still didn't say anything though, considering everything Ron had said.
"And, if it makes you feel any better, Chudley's basically the opposite of making you like something at a circus."
Harry laughed at that. "You know, that's definitely something Chudley has going for it."
Ron grinned and clapped his shoulder. "Look, mate. I want you to be happy, and I want you to win a championship. Whatever you have to do, I'm gonna be cheering you on. But… it would be bloody brilliant to work together, wouldn't it?"
Harry laughed yet again and stood up as the door opened. "Yeah… you're right about that. I– I'm gonna think about it. Honestly."
Ron's smile faded slightly into a more serious look, but he nodded, appreciating that Harry wasn't completely writing Chudley off like most people would.
Ginny was standing in the doorway, looking expectantly at him. "Ready for bed?"
Harry grinned widely. "Very ready."
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
It was clear immediately that Ron felt as uncomfortable with the sudden change in dynamic as Ginny did. Hermione led a very reluctant Harry outside, while Ginny and Ron sat in an odd silence for close to a minute.
"I'm guessing you know what that's about?" Ginny finally asked.
Ron nodded but didn't say anything.
"So we're just supposed to sit in here and wait?"
Ron shrugged. "I mean we can–"
Ron was interrupted by Harry shouting something outside. Ginny's eyes widened in alarm, and she started to get up, but Ron put a hand out.
"Don't worry about it," he assured her.
"It's Harry. He doesn't ever yell, especially at Hermione," Ginny protested.
"Don't worry about it," Ron repeated. "Surprised he took this long, to be honest."
"What are they talking about then?" Ginny pressed.
"Same sorta stuff we can talk about. You sign with the Harpies yet?"
Ginny ignored the question. "So Hermione's talking to Harry about what Quidditch team he's gonna play for next year? Really?"
Ron rolled his eyes. "Just drop it, Ginny. I'm sure you'll find out soon enough anyways."
Ginny didn't particularly like being told to drop it, but it was clear she wasn't getting anything out of Ron. Harry would probably tell her what was going on anyways.
"So… Harpies?"
She sighed. "No, I haven't signed with the Harpies yet."
"Seriously?"
She nodded. "Seriously. Haven't signed with anyone."
"Why?" Ron asked, sounding mystified.
"Because."
"Because…"
"I haven't decided yet."
"Seriously? You haven't decided if you're gonna play for Holyhead next season? Didn't they basically hand you a starting job?"
Ginny exhaled slowly. "It's just… I don't know. Can we not talk about it?"
Ron looked like he really wanted to keep talking about it, but he surprisingly didn't press the issue any further. Instead, he said, "Alright. How'd it feel getting your arse kicked by your boyfriend today?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "They may not be in here to shut you up, but they're also not in here to stop me from hexing you, so I'd think more carefully about bringing up me losing again."
Ron put his hands up in surrender. "Blimey, okay. Don't get your– actually, I'm just gonna stop."
"Wow, he did the smart thing for once," she replied sarcastically.
"It was bound to happen eventually," he quipped, making her snort.
"So how are things with you and Hermione?" Ginny asked, eager to put a bit of pressure on him for a change.
Sure enough, the tips of Ron's ears turned red, which was a pretty funny reaction considering it was just her in the room and he'd been dating Hermione for over a year now. "Good," he mumbled.
"Just good? She might be disappointed if she heard that answer."
Ron groaned. "Whatever. Things are great. It's so awesome dating her and still also kinda weird. Like any time she starts talking about stuff I don't understand, I can just kiss her and she'll stop. Wish I'd known about that when I was younger."
Ginny laughed loudly. "I promise, she wishes you did too. You two fancied each other for ages."
He blushed again. "You're one to talk."
She shrugged dismissively. "Worked out for both of us in the end, at least."
He nodded, smiling faintly. "Yeah. Yeah, it did."
A couple moments later, Hermione opened the door and jerked her head, indicating that Ron should go outside in her place. Ginny didn't even bother asking what was happening now as Hermione took Ron's spot next to her on the sofa. Looking closer at her friend, she saw that her eyes were a little red, like she'd been crying.
"Hey," Hermione said quietly.
"Hey."
"How are you doing?"
"Better than you, apparently," Ginny replied before she even thought about maybe not saying that.
Hermione just smiled. "That's fair. What were you and Ron talking about?"
"You don't know?"
Hermione shook her head. "I was… a little busy outside."
"But I thought– never mind, it doesn't matter. We didn't really talk about much. He asked me if I'd signed with the Harpies, and I told him I hadn't yet, and then I asked how things were going with the two of you."
Ginny expected Hermione to ask a question, but she was expecting it to be related to Ron's opinion of their relationship. She wasn't expecting Hermione to ask, "Why haven't you signed with the Harpies?"
This was the third time Ginny had had this conversation today. It was getting a little tiring. "Because I haven't yet."
"I thought it was your dream."
"It was! It– it is." Ginny bit her lip and stared at the rug in the middle of the living room.
"You don't sound convinced," Hermione said delicately.
"I– it is my dream. I've wanted to play for them for a long time. I still want to play for them."
"Then it seems like you have an answer."
She shook her head. "It's not that simple."
"Why not?" Hermione asked.
Ginny hadn't ever fully articulated it before, and it took her a moment to figure it out. But as she said it, she realised both how simple and true it was. "Harry can't play for the Harpies."
Hermione looked sympathetic but unsurprised. "I thought that was one of the things you liked most about him."
Ginny snorted at Hermione's attempt at a joke. "You know what I mean."
"So you haven't signed with Holyhead because Harry can't play for them. And you two would be on different teams."
Ginny nodded. "That– that's a big part of it. But… I don't know. It– it's not even as much about being on different teams as not being on the same team, if that makes sense."
"I think I get that. You've been on the same side for everything the past few years."
"Astoria said what I want may have changed from when the Harpies was all I cared about."
"Hasn't it?"
Ginny thought for a moment about what mattered most to her, about what she'd give anything to keep. The one thing in her mind wasn't the Harpies, or even Quidditch.
Her voice was much more fragile than usual when she spoke again. "Do– do you know what I thought about after… everything happened with Harry in Diagon Alley? That first night when we were all there waiting for news?" Hermione looked sadly at her but didn't answer. "I was thinking about how I hated feeling helpless, and how, no matter how many times I tried not to, I always felt out of control with Harry. He– he never made any sense compared to everything else in my life. Quidditch made sense. The Harpies made sense. Harry…"
Hermione took Ginny's hand in hers. "I plan everything. Do you think I ever planned on falling in love with Ron, when he seemed annoyed by me for the longest time? You– you can't always plan things when your heart's involved."
"I thought I lost him," Ginny whispered, so quietly it was almost to herself.
Hermione moved her arm to wrap around Ginny's shoulders. "I know."
"What– what do you think I should do?"
Hermione frowned, seemingly not having any advice immediately ready, which was very unlike her. Finally, she said, "I think you have to think about what matters most. That's– that's all any of us can do. Trust yourself, and trust Harry. I know you two well enough to know you'll both do what's best."
Ginny shifted to rest her head on Hermione's shoulder. "You're pretty smart, you know?"
She could practically feel Hermione's ego inflating. "I've heard it before."
They sat like that for a moment before Ginny asked, "D'you think they're done outside?"
Hermione nodded. "Probably. This wasn't supposed to take too long."
"Glad to know you both planned out an intervention for us."
"You think Ron had anything to do with this?"
Ginny giggled. "Sorry, glad to know you planned out an intervention for us."
"That's better."
Ginny gave Hermione a hug before standing up and walking over to the door. She opened it to the sound of Harry laughing.
"You're right about that. I– I'm gonna think about it. Honestly."
Ron seemed to be thinking about something serious, in contrast to Harry's laughter, but Harry seemed done with the conversation, looking happily at her, like he'd been waiting for her.
"Ready for bed?" Ginny asked, not embarrassed at all to ask that in front of her brother.
Harry grinned. "Very ready."
He took her hand and they walked through the living room, where Hermione was smiling at them and wiping her eyes. "Good night," she said.
"Night, Hermione," Ginny replied.
"Good night," Harry added.
Ginny helped Harry up the stairs, not that he really needed it. He'd progressed a very long way from when he'd first come home from St. Mungo's, to the point that he could practically make it up the stairs with no assistance at all.
Moments later, they were both in bed, exhausted from a long and trying day. She honestly didn't understand how he was still awake with the amount of duelling that he'd done earlier. Sure enough, he started yawning as soon as their heads hit the pillows.
"Tonight was weird," he said through a yawn.
Ginny nodded. "Yeah. But it was good, I think."
"Yeah, it was. I… love you, Gin," he said sleepily.
She smiled and kissed his cheek before shifting closer to him. There was a lot on her mind still, but she knew that her priorities were definitely different now than when she'd been a young girl. And the top priority, without a doubt, was him and how she felt about him.
"I love you too."
HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG
One of the main reasons Harry and Ginny felt comfortable going home for a night was that they felt like the N.E.W.T.s they were most prepared for were early in the week. They felt so confident in those early exams that they barely bothered studying for them when they returned to Hogwarts for the rest of the weekend. Instead, they focused on Herbology and Potions. Ginny also spent a lot of time working on Arithmancy. Harry wanted to help, but Ginny had made him promise not to waste his time trying to help her with a subject he knew nothing about.
The first day of N.E.W.T.s was the twenty-first of June, which also happened to be the summer solstice. They both woke up excited about hopefully completing the founders' quest, but first, they had a Defence exam to take.
For years, Harry had heard about how difficult the N.E.W.T.s were, and he was positive that some of them would be dreadful, but that wasn't the case with Defence. He breezed through the practical examination, answering questions about resisting the Imperius Curse, identifying Inferi, and which protective enchantments were most effective for hiding in a remote location. That question seemed almost too easy to be true.
The practical examination brought back some surprising memories. Professor Tofty, a wizened old man with no trace of hair on his head, seemed to be waiting for Harry's turn. Harry recalled that the elderly professor had been his examiner for a couple of his O.W.L.s, and Tofty hadn't forgotten it either.
"Mister Potter, I am pleased to see you once again," Tofty said in a frail voice.
"Good to see you too, Professor."
"I don't suppose there's much purpose in testing your practical skills," the man commented.
"Professor?" Harry asked hesitantly, really hoping he didn't just pass off his reputation.
"Oh, don't worry. You do still have to take the examination. Right this way, over to this training dummy here."
Tofty led the way to a row of training dummies that were all lined up in a row, directing Harry to one on the end. "This isn't much different than your O.W.L.s. You will cast whatever I tell you to cast at the dummy. I have a list of seventy spells that you'll be required to demonstrate mastery of. Let's begin with the Disarming Charm. Oh, and they must be nonverbal."
Harry grinned and flicked his wand at the dummy before catching the stick that it had been holding. For the next thirty minutes, he made his way through every single spell that Professor Tofty called. As he cast the spells, he noticed several of his classmates– Mia, Astoria, Luna, and Owen– slowly finishing their practicals.
After he cast the last spell, a Concealment Charm, Professor Tofty scribbled something on his roll of parchment. Then he looked up, with a bit of a coy smile on his face. "I don't suppose you would care to cast your Patronus for extra credit again?"
"I won't say no to extra credit," Harry replied before summoning his stag with a wave of his wand and thoughts of lazy days on a beach in Weymouth with someone very special.
Professor Tofty clapped his hands together, still amazed at Harry casting a Patronus. The man was getting very old though and hadn't noticed several other people casting them too. Mia's orca had been over their head ten minutes ago.
"Absolutely wonderful, Mister Potter. I believe you'll be very pleased with your marks, and I wish you the best of luck with the rest of your examinations."
"Thanks, Professor," Harry said, shaking the man's hand before leaving the Great Hall. He saw Ginny on the far side of the room, casting spells at her own training dummy. She was doing brilliantly, as usual.
They'd agreed to meet in the library to do some extra studying for Herbology, which was in two days. Charms was tomorrow, but they both felt good enough about that to not spend too much time on it, especially Ginny.
"How'd it go?" Harry asked her quietly when she came into the library.
She was grinning widely. "Pretty much perfect. My Patronus got me extra credit. How about you?"
"Same. Don't think there was anything I missed on the practical. The written exam might be a little less good, but I still think I got an O."
"I think whoever's grading you would lose their job if Harry Potter didn't get an O in Defence."
Harry rolled his eyes at Ginny's muted giggle. "Whatever," he said with a smile he couldn't help before they dove into Herbology.
It had been a very long hour of studying before Ginny asked, "When were you thinking we'd do the thing?"
"Maybe before dinner?" Harry replied.
She nodded. "Yeah, that works. So… you get Owen, and I'll get Astoria and Luna?"
"Deal," he agreed, shaking her hand and getting totally distracted from Herbology for several moments when neither let go.
When Harry and Ginny finally left the library, feeling only slightly better prepared for Herbology but much happier, they split up to find their friends. Harry was expecting that it would be more difficult for him to find Owen than simply walking down to the basement, but Owen was coming the other way, presumably ready to go to dinner.
"Hey, Harry. What are you doing down here?"
"Looking for you, actually."
"Well, you found me. What's up?"
"D'you want to do something really cool?"
Owen needed no convincing whatsoever to go up to the Room of Requirement, where Ginny would be sending Astoria and Luna when she found them. All thoughts of dinner had been put aside at Harry's description of finding a secret in Hogwarts that had been hidden for a millennium.
Harry returned to the common room to meet Ginny, since they had to actually get the pieces of armour that were stashed under their bed. The common room was totally empty– everyone was taking a break from studying to go to dinner. Harry decided to take the time he had while waiting for Ginny to go upstairs and practise kneeling some more.
He knew what Hermione had told him a couple days ago, and she was right. Proposing to Ginny was more important than how he did it. And he was starting to formulate a plan for how to do it. But still, he was determined to do everything he could to make the proposal as perfect as possible for Ginny.
He was doing better today, managing several kneels in a row without needing to grab on the bed in front of him. He did eventually lose his balance and needed to sit on the bed for a moment, but he had to admit that he needed this. Knowing that it was possible was going to make it a lot easier to propose to her.
He was about to start practising again when Ginny walked through the false wall that served as the entrance to their bedroom. "Sorry, took a bit to find Luna. She was just hanging out at the Owlery for some reason. Not mailing anything, just sitting up there. Anyways, are you ready?"
Harry grinned. "So ready."
Harry took the breastplate and shoes while Ginny carried the helmet and gloves, and, with nobody in the corridors to ask what they were doing with crystal armour, they made it to the Room of Requirement very quickly.
Astoria and Owen were both shocked. "It's really real?" Astoria asked, almost in disbelief.
"You've found these all over the castle?" Owen added.
"Oh, I found those shoes a long time ago. I didn't know I could take them though," Luna commented airily.
Harry and Ginny exchanged a surprised look, knowing that the only way Luna could've found the shoes was to sit in the Head Chair in the Great Hall. They silently agreed not to ask any questions. The answers would probably be too unbelievable.
"Yep, we took them. The helmet was in the library, the shoes were in the Great Hall, the gloves were in the kitchen, and the breastplate was in the forest," Harry answered.
"And now it's time for the last part," Ginny said excitedly.
"What's the last part?" Owen asked, his curiosity evident in his expression and voice.
"Someone from each house is supposed to help put the armour together," Harry said. "So… I guess each piece of armour kinda belongs to a house already."
He and Ginny distributed the gloves to Owen, the helmet to Luna, and the shoes to Astoria. Harry was left holding the breastplate, and he didn't even think about it before handing it to Ginny.
"Harry, you can–"
"You're the one who found it. Besides, I'm gonna be right here anyways. But it should be you."
Ginny cleared her throat and nodded, taking the breastplate and holding it in front of her.
"So… how do we actually put it together?" Owen asked.
"Maybe we should lay them on the floor next to each other," Luna suggested. Nobody had a better idea, so they nodded and went along with it.
"Mine are getting kind of hot," Astoria said as she bent down and placed the shoes on the floor.
"Same," Owen agreed.
"The helmet is shaking," Luna said. Sure enough, when she set it on the floor, they could all hear it rattling.
The breastplate practically leapt out of Ginny's hand, vibrating as it grew closer to its siblings. When she set it on the ground, they all became incredibly still for a couple seconds. Then, magic started happening.
Something that looked like liquid crystal started flowing between the pieces of armour, connecting them. It was beautiful, clear but shining with the colours of the four houses. It took Harry a moment to realise that the flowing crystal was solidifying into an actual human figure. Instinctively, he wrapped his fingers around his wand, just in case.
Suddenly, as soon as it had started, it was over, and on the floor was a crystalline knight. It rose to its full height, more than a head taller than Harry, and observed them all, despite not having eyes that any of them could see. Then, it nodded its head slightly and walked out of the Room of Requirement.
The five of them exchanged stunned looks before following it, having no idea what it was doing. The founders hadn't exactly been clear about what would happen once they put the pieces together.
Harry realised, as the knight descended floor after floor, that they were heading toward the Great Hall. He wasn't sure if that was the best idea, but he was fairly certain there was nothing he could do to stop the knight from going wherever it wanted. All any of them could do was watch.
The knight took a turn just before the Great Hall, taking them into the Entrance Hall. It stopped for a moment and stared at one of the regular suits of armour. A second later, the suit seemed to come to life. It twisted its head, looking at its surroundings before seemingly focusing on the crystal suit of armour. Harry wasn't sure if they had some way of communicating that none of them knew about. Apparently though, some message was conveyed because the regular suit took off in the direction they'd come from, while the crystal knight continued on.
They probably should've split up to follow both, but they were all too eager to see what the crystal knight was doing. They weren't expecting it to go outside though.
The sun had just set and darkness was falling rapidly, but that obviously didn't affect the knight as it marched on the grass just as easily as it had the stone of the castle. Harry caught Ginny's eye, but she shrugged, just as clueless as he was.
The knight led them about halfway between the castle and the Black Lake before stopping and turning around to look at the castle. They looked back but didn't see anything. The knight wasn't moving though, so they stayed with it, waiting for some reason or another.
In the distance, Harry saw the door they'd come out of opening up again as a rectangle of light split the darkness. He could see the silhouette of the suit of armour that the crystal knight had woken up, apparently having completed whatever task the knight had given it. When Harry saw the massive crowd of people filing out of that door and several others, following it, he realised what the task had been, and his stomach dropped, feeling nervous now.
"Shit," Ginny muttered next to him, and he nodded his agreement. This was going to be embarrassing when they all came out and nothing had happened. At least McGonagall would probably believe them about how the crystal knight had come to life.
Harry wasn't surprised to see her leading the students, just a step behind the suit of armour. They seemed to move much faster to this spot than the crystal knight had, and McGonagall had a look of bewilderment on her face that Harry hadn't ever seen before.
"Potter, Weasley– what is–"
The first booming explosions interrupted her. Several hundred people ducked instinctively, and Harry grabbed at his wand with one hand and Ginny with his other. She was doing the same thing, and they caught each other's hands as the second wave of explosions went off.
It wasn't until he heard sounds of awe from the crowd that he looked up and saw colour disappearing from the sky. He squinted, trying to figure out what it was when another explosion went off, releasing a shower of gold above them, and he laughed, out of relief more than anything.
"Fireworks!" Ginny shouted amidst the crackling in the air and the gasps coming from the ground.
He couldn't believe it. After everything they'd done to find the pieces of armour, the founders were rewarding them with the greatest fireworks show any of them had ever seen. A kaleidoscope of colours and shapes decorated the night sky in magical and seemingly unending ways. McGonagall had apparently completely forgotten about what had brought them all out there, looking almost as enraptured by the spectacle as the students.
Harry was so wrapped up in watching the fireworks that he flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and was surprised to see the crystal knight staring at him, holding out something in its hand. It stretched its hand out a little further when Harry didn't take it right away, and he got the hint.
It was a piece of parchment. Ginny had torn her eyes from the show to look at him, and she nodded when Harry glanced up at her.
He unfolded the parchment to find familiar spidery writing on the yellowed page. There was so much light coming from the fireworks that he was able to read what it said, even in the darkness of the night.
Congratulations on completing the quest we set out for you, and great thanks for honouring our legacy. You and your companions carry the true spirit of Hogwarts within you, and we pray that spirit never fades as Hogwarts charges into the next millennium. You have made us proud.
All four founders had signed below the message. Harry felt a lump in the back of his throat as Ginny looked back at him in awe.
"We did it," she whispered. He shouldn't have been able to understand her over the sound of the fireworks, but he heard every word.
"We did it," he repeated, hugging her tightly. They didn't separate for as long as the fireworks were going off. The founders sure knew how to put on a show, and Harry was just amazed that he and Ginny had gotten to be a part of it. It seemed like the perfect way to begin saying goodbye to Hogwarts.
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A/N: I know, long chapter alert! Originally, there were three chapters in ToG that were much longer than the average, but I split both of the others (Chapter 27 became 27 and 28 and the final chapter became two). With this one, I felt like a split would almost make the individual chapters too short, but, more importantly, I didn't think that there was a thematic shift in the chapter like the other two long ones that made a chapter break make sense. Really, the through line of putting it all together is very prominent to me in the entire chapter, so it just made sense to keep it as one big chapter. For context, the average chapter is around 30 pages long on Google Docs, while this chapter was 50… so yeah, big difference!
I'm sure it's noticeable, but this was a chapter where I was like "we're really almost done at Hogwarts, we should probably see some people we haven't really interacted with," which led to tiny scenes with both Peeves and Flitwick, as well as the scene in the kitchens. I really do think that Hufflepuff's challenge being as simple as treating the house elves with decency and asking nicely was about the most fitting challenge I could come up with, and it's sort of congruent with the whole theme of the challenges as well. Even though there was nothing really dangerous about any of the challenges, each one did demand that they show something that the founders would've valued, and the result was as simple as the challenges themselves- a way to celebrate the founding of Hogwarts and thank Harry and Ginny for being students who still uphold the legacy of the founders. I will say that this isn't the last time in this very long story that the founders will be relevant, but, for now, I think this was a great place to leave things with them, and it really does feel like the beginning of a proper send off from Hogwarts!
This might be stating the obvious, but I really enjoyed writing Harry and Ginny's friends getting involved with their lives because they're all like 'come on, get on with it!' Hermione, obviously, leads the charge with that, but both Ron and Astoria did quite well themselves, in my opinion, and Harry and Ginny are closer than ever to making the big decisions! I especially enjoyed writing Harry and Hermione's conversation just because I love the found family sibling bond they share, and showing Hermione pivot from really annoyed with Harry taking so long to feeling like a jerk and apologising was fun to write because it goes to show the layers of her personality to me at least.
And with that, we have reached the end of yet another chapter! Like I mentioned earlier, originally, next week would be the final chapter, but because I edit myself, we're at two more chapters, and I think you'll all feel once you read them that it did make sense to split them up. There's two very big decisions still to be made, and they each deserve their time in the spotlight! And because I can't ever say it enough, thank you all, as always, for your support and encouragement! It truly means the world, and I hope I continue living up to those expectations!
Coming Friday: Deciding on a Dream- It was everything she'd dreamed about since the first time she'd climbed onto a broom.
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Etschi89: You're definitely not wrong about there being a lot of telling rather than showing in the last chapter, but you sort of landed on the reason for it too in your comment. I already show as opposed to telling pretty much everything, and that's why there's so many words in the book… if I showed the things that the chapter opened with last time, it could've been a whole chapter itself, which didn't make sense to me at this point in the story. More importantly, that more narrative style is the best way I know to do a time skip because we actually skipped about three weeks in that span, so I felt like it was a way to show the passage of time while also letting you all know that stuff did happen in that time, it just wasn't necessarily as important to the story as what we see in more prominent places in my writing.
Thank you for pointing out the accidental change in units! I have no idea how you remembered me using centimetres before haha, but that's very much my Americanisms slipping through, as much as I try to suppress them while writing!
I love your idea about how to explain to Luna that the Erosprites won't mix… I feel like Luna's often portrayed as a character that isn't entirely real, like she's just there to be kind of weird and also really sweet, and I'll fully admit I fall into that too sometimes, so the idea of her being a little jealous and protective of the new relationship she's created made her feel more real than usual to me, even if her justification is just as crazy as usual.
The scene in the forest is supposed to be sort of symbolic for what life, and possibly returning to the forest again, could be for both Ginny and Harry. It seems really scary, and there are things that might make them nervous, but the threats that they once lived in constant fear of are all basically gone now. Even though Harry won't be going back into the forest anytime soon (probably), Ginny will tell him that there wasn't anything dangerous in there, which would definitely give him more confidence to return if necessary than if she actually had problems. Although I will say, having her see the car would've been a great idea and I wish I'd thought of that! Hope you liked this chapter!