Disclaimer: "Harry Potter" and the associated characters are not mine, but J.K. Rowling's and the companies that represent her. I'm just borrowing them for awhile.

Many thanks goes to my beta readers: Grimmrook from SIYE and Melandry from Checkmated. They helped to polish this story and allowed me to take it to the next level.

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Chapter 1: "Simple Gifts"

Anything and everything in the entire world was disposable according to Dudley Dursley. If his television broke because his foot just happened to find its way into the screen when his favorite program was pre-empted for a sporting event, his mother would simply coo about how her Dinky Duddydums had grown so strong and would he like a 27-inch color TV to replace the measly 24-inch that was now broken?

This perception of the world enabled Dudley to realize that he didn't need that so-called magic his git of a cousin used. No, he had the power of Mum and Dad's credit card and the privilege of being the apple of their eye. Anything Dudley wanted, Dudley got.

And if Dudley just happened to not want his things any longer, they would be stored in the spare bedroom where his cousin just happened to sleep during his summer holidays away from that strange wizarding school of his. Once it was out of sight, it was no longer Dudley's problem.

But when a world-weary Harry Potter opened the door to the second bedroom the summer after his sixth year at Hogwarts, he realized that what had once been Dudley's problem was now very much his own.

The television Dudley had broken years ago still sat in the corner, collecting dust along with a few other boxes of stuff that Harry had stacked there in summers past. But now, it looked like an entire Muggle department store had exploded over the room. Harry hadn't seen it looking this way since the summer he turned 11 and this particular room had been cleaned out for his use. He was quite sure that it hadn't looked this bad, even way back then.

It won't be your problem much longer, Harry sternly told himself as he dragged his trunk inside and pushed the door closed behind him. This is the last time you're ever staying here. Ron and Hermione will be here later today and soon, you'll all be going to Bill and Fleur's wedding, then Godric's Hollow.

Scanning the room, Harry was very glad indeed that Ron and Hermione had decided to go out to dinner with their combined families rather than follow Harry to Privet Drive right away. It would give him time to do something about the awful mess. It wasn't even fit for him to live in, much less Ron and Hermione.

Wishing not for the first time that he was already of age, Harry started to sort through Dudley's castoffs. There was an entire bag of yo-yos that represented the brief obsession Dudley had had with them when they were eight. Aunt Petunia had thought Dudley was being clever. Harry knew Dudley was really using them to throw at people, as he was Dudley's favorite target. A small box contained the remains of Dudley's fifth birthday party. Harry picked up one of the elaborately decorated cardboard horns and turned it in his hands as he remembered how he sat in his cupboard and listened to the happy shrieks of celebration going on a few feet away. For his own birthday that year, Harry had gotten a slice of lime Jell-o that Dudley knocked to the floor during a tantrum.

Harry repacked boxes that had items haphazardly thrown in them and stacked them neatly in the corner. He then moved to the closet, which had a chair propped against the door knob and a few boxes of Dudley's old clothes stacked on top of it to keep it in place. He quickly discovered the reason why. Left on the floor underneath some rusty hangers that had been Christmas gifts when he was younger was a single package of Chocolate Frogs. Harry grabbed the treat and for the first time in days, began to laugh. It was absurd. The Dursleys were terrified of something as silly as a Chocolate Frog.

He tossed the package on top of his trunk and started to put the other boxes into the closet. There was one distinct advantage to going through Dudley's used things. It enabled Harry to see what sort of new Muggle technology had been developed while he was away at school. There were various computer games, a racing car with a smashed remote control lying next to it and a broken PlayStation that Harry initially had seen Dudley playing in the summer before his fifth year.

Harry considered the PlayStation for a moment, then before he could change his mind, opened his trunk and shoved it underneath his school robes. Once he turned 17, he could repair it and see if Hermione could figure out a way to get it and a TV to run without using electricity. Ron would love it, if he managed to fix it. Then again, repairing it could be a task that Hermione would enjoy. He found a couple of game discs that had cracked cases and added them to his stash.

The next item he found was a radio-cassette player. Harry hefted the item in his hands and turned it over. Nothing appeared to be wrong with it. There was even a cassette still in it. He thought for a moment and remembered that the Dursleys had bought Dudley a new portable CD player as a welcome home present. That would explain the older player being tossed in his room.

Harry glared at the player with a bit of disgust, and then he scowled at the other discarded items. Useless, all of it. If he didn't find the Horcruxes and get rid of Voldemort once and for all, there was a bloody good chance that Dudley wouldn't live to see many more gifts heaped upon him. His cousin had his life handed to him on a silver platter and he was too pig-headed, spoiled and selfish to realize how lucky he was.

He glanced back down at the player and thought of one person in particular who would enjoy the player more than anyone else in the world. Without a bit of remorse, Harry stuffed the radio-cassette player at the bottom of his trunk.

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There were times that Harry was very thankful he had met Hermione Granger. Sure, she could be an annoying know-it-all at times, but she was his best friend and most likely the smartest witch of their age. Not only had Hermione made the PlayStation work, but she had shrunk the television set and stowed it in her trunk. Once they had returned from Privet Drive to the comfort of the Burrow, After extensive research on her end, along with some input from Harry - who had done some minor electrical work for Uncle Vernon - Hermione had repaired the TV and got it and the PlayStation to work together without electricity.

There had been a slight drawback to it. Harry was right, Ron did love the PlayStation - to the point where he was addicted. He reclined on his bed in Ron's room and listened to the latest fight coming from downstairs between his two best friends over Ron's new gaming habit.

The two were yelling so loudly that Harry almost didn't hear the knock on the door. When it opened, he was startled as Ginny slipped into the room, one of his robes and an item in her hand. He paled slightly, but willed himself - and the beast in his chest - not to overreact. In the three days since they'd been back at the Burrow, he and Ginny had managed to get along surprisingly well.

Before Ginny could say anything, Ron's shout punctuated the air again.

"Did you see that? Did you see that?" Ron yelled.

"Yes, I saw it," Hermione's exasperated voice floated up the stairs. "I saw it the last three times you did it as well. Ron, would you put that thing down?"

"In a minute!"

"Ron!"

"But, Hermione, I was about to beat the uhh...what did Harry call it again? Whatever the final bad guy of this game is!"

"Ronald Weasley, you put that down now!"

"Shhh! What the... Bloody hell! See what you made me do, Hermione?"

Ginny promptly rolled her eyes and Harry grinned.

"I should hex you for bringing that thing back here," she said lightly, crossing over to the bed. He immediately sat up as she settled herself on Ron's bed. "But, I can't wait until Fred and George lay their eyes on that thing. There's going to be a huge row, just you watch. I wager he won't walk the same after that, and his head will probably swell from all the boils."

"When will they be here?" Harry asked, raising his voice as the noise from the game grew louder again. "Before your mum gets back?"

"I hope so!" Ginny's eyes sparkled with mischief. "If Mum gets back and hears how loud Ron's got that thing, it won't even survive until tonight."

"As Hermione has been pointing out...," Harry started to say.

"...every five minutes for the past hour," Ginny finished.

They exchanged amused looks and laughed, feeling more at ease by the moment. Harry felt his control starting to slip as he allowed himself to enjoy the relaxed, happy expression on Ginny's face. To tell the truth, he had no idea how she would react to him being around her. His main experiences with distraught females were Hermione and Cho. Hermione had fought with Ron every chance she got while Cho simply sobbed and did her best to substitute Harry for Cedric.

Despite Ginny's admonishment, he knew she accepted his decision because she had expected this to happen. Even so, he couldn't help but feel regret at what he did and wanted with every bit of his heart to go back. If it was tearing him up inside, surely it was doing the same thing to her. Yet, as far as he knew, she hadn't shed a tear or said a word.

It only made his admiration and respect for her grow.

At times, he caught her giving him the same hard, blazing look she'd given him right before they kissed in the Common Room and again during their discussion after Dumbledore's funeral, and knew that a confrontation would eventually occur. For now, at least, they could be friends. And it meant the world to him.

"I found this while helping Mum with the laundry," Ginny suddenly said, startling Harry from his thoughts. She folded back the shirt and revealed the radio-cassette player that he'd taken from Dudley's box of used things a few weeks earlier. "I figured it was yours since it was in your things. What is it?"

She passed the player to Harry and he explained how it worked, adding in a brief history behind Dudley's tendency to dispose of anything that he didn't want. He grinned at the flash of interest in Ginny's eyes, reminding him of her father. The annoyance that followed as he explained Dudley's tendency to waste, especially since her own family didn't have a lot, reminded him of Mrs. Weasley.

"So, wanted a souvenir of your cousin?" she teased, knowing how much he disliked Dudley.

Harry rolled his eyes, once again grateful to be rid of Privet Drive once and for all. "I decided there was someone else who would appreciate it more than Dudley ever would."

"It better not be Ron. Hermione will hex you cross-eyed if you even try."

He laughed. "No, not Ron."

Ginny's teasing grin melted into a true smile that sorely tempted the creature in his chest. She glanced out the window at the darkness outside, seemingly lost in thought for a moment. She seemed to be looking for something, and then suddenly her smile grew brighter. Before his hormones could take over, she sprang off Ron's bed, grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him out of the room.

n a half-daze, Harry allowed Ginny to lead him outside toward the shed, where he could see that candles had been lit since the sun set an hour earlier. He stared at her in amazement as she rapped on the door before nudging it open. It wasn't the first time that she'd done this - known what he was thinking without him even hinting at it. Of course, with an object such as this, there would be little doubt as to who it was for. Even so, he hadn't said a thing. She simply understood.

Arthur Weasley glanced up from a worktable as the two entered, their hands still joined. If he noticed, he didn't say anything aloud. Yet, he managed to turn away long enough to allow a small smile. "Harry! Ginny! Is Ron still playing with that Play-thing? Toy Station?"

"I think it's PlayStation, Dad," Ginny said with a fond smile.

"Right, right," Mr. Weasley replied absently. He removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "PlayStation and that Double Dance...Dance, Dance..."

"Final Fantasy?" Harry questioned, suppressing a grin.

"Yes, I knew it began with two letters." Mr. Weasley pushed his glasses back into place.

Mr. Weasley's love for Muggle items had been the only reason that the Playstation had stayed around as long as it had. He played it himself every night before going to bed, and he only retired after Mrs. Weasley threatened to hex both it and him if he didn't stop.

"He is," Ginny replied, as she nudged Harry forward.

He held out the cassette player. "This was Dudley's," he explained. "He didn't want it anymore, like the PlayStation. I figured you'd like it."

Mr. Weasley's tired eyes lit up with surprise as he accepted the gift. He started at it as if it were a bag full of Galleons as Harry explained how it work. He grabbed Harry's hand, pumping it enthusiastically as he thanked him from the bottom of his heart for the gift before turning his attention to seeing how it worked. Harry glanced down and saw that what Mr. Weasley had been poring over wasn't some Muggle-related item, but a series of reports.

Mr. Weasley jabbed the buttons of the player, fascinated at seeing the gears turn around slowly. He nearly cackled with joy when he realized that the different buttons could make the gears go various speeds. Snatching up one of the cassettes, he yanked out a good bit of the tape ribbon to study it.

Harry felt cool air on the back of his neck as the door opened once again. "Arthur, are you in here?" Mrs. Weasley called out.

"Mum!" Ginny hissed, waving at her.

Mrs. Weasley frowned at her, annoyed that she'd been cut off. "Ginny, why are you and Harry out here? Your father is busy..."

"You say this has music on it?" Mr. Weasley said, astonished. He used his fingers to try and cram the tape back into the cassette. Harry grabbed Mr. Weasley's abandoned quill, and showed him how to insert it into one of the holes on the cassette and twist it so it would return to its proper place. Mr. Weasley dropped the slightly damaged cassette on his reports and picked up another to insert into the player.

"What is that thing?" Mrs. Weasley whispered to Ginny.

"It's a present Harry got for him," Ginny explained.

Mrs. Weasley started, then stared at Harry and Mr. Weasley in astonishment. She opened her mouth to say something, then immediately snapped it shut as Mr. Weasley fumbled with the headphones.

"How do they go on again? Like this?" Mr. Weasley asked, positioning the felt pads high upon his head.

"No, like this." Harry reached forward and pulled the headphones down until they covered his ears. "They're like ear muffs."

"They feel very different. Molly! Do you see this Kat-Set ToyStation that Harry gave me?" Seeing his wife for the first time, Mr. Weasley waved the cassette player at them.

Harry turned back to not only see Ginny smiling at him, but Mrs. Weasley giving them both an odd look.

"Yes, I see that, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley replied in a hesitant voice. "But maybe you should finish those reports..."

"In a minute, Molly." Mr. Weasley fumbled with the buttons until he got the player turned on. Music that Harry recognized as being from the Beatles poured out of the headset.

Mr. Weasley froze, not quite believing what he was hearing at first. Then he laughed for the first time in a very long time. "Molly! Listen to this! It's like having a personal wireless!"

Mrs. Weasley pressed her hand to her mouth as Mr. Weasley joyfully played with the volume dial on the cassette player.

Ginny laid a hand on her mother's arm. "Mum?"

Mrs. Weasley ignored her. She crossed the room in two steps and crushed Harry to her chest in a bear hug. She pressed a kiss to his cheek and wiped a tear away before ushering both him and Ginny from the room, all the while reminding Mr. Weasley not to stay out too late.

When they reached the house, Mrs. Weasley placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, stopping him from going inside. He turned back and saw tears shining in Mrs. Weasley's eyes again. "You have no idea how bad things have been, both here and at the ministry, since...since Albus' passing," she said, her voice starting to crack. The tears began to spill over and Harry felt his own throat tighten in response. When Ginny's hand slipped into his, he squeezed back.

"Arthur's enjoyed the present you gave Ron, but...thank you, thank you so much for thinking of him. You have no idea how happy you've made him." Mrs. Weasley wiped away some of the tears. When she spoke next, she sounded more like herself. "I would have given anything just to get Arthur to smile a little again, and to even mess with those Muggle toys of his. You've done that for him, Harry."

She gave both him and Ginny one last hug before making her way into the house just as two large cracks and a shout signaled Fred and George's arrival. Harry glanced back at the shed and gauged Dudley's reaction to receiving the player a year earlier to how Mr. Weasley had reacted just a few minutes ago. He knew he'd made the right decision.

It was then that Harry realized that he and Ginny were still holding hands. He smiled down at her and she returned the smile. Then, without breaking apart, they entered the chaotic household.

Chapter 2: "Relieving Burdens"


The confusion that always accompanied a full Weasley household was something that Harry had grown to relish. At first, it had been overwhelming. Now, it was welcome, especially given the events of the past few weeks. With Dumbledore's death, the attack on Hogwarts, his decision to break things off with Ginny and his own two-week sentence with the Dursleys, he badly needed some laughter in his life.


It was late by the time the commotion had died down, brought on by a combination of excitement and the oh-so-timely arrival of Fred and George - something which Mrs. Weasley once commented seemed to always coincide when the chaos was at its worse. Miraculously enough, the PlayStation had managed to survive the carnage - mainly because Hermione had both summoned the items to her and shrank them at the same time. After proceeding to give Ron, Fred and George a lecture that rivaled one of Mrs. Weasley's howlers, she stomped upstairs with the items.

Harry swore he heard Mrs. Weasley say something about how Hermione would make a most lovely daughter-in-law some day. Ginny merely lifted an eyebrow and followed her friend up the stairs.


She reclined on her bed, watching with amusement as Hermione stowed the items in her trunk. She pushed herself into a sitting position and glanced out the window, at the garage where the light steadily burned. She hoped that he was still caught up in Harry's gift. "Dad's going to be disappointed when he comes in and finds that gone," she mused.


Hermione straightened and joined Ginny. "I didn't think of that," she admitted. "Is he still..."


Ginny nodded. "He was when we were out there." She explained Harry's gift to her father. When she finished, Hermione's eyes shone with unshed tears.


"Magnificent," she whispered and brushed at her eyes. "That's wonderful. That...git is such a selfish, horrible person." Hermione dropped her hands into her lap. "He deserves to have his things taken away from him. He deserves to have food withheld, affection denied and locked into a cupboard."


Locked into a cupboard? A thousand questions, all forbidden, leaped into Ginny's mind. Harry's family, or lack thereof in his case, was something she'd always wondered about since the summer before her first year - when Ron, Fred and George had stolen their father's car to go retrieve Harry from the Dursleys. A few days later, Ginny stumbled across a set of iron bars in the garage and George explained how they had come off of Harry's bedroom window. Being almost 11 and half in love with Harry already, she'd been horrified. The events of that school year pushed the discovery to the very back of her mind.


She was willing to bet what little money she had to her name that the bars were still in the garage.


Twin wars battled inside of Ginny's chest. One was the aching curiosity to know what happened at the Dursleys. Harry, Ron and Hermione had all been so tight-lipped about their two weeks in Little Whinging that not even Mrs. Weasley was able to get much out of them - only that they all appeared noticeably thinner. The second was her conscience, reminding her that this was a very intimate part of Harry's life and if anyone should be telling her this stuff, it should be him.


Hermione leapt to her feet and began to pace. Then she took the decision out of Ginny's hands. "They're horrible, horrible people, Ginny. There's a stereotype in the wizarding world about Muggles - you know those. The Dursleys make me ashamed that I am one, because they fulfill each and every one."


She sank to her bed and cradled her head in her hands. "When I saw my parents at King's Cross, they hugged me. They kissed me. They told me how much they missed me and even gave me this." She pulled a small pendant from beneath her shirt with a single pearl on it. "They were disappointed that I wasn't coming home, but they understood."


"When we got to Harry's house, that horrible uncle of his was yelling at him because his part of his share of dinner was a bit larger than normal. Do you know what he had, Ginny? A slice of bread! I quickly found out that normally it was just half a slice."


"Half a slice?" Ginny thought of all the meals she shared with Harry. When he put his mind to it, he could nearly tuck away as much food as Ron could - and that was quite a lot. "His only dinner was half a slice of bread?"


"He had a little more," Hermione admitted. "His uncle and aunt were eating steak and he got a slice of bologna. They drank wine, he drank water. It was...horrid," she spat, leaped up and began to pace again.


Ginny knew she would grow ill if Hermione kept moving like that. "Calm down," she ordered. "Start from the beginning." She got off the bed, pressed on Hermione's shoulders until she sat on the opposite bed, then took the spot beside her.


She drew in a deep breath and began to tell Ginny about their two weeks in the Dursley household. They had barely seen Harry at times, she explained, because his uncle had him working so hard. Ron pitched in to help out, but that only seemed to make things worse. It got so bad that even Hermione considered hexing the lot, as Ron had repeatedly mumbled the entire time.


"They treat him no better than a house elf," Hermione sobbed. "I take that back, I've seen house elves treated better than him. Every morning, he'd get up before all of us and would have breakfast waiting for them. They barely fed us at all. The things that... man called him... The first night, there was such a huge row that Ron and I weren't sure if it would make things better or worse if we left. Harry said that it didn't matter and you could tell he wanted us to stay so badly. You could see it in his eyes."


Ginny passed over a handkerchief and Hermione wiped her face before continuing. "The worst part was about three days before we left. There was bolts and locks on Harry's bedroom and a small flap door for food - we were even locked in. Thankfully, Ron and I could use magic, so we were able to sneak out. We didn't use it that much though. They're scared of magic, but we didn't want to get Harry in trouble with the ministry. We crept downstairs to get some food and saw that the small cupboard under the stairs was open."


She twisted the handkerchief. "Inside, there was a broken light bulb and this thin mattress and some clothing remnants. I noticed they looked to be about the size a first year wore -well, a first year if he happened to be the size of Dudley Dursley and Ron pointed out that it looked like someone had lived there. Then, it suddenly clicked for both of us. Ginny, that's where Harry lived until he got his Hogwarts letter."


Ginny listened, stunned, as Hermione recounted everything that Harry told them that night - about when he finally unburdened himself about the nearly 10 years of his life that separated the night of his parents' murder and when he left for Hogwarts. Despite the small laugh she got about the hundreds of Hogwarts letters that assailed the Dursley household, the remainder left her furious.


Finally exhausted, Hermione went to bed. Ginny watched her sleep and realized it was the first true rest her friend had gotten since they returned to the Burrow. She understood why she'd been so tormented. How could anyone sleep knowing how horribly the Dursleys had treated Harry? Hermione had kept her thoughts to herself until they finally overflowed because she hadn't wanted to worry either Ron or Harry - especially Harry.


Ginny knew that if she'd been in the same situation, she would had done the same thing. She chuckled slightly. Well, it now appeared like she was in that very situation.


She slipped from the room, still dressed. She crept downstairs and started to assemble the makings for tea. She wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do. Part of her wanted to go in Ron's room - hang Harry's honor and her brother - and give him the biggest hug she could. Most of her wanted to go hex the Dursleys into oblivion. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. No, there were worse things she could do than a simple hex. She could unleash Fred and George on them.


She heard the back door open and automatically reached for a second cup and more tea leaves. She heard the low mummer of conversation and about a minute later, as Ginny placed two cups on the table, her parents stepped into the kitchen.


"What's this?" Mrs. Weasley asked.


"I figured you'd like some," Ginny explained, feeling suddenly at a loss. She really didn't want the tea. It just gave her something to do. She smiled at her parents, arms wrapped around each other's waist. It faded when she saw their haggard faces and realized that this war, probably even more so than the last, had made them older. A lump formed in her throat and she quickly looked away, turning her attention to pouring out cups of tea.


"When we got to Harry's house, that horrible uncle of his was yelling at him because his part of his share of dinner was a bit larger than normal. Do you know what he had, Ginny? A slice of bread! I quickly found out that normally it was just half a slice."


Tears burned, but she refused to cry. If she did, she would wind up telling them everything. That not only would violate the trust Hermione had in her, but Harry's as well. No, her parents had enough on their minds. She wouldn't add to their burdens. Besides, Harry would never be going back to the Dursleys again.


Ginny set the tea kettle back on the stove and walked over to her parents. "You two sit and relax," she urged them, then gave them each a fierce hug. "I'm going to bed." She headed to the stairs, then glanced back over her shoulder. She wasn't surprised to find her parents giving her an odd look. She gave them a weak smile. "I haven't said it lately, but I do love you both. Good night!"


She headed upstairs, gave a fond glance at the stairs leading to Ron's room, then headed to bed, where she dreamed of Bat-Bogey Hexes aimed at wicked Dursleys.