Chapter 42
Ginny’s Trap
Harry sat in the common room the next day, doing his best to focus on the open book in front of him.
…was signed by the International Confederation of Warlocks in 1812 and called for changes in the traditional trade agreements between goblins and wizards. The original concern that led to the passing of the law arose from a misunderstanding between the leader of the goblins of Devonshire Wood and one Gladys Woodstrupple, a South Hampton witch who had been acting as emissary on behalf of…
Hold on “ he had already read that part. In fact, he was pretty sure he had read this particular paragraph at least four times now. He pulled back from the book, gave a heavy sigh, and ran his hands over his face. The History of Magic essay was due next Monday and if he didn’t get going on it now he would be in trouble. But it was no use. As exciting as nineteenth-century goblin trade agreements were he was finding it impossible to focus on anything for a continual length of time.
Anything but Ginny, anyways.
She wasn’t even in the room, but every time he looked up and saw her favorite chair by the fireplace he couldn’t help but picture her sitting there: legs curled up beneath her like a cat, a curtain of smooth, scarlet hair cascading down the side of her face, her nose scrunched up in concentration in an unbelievably endearing way as she did her homework. How could he possibly focus on something as dry and dull as a History of Magic essay with that picture in his mind?
He hadn’t told her how he felt yet. Every time he thought of doing so his heart began to race and he felt a nervous pinch in his stomach. After giving the matter a great deal of thought, he had decided that instead of telling her straight out how he felt, he would instead try hinting at asking her out on a date. That way if she didn’t seem interested he could simply play it off as though he had just meant a date as friends. Through the turmoil that had been constantly raging in his mind ever since he had seen her in the mirror something told him this course of action was cowardly and subversive “ that he ought to just tell her how he felt “ but he didn’t care. It would be safer this way.
Trying for the fifth time to read the paragraph on Gladys Woodstrupple and making it only to the end of the next page before zoning out, Harry decided to give it up for the evening and get out of the common room. He was restless and felt the need to go out and do something, anything, that would distract him from homework and a certain red-haired female who refused to get out of his mind. Deciding to pay a visit to Dobby (he had been wanting to speak with him ever since reading the third diary and seeing the small, cheerful creature that both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had called ‘elf’), he closed his book, rose from the chair, and made his way to the portrait hole. He stepped through the opening and onto the outside landing only to find himself, unbelievably, face to face with the red-head in question.
“Oh. Hey, Harry,” Ginny said with her usual, bright smile. Harry immediately felt his mind numb over. She was with a couple of her fifth-year friends and had her bag slung over her shoulder, apparently just returning from a study session. Her friends greeted Harry and said good-bye to Ginny as they entered the open portrait hole behind him.
“Hi.”
“Where’re you going?”
“Er…nowhere. Thought I’d…you know, just go down to the kitchens…” he mumbled.
“The kitchens? What for? Fancy some more kippers, do you?”
“No, it’s Dobby. He wanted me to “ well, no I just thought…it’s been a while, so…” he let the sentence trail off, deciding he had better not risk saying anything stupid.
Ginny raised her eyebrows slightly and nodded. “Sounds like loads of fun,” she said facetiously. “Should I come with you?”
She tilted her head to one side and looked straight into his eyes as she asked. Harry found himself momentarily captivated. Something about the way she stood there “ the deep red of her hair contrasting against the black of her robe, bag slung coquettishly over her shoulder, gazing up at him with her disarming brown eyes “ was so charming he found it difficult to speak.
This was his opportunity, something inside his head screamed. He needed to tell her how he felt. Needed to ask her to the next Hogsmeade weekend. Needed to say something. But he couldn’t speak. Could only look at her…
After a long pause, she spoke up. The smile was gone from her face.
“Er…that’s ok if you don’t want me to, Harry. I’ve got other stuff to do.”
She had taken his silence as a ‘no’. His mind scurried, trying to think what the right thing to say was.
“No, I don’t.”
He had meant that she had been wrong in assuming he didn’t want her to come, or that he didn’t not want her to come (it seemed perfectly clear in his head), but for some reason a puzzled, perturbed look came on Ginny’s face.
“Fine,” she said coldly, then turned away and entered the common room.
It took a moment to realize what he had just done. Once he did, Harry groaned and smacked himself in the head for his stupidity.
What in Merlin’s beard was wrong with him? Hadn’t he faced Death Eaters before? Dragons? Lord Voldemort? Couldn’t he handle a simple conversation with Ginny? Of course he wanted her to come. Wanted to hold her hand and caress the dimple in her cheek as they went, actually, but somehow even the simplest of interactions had become impossible when he was around her. Shaking his head and sincerely wondering if he was going insane, Harry made his way down to the kitchens.
When he arrived he found that not much had changed since his last visit. At least nothing with the physical aspects of the room. So it was strange, then, when Harry walked through the immensely broad, open room with four long tables that mirrored the Great Hall above and felt something distinctly different in the atmosphere. He wasn’t able to place it at first, but after a few minutes realized it was the house elves themselves. They welcomed him and offered him food, of course, yet they lacked the same enthusiasm and warmth they had had the other times he had been there. They also seemed tense and on edge, like someone anticipating a distant storm on the horizon.
Harry asked Dobby about it once he found him.
“It’s You-Know-Who, Harry Potter. The house-elves are scared because of You-Know-Who,” he said, shielding his mouth with his hand. A number of nearby house-elves who had overheard flinched and shot Dobby angry, fearful looks.
“But…why are they worried? He can’t get to them here, not with Dumbledore around.”
Dobby shook his head vigorously. “He only needs to be alive to scare house elves, sir. The last time You-Know-Who was in power”” a passing house elf carrying a silver tray shrieked suddenly and dropped his load, sending a number of plates smashing to the ground. Apparently even saying ‘You-Know-Who’ was enough to frighten the house elves in their current condition. Harry briefly wondered how they would react if he said ‘Voldemort’.
Dobby continued.
“The last time he was in power, nasty things happened to house elves. He was very bad to us, Harry Potter. Very bad indeed.”
The fascinated, fearless way Dobby spoke seemed as though he didn’t include himself when he said ‘house elves’.
“But Dobby, aren’t you scared too?”
Dobby’s eyes narrowed slightly and his voice became more sober. “Of course Dobby is scared, Harry Potter, sir. But Dobby is free. Dobby can make his own decisions and do as he pleases. And Dobby would rather fight, sir, fight as a free house elf.”
Harry couldn’t help but be impressed. He wished more witches and wizards had Dobby’s bravery. But the mention of ‘free house elf’ reminded him of what he had come to speak with Dobby about in the first place.
“That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about Dobby. Listen…”
Harry briefly explained about the creature he had seen named Melke (leaving out everything about Rowena Ravenclaw’s diaries) and how he had been called ‘elf’, even though Harry had never seen anything like him before. Dobby listened intently, the reflection of a distant torch dancing in his large, bulbous eyes. When Harry had finished, he nodded.
“Ooohh, but house elves were not always house elves, sir! Did you not know?”
Harry shook his head. There were many things about the wizarding world he was still finding out.
Dobby smiled, apparently excited that he could teach Harry something. “You see, house elves only became house elves after the enslavement, Harry Potter. Centuries and centuries ago. Before that they were known only as elves and were a different people. Then they met wizards…”
Dobby then went on to relate the entire history of the elves, how they had inhabited Britain and Ireland long before the first humans had settled there. The whole story of how they had become enslaved was rather intricate and detailed, though Harry did catch the basic gist”that hundreds and hundreds of years ago wizards had helped protect the elves from a near genocide by marauding tribes of trolls, then had taken advantage of the situation to institute the enslavement. The enslavement bound the elves to the wizards forever, forcing them to use their powers for their master’s benefit and no one else’s. It also took away some of those powers and completely eradicated their sense of identity”instead of free, peace loving creatures considered equal to wizards, they became nothing more than indentured servants.
“But Dobby, why would the house elves accept enslavement?” he asked, confused. “I mean, what did they get out of it?”
“The elves were fooled, sir,” Dobby whispered secretively, his eyes darting around as though he were scared of something. Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck inexplicably stand up. “The elves thought the wizards were their friends. They wanted to repay the kindness shown to them by the wizards. Elves are trusting and happy by nature, sir. We always want to please others. So when the wizards presented the enslavement enchantment, most of the elves were happy to enter into the agreement. They didn’t realize what they had done until it was too late, sir!”
“That’s horrible,” said Harry, aghast.
Dobby only shrugged. He seemed to be less appalled about the whole thing than Harry did. “It is not so bad, sir. Most house elves do not mind. They think it is an honor to be bound to wizard families. Most of them would be devastated if they were given clothes, sir! Devastated. Like Winky was.”
Harry tried to wrap his mind around this new information. He suddenly felt slightly ashamed to be a wizard. Something else didn’t fit though.
“But”hold on a minute. This elf looked different. He was happy and looked, I don’t know, confident. He was also larger, stronger and not quite so…so…” Harry tried to think of a better word, but there was nothing for it.
“…well, wrinkly.”
Dobby gave another shrug.
“Dobby does not know. Perhaps hundreds and hundreds of years of enslavement makes house elves look that way, Harry Potter. Elves did once have a more powerful magic, but that too has been lost to the enslavement. They still have powerful magic, sir, though they are only allowed to use it for their masters.”
“And you are only allowed to use it for house work, too…” said Harry, mostly to himself. Dobby nodded.
“Dobby, one more question. When did the enslavement happen? Would it have been before Hogwarts was founded?”
Dobby shook his head, causing his long ears to wiggle back and forth. “Oh no, Harry Potter, not that long ago. House elves do not remember the exact date, but it wasn’t so long ago as that.”
As Harry pondered the conversation with Dobby on his way back to the common room, everything seemed to make sense. The creature he had seen, Melke, had been an ancestor of the modern-day house elves. He had looked different because he hadn’t yet had the burden of the enslavement placed on him. Possibly a century or two later the elves would enter into the enslavement and become bound to wizards, altering their appearance and destiny forever. The most disturbing part of the whole thing was the fact that normal wizards accepted and most likely had encouraged the enslavement to begin with. Harry could understand such behavior from families like the Malfoy’s, would have expected it even, but the fact that the entire wizard populace welcomed such a demeaning practice appalled Harry and made him feel somehow dirty. Even Ron had said he wished his family had the services of a house elf…
Maybe Hermione hadn’t been nutters to start SPEW after all.
***
The next day was bright and warm. Harry finally managed to finish his History of Magic essay, though he knew he’d be lucky to scrape by with an Acceptable. Nearly two weeks had now passed since he had found the clue to Rowena Ravenclaw’s final diary, but still no word from Dumbledore on when they could go retrieve it. Harry realized this was probably a good thing, as he was desperately behind in his schoolwork. Between the Half-Blood Prince and the distraction of Ginny, academics had fallen pretty low on his priority list. In fact, more than one professor had taken him aside to make sure everything was all right.
He was just returning from such a meeting with Professor Sprout in the greenhouses when he ran into Ginny at a side entrance of the castle. Her brookstick was slung over her shoulder and she was holding the old, beat-up Quaffle they used for practice games of Quidditch. His stomach did the now-customary lurch that happened whenever he saw her.
“Hey, Harry!”
“Hi,” he replied. They hadn’t spoken since the dreadful conversation outside of the portrait hole the day before. He was relieved that she was talking to him.
“I was just going to go throw the Quaffle around on the pitch. Want to come?”
Harry looked around. The day was warm and the sun was shining. The snow had melted considerably over the last few days and patches of grass were beginning to show. The wet, earthy scent of early Spring was in the air. He had more homework to do, but easily convinced himself that he could finish it later. A game of Quidditch sounded like just the thing.
Besides, he thought to himself, flying seemed to be one of the few times where he could be around Ginny and not make a complete idiot of himself. The only time, really.
“Yeah. Definitely. Er…let me just go put my books away and grab the Firebolt,” he said with a smile, concentrating on not saying anything stupid.
“Great. Meet you out here in five minutes.”
Ginny smiled and walked towards the pitch, her scarlet hair pulled back in a ponytail that bobbed adorably as she walked. Harry watched her go then hurried up to the boys dormitory, a spring in his step. He quickly tossed his things onto the four-poster, grabbed his Firebolt, and made his way back to the pitch. As he exited the castle he inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh, warm air. There was a slight breeze and as he walked he noticed the sun was beginning to lower in the western sky. The pitch was angled slightly north-west, so if they played on the south-east side it wouldn’t get into their eyes. He arrived at the pitch and was about to mount his broom, but stopped. Ginny wasn’t there.
That was odd. She had been on her way to the pitch and had told him she’d meet him in five minutes, but she was nowhere in sight. He looked around to see if she was flying around outside of the pitch, perhaps over the lake. Nothing.
It was then that he heard it.
“Haaarrrrryyyy!”
It almost sounded like a voice, but looking around he couldn’t see anyone. Perhaps it was just the wind rustling through the trees. Then he heard it again.
“Haaarrrrryyyy!”
It was faint, but definitely a voice. It seemed to be coming from the south end of the pitch, on his right and slightly above him. Looking up again he saw no one “ just a few clouds, blue sky, the three Quidditch rings, and Hogwarts Lake glimmering in the background. Wait…
Something drew his eyes back to the Quidditch rings. There was a piece of black fabric in the center of the ring, fluttering like a flag. Only, it wasn’t a flag, it was…
Somebody’s robes. Ginny. She was standing, amazingly, in the center of the ring, waving frantically at him.
Just as he noticed this, she called again.
“Haaarrrrrryy! Help!”
Astonished and slightly panicked, Harry threw his leg over the Firebolt and kicked off, speeding towards her. A number of thoughts raced through his head as he flew. What in the world was Ginny doing in the middle of a Quidditch ring? What had happened to her broom? This was dangerous “ the center of a Quidditch ring couldn’t be very stable and it was a long drop to the ground. But how on earth had she gotten up there in the first place?
A chilling thought suddenly came to Harry’s mind.
What if the Death Eaters had somehow put her up there? What if they were on the castle grounds this very minute?
He pulled out his wand and put on an extra burst of speed. He scanned the grounds for any sign of a Death Eater, but didn’t see anything. Within seconds he arrived at the top of the long, towering column that supported the ring.
“Are you ok? What happened to your broom?” he asked in alarm. He looked over her quickly to make sure she was all right. She seemed to be ok”at least, there weren’t any outward signs of an altercation.
“It’s down there,” said Ginny, pointing towards the ground. “Help me!”
Looking down towards the base of the column Harry saw the broom lying in the grass. He looked back at Ginny. Though she looked anxious, the expression on her face wasn’t nearly frantic enough to indicate that there were Death Eaters around. Realizing this, Harry’s fear of attack was calmed and instead turned into utter bewilderment.
“How did you get in there?” he asked, baffled.
Ginny shot him a look of severe exasperation. “Never mind that you git, get me out of here!”
“Oh, right. Here, let me””
Realizing this wasn’t the best time for an explanation, Harry instead focused on maneuvering the broom next to Ginny so she could get on. It was tricky work. He had to position it just right and there wasn’t much room for error. What was more, the wind was blowing slightly, causing both the broom and the Quidditch ring to sway, almost like a ship rolling on waves. If he wasn’t careful he could knock Ginny off….
He just about had it when a sudden gust of wind jolted him slightly off course. He was now sideways to her, not quite close enough for her to get on.
“Come on, move a little closer…whoa! No, that’s too far. Um…here, give me your wand so you don’t drop it,” directed Ginny tensely as he tried to maneuver the broom. Harry reached out and handed his wand to her, then clenched the broom with both hands and focused on flying.
“Almost…little bit more, good. No, wait, there’s not enough room at the front. You know what? Just land right here and we can both get on”that’s probably easier,” she pointed to a spot next to her. Thinking it was a rather unorthodox way of getting her onto the broom, Harry nevertheless obeyed and landed gently where she had pointed. Luckily the inner portion of the ring was flat and squared, so standing on it wasn’t as dangerous as he had first thought.
“Ok, good”what if I get on first and…” Ginny removed both hands from the side of the ring and moved towards Harry. “Great. Yeah, I think I’ve got it.”
In one swift motion she swept the broom from his hands, mounted it, and kicked off from the ring, leaving him standing there alone. He watched in confusion as she made a wide, graceful arc. For some reason her head was thrown back in laughter. She completed a full circle and came to a stop facing him several yards away, well out of reach.
“Wow, that was even easier than I thought,” she said with a triumphant, highly amused grin.
Harry looked at her, completely baffled.
“Er…what are you doing, Ginny?”
“Well Harry, I thought it was time we had a little talk.” She took one hand from the broom and casually raised it in front of her, palm out, as though she were examining her fingernails. A look of smug satisfaction lit her freckled face. He waited, speechless.
She turned her attention from her fingernails to him, speaking with a crafty smile on her lips though her tone had become very businesslike.
“Now, for the past two weeks you’ve been acting very strange. You’ve become distant and withdrawn, which means you’re hiding something from us. I thought you’d learned your lesson about keeping secrets, but apparently I was wrong.”
The wind blew suddenly, causing the column the ring was perched on to sway slightly. Harry instinctively grasped for the side to keep his balance. Ginny continued.
“So here’s the deal, Potter. You’re stuck in there until you tell me what’s been bothering you. I’ve got your broom, I’ve got your wand, and there’s nobody out here to help you. So you can either tell me what’s going on, or you can stand up there all night gaping like a Grindylow and Hagrid will have to thaw you out in the morning.”
Harry was gaping at her, completely shocked. It had all been a trap? An elaborate set-up just so she could find out what he was hiding? But he wasn’t hiding anything. Not about Voldemort, anyway. His nightmares were far less frequent and he had felt much better ever since he had shared the prophecy. The only thing he was hiding was”
He froze. A sudden, inexplicable anxiety rose in his gut.
”was what he had seen in the Mirror of Erised. The way he felt…
“So, what’s it going to be?” she asked suddenly in a voice of mock-sweetness, interrupting his thoughts.
Not knowing what to say, Harry grinned uneasily at her. He wasn’t quite sure if she were joking or not. After all, she couldn’t be serious”leave him out there all night? She wouldn’t.
But as he saw the fiery determination in her eyes, Harry realized this was the sort of thing Ginny Weasley definitely would do.
“Er…I’m not hiding anything. I’m ok”seriously. Now will you get me down from here?” he said reflexively.
Ginny shook her head. “I see. You need a little time to think it over. No problem. I’ll just check up on you in a bit, shall I?” With that she turned towards the other end of the pitch and began to flew away.
“Don’t fall off!!” she called helpfully over her shoulder as she left, leaving Harry gawking in disbelief. She flew to the far side of the pitch where she took out the old Quaffle and began tossing it through the rings, as though it were nothing more than a normal session of practice.
Stranded and alone, Harry ventured a look over the side of the ring. Immediately he drew back. It was a long, dizzying drop that gave him an uncomfortable, squirming sensation in his stomach. Funny, he thought to himself, he had never had a problem with heights on the Quidditch pitch before. Of course, before he had always had the security of his broom beneath him…
When it became apparent that Ginny wasn’t returning any time soon, he decided to try and sit down to give his legs a rest. Slowly, carefully, he sank down on the inside of the ring, which was just wide enough to sit on semi-comfortably. As the initial shock of being stranded wore off, it soon became apparent to him what had happened: Ginny, just like Hermione, had noticed his odd behavior of late and had mistakenly assumed he was hiding some dark secret regarding Voldemort or the prophecy.
Unlike Hermione, however, Ginny was much more assertive and creative when it came to getting secrets from him.
Harry shook his head in disbelief again. Despite his current precarious situation, however, he couldn’t help but be impressed by Ginny’s ingenuity. She had known exactly how to get him to come rushing to her aid, how to get both his broom and wand from him, and how to leave him there stranded and completely helpless. He marveled at the way her mind worked. Never in a hundred years would he have thought of using a Quidditch ring as a means for forcing a secret out of someone. He was even sure that someday he would look back and find the whole situation humorous, though it was hard to picture that just now.
After allowing himself this brief moment to admire Ginny’s skills at extortion, Harry’s thoughts soon turned to the more immediate issue of how he was going to get down from there. He assessed the situation”no wand, no broom, he didn’t know how to apparate yet, and it was about a seventy-foot drop to the bottom. There was nothing for it; he truly was at Ginny’s mercy. It looked like his only option was to convince her to let him down, though, as she had said, that wouldn’t happen until he told her the cause for his strange behavior.
And he wasn’t about to tell her that.
Harry gave a sigh of uncertainty. He would just have to explain to her that she had misunderstood the whole situation.
He waited ten or fifteen minutes more (though it felt like much longer), then decided he would call her over. Just as he cupped his hands around his mouth to shout, he noticed that she was already flying towards him. He slowly and carefully stood back up.
“So…” Ginny pulled up in front of him and stopped, hovering in the air. She rested her head on her hand and fixed him with an expectant look, one scarlet eyebrow raised. A wry smile played on her lips. Even now he couldn’t help but notice how cute she looked.
“…we’ve had some time to think it over. Now what is it Harry? What’re you hiding from me?”
“Look, Ginny…it’s not what you think. It’s nothing about Voldemort or anything like that. Seriously.”
Her expression didn’t change. “Ok, what is it about then?”
Harry opened his mouth to answer, but no words came. She had no idea what the ‘secret’ actually was. And he couldn’t tell her, not now. His mind raced for some other explanation.
But nothing came. Ginny shook her head.
“Still not talking, eh? Perhaps you need a little more time to think about it.”
“Wha”? No, wait!” Harry called out. But it was too late.
She flew away, leaving him alone once more.
Now Harry was starting to get worried. It was apparent that Ginny meant business. She wasn’t going to budge until she got what she was looking for. He surveyed his surroundings yet again to see if there was any way out, perhaps something he had overlooked the first time.
A slight wind rustled through his hair, causing a strange whistling sound as it blew around his glasses. He noticed Ginny’s broom lying on the ground next to the column about a hundred feet below him. What if he could somehow summon it? He had occasionally seen Dumbledore and other highly skilled wizards do magic without their wands, so it had to be possible. He thought it was worth a shot.
After about five minutes of futility he gave it up. He made a quick mental note to ask Dumbledore to teach him the next time he saw him. If there is a next time, he thought grimly to himself. The sun had lowered slightly in the western sky and it was beginning to get cooler. He had no idea how he was going to get out of this one.
Having nothing else to do, Harry decided to sit back down on the ring and think. Being stranded in middle of Quidditch ring gave a person plenty of time to ponder. Soon the most obvious question regarding his current situation came to him “ why don’t you tell Ginny what's going on? She wants to know what's bothering you, why not tell her the truth?
A tiny surge of excitement shot through him at the thought, though it was quickly drowned out by a wave of anxiety and trepidation. What if she didn’t feel the same way? What if she turned him down and everything changed? The thought of rejection made him timid and tentative.
But there was more to it than that. There was a deeper and more debilitating fear than that of rejection keeping him back, he realized. A nameless, dark trepidation that had been lingering in his sub-conscious for some time.
What if she did feel the same way?
What if they became close?
His lot in life, his unique…situation, wasn’t too conducive to strong emotional relationships. Yet one more thing Voldemort had taken away from him.
He pondered on this for some time. Before he knew it Ginny had returned. She held the Quaffle in one hand and gripped the broom with the other, a businesslike expression on her face that was now void of humor. He could tell her patience was wearing thin.
“Are we ready to talk yet?”
Harry shook his head. He was still distracted by the discovery he had just made. “I…There’s nothing to say. I’m not hiding anything,” he said softly, almost sadly. “Now come on, this is ridiculous. Get me down from here.”
“No,” she said sharply, flatly. “If you’re not hiding anything, then why have you been a total prat lately?”
Harry shook his head. He wished he could be somewhere alone where he could sort out his thoughts. Preferably somewhere not seventy feet off the ground.
“I…don’t know, ok. I’m not sure what’s going on.”
This last statement seemed to push Ginny over the edge. Her expression became angry and her eyes blazed with a fire more vibrant than even her hair.
“Damn it Harry! What happened to you?” she practically shouted in exasperation. “You were doing so good! You told us about the prophecy and we were able to help you. Now this? We’re back to this? Why are you shutting yourself off again?”
Harry was taken aback by her eruption. She really was concerned about him.
“Look, I’m not shutting myself off, ok?” he stammered. “Just…something’s come up. Something I’m not sure how to deal with””
“What’s come up, Harry? What could be worse than the prophecy?”
Harry didn’t know how to respond. All he could do was shake his head.
“Arrgghh! Stay up there and rot!!”
She flung the Quaffle at him in frustration and bolted off, leaving him alone for the third time. He was starting to get genuinely frustrated himself. Ginny, although generally fun and one of the most enjoyable people to be around that he knew, had a stubborn streak in her that even Mrs. Weasley could be proud of. It had all been slightly amusing at first, but this was starting to get out of hand. Why wouldn’t she just leave it alone?
He watched her fly away, almost certain that she was going to leave him there for the rest of the night. And at first it looked like she was as she had flown directly towards the castle. He was relieved, then, when she changed course just before getting there and flew back to the end of the pitch.
Harry’s shoulders slumped. Now what? It was still bright outside but the sun was beginning to dip and he could feel the starting to drop. The way things were going he would be up there all night. He thought briefly of the various ways Hagrid could get his frozen corpse if Ginny did ultimately abandon him, but, finding none of the ideas appealing, quickly turned his thoughts back to devising some other way to get down.
Could he call for help? Not likely “ he hadn’t seen anyone but Ginny in the past hour, and even if someone did come Ginny would most likely convince them to leave him up there. What about a Levitation charm? Not without his wand. There was nothing he could do. He briefly thought of removing his robe and using it as a parachute, but realized that only worked in Muggle cartoons.
It was hopeless. He hung his head in defeat. From his vantage point he could see along the side of the column all the way down to Ginny’s broom. The column…
Hold on, he thought suddenly. There was a way he could get down.
The giant column that connected to the ring.
It was only about a foot and a half in diameter. He could easily wrap his arms and legs around it “ if it wasn’t too slick “ and slide down it. All he had to do was tighten his grip when he needed to slow down and loosen it to speed up. If he did it right, he could lower himself gently to the ground without a scratch. Granted, it was an extremely long way to go and his muscles could tire before he got down, but at the moment it was the best option he had.
A thrill of excitement hit Harry. He had found a way out. He looked up to make sure Ginny wasn’t watching him, for if she saw what he was planning to do she would undoubtedly rocket over to stop him. Luckily her attention was still on the rings on her side of the pitch. Seeing his chance he quickly, carefully scooted over to the middle of the ring and swung his legs to the opposite side, away from Ginny. This way he could keep an eye on her as he slid down. She would be furious with him, he knew, but decided it was worth it. He turned his body and wrapped his legs around the top of the column, then gripped the ledge of the ring with his hands. A small thrill of triumph went through him. He was going to escape…
But just as he was about to lower himself, something stopped him. A voice piped up inside his head, surprisingly clear. What happens when you get back to the castle? it asked. What waits for you there? It was the voice of the small, brave part of him, the part that had been urging him to tell Ginny the truth since the beginning and he had been ignoring. What did wait for him at the bottom of the Quidditch ring? He thought about it “ he would go about with his life just as he had lately, not saying anything to Ginny and continuing to feel awkward around her. He would try and be able, to some extent, to lose himself in teaching the D.A. and helping his fellow students learn to fight. He would again devote himself to preparing to meet Voldemort, to learning new spells and studying ancient lore in order to defeat the Dark Lord. And he would be miserable.
He was running away.
But how could he do that to Ginny? the other part of him countered. How could he ask her to be close to him when he could be killed at any time? Wasn’t that selfish?
Ginny can decide that for herself, the first voice returned. Besides, she already is close to you. Why else would she do this?
Harry looked at the ring that had been his prison for the last hour and nearly chuckled. It was true. Who else would go to such lengths to make sure he was ok? Whether he liked it or not, Ginny would be affected by his fate “ as would Ron, Hermione, and quite a few others. He couldn’t use wanting to protect her as an excuse anymore.
This concern dissolving, he found himself back at his original one.
What if she doesn’t like me like that? What if I ruin everything?
You’ll just have to tell her and find out, won’t you? the voice returned. At least then you’ll know. At least then you’ll be able to get on with your life and not feel like a coward.
Harry took a deep breath. The words echoed in his mind. At least you’ll know. He would rather tell and have her not return his feelings than go on like he had been, worried and constantly wondering. The time for action had come.
He would tell her.
Deciding to act quickly, before he had the chance to change his mind, Harry cupped his hands around his mouth and called out to Ginny. She noticed him motioning towards her and began making her way back down the pitch. Harry felt his throat constrict slightly, but paid it no mind. Soon Ginny was back in front of him, looking at him expectantly.
"Are you ready to talk?" she asked, her tone flat.
Harry exhaled slowly.
“Yes.”
“Splendid!” said Ginny, her good-humor returning. “Go ahead, I’m listening.”
Harry was about to speak, but hesitated. The top of a hundred foot, wavering Quidditch ring wasn’t the ideal place to do what he was about to do.
“Er…not here. Get me down and I’ll tell you.”
She shook her head.
“Do you think I’m stupid? You can tell me from there just fine.”
Realizing Ginny could still leave him there for the entire night if she didn’t like what he had to say, Harry decided he had better insist.
“No, really, I can’t. Come on, get me down from here.”
She fixed him with a skeptical look. She thought for a moment, then replied, “Ok, but if you don’t tell me, I’m going to pitch both your wand and your Firebolt into the lake. Agreed?”
Harry nodded.
“Fantastic,” she said pleasantly, then gently maneuvered the broom next to him. Once she got it in place she scooted forward so he could get on. He carefully sat down behind her and pushed off from the ring. Instead of landing at the bottom of the Quidditch ring he directed the broom off towards the lake.
Harry felt a calm The wind swept her soft hair back into his face and he caught a scent of strawberries and the smell of the air just after it had rained. He inhaled deeply a calm contentment settling over him. The time had finally come. However she reacted, he will have told her his secret and would be able to get on with his life. A half-dozen eloquent, perfect statements to make came to his mind, things that would help her see how he felt, things he would be ashamed for Ron or any other male to know he even thought. He smiled.
By now the sun was getting low in the horizon and a rosy light illuminated the snow and the mountains around them. He found a small clearing on the side of the lake across from Hogwarts, a small nook against the mountains that was guarded by a few trees and landed there. His heart began to race again.
Ginny dismounted the broom immediately, took a few steps, then turned around to face Harry.
“Now what is it? What’s going on with you?”
The time had come.
But something terrible happened. All at once his eloquence disappeared and his mind went completely numb. Nervousness like he had never known swept over him. She watched him expectantly with her hands on her hips.
“Look, I…just wanted to tell you…er””
But all the perfect, romantic things he had thought to say were gone. He tried frantically to remember them, but they had disappeared”as irretrievable as if they had sunk to the bottom of Hogwarts Lake. She continued to look at him with those beautiful, penetrating eyes, completely disarming him. Not able to meet her gaze, he looked down at his feet instead.
“What is it?” she demanded.
But he couldn’t just tell her. He needed to give some sort of background, or explanation first. But nothing came to mind. He felt panic sweep over him and briefly felt the urge to run away.
He sighed. There was nothing else to do. He looked up, straight into those compassionate, mischievous, beautiful brown eyes.
“I’m in love with you.”
Silence. Even the breeze through the trees seemed to halt. He had said it. His words hung in the air”heavy, irrevocable. Harry felt more exposed and vulnerable than he had his entire life. He watched her face intently.
At first she looked confused, as though she hadn’t heard him correctly.
“What?”
“I’m in love with you, Ginny.” It was easier to say the second time.
She heard him this time. Her mouth opened slightly and she drew back from him, a startled, overwhelmed expression on her features. He had been right”she hadn’t been expecting this at all.
But her expression suddenly turned guarded. When she spoke her voice was hollow and detached. A reflex.
“No you’re not.”
Now it was Harry’s turn to be taken aback.
“Er…Yes, I am.”
She turned her face from him. A strand of bright, scarlet hair fell across it. Her expression was hidden in shadow. She was silent a moment longer, then finally spoke. This time her voice was defensive, almost sad.
“That’s not funny, Harry.”
“What?”
She shook her head. “I said, it’s not funny. You shouldn’t joke about that.”
“But”I’m serious. I’m in love with you.”
She turned completely away from him now, covering her face with her hands. He watched, completely bewildered. This wasn’t the reaction he had been hoping for.
Suddenly she looked up at him, her freckles blaring red and her eyes narrowed.
“Who put you up to this? Was it Ron?” she demanded.
Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She thought he was joking? That he had gone in with someone to play a trick on her?
“What? No one ‘put me up to this’. It’s true””
She cut him off, clearly not believing him. It was all falling apart.
“Fred, George? Who was it? Because whoever it was, it’s not funny.” Though her voice was sharp and defensive, Harry noticed something else in it, something that stabbed him cruelly in the heart.
She was hurt.
He had to do something. He had to show her he was sincere, that he wasn’t joking or playing a cruel trick on her. But what could he do?
Without thinking, without even knowing what he was doing, he had closed the gap between the two of them and was holding Ginny in his arms. She gasped and her eyes grew wide “ more in surprise than alarm. He cupped her face with his free hand, caressing the soft, smooth skin of her face.
Then, without thinking “ being beyond thought “ he kissed her.
At first he felt her tighten “ his action had taken them both by surprise “ but soon she relaxed and he felt her melt into his arms. The kiss was passionate, yet tender and compassionate at the same time “ more a token of affection and love than a carnal, physical thing. In it he expressed everything he had been aching to say, all the feelings he had felt for so long but had been keeping inside. And he realized,. through the way she kissed back, that she understood it all. Not only understood, but felt the same way.
She felt the same way.
Time ceased to exist for that moment. It became meaningless. Irrelevant. As they finally drew away from one another she looked up at him and smiled, a smile of exhausted anguish, a smile of disbelief, a smile of joy.
They spent the rest of the evening sitting together by the oak tree, Harry holding Ginny in his arms and feeling happier than he had for a very long time. They talked and joked, each speaking the things they had kept secret for so long. Ginny laughed often, a delicious, sparkling sound that danced across the lake like the setting sun. A peace and contentment like nothing Harry had ever known settled over him.
“Hey Harry,” Ginny said after a long period of silence where they watched the sun fade beyond the horizon. The first stars had appeared and it was now rather cold, though neither of them seemed to mind.
“Hmm?” he replied as he nestled his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent of her hair.
“That was a pretty good secret.”
Harry Potter and the Legacy of the Founders by VoldemortsPatronus
Chapter Notes: I can see now that the last 3 chapters would have worked better earlier in the story, before Harry finds the third diary. All I can say is--hey, I've never written a book before, so cut me some slack. I hope you enjoy it anyway, as this is my favorite chapter. I've actually had it in my mind, in one form or another, for more than 2 years now. I just hope I did it justice - please let me know what you think.
And for those of you who haven't enjoyed the brief romantic detour we've taken in the last 3 chappys, don't worry: it's pretty much all HBP from here on out.
Thanks for reading my story. Cheers!