Disclaimer - I do not claim to own or profit from any part of the Harry Potter world.
Nathan Borgin had been a Professor at Hogwarts for six weeks when he broached his favorite subject to teach. It was spring. Spring meant flights of fancy and spikes in hormones. It meant teachers had to keep a closer eye on shadowy corners; Filch couldn’t leave the broom closets unlocked; and Professor Sprout had to put a repelling charm around the greenhouse where the flowering plants grew. The way he figured it, Cupid was all wrong putting Valentine’s Day in February. No, if he’d simply waited until the temperature warmed up, the blooms on the trees came out and Mother Nature provided a soundtrack of returning songbirds, Cupid could have retired without ever firing an arrow.
"Today, we are going to talk about your heart," Borgin addressed his fifth year class of Gryffindors. "We are going to talk about love."
At this, he had to hide a smile. He felt somewhat sorry for this group of students to be in this class right after lunch. He could gauge their sizeable workload simply by looking at their bulging book bags and the smudges of lost sleep under their eyes. To schedule fifth years a class after a full meal in which they had to stay awake and pay attention, well, that was just about as cruel as it could get. But today, his opening line made the students sit up a little straighter. Ah, teenage hormones. It didn't get much more organic than that.
"Love," he lectured, as he walked around the room. "What does it do to us? What does it make us do? What power does it hold over us?"
Giggles and snorts filled the air. Several students slid back down in their chairs, their faces flaming red. Others had suddenly taken an intense interest in their desktops. Borgin grinned. He loved this lesson.
"How many of you are in a relationship?" he asked.
Ginny kept her hands folded in her lap and looked around the room. Soon, she told herself, soon they'd tell Ron and then she could tell the entire school -- but not yet.
"Ah, about half of you. Alright. Now, how many of you have ever tried to influence your relationship, through spell work or potion making?"
A few sheepish hands rose again followed by a few gasps. Gotcha, Borgin thought.
"How many of those spells or potions worked?" The hands dropped and the class laughed.
"And if I asked how many of you wanted to be in love, and if you answered honestly, I would bet every hand in this classroom would go up. Love is ancient magic, folks. It's the biggest mystery out there, why it works, how it works. Ancients believed correctly that love could heal, could sustain, could protect. They also discovered a long time ago, that by manipulating someone's emotions, especially love, they could achieve results they never believed possible, even death. Yes, you can die from a broken heart."
Borgin returned to the front of the class, noting that all eyes were open and concentrated on him.
"There are spells to influence emotion, to make love happen. There are potions that will push a person in the right direction. Under the influence of love, a talented wizard can make you do anything, much like the Imperius Curse. The witch or wizard under the influence of the Imperius Curse feels vaguely happy and a strong witch or wizard can fight it off. A wizard under a love spell wants to remain under the love spell. The witch or wizard wants this, making it a very powerful tool in the wrong hands."
Borgin turned to the chalkboard and began to outline several spells. He paired the students up, reassuring them, that while they would be practicing these on each other, the likelihood they would be able to produce a strong enough spell was slim. The most he expected was for them to leave their partner with a warm fuzzy feeling of appreciation.
Ginny observed as students faced each other, attempting to perform the spell. If affected at all, the students were left with a dreamy smile on their faces, staring off into space. After each attempt, Borgin would perform the counter curse, leaving the affected student wearing a puzzled frown and feeling somewhat lost.
"Very good. Now, Miss Weasley, your turn. Colin, don't flinch. If anything, this feels like being hit with a feather," Borgin admonished, as Ginny's partner Colin Creevey tried to curl into himself like a turtle.
Ginny faced Colin and raised her wand. Pointing her wand at Colin’s heart, she spoke the spell.
"Lamourus."
A bright stream of pink light emitted from the end of her wand, enveloping Colin in a blush colored sparkling cloud. Colin waved his hand in front of his face, clearing away the cloud. He stared at Ginny. Then he strode purposefully to her, took her in his arms and swung her into a dip. Pressing his lips to hers, he kissed her passionately. Ginny pushed him away.
"Stop it! Colin, stop it!"
"If that is your desire, my love. I will do whatever your heart desires. I am yours““
“Connection finite.”
Borgin's wand shot out a stream of white sparks, hitting Colin in the middle of his back. Colin dropped Ginny onto the floor. She hit with a thud, jolting Colin out of his daze.
"Ginny! What are you doing down there? Did the spell not work?"
The dumbstruck class burst into laughter. Colin looked around confused. Borgin held up his hands for silence.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen. I was mistaken in my belief that you all wouldn't be able to perform this spell at full strength the first time. Not only did you just witness what happens when a wizard underestimates a witch's abilities, but also what happens when you are put under the spell of love. Had Ginny continued, she most likely could have manipulated Colin into gladly taking her O.W.L.s for her."
Colin blanched and Ginny could feel her cheeks growing warm.
"That is all for today. Thank you and, Ginny, don't go trying that on any unsuspecting boys, will you?"
Her face flaming, Ginny returned to her desk and gathered her books. Instead of following her amused classmates though, she walked to the front of the room and stood on the opposite side of Professor Borgin's desk. Borgin looked up from the parchment he was making notes on.
"Impressive spell work, Miss Weasley."
"Thank you, sir," Ginny said slowly. "Sir, what happened there? Why was I able to do it when no one else could?"
Borgin laid down his quill. Studying Ginny's face, he got up and walked around to the front of his desk and leaned against it, arms folded across his chest.
"There could be several reasons why your spell worked when no one else's did," he said, holding up his hand and beginning to tick the reasons off on his fingers. "For starters, you are an exceptionally powerful witch."
Ginny looked at him in surprise.
"I know of your family, Ginny," Borgin nodded. "Not to make you sound like a horse, but your bloodlines are exceptional. My father believed the longer the pureblood bloodline is, the greater the possibility of unimaginable strength in the witch or wizard. It is one reason Salazar Slytherin was so adamant about pureblood wizards.”
"Secondly, your family has love in abundance. You will never lack for love or support, thus giving you strengths some will never have. The ancients would have said you are gifted in that sense, or that you have good blood."
Ginny could feel her cheeks growing warm again, but this flush was nothing compared to the one brought on by the final reason.
"Lastly," Borgin said quietly, leaning over to search Ginny's eyes. "You are in love, a love that is true. And that can make you invincible."
Ginny took a step back, keeping her eyes locked with Borgin's. She swallowed and nodded slowly.
"Watch your step, Miss Weasley. You've already landed on the floor in my classroom once today. I don't want to be accused of being your downfall, so to speak," Borgin said mildly, returning to his desk chair and picking up his quill.
++++
Harry knocked on Borgin’s office door.
“Come in,” he heard, and pushed the door open.
It never stopped to amaze him how different this office looked from professor to professor. Taking a step into Nathan Borgin’s office, Harry felt he had walked into a library annex. Instead of Sneakoscopes or cages filled with magical creatures, Borgin’s office was lined with shelf after shelf of books.
“They’re habit forming,” Borgin commented, noting Harry’s gaze.
“Pardon?”
“Books, they’re addictive. I assume it might be genetic. My father was a great collector.”
“Are these his?”
“No, no,” Borgin shook his head. “My father passed away late last year. We had a difference in agreement over, let’s just say library subject matter, and lost touch with each other. His library is currently being sold in my uncle’s shop,” Borgin finished, a note of disgust in his voice.
Harry nodded at this, not quite sure what to say.
“Anyway, Harry, thank you for coming up. I just wanted to straighten something out with you.”
Harry looked at him confused. “I don’t understand, sir.”
Borgin smiled at Harry. “Harry, you may hear rumors in your common room tonight about my fifth year class today. We were discussing the state of the heart,” he explained, standing up and moving around to the front of his desk. Harry noticed he did that a lot. It was as if Borgin didn’t like being separated from his students. Harry had to admit he liked that about him.
“Ginny Weasley cast a love spell on Colin Creevey today. It worked so well, Mr. Creevey kissed her in the middle of class.”
Borgin noticed the flush begin to creep up Harry’s cheeks. Once again, proving the power of observation, he thought.
“I wanted to let you know because it was neither one of their faults it occurred. I underestimated Ginny’s abilities.”
Harry’s eyes narrowed and nodded. “Why are you telling me this, sir?” he asked.
“Because I didn’t want you to jump to the wrong conclusions should you hear anything,” Borgin explained.
Borgin turned to move back around his desk and then stopped. He turned back to Harry.
“Oh, and Harry, one more thing. Ginny Weasley. You should hang onto that one."
“Pardon?" Harry said, his face now a bright red.
"Ginny Wealsey holds something special for you," Nathan smiled, knowingly. "Ancient magic, Harry. Ancient magic."
++++
“Good evening, Nathan,” Professor Dumbledore said as Borgin sat down at the staff table in the Great Hall. “How are you?”
“Famished!” Borgin replied, rubbing his hands together in delight as he surveyed the platters of Beef Wellington and roasted vegetables in front of him.
“Good classes today?” Dumbledore inquired.
“Wonderful,” Borgin replied, scooping up apple compote with relish. “It’s spring, Headmaster. My favorite time of year to teach!”
“And why is that?”
“It’s all about matters of the heart, Sir,”
“Yes,” Dumbledore nodded, eyes twinkling merrily. “I myself have found that some of my best teaching came outside the classroom, by simply giving a push in the right direction. Don’t you agree?”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Nathan agreed before tucking in.
++++
Harry waited outside the changing tent for Ginny. Practice had gone well today. They were a young team, but Harry was confident this year’s Gryffindor quidditch team had finally hit their stride. At the beginning of the season, they had looked like a bunch of bees on a collision course. Now, they actually flew like a team. The Quidditch Cup was as good as theirs, as long as Ron listened to Lupin’s advice and kept both hands on his broom.
Bouncing up and down on his heels, Harry watched the stars reveal themselves. He smiled. The stars had been good to him. The flap of the tent shifted and Ginny emerged, her cheeks flushed with a combination of exertion and the love of flying. Harry thought she’d never looked prettier. She smiled when she saw him.
“Hi Harry,” Ginny said, coming to stand right in front of him.
“Hi Gin,” Harry said, looking down at her, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. He found it very hard to not smile when he looked at Ginny.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, concerned over the look on Harry’s face.
Harry cleared his throat. “Ginny, I understand I’m not the only guy you’re kissing these days,” he said seriously.
“What?“ Ginny replied, shocked. “Harry, I “ oh,” Ginny stepped back, eyes widening in realization.
“I just have to ask,” Harry said, leaning down, touching his forehead to hers, “why did you have to pick Colin Creevey? I mean, come on, of all the guys in the class, you had to pick Colin? I guess I should be glad he didn’t have his camera on him at the time, huh?”
It took a minute for Ginny to realize Harry was teasing her. She hit him in the arm. “How could you, Harry? You scared me there!”
“How could I?” Harry exclaimed, grinning, wrapping his arms around Ginny and pulling her close. “I wasn’t the one performing full strength love spells in front of my entire Defense Against the Dark Arts class! I mean, this is an affront to my honor. I might have to call him out in a duel.”
Ginny snorted.
“I would, too. I mean he’s not much bigger than my Firebolt. I could take him”
“Maybe you should use those hands to hold onto a different Firebolt…” Ginny suggested smiling slyly wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Gladly,” Harry murmured as he met Ginny’s lips with his own.
Ginny felt Harry’s hands in her hair, undoing her ponytail, letting the hair run through his fingers. Her hands ran up Harry’s arms, gilding on the silky feel of his robes. Her lips parted and she felt his tongue touch hers. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, Ginny pressed herself into him. One of Harry's hands trailed up her spine, shivers radiating from where his fingers touched. So lost in the sensations Harry was awakening, she jumped when she heard the cold, haughty voice.
"Scraping the bottom of the barrel, are you Potter? Having to kiss a Weasley?"
Ginny and Harry broke apart, turning to face Malfoy who stood there, smirking as if he had just been given the best gift imaginable.
“Sod off, Malfoy,” Harry growled, taking a step toward him.
“No, Harry,” Ginny said, holding him back by his robes.
“I bet big brother just loves having his best friend snogging his little sister in dark corners of the school.”
“Go away, Draco,” Ginny hissed.
“Oh, wait,” Draco smiked, looking at their flushed faces and the dark night, putting two and two together. “I bet big brother doesn’t know, does he?” Malfoy sniggered, taking a step back. The only thing keeping Harry from unleashing his fury on him was Ginny’s strong hold on the front of his robe.
“Well, “No worries, Potter. I won’t tell,” Maloy sneered, holding up his hands in front of him as if to ward off an attack. “At least, not yet.”
Ginny felt Harry’s heart race under her clenched fist. “We need to tell Ron,” she said quietly, watching Malfoy’s back.
Harry took a deep breath and nodded.
”Yeah, it’s time.”
+++
The lift doors opened. Percy stepped to the side, allowing the passengers inside to exit. He noticed several of the witches were dressed in fluorescent pink robes. Overhearing one of them comment, "See, no one misses us now!", Percy rolled his eyes and entered the now empty lift, his arms filled with rolls of parchment destined for the Minister's desk.
"Wait a minute!" he heard a familiar voice call. "Hold the lift, please!"
Arthur Weasley stuck his shoulder between the closing doors, effectively stopping them so he could slide the rest of himself in. Straightening up, he saw Percy.
"Oh, Percy," Arthur said, surprised. "Didn't know you were here."
Percy nodded and fixed his attention on the Level Four button, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Mr. Weasley cleared his throat.
"Ah, well, yes," he said facing forward as well. "Good evening, then."
Being after normal working hours, there weren't many witches and wizard coming or going, so the lift remained empty except for the two Weasley men. The strained silence was broken only by the cool, disembodied female voice announcing the floors they passed. When the lift doors opened on Level Two, Mr. Weasley made to leave. At the last minute, he stopped and turned to face Percy, the doors of the lift closing behind him.
"Percy," Mr. Weasley said in a hushed voice, "I know you don't agree or believe in everything the Order does. And I'm not going to argue with you about that now."
Arthur took a breath and when Percy remained silent, continued.
"But Percy, we've got people in places that hear things the Ministry doesn't, or at least things the Ministry doesn't want to hear and refuses to pay attention to."
Percy opened his mouth to refute this, but his father held up his hand.
"We've heard rumors. He has found something, something new, that is making him edgy and excited. We are having a hard time determining what it could be."
Arthur leaned forward and placed his hand on his son's arm.
"Percy, be careful. Keep your eyes and ears open. If you see or hear something that doesn't seem right and Fudge dismisses it or doesn't give it the attention you think it deserves, your mother and I, the Order, we will always listen. Please be careful, Percy," Arthur repeated before turning to press the number Two again.
The doors opened and Arthur Weasley stepped out.
++++
Harry lay in bed staring at the underside of his canopy. Ron’s snores were a constant nagging reminder that he needed to tell Ron about Ginny and soon. Harry turned over, kneading his pillow into a lump, trying to find a comfortable position. He watched the crack of moonlight shining between the seams of the curtains enclosing his four poster bed change shape as the curtains shifted with his movements. As he watched, the crack widened.
“Harry?”
“Ginny?” he whispered and felt the mattress beneath him dip.
“Hi,” Ginny smiled, as she slipped the Invisibility Cloak off her head.
“Hi,” Harry grinned back, sitting up. “You actually came!”
“Yeah, I asked Hermione how she did it. She told me, but only after I promised to not let her know when so she wouldn’t have to dock me points and then quit coming herself because she’d feel guilty,” Ginny giggled.
“How’d you “ no, wait, I don’t want to know. I’ll just get paranoid listening for her,” Harry said, shaking his head.
Harry fluffed out his pillow and pulled back his bedclothes. Ginny snuggled up next to Harry, her head on his pillow facing him.
“Hi,” Harry said.
“Hi back,” she said, before giving him a light kiss.
“You couldn’t sleep either?” he asked, breathing in the fresh scent of her hair. He could get used to this, Harry thought.
“No, too much going on.”
“Yeah,” Harry agreed.
“Harry, I think we should tell Ron tomorrow after the match,” Ginny whispered.
Harry nodded. “Better after than before. Might really throw off his game if we did it then.”
“Course might also improve his game. If he’s focused on how mad he is at us, maybe he’ll ignore everything else,” Ginny rationalized.
“True, but on the off chance he decides to punch me, I’d rather do it after. I won’t be much use as a seeker with swollen eye or bloody nose.”
“See, Harry, that’s why I love you. You’re always thinking ahead,” Ginny teased. And then she stopped. Her eyes widened as she realize what she said.
“You know that’s the second time you’ve said that to me,” Harry said solemnly.
“Second time?” Ginny asked faintly, trying to gauge Harry’s reaction. Of course she loved Harry. She always had in some form or other. Her girlish crush of years past had grown into a deeper, more sustaining love for him over the past few months, and she wanted him to know. She just hadn’t planned on it coming out quite like that.
“Do you plan to keep saying it?” Harry asked, in what Ginny thought sounded like a hopeful whisper.
“Yes, yes I do,” she replied, looking him straight in the eye, daring him to tell her not to.
“Good,” he replied, leaning close, “because I’d feel really stupid saying I love you to someone who didn’t say it back.”
Ginny blinked a moment letting his words soak in, before laying her palm on the side of Harry’s face gently. Closing the gap between them, Ginny kissed Harry with all the love in her heart.
Moments later, as they broke apart, cheeks flushed, bedclothes twisted, breathing deep, Harry looked into Ginny’s eyes.
“Ginny,” he whispered, “I will do my best to keep your love safe.”
“I know,” she answered, before laying her head down on his shoulder and snuggling close.
They lay there in the dark, listening to the sounds of the dorm, content to concentrate on each other’s heartbeats, until Harry yawned. Ginny lifted her head and smiled at him.
“I think we’ll both sleep well now,” she said sitting up reluctantly.
“Yeah,” Harry said, his eyelids feeling heavy.
Ginny leaned down and lightly kissed Harry. “Sweet dreams, Harry,” she wished, before putting the cloak over her head.
“Sweet dreams, Gin,” he whispered as the curtains around his bed shifted and the weight on the mattress disappeared.
A/N: Thanks for reading! One of my reviewers asked me if I was implying there was more to Ron and Hermione's relationship than snogging. No, I'm not and I'm sorry if I caused any confusion. This is purely a PG rated story!
Next…Quidditch Winners and sore Loosers