“Mental, that thing is…” Ron muttered as he looked at the greyish creature.
Ginny walked next to Harry, hand in hand, smiling broadly. It had been just over four months since they had first started being seen as an ‘item’ and in that time, Harry’s fan club had seemed to have been thoroughly depressed and irritated with Ginny. Ginny had been on the receiving end of some quite nasty threats but she just laughed them off, usually telling the sender to find their own boyfriend and stop ogling after something they couldn’t have.
Hermione was looking equally happy since Ron had finally curbed a little of his Quidditch enthusiasm to spend extra time with her. True, their conversations often ended up with talk about broomsticks or Quidditch teams, but the start of the conversation would be about school, the library or something Hermione enjoyed. Both Harry and Ginny were relieved that Ron and Hermione had finally found the happy medium between the two of them and they openly enjoyed the reduced bickering between the two.
“I’ve got a suggestion,” Hermione said suddenly from next to Ron. “How about if we spend the morning together and then if we split up for a little while before meeting up in the Three Broomsticks?”
“What, you mean just me and you? On our own? In Hogsmeade?” Ron answered quickly. Hermione rolled her eyes and Ginny giggled at her brother’s naivety. Even Harry smiled as he squeezed Ginny’s hand tighter; Ron instantly turned a darker shade of red than his hair.
“There’s meant to be a new shop in Hogsmeade, isn’t there?” Harry asked as they left Hogwarts’ grounds ten minutes later.
“Yes,” Hermione answered instantly. “It’s where Madam Puddifoot’s used to be, I think.”
“Good riddance,” Harry muttered under his breath causing Hermione to look at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. Harry blushed slightly and squeezed Ginny’s hand again.
Ron led the way through the winding streets of Hogsmeade but froze as he finally caught sight of the new business. Hermione, Harry and Ginny did the same.
A large sign, at least twenty feet long and a vivid, luminous orange was hanging above the shop. Students were spilling out of its doors; the shop itself was packed with what looked like every member of Hogwarts who were old enough to visit the village.
“Blimey,” Ron muttered. “I knew they were doing well, but affording a place in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade…”
Ginny had her mouth open as she read the sign:
WEASLEYS’ WIZARD WHEEZES
Premises include Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade Village
Mail ordering available.
Even Hermione had the grace to look impressed despite her annoyance as to what the twins had chosen to take as their career path.
“Hey little bro!” Fred yelled over the noise in the shop as Harry, Ron, Ginny and, despite her obvious disapproval, Hermione finally managed to squeeze into the shop.
“Fred, George!” Ron shouted back over the noise as the second Weasley twin looked up. “How come you got a place here?”
George started saying something but gave up when he couldn’t be heard over the noise. He beckoned the four over to him.
“Hi guys! You like our new premises?”
“Too right,” Ron answered, looking awestruck. “How come you got a place up here?”
“Business was booming down at Diagon Alley so we thought we’d expend a bit,” Fred answered as he served Dean Thomas. “We’ve got Lee Jordan running the main shop back in London. He finally gave up on his original plan to become a member of the Magical Law Enforcement. The Ministry seemed to think that he didn’t have the right attitude…”
“Something along the lines that Lee said he wanted to work there so he could break the law without getting into trouble…” George added with a smirk. “I don’t think that Arnold White, the guy who ran his interview, saw the funny side of it.”
Harry, Ginny and Ron spent a good two hours looking around the Weasleys’ shop, which was near on identical to the one in Diagon Alley. The twins had invented something remarkably similar to a Muggle whoopee cushion except it came complete with the smell and a cloud of sickly green gas. Hermione just scowled in irritation while Harry and Ron exploded with laughter. A few minutes later, Hermione walked outside muttering about needing to buy a new Transfiguration book, causing Ron to cringe.
The twins had also spent a lot of time developing their fireworks and gave Harry a few to try once it got dark. One of them was meant to follow a chosen person around for up to an hour making a huge explosion every time they spoke. Fred and George stubbornly denied they’d copied the idea off Peeves, who had done something remarkably similar to Dolores Umbridge the year before.
Ron was especially pleased with the ‘Dangerous Draughts’ “ a magical combination of both Exploding Snap and Wizards Chess which the twins had developed purely for Ron. Just before they left the shop with all their purchases, Fred whispered something to Ron and handed him something while casting worried looks around the shop for Hermione. A few seconds later, Harry felt a piece of leathery string forced into his hand and heard George hiss something in his ear.
“Harry. Brand new, just developed yesterday. We’re not going to sell them because we don’t want Mum to find out…”
Harry smiled; Mrs Weasley still managed to exert some form of control over her children. “What are they?” he whispered back.
“Extraterrestrial Extendable Ears,” George answered quietly. “They can’t be stopped by Impermeable charms. We thought they could be useful…”
Grinning mischievously, George walked over to Fred, Ginny and Ron as Harry put the developed Extendable Ears into his bag.
“Now then, you young Weasleys…”
“…and that includes you Harry, in case you were wondering…”
“…definitely. You’re one of us now…”
“…except you don’t have red hair…”
“… But you’ve certainly got the Weasley temper…”
“… Mind you behave like good, respectable Prefects. We wouldn’t want you getting into trouble…”
“… Use your brains though and you won’t get into trouble in the first place…”
George smirked. “Don’t tell Hermione. Or Mum,” he added as an afterthought.
“Have fun,” Fred added with a wink.
Laughing, Harry, Ron and Ginny headed outside and walked over to the bookshop and Harry and Ginny left Ron to extract Hermione from whatever volume she was engrossed in.
Holding hands, Harry and Ginny walked down the sunlit alleys that made up Hogsmeade. The small, thatched rooftops seemed to give the village a timeless quality which Harry had barely acknowledged before. Looking over at Ginny, he smiled as the rays of light filtered down onto her red Weasley hair, making it almost glow with a fiery brilliance.
She really is beautiful… Harry thought absentmindedly.
“Ummmm, Planet Earth calling Harry Potter! Earth to Harry! Anyone at home?!”
“What?”
Ginny laughed. “You zoned out there for a minute. I said what do you want to do now? We’ve got an hour or so before we have to meet Ron and Hermione in the Three Broomsticks…” She tailed off, looking for an idea.
“How about just go for a walk?” Harry suggested. “You know, up to the edge of the village and back?”
“I’d love to,” Ginny answered giving him a quick, comforting hug.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, Ginny looked quizzically at Harry and took a deep breath. “Are you ok, Harry? You just don’t seem to have been your normal self recently.”
“I’m f…”
“Harry James Potter, do not start that again.”
“It’s just,” Harry began, looking awkward. “Oh, I don’t know, I just seem to always be left out of whatever the Order’s doing. I don’t know what’s going on with Voldemort but he hasn’t done anything major for weeks. That means he’s planning something. I’m scared, Ginny,” Harry whispered, tears starting to swell in his green eyes. “Last time it was Sirius, what if it’s Ron, or Hermione, or you, next time?”
Ginny draped her arm around Harry in comfort. “Do you think I’ve got any intention of leaving you? You need someone with my brains to think up the best ways to annoy Ron, so don’t worry about me going yet,” she answered, trying to make light of the situation.
“But Voldemort's…”
“He’s what, Harry?” Ginny said calmly. “A miserable old wart with a brain even smaller than Ron’s? About as ferocious as Bill when he wakes up with a hangover? Come on, Harry, don’t let that idiot run you down; it’s what he wants.”
Harry gaped at the small, petite Weasley standing determinedly next to him.
“Aren’t you scared?” Harry whispered.
“Yes, I am,” Ginny answered without hesitation. “But don’t you remember what you said back at Grimmauld Place in the summer? ‘If Voldemort can govern us by fear, we’ve as good as lost the war already; before we’ve even started.’ I hadn’t forgotten what you said because you were right, Harry. We’ve all got to live now and face what will come together. When that time comes.”
Harry stopped and faced Ginny, a flicker of hope and understanding lighting up his sombre face.
“You know what, Ginny? I’ve just understood why I love you,” he said before pulling her into a hug.
“You two had a nice time?” Hermione asked as Ginny and Harry walked through the door of the Three Broomsticks an hour later.
“The answer’s yes,” Ron said instantly as he looked at Harry. “Harry hasn’t looked like that since Cho kissed him after that DA meeting last year.”
Ginny threw Ron a reproving glare while Harry blushed.
“What do you want to drink, Hermione?” Ginny asked, pointedly ignoring her brother.
“Butterbeer, please Ginny.”
“Harry?”
“Same please.”
“Hey, what about me?!” Ron yelled, causing several people to turn around and stare as his younger sister walked away towards the bar. Harry grinned again as he heard Ron muttering to himself under his breath as he stood up and followed Ginny up to the bar.
“Bloody sisters. Who wanted one, anyway…?”
“So then, Harry. You had a good time with Ginny then?”
Harry turned back to face Hermione, blushing again. “Yeah, I enjoyed it.”
Hermione smiled. “She’s waited years for you to notice her, you know.”
“What? No, she’s been out with loads of people. She doesn’t, I mean didn’t, fancy me. Umm, did she?” Harry added, sounding uncertain.
Hermione smiled as Ginny came back over clutching four Butterbeers, an annoyed Ron following her.
“She fancied you the first time she ever saw you, Harry. And nothing has ever, or will ever, change that.”
Harry still was just trying to register fully what Hermione had said when Ginny bent down and gave him a hug while shooting a pionted glare at Ron. Harry blushed again as he caught sight of Hermione throwing him a knowing, disbelieving look.
“Urgh, how have you managed to put up with him,” Ginny indicated the fuming Ron with her finger as she pulled away from Harry, “for the last six years? At least I’ve never had to share a room with him…”
Ron scowled. “Harry hasn’t minded though, has he,” Ron suddenly went a shade paler as he looked at Harry, who was trying to fight down a laugh. “Er, you haven’t minded, have you?”
Harry smiled as he put an arm around Ginny. “No, I haven’t minded. Shame about Neville, Dean and Seamus though…”
Ginny sniggered as Ron suddenly looked terrified.
A/N : Sorry that chapter wasn’t very long but I’m trying to negotiate writing this and doing revision for GCSE exams at the same time. Updates should be coming faster again though as the next three chapters are now written!
Once again, sorry for the delay on updates but I’d love to know what you all think :)
~ Stormy x