Reflections
A/N I get nothing, except the enjoyment of reading occasional reviews, from writing this. JKR owns the Potterverse; I just like to play there. The characters may not be mine, but the adventures are all from my own twisted mind.
The group got back from Privet with the men still cringing and the women still laughing. The kids, who were waiting for them in the kitchen, looked at them questioningly. When everything was explained, there was much laughter to be shared.
All too soon it was time to go to bed. There was much to do the next day, and a will reading that most were dreading. With the reading of the will would have to come the full acceptance of the death of Sirius Black. This was something Harry in particular was not looking forward to. But for tonight, he needed to talk to Ginny and Ron, separately.
He walked Ginny to her room. When they got to the door he pulled away a little bit.
“Harry, what is it?” Ginny asked, concerned.
“I have to know. Are you still going out with Dean?” Harry asked, afraid of the answer. He would not be the ‘other man’ in the picture.
“That was a joke Harry. I was trying to get back at Ron for always harping on the guys I chose to date,” she said with a short laugh. “I’m a free woman, unless of course you want to change that status,” she looked up at him through her eyelashes as she said.
“Can you give me a day or two? As much as you hate Ron’s interference, he is my best mate, and I want to make sure he is ok with this before I go any further. I really do like you Ginny, but I want to do this right,” Harry said, half afraid that she would explode at him for involving Ron.
“I think that is about the sweetest thing a guy has done for me. I also think that you have nothing to worry about. But if you want to talk to him first, then I will let you go so you can catch him before bed.” She reached up to give him a passionate kiss, followed by a hug. “Sweet dreams Harry,” Ginny smiled knowingly and stepped into her room, closing the door softly behind her.
Harry leaned against the wall for a moment. He could still feel the kiss on his lips. He took a second to clear his mind before he went to face Ron. Facing the dragon during the Tri-Wizard Tournament was less stressful.
What if Ron says that I cannot date her? What if this ruins our friendship? Is this a chance I am willing to take? Ginny’s kiss crossed his mind again, and all of his questions were answered. She was definitely worth the risk.
It was with great trepidation that Harry walked back to the room that he shared with Ron. He had spent the time it took him to walk down the hall and up the stairs thinking of what to say. He reached for the doorknob and opened the door slowly. He peaked in the room and saw Ron, already in his pajamas and sitting on the edge of his bed, obviously waiting for Harry to return.
Harry walked into the room, grabbed his nightclothes out of his trunk, and began to change his clothes. The silence was getting stifling. Neither of them wanted to be the one to start this conversation. As much as Ron wanted to see the two of them get together, the reality of it was quite a different story and his over-protectiveness was beginning to kick in.
“So,” Harry began. “Mate, I don’t want you to get any wrong ideas from what you saw earlier. I really care about Ginny. I don’t know. After she yelled at me earlier, and then I read Sirius’ note, I went to apologize to her and the world just seemed to stop when she opened the door. It was like nothing existed but her and me. I will admit. I kissed her first. When I pulled away and started to apologize to her, she kissed me instead of accepting the apology,” the words tumbled from Harry’s mouth.
Through all of this Ron was looking extremely interested in his hands. He looked up and saw Harry’s green eyes shining like he had not seen since first year. Harry was happy, or at least on the verge of it.
“And I wanted to make sure with you that if I started to see your sister it was not going to cause any problems with our friends. Your friendship means the world to me mate, but I think I am falling for your sister, and I can’t seem to help myself. I haven’t asked her to go out with me or anything, not yet. I wanted to talk to you first.”
Ron stopped in mid-movement. Their friendship meant that much to Harry? What a quandary. Could he stand seeing his sister with his best mate? Probably, even though it might leave him out in the cold and bored. Could he live with their misery if he said no? Definitely not, he couldn’t be the cause of both of them being sad or depressed.
Ron noticed Harry begin to squirm during the silence. He decided to give him a break and said, “It’s fine with me mate, and long as you keep any details to yourself. And know that if you ever hurt her, I am not the only one you will have to deal with. I have four other brothers that actually count. Percy is just a git, so ignore him. But if you hurt her, Charley, Bill, the twins and I will tear you apart. Let me handle telling them, but you and Ginny need to handle Mum. I’ll take on my brothers for you two, but Mum and Dad are an entirely different story.” Ron stepped across the room and gave Harry a pat on the back. “Don’t worry too much, Mum already thinks of you as one of her own. You have my blessing, now to get it from the rest of the family,” Ron said with a laugh.
Harry had never been so relieved in his life. Ron was okay with it all. Now all he had to do is talk to Mrs. Weasley. He wondered if she was still awake.
“I’ll be right back. And Ron,” Harry said and waited until Ron looked up at him. “Thanks mate.” That was all that needed to be said.
Harry ran down the steps so quickly he was lucky he had not tripped. He sped through the dining room and stopped short as he came to the door to the kitchen. He had to catch his breath before he went in to the kitchen. He could hear his aunt and Mrs. Weasley talking on the other side of the door. It looked like he had made it in time before Mrs. Weasley went to bed.
He opened the door slowly and stepped into the kitchen. Both women were shocked to see him there and looking so flushed.
“What is it Harry? Is your scar hurting? It’s too soon for you to have gone to sleep and been woken by a nightmare. What’s wrong dear?” Mrs. Weasley was firing questions at him as fast as they came to her mind.
“Nothing is wrong Mrs. Weasley, I just needed to speak to you and it’s kind of important, at least to me,” Harry said before he lost his nerve completely.
“Would you like me to leave Harry?” Petunia asked, already half standing and ready to go.
“No Aunt Petunia, you can stay. It is important, but won’t be private for long if Mrs. Weasley agrees. And if she doesn’t agree, I can hide behind you,” Harry replied, attempting a joke.
Mrs. Weasley’s eyebrows lifted almost to her hairline at hearing the last remark. With that one comment he had given himself away. Harry had finally noticed her little girl.
She’s not such a little girl anymore. She’s grown up so much as of late.
Harry began explaining to Mrs. Weasley all that had transpired, leaving out the fact that Ginny kissed him. He could see her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.
“All I am asking for Mrs. Weasley, is a chance with Ginny. I won’t hurt her. I didn’t want you or Mr. Weasley to think I was going around behind your back or anything. I went to apologize to her for trying to chase her and Ron away earlier, and it…it seemed…” Harry sighed. “The world just stopped. There wasn’t anything else but the two of us. I know it has taken me forever to notice her. I’ve been a fool. Please say yes Mrs. Weasley. I am so sure this will work out with everyone’s blessings. I talked to Ron already and got his blessing, now I am talking to you for yours. I will go through every member of the family if that’s what you think I should do.” Harry was almost pleading with Mrs. Weasley. He was holding both of her hands and had knelt down in front of her.
“How can I say no? I’ve watched her watch you for years. It is about time you noticed young man!” Molly said jokingly scolding him. “I will handle Mr. Weasley. I cannot guarantee how he will react, but I will keep him away from you until he is calm enough to behave. I have to compliment you on wanting to talk to us before you asked her out. Most boys would not have taken a girl’s family into consideration,” Molly was so proud of Harry and the way he was going about this.
He grew up so well without me, thought Petunia. I’m glad he let me stay for this though.
Harry took a relieved breath and stepped up to hug Mrs. Weasley. She was shocked, but she returned the hug nonetheless.
“Thank you Mrs. Weasley. I’ll keep her safe, I promise you that,” he said, his eyes shining.
“I know you will. Now go on to bed. There is much to do tomorrow and you need your rest,” Mrs. Weasley ordered.
“G’night. Again,” Harry said with a smile. Before he walked out of the kitchen, he leaned down and kissed his Aunt Petunia on the cheek. “Thank you for staying for moral support Aunt Petunia,” he said with a grin as we walked out the door.
Harry floated up the stairs and fell into his bed. “She said yes Ron. She approves. Now tomorrow I get to ask Ginny,” he said dreamily.
Ron just laughed and said, “Was there ever a doubt? Night mate.” Ron rolled over and got comfortable to fall asleep.
Harry drifted off to sleep, feeling like he was floating on a cloud. It was not until about 6 hours later that his sleep would be interrupted.
Harry woke to the feeling that his scar was erupting. The pain was so intense that he screamed out and brought Ron running. He could hear people running in the hallway, he knew he had woken most of the house.
He put both hands to his head. Maybe if he held it together it would not feel like something was trying to crawl out of his head.
“It’s Voldemort. He was very happy, then he got very angry. I can’t see at what though,” Harry said to the roomful of people that had gathered.
“Shall I go get Professor Dumbledore?” Petunia asked, wanting to be helpful. “Or a wet cloth, maybe some ice for his head?”
“I have already been summoned Petunia dear, but some tea, and maybe a cool cloth for Harry would be good,” said the headmaster, making Petunia and Molly both jump. Both women scrambled to the kitchen to fulfill the Headmaster’s order.
“Hello Harry. Are you having another rough night?” asked the headmaster, his face full of worry and blue eyes not sparkling at all.
“Yes sir, it would seem so. Voldemort is at it again. All I felt was the emotions this time though. He was very happy, and then a few moments later he was very angry at something entirely different,” the pain was beginning to subside. Harry reached for his glasses to bring the world into focus. He saw that Ginny was sitting on the edge of his bed, holding his left hand. Professor Dumbledore had been holding his right hand and was now looking very closely at it.
“What are these scars Harry?” Dumbledore asked, still closely examining Harry’s hand. “They seem to spell out something. I…will not tell…lies? What is the meaning of this?”
Harry had almost forgotten the scars caused by the punishments of Professor Umbridge. Obviously Ron had not though.
“Those are from that toad faced Umbridge. Whenever he would argue with her about V…V… Voldemort last year, she would give him lines to do. But the lines would not be on paper. He would come back with his hand a bloody mess. We, Hermione and I, kept telling him to come to you or Professor McGonagall about this…but he refused. He said that it would just get the both of you in more trouble,” Ron said as he ran out of breath. It was a testament to how fast he was trying to get all of this out and to how angry he was that he used Voldemort's name.
Harry looked down at his hands and avoided everyone’s eyes. He wished that Ron had not said anything. He also wished that he had not forgotten to tell Dumbledore about all of this.
Once Ron caught his breath he opened his mouth and more came tumbling out, “She threatened to use the Crustacius Curse on him when he would not tell her where you and Sirius were too.”
“And she sent the Dementors after him last summer too,” Ginny said quietly. “She admitted it in front of all of us in her office. Neville and Luna were there too, as well as Hermione.”
“Is all of this correct Harry?” Dumbledore asked, keeping a tight reign on his temper.
“Yes sir Professor. What they are saying is true. Even down to my reason for not coming to you when all of this started,” Harry said, looking up for the first time.
“You are an extraordinary boy Harry, but sometimes you must let others help you. The other professors and I are there to protect you and to make sure no harm comes to you. I will deal with Professor Umbridge. She will be in Ministry custody within the hour if I can help it. Now,” he said, standing up, “if you will please extend my apologies to Molly and Petunia, I must be going. There is much to be done and very little time in which to do it. It’s time to start and old-fashioned witch-hunt, if you will pardon the pun. I will see you all at the reading of the will later today.” With that, he apparrated away, a pop as the only sound.
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