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Ginny's Gift by Ashwinder

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Ginny's Gift, Chapter Twenty Two


Harry slowly swam back to consciousness, the feeling that he was being watched causing a prickle along his spine. Something was tickling his nose, and he groggily reached up with a hand to push whatever it was away. His hand encountered something solid, and his eyes flew open to find a large pair of green eyes staring back into his. Last he remembered, Ron had stunned him. Where was Ron now? And what was Dobby doing here?


"Dobby! What the hell is going on here?"


"Dobby cannot say, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby is only here to make sure you come round."


"Yeah, but why? Where did that great git Ron get to?"


"Gone, sir. He's gone off with his lady. He told Dobby to leave you with yours." Dobby giggled.


"What?" Harry said, looking around. He was having trouble shaking off the grogginess that came with being stunned. Ron was seemingly able to cast quite an efficient Stunner, whatever Snape thought.


He could see that he was still in the storage room, but there were certain differences. Candles had been lit, casting a pale glow about the room. A table with a basket of food had come from somewhere, and there was a door Harry had never noticed before in one wall. Then his eye fell on Ginny, who was sitting on a sofa opposite him, a disgruntled expression on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. One foot was tapping impatiently, but Harry wasn't sure she even realised she was doing it. He quickly looked away from her.


"Dobby, did you set this up?"


"Oh no, sir. Dobby only helped. This was all your Wheezy's idea!" Dobby seemed delighted with the circumstances.


"He won't be my Wheezy much longer, once I get out of here," Harry muttered.


"Only if I don't get to him first." Ginny had evidently overheard.


"Sir has food on the table," said Dobby, pointing. "Everything he could want. Dobby must go now."


"Wait!" Harry cried but too late. Dobby had already disappeared with a loud crack.


Harry got up, went to the door that led into the corridor, and began to pound on it. "Are you out there, Ron?" he shouted, "because you'd bloody well better open the door!"


"It's no good," Ginny said. "They're gone."


"Wait a minute…" Harry felt in his pocket for his wand, but it wasn't there.


"If you're looking for your wand, Ron's got it. Mine too. I've already thought of that. We're stuck."


Harry gave the door a kick of frustration. "Well, if we make enough noise, someone's sure to come along and hear it and let us out."


Ginny was shaking her head. "Silencing Charm." Harry opened his mouth and closed it again. "Ron and Hermione planned it all out."


"Hermione was in on it too?"


"She was the one who asked me to meet her here, to work on the runes, you know. But when I got here she put the Full Body Bind on me and took my wand away. She released me just before they locked us in, but I saw her put the Silencing Charm on the room, and I've never heard whatever spell they used on the door before. It sounded really complicated. Then Dobby turned up with the food. There's nothing we can do until they decide to let us out of here."


Harry walked back over to his sofa and sat down facing her. "Any idea when that will be?"


"Ron said he'd come back and check on us in the morning, but if we haven't made things up by then…"


Harry stared at her, muttering a few choice words aimed at Ron under his breath. "Let me get this straight. Your brother, the one who couldn't stand the thought of us snogging, has locked us in here. For the night. And he planned this with the Head Girl, breaking who knows how many rules in the process."


Ginny was nodding silently. Harry was having trouble wrapping his mind around the concept. A month ago, he wouldn't have put it past Ginny to plan something like this. A month ago, he'd have been keen on the idea of being locked in with her all night. But they'd barely spoken to each other in the past month, and by all appearances it looked as if the entire school believed they'd split up.


Ginny was looking down at the floor now, apparently uncomfortable under Harry's gaze as he continued to stare at her. He wondered if she even wanted to make it up with him. He asked himself the same question and got an emphatic yes. He was miserable without her, but he had trouble working out whether she was just as miserable without him.


He sensed her growing discomfort with the situation, so he looked away. His eye settled on the door he had never seen before. "What's through there?" he asked, breaking the silence.


Ginny turned, looking in the direction he indicated. "It's only the loo. I already tried."


Harry went over to see for himself. "Wait, there's another door in here."


"It doesn't go anywhere." She sounded rather put out now. Harry soon discovered for himself that she was right, when he tried the door, found himself in a short passage, which led… back to the storage room.


"I supposed that's someone's idea of a joke," Harry commented, coming back to his sofa, and sitting with his arms crossed over his chest. It was going to be a long night from the looks of things. He soon got up again and began pacing around the room, trying to work off some of his excess energy. He had expected to be sneaking into the Slytherin dormitories by now to see what he could dig up on Malfoy, and instead he was cooped up in this room.


Ginny watched him pace, glaring. "You're anxious enough to get out of here, aren't you?" There was a note of challenge in her tone.


"Aren't you?" Harry shot back. "Sounds like you already tried to find your way out of here before I even came to."


Ginny continued to glare but offered no argument. There really wasn't anything she could do to gainsay him. The silence stretched out between them until Harry could stand it no longer. If they were going to get past this and go on together, one of them had to begin.


"Ginny, what happened?" he asked quietly.


She'd had enough time to stop glaring and become lost in her own thoughts. She looked up sharply now, her eyes coming back into focus. "What do you mean?" she asked warily.


"What happened to us? Why did you stop speaking to me? I don't even know what I did."


He saw her swallow, and a blush began creeping up her face. "Oh, Harry, I acted like such an idiot," she whispered, looking away.


Harry longed to take her in his arms then and there. He edged forward on the sofa, wanting to cross over and sit beside her and have her rest her head on his shoulder. If only she'd give him the slightest indication she'd welcome his affection. But there was something in her posture that told him she wasn't quite ready. Or perhaps she was afraid. He knew he wouldn't be able to take it if she pushed him away, so he stayed where he was, on his sofa. It was safer that way.


"I'm sorry I got so angry with you that day," she went on after a moment, her gaze fixed doggedly on the floor. Harry had the impression her words weren't coming easily. "You know, when we first heard. I don't know what came over me. I wasn't even angry with you. I realise that now."


Her words went straight to his heart, and he felt a spark of hope awaken within him. "Ginny, I don't think any of us were in our right minds that day. We were all in shock. I think we all went just a bit mad."


"But I completely overreacted…"


"I did, too, Ginny."


"…and I was completely horrible to you."


"It's okay, Ginny, really."


She looked up at him then, and he saw her lower lip was trembling. "Really?" she quavered.


The next thing Harry knew, the spark of hope had blossomed deep in his chest, and he'd crossed the distance between them, holding her close while she buried her head against his shoulder and cried quietly. After a while she looked back up at him and said shakily, "I didn't think you'd want any more to do with me after I was so horrible to you."


There were still tears on her cheeks, and Harry was tempted to kiss them away. "And that's why you kept avoiding me?"


He felt her nod against his shoulder. "I thought you'd prefer it that way after the way I acted."


"How could you think that? Do you know what I thought? I thought you didn't want to have anything more to do with me. Especially when you told your mum there wasn't anything going on between us."


"I never said that."


"You did. The day your family was here for Charlie's memorial. I was coming down from the dormitory, and I heard you." He wasn't about to admit to her he'd been eavesdropping, but it was safe to confess to this much. She and her mother had left the common room immediately afterwards.


She was shaking her head, confused. Didn't she remember this conversation? He did, all too clearly. "What did I say exactly?"


"I heard your mum ask where I was, and in reply you asked her why she was asking you specifically. She said she thought there was something going on from what she'd observed at Christmas, and you told her she was wrong."


"Harry, I said that because I thought I'd blown my chances with you. I didn't think…"


"Ginny, do you remember what I said to you at Christmas?" She caught her breath at his interruption. "I wasn't lying about that, Ginny. I do love you. I'm not going to let you go so easily. Unless.. unless you want me to."


He didn't know what he was going to do if she said that's what she wanted, but he would do as she asked. Somehow. He'd steel himself and do it. It seemed to take her forever to reply, and Harry fought off a rising sense of panic.


"No, I don't want you to," she said at last, and he let out the breath he'd been holding. They stared into each others' eyes for a while longer until Ginny reached up and touched his cheek. "I think this is where we kiss and make up," she said before she drew him in.


It should have been like kissing her for the first time. They were beginning again, after all, but there was no awkwardness. Harry tried to keep the idea that they were starting fresh in his mind as he began to fight a battle with his self-control. He tried very hard to forget they were shut in here for the night, but the thought kept coming back every time he pushed it aside, while his body demanded that he hold her more tightly and kiss her more deeply.


Ginny wasn't helping his resolve any. He felt her hands skim down his chest, causing his heart to pound all the harder. It was both a relief and a torment when she pulled away, frowning slightly. Her hands had discovered something under his robes that wasn't normally there.


"What's this," she asked, curious.


"My invisibility cloak," replied Harry catching his breath. "I'd forgotten I had it on me." He pulled the cloak out from under his robes and laid it aside.


"What do you have that for?"


"Before your brother decided it would be a good idea to meddle in my love life, I was planning on going down to the Slytherin dormitories and seeing if I could dig up anything interesting on Malfoy." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the vial of potion. "I even looked up how to make Auditory Enhancing Potion."


"You've been keeping busy."


"I've had to. It kept my mind off less pleasant things."


She kissed him briefly. "I'm sorry."


"You know, I really did think you wanted to break things off. You had the entire school believing it."


"I did? What about you with that idiot Parvati draped all over you at supper?"


"That was her idea! She was next to impossible to get rid of, you know."


"I'm teasing you, Harry. It couldn't have been more obvious. I thought you were going to crawl under the table to get away from her."


"I saw you watching. If looks could kill, Parvati wouldn't have made it past Monday."


Harry was glad they were talking again so easily. If only they'd done this sooner… That's what had led to this whole misunderstanding. He stopped laughing, and Ginny picked up on his change of mood. "What?"


"Ginny, promise me something. Promise me you won't let something like this happen again. Just tell me if you've got a problem with something. Don't run out on me. I won't laugh at you. This whole mess started because we stopped talking to each other, and I don't want something like that to happen to us again."


"All right, I can do that, but only if you promise me the same thing."


"Yes, of course."


Ginny was leaning in again, and it was difficult to resist the temptation of becoming lost in her kisses again. He took off his glasses this time so they wouldn't be in the way, and then his lips met hers. He felt her hands creep around his waist, while his own hands became tangled in her hair. His thoughts scattered, while his heart pounded loudly in his ears.


It was Ginny who pulled back an indeterminate amount of time later. By then the candles had burned low. "We should stop… shouldn't we?"


She didn't sound quite convinced herself, but Harry knew she was right. They were stretched out next to each other now, and Harry felt her settle in more comfortably. He didn't think he was going to be able to fall asleep, but he was content to hold her while she did. He thought she'd already dropped off, when he felt a tremor pass through her body. A second later he realised she was giggling.


"What's so funny?" he asked.


"I just thought of a trick we can play on Ron and Hermione. To get them back for locking us up."


"Are you really mad at them for doing that?"


"No. But it was still a dirty trick to pull on us."


"True. So what's your plan?"


"You've still got your invisibility cloak, don't you? So all we have to do is cover ourselves up with it, and he'll think we found a way to escape."


Harry began to laugh along with her. "But we don't know when he's going to come for us."


"Let's hope he sleeps late."


"Here." He reached over to where he'd laid the invisibility cloak, shook it out and spread it over them like a blanket. "This way if he comes in before we wake up, we might still have a chance of surprising him."


The last of the candles was guttering out, casting the room into total darkness, and Ginny was burrowing against him. It was time to sleep if they could. Harry kissed her forehead and then her lips. "Good night, Ginny," he said, wishing he could think of some sort of endearment he wouldn't feel stupid using.


"Night, Harry," she yawned.


From the even sound of her breathing, Harry could tell she'd dropped off fairly quickly. He, however, remained awake, willing himself not to be disappointed. So she still hadn't told him she loved him. Perhaps she wasn't ready yet. The promise he'd made her grated at him. He should have come out with it and asked her, but he didn't want her to get the wrong idea. He knew a lot of boys would use a question like that to talk a girl into bed. He didn't want her to think he was pressuring her like that.


Ginny shifted in her sleep, reminding him that certain parts of him would think shagging was a very good idea indeed, and he bit back a groan. Why couldn't his body wait until all of him was ready? There were times--mainly when he was kissing Ginny--when he thought he was more than ready, but at other times the prospect was quite frightening. He had no idea what he was doing, and some of the things he'd seen Dr Zog recommend were rather alarming. What if he hurt her? What if he put her off the idea forever? What if she got pregnant? Contraceptive Charm or no, she was still a Weasley. He reckoned her parents had used the proper charms, too… Then he shuddered at the direction his thoughts had taken. While logic told him it must have happened at least six times, Harry didn't think he ought to be considering the prospect of Mr and Mrs Weasley…


Time to think about something else! he told himself sternly. Ginny sighed, and he tightened his arms around her. Sleeping next to her was nice, actually. A proper bed might be a bit more comfortable…


*


Harry awoke early the next morning, sore from having spent the night cramped into a broken sofa that had never been intended to sleep one person, let alone two. The sofas in the Gryffindor common room were definitely more comfortable. It was now light enough to see in the storage room. Sunlight was filtering feebly through a small, dusty window. It wasn't long before Ginny opened her eyes, and both of them groaned as they pushed back the invisibility cloak and tried to stand. Harry reached for his glasses and put them on.


"The next time we sleep together, can we please do it in a bed?" Ginny grumbled, blushing immediately and clapping a hand over her mouth when she'd realised what she'd just said.


Harry began to redden himself as the implications that statement sunk in, but he decided to ignore them. "Ron and Hermione thought of everything else. You'd think they'd at least have transfigured something into a proper bed."


"Ron wouldn't have wanted to make things too easy for us. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he'd shrunk the sofas to make it more difficult to share."


"And he expected us to patch things up under those conditions?"


Ginny smiled knowingly. "He wanted us to make up, not make love…"


Harry was relieved when she turned and headed into the toilet at that. The conversation had definitely been heading into delicate matters. It was one thing to think about making love with Ginny; it was quite another to actually discuss it with her. Yet he knew he was going to have to do that at some point. Just not now. He tried to imagine Ron and Hermione having that particular conversation--he reckoned they must have managed it at some point--but he couldn't. How was he supposed to bring up the subject without turning red and feeling embarrassed?


He jumped as the door to the toilet opened, and Ginny came back. Harry ran into the loo as quickly as he could. When he came back, Ginny was setting food out on the table.


"We might as well have breakfast. What do you fancy?"


There was a jug of orange juice and another of milk, both of which had been charmed to remain cold over night, as well as fruit and cereal. Harry suddenly felt quite hungry. When they'd eaten their fill, Ginny was careful to put everything back in the basket so that it looked as if it hadn't been touched. She'd remembered the surprise they'd planned for Ron and Hermione. After that, there was little to do but wait, so they both went over to the sofa on which they'd slept and hid under the invisibility cloak.


It wasn't long before they heard noises out in the corridor. The Silencing Charm had evidently worn off.


"Do you hear anything?" came Hermione's muffled voice through the door.


"Not a thing," they heard Ron reply, his voice a bit clearer. Harry reckoned he'd pressed his ear to the door to listen. "That's a good sign, don't you think?"


"They might still be asleep."


"Or they might be…"


There was a sudden, furious scrambling outside the door.


"What's the bloody counter-spell again?" asked Ron.


Ginny was shaking with suppressed laughter, and Harry nudged her to warn her to be quiet. Suddenly she was whispering very quietly in his ear, "Sounds like we should have thought about this a bit more. We could have given them more of a scare if they thought they were about to walk in on us shagging."


Now Harry had to work at holding in his laughter, but at the same time he felt unaccountably warm.


"Oh, Ron!" Hermione's exasperated voice filtered through the door. "Just let me do it!"


Ginny was back at Harry's ear. "Perhaps we'll have to lock them in here next." Harry thought that sounded like a good idea.


The door opened at last. "Rise and…" Ron began cheerily, but he broke off as he looked around an apparently empty room. Ginny began to shake even harder, while Harry bit down hard on his lip to keep quiet.


"Where'd they go?" Ron had turned to Hermione, who had come in and was looking about suspiciously.


"They can't have gone far, Ron. Check the loo."


Harry heard Ron knock on the door to the toilet and then open it. It wasn't long before they heard him come back. "They're not here, Hermione."


Hermione, meanwhile, was looking closely at the table, no doubt for signs that Harry and Ginny had eaten. "Nonsense, Ron."


Ron moved so that he was in Harry's field of vision, and Harry could see his eye glint with mischief. "You don't think they worked out how to Apparate, do you?"


Harry was very glad that Hermione had her face turned so that he couldn't make out her expression, because he could well imagine it. Actually seeing it would have made him lose it altogether. As it was, she didn't respond to Ron's teasing. She must have been working things out. It wasn't long before Harry heard her say, "Ron, sit on that sofa."


Harry's heart began to pound, but Ron sat down opposite him. But if Hermione was thinking what he thought she was, then that meant…


He scrambled out of the way just in time to avoid having Hermione sit in his lap, but now he was sitting on Ginny, who was breaking into gales of laughter.


"Hah! Got you!" Hermione was reaching over and pulling the invisibility cloak off of Harry and Ginny.


"Serves you right," Ginny was saying, trying to sound grumpy but laughing too hard for it to be effective.


"Yeah," said Harry, trying to sound indignant. "What was the idea locking us up?"


"Come on," said Ron. "The two of you were completely miserable. And you were making life for the rest of us hellish."


"Did you have to resort of such extreme measures, though? Couldn't you have talked to us or something?"


"As if I didn't try? Look how well that worked!"


Harry wondered if Hermione's asking Ginny to teach her Ancient Runes had been a pretence to talk to her about Harry. But no, that wasn't right. He'd seen Hermione working on runes before he and Ginny had had a row.


"So have the two of you patched things up?" Ron was asking.


"You sound just like Mum, honestly," Ginny said. Then she shoved at Harry. "Harry, you're heavy, you know."


Harry stood up. "Sorry about that. Yes, Ron, we have. Are you planning on letting us out any time soon?"


"Well, seeing as you're talking to each other now…"


"You realise I could have been finding out about Malfoy last night."


Ron shrugged. "You can do that just as easily tonight. Unless you have something better to do now."


Harry wasn't sure he liked the challenging note in Ron's tone, and he was tempted to reply that he definitely did have something better to do. But he couldn't shake the feeling that Malfoy could lead them to something important. "Tonight it is, then."


*


Harry vaguely recalled the way down to the Slytherin common room from his second year. With the aid of the Marauders' Map, it had been easy enough to find the stone wall, which hid the entrance, but now he was stuck waiting under the invisibility cloak until someone who knew the password came along.


He strained his ears but could hear no indication of anyone coming. He'd taken the Auditory Enhancing Potion before entering the dungeons, and he knew it was working. His footsteps had sounded unnaturally loud on his way down here, and at one point he'd heard and odd, squishy noise that repeated rhythmically. It had been Mrs Norris, whose footfalls were normally completely silent, and he'd frozen in place until she'd moved on. After seven years, Harry still wasn't convinced that the caretaker's cat couldn't see through invisibility cloaks.


At last, the harsh scraping of stone on stone sounded in his ears, as the hidden entrance opened and someone came out. Harry had to fight the urge to cover his ears with his hands, so loud did the noise sounded to him. He was able to slip through into the common room just as the wall slid shut once more.


He immediately drew the conclusion that the dungeon walls must be very thick indeed. The noise of chattering students was deafening to his ears. It seemed that the potion worked so well that sounds that were normally ignored as background noise, became quite distracting. He wondered how Snape had ever managed to distinguish the sounds he wanted to hear from those he needed to tune out while he was taking this stuff.


Harry shook his head, thinking it would have been prudent to test this potion first to see how it worked, but it was too late for that now. He'd entered the Slytherins' domain, and now he would see what he could find.


He eased quietly into a deserted corner and consulted the Marauders' Map. He could see minuscule dots labelled Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Blaise Zabini at different locations in the common room. Looking up, he verified this. Rooms were not identified on the map, but the rooms that looked to be the dormitories seemed deserted.


Harry stole along the wall, careful not to bump into anybody. He wished the common room was a little less crowded, but he'd been over this with Ron and Hermione. Too late at night, and everyone would be in their beds asleep. Going through the dormitories would be even riskier then. He came to a passage that led off the common room. He was about to investigate when he nearly ran into Millicent Bulstrode. Heart pounding, he stopped short, his gasp of surprise sounding loudly in his ears. He was sure the Slytherin girl must have heard it and would be aware of his presence. But she hadn't, apparently. She moved on into the room, sitting at a table with Crabbe and Goyle, while Harry headed for the next passage. That one must lead to the boys' dormitories.


He crept along the passage, trying vainly to distinguish any sound, which might indicate someone was coming, until he came to a doorway marked "seventh years" at the very end of the corridor. The room was deserted, fortunately, and Harry went in, wondering how he was going to work out which trunk belonged to Malfoy.


A quick scan of the room made him decide to begin with the bed directly opposite him. It had what looked like the newest trunk at its foot. Opening it, he pulled out a robe with the name Zabini sewn into it.


Looking to his left, Harry saw the trunk that had to belong to Malfoy then. It had the initials DM embossed in gold over what looked suspiciously like a family crest. Looking closer, Harry could read what must be the Malfoy family motto: Postatem obscuri lateris nescitis. "How appropriate," Harry thought to himself.


Moving over to this bed, Harry decided that perhaps Malfoy's bedside table would be a better place to start. Malfoy might keep his letters there. Harry was about to open the drawer when he heard footsteps echoing loudly in the passage. He froze and listened as they came closer and closer.


When it became apparent that whoever was coming hadn't turned aside and was headed for the seventh years' dormitory, Harry decided it was best to take no chances in spite of the invisibility cloak. He scrambled under Malfoy's bed.


Harry stole a glance from his hiding place when the footsteps entered the room, smiling to himself when he saw how had come in. It was none other than Malfoy. Perhaps he would do something, which would give Harry a clue where to look first.


Malfoy sat down on his bed, the mattress sagging, and that was Harry's first indication that maybe he should have chosen a better hiding place. Suddenly he was acutely aware that there were things stored under here. He couldn't see what they were in the dark, but he could touch them. If Malfoy had come in here for any of them, Harry was in danger of being discovered.


He could hear Malfoy rummaging through his bedside table. Malfoy must be looking for something; Harry could hear him swearing under his breath. The mattress stopped sagging as Malfoy stood up.


The next thing Harry saw was Malfoy's eyes seemingly looking straight into his own. Cold sweat broke out on Harry's forehead. He knew Malfoy couldn't see him, but this was unnerving all the same.


Then an arm reached under the bed. Harry tried to get out of the way, but it was too late. Malfoy's hand had made contact.


"What the..."


Malfoy looked confused as his hand encountered something solid and unexpected. Harry slid further under the bed, but there wasn't much room to manoeuvre. Malfoy's hand reached in again, and this time it took hold of the invisibility cloak and tugged. The material was wrapped around Harry's body and, as a result, didn't give.


Malfoy pulled harder, and Harry became concerned that the fabric would tear. In any case, he didn't want Malfoy to get his cloak. Harry crawled out from under the bed, Malfoy's hand still tangled in the cloak.


In the torchlight, Harry saw that the sleeve of Malfoy's robe had slid back, exposing a small, red burn mark on his left forearm. Harry was sure he knew what it was. He remembered seeing it on Wormtail in the cemetery. Draco Malfoy bore the Dark Mark.


The hood of Harry's cloak had fallen over his head, and the two boys stared each other down. The lower part of the cloak was still covering Harry, and he took advantage of this to draw his wand. Malfoy's wand was out as well.


"Well, Potter, fancy meeting you here," Malfoy drawled at last. "Would you mind explaining what the hell you were doing under my bed?"


A/N: Credit goes to Marian for thinking of the door that led nowhere in the loo. The Malfoy family motto comes for a website of silly Latin translations. Anyone able to work out what it means? I believe it's a quote from the Star Wars world. Thanks to my betas and to everyone who's reviewed so far.