A/N: Whatever happened in HBP happened in HBP and not in my stories. Nothing is going to affect how I write the rest of this story. I know that all my loyal readers will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Here we go.
Harry did not sleep much that night.
He kept thinking about what he would find out about Ginny the next morning. Had she just come down with a common virus, or could it be something more serious? Was there anything that he could do? He reached over to the nightstand and picked up his wand. Without his glasses, it just appeared as a blurred piece of wood. What use is this thing if it can’t even help the woman I love?
He stared at it for another moment, and suddenly reached over for his glasses. Putting them on, he held the wand up again. It looked so much different then what he was used to over the past six years. After the battle of Hogsmeade, the thing had been blown into pieces. His and Ginny’s had been forged together with Kevin’s in order to conjure the spell that had stripped Voldemort of his power. Kevin had said he had sent them off to Olivander’s to have them repaired, but this one didn’t look or feel like his old wand.
It seemed…different.
Harry had wondered if Mr. Olivander had simply replaced the broken wands for new ones. Perhaps there was no way to fix the others and they had to be disposed of. But, surely Kevin would have told them if their wands had been replaced, wouldn’t he? He hadn’t thought to question Kevin on this, what with Lilian’s birth and the Apparition practicing. Now though, it might be all right.
He turned the wand over in his hand, and suddenly felt a slight surge in his hand. Without thinking, he flicked the wand into thin air. A slight silver smoke tried to escape it, but it soon dissipated. He wondered what the smoke was trying to become. He had seen such a thing before, and it frightened him a bit.
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Ginny was at the Gryffindor table the next morning, before Harry and the others got there. Harry ran to her side and threw his arms around her, placing a kiss on her cheek. She returned the embrace. “I’m all right, Harry,” she said. “I just needed a night with a sleeping potion.”
Harry released her. “What was wrong?”
Ginny shrugged. “Madam Pomfrey gave me some sleeping draught to drink and I was asleep all night. No waking up in the middle of the night or anything.” Harry took a seat beside her. “I’m fine, really.”
Harry had to believe her. The Great Hall was soon filled with the students, much as it had been last night. Professor McGonagall was soon walking amongst the tables passing out schedules to the students. Harry scanned down his list. “Potions first, then Herbology,” he said to himself. “After lunch, Muggle History and Care of Magical Creatures.” Harry did not mind that he had Potions first thing in the morning. Since Kevin had taken over as teacher for the upper level students, it had become an enjoyable subject and one that Harry was improving in. Professor Snape usually taught it, but he had been relegated to teaching the younger students only. Harry had never had a particular fondness for Severus Snape, nor did the professor for Harry. The two had been at odds since the moment Harry had come to Hogwarts. The lack of a class with him made it much easier to avoid him.
The bell soon rang and the hall emptied as students made their way to the first class of the day. Letting Ginny out of his sight was the last thing on Harry’s mind, but he had no choice. After a comforting word and a quick kiss, they parted ways.
Harry, Ron and Hermione walked down into the dungeon where the potions class would be held. The queue outside the door was a bit smaller then Harry would have thought. Apparently, some students had chosen not to continue with the study of potions. The door opened to the dungeon and Kevin ushered them all in. As they took their seats, Kevin went up to the front of the room. “Welcome to your final year of Potions,” he said as he turned to face the students. “As this is your seventh year, we will be delving into some of the most complicated concoctions that I am allowed to teach you.”
Everyone reached into their bags for their Potions book as Kevin instructed them to. They all opened them to the page he had indicated and, suddenly, everyone went silent. Kevin realized what page they had opened up to. “Veritaserum,” he said, with a mild grin. “I know what some of you are thinking.” He glanced in Hermione’s direction. “This substance is controlled very closely by the Ministry of Magic. However, I was able to obtain permission, with some significant help from Professor Dumbledore mind you, from the Ministry Council to brew this particular potion as part of the curriculum. Now, this will take one month to brew correctly. Therefore, I expect you all to be here for every class and on time.
“Also, this potion is to be carefully watched.” He took out his wand and waved it across the room. Almost a dozen empty vials and flasks flew from various bags of students and settled themselves on Kevin’s desk. “You will only use the flasks that I provide to store this potion at the end of each class. This potion is not to leave this room. Even if it is taken before it is completed, it could still be dangerous. There are some who would figure out how to brew this potion on their own, and I gave my word that I would not let that happen.” Once again, his gaze seemed to lay itself on Hermione. She had also noticed this and turned red in her cheeks.
He instructed the student on how to begin and they set off on their first steps in the potion process. Harry was determined not to let his focus wander at all this year, but he found it difficult. Kevin must know why Ginny was taken to the hospital wing last night, and he wanted to ask him that. Every time, though, that he tried to get the Potion Master’s attention, he was helping some other student with their potion. The entire class went by without Harry ever getting to speak with Kevin. When the bell finally sounded to end class, Harry tried to catch him but Kevin quickly sent off to his next class. “If she wanted you to know, Harry,” he said. “Then she would have told you.”
As Harry walked off towards his next class, he noticed Ron and Hermione were talking with one another, but in tones so low that he couldn’t hear them. He wasn’t about to interrupt his best friends intimate talk. Quickening his pace, he caught up with Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. The two boys nodded at him as he caught up along side him. “Hey Harry,” Seamus said.
“Hey guys,” he said. “How have you two kept up on your Quidditch skills?”
“Pretty well,” Dean answered. “We found a group of kids that started a small Quidditch league in Dublin and started playing with them. It was pretty bad though. We couldn’t use real bludgers without the Ministry coming down on us.”
“And the Snitch we used was so old it could barely fly,” Seamus added. “Games were over faster then they began. We had to make the rules ‘First Seeker to catch the Snitch ten times’ wins.”
Harry grinned, thinking about a Golden Snitch that was slow enough that he could catch it without problem. “If you didn’t have real bludgers, what did you two do?”
“We had to use Quaffles,” Seamus explained. “Instead of them flying around, we had to hurl them in the air and hit them with the clubs. It was a nightmare, because the chasers kept confusing those with the real Quaffle. We actually had a game where a point was scored on both goals at the same time, because nobody knew which one the actual Quaffle was.”
Harry tried to imagine what the boys were telling him in his mind, but it was so outlandish that he hadn’t a clue how to picture it. “Well, you won’t have to worry about playing with Quaffles anymore. I hope to have the Quidditch team back together in the next few weeks for practice. This is our last year, and I intend to go out with the Cup.” The two boys grinned as they imagined playing real Quidditch again.
They walked out onto the grounds, headed for the greenhouses for their Herbology class.
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Kevin left his classroom quickly and headed up the stairway to Dumbledore’s office. As he approached the stone gargoyle blocking the entranceway, he said, “Chocolate Buttons,” and the statue moved to one side. He bounded up the staircase and entered the office without waiting for an invitation. He had expected the headmaster to be waiting for him, but to his surprise, Sara and Lilian were there as well. Kevin slowed his pace so as not to knock his wife and daughter over. “What are you doing here?” he asked, with a slight smile. “I thought you were resting and Madam Pomfrey was watching the baby.”
Madam Pomfrey had, graciously, allowed herself to be named as a temporary nanny whenever the need arose and she was not busy with patients. “I know,” Sara said. “But I was feeling better and I wanted to see my little girl.”
Professor Dumbledore ran a hand over the young child’s forehead. “Sara has just been entertaining me with stories of this one choosing to remain awake in the late hours. It would seem that, at any age, children wish to remain alert at all times.”
“Except now,” Kevin replied, as he realized his daughter was asleep. “She wants to sleep in the day and be awake in the night. We thought about sleep charms, but it’s better if she learns to sleep on her own.” He looked up at the headmaster. “Did Olivander send a report on last night?”
Dumbledore nodded. “Yes, and I sent him our thanks for his quick work in examining Miss Weasley’s wand. If it had not arrived just after sun-up, there would have been some uncomfortable questions to answer.” He handed a piece of parchment over to Kevin. “I think that you will find his comments most enlightening.”
Kevin read over the parchment quickly. “What does he mean, ‘Unusual activity’?”
“From when I was able to talk with him,” Dumbledore answered. “He said that the wand emitted an odd silver smoke that seemed to take form for a moment. He couldn’t tell what the form was becoming, but it was most definitely a person.”
“So you were right, Albus,” Kevin said. “Even though he has their spirits trapped…”
“…a part of them remains to help the fight.”
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Ginny was sitting in the common room late that night. While everyone else had already gone upstairs to bed, she was still working on an essay for her History of Magic class. It seemed criminal that she should have homework her first day back, but she knew that this was the easy part of the year. She pulled a book out of her bag, opened it up, and started glancing over it. The words seemed to jumble themselves together as she tried to understand what had been written.
Rubbing her eyes, Ginny looked again down at the page. It didn’t help. The words were blurred and impossible to make out. She was concentrating on the book so hard that it escaped her notice when someone else entered the common room. It wasn’t until the cushions beside her moved that she realized that she wasn’t alone anymore.
“Harry,” she said, putting the book down. “What are you doing down here? I thought you had gone up to bed.”
Harry didn’t say a word. He reached over and took her hand in his. Bringing it up to his lips, he gently brushed it with a kiss. Ginny’s cheeks reddened with the gesture of affection. She tried to ask the question again, but was stopped by a sudden pounding in her head. Her vision suddenly started wavering. She could feel herself becoming dizzy. The pain spread from her head to her neck, then to her chest. She couldn’t breathe, or call for help. Harry was right there but didn’t do anything to help her.
Suddenly, Ginny collapsed.
With cold sweat dripping down her face, Ginny was roused back to consciousness. It had been a dream, nothing but a dream.
But it had been so real, she thought. The pain had felt real enough that she actually thought she was being choked. Taking out a handkerchief, she wiped her brow and tried to remember what she had been doing. She was still in the common room, and she did have a History of Magic book open as if she had been reading it. Of course, she thought. She had been working on a History of Magic essay, just like in her dreams.
This frightened her.
The way everything felt so real was because it had been real, to a point. Ginny quickly turned her head around to see if Harry was anywhere in the room. She was alone. Ginny breathed a bit easier. This was real, not a dream.
Ginny decided that it would be best if she went upstairs, though sleep was the farthest thing from her mind at the moment. As she put her books into her bag, she suddenly heard voices from outside the portrait hole. “I’m sorry, but unless you have the password I cannot allow you into the Gryffindor common room.”
Ginny smiled for a moment, thinking Neville had forgotten the password the first day of term. However, it was not Neville’s voice that answered the Fat Lady. “But, please I have to see someone. It’s urgent.”
Ginny ran to the portrait hole and pushed it open. The portrait swung on its hinges with the protests of the Fat Lady ringing from the other side. A tall, blonde haired boy was outside. “Robert,” Ginny said. “What are you doing here at this hour?”
“Sorry to be calling so late, Ginny,” Robert answered. “But I need that book that I loaned you for my Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. Professor Hall gave us a really challenging topic.”
“Come inside,” Ginny said. “Keep your voice down though. I don’t want anyone knowing that I let a Hufflepuff into Gryffindor tower.” They walked inside with the muffled squawking of the Fat Lady behind them. “It’s over here.” Ginny reached into her bag and pulled out a thick book with Unforgivables: The Worst of all Curses printed on the cover. “Thanks for loaning it to me.”
“Not at all,” Robert answered. “Why did you want to borrow this anyway?”
Ginny shrugged. “Well, I knew that we would be studying them more in-depth this year, and we’d learn better how to defend against them, so I thought I should brush up on them. Then, I remembered that your dad…”
“Went to Durmstrang,” Robert finished. “And if anyone would have a book on Dark Magic, it would be me.” He smiled a bit. “I’m flattered that you remembered that much about me. Thought you would have put it out of your mind.” He stared at her for a moment, before lifting his hand to brush a strand of hair away from her face.
Ginny blushed for a moment, and then stepped back quickly. “Robert, don’t. You know that I’m seeing…”
“Harry Potter, yes I know,” he said, though he didn’t take his eyes off of her. “Sometimes, I wish that I could go back in time and change some mistakes.” He stared at her for another moment before turning around and exiting through the portrait hole.
Ginny stood still for what seemed like forever, before grabbing her bag and hurrying up to her dormitory.