Harry reread the letter unsure what to think. It wasn’t until Hedwig hooted that he came out of his contemplations. “Dobby,” Harry spoke only in a whisper, but it was only a matter of seconds and the house elf appeared with a crack.
“Master Harry called for Dobby, sir?” he squeaked, his many knitted hats nearly toppling over. If Harry had paid any attention to Dobby he would have noticed that he was a little drunk.
“Yes, Dobby, I need you to ask Ginny, Ron, and Hermione to meet me in my study,” and then added almost as an after thought, “Neville too.” It seemed odd to Harry that he had not thought to include Neville right away, but as he thought about it he realized that Neville had not been really a member of the group until recently. He would have to do something about that.
There was a knock at the door before Ron stepped in to the room “Hey, Harry, what did you…” the rest of his question was left unasked as Ron’s eyes spotted the two brooms that were wrapped and sitting on Harry’s bed.
“Oh damn, Ginny is going to kill me.” Harry exclaimed. “Well, Ron, you weren’t to know about it until tomorrow but I got such a great deal on the brooms I got three, but Ginny didn’t want you to know until tomorrow. It seems she wanted to hold it over you for just a little while.”
“Really, you got me a Firebolt?” Ron’s excitement quickly faded into on of almost shame.
“Yes, Ron, I bought you a Firebolt, but I also got one for Hermione. You can’t say anything yet because I was stupid and forgot to get Neville one too,” Harry’s tone clearly told Ron that he was not going to let him get upset that someone bought him something he could not afford.
“Forgot to get me what?” Neville asked from the door. At the sound of the newest guest Harry hung his head and mumbled something that neither of the other boys caught.
“I forgot to get you a broom along with everyone else,” Harry said regretfully.
“Don’t worry about that, Harry, I don’t need a broom,” Neville offered.
“That’s not to point, Neville; I meant to get one for all four of you. They may very well help us with what we need to do. I will order one after we finish up tonight, and no, Ron, you can’t open your broom now,” Harry smiled at the over eager look on his friends face.
They found the girls waiting in the study for the boys. Harry handed the letter from his aunt to Hermione to read and she passed it on. They all sat there thoughtfully until Ron had finished.
“So what does everyone think?” Harry asked.
“Well I can’t say that I wished your uncle dead but I don’t feel one bit sorry for the git,” Ginny’s contempt dripped with every word.
Harry laughed, “that’s not what I meant, Gin, I was wondering what you all thought I should do.”
“Do! What the hell do you mean? Those prats aren’t worth helping,” her contempt was replaced by anger.
Ron was the one who spoke next, seeing his sister was building up a head of steam he decided to change the topic a little, “Do you think it might be a trap? Like when the Death Eaters attacked at Neville’s?” His thought deflated Ginny’s anger quickly and made Neville sit up straighter.
“I had thought that, as the only way my aunt would ask for my help is if she had absolutely no where else to go, and even then I’m unsure if she would ask. This letter has me worried, but the problem is that Hedwig brought it, and she would not have retrieved the letter from my aunt’s unless my aunt wrote it,” offered Harry and added for Ginny’s sake, “I don’t care how they treated me in the past, I will show them the kindness they never did.”
Ginny calmed greatly, but her friends know it would not take much to ignite her temper once again. An hour later Ron, Hermione, and Neville left after concluding that, trap or not, they would take every available precaution. The first step they would take would be to inform the rest of the order.
Ginny watched Harry as he stared at nothing while his mind was too busy to notice anything that was happening around him. It was Ginny’s voice that brought Harry out of his contemplations.
“Chocolate cake and cold milk,” she smiled holding out a tray with two pieces of cake and two glasses of milk. He took the tray so Ginny could sit down next to him.
“This looks…” Harry stopped speaking once he saw tears running down Ginny’s face. Stunned and unsure what to do he pulled her close to hold her. They remained in silence for a long time. The whole time Harry didn’t move despite how uncomfortable he had become, as both his legs fell asleep, his arm cramped up, and his neck developed a painful crick.
Ginny finally moved, she turned to face Harry, “Sorry,” she whispered.
“Shhh, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Harry said offering a kind smile.
Ginny returned the smile by sliding up so she could give him a kiss. One kiss turned in to two- and then to three. With every kiss the intensity between the pair climbed, their hands exploring each other. Ginny hand found the front of Harry’s pants sending a jolt from Harry’s groin up his spine. To Ginny’s surprise Harry pulled away.
“Did I hurt you?” Ginny asked confusedly.
“No, you didn’t,” Harry answered breathlessly as he removed himself from under Ginny.
“What’s wrong,” she asked getting worried.
“We… We can’t… I mean… I can’t, not now. I want to… and I want it to be with you, but… Well,” his voice quivered with panic as he began to understand what he was saying.
His panic was quickly replaced with confusion as Ginny began to giggle.
“Why are you laughing at me?” he asked, a little angry at Ginny’s laughter.
“Sorry… I,” her explanation was interrupted with more laughter, “Did you think we were about to have sex? Oh, Harry, you’re so sweet! Thick, but sweet. I won’t have sex until I’m married, but that does not mean we can’t have a little fun,” she finished with a wink.
Harry looked even more confused, “I… Well I was not thinking about sex. I gave your mum my word that I would follow her rules, and I know that what we were doing was breaking mum’s rules.”
With a snort Ginny asked, “Since when do you put stock in rules?”
“Since the day Dumbledore died,” the sadness in his voice broke Ginny’s heart. “I came to realize that I had to hold myself to a higher standard. I know Dumbledore wasn’t perfect, but he always did what he felt was right. He set a high standard that I feel I must try to reach. That means not only following the rules, but following the intent of the rules,” tears streaked down his face.
It was Ginny’s turn to pull Harry close in a hug, “Oh, Harry, you’re so sweet, thick, but sweet.”
Mr. Weasley walked in to the kitchen to find Harry and Molly sitting at the table sipping tea and chatting. This had become a commonplace of late owing to the fact that neither Harry nor Molly slept much and were always the first to awake. The conversation ended as the pair greeted Arthur, and Mrs. Weasley got up to fix her husband a cup of tea. After Arthur had his first cup Harry handed him the letter from his aunt. Arthur read it twice before turning to Harry and asking, “Do you think this letter is real?”
“Yes sir, I do think it’s real,” Harry addressed Arthur. He had never gotten comfortable calling him dad or Arthur so he still used sir or Mr. Weasley.
“Do you have a plan?” Arthur asked.
“Maybe, but I wanted advice from the Order,” answered Harry.
The plan was simple: Arabella Fig would stop by Harry’s aunt’s to give her condolences, and take an assessment of things. Once she had given the all clear the Order would descend on Number 4 Privet Drive.
Around five o’clock that evening Mrs. Figg’s house was filled with members of the Order, who were waiting to go ahead. When word finally arrived, Harry’s aunt’s house would be caught in a deluge of witches and wizards, two in each room and the rest setting a perimeter around the house.
After what seemed like days to the members of the Order, Mrs. Figg returned. “Well I’d say they are not doing well, but I saw nothing too fishy,” she reported.
Harry nodded to the assembled group and with a massive flourish of cloaks they disappeared with a loud pop. They all reappeared in their appointed positions in and around the house. Every one of them immediately began casting spells, some blasted wardrobe doors ensuring that no one could be hiding in them, others casting defensive spells insuring that no unfriendly eyes or wands could penetrate the house.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville were all assigned to the kitchen, and were the ones who got he see Petunia jump so high that Ron would later claim she really did hit her head on the ceiling and not even Hermione could say she saw anything different. Neville was the only one of the four that had an immediate job to do, and that was to stun Petunia. He almost missed because of her jumping, and for Petunia’s sake she would have been better off if he had- as she fell she smacked her head hard against the counter.
A few seconds later Lupin, Moody, and Kingsley entered the room. Both Lupin and Kingsley were supporting an unconscious Dudley.
“We should get them packed and ready to go,” Lupin offered.
“Hermione and Ron will pack up my aunt’s things, and Neville and I will get Dudley’s things,” said Harry
“While you’re doing that we’ll look around see if we can find anything,” Moody growled.
Everyone quickly went about their business, and as Harry and Neville finished packing it was a tap on Harry’s arm that broke him from the thoughts of his past life in this house. Neville was pointing to one of the suitcases they had been packing. At first Harry did not see anything, then he saw the reason Neville was pointing. With a flick of his wand the suitcase closed, then a second flick, and a third flick the case began to hover.
Neville gave Harry a very puzzled look, but Harry’s head shake told Neville he would not get an answer just then. That was good enough for Neville; he trusted Harry and would follow him to hell and back.
They returned to the kitchen, once there Harry turned to Kingsley with a smile and said, “I need to you go and tell the Minister that I must speak with him right away, and you should tell him that it does not seem to be a trap, so we won’t be arresting any Death Eaters today.”
Neville was the only one to catch on right away to what Harry was saying, but soon everyone had at least a vague idea what was going on. Kingsley was soon gone.
“I trust that you all can handle things without Neville and me?” Harry asked the room.
Everyone nodded except Ron, who looked as though Harry choosing Neville over him had slighted him, but seemed to be appeased when Harry added, “I expect you and Hermione will be joining the two of us as soon as you are done.”
With a crack Harry and Neville were gone.
Harry Potter and the Fight for Ginny by Sorn
Chapter Notes: I know you have waited to long for this chapter, well her it is I hope you like it.