A/N:All chapter titles are from two of my fave CDs, "Elevator" by Hot Hot Heat, and "Hopes and Fears" by Keane. Not all titles are used in context with the songs. Disclaimer: All characters, etc. belong whole heartedly to JKR
Chapter 1- Somewhere Only We Know
Harry sat up in bed, not exactly sure what he had just witnessed in his dream. All he could remember was long, silky red hair, sparkling brown eyes, and a warm smile, all focusing on him.
He looked around, trying to determine the cause of the sound that woke him- Hedwig was sitting on his desk, waiting for him to untie a small parcel attached to her leg.
"Thanks," he said, stroking her feathers. The parcel was from Ginny. Harry was sure no other letter had made him so happy.
Dear Harry,
I'm so glad you decided to go back to Grimmauld Place. Even if it depresses you, just think of how miserable you'd be with your aunt and uncle, and I guarantee you'll feel 100% better.
Fred and George improved their Extendable Ears, so when Dumbledore was here, we heard everything. He told Mum that you had decided to move back to Sirius' house, and that Kreacher had "snuffed it." Those were his exact words, I swear. Anyway, he also said that your only company was Dobby and Buckbeak. I'm trying to think of a way to convince Mum to come visit you without letting on that I was eavesdropping.
Well, enjoy your birthday and new found "freedom" (Dumbledore said that members of the Order were still watching the house).
Happy Birthday, Harry.
Love,
Ginny
PS- I know it's early, but you'll get the rest next time I see you!
The rest? Harry opened the small parcel. It was a little box, obviously valuable, probably an antique someone had mistook for a piece of rubbish. Inside were two photographs, both of Ginny. One was moving. She was goofing around with Hermione on the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts, after Gryffindor won the house cup. The other was a muggle photograph. She was sitting against a tree at the Burrow, reading a book Harry had recommended about Quidditch.
This is the best birthday present I've ever gotten, Harry thought, propping up the photographs on his bedside table. He climbed back into bed and was about to go back to sleep when Pig swooped in and hovered over his head. He grabbed the tiny owl and untied the letter from Ron.
Harry,
Good news! Mum said we could come visit you, but she wanted to make sure it was alright with you first. So, how about it, mate? Want some company?
Ron.
Harry picked up his quill and wrote a response at the bottom of the note.
Come any time you like, just give me a five minute warning. It's starting to get boring here, with just Buckbeak and Dobby's getting to be a pain.
Harry.
If Ron was coming, that meant Ginny. Which also meant, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Fred and George, Bill, Charlie, and most likely Hermione. Suddenly, company seemed more like trouble.
Instead of worrying about it, he decided it would be best to go back to sleep. He focused on the photos of Ginny staring him in the face. He couldn't decide which he liked more, the one of Ginny in her Quidditch robes, dancing around after their spectacular victory, showing off her sporty side, or where she was sitting peacefully, wearing a flowery sundress and reading, showing off her feminine side. After minutes of thinking, Harry decided they were both equally appealing.
**
Harry was sitting in the kitchen, eating breakfast when a puff of red smoke appeared, leaving a slip of parchment on the table.
Five minute warning
It was more like a thirty second warning, as the all the Weasleys, except for Mr Weasley appeared seconds later. Ron and Ginny used Floo powder, while the others Apparated. Harry stood and greeted all of them, saving Ginny for last.
"Hi."
"Did you like your present?" She asked.
"I loved it, thank you." He gave her a quick hug, before stepping back. Her hair had grown out quite a bit since he saw her last, and her eyes were sparkling much like they did in the Quidditch photo.
"The house looks wonderful, dear," Mrs Weasley said. "It must have taken you weeks to clean all this up."
"I wish. I tried to do it myself, but Dobby wouldn't let me. He had already redecorated half the house before he let me explain I like doing housework. It's good for relieving stress."
Everyone took a seat at the table while Harry finished eating. Dobby appeared and handed out Butter beer.
A large Brown Owl swooped in from a window that refused to shut. It dropped a copy of The Daily Prophet on the table and waited for Harry to pay him.
"Thanks." There was no important news, there hadn't been for a while. The biggest news was that the Chudley Cannons had moved up in ranking after their miraculous win last week against Puddlemere United. Poor Oliver, Harry thought.
"So, Harry, have you heard about Ron and Hermione?" Ginny said, mutinously.
"What about them?" Ron, who was on the other side of Harry, turned a brilliant shade of red.
"They're together." At that, Ron buried his head in his arms, not wanting his family to see his embarrassment.
"Finally," Harry said, swallowing his last bit of toast. "When'd he finally ask her out?"
"He didn't. She asked him," Ginny giggled. Harry was trying hard not to laugh. It was so like Hermione to be straight forward, and Ron would never have been courageous enough to ask. He was happy that, no matter how it happened, his two best friends had gotten together.
"Really? You know, I'm not surprised." He and Ginny continued to laugh. Ron raised his head, still beet red.
"It's not funny."
"Oh, but it is," Ginny was almost as red as Ron from laughing. Everyone was staring at them, wondering what could be so funny. They stopped laughing.
The kitchen door opened and in walked Tonks, pink hair in all it's glory. "Morning," she yawned.
"Morning." Harry passed her the paper and Dobby gave her a plate of food. The Weasleys all looked at Harry for an explanation.
"Tonks is always here for breakfast since she's working nights. She's the only member of the Order who's accepted my invitations to breakfast and supper since I moved in." It was true. After a week or so, Harry had been bored with eating by himself and he knew there were members of the Order who worked ungodly hours at the Ministry, so he invited them to breakfast, lunch or dinner, depending on their hours. No matter when Tonks was working, she was always their for breakfast.
"I'm glad you finally got rid of that umbrella stand, Harry," Tonks said. "It was always in the way."
"It was ugly, too," Ginny said.
Bill stood up. "Well, I'd best be off. Gotta get to work," he said. "It was good seeing you again, Harry."
"You too." With that, Bill Disapparated.
"I should probably go, too," Charlie said, draining his Butter beer. "See ya, Harry." He Disapparated, too.
"Shouldn't you two be getting to your joke shop?" Mrs Weasley asked the twins.
"Percy's there, Mum. He can take care of it for a little while longer," George said.
"Yeah. He's really loosened up over the past year, he almost has a sense of humour," Fred said.
"Almost?" Harry asked.
"Let's just say he hasn't had any tea for five months." The twins decided to leave by Floo powder, and give Percy a scare.
Mrs Weasley instinctively started to clear the table.
"Mrs Weasley, you don't have to do that. Dobby-"
"Harry, it's alright. I agree with you about housework relieving stress, and with the trouble those two have given me in the past 19 years, all of England would be spotless if only I had the time."
19. Fred and George were 19. That meant Harry would be turning 17 next week. It shocked him to realize he hadn't realized he was turning 17.
"Harry? Harry, are you okay?" Ginny asked. Harry realized his facial expressions had gone from a goofy grin, to a worried stare. His thoughts shifted rapidly between the joy of being of age and Splinching, which he knew would happen without a doubt if he ever Apparated.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"How's Buckbeak?" Ron asked.
"Great. He enjoys eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans."
"You're not feeding him sweets, Harry!" Ginny squealed.
"Of course not. I was eating them while I was playing with him, and he stole the box from me. Ate them, cardboard and all."
"What do you want to do?" Ron asked.
"I actually have a lot to do. I have to clean out one of the bedrooms and the attic."
"Ron and I will help," Ginny offered.
"Thanks, but you're guests. I shouldn't be putting you to work."
"Are you kidding? We cleaned this house top to bottom Summer before fifth year," Ron said. "We know almost everything there is in that attic."
"Mainly because we put it there," Ginny added.
"You don't mind helping?"
"Not at all."
"Thanks." He turned to Mrs Weasley. "Why don't you just relax today, Mrs Weasley? There are about a million books in the library upstairs. There's bound to be something you'll like."
"Thank you, Harry, dear, but I have some shopping to do in Diagon Alley." She Disapparated.
**
They started with the bedroom, since they would have to take most of the boxes up to the attic. The very first object of interest found was a bottle of fire whiskey.
"This is older than Mum," Ron said, staring at the bottle. "Mind if I…" He looked at Harry.
"You're an adult. You don't need to ask my permission," Harry said. He knew Ron enjoyed fire whiskey, and had learned when enough was enough, especially since Seamus and Dean had gotten him hopelessly drunk on his birthday.
"Don't you dare, Ron. Mum will have a fit, not to mention it's only 10:30 in the morning and this bottle is probably very valuable."
"You're right, Gin. This stuff's over eighty years old, it's worth galleons."
"Well, just in case you're tempted, I'm putting it in the wine cellar." Ginny took the bottle and left.
"That wasn't fair. Harry, you can't just let her take your fire whiskey like that."
"Why can't I? She only has your best interest at heart, plus I hate fire whiskey. She can do whatever she likes with it."
"Party pooper."
"Tell you what, you can have it. But, you can't let your mum see you drunk or drinking. She'll ask you where you got it and then she'll come after me."
"Not a problem."
There was a squeal from downstairs. The boys rushed to Ginny's aid, only to find there was no trouble, just another visitor.
"Hermione!" Harry jumped the last couple stairs and ran to hug his friend.
"Harry, it's so good to see you."
"Ron! Stop it!" Ginny yelled. Ron was trying to sneak the bottle out of her hand. "I'll tell Mum." Ron stopped immediately.
"Have I missed something?" Hermione asked Harry.
"We were cleaning out one of the bedrooms and Ron found a bottle of old fire whiskey. Ginny was going to put it in the wine cellar, but she obviously hasn't gotten there yet."
"Smart move." Hermione knew what Ron was like when he was drunk. "Need an extra hand with your cleaning?" She followed them up to the bedroom.
"'Mione, wanna help me with the attic?" Ron asked.
"Sure." Hermione hopped off the bed where she had been folding some beautiful old robes. Harry made a mental note to give them to her for her birthday.
"Ah, young love," Harry joked. By now, more than half the boxes had been organized and stacked in the hall, ready to be moved.
Ginny was sitting on the floor at the far end of the room, examining books and boxes. She leaned back and squealed in surprise. A small section of the wall had slid back to reveal a passageway.
"That's new." Harry put the music box he was looking at in a box and went to help Ginny up.
"What's back there?"
"I dunno, that's never happened before." He crawled through the passage into a huge, dusty room. Ginny appeared behind him.
"Wow." The floor was a plush gold carpet and the walls were a deep red. The furniture throughout the room was mainly red and gold, with lions everywhere.
"So, whoever's room that was," Harry said, pointing to the wall behind him, "was in Gryffindor."
"Maybe it was Sirius'."
"Maybe," He agreed. Now that he thought of it, most of the stuff did seem like stuff Sirius would like, and for some reason, keeping a dusty bottle of fire whiskey in a cardboard box seemed like something he would do.
"This is amazing, Harry. You have a secret room. You can hide here when you get tired of us Weasleys."
"I'll keep that in mind," he said, putting his arm around her. "Don't tell anyone, okay? It wouldn't be much of a hiding place if everyone knew about it."
"I won't. I promise." Ginny looked at Harry. She just noticed he had his arm around her waist. 'I wonder if he knows his arm is there,' she thought. But she didn't mention it, she was afraid he would move it.
There was a shuffle of feet in the hall. Harry and Ginny scrambled through the passageway back into the bedroom. The wall slid back into place when Harry absently kicked the baseboard.
"You two have gotten a lot of work done," Hermione said. There were only a couple boxes left, and they were almost packed.
"How's the attic coming along?" Harry asked.
"Good. All the boxes are in piles according to what floor of the house and what room they're from."
"There's a crate of wine up there, Harry," Ron said. "It's good stuff, too."
"How do you know so much about alcohol? Hermione asked.
"Bill. Fleur taught him about what makes a good wine. Passing on that information to me was my birthday present from him."
"Speaking of presents," Harry handed Ron a chess set. "Thought you might like it."
"Thanks, mate."
"And Hermione," He handed her the box of robes she was admiring.
"Thank you, Harry."
Ron's stomach growled. "Guess it's lunch time."
**
After lunch, and all the boxes had been put in the attic, Ron and Hermione went outside where Hermione was reading Hogwarts: A History once again, and Ron was laying beside her, talking about something funny.
Harry and Ginny went back to the secret room to look around, try and find out whose room it was.
"Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"How come you gave Ron and Hermione gifts and not me?" Harry was surprised at how straightforward the question was.
"Well, this is your gift. Our Secret Room. Somewhere only we know," he said.
"Our Secret Room?" She repeated.
"Yeah. You found it. It's only fair you get to share it with me."
"I guess."
"Hey, look at this!" Harry showed her a necklace that he had found in a desk drawer. It was a gold chain, with a gold lion pendant that had rubies for eyes.
"That's really pretty."
"It's yours."
"Really?" Harry nodded. "Oh, Harry, thank you." She put the necklace on.
"There, now you've got two gifts." More than anything, Harry wanted to kiss Ginny. Right when he had gathered enough courage to do so, the front door slammed shut. Mrs Weasley was back. "Perfect timing," he said sarcastically, heading for the passageway.
Downstairs, Mrs Weasley was fumbling with packages from Diagon Alley.
"I'll take those, Mrs Weasley," Harry said, taking the two largest packages and setting them by the door.
"Thank you, Harry." Mrs Weasley looked at Ginny, who was playing with the lion head around her neck. "Where'd you get that, Ginny, dear?"
"Harry gave it to me. We found it while we were cleaning."
Mrs Weasley gave them a suspicious look before taking the rest of her packages, which Harry suspected to be food, down to the kitchen.
"What was that for?"
"She thinks you're spoiling me," Ginny said, "but I don't mind."
"I'm not spoiling you. You deserve that necklace."
"I do?"
"It's my way of saying thank you for being such a good friend, and keeping a secret." Harry moved closer to Ginny, so close, in fact, that he had to literally look down his nose to meet her eyes. And, for the first time, he acted on his imagination by kissing her.
**
Ron rolled over onto his back, still watching Hermione read. Crookshanks, who was playing with a dead caterpillar, jumped onto his stomach.
"Crookshanks likes me now?"
"I guess so." Hermione reached over and scratched behind Crookshanks' ear. There was a rumble of thunder overhead. "We should go in." Ron agreed, picked up the purring cat, and followed Hermione into the house.
"Bloody Hell." He froze. Hermione followed his gaze to Harry and Ginny.
"Oh my," She whispered. "You didn't tell me they were dating."
"Well, they didn't tell me." Ron cleared his throat. Harry and Ginny broke apart.
"Ron!" Harry swiftly removed his hand from Ginny's waist. He just realized he had been kissing his best friend's little sister. Ron was turning red.
"Ron, don't you dare!" Ginny warned. She knew what was coming. It didn't work. Ron punched Harry square in the nose. Harry lost his balance and fell to the floor. The resultant crash had Mrs Weasley in the doorway of the kitchen in seconds.
"What happened?"
"Ron punched Harry!" Ginny said, kneeling beside Harry.
"Harry was kissing Ginny!" Ron said, trying to rationalize his actions.
"And I'm not sorry I did." Harry sounded as though he had a really bad cold. His nose was swollen and threatening to start bleeding.
Ron looked ready to punch him again, but with his mother right there, he though better of it. Instead, he stormed up the stairs to his room and slammed the door.
By the looks of it, Mrs Weasley couldn't decide whether to help Harry, or hit him herself. She went down to the kitchen to get some ice.
"I can't believe he did that!" Ginny said.
"I can. You're his little sister. If I saw you kissing anyone, I would punch them."
"That's because you'd be jealous, Harry, not trying to protect me," Ginny said, staring at Harry's nose.
"Maybe I should go talk to Ron," Hermione said. She ran up the stairs to Ron's room.
"Harry, do you still think of me as Ron's little sister?"
"No… well, when he walks in on us, yeah, but only for a second."
"You do know he's going to try and kill you, right?"
"Oh yeah."
"Good. Just wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting yourself into." She kissed him on the cheek and stood up. "I'll be right back."
Within seconds the house was filled with Ginny's shrill voice. "RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO HIT HIM! WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU DO SUCH A THING?… THAT'S NOT A GOOD ENOUGH REASON!"
"Harry, what are you still doing on the floor?" Mrs Weasley was back with a cloth full of ice.
"Huh? Oh." Harry stood up. "Thanks, Mrs Weasley. You know I would never hurt Ginny," he said, thinking that she deserved an explanation.
"It's not Ginny I'm worried about. If you upset her in any way, there are seven men ready to kill you." She walked away. Harry thought for a second, seven? There was Ron, Fred, George, Percy, Bill, Charlie. That was six. Would Mr Weasley really beat me up? He thought.
He saw Ginny leave Ron's room and go into the spare room. He went upstairs to join her in their Secret Room.
"Gin?"
"Yeah?"
"What wasn't a good enough reason?"
"You heard."
"I think the whole street heard you." He sat beside her on the couch.
"Great."
"So, what was the reason?"
"I'm his little sister and you're his best friend."
"You're right, that isn't a good enough reason."
"Does it hurt?"
"Yep." Harry pressed the ice against his nose. "And this is only the beginning. If I 'upset you in anyway' your family will all come after me."
"Are you serious?"
"Ron, Fred, George, Percy, Bill, Charlie, and your Dad."
"Who told you that?"
"Your mother. And I wouldn't put it past her to attack me, too. But I don't care. You're worth dying eight times for."
"That's sweet, I think. I'd kiss you, but I don't want Ron to kill you."
"You're so thoughtful, Gin, but not even Ron can stop me."