Harry Potter and the Dynasty of the Wand by Lady Snuffles
Chapter Notes: What are Harry and Ginny planning? Can any good come from it? And why does Ron try to punch Harry? Congrats to BewitchMe who got it right! Brownie points for you!
Disclaimer: I DON’T OWN HARRY POTTER! I don’t own Harry Potter. I don’t own Harry Potter. I don’t own Harry Potter. How many different way’s can I disclaim Harry Potter? I don’t own Harry Potter.I don’t own Harry Potter. I don’t own Harry Potter...
“And just who do you think you are? Oh, yes of course.... ‘The Boy Who Lived.’ I could give a rat's ass about what you're famous for!” she roared.
“And you think that I do?”
“Why else would I have said that?”
“Well, what does that make you then? Should we start calling you ‘The Girl, The Boy Who Lived, Saved?’ After all The Boy Who Lived did save your life a few years back!”
“Was it my choice that you of all people came to save me? Anyone else could have gone down there!”
“No one else in this school speaks PARSELTONGUE Ginny. That is the only way to get into that chamber, you know,” he defended himself.
“Of course I know that, you dolt! I was just telling you that it was YOUR choice to come and save me. You could have let me die down there!”
“Well maybe I should have! That could have solved a lot of problems for me!”
“What are you trying to say Harry? Do you mean to tell me that you wouldn't have cared if I had died?!”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Well I guess that doesn’t matter any more because as far as I'm concerned, we are through. THROUGH!” A silent tear ran down her face as she paraded to the door of the Great Hall. When she got there she turned around and shrieked back at Harry, “I hope you’re happy with yourself, Mr. Potter. You got exactly what you wanted!” And she left.
Harry looked around. The entire Great Hall was gawking at him. The exact effect Ginny and Harry were hoping for. Harry looked towards the Slytherin table and noticed that even Draco Malfoy was staring at him. No one had expected this. Especially not Ron and Hermione, who were halfway between the Gryffindor table, where Harry was, and the doors to the Great hall that Ginny had just exited.
What's going on? No matter how mad Ginny is at him she would never use any of Harry’s fame against him. I just don't get wh- Whatever was going through Hermione's head was put on hold due to Ron bumping into her as he charged towards Harry.
How DARE he? What the heck is wrong with him? He needs a good smack to the side of the head to straighten it out. Or to crack his skull open.....either way works for me. Ron thought to himself. He started heading for Harry who ducked Ron’s swinging fist right in time. Hermione bolted to her friends where she took up a position between them to block off any further blows. She knew that neither of them would dare to accidentally miss their target and hit her.
She grabbed Harry by the ear and shoved Ron in front of her so she could see him, and she took them out of the Great Hall like Mrs. Weasley had done with Fred and George countless times at the Burrow. Once in the Entrance Hall, Hermione began yelling in a hoarse whisper.
“Harry! What the bloody hell is going on?”
“In case you didn’t notice...Ginny and I had an argument,” Harry said in a struggled calm voice while prying Hermione’s fingers off of his throbbing ear.
“An argument! AN ARGUMENT? Harry that was a ruddy death wish! What on earth were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t, Hermione! I wasn’t thinking. That’s all I say on my defense.” With that Harry left. He ran up the stairs all the way to the Gryffindor tower. He climbed the spiral staircase leading up to his dormitory where Ginny was waiting for him. Her eyes were still red from her fake tears.
“That was some performance, Gin,” Harry told her when she saw him come in.
“You weren’t so bad yourself, Mr. Potter,” she joked as they pulled each other into a tight hug.
When they pulled apart Ginny asked, “What happened after I left?”
“Not too much. Ron threw a punch at me.” Ginny looked uneasy. “Don’t worry he missed,” Harry said to reassure her.
“How did you get out of the Great Hall?” Ginny asked.
“That was easier than I expected it to be. Hermione grabbed me by the ear and shoved Ron out of the Hall to stop us from smacking each other to pieces. Then a few quick words and I left in ‘anger.’ I was more convincing than I thought I would be. I mean.....hell, we fooled Hermione, and that is a feat in itself.”
“Harry are you sure not telling them is the best thing? Are you absolutely positive that they can’t know?” Ginny asked.
“Gin, we’ve been over this. Ron would just let it slip....no offense to him or anything, but he’s not too keen in keeping secrets. And if we tell Hermione...well she can’t keep secrets from Ron so we’re back to where we started.”
Ginny and Harry sat on his four poster and began to plan how they would be together and “not be together” at the same time. Things like avoiding each other in the halls and finding time together in the Room of Requirement. They also needed to figure out how they would act around each other during Quidditch practice and D.A. meetings. They formulated, outlined, tweaked and perfected their scheme for some time in Harry's dorm until they were interrupted by a sudden commotion down in the common room.
“Harry!” said a voice in the common room.
“We’ve got something important to tell you!” declared a second voice.
“Oh crap!” Harry and Ginny weren’t expecting Ron or Hermione (or anyone from Harry’s dormitory for that matter), for a long time yet. “Go under here Gin.” Harry threw the invisibility cloak over her after snatching it out of his trunk. Just in time too. The very next second Ron came bursting into the door followed closely by Hermione.
“Are you back to try and hit me again?” Harry asked sarcastically.
“Harry there’s no time for that now. We figured out part of what “it” is.”
Ron’s voice was full of satisfaction. “Well not what....more like, where.”
“Harry! What the bloody hell is going on?” Hermione asked in a voice that wasn’t her own.
“In case you didn’t notice...Ginny and I had an argument.”
“An argument! AN ARGUMENT? Harry that was a ruddy death wish! What on earth were you thinking?” Hermione couldn’t keep the words from coming out her mouth. Is that really my voice? I can’t believe what I’m saying!
“I wasn’t Hermione! I wasn’t thinking. That’s all I say on my defense.” He turned and darted up the staircase.
“Hermione, why didn’t you let me hit him?” Ron asked in a quavery voice, watching his friend storm up the stairs. He turned to his girlfriend, who until this moment, had never looked so furious.
“Because there is something wrong with this. Ginny wouldn’t do this.” Hermione answered in a daze. “I need fresh air,” she moaned.
“Do you want to go out by the lake?”
“Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that.” When Hermione and Ron were halfway to the lake, she began talking too fast for anyone but Ron, who had trained himself to do so, to understand what she was saying.
“This just isn’t right. What would possess Harry and Ginny to say things like that to each other? And what’s all this about “The Boy Who Lived?” Ginny would never bring that into a conversation in public even if she were trying to embarrass Harry. Harry also promised Ginny he would never hold saving her life against her. He knew it wasn’t her fault that she was there in the first place. Honestly what would compel them to do this? This is just so confusing. I don’t understand what’s going on and it makes me very uncomfortable and out of focus. I can’t even think straight. What has gotten into Harry’s thick skull? Maybe I should have let you hit him. He told her he wouldn’t mind if she had died. There is a problem there. They LOVE each other. Oh I just don’t understand!”
“First of all, calm down,” Ron began. “Second of all, slow down. Third of all, sit down.” By now they reached the lake and were standing underneath their favorite tree.
“Ron, I just don’t get it. How could this happen?”
Ron didn’t understand either. “The last time I talked to Harry was last night. He woke me up having a fit. He told me he had another “dream.” We talked about it and he seemed to look better by the time we were done. He probably talked to Ginny about it this morning. I’m guessing that's what they were fighting about.”
“What was the dream about?”
Ron told her how Harry’s ‘dream’ had gone from what he could remember. Hermione still looked confused but not in the same way as before.
“What does ‘Qui vous aimez tou-whatever' mean Ron?” Hermione asked.
“I don’t know...I told Harry that Ginny would probably know ‘cause it sounded French.”
They both sat and thought about what was going on in Harry’s head at night. None of it made sense to either of them. Ron’s thoughts seemed to go deeper and farther back. He was thinking about Snape interrogating Harry in the first dream, until...
“Hermione! Do you know what I just realized?” Ron asked out of the blue. He was excited to have discovered, what he thought would be, a key factor, before Hermione.
“No, I don’t. I can’t read minds, Ron. Especially not your's...”
“Snape wasn’t asking what it was, Hermione! He was asking where. “It” isn’t a thing....It’s a place!”
They made eye-contact, knowing what needed to be done, and raced all the way up to Gryffindor Tower.
“Harry!” Ron yelled the second he entered the common room.
“We’ve got something important to tell you!” Hermione shouted behind him.
Ron burst through the door much happier than he had been a few hours ago.
“Are you back to try and hit me again?” Harry asked sarcastically looking at his two best friends that supposedly hated him.
“Harry there’s no time for that now. We figured out part of what “it” is,” Hermione answered rather flustered.
“Well not what....more like, where.” Harry was sure that with the satisfaction he heard in Ron’s voice he must have figured it out, not Hermione.
“Start over,” Harry managed with difficulty.
“Harry. All of us missed a major part in what Snape was harassing you about.” Hermione paused allowing Ron to finish for her.
“He didn’t ask you what “it” was. He asked you where “it” is. “It” is a place, not a thing.”
Harry felt like falling over and was thankful that his bed was behind him. He sat on the bed and felt Ginny next to him still under the Invisibility Cloak. “Where then?” he said just above a whisper.
“We don’t know.”
Suddenly, Ron walked over to Harry and hit him right on the side of his face making Harry fall on his back.
“What was that for?!” Harry cussed under his breath.
“For hurting my little sister the way you did.” Ron smiled to himself. “Now I won’t feel guilty still being your friend.” Harry felt Ginny tense up beside him.
Hermione came into this conversation rather tentatively. “Harry? Why did you and Ginny break up?”
Harry sighed. Truly it was a sigh of relief because Harry and Ginny had just talked about how to answer this exact question. He figured it passed as a sigh of frustration because Hermione looked at him with pity.
“Did Ron tell you about my dream?” Harry asked them both. The couple nodded. “Well this morning I woke up early to go find Ginny to tell her about my dream and ask her if she knew what that French phrase meant, or if it was even French.”
“So what does it mean Harry?” Hermione asked.
“Who you love will always...die.” Harry did everything he could not to crack his voice. “And then I-I told Ginny that I would have to end it and leave her because I couldn’t stand to see her hurt that way.” Harry paused for his “sorrow” to flow over Ron and Hermione.
“Harry, I’m still not seeing the problem here. You’ve been over that before with Ginny and she said that she wouldn’t....”
“I’m not done,” Harry said firmly. “After I told her that we had to end it, she told me that it wasn’t fair to her that I made all the choices; said it bothered her that I was in charge of her decisions. She said it was because I was used to being a leader and being famous. I told her that wasn’t fair of her to say that and then she announced to the entire Great Hall that, I’m sure you heard, I was the Boy Who Lived and she didn’t care what I was famous for.” Harry said it all in one breath. “I guess I got a little out of control after that.” Harry stood up and kicked his trunk shut. “I’m so stupid! I decided to yell instead of tell her that I would still love her and that if she would wait for me I would come back to her. Even if it was a lot to ask, I still wish I could have told her. Now she’ll never speak to me again.”
“Harry, I’m sure that she would let you...”
“No Hermione! I broke her heart. Hell, I broke my own. That’s what we are now. Broken.”
“Harry, anything that’s broken can be fixed.”
“No, it can’t Ron.” Harry laid down on the opposite side of his bed with his back to Hermione and Ron. They took it as their cue to leave.
“Harry? We’ll be around if you want to talk.” He mumbled something Hermione couldn’t make out and figured that it was, at the very least, some form of acknowledgment.
As soon as the door clicked shut Ginny threw off the invisibility cloak. “Harry are you okay? I can’t believe my stupid git of a brother hit you! I’m going to kill him then I’m going to bring him back to life and kill him again...”
“Ginny, stop while you’re ahead. Your brother hits like a cheerleader.”
“A cherry weeder? Whatever...Harry, he shouldn’t have done that.”
“But he doesn’t know that we’re pretending Ginny. He thinks I really hurt you. You know he only did it to protect you.”
“I...well...ugh! Harry I hate this! I hate not telling them,” Ginny moaned. Harry stood up and held Ginny in his arms.
“But you won’t tell them right?” Harry asked suspiciously.
Ginny looked directly into his eyes. By looking into them, Harry knew the answer before she even spoke. “You know I won’t, Harry. But I don’t know if we can keep it a secret for as long as we need to.”
“But it doesn’t hurt to try does it?”
“I suppose not.....Harry?” Ginny asked doubtfully.
“Mm-hm?”
“Can we...can we tell them if we find out where “it” is?”
Harry took this into perspective. He wanted Ginny to be happy and safe but it seemed he only got one or the other. This matter didn’t seem to have great importance in needing a decision now. Harry decided to sleep it over.
“We’ll see Gin. We’ll see.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Hermione went to bed that evening she laid there for hours (or so it felt) before she finally fell asleep. When she eventually did drift away from her complicated thoughts and worries, her dreams were just as confusing and jumbled together. One dream however was more prominent than the rest. Her “dream-self” was studying a sign reading 'Godric’s Hollow'. She then walked up the street and saw the rubble remains of a demolished house. There were more rambled images and Hermione woke up shaken and cold.
Hermione didn’t know why but she had an urge to talk with Ron. Quietly she tip-toed up the boys' staircase to the sixth years' dormitory. Carefully she pulled back the curtains to Ron’s bed and gently shook his shoulder. He opened his eye’s and slowly took in her face. Hermione put a finger to her lips and signaled for him to follow her out the door.
As soon as it was shut Ron looked at Hermione with concern. “Whaz goin’ on?” he asked.
“I’m not quite sure, but I had this dream and I think it might mean something, but I need help sorting it out.” Hermione paused and looked at her boyfriend. She noticed how very red and tired looking his eyes were. “Oh this is stupid. I shouldn’t have woken you up. Just go back to bed, I’m fine.”
“No, no. I’m awake now. There’s no point in going back to bed just to lay there alone and awake for another few hours when I could be talking with you.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s fine. Sit and explain.” Ron pulled her into the chair opposite him, now that they had reached the common room. The coals from the burnt-out fire were the only thing giving off any light. Hermione began to tell Ron about the parts of her dream she could remember.
“So, do you remember Harry telling us about his parents and him living in Godric’s Hollow when they were in hiding?”
“Uh-huh,” Ron yawned.
“Well I read the street sign leading to that neighborhood and walked up the street until I saw the ruins of an old house, which must have been the Potters'. Granted, I can't be certain...the rest of my dream is all in a mess and I only remember fragments. Things like...a wand casting a spell and...a, um, oh! There was a broom. And I distinctly remember a put-outer bein-”
“Hermione!”
“What? Did I say something? What did I say?”
“Harry’s house,” Ron said, oblivious to Hermione’s discombobulation.
“Yeah,” she said slowly, “Harry said it was destroyed...I saw it in my dream...”
“No, Hermione. Harry’s house is it.” Ron was now standing up and doing a sort of jig.
“Ron what are you talking about? Harry’s house was destroyed when Vold...”
“No, Hermione,” Ron repeated trying to calm down enough to explain. Putting one hand on each of Hermione’s shoulders, he looked directly into her eyes. “The house that they were using while they were in hiding was destroyed. What about the real Potter abode? Bellatrix said something like ‘we’ll have him take us to “it” so he can get the power he needs to have a fair fight.’ I bet you anything that there is something of Harry’s parents at the Potter Manor that could help him defeat You-Know-Who.”
Hermione’s jaw dropped and Ron used his finger to push it back up only to let it drop again. “That would be the second thing I got before you in one day.” Ron held up his index finger to prove his next point. “‘It’ is Potter Manor.”
“Well if ‘it’ is Potter Manor...where is it?”
~A/N: Mwah ha, ha, ha, ha! It’s alive! So my story is finally getting going. “Finally” being the key word. Review pretty please! BTW-there's a little but loveable ode to my idol/your King of the HP Universe, Emerson in this chappie. Whoever finds it first gets a free ride on the S.S. Delusional (haha)!!! The next chapter is not very important to the plot other than...Oh wait! I can’t tell you! Quote from the next chapter: “I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally.” -Harry
PS-My sis, Natalie came up with a new category for y'all...'Sarcastic Fluff'. Ha, never mind, inside joke.... ;o)