Harry Potter and the Dynasty of the Wand by Lady Snuffles
Chapter Notes: What and how many things are discovered?
Disclaimer: Its Jo’s little world, not mine :’o(
“Hermione,” she heard a voice whisper in her ear. She could also hear Ron’s heart beat as clearly as she had while laying on his chest last night. Hermione opened her eyes, surprised to find herself still laying on Ron’s chest.
“Ron? Did we fall asleep down here?” Hermione asked through a yawn, sitting up slightly on the couch.
“No, we just laid here with our eyes closed in a sort of trance,” Ron answered teasing her.
“Do you have to do that this early in the morning?”
“Sarcasm is just one more service I offer.”
“Wonderful.” Hermione sat up and stretched. “I think that we should go upstairs and pretend that we were in there all night. I can just imagine Lavender and Parvati taunting me about staying out here the entire night with you.”
“Well it wasn’t the entire night,” Ron reminded her.
“They went to bed before me though. I have no proof of going to the dormitory at all last night.”
“Alright then. I’m going to get dressed and head down to breakfast. See you there?”
“Sure.” Suddenly last nights events flew back into Hermione’s mind. “Ron, when are we going to tell Harry?”
“Not now. I’m starving. We’ll talk about it over breakfast, okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll be down in a bit.” Am I ever going to come before food with him? Hermione thought.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Where were you all night?”
Shit!
“I wake up at two o’ clock in the morning to find your bed empty, figuring that you went to the loo or something, so I go back to sleep without putting another thought on it. Then I wake up again at seven o’clock to find it emptier still, and now you walk in the door with that smirk on your face. Where have you been?”
“Just downstairs,” Ron mumbled under his breath.
“I’m sorry Ron, I didn’t seem to have heard that.” Harry must enjoy taunting me all to much.
“I was downstairs,” Ron said a little more loudly than necessary.
“And what, may I ask, were you doing downstairs for the past, three o’clock, four o’clock, five o’clock, six o’clock, seven...five hours?” Harry counted aloud on his fingers.
“To tell you the truth, I was sleeping.” It was partially true.
“Alone?”
“Maybe.”
“How very interesting....”
“Sod off,” Ron said exasperated.
“Say no more. I’m getting dressed and going down to see Hagrid. Want to join me?”
“Maybe later...I have someone to meet over breakfast.”
Harry finished getting dressed as did Ron. They both walked down to the entrance hall and went their separate ways by the door to the Great Hall.
Ron found Hermione already waiting for him with the Daily Prophet in her hands and a piece of toast hanging from her mouth.
“Anything worth reading?” Ron asked as he sat down on her right.
“There’s another fabricated story about how Arabella Figg’s cats are each illegal, animagus, death eaters, and they are using her house for a head quarters.”
“Isn’t that what was written last time?”
“Yes, but according to the press, knowing that all of the cats have brown eyes is called “new information.” Do they honestly think that people believe these reports?” Hermione asked exasperated.
“Apparently...” Ron trailed off as he dived into his breakfast.
After a few minutes of silence Hermione asked, “When are we going to tell Harry?”
“What are we going to tell Harry? How do you think you’re going to say it? ‘Oh, Harry by the way...we figured out where it is but we have no idea how to find it or if it still even exists.’....sound good to you?”
“Ron. Quit the sarcasm. Please.” She paused and put her face in her hands. “I don’t know but what do you propose we do?”
“Do what?”
Hermione turned around to see Ginny standing behind her. “Um...nothing.”
“Sure?” Ignoring Hermione’s statement, Ginny turned to Ron. “I just saw Harry walking up to the common room and noticed that his cheek was purple. You weren’t by any possible chance angry at him and smacked him on the side of the face did you?”
“Well yeah.” Ron mumbled.
“I’m sorry Ron, I didn’t quite hear you.”
“Ok fine!” Ron all but yelled, trying not to attract any attention to himself. “I hit Harry. But why does it matter to you anyways?”
At this, Hermione elbowed him hard in the ribs. Ron began to apologize profusely realizing his witless remark. Too late though, Ginny’s eyes were welling up with fresh tears.
“Don’t even bother Ron. You’re right, why should it matter to his ex-girlfriend anyways. Right? I know that’s what you were thinking, so trying to cover it up with apologies won’t make a difference. It’s true, and there’s nothing I can do about it.” Abruptly Ginny turned and ran out of the Great Hall.
Ron placed his face in his folded arms. He laid there for a few seconds and moaned. “Hermione? Why can’t I do anything right?” He waited a while but there was no answer. “Hermione?” Ron looked up and to his surprise, saw an empty space where Hermione had just been.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Ginny! Ginny wait! Come on Ginny slow down!” Hermione yelled down the hall way. “GINNY, PLEASE!”
Ginny stopped dead in her tacks at the tone of Hermione’s plea. She turned around, and just by seeing Hermione in her “I’ve just had a row with Ron” stance, Ginny knew she meant business.
Ginny waited for Hermione to catch up. Hermione took one look at her friend and gave her a hug. “Ginny, I’m so sorry.”
“About which part?” Ginny asked between sniffles.
Hermione laughed half-heartily. “Harry, Ron, both. Whichever you want me to be sorry for.” They stayed there for a very long time.
“Men are such IDIOTS though! It’s like they control the universe and we’re just here to keep them happy.” Ginny laughed in spite of herself. “Well, most of the time anyways.”
“Ginny what happened?”
“At which point?”
“Let’s start with yesterday when Harry and you argued.”
“Is that what you’re calling it? An argument? It seemed more like a ruddy death wish to me.”
“I’m just repeating what I’ve heard.” Hermione paused while Ginny felt a sense of understanding from her best friend. “Really Ginny, what happened?”
“I lost my head okay? I’m just sick of Harry putting himself in danger for me. Doesn’t he realize that I’m in danger either way?”
“Probably not.” Hermione smiled at her thoughts. “Harry has a tendency to not think things through all the way. He actually has a way of making sure he doesn’t think it through. Especially with words...you know what?” she asked.
“Hmm?”
“Ron has that problem too. As a matter of fact...I think that it might be a problem all men have.”
“Very possible.” They laughed at themselves for a while before walking back to the Great Hall to find Ron. With no sign of Ron anywhere, Dean walked up to the pair and gave Hermione a piece of parchment. “Here. Ron asked me to give this to you.”
She opened it and read a few untidily scrawled words.
Hermione,
Went to Hagrid’s with Harry. Come if you want; and if you’re mad at me too I’m sorry.
-Ron
Ginny laughed at the note in Hermione’s hands. “Wow. What an apology.”
“Never you mind. I wasn’t mad at him to begin with.” Hermione noticed that Dean was still standing in front of them. “Is there something else you wanted Dean?”
“Um, yeah. I was wondering if I could talk with Ginny in private.”
“Sure Dean. Hermione why don’t you go and find Ron?”
“Why not. Just ditch me at the next guy you see why don’t ya?” Hermione smiled back at Ginny as she walked out of the Great Hall.
“What did you want to talk about Dean?”
He looked a little nervous. “Well, I was wondering...with the whole Harry situation. If you wanted to talk about anything. Or if you need that shoulder to lean on. I-I’m here for you. What Harry said wasn’t fair and he deserved every word you threw at him.”
Ginny was taken aback. “I-I, well, thanks Dean. I’ll keep that in mind.” Ginny made to leave but noticed Dean had other plans. “Was there something else you wanted to say?”
“Uh, yes. There is.” He paused trying to find his words.
“Yes?”
“Well, last term. You and I had been going out. Then you owled me over the summer and said that we were over and you didn’t want to explain. Could-could you explain now?”
Ginny lost her words and all she could do was mumble. “I, well...you, Harry.”
“So it was Harry then? He was why you broke up with me?”
She found her speech and answered, “No.” Dean just looked lost. “I hadn’t planned on Harry being there until after we broke up.”
“Then why did you end it?”
“Honestly Dean? It was because Ron was going to do to you exactly what he did to Harry only ten times worse if you had broken up with me.”
“So you were protecting me?”
“In a way. Yeah.”
It was Dean’s turn to be taken aback. “So in that case, in a few weeks, or months maybe, whenever you’re ready really, will there be a chance that we could get back together?”
Ginny hadn’t been prepared for this at all. All she was capable of was stuttering.
“Ginny?”
“W-we-we’ll see Dean, we’ll see.”
Harry woke up to the annoying but expected snores coming from inside Neville’s curtained bed. He turned onto his side and saw that Ron was not in his bed. Still. Hermione had come in last night, Harry was sure of it. For what exactly, Harry didn’t think he wanted to know. But with Ron being gone since before two-thirty in the morning, he was still slightly curious.
When Harry finally found the energy to get up and out of bed, the door to the sixth year’s boy’s dormitory swung open.
“Where were you all night?” Harry asked suspiciously, sitting up. “I wake up at two o’clock in the morning to find your bed empty, figuring that you went to the loo or something, so I go back to sleep without putting another thought on it. Then I wake up again at seven o’clock to find it emptier still, and now you walk in the door with that smirk on your face. Where have you been?” Ron looked very much like a child being caught red handed by his mother, with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Just downstairs,” Ron mumbled.
I should make this harder for him. “I’m sorry Ron, I didn’t seem to have heard that.”
“I was downstairs,” Ron said louder and more sternly.
“And what, may I ask, were you doing downstairs for the past, three o’clock, four o’clock, five o’clock, six o’clock, seven...five hours?” Harry counted aloud on his fingers.
“To tell you the truth I was sleeping.”
“Alone?” Oh, Ron must hate me right now. Harry privately thought.
“Maybe.”
“How very interesting....”
“Sod off,” Ron said irritated.
“Say no more. I’m getting dressed and going down to see Hagrid. Want to join me?”
“Maybe later...I have someone to meet over breakfast.”
After both were dressed they walked down the many flights of stairs to the entrance hall and Harry left Ron at the doors to the Great Hall. Or at least Ron thought so. Harry sneaked back to the door of the Great Hall and watched Ron sit down next to Hermione. Knowing that Ron would be there a long time, Harry ran to the owlery to deliver a message to Ginny saying when and where to meet him later that night.
He then ran through a number of corridors and down a few flights of stairs before turning a corner and running headlong into Draco Malfoy. The Slytherin took a number of steps backward before hitting the wall behind him.
Harry’s eyes drifted from Malfoy’s face to his hand. He was holding a letter that read: Narcissia Malfoy in large loopy letters. Malfoy noticed the direction in which Harry was looking, and he tucked the note into an inside pocket of his robes.
“Nice of you to run by.” Malfoy said in a mock dignified manner. “Are you being chased by something or were you just drawn to my good looks?”
“Snuff it, Ferret.” Harry said as he tried to push by. Malfoy held up his hand as if to wave Harry through. He was a few paces down the hall when he heard Malfoy’s cold voice calling back to him.
“You know Potter, it’s a real shame that you don’t have that girlfriend of your’s around anymore.” At this, Harry stopped with his back to Malfoy. “You kept her on a tight leash, as I’m sure you know. She even stopped going out of her way to get other guys’ attention. Not anymore though. Shame. A real shame.”
“Shut your trap Malfoy.” Harry said through clamped teeth. Harry you can’t let him see this is bothering you. You don’t have “feelings” for her anymore, remember? Just walk away.
“Still defending her are you? Or are you just angry at yourself because you didn’t figure it out sooner? But of course. Why would you think anything like that, being the Boy Who Lived and all. I assume you don’t see the way she looks at all the other guys in this school. Oh yeah, she looks at us differently. It’s a look of longing, Potter. And sadly for you, you’ll never get to see that.”
“I told you to shut your mouth.” Harry said through clamped teeth. The sound of pure detestation in his voice was reverberating off the walls.
“You may pretend not to like me, but deep down, you know you hate me. And maybe in the end, who knows? You may even envy me. That girl does have a nice-”
“Malfoy I’m warnin-”
“What? You’re warning me? Warning me from what? You? Any day Potter. Give me the time and place.”
“Right NOW!” and Harry lunged at him with his fists first. Now, the details here aren’t quite necessary, but here are the highlights. Hit-hit, smack-punch, dodge-whack.....Draco unconscious inside the broom cupboard.
Harry, now having a purple tinge to the spot hit twice now on his face, ran the rest of the way down to the Entrance Hall where he found Ron leaving the Great Hall and heading for the grounds. He caught Ron’s eye and met him at the bottom of the stairs. “I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally,” Harry told Ron once he was in earshot. They started walking out to Hagrid’s.
“Why? Was it Snape?”
“No, Malfoy. I happened to bump into him on my way down here. Well, “bump” is putting it lightly.”
“Hmm, interesting. By the way...down from where?”
“Huh?” Harry asked confused.
“Well. You said that you were on your way down. And when I left you for breakfast you were already on your way out to Hagrid’s. Where were you coming down from?”
Harry, realizing his mistake stuttered, “Well I was...I um-a was...”
“In the owlery maybe? Now, Harry. Can you explain this to me?” Ron asked in an all-knowing, all-seeing, very Trelawney-ish type of voice.
In Ron’s hand was Harry’s note to Ginny. It read:
Gin,
Meet me in the Room of Requirement, at seven o’clock. I Love you.
- Harry
“Ginny left the Great Hall before the post came in.” Ron said. “I took it thinking I’d give it to her when I apologized for being the ass that I was. I thought you were in a deeper hole than I am with her, and yet here this is and there you are.” Ron said indicating Harry’s note. “I think I deserve an explanation from you.”
“Well,” Harry said quietly looking at the ground as they walked. “Ginny and I didn’t break up.”
“Sure Dean. Hermione why don’t you go and find Ron?”
“Why not. Just ditch me at the next guy you see why don’t ya?” Hermione smiled at Ginny as she walked passed her. She took Ginny’s advice and decided to find Ron. As she walked down the stone steps she noticed a small nip in the air. Though it was more than six weeks away, Hermione could feel November coming on hard and strong.
Hermione took her time getting to Hagrid’s hut. Once she was a stone’s throw away from the cabin she could hear raised voices through the open window.
“Well, ya know Harry, Ron’s gotta point...” came Hagrid’s gruff voice.
“NO! I can’t explain it any better. It doesn’t matter what we want, Ron. Nothing more is going to happen. The point of a secret is to NOT tell anyone!”
“But Harry,” Ron said much more calmly. “Can’t you realize that Ginny’s in danger either way?”
“How do you mean? Gin’s much better off without anyone knowing about us. She has a much better chance if I’m not ‘getting her into trouble’ which you well know I will.” Should I be listening to this? Hermione asked herself not knowing if what she was doing would be considered eavesdropping.
“What I mean is....ugh. How do I put this?” Ron let out a small sigh of frustration. “Ginny has been targeted before, without you being in love with her. You still showed a weakness for her while putting her life before your’s. If she were targeted again it still might not matter if your secret was known.....because in the final showdown.....you’d still give a fight for her.”
“But she...”
“GODDAMN IT HARRY!” Ron yelled suddenly. Hermione heard him take a few deep breaths. Much more sedately he finished, “If Ginny were taken, or targeted, or threatened by someone other than Voldemort, would you still go to help her? If it meant people knowing that she is your real weakness?”
Silence.
“Harry?” Ron asked more questionably.
More silence.
“Harry, if you don’t an-”
“You know I would Ron.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Harry saw Ginny come into the Common Room later that afternoon he asked Hermione to give her the note that Ron had taken from the school owl. After reading it Ginny casually glanced at Harry as if to ask why she had to wait so long. He just shook his head in answer. He watched her look longingly at the hands on the clock. She’ll just have to wait ‘til seven.
A few hours later Harry looked up from his homework to the clock for what seemed like the hundredth time, and saw that it was ten to seven. He left Ron at the table they were working at and made his way to the Room of Requirement. I need a good place to talk privately with Ginny. I need a good place to talk privately with Ginny... On his third time past the picture, a door appeared in the center of the wall. He opened the door to find a quaint little sitting room much like a café (minus the coffee, reading material and huge number of people).
Harry found himself a comfortable spot on the two cushion sofa while he waited for Ginny. Five minutes later the door opened and Ginny all but threw herself at Harry and she kissed him passionately. Harry smiled inwardly as he thought about how much time they could spend alone together.
After a fair amount of time Harry pulled away from Ginny. “I missed you,” she said sweetly.
“I missed you too,” Harry replied as thought about the best way to bring up the conversation he needed to start. “How would you feel if we didn’t have to miss each other this much anymore?” Harry asked. The look on Ginny’s face was of utter confusion.
“Meaning?”
“Well.....Ron, Hermione and Hagrid, and maybe Malfoy know we’re faking it.” Now the look on Ginny’s face was a look of utterly confused shock.
“H-how? Why? When?”
“Slow down. It’s not the end of the world or anything.”
“But Harry. That’ll just jeopardize your chances.”
“No Gin. I figured it out. Well....with the help of your brother anyways.” And he went into detail about the day’s events. Harry explained how he had accidentally overreacted to Malfoy and how Ron came across the letter for Ginny. Then the whole conversation with Ron and Hagrid, and how Hermione had burst into the hut nearly in hysterics because she had no idea what was going on.
“So the last two days don’t really matter at all then. We did this for absolutely nothing?” Ginny spoke in quiet anger. “Harry, do you know what today was like for me? It was hell. I was asked out and hit on by nearly every boy older than me in this school. Dean, Harry. Even Dean Thomas asked me out again. And I hated every single second of it. Lying to them all saying, “I’m not quite ready to think about that yet.” or “I need some time to myself first.” I couldn’t be honest and say “Sorry I’m in love with someone else.” I couldn’t say “I would but I plan on marrying Harry Potter someday.” I couldn’t...Oh shit!”
“Ginny!”
“Oh no. Harry just forget I said that. I’m mad at you remember. See? Here is my angry face.” Ginny tried to straighten out her embarrassed face to make it look more stern but only managed half of it.
“Gin, did you say you wanted to marry me?” Harry asked with a broad smile.
She covered her face in her hands as if she were trying to keep in her answer. She pulled them away determinedly and said, “Yes. Yes I did. Harry I want to marry you someday.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I want it all. I want to be your wife, I want to have your children, I want to be Bloody Mrs. Harry Potter.” She looked up at him in an expression of worry.
Harry took her face in both of his hands. “I do too,” he said sweetly and kissed her. “I want to marry you as soon as I can.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He opened his eyes to pure blackness. I must be blind, he thought as he waved his hand in front of his face without seeing it. He moved his head up slightly and felt as though he had fallen asleep on top of a bucket. When he moved around he realized that he had in fact fallen asleep on a bucket. Two buckets to be specific. He tried to stand up only to find that when he did this, his head hit the ceiling. He found his wand on the floor and muttered “Lumos,” to gather his surroundings. What the bloody hell am I doing in a broom closet?
Malfoy could not remember what had happened to him to save his life. All he remembered was writing a letter to his mother that morning. He found the letter in his pocket once he walked into the darkness of the corridor. What time could it be? Malfoy looked at his watch and read twenty after two. As discreetly as he could, Malfoy made his way down to the dungeons. He could see the entrance to the common room up ahead of him when he heard the sharp voice of a certain teacher behind him.
“Mr. Malfoy. Give me one good reason why I should not take away every house point your house has earned this year.”
Malfoy looked sincerely into the catlike eyes of Professor McGonagall. “In all honesty Professor?”
“Well that is what I am looking for, yes.”
“As far as I can remember, I have been in a broom closet all day long.”
“And just how do you expect me to believe that?”
Malfoy looked at her with a piercing stare. “I suppose I shouldn’t say you’ll just have to trust me on this one, huh?”
“I believe you are right Mr. Malfoy. I am taking eighty points from Slytherin, and I will be notifying you on your detention time later in the week.”
“Yes professor.”
She turned to walk away and Malfoy, being caught up in the moment gave an offensive hand gesture right before she turned back around. What ever McGonagall was going to say made no difference because she saw Malfoy before his hand could drop to his side.
Instead she smiled mockingly and said, “Next time you wave, use all your fingers please, Mr. Malfoy. I trust you’ll have a good night.” And she watched him tread the rest of the way through the entrance to the Slytherin common room.
~A/N: All in all what was discovered? Important things first: Dean still has feelings for Ginny, Ron and Hermione learn that Harry and Ginny are still together, and Harry and Ginny want to get married. Less important things discovered: Malfoy doesn’t remember what Harry did to him, Malfoy is caught in the corridors after hours, and Ginny broke up with Dean, not the other way around. Thanks goes to all of my reviewers! I love you guys! Quote from the next chapter: “Well aren't we a bloody ray of sunshine?” -Hermione