Once they took their seats at an empty table, Harry started to notice that he was getting stares from the people. BANG. Everybody fell over, except for those that managed to hold on to something. But the stares continued.
“I thought that people would get used to me being ‘The Chosen One’ by now,” said Harry.
“Yes, well you still got this kind of attention even after fifteen years of being ‘The Boy Who Lived,’” said Hermione as-a-matter-of-factly.
“Just ignore them, Harry,” said Ron.
Harry then played dumb to the stares and wanted to change the subject. It would have been preferable to talk about the Horcruxes, but there were too many people around. So, the conversation turned to the issue of Hogwarts.
“I doubt it’ll reopen. At least not until V”Voldemort is done away with,” said Ron, flinching slightly.
“But, Hogwarts is the safest place to be. And if enough parents realized that, then it should have no problem reopening. That night only one thing was overlooked. So, that just means more”” BANG “”precautions,” said Hermione, getting up.
“True,” said Harry, “but few families would support it. They would want to stick together. Or, parents might send their kids to foreign schools.”
“Then that’s just one more reason to find all his pieces and destroy them,” she whispered.
“Ottery St. Catchpole next stop,” said Daniel coming from the front of the bus.
Harry, Ron and Hermione picked up their bags and followed him. BANG. They fell over and then found themselves rolling down an empty street. The doors opened and they got out. Before the doors closed again they heard Daniel talk to Ernie.
“Get it Ern! The broom was in the closet!”
“Ar,” Ernie said frustrated. It was clear that he much preferred Stan. The doors closed and BANG, the bus disappeared.
“We’re close to the center of the town,” said Ron looking around.
“Then lead on,” said Hermione very nervously. “I feel too exposed. We should have asked for an escort from the Order.”
“Don’t worry, Hermione. Follow me,” said Ron confidently.
Ron led the way south along the familiar route that they took after the Quidditch World Cup. After a little while they were now walking up the lane and the Burrow came into view. When they were walking down the lawn Mrs. Wealsey came out of the house holding the family clock. Harry guessed that Ron’s hand must be pointed to “traveling” and was about to move to “home.”
She came up to them and first gave Ron a bone-crushing, and then Harry and Hermione. “You all should have warned us that you were coming today. An escort could have been put together,” she said stepping back and looking at them.
“Sorry, Mum. But we’re here now, no harm done.”
“Oh, there’s no point in arguing now. All of you come inside,” she said hastily.
When Harry got inside his eyes immediately fell upon an oncoming Ginny, and his insides turned icy. The way she would treat him would most likely be horrible, and make Harry feel even worse about the breakup. Maybe to show him she meant business, Ginny would tell her mother right there about the relationship. But to Harry complete surprise she just greeted him warmly along with the others, almost as if they were on the same terms as last summer.
Mrs. Weasley, not noticing Harry’s confusion, turned to them. “Harry, Fred and George are vacationing until after the wedding, so you will be in Ron’s room. And you’ll be in Ginny’s room, Hermione. I’d offer you”” she gulped “”Percy’s room, but Charlie is sleeping there, he’s staying until after the wedding as well. Bill is in France right now with Fleur’s parents and will be back a few days before he’s married.”
“But Bill was only injured less then a week ago!” Harry blurted out.
Mrs. Wealsey smiled. “Yes, but he told me that nothing was going to get in the way of him getting to know Fleur’s parents better.”
Mrs. Weasley said no more and she and Ginny went into the kitchen to prepare some food and Harry, Ron and Hermione, who all went upstairs to unpack their things. Hermione left the boys at the third landing. Harry and Ron continued upstairs.
“Pig, get down from there,” Ron said to his owl that was fluttering around the ceiling. It ignored him.
“Hey Hedwig,” Harry greeted his owl that was snoozing in her cage. He took some owl treats from his trunk, which was lying in front of his bed, and gave them to her. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen the whole family,” he said to Ron cheerfully.
“I doubt you’ll see the whole family,” said Ron throwing his bag in the trunk. “Git,” he muttered.
“I hope you mean Percy,” said Harry, remembering Percy’s letter and last Christmas. “Who knows? He might come. It is his brother’s wedding.”
“If he does come it’ll take a lot of restraint to keep me from hexing him.”
“I wouldn’t mind a fair shot either.”
“Who said I’d be fair? The second he turns his back, I’ll be shooting a hex right between his shoulders.”
“And get murdered by your mum,” said Harry risking a small laugh.
“It’ll be worth it.” Ron sighed, and said calmly, “We better get downstairs and eat something. Mum won’t believe that we had a good breakfast at the Dursleys.”
“True,” said Harry laughing more openly.
The next few days at the Burrow passed and the wedding was a little over a week away. Along with the question of why Ginny was acting normally towards him, Harry had a new one arising in his mind. Part of him wanted the answer to be “right away,” but another said, “let’s put it off.” He finally decided by looking to Hermione and Ron (mostly Hermione) for the smart answer.
“What are we going to do after the wedding?” he asked after taking them into Ron’s room. “You know I want to go to Godric’s Hollow, but Ron and I can’t Apparate. We could take the Knight Bus, but I don’t want to rely too much upon it for what we’re doing afterwards.”
“No problem,” responded Ron. “We could just stay here until after you get your license.”
“We’ll still have to take the Knight Bus to Godric’s Hollow, but after that there might be no need for the bus,” said Hermione.
“That sounds good,” said Harry, relieved at the quick and obvious answer.
“One more thing,” said Hermione. “Where are we going to stay afterwards? I doubt we can stay here.”
Harry was afraid of what the logical answer was, but it seemed they had no place else to go. “I say Grimmauld Place.”
“Ugh! It must be filthy after over a year of being empty. Sorry!” she said quickly. A pain had gone across Harry at the mention of the house being empty.
“No problem,” he said, ignoring it. “Anyway, now that I think about it, we should head there first after I get my license. You know, to settle.”
“Excellent!” said Ron, standing up, “we have an extra month. So, why don’t we play some Quidditch? We could get Fred, George, Ginny and Charlie to play.”
“Count me out,” said Hermione recalling the previous day when she almost fell off her broom. “Besides with me around the sides will be uneven.”
“Oh, come on Hermione. All you need is more practice,” urged Ron.
“In case you haven’t noticed I’m not the sporting type.”
Harry quietly slipped out of the room, not wanting to be in the middle of the argument. What’s wrong with those two, he thought. Distracted, he crashed into Ginny, who was standing just outside the door.
“Sorry,” she said. “Mum wanted””
“Let me ask you something,” Harry cut in seeing it as the ideal opportunity to solve the mystery. “Why are you acting as if nothing happened between us?”
Ginny rolled her eyes, and said, “I thought the answer would be obvious.”
“Well it’s not,” Harry retorted. “You thought we would have a mutual understanding on how to treat each other?”
“Yes! I can’t mope around the house all day, can I? I figured this is how you wanted me to act. Look, I am definitely disappointed about the break up, especially since it was for a stupid reason.”
“My reasoning wasn’t stupid! I did it so that Voldemort doesn’t have any reason to come after you!”
“Shouldn’t I feel special!” she said sarcastically. “The great Harry Potter is looking after young and naïve Ginny Weasley.”
Harry saw that she was about to storm out, and grabbed her by the wrist.
“Listen, this is killing me too. So, how about this: When I finish what I have to do, I’ll come back for you if you’ll still have me.”
“Really?” Ginny asked Harry suspiciously.
“Really.”
Ginny then threw her arms around Harry, and he couldn’t help but do the same. After a second, he looked over Ginny’s shoulder and at the landing below them stood Fred and George with looks of confusion and accusation. Harry immediately broke off and turned Ginny to face her brothers.
“How long have you been there?” she asked, with a guilty smile after getting over her surprise.
“Long enough,” answered George, eyeing them. “We came in around Harry’s little promise.”
“How long has this been going on?” Fred asked, crossing his arms.
“Since May,” said Harry not wanting to encourage any hostility. “But as you might have heard I had to end it.”
“Do our parents know about this, Ginny?” George asked her.
“No. Only Ron.” Then she overcame that little feeling of guilt and turned it into rage. “You know it isn’t anybody’s business who I choose to date! And I like Harry, so tough!”
“Hey!” said Fred looking abashed. “We never said we hated the idea of you two dating.”
“We just don’t like the idea of you two dating behind everybody’s backs,” continued George. “Anyway, do you think we should tell our parents, Fred?”
After a brief pause where Harry and Ginny held their breaths, Fred said, “Naw. They aren’t together right now. No need to get anybody else involved.”
“I agree, but,” Fred emphasized, looking at the two, “if you two do get back together (and trust me we’ll know) I expect you to confess.”
“Deal,” said Harry and Ginny. Neither of them wanted to get parents involved at the moment.
The twins then turned to leave and Fred turned back to them. “Oh yeah. Dinner is ready. Get Ron and Hermione too.” He suddenly smiled at them and winked.
A wave of relief suddenly came over Harry and he almost fell over. As far as he could tell Harry and Ginny’s relationship had just gotten Fred’s (and possibly George’s) approval. He opened the bedroom door and the sounds of Ron and Hermione continued argument was heard.
“Ron, if you just paid attention in Professor Binn’s class you would know that didn’t happen in the Goblin Wars,” argued Hermione.
“You know I thought that class was boring,” retorted Ron. “Besides, who says that Mortemore didn’t crush it himself?”
“Excuse me!” yelled Harry. Ron and Hermione stopped arguing. “Dinner. And how did your row go from Quidditch to the Binn’s class?” he asked with genuine confusion.
“You don’t want to know,” said Ron exasperated. It seemed that he purposely didn’t mention that Harry and Ginny were acting more normally.
“Forget all that and let’s go eat,” said Ginny. The four of them went downstairs and ate.
More days passed in the Burrow without much happening. Fred and George had indeed not said anything, but they still kept a close eye on Harry and Ginny just in case. About four days before the wedding Bill, Fleur, and her family finally arrived. First, came in Bill, who had gotten used to his scars, leading many floating trunks. Behind the trunks came in Fleur and was followed by her parents. Mr. Delacour, who apparently was the full wizard, didn’t notice that he had stepped on Harry’s foot because he was gazing at his wife, who was the half veela. And after them came Gabrielle, who seemed a little nervous about the house collapsing on her.
“’Arry! Eet is so good to see you,” said Fleur as she swooped on Harry and kissed him on the cheeks. Behind him, strangely enough, Ron greeted Fleur as though she were a regular person and didn’t seem eager for a kiss. Harry figured it was because Hermione was next to him.
“How have you been holding up?” asked Bill.
“Fine,” said Harry.
“You of course remember my sister,” said Fleur as Gabrielle came up. She had gotten older since the last time Harry saw her. Gabrielle was still young, but it was clear that would likely turn out just like Fleur.
“Eet has been…long time?” Gabrielle said, looking up at her sister.
“Correct. She iz still learning Eenglish,” she explained to Harry.
“Oh, Bill!” said Mrs. Weasley excitedly when she finally finished in the kitchen. She pushed Ron out of her way, and forced Bill down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I have gotten so used to you being around that it’s agony to have you away.”
“There’s the groom!” came Charlie’s voice as he down the stairs with Fred and George. Charlie was especially happy to see his older brother after so long. The three of them then greeted the Delacours. Harry noticed that Gabrielle was gazing at Charlie dreamily.
“Now, now,” said Mrs. Weasley. “We are having dinner outside tonight.” Fluer’s parents didn’t seem to understand. “Fleur, would you please translate? Bill, your father will be home soon.”
The tables outside were set up just as they had been before the Quidditch World Cup. Mrs. Wealsey had cooked up many of her usual meals, including some French delicacies. Even the Delacours were impressed by how convincing the French food was.
“There’s my boy, back from France!” said Mr. Weasley when he got home. “Four days. It’s almost hard to believe.” He then joined his wife, Bill and the Delacours at the end of the table.
“So, Bill,” said Mrs. Weasley, “where are you and Fleur planning going for your honeymoon?”
“We’re going to spend a couple of weeks in Sicily.”
“Yes,” said Fleur, “I ‘ave been there before and eet ‘as ze most splendid beeches. A few summerz ago””
“I really don’t think that you should go somewhere you’ve been before,” Mrs. Weasley cut in. “It might take a little away from the moment. Why, Arthur and I went to Athens.”
“The Greek food was excellent,” said Mr. Weasley, sticking his fork into his plate.
In the middle of the table sat Charlie, Fred and George having their own conversation.
“So, Charlie,” said George, with a grin spreading across his face, “I guess you’ll be the next one to tie the proverbial knot.”
“What makes you say that?” said Charlie nervously.
“George and I intercepted a couple a very worn out owls from Romania. Interestingly enough they were all addressed to somebody named ‘My Dearest Charles.’”
“Now who could that be?” said George putting his hand under his chin and pretending to think.
“You have a girlfriend, Charlie?” said Mrs. Weasley overhearing the conversation.
Charlie grew red under his many freckles and smiled dangerously at his brothers. “I’m going to kill you guys,” he said through his teeth.
“Don’t be so hasty,” said Fred, wagging his finger. “I don’t think that ‘Natty-poo’ would want you to commit murder.”
“It’s Natalya! Now shut up,” hissed Charlie. Gabrielle looked devastated.
“Why didn’t you bring her?” Mrs. Weasley pressed on, disappointed.
“I would have considered it, but one of her dragons took sick and she had to stay,” Charlie said, trying to hide his face.
“Why would you have only considered it? I would very much like to meet her.”
“The thing is, Mum, that she isn’t what you”or, any of you”might call…normal,” he finally said.
“Well, if she works with dragons like you do, then she must be slightly odd. Now, it would be very nice if you come over for the holidays and you bring her with you.”
Fred and George were still sniggering at Charlie.
At the other end of the table sat Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. They were not talking, but were enjoying each other’s company. Harry and Ginny have been on better term since his promise and were now on even more similar terms as the last summer. Ron and Hermione have also been getting along better since their last fight and now being nicer towards each other. But Ginny was starting to look a little uncomfortable as the dinner progressed and she kept eyeing the three friends.
“What are you three going to do?” she blurted out loud enough so that only they could hear.
“What?” Harry said.
“I overheard you guys talking outside the room that day. You’re all going to Godric’s Hollow first and then some sort of thing. That’s why I was standing behind the door,” she said looking down at her plate. “I know it has everything to do with Voldemort, but could I have some details?”
“I think we should continue this inside,” said Hermione quietly. The four of them got up and stole away into the kitchen.
“I know what you’re thinking, Ginny,” Ron said once they got inside. “And you can’t come with us.”
“Why not! If you can go it, so can I, Ron. Don’t underestimate me,” Ginny said hotly.
“I’m not, but you aren’t of age yet and Mum won’t let you. I mean if school reopens it’ll be hard enough to tell her me, Hermione, and Harry aren’t going back.”
“What! Do Mum and Dad”oh, of course they don’t know. They would be throwing a fit. Besides it’s really up to Harry, isn’t it?”
“Ron’s right, Ginny. And I told you I didn’t want to put you in danger,” said Harry.
“The only reason you are letting Ron and Hermione come with you is because they are your friends, and they want to be with you where ever you’re going. You won’t let me come because I was your girlfriend. Well, I’m not anymore. I’m your friend and I want to be with you too.”
“But Ginny,” said Hermione, “you aren’t of age yet. You are still under your parent’s authority. They will never let you do something that is so obviously dangerous.”
“And what if I was of age?”
“Then I can’t stop you,” said Harry. “I didn’t ask Ron and Hermione to come, but forced themselves into this and nobody can stop them.”
“Then you can expect me in a year and two months (if it lasts that long),” said Ginny sternly.
Harry ran his hair in frustration in knowing that she was serious. “Fine,” he finally said, “I don’t doubt that you could help out.”
Ron looked disheartened and tried to cheer up. “Now since that’s settled,” he said, “I believe I haven’t had my proper share of the meal.” He went back outside to the table. Hermione rolled her eyes and followed him and last came Harry and Ginny.
The time before the wedding allowed for the two families to get to know each other better. Since it was Charlie that helped handle the dragon that their daughter had to face, Mr. and Mrs. Delacour took some interest in his work. Fred and George took it upon themselves to show their future sister-in-law how to have a good time around the Burrow. They set off no-heat fireworks at night, let her watch the testing of new products for the joke shop, and showed her Ron’s reaction to spiders in his bed. They gave Gabrielle free samples from the shop: Patented Day Dream Charms and a pygmy puff.
Finally came the night before the wedding. As Harry tried on his dress robes for the next day, he realized how much he was looking forward to it. Not only because it would be his first time attending a wizard version of a wedding, but his first wedding ever. Next to him Ron had on his dress robes, which were much nicer than the ones he wore to the Yule Ball.
Harry Potter and the Secret Spell by Phoenix 86
Chapter Notes: Put Ginny in this chapter, so I only guessed at how she might have acted towards Harry. Not sure how she would really react.