“Yes, yes, I’m very happy to see you, too, but you need to talk to Ginny,” said Sirius shortly.
“Wait, how do you know about me and Ginny?” asked Harry suspiciously.
“Let’s just say that I talk to more people through this orb than you, and death is a lot more insightful than life,” he said. “Now go talk to Ginny. I have something important to talk to you about, but it can wait.”
“But what if she won’t forgive me?” asked Harry quietly. “I did dump her, you know.”
“If she really loves you, it won’t matter,” said Sirius. “And if you don’t tell her before you leave to fight Voldemort, she may never know.”
Harry swallowed the large lump gathering in his throat. He did need to talk to Ginny, but what Sirius had said was true. He might die doing what he had to do, and he had never thought much about that before.
“When you’re ready to talk to me,” said Sirius, already fading from the orb, “tell Remus. He’ll explain the spell to you, show you how to use it, and set it up for you. Goodbye, Harry.”
Harry watched his godfather fade from the orb, and when he was finally gone, he turned to face Ginny’s door. The room appeared to be completely silent, but Harry knew better. Ginny was too much of a private person to not put a Silencing Charm on her door. He reached up to knock, but the door was pulled open under his fist.
“Finally plucked up the courage to come talk to me, did you?” Ginny asked, hands on her hips. Harry had almost forgotten why he loved her so much. Ginny, to him at least, was stunningly beautiful, but she also had a personality he couldn’t resist.
“Yeah, I did,” he said quietly, immediately humbled by her stubborn glare.
“Well, sit down, and then maybe I’ll let you talk.”
Harry let her guide him to sit on her bed, and she sat down next to him, leaning against her wall. As he glanced around the room, he saw Ginny’s room was much like his own. Freshly painted cream-colored walls, light wood furniture, a writing desk, littered with spare quills and crumpled parchment, a feather bed, and an elaborately carved wardrobe. The only things that were different from his room were Ginny’s possessions scattered across the room, and a large picture window, which was currently covered with white lace curtains.
“Now,” said Ginny with authority, “I’m going to talk, and you’re going to listen. I love you, Harry. I’ve loved you ever since your first year of Hogwarts, and I have a feeling even Ron noticed at the beginning. You, however, ignored me, and I respect that you may not have felt anything for me at the time. I waited, for five years I waited, and all for you. I tried to be your friend, I stopped obviously watching you, and I, temporarily, gave up on you. Then, when we finally loved each other, you break up with me.”
Harry had had enough of that excuse. “I only did that because I loved you, and I didn’t want Voldemort to come and slaughter you!” he yelled.
“Don’t you understand?” she whispered. “I don’t care if Voldemort comes after me. I just want to be with you. No matter what happens.”
“Ginny, you have to go back to Hogwarts and finish your last two years," reasoned Harry, "or else you won't have learned everything you need for your life after Voldemort is defeated."
"I could teach myself. I don't need the certification, I'll know it myself."
"Ginny, you'll be much safer at Hogwarts. You're underage, and you know your mom'll make you go. We'll find some way to talk to each other," he promised.
"But I don't want to be apart from you, again," she said. "What if you die before I ever get to see you again?"
"We'll still be here for a couple more weeks of summer vacation before we have to leave and visit Godric's Hollow," said Harry. "We can spend nearly every minute of it together if you want to."
"Well, I do," she said stubbornly, "and we will. Or else."
"Or else," Harry agreed. "I have to go talk to Lupin about some spell to talk to Dumbledore and Sirius through, now, so I have to go, okay?"
"Wait," smiled Ginny, and she pulled him into a full kiss.
Several minutes later, Harry pulled away, knowing he had to master the spell before he could leave Grimmauld Place.
"See you at dinner," said Ginny, waving him out the door. And she simply stood there, smiling and thinking of Harry, and willing the time left in the summer to go as slow as it could possibly go.
Harry walked down the upstairs hallway towards Lupin's Order office. He was glad that he had talked to Ginny and made up, but he also regretted not talking to Sirius right away. He felt that he really needed to talk to Sirius about what Snape had and hadn't told him about Lily.
He reached Lupin's door and knocked four times before deducing that Lupin wasn't there. Feeling slightly irritated, Harry walked down the stairs and came to a pause outside the kitchen door, where he heard voices rising in an argument.
"I will not have Ron running around the country trying to defeat You-Know-Who!" said Mrs. Weasley's voice. "He could, and probably will, I might add, die!"
"That is a risk they are willing to take!" said Lupin. "And it's a risk Harry, of all people, has to take. It is his destiny, Molly, and if Ron wants to go too, he can."
"He's my son, he'll listen to what I say!"
"He's of age, Molly. You can't stop him if he wants to go."
"He doesn't know the danger!" she argued. "He and Hermione are only going because Harry's going!"
"As a matter of fact, they do know the danger, Molly," said Lupin politely. "I explained it to them mere minutes ago, and though they seemed a little daunted, they agreed they were still going to go."
"They need to go back to Hogwarts," she cried. "Ginny's going back, why can't they? They don't know enough to fight Voldemort, and despite their claims that they'll teach themselves, what makes you think they'll actually keep up with their studies?"
"They have given me their word," said Lupin quietly, "and it is good enough for me, why isn't it good enough for you? Besides, if Harry has any questions, I am going to give him a two-way mirror, and he can talk to me instantly, wherever he happens to be."
"They're going to die," she snapped. "And your stupid mirrors aren't going to help them if they're in You-Know-Who's clutches."
Harry could tell Lupin was about to lose what little patience he had retained in this conversation as he said, in a forced voice, "They are of age, Molly, and you can no longer steer their lives in the direction in which you choose. Their fates are no longer in your hands."
"Oh, I suppose they're in Harry's hands now, aren't they?" she said scathingly. "Let's trust a nearly seventeen-year-old to cope with all the troubles of the world, and let's trust him with our lives as well, while we're at it. Truth is told, I just don't think much of his responsibility or his magical ability without another year of schooling."
Harry was abashed; had Mrs. Weasley always felt this way about him? She had always acted like he was one of her own, sending him Christmas presents, letting him stay at her house over the summer, and fighting for him to be as sheltered as possible. But was that exactly what it all was? An act to convince the others she felt the same way as they did about him? A lie, plain and simple?
"Molly, do you think Voldemort will wait a year for Harry to get out of school? Do you think he will be any more merciful to your family and friends if he knows your children are even more prepared to fight him?"
"Maybe," she said stubbornly. "All I know is Harry has led Ron and Hermione into all sorts of dangerous situations along their friendship, risking their lives along the way. Does it seem as though he actually cares about them, or does it seem as if he wants to use them to his advantage, and that he simply picked friends with talents greater than his?"
"Molly, are you suggesting that Harry's friendship with Ron and Hermione isn't exactly that? A friendship worthy of admiration by all, and strove for by many?"
"Yes, I am suggesting that Harry is using Ron and Hermione, and that they don't really have even a fragment of friendship, if that is what you mean."
"Well, then," said Lupin sadly, "you are undoubtedly much more foolish than I originally presumed."
Harry heard a door click shut on the other side of the kitchen, and, assuming Lupin had left, heard Mrs. Weasley banging around pots and pans, preparing for dinner. Harry walked slowly up the stairs, feeling as if one of the people he felt would always support him had disappeared. He walked to his room, shut and locked the door, and went to sleep, hoping a deep slumber would erase the less-desired events of the day.
It didn't.
"Ginny, I just can't believe she ever felt this way about me."
"It's okay. Ron and I always knew she felt this way, but we didn't really want to tell you. It's why I'm always so careful that she doesn't know we're together. I'm still underage, and she would forbid it."
Harry sighed; he had gone over his eavesdropped conversation with Ginny a million times over, but he still couldn't believe Mrs. Weasley's feelings towards him. They were sitting on Ginny's bed, simply enjoying each other's company. Seemingly out of nowhere, Ginny leaned into him and kissed him then pulled away.
"I still can't believe it though," said Harry. "She always acted so nice, and she always treated me like I was actually her son."
Ginny groaned. "Harry, we've been through this a million times. I think she doesn't like that she's so indebted to you, and all. I mean, you were Ron's friend, when he otherwise might not have had any friends, you saved me from the Chamber of Secrets, you gave Fred and George loads of money to start their business, and you saved my dad from the snake last year. I think she feels like she'll never be able to pay you back, or something."
"Yeah, I guess," muttered Harry, still partially unconvinced. He glanced at the clock on Ginny's wall and sighed. "It's already five o'clock, I should be going."
"Why?"
"Ron, Hermione, and I still have to work out where we're going and when to find the Horcruxes, and we still have to work out the final Horcrux's riddle."
"Yeah, okay," said Ginny, mocking disbelief, "but I want to walk you to your room."
Harry grinned; he knew Ginny wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, so she found every excuse to walk nearly everywhere with him.
"Okay, fine," he said, "but you'll have to stay and help us figure out the riddle."
"So be it," said Ginny, laughing.
So they walked out of Ginny's room together, and, after looking to check for Mrs. Weasley, made a run for it to Harry and Ron's room. When they finally stopped at the door, they heard Mrs. Weasley calling Ginny downstairs to help with supper.
"Well, I guess I'd better go help mum," she said. "Before she suspects me of hanging about with you."
"Yeah, I guess so," Harry grinned. "I mean, really, I'm just using your high talent to benefit myself."
Ginny laughed and kissed him on the cheek, preparing to hurry downstairs before her mother came looking for her.
Unfortunately, that was exactly what Mrs. Weasley was doing at that moment.
"I call you once, and I expect you to come Ginny! I mean, really, I shouldn't have to come searching around the house, looking for you--" she stopped dead as she saw Ginny standing with Harry, and her kiss good-bye. "Ginevra Molly Weasley," she said in a highly malevolent tone, "what in Merlin's name do you think you are doing?"
Ginny got highly pale as her mother snatched her by the wrist and pulled her away, shooting a venomous look at Harry. "Harry, dear, why don't you just go figure out the riddle with Ron and Hermione," she said, in a voice dripping with false cheer, "perhaps they will be able to figure out the meaning, even if it is a slight difficult for you to manage."
With that she stomped out of the hallway, Ginny in hand, leaving Harry alone outside his room, wondering what he had ever done to deserve this kind of malevolence.