A Past Reclaimed by nuw255
Chapter Notes: Harry can’t spend all his time studying with Hermione, can he? If you look closely, you’ll notice that a certain secret may not be as safe as Harry might think.
“It’s not as if I’m not studying, Hermione,” Harry said in an exasperated voice. She had already been tutoring him for two hours, and the rest of the household was just beginning to stir.
“I realize that, Harry, but you’ve got so much to catch up on,” she replied.
“I know,” he said quietly, “and I’m really grateful that you’re helping me. But I need a break every once in a while, and I need to spend some time with my other friends, too. I think you might be forgetting that school isn’t the only thing I don’t remember - I still don’t really know Ron or Ginny very well, either. I mean, I know Tyler, obviously, and I got to know Mr. and Mrs. Weasley pretty well before you all came back from school. Fred and George were with me for the entire time I was at the Dursleys’, and I’ve spent pretty much all my time with you for the past week, but I’ve barely seen Ron and Ginny. I know we’re friends, and I care about them and all that, but don’t you think I ought to get to know them a bit better before we all head back to school in September?”
Hermione cocked her head to the side and stared at him for a long moment. “When did you get to be so insightful?” she asked at last.
Harry shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said with a slight chuckle. “I can’t remember.” He was surprised to find himself joking about his amnesia, but quickly discovered that he rather liked the idea. It was, after all, a lot more pleasant than brooding over it. Besides, it wasn’t as if his condition was permanent or anything.
Hermione offered him a small, sad smile in return. “Why don’t we start ending our lessons at dinnertime, so you can spend the evenings getting re-acquainted with everyone?”
Harry smiled back at her. “I’d like that,” he said.
“Good. Now that that’s settled, tell me what Mandrakes look like, what they’re used for, and how to safely handle them.”
Harry sighed to himself and set back to work.
That night at dinner, when he and Hermione announced that they would no longer be studying into the late evening, a collective murmur of approval rippled around the table.
“How’d you convince her, mate?” Ron asked in awe. “I mean, if you’ve got some secret to get her to let up during school, I want to hear about it.” This comment earned him a sharp glare from Hermione, and caused Harry to snort into his food.
“I told her I was already working a ridiculous number of hours, and that I really wanted a chance to get to know you and Ginny before we head back to school,” he explained. “If you think that argument will help you during term, you’re welcome to it.”
Ron looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head. “There’s no way she’d ever fall for it,” he said, winking at Hermione. “She’s way too clever for that. So, what’s the plan for tonight?”
Harry shrugged. “What do you want to do?”
“Well, I could always whip you at Wizard chess,” Ron suggested.
Harry laughed. “I’m sure you could. Wizard chess it is, then.”
The first chess game after dinner only lasted for about five minutes before Ron called out, “Checkmate!” The next game lasted half an hour because Hermione, Tyler, and Ginny all decided to try and help Harry. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, because Ron still came off victorious.
“You see, Hermione,” he taunted, “just because you’re helping him doesn’t mean he’s going to win.”
“Oh really? And how would things end up if you played against me one-on-one?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
“Please, Hermione,” Ron scoffed. “We both know you’ve never beaten me at chess. You may be better in class, sure, but you’ll never top me on a chessboard.”
“Care to back up that claim?” Hermione asked, nudging Harry out of his seat. Harry bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. Everyone said that Ron and Hermione used to have terrible arguments on a regular basis, but it was obvious that they had outgrown that phase for the most part. Now their arguments were more like friendly barbs being thrown back and forth, and they could really be quite entertaining to watch.
As Ron began setting up the chess pieces on the board, Hermione elbowed Harry lightly in the ribs before sitting down in his newly-vacated chair. When Harry glanced over at her, she nodded toward Ginny, and then toward the back door of the Burrow. Harry raised his eyebrows questioningly, and Tyler, catching on, responded by giving him a light push in the back. Deciding that his friends had a point, and that this would be the ideal time to get to know Ginny a little better while everyone else was distracted, he positioned himself next to her and softly cleared his throat.
“Fancy a walk?” he asked quietly.
Ginny looked up at him curiously, but only took a moment to nod in response. “Okay,” she whispered, and followed him out the back door and into the garden. As soon as they were outside, she asked, “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Harry said quickly. “Everything’s fine. I just wanted to, you know... talk to you for a while. I mean, I haven’t exactly had much chance to get to know you any better during the last week.”
Ginny laughed easily as they strolled toward the apple orchard. “Hermione can be a slave driver sometimes, can’t she?”
Harry nodded emphatically. “She’s an enormous help, though,” he added. “There’s no way I’d be ready when classes start if I didn’t have her help.”
“I’m glad you’re taking this so well,” Ginny replied. “Usually, you’d have an attitude a lot closer to Ron’s.”
“Really?” Harry asked, furrowing his brow. “Hmm... maybe last year made me realize that schoolwork isn’t all that bad. Believe me, the assignments were probably one of the best things about that place.”
Ginny shook her head in disgust. “I still can’t believe anybody actually has schools like that,” she said as she sat on the ground and leaned back against the trunk of an apple tree. Harry followed suit, sitting down next to her.
“So...” Harry said after a moment. “I’m not really sure how to do this. I mean, I’ve never really set out to just get to know somebody before, you know?”
Ginny chuckled lightly. “I never have, either. When I first met you, I would’ve loved to get to know you, but I was always too embarrassed to actually give it a try. Whenever I make a new friend, it just seems to happen on its own after spending time with the person, you know?”
Harry nodded. In reality, he didn’t have much experience making friends - not that he could remember, anyway. He had become friends with Tyler just by talking to the boy on his first day at St. Brutus’s, but they had really gotten to know each other by spending practically all their time together doing homework and visiting Hedwig. If he wanted to get to know Ginny better, maybe he should figure out a way to spend time doing something with her, rather than just talking.
“Well, if I’m going to get anywhere with this, I guess I’ll have to look for something we have in common, won’t I?” Harry said half to himself.
Ginny smiled and nudged him. “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Yeah, I am,” Harry returned. “I realize I don’t know you very well yet, but I like what I’ve seen so far. Plus, I figure there has to be a reason I kept dreaming about you even when I had no idea who you were, and I don’t think it was only because of your good looks.” He tried unsuccessfully to fight the blush creeping up his cheeks as he said it, but he meant every word. Thankfully, he had stopped short of admitting that he continued to look forward to going to sleep each night because he still usually dreamed about her.
“Harry Potter!” Ginny exclaimed with a laugh. “I never knew you were a flatterer.”
Harry shrugged. “Just telling the truth. After all, I’ve already learned that I must not tell lies.”
What’s going on? Harry asked himself, startled to realize that he was joking about the scars on the back of his hand. This was the second time in one day that he found himself making light of his own traumatic experiences (although now he thought about it, the scars might not really count, since he couldn’t exactly remember getting them). Just as he had that morning, however, he quickly pushed his surprise aside. It didn’t really matter what he was making light of, as long as it didn’t hurt anybody and it kept him in a good mood.
“Well, if you’re looking for something we have in common, there’s always Quidditch,” Ginny said suddenly.
“How much do you like flying?” Harry asked, grateful that she had decided not to comment about his scars.
Ginny sighed contentedly. “It’s the only time I really feel like I’m free.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Harry murmured. “I’ve only flown for fun once that I can remember, but it was....” He paused, searching for the right word.
“Liberating?” Ginny supplied.
“Exactly,” Harry replied with an emphatic nod. “So, fancy a bit of flying?”
“I wish,” Ginny said with a harsh laugh. “Mum doesn’t let us fly after dark. Claims it’s too dangerous.”
Harry waved away her concern. “I flew halfway across the country on a broken broomstick, and it was all at night. It’s not a big deal. Come on... I won’t tell your mother.”
Ginny gave him a sideways look, and a playful glint appeared in her eyes. “Alright then,” she said, nodding. “But how do we get brooms without getting caught?”
“Leave that to me,” Harry said mysteriously. “I am, after all, a juvenile delinquent.” He winked at her as he got to his feet and offered her a hand up. She took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet before following him along the edge of the apple orchard. They crept along silently, keeping to the shadows, until they arrived in front of the Burrow.
“What now?” Ginny whispered. “The broom shed’s in plain view of the front windows. There’s no way we’ll be able to break into it without being seen.”
“Who said anything about breaking in?” Harry asked, shooting her a mischievous smirk. “Wait here, and watch the master in action.”
Ginny laughed out loud. “Master of what? I grew up with Fred and George, Harry; there’s no way you can beat them at mischief-making.”
“I’ve seen the sorts of things the twins do,” Harry fired back playfully. “And I’ve heard about even more. They draw too much attention to themselves. The way they do their pranks, I think they want to be caught - that way, everyone knows they were the ones who pulled it off. I, on the other hand, don’t care about taking credit.” He raised his chin haughtily before adding, “I’m subtle.”
“Oh really?” Ginny asked, trying not to giggle. “And where did this subtlety come from? Did they teach classes on subtlety at your old school?”
“That’d be the day,” Harry snorted. “No, I learned to be subtle because I didn’t like the idea of getting caught and being forced to clean up somebody else’s bodily fluids with a toothbrush again.”
“What?” Ginny spluttered.
“Didn’t I tell you about that?” Harry asked, surprised that he had neglected to tell his friends the story of his detention with Madam Davies.
“About cleaning up.... No, you didn’t tell us about that!” Ginny shrieked.
“Shhhh!” Harry hissed. “Do you want to go flying or not?”
“Not until you tell me about this bodily fluids thing,” she answered.
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his mop of unruly hair. “There’s not much to tell, really. It started in Literature class when the teacher, Madam Davies, asked me who the central figure in the Camelot legends was.”
“Well that’s easy enough,” said Ginny. “It’s Merlin. Everybody knows that.”
“Not Muggles,” Harry countered, shaking his head. “In their version, Merlin’s just a minor player. Anyway, some stuff about Merlin just popped into my head, so I said it, thinking I had gotten the right answer. Davies thought I was being sarcastic and decided to make an example of me, so I ended up in detention. I had to scrub the floor of the infirmary with a toothbrush.”
“So what was the part about bodily fluids?” Ginny asked warily.
“Er... somebody had thrown up on the floor. And there was a... puddle of blood.”
Ginny stared at him for a long moment before shaking her head and saying in a disgusted voice, “That’s sick.”
“Tell me about it,” Harry muttered. “It’s too bad I couldn’t do a Vanishing Charm at the time, eh?”
Ginny chuckled a little. “Yeah, that would’ve been nice.”
They stood in silence for a moment before Harry finally asked, “So, still up for a little flying?”
Ginny chuckled again. “If you can get us some brooms. I’ll leave you to it, oh Master of Mischief.”
Harry gave a little bow before darting forward out of the shadows, keeping the small broom shed in between himself and the windows of the Burrow. When he reached it, he pressed his back up against the stone wall, preparing to dart around the corner. The position of the door made it impossible to get into the shed without exposing himself to the windows, but he was confident that he could do it quickly enough that he wouldn’t be noticed.
After mentally counting down from three, Harry shot around the corner of the broom shed, whispering, “Alohomora,” as he reached for the door handle. The door pulled open easily, and he was inside pulling it shut within seconds.
The interior of the broom shed was cramped and full of spider webs, but that wasn’t a problem for Harry. After living in the cupboard under the stairs at his aunt and uncle’s house for so many years, he was used to sharing tight quarters with spiders. He quickly selected two older brooms, as he was wary of nicking Ron’s good Quidditch broomstick, and darted back outside, pushing the door closed before racing back across the yard to where Ginny was still hiding in the shadows.
“Impressive,” she said as she took the broom he was offering. “How’d you get the door open so easily?”
Harry shrugged. “Trade secret,” he said. “Come on.” He leapt astride his broom and rocketed into the air with Ginny close behind. When they had climbed to about two hundred feet above the Burrow, Harry stopped and looked around. The moon provided enough light to bathe the Burrow in an almost ghostly glow. The apple orchard looked more like a rumpled, silvery blanket from this height, and the lights from the village of Ottery St. Catchpole were clearly visible in the distance.
“Enjoying the view?” Ginny asked from where she sat hovering beside him.
Harry looked over at her to see her face bathed in the same silvery moonlight. It made her skin look slightly paler than it actually was, and her red hair shimmered wherever the light touched it. “Yeah,” he breathed.
A bit of extra color rose in Ginny’s cheeks, and he knew that she knew he wasn’t referring to the landscape.
“Betcha can’t catch me!” she called out suddenly, before falling into a steep dive. Laughing, Harry took off after her.
They spent the next half hour flying circles around one another, laughing, taunting, and just talking as they soared high in the air above the Burrow. As they reluctantly landed at the end of their flight, Harry asked, “So, did you enjoy yourself?”
“Very much,” Ginny replied with a wide smile. “We’ll have to do that again, oh Master of Mischief.” She pretended to grovel on the ground in front of him.
“Knock it off,” Harry laughed, giving her a playful nudge with his foot. “Now comes the really fun part: putting the brooms back without getting caught.” Without giving Ginny time to make another sarcastic comment, he darted back toward the broom shed, brooms in hand. As soon as he reached it, he ducked around the corner and through the door. After returning the brooms to their places in the corner, he stepped outside and whispered, “Obfirmo,” locking the door and ensuring that no one would know about their little nighttime flight.
“Ready to head inside?” Ginny called out, coming out of the shadows to meet him.
“I guess,” Harry said with a shrug. “They’ll probably start wondering where we are if we wait much longer.”
When she finally reached the broom shed, Ginny pulled experimentally on the door handle, only to discover that it was locked. She looked inquiringly at Harry. “How-”
“Trade secret,” he said, cutting her off and grinning. Ginny made a small huffing sound, but followed him to the front door. Just as he was about to open it, she grabbed his arm, gently turning him to face her.
“Thanks for taking me flying, Harry,” she said softly.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” he answered before pulling the door open and following her into the living room.
“Checkmate!” Ron shouted only a moment after they passed through the doorway.
Hermione sighed loudly. “I guess you really are better at chess.”
“Yeah, but it took him at least forty-five minutes to beat you, and you almost won,” Tyler pointed out.
“Hermione almost beat you, Ron?” Harry asked with a grin. “Maybe I should get her to give me chess lessons along with everything else she’s teaching me.”
“Hey!” Ron protested. “Did you miss the almost there? I still won.”
Harry laughed, shaking his head, as he and Ginny rejoined their friends for the rest of the evening.