Hermione was hovering over a dusty book with a spine three feet long; the words were in a long spindly font and were smudged places where potion had been splattered. She looked up to see the very top of Ron’s ginger hair, just barely visible behind a stack of decrepit scrolls. “How’re you doing there, Ronald?” she called out, bending back over the table as she squinted her eyes to read the small print.
“Besides the fact that I can’t see anymore…just dandy,” Ron said flatly. “We aren’t finding anything and we never will.”
Hermione grunted, “That’s the spirit.” She pulled some blank parchment towards her and jotted down a few notes. “There’s plenty of information about wandless magic in these books.” She added after a few moments.
“Yeah, and there was a lot of information about the Killing curse, but nothing helpful about how it affects Harry. Face it Hermione, when it comes to Harry, you can’t find the answers in books.” he stood up from the desk as he said it, replacing the scrolls onto the bookshelf before turning back to her.
She looked up at him, he was as wary as she was, and she knew deep down that he was right. “Well, I don’t know what else we should do. There has to be some answer in here somewhere!” Her voice started to become shrill and Ron’s shoulders rose with tension.
“Alright, just calm down…I hate it when you go all super-sonic like that,” he said, now cowering from the glare she threw his way. “Listen, the best thing we can do is practice this wandless magic stuff with him. Get him to the point where he doesn’t lose energy doing it.” Hermione nodded, but continued to read pointless theories on controlling the magic of wands.
Ron walked the perimeter of the room, stretching every so often. “Do you think Harry will get here before lunch?”
“I hope so,” she shrugged, lifting her head to look at Ron. He was standing in front of her desk, facing the door to the library, when their eyes met Hermione felt a flutter in her stomach and for the first time realized how alone they were. Ron parted his lips as if he was about to say something, but then his eyes moved from her own and up over her right shoulder. “Ron?” she asked, seeing his eyes widen in shock.
“Hermione…Ginny…” he squeaked.
Hermione shook her head and looked at him hard, “Ginny?”
“Hermione,” a small voice came from behind her. Hermione jumped from her chair and spun around to see Ginny standing in the doorway to the library.
“Ginny!” Hermione squealed. She ran over and threw her arms around Ginny with enough force that they both stumbled back into the hallway. When Hermione let her go, something caught her eye and she looked down the hall. “Harry!”
“Harry?” Ron repeated, marching forward into the hall as well.
“Ron, Hermione…” Harry nodded a greeting to them both.
They all stared at each other, everyone lost for words, “Well,” Ginny finally spoke, “now that we’ve all established we’ve remembered each other’s names…”
Harry laughed out loud, but Ron stared at them incredulously. “What’s wrong? Are mum and dad okay?”
“Everything is fine,” Harry said quickly. “Well, actually, there’s a lot we have to tell you.”
Hermione nodded, “I’d say. You can start with why Ginny brought a suitcase with her.”
It took a full hour for Ginny to explain everything, and it would have taken much longer if Harry hadn’t insisted no questions were asked until Ginny was done. There were many times when Hermione squeaked or turned red from holding her breath, she could hardly stand not asking questions.
“So…Harry and I talked about it…and I’m going to hang out with you guys for a while…” she could hardly suppress her smile, she knew it wasn’t Harry’s first choice, but she also knew he was excited she’d be close now. Her eyes found their way to Harry’s and they smiled at each other as Hermione stared, her mouth hanging open, at Ginny.
“Does your mother know? What about everyone at Hogwarts? The Death Eaters probably already know you’re gone…it won’t take them long to figure out you’re with us…” and she continued asking questions and talking to herself for ten minutes.
After several attempts, Harry finally got her to listen, “HERMIONE!” He shouted. When she looked at him mid sentence he continued, “It doesn’t matter who knows Ginny is with us…she has to be if we want to find the Horcruxes.”
“I know, but…we could have done this in a way that wouldn’t be so obvious…”
“They would have figured it out no matter what plan we came up with. Listen, Hermione, everything will be okay,” Ginny comforted. “Honestly, it was easier to convince Harry…” she said slyly, eyeing Harry.
Hermione fidgeted, “I’m surprised actually, at you Harry. I never would have thought you’d allow this…”
“Allow?” Ginny stated offended, “He doesn’t decide what I can and can’t…” she felt the heat begin to rise on her neck, but when Harry placed a hand on her leg under the table, it retreated.
“I wouldn’t be able to stop her from coming with us at this point if I wanted to,” Harry said, “and I don’t want to. She’s not going to be out there when we’re actually searching, just as she wasn’t when she was working with Dumbledore. She’s with us as…I guess you can say as a guide…”
Hermione frowned, still unsure, so Ginny piped in, “We’ll all go through the two Pensieve’s, I’ll tell you what is familiar from dreams, I’ll tell you where we should go, or what we should be looking for…then stay behind when you all go into the caves and the towns. But,” Ginny said, lowering her voice, “I’d also like to point out I’m only a year younger than you lot and would be able to handle my self perfectly well if ever I was in a situation where handling yourself…” she paused and made a face with the silliness of her words, “is…necessary?”
Harry laughed out loud, and Ginny joined. Hermione held her worried expression, but not for long, soon she also was laughing and it all seemed to make sense, like Ginny should have been there all along. She realized that the information Ginny would be able to provide was nothing compared to the strength she’d be able to provide to Harry, which, after reading about the energy needed for wandless magic, he was going to need.
Ron asked, still chuckling, “Wait, so you went to Hogwarts yesterday…right after Hermione and I left?”
Ginny wiped her eyes, wet with tears of laughter, “Yeah, but we didn’t stay there long…went to Bill’s right away so I could tell him everything without getting caught.”
“But, then you stayed there overnight…” Ron asked, Hermione got up and began preparing lunch, and Harry rose from his own chair to help her.
Ginny remained seated, knowing exactly where Ron was going with his questions. “Yes, brother dear, we stayed at Bill’s house overnight.”
“How is Bill?” Ron asked, his voice too high for the questions to be legitimate.
Harry, oblivious to the meaning of Ron’s questions, looked over the refrigerator door he was behind, “They weren’t there.”
“Is that right?” His glare didn’t leave Ginny’s, and Ginny returned it in full force.
“Ronald, don’t even go there,” she warned.
His ears began to turn red, “Oh, but I will.”
Harry and Hermione both slowly turned from the sandwiches they were making to where Ginny and Ron were starring daggers at each other. “Harry and I are back together…so get used to it.”
“Uh…what’s going on?” Harry asked, nervously.
“Ron’s getting all protective,” Ginny said sweetly, smiling at Harry and Hermione.
Ron did not smile when he spun around to them. “You were in a house alone with my little sister…” he pointed aggressively at Harry.
Harry rolled his eyes, which took everyone in the room by surprise. “Yeah, I was, and I told her I loved her and she said it back. We slept in the same bed and we did nothing inappropriate because I respect her too much and would never think of ever taking advantage. Which means you should stop worrying about protecting her honor because I’m not going to let anything bad happen to her and even though I hurt her by breaking up with her I know I was wrong doing it and I’ll never do it again, so you don’t have to worry about me breaking her heart again. So please stop giving her a hard time and get used to the fact that we’ll probably share the same bed from now on not only because we want to but because I think she’s going to start having some extreme prophetic dreams and I’m not going to make her wake up from those alone anymore because I know how horrible they can be!” He breathed in deeply, realizing he hardly had during his little rant.
Ron stared at Harry as he rambled through, his expression changing from shock, to anger, to understanding, to bitterness, back to anger, and finally back to shock. Ginny sat beaming at Harry, “That about covers it I think. I’m going to go unpack.” She stood up and skipped out of the room, her red hair whipping behind her as she disappeared through the door.
Harry looked at Ron, now realizing he may have said too much. “Hurt her again and I won’t forgive you.” Harry nodded before turning back to finish the sandwiches. Hermione looked from Harry and then to Ron, shaking her head…she would never understand either of them.
“…and the way you told Ron to leave me alone!” Ginny smiled, jumping into bed as Harry held the sheets up. She immediately snuggled up next to him as he dropped the blankets around her. “It was amazing.”
Harry laughed. “I don’t know what came over me, actually,” he placed an arm around Ginny’s waste and pulled her closer. “Hermione wants to work more on wandless magic tomorrow, but I think we should look into the Pensieve’s more.”
Ginny nodded, “We could do a little bit of both. Perhaps you can work on wandless magic in the morning, and when you begin feeling a little drained we can look into the memories.”
“Yeah, I just don’t know how important the wandless magic is really going to be. Loads of wizards can do it.” Harry said, revealing his worries for the first time. Ginny sensed his apprehension, and spun around so she was facing him. She scooted her head closer to his on the pillow they shared.
“Hey,” she whispered, and he opened his eyes. “Loads of fully grown wizards who have been practicing their entire lives to master the skill can do it. You did it without even trying…who knows what you’ll be able to do if you put your mind to it.”
Harry just nodded, so Ginny lifted her head enough to place her lips on his. “You’ll see,” she continued, “There will come a time when even you will have to admit there’s something about you that’s extraordinary. But until then…sleep?” Harry smiled, tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, and fell asleep faster than he ever had, with Ginny in his arms.
Ginny also fell asleep quickly, and it was a deep sleep, too deep…
She shivered as a cool breeze swept through the row of hedges leading to the mansion 100 yards away. Her eyes narrowed as she saw three figures enter the house. She heard Voldemort’s voice, he was convincing someone to join him, but Ginny heard him in a muffled way. A flash and there was an old couple in a kitchen. She was back in Hogwarts, Malfoy had her cornered, she tried to scream but couldn’t. A jolt, and she saw a room filled with trinkets. The colors of the room were blending and she felt her stomach flip as she soared out of the room, she was looking down on the house. She was falling, falling fast and couldn’t stop. She hit the ground hard, and she felt a sting on her lip. She was back among the hedges, the mansion she just flew out of in the distance. Everything was melting away. She was waking up…but she knew nothing of where she was. She went into a flat out sprint as the mansion began to dissolve. The last thing she saw, as she bent over panting, feeling her eyes open to the bedroom, was a sign naming the house.
She awoke with a start, sitting straight up in bed. She whipped around to find herself and saw Harry sitting up next to her, she fell into his arms at the same time he wrapped them around her. “You’re okay. Was it prophetic?”
“I…I don’t know…” she closed her eyes to remember, somehow it was easier when Harry was with her.
“Was it morning or night?” Harry asked, noticing the light of dawn creeping across their bedroom floor.
“Night,” she answered, opening her eyes to see what time it was. She sighed, realizing the dream wasn’t a real time dream.
Harry nodded, “Okay, so we don’t have to worry about that.” Ginny felt her heart slow down… the real time dreams were much more stressful and dangerous; Harry knew this as much as Ginny did, remembering for a moment Arthur and the snake.
Harry allowed Ginny to pull away from him, she smoothed the bed sheets as she tried to capture the dream in her memory. “What happened in it?” Harry asked. It was like they had been through this routine before; Harry knew to make sure no one was in danger, figure out if it was happening real time…figure out if there was a possibility it was prophetic, or just anxiety.
“Hufflepuff Manor…” Ginny whispered suddenly. The sign to the mansion came to her immediately, and so did the room with trinkets. “I think we can find a Horcrux in Hufflepuff Manor…”
Ron and Hermione came back from their scouting trip to the town where Hufflepuff Manor resided, looking exhausted. The two had been gone the entire day. Hermione’s cheeks were flushed and Ron’s eyes widened in bliss when he saw the meal that had been made.
“How’d it go?” Harry asked, to which Hermione rolled her eyes.
“An old couple lives there now. They never left the house. Not once, the entire day. I think we need to do more scouting. Maybe take turns to find some sort of pattern on when they may leave and for how long,” she explained, and when Ron snorted in disagreement, she continued, “And even though that might be boring for some,” she glared at him, “We just can’t risk searching the house with them in it. Not if we don’t know the actual object the Horcrux is.”
“I’m sorry, it’s weird I haven’t dreamt about it again…it’s been almost two weeks and,” Ginny began, but Hermione held up her hand.
“I didn’t mean it like that Gin,” Hermione sat down and pulled a plate towards her graciously. “This looks delicious. How did Wandless Magic go today?”
“Alright,” Harry said at the same time that Ginny said, “Great!”
Ron laughed, but Hermione gave Harry a calculating eye before turning to ask Ginny, “Anything new? Any improvements?”
“He was able to block Expelliarmus no problem,” Ginny beamed across the table at him, and he merely shrugged.
“You were rubbish yesterday when we worked on that Harry!” Ron said, swallowing hard before speaking. “You could hardly even cast Expelliarmus yourself, let alone block it!”
Ginny’s eyes furrowed, “Really? He had no problem…”
“No, Ron’s right. I watched them working yesterday…he was absolutely pitiful…” Hermione cut Ginny off.
“Thanks, ‘Moine,” Harry said, shaking his head, focusing on eating rather than letting his friends critiques get to him. He was trying his hardest and it wasn’t his fault if he had good and bad days. All he could hope is at the final battle it would be a good day. “I’m going to go take a nap…” he excused himself, wanting to get away from the conversation. He knew he could get away with the excuse his energy was low…it usually was after practicing wandless magic, but it wasn’t today. He had no intention on actually taking a nap.
Ginny waited until Harry had left before speaking, “He’s not tired. He lost hardly any energy today. He just doesn’t want to talk about how he is improving.”
Hermione leaned into Ginny, and Ron had to scoot closer to hear her as well, “He’s not really improving though Gin.”
Ginny shook her head, “That doesn’t make any sense. Hermione, you worked with him earlier this week and he cast Expelliarmus just fine. I know it, I was in the room…he just had a bad day yesterday working with Ron,” Hermione exchanged a look with Ron. “What?”
It was Ron that spoke, “We’ve been thinking…and we kind of came up with a theory.”
“Ron came up with it. Take the credit, Ronald, it is quite brilliant…you hit it right on the head.” Hermione patted him on the back. Ginny waited patiently for Ron to continue.
“Harry is absolute rubbish when he is working with me and Hermione. But all you have to say about your sessions with him is what he’s able to accomplish…” Ron said darkly, clearly excited about his brilliant theory…or just the fact that Hermione found it brilliant.
Ginny rolled her eyes, “You’re going in circles, I’ve seen him cast and block Expelliarmus when he’s worked with both of you! How can you honestly say he is not improving?” Ginny shot at Hermione.
“Listen, Ginny, we’re trying to explain. Sure, he’s improved in the sense that he is able to cast and block the spell…but only in certain circumstances.” Hermione explained.
“Stop being so damned mysterious. Spit it out!” Ginny snapped, annoyed. Hermione and Ron both sat back, scalded. They let Ginny’s words sink in before speaking up again.
“You said you’ve seen him cast and block the spell when he’s working with us…but neither of us, when working with him one on one, alone, has seen him do it.” Hermione said simply and carefully.
“What?”
Ron leaned back towards his sister, “It’s you. He only shows improvement when you’re around. It’s like he can’t even do it if you’re not in the room.”
“But…that…really?” Ginny scrunched up her face. What did this mean? “Does he know…no, why would…what about the first time he cast it?”
Ron nodded, “Hermione was hounding him about his feelings for you at the time…” Hermione gave Ron a cold stare/
She stood and took everyone’s cleared plates. “I know it’s weird. I think it might have something to do with his magical energy. He has more or he’s just able to control it, when you’re around. I don’t think he realizes it, and I don’t think we should mention it quite yet. We might be wrong. Let’s give him more time.”