14. Gossip

The last week of the schoolyear was about to come to an end. As usual, Harry and Ginny stood up together, dressed and made their way towards the Great Hall for Breakfast.

Entering the hall they realized, they were being stared at. Not that this was an uncommon occurrence in any way, throughout the year Harry and by extension Ginny had grown rather accustomed to it, but today there seemed to be an unhealthy amount of interest in the pupils eyes. Letting their eyes wander through the hall they looked into many frightened or even angry faces.

They hadn’t much time to wonder what had bred the sudden mood swing, because just as they were sitting down Tracey Davies sprinted to them. She was holding, rather proudly, the position of the go to girl for all kinds of gossip, rumours and nasty little secrets. “Is it true, did you really abduct Ginny into the Chamber of Secrets to trap her into a Soul bond? Were you possessed by Voldemort, are you still possessed by Voldemort? Are you a dark Wizard? Are you commanding a Basilisk that could wipe us out in a blink of an eye?”

“I think I get an idea of what happened.” Harry mused.

“Want to bet who spilled it? My money is on Ron, he could never hold his tongue.”

“Well, I am sure it was not my brother. He would never betray my confidence.”

“May I ask why you are spouting such accusations at me?” Harry asked Davies.

She looked at him intently for a moment, before shoving an issue of ‘The Daily Prophet’ into his hands. “So you are not denying what I just said?” The girl asked.

Harry and Ginny ignored the girl and stared reading the headline:

The boy who lived’s brother’s path into darkness

Not too long ago we reported about how unsettling the brother of the wizarding world’s saviour is. We reported that many suspected him being involved with the opening of the so called ‘Chamber of Secrets’

Now, the evidence of him being a Dark Wizard is tightening.

According to his classmates, he lured the daughter of loyal ministry employee Arthur Weasley into the Chamber of Secrets, where he performed various dark rituals on her and then trapped her into a Soulbond. Harry Potter claimed to rescue Ginevra Weasley as she had been possessed by an unknown Dark Artifact. How she came in touch with the Artifact in the first place, Potter did not explain. Additionally Potter claimed to have fought and defeated a Basilisk which housed in Slytherin`s secret room. According to the History Books of Hogwarts only the true heir of Slytherin is supposed to be able to open it.

The dark rituals and the resulting Soulbond between Harry Potter and Ginny Potter née Weasley made the Weasley family loose guardianship over their daughter. Mr Weasley tried everything to protect his daughter, but the Ministry laws on Soulbonding are tight, rendering the young girl wife to Harry Potter for eternity.

“Huh, how are we going to handle this?” Harry mused.

“Well, denying won`t work. It’s not like there were any outright lies in the article.”

“But I really don`t like how they picture you as a victim, like you would ever let me do something to you. I would be hexed before I even had a plan!”

Ginny giggled, which earned her some stares from the pupils around them, who were still awaiting an answer. “Damn right I am not a victim!”

“So what do you suggest? Going around and saying I am a Dark Lord doesn`t sound too smart.”

“No it doesn`t. But it would be fun!”

“Fun? Getting send to Azkaban is not really in my definition of fun.”

“They can´t send you to Azkaban, you didn`t break any laws. And I doubt there is a law against being a self-proclaimed Dark Lord.”

“Are you sure? I mean after Voldemort’s rise to power I`d bet there are laws against that.”

< em>“Okay, let’s not risk that. Then let’s go once more with brutal honesty. We tell them that we will become the strongest wizard and witch that have ever existed and that we will uncover the deepest secrets of magic.”

Harry made a face but nodded. “Well, even if it backfires, we will at least get a good laugh out of their reactions. So how do you want to tell it to the world, normal, dangerous or over the top?”

“Do you even have to ask?”

La ughing, they stood up simultaneously and climbed onto the table. Smiling widely they clasped their hands and said with a firm voice in absolute unison: “We are Ginny and Harry Potter, banisher of Voldemort’s ghost, defeater of Basilisks and soon we shall be the most powerful wizarding pair you will ever see! No one will stand in our way, no one will be able to harm us, and no one will be able to threaten us. We do not forgive, we do not forget, expect us!”

“Oh Harry, that was so incredibly edgy. How did you even come up with the last part?”

“Don`t know, it just came to me. But we had to be edgy, we are in a hall filled with teenagers!”

The hall looked at them in stunned silence, as they sat back down some murmur was heard. Many were wondering if they had just proclaimed themselves to be Dark Wizards. Some muttered about them belonging to Azkaban, some others whispered about if they should befriend them or stay away.

On their way out of the Great Hall towards their first class on this morning, they were followed by endless whispers and scared finger pointing.

“You are aware that we really have to step up our spell repertoire after our speech, right?” Harry cautioned.

Ginny huffed, but nodded. “I guess our holidays won`t be calm then. But you forgot, we still have Voldemort’s knowledge at our disposal, we just have to get it out from him.”

“Yes, but this time I want us to be better prepared, I won`t take chances like last time. We will plan it and carefully research what we have to do once we are settled down at home.”

“You are right, we won`t be this lucky the next time we face an enemy. First we have to get through today and then we will have to search for a house. I hope the Goblins send us a letter today about houses in the possession of the Black family.”

“I am sure they will, our vault manager got a nice pay raise I expect him to have a good work morale right now.”

Th e kids found it hard to concentrate in the following lessons. Luckily it was the last day of the term and no important topics were covered. The stares and whispers followed them the entire day and by dinner the kids were rather glad that they had the summer holidays to get away from the rumour mill. Despite being responsible for fuelling it, they felt the strain.

Just as they had finished eating dinner and were about to leave the great hall, a black owl swooped in and dropped a letter with a Gringotts insignia on them.

Excited they sprinted out of the hall into their chambers.

“I hope they have good news!” Ginny exclaimed.

“I bet it is, house Potter was close to being destroyed in the last war. The Black should have emerged from it rather unscathed. That reminds me, you really should officially claim the Black house now.”

A single tear crept into Ginny’s eye but she nodded. The pain of being cast out by her family was still fresh but she knew Harry was right. She was stronger than them, she would move on without looking back and for giving her the drive to do so she was eternally thankful to Harry.

They opened the letter and quickly skimmed through it. Described were three properties: A ruin, a small summer home in France and a villa in London.

“It’s even under the Fidelius, that`s perfect. We will go to Gringotts after our train ride right away and sort this out and then we can move in!” Harry said.

“Oh wow, the villa is gigantic and despite being in the middle of the city it has a garden. Oh wait, I read the blueprint wrong, the garden is on the roof! And we have 3 bathrooms, 6 bedrooms, a kitchen, an entrance hall, a living room, a ball room, a… no TWO libraries and a gigantic cellar. Wow, our own house elf, I hope he is still alive. That`s amazing!”

“Prat.” Ginny sighed and added: “I won`t argue with you about money again, if you make me head of the Black house I will have to get used to it. But please don`t overdo it, I don`t want to feel like I am… like I am using you.”

“Don’t worry, besides you are right, when you are the Black head than you might be even richer than me!”

“Don’t be stupid, like I would ever not demand you to have full access to it!”

Har ry chuckled and said: “When I first came to Hogwarts and people heard about the Potter house riches some girls tried to gain my favour in hope of getting some wealth. And now there is a girl I have to persuade to let me spoil her.”

“Just shows how much better I am. Those cows don`t even hold a candle against me!”

“That’s right, if they are a candle you are a firestorm. And I love you for it, please never ever change!”

“I promise I will always kick your butt if you step out of line.” She replied with a wicked grin.

“Of course, I had to Soul bond with a violent flame, just my luck.”

T hey packed in all their belongings, a task that was fulfilled quickly as most of their things had already been packed by the house elves due to their move from the dormitories into their private chambers. With excitement they lay down in bed early, barely able to get to sleep because of the prospect of being completely free to do whatever they wanted to do for the entire duration of their holidays. And beyond.

But the next day was surely going to be a long one, therefore they tried their hardest to calm themselves and counted sheep. Counting sheep together is much more fun than alone, giving the sheep names too. Not long after, they fell into a dream enlaced sleep bubbling with expectations about their now home.

The next morning passed in a rush and the pair soon found themselves standing with the others on the Hogsmeade train station waiting to enter the train.

They stood with the other Slytherins, as the glares and whispers from the rest of the school became rather annoying. Their own house looked at them with a mixture of fear and respect, a feeling Harry and Ginny enjoyed greatly and wished to get the rest of the world to adopt. If necessary by force.

The odd rule out was the Malfoy hair, in a matter of days their relationship detreated from neutral to outright hatred. The pair never liked him, but all their encounters so far had been polite, respectful and something mutually beneficial. But now, after the Potters had claimed the title of the Black house, he made snide remarks about them at every chance.

Unlike the rest of the school, he did not seem to be scared, something that was rare for him and enraged Harry and Ginny greatly. If he could give them cheek, how long until the rest would start to follow? He had to be put in his place, publicly and as humiliating as possible while showing their own superiority.

Coming up with a plan in a hurry was nothing they liked, after their decision on going into the Chamber of Secrets on a whim, they became careful. But time was of the essence, as they had only until the end of the train ride, after that everybody would go home. They would go home with the knowledge that Harry and Ginny Potter had not to be feared, not to be respected.

They entered the train and took a compartment to themselves, a quick locking charm made sure they would not be interrupted while plotting.

“So, mistress of mischief, what do you suggest?”

“Prat. We have to humiliate him in front of as many people as possible and we have to do it today. There are not many options, I am afraid.”

“The only time all students will be close to each other will be at Kings Cross, but there will be a lot of adults too.”

A small spark crept into her eyes and she said: “We could pull it off. But it has to be great and everybody has to know it was us despite not being able to prove it.”

“Glad your plan is so specific and easy!” Harry remarked with a sour expression.

“Don’t be so gloomy, I feel that you want to show the world what we are capable of.”

“Yes you are right, I just can`t come up with something good. I mean we have to humiliate him on the train station, we could use something related to snakes. That way everybody knows it was us.”

“Of course, you can talk to snakes. We will have to summon a snake and pull the prank off. Good idea, you are much smarter than anybody else!”

H arry grinned at her praise but it snapped back into a curious expression. “Do you think you can talk to snakes? I bet you could, I kind of feel it.”

“Let’s see. ‘Serpentsortia’ she said while flicking her wand at her lap.

“Huh, that was quite brave. I thought you were a bit vary of snakes, you were at least when you were younger.”

“Yes I was, but I figured I should get used to them when I spent the rest of my live with you.”

Ha rry’s heart skipped a bit at that, despite knowing their connection would last forever, he was not used to having someone to rely on. And having the assurance that it would never change made him smile brighter than the sun. Ginny was tempted to give Harry some cheek, but stopped herself. She knew how much this meant to him and she would never take this joy from him. Especially not after being cast out from her own family.

No, she reminded herself. Those were not her family, Harry was her family and she was glad about it. She had to be, she would show everybody that they were tougher than them.

“How exactly do you talk to snakes? Should I just talk to her in English?”

“Hmm, that`s what I do. I concentrate on the snake and want her to understand me, then I talk to her.”

Ginny took a deep breath and looked the snake into its eyes and said: “Hello, my name is Ginny Potter. What`s your name?”

“It worked almost Gin, some parts were hissed, and some were in English. I think you didn`t fully believe in yourself, you can do it. You already know how.”

Ta king another breath she focused on the serpents eyes once more and this time she saw the intelligence in the animal’s gaze. The animal would understand her and she had the power to control it.

“I am Ginny Potter. What is your name?”

“I havess no name, I exxissst to ssserve the speakersss.” The snake hissed back.

“Harry, I did it, I did it! I can understand her!”

“Perfect, I knew it would work! So, how are we going to use the snake in our prank?”

“Unfortunately Malfoy is not scared of snakes, no Slytherin is, obviously. But maybe if could make the Snake a little more dangerous and threatening?”

“Do you think an enlargement charm would work on the snake? If so I could transfigure its skin to resemble the one of the Basilisk we fought.”

Ginny tried the charm while making sure the snake would not become too big for their compartment. Harry then proceeded to remember the Basilisk’s skin and then transfigure the snake. Soon a miniature Basilisk was slithering in their compartment.

“I think I am able to make it as big as a Basilisk, but probably not for a long time. I expect us to have around a minute.” Ginny reasoned.

“Okay, the transfiguration should not be much of a problem, a minute will be possible. Now we have to decide on how to use it, any ideas apart from just letting is spread fear for a moment?”

“Doing that would just embarrass us, we have to retaliate as soon as Malfoy gives us cheek. It is somewhat of a gamble but I am sure he won`t leave the train station without trying to put us down in public. At that moment, the snake will have to strike!”

“But we can’t be seen summoning and casting the spells, we would have to predict when he is going to insult us and prepare the snake shortly before.”

“The enlarging charm in itself it simple it just needs a lot of power, I might pull it off soundlessly. We could prepare the snake before and just enlarge it later.”

“All right, so I will summon the snake, transfigure it and disillusion it and then command it to go to Malfoy…”

“…and as soon as he dares to insult us I hit the snake with the enlargement charm. You will have to get her in a place where I can easily hit her without seeing her.”

“Right next to Malfoys feet should be good, Charms are so much better than curses and hexes, you just don`t see the magical projectile.”

“So, we have around 4 hours until we arrive, I better use the time to practice the enlargement charm soundlessly.”

“But be careful to not exhaust yourself! I do hope that I will be able to assist you by giving you some power through our bond.”

“It will be amazing!

The hours passed with some more fine tuning of the plans and practicing the necessary spells over and over again. When they neared London they stopped and calmed themselves down, gathered their strength and were cautiously optimistic.

The train came to a halt and Harry and Ginny waited until most had already left the train. They strode purposefully out of it and quickly scanned the crowd. Pupils running over to their families, tight hugs were shared and laughter was heard. The Malfoys were standing in the middle of it all, their heads held high looking down on the people around them. Such emotional outburst were beneath them, but they nevertheless used the gathering of wizards and witches to maintain their standing in society.

Harry stood behind Ginny for a moment and quickly whispered: ‘Serpensortia’ and ‘Kravnidi rosptu’ the snake slithered quickly up his leg and he used a variety of Disillusionment charms on him. They would have preferred if Ginny was the one casting them, but she was about get enough exhaustion from her own spell work.

Voldemort’s selection of Disillusionment charms was rather vast, so they did not worry too much.

As the snake vanished from sight Ginny hissed an order about were the it should wait. ‘Yess my missstressss’ came the reply.

Harry and Ginny positioned themselves close to the Malfoys, not directly next to them but close enough to overhear any snarky comments. To their luck Malfoy was, despite his silver tongue and social skills, a predictable person. As soon as his fellow Slyhterin’s were starting to say their goodbyes to him he started a rant about the thiefing Potters and how the redhead whore was not a feasible head of house.

Harry took a step in front of Ginny and spoke with a calm voice, loud enough for everybody to hear: “Malfoy, if you ever make another unpleasant comment about my soul mate you will suffer most severe consequences!”

Ginny was in the meantime aiming her want through a gap in Harry’s robes shielded from prying eyes at where she suspected the snake would be, she was all ready and just waiting for the perfect moment.

“Are you threatening me Potter? I thought you were smarter than that.” Malfoy smiled in his usual bravado, when he earned a couple of encouraging smiles from the pupils around him, who were previously scared by the Potter couple due to the rumours, he added: “You should not threaten someone if you can’t step up to it!”

Harry just smiled and Ginny knew, this was the moment. She silently cast the enlargement charm and stepped next to Harry. Harry acted like he had dropped something, he quickly cancelled the Disillusionment spells and clasped Ginny`s hand.

“I wish you a happy summer break.” He said while the young couple made their way towards the nearest floo powered chimney.

Behind them hell broke loose as people started screaming at the sight of the gigantic serpent that slithered through the masses and Draco Malfoy was screaming at the top of his lungs. The shock held for a couple of seconds, but as soon as the wizards and witches regained their composure the snake was attacked violently. A true thunderstorm of spells and curses broke loose and the fake Basilisk was soon drowned in different flashes for coloured light.

Harry used the distraction to quickly desummon the snake. Just as they were about to grab a handful of floo powder they were interrupted by an Auror.

“Mr and Mrs. Potter, did you just try to murder a train station full of people?!”

Ginny looked at the man with her best innocent face expression and said in a tiny voice: “No sir, we are as surprised as you are about the Basilisk. I am just glad that you were able to defeat it. Just think what would have happened if more than one had appeared?”

“Would you be willing to make a statement under the effects of Veritaserium, if you comply and are truly innocent you won`t have to show up for extended questioning at the Ministry. As you are legally adults you are allowed to use Veritaserium, if you wish.”

Harry interrupted and said: “Very well, but I do not want to answer questions not related to this incident. I will only answer the question wether we summoned a Basilisk or not.”

“Very well, I did not expect anything else. And thank you for complying with the use of Veritaserum, it makes my job a lot easier.”

He gave them each three drops of the serum and then asked: “Mr Harry James Potter, did you summon a Basilisk today?” “No.”

“Mrs. Potter, did you summon a Basilisk today” “No, but you might should have asked if I summoned my pet today. Maybe I have maybe I have not. You will never know, as we are now free of any charges.” She said with a giggle.

“If you would excuse us now, we have a house to claim.” Harry said as he threw a handful of floopowder into the chimney and said: “Gringotts!”

The couple left a bewildered crowd behind, did they really have nothing to do with it? But what about the thing Mrs. Potter said? And what if they could fight Veritaserum?

The crowd was whispering various theories but all came to the same conclusion. The pair was strong and smart. Some said they are criminals and should be prosecuted, others said that Malfoy deserved it for being rude and so the Hogwarts rumour mill swept into the rest of the wizarding world.

Stumbling out to of the Gringotts chimney Harry mused: “I have to odd feeling that our holidays won`t be very relaxing. We really have to push ourselves to live up to our newly gained reputation.”

“Of course, we don`t want to disappoint our fans.” Ginny snorted.

They strode towards the counter and requested Rocknart. Soon after a, at least for Goblin standards, cheerful looking Goblin greeted them and motioned them into a private room.

“I assume you have received your first new salary?” Harry asked bemused.

“Indeed I have. Now, how may I help you?”

Harry squeezed Ginny’s hand in encouragement and she spoke: “I would like to claim the title as mistress of house Black.”

“Does Mr. Potter allow it?”

Harry nodded.

“Very well, if both of you would please sign on this form using a blood quill, then I will deal with the formalities.”

Both made a face as the quill cut into their flesh, but a quick healing charm by Ginny eased the pain.

“We also would like to move into Grimmauld Place 12. Are you able to key us into the Fidelius Charm?” Harry asked.

“I will do so immediately, the charm was placed by one of our own employees decades ago, I will retrieve the necessary form.”

With that he walked out of the room leaving two excited kids behind.

“I really hope the house elf is still alive, I don`t want to deal with chores.” Ginny mused.

“We will find out soon, let’s wrap this up as fast as we can and then we will head home.”

At the word home, a warm feeling engulfed both of them. They would be together and nobody could do anything against it. They would be able to do everything they want whenever they want. They were adults now!

Rocknart came back and handed them another form they had to sign with a blood quill. He then scribbled the address of Grimmauld Place 12 on a piece of parchment and gave it to the couple.

“We three are now the only people who are able to see your home. If you would like to stop me from seeing it, you have to write ‘Rocknart` on the parchment and then cross it.

Harry and Ginny shared a brief glance and then immediately wrote down and crossed out Rocknart. “Thank you Rocknart, is there anything else we have to do?”

“No, you are now able to move into your new home.” With a curt nod, Rocknart excused himself and the kids made their way out of Gringotts.

“We should probably use the Knight’s Bus to get home.” Ginny said.

Harry made a face as he remembered his last ride with the wicked bus but complied. Everything to get home as fast as they could, the anticipation was barely bearable.

On the Muggle side of the Leaky Cauldron they held out their wands and waited impatiently for the bang. A couple of minutes later the bus arrived between two yellow muggle taxis, who didn`t seem to be bother in the slightest by having a big bus parking between them.

“Hello, we would like to go to Grimmauld Place 2 in London.”

“That`s 7 knuts.”

The moment Harry handed over the coins he was thrown on the floor by the sudden acceleration. He heard Ginny laugh somewhere behind him, he turned around and scowled at her, but didn`t manage to keep a straight face for long.

The kids were dropped off in a typical London urban area. They cautiously walked the road up and down to check if any muggles were in the near vicinity, fortunately there were none. Standing between Grimmauld Place 10 and 14 they clasped their hands tightly and strode towards the middle. Just as they were starting to feel uneasy due to the lack of a proper entrance, the two houses started to shift away, opening up an oaken door.

“Hard to belief that no muggle becomes suspicious because of the noise. Shoving houses away just for a door to appear? The Blacks had style.” Ginny fawned over their new home.

Harry walked up to the door, but hesitated to open it. Turning around he smirked at Ginny and said: “Ladies first.”

Smiling bright, she did not waste another second and leapt at the door, ripped it open and stumbled inside.

“Uhh.”

Harry peaked up at her sudden lack of enthusiasm and followed her inside.

“I agree, uhh. I guess the house elf is dead.”

T he entire entrance was covered in dust and despite the lamps burning it felt very gloomy. Ginny sneezed as she inhaled some dust she had whirled up by putting her jacket on a hallstand.

Suddenly a noice was heard somewhere in the house and the kids immediately had their wand in hands, a spell on their lips. Cautiously and slowly they made their way from the hallway into the sitting room. Walking through the door their eyes widened in surprise as an old and battered house elf was standing hunchbacked in front of them.

“Are you the elf of this house?” Harry asked.

“Yes, I am Kreacher. Who are you that dares to stain the house of Black? Oh, if mistress knew!”

“My name is Harry Potter, this is my wife Ginny Potter. We are your new masters. Why is the house not clean? Get to work!”

Kreacher’s face showed utter disgust as he muttered: “Filthy Potters, half blood and blood traitors, glad they died, but why did the brat survive? And married so young, his wife is a whore.”

Kreacher was barely able to finish the last word when Harry jabbed his wand at him with a mad gleam in his eyes. “WHAT DID YOU CALL HER? ‘SERPENSORTIA’ Kill this miscreant!”

“Harry stop!” But it was too late, the snake had already sank her fangs into the frail body of the old elf. With an agonizing screech he let out his last breath.

“Harry, we have to get a new elf now. It would have been easier to… correct him.” Ginny told him mentally while saying ‘Incendio’ and burning the body.

Soon the elf was just another pile of dust which Harry quickly vanished.

“I know, I just… I could not take it. Nobody says something like that about you and will get unpunished, besides if you see the state of the house I think I would have had killed him anyway.”

Ginny sighed: “Probably… thanks for defending me, but I can take care of myself. Now, how are we going to clean this up?”

Har ry thought for a moment until a smile crept into his face. “This might be a bit difficult, but I have an idea. I don’t know how long it will take, so we should clean up at least the bedroom, kitchen and bath room by ourselves. Ehh, do you know any cleaning charms? I only know how to vanish stuff.”

“Huh? Uh yes I know some from watching my mother. What is your plan?”

“Have you ever read ‘The sorcerer`s apprentice? It’s a poem by Goethe” Ginny shook her head, “well, I read it in school. In this story the young wizard tried to enchant the brooms to work by themselves, I bet we could do that!”

“Oh that sounds great! Okay, you go out and buy some food for us I get started on the cleaning, just help me real quick with vanishing the dust.”

They took each other’s hand and stood back to back. Raising their wands high both shouted: “Evanesco!”

“That worked better than expected, I will go through each room doing so before heading out.” Harry said.

“Okay, I will get started on the kitchen, I don’t want to have my food anywhere near there currently. Ahh, before I forget. You have to buy a lot of different food, but not much of it. Duplicating food is easy, but creating food from nothing or turning dust into food is not possible.”

“Oh wow, I didn’t knew that. Did you mother teach you all those spells? I wish we would learn those in school instead of listening to Goblin wars.”

S oon most of the dust was vanished and Harry headed out to find a food store. After asking a couple of muggles he was soon standing inside one, realizing he had no muggle money. Checking if anybody was looking he quickly muttered ‘Accio’ at one of the other customers and the older women’s wallet flew out of her handbag. After taking a 20 pound note out, he levitated it back in the bag. Thanking Ginny mentally for teaching him the amazing duplication spell, he used it on the bank note a couple of times. Satisfied with his new gained wealth, he strode through the shop, packing everything that looked edible or useful into the cart.

After having scurried the entire assortment, he quickly paid. His breath hitched for a second as the cashier used a device to figure out fake bank notes, but magic was clearly superior to technology.

In a dark corner around the shop he shrunk his goods and put them in a small bag. With a big grin he made his way back home. If someone had told him going shopping would be this fun three years before, he would have called him mad.

Opening the door he yelled inside: “Honey, I am home!”

Harry could almost feel how Ginny rolled her eyes. “Why do you sound like mum and dad?”

“I don`t, the couples in the TV shows always did that, that reminds me, I have to take you to the cinema.”

Harry heard her squeal in delight at the prospect of going to see a muggle film. He made his way into the kitchen, unpacked und enlarged the previous shrunken food before proceeding to sorting them neatly into the cabinets. “Do you know any charms to keep the food from spoiling? I don`t.”

“No, sorry. Why don`t we check the library, I bet there is something.”

They shared a brief kiss before hurrying into the vast library, they staggered slightly as they were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of books. Harry took a deep breath and started reading the titles in the shelf closest to him while Ginny squinted her eyes, thinking hard. ‘Accio books on food preservation’

Nothing happened and Harry gave her an odd look. ‘Accio household spells book’ ‘Accio cooking books’ ‘Accio cleaning spells book’ She shouted in rapid succession, but to her dismay she didn’t even hear a book riffling.

“I don`t think the Blacks have those kind of books in their library, after all they had a house elf.”

Ginny pouted but agreed with his logic. “I guess we have to send Hedwig to Flourish and Blotts, just give her a list with books we need and a couple of galleons, I will put some cooling charms on our food in the meantime.”

The note written and the charms placed, they met again in the library. Sitting together in one of the huge and comfy arm chairs they thought about what was yet to be done.

“Our holidays are seriously not going to be boring.” Ginny mused.

“Probably not, but I am still excited. We should make a plan on how to approach all this, I fear I am already forgetting half of the things we wanted to do.”

“All right old man. First we have to deal with our food, I already cleaned our bedroom and the bathroom. It`s not perfect but will do for now, but I don`t want to clean them again, that`s why we should start researching how to make the tools clean by themselves.”

“Good idea! As soon as we got that I want to take you shopping and to the cinema. Afterwards we can start learning more advanced magic.”

“Well then let`s get going, I start on the right side of the library and you on the left. We will just pile all the books together before we start reading, that`s what the Granger girl always does.”

“Huh? Did you just say we should do something she does? I thought you hated her.”

“I do, but she is brilliant and the most organized person I´ve ever seen. If you ever tell someone I said that, I will hex you!”

Ha rry chuckled and began to looking through the shelves, Ginny smirked and tried once more to summon the right books. ‘Accio Advanced Charms books’ ‘Accio animation charms books’ ‘Accio furniture transfiguration books’

Soon she had to dodge a storm of books bolting towards her. In her attempt to jump out of harm’s way, she tripped over a stool and fell. Harry immediately leapt to her, eyes wide with worry. “Are you okay, are you hurt, do you need something?”

“Oh please Harry, calm down I just tripped.” She took his hand, letting him pull her up, uncertainty showing in her eyes and Harry felt her confusion. He felt her confusion about whether she should be glad at having someone to be there for her, or mad for him thinking she couldn`t take care of herself.

The pair settled down into the comfy arm chairs and began working through the books, taking notes and discussing various options of approaching the necessary enchantments. After hours of work Hedwig zoomed in and dropped a bunch of shrunken books, they took them eagerly and tried to learn the spells for making food durable. After some more hours of practicing they felt like they got the hang on it and decided to perform the spells on their food.

Clasping their hands and gazing into each other’s eyes for a moment, something they started doing unconsciously whenever they prepared a magical feat, they aimed their wands at the food and spoke: ‘Fidelis Perpetuus’

Their groceries shone bright blue for a moment marking the successful spell casting.

Absolutely knackered they dragged themselves up into the bathroom, showered and went to bed. In a matter of seconds they were sound asleep, having used more magic on their first day of holidays than on most school days.

They slept in late the next day and made their way down to the kitchen rather slowly. Harry took over kitchen duties, much to the delight of Ginny who could according to her family and herself not cook at all. But despite not being needed in the kitchen, she stayed and paid close attention to what Harry was doing, or more to Harry himself. He was surprised about himself how much he like being watched by her, having her gaze linger on him. When he had to cook for the Dursleys he hated the feeling of being watched by either Aunt Petunia who was making sure everything was done perfect or Vernon who just waited to have a reason to punish him.

Sitting at the table, they ate a hearty breakfast with sausages, bacon, eggs and toast. Having all the ingredients ready at all time made Harry rather excited to cook for Ginny for the remaining holiday. It was a hobby that had the full support of Ginny, even though she was going to support him mostly by eating everything he cooked.

While eating they discussed how they were going to move further with their enchantment plans, Ginny suggested she would try to cast a couple of animation charms on the brooms and see how far along they already were and where they have to put in more research. Harry agreed and had no problems in admitting that Ginny was far more likely to pull the charms off correctly than him, while she liked the praise she would not let Harry make himself appear less skilled than he is. After all, nobody should dare to talk bad about her soul mate, not even he himself.

The following heated, but generally very good hearted and loving discussion made them realise for one, that a proper separation of tasks is quite useful and they should not be ashamed of their talents in certain field while giving other fields to the other person and second, having a discussion while eating is amazing! Not even once they had to hear a complaint about talking with a full mouth, it was probably the best use of their Soulbond so far.

Well, maybe not the most useful, but having a couple argue about who is more amazing while stuffing their mouths with food is a rare sight.

Back at their library, they kept on reading, discussing and experimenting with various spells. Luckily Ginny had the foresight to stock up on brooms beforehand because most tools did not survive their spell work.

Their working was only interrupted when Hedwig flew in with an issue of the Daily Prophet. Glancing at the front page they didn`t know if they should laugh or cry, the stupidity of the people was incredible.

Basili sk attack at Kings Cross — Harry Potter guilty!

Yesterday, when our beloved children returned from a stressful and dangerous year at Hogwarts, the dangers mostly caused by Harry Potter, a Basilisk attacked children and parents alike at Kings Cross. Seemingly out of nowhere did the dark creature pop up and readied itself for attack. Luckily upstanding citizens of our society, led by Mr. Lucius Malfoy, were able to subdue the serpent quickly before harm could be done.

The question is, where did it come from? We are all aware about Harry Potter`s ties to dark creatures and his affinity for forbidden magic. Being a parselmouth, he would have no problems with commanding such a beast. Additionally people reported him threatening the Malfoy family after they argued about the rights to the Black house.

< em>Harry Potter has just recently obtained the rights to the House Black, a title which should have been granted to the last living and not imprisoned member Narcissa Malfoy. Unfortunately the goblins do not hold themselves to our laws and invoked a clause that lead to Potter gaining the house. Young Lord Potter (not to confuse with the hero of our world Daniel Potter!) gave the Black title away to the girl he trapped in a soul bond.

The couple was questioned after the incident with the use of veritaserum, Potter volunteered to be questioned under the influence of the serum. While he stated that they did not summon the Basilisk, I don’t believe them.

What if they had found a way to avoid the serum, would our society ever be safe again? And why are the goblins even allowed to play with our money?

< em>Our ministry has to take action!

            An article by Rita Skeeter

“Well I guess we achieved what we wanted to do, they will respect us now!” Harry mused.

“Indeed, but I think we should lay low for some time now. There is no need to push them, if they decide that we are a threat they would take us down before we could even blink.”

“This just means we have to become even stronger.”

“Yes it does.” Ginny said while leaning over and giving him a kiss.

The following days were spent researching, charming, transfiguring and adding potions to various household tool. Slowly but steadily they were making progress and finally they had their first broom which could clean a single room without any help.

Unfortunately the duplication charm did not work on such a heavily spelled things, therefore they had to add more brooms manually. A sponge and an ever refilling bucket were the next thing they managed to create, charming their bed linen to fold itself and creating a box that cleaned and folded their clothing turned out to be rather simple, once you understood the theory behind animation.

S oon their entire house was filled with ever moving household tools and not a single dust grain was to be seen. While Ginny was adding the finishing touch to some tools, Harry started transfiguring the wallpapers, curtains and furniture into something cosier. Just because you are building a reputation of being a dark wizards you don’t have to live in a gloomy house, they thought.

Not that the house was becoming overly bright, massive wooden doors and heavy tapestries dominated the house, but the depressing atmosphere was replaced by what Harry always imagined as ‘magical’. He tried to reproduce Hogwarts otherworldly and magical vibe into his home, creating what he always dreamt about as a kid.

With flyswatter soaring above their heads, Ginny’s ever moving paintings, teacups suddenly getting feet whenever Harry forgot stopping one of his spells, Brooms cleaning any dirt mere steps behind you and their own moving staircases the house felt truly alive.

Only their attempts at automating cooking failed, it just seemed impossible to cook or bake without supervising what was happening, this enrage them greatly. While Harry loved cooking and would probably have kept doing it even if they were able to automate it, it was a matter of principle.

“Having a house elf just for cooking would be kind of stupid, right?”

“I agree, I also don`t feel comfortable with having some living being in here. Remember the weird House elf my brother encountered last year? He belonged to Malfoy but went against his masters orders!”

“We can’t trust anyone! But I think we are done with our home for now, if we have a good idea about what to do about the more difficult tasks we will get back to it. For now, I want to relax!”

Harry hugged her tightly and imitated a long kissing session.

“Would you like to go to the cinema with me today? And tomorrow I would like to go shopping with you.”

Ginny squealed in delight and showed her appreciation of this suggestion by starting another kissing session.

Leaving their home for the first time in days they remembered how much of a hassle travelling is. With the chimney disconnected from the floo network, one could argue that Harry and Ginny were becoming rather paranoid, and no license to apparate, they had to rely on the Knights Bus.

Waiting for the bus, Ginny huffed: “This sucks, let`s go to the Ministry first and see when we could get our apparition license. I bet we are able to learn in a bunch of days, just look at how many idiots are able to do it.”

Flu shing into the Ministry they received some odd glances, but their absence from public seemed to have reduced the general interest in them dramatically. Making their way towards the bureau of magical transportation they ran into Arthur Weasley.

“Hello Ginevra. What are you doing here, the Auror office is on a different level.”

“Hi father, why would I need to go to the Aurors? We want to get our apparition license.”

“Oh, I figured you were in trouble with the law after the all the dark things Harry does. Well, if you come finally to reason, we won some the Daily Prophet Lottery and are going to visit Bill in Egypt. I am sure you would like to see him, just come with me. Without Harry of course.”

Not willing to show how these word hurt her she turned around and dragged Harry away from him. Tears softly creeping up in her eyes, they made halt in a corner.

“Don’t listen to them, they don`t know anything. You are better than them, just look at what we achieved in a couple of days.”

Ginny’s weeping stopped soon as she buried her face in his chest. “I know, but it still hurts to think that my family turned their back on me like this.”

Entering the right bureau they asked the secretary when they could get their license. After much discussion about their age she finally got up to talk to her superior. A stern looking man walked out and said: “The laws are clear, Apparition is not allowed for people under 17. Your soul bond and the following emancipation did not change anything.”

Fuming they made their way out of the ministry. “I guess we have another thing to learn.”

“I bet finding a viable alternative to apparition without having the ministry notice will be incredibly difficult.”

“Just makes it so much more fun! But anyway you promised me to take me to the cinema today and shopping. Don’t you dare to chicken out!”

“I wouldn`t dream of it.”

Mak ing their way towards the cinema Harry let Ginny pick out the movie. As she had never been into a movie and Harry lost track of the muggle world since starting at Hogwarts they took the cashier recommendation and went into ‘Jurassic Park’. Much to Harry’s surprise, the former existence of Dinosaurs is fairly unknown in the wizarding world, not having a proper education and scientific research outside of the realms of magic did obviously leave scars.

After the movie, Harry had to promise Ginny that they would go to many more movies, as she was ecstatic and replayed every scene in front of him. Lying on a daily basis made her an incredible actress and Harry couldn`t stop grinning.

Next stop was Diagon Alley and they went straight for Gringotts to prepare for their shopping spree. Wandering along Diagon Alley they stopped more often than they were moving. As they reached Madam Malkins Ginny dragged him inside.

After eying the clothes for some time a young shop assistant came over and asked:

“Hello, how may I help you?”

“Hi, both my husband and I need a completely new wardrobe. Money is not an issue.

The young woman peaked up at the last sentence and her eyes showed eager anticipation.

“Oh great, when I said you should get used to have a lot of money I didn`t think you were going to replace my wardrobe.”

“Shush, I still find it hard to not care about money, but if I have to learn to act like I am filthy rich, then I want to do it by buying clothes!”

“You are filthy rich! And if we keep on working on our animated household tools we will stay rich forever.”

“I never thought about selling them… it’s a good idea but let’s not worry about that until after school. I want to keep on learning right now!”

The shop keeper was looking at them a bit confused as she had been absolutely ignored the past moments and was still awaiting an answer.

“I am sorry, what did you say?”

Momentarily taken a back with being addressed again, she stumbled around her words until she brought out: “Would you like to have everything form fitted? I have to take your measurements for that.”

“Ah yes please. Come on Harry you go first.”

The shopkeepers eyes opened wide and she exclaimed: “You are Harry Potter! Is it true, can you really talk telepathically with each other?”

Harry walked over to the stool next to the flying tapeline and said: “Indeed we can.”

The tapeline was buzzing around Harry measuring every last body part while a self-writing quill scribble everything down on a piece of parchment. “That’s actually pretty smart, I wonder what kind of spells they use to get the quill respond to the tapeline,” Harry praised.

While Harry’s measurements were taken, the two girls vanished in the depth of a clothing store, leaving a slightly uneasy feeling Harry behind. As the tapeline was finished and Harry stepped down from the stool, he was still not seeing them again.

Getting bored he figured that he might as well look what they were doing.

“Don`t interrupt us, you will just slow us down!”

Having that suggestion shot down he proceeded to analyse the spell work behind the quill and tapeline. He saw a couple of spells he had never seen before, but the general idea behind the spellwork was fairly similar to what they had done in their own enchantments.

The two girls came back with a huge load of clothing, ranging from casual shorts to dress clothing. Seeing they had even brought him new underwear made him blush scarlet red, which sent the two girls giggling.

As Ginny stepped onto stool, Harry got started at trying out his mountain of clothing.

Standing on her stool, Ginny was quickly passing judgment and about half of the clothes flew back immediately. Whenever Harry talked about problems with the size of the clothing, it was dismissed by the shop assistant who assured that custom fitting was not a problem.

When he was finally done and all clothes had gotten their stamp of approval by the two girls, at this point he really did not want to go shopping ever again, it was Ginny’s turn.

As he prepared himself for a long wait, she shoved him out of the shop and told him to go to the Quidditch and Potions shops. Not one to argue the chance of escaping the fabric hell he quickly made his way towards the Quidditch shop.

Arriving there, he saw a small crowd ogling a brand new racing broom. A smile crept into Harry’s face and he walked into the shop head high.

“Hello, I would like to buy the Firebolt. Twice.”

The broom salesman obviously figured this a joke and he was just about to shove him out of the shop when Harry threw a sack of galleons with a loud thud on the table.

“As it seems you do not want my money. I am rather sad at your lack of respect for a proper customer, am I looking poor to you? Do I not look like the head of house Potter? Are you trying to slander the name of my house?”

The man was turning bright red and the small crowd was now focusing their attention on him. With a small voice he stuttered: “N.. No, you are looking most excellent. I am sorry, please come this way. I will assure you my deepest regret for my rudeness.”

“Empty words! I do not like being played for a fool.”

“No please, I will give you a huge discount as compensation.”

With a smirk Harry let himself been shown into the office and walked out shortly after with two Firebolts and cleaning kits for a price most would kill for.

Next on his shopping list were Potion Ingredients, as most potions he was interested in came from books from the Black’s private library he figured he should look for the ingredients in the Knockturn Alley. He preferred the place anyway, as there were no question asked. Entering a rundown shop in a dark corner of the Alley he let his gaze wander around the shelves. His heart leapt in excitement at the prospect of what interesting potions and poisons one could brew with that.

Especially the section with different vials filled with blood peaked his interest. As blood was an ingredient the held immense amount of power and Harry came to the firm believe that most potions could be spiked up if one was using the correct blood.

Leaning over to the old witch sitting behind her desk he said: “Are these all the blood vials you have, or are do you have something more… potent in stock?”

The witch was narrowing her eyes and asked: “Dragon blood is the most potent blood available in Britain. I am sure it will be enough for your needs.”

With a voice, barely above a whisper he said: “I highly doubt that, I rather need something that possessed both a self-conscious and a magical core. It would be a shame if I had to order it somewhere else, as I rather liked the idea of having a steady supplier close by.”

Her eyes widening at the prospect of adding a new regular customer to her Blackmarket she flicked her wand at a shelf, which vanished momentarily and opened up a staircase downstairs. Walking down, Harry hade to be cautious to not slip on the wet stairs. As he entered a room, he had to take a deep breath and his body filled with excitement. Shelf upon shelfs were filled with Blood vials, body parts of various magical creatures and illegal plants.

Harry was stocking up on his supply and the fact that he didn`t know most of the ingredients made him smile even more. “

Wow Harry, you are really getting into the hobby potioneering! Remember if you need any help, I will always be there for you.”

“Thanks Ginny, after seeing how much fun you have when painting I figured I need a hobby, too. I always enjoyed cooking, but working with Potions is just so much better!”

“Like magical cooking, huh?” Harry could feel her amusement.

“So, how long until you are done with your shopping spree?”

“I guess I am done by the time you are here.”

H arry made his way back after spending a small fortune on potion ingredients and was soon greeted by a brightly grinning Ginny with a mountain of bags.