Memoirs of a Four-Eyed Wizard: Seeing Ginny by My Wicked Quill
Summary: It's Harry and Ginny's 15th Wedding Anniversary and Harry has an incredible surprise for his wife.
A one-shot sequel to Memoirs of a Redheaded Witch.
Rating: G
Categories: Post-DH/AB, Holidays, Cursed Child and beyond
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2017.12.19
Updated: 2017.12.19
Memoirs of a Four-Eyed Wizard: Seeing Ginny by My Wicked Quill
Chapter 1: Seeing Ginny
Author's Notes: Memoirs of a Four-Eyed Wizard
Seeing Ginny
A Memoirs of Redheaded Witch Sequel
“Woman: I don't need you to sell me on reasons to want you
I don't need you to search for the proof that I should
You don't have to convince me
You don't have to be scared you're not enough
'Cause what we've got going is good
I don't need more reminders of all that's been broken
I don't need you to fix what I'd rather forget
Clear the slate and start over
Try to quiet the noises in your head
We can't compete with all that
So what if it's us
What if it's us, and only us
And what came before won't count anymore or matter
Can we try that?
What if it's you, and what if it's me
And what if that's all that we need it to be
And the rest of the world falls away
What do you say?
Man: I never thought there'd be someone like you who would want me
So I give you ten thousand reasons to not let me go
But if you really see me
If you like me for me and nothing else
Well, that's all that I've wanted for longer that you could possibly know
So it can be us
It can be us, and only us…”
-Only Us, from the new broadway musical Dear Even Hansen, Ben Platt & Laura Dreyfuss
I remember the first time she told me she loved me. Nothing in the world ever compared to that moment, even if I had just conquered a dark lord. I remember the glare of the sun off the lake that bounced of my glasses and made me wince. Taking off my glasses in order to wipe them on my tee shirt I took notice for the first time in what seemed like weeks of the shape they were in. Scratched up and cracked a bit in the corner, the wire frames were bent and peeling and I was surprised that I could see through them at all. Considering the amount of soot and ash in the air and the amount of ruble that covered the grounds it was no wonder they were so dirty- not to mention just a few hours ago I was face first on the ground in the forest. Actually, it was a miracle my glasses were even still in my possession, that I had done all that running and flying and jumping and fighting and the old frames were still in —just barely- one piece.
“Oculus Reparo.”
It was the first time I had used my voice in over 12 hours.
Newly repaired, I placed the glasses back on my head. Suddenly, the sun gleamed brighter, the trees were in focus, the lake looked inviting and the world around me looked… better.
It was rather ironic, bitterly so. I had a new perspective on the world. I could see clearly for the first time in weeks, months even. I was alive.
I was going to live.
I had a future.
Fred did not.
Remus and Tonks would never see their son grow up.
And Snape…. I hadn’t even worked out how I felt about that yet.
My whole world felt foreign. As much as everything felt wrong, I couldn’t help but admit to myself I felt so utterly relieved. Guilt clouded my insides.
I walked towards the lake wishing I could have slept a little longer. Kreacher had been decent enough to bring me a sandwich to my four poster in the boys’ dormitory, but when I assured him that was all I needed, food and sleep, he wouldn’t rest until he assessed every inch of me to make sure I was alright. It was an entire ordeal to fight him off. Then, even when I was able to fall asleep, he kept checking in on me.
It seemed he didn’t believe me either when I said I was fine. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I didn’t want to see him because he reminded me of Dobby. Another lost life on my hands.
The great Harry Potter, so brave, such a hero; what a load of bullocks. I’d easily shove that title right up Malfoy’s arse. I was no hero. Nor was I a martyr. I was always just at the wrong place at the right time- and oh yeah- I was forced into a destiny I never wanted any part of. I never wanted to be great; I never wanted attention and glory. I had just wanted…I just wanted….
Good God. Enough. Enough. I was not going to feel sorry for myself. That was the last thing I needed. I wasn’t going to do that anymore. Too many people had died for me, too many people had fought for this future, my future, the Wizarding World’s future. It wasn’t about me; it was bigger than me. I wasn’t going to go and hide and I wasn’t going to run. It wasn’t what Dumbledore would have done. After Grindelwald-he stayed. Even Snape-after my mum… he stayed. Ron and Hermione didn’t deserve me abandoning them.
I was going to do things on my terms now. I would stay, and help rebuild not because I had to but because it was what was right. It was what I wanted.
I was getting closer to a familiar spot on the bank by the lake. My feet new what I was doing. My heart new it too, the damn thing. It had gotten me into so much trouble and now… I knew I couldn’t wait any longer, I needed to know. I needed… her to know.
Ginny Weasley.
It was funny how someone I took for granted for so long would all of a sudden be the only person who would understand. She would know, she wouldn’t judge me she would-
It was all a moot point. She probably hated me.
She should hate me.
It wasn’t even that she deserved so much more than me, it was that I had my shot, and I buggered it all. Besides finding out that I was a wizard, she was the best thing that ever happened to me. I might not have been the best boyfriend, or even the best friend, and definitely wasn’t the most romantic of blokes but somehow she seemed to always like me too. She brought out something in me, something better. I wasn’t one for displays of affection, yet… I kissed the girl in front of all my classmates. I felt myself with her. She was by all means, bloody perfect. Especially for me.
And I went and ditched her and hurt her and while she told me she was alright with it, she was a girl- I wasn’t such an idiot to not understand that women don’t like being hurt by guys. I was holding out hope that she’d waited. That she understood. That she’d forgive me.
If she didn’t, well, I would let her be. If she hated me… well then…. maybe I would leave. Only because she’d want me to and the only thing I wanted more than to make my own decisions was to make her happy.
She lost a brother because of me.
Merlin, there was no way she didn’t hate me.
And if the look she gave me when didn’t stand up for her back in the room of requirement was any indication, she loathed me. I didn’t regret it, however, I would have done anything to keep her out of the fight, to keep her safe.
Then again, I knew better than anyone: Ginny Weasley could take care of herself.
A glint of red came into view. She was there, just like I knew she would be, sitting under our tree. It was her favorite place in the entire castle.
I approached silently, thinking of how close I had come to losing her forever. When Bellatrix’s curse had missed Ginny by a hair I almost blew the entire battle to kill Bellatrix. I was prepared to use the killing curse in that moment. I hadn’t even used the killing curse on Voldemort. If Mrs. Weasley hadn’t interfered… I might have lost my head; I might have…no I would have-
I stepped on a branch; it snapped and gave away my presence. Ginny stirred, but didn’t turn around. I took a step closer.
She turned ever slow slightly, “Look, I just want to be left alone so-” I caught a glimpse of her brown eyes and then she turned back around quickly, not finishing her sentence.
My stomach dropped. I hadn’t spoken to her in nine months. For a moment I thought perhaps facing Voldemort was easier. Conjuring up any Gryffindor courage I had left, I said, “Hi.”
“Hi.”
It was short, but not hostile. In all honesty, I had no idea what to expect from her. In my head I kept hearing her cries for me when she thought I was dead. Her tortured screams weren’t something I’d ever be able to forget. Still as much as she may or may not have cared for me, I would never want to hear her sound like that again.
I had put her through so damn much. I was still sure that I was the reason she ended up involved with Tom Riddle her first year. Malfoy hated me and she got in the cross fire. She used to tell me all the time that Malfoy hated her father long before I met the Weasley’s. I still wasn’t all that convinced.
I wanted her to turn to me, to look at me and give me the smile that for some reason made me feel like it would all be okay. But she didn’t turn around.
“Ginny?” Still nothing. There were a few more moments of awkward silence. “Can you…please... look at me?” I sounded more desperate than I anticipated. But I was desperate- I was. I wanted to make sure she was alright; I wanted to talk to her to tell her everything, there were so many secrets, so much I had kept from her and made Hermione and Ron keep from her.
She turned around and her blazing eyes met mine. Her face was pale, much paler than I remembered and she was extremely thin. There were dark circles around her eyes and her lips were chapped and raw.
She was beautiful.
So perfect it hurt to look at.
She turned back instantly, as though burned by my gaze.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
I grimaced. There it was: the truth. She couldn’t even bare to look at me. I sickened her. But I needed to hear her say it. For my sake and for the sake of my respect for the Weasleys I needed to see this through. I needed closure… and I was pretty sure she wanted it too.
“You can’t?”
She shook her head still facing the lake. The warm air swept through her hair. That hair. For years that hair was something I always seemed to notice. Whether it was during meals at the great hall, evenings in the common room or my personal favorite, flying around the pitch during practice, it always caught my attention. Her hair was so bright and wild, just like her. There were nights all I wanted to do was run my hands through it. Bugger it all: Voldemort, the prophecy, the Hallows- Ginny’s hair could turn my brain to mush. The woman was turning me into a sap. But I guess I didn’t really care. I loved her hair…I loved-
“Why?” I asked.
When she spoke, she did so without looking at me. Her voice was horse and low, unfamiliar and not like her at all. “Not sure, perhaps it has to do with the fact that I can’t seem to hold a grip on whether you’re alive or not. I’m talking to you now, so maybe you really are here and okay. But in the next five minutes…who knows? Of course, I sound like a terrible person when I say that don’t I? It’s not your fault if you die-that is if you don’t sacrifice yourself- but I think you do have a large influence on whether you are around or if you disappear again as you’re very keen on doing.” She sighed. “I understand if you feel the need to go, don’t let me stop you. It’s not like I was ever able to before.”
I was still taking in her words and running them over in my head, bewildered by her admission when she added, “Then there’s that constant doubt: maybe this is all in my head. Wishful thinking and all that…”
“If this is all in your head, why would that mean it isn’t real?” The words were out of my mouth before I even realized I was saying them.
“That sounds like something Dumbledore would have said.”
“He did.”
Half of me felt foolish for avoiding the subject, the other half knew not to expect much more from myself. I was always rubbish with talking and feelings. I was going to have to dig deep and really try if I wanted a true shot at making it through this conversation. Perhaps, perhaps it was time to just let it all go. Tell her the unabridged version of my… my feelings. I’d repressed everything my whole life. I stuffed everything into my closet under the stairs, it was where I hid, it was where I was safe, it was a cage where I was told to stay, to not cry, to not feel, to not be happy, to not make a sound.
I wasn’t ten anymore. I knew that I wasn’t treated right growing up, I knew now that a normal human being was allowed to feel and express those feelings. Not hold them in and snap at friends. Hermione would be so proud. Ron would punch me in the shoulder.
“Ginny,” I croaked, “I-I’m-”
“Don’t apologize Harry. Please don’t. It’s easier that way. Just go.”
“I can’t.”
“You can’t? Why?”
“Because I’m not going anywhere.”
I could visibly see her stiffen. She really didn’t expect me to stay, she thought I was going to run and leave my life here. I was such a prat. how could she not at all think I wanted to stay with her? Merlin, she must have thought that I didn’t care for her at all.
I tried to remember if I had given her any inkling that I wanted her to wait for me. Any inkling that I was going to fight for her, that if I lived I wanted to come back to her. I couldn’t recall anything. I had just left. Not letting her come with us, I had left her alone barely even saying goodbye. Granted, I really didn’t think I was going to survive, I didn’t think I would come back to her but… Maybe Ron was right. Maybe I should have let him punch me, maybe I had messed her around. I was such a prat.
But I was going to change that. I wasn’t leaving and I wasn’t dead. I didn’t want to be dead. I knew she must have been angry with me for walking into that forest but she didn’t know the whole story. She didn’t know that while I did sacrifice myself, I willingly chose to live as well. When Dumbledore said I had a choice- I chose her. And now I would have to convince her.
Taking a breath and steadying myself I just…. spoke. “Because I am alive and it’s because of you. It’s because it took me a while to get here and I’m not leaving just so that all I did was for nothing, because everything I did, I did for you. I’m not going anywhere because I’m tired of doing what people expect me to do, for once I’m going to do what I want, because someone once told me to tell those people to sod off. It’s because I don’t need them. I need you.”
She remained silent and an as still as the water. The sky above was dimming, the sun slowly reaching the horizon. I sighed, “Please say something? Please don’t block me out, I know I deserve it, but just tell me, now that you heard what I had to say, tell me to go and I will. Tell me to leave you alone and I will.”
I desperately wanted to hold her and to be held by her. I just wanted her. She still hadn’t said anything, “I mean it Ginny. I’m not leaving until you say it.” My impatience had gotten the best of me and I approached her. But when I did, I came face to face with a crying Ginny Weasley. “Ginny?” I gasped, falling to my knees before her, level with her eyes. The monster in my chest roared, but for a different reason. She was hurting and I couldn’t stand it…I wouldn’t have it. “Ginny…. Ginny...” I whispered, my insides breaking at the sight, I grabbed her face and tried my best to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She was so small, and her skin was so soft and warm.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I said, better words not coming to mind. I was sorry, I was so sorry for everything. Everything was my fault, all she’d been through. I would never be good enough for this girl- I knew it. I was ridiculous to even think I deserved her. But I wanted to try. Because… because loved her. And because she was the only thing that made sense. She was here and I was here and together we could… maybe build a life. If she’d have me.
“It’s not your fault,” she said through her tears. “It’s not, Harry. Don’t let anything make you think that.”
“But-”
“No buts. I need you too, Harry. Fred,” sobbed Ginny. “Harry….Fred.” And suddenly she was in my arms, and I tried my best to protect her from the outside world. Everything that hurt her all the pain she felt, I would do anything to make it better. But…there was nothing I could do that would bring Fred back. The force of the grief hit me like a bludger. He was gone and we were all going to have to live in a world without Fred Weasley. I kissed the top of Ginny head, grateful that she was okay but feeling so guilty and just…everything… I felt everything. I was crying. I didn’t care.
I didn’t know how long we sat there engulfed in our own thoughts, our own tears. I had wanted to hold her for so long, but this, this sad moment was nothing more than a bittersweet dream fulfillment.
I wanted to be angry. I wanted to scream and kick that way I did when Sirius was murdered in front of me. I wanted to throw things. But none of the would change the fact my godson was going to grow up without his parents. Nothing was going to stop me from making sure he would not grow up alone. I knew now that if I wanted to be constructive and if I wanted to make a difference, I would have to do just what I was doing. Being there for the people I loved…and letting them be there for me in return.
Ginny shifted in my arms and her elbow brushed against my lower abdomen. A sharp shock or white hot pain ran down my entire body.
“Harry?” she asked, no doubt hearing my grunt of pain.
“It’s fine, I’m fine.” I replied automatically, willing the pain to cease.
She moved off of me and looked in my eyes. My eyes were just as wet as hers, but somehow I felt a little better already, and color was returning to her complexion.
“You’re in pain?” She disregarded my denial. She could see through me. She was too smart for my own good.
Sighing I resigned, “Well you wouldn’t believe me if I told you I wasn’t. But don’t worry it’s nothing that I can’t handle.”
She shook her head, “Let me see, I’ve learned a bit from Madam Pomfrey this past year and I’ve taught myself a lot with these books in the room of requirement, I might be able to help.”
Her comment caught me off guard. Thinking back to the moment I entered the Room of Requirement last night, I remember being surprised that most of the students had found refuge in the large hide out. Knowing that Snape and the Carrows had taken over the school, I knew that things must have been grim for the students, but I had no idea just how bad it had gotten. Why would Ginny need medical books badly enough that the room would provide them for her?
I shook my head, not wanting to talk about my injuries. I didn’t even know how bad they were….I didn’t really even want to know, or think about it…. not yet. “No Ginny. Just leave it; I don’t think it will do any good.”
“How could you know, if I haven’t even seen?”
“Please, just forget it.”
“I can’t! Especially if you’re hurting.”
“I’m fine.”
“Obviously not.”
“Ginny. I don’t want you to see.” Once again, the words came out on their own accord.
She froze, “Why not?”
I wasn’t about to burden her with my pain, I didn’t want… I couldn’t just…. I didn’t want the attention on me. I didn’t want her pity; I didn’t want her…her…
I knew I would have to talk about it at some point but it didn’t mean that my instincts weren’t telling me to evade. I pulled away a bit. All of a sudden it was getting harder to breath- she was too close. Her eyes were watching me too knowingly. I felt smothered. Relax, Potter.
“It’s just not…easy to swallow...we’ve had a hard year,” I said while flashes of Nagini emerging from Bathilda Bagshot’s body and burning objects from inside Bellatrix’s vault passed through my mind.
“Don’t you think I know that? Harry that’s not going to change my mind. I can show you some of my scars from this past year too.”
The monster in my chest growled, and I turned to face her quickly, not regretting it when more pain tore through my body. “Scars?”
“Yes…” she replied cautiously. “But mine have all been tended to.” The sinking sun cast a halo around her head, her hair looking like it was on fire. She was still watching me intently. Just the thought of someone hurting her made me sick.
“What did they do to you, Ginny?” I was terrified of the answer. The whole reason I left her was to ensure her safety. If it was all in vain…
“Nothing I can’t handle,” she snapped with a raised eyebrow.
“Ginny!”
“It’s a story for another time, Harry. Ok? I promise I’ll tell you everything but this is about you right now, not me. You, and your medical needs.”
I rested back on the grass, “I worry more about you,” I said honestly.
“Let me see, Harry.” She was leaning over me, all I could see was her and her curtain of hair. “Please,” she begged.
I really didn’t want to; I must have looked a wreck- she’d be disgusted…but I couldn’t refuse her when she was asking for something. Not now. Not when I’d spent over a year saying no.
So I let her. I closed my eyes and pretended it wasn’t happening. Pretended that I was somewhere else as she grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it up. I heard her gasp.
“That bad?”
“You see, I told you. You don’t have a Hungarian Horntail tattooed to your chest.”
I nearly smiled, it was as close as I had gotten to a true smile in a while. Had I even smiled when Voldemort died? I remember there were cheers… as quickly as the almost smile came it left.
“It must really be bad,” I sighed, relaxing a little more. Unexpectedly, Ginny’s fingers were on my chest, cool and soft against my battered and bruise skin. Ginny and I hadn’t gotten up to too much when we had dated back in my sixth year, I wasn’t exactly used to intimate touch… not that her touching the wounds on my chest was intimate- it just felt…. To be touched like that… it had been so long and- and it was Ginny. I just- it felt good. I was trying very hard not to flush, but I couldn’t help but squirm a bit.
Her fingered stilled, “Did that hurt?” she asked in alarm.
I shook my head and closed my eyes trying not to be embarrassed. Calm down. “No actually it felt really good.” I said
“Harry, you’ve been hit with really dark magic…”
I nodded, keeping my eyes shut.
“You need to see Madam Pomfrey.”
I sat back up carefully pulling my tee shirt back down. “No. Not yet, can’t we-can’t I-” My words were jumbling up just like my thoughts.
“What?”
“Going up there now, it would be like entering the real world; can’t we just stay out here for a while longer?”
She was biting her lip. It was then that I took notice of them. Her lips- Merlin, I — what I wanted to do-
She was struggling with whether to stay and keep our new found peace and quiet or drag me up to the hospital wing and get me all healed. Something about getting healed didn’t sit right with me. I knew eventually I was going to have to get myself looked over by a professional. But… once the scars healed… what if… what if I wasn’t? What proof would I have- would I forget, eventually? I didn’t want to forget. I wasn’t making any sense. I just… I wanted to feel the pain. At least for a little while longer.
Ginny gave in to me. She lay next to me under the shade of the vast tree. “What hit you, Harry?”
I knew what she was referring to of course. I hadn’t seen it yet, but I knew it was there. Avada Kedavra. Right in the chest. I briefly wondered if it looked like a lightning bolt. That was twice now- twice that I had survived the direct hit of the killing curse.
“I will tell you everything, Ginny. I promise, but not right now. It’s all still so fresh.”
“Don’t make empty promises,” she whispered.
“Empty promises? Ginny, don’t you believe me? I want to tell you everything, I don’t want there to be any secrets between us. I’m tired of them, and I want you to understand.”
“Because you owe it to me,” she said in explanation. She really didn’t get it. I was doing a right job of mucking all this up!
I grabbed her chin and forced her face to look at mine, I needed her to listen. Not just hear me. “It’s more than that. You think I’m just going to leave without letting you know anything?”
“So you are leaving.”
GODRIC! This woman was exasperating! What was it going to take? “No! You’re wrong on both accounts! Where would I go? Why? The only future I ever imagined for myself was one right here, with you.”
I went for broke. My admission might cost me but at least it was out there.
Ginny’s jaw dropped. “Wha-what?” she looked utterly stunned. It shocked me that this girl would be surprised that I wanted her, that I wanted a future that involved her.
“Look, I promised to tell you the full story at some point but right now you need to know at least one thing. But let me warn you Ginny, it’s not a happy story.” I meant the Horcruxes. I needed to tell her what happened in the forest. I needed her to understand what she meant to me-and this was the best way I knew how to prove it.
“I know that Harry; I know about the Horcruxes.”
Well- I wasn’t expecting that- no not at all.
“What-How? When… where, you….know?” I sputtered.
Ginny gave me a guilty look. Twisting her hands in her lap as though he was about to get into serious trouble. “I figured it out alright? I heard you lot mention something about them last summer and I took the initiative to find out the rest. Don’t be mad- you know you would have done the exact same thing,” she said, straightening up defiantly. I always knew Ginny wasn’t the type to play by the rules, she had the strong Weasley trait of defying authority and bending the rules, but… “I didn’t tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about,” she continued quickly, “Well- I guess Fleur knows, but that was partly your fault. She had a theory ever since you three arrived at her place and when I asked her if she knew what Horcruxes were she made everyone leave the room so that she could tell me. We figured out the rest together. But she hasn’t said anything-”
“I-I-I’m not mad,” I said stopping her mid-rant. I really didn’t know what to say. And…Fleur? Since when was Ginny getting on with Fleur well enough to…. And I mean I knew Ron, Hermione and I weren’t all the subtle during our time at Shell Cottage but I hardly thought that anyone would think that…or well-
I realized I had under estimated people around me for too long. Supposing that it stemmed from growing up not expecting anything from anyone- at all really, I realized that I didn’t give enough credit where credit was due. The people around me were smart and capable…maybe…. maybe I should have asked for more help- perhaps Fleur even…but especially Ginny. Especially Ginny. “I’m just.... surprised,” was all I could muster to say.
“Didn’t think I would figure it out? You probably didn’t think I would figure out the prophecy either, huh?”
I was stunned yet again. Though, perhaps the prophecy wasn’t such a big leap, most people had their theories and most people were right, after all they had started calling me the Chosen One. The Horcruxes though… that was…impressive. Hermione didn’t even know what they were at first.
“You always under estimate me, Potter,” she said with a sarcastic grin, but a sad tone in her voice.
“Wow, um…so…then you…already know.”
“Honestly, all I know is that you three were hunting those Horcruxes, I knew that there was more than one. The rest…the Elder Wand and Voldemort thinking he had killed you yet again…the rest I haven’t a clue.”
And she deserved to know, she did. I starred at her for a minute, taking I the cuts and bruises on her forearms and the soot on her nose. This girl had fought, and fought hard. She’d been through a lot, the Chamber of Secrets for one left her with nightmares and delusions and a haunting guilt that she had expressed to me late nights by the fire in the common room. She had fought alongside me stood up for me and had targets on her back and watched her family put themselves in harm’s way for me time and time again. And then…then she started up the D.A. again with Neville when the school is over run by Death Eaters and…. the whole time… the whole time she had all pushed her away said she was too small, too young…not good enough…in reality, she was actually the strongest person I’d ever known.
“You’re amazing.” Her eyes widened. “You’ve been here, dealing with Merlin knows what, and yet you found out the answers yourself…you’re amazing,” I said.
She turned away again. She was so….cold…so not- not herself. Not that I expected her to be. But she was still keeping herself at a distance. “That isn’t an explanation to why you are the master the Elder Wand, nor does it tell me why you had us think you were dead.”
Darn, she really wasn’t making this easy, not one bit. “I know…sorry. Well, I guess the first thing you should know is that there were seven Horcruxes.”
“Seven?!”
“Yeah, I know. A ring that belong to Salazar Slytherin- which was destroyed by Dumbledore two years ago, a cup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, the lost Diadem of Rowena Raven claw, a locket that belonged to Voldemort, his pet snake Nagini and…”
“The Diary of Tom Riddle.”
I grimaced, “Figured that out too, did you?”
“That was the easiest part. Once I realized what a Horcrux was, I knew the diary was one. That’s how I knew that there was more than one, because Dumbledore had assured me it was destroyed.”
I imagined her coming to the truth of what had really happened to her, of finding out all alone that Voldemort’s soul had come so close to taking hers… I should have been there, I should have run to her and told her the truth the moment Dumbledore told me what they were. Who cared if… if Dumbledore had told me to keep quiet. I still told Ron and Hermione…. Ginny… she was the one who deserved the truth. I was awful. Utterly awful. “Yeah…I’m sorry you had to find that out on your own, I wish I could have been the one to tell you, I wish I would have been the one to be with you when you found out why the diary did that to you. Why it…hurt you.” My words sounded so lame.
Tears prickled at the edge of her eyes, “I felt so dirty. I felt…like a part of him.”
My heart cracked. I touched her face and said, “No. You’re not, you’re you; you’re Ginny. He’s not inside you anymore, it’s over. I promise.”
Promise? Promise? In her experience I wasn’t good at any type of promise. “That’s only six, Harry, you said there were seven.”
I pulled my hand back, feeling the indifference roll off her body in waves. I was going to lose her. I could see it now. There was no chance. All I could do was be as honest as possible and then…. then…. I didn’t know. “That was the big secret…for years Dumbledore kept something from me, something Voldemort didn’t even know.”
“What was it?”
“I was the last Horcrux, Ginny.”
Her breath caught. “What? Is that even possible? When did you find out about this?”
“I found out right after Voldemort killed Snape.”
“Snape’s dead?”
Everything was so complicated, it was all so messed up, how was I going to tell her that she shouldn’t celebrate his death? I was going to need three days at least to explain who Snape really was. ““Yeah, Ginny it’s a really complicated story, but when Snape was dying he gave me his memories. He had been working with Dumbledore the entire time; he was never a bad guy, Gin.”
“I know. Figured that out too. He was a double agent. Dumbledore had Snape kill him on purpose.”
I stared blankly for a moment then… then I laughed. I actually laughed. The relief of someone understanding- of knowing for themselves instead of having to rely on my word that he was an innocent man… it felt great. “Brilliant. I didn’t even know that until I saw it myself in Snape’s memories.”
“I’m smarter than you. Always have been.” In that moment, I truly believed her.
“Perhaps.” The next thing I was going to say, well, I was nervous. “Well, Dumbledore told Snape that at the last possible moment I would need to be told that I was the seventh, and final Horcrux, and that only Voldemort could destroy me.”
“So…” she started slowly, the light vanishing from her eyes… “All the dreams, all the visions…” she looked up at the scar on my forehead.
“Yeah,” I said, “Right there.” I let it sink in. that I had lived sixteen years with a piece of Voldemort inside me. I was nailing my casket. Ginny had been touched my Tom’s soul once and it nearly ruined her life, it nearly ended it. She’d want no more reminders. And I was a 160-pound memento. Then I continued, “You have to murder someone to make a Horcrux so-”
“The night he killed your mother-”
“The night he gave me this-”
“He unknowingly made you a Horcrux.”
I nodded.
“So you…had to die.”
I thought back to the moment in Dumbledore’s office when I came face to face with the truth. I wasn’t all that surprised, I wasn’t all that scared. I was hurt; it felt like a knife to the back, but it was just… it was what it was. The truth, and nothing could change it. It was a fact that was part of my past. I wasn’t sure if Ginny was going to see it that way.
“Yes, so I told Neville what to do. I told him to kill the snake; it was that last remaining Horcrux.”
“But…you’re here with me now…how is that possible?”
“I did die, Ginny. I was gone.”
That did it. That right there that comment, sent her off the edge. Yup. “Wait, hold on. So you went off to die without so much as a…as a goodbye? You just left knowing you weren’t… you knew you weren’t coming back? You knew you had to die?”
“Someone would have stopped me-” I tried, but it was no use.
“Of course we would have stopped you!” She was yelling now. “We would have told you to wait; we would have discussed our other options!”
“There were no other options!” I countered, knowing that everything had to play out like it did. “We were wasting time as it was!”
“I would have made you slow down and consider something else! Do you know how much it would have hurt us? If you knew in that moment you were not coming back, that you would leave us thinking you didn’t give a damn about any of us? Of course we wouldn’t have let you gone it was too much of a gamble, we actually cared about your life, even if you didn’t! Damn it, Harry I know you are stubborn but so am I. I would have stopped you.”
“You nearly did.”
“Excuse me?!”
I nodded, trying my best to not be intimidated by her tone. “I was on my way when I saw you with a little girl, she was dying. Merlin Ginny, I must have gone crazy thinking about telling you right then and there and letting you drag me back. I nearly said goodbye then, and you would have been the only one I would have talked to. But I couldn’t. I figured that it wouldn’t hurt you as much since I hadn’t spoken to you in so long, if I had just left. A clean break.”
“Hurt me as much…?”
“As much as it hurt me…walking away from you again. Knowing that I never would see you again. Ginny, we could have been apart for 5 years and it wouldn’t have made any difference to me, the pain wouldn’t have gotten any easier. I hoped that maybe you would have moved on…I realized that if I did what I had to do…without stopping to hurt you even more by telling you I was going to die…you could have your own life- you could be happy. So… I kept walking.”
Excruciating was the better word for it. Standing there under my cloak watching her.
“I felt you,” she said looking at her hand quizzically.
“What?”
“I felt you there. I knew you were there. But I refused it- I denied it. I couldn’t believe that you were outside, on your way to sacrifice yourself. How could you be so selfish, Harry?”
A cloud moved in front of the dimming sun and we were washed in a grey light. “I wasn’t being selfish Ginny…I…” Was I being selfish? Was she right? I hadn’t considered her feelings…at all. I hadn’t thought of anyone’s feelings. Mrs. Weasley? She had just lost a son and she was always called me as good as one of her own… she would have been sad. Right? Ron and Hermione would have been…. would they have felt betrayed? Merlin. Had I really hurt my friends? I knew I did what was right…. but could I have at least left a note along the way?
“I know; I know you were being noble. But you just walked away from me.”
I was getting a little desperate, this was not going how I had imagined. “But Ginny, when I met him, when he was about to cast the killing curse at me again, I thought of you. I pictured you in my head…you. You were the last thing I thought of…our kiss in your bedroom so many months ago.”
Ginny smiled. An actual full smile. I did a double take. Hadn’t she been about to chew my head off? She had just been yelling. She had just called me selfish, had that really worked? Telling her she was the last thing I thought of before I died? Perhaps that was… romantic. Hmm. I suppose it was. The best part was I didn’t just say it. It was true.
“I felt that too,” she said. She felt it? I had no idea what she was talking about. How did she feel these things? “And then you died...”
“Yes I did,” I replied, slightly dizzy from trying to understand her, “Yeah. I did…Ginny, what does that mean? You felt me?”
“Yes…I don’t know how to explain it…and it was the first time either…there were a few moments this past year where I felt as though you were with me…as though you were somewhat watching over me…” It was insane. This was insane!
“Ginny, I spent many nights falling asleep watching your dot on the Marauder’s Map.”
“You did…what?”
“I…well…I liked to know you were okay. I mean, I didn’t know how you were feeling but I knew you were in your dorm sleeping at night,” I told her bashfully. It was bloody embarrassing letting her know that. But her blush and small smile made me think that maybe I was being romantic again. And watching her on the map kept me sane, I’d do it all over again.
“How could I feel you Harry?”
I didn’t even bother thinking about it, from the time I was 11 and learned I was a wizard magic just did whatever it wanted, there was rarely a rhyme and reason to it. I may have only been exposed to the wizarding world for seven years, but I had learned that. “I don’t know…but…maybe…maybe there are things about magic that aren’t worth the trouble of worrying about…maybe we should just enjoy it.”
If magic created a bond between Ginny and me, well I wasn’t about to complain.
“So you died, and Harry I felt so empty…so cold. Neville thought I had gone into shock.”
“I did die, Ginny- but I had a choice.”
“A choice?”
“It’s another complicated story, but I had the chance to move on and be with my parents, and Sirius, and Remus, Tonks…Fred…” each named burned in my throat. “But,” I forced myself to continue, “I could come back. Once, after Sirius died maybe, I might have chosen to stay there. But things changed for me and I realized that I did have a reason to come back. Not necessarily only to kill Voldemort, though that was a major part of it, but I guess it would have only taken a curse from anyone to finish him. But I had another reason.”
I couldn’t read her face. Which was odd, because I thought I had her completely understood. Women. She seemed scared of what I was going to say next, but… why? Perhaps she just didn’t want to hear it? Maybe she didn’t want-
“Harry-”
"No please, listen to me, Ginny. I know I really have no right in asking you for any favors- you owe me nothing, but please just for once, listen to what I have to say and then if you want… I'll leave you alone."
She looked in my eyes, looking for something, proof maybe? Trust? Whatever it was, she seemed to have found it because she said, “Alright, I’m listening.”
I took a breath and then just…let it out, "I've never been completely sure what love is, Ginny. I didn't grow up in that kind of environment- there was never the warmth at the Dursleys’ that I would feel at the Burrow…so it wasn't until I met your family that I began to… really understand what it meant to love someone- to care about people- enough to be willing to see them through anything. That love was unconditional. Now that took me longer to comprehend, I mean…how could love be unconditional? But when I thought of your mum, she's the perfect example, after all Percy has put your family through it put her to tears of happiness when he arrived at the school right before the battle."
Not that I had expected Mrs. Weasley to scorn her son, but, I had been surprised at her reaction. After all Percy had said to her and Mr. Weasley and all he’d done to undermine their family name she was only filled with joy when she saw him. Ginny smiled sadly and I continued.
"I'm more than grateful to you and your family for that. And when Sirius was around, I felt more loved than I ever had before. By that time- my fifth year- I grasped what the basics were. I knew I loved Ron and Hermione, Sirius loved me, so did Remus and your mum. But when I started having feelings for you, I was confused again. I loved you a different way than I did Hermione, and definitely different from how I felt about your mum," I stared at my hands on my lap. "It was my sixth year that I learned love had different levels, and the more you felt, the more levels you could feel made you heart only larger, and it felt so good. It feels so good."
I knew I must have sounded stupid. I was 17 years old. I knew how loved worked and I knew I didn’t have to explain it to Ginny, but… the feeling was still new to me. And I had pledged to be honest.
"But then I had to go away, and while I was out there I realized I had known what love was all along, all these years I've been loving people, but never admitted it or shown it or even attempted at expressing it. Out there without you, I felt like the worst person on the face of the planet, I realized you had no idea how I felt about you and whether I knew what love was or not, it was unfair of me to keep you from at least how I was feeling, what I thought I felt. You were here all alone, not knowing. I thought that maybe, when I returned you wouldn't want anything to do with me. After all, I had deserted you." I braved a look at her. She was watching me with rapt attention, hanging on to every word. I knew what I was going to say next was probably the most important thing I’d ever say.
Other than maybe saying the spell that ultimately killed Voldemort. But I digress.
"Then I saw you after so long, after missing you so much, wishing you were with me whenever I saw Ron and Hermione growing closer… after watching your dot on the Marauder’s Map night after night, and you walked into the Room of Requirement and smiled at me. The most amazing feeling hit me, that I did love you, I was IN love with you, that I didn't want you with any other person if that person was not me."
Her face remained neutral and almost expressionless. She was a still mask of indifference. But it didn’t stop me. No not at all. I found that, as more words came out of my mouth the easier it made saying them. I could already feel some weight lifted off my shoulders. "I promised to myself that if I survived, I would tell you how I felt, because I owed it to you. Whether you hated me or not. So here I am. In front of you. Devastatingly sorry, not sure how I will ever make you forgive me- but- but loving you more than anything I've ever felt my whole life. I came back for you, Ginny. For you."
She was crying. I was making her cry; I hoped with everything in me that they were happy tears…I took her hand. Realizing that while a teary Ginny was not something I was used to, she looked more beautiful than ever. "So this is me,” I said firmly. “For the first time ever saying, I love you. I love you, Ginevra Weasley." Saying Ginevra was still foreign to me. Since I’d learned her full name I hadn’t actually used it, until now. It felt…. right. All of it, my words, her in front of me-alive, it all felt right.
I put the quaffle in her hands. It was up to her to decide what she was going to do with it. I had a brave face on…but if she knew me at all, she knew I was terrified in that moment. It was the moment between acceptance and… and well I wasn’t sure what else there was for me. If Ginny turned me down, I could hardly imagine my relationship with the Weasleys ever being the same. And without the Weasleys…. Stop. Stop. The Weasleys would never, ever turn me away…and- and there was Teddy and Andromeda and there was Hermione and Ron and Hagrid and McGonagall…. Sod it all. I really wanted the girl in front of me.
“Harry, when I saw you lying dead in Hagrid’s arms… Harry- my world stopped. I don’t even want to think about it,” she said brushing the thought away with a shake of her head. “But what you do need to know is that one thing ran through my mind the entire time, that I never got to tell you that I loved you.” My heart stopped. For the second time in 36 hours, my heart stopped. I had to really concentrate on her words after that. My head kept running through those three little words…
“Just like you said I deserved to know, I felt you deserved to know even more. I was selfish and scared to put my heart on the line, and scared that if I told you, you would run the other way. And you probably would have…but you still needed to know. And now that you did survive…I’m getting my second chance and I’m not going to blow it.” She smiled. “I’m in love with you, Harry James. I always have been.”
Well that, that was…. there was really nothing in my head. Nothing but a need to kiss her. So I did. There were probably a million reasons why kissing her and losing ourselves in each other was inappropriate at that moment…people were grieving, there was so much to be done, funerals to plan…but in that moment, Ginny was the only thing that was real. The only thing that mattered. She was my future, she was my better half, the one who pushed me to want to be better. So looking back, maybe…she was the only thing that truly mattered.
“I will love you forever Harry, enough for your parents, enough for Sirius, and Dumbledore and Remus combined. I’ll show it every day, and I won’t let you forget how much they love you- how much I love you.”
All my doubts disappeared, my worry that she’d never want to see me again. I had underestimated her. “Forever?” I whispered back. “I like the sound of that.” And I really did.
I had forever to tell her about Snape and my mother…about the horrible year I’d had…about Dumbledore and his sister…about Malfoy… and the Hallows and everything.
“Harry?” she asked a while later. The moon was brightly shining overhead and I had been falling asleep on the grass.
“Hmm…”
“People are probably worried about us. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going this afternoon.”
“Don’t worry, your family was looking for you when I told them I was actually on my way to speak with you, I told them I knew where you were.” It was awkward approaching Mrs. Weasley once I had awoken. But she spared me. She wordlessly pulled me into a fierce hug and just…well. It was nice. Mr. Weasley was asking for Ginny, and I told him I believed her to be down by the lake. Mrs. Weasley gave me a knowing look and told me there would be food available whenever I was hungry.
“How did you know?”
“Because I know you,” I opened my eyes and saw her smile. Her hair was just as nice looking in the moonlight as in the sun.
“I’m surprised they haven’t sent out a search party yet.”
“I don’t think they will, Ron seemed to understand and I think we’ve reached a point where he can respect our relationship, and our privacy.”
“That’s because he was going to be too busy snogging Hermione to worry about us.”
I let out a laugh. Watching Ron and Hermione officially being together was going to be well worth the wait. “It’s good to laugh like this again.”
“Isn’t it wrong though? After all that’s happened, is it wrong to feel happy?”
I tried to, for once, listen to the advice I’d been told over and over. Saying it out loud, I found I agreed. “I don’t think so. I think Fred would have wanted you to be happy, don’t you think? I bet they are all glad we are here together. That we found each other.”
“I’m going to miss him so much.”
“We always will. But that’s okay, because we love him and he loves us. He would be upset if we weren’t laughing our heads off every chance we got.”
“I guess you’re right,” she sighed, “It’s getting late, either we should head back inside or send a message to everyone letting them know we are alright.”
“Do you think your parents would be upset with us staying here?” I tried to conceal a blush, but I’m pretty sure she saw it.
“They trust us. And they understand we don’t really want to be around people right now. They love you Harry, and mum has wanted us together since the first moment you stepped foot in the Burrow.” That was rather surprising. I’d always assumed that the Weasleys would think I was too much trouble to wish upon Ginny.
I was glad Ron was okay with it, eventually, but I wasn’t sure her family would be too. We hadn’t told them. At least, I didn’t think they knew, unless Ginny had told. Remembering Mrs. Weasley’s knowing look… perhaps she had. But even still, staying out all night with Ginny wasn’t exactly how I had imagined breaking the news… but then again. Considering that we’d just fought a war…maybe Ginny was right… maybe they would trust us.
“She should have just straightened me out right then and there; it would have given us so much more time.” I said.
“I wouldn’t change our story for anything in the world Harry. If something had gone differently, we might not have ended up right in this moment. And I wouldn’t trade this moment for anything.”
My heart swelled, “You’re turning sentimental again, Weasley,” I said trying to hide the emotion in my voice.
“Just contact my parents, Potter.”
Grabbing my wand, I waved it easily- barely needed a moment to think a happy thought. “Expecto Patronum.” The beautiful stag appeared, looking at me expectantly. How to put it… “Err, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny and I are still out by the lake, we’re safe. We’re…okay. If you need us…we’ll be here.”
It was a lame message, but I think it conveyed enough. I didn’t mention when we were planning on returning. If they had an issue with our staying there all night, all they had to do was call us in.
They never did.
“You never explained about the Deathly Hallows, Harry; how in Merlin’s beard are you the master of the Elder Wand? I didn’t even know they were real!”
“I didn’t either, until Dumbledore left the book to Hermione in his will. I came across all three Deathly Hallows, Gin. My father’s invisibility cloak, the snitch Dumbledore left me in his will concealed the resurrection stone and the Elder Wand had been previously owned by Dumbledore himself.”
“What?!” she shrieked, “But I thought you could only be the master if you defeat the previous owner! How could you-”
“Not defeat, in that kind of sense Ginny, but rather disarm. The night Dumbledore died, Draco Malfoy disarmed him, he was originally sent to kill Dumbledore, remember?”
“Yes, you told me that.”
“Well, Dumbledore had it all planned out, he told Snape to let Draco disarm him and then step in and kill him. That way Voldemort believed that Snape was the true master, since he had ended Dumbledore’s life. Voldemort killed Snape thinking that would make himself the rightful owner. But he was wrong. It was Draco.”
Understanding was beginning to dawn on her.
“By sheer luck, I had ended up at Malfoy Manor just recently and disarmed Draco myself.”
“Well, don’t you look smug,” she said. I had been grinning.
“You are looking at the Master of Death Ginny Weasley, the holder of all three Deathly Hallows,” I said in a playful tone. I didn’t want the title; I didn’t want the recognition. If I went my entire life without the public knowing about the Hallows, I’d be more than relieved.
Ginny rolled her eyes, “With how many times you cheat death, I don’t think you ever needed the Hallows.”
The lake was a mirror of the night sky. I wondered if the creatures inside had any idea what had transpired. Did they have any clue? I stared at the lake, thinking about the Hallows. Death wasn’t something I wanted to take lightly…but I had eluded it so many times. The next time I came face to face with it… would I meet it like an old friend?
“I…I dropped the resurrection stone in the forest somewhere,” I told her, still looking at the lake. The faces of my parents coming to mind. Were they proud of my decision? Were they disappointed that I didn’t go…on? That I came back? I supposed when I did meet death, I just might be able to ask them.
“And you’re not going to keep the wand, are you?” she said, it was a statement, not a question.
“How did you know?” I asked, fully decided upon returning the Elder Wand to Dumbledore’s tomb.
“Because I know you.”
Well. I was keeping the invisibility cloak. That was for sure. Maybe…maybe one day my-my son-or daughter- would get up to mischief at Hogwarts too.
We settled back down under tree. It was just as I remembered it; the feel of Ginny nuzzling to my side, her warmth and flowery scent, it was everything I had dreamed about on the run.
I was dozing off when she suddenly exclaimed, “Harry look!”
She pointed to a spot towards the middle of the tree, it took a minute to make if out but when I did… tears came. Etched in the bark were initials incased in a heart.
J.P. + L.E.
I knew it was them. Something told me it was. Magic, maybe? I stared at it for long while, wondering if it was a romantic gesture on my dad’s part. Or had my mum come up with the idea and convince my dad into it? Maybe I’d ask them about that too.
I don’t know how long I stared but when I looked away I saw Ginny was fast asleep. Her breathing was deep. I could feel it on the crook of my neck. This girl in my arms…I knew she was special. I had just thrown death, murder… and even soul splitting at her, all at once. And she worried about me. She cared for me. Her strength and will, her ferocity, her spirit it was all so attractive. It drew me to her. We fit. I didn’t think I’d ever find another woman who would look me in the face and tell me not what I wanted to hear, but what I needed to hear. I didn’t’ think I’d ever find anyone who would understand me so fully. She knew what it was like to be touched by Voldemort and she wasn’t afraid to remind me.
I grabbed my wand again, careful not to wake her. Using a carving charm, I added our own initials just under my parents’. I turned and kissed the top of her head, breathing her in, proving to myself that I wasn’t dreaming.
My life was my own now. And with Ginny by my side I’d make the most of it. I distinctly remember deciding that my parents would have been proud.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Harry James Potter put down his quill with a contented nod. He gathered the pieces of parchment and organized them then grabbed his wand and bound them together into a small book. He signed his name and date, December 20, 2017 on the front, adding the message, “Happy 15th Anniversary, Gin.”
Sitting back on the chair in his private study, Harry scratched the back of his head, his hair sticking up more so than usual. The snow was starting to fall outside the window and inside the house was warm and smelled incredible. Dinner was almost ready.
Relieved by the fact that he’d finally finished, his eyes roamed over to the worn out notebook that always sat in the corner of his desk. Etched in gold the words, “Memoirs of a Redheaded Witch” stared back at him. Harry remembered when his wife had given him her written account of their love story for their wedding. He had been bewildered that she would take the time to write something so meaningful and put so much of herself into it. He was shocked that she would give him such a gift. And aside from their three beautiful children, it was the most incredible gift Ginny had ever given him.
She had told him to read it after their honeymoon, since she’d wanted to spend the following two weeks discussing the future not delving into the past. He’d stayed up the entire night the day they’d returned and had cried himself a pool reading the thing. It took him almost a week to complete- she had been very, very thorough. He loved every detail. His wife only became more incredible in his eyes.
For years he wanted to do the same for her. Only, he wasn’t that great of a writer and certainly not as whimsically creative. His voice was just a bit drier and sort of all over the place. He wasn’t one for metaphors and all that. Ginny was the writer. It was no surprise that she had landed a job at the Daily Prophet so easily after retiring from Quidditch. But he figured that his head was all over the place in those days, and so his writing might just reflect that.
Inspired by their 15th wedding anniversary, he had decided it was time. Ginny was fretting over Albus a lot those days. His first term at Hogwarts had just ended and he and James were home for the holidays, and after being sorted into Slytherin, Albus had changed. Harry knew that 11-year-old boys were bound to be somewhat difficult, but Ginny was very worried. He hoped that his gift would lift her spirits some and maybe renew her faith that everything would always turn out alright in the end. He had an after dinner surprise planned and his story was the main event, he just knew she’d love it.
Just then the door to his study opened. Harry nervously jumped into action and hid the book, knocking over his framed Merlin Order award and an old cup of pumpkin juice.
“Did I startle you, Daddy?”
Harry relaxed as his eyes fell upon his daughter, Lily.
“No, love, not at all- Scourgify.” The pumpkin juice instantly clear and Harry sat back down.
“Mummy says to tell you that dinner is almost ready.”
“You can tell mummy I’ll be right there.”
Lily smiled at her father. And Harry melted as most fathers do when it came to their nine- year-old daughters. “You look more and more like your mum every day; did you know that?”
Lily laughed, “I think you need to fix your glasses daddy! My eyes are green like yours! I look like grandmum!”
Harry shook his head in show, taking off his glasses and examining them, “Oh these old things!” Harry began to walk toward Lily, hands outstretched pretending to feel his way through the room as a blind man would. “I’ll never wear them again!”
Lily roared with laughter, “But Daddy, now you can’t see at all!”
Before Harry could drop his act and place the glasses back on his head he tripped over the fallen Merlin Order award and tumbled to the floor. There was a distinct crack.
“Dad!” Lily yelled, running to her father’s side, “Are you alright? Oh no! Your glasses! They’ve broken!”
Indeed, Harry had managed to not only fall but drop his glasses and land right on top of them. Rubbing his backside and silently thanking Merlin no one at the Auror office had seen that, Harry picked up the shattered spectacles. “I’ve broken these many times Lilikins. But your dad is a master wizard he can fix anything.”
Lily rolled her eyes, “Mum says the only thing you’re a master at is breaking your glasses.”
Harry chuckled and looked behind his daughter to make sure the room was clear. “Want to learn how to fix them?”
Lily’s eyes widened, “You mean- use magic?”
Harry lowered his voice to a whisper, “Only if you promise to not tell your mum.”
She nodded excitedly, “I promise!”
Harry handed her his holly and phoenix feathered wand. She held it warily at first, but then gripped it with a certainty and a gleam in her eyes. “All you have to do is picture the glasses intact and say, Oculus Reparo.”
Lily tapped the glasses and with a sure voice repeated, “Oculus Reparo.” The spectacles repaired themselves instantly. Lily’s smile was blinding.
“Harry? Lily? What’s taking so long?” Ginny’s voice suddenly appeared in the doorway. Lily had quickly dropped the wand and Harry placed his glasses back on and suddenly Ginny came into perfect focus. She took in the scene of her child and husband sprawled on the floor, “What’s wrong?”
Harry smiled. “Absolutely nothing, love. Absolutely nothing.”
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