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The Legacy of Regulus Black, the Story Continues | ||||||
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Category: Alternate Universe, Post-OotP, Pre-OotP Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Sirius Black Genres: Action/Adventure, Humor, Romance Warnings: None Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 64 Summary: What happened to Harry and Ginny after their mysterious Portkey journey and how did the legacy of Regulus Black change their lives, up to the defeat of Tom Riddle? Becomes more and more AU during the story. Sequel to The Legacy of Regulus Black Hitcount: Story Total: 60114; Chapter Total: 5323 Awards: View Trophy Room |
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Friday, September 1st, 1995 Ginny sat comfortably in her window seat in the compartment of the Hogwarts Express. She leaned her head against Harry's chest, who'd put his arm around her shoulder. Ron and Hermione had taken the seats next to the door as they soon had to leave for the Prefects meeting. Neville had joined them just after the Hogwarts Express departed, giving Harry a quizzical look when he noticed Ginny in his arm. Ignoring his questioning look, Ginny smiled at him. "Hello, Neville, I hope you had a nice holiday." Since last year's Yule Ball, she had chatted a lot with Neville, mostly during breakfast, as they often met on their way down to the Great Hall in the morning. "It wasn’t too bad," replied Neville as he heaved his trunk into the luggage rack. "My Gram allowed me to plant some of my own magical plants in the greenhouses, but unfortunately, now that they've grown bigger, the holidays are over, and I must return to the school." He sat down by the window opposite Ginny and looked around. "I hope you also had a nice holiday." "Apart from all the chores, it was even a bit adventurous." Ginny chuckled. "Adventurous?" Neville raised his eyebrows, looking from her to Harry and back. Just then, the compartment door opened again, and to Ginny's delight, her friend, Luna Lovegood, came in and asked for a free seat. Ginny happily introduced her to the others. Since Luna was a Ravenclaw, she wasn’t well-acquainted with all the Gryffindors. She sat down in the only vacant seat between Neville and Hermione. "You can have the window seat if you want," Neville offered, smiling shyly at the blonde girl. "Oh, thanks, that's very nice of you, Neville Longbottom," Luna replied with a dreamy smile, and slid over to the window seat when Neville got up to change places with her. Giving the boy a short smile, she turned her attention to a copy of a tabloid magazine she’d placed upside down on her lap. Ginny turned back to the window, contently watching the London suburbs passing by. With a genuine anticipation, so different from the years before, she thought of the upcoming school year at Hogwarts. She still couldn't believe that she was sitting here, cuddling with Harry; that she would call him her boyfriend. She imagined what they would do together over the next months. She blushed a little at that thought, but there were also serious things they would do. The Horcruxes. She hoped that Sirius would find the way to the island to search for more information on those. She was startled out of her thoughts when Hermione got up and opened the compartment door. "Let's head to the Prefects meeting," she said, looking at Ron. Turning to the doorway, she put her schoolbag over her shoulders. "See you later," she bid her farewell, raising her hand and turned to walk down the corridor towards the head of the train. "There is no need to rush," Ron moaned. "There's still plenty of time." Shrugging, he looked around, rolled his eyes and hurried after Hermione. It was quiet again in the compartment after Ron and Hermione had left for the Prefects’ carriage. Satisfied, Ginny turned her attention back to the landscape passing by the compartment window, tuning out the conversation between Harry and Neville. She smiled happily as she thought of the events of the morning. He rmione had given her a suspicious look when she was already up and slipped into the shower right before her. She was already on her way down to the kitchen when her mother made her round to wake everyone who would travel back to Hogwarts this morning. She retained her seat next to the chair where Harry usually sat by placing their plates and cutlery accordingly. Her mother came back from her wake-up round. "Good morning Ginny, how come you're the first one up?" "I don't know, maybe it's the excitement of going back to school," she said casually. The twins came noisily down the stairs, calling their good mornings in unison, and sat down at the kitchen table. Moments later, Hermione entered the kitchen. Cheerfully smiling she choose her seat next to Ginny. Obviously, she couldn't wait to get back to school. It wasn’t long before Harry and Ron came down the stairs together. Ron pointed out to Harry that they should start the Quidditch training and the try-outs as soon as possible; best next week. Harry entered the kitchen with a friendly good morning and gave Ginny a questioning look. "Sit down, luv." Ginny smiled at him. "I've already set our plates and cutlery." Pulling his head down, she kissed him soundly on his mouth. Silence. While the word 'luv’ still had gone unnoticed in the morning fuss, the kiss was not. Ron looked at Harry in horror. "Harry, what ..." Ginny gave her brother a warning gaze, silencing him. She let her gaze wander over the others sitting at the table. "Any questions?" Ron's face flushed, but he didn't ask further questions, just started filling his plate. He would probably question Harry in the evening when they're alone in their dorms. By then, his anger hopefully would have passed. Hermione gave them an “I knew it” look but said nothing. The twins were chuckling and wondering how to make the most of the new information. Sirius, who had just come into the kitchen, stood in the doorway, beaming like an idiot. He walked up to them and took them both into his arms, smirking. "I knew it!" When she finally dared to look her mother in the eyes, she noticed her astonished look. "Young lady, I think we need to have a good chat before you head to Kings Cross." "Yes, Mum." Ginny rolled her eyes. So far, the matter went surprisingly quiet. She had hoped that short and painless would be the best way to bring the news to the people. When she finally looked at Harry, who stood beside her, still speechless, she chuckled, "Sit down, luv." When Harry had finally digested the shock, he shook his head, but couldn't resist grinning. "Witch," he murmured under his breath and sat down next to Ginny. She’d been a bit embarrassed when her mother insisted on having The Talk with her after breakfast, the extended version of The Talk she’d given her the year before. But in the end, it had been worth it. Everyone had gotten the news, and since her mother hadn't objected, the twins couldn't blackmail her, and it was easier to deal with Ron, too. The world seemed to be perfect. She took Harry’s hand, intertwined their fingers and squeezed them, giving him a content smile. It felt so good to be able to do this. "It's nice to sit in a compartment with you," she mumbled dreamily. "Why didn't you sit with us earlier?" Harry shot her a mischievous look. Turning her head, Ginny looked him in the eyes. "In my first year, you didn't take the Hogwarts Express, do you remember?" "Oh, the trip with the Ford Anglia. How could I forget about it?" Harry grinned at her. Ginny continued, "in my second year, I was looking forward to sitting with you, but Ron shooed me away." "Did he? Really? I didn't know about it." Harry looked at her in astonishment. "Oh." Ginny poked her index finger into his ribs. "You sat there and the moment you saw me you told Ron that you wanted to talk to him and Hermione in private. Ron then shooed me away, telling me I should go make my own friends." "I didn't do such a thing, did I?" Harry marvelled. "You did,” Ginny insisted. "You even gave me a strange look and turned away when I left to find a seat in another compartment." "With whom did you sit together?" Harry asked genuinely interested. "With Luna," Ginny said. "Luckily, I already knew her. We used to play together when we were younger, so I didn't have to sit all alone again." She gave Luna a friendly smile, receiving a dreamy nod from the blonde girl in return. The compartment door rumbled open again, revealing Ron with Hermione in tow. "This was much ado about nothing again," Ron announced. "Oh, Ron, many important things have been discussed," Hermione interjected. "Okay, the most important things didn't need a discussion, did they?" Ron replied annoyed, throwing himself onto his seat. "Malfoy and Parkinson are the Prefects for Slytherin." "Oh, why am I not surprised," Ginny moaned, grimacing. Hermione had just sat down in her seat when there was a commotion in the corridor. Ginny looked up and saw Malfoy and his cronies approaching, shoving everybody out of their way. Just before Goyle tried to tear the compartment door open, she noticed Hermione waving her wand, muttering, "Colloportus!" When Goyle tried several times in vain to open the door, Malfoy angrily shoved him aside and tried it himself. When he couldn't open the door either, he turned around, obviously seething with rage, and marched back the way he came from, his cronies in tow. Hermione got up with a smug smile. Tapping the door three times with her wand, she muttered, "Alohomora!" When the door opened with a clicking noise, she sat back and smiled furtively at the others. "Thank you, Hermione!" Harry said relieved. "The ferret boy would have spoiled my good mood." "You're welcome," Hermione replied, turning to Luna in an attempt to change the subject. "What are you reading?" "It's The Quibbler," Luna explained, apparently wondering about a question whose answer was so obvious. "The Quibbler?" Hermione asked with interest. "I’ve never heard of it. What's in it?" “My father is the editor of The Quibbler,” Luna declared undeterred. “He always has very interesting articles in it. The recent edition contains a report about the common Norwegian Nargle." "Nargle?" Hermione looked at her in disbelief. "Nargles don't exist." "What makes you think Nargles don't exist?" Luna regarded Hermione with an intense look. "Just because you've never read anything about Nargles, doesn't mean they don't exist. Ask Ginevra, she once caught a Nargle." Ginny giggled when Hermione looked at her in astonishment. "Oh yes, on my fifth birthday, I caught a Nargle. At first, I thought it was a gnat." Ginny laughed. "What did you do with the Nargle?" Hermione looked at her searchingly. "Oh, it escaped when I tried to take a closer look." Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "You promised me your Harry Potter doll when you got the real Harry Potter, Ginevra." Luna looked at her expectantly. "Oh, Luna." Ginny blushed, slapping the girl’s knee. "This is mean." Unfazed, Luna shrugged her shoulders. "Well, you promised me." Without further ado, she turned her attention back to her copy of The Quibbler. The train slowed down as they reached Hogsmeade Station. The boys helped the girls with their trunks before dragging their own from the racks. When the train finally stopped, they hurried to catch the first available carriage to the castle. An unpleasantly cold drizzle was spraying over the carriages and the landscape when they finally reached the castle. They hastened to the Entrance Hall to get into the warmth of the Great Hall. Glad to finally be back in the familiar surroundings and dry, they headed to the Gryffindor table to find their usual seats, except for Ginny, who took the seat next to Harry. Soon, the first years were brought in by Professor McGonagall. "They better hurry," Ron groaned. "I'm starving." "Hush! The Sorting is starting," Hermione said, turning away from him to listen to the Sorting Hat. Meanwhile, Ginny was inspecting the staff table, puzzled by the sight of a middle-aged woman looking a bit odd in her pink costume and a cap of the same colour. She nudged Harry lightly. "Look at her," she whispered, nodding her head in the direction of the staff table. "She can't possibly be the new Defence professor. Hagrid is nowhere to be seen. I can't imagine that she will be teaching Magical Creatures either." Harry followed her gaze and studied the professors seated at the staff table thoughtfully. "That's weird," he murmured. "She was at my hearing, she’s the ugly woman I told you about. Fudge, and this woman in particular, absolutely wanted me to get to expelled. I was lucky Dumbledore made his appearance at the right moment with Mrs Figg in tow. Without his help and Mrs Figg's testimony, I wouldn't be here now." "Who is Mrs Figg?" Ginny asked. "I remember you mentioned her name before." "She's a neighbour of the Dursleys," Harry replied. "She's a squib and she saw the Dementors attacking Dudley and me." "Oh," Ginny replied. "But that doesn't explain what this odd woman is doing here. Do you know her name?" Harry frowned thoughtfully for a moment. "I can't remember exactly. It was something with bitch. Ambitch or something like that." Ginny snorted, "That's what she looks like." At that moment, the sorting ceremony was finally over, and the food appeared on the tables. Distracted by the food, Ginny forgot the odd woman for a while. After Harry had filled his plate with roast beef, potatoes and vegetables, Ginny loaded her own plate and started eating. "Hey, there's enough for everyone," Harry complained as she repeatedly stole pieces of carrot from his plate. "It tastes better from your plate," chuckled Ginny. "We can exchange the plates," Harry offered. "And what's the fun of that?" Ginny grinned at him. Harry only shook his head in defeat but couldn't hide a grin. After the meal, Dumbledore rose to hold his annual speech. The students were surprised to hear that the strange looking woman, Dolores Umbridge, the Senior Undersecretary of the Minister of Magic, would be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. The announcement that Professor Grubbly-Plank was once again taking over Hagrid's teaching duties was almost drowned out by the noise in the hall. "Ehem, ehem," sounded a magically amplified voice through the Great Hall. Immediately, there was a perplexed silence. In front of the staff table, right next to Professor Dumbledore, stood the odd pink clothed woman, sweetly grinning at her audience. "Good evening, children," she began and let her eyes wander over the students. "The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. We will ensure that the lessons taught here at Hogwarts meet the highest standards and we will take the appropriate steps to reach this goal. However, progress for progress' sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions in the education of our students often require no tinkering. Furthermore, we will make sure that the lessons can be held undisturbed by external influences." Suddenly she turned her gaze to Harry. "As I've heard, you've been informed that a certain Dark Wizard is at large once again." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in. Looking directly into Harry's eyes, she exclaimed loudly emphasizing every single word, "That is a lie!" She let her eyes wander over the students again and went on, "and we'll prevent lies from being spread at this school." "What does this woman want from me. Why is she here?" Harry asked worriedly, more to himself. "Not to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, anyway," Hermione replied. "Yes," Harry replied. "That's what I thought, too." "She will try to provoke you, so she can expel you," Ginny mused. "She'll try to accomplish what she didn’t get in your trial. It's quite obvious that Fudge has sent her to prevent you from telling the truth here at Hogwarts." "Ginny is right," Hermione interjected. "Don’t let her provoke you, under any circumstances." "But I can't let her tell lies about me!" Harry replied annoyed. Ginny touched Harry's arm to calm him down. "Harry, we have an important job to do, don't forget this. Sirius will be on our island right now, we have more important things to do than to let ourselves be distracted by this toad." "Yeah, you're right," Harry admitted. "But it doesn't feel right." Ginny smiled reassuringly at Harry. "No, it doesn't. But I was looking forward to being with you at Hogwarts this school year and I can't let that woman spoil my fun by keeping you in detention all the time." When Harry smiled at her admitting defeat, she looked him into his eyes. "Promise me that you won't let you provoke by this woman." "I'll try it, at least," Harry promised. "I think that's the best I could ask for now," Ginny replied, kissing Harry's cheek. In the meantime, Umbridge had finished her speech and Dumbledore had declared the feast was over. The noise level in the Great Hall rose immediately as the students got up to make their way towards their dorms. Ginny briefly squeezed Harry's hand, whispering into his ear, "I need to use the loo. I'll be right back." "’Kay, I'll be waiting for you," Harry replied, giving her hand a slight squeeze in return Ginny got up and headed towards the girls' toilets. The first students were already on their way to their common rooms. Hermione was busy summoning the First years to escort them to the Gryffindor Tower. "Come on, Ron, you're a Prefect, too," she called to Ginny's brother. Ginny chuckled as Ron mumbled something about there being no hurry. She made her way through the crowd, glad the toilets weren't far away, and she could escape the rumpus. After Ginny finished her business and walked back through the door of the girls' loo, she heard someone call her name. "Ginny!" She turned and stood face to face with Michael Corner, leaning against the wall opposite the loo, giving her a shy smile. "Hi, Michael," she replied, visibly surprised to see the boy. "Nice to see you." She smiled at the dark-haired Ravenclaw boy. "I hope you had nice holidays?" "They were great," the boy answered, evidently pleased to see Ginny. "How were yours?" "Great," Ginny replied. She was really happy to see Michael again because they both had a few nice chats at the end of last term. On the other hand, she also wanted to go back to Harry and not make him wait unnecessarily. "Let’s talk about our holidays in Hogsmeade next weekend. What do you think? Do you want to go with me into Hogsmeade next Saturday?" Michel asked with an expectant smile on his face. "Oh," Ginny blurted. "I'm sorry, I can't go to Hogsmeade with you." "Do you have something else in mind?" the boy asked visibly disappointed. "I think I'll be going to Hogsmeade with Harry," she said, guardedly. Harry hadn't asked her yet, but she was confident he would ask her as soon as he knew there would be a Hogsmeade weekend. "Harry?" Michael raised an eyebrow, quizzically. "Yes, Harry Potter," Ginny confirmed. "So, you two ...?" "Yep," Ginny nodded. "During the holidays." "Oh." Michael looked at her crestfallen. After a moment of embarrassing silence, he added, "Please let me know if you ever need company for a Hogsmeade weekend." With a shy smile, he waved his goodbye, turned around and headed back to the Great Hall. Ginny followed him with a thoughtful look. She hadn't thought of Michael for weeks, in fact since her involuntary journey to Regulus' island. With swift steps, she headed back to the Gryffindor table and was glad to see Harry still sitting there as promised. He gave her a questioning look. "What happened?" "Oh, nothing," Ginny explained, grabbing his hand and taking a deep breath. "I met Michael." "Michael?" Harry looked at her, enquiringly. "He asked me to go into Hogsmeade with him next weekend," she confessed. "And?" said Harry. "And what, Silly? I told him I'd go with you." She grinned as Harry breathed in relief. "But this doesn't mean you don't have to ask me if I'm coming with you." "Oh, right." Harry nodded. "Do you want to?" "Do I want to what?" Ginny asked. "Come to Hogsmeade with me?" "Oh, of course, but it's nice that you asked." Ginny pulled him up from the bench. "Let's head up to the common room. I want to cuddle with my boyfriend by the fire." Saturday, September 2th, 1995 The next morning, Ginny trotted sleepily down the stairs from her dorm room to the common room. The night before they all had exchanged stories about their holidays and forgotten about the time until the wee hours of the morning. Even the hot morning shower had not really awakened her. Fortunately, it was Saturday and there were still two days off until Monday morning. She smiled as she saw Harry sitting in a chair near the stairs. "Hey, good morning." She waved to him. Trying to suppress a yawn, she started to giggle when she failed miserably. Harry gave her an amused grin. "Hey, you slept well?" "Ah, your good mood hurts," Ginny complained with a small smile. "Let's head down to breakfast. I hope it helps." "Yeah, let’s head down to the Great Hall," Harry agreed. "Ron and Hermione already left." Ginny grabbed Harry's hand after they slipped through the portrait hole, and side by side they headed down to the Great Hall. As they walked down the marble staircase, Ginny suddenly stopped. "Did Ron say anything to you last night?" "Ron?" Harry glanced at her. "You could say that." "And?" "I had to promise him that I wouldn't hurt you." "Git," Ginny mumbled as they moved on. "I can take care of myself." "I know," Harry confirmed. "And he promised not to interfere." Harry squeezed her hand. "You should let him be as long as he sticks to it." "If you think so." Ginny rolled her eyes. "I wonder how long he'll remember his promise." They entered the Great Hall and walked over to the Gryffindor table. Greeting their friends, they took their seats from the previous evening, opposite Ron and Hermione. They'd just sat down and started filling their plates when Angelina Johnson stood up. "Now, that we're finally all here," she began, scanning the rows of Gryffindors. "I want to let you know that I'll be replacing Oliver Wood as Gryffindor Quidditch captain." Pleased murmurs interrupted her. She waited a moment until the murmurs slowly ceased. "We're going to hold try-outs for new and reserve players next Friday, September the 8th. All regular players need to be there, and everyone who thinks he or she could be reinforcement for us is invited to the try-outs." She glanced over the Gryffindors seated at the table. "You’ll find a note with the schedule by tomorrow morning in the common room. That's it. Have a nice weekend. See you next Friday." Grinning, she sat down and dedicating herself to her breakfast again. Angelina's announcement, of course, led to some lively discussions and made breakfast a noisy affair. Ginny glanced up as Ron turned to Harry. "Harry, what do you think? Now that Oliver is gone, can you imagine me trying out for the Keeper?" Harry was immediately enthusiastic. "That would be fantastic, Ron. We haven't played Quidditch for ages, but last summer you did an excellent job as a Keeper." Ron nodded euphorically. "Yeah, I think I'll try. I'll try-out for the Keeper position." Suddenly Harry nudged Ginny. "And you? You said you wanted to try-out for a Chaser?" Ginny glared at Ron as he snorted. "Of course, I will try. Though it will be hard to beat Katie, Angelina, and Alicia. But I won't chicken out." Ginny smiled in relief and blushed slightly when Harry squeezed her hand and looked her in the eye. "You're gonna make it." "Thanks," she replied, impressed that Harry so obviously supported her. On the other hand, he had already told her that he liked the idea that she wanted to try out for the Quidditch team. "Do you want to go flying with me this afternoon?" Harry suddenly asked. "You can try out my Firebolt. We wanted to try out Ron's new broom anyway, so let’s go flying together. What do you think?" "I'd like that very much." Ginny's eyes sparkled with anticipation. Harry turned to Ron. "Ron, I'm going to go flying with Ginny after lunch. Are you coming along? We wanted to try out your broom anyway." "Ginny doesn't have a broom," Ron reminded him with a slight frown. "She can take my Firebolt while we're taking turns trying out your new broom," Harry replied determinedly. Ron raised his eyebrows. "Okay, if you think so. We can also ask the others, maybe we'll have enough for a pick-up game of Quidditch." Ginny's attention was diverted from the conversation when suddenly an owl landed next to Ron on the table and extended her leg to Hermione. "Oh, Hermione, I didn't know you subscribed to the Daily Prophet?" Ginny asked, amazed. Hermione shrugged. "I thought we’d better know what the Ministry is doing, and Umbridge's speech last night convinced me that it is really important to be informed so that we won't experience a nasty surprise." She unfolded the newspaper and pointed to the headline on the first page. "Look!" The Department of Magic sends Senior Undersecretary of the Minister of Magic, Dolores Umbridge, to Hogwarts to ensure the quality of the education and the prevent lies from being spread about the supposedly alleged return of You-Know-Who. Casting a sidelong glance at Harry, Ginny was glad that he had resumed his Quidditch discussion with Ron and didn't care about the content of the Daily Prophet. Everything she wanted now was a nice final weekend before the new school year started properly. Saturday, September 9th, 1995 "Damn," Ginny groaned. It was hopeless. She had turned over and over in her bed, desperately trying to go back to sleep. It has been in vain. The thought of her first Hogsmeade trip with Harry had chased away any thoughts of another hour of sleep. After being locked up at Grimmauld Place all summer and the week inside the castle, the prospect of a day out in the fresh air with Harry was overwhelming. Finally, she gave up, dragged herself out of bed and headed to the bathroom. The hot shower alleviated the soreness in her muscles a bit and reminded her of the Quidditch try-outs the evening before. Much to her delight, she had attained the position of the reserve Chaser of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She had been so happy, and when Harry congratulated her with a crooked smile, she'd thrown herself around his neck and kissed him right there in the middle of the Quidditch pitch. In the days before the try-outs, she'd been very nervous. Flying had always had been her favourite pastime during the holidays. But being locked up at Grimmauld Place all summer long didn't help her confidence in flying. She hadn't ridden a broom for over a year. The few hours of flying the previous Saturday, when Harry and Ron had tried her brother's new broom had been fun. Of course, she'd taken full advantage of the opportunity to test Harry's Firebolt. No wonder she was still a bit sore as she hobbled down the stairs to the common room. Ginny was already wearing her robes because she and Harry had agreed to go to Hogsmeade right after breakfast to save time. They wanted to meet with Sirius and then stroll a bit through the streets of Hogsmeade, window shopping. When she strode into the common room and looked around, Ginny found that Harry wasn't there yet. She wasn’t surprised. After all, she was early. To pass the time, she lounged into an armchair and flipped through a Quidditch magazine someone had left on one of the tables. Absorbed by the magazine, she startled to suddenly find Harry standing beside her, smiling. "Good Morning, Ginny. Did you fall out of bed?" She put the magazine aside and got up. Smiling, she approached Harry and gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek. "Good morning, Harry." "When you're done, we could head down to breakfast." Ginny heard her brother's voice from the entrance. Ginny rolled her eyes and grabbed Harry's hand. "Yeah, we better head down for breakfast before my dear brother gets grumpy," she said, linking arms with Harry, and steering him towards the portrait hole. After breakfast, Ginny pushed her way through a crowd of noisily chatting students, waiting for their friends in the Entrance Hall, with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in tow. They had decided to walk together down to Hogsmeade and to split up halfway to the village. Harry and Ginny would head to an appointment with Sirius in the Shrieking Shack, while their friends would spend the morning in Hogsmeade. The four friends silently walked down the path to the village in a sedate pace, Ron and Hermione always a few steps ahead. Ginny was happily holding hands with Harry, giving him an occasional smile. The fresh air had blown away the last bits of tiredness. Although the chilly morning mist made her shiver a bit, she felt quite content. As they reached the junction to the Whomping Willow, Harry stopped. Squeezing Ginny’s hand, he turned to Ron and Hermione. "Have fun in Hogsmeade." Giving Ron a mischievous grin, he added laughingly, "You better watch out that Hermione doesn't buy too many books. In the end, you’ll have to carry them all back to Hogwarts." Ron looked wide-eyed. "Books?" He turned to Hermione, calling, "You didn't say anything about buying books, did you, Hermione?" Hermione blushed slightly. "Today is the opening of the new branch of Flourish and Blott's. I don't want to miss it. They announced a lot of special offers." "Hermione, we actually wanted to go to Zonko's and Honeydukes," Ron replied, slightly annoyed. Ginny looked at Harry, rolling her eyes. "Why do they always fight?" "Ah, that's nothing," Harry replied chuckling. "But it suits me well at the moment." He pointed to a group of students arriving from the castle. "We better let them pass so they don't notice that we're not staying together with Ron and Hermione. I don’t want anyone following us." When the group had walked past and disappeared behind the next turn of the road, Harry interrupted his arguing friends. "See you at one o'clock in the Three Broomsticks?" Ron nodded, still slightly annoyed, and Hermione confirmed, "Yes, we'll meet you at one." Carefully looking around, she continued softly, "Say hi to Sirius from us." "Of course, we will," Harry replied. Looking around to make sure no one was in sight, he led Ginny down the byway back to the Whomping Willow. They walked hand in hand back to the Hogwarts Grounds. Silently anticipating the meeting Sirius and finding out about his investigations, they remained deep in their own thoughts, exchanging only short glances every now and then. As the willow came into sight, Ginny looked up at Harry, smiling. "Are you looking forward to meeting Sirius?" "What a question," Harry answered cheerfully, squeezing her hand. "I hope he brought the mirror with him." "And that he’d found more hints about the Horcruxes in the books," Ginny added. "Exactly!" Harry said, looking around as they reached the tree with its wildly twirling branches. "What are you looking for?" Ginny asked him, taking a closer look at the odd willow. She had never had the opportunity to be so close to the strange tree. "Ah, this should be suitable for our purposes," Harry mumbled, picking up a stick lying on the ground a few feet away. He bent down so that the branches of the tree wouldn't hit him, and slowly walked towards the tree. "Do you see the knob?" he called to Ginny, pointing to the roots of the tree. "When you push this knob, the branches stop moving." He pushed the knob with the stick and the tree suddenly froze. Pointing to a dark hole right next to the trunk, which apparently led into a cave, Harry explained, "This passageway leads to the Shrieking Shack." Pulling his wand out of his back pocket, he reached for Ginny's hand. "Come on, I wonder if Sirius is already there." He led her to the trunk and stepped into the darkness of the passage. "Lumos." Ginny followed him, her own wand in her hand. "Lumos!" After walking in silence for a while in the dim lit passageway she heard Harry call out, "We'll be right there. Watch out, there are stairs leading up to the shack." In the light of her wand, she could see Harry walking up some steps and pushing open a trapdoor. Ginny followed him. When she reached the top of the stairs, she looked around. "So that's the place you met Sirius the first time?" she asked, after hearing the noise of the closing trapdoor. "The very same," replied Harry. "And I hope to see him again soon." He crossed the room and cautiously pushed open the door on the opposite wall. In the light of a candle, they saw a grinning Sirius sitting in a shabby armchair. "Ah, finally," Sirius greeted the teenagers, getting up and hugging them both warmly. "How are you?" he asked, and continued without waiting for an answer, "sit down, sorry, it's a bit cramped here." He looked around. Raising his hands apologetically, he added, "and a bit dirty, too. But at least there are two chairs for you." Ginny skeptically eyed the wobbly chair. It made a suspicious creaking noise when she warily sat down. Cautiously she leaned back and inspected her surroundings. This was the place where Harry met Sirius for the first time. Well, if you don't count the occasions when Sirius had been in his Animagus form. The room was, as probably the whole hut, dusty and not very spacious. A few pieces of furniture stood along the walls, most of them partially damaged. They had probably already witnessed the times when the Marauders had used the hut. It was one of the places where Harry, Ron and Hermione had experienced their adventures. She got goosebumps when she realized that she was part of these adventures now as well. But were they really adventures? Now that she was here with Harry, it didn't feel like an adventure at all. It was about helping Harry and getting rid of Tom once and for all, and she was determined to play her part. She was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed when Sirius pulled a wooden box out of his pocket and was about to open it. "Look, this is the new mirror Remus made last week." Sirius carefully took the mirror out of the box and held it up. "All we have to do is synchronize it with your mirrors now. I hope you didn't forget your mirrors?" He gave the teenagers an expectant look. Ginny grinned at Sirius and wordlessly pulled the wooden box with her communication mirror out of her bag. A look at Harry confirmed that he also carried his mirror with him. "Very well," Sirius exclaimed. "Put your mirrors on the table here." He pointed to a small round table that stood in a corner, covered with all kinds of filth. He made the rubbish disappear with a movement of his wand and put his mirror in the middle of the table. As Ginny and Harry had placed their mirrors next to the other, Sirius pulled a worn-looking notebook out of his pocket. "We were lucky that our furry friend didn't throw away his notebook. The new mirror was finished in no time." "Did he make a few more mirrors?" Ginny asked curiously. Sirius looked at her with an insulted expression. "Of course. You never know when you need a spare mirror." Sirius flipped through the notebook and looked up when he'd found the right page. "Ah yes. It says we all have to put the mirrors on top of each other." He stacked the mirrors onto a pile and looked back into the notebook. "Hmm, hmm, hmm ... Oh yeah, that's all very easy," he muttered, pulled his wand and tapped the mirror on the top, muttering, "speculum inter se componantur". The stack of mirrors briefly glowed in a green light. Sirius looked pleased at the two teenagers. "That's it. Let's give it a try." The three of them took their mirrors and tried to make contact, at first two-point connections and then all three at the same time. In the end, they put their mirrors back into their wooden boxes, looking very satisfied. "Well, so far, so good," Sirius mumbled, dropping back into the chair. "Let's get to the unpleasant part, then, the Horcruxes." Ginny sat down in her chair and looked at Harry as he asked, "What did you find out?" "A bit, but not that much," Sirius replied. "I've been concentrating on this ritual, which allows pieces of a soul spread out in several Horcruxes to be merged back together." He gave them a pensive gaze and went on when he saw they were listening attentively, "you two already know that a very powerful wizard is needed to perform this ritual. I've talked to your brother about it, Ginny, and Bill is quite confident that he, as a curse breaker, is able to perform the ritual." Ginny looked pleased at Sirius. "I’m glad that Bill agreed to help us. He knows about Dark Magic like nobody else." Harry nodded in agreement. "Yes, I'm glad, too," Sirius confirmed. "I took Bill to the island last week. He has access to the books in the cottage anytime now. If it weren't for Bill, we'd probably have to ask Dumbledore to perform the ritual. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Dumbledore and I trust him, but somehow, I've got the feeling he is hiding something from us. That's why I'd like to have a trump card up my sleeve for when the time comes that we need to know what he knows, but he doesn't want to tell us." "I'm not sure, but I think you're right," Harry replied pensively. "I wanted to ask Dumbledore if we could help with the research on Horcruxes because finally, it was us who had found the books. But every time Dumbledore sees me from a distance, he suddenly disappears into thin air. I've got the feeling he's avoiding me." "It's probably because he's afraid Voldemort has a connection with you, and that he could use you to spy on the Order." Sirius shook his head in annoyance. "That's what he told me back in August when I talked to him for the first time. Such nonsense. As long as he doesn't tell us what he knows, we won't tell him anything about the ritual." "Exactly," Ginny looked at the other two. "I’m with you. With six sneaky brothers, I've learned that a little bit of blackmail is always helpful to get what you want." "How are we going to destroy the Horcruxes?" Harry asked with a grave look. "Even if we've merged all them, Voldemort would still have one Horcrux. At some point, we need to destroy it." After a moment of consideration, he added, "Hoping, he won't create any new ones." "In the Family Journal, Regulus has pointed out that Fiendfyre would destroy Horcruxes," Sirius replied. "Though, it's quite dangerous to play around with Fiendfyre." "I could go down into the Chamber of secrets and fetch the Basilisk fangs," Harry suggested. "That would be an option." Sirius nodded affirmatively. Ginny gave Harry a thoughtful look. "I'm coming with you." "Are you sure?" Harry asked in surprise, raising his eyebrows. "Absolutely," confirmed Ginny in a firm voice, suppressing the shudder that was running down her back. "As you wish." Harry looked at her thoughtfully. After a moment he gave her a crooked smile. "I think I understand. I'd made the same decision." "Then there's something else," Sirius broke in. "I've read through a passage in the Family Journal several times, just to be sure. I also let Bill read it, and he agreed with me." Ginny stared expectantly at Sirius while Harry uttered, "What is it?" Sirius waited a moment before he leaned forward, starring first into Harry's eyes and then into Ginny's. " It takes a few drops of Voldemort's blood to merge his soul pieces." AN: If you want to know what happened with the Nargle on Ginny's fifth birthday, and what Luna talked about on the Hogwarts Express, you should read my one-shot "Chasing Gnats". Of course, there’s no need to read this silly little one-shot to understand this story. On the other hand, it's only 1k words, so it wouldn't hurt. |
| Reviews 64 |
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