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SIYE Time:15:00 on 29th March 2024
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Second Chances and First Occasions
By Rogan

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Category: First Time for Everything Challenge (2019-2), First Time For Everything Challenge (2019-2)
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley
Genres: Fluff, General, Romance
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: PG
Reviews: 30
Summary: ***Honourable Mention in the First Time for Everything Challenge*** After Harry survives his second Killing Curse, he makes a decision that changes things quite drastically. Getting a second chance at some of the events in his life, Harry resolves to do a few things right he did wrong on his first attempt.
Hitcount: Story Total: 18488; Chapter Total: 2666







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The next morning, Harry awoke to the snores of his best friend. Harry had lost track of Ron and Hermione after he had left with Ginny, and they had evidently come in later than he had as he hadn’t spotted them in the common room when he had kissed Ginny goodnight, and Ron hadn’t been in his bed when Harry had turned in for the night. Whatever they had been doing, they had taken their time. He hoped they hadn’t gotten into an argument.

Leaving his friend to wake up on his own terms, Harry showered and dressed, then made his way down to the common room. To his surprise, he found both Hermione and Ginny there already, both looking freshly showered and relaxed. Stepping over to Ginny, he kissed her good morning.

“Thanks for a wonderful evening yesterday,” she said.

“Yes,” Hermione said, “we were just discussing what happened yesterday to make you disappear without a trace yesterday while Ron and I were getting drinks.”

“Actually,” Ginny jumped in, “we were discussing what happened while you and I weren’t there. Hermione was telling me all about the time she spent with Ron, and why they were back so late.”

Hermione actually blushed, and Harry guffawed loudly.

“Ask Ron,” she said, suddenly timid, “and then tell me what he said. I’m curious how he feels about our… evening.”

“You seemed happy enough just now,” Ginny said, smirking.

“Oh, shut up,” grunted Hermione.

“Well, Ron’s still out cold,” said Harry, adding his smile to Ginny’s, “so it’s probably better if we go down to breakfast.”

“Wore him out, did you?” asked Ginny as they turned towards the portrait hole, earning herself another blush from Hermione.

On the way down to the great hall, Ginny kept trying to get Hermione to tell them more about whatever happened the evening before, but the other girl kept answering in monosyllables. It wasn’t until they had sat down for breakfast, joining crowds of bleary eyed students from all houses who had started to trickle into the hall, that anything out of the ordinary occurred. Hermione was in the middle of pouring herself a goblet of pumpkin juice when a tawny owl settled on the table before her, dropping the morning’s edition of the Daily Prophet in front of her. She absently fished a bit of change out of her pocket and offered it to the owl, then returned to her pouring. Ginny, whose eyes had followed the owl as it landed, suddenly pounced on the paper and violently pulled it towards herself, making Hermione squeak and spill her juice.

“What the…” exclaimed Ginny as she shook open the front page of the paper, revealing to Harry - who sat next to her - what had made her react so strongly.

On the front page, an enormous picture of Harry and Ginny in the middle of the dance floor showed the couple talking softly to each other as they swayed on the spot, then kissing, and then - in the fashion of Wizarding pictures everywhere - returning to dancing and talking. The real Harry and Ginny both stared at the picture for several seconds.

“Well,” Harry finally said, “that’s never happened to me before.”

“Me neither,” admitted Ginny.

“I guess it was to be expected, though,” said Harry, “though I have to admit that it slipped my mind that we hadn’t dealt with Rita Skeeter yet.”

“I’ll bet Hermione is really disappointed, though,” Ginny said mischievously, “her being so madly in love with you and all.”

“Yes, well,” Harry said, grinning, “I guess I’m not available for her any more. Maybe Ron can comfort her.”

As they exchanged friendly banter and joined Hermione in cursing Rita Skeeter for her sensationalist reporting, Harry mused that the life he had found here was far better than it could have been. There was still Voldemort to take care of, but there was a very solid plan in place to get that solved. That plan involved a bit of trickery and a lot of planning, but with all the allies they still had at their disposal, there was no way that it would fail. Already, the horcruxes were being retrieved from their hiding places and destroyed. Already, Sirius had replaced the bones of Tom Riddle senior with the bones of a long-dead animal.

From now on, it might not even be up to him. With the Order of the Phoenix already firmly reformed and acting against Voldemort’s plans, his only role in this story would now be distracting the rest of the Wizarding world (and Voldemort himself) by simply playing the part he had already played several years ago. In the role of Triwizard Champion, he would be working to achieve the points he needed to get a firm head start into the maze. What the rest of the Wizarding world did not know, of course, is that it would not actually be Harry who went into the maze for the third task. That honor would fall to Albus Dumbledore, to which Harry would be contributing only a few hairs. Another member of the Order would step in to fill Dumbledore’s shoes in his absence, and it would be Harry’s job to simply hide, stay out of sight and wait for the good news.

There would be good news, of course. With the preparation Dumbledore would have, and with all the Horcruxes except Nagini destroyed before the beginning of the third task, all that would be left was a well-timed strike against Voldemort’s hiding place. If they managed to capture Voldemort and his snake, they would be able to imprison him and destroy his final Horcrux, preventing his death but also rendering him completely mortal. The alternative, of course, was death for both the snake and its master. In either of those situations, Harry would be free.

For the first time, Harry felt confident that the Wizarding world would soon be rid of Voldemort. He wondered what it would be like, when - at the end of this school year - he could look forward to living a normal life. It was going to be an interesting adventure.
Reviews 30
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