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SIYE Time:16:01 on 29th March 2024
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The Lost Year
By _kb_

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Category: Post-OotP, Alternate Universe
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Ron Weasley
Genres: General
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 94
Summary: After the battle in the Department of Mysteries, Ginny seems different and more confident; she also inspires Harry to change. How did that happen? (gray H/G)
Hitcount: Story Total: 20105; Chapter Total: 1911
Awards: View Trophy Room






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Chapter 7

Harry opened letters with birthday wishes from his friends on the day he turned sixteen.

Reading Hermione’s very normal birthday card, he realized he hadn’t heard back from her on the subject of his staying elsewhere this summer, so he assumed she must have understood his points -- finally.

Ron, Neville, and Luna had sent him birthday letters also. He’d sent a card to Neville the day before as well. He knew Ron’s birthday was in March as they celebrated at school, but he really needed to find out when Luna’s was.

Ginny’s was the longest and most amusing. Apparently the Order had tried to enter #12 and found they couldn’t enter in any way: door, Floo, or even a window. She’d heard from Bill about how Fletcher had been found beaten up and practically stripped in Knockturn Alley, though Fletcher wouldn’t say how that had happened or what he’d been doing before. She’d also mentioned that she was making progress on Occlumency with Bill, but it was slow going, mainly because Bill didn’t have much time for it. She’d also thanked him for the clothes since she kept about a half-dozen pieces. Luna had only taken one piece she liked. The rest had been donated to a Muggle charity in their local town.

Dobby had surprised him and brought him a chocolate cake with a candle on top. Harry was glad he had the little guy around and Dobby seemed to be happy to work with Harry on the room, so it was a win-win in his book.

Perhaps the biggest surprise though was when Harry realized he hadn’t heard from Remus Lupin at all this summer. No letter asking where he was and no birthday card too. Harry wondered why that was and if Lupin was really a friend of the family.

After some thought and considering Lupin had never written him in the two years after the man had stopped teaching, the only thing that made sense was the Lupin was really a friend of his parents and Sirius and not a friend of the Potter family. That was a little sad to consider but it was Lupin’s choice. Harry decided he wouldn’t expect anything more from him and he’d let Lupin live his own life.




While Ginny was a little sad they couldn’t have had a birthday party for Harry the previous day, everything changed when there was a knock on the back door and her mum opened it to find Professor McGonagall there.

“Professor, please come in,” Molly told her. “This is a surprise.”

The older woman walked in looking as she usually did. “It’s something of a surprise for me too. Ms Weasley, I need to talk with you, although,” she looked at Molly, “perhaps you should send for Ronald as well since I don’t see him.”

A quick yell up the stairs brought her brother down, who was also surprised to see his teacher in the summer. He took the letter held out to him.

“I didn’t see the need to send these when I was coming over anyway,” McGonagall said before she looked at Ginny. “Ms Weasley, I didn’t expect this, but here are your OWL results also.”

Ginny noted the woman actually smiled at her. Ron had already torn his open and had a very pleased look. Despite thinking she’d done well, she couldn’t help but feel a little trepidation and she noticed her hands were shaking slightly as she opened her results. With a deep breath she finally looked. “I did it!” she shouted, “I did it!”

Her mother, who’d just finished hugging her brother, came over to hug her too. “I’m so happy for you, dear.” Ron still didn’t look happy for her, but he’d stopped complaining a week ago.

“I was very surprised to see results for you,” McGonagall said. “How did you accomplish that without asking for help from the teachers? Even Ms Lovegood had to ask Professor Flitwick about a few topics.”

“Did she pass too?” Ginny said excitedly.

“She did.” McGonagall gave her an expectant look.

“It was a lot of late nights and a few questions to the older students,” Ginny explained, knowing she couldn’t mention Betty as being the “older student”.

McGonagall didn’t look like she believed her, but didn’t continue the questioning. “Since you did not follow the normal path, I suppose we should have the usual career and NEWT discussion now. May I borrow your living room, Molly?”

“Of course,” her mother replied. “I’ll bring tea in a moment.” Ron returned to his room while McGonagall and Ginny went to the living room.

“Have you considered what you’d like to do for a career?” McGonagall asked as she pulled out a small box and enlarged it. “I have various brochures you can look at if needed.”

“I was hoping for a career in Quidditch with the Harpies, then after that something with Charms,” Ginny answered. “I would think I have an inside track to work with Fred and George if I want. A lot of their products use Charms.”

Her mother came in with a tea set and handed a cup out to everyone.

McGonagall fished in the box for a moment and pulled a brochure out. “Here’s a list of careers that heavily favor those good with Charms. I’ll leave this with you to look at to see if any of them interest you also. You’re Outstanding on that exam shows that you should do well there. You’ll need to fill out the form for what NEWT classes you’d like to take. Please send that to me by the 20th. Do you have any questions for me?

“Will I move to the sixth years’ dorm room?” Ginny asked.

“Yes, that would be normal. Do you expect any issues there?” McGonagall asked before sipping her tea and giving a nod to Molly.

“No, Hermione is probably my best friend there and I’ve never had any issues with Lavender or Parvati,” Ginny replied. She considered her next question carefully. “Is it correct for me to assume Professor Snape will continue to teach Potions?”

McGonagall looked surprised. “Yes. It’s interesting you should ask that because he was almost moved to Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Professor Dumbledore was unable to convince Horace Slughorn to return and teach Potions.”

“Professor Slughorn is still around?” Molly asked in surprise. “I would have thought he’d be off on the continent; he was always going on about his plans to do more there.”

“I don’t have all the details,” McGonagall said a little confidentially, “but the Headmaster talked to him here in Britain last week.” Looking at Ginny she asked, “Why do you ask?”

Ginny considered what to say and decided to go with the truth. “Because I’d prefer not to have another lesson with him. I’ll assume you’ve heard that before?”

McGonagall sighed but nodded.

“Who will be teaching Defense then?” Ginny asked. “Surely the person would have to be better than Umbridge.”

McGonagall sniffed. “That would be a very easy standard to exceed. To answer your question, I don’t believe the Headmaster has picked someone yet. All of the other teachers will resume the subject they had last year.”

Ginny sipped her tea as she thought. “I don’t think I have any other questions for now, but I’ll need a few days to think about what classes I want. I’ll send my form in with Ron’s.”

“Very good, Ms Weasley.” McGonagall drained the rest of her tea and stood. “Thank you, Molly.”

When the professor had gone, her mother said, “What were your scores?”

“They came out exactly as I predicted.” Ginny handed the results over. “An Outstanding in Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense, plus an Exceeds Expectations in everything else other than Astronomy.”

“I’d hoped you’d do better in that one,” her mother said a little disappointed, “but your father will be pleased to see this.” She hugged her daughter again.

“Thanks, Mum!” Ginny went upstairs to see what Ron was taking next year and then to write Harry and Hermione.




Ginny was having a pretty good day, considering. Her entire family minus Percy and Charlie was coming this evening (Bill said he would be late but he’d be there), plus Neville, Luna, and Hermione were here for her birthday party. Only Harry was missing and she knew why.

She didn’t like it, but she agreed with him that if he turned up it was likely to stir up issues. He’d also pointed out that it was a little hard for him to move around. Still, she wished he was here. Well, she only had to wait about three more weeks to see him.

Since he’d said it was hard for him to get out, she’d wondered how he’d managed to get this lovely box of chocolates he’d sent her. It’d taken a moment before she remembered about Dobby then it was obvious.

As they were all talking and having fun, Bill Apparated in and he’d brought a visitor, a stunningly beautiful young woman that all of the teens instantly recognized. Looking around, it was obvious all the women had reacted negatively to her, although Hermione’s was the shortest. For Bill’s sake, she pasted a smile on her face.

“Hello, everyone,” Bill greeted them. “This is Fleur Delacour, a co-worker at Gringotts. We recently started dating.”

“Yes, we remember her from the Triwizard Tournament,” Hermione replied first. “Bonjour!”

Fleur actually looked a little withdrawn when she arrived, but smiled more now. “Thank you, it is good to be here.” Her accent was still there but less than from over a year ago.

As Bill introduced her around, Ginny watched the reactions and found some of them amusing. Her mother was obviously restraining herself, not happy with the girl coming but probably more unhappy with Bill dating her. Ron looked smitten again. The twins were doing better, but they couldn’t stop glancing at her more frequently than they really should have. Neville coped by just not looking at her. She wondered how Harry would have fared, considering he’d already had to be around her more in his fourth year.

When Fleur went in the house for a few minutes, Ginny grabbed Bill’s arm and pulled him over to the side.

“Happy Birthday!” he told her with a smile. “Good day?”

“Mostly, I wished Harry was here, but I guess we can’t have everything.” She fixed him with a look and asked snarkily, “I guess she’s why you’ve been cancelling our Occlumency lessons the past couple of weeks?”

Bill actually looked embarrassed. He hem’d and haw’d for a moment before he finally said, “Yes. I’m sorry about that.”

“I suppose I can understand,” she told him begrudgingly, “but I’d really like to get this skill down and I leave for school in three weeks. Can you at least keep up the lessons that long? You’ll have all the time you want with her after that.”

Bill nodded and looked around before looking back at her. “Ginny, you’ve always been straight with me. Can you tell me why you and all the others have such an obvious reaction to Fleur?”

Ginny snorted. “Do you really not know?”

He shook his head.

She looked at him for a moment. “All right, let’s try this. When Harry was one and eleven, he drove off a Dark Lord. When he was twelve he slew a fifty foot basilisk with a sword. When he was thirteen, he could cast a corporeal Patronus and drove off about a hundred Dementors. When he was fourteen he won the Triwizard Tournament against thee others who were three years older than he was -- including your new girlfriend. This last year, with the help of a few friends who hadn’t finished Hogwarts, he stood up to twelve Death Eaters. Gee Bill, why haven’t you done all of those things too? How do you feel when compared to Harry?” she asked sarcastically.

He looked at her with an open mouth and awe.

“Yeah, you don’t really feel you can compare and you feel inadequate, don’t you?” She pointed out perhaps a little unkindly. “Not only is she beautiful, but she has magic to ensure that. I’ll do my best to be polite when she’s around, but being friends with her is going to be hard. I’ll see you Monday evening for our next lesson.”

Ginny walked away to go visit with Hermione and Luna some more. The older girl had been happy for Ginny to join her in their classes and dorm room, for which Ginny was thankful for. She was even more thankful Hermione hadn’t pestered her endlessly with questions on how she’d done it, which Ginny attributed to Hermione being distracted by Harry’s disappearance.




Harry looked around the large room and smiled to himself, feeling a great sense of accomplishment. He also felt better physically and emotionally at the end of this summer than for any other summer he could remember. Sure, he’d cleaned only about two-thirds of the room, but there was a marked difference. The head house-elf had also come by yesterday and praised Harry for his work. Apparently working hard and doing a lot of cleaning had impressed the head elf.

Harry also felt much more confident in his spell work now, having had plenty of time to work on it.

He looked at Dobby. “Thanks for all your help this summer. Will you be good here?”

“Yes, Master Harry. I can work in the kitchens until you need me. I’ll take care of your trunk too,” Dobby told him.

Harry looked down at his new three compartment trunk. He’d found it in the room along with some homework from back in the 1930’s, so its owner was long gone. His original trunk was at #12 and he’d use this one going forward.

“If you’ll meet me at the Shrieking Shack in a few minutes?”

“Yes, Master Harry, Dobby will be there.”

Harry mounted his broom with his Invisibility Cloak on and left the Room of Requirement for only the second time this summer. As before, he flew into the sunrise. A few minutes later he was at his destination where he removed his cloak and Dobby appeared with his book bag. Handing his broom over and taking the bag but keeping the cloak in a pocket, Harry walked into town to use the public Floo connection.

A few minutes later he was in Diagon Alley before he headed into Muggle London for breakfast and to walk to King’s Cross Station since it wasn’t overly far away and he had several hours.

At the train station, he pulled his Cloak back out and put it on in the protected area by the portal to the magical platform before he went through. Since it was only a little after ten, he easily walked across the empty platform and boarded the waiting train with no one stopping him.

It wasn’t a surprise to him that Hermione was the first of his friends to board the train. He removed his Cloak as she came to his cabin, looking in to find a place to sit. Hurrying in she gave him a hug and held on. “I’m so sorry, Harry, I never realized how bad you had it growing up. I hope you don’t mind, but I talked it over with my mother who explained a few things to me. She promised to keep it to herself though.”

Harry sighed as they disengaged. “Please don’t tell anyone else here, all right?”

“Of course, I promise,” she told him. “Are you otherwise all right?”

“I am,” he told her as he put her trunk up before they sat. “It was fairly relaxing, I got all of my reading for homework done very early and even had time to read the first half of my sixth year books, not to mention I had enough to eat and didn’t have people yelling at me. Other than spending time with friends, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

She looked down at his mentioning eating enough, but she looked back up at the end. “I’m glad. I had a good summer too. We traveled to Ireland and spent a couple of weeks there and it was lovely. Oh, did you hear about Ginny’s news?”

“You mean where she’ll be joining us in our classes? Yes,” he answered with a smile. “I think that’ll be interesting.”

Hermione’s looked turned a bit more calculating. “Do you like her, as in fancy her?”

Harry leaned back in his seat. “I’ve been asking myself that question. I think I need to talk to her to be sure of my answer … but maybe,” he grinned. “We have things in common and most importantly she treats me like ‘just Harry’ now.”

“Unlike when she was ten?” Hermione teased, making him blush a little.

“Yeah, she’s grown up since then, sort of like you have too, I’ve noticed.” He looked her over and caused her to blush slightly.

There was a knock and the door opened. “May I join you?” Luna asked.

“Sure.” Harry practically jumped up and helped her with her trunk while Luna took a seat on Hermione’s side but sat next to the window.

Neville showed up. “Hi everyone.” He put his trunk up and sat next to Harry but next to the door.

They’d barely made themselves comfortable when Ginny and then Ron joined them. Harry looked at his watch. “Wow, ten minutes to spare. What has the world come to?” he joked.

Ginny laughed and then handed her trunk to Harry before she sat across from Luna. Harry good naturedly put her trunk up. “Hi Ron!” he called out before he sat between Neville and Ginny.

“Harry!” Ron greeted him before he put his trunk up too and sat next to Hermione, across from Neville. “Glad you could make this train,” he teased, causing the rest to laugh. “By the way, where did you stay?”

“Some place very safe,” Harry joked back but reached under his bench for his bag. “I have something for most of you. You can think of them as birthday presents.”

Opening his book bag, he pulled out two books. “Someone told me these are rare so I was hoping you don’t already have them.” He handed a book on plants to Neville and a book on creatures to Luna.

“No, I’ve never seen this before,” Neville said, taking the old book with care.

Luna took the old book. “I’ve heard of this but never read it; thank you, Harry.”

“By the way, Luna, when is your birthday?” he asked.

“May third,” she answered.

The next book he pulled out he handed to Ron. “I know you’ve read this one, but if you look you’ll find this is a first edition.”

“A first edition Quidditch through the Ages! This must have cost a fortune!” Ron struggled as he looked at his friend.

Harry could tell he was about to try to hand it back. “Didn’t cost me a thing, so keep it. I found all of these when cleaning where I stayed and they would have been thrown away.”

Pulling out the largest book yet, he handed it to Hermione. “It’s not a first edition, but I thought a third edition was rare enough you’d like it.”

Hermione’s eyes went wide. “Seriously, a third edition of Hogwarts: A History?” She grabbed it from him and checked it out almost reverently.

Harry looked right and said, “Sorry, Ginny, but you’ve already received one present and I didn’t know what kind of book to get you. If you have a preference, I’ll see what I can find next time I return.”

Ginny looked at him for a moment and considered several funny ideas she could say that would probably embarrass him and be fun for her, but decided this wasn’t the time for that. “An old Charms book,” she answered finally, “that’s my favorite subject.”

“I’ll see what I can find next time.” He looked at her for a long moment as she looked at him, her smile growing slightly as if she was aware she was making him uncomfortable and found it amusing. “Err, about you questions…” He wasn’t sure how to fully answer it here in front of the rest of his friends.

“We could see if we could find an empty cabin to discuss them, or maybe just wait until this evening,” she suggested, still smiling at him.

“Maybe this evening after the feast?” he suggested.

Ginny nodded. “That will do.”

Harry was grateful he’d handed out the presents first as they’d been a great distraction for the other four.

“I do have some interesting late news,” she spoke out a little louder and the others all looked at her. “I’ve been having Bill teach me a few things,” she looked at Harry who gave her a knowing look, “and he has a new girlfriend, Fleur Delacour.”

“From the Tournament?” Harry asked surprised.

“Yes, that one,” Ginny confirmed. “Between her and his latest job, he’s had trouble coming to see me. But his job,” she smiled now, “affects all of us at least a little.”

“What?” Hermione asked, her book forgotten for the moment.

“McGonagall hired him to come look at the school and he determined there really was a curse on the Defense course.” Ginny had to pause at the surprised exclamations. “It was something like a Taboo. Every time the name Dumbledore was said it strengthened it. He thought it would have taken a full year without that name said before the curse would have fallen on its own.”

“That’s very clever,” Hermione said, “as everyone says his name all the time. Did Bill figure out how it got there?”

“That part was easy,” Ginny said with a snort. “Riddle or You-Know-Who did it, probably back in the seventies since that’s when we started having new teachers every year, or so he told me.”

“So we might have the new teacher for more than a year?” Harry asked.

“Probably won’t have this one back next year,” Ginny replied. “I was told that whoever it was was hired at the last minute.”

“Still, if we ever could find another good one like Lupin,” Harry said as he considered the idea.

Everyone nodded in agreement on both the “if” and that Lupin had been good.

– – –

As the group entered Hogwarts, Harry considered it very unusual that Draco Malfoy had not stopped by to insult them on the train ride. Harry thought that was a first. He’d found “the ferret” waiting for a carriage ride a little in front of his group and watched the boy. He was acting very aloof and kept rubbing his hip with is arm -- very weird.

Harry sat at the Gryffindor table and noticed that Ginny sat next to him, as if she didn’t want him to get away. She didn’t pester him or anything, she was just present. He enjoyed her presence and friendship, but he wasn’t used to it just yet.

He also noticed that Dedalus Diggle, from the Order of the Phoenix, was sitting at the head table. Sure enough, when Dumbledore started the feast he introduced the man as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the year. He looked as old as Dumbledore so perhaps he knew a few things; he certainly couldn’t be any worse than Umbridge, Lockhart, or Quirrell.

As the feast ended, he was surprised to see McGonagall hurry down and speak to the Prefects before the fifth year Prefects led the first years up to Gryffindor Tower. McGonagall also motioned him to her. They took up the end of the line of Gryffindors, with Ginny and Neville talking and going in front of them.

“Mr Potter, a word please?” the Professor called out. She walked beside him and spoke quietly. “Professor Dumbledore would like a word with you. He had hoped to make that tonight, but I informed him you were unavailable until tomorrow. Therefore, you need to speak with him after dinner tomorrow evening. His password is ‘apple pie’.”

Harry just blinked at her for a moment while they walked slowly. “A few questions if I can. Why am I unavailable this evening?”

“Because we’re about to have a house meeting and it’s late enough as it is,” she told him.

“Really? We’ve never had one before,” he pointed out.

McGonagall cleared her throat lightly and lowered her voice a little more. “Yes, well, I haven’t had time before. However, now that Professor Dumbledore is only Headmaster, I’ve returned the duties I had been covering for him when he didn’t have time.”

Harry had never considered that before, but it made a lot of sense. “Err, I’m glad you’ll have more free time.”

She actually smiled. “I am too. Oh, I nearly forgot. Ms Bell has decided she wanted more time to revise for her NEWT exams this year. Would you be willing to take this on?” She held out the Quidditch Captain’s badge.

“Yes I would,” he said a little eagerly and took it.

“It will also give you access to the Prefect’s bath if you want to use that,” she told him. “The current password is ‘oak leaf cluster’.”

“Thank you,” he told her and admired the badge for a moment before he pinned it on his robes.

“Do you know why he wants to talk to me?” Harry asked.

McGonagall gave him a judging look, as if trying to figure him out. “I suspect it’s about this past summer, but he didn’t inform me.”

Harry wasn’t happy about that, but what could he really say since she didn’t know.

“If you’re wondering,” she added after a moment, “I think that as long as you were safe almost anywhere else was a better place for you. I met your aunt once when I took the letter to your mother when she was eleven, and I watched your aunt for most of the day before you were dropped off there. I can say that I wasn’t impressed with Petunia either time.”

Harry couldn’t help his smile. “Thank you for telling me that.”

When they all were in Gryffindor Tower, McGonagall moved over to stand a few steps up on the girls’ stairs. “Welcome to Hogwarts, first years. I’m the head of this house and can answer questions any of you have.

“Prefects, please raise your hands.

“First years, if you can’t find me or would prefer to ask another student, please see one of these Prefects. Mr Potter?” she called out and he raised his hand. “Mr Potter is Quidditch captain this year and has the same status as a Prefect, so you can ask him questions too.”

That generated some whisperings, causing Harry to feel a little embarrassed and lower his hand.

“For all students, I’ll have more free time this year and so I will be a more active head of house. For example, I’ll be here in the common room every Thursday evening from seven to nine, as well as at other times as needed.

“Are there any questions?” She looked over her lions.

“Will you help with lessons from subjects other than Transfiguration?” a seventh year asked.

“I will,” she answered, “or at least where I can. Especially for those in the upper years, you might be better off seeing the professor for that subject, but I will help as much as I can.” When no one else asked anything, she bid them good night and left.

“That’s going to be different,” Ginny said from next to his right elbow, surprising him. “Congratulations too. When did you get the badge?”

Ron pushed his way over. “Harry, why didn’t you say something before?”

Harry snorted as he looked at his two friends. “I just received it like five minutes ago. Total surprise, mate.”

Hermione and Neville walked over too. “Congratulation,” each of them told him.

Katie Bell walked over and smiled at him. “I’m glad you took that. I really don’t think I have time this year, as much as I’d like to do it.”

“It’s no problem,” he told her. “Not sure when we’ll have tryouts, probably in a couple of weeks.”

“I look forward to it,” Ron said eagerly.

Ginny nudged him gently and raised one eyebrow when he looked at her.

“Oh, right, I guess we do have time now. Sorry everyone, I -- err, I need to have a conversation with someone.” Harry moved to the left around a few people. When he was to the portrait hole, he noticed Ginny was right behind him.

Outside, he looked at her. “I guess the nearest empty room?”

“Sure. There’s one not too far that way,” she pointed.

A minute later they were in the room by themselves and Ginny was looking at him expectantly and smiling slightly -- knowingly.

“I’ve considered your questions, at least some. Do you want to talk first, or--”

Ginny cut him off by stepping forward into his personal space, standing only a few inches from him. “How about we take care of what you owe me first, then we can talk. That may give us something more to talk about too.”

“Err, all right,” he answered nervously.

Ginny didn’t look nervous as she stepped forward and put her arms around his neck and pulled them together, his arms automatically going around her. With the tilt of her head she kissed him.

Harry felt her body pressed against him, her arms around his neck then she was kissing him. He was barely conscious of a hand threading it’s way its way into his hair so he couldn’t get away, not that he wanted to. As they continued to kiss, his hands moved to her back and pulled her to him, not that she could get any closer physically.

When their lips broke apart, they rested their foreheads against each other for a moment.

“That was everything I’d hoped it would be,” Ginny said a little breathlessly. “Again?” she asked hopefully.

Harry was breathing hard too, but he moved and kissed her this time, one of his hands moving up a threading into her hair as if to prevent her from getting away.

Hands continues to roam on the other’s back for each of them after the second kiss.

“I was wondering about … err, never mind,” Harry said slowly, still trying to catch his breath. “You do know that things can be dangerous around me. Are you really sure you want to?”

“I’m fine with a little danger,” she told him, “I think you’re worth it. I think you need to actually ask though.”

Harry smiled at her. “Will you be my girlfriend, Ginny Weasley?”

“Yes,” she answered softly before she stretched up a little, grabbed his head with both hands and kissed him again.

Harry held her to him tightly so she couldn’t get away as they kissed for the third time.

When they broke apart breathing heavily this time, Ginny put her head on his shoulder to catch her breath and to talk to him. “That was so lovely, I’d like to do that all night, but we should probably go back.”

He kissed her forehead. “I agree about going back although I’d prefer to stay here with you.”

She giggled slightly before pulling back. “I read some romance novels recently and I know what we should be doing next if we were older … well, older and ready for it.”

“Ginny!” he sort of snorted in surprise.

“Yeah, I know, we won’t ready for that for some time, but that doesn’t mean part me doesn’t want to,” she teased him. “Come on.” With effort, she pushed back and he let her move although he grabbed her hand.

She smiled, as did he, and they walked back to the Tower.

When they entered the common room, several people stared at them. Harry snorted in mirth, “You’d think they’d never seen anyone hold hands before.”

“I think it’s the timing,” she told him with her own silly grin. “We should probably go up to our own rooms.”

“Probably,” he agreed and walked her over to the girls’ stairs. “One more?”

“Of course, good night, Harry.”

Their kiss this time was much shorter in deference to an audience being present.

Harry went up to his dorm room where he found Dean and Seamus already there. He wondered where Ron and Neville were only to find the pair coming in behind him.

“So my sister, huh?” Ron asked with a sigh.

Neville nodded and gave him a smile. “It’s about time.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Harry said with some exasperation before he turned to Ron. “Yes, Ron. Is that going to be a problem?”

“I don’t think I’m allowed an opinion on that, or so it was explained to me that way recently,” Ron said as he moved over to his bed. “Can you at least try not to do things where I’m around? You know, beyond holding hands?”

Harry chuckled. “Yeah, I can do that although I can’t speak for Ginny.”

“You and Ginny, huh? Seamus asked. ”About time, Potter.“

“It is about time,” Dean said, trying to hold his laughter in.

“Damn it! Will all of you quit it?!” Harry tried to stare them down but was only laughed at.

– – –

In the girl’s sixth year dorm room, Ginny found herself to be the first there. Turning around, she saw the other three hurrying in after her.

“I wondered who the other trunk was for,” Lavender said. “How’d you do it?” Parvati looked eager for the answer too.

“A lot of extra study so I could take my OWLs at the beginning of July at the Ministry,” Ginny answered.

“It’s about time you got together with Harry,” Parvati told her with a gleam.

Ginny couldn’t help but to return the look. “I know, it’s been hard to wait on him. He’s a little clueless about girls, so I had to nudge him a little.”

“A little?” Parvati exclaimed incredulously.

Ginny realized what the girl was thinking about. “Yeah, just a little now. You also caught him at a bad time back in fourth year, I think. Did any of the fourth year boys then have a good clue about girls? Neville took me and I can say that he didn’t back then.”

Lavender nodded sagely. “You have a good point; they were just starting to really notice us as girls.”

“I suppose,” Parvati agreed, looking like she wasn’t sure she agreed, but she wasn’t going to argue it either.

“I’ve got six brothers,” Ginny reminded them. “None of them were all that clueful until about fifth year or even later. Girls are just better.” She looked at the other two and all three started giggling. Hermione only smiled tolerantly.

“It’s good to have you here,” Lavender said and gave her a hug.

“It is,” Parvati agreed, also giving her a hug. “We look forward to stories about Harry too. Is he a good kisser?”

Apparently she wasn’t too upset about her date with Harry any more, Ginny thought. “That works really well for the two of us,” she answered with a smile, drawing “ooh’s” from the two.

When the two headed into the bathroom, Hermione said softly. “I can’t believe you connected with them so quickly.”

Ginny walked over still with her smile. “I’m more willing to talk and gossip than you are. I don’t think it’s any more than that. You should try it more instead of avoiding it.”

Hermione looked dubious, so Ginny shrugged and started unpacking. She really looked forward to the year, although it was mostly because of Harry.

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