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HB Prince: Year of Love
By DHobbit

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Category: Post-OotP
Characters:All, All
Genres: Angst, Drama, Fluff, Humor
Warnings: None
Rating: PG
Reviews: 309
Summary: *** The author has been reminded via the e-mail address on file that this story is listed as incomplete and has not been updated in over 2 years ***

This story starts at the end of Order Of The Phoenix. Although this story starts as the usual Harry/Ginny romance, I believe after several chapters, you will find that Ancient Dark Magic takes on a whole new meaning to our Harry and Ginny. Will Harry discover the key to the Half-Blood Prince?* * * *American Edition *** * * *
Hitcount: Story Total: 195817; Chapter Total: 3169





Author's Notes:
SUMMARY: Luna returns from her date -- A debt paid --
More shopping
---------------




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Chapter Fifty-nine - The Payoff

Ginny took her rock that she had placed on the table before
Harry arrived, then whispered “The Burrow”. Harry
remained only long enough to put the empty butterbeer
bottles and his book back into the bag. He waved his hand
and all the candles went out, then he Apparated back home.

* * * *
Ginny arrived in The Burrow kitchen to find Ron sitting at the
table.

“What are you doing up?” she asked.

“Writing to Hermione. Did they find anything? I mean, did
everything go all right?” he asked, clearing this throat.

“I think the worst things were eliminated. Think I’ll go to bed,”

“Ginny... eh... never mind.

“Good night, Ron.”

As Ginny went up to her room, she reflected on Ron. It was
sweet of Ron to stay up for her. She was not fooled at all
about his writing to Hermione.

* * * *
Harry was pulling out leftovers when Lupin entered the
kitchen.

“All went well?” asked Lupin.

“Yeah... perfect,” said Harry, with a mouth full of ham.

“Hungry I see,” said Lupin, grinning.

“Yeah, I can’t find the peanut butter.”

“It’s in the bottom cupboard on your right,” said Lupin.

“Ha! Now, why would she put it there?” he said, making a
peanut butter sandwich that he immediately began
munching on.

Lupin sat amused, as Harry found cold mashed potatoes
and some cold peas that he threw in a pot to heat up on the
stove. He made a ham sandwich. He carefully selected a
large pickle from a jar and sat it beside the ham sandwich.
He opened a can of olives, then stirred the potatoes and
peas. He poured himself a tall cold glass of milk and sat it on
the table. He looked around until he found a can of
pineapple that he opened. He stirred the pot again, then
poured the contents onto a plate, then he piled his
sandwiches, pickle, olives and pineapple on the table. He
found a bag of corn crisps and sat at the table.

“Harry, you’re eating like you didn’t have dinner,” said Lupin,
after a moment.

“I always get hungry after swimming,” said Harry.

“Swimming? You went swimming?”

Harry put up a Silencing Charm and explained about the
waterfall. He asked if Lupin knew the spell that would create
one. Lupin told him he didn’t know, that he would have to
ask Dumbledore about it.

There was a loud crack, then Fred and Luna appeared.
Fred looked flushed. “Lupin, Harry... I must be off,
Galleons day, ya know.” With that, he disappeared.

Luna was wearing a bright red fleece top with denim jeans
and white trainers. Her waist length hair was up into pigtails
that curled into long coils. She was wearing her tomato
earrings.

“Hey Sissy, you look cute. How was your date?” asked
Harry.

“It was fun. Is Ronald here?” asked Luna, looking around.

“No, why?” asked Harry.

She paused... “Oh! I get it, Ginny’s appointment went well,”
said Luna, as a statement, not a question.

“What?”

“You always eat a lot when you...” began Luna, wiggling her
eyebrows.

Harry looked around at the table and his plate. Yes, he had
eaten quite a bit, he blushed.

“Fred seemed to be in quite a hurry,” said Lupin.

“Eh, yeah... Galleons day, you know,” said Luna, blushing.

“So, he said. What did you two do tonight?” asked Lupin.

“We went out to a famous restaurant. I wasn’t real
impressed. I mean, I expected different. They decorate with
a lot of red and yellow,” said Luna.

“What was the name of it?” asked Harry.

“I forgot. I think it was Scottish. I think it’s a children’s
restaurant, there were several there. The food wasn’t all
that, not like Mrs. Weasley’s or Winky’s, but it was fun.
Then we went to the carnival. Fred won me some prizes,”
she said, pulling out a bag Harry hadn’t noticed before. From
the bag she pulled out a framed square mirror with writing on
it. “The Grateful Dead, I think I’m going to give this one back
to Fred. The name sounds very sad. If they are grateful to
be dead, then they must have been miserable.”

She then pulled out a plastic bag of water that had a twist tie,
it had a goldfish swimming merry around inside. “I’m going
to name him Fred. His color is the same as Fred’s hair,” said
Luna.

“Good thing there wasn’t two,” said Harry.

“Why?” asked Lupin.

“Because what would she name the other one, if they are
both the same color?” asked Harry, grinning.

“George,” said Luna, looking strangely at Harry.

“Duh! Of course, stupid me,” said Harry.

“I think so,” said Luna, grinning.

“I think I’ll be off to bed now. Tonks and I will be going
somewhere for the weekend,” said Lupin.

“Eh, sorry Lupin. We shouldn’t have kept you up so late,
you with a young wife and all. I forgot that you and Tonks
would have liked to have some time together tonight,” said
Harry.

“No bother, with both of you gone tonight, we had the whole
evening alone together,” said Lupin, grinning.

“Of course, stupid me. I think I’ll have some ice cream.
Anyone want some?” asked Harry.

“Yes, that sounds good,” said Luna.

“I’m going to bed,” said Lupin.

Harry filled two small bowls with vanilla ice cream and placed
pineapple chunks on the top. He felt that something wasn’t
just right with Luna. “So you had a good time?” asked Harry.

“Yeah. It’s hard not have a good time when I’m with Fred.”

“OK,” said Harry, wondering why he didn’t feel completely
satisfied. Fred didn’t stay long enough to give Luna a
goodnight kiss, which was very unusual, but he decided not
to mention it.

“I think if you take Ginny to very many appointments, you are
going to get fat,” said Luna.

Harry looked down at his slim body. “I think she would have
to have a lot of appointments for that to happen,” he said,
grinning.

After they ate their ice cream, Harry cleaned up the mess.
“Sissy, did you really have a good time?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?” asked Luna.

“Don’t know, Fred left quickly,” he said.

“Galleons day,” said Luna.

“Yeah, so he said. Good night, Sissy.”

* * * *

For the next few days, Harry spent the mornings at The
Burrow helping Ron build the chicken coop. On one
afternoon he went shopping and bought deck furniture. He
justified the purchase to Arthur by telling him that it was a gift
for Ginny. He said that Ginny was always bringing the chairs
from inside the house out to the deck and that was too much
work. Arthur had no choice but to accept the expensive
furniture.

There were two porch swings and several waterproof
cushioned chairs, enough for the whole family. Along with
several small wooden tables to set their drinks. The colorful
floral printed cushioned furniture was an asset to the outside
appearance to the house; it gave it a more homey look.

On the following Wednesday, Harry, Ron, Lupin and Arthur
knocked Winston’s office door at 5:49 p.m.

“Winston, I am very disappointed in the manner in which you
treated my son. I expect an apology,” said Arthur.

“Now, Arthur,” said Winston.

“You have shamed me before my son,” said Arthur, sternly.

“If you feel that I need to apologize for something, then
please accept my apology. Is that all?” asked Winston,
impatiently.

“No. I want you to apologize to my son.”

“Now, Arthur, I apologized, that is enough for you,” said
Winston, snappishly.

“You will apologize to my son or we are through doing
business together,” said Arthur, firmly.

“I’m not going to apologize to this young... whatever. You
have tried my patience. I have things to do before leaving,”
said Winston, turning red in the face.

Arthur checked his watch. “So you will not apologize to my
son?” asked Arthur.

“There’s no reason for it. I’m a busy man.” Winston eyed
Arthur quizzically. “If you don’t like it, I could call in your
note,” he said, in a superior manner.

“No, you can not call the note in. I’m not a stupid man, I
would never have agreed to those terms. The agreement
was that I would make payments to you at an exceedingly
high interest until the loan was paid in full.”

“Exceedingly high? You knew the terms. What is this all
about, Arthur?” asked Winston, impatiently.

“Respect, Winston, respect,” said Arthur.

“Ron, when two men make an arrangement, they should
BOTH be satisfied in the end. Both parties should get what
they want from the beginning. I needed the house built
quickly, before the school term ended. In order to do that, I
expected to pay more. Winston wanted more than what his
supplies were worth. We both knew it, but it worked for both
of us. Ron, I told you that you should never blame the
person who lends you money when you need it. There are
exceptions to that rule. Apparently, he believes that I have
spent all that I could and will no longer be buying from him,
so he no longer respects me.”

“I’ve been seriously considering buying your sister a horse
for her birthday, which means we would have to build a barn.
You’ve done such a fine job on the chicken coop, I thought
you would do just as well building a barn. You would be in
charge of buying the supplies,” said Arthur, eyes twinkling.

“If you think you are going to get more credit from me...”
started Winston.

“No.” Arthur turned back to Ron. “Since he also seems to
think that it is time for us to cease our business arrangement,
I think that I will just have to pay him off,” again looking at his
watch, then reached into his inside cloak pocket.

“Winston, here is a copy of the agreement and latest figures
to the amount owed.”

Harry handed Arthur a small satchel that he sat on the large
oak desk, then opened. From it, he pull out several large
bundles of money that he placed on the desk. “Here is the
amount owed. I hope you don’t mind large notes,” said
Arthur.

Winston’s eyes widened as he saw the bundles of cash.
“What is all this? Arthur, you can’t pay off the loan now.”

“Please count it carefully. I expect a signed receipt,” said
Arthur, seriously.

“Now Arthur, be reasonable.”

Arthur stood silent.

“It’s all here,” Winston growled, as he signed the receipt.
“THERE! Now get out of my office!”

“Just one moment. Remus would you be so kind as to sign
as a witness?” asked Arthur.

“You don’t even trust me with a signed receipt?” asked
Winston, incredulously.

“I’m afraid not, Winston. You see, I have lost my respect for
you also.”

“Ron, sometimes people just don’t allow you to respect
them,” said Arthur, then turning to Winston. “You don’t look
very happy for someone who has just received a very large
sum of money. Sometimes you just can’t make some people
happy no matter what you do.”

“Get out of my office! OUT!” screamed Winston.

Arthur, Ron, Lupin and Harry left the office and merrily
walked to the Leaky Cauldron.

After they all settled down with a drink, Ron asked; “Are you
really buying Ginny a horse?”

“No, son. I thought I would just add a little salt to the wound,”
said Arthur, grinning.

“Does Ginny want a horse?” asked Harry.

“Of course she does, every young girl wants a horse. Now
Harry, forget about the horse. I’ve already thought it all
through. If she got a horse for her birthday, she would only
have it for a month, then she would be off to school. It would
break her heart to leave it, she’d cry her eyes out,” said
Arthur.

“Ok, no horse. How about a motorcycle?” asked Harry,
grinning.

“She’s got a broom. Why would she want a motorcycle?”
asked Arthur.

“Dunno, she liked Hagrid’s,” said Harry, grinning.

“So Dad, why did you want the house built before we came
home from school?” asked Ron, thinking that he’d changed
the subject.

“Ginny. We thought that if she was back at The Burrow, that
she would feel a bit better, her not feeling well and all,” said
Arthur.

“Oh,” said Ron. He thought that Ginny would have felt better
living at Harry’s, but decided not to point out the fact.

“Harry, do you know why Winky wanted us to pay at this
exact time?” asked Ron.

“She told me that he would leave for Gringotts at 5:50. He
usually deposits at that time. Tonight, Gringotts pays the
interest to the bank accounts, so he would put as much
money into the account as possible. Then he returns to his
office to add the interest to the accounts owed to him. By
paying at this time, he did not get to the bank before 6:00 so
he will only be paid for the amount that is in his account
before 6:00. We have no idea how much that is, but he will
not get paid interest on the money paid by your dad tonight
until next month. That was a lot of money, so it would be a
noticeable sum to miss out on,” said Harry.

“Also, since the loan was paid before HE added the latest
interest to your dad’s account, he misses out on that too. It
wouldn’t be considered a vast amount of money that he lost
out on, but it will make him mad.” added Harry.

“He’ll probably do the figures every month so that he can see
what he missed out on,” said Lupin, grinning.

“So we cheated him out of quite a bit of money?” asked Ron.

“No we didn’t cheat him out of anything. It could have been
better timing for him, if it would have been paid earlier today,
in time for him to have it in his account before Gringotts paid
out their interest. He was only cheated out of the potential
he could have made. The more we owed and the longer we
owed, the more he would have made. He got paid
everything that was owed to him. It was the extra interest
that he lost out on. Of course, he missed out on the chicken
coop and barn money too,” answered Arthur, grinning.

How did Winky know exactly when to do it?” asked Ron.

“Winky said that it was best not to ask,” said Harry, grinning.

“Ron, have you seen Fred any this week? asked Harry.

“No.”

“That’s strange that we haven’t seen him around. I wonder if
he and Luna had a quarrel,” mused Harry.

“Dunno”, said Ron. He knew exactly why Fred hadn’t been
around. He had talked to George about it. He didn’t want to
talk to Harry about it and specially not with Lupin and his dad
around too.

After their drink, they all returned to The Burrow where an
owl was waiting for Ron.

Ron,

Sorry to hear that you will not be able to attend the party. I
was looking forward to seeing you both.

Remind Ginny that if she comes to her senses before the
party, that I would gladly be her date.

If your other plans fall through, you a both welcome. Just
pop in.

Justin

“Great! That’s just what we hoped for,” said Ron.

“What?” asked Harry.

“Dumbledore said we couldn’t make appointments and all. I
had to write to Justin to cancel. Mum said that he would
probably leave the invitation open and he did. So now I can
take Hermione.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Harry.

“As far as anyone is concerned we are not going. We are
not expected, but the invitation is still good, see? So,
Hermione and I are going to just show up. Mum will bake a
cake for us to take. It is all going to work out,” said Ron,
beaming.

“Yeah, great,” said Harry.

“Do you and Ginny want to come? You can just show up
too.”

“No. Not this time,” said Harry. He knew that Ginny
would like to have gone, but feared that it would be too easy
for an attack.

Harry returned home, a little disappointed, but decided it
was for the best.

After dinner, Harry cornered Luna. “Sissy, did you and Fred
quarrel?”

“No.”

“He hasn’t been around since your date,” said Harry.

“He’s been busy,” said Luna.

Harry didn’t believe it, but didn’t comment.

“Fred loves me,” said Luna.

* * * *
Albus Dumbledore knocked on Harry’s bedroom door that
evening. Harry was very surprised to see him but quickly
composed himself and led him to the corner table.

“Would you like something to eat or drink?” asked Harry.

“Yes, mead would be fine.”

Harry called for Winky and had the mead delivered to the
table.

“Thank you,” Dumbledore said, taking a sip. “All that talking
tonight has me parched. I’m here with an invitation. Mr. and
Mrs. Longbottom have invited you to a shared ‘coming of
age’ birthday party with Neville. Since your birthdays are just
a day apart, they wondered if you would like to share. The
party will start at 9:00 PM and continue on until 2:00 am,
that gives you both a few of hours of birthday within the same
party.”

“That sounds great, Ginny can go, right?” asked Harry.

“Of course. No one is to speak of it without a Silencing
Charm in place. The Longbottoms are aware that it is to be
‘top secret’ that you and the Weasleys will be attending.
The Weasley Band will be entertaining, that will also be kept
a secret. There will be tight security but hopefully it will be
unconspicuous during the party,” he said, smiling.

“Great! I think Ginny was really disappointed that she
couldn’t go to Justin’s party, but we agreed that it was not
worth the risk,” said Harry.

“Your wife is extraordinary,” said Dumbledore. “Harry, about
your priorities... “

“Ginny and I have already talked about that. The plan will go
as planned, no matter what.”

Dumbledore nodded.

“She’s a better person than I am,” said Harry, proudly.

“No, she just knows you better than you know yourself.
Hopefully, you both will have long lives. You have to live
the rest of your lives with the decisions that you make now.
Not an easy task,” said Dumbledore, biting his bottom lip.

* * * *
The next morning, Harry went to The Burrow and helped
Ron with the chicken coop. They got the tile roof on and
began working on the inside ceilings. That evening, Harry
took Ginny to her “appointment” (the cave). On Friday, they
all went shopping, excluding Arthur and Tonks, who went to
work.

While the girls went to the beauty salon, the men went to get
haircuts. The first thing that Harry noticed was that several
men in the shop had red hair.

Sitting in the barber chair, Harry asked Carlo about it.

“It’s the latest rage. All the stylish men are now red heads.
They all come here just to get that shade. Business is
booming. Now, if only you would let me loose on your hair,
we could have another style for the coming season. We’ve
been working on how to create that scar without it looking
phony,” said Carlo.

“I’m still in school, they are very strict.”

“What about coloring your hair red? It’s the latest fashion,”
asked Carlo.

“I don’t think so,” said Harry, laughing. He wondered what
Ginny would think of him with red hair.

“It’s a shame,” said Carlo. “What is your name?”

“Harry.”

“Ahhh Harold,” said Carlo.

“No, Harry, my name is Harry.”

“Really? I would have thought you would have a more formal
name. I know people. It’s my job to know people. When you
have a career such as mine, you get to know people.”

“Really?” asked Harry.

“Take your friend over there, outside of the obvious, he’s ‘a
devil may care’ sort of bloke,” said Carlo.

“Really.” Harry thinking it would be amusing to get this
person’s insights.

Carlo had already wet Harry’s head and had begun trimming.

“Yes, he’s the very confident type, very confident in sports
and women. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him,
not a care in the world,” said Carlo, confidently.

“Interesting,” said Harry.

“Isn’t it? I know people. See? I can tell that he’s a very even
tempered person. He lets things roll off his back. He’s not
the type to get into anyone else’s affairs. He avoids people
who have problems. He just lets things just take their natural
course. You know... he doesn’t like to get involved.“

“Ron?” asked Harry.

“His name is Ron? That fits, yes.”

“So you don’t think he would be one that would stand with
someone in a fight?” asked Harry.

“Ron? No, not hardly. He’d be the type to quietly slip away,
but of course would be there to pick up the pieces, so to
speak. Of course he would always be forgiven, because of
his charm,” said Carlo, thoughtfully.

“Interesting,” repeated Harry. “What kind of girl do you think
he would go for?”

“Oh! Now that’s easy. He would tend to go for the
voluptuous type, flashy... blonde... definitely blonde... with no
brains.”

“Why no brains?” asked Harry, fascinated.

“The same reason he has a friend like you, no conflict,” said
Carlo.

“Do you mean that we are alike?” asked Harry.

“Oh no, quite the contrary. You are completely different.
You are a very neat person, whereas your friend tends to be
less so. For example: I wager that before you left home,
your bed was made and all your things were neatly put away.
Am I correct?”

Harry thought, Winky would surely have had the bed made
and everything put away before he left. “Yeah.”

“Exactly! And that’s the way your whole life is. Very neat
and orderly.”

“Have I always been ‘neat’?” asked Harry, chortling inside.

“Of course, it’s a major part of your personality. You also
don’t like conflict, you go out of your way to avoid it,” said
Carlo, confidently.

“What kind of girl do I like?” asked Harry, grinning.

“That’s easy. She’s very quiet and reserved. Pretty, if she
wasn’t, what would be the point, huh? Anyway, she would
be closer to the plain side, understated, with classic looks.
Intelligent, yet un-demanding... she would always give you
the last word on anything.”

“You mean I’d bully her?” asked Harry, shocked.

“Oh no, my dear young man. I mean that you would be
slightly more intelligent than her, so of course, you would
have more insight to any situation. She would be of the type
that would not question this. It would all come natural to her.”

“Oh,” said Harry. He thought about arguments with Ginny.
There were few, but the only one he could remember winning
was the one about getting married. He grinned.

When his hair was finished, Harry bought several of the hair
products to keep the style.

After they left the stylist shop, they picked up a few items in
the shops along the street. They shopped until noon, where
they had planned to meet up with the girls at a certain
restaurant. Harry was apprehensive about seeing Ginny. He
got that way when she went to a beauty salon. He feared
she would do something drastic with her hair. He loved her
hair and didn’t want any changes in it. He had mentioned
how much he loved her hair the day before, he hoped she
got the hint.

The men were seated at the table when the girls arrived.
Harry sighed with relief when he saw Ginny’s hair. It was
fluffed at the top as usual, but the back was put in a French
braid. She looked radiant. She was wearing black jeans with
a beige top and a light weight black blazer. She wore tiny
gold earrings and the gold bracelet he bought her last year
for her birthday. Perfect.

Mrs. Weasley looked vibrant. Her hairstyle looked the same
as the last time he saw her, only perhaps a bit neater.

Luna had the most dramatic change in her hair. It had more
light blonde streaks in it, but not overly done.

While they waited for their food, Harry told them a little bit
about Carlo’s insight to Ron and Harry’s personality. He left
out the part about Ron probably would run during a fight.
When he got to the part about Ron’s girl would probably be
voluptuous and flashy... blonde... definitely blonde... with no
brains, Ron nearly choked on his water.

“He thought I would go for the meek, mousy type,” said
Harry.

“Am I meek and mousy?” asked Ginny.

“Yep! No words ever fly out of your mouth,” said Harry,
teasing.

After eating, Harry decided that he wanted to go back to the
stylist shop. It was only a few blocks from the restaurant, so
they walked back, looking in the shop windows along the
way. When Harry and Ginny walked into the shop, Carlo left
his customer and rushed up.

“I lost my ink pen,” said Harry, as he bend down and
wandlessly summoned an ink pen. “It was a gift.”

“Oh! I’m so glad you found it,” said Carlo, eyeing Ginny.

“Harry, I think this one is too much for you,” whispered
Carlo.

“You don’t think she’s suited to me?” whispered Harry.

“No! This one has a look in her eye,” whispered Carlo.

“I know, I’m the one who put it there,” said Harry, grinning,
taking Ginny’s arm and leaving the shop.

* * * *

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