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Chapter Text

            The summer after her first year at Hogwarts, Ginny’s family invited Harry to go to Egypt with them.

            Harry caught her alone early in the trip after she’d hurriedly excused herself from dinner, on the verge of tears, the shadow of Riddle hitting her especially hard that evening. He asked if she wanted to talk about the Chamber. Ginny shook her head, afraid of what would happen if she spoke. Harry nodded.

            “Well, what would you prefer? We can absolutely sit here in silence, not a problem, or I could change the subject, I could leave you alone, or… I could find, I dunno, a bag of potatoes or something for you to punch… whatever would help you feel better.”

            Ginny couldn’t bring herself to answer.

            “Okay,” Harry said, sounding a little embarrassed. “I’m going to assume that means you’d like to be left alone.”

            But her hand shot out and caught his arm. She couldn’t stand to speak or look at anybody right now, but she wanted him to stay.

            Harry sat next to her, and a warmth seemed to spread throughout her body, numbing the pain ever so slightly. Ginny was especially glad he hadn’t gone in to hug her. Her mind was racing and could only handle so much.

            Ginny didn’t even realize she’d kept a hold of his hand. She was still very fond of him, but it wasn’t a romantic instinct. In truth, it was an anchor, something she was clinging to for dear life, grounding herself.

            But it wasn’t enough. The flashes kept coming. The places she’d found herself, the blood, the diary, Riddle, the snake. She couldn’t think straight—she wasn’t getting enough air—she tried gasping in more through her mouth—but it still wasn’t enough—Harry was looking at her—and her breath was getting faster—more ragged—she was becoming possessed again—she was dying.

            “Help me,” she managed to choke out to Harry. She meant for him to get her parents, or anybody allowed to perform magic, get her more air, cure whatever was blocking her windpipe.

            “Okay,” Harry said, his voice oddly calm. “What are five things you see?”

            Ginny looked at him, the terror rising higher within her—she was going to die!

            “Trust me.”

            “I…” She gulped. “I see the sunset… the pyramids… the river… sand… clouds.”

            “Great. Try to slow your breathing, but it’s okay if you can’t. What are four things you can feel?”

            “Your hand…” She gave a choked laugh. “Myself blushing… a tear… a breeze.”

            “What are three things you can hear?”

            “My family… the river… a bird.”

            “Your breathing is slowing. What are two things you can smell?”

            “Dinner…” She smiled despite herself. “The Muggle deodorant you wear—that I like!” she added, seeing the look on his face. He grinned.

            “What’s something you can taste?”

            “That one bite of food I got down before I had to come out here.”

            She wasn’t going to die.

            “Do you feel better?” Harry asked. She nodded, taking deep, steadying breaths.

            “Do you want talking, silence, potatoes, or being alone?”

            Ginny thought for a moment.

            “Can we just sit here?”

            Harry sat there with her for an entire hour in silence, never looking bored or trying to force her into conversation, just staring out over the desert horizon, with the pyramids off to the side. Near the end of the hour, she felt ready for conversation again. Then she yearned for it.

            “Do you... like Quidditch?” she asked before cringing. Of course he liked Quidditch.

            “Yeah, I do,” Harry said, squeezing her hand. He didn’t comment on Ginny scrunching up her face in embarrassment. “It’s the first time I’ve felt truly good at something. And, I wish I could say it was earned with practice, but it just feels natural, and that’s a good feeling, too, I guess… Do you like flying?”

            “I love flying,” Ginny told him. “I’ve never felt as free.” Harry nodded, understanding. Then, realizing he might bring this up in front of the others, “But you can’t tell my siblings!”

            Harry looked at her curiously. She wished she’d stop blushing. She looked at her shoes, dangling from the balcony as she spoke, determined not to look at him. “I’ve been stealing their brooms from our shed since I was six and taking it in turns to practice on them.”

            She half expected him not to believe her.

            “That’s amazing!” She looked up to find Harry smiling broadly. “And they’ve never caught you?” She shook her head, smiling despite herself. “You must be really good by now. Are you going to join the Quidditch team?”

            “If they let me.” To her horror, she couldn’t think of anything else to add to the conversation. Internally, she cringed again.

            “I bet they will,” Harry said, returning to the horizon, “if you’re half as good at Quidditch as you are at sneaking around. Stealing from Fred and George? That’s like outclassing Dumbledore at magic or something.” He shook his head and continued to look out over the desert.

            “How did you know what to do just now?” she asked before she could stop herself.

            “I only had one good teacher before Hogwarts,” Harry told her, staring at the pyramids. “My cousin, Dudley, and his friends would always come after me; at home, he’d always go after me, and no matter how hard I tried, I could never stop my aunt and uncle from getting mad at me all the time, every day. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I was always on edge, waiting for the next explosion. Trying to anticipate whichever course would bring me the least amount of pain.

            “My teacher had my back. She let me stay in class with her during free periods and lunch. Dudley and his friends couldn’t get at me, so I’d have at least some moments of not needing to be on guard. I’d get overwhelmed. She’d help me calm down. It meant the world to me.”

            Ginny didn’t know what to say to that. Her chest was aching. She wanted to make him feel better.

            “What’s your favorite Quidditch team?” he asked her suddenly.

            “The Holyhead Harpies!” Ginny said at once, lighting up. “What’s yours?”

            Harry grinned. “Don’t have one. I asked, but I don’t know a thing about professional Quidditch teams. I don’t even know where I’d start trying to pick a favorite.” He looked at her. “What are the basics? What do I need to know about the best teams in order to choose?”

            And they were off, with Ginny excitedly breaking down all her favorite Quidditch teams for Harry, giving the reasons for and against favoring every team, and telling him the entire history of the Holyhead Harpies.

            She told him how their first draft consisted of all female players who’d been rejected from professional Quidditch teams, back when there had never been a female Quidditch player. So, they’d formed their own team. In their first few years, they couldn’t win a single game, and so many of the men they were up against were so furious about women playing that the Harpies would often have several players injured after every game. Then, they learned to play smarter than many of the men, faster, and with more agility.

            And then they won their first game in their fourth season, only to become first in the league for the British and Irish Cup and the European Cup that year. Since then, people completely changed the way they played the game, with dozens of the male teams copying their moves, and, a few years after the first Harpy victory, when they’d been on a winning streak ever since, other teams started bringing on female players as seekers and chasers because they were better built to counter the Harpies’ moves.

            They finally lost a game to a team that’d brought in three female players. Since then, they’d never replicated their initial winning steak, but they were just as good as any of the top teams, winning the League Cup more than a few times since then. Now, they were not made out of the best of the best female players anymore, as many wanted to play for the home team they’d grown up rooting for, so the Harpies only rarely had a roster quite as good as the first one that won it all.

            When she was done sharing everything she could think of, Ginny realized she was no longer blushing. The instant this occurred to her, she felt herself grow red again and wondered why she’d had to go and prattle on for so long without letting him talk.

            “I guess the Harpies are my favorite then,” Harry told her. She gave him a look and he put his hand up, his other hand still in hers, posed like he was swearing an oath in court. “I’m not lying to make you feel good! I like a good underdog story.”

            She smiled.

            “And, also, everything I know about Quidditch teams came from a biased source, so…”

            In the back of her mind, Ginny knew the darkness was still there. But it was more like a faint shadow now. And the load weighing down on her felt like one she could bear.

***

            Ginny had only ever had a crush on the concept of Harry Potter until the Chamber of Secrets.

            When she read books about The Boy Who Lived (or even as far back as when her parents read them to her), it had been hard to picture him as a baby, not a gallant knight striking down Lord Voldemort.

            She couldn’t have known the boy asking her mother for directions was the same person she’d read about, but she still felt her heart flutter slightly when they met. Despite how lost he looked, he was so polite to her mother, and earnest. When she heard he was The Harry Potter, she begged her mother to let her go and look. And suddenly, in her head, she made the boy on the platform far more handsome and chivalrous.

            When Ron wrote home telling them he was best friends with the legendary figure, Ginny was beside herself with excitement. She would undoubtedly meet her hero now. And she pestered Ron for every detail of his adventures with Harry, falling more and more for the mythical version of him in her head.

            But when she came down to breakfast one day, chipper as ever, to find him sitting at the table with her siblings, her brain entered total panic mode. She didn’t know what she’d expected to happen when they met, but she certainly didn’t count on her body sprinting up the stairs again of its own accord. Humiliated by her reaction, she only made it worse when she tried to sneak a peek at him, as he passed, and he spotted her.

            From then on, Ginny couldn’t move past her embarrassment from their first encounter. She couldn’t seem to control herself. Words got jumbled in her mouth, and she could barely speak, so she kept quiet most of the time. Her hands and feet suddenly became uncoordinated and clumsy. And she couldn’t stop her face from becoming as red as a tomato every time he entered a room. Any and all hope of winning the affection of her lifelong crush seemed dashed.

            Most infuriating of all was how confident and coordinated she felt when she was alone in her element. She began to steal her siblings’ brooms and fly about the burrow at night more frequently than ever, just to feel like her old self again, not constantly anxious about what Harry thought of her. She was glad she had the outlet of flying. It was the first thing she’d ever felt good at.

            There were small moments of hope before her first year: when he kindly asked if she was going to Hogwarts, when he gifted her all of his Lockhart textbooks, and the look of surprise he gave her when she somehow stole herself to stand up to Malfoy.

            For a moment, the diary she found among her books gave her a bit of hope, offering her a way to vent and providing words of encouragement. Then, the blackouts started. And the attacks.

            When she finally realized what was happening and got rid of the diary, Ginny felt more courageous than ever. So much so that she wrote Harry that ridiculous Valentine, thinking it was poetic gold at the time, until she heard it read aloud. Even more horrifying, though, was seeing Harry with the diary.

            Gallant, charming, courageous Potter was just a deity she’d made up in her head, and nothing he’d said or done all year could shatter that illusion.

            Then she met Riddle. Then, she was dragged to the Chamber of Secrets. Then she woke up to find Riddle gone, the diary destroyed, the Basilisk dead, and her hero, staring down at her, a white-faced boy, looking more terrified than she’d seen anyone look in her life. At that moment—as she saw the tears in his eyes, the twitch of his mouth holding back a sob, and the look of relief on his face when he realized she was okay—Ginny finally saw him as a person. And worshipping infatuation gave way to something else entirely.

            They held each other then, sobbing into each other’s robes. Two traumatized children who should not have had to go through what they’d just been through. At the beginning of the year, her heart would have soared at having Harry hold her so tightly. Now, she was relieved to be alive, thankful he was there, grateful he understood what she’d been through, and filled with affection for him, but her heart didn’t soar. It felt weighed down and weary from all she had experienced that year. She was too sad to feel weak at the knees.

            She could not say how long they held each other in the Chamber before, without words, they silently agreed to make their way back to the others. They were both weakened from their encounters with Riddle and continued holding each other for support as they staggered out of the Chamber. Harry whispered words of encouragement the entire journey back, assuring her he would not tell a soul what she’d done and that, if they somehow knew, if they tried to expel her, he’d teach her everything he knew about magic, share every note, and learn how to make her a new wand.

            Ginny highly doubted he’d go through all that trouble for her and figured he was only saying all that to make her feel better.

            “No, you won’t,” was all she was able to say. She thought she sounded pouty, like an insolent child, but she didn’t want to be lied to anymore. Not after a year of Riddle lying to her.

            “You’re my best friend’s little sister. We spent the summer together,” Harry told her. “And, if I hadn’t given you those textbooks, if I had looked out for you, gone after you in the Great Hall, hid the diary better, you wouldn’t be here.”

            His voice cracked at the end. She could feel him shaking with shame.

            “Well… if you hadn’t given me those textbooks, someone else would be down here, or I’d have ended up with the diary some other way,” she said. “And most people would think four older siblings at school would be enough to look after me. And Percy told you they knew what I’d wanted to say.”

            They shuffled along in silence for a while after that.

            “I know you think I was just blowing smoke earlier,” Harry said finally. “But… Hogwarts means the world to me. It’s everything to me. If it means a fraction of that amount to you… If I were expelled, I’d want someone to have my back like that. I couldn’t live with myself knowing Riddle got to take all of it away from you. You were so excited to come here last summer.”

            Harry winced then. His words had made her cry again as she, too, thought back to last summer and the anticipation she’d felt. But she was grateful for his words nonetheless.

            The rest of their journey passed in a blur for her after they found Ron. Ginny sobbed joyfully and hugged her brother, but she did not part from Harry. Harry squeezed her shoulder when Ron tried to interrogate them about how she’d ended up in Riddle’s clutches, and Harry refused to answer point blank. He squeezed her again when they found out what happened to Lockhart. Again, as he held onto her at the bottom in the chain of people clinging onto Fawkes, rising from the caste’s depths. And again, as they entered Dumbledore’s office to find McGonagall, her parents, and the headmaster assembled in the room.

            Even as she cried out and reached for her parents, she still did not want to let Harry go. He must have felt her reluctance to part because he kept his hand firmly in hers even as her parents embraced her.

            True to his word, Harry never let on that Ginny was in any way responsible for the attacks. Instead, making it sound as if the memory of Riddle had done it all himself, taking corporeal form from the diary, and it was only when the Dark Lord sought to lure Harry into the Chamber that he finally took possession of her. Dumbledore saw right through this, but Ginny was grateful all the same for Harry’s efforts. Harry, for his part, did not even bat an eye when Dumbledore saw through his deception.

            When Dumbledore suggested that Ginny go down to see Madame Pomfrey, Harry moved as if to join her without hesitating. When Dumbledore called out to him, Harry turned with a fire in his eyes, as if to argue with the headmaster, until it became Ginny’s turn and, with a tiny bit of pressure from her hand to his, she let him know she would be okay.     

            He looked at her and understood.

            Harry came down to see her almost immediately after speaking with Dumbledore. Tired, bloodstained, in tattered robes, he still smiled when he saw her. He walked over, pulled up a chair, sat opposite her parents, and held her hand. She had barely spoken to her parents since arriving in the hospital wing. And neither she nor Harry spoke much after he arrived. When her parents told her they intended to spend the night, she told them, not unkindly, that she would be alright. They could go to bed.

            Harry, however, remained, and she could not find it in herself to tell him she would be alright without him. Because she knew she did not feel alright. Even if she didn’t actually need him there, she felt like she did. And a part of her wondered if he needed this. To reassure himself that he had not failed.

            They fell asleep with her hand in his. Then she awoke in the night, crying, having dreamt of Riddle and the great vicious serpent. Harry, seeming not to know what else to do, sat on her bed, with his back against the wall, and let her rest her head on his lap until she could calm down.

            She hadn’t intended to make him stay that way all night, but she fell asleep before she could move from his lap.

            They woke up that way, with Ginny clutching Harry's arms wrapped around her. For one excruciating moment, neither of them knew how to address the day before. Luckily, Madame Pomfrey came bustling out, causing Harry to hastily scramble out of her bed and grin sheepishly at Ginny as Pomfrey fussed over them.

            After she left, Harry produced a game of exploding snap from his cloak, revealing he had made at least one stop before coming to see her. Soon, the pair of them were playing cards against one another and chatting, as if they hadn’t just faced certain death.

            Evert night, she dreamt of the Chamber and Riddle whispering in her ear.

             Still, The next few days were the happiest of Ginny’s time at Hogwarts thus far. Harry took his meals with her, visited her with Ron regularly, and brought her books and games to keep her entertained. Ginny found it cute, watching him try to figure out the rules to wizarding board games and cards, and Ginny could not stop giggling when Harry presented her with a game made for three-year-olds, stating it might be too complicated for students.

            When Madam Pomfrey revived those whom the Basilisk petrified, Harry skipped the start of the end-of-term feast to remain by Ginny’s side and hold her hand as she struggled to contain her guilt, tears streaming down her face.       

            Eventually, she found herself burying her face in his chest as she cried. He kissed her forehead, and she pressed against him even more.

            When Madam Pomfrey finally let her out of the hospital wing, Harry actually brought her flowers, looking just as embarrassed as she had felt when she’d sent him her valentine. Ginny knew her face turned absolute scarlet, but she didn’t care as she beamed at him. Then, wanting to let him know he didn’t need to be embarrassed, something thrilling happened.

            It felt like the inverse of possession. As if her body was being compelled to move by some exhilarating force, instead of the sinister presence of Riddle. As if the desire to keep him from feeling shame brought her courage. Ginny was able to steel herself to give him a swift kiss on the cheek, feeling like a true Gryffindor in that moment.

            Immediately, doubt crept in, and she was just beginning to regret her actions—when she looked up and saw Harry was grinning. They embraced, and all her doubts melted away.

            Harry and Hermione rode the train back from Hogwarts with the Weasleys, Harry sitting by Ginny’s side and roaring with laughter when she finally revealed that Percy had a girlfriend. And when they went their separate ways, Harry wrote to her just as often as Ron to ensure she was okay.

            That summer, it was hard for Ginny to go back to the way things were with her family. Every rustle about the house felt like Riddle whispering in her ear. Every shadow felt like his presence seeping from the diary. Every forgotten moment was like she was being possessed all over again. Every night, she dreamt of the Chamber.

            Ginny felt a dead weight inside, sucking the joy out of things that had once made her happy. Food didn’t hold any appeal. She dreaded going to bed, but getting up in the mornings felt impossible. Smiling felt like a strain on her muscles. She felt dumber than before, less able to remember things or make rational decisions. And, most of the time, she just couldn’t think of anything to say to the people around her.

            Her family did their best. There were brief moments when an act of kindness from her parents or siblings would shine through the darkness that seemed to be engulfing her mind, but overall, Ginny’s mental health was spiraling.

            It was Ginny who suggested the Weasleys include Harry in their family trip to Egypt. At first, her parents were hesitant. To bring him would mean they’d have nothing of the prize money to spare after the trip. Luckily, Ron, kicking himself for not suggesting it first, rushed to Ginny’s aid and argued furiously for Harry’s inclusion, pointing out that the whole family owed him for saving Ginny.          

            In the days leading up to the trip, Ginny was gripped with worry that she would revert to her old shy self around Harry after only a few weeks apart or that he’d spend the entire trip by Ron’s side, never sparing a thought for her. But even though she did find herself blushing crimson upon seeing him again, forgetting how normal humans held conversation, and suddenly very uncoordinated of her hands and feet, Ron once again stepped up for her.

            “Don’t thank me, mate,” he told Harry almost immediately. “I should have been the one to do it, but it was Ginny who thought to invite you. Without her, I would have left you to the Dursleys like a prat.”

            Harry beamed at her, thanked her, gave her a hug in greeting, and, under cover of her hair so her family wouldn’t see, swiftly returned her kiss on the cheek. The force weighing down on her suddenly became a little lighter.

            Harry and Ron did not stay glued at the hip. They spent the most time together as best friends would, but Harry spent almost as much time with Ginny, alone, with Ron, or accompanied by the whole Weasley crew.

***

            After their talk in Egypt, he wasn’t Harry Potter, the legend anymore. He was Harry, who’d saved her from the Chamber and shown up for her every day since. Her crush on the concept of Harry had been nothing compared to this. She was absolutely smitten

            Since then, Harry and Ginny had an outstanding arrangement that they could count on each other any time either of them needed someone to sit silently with them, talk at them, talk with them—about the Chamber or about anything but—or, once or twice, punch a bag of potatoes, just to say that they had. Meanwhile, Ginny and Ron did everything they could to make Harry feel like he was one of the Weasleys.

            The entire family seemed to rise to the occasion, trying to undo some of the damage done by the years of neglect and abuse with the Dursleys. Ginny’s mother constantly prioritized Harry’s nourishment and comfort. Ginny’s father asked him questions about the Muggle world and, while she knew he was not feigning ignorance, Ginny noticed he made an extra effort to convey that Harry’s answers were valuable to Arthur, that he found Harry to be worthwhile, and that Mr. Weasley was glad Harry was there with them.

            The twins, always happy to perform in front of an audience, always upped their game around Harry, almost as if it gave them additional pride to bring a smile to someone who’d spent so much of their life unhappy.

            Bill would regale Harry with tales of his days in Hogwarts and ask Harry about his own adventures, listening attentively.

            Charlie was delighted when Harry showed an interest in dragons and bombarded him with everything Charlie knew and the status of Norberta.

            Pompous and awkward, Percy still found ways to bond with Harry, having always been there to answer his questions about the wizarding world at Hogwarts. Ginny noticed Harry felt the most comfortable going to Percy when he didn’t know something that was common knowledge to most wizards.

            By the time the trip ended and they made their way to the leaky cauldron, Harry felt like part of the family.

            He was the only person Ginny told about her nightmares.

Chapter Text

            There was never a conversation or agreement that Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter were now going steady. It just sort of happened.

            When they got on the train, Harry informed Ron and Hermione he had to tell them something. Ron ordered Ginny to buzz off, but Harry stopped him, telling Ginny he wanted her to know, too. So, she was in the compartment with them when Harry told his friends about Sirius Black, and she had been there when the dementor came. Harry had thrown himself before her, pointing his wand at the shadowy figure and accidentally shooting flames, even as Professor Lupin cast it out with a silvery spell.

            Only then did Harry collapse.

            Ginny, who also felt exceedingly weak, was able to catch him before he could hurt himself.

            Harry felt ashamed when he woke up, but Ginny, now able to speak her mind in front of him, was quick to realize they were the two most affected by the dementors and told him she thought it was because they had both been connected with Voldemort, Harry through his scar and Ginny through her possession.

            It had taken the sound of Ron, Hermione, and Neville flinching for Ginny to realize she had spoken You-Know-Who’s name. Their reactions and Ginny’s stunned look had made Harry grin, his embarrassment forgotten.

            Having been present when Ginny said this to Harry, Lupin did not just send word about Harry’s reaction, but Ginny’s as well, so they were both called in to see Professor McGonagall and ended up arriving at the Great Hall together with Hermione. They were so engrossed in talking about the dementor that Ginny did not even notice they were naturally sitting together until her friends came over to join them. From then on, her friends began to join with Harry’s.

            They all shared a laugh when Harry told them about his divination professor predicting his death.

            “Have you seen a grim?” Ron asked, the only person not laughing. Just the mention of the word caused Lavender Brown to drop her spoon under the table and knock her head trying to retrieve it.

            “I’ve been with you all summer,” Harry laughed over the sound of Parvati giggling. “You would’ve noticed if a big black dog was stalking me.”

            When Ginny came to dinner one day feeling put out that Professor Lupin had not let her face down the Boggart, it was Harry who reassured her, pointing out that Lupin knew Riddle had possessed her after riding with them on the train and probably assumed the Boggart would turn into Voldemort, starting a panic. Even as he said it, a look of dawning comprehension crossed Harry’s face, and he told her he’d only just realized Professor Lupin probably made the same assumption about him. He, too, had not been allowed to face the monster.

            That conversation led them both to visit Lupin in his office to tell him it wasn’t Voldemort they’d each thought about, but the dementor, given how it had made them relive the worst moments of their lives: Ginny’s possession and the death of Harry’s parents.

            While they’d intended to ask him to let them take another whack at the Boggart, Lupin told them he could do something more for them. Having heard Ginny’s theory about why the dementors affected them more, Lupin and the other professors had developed a suspicion that the dementors might even target the two of them, sensing Voldemort’s traces within them.

            Given that both of them were at a greater risk of the dementors going rogue and attacking them than the rest of the students, Professor Lupin offered to teach them how to produce patronesses.

            They were having their first lesson with Lupin when word reached the three of them that Black had attacked the Fat Lady.

            When Harry and Ginny reached the Great Hall, they found the area around their friends too crowded to join them. So, the pair slept side-by-side in the Great Hall that night, their sleeping bags pressed together for comfort.

            When dementors attacked during the first Quidditch match, Harry was defenseless without his wand. Luckily, Ginny’s horror at realizing he was in danger was enough to galvanize her beyond what she had been capable of in their lessons. A galloping silver horse burst from her wand and fended off the dementors long enough for Harry to catch the snitch—before it started to sputter out. More dementors came from the other direction, shoving past Diggory to get to Harry, causing both seekers to plummet to the ground, Harry’s broom crashing into the Whomping Willow.

            Ginny was miserable at having failed to save Harry, but while he was devastated at losing his broom, Harry quickly declared her the hero of Gryffindor House for allowing him time to catch the snitch. So thankful was the rest of the House and the team that Wood asked her if she wanted to try out to be a reserve player, in case anyone else was put out of commission during or before a game.

            While the rest of the House celebrated, Ginny repaid Harry’s time spent in the hospital wing with her, keeping him company with a game of exploding snap and the most colossal chocolate bar they had ever seen. Harry told her about thinking he’d seen the grim, but they both agreed Trelawney had probably just gotten in his head a bit.

              "We gotta stop meeting like this," she told him.

             “I feel like this is going to be a yearly thing for me,” Harry told her. “Last year Dobby tried to kill me, now dementors.”

            “How is Dobby?” Ginny asked.

            “You know, I have no idea,” Harry admitted. “I should write to him more.”

            At some point, Cedric wandered over to join them.

            That night, they’d practiced their Patronuses until Harry produced his first corporeal Patronus, and slightly later in the night, Ginny was finally able to replicate hers. Cedric stayed up with them. Even though this was his first time learning about Patronuses, he was able to produce a faint silvery mist. Diggory was highly impressed by the two younger students.

            After that, they didn’t see much of Cedric, but he’d always give them a warm smile when they’d run into each other in the halls.

            After his stay in the hospital wing, Harry began writing to Dobby more. Eventually this turned into frequent visits from the House-Elf. Ginny and Dobby took a liking to each other right away. After Ron offered Dobby a pair of old socks he didn’t wear anymore, Ron became Dobby’s hero too. Soon, Ron was just as eager as Ginny or Harry whenever he heard Dobby would be stopping by.

            The first trip to Hogsmeade was their first official date. The pair had already decided to spend the day together as friends while Ron and Hermione were away. However, Harry’s sadness at being unable to go was still apparent enough for the twins to come over and gift him the Marauder’s Map. When Harry turned to Ginny and asked how long it would take her to get ready, she began grinning like an idiot.

            “What’s up?”

            “I didn’t have to say I wanted to come too,” she told him. “You didn’t even have to ask.”

            Before Harry could stammer out some apology about assuming she’d come with him, she’d kissed his cheek and told him to give her three minutes to get ready.

            It did not occur to them to meet up with Ron and Hermione when they got there. Together, the two explored Hogsmeade, hand-in-hand, beneath the invisibility cloak, visiting the owlery, the sweet shop, Zonko’s, the Three Broomsticks (on their way out, passing Ron and Hermione), and the shrieking shack, where they accidentally startled a boy Ginny had never met, but knew to be named Dean Thomas, by walking too close behind him. Dean shrieked and seized his friend Seamus's hand, causing Seamus to roar with laughter. Even as he did, Dean pretended to sew a ghost, causing Seamus to shriek and clutch onto Dean.

            When they finally got back to the castle, Ginny was just about to lead the way back out of the secret passage when Harry grabbed her wrist gently and spun her back around into the passage. Holding her hands earnestly, Harry looked at her and shifted forward tentatively, his face drawing closer to hers. Realizing what he was asking, Ginny closed the gap.

            A few minutes later, their lips finally drew apart and Ginny’s back was somehow against the passage wall, her hands tangled in Harry’s hair and his arms wrapped around her tightly. They stayed like that for a while longer, breathing deeply and staring into each other’s eyes, unable to contain the broad smiles on their faces.

            It would have been the best day of Ginny’s life if they hadn’t returned to find Ron and Hermione looking grim, followed by the revelation that Sirius Black was Harry’s godfather.

            It wasn’t until later that Ginny and Harry found out Hermione and Ron had spent most of their time together bickering. Harry had been pretty sure his two best friends would end up together someday, but now—even though they weren’t fighting—they were showing little interest in spending time together alone.

            Ginny had been worried about her siblings’ reactions to her and Harry dating. Percy, however, was just happy to someone to whom they could pass on all their knowledge on how to be a good romantic partner. Fred and George had thought they were already dating. And Ron had felt too bad for Harry over the news about his Godfather. So, Ron didn’t make a fuss, and then he just became used to it.

            Though it was clear to Ginny that Harry had been hit hard by the news about Black, he did his best not to let it get in the way of enjoying their new relationship. However, one of the many benefits of having each other was being there in the dark moments, too.

            Ginny had thought her possession could not compare to Harry’s three encounters with Voldemort and now a violent convict after him. When she voiced this to Harry, he pointed out that he’d never had to endure something as long and invasive as having Voldemort possess you for a year.

            “Also, it’s not a competition,” he said, grinning at her. “I mean, who has gotten our House the most points: definitely a competition. And I’m winning. But I want to be there for you. I don’t care if it’s trivial. If someone’s rude to you in the hall, I hope you don’t think it’s not worth mentioning just because that person didn’t escape from Azkaban.”

            So, when either of them was haunted by their pasts, worried about Black, or mildly annoyed by someone, they were there for each other.

            They had gone flying together a few times before and after Harry lost his Nimbus. Before, it had just been for fun. After, Harry was testing out school brooms, trying to get a feel for what to replace his Nimbus with. This wasn’t especially helpful, since all the school brooms were the oldest models and slowing with time, but they hoped it’d give him some idea of what the latest models would feel like.

            When they’d fly, however, Ginny had always been sure to keep her distance afterwards, until she’d gone to the showers.

            The first time they flew after their trip to Hogsmeade, Harry came up to her after they landed, beaming.

            “Wait! Stop!” Ginny cried, lifting up her hands as if to shove him away. “I’m all gross and sweaty.”

            “I don’t care,” Harry said, but he’d stopped anyway. “Do you really not want me to come near you?”

            “I mean, I want you to, but I’m just scared you’ll—” Ginny started to say, but Harry had already closed the gap between them and swept her up into a kiss.

            “Hey, I don’t care if you’re sweaty, if you have bad breath, or if you’ve got the worst cold in the world,” he said, hugging her. “I still want to be near you.”

            “Even if I’ve had mushrooms?” Harry hated mushrooms.

            “Honestly? I’m a little offended you haven’t stopped eating mushrooms altogether. You know how important that is to me!”

            They had started walking back towards the changing rooms, arm-in-arm.

            “This whole mushroom thing is going to be what tears us apart, huh.”

            Adding to Harry’s stress, Snape was crueler than ever towards him, even more so than last year.

            “And it doesn’t help that I suck at potions,” Harry told her miserably. “That just gives him more fuel against me.”

            “I’d be terrible at potions too if Snape was always singling me out,” Ginny told him. “How are you supposed to concentrate with him breathing down your neck and nitpicking everything you do?”

            Then, an idea occurred to her.

            “Hey, aren’t we allowed to use the dungeons during free periods?”

            “I think so, technically,” Harry said, cocking his head, curious. “But no one ever does.”

            “And there’s a cabinet of ingredients down there for students.” It was not as expansive as Snape’s personal stock, but it would do.

            “Ginny, the problem isn’t that I love potions and just wish to brew in peace.”

            “No, but if you get better at it, he’ll have less to critique, and maybe that’ll make it easier to concentrate too.”

            “You know, if you’re feeling smothered, there are other ways to get time to yourself,” Harry told her, grinning. “You don’t have to send me to the dungeons.”

            Ginny laughed.

            “I want to come with you!” she told him. “I can help you.”

            “That—” Harry was staring at her, trying to figure out if she was joking. “You don’t have to do that.”

            “I know, but there’s only so many different kinds of dates we can do around the castle. It’s starting to get stale. We gotta change things up—also, I’m kidding!” she added, laughing again at his expression.

            “You want to cut into the very limited time we can spend together to go down to the dungeons for some romantic classroom overtime in the hopes of appeasing a man who will continue to hate me no matter what?”

            “Okay, first of all, we’ll be doing it for you, not him,” she told him. “You don’t want to be failing potions. You want to feel better in potions class, and you’d like to give him less to harp on, right?”

            “Right.”

            “And second of all, we don’t have to cut into our afternoons and evenings if we don’t want to. We could just get up an hour earlier, or something.”

            “An hour?”

            “Yup!”

            Harry looked half amused, half flabbergasted.

            “You know, you still don’t have to do it with me, right?” he said. “I can go alone. You don’t need to be there to convince me.”

            “Hey, I like spending time with you,” Ginny said. “Do you like spending time with me?”

            “So much.”

            “Then what’s the problem, Potter?”

            Harry leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Ginny’s. “Nothing whatsoever, Weasley.”

            So, the next day, Harry and Ginny woke up an hour earlier than usual and trudged down to the dungeons, yawning. Then they set to work, concocting the next potion Harry’s class was scheduled to work on.

            They got the exact color and texture, indicating a successful final product, on their first try. Harry was stunned.

            “That was… so much easier.”

            “And a little fun?” Ginny asked, smiling proudly.

            “Yeah, who would’ve thought?”

            “Wanna make another batch, just to be safe?”

            “Absolutely, I do.”

            Ginny and Harry continued rising early for the next few weeks to make potions together. Although they had to turn in earlier than Ron and Hermione most nights, they found their days felt better. Entirely separate from potions, it was just nice to get up and do something together that only the two shared before the rest of the castle even stirred.

            Although Harry’s potion in his next class was far from perfect, he wasn’t discouraged.

            “It just felt better,” he told Ginny. “I knew I was focusing better, even if it wasn’t like I can down here. And that gave me hope that I could start getting through class almost as easily as when I’m with you.”

            Ginny beamed, and Harry kissed her cheek. “I did miss my potions partner, though.”

            Harry’s next class, his potion was still not where the instructions said it needed to be. All the same, when Snape had come over to sneer, he’d looked taken aback for a moment before going into his usual diatribe, which Harry found he could withstand better these days.

            By the end of their first month going down to the dungeons all but once a week, (when they’d let themselves sleep in), Harry’s potions in class were practically perfect, and Ginny’s grade had also skyrocketed.

            At first, Snape was caught too off guard to think of anything mean to tell Harry whenever he’d stop to critique him. All too soon, however, he seemed to get frustrated with Harry, angry that his least favorite pupil was becoming a rising star in his class, entirely independent of Snape.

            Harry stood his ground. Even though Snape’s insults had grown increasingly biting, trying to get a rise out of him, this petulance from the Potions Master only seemed to help Harry’s focus and determination.

            Then Snape started getting a little obsessive, convinced Harry was cheating in his class, even calling him into his office and giving him detentions to try and get him to admit he was cheating. Harry tried once or twice to tell Snape he was just putting in extra practice, but Snape would interrupt him and tell him not to lie.

            Finally, things came to a head. When Snape was being particularly vicious towards Harry one day, Harry just kept his head low and plowed on, as usual. This time, however, one of the Slytherins made a noise. Snape and Harry looked over and saw some of the students from Snape’s own House, looking almost disgusted with his behavior. Then Snape turned towards the Gryffindors and Lavender had to tackle Parvati under their desk to hide the look she'd been giving Snape. 

            That was the final straw for Snape, and he called Harry into Dumbledore’s office to interrogate. Dumbledore had finally given Harry a chance to speak, and Harry told them both he’d been getting up an hour earlier every morning with Ginny so he could practice potions. Just then, Ginny burst in, confirming Harry’s story.

            “I believe you, Ms. Weasley,” Dumbledore said calmly.

            But this move, accusing Harry of cheating in front of Dumbledore, had finally pushed Harry too far.

            “I’m thirteen!” He shouted at Snape in front of the Headmaster. “How pathetic do you have to be to bully a thirteen-year-old? I was a child when I first came into your class. I was excited. And you, a grown man, made me feel worthless and miserable.

            “Even if I was as awful as you accused me of being, you had no right to treat me with that much cruelty. Teachers are supposed to help us grow. You were the adult. If I did something wrong, it was because I had no one to teach me any better. If I saw a child like that, I’d want to help them. Not hurt them. You’ve never tried to teach me or help me get better. You’ve only hated me.

            “I got better in your class, and that just made you angrier. Doesn’t that tell you maybe your problem with me has nothing to do with me?”

            Then he’d stormed out with Ginny right behind him. Dumbledore had made no move to stop them. But they heard him call Snape back when the Potions Professor had tried to pursue them. That was the first time they’d ever heard Dumbledore sound truly angry.

            From that point forward, Snape finally fell into a sullen silence around Harry. For the most part, he’d pretend Harry didn’t exist, which only brought Harry’s grades up further, finally left alone.

            Harry and Ginny didn’t stop going to the dungeons daily, though. They were starting to get really good at potion-making, so much so that they were beginning to intuitively understand the effects certain ingredients would have on potions. Harry’s insight grew so pronounced that one day, he was working in class, looked up at the instructions, and they just felt wrong for what he was trying to accomplish. So he made some slight deviations during his brewing process, producing, not only the only adequate concoction in the class, even next to Hermione’s, but a perfect batch.

            Snape stared down at Potter’s potion, incredulous, for a whole minute. Then his eyes darted up and read his own instructions, widening as they went.

            “All of you,” he said to the class at large. “Gather around Potter’s cauldron.”

            Snape’s face was a blank slate, but he asked Harry to walk the class through his process and explain why he deviated from the instructions in the ways he did. Every once in a while, Snape would cut in to expand on something Harry said, giving it further context. For the most part, however, he just stared silently at Harry.

            “You will all receive full marks for today’s class,” Snape told them, still expressionless. “Except for Potter.” Harry’s gaze met Snape’s, furious. “He will be receiving extra credit for his work. Today’s disastrous potions were due to my own failings.”

            He then dismissed the class without another word.

            From then on, Snape seemed to have developed a grudging respect for Harry, no longer remarking on his character or rule-breaking. He would merely comment on Harry’s excellent potions, always with a stoic face, and occasionally ask Harry to elaborate on his decisions. Harry had only lost respect for Snape over the whole ordeal, but he’d answer Snape’s questions, explain himself, and then return to work. Far preferring this new normal, he never picked a fight with the Potions Master.

Chapter Text

            Despite neither wanting to make a scene of their relationship—keeping their hands and lips to themselves in public, and only snogging when they were safe within a secret passage or beneath the invisibility cloak—it soon became common knowledge that Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley were dating. A year ago, Ginny probably would have basked in the attention, but now it hardly mattered to her.

            Eventually, Harry became less focused on his fury towards Black for the sake of enjoying his newfound happiness with Ginny. And the arrival of his Firebolt only elevated his mood. Ginny really did think she was going weak in the knees when Harry suggested she accompany him on his first ride, but the moment Hermione saw the broom, Ginny knew something was wrong.

            When Hermione did not respond to Harry or Ron’s inquiries, Ginny pressed her further and would not relent. Finally, Hermione admitted to them that she thought the broom might be sent by Sirius Black. Just like that, no other source seemed possible to Ginny. She practically begged Harry not to ride the broom, and he, at least, relented and said that he’d give it some thought first.

            Ginny went down to breakfast convinced she could talk Harry into turning over his broom to the professors, but Hermione took matters into her own hands and got the broom confiscated. Even Ginny was slightly irked by this. Harry, who had been coming around to Ginny’s pleas, was not nearly as upset as Ron, who refused to talk to Hermione afterward. In the end, this worked out in everyone’s favor.

            Ginny decided to try to smooth things over between Harry and Hermione first. Getting Ron to come around would be its own beast. She found Hermione in her dormitory, sniffling slightly as she read on her bed.

            “Hey.”

            “Hey.”

            “So, about the Firebolt…” Hermione rolled her eyes. Ginny felt a fiery rage ignite within her but did her best to keep it out of her voice. “I know you were just looking out for Harry—”

            “Do you, Ginny?” Hermione asked. “Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you’re on Harry’s side, no matter what.”

            “That’s a weird way of putting it,” Ginny said, bristling. “Because, yeah. I’m on Harry’s side, no matter what. And sometimes, being on his side is telling him when he’s wrong because I want him to be okay. Just like I’m on your side, no matter what. It’s the same side, Hermione. You’re not sworn enemies. I was telling him not to ride the Firebolt, too!”

            “Then why didn’t you stand up for me?”

            “Because of the way you did it, Hermione!” Ginny realized she had raised her voice and took a breath. “I was talking him down from it. He was coming around.”

            “And what if he hadn’t?” Hermione asked. “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t going to take that risk. You may be dating him, but I’ve known him longer than you, Ginny, and Harry just. Doesn’t. Care. About his own mortality. He takes dumb risks, he digs in, he—”

            Hermione’s voice cracked, and she went silent. But Ginny was too frustrated to care.

            “I think he’s changed,” Ginny raged at her. “I think he’s changed, and you still see the boy who insisted on playing Quidditch, even when you all thought Snape was trying to kill him. And you still see him that way because you see everyone around you as a child, except yourself.”

            Hermione scoffed and shook her head, her eyes still shining. Ginny took another breath and sat down next to her.

            “I shouldn’t have said it like that. I can’t tell you what’s going on in your own head,” Ginny acknowledged. Hermione’s eyes were fixated on the floor. “You wanna know what I would have done if he hadn’t come around? I would have stood between him and the broom and threatened to hex anyone who got near it until you’d fetched McGonagall.”

            “Then why—”

            “Because I wanted to give him a chance!” Ginny exclaimed. “Because I want Harry to be free to make his own decisions. Because I trust him. That’s why they’re upset at you. It’s not just that they lost the Firebolt. It’s that you went behind their back. Whether it was well-founded or not, you didn’t trust them. You didn’t trust me. We all trusted you. And you broke that trust. And it hurts when the people closest to you don’t trust you. No matter why they did it.”

            Hermione was silent for a while. Then she began to cry. Ginny started rubbing her back.

            “I’m so tired, Ginny,” she sighed. “I’m tired of being the wet blanket. I’m tired of everyone expecting me to have all the answers, cheating off me, and then never listening to me when I actually want to be heard. I’m tired of trying so hard in class every day, only to be expected to try so hard out here, cradling egos and being the voice of reason. Nobody knows—nobody appreciates how hard I’m trying. And I’m tired of it.

            “Why was it my responsibility to ensure Harry didn’t hurt himself? Why was it my responsibility to somehow do it without angering him and Ron? Shouldn’t it just be enough that I kept him safe?”

            Hermione continued to cry. And Ginny continued to rub her back.

            “I’m sorry you’re having a tough time,” Ginny told her. “I don’t know if I have the answers. I’m just a Second Year. You’re the wise, seasoned Third Year. Normally, I’d just copy you in a situation like this.”

            Hermione half laughed, half sobbed at that.

            “I could be wrong,” Ginny said. “But I think you’d be surprised how tired Harry is. And Ron. And me. I’m really, really tired, Hermione. We’re not trying as hard in school, but that doesn’t mean we are not struggling. But every time you start a conversation with ‘isn’t it obvious,’ every time you roll your eyes, every time you scoff at other people when they are also just doing their best, we all suck it up. Because we love you. And we’re trying to meet you halfway.”

            “I’m trying, too!”

            “I know,” said Ginny. “Let the Second Year put her thoughts together. I’m so sorry you don’t feel heard. And the boys should do better at listening to you. Not me. I’m killing it. I think as long as you see it as cradling egos, though, you’re doing the wrong work. I think you’ll be a lot less tired if you work on just treating others with respect—scratch that—just respecting others, period. Because, honestly, it makes me feel completely diminished when you scoff at something I say.”

            “Ginny, I never meant to make you feel like that,” Hermione said at once, her eyes wide.

            “We never meant for you to feel bad either, and I’ll personally work on doing better,” Ginny replied, wrapping her arm around Hermione. “I think it’ll feel less like babysitting, like cradling egos, and more like spending time with your friends if you put a little more work in too. And I think if you tell the boys how much work you’re putting in, if you tell them how you don’t feel heard, how you feel used when they cheat off of you, I bet they’ll surprise you. I bet they’ll stop. If not, I’ll hex them. (I’m getting ridiculously good at this Bat-Boogey thing—I’ll tell you later).”

            Hermione sniffled and put her arm around Ginny.

            “I’ve taught you so well, my young Second Year. So wise.”

            “You didn’t listen to a word I said, did you?”

            “No, I did. And I’m sorry, truly, for not trusting you. I’m not just saying this—I know you would’ve been able to talk Harry down. I just got… caught up in the moment,” Hermione told her.

            They were silent for a while. Ginny’s eyes were a little watery, too. Then Hermione whispered, “Also, it’s mostly just the boys making me feel bad. You are, in fact, killing it.”

            “See, I figured, but I didn’t want just to assume…”

            “No, yeah, that was a good call.”

            “And I was mostly talking about Harry. I love him, but Ron is a crazy person right now.”

            “He’s really flown off the handle.”

            “Yeah, I think we just gotta wait it out with him. He’ll come around.”

            Hermione laughed, wiped her eyes, stood up, and shook herself.

            “Okay, how mad is Harry?”

            “He’s pretty much over it,” Ginny told her. “I just wanted to know you were a little sorry, and he’s in the same boat.”

            “Okay,” Hermione took a deep breath and looked to the common room door, determined. “I can work with that.”

            She paused at the door, tapping her foot anxiously and looking at the ground again. “You’re a really good friend, Ginny. And I’m very grateful you’re my friend.”

            “I just stopped crying!” Ginny wailed. Then Hermione was crying again, too, and hugging her.

            “I’m sorry!”

            “You’re a really good friend, and I’m really grateful you’re my friend, too!”

            “Let’s give it another five minutes!”

            “Maybe ten!”

            Eventually, slightly exhausted, they left the dormitory and Hermione had a long talk with Harry in the boys’ dormitory (Ron had gone off to see Luna). When they finally came out, Ginny was lounging in the common room, feeling pretty proud of herself. Hermione collapsed onto a nearby armchair, and Harry sat beside Ginny, putting his arm around her. His eyes were a bit red.

            They were all silent for a while.

            Then Harry turned to Ginny. “So, I don’t want to name any names, but it has come to my attention that I may have a listening problem. And I will work on that. And I’m really sorry if you’ve ever felt like you’re not heard.”

            Ginny nuzzled in closer. “If your source is reliable, I guess you’ll have to work on listening to your mates more. But you’re good at listening to your girlfriend. I feel heard.”

            Harry sighed in relief.

            “But I’ll definitely tell you if I ever don’t.”

            “Thank you,” Harry said. “I hope you never have to.”

            Over the rest of winter break, Ron and Hermione began avoiding one another, while also not wanting to spend all their time as the third wheel to Harry and Ginny. Consequently, Ron started to spend more time with one of the only other people in the castle he could talk to: Ginny’s friend, Luna Lovegood.

            Ginny and Luna had been acquaintances for a while, but the two had grown closer now that Ginny was feeling less isolated. Consequently, Luna decided to spend the holidays at Hogwarts. Her father was off on a work trip, and while Luna had planned just to go home and celebrate alone, she’d decided against it at Ginny’s encouragement. With Fred and George otherwise occupied, Ginny and Harry in a relationship, and Hermione not speaking to him, Ron had seized on any human connection he could get. To his surprise, he found he especially liked talking to Luna.

            While Ron had completely ignored Luna, at worst, or been dismissive of her, at best, his need for someone to talk to gave him a far greater appreciation for her. Luna thought Ron was the funniest person she’d met and would practically bounce with excitement every time she saw him. Ron just assumed she was happy to have someone else to talk with. Ginny had other suspicions.

            Ron was initially put off by her quirks, but, as he came to know her more and more, he found the increasingly endearing by the day.

            In one of their initial conversations, Ron had told Luna about his suspicions towards Snape. At this point, Ron was used to having his theories immediately dismissed. Luna, however, was highly receptive to his point of view and was equally concerned about the Grim. Ron soon learned to repay the kindness and be more open-minded towards Luna. He soon found it was very gratifying—opening himself up to another person.

            Meanwhile, Hermione, rather desperate for someone to talk to, ended up asking the twins how the Marauders Map worked and began to hit it off with Fred as the pair theorized as to what type of magic had created the key to his success.

            While Hermione may not have realized what was happening, the second they saw her and Fred together Ginny witnessed Dean and Seamus give each other a look and put their heads together, whispering excitedly.

            Soon, Ron and Hermione had made up.

            When the term started again, and Harry and Ron were speculating about Lupin’s absences, Hermione finally told them her suspicion that he was a Werewolf. When Harry told Ginny, she observed that their professor’s affinity for the two of them probably came from him, too, feeling like he had been stained by evil.

            Their following private lesson, Ginny couldn’t help herself. She told Professor Lupin how grateful she was for his help and that neither of them cared he was a werewolf. Professor Lupin, while surprised at what they’d deduced, seemed very touched by this gesture and, just before the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match, shared with the pair of them two syringes full of Wolfsbane potion. He told them he always worried about what would happen if he ever forgot to take his daily supply and was entrusting them each with a dose, should he ever turn and pose a threat to the students.

            “But for the love of Merlin, if it comes down to it, use the Levitation Spell. Be smart about it.”

            When McGonagall returned Harry’s Firebolt, he made due upon his promise to take Ginny for the first ride. Together, they soared around the grounds at break-neck speed, doing loop-the-loops, barrel rolls, and skimming the lake surface before drifting lazily about the grounds while they told each other about their days.

            That night, Ron discovered Scabbers was dead and confronted Hermione, furiously thrusting his bloodstained sheets at her face. Immediately, he was shoved backward by Fred, who looked angrier than Ginny had ever seen him before. For a moment, she thought her two brothers were actually about to fight. Then Ron stormed out of the common room.

            Later, after Luna had talked him down, he returned and apologized to Hermione, acknowledging that Crookshanks could not have known any better and it would be ridiculous to have to confine the cat to the girls’ dormitory.

            Harry was unstoppable upon the Quidditch pitch with the Firebolt back in possession. During the match, when the Dementors arrived at the field, it was only to be assaulted by the Patronuses of Ginny, Harry, and Lupin. It soon became apparent these were just Malfoy and his friends playing a poor prank.

            When Sirius Black attacked Ron that night, the experience shook, not just Ron, but Fred and Hermione too. After his apology, the three of them had still been icy towards one another but truly made up that night. Fred was shaking slightly as he hugged Ron awkwardly and patted him on the back.

            The next Hogsmeade weekend, Ginny and Harry went off on their own under the invisibility cloak, while Hermione and Fred went on their first date and Luna and Ron went on theirs. Luna arrived with Harry and Ginny through the secret passage. Luna, not as well known as Harry and Ginny, could walk about with Ron without needing an invisibility cloak.

            It had taken quite a bit of cajoling from Ginny to persuade Ron and Fred to shoot their shots.

            Fred was also able to talk Hermione down from wanting to tell the professors about Harry and Ginny, assuring her that the odds against Black finding the pair, beneath the invisibility cloak, in a crowded village, and being able to pick them off before the entire town tried to subdue him, were highly in their favor.

While Harry and Ginny enjoyed a nice quiet weekend together, they found out, after the fact, that Ron and Luna had been harassed by Malfoy and his friends, only for Draco to become swiftly outnumbered when it turned out Fred and Hermione had also wanted to visit the Shrieking Shack. Neither Fred or Luna, or for that matter Ron or Hermione, had appreciated Malfoy insulting their dates, and now the Slytherin boy and his cronies were in the hospital wing. The four Gryffindors would be doing a second double date in detention together.

            Later, Ginny learned that Ron had opened up to Luna about his feelings of inadequacy whenever Harry was lauded for his accomplishments. He’d admitted to her that he never felt like he could make it out from Harry’s shadow or those of his siblings. He was afraid he’d never make a name for himself.

            Luna had been thoughtful for a long while before speaking.

            She had told Ron about the first time he made her laugh, not even knowing she was there, just making some casual joke to Ginny in passing. Luna told him—regardless of whether or not the rest of the world found him to be remarkable—she had always found him remarkable, and she probably always would. She told him that as long as the right people know you, recognize your worth, and love you, it doesn’t really matter in the end what the rest of the world thinks. From that moment forward, Ginny knew Ron was irretrievably devoted to Luna.

            The only downside to the weekend was that Ginny and Harry had made the mistake of greeting Lupin when they found him alone in the Three Broomsticks. As happy as he was to see them, Lupin had insisted on accompanying them back through the secret passage (so Filch wouldn’t find out) and to the castle. Upon taking the map, Lupin told Harry that his parents had sacrificed themselves to keep him alive, and it would be a poor repayment to render their deeds in vain just for a trip out of the castle.

            Both felt exceedingly guilty afterward, but the story of Malfoy’s encounter with their friends lifted their spirits quickly.

            Then Harry won the Quidditch cup for his House, and Ginny came running up to him with a blazing pride in her eyes. Both of them only just managed not to lock lips in front of the entire school and settled, instead, for Harry lifting her into the air and spinning her around in his arms.

            The last day of exams came with devastating news from Hagrid: Buckbeak had lost his appeal and would be executed that evening. When Harry approached Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, who had already read the letter, he looked pale and shaken. As they were getting ready to leave, Ginny asked him what he had been about to say before they’d given him the letter, and he told her about Trelawny’s prediction and that he’d seen the great black dog again the other morning.

            Ginny couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding as they set out for Hagrid’s, sneaking passed Lavender and Parvati asleep by the fire together. Subconsciously, Ginny's hand patted the Wolfsbane syringe tucked safely in her cloak, as it had been every day since Lupin gave it to her.

            When the big black dog attacked them and dragged Ron off, Ginny was there with them. She, Hermione, and Harry pursued the dog through the tunnel beneath the Womping Widow and into the Shrieking Shack, where Black disarmed them.

            When Harry attacked Black and they got their wands back, Ginny had just breathed a sigh of relief, when Lupin entered and disarmed them again. Once things had settled slightly, Lupin gave them back their wands and asked for Harry to hear them out. Harry agreed.

            Then Snape burst into the room, looking frantic, binding Lupin in ropes, pointing his wand at Black, and trying to get between Harry and Sirius. Hermione stepped forward, “Wait, Professor Snape, it couldn’t hurt to hear them out, could it?”

            “Harry, I know I’ve failed you a hundred times over,” Snape said over Hermione. “But you have to give me one last chance. You have to trust me. He got your parents killed.”

            Ginny looked sideways at Harry. A current of understanding passed between them, and she, Ron, Hermione, and Harry pointed their wands at Snape.

            “You want to make it up to me?” Harry shouted at Snape. “Let me hear them out! He’s my godfather! They were my parents! Not yours!”

            Snape’s eyes never left Black, but he had frozen at Harry’s words.

            After an agonizing amount of time, Snape finally spoke. “Potter, will you and your friends kindly point your wands at Black? I will release Lupin and allow them to explain themselves, but we can’t take any chances.”

            Harry hesitated, then pointed his wand at Sirius. Ginny and the others followed suit. Snape conjured up a splint for Ron and offered him his hand.

            “What are you doing?” Ron asked suspiciously.

            “We’re going to the other side of the room, so they cannot try anything.”

            Tentatively, Ron took Snape’s hand, and Snape helped him across the room, gesturing for Harry and the others to follow. Then he summoned Lupin’s wand and released him from his ropes.

            “If either of you so much as take one step towards these students,” Snape snarled. “I’ll kill you where you stand.”

            So, Sirius and Lupin stood as far back as they could in the room and explained everything. By the end of it, Snape was shaking his head.

            “This is rubbish,” he spat. “Potter, you heard them out. We must be done with this. Now.”

            “You know the spell, Severus,” Lupin said quietly. “There are four other wands trained on us. You know it will be harmless if that is just a rat.”’

            “Please,” Harry said quietly.

            Snape looked stunned for all of thirty seconds. Finally, he looked around to ensure they all still had their wands focused on the two men. “Do not hesitate. They won’t. Strike the moment they move.”

            Then Snape waved his wand at Ron’s rat and spoke an incantation. Immediately, Scabbers began to grow and transform before their eyes. Snape’s mouth was open in astonishment.

            Before any of them could move or say anything, Peter Pettigrew was slammed against the wall and held there by a curse from Snape. The Potions Master looked more livid than anything Ginny had ever seen before.

            “You,” Snape spat. “You killed her. I’ll kill you.”

            Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny began yelling at Snape, and the professor paled, returning to himself. His eyes were sparkling.

            Then ropes flew out from his wand and Pettigrew was bound from head to foot, a gag silencing his pleas for mercy.

            “I think…” Snape was panting. “I think it is time for us to return to the castle, students.” He looked at Sirius with a strange mixture of hatred and guilt. “And clear your Godfather’s name, Potter.”

            It was Ginny who saved the day by injecting Lupin with the Wolfsbane the moment he froze up beneath the moonlight. Lupin was still transformed but kept control of his body. When Pettigrew tried to exploit the distraction, the Werewolf caught the rat in his maw and carried him back to the castle by the tail.

            They’d almost reached the front entrance when dementors began to descend upon them. Snape, Harry, and Ginny warded them off with their Patronuses: a rabbit, a stag, and a doe.

            The group had made quite a tableau, walking up to the Minister of Magic and Dumbledore: the dog, the Werewolf, the hysterical rat, the shaken professor, and the four students frantically trying to explain the situation. When Fudge saw the oncoming Werewolf, despite the four students telling him it was safe, he’d tried to defend himself. It was Snape who’d stepped forward, his wand pointed at the Minister, blocking Fudge’s first spell. “Minister, I cannot allow you to harm this Werewolf.”

            Dumbledore, always able to keep his cool, prevented any more spells from being exchanged and asked Fudge to hear them out.

            With one wave of his wand, Snape transformed the rat into Peter, tying and gagging him again while he let the students explain what had happened. Once Pettigrew’s deception had been revealed, they then warned Fudge that Sirius was the dog to lessen the shock of his transformation.

            Once he recovered his wits, Fudge had Peter hauled off to Azkaban and promised to have Sirius’s criminal record expunged, and the proper authorities informed of his innocence, within the hour. Once he was gone, Snape seemed to deflate. He turned to Sirius and offered his hand. “I misjudged you.”

            “And I, you,” Sirius said, looking like he couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. Then Snape turned to Harry. “You were right, Potter. I have… behaved like a child. I will do better… with all my students.”

            Then he swept off, his cloak billowing behind him.

            “I assume you all have much to discuss,” Dumbledore said. “But I thought I’d give you all a bit of a gift for all you have done today. It isn’t much, but I noticed you have been making friends in other Houses. Did you know, there is no written Hogwarts rule forbidding students from spending time in each other’s common rooms?”

            From that point forward, Luna became a frequent visitor of Gryffindor Tower.

            The next day, they found out that, as a favor to Hermione, the Weasley twins had freed and disguised Buckbeak before he could be executed. Fred and George had taken full credit for the prank so that Hagrid wouldn’t get in trouble and there was no distinguishing Buckbeak from the other hippogriffs, so there wasn’t much the Minister could do to punish them, nor was it his top priority at the moment, as much as McNair fumed about it.

            The only bad news from the night was the revelation that some ministry official named Barty Crouch had been killed by his long-thought-to-be-dead son, a known Death Eater. His House-Elf revealed that the son had mysteriously broken out of his Imperious Curse to return to the Dark Lord’s service after years of being his father’s captive.

            The day they took the train from Hogwarts, Harry almost missed it, chasing after them as Ginny held out her hand. Either Ginny pulled or Harry leaped with a little too much enthusiasm because they ended up sprawled on the train’s floor, face to face.

            “Hi.”

            “Hi.”

            “You took your time.”

            “Dumbledore wanted a word. I couldn’t get away.” She raised her eyebrows. “Hey, I kept trying to make a polite exit.”

            Ginny grinned.

            “Should we…?”

            They got to their feet, and Harry told her about Dumbledore’s theory that news of Pettigrew’s capture had temporarily jolted Barty Crouch Jr. out of his Imperius’d state long enough for him to overpower his father and return to Voldemort, just as Trelawny had predicted.

            He also told her Dumbledore apologized, saying it should not have fallen upon Harry to put a stop to Snape’s behavior. Dumbledore regretted not stepping in sooner.

            On the train ride back—Harry heading to his new home with Sirius and Ginny back to the Burrow—they did not spend much time fretting about the escaped Death Eater. There was just too much to celebrate.

Chapter Text

            It wasn’t long after their goodbye that Sirius, Harry, Hermione, and Luna were joining the Weasleys for the Quidditch World Cup. The morning they were due to set out was surprisingly tense. Ginny’s mother and Hermione got into a shouting match when Molly tried to stop the twins from bringing some of their product to the Cup. Mrs. Weasley was so incensed that Ginny wasn’t sure Hermione would be invited back to the Burrow again.

            The twins and Hermione left in a fury.

            Once they had a moment alone, Harry told Ginny about his dream wherein Crouch reunited with Voldemort, as well as the Dursleys’ and Dumbledore’s less-than-thrilled reactions to him getting to live with his godfather now. Apparently, despite wanting to get rid of him for so long, the Dursleys were infuriated by the prospect, probably because they couldn’t push Harry around anymore.

            For his part, Dumbledore had told Sirius he would not permit Black to take Harry in and break the protective spell in place with the Dursleys. However, Sirius left the choice up to Harry, and Harry decided he’d rather break the spell and live with his godfather. So, Sirius asked if Harry wanted him to start the process of adopting Harry, giving him legal priority over Dumbledore. Sirius made it clear that he knew they had not known each other long enough for Harry to think of Sirius as a father. For now, it was just about letting Harry make his own choice. They could figure out what sort of relationship they wanted to have after getting Harry away from the Dursleys. And if Harry ever wanted to leave, Sirius wouldn’t stop him.

            Ginny knew Harry didn’t want to get his hopes up too much, and Sirius probably did not want to disappoint Harry. However, the longer she spent with them before the Quidditch World Cup, the more apparent it became that they were ecstatic to have each other in their lives. For all their efforts to manage expectations, a passerby would have assumed they were, in fact, father and son.

            Actually, most passersby jumped when they saw Sirius. His innocence had been headline news for weeks after Pettigrew’s capture, but people were still hardwired to fear him. The two hardly noticed.

            Harry was disappointed in Dumbledore, but on the whole, he seemed happier than Ginny had ever seen him before. He was living with someone who cared for him again.

            A moment of tension before the game was when Sirius summoned Kreacher to bring them something Harry had left behind. Hermione took offense to his poor treatment of the House-Elf. Sirius and Hermione were on edge around each other from that moment forward, prompting the rest of the group to keep them as far apart as possible.

            Unhelpfully, Percy also kept trying to bring up the topic, leading to several arguments between them and Hermione. Apparently, their job interview had been with Barty Crouch, days before his death. Percy was so convinced that it had been Barty alone who got them the job, neither the hiding away of the man’s son nor his ownership of a House-Elf was enough to dampen Percy’s admiration.

            The Quidditch World Cup was exciting and thrilling. Still, the best moment for Ginny was when the Veela came into the stadium, and Harry, who had been listening to Ginny talk about pretty much the dullest subject: her favorite breakfast foods, did not even notice. His attention had been entirely on Ginny, up until all the men around them started freaking out and they both looked around, confused.

After the match, Death Eaters started a riot in the encampment. After Sirius, Percy, Bill, Charlie, and Arthur had run off, Ginny wondered aloud to Luna, “How are they going to get that family down?”

“Couldn’t one of the Quidditch teams help with that?” Luna asked, and they all stared at her.

After a moment, Harry called out tentatively, “Kreacher?”

The House-Elf appeared in a moment. “I need you to get my broom from Grimmauld Place, then every broom from the Weasleys’ broom closet.”

In an instant, the House-Elf was gone.

“Are we doing this?” Ron asked, looking excited and nervous.

Harry glanced at the family of Muggles. They could fall at any moment. “Unless one of the adults steps up and does it first.”

 Kreacher reemerged with the Firebolt, along with Bill, Charlie, Percy Fred, George, and Ron’s brooms, enough for all of them.

“Wait,” Hermione cried when most of them started grabbing brooms. “I can’t fly well at all.”

“Nor I,” said Luna.

Fred, George, and Ron looked at Ginny expectantly, but she said, “I can.”

“How about this,” Harry said, and he laid out his plan before her brothers could interrogate her. The others quickly agreed to his proposal. So, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Luna took off first, leaving the others to wait for the right moment.

They rose above the smoke and positioned Luna and Hermione just above where Ginny and Harry would come out of their dive if everything went well. Hermione and Luna remained obscured from the Death Eaters, but they made the smoke swirl around them as it rose, creating a half dome of clear air so they wouldn’t be choking. The dome had a large enough area that Ginny and Harry could find them easily, with a sizeable margin for error.

As soon as Hermione and Luna were ready, Harry and Ginny dove, pelting towards the two children swirling in the air. When they burst through the smoke, they were practically on top of the Muggles, and Harry had to swerve to avoid colliding with the father. Ginny seized the youngest child and saw Harry swoop up the older one. Ginny caught a brief glimpse of her brother’s hurtling forward a ways off, low to the ground, before she and Harry had wrenched their brooms back above the smoke.

They were gone before the Death Eaters had a chance to react.

There were Hermione and Luna, ready for the children, whom Ginny and Harry hoisted onto the backs of their brooms before diving again. There were shouts of anger below them and screams of terror as both parents suddenly fell from the sky, only to be caught by the Weasley brothers and hoisted away to safety. Ron and Fred had the father under each arm, while George had seized the wife.

Before the Death Eaters could do anything to her brothers, Ginny and Harry were upon them, sparks flying from their wands into the faces of those on the ground. At the same time, Harry whizzed so close overhead that most of the Death Eaters ducked away from him, and some even dived away.

Suddenly, ropes and stunners were being hurled into the midst of the Death Eaters, as they’d lost the leverage keeping the Ministry employees at bay. As they realized what was happening, the remaining rioters didn’t have time to attack Harry or Ginny overhead. It was disapparate or be apprehended.

In an instant, the riot was over.

Harry and Ginny alighted down next to the others and Ginny saw her father, looking furious, along with an equally angry horde of Ministry officials approaching them.

“Oh boy,” she muttered to Harry, but before the Ministry wizards could reach them, a crowd of admirers had encircled the group from all over the world, congratulating them on saving the Muggle family. When the Ministry saw this and the joyous reunion of the Muggles, they thought better of any scolding they had been planning.

Ginny caught her father’s eye as Dean and Seamus gushed about her flying, wringing her hand. She grinned nervously. Mr. Weasley gave her an exasperated smile.

They all felt pretty good about themselves the following day as they returned to the Burrow. Ginny’s father and mother were torn between fury, pride, and gratitude that all of them had made it out of there alive. Sirius was clearly trying to hide his pride in Harry, so as not to undermine Ginny’s parents. Mrs. Weasley surprised them all when she wrapped Fred, George, and Hermione in her arms, sobbing and apologizing to them for how she’d left things.

“How lucky am I,” Molly said, sniffling. “To know my son has such a fierce advocate in his corner.”

But then they saw the Daily Prophet article, painting them as heroes and the Ministry as incompetent buffoons. Upon seeing this, Mr. Weasley prepared to leave at once to smooth things over at his office.

Harry and Luna, the instigators of their misadventure, were wracked with guilt.

“Don’t feel too bad,” Arthur told them, putting his traveling cloak back on. “Camp filled with fully trained Ministry officials and Quidditch players, and you were the only ones who thought to use brooms. Without you, there was no way we would have saved that family and caught the people responsible. Thanks to you, we put away several more of You-Know-Who’s followers last night.”

He was back before lunchtime.

“Well, I told the Minister you all feel terrible about embarrassing our people, but it looks like this whole thing’s going to go away tomorrow,” he told them. “Rita Skeeter didn’t mention the Death Eaters we caught yesterday. That’ll be the front page tomorrow and hopefully shift the narrative. All in all, no harm, no foul.”

“Arthur!” Mrs. Weasley said disapprovingly.

“They saw a problem, no one was solving it efficiently, and they stepped up, Molly,” her father said. “I don’t ever want our children to stop answering the call when they are needed. I’d rather they scare us to death than fail to help a family in need.”

During Harry’s Birthday, as all his friends converged upon Grimmauld Place, Sirius presented him with a mirror he and James had used to communicate when they were apart, allowing Harry to talk to Sirius whenever he wanted. All he had to do was say his godfather’s name, and they could see and speak to each other through their mirrors.

On their last day at the Burrow, Hermione asked to speak to Molly and gave her an hour-long lecture on why Fred and George should have her support in their endeavors to start a joke shop. Whether from exhaustion or finally being convinced, Molly relented and told the twins that she was, of course, proud of them no matter what they decided to do. They no longer had to work in secret.

On the train ride back to Hogwarts, Ginny fell asleep with her head on Harry’s shoulder while the boys talked about the Quidditch World Cup.

            That year, they met Mad-Eye Moody and learned about unforgivable curses and how to block them. When one boy in Ginny’s class raised his hand and told Moody he’d thought the unforgivable curses were “unblockable,” the professor had roared with laughter.

            “Of course we can black them,” Moody growled. “What kind of magic system would we have if your survival in a duel was determined by agility? You think being able to duck made Voldemort the most powerful wizard of our time? No, the unforgivable curses are certainly hardest to block, but victory in a duel will always depend on your magical prowess, not your physical capabilities, no matter what spells are used.”

When seeing the Cruciatus Curse left Neville shaken, Hermione and Ginny became worried about him. Consequently, Fred made it the twins’ mission to keep Neville’s spirits up, quickly integrating Neville into their group.

            Their first twelve hours back, Hermione refused to eat. She then switched tactics and would frequently stuff down food and rush off to the library. Harry and Ginny were about to retire when she finally returned from the library one night.

            “Can you both stay just a while longer?” she pleaded.

            So, Harry and Ginny rejoined the others seated around the fire. Fred and George were still pouring over a draft letter to Bagman. Luna and Ron were lounging on one of the sofas, reading the latest edition of the Quibbler. Neville was finishing up an essay for class.

            Hermione plopped down a stack of pamphlets, buttons, and a donation box before sitting on the couch with Harry and Ginny, looking ecstatic.

            “Um, Hermione,” Ron said. “Why do those buttons all say ‘spew.’”

            “It’s not ‘spew,’” Hermione told him. “It’s the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.

It’s a new student organization I’ve been planning for the last few days. I just got it registered with the school.”

            She was beaming around at them all.

            “Ron, you’ll be Treasurer,” she declared. “Harry, you’re going to be Secretary, so you should probably start taking notes—this is our first meeting. Ginny, I was hoping you would be my Vice President. Luna, you could be our Historian. Neville could be our Membership Coordinator. George, you will be our Event Coordinator, and Fred, you will be our Public Relations Officer!”

            A stunned silence followed.

            Fred and George exchanged a look. Fred said, tentatively, “Hermione, you were listening when I told you the House-Elves here are truly happy, right?”

            “I was!” she assured him. “I swear. But they’re only happy because they don’t know any better. Think of how much happier they’ll be once they’re freed!”

            “Okay,” Fred said. “Just as long as you heard me out. What would I be doing as Public Relations Officer?”

            As Hermione explained, Harry smirked at Ginny.

            “What?”

            “I mean,” he lowered his voice so the others couldn’t hear. “It’s typical Hermione, she’ll die on any hill.”

            “Woah!” Ginny was on her feet, staring at Harry in shock. She had never been more disappointed in him. “It’s slavery, Harry!”

            “Not you, too,” Ron laughed. “They’re happy, Ginny. This is ridiculous.”

            “No, it isn’t,” Luna said firmly. She was also giving Ron a look of disappointment.

            “Harry, this is slavery,” Ginny repeated. “It didn’t stop being horrific when the Muggles banned it. No part of this should be normal to us. It’s revolting that this is still something wizards are okay with.”

            “Okay,” Harry put his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

            “Clearly,” Ginny snapped, and she sat in an armchair instead of rejoining him.

            “Ginny…”

            “Ron,” Luna said, with far less venom. “You love Dobby. Every time he visits, you can’t wait to see him. Imagine how he’d feel if he knew you laughed at this.”

            Ron’s face went red with shame.

            “You’re right,” he told Luna. “I’m sorry for laughing, Hermione.”

            “That’s quite alright,” Hermione said. She and Fred had gone quiet as they listened to this exchange. “So you all will join?”

            “Of course we will!” said Neville, excited.

            “After all the times they’ve fed Fred and me,” George put in. “It’s the least we can do.”

            Ginny noticed that Harry had brought out a parchment and quill and quietly started jotting down the minutes for the meeting.

            “Can I be honest with you, though, Hermione?” Fred asked, and she nodded. “I think you’ll want to change the name. As right as you are, people just are not paying attention to this right now.” He glanced at Ginny. “It’s like mob mentality. It’s too normalized. So, I think you’ll need every edge you can get in this fight. And something that could be misread as ‘spew’ may not appeal to people.”

            “Well, I was going to do Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status,” Hermione told him. “But it wouldn’t fit on the buttons. And this is the biggest size I could find.”

            “Probably a good call not to make the name too long,” Fred said, grinning. “But that first title does bring up a good point. It doesn’t sound like you’d want to just stop at House-Elves.”

            “No, I wouldn’t,” Hermione agreed. “Think of Professor Lupin. Think of all the Goblin Wars we’ve had.”

            “Fair and Fair,” Fred said. “So we wouldn’t want to limit ourselves by only mentioning Elves in the name.”

            “No, you’re right,” Hermione sighed. “But I can’t think of any other names.”

            “Give us five minutes, Hermione,” George cut in, patting Fred on the back. “We won’t let you down.”

            As Fred and George began brainstorming, Hermione walked over to Harry to make suggestions on how he could format his notes. Ginny hesitated then decided to join them. Wrapping her arm around Harry as she did so. Harry looked around at her and gave her a rather forced smile, then he went back to talking to Hermione.

            “…I am really sorry I didn’t take you seriously,” Harry was telling her.

            Hermione smiled. “I know. I’ve messed up plenty when it comes to taking you and Ron seriously.”

            Harry grinned. “In your defense, we don’t make it easy on you.”

            “Okay, we’ve got a few suggestions,” Fred told them after only a minute. “I can read you the others, but we think the winner is The Defenders of Rights and Guardians of Our Neighbors. D.R.A.G.O.N. for short. That’ll get people’s attention.”

            “Wait, that’s amazing!” Hermione exclaimed and threw her arms around Fred, who hugged her back so tightly her feet lifted a few inches off the floor. She kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

            “Oh-ho-ho, you just wait,” Fred told her, beaming. “We’re not done yet. This time next week, D.R.A.G.O.N. will be the new coolest thing at this school.”

            “I’ll replace all of this with the new name,” Ron said at once, gesturing at the assortment of S.P.E.W. supplies Hermione had brought in with her.

            “Thank you, Ron!” Hermione said, beaming around at them all.

            As Hermione explained their roles and her plans for the future, Ginny did her best to participate and pretend nothing was wrong. She could tell Harry was, too, scribbling everything down and interjecting every once in a while, usually just to praise someone else’s idea. Ginny also was too occupied to think of anything helpful to offer.

            Hermione was so excited she was brainstorming ways to raise money and promote awareness with Luna, Fred, and George.

            “We could do a common room scrub and, oh,” she practically leaped up and down, “we could knit clothes for the House-Elves and hide them around the common room to free them when they clean. We could disguise them as junk and—”

            She broke off as Fred raised his hand.

            “You say scrub, and I’ll scrub,” Fred told her. “But maybe in the beginning, we should stick to stuff that gets people excited to join. Once we have the members, then we can raise awareness in ways that may not exactly sound fun—not to say we wouldn’t make it fun.”

            “That’s a good point,” Hermione said thoughtfully.

            “And Hermione?”

            “Yeah.”

            “I really don’t think we should force them to be free until they want to be free.”

            “Fred!”

            “Please, hear me out,” he requested. “I think it sounds counterintuitive, even if it may feel like the right thing to do, to force them into something when the thing we are fighting against is them being forced to do things without any say.”

            “Were you trying to make sense there, mate?” George asked.

            “I’m saying…” Fred hesitated. “That we’re walking a very fine line here, Hermione. If we want others to respect House-Elves, we have to show them the fundamental respect of letting them choose for themselves. We can advocate for better treatment, we can tell them we see them as equals, we can encourage them, and we can be their allies in the fight, but if we decide what’s best for them unilaterally then we do not truly view them as equals, do we?”

            Hermione’s face had paled.

            “We should also consider how much better it will be if they choose freedom for themselves,” Fred ploughed on. “They won’t be looking back on the past, mourning the positions we took from them. They won’t feel lost. They will be excited for the future and they’ll be advocating for their own rights along with us, which will probably be a lot more powerful.”

            “But what if we can’t convince them?” Hermione asked, sounding a little desperate.

            “Personally, until they’re on board, I think we just have to suck it up and settle for advocating that they get better treatment,” Fred told her. “There’s still a lot of good you can do, Hermione. And what we do now, may plant the seeds for freedom down the road.”

            “I don’t think you want to force anything upon anyone they don’t want,” Fred added. “Not really.”

            Hermione was giving him a watery smile. “Well, I do want to force the Ministry to pass laws to protect House-Elves, even if the Ministry doesn't want to.”

            “Fair enough,” Fred said, grinning.

            “Well, maybe we should leave it at that,” Hermione said. “Thank you all. I can’t begin to express how much this means to me.”

            The others all started to turn in, Ron dashing up to the boys’ dormitory, as usual, to grab the cloak and the map so he could walk Luna back to her common room.

            Ginny didn’t move, keeping her arm around Harry, and he understood, packing his notes back up, but not leaving her side.

            They waited until Ron had left with Luna, bidding them goodnight.

            “I’m sorry,” Harry said the moment the portrait hole closed, before Ginny could say anything. “That was a ridiculously stupid thing to say. Hermine and Dobby both deserve better from me. And you.”

            “Yes it was,” Ginny agreed, but she put her head on his shoulder. “And we do. And I was absolutely going to give you the silent treatment to make sure you really knew how messed up that was. Then I remembered you’re you and you’re probably beating yourself up about this way more than you need to, so I don’t need to pile on.”

            “But you were right. What sort of person am I that I was ready to laugh this off?”

            “You’re a good person. You just messed up.”

            “How can I say I’m a good person if—”

            “Well, there’s that one time you saved Dobby from slavery,” Ginny cut him off. “The time you saved my life. The time you stopped Voldemort. The time you saved Hermione from a troll. The other time you stopped Voldemort. The time you stopped Tom Riddle. The time you were the only person I felt like I could lean on after my possession and you had my back every step of the way. The time you heard out the man you thought betrayed your parents. The time you insisted on sparing the life of the man, who really did betray your parents, to clear Sirius’s name. The time you got us to save a family of Muggles. That one time you said something stupid, realized you made a mistake, and apologized, instead of doubling down or deflecting. And literally every day I’ve been dating you when you’ve just…”

            She took a breath.

            “I wouldn’t be dating you if I didn’t think you were a good person,” she told him. “Hermione wouldn’t be friends with you. None of us would. Nobody believes you want House-Elves to suffer or that you actually don’t care about them. So, you shouldn’t either.”

            Harry sighed. He still looked deflated, but he smiled at her.

            “I think if you list about twenty more ways I’m a great person, you’ll have me convinced,” Harry said. She poked his side. “Okay, but hear me out: I piss you off, so you have to talk me up again. Boom. Proof I’m a bad person.”

            Ginny giggled and they sat together for a while, watching the fire in the common room.

            “I just wish it hadn’t fallen on you to wake me up.”

            “If it helps,” Ginny said. “Fred and George wouldn’t care, if it were anyone but Hermione. Ron was even more dismissive. Luna, Neville, and I weren’t going to do anything even if we already thought it was wrong. Literally no one in the entire wizarding community has done anything about this. And Hermione kind of had to get called out too. So, you’re in good company. World’s messed up and we’re doing the best we can at our age.”

            Ron came back into the dormitory, grinning like an idiot.

            “How great is Luna?” he said when he spotted them. “I think I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

            “You two had a good walk then?”

            “Amazing,” Ron told them. “I have the best girlfriend ever. Anyway, I'm exhausted. Night all!”

            They bid him good night and Ron left the common room.

            “Second best,” Harry corrected him once he was out of earshot.

            Ginny nodded sagely. “You’re talking about Pansy and Draco, right?”

            The next day, Harry suggested they go down to the kitchens to visit Dobby and Winky, whom Dobby had been bringing along with him to visit Harry ever since her master died. Harry asked both the House-Elves if he could speak to them in private, along with Hermione and Ginny, and they told the two about Hermione’s new organization.

            Harry had warned them he did not think Winky would be on board, but she was surprisingly receptive to the idea. Because Dobby’s visits with Harry had grown more frequent, he was more comfortable speaking to Harry the same way he’d speak to any of his peers. Winky had seen the way Harry and Dobby spoke to each other as equals with every visit, normalizing the behavior. She’d also caught sight of Sirius and Kreacher squabbling, and had found witnessing such treatment made her feel sick for the rest of the day. She was completely on board with getting House-Elves better treatment, but was hesitant about the idea of asking for freedom. Still, she promised to do some reconnaissance with Dobby to get a feel for where the other House-Elves stood.

            Winky was still drinking pretty heavily after the death of her master, but having this to occupy her time seemed like a welcome distraction and the more she met with the members of D.R.A.G.O.N. the more she realized that the cruelty of Barty Crouch was not normal wizard behavior.

            Dobby and Winky were of the same mind as Fred and thought that they needed to begin with getting House-Elves better treatment before even mentioning freedom. Upon Hermione’s suggestion, the two of them started finding more of their peers who were treated terribly and inviting them to visit the Hogwarts kitchens. This gave the Hogwarts House-Elves a better idea of conditions outside the castle, and showed the mistreated House-Elves how much better life could be for them.

            Soon, Dobby and Winky had the mistreated House-Elves galvanized and the Hogwarts House-Elves determined to help their brethren. Winky stopped drinking, invigorated by the part she was playing in the movement, and happily agreed to help Dobby lead the revolution.

            True to their word, by the time two weeks had passed, Fred and George had made D.R.A.G.O.N. the single most popular student organization at Hogwarts, with members from every House. Fred and George were actually quite well-liked by some of the Slytherins they shared classes with, except for Montague. When those sixth years joined, they brought other students from Slytherin, though none were from Malfoy’s circle. Everyone was eager to pitch in, with Parvati and Lavender holding a bake sale that added an absolute flood of galleons to their funds.

            D.R.A.G.O.N. broke Hogwarts’s record for most members in a student organization.

            Eventually, Dobby and Winky felt ready to tell their peers about D.R.A.G.O.N. and invited Hermione, Fred, George, Harry, and Ginny to the kitchens. Riding off the twins’ rapport with the House-Elves and the admiration they had for Harry, Dobby and Winky told the House-Elves there was a coalition of students ready to support them if they wanted to fight for their right to better treatment.

            “It would be dishonorable for the House-Elves to complain about their treatment,” one of the school Elves piped up.

            “It would be more dishonorable not to fight for our friends being abused,” Winky declared.

            In the end, the House-Elves agreed. They were ready for something better.

Chapter Text

            When Harry’s name came out of the Goblet of Fire, Ron’s suspicions that Harry had put his own name in were quickly squashed. Ginny did not believe Harry had done it for one second. Hermione believed Harry, so Fred and George believed Harry. Neville couldn’t see why Harry would lie to them. And Luna was, again, able to quickly talk Ron down from his momentary rage.

            “And if Harry didn’t put his name in the Goblet,” she told the group, “then that means someone else put his name in. I don’t think anyone would do that to him unless they wanted to hurt Harry.”

            This was met with grim silence. It was just after Dumbledore had drawn the Champions’ names from the Goblet. They had met in the Gryffindor common room, waiting for Harry to come back up.

            Only when the chasers from their Quidditch team approached did the group notice the bustle of activity around them in the common room.

            “Fred, George, can you get us some Firewhiskey?” Angelina asked.

            Wait, why?” George asked.

            “To celebrate Harry!” Katie exclaimed.

            “Oh, that’s not great,” said Ron as they all realized the House was putting together a party for Harry.

            “Wait, you all don’t seriously—” Fred began, even as both twins started to climb onto tables.

            “People! People!” George yelled out, waving his hands to get everyone’s attention.

            “Seriously,” Fred said. “I know we are usually the last two to say ‘no’ to a party…

            “But do any of you really think Harry put his name in that Goblet?” George asked. “The first words from his mouth were ‘I didn’t do it.’”

            “When has Harry ever shown the slightest interest in fame and glory?”

            “I mean,” said Alicia, “he is our star seeker.”

            “You’re right—but, just—you know?” George muttered while Fred continued addressing the crowd.

            “Yes, Harry likes Quidditch,” he admitted. “But he doesn’t like almost getting killed, no matter how often it happens.”

            “And he’s not stupid,” said George.

            “He knows he’s nowhere near the skill of a Seventh Year.”

            “Whoever put Harry’s name in did not have Harry’s blessing to do so.”

            “And probably wants to see Harry hurt or killed during the Tournament.”

            “This is not a celebration, people.”

            “One of our own is in trouble.”

            “He’s in danger!”

            “From the Tournament.”

            “And whoever put his name in.”

            “He’s probably scared.”

            “He’s probably overwhelmed.”

            “He needs support.”

            “But not like this.”

            “We’re better than this,” Fred concluded. “We’re better than making light of the risks Harry’s up against. We’re better than treating his trials as trivial. We’re bloody Gryffindors.”

            Ginny was waiting outside the common room when Harry returned, looking weary.

            They embraced.

            “They wanted to throw you a party,” Ginny told him. “Fred and George talked them out of it.”

            “That’s the first good news I’ve heard tonight,” Harry told her. “Ginny—”

            “I know you didn’t do it,” she cut him off. “Sorry, but I wanted you to know that I never believed it for a moment, in case you thought you had to convince me.”

            Harry gave a small sigh of relief.

            “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

            “Well, I have Sirius’s mirror with me if you want to get in touch with him,” Ginny said. “But do you want to see Ron and Hermione first?”

            Harry nodded, and Ginny turned to the Fat Lady, but she hesitated.

            “I hope this isn’t the wrong move,” she told him. “It might be a lot right now, but just know, everybody means well.”

            She spoke the password.

            Every member of their House, and Luna, stood clapping behind the threshold. Harry looked stunned.

            “I thought you said Fred and George talked them down,” he said, sounding a little accusatory.

            “This isn’t a party,” Ginny told him. She took his hand and guided him gently into the common room.

            “You’re going to be okay, Harry,” Angelina said, embracing him tightly. “We’re all behind you.”

            Then Angelina was making her way back through the crowd, and Alicia was hugging Harry.

            “Whatever you need,” she told him. “Just say, okay?”

            Then Katie was hugging him. “We all believe you, Harry.”

            Slowly, everyone came forward with encouragement, a pat on the back, a hug, or a handshake, and then they went off to bed.

            Finally the last person shaking Harry’s hand was Colin Creevey. He had looked subdued since the twins’ speech.

            “Harry, I’m sorry if I’ve ever been… a pest,” he said. “I know it must have been tough on you—all the stuff you’ve been through. I hope you never felt like—well, I just wanted to say I’m really glad to know you. I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to. And if you need space please let me know. I won’t take it personally.”

            “You’re not a pest, Colin.” Harry pulled him into a hug. “You’re a great guy. Thank you.”

            “Good move or bad move?” Ginny asked when it was just her, the twins, Luna, Neville, Hermione, and Ron.

            “Good move,” Harry said. “Whose idea was that?”

            “Angelina’s,” George told him, looking a little starstruck.

            “I’m glad you’re all here,” Harry told them.

            “Do you want to talk to Sirius?” Ginny asked. Harry nodded. “Alone or with us?”

            “I appreciate you all,” Harry told them. “But I have no idea what state I’ll be in when I talk with Sirius, so…”

            “Say no more,” Ron said, pulling him in for a hug. “See you tomorrow, mate.”

            Ginny made to depart with the others, but Harry didn’t let go of her hand. She looked at him and understood.

            They talked with Sirius well into the night.

            A pleasant development in Ginny’s third year was that potions class was now just like any other. Snape was still a generally grim person who did not tolerate any fooling around in his classes. Still, he had stopped playing favorites with the Slytherins, stopped belittling and bullying students, and was making a concerted effort to help them learn.

            In particular, he focused on Neville, whose performance in potions had been most impacted by Snape. He would stop by Neville’s cauldron more often than other students and patiently correct any mistakes, but also commend him on what he had gotten right so far.

            Eventually, Snape asked Neville to stay after class and told him he just couldn’t see Neville getting back on track without additional practice. So, he asked if Neville would be willing to meet with Snape three evenings a week for remedial lessons. Neville agreed, whether out of fear of saying ‘no’ to Snape or a desire to pick up his grade, Ginny did not know.

            To Neville’s surprise, Snape did not have them meet in the dungeons but in one of the greenhouses for their lessons, where Neville was most comfortable. Professor Sprout also sat in on their lessons, claiming her potions skills had gotten rusty and she could use the extra practice.

            Neville told Ginny he thought Snape had secretly asked Professor Sprout to be there for Neville’s comfort, but he was grateful for her company. Soon enough, Neville’s grades started to pick up. As they did, Snape steadily reduced the frequency of their extra lessons, telling Neville he would continue to do so until Neville had completely caught up with his classmates.

            As for Ginny, she had already concocted every single one of the potions Snape assigned to them and soon became his star pupil.

            In response to recent spikes in bullying at the school, the Slytherins were now mandated to come down to one of the larger classrooms every Friday evening for special seminars from Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies Professor. At each workshop, she would attempt to engage the House in a discussion about their attitudes towards Muggles, Muggle-borns, and Half-bloods. Although the Potions Professor insisted this was on Dumbledore’s orders, Ginny rather suspected this to be Snape’s doing. She’d often see him and Professor Burbage deep in discussion about her next seminar.

            Ginny had not expected the seminars to be a success whatsoever. Then Charity told the Slytherins the sooner she could report engagement to Dumbledore, the sooner the Slytherins would get their evening back. She also told them that if the bullying and harassment continued, she’d increase the regularity of their meetings, starting with Saturday evenings.

            Ginny thought this strategy had been a stroke of genius on the part of Professor Burbage. It would have been much better if sheer empathy had inspired the change, but once the Slytherins lost their Friday evenings, the instances of anti-Muggle sentiment throughout the castle plummeted. It was hard to tell whether it was pure fear of losing more free time, secretly internalizing the content of Charity’s lessons, or an accidental habit they’d picked up trying to rid themselves of the workshop, but the whole of Slytherin House had become far more amiable.

            Ginny thought she saw a flicker of pride in Snape’s eyes when Professor Burbage finally announced the Slytherin’s could have their evening back. And rumor had it a few Slytherins planned on signing up for Muggle Studies next year.

            Shortly after the announcement of the Champions, Winky and Dobby had to resign from their positions at Hogwarts to focus full-time on their advocacy work. Hogwarts was making headline news, not for the Triwizard tournament, but for the students’ efforts to bring reform to the treatment of House-Elves and other magical races.

            The Ministry passed new legislation, strongly condemning the mistreatment of House-Elves. However, Ginny's father wrote to inform them that this was an empty law, with no enforceability and no real prohibitions, meant to get the press off the Ministry’s back. When Hermione shared this news with Dobby and Winky, they used it to their advantage.

            Before the Ministry knew what was happening, the House-Elf community had been whipped up into a frenzy at being so casually brushed aside and were now demanding complete freedom. That night, Dean and Seamus threw a party in the Gryffindor Common Room for every member of D.R.A.G.O.N. and the Hogwarts Elves, celebrating the monumental step they were taking together.

            Able to talk with Harry whenever they wanted through their mirrors, and without Ron interrupting them, Sirius could easily communicate to Harry that a confundus spell would disable a dragon, no problem.

            With the stress of the first task alleviated the moment Harry mastered the confundus charm, Harry could better focus on his lessons and thus had mastered the summoning charm by the time Professor Moody hinted he should summon his broom.

            Harry was able to get through the first task unscathed, not having to stay up late practicing the night before. In the end, Harry combined the advice of Sirius and Moody, luring the dragon away from her eggs on his broom. Once she was far enough from her eggs that she wouldn’t crush them, he used the confundus spell to incapacitate her. He received full marks.

            Harry, of course, warned Cedric about the dragons as well.

            Afterward, Sirius and Lupin surprised Harry by revealing they had come to see the task. After celebrating with them both for quite a while, they made to say their goodbyes, but Harry asked to speak with Sirius alone.

            Ginny caught glimpses of them behind Lupin as the rest of their group chatted with Remus. Sirius was looking surprised, and Harry grim. Sirius tried to tell him something, but Harry shook his head. Black put his hands on Harry’s shoulders and began speaking earnestly. They embraced and did not break apart for a while. Sirius patted Harry’s back. Then they both returned, each looking a little shaken.

            At Ginny’s insistence, out of concern for Harry’s safety, their entire friend group was ready to dedicate all of their time and efforts towards deciphering the meaning of the egg. Luna, being Luna, recognized Mermish the moment Harry opened the egg for her, Mermish being the focal point of one of her father’s theories.

            Once she told Harry he could listen to the egg underwater to hear the song in English, it didn’t take long for Harry to relay the message to the rest of them and for Neville to suggest Gilly-Weed.

            With a plan set for the second task, Harry’s anxiety over the tournament again subsided.

            About a week out from the Yule Ball, the Ministry had caved and passed legislation to prohibit the enslavement of House-Elves throughout Britain. The charge within the Ministry had been led by Percy Weasley, a previous unknown from the Department of International Co-operation, who had seized upon the movement to make a name for themself (also caving to the pleas of their siblings). Percy found they rather enjoyed fighting for the rights of others.

            Sirius wrote to Hermione the night the law was passed, telling her that he had already freed Kreacher. Harry spoke to Sirius after the First Task and asked Sirius to free the House-Elf. Sirius had tried to push back and say Kreacher knew too many of their secrets to be turned free. Then Harry told him nothing Kreacher could do to hurt them was worth partaking in slavery and that Harry couldn’t return to Grimmauld Place, knowing he’d be a part of something like that. He got no more arguments from Sirius.

            Sirius apologized to Kreacher and treated him far better after the First Task, before setting him free a month after his talk with Harry. The only delay had been trying to figure out what to do about all the information Kreacher knew. Finally, Sirius had simply written a letter to Dumbledore, trying to detail everything Kreacher knew and would probably pass on to the Malfoys upon being freed.

            Years later, Ginny learned Dumbledore had protested, and Sirius had replied by telling him nothing in the world could induce him to risk losing Harry, no matter the consequences.

            Sirius wrote that when the day came, he presented Kreacher with an entire outfit of clothes. The Elf then surprised Sirius and asked if he could stay. They had agreed that Sirius would now pay Kreacher for his services, but Kreacher had only allowed Sirius to tell Harry, up until the new legislation was passed. The Elf would no longer be privy to Black’s secrets now that he could leave whenever he wanted.

            Sirius ended his letter by admitting his decision was based entirely on the prospect of losing Harry. But once he had begun treating Kreacher better, especially once the Elf opted to stay with him, he realized just how awful this practice in the wizarding community was. Sirius apologized for Hermione having to see that ugly side of him when he first summoned Kreacher, apologized for not listening to her, and commended her on everything she’d accomplished.

            Hermione showed the letter to Ginny the moment she finished reading it, beaming.

            The next day, Harry caught Ginny staring at him while they were making potions in the morning. “What’s that look?”

            “You’re pretty amazing and stuff.”

            Harry grinned. “You’re pretty, and amazing, and stuff also.”

            When interviewing Hermione for the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter attempted to paint Hermione as a fanatic by revealing Hermione had now set her sights on international reform, only for the journalist’s ploy to backfire and cause the International Confederation of Wizards to take note of her, Dobby, and Winky's actions. Rumors began to swirl that, by the end of their fourth year, the I.C.W. would be drafting a resolution condemning House-Elf enslavement on a worldwide scale.

            Lavender and Parvati had the article framed and hung above the fire in the Common Room to celebrate how far Hermione, Winky, and Dobby had come.

            The lead-up to the Yule Ball itself was pretty eventful. Fred and Hermione had an uncomfortable run-in with Viktor Krum, discovering he had been vying for Hermione’s attention the entire term, but she had been too contented with Fred to notice. Fred initially wanted to get back at the Quidditch legend by pranking him. Instead, Hermione was able to sway him into wing-manning Krum with George, suggesting Victor ask out Susan Bones instead.

            George, meanwhile, asked Angelina Johnson to the Ball and Neville surprised all of them when he had the courage to ask Fleur Delacour, only to get rejected. Unable to find a date, he was pretty miserable, until they all assured him they wouldn’t abandon him.

            Dean Thomas wandered up to Harry and Ron one day in the common room. He related his embarrassing experience asking Cho Chang to the Ball, only to find out she was going with Cedric Diggory. Luna then piped up and said she’d thought he would go with Seamus Finnegan, seeing as they so clearly liked each other. Dean went red but asked if she really thought Seamus liked him back.

            Soon, Dean and Seamus were officially attending the Ball together. Apparently, this caused Parvati Patil to ask Dean why he wasn't scared he'd lose Seamus as a friend if things ended badly for them. Dean shrugged and said "I was, but life is short and I want to be happy. At least for now, we're closer than ever... It also helped that someone else told me he liked me back."

            Parvati was inspired to take the risk and ask her own best friend, Lavender, who said “yes.”

            When the actual Ball came, Ginny, Hermione, and Luna all got ready together before going down to meet their dates.

            For a moment, Ginny thought Ron was going to spoil the entire night, he looked so sulky in his frilly dress robes. Then Luna came rushing up to him in a gorgeous dress with depictions of all her new friends embroidered around it. She was wearing her Dirigible-Plum earrings, her Butterbeer cork necklace, and a radiant smile at the sight of her date.

            Luna, who had never been invited to a party before she became a part of their group, still positively burst with excitement at the prospect. Luna’s eyes never even darted to Ron’s frills as she gazed up at him. Ron forgot his mood entirely, sweeping her into his arms and declaring she was the most beautiful girl at the Ball, as Fleur Delacour walked by, staring somewhat enviously at how delighted the two were to be together.

            Harry’s mouth, meanwhile, fell open at the sight of Ginny. For his part, he looked pretty dashing in his dress robes, and Ginny found herself blushing furiously at the sight of him for the first time in a while. For a few moments, Harry just stared at his date, his mouth slightly open, until, finally, George gave him a slight shove, and Harry remembered to give Ginny her corsage.

            A little ways off, they heard a scream of excitement from Lavender Brown when she caught sight of her date. Parvati was in a dark burgundy blazer and pants ripped at the knees, with pink piping along the edges of her blazer, a deep magenta button down, fingerless gloves, and an untied bowtie hanging from her collar. Her blazer was unbuttoned and her sleeves were rolled up casually, as she positively swaggered up to Lavender, who rushed forward in her matching sleeveless dress.

            As they made their way through the crowd, jealous eyes followed them from all sides.

            "You know, you're pretty awesome," Ginny told Harry, whose mouth was slightly open, "but I think Lavender's got the coolest date to the Ball."

            Harry nodded, stunned. "I'm going to her for fashion advice the next time we do this."

            The pair did not even mind being separated from their friends as they sat with the other Champions and chatted about their week and their plans to go flying together the next day. Harry was convinced Ginny would make the Quidditch team next year.

            “I saw you fly at the Quidditch World Cup,” Krum put in, overhearing them. “I think it is a mistake that you are not already on the Quidditch team. Your form was excellent and some of my teammates could not have pulled off a dive like that.” He grinned at Harry. “And the way you dodged the Muggle father without a thought. Then you came back and it was like the Wronski Feint at those Death Eaters!”

            Harry was blushing just as much as Ginny at that point. “Well… I probably wouldn’t have dared try it, if I hadn’t just seen you do it.”

            “That’s right,” Krum laughed, a sound Ginny had never thought she’d hear from him. “That’s what I told my teammates. They were all very embarrassed they didn’t think to fly out there first. But not me. I told them, since you copied me, I basically saved the Muggles myself.”

            Susan, Harry, Ginny, Cedric, and Cho all burst out laughing. If for no other reason than having never suspected a personality like Viktor’s would make such a joke.

            “I saw you both too that night!” Cho chimed in. “You were really were brilliant up there, Ginny.”

            “Wait!” Cedric said excitedly. “We should all go flying this weekend! Viktor, did you know Cho, Harry, and I are all seekers for our Houses?”

            Krum was almost equally ecstatic. “I knew I liked you three. I would very much like that. I’ve missed having people to fly with.” Then he turned to Susan. “Would you like to ride with me, Susan? I promise not to start with the Wronski Feint.”

            “That’s three jokes!” Ginny whispered to Harry as Susan said she’d love to.

            “We were looking forward to a rematch with you after you beat us both last year,” Cedric told Harry.

            “You caught the snitch before both of them? When you were just thirteen?” Krum asked, astonished.

            “Well,” Harry looked supremely uncomfortable. “Cho didn’t make it easy on me. And Cedric might have won if a swarm of dementors hadn’t got onto the field.”

            “It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen,” Susan told Viktor. “The dementors were flying straight up at Cedric and Harry, and then Ginny cast a corporeal Patronus out of nowhere and saved them!”

            Krum gaped at her, and Ginny’s face, which had just been starting to recover, flushed beet red once more.

            “Well—I mean thanks, Susan—but I think I only bought Harry enough time to catch the snitch before it went out,” Ginny reminded them. “Dumbledore was the one who saved Cedric and Harry when they fell.”

            She looked to Dumbledore and saw that all the headmasters had gone silent, watching this exchange unfold between the Champions. Dumbledore was smiling serenely, Madame Maxine looked proud, and Karkaroff looked confused.

            “Conjuring a Patronus is no small thing,” Krum told her. “You should be very proud.”

            “And even most grown wizards cannot produce a corporeal Patronus,” Susan told her.

            “Even for a second,” Cho added.

            “I still struggle with that spell,” Cedric told them. “These two spent all night after that match trying to teach me how to produce a Patronus. All I could do was a little vapor while a shining silver horse and stag cantered around me. I don’t think I’d be half as good now, if you hadn’t given me a head start.”

            “Did you know,” Fleur Delacour cut in, looking very left out on her side of the table, “you can use your Patronuses, not just for Dementors?”

            They all looked at her and Ginny was surprised to see Fleur flush a little too.

            “They can also ward of Lethifolds,” she told them. “And I have heard that some wizards can use them to communicate messages to each other, but I have never seen it. The Patronus speaks with the casters voice when it reaches the person you sent it too. Very fast. Very useful, especially if you cannot send owls or use your flo network.”

            “That’s amazing!” Cedric said. Ginny suspected that, behind his words, Cedric wanted Fleur to know her inclusion was welcome. “How did you learn that?”

            Soon, all four of the Champions and their dates were chattering back and forth excitedly and Fleur had asked if she could join them for flying over the weekend.

            “I didn’t know you could fly!” Krum exclaimed, delighted.

            Fleur flushed again. “I actually cannot, I was hoping—”

            “You can ride on the back of my broom if you want!” Ginny said immediately, smiling at Fleur. She had seen Roger Davies move like he was about to offer, but it was clear Fleur was thoroughly uninterested, and the way he was leering at her creeped Ginny out. Fleur beamed at that and nodded.

            “I am very excited.”

            So immersed were all of them in their conversation, it took several efforts for the teachers to divert their attention for the first dance.

            As the music played, Ginny just closed her eyes and laid her head against Harry’s chest as they swayed back and forth, oblivious to all the hundreds of eyes upon them. His chest vibrating against her as he spoke, Harry told her he would not mind at all if the song never ended.

            True to their word, as soon as the first song concluded, Harry and Ginny promptly walked off the dance floor to sit with Neville and the rest of their friends, while Ron and Luna went up to dance with all the other couples joining the Champions. They’d all agreed that each pair would rotate in on sharing a slow dance while the rest kept Neville company. Ginny was a little sad she and Harry would only get one dance together, but the joy on Neville’s face more than made up for it, his lack of a date wholly forgotten.

            As Harry was chatting with Neville, Ginny's eyes wandered the dance floor and she smiled serenely. Hagrid and Madame Maxine had a whole half of the floor to themselves as students had quickly learned not to dance too close to them, lest they have to dive for cover. Charity Burbage had cajoled Snape into letting her teach him how to dance. Dumbledore was doing the same for Professor Trelawney. With surprising chivalry, Karkaroff had asked Professor McGonagall onto the dance floor. Hannah Abbott was completely starstruck as she stared up at Parvati's twin brother, who had just chosen his new name: Padam. Dean and Seamus were staggering from the dance floor, shaking with mirth, having been unable to keep from constantly stepping on each other's toes. And Parvati had spun Lavender into a deep dip as the two kissed.

            After a few more songs and each of the couples getting one dance together, the music began to pick up in tempo. Ginny and Harry found themselves surrounded by their friends, all of them dancing with not a care in the world. Neville was having such a great time with all of them he, like Ron, didn’t even notice when Fleur Delacour passed by.

            At some point, Cedric and Cho came over to join them. Under cover of the music, Cedric tried to warn Harry about the next task and Harry graciously pretended he had not already figured it out. Then Viktor Krum and Susan Bones joined them, and then Fleur, abandoning her date to join her fellow Champions.

            Finally, after the last dance, when everyone was heading back to the common room, Harry seized Ginny’s hand and led her away under the invisibility cloak. As they made their way to the seventh floor, Harry told her he had mentioned to Dobby that he wanted to do something special for Ginny the last time he’d seen the Elf. Dobby had told him about a very particular room in the castle Harry had never heard of before.

            When they finally entered the Room of Requirement, the ceiling was adorned with stars and planets, some of which floated in the air around them, while all of Ginny’s favorite songs sounded from a record player in the corner.

            “You know, I’m so glad Neville had a good time tonight,” Harry told her. “But I thought I’d make up for all the dances we missed together.”

            Ginny beamed at him. Together, they swayed back and forth well into the night, their woes forgotten.

Chapter Text

            The day after the Yule Ball, Rita Skeeter’s story about Hagrid was released.

            Within another day, however, Hermione had the full force and power of D.R.A.G.O.N. rallying behind Hagrid. They circulated a petition to have Skeeter fired from the Daily Prophet for invasion of privacy, lobbied the Ministry to draft stricter regulations protecting the privacy of half-giants, werewolves, and other magical races, and wrote an op-ed in the Daily Prophet filled with testimonials from students from every House, even the Slytherins, lauding Hagrid’s credentials and character.

            Three days after the Ball, Skeeter was out of the job. The Ministry was buried beneath angry constituents demanding action. Madame Maxime had come out as half-giant and expressed her full-hearted support for Hagrid. She had privately apologized to him for some spat they had at the Ball. And Percy Weasley had become the new Magical Races Liaison within the Ministry, coordinating between representatives from the Elves, Goblins, Giants, Centaurs, Werewolves, Merpeople, Vampires, Veela, and other magical communities. When interviewed about their historic rise through the Ministry, Percy recounted their arguments with Hermione last summer. They declared that if the Prophet thought Percy was impressive, the wizarding world hadn’t seen anything yet.

            “She is the smartest witch of our generation, the most compassionate person I have ever met, and she has changed hearts and minds at a historic pace, including mine,” Percy told the Prophet. “It took a lot of convincing for her and my siblings to get me to take a stand. I owe everything to Hermione Granger. When she graduates, the world will never be the same.”

            Meanwhile, the Champions were rapidly becoming like their own small family—the only ones who could truly understand the stresses placed upon the others. When they went flying together, Ginny was proud to find she could keep up with Cho and Cedric easily, even with Fleur on the back of her broom. Fleur was initially terrified, gripping Ginny tightly and burying her face in Ginny’s hair. Soon enough however, her grip slackened and she was beaming around at her fellow Champions as they soared high above the school.

            Krum and Harry kept with the rest of the group for most of the flight, but couldn’t help showing off once Cedric let loose an old snitch for them to chase after. It became apparent quickly that these two were in a league of their own, dashing and darting around each other as they pursued the snitch, never letting it out of their sight, even as it took them between stands, inches from the ground, weaving between their fellow fliers. Soon, they were recreating the dive Krum had barely pulled out of at the Quidditch World Cup, only this time, both players resurfaced.

            Susan had paled when Krum started chasing the snitch and cried out in fear when it looked like they were about to collide with the ground. By the time they all called it a day, however, she was grinning from ear to ear and gushing to Viktor about how well he’d flown. Krum was absolutely blissful talking to her the whole way back to the castle.

            On their way, Cedric said he might need another year to best Harry after all.

            Not only was Hagrid back to work in no time, but he and Maxime became powerful advocates for the descendants of Giants and for other magical races. As the Ministry passed new legislation protecting their right to privacy, Hagrid, Maxime, Dobby, Winky, and Hermione seized upon the momentum of the wizarding community and began gathering advocates from other magical races: the Gringotts Head Goblin, Firenze and Magorian, Remus Lupin, Merchieftainess Murcus, a Vampire named Sanguini, and Apoline Delacour all formed a fierce coalition advocating for their rights and demanding better treatment from the wizarding community.

            Many in wizarding Britain had been shaken when they were forced to confront the reality of Elven subjugation. And with the members of D.R.A.G.O.N., their friends and families, and the magical folk they’d inspired all calling out for a change, it was difficult for the Ministry to ignore. Demonstrations began cropping up all over the wizarding world: students holding walkouts from Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts, mass protests comprised of a variety of magical races at the Ministry and Diagon Alley, and even Goblins and Elves going on strike, causing chaos for the financial system, as nobody was able to get passed the mass of protesting Goblins and Elves to access their funds.

            The Ministry had been able to accommodate most of the chaos with a large inpour of donations from pure-blood families like the Malfoys to try and maintain operations, but this last blow proved fatal. Even the Malfoys were completely reliant on Gringotts.

            Finally, the Ministry caved and a series of statutes were passed granting magical races rights they had never dared dream of. The night this new legislation was officially made into law, the Hogwarts grounds were alive with celebration. The forest was finally recognized as having belonged to the Centaurs long before Hogwarts was established. Now, it was regarded officially as their domain, with only Hagrid having the right to come and go without first receiving permission from the Centaurs. Centaur colonies from all over the country had come to celebrate with Magorian’s herd.

            The lake was illuminated from within as the Merpeople celebrated as well, setting off a display of what looked to be the underwater equivalent of fireworks. So active were the occupants of the lake that, despite the clear night sky, the water’s surface was swirling as if in the midst of a hurricane.

            Meanwhile, Dobby, Hagrid, and Winky hosted a great feast on the Hogwarts grounds, inviting Goblins, Elves, Werewolves, Vampires, Veela, Leprechauns, and other magical races from all over the world, along with the members of D.R.A.G.O.N.

            Ginny was sitting between Hermione and Harry at one of the tables that had been set out when Hagrid found them through the crowd, smelling strongly of firewhiskey.

            “You should be very proud of the role you played in all this, Hermione,” he told her, beaming through his bushy beard. “Elves are free, Centaurs have their lands back, Wolfsbane potion and Blood Satiators freely disbursed to Werewolves and Vampires, and you helped bring it all about.”

            He patted her on the back and she almost face-planted into the table.

            “We would have gotten here eventually, but it might have been years,” Hagrid went on. “We needed friends in this fight. And you finally woke people up. Don’t you go thinking nobody noticed.”

            Hermione flushed with pride as Hagrid gave her a strong embrace, making her eyes bulge.

            “Hey Hagrid!” Ginny said as he made to walk away. “Can I walk with you for a second?”

            Hagrid looked surprised but nodded his head. They set off through the crowd, waving to Fleur and her family as they went. For a while, Ginny was silent, trying to steel herself to say what she wanted to say. She took a deep breathe, watching Dobby, Winky, and Kreacher chatting happily at a table together.

            “Hagrid, that Skeeter woman should have never gone after you just because you’re half-giant,” she started. Hagrid made to answer her, but she ploughed on. “But your classes scare me.”

            The Gamekeeper stopped and stared at her, at a loss for words.

            “I think you sometimes forget the rest of us are a lot more fragile than you are,” Ginny rushed on. “You almost just broke Hermione’s nose patting her on her back, and her ribs when you hugged her. Harry’s had to go to Madame Pomfrey to get his teeth repaired after trying a rock cake. And I don’t feel safe around the Blast-Ended Skrewts.”

            “Ginny, I’ve never seen Harry as happy as when he’s with you,” Hagrid told her, staring back at her friends. “And I’ll always love you for that. But I think you’ve got it all wrong. Someone would have said something to me by now.” He looked back at her, and she could see how hurt he was by her words. “I’d never do anything to harm any of you.”

            “I didn’t want to say anything,” Ginny told him. “Because none of it takes away from how much we all of love you. And no one wants to hurt someone they love. But I know Hermione’s had to study most of the creatures that will come up during O.W.L.s on her own. And I don’t think it would hurt to just be more gentle with us, give us human food, make sure we’re protected from the beasts we study. We wouldn’t come down to visit you so often if we thought any of that was more important than how much good you bring into our lives… but people like Rita Skeeter and Lucius Malfoy would find it much harder to come after you if students weren’t getting hurt in your class.”

            “But Malfoy was goading Buckbeak,” Hagrid protested. “And they’re just bites and burns from the skrewts. It’s nothing too bad.”

            “Not for you,” Ginny countered. “But those injuries are really painful for humans.”

            “Are they really?”

            “Yes!” Ginny said. “And maybe Malfoy would have still goaded Buckbeak anyway, but he didn’t know Buckbeak would understand him, or attack. From what Harry said, you just said Hippogriffs are very proud.”

            “Well…” Hagrid looked close to tears. “Are you sure the others feel this way?”

            “I can’t speak for them,” Ginny said. She hadn’t told anyone she was planning to do this. It had just sort of happened when she saw Hermione’s look of pain. “Isn’t it enough that I don’t feel safe in class? That I’ve been hurt when I’ve tried to eat your food or when you’ve given me a hug? That…” She hadn’t meant to bring up this next bit. “That I’m not comfortable with how much you drink in front of us…”

            Ginny was staring at the ground. She was starting to regret saying anything at all. It had been such a nice night. Everyone was so happy. Hagrid had been so happy.

            He put his hand on her shoulder, gently. Ginny looked up and saw Hagrid staring out over the lake, his eyes glistening.

            “That’s not an easy thing to say to a grown-up, Ginny,” he sighed. “I had to say the same thing to my Dad once.” He was silent for a while, watching the lake flash and glisten. “I forget sometimes that you all are just students. And you’re not made of the same stuff as me. And I guess—well, last year the Malfoys had me all worried about losing my job—and this year I was just so excited to teach without that hanging over my head. I guess I lost sight of your exams.”

            He turned to look down at her and Ginny saw he was smiling sadly.

            “It is enough, even if it’s just you, Ginny,” he told her. “Even if you were just any ole’ student. I don’t want a single one of you getting hurt. We’ll try it your way. No harm in that.”

            For a while they stood there, watching the festivities. Ginny couldn’t figure out why she felt so drained, until Hagrid finally said, “It’s never easy—seeing adults lose control. I imagine it’s even harder for you… after everything you went through your first year.”

            The next day, Hagrid invited Maxime, Dumbledore, and the old Care of Magical Creatures Professor over to his cabin and asked them to help him draft up a new class plan and safety measures, so that he could ensure his students’ wellbeing and get them back on track for their O.W.L.s. While the fifth and seventh-years looked a bit frazzled these days, having to make up two years’ worth of studies in time for exams, this resulted in much more enjoyable lessons for the rest of the students.

            Care of Magical Creatures rapidly became the most enjoyable Hogwarts elective, with students outside of Hagrid’s class desperately trying to transfer in for next year. Advanced students started showing an interest in taking on increasingly challenging creatures, now that they knew Hagrid would be more diligent about their safety. Now, sixth-years could be seen marching out to the grounds, clad head to foot in what looked like beekeeper suits made of dragon-hide, ready to face the skrewts.

            Hagrid was on his way to becoming one of the most accomplished Care of Magical Creatures professors Hogwarts had ever known.

            The next time Harry and Ginny went down to see Hagrid, Harry was not gasping for breath after the Gamekeeper hugged him in greeting. Hagrid served them the softest lemon cakes Ginny had ever had, which melted in her mouth. Hagrid winked when he saw her reaction to the first bie. He poured them both a butterbeer, and had a tankard himself, but fetched some pumpkin juice after the first mug.

            Harry wasn’t quite sure why he was so cheerful for the rest of the evening.

            The day before the second task, Ginny, Susan, Cho, and a girl they’d never met named Gabrielle Delacour were brought before Dumbledore, who explained that they would be put under a brief sleeping spell, given the ability to breathe underwater, and held by the Merperson Colony within the lake for the champions to find, but they would be in no real danger.

            The next thing she knew, Ginny’s head was coming above water, along with Gabrielle Delacour, and Harry was holding her and telling her he loved her, looking just as scared as he had that day in the Chamber of Secrets. After much reassuring that she was alright, the pair helped Gabrielle to shore, where they were thanked profusely by Fleur. Ginny bristled when Fleur kissed Harry on both cheeks, before she did the same to Ginny, hugging her tightly.

            Then, they were completely engulfed by their friends, who looked just as scared as Harry. None of them made fun of him for staying to ensure everybody’s safety, and Ginny was not about to point out it had been unnecessary. She did not care if he won, and his determination to keep others safe was one of the things she loved most about him. It seemed the judges agreed because each of them awarded Harry extra points, even Karkaroff, who had warmed up to Harry after all the champions danced together at the Yule Ball.

            Ginny was surprised to see the Durmstrang Headmaster get up and immediately go to chat with McGonagall once the task had been officially concluded. Stranger still was how unsure of himself he seemed while approaching her and the smile that crossed her face when she saw him.

            Sirius and Lupin had also come to see this task and looked relieved that Harry had once again made it out unharmed. However, Sirius warned Harry and Ginny that the world would now know they were together, which would place a target on Ginny’s back.

            When Harry looked at Ginny, his eyes were full of fear. Then, Sirius quickly placed his hands on Harry’s shoulders and told him sternly that nothing was worth pushing away his loved ones. Sirius would not have given up a single moment with his best friend, he would never sacrifice a single second with Harry, and Harry’s parents would not have traded the world for a single moment they shared with each other or their son, even if they knew how it would ultimately end. If Harry resorted to pushing away those closest to him to keep them safe, then he had already lost to Voldemort. Sirius wanted Harry and Ginny to be cautious and ready. He didn’t want them to sacrifice their happiness out of fear of what might happen.

            That night, Ginny told Harry she loved him too.

            The next day, Skeeter tried to publish an article in a tabloid about how Hermione was trying to wheel Viktor Krum, Harry Potter, and Fred Weasley simultaneously. The tabloid soon went bankrupt after a massive boycott, and all other tabloids published disclosures that they had disassociated from and would not be accepting any new work from Rita Skeeter. The message from the magical community was evident: Hermione Granger was not to be trifled with.

            A few weeks later, Harry discovered what the third task would involve. Immediately, Fred and George set about teaching Harry to use all the trick devices they thought might be helpful to him in there. Sirius and Lupin began writing daily with spells for Harry to practice. Neville began compiling an assortment of magical herbs and fungi that Harry could use to heal wounds and keep himself safe from fire and other elements. Hermione and Luna started to furiously research past tournaments for an idea of what obstacles he could face. Ginny, Angelina, and Ron became Harry’s daily sparring partners.

            Fred also leant some of his trick devices to Krum after the latter made a point of assuring Fred that nothing was happening between him and Hermione and that Krum was, in fact, very happy with Susan Bones and very grateful the twins had set them up.

            To let the others give Harry as much focus as possible, Hermione relieved Harry, Ginny, Ron, George, Luna, and Neville of their officer positions in D.R.A.G.O.N., bringing on Seamus, Dean, Lavender, Parvati, Padam, and Hannah to replace them. The six friends had always been committed members of the organization and had become a tight-knit group since Dean had talked Parvati into asking Lavender out. Ginny knew Hermione had chosen them with the hope they’d be as much of a united front as her friends had been in their positions. They did not disappoint.

            Ginny had frequently seen the six of them on group dates at Hogsmeade.

            Hermione had intended to find someone to replace Fred, too, but he refused to step down, saying Harry was great and all, but Hermione was more important to him. Harry didn’t take any offense.

            On the day of the final task, Lupin, Sirius, Mrs. Weasley, and Bill all came to wish Harry luck. At lunch, they all sat together, and Harry told Ginny they’d eventually met up with the other champions and their families, now that they had all grown so close. Mr. Diggory had been rather curt with Harry over beating Cedric at Quidditch (blaming the dementors), and now putting his name in for the Triwizard Tournament and refusing to correct Rita Skita’s article. Cedric quickly put a stop to this, with Krum and Fleur confirming that none of the quotes Rita had credited to the champions had been accurate in the slightest.

            Ginny and Harry made sure to prod Bill in Fleur’s direction the moment she began showing interest in him.

            Then, before the final task, the rest of the champions surprised Harry by telling him they believed his story too, that he had not put his name in the Goblet of Fire. They had all talked it over and determined that, if someone were going to make a move to take Harry’s life, it would be during the third task. They told Harry winning was not more important to them than keeping their friend safe.

            So, when the final task arrived, Harry did not move when Bagman told him to enter the maze. Neither did Cedric. Neither did Krum. It was only when Bagman called out Fleur’s name that the four champions moved forward as one to tremendous cheers from the crowd.

            Ginny and the others waited nervously in the stands while Fred and George tried to ease the tensions by teasing Mr. Bagman in the row in front of them, pointing out that he’d hyped up the Triwizard Tournament so much, only to render the last two tasks entirely unviewable for the audience.

            An hour passed before they knew something was wrong.

            Karkaroff and Snape suddenly stiffened and rushed over to Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Madame Maxime. The five of them all began conversing urgently, ushering over a baffled Cornelius Fudge, who quickly paled and began spluttering and shaking his head, until Snape and Karkaroff both flung back their sleeves to show him something on their arms. The Minister cried out in despair.

            The next instant, the champions reappeared with the Triwizard Cup, but there was no applause. Having already realized something was wrong when the professors began speaking, the crowd quickly recognized that, while all four champions had reemerged together, three were kneeling over the body of the fourth, looking unfathomably devastated.

            With a cry of despair, the Diggorys rushed forward.

            Cho Chang fell to her knees.

            Cedric Diggory was dead.

            As the crowd began crying out and people started screaming, Ginny rushed forward with the rest of her friends to check on Harry and the others. She’d been expecting the entire crowd to surge forward, but something about the way the champions had appeared, kneeling at the side of their dead comrade, seemed to have shaken everyone who was not close to them into staying in their seats.

            With tears in their eyes, while Harry held Ginny close, the champions told Dumbledore and the Minister about what had happened. They’d traversed the maze together, but it had quickly become apparent that something was wrong with Krum, so they’d confronted him, subdued him, and Fleur had been able to break the Imperius Curse on him, having some practice in that field through the Veela side of her family. Krum had then told them that Moody had placed him under the curse.

            The four of them had debated going back, but had decided to finish what they started and end the tournament together. Once they had made it to the cup, they all grabbed hold of it, together, as a show of unity—in defiance of Mad-Eye.

            The cup had transported them to a graveyard, where Moody confronted them, clutching a bundle the size of an infant. He must have fled from Hogwarts when he felt the Imperius Curse lift.

            Moody and the thing in his arms had been caught off guard by the arrival of, not one, but four champions. This gave the four of them time to gather their wits and do battle when the creature screamed, “Kill the spares!”

            The four of them had been able to protect each other and were quickly overwhelming Moody. Their professor was still able to slice open Harry’s arm and hurl some of his blood into the cauldron with a spell. Then a hand shot out from the bundle and seized Moody’s forearm, summoning the Death Eaters, who arrived masked, their faces hidden from view.

            Even as the Death Eaters emerged, the thing in the bundle had seized a wand from Moody’s cloak and tried to send a killing curse at Harry. The two wands had connected, a silver dome had formed around them, and the spell temporarily lifted Harry off his feet. As the enchantment levitated the thing within the bundle, too, the blanket fell away to reveal Voldemort’s sickly visage.

            However, just as tiny balls of light appeared along the thread of magic, Moody had broken the connection.

            As the Champions were quickly becoming outmatched, Cedric realized the cup must be a portkey that could take them back if they all seized it together again.

            The Death Eaters had concentrated their fire on Cedric the moment he’d started speaking, and it was just after he’d finished his plan that a green jet from Moody struck him in the heart.

            The remaining three had seized Diggory’s body and the cup, taking them back.

            Harry could remember a tombstone with the name “Riddle” on it. Fleur, having been closest to the cauldron, could describe the potion and how it had changed upon Moody adding Harry’s blood. Krum, it turned out, was surprisingly adept at remembering the identifying features of Voldemort’s wand. From their accounts, the champions were able to give Dumbledore enough information to know for a certainty that all the Dark Lord had needed was Harry’s blood to return. Even as they spoke, he was probably regaining his body and realizing the protection offered to Harry by the twin cores.

            Fudge seemed desperate not to believe the champions, hastily trying to poke holes in their stories, but they all remained resolute and told him there was no doubt in their minds that the being they’d just encountered was Voldemort. No one else could have summoned the Death Eaters to him.

            Luna also had the idea of summoning a book from the castle detailing the very ritual Voldemort was using to regain his body. The book was not at all popular in the wizarding community, but Luna, being Luna, had read it all the same.

            Finally, Fudge was forced to accept the truth.

            The Diggorys were openly weeping but thanked the champions for bringing Cedric’s body back to them. The Champions, for their part, assured the Diggorys they would not have made it back if not for his bravery and quick thinking.

            The staff ushered away the rest of the students and Madame Pomfrey took Diggory’s body back to the castle. Dumbledore allowed all of the Weasleys, Sirius, Lupin, the champions, and their friends to remain as he, the other headmasters, the professors, and the Minister set to work planning their next steps.

            Fudge sent Lupin off with a Patronus from the Minister explaining everything and giving Lupin the authority to lead an entourage of wizards to clear Azkaban of dementors and replace them with Ministry guards.

            Fudge sent Hagrid and Madame Maxime with another Patronus to assemble a group of diplomats and approach the giants to form an alliance.

            Dumbledore sent Bill to coordinate with Percy and his father and ensure their non-wizard allies were behind them.

            Dumbledore sent Sirius to reassemble the Order of the Phoenix, who gave Harry a reassuring hug and promised to return as soon as possible.

            Dumbledore sent Karkaroff and Snape to plead for Voldemort’s mercy and insist the Ministry had illegally given Karkaroff Veritaserum when he ratted out his fellow Death Eaters. Snape would claim to have recognized the symptoms. They both would swear they remained loyal to the dark lord, unable to come to him immediately for fear of Dumbledore noticing. Fudge promised that, if Voldemort attempted to investigate their claims, he would find a record of the prior Minister authorizing the use of Veritaserum on Karkaroff.

            Dumbledore gave Mrs. Weasley the task of preparing Grimmauld Place to become the new Order of the Phoenix. It would need every enchantment possible to protect Harry, Sirius, and Ginny, now that Voldemort would be targeting both him and the two people he was closest to.

            Dumbledore sent McGonagall to search for the real Moody in the professor’s office, for Dumbledore was certain the Moody encountered by the Champions must be an imposter.

            Krum and Fleur, each insisting they wanted to help, were made members of the Order of the Phoenix and asked to rally whatever friends they could from their countries.

            Finally, the Minister departed to warn the wizarding community of Voldemort’s return, and Dumbledore escorted the champions and remaining students back to the hospital wing, before leaving to make further arrangements with the Minister.

            Ginny kept Harry’s hand tightly held within her own the entire time. Neville, meanwhile, stepped up to comfort the devastated Cho.

            For a while, they all just sat there in the hospital wing, the champions crying openly while they waited for word of what was to happen next.

            At some point, McGonagall returned with the real Mad-Eye, who looked pale and highly malnourished but was otherwise ok.

            After treating Moody, Madame Pomfrey insisted that the three champions take sleeping drafts and the rest of them return to their common rooms. Susan, Ginny, and Gabrielle refused to leave and fell asleep at the bedsides of their respective Champions.

            The next day, the Diggorys came by to say farewell to the Champions and thank them once more for bringing Cedric back to them. While all three Champions tried to insist they take the Triwizard winnings, the Diggorys refused. However, the pair revealed they would be joining the Order of the Phoenix, inspired by Cedric’s bond with the three of them, and they’d all be seeing each other soon.

            After some discussion, Viktor, Harry, and Fleur decided to give their winnings to the twins for their joke shop. The world had become a grimmer place, and they could use a laugh.

            Dumbledore was back before the end-of-term feast.

            Snape and Karkaroff had obviously survived their encounter with the Dark Lord, for they were seated at Dumbledore’s side, speaking earnestly in low voices. Karkaroff, however, looked weary and bore cuts and bruises that suggested to Ginny he had been punished severely by Voldemort. While Snape was prone to stare at Harry, Ginny felt like she caught him glancing at her a few times, too.

            Hagrid and Madame Maxime, too, had returned by then, sitting together with their fingers intertwined on the table before them, looking quite pleased with themselves.

            Dumbledore spoke to the school at large, telling them that, even now, the dementors were being rounded up and confined where they could not harm the wizarding community. The Ministry was fortifying Azkaban to withstand an onslaught from Voldemort’s followers. Giants from across Britain would be forming a new colony in the mountains by the school, where the Ministry would offer them protections, but with the understanding that violence against their own would now put them at Lord Voldemort’s mercy and should be strictly prohibited by their new Gurg.

            Meanwhile, an alliance of Elves, Goblins, Veela, Centaurs, Leprechauns, Giants, Vampires, and Werewolves was quickly coordinating with the wizarding community to ensure Voldemort was not able to regain his old power. The wizarding world at large had been put on notice that Voldemort was back. Fudge was being hailed as the greatest Minister of his time for his swift response to the oncoming threat.

            Dumbledore raised a toast to Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, and Harry Potter, naming them not just Triwizard Champions, but champions of wizarding people everywhere—the four who fought the dark lord and forewarned the world of his return.

            “In this somber hour,” Dumbledore told them all. “Let us not forget all the good that persists throughout the storm. For this reason, I would like to raise one more toast to Miss Hermione Granger, a champion in her own right. I am pleased to announce to you all that, mere hours ago, the International Confederation of Wizards passed a resolution condemning the enslavement of other magical races on a global scale. The Confederation has directly credited the resolution's creation to this extraordinary student's efforts and the Elves, Dobby and Winky.”

            Hermione was scarlet as the school raised their glasses in her name.

            Ginny had expected to be bitterly parted from Harry upon returning home, but a week after term ended, her family packed their bags and moved into Grimmauld Place with Harry, Sirius, and Kreacher, who was far more kindly than Harry had described him prior to gaining his freedom. They were soon joined by Hermione, Luna, and Angelina. They began seeing Fleur, Krum, Lupin, the real Moody, and the Diggorys almost daily.

            And the Order of the Phoenix swiftly rose anew.

Chapter Text

            For the rest of the summer, they remained in Grimmauld Place. It wasn’t long until Luna and Neville came to stay with them, and the house became veritably packed. Shortly thereafter, Bill and Fleur began to date and were often seen holding hands as they went into meetings for the Order.

            Harry, Fleur, and Krum ensured the Diggorys never felt out of place or isolated in their grief. Fleur and Krum would sit by the Diggorys in meetings, check in on them, bring them food, and cover for them if their loss was making it too difficult to perform their duties for the Order. Harry could not spend as much time with them, having not been invited to the Order’s meetings, but he asked Sirius invite the Diggorys over for dinner as often as possible.

            There wasn’t much for the students to do as far as contributing to the Order, much to Harry’s chagrin. They were not included in any top-secret meetings, nor was there much cleaning to do around the house. Although last summer Harry and Sirius had reported they were waging war against the house and Kreacher, the Elf’s change of attitude towards them had resulted in an almost spotless homestead. Sunlight now streamed through every room in what had once been a dark and dreary house.

            That summer, Hermione was the primary source of Ginny’s information. The wizarding world was now in a state of open warfare against Voldemort, who had been sorely hurt by Fudge and Dumbledore’s rapid response to his return but was persistently building up his forces nonetheless, often resorting to the use of Inferi to make up for the numbers he lacked.

            Still, his forces were nothing close to what he had the last time he was in power, and the Order was more extensive than ever. With the addition of the Weasleys, the Diggorys, Fleur, and Krum, there also came the Lovegoods, the Bones family, the Longbottoms, and others still like Nymphadora Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

            When her father started attending meetings, Luna confided in Ginny that Dumbledore had conditioned his membership on a long talk between the two men. Dumbledore had come with evidence contradicting many of Mr. Lovegoods conspiracy theories and told Luna’s father that believing in creatures, which no one could prove the existence of, was one thing, but such actions as trying to convince people Fudge was massacring scores of Goblins—these actions were undermining their efforts against Voldemort, inspiring dangerous individuals to turn on the Ministry and Order. All too often, this played right into Voldemort’s hands.

            In the end, Mr. Lovegood agreed to better vet his sources and raise his threshold of evidence in exchange for the opportunity to become a member of the Order. The Quibbler enjoyed a quick rise in popularity. While it would often still feature stories akin to wizards flying to the moon, runes that could grant you abilities if read upside down, and creatures Mr. Lovegood believed to exist, the bulk of the magazine’s contents had become far more accurate. Mr. Lovegood focused more on propping up opponents of Voldemort than bolstering wild accusations against the Ministry.

            A rapid change came over Xenophilius Lovegood, who had had spent most of his childhood just as lonely as his daughter used to be. From what Luna had told Ginny about her parents, Xenophilius’s first friend was his wife, and he had adored her more than anything else in the world. When she died, Xenophilius and Luna had found solace in each other. However, after Luna went to Hogwarts, Xenophilius started turning to his readers and writers for a sense of companionship, and the type of stories the Quibbler would publish had begun to reflect this toxic relationship.

            Mr. Lovegood’s delight at being a part of a community was apparent. His joy only became more palpable when he found friends within the Order—people who actually accepted him for who he was and enjoyed his company. Ginny had suspected her father would get along with Xenophilius if the two got to talk, but she was surprised by some of the other friendships Luna’s father made within the Order.

            Mr. and Mrs. Diggory became close with Xenophilius when he brought a strange tea concoction, meant to bring comfort to those in pain, to one of the Order meetings. They’d liked it so much that Xenophilius brought them more the next day and soon came with two thermoses of tea for each Diggory whenever he came by Grimmauld Place. Even stranger was Augusta Longbottom’s fondness for Xenophilius, who could always make her laugh.         

            Strangest of all was Amelia Bones. Ginny had no idea how the strict Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had gotten to talking with the publisher of the world’s quirkiest magazine, but she now hardly saw one without the other. Often, after meetings, Xenophilius, the Diggorys, Augusta, and Amelia would all have their own cluster of people, often joined by Ginny’s father, Krum, or Fleur, chatting genially before they’d all go their separate ways. Ginny rather thought Ms. Bones and Luna’s father were flirting, the way they sometimes looked at each other.

            Igor Karkaroff was another unexpected addition to the Order. Apparently, Dumbledore had been surprised, but encouraged, by his earnestness to warn the Headmaster that the Dark Mark was burning, his willingness to stay by Snape’s side, and his bravery in returning to Voldemort’s forces after having betrayed so many of his peers. He had looked a little worse for wear at the beginning of the summer, but his persistence seemed to earn Voldemort’s respect back, and he stopped coming to meetings with fresh injuries.

            In fact, Karkaroff seemed to be putting more effort into his appearance than he had in all the time Ginny had seen him at Hogwarts. His hair was slightly less chaotic, his clothes looked less worn, and he’d gone in to have his teeth enchanted to be straight and white once more.

            McGonagall initially stayed for dinner only on the rarest of occasions, but every time she did, Igor would elect to stay, too. Whatever his past, he too was an academic, and Ginny would often overhear them both discussing terms and concepts she’d never heard before in her life. As McGonagall started attending more dinners, so too did Igor. Ginny even thought she saw a hint of disappointment from the Transfiguration Professor on an evening when Karkaroff’s duties kept him late. When he did arrive, there were no seats left near McGonagall, yet the two somehow ended up seated side-by-side before the night was out.

            Ginny suspected that, as with Xenophilius, this was the first time Igor Karkaroff had ever had any real friends. He seemed delighted whenever an Order member would keep him late after a meeting to talk.

            Fudge was kept out of the Order by design, lest the Ministry become compromised. Still, he kept a regular correspondence with the residents of Grimmauld Place, making the protection of Harry, Ginny, and Sirius among the Ministry’s top priorities, knowing that Voldemort’s forces would target them.

            It quickly became apparent to Ginny and Harry that Dumbledore was avoiding Harry. While the Headmaster would make eye contact and greet Ginny when she was alone and their paths crossed in Headquarters, he never spoke to Harry and avoided his eye. It didn’t take long for Ginny to steel herself to confront the Headmaster the next time he crossed her alone.

            “Miss Weasley, I think you will find there are a great many wizards vying for my attention at the moment,” Dumbledore told her serenely when she brought it up. “I certainly do not intend for Harry to feel neglected, but priorities have shifted beyond the happiness of a single student.”

            “Except you still find time to greet me,” Ginny persisted. “You still find it in you to make eye contact with me. So why not Harry?”

            “You have been fortuitous enough to catch me when I am less pressed for time,” Dumbledore said, with the barest hint of impatience. “Harry has had the misfortune of crossing my path when my attention is elsewhere.”

            He made to leave, but Ginny stepped in front of him, unafraid. “You know, Harry still dreams about Cedric’s death, almost every night.”

            “There is a potion we can provide him for that—”

            “And despite trying to keep him away from his Godfather,” Ginny continued, “despite all the times he has come into danger at Hogwarts or had to step up because no one else would, Harry still trusts you. You’re not just the only wizard Voldemort fears, you’re one of the only wizards who make Harry feel safe. We’re not as stupid as you may think. We know you’re avoiding Harry. And, whatever you think you’re accomplishing by doing so, you’re only hurting him.”

            “Ms. Weasley,” and now there was a definite coolness to Dumbledore’s tone, “I’m afraid it is simply not possible for me to appease all my students at once. Nor is it my duty to constantly reassure others that we remain in good standing. Nor to explain the reasoning behind my actions, which are only ever in the best interest of the wizarding community. I really must be going.”

            Ginny didn’t move.

            “My mother likes to remind us she’s only acting in our best interest,” she said. “She used to just assume she knew best and wouldn’t even talk to us about decisions she was making on our behalf. When I was young, Bill had a row with her over how much agency she’d taken away from him as a child—how powerless and hurt it made him feel—how much good could have come by simply looping him in. And even though he’s younger than her, and less intelligent, she listened and has struggled against that instinct every day since.”

            “Ms. Weasley, this conversation is at an end,” Dumbledore told her, his voice ominously light once more. “Please, do not force me to make you move.”

            Ginny bristled at that. “I always thought you loved Harry like family, even when you failed him with Snape and with Sirius, with—”

            “Enough,” Dumbledore’s voice was firm and ringing. He seemed to radiate power as he casually flicked his hand to the side, and Ginny found herself being shunted to the side as he strode passed her.

            “Harry lost his parents!” Ginny shouted at him. She could hear her friends, family, and members of the Order coming over to investigate the noise, but she was too angry to care. She didn’t care if the whole house heard her. “He lost his parents, and you left him! You left him with people who hated him and made him feel like he was nothing every day. You abandoned him and you failed him, and now you’re doing it again! Coward!”

            Dumbledore paused at the front door, his hand on the doorknob. He turned, and Ginny felt a jolt of fear for the first time that night as she saw the horrifying fury he had shown the dementors the day they stormed the Quidditch pitch.

            She did not know when Harry had come to her side, but the look on Dumbledore’s face was so alarming, he instinctually whipped out his wand, stepping in front of her.

            For the briefest of moments, their eyes met, and it was like a current of electricity passed through Harry’s body. Then the door to Grimmauld Place slammed shut with a deafening crash, and Dumbledore was gone.

            Ginny looked around, and saw that her father and mother had also drawn their wands at the sight of Dumbledore’s expression.

            A few days later, Harry and Ginny were enjoying the sun on the balcony at the top floor of Grimmauld Place. Kreacher had built the addition when he heard Ginny, Harry, and Sirius would be more-or-less confined indoors for the summer. It was just as protected as the rest of the house and offered them a place to feel less constricted.

            Harry had been positively alarmed at the hatred that had passed through him when Dumbledore met his eye. When he’d told Sirius about how he’d felt, however, he’d also brought up that he and Ginny were certain Dumbledore was avoiding his gaze. Ginny regretted losing her temper with Dumbledore, especially since it had caused friction within the Order as well.

            The next meeting of the Order of the Phoenix had apparently been an incredibly tense one. From what they heard after the fact, Ginny’s parents, Bill, Charlie, and Percy were outraged at how Dumbledore had acted towards her, while Sirius was demanding to know what was happening with Harry that Dumbledore wasn’t telling them. Dumbledore had quickly lost control of the meeting as Lupin, Fleur, Krum, and steadily more and more members of the Order began turning on him.

            Ginny and Harry had chosen in part to go to the balcony, in order to avoid the palpable unease now permeating through the household. That was where Ginny’s mother found them when she came to tell them Professor Dumbledore wanted to speak to her, alone.

            When Ginny entered the kitchen, Dumbledore was looking older and more tired than she had ever seen him before.

            “Ms. Weasley, I pray you will forgive my rudeness the other day,” he told her once she had taken her seat. “It seems I, once again, owe Harry my apologies, too. I have let an old man’s mistakes stop me from telling Harry that which I should have told him a very long time ago. I acted out of emotion, not reason. Harry will know the truth of the matter. It will not bring him joy. And it will be a heavy burden to bear. I’m afraid I wanted him to be free of such a weight for as long as possible. That was not my decision to make. Harry will know the truth.”

            His eyes found hers. “But first, he must learn legilimency.”

            Ginny had the unfortunate job of telling Harry who his instructor would be: Snape. Thankfully, Harry was not too disappointed. Snape had continued his practice of giving Harry praise and feedback when each was due ever since Pettigrew was captured. If anything, Snape only seemed to grow sad when he had to interact with Harry, and Harry had often caught the professor staring at the pair of them thoughtfully.

            So, Snape stopped by headquarters twice weekly to train them all in legilimency. Dumbledore had asked him to give special attention to training Harry, but he seemed to think it would be a waste to leave out so many other students, all readily available and determined to fight Voldemort. Even Order members like Fleur and Krum would stop by for these lessons when they could.

            For the most part, the sessions were painless. Because no one was comfortable with Snape attempting to breach the unguarded minds of several students, some of whom were young women, the first half of the summer consisted of lessons much like meditation classes, with all of them working diligently to clear their minds, reading up on the theory behind occlumency, and receiving assignments and tests. Finally, when they had progressed enough to feel sure Snape couldn’t access those memories that would be especially guarded by mere instinct, Snape began casting the spell on each of them, circling back to Harry regularly.

            Snape’s new cruelty-free brand of teaching made it easier to concentrate, and eventually, all of them could completely block him out of their heads when he was lightly probing. They knew he was taking it easy on them and would increase his concentration each week, but the progress was encouraging, and Snape seemed almost proud of each of them.

            That summer also brought the welcome news that Dumbledore had chosen a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor: Sirius Black. Having Harry, Ginny, and Sirius all in one place, the safest place in the world, would make it harder for Voldemort to get at any of them.

            Although Lupin had been an exceptional professor, he was hard at work convincing many within the Werewolf community not to side with Voldemort. Apparently, the recent legislation inspired by Hermione made his progress immensely more fruitful than it would have been a year ago.

            Near the end of the summer, after Harry was able to rebuff even Snape’s most persistent attempts to breach his mind, Harry was finally allowed to meet with Dumbledore, who revealed the contents of the prophecy to Harry and relayed his fears that Voldemort would try to use Harry if he suspected the student and Headmaster had a connection, thus necessitating the use of occlumency. Ginny was allowed to attend this meeting, and while Harry’s hand clenched hers a little tighter, he took the news with a brave face. Later, he told her he was grateful she was there.

            Dumbledore also took the opportunity to ask Harry and Hermione if they’d like to be prefects, being sure to assure them others could take the role if they felt they had too much to be getting along with. But both students heartily agreed to take up the positions, despite the stress Dumbledore’s revelations had brought into Harry’s life.

            Ginny had been worried at first that Ron would grow jealous, but he merely laughed at Fred’s reaction to having a prefect for a girlfriend and warned Harry not to become like Percy had, before going back to his game of chess with Luna, completely unbothered.

            Not for the first time, Ginny thought about how good Luna had been for Ron’s self-confidence. No longer feeling stuck in Harry’s shadow, Ron had come into his own and found a surplus of joy in not carrying Harry’s burden. Ron would still stand by Harry no matter what and die for his friend’s safety, but Ron was now content to just be a student most of the time, with a student’s problems and a student’s love life.

            At first, Ron had mocked Luna’s zany theories, but once they’d started dating, he began to humor her more and more, occasionally portraying a hint of sarcasm, apprehension, or condescension. Eventually, his affection for her opened his mind, and he became much more receptive to different people and views, even becoming a much more active member of D.R.A.G.O.N.

            For a while, Ginny had been worried that setting Luna up with her mulish, often rude, and sometimes wholly inconsiderate brother was a mistake and would lead Luna to give and give with nothing in return. But Ron was Luna’s most prominent advocate and fan. Indeed, the thing Ron gave her—the thing he excelled at in their relationship—was his ability to just let Luna be Luna, something the outside world so often failed to do. Anyone who insulted or laughed at Luna received a harsh scowl from Ron, and the only reason he didn’t duel every last one of them was her insistence that he not resort to violence. Every time others treated Luna as foolish or naïve, Ron was there to support her. Unlike the others, trying to help each other grow, Ron just ensured Luna felt at her safest to be herself when she was with him and loved everything about who she was.

            On the other hand, Luna’s friendship with Hermione had resulted in her requiring slightly more proof before she’d believe a conspiracy. And Hermione was now quicker to believe the improbable.

            Meanwhile, Harry and Ginny were still going strong. They’d left the honeymoon phase about halfway through last summer, but the excitement of the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament had been strangely helpful for their readjustment. They’d argue occasionally. They’d even gotten into a fight or two when Ginny had been sure it was all over. She’d even thought it would be for the best when he laughed off D.R.A.G.O.N. at its inception, but eventually, someone would apologize first, and they’d each put in a concerted effort to do better. For the most part, it was just easy being with Harry. They never argued about anything petty. It was hard to focus on such things when their lives were always tinted by Voldemort’s ever-looming threat.

            Fred and Hermione argued constantly but always playfully. Ginny thought they both loved the intellectual challenge the other would often pose. The way Hermione and Ron would argue would sometimes turn downright hostile, and each would resort to low blows, but Fred had only developed more and more respect for Hermione as the years went on, and, despite his teasing, would always come around to her point of view when she was right. Hermione, meanwhile, had learned to let go of some of her rigidity and strict dedication to classes and rules. She was more rebellious and quick to joke.

            She had found Fred’s antics childish at first and would often get angry with him over them, but she was also fascinated with the frequently ingenious uses of magic behind each of the twins’ japes. This had manifested as begrudging respect, which steadily grew less and less begrudging until no one delighted at the twins’ jokes more than Hermione. When she wasn’t spending time with Harry, Ginny, and the rest of their friends, she was off with Fred, George, Lee, and Angelina. The three of them had talked the twins into attending their final year at Hogwarts.

            Angelina and George were also two very different personalities. There was nothing that could get between Angelina and her ambitions, but George always knew how to make her smile and take life less seriously. She, meanwhile, seemed to spur him to greater and greater heights, with her passion rubbing off on him more and more every day. Ginny saw slightly less of George than Fred. While both twins would sometimes disappear to spend time with Lee, George was also spending a good deal of his time with Angelina, Katie, and Alicia.

            Neville surprised them all when he revealed he’d kept in touch with Cho Chang after the Triwizard Tournament to make sure she knew she wasn’t alone after the loss of Cedric. Soon, Neville was bringing Cho over to Grimmauld Place to hang out with the rest of them. She was often quiet and withdrawn but would take part in the conversation often enough and seemed genuinely grateful for the company.

            When Neville first asked him to speak to Cho about Cedric’s death, Harry was absolutely opposed to the idea.

            “Harry, she has no one to talk to about it,” Neville pleaded with him. “One moment she was dating Cedric, the next, he appeared in front of her, dead.”

            “What are you talking about?” Harry asked him. “She’s got loads of friends. She’s always surrounded by people.”

            Neville shook his head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with them. None of them are writing to her, visiting her—they’re all abandoning her now that things have gotten hard.”

            “Neville, I get that it must have been bad for her, but she didn’t have to watch him die,” Harry said. “I don’t want to relive that.”

            “But then you came here,” Neville reminded him. “You’ve been surrounded by family and friends who have supported you ever since. Her mother’s always at the Ministry. And you have Fleur and Krum, who went through the same thing you went through. No one went through it with Cho. She feels so isolated.”

            “That still doesn’t mean Harry has to relive his near-death-experience for her,” Ginny objected. “She was there the first time the Champions told us what happened! Neville we’ve all welcomed her into this group. We want her to be around and we want to be there for her. Why isn’t that enough for you? Why does Harry have to go through all that for her?”

            Neville hung his head.

            “You’re right, Ginny,” he said. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to help her, and I got carried away. Of course you shouldn’t have to talk about that day if you don’t want to, Harry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

            But that night, acting on a hunch, after everyone had gone to bed, Ginny found Harry alone on the balcony, staring at the city lights. He didn’t need to turn to know who’d joined him.

            “Hey.”

            “Hey.”

            “Neville got to you, didn’t he?”

            Harry smiled ruefully and put his arm around her. “I am so lucky, Ginny. I have you, I have Sirius, I have our friends, and all the Order members.”

            “That doesn’t mean you owe her anything,” Ginny told him. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t talk to her, I just don’t want you to do it because you feel like you have to. You’re not responsible for her.”

            “I hear you,” Harry told her. “But I can’t stop thinking how miserable I’d be if I were in her shoes. Watching him die was horrible. It’s nothing compared to how I’d feel if I was waiting for you, expecting you, and you just appeared there…”

            He didn’t want to say it aloud.

            “If I lost you, none of this would be enough,” and he gestured at Grimmauld Place where their friends and family slept. “Hearing what happened to you only once wouldn’t be enough. Those first few weeks I didn’t want to sleep, or eat, or speak to anyone but you. If I lost you, I’d be that way for years.”

            Somewhere along the way, she had fully embraced him, holding him as tightly as she could to let him know she was there, trying not to think of what state she’d be in without him.

            “I promise it’s not survivor’s guilt,” he told her. “It’s what I’d hope someone would do for me, if I were in her shoes.”

            Ginny nodded. “Fair enough.”

            So, one day, Krum, Fleur, and Harry all steeled themselves to sit down with Cho and talk for as long as she wanted about Cedric and his death.

            Finally, it came time to head back to Hogwarts. Not wanting to intrude upon their time together as students, Sirius told them he was going to Apparate to Hogsmeade rather than take the train to Hogwarts. He didn’t want Harry to feel like Sirius was hovering. So, the arrangement he’d approached Harry with was that he was always welcome to come by his office, and they’d, of course, see each other during class, but otherwise, Sirius would give Harry his space and just let him enjoy being a student.

            “And don’t you go trying to do the same for me,” Sirius added. “I’ve never once been disappointed when you’ve reached out. It’s my privilege to be available when you need me. It’s your right to enjoy your childhood without having a chaperone always hanging around you.”

            Harry liked that idea but also asked if they could come back to Grimmauld Place occasionally and just have a meal together. So, upon parting ways with them all at King’s Cross, Sirius offered to Flo back to Grimmauld Place every Sunday with as many of them as wanted to join Harry, him, and occasionally some Order members for dinner.

            Despite all the reports of mysterious disappearances, deaths, attacks, and spouts of fighting between Aurors and death eaters, Ginny felt oddly light as they took the train back to Hogwarts, her head in Harry’s lap as she drifted off to sleep, listening to Neville explain his Venomous Tentacula plant to Cho.

            Ginny’s schedule of classes for her fourth year turned out to be the best she’d ever had. Sirius was an excellent Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, who was practically as good at teaching as Lupin.

            Professor Snape was still keeping his word to Harry and treating his students far better. Harry and Ginny had kept up with their morning potions sessions, even after they became the top students in his class, aside from Hermione. Now, brewing potions had become a fun hobby of theirs, and they found themselves looking forward to each lesson.

            Hagrid’s curriculum was better than ever, with far more precautions to keep students safe and an eye for preparing them for their O.W.L.s, instead of exclusively showing them creatures Hagrid found interesting.

            There was an additional challenge for any who were exceedingly interested in Care of Magical Creatures: Hagrid was currently caring for his giant half-brother, along with Madame Maxime when she’d visited. Although it would be impossible for an entire class to visit Grawp together, Hagrid offered to take anybody interested with him on some of his treks into the forest. Luckily, the subject had drummed up so much interest since Hagrid’s change in curriculum that he was not disappointed in the number of volunteers and began bringing an entourage of advanced students with him whenever he visited Grawp.

            When they’d first met, Grawp had been downright violent with Hagrid, until Madame Maxime intervened, unafraid to get cross like Hagrid was and determined to defend him. Grawp was still struggling to find his place in the world and would often grow frustrated, but he never harmed Hagrid or any of the students, lest he suffer the wrath of Maxime.

            Harry had warned Ginny to avoid Divination, so she was taking Music instead. Every once in a while, most often when she dreamt about her first year or when the Prophet reported a sighting of Voldemort himself, Ginny would have days still shrouded with the memory of Tom Riddle. She thoroughly enjoyed having one class where she could do something with her hands and ground herself in the moment. She found that playing the violin was incredibly therapeutic for her.

            In fact, her only bad class was History of Magic.

            “But I just wish I could do something useful,” Harry bemoaned during one of their dinners. They were sitting across from Remus and Sirius, while the rest of their friends had their own conversation. “I want to be fighting back against Voldemort, not sitting in class acting like everything is fine.”

            “You are doing something useful, Harry,” Lupin told him. “The more you learn, the more equipped you will be to face Voldemort’s forces. Preparation is not idleness.”

            “But I’m not doing anything more than any other student!”

            “You’re the best in your year at Defense Against the Dark Arts,” Ginny reminded him. “That won’t be wasted against Voldemort.”

            “But even with all that skill, you are still a student,” Lupin told him. “You may not like to hear it, but there are far more competent wizards than you handling Voldemort. It is not helpful to anyone for you to rush into battle unprepared. Learn what they have learned, hone your skills, and you will be of more use to the Order when the time comes.”

            Harry looked to his godfather. Sirius’s expression was thoughtful.

            “Harry, I know it’s hard,” Sirius said. “What you are feeling right now—you are not alone in that feeling. All of us sometimes believe we are not doing enough from time to time. All of us wish we could do more. There are days it feels cowardly to hide away at Hogwarts, when I’d like to be hunting down Death Eaters, no matter how much I enjoy being your teacher. Moony endangers himself every day rallying the Werewolves and even he has expressed a wish that he could do more. There are days in class we do not cover nearly as much as I’d like to and I feel like I’m failing the next generation of—”

            He stopped suddenly. Then a broad smile crossed his face.

            “What?” Harry said.

            “You want to be doing more than the average student?”

            “Yes.”

            “You want to help?”

            “Yes!”

            “You want to fight?”

            “Yes!” Harry repeated, sounding a little exasperated.

            “Harry, your class is still behind, despite the best efforts of myself and Moony,” Sirius told him. “You’ve had two useless professors and a Death Eater, who was far too obsessed with the Unforgivable Curses. You are one of the only students on track to do well on your O.W.L.s, let alone defend yourself effectively in the real world. I can only teach you so much in a single class. But we need the next generation of fighters to be prepared.

            “Harry, Lupin is right: the best thing you can do for the Order right now is train yourself. If you’d like to do more than the average student, prepare yourself outside of class as well. And, while you’re at it, you can help me prepare the next generation to resist the Dark Arts.”

            “What, like form a dueling club?”

            “More than a dueling club,” Sirius said. “You’re more qualified than most to teach defensive magic, after all the practice you put in last spring. You could help me fill in the gaps, help your peers master new spells faster, and all the while you’d be fine tuning your own skills.”

            “But you’re our teacher,” Harry protested. “I can’t teach them any better than you can.”

            “Well, no, you couldn’t. I’m brilliant at my job,” Sirius said, winking. “But you don’t have to be better than me, Harry. You just have to be good. And you would be. I know it.” But at Harry’s continued look of uncertainty, Sirius’s confidence seemed to falter. “Maybe it’s a bad idea. If it doesn’t feel useful to you—”

            “I think it’s genius,” Lupin said, cutting him off. “Harry, you were the best student of your year when I taught you, and that was before the Triwizard Tournament. Think of how many of your peers would like to do more to ready themselves against Voldemort. Think of everything you’ve accomplished.”

            “But I haven’t accomplished anything!” Harry said, his voice rising. “I’m not a teacher!”

            “Yeah, you haven’t done anything noteworthy,” Ron chimed in, having overheard them. “You only defeated the darkest wizard to ever live when you were just a baby.”

            “I can’t teach other people how to do that!”

            “Then you defeated him again at eleven.”

            “By touching him! That won’t even work for me anymore.”

            “Then you slew a basilisk,” Hermione reminded him.

            “With a sword!”

            “Fought off about a hundred dementors,” Ginny said.

            “Yeah, along with you and Snape!”

            “All the tasks last year,” said Lupin.

            “Broom, gillyweed, and three older students helping me!” Harry was almost shouting at them all now. Ginny seized his hand under the table and he quieted, his eyes finding hers.

            “Harry, that’s part of the point,” Sirius, looking a little dismayed at Harry’s reaction. “You’re resourceful. You’ve got the right instincts. Yes, it’s hard to just teach people how to acquire those traits. But if you’re learning from someone possessing those qualities, it’s hard not to have them rub off on you.”

            “I’ve just gotten lucky…”

            “Yes, you’ve had luck on your side more than once,” Lupin admitted. “That doesn’t take away from how much of it wasn’t luck—how often you got by on your instincts. Luck doesn’t take away from how accomplished you are in your class.”

            “And you did fight in the graveyard,” Ginny reminded him, quietly. “You were with three Seventh Years. They weren’t protecting you. You were all protecting each other.”

            “You think I should do it?” Harry asked her. It was just the two of them now.

            Ginny nodded. “But no one’s asking you to, if you don’t want to.”

            Harry sighed and turned back to Sirius and Lupin.

            “Okay,” he said. “Okay, I’ll try it. But I don’t know if anyone will want to—”

            “Oi!” Ginny called out to the rest of the group. “How many of you would want to do more to train yourselves against the Dark Arts?” They all raised their hands. “How many of you would like to learn from Harry?” They all raised their hands. “How many of you think there’s even the slightest chance no one else in the school would want to join in?” All the hands went down. Ginny smirked at Harry, who’d grown red.

            “I guess it would feel better than just sitting around,” he told his beaming godfather. “Thanks, Sirius.”

            Cho came up with the idea to call the organization the Defense Association. While her and Hermione were brainstorming scheduling, with Quidditch practices always getting postponed or canceled due to weather, they came up with the idea of tokens bearing the acronym D.A. on them that could alert people as to when the next meeting would be. Ginny had been thinking of the night Hermione came to them with S.P.E.W. and the twins had helped her rebrand it into something that would get more students excited. That’s when she suggested D.A. could stand for “Dumbledore’s Army.”

            Sure enough, it wasn’t long before scores of students were lining up outside the Room of Requirement twice a week to train at defensive magic under Harry’s tutelage. Deciding it would be problematic if too many students knew how to take advantage of the room, Harry had put out the narrative that it became the same gigantic training hall every time, and only a select few knew how to open it. Every once in a while, Sirius would stop in at Harry’s request, but for the most part, Harry’s godfather was content to watch on proudly as his godson excelled at teaching.

            Ginny was happy enough as a reserve member of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, but she was excited for the day she could actually join their active roster. Her flying during practices was so good, however, that eventually Alicia Spinnet felt confident enough in her abilities to approach Ginny and confide that Alicia’s homework load for her N.E.W.T. year was proving to be a bit more overwhelming than she’d anticipated. Now that the second wizarding war was upon them, she’d much rather focus on her studies so she could become an Auror. Thus, Ginny was made a chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

            Ron wasn’t a complete mess when he joined the team. Luna had helped him become much more relaxed about how others viewed him. However, he was still convinced that he could perform much better if he didn’t get so nervous on the pitch. That was when Luna had the idea to invite all their friends to watch a practice, including herself, and have Ron perform as dismally as possible without telling his friends it was intentional. Only Angelina knew outside Ron and Luna, so she wouldn’t kick him off the team. Luna even suggested Ron try to be as amusing as possible with his fails, so he could have fun if he missed a shot during an actual game and overcome his fear of people laughing at him.

            Ron had the worst Quidditch practice in the history of Hogwarts, and nobody cared. It would have been a wildly uncomfortable practice if Ron had seemed humiliated after each of his misses, but after the first score, Ron looked down at Luna and asked if she still wanted to be his girlfriend, causing many in the stands to laugh. Then he played up each of his misses, reacting with more and more comic bluster until he had people roaring in the stands. It had become abundantly clear that he was missing on purpose about halfway through, but nobody minded. And neither did Ron.

            The following practice was the best he’d ever had, and he did not miss a single save the entirety of their first match.

Chapter Text

            “Hey, so, you know how we make a point of taking time for just the two of us?”

            “I’ve heard the whispers and the rumors, yeah,” Harry told her. They were at the top of the Astronomy Tower. Most of the morning had been spent whizzing through the air on their brooms. They’d alighted here, breathless and chilled, where Harry had stashed a thermos of hot coco for them. Now, they were sitting side-by-side, sipping their coco, staring out over the snow-covered grounds. The sun was shining and the world was glistening.

            “I think I need to start making a point of taking time for just me and my friends,” Ginny told him, hurriedly.

            Harry was mid-sip. He swallowed his coco and said, “That’s fair! Just let me know when you need the space.”

            She stared at him.

            “I was scared I was going to hurt your feelings.”

            “Honestly,” he told her, “there’s a small part of me that immediately asked, ‘Is she getting sick of me?’ but if there was a problem, I trust you to tell me. And if you were getting sick of me, then some space probably would be good. What would be the point of fighting it?”

            “You know,” Ginny said, “some people do a thing where they tell their partner they need space so that their partner will fight it—show they care.”

            “I could be wrong.” Harry grinned at her. “But I always thought we both were pretty good at fighting for this relationship. And I brought us coco! If that doesn’t show I care, I don’t know what could do the trick.

            “You’ve always been direct with me. I can see you yelling at me to try harder, before trying to trick me into it.”

            “I wouldn’t yell!” Ginny objected. “I’d calmly and politely tell you that you were being an inconsiderate idiot.”

            “Sorry—yes—your voice would just calmly and politely raise a couple decimals.”

            “I never yell!” Ginny half yelled, half laughed. “When have I ever yelled Harry Potter! I have never been the type of person to yell! And I never will be!”

            Harry put his arm around her, laughing.

            “I hope you know, if you ever did feel like I didn’t care, I’d fight like hell to prove otherwise.”

            “That’s good to hear,” she told him. “I did want you to ask why I wanted to spend more time with my friends though.”

            “Hey, Ginny?”

            “Yeah, Harry?”

            “Why would you ever want to spend more time with your friends?”

            “Listen, you—”

            “It just—it makes no sense!”

            She poked his side.

            “I’d love to know why you want to spend more time with them one-on-one,” he told her, sincerely.

            “You know how Hermione had me quiz her the other day?” Ginny asked. “And we’ve been sitting apart from everybody so she can focus?”

            Harry nodded.

            “I realized that was the first time I spent one-on-one time with her in a month,” Ginny told him. “It was so nice. I could vent about Ron, Fred, and George. I could tell her stuff I wouldn’t be comfortable telling the rest of the group. I could talk to her about you.”

            “Ginny, you can talk about what an amazing boyfriend and Quidditch player I am in front of me,” Harry told her. “I won’t get embarrassed.” She laughed. “I get it though. It’s really nice to have a moment alone with Ron or Neville in the dormitory. You two don’t get to share a room. I love it when we’re all together, but it’s also so great to catch any one of our friends on their own on the way to class or something.”

            “I’m glad you get it.”

            “Mhm. Just makin’ time for you and Hermione… and me. It’s a great idea, Ginny.” She nudged him. “Completely alone. One-on-one…on-one conversation. Girl talk!”

            “See? If I was a yelling person, I’d be biting your head off right about now.”

            Harry grinned at her and they went back to sipping their coco, looking out over the grounds.

            “Hi Cho! Neville went down to the library. Are you looking for him?”

            It was a cozy Saturday afternoon. Ginny and Hermione had opted to stay behind in the common room while the rest of their friends went to the library. They hadn’t seen Cho all day.

            “No—I was actually looking for you two,” Cho told them. She looked nervous. “Sirius just brought me back from headquarters.”

            “I forgot that was today,” Hermione said. “How did it go?”

            Cho shrugged, taking the empty chair at their table.

            “There was a lot of crying and hugging.” She smiled ruefully. “Typical Saturday.”

            “Do you think it helped?” Ginny asked.

            “Well, they said it helped them,” Cho said. Her eyes were fixed on her hands, clasped in front of her. “And, I guess I’m glad I finally spoke to his parents. I felt like I was avoiding them all summer. But I don’t know if it fixed anything. I’ve already been over it a million times with Neville. I’m getting sick of listening to myself talk about it.”

            “Is it getting any easier to talk about?” Hermione asked. Cho nodded. Hermione put her hand on Cho’s shoulder. “That’s all Neville wants for you, and the Diggorys. They all know it won’t just magically get better.”

            Cho nodded, but then, “I just feel so stuck. It helps talking about it with people, but I think a small part of me thinks that everything will get better if I just go over it all one more time. Every time it doesn’t, I feel like I let down that small part of me.” Neither Hermione nor Ginny knew what to say to that, so Ginny just put her hand on Cho’s hand. Cho gave her eyes a frustrated wipe with her sleeve and sniffled, “I just want to go back to being me. I’m crying all the time—and Neville’s been so patient with me—but I ask so much of him…”

            “I don’t think he minds,” Ginny told her. “In fact I think, if anything, he’s really grateful that you trust him so much.”

            “Did you talk about this with them?” Hermione asked.

            “Sort of,” Cho told them. “I asked them how they were doing—how they were coping with it all, then we just went back and forth for a while sharing memories about him…and then we talked about Neville.”

            It was all Ginny could do not to punch the air in triumph. She grinned at Hermione, who also looked delighted.

            “And you talked about how head-over-heels you two have been for each other for ages now?” Ginny asked.

            Cho looked up, surprised. “I—yes. But—”

            “What’d they say?” Hermione cut across her, eagerly.

            “I—well, I told them how guilty that makes me feel,” Cho said. “It feels like I’m betraying his memory.” Hermione and Ginny waited. “And they—” Cho took a deep gulp of air, then said, very quickly, “they said that Cedric would want nothing more than for me to move on with my life and that it would be a disservice to his memory not to let myself be happy.”

            Her voice cracked near the end, but Ginny and Hermione were beaming at her.

            “That would be when all the crying and hugging started then?” Ginny guessed and Cho nodded, smiling despite herself.

            “They’re right, you know,” Hermione told her.

            “But you said we both felt that way,” Cho said. “I didn’t think he thought of me like that. All I’ve done is talk about Cedric and cry.”

            “That’s not true!” Ginny said at once. “In fact, I haven’t heard the two of you talking about Cedric in months. I have seen you make him laugh, and vice versa. I have seen the way he gets when you walk into a room. And I know you haven’t been the one doing all the talking.”

            “What plant did Neville’s grandmother give him last summer?” Hermione asked.

            “Mimbulus Mibletonia…”

            “And which professor does his Boggart take the form of?”

            “It used to be Snape, but now it shows him failing to defeat Lestrange.”

            “Why did he ask the Sorting Hat to let him into Gryffindor?”

            “He didn’t. He asked to be in Hufflepuff…”

            “What form does his patronus take?”

            “A golden retriever…”

            Hermione smiled, pointedly. “I don’t think you give either of you enough credit, Cho.”

            “He didn’t have anything else on his mind other than comforting you after the Third Task,” Ginny told her, “but I think he’s been smitten with you ever since you first started joining us at Headquarters.”

            After the last DA practice of the semester, at Ginny’s instruction, Harry asked Neville and Cho to clean up the classroom, making some excuse about needing to speak to Professor McGonagall before she turned in for the night. As they were leaving, Ginny nudged Cho and pointed out the mistletoe Dobby had set up on the ceiling.

            That night, they all celebrated Neville as he told them he’d just had his first kiss. He had liked Cho most of the summer and all of fall but had been too worried she wasn’t over Diggory and felt like he would dishonor Cedric if he tried anything. The night she kissed Neville, Cho’s eyes were dry, and she was certain of what she wanted. And Neville couldn’t be happier. Fred and George even brought out some firewhisky to celebrate, and they all went to bed more than a little buzzed.

            With the whisky lowering his guard and weakening his occlumency defenses, Harry had a vision of Ginny’s dad getting attacked by Voldemort’s snake in the Ministry. Ginny was awoken by Professor McGonagall and told that her father had been injured and that Ginny and her siblings were being sent straight to St. Mungo’s.

            There had been no need for subterfuge. Bode had already warned the Ministry Voldemort was after the prophecy and Fudge knew Dumbledore had added his own protections to the Department of Mysteries, lest any ministry officials or guards become imperius’d, or a Death Eater infiltrate their ranks. Dumbledore had alerted the Minister immediately, and Fudge had concocted an excuse as to why he had personally asked Arthur to go down to the courts by the Department of Mysteries so late at night. He did not question how Dumbledore had been made aware of the emergency before the Ministry itself knew what was going on.

            Harry was shaken by the fact that he saw the attack from the snake’s perspective, but Dumbledore had warned them both that this sort of thing would occur if he did not constantly practice occlumency. So, he did not dwell on it for very long.

            Thanks to Harry, Ginny’s whole family was there for her father when he awoke from his attack. The Weasleys all expressed their immense gratitude to Harry for alerting the Order and to Sirius for letting them stay at his house in London again.

            There was an awkward moment later that day when Molly walked in on Ginny and Harry snogging, to which Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, “What in the world do you think you are doing?”

            “Thanking Harry,” was Ginny’s sheepish reply.

            Christmas was a happy occasion, with all of them visiting Ginny’s father in the hospital along with Lupin, Moody, Sirius, and Tonks. Lupin and Tonks revealed that they were now going steady. New legislation had given Lupin ample access to Wolfsbane. He was now far more self-assured that he would not be a danger to his wife and any potential children, and he no longer feared they would become outcasts.

            There was a particularly odd moment when Moody, Lupin, and Sirius were walking along one of the wards and ran into Gilderoy Lockhart, placing all of Ginny’s Defense Against the Dark Arts professors in the same place at the same time, or at least all the people who had been hired to the position.

            The adults and teens had humored Lockhart and allowed him to draw them into his ward to receive autographs, when they stumbled upon Neville and his grandmother leaving. Neville had long since told them all about his parents.

            Neville looked absolutely miserable when he emerged from the curtains around his parents’ beds, but his face lit up slightly upon seeing them. His grandmother introduced herself to each of them in turn. When she turned to Hermione she said, “Yes, Neville’s told me all about you. Helped him out of a few sticky spots, haven’t you? He’s a good boy, but he hasn’t got his father’s talent, I’m afraid to say...”

            “Neville’s one of the most gifted students in my class,” Sirius growled, and Ginny saw he was scowling at Mrs. Longbottom. “If he did not inherit his father’s natural talents, then he’s more than made up for that with diligence and practice. I saw Alice and Frank fight. He’s on track to become just as competent as his parents. Although, you may want to give him some time, seeing as he’s a boy and they were grown adults in their prime.”

            “I too was very proud to teach Neville,” Lupin cut in before Augusta could respond. “I found he tends to respond better to support rather than pressure, but, no matter his prowess in magic, I know his parents would be proud of him.”

            Lupin was smiling kindly at Neville, but Ginny was sure Augusta had not missed his reprimand any more than she’d missed Sirius’s. She was glowering at the two men, but before any of them could say anything more, Luna chimed in.

            “Would you like to join us at Grimmauld Place this afternoon, Neville?” she asked with her serene smile. The others all eagerly concurred.

            “No,” Augusta Longbottom said, firmly. “No, I don’t think he will be joining you this afternoon. Good day to you all.”

            With a nudge from Remus, Sirius sighed and followed them out.

            They could see Sirius stop Neville and his grandmother through the window to the ward. From his body language, Ginny could tell he was apologizing for his hostility. After a while, Sirius held out his hand. For a moment, Ginny thought the woman would snub him, then she took his hand gingerly. Sirius soon reentered the ward with Neville, his hands on the boy’s shoulders.

            “The Longbottoms will be joining us for Christmas Dinner,” Sirius told them to much enthusiasm. Once the noise had died, Sirius turned to his student, “Neville, I was friends with your parents in the Order when you were born. They loved you fiercely from the moment they learned Alice was pregnant. As Remus said, whether you became more powerful than Dumbledore or turned out to be a squib, they would have been endlessly proud of you.”

            Neville beamed, and Ginny saw Sirius wipe his eyes when everyone’s back was to him. Lupin clapped him on the back as Lockhart tried to turn their attention back to the autographs he was signing.

            “Had a good break so far?” Neville asked Luna, quietly enough so Lockhart wouldn’t notice.

            “Oh, it’s been very nice,” Luna said, still smiling. “I’ve been able to visit Grimmauld Place a lot this last week. Even when my father doesn’t come with me, Amelia Bones has been stopping by a lot, so he’s never lonely.”

            Ginny was just about to ask Neville how his break had been when Luna said, “That’s a very strange looking plant, isn’t it? I wonder if my father—”

            But Neville had moved away from her to wave down the nearest healer. He looked suddenly alarmed and grave.

            “You need to move Bode away from that plant,” he told her, “as carefully and quickly as possible.”

            “I’m sorry, what—” the healer started to ask.

            “And then you need to get a professional herbologist in here immediately,” Neville continued. “That’s Devil’s Snare.”

            For an instant, the healer looked as if she thought Neville was off his rocker, then Hermione gasped as she, Harry, and Ron turned to look at the plant too.

            “Bloody hell,” said Ron. “It is! That’s Devil’s Snare!”

            St. Mungo’s went on lockdown as the healers tried to determine if any other pots holding the weed had been distributed to additional patients. A group of aurors arrived to make sure this was an isolated incident. A tense three minutes followed, during which the healers worked to remove Bode from the plant’s presence without provoking it.

            When the pair of herbologists arrived to remove the Devil’s Snare, they gave Neville their cards and told him they’d be more than happy to show him the ropes if he fancied a summer apprenticeship.

            Neville was a hero at Christmas Dinner. As the others told her how Neville had sprung into action, his grandmother did her best to hide her delight, causing Sirius to roll his eyes behind her.

            “You saved a man’s life today, Neville,” he told the boy. “That’s no small thing.”

            “Maybe more than one man’s life, too,” Tonks put in, her eyes darting quickly to Augusta. “Any of the healers might have handled the plant as well, or one of the other residents of the ward might have wandered over.”

            The weight of what this meant hit Neville’s grandmother, prompting her to give him a quick pat on the back and then excuse herself, her eyes glistening.

            The celebration of Arthur’s recovery was an event like no other. All the Weasleys were there in Grimmauld Place, along with Cho and Neville, the Bones family, the Lovegoods, the Diggorys, the Grangers, the Johnsons, Lupin and Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mundungus Fletcher, Bill and Fleur, the Krums, the Delacours, McGonagall, Madame Maxine, Hagrid, and even Dumbledore himself stopped by with Snape and Igor Karkaroff in tow.

            Something had changed within the Order. Long ago, James and Sirius had no tolerance for Snape, ridiculed Peter, and Lupin sat by, letting it happen. Then, not just Sirius and Lupin, but all of the adults in the Order had watched the next generation of wizards grow up together.

            They’d seen the four Triwizard champions, despite their differences, form a bond and become fast friends, who put their loyalty to each other ahead of riches and glory. They’d seen Fred and George find common ground with the stern Hermione Granger and Angelina Johnson. They’d seen the mulish Ron open his mind and heart to Luna Lovegood.

            They’d seen the compassion with which Neville Longbottom continued to reach out to the grieving Cho Chang. Neville’s grandmother had undergone a change after Christmas, but her heart was finally softened completely when she met Cho for the first time and learned how she and Neville had gotten to know one another. Now, Augusta embraced Cho as part of the family and frequently told Neville how proud she was of how he had answered the call when another person was hurt, just as his parents would have.

            Finally, the Order had seen how fiercely Harry and Ginny would fight for each other time and time again.

            No one was more stunned by the subsequent change than Severus Snape, who was greeted within the home of his childhood bully like a part of the family and an old friend. The cry of greeting at the coming of Dumbledore was extended to Snape and Igor as well, and Sirius immediately brought over a bottle of mead, handing it to Severus and insisting he stay and sit with himself, Remus, Moody, and McGonagall. Sirius allowed himself to be shepherded to the table with a suspicious look on his face and was seated next to McGonagall, who smiled at him and patted his shoulder, leaning over to whisper something in his ear.

            Snape’s suspicious expression gave way to one of stunned disbelief, then determined stoicism, and then, at last, he cracked a grin at one of Sirius’s jokes. Before long, he was smiling and talking amiably with the other professors about their time at Hogwarts and the students who had most impressed and irked them.

            Later, Ginny also caught sight of Kingsley Shacklebolt, seemingly flirting with Sirius in the midst of the festivities, causing her, Hermione, and Cho to put their heads together conspiratorially to discuss.

            The only grim part of the festivities was when Dumbledore made his way over to Harry and Ginny and told Harry that, while his connection with Voldemort had saved someone’s life, and that was something to be grateful for, he had to keep his mind sharp from now on, not letting his guard down, even for a second, lest Voldemort take advantage of their connection and attempt to lure Harry out of the castle. Harry nodded and told the headmaster he would not participate in any drink for the rest of the semester.

            The second half of term only got better.

            Thanks to the support Hagrid was receiving, not just from his students but from his fellow professors and Dumbledore, he was able to start bringing Grawp onto the castle grounds to serve as his assistant, much to the delight of many students who quickly came to find Grawp to be the sweetest of beings and would often bring him treats from within the castle. Hagrid also hinted at an optional field trip in the near future to the newly established colony of giants nearby, which drew a lot of interest, even from those who were not taking Care of Magical Creatures.

            Although Hagrid was very clear that these visiting lectures should not be regarded as the care of magical creatures, but instead as gaining an understanding of other magical races and species, he had many guest lecturers cycling through his classes.

            Lupin arrived one day, along with several other Werewolves, to discuss life before and after last year’s legislation was passed. A group of Goblins visited from Gringotts to talk about the Goblin Wars in more animating tones than Professor Binns could muster and to explain how Goblins viewed property rights. Dobby, Kreacher, and Winky held a seminar on Elf rights. Fleur and her mother stopped by to talk about the Veela. A Vampire even visited for one of the classes, praising Hermione’s efforts to undo centuries of prejudice against his people. Madame Maxime joined Hagrid to talk about what life was like as half-giants. Despite his limited English, Grawp was able to discuss the ways and customs of Giants with a class.

            As a show of inter-species cooperation in these dark times, the Centaurs of the Forbidden Forest would even appear from their woods during every other astronomy class and consult on their interpretations of galactic movements.

            There did come a solemn moment for Dumbledore’s Army when the Prophet reported the escape of Bellatrix Lestrange. Voldemort was not strong enough to launch a full-on assault upon Azkaban, but without the incapacitating effect of the Dementors, she had been able to escape on her own. She had used wandless magic to slowly pry open the lock to her cell over many weeks, before stealing into the storage room where they kept all the prisoners’ wands and proceeding to disapparate away. She’d killed a number of guards in the process.

            Neville took the news hard. He was already an accomplished member of the DA, and his confidence had improved dramatically over the years. Still, now, he was galvanized to even greater heights and worked relentlessly to hone his skills. Cho provided him with great solace, and the two of them would often part ways with the rest of the group, going on long walks around the lake to clear Neville’s head.

            When the time came for fifth years to meet with their Heads of House to discuss career advice, Harry was initially dead-set on becoming an Auror.

            “It’s the perfect job for me,” he told Ginny one day. “If I have to fight Voldemort someday it just makes sense to have the training and resources of the people whose job it is to find and capture dark wizards.”

            Ginny hesitated when he told her this, before asking, “Can we go visit Sirius?”

            Harry was surprised by her request but agreed. Once Sirius had let them in and poured them all some pumpkin juice, she made her case.

            “Okay,” she said, before gulping. She felt like she was giving a presentation in Defense Against the Dark Arts. “Okay…I understand wanting to be in the best possible position you can to fight Voldemort, but I just want to make sure this is actually something you want to do. You’re brilliant at DA meetings. And you seem to really enjoy it too.

            “Voldemort clearly fears a competently taught class of Defense Against the Dark Arts students. I’d bet anything, if anyone cursed the subject, it was him. If you pursue a career as a professor, you would be counteracting Voldemort by training entire generations of wizards to defend against his influence, and the next dark wizard after him—not just with magic, but with the way you inspire people—your values.

            “But most importantly, you should do something that makes you happy, regardless of how it affects Voldemort. And when you talk about fighting Voldemort, you sound resigned. When you talk about DA meetings, you sound excited.”

            Sirius smiled when Ginny finished but did not speak yet, allowing Harry to think quietly for a long while.

            “Ginny, I heard you,” he said, finally. “But you just said, the job probably is jinxed. I’d be training myself for a job that could only last a year.”

            “You’re right in wanting a career you can have long term,” Sirius spoke up at last. “But you’re both thinking of this in the short term, as if either option is mutually exclusive.” He looked from Harry to Ginny. “I am convinced Voldemort will not be around forever, or even more than a few years this time around, at the very most. Yes, Harry, you would do well to receive the education Aurors receive in order to best prepare yourself to face off against dark magic. It would serve you well to have access to the resources of an Auror. But look beyond Voldemort’s reign. I think I’ve seen the same tiredness Ginny sees when you talk about fighting Voldemort. And I, too, have seen you light up when you talk about the DA. But we could be wrong. The answer you have to answer for yourself is whether or not you want to spend the rest of your life fighting.”

            Then Sirius grinned.

            “I don’t think Ginny wants you to make a decision about your future right here and now,” Sirius told his godson. “I certainly don’t. I think we both just want you to consider your own happiness as you go forward, and not let every decision be dictated by Voldemort.

            “Luckily, you do not have to answer this question today. It would be entirely possible to receive the education both to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and an Auror. Once Voldemort is defeated, you can consider what would make you happiest: to continue to fight, to teach, or maybe to forego all of that. Be a Quidditch star. Work for Gringotts. Be a barkeep. Whatever you choose, I know you will be brilliant at it. And I will be just as proud of you no matter what you decide to do.”

            Ginny hastily wiped her eyes as Harry got up to hug his godfather.

            So, Harry talked to Professor McGonagall about preparing to be a professor and an Auror and came back from his meeting looking extremely happy. The requirements to be a DADA Professor were almost all the same as those to be an auror. When she saw him, Ginny was beaming at his expression. Then he lifted her into the air and kissed her.

            “Thank you,” he whispered in her ear as he held her.

Chapter Text

            Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. Ginny could have produced a hundred patronuses standing up there with the shining trophy, Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Angelina, and Katie Bell. That night, the common room was full to bursting with members, not just of Gryffindor House but of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, too. Even with exams around the corner, nothing could wipe the smile off of Harry’s face.

            When it came time for O.W.L.s, Ginny was sincerely glad she and Harry were no longer in the honeymoon phase of their relationship. When they started seeing each other, they were constantly breaking away from their studies to snog in some secret passage. Now, however, she was perfectly content to do her homework or read beside Harry as he poured over materials, which she’d occasionally quiz him on. Luna, Fred, and Cho played similar roles for Ron, Hermione, and Neville. The six of them often could be found lounging in the common room or on the grounds together, sometimes joined by George and Angelina, who would usually read quietly or help with studying.

            One day, when it was just the two of them, Harry looked up from his notes at Ginny.

            “Hey, I’m really bored right now,” he told her.

            “I—did you want to take a break and go flying or something?”

            “No, I’m just—I’m really, really bored right now,” Harry told her. “And I feel amazing. We are doing nothing, and I am so happy to be doing nothing with you. I love being bored with you.”

            “You’re bored of me?!”

            “’With!’ ‘With!’”

            “Kidding!” Harry smiled. Ginny scooted closer to him. “Yeah, I love being bored with you too.”

            On the last day of O.W.Ls, the war finally found its way to Hogwarts.

            Those within the DA who were not in their O.W.L. year were waiting for the fifth years to get out of their final exam, History of Magic, so they could all head out to the grounds for one last session in the sun. Out of nowhere, a great black raven suddenly soared through the Entrance Hall into the Great Hall through the passages left open for owls.

            From within the Great Hall, there came the sounds of three people screaming in absolute agony, their cries echoing throughout the castle. Even as Ginny and her friends burst into the Great Hall with their wands drawn, the voice of Lord Voldemort himself thundered from within.

            “I have your aunt and uncle, Potter. I have their child,” Lord Voldemort wailed from what Ginny could see was a howler, deposited upon Harry’s desk, already opened by the raven. “I have your family. And they will beg me for death before I kill them all, unless you meet me in the Department of Mysteries. Should you send Aurors, Dumbledore, or your precious Order in your stead, I will be sure to kill all three of them before anyone can raise a hand in their defense.”

            Then Harry was sprinting from the Great Hall, bellowing, “ACCIO BROOM.”

            Without time to call the professors or form a plan or coordinate, the entirety of Dumbledore’s Army sprinted after Harry, echoing his spell. Those who did not play Quidditch summoned school brooms. There was some confusion below once the school stock had run out, as a few people lagged behind to lift those without brooms up with them. The inner circle: Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Neville, Luna, Angelina, and Cho were all streaking after Harry as fast as they could go. Ginny hastily sent two patronuses back down to the castle to alert Dumbledore and Sirius of what was happening, but to warn them that Voldemort would kill the Dursleys if he saw them coming. She hoped they could get to the Ministry faster than Harry and deal with Voldemort before the students could arrive.

            No sooner had they traveled out of sight of the castle, however, when a bolt of green light surged up from below and missed Harry by inches. They all looked down to see scores of Death Eaters swarming up from the forest with Voldemort himself at their head.

            The Death Eaters, however, had only seen Harry and a few of his friends from below the trees when they launched their attack. They were completely caught off guard by the horde of students behind him, who fired a barrage of spells into the Death Eaters’ midst. In an instant, the Death Eaters scattered, and pandemonium reigned.

            Harry looked horrified as he dove down to try and save his friends, realizing he had led them into a trap. Ginny called out to him as she and the others dived too, “We’ll find the Dursleys. Just stay away from Voldemort and get the others out of here!”

            As she and the others dove, Ginny thought they might have a chance of coming out alive. They had caught the Death Eaters by surprise, incapacitating many of them before they knew what hit them. Most of the remaining Death Eaters were defending themselves but looked uncertain about attacking children and were waiting on their master for orders.

            The moment she had seen the Death Eaters, Hermione had the wherewithal to send up a jet of red sparks into the air, a signal to anyone in the castle who might be looking, which was quickly followed by more jets of light from various other members of Dumbledore’s Army.

            Voldemort looked utterly shocked at the sheer numbers rushing to Harry’s aid, but Ginny could see his lips curling into a snarl as he began to regain his composure to issue commands to his followers.

            Just as she was disappearing beneath the tree line, Ginny saw Harry—doing the complete opposite of what she’d told him—careening into Voldemort from above before the Dark Lord could give any orders.

            Then she was below the canopy, fanning out with the others, whizzing between trees—searching for any sign of Harry’s family. It didn’t take long for them to realize the Dursleys were not here. Of course, they weren’t.

            Ginny was fighting back furious tears as she cursed herself for even bothering and pulled her broom back above the canopy, just as Voldemort screamed at the top of his lungs, “KILL THEM ALL!”

            Chaos was still all-consuming above, with the initial wave of Dumbledore’s Army having collided with the Death Eaters and now circling every which way for another go at them. At the same time, Voldemort himself shrieked in rage and fired spell after spell at Harry, who was performing some of the best Quidditch moves Ginny had ever seen to dodge every single one of Voldemort’s spells while firing curse after curse at the dark lord. The Horntail had been nothing. The World Cup had been nothing. This was flying.

            Ginny urged her broom forward even as green jets of light began to fill the air from the Death Eaters’ wands. She was heading straight for Voldemort.

            There was a cry of outrage from behind her and, in her periphery, Ginny became dimly aware of other fighters joining the fray, but she could not say whether they were friend or foe.

            Voldemort must have exchanged his wand for another—yet even still—he seemed surprisingly well matched by Harry, whose wand was performing magic Ginny had never seen before—at one point regurgitating what looked like dragon fire down upon the Dark Lord, who was only barely able to dodge out of the way.

            Ginny fired the Bat-Bogey hex straight at Voldemort, who seemed to intuitively know a spell was coming at him from behind and blocked it, rounding on her. But Ginny wasn’t done. Stunner after stunner after stunner shot forth from her wand as she hurtled straight at the Dark Lord. From the others behind her came a volley of even more spells hurtling straight at him. Voldemort was blocking each spell furiously, and it seemed to be all he could do without risking getting hit, but his eyes had narrowed at the sight of Ginny. She felt sure he recognized who she was but ploughed forward nonetheless. Then he got his wand out from under his latest shield and shot a killing curse straight at her, just as she was coming upon him—when something collided with her from the side.

            Harry had tackled her off her broom as it exploded from the killing curse, and the two of them went hurtling towards the ground.

            “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Harry kept saying, even as he fought to regain control of his broom. Then Sirius was there, helping to steady them. Ginny looked back at Voldemort.

            The fury of Dumbledore seemed to blot out the sun as he descended, broomless, upon Voldemort in a white-hot rage. And there was nothing but fear in the Dark Lord’s eyes.

            Towards the castle, what looked like every member of the Order of the Phoenix and a hundred aurors had descended upon the Death Eaters, sending them all scrambling back into the forest or dissapparating on the spot.

            But from the midst of it all flew Bellatrix Lestrange, leaving an unconscious Tonks behind her, with Lupin diving desperately to catch her. Lestrange’s eyes were livid and fixed on Harry.

            Harry and Sirius rose to meet her, Ginny positioning herself behind Harry on his broom. The spells of all four of them collided in the air, and the three fliers spun about, drawing farther and farther from the battle, circling each other. No one of them could get an edge over the others.

            “Harry, you have to go!” Sirius shouted as he fought, even as a jet of purple whizzed by his ear by centimeters. Sirius smirked at Bellatrix, “C’mon! You can do better than that.”

            Then, a jet of green light soared straight at Sirius’s chest. Both Harry and Sirius had been in the middle of firing spells at Bellatrix, but Ginny saw the jet of green as if in slow motion.

            Desperately, screaming the spell like her life depended on it, her wand shot out and cast a barrier between Sirius and the curse. Before the barrier could grow to full strength, the curse shattered through.

            The spell hit Sirius.

            Sirius’s smile was still etched on his face, but his eyes grew wide with shock as he toppled backwards off his broom.

            Harry was screaming, diving. Ginny was sobbing as she fired spells desperately over her shoulder at Bellatrix. Neville and Cho came careening out from nowhere and began cascading curses down upon Bellatrix, who was screaming with fury. Dumbledore was descending upon Bellatrix, too. Voldemort had gone. And then Ron and Hermione were there with Harry, helping him catch Sirius as they all slowly drifted towards the forest below. Hermione had pressed her ear to Sirius’s chest.

            “He’s still alive!”

            Ginny’s spell had blocked the worst of the killing curse.

            Harry released a choked sob of relief as their brooms drifted lazily toward the tree canopy. His eyes met Ginny’s, and she gave him a relieved smile, sighing thankfully. It was—

            “Sectumsempra!”

            Harry’s eyes had widened in horror.

            And she was too afraid to tear away from his gaze.

            Her body was being flung to the side.

            And then she felt it.

            Something was tearing through her.

            Ripping her apart.

            Her head was against Harry’s chest as they danced at the Yule Ball.

            She was glaring at him, speaking with all the venom she could muster, chastising him for brushing off Hermione’s fight for Elf rights.

            She was watching the killing curse come within inches of Harry above the forest, unable to imagine how lost she would feel if it had hit him.

            They were staring at the horizon in Egypt.

            His eyes were searching hers, asking permission in the secret passage.

            She was gazing up at him in pride.

            They were soaring on their brooms side-by-side.

            Holding hands in Hogsmeade on their very first date.

            Harry’s head was against her chest. But his voice sounded so far away. She could barely hear him. “Please! Ginny! Please don’t leave me!”

            The wind was whipping through her hair.

            She couldn’t move.

            She couldn’t speak.

            She couldn’t breathe.

            Harry was above her, holding her upright on his broom.

            She could see tears trickling back from his eyes, flung into the air behind them.

            “Hold on! Oh god. Hold on, Ginny!”

            She was on a stretcher, being rushed through the castle corridors.

            “Ginny, I still need you!”

            She could see him pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair, tears streaming down his face.

            “Come back! Please, come back!”

            Madame Pomfrey’s hand was at her wrist, feeling her pulse.

            “Please, I don’t want to do this without you. I’m not strong enough…”

            Then the pain came back—shredding through her, slashing her apart—and she couldn’t tell where she was or how she got there. There had been a Chamber, a snake, a diary, a whisper. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t catch her breath.

            The Harry Potter was there. His hand was in hers. She was gripping onto him for dear life. Tears were pouring down her cheeks.

            “Harry—”

            “Ginny! You’re going to be alright.”

            “Harry—it hurts!”

            “I know, Ginny. I know. I’m not letting go.”

            “Harry—I want to go home,” she sobbed.

            “I’ll take you home, Ginny. I promise. Please, hold on. MADAME POMFREY, DO SOMETHING!”

            But it was all going black.

            And she was falling back into the Chamber.

            And Harry was just a faint speck across the massive cavern.

            “I swear I’ll love you all my life—just stay!”

            She was sprinting through the Chamber.

            Sprinting for Harry.

            And the darkness was following her.

            The Snake.

            Riddle.

            Ginny was screaming—raging—fighting harder than she’d ever fought in her life—beating back the darkness—holding it at bay—clinging to Harry as tightly as she could.

            Snape was there.

            He was… singing?

            His eyes were glittering.

            He looked so pale.

            The pain was leaving her.

            With a great, soul-shaking gasp. She was back, bursting through the window at the end of the Chamber, scrambling to find Harry’s body—to hold it close. They were sobbing into each other. Her robes were torn, she could feel fresh, sore scars running down the right side of her torso. She was light-headed, weak.

            But she was alive.

            Madame Pomfrey was weeping too as she shakily struggled with the cork to a potion.

            Snape was sitting next to her bed, his head in his hands, his whole body heaving.

            Pomfrey was pouring a red potion into her mouth.

            Some of the weakness and dizziness was going away.

            She was still clenching the back of Harry’s robes in her fists, scrunching up her face against his shoulder.

            It was over.

            “I thought we agreed to stop meeting like this,” Harry told her.

            No one had been killed on their side. A dozen or so Death Eaters had fallen from their brooms to their deaths, both when the initial wave of attackers struck and when their reinforcements arrived. The Death Eaters had injured many members of Dumbledore’s Army. Still, their friends had all caught them before they could fall very far. Each of them, like Ginny, had been proficient enough, under Harry and Sirius’s training, to defend themselves from the worst of the killing curses.

            It had been Barty Crouch Jr. who had torn through the Order and the Aurors to get at Ginny before dissapparating. Dumbledore believed he’d meant for the spell to kill Ginny, but he’d wanted Harry to watch her suffer first. Madame Pomfrey had never seen a spell like that before and had been at a complete loss as to how to stop it, until Snape came sprinting into the hospital wing to help her.

            Ron had screamed at Harry, “You get my sister! I’ll get your godfather! Go!”

            Harry had torn off with her balanced on the Firebolt while Hermione and Ron brought Sirius back to the castle behind them. They’d entered with him shortly after Snape healed Ginny’s wounds.

            Tonks had been taken to St. Mungo’s by a distraught Lupin, and Kingsley and Moody had both been injured, along with a few Aurors, having all bravely flung themselves between the worst of the Death Eaters and the students they were attacking.

            Not a single member of Dumbledore’s Army had turned tail at the sight of the Death Eaters.

            Upon hearing that Harry had taken off, Dumbledore had immediately assembled the Order of the Phoenix, sending word to Fudge to send as many Aurors as he could spare and to tighten security around the Hall of Prophecy. Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Percy, McGonagall, and an elite taskforce from the Ministry had broken into Malfoy Manor to free the Dursleys and subdue Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.

            Three battles had been waged simultaneously in Malfoy Manor, above the forest, and within the Department of Mysteries, all of which Voldemort lost. One of Voldemort’s Death Eaters was in the same state as Bode now, having thought himself able to overcome the magic protecting the prophecy.

            Dumbledore surmised Voldemort had hoped to both acquire the prophecy and capture Harry. Once the prophecy was heard, he’d be free to kill Harry properly this time. The intent was for his Death Eaters in the Ministry to pretend to hold the Dursleys hostage while the one with the prophecy slipped out under an invisibility cloak. Voldemort and the rest of the Death Eaters would ambush Harry when he left the school. Voldemort had anticipated the Order and Ministry getting involved but had hoped they would all try to head Harry off at the Hall of Prophecies, rather than following him in the air. Ultimately, it was a desperate ploy from a man whose rise to power was not going how he’d hoped.

            Snape had given Ginny a salve for her scars to ease the pain. The Dursleys were in St. Mungo’s now, being treated after the torture they had endured at Voldemort’s hands.

            “You did nothing wrong, Harry,” Dumbledore told them as they sat by Sirius’s side in another wing of St. Mungo’s. His injuries, while not as immediately life-threatening as Ginny bleeding out in Harry’s arms, were taking longer to heal. Sirius had been placed in a bed next to Tonks. Remus sat at her bedside, facing Sirius, his eyes red with large bags beneath them.

            “There is no soul among us who would have wasted a moment trying to get to the Ministry of Magic to save our loved ones. And you did not hesitate, after all the Dursleys have put you through. You knew you’d need to go through a professor to get any Flu Powder, and Voldemort warned you he’d kill them if we interceded. You knew we would not let you go.

            “Your friends fought for you, knowing the risk, because they love you, and they were able to survive thanks to you and the godfather you saved from certain death two years ago. Your friends held their own against an army of Death Eaters, and Voldemort himself could not lay a finger on you. Your actions, drawing his focus away from commanding his troops, bought your friends and the Order precious time before they began dueling to kill.”

            Harry had thanked Ginny over and over again as he held her at Sirius’s bedside when they first arrived. Then he had fallen silent and said nothing since, sitting stricken at Sirius’s side, his hand squeezing Ginny’s like a vice.

            “It is my fault this happened,” Dumbledore told them. “I should have known Voldemort would attempt to use the Dursleys against you, now that you are not living with them. He would assume you still bore some love for them, little knowing you could not abide even your worst enemy being tortured to get to you. Before, while you called Private Drive home, your mother’s spell protected both you and the Dursleys. Once you left, I should have set more security around them to ensure their safety. I should have moved them somewhere safe. Once again, despite my words, I have proven to be woefully dismissive of the lives of Muggles.”

            Ginny looked up as Dumbledore’s voice cracked and saw that he was crying. It was strange, seeing him so vulnerable after he’d looked ready to level worlds when facing down Voldemort.

            “If I hadn’t moved in with Sirius, the Dursleys would still be protected,” Harry said, finally, in a horse voice. “They would not have been tortured. Ginny wouldn’t have been hurt. Sirius wouldn’t have been hurt.”

            For a moment, there was silence.

            “I told you long ago,” Sirius wheezed from the bed, his eyes opening at last and his hands clutching Harry’s, “I wouldn’t trade a single second with you for the world.”

            Harry hurled himself forward into Sirius’s embrace, crying unrestrainedly, while Sirius looked over his shoulder at Ginny. “Thank you.”

            Not one member of the Order or Dumbledore’s Army would accept an apology from Harry, each stating categorically that they would have done no differently from him to save their own families. Tonks pointed out that she had, in fact, sprinted forward with her broom with the same reckless urgency to save Harry.

            “You’re family, Harry,” Tonks told him, clasping his hands. “We know you’d give your life for any one of us. Surely, you think more highly of your loved ones than to expect anything less from us.”

            Dumbledore spoke to the Dursleys before Harry came to see them. As he told it to Harry and Ginny after the fact, he’d first begun by apologizing to them for not speaking to Petunia and Vernon in person when he first left Harry at their doorstep. A letter could not quite do justice to what Dumbledore was asking of them.

            Dumbledore had gone on to explain what the world was like for Muggles and for wizards when Voldemort reigned, how Muggle families, like the Dursleys, had been killed off in their homes for sport by wizards, these ones every bit as bad as the Dursleys imagined all wizards to be. And Dumbledore told them that, unbeknownst to the Dursleys, theirs had been one of the random Muggle households targeted by Voldemort’s followers. And it was only by virtue of the protective enchantments Lily and James had placed around their home at the very beginning of the war that the Dursleys were left ignorant of the attempt at their lives.

            Dumbledore told them how much it had meant to the wizarding community when a baby, barely a year old, had been the downfall of the wizard behind all this turmoil—the downfall of the very man who had personally tortured them.

            Dumbledore stressed that Harry had neither said nor done anything to put the Dursleys in danger and, indeed, had thought them safer in his absence. That it was Dumbledore’s failures that had led to their capture. They were targeted not because of a feud started by Harry but because of how much Harry meant to the world in the wake of such a dark wizard.

            Dumbledore told them of each time Harry had escaped from Voldemort’s clutches, the perils he’d faced. Dumbledore told them how Voldemort had sought to lure Harry out of Hogwarts by torturing his family. How a howler of the Dursley’s screams had been sent directly to Harry. How Harry had sprinted from the Great Hall without a moment’s hesitation, summoned his broom, and, without a thought for his own safety, had sped off to meet Voldemort and his almost certain death. He had done so on the barest chance that he could either save the Dursleys or, at least, his own death would spare their lives.

            Dumbledore then told them about how almost a hundred students had soared after Harry to protect him because of the love they bore for him. How they had collided with the Dark Lord’s forces, fallen into a trap, and how Harry’s friends had searched for the Dursleys on Harry’s behalf while he distracted the terrible sorcerer who had caused the Dursleys so much pain, again, without a thought for his own safety. Meanwhile, the rest of his friends fought off an army of grown adults far more experienced than they were.

            Dumbledore finally told them that Harry had regretted ever leaving them, holding himself responsible for their capture. But then Dumbledore told the Dursleys how happy Harry had been living with his godfather and how he’d almost lost his godfather trying to save the Dursleys. Dumbledore brought up the years of neglect and abuse Harry had suffered at the Dursleys’ hands and how none of it had affected Harry’s decision to try and save them.

            When Harry and Ginny finally walked into the hospital wing, there was a long, awkward silence between them all. Vernon Dursley looked wary, Dudley looked confused, Petunia’s expression was unreadable. Harry just looked defeated and desolate. Ginny was trying not to think about the horrific screams she had heard the other day, amplified a hundredfold. They still kept her up at night.

            Finally, when the silence had become unbearable, praying that she was not making the situation worse or intruding on a sacred family moment, Ginny held her hand out to Petunia, “You must be Mrs. Dursley. I’m Harry’s girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. It’s very nice to meet you. I’ve never seen anyone fight or fly as hard as Harry did to save you.”

            Petunia was staring at Ginny in what looked like abject horror, but she took Ginny’s hand in a limp grip nonetheless and said in a barely audible voice, “How do you do.”

            Ginny then smiled at Harry’s cousin. “Hi, Dudley. I am very glad to see you are alright.”

            Dudley blinked at her.

            Ginny felt her confidence faltering as she looked at the hulking figure of Vernon Dursley, “My father… um… also loves drills.”

            It was no lie.

            She heard a chuckle behind her.

            Harry was covering his mouth, but was shaking with sudden laughter. Then she heard a dull “Huh-huh huh huh,” from behind her and saw that Dudley was laughing too. Then Petunia was tittering. Vernon covered his mouth to cover a smile. Until, at last, Dudley Dursley threw back his head and roared with laughter. Petunia suddenly rushed forward to hug Harry, followed by Dudley, and, finally, Vernon patted him on the back with extreme awkwardness.

            When they had all broken apart, Petunia gave Ginny a swift hug, whispering, “It is very nice to meet you too.”

            Vernon patted her on the back, much the same as he had done Harry, as he resumed his place by Dudley’s bedside.

            The conversation was stilted and tense, and there was an undercurrent of understanding that nothing they said or did going forward could mend the years of abuse Harry had suffered or the agony the Dursleys had just endured. Still, there was a newfound, if not very grim, respect between the two parties.

            Eventually, Petunia said, “He killed my sister. That man. And I never said ‘thank you.’ For killing him back. If you get the chance to do so again… I don’t think you should hesitate.”

            “If someone like that hates you so much, you can’t be all bad,” Dudley added.

            “Thank you?” Harry said, cocking his head at his cousin but smiling all the same.

            When they left St. Mungo’s, it was with a standing invite to have dinner with the Dursleys the first Friday of every month. Vernon looked like he regretted his kind attitude the moment Petunia extended the offer, and she herself looked a little shocked. Dudley, on the other hand, had almost looked excited. Ginny wasn’t sure Harry would ever take them up on the offer, but she was glad they had not yelled and berated him or told him to get out.

            Before they left Hogwarts for their homes, Ginny saw Draco Malfoy on the grounds, looking lost and dissolute. Both of his parents had gone to Azkaban for the part they had played in capturing the Dursleys. Draco had known nothing about it.

            Remembering Snape at her father’s party, Ginny nudged Harry and pointed Malfoy out to him. She looked up at him, hoping he would understand without needing words.

            For a moment, Harry hesitated. Then he looked at Luna and Ron, how Luna’s face still lit up whenever Ron told her a joke or listened to one of her theories. He saw Neville, looking so confident, with an arm draped around Cho Chang. He looked at Hermione, whose head was resting on Fred’s shoulder. And Angelina and George, who were walking each other through the flight maneuvers they’d used during the battle.

            Fred and George had passed every single one of their N.E.W.T.s.

            Cho would still visit Cedric’s grave once a month and have dinner with the Diggorys, but she had finally come to terms with his death.

            Neville’s grandmother had bought him a new wand. She’d broken down sobbing over her treatment of him when he was younger, telling him how hard it was for her to see her son in the state he was in, but how that was no excuse and she would never forgive herself for ever making his child feel anything less than worthy. Augusta Longbottom was far more affectionate in her letters to Neville and insisted she was proud of him no matter his grades or ambitions.

            Ron, who had finally let go of seeking to come out from Harry’s shadow, was on track to set school records as keeper.

            Then Harry looked at Ginny, who had been so meek and timid when they first met, unable to say a word to him, and had just charged down Lord Voldemort himself to save Harry.

            Harry jogged forward, catching up to Malfoy and offering him a butterbeer before gesturing for him to come join the group. Draco’s face wore the same expression of distrust and suspicion as Snape’s had, but all of that was quickly forgotten as George and Angelina began teasing him about the dismal performance of his Quidditch team this season.

            Harry resumed his place by Ginny’s side and wrapped his arm around her. She looked up at him, overcome with pride.

            When they arrived at Platform 9 ¾ Ginny went straight to her mother and asked if she could spend the summer at Grimmauld Place. She saw her father tense but say nothing while her mother looked her over searchingly.

            Ginny knew her parents had first married, partly because of fear that they only had so many days left together before Voldemort prevailed or slew one of them. She knew her mother must be thinking back to those days, remembering how it felt, and knowing Ginny felt much the same way, only the stakes were higher here. Neither could live while the other survived.

            Ginny had not given up hope, but she had also seen a killing curse miss Harry by inches, had seen him almost lose his godfather, and she’d come face to face with her own mortality at death’s door. She knew she did not want to waste a second if their days were, in fact, numbered.

            “I suppose so,” Mrs. Weasley said. “As long as it is alright with Sirius.”

            Sirius winked at her over Molly’s shoulder, still on crutches after his injury.

            “I suppose we’ll just have to move Ron in with the twins the next time we visit,” Molly said absentmindedly, surprising Ginny.

            Ginny hugged her parents again, told them she loved them, bayed goodbye to her friends and siblings, and followed Harry and Sirius from Kings Cross.

Chapter Text

            The summer passed as a painful dichotomy between devastating news from all over Britain and blissful summer days at Grimmauld Place. As far as Sirius was concerned, Harry and Ginny had more than earned the right to know what was happening within the Order. He did not tell them anything Dumbledore had ordered him not to and did not share with them some of the more sensitive plans in motion, but he could tell them that Dumbledore had spoken with Fudge not too long ago.

            Dumbledore had told Fudge it was not a matter of if the Ministry should fall but when. Although the resistance against Voldemort would be more robust than before, and Dumbledore was confident the wizarding world had reached a threshold beyond which they would never fall in line behind Voldemort, it was still a certainty that Voldemort would launch a siege on Azkaban, retrieve his oldest and most loyal followers, and eventually seize power over the Ministry, if only for a short while. He had told Fudge he could easily step down, that Scrimgeour had been ready to die in the fight against the dark arts for half his life. But Fudge had remained resolute, having undergone an extraordinary transformation since the Triwizard Tournament. Public perception of the bumbling man had changed almost overnight as he handled Voldemort’s return with precision, grace, and determination. And he was set on seeing it through.

            Oddly enough, Sirius felt he could tell them both that Snape had been summoned to Narcissa Malfoy in Azkaban, where she had conveyed in code that Voldemort himself had tasked Malfoy with a secret mission and that Snape had vowed to aid Malfoy in his endeavors. Narcissa had wanted him to make an unbreakable vow, but this would be too suspicious with the guards monitoring them. Sirius would not say what the task set to Malfoy was.

            He did, however, tell them that Dumbledore would need Harry’s assistance to acquire a new ally for Hogwarts, an old potions professor who liked to “collect” star pupils. This professor had valuable information for the Order that needed to be both protected and extracted from him in the coming year. To make room for this potions professor, and to keep the old potions teacher in Voldemort’s good graces, Snape would finally be given the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, and Sirius would step down to take over running headquarters again.

            It wasn’t long before Dumbledore came by to collect Harry for this task. They had almost reached the threshold when Dumbledore suddenly paused and turned back to Sirius and Ginny, telling the latter that it might be helpful for her to come, too. On their way, Ginny asked why Dumbledore thought she’d be useful too.

            “I think,” said Dumbledore, “that much as Harry reminds so many of James, you have begun to remind those who knew them well of Lily, Ms. Weasley. Professor Snape was the first to notice.” Harry and Ginny exchanged glances. “And Professor Slughorn was particularly fond of Lily.”

            After they’d met with Slughorn, Ginny, and Harry paid her family a visit at the Burrow, where it was revealed that Fleur and Bill, Tonks and Lupin, and Viktor and Susan Bones had all gotten engaged. Tonks and Lupin wanted a quick and quiet ceremony with Sirius and Harry as their witnesses, but Fleur and Viktor had decided to have a joint wedding the following summer.

            Ginny still remembered how full of herself Fleur had been before she became friends with the other Champions and marveled at her newfound maturity. There wasn’t a single Weasley disappointed to learn Fleur would be joining their family.

            The happy occasion between all of them at the Burrow was somewhat soured by the news that Susan’s aunt, Amelia Bones, who was like a mother to her, had been killed by Voldemort himself. Susan assured them she’d be alright, but wanted to grieve in private with Viktor, so the two departed quickly.

            Luna then left to break the news to her father, looking grim.

            Later, Viktor wrote saying Susan was still in mourning, but was determined to keep carrying on.

            Xenophilius was more subdued at Order meetings after that day. But he took comfort in his new friendships with the Diggorys and Augusta.

            Before term started, Harry and Ginny met up with Ron, Luna, Hermione, Neville, and Cho to visit the twins’ new joke shop. The store was magnificent, with tributes to all four Triwizard champions, the original shareholders.

            The seven students were allowed to take whatever they wanted for free, after how close they had all become these last few years.

            Having run into Malfoy whilst trying on new robes, Harry had also invited the Slytherin to join them at the twins’ store. After a moment of looking conflicted, Malfoy had agreed, but said he’d be late as he had some additional shopping to do. Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione spotted him turning down Nocturn Alley from the joke shop window, but said nothing about it when Malfoy eventually joined them.

            True to Dumbledore’s predictions, Professor Slughorn was keen to collect as many members of Dumbledore’s Army as possible, though he showed some obvious preferences with his initial candidates. He invited Harry, Neville, Ron, and Ginny to his quarters on the Hogwarts Express. Harry and Ginny for obvious reasons. Neville for his family history and the stories of him facing down Bellatrix. And Ron because he was tenaciously close to becoming the best keeper in Hogwarts history. This last reasoning was much to the annoyance of Cormac McLaggen, who jokingly—but not jokingly—told Ron to watch out at the Quidditch tryouts because the competition would be steep this year. Ron just grinned and said, “Bring it.”

            Ginny’s brother, however, was not tasked with impressing Slughorn, so he was very disinterested in the Slug Club. After he tried to talk up Luna to Slughorn, receiving next to no interest from the Professor, Ron politely excused himself to rejoin his girlfriend. Neville soon followed suit, telling Slughorn, in a slightly accusatory tone, that Cho had faced down Bellatrix with him and that she deserved just as much esteem as Neville did.

            When Slughorn was looking away Ginny and Harry shot each other a look of mock despair at having been left alone to suffer Slughorn’s long-winded tales. In reality, Ginny did not mind listening to Slughorn’s boastings. She rested her head on Harry’s shoulder contently and tried not to fall asleep.

            Potions class with Slughorn was an interesting experience. Ginny found him not unlike Snape of late, but Harry had found an old textbook that was helping him immensely with his vastly complex sixth-year potions. He had forgotten his textbook the first day of term and was given the Prince’s textbook by Slughorn for one class. However, upon realizing just how useful the annotations within were, Harry had switched its cover with that of the book he’d left at Grimmauld Place.

            Snape was far kinder than he had been in years past, though still far more strict than Lupin or Sirius, and a little too infatuated with the Dark Arts for Ginny’s liking. Again, Ginny noticed how Snape looked at her, as if seeing a ghost, and wondered what he had thought of Lily Evans when she was alive.

            After class, Harry had stopped by to walk to the Great Hall with her, but Snape held them up.

            “Potter, may I see your potions book?” he asked. Harry hesitated, causing Snape to smirk, not unkindly. “You’re not in trouble.”

            Harry reached into his bag and handed Snape his textbook, which the professor began flipping through with a strange look.

            “You were showing great improvements in my potions class of late,” Snape told him, “I would have had no trouble believing you were raising your performance as high as Slughorn has reported on your own merit, but there was something familiar about the accomplishments he relayed to me.”

            His gaze lifted from the book to meet Harry’s. “This is my old potions book from when I was in school.” Harry and Ginny stared at him, dumbfounded.

            “There’s a spell in here, Potter: Sectumsempra. You may recognize it as the spell Barty Crouch Junior used on Ms. Weasley this summer.” Snape showed them the scrawled-out spell. “The spell is of my invention. I regret to say I taught it to a younger Barty Crouch Junior.”

            Ginny didn’t know how to feel, but she could tell Harry was furious. She put her hand in his. “That’s why you knew how to heal me.”

            Snape nodded. “I will happily buy you a new potions book if you want nothing to do with this one, Potter. But Dumbledore has told me of your mission regarding Slughorn. It has occurred to me this may be very useful for you in your efforts to get in his good graces. It is your decision.”

            Ginny could tell Harry wanted to rebuff Snape, so she spoke up first.

            “Thank you, Professor.” They both looked at her in surprise. “If you had not taught Crouch this spell, he may have just resorted to using the killing curse on me. I think you saved my life in more than one way that day.”

            Both Snap and Harry had paled.

            “It’s a disgusting spell,” Harry told Snape at last. Then, steeling himself, “But thank you, Professor. For the book and for saving Ginny that day… I should have thanked you back then.”

            Snape merely shook his head. Then he said, “I know you still have a few potions classes before the weekend, but on Friday evening, I would appreciate it if you left the book at my office for the weekend. I will return it by Monday, but I want to ensure there is nothing else in here I should warn you about… no other repulsive spells.”

            Then he gave the book back to Harry and swept off.

            Despite how much more enjoyable Care of Magical Creatures had become, Harry, Ron, and Hermione decided not to pursue the subject in order to focus on their other classes. They were worried when Hagrid said he’d see them in class on their first day back. However, he just laughed the next time he saw them.

            “There’s my foot in my mouth,” he told them. “I should have remembered I didn’t see your names in the queue when I had to make cuts.”

            “Cuts?” Hermione asked.

            “Oh yeah,” Hagrid said proudly. “Too many students applied for Advanced Care of Magical Creatures. I wanted to let them all in, but they’d overwhelm the animals, see. So, I had to tell the students who didn’t get above an A on their O.W.L.s that they couldn’t keep taking the class.”

            “That must have been tough,” Harry said.

            Hagrid shrugged. “Not particularly. I told them I’d start an after-school program if they really wanted to pursue the subject. And, if they showed they were committed, I’d figure something out for their N.E.W.T. year. We’ve had a good turnout so far. Seems like they’re in it for the long haul. I can’t wait to see what they do once they graduate!”

            Although she was scoring better than most students in all of her classes, Luna started studying even harder for Care of Magical Creatures after this discussion, determined to make it into the N.E.W.E.T. class, despite previously thinking Hagrid was not a good teacher.

            Ginny, too, was considering taking Advanced Care next year. Hagrid’s advanced students loved nothing more than accompanying him and Grawp to visit Aragog in the forest, often accompanied by Firenze and Bane, now fierce friends. The Centaurs were far friendlier with wizards and witches these days. Aragog’s children had started to bond with some of the student visitors, who would mingle with the other Acromantulas during their visits and bring them treats from the castle. With the wealth of support from his students and the rest of the staff, Hagrid was coping with Aragog’s sickness remarkably well.

            To Harry and Ginny’s surprise, Dumbledore offered to have Ginny attend his private lessons with Harry. Dumbledore told them that, as they had made it this far together, he figured it was only fair to start cluing Ginny into the full picture, as it was very likely she would be by Harry’s side at the conclusion of all this as well.

            So, they delved into the first memory, and Ginny was just as fascinated as Harry to learn about Voldemort’s mother, uncle, and grandfather. However, when the memory ended, and Dumbledore told them they could go, Ginny didn’t move. Dumbledore’s eyes found hers, and he raised his eyebrows.

            “Forgive me, Headmaster, but isn’t this also an opportunity to teach Harry advanced magic he is not likely to learn in school?”

            “I cannot hope to impart all my knowledge upon either of you in the short time we have for these classes,” Dumbledore said calmly.

            “You don’t need to,” Ginny replied. “And I’m not doubting these memories will be useful, but doesn’t Harry need whatever help he can get to have an edge over Voldemort? We can’t always fight him on broom-back.”

            Dumbledore considered her for a while and Ginny considered him as well, unflustered.

            “I think… it was one of my wiser decisions to allow you to come to these lessons, Ms. Weasley,” Dumbledore told her. “I’ll have something prepared the next time we all meet.”

            As they returned to the common room, Harry looked at Ginny with a funny expression.

            “You know,” he said, “I hope you feel like I come up to bat for you at least a fraction as often as you come up to bat for me.”

            “Harry, these last three years have been the best of my life,” Ginny told him, kissing him lightly on the cheek and wrapping her arm around his waist. “I hope you don’t feel like you have to argue with other people to show you care. You come up to bat in your own way, and you do it every day.”

            With his sixth year had come the role of Quidditch Captain on top of Harry’s Prefect duties, and Ginny felt a swell of pride as she watched the new team assemble. McLaggen had saved all his goals, same as Ron, in their initial round. So, Harry had them each come back up and try and save ten times as many shots. In the end, Ron had outclassed McLaggen by a mile.

            Partially for the continued practice in the fight against Voldemort, partially because Harry enjoyed teaching so much, and partially for the excuse to regularly do something with their friends, the DA kept meeting throughout the school year. A week after Snape’s revelation regarding his potions book, Harry received a letter from their new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

            Dear Mr. Potter,

            I am extending to you this invitation to come to my office and discuss your plans for Dumbledore’s Army this term. I understand my predecessor, your godfather, made himself available to drop-in on sessions and as a resource for any questions you had. Naturally, you may prefer to continue utilizing Professor Black in this way. I understand you are able to communicate frequently, and he is, of course, always welcome to visit the school. However, to whatever extent is comfortable to you, I am offering my services as an additional resource. If you should choose to come by my office, we may discuss to what extent you would like my support or to what extent you would like to be left to your own devices.

                                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                                    Prof. Snape

            So, Harry went by Snape’s office the next day and the two had a long conversation. Harry was far more comfortable going to Sirius for help, but he wanted to be conscientious of his godfather’s time and other obligations to the Order. Additionally, supplementing their practice with feedback from two accomplished wizards could only benefit the members of the DA in their fight against Voldemort.

            Thus, they decided that Sirius would visit the campus to attend a DA meeting every other month, and Snape would drop-in on the months between. Snape reviewed Harry’s plan for the term, suggested what areas he was thought needed additional attention, and left his office door open to Harry for any feedback or counsel.

            “I actually still don’t think he likes me,” Harry told Ginny. “And I don’t think I like him. But I think we respect each other now.”

            Despite what he said, however, Harry essentially became Snape’s teaching assistant over the course of the semester, and, while he was still in touch with Sirius regularly and talking to him about the DA, he began to visit Snape’s office more often. Snape started to teach Harry techniques and spells well before they were brought up in the classroom so that Harry would be better prepared to help his peers master new material at DA meetings. Snape often asked Harry to help him demonstrate a new counter-spell or methodology. Snape would also clarify any questions Harry had about the annotations he’d made in his potions textbook. And for all the pain and frustration Snape had caused in the past, Harry seemed to rather enjoy collaborating with his old nemesis.

            Strangest of all, when Sirius would visit Hogwarts, he would make a point of stopping by Snape’s office to discuss the class, the DA, the Order, and possibly whatever was on their minds. On one particular day, none of the students could explain why their Professor seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood, as if he was looking forward to something. Then Sirius dropped in on a DA session that evening and told Harry and Ginny he was going down to the Three Broomsticks with McGonagall, Sprout, Burbage, and Snape after the DA wrapped up.

            While they were making good headway with Slughorn, Ginny privately thought that, if Slughorn had taken to Harry as Snape had, they would have got what they wanted out of him long ago.

            The next Hogsmeade weekend, they decided to go all together, seeing as Hermione no longer had Fred to keep her company. They invited Malfoy to join them. At first, Malfoy had muttered something about other plans, but thanked them for the invite. However, just before they were set to leave, he came running up to them and joined them as they walked to the Three Broomsticks. While there, they ran into Katie Bell, the last remaining member of Harry’s original Quidditch team, and her friend. The pair joined them for drinks and walked back to the castle with them.

            The next time they met Dumbledore, he taught them about Fiendfyre and just how complicated it was to control these flames. He warned them the concentration required was about a hundred times greater than that needed to cast a patronus. Otherwise, the fire could begin to replicate indefinitely, destroying everything in its path. Before they could even get started, there was much theory to study, but Dumbledore told them he suspected it’d be extremely useful to them in the future. Then he showed them new memories about Voldemort.

            Harry and Ginny continued to earn Slughorn’s good graces, attending every single one of his parties, even if it meant rescheduling DA and Quidditch practices. Harry also managed to get top marks in every potions class with Snape’s help and even won himself a vial of Felix Felicis. By the time Slughorn’s Christmas party rolled around, he had added Hermione, Luna, and Cho to the Slug Club, making each meeting all the more bearable as Neville and Ron were now willing to attend, too.

            Much to her delight, Fred dropped by to surprise Hermione for the Christmas party.

            Luna, meanwhile, had never lost her absolute excitement at being included, and downright melted Ron’s heart when she told him how thrilled she was that they were going together. Consequently, he wanted to pull out all the stops and spent a very intense hour-long consulting session with Ginny and Hermione to figure out a corsage that would be meaningful to Luna. Luna was practically glowing with excitement when he gave it to her. Telling Ron all about the secret uses, she suspected all the flowers had and practically bouncing with excitement as they walked to Slughorn’s office, each entirely forgetting they were supposed to go as a group.

            Harry, true to his word during the Yule Ball, had gone to Parvati Patil for fashion advice. Instead of dress robes, Harry arrived in a midnight black blazer, with golden stitching tracing the edges of the lapels and cuffs. Beneath the blazer was a deep crimson vest, with Golden Snitch buttons. He wore a black silk shirt with a neckline that dipped low enough to reveal a silver Hungarian Horntail pendant resting against his chest. His sleeves were rolled up as Parvati’s had been, and a lightning bolt earring hung on his right ear.

            “It’s too much, right?” he asked the moment he came up to Ginny, who was gawking at him. She shook her head.

            “Did you pierce your ear for this?”

            “Parvati did, yeah. She wanted to do my nose too, but I thought that would be too many accessories.”

            Ginny grinned. “Would it have a little dementor on it?”

            “No! That would be ridiculous!” Harry laughed. “It was going to be a basilisk. The dementor was going to be tattooed on the side of my neck, and I’d get a three-headed dog ankle bracelet.”

            “Right, of course,” Ginny said. “Whose idea was the lightning bolt?”

            “Parvati’s. She said it’s high time I start leaning into it.”

            “Smart girl.”

            “Not gonna stop me from clarifying to everybody we talk to that it wasn’t my idea,” Harry admitted.

            Ginny gazed up at him, remembering how desperately infatuated she had been when she was that little girl, too young to go to Hogwarts and meet The Famous Harry Potter. How hopeless she had felt at the prospect of him ever taking notice of her. She hadn’t a clue what love was back then. She could not have suspected that, when Harry finally did take notice of her and she finally took notice of who he was beyond the legends and stories, what replaced infatuation was hundreds of times stronger.

            How tenuous it had felt to love him back then. She had felt so scared of losing him at first, like he could slip away in a heartbeat. She did not know him then, like now. Now, Ginny knew that Harry meant every word when he told her how much he loved her, and she trusted him when he said it.

            Malfoy, it transpired, had been asked to go to Slughorn’s party by Katie Bell. The two had hit it off in the Three Broomsticks and had kept talking afterwards. He had initially refused, graciously, when Harry offered to bring him as his plus one, since Ginny already had an invite, telling them to enjoy their night together and not to worry about him.

            Now, however, he looked happier than they had ever seen him before to be included with all of them there and to be arm-in-arm with someone like Katie. Ginny beamed at the pair when they came over to talk and, when Malfoy caught her eye, winked and mouthed, “Nice one.”

            Hermione, meanwhile, was in a world all of her own. She had seemed relatively fine this last semester, writing to Fred frequently, engaging with the others, and often joking with Malfoy about being the only two people in the group without dates. But at being reunited with Fred, she was absolutely star-struck. Nothing in the world could distract her from asking him for every detail about how the joke shop was going and walking him through her semester so far. Not even the glowering, dateless Cormac McLaggen could distract her. He had asked her to be his plus one to the party, and had been soundly rejected.

            When Romilda Vane tried to offer Harry a disguised love potion for the umpteenth time, Ginny finally grew fed up. Seizing Romilda around the wrist, Ginny dragged the other girl to McLaggen and halted before him.

            “You’re desperate for love. He’s desperate for love,” she said, pointing to them in turn. “You go about it in an unbelievably toxic, and illegal, way, he goes about it in an unbelievably toxic way. Maybe you two will cancel each other out. First, you’ll both need to figure out that ‘no’ means ‘no.’ Creepy gits. Discuss.”

            Not caring in the slightest whether it worked or not, Ginny strode back to Harry, hugged him around the waist, and asked if he thought they could excuse themselves yet. Seeing that Slughorn was practically on the verge of passing out, Harry thought it was safe to leave unnoticed.

            Funnily enough, it seemed that Cormac and Romilda were actually very much enjoying each other’s company. Even if the snatch of conversation Ginny heard as they passed was the pair of them talking smack about her and Harry.

            Unperturbed, she and Harry made their way to the Room of Requirement and spent the rest of the night there.

            Harry, Luna, Hermione, Angelina, and Alicia visited the Burrow almost daily during the Christmas holidays. Sometimes, Ginny would be missing a sibling or two who had gone to see their girlfriend, or else she’d come over to Grimmauld Place.

            One day, when they had all gathered at the Burrow, and Sirius was in the kitchen with her parents, Ginny mentioned to the others their lessons with Dumbledore and her assumption that they would not always be able to fight Voldemort on broom-back.

            “Well, you should,” Angelina said, simply. “One of the only things you two are better at than Defense Against the Dark Arts is flying. When Harry put both of those together, Voldemort couldn’t touch him. That’s not normal. Fifth-year students are not supposed to be able to go toe-to-toe with fully-grown wizards like that, much less Voldemort. You two should always do everything you can to have a broom handy. Anything to increase your odds against him.”

            So, at Christmas, Hermione and Hagrid came together to present Ginny and Harry with two moleskin pouches they could wear around their necks, enchanted so that only the owner could get inside, and placed under Undetectable Extension Charms so that they could have access to their brooms at all times.

            After Christmas, Ginny and Harry finally got to see Slughorn’s memory and begin discussing their research on Fiendfyre with Dumbledore.

            Once he felt sure they understood the concept, Dumbledore told them they would meet more regularly to practice lighter spells that followed the same basic principles, before eventually working their way up to producing Fiendfyre itself in small bursts. Dumbledore told them they’d take things further than that, but that, in actuality, short bursts should be all they’d need in the future. He also told them that, while he wouldn’t make a point of checking their progress every meeting, he expected them to put all their efforts into retrieving Slughorn’s true memory.

            Ginny, Harry, and their friends spent the next few days brainstorming exactly how to retrieve the memory from Slughorn. Eventually, it was agreed that they needed to utilize his fondness for Lily. Hermione surmised that Slughorn likely felt responsible for some part of Voldemort’s rise to power, and thus Lily’s death.

            It felt weird, talking about how much Ginny reminded people of Harry’s dead mother. Ever since Dumbledore had told her this, Ginny had felt uncomfortable every time someone brought up Lily Potter.

            After much brainstorming, it was eventually she would bring Slughorn an enchanted angelfish, as a gift. Having listened to Slughorn go on at every single one of his meetings, they’d learned Lily once bought him an enchanted goldfish.

            Once they’d ordered the creature, Harry and Ginny made their way to Professor Slughorn’s office that same evening. Slughorn’s cheeks were rather ruddy when he answered the door, but he beamed at them and ushered them inside, gushing over his present once Ginny presented it to him.

            “You know, Ms. Weasley, you really are strikingly similar to Lily Evans in so many ways,” their professor said, causing Ginny’s insides to squirm.

            “I never knew my mother was interested in potions, until I met you,” Harry said, as planned. “I’ve always wanted to know what she was like.”

            “Oh, she was very vivacious, very vivacious,” Slughorn said absent-mindedly as he fished around for a suitable container for his new pet. “Much like Ms. Weasley, potions was just one of the classes she excelled at. And that tongue of hers! She could be very cheeky, too. But she was brave—yes, very brave.”

            “Did you see her before Voldemort came for them?” Ginny asked, ignoring Slughorn’s indignant snort at the mention of the name. She had seen Harry’s smile falter when the Potions Professor spoke, but everything was going the way they thought it would.

            “Well…no,” Slughorn told her. “I can’t say that I did. Hadn’t heard from her for quite some time. And, of course, she and James went underground near the end…”

            “When was the last time you saw her?” Harry asked.

            “Why, it must have been about two years before…before it happened,” Slughorn sipped at his mead, distracted. He’d neglected to offer either of them anything to drink. “Ran into her in Diagon Alley. She was just out of school. I was simply delighted to see her. And she was so excited. She was with James, she loved her job, and—she was so exhilarated about her future.” Then Slughorn saw the look on Harry’s face. “But this must be terribly hard for you to hear, my boy…”

            Harry pretended not to be able to speak.

            “It’s just hard,” Ginny said, coming to his rescue. “Harry’s only memory of her—he was so young when it happened, but when he comes near dementors…”

            “No,” Slughorn breathed, aghast, yet enthralled at the same time. “You remember the night it happened?”

            Harry nodded slowly.

            “My parents say everyone remembers where they were that night—when they found out.” Ginny said.

            “Well, of course they do,” Slughorn muttered, not taking his eyes off of Harry, fascinated. He hardly knew what she was saying. “What that man did to the wizarding community—what Lily and James meant to so many people—the stories—the rumors—the whispers…”

            Ginny could tell Slughorn was desperately trying to push Harry towards even a hint at the truth behind all the gossip. The time had come for their biggest risk.

            “And these days, even more so…” Ginny set him up.

            Harry took a deep breath.

            “Some of them get it right too,” he sighed. “The people who whisper about me—about that night.”

            Slughorn was listening so intently he did not notice his mead was spilling onto the carpet.

            “I know what Voldemort wanted from the Department of Mysteries last year,” Harry confessed.

            “It was all over the papers…” Slughorn rasped, almost inaudibly.

            “I’ve heard the prophecy.”

            “Harry…” Ginny warned. Slughorn could barely contain his annoyance when he glanced at her. “You’re only supposed to tell people you can trust.”

            “Ms. Weasley, you surprise me,” Slughorn blustered before Harry could say anything. “To think that I—I’d even consider—after all the time you’ve known me. I assure you both, whatever you say to me will be held in the strictest of confidences.”

            Harry’s eyes met Slughorn’s, which stared back at him, imploring him to go on. Then he looked to Ginny. “I know, Ginny. It’s okay.”

            Harry’s demeanor changed completely as he locked onto Slughorn. “No one can kill Voldemort, except for me. No one can kill me, except for Voldemort. Neither can live while the other survives.”

            Slughorn’s mead bottle slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor. His other hand was pressed over his heart as he leaned back, away from Harry, mouthing incoherently. His eyes were wide as saucers.

            They had him.

            “In all the time I’ve known Harry, he’s only ever wanted to protect the people he loves,” Ginny said to Slughorn, his eyes darted to hers, and she saw he knew exactly where they were going. “He helped form D.R.A.G.O.N., his friends are Muggleborns, Elves, and blood traitors. No one has fought so hard to keep the wizarding world free except for Dumbledore.”

            “Ms. Weasley…” Slughorn stammered, but they’d come too far for him to escape.

            “But it’s also personal,” She continued. “Even without the prophecy, without the threat to the world and the people he loves, Voldemort killed Harry’s mother, Lily Evans. It’s not vengeance he wants. But there must be justice. He deprived her the chance to raise her son.”

            And now, it was Harry’s turn. He stood up, and Slughorn seemed to wither and shrink before him.

            “My mother died to protect me from Voldemort,” Harry said. “He will never stop until he kills me. So, I have to stop him. Otherwise, my mother died in vain.”

            “Would you have saved her, if you could, Professor?” Ginny asked.

            “Of course I—of course I would,” their teacher stuttered. “One of the bravest…one of the brightest…”

            “Then won’t you do whatever it takes to keep her son alive?”

            Slughorn was gazing from one to the other, looking horrified.

            “I need the memory in order to defeat him,” Harry said. “You know which one.”

            There were tears sprinkling down Slughorn’s cheeks, but his voice was stronger when he spoke, “She gave me a gift, too. I told you both.”

            Harry nodded, his eyes never leaving Slughorn’s.

            “I hadn’t seen her—it had been so long,” the Professor said in a hushed tone. “But the morning…the morning after…after she died. I knew at once she was gone. I came downstairs. I was going to feed my goldfish. And he was gone. Disappeared from this world…overnight.”

            Slughorn’s watery gaze turned to Ginny.

            “It was never your hair,” he told her. “It was never your hair or the way you behave that reminded so many of us of Lily. I don’t think I’d ever met anyone as in love as Lily and James…until I saw how much you love her son.”

            The knot of anxiety Ginny had felt every time someone mentioned Lily Potter began to unravel.

            A vial flew across the room into Slughorn’s hand. With trembling fingers, he raised his wand to his temple, and a silvery thread emerged.

            “I’m so ashamed,” their professor breathed. “I think I did a tremendous amount of damage that day.”

            Then the memory was in the vial, stoppered, held out towards Harry.

            “Please…” Slughorn pleaded. “Please. Do not think too poorly of me after you see it.”

            Once Harry had the vial safely tucked beneath his cloak, it was time for the last step.

            “He has Veritaserum,” Harry told Slughorn, “legilimency, torture. Voldemort cannot know what the prophecy says. And he will find a way to get it out of you.”

            Slughorn nodded, understanding. Another vial flew across the room.

            They’d been walking along in silence for a while. Professor Slughorn had been downright jovial when he bid them farewell.

            “You know,” Harry said, finally. “I really hated it when Dumbledore compared you to my mother. It was so uncomfortable. But now…”

            He stopped and took Ginny’s hands, the same way he had in the secret passage, all those years ago.

            “I hope my father loved her, even half as much as I love you.”

            Ginny’s eyes were a bit red when they arrived at Dumbledore’s office to share the memory with him. The Headmaster was shocked that it had only taken them two days to retrieve the memory.

            That night, they learned about Horcruxes and the daunting challenge before them, but Ginny felt a strange calm throughout it all. She’d have felt pretty confident even if it was just Harry and herself hunting Horcruxes, but she knew Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville, Fred, George, and Cho would all insist on coming too. Between the lot of them, Voldemort’s soul stood no chance.

Chapter Text

            It wasn’t long after that night that Voldemort launched his attack on Azkaban and finally freed his most devoted followers, including the Malfoys.

            That same day, Draco came to Harry with a confession and told him about his mission to kill Dumbledore and the threat that Voldemort would kill his entire family if he failed.

            Malfoy let Harry tell Ginny straight away and the pair of them sat on either side of Malfoy, their hands on his shoulders, while Katie held his face in her hands, and he wept.

            Eventually, Malfoy mustered up the courage to talk to the rest of the group, then to Dumbledore himself. Once he had finished, Dumbledore smiled ruefully.

            “Well, even the most well laid plans can fall apart,” he mused. “I had not intended to let so many people in on my little scheme. But it seems you have forced my hand…” His eyes almost darted towards Ginny. “Again.”

            Malfoy was one of them now. They’d even told him about the Horcruxes long ago. All of their closest friends had accompanied him to see Dumbledore as a show of support.

            Dumbledore then summoned Professor Snape, along with Professor McGonagall.

            “To begin,” he said to the packed office. “regardless of what Mr. Malfoy does or does not do, my days are numbered.” He flexed his blackened hand. “I’m afraid I have tampered with a curse—quite a powerful curse at that. To fully rid myself of its effects is beyond even my powers.” He nodded his head towards the teacher who had once tormented Harry. “Professor Snape was only just able to confine the enchantment to my arm… for the time being.”

            There was a sniff to Ginny’s right. She looked and saw Professor McGonagall had tears in her eyes, whether from anger or despair Ginny could not tell.

            “You have something to say, Minerva?” Dumbledore asked, not unkindly.

            “I have much to say to you, Albus,” McGonagall spoke stiffly, “as it was my impression the three of us were held in each other’s confidences. But this is not about me.” Dumbledore made to say something more to her, but McGonagall cut him off. “I would advise you to turn back to the task at hand.”

            For a moment, Dumbledore was still. Then he nodded.

            “I thought it best that as few people know of the plan as possible,” Dumbledore went on. “If the truth was tortured or manipulated out of any one of you, I am afraid Harry’s job would become far more difficult, even with the aid of all of you.”

            Now, Dumbledore’s gaze did fall upon Ginny. “As I have had to admit more and more frequently these last few years, I see now how wrong I was. Each of you,” his eyes now met those of McGonagall, “have more than proved yourselves time and time again. I owe all of you my trust.

            “You are all accomplished at occlumency, thanks to Professor Snape. There are precautions that can be taken against Veritaserum. And I know, deep down, none of you would, in a thousand years, cave to whatever horrors Voldemort inflicts upon you.”

            “Still,” he continued, “I ask that you allow me to keep some parts of the ultimate plan a secret, and to trust that I am acting in the best interest of the wizarding world, as I am about to trust all of you.”

            A single melodious note rang out from Fawkes the Phoenix upon his perch.

            “I have always known it has fallen to you to kill me, Draco,” Dumbledore told their friend. “I had every intention of letting you succeed in bringing about my demise, but I would never let the toll of murder fall upon your soul—not on my account. The plan was to let you come as close as possible. Then, when you inevitably wavered, even for a moment, Snape would step in and finish the job.”

            Snape’s face had turned deathly pale as he sat, rigidly, staring at Dumbledore.

            “Thus, Voldemort’s trust in Snape would be solidified forever,” Dumbledore said. “Thus, you would still hold much of the credit for bringing about my killing, Draco. The Dark Lord might punish you for not dealing the final blow, but you would eventually find yourself and your family back in his good graces for bringing the plan as far along as you did. Voldemort will not soon forget that it was your father, Draco, who took care of him when he was at his weakest and Crouch Junior was indisposed at Hogwarts. The hope was this would all be enough, at least to spare your lives.”

            Dumbledore’s eyes met Harry’s now, and understanding passed between them.

            “But you never anticipated us befriending Malfoy,” Harry said. “You never thought he’d confess and ask for help.”

            “I must admit,” Dumbledore said, inclining his head towards Malfoy apologetically, “I placed less trust in you than you deserved, Mr. Malfoy. Less trust than your friends have placed in you, whom I think knew you had some task from Voldemort long ago, but did not seek to pry it out of you.”

            Malfoy, who had been staring at his hands, clenched together, throughout this exchange, finally looked up and met Harry’s eyes. Harry nodded.

            “I should have known something like this would come about,” Dumbledore confessed. “When you simply sprinted out of Borgin and Burkes—when you chose to not to enact your plan to imperius another student over a Hogsmeade weekend—when you stole back the poisoned mead you had given Professor Slughorn and replaced it with an untainted bottle—I’m sorry to say, I thought your faltering was due to… other reasons.”

            “Well, your plan was doomed from the start,” Ron said. Ginny’s thoughts went back to how proudly he’d told her about fighting Malfoy in his first year. “Draco’s come too far. He was never going to go through with it.”

            Dumbledore sighed and nodded in agreement. A dour silence followed. Every eye was on Dumbledore and Malfoy.

            Then the Headmaster sprang to his feet and began to pace about the office.

            “We will act swiftly,” Dumbledore said. “We will hide Mr. Malfoy and the entirety of his family, more completely than Voldemort ever suspected was possible, before we applied the same treatment to the Dursleys. You will have to pause your schooling and forego your friendships for a while, until Voldemort’s sights turn elsewhere again. He will seek vengeance for quite some time.

            “I suspect he will still attempt to infiltrate the school. When, or if, he does, then Professor Snape will be able to solidify his role within Voldemort’s ranks. It is essential that none of you pull your punches with Severus, should you meet him on the battlefield. He is a master of the dark arts. He can take care of himself. And Voldemort must not suspect his true allegiances, even for a moment.”

            They all nodded grimly, with one caveat.

            “Professor Dumbledore,” Katie Bell spoke up. “I’m going with Draco, wherever his family may go.”

            McGonagall’s nostrils flared. “That is out of the question, Ms. Bell. You’ve only been dating Mr. Malfoy for a few months, for heaven’s sake!”

            But Katie’s eyes remained fixed on Dumbledore as he regarded her. “You are of age,” he told her. “you may do as you wish. But you will not be able to leave hiding until it is safe for the Malfoys to do so.”

            “I understand,” Katie said.

            So it was, that from within the headquarters of Voldemort’s operations itself, Malfoy Manor, the Draco’s parents suddenly disappeared entirely, with no trace. Malfoy bade his friends a tearful farewell, then departed with Katie and Dobby the Elf, who was responsible for whisking Draco’s parents to safety, to places unknown.

            Then, through a simple spell, for each one of them, Dumbledore replaced one of their teeth with a hollow replica, containing an antidote for Veritaserum.

            Snape, meanwhile, took the lead on the assassination of Albus Dumbledore. Together, he, McGonagall, and the Headmaster would ensure that the Death Eaters would not come across any students on their way to the Astronomy Tower, where Dumbledore had purposefully made a habit of returning to from missions abroad. However, it was agreed upon that it would raise too much suspicion if the Death Eaters went utterly unopposed. Members of the Order of the Phoenix would have to risk their lives and confront the Death Eaters, with the hopes that Snape could still make it through the fray and get to Dumbledore first.

            Now privy to Dumbledore’s plan, Harry was able to supply his own aid to the mission, proposing that each member of the Order, as well as Dumbledore and Snape, partake in Harry’s vile of Felix Felicis, to ensure there were no casualties, save for one, at the end of the night’s events.

            Two parts of the plan were separately reserved for just Harry’s and Ginny’s ears.

            While Snape drew Harry aside to explain why Harry could trust Snape when it came down to the final hour, Dumbledore took Ginny aside.

            “I have begun to suspect for some time that I will be forced to place all my trust in you, Ms. Weasley,” Dumbledore told her. “There will come a moment where Harry will insist on going forward alone. I suspect you would never allow for it, insisting on being by his side every step of the way.” Ginny nodded, knowing there was nothing Dumbledore could say to persuade her otherwise.

            “However, Ginny, it is essential to Harry’s survival that you do not,” Dumbledore told her, catching her off guard with the use of her first name. “There are not merely four Horcruxes left to destroy. There is a fifth. A part of Voldemort’s soul went into Harry the night Voldemort tried to murder him. He is the seventh Horcrux.”

            Ginny felt despair filling her entire soul, along with a dreadful fury towards Dumbledore. He had encouraged Harry, given him hope all these years, knowing Harry must be slaughtered the whole time. Without realizing what she was doing, Ginny was on her feet, and a bat-boogey hex was soaring straight at Dumbledore, who blocked it casually. Jinx after Jinx rained down from Ginny’s wand, but Dumbledore disbursed each of them with ease.

            “You’re a goddamn coward!” Ginny spat at Dumbledore when she finally gave up trying to jinx him, and she made for the door.

            It was locked.

            “But when Voldemort used Harry’s blood to raise himself from the dead,” Dumbledore continued as if nothing had happened, “he imbued within himself the very spell Lily Potter invoked to keep Harry alive. In a sense, Voldemort is Harry’s secret Horcrux, and I believe there is a way for Harry to survive the killing curse—one—last–time.

            “If he sacrifices himself, without knowing he could come back, without witness, without reward, but knowing when the time is right that he is the final Horcrux, I believe he will have a chance at coming back. He will have a chance at protecting the entire wizarding race with the same spell his mother used to protect him. Voldemort will be powerless to hurt another soul.”

            Ginny held Dumbledore’s gaze, though she knew she was trembling and her eyes were streaming with tears.

            “I hope you will understand why I feel it is best both not to tell Harry he must die, and, even more essential, that it may not be permanent yet again. If he should know he may live, the magic will not work, and he will have no hope of survival. If he should think he is doomed, I believe he will lose some of his bite. Harry has proven himself stronger than most grown wizards, but his greatest strength could also be his demise. He would sacrifice himself for you in a heartbeat. But I do not believe he will be able to stand the prospect of being separated from you inevitably.”

            Here, Dumbledore, too, had tears welling up in his eyes.

            “This is why, Ginny, however much you may wish to accompany Harry when he, at last, learns he is the final Horcrux, you must not go with him. If he fears losing you, I do not believe he will walk to his death with open arms. I don’t think anything in this world could compel him to take you with him to his doom. And should he not go, then he will perish. The only way is to acquiesce when he asks you to stay behind, and finish the job when he is gone. Only then do you hold any hope of seeing him again.”

            Whatever Snape had told Harry must have been almost as momentous, for Harry looked just as stunned as her when they came back together and threw their arms around each other, neither knowing why the other needed their embrace.

            It was strange, to resume life at Hogwarts, knowing that, by the end of the year, Dumbledore would be dead. He had advised that all of the Weasleys, Sirius, and Harry go into hiding the moment they got back from school, given that the Ministry would probably fall shortly thereafter. It would have been different if the Weasleys were the family of one of Harry’s friends, but the entire wizarding world knew about Harry and Ginny. There was nothing her family could do to avoid the Death Eaters’ suspicion once Voldemort seized power.

            They continued lessons with Dumbledore, slowly mastering the art of Fiendfyre and viewing more of Voldemort’s memories. One of the skills Dumbledore had taught them was how to take a simple spell, such as the levitation spell, and amplify it nonverbally to affect multiple objects. This same practice was how Fiendfyre was able to reproduce so rapidly.

            After they viewed the memory of Voldemort requesting the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, something was bothering Ginny. They were walking back and Harry was going on about how impressed he was with all the subtle powerplays between the two men. “And the way he refused to call him ‘Voldemort,’ refused to let the conversation be on his terms—”

            “Don’t you think that was—I dunno—a little malicious?”

            “It was Voldemort, Ginny,” Harry said, dismissively. “Dumbledore was putting him in his place.”

            “But he already had all the power,” Ginny said. “Voldemort was scared of him, even back then. He did a dozen other small things to let Voldemort know he was in control. So, why did he start with that?”

            “It’s what Voldemort was doing with the name,” Harry said. “I bet people were scared to speak it, even back then. He was cultivating this aura of fear around it. It was like a threat.”

            “But it’s not like the name ‘Voldemort’ scares people because of the way it sounds,” Ginny pointed out. “It’s the person they’re scared of. And now that everyone else is scared to say it, Dumbledore has no problem using his name.”

            “Yeah, but you heard him,” Harry said. “He was making Voldemort feel like a child. Reminding him of his roots.”

            “That’s the other thing!” Ginny said. “He lied about that.” And he’s lying to you. “It’s not some habit he can’t help. He had no problem correcting you when you’d forget to call Snape ‘Professor Snape.’ It was patronizing. It was starting the conversation with hostility, when you’d think Dumbledore would at least try to bring Voldemort back to the light, instead of needling him—reminding him of his traumatic past.”

            “Because he knew Voldemort was past saving.”

            “What if he wasn’t? And if he was beyond saving, then why not take him out that night?” Ginny asked. “It’s like someone calling you ‘Dursley’ just to hurt you—just to remind you how scarring your childhood was. What, someone doesn’t like you? They want to throw you off? They want power over you? So they stoop that low? How did he help anything there? We just watched Dumbledore preach about the power of love, but he doesn’t have enough in him to give Voldemort the basic dignity—Dumbledore struck the first blow in that memory. Not Voldemort.”

            “He’d already killed people by that point!” Harry exclaimed, growing impatient. “Ginny, it wouldn’t have changed anything for Dumbledore to show love after everything Voldemort had already done.”

            “Then he should have done it sooner!” Ginny realized she was shouting. “Where was he when that orphaned child was in pain and lashing out at people? How long did he know about Voldemort, before he finally bothered to meet him? Why didn’t he use this most powerful magic—he’s always on about—to lead with compassion—show the boy some other way—let him know someone cared whether he lived or died? But suddenly he pretends that he’s wistful for the child he failed?

            “It’s this thing he does. He talks about respecting Muggles, then he forgets about the Dursleys. He lectures on manners and courtesy, but he can’t take the high road when he speaks to Voldemort. He talks about the power of love, then he tries to stop you from living with your godfather.”

            Harry looked entirely bewildered.

            “Okay…” he said slowly. “Okay…so, where are we going with this? Do we hate Dumbledore now? Do you want to appeal to Voldemort’s humanity?”

            Ginny groaned in frustration and ran her hands through her hair. They’d stopped walking, standing in a deserted hallway with their voices ringing off the suits of armor nearby.

            “No…I’m just—venting,” she told him, “I guess.”

            “Okay,” Harry said, his eyes were searching hers. “I hear you.”

            He made to grab her hands, pausing a few inches away to gage her reaction. When she didn’t pull away, he took them and drew closer to her. “I swear, I hear you.”

            “Harry, I hate this,” she told him, her voice suddenly higher than usual. “I hate that he thrust secrets on both of us that we cannot tell each other. We’ve never kept something from one another like this before.”

            Harry put his forehead against hers. “I hate this too.”

            The thudding in Ginny’s ears, she hadn’t realized was there, began to slow.

            “Okay,” Harry said. “It’s not about who he was doing it too. It’s about how Dumbledore chose to attack Voldemort. And when. Right?”

            Ginny nodded.

            “He’s not as benevolent as he holds himself to be.”

            She nodded again.

            “He insists that love is our greatest weapon, but there’s a darkness to him. And he uses that far more often than he uses love.”

            Ginny nodded again. She could not understand why she felt inches away from tears.

            Harry sighed.

            “Ginny, you reached out a hand to Luna when the rest of the world turned their backs on her. You and Hermione were the only ones watching out for Neville when he was hurting. You got me to extend a hand to Malfoy. I thought he was irredeemably foul. Look how wrong I was.”

            His grip tightened.

            “I see that it hurts you—thinking about how long Snape was in pain, before someone finally showed him compassion. I think it hurts you to see that isolated boy, lashing out at the world, because he made you live that reality, too. He made you lash out. And you were already isolated when you opened that diary. If someone had just reached out to you before it went too far…”

            She could hear the familiar guilt in his voice and shook her head at last. “It’s not that. Or, at least, not entirely. It’s—he was you, Harry. Abandoned by people who could have understood what he was going through, told him what it was, helped him channel it into something better. You never meant to hurt anyone. You came out of it and you were still good and kind. But I can’t stand what could have happened if you’d come out the other side angry—desperate never to feel out of control again. Would Dumbledore turn his back on you too?”

            She didn’t know when or how it had happened, but they were seated on the floor now. Harry’s back was against the wall, hugging Ginny from behind as she leaned against him.

            “Would you have turned your back on me?”

            “Nah,” Ginny told him. “I’d still ogle over you in a very, ‘I can fix him,’ sort of way. Then, hopefully, after the Chamber—you’d still rescue me, right?”

            “Oh, yeah,” Harry assured her. “Angry Harry? Miss an opportunity to stab a giant snake? I’d be there in a flash.”

            “Would you visit me in the Hospital Wing?”

            Harry was silent for a moment.

            “Merlin, I hope so.” Then, “but maybe we’d need more time—before we’d be good for each other.” He kissed the top of her head. “But I’d find you. Eventually.”

            Ginny grinned. She had almost forgotten her anger with Dumbledore when Harry brought his name up again.

            “You know,” he said, “I feel like a lot of people think I idolize Dumbledore. But they’re wrong. He didn’t help me defy Snape. He didn’t get me to stop looking away from what was happening with the Elves. He couldn’t just give me a look and, next thing I know, Malfoy’s one of my closest friends. You were the one who saw me. You’ve been the one who’s believed in me every step of the way.”

            “If you tell me you idolize me…” Ginny warned.

            “No, not that,” Harry said, grinning. “We already established that’s not super healthy. But the person I look to when I’m feeling lost? It’s never been Dumbledore. It’s always been you, Ginny.”

            It suddenly occurred to Ginny they might not have many more of these moments left. They sat there in the hallway for quite a while after that. Ginny tried to savor every second of it.

            Finally, Ginny spoke.

            “You’re who I look to when I’m lost, too,” she told Harry.

            “Because I know that handy Point Me spell?”

            “Exactly.”

            Aragog died, and the entirety of Dumbledore’s Army, along with many members of the Order came to show their support for Hagrid. The advanced students, who had been helping Hagrid manage Grawp and subsequently started helping him care for the aging Aragog, were also in attendance.

            As the students had been accompanying Hagrid to visit Aragog, they had begun to form bonds with the Acromantula’s children. Now, a sea of students and spiders, standing side-by-side, spread out across the Hogwarts grounds as Hagrid played his friend one last song on his hand-carved flute.

            After the funeral, Hagrid could still traverse the forest at his leisure, with the Centaurs keeping the other species in line and the Acromantulas, now loyal to Hagrid’s students, eagerly awaiting their visits.

            They won the Quidditch cup for the third season in a row, and Ginny began studying for her O.W.L.s, alongside Luna. Harry and Ron were able to repay what their girlfriends had done for them the previous year, and were their constant study companions. Hermione would also join them most evenings. Between the combined knowledge of Hermione and Luna, along with Ginny being best in her year at Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, she found she wasn’t overly worried about the exams.

            Finally, at the end of the semester, Dumbledore wrote to Harry and Ginny, telling them he had found the next Horcrux to be destroyed. He told them it was likely Voldemort would strike while they were gone.

            Harry and Ginny made every member of Dumbledore’s Army swear to help keep the students in the dormitories that night and defend their common rooms should any Death Eaters go rogue. Meanwhile, Snape, Dumbledore, and the members of the Order who would be on patrol were all given Felix Felicis. The Members of the Order did not ask for an explanation. Harry and Ginny took small gulps for themselves, too. By the end of it, the vial was empty.

            As they walked down to Hogsmeade, Ginny wondered how she would feel at the end of the night. She knew she didn’t want Dumbledore to die. But, she still felt a twinge of anger every time she was around him. Despite all the good he had done for the wizarding world, for Hogwarts, and for Harry, he’d failed Harry in so many ways. He’d lied to them. Every time she come face-to-face with his hypocrisy, it hurt. However, without Dumbledore, Harry would be in more danger than ever. So, how would she feel when it was all over?

            Ginny did not know how she would weigh her Headmaster’s virtues and vices—once all was said and done.

            Getting into the cave was relatively easy. Once they arrived at the potion and the locket, Dumbledore dipped the cup into the solution resolutely, but Harry had another idea.

            “Can’t we just use Fiendfyre?” he asked. “Evaporate the potion and destroy the Horcrux within?”

            Dumbledore gave a resigned smile. “If only it were that simple. We must confirm that what lies within is actually a Horcrux and not some other dark artifact Voldemort treasures.”

            So the pair of them were forced to watch as Dumbledore consumed the potion. Then they were forced to pour more of it down his throat. When he collapsed, however, Ginny couldn’t take it anymore.

            “Give it to me,” she told Harry. “What if he can’t make it back when the potion runs out? If he can drink most of it, I can handle a few cups.”

            Harry did not move. “I can’t let you do that. I’ll have some.”

            They argued back and forth for a while, neither wanting to watch the other suffer while they did not, but eventually, they agreed that one of the three of them needed to be alert, and Harry was better at defensive magic. He didn’t want to watch Ginny suffer, but more so, he did not want to be powerless to defend her.

            So, reluctantly, he handed the cup to Ginny, and she took her first fill of the potion. She could see Harry, the cave, the basin, the potion, the lake, but even still, her mind launched back to the memories she’d suppressed long ago. The memories of being trapped within her own mind, helplessly watching as Riddle made her do his bidding. Ginny shuddered, wondering what Dumbledore had seen when he drank, but she dipped the cup back in determinedly and had another cup.

            She was in the Chamber again and there was Tom Riddle, leering at her.

            She took another cup. Harry had never come to visit her in the hospital wing. She lay there, forgotten and alone. And the world went on without her. She saw Neville and Luna going through their years at Hogwarts alone; saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione all but ignoring her; felt her voice catch in her throat every time he came near her; watched as he fell in love with Cho Chang and ogled after Fleur Delacour; while she tried to content herself with one jock after another. She saw Ron and Hermione, fighting constantly; Neville, having no one to speak to when Bellatrix escaped; Cho, crying as she kissed Harry beneath the mistletoe. She saw Sirius falling through a veil and Harry wailing in agony; Luna getting bullied and feeling so lonely in her sixth year, separated from her friends. She saw Percy leaving her family. She saw Malfoy crying as he pointed his wand at Dumbledore. She saw Harry leaving her to hunt Horcruxes; Hedwig, dead in her cage; Peter Pettigrew choking to death; Dobby, bleeding out in Harry’s arms; Fred lying dead on the ground, his eyes unseeing; Dolohov killing Remus; Tonks sobbing over his body while Bellatrix aimed a killing curse at her back; Rookwood killing Colin Creevy; Fenrir Greyback biting into Lavender’s neck; Nagini killing Severus. She saw Draco crying at Dobby’s grave. She saw every mirror in George’s home shattered; Percy at Fred’s grave telling him jokes; none of her siblings ever able to produce a Patronus again. She saw Harry laying a signed photograph at Colin’s grave every year. She saw a boy resembling Tonks and Lupin, on his knees in front of the Mirror of Erised, while they smiled sadly down at him.

            She realized she was bent double over the basin, with Harry calling her name, tears spilling from her eyes. She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. She looked in the basin, saw they were a cup or two away from the bottom, and took another sip.

            She was captured and tortured by the Dark Lord as he made her watch his empire rise. Harry lay dead and mangled at Voldemort’s feet. Hermione was hunted down by Fenrir Greyback. Ron and the rest of her family burned alive within the Burrow. Sirius, Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, Mundungus, were all killed. Dumbledore lay splattered upon the ground. McGonagall was buried alive as Hogwarts collapsed in on itself. Snape was being devoured by Inferi. Luna’s father was forced to watch as Luna was tortured to death in front of him. Neville was shown less mercy, tortured into madness just like his parents. Voldemort stood upon a mountain of bodies made up of all the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore’s Army.

            She was screaming. Harry was holding her face in his hands, while Dumbledore knelt beside her, speaking soothingly. They were in the cave. Harry had the locket. Dumbledore was back. And she felt drained and sick from the potion. She stopped screaming, gasping for breath, and wheezing, “I’m okay… I’m okay.”

            Harry gave a cry of relief and hugged her close. She pressed her face into the crook of his neck, breathing him in, making sure they were still alive.

            “You are a very brave young witch, Ginny Weasley,” Dumbledore told her. He, too, was panting. She felt completely parched, but Dumbledore was able to conjure up a pair of chalices for himself and her and fill them with water for them both to drink, each trembling slightly. She was still getting flashes of everything she’d seen, and realized Dumbledore must be too.

            The moment they began to drink, the Inferi came snarling out of the water, but Harry immediately surrounded the three of them with Fiendfyre and kept the creatures at bay. Once he had finished drinking, Dumbledore insisted Harry put out his spell and let Dumbledore conjure the fire instead. He looked curiously at the Inferi, as they made their way back to the boat, remarking that Voldemort had probably intended for them to go to the lake for a drink, but that any workaround would also trigger an attack.

            With the grim realization of what awaited them back across the castle, they began their journey across the water. As they glided across the lake, Harry stared into its depths as he held Ginny close. He turned to Dumbledore suddenly.

            “Where did you learn to speak Mermish?”

            Dumbledore smiled.

            “I spent much of my youth in Godric’s Hollow, where you were born,” he told them. Harry’s eyes went wide. “I was out late one night with—someone I loved tremendously. We were walking by the river that runs through that town, enjoying the moonlight, when we came across a mermaid who’d been caught up in debris. We helped her get loose, and she, in gratitude, would come back to visit us frequently after that. The three of us—we became good friends.”

            Dumbledore sighed. “I’m sorry I never told you we shared that history from our childhoods, Harry. Godric’s Hollow—it’s the one place I’ve longed to return to all my life. My home. And it’s the one place I cannot bear to go in an eternity.”

            When they reached the shore, Harry hesitated.

            “There’s so much I never asked you,” he said to Dumbledore. “We only ever talked about me.”

            He lied to you.

            “I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Dumbledore told him. “All you really need to know is that I have had a full and prosperous life. I am ready to move on. And while my plans for the future may confuse and frustrate you at times, and you may not like to learn about the more shameful parts of my past, I have only ever had your best interest at heart, Harry. And I know you can triumph over Voldemort.”

            They began to walk out of the cave. Harry turned to Dumbledore once more. “Will you tell me, at least, what you saw in the Mirror of Erised?”

            “I did not lie. My vision included socks,” Dumbledore told him. “My sister loved nothing more than receiving an eccentric pair of socks for her birthday. I saw the same thing I saw tonight when I drank that potion.”

            They said no more as they journeyed across the waters back to the rock outcropping where they could disapparate. As she struggled against the current, her body feeling bruised and malnourished, Ginny thought about what Harry had told her of the Mirror of Erised. She wondered what could have happened to Dumbledore that to see his siter was his greatest desire and his worst memory.

            Ginny couldn’t help it when they got to the rock outcropping. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Dumbledore, hugging him tightly. She could feel the weight bearing down on Harry when she grabbed his hand, ready to disapparate.

            “Goodbye, Dumbledore,” Harry said, hoarsely.

Chapter Text

            Finally, they apparated back to Hogsmeade.

            Sure enough, there was the Dark Mark above the Astronomy Tower, waiting for them. Harry summoned the broom they had left waiting for them with the barkeep of the Hog’s Head. Dumbledore hesitated for a moment, before he strode into the bar and exchanged words with the innkeeper, who had come to the door to watch them go. While Harry and Ginny extracted their own brooms from their pouches, Ginny saw Albus go to shake the man’s hand, but instead, the barkeep pulled him in for a hug, shaking slightly.

            When she saw the innkeeper crying, Ginny realized how alike his eyes looked to Dumbledore’s.

            Madame Rosmerta was, of course, watching them from the Three Broomsticks. When Severus imperius’d her, he had told her not to bother with a whole show in front of Dumbledore, but to merely report when he was on his way.

            They flew off into the night sky, Harry and Ginny beneath the invisibility cloak on the same broom, Dumbledore gliding ahead of them, lowering the castle’s protections briefly for them to pass through. Dumbledore had told them they could just return to their common room—pretend they had never left. But Harry and Ginny insisted they would be there for him till the very end.

            They alighted onto the Astronomy Tower. Harry and Ginny backed into the wall with their brooms safely hidden inside the cloak with them. Harry muttered a short enchantment, and a warm summer breeze issued from where they stood towards Dumbledore, bringing with it the scent and sound of a river running through a town, letting him know they were with him. Dumbledore, and Ginny for that matter, had been shivering ever since they drank the potion, but his body finally stilled at Harry’s enchantment, and he stood slightly taller, ready to face his fate with a contented smile.

            They watched as Snape burst through the door with a couple of Death Eaters beside him, the Carrows, and Igor Karkaroff.

            It was all very well done. The five of them dueled, and Dumbledore was sure to stun one Carrow and paralyze the other. He timed it the spell so that the sister was still propped up against the wall when she became stiff as a board. She could watch as Snape shot the killing curse just as Dumbledore was finishing the full body-bind. Dumbledore could not protect himself. Less than a second later, Karkaroff’s killing curse struck him fully in the face.

            With a feigned look of surprise, Dumbledore crumpled forward, dead.

            The body-bind spell lifted on the one Carrow, Snape revived the second, and the four of them left, Snape casting one last look at the body of Dumbledore as he walked out of the room, his eyes glittering in the moonlight.

            Fighting every urge to go to Dumbledore, Harry, and Ginny sprinted after Snape and followed him into the battle below. Immediately, they began casting protective spells to help defend the members of the Order, while Snape shouted that it was over, and the Death Eaters began to retreat. Harry gave chase.

            They had decided the Death Eaters would probably try to kill Ginny if she followed, but Voldemort would want Harry to himself. Therefore, Harry could sell the act by seeking revenge, without risking his life.

            Ginny went to Bill first, fearful he was dead. She could see Lupin was injured as well, and a Death Eater lay dead, but Lupin was stirring.

            Bill’s face was a mess, but he was breathing shallow breaths.

            Eventually, Madame Pomfrey arrived to take him away. Ginny realized she was surrounded by members of the Order of the Phoenix.

            “Where’s Dumbledore?” Tonks asked her, without a hint of apprehension. None of them had ever actually feared for his life.

            Ginny stood, watching her brother being guided away on a stretcher, levitated by Pomfrey.

            “You need to come with me,” was all Ginny could bring herself to say. She caught McGonagall’s eye as she turned towards the steps. McGonagall didn’t say a word, but Ginny knew she had already begun to grieve Dumbledore’s passing. 

            She could feel the tension growing behind her as she led the way back up to the top of the tower. Maybe they feared she’d been imperius’d and was leading them into a trap. Maybe some of them were already realizing Nymphadora’s question should have been easy for Ginny to answer—and there could only be one reason she’d elected to lead them here in response.

            There were gasps, screams, and anguished cries, but Ginny just felt hollow. She could still see flashes of her family and friends, dead. She wondered how long the potion's effects would last and hoped Dumbledore’s last thoughts were that he was not alone, not whatever the potion was making him see.

            She knelt beside Dumbledore’s body and retrieved the locket, which had broken open when he hit the ground. Bitterly, she read the note from R.A.B. and realized it was a fake. Tears spilt from her eyes, even as she reminded herself that Dumbledore had planned for this to occur, regardless of what progress they’d made with the Horcruxes.

            He had not died in vain.

            Still, she could feel herself beginning to shake with barely contained sobs.

            Sirius appeared, kneeling at her side, and offered her his embrace. Ginny thought she would be doing more for him than he could do for her. She’d expected this. He’d been taken off guard. He hadn’t known the same fury she had towards Dumbledore.

            Yet it was like she had been knocked unconscious for a second, and, when she came to, she found herself positively bawling into Sirius’s shoulder, while he held her like she was his child.

            Eventually, Harry returned to her, and traded places with Sirius, putting his hands on hers as he, too, knelt over Dumbledore. Neither could say how long they stayed there by his side.

            When they did eventually come down to the hospital wing, it was agony having to watch Lupin grieve and not being able to offer him the words of comfort she so desperately wanted to give him.

            Eventually, Fleur arrived and flung herself upon Bill’s chest, with great heaving sobs. Viktor and Susan had come with her to offer her comfort. Ginny’s parents were not far behind her.

            “How did it happen?” McGonagall asked at last, a lost look upon her face.

            Ginny waited for Harry to speak. He had been closer to Dumbledore. But when she turned to him, he seemed unable to open his mouth.

            “We were returning from…we were returning to Hogsmeade,” she told the room at large. “Dumbledore saw the Dark Mark over the school and said we had to get back to the castle as soon as possible. Harry and I had our brooms with us, and Dumbledore was able to summon one from the Hog’s Head. We flew back to the castle towards the Mark. He lowered the school’s defenses for us. Then we got to the tower and he—”

            She broke off as a lump in her throat rose up, cutting off her ability to speak.

            Harry looked up at her and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

            “He made us put on the invisibility cloak. We thought he wanted us to just sneak ahead for him, but the moment it was on he immobilized us. We couldn’t move. Then Snape burst in with the Carrows—and Karkaroff.” His eyes almost darted apologetically to McGonagall. “Dumbledore dueled them. He was able to take out both of the Carrows, but I think he was expecting Snape and Igor to stop the moment the others were defeated. He lowered his guard. And they killed him.”

            And then it was gone. The trust they’d worked so hard for between the members of the Order. The compassion. The forgiveness. The open hearts—now closed.

            Ginny could feel every adult in the room, with the exception of their new Headmistress, cursing themselves for buying into the naïve idea that Snape and Karkaroff could reform themselves. The notion that anyone could come back from the darkness.

            As the others recounted what had transpired in the castle, Ginny only half listened. There was far more to mourn than the loss of Dumbledore. The Order of the Phoenix would never be the same. They had lost that which made Dumbledore’s Army so strong—the strongest weapon Dumbledore had held so much reverence and reckless disregard for.

            The phoenix lament finally pulled Ginny from her ruminations. Fawkes the Phoenix was departing from Hogwarts. Though as she listened to the beautiful melody seeping through the castle, Ginny felt they had not seen the last of that magnificent bird.

            Fudge arrived with an entourage from the Ministry. When they took the Minister to see Dumbledore’s body, Fudge’s lower lip began to tremble. Soon he began to weep.

            “He was always there for me when I needed him, in my early days,” he told Ginny and Harry. “But—near the end—after Voldemort came back—he called me ‘friend.’ And nothing could have made me more proud. Not because he was a great wizard.” Fudge took Dumbledore’s hand, gently. “As an adult—as a politician—I don’t think I had any deep and genuine friendships. His was dear to me.”

            Harry and Ginny returned to the common room to comfort their friends and confirm Dumbledore was dead, but the pair did not retire to their separate dorms. Instead, they made their way to the Room of Requirement, which conjured a single bed for them, and they fell asleep holding each other close.

            “I had some,” Harry told her a few days later. “The potion. There was just a little more after you had your last cup. I drank the rest.”

            She looked at him, wondering what he’d seen, but didn’t ask. He’d waited until she was ready to tell him.

            “I saw us,” he said at last. “We were older. And we looked so weary. I could just tell we’d been through so much—and I’d left you when we were young.” His voice was choked as he continued. “I—the older me—was telling you that, every night, I dreamt about going back and making things right. I told you that waking up and realizing I couldn’t go back was the worst hell imaginable. That if I could, I wouldn’t change a thing that led to meeting you. But after that, I would have done it all differently. I would have never let you think for a second that you were anything less than the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”

            He looked at her.

            “I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you and Dumbledore, having to drink so much of the potion,” he said. “I could barely stand that one swig—the idea that I’d failed you.”

            Ginny was reminded once more they may only have a few more moments like this.

            Under any other circumstance, such an assembly of old friends and wizards from around the world would have thrilled Ginny.

            Madame Maxime arrived and flung herself into Hagrid’s arms.

            Fudge stayed at the castle with his Ministry officials. He’d spoken to Harry and Ginny a few times since his arrival, but, for the most part, left them to their grief. He was accompanied by Percy Weasley and Rufus Scrimgeour, the head of the auror office. Percy did not spend much time with the Minister, however, spending most of their days surrounded by their family.

            The innkeeper of the Hog’s Head, Tom the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, the members of the Weird Sisters, the employees of the Knight Bus, Madam Malkin, the lady who pushed the trolley on the Hogwarts Express, Arabella Figg, the entirety of the Order of the Phoenix, all came to pay their respects to Dumbledore.

            Delegations from the Giants, the Centaurs, the Merpeople, the Leprechauns, the Goblins, the Veela, the Elves, the Werewolves, the Vampires, and the Ghosts of Hogwarts all came forth to send off the Headmaster. Winky, Dobby, and Kreacher were holding each other tightly at the head of a group of Elves.

            There were some who were turned away, however. Rita Skeeter and a woman called Dolores Umbridge, a former ministry employee, who had argued vehemently against the legislation Hermione had sponsored, disparaging Dumbledore with any lie she could think of to try and stop the legislation. She had eventually been relieved of her position. Both of them were told that they would dishonor Dumbledore’s memory if they were allowed to attend, and were sent away.

            The ceremony was brief and beautiful, and Ginny could not stop the flood of tears throughout the event. When it was over, Ginny and Harry had a long list of people to check in on before they could leave.

            There was Hermione and Fred, who was telling her a story that was causing her to grin through her tears, despite herself.

            There was Ron and Luna, who was allowing Ron to rest his head on her shoulder while she stroked his hair.

            George and Angelina were talking with, who Ginny knew to be, Malfoy and Katie Bell, having taken some Polyjuice potion so as to be unrecognizable. They were also joined by Alicia Spinnet and Percy, who had begun seeing each other once Alicia joined the Ministry.

            Fleur Delacour was helping Bill from his seat, letting him put one arm around her, with Krum under the other arm and Susan Bones holding their things. Ginny was glad to see Susan did not look diminished from her aunt’s death a year ago. There was a fierce determination in her eyes.

            Cho was crying with her head in Neville’s lap, while he stared at the white tomb, tears trickling down his stunned face.

            McGonagall, who had so often stood shoulder to shoulder with Snape at all events with the Order, had looked lost and lonely for a short while, before she was joined by Flitwick, Slughorn, and Sprout, her closest friend.

            Maxime and Grawp were chatting with Hagrid, trying to consul him, while a long line of students from his advanced magical creatures class were coming by to offer their condolences.

            Tonks was rubbing Lupin's back as he hunched over in his chair and sobbed.

            Ginny was surprised to see one of the Weird Sisters talking with Professor Moody, and happy to see Kingsley throw an arm around Sirius as the latter patted Lupin on the back.

            Ginny nudged Harry and nodded over at Sirius and Kingsley. Harry couldn’t seem to help but grin.

            They stopped by to say hello to Ginny’s parents, the Grangers, the Diggorys, Ferenzie, Dobby, Winky, and Kreacher.

            Rufus Scrimgeour came up to them at one point to see if Harry would be willing to start making appearances at the Auror Division of the Ministry, but he was interrupted by Fudge, who looked furious at his employee.

            “I’m very sorry about him,” Fudge said, clasping Harry’s shoulder. “He’s not all bad, but he can lose sight of himself when he’s set out to accomplish something. It won’t happen again. I am very sorry for your loss, Harry. And yours, Ginny. I know it feels risky to trust the Ministry right now, but, please, don’t feel like you are imposing if there is ever anything I can do for either of you.”

            “I’m sorry for your loss, too, Minister,” Harry said.

            Ginny nodded. “We haven’t known you as long as Dumbledore did, Minister. But we would count you as a friend, too.”

            Fudge smiled and his eyes began to glisten.

            “I hope to see you both again, before this is all over,” he told them. “I promise, I’ll write soon.”

            And, with that, they parted ways.

            Finally, Harry and Ginny broke away and began to walk along the lakeside. Ginny knew Harry had something he wanted to say and waited, letting him collect himself.

            “I’m not coming back in the fall, Ginny,” Harry told her at last. “Voldemort’s emboldened now that Dumbledore’s dead. Things are only going to get worse. I have to stop him as soon as I can.”

            Ginny nodded and they walked along in silence again.

            “Are you going to try and tell me I can’t come with you?”

            Harry just shook his head.

            “I wish I could,” he told her. “I wish I could somehow assure myself that you would never again be in danger. But I know I don’t get the final say. And I know you too well to expect anything different.” He placed his hand on her cheek. “But I am so scared of losing you, Ginny. And I’m so scared of what it will do to me if you’re captured or hurt because of me. If we do this, please, don’t take any risks you don’t have to. I want to stop Voldemort, but I would burn this world to the ground to keep you safe.”

            She held his hand to her cheek and nodded, smiling at him through her tears.

            So, it was decided. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna would not attend school next year, but would instead set out to find Horcruxes. At Luna’s suggestion, they all left their pets in the care of Hagrid, not knowing what life would be like for them, should they have to live on the run.

            At first, Hermione had tried to talk Fred out of coming with them.

            “The world needs some relief from all this sadness, now more than ever!” she protested. “You have to stay and run the jokeshop.”

            Fred just smiled at her. “Ministry’s going to fall soon, anyways, Granger. Remember what Dumbledore said? My whole family’s going to have to go into hiding soon anyways. Better to close up now, than when Voldemort’s knocking on the front door.”

            Ginny looked at George.

            “Oh yeah,” George laughed. “Where he goes, I go. You’re stuck with me, too.”

            Angelina sighed, but she was smiling at Harry and Ginny. “Me as well. Gotta make sure George doesn’t get himself killed.”

            Neville, like Harry, didn’t bother trying to talk Cho out of coming with them, too.

            Harry turned to Drago and Katie.

            “We’d be glad to have you both as well.”

            Malfoy was staring at the castle, wistful.

            “Not us, Potter,” he said at last, not taking his eyes off his old school. “We’ve got other plans.” He sighed. “I terrorized those hallways for so many years. I think it’s time I do some good for our school.”

            “When the Ministry falls, we’ll be here,” Katie told the group. “We’ll keep the students safe. You won’t have to worry.”

            “But Voldemort’s after you,” Hermione said. “He’ll come for you.”

            “I think he’s got bigger fish to fry at the moment,” Draco mused. “We went to the Room of Requirement and asked for a room not even Voldemort can break into. It provided. And you know what happened when we tried to get snacks for Dumbledore’s Army. The room doesn’t just pretend to give you what you need. It either gives you what it can or nothing happens.”

            “What will you do for food?” Cho asked.

            “Dobby and Winky can still apparate in and out of Hogwarts,” Katie said. “They said they could bring us meals if it came to it.”

            “We can be a sanctuary for half-bloods, muggle-borns, any students in Voldemort’s crosshairs,” Malfoy said, sounding actually excited. “Finally get some red out of my ledger.”

            This gave Neville an idea that the group tested out to great success. Knowing they might very well need to return to Hogwarts to retrieve a Horcrux, the group asked the Room of Requirement to provide them with a secret passageway in and out, and it obliged. As long as Malfoy and Katie kept the room active, they would have a way back in.

            Remarkably, the passage led to the Hogshead and the barkeep whose identity Ginny already suspected.

            It did not take long for Aberforth to admit he was Dumbledore’s brother. It did not change much, but it assured them he would not betray them.

            “The Death Eaters will place traps in town to prevent people from apparating in undetected,” he warned them. “They’ll be expecting you to return to school someday. If you should return, apparate into the Giant colony in the mountains and seek passage into Hogsmeade from there. Otherwise, you’ll play right into Voldemort’s hands.”
            It did not take long for Hagrid, Grawp, and Maxime to negotiate safe passage for them through the colony.

            Finally, Hermione summoned every book about Horcruxes from Dumbledore’s office.

            Then they were ready.

            All too soon, they took the Hogwarts express, for what well could be the very last time.

Chapter Text

            Tonks and Lupin were married in a quiet ceremony with Ginny, Harry, Sirius, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Tonks’s parents in attendance. Sirius had asked Kingsley to be his plus one.

            “To tell the truth it’s what I’ve always wanted,” Tonks told them all after the brief ceremony. They were eating wedding cake in the grove where they’d said their vows. “Never been one for pomp and circumstance.”

            “And I’ve never been great in crowds myself,” Lupin told them.

            “You were a teacher!” Harry reminded him.

            “Yes, that is true,” Lupin admitted with a sly grin—it was a look Ginny had never seen before upon his weary face. “But if you all got out of hand, I could just dock points or hand out detentions. Family and friends would not be so easy to defuse, especially after a few drinks.”

            “Speaking of which,” Tonks said, gesturing at her goblet with the same sly look as her husband. “This isn’t wine. Transfigured it to water just before our first toast.”

            A moment of confusion followed.

            Then there was instant uproar, and Ginny could see how the same reaction, amplified by scores of additional guests, would be more than a little overwhelming. Chairs were knocked to the side as everyone rushed to embrace Lupin and Tonks.

            “How long have you known,” Sirius asked, his arm around his friend’s shoulder.

            “Not too long,” Remus told him. “We figured you had your hands full with one godchild so you wouldn’t mind…” he turned to Harry and Ginny. “We want you to be the baby’s godparents. Both of you.”

            Even as they shouted their excitement at the prospect, Harry caught Ginny’s eye. Neither of them had missed the assumption that came with Lupin’s request.

            They beamed at one another.

            Voldemort’s ascension to power did not go as smoothly as he had hoped.

            Somehow, Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies Professor, was able to escape his clutches, disappearing from within Malfoy Manor without a trace. This led to an all-out assault from the Ministry that left Voldemort’s primary headquarters in ruins.

            It was soon discovered that Rita Skeeter and Dolores Umbridge had allied themselves with Voldemort when they attempted to co-publish a defamatory book about Dumbledore’s life, which was immediately investigated. When it was found that the two had drugged Bathilda Bagshot for information, they were both promptly arrested and Bathilda taken to St. Mungo’s, as it was determined she was terminally ill during the investigation. The Ministry decided to make her comfortable before her end.

            Somehow, Rita Skeeter vanished from her cell, making her the third person to break out of Azkaban without the aid of Voldemort.

            Dudley Dursley, tired of being sidelined underground for almost a year, offered his services to the Muggle Prime Minister, to form a taskforce of Muggles dedicated to answering magical attacks with force. They knew they stood little chance of ever fully holding off a single wizard, but Dudley was sure they could save lives if they stalled the Death Eaters long enough for the Ministry or Order to respond to the attacks.

            Dudley’s decision forced Petunia and Vernon to take action as well, coordinating with the Muggle Prime Minister to set up agents across the country to detect magical attacks and alert Dudley and the Order of the Phoenix when they occurred. Together, they found a way to track the heat signatures from apparating wizards.

            Not only did both strategies turn out to be immensely effective at saving lives, Dudley himself was even able to subdue a Death Eater, when he snapped the man’s wand and gagged him before the wizard could cast another spell.

            The Grangers, guessing that Hermione may try to put them under a spell in order to protect them, instead opted to join the Dursleys as liaisons for the Muggle ministry and asked her to respect their decision to take a stand, whatever it may lead to.

            Ginny and Harry were surprised when they received word from the Muggle Prime Minister, inviting them to 10 Downing Street, and even more surprised to be greeted at the front entrance by, not just Dudley, but Colin Creevey as well.

            “What are you doing here?” Ginny asked her classmate after they’d all greeted each other.

            “The Death Eaters came for our parents while Dennis and I were out of the house,” Colin told them, leading them inside. His voice did not waver, but he was more somber than he’d ever been at Hogwarts. “When I heard they’d been attacked, I didn’t—couldn’t believe they were still alive, not until I saw for myself. Your aunt and uncle saw the Death Eaters apparate into the neighborhood. Dudley had someone close by who could distract the Death Eaters. Then he got there himself. By the time the Order arrived, Dudley practically had them on the run already.”

            Ginny thought she saw a hint of pride in the way Harry was looking at Dudley.

            “After that, I decided not to return to Hogwarts,” Colin told them.

            “What!” Ginny exclaimed. “Why?”

            “Well, Mum and Dad, for a start,” Colin said. “I want to be there the next time they’re in trouble. But I’m not going to sit at home with them all day. I’m joining Dudley’s taskforce. Figured they could use a wizard’s help against the Death Eaters.”

            Ginny was at a loss for words.

            “That’s…” Harry seemed to be struggling with himself. “That’s very brave of you Colin. I mean, both of you—you should be proud of what you’ve accomplished Dudley.”

            “I was inspired by you,” Dudley said to the carpet. His face was scarlet. “That man—Dumbledore. When he told us everything you’d been through, all that you’d done, and how loyal your friends are to you… I wish I could say it was for more noble reasons, but that’s what I want in my life: that community—people who will stand beside me like that. Couldn’t just bully my way into that sort of thing. Had to earn it.”

            They met with the Prime Minister for all of five minutes, during which not much was said or changed, but when he parted ways with them it was with the air of someone who has just bestowed a very generous gift.

            Harry, for his part, showed far more humility when he had the four of them take a photo together and signed it for Colin, both their faces as red as Dudley’s had been.

            “You are—without a doubt—one of the most worthy Gryffindors I have ever met,” Harry told Colin. Then he turned to Dudley. Neither of them seemed to know how to say what they wanted to say. “Take care, Big D.”

            “You too, Harry.”  

            Despite Dumbledore’s warning before his death, the hope among Ginny’s family was that they could remain out in the open, until after Fleur and Krum’s joint wedding. And yet, only a few weeks into break, a shining silver lynx alighted in the middle of the kitchen at Grimmauld Place and spoke with Kingsley’s voice.

            “They’re attacking the Burrow.”

            Harry was on his feet and reaching for Ginny’s arm when Sirius caught his wrist.

            “We talked about this,” Sirius said, nodding for Ginny to dash over to the kitchen drawers. “They’re there for you. Hoping to catch you on a visit. Just take the potion first, then we can go.”

            Ginny was already sprinting back to them with three vials of Polyjuice potion.

            Sirius kept himself between her and Harry as they drank.

            The moment their faces fully morphed into those of three Muggles in the village, Sirius released Harry. “Go.”

            They appeared far above the burrow, plummeting down as each of them rummaged in their pouches for their brooms. Ginny saw that parts of her home were already on fire and the Death Eaters were closing in.

            Then her Cleansweep was under her and they were diving, faster, towards the battle below. Ginny could see what looked like half the Order was already there. Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley, Fleur, Viktor, Susan, the Lovegoods, Angelina, Cho, the Longbottoms, Hermione, Alicia, Ginny’s parents, and all her siblings. Even as she approached, she saw Sirius, Moody, Delphius, the Diggorys, and several others appear from thin air, their wands raised.

            The Death Eaters seemed to be completely thrown by just how many people were there to defend the Burrow. Harry and Ginny dive-bombed Voldemort’s followers, sending them scattering back in a panic. Then they were circling the Burrow, blasting it with water, extinguishing the flames, and warding off any other attempts to damage its infrastructure.

            Ginny saw the Death Eaters were being pushed farther and farther back in disarray.

            For a moment, she dared to hope her home could be saved.

            Then a jet of green light streaked out of the sky, straight at Luna

            Lord Voldemort was descending upon them.

            Ron blocked the killing curse and stood between Luna and Voldemort, whose eyes narrowed in recognition. With no Harry in sight, Ginny realized his best friend would be better than nothing to the Dark Lord.

            Before Ginny or Harry could approach, Voldemort struck, his spell going right for Ron and Luna.

            But they were shoved out of the way.

            Xenophilius Lovegood stood alone, a bolt of lightning streaking up from his wand, blasting Voldemort’s spell out of the way and forcing Voldemort to counteract his curse.

            So powerful was Lovegood’s attack that, for the first time in recorded history, Voldemort’s blood was drawn in battle. A streak of lightning whipped across his face, and he screamed in outrage as a brutal gash appeared across his cheek, sure to scar. However, once their spells connected, Xenophilius’s magic was rapidly forced back towards him.

            He looked over to Luna, and made a gesture only they understood, from some long forgotten language the Quibbler would cover, telling her that he loved her. Then he met Ron’s eyes—to say his final words.

            “Take care of her. Go.”

            The magical chain was forced back upon Lovegood. There was a mighty explosion. And he was gone.

            Luna screamed, even as Ron turned on the spot and disappeared with her.

            The Burrow was lost.

            They had never seen Luna cry before. A part of Ginny had never thought she would. Luna was always so dreamy. She didn’t seem capable of such sadness.

            When Harry and Ginny appeared in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, it looked like Luna’s legs had given out, and she was on her knees, her face pressed against Ron’s chest. It was a terrible thing to hear, Luna’s slow sobs reverberating through the kitchen. She gave one heart-wrenching wail of grief, and Ginny found tears trickling down her own cheeks.

            Ginny approached the couple and took Luna’s hand in hers, letting her friend know she was there.

            They remained that way for most of the night.

            With that, every member of the Weasley family, and the grief-stricken Luna, went into hiding in Grimmauld Place.

            Viktor and Susan were able to get word to all the party guests that the wedding ceremony was off and that Fleur, Bill, Susan, and Viktor would all get married in seclusion. All four held onto hope that there would come a time when they could celebrate with their loved ones, after the war.

            The Order held a quiet ceremony in Grimmauld Place to mourn the loss of Mr. Lovegood. Thanks to him, they had all survived relatively unscathed. George had lost an ear to Snape’s Sectumsempra spell, but he privately told Ginny and Harry he reckoned Snape was actually aiming for the Death Eater bearing down upon George when it happened.

            Luna was quiet and subdued for a long while after the death of her father, taking solace in the company of Ron, who rose to the occasion and was there for her every step of the way. It was a week before Ginny saw her smile again, a month before she heard Luna laugh, and another month after that before Luna started returning to her old self in some ways.

            “She’s a different person now,” Ron told Ginny when asked how he thought she was coming along. “Still Luna, still the person I love. And not different in a bad way. Just different. I think she’s come to terms with it—as much as you can.”

            Every once in a while, the loss would hit Luna hard again, but she told Ginny she was happy, at least, that her parents could be together again, at last.

            Voldemort’s conquest continued to falter after his failed attempt to capture Harry at the Burrow. While some Muggle attacks were successful, and there were still some disappearances and deaths in the wizarding world, most of the Death Eaters’ efforts to capture or kill their fellow wizards were thwarted. Many of the rescues in Diagon Alley came from the Veela, whom the Delacours had finally convinced to choose a side in the conflict.

            Numerous Veela families, and descendants of Veela, had come to Britain upon the passage of the magical races legislation, under which they had more rights than in France. Determined to do their part, they had taken to swooping down upon any Death Eaters who dared attack the residents of Diagon Alley at night. Both Ollivander and Florean Fortescue, of the ice cream shop, now owed their lives to the Veela, who had interceded when Death Eaters came calling.

            For a short time, Fenrir Greyback instilled terror in the hearts of those opposed to Voldemort, until one day, he tried to attend a gathering of Werewolves and attack Remus Lupin, for which his fellow Werewolves tore Greyback apart. They did not wish to serve as Voldemort’s tools for power—not when they, too, had come so much farther than anything they’d ever thought possible.

            Harry, Ginny, and their fellow hunters of Horcruxes, opted to wait to set out, until after Fleur and Krum’s wedding. They spent much of their time preparing, but still found time to celebrate Harry’s 17th Birthday.

            In the midst of the festivities, however, Harry got word that Fudge was attempting to contact him.

            After the Order secured the area, Harry and Fudge met in a neutral place, along with Ginny and the other hunters.

            “There’s no time for formalities,” Fudge told Harry immediately. Ginny was surprised by the brusqueness in his voice. “First, and most importantly, there is something I need to tell you, and it is unfathomably important that you hear this, Harry.”

            Harry nodded, also taken aback.

            “Happy birthday.”

            Harry grinned as Fudge gave him an apologetic smile.

            “Humor has never been my strong suit,” he confessed, before shaking Harry’s hand warmly. “But I want you to know, I’ve put a gift away for you in a trust, for after the war. I know you cannot fully trust me these days. You can just feel it in the air at the Ministry—he’s closing in on my cabinet. I hope it will serve you well in the future, when this is all over and it is safe for you to have it. It’s—well, it’s not every day you turn seventeen.”

            Harry beamed at him. “Thank you, Minister.”

            “I must also apologize profusely to you,” Cornelius said. He looked to the rest of the hunters. “To all of you. This should have happened weeks ago, but Scrimgeour… well he’s become rather frantic in his efforts to stop Voldemort. He’s a good man, and a good auror. Just—I think—not ready to accept what’s coming.”

            Fudge sighed and the bowler hat in his hand twitched slightly. Ginny realized she hadn’t seen him twirl it in his agitated way since before Voldemort’s return.

            “And I can’t fault him,” the Minister told them. “Whatever may be said of him, whatever may be said of me, we must go down fighting, Harry. No matter how bleak things get, we must go down fighting, with our heads held high. When everything seems hopeless—I think the strongest thing he can do is hold on to hope. And I pray I can too.”

            The Minister had a far off look in his eye. His mouth twitched slightly. Then he shook himself and looked back at Harry.

            “I’m rambling—Dumbledore’s last will and testament was found shortly after his funeral. I am sorry it has taken so long, but Rufus insisted on thoroughly inspecting every aspect of the document and his bequeathments. As he is one of the last people I trust at the Ministry—well, I hope you will excuse me for indulging him this time.”

            Fudge presented them with the last will and testament of Albus Dumbledore, in which he had left each member of the Hunters an instrument from his office. The gifts for Draco Malfoy and Katie Bell were entrusted to Harry. Hermione received The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Ron received Dumbledore’s Deluminator, Harry received the first snitch he ever caught, and Ginny received the Sword of Godric Gryffindor with Dumbledore writing, “the sword presented itself to Harry, yet I believe you have earned the right to wield it with your steadfast courage and your strongest of hearts.”

            Fudge wrapped the snitch in cloth when he handed it off and told Harry it could respond to his touch, so best to wait until he was alone to let it contact him.

            “Well,” Cornelius Fudge said, once they had all been given their gifts. “I’d say I think is the last we’ll see of each other, but I just went on and on about holding on to hope. So, I’ll just say…I thought it was the honor of my life, shaking the hand of the Boy Who Lived, when you first stepped off the Knight Bus. It has been the honor of my life, defending the wizarding world beside you and Dumbledore.” And now he looked at Ginny too. “And the greatest pleasure of my life watching you both grow up into the people you’ve become. I am—very glad—to have known you both.”

            For the second time that year, Ginny couldn’t help herself when the Minister went to shake her hand. She embraced him, feeling her lip trembling slightly as she did so.

            “I am very glad to have known you too, Minister.”

            In the end, Harry and Cornelius Fudge embraced and parted as friends.

             Fleur looked radiant on her wedding day, so much so that, upon their raised platform in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, she seemed to instill everyone else with the same otherworldly beauty she possessed. Bill’s scars were hardly noticeable. Susan may as well have been a Veela. And Krum, always so stoic and stern, could not stop smiling down at Susan throughout the ceremony.

            Luna and Ginny had gone all out decorating the kitchen, giving Luna a welcome distraction from her grief, until it looked nothing like the Grimmauld Place Harry and Sirius had first come home too. Inspired by the Room of Requirement after the Yule Ball, Ginny had gotten Luna to enchant the ceiling to reflect the night sky like the Great Hall, and they’d both levitated shimmering orbs and stars to float at various intervals throughout, so that it felt like they were standing in the middle of the cosmos.

            Harry had tears in his eyes as he watched his fellow champions, his chest swelling with pride.

            As soon as their vows were spoken, Fleur, Krum, Harry, and Cho all lit a candle in Cedric’s honor.

            They played music from an old record player and danced in the kitchen.

            Ginny saw Luna beaming up at Ron, as she had during the Yule Ball, even through a few tears.

            Ginny let her head rest against Harry’s chest, feeling his heart beat steadily as they danced, and remembered that night after the ball, so many lifetimes ago. She felt a warm sense of relief being able to spend one last happy hour with all her family and friends. Dancing in the starlight.

            She was pleased to see Kingsley plant a kiss on Sirius’s forehead as the two of them swayed nearby.

            Ginny closed her eyes and tried to savor every moment of that night, knowing they were in the calm before the storm.

            It wasn’t until months after the wedding, when students had already returned to Hogwarts, that Voldemort was finally able to get enough of a foothold to bring down the Ministry. And then nothing went according to his plan.

            Blithering, bumbling Fudge, whom Voldemort had expected to cave immediately and disclose Harry Potter’s location, refused to divulge anything about the boy and kept his mind firmly shut to Voldemort’s probes, even as Voldemort performed the Cruciatus Curse upon him. Perhaps Fudge’s mind would have broken after enough hours of torture, but five minutes into Voldemort’s interrogation, Scrimgeour broke into his office and was able to put both himself and Fudge out of their misery.

            Vigils were held all over magical Britain, as the nation mourned their fallen Minister.

            Meanwhile, the Ministry was just about the only wizarding place Voldemort was able to hold. No sooner had Voldemort played his hand, then the gates of Gringotts thundered shut for the first time in a century. The wizarding bank became an impenetrable fortress to Voldemort’s forces and a sanctuary to all Muggle-born witches and wizards who sought shelter.

            At first, it seemed like Voldemort had successfully taken Diagon Alley, until a horde of Veela routed his Death Eaters. From then on, whenever his forces attempted to secure the wizarding settlement, they would be expelled the same night by hordes of Fleurs furious kin.

            Voldemort soon found the same fate would befall any occupation of Hogsmeade, with packs of Werewolves descending upon the city each night to defend its inhabitants.

            On the other hand, Godric's Hollow never once yielded to Voldemort’s forces. Not only the wizards of Britain, but the entire international magical community considered Godric’s Hollow to be sacred ground. Dumbledore’s name remained unblemished after death, and the wizarding settlement was where the only known person had withstood the killing curse without a shielding charm.

            So, while the rest of the world was hobbled by bureaucracy and slow to declare open war against Voldemort, they had also proclaimed that should a single Death Eater set foot in Godric’s Hollow, the full force of the world would rise up to meet him. A few years ago perhaps, international unity would not have been strong enough to even make this limited demand, but the Triwizard Champions had inspired many with their deeds during the Tournament.

            At one point, Voldemort attempted to call their bluff, only for his Death Eaters to arrive and find hundreds upon hundreds of wizards and witches from around the world waiting for them. They had retreated immediately without a spell fired.

            Voldemort had intended to build his power before waging war against the Muggles, but now that the Grangers and Dursleys were within Downing Street, Voldemort decided to act sooner and take the two families hostage to lure Harry out, while overthrowing the Muggle government as well. But when his forces descended upon Downing Street and Parliment, it was to find an army of ghosts, invisible to Muggles, defending the capitol. Ginny had never known ghosts were capable of producing magic. And, granted, no single ghost could outmatch an average wizard, but in such numbers and force as had gathered around the Muggle ministry, Voldemort’s forces hadn’t a hope of piercing through their ranks.

            Even St. Mungo’s was off limits to Voldemort’s forces, defended by a horde of Vampires. Wizards had never needed to donate blood, but with new legislation, St. Mungo’s had been granted permission to ask each patient if they would be willing to do so. Enough people had begun to donate, inspired by the change Hermione’s actions had brought sweeping through the magical community. With these donations, Vampires were able to keep their thirsts under control and rejoin society. Voldemort’s promises of providing the blood of his foes couldn’t compare to the normalcy that had been brought back into so many lives. So, an army of Vampires had viciously fought off Voldemort’s forces when they tried to occupy St. Mungo’s. Now, they had an overabundance of donations from grateful witches and wizards who could safely seek medical attention under their protection.

            Voldemort soon learned that conquering the Ministry was a hollow victory. The next day, almost nobody showed up for work. Most of those who did were his own Death Eaters and his scant few loyalists within the Ministry. Nearly every single employee had simply gone into hiding and begun constructing the Underground Ministry, as it was soon called, essentially performing the same duties from a position of even greater secrecy than before.

            Voldemort had thought his infiltration of the Ministry had run too deep for the Minister to keep any secrets from him, but was furious to learn Fudge had managed to orchestrate such a monumental subversion, entirely in secret from the Dark Lord. Fudge’s trick had been simple: he had tasked this operation to the Ministry officials Voldemort would never consider putting under the Imperius Curse. All pureblood wizards had been left out of the loop, and some half-bloods who clearly held pureblood values.

            When Voldemort had made his move on the Ministry, it was fairly easy to tell which pureblood and half-bloods were loyal to him. They were the ones receiving awards or else utterly unphased by the events devastating and horrifying their peers. Fudge had relied on Voldemort’s arrogance, believing the Dark Lord would no longer find it necessary to hide his agents as thoroughly as he had before. The gambit paid off, and Fudge’s people were able to spread word of his plans completely undetected by anybody reporting to Voldemort. Meanwhile, a legion of Elves had spent the night apparating to and fro, scrubbing the Ministry of all its records and paperwork and returning them to the members of the Underground Ministry.

            The only records left for Voldemort to find brought his hunt to find his precious Dementors to a close. The Ministry, knowing such a move would be controversial, had hunted them all to extinction in secret. Fudge had asked the Elves to leave these records just to mock Voldemort, reminding him that Fudge got the better of him in the end. It was said his fury that day was terrible to behold and had even lost him a few followers.

            There were some subsequent leaks. People too scared to resist Voldemort or else loyalists who’d been inconsequential to him, until they came forward with information about the underground operations. Voldemort would try to dispel this secret government, and each attempt would result in heavy losses. However, every time Voldemort would come down upon the Underground Ministry, they would eventually reform more tightknit and secure than the last time, until at last all of Voldemort’s followers had made themselves known through their betrayals, or otherwise been routed out of the Underground Ministry, and the government was able to operate completely independent of Voldemort.

            Thus, Voldemort held the Ministry building and Azkaban, each to far less effect than he had hoped.

            Unlike the old days, Voldemort’s followers could no longer hunt Muggles for sport or kill them on a whim. Every attack had to be precisely calculated and performed, lest the Death Eaters fall prey to Dudley’s Muggle Defenders, the Order of the Phoenix, the remnants of the Ministry, or the scores upon scores of wizards and witches who took up the call and would go out of their way to protect their neighbors from attacks. Eventually, most of Voldemort’s forces concluded that such attacks were a waste of resources.

            Lastly, Draco soon reported that Hogwarts was just as secure as in the days of Dumbledore, if not more so. Anytime the Death Eaters attempted to approach the castle through the Forbidden Forest, they were beset by armies of centaurs and Acromantulas.

            Any attempts to approach the school from the mountains would lead to a horde of Giants descending upon the Death Eaters, armored in magical plate-mail designed to repel the Death Eater’s magic, a gift from Fred and George Weasley.

            Voldemort had even attempted to send Death Eaters into the castle through the sewers connected to the lake, only for them to be drowned by the Giant Squid and the armies of Merfolk.
            A group had also tried to enter through the secret passageways, only for Peeves to unleash the full might of his poltergeist powers and collapse the tunnel on top of them. Still, the tunnel to the Hogshead remained undiscovered and safe.

            When, at last, an elite squadron of Death Eaters was able to make it to the castle, it was only to find the Elves of Hogwarts had made the castle itself nigh impenetrable with their own magic, which proved far too complicated and foreign for the Death Eaters to decipher before they were routed by the suits of armor McGonagall, the new Headmistress, had patrolling the school to keep students safe. The Death Eaters could have easily defeated the suits of armor, but once those sentries had alerted the professors and the Elves, hellfire rained down upon Voldemort’s followers, and they were forced to retreat.

            Draco and Katie, who had expected to be hidden away in the Room of Requirement until the conflict was over, were given free rein of the castle by McGonagall. There was always a member of Dumbledore’s Army within the Room of Requirement, keeping the passage open for Harry and his friends, and coordinating with Aberforth for supplies. Draco was made into Head Boy, which had irked his now Co-Head boy, Ernie McMillon, but the two soon made amends.

            Draco, Katie, Seamus, Dean, Lavender, and Parvati had all stepped up as the new leaders of Dumbledore’s Army and McGonagall’s most trusted aides in keeping Hogwarts secure from the frequent threat of Death Eaters.

            The war was not without losses, however. Almost every attack claimed lives, and many would fall when Voldemort set out himself to attempt to squash any of these small pockets of resistance. However, he was never able to fully route his dissenters, for each time they got word of an attack elsewhere, members of the Underground Ministry and the Order would rush to the defense of their people, while other members of each group would deal a brutal blow to Voldemort’s regime, attacking the Ministry of Magic directly. After the fifth time the Ministry was almost retaken, Voldemort practically never left its walls.

            This had been what the Order was counting on. So obsessed was Voldemort with the illusion of control holding the Ministry gave him, that he refused to lose the building at all costs. Even if it meant hiding away within its confines, practically under siege. The only danger was that conquering Hogwarts, one of his highest ambitions, could someday prevail over holding the Ministry, and he would launch an all-out assault upon the school.

            The heaviest loss for the Order came during the fifth attempt to retake the Ministry. Voldemort attempted to trap the Order within its walls, and if not for the Diggorys, no one would have made it out alive. Both of Cedric’s parents had stood their ground against Voldemort himself, allowing the rest of the Order to flee.

            Rumors swirled far and wide that Voldemort had known no fury like that of the Diggorys, and had almost been completely overwhelmed by them in the hours-long fight that had ensued. Some even said Voldemort was forced to create a new body for himself afterwards, his old form slain by the Diggorys. What the Order knew for sure was that every Death Eater, who had tried to intercede on Voldemort’s behalf, was now dead.

            But so were the Diggorys.

            Harry, Cho, Viktor, and Fleur spent the next day together in mourning.