Dreams Come True

The beginning of the summer of 1999 was a particularly warm one. Many people enjoyed the inside climate. Cooling charms were deposited through out the castle, making people forget that it was sizzling hot outside. Venturing outside was a quest only for the brave and the ones that were thick enough to forget that it was piping hot. If by some chance that there was a moment were they couldn't prolong the inevitable of stepping outside any longer, a sun protection charm was compulsory if they wanted didn't want to arrive to the castle as an over-cooked lobster.

Among the chatter around her, Ginny Weasley was chatting with Luna in the Great Hall. Luna cut her long, dishwater blonde hair a few inches about a month ago for a change so now it reached her upper back. In this heat, her straight hair waved a bit. Ginny, however, just kept hers up in a ponytail with an elastic.

They both had grown so much closer as friends this year. Since the battle the previous year, they seemed to do more things together and be themselves more often. Other people had likewise, done the same. It seemed that it knocked some sense into some people that the moment they woke up in their four-poster bed, could essentially be the last day they could be walking into the Great Hall to grab a spot of toast before quickly heading off to transfiguration; to sit with your friends under the beech trees by the lake; to smell the fresh air; to even feel your own heart beat....

After finishing their NEWTs two days ago, they began to speculate what they were going to get.

"Well, I couldn't care less on what I got, I'm sure that passing hippogriffs aren't going to ask me if I passed my Divination NEWT. I'm sure that all the studying you have done, you must have racked up at least five NEWTs!" added Luna. She took out her wand and began to whirl it in circles on the table, accidentally knocking over several bottles of pumpkin juice. She waved her wand and the juice was put back into the bottles and set upright once more.

"I think I did well in Transfiguration and Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Herbology, but I detest Potions," said Ginny as she reached to the bowl in front of her to grab a crisp. "I can't believe I even got an Acceptable for my OWL for that class. Professor Slughorn insisted that I could do well in that class but I just don't see how! He wanted me to come and take private lessons but Potions twice a day?! I don't think so." She moodily crunched the chip.

As Ginny proclaimed this, Luna laughed a little bit.

"What?" asked Ginny curiously.

"Well, I think I know why Slughorn wanted you to come and take private lessons. He wanted to show you his rare species of Pemsuds. They suck out the learning disabilities of a certain subject and put in a way to learn it better. He's been hiding them from Hagrid so he wouldn't take them and breed them. I'm pretty sure I heard them in his store closet. They make a kind of gurgled sound."

Ginny just sat in awe. Despite their year of growing closer as friends, she had never understood where she got the idea of 'Pemsuds' or her ever famous 'Crumple-Horned Snorkacks'. But then again, this is the girl who wears corks for necklaces and radishes for earrings.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right, Luna...I'm gonna go take a walk around the lake for a bit and then I'll come join you in the Great Hall for supper. I'll bring some butterbeer from Hogsmeade."

"Okay Gin! See you then!"

As Ginny walked toward the front door, she saw Michael Corner snogging Romilda Vane. They reminded her of Ron and Lavender from two years ago, like two squids trying to suck out the fish in each other's mouth. They were sitting in a little nook behind an ajar door. The shadows covered them nicely but Michael had let his foot slip into the light just as Ginny walked by. They seemed not to notice her and she passed on. She smirked in spite of herself and opened the Entrance Hall's majestic, wooden doors.

She stepped into the sun light and remembered why she stayed inside. It felt like she had entered a dragon pit. She still moved on, thinking that perhaps her walk would become a swim instead....

Soon enough, Ginny saw the shape of Hagrid's hut; smoke absent from the normally grey clouded chimney. Just as she was thinking about an exceptionally eventful afternoon with Luna, Hagrid, and his brother Grawp, she saw Hagrid emerge from the trees with a couple of scratches on his face. He saw her and waved. She returned the gesture and progressed to the lake.

As soon as she got there, she did walk a little around it, but eventually stopped to take off her shoes and dip her feet into the water. The water felt really refreshing. She saw little fish swimming feet below her just doing whatever fish did. What do fish do anyway? She'd have to ask Luna later, maybe she'd have a decent explanation...

Graduation was in two days, and she was excited and sad all at the same time. Excited to do exactly what she wanted to do, (play Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies) and sad to leave her friends from talking to them daily to maybe sending them a Christmas card each Christmas or maybe a letter every once in a while. She knew that she would always be in touch with Luna. She wanted to explore the world and see places and try to classify the Crumpled Horned Snokack, and she would make sure that Ginny would always be updated on her newest adventure. Ginny was still in contact with Hermione, Ron, and Harry. Hermione had finally gotten together appropriately with Ron a week after the final battle. She remembered the moment as well, watching the sparkle in Hermione's eyes glisten with each moment that passed; Ron not capable of letting her go again; Harry smiling, seeing his friends happier than he had ever seen them before.

She talked to Harry daily. Or at least it seemed like it. When she sent out her letter to explain what little things that had happened (or didn't happen) that day, Ginny thought that it must be making regular U-turns in midair, returning with Harry's response. Harry had been encouraging wizard safety around Britain. He didn't tell her how but merely said it would be a surprise when he would tell her. He did come in November to place a memorial to the lives that had vanished throughout both parts of the war. Many of the names were alien to Ginny like Bertha Jorkins, Lysia Abbot, Amelia Bones, and Donaghan Tremlett; there were some familiar including Colin Creevey, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin, Lavender Brown, and her very own brother Fred. The site was visited habitually by many students that remembered or had friends or family lost to the war. Flowers were regularly laid alongside it no matter what the season and tear stains blotted its marble exterior.

That year was truly horrible for her, but most of all, that historic night. She would never ever forget the moment she saw death etched upon her brother, how he had fallen to a victim of fate and loss; How she strolled upon the line of the dead and plummeting to knees when she saw Lupin and his wife-her friend-Tonks lying right beside him, her tears doubling when she felt how cold both of their bodies felt; when she was sobbing into Hermione's shoulder and feeling Hermione's own tears drip from her eyes on to her messy hair from the nights events; when she stared down into Fred's eyes, and jerking her head up, hearing a piercing voice echo through the early morning hours, "Harry Potter is dead."; Harry's dead body, arranged at Voldemort's feet. These traumatic events crammed into a twenty-four hour time slot was too much for her frail body to handle. But when she saw Harry, her dead Harry alive and fighting him, she received a gift that she needed: hope. She wished to run to him and enclose him in her arms, scold him for making her think for a moment he was dead, and to shed her tears in his warm, alive arms. She held back, waiting impatiently, knowing that this final battle between him and Voldemort would bring one of their demises. Even though Voldemort had earned his reward and dropped dead, she knew that although her Harry would be beside her, her scarcely alive heart would take some time to repair.

She got up, coming out of her reminiscent dream, realizing that her feet were being nipped at by the little fish, which seemed to take them as part of their edible environment, and reluctantly took her feet out of the lake. She shook off her feet of excess water, splattering nearby blades of grass with dew of lake water where it instantly evaporated and she put her warm shoes back on.

As she was making her way towards Hogsmeade to pick up the butterbeers for her and Luna, she saw Hagrid waving at her again. He must be making another attempt to teach Grawp how to whistle. But she noticed that he was not waving hello, he was motioning for her to come to his hut. Curiously she came and Hagrid kept the door open for her. Suddenly the sky had started to bring heavy drops of rain to earth and she ran quickly inside, covering her head pitifully with her hands.

As Ginny ran inside, the drops seemed to get heavier and drop like there was no tomorrow. It wasn't the nice cool rain; it was the warm rain the predicted more humidity. Once she got to Hagrid's dirty front step, she looked over the Hogwarts grounds: there were already deep puddles forming, owls flying towards the owlery, mud splattering everywhere, and little first and second years running for shelter.

Ginny stepped inside and saw Fang lying down by her feet. Ginny smiled and bent down to scratch him behind the ear which Ginny knew that was his favorite spot to be pet. The closer she got to him, the more she noticed he wasn't as young as he used to be. There was grey hair sitting on his musty smelling nose where there used to be black. He also didn't bark as much every time she knocked the wooden door when she came over to Hagrid's for afternoon tea. There was a worn look in his eyes that said "I'm here still but just for a little longer."

As she got up, Fang gave her a look that she understood as 'thanks' and she took a place in the big armchair by the window. They were similar to the ones in the Gryffindor common room and she wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. Since his early expulsion, he was allowed to live in Gryffindor Tower until he was seventeen where, Hagrid told her, Dumbledore had given him a little house near the forest to become a game keeper and earn his keep there. To remind him of his youth, she suspected that Dumbledore had yet again given him a wonderful present and bestowed a Gryffindor chair to him. This one looked slightly nicer, as not as many students had sat upon it.

Hagrid stepped inside from the back with a bundle of firewood. He placed them inside the bare fireplace and asked Ginny, "Do ye mind if I...?" as he motioned to a bright pink umbrella leaning against the wall beside the hearth. She quickly shook her head and he picked it up. Flames shot out of the tip and warm air entered the room as if it had been going for hours. He put back the umbrella and leaned the slightly wet firewood against the wall close to fire so it would dry quicker. He strolled over to the faucet and filled up his teapot with water and set it over the small flames then took a seat by Ginny and started to make conversation.

"So, how'd ye think ye did on yer NEWTS?"

"I think I did well on all of them. Of course Potions, I know I didn't do well on that one. I can't believe they expected you to know the fourth step after you put in the dragon liver in Felix Felicis...."She said this with a huge sigh. She hated the idea that she couldn't do Potions even though she knew that she would never use it. But the idea of something that was printed in front of her in her second-hand books showing her exactly how to do it and not able to, really bugged her.

"Well, I think tha' you'll do fine, you always do. But if you don', the Holyhead Harpies aren't gonna ask you ter make the Draught of Living Death while passing the Quaffle along. An' if they do, you know ter write ter me and I'll give em a piece of me mind!" he said defiantly.

Ginny giggled. She knew that Hagrid would always be there for her and stand up for her even though she knew perfectly that Gwenog Jones, the captain, would defiantly not ask her to do that. She had met her before and she loved Quidditch, not Potions, as much as she did.

The teapot whistled and Hagrid hustled over to the fire and made Ginny and himself tea. He offered the usual rock cakes which she declined and handed her tea. She sipped her warm Earl Grey and looked out the window, her knees tucked up close to her chest. The rain hadn't gotten much harder than it was before but the puddles had certainly gotten deeper. Ginny thought that it could easily swallow a first year.

When a couple of Hufflepuffs flew from the pitch through the torrential winds and rain, the thought of being a professional qudditch player sprung up out of the blue and began to frighten her. She remembered getting the letter from Gwenog Jones saying that she had heard of her, Ginny Weasley, and wanted to come see her play. Her, Ginny Weasley, what was so special about her? I mean, I can play Quidditch, but not superbly well. I may be the best chaser Hogwarts has seen for a while, but I'm not good enough to play professional Quidditch. No way. But Gwenog Jones simply wanted to see her play, not the chasers on her team that she had chosen, not her Seeker, who was in her opinion, could rival Harry's own seeking skills, not anyone else from the other houses. She choose her.

But what if she made a wrong choice that day. Maybe after she had won the game for her team, maybe Gwen thought that this was something easy for her and took no effort. Sure, she didn't have to practice too hard to be good but she did practice just as hard as her team mates. This wasn't professional Quidditch, this was just Quidditch to take your mind off of studying, just something fun to do. How would she compare to the other players? Would they laugh at her? Should she fall off her broom, would they go and help her back up or would they simply shake their heads and head to the locker rooms? What if she failed to score and Gwenog would pull her aside, announcing her removal of the team loud enough for the whole team to her? Would they then applaud in approval? Maybe they would send her to a lesser team, one that taught young children how to fly. That wouldn't be so bad, she supposed....

There must be something great about how she played Quidditch though. How else would the Gwenog Jones honestly know about her? Could McGonagall have bragged Ginny up to her? Or perhaps it was Slughorn, yes that was most likely. Hermione had told her last year that she had seen Gwen at one of their Slug Club meetings. That had to have been it. But Slughorn was head of Slytherin House, not Gryffindor. Why wouldn't he choose one of his own students instead of Ginny Weasley? Then she remembered how Slughorn kept mentioning how if she applied herself to potions and took extra lessons, she might be as good at it as she is with Quidditch. So he did notice how she played. "But that doesn't make a difference," persisted an annoying voice inside her head. "That Slytherin Kyrie Makote is great too! Probably better than you are... he should have recommended her instead of you." The evil voice was eating at her insides and was making her nervous.

"No," spoke a voice that sounded some what like her own. "She is brilliant. She knows it as well." But even as that voice brought her hopes up a little, she couldn't help but feel a little pessimistic.

Ginny and Hagrid shot the breeze a little more and talked about the Holyhead Harpies and their chances this season (which Hagrid noted that they would be the best due to Ginny being on the team, where she failed to point out the flip-flop of her stomach) and other little things that crossed their mind. As they were talking about Charlie's latest letter to Hagrid, three loud knocks came from the door. Fang gave one deep bark but stayed where he was lying. Hagrid got up and answered the door.

"Nice ter see you again! Where are Ron an' Hermione?"

Knowing exactly who it was, Ginny got up quickly, not caring that her cold tea slipped from her unexpectedly sweaty palms without warning, and stepped in front of Hagrid's bulky body. The one person she did expect there was Luna, wondering where she might have wandered off to, not Harry Potter carrying a drenched, dripping umbrella.