The Temple of Le Fay

Hermione had been delighted that Ginny had passed her brothers tests.

"Now you'll have to get yourself a broom," she said. "And if you take Ron shopping with you, you'll spend all day in Quality Quidditch Supplies. I can finally get some homework done without him bothering me all the time."

Ron grinned. "You didn't seem to mind me bothering you before now."

"We only have two weeks before school starts," Hermione went on, ignoring him. "I can't imagine how much time I've lost already. I'm going to be so very far behind."

"How can you be behind if term hasn't started yet?"

"Ron, this is the year we begin studying for our N.E.W.Ts," Hermione said, patiently. "We should already be working with our set books so that we can start the additional reading when we get to school."

"Mental," Ron said quietly, shaking his head as Hermione started hunting for her spare quill.

*

For the second time that summer, Harry found himself in Diagon Alley, wandering happily among the crowded magical shops. Charlie walked with Ron behind Harry and Ginny, who held hands easily, the teasing that the Weasleys had subjected them to long since having grown old.

"Here we are," Harry said.

"I still can't believe you're doing this," Ginny said.

"Well we are," Harry said.

"Besides, if Fred and George don't start spending that money soon, it'll all go back into developing even more dangerous jokes," Charlie said. "Filch would never forgive us."

Ginny stopped in the doorway of the shop. "Well, maybe I can wait for a new broom if the alternative is Filch going mad."

Ron grabbed her shoulders and propelled her forwards. "Come on. Besides, I'm dying for a chance to try it out. I never got a free broom when I got on the team."

"No, but you're a Keeper, little brother," Charlie said. "That's why you got stuck with the Cleansweep Five. Besides, you got new dress robes last year."

"Yeah, I know," Ron said. "Don't worry, Gin. I won't make a fuss. I'll just nick your broom when you're not looking."

"You're welcome to try," Ginny smiled, as the shop owner greeted them. "But I'll get Hermione to put an anti-theft charm on it."

"Do you think she will?" Ron asked Harry, as Ginny starting looking at brooms.

"Probably," Harry said, looking at a display of Firebolts. "And I don't reckon you'll get Hermione to tell you the counter spell, either."

"Probably not," Ron said. "Still, Charlie's right. I don't need anything better than my Cleansweep to get around the goals. Ginny needs the broom, really."

"Well, yeah, otherwise she'll need to be really be good with flying charms," Harry smiled.

"Oh, shut up. You know what I mean."

"Yeah, but you're being mature. And reasonable, too. It's weird."

"I'm allowed to be mature," Ron grinned. "So long as Hermione isn't around. Imagine if she caught me being all grown up. She'd actually want me to do Prefect stuff next."

The two friends shared a smile at that idea.

*

Ginny was getting frustrated. She'd asked Harry how it had felt when he'd first flown, and he'd told her that it was the first time he'd felt he was really a wizard.

"Don't get me wrong, I loved being at Hogwarts, but everyone seemed to think I'd be really special, that I'd be casting spells as easy as breathing. Of course, I couldn't. I barely knew one end of a wand from the other. But that first time on a broom, even if it was just one of those Cleveland Trainer ones, well, I just knew I could do anything."

Which was pretty much how Ginny wanted to feel about her new broom, but none of them had felt quite right. In desperation, she'd grabbed one of the Firebolts, but that hadn't felt right either. She scowled at the expensive broom, half-tempted to try out its supposed diamond hard covering by smashing it against something.

He wasn't helping. First he'd gone on about not getting a new broom himself. She rather thought that he'd been joking, as he'd been laughing a minute later but it had made her feel a bit uncomfortable. Any new broom cost a lot of money, and she still wasn't entirely happy about her brothers and Harry spending so much on her.

She looked around the shop once more, practically daring Ron to say something when their eyes met. Ron kept silent, however, and instead Ginny moved her attention to the frazzled looking shopkeeper, Radsgabbet King, himself a former Chaser at Hogwarts. She softened her expression when he flinched, but the Weasley temper was still bubbling beneath the surface.

"You've seen pretty much everything we have, Miss Weasley," King said, almost on the verge of tears. "I'm afraid brooms aren't like wands. One is really as good as the other most of the time."

"There has to be one," Ginny said stubbornly. "Haven't you got anything else?"

"All we have left is the second hand brooms," King said. "They're in terrible condition, some of them."

"Okay," Ginny sighed. "Let's see them."

King pulled a box from under the counter, and he and Charlie hefted it onto a table. Ginny sorted dispiritedly through the brooms with their split handles, the lost twigs hovering feebly a few millimetres above the bottom of the box and the miscellaneous used equipment that the truly desperate had pawned in search of a few extra Sickles. She was seriously considering letting the Weasley temper take hold once more and dashing the box and its useless contents to the floor when she felt it.

Ginny held firmly to the handle of the broom as she lifted it from the box. She recognised the make, an Arrowhead, and even that it was quite an old broom, five or six years old. But it was right. It was the broom she wanted. Her new broom.

"Ginny, can I have a look?" Harry asked. She handed him the broom reluctantly, as though worried that having someone else touch it would spoil what she felt.

"I thought so," Harry murmured. "Excuse me," he asked King. "Do you know who sold this broom?"

"It was a girl, just left school, I think. She said she needed money for something or other."

Harry smiled, and turned to Ginny. He passed the broom back and she smiled as she took it. It still felt right. She knew she was being silly, but at the same time, she saw the look on Harry's face whenever he had his Firebolt in his hands.

"That's Alicia Spinnet's broom," Harry said. Ginny looked blank for a second, and then grinned even wider.

"Perfect for a Chaser," Ron said, cuffing Ginny lightly on the shoulder.

"Yes, very much so, I flew an Arrowhead when I was at Hogwarts. Can you pay and leave now please?" Radsgabbet asked.

"Shouldn't Ginny buy some protective equipment as well? It's a rough game, is Quidditch. Especially when we play the Slytherins," Ron said.

"I shall give you a full set of equipment in Miss Weasley's size if you just leave. Please," he added desperate to get the Weasleys out of his shop and out of his hair. The man looked to Harry as though he were on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

*

The door slammed decisively behind them as they walked out of the shop, Ginny's carefully wrapped broom under her arm and Ron and Harry struggling to see over the tops of the piles of free gifts Radsgabbet King had insisted on them taking away with them.

"I thought it was really nice, the way he dug around out back trying to find that set of enchanted Bludgers," said Charlie, looking through The Chasers Chapters: A Complete Chronology Of Those Who Score. Harry and Ron, meanwhile, muttered something from behind their loads, but Ginny didn't notice. She had her broom, she had her broom, she had her broom!

Of course, she still had to get on the team.

*

Ginny was pushing hard, as she had done for the last several days. Harry watched with a smile as she swept through the orchard, weaving tightly around the trunks of the tall trees. He waited, hovering above the ground, his hand out and ready for Ginny to slap it and set him off on his dash through the orchard to find Ron, who would then find Ginny, who would again find Harry. . .

It was the same drill they had followed since Ginny had unwrapped her Arrowhead and insisted on a training session before dinner that evening. Harry was beginning to wonder what sort of monster they had unleashed. Ginny clearly wanted to get onto the Quidditch team badly enough to put it above anything else.

Harry grinned at that idea and stretched his hand out even further, just catching Ginny's fingers as she sped past. Her accuracy isn't bad, he thought. All this practise will help her get to perfect, though. We're certainly doing enough of it.

*

Ginny scowled as she slowed to a halt on her Arrowhead. She'd nearly missed Harry's hand that time. She should really slow down, take a break.

Then she squinted out over the length of the orchard and watched Harry clap Ron's hand, slewing to a precise halt almost instantly as he used Ron's acceleration to counter the Firebolt's speed.

*

Hermione sat at the foot of one of the orchard's apple trees, absently noting times on a pad of paper as Harry, Ginny and Ron continued their sprint training. She was halfway through a commercially available biography of Merlin and King Arthur, which she was using to brush up on the legend before delving into the much more arcane volumes that sat beside her.

It was pleasant, sitting in the shadow of the great apple tree that spread out above her. The orchard was almost silent, except for the distant bird song and the occasional slap of hand on hand. A cool breeze was teasing her hair slightly, and the gnarled tree root by her side was the perfect shape to hold a jug of chilled pumpkin juice for when the flyers got thirsty. She glanced up, and smiled as Ron whizzed overhead, his expression intent as he jinked and juked his broom through the trees between himself and Ginny.

All in all, Hermione was relaxed, content, and very glad to be there.

*

Ron slapped his sister's hand, hauling hard upwards on his broomstick to avoid slamming into a huge beech tree. He turned his broom slowly, watching Ginny speeding off towards Harry, and dragged a sweaty forearm across his also sweaty forehead.

Beneath his breath, he muttered something that would have offended Hermione. He pulled a flask from his pocket and took several long swallows of water. When he was feeling slightly less dehydrated, he slipped the flask back in his pocket and watched Ginny twist and turn through the trees. Once or twice, he noticed, she came close to hitting a tree, and Ron knew that the long practises were tiring her as much as they were him, if not more so.

Glancing at Harry, he noticed that his friend was watching Ginny with concern etched on his features as well.

Ron pulled his whistle from his pocket, and blew sharply on it, just as Ginny slapped Harry's hand. Leaning forward on his broom, he flew steadily towards the other two, and came to a halt beside them.

"Practise is over for today," he said, blinking beads of sweat from his eyes.

"It's only three o'clock," Ginny protested.

"We've been pushing too hard for too long. I'm going to fall off my broom in a minute," Ron said, angling downwards towards where Hermione sat reading.

"Well, we can carry on, right Harry?"

"I think Ron's got a point," Harry said. "An afternoon off won't hurt. We can go for a swim or something."

"But I need to practise!"

"Come off it Ginny," Ron said. "You've been getting plenty of practise. We all have." He set down lightly beside Hermione and smiled at her as he picked up the jug of pumpkin juice. He took a long draft, and then passed it to Harry.

"But if I don't get on the team, all this will have been a waste."

"Ginny, you've still got three years at school. If you don't get in this year, you can try again next year. It's Katie's last year, so there'll be a spot for a Chaser open next year as well."

Ginny paled. "Katie's still at Hogwarts? But she finished last year."

Harry threw himself down on the ground. "She got sick in her first year, glandular fever. She missed loads of classes, and she's been working a really weird class schedule ever since, sort of half one year, half the next. She sat some of her N.E.W.Ts last year, the rest this year."

"So she's only part time?"

"Yeah. I thought you knew. Sorry."

Ginny sank to the ground, staring blankly at her broom which she laid across her lap.

"I can't believe there's only two Chaser places."

"Katie will be picking the Chasers this year, too," Harry said. "Ron and I can't, not if you're trying out."

Ginny nodded quietly. "I suppose that makes sense. Do you know who else will be trying out this year?"

"Seamus said he'd be up for Beater. Hey, guess who'll be back at Hogwarts this year?" Ron said.

Harry shrugged, and Hermione looked up from her book.

"Lee! How cool is that? Dumbledore told him when he was here for your birthday, Harry. Madam Hooch is going to teach him how to coach Quidditch, and he's going to be commentator this year again. Fred told me last night."

Harry smiled. He'd always felt that Lee's commentary made for a lot of the atmosphere at Quidditch matches, even if he was highly biased in favour of Gryffindor.

"Of course," Ron said, slyly. "He'll be so used to having all those Weasleys on the team, Ginny will have to get on with us. Imagine if he had to remember seven different names.

Despite herself, Ginny smiled at her brother.

*

There was just a week to go before school started. Ginny was rarely to be seen indoors. Instead, she spent all her time in the orchard, wringing every last drop of magic from her broom, trying every tip from Quidditch Through the Ages, Flying With The Cannons and The Chasers Chapters to give herself an edge. She thought about how hard Oliver Wood had been on the Gryffindor Quidditch team - something she had learned during the time she spent watching and listening to Harry, but never speaking to him.

"Ginny Weasley, come down here now! I know you haven't done any homework this holiday!"

Ginny winced at the sound of her mother's voice. Looking around, she saw Mrs Weasley, far away and shorter than Ginny was but still incredibly formidable, and waved to her.

"I'll be in in a minute, mum," she yelled, turning her broom to accelerate away.

"You'll be in now," Mrs Weasley shouted. "Ron, Harry and Hermione are all working, and they don't have exams next summer. Now come down here and go and do some work."

Ginny stopped her broom, and hung without moving in mid air for a few seconds, but one more look back at Mrs Weasley was enough to convince her. She sank slowly groundwards, coming in to land a few feet from her mother.

"Good girl," Mrs Weasley said. "Now, Harry and the others are working in the back room. I don't know if you want to join them or not, but Hermione said she'd be happy to help you out if you want her to."

Ginny shook her head.

"No, it's okay. I'll work in my room. There won't be as many distractions there. Besides, I don't want to hassle Hermione when she's got enough to be going on with those two in there."

Mrs Weasley smiled at her daughter. "Very sensible of you dear. Yes, I can believe Hermione is having trouble concentrating. Do you want anything before you get to work?"

Ginny thought of the stack of books sitting unopened on her desk.

She smiled at Mrs. Weasley. "No, it's okay mum. I'll be fine."

*

Dinner came, and Ron took a tray up to Ginny's room. When she didn't answer his knock, he left her food outside and went pack down to start on his own.

"She must be really behind on her work if she's not eating," he whispered to Harry as Fred talked excitedly about the chances of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes opening a branch in Hogsmeade. Zonko's Joke Shop had apparently had a thirty percent drop in profit since the twins had opened their shop which, as Fred said, wasn't bad going for two months business.

Harry sat behind his plate, picking worriedly at his meal. As soon as he was able, he sprung up from his seat and made his way upstairs. He saw the uneaten food sitting outside Ginny's room, and tapped lightly on the door. When he didn't get any answer, he turned the handle and let himself in.

Ginny was frantically scribbling away on a roll of parchment. Harry watched for a minute as she made her way through what seemed to be a long and complicated Arithmancy equation. When she paused for a second, he coughed lightly. Ginny jumped violently, and spun around in her chair.

"Harry!" she yelled, her cheeks a bright red that he suspected wasn't caused by embarrassment. She was breathing heavily, as though she'd been running. "How long have you been standing there?"

"A minute or so," he said, walking over to her. "Are you okay? I was worried."

"I'm fine. I've just left all this a bit late," she said, her eyes frantically darting from one part of the room to another. Harry followed her gaze and realised that she had different homeworks open at different parts of the room.

"Ginny, how many subjects are you trying to do?" he asked.

"I've got eight pieces of homework," she said, "and I'm trying to get some of it all done tonight. I can't believe I let myself get so far behind!"

She threw herself at Harry, burying her face in his t-shirt for a minute. He held her close, his gaze travelling around the room and resting on her Arithmancy work.

"Do you want some help?" he asked.

"No," she said fiercely into his chest. "I got myself into this mess. I'll get myself out of it."

"Well, okay. It's just. . ." he tailed off.

"What?"

"Well, I don't do Arithmancy, but I've seen Hermione doing her work often enough. I'm pretty sure that the, er, the quadratic factor of two tablespoons of dragons' blood isn't a flowering Mandrake shrub."

"What? Oh no!" Ginny broke free from Harry's embrace and darted over to the table. She scowled as she looked over the parchment. "Oh, I don't believe it. I've got my Herbology homework mixed up with my Arithmancy. I can't believe I was so stupid." She slammed her fist onto the top of her desk with a loud thump. Harry winced at the thought of the bruise she'd end up with.

"Well, these things happen," he said carefully as Ginny sank onto her bed, scowling. "I turned in a History of Magic essay once where halfway down I'd written a paragraph about how much I hated it when Ron and Hermione kept bickering when we were supposed to be doing homework."

Ginny looked up. "What happened?"

"Er. . . Well, Binns marked it Acceptable, but said I might want to use a more well-known comparison to goblin warfare in future."

Ginny giggled briefly, but her face fell into a scowl again. "I'm never going to get through all of this. Why did I leave it so late? I'm never going to let this happen again."

Harry sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. "You don't have to do it all yourself, you know. We'll all help. And it can't all be in for the first day. Don't go mad trying to do it all now. Leave some to do the first week back. Okay, so you'll have other homework to do as well, but you'll go completely raving if you try and do it all now. They'll have to take you off to St Mungo's, like Lockhart. Maybe you can get a bed next to his. Hermione can come and visit you both."

Ginny giggled again, and seemed genuinely more cheerful. "I'm still an idiot for leaving it all this time. I just want to get on the team so badly."

"I know. But McGonagall will have you dropped if your marks suffer because of Quidditch. You'll just have to learn to balance it all out. We'll help."

Ginny nodded. "You're right. I think I've learned my lesson." She sighed, and looked around. "Do you think it's worth trying to rescue anything tonight?"

Harry looked around the room at the myriad pieces of homework. "You have any Dark Arts work?"

"Want to show off, do you?" Ginny asked.

"Well, I need to brush up anyway. I'm doing my homework for that tomorrow, now we've got Herbology out of the way."

"How come you've got homework anyway?"

"Professor Dumbledore left it for us when he came by. It's to 'prepare us for the supreme challenge of our Nasty Evil Wizarding Tests' as Professor Sprout put it."

"What do you make of it so far?"

"The N.E.W.T. stuff? Well, it's okay, pretty hard, but the homework has mostly been stuff that we had a brief look at during O.W.Ls. I don't even want to think about Potions just yet, though. Can we do some nice easy O.W.L. homework?"

"Easy? Just you wait, Potter," Ginny glowered, softening the fierce look with a smile. "The instant we get back on the Express, I'm going to be testing out all the hexes I know on you."

"Won't work," Harry said. "I taught you most of them."

"Not this one," Ginny snarled, launching herself into Harry and knocking him backward onto the bed. She bore down on top of him and kissed him hard, with an intensity that at first surprised him, but that he was quick to reciprocate.

She's never kissed me like this before. . .

Harry would never be able to say just how long that kiss lasted. A sharp rap on the bedroom door surprised them both and Ginny leapt back off of Harry with a shocked look on her face, a look that changed to one of frustration as the door opened.

"Ginny, Harry, are you two alright?" Mr Weasley asked as he poked his head around the door.

"Yes, dad, we're fine," Ginny replied innocently. "Harry's been helping me with my homework. I'm afraid I've let myself get a bit behind," she admitted.

"Well, don't overdo it," he said, staring pointedly from Harry to his daughter. "It's getting late, anyway."

"We'll be done soon," Ginny replied. Mr Weasley nodded and pulled the door to behind him as he left.

"That," Ginny murmured, "was a kiss and a half."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, looking anxiously at the door. "Er. . . About that. . ."

"I think it's probably a good idea we're going back to school very soon and you won't be able to come into my bedroom," she said, a mischievous look on her face. Harry flushed red, but nodded.

*

Ginny and Hermione sat up late working on a schedule for Ginny to get through the piles of homework she'd let build up. Hermione was well versed in the art of time management, and Ginny soon had a neat timetable to work through. Hermione, Ron or Harry would help her with the work, as they all had passed all their O.W.Ls the year before.

Once homework had been dealt with, Ginny fell back on her bed with a sigh. Hermione looked at her in amusement.

"That was a Harry sigh, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Ginny said. "When he came up here, we kissed."

"You've kissed a lot of times," Hermione pointed out, clearing the camp bed she was using of wadded up parchments.

"I know," Ginny said with a wide grin. "This time was different."

"Oh?"

"Much more intense. We were kissing here," she said, pointing at her bed.

Hermione's eyes widened. "Really?"

Ginny looked up at her friend. "You and Ron haven't-"

"Of course not! What if someone caught us?"

"Dad nearly did," Ginny said, blushing furiously. "We were lucky he knocked before coming in."

"I'll say you were," Hermione said. The thought of Mr or Mrs Weasley walking on her and Ron kissing had always made her feel slightly ill.

"But it was so weird. I kissed him, and it was just different. Like it was more, I don't know, more important? Like it meant more this time?"

"What were you doing before you ki-" Hermione began, before ducking to avoid Ginny's pillow.

"Nothing like that! Harry was just being, well, he was just being Harry. I was getting so nervous about my work, and he said something that just really calmed me down and made me feel much better."

"He does do that," Hermione said, throwing Ginny's pillow back at her. "He's growing up, Ginny. So are you, but Harry is. . ."

"He's becoming more and more mature. He's turning into the leader people sort of expect him to be. He's, well, he's sort of what people expected Lockhart to be, isn't he?"

Hermione coloured slightly at the thought of Gilderoy Lockhart, but nodded. "You're right. I've been trying to put words to it for weeks now, but you're right. He's living up to people's expectations. People have such high expectations when it comes to Harry, and it would be so easy for him to just not bother even trying, but he can't do that. He's a born leader, he's a great wizard, and he's going to end up being everything people need him to be."

The two girls sat in silence for a moment. Hermione felt slightly flustered about the high praise she'd heaped on her absent friend, and was grateful when Ginny broke the silence.

"You know what else?" the younger girl asked.

"What?"

"He's a great kisser, too."

*

Harry and Ron lay awake, staring at the darkness, listening to Hermione and Ginny laughing and trying to imagine what the girls were up to below them that was so hilarious.

"Letter from Bill? He always writes to Ginny, doesn't he?" Harry suggested.

"Yeah, but it's nearly midnight. Owls don't deliver at night. They go off and hunt. One time I saw Errol swoop on a rabbit and try and fly off with it."

Harry looked at Ron, interested in spite of the ongoing laughter from below them. "What happened?"

"Daft bird flew about two inches and keeled over. Out cold. Keeps forgetting he's about two days away from croaking."

"Well, maybe they're talking about what fantastic boyfriends we are," Harry suggested.

As though in answer, the girls started laughing again, even louder.

"They're mad, you know that?" Ron said. "What are the odds that we'd end up with the two maddest girls in Hogwarts?"

"Could be worse," Harry said cheerfully. "We could have ended up not going out with them."

"Oh, shut up," Ron grumped, throwing his pillow across the room. Once Harry had thrown it back, and his trainer as well, Ron grunted "S'pose you're right, though."

The laughter finally died away.

"About bloody time," Ron said. "No manners, some people."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, feeling his eyes growing heavier by the second. "But I'll let you discuss that with Hermione tomorrow, shall I?"

Ron's only reply was a loud snore. Harry drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.