Harry Potter and the Secret of the Twins

April 2002

On Halloween afternoon the common room was strangely empty of females older than thirteen. Everyone had gone to get dressed right after their last class, except for Rose. She had hurried off to talk to Snape again first and then gone up to change.

Just before the feast was supposed to begin the girls started to walk down from their dormitories. Harry, Ron, and Neville were standing together, and Rose was the first of their dates to come down.

The bodice of her thin strapped dress robes was quite snug. Scarlet cloth swirled around her ankles as black-slippered feet peeked out as she dismounted the stairs. Her hip length black hair was arranged into a delicate twist, the scarlet lock hanging down in a whispery ringlet. Rose smiled at Neville and took his offered arm, and as they left Harry noticed the gown left her back mostly exposed.

Romina came down just after they had disappeared, straitened her traditional style black dress robes, and left the common room. Whoever her date was, they were in another house.

Harry and Ron waited nervously for several more minutes before Hermione came down. She had bought new dress robes, the bodice almost unnoticeably snug and the sleeves loose. It was the same floaty material as her old dress robes, only midnight blue instead of periwinkle, and her hair was done up in its elegant knot. She took a speechless Ron's arm and they left Harry all alone.

If Harry had been in any other house he would have bolted in the hour long minutes that followed. He was more nervous that he had ever been before in his life and only pure Gryffindor courage kept him there until Ginny came down. When she did he was glad he'd stayed.

Her white dress robes were snug, though not nearly as much as Rose's, with delicate straps instead of sleeves. The skirt was strait compared the other girls', but still quite full. Her flame red hair was curled into soft, delicate ringlets that fell to just past her waist. She smiled tentatively when she saw Harry waiting for her, and he offered her his arm, which she took almost cautiously.

As they walked down to the Great Hall Harry felt he had to say something, though he wasn't quite sure what. "Er... you look very nice, Ginny."

Ginny blushed slightly. "Thank you, Harry. You do to." Harry was wearing robes practically identical to the ones he'd worn the year before.

Harry smiled at her, but couldn't think of anything to say at the moment. They entered the Great Hall silently and sat down to dinner with Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Neville. Finally dinner was over and the ball began as soon as the first, second, and third year students had left.

Rose practically dragged Neville onto the dance floor as soon as the music had started. They were dancing quite close together, and Harry noticed that Neville was head and shoulders taller that Rose. A bit later Ron and Hermione joined the growing throng. Once again Harry was left to the last.

"Um... Would you like to dance?"

"Only if you want to, Harry," she said softly, her brown eyes serious.

Harry paused, then stood and offered her his arm. Ginny smiled and stood to take it, and he led her onto the dance floor. He took her right hand in his left and placed his other on the small of her back, and Ginny placed her left hand high on his arm. He didn't really know how to dance, but started off revolving around her, Ginny swaying softly and rotating on the spot.

After a bit Ginny giggled, then bit her lip to stop herself.

"What?" he asked dumbly.

Ginny sighed. "I was just thinking of my dance lessons at home. Mum made us all learn."

"Oh," Harry said, thinking he must feel quite clumsy to her.

Ginny smiled almost slyly. "I had Ron for my partner most of the time, but for my last year before Hogwarts I danced with Dad. That's when I found out why we all had to learn."

"Why was that?"

"It's really silly," she said seriously.

Harry raised his eyebrow at her, and she giggled again.

"If you really want to know I'll tell you!" she giggled. "Dad proposed while they were dancing."

"Oh," Harry said, feeling the back of his neck go red.

Ginny smiled: she really had a beautiful smile. Then she sighed softly and leaned her head up against his chest. "You're doing just fine," she murmured.

Harry hadn't even realized she'd slipped up that close to him. Both of Ginny's bare, freckled white forearms where pressed up against his chest below her cheek, acting as a barrier between their bodies. Harry had somehow wound up with both his hands placed firmly on her lower back. Harry looked down at Ginny again, at her face. Her eyes were closed and she was smiling softly. He could feel her breathing despite her arms, it was deep and even. If he had not been able to feel her supporting herself he would have thought she'd fallen asleep.

Harry glanced around to see what his friends were up to. They were into the third song, still slow. Rose had her head resting on a happy Neville's shoulder, as he was only about half a head taller then her, a smile playing on her lips. Ron and Hermione were dancing with room for another person between them- though a small person- and Ron seemed to know exactly what he was doing dancing, but was obviously having trouble talking to Hermione. Finally he leaned down to whisper something in Hermione's ear, and she giggled and nodded. They left the dance floor and moments later Harry saw them slip out separately, several moments between their exits.

Quiet suddenly Ginny giggled, and Harry looked down at her again. She was watching the door vaguely. "They're being so obvious, honestly!" she sighed.

"Who?" Harry asked. "Ron and Hermione?"

Ginny looked up at him and nodded. "They might as well leave together. Fewer people would notice." She glanced off to her side and took a quick step back, her hands returning to his hand and arm.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Fred," She said simply. "He'd just noticed us and was trying to decide whether to be furious or tease us. Just because I'm four years younger than him..." She trailed off, glaring over at her brother.

"He'll probably tease us," Harry said, wincing slightly.

Ginny looked up at him seriously. "You don't know how protective my brothers are. I'm just lucky that Ron didn't notice. He's the worst of the lot. Fred'll be watching me for a while as it is."

Just then a fast song started. It was the fifth or sixth song of the ball. "Why don't we sit down for a while, then?" Harry suggested.

Ginny smiled and nodded, letting Harry lead her over to a table.

"Er... I'll go get drinks, shall I?"

Ginny nodded again, still smiling. Harry returned moments later with the drinks, and as he approached Fred left hastily, his sister glaring after him. Harry handed her a Butterbeer, and she turned to him, her glare nearly disappearing.

"Thank you, Harry." Her voice was slightly sharp.

Harry opened his mouth to ask her what the matter was, but closed it when Rose arrived.

"Neville went to get drinks, and I thought I'd see how my best friends are doing."

"Fine," Ginny half snapped.

Rose raised one delicately arched black eyebrow at Harry. "You are obviously not doing your job."

"What?" Harry asked, slightly annoyed. He decided to play innocent. "You mean telling you to be a good girl?"

Rose laughed. "No, that would be the job of either my parents or a brother. Since my parents don't know and I don't have any brothers..." She grinned mischievously. "I was talking about your job to make sure Ginny has a good time."

Harry gave her a pointed look. :Spirit Sister, you had better behave yourself.:

Rose's face became suddenly blank. :You sounded normal Still toneless but normal How:

Harry shrugged. :I'll figure it out later. Promise me you'll be good.:

Rose sighed. :I promise Spirit Brother:

Ginny exploded. "Will you two quit!"

Rose and Harry turned to give her identical blank faces. "What?"

"You keep sitting there, watching each other, not saying a word, and the whole world can see your both getting your points across," she snapped. "It's getting on my nerves."

"Which are already frayed enough," Rose said pointedly.

"Rose..." Harry said warningly.

Rose glared at him, then broke down. "Alright! I'll be nice to your date." She sniffed sharply. "Even if it is none of her business," she added scathingly. Harry glared at her and she sighed, turning to Ginny, apologizing as she did. "Look, I'm really sorry, Ginny, I'm just a bit up tight tonight..." She trailed off and gasped slightly. Ginny was gone.

Harry glared at Rose, then left before she could say the words that were so obviously on her lips. He didn't want her to apologize. He just wanted to find Ginny.

No matter what he wanted, her apologia reached him. :I'm sorry Harry I shouldn't have been so awful to her:

He ignored her words in his mind, not bothering to answer at all. It was hard to brush of the feeling of anxiety that came with them, but he managed to close the link that flowed between them, not even realizing what he was doing. He stormed through the corridors, not even really knowing where he was going.

Moments later he was in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. Violet was there again, and they both were quite tipsy.

"Password, dear?" she asked, eyeing him like one might a hungry lion. "You're the second one that's come storming up here, you know."

"Who else has?" Harry snapped.

"Why, I believe it was the young lady you escorted, James. Lily."

"I must be seeing ghosts," Violet breathed to the Fat Lady, staring at Harry. "James and Lily..."

The Fat Lady eyed him oddly and nodded. "They did come up like that from a ball in there fifth year. I can't see why they'd be like that as ghosts, though. They got married... were quite happy, before they died." She seemed to be struggling to remember who he was. "Sirius came up laughing moments later... Remus was glaring at Peter and trying not to laugh..."

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry growled. "I took Ginny Weasley to the ball. James and Lily were my parents. Moonshadow."

The portrait swung out from in front of the portrait hole, taking a shocked Violet and Fat Lady with it.

Ginny was still in her dress robes sitting on the floor in front of the fire and glaring into it when Harry entered. "I'm surprised you noticed that I left," she said icily without turning to him.

"Rose apologized," Harry said softly, walking over beside her. She turned her back to him. He sighed. "I'm sorry, too."

"For what?" Ginny asked sharply.

"Anything I've ever done wrong."

Ginny stiffened. "You act like you did down there, and then you dare come up here and apologize for anything you've ever done wrong?" She hissed dangerously, rounding on him.

Harry sat down beside her. "Rose and I are friends," he said cautiously, hazarding a guess.

"Very close friends," Ginny sniffed, presenting him her back once more.

"Yes," Harry said slightly stiffly. "She's like the sister I never had. Or rather, I did have a sister. A twin. For one day."

Ginny turned to him, her eyes still holding touches of suspicion and fury. Still, her voice was soft and kind, if not as warm as usual. "What happened to your sister?"

"Rose found out about Caroline, but I haven't even told her what I found out a month ago," Harry said softly. "My twin was killed by Voldemort the day after we were born. He had somehow managed to find the only weak spot in the manor's defenses."

Ginny bit her lip, tears coming to her eyes. "I'm so sorry Harry. You didn't need-"

She broke off suddenly, because Harry had leaned over and kissed her gently. He hadn't intended to kiss her, just to listen to her say whatever she felt she needed to. She didn't need to apologize for anything, but he was willing to listen to anything she had to say. Almost.

It seemed like forever before Ginny pulled away, breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling raggedly in her tight bodice. "Harry..." she whispered breathlessly.

"Hmm?"

She smiled and slipped up right beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder, having said all she needed to in that one word. He slipped his arm firmly around her waist, and they sat there for a long time. Ginny's breathing became deep and even and Harry thought she'd fallen asleep until she spoke.

"Rose seems to really like Neville."

"She might," Harry said evenly. "She was very excited when he asked her to the ball."

Ginny smiled slightly and snuggled closer to him. "Once she was talking to Snape for five minutes that should have been the beginning of our lesson."

"They get along surprisingly well," Harry replied, more than a touch amused.

"Anyone getting on with Snape at all is surprising." Ginny said in the same tone.

"Especially with the way he gets along with her father."

"I wonder what they were talking about. Not Potions help, that wouldn't take five minutes, much less the time between classes added in."

"They seem almost to be friends," Harry said lightly, shifting to lean against a nearby chair and wrap his other arm around her waist. Ginny sighed contentedly and moved her head to his other shoulder, laying across her chest and lacing her hands together over his.

Time past. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours: neither knew.

"The Fat Lady called me 'Lily' when I came up," Ginny said suddenly.

Harry shifted, looking at her curiously. He grunted slightly and pulled out his wand. "Accio photo album!"

Ginny looked at him curiously as the photo album that Hagrid had given him in his first year came flying down at his summons. "Why-"

"Just a moment," Harry said softly, flipping through the pictures. There it was. A photo of the Marauders at fifteen in dress robes with four girls. An obviously snobby blond with Peter, a very pretty brunette with Sirius, a girl who looked suspiciously like Minerva McGonagall (twenty years younger with her long black hair down) with Remus, and his parents. James was wearing bottle green robes and had his arm draped over Lily's shoulder. She was wearing sleeveless white dress robes identical to the ones Ginny was wearing, her red hair not yet dark and curled, hanging past her waist...

Ginny looked at the picture and gasped, her eyes moving to Harry's face. Harry pulled it out and read the back.

Halloween 1975 ~ Our Fifth Year
Remus Lupin and Minerva McGonagall
Peter Pettigrew and Catherine Adams
Sirius Black and Maralin Hollows
James Potter and Lily Evans

Ginny giggled. "Professor Lupin and Professor McGonagall?"

Harry shrugged. "She was good friends with my mum and Maralin at school. I wonder what happened to Catherine Adams," he said, touching the girl with Wormtail. "Mum married Dad, Sirius and Maralin got married, Remus and Professor McGonagall are teaching here, and Wormtail's a Death Eater..." He was shaking slightly with rage. Wormtail had betrayed his parents to save his skin, and would have let him die, too...

"Harry," Ginny said softly, her voice worried and a little scared.

"I can't put you in the middle of all this," Harry said suddenly. "It's dangerous."

He shifted slightly, preparing to release Ginny's waist, but she suddenly twisted around in his grip, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him fiercely. Harry's brain stopped working properly; all that registered was that Ginny, beautiful red-headed Ginny Weasley, was kissing him. Halfway afraid that she'd change her mind, Harry returned her kiss. She sighed contentedly and parted her lips in invitation. Harry open his mouth and touched her lower lip tentatively with his tongue... and the clock chimed midnight. The ball was over and the rest of the Gryffindors would be returning soon.

Reluctantly, Harry pulled away. Ginny was breathing heavily and smiling and her cheeks were rosy with a blush. She had a very pretty blush; it went well with her smile. "I'm not being put in the middle of anything, Harry Potter," she whispered fiercely. "I know hat I'm doing and how dangerous it is." With that she stood and straitened her dress robes, then swept up the stairs to her dormitory.

Harry's blissful mood lasted until, as he was getting into bed, his brain began working properly again. Kissing Ginny put her in danger. And... he liked her. A lot. That put her in even more danger. Then he knew that nothing could ever happen between them. He would not get Ginny killed.

As he closed his eyes he saw a vision of Cho, after she had discovered that Cedric had been murdered. He wouldn't leave anyone like that, either.

* * * * *

When Harry woke the next morning he was in a very good mood... until he remembered what exactly had happened between him and Ginny the night before. He needed to talk to Rose.

:Good morning, Rose.:

The explosion in his head was nearly deafening. :DON'T YOU "GOOD MORNING" ME HARRY POTTER AFTER THAT STUNT YOU PULLED LAST NIGHT YOU'RE LUCKY I DON'T COME OVER THERE AND KILL YOU:

:I see you've figured out tone, Spirit Sister. Oh, you know this punctuation/breathing thing? I think you just think of talking instead of words.:

:Lovely. This won't save your skin, though. For tone just do it. Same as everything, apparently.:

:Thanks. What exactly did I do, anyway?:

:What did you do!!! You are so lucky I'm not allowed over there Mr. Potter!:

:I still don't know what you're so upset about... Unless you... No, you wouldn't be that mad about that.:

:What else did you do, Spirit Brother? I can kill you for blocking me out later. After I find out if I have to kill you twice.:

:Oh... well... you see, I... Nothing.:

:And you expect me to believe that.:

:Why don't you explain what you mean by blocking you out?:

:Did you do something you shouldn't have last night?: Rose asked evilly.

:NO! ... Well ... not exactly.:

:"Not exactly"? Oh, this is getting better and better...:

:If you're going to be that way, then I won't tell you. I'll just not talk to anybody about it and decide if I've made the right decision by myself...:

:I'll be good! This had better be really good.:

:First you're going to explain what you mean by me blocking you out.: Harry said stubbornly.

Rose sighed mentally. :You shut off our connection. I couldn't even sense you. You were just gone, disappeared right out of my head. It only returned when you contacted me this morning.:

:Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know. Maybe it's a good thing, though...:

:Ooh... what did you do?:

:Um... Er... Well, that is... I kind of... kissed Ginny.:

:Oh, that is a good one!: Rose crowed. :You told me to be good and then you went off to kiss little Ginny Weasley!:

That made Harry suspicious. :And were you a good girl?:

:Um... no, not exactly. I had a very lovely kiss good-night in the Rose Garden. It seems Neville is braver than most people think.:

:So Ginny was right. You do like him.:

:Um-hum. He's really a wonderful person. You said something about a decision. To kiss Ginny? That was the right decision. Assuming she thinks it is.:

:Rather!: Harry snorted. :She kissed me, too!:

:Definitely the right decision, then.:

:I was afraid you'd say that,: Harry said gloomily.

Rose softened immediately. :What's the matter, Harry?:

:Me liking Ginny puts her in danger.:

:H- oh. Voldemort again.:

:Exactly. Do you think he'd hesitate to kill Ginny if he found out?:

:No, but I think you should talk to Ginny about this.:

:No. I can't risk her.:

Rose's mental voice was rather strangled when she replied. :I don't think "like" is quite the right word, Soul Brother.:

:What do you mean?: Harry asked suspiciously.

:If you want my opinion, Harry, I'd say you're in love.:

Harry's eyes widened in shock, but he didn't have a chance to reply, because just then Ron pulled open his bed curtains and hit him with his pillow.

"Oi, Harry, if you don't get up we're going to be late for class!"