Cherchez La Femme

Cherchez la Femme 7: New Visions and Old Flames

After Hermione's dramatic exit from his flat, Harry expected to hear from her again, and soon. But several days passed without a word. Harry wondered if he should contact her, and had been on the verge of doing so several times yet never actually followed through. If she and Ron had patched things up, he didn't want to stir up any trouble by barging in.

Harry had just returned from an evening's work when he saw the flames in his fireplace leap up. He quickly crossed the room, expecting to see Hermione's face. Instead, Ron's head appeared.

"Ron?" Harry hoped he didn't sound too surprised.

"Yeah. Listen, Harry, I guess Hermione's told you about how we're --"

"Right, yes, of course," cut in Harry, feeling very awkward.

Ron's face relaxed slightly. "So I was wondering..."

"You don't have to ask, of course she can stay here."

"Huh?" Ron appeared puzzled, then said, "No, I was actually going to ask if I could stay with you 'til I find a new place."

"Oh. Of course. Of course you can stay," Harry stammered. "Come as soon as you like."

"Great. I'll be over soon." Ron gave him a tired smile then disappeared.

Harry slumped into a chair and stared at the flickering flames, then let his gaze roam around the flat. It was a bit on the cluttered side at the moment, but he had a feeling Ron wouldn't care.

Ron appeared a short time later, looking chagrined. "Thanks again," he said, setting down his things. "Got to stick together, don't we?"

"I guess so," agreed Harry, still a little dazed at the turn of events. "But what about Hermione?"

"What about her?" Ron's voice turned harder as he swung his feet up on an ottoman. "Got any beer?"

"I think so." Harry checked the kitchen and returned with two cans. Handing one to Ron, he took a seat opposite and contemplated his friend. Ron had been his best friend ever since that first train journey to Hogwarts, so many years ago. As they had grown older, however, Harry had realised he and Ron held decidedly different views when it came to women. He'd been frankly surprised when Ron and Hermione started seeing each other two years ago, although he'd known Ron had long had feelings for her.

Harry had thought Ron's usual behaviour with girlfriends seemed unlikely to work with Hermione, whose idea of a good time involved more than watching Quidditch and spending time in bars, unlike many of the girls Ron had dated since Hogwarts. The two of them now seemed prime examples of how what can be accepted in a friend becomes unacceptable in a lover.

"So what happened?" Harry asked.

Ron gave a resigned shrug and swallowed some beer. "She's still not over you."

"That's ridiculous, Ron. You two have been dating for a long time. And she and I broke up an even longer time ago."

"Who really understands the mind of a woman, Harry?" Ron asked rhetorically. He drank some more, then muttered, "We should never have gone back for her."

"What are you talking about?"

"That first Halloween. If we hadn't gone back for her I bet we'd never have become friends and this whole situation might never have happened." Ron glowered at his empty beer can.

"You reckon we should have left Hermione for the troll?" Harry asked, not believing Ron meant it.

"Yeah, I do. She's clever enough, would have figured out something. It just wasn't meant to be."

"Maybe you two weren't meant to be, but that doesn't mean we should have abandoned her," retorted Harry. "She was just a little girl. Hell, we were all just stupid kids. You honestly think we should have turned our backs on her just because Hermione mastered Wingardium Leviosa before you did?"

Ron gave a short laugh and shook his head. "See," he said softly, "you still do fancy her. Listen to yourself - defending her and arguing with me, your oldest friend. Besides, we weren't stupid, we were pretty good. Did knock out a fully-grown Mountain Troll."

Harry shot Ron a look of only partly mock annoyance, then grinned resignedly. "Stop talking rubbish about Hermione and get us another beer, you useless git."

Ron readily complied, and was thoughtfully pouring Harry's drink into a large mug he'd charmed frosty, knowing Harry preferred a glass, when Hedwig let out a loud shriek, causing Ron to spill beer all over himself. Harry merely jumped up and opened the window to let in the large tawny owl whose appearance had aroused Hedwig's territorial ire. He snatched the letter from the owl and unfurled it, scanning the contents.

"Who's it from?" asked Ron, dabbing at his robes with his wand and ineffectively attempting a stain-removing charm.

"Gabrielle."

"She's not having nightmare memories again, is she?"

"No." Harry was already in motion, tossing together a change of clothes and Summoning his broom. "Now she's seeing the future."

Harry bent over the kitchen table and scribbled a quick note to Ginny, telling her he'd be gone for two days and to cover for him at the office. After rolling up the parchment, he gave it to Hedwig for delivery.

Turning to Ron, Harry said, "I've got to go take care of this, so the place is yours. Try not to get too crazy." He grinned before moving back to the living room and into the fire, uttering the latest password to Sirius' unlisted floo.

**

Harry tumbled into the plush sitting room, his bag and broom preceding him onto the floor.

"Zut."

"Bless you," said Harry automatically, still on his hands and knees. He'd never really mastered floo travel, preferring to fly or Apparate whenever possible. But since the enchantments on the house preventing either of those means of travel, he had no choice but to use the floo network.

"I was not sneezing! Look at you - every time you come 'ere it is one big cloud of soot."

Harry picked himself up and saw Fleur regarding him with disapproval. "Hello to you, too," he muttered, brushing off his robes and reaching for his things. "Where's Sirius?"

Fleur snorted. "Where he usually is zese days, with my mother."

"Not jealous, are you?" Harry chuckled.

"Of course not. Why would I be jealous?"

"No reason. Just that you're used to having all the handsome men chase after you."

Harry regretted his flip tone when he glanced over and saw Fleur looking at him like he was prey. "Gabrielle is anxious to speak with you," she announced frostily. "I will tell Sirius you are 'ere."

Watching Fleur walk away, Harry acknowledged she did have a flair for dramatic exits, always managing to have something swirling about her, whether it was her hair, her robes, or in this case, both. Shaking his head, he proceeded directly to Gabrielle's room.

"You came so quickly," she said as he walked through the door.

"After that message you sent, how could I not?" Harry answered, taking a seat. "This is the first prediction you've had since escaping from the hospital, isn't it?"

"Yes." Gabrielle appeared too agitated to say anything more, much as she had when the flood of memories had first returned to her.

"Is there any way you can just show me what you see, so you don't have to talk it through?" Harry asked. Somehow, he didn't think a Pensieve would work to hold visions of the future.

"Not really." Gabrielle started to shake her head, then stopped. Looking thoughtfully at Harry, she said, "But for you, maybe there is a way. Come stand by me."

Harry obeyed.

"Put your hand on the pendant," she instructed, and he again complied, feeling the metal grow hot under his hand, but this time the sensation didn't make him jump as it had done the first time. "I haven't actually done this charm, but my tutor said I showed unusual aptitude, considering my limited training, "Gabrielle said. "Anyway, I'm really counting on our affinity to make this work. Colligo."

Harry felt the heat increase and spread rapidly from his hand through his arm and then warmth flooded his body. As Gabrielle touched her own hand to his chest, Harry experienced a jolt, and then he wasn't seeing anything in the room. Instead he seemed to be outside.

He blinked against the bright sun, which cast a blaze of obscuring light in the direction he wanted to look. The scene became clearer to him as his eyes adjusted, but this clarity was of little comfort. What Harry saw, and sensed, was a scene of destruction as bad as anything he'd witnessed when Voldemort himself was still in power. Harry could see figures lying about in a manner that suggested they'd been victims of Avada Kedavra, but couldn't make out their identity. However, he felt an overwhelming sense of loss - as powerful a feeling of devastation and hopelessness as a Dementor could inspire. He strained to discern the figures again, and as he did so, the sense of loss increased but still he could not see who was dead.

Eventually Harry did see a figure he recognised: himself. It was a strange thing to see yourself being tortured, Harry decided. His mind alternated between suturing completely with the scene of horror before him and knowing that he was only seeing a vision, something that had not yet been made real. But it seemed real enough, and the emotions Harry sensed his future-self experiencing were as vivid as anything he had been through in reality. He wanted to tell himself to fight off the curses, but felt himself becoming ever more drawn into the scene, until he wasn't sure if he was hearing his future-self screaming for mercy or if the sounds were coming from him right now.

The blazing light that had blinded him from clearly seeing his attackers lifted just then and Harry saw his assailants: Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. In that split-second of recognition, the pain let up for a moment and from the corner of his eye Harry saw another person appear. The Malfoys glanced away from Harry; the figure was Gabrielle. She was running towards him, and suddenly more people came into view, voices shouted in confusion, and a sense of chaos replaced the pain.

Gabrielle broke the connection sharply. The force of the disconnection, combined with the shock of what he'd seen, sent Harry reeling across the room. He leaned over, hands on his knees, breathing heavily. He could feel sweat across his brow and his legs were shaky with the kind of adrenaline rush that made him feel both relieved and victorious at once again escaping the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

"Are you alright?"

Harry raised his head and nodded at Gabrielle. "Fine," he said, making his way over to a chair and sitting down, his shaky legs belying his words. Taking several deep, gasping breaths he looked at her more closely and asked, "Are you always this unmoved after a vision? How can you stand it, seeing those things?"

"It is not easy," she admitted. "In this case, I had already seen it before, so I knew what to expect. But when I do See, such visions leave me very tired."

Having got his breath back, Harry shifted in the chair and said, "Gabrielle, when you see things - is there only one future you see? I mean, how can you know for certain that's what will happen?"

"I don't know what it is like for other Seers who are not of Veela descent. I see what is possible." She shrugged.

"But if a detail is changed, mightn't that alter the outcome of your prediction?"

"I know it is hard to accept what you have seen. But I think this vision is accurate. Whether I like it or not, my Seeing powers were honed by Lucius Malfoy and of course, Narcissa. I remain particularly attuned to their workings and plans. I didn't try to see it, Harry, it just came to me." She shuddered and added with a sigh, "Again, I suppose it came because for so long I was their eyes into the future. I can sense when they are planning something big."

"Right, but do you think this is the only outcome, what you saw?"

Gabrielle smiled slightly. "As I said, I see what is possible. Sometimes there are multiple possibilities, yes. But don't you also recall what I told you before, that Veela have the privilege of choosing the dead? This time I am choosing. I want those two dead, no matter what it takes."

Harry stared. "Lucius and Narcissa?"

"I cannot personally kill them, but I can see how they could be killed. You, however, have enough magic and the training to do such a thing. You have killed before, I believe?"

"Yes, but that was completely different. That was Voldemort." When Gabrielle failed to appear pacified Harry continued. "You know, most evil wizard ever?"

"These two would love nothing better than to succeed him in that title. I have seen what they intend to do, and stopping them is simple: we kill them."

"Gabrielle, I'm not denying they did terrible things, but you can't start playing Vigilante Veela."

"It is my right," she insisted stubbornly. "You've seen the Pensieve, you saw Narcissa take great delight in telling me over and over exactly how she killed my father, you saw what they did to me. I'm surprised Draco was even allowed to live - his mother seems the type to eat her young."

"Speaking of Draco - does he figure into this at all?"

Gabrielle shook her head, perplexed. "Not that I've seen. It's odd. From what you told me, he seems to be taking pains to prevent his parents from being punished for his actions, and they are doing the same to ensure he knows nothing of theirs."

The puzzlement left her face as she returned to her point. "As long as they are alive I will always have this strange link with them. I don't want it. They are the worst people to call themselves witch or wizard that I have ever met."

"Maybe, but that doesn't give you the right to take justice into your own hands," Harry argued. "There's a system we have to follow."

"I do not care about your stupid system. I do have the right - it is my ancestral right."

Harry removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Sorry to be the one to break it to you, but the ancestral rights of Veela don't carry much weight any more." He slid on the glasses again and said, "I agree we need to stop them, but what we need to work on is a plan, not a vendetta. I'm going to call a meeting with Sirius and the other Aurors here, and we're going to spend today and tomorrow strategising."

He stood up to go but Gabrielle moved swiftly to the door, blocking Harry's way. "Why did you come here if you don't intend to help me?"

"As I keep telling you, I do want to help. But I also want to keep you out of Azkaban. Trust me, Lucius and Narcissa aren't worth that kind of sacrifice." When Gabrielle still refused to move Harry sighed and said, "Look, I'm not saying they won't be killed. It could happen, in the line of duty. I'm just saying we're not going in there with the intent to kill. Okay?"

Gabrielle appeared somewhat mollified. "Okay. And I suppose it would be a shame to deprive that red-headed friend of yours the opportunity to prosecute them."

Harry smiled and opened the door. "Now you're talking. If anybody has a right to make the Malfoys pay, it's Ron."

**

Ginny didn't bother to look up when she heard a rap at her office door two days later. "Come in," she called, busily scribbling away on a roll of parchment. "And Harry if that's you I'd advise you to duck because --"

"It's not Harry."

Ginny stopped talking and jerked her head up at the sound of that voice. Seamus stood in the doorway, broomstick in hand and looking slightly windblown but still grinning at her in that familiar way he had, as if anyone might have flown directly from Hong Kong to London just to say hello.

"I thought you said it was too far to fly on your own," she said faintly, staring from his face to the broomstick.

"Well, I didn't do it non-stop," he replied. "Stopped off in Cyprus for a rest. Saw your brother Bill and his new place, the new Gringotts' offices there. He says hello," Seamus added helpfully.

Ginny remained seated. Her body felt oddly paralysed -- she wanted to move, to leap over her desk and run to Seamus, but she seemed rooted to her chair. "Why did you come back?" she finally managed to ask.

"Do you have to ask?" Seamus' smile flickered and went out, like the flame of a candle just snuffed.

When Ginny said nothing, but simply continued to stare, Seamus spoke again. "I know I may be a bit presumptuous in coming here," he began, swallowing. "I know when I left we said it was over. For all I know you're seeing someone else. But I -- I guess I had to know."

"Know what?"

"Whether you still loved me."

"Seamus, how can you ask me that? How can you leave like you did, then turn up unannounced and ask me that?" Ginny put her hand to her mouth and shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I should have owled ahead, but you haven't returned any of my earlier owls. Is there -- is there someone else now?"

"So much has happened since you went away. You can't just walk in here and think we'll pick up where we left off."

Seamus sagged against his broom and looked dejected. Running a hand through his hair, he said, "So there is someone else."

At that moment, Ginny's door swung open again. "Before you even start, let me explain --" started Harry. He came to an abrupt halt as he took in the scene before him. "Seamus?"

"Harry." Seamus nodded at him, then glanced to Ginny, who had managed to stand but remained stationed behind her desk.

Feeling like she had walked into an unpleasantly complicated French novel, Ginny sat back down and braced her chin against her hands. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could form any words, Seamus said brusquely to Ginny, "I'll be in town for at least a week. You know where to find me," and with a curt nod at Harry, left the room.

"Ginny? You okay?" asked Harry uncertainly.

Ginny raised her wand and slammed the door shut. "Do you care? Think you can just go away for two days and not tell me anything except some cryptic message, then swan in here with one of your breezy excuses? Think you can take me for granted? Good old Ginny, always around. Always available for Harry Potter. Well, in case I didn't make things clear enough before, those days are over!"

"Are you finished?" Harry demanded. He'd been startled when Ginny began her tirade, but as it continued found himself simply angry. " I know I asked you to take a lot on faith in this situation, but I would have done the same for you. That's the way this job works - you don't always get nice, careful explanations about everything. And I don't know what Seamus was doing here but if you've got a problem with him, sort it yourselves and don't take it out on me."

"Get out of my office," snapped Ginny.

Harry turned to go. "When you've got hold of yourself, I do have something important to talk to you about. Just in case you were wondering where I've been the past two days."

"What's wrong?" asked Sirius as Harry returned to his own office. Harry had put Sirius on as official staff; he'd been doing so much free-lance work already it made more sense to just hire him outright.

"Ginny's in a foul mood because I've been incommunicado the past couple of days. Didn't even give me a chance to tell her about Gabrielle. Oh, and Seamus is back in town, apparently. Found him in her office. And she accuses me of not taking care of business," he muttered.

"Sounds like you two do have some unfinished business," pointed out Sirius.

Harry shook his head and sat down behind his desk. "I've got enough headaches right now without opening that up," he said. "Have you heard anything more from Gabrielle?"

"No. But everything is under control," Sirius said, watching Harry closely. "We've got extra surveillance on the Malfoys. Listen, you and Ginny have been silently feuding for two weeks now. Why don't you talk to her, get this settled once and for all?"

"Oh, it's settled already," replied Harry grumpily. "She's made that pretty clear."

"She does have a right to be angry - especially considering much of what was discussed the past two days deals with Gabrielle's security, which Ginny is in charge of," observed Sirius.

"I was going to brief her on that but she kicked me out of her office."

"You two have been friends a long time - don't you think you owe it to each other to get past this? At least so you can work together effectively?" Sirius gave Harry an encouraging smile, which quickly faded on beholding Harry's stubborn expression. "Look, you had to have some idea she might still be hung up on Seamus when you took her out. Was it really such a complete surprise?"

Harry shook his head and looked away for a moment. Turning his attention back to Sirius he said, "I guess not. It's not really the fact that she may still have feelings for him that gets me so upset - I just can't believe she would use me that way. You know, sleep with me just to see what it's like." As he reached the last sentence Harry looked down and was almost muttering as he spoke. He glanced up to gauge Sirius' reaction, then continued, "If I wanted that there's plenty of other witches I could have gone to. Never expected it of her."

"Why don't you talk to her about it, then?"

"Since when are you the expert on relationship maintenance?" Harry demanded, finally cracking a smile.

Now Sirius appeared embarrassed, but not much. "Well, the past few months have given me a bit more contemporary expertise. But honestly," he added, looking less mirthful, "I've known you and Ginny a long time now - I don't think she'd do something to deliberately hurt you. Go and see her. Nothing's happening on the Malfoy front right now, and I'll let you know if anything new develops."

Seeing there was no way Sirius would let him off, Harry grumblingly got to his feet and headed for Ginny's office.

"You again?" she said by way of greeting.

"I think we should talk."

Ginny chewed on her lip, then, heaving a dramatic sigh, gestured for him to step inside and closed the door. "Okay, you're here. Talk."

Stifling his quickly rising irritation, Harry said, rather formally, "I realise I walked in at a bad time earlier. I'm sorry about that, and for not giving you more information about where I was the past two days."

"That's a start." Ginny still regarded him suspiciously, but then her look softened and she admitted, "I guess I did take things out on you. Seamus kind of caught me off guard. But Harry, you can't just drop out of sight like that and leave me in the dark."

"Actually, I can," he started, then hastily changed course as her eyes lit up again with anger. "I can," he corrected, "but I should have kept you better informed, since you work on the project too. I guess I'm just used to doing everything on my own. And after what's happened between us...well, I wasn't sure you'd want to be put in a situation where you'd have to work that closely with me."

"You're still angry with me over that night, aren't you?"

Harry felt heat suffusing his face and he spoke stiffly. "I'm over it."

"No, you're not," she said shrewdly. Ginny pulled out one of the chairs in front of her desk and took a seat, indicating Harry should do likewise. Exhaling gustily, she said, "Harry, I wasn't completely honest with you."

"You don't have to explain," he interjected.

"I do, actually. When I told you our sleeping together was just a one-off, that it didn't mean anything, well, that wasn't quite true. It was meaningful to me, but it also made me realise that I -" She stopped, looking awkward.

"That you still loved Seamus?" Harry finished for her.

Ginny nodded. "I just told you that stuff because I thought it would be easier if you were angry with me. Of course, that line of thinking totally backfired on me because then things between us became even worse. I'm sorry."

Harry had been watching her intently but now looked away for a long minute. Still staring at the wall, he said, "I never meant to take you for granted. If there's been a time when I made you feel anything like how you've made me feel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I just was -"

"Oblivious, I know," finished Ginny. "The whole of Hogwarts seemed to know I had a massive crush on you yet you remained sadly clueless. But what happened between us - Harry, please don't think it was just an experiment on my part. That evening you were so sweet to me, and I'd been so confused ever since Seamus left, it just seemed like a kind of extension of our friendship. I'm sorry I couldn't give you more."

Harry inspected his shoes and said, "Don't apologise for that. I guess I missed my chance by about five years." He looked up and gave her a smile. "Seamus is lucky. And I'd feel lucky to still be your friend."

"You know you are, even if you do act from time to time as if you're taking lessons from Ron," teased Ginny.

"Well, he is staying with me now, you know. Bound to have some influence on me." Harry grinned and glanced at his watch. "You want some lunch?"

Ginny did. Over lunch, Harry quietly filled her in on Gabrielle's vision and the plans to stop it from happening. "She couldn't see any of the others who might be involved, but she said that might come later. I told her to owl me immediately, just with the names on the parchment. So don't make any weekend plans - things could change at any moment."

"This would have to happen the week Seamus comes back to town," sighed Ginny, but at least she was able to persuade Harry into going shopping with her to find a present for Seamus, a peace-offering of sorts.

**

Ginny found it difficult to concentrate that afternoon, what with the news of Gabrielle's disturbing vision and worrying over where she stood with Seamus. The gift she had chosen now sat wrapped in her desk drawer. She didn't even know if Seamus would accept it, given the circumstances under which he'd left that morning, but decided she at least had to give it a try.

Although she could have talked to him directly, Ginny decided to first contact Seamus' secretary to see if he'd receive her. For all she knew, Seamus had left her office, gone to his own and promptly blocked her from accessing his office floo. Filled with dread, she rose and walked to the small fire that burned in her office, and within seconds Miss Hathaway's face appeared. Feeling foolish, Ginny said, "This is Ginny Weasley. Is Seamus Finnigan there?"

"Just a minute, please, I'll put you right through."

The flames shifted and now Ginny found herself staring at Seamus.

"Ginny? You wanted to see me?"

Seamus, she noted with relief, appeared more puzzled than angry. Ginny paused. There was so much she wanted to say, but she couldn't begin to organise it all. It was the same way she'd felt when faced with replying to one of Seamus' owls - there was too much to say, so she'd ended up saying nothing at all. "I think we should talk," she finally said. "Seamus -"

"Yes?"

"There's nothing between Harry and me. I think you got the wrong idea. Well," she added, honesty kicking in, "We did sleep together but only once and only because I was confused about you and then he got mad at me because he thought I was using him but I wasn't and - oh, maybe we should just talk in person," she concluded, breathless from her run-on sentence.

"Yeah, that might be best," Seamus agreed, his expression difficult to read.

"Come over to my place when you're done at Gringotts," Ginny instructed, and stared into the fire as Seamus' face disappeared.

**

When Ginny opened the door for Seamus that evening she felt suddenly bashful, as if it were their first date again, yet there was also something completely familiar about his presence.

"How's Miss Hathaway?" she asked conversationally, closing the door and taking his travelling cloak.

"Great, as usual. A little surprised to see me, but she hides it well."

"She won't be popping round to inform you of any last-minute banking matters, will she?"

Seamus smiled. "No, of course not."

Even though they were engaged in pointless chatter, something about the way Seamus smiled, even the way he spoke such mundane, meaningless words melted Ginny's heart. Melted it so much, in fact, that she suddenly felt self-conscious about standing too near him, afraid he would somehow be able to sense the strength of her feelings by mere proximity.

Thus, they stood awkwardly apart, until Ginny conducted him to the sofa, and then they sat awkwardly, he on the couch and she in a chair.

"So, you wanted to talk?" Seamus finally ventured.

"Yes. Yes, I did." Ginny licked her lips nervously and wondered where to begin. Just looking at him sitting before her made Ginny feel she'd been incredibly stupid to ever let him go away, stupid to have never answered his letters, when here was the one person in the world who had the power to make her feel both happier and sadder than anyone else. Here was the one person who could leave her tongue-tied before they'd even had a conversation because she wanted him so much.

She looked down at her knees and noticed idly how far apart she and Seamus were sitting.

"Ginny, I missed you." Seamus filled the conversational void by coming straight to the point. "I meant what I said earlier in your office. I had to see if there was any chance you still wanted to be with me. And I'm assuming, by what you told me over the fire, and the fact you asked me over, that you do have some interest in trying again?"

Ginny had been struggling to find just the right words; strangely, Seamus' direct, plain speech left her unable to say anything at all. She raised her eyes to his and nodded, and suddenly the distance between their knees was not so great after all. In fact, any distance between them soon became quite non-existent, as they fell upon each other with a fervor never before witnessed by Ginny's new, chintz-covered sofa. Such unbridled passion was satisfying at the moment, although Ginny was later to regret having never mastered the button-sewing charm her mother had so often tried to teach her. Mrs Weasley always insisted it came in handy, but just how useful Ginny had never before appreciated.

Several hours later, while sitting with Seamus and taking turns eating an entire container of mint chocolate chip ice cream - the only food on hand - Ginny dropped her spoon, jumped to her feet and exclaimed, "I almost forgot! This is for you." Summoning the wrapped gift from her bag, she handed it to Seamus in exchange for the ice cream spoon.

He unwrapped it and, turning it over in his hands, said appreciatively, "This is a brilliant piece of kit. Where'd you get it?"

"Well, Harry helped me pick it out," Ginny admitted.

"Harry?" Seamus pulled back.

"Don't get upset. I asked him to help me. Honestly, Seamus, he's the one who got the short end of the stick here. And you did ask him to keep an eye on me." Ginny leaned appealingly against his bare shoulder.

"I suppose I did, but only because I thought he had no interest in you. I mean, if he could resist you all those years when you were throwing yourself at him -"

"I was not!" Ginny protested, then reconsidered. "Alright, maybe I was, but I was only sixteen."

Seamus smiled lecherously. "If you'd got to know me at sixteen you wouldn't have been such an innocent."

"I don't doubt that," returned Ginny with a grin. "However, things didn't work out that way and now you've got a top-of-the-line magical navigator for your broom. See, it shows where you're going, plus gives flying conditions in three time zones."

"It's great," Seamus agreed. "Too bad I won't get much use out of it."

"What? Why not?"

"Ginny," Seamus said, more softly. "I came back because I couldn't stand to be without you. I don't care what the job is, nothing is worth being away from you again. I'm going to resign my post and see if they'll reassign me here."

"But you can't. Your career -"

"Isn't as important as you are. I only left in the first place out of pride, and spent the whole time I was away regretting it."

"I don't know what to say." Ginny stared down at the melting bits of ice cream still stuck to the container. "What if I had said I was with Harry? Would you still want to come back?"

Seamus nodded. "I think so, yes. I just have this feeling about us, Ginny. That we belong together. I gave up way too easily before, and I'm not about to do it again. Ever."

Ginny looked up at the strength with which he said the last word. "So you're coming back for good?"

"That's right. Happy?" Seamus smiled down at her, but Ginny noticed the remnant of uncertainty behind his eyes.

"Very." She leaned over and kissed him, trying to put into the kiss all the feelings she'd had and been unable to articulate. She might not always be able to find the right words, but Ginny did know the body language necessary to banish any lingering doubt Seamus might have.

So absorbed was she in this work that Ginny failed to notice, let alone hear, Harry calling tentatively from the fire. "Hello, anyone home?"

"What's that?" muttered Ginny, tearing herself away from Seamus for a moment and glancing in the direction of the sound. "Harry?"

She pulled her bathrobe more tightly around her - somehow it had become very loose indeed - and walked over to the fireplace. Seamus followed, his initial chagrin at the interruption changing to amusement when he saw Harry's embarrassed face.

Harry took one look at Ginny in her bathrobe, and Seamus wearing very little and clapped a hand over his eyes. "I would have owled but it's urgent, and I didn't dare write."

Ginny laughed and shooed Seamus away to the bedroom, then turned back to Harry. "What's happened?"

Emergency or no, Harry still glanced about the room in embarrassment. "I'm assuming you two sorted things out?"

"Yes, I'll tell you all about it," Ginny nodded impatiently. "What's so urgent you're willing to witness Seamus in his underwear?"

"Remember what I told you at lunch? I just had an owl from Gabrielle. Her parchment has two names on it: Hermione's and Ron's." Harry looked grim. "I want both of them moved to Sirius' house. Do you mind escorting Ron? I'll get Hermione."

"I'm on my way." Ginny jumped up.

"Oh, Ginny?" Harry called out casually, breaking the serious mood. "You might want to put on your Auror robes as opposed to a bathrobe. Be a little more professional in your dress."

Ginny glanced down and realised her bathrobe was gaping open at her chest a bit more than was desirable. Making a face, she tossed a handful of Floo Cleansing dust at him and said, "Nothing you haven't seen before, I'm sure. Now go away and let me get dressed."

Harry laughed as the dust hit the flames, causing his image to vanish with a dramatic burst of blue flame. Ginny, meanwhile, steeled herself for her greatest diplomatic challenge yet: telling Seamus he'd have to get a rain-cheque for the rest of the evening.