Just Plain Harry

Chapter 29 A Tricky Situation

Harry wasn´t laughing later that night, as he lay in bed, completely unable to sleep. As Dobby had gone through his usual embarrassing ritual of tucking him in, he´d said, "Dobby is sorry that the bad, bad man is dead!" He´d then looked around wildly for a moment, and would have hit himself over the head with the fireplace tongs if Harry hadn´t leapt out of bed and stopped him. This had had the effect of dragging Harry´s thoughts back to the Dursleys, but that wasn´t what was keeping him awake. He kept replaying the scene with Ginny in the common room over and over in his head, and even after a few hours, he couldn´t decide if he wasn´t sleeping because of happiness, or frustration.

When morning light finally started filtering in through the windows, Harry got out of bed, dressed quickly, and slipped down to the common room. It was too early to go down to breakfast, but he felt that if he stayed in bed one moment more, he´d go insane. He headed over to the corner where he´d left his books the night before, but stopped when a voice spoke out of the near darkness, making him jump.

"How do you stand it, Harry?"

"What? Is that you, Dean?" Harry asked. He could barely make out the other boy in the shadows near the magically banked fire, but he slowly picked his way over to him. He hadn´t even realized Dean hadn´t been in the dormitory during his long, sleepless night. "What did you ask?" he added, when he´d reached Dean and sat down in a chair across from him.

"How do you stand it? How do you live with the blood on your hands?"

Harry sat there, rigid with shock. He remembered Cho asking him that exact same question on the shore by the lake, the day Ginny had had her first vision of the Dark Mark. Ginny had helped him answer it then, but she wasn´t here now, and he really didn´t know what to say to Dean. He did realize that Dean wasn´t lashing out at him, he was lashing out at himself, but that didn´t help him answer the question.

"Well...I guess I...erm, I don´t, really," he finally said. "I mean, I don´t do it very well. Hermione and Ginny are always telling me that none of it is my fault, but...it´s hard to believe them sometimes."

"Yeah," Dean said. He didn´t say anything else for awhile, and Harry just sat there with him, both of them lost in their thoughts. Finally, Dean stirred. "Ginny said the same thing to me...she kept going on about the difference between causality and blame...but, really, what is the difference? The plain truth is that if I hadn´t been a wizard, my parents wouldn´t be attacked. My mum wouldn´t be -" he choked on the word, "tortured."

"But maybe they won´t now," Harry said. "I mean, because of what Ginny Saw, there´ll be protection for them, when there wouldn´t have been before."

He heard rather than saw Dean shake his head.

"Ginny Saw it," he said, "so I know it will come true. My mum will be tortured, because of me. So I ask you again, Harry, how do you live with it? How do you keep going, and do all the things you do, with this...this burden hanging over you?"

Harry thought about that. What had Ginny said when Cho had asked that question? Almost all he could remember was how surprised he´d been that she had stood up for him.

"I suppose I just do," he said slowly. "I think about it, of course - Hermione says too much - but I try to just live." As he said this, he realized that it was the simple truth, and he realized something else. "And I have to. You have to. If we don´t, then Voldemort wins. Prejudice wins. Evil wins. We can´t let that happen, Dean." He could feel Dean´s eyes boring into him, and he shut his mouth with a snap. He couldn´t believe he´d just said all of that, and to Dean, of all people.

Suddenly, Dean stood up, towering over where Harry sat in his chair.

"Good answer," was all he said, before turning and heading up towards their dormitory.

Harry only sat still for another moment before realizing that he could not, could not, just sit and think right now. He had to talk to somebody. He didn´t have the energy to force Ron to wake up, he didn´t want to be caught sneaking into the girls´ dormitory to talk to Ginny or Hermione...suddenly, he remembered Sirius. Since Sirius could never enter the castle as a human, it was easy for Harry to forget that he had a godfather living nearby, on whom he could rely. But that was one reason why Sirius was here, after all, to be here when Harry needed him. He needed him right now.

He returned to his dormitory briefly to fetch his outdoor things and the invisibility cloak. No snores were coming from Dean´s bed, but the curtains were drawn, and Harry hoped that Dean had fallen asleep. Under the invisibility cloak, he made his way down to Remus´ hut without incident, and it wasn´t until he´d already knocked on the door that he thought that Sirius and Remus would probably still be asleep. He´d almost turned away and headed back to the castle before the door opened, and a very sleepy Remus poked his head out.

"Who´s there?" he asked, coming awake quickly when he saw no one.

Harry pulled the invisibility cloak off his head, and was immediately hustled into the hut.

"Harry," Remus said, as he bustled about, preparing tea, "you know you shouldn´t be wandering about in the middle of the night like this. Not that we´re not glad to see you, of course." He indicated that Harry should sit down at the table and handed him a cup of tea.

"It´s not the middle of the night," Harry said.

"It bloody well is the middle of the night," a voice grumbled from under the covers piled on the sofa. "Do you see the sun yet? Who says it´s morning?" An eye poked out from among the covers, and suddenly, Sirius sat up, his hair looking almost like Harry´s usually did. "Harry! Is something wrong - Ron, Hermione, Ginny?"

"Everyone´s fine," Harry said quickly. "Well, except for Dean."

"Dean?" Sirius said. He swung his legs off the sofa and onto the floor, then tried to stand up and walk over to the table, but the blankets were still wrapped around his legs, so he only managed an ungainly lurch. Harry watched him, fascinated at how much the hut felt like a home.

"Dean Thomas," Remus said, setting out a teacup for Sirius and beginning to prepare breakfast. "The boy whose parents were in Ginny´s vision."
"Oh," Sirius said. He took a sip of tea, looking over the rim of the cup at Harry. "How is Ginny?"

Harry felt himself turning red. "She´s fine," he said, looking down at his own teacup. "She was upset, of course, but I think she feels better now."
"That´s good, Harry," Remus said, casting a reproving look in Sirius´ direction, "but how is Dean?"

"Erm," Harry said. He took a deep breath. "He asked me for advice, erm, on how to deal with it." He felt Sirius make an abortive move towards him, and he was glad his godfather hadn´t actually touched him. Maybe if he could imagine he was alone in the room, he could actually get this out. "I didn´t know what to tell him. I mean...I hate this. It´s not something I chose, and it´s not something I understand. Why does Voldemort want to kill me so much? Why is he willing to concentrate so much of his energy on me?"

"We don´t know that, Harry," Sirius said. "But there´s something in you that he needs to defeat, and until he´s gone, you will always be in danger. We´ll try to protect you as much as we can..."

"What did you say to Dean, Harry?" Remus asked after a moment of silence. He slid a plate in front of Harry, who looked down at the eggs and sausages, and wasn´t quite sure what to do with them. He picked up his fork, but just fiddled with it.

"I said...I said that I just did. Live with it, I mean. I don´t really know how. And that it was important to do that, or Voldemort would win." He was staring at his fingers playing with the fork, so he was surprised to feel a hand on each of his shoulders. He looked up to see Sirius on one side of him, and Remus on the other.

"That´s exactly right, Harry," Sirius said, his dark eyes boring holes into Harry´s. "Life is what defeats Voldemort - life, and effort, and love. I know it´s hard sometimes..." He trailed off, his gaze sliding away from Harry´s.

Harry didn´t like the look on his godfather´s face. He turned to Remus.

"Well, you´re certainly living," he said, trying to smile. "Why didn´t you tell me? You told Ginny." His voice turned bitter as he spoke, which surprised him. He hadn´t realized that he´d resented not knowing about Remus and Miss Stuart so much.

"I didn´t," Remus said, taking his hand off of Harry´s shoulder and bustling about the kitchen again. "Toby did. And I should have said something to you, Harry. I´m sorry."

"What Moony is trying to say," Sirius said, lightly punching Harry in the shoulder, and popping one of the sausages from Harry´s plate into his mouth, before beginning to eat his own breakfast, "is that he´s still in too much shock to tell anyone. Toby had to tell me, too. Me," he added, putting one hand over his heart and looking up at Remus mournfully, "his bestest, bestest friend."

Harry couldn´t help grinning at that, and Remus smiled, too, though he sent a sudden shower of blue sparks over his shoulder at Sirius, who pretended to be mortally wounded before returning to his breakfast. Harry felt a little better, knowing he wasn´t the only one who hadn´t heard about it from Remus himself. Not everything is about you, he told himself. Get over it. He picked up his fork again, and this time, he actually ate his breakfast.

When Harry returned to the castle, escorted by Remus, students were just starting to file into the Great Hall for their breakfast. Harry hesitated, torn between heading up to Dumbledore´s office right away, or waiting until he´d seen Ginny, Ron and Hermione. He knew they´d be worried if they didn´t see him, but he really wanted to get this morning over with as quickly as possible.

Remus seemed to read his mind. "Why don´t you go up to Dumbledore´s office, Harry," he said. "I´ll let Ginny, Ron and Hermione know where you are." Harry had told him and Sirius about the plan for this morning, only to find that they already knew.

Harry smiled his thanks to Remus and started up the stairs. He passed Lee and Alicia, looking blissfully happy, and George and Brenna, deep in an intense discussion. When George saw him, he raised his arm, motioning him over, but Brenna put her hand on his arm and shook her head at Harry. He was just as glad. Whatever George wanted could wait - he had enough to think about right at that moment.

Mrs. Weasley had already arrived when Harry reached Dumbledore´s office; Harry found her cooing over Fawkes, who looked more resigned than anything else.

"Harry, dear," she said, swiftly crossing the room to envelope him in a hug.

Harry allowed himself to enjoy the hug for only a moment before pulling away.

"What am I going to say to her?" he asked suddenly, noticing but ignoring the smile that played around Mrs. Weasley´s lips as he spoke.

"Well," she said, leading him over to one of the comfortable chairs in front of Dumbledore´s desk and sitting down in the other one, "what do you want to say to her?"

"Seriously?" Harry asked, staring at her. "I want to ask why she treated me the way she did. She knew I was magic, knew magic existed, and yet she...and I´m her sister´s son! How could she treat me - how could she treat anyone the way she did? Did she really think she could torture the magic out of me, and does that really make it right?"
"Are you going to ask her those questions, Harry?"

He shook his head, hoping that she wouldn´t ask him why not. She didn´t; she just sat in her chair hands clasped in her lap, watching him with softened eyes. He wasn´t quite sure why he knew he wouldn´t ask Aunt Petunia those questions. He could have any time this past summer, but he hadn´t done it then, either. Maybe it was because however much he wanted to ask, he wasn´t sure he´d like her answers.

"Besides," he said, after a few moments´ silence, "it would be frightfully inappropriate to quiz her on her motives now, wouldn´t it?"

"Well, she does have her own problems at the moment," Mrs. Weasley said, smiling slightly. "But, Harry, you´re entitled to answers to those questions whenever you want them. Be sure not to forget that."

Harry shook his head, then rubbed both hands over his face and through his hair.

"She´s really not going to understand about the money," he said.

"You might be surprised, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said softly.

He broke off making his hair stand on end more than usual, and stared at her.

"Aunt Petunia´s not like you, Mrs. Weasley," he said.

She smiled. "Call me Molly, dear," she said. "And you still might be surprised."

"Well, there´s only one way to find out," Harry said. "Besides, there isn´t much time before lessons."

"Albus said you could miss your morning lessons, dear."

"I know," Harry said, standing up, "but my second lesson is Potions, and I really don´t want to give Snape any more ammunition. He doesn´t need it, after all."
They made their way down to the hospital wing, passing the hubbub-filled Great Hall. Harry heard Aunt Petunia before he saw her.

"What is that? It looks disgusting. You´re not expecting me to drink that, are you?"

Apparently, Madam Pomfrey did expect her to drink whatever it was, and had her methods of making her do it, because Aunt Petunia was still sputtering when they entered the room. Madam Pomfrey gave Harry a sympathetic look before walking away, carrying the now-empty glass.

"There you are," Aunt Petunia said, as soon as she´d recovered. "Why haven´t you been here before this?"

"I came last night, but you were asleep," Harry said. "How are you feeling?"

"How do you expect? That horrible woman woke me up to give me some dreadful medicine, and I couldn´t fall back to sleep after that. I´ve just been sitting here, thinking about everything..." She had started off standing up, with her arms crossed over her chest, but she sank down onto the bed, hanging her head.

"I´m sorry, Aunt Petunia," Harry said, pulling a chair over from beside one of the other beds so Molly could sit down. "This is Molly Weasley," he added. "She´s here to help explain things to you."

"What needs to be explained? My husband has been murdered, and my son and I are destitute, and it´s all because of you and your abnormality."

Harry felt that he should be shocked that she would say such things to her own nephew, but he just wasn´t. He knew Aunt Petunia, and besides, Dean had said much the same, to say nothing of all the times he´d thought it himself.

"That is not true," Molly said. "Your husband was murdered by an evil man, solely because he is an evil man."

Part of Harry was grateful to her for saying that, but another part of him was just tired of hearing it. Whatever the difference between blame and causality, as Dean had put it, the end result was the same. Uncle Vernon had died because his nephew was Harry Potter. There was no getting around that. Besides, he knew Aunt Petunia wouldn´t listen.

"Don´t give me that," she snapped at Molly, then turned to Harry. "Fetch me that picture on the table there," she said to him. Harry followed her pointing finger, to see one of the many family portraits the Dursleys´ had had taken. It was well within Aunt Petunia´s reach, from where she sat on the bed. He wasn´t surprised, though, and he started to stand up to obey her. Before he finished standing, Molly put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Do you really think it´s a good idea to antagonize Harry now?" she asked Aunt Petunia, quietly but firmly.

Aunt Petunia slumped even more.

"I know," she said, staring down between her feet at the floor. "Don´t think I don´t see the irony of it all. Of course, he owes it to me for everything Vernon and I did for him. I hope he´s not so ungrateful as to admit it." She seemed to be trying to forget that Harry was in the room, and he just sat there, willing to go along with it.

"I don´t think Harry is ungrateful," Molly said. "He´s here, isn´t he?"

Aunt Petunia´s head snapped up suddenly, and she glared at him.

"Does that mean you´re going to do your duty, boy?"

Harry looked down at his feet, remembering all the times he´d lain in his cupboard and dreamed of a day when the Dursleys needed to rely on him. In his daydreams, he´d always, always turned them down. He´d known it wasn´t right, known that he probably wouldn´t do it, if it came right down to it, but it had been a wonderful dream. If he helped Aunt Petunia and Dudley now, he´d have to give it up. That made him angry, but what made him even angrier was knowing that he couldn´t not take care of them. There was something in him that just wouldn´t let him turn his back on his relatives, even though they´d been absolutely horrible to him every moment of his life.

He looked back up at Aunt Petunia and nodded.

She didn´t say thank you, didn´t even smile at him, but Molly did, and seeing her reminded Harry of Ginny. Ginny had expected him to what he should - no, more than that, she´d known he would do it. Known it in every fiber of her being, that was how sure she´d sounded. She would have done it, Harry knew, just as she always did her duty, always did what was right. She´d certainly learned from the one time she hadn´t. And it was that quality that drew him to her more than any other. She made him good, just by being so herself.

Aunt Petunia seemed completely unaware that Harry was undergoing such soul-searching.

"How will you help us?" she asked.

This was what Harry had been dreading the most. He looked to Molly for help.

"Harry has inherited some money from his parents," she said, sounding as though it was the most usual thing in the world, which, come to think of it, it was.

"You...you have?" Aunt Petunia asked, finally turning completely to Harry, and he braced himself for her anger. "We won´t be...completely destitute?"

Harry shook his head, completely surprised. She sounded relieved, not angry. "No, of course not. But, Aunt Petunia, what about Aunt Marge?"

Aunt Petunia sniffed. "Marge might help Dudley, but not me. Well, she might if I promised to live with her and take care of her dogs. But even then...no, I don´t think I can count on Marge. And I wouldn´t want to." She stood up, and began pacing back and forth in front of her bed. "But what can I do? Where can I go? I...don´t really have any friends...not close enough to take me in, at any rate. The house is destroyed..."

Harry didn´t know what to say. It was amazing, hearing Aunt Petunia admitting all of this, but at the same time, it made his world feel slightly wobbly. Besides, he really didn´t know where she could go. She couldn´t stay at Hogwarts, that was certain.

"You could come stay with us for awhile, until you´ve found something else," Molly said, standing up and putting a hand on Aunt Petunia´s arm, forcing her to stop pacing. "We´ll think of something."

Harry was surprised to see tears in Aunt Petunia´s eyes. "I could? I -" She broke off for a moment, and her eyes hardened. She looked Molly up and down, and Harry watched her mouth twist into a sneer. Before she could say anything, though, he spoke.

"Don´t even say it, Aunt Petunia," he said. "Did you know that Mr. Weasley works for the Ministry of Magic?"

Molly turned to stare at him, obviously confused, but Harry knew Aunt Petunia understood him quite well. He was sick of people looking down on the Weasleys, and he wasn´t going to have his aunt do it, too, no matter what she thought Molly´s clothes indicated about their class. And she did understand him; her eyes widened, and she obviously changed what she had been about to say.

"I suppose your house is full of...of magic?" she said.

Harry rolled his eyes; surely, she could have come up with something better than that. Molly still seemed confused, but she didn´t say anything, just shrugged and nodded.

Aunt Petunia swallowed. "Well, at least it is a house. I don´t suppose I have much choice."

Harry drew in a breath, about to tell Aunt Petunia that she´d better be grateful to Molly for taking her in, but Molly waved at him to be silent.

"So, what did you do before you had Dudley?" she asked instead, leading Aunt Petunia back to the bed and sitting down next to her.

"I was V-Vernon´s secretary," Aunt Petunia said quietly.

"Well, there are always openings for secretaries," Molly said. "You could find a job in either the Muggle or the wizarding world, I should think."

"Why would I want a job in the wizarding world?" Aunt Petunia said. "I want to get as far away from this mess as possible. If I don´t, next time it might be my Duddy-kins who´s murdered."

Harry thought that she had a point, and he could tell Molly did, too, so they left it at that. Aunt Petunia started gathering the few things Sirius and Professor Figg had been able to save from the ruined house.

"What about Dudley?" Harry asked suddenly. "Who´s going to tell him?"

"We could Apparate to his school as soon as you´ve settled in at the Burrow," Molly said to Aunt Petunia. "Would you like someone else there with us, Remus perhaps?"

Harry gasped when she said that, then realized that Molly didn´t know about Remus and Aunt Petunia´s past. Aunt Petunia didn´t gasp; she just stiffened, then shook her head.

"No, thank you. I think the two of us will be just fine."

As Harry watched them leave the hospital wing, each of them carrying one of the two suitcases that was all that was left of the house on Privet Drive, all he could think was, "How?"

By the time he made his way down to the Potions corridor, there were only a few minutes left before the lesson began. Ron and Hermione were waiting for him.

"Harry, where were you this morning?" Hermione asked, as soon as he was within earshot.

Harry waited until he could speak quietly. "You know where I was, talking to Aunt Petunia in the hospital wing. Didn´t Remus tell you?"

Hermione shook her head. "I mean early this morning. Ron woke up, and you weren´t there. We were worried about you, Harry."

Harry looked down at his feet. "I went to see Snuffles," he said.

"You could have left a note," Ron said quietly.

Harry looked up. Somehow, the look in Ron´s eyes told him more than all of Hermione´s words just how worried they´d been.

"I´m sorry," he said. "I will next time."

Ron just nodded, accepting this, but Hermione said, "Harry, you know you shouldn´t wander about by yourself, it´s too dangerous, especially now. It´s irresponsible of you, to put yourself in danger. We worry so much about you."
"Isn´t that sweet, Potter, they worry about you," came the sneering voice of Draco Malfoy from behind Harry. "Are these your new mummy and daddy? How appropriate that one of them is a disgrace to wizard kind, and the other is a Mudblood."

Harry whirled around to face him, and he could feel Ron stiffening beside him, but before either of them could do anything, Hermione said, "Stay away from us, Malfoy. Ginny´s taught me the Pepper Spray Charm, and believe me, I´d love to use it on you."

"You think I want to touch you, Mudblood?" Malfoy said, not moving from where he stood. "No real wizard would want to touch you."

"Except a Weasley," Harry said, grabbing Ron before he could launch himself at Malfoy. He was very deliberately not reaching for his wand. He remembered what had happened the last time he and Malfoy had dueled outside of Snape´s classroom. "Isn´t that what you want, Malfoy, to be touched by a Weasley? Not that she ever would."
"If the four of you would cease this truly mature discussion of your love lives, perhaps you would join my lesson," Snape said from behind Harry, Ron and Hermione.

The three of them turned as one, and filed into the classroom. Hermione, reprising the role she played in so many Potions lessons, was chanting, "Ignore him, ignore him," at Ron, but Harry didn´t have any trouble ignoring Malfoy once the lesson started. For one thing, Snape hadn´t given out any detentions, or taken any points from Gryffindor, which had surprised him, and for another, his eye was caught by Dean, who seemed to have been waiting for him to enter. Dean nodded at Harry, and gave him a small smile, which Harry returned. Apart from looking exhausted, he seemed much better than he had that morning in the common room, and Harry hoped that meant that he´d come to terms with Ginny´s vision. There really were more important things than Draco Malfoy.

Besides, Snape´s lesson was actually very interesting, which Harry was beginning to notice was the case more and more often this year. They were studying the Endurance Potion, which enables wizards to keep fighting, long after they should have collapsed from their wounds. This came at a price, of course - once the wizard finally did collapse, his recovery would be much slower and less certain. All the same, Harry could see how the potion would be very useful to both Aurors and Death Eaters. He knew Ginny wouldn´t like his next thought - that the Gryffindors in the class would be the Aurors, and the Slytherins the Death Eaters - but he couldn´t help it. Something about Snape´s lessons always brought out the worst in him, especially right after a confrontation with Malfoy. He was glad to escape at the end of the lesson.

Ron seemed glad, too, until Harry realized that the real reason he practically ran out of the classroom and all the way up to the Great Hall was to avoid Malfoy. He kept muttering, even after they´d started eating lunch, but both Harry and Hermione knew better than to answer him. They ate in this strange half-silence until Ginny sat down next to Harry.

"Why do we need to know how to change lead into gold, anyway?" she asked, dropping her bookbag on the seat next to her, making it shake. "It´s not as though any gold we make is valid currency, anyway." She looked at the three of them, then focused on her brother. "What´s with him?" she asked, nudging Harry.

"Malfoy," Harry said.

"Honestly, Ron, just ignore him," she said, reaching for some shepherd´s pie. "He´s not worth it."

"Not all of us can use the Pepper Spray Charm on him, you know," Ron said.

"You mean you want Malfoy to touch you?" Ginny asked him, her eyes wide.

Ron tried to keep a straight face, but he couldn´t, and the rest of them burst out laughing, too.

After they´d calmed down again, Ron sighed.

"I know he´s not worth it," he said to Ginny, "but somehow I can´t stop myself. I just get so furious when he insults our family, or Her-Hermione." His eyes flicked to Hermione, who had turned pink.

Ginny smiled at him. "I know, and we love you for it, you big oaf." She reached across the table and flicked a finger against his nose.

Ron looked down suddenly, and Harry suspected that Hermione had taken his hand under the table. He looked away, to find Ginny grinning at him. He couldn´t help but grin back.

Suddenly, Hermione drew a big breath. "How did your meeting with your aunt go, Harry?" she asked.

"All right," Harry said, putting down his fork. "She blames me for Uncle Vernon´s death, of course."

Hermione opened her mouth again, but Ginny shook her head at her, then put her hand on Harry´s arm and gave it a soft squeeze. Harry turned to her, his mouth open in shock, and it was a good thing he caught sight of Ron´s disgusted face out of the corner of his eye, or otherwise the look on Ginny´s might have made him break down. She understood, she´d been there. He knew it, and it was the most wonderful feeling. For some reason, so was knowing that Ron was disgusted, and because of that, he was able to break eye contact with Ginny.

"She´s actually gone to the Burrow," he said, turning back to his lunch.

"Really?" Ginny said. "That´s...odd." She didn´t remove her hand from Harry´s arm, which made eating rather difficult, but he didn´t mind.

"Odd," Ron said, staring at Harry. "Well, that´s one word for it, I suppose." He looked from Harry, to Ginny, to Hermione, and then burst out, "Doesn´t anyone else think this is just wrong? After the way she´s treated you your whole life, and how she thinks of us...why do you all want to help her?"

"What should we do, Ron, abandon her when she´s destitute?" Ginny said. "How would that change anything - how would she learn anything? Would leaving her out on the street make you feel better?"

Ron shrugged, but Harry had the feeling that it probably would. It made him feel good, that he had a friend who would be so ruthless on his behalf, but he also knew that he, himself, could never be like that. He looked over at Ginny, just as happy that she would adamantly oppose abandoning Aunt Petunia, and suddenly noticed a gold chain around her neck, peeking out from under her collar. He couldn´t be sure, but he thought that it might be the necklace he´d given her, and that almost made him forget that he even had an aunt. He looked down at Ginny´s hand, still resting on his arm, and swallowed.

Ginny was still glaring at her brother, and after a few more moments, Ron said, "I suppose not." He didn´t look happy, but then Hermione leaned over to whisper in his ear, and whatever she said cheered him up, because the rest of the lunch was spent thinking up strange and unusual careers for Aunt Petunia in the wizarding world. Harry´s favorite actually came from Hermione, who suggested that Aunt Petunia would make a wonderful housekeeper at the Malfoys´ mansion.

After lunch, Ron and Hermione, who had a free period, headed off to the library to study (or so they said), and Ginny started the long climb up to the North Tower for her regular Divination class, rolling her eyes as she left. Now that she knew she was a true Seer, she felt that Trelawney´s Divination class was completely useless, but Miss Stuart said that she could still learn things from it.

"You never know when you might notice something in a vision because you learned something in Divination," she´d told Ginny, when she´d wanted to drop the class. "So far, your visions have been straight-forward, if not always easily understandable, but you might have some that are truly symbolic. You need to know the symbols to interpret those types of visions."
Harry climbed up to a different tower for his lesson with Professor Sinistra. Theo was already there, sitting cross-legged on a desk with his eyes closed, and all the other chairs and desks in the room floating a foot off the floor. As Harry walked in, Professor Sinistra´s big teacher´s desk rose, as well.

Harry stopped just inside the door, crossed his arms over his chest, and said, "Does she know you´re doing that?"

Theo didn´t open his eyes, and the desks and chairs stayed in the air. "No," he said. "D´you think she´ll mind?"

"Well, I do," Harry said. "I´d like to sit down."
"What´s wrong with the floor?" Theo asked, finally opening his eyes, and cocking an eyebrow at Harry. "Precious Potter can´t sit on the floor?"

"You´d like to think that, wouldn´t you?" Harry said. He flopped down into a cross-legged position on the floor, leaned back onto his hands, and grinned at Theo. Theo just nodded, and closed his eyes again, but he was grinning, too.

"What is going on here?" Professor Sinistra asked from the doorway.

Now all of the desks and chairs fell to the floor. Theo grinned unrepentedly at Sinistra.

"I was just practicing," he said.

"Next time, practice with something other than furniture," she said. "And not people, either," she added, apparently noticing the same glint in Theo´s eye that Harry had. She walked over to her desk, examining it carefully, as though to make sure it had taken no harm. Then she turned back to them, leaning against the desk.

"Now, how about some real practicing?" she said.

What Professor Sinistra called `practicing´, Harry called `totally useless´. He was occasionally able to tap into Theo´s help to boost his power, but today was not one of those days. It annoyed him, because Sinistra could do it at will. Theo had told him and told him that she was the only one besides his own family who could, but it still annoyed Harry. If he could do it sometimes, why couldn´t he do it at others? He´d been so frustrated that he´d asked Hermione for help. She´d been fascinated, of course, but when Sinistra let her try, she couldn´t tap into Theo at all, and she hadn´t been able to offer any insights into Harry´s problems. At least, she hadn´t to him; he´d seen her and Sinistra talking after their session, but that could have just been about Arithmancy, which was Hermione´s favorite subject.

All the same, Harry and Theo started trying. Harry didn´t bother to get up from the floor; usually, Sinistra told him to relax as much as possible, and he felt pretty relaxed right then. Usually, though, she spent the whole time speaking to him in a calm tone, almost like a Muggle hypnotist, to relax him even further. Today, she just perched on her desk and watched.

The change didn´t help. The few times Harry had been able to do it, he´d felt Theo´s push as an almost tangible force, an ocean of power waiting and eager to be released. And when he had tapped into it, the sudden invincibility he´d felt had almost scared him. He knew he wasn´t invincible, no matter what the popular press might think, and to have that feeling worried him. He´d wondered if that fear might have been what was preventing him from reaching Theo, but he´d done it a few times after that, so he suspected that that wasn´t it.

Today, he felt nothing. Suddenly, he stopped trying, opened his eyes, and shook his head.

"This is pointless," he said to Sinistra. "I think the times I´ve done it have been just flukes, and it´s never going to be reliable."

"No patience, Harry?" Theo said. He was still sitting cross-legged on a desk, but, though his tone sounded jocular, he looked troubled.

Sinistra waved at him to be quiet.

"How do you feel right now, Harry?" she asked.

Harry stared at her. How did she think he felt? "I feel frustrated," he said.

She gave him a small smile. "Obviously," she said. "But, besides that. Do you feel impatient, annoyed, angry?"

"Oh, impatient, I guess," Harry said, grinning at Theo.

"I thought so," Sinistra said. "Harry, I think that you need to be in a certain mood to tap into Theo´s help. I don´t know why - I certainly don´t - but that´s what I think is happening."

Harry thought about that. The few times he´d been able to do it, he´d been...he didn´t think he liked this. "What mood is that?" he asked, eyeing her warily.

"Angry, Harry," she said. "I think you need to be angry. Do you want to try?"

Theo burst out laughing, and even Harry smiled weakly. Professor Sinistra was worse than a grown-up Hermione: all logic and experimentation. She looked between the two boys, obviously confused as to why they thought what she´d said funny.

Harry´s smile faded quickly, though. He really didn´t like the fact that it took anger to enable him to connect to Theo. He remembered earlier in the year, when Professor Moody tested them on resisting the Furious Curse; he´d had a very hard time with it, and even now wasn´t altogether confident of his ability to resist it. He really didn´t think of himself as an angry person, and he didn´t understand why it seemed to be such a part of his magic. Still, he knew he needed to try.

"All right," he said.

"Try to make yourself angry," Sinistra said.

Theo rolled his eyes at her, which luckily she didn´t see. It made Harry smile, though, which rather defeated the purpose of what he was trying to do. He closed his eyes and thought about anger. What made him angry? He remembered the scene earlier that day with Malfoy, but that wasn´t enough. He hadn´t really been angry then, he´d just been annoyed, he realized. That was because...because he knew that Malfoy wouldn´t touch him, Ron, or Hermione, at least not until Ron attacked him like he usually did. Ginny, though...Malfoy definitely wanted to touch Ginny. She wouldn´t let him, of course, but just the thought of Malfoy daring to touch her, touching her hair, or her skin... He felt the anger building up inside him, and he deliberately fed it, imagining the scene in the corridor the day before. "I don´t think I´d want Potter to tell me everything," Malfoy had said. Harry imagined that after that, he´d stepped closer to Ginny and reached out to touch her hair. For a moment, he remembered that Ginny would blast Malfoy with the Pepper Spray Charm if he ever dared, but he put that out of his mind. What if she didn´t? Malfoy would run his fingers through her hair, he´d roughly tilt her head up towards his, he´d lower his mouth towards hers -

Suddenly, Harry felt that ocean of power, just waiting for him to release it. He reached for it, gripped his wand tightly, and, in an instant, there were no desks or chairs left in the room - they were all smouldering piles of ash. Both Theo and Sinistra fell to the floor, and Harry let go of the power, scrambling up to see if they were all right. They´d both landed safely, and Sinistra immediately started talking about the practical applications of their discovery, seemingly not caring that she had no furniture in her classroom anymore. Harry didn´t want to hear any of it.

"You´re right, professor, I need to be angry," he said, interrupting her. "I...I don´t want to talk about this right now." He picked up his bag, and walked out of the room.

He was through the front doors of the castle almost before he realized it. The afternoon sun shone brightly, and reflected off the snow in all directions, making Harry squint. He saw a trail of footprints through the snow, and he followed them, not to find the person who´d made them, just to have a direction in which to go. He did find the person, though, sitting on the bench by the lake, and it was Ginny. She didn´t look at him as he approached; her gaze was fixed on her arms, which she was holding in an odd position in her lap.

"Ginny?" Harry said, coming to stand in front of her. "Why aren´t you in Divination?"

"I had another vision," she said, still not looking at him.

"In Divination?" Harry asked.

At that, Ginny did look at him. She gave a sudden gasp, and burst out laughing.

"Thanks, Harry," she said, once she´d regained her composure. "I needed that."
"Seriously, though, how did you have a vision in Trelawney´s class? And aren´t you cold, sitting on that stone bench?"

Ginny shook her head and giggled. "Honestly, Harry, sometimes your Muggle upbringing really shows through. I put a Warming Charm on it, of course. Here," she added, patting the bench beside her. "Sit, sit."
Harry did, slightly gingerly. Not that he didn´t trust Ginny´s charm, but it just made sense that a bench outside on a February day would be cold. It wasn´t - it was toasty warm, and Harry smiled at Ginny.

"So, how did you have a vision in Divination? You did crystal balls last year, right?"

Ginny nodded. "We´re doing tarot cards now, but Trelawney was droning on and on, and I´d done the reading, so it wasn´t anything new she was saying. And her crystal ball was sitting right next to me, uncovered. I didn´t mean to look into it; I was just looking at nothing, you know? Of course, that´s the way it usually happens..." She trailed off, and looked down at her arms again.

After a moment of silence, Harry asked her, "Are you going to tell me what it was?"

She took a deep breath, then looked him in the eye. "No," she said.

Harry just sat there, completely stunned.

"It´s just...it´s personal," she said. "I´m sorry, Harry, but I don´t think I could...it would be too embarrassing." Her voice dropped as she spoke, and the last word was practically a whisper.

Harry heard it, though, and felt better. He could live with that. He didn´t want her to feel that she couldn´t tell him everything, but he couldn´t expect her to tell him girly secrets. He wasn´t sure he wanted to hear them, anyway.

"That´s all right, Ginny," he said, and watched her smile at her arms.

She took another deep breath. "So, why are you out here?" she asked.

Now it was Harry´s turn not to want to talk about something, but he made himself.

"I found out that the only times I can tap into Theo´s augmenting power is when I´m angry," he said. "I don´t like it."

"That is inconvenient," Ginny said. "Especially because you are angry so rarely."

"Remember the Furious Charm?" Harry said. "I hate that feeling, of not being able to control my anger. I don´t want to be like that."

"Oh, Harry," Ginny said, turning towards him on the bench, and putting a hand on his arm. "You´re the most in control person I´ve ever met. Sometimes it´s even a little disconcerting, especially for people who...don´t know you well. I´m quite certain that if you need to feel anger to tap Theo´s power, you´ll be able to, and then control it again afterwards."

"You think so?" Harry asked, but he was having a hard time concentrating on her words. She looked so sure, so passionate, with her cheeks flushed, and her eyes sparkling. She was wearing a hooded cloak, and the hood was starting to fall down her back, letting the sun play on her hair, and glint off the claddaugh hair clip. Harry caught his breath. She was just so beautiful...and, suddenly, he realized that they were alone, with none of her brothers around them. He reached up on hand and stroked her cheek with his thumb. She gave a slight gasp, but didn´t pull away, so he reached up the other hand to touch her hair, and lowered her mouth to hers.

She tensed for a moment, and Harry almost pulled away, furious at himself, but then she relaxed and leaned in to him. His whole world came down to this one moment, this one fact - he was kissing Ginny Weasley, and she was kissing him back. For this one moment, he could forget the anger, forget the world. Everything was Ginny.