The Power of Love

“Right,” said Ginny, looking at her watch. “That’s done. Now we have to wait almost two hours before it’s time to . . .”

“I’m glad you’ve got all this straight,” said Harry, scratching his head. “Hermione’s time-turner plan is even more confusing than the one she came up with that time we rescued Buckbeak and Sirius.”

“Oh, well, both plans make perfect sense to me,” said Ginny, shrugging her shoulders. She looked down at the small burn on her hand, finally noticing what was causing the pain she’d been feeling for the last half hour. She put her hand to her mouth and sucked on the spot that hurt. That only made it worse, and she winced.

“Are you hurt?” asked Harry.

“It’s just a small burn,” she replied. “I only just noticed it. It must have happened when I set fire to that Death Eater’s robe. I was standing too close to safely do an Incendiary Charm, but it was the only thing I could think of at the time.”

“It did the trick, though,” said Harry, chuckling. “Not only did that Death Eater stop attacking Neville, but the one who was trying to hex Hermione had to stop and run to put out the flames. I think we wouldn’t have got away without one of us being injured if you hadn’t done it.” Harry looked around. “We should get out of sight. One thing Hermione kept reminding me about time-turners, it’s not good if you see your other self. Let’s go in here,” Harry decided, opening the door to what turned out to be a large closet.

Ginny quickly entered, and Harry followed, closing the door behind him. The sudden darkness took him by surprise. He bumped into Ginny in the darkness, and for a few seconds he completely forgot about magic, forgot he had the ability to make light. He put out his hand and found her shoulder, and realised what part of her he’d bumped into. He blushed. Should he say he was sorry, acknowledging the fact that he knew what he’d done? Or should he ignore it, pretend it hadn’t happened?

He could hear her soft breathing in the darkness. He realised his hand was still on her shoulder. Neither of them had lit their wands. Harry longed to put his other hand on her other shoulder, to take her in his arms. But he’d promised himself he wouldn’t.

After another moment of indecision, Harry stepped back and muttered, “Lumos.”

The light of his wand revealed a cluttered closet. Ginny turned to the shelf that was mounted along one wall and started moving everything it contained to the floor. When she was finished, she sat on the shelf, which made a nice bench. Patting the spot next to her, she looked up at Harry and said, “Have a seat.”

Harry sat. He was immediately aware that the shelf was a bit more cramped than he’d anticipated. He wasn’t sure what to do with his right arm. He didn’t want to bump it against her, especially not in the spot he’d bumped into before. She was sure to think it was intentional if he did it again.

To avoid that possibility, he turned his shoulders so he was facing her. “Let me have a look at your burn,” he said, seizing on the first thing he could think of.

She held out her hand and he took it. Now they were holding hands, Harry realised. He tried to remind himself of the promise he’d made to himself. He tried to ignore her big eyes looking up at him, tried to ignore her sweet smell. She was so close to him.

Harry focused on the burn on her hand. He raised his wand.

“What are you going to do?” she asked sharply, trying to pull her hand back.

Harry squeezed her hand more tightly. Let go! he thought to himself. But he didn’t.

“We learned a few healing charms this year, it‘s part of N.E.W.T. level Charms. Professor Flitwick says the complicated stuff, like broken bones and reversing hexes, should be left to a qualified healer. But simple things like healing cuts and minor burns can be done by just about anyone. I’ve done it before. Ron had a burn worse than this and I healed it,” he finished, realising he was talking rather fast and still holding her hand.

She relaxed and looked up at him with a trusting smile. “Okay,” she said. She was no longer trying to pull her hand away. Harry realised he was still holding it tightly and quickly let go.

Ginny looked a bit puzzled, but kept her hand out and waited. Harry was beginning to wish he hadn’t offered this. What if it went wrong? That lesson had been before Christmas. He hadn’t practised it since.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ginny, when several more seconds passed and Harry hadn’t moved.

“I’m — er — just making sure I remember the charm correctly,” he stuttered. “You’ll need to light your wand, so I can use mine to do the charm.”

Ginny took out her wand and whispered, “Lumos.” She sat holding the lighted wand, watching Harry with huge, trusting eyes.

“Medico!” said Harry, pointing his wand at Ginny’s hand. The burn looked the same, but Ginny smiled.

“Oh, that’s much better,” she said, quickly taking her hand back.

“But — it looks the same,” said Harry. “D’you want me to try again?”

“Oh, no, it feels much better, even if it doesn’t look any different,” said Ginny, smiling. “Thanks!”

Harry’s stomach did a flip when she smiled. It had been over three years since she’d got over the nervousness she used to feel when she was around him. In that time he’d finally got to know her and realised that he really did like her quite a bit. He hadn’t told anyone, and tried not to think about it. After all, he was the one who would either kill Voldemort or be killed by him. He had to get that behind him, before he could think about stuff like that. In the last couple of years, there had been a few moments when it was harder to keep this decision than at others. Here, now, in the closet, so close to her, knowing they had to stay put for another hour or more, was the hardest yet.

Harry jumped to his feet.

“What?” whispered Ginny urgently. “Did you hear something?”

“No, sorry!” Harry whispered back. “I — er — just wanted to move around a bit.”

There was a long pause. “Why do you always do this?” asked Ginny in a frustrated voice.

“I — always do what?” Harry asked, clearly puzzled.

Ginny didn’t answer for so long that Harry wasn‘t sure she‘d heard him. Finally she said, “You always back away whenever we get close. Hermione says she’s sure you like me. Ron is even starting to believe it. I’ve seen it in your eyes several times, and I’ve tried to make it plain that I feel the same way. But you always back away . . .” Ginny stopped speaking and looked down at her lap. She whispered, “Nox,” and they were suddenly in complete darkness.

Harry could hear Ginny snifling, very quietly. He stood there for a long moment in the dark, his knees weak. He wasn’t at all sure what he should do. But according to the plan they still had over an hour before they could leave the closet. He wished he were old enough to Apparate. But, it wouldn’t do to leave her sitting here crying like this.

Finally, he moved to sit down next to her. He heard her surprised intake of breath, but she didn’t move away. After another moment, he tentatively put his arm around her shoulders. She actually leaned a bit towards him, this time. He wondered which way she was facing. He couldn’t see a thing, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to light his wand.

He took a deep breath and faced forward. He was glad he couldn’t see her. It would make it easier to talk about the prophecy, if he didn’t have to look into her eyes.

“There’s something I haven’t told anyone, not even Ron or Hermione,” Harry began. “After the Battle at the Department of Mysteries two years ago, Professor Dumbledore told me what the prophecy said. You remember the prophecy in the glass orb that got broken while the dueling was going on, and no one heard what it said? But Dumbledore told me it was a prophecy spoken by Professor Trelawney before I was born, and he heard her say it. He has this magical thing that allowed him to sort of replay it for me. It —” Harry broke off. This was the part that was hard to talk about.

“Go on,” Ginny whispered.

“It said that either Voldemort is going to kill me, or I’m going to kill him. . . .” Harry took a deep breath. It had cost him a lot to say those words out loud. He wasn’t sure he was able to go on, to talk about how he felt about the truth he had just revealed.

“Well, Harry,” said Ginny slowly, “that’s not a pleasant thought, but it’s not really a big surprise, is it? I mean, I’ve always just sort of known that you were meant to defeat You-Know-Who. You almost defeated him when you were just a baby . . .” She stopped talking, waiting to see what Harry would say.

Harry didn’t say anything.

“Are — are you okay, Harry?” Ginny asked.

Harry let out a breath in a frustrated way and stood up again. He fought to control himself — who knew where the Death Eaters were now or who else might be outside and able to hear them. They had to remain quiet, though he really wanted to shout out loud. “No, I’m not okay. I’ve got to kill Voldemort, or be killed by him. How many other people d’you know who have that sort of a destiny? It might even happen later on tonight. Either I’ll be a murderer or I’ll be dead. Or, we might kill each other and both of us end up dead. Any way you look at it, it’s probably not the best time for me to be starting a relationship. . . .” He stopped talking, emotionally drained. While he’d been talking, he had moved as far away from Ginny as he could get within the confines of the small closet.

“So this is why you’ve been avoiding any situation that would allow you and I to get close?” Ginny asked.

Harry could hear that she was crying. Great! Just what he needed now, tears. He didn’t know what to say or do.

“You know, that’s just what he wants you to do,” Ginny said quietly.

“He? He who? Do what?” Harry tried to think what she could mean, and came up utterly blank.

“You-Know-Who. He wants you to pull away from everyone. He wants you to try to turn off your feelings, especially your feelings of love. Love is against everything he is, the opposite of everything he wants. If you try to stop feeling love, you’re playing right into his hands.”

Harry stood staring toward where Ginny’s voice was coming from, his mouth open. He’d never thought of it this way, but as soon as she’d said it, he knew she was right. And he did love Ginny. He’d tried to pretend he didn’t, and he’d even tried to put distance between himself and others — Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, people he loved in a different, non-romantic way. But it was still love that he felt for them, and he’d wanted to spare them pain, the pain he knew they’d feel if he died. And it hadn’t worked, he realised now. He’d only caused more pain.

He took a step toward Ginny and bumped into something soft and wet. He realised Ginny had gotten up and moved toward him in the same moment. He took her in his arms. He still wasn’t sure what to say. He moved his hand to her shoulder, then her cheek. He brushed away the tears he felt there. He felt a strange sensation in his chest, and realised he couldn’t stop this feeling any longer. He bent his head down and kissed her.

It was a clumsy kiss. He missed her mouth at first and sort of kissed his way along her cheek until his lips met hers. But she didn’t seem to mind. He felt her move closer to him, and she sighed. He was pretty sure she wasn’t crying anymore.

Ginny laid her head on Harry’s shoulder. Neither of them said anything for a moment. Harry was pretty sure he still wasn’t capable of coherent speech.

Ginny was the first to break the silence. “I’m glad you told me,” she said in a quivering voice. “I was so afraid I was wrong, that you didn’t feel the same way I do. How long have you known?”

Harry thought for a moment. How long had he known? “I guess I started to realise it when I found out you were going out with -- um, you know, other guys. I was jealous. But I wasn’t sure what Ron would think, and I didn’t know what to do, since you were with someone else. And then I learned about the prophecy. That summer, after my fifth year, was really hard -- and I kept remembering how Sirius died because I let Voldemort trick me into taking all of you to the Ministry —”

“You didn’t take us!” Ginny interrupted. “We went because we wanted to help.”

“Yeah, but I still felt responsible. If I hadn’t thought Sirius had been kidnapped. . . .” Harry trailed off. “Anyway, I didn’t want to cause anyone any more pain. But I guess I probably made it worse by pushing you away.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Ginny quickly. “I’m just glad you finally said something before. . . .” She left the thought unfinished. “I wonder what time it is?”

“Lumos,” said Harry. He checked his watch and was surprised at how much time had passed. “We have about fifteen minutes left.”

“Then let’s make them count. I remember when — you know, in my first year at Hogwarts, when —” She broke off. It was hard to talk about the time when she’d been using Tom Riddle’s diary, especially in light of what Harry had just told her. “Well, any time I felt love for anyone, it — it bothered him. He hates love, he’s frightened by it, I think it even hurts him. I think we should spend this time thinking as much as we can about our love for each other. Then, when it’s time to go back out there, we’ll be as strong as we can be.”

“Wow, the Defence Against the Dark Arts books don’t mention that, but I think it sounds like a very good plan. Nox,” said Harry, putting out the light of his wand and taking Ginny into his arms once more.