Give Us Peace

You may not know

But you're the reason I want to live

The image of your face

Is what keeps me alive

You may not know

But you're the reason I want to die

The image of your perfection

Is what makes me think of death

You are my sun and my moon

My night and my day

You are the good and the bad

The wrong and the right

*~*

When Harry sat down at the dinner table, Hermione gave him an odd look,

but said nothing. "This chicken looks delicious," Harry said, helping himself to a piece from the platter in front of him.

A tawny owl flew in the window, deposited three letters on the table, and flew off. Hermione reached for it, but Harry, due to his seeker reflexes, managed to snatch it away before she got it. "After dinner," he said.

Hermione tried to help Mrs. Weasley clear the dishes, but Mrs. Weasley insisted that she did not need help. "Go on dear," she said. "I know you are anxious to find out about your OWL results."

Hermione excitedly ran up the stairs after Harry and Ron. She got upstairs and found Harry and Ron waiting for her in Harry's room.

"Here you go," Harry said, handing Ron and Hermione their respective letters.

Hermione tore hers open, eager to read the contents.

"Easy tiger," Ron said, smiling.

Hermione blushed, opened up her letter, and froze. "F-f-fourteen OWLs," she said, disbelievingly.

"That's my Hermione," Ron said with a grin. He opened up his letter and grinned again. "Seven OWLs!" he exclaimed. That's more than Fred and George !"

"Congratulations Ron," Hermione said, kissing his cheek.

Harry cleared his throat, and opened his letter. "Ten OWLs," he said, amazed. "I got into NEWT Potions. How the hell did that happen?"

"I don't have to suffer Snape anymore," Ron said with glee. "'Course, I can't become an Auror, but there are other things." He seemed genuinely happy with this, so Harry didn't further the discussion.

********

After dinner, Ginny had gone to talk to Lupin. She found him in a room, looking at old pictures. "Professor Lupin?" she said, when she had knocked on the door.

Lupin looked up and said, "Ah, Ginny, what can I do for you? Something about Harry I presume."

"How did you know?" Ginny asked.

"You know that werewolves can smell fear," Lupin told her. "What not many people know is that we can smell love as well. People in love give off something similar to pheromones, which cannot usually be detected by the average person. Indeed, love is a great deal harder to smell than fear, but your love is so strong that I could smell it."

"Oh," Ginny said, embarrassed.

"Sit down," Lupin said, gesturing to an armchair. He cast a charm on the room so that no sound would escape, and locked the door.

"I'm worried about him," Ginny said.

"Aren't we all," Lupin sighed.

"I've been talking to Hermione about finding a way to keep track of his moods," Ginny said. "She suggested a sort of mood ring. She said that there was a charm she had heard of that you could use on a simple silver band, and turn it into a mood ring based on a certain person's moods."

"I think," Lupin said, contemplating the issue, "That should be taken care of as soon as possible. Would you like me to do the charm when she figures it out?"

"That would take care of it sooner," Ginny responded. "The only thing is that the charm would be stronger if I cast it." Ginny started to blush at this.

"Okay," Lupin said. "I suppose you'll do it as soon as you can when you get on the train."

"You mean you think that it is a good idea?" Ginny asked.

"Of course," Lupin said with a smile, then changed keys. "I know you want to do whatever you can for Harry, but you've got to be careful. You can't afford to overextend yourself, remember that." With that final thought, Lupin ended the soundproof charm, unlocked the door, and walked out.

Ginny sat there thinking for several minutes before heading to bed.

********

Someone came up behind Harry and held a knife to his throat. He could feel the blade like ice on his skin. "Well, Mr. Potter," the person, presumably a man, hissed. "It looks like we were not so well protected after all." The man dug the blade into Harry's neck, and the last thing he remembered was a kind of peaceful feeling. "Finally I'll get some peace," Harry thought.

Harry woke up with a start. From the look of the sky outside, he supposed that it was about four o clock in the morning. "I'm never going to fall back asleep," he thought. "Might as well head downstairs and see if I can find anything to eat." He headed downstairs and sat down in a chair in front of the fireplace. After fifteen minutes, he heard footsteps come downstairs.

"Hey Harry," Ginny said softly.

"Couldn't sleep either eh?" Harry asked. "Nightmares?"

"Oh Harry," Ginny said, rushing to him. "You didn't have any about Voldemort did you?"

Harry blushed at the way Ginny acted. "Nope," he said. "It was just a normal nightmare. Some guy crept up on me, held a knife to my throat, and cut it. As I died I felt at peace, that's the strange thing."

Ginny looked frightened, and tried to change the topic. "I think Hermione knows about us. I was talking to her, and she kept asking me how you were doing, and if you had been having dreams about Voldemort. I think my mum knows too. She kept smiling at me during dinner. I can't think how she found out."

"You know," Harry remarked. "I really don't care if people find out. They will eventually, and it's not like it's something I want to hide."

Ginny smiled and hugged him. "I love you," she said.

"You do?" Harry asked teasingly. "You've done a bad job of expressing it."

"How this?" Ginny asked as she leaned over to kiss him.

"Good enough for me," Harry said with a grin. "I wish we could go out," he said miserably.

Ginny looked puzzled and said, "Of course we can. Why couldn't we? Neither of us are seeing anyone."

Harry blushed and said, "I mean physically go out. Your mum, let alone Dumbledore, probably wouldn't let us go anywhere without a guard."

"Well then, we'll just have to make the best of our time together before we leave for Hogwarts," Ginny said brightly. She laid her head down on Harry's shoulder and sighed. "As much as I would like to stay like this forever," she said, "I don't know what Ron would do if he saw us like this in the morning."

"Yeah," said Harry. "I think his big brother instincts are stronger than his best friend instincts."

Ginny kissed him once more, and headed upstairs. Partway up she turned to

Harry and said, "See you in the morning dear."

"Dear?" Harry asked. "You're making it sound like we're already married. No offense, but I think that's moving just a little too fast."

Ginny laughed, and continued up the stairs.

********

The next morning, when Lupin came down the stairs, he found Harry asleep in the chair. He walked over, and shook Harry awake. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, I just couldn't sleep," Harry responded. "Why do people keep asking me that?" he thought. "Do they really think that I'm okay?"

People trickled down the stairs over the next half hour, attracted by the smell of the cinnamon buns Mrs. Weasley was cooking. Fred and George were staying at Grimmauld Place while Lee Jordan looked after their shop. Ginny came down last, right as Mrs. Weasley placed the plate of buns on the table. "Good morning Harry," she said, kissing him on his cheek. She sat down in the chair next to him and reached for a cinnamon bun.

"Are you two together or something?" asked Ron. "I thought you were going out with Dean."

"Can ickle Ronniekins not keep up with Ginny's social life?" teased Fred.

George reached over and took a bite of Harry's cinnamon bun. "Oh Harry," he said, imitating Ginny. "You have such nice buns."

"That is totally inappropriate!" Mrs. Weasley shouted at George.

"Of course they're together," Hermione said, ignoring George's comment. "Didn't you notice the way they were looking at each other during dinner last night?"

"Have you three looked at your OWL scores yet?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Ron snorted and said, "Mum, you cannot honestly think that Hermione would have waited any longer than necessary to look at her scores."

"Well," Ginny said expectantly, "What did you get?"

"Hermione got fourteen OWLs," Ron said proudly.

"Fourteen!" Mrs. Weasley said. "We've got to celebrate!"

Ron said, "And I did better than the twins. I got seven!"

"How about you Harry?" Lupin asked.

"Ten," Harry said.

"Good job!" Lupin said.

"Have you three decided what courses you want to take yet?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Well," said Harry, "I suppose I'll take all the required Auror classes. I still can't believe I got into the Potions NEWT class."

"I suppose I'll take Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration and something else, maybe Herbology," Ron said.

"I haven't decided yet," Hermione said. "I mean, I don't know what I want to do when I leave Hogwarts. There are so many interesting things I could do. I think I'd be more interested in the research side of things. I'll probably take Arithmancy, and all the Auror classes. I don't want to be an Auror, but they'd give me some good skills for whatever I end up doing."

"You'd better come to a final decision so you can inform Hogwarts so they can send your booklists," Mrs. Weasley advised. "Normally your parents have to sign the letter, signaling that they agree with your choices. However, Dumbledore has given me permission to sign both of yours, Harry and Hermione."

"Here's some parchment," Lupin said, levitating three pieces of parchment, a quill, and some ink until they rested on a clean spot on the table.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione wrote their letters, then passed them to Mrs. Weasley to sign. "I'll just send these along with Errol," she said.

"Erm," Ron said, "Are you sure they're going to get there? Maybe we could use Pigwidgeon or Hedwig?"

"I can send them with Hedwig, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said. "She could do with a good journey."

"Alright dear," Mrs. Weasley said. "On a more grim note, Professor Dumbledore has decided that you four going to Diagon Alley would not be a good idea this year, due to security reasons, so, when you get your booklists, give them to me and I will take care of getting the things that you need. If there is anything else that you need, just write it at the bottom of the list."

Harry was even more annoyed at Dumbledore for preventing him from going to Diagon Alley, but he knew the decision could not be reversed. He trodged upstairs after breakfast with finality.