Harry Potter and the Path to Acceptance

Harry Potter and the Path to Acceptance

Chapter 1- Restoring What Should Be

She couldn't stop thinking about him. He had been her world since she had met him at the train station when she was ten years old. She twirled a piece of fiery-red hair around her finger as she stared unknowingly at the door to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, where she had been helping Fred and George all summer. Ginny's chocolate brown eyes wandered around the shelves and she couldn't help thinking that none of it would have been there if it wasn't for him, for more than one reason. Harry Potter had been in the thoughts on Ginny Weasley every moment of every day since she had last seen him at Dumbledore's funeral more than two months before. She had gotten Michael Corner and Dean Thomas when she hadn't wanted them, but she had only managed to keep Harry for a few months.

The night is bitter

The stars have lost their glitter

The winds grow colder

And suddenly you're older

And all because of the man that got away

No more his eager call

The writing's on the wall

The dreams you've dreamed

Have all gone astray

The man that won you

Has run off and undone you

That great beginning

Has seen a final inning

Don't know what happened

It's all a crazy game

No more that all time thrill

For you've been through the mill

And never a new love

Will be the same

Good riddance, goodbye

Every trick of his you're onto

But fools will be fools

And where's he gone to

The road gets rougher

It's lonelier and tougher

With hope you burn up

Tomorrow he might turn up

There's just no letup

The livelong night and day

Ever since this world began

There is nothing sadder than

A one man woman

Looking for the man that got away

The man that got away

She knew that it was ridiculous and that he had broken things off to keep her safe, but she needed happiness more than she needed security in the broken world that she was facing every day. Even the shop no longer held the joys that it once had. The times when the shop was full of loud, happy students was over, having been replaced by the quiet, nervous students that were scared to leave their protected homes, but did so anyway in hopes of getting a few good laughs.

Was my protection the only reason that he broke up with me? she thought to herself as a small group of children entered Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes with nervous glances behind them. As she showed them a variety of jokes without thought, her mind strayed elsewhere to the thought, Does he still love me?

Lonely rivers flow

To the sea, to the sea

To the open arms

Of the sea, yeah

Lonely rivers sigh

Wait for me, wait for me

I'll be comin' home

Wait for me

Oh, my love

My darling

I've hungered

Hungered for your touch

Oh, a long, lonely time

And I know that time

Goes by

So slowly

And time

Time can do so much

Are you

Still mine?

I need your love

I, I need your love

God's speed, your love

To me

Without Ginny's knowledge, Fred had emerged from the basement of the shop where he and George had been working on developing a new product. "Preoccupied mind?" he asked from behind her after the young witches and wizards had left the shop.

Ginny jumped slightly and turned to look at her brother with a less than convincing scowl on her face. "Yes, my mind is bloody preoccupied. That ruddy romantic muggle music that you insist on playing in here has taken over my mind," she sneered and returned to the till to deposit the money that the group had spent. She glared at Fred as all-knowing look that Ginny hated so much made its way onto his face. "What?" she demanded as she slammed the till's drawer closed.

"Nothing much, just the fact that my baby sister can't admit it when she's head-over-heels for a bloke, and when that bloke dumps her, she takes her anger out on inanimate objects instead of just talking to said bloke in the first place," he said as the all-knowing look became a wide grin. After a moment he all but yelled, "Go bloody talk to Harry!" He pushed her outside and called the Knight Bus for her.

Ginny sighed and rolled her eyes. "Now I know that my brothers love me immensely," she muttered with quite a bit of sarcasm as she stepped onto the Knight Bus.

‍~*~

One more week, was the only thought running through the mind of the drowsy boy with jet black hair and emerald green eyes. He absent-mindedly touched the scar on his forehead and remembered each of his 'adventures' since his eleventh birthday a week shy of six years ago. Dumbledore won't be showing up to rescue me anymore, came the guilt-filled though which was followed by other thoughts with similar meanings. Just Ron, Hermione, and the Advance Guard to escort me to safety this year. Harry Potter hit the desk he was sitting at with both of his clenched fists.

"We're leaving now, so try not to blow the bloody house up with all those freaks that you call friends," Vernon Dursley growled dangerously with all of his chins wobbling as he looked into Harry's room.

Standing and crossing the room to sink into his bed, Harry held his wand protectively and laughed a hollow laugh that frightened his uncle on many levels. "Don't worry, Uncle Vernon. I'll be a good boy until I leave in a week and then you'll never have to see me again," he said as he continued with the hollow laugh.

Vernon left the room in a rush, and after the front door slammed the house was empty, except for Harry, and silent. The silence was short-lived, though. A small owl flew in through the window and came to rest on the top of Hedwig's empty cage. The owl looked at Harry with his large eyes and held out his leg for the letter to be taken off. "Ron or Ginny Pig?" Harry asked as he removed the letter. Pig puffed out chest, causing Harry to smile at the little owl and give him an owl treat. "Figures that they both sent letters," Harry sighed and read Ron's letter first.

Harry,

Mum says that we'll pick you up from the Dursleys at seven the morning of your seventeenth. Too bad we don't have the Ford Anglia anymore, 'cause that would have been an unforgettable goodbye to the Dursleys! McGonagall's letting us spend your birthday at the Burrow so that we can fly for a bit. She said to consider it part of your birthday present. Anyway, Mum's calling and Ginny's begging to borrow Pig to send you a letter, so I'll see you in a week, mate. 'Till then!

Ron

Harry,

If this summer has been as hard on you as it has been on me, then you are completely miserable. Please consider taking back what you said at Dumbledore's funeral because loneliness is devouring me from the inside. I can't stand knowing how you feel about me and not being able to be with you. This is worse than death, Harry, and I think that I would rather be attacked by Death Eaters than have to keep pretending that there's nothing between us. You're making me lose my mind, Harry. I'm just glad that I'll be able to see you soon because we need to talk for real before you, Ron, and Hermione (who is already at Headquarters) go off and do something really stupid. I don't care how selfish this letter sounds, Harry, because I love you. See you in a week.

Ginny

Harry sighed as he reread Ginny's letter. She was correct in her assumption that he was miserable, because he was so miserable that he had hardly left his room since returning to Privet Drive for the last time. His every thought was devoted to a certain fiery redhead. "Don't do this, Gin," Harry muttered as he dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. He set the letters on his desk and watched Pig disappear on the horizon.

I love you. Her words warmed his heart and he was tempted to grab a quill and parchment and take back the breakup and tell her that he loved her, but he had to remind himself how dangerous that was. Harry was just about to give in when he heard a noise from downstairs and had his wand out in a fraction of a second.

Harry slowly crept down the stairs and when he reached the bottom he proceeded cautiously until he was stopped in his tracks by the sight of the redhead that was standing in the parlor. "Ginny?" was all that Harry could manage to say due to his surprise.

"Harry!" Ginny yelled and ran into Harry's arms. "I'm sorry that I just came without being invited, but you haven't returned any of my letters even thought you wrote back to Ron almost every day, so I knew you were fine. I just had to see you," Ginny said as she hugged Harry and tears began tracing a pattern down her cheeks.

He hugged her back and breathed in the scent of her hair that he had so missed. In a concerned voice he asked, "How did you get here, Gin?" Then he noticed that she was crying and led his ex-girlfriend upstairs to his bedroom. "What's the matter, Gin? The last time you cried was at Dumbledore's funeral...What? Why are you shaking your head?" he asked as they sat side by side with their arms around each other.

"That wasn't the last time I cried, Harry," Ginny cried into Harry's shoulder, "I have cried myself to sleep all summer, and it wasn't because I was scared that the Death Eaters would come, Harry." She released Harry and lay down with her head in his lap. "I had almost given up hope that you would ever like me, and then there was the entire thing after the Quidditch Cup. Then, just a few months later, you ripped all my bloody happiness away from me."

Harry brushed Ginny's hair from her face and then he bent over and kissed her. After ending the kiss, he looked at Ginny, with warmth in his eyes that hadn't been present since the early ending of term, and whispered, "I love you, Ginevra Molly Weasley."

"I love you, Harry James Potter!" Ginny exclaimed as she sat up quickly and kissed Harry. She wrapped her arms around his neck and his hands snaked around her waist and wandered around her back as the kiss deepened. When Ginny's tongue sought entry into Harry's mouth, his lips parted and his own tongue wandered into her mouth. His mouth made its way down the side of her neck and across her shoulder, causing her to moan and lean back on his bed. Her hands tangled themselves in his hair and pulled his mouth back to her mouth. The kiss continued to get more passionate progressively, until the sharp tapping of Hedwig at the window interrupted them. Ginny pulled away and, breathing heavily, muttered, "What time is it, Harry?"

After letting Hedwig in, Harry checked his watch and raised an eyebrow and said, "Why, Miss, it appears that it's five 'till four. Seems the perfect time to-"

"NO!" Ginny yelled as she jumped off of the bed. "I was supposed to be on the Knight Bus ten minutes ago so that I'd be back at the shop by four. First the twins will kill me because I'm going to get them in trouble, and then Mum will bring me back to life and kill me for being so stupid!" Ginny shrieked as she begged with her eyes.

"Gin, relax! You Weasleys always seem to think that you're mum's capable of bringing people back to life so that she can murder you. Anyway, Dumbledore connected the Floo one-way- from here to the shop- last summer in case of an emergency," Harry said as he kissed his best mate's little sister on the forehead and lead her down the stairs and into the parlor, where he offered her the bag of Floo powder.

Ginny smiled and kissed Harry on the cheek before stepping into the fireplace. "See you in a week, Harry," she said before yelling, "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!"

Harry saw her disappear. "No one ever seems to stay long," he muttered to himself as he made his way back up the stairs and into his bedroom. He laid down on his bed and pulled the photo album out from under the bed. Flipping through the pages, his eyes came to rest on the last picture, one of two teenagers-a boy and a girl-where one of them had black hair and green eyes that were hidden behind glasses and the other had fiery-red hair and gorgeous brown eyes. It was Harry's favorite picture in the album, this picture of him and Ginny that had been taken just after they had officially started going out. In the picture, Harry an arm around Ginny's waist and was attempting to kiss her unsuccessfully as she giggled and squirmed. The Harry in the picture began to tickle the Ginny in the picture, which made Harry laugh as he watched the picture of the girl of his dreams.

Hedwig hooted indignantly as she stuck her leg out and glared at her owner. She hopped from the desk to her perch after the letter had been removed from her leg. The owl treat that Harry tossed to her was gone in moments and she gave him a look as if to say, Well, what took you so long to figure out that I had a letter for you and wanted something to eat?

"What would I do without you, Hedwig?" Harry muttered as he stroked the head of his snowy white owl. He looked at the letter that Hedwig had brought for him and sighed as he noticed the seal on the envelope.

Dear Mister Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that the Board of Governors has seen fit to reopen Hogwarts for the 1997-1998 school year. Your list of school supplies as well as any extra information will be delivered to your place of residence at the beginning of August.

Minerva McGonagall

Headmistress, Hogwart School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Heaving a tired sigh, Harry sat back at his desk and began work on a Transfigurations essay that promised to be hard and take up quite a bit of time. With another sigh, Harry asked the room, "Isn't summer holiday supposed to be fun?"

~*~

Ginny arrived back in the basement of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and ignored her brothers as she began dusting the ash off of her robes. "Fred, George," she muttered in acknowledgement as she tried to get out of the basement to no avail.

"You do realize that you look like you've been snogged senseless, don't you?" George asked as Ginny tried to force her way past him and Fred.

Fred grinned and winked, "Looks like that talk turned out rather well. We'll have a few more Potters around pretty soon, don't you think, Fred?" George teased and the twins laughed outrageously.

Ginny glared at her brothers and hissed, "I had a better upbringing than that! You'll have to give it at least two years as I don't plan on having any children until Harry and I have both finished school. You two had bloody well better keep your mouths shut or I'll cast a Bat Bogey Hex on you in your sleep. Don't test me because you know I'll bloody well do it.

"Looks like our baby sister could make easy work of us, mate," Fred said and had the good sense to look apologetic when Ginny glared at him. "You know I'm only joking, Ginny. I know by now not to mess with your Bat Bogey Hex."

Ginny pursed her lips and glared continuously at her brothers. "If this finds its way to Mum, I'll know who leaked it, so I suggest that you stick to the story that I helped at the store all day," she whispered menacingly. After a quick check in the mirror to make sure that she was presentable, she made her way back up into the store.

Verity was working the floor and was finding it hard to work the till at the same time, and her relief showed when she saw Ginny emerge from the basement. "Ginny, thank goodness. Do you think that you could take over the till until you have to leave?" she asked and when Ginny nodded, she smiled and muttered, "Thank you so much," before making her way back to a group of rowdy teenage wizards that were expressing interest in portable swamps.

A large barn owl came through the open door and dropped a letter next to Ginny. After she broke the seal and took the letter out, a small smile fluttered on her face.

Dear Miss Weasley,

We are pleased to inform you that the Board of Governors has seen fit to reopen Hogwarts for the 1997-1998 school year. Your list of school supplies as well as any extra information will be delivered to your place of residence at the beginning of August.

Minerva McGonagall

Headmistress, Hogwart School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

~*~

All across England, there were similar letters being delivered to all those who had been in attendance at Hogwarts in previous years. There was one single owl, though, who had a much longer trip across the Atlantic Ocean. One single owl was making its way to the United States, to deliver its letter to an American girl. The United States hadn't been affected by Voldemort's activities; therefore, they were in no danger of closing, but there still a single owl making its way to California.

Kari Smith was sitting in her living room watching the Disney version of Mary Poppins for what seemed like the billionth time to her mother. Even though she was sixteen, Kari had no qualms about watching Disney movies. She wasn't even a Muggle-born witch, but she found so much comfort in the perfect world that Mary existed in that after seeing the movie for the first time, she had insisted that her mother buy a television set and put it in part of the house where it would be unaffected by magic. Her pitch black hair hung just past her shoulders and her bangs hung down to cover one of her strange purple eyes.

"There's an owl in the kitchen for you, Kari," her mother called and then gasped when she saw the seal. "Kari, Hogwarts sent you a letter. Why would they do something like that? They must know that every generation in this family has gone to Midgen Academy since it opened almost one hundred years ago." Her mother handed her the envelope and announced, "Well, there's nothing for it. You'll just have to write back and tell them that you're intending to finish your schooling at Midgen. They'll understand if you write a polite letter. Babe, are you even in there anymore?" Kari's mother asked when she noticed the glazed stare of her daughter. She shook her head and muttered, "Not again," as she gently pushed her only child down into one of the kitchen chairs.

After nearly half an hour in her trance-like state, Kari shook her head and stared at her mother. "Would you be totally mad if I went to Hogwarts for my last two years instead of Midgen, Mom? I've just got, like, this totally rad feeling about finishing school at Hogwarts," she said as she grabbed a piece of bread from the bread box and spread butter liberally on it. She folded the bread in half before cramming the entire thing in her mouth.

Marilyn Miniker-Smith, Kari's mother, stared at her daughter and tears sprang to her eyes. "You do know that Hogwarts is in England and that that evil Voldemort man is making all sorts of messes over there, don't you?" she sniffed as some of the tears in her eyes threatened to fall. "Their headmaster, who was supposedly the only person Voldemort was scared of, was murdered there, and that they've been decreasing in numbers over there since the second rise of their 'Dark Lord.' Haven't you been listening to the Wizarding Wireless Network?"

"It totally evens out! They've friggin' got Harry Potter, Mom!" Kari stared at her mother and said around her second piece of bread that had been treated in the same manner as the first, "He's a total hottie! I mean, sure, the fact that he supposedly has a girlfriend is a letdown, but he's still better eye candy than Rider Strong." Kari stood up and danced to Aqua's 'Barbie Girl' as it began playing from the radio that she had just turned on as she made her way to the fridge and pulled out a Granny Smith apple and took a huge bite out of it. "Plus, their food is supposed to totally rock!" she said as if that closed the matter.

Marilyn shook her head and yelled, "Fine, you can go to Hogwarts!"

"Thank you, Mommy Dearest," she said as she danced out of the kitchen and up to her room where she turned on her CD player to 'Super Rad!' by the Aquabats and read the letter that her mother had handed her as she reflected on the vision she had had on herself with Harry Potter, a couple of redheads, and a girl with slightly bushy brown hair. "Whatever," she muttered to herself as she began to write a letter to Headmistress McGonagall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.