Harry Potter and the Ring of Reduction

Chapter 1

The Sunset

Relaxing in a recently conjured lawn chair, Harry Potter suddenly had a sense of feeling out of place, as though something was happening that was not supposed to be happening. The feeling only lasted a second, however. He quickly realized what it was, as he'd had it several times a day since coming to the Burrow from Hogwarts a week ago: it was summertime, and he was happy.

He smiled to himself as he wondered how long it would take for him to get used to the idea. Here I am, he thought, sitting outside in a lawn chair with Ginny, watching the sunset on a nice, warm summer evening, living in a house full of the people I feel closest to in the world. Last year on this day, he recalled, he was at 4 Privet Drive, surrounded by people who disliked him and who he disliked, isolated, and mourning the loss of his godfather, Sirius Black, for whose death he had felt responsible.

The thought caused his smile to fade, though he had long since accepted that he did not bear sole responsibility for what had happened. He still felt sad at having lost Sirius, but the feeling was now tempered by the certain knowledge that though Sirius was dead, his spirit still existed in a way Harry did not exactly understand. He knew now that no one who died was truly gone, since Albus Dumbledore had died a little over two weeks ago, but still had conversations with Harry as he slept. Harry didn't know how it worked, nor did he really care; what was important was that Dumbledore was not gone from Harry's life, and that Harry now knew from direct personal experience that death was not the end of existence.

Ginny moved her head up from where it had been resting on his shoulder, and kissed him lightly on the lips. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

"About how nice it is that I can kiss you any time I want," he replied, knowing his answer would both please and annoy her.

"I meant before that, as you know very well," she responded, though obviously happy with his answer.

He looked at the sunset again as he answered. "About what I was doing exactly a year ago right now, and it made me think of Sirius. I should ask Albus what Sirius is doing now."

"Whatever it is, it's probably something we couldn't understand all that well," she mused. "But at least he's there, somewhere. I'm so glad you get to know that." She rested her head on his shoulder again as he squeezed her shoulder gently.

"Me, too," he agreed. "And I'm still having trouble adjusting to being happy in the summer, but I suppose I've had worse problems." He paused, then after a minute, continued, "Funny how I never really stopped to look at sunsets before."

"Must be one of those things having a girlfriend does to you," said Ron with amusement, having just walked up behind them. "Next thing, you'll be picking flowers and writing her love poetry."

"That would be nice, but I'm happy with him the way he is," said Ginny, looking at Harry rather than Ron. Harry looked up at Ron in mild annoyance, then leaned over and gave Ginny a lingering kiss, only partly to annoy Ron. She enthusiastically returned it, then looked up at her embarrassed brother and added, "Feel free to do that any time, Ron. It seems to work out well for me."

"Yes, I see that," responded Ron dryly. "Not that you two need much of an excuse. I think Mum sent me out here on purpose. She said something about wondering whether you could keep your lips off each other long enough to come in for dinner."

"Bet she was smiling when she said it," said Ginny confidently.

"I wasn't looking at her face, but it wouldn't shock me," conceded Ron. "I swear, I've never seen her so happy as when she's talking about you two. You could start ripping each other's clothes off in the living room, and she'd say, 'look at them, they're so cute.'"

Ginny grinned at Harry mischievously. "Let's give it a try, find out for sure." He smiled but said nothing as they got up and headed to the house.

After a few steps, Ron gestured behind them. "Harry," he said, pointing to the lawn chair. "Mum's already mentioned about you leaving conjured furniture lying around. Surprised you didn't say anything," he added to Ginny as Harry took out his wand and caused the chair to disappear.

She shrugged. "I don't care if he leaves stuff lying around. I'm not going to nag him."

"Wow, now that's true love," said Ron with raised eyebrows. "Get that in writing, Harry. See if you can work it into her part of the wedding vows."

"To love, honor, cherish, and not to nag, till death do us part," joked Ginny.

"And then, only for a while," put in Harry. Ginny smiled at him as they walked into the house.

"Ah, making plans to be together after you die, I see," said Ron, shaking his head. "Is that something you can do?"

"Not sure, I'll have to ask Albus," said Harry. He hadn't thought of it before, but now he wondered how that worked. "If we can, then I feel kind of bad for him. He could move on and be with his wife, but he's hanging around to help me."

"Didn't you say he's comfortable where he is?" asked Ron.

"Yes, he did say that, and apparently his wife won't have to experience the passage of time to wait for him if she doesn't want to," explained Ginny. "But he has to, so Harry's right, it's really good of him."

They were greeted by Pansy and Hermione as they stood in the living room, waiting for Molly to announce that dinner was ready. "It's so funny how you call him 'Albus' all the time now," commented Pansy.

"I guess when you're a spirit, words like 'Professor' or 'Headmaster' don't quite have meaning like they used to," said Harry. "It would just seem silly." Harry almost added that Snape still referred to Dumbledore as 'the headmaster,' but at the last second didn't, as mentioning Snape was a reminder of his duties helping Snape that most of the others weren't allowed to know. "So, is Neville coming tonight?"

Just as Harry finished his question there was a small explosion in the fireplace, and Neville walked out. Hermione walked over and took his hand, then answered Harry's question. "Yes, it's Mondays and Fridays, and whatever other days I can pry him away from there. And I go there one of the weekend days."

"You know I'd be here pretty much all the time if it was just up to me," said Neville. "I sort of feel left out as it is, being the only one of the six of us not here."

"It's not such an awful thing, Neville," pointed out Ron. "It just means you're not a Weasley and your life's not under dire threat. And Mum did offer, you remember. I'm sure it's not too late to change your mind." Harry recalled the conversation at the dinner table the previous Friday in which Molly had extended the offer to Neville. Neville had explained that he'd have liked to accept, but he didn't want to leave his grandmother all alone. Watching Hermione during that conversation, Harry had the impression that the topic was one on which they'd disagreed; Harry wondered whether Hermione and Neville's grandmother were having a tug-of-war over Neville's time.

Molly walked into the room. "Hello, Neville, dear. Ron's right, of course, but it's sweet of you to think of your grandmother like that. Dinner's ready, everyone." They trooped into the dining room, where Arthur was already sitting at his usual spot. He greeted them as they sat down.

"How was work, Mr. Weasley?" asked Pansy. He raised his eyebrows at her. "Sorry, Arthur," she corrected herself. Molly and Arthur had asked all the non-Weasleys to use their first names, as all were of age, or soon would be.

"Just the usual," he sighed. "You'd think, with Voldemort still around and killing, people would find better things to do than mess around with Muggle stuff, but apparently not. Today someone went to a Muggle shop that sells brooms, and turned them all into brooms that can fly. Not even very original, and of course they fly very poorly, so if a Muggle even tried... anyway, we didn't get the one who did it, but we're keeping our eyes open."

"So, I guess you do a lot of Memory Charms, then?" asked Neville.

Arthur grunted as he chewed a mouthful of chicken. "That's putting it mildly. If they paid me by the Memory Charm, we'd be rich. I've done it so much that I can tell if it's been done to someone recently even if I didn't know it was done. There's a certain look, it's very subtle, like they were thinking of something but can't quite remember what it was."

"You must be pretty good at it, then," said Neville.

Arthur smiled but said nothing. Ginny answered, "Sure, he is, Neville. I mean, we can't remember-"

Ron burst out laughing as Molly interrupted Ginny with a frustrated, "Please, Ginny, you know how long it took me to get your father to stop saying that, now don't you start." Harry noticed that Arthur was trying hard not to laugh.

As his laughter faded, Ron said, "Well, we have to explain it to them, they don't know what this is about." Molly shook her head and gave her daughter an annoyed look. Ron continued, "It's a joke Dad always used to make. Lots of people would at some point say what Neville said, and Dad would say, "Well, the kids can't remember all the times I beat them, so I guess so."

Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Pansy all chuckled. "The thing is," said Harry, "if Arthur was like, say, my uncle Vernon, it wouldn't be funny."

"Exactly, that's why it's funny," agreed Ginny. "Everyone knows Dad's the type that would never do that. It was never that funny to us kids, but only because we heard the joke so often. Ron only laughed because he knew it would annoy Mum."

"Such fine, wonderful children I have," said Molly in a humorously wounded tone. "One tries to annoy me, the other laughs at it. They'll have Harry doing it before long."

"Well, you know, Molly," said Harry, "We only tease the people we like. I really enjoyed it last year when the other teachers and the Aurors teased me, because I knew it meant they liked and accepted me."

"I'm so pleased to be 'accepted' by my children," said Molly, sounding earnest but obviously sarcastic. "It's always been a dream of mine. Thank you, Harry, for helping me to see that."

Harry smiled, pleased that she was teasing him now. "No problem." He then saw the gleam in Ginny's eye that he had come to know meant that a teasing remark was coming. Usually it was directed at him, but he didn't think it would be this time.

"Ron, don't you think that Hermione, Pansy, and Neville should be more 'accepting' of Mum?" she asked.

Ron and Arthur laughed. "Absolutely," agreed Ron.

"Sorry, Molly," said Hermione. "I've never even been all that 'accepting' of my own parents."

"Good for you, dear," replied Molly.

"Me neither," put in Pansy, though she looked as though she wished she had the sort of relationship with her mother that Ginny had with Molly.

"If I ever tried to be 'accepting' of Gran, I would really regret it," said Neville. Harry exchanged looks with Ron and Ginny, knowing that what Neville had said was possibly an understatement.

"Well, she struck me as a very sensible lady," said Molly approvingly.

"So, Neville, how does she feel about your spending so much time over here?" asked Arthur casually. Neville looked slightly alarmed at the question, and Harry saw Hermione and Molly react. Apparently Arthur had unwittingly stumbled onto a sensitive subject, Harry thought.

Neville thought for a few seconds. "I guess you could say she has mixed feelings. She's happy that I have Hermione, and the rest of you for friends, and I'm sure she understands that it's very tempting for me to want to come over, since everyone else in the group is here. But she's not used to me being gone so much in the summer, and I guess... it makes her feel like I'm leaving or something. I'm not sure, she doesn't say it exactly."

"I can certainly understand how she would feel," said Molly. "I know the time will come when this house will be empty, and I'm not looking forward to it. That's one of the reasons we had the bedrooms done this way, I'm hoping it'll be a dormitory for visiting grandchildren." Upon returning to the Burrow after the end of the last term, Harry, Ron, and Ginny had been surprised to discover that one of the changes made to the Burrow in May and June had been that walls had been taken out and four upstairs bedrooms had been made into two larger ones. Harry and Ron were now occupying one, and Hermione, Ginny and Pansy, the other.

None of the teenagers were inclined to comment on the topic of Neville's situation, but Ginny seized on the mention of grandchildren; Harry wondered if she was trying to change the subject. "So, Mum, how soon did you want those grandchildren?"

Everyone grinned, including Molly, to Harry's surprise. "I can wait," she replied. Looking at Harry, she added, "I don't know if you were trying to tease me or Harry with that, but it looks like you really got him." Harry realized that his face must have been red.

"I was just thinking," said Hermione, "it would be interesting if in, let's say five years, all the Weasley children were married, and each couple had a child the same year. Eleven years later, they could fill up a Gryffindor dormitory, especially if they were mostly boys or mostly girls."

"Oh, Hermione, you're just getting my hopes up," said Molly. "That would be lovely."

"But they wouldn't all necessarily be Gryffindors, would they?" asked Ron. "I mean, we all were, and you two were," looking at his parents, "but suppose you had twenty grandchildren, they wouldn't all be Gryffindors."

Molly looked at Ron suspiciously. "Now I think you are trying to get me worked up. Twenty grandchildren... that's my idea of heaven. Now, you'd better not talk like that unless you're ready to do your bit."

"Well, not yet, anyway," allowed Ron. "Let's see, that works out to... three and a third per person. Harry and Ginny are thinking of four, so maybe I can get away with only three to hold up my end."

"Just like always, you try to slide by with the minimum effort necessary," joked Hermione.

"I do not," protested Ron, a bit feebly, Harry thought.

"Yeah, sure... I've seen you in the common room, asking her stuff before a big test or essay," mocked Ginny. "I can see it now, on your wedding night, you'll be calling her up... 'Hermione, I wasn't paying attention when it was explained to me, what is it I'm supposed to do, again?'" The table exploded with laughter from everyone except Ron, who Harry felt was annoyed, but knew he would be laughing if he hadn't been the target.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response," said Ron loftily, as the laughter died down.

"Wise move, Ron," chuckled Neville.

"I thought so," agreed Ron.

"Would you like me to start a new subject, Ron," offered Harry, "one that doesn't involve making fun of you in any way?"

"That would be nice," replied Ron, "although the way you say it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence that that'll actually happen."

"I am serious, actually," Harry assured him. "Arthur, Molly, I was thinking I'd like to invite a couple of people for dinner sometime, but I wanted to make sure it was okay with you first."

"I'm sure it will be, dear," said Molly. "Who were you thinking of?"

"One is John, John Smith, he's the Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts," Harry explained.

"Oh, he's the really handsome one, right?" asked Molly.

Arthur raised an eyebrow, and Ron snickered. "So, what's Dad, a goblin by comparison?"

"Of course not," replied Molly, annoyed. "That was how Ginny described him, you know she has his class."

"Well, that was before I was with Harry," said Ginny. "Now, not only is Harry the most handsome man in the world, he is the only handsome man in the world, for my purposes. The best any other man can do would be to be considered 'all right.'"

Harry looked at her quizzically, both pleased and embarrassed; it seemed like an odd thing for her to say. Ron looked at Harry appraisingly. "Well, he's all right, I suppose, but-"

"Thank you, Ron," Harry interrupted.

"Any time, mate. But why-"

Now Hermione interrupted. "Do I have to explain everything to you, Ron?"

"Not if you're going to take that attitude," said Ron defensively. "But you might have to explain it to Harry, I don't think he gets it, either."

"You see, Harry," explained Hermione, "she's letting you know that she's not going to make comments to you about how handsome any other man is, and she expects you to do the same, not to talk to her about how extremely attractive some woman is."

This had never occurred to Harry, but he supposed he could understand how it would make Ginny feel if he talked about how attractive some other woman was. He turned to Ginny and said, "Have I ever mentioned how totally beautiful you are, much more so than any other girl?"

Everyone smiled, including Ginny. "What about Cho?" she asked.

Feigning puzzlement, Harry instantly responded, "Cho who?"

Harry's friends all laughed. "Right answer, Harry," chuckled Hermione.

"He learns fast," added Pansy.

Harry's eyes were still on Ginny's, and hers were on his; he could tell that she appreciated his answers even though she knew he was joking. "So, why do you want to invite John over, especially?" she asked.

"You call him 'John'?" asked Arthur, surprised.

"He asks all his students to," explained Hermione. "I think it's just his personality, not anything to do with his being a Muggle especially."

"Anyway," Harry continued, addressing Arthur, "I like him, and thought during the year I'd like to get to know him better. Also, after last Christmas, when I told the teachers about the conversation we'd had about prisoners' rights, and of course what you said, he said you sounded like someone he'd like to get to know."

Molly smiled at her husband. "I like him better all the time."

Arthur returned her smile. "That sounds good, Harry. Who was the other person you were thinking of?"

"Archibald Dentus," said Harry, and he saw Arthur and Molly's eyebrows rise. "I see you know who he is."

"Oh, yes," Arthur nodded. "You don't get to be an undersecretary in the Ministry without everyone knowing who you are. I just didn't know you knew him well enough to invite him to dinner. I just knew that he was the one who came with Fudge to get you to support the ARA in March."

"He's been sort of keeping his eyes open for me at the Ministry, watching out for things he knows I'd be concerned about," Harry explained. "Not that you couldn't, of course, but-"

"Not like he can, I couldn't," interrupted Arthur. "I can tell you what rank-and-file people are saying; he can tell you what top-level people are saying, which is much more important. What made you decide you could trust him?"

"Partly the way he comes across, much more like a real person than any kind of politician. Also, Albus said he was a friend, and more or less said I could trust him. I think he kind of felt sorry for me getting thrown into politics when I knew nothing about it, and wanted to help me. He partly lets me know what's going on, and partly teaches me about politics. He knows I don't really want anything to do with it, and manages to teach me about it while not making it seem like a lecture. He's been very helpful."

"What's your impression of him, dear?" Molly asked her husband.

"He does more or less have a reputation as a straight shooter, or at least as much a one as you can be at that position," said Arthur. "Obviously you have to be somewhat good at politics and infighting to even get to where he was. I didn't have that strong an impression of him one way or another until he quit, which made my respect for him increase. Most people don't walk away from that sort of job because of principles."

"That's probably because most people with principles don't reach that position in the first place," said Molly. Looking at Harry, she added, "I'm not talking about Dentus specifically, Harry, since I don't know him. Maybe he's the exception. I've just seen too much of the Ministry through Arthur's eyes not to be jaded."

"From everything Archibald's said, I can understand that," agreed Harry. "He did mention you once, Arthur. He said you were 'a good man who would do the right thing.'"

Arthur smiled wryly. "I assume this was in the context of explaining why I'm still in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office."

Harry nodded, glad that Arthur didn't seem embarrassed about it. "He was explaining why it's hard for good people to rise in the Ministry. His impression was that you wouldn't want any part of the moral compromises necessary to advance."

"He's certainly right about that," agreed Arthur. "Just don't have a strong enough stomach, I suppose."

"I wouldn't want you any other way, dear," Molly assured him. "Well, you arrange it, Harry, let us know when, and we'll be ready. Oh, I don't want to forget to tell you, Professor McGonagall called in the fireplace a little while ago, while you and Ginny were outside. I offered to go get you, but she knew I was cooking, and said it wasn't urgent. She asked me to have you call her back after dinner. She wanted to talk to you and Hermione."

"That's odd," said a puzzled Hermione. "Why the two of us? Could it be something to do with the fight with Voldemort a few weeks ago?"

"First thing that pops into my mind," said Ron, "is that we're looking at the next Head Boy and Girl. Why do you look so surprised, Hermione? It's not as though you aren't a lock for the job."

"Don't say that!" she admonished him.

"What, afraid I'll jinx it? I thought you didn't believe in superstitious jinxes," retorted Ron, obviously happy to have touched a nerve.

"I don't. Just don't say it. Besides, I'm not a lock. At this point, you could make an excellent case for giving it to Pansy."

"Me?" asked Pansy, surprised. "You must be kidding. Why would she pick me? My grades aren't exactly fantastic."

"As I told Harry last year, it's not only about grades and responsibility, it's about leadership. People know what you did for Harry last year, they know how hard it was. They really respect and admire you, I know that. I mean, one night in our dormitory, Parvati and Lavender were telling me how they couldn't believe what you did, that it was so amazing. Let's put it this way: if it were decided by a vote, you'd win."

"Well, it's not, so that's not important," responded Pansy. "I think you're wrong, Hermione, and that's not something I've said very often. Tell you what." She reached into her purse, pulled out some gold coins, and put them on the table. "Five Galleons. If I'm made Head Girl, I give you five Galleons. If it's you, you give me five Galleons." She raised her eyebrows at Hermione and waited for an answer.

Harry and Ron chuckled at the uncomfortable position Pansy had put Hermione in. Harry knew that if Hermione declined the bet, she was more or less admitting that Pansy was right, and if she accepted it, she would probably lose. Looking unhappy, she thought for a few seconds, then said hesitantly, "Look, you know I don't approve of gambling..."

Hermione's five friends laughed, and Pansy put away her money. "I'm sorry, Hermione, I didn't mean to make you that uncomfortable," she said. "But you have to recognize reality. You could just say, 'I know I'm the logical choice, but I don't want to get my hopes up,' we would understand that. But if you say that you might not get it, you're just begging for people to argue with you."

"Harry, Neville, you're always telling us about the things the Aurors bet on," said Ron. "What would they give for odds on this?"

Harry looked at Neville, and both shook their heads; Harry decided to answer the question in case Neville might get in trouble with Hermione for answering. "I don't think they'd even take bets on it, the odds would be so high against anyone but Hermione. Someone might throw a few Galleons on a twenty-to-one longshot, but probably not. The funny thing is, in any other year, Pansy would be the obvious choice. Just not this year."

"Okay, let's talk about Head Boy, then," said Hermione, changing the subject. "Did you mean to say, Ron, that you think Harry will be Head Boy?"

Ron shrugged. "If she called about making you Head Girl, then she's probably also decided to make Harry Head Boy. Of course, we thought it was unlikely because he's a teacher. But you never know, I suppose. Harry would obviously be a lock if he wasn't a teacher."

"Well, I would ask Harry what he thinks, but I'm not so mean as to make him give an opinion on his own chances-"

"Yeah, but unlike you, I'm hoping I don't get it," Harry interrupted. "I already have way more than enough to do. If she tries to give it to me, I'll do my best to talk her out of it."

"Well, anyway, Neville, you can handicap the Head Boy situation," Hermione suggested. "What do you think?"

Neville thought. "This one is harder, because of Harry being a teacher, so it's unpredictable. Just the kind of thing the Aurors like. I think that Ernie would be the favorite, at even money. I'd put Harry and Ron at four to one each, and I'd make Anthony and Justin longshots, maybe fifteen to one."

"Hadn't thought of Justin," said Pansy. "I can see it, though. But you are forgetting one person." She smiled at Harry. "What do you think that person's odds are, Harry?"

Harry smiled back. "Hard to say. Six to one, is my best guess. Maybe I can get McGonagall to tell me afterwards if she considered him."

"I don't think he's any less likely than me," said Ron. "Maybe five to one for each of us. I don't think McGonagall's forgotten first year, when he got those last ten points for us."

"You mean me?" Neville blurted out, then scoffed. "Yeah, right. I've got about as much chance as Blaise Zabini."

"Hmmm... he will be the only Slytherin seventh year boy, so it's always possible," joked Pansy.

"I kind of find myself hoping it's Ernie, if only because he wants it so much, and he's the only one who does," said Harry. "He'll be crushed if he doesn't get it."

"You don't want it, Ron?" asked Molly, surprised.

Ron shrugged. "If I get it, that's okay, but no, I guess I don't really care. I'm Quidditch captain, I'd rather be that than Head Boy anyway. Being Head Boy isn't going to get me all excited or anything."

No one said anything to that; Harry wondered if Ron was thinking of Percy, and if others were saying nothing for the same reason. The dinner concluded with only sporadic, casual conversation.

After dinner, Harry and Hermione walked over to the fireplace. They couldn't both put their heads in, of course, so they agreed that Harry would do it. He leaned in and shouted the name of the fireplace in McGonagall's quarters at Hogwarts.

"Hello, Harry, thank you," McGonagall said pleasantly. "I wondered if you and Hermione would come see me this evening, the earlier the better if you are free."

"Sure," Harry agreed. "How should we get there?"

"Normally, I would meet you at the Hogsmeade Owl Office and walk to the school with you, but as of now, security is an issue for both you and Hermione. I don't like to impose on Fawkes, but I'm sure you understand, and he does as well, that you're in danger every time you appear in public unguarded, even for a short time."

"I understand," said Harry. Humorously, he added, "I have a feeling he knew what he was getting into when he chose me. We'll be there in a minute." He exited the fireplace and told Hermione they would be using Fawkes.

"Did you ask her what it was about?" asked Hermione anxiously.

Harry shook his head. "I've dealt with her enough to know that if I asked, she'd say something like 'you'll find out when you get here.'"

"I guess so," agreed Hermione. "Well, I'm ready. Aren't you going to call Fawkes?"

Fawkes burst into view, his tail feathers sticking out. "I don't have to, really, it's just a matter of his being aware that I'm ready." He put an arm around Hermione and she one around him, and they both reached for Fawkes's tail. Fawkes lifted off, and instantly, they were in McGonagall's living quarters.

"Ah, thank you, Harry and Hermione, and thank you too, Fawkes," said McGonagall, addressing Fawkes politely. Fawkes settled on Harry's shoulder. "Please sit down," she said, gesturing them to the sofa. "Are you having good summers so far?"

"Yes, thank you, Professor," said Hermione politely. Harry could tell that she was eager for McGonagall to come to the point, though she would never press McGonagall.

"Mine's been really good," said Harry, with spontaneous enthusiasm. "Of course, my summers are usually terrible, so that may not be saying much. But I'm happy."

"Yes, I see that," said McGonagall with a very small smile. "Well, I should come to the point of why I asked you here. Miss Granger, I have to believe it will not shock you to know that you have been appointed to the post of Head Girl for this year."

"Thank you, Professor," exhaled Hermione, who Harry felt was equally happy and relieved.

"Is it all right if I say 'we told you so' now?" asked Harry. She looked at him sourly as Harry explained the gist of their earlier conversation to McGonagall. She shook her head in mock disapproval.

"You do stand a risk of picking up the Aurors' bad habits," she said soberly. "So tell me, then, how was the Head Boy race handicapped?" Smiling, Harry told her. "An astute analysis," offered McGonagall. "But Mr. Longbottom failed to include himself in the consideration. You may let him know, if you wish, that I could have appointed him to the post with no indecision or regret. But he is correct, I have chosen Mr. Macmillan for the position. I see you are not disappointed, Harry."

"More like relieved," agreed Harry. "Saves me an argument."

She favored him with a strict expression. "You will find that arguing with me is likely to be a fruitless endeavor. Now, as to why you are here... you are here in your capacity as a Hogwarts professor, not a student. There is a personnel matter on which I would appreciate your input." Harry glanced at Hermione; he was surprised she was being allowed to sit in on such a meeting. "The reason for Miss Granger's continued presence will become clear as we proceed, Professor," she said.

"I don't mind, obviously," clarified Harry. "Oh, but when you mentioned personnel, that reminded me... there was something Albus wanted me to tell you, that he told me last night. Apparently, he's discovered recently that from where he is, he can... 'commune' is the word he uses, with ghosts. He can communicate with them with thoughts, not just words, like we can. He says communication is much faster and clearer than it is with us. Anyway, he talked about this for some time, but to jump to the end of the story, apparently Professor Binns has decided to move on to the spiritual realm. He won't be coming back."

McGonagall, looking frustrated, raised an eyebrow. "And Albus persuaded him to do this?"

"I'm sure he wouldn't agree with the word 'persuaded,'" said Harry. "More like, that Professor Binns and he talked, and Professor Binns realized some things. He said, 'please suggest to Minerva that she see this as a positive thing for Professor Binns, rather than as an annoyance to her.'"

"Easy for him to say," grunted McGonagall. "He's not the one who has to find a new History of Magic professor. Well, you can tell Albus that I am pleased for the sake of Professor Binns' immortal soul, but it does not help my situation any."

"You know, Professor, you can tell him yourself," explained Harry. "He's told me that all you, all anybody, whether living or dead, has to do is think of him in a focused way. Imagine that you're talking directly to him, and he'll notice, and hear you."

"Thank you, Harry. Yes, I do imagine I will have a thing or two to say to him. He didn't happen to make any suggestions that I would find helpful, did he?"

"This was the strange thing," said Harry. "He said that I would help you. I have no idea how; he said it would come to me. I was annoyed at him, too. He knew I was, of course, and he just smiled. I don't know how he can know that, since he can't know the future, but..." Harry trailed off, and suddenly looked startled.

"What is it, Harry?" asked Hermione, concerned.

Smiling, Harry shook his head. "It just came to me. I had a thought during dinner, something that popped into my head, and I forgot again because I was following the conversation. It's more like intuition, I guess. I was thinking about Archibald, you know, Archibald Dentus, and I suddenly had this thought, 'he'd make a good History of Magic teacher.' Like I said, it just went right out of my head again, but I'm sure that's what Albus was talking about. I probably would have suggested him eventually anyway, but I guess Albus was telling me it was a good idea."

McGonagall looked intrigued. "Is he qualified? Not just anyone can teach History of Magic, you know, former Ministry undersecretary or no."

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "That's the kind of thing you can find out more easily than I could, I imagine. Or, I could ask him at dinner, if he comes. I was planning to ask him and John over for dinner one night. I could ask him about history, find out what he knows, what he studied."

"An amusing notion, a sixteen-year-old conducting a job interview for a sixty-something-year-old. Do you think it's something he would want to do, or agree to do?"

"I don't know that either. It just seemed like a good idea. He's kind of retired right now, but maybe he'd agree to do it for a few years until we find someone else."

"Well, we shall consider him as a possibility, then," said McGonagall in conclusion. "I will make a few discreet inquiries, perhaps I can dig up his school records from a half-century ago.

"Now, if I may move on, as I was saying, there was a personnel matter to be attended to. A few things will be changing now that I am the headmistress, and one of them is that I can no longer function as the Head of House for Gryffindor. I am certain you can see that it would be a conflict of interest for me to continue in that role."

"Yes, I can see that," agreed Harry. "So, who's going to be the new Head of House?"

"That is what I wanted your input on, Professor," said McGonagall. "I will go over the roster of teachers with you, and get your thoughts. Please keep in mind that it is very important that the Head of House be a teacher who was in that House as a student." Harry nodded; he had always understood that was the case.

"Firstly, we have Professors Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout, all heads of other houses. Proceeding down the roster in order of seniority, we have Professor Sinistra, whose house was Slytherin. Professor Svengard, who as you know teaches Study of Ancient Runes, was a Ravenclaw."

"Professor," interjected Hermione as McGonagall paused between sentences, taking care not to interrupt, "it's beginning to look like-"

McGonagall had no compunctions about interrupting Hermione. "Miss Granger, will you please hold your thoughts until the roster is completed?" Looking abashed, Hermione looked down and was silent. McGonagall continued. "Professor Vector, also a Ravenclaw..."

Now Harry spoke during a pause. "There are a lot of Ravenclaws, aren't there?"

McGonagall nodded. "This is often a problem. As Ravenclaw is the most academically oriented House, a greater-than-usual proportion of teachers will be from there. Continuing... Professor Trelawney, yet another Ravenclaw." Harry was relieved; he didn't want to think of her being a Head of House. "Next, we have John, who of course cannot be considered because he did not attend Hogwarts, is not magical, and belonged to no house. Next, we have Professor Hagrid."

"He was in Gryffindor, wasn't he?" Harry asked hopefully. McGonagall nodded. Thinking about how good it would be, Harry had a sudden realization. "Damn... it would be great, but he can't do it, can he. He wouldn't be able to enter the common room."

"Unfortunately, a necessary element of being a Head of House," confirmed McGonagall. "Who is next on the list... ah, yes, the Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor." She looked up at Harry, a hint of amusement in her eyes. Harry glanced over at Hermione, who was smiling.

He suddenly realized what was happening. I don't believe this, he thought. He sighed, and thought for another minute; neither McGonagall nor Hermione spoke. Finally, he looked at McGonagall plaintively. "There's no other way?"

"If you can think of one, I am all ears," replied McGonagall.

"Obviously, you know there isn't," said Harry. "You knew this when you called this afternoon. Why didn't you just tell me straight out?"

McGonagall looked at him as if he were overlooking something obvious. "And what would your reaction have been? Just because arguing with me will be fruitless does not mean I want to encourage you to do it. I would have had to explain it to you this way anyway; I just chose to do it before the argument rather than after."

"And Hermione is here in case I didn't listen to you?"

McGonagall shrugged lightly. "She would not be here had I not had something to tell her as well, but I felt it was convenient. In any case... please keep in mind that being Head of House is a serious responsibility. You will be in charge of all students in your House, in a very important way. Should someone misbehave in a serious fashion, for example, the decision to expel or not expel them will rest with you."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," said Harry. "I still remember you and Albus threatening to expel me, in second year."

"If we are fortunate, no one will fly a car into Hogwarts this year," responded McGonagall. "But I will tell you a little secret. Our threats notwithstanding, there were no circumstances under which we would have actually expelled you." Obviously amused at Harry's surprised expression, she continued, "Despite not knowing for certain whether Voldemort would return, we knew it was highly likely that you would play an important role in future events, so your not becoming a fully trained wizard was simply not an option. At the same time, it was necessary to impress on you in the strongest possible terms that flying a car onto the Hogwarts grounds was unacceptable. So, we... fibbed a little."

Harry smiled. "I guess I can understand that, from your point of view. But the funny thing is, I don't think it would have made that much difference. Generally, I didn't break the rules just for the heck of it, but because there was a really good reason. Maybe Ron and I didn't actually need to fly the car to Hogwarts, but we thought we did."

"A really good reason?" asked Hermione. "What about Hogsmeade, third year?"

Somewhat chagrined, Harry replied, "Well, I did say, 'generally.'" He explained to McGonagall what he had done; she shook her head in disbelief.

"So, you knew, or rather, thought, that there was a madman on the loose who wanted nothing better than to kill you, but you snuck into Hogsmeade anyway, putting yourself at great risk. If that did not dissuade you from taking such chances, it's not surprising that our threats did not. In any case, it will now be your job to make sure that no Gryffindor students behave anywhere near as foolishly and rashly as you did. Do you think you can do that?"

"I don't see myself as much of a disciplinarian," he admitted. "Maybe I'll just try to reason with them. Of course, then they'll probably just say, 'yes, but you did it before.' If they know about all the stuff I did, that is. The younger ones might not know."

"They know," said Hermione confidently. "Pansy told me this in the notebooks in March. Apparently one consequence of the first years liking you so much was that they went around the school asking everybody, even seventh years they didn't know, what they knew about what you had done. I'm pretty sure that by now, they know everything that was known by anyone outside the six of us."

"Well, with any luck, I won't have to threaten anyone," Harry said hopefully. "I have a feeling our Head Girl will keep them in line."

"Sure, now that it benefits you that I like to follow the rules..." She turned to McGonagall. "I wish I had a Galleon for every time he broke the rules after I told him not to."

"A few of those were your idea," Harry pointed out. "The Polyjuice Potion, for example-"

"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione, giving him a wounded and accusatory look.

"I don't think we're going to get in trouble for it, it's been four and a half years. Besides, you told her about me going into Hogsmeade." He then explained to a very curious McGonagall what had happened.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Very impressive, for a second year; many N.E.W.T. students have trouble with that. Well then, Hermione, I suppose I need not tell you to look in on Moaning Myrtle's restroom every now and then to check for rule-breaking. Then again, perhaps I will mention that to Albus tonight... perhaps he can 'commune' with her as well, and we can get that restroom back in service."

"He'll probably say that you're not looking at it from a very spiritual point of view," joked Harry.

"Yes, well, I will be happy to leave the spiritual considerations to him," agreed McGonagall. "Now, getting back to your new position, there are a few other things you should think about. One is that fifth-year prefects must be chosen; I will want your recommendations no later than the end of July. Another is that you now have ultimate responsibility for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Ironically, though you report to Mr. Weasley as captain, he will now report to you as Head of House. You have the authority to make any decision involving the team, including choosing players. I have tended to leave such decisions to the captain; for the sake of convenience, not to mention your friendship with Mr. Weasley, I would advise you to do the same.

"There is another Quidditch-related matter which should be brought to your attention. You will recall that at the beginning of your second year, Lucius Malfoy provided seven top-of-the-line brooms to the Slytherin Quidditch team. Professors Sprout, Flitwick, and myself all protested this rather loudly, feeling that it would give Slytherin an unfair advantage. Professor Snape responded that the principle was no different than my providing you with a Nimbus 2000 in your first year, and Professor Dumbledore agreed with him and took no action. I admit that I ceased protesting when you were given the Firebolt, but Professors Flitwick and Sprout have continued to formally request, at the beginning of each school year, that privately owned brooms be disallowed for use in Quidditch, and that school-owned brooms be distributed equally among all four teams. Professor Dumbledore's response has been that all four Heads of House must agree, and of course, Professor Snape never has. Professors Flitwick and Sprout yesterday renewed their request, pointing out that the Gryffindor team will be using two Firebolts this year. They did, you should know, ask me to mention to you that their request has no connection to their personal affection for you. In any case, though it is quite unlikely that Professor Snape's attitude will change, you must decide on your stance, as you now represent Gryffindor House."

Harry hadn't imagined that he would ever have to make this kind of decision. "Ron would go crazy if I agreed," he said, half to himself. "I know I can't let that decide it for me, of course. Well, okay, I'll think about it. Is there anything else I should know, or think about, right now?"

She reached over to an end table near her for a small book, which she handed to Harry. The cover read, simply, 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: The Complete School Rules.' "Read that carefully; you should be able to quote from it by the time you are finished."

Harry thought to respond, "No need, I can ask Hermione if I need to know anything," but held back at the last second, realizing a long and serious lecture would be forthcoming at such an attempt at humor. Instead, he nodded and said nothing. "Don't worry, Professor, I'll quiz him on it," said Hermione.

"Unfortunately, she's not joking," added Harry.

"Excellent. Another good reason to have her here," said McGonagall. "Well, I will let you two get back to the Burrow, unless either of you has any questions."

"I just wanted to say, Professor, how honored I am that you chose me, and you know I'll do the very best job I can," said Hermione exuberantly.

"Well, I would be honored that you chose me," said Harry, "if it weren't for the fact that there was no other choice, and that it wasn't something I wanted, and-"

"Yes, thank you, Harry," interrupted McGonagall, looking annoyed. "It should please you to know that you are not alone in feeling put upon by unsought duties; Deputy Headmaster Snape has had a few sarcastic comments as well. He is finding the assembling of the schedule even more unpleasant than I did."

"Great, I'll probably have two twelve-hour days," said Harry. "Better him than me, though."

"He said something similar, actually," said McGonagall. "What was it exactly... 'I will be doubly pleased when the Dark Lord is defeated, for I will derive great pleasure in handing over this mess to Professor Potter.'"

"I haven't said I would stay on," protested Harry.

"It appears that he assumes that you will," she observed, giving him a look he had often seen from Hermione, suggesting that she knew more than he did. "Oh, and that reminds me, there is another thing for you to consider. Now that you will be teaching N.E.W.T. classes, you must decide what O.W.L. score you will require of students who wish to join your N.E.W.T. class."

"I don't have to think about that," he replied quickly. "Anybody can join, even if they failed their O.W.L."

"Are you sure? There are reasons for having such standards."

"I know, but I really see this as something that's essential," he argued, suddenly more animated than he'd been all evening. "I know that not everybody will end up having to use it, but especially considering the situation these days, I'd hate to say no to someone, then have them suffer for it later on. If somebody's having trouble, I'll just try to help them as best I can."

"Well," said McGonagall, "I am glad to see that you have a passion for teaching, even if you do not for being a Head of House."

Harry had a sudden thought. "Let me ask you, what were Albus's standards for the class last year?"

"As you obviously suspect, the same as yours," she conceded.

"There you are," he concluded, pleased to have it confirmed that he had made the right choice. "Okay, we'll be getting back, I guess. Oh, and Professor... I may not be thrilled, but I will do the best I can."

She nodded understandingly. "As do we all, Harry. Have a good evening, both of you." They said their goodbyes, and grabbed Fawkes's tail again.

They were suddenly in the living room of the Burrow, surrounded by all the current residents and Neville. No one asked them, but they all looked at Harry and Hermione expectantly. Harry gestured to Hermione.

"Well, I'm the Head Girl, and Harry's the new Head..." She trailed off, obviously wanting them to reach the wrong conclusion, "... of House, for Gryffindor." Harry and Hermione enjoyed the stunned expressions they saw.

Molly jumped up off the sofa and rushed to Harry. "Harry, dear, that's wonderful!" She hugged him, and he was pleased she was happy, at least. "Head of House, at age sixteen! My goodness... and Hermione, we're proud of you, too, dear," she continued, releasing Harry and hugging a pleased Hermione.

"Wow," said Pansy. "I guess it makes sense, probably there aren't many teachers who used to be Gryffindors. What about Head Boy?"

"Never bet against the favorite," responded Harry. He went on to tell them what McGonagall had said, and was glad to see that Neville looked proud. He and Hermione sat down and told them the rest of what had happened. As they talked, Harry wondered how he would handle being Head of House. Just when I get used to one thing, he thought, another gets shoved in my lap.

* * * * *

The next day was completely free for Harry, as it was Tuesday, and his summer training days with the Aurors were Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In the morning, Pansy, Hermione, and Ginny went to Diagon Alley to look around, while Harry and Ron stayed around the Burrow. They played some chess, then practiced dueling, which they found they did a lot when they had time. Ron had joked to Harry that he now knew how Harry felt when they played chess, as Ron couldn't come near defeating Harry at dueling. Harry was happy to practice with Ron anyway, though; if Ron's grasp of tactics in dueling became as good as those he used in chess, Harry could still learn from dueling with him, even if Harry's strength was overpowering.

After the girls returned, they had lunch. Harry sat with Ginny in the living room, greatly enjoying the idea that he had nothing to do. He knew that he should make no such comment to Hermione, since she would suggest that he start on the rulebook. He did intend to study it, but he felt he deserved at least another week of relative leisure first.

Molly announced that she was going out shopping, and Hermione decided to go with her. After they left, Ginny leaned into Harry and whispered, "Why don't you call Fawkes, we can take a little trip."

He raised his eyebrows. "I thought we were going to talk to Molly about that first."

"It's okay," she said. "I'll explain when we get there."

Fawkes suddenly appeared, and Pansy walked in. Seeing Fawkes, she smiled at them. "Have fun, you two," she said teasingly.

"I think we will," said Ginny, smiling. They grabbed Fawkes's tail, and were suddenly in the bedroom of Dumbledore's former living quarters, now officially Harry's. They sat on the bed and kissed, which they did a lot, especially when they were alone.

"So, what about Molly?" asked Harry.

"Well, I hope you won't be unhappy that I did this, but I had the talk with her by myself," explained Ginny, checking his face for a reaction. He just nodded, letting her know he wasn't bothered. "I figured you wouldn't exactly be upset. Funny, you can talk about love easily, no problem, but you still get all embarrassed about sex." She smiled as she noticed him react with discomfort at her use of the word.

"Give me some time, I just have to get used to it," said Harry. "I'm glad that both of us aren't embarrassed about it. So, what did she say?"

"It just sort of came up naturally, so I decided to talk to her about it. Like I kind of expected, she had a mixed reaction. On the one hand, she loves that we're together, and knows that we're going to want to do some sexual things; she's not bothered by that. She even said, 'If your father and I'd had a phoenix and a private place to go, at your age...' She didn't finish the sentence, but it was obvious what she meant. And she knows that since we had the Joining of Hands done, we're committed. Basically, she'd have no problem with us doing anything we wanted, except for my age. I'm two months away from sixteen, so it's hard for her to just say she approves of our going off together and doing whatever we feel like."

"I suppose I can understand that," he said. "I wouldn't know, but I'd have to imagine that she's being more understanding about it than most parents would be, especially parents of a fifteen-year-old."

"Yeah, but it's mostly because it's you," Ginny pointed out. "If it was anyone else, I'm sure she'd be reacting like I assume most mothers would... 'not until you're seventeen,' that sort of thing. And since we're committed, you could say it doesn't really matter whether we do something now, or in two months, or when I'm seventeen. So anyway, the way we left it was like this: she knows we're going to come here sometimes, but she wants us to either let her know, or if she isn't around, make sure someone at home knows. It's understandable that she doesn't want to come home and have no idea where we are, of course. And she knows she can have one of the others call us on our pendants if she really wants to. She said she'll do that if we go off and forget to tell anyone.

"But as for what we do when we're here... she basically accepts the idea that she can't control that, and she's not even sure she'd want to. She leaves it to our judgment, what we're comfortable with. Her bottom line was, 'whatever you do, don't get pregnant,' which obviously I had no intention of doing anyway. So, if we decide we want to... do everything, I have to go to St. Mungo's first."

His eyebrows narrowed in puzzlement. "Why?"

"There's a spell you can have done there," she explained. "It's a spell that prevents pregnancy, and it can be done so it lasts anywhere from a month to a year. It's simple, quick, and safe; lots of witches go there every year to get it updated. I was thinking I'd go do it even if we don't make a particular decision, just so it's not a danger that we get carried away and do something we end up regretting. I've heard that once you get started in that direction, it can be hard to stop." She grinned and touched his cheek; he leaned in and they kissed again.

"I can believe that," he said. "Just kissing makes me feel that way. But then, of course, there's the other aspect of our situation, the one Molly doesn't know about."

Nodding somberly, Ginny moved over to the center of the bed and lay down. She pulled Harry over so he lay next to her. They kissed briefly, and he stroked her hair. As he did, she spoke again. "You saw how Pansy smiled at us when we left. As far as she's concerned, we can go here and be carefree, do what we want. It would be so nice if that were true." Seeing his expression, she added, "And don't worry, I don't blame you. It's not like this was your idea. So, how do you think we're going to do this?"

"I'm not sure," he said. "All I know is, I really want to do stuff with you." Embarrassment at what he was about to say made him pause, but he knew that she wanted him to show more enthusiasm; he felt it, but had a hard time verbalizing it, and conveying it with actions was difficult as well, given the circumstances. He plowed ahead. "If it wasn't for... the situation, I'd be working on getting your clothes off."

He felt himself flush as he said it, but her delighted grin made him feel better. "If it wasn't for the situation," she assured him, "my clothes would already be off, and so would yours. I'd have attacked you as soon as we got here."

He grinned broadly, now flush with pleasure. He understood why she was frustrated with his shyness, since her enthusiasm felt so good. His grin faded, however, as he focused on the reality of their situation. "Well, good as that sounds, maybe the thing to do is treat it like going into a cold swimming pool, from the shallow end. Put a foot in, then a little more, get accustomed to it. That sort of thing. What do you think?"

She nodded. "It makes sense." Smiling a little, she added, "No point in just sitting here talking, since we can do that at the Burrow." She leaned over to kiss him, and as the kiss continued, he couldn't help thinking how much more comfortable this was than the couples' places at Hogwarts. After another minute, he felt her hand moving around inside his robes, and he felt his do the same with her reflexively, almost without his conscious thought. He wondered how far into the water they would go.

Two hours later, they let go of Fawkes as he appeared in the living room of the Burrow. The room's only occupant was Hermione, who was reading a large, thick book, which she put down when she saw them. Her expression was a mix of pleasure and sympathy. "I find myself wanting to ask 'how did it go,' but I know I shouldn't."

Ginny nodded. "I can see why. Don't worry, I know you don't want to hear details any more than we'll want to tell you. I guess the answer is, as well as can be expected, considering. We know it may take some time."

"I really do feel for both of you, you know," said Hermione. "When Molly and I got back, she asked where you were, and Pansy told us. They were smiling, especially Pansy, you know, in this nudge-nudge kind of way. I know how they think it is for you, and I know how it really is. I do think you'll get past it, though," she added, obviously trying to be encouraging.

Harry appreciated her support. "We think so, too. Albus says it's just a matter of changing how we think. I'm sure he's right, but it's easier said than done. It's still really nice to be alone, though, in comfortable surroundings. It'll seem strange to go back to the couples' places in September."

"Will we have to?" wondered Ginny. "Couldn't we just go to your office, and then take Fawkes to your quarters?"

"That has to be against all kinds of rules, doesn't it? Hermione?"

"Go look it up," she urged him. "You've got the rule book, you need to start learning it anyway. What better time than when you actually want to know something?"

He sighed. "I was hoping to wait a week before I even looked at it, give myself a break. All right, I'll go get it."

He headed up the stairs, noticing how much firmer and more comfortable they felt since the Weasleys had had them reconstructed as part of the work done on the house to make it more secure. He walked to Ron's bedroom, or what seemed more like the boys' dormitory now, grasped the handle, and found it locked. He turned it in surprise, figuring Ron had made a mistake.

"Ron!" he shouted through the door. "The door's locked."

Harry thought he heard a sigh from the other side. "Brilliant observation, Harry," Ron shouted back. "Now, go away."

Another voice came through the door. "Hi, Harry," shouted Pansy cheerfully.

All right!, thought Harry. Laughing, he said, "Maybe I should come back later."

Through the door, Harry heard Ron say, in a normal tone, "That's our Harry, nothing gets by him. Mind like a steel trap."

Still chuckling, Harry headed back down the stairs. Sitting down on the sofa next to Ginny, he said, "There seems to be a problem with getting the rule book right now."

"Yes, I knew that, of course," said Hermione. "That was just my way of letting you know what was going on."

Harry laughed again. "I'm sure Ron would be thrilled to hear that."

"Well, let's not mention that to him, no need to aggravate him. Besides, it didn't seem right, you being the last to know."

"But I was, anyway, right?"

"No, Neville doesn't know yet," said Hermione. "I'll have to tell him, or he'll never find out, since Ron'll never tell him." She paused. "I hope they work out."

"You think they might not?" asked Harry, surprised.

Hermione shrugged. "I'm just a little worried," she explained. "Pansy's kind of sensitive about some things, and Ron's kind of..."

"Insensitive?" suggested Ginny.

Hermione nodded. "Like, if he brings up her past once, in a critical way, then that's it, they're done."

"He wouldn't be so stupid," Harry asserted. "No way."

Ginny's face took on a 'well, maybe' expression. "We hope you're right, but people are bound to get in fights, and often they look for hurtful things, not even consciously. It could be out of his mouth before he knows it."

"Remember fifth year, Harry, when we asked you about those dreams, and you made that nasty crack about Ron's skills as a Keeper? That really hurt him," Hermione reminded him. "You weren't thinking about that, you just wanted us off your back. That's a good example of how that can happen."

"That was a really hard time for me," said Harry defensively. "But I suppose I see your point, he could be having a hard time at some point. She couldn't forgive him if he blurted it out, just once?"

Hermione looked doubtful. "You know how fragile her ego is, Harry. It's gotten better lately, probably partly because of our support and the support the school gave her after Easter, but... it's like she's trying to build a new self-image. One comment like that from someone she cares about, and it could fall apart, at least for a while. She just might not be in any condition to forgive him. It's hard to know."

"Well, let's hope it doesn't happen," said Ginny. "Oh, Harry, while you were upstairs, Hermione came up with a good idea for helping us with our little problem."

Hermione gave Ginny an annoyed glance. "I was just kidding, Ginny."

"I thought it wasn't a bad idea," responded Ginny. To Harry, she continued, "She said she should do Memory Charms on both of us so we'd forget about the thing with Snape, then we'd go off to your Hogwarts quarters blissfully ignorant and do what we wanted. Then she'd remove the charm when we got back, and that would be that. There'd be no reason for us to worry after that, because it would be out there, so to speak."

Harry chuckled as he listened. "I can see the appeal of it," he agreed. "But can you do... of course you can, sorry, Hermione, I forgot who I was talking to."

"I know how to do them, but that's not the same as being able to, since I've never done it before, obviously," she explained. "I wouldn't want to try it out on you two. You can do them now, can't you, Harry?"

"Yeah, the Aurors taught Neville and I, since it's a pretty basic thing for an Auror. A few Aurors volunteered to let us practice on them. Simple things first, like you tell them a number and make them forget it, moving up to more complicated things. Obviously, we got a big lecture about only using it in one's capacity of being an Auror, and not, for example, use it on you so you'd forget about that time I snuck into Hogsmeade, and wouldn't be able to tell McGonagall about it."

"Well, you told her about the Polyjuice Potion," she countered.

"You did yours first, so I thought it was all right. Anyway, she was disappointed with what I did, but impressed with what you did."

"It must be that I break the rules more virtuously than you do," she said in a deliberately superior tone.

"Must be," Harry said, pretending to concede the argument. Anyway-" He stopped speaking as his pendant started to vibrate in a particular pattern. It had been set up to vibrate rather than blink so that others wouldn't know that someone was calling Harry if he was in a position where he would have to explain. He held the pendant up and spoke into it. "Hello, Professor. I'll be there in a few minutes." He shrugged at Ginny and Hermione. "Should I go outside, or-"

"No, it's okay, we'll go into the kitchen," said Hermione. They knew that he always took a few minutes to focus on love and get into the proper state of mind before seeing Snape, and it was better for him to be alone to do it. Ginny walked over and gave him an energetic kiss. Breaking off, she touched his face and said, "That ought to help you get into a loving frame of mind."

"It actually gets me into the frame of mind I was in for most of the last few hours," Harry said with a smile. "But I'm not complaining." Ginny and Hermione went into the kitchen, and Harry closed his eyes and concentrated.

Harry walked into Snape's office. "Hello, Professor," he said as he sat down in his now-usual chair. He had decided he wanted to try to chat with Snape a little before they got started; it seemed too strange to simply sit down without a word and have Snape begin viewing memories. Harry had discovered that Snape seemed not to particularly welcome the conversation, but apparently tolerated it as something that made Harry more comfortable. "Professor McGonagall tells me that you're having trouble with making the schedule."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "If those were her exact words, then she was mistaken."

Harry thought back to last night. "Oh, yes, that's not exactly right. She said you found it even more unpleasant than she did, and looked forward to shoving it into my lap in the future."

"Yes, that is correct," agreed Snape casually. "You are now nearly of age, so I see no reason why you should not adopt some serious responsibilities."

Harry laughed, wondering if Snape was actually trying to make him laugh, or if it was just Snape's extremely dry humor. "And you said your sense of humor wouldn't be to most people's taste," he said. "I guess it's the needs of my schedule that's making it so annoying for you."

"Again, correct. I actually attempted to persuade the headmistress to require you to perform the task this year, since you will need practice for the years ahead. Unfortunately, she denied my request."

Harry chuckled to himself and shook his head. Amazing, he thought, how Snape would try to make me do that, even though I'm already doing what I'm doing for him. And to say it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He decided to respond in kind. "Well, don't worry... I've had a wonderful summer so far, but the way my life goes, something's bound to come along and mess it up. If it wasn't this, it'll be something else."

Snape looked at him in annoyance. "It is deliberately, I assume, that you misunderstand my intent. It is not to 'mess up your summer' per se, but to have you do a job that should by all rights be yours to do. The job would not be mine were it not for the practical requirements of the situation; I did not seek it or welcome it. Having to do this sort of extremely tedious duty as well is adding insult to injury. I assure you that had I a conscience, it would not be disturbed had my request been granted."

Harry was surprised to hear Snape say that. "You don't feel you have a conscience?"

Snape sighed in irritation. "As Miss Granger is fond of saying to you, Professor, think. I thought the headmaster explained this to you. The Dark Lord would not be well served by a servant who had a conscience. I did have one at one point, though it was, shall we say, underused. It now rests with the Severus Snape with whom you converse at night."

That makes sense, Harry thought. "Yes, I suppose I should have seen that," he agreed. "I guess Hermione's right, thinking isn't one of my strong points."

Snape looked as if he were making a great effort to restrain a natural impulse. "Several dozen acerbic comments leap to mind, but I shall set them aside for the time being. Shall we begin?" Harry nodded and started focusing on love again as Snape cast Legilimens.

The sessions tended to last about an hour, and this one did as well. When Snape was finished, he said, "This is rather a different experience than it was with the headmaster. With him, I was almost always viewing events from some time ago, with which I had no connection. In this situation, I find blanks are being consistently filled in. For example, I knew boomslang skin had been stolen from my stores-though I thought you, not Miss Granger, were the culprit-but I did not know why. It would never have occurred to me that a second year could have managed to make Polyjuice Potion. Yet, ironically, all that effort and skill were used to a foolish end; Draco Malfoy was no more logical a suspect as the Heir of Slytherin than any other Slytherin student. Only your antagonism toward him caused you to suspect him, and you wasted a great deal of effort in pursuing a dead end."

"Well, we were twelve years old," Harry pointed out. "I'm sure we would do better now."

"If we are fortunate, the only mystery to be solved this year will be that of how to defeat the Dark Lord. And sad to say, 'thinking' deficit or no, I suspect that responsibility will be yours, and yours alone." Snape looked quite displeased at the prospect.

"Maybe," replied Harry, "but I have a feeling that when that happens, it's not going to be from thinking. It'll probably just come to me, like that spell did last September. I don't know why I feel that way, I just do."

"I find that would not surprise me at all," agreed Snape. "In any case, I shall detain you no longer, Professor." Harry nodded and left Snape's office.

Fawkes deposited Harry in the Burrow's living room; Harry thanked Fawkes, who disappeared again. Hermione and Ginny were on the sofa. "Well, this time I can ask, how did it go?" asked Hermione.

"About as usual," Harry answered. "He's up to the end of the second year now. And while he didn't say it quite the same way as McGonagall did, he was also impressed that you managed to make Polyjuice Potion at that age."

Hermione's eyebrows went up a little. "I suppose that's as close to a compliment as I'll ever get from him."

"How does he view the memories, Harry?" wondered Ginny. "I thought you said that they came as kind of flashes of a scene. How can he see them long enough to get any information?"

"I asked him about that in the second session," answered Harry. "Apparently it's a skill you can refine and develop; it's like, you see a memory and you kind of grab it and hang onto it. Obviously, he's had tons of practice, so it's second nature to him by now. I could probably develop the skill if I wanted to, but it's really not going to be that useful most of the time. The other person has to be willing to let you view the memory, obviously."

"You could try it when we practice, you know," offered Hermione. "I wouldn't mind. In fact, we should practice this afternoon, we haven't for a few days."

"Yes, I suppose we should," he agreed. Looking at Ginny, he added, "I guess I've let some other things distract me."

Ginny and Hermione smiled. "You're enjoying your summer for a change, nobody's going to blame you for that," said Hermione.

Ginny stood and walked up to him. "I'd be happy to distract you some more," she said with a familiar gleam in her eyes. As she kissed him, there was a small explosion in the fireplace, and Molly walked out, carrying a shopping bag.

"Hello, everyone," she said as she walked past them to the kitchen. "Don't mind me, you two, just go on ahead." Harry and Ginny exchanged a smile and another kiss before sitting back down."

"Very nice that she doesn't mind that," commented Ginny. "In fact, Hermione, it's nice that you don't mind, either. I know we can get kind of obnoxious at times. Okay, maybe just me, Harry doesn't usually do that if there are other people around."

"Well, he's had a hard life, he deserves it," said Hermione; Harry wasn't sure whether she was joking or not. "Actually, sometimes I kind of wish I was more like you, more... forward, I guess. I mean, I am a little bit; Neville and I never would have gotten started if I hadn't been, and I'm still more forward than him. Come to think of it, if I was with him like you are with Harry, he might be intimidated, so maybe it's just as well. Harry might not do it himself, but he isn't embarrassed when you do it."

"More like, very happy," agreed Harry. "But I'd probably be embarrassed if it was in front of anyone outside our group."

"Well, I wouldn't do it then, of course," said Ginny.

"Anyway," continued Hermione, "it's nice. I know everyone's different, though."

Ron and Pansy came into the room, just having come down the stairs. Harry looked at them, saying nothing but grinning broadly. "All right," said Ron, pretending to be annoyed, "you can wipe that smile off your face."

"I don't see why I should," Harry protested, deciding to annoy Ron further. "I'm really happy for you. C'mere, give me a hug."

"Uh, no thanks," said Ron, trying to give the impression of being disturbed by Harry's offer. "You can hug Pansy if you want."

Smiling, Pansy walked over and hugged him. "Thank you, Harry," she said happily. "I'm glad you're happy for us, anyway."

"I really am," he said quietly, letting her go.

She looked at him with appreciation. "I know."

Hermione stood and faced Harry. "Do you want to get started on the Legilimency?" she asked.

"Yeah, okay," he agreed. As they went upstairs to the girls' room, he commented, "I'll have to ask Pansy later on what happened, how they got together. I know Ron won't want to tell me."

"Well, I can tell you if you want," she offered. "Pansy told Ginny and I all this last night. It happened yesterday, while you and Neville were with the Aurors. On days you're with them, sometimes Ginny and I went out of our way to do things together, so Ron and Pansy could be alone if they wanted to." They entered the room and sat on beds opposite each other. "I think it was just a matter of Ron getting up enough nerve to make things clear to Pansy. She felt like it was up to him, since she felt she'd made her feelings pretty clear. Molly was gone, Ginny and I were upstairs, and Ron and Pansy were downstairs, on the sofa. Somehow the topic of you and Ginny came up, and Pansy made some admiring comment about how you told Ginny you were in love with her. Ron said he didn't think he could ever do that. Pansy asked him how he would do it, then. She told us later that at that point they just looked at each other, and it was as though they both knew that it was finally going to happen, like it was in both their eyes. Anyway, he just said, 'I suppose, like this,' and leaned over and kissed her."

Harry noticed that they were both smiling broadly. "That's a nice story," he said.

She nodded. "We were all excited when she told us. We were laughing, giggling, making jokes... mostly at Ron's expense, of course, Ginny and I... it was like a girls' slumber party, it was really nice."

"Sounds like it," agreed Harry. "Oh, before we get started, I wanted to ask you when we were going to start having you do Legilimency too."

"Me?" asked Hermione, her face registering her surprise. "Since when was I going to do Legilimency too?"

"I don't know, I guess I just assumed it," said Harry. "I should practice being on the receiving end of this. I know I should be pretty good at Occlumency by now, but I want to practice in this kind of situation. What if Voldemort someday tries to start yanking my memories out, like the one of the prophecy, or my relationship with Professor Snape?"

"I thought you just said before that that couldn't be done without the other person's permission," she pointed out.

"Sorry, I didn't say it quite right. I meant that the person it's being done to could always fight off the intruder, or at least try. But someone like Voldemort could probably overpower someone's defenses."

"Don't you have to kind of know what you're looking for?" she asked.

"Sort of," he agreed, "but not always, exactly. For example, when I practice with you, I focus on bringing up feelings of love, or friendship, like that. But you can also try to bring up feelings of shame, or secrecy. Apparently, Voldemort's really good at it; Albus told me he used it a lot when he started getting powerful, to subvert people. He'd get close to a politician, some person with an important position, and do that to them. A lot of people had secrets embarrassing enough that Voldemort could blackmail them with it, and they'd do what he wanted, get him information, even if they didn't want to. In the rare event that they didn't have embarrassing secrets, he'd just kill them, or if he thought they might still be of use to him, do a Memory Charm on them. Anyway, he's very skilled at it. Whatever your darkest secret is, he'll find it pretty fast."

"Then when we had the confrontation with him, why didn't he... oh, that's right, he thought he'd be able to deal with us at his leisure."

Harry nodded. "He might not have tried it against me casually because he knew I'd gotten pretty good at Occlumency, and would want to get me defenseless and wandless before bothering to try. Now, fortunately, pulling out someone's secrets like that isn't something that's done a lot, because the other person knows that you've done it, and as I said, will probably try to fight you off. You can't just sneak up behind someone, do it, and they never know. So, most of the time it's not going to be an issue. But you can understand why I'd want to try to get as good at defending against this as possible. I suppose I also assumed that you'd want to learn Legilimency."

"I do, of course... but do you know enough to teach me?"

"I remember what Albus told me pretty well, so I can tell you... I figure between that and whatever books you can find on the subject, you can learn it just fine. Also, I can still ask him about some things if I want."

"That's true," she said. "It's easy for those of us who don't talk to him at night to forget that. But wouldn't it be better for you to practice this kind of defense against Professor Snape? He can give you much more of a challenge."

"Yes, but I can't do it with him nearly as often as with you. I know you, you'll get good pretty fast. I'm not worried that you won't be able to give me a challenge."

She smiled. "Well, now I have an incentive to get good at it, to justify your confidence. After we're done here, I'll go to Hogwarts and get a few books out of the library."

"How were you going to get there?" he asked.

"The Owl Office fireplace, of course. Why?"

He shook his head. "No, use Fawkes. You and I are both high-priority targets for Voldemort; neither of us should be out alone in public, undefended. Pansy, too. She's not a target from a tactical point of view, but I consider her the same way."

She nodded. "I suppose you're right. I'm just not used to thinking of myself as a target, even though that's the whole reason I'm here. This isn't going to be a bother for Fawkes, us using him for transportation so often?"

"No, he's made that pretty clear to me, in his own way. All he needs to know is that I see it as necessary. He really doesn't mind."

"Okay, then, there should be some more time before dinner after we're done, enough for me to take Fawkes to the library and back, and get a few books. I can start reading them tonight. Want to get started?"

They practiced for an hour, after which Hermione went to the library, and Harry went downstairs to relax and talk with Ginny, Ron, and Pansy. After talking for a while, at Ginny's suggestion, all four went outside to watch the sunset.