In Nomine Amoris

Chapter Three: A Moment of Forever

Hours later, after many guests had left, the Weasleys and Delacours lined up to wish good-bye to Bill and Fleur as they set off for their honeymoon in Greece on a broomstick built for two. Harry was forced to join the line by Ron, who insisted, "You're family!"

Professor Minerva McGonagall came down the line, stopping in front of Harry.

"Potter, I've been trying to find you all day," the headmistress said wearily. She took an envelope from a pocket in her robes. "I found this inside Albus's"--she sniffed--"old desk. I thought that maybe you could use it; it is addressed to you, after all."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said politely, staring in wonder at the object McGonagall handed to him.

"And do take care, Potter," McGonagall wished him solemnly, leaving to join the throng of left-over guests.

Harry nodded distractedly and read the loopy handwriting on the front of the envelope:

To Harry James Potter, in the case of my decease,

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"It's a letter, from Dumbledore," said Harry excitedly. He tried to rip the envelope open, but his actions were to no avail--the paper would not tear.

"The--bloody--thing--won't--open," Harry said through gritted teeth.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, give it here," she said, taking out her wand. "Quid est tuum quaestio?"

The writing on the front of the envelope rearranged so some of the letters read "To Pass you Will need A voice in code."

"Of course!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh yes, that makes perfect sense," said Ron sarcastically. Hermione glared at him warningly. "You were saying, Hermione?" he prompted apologetically.

"It's magically sealed so that only the recipient of the letter may open it--"

"He tried," Harry interrupted.

"--but he needs to know the password; it's voice-activated," Hermione finished breathlessly.

"But what--"

Harry was drowned out by the cheers of the well-wishers. Bill and Fleur gathered up speed, heading south. All waved until the couple was a mere speck in the sky.

"Everyone, into the house for some refreshment!" Mrs. Weasley ordered to the remaining onlookers.

"I guess we can figure it out later on," Harry suggested, remembering Lupin's advice from earlier. He pocketed the envelope and walked arm-in-arm with Hermione, whose other arm was linked with Ron's, to the Burrow.

Once inside, the three friends sat down in the living room.

"Where's Ginny gone off to?" Ron observed, not finding his sister anywhere in sight.

"Away from Harry, I'd imagine," said Hermione.

"Why would she do that?" asked Ron, clueless.

"She and Harry had a huge row, Ron!"

"Really? When?"

"A few hours ago! Honestly, we weren't but twenty yards away from them! How could you possibly not have noticed?"

"You can be very distracting sometimes, Hermione--"

"I told her," Harry said quietly.

Ron and Hermione, caught up in their own world, turned to Harry as if he had just arrived. "Told her what, Harry?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"What I'm going to do. The prophecy, Horcruxes--everything."

"And how did she respond?"

Hermione snorted. "Ron, what a silly question--"

"Not well," Harry cut off Hermione. "I explained myself; she wouldn't accept that I don't want her to get hurt, and that it's my choice to defeat Voldemort, and mine alone."

Harry and Ron looked to Hermione expectantly. "Well?" said Ron, following a moment of silence.

"'Well' what?" Hermione asked.

"Aren't you going to tell us what Harry did out of tactlessness to offend Ginny?" Ron pointed out, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But he didn't, as far as I can tell. Not this time, anyway. Harry told Ginny the truth. If she can't accept it like Harry says she doesn't, it's her fault they're having a falling-out."

"So if I always tell you the truth from here on out, it'll never be my fault when we fight?" Ron asked hopefully.

"No," answered Hermione. "Harry, I'll go see if Ginny's in her room. Perhaps I could talk a bit of sense into her."

"Thanks," said Harry gratefully.

Hermione traipsed up the staircase, Ron's eyes following her all the while, a lopsided grin on his face.

Harry watched in amusement. "You really like her, don't you?"

Ron snapped out of his daze. "Oh...yeah, I really do. But more than that... Bloody hell, maybe I--nah, never mind."

"C'mon, Ron. What?"

Ron gulped audibly. "Harry, I think I might love her!"

Harry's eyes widened to the size of two golden snitches, though they were nothing compared to Ron's. Wow...I support Ron and Hermione, but aren't they a bit young to know that? Harry raised his eyebrows. War changes lots of things, I guess. Look at how Bill and Fleur turned out: Mrs. Weasley thought they were too young to know for sure.

"Ron, er--that's...that's great," Harry stammered through his apparent shock.

"It is?" Ron asked in a small voice.

"Sure. D--the world needs a bit more love right now, I reckon." Harry was going to say that Dumbledore would have wanted it, but decided against becoming remorseful once again.

"But--Harry, does it bother you? Because, you know, we could not be together if it makes you feel uncomfortable, since we're going on this journey with you and all."

Harry had not thought about feeling uncomfortable of his friends' relationship on the journey. He figured there would be very little time for such things... Yet there would be dry spots in clues some of the time.

The fact that Ron and Hermione would refrain from loving each other for his sake was incredibly touching. They truly cared about him, although it should not have been news to him. He would not get in the way of their love; that was for sure. He was going to defeat Voldemort to defend love, so why should his friends not have love for each other?

"No, Ron."

"What?" Ron, evidently, was surprised by Harry's answer.

"No, it won't bother me. You should love while you still can."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, but if you keep bugging me--"

"Okay," Ron said quickly, not wanting to chance Harry losing his temper.

Hermione then descended the stairs with a tired expression on her face. "I'm sorry, Harry. She won't respond to anything I say about you, much less come and see you." She sat back down beside Ron.

Harry sighed. "I guess she never will again."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Hermione said dismissively. "She'll come around eventually."

"Let's hope 'eventually' isn't when I'm dueling with Voldemort," Harry said darkly.

"I do agree she's being somewhat impossible," Hermione continued. "I don't understand why she'd ruin the mood on Bill and Fleur's day."

"She's a Weasley," said Ron simply. "We're stubborn as they come."

"And you're admitting that?" Harry and Hermione asked simultaneously.

"Well, it's true," said Ron. "But, hey--maybe I could talk to her."

"Worth a try," said Harry.

"I suppose so," Hermione agreed, watching Ron climb the staircase with glazed-over eyes. Harry chuckled. His friends were completely head-over-heels for each other, and they were only beginning to realize it.

"What's so funny?" Hermione asked sharply, turning to him.

"Nothing," Harry lied.

She sighed. "I wish I knew what was wrong with Ginny. Perhaps, if I did a Memory-Recalling Charm--"

"A Memory Charm? Hermione, you wouldn't make Ginny lose some of her memory!"

"No, a Memory-Recalling Charm. I could use it to tap into your memory of conversing with her to see what made her angry. It's similar to the magic used in making a Pensieve."

Harry thought for a moment. "I trust you, Hermione, but I've never heard of this charm before..."

"It's perfectly safe," she assured him.

"If you say so. What do I have to do?"

"Just think about that memory; I'll do the magic."

"Da Mihi Memoriam!" Hermione said, pointing her wand to Harry's head.

Harry felt a strange tingling sensation as Hermione pulled the thought from his head, and he instantly forgot it.

"Hermione, I can't remember what happened now."

"Then it worked!" Hermione said triumphantly.

"Okay, then. Now what?" Harry asked, peering warily at the silvery strand of thought hanging from Hermione's wand tip.

"Now we sit and watch. Ostende Memoriam!"

Harry's mouth fell open as two exact replicas of him and Ginny appeared before his very eyes.

He watched himself turn and recognize Ginny's presence. She tried to silence him, yet he would not stop talking. She looked at him menacingly and told him off for "playing games" with her. So far, so good.

He explained the prophecy and the Horcruxes in good measure, but refused Ginny's proclamation of accompanying him.

"I won't be alone," his look-a-like said. "Ron and Hermione are coming with me."

"Oh, so I get to sit around at home, wondering if you're still alive or not?" Ginny's replica asked spitefully.

"Ginny, this is not how you're supposed to be taking this!"

"And how am I supposed to take it? Like a good little girl who does everything she's told, and wait patiently for your return, even though I have no idea when you're coming back?"

"Maybe!" Ouch. I said that?

"That's it! Harry James Potter, if I never speak to you again it will be too soon."

"Fine."

'Ginny' departed angrily, and the two figures faded away with the end of the memory.

Hermione directed the strand of thought back to Harry's brain, closed her eyes, and shook her head slowly. "Well," she said with a sigh.

"That bad, eh?" Harry asked timidly.

"The worst I've ever seen is Ron, and I don't think he's even done this horribly."

"I'm aware of the fact I did this the wrong way," Harry said impatiently. "I need you to tell me how to fix it."

"That will be a challenge."

"With the exception of that time in first year with the Devil's Snare, when you honestly forgot you were a witch, I've never known you not to rise to a challenge."

"I second that," Ron offered in a strained voice from the stairs. "Come on, Ginny."

Protruding from the stairwell was Ginny, who was struggling under a rope-binding spell.

"Ron, really!" Hermione gasped, quickly muttering the counter-spell. Ginny immediately turned back to the stairs, but Ron's somewhat lacking Keeper reflexes won out in the end.

"Now then," Hermione said after helping Ron force Ginny into a chair. "Ginny, I know exactly what happened."

"And what did happen, Healer Granger?" Ginny asked mockingly, glaring down at the rug.

"You're angry at Harry's blatant disregard for your own decisions."

"You hit that nail right on the head," she remarked, never shifting her eyes from their position.

"Harry," Hermione turned to him, "why don't you let Ginny decide whether she wants to go or not?"

"She'll be too rash in her choice. You and Ron have had ages to decide, but Ginny hasn't. And, it's too dangerous," he added as an afterthought.

Ginny stood up, fire blazing in her chocolate orbs. "No, it's not. If it's experience with danger you're talking about, I went to the Department of Mysteries with you--"

"And came out of it with a broken ankle."

She ignored this fact and plowed on. "I've had plenty of time to decide, Harry. I've known the implications of being close to you since my first year, for Merlin's sake!"

"Then you know why I want to protect you?"

Ginny plopped back down onto her seat, and a bewildered expression overcame her face. "I...yes, actually."

"So you will stay here?" Harry asked hopefully.

Her face changed as she scoffed, "No!"

She continued, "You might need me, Harry. What if you and Ron and Hermione had to split up two ways? I know you would convince them to let you be the one alone, and I don't want that happening." She said the last part in a manner such as that of Mrs. Weasley scolding the twins.

"If I go," she concluded, "I can help."

"I would like to point out a slight problem," Hermione chimed in. "You mother won't allow you to come with us, Ginny, whether Hogwarts reopens or not."

Ginny's look of fury slowly turned into one of crestfallenness. "Damn, Hermione. You're right," she said quietly.

"Big shocker there," Ron said in a sarcastic tone.

"No one needs your cynicism right now, dear brother," Ginny snapped, shooting daggers at him with her eyes. "Okay, so maybe I can come anyway, if Hogwarts doesn't open."

"Even if, by an amazing turn of fate, your mother did let you come, you're still underage for more than a year," Hermione reminded her.

"I don't care!" Ginny refused."

"Mum does, though," Ron said.

Ginny shrieked in exasperation, causing Remus Lupin to stick his head in the room.

"Everything all right in here?" he asked worriedly.

"Fine," the four of them grumbled.

As soon as he left, Ginny continued, this time in a calmer voice, "If I explain to Mum what we're doing--"

"No, we're not telling her all I've told you!" Harry warned her.

"Why not?"

"The more everyone else knows, the more difficult our mission will become."

Ginny shut her eyes tightly for several moments, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione waited for her reaction with bated breath. Finally, the tension in her forehead withdrew. She sighed heavily and looked to Harry with watery eyes.

"Then I guess I have no choice but to let you go," she whispered. Ginny looked so hopeless that all Harry wanted was to take her in his arms and stay there forever. He opened his arms to her in hope he could have at least one of his wishes granted. A fresh wave of tears poured from Ginny's eyes as she rushed forward to embrace him.

Ron and Hermione took this act as a signal to retreat upstairs, so as to let Harry and Ginny be alone to bask in this occasion of great emotion.

They sat that way for a long time, Ginny sobbing onto Harry's shoulder and Harry stroking Ginny's hair comfortingly. It hurts so much to see her like this...

"Harry?" Her voice was hoarse from crying.

He pulled back gently. "Yes?"

"Do you think I'm being pathetic?"

"Never," he said truthfully, looking into Ginny's deep brown eyes. Unable to contain himself any longer, Harry brought his lips down upon Ginny's. He had gone back on his word to himself, as many great men had done before him. And so they kissed, not knowing, not caring what the future would bring, as long as they could share that single, shining moment of forever.