A Secret Love Chapter 14
A Secret Love: Chapter 14
Quidditch and Goodwill
Dear Ginny,
If I’d had any idea how quickly Dumbledore’s plans would fall into motion I would not have agreed to meet you in Hogsmeade. It’s very selfish of me, but I’m glad that I didn’t know. I’m glad that I had that last chance to be with you. I’m sorry I asked you to be my girlfriend when I haven’t the time to be a proper boyfriend. What I should have done instead was tell you how much I love you. Don't worry, this isn't a letter saying we are finished or anything. Now that I’m in hiding, though, I realize I’ve wasted a lot of time with you. I wish I could tell you everything and tell you not to worry but I you know I can’t and I won’t lie to you. I may die, Ginny, but if I do I need you to go on living and loving. Your love is what I fight for. I love you, Ginny. I will do everything I can to come home to you.
Yours,
Harry
Ginny crumpled the note and tossed it half-heartedly across the room. Breathing heavily, she contemplated the note and the sense of finality that came with it, before breaking down into sobs. She’d thought she was beyond crying until she’d reached the part where Harry had told her he’d try to come home to her. If he knew about Gwendolen, would that make him try harder? She flung herself backwards onto the bed and allowed herself the momentary luxury of wallowing in despair.
~ : ~ : ~
The afternoon after Dumbledore had burst into her mother’s rooms there had been a school-wide meeting in the Great Hall. The headmaster had gone to great lengths to explain to the students that they were the future of the wizarding world and as such he would do everything in his power to protect them. To that end, Hogwarts was being locked to the outside; there could be no coming or going from the school grounds. Those students who were of age had until dusk the following day to leave if they so chose. Parents had until then to pick up the younger ones. Muggleborns were encouraged to stay. Classes would continue as normal come Monday morning.
Many seventh years departed to go help protect their families, but Ginny was surprised to see how many younger students remained. It seemed that parents still had a great amount of faith in Dumbledore’s ability to protect their children. Even amongst the Slytherins there were still very few departures. Hogwarts was the safest place, even for the children of Death Eaters. The most notable absences were those of Hagrid and Professor McGonagall; they’d gone off to aid the Order of the Phoenix’s offensive against the Death Eaters. Professor Grubbly-Plank was back at Hagrid’s post, teaching Care of Magical Creatures while Dumbledore had re-assumed his former post of teaching Transfiguration.
One of the biggest changes to really hit Ginny was the lack of news. Not that anyone had been inclined to tell her what was going on before, but at least there had been newspapers. The owls were now as restricted as the people. Ginny thought if even so much a beetle attempted to fly over the walls, there’d be pandemonium. She had to wonder if even Dumbledore was receiving any news. Did he know if Percy and the rest of her brothers were all right? Did he know if Harry was all right?
As May came to a close all of the teachers focused their classes on teaching the students how to defend themselves. Professor Flitwick was holding extra classes for defence charms and Professor Sprout was teaching the younger students O.W.L.-level material on poisonous plants. No exams would be given until Hogwarts could be re-opened, so O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. revision fell by the wayside. If Harry failed, they needed to prepare for the eventual siege of Hogwarts.
It was now the seventeenth of June. At the end of the afternoon Transfiguration class Dumbledore had asked Ginny to stay behind for a moment. She had taken her time packing up her materials while the other students cleared away the debris caused by failed attempts at Transfiguring rocks into Fire-Breathing Golems; they tended to explode if done improperly.
When the last of the students had left the room Ginny made her way to the front. It was then that Dumbledore had given her the note from Harry with a feeble apology. It seemed he’d had the note in his possession for several weeks, but had forgotten to give it to her.
~ : ~ : ~
A week later, Ginny sat with the rest of the school in the stands of the Quidditch Pitch, watching an informal match between Gryffinpuff and Slytherclaw. The House teams had been disbanded in favour of mixed teams and now they played for fun rather than the House Cup. Ginny would be playing chaser for the Slytherdors, the next day, against the Huffleclaws. She hadn’t looked forward to a Quidditch match with this much enthusiasm since Harry had left school. With all of the school’s best players evenly distributed it promised to be a good match.
There had been quite a bit of discussion as to what to do with the students as the traditional school year came to a close. Professor Binns had suggested they all be kept in classes and get a head start on the next year’s learning. That idea had thankfully been dismissed by most of the other professors. The general consensus was that, while there was much for the students to learn about defending themselves against Dark magic, they all needed a break. Dumbledore’s suggestion of a week long Quidditch Festival was embraced with enthusiasm by professors and students alike. No one knew what the next week would bring, but this week everyone from first years to professors, was hopping on brooms and trying their hands at the sport.
Ginny lowered her hand to her stomach and felt it rumble. She hoped the Seekers would get with it and find the Snitch; it was almost dinner time. She looked at her watch and time suddenly froze. It was 4:30. It was 4:30 on June 24th. Her other self was in Dumbledore’s office at this very moment, contemplating the Time-Turner; contemplating heaving it out of the window. In another moment it would be over; her other self would cease to exist. Ginny was finally free of the invisible yet intricate web woven by the magic of the Time-Turner. She was once again a whole person. A weariness that had seeped insidiously into her soul and weighted it down over the last six months was expelled and Ginny felt a sudden relief from an exhaustion she hadn’t realised was hers.
~ : ~ : ~
Ginny zoomed past Reginald Flint in something of a victory lap after her last goal. The Slytherdor team captain and fellow chaser grinned at her and yelled out a “well done!” The exhilaration of playing a tough game with so many talented players far outweighed any hesitation about playing alongside former rivals. Ginny had gained her team the lead and was quick to reset herself and get back down to business. She was flying after the a Huffleclaw Chaser in hopes of stealing the Quaffle when the alarm sounded. Someone was trying to enter Hogwarts.
Pandemonium was immediate. After an initial moment of fear and confusion, a cold rationality overtook Ginny and she flew to the stands. She barked orders at a group of frozen third-years and they responded without comment. With the third-years herding the youngest students into the castle to their hiding places, the teachers and older students were free to organize themselves. The Bludgers and the Snitch continued to swarm about the field, forgotten as Hogwarts prepared for battle. There were several tense moments while Dumbledore ascertained the identity of those attempting to come through the gates.
It turned out that many skirmishes with Death Eaters had left the Wizarding community with a lot of seriously injured people. While everyone was glad to discover that the school wasn’t directly under attack, there was still much to be done. There were many severely wounded people, wizards and Muggles alike, that needed tending and St.Mungo’s did not have the facilities or the manpower to handle them all. The Muggles and the most direly cursed victims were kept at St. Mungo’s; the rest were sent to Hogwarts. Dumbledore adjusted the wards surrounding the school to permit entry to anyone who had fought against Voldemort. Wounded Death Eaters and other supporters of Voldemort’s were left to find succour elsewhere. Dumbledore regretted this necessity, but the overall safety of his charges took precedence.
The hospital wing took in the most seriously wounded, while others were distributed about the castle. It turned out the Hufflepuff House was easily converted into more wards, so the remaining Hufflepuff students were separated and given quarters in the other three houses. Everyone was too busy doing their part to tend the wounded for any animosity to spring forth. In the end, many students simply slept wherever they nodded off, often nowhere near a bed. A couple of fifth-year prefects governed a team of third-years and together they kept the youngest students out of trouble and entertained, though even they found themselves stirring great cauldrons of restorative potions to aid the cause.
Ginny, so accustomed to turning off her emotions, found herself working under Madam Pomfrey’s supervision with the patients who were worst off. She couldn’t imagine what the Healers at St.Mungo’s must be dealing with if these weren’t the most severely wounded. Wizards could do terrible things to each other without actually killing. As she tended to the needs of faceless victims she kept her mind carefully blank. There was no news, not even the murmurings of rumours, of anything that was happening beyond the castle walls. She wanted nothing more than to find out the fate of those she loved, but instead suffered in silent desperation. Had Harry succeeded? Was Voldemort dead? No one seemed to know the answers to these vital questions. None of the members of the Order were amongst the wounded at Hogwarts and Dumbledore was conspicuously absent.
After a long night attempting to calm a frightened young girl who’d lost her parents, Ginny sat down to breakfast for a quick bite before heading up to bed. While she wasn’t very hungry, she knew she’d sleep better on a full stomach. She was so exhausted from her long hours of work that she began to nod off at the table.
“Hey, sleepy-head.”
Ginny was so startled by the voice that she knocked over her juice as she jerked awake.
“Harry!” she gasped.
“Evanesco,” he murmured as he waved his wand lazily, clearing away the spilt juice.
Ginny launched herself into his arms and gripped him tightly. She felt as though if she lost physical contact with him, he’d disappear. She barely noticed that he held her just as tight. “Tell me it’s over,” she said, her voice muffled against his shirt. “Tell me he’s gone; forever.”
“It’s over Ginny; he’s gone.”
She pushed away from him and gazed searchingly at his face. “I need to hear you really say it, Harry. Say his name. Make me believe he’s really gone.”
Harry took her face in his hands and lowered his head to within a breath of hers. “Voldemort is dead, Ginny. He’s really gone. The remaining Death Eaters are being rounded up and put in prison. Lucius Malfoy, the Lestranges, Dolohov - they’re all dead. It’s over Ginny; it’s finally over.”
Ginny closed her eyes and allowed herself to be drawn back into Harry’s arms. She was vaguely aware of Dumbledore standing at the head table making an announcement, but she didn’t listen to the words. All around them cheers erupted but she was deaf to them. All that mattered was that she was in Harry’s arms. He lived and Voldemort was gone. They could go live a normal life and she could finally tell him about… Gwendolen.
~ : ~ : ~
Molly roused slowly and peacefully. There was nothing like waking up in one’s own bed with a husband snoring softly off to the side. It was blessedly wonderful to be back at The Burrow. There were so many simple pleasures in just being home with her family that Molly thought she’d never take any of them for granted again. It was with a light heart that she dressed and headed downstairs to make breakfast for everyone. She was quite surprised to see a steaming pot of coffee on the counter and breakfast practically cooked on the stove. All that was left was to toast the bread and heat up the eggs and bacon. All of her children were late risers, but a quick glance through the kitchen window gave her the identity of her helper.
Ginny sat on a bench in the garden, sipping a cup of coffee. She was staring off into the horizon as though she’d been watching the sunrise. The seat next to her was empty, though Molly felt she could see Harry in that vacant place next to her daughter. The emptiness seemed, however, to emanate from within Ginny and that was what concerned her the most. Harry should be sitting out there watching the sunrise or else Ginny should be inside with him, lazing away the morning. That Ginny felt the need for solitude could only mean one thing.
Molly walked across the garden to the bench and laid a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. Though Ginny wasn’t facing her, she wasn’t startled by the sudden presence behind her. After so much time spent together, hiding in the castle, they seemed to be better attuned to each other’s thoughts and needs. Molly stood there awhile before moving around the bench to sit next to Ginny.
“You need to tell him,” she said.
“I don’t know how,” whispered Ginny.
Molly breathed deeply, painfully. She wanted so much to make this easier for Ginny. She knew it was best to let Harry and Ginny struggle through their own difficulties, but she wanted desperately to make everything better. There was so much to be happy about and still her daughter suffered.
“I guess you just need to take him aside and do it. He needs to know that he’s a father. You need to go to Privet Drive and collect your daughter. Haven’t you imposed on Petunia Dursley’s hospitality long enough?”
“What?” came a deadly soft voice from behind them.
Both Molly and Ginny spun around and gasped in unison. Harry stood rooted to the ground behind them, mug of coffee in hand. He must have seen them from the kitchen and decided to join them. He’d also obviously heard what Molly had just said, and now it would need explaining. Molly tossed a regretful look at her daughter and rose from her seat. Getting this conversation started was the hard part, wasn’t it?
“If everyone’s starting to wake up I should go finish breakfast,” she said, leaving the tense couple behind her as she walked into the house.
She was putting plates of eggs and sausages on the table when her husband came down the stairs into the kitchen. She looked out at Harry and Ginny, who seemed to be having a very heated conversation, and then back at the man who was digging into breakfast.
“Mornin’, my love,” he garbled around a mouthful of eggs.
“Arthur,” she began, “there’s something I should probably tell you…”
~ : ~ : ~
Harry watched dispassionately as Ginny crumpled into tears in front of him. Her betrayal cut him deeper than anything ever had. His child was being raised by that awful woman and no one had seen fit to tell him he was a father. He couldn’t feel all of the emotions that boiled within him at hearing of Ginny’s duplicity, so he clung to the cold anger and froze the rest of them out.
Ginny’s cries fell on deaf ears as he turned around and Apparated away from The Burrow. He’d be damned if he was going to allow another Potter to suffer at the hands of the Dursleys.
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