The Refiner's Fire
Chapter 35 - Exams
By Abraxan
Harry awoke to find Professor McGonagall sitting with him. "Hi, Professor," he said sleepily. "Where’s Ginny?"
"Classes have started again," she replied. "Several of us will take turns with Professor Lupin, Miss Weasley, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger so someone’s always with you, but we have to work around everyone’s class timetable." She wrung out the flannel in the bowl of cool water on Harry’s nightstand and bent to sponge off his face. "You’ve been sweating again. Are you feeling any better?" she said with a rare smile.
"Yes. That feels good. Thanks." He moved a bit in his bed, trying to find a more comfortable position. Merlin waited until he was finished moving, then rearranged himself on Harry’s stomach. The beautiful bird lifted his head and looked at McGonagall a while, then chirruped something cheerful sounding to Harry before going back to his soothing crooning. Harry snorted with laughter, then quickly tried to stop.
"What’s funny, Potter?" McGonagall asked curiously as she sat back in her chair.
"Merlin said. . . ." Harry blushed, still trying not to laugh. "I can’t say it."
"Merlin? The phoenix? He said something. . .funny? I didn’t know phoenixes could do such things," she said with interest.
Harry looked at her, his eyes dancing, trying hard to stifle his amusement. It still hurt to laugh, for one thing, but he honestly didn’t want to repeat what Merlin had said.
"Oh come on, Potter. I haven’t had a good laugh in days," the professor encouraged. "What could a phoenix say that you would find so funny?" The corners of her mouth were twitching. Harry’s suppressed mirth was making her want to laugh too.
Merlin gave Harry an imperious look, then gazed at McGonagall a long time, his eyes soft and sweet. He chirruped something that finally made Harry lose control and laugh out loud, then groan in pain.
"Ow! Merlin, give over! You’re killing me!" he said, doing his best to stop laughing.
Professor McGonagall was laughing too. "Please, Potter, you need rest and quiet. Try to calm down. And I really would like to know what’s so funny!"
"Don’t blame me, OK? Merlin’s the one who said it," he said, his eyes sparkling, his cheeks flushed with the first healthy colour they’d had in days.
"All right. I won’t blame you. What did he say?" Professor McGonagall replied calmly, going along with whatever game Harry was playing.
"He says. . .he says you’re . . . erm. . ." Harry snorted, trying not to laugh, while blushing at the same time.
"I’m what?" McGonagall said, truly confused.
"He thinks you’re . . .erm. . .hot," Harry said, blushing madly.
"What?" McGonagall didn’t know whether to laugh or be insulted. "Phoenixes don’t. . .a phoenix wouldn’t. . ."
"This one does," Harry chuckled. "He didn’t mean to be rude. He likes you a lot. And I don’t mean to be rude either. It’s just the way he said it, it struck me funny. And one of these potions makes me goofy sometimes too. I apologize for being disrespectful, Professor," he said sincerely, while trying to stifle another burst of laughter.
"All right, Potter, you’ve had your fun," McGonagall said a bit sternly. The Harry Potter she knew would never deliberately insult her. It must be the potion.
"Honestly, it’s Merlin. He’s. . .has anyone told you about him yet?"
"What about him?" she asked cautiously. She didn’t know where Potter was going with this. He was acting quite oddly.
"Does the Quieting Charm keep people outside the curtains from hearing what’s said in here?" Harry asked suddenly.
"All but the nurse guarding the opening," McGonagall replied. "She needs to hear you in case you have problems."
"Then lean over so I can whisper to you," he murmured. "It’s supposed to be a secret, but I can tell anyone I trust with my other secrets."
Professor McGonagall felt honoured that he included her in his most trusted confidants. She leaned over so he could whisper in her ear.
"He’s Merlin. Great Merlin, King Arthur’s wizard," Harry whispered.
She stood up abruptly. "Potter, are your potions affecting your mind?" she said in concern. "That’s. . ."
"Please, Professor! It’s the truth! Lean down, I’ll tell you everything." She complied and was rewarded with the entire story of Merlin’s becoming a phoenix and finally, after over a thousand years, choosing to bond himself to a wizard.
"How do you know this is true?" she asked incredulously, standing straight again and looking from Harry’s earnest face to that of the phoenix, which seemed to have a very un-phoenix-like twinkle in its eye.
"Come closer," Harry whispered. When she leaned toward him again, he murmured, "He’s told me some spells to try and the ones I’ve tried have all worked. Just small things, since I’m not very strong right now, but still, they work. And he’s told me other things, about moving Stonehenge, about Avalon and Camelot. When he’s crooning to heal me and I’m awake, he’s also telling me stories."
"Truly?" Her thin eyebrows were raised in astonishment.
"Absolutely."
"And he made that comment about me?" she said, beginning to laugh like a young girl.
"Yes."
"Was he just trying to amuse you?" she said with sudden scepticism.
"No. He interrupted a story to say that. You’d moved somehow and the light hit your face a certain way and he interrupted himself to say that."
"Well, my goodness," she said, blushing. "Great Merlin," she murmured in awe, gently stroking the bird’s feathers. "I’m touched. And honoured." She looked up at Harry. "You should write down the stories he tells you, Potter."
"Nobody would believe them — they’re much more fantastic than the ones I’ve read about him," Harry replied, petting the bird’s long golden tail.
"I wish I could hear them," she said quietly, still stroking the bird’s scarlet back. "I’ve always been a tremendous admirer of Merlin. I’ve read everything I could find about him, many times. He’s the reason I became so interested in Transfiguration." As she spoke, Harry could see the young girl behind the old woman’s wrinkles. Her face lit with excitement, with the soft light from the candles above them and in his room, she looked far younger than her years. She must have been a pretty girl, he thought in surprise. He’d never noticed such things about old people before.
Merlin chirruped suddenly, turning to look Harry in the eye. "What is it, Merlin?" Harry said quietly. "Oh. OK. Like this?" he said, waving his hand in an uneven zigzag. The bird chirped again briefly, then sat looking at Harry expectantly.
"Professor?"
"Yes?"
"Do you really want to talk to him? Would you like to hear his voice in your head?"
"Only the wizard who owns a phoenix can hear him," she said.
"That’s only true with real phoenixes," Harry corrected her. He waved his hand as Merlin had told him and murmured a quiet incantation. Merlin stood up abruptly and turned to face McGonagall, crooning at her as he resettled himself on Harry’s stomach.
"Oh! Harry, what did you do? I can hear a voice in my head!" McGonagall said in delight. She chuckled. "Is that you?"
"No, it’s him," Harry insisted.
"He’s funny!"
"Yeah, he is. I did an incantation he told me to do. He’ll tell you how to turn it off when he’s finished talking with you, I imagine," Harry said with a yawn. "And I can’t hear what he’s saying to you. If he wants to talk to me, he’ll have to turn and look at me. As long as he’s looking at you, you’ll hear his voice."
"How wonderful!" She was glowing, with the brightest smile he’d ever seen from her. "Thank you, Harry."
"No problem. You two kids behave now, all right?" he said with a chuckle, then tucked his hand under his cheek and fell asleep to the sound of the bird’s chirruping and Professor McGonagall’s soft laughter and questions.
* * * * *
"Look at this, Harry," Hermione said a few days later. Ron and Hermione had just arrived with armfuls of books. They tipped Harry’s as carefully as possible onto his bed so he could start trying to catch up with his classes and prepare for exams. He grunted as the books hit the bed.
"Oh! Sorry, mate," Ron said, straightening the pile of books so they wouldn’t slide off the bed.
Harry was still in some pain, but was finally able to sit up in bed for short periods as long as Merlin was nestled against his side, still helping the healing process on his internal injuries. Ginny sat surrounded by books and parchment as she studied for her O.W.L.’s. Hermione handed Harry a copy of the Daily Prophet.
"What is it?" Harry said, not terribly anxious to see what horrible article had been written about him now.
"I think you’ll like this one," Hermione said, seeming to read his mind. "At least, I hope you will."
Harry gingerly opened the newspaper so the front page was exposed. "Harry Potter Vanquishes You-Know-Who Again" the headline read. A sub-heading read "Hogwarts Students Best Death Eaters in Two Major Battles". The article covered the entire front page and seven additional pages. Most of the front page was filled with a photo from the Omnioculars of Harry facing Voldemort defiantly, casting a spell that made Voldemort fall over, his face contorted in pain. Since it was a wizarding photo, Harry cast the spell that dropped Voldemort over and over. Harry stared at the photo, dumbstruck for a moment.
"Did it really look like that?" he said quietly.
"Yes," Hermione replied. "We had loads of great pictures to choose from. With three Omnioculars going, we had the battle pretty well covered. Luckily, they take pictures well in the dark. I was worried about it being so dark and stormy during the battle, but the Omnioculars seemed to adjust for that."
"Yeah, they make them that way because Quidditch is played in absolutely abominable weather so often," Ron commented, looking over Harry’s shoulder to see what he was looking at.
Harry began reading the story. "How did they get this information?" he asked uneasily.
"Do you remember talking to Madam Bones the other day?" Harry nodded. "I was taking notes," Hermione said with a smile. "I thought it was important to get the story straight from you while it was fresh in your mind. I think this article may become a chapter in ‘Hogwarts: A History.’"
"It should!" Ginny said, leaning in to look at the article. "It’s a great article, and all the staff and most of the students were involved in both battles. Did you include a report on the Hogwarts battle?"
"I asked you about these articles when you were pretty groggy, Harry," Hermione said. "I’ll bet you don’t remember." He shook his head. "You suggested I ask Luna Lovegood to write the one on the Battle of Hogwarts, so I did. She interviewed loads of the staff and students who were involved, and walked around studying the various sites so she’d be able to describe it well. She did a great job on it. It’s on one of the inside pages. Dean did illustrations for it based on what we saw when we returned, and on descriptions given by people Luna interviewed. We got Dumbledore to approve everything so we wouldn’t reveal any protective charms that should stay secret."
"What about the phoenix?" Harry asked nervously.
"Dumbledore is telling people it was Merlin and Fawkes who attacked Voldemort. That works out well, since Merlin appeared soon after you got here, and you came back with Fawkes. Only a few people know about your transformation, and everyone is sworn to secrecy. Madam Bones agreed to give credit to Merlin and Fawkes, although she wanted to give you the recognition you deserved. She finally agreed it was in your best interest to keep that ability of yours a secret as long as possible."
Harry finally breathed a sigh of relief. He flipped to the inside of the paper, looking at the pictures before reading the articles. He saw a sidebar bordered in thick black lines. "The Heroes of Hogwarts" the title read. The article was written by Ron, listing the dead and wounded and extolling their valour in combat. Seamus and Katie were pictured in their Quidditch robes, the pictures cropped from the Gryffindor Quidditch Team poster. The other Quidditch players who died were also pictured with images cropped from their posters. Seeing Katie and Seamus laughing, the wind whipping their hair, their faces so full of life nearly tore Harry’s heart out. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to read the sidebar article completely. Despite his best efforts, his eyes filled with tears as he read. He scrubbed at his face and sniffled before saying, "Well done, Ron. This is really good." Ron just nodded in response, his eyes looking haunted. Writing that article had been nearly as difficult as writing the letters to the families of the fallen.
He glanced through the rest of the articles and found another small one, this time written by Albus Dumbledore. "The Arming of Hogwarts" was the title. Dumbledore wrote about how Harry worked many extra hours learning far more spells than Hogwarts normally taught, and taught them to D.A. so they’d be ready for anything. He wrote about Harry’s idea for Ron to be D.A.’s general, since he was a chess master, and the vast number of hours Ron had spent in researching historic battle plans and planning his own strategies. Hermione was praised for her researching abilities, for coming up with several methods of communication with D.A. members, enough to cover any contingency, and for pushing Harry to start D.A. in the first place, as well as being Ron’s second-in-command. Ginny was praised for her Healer Squad and all the wonderful work they did to ease the suffering of the wounded, and to transport the injured safely out of the battlefield. Remus was mentioned for his help with Harry’s research and training, and in supporting D.A. whenever necessary, as well as fighting in the battle itself. Dumbledore made a point of saying that none of these people mentioned themselves in any way in the newspaper articles, nor did they seek any praise or honours. He felt their work was praiseworthy and he wanted everyone to know who was responsible for the high quality of the students’ work in the battle with Voldemort and the defence of Hogwarts.
Harry looked around at his friends. "This is amazing. Nearly the entire paper is just articles about our battles. And such good ones! Well done, Hermione, Ron! Please thank Luna and Dean for me, too."
"If you look at the rest of the paper, it’s taken up with editorials about the Ministry’s failing to help us, about the dangers of letting children run a war, all kinds of things, from every possible angle," Hermione added. "It’s actually quite interesting to read some of them."
"You should frame this or something," Harry said, handing it back to her.
"You should frame it yourself," she countered, smiling at him. "It’s all about you."
"Nope. It’s about D.A. and everyone’s part in the battle, not just about me. That’s partly why I like it so much," he said with a smile. "Thanks for being so even-handed."
"I’m glad you like it! You were so groggy when we talked about it before, I was afraid you’d forgotten completely."
"I had."
"Well, at least you aren’t angry about it," she said, looking quite pleased with herself. "I’m so relieved!"
"As I said — well done!" Harry leaned toward her and added, "And if they don’t make it a chapter in ‘Hogwarts: A History,’ then I think you should just write your own history of Hogwarts!" Hermione blushed at his praise, but didn’t argue with him.
* * * * *
Harry’s grumbling stomach woke him. Something smelled fantastic. He was surprised to find himself alone. That was unusual enough in itself, given that he still seemed to be in a hospital bed and someone always sat with him when he was asleep. But what was that wonderful smell? He sat up and looked around, seeing nothing but the curtains around his bed and empty chairs nearby. He picked up his glasses from the bedside table and put them on. Merlin sat preening himself on the foot of Harry’s bed, apparently not feeling a need to heal Harry anymore.
"Hi, Merlin," Harry said, smiling at the bird. "So do you think I’m well enough now?"
Merlin gazed at him serenely, one liquid drop of music coming from his throat.
"Great!" Harry replied, swinging his legs carefully over the side of the bed. Hmm, no dressing gown. No slippers. Nobody expected him to be up yet, apparently. He touched the wounds on his chest and left arm, then gingerly reached around and checked the biggest wounds on his back. They were all healing well, were down to a bearable level of pain and all of them were closed, so they didn’t look nearly as gross as they had. He took a deep breath, grateful that it didn’t hurt to breathe anymore — he’d had some broken ribs along with everything else. He remembered his self-examination and all the things he hadn’t told his friends about. Broken ribs. Bruised kidneys, liver and spleen. Ruptured stomach, with infection setting in inside his abdomen from the spilled contents of his stomach. Spell burns going through all the layers of muscle down to the bone in places. And the whip cuts — Voldemort had spelled the lashes so any wounds they inflicted would not heal without tremendous effort, if at all. Without the phoenixes’ help, and Harry’s use of his own healing powers, those wounds might never have healed. Add a good bit of blood loss to all those other injuries and little Harry was a very sick boy. Emphasis on the "was," he told himself resolutely, carefully stretching his arms and legs, twisting his hands and feet around, flexing his fingers and toes, making sure everything worked. He even tried wiggling his ears to see how his scalp wound had healed. Apparently, everything was in working order, if still a bit sore. His left arm didn’t move as freely as it should, but it was covered with scar tissue, so he supposed that was to be expected — for a while, anyway. He smiled and stood up, running his fingers through his hair to try to calm down the serious case of rumpled hair he was sure to be suffering from after all this time in bed. He moved to the opening in his curtains and peeked out. Even his "guard nurse" was gone. That was odd, too.
The House Tables were set up at the far end of the Great Hall. Harry poked his head out of the curtains, gazing curiously at the tables filled with students eating in apparent silence. He could see their mouths moving as if they were speaking. Ah-ha, there’s still a Quieting Charm on my area, he concluded. He took one step out, trying to see the Head Table. Everyone was there who should be, Remus, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, Sinistra, Sprout, Trelawney, the other professors. He took another step away from his enclosure so he could see the Gryffindor table better, and suddenly the welcome sounds of hundreds of people eating, laughing and talking washed over him. He could see red hair in the distance, yes, there were Ron and Hermione. Where was Ginny? Someone across the table from Ron poked him and pointed toward Harry. Ron turned around, his face lighting with delight when he saw Harry. On Ron’s far side, a small body appeared, long red hair hanging down past the bench as Ginny leaned back to look around her brother and saw Harry. She squealed with glee and raced the length of the Great Hall, creating quite a commotion among all the tables. People everywhere were standing up and moving in Harry’s direction. Harry grinned at Ginny in delight, and then remembered he only had on pyjama bottoms. His cheeks burned with embarrassment, but Ginny had just reached him and he didn’t have a chance to find anything to cover himself. He needn’t have worried about his modesty. Ginny wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly, then stayed there, protecting his modesty, knowing she was doing so, and giggling merrily about it.
"Mate, it’s great to see you up!" Ron said, reaching out to clap Harry on the back and jerking his hand back before he could complete the motion.
"Great to be up!" Harry replied. "I’m starving. But I don’t have any clothes, no dressing gown or anything," he said, then looked down at Ginny, his hands laced behind her back. He rocked her side to side a little as he spoke. "Did somebody forget somehow, or was this deliberate?" he asked, teasing her.
"Sorry," she said, smiling up at him warmly, "I just left you a few minutes ago. I thought I could eat and get back before you woke up. I didn’t know you’d be strong enough to get up today!"
Meanwhile, students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had surrounded Harry, welcoming him back to their midst while being very careful not to comment on his injuries or touch him in any way. Some of them seemed aghast that Ginny had her arms around him, when he was so obviously badly wounded. They didn’t think about how many hours she’d sat by him, studying his injuries until she knew exactly where she could touch him without hurting him. Harry shook hands all around, glad his right hand was relatively well healed, and grinned at everyone, feeling happier than he had in ages.
Ron pulled off his robes, standing there in shirt sleeves and trousers as he carefully draped his robes around his best friend’s shoulders. "Better?"
"Yeah, thanks!" Harry said gratefully wrapping the robes around himself.
"Here, Harry, this will complete your outfit," Neville laughed, pulling his tie off without untying it, and handing it to Harry. Harry wrapped it upside down and sideways around his head, letting the bottom of the tie hang off goofily over one ear.
"Yeah, that’s an improvement," Dean teased. "C’mon and eat, Harry!"
"Wait a sec," Ron said, resting one hand on Hermione’s shoulder and pulling off his shoes and socks. He handed the socks to Harry, then put his shoes back on. "They’re a bit gamey, but they’ll keep your feet warm."
"Thanks, mate!" Harry said, holding onto Ron’s arm and laughing as Ginny pulled the socks over his long knobbly toes and up his skinny legs. "That’ll do!" Leaning on Ginny just a little, Harry followed his friends to the Gryffindor table and was soon piling all kinds of delicious food on his plate. He grinned, absolutely delighted to be alive and back among his friends. He tried not to think of Seamus and Katie and the others who were no longer there. Ron had told him the day before that Seamus’s bed had been removed from their room and the other beds spread out so there wasn’t a gaping hole in the room. Harry had grieved for his friends. Now it was time to celebrate being alive, and he did so with great joy.
* * * * *
Early June was warm and humid, but as always, the thick stone castle walls kept the building cool inside. Harry was sitting up in his four-poster, doing some late night revision before exams began the next day, when his curtains were nosed apart by a huge sable collie that leaped onto his bed and bounded around on it joyfully, spilling Harry’s ink bottle all over his sheets, his books falling heavily to the floor. Harry sat there in delighted amazement. "Ron? Is that you?" The collie rolled over and showed its belly, its tongue lolling goofily out of the side of its mouth, then rolled onto its belly staring at him with bright eyes.
"Mate, this is brilliant! Congratulations!" he said, laughing as the collie wriggled in pleasure on his bed, snarling up the bed clothes and getting dog hair on everything. "How did you manage it? Change back and tell me!" The collie bowed before him playfully, then stood and shook, its huge fur coat sending hair all over the inside of the bed curtains. "You’re shedding everywhere! C’mon, change back or I’ll be sneezing all night!" The collie sat down and looked at him expectantly. "Are you stuck?" The collie leaped forward and licked his cheek thoroughly. "OK, OK! That’s actually kind of gross, knowing it’s you!" Harry said, pushing the dog away and laughing. He changed Ron back into himself and sat grinning at his friend, sharing Ron’s joy in his success.
"Whew, thanks, mate!" Ron said, lying spread-eagled across the foot of Harry’s bed, his long arms and legs pushing the curtains out weirdly. "I finally did it, and was having fun with it, but then couldn’t change back. It’s kind of scary, eerie, even, to be stuck as an animal!"
"Yeah, I know," Harry agreed. "Does Hermione know you can do this?"
"No. I only just managed it," Ron said. "Dunno why I got stuck. Would you watch me do it a few times so you can help me if I get stuck again?"
"Of course!" Harry replied. "Go ahead." Ron sat cross-legged in front of Harry, his always mobile face unusually still and serious. Slowly, his own red mane turned a bit more golden and spread over his body, a wide white ruff appearing around his neck, his arms and legs becoming slender and white, his long nose turning into a long collie snout, his ears becoming long, furry and pointed and moving to the top of his head, which was narrowing rapidly. Soon there was a dog sitting in front of Harry, its eyes as blue as Ron’s, but otherwise, a very handsome rough collie with a thick, luxurious coat. "Well done!" Harry exclaimed with a laugh as he reached out to pet the dog. He ran his hand down its head and neck, amazed that the animal in front of him was his best mate Ron, who loved Quidditch, chess, chocolate frogs and Hermione with pretty much equal abandon. "It’s just brilliant, mate. You make a handsome dog," Harry chuckled. "Ready to change back?" The dog looked up him brightly, and then its face got a concentrated expression. Soon there was red hair where there had been golden-red fur on the animal’s head, and Ron’s big feet appeared at the end of the back legs, but otherwise, it was still a collie. The collie looked at him in frustration and a bit of fear.
"C’mon, Ron, you can do this," Harry encouraged him. "Start small. Start with your legs, since you already have feet, then get rid of the tail, that kind of thing. Go on, have a go." The collie looked at Harry in sad frustration. "Been stuck like this before, eh?" he asked with a smile. The collie blinked. "OK, just change your back legs into your own legs. Do just that, then rest before trying another part." The collie looked at its back legs, whining a little as it saw the huge human feet at the end of its slender white legs. It looked back at Harry, its eyes hopeless. "Don’t look at me like that," he said sternly. "You can do this." The dog sighed, shook its head a bit then looked at Harry again hopefully. "I’m not going to change you. You can do it," he said. The dog sighed again, then stared off in the distance somewhere, concentrating. Slowly, ever so slowly, human legs emerged from the white fur at the back of the dog. The dog grunted and then lay there panting. "It’s not as easy as it looks, is it?" Harry teased. The dog growled a bit, making him laugh. With another sigh, the dog got that concentrated look again, becoming very still for quite a while.
Harry held his breath. If Ron was stuck at this stage, he’d have to change him back himself. They had exams the next day, and Ron couldn’t do them as a dog. But if he changed Ron back, Ron would lose some of his confidence and it might take him much longer to truly conquer the Animagus transformation. He was so close to success. If he could just manage to change back on his own. . . . Suddenly, Ron’s arms appeared, not a gradual change but an almost instantaneous one. "That’s it, Ron! Well done! Do what you just did again! You can do it! Go on, then!" Harry encouraged. One shoulder, then the other, then his back and bum appeared, the tail disappearing in an eye blink. Finally, the dog’s head turned into Ron’s and he lay there in his old maroon pyjamas, panting and exhausted but deliriously happy.
"I did it! I did it! I did it by myself, too! Harry, I did it!" Ron cried, rolling around on his friend’s bed in glee, much as the collie had done earlier.
"Yes, you did! Now do it again, so you’ll be certain about how it works," Harry encouraged him. He made Ron change back and forth time after time until Ron was finally changing rapidly, with no hesitation or problem at all. "There you go," Harry told him finally. "Now can I get some studying done?"
"D’you need help? I owe you a big one for this, mate," Ron said earnestly.
"No thanks, I’m almost done," Harry said.
"Let me at least sort out your bed. Get up, I can do this," Ron said, pulling out his wand and aiming it at the still-wet ink stains on the sheets. "Evanesco," he said, and the ink disappeared. He performed a Bed-Making Charm and Harry’s bedding was neat and tidy again, the covers turned down invitingly.
"Wow! Well done, mate," Harry responded. "Thanks."
"Learned that one from Ginny," Ron said modestly. "I was a bit slow catching on to that Bed-Making Charm, and Mum got annoyed with me. Ginny spent a whole rainy afternoon showing me how to do it correctly. She was just a bit of a thing then, about six or seven. She’s always been better at Charms than I am."
"Well, you did brilliantly this time," Harry complimented him. "I think I’m going to turn in. I don’t honestly think my brain can hold another fact. How do you think our revision went?"
"Hermione’s relentless. Thanks to her, I may do decently in the exams, though."
"Me, too. Good night, Ron."
"Night, Harry. Thanks again!"
* * * * *
"Show me!" Hermione said excitedly as they headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"OK, come in here," Ron said, leading her, Harry and Ginny into an empty classroom.
"Hurry up! We don’t have loads of time, and I want to see it!" Hermione encouraged him.
"Don’t rush me! I get stuck if I rush," Ron said, excited but nervous. He glanced at Harry, who gave him a grin in response. Taking a deep breath, Ron’s face stilled and his eyes focused someplace distant. Gradually, but much more quickly than before, he changed into the blue-eyed collie. The dog stood on all fours in front of his friends, his tail wagging, tongue lolling happily, looking at the two girls expectantly. They both ooooo’d and ahhhh’d in quite a satisfactory fashion, then knelt next to him, petting him, hugging him, and praising him highly. The dog nuzzled Hermione’s neck, then leaned against her chest as she knelt by his side. She hugged him again, then looked into his blue eyes.
"Can you change back?" she asked.
The dog looked nervously at Harry. Harry grinned and said, "You can do it, mate. Go on." The dog seemed to be holding its breath, it was so still. In a few moments, a very relieved-looking Ron knelt before them, Hermione’s arms still around his neck.
"Oh, Ron, that’s brilliant!" she said as they got to their feet, discouraged tears in her eyes. "And I still can’t do more than a paw!" She stamped her foot in frustration. "I wish I was in Harry’s dormitory so I could get as much help as you have."
"He’s done most of this on his own, Hermione," Harry assured her. "I only helped a couple of times."
"I’d love to know what I’m doing wrong," she grumbled.
Meanwhile, Ginny was hugging her brother. "I can’t wait to see Dad’s face when you change in front of him! He’ll be so excited! He always wanted to be an Animagus. And the twins! They’ll go spare! Wicked! I’m so proud of you!" Ron was blushing madly with all the praise being heaped upon him. Harry was the one to break things up.
"Erm. . .I hate to spoil the moment, but we have exams to get to, so we’d better go eat a good breakfast," he said apologetically.
"I can’t WAIT for Transfiguration!" Ron chortled. "Think of all the extra points I’m going to get for this!" He laughed, delighted with his success.
After breakfast, Ginny had to leave them in the Charms corridor. "Good luck, sweetheart," she said as she kissed Harry goodbye.
"You too," he said, kissing her nose as they parted. "See you later."
* * * * *
McGonagall was appropriately excited at Ron’s success. He was the only one other than Harry to manage the entire transformation. Several other students had managed partial transformations, but were stuck there and couldn’t get any further along.
"Those of you who are of age should practice over your summer holiday. Possibly by the time we meet again in the fall term, you will have made some progress in your transformation. All right, I’ll be passing out your tests in a moment. Please put all books, papers and quills away." She passed out the Anti-Cheating Quills with a wave of her wand. She held their tests a moment longer. "Here are your examinations. You have one hour."
For the next hour, the room was silent except for the scratching of quills. Harry was staring at a bumblebee that was buzzing around inside the tall window. He smiled. He saw that bumblebee fairly often and had learned to recognize it. It had a patchwork mark on the bottom left side of its body, a marking it inherited from Dumbledore’s scar on his left leg that was a perfect map of the London underground. He wondered why Dumbledore was observing this exam, but knew the headmaster had his own reasons for whatever he did. He smiled at the bee again, which flew down near him briefly before returning to its spot by the window. Harry shook his head in amusement, then got back to work on his exam. He’d had to stifle a laugh when he’d opened his test paper. Professor McGonagall had given him only three questions to answer, all of them simple, then written a note at the bottom: "I would have excused you from the exam altogether, but that might have raised some questions you don’t really want to answer. So answer these, then write a love letter to Miss Weasley with the rest of your time if you’d like. You’ve already earned an ‘Outstanding’ in this class. Well done!’"
"I think that went rather well, don’t you?" Hermione said brightly as they left the classroom. "I mean, I think I had a problem with question 12 B, but . . ."
"Hermione, we don’t want to relive the exam, OK?" Ron grumbled.
Hermione sighed. She wished they wanted to discuss the tests, but they never, ever did.
"How did you do on the Animagus questions, Ron?" Harry teased his friend.
"I think I did OK," Ron said with a cocky grin.
"I thought you didn’t want to discuss the exam," Hermione groused testily.
"Well, the Animagus section was interesting," Ron replied, not seeing her grouchy expression. He and Harry launched into a discussion of the Animagus questions, and Hermione listened intently, afraid to interrupt.
When their conversation ran down, she said, "So what did you put for 12 B, Harry?" she asked as innocently as possible.
"Oh, no you don’t," Ron warned, "You’re not going to get us to talk about the exam!"
"But you just were!" she protested. "I was simply continuing the conversation."
"I honestly don’t remember what 12 B was, Hermione, nor what I put for the answer," Harry said with a grin, not bothering to tell her he hadn’t even had a "question 12 B" on his exam paper. "Sorry."
Hermione sighed, shaking her head. "Boys," she muttered in disgust.
"Yes?" they both said brightly, laughing teasingly at her frown. They soon had her laughing along with them.
* * * * *
"Professor," Harry asked Dumbledore the next time he saw him. "Why have you been observing my exams? Or are you observing all of them?"
"I’m keeping an eye on all the students," he replied. "Since all the Sixth Year students are tested together in most subjects, some of those who lost parents, or whose parents have been locked up in Azkaban, are in your exams. I don’t want them disrupting the examinations for anyone, so I’ve been watching how things are going. They seem to be taking the situation much better than I would have expected, but then again, most of them were in the castle when it was stormed by Death Eaters and saw how ruthless they are in battle. Those who didn’t know their parents had become Death Eaters were in shock for a while after they found out. We had many counselling sessions and passed out loads of Cheering Charms and Tranquillity Potions while you were in bed and didn’t know what was going on in the rest of the castle. These last few weeks have been difficult for everyone."
Harry nodded. "I wondered what happened to those whose parents were Death Eaters. So some of them had no idea?"
"No idea at all," Dumbledore said, shaking his head sadly.
"That’s awful."
"That’s just one of many things that are awful about the entire situation," Dumbledore replied sadly. "Don’t you worry about these things, Harry. None of it is your responsibility. You just work hard at your exams and do the best you can. Are you feeling well now?"
"Yes, Professor, I’m fine." He kept saying this despite the constant pain in his scars. He supposed they were either healing or they weren’t. He was just glad to be alive and mobile again.
Professor Dumbledore looked at him seriously for a moment before placing a gentle hand on the boy’s shoulder. "I’m so glad to hear that," he said with a smile. "I’d best be off. The Fourth Year students will be starting their Care of Magical Creatures exam soon and I want to look in on them."
* * * * *
"What shall we do with our free time?" Ron said, stretching luxuriously in the squashy old armchair in the Gryffindor Common Room. "I mean, while other people are taking the Defence exam, we have a free afternoon. We should spend it doing something totally worthless and fun!"
"What do you want to do?" Harry asked, amused. He glanced over at the table in the corner, where Ginny and the other Fifth Years were up to their eyeballs in O.W.L. revision. What he’d most enjoy doing with free time involved Ginny, but she wouldn’t be available for days. The Fifth and Seventh Year students didn’t get the benefit of being excused from exams, since they had O.W.L.’s and N.E.W.T.’s to deal with.
"I don’t know. ‘Mione? Ideas?"
"We should be studying," she began.
"’Mione. . ." Ron pleaded. "Give it a rest, OK?"
"What do you two want to do?" she countered curiously. They had been studying hard. A short break might refresh their minds after all.
"Tell you what," Harry offered. "You two find something fun to do on your own. I have an errand to do in Hogsmeade."
"D’you want to go by yourself, mate?" Ron said. "We can go with you, if you want."
"It’s not a Hogsmeade weekend. You’d get into trouble," Harry said. "It’ll be easier for me to just fly across the forest and run my errand. You two go on, have a fun afternoon," he said, winking at Ron.
Suddenly, Ron caught on. "’Mione, sweetie, I know something fun we can do," he wheedled as Harry waved and left the Common Room.
Harry walked across the grounds in long strides, his broom over his shoulder, enjoying feeling healthy and strong again, revelling in the beautiful weather. "It’s a good day to fly," he said as he got near the edge of the forest. He’d considered transforming into a raven for this trip, but with his back and left arm still so sore, he didn’t think flying that way was in his best interest at the moment. He flew to the edge of the forest nearest Hogsmeade and put a Shrinking Charm on his Firebolt, pocketed it, then walked cheerfully down the street between the little shops. He stopped at the jeweller’s to do his errand.
"Mr. Potter, it’s wonderful to see you again!" Mr. Joyero said when Harry entered. "I read about the battles. I’m so sorry for the loss of your friends."
"Thanks," Harry said carefully, hoping the man wasn’t going to get maudlin. Harry had been cheerful when he came in — he’d like to stay that way.
"Your battle — I was just amazed at the photos, and the articles. . .my goodness. Well done, Mr. Potter!" the jeweller enthused.
"Thanks," Harry replied, hurriedly changing the subject. "I’d like to look at rings this time."
"So you and the young lady are ready for the next step?" Mr. Joyero said, smiling warmly as he reached for the case of engagement rings.
"Oh, no! Not those rings!" Harry said, mentally kicking himself. He didn’t want to be wrong-footed in this. "Erm. . .there’s another kind of ring, isn’t there? One that’s not so. . .permanent?"
"Do you mean just a decorative ring, or a promise ring?"
"What’s a promise ring?"
"It’s not as serious as an engagement ring, but it shows you love the young lady. If you’re serious about each other but feel you’re too young for engagement rings, promise rings are a nice thing to do. If you just like the young lady and want to get her a present that doesn’t, um, indicate any possible future promises, then one of these other rings would be lovely."
"Possible future promises?"
"If you don’t want the young lady to think you’re going to propose someday — if you just want to get her a ring because you like her."
"So the promise ring shows I’m promising to propose someday?" Harry said, wanting to be perfectly clear on things.
"That’s what it suggests, yes."
Harry was quiet for a while, thinking seriously. He’d heard of such rings in TV ads for jewellery shops and thought that was what he wanted to get, but he’d wanted to hear more about them from the jeweller. Do I really want to give her the idea I’m going to propose to her someday? he thought. He pondered that idea for a few moments, then his brain gave him a swift kick in the bum. Of course you do, you great prat! "Let’s see what you have then," he said, taking a deep, steadying breath. "The promise rings."
An hour or so later, Harry was walking toward Honeyduke’s when he remembered something. He turned into Dervish & Banges and found Ben Dervish working behind the counter.
"Mr. Potter! How are you?" Mr. Dervish said with a smile. "I read about your battles. Well done!"
"Thanks. That’s actually why I came in here," Harry said, looking around to see if they were alone.
Dervish seemed to understand what Harry was doing. "There’s no one else here. What’s up?"
"I wanted to thank you for those books," Harry said in a low voice. "What I learned from them saved my life several times. They were a huge help to D.A., as well. We were able to teach them defensive skills we would never have thought of otherwise. Thank you so much."
"You’re welcome. You used them exactly the way I hoped you would. I’m glad they were a help."
"They were brilliant. So were the books on battle strategies you showed Ron. You should get a lot of the credit for our success, but I know we can’t publicize that fact. So I just wanted to thank you again," Harry said sincerely.
"My pleasure. Please let me know if you need more reference material."
"I will. Thanks!" He waved and left the shop, forcing himself to whistle cheerfully again as he walked down the street. As much as he was able, he tried not to dwell on all the horrors of recent weeks. Every reminder brought those memories to the front of his mind, but it was a beautiful day, he was alive and on an enjoyable errand, and he was going to hold onto that feeling as hard as he could. Finally, he walked into Honeyduke’s.
"Mr. Potter! I’m so glad to see you!" Mr. Honeyduke cried when he spotted Harry browsing the shelves full of sweets.
"Hi! Nice to see you too," he said with a smile, then got right to business to avoid another uncomfortable conversation. "I’d like to get some Chocolate Frogs and some Sugar Quills and some Fizzing Whizbees," Harry said as he walked to the counter, "and some Bertie Botts’ Every Flavour Beans."
"Tell you what, Mr. Potter. I’m so proud of you students, and grateful too, for what you lot did, I’m going to send you back to school with enough sweets for all your friends. How’s that?" Mr. Honeyduke said cheerfully. "And don’t even think about touching your money bag. This is my treat."
"Wow! Thanks!" Harry replied, grinning hugely. His jaw dropped when he saw Mr. Honeyduke piling up not a few of each sweet, but full boxes of them, everything Harry had named and a wide variety of other things as well. "Whoa! That’s quite a lot of sweets!" he said, absolutely amazed by Mr. Honeyduke’s generosity.
"I’ll put a Shrinking Spell on all of it. You know how to reverse that, right?" Harry nodded. "Right, then. Here you go!" He shrunk the cases of sweets, reached under the counter for a bag to carry the now-small pile of tiny boxes, filled the bag and handed it to Harry. "I hope you lot enjoy them!"
"Oh, we will!" Harry said with a grin. "Thanks!"
As he walked out of town, he passed the Shrieking Shack. He glanced at it, hoping Ron and Hermione were making good use of it, then wondering when he and Ginny would have a chance to spend some time there. She’ll be finished with her O.W.L.’s in a few days, and I’ll only have one exam left then. It won’t be much longer. He felt the ring box in his pocket and grinned, then hefted the bag full of sweets and laughed out loud. He’d have to deliver some of these sweets to the other houses for the rest of the D.A. members, but Gryffindor Tower would have a party tonight!
* * * * *
After everyone had finally trudged off to bed, full to the gills with sweets and good cheer, Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron cleaned up the debris.
"I wonder why this place is always such a mess. The last couple of months, it seems nobody’s done any cleaning in here at all. And our fire isn’t lit until one of the boys does it in the evening," Hermione commented as they gathered up trash and binned it.
Harry straightened up, astonished. "Don’t tell me that you, of all people, have no idea why we’re not getting the service we used to!"
"What do you mean?" she asked, completely confused.
"Do you remember leaving knitted hats and socks and things all over the place, hoping to free the house elves?" Harry said seriously, tilting his head to study her face. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t figured things out yet.
"I still do that. I want all the house elves to be free!" she said insistently.
"The reason Gryffindor Tower is in the bad shape it is these days," Harry said patiently, "is that the house elves refuse to clean in here because of the things you keep leaving out for them. Dobby is the only one who would come in here after you started that. He got everything you knitted, and he enjoys them. But since he’s gone, you’re still leaving things out and the house elves won’t come here to clean, lay the fire, change our linens, pick up the laundry, none of that. Hadn’t you noticed?"
Hermione was standing there with her mouth hanging open in shock. "Dobby took them all?"
"Yes. And until you stop putting them out, we won’t have any house elf service in Gryffindor Tower," Harry told her.
"So stop doing that, Hermione!" Ginny said tartly. "I’m getting tired of doing my own laundry!"
"And I’m tired of cleaning up the Common Room," Ron added.
"I was trying to help them," Hermione said in a small voice. She looked as if she might cry.
Ron put his arm around her shoulders. "We all know that, and it’s a noble sentiment, but one that the house elves themselves don’t appreciate. You can’t force people — or elves — to think the way you do, you know."
"Oh." Hermione sat down in a chair, finally understanding what they’d all been trying to tell her for ages. "OK. I’m sorry. How can we fix this?" she said, gesturing around the still-messy room.
"I’ll mention it to Dumbledore," Harry said kindly. "He can tell the elves that you’re no longer leaving out clothes for them, and then they’ll probably start working for us again." He smiled at his friend. "We all know you meant well, Hermione. This kind of social change can’t be done quickly. And honestly, the elves are very happy with their lives the way they are."
"OK," she said quietly. She sighed, got up and picked up more empty wrappers and boxes to toss in the bin. "This was a lovely party, Harry. Thanks for the sweets."
"No problem," he replied, grinning. "Thanks for helping to clean up."
A short time later, the boys kissed the girls goodnight and were about to go up to bed when Harry said, "Erm, Ron? Wait a second."
"What? Did we miss something?" Ron said, looking around.
"Erm. . .no. I wanted to talk to you about something," Harry said, suddenly nervous.
"What?"
"Sit down." When they were seated across from each other in squashy armchairs, Harry squared his shoulders and forced himself to do what he thought was right. "You know I love your sister, right?"
"Yeah," Ron said with a smile. "I’ve never seen her happier."
Harry grinned. "Yeah, me too."
"I’ve noticed. So what’s up?"
"Erm. . .I wanted to. . .um. . ."
"What’s wrong, Harry?" Ron said, suddenly concerned, leaning forward to look at Harry gravely.
"Nothing’s wrong," Harry answered quickly. "I just . . .well. . ."
"What?" said Ron, really starting to worry now.
"You know when I went to Hogsmeade earlier today?"
"Yeah! I can’t believe Mr. Honeyduke gave us all those sweets! Well done, mate!"
"Yeah. The sweets were a cover-up for what I really did there."
Ron’s forehead furrowed in concern. "Spit it out, Harry. What have you done? Are you in trouble?"
"No," Harry said with a nervous laugh. "Not in trouble." He sighed again. He hadn’t thought this would be so awkward for him. If this was hard, how was it going to be with Ginny? He shook his head, disgusted with his cowardice, and hit the problem face-on. "I bought Ginny a ring."
Ron’s eyes widened and he gasped in shock. "No way! You’re proposing?"
"No! At least, not yet. We’re too young. It’s a promise ring. It means I plan to propose someday." He looked at his best friend, his heart in his eyes. "I love her, Ron, I really do. I can’t imagine going through life without her right there beside me. I haven’t asked your dad for her hand because I’m not ready to propose, and we’re just too young now anyway. D’you think your folks will be upset with me for giving her this ring without asking them first? I don’t want to cause trouble with your family or make them mad at me or anything."
Ron thought seriously for a moment. "I can’t speak for them, of course, but I think they’ll be very happy, Harry," he said earnestly. "They love you. They treat you as if you were already part of the family. I imagine they’ll think it’s brilliant." He grinned suddenly. "We’re going to be brothers! Wicked!"
Harry laughed, relieved at his friend’s reaction. "Yeah, that will be cool, won’t it?" He stood up, stretched and yawned. "I’m glad that’s over! I’ve been worried about what you’d think, and what your parents would think."
Ron stood facing Harry, looking at him gravely for a moment. "I think it’s the best possible thing in the world, Harry. I really do." As they turned to go upstairs, Ron threw an arm around his friend’s neck, pulling him close and rubbing his knuckles roughly on top of Harry’s head, then ruffling his hair as he released him.
"What’s that for?" Harry laughed as he straightened up from Ron’s moment of odd affection.
"I just made you a Weasley brother," Ron said with a grin. "Welcome to the family!"
"Don’t tell anyone, not even Hermione, about this, OK? Ginny should be the first to know," Harry said earnestly. "I’ll give it to her when her O.W.L.’s are finished."
"Cool. I can’t wait to see her face. Well done, mate!"
"Thanks."
* * * * *
A few days later, Ginny had finished her O.W.L.’s and Harry, Ron and Hermione only had their Astronomy exam left on their timetable. Harry had his nose buried in his Astronomy notes when he noticed a flash of red going by. "Ginny!"
"Hi, sweetie. How’s it going?" She smiled as he stood up to face her.
"To be honest, I could do with a break. It feels as if I had all the planets of the universe tattooed on the inside of my skull," he said with a cheeky grin, pounding his forehead with the heel of his hand. Bumping his head made his fringe move, and his scar caught Ginny’s eye for a moment.
"How are you feeling?" she said quietly. His now double-zigzag scar was still livid and hot-looking, but he hadn’t complained about it for days.
"I’m fine," he said cheerfully.
"You always say you’re fine!" she teased him.
"It’s a beautiful day. What are you doing this afternoon?" he asked, his eyebrows raised hopefully.
"Absolutely nothing. I thought I’d lie out under that big beech tree by the lake and just enjoy the weather," she said.
"May I help?" he said, standing very close to her and smiling down at her. He took her hands and pulled them around his neck, wrapping his arms around her waist. Leaning down to rest his cheek on top of her hair, he murmured, "I’ve missed you."
"I’ve missed you too. But you need to study!" she scolded, pulling back to look up at him fondly.
"Nope! I give up! Whether you spend the afternoon with me or not, I’m not studying one more star chart." He stuck his tongue out cheekily at Hermione, who was busy giving him a very disapproving look while smacking Ron’s hand as he tried to get overly friendly with her.
"Study, Ron," Hermione said sternly.
"I’m trying, but you keep distracting me," he replied, leaning over to kiss her forehead.
"Fine. Sit across the table then," she said, moving away from him. "I’m going to get an ‘Outstanding’ in Astronomy again this year!"
"I’m sure you will," Ron replied with a sigh. He looked up at Harry and Ginny, who were busy making each other giggle. He sighed again and got back to work, waving sadly to Harry as he and Ginny left the Common Room hand in hand, trying his best to hide the grin that wanted to burst out of him. If he grinned, he’d have to tell Hermione what Harry was up to, and he was not going to break that promise. Let Ginny be the one to tell them what happened. He could imagine her delight in sharing her news and showing off her ring. With another sigh, he forced his mind back onto star charts.
* * * * *
"Where shall we go?" Ginny asked, skipping along next to Harry’s long strides. They were both in a hurry to leave the castle behind them and enjoy some time outside its walls.
"That spot by the beech tree you mentioned sounds nice," he said, smiling down at her. "What gorgeous weather! It should be against the law to keep students locked up inside the castle studying on a day like this."
"You could study outside," she countered teasingly.
"If I tried to study outside on a day like this, I’d be thinking of flying all the time and not concentrating at all," he admitted ruefully. Harry looked around. Only a few classes still had one or two exams left, so the majority of the student body was outside enjoying the day. "Hmm, our beech tree is already occupied," Harry said. "But there are others. Come on, let’s go around to the far side of the lake." They finally found a nice shady spot well sheltered from the castle and other students by large shrubs clustered near a huge oak tree. Harry sat down, did a quick Cushioning Charm to protect his still-sore back before he leaned against the tree and pulled Ginny into his lap. "Will this do?"
"Yeah," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him quite thoroughly. They snogged playfully for a while, then just held each other, Ginny’s head tucked beneath Harry’s chin, completely relaxed and happy.
A few moments later, Harry craned his neck around to look at Ginny, touching her chin lightly to turn her face up to his. "I love you, you know."
"Yeah, I noticed. I love you too," she said light-heartedly. She studied his face, which had become oddly intense for some reason, then kissed his chin, trying to lighten his mood. She couldn’t imagine why he’d suddenly become so serious. "Got your dimple."
He took a deep, calming breath and blew it out before saying, "You can have that one. I have another in my pocket somewhere." He dug around in his pocket ostentatiously, laying hands on the jeweller’s box after what appeared to be a great struggle. "Ah, here it is. My spare dimple, all tied up with a bow," he said with a nervous grin as he pulled it out. It was an odd-sized box, too big for a ring, too small for a bracelet or pendant. She recognized the wrapping but couldn’t imagine what it could be.
"What’s that?" she said, feeling butterflies in her stomach. Harry always gave her wonderful gifts. What had he done this time?
"I told you. My spare dimple. So you can keep the one you took," he said, holding the box out of her reach, shaking it a little, teasing her with it. "You want my spare dimple too?"
"Of course! I’m in charge of dimples around here, didn’t you know that?" she said, playfully reaching for it. "Why get it out if you aren’t going to show it to me?"
"Hmm, I seem to have grown another," he said, running a finger over his chin. "I guess I don’t need this one after all." He started to put it back in his pocket, his eyes dancing as he tantalized her.
"Harry! What is it?" she demanded. "You’re such a tease!"
"That’s one of the many reasons you love me."
"Yes, actually, it is," she said, pulling his face down for a lovely long kiss. "OK, put your spare dimple away then, if you don’t want to show me," she said in a nonchalant manner.
He sighed dramatically. "You’re no fun anymore. You know all my tricks."
"Just one of the many reasons you love me," she replied with a grin, snuggling into his arms.
"Yeah, you’re right. Here," he said, smiling as he handed her the box. Inside were two rings side by side. One was dainty, gold, with two intertwined hearts, each with a stone set in the centre of the heart. One side of the band was engraved with letters that spelled "Harry" and that heart had a ruby, Harry’s birthstone, in it. The other side of the band said "Ginny" and had a peridot, her birthstone, set in the heart. The other ring was also gold, much wider and heavier than the dainty one. There was a Gryffindor lion design carved into it with a ruby set under the lion’s upraised front paw and a smaller one as the lion’s eye.
Ginny’s eyes were wide, her mouth hanging open, and she seemed to be holding her breath.
"Ginny?" Harry said carefully, growing a bit concerned about her reaction.
"Uh. . ." she replied, gulping a bit like a fish, knowing it was not her most attractive look but unable to do anything else at the moment.
Harry swallowed nervously, but then his words spilled out in a rush. "I hope you like it. I think we’re too young for anything more serious than a promise ring yet, but it was something I wanted to do. I hope it’s all right with you. I love you, baby. I just . . . ." He had to stop talking because she was kissing him quite seriously. When she let him up for air, he chuckled warmly and said, "So I take it you like it?"
She laughed through the tears streaming down her cheeks and wrapped her arms around his neck, nearly strangling him. "I love you, I love you, I love you!"
"I love you too, sweetheart. That’s why I wanted to get you something special. Is this all right? I can take it back if you don’t like it," he said, not really expecting her to reject it.
"Take it back? No way! It’s beautiful! Can you put it on me?" She held out her left ring finger expectantly. He took the ring out of the box and said an incantation over it before sliding it on her hand. "What spell did you use?"
"It’s a fitting spell the jeweller told me about. The ring is sized to you, and will always fit whatever finger you put it on now. Unless someone says the counter spell, it will never fit anyone else, even if they have the same size finger as you. And it won’t fall off during Quidditch or anything, but it will be easy to remove when you want to take it off, such as when you’re making potions and don’t want to mess it up, that kind of thing."
"Wow!" She held it out admiring the way it flashed in the soft light that filtered through the tree’s leaves. She looked in the box again. "You got yourself one too. I’ve never heard of a boy wearing a promise ring before." She turned and kissed him again. "You’re so sweet."
"Well, I do have an ulterior motive for wearing it," he said with a smile. "These rings have spells on them so we can always talk to each other no matter how far apart we are. If you touch the ruby and say my name, it will show me wherever I am, as long as I have this ring on. If I touch the big ruby in my ring and say your name, I’ll be able to see you. We can talk to each other and see each other, and not need a Floo Network. Isn’t that brilliant?"
"Show me!" she said excitedly. She took the ring out of the box and waited for him to put the sizing spell on it, then slid it onto his left ring finger. She glanced up at his face as she slid the ring on and saw Harry’s face filled with tender emotion. She put her hand on his cheek, loving him more in that moment than ever before. She kissed him softly, then tickled his lips with her tongue. A few breathless moments later, she gazed into those beautiful green eyes, her heart full to overflowing. "I thought I loved you before," she murmured. "I didn’t know I could love you so much more than that. I love you, Harry."
"Oh, sweetheart. I love you so much," he said, kissing her forehead and holding her close for another moment. Taking a deep breath, he got back on track. "OK. Where were we before you so rudely interrupted me?" he teased gently.
"You were about to show me how the rings work."
"Oh yeah. They’re really cool." He touched the larger ruby in his ring, saying "Ginny Weasley" and there was Ginny’s face floating above his ring, with the same dazzled expression Ginny herself was wearing. When Ginny spoke, the image above the ring did, as well.
"That’s amazing! I’ve never heard of such a spell," she said.
"He said he rarely offers it because it’s a tricky spell to do, but he wanted to do it for us," Harry said. "Try your ring."
She pressed the ruby on her ring and said, "Harry Potter," and there was Harry’s face floating above her hand, with the same "I’m about to kiss you" look the real Harry had. Ginny laughed, and turned to the real Harry and kissed him soundly. "Thank you, love."
"Thank you for accepting it, sweet girl," he said, kissing her again. As they sat comfortably in the shade of the oak tree, Ginny held out her hand admiring her ring, every so often pulling Harry’s hand up to look at his.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Harry said when the ruby in his ring flashed red in the dappled sunlight that filtered through the trees when the wind blew. "These stones have magical properties. I never asked about any innate powers the rubies in the other jewellery I gave you might have, but I did this time. He told me rubies set in gold help the body get well after illness and protect you from depression and nightmares. Peridot, the green stone in your ring, helps you get over fevers and protects you from enchantments and spells. I don’t understand why all wizards don’t just cover themselves in rubies and peridots if they’re that protective," he chuckled.
"I’d heard peridot was good for illness, but I never heard any of the rest of it. I feel so protected now, with all my rubies!"
"It must be true. My left earlobe was practically the only part on my left side that wasn’t injured. Do you think my ruby earring protected it?"
"I don’t know," she said in amazement.
"And my right hand was nearly uninjured. I don’t understand that at all."
"Maybe your wand protected it," she offered.
"I think it’s just that he and I are both right-handed and his attacks mostly hit me on the left side. But let’s not talk about that," he said as he wrapped his arms around her more tightly and bent down to kiss her. "I have other things on my mind right now." He took his glasses off and laid them aside, then rubbed noses with her.
"Like what?" she teased, kissing the dimple in his chin again.
"Like the fact that I think we’ve gone too long between serious snogging sessions," he said, looking at her mouth hungrily.
"I like the way you think," she said, lacing her fingers through his hair and pulling his lips to hers.
A little later, Harry lay on the ground, his head in Ginny’s lap. He was studying her face, enjoying the expressions running across her mobile features as she played with his hair.
"Your hair is so silky. It feels so good," she murmured.
"You’re just trying to get it to look worse than usual so people will laugh at me," he teased.
"It honestly does seem to have a life of its own," she joked, gently pulling and twisting tendrils until his hair stuck up all over his head.
"Oh, thanks! You just made me look like a punk rocker!" Harry said with a laugh as he lifted his hand to feel what she’d done to him.
"What’s a punk rocker?" she asked.
"Someone who plays in certain kinds of Muggle bands. Punk rock is sort of like the Weird Sisters’ music. They wear their hair like this. Sometimes they paint it blue or pink, like Tonks does."
"Oh! They do that on purpose?" she said in surprise.
"Yeah. Just like Tonks. How do I look? Would I make a good punk rocker?" He grinned devilishly, enjoying the thought of playing guitar in a punk band. As if I’d ever have time for such things, even if I had any skill at music, he thought idly.
"What are you thinking?" she asked abruptly.
"That you have perfect nostrils," he teased.
"What?"
"They’re so cute and round and they fit your nose nicely. And you even have freckles under the tip of your nose. You just can’t help yourself. You’re cute in every direction."
"You’re so silly," she said, twisting his hair into soft spirals. "And now you look silly, too," she added with a giggle.
Harry reached up to feel what she’d done to his hair this time and noticed the tan line where his watch used to be. It had been destroyed by spells during his battle with Voldemort. He lifted Ginny’s arm and checked her watch. "Rats."
"What?"
"I need to get back to work," he said with a sigh, rolling over and kissing her knee before sitting up.
"Aw. I thought you were taking the afternoon off!" she protested.
"I lied. I just couldn’t wait any longer to give you your ring," he said, rubbing noses with her, then standing up and offering her a hand to get up. "Once my next exam is over, we have a date in the Shrieking Shack, OK?"
"We’ll have to make sure Ron and Hermione aren’t there. . ." she cautioned.
"It will work out, don’t worry," he replied, pulling her to him and holding her close. He tipped her chin up and kissed her deeply. "I can’t wait," he breathed when he broke the kiss. "All right, time to get back to the books again," he said resolutely and started back to the castle. "Are you going to stay out here and enjoy the rest of the afternoon?"
"No, silly, I need to show off my ring!" she said, skipping along next to him. He laughed and took her hand as they headed back to the castle.
* * * * *
Ron looked up when he heard the portrait hole open. Harry and Ginny entered, both beaming, Ginny dancing along at Harry’s side like an overly excited puppy.
"Ron! Hermione! Look!" Ginny exclaimed, running to their table.
Hermione looked up, annoyed at being distracted, but the expression on Ginny’s face was so radiant, Hermione had to smile. "What is it?" she asked.
Ginny held her hand out wordlessly, bouncing on her toes in her excitement.
Hermione’s eyes popped in amazement. "What. . .?" she stammered, looking from Ginny to Harry to Ron, then back at Ginny.
"It’s a promise ring. Harry just gave it to me," Ginny said, still bouncy with pleasure.
"Wow! It’s beautiful!" Hermione replied.
Ron leaned over to look at the ring, then grinned up at Harry. "Well done, mate! Welcome to the family!" He got up and gave Harry a huge but careful hug, still mindful of his scars, then turned and lifted his sister off her feet, whirling her around. "Well done, Ginny! Congratulations and all that!"
"Look at Harry’s," Ginny said eagerly. "He got one for himself, too. Isn’t it beautiful?" she said, holding out his left hand to show Ron and Hermione.
"That’s gorgeous, Harry!" said Hermione. "I’ve never heard of a boy wearing a promise ring before. That’s really sweet!"
"Well, as I told Ginny, I had an ulterior motive in getting it," Harry said modestly. He went on to explain about the communications spell on their rings, which astonished Ron and Hermione.
"I’ve never heard of such a spell," Hermione said, stunned. "That’s a wonderful thing!"
"That jeweller knows a lot of spells I’ve never heard of," Harry said. "Maybe they’re specific to jewellery and that’s why we’ve never heard of them." He shrugged. "I’d like to keep that aspect of these rings quiet, OK? As far as anyone else is concerned, I just wanted to show I’m, erm, ‘spoken for,’ I guess you’d say." He looked down at Ginny, love shining in his face. "Which is the truth, after all," he added quietly. He leaned down and kissed her softly, bending to whisper, "I love you" in her ear before straightening. "OK, I’ve got studying to do. I’ll see you later, sweetie," he said, sitting down in his place at the study table.
"See you later, baby," Ginny said, kissing the top of his head and tousling his hair again, giggling as she did so. "Bye, punk rocker!"
"Thanks so much," Harry said, chuckling. When she disappeared, he ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up differently than she had, but at least it looked more like his version of normal hair.
"Punk rocker?" Hermione queried.
"I told her she was making my hair look like a punk rocker — then I had to explain it," Harry replied.
"So explain it," said Ron.
"The Weird Sisters’ sound with Tonks’ hair," Harry replied with a laugh. "I’m still stuck on the Horsehead Nebula,
Hermione. Can you help me with it?" The three friends went back to work, doing their best to ignore the squeals from the girls’ dormitory as Ginny went around showing off her
ring to her friends.
Author Notes:
Many thanks to Kelpie, my brilliant Brit-picker, and to Blakevich, Starfox, Pilar and Shawn for beta reading! The "lore" of the gemstones given later in this chapter was researched online. The best source I found for the information was here and here. The site has a lot of interesting information on all the various birthstones, including their hardness and the proper way to clean them. Enjoy!