Soul Searching/End Game
EG Chapter 3 - A Visit to London
By Chem Prof
Chapter 3, A Visit to London
Friday, September 5
Fridays had been set aside for Harry to meet regularly with Viktor, and Hermione, being caught up in her work and wanting to do some shopping, decided to accompany him this first time. Shortly after breakfast they returned to the Heads suite and flooed to McGonagall’s office. There Remus was waiting for them and they took their reusable portkeys to Grimmauld Place.
After staggering to a landing in the entryway (Harry was glad that at least he didn’t fall flat on his face anymore) they stopped and looked around in amazement. The place was hardly recognizable. Gone was the obnoxious portrait of Mrs. Black. Gone was the awful troll leg umbrella stand. Gone were the gloomy light fixtures and dark, dingy colors. The place actually looked like a regular house!
“Harry Potter! You has come to visit! Welcome to your home!” Dobby appeared from nowhere and was bouncing up and down in excitement. Harry dropped to one knee and gave the little elf a hug, and Hermione did likewise. “Do you like it?”
“Dobby, I love it!” Harry exclaimed. Did you do all of this? It’s fantastic!” Dobby nodded, with tears in his eyes. He looked like he was about to burst with happiness.
“Dobby had friends that helps, but most of it is being Dobby’s ideas. Master Remus told Dobby what things must go away and Dobby made all the new things.”
After Harry and Hermione had admired Dobby’s work for a while, and assured him several more times that he had done a great job, the fireplace flashed green and Viktor Krum stepped out of the floo. Dobby excused himself for a bit and the four of them retired to the drawing room.
“How about we start with the good news?” Viktor inquired, and Harry readily agreed.
“First of all, bringing Dobby into this was brilliant. He apparently has a lot of friends and he has recruited house elves to staff the castle. No one ever realized this before, but house elves make perfect prison guards. They pop in with food, and to clean up, and pop out again. The prisoners can’t touch them even if they wanted to, and most of these guys wouldn’t even think of touching a house elf. They can’t be bribed, or conned into doing anything by the prisoners. The only way any of these prisoners know how to treat a house elf is with contempt, and that’s not exactly the way to get them sympathetic to their cause.”
“Where do all these house elves come from?” asked Hermione. “Are you still using Hogwarts elves?”
“Well, that’s the beauty of the whole thing,” grinned Viktor. “It seems that Lucious Malfoy isn’t the only Death Eater that mistreats his house elves. In fact, it’s pretty much a universal practice for them. There are quite a few who have been abused so badly they couldn’t do their work anymore, and then they were given clothes and dismissed. Dobby’s been recruiting these elves to our cause and as you can imagine, they’re fanatically loyal to us.”
Harry was watching Hermione while Viktor was explaining, and he could see the different emotions that flashed across her face. She was outraged at the treatment he was describing, but relieved that these elves were in a better situation now. And while she was uneasy with the thought that they were taking advantage of the dismissed elves, she realized what an asset they were. He reached over and gave her hand a squeeze, trying to send a message that he understood her concerns. She turned to look at him and smiled, seeing that he had read her thoughts completely.
Meanwhile Viktor had paused, having noticed the nonverbal communication going on. He had been gradually getting used to that while he was in the presence of this pair. When he had their attention again he continued.
“It gets even better. Many of the house elves that are still working for Death Eater families are as disgruntled with their situations as Dobby was with the Malfoys. He has been able to make connections with these too, and as a result we have a superb spy network.”
“How is that possible?” Hermione queried. “I thought house elves weren’t able to betray their masters’ secrets.”
This time it was Remus who offered an explanation. “I imagine it’s similar to the situation with Dobby. He wanted to tell you things and managed to hint at them without directly betraying the Malfoys. He probably knows exactly how to ask questions so that the Death Eaters’ elves can answer.”
“Something like that,” responded Viktor. “And in addition, their bond only prevents them from giving away their own master’s secrets. There’s nothing to prevent a Dolohov house elf, for example, from telling us things he knows about the Lestranges.” Harry and Hermione both nodded. That made sense. It worked both ways, though, Harry thought uneasily. Kreacher had hated Sirius and had managed to betray him, too.
“Also, we can’t forget about Winky,” Viktor added. At their puzzled looks he explained. “She seems to be something of a heroine among ‘normal’ house elves. While Dobby is still considered a bit strange for wanting to be free, she is admired for resisting it.” He winced at Hermione’s glare but bravely went on. “Apparently it’s very unusual for a house elf who’s been dismissed to get another position but she managed to do it so they’re all impressed. And it seems that the Weasleys are considered to be very prestigious wizards among house elves – something about being one of the oldest wizarding families. So the result is that lots of house elves from all over the country are helping us out in whatever way they can in their spare time.”
Harry burst out laughing, which caused Hermione to turn her ire on him. Viktor breathed a sigh of relief and decided that he owed Harry one for this. “Come on, Hermione,” Harry urged. “You have to see how ironic all of this is. We were only trying to help out Winky and help the Weasleys prepare for the wedding. We had no idea that there would be such far-reaching consequences. And I bet Winky has conveniently kept the other house elves from knowing that she is being paid by the Weasleys.” Hermione managed a weak smile and Harry leaned over and gave her a quick one-armed hug.
“One more thing about the house elves,” concluded Viktor. “We’ve added two to each strike team.” Hermione’s expression immediately returned to one of disapproval, but she managed to hold her tongue and let him explain. “They’re perfect as advance scouts. When we get a target they pop in, check it out, and one stays to observe while the other pops back and gives the go ahead. Then when we get there the two of them put up an antiapparation ward so the rest of us can concentrate on the fighting. And the antiapparation ward doesn’t affect them so they can pop out with any injured team members. And they can do all of that while staying invisible. Don’t worry,” he said trying to placate Hermione, “they stay out of the fighting, although they can take care of themselves in a fight if they need to.”
“Speaking of battle tactics,” he said leaning forward slightly. “Keep this to yourselves but we have a goblin assigned to each strike team too.” That one clearly caught them by surprise. “It seems that they have a way to nullify a portkey. That’s why you can’t take a portkey into Gringotts. We just found this out and haven’t used it yet, but imagine the looks on the faces of the Death Eaters when we attack them the next time and they can’t use their portkeys to escape.” There was a gleam in his eye in anticipation.
At this point Dobby returned with refreshments and Harry took the opportunity to thank him for everything he had done to recruit more house elves to their cause. Dobby assured him that all the other elves considered it as much an honor to work for Harry Potter as he did.
“Next item,” said Viktor, resuming the briefing. “We really have the Death Eaters off balance right now. They’re not used to having their members turn up dead or missing after a raid. The dead ones we turn over to the Ministry but the ones we capture we take back to the castle and no one knows what happened to them. We think it’s probably driving Voldemort crazy trying to figure it out. For the first time someone is fighting back and he doesn’t like it at all. If we keep this up he won’t have many Death Eaters left. His recruiting has hit a snag now that prospective recruits see people fighting back and Death Eaters disappearing and dying. So he’s going to have to change tactics, and the challenge for us is to figure out what he’ll try next.”
Viktor paused and looked around. “First, I can tell you the things we don’t have to worry about. The dementors have been pretty well neutralized. There have been several other attacks since the wedding where some of them have been killed and they aren’t happy about that at all. Quite a few of them have returned to Azkaban and they have indicated that they want no more of this war. The Ministry has granted them a sort of amnesty in hopes that the remainder will follow.” Harry shared a glance with Hermione and leaned back, breathing a sigh of relief. That had been a real stroke of luck, finding the way to destroy dementors. And, he thought, Hermione deserved as much credit for that as he did.
“The other threat that has been eliminated is the werewolves,” Viktor continued, nodding to Remus. Most of it due to what happened this summer. The capture and execution of Fenrir Geyback opened a lot of eyes. Not only do they no longer have him pressuring them to join up, but his execution was also something of a deterrent. In addition, Remus being rehired at Hogwarts and becoming a respected leader in the resistance has caught their attention. And the Ministry’s actions with the repudiation of Fudge, along with the arrest of Umbridge who championed the anti-werewolf laws, has helped as well.”
“Could we do even more for them?” interrupted Harry. “Maybe make Wolfsbane potion available free of charge to any werewolf who pledges to stay away from Voldemort?”
“Great idea, Harry!” exclaimed Hermione, seeing where he was going with this idea. “Wolfsbane potion is a NEWT level potion. We could get Slughorn to assign it to our potions class, then give it to whoever needs it.”
“Right, as long as we can keep Slughorn from taking it and selling it,” returned Harry grimly, recalling what the greedy Potions professor had done with the Acromantula venom.
“Leave that to Minerva and me,” responded Remus. “We can be quite persuasive when we need to be.” He bared his teeth in a scary smile.
“So that leaves us with the most likely threats being trolls, vampires, and giants right now,” stated Viktor. The twins have been working with our muggle military guys to develop weapons. You’ll meet these people in a little bit. But you should prepare for the possibility of an attack by some of these creatures.”
Harry shared an uncomfortable look with Remus and Hermione. Hogwarts was well defended, but other places, such as Hogsmeade, were vulnerable. They would have to consider this threat in their DA training.
“Before we visit our operations center,” Viktor finished, “there’s one more thing I need to tell you.” He hesitated. “Snape.” Harry seethed inwardly at that name but forced himself to remain calm. A glance at the others showed that they were having the same struggle. “He’s begun to demand to see the new leader of the Order. Says he has important information for whoever it is.”
An uneasy silence filled the air. None of them wanted anything to do with the traitor, but … Finally Viktor spoke up, raising the question none of them wanted to consider. “Is there any way this could be legitimate? Could his killing Dumbledore have been part of some bizarre plan?”
Harry was unable to respond. His emotions wouldn’t allow him to believe that there could possibly be any good reason for the Headmaster to have died, but he knew that leadership required him to rise above his personal feelings if need be.
Finally Hermione spoke up. In a small, unsteady voice she began. “I don’t know what arrangements he may have had with Dumbledore, or why the Headmaster thought he could trust him. But I do know that he fully intended for Ron and me to be dead by now. There was no other possible outcome of his attack on us when he left us helpless and gave Malfoy that portkey. He might have had some convoluted plan to free Harry once Voldemort had him, but I doubt it. I don’t think he ever believed that Harry would be the one to defeat Voldemort. He may want Voldemort to be defeated but …”
She was trembling too much to continue. Harry gently wrapped her up in his arms and hugged her to himself. He knew how painful it had been for her to have to bring up the memories of that attack again. He realized that he would probably be spending some time with her tonight chasing away nightmares. When she had finally settled down he pulled back a little and she looked up and gave him a small, grateful smile.
“Look,” he said finally. There’s no way he has any information that’s not at least a month old, right?” Remus and Viktor nodded. “And we’re not sure we can trust anything he says anyway?” Again they nodded. “And there’s no way we can trust him enough to release him and let him go back to spying?” One more set of nods. “Then I say we keep him locked up and put him on trial when this is all over. Let someone else decide what he is and isn’t guilty of.”
Everyone was satisfied with that approach and they got up to go see Viktor’s control center. To their surprise, he told them that it could only be reached by apparation, and he side-along apparated them there one at a time. When they were all gathered together again, they appeared to be in a wide-open space in the basement of a building.
“Right now we are in the lower levels of a building adjacent to the Ministry of Magic,” Viktor began. “The Ministry owns this building, but very few Ministry employees are aware of its existence. And the ones that do know about it think it’s empty and just used for storage. It’s unplottable and hidden by disguising charms, so no one could find it. It’s also completely sealed off from the building above, so the only way in or out is by apparation.”
“How do your muggle workers get here then?”
“They call in on a muggle device they call a … a pager?” He looked up questioningly and Hermione nodded so he continued, “when they’re ready to come in and a house elf goes and picks them up.” Viktor had a satisfied look on his face as he saw how impressed his visitors were. They were all looking around in wonder, and Hermione hadn’t even complained about the use of the house elf. “This is the arrival/departure area. Even if someone did manage to apparate in, there’s no clue that anything is going on here.
Next he walked up to one wall and tapped it with his wand and a doorway appeared. Moving through it they found a staircase. “This doorway is keyed to certain wands only. We’ll add your wands to the charm before you go. Make sure you remember the exact spot on the wall to tap because there are no markings identifying it.” They descended the staircase and another tap on the blank wall at the bottom revealed another doorway.
Once through this doorway they seemed to be in an entirely different building. This was a well-lit room with several large tables in the center and a number of computer workstations along the walls. One wall was dominated by a large electronic screen. At various times maps or pictures appeared on this screen, which were being sent from the different workstations.
Viktor explained that on the advice of a Scotland Yard inspector one of the things they were doing was plotting the locations of attacks, and looking for clusters of certain kinds of spell usages. The spell data was being generated on parchment by the Ministry’s spell detector, and then entered into the computers by a group of muggles. Looking over, Harry recognized several of the people whose homes he and Hermione had visited during the summer, then noticed that one in particular looked familiar. It was Mrs Creevey, Dennis and Colin’s mum!
“Harry, Hermione!” She waved to them and they walked over. Harry could tell she was related to Colin and Dennis by the way she enthusiastically hugged them and was bubbling in excitement as she showed them her work. They were initially surprised to see her here, since she was not a computer programmer, but she pointed out that you didn’t need a computer degree to do data entry work. Any muggle could manage it.
She and quite a few other moms and some of the dads spent part of their days and evenings here entering information at the workstations. Hermione was chagrined that she had not thought of this herself, but was glad that some of the muggle parents had taken the initiative and that Viktor had found ways for them to help.
Harry had another uncomfortable thought. “How are we paying for all of this?” he inquired of Viktor. Do you need more than the million galleons I gave you?”
Viktor gave an evil grin. “The muggle police inspector that has been helping us told us about an interesting law. I’ll let him explain,” he said, motioning to a man who was approaching them.
The inspector, who Harry recalled was the parent of a Hufflepuff, introduced himself and filled them in on the concept of forfeiture laws. Of course, Hermione immediately knew what he was talking about but politely waited while he explained it to Harry. It seemed that the muggles had laws that permitted the government to confiscate the assets of criminals convicted of certain types of crimes.
Scrimgeour had immediately seen the advantages of such a law, and drafted an act allowing the Ministry to seize the assets of convicted Death Eaters, quickly getting it approved by the Wizengamot with little fanfare. In an unprecedented display of wizard-goblin cooperation orchestrated by Ragnok, Gringotts had made available the contents of the vaults of the Malfoys, Lestranges, Dolohovs, Averys, Notts, Macnairs, Jugsons, Mulcibers, Rookwoods and others. All of these vaults, of course, had already been sealed during the summer as a result of Harry and Ragnok’s original conversation, but now in a supreme irony the fortunes of the Death Eaters were being used to finance the war against Voldemort!
Just as Harry thought there couldn’t be any more surprises today, a door appeared in one of the walls and a beautiful blonde woman walked through with a stack of parchments.
“Fleur?” The woman looked up and broke into a heartstopping smile – heartstopping for most males that is. She immediately dropped her parchments on a nearby table and hurried over to give Harry and Hermione hugs.
“’Arry, ’Ermione! It’s so good to see you again. How do you like our little hideout?”
“It’s great, what are you doing here?”
“I am one of the newest employees of the Ministry of Magic, of course.” She explained. “The son of the head of a minor department gets married. His wife needs a job. The head of an even more minor department is a family friend. He finds her an entry level job and no one gives it a second thought. It happens all the time in politics.” She shrugged her shoulders in a typical Fleur gesture. “And now Viktor has someone else he can trust working in the Underage Magic Office. Clever, no?”
“Brilliant!” Harry exclaimed. Hermione had to agree. Now that she had gotten over her annoyance at the French witch’s beauty and its effect on her friends – more so Ron than Harry, she had to admit – she had grown to appreciate her other attributes, in particular her cunning mind. She was a good person to have on their side.
Fleur then showed them that the tunnel she had just come out of was a direct connection to the room in the Ministry with the magic spell detector. Among other things, her job was to bring the reports over to the muggle data entry workers. The tunnel was warded so that only certain people could pass through, and on the Ministry side appeared to be a broom closet. Viktor hastened to add that Fleur was more than a courier and was also one of his most trusted advisors. Fleur beamed at him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before retrieving her parchments and distributing them to the appropriate workstations.
-ooOoo-
When they finished their tour, Harry and Hermione told Remus that they were going to stay and do some shopping in muggle London. They would have lunch too, and would be back to the castle later in the afternoon. With a final caution to them to be careful, Remus disapparated from the departure area to return to Hogwarts. Hermione took out her wand and cast disillusionment spells on the two of them, then took Harry’s arm and they too were gone.
They appeared in an empty alleyway in London. After a quick look around Hermione dispelled the charm and they walked out into the street. She had been here shopping with Ginny during the summer and so had already worked out the best spot to apparate into that was most convenient to the stores she wanted to visit.
“How many places do we have to go to this time?” Harry asked with a mock groan. He actually didn’t mind shopping with Hermione that much, but still enjoyed giving her a hard time about it. Hermione was a very efficient shopper. She knew what she wanted and didn’t waste time wandering around the store looking at unnecessary items. She picked out the things she was interested in, tried them on, and made her decision.
She was aware, of course, that Harry was teasing her but it was all part of the game, so she gave him a mock glare in return. For a guy, Harry wasn’t bad to shop with. Except for a little token complaining, he waited patiently for her, and would offer an opinion when asked. The first few times they had gone out he told her he liked everything, but eventually she got him to expand a little. Now his pronouncements ranged from ‘That’s OK’ to ‘Yeah that’s pretty good’ to ‘That looks great!’
Today, however, they weren’t shopping for things for her, or for him. Her mission was to pick up some exercise clothing for their wizard friends. Ginny also wanted a nicer swimsuit. She was pretty sure Harry would enjoy helping pick that out, at least.
First they went to the men’s section and picked up a selection of shorts, tee shirts, and sweat pants and sweatshirts. Hermione had consulted with Ginny about sizes for Ron and Neville, and had Harry try things on to make sure. Ron was the same size as Harry, only taller, and Neville was his height but a little heavier.
Eventually they found what they needed and moved to the women’s exercise clothing. Here there was a lot more selection – stretch shorts and pants, sports bras, and tank tops or crop tops with regular or spaghetti straps. Thinking about Molly’s diatribe during the summer, Hermione tried to keep her choices conservative. Harry, of course, had other ideas and kept suggesting some of the skimpier tops. Finally she compromised with him and picked up a couple of those too. It would be up to Ginny to decide what to wear and when and where to wear it.
The scene was repeated in the swimwear section. Hermione picked out a couple of suits with sports tops and moderate bikini bottoms like the ones she had been wearing in the Room of Requirement, but Harry’s attention was focused on the string bikinis. Finally she relented and permitted him to pick out one of those, but told him he would have to wait and give it to her next summer.
As they were ringing up their purchases, Harry noticed the displays in the adjacent lingerie section. “So, is that what caused all the fuss this summer?”
Hermione glanced over at the mannequins and grinned back at him. “Why Harry, interested in what kind of underwear your girlfriend’s wearing?” Harry blushed and shrugged, and Hermione laughed and gave his arm a squeeze. “Something like that,” she replied, pulling him toward the exit. “We picked out some very pretty things, all nice and lacy and with matching colors. Ginny was so excited.” She gave him a thoughtful look as they walked out onto the street. “Looking forward to seeing some of them?”
Harry was sort of wishing he hadn’t brought it up, but part of him wanted to continue this discussion. He didn’t respond immediately, and merely shrugged again. Hermione, who had a lot of experience in interpreting Harry’s shrugs, waited a while and then added, “That’s what Molly thought.”
At his questioning glance she explained. “Her assumption was that the whole point of having pretty underwear was to show it to your boyfriend. Ginny immediately assured her that she and you had never done anything like that.”
Harry gave her a grin and shook his head, and the two walked on in silence, each wondering where this discussion was going to go. Hermione could see several directions that were making her very nervous. She almost didn’t hear his next question.
“What about you?” Hermione was brought up short and her mouth dropped. What exactly was Harry asking her? He knew she had never had any kind of relationship like that! He couldn’t be asking her if she would be interested in doing ‘that’ with him! Could he?
“What?” was all she could manage.
Harry realized that his question could have been interpreted in a number of ways and rushed to clarify. “I mean, what do you think about that? Girls and guys. Going beyond kissing and stuff. You know …” He stood there, somewhat flustered, motioning a little with his hands.
Somewhat relieved, Hermione took his arm to continue walking again while she gathered her thoughts. “Oh. That,” she finally began. “Well, you know that my family and I are strongly religious.” She glanced at him and he nodded. “I feel that sex is something that should wait for marriage. I know that view isn’t all that popular these days, but …” She broke off, waiting for his reaction.
He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I understand. That doesn’t surprise me at all. That’s what I would have expected you to say.” He hesitated, then went on. “But what about, you know, other stuff?”
Hermione kept hold of Harry’s hand and subconsciously pulled him closer to her. A mixture of emotions was whirling through her mind. It felt so wonderful that he was comfortable enough with her to engage her in a conversation on such an intimate topic. And she was so pleased that he valued her opinion about it. Yet she knew she needed to keep her feelings for him from surfacing, and she was also worried about certain other things he might ask. They were passing a small park, and she motioned that they should go in and sit down on one of the benches. Harry readily agreed.
“Well,” she began finally, “you know we’re not prudish about our bodies in my family, right?” Harry smiled and nodded. “But even though they pretty much cover about the same amount, seeing a girl in a bikini is not the same thing as seeing her underwear. It’s … it means something altogether different.” She paused again, realizing that Harry had so little normal human interaction in his childhood that he might have trouble with this distinction. However, his expression made it clear that he was still in agreement.
“Along those lines, going topless at a beach or a swimming pool doesn’t have anything near the same significance as taking your top off in private with your boyfriend. The second case is more of an invitation to something else – something more intimate.”
Harry nodded again. He was having trouble believing they were having this conversation, but was glad she was willing to talk like this. Some of these things had been on his mind for a while now. “I get it. Like that time this summer at the pool when you had your top off, while I was shocked that you did it I never thought you were trying to suggest anything. But if you had come into my room and taken your top off, it would have been completely different.” ‘Like in that dream!’ he thought, trying to keep from turning too red. Hopefully, she would attribute his blush to general embarrassment with the topic.
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to know they were thinking along the same lines. She continued. “Now as to doing stuff like that with a boyfriend, on purpose, because you want to go beyond kissing and hugging – that’s more complicated.” She stopped, looking up into his eyes. Seeing nothing there but understanding she plunged ahead. “I think it depends on how deeply you care about the other person. I don’t think it should be something casual. Physical intimacy should go along with how serious you are about the other person.” She tried to force herself not to think about how this discussion might apply to her and Harry. She knew that was never going to happen.
“Maybe a little bit at a time, as you gradually grow closer to a person, maybe even fall in love?” suggested Harry. A bright smile appeared on Hermione’s face and she nodded. He understood what she was saying, and even agreed with it! Suddenly he reached out and grabbed her into a hug. ‘What is he doing?’ was the only thing her stunned mind could come up with. ‘Was he really talking about me!?’
Harry pulled back as quickly as he had hugged her, a grin of pure relief on his face. “Oh, Hermione, I’m so glad someone else feels the same way I do about that. I hear all this talk in the guy’s dorms and it seems all they care about is how far they think they can get with a girl and it just seems so wrong. I mean there should be more to it than that, right?”
Hermione hoped the bit of tears in her eyes weren’t too noticeable, or that he would think they were just due to the emotion of the topic. “Harry Potter, you’d better watch who you let hear you say things like that.” At the dumbfounded look on his face she laughed. “Like I told you this summer, you are the perfect boyfriend. A girl would kill to have a boyfriend who thought that way.” As an embarrassed smile crept onto his face she added, “at least most girls.”
Augh! Hermione, why’d you have to say that last part. You do not want him thinking in that direction. But it was too late.
Harry grew serious again. “What about Ginny? How do you think she feels about that?”
Panicked thoughts raced through Hermione’s head. Harry, please don’t ask me that. Please don’t tempt me like that. It would be so easy for me to say something about Ginny right here that might make you change your mind about her. Then you might think about me instead. Oh I can’t do this!
But Harry was continuing. “Do you think she wants me to go further with her?”
Hermione finally managed to rein in her stampeding thoughts. “I … I don’t know.”
“I thought you said you two talked about things like that.”
“Oh, well, I asked her not to tell me about what you and she were getting up to.” A confused expression appeared on his face. “You know, it’s like you’re my brother, right? Like Ron wouldn’t want you to tell him any of those details because she’s his sister?” Hermione now realized that that was not at all the reason she had asked Ginny to refrain from giving her the lurid details of their relationship, but hoped he would accept it.
“Uh, yeah, I see your point,” Harry admitted sheepishly. “Not if I wanted to stay in one piece anyway. It’s just that I get the idea that she might want to go farther than hugging and kissing. But I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with that yet.”
“Harry, I think that you should only do what you’re comfortable with – what you’re both comfortable with,” she amended. “I mean, you shouldn’t go any farther than either of you is ready for.” She reached for his hands and clasped them. “Don’t worry, you’ll know when the time is right.”
She wasn’t sure if she believed these words or not, but she knew he needed to hear them. She sincerely hoped that Ginny wouldn’t push him into something he wasn’t ready for. She knew that inside of him there was still the small boy who had been locked in the cupboard and didn’t think that anyone would ever love him. That boy had to be coaxed out of the cupboard, not dragged out. Would Ginny have the patience to do it?
She couldn’t help the tears that started again and once more Harry grabbed her into a hug. He wasn’t sure exactly what had brought on the tears, but did know what he could do to help make them stop. ‘He is such a sweet, caring person,’ she thought fondly. ‘I love him so much.’
Hermione pulled away and smiled at him. “Harry Potter, you really are the most wonderful person I know. I am so proud to be your friend.”
Harry gazed back at her. “I could say the exact same thing about you. I really can talk to you about anything.” He stood up and extended his hand to pull her to her feet. “C’mon, lets get some lunch.”
-ooOoo-
That night Harry and Hermione had just finished a lesson with Professor Longbottom and were sitting in their common are, staring at each other. They were trying to exchange specific words or phrases, but so far had only been able to get general impressions or sensations of thoughts. They could each tell that the other was trying to communicate something and they could feel a definite sense of the other’s presence, but that was all. A knock at the portrait hole brought them back to their normal states of mind. When they opened up, though, no one was outside. Then they felt someone brush by, and Neville quickly appeared from under Ron’s invisibility cloak.
“Hi guys. Ginny and I have a proposal for you. We’re technically on a date right now, but we thought this would be a good time for a switch. She’s waiting up in the Room of Requirement for Harry while I snuck down here in the invisibility cloak. Hermione and I can study here for a few hours, then you can come back and get me and we’ll trade again. What do you think?”
Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance, recalling that afternoon’s conversation, before Hermione walked up to Harry and gave him a little push. “Great idea, Neville. You can brief me on what happened in Herbology this week, then I can review Charms or Transfiguration with you if you like. Bye Harry.” Neville handed Harry the invisibility cloak and before he knew it he was outside the portrait hole.
Not really sure how that had happened so fast, Harry nevertheless pulled the cloak over himself and made his way to the third floor. When he arrived a door appeared in the wall and he nervously entered the room.
Ginny was waiting anxiously for him on a sofa in front of a fireplace. Harry thought it was one of the coziest setups he could imagine and he realized that was exactly what it was. Ginny had created a nice comfortable space for them to just sit and be together. He smiled at her and joined her on the sofa. As he stretched his arm out along the back she happily snuggled up to him.
Ginny had given a lot of thought to what she wanted to happen in this relationship. Her previous experiences with boyfriends had been primarily physical, with not a lot of long, meaningful conversations. Perhaps it was because she was more mature now, but while she was definitely interested in getting more physical with Harry, she realized that that was not what it would take to make this last. While her other relationships had been fun, they had been little more than flings, marking time until she got what she really wanted. And Harry was the one she wanted more than anything.
She remembered every word of the conversations she had had with Hermione regarding Harry, and she had paid close attention to how her friend interacted with him. Although her inclination was to be jealous of the older girl, she knew that the closeness Hermione had with Harry was what she wanted. And if it took a lot of talking to get him to know her better and get comfortable with her and even more waiting for him to open up to her, she could be patient. After all, she had been waiting for him all her life.
And so, to Harry’s surprise and relief, the date wasn’t merely a snogging session with the potential to get more serious. Sure, there were a few nice kisses, but they were the frosting on a comfortable time spent with his girlfriend, getting to know her better. It was exactly what he was hoping for. And it was exactly what Ginny was giving him.
Before they knew it, several hours had passed and it was time to return to the Heads suite and trade back. And from then on, every week on Friday or Saturday night they would repeat the process. And as summer turned to fall and fall began to turn to winter, and everything went according to Ginny’s plan, Harry would fall in love with her.
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