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Chapter 9: Confessions of the Past
Diggory Manor was probably the most unique of the Hufflepuff cities. Aside from the fact that it was the home of the House of Diggory, the city was the only fortified city in the Kingdom of Hufflepuff. This was especially unique compared Gryffindor where virtually all of the cities, Godric's Hollow, the Burrow, Lupin Manor, Black Manor, Lion's Head, Mynestria, which were all fortified. Furthermore, Diggory Manor was the only Hufflepuff city not built along Unicorn Tail River. Rather, it was inland, at the very edge of the Wilderness of Creepers.
Gryffindor Mage Knights were of course welcomed here, but Harry generally tried to avoid the place. It reminded him too much about his first partner, Hufflepuff Mage Knight Sir Cedric Diggory. Hermione had only heard about the in small bits but had never pressed Harry to reveal the whole story to her since she knew it was too painful for him. She had still managed to figure out generally what had happened.
The Gryffindors were welcomed to the Mansion of the House of Diggory and were invited to dinner, much to the delight of the children.
"Food!" James shouted as they sat down at the table. "I need food! Give me food now!" He clanged his knife and fork together.
Lin slapped the back of James's head. "James, show some manners! We're visitors here. Look at the grown ups, they aren't making a scene."
As if on cue, Ron slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "I want food now!" Lin buried her face in her hands as Ginny and Margaret both slapped Ron. James started sniggering.
"Look who's making a scene now, sis."
"Shut up, James."
The food finally came and James and Ron started to stuff their mouths up like pigs. Lin and Margaret rolled their eyes and started helping themselves to some of the food. The others all started eating except for Harry who simply spent his time picking at his food. Hermione glanced at him sympathetically.
"Say, where's Lord Amos Diggory?" Ron asked between chewing on a piece of bread.
One of the maids sighed and said, "Lord Diggory rarely comes out in public these days. He took the death of his son very hard and despite all these years, he still spends most of his time moping in his chambers."
That was the last straw for Harry. He pushed his plate aside, stood up, and said, "I'm going outside for awhile."
"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, concerned.
Harry smiled at her and said, "I'm fine. I just need a little fresh air."
Hermione nodded as Harry walked out of the room.
Harry eventually made it to a graveyard right behind the manor house. He slowly walked passed the various tombstones until he stopped in front of one. Written on the tombstone was, "Sir Cedric Diggory, Mage Knight of Hogwarts from the Kingdom of Hufflepuff." The date of death was around ten years ago. Next to Sir Cedric's tombstone, was another tombstone with the following written on it: "Sir Cho Chang, Mage Knight of Hogwarts from the Kingdom of Ravenclaw." The date of death on this tombstone was six years ago. Harry sighed sadly as he stared at the two tombstones.
"Its still hard on you, isn't it?" came the voice of Ginny Weasley from behind him.
"It will always be hard on me," Harry said. "Like it or not, its something I have to carry with me for the rest of my life."
Although Harry had never told anyone about the details about Cedric's death, people had a general idea of what had happened.
10 years ago, Harry had just been become a Mage Knight after spending three years as a Hogwarts squire. For his first mission, Harry was partnered with Sir Cedric Diggory and was sent out to scout areas near the Hufflepuff- Gryffindor border for rumors about Death Eater activity. An anonymous tip had led them to a deserted graveyard, only to run into an ambush there. It was an assassination attempt on the heir of the throne of Gryffindor. Sir Cedric was killed outright in the fighting that followed and Harry barely escaped with his life. Since then, Harry had always lived with the guilt that Cedric had died in an assassination attempt on Harry while Harry had survived.
Ginny placed a hand on Cho's tombstone and said, "I suppose that's at least one thing we have in common."
Harry raised an eyebrow and asked, "Oh?"
"We both lost are partners on our first missions as Mage Knights." For Ginny's first mission, six years ago, she and Cho were assigned to Godric's Hollow Palace to protect Hermione and the newly born James and Lin while Harry was away at international negotioations. Unfortunately, that night Voldemort's minions attacked the palace. Cho was killed and James and Lin were abducted. Obviously things turned out for the better but Cho's death weighed heavily on Ginny's conscious.
Harry chuckled bitterly. "Yeah how about that? Something we have in common."
"I wish we had more in common," Ginny muttered.
"What?"
Ginny took a deep breath and said, "Harry, I have something to confess to you." She took another deep breath and blurted out, "Harry, I love you!"
Hermione, whom had just been coming out to join them heard Ginny's words and froze in shock.
Harry blinked. "Um, sorry Ginny but for a second I thought you said..."
"I said I love you, Harry."
Harry was absolutely speechless. "Ginny...I...I..."
"Love Hermione, I know. I have no intention of coming between the two of you. The love you and Hermione share is something I can't even touch, and that's what hurts me the most."
Harry still didn't say anything and simply stayed rooted in his spot. Hermione remained where she stood where she was still hidden from the two but could hear everything that was being said.
Ginny continued, "You no, maybe I'm not really not in love with you and it's just an infatuation. But I definitely have feelings for you. For years now, ever since you first came to the Burrow to visit Ron back when you were eleven." She sighed. "For years, I tried to attract your attention. But you never even batted an eyelash toward me. To you I was always just Ron's little sister, but I figured if I kept trying, maybe you'd finally notice. Then, low and behold on my 16th birthday you show up at the Burrow with this farm girl, and before either one of you realized what had happened you both completely wrapped up in each other."
Hermione, listening in the conversation didn't even know what to think. Harry was still speechless.
Ginny chuckled. "I might sound bitter, but I'm not really. When I first met Hermione, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Here was this muggle- born farm girl, completely clueless about everything and yet through no fault of her own had been caught up in events far beyond her control. I instantly realized how she felt about you but I couldn't help liking her despite that. After all, all's fair in love and war. But when she kissed you that night at the dance, and you had that dazed yet ecstatic look on your face as if you had suddenly realized the greatest mystery in the world." She took a breath and asked, "How did you meet her by the way? You've never told me the story."
The question about Hermione instantly snapped Harry out of his stupor. "Oh, well that's actually quite a story," he said. "It goes back to about nine years ago, back when most of Gryffindor was still under Death Eater control. Ron and I were patrolling the northern Gryffindor forests not too far from the Burrow. I was in a weird mood that day since Trelawney had just made a prediction that my life was going to forever change that day.
"Anyway, traveling around Gryffindor was dangerous those days, as you know, since the lands were controlled by the Death Eaters. So we were just going on a quick patrol when we noticed the smoke in a distance, the result of a Death Eater attack on another innocent village. By the time Ron and I made it there, all that was left was some smothered ruins and bodies. From what we were able to scrape up, Ron concluded that there were no survivors but I just couldn't get the nagging feeling that we were missing something. So I left Ron behind and took off into the forest where I encountered a farm girl whom had been captured by a troll. Long story short, a knocked the troll out and saved the girl who promptly passed out in my arms. Ron and I took her back to Hogwarts."
"Really," said Ginny. Harry nodded.
"Once at Hogwarts, Dumbledore discovered that Hermione was a magical prodigy, like my mother was. If the Gryffindor Kingdom wasn't under Death Eater control, she would've been identified years earlier and taken to Hogwarts as a potential Mage Knight. Dumbledore figured never late than never and offered training to her, which she accepted. Ron and I helped her adjust to life at Hogwarts and we just grew closer." Harry suddenly looked alarmed at Ginny's sad face. "I'm sorry Ginny, I didn't consider how our story might affect you."
"No, I'm glad you told me," said Ginny. "There was never anything I could've done to bring myself in and now I truly no that. For years, I used to think up all of these 'what if's, but now, I no there never were any 'what if's."
With that, Ginny kissed Harry on the cheek and walked away. On the way back to the manor, she passed a sad looking Hermione.
Hermione started to stutter, "Ginny, I..."
"Don't say anything, Hermione. I just wanted to tell you, that you're probably the luckiest person I know."
Hermione closed her eyes and looked down at her feet. "I know," she whispered.
Ginny smiled at her and squeezed Hermione's shoulder before she strolled back into the manor house.
Hermione felt her eyes tearing up and took a few calming breathes. She made her way over to Harry whom was sitting on the ground looking a little gloomy. Without saying a word, Hermione sat down next to him. She laid her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. For the next few hours, they just sat like that, saying absolutely nothing, just absorbing the comfort and love they radiated from each other.
A/N Did you like it? The inspiration for this chapter came to me a few weeks ago and I simply couldn't resist writing it despite the fact that it really doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the story. So, R/R. Sorry it's a little shorter than what I usually produce. Next: It's the Cave of Creepers and the Mage Knights are going to run into a surprisingly (or maybe not) familiar face there.