A/N- hello everyone! Thanks for reading along and reviewing! Here's the next chapter for you all, hope you like the scene between Ginny and Hermione! Happy reading!
**Islanzadi** J
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"Oh no," groaned Luna into Susan's shoulder "I can't believe I just told him…How stupid of me!"
"It's not your fault," said Susan, her arm around Luna trying to comfort her "He made you angry and you snapped that's all…"
"He's going to think I'm the craziest witch he ever met…" said Luna quietly
"Well, to be fair he probably already thought that," said Susan jokingly
"Even more so now!" said Luna loudly, burying her face deep into Susan's shoulder. Her face had been beet red when she had come to Susan and it hadn't died down at all. Susan was beginning to wonder whether or not she should use a charm on it when Ron came walking into their room. They both looked up quickly…Luna looked at the door longingly as if trying to figure out a way to escape.
"Erm, can I talk to you Luna?" said Ron quietly
"Of course you can," said Susan quickly "I'll just be, erm…gone…" With that she made a beeline for the door and closed it quite loudly.
Ron walked slowly over to Luna and sat down next to her. He opened his mouth to start talking but stopped when he saw Luna was just staring at the floor, her face so red it was almost a match for Ron's hair. He opened his mouth again and willed the words to come out of his mouth.
"So, erm…hmmm," said Ron "Did you mean what you said back there?"
"Which bit?" asked Luna, her voice sounding muffled as she buried her face in her arms.
"The, erm, you know…loving me bit," said Ron, looking at the wall fixedly.
"Yes," said Luna so quietly that Ron wasn't sure whether she had actually said a word or just sighed.
"Um, I don't love you Luna," said Ron slowly. He saw Luna nod her head in her hands and watched her back tremble slightly. "But, uh, I do like you. I like you a lot more than most other girls. You were right about Hermione, I don't love her. I'm just a prat I guess. Not saying that I forgive them or that I'm ok with them or anything else because I'm still REALLY angry and I just…"
"Yes Ronald," said Luna in her muffled voice "I think everyone knows how angry you are, we don't need to go through this again."
"Well, erm, yeah," said Ron his face starting to get pink and moving into deeper shades of red the more he talked "So I thought that you would have been really grossed out when you kissed me when you were drunk. I was wrong, and it, erm, you know. Felt nice." Luna looked up at him quickly, her eyes wide and her face still very pink.
"You remember? But Ron you were really very drunk!" said Luna happily. Ron nodded and went redder still, then moved his gaze back to the wall.
"So, erm, I'm not saying I love you or anything like that because I don't lie. But I do like you Luna, you're really great. So…maybe we could spend some time together? See if anything happens, not that I'm saying it will or anything. But, you know…erm…we could give it a go. See what happens,"
"That sounds lovely Ronald," said Luna dreamily "I would be honoured to be the person you want to spend some time with." Ron smiled at her and Luna beamed back at him.
"So," he said with a grin "How about a game of chess? It's nice to play with someone that's a challenge!" Luna bobbed her head up and down in agreement and Ron rushed off to his bedroom to grab his chess set.
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Hermione lay in bed that night thinking about Harry. He had been so wonderful today; she hadn't felt that free and full of life in quite a long time. Correction, she wasn't sure if she had ever felt that free before. He was the perfect gentleman…of course she knew that he was trying to keep his hands off of her because he lost his control quite quickly. She blushed in the dark and thought about the way he made her feel every time his hands grazed her skin, and felt a familiar tingling sensation within her. She tried to banish those thoughts from her mind. She wanted Harry very badly, but she also wanted him to love her before they took that step. She knew she was crazily in love with Harry Potter; the feelings seemed to deepen every time she saw him and she had to stop herself from shouting it out to every person that would listen to her. She wondered if Harry felt that same, and if he didn't when would he? She rolled onto her side and thought about the way he had held her hands, the way he had softly kissed her in almost every shop they went into and every street corner they stopped at. She sighed into the darkness and let a smile creep on her face. She suddenly found herself being grateful that Ginny was staying in another room, she couldn't stand the thought of this today's happiness being ruined by her. Now that Fred, George and Sirius weren't in the house there was a lot more room. Of course, poor Luna and Susan had to share with Ginny because Ron and Harry had to sleep in separate rooms, but Ginny wouldn't hex them if they were smiling the way she was right now. She fell asleep with Harry's face in her mind and she had a wonderful and peaceful sleep.
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Harry woke up the next morning with the peculiar feeling that someone was watching him. His eyes were still closed as he heard a creak in the floorboards by his bed. He shot up out of bed quickly and had his wand in his hand so fast that the girl standing in front of him hardly had time to blink.
"What are you doing?" asked Harry in a higher voice than usual
"I came to get you," said Luna dreamily
"For what? Breakfast? Couldn't you have just knocked on the door?" asked Harry a little irritated.
"No not for breakfast Harry," she said quietly "Today is the day…"
"Huh?" asked Harry, rubbing his eyes to try an wake himself up. He had had a rather restless night. Unlike Hermione he was still wrestling with his feelings, and every time he had closed his eyes he could see her face smiling as the snowflakes landed gently on her. He shook his head 'There I am at it again, I'm going insane…she's driving me insane' he thought. Luna smirked up at him as if she could read his mind and he flushed a light pink colour.
"Today we go to the veil…" said Luna quietly "I'd like to have breakfast before Ron and Ginny get up if you don't mind. We don't need extra distractions today."
"Ok," said Harry slowly. Did he really want to do this? What if Luna was being totally mad and it was a place you went to die, not after your die? How were they supposed to get in there when they weren't dead? What if they couldn't get in there? Then what?! "I, erm, I need to exchange some of my wizard money for muggle money. Then I need to go out, it won't take me more than half an hour or so…"
"Well," said Luna vaguely "I'll get Pig to take some of your money to Gringotts to be exchanged while you get washed and dressed. Then we'll have breakfast, you can then nip off and do whatever it is you need to do and then we'll get moving!" Harry looked at Luna for a moment, wondering when she had started to become as organised as Hermione, then grinned.
"Ok," he said, and rushed off to shower. He hoped Luna wasn't getting them in to anything dangerous. He was also wondering how she managed to get the three of them into the Ministry of Magic without alerting death eater spies.
After a very busy morning, Harry tiptoed quietly into Hermione's room. She was sleeping soundly with a small smile on her face and was a tangled mess in the blankets. He smiled down at her and moved the cause of his busy morning onto the side of her pillow. He hoped she liked it, it had taken him a little longer than usual to get in London today and he had been feeling rather irritated when he came back. He felt those feelings leave him as he watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful and beautiful. She shifted suddenly and turned over, flinging one of her bare legs out over the blankets. He swallowed hard as he looked at her, a wave of desire hitting him like a punch in the face. 'Time to go' he thought quickly, and left the room as quietly as he had come in.
He went down stairs quickly to see Luna and Mr. Weasley waiting by the front door for him. He pulled on his coat quickly and got ready to leave with the rest of them.
"Where's Susan?" asked Harry quietly
"Not today Harry," said Luna just as quietly "This is just for you and I. We'll tell her everything she needs to know, but we're the only ones who have lost someone Harry. It can't be any other way." Harry nodded his head in a faked understanding while wrapping his scarf tightly around his neck.
"Ready then?" said Mr Weasley cheerfully. They both nodded their heads and left the house, anxious to see what awaited them.
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Hermione woke up feeling happy and refreshed. She jumped out of bed and rushed towards the door, hoping to be clean and looking presentable by the time Harry woke up. Just as she was at the door she remembered her clothes and laughed silently to herself. 'He's diminishing my brain into nothing' she thought as she turned around…and stopped dead. There on the pillow next to hers was the teddy bear she had seen in Regent's street yesterday. She felt tears filling her eyes as she walked over a picked it up, examining its perfect little wand and pointed hat. She rushed grabbed her pink bathrobe and wrapped it tightly around her. She pulled up her hair and tried to make her face look presentable. Then she grabbed the bear and rushed out of the room to find Harry.
She went into his bedroom to find him and didn't see him in there. She rushed down the hallway and bumped directly into Ginny.
"Hey!" said Ginny angrily, throwing Hermione to the side "Watch where you're going!" Hermione was shocked by the force of Ginny's push and stared angrily at her.
"It was an accident," she said icily "Now if you'd kindly get out of my way…" She tried to get past Ginny but she moved to the side to stop her from going anywhere.
"Looking for your boyfriend?" asked Ginny in a taunting voice
"Shut up Ginny," said Hermione angrily, pushing herself past Ginny forcefully and starting to make her way to the stairs. She felt a horrible sensation spread through her and her legs froze and seemed to bind themselves together. She hit the floor very hard and was unable to move. 'That little bitch!' thought Hermione incredulously 'she's put me in a bloody body bind! I left my wand in the bedroom…oh shit…' Ginny smirked at Hermione's still form on the ground and laughed to herself and she watched her eyes widen at Ginny when she realised what she had done. Hermione stared up at the hateful girl trying to think of a way out of this, she would show that cow who was better at magic. There was a reason she was the best student in the school after all. She concentrated on her wand in her room and thought 'Accio wand'. She waited…and waited…finally when she had almost given up her wand came flying towards her. One problem, how was she going to use it in the full body bind? 'Hmm,' she thought 'didn't think that far ahead…' Ginny started laughing as she grabbed Hermione's wand from the air.
"Fat lot of good this is going to do you," she said, her brown eyes glittering in anger.
"What the fucking hell are you doing Ginny?" came a voice from behind her. Hermione looked up to find Ron standing directly behind Ginny, looking furious. Her grabbed his wand from his pocket and waved it at Hermione. Her legs felt free again and she slowly got to her feet and said -
"Expelliarmus,"
Ginny narrowed her eyes towards Hermione's wand.
"Ginny," said Ron angrily "Don't be a stupid cow. Get into your room or go downstairs…leave Hermione alone,"
"I'm fine Ron," said Hermione angrily "This has been coming for a long time."
"Yes it has," said Ginny with gritted teeth "Ever since you stole Harry from me."
"Stole him from you?" asked Hermione with a derisive laugh "He was never yours to steal. He broke up with you Ginny."
"Only because he was worried about me being a target for Voldemort," said Ginny
"That's right," said Hermione "But now he's decided that he doesn't want to be with you. It does happen you know, people do change their minds on who they want to be with,"
"You've been after him since you first met him. You just want to be famous…" said Ginny
"Yes Ginny," said Hermione sarcastically "I want to be famous. Why don't you ask yourself why you want to be with Harry…"
"I love Harry!" she said, her face getting red with anger.
"No you don't!" said Hermione angrily "You fell in love with the legend of Harry Potter before you even knew him! You love that he saves people, you love that he's famous! You don't love Harry for him! You only started to really get to know Harry last year when you were going out for a few months! What did you say to him last year? Oh yeah 'I knew you wouldn't be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that's why I like you so much' you love the hero, not the man himself…"
"Were you listening into mine and Harry's conversation? How long have you been planning on trying to get him?" said Ginny, her wand jabbing towards Hermione.
"No," she said, "Harry told me. I wasn't planning on doing anything with Harry other than being friends. But you can't help it when you fall in love Ginny, you don't have control over it and I WILL NOT apologise for that!" She was breathing heavily and saw Ginny's brown eyes darting back and forth, trying to figure out what to do next. Hermione was ready. No sooner had she shouted -
"Furnunculus!" Hermione had shouted-
"Protego!"
Hermione then pointed her wand at Ginny, and without saying anything, made Ginny's legs shake like jelly. Her eyes narrowed towards Hermione and she grabbed her wand and threw a few stinging hexes her way before she could retaliate. Hermione sent a tripping jinx her way, then, upon seeing Ginny start to stand up in a rage shouted -
"Stupefy!"
"Hermione!" said Ron angrily "You can't stupefy my sister! I'll stand by while you hex each other but not the really serious spells…" He went over to her quickly from his hiding place in an alcove by the stairs, and pointed his wand at her.
"Ennervate!" he said quickly, and watched as Ginny got to her feet with angry tears in her eyes.
"Think you're hard Hermione?" said Ginny tauntingly "Think you can scare me into backing off? Not likely. You're still that obnoxious buck toothed cow you were when I first met you!" she pointed her wand at Hermione and shouted -
"Densaugeo!"
Hermione was utterly humiliated as her front teeth began to grow and grow! How dare she?! She threw her wand to the side and leapt at Ginny, throwing her into an open room next to them where Susan was sitting reading a book. Ginny rolled on top of Hermione and pinned her hands to the floor, then slapped her hard and fast across the face. Hermione seemed to growl with anger as she used her legs the fling Ginny off of her before getting to her feet. She grabbed Ginny by the hair and brought her head forward so that her nose collided quite nicely with Hermione's knee. The nose began bleeding immediately and Ginny threw a punch in Hermione's direction, which landed on her arm. Hermione pushed her up against the wall and punched her very hard in the face. Ginny raised her feet and kicked Hermione out of the way then threw a punch at her face, instantly blackening Hermione's eye. 'Accio wand!' thought Hermione, and the wand soared easily into her hand. She pointed it at Ginny, and with a grim smile, cast a Bat Bogey hex that even Ginny couldn't beat. Ginny grabbed her wand and stopped the bogeys from attacking her and then shouted -
"Tarantallegra!"
Hermione's legs began to dance uncontrollably, and she aimed her wand angrily at Ginny, sending of a few stinging hexes and the all time favourite slug curse. Ron pointed his wand towards Hermione and stopped her legs from doing their dance. He looked down on his sister with a look of disgust. She was covered in boils, red welts and was vomiting slugs. She looked up angrily and kicked Hermione's ankle very hard. Hermione raised he wand and shouted -
"Stupefy!" and then lowered her wand, breathing hard "You don't mind now do you Ron? Only, it really is much more peaceful with your sister out of it…" Ron looked at her and slowly nodded his head. He'd never seen Hermione kick someone's arse before, especially Ginny who could give all of the boys a run for their money.
"Good," said Hermione briskly "I'm going to get washed and get rid of these ridiculous teeth. See you later."
Ron and Susan stood gaping at where Hermione had left, and then staring at the mess in the room, and then the mess that was Ginny Weasley.
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Mr. Weasley stepped inside the old red telephone box and dialled 62442. The cool female voice asked their name and business, to which Mr Weasley replied -
"Mr Weasley, misuse of muggle artifacts office, with two visitors." They waited with bated breath, hoping that their names would not be asked. Two small badges that said 'visitor' popped out of the return coin slot. Harry sighed in relief and attached the badge to the front of his robes.
"The only problem with a visitors badge Harry," said Mr Weasley quietly " is that everyone follows you around to make sure you don't go into the more restricted areas. I'll show you a more secret way to get around, but if you see anyone then hide. And for goodness sakes don't mention my name, I'll be sacked before you can say leaky cauldron. "
They walked into the splendid hall and Mr Weasley quickly took them to the side of the hall to what appeared to be an old bookcase. He tapped his wand on four books at the bottom, two in the middle and one at the top with a picture of a goblin on the spine of the book. He then said a strange word that sounded guttural and harsh. The books shuffled themselves to the side to make an opening just big enough for Harry to get through…if he turned his body to the side and sucked his breath in.
" If you want to get out then you have to say the word 'exit' in Goblin language. These used to be their tunnels -" said Mr Weasley but was interrupted by Luna.
"I know the word Mr Weasley, and you'd better hurry before someone spots you showing us this,"
"Yes, absolutely. See you later then," said Mr Weasley quickly, and Harry could see his smiling face as the books began to put themselves back on the shelves correctly. Harry turned around to see that they were in a very small hallway, so small that they would have to walk in single file and crouch down a bit. They walked down the sloping hallway for at least ten minutes before they came across a small lift.
"What if we get caught Luna?" said Harry
"Don't worry Harry," she said dreamily "I brought along your cloak!" Harry sighed with relief as she pulled his cloak out of her bag and threw it gently to Harry. He threw it over his shoulders and opened it, motioning for Luna to get under too, while wondering why she didn't mention the cloak in the first place. They clambered into the lift and looked at all the buttons. He pushed one of the down buttons and the lift gave a lurch and brought them to the floor quickly and bumpily. Luna looked like she might vomit. He stepped into the hallway and walked through a very familiar door that led them to the circular room.
"Which room is it in again?" asked Harry quietly
"No idea," whispered Luna "Lets just try them like we did last time…" Harry sighed; this might be a long day…
After looking through only four doors they finally managed to find the one with the veil inside. Harry's heart gave a lurch as he saw the veil moving faintly even though there was no wind to blow it. They walked slowly down the stone steps and moved to stand just in front of the veil. The whispers that seemed to fill the room grew more insistent as they stood outside, staring at the fluttering black veil. Luna ran her hand lightly across it and smiled happily. She looked at Harry and he could see tears shimmering in her eyes.
"Are you ready?" she whispered
"Not really," he said suddenly remembering Hermione's warnings on how dangerous this room was.
"We'll be fine Harry, we've been invited here," she said to him, holding out her hand "Do you trust me?" Harry looked at her for a moment before replying -
"Yes," and taking hold of her hand. She grinned and held his hand tightly…then walked through the black veil, pulling Harry behind her.
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