A/N: Apologies for the delay in updating. I honestly have been going insane the last few days and haven't had time to edit more chapters. I've been working on chapter 25 which I hope will be up on FF.net by later tonight. I plan on posting 14 and 15 here today [which are really 15 and 16 as I combined 13 and 14 into one chapter for PK], but either way, expect two chapters today. :o) This one's just a bit of necessary Weasley moments and a glimpse of H/Hr goodness on the way to Godric's Hollow. The next one will be up later this afternoon.
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At the Burrow, Molly Weasley had never felt so angry and disappointed in her daughter. She had thought that Ginny had won Harry over with her delightful charm and personality, and was more than happy to hear of their relationship and even their break-up, as his intentions had been strictly honourable in that he was trying to keep Ginny alive.
For her to discover that Ginny had tricked him with a love potion, and for that potion to have been created by Fred and George and sold at their shop, well, it was too much for Mrs. Weasley to handle.
"Arthur!" she yelled from the living room. He poked his head around the doorframe to see his wife standing across from the sofa, glaring at their only daughter. Ginny was clearly distraught. Not only was she upset that Hermione had discovered her secret, but her parents had also found out and surely they would take negative actions against her.
"Yes, dear?" he said, avoiding his daughter's gaze. He was just as disappointed as Molly was, and could not quite deal with the young witch yet.
"Could you please take the Floo to Diagon Alley and bring the twins back with you? Have them get that Verity girl to watch the shop for them while they're gone."
Arthur left without a word, knowing that his wife would be more than furious with the twins. Despite the successful enterprise of their joke shop in Diagon Alley, they were still managing to get themselves into trouble.
Ensuring that her husband had left, Molly turned back to Ginny. "Why?" she asked quietly. She was still furious, but knew that screaming at the young girl wouldn't help.
Ginny just stared. Admit to nothing, she thought.
Molly continued to gently ask her daughter numerous questions about the love potion. Why did she do it? Was she planning on continually giving it to Harry to keep him with her? If things didn't work out the first time, why did she think it would work out again? Mrs. Weasley quickly became impatient with Ginny, and her temper began to rise again.
"Ginevra Weasley, if you don't give me a bloody good reason for your behaviour, I will snap your wand in two!" she threatened.
Ginny's eyes went wide. "You wouldn't!"
"Oh, don't you go and doubt my threats for one instant, young lady. This is unforgivable! We have taken that boy into our home numerous times and treated him like family. He has done nothing but be kind to you and even go so far as to keep you out of harms way, and you repay him by slipping him a love potion? Did you ever think about the side effects that could have?" Molly was fired up now, and was nearly willing to hex her daughter if she didn't get some answers.
"He was fine the first time!" Ginny decided to defend herself. Her mother already knew she was guilty; she might as well try to make things seem less serious. "Everything seemed like a normal relationship! He wasn't acting all goofy like Ron did when he ended up with some of the potion Romilda Vane intended for Harry. Yes, it seemed a tad out of the blue for everyone else, but it wasn't like he was blathering on about me every thirteen seconds! It all seemed so… natural."
Mrs. Weasley could not believe what she was hearing. "So you think that, because the first time it went well, it'd do the same the second time? What if it didn't turn out like that? What if you'd completely incapacitated him into a blubbering idiot who couldn't do anything except sing your praises? What if, Merlin forbid, he was attacked by You-Know-Who while under your potion? Did you ever think of that?" Molly glared at her. She could not believe how irresponsible Ginny had behaved.
"But the first time he was okay. Why did it make him go completely nutters this time?" she whined.
Inhaling deeply in an attempt to calm herself down, Mrs. Weasley spoke very carefully. "Ginny, you know as well as I do how powerful of a wizard Harry is. Fred and George designed those love potions for ordinary wizards like us. I suspect that Harry's magic was strong enough to keep the typical symptoms of the potion at bay, and yet still allow it to take somewhat of an effect. Maybe Fred and George can explain when they get here exactly why it worked like it usually would this time."
Ginny felt ashamed of herself. Her mother's words only mere moments earlier were beginning to sink in. What if something had happened to Harry while he'd been taking her potion? He wouldn't have been completely capable of defending himself against Lord Voldemort. He would've died, and it would have been all her fault.
"'Ello, Mum!" Fred and George greeted from the doorway. Their cheery smiles immediately fell from their faces as they were rewarded with a scathing glare from their mother. Arthur stood behind them, ushering them into the living room.
"Tell me about this love potion," she demanded. "Why did it have a normal effect on Harry, when last time Ginny used it, the side effects weren't so severe?"
The twins looked at each other, confused. "This is the second time she's used it?"
"End of last term," Ginny muttered, reminding them of her brief relationship with Harry.
"Yeah, somehow she slipped it to him and that's why they were together," Ron said, joining the rest of his family in the room. He sat down next to Fred and George. He, too, was now beginning to be upset with his younger sister. It was his best friend she had put in jeopardy, simply because she was infatuated with him. He wasn't too impressed.
"Well, that explains a lot." George said.
"Boys," Mrs. Weasley brought their thoughts back to the problem at hand, "Why was the potion stronger this time?"
"Like we told Hermione, if you leave it to ferment longer than the month after you bought it, it gets stronger." Said Fred.
"Every four months the effects last a week longer." George added. "Dunno why it was stronger this time though, it should just last longer."
Arthur glanced at his daughter, seeing the look of guilt and remorse on her face. "Why did you sell Ginny the potion?" he asked his sons.
They shook their heads. "We didn't!" Fred said.
"She got it for another girl at school, something about her not being able to buy it because she had come in with her parents." George explained.
"We do mail-order for Hogwarts, we figured it was just less hassle for the owls if Ginny brought it back for the girl." Fred reasoned.
Molly sighed. "I think you need to discontinue the love potion section of your Wonder Witch products. They're too strong."
"But why didn't it make Harry go all goofy when he was with Ginny end of last term?" Ron asked.
Arthur chose to explain this one. He knew as well as his wife did about Harry's extensive amounts of magic. "To put it simply, kids, they don't call him the Chosen One for nothing. His magic is strong; possibly stronger than Dumbledore's was when he was alive if he develops it properly. My best guess is that this potion, much like wine, gets stronger with age. You counted on it lasting longer, but have you tested it after it's sat for a year to see the results?"
The twins shook their heads again. "You may be onto something with the wine idea though, Dad." Fred admitted.
George added, "Yeah, I heard somewhere that you can use wine to counter the effects of love potions, but I thought that was a bit silly."
"Hopefully Hermione has also heard of that, as she and Harry have headed elsewhere. Ginny's selfish actions have sent them fleeing from our home for the second time this summer." Mrs. Weasley said in a low voice.
"That's it!" Ginny screamed, standing up from the couch. "I've heard enough of this. I'm a terrible witch, I know. I should never have done it, but none of you understand how I feel about Harry. Well, that's just fine with me. It's not like it matters anyway. Once he comes to his senses Hermione will tell him what I did and he'll never want to talk to me again. Then what's the point? I give up." Ginny punctuated her words with a loud crack, causing everyone in her family to jump.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked, looking at Ginny.
She held her hands out in front of her, palms up. In each hand was half of her wand. Rather than let her mother make good on her threats, Ginny had literally taken matters into her own hands. "I don't deserve to practice magic," she said. "I made stupid decisions and ended up putting the man I love at risk. He could've been killed, and it would have all been my fault." She dropped the pieces on the carpet and walked out of the room.
The Weasley family stared at the wand pieces on the carpet in surprise. Ginny had given up her magic, just like that.
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Hermione could sense that they were near Harry's parents' house in Godric's Hollow. They had entered the small town about twenty minutes earlier. Deciding that she would just have to put up with Harry's continuous babbling, she removed the Silencing charm.
Harry was surprised to hear the sound of his own voice. "Where are we? And why did you Silence me?" he asked.
"Nearly there," Hermione replied, choosing to ignore the second question for fear of inducing more Ginny-babble. "Do you recognize anything?"
Looking at his surroundings, Harry shrugged. "Just looks like a load of trees to me. Maybe there's something in that forest, but I'm not sure."
Hermione looked at him in confusion. These were his first two sentences without the mention of Ginny in a while.
"What?" he asked, seeing the expression on her face.
Surveying her boyfriend, Hermione noticed that his fist was clenched around something and resting on the seat.
"What's in your hand?" she asked.
"My dad's ring, why?" Harry was even more puzzled than Hermione was.
A theory was developing in Hermione's mind. "Were you wearing that this morning?" she asked.
Harry shook his head in response. "I took it off before I came downstairs. I figured we'd probably be thinking about this morning, and that we might get a bit carried away at the breakfast table. It's been in my pocket until a few minutes ago."
Hermione slowed the BMW roadster, pulling over to the side of the road. She put the car in park and looked at Harry. "This is going to sound weird, Harry, but I want you to hand me your dad's ring, and then tell me the first thing that comes to mind, okay?" She was beginning to understand just why Harry was temporarily acting normal again.
Handing over the ring, slightly perplexed, Harry's eyes seemed to glaze over for the briefest of seconds, as the warm golden metal was no longer in contact with your skin.
"Now, Harry, what's on your mind?" Hermione asked.
"Ginny," he said, a goofy grin on his face. "She smells pretty. And she cooked me breakfast this morning, and she has a nice bum and-"
Before Harry's thoughts were out of control, Hermione quickly looped the chain around Harry's neck again, resting the ring under his shirt and securely against his chest.
"-and what was I saying?" he asked, confused again.
"I think we just solved what would have been a major problem for the next three weeks." Hermione grinned.
"What are you talking about?" Harry was completely lost.
Hermione sighed. "I'll explain when we get to your parents' house. Do you think we're close?"
Nodding, Harry pointed ahead through the trees. "See that light grey in between the trunks? I'm pretty sure that's the stone of the house."
Seeing what Harry was talking about, Hermione put the car back in drive and headed down the road. The grouping of trees was just ahead to the right. A moment later she was making a right-hand turn into a gravel driveway that was overgrown with weeds. "It looks like no one has been here in years," she said, realizing that was probably true. She couldn't see a reason why anyone would have come back to tend to the house after Lily and James had died.
Heading up the drive, Hermione was surprised to see that the house was in near-perfect condition. Except for stray weeds and tree branches, and a bit of peeling paint on the front door, you wouldn't know that it was uninhabited. Shifting gears to put the roadster in park and taking the keys out of the ignition, Harry and Hermione left the car and headed for the front door. Using 'Alohomora' on the door, the young couple let themselves in.
Inside, the house looked just as it did in Harry's memories. The furniture was still in the same place, and everything looked as though the owners had only temporarily stepped out and would be returning shortly.
"It's magic," Hermione breathed, looking at the mint condition of everything in the house. "There are spells that can do this. It's probably how Mrs. Weasley keeps the house clean. After the attack the spells must have cleaned the house up."
Harry wasn't listening; instead he was walking from room to room. He stopped when he reached what appeared to be his bedroom as an infant. There was a crib, and a mobile hanging above it.
Having followed him, Hermione entered the nursery seconds after Harry. When she realized what the room was she slipped her hand into his, and squeezed for comfort.
There was no need for words, or thoughts. Harry was facing the very room where his mother had been killed protecting him. A single tear slipped down his cheek. Brushing it away, he turned to face Hermione. "So you were going to explain something in the car?" he reminded her, clearly trying to focus his mind on something other than the fact that this is where his mother had died.
"Now's not the time, Harry," she said, hugging him. "We can talk about it later."
No, Harry thought, I want to know. What was the deal with the rings earlier?
Hermione led him back out into the sitting room, making sure he was comfortable in an overstuffed leather armchair. It had most likely belonged to his father. "Are you sure you want to know right now, Harry? We can wait to talk about it."
Harry gave her a look that clearly said he wasn't going to wait for an explanation.
"Okay, fine," she said, taking a deep breath. "This morning, when Ginny was making you breakfast, you had coffee, right?"
Harry nodded. "What's so serious about coffee?"
"She put one of Fred and George's love potions in it."
Harry's mouth dropped open in shock. "She what?!"
Hermione averted her eyes from Harry's face. "It wasn't the first time she'd slipped you some," she said quietly.
He was beginning to grow angrier. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"Your relationship with her was completely fake, Harry. She slipped you some love potion."
Harry shook his head. "There's no way. That was real, I know it was. I wasn't acting all crazy like Ron did."
Hermione sighed. This was going to be the difficult part. She related to him her discovery of Ginny's first use of the potion, and had come to the same conclusions about the effects of the potion the first time around that Mrs. Weasley had. Due to Harry's immense magical strength, the potion hadn't turned him into a blathering idiot like Ron. However, when the potion had fermented for several months, it became strong enough to have a powerful effect on him.
"Ginny wouldn't…" Harry tried to defend her, feeling bad for the young witch, but he could see Hermione was right. "She really did it, huh," he said, looking into Hermione's eyes. "So why am I not going on about her right now?"
"The rings," Hermione said, gently fingering the engagement ring that hung around her neck. "When we're wearing them, we're connected. Apparently it's a much stronger connection than any love potion that Fred and George can mass produce."
"Is that what the thing in the car was all about earlier?" Harry asked.
"Yes. When you had the ring in your pocket it wasn't in direct contact with your skin. When you were holding it in your hand it renewed the connection, pushing past the effects of the potion."
This seemed to be a satisfactory enough explanation for Harry. "'Mione?" he looked uncomfortable, "What did I do with Ginny this morning?"
Hermione would have preferred to not be reminded of his actions that morning, but she couldn't deny him an answer. "Pretty much yanked her onto your lap, grabbed her bum, and snogged her senseless. When I left for Diagon Alley you two were at it. When I came back from talking with the twins you were still at it. And then I dragged her off of you by her hair."
Harry's face lit up. "By her hair?" he chuckled.
Hermione nodded, a bit confused as to why her boyfriend wasn't angry at Ginny over what she'd done.
Harry sensed her thoughts. "I'm sure you taught her a lesson about it," he said with a smile. "Besides, I'm with you. If she can't accept that, and needs to resort to a love potion to get my attention, she's not worth our time. We won't bother with her anymore. From now on, it's just you and me. And Ron if that's okay with you," he added hastily. Even if things had turned out differently relationship-wise than either boy had planned, they were still friends and wouldn't let a girl come between him.
"So Harry," Hermione began, "Are you hungry?"
"You bet I am!" he said, his eyes glowing green. He leapt off of his chair and tackled her to the couch.
"I meant for food, you git!" she giggled.
Harry kissed her. "I sure as hell didn't."