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SIYE Time:4:39 on 19th March 2024
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Tradition
By Emmeline Vance

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Category: Post-OotP
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley
Genres: Angst, Fluff, General
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: PG
Reviews: 3
Summary: It's only a matter of time...
Hitcount: Story Total: 4313







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Tradition



Harry sat in the library, staring out of the window. He was trying to push all thoughts out of his mind from recent…events. Not thinking at all seemed to be the best option these days, but he rarely could keep his mind blank or get away from everyone else in Grimmauld Place for more than a half an hour. The problems and sorrow running through him would take much longer than an hour to cure. He wasn’t even sure if a cure was possible, at least for one of his three problems. Maybe even all of them. The Weasleys and Lupin had tried to give him time alone, but Ron and Hermione always saw fit to bring him out of his hole as constant as possible. Dumbledore had visited the headquarters three times, each time going swiftly into the meetings and giving Harry a look begging him for forgiveness. Looking back on the situation in Dumbledore’s office at the end of the year, Harry was actually rather embarrassed and was glad he hadn’t had to face Dumbledore yet. Yet. He knew the time would come when Mrs. Weasley would just give up on him and call Dumbledore. It was only a matter of time.

He was shocked out of his thoughts when a loud knock came on the door to the library. “Who is it?”

“Ginny. And if you don’t let me in, Harry James Potter, I’ll make you wish you’d have never been born.”

Harry almost felt…no. He shouted back through the locked door, “Sorry, Ginny, you’re too late. I already do.”

“Oh don’t give me that, Harry! Enough with the melancholy, just let me in so we can talk,” Ginny demanded.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Har ry!

He grudgingly picked up his wand and performed the countercurse to unlock the door. Ginny practically fell into the library.

“Finally,” she grunted.

“What do you want, Ginny? What was so important that you threatened me?”

“You.”

“Sorry, what?” Harry said carefully.

“You’ve been so detached from the rest of us lately. Ron and Hermione might be too afraid to face you, but I’m not. Then again, it could just be that they’re to busy finding places in the house to snog,” Ginny said thoughtfully.

Harry sat up with a start. “Ro-Hermion-kissing! What?!?”

“Sorry you haven’t noticed, Harry, but you’ve been too busy, apparently. They haven’t even told anyone yet. But everyone knows, even Lupin. He walked in on them in my room,” Ginny said, a slight smile curling at the end of her lips at the thought.

Harry still couldn’t speak when he sat down. Finally he settled on something to say. “Bloody hell, it’s about time.”

Ginny didn’t seem the least bit surprised at Harry’s reaction. “I know. Exactly what I said when I found Ron confessing his childhood love to her in the cupboard.”

Harry looked rather alarmed at the thought.

“Anyway, Harry, I’m not here to spread gossip. I know there’s something bothering you besides Sirius’s death. I know you got over that when I overheard you talking to Lupin the day you got here.”

“Ginny Weasley, you snoop too much.”

“But see how much good it’s done me?”

Harry wasn’t so sure. “Right.”

“So, are you going to tell me? And let me make another guess: it’s about the prophecy, isn’t it?” Ginny said pointedly.

Harry was once again speechless. “Mostly. You know too much for your own good.”

“Thank you.”

“That’s not a compliment, you know.”

“To me it is. Now are you going to tell me about this prophecy?” Ginny said.

Harry thought on this for a moment. Should I tell her or not…it would be a relief to tell someone, but to be the Boy-Who-Lived was to be alone, especially now more than ever. He tilted on the verge of telling her, but… “I can’t.”

Ginny took a moment to pick the right thing to say. “I do understand, Harry, believe me.”

“How could you?” Ginny’s comment had provoked the temperamental side of Harry that had been near the surface for the past year.

Ginny stared at him, crossing her arms.

“Oh, well, right. But trust me; this is a whole lot worse.” As soon as he said it he knew he had made a mistake.

“Really. Well, I suppose in that case you should tell me before you go off killing people.”

“I’m not ready,” Harry reprimanded sternly.

Ginny’s face turned slightly softer and she placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “I’m here when you’re ready, though, Harry. If I’m the one you want to talk to.”

“You’re the only one I’d tell,” Harry replied. Oh, Merlin, I am such an idiot! Harry thought, mentally hitting himself.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. “Why’s that?”

Harry took the chance to try to redeem himself. “Um, well, because you’re probably the one who would take it the easiest.” Shut up, Harry! “I mean, Hermione would panic and go off to the library or something, and Ron would pace and curse under his breath, all worried.” Potter! Stop talking!

“I suppose you’ve got a point. But I can’t promise you I won’t curse,” Ginny responded.

“Um, well, that’s--”

“Harry, I was just kidding!” Ginny laughed.

“Oh, right,” Harry blushed. You are such an idiot!

“Well, I’m gonna go, but try not to sulk so much anymore, okay, Harry?” Ginny suggested, heading towards the door. Harry didn’t respond, and Ginny figured she might as well come back to try again tomorrow.

-*-

“Baby Potter, where are you?” The taunting voice shouted from nearby.

Harry couldn’t see through the rolling black fog to find out just how close Bellatrix Lestrange was and he didn’t really care to know. All he knew was that he had to get out of there as soon as possible before Voldemort showed up too. He felt through the blackness, but his hands only rested on air. Behind him, a scream came, and he whipped around to see the source of it. Of course, he could see nothing, but he walked towards the sound of loud breathing. As he walked a light, first dim then brighter, came through the fog and shone upon a girl five feet away from him. A rather familiar girl…

“Ginny!” Harry tried to shout, but no sound came out of his mouth. She, however, looked at Harry with a cold stare.

“Look at what you’ve done to me, Harry! They’ve killed me because of you! You’re a pathetic fool. You fell for their trap…” Ginny shrieked. At a closer look, Harry noticed with horror that Ginny had slashes all over her face and arms. Stuck in her heart was a knife.

“No!” Harry tried to shout, but without any success.

Someone else stepped into the ray of light and stood next to Ginny. Another person followed directly behind him.

“Harry, I’m so disappointed in you. You’ve ruined so many lives! The world depended on you and you failed! I gave my life so that you might save the world, and you didn’t!” Harry’s mother shouted at him. Meanwhile, James Potter stood next to his wife and shook his head in shame. Yet another person joined them in the light.

“I cared for you as a son and brother, and you fell for their trap–you killed me! It is your fault I fell into the veil!”

“Sirius, no, I--” Harry cried.

The ray of light turned into a pool and nearly a hundred people were exposed in the light. They took their turns shouting their remorse at Harry.

“An incompetent, selfish idiot, just like your father.”

“His father? I don’t think so, Snape…I’m not as selfish as him!”

“My father was right at the Quidditch World Cup, you’re not the great Harry Potter. You’re a worthless human being. I was the rightful champion!”

“I am the only Marauder left because of you, Harry! My best friends are all gone…”

“’Arry, ya failed us all! I trusted ya; I thought cha was a good person!”

“A thousand points from Gryffindor, Potter. Oh, but see, I can’t take any points from my house because Hogwarts was destroyed by You-Know-Who!”

“Harry, I gave you this great burden, but I thought you could fulfill the prophecy. Now we are all dead…because of you. We are dead, Mr. Potter, and so are you! The world has crashed and crumbled, it is over. Over!”

Harry couldn’t take it anymore. He fell to his knees in anguish, but he didn’t hit the floor. He kept falling through the fog. The last thing he saw above him was Ginny slashed face looking down at him. She called down at him, “I loved you and you betrayed me!”

He heard Bellatrix laugh above him as he fell deeper into the darkness. The laugh spread through all the people gathered there. Ginny laughed too, watching him fall away for eternity…


“Nooo!” Harry screamed as he woke from the dream. He wasn’t falling anymore; he was laying on his bed in a cold sweat. A second later someone came crashing through the door to his bedroom, and Ginny’s face was above his. She was perfectly normal, and no cuts covered her face.

“Harry, are you all right?” She grabbed his right hand and looked at him worriedly.

Harry’s mind processed that Ginny, whose room was downstairs, was up in his room in the middle of the night. “Did you hear me scream all the way in your bedroom?”

“Um, well, you see, I had this Muggle gadget set up–I think it’s called a baby monitor–next to my bed so I could eavesdrop on Hermione and Ron. It was still on and your scream woke me up,” Ginny explained awkwardly.

“Where’s Ron?”

Ginny looked over at the other bed. “He’s there, alright, he just took a sleeping draught because he had a headache.

“Oh, right.”

“So, what happened?” Ginny asked.

“Bad dream. That’s all.” Harry answered. He didn’t exactly want to go into full details.

They stayed silent for a few minutes.

Harry couldn’t help but notice that Ginny still gripped his right hand. He also couldn’t help but notice that she was staring at his scar. “I’m ready to tell you.”

“Now? Here? All right.” Ginny replied, a bit surprised.

Harry started from the moment he had gotten back to Dumbledore’s office that fateful night and recited the prophecy for her. “Be murdered or be a murderer…that’s all my life is worth.”

Ginny pulled Harry into an brief embrace. “That’s not true, Harry, your life’s worth more than that. Where would Ron and Hermione be without you? And everyone else for that matter?”

Harry was quiet for a moment. “There’s something else I want to tell you.”

“What could top the prophecy?” Ginny said, smiling.

Harry contemplated for a minute but quickly responded to Ginny.

He sat up and kissed her on the lips. Much to his surprise, she kissed him back immediately. Ginny put her arms around Harry’s neck and Harry put his arms lightly around her waist. They pulled their lips apart.

“I love you, Ginny.”

Ginny smiled at him and stared into his emerald eyes. “I love you, too, Harry.”

From the other side of the room came a whistle. Ron was sitting up in bed and grinning at the two of them. “Must go tell Hermione, I believe I’ve just won a bet. Course, unfortunately, there wasn’t any money involved.” He looked slightly put down by this, but walked out of the room happily anyway.

“So much for a sleeping draught,” Harry said sardonically.

Ginny giggled. “I guess so. Was it that obvious that they were actually betting on us?”

“I certainly didn’t think so.”

Harry looked at Ginny and sighed. The dream had been just a dream, but he couldn’t help but worry. For now he would protect her with every ounce of his power and love, and he hoped that would be enough. He knew he wouldn’t live another day without thinking of her and worrying about her, but those were just things he would have to accept…he knew he wouldn’t have any happiness either if he wasn’t with her.

From a flight of stairs down they heard an excited scream that was sure to wake up the entire house. Hermione and Ron wouldn’t be the only ones that knew about this nighttime scenario before breakfast.

They both smiled. This time Ginny kissed Harry quickly. She then curled up beside him and laid her head on his chest. “Potter, I do believe I’ve gotten you to quit sulking.” Ginny said as an afterthought.

Harry could swear he heard Sirius’ voice whisper, “Those Potters…they always go for the redheads.”

It must be something of a tradition.





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