I forgot to disclaim! H/G and R/H belong to JKR

It was a carnival like any other, with rides and arcade games and unhealthy food. Yet to Harry it was as exciting as his first time at Diagon Alley. He was finally experiencing the childhood pleasures the Dursleys had denied him for so long, and he was sharing them with his friends.

"They're all con games," Harry said. "They probably have them glued together. Look at the prizes. It doesn't look as if anyone has won in years." Brightly colored plush animals were tied along the roof of the booth. The largest of them all, a lurid pink bear, was wrapped in yellowing plastic and looked a bit shop worn.

"Think Hermione would like it?"

Harry shook his head. "Haven't you been listening?"

"I have been listening. Do you think a little magic would be . . . unsporting?"

"It would be the Slytherin thing to do."

"Since Muggle Slytherins seem to be running this place, I don't think it's out of order," Ron declared, and made his way over to the greasy looking attendant who handed him three rubber balls.

Harry saw him pick up one of the balls and say something under his breath. It looked as if he was going to try a bit of wandless magic. Probably a weak Homing Charm, Harry thought.

Ron wound up his arm with a flourish and let the ball go. The pyramid of glasses exploded upon impact. The surrounding crowd burst into spontaneous applause. The greasy man gave Ron a sour look and cut the bear down.

Ron triumphantly waded through the crowd toward Harry with the enormous bear tucked under one arm.

"Good show." Harry grinned. "No more lonely nights for you-you can sleep with that next to your pillow."

He didn't see the bear coming at him until it was too late. He stumbled back into a tent, but regained his balance. His glasses were askew and he felt as if he had inhaled pink acrylic. "Ron, you git-can't you take a joke?"

"Sorry-I thought you'd move out of the way in time."

"Hey! What's the commotion?"

A very large, swarthy man, dressed in blue robes with silver crescents, came out of the tent.

"Just lost my balance," Harry said.

"Hold on." The man glared at Ron. "Did you nick that bear from Syd's booth?"

"No!" Ron turned as pink as the bear. "I won it fair and square."

The man was incredulous. "You won it? On the first throw? That's impossible because Syd doesn't play fair. Unless . . ." He looked at them keenly. "Come inside."

Harry raised his eyebrows at Ron. Ron shrugged and they both followed him into the dark tent, illuminated by candles. There was a table with a crystal ball and a pack of tarot cards.

"Just my luck," Ron muttered, "I get to meet Trelawney's long lost cousin."

Harry sniggered, but felt a sinking in his stomach nevertheless. He had enough of prophecies-he didn't want to hear any more doom and gloom, real or invented.

The big man sank into a spindly chair and motioned for them to sit. "So what are two wizards doing at a Muggle carnival?"

"How did-"

"I'm a wizard too-but an untrained one. I have some ability to See, so I do this as a sideline. What do you say to a having your fortunes read? I'll do it for free, since the great bear hunter here got the better of Syd. You made my whole week."

Ron wasn't too keen either. "Um-at school we did Divination-and well-"

"I don't do it the book way." He waved his huge hands. "I only read the heart line. That's all people at carnivals want to know about-how their love life is going to go."

Mine is going nowhere fast, Harry thought.

"The hunter first." He examined Ron's hand for a moment and then chuckled. "I see you have met your match already. See that feathering of the line there? Fireworks. Never a dull moment for you, my lad."

"But," Ron sputtered, "what does that mean?"

"It means that you can run, but you can't hide. Some things are just meant to be-all in good time of course."

Ron let out an exasperated sigh. "I am mental for sitting here and listening to this. I'll wait for you outside," he said to Harry as he stalked out through the flaps.

Harry could help but smile. Ron and Divination had been oil and water from the beginning.

The fortune-teller scrutinized Harry's hand. "I can see why you didn't want your palm read." He looked at him with kind eyes. "Some would say this is a tragic hand-but I read it differently. See, right here-your heart-it will save you--on more than one occasion."

He traced the line, which started under Harry's little finger and curved upward to his index finger. "Your heart line--it is long and deep. Pure, some would call it. And the person who holds your heart you have met already-somewhere around the age of ten or eleven?"

Harry shrugged helplessly. He had met a lot of girls when he was eleven and started at Hogwarts, but he couldn't imagine any of the girls in his year as the love of his life.

"You have several chances to win your heart's desire, but the opportunities are of short duration and are spread years apart. It looks like you had a chance at twelve, and then again at seventeen."

"I just turned seventeen." He cleared his throat.

The man smiled. "Then you're in luck, my friend."

Harry left the tent not knowing what to think. While he was glad this fortune-teller didn't predict a tragic life, he didn't know what to do with this idea of having only a few opportunities for true love. Of course it would be nice to know who this particular girl is, he thought sourly.

After Cho and watching some of his friends start dating-none of it looked particularly appealing. There was too much drama, too much angst. Ginny was devastated after she broke up with Dean. Stupid prat, Harry thought, she was too smart for him anyway-he never should have gone out with that Muggle girl at the same time.

He was still indignant about it-probably because he had seen the whole thing: Dean trying to make excuses, Ginny white with anger. He was glad that he was the only one who saw her tears, who heard her story.

He looked around for Ron, but couldn't see him in the crowd. He sat on a bench, his thoughts far from the noise and the lights of the carnival. And why would anyone cheat on Ginny? She would be the perfect girlfriend-fun and lively-but understanding and kind as well. Too bad I didn't meet her when I was eleven.

"Harry! There you are-we've been looking for you. Where's Ron?" Hermione asked. She was holding a paper cone full of fluffy pink cotton candy. Ginny had one as well, and she seemed to be enjoying it from the way she plucked off bits and popped them in her mouth. For some reason, he was mesmerized watching her catch that gossamer fluff on her tongue. Stop looking at her mouth, the civilized part of his brain screamed.

"I won it," Ron said proudly, "for you."

"For me." She looked momentarily dumbfounded. "Oh! For me-that's really nice Ron-but you know maybe we should donate it to Oxfam or something-for a poor child who doesn't have any toys."

"You don't like it?" Ron's ears were turning their telltale red.

Harry looked at Ginny and silently willed her to do something.

She got the message. "Anyone want to ride the Ferris wheel with me?"

"Not for a thousand Galleons," Hermione exclaimed, "I hate heights!"

"I'm out of money," Ron said disinterestedly-he was still looking at Hermione.

"I'll go," Harry said. He might as well have fun with Ginny, rather than listen to their bickering.

They walked together to the long queue for the ride. Ginny was still eating that distracting cotton candy. Harry tried to quell his wayward thoughts by focusing on the spectacular red and pink of the sunset.

He had never eaten cotton candy before, but Ginny seemed to like it. "OK, I've always wanted to try it"

It was the strangest sensation. . Of intense sweetness dissolving into nothing. Yet something of the flavor lingered . . .

"What do you think?"

"It's odd-but nice." He caught her watching him, staring almost. "So-have you ever had cotton candy before?"

Ginny seemed to come out of her trance. "Once-right after my first year--that was the summer we went to Egypt. On the night before we left there was a Muggle carnival at Ottery St. Catchpole. Dad really wanted to go, and Mum wanted us out of the house so she could pack. I think he took me to cheer me up."

"Cheer you up?"

Ginny shook her head. "Remember the Basilisk and the Chamber? Honestly, I think you have selective amnesia-like you forgot everything you did when you were twelve."

"Oh-right." Harry shifted awkwardly. "Sorry-I must have-what did you call it?"

"Selective amnesia." She looked at him with amused wonder. "I know you've had an exciting life, but I would think that particular adventure would stand out."

"I don't know." He ran his hand through his hair, "I remember it, of course. I just never connect anything that bad with you."

"Really?" Ginny was looking up at him with big eyes, as if she was puzzling something out.

"Was I twelve then?" he asked.

"I think so."

Someone back in line pushed ahead, which caused Harry to stumble into her. She took a step back losing her balance. He caught her and together they steadied themselves.

"Sorry. Did I step on your toes?"

"No-but I dropped the cotton candy." She sounded a little breathless, and her hand was clutching his sleeve.

"We can get more later."

"That's all right-it's probably bad for your teeth anyway."

Finally it was their turn to ride the Ferris wheel. Harry noticed other couples cuddling close on the small seats. Some girls were feigning fear at being up so high, and were using it as an excuse to hold on to their partners. Harry didn't think Ginny would do such a thing, since she had been riding brooms since the age of six.

Ginny looked anything but afraid. She was leaning over the safety bar, watching the crowd below. It was dark now, but the carnival grounds were brightly lit. "I see Ron and Hermione!"

The pink bear and Ron's red hair were clearly visible. They were still on the bench, but the bear had been cast aside.

"Maybe that bear won't be a homeless orphan after all," Harry said into her ear.

She moved slightly and her hair brushed against his cheek. "I don't think we have to worry about the bear-or Ron and Hermione for that matter."

The wheel turned smoothly and circled downward. They were in the realm of light and noise and people. Then it journeyed upward again, into the silent darkness. They sat close together, looking out, not speaking.

Harry suddenly felt time running out. The ride would soon be over, and they would go their separate ways. The words of the Seer echoed in his mind, you had a chance at twelve and now again at seventeen.

"Look." Ginny pointed to the arcade, which had gone dark. "What's happening?"

Other parts of the fairgrounds were dimming as well. "Looks like they're losing power."

"Fred and George are here somewhere, I'm sure of it," Ginny said in an uncanny imitation of Mrs. Weasley.

Harry laughed. "Of all the things you could blame on Fred and George, this isn't one of them. They've probably overloaded the system."

As they watched, parts of the carnival lit up again, only to have others fall into darkness. Suddenly, the wheel stopped. They were stuck together at the highest point.

People screamed and giggled, but there seemed to be no signs of panic. Ginny was a dim shadow, but he could feel her next to him, her eyes straining in the dark.

"Well, I see we get some extra time on this ride," she said.

"Reckon we'll have to just wait it out."

It was breezy up so high; Ginny shivered.

"Cold?" he asked.

"A little."

Harry moved closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders. It was an easy thing to do in the dark. "Better?"

"Yes," she said with a tremble in her voice.

You have a chance . . . the voice echoed. The skeptical side of him didn't want to believe the fortune-teller-but in his bones he knew-he was being given another chance. But was the girl Ginny?

If only I had met her when I was eleven, he thought. He didn't want another girl; he realized that now. He wanted the one he had rescued when he was twelve, the one who knew what he was thinking at a glance, the one who made eating cotton candy the sexiest thing he had ever seen.

"We're Flooing home tonight, did Ron tell you?" Ginny interrupted his thoughts.

"No," he said. "Why?"

"Great Aunt Martha is coming over tomorrow, and Mum wants us all there." She sighed. "I guess I won't see you again until the train."

The train. Something clicked in his mind. He had met Ginny when he was eleven. He had almost forgotten that too. She had run after the train his first year. That whole experience-it had been like cotton candy--intensely sweet but ephemeral.

And yet, he thought as he unconsciously pulled Ginny closer, and yet the sweetness lingered . . . Long enough for me to seek her out in the Chamber, long enough for me to want this fortune to come true.

"Ginny--you didn't--by any chance--happen to go to the fortune-teller here?"

He heard a soft intake of breath. "Hermione and I thought it would be funny to see what a Muggle fortune-teller was like."

"He's not a Muggle."

"I know."

"He reads heart lines only."

"Right."

"We saw each other for the first time when I was eleven and you were ten--right?"

"Right." It was a whisper, but he heard her, since he was so close.

"We get another chance don't we?"

"Yes." He could feel her breath on his face.

"Will you let me have that chance?"

"Yes."

He kissed her then, in the dark, high above the world.

They didn't notice when the ride started again and they came down to earth. The attendant had to yell to get their attention, much to their embarrassment and the crowd's amusement.

Ginny and Ron went home that night, while the bear stayed with Hermione.

What stayed with Harry was what had been with him since he was eleven. It was as mysteriously insubstantial as spun floss, yet powerful enough to mark a line across his hand, a line across his heart.

He didn't need a fortune-teller to tell him that he had found his true love, that he had found the strength to do the impossible. Voldemort's power was a brittle as Syd's pyramid of glued-together glasses-and he now had the magic to shatter it.