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SIYE Time:13:04 on 28th March 2024
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If You Can Help Her
By witowsmp

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Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley
Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fluff, Humor
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: R
Reviews: 570
Summary: This story starts with an alternative ending to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets where Harry helps Ginny recover from her experience, unknowingly initiating a bond that affects the rest of their lives. Rating is for violence in the later chapters. **A French translation called "Si tu peux l'aider" is being written by the author Sined. It's posted on Fanfiction.Net.
Hitcount: Story Total: 295805; Chapter Total: 10220







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Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

If You Can Help Her — Chapter 24 — The Aftermath

After the trial, Sirius Black came up to Harry excited and threw his arms around him, “I’m free! I can’t tell you how thankful I am!”

Harry smiled as he hugged his godfather. “Actually, I just testified. The people you really want to thank are Fred and George Weasley. Pranking Moody was their idea. I only provided a diversion.”

Sirius chuckled, “Dumbledore didn’t know the details of the prank. What exactly happened?”

Harry took a deep breath. “Well, Moody was always drinking only from his own flask. We now know it was polyjuice potion in there. I told Hermione that Mad-Eye was planning on performing unforgivable curses on house elves in front of a class, so she marched up to him and tried to talk him out of it. Then I gave the twins the signal. One of them, I’m not sure which, performed a switching spell with Moody’s flask, giving him an identical flask filled with a joke product. However, when he drank from the flask, it was because he needed polyjuice to keep his form. He changed back to Crouch Jr. in front of everybody, and was immediately captured.”

Sirius chuckled, “If it hadn’t been for that joke, I’d still be a fugitive.”

Lupin, who’d walked up during the conversation and overheard it said, “We ought to induct you, Fred, and George into the Marauders.”

“Only if you include Ginny,” said Harry, “She was part in on the planning, and is quite a talented prankster in her own right. Fred and George were in a prank war with Ginny and I toward the end of last summer. Before school started, we decided to join forces.”

Sirius said in a mock reverent voice, “The age of a new generation of Marauders dawns.”

Harry rounded up Ginny, Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione, and all of them hung out together talking and joking. The older Marauders particularly enjoyed the stories from the prank war. Hermione rolled her eyes as Lupin and Black laughed when they heard about the ‘kissing prank’ as Fred and George called it. Ginny commented, “It took us weeks before we were comfortable snogging again,” causing all but Hermione to laugh. She was obviously fighting back the urge to laugh, and only chuckled slightly.

Dumbledore arrived during this fit of laughter with a grim expression on his face. “I hate to interrupt this well-disserved recreation, but there is an urgent matter that we all need to speak of in my office. Hermione and Sirius seemed especially concerned as the now somber group headed toward Dumbledore’s office. At the mention of, ‘Canary Cremes,’ the gargoyle moved, revealing the entrance to the headmaster’s office. Fred and George exchanged confused looks at the headmaster’s password. He looked at the twins and said, “I’ve heard tales of your inventions from your mother.”

When the door to the office opened, Dobby (who was wearing a brand new purple sweater with a ‘D’ on it); along with Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Lavender, and Parvati; shouted, “Surprise!”

Albus then turned and said with a broad smile and a twinkle in his eyes, “This is a party to celebrate both Sirius Black’s freedom and Hermione Granger’s birthday. Harry, I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty of inviting a few more people after the trial was over.”

“Not at all,” said Harry, grinning broadly at the look on both Sirius and Hermione’s face.

Hermione turned to Harry and said, “You knew?”

“Miss Granger,” said Albus, “It was Harry’s idea.”

Hermione hugged Harry and said, “Thank you!”

Ginny said with a grin, “That’s twice today you’ve hugged my boyfriend. Maybe I should be worried.”

Hermione quickly hugged Ginny and joked, “I’m only borrowing him for the day,” causing Ron’s face to turn red as Hermione, Harry, and Ginny laughed.

As they walked into the spacious office Ron said, “I don’t think it was that funny.”

Hermione looked at her boyfriend. “I was only joking, Ron. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’d never try to hurt your feelings, especially after that expensive, thoughtful gift.”

Ron grinned proudly, “Five Galleons was a bit steep, but the look on your face was worth it.”

Harry and Ginny looked at the ground and started sneaking away, while Hermione said, “You don’t have to lie about the price, Ron. I know that it cost at least twenty Galleons. I don’t know how you saved the money for it, but I’m thankful.”

Ron’s face turned purple and he glared at Harry. “Twenty Galleons? Thought your stupid, poor friend wouldn’t know the difference? You’re right, I don’t know perfume prices. I’ll bet you had quite a laugh this morning! You probably told…”

“Ron,” said Hermione, whose eyes were filling with tears because she’d figured out what happened, “stop yelling! You’re making a fool of yourself.”

“That’s what I am, isn’t it,” yelled Ron, “a fool who believed Harry…”

“Ron,” said Harry, “I wasn’t trying to make a fool of you! I just wanted to stop you from ruining Hermione’s birthday, like you’re trying to do right now!”

“Yeah, well maybe since I’m ruining everything I should just leave!”

“I think that would be best, Ronald,” said Hermione, trying to remain calm.

After Ron stormed out of there, slamming the door, Hermione turned to Harry. “I, I don’t know whether to be angry with you or thankful for what you tried.”

Ginny said, “You should be thankful. He was only trying to stop Ron from hurting you.”

“You? Oh my God,” whispered Hermione as a few tears started falling down her cheeks. “That perfume was supposed to be for you. It’s the only explanation! I used a little today, but Ginny, I’ll give you the rest. I’m sorry for ruining Harry’s surprise. Harry gives me your gift and I start hugging him. I, I swear…”

“Hermione,” said Ginny, “Don’t worry about it. I trust Harry. I made a complete fool of myself when I didn’t trust him, and you made me listen to his explanation. I learned my lesson. Keep the perfume, Harry promised to buy me more. In the meantime, don’t let Ron’s stupidity ruin this party.”

Hermione performed a spell on her face that took away all evidence of tears, and said, “Yes, let’s enjoy this party that my best friend, who by the way spent way too much money and effort on me, arranged.”

Harry and Ginny walked over to Sirius and Lupin while Hermione mingled with others like Hagrid. “That was some trial,” said Harry.

“I especially enjoyed Harry’s testimony,” said Ginny, “about how Fudge refused to listen to anybody but Snape and didn’t care about justice.”

“Harry said that?” asked Sirius.

“I had to tell the truth. They made me drink veritaserum. I enjoyed and hated Snape’s testimony. He knew Peter was the spy before my parents died!”

Sirius’ face darkened, “He what? I always knew Snivellus was no good, but to hold back that information just because he was mad at me…”

“Allowing an innocent man to go to Azkaban for life, and then trying to make sure he gets the dementor’s kiss before he can talk to anybody seems cruel even for Snape. I wonder why Dumbledore believed he was on our side.”

“I wonder if he still believes it,” said Sirius.

“What I don’t get,” said Ginny, “Is why the potions master didn’t have an antidote for the veritaserum.”

“There is none,” said Lupin. “It wouldn’t be very reliable if there were one, would it? Time is the only cure.”

“Even if there were an antidote,” said Sirius, “I don’t think they told anybody they were going to use veritaserum until they were on the witness stand. I insisted upon that,” he said with a grin, “so that people like Snape would have no warning. Anyway Harry, do you remember the conversation we had just before Remus’ ‘furry little problem’ showed up on the night we met?”

Harry’s eyes lit up with hope. “You mean about living with you?”

“Yes, Harry. Now that I’m free, if you’d like, I’ll apply to become your legal guardian. I have a house, it’s probably filthy knowing my family’s house elf, but I’ll bet I can fix it up nice before school gets out. I may even have it ready by Christmas, definitely by Easter Break.”

Harry grinned broadly. “That sounds great! I can’t wait to move there!”

Ginny then moved closer to them and said in a conspiratorial voice, “There’s something Harry and I were planning on doing on our own, but with you free, maybe you can help us.”

“What’s that?” whispered Sirius, obviously aware that this was to be a private conversation.

“Harry and I want to become unregistered animagi,” she whispered back.

First there was a look of shock on Sirius’ face that lasted a few seconds before he grinned broadly. “What have you done so far?”

“Well,” said Harry, “Nothing yet. We were planning on buying a book to study at the first Hogsmeade visit.”

Sirius said, “Save your money. I’ll send you one once I buy myself an owl. That’ll probably be tomorrow. I definitely need to buy new clothes, as well as a lot of other things.”

At that moment Dumbledore loudly said, “I believe that it’s time to eat.” At that moment, several trays of food, including a very large cake, as well as several ice cream products (which were charmed to stay cold until eaten) such as sundaes, banana splits, etc. (the entire menu of any good ice cream parlor) appeared on the various surfaces in the room, such as his desk. All of the objects that usually were there had vanished for the occasion. Fawkes was even surprisingly missing, although Harry thought it might not be a good idea to have a bird perched near so much food. Harry glanced at Hermione while he was filling up his plate. She seemed to be enjoying talking animatedly with Neville. He smiled to see she was enjoying herself, but then frowned when he thought of the eventual confrontation with Ron. He knew he couldn’t talk to Ron, but he thought that maybe talking to her might help lessen the fight that was bound to occur.

After he’d eaten his dinner, as well as a banana split, he noticed that Hermione was sitting alone. He walked up to her and said, “I know it had a shaky start, but how are you enjoying your party?”

She turned to him and said, “Oh, it’s really wonderful, Harry. Thank you.”

“I was thinking about Ron.” Hermione became tense. “He told me he thought your birthday was next week. That’s why he didn’t have a gift.”

“You had a gift for Ginny, even though her birthday was last month. I heard about how you left the Dursleys for the day so you could be with her.” She sighed, “That was very sweet of you, and so was everything you did for me today. I wish Ron were like you.”

Harry smiled, “He’s more like me than I like to admit. Do you remember what I did for Ginny’s twelfth birthday?”

Hermione chuckled. “Absolutely nothing. But you’d had no idea…”

“I should’ve. I was staying at the Weasleys when Ginny had her eleventh birthday. I even was at her party.”

“You weren’t dating her then, so you didn’t…”

“Think it was important enough to remember?” Harry sighed. “I don’t know how many times I’ve wondered if she’d have ignored that bloody diary if I wasn’t ignoring her.” He took a drink of pumpkin juice. “Anyway, I guess I’ve gotten off topic. My point was that I forgot Ginny’s first birthday after we started dating, and now Ron’s done the same to you. I know he’ll throw a temper tantrum like a five-year-old, but deep down he’s sorry. I just don’t want you to have a yelling match with him on your birthday.”

“Did he know about this party?” asked Hermione.

“Er, yes,” said Harry.

“Then that, in my opinion, takes away his excuse. What would you have done if you’d gotten an invitation to Ginny’s twelfth birthday party a week before it occurred?”

Harry hung his head down. “Sent Hedwig out with an order for some kind of present immediately.” He looked up at his friend. “What are you gonna do?”

She looked at Harry, “Don’t you tell him this. You’ve already tried to cover for him today and I’ve decided not to be mad at you. If you help him now, I will be.” Harry nodded, a bit scared of the look in her eyes, “If he simply apologizes and takes the blame for his mistake, I’ll forgive him. If not, I’m going to Hogsmeade with Neville next weekend.”

“What?”

“That should teach him to get his act together.”

“Hermione, if you do that, he’ll believe that it’s over, and he’ll ask someone else to go with him just to spite you.”

Hermione looked Harry in the eyes and said, “If he’d rather go with someone else, then let him. I do not want a boyfriend who won’t take responsibility for his mistakes. I know for a fact that you spent nearly a whole year apologizing to Ginny, even though she’d already forgiven you, trying to make it up to her once you realized your mistake! That’s what Ron should be doing now instead of pouting like a little boy!”

Not long after that, Professor Dumbledore said, “I’m afraid that it is starting to get late, so alas, the party must end so that the students can get to their dorms before curfew.”

All the Gryffindors walked together to the common room, which they found mostly deserted aside from a fuming Ron. All but Harry, Hermione, and Ginny went upstairs to their dorms.

“Harry,” said Ron loudly, “You lied to me!”

“Believe it or not, Ron, I was trying to help,” said Harry coldly.

“Why are you spending that much on my little sister anyway?” Ron spat back.

“What I spend on my girlfriend is none of your business!”

“It is when your girlfriend is my baby sister!”

Ginny pulled out her wand and pointed it at Ron. “If you put your nose into my relationship with Harry one more time, you’ll be running away from your own bat bogeys! This is not about Harry and me! It’s about you forgetting your girlfriend’s birthday! Harry and I are going to leave you two alone while we snog in a broom closet. I suggest you be careful what you say if you want to keep your girlfriend. Come along, Harry.”

She grabbed Harry’s hand and pulled him back outside the portrait hole while Ron just glared at them. “That could’ve been us if you hadn’t forgotten my birthday,” said Hermione.

Ron started, “If Harry hadn’t…”

“All Harry did was try to help you avoid ruining my birthday, which you’re apparently determined to do! He may have been a bit misguided, but this is not his fault. It’s yours!”

“My fault?

“Yes, your fault, Ronald!” Hermione was actually crying as she yelled. “Harry buys Ginny little gifts all the time! He’s always finding nice things to do for her! He knows how to make his girlfriend feel special! That’s why she wants to snog him senseless all the time, because he treats her like she’s the most precious thing to him in the whole world! Why can’t you be more like him?”

“He’s not so perfect! He forgot about her birthday last year!”

“A fact he reminded me of earlier while he was trying to defend you. The difference is that when he realized his mistake, instead of making excuses, he apologized to the point that Ginny told him to stop. And then he spent about a year trying to make up for it! He still feels bad about it. I didn’t say he’s perfect, but he treats Ginny a whole lot better than you treat me! You should be thrilled that she’s got such a wonderful boyfriend! Instead it annoys you.”

“I’ll bet you wish he was your boyfriend! I saw you hugging him today! He was awful quick to give you the present he bought for Ginny. The party was his idea too. He didn’t have any trouble remembering your birthday.”

Hermione’s face was red with anger as her eyes narrowed at Ron. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, because if I did, I’d have to hex you,” she said calmly. First of all, I don’t feel that way about him, despite that fact that he’s a much better man than you. Secondly, even if I did, anybody can see that he is totally devoted to Ginny, and therefore, I wouldn’t stand a chance if I went after him. Thirdly, this is not about Harry and me. This is about you and me! Are you going to apologize for your mistake, or are you going to use excuses?”

“But if Harry…” said Ron.

“Fine. I think we need to stop seeing each other for awhile and date other people. If you decide that you care more about me than your pride, you can find me. That is, unless you’re too late.” She turned around and marched up to the girls’ dormitory without another word while Ron stood there watching.

Ron was still standing there when Harry and Ginny arrived a few minutes later, looking a bit disheveled and happy. Before Ron turned around, Ginny asked, “How’d your talk go?”

“She said we should date other people,” said Ron sadly as he turned around. Upon noticing the couple’s appearance, he immediately started yelling. “Ginny, just cause that git acts like the perfect boyfriend with his little gifts and stuff, doesn’t mean you should be his slag!”

At that moment, Ginny’s face went pale for a second, and then red with anger, “I am not…”

“Don’t you dare call Ginny that!” shouted Harry. “I don’t care if you are her brother! I’ll…”

“I know he’s just so protective, charming and thoughtful, but the truth is he’s only after one thing!”

Furious with her brother for his accusation, she decided to let him think what he wants. She yelled while smiling wickedly, “I know! It’s the same thing I’m after!” and stormed up the stairs, leaving Harry alone with Ron. Harry pulled his wand out, just in case Ron lost his temper.

Ron glared at Harry, and then went up the stairs to the boys’ dormitory without saying a word.

-

When Harry went up the stairs about a half hour later, he could tell by Ron’s uneven breathing that he was feigning sleep, but preferred silence to arguing with Ron. Besides, he was tired.

When he woke up, he found that Ron was already gone, so he got ready and went downstairs to find Ginny sitting alone near the stairs. Before he was all the way down the stairs, Ginny had walked up to him and kissed him.

“Good morning,” she said when they separated.

He smiled, “It is now. Have you seen Ron? He was gone when I got up.”

Ginny frowned. “Yes, I’ve seen that git. He’s mad at me for what I said.”

“He’s mad at everyone. I think he believes what you said about both of us being after one thing.”

“It is true,” said Ginny, smiling. “We are both after the same thing.” She paused for a few seconds while Harry was staring at her blankly. “Love. We each want the other’s love.”

Harry smiled and took her hands in his own, kissing them gently, “You have mine.”

Ginny smiled as she kissed his hands back and replied, “and you have mine,” and kissed him quickly before they headed out to breakfast.

When they got to the Great Hall, they saw Ron sitting with Seamus and Dean, glaring at Hermione and Neville, who were sitting on the other end of the table across from each other, talking happily. Harry and Ginny sat near Neville and Hermione.

“Hi Harry and Ginny,” said Hermione.

“Morning,” said Neville.

“Hi guys,” said Harry and Ginny at the same moment as they started piling food on their plates.

“I assume Ronald is mad at the two of you, as well,” said Hermione.

“Yeah,” said Harry, “Last night he called Ginny my slag and said that I’m with Ginny cause I’m only after one thing.”

Hermione giggled, “Harry, we both know you’re not like that. Ron has to know you care about her. He’s just being stupid.”

“I told him that he’s right, though,” said Ginny, “and that I’m after the same thing.”

“Why did you tell him that?” asked Neville. “That’ll only make him madder.”

“I know,” said Ginny, “but it’s true. Harry and I are both after one thing — love.” Harry blushed at that statement.

Hermione chuckled, “I never thought of that, but you’re right. You are both after one thing.”

“I didn’t get the chance to tell you last night, but Sirius is gonna file to become my legal guardian,” said Harry, happily changing the subject.

“That’s great, Harry!” said Hermione happily, “I had a feeling he would.”

“He’s planning on getting an owl. I may actually have regular correspondence with him.”

“Y-You’d rather live with Sirius Black than with your aunt and uncle?” asked Neville.

“Yes. They treat me the same way Snape did. That reminds me, have either of you heard anything about who will be teaching potions?”

“No,” said Hermione, “but whoever it is has to be better than Snape.”

“I’d rather have Tom Riddle teaching potions than that greasy git!” said Ginny.

Hermione and Harry chuckled at that statement while Neville looked confused. “Who’s Tom Riddle?”

Harry answered, “Tom Marvolo Riddle is Voldemort’s real name.” Neville flinched at the name. “Tom Riddle was a student here about fifty years ago. He was a Slytherin who made prefect. I don’t know if he made Head Boy or not. He framed Hagrid for a crime he committed here when he was sixteen. Unlike most of his followers, he’s a half-blood, named after his muggle father. He couldn’t even stand his own name, so he made one up out of the letters of his full name.”

“Wow,” said Neville, realizing the implications, “V-Voldemort is actually a meaningless name. I always thought there was something special about the name, but all it is is rearranged letters of a common name.”

“Exactly,” said Ginny.

“I could arrange the letters of Harry James Potter to be Mottra Rhaj Presery, but that wouldn’t change who I am.”

-

The next day, Harry got the animagus book from Sirius the next morning, along with a letter that said Sirius had filed for Harry’s guardianship with the ministry of magic. The week went by quickly, with Ron glaring at the foursome every chance he got. Harry got a few letters from Sirius about the house on Grimmauld Place. When Sirius said how his elf, Kreature, had let the house fall into shambles, Harry suggested giving the elf clothes, saying that a house elf who does no work isn’t worth keeping around anyway. Sirius agreed with that logic, and did as Harry suggested. Sirius said he almost felt sorry for the worthless elf with the way he wept after he received the clothes. Dumbledore introduced a man named Professor Slughorn as the new potions professor and head of Slytherin house. He said that Slughorn had held the position before, and had agreed to come out of retirement for this year only to fill the vacancy left by Professor Snape.

Before they knew it, Harry and Ginny were walking hand in hand toward Hogsmeade. Hermione and Neville were in front of them, but that couple wasn’t holding hands. Harry noticed Ron up ahead walking hand-in-hand with Lavender Brown. He wondered if things would ever get back to the way they were, but knew that he couldn’t interfere. He turned his attention back to Ginny. “Where do you want to go first?”

-

Harry and Ginny enjoyed their day in Hogsmeade. They’d visited a place called Madam Puddifoot’s, but decided that they’d rather not stay there. Ginny said, “I’d much rather snog you in private.”

He bought Ginny some chocolates, as well as a flower and the promised perfume. When she protested, he argued, “It’s your prize for being the world’s best girlfriend,” causing her to blush as she stopped her protests. He then amused her with his poetry.

“Your eyes are as brown as a chocolate cake.
Your hair is as red as a strawberry shake.
I’m glad to be yours,
Of one thing I’m sure.
Dating you was not a mistake.”

She chuckled at that poem, saying, “Now I owe you two poems. Let’s see,

Your eyes are as green as a big glob of slime
Your hair is as dark as filthy old grime
You treat me so great,
Your chocolates I ate,
The school bells are soon gonna chime.

We’d better get going,” she said as Harry laughed at her poem, “we’ll be late.”

-

Before they got back to the castle, they noticed Hermione watching Ron snogging Lavender.”

Harry and Ginny walked up to the sad brunette. Harry said, “I told you this was gonna happen.”

“Ron’s using Lavender in a worse way than he accused Harry of using me,” said Ginny. “I know exactly how you feel, Hermione. I remember when I saw Cho kissing Harry…”

“I wasn’t…” protested Harry.

“I know that now,” said Ginny, “but at the time, I thought that you were in love with Cho.”

Hermione said bitterly, “But this time Ron is kissing Lavender. He really doesn’t care about me anymore!”

“I doubt that’s really true,” said Harry, “but he’s certainly trying to convince himself and you of that.” He then shook his head. “I don’t know how he can do that! I felt so dirty when Cho kissed me! I couldn’t imagine going off and snogging someone else, even if I were mad!”

Ginny smiled at him, “That’s one of the reasons I love you. You’re fiercely loyal.”

“I don’t know why I even care,” said Hermione. “This has been one of the most peaceful weeks I’ve ever had at Hogwarts. All Ron and I ever did was fight and kiss! Harry, you’ve been more considerate to me than Ron, and you’re dating someone else. Even if he wants me to take him back, I won’t until he proves he’s finally grown up.”

-

Over the next month, Ron and Lavender could be seen snogging all over the castle. Hermione, however, decided that it wouldn’t be right to use Neville in that way, so she kept their relationship platonic, although they did hang out a lot while Harry and Ginny were out snogging somewhere. Although she’d never admit it, she really was jealous of Ginny when she saw how Harry treated her. Harry, Neville, Ginny, and Hermione had all been invited to what Professor Slughorn called, “The Slug Club.” It was to have its first meeting in early November, as soon as the professor was settled in to his office and caught up with grading. Harry and Ginny had been reading the animagus book together when they could, and were almost done with it. Sirius had said to finish the book before talking to him about it. He also said that a custody hearing had been scheduled for the first Monday of Christmas Break since Harry was required to attend it. Before they knew it, it was October 30th, and the representatives of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang schools were about to arrive.

-

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