Chambers, chapter 4

[starfishstar]

CHAMBERS (chapter 4)


Summary:

In the winter after the war, Ginny navigates not only her own recurring nightmares, but also the demands of Quidditch captaincy, the weirdness of double-dating with one's brother and the surprisingly difficult path back to Harry, along with Hermione's obsession with inter-house unity, Neville's retreat into his books, Luna's lonely family life and a gaping hole in Ginny's family where her middle brother used to be.

In the winter after the war, Ginny starts putting the pieces back together, with a little help from her friends.


Characters: Ginny, with Harry, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ron and all the Weasleys!

Chapters: 5


Story:

CHAPTER FOUR

The weeks until Christmas both crawled and flew. One minute, Ginny was battling to stay awake through one of Professor Binns' interminable lectures, tired from not sleeping well, wondering if the term would ever end, as she gazed out the window in the direction of the Quidditch pitch and wished she were there instead. The next minute, it seemed, the professors were passing out sign-up lists for students who wanted to stay at school for the holiday.

For their last Quidditch practice before the break, Ginny gathered her team in the common room and informed them they would be flying outside. Six jaws dropped as the rest of the team stared at her in disbelief.

"Ginny…" Demelza dared, voicing what they all were thinking. "It's well below freezing out there."

"Think you're not tough enough?" Ginny asked innocently.

Demelza just shook her head and grumbled, "Sometimes, captain, I think you're not quite sane."

Ginny grinned. "All right, off you go," she urged them. "You've got five minutes to grab the warmest clothes you can find, but remember, good flying clothes, something you can move in. Let's see what you've got. Meet you on the pitch!" she called as the rest of the team scattered to their rooms in a panicked search for warm things.

It was true, Ginny thought as she made her way down to the pitch ahead of the rest of the team, sometimes she didn't feel quite sane either. Well, no, that was being too dramatic about it. But she felt…restless. Like it was high time things moved on, but she didn't know where they were supposed to be moving to.

For the next hour, she made the team fly hard, racing each other across the pitch in pairs and executing fast-paced drills. Within a few minutes, they had all forgotten the cold and were whooping with excitement. Ginny won a race against Jimmy Peakes, but narrowly lost to Seeker Matthias. The kid was fast.

When the hour was up and Ginny told the team they could go, she thought they looked almost disappointed. "And happy Christmas," she said. "Go home, rest up, and come back here ready to play harder than ever."

The team groaned, and Ginny relented and gave them a smile. "But I wouldn't be your captain if I didn't push you to absurd levels of dedication, right?" she pointed out.

They trooped back up to the castle, and Ginny made a point of walking with the group and chatting with them. Usually she was somewhere ahead getting practice ready, or somewhere behind clearing up, but lately she'd been realising that that was mostly because it was easier to stay aloof than to try to be both friend and captain – but aloof wasn't much of a way to lead.

The team scattered when they reached the common room. Ginny saw Neville in one corner, revising yet again, and went over to him.

"Neville, aren't end-of-term exams over already?" she asked, dropping into the chair across from him.

"Oh, hey, Ginny," he said, looking up distractedly. "Just getting a start on next term."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You're giving Hermione a run for her Galleon this year."

Neville smiled, but continued working. Ginny watched him for a while, then asked, "Got Christmas plans, at least?"

Neville looked up from his books and Ginny was amazed to see a blush creeping slowly up his neck. "Uh – yeah, kind of…" he stuttered.

Ginny stared at him.

"Uh, well, Christmas Day is with Gran, obviously. And we always go visit my mum and dad in the afternoon. But on Christmas Eve –" Neville shuffled his papers around, then finally looked up and whispered, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah, of course," Ginny said, now completely baffled.

Neville blushed even brighter. "You know Marie? You've met her, right, she's a sixth year? Dark hair? She invited me to visit her and her mum for Christmas Eve."

"That's nice," Ginny said, still confused. Then, finally, the Knut dropped and her eyes widened. "Oh! Are you –"

Neville waved his hands around. "No, no! I mean, yes, but – I dunno. Yeah?"

"But you like her?" Ginny prompted.

"Yes," Neville said.

"And she likes you?"

"It seems like it," he agreed, sounding slightly perplexed.

Ginny beamed at him. "Neville, that's the best thing I've heard in a really, really long time."

Neville blinked at her.

Ginny pushed back from the table and stood up. "I'll leave you to your revision," she said. "But you'll still come to the Burrow over Christmas too, right? I know Mum will want you to."

Neville lit up. "Yeah, of course! That would be great."

Ginny slept long and soundly that night. Probably it was just from working herself so hard at Quidditch practice, but she liked to think it was also a little bit because for once she actually felt happy.

All in all, it wasn't a bad end to the term. She had possibly the best school Quidditch side ever, her friends were all doing all right, Harry didn't seem to be outright cross with her (they'd exchanged a few owls since the disastrous Hogsmeade weekend, all carefully neutral) and her nightmares…well, surely she'd get her nightmares under control eventually.

Ginny half-listened to the others chattering on the Hogwarts Express back to London. On the platform, she hugged her parents tightly and allowed them to lead her outside to their new Muggle-style car ("And this one is just a car," Mum said with a little of her old spark, though she still looked far too pale) and then dozed most of the drive home, soothed by the sound of her parents bickering gently in the front seat.

"Welcome home," Dad said, as he pulled up in front of the Burrow and cut the engine.

Still in a half-doze, Ginny disentangled herself from the backseat and started to pull her travel bag out with her.

"I think there's someone waiting to see you," Mum said with a smile in her voice, and Ginny looked up to see Harry, standing in front of the house and looking awkward about it.

Before she knew what she was doing, Ginny had dropped her bag on the ground and was running toward him, fumbling with the latch on the garden gate and bursting through. A big smile broke across Harry's face, and he met her halfway.

"Hey," he murmured into her hair as she flung her arms around him.

"What are you doing here?" Ginny demanded.

"I can leave again if you like."

"Ha, ha," Ginny said, but she held onto him tighter, just in case he actually meant it. "I thought you weren't coming till Christmas."

"I'm not, I mean, I'm not staying here. Just wanted to see you when you got home. Your mum and dad said it was okay if I waited here."

"They didn't even tell me!"

"Are you still angry with me?" Harry asked.

"No. I'm glad to see you."

"Yeah, you too," Harry said. He smiled at her, and she smiled back at him.

"Think you forgot something, Ginny," Dad said, as he and Mum came up the path. He held out Ginny's bag, which was dripping. She'd dropped it in a puddle.

"Oh," said Ginny. "Oops."

Harry aimed his wand and said, "Tergeo."

Ginny watched as every last drop of mud disappeared, leaving her bag dry and clean. "You've got really good at that," she said.

Harry shrugged. "For some reason, we're always learning tidying spells in training."

"You'll stay for dinner, of course, Harry," Mum said as she unlocked the front door, and it wasn't a question. She shooed them all inside, saying, "That'll be everyone, then, at least I think Bill promised he and Fleur would come by, and Percy gets off work in an hour. I told Ron he was to drag George out of that shop of his tonight if it's the last thing he does..."

Mum's voice faded as she bustled off into the kitchen, and Ginny turned to grin at Harry.

"Er, things to do in the garden, right," said Dad, clearing his throat. "Here's your bag, dear." He set the bag at Ginny's feet and hurried away.

Ginny and Harry looked at each other.

"Is now the time for the annoying but necessary conversation we should probably have about our stupid row in Hogsmeade?" Ginny asked him.

Harry pretended to consider. "No, I don't think so. I think it's the time for this." He stepped closer, but then looked so adorably hesitant that it was Ginny who leaned in and kissed him.

"You mean this?" she murmured.

Harry smiled against her lips. "Yeah, that's what I meant."

Ginny was just starting to really enjoy having Harry to herself again, when the front door flew open with a bang, and the two of them jumped apart.

"Oi, seriously?" Ron demanded, framed in the doorway. "In my own house, too?'

"Nice to see you, too, brother," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one of us who still technically lives here, so I'm not sure you get to complain."

Then Ron stepped into the house, and Ginny saw George behind him. She ran to him and hugged him as hard as she could. He started with surprise, but hugged her back, first tentatively, then tighter.

"Hey," George said.

"Hey," Ginny said, and that was all they really needed to say for now.

"Is that Ron and George?" Mum's voice floated out from the kitchen. "Come help me set the table, please!"

Ginny grinned at Ron. "Welcome home."

Ron slouched off toward the kitchen, complaining, "Mum! Why doesn't Ginny have to..."

Bill arrived shortly after, Fleur hanging off his arm, then Percy bustled in.

It was good to see her family around the kitchen table again. Even if Ginny would have happily swapped out Fleur for Charlie (who was coming for Christmas this year, but not until just before the actual day). And she would have done just about anything to have Fred there, but that wasn't going to happen for anything in this world, so there was no point moping over it.

As the family chattered around her, Ginny turned to her mother.

"Mum," she said, "I know you're already inviting a bunch of people for Christmas…could we invite Luna and her dad, too?"

On Ginny's other side, Ron's head snapped up from his plate. "You want to invite that nutter over here?" he demanded.

"What!" Ginny exclaimed. "I thought you liked Luna!"

"Not Luna," Ron said. "Her dad! He tried to sell me and Harry and Hermione out to the Death Eaters, in case you forgot!"

Conversation around them was grinding to a halt.

"Luna is one of my best friends," Ginny said stiffly, "and her dad is the only family she's got. I'd like to invite her over, but if the rest of you aren't okay with that, I'll just go over and visit them myself."

Mum reached over and put a stilling hand on her arm. "Ginny, that's fine, you may invite Luna and her father for Christmas. Ron, I hope you'll manage to be civil to him, and yes, Ginny, I do expect that man to apologise for the danger he put my children in if he's to set foot in this house again."

"Okay," Ginny said. "Thanks, Mum. And you invited Neville and his grandmother, right?"

"Yes, dear."

"And Andromeda and Teddy?"

"Of course."

Harry, Ginny saw, was smiling down at his plate.

Bill was less restrained, and burst out laughing. "Why don't you just make up the guest list, Gin, and tell Mum what to cook, too?"

"Just because you don't care about making sure your friends have a happy Christmas –" Ginny started, and Bill put up his hands in surrender.

"We will all have a happy Christmas," Mum said firmly. "Ron, you've invited Hermione, haven't you?"

"Yes," Ron grumbled, still looking put out.

Harry squeezed Ginny's hand under the table.

She was sorry to see Harry leave that evening, but they agreed she would visit him at Grimmauld Place the next day by Floo – it would be Sunday and he'd have the whole day off.

When Ginny arrived in the fireplace of the dining room at Grimmauld Place the next day, Harry was waiting right in front of it.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, I want you to see the house," he said, taking her hand and tugging her out to the main hallway.

The first thing Ginny noticed was that the hateful portrait of Sirius' mum was gone.

"How?" Ginny asked, gaping at the stretch of wall where it had been.

Harry grinned. "I had your dear brother George in here for a whole weekend working on that, and using some spells that probably aren't technically approved for home use. Ron was just glad it kept him busy." Harry's smile faltered. "Ginny – what I said in Hogsmeade, I didn't mean that I know George better than you do, or care about him more or something..."

"At this point, you probably do know him better," Ginny said, and she couldn't keep a note of bitterness out of her voice. But she swallowed her pride and asked, "How is he doing? He's not got worse than he was over the summer, has he?"

"No, no." Harry leaned back against the wall and thought. "No, at least he talks now. Occasionally. But it's been half a year and the rest of us have started to – well, 'move on' doesn't sound right, but..."

Ginny thought of her nightmares, which didn't seem to be moving on at all, and only nodded.

"And George..." Harry said. "You give him a job and he'll do it, but I wish he'd enjoy something again."

"It takes time," Ginny said. She reached over and took Harry's hand again, and he smiled at her.

"Come on," he said again. "I really want to show you the house."

Ginny was impressed by what she saw. Twelve Grimmauld Place was like a different house entirely. Harry had achieved this for the time being, he explained, by closing off for now the rooms he didn't need ­­– there were a lot of them – and focusing his efforts on the few he did, which were basically the kitchen, a toilet, and a couple of bedrooms.

"Is Kreacher here again, then?" Ginny asked cautiously, as they peered into the closed-up old sitting room.

"No," Harry said. "He's happy at Hogwarts and I definitely don't need a slave. For a while he kept turning up here, hinting he ought to be allowed to come back to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. But I told him this isn't any such thing, it's the New and Not at All Noble House of Potter now, and he's better off at Hogwarts. Anyway, Hogwarts is the one place there are sure to always be Black family descendants he can serve if he really wants to."

Ginny giggled. "If he's so desperate to serve Black descendants, you could always send him off to Malfoy. But then, Malfoy might actually enjoy that."

"Kreacher's not so bad," Harry said. "A bit batty, yeah, but it turned out his heart was in the right place."

Ginny coughed and muttered, "Sees the blooming good in everyone, Harry Potter does," and Harry grinned and grabbed her hand again, pulling her off to see the rest of the house.

When they stepped into the basement kitchen, Ginny had to stop in the doorway, overwhelmed for a moment by memories. Sirius skulking around, watching Harry protectively. Remus and Tonks, before they were married. Christmas, the year Dad had been in St Mungo's, when everyone was still alive. Days and days spent cleaning the house under Mum's watch, Order members always dropping by. And always, in the middle of it all, Fred and George making mischief.

Harry was right behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "I always still think of Sirius when I'm in here," he murmured.

Ginny nodded. "But you've made it nice," she said. "It's homelier now."

It was true. He'd portioned off part of the room, so it wasn't quite so cavernous, and hung the stone walls with tapestries in warm Gryffindor colours. With a quick spell, he started a fire crackling in the fireplace.

"Look, Ginny, look how grown-up I've learnt to be," he said, pulling her eagerly toward the other side of the room and opening all the cabinets one after another to show her that they were well stocked with food. Ginny laughed at him indulgently. "I even cook...occasionally," he said in a slightly doubtful tone. "Anyway, I'm doing better than Ron and George at their place. I swear they live on beans and toast and takeaway. How much do you want to bet Hermione throws a fit and makes Ron spend the entire holiday grocery shopping?"

Ginny had to agree that this was likely.

There was a pause, then Harry tugged Ginny a little closer to him and looked at her seriously. "So what happened in Hogsmeade, Gin?" he asked. "Why were we so short with each other? Why were you trying to make me jealous?"

Ginny stared at him. "Trying to make you jealous? I was trying to make you stay!"

"By telling me you could have spent the day with lots of other blokes instead?"

"Yeah, because the point is that I didn't. I was looking forward to that day, I was so excited to see you, and then you were being...surly."

Harry looked like he was trying not to laugh. "Surly?"

"Well...short-tempered. You kept snapping at me."

"And you kept snapping at me."

Ginny sighed. "I'm sorry. I'd slept badly the night before, and I was so tired, but of course that's not your fault."

"And it's not your fault that I'm frustrated with training right now." He rubbed at his forehead. "I'm sorry too. Shall we put it behind us?"

"Yes," Ginny agreed.

"And can we agree to try not to take it out on each other when we're frustrated about other things?"

"That's a plan I can get behind," Ginny said.

Then she became aware of just how close Harry was standing, and the way he was looking at her, and how very much she'd missed him, and they quickly got distracted by other things.

Ginny might be on holiday, but Harry still had his training, so Ginny would slip away from the Burrow when she could in the evenings, inventing excuses and Flooing to Harry's place. She couldn't believe she'd thought she hated this house.

They were curled together in an armchair by the fireplace one evening, Ginny putting off the inevitable point when she would have to go home for the night, resting her head against Harry's shoulder and watching the way the flickering firelight outlined the contours of his chin and his nose.

"I missed you, last year," she murmured.

Harry shifted round so he could see her better. "You too," he said. "It's…it sounds daft, but I would take out the Map sometimes and just watch it for a while, looking at the dot that was you, just to know you were safe."

"I wish a lot of things could have been different," Ginny said.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, running one hand through her hair. "But when I think back through it all, I'm not sure there's anything I really could have changed, any way I could have saved –"

"Shh," Ginny said, and put her arms around him. "You did more than enough."

"I wish –" Harry said, but he didn't seem to be able to say what he wished.

"I'm glad you're here," Ginny said.

"You too," Harry answered.

(continue to CHAPTER 5)