| Puffskein
Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Florida
Posts: 1,415
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Janet Lynn Gordon
Fifth Year |  Werecats are people too! Reader of Fan Fictions
Emily Black: Hello Emily! Quote:
Great post, Connie! I can't wait for more! PLEASE PAMS!
Thanks Emily for all the sweet things you say. I'm glad you loved it. Harry doesn't get many one liners, cause Ron delivers them so well. But, here in this instance I thought I could afford Harry one. Thank you. 
Obi-Wan K'Lari: Hey K'Lari! Love seeing you here. Thank you so much for reading! Quote:
but the green light? Would that be in books?
Yes, I believe so. One of the ways to recognise it is the green light, and, well you know... the recipient dies. Quote:
I love the posts luv!
Thank you so much!
Miss Weasley: Hey there Katie Girl! You've said so many sweet things here. Thank you so much! Quote:
This was a great chapter, shorter than usual though... It was sort of like a little break in the story; a time for us to get to know the characters and their feelings a little better. I enjoyed it.
Glad you enjoyed it. Tonights chapter isn't so short. You better break out the snacks for this one. Quote:
I was truly mad at Ginny here. If she had only used this opportunity to speak-up...
Ah, but Katie, you'll have to forgive her. She is only 12 years old here remember. Things are very scary and sometimes when a good thing comes along so unexpectantly, you are just so stunned that you don't know how to react. I remember the first time Steve, (hubby) kissed me. I wasn't expecting it. I wanted it, but thought it would never happen. And then all at once he put his arms around me and kissed me full on the lips! When I opened my eyes, I saw stars! Well, ok, I admitt it was mid-night and you would expect to see stars. But I remember noticing how beautiful and brilliant each one was, and I thought surely they were shining down on only me and Steve right then. I couldn't move, and when Steve moved away from me, I fell into him. He caught me gently and asked was I alright. I tell you, I was 19 years old at that time, and I felt just like Ginny did. I will never forget it. Oh dear! Pleaase forgive my ramblings, I was trying to make a point, but let's move on. Quote:
Now, this is not the brave, confident Harry that we normally see, and I am a little taken aback. I guess everyone can have a moment of self-doubt... I just hope he snaps out of it quick!
I think Harry knows he's treading in territory he knows nothing about. He as far as he knows has no knowledge of having any love in his life. He doesn't know how it feels. I'm sure he will come around. Quote:
Excellent chapter Connie. Mind you, I'm a little sad that Sirius, Lissydove (and I) have to wait for the... reunion... sighs...
Thank you sweetie. Shall I start a count down to the Reunion chapter? And by the way, "The Reunion" happens to be the name of that chapter. And it is chapter 40. So, after tonights chapter it is 7 more chapters.
Prongs.RJGirl: Hey Tina! So glad you're still here! Quote:
Awww, I just wish Ginny and Harry both knew what the other was thinking.
Yeah Tina, I think one of the most precious things about young love is finding out about each others feelings. Ginny is very sure about her feelings and has been for a while, right. And poor Harry does have these feelings, but he doesn't have a clue he does. I think he always just tries to make it easy on Ginny by staying away from her, cause she was always clumsy and embarrassed whenever he was around. Then thinking the Diary made it worse for her, he just didn't think about how he felt about her. Thanks for reading Tina.
Harita? Where are you? Hope everything is well, and I miss you. Congratulations on your nomination for the Goblin Award.
OK I hope I haven't missed anyone. To all my readers, thank you so much for staying with me. And I hope you're hanging on tight, cause we're going flying tonight. Next week is chapter 33, "Judgement Falls On The Innocent"
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Strawberry Fields Forever
A/N * “Strawberry Fields Forever” is a Beetles song, and fits nicely with the next two chapters or so. “Strawberry Fields is a state of mind… a place that only the individual who is there can truly know. (No one I think is in my tree…) It is a statement of recognition of the fact that no one can truly know the conscious mind of another. And it is a surrender to, and acceptance of, that fact. At the same time it is an expression of longing to have the ability to truly share your conscious experience with another.” -Anonymous
Harry meandered around for awhile and was later seen walking to the Quidditch Pitch, his broom carried on his shoulder, and in his other hand he was juggling a lemon. He walked down with his head hanging as he was deep in thought. He didn’t notice a big black dog watching him from a stand of trees nearby. He also didn’t see a young red headed girl sneaking down behind him.
“That’s the young Weasley child I had seen in the picture with that article,” Sirius thought. “Brings back the days when James would -Now would you look at that!” Harry had dropped the lemon on the ground, jumped on his broom, and took off for the sky. “He can fly, he really is good.” Sirius changed into human form when he entered the pitch so he could better watch Harry.
“Just like a proud Papa you are,” said Crookshanks
“Oh, I didn’t know you were here.”
“Yes, I enjoy watching him whenever he sneaks out. I also wanted you to know that I just had a chat with Scabbers. He’s ’bout had it, scared out of his mind. I told him you are here on the grounds, and you are planning on killing him. You should have seen him. He said you wouldn’t kill him, that you need him alive to prove his innocence. He actually started crying when I told him you didn’t care about that, that you just want him dead. But, of course,” Crookshanks eyed Sirius carefully, “he doesn’t know that I made up that story to loosen him up for his downfall. You’re remembering that, right?”
Smack! Sirius slapped his neck. “The mosquitoes are bad today. Have you noticed?” he asked, not taking his eyes off of Harry.
Crookshanks was watching Sirius and waiting for some kind of response.
Sirius was still watching Harry then turned his face to Crookshanks. “If you catch him, do with him what you will, but, if I catch him, I’m killing him.”
“Why would you risk proving your innocence like that?” Crookshanks asked irritably.
“Because of him!” he said in anger, pointing at Harry. They both watched Harry as he was just coming out of a loop-de-loop going right into a high velocity corkscrew. When he was about two feet off the ground, he hooked his feet behind him and pulled down, simultaneously pulling up on his broom in front of him. He balanced his broom, and in one motion, rolled sideways and snatched up the lemon he had dropped on the field. Then he darted up and around the spectators’ bleachers, elated with his success. He raised his hand showing the nonexistent fans his prize.
Sirius had stopped talking when he pointed at Harry to make his point. “That was the most spectacular piece of skill I’ve seen in my life!” He started breathing again, not realizing he had been holding his breath.
“Yes, well, I have been telling you he was good,” he replied, amused at Sirius’s surprised reaction. “Duck back!” he told Sirius. Harry was coming their way. They stopped talking suddenly, because Harry asked a question. Crookshanks peeked around and saw that Harry was walking up to Ginny with a smile on his face as he asked her something. Crookshanks rejoined Sirius and whispered that he was talking to Ginny.
“What?” she said quietly and very much embarrassed.
“I wanted to know if you saw me catch the snitch?” he said with a winning smile.
“Oh, if you are referring to that lemon as a snitch, then, yeah I did,” she said returning his smile. “You fly really well.”
“Oddly enough, I don’t think it has much to do with me. I hope you don’t laugh at me when I tell you this, but, I don’t; it just seems like somehow, I feel like I’ve known how to fly all my life. I’m not bragging but, from the first day I gave the command, “up” to the broom, it responded instantly like that.” He snapped his fingers. “And when it came into my hand it was such a charge, like a bolt of lightning went through my whole body. And when that cur, Draco, took Neville’s Rememberall, remember that? Er, no you wouldn’t, you weren’t here then, sorry. Well, anyway, he took the Rememberall, and flew off with it. I, without even thinking about it, jumped on my broom and flew after it. How could I know what to do, if I didn’t already know how to fly? And so, that time and every time I’m on a broom, it just feels like something from my past is with me.”
He stopped talking and looked at Ginny. She was totally mesmerized and was just staring at him. “Umm, Ginny, were you going to say anything? Do you have an opinion on why—are you going to make me repeat all that?” he asked with an eyebrow arched, holding his breath.
Ginny recovered herself and quickly said, “No, I’m sorry. I was just wondering if maybe your dad taught you. Everyone says he was a really great flyer.”
Harry thought about that. “I guess that could be it, but how come I can’t remember anything at all with them? I’ve never even been able to imagine anything associating me with my parents. I mean, I’ve tried thinking of my dad reading to me, or my mom singing lullabies, and you know stuff that I think parents do, and I can’t imagine it. My earliest memories exist with the Dursley’s. But, ever since that Dementor attacked me, and when the carriage passed them entering Hogwarts, I hear and see things.” He paused for just a bit, and Ginny swallowed hard.
“What kind of things?” she asked in little more than a whisper.
“I mean, well, every night I have nightmares. I see brilliant green and red flashes of light, and I hear evil laughing, and someone screaming, screaming with everything that’s in her. More evil laughing and a green light again, and then nothing. It’s every time I shut my eyes, and it is so unnerving. I don’t know why I told you that Gin, I’ve never told anyone, not even Ron.”
Ginny spoke quietly and said, “I won’t tell anyone. Harry, your nightmares are awful. I notice you said that you exist at your Aunt and Uncle’s. Surely it can’t be that bad.”
“It is Gin. They don’t love me. They’re mean and hateful and care nothing about me. I’ve only heard them mention my given name one time in my life, and that was Aunt Petunia when she wanted me to take care of a rose bush. When I started school and people would ask me my name, I said, ‘Potter’. I thought my name was Potter Dursley. I didn’t know, because they only ever called me Potter when they called me anything. Kids laughed at me and had all kinds of fun at my expense. They never bought me clothes; I’ve always worn my cousin’s when they were too small for him. I didn’t know what it was like to see well ‘til I was in the third grade. The teacher kept sending notes home, saying I wouldn’t do the board work. Finally someone had me read an eye chart at school, and they saw I couldn’t see well enough. Then the Dursley’s took me to the Eye Clinic only out of embarrassment. When I put on my glasses, I just looked around at everything. I couldn’t believe how beautiful everything was. Then that first night Dudley snatched my glasses off of my face and broke them at the nose piece. He laughed at my screaming. I was heartbroken. Then he pushed me down the steps and threw my glasses on the stairs’ landing. He yelled out that I was mad at him, fell down the steps, and broke my glasses. That fall broke my arm, and Uncle Vernon said that I’d cost them enough money for a lifetime, and so he set my broken arm himself. It hurt so bad that I passed out. When I came to, my arm was in a very poorly made cast, and my glasses were taped together. I hurt all over, but my arm hurt so badly I wished I had died when Dudley pushed me. I started getting really sick. They said they had to go out that night and made me stay with Mrs. Figg, and I don’t know what happened, but, she called someone, and he came and did something to me and said my arm wasn’t broken. It sounds incredible, but he looked a lot like Dumbledore. I love Dumbledore, don’t you? I can’t remember much at all. Mrs. Figg made up some story how she was giving her cats a bath and she accidentally spilled the water all over my cast, and so she had a doctor put a new one on. All I remember is that when he fixed it, it didn’t hurt at all, and he said it was all mended, but he had to make another cast for the deception. I left the cast on until Uncle Vernon said it was time to take it off. He handed me a hammer and told me to take it off. Anyway,” he said shaking his head to clear it, “they let me know that I was nothing to them but a nuisance and a hardship. The minute I turn seventeen, I’m clearing out. The first thing I’m going to do is find out how I can kill Voldemort, and then do it. I’ll kill anyone else who had a hand in their murders too.” Ginny gasped and jumped backward.
“Gin, are you okay?” He took hold of her arm, thinking she was about to fall over or something. She gasped again at him grabbing her. He let her go quickly, and said he was sorry. “I keep messing up with you, don’t I? Hey, I have a great idea! Wanna go for a spin on my Nimbus?”
“Umm, are you sure you don’t mind?” she asked, her eyes wide with the thought.
“Yeah, sure.” He handed her his broom, and she got on. She was about to take off when Harry told her to “scoot back a smidgen.” As she moved back, Harry swung his leg over. Then he got her hands and put them on his waist and told her to “hang on tight!”
He took off, and she screamed and wrapped her arms around his waist tightly. He looked back over his shoulder at her with a wide smile and asked if she was okay.
She yelled, “Yes,” laughing hard. He took her for a wild ride, but never anything that would hurt her if she was hanging on tightly.
Sirius and Crookshanks looked at each other. Neither one could say anything for a while. Then Sirius pointed at Harry again. Ire showing on his face and in his voice, he said, “He is the reason I’m going to kill Peter if I get a chance. That boy hasn’t lived. He’s thirteen years old and he only exists. He doesn’t remember ever being loved.” Sirius was yelling. But the wrath that was in his voice was replaced with anguish. “Have you ever heard anything as what we just heard?”
Crookshanks turned to watch Harry and Ginny. He was doing some loop-de-loops and some tight turns. They were whooping and laughing, having a blast.
Sirius turned and watched them now also. “They make a cute little couple, don’t they?” Crookshanks asked.
“Yes, they do. They remind me of—”
“Yeah, me too,” finished Crookshanks.
“So, Harry didn’t remember the night his parents were murdered?” Sirius asked “But now, the Dementors activated some memories?”
“Yes, that’s right. I had to put a powerful mind control on him, much like the Memory Charm Dumbledore put on Neville, but without the same affect of uncertainty. The Dementors stirred up some of those memories, and the more he thinks on them, which he obviously does, the more he’ll be able to remember.”
He told Sirius of the night he put everything together, and he and Lissy had to modify his memory again. “The horror and anguish on his face was unbearable. He’ll remember one time, but hopefully when he’s not got so much on his plate, so he can deal with it properly.”
“Shhh! Here they come.”
They watched Harry come down at breakneck speed, level out, and then yell for Ginny to hang on tight. He came right to the spot they took off from, and then Harry whipped his broom into a 360 and slipped off so Ginny could get off also.
“Here we are, back safe and sound,” he said, laughing. “That was so much fun!”
Ginny, though, was trying to get her hair away from her face. Her hair had completely gone wild in the afternoon of flying. Then with the sudden turn around Harry had magnificently maneuvered, her hair had completely gone in her face.
He laughed when he saw her struggling. He kindly said, “Here Gin, let me help you.” He started picking lengths and putting them where they belonged. “I know there’s a pretty face in here somewhere,” he said as he continued straightening her hair. “This is a mess!” he said laughing as his fingers got tangled with Ginny’s. Ginny was beside herself with embarrassment. And finally she just gave up as Harry continued on. He worked his way clear around her, talking the whole time. She couldn’t believe this. First, he escorts her to breakfast, then he rides with her on his broom all afternoon, and now he’s actually talking to her and fixing her hair. She was afraid if she said something it would be something stupid, and he’d realize what an idiot she was and run off.
“You have really pretty hair, Gin. My mum had long, ginger hair. Did you know that? I bet it was beautiful like this.” He picked up the last strand that was hanging over her face. He ran his fingers through the length of it, smiled, and tucked it behind her ear, like she wears it. He picked a thick strand from the top of her head and ran his fingers under it slowly, until he was almost at the bottom. He held it in his hand, leaned in, and smelled it with his eyes closed. “It’s so pretty and soft, and it always smells so good. There, all fixed.” He laughed, “It looks like you just got up, but it is fine now.”
Ginny was looking at him the whole time and couldn’t get over how she always had to look at him from afar when he wasn’t aware of it. Now, though, he was right in front of her with his hands in her hair. “He has such a charming face,” she thought. She always thought he was cute. Now she decided that he was just downright handsome. She felt so nervous, and afraid of talking, afraid she’d say something stupid. She wished her heart would stop thumping so hard and loud in her chest. “Surely he’s going to see and hear it!”
“Gin, Gin,” he was saying “Gin are you alright?”
“What?” she gasped, catching her breath as she looked at him with wild eyes. “I was, I mean—” She was floundering and didn’t know what to do to save herself. “He’s going to think I’m such a child,” she thought, trying desperately to make her brain work. Her chin quivered about to betray her anxiety, and this made her more anxious. “NO! I can’t cry!”
Harry looked into her eyes. She wasn’t crying, but they were wet, and very bright. “Gin, are you okay?” he asked her gently. “Did I pull your hair or something? I’m really sorry if I did.”
“No, Harry, you didn’t, it’s just (she paused thinking quickly) the air in my eyes from flying so fast. The chill always makes my eyes do this.” She smiled at him hoping he bought her lame excuse.
“Oh Gin! I’m such an idiot.” He whipped off his robe and helped her into it attentively. “Here, wear this, it’ll warm you. It is getting cold, isn’t it? Are you okay? It’s getting late. I expect Ron and Hermione are going to be getting back. We’ve missed lunch too. Do you want to stop at Hagrid’s and warm up real quick, or do you just want to run up as fast as we can? Are you okay, Gin?”
She wished he’d quit asking her questions. She would love it if time could be frozen and she could just look at him. But since she couldn’t, she found her voice and said, “No, I’m—” she paused. She couldn’t say she wasn’t that cold, because then she’d have to give back his robe. “fine,” she finished. “This is nice, thank you. But now you’re going to get cold. You’re beautiful; I mean your beautiful T-shirt isn’t enough to keep you warm.” She swallowed hard. “What does it say?”
“Oh, it says, “Love Is the Music My Heart Dances To.” * I thought if I ever get to find out what love feels like then my soul will sing and my heart will dance.”
“Harry, that’s beautiful. I didn’t know that—”
“I’m such a romantic?” he finished with an easy smile on his face. “I don’t think I am, Gin. It’s just I never knew my parents. But, I know they loved me. But that’s the only experience I have about love. Well, I know my friends love me, and your family loves me. But as for loving a girl,” (Ginny’s heart started thumping very hard and loud in her chest and throat again. She felt week in the knees. “Ginny! Don’t ruin this beautiful moment!” she chided herself.) Harry continued, “I don’t have a clue what that‘ll feel like, you know.”
“Yes, I do,” she said throatily, “know. I know what you mean.” She recovered her blunder quickly.
“I’m sure I’ll have heartache, because it’s just natural that you don’t find true love ‘til the right girl, or boy, in your case, comes along, and you fall head over heels in love. When that happens to me, I’ll know what it feels like to live with love. Then my heart will be dancing. I want that Gin. I want that so bad. Don’t you?”
“Yes, I do,” she said knowing that she found true love, and it was standing here close enough to kiss. She smiled, her heart was dancing.
“Well, Gin, we better get up to the castle.” They started walking up, and Harry continued talking. “I guess we’ll need to wait ‘til the weather warms up before we can fly together again. Next time you better tie back your hair, huh!”
“Or cut it off short,” she said laughing.
Harry looked at her in a concerned way. “You wouldn’t cut it, would you? It’s so beautiful.”
“He‘s almost pleading,” she thought. “No, I’ll never cut it,” she said, smiling assuredly.
“Here,” he said, tossing her the lemon. “You can have this as a keepsake to remember the best day of my life.” He laughed at his joke. “Seriously, I’ve had a spectacular day, Gin, and I really enjoyed spending it with you. Thanks a lot.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
“You should seriously consider trying out for Quidditch next year. You have excellent balance.”
Ginny nodded her head slowly. Any quick movement might cause her to fall over; she was so beside herself with happiness.
“Harry has a handle on life, doesn’t he? He has a lot of good insight.” Sirius and Crookshanks watched the two kids walking up to the castle. They could hear Harry laugh now and then.
A/N * "Love Is the Music My Heart Dances To" or “Loves Whimsical Melancholy”-by OtteryStCatchpole - If you haven’t read it, check it out, it’s epic. Love Is The Music My Heart Dances To, or Love's Whimsical Meloncholy
Sorry the link didn't work. I've fixed it so it works now. Also the link at the beginng of my story with the disclaimers still worked.
Last edited by Connie; 11-23-2010 at 10:48 PM.
Reason: Fixed the Link to Ottery's Story
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