When Bill had told Ginny that Poppy becoming her temporary guardian wouldn't mean he stopped being her brother, it didn't take the youngest redhead any time at all to confirm this was what she wanted. Even in her short time at the institute, Ginny knew this was the future she wanted for herself.
Ginny also knew her mother would never allow her to attend here instead of Hogwarts. If Ginny had to choose anyone at the institute to become her guardian, Poppy would be right at the top of her list. It was wonderful for Ginny to have an adult, a female adult, she could talk to. Talking with her mother was simply not an option, Ginny's only choice was to sit still and be lectured by the Weasley family matriarch. Molly Weasley had her daughter's life all mapped out for her, and this was regardless of what Ginny wanted from her own life.
She was currently having a conversation with Poppy that would probably have resulted in the windows rattling in the Burrow with the volume Molly would use to scream blue murder at her daughter.
"I can't believe Harry had all that going on in his life, then I dumped all my rubbish on him too. He and Hermione are still being nice to me. Do you think they mean it - or are they just trying to help my treatment along?"
Ginny was pacing up and down while she ranted, that was until a smiling Poppy put her arm around her. "It was Harry who suggested to Bill that I could possibly be your guardian. Both Harry and Hermione know you were not responsible for what happened, and certainly don't blame you for it. Now, how about telling me what's really bothering you?"
She was embarrassed and yet pleased at the same time that Poppy had seen right through her. "Do you think they will be okay?"
"I think Harry and Hermione will be fine, otherwise neither Sirius nor Remus would have let them go."
Hearing the truth in Poppy's words, Ginny hugged the woman who was rapidly becoming so important to her.
The subject of their friends' revelations yesterday was also the hot topic amongst the rest of the teens. Sitting around the corner of the pool, dangling their feet in the water, they were discussing how best they could help their two friends.
Neville rather succinctly summed up all of their feelings. "This is easily the best summer holiday I've ever had, and we haven't left Harry's house yet. We need to find a way to let Harry know that, and have him believe us. Harry has enough to worry about without thinking he's disappointing us."
"That's Harry though, he thinks of everyone before himself. Having Hermione as his betrothed should soon cure him of that, she thinks of Harry before herself." That Ron was an authority on his two best friends meant they all respected his opinion on this matter.
Millie was resting her head on Ron's shoulders as she spoke her concerns to the group. "They should be sitting here with us, not returning to Britain hunting dark artefacts that can possess or kill you."
They were interrupted by Headmistress Sprout. "Sorry to disturb you all but I have something here you might like to see, and a question for Miss Lovegood. I have received what I believe they call an 'artist's impression' of the Potter Institute from Miss Rossi and was wondering if a copy of this could be attached to the articles I know you're sending to your father today. It is only a few drawings but they say a picture is worth a thousand words…"
They all stepped over to the nearest table where Pomona unrolled the drawings, and a pair of twins immediately dropped to their knees to plead.
"Please Headmistress, you have to let us come here…"
Studying the drawing, Neville let out a low whistle while Luna corrected the Headmistress. "This is worth way more than a thousand words. This will have everyone who sees this wanting to come to the institute, this is genius."
There was a large drawing of the entire building, and three smaller - more specific - drawings of particular locations within the building. The quidditch pitch was still sitting proudly at the bottom of the π but the rest of the space between the legs was now taken up with a free form swimming pool and seating areas around its greatly increased length of available edges. Since the friends were only minutes ago sitting dangling their feet into Harry's pool, they immediately saw the advantage of this.
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