Ginny saw Harry rubbing his forehead in irritation as he looked down at his notes.
"Everything good with your scar?" Ginny whispered in his ear.
In the books, Voldemort had grown stronger at the end of alternate-Harry's third year, beginning with a dream about the murder of the Muggle Frank Bryce. Maybe something similar was happening in this timeline, even though Pettigrew was dead.
"Ah, it's nothing… History of Magic just gives me headaches," Harry explained. Ginny accepted the explanation. No useful information could be gained anyway, unless he had some dream about Voldemort or something like that.
Ginny heard how a book was loudly opened and glanced at Mira, who didn't look up from her book.
"Yeah!" Emily complained. "No flirting in the library! We're here to study."
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"We weren't flirting and you are just jealous, Emily," she replied with a smirk.
But Madam Pince appeared menacingly behind Emily before she could reply.
"Sorry, Madam Pince," Emily squeaked, intimidated. The librarian merely harrumphed and stalked away to terrify another unfortunate student.
Ginny just sighed and took out her Potions book to read again about the Girding Potion. It was oddly interesting why dragonfly thoraxes had to be added at three separate stages of brewing, even though it was only a second-year potion.
She hadn't spent much time with Harry recently, but learning for the exams was useful. Otherwise, certain people - Dumbledore - might start asking questions. Nobody should ever find out that she had Tom Riddle's memories.
There was little time left before the exams.
Just a week ago, Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup in the final match against Hufflepuff - the first time since Charlie had been Seeker. The whole house had been obsessed with the match and Harry had been training constantly for the stupid sport. What was the point of the rest of the game when the Seeker catching the Snitch almost always decided the match?
She had let him. It mattered to him, apparently… stupid boy.
The butterfly effect had switched the Hufflepuff and Slytherin matches - no dementors and Hagrid was still in Azkaban for another month - not that she really cared.
"Uhm, Ginny?" Harry awkwardly tried to get her attention and she looked up from her book.
"Can you explain to me the transformation formula of the Draconifors Spell? I mean, despite Runes, I still don't understand it…" Harry admitted sheepishly.
"Those are Transfiguration alphabet runes, not Norse runes," Ginny replied exasperatedly, barely managing not to roll her eyes. Was Harry sleeping in class all the time?
The days before the exams passed quietly and peacefully.
Exam week began in early June and an unnatural hush fell over the castle.
The first exam for the second years was Defence Against the Dark Arts on Monday morning. Lupin had compiled a sort of obstacle course outside in the sun – it was exactly like the exam Harry would take in three days, according to the books Alexander had once read.
"Your task is simple, Miss Weasley. Cross the paddling pool, navigate the potholes and marsh, then defeat the boggart in the trunk," Lupin explained to her - of course she was the first examinee… "Any questions?"
"No, Professor," Ginny answered and began wading across the paddling pool, as her roommates wished her luck.
A grindylow - a small, horned water demon - immediately emerged from the water, its long fingers clamping around her leg, pointed fangs bared. Two more grindylows had risen to the surface nearby, ready to jump at her too.
"Relashio," she whispered and the first grindylow was forced to release his grip. Then all three were hit by jets of boiling water, as recommended in the DADA book. Angry red patches appeared on their green skin and they were forced to retreat back into the colder water, while Ginny exited the paddling pool.
Several red caps jumped out of the potholes, ready to bludgeon her with the bones and sticks they held. A few well-aimed Stunning Spells were enough to defeat the nasty little green creatures. Her aim had improved considerably since she began training with Harry.
The hinkypunks weren't that difficult to defeat. Lumos Duo and a few Knockback Jinxes were enough to deal with them. Only one came close enough to throw a fireball and Ginny easily dodged it while sending a Knockback Jinx at the hinkypunk. She had no idea why anyone would follow a wispy white smoke creature carrying a lantern… especially on a sunny morning.
Then she walked to the chest with the boggart hiding inside it.
oOoOo
The lid of the trunk flew open with a bang and Harry winced.
This was the last exam of the week for him, after three gruelling days… He should be happy that it would be over after this. All his other exams had gone reasonably well - even Potions - thanks to Ginny's tutoring, but part of him feared what form the boggart would take.
Professor Lupin had prevented him from facing it at the beginning of the year, since he thought Harry's boggart would be Voldemort, but…
Something round flew out of the trunk, landing with a wet sound on the ground, followed by two other shapes in a similar manner. A shiver went down his spine as he looked down at Ginny's severed head. Her dead, empty eyes, usually so full of life, stared accusingly at him. Next to the head lay the other parts of the body. Just like Hermione, her body had been torn into three parts.
The severed head slowly opened its mouth and began speaking in a hoarse voice.
"Why didn't you save me?"
He couldn't breathe. Couldn't look away. His heart hammered in his chest as he stared at Ginny. He felt dizzy and nauseous.
"Harry!" Lupin's voice sounded distant, as though from far away and suddenly Ginny's corpse transformed into a shining white sphere and Lupin was next to him.
"You are having a panic attack. Here, drink this," said Lupin and forced him to drink a blue potion. Almost immediately, he could breathe again and his heartbeat slowed down. He looked questioningly at the teacher. This forced calmness felt somehow… wrong and unnatural.
"It's a Calming Draught," Professor Lupin explained, looking slightly guilty for some reason. "Don't worry. You did an excellent job against the grindylows, red caps and hinkypunks. Maybe you should go to the hospital wing for a while," he suggested, to which Harry just numbly nodded.
But he didn't follow his advice. Instead, he needed to see Ginny - alive and whole.
He searched everywhere for her. Thankfully, Emily told him that Ginny had gone to the Great Lake.
When he found her, she was standing at the lake's shore with a giant red tentacle protruding from the water before her.
Panic surged through him for a moment. He nearly shouted her name and ran towards the lake before realising the tentacle was calmly giving her something.
Giggling softly, Ginny tickled the tentacle and then threw some fish into the water. The head of the giant squid appeared with an open beak and swallowed the fish.
Harry realised that Ginny was feeding the giant creature… Right, he had heard that the giant squid in the Black Lake was actually pretty good-natured and semi-domesticated.
"Ginny, eh… what are you doing?" he asked, confused, when he realised that she wasn't in any danger.
"I want to brew the antidote to Veritaserum - it's a N.E.W.T.-level potion. It seemed like an interesting challenge and some of the ingredients grow in the Black Lake. The giant squid helped me…" Ginny explained and turned around, while the squid returned beneath the water.
"Are you okay?" she asked with a frown when she saw him.
Was it that obvious?
"Yeah… I just wanted to see you," he answered awkwardly.
"You just had your Defence exam, didn't you?" Ginny asked and Harry froze. "The boggart?"
Merlin, his girlfriend was sharp or maybe he was just easy to read…
Ginny stepped forward and hugged him - warm and alive. The calming scent of rain and lavender enveloped him. This felt far more natural than the false peace of the Calming Draught Lupin had given him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, but he shook his head, Ginny still reassuringly safe in his arms.
They spent the rest of the afternoon by the lake.
Conversation drifted towards exams - avoiding Harry's boggart - and plans for the summer holidays. Apparently, Britain would host the Quidditch World Cup this summer and Mr Weasley was trying to get tickets through work. Ginny promised to ask him to buy an extra ticket for Harry.
He knew Ginny was trying to distract him and cheer him up, which he appreciated, but the prospect of seeing a professional Quidditch match did genuinely excite him.
Merlin, he really had the best girlfriend.
A few days later, Harry was lounging in the Gryffindor common room beside Ginny when Professor McGonagall appeared through the portrait hole.
"Mr Potter, the Headmaster would like to see you," she said briskly. "Alone," she added when Harry looked questioningly at Ginny.
Professor McGonagall escorted him to the stone gargoyle outside the headmaster's office and quietly told him the password. During the walk, she explained that the summons concerned the Black inheritance case and that Mr Tonks would be present. So, he wasn't surprised to find the fair-haired, broad-bellied man waiting there, with Dumbledore seated behind the headmaster's desk.
"Headmaster, Mr Tonks," he greeted them.
He didn't really like that Dumbledore was here, but the man was technically his magical guardian…
After a few greetings, Mr Tonks began to explain why Harry had been called there.
"Mr Potter, the important thing first: We won. The Court ruled entirely in your favour… Sirius Black was recognised as the lawful heir to the Black estate and his will upheld in full, meaning everything now passes to you - the properties, vaults, investments and personal effects. The Malfoys' claim failed. Now, because you are fifteen, the law will not permit you to directly manage an estate of this size until your magical majority at seventeen. Professor Dumbledore has therefore been appointed administrator on your behalf," Mr Tonks explained.
Harry frowned and glanced at Professor Dumbledore, who was sitting silently behind his desk without intervening.
"You will still have access to funds for ordinary expenses and personal spending and once you turn seventeen, full control transfers automatically to you," his solicitor continued, probably noticing that Harry wasn't happy with this arrangement.
"What does it mean for Professor Dumbledore to be appointed as an administrator on my behalf? Can I live from now on in a house Mr Black left me and leave the Dursleys?" Harry asked, glancing at Dumbledore, who continued to watch silently.
Ginny had once mentioned that magical maturity came at seventeen. Then he would finally be allowed to use magic outside Hogwarts, learn to Apparate and live alone… though of course, he would prefer to leave the Dursleys a year earlier.
"Those are sensible questions, Mr Potter… In practical terms, Professor Dumbledore's appointment means he manages the legal side of the estate until you turn seventeen. He signs documents you are too young to sign, oversees maintenance of the properties, handles financial matters and ensures the estate is preserved for you. He does not own anything and cannot simply do whatever he likes with it - legally, he must act in your best interests." He paused briefly, glancing at Dumbledore. "Your living arrangements are still determined by your magical guardian…" he continued awkwardly.
"Regarding your living situation this summer, my boy," Dumbledore finally chose to speak. "I fear I must insist that you spend your summer holidays with your family."
"What?!" The word escaped sharper than Harry intended.
Dumbledore just sighed and glanced at Mr Tonks.
"Thank you, Ted," Dumbledore said, smiling benevolently at Harry's solicitor with the fake grandfather persona Ginny had warned him about. "May I ask you to wait outside while I speak with young Harry alone?"
Mr Tonks just nodded silently and left, while Harry tensed. He didn't really see Dumbledore as an enemy, but he certainly didn't trust him… not at all.
When the door closed behind Mr Tonks, Harry broke the ensuing silence before Dumbledore could begin - he wasn't really interested in the old man's monologue.
"So, you are my magical guardian?" Harry bluntly asked.
"Yes. Indeed, I am," Dumbledore replied. No apology. No explanation. Just a simple confirmation.… Whatever. That wasn't what he really needed to know.
"Why did you leave me with the Dursleys of all people? Why do you insist that I keep staying there each summer?" he asked calmly. "They hate me… they always have!" Harry continued, slightly raising his voice at the end, his thoughts drifting to the loneliness, hunger and constant hostility.
"I guess I do owe you an explanation," Dumbledore said, looking thoughtfully at the twirling silver instruments beside him.
"My priority was to keep you alive. You were in more danger than perhaps anyone but myself realised. Voldemort had been vanquished hours before, but his supporters - and many of them were almost as terrible as he was - were still at large, angry, desperate and violent. And I had to make my decision too with regard to the years ahead."
He paused, looking sadly at Harry.
"Did I believe that Voldemort was gone forever? No. I knew not whether it would be ten, twenty or fifty years before he returned, but I was sure he would do so and I was sure too, knowing him as I have done, that he would not rest until he killed you," he continued, while Harry listened quietly, not reacting.
What did Voldemort have to do with Harry sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs for more than a decade?
Harry had only recently begun to understand how unusual the Dursleys' treatment of him had been. All thanks to Ginny. He still remembered her anger when she had seen a memory of him sleeping in the cupboard as a child…
"I knew that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is perhaps more extensive than any wizard alive. I knew that even my most complex and powerful protective spells and charms were unlikely to be invincible if he ever returned to full power. But I knew too where Voldemort was weak. And so, I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises and which he has always, therefore, underestimated - to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative."
"She doesn't love me," said Harry at once. "She doesn't give a damn…"
"But she took you," Dumbledore cut across him. "She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you."
Was Dumbledore trying to distract him with all these long-winded explanations?
"I still don't understand what…" Harry began, but Dumbledore interrupted him.
"While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years."
'But anyone else can harm me there,' Harry thought bitterly. He remembered his aunt hitting him once with a frying pan. He remembered Dudley and his friends beating him up.
Could Voldemort have simply used the Imperius Curse on some Muggle to kill Harry as a child? And did this blood ward also protect him from Death Eaters? Dumbledore was suspiciously only talking about Voldemort, not his followers…
Silence settled between them as Harry stared coldly at the old man.
He wondered if Dumbledore knew how bad his childhood really had been.
"My first Hogwarts letter…" Harry began as Dumbledore seemed surprised by the switch in topic. "Do you know what address was on it?" he asked calmly.
He studied Dumbledore's face for the smallest reaction. Any sign that he had known about the cupboard. But Dumbledore just frowned in confusion.
"I would expect that it had your relatives' address, my boy… Student volunteers help Minerva write the address from the Book of Admittance on the Hogwarts acceptance letters, to be precise," Dumbledore explained. "I don't see them before they are sent."
It really seemed that he didn't know… or was he lying?
"Well, it was 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey… The Cupboard Under the Stairs," Harry revealed without any emotion in his voice as he watched Dumbledore pale. "Do you know why, Headmaster?" he asked sweetly.
"Harry, I…" Dumbledore began, completely flabbergasted.
So, Dumbledore had never checked on him? Not once in more than a decade? He could have sent someone - McGonagall, Hagrid… hell, even a house-elf would have been enough.
"A cupboard? I knew that I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years, but… I would have never thought…" Dumbledore trailed off, horrified.
Suddenly Harry realised that he simply didn't care.
He had thought that it would feel satisfying or give some cruel comfort to confront the headmaster with his childhood abuse, but he just felt empty.
"Whatever, I don't care," he said coldly as he stood up.
"Please only contact me in the future if it's absolutely necessary, Headmaster," he said as he turned around and walked away.
"Wait, Harry! The wards! You must spend at least two weeks in your relatives' house a year for the blood protection not to fail," Dumbledore called after him desperately.
Harry stopped at the door.
He had Ginny's choker with the Muggle-repellent charm… and two weeks wasn't that long. He really didn't want to lose his mother's protection - not just because it saved him two years ago against Quirrell, but also because it symbolised his mother's love for him…
He sighed. He could spend the rest of the summer at Diagon Alley or at the Burrow.
"Fine. Two weeks," Harry said without turning around. "Not a day longer."
And he left Dumbledore's office, not looking back.
The exam results came out on the last day of term.
Harry's grades were pretty good, even in Potions. Ginny had the top grade of her year, of course. He couldn't imagine anyone more brilliant than her. Percy, meanwhile, had got his top-grade N.E.W.T.s, while Fred and George had scraped a handful of O.W.L.s each.
The end-of-term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold as Gryffindor had won the House championship and Harry managed to forget about the journey back to the Dursleys the next day as he ate, drank, talked and laughed with the rest.
The next morning, as the Hogwarts Express left the station, Harry and Ginny sat in a private compartment. She seemed very tired. Maybe she didn't get enough sleep the night before.
"I'm just glad we didn't have to fight against werewolves and dementors at the end of the year," Ginny mumbled as she sleepily leaned her head against Harry's shoulder. Without thinking, Harry wrapped an arm around her.
He looked at his girlfriend with a loving smile.
"I don't think they would let werewolves into Hogwarts," Harry said - he didn't know what kind of creatures dementors were. But he had learned enough about werewolves from Snape's lectures to know how dangerous they were. It was a bit unfair to those infected with lycanthropy, but he could understand why most wizards were scared of them.
"Sure," Ginny replied with a cute yawn and closed her eyes.
Harry watched her as she fell asleep.
He loved this girl so much it was almost frightening.