Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 55: Trust
Harry carefully observed the massive garden in front of him.
"Uff… that was more work than I thought."
"Don't complain so much, it only took you ten minutes," V said. "And I believe here comes your reward."
Harry heard the sound of steps approaching and turned around.
"You are done already?!." Ginny had an expression of shock on her face. She was holding a glass of juice in her hand. "I thought I would bring you something to drink, but… whoa."
"Thanks." Harry accepted the cold drink. "It took me more than I initially estimated. I'll admit that de-gnoming gardens is not something I'm used to doing."
Ginny glared at him. "You are making me look bad if you say that… it takes my brothers and me at least thirty minutes to get this job done. I don't think my mother expected you to get it done by yourself."
This was the first time that Molly Weasley got mad at him for arriving home much later than he promised and making her worry.
As a punishment, she gave him some chores to do, and Harry didn't refuse. After all, he felt very bad for using a compulsion on the kind woman.
"But I bet that you and your brothers don't normally use magic to remove the gnomes," V pointed out.
Ginny got startled. "You used magic?! Harry, you know that is not allowed outside the school."
"How is anyone going to figure it out? I didn't use a wand." Harry finished the drink and used his magic to levitate the empty glass.
With a simple snap of his fingers, he sent the glass flying back to the house.
"You have gotten really good at wandless magic." Ginny stared at him with interest. "Can you teach me a bit?"
"Teaching you wandless magic is not a problem, but…" Harry rolled up his sleeve, revealing the runes on his forearm. "That is not what I was using."
"What is that? You got a tattoo?!." Ginny sounded alarmed and quickly looked around. "Don't let my mother see that."
"This is more than just for fashion. The ink is produced by mixing a wand core with other materials. Then a very specific runic array is carved into the flesh, and the ink is injected directly into your body. Once it's completed, it works very similarly to a wand. I focus my magic through my arms and perform the hand gestures when necessary."
"You turned your arm into a wand? Why did you do that? It looks so painful…" Ginny grimaced while looking at the runes engraved on his forearm.
"I won't say that it is not painful. But to me, it feels much more natural than waving a wand around. Also, my body is capable of handling a larger infusion of magic without breaking when compared to a thin wooden stick."
"Harry…" Ginny frowned. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask, because you are really starting to concern me. What happened to you in the Ministry? The Harry I knew would never do something like that without telling anyone. He was reckless and hot-headed, but he never hid things from his friends."
"I never meant to hide things from you guys, it's just… I don't know how you would react if you were to find out."
"That bad?" Ginny said.
Harry nodded.
Her amber eyes went to the hat for a moment. This one didn't speak this time.
"Okay, what about this? You can use me as a unit of measure. If I freak out, then maybe don't tell the others. Of course, that is if you trust me enough to keep a secret."
"I do trust you," Harry responded immediately. "I mean, how can I not? You are Ginny."
"Thank you," she said with a smile.
"Ehm… why don't we…" Harry had a hard time finding the exact words he wanted to use.
'Come on, remember your lessons. You can do this, Harry.' V sent him a few words of encouragement.
'I don't know if I would call that a lesson, though,' Harry responded.
"Harry?" Ginny tilted her head to one side.
'Focus!' V exclaimed, bringing him back to reality.
"Ice cream!" Harry suddenly shouted.
"W-what?" Ginny got startled.
'Good job.' V said.
"No, I mean that I know of a good ice cream place. We could go there, if you want to… to talk, of course."
"Ah… that's what you meant," Ginny said. "If you want to eat ice cream, there is a parlor in the nearest Muggle village." She pointed into the distance. "Well, I say nearest, but it will still take us like forty minutes if we go there on foot."
"No, I was thinking of somewhere else… a bit further away. I can take us there," Harry offered.
"You can apparate already?" Ginny sounded surprised. "Are you sure you have it under control? Because I have heard some horror stories of people losing limbs during a failed apparition…" She grimaced.
"I can apparate, but it always makes me feel sick, so I prefer to use a different method. A much better and safer one."
Ginny narrowed her eyes. "Okay, now you got me really curious."
Harry scanned the area with his magic to make sure that no one was around to see them.
Ron was in his room, reading a magazine. Mrs. Weasley was cleaning the kitchen, and the twins had gone to Diagon Alley.
Harry made a circle with his hand. "Gate."
A blob of dark liquid manifested in front of him and soon formed into a large circular portal.
"What is that?!." Ginny stared at the magical creation with wariness.
"It's not dangerous, I promise." Harry extended his hand to her. "Do you trust me?" He returned her prior question.
Ginny moved her eyes away from the portal and looked at Harry before grabbing his hand.
"Yes."
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