Harry Potter and the Year of Surprises by erinpotter

The Hideaway

Thank you for being understanding.

Professor Dumbledore. (Albus)’

‘Well, that sucks.’ said Ron.

‘Yes, but we must be mature about it. You heard Harry. We’ll never find out if you keep acting like this. Now grow up!’ snapped Ginny.

‘Guys.’ said Hermione. ‘I think that we should make a promise. Like a pact.’

‘What for?’ asked Ginny.

‘To say that if one of us is ready to read the files, he or she will wait for the others. It’s only fair.’ 

‘Yeah, I agree.’ said Ron. ‘Great idea, honey.’ Hermione beamed as Harry and Ginny made vomiting noises and giggled at their own hilarity.

‘Is it agreed then?’ Hermione said.

‘Yeah.’

‘Yeah, I suppose.’

‘Sure.’

‘Okay.’ she got up and grabbed a piece of parchment, muttered an incantation and made everyone sign it.

Shit, Harry thought. I can’t even take a little peek now. Why does she have to be so smart?

It was a beautiful Sunday morning so after breakfast the four decided to go for a walk around the grounds. Harry was proud to say that he knew every inch of the school grounds that he could now show his friends his special places. The reason he knew the whole place was that, in his sixth year, he spent a lot of time wandering around them on his own, grieving the death of his godfather, Sirius Black.

He still thought of him a lot and sometimes he had nightmares about that day in the Department of Mysteries.

They were walking around the lake and got to the edge of it. Three of them stopped but Harry kept walking. 

‘Follow me.’ he said.

Ginny trusted him and followed. The other two went after her. Harry slid down the bank and stopped before his feet went into the water. Ginny copied him and landed gracefully beside him. Ron landed with his feet completely in the water and Hermione had a small splash but they were fine. Harry led them along the bank of the lake until he crawled under a hedge and into a dimly lit clearing in the forest. Ginny, Ron and Hermione all gasped when they went into it.

‘I call it the hideaway.’ Harry announced.

‘Harry, why didn’t you show us before?’ Ron whispered.

‘I couldn’t. It was all I had left, apart from a few things but this showed the people they really were and I needed to keep that for myself for a little while before I could show anyone. I'm sorry.’ 

Ginny stepped up beside him and took his hand. ‘We understand Harry. It’s great that you did show us at all. I don't even know if I would have.’

They had just walked into a very beautiful clearing. The trees were completely covering it so no rain or wind could get in. There were candles floating just below the tops of the trees and the lower branches of the trees were positioned into little seat. There was a swing in one tree and on all the others little messages were etched. Most of them read ‘Lily and James’ but some gave little messages. Hermione studied one. It said, ‘Dear Harry. I know you’re gonna find this place or I will tell you about it. Cool or what eh? Sirius and I had to sneak back into the grounds to write one message on a tree! Yeah, I know we’re crazy. You’re only 4 months right now but when you read this you’ll be a bit older! Just letting you know that the marauders all love you, especially me and Sirius. Proud of you son. James Potter aka Prongs.’

She sniffled at it. 

‘When did Sirius tell you about this place?’ Hermione asked.

‘He didn’t. It’s really strange how I found out about it. I was sleeping and I had this dream with my dad and Sirius in it. They told me how to get to it. Hermione I know it was dangerous. Just listen. I didn’t come here just then because I know what Voldemort can do. I owled Remus and asked him if it was really here. He said that my dad and Sirius told him about it and he had been there a few times but it was their special place. I asked him if Peter knew about it but he said definitely not. They didn’t trust him that much and they only found it in their seventh year and by then; he had been acting a bit strange around them.’

‘So, when did you come here?’ Ron asked.

‘About Christmas time last year. Remus came with me the first time to make sure I was alright. I mean, this place is full of memories and I guess he wanted to make sure I was alright. He probably wanted to visit it for the memories as well I suppose.’

‘It really is something Harry. How did they make these candles stay like that?’ Hermione inquired.

‘They used the same spell that is on the ones in the great hall.’ he replied.

‘Oh yeah. I've read about that.’

Harry climbed into the swing and told everyone to take a seat. He handed Ron a pocket knife and told him to write a message into one of the trees. Ron felt awkward but did it. He wrote ‘Ron 4 Hermione’ and drew a heart around it. He passed the knife to Hermione, who wrote the words to a song. ‘I'm a bitch, I'm a lover. I'm a child, I'm a mother. I'm a sinner, I'm a saint. I do not feel ashamed. I'm your hell, I'm your dream. I'm nothing in between; you know you wouldn’t want it any other way!’

She handed the knife to Ginny. Ginny thought long and hard, doodling on the trees while she thought. Suddenly she asked Harry a question.

‘Harry, do you think we’ll ever have children?’

‘Er, Ginny…’

‘Just answer me Harry.’

‘Yeah I hope so. Yeah, we will.’

‘Okay.’ 

She dug the knife into a tree and wrote a message for her future children. 

‘Hey! This is your mum, Ginny Potter. I'm writing this before you’re even born but I just wanted you all to know that I love you already. Your dad and I have already decided to have kids so this message is to show you how much your dad and I love each other. I hope you know that, even if anything ever happens to me or Harry, we will always love you.’

A tear fell from Ginny’s eye and she wiped it away.

‘Well, Harry. I guess our future is pretty much planned.’

All four of them laughed.