Ginny and Harry were in the common room when Hermione and Ron finally came down their stairs. Hermione blushed when she saw Harry and the tips of Ron's ears went red.
‘Hi mate. Ginny.’ he said. They both grinned.
‘Hi. You know Ron. I don't think it’s a good idea for you and Hermione to be able to get into each others rooms whenever you like. How are Hermione and I supposed to get important stuff done?’
‘Harry. I don't think it’s a good idea for you and Ginny to get into each others rooms either but I didn’t say anything about it!’
‘That’s because we haven’t been going at it like rabbits!’ Harry laughed. Ron realised he was joking and calmed down a little.
‘Yeah, well…’
Harry thought it was best to change the subject before Hermione got angry.
‘Here, Hermione, check these out.’ he said, walking towards the filing cabinets. ‘It’s a file of everyone in the school.’
‘Ohh! Really? Have you read any?’
‘I've read a few but…’
‘What does mine say?’
‘I couldn’t read it.’
‘Why didn’t you? Oh you couldn’t? Why not?’
‘I don't know. We four have a binding charm on our files.’
‘Maybe we’re not allowed to read our own…’
‘I sent the headmaster a note saying that this morning. I got a letter back, but was er, distracted so I didn’t read it.’
‘Well, go and get it so we can.’
Harry rushed up his stairs to retrieve his letter that Hedwig had brought back from Dumbledore. Ginny had distracted him with her nakedness.
Potter, you sicken me.
Shut up brain. I enjoyed it and so did Ginny.
You’re disgusting. She’s just a child.
She’s just one year younger than me! And note that it was me who stopped it from going to far.
Yeah, whatever Potter.
Piss off brain.
Harry came back downstairs with the letter in his hand. He opened it and read it aloud.
‘Dear Harry.
I thought it would have been Miss Granger to notice that first but no matter. I am sure you will show this to the other three anyway.
The reason your files cannot be read is simple. There is information inside them that no one knows but me. You will find out, in time what it is but you probably will not know anything until at least Christmas.’
Ron scoffed. ‘He never trusts us with stuff!’
‘Be quiet Ron. Go on Harry.’
‘No one, not even the past head boys and girls have ever read these files. I suspect that I am the only one to know anything written on them. I guess that you are wondering why I wrote them down at all. Why couldn’t I have just written them on a piece of parchment and kept it safe? I needed you four to find out in your own time.
You see, when you are ready you shall be able to read them. If you act immature, like I am guessing Mr Weasley is acting right now, you will never know and that must not happen. If you do find out first, you must not tell anyone about what it says on the files. You will not be able to anyway. I have several spells on them so there really is no chance.
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.