"That's not such a bad thing," Harry said, thoughts turning back to Hermione. Her friendship with books had come in quite handy a number of times.
"That depends on what the books are about," Bill said meaningfully.
Harry had no idea what he meant by that, let alone what to say to that.
"Well," Bill said, eyeing the stairs as he edged towards the door. "I'd better get out of here before Mum comes back down and sees me still here. I wouldn't put it past her to lock me in my room. You may be sleeping there tonight," he said with a grin, "-but in her mind you're just borrowing it."
Harry walked him to the door; as long as he didn't try to treat him like a little kid, Bill was actually a pretty nice guy.
"'Til next time, Harry. Enjoy the room," Bill extended his hand to shake Harry's.
"I'll try not to let the twins blow it up," he replied, accepting the handshake.
Bill left with a grin and a wink, and a strange pop! as soon as the door was closed. Harry looked back outside but he was nowhere to be seen. He wondered if this was that Apparition thing the old man on the bus talked about. 'Even if it's worse than the Knight Bus,' Harry thought, '-at least it's quicker .'
Harry heard quick footfalls on the stairs.
"Honestly, Ginny, I don't know what you were thinking," an exasperated Mrs. Weasley said from the next room.
"Mum!" the girl cried quietly.
Harry quickly ducked out of sight in the kitchen and prayed they stayed in the living room lest he embarrass the girl even further and she faint again.
"Oh, please, you heard them. They're all upstairs," Mrs. Weasley huffed. "But really, bride price, marriage contracts - you hadn't even seen the boy before."
"I'd seen him-," Ginny said stubbornly.
"What, twice? And for all of a second? Plus, you're ten years old," the girl's mother reminded her.
"Eleven, in ten days," she said grumpily.
Mrs. Weasley sighed.
"I've told you before; these books are much too old for you," she said as Harry inched closer. "They're nothing but romantic twaddle. Nothing like that's happened for hundreds of years! I thought I saw an end of this when I stopped you seeing that Lovegood girl."
"Luna didn't like them," Ginny sulked. "She called them silly."
"Leave it to Loony Lovegood to be the one of you with sense."
"She wasn't loony," the girl said angrily.
"No, you're right, you are," her mother countered. "Next you'll run up and kiss him claiming true love and soul bonds. Tell me, have you named your children yet?"
"Everyone knows what Harry's children will be named," the girl pouted. "James and Lily, after his parents."
'That - that actually wasn't a bad idea,' Harry thought to himself. 'Incredibly creepy the entire wizarding world came up with it ten years ago, but still not a bad idea .'
"His kids will be named whatever the real Harry wants them to be named," Mrs. Weasley said. "One could be named Albus for all we know!"
'Not bloody likely,' Harry thought sourly.
"If you want to see real love, just look at me and your father. You think we got together because of a contract?"
"They - Well - They're magically binding, so you might not be able to say even if you had."
"Absolute rubbish. And Binding? What, pray tell, happens should you break it then, hm?" her mother asked, taking the girl's fantasy to its ridiculous end.
"Well, you either die or lose your magic," the girl explained.
"And don't you see how silly that is? You can't lose magic any more than you can give it away," Mrs. Weasley explained. "And if people died just from breaking their word, they'd be dropping left and right and no one would be signing anything at all."
Harry saw how she was right. If something that dire happened just from changing your mind or breaking your word, to say nothing of having something bad happen where you couldn't fulfill your side of a deal no matter what you did, then no agreements could ever be reached, much less signed. Gringotts would have to shut its doors and magical society would just collapse.
"I'm sorry, Ginny, I really am, but it's past time for the books to go. You'll be going to Hogwarts this year, I can't have you dragging all this 'Boy-Who-Lived' nonsense up there with you."
"Wait - I - It's just - I'll miss my Harry," the girl said sadly.
Mrs. Weasley sighed and he heard a heavy thump of something being placed on the coffee table.
"I know you'll miss him, but that Harry never existed, except in your head. Don't you see the opportunity you have here? The real Harry is right upstairs. He'll be staying with us all month and you'll be at Hogwarts together for six years. You may have been embarrassed today but he never even mentioned it and probably didn't even notice. The least you can do is say 'hi' to the boy. Who knows? You might even be friends."
Harry wondered how he could not have noticed how embarrassed the girl had been all day but saw what Mrs. Weasley was trying to do. It still didn't seem right to him, having another girl try to cozy up to him when there's already one who put herself forward. It just wasn't right and he certainly didn't want to feel like he was stringing one along.
"How can I be friends with him?" Ginny asked. "He'll kill him, I know he will."
'Kill him?' he thought.
"Kill him? Who'll kill him? Ginny, what are you talking about?" her mother asked.
"That Harry. He'll kill him, he'll kill my Harry," the girl explained. "That's the one I want - not this one."
"And that's the one no one can ever have," Mrs. Weasley said. "Your Harry, if he were here, and if he ever loved you the way you loved him, he'd tell you that. He wouldn't want you to waste away, waiting for something that can never happen. You can't live your life in your head, dear. He'd want you to move on, to live your life and make some real friends. If it takes that nice young boy upstairs killing the 'Boy-Who-Lived' to do it, then that's a good thing in my book."
Harry was reminded forcefully of what Dumbledore had said to him in front of the Mirror of Erised last year. He didn't know if it made him hate the old man less for having one genuine moment with him, suspicious he was only there to pass him a tidbit of information to use against Voldemort later on, or hate the old man even more for not having ten whole years' worth of those kinds of moments to go along with that one.
'Probably a bit of all three,' Harry thought.
Mrs. Weasley sighed again.
"The books can stay here for tonight," Mrs. Weasley said. "- Only for tonight, so you can say goodbye to them. They will be gone in the morning, even if I have to turn the entire house inside out to find them."
.....
Want to read ahead. Then Join my Pa*treon 60+ exclusive chapters that are waiting for you.
Even Free members can enjoy 2+ advanced chapters FOR FREE.
Link: pa*treon.com/Lotus_Lover (Remove the *)
Join Right Now