A Different Beginning

Chapter XXVIII - Yes ... er ... No

  After James left Harry alone in his room that morning, he sat there stunned at what he had just learned. He knew that his father wasn't lying and to him that seemed to make it even harder to take it all in. He showered and dressed for the day before heading downstairs for breakfast. He ate quietly, though he did laugh when James brought up the silencing charm to Sirius and Sirius gave him a dirty look before trying to explain his way out of that one. When he was finished, he went and sat in the living room with a book that he had found in the Potter library on elemental magic. He had only read the first chapter when Ginny, Hermione, and Ron came in.

"Good morning, Harry," they all said as they sat down.

Harry grinned up at them. "Hi, listen I need to talk to you guys. Let's go up to my room."

They nodded and followed him up. He closed the door behind him and then the four of them made themselves comfortable on his bed.

"Alright, I have three things to tell you guys. First of all, you're not going to believe what Madam Bones is doing!"

Then he began his story. The reactions were pretty predictable. All three of them were angry.

"That's ridiculous, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "She can't kick you out of school because she thinks that you're a liar! That's the dumbest thing that I've ever heard!"

Ron nodded. "It won't happen, mate. Dumbledore would never allow it!"

Ginny nodded. "No one will let her do it; everyone will stand up to her."

Harry grinned. "Thanks guys, but to be honest, that's the last thing on my mind at the moment. I just learnt something else this morning that I think is much more important. But first there's something else that I have to tell you. I've kept a secret from you guys for a year now." He waited for them all to look up at him in surprise before he continued. "I'm an animagi."

He began to explain about asking his father if he could learn how. He explained about the potion and how he had seen four animals. He talked about how he could already become two and then he showed them. They were impressed. Ginny was in love with the phoenix form. She thought that he was beautiful with the red and gold feathers and the piercing green eyes. Hermione commented on how she had never seen a raven coloured owl before.

"How come you never told us that you were learning how?" Ron asked. "Maybe we would have liked to learn too."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I never thought of that. I just wanted to surprise you guys with what I had learnt. I also knew that Hermione would bug me about doing it illegally."

Hermione blushed. "Well, really, Harry, you should register."

Harry grinned. "I already discussed it with McGonagall. Once I have all four forms down I'm going to register one of them."

Ginny nodded. "That's a good idea because then people will expect one form all the time and you can keep the other three as special forms for hiding or something."

Harry nodded. "Exactly. Hey listen though, if you guys really want to learn how I can help you. It takes a long time. Da and Uncle Sirius were really impressed with how quickly I grasped it and it took me almost a year. It took them two years to do."

Ginny grinned. "Would you really help us learn, Harry? Because I think that it would be fantastic to become an animagus."

Hermione nodded. "It would be neat. I think that I would I like to learn too."

"Yeah and me." Ron replied.

Harry grinned. "Alright then, well, you can join in my lessons with me in the evenings for now and then when we go back to school I'll help you from there."

They all agreed and then Harry spoke up again.

"Okay, I have one more thing to tell you and this thing is huge, probably the biggest thing ever. I need you to promise that you won't tell anyone else about it though."

They all promised and then he began to explain the story of what his father had told him that morning. He watched as their eyes widened at what they had learned.

"Wow," was the only word that Ron seemed to be able to speak when he finished.

"You just found all of this out this morning?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, it's crazy. But I know that it's true, you know?"

"So what does all this mean then, Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged. "It means that I can be a really powerful wizard. Da says that he will help me work out the power and all that jazz when I do my animagi lessons, we'll just extend them a bit longer. It should be some interesting stuff once I start learning it all."

Ginny grinned at him. "It's kind of exciting to think that you will have all this control over your magic and that you're related to an ancient Celtic goddess. Very neat if you ask me."

Harry grinned at her. "Yeah it is neat."

Hermione sighed before she spoke. "So James thinks that you're already more powerful then Voldemort himself?"

"I guess so or I have the potential to be. So that makes me feel better to know that I have the potential to not die at his hands."

Ginny grabbed Harry's hand and held tightly. "Don't say that! You're not going to die at his hands! That's not even something to joke about!"

Harry smiled down at her, admiring the way her chocolate brown eyes glowed in anger and worry as she looked up at him. "I'm sorry."

She smiled. "It's okay, just don't do it again."

He grinned and squeezed her hand tightly before letting go. "So I noticed that it wasn't raining out today, are you guys up for a game of Quidditch?"

They all agreed so they went to go find Fred and George. The twins were more then happy to join in a few games and to take a break from their inventing. Sirius and Remus decided to play as well and Hermione opted to watch. They played for a few hours just enjoying the nice warm weather instead of rain. The summer had been filled with a lot of rain so far and they hadn't managed to squeeze in too many games of Quidditch yet. They went in for lunch before returning outside. Sirius and Remus went back to research mode. Fred and George decided to go in to work on some more inventions and Ron somehow managed to convince Hermione to go on a broom as long as he went on with her. Harry found himself alone with Ginny. They moved over to go sit in the garden as they watched Ron slowly go in low circles around the pitch before moving just a little higher up with Hermione holding on for dear life.

"I don't understand how she can't like flying," Harry replied as he glanced up at his two friends. "I remember when we took Buckbeak up to get Sirius and she was holding me so tightly that I think I had a bruise."

Ginny laughed. "I guess it's not for everyone. I love it. It's one of my favourite past times. There's no other feeling like it then to be up in the air, flying around in the wind. It's always the best way to cheer me up too when I'm sad or something."

Harry nodded. "Yeah me too."

They were quiet for a few minutes as they watched Ron and Hermione in the distance or Ginny watched them and Harry watched Ginny. Her hair was pulled back again in a long braid. He liked it down best, down and wild because he wanted his hands in it. She was so beautiful that she sometimes just took his breath away. He shook the thoughts from his mind. He wasn't supposed to think about that. She was his best mate's sister. She was his friend. She was with Michael. The git. He cursed himself. He didn't have a problem with Michael Corner, he even liked him. Or he had.

He sighed. He had to stop thinking about her. His thoughts had drifted to Ginny constantly the entire summer and it was starting to annoy him. He didn't know what to do about it because he didn't want to ruin their friendship or be the cause of a break-up with Michael. He sighed and asked the next question quickly because the git was on his mind.

"So Gin, have you heard from Corner lately?"

Ginny nodded, turning back to Harry. She almost sighed out loud when he dragged his fingers through his hair. She loved when he did that though she had absolutely no idea why except that she thought it was sexy, but she managed to prevent herself from sighing and remember that Michael was her boyfriend. "Yeah, I heard from him two days ago. He's doing alright. Said he's been having a fun summer and that he's going on vacation to France with his parents. He sounds a bit funny in his letters though, like maybe something's wrong. I don't know, I'm probably just imagining it. I'm sure he's having a great vacation in France."

"Oh, that's nice. France is a nice country."

"Have you been there?" Ginny asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, but I've heard nice things about it. Da says that we have a house in France but we've never been there."

"I see. Well, I think that it would be a nice place to go, at least one day, anyway." Ginny replied. "I'd like to see the world."

He grinned. "I'm sure it's a great place."

She laughed. "Better then great! I'm sure it's amazing! I've always wanted to travel the world."

"Me too. I plan to one day in the future, when school's done and Voldemort's gone." Harry explained.

Ginny nodded. "I think that it would be fun and that sounds like a good plan to me."

Harry grinned. "So, if you could pick five places in the world to see what would they be?"

Ginny smiled over at him as she stretched out on the grass. Harry tried to ignore the fact that her breasts were now pressed tightly against the tank top she wore and that her legs were showing a lot more since her shorts had ridden up a bit. He licked his lips as he looked down at her staring at her soft lips. But Ginny didn't notice as she had her eyes closed. When she spoke, Harry caught himself and turned his attention to her face. Not that it helped much as he now found himself drowning in those chocolate brown eyes.

"I'd like to go to ... well, I want to see the falls in Canada, the ancient part of Greece, the Colosseum in Italy, enjoy Aruba, and I think maybe Russia, especially the royal palace. Where would you go?"

Harry cleared his throat as images of just laying his own body over hers and capturing that mouth under his filled his mind. "Uh ... places I'd like to go, well, let's see ... um, Greece would be nice, Italy yeah, I'd like to see Canada, maybe Hawaii, and China."

Ginny smiled at him and his stomach only knotted more as the blood drained out his head and went straight to his loins. He tried to focus on something else but it wasn't helping. She just looked so darn cute sitting there grinning at him.

"I want to go everywhere in the world. To only choose five places is much too difficult. I'd also like to take a better tour of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland — oh, I want to go everywhere! I mean just because we live and travel here and there doesn't mean that we've seen everything."

Harry nodded. "Good point." He glanced out towards the pitch when he heard a shriek and grinned. "Guess that was too high and too fast."

Ginny laughed as they watched Ron go a little lower and continue to fly around slowly as Hermione held on for dear life. "Oh, Hermione cracks me up sometimes."

Harry grinned. "She should like flying, it's so great."

She nodded. "Definitely. It's the greatest thing to do in the world."

Harry grinned at her playfully. "The greatest, eh? Are you sure about that?"

She laughed. "Yes." Then she shrieked when Harry dived at her, tickling her ribs.

"Are you sure?" He asked again.

She laughed as he tickled her almost everywhere he could reach and she tickled him back. They rolled across the grass tickling each other and laughing like loons. Harry pushed her back down onto her back, continuing to tickle her ribs.

"Say 'uncle'," he replied, his breathing heavy from laughter.

"Uncle!" Ginny cried out as Harry's hands stopped and she looked up at him, a smile on her face.

Harry grinned down at her, laughter in his throat. His hands rested on either side of her head as he held his body above hers. The smile faded from his eyes as he looked down at her. Her cheeks were flushed from laughing and her soft lips were slightly parted. His eyes met hers, those chocolate brown eyes that twinkled up at him. His gaze dropped back down to her mouth. He could feel her heart beating against his chest as she breathed deeply. She was so beautiful. He knew he should move now, roll over and sit up, call a game over, but he couldn't bring himself to do so not without a taste. He dropped his face lower and gently brought his lips to hers.

Explosions went off in his brain. She tasted sweet and spicy. She smelt like strawberries and spring and her lips felt like heaven. He nibbled gently, only grinning to himself when she kissed him back. He had never felt so much in a kiss before. Hannah had been sweet but friendly and Cho had been ... well, nothing. Parvati had been strictly platonic. But Ginny ... she was everything he had been dreaming of and more. He pulled back to look down into her eyes.

Her chocolate brown eyes fluttered open gently and she met his gaze. Neither of them said anything and then he leaned down and took her mouth again, this time deepening the kiss. Her lips parted gently to allow for his tongue and he groaned, dragging his hand through the braid and making her hair come free and into his hands.

Ginny moaned under his mouth. This was what she had been waiting for; this fire, this need, and his incredible mouth on hers. He tasted amazing and exactly the way that she had imagined he would; strong, sexy, dangerous, and surprisingly sweet. Her body arched under his as she met his tongue with her own, nibbling at his mouth as she kissed him. Michael had never made her feel like this before. She felt like her entire body was on fire and she loved every second of it. She threw her arms around his neck and dragged her fingers through his thick black hair as she changed the angle of the kiss. This was Harry she was kissing. Harry, her good friend, not her boyfriend.

She pulled back quickly as that thought rushed through her brain. He wasn't Michael. Michael was her boyfriend. You weren't supposed to kiss other guys when you were dating someone. Guilt swam through her system as she chewed her bottom lip softly. "Harry, wait," she murmured, placing a hand on his chest to push him away.

He sat up, dragging his fingers through his hair. "Alright, why?"

Ginny sat up as well, kneeling in front of him. "Harry, I ... oh hell," she murmured before dragging his mouth back down to hers. She fell on top of him as he fell back to the ground.

The kiss went on longer this time and deeper. Both of Harry's hands were now tangled in her hair as he framed her face. Her lips met his over and over and an aching need and want pitted itself in her stomach. That tingly feeling that she had experienced when his arms had come around her waist to catch her fall had returned but this time it was stronger. But she had a boyfriend, she remembered again. She pulled back.

"Harry, wait."

He groaned and sat up. "Ginny."

"Harry," she whispered. "When did you start feeling this way towards me? How did this happen?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, I realized it towards the beginning of the summer. I want to kiss you again is that alright?"

"Yes," his gaze fell to her lips again and Ginny shook her head. "No! Wait, Harry, I'm dating Michael."

"I know. Damn," he dragged his fingers through his hair again. "Do you want to date Michael or me?"

Ginny stared at Harry in surprise. Her heart was still pounding in her chest and she could still taste him on her lips. She knew exactly what she wanted. "I –"

"Ginny!" Molly called out as she made her way into the garden. "Where are you? Ginny, I need you to come inside with me and help me out with a few things will you?"

Ginny silently cursed her mother's timing. "Sure Mum, I'm coming." She stood up and gave Harry a small smile before following her mother into the house.

Harry watched her go, his heart pounding and his brain screaming. Why had he done that? After everything that he had told himself about not wanting to ruin their friendship or ruin her relationship with Michael and now here he was making her choose! What had he been thinking? He hadn't been thinking, he thought. He closed his eyes and brought back the taste of her, he could still taste her. He had done that because he wanted her and because he fancied her.

He left Ron and Hermione alone to continue flying and instead went into the manor and upstairs to find Sirius and Remus. He was surprised to find James in there too.

"Hi Da, I didn't know you were home."

James nodded. "I just got here, about five minutes ago. What's up?"

Harry plopped himself down in an armchair and buried his face in his hands. "I just kissed Ginny."

"What?" Sirius asked, plopping himself in the chair next to Harry. "When did this happen?"

Remus nodded, turning around to face Harry. "How did this happen?"

James sat down on the other side of Harry. "How long has this been waiting to happen?"

Harry grinned. "I don't know. She's my friend, one of my really good friends. I mean, I don't think that she's my best friend but she's definitely on her way of getting there. I just ... this summer when she came I started getting these feelings for her and ... well I've tried to keep them to myself but –"

"Wow, wait," Sirius replied. "Why did you try to keep them to yourself?"

"Because I don't want to ruin our friendship and because she has a boyfriend and because she's my best mate's little sister."

James grinned. "Well, didn't Ginny have a crush on you at one time?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Da that was four years ago! That hardly counts."

Remus grinned. "So what happened? When you kissed her?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, we were playing Quidditch and then everyone went inside. Ron convinced Hermione to fly on his broom with her. She hates flying. So he promised to go real slow and only move higher when she said it was alright. So Ginny and I went and sat in the garden to watch. We were just talking and then I don't remember exactly how it started but we had a tickle war. You know, just rolling around on the grass tickling each other and laughing. And then she said uncle and I was lying over her and just staring at her. I kept telling myself to move, that I shouldn't even be thinking about what I was thinking. She's my best mate's little sister. But I couldn't stop thinking about her. Then I just leaned down and I kissed her."

"What did she do?" Sirius asked.

"She kissed me back. After a little while I pulled back and just stared at her and then I kissed her again. I don't know how long we kissed but then she pushed me away and said wait. So we sat up and just looked at each other for a few minutes. She started to say something then she just grabbed me and kissed me again."

"Whoo whoo!" Sirius replied with a grin. "I knew the girl had it in her, she's feisty! I told Gorgeous years ago that Potters had a thing for redheads and that it would only be a matter of time!"

"A thing for redheads?" Remus asked with a grin. "Very true."

James grinned and ignored his friends. "So then what happened?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, then she pulled away again and asked me where this was coming from and when I had started to like her that way. So I told her and then I asked her if I could kiss her again. She said yes and then changed it to no and then said that she was dating Michael."

"Ooh, ouch," Remus said.

"Exactly. So then I asked her who she would rather be dating me or Michael."

"And what did she say?" Sirius asked.

"She stared at me and I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to kiss me again and then she was just about to say something when Molly came out and asked her to go in and help her with something. So she left." Harry explained.

"Wow," Remus replied. "Teenage drama."

James laughed. "So you don't actually know how she feels or anything then?"

Harry shook his head. "No idea. All I know is that she liked kissing me anyway."

Sirius grinned. "Well, a bloke's got to start somewhere." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "And this does explain your interesting dream this morning?"

Harry laughed. "What am I going to do? I don't want to ruin our friendship over this but I also really don't want her to be with Michael."

James shrugged. "Honestly, I don't think that there's much you can do."

"Thanks Da, great help."

Sirius grinned. "It's true, Harry; there isn't anything that you can do. You'll just have to wait for her to come around and you two can figure everything out."

"Uncle Remus?"

Remus sighed. "They're right, that's all you can do."

Harry groaned. "That's the worst advice ever. I hate it that you're right."

James laughed. "I know. Say, since you need to stay away from Ginny for a bit why don't we work on harnessing that power a bit?"

Harry nodded. "Alright, where do we start?"

James grinned. "Back at the beginning."

"Which means?"

Sirius grinned. "That you're going to go over everything that you were ever taught on elemental magic."

"Again?" Harry asked, thinking back to his memories of first learning it.

Remus nodded. "Again. So let's get started."