A Different Beginning

Chapter XXIX - A Trial and an Answer

Harry could hardly concentrate on his lessons on elemental magic when his mind was too busy replaying that kiss over and over and over again in his mind. He couldn't count the number of times that James had yelled at him to pay attention while Sirius had only given him that knowing smile. He had spent the rest of the afternoon going over all of the basic elemental magic that he had learned when he was child. He had easily performed the magic since he had learnt it years ago but this time James wanted him to concentrate on the feeling of it. What it felt like to perform the magic without his wand. Harry remembered that feeling from when he was trying to do his animagi transformations. It was almost like a tingly feeling at the location where his concentration came from, except unlike the animagi transformations when he did simple spells he could feel the magic flowing throughout his entire body. It was like this light filled him up and he could sense this warm energy floating throughout his body. It was an incredible experience.

"You feel it, don't you?" James asked as he watched his son's eyes flicker with power that he understood as he remembered how he had felt the day that his Da had started teaching him.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I feel it."

The power radiated through him and Harry wondered how it was possible that he had never noticed this sensation or this power inside of him before. He could sense the heat of the magic vibrating through him, almost like a lick of untamed power that seemed to be coming from his heart, mind, body, and soul. His body was on fire and he could feel his own power flowing through his veins causing an almost sexual punch to his system. He could understand it and he loved it.

James grinned. "Now you're getting somewhere. By repeating things you've already learned it comes easily, but now that you've reached the age when the power tends to come in you can sense it more. You have more control. Now I want you to try a more powerful spell, something that you've never done wandless before. How about a stunning spell? You mastered that pretty well for the third task?"

Harry nodded. He focused on his energy, on the feel of that powerful zing that rang through his blood and then he simply thought the word: Stupefy! A blast of red light came barrelling from his hand and shot at Sirius, sending him back against the wall, quite obviously stunned.

"Wow!"

James grinned. "Feels pretty incredible, eh? Come on, let's wake up Padfoot, and then we'll try something a bit harder. Once we get your wandless abilities down-pat I'll move onto helping you create your own elementals."

Harry could only nod as he watched his father snap his fingers and Sirius' eyes snapped open. He wondered how he had never really noticed before that even though James carried a wand with him at all times, he rarely used it. Or when he did have it out and pointed that the magic didn't always come from the wand. He shook the thoughts from his mind and instead continued to focus on the power within him. While James was making sure that Sirius was alright, Harry decided to give his wolf transformation another shot.

He pictured the image of the wolf clearly in his mind and then he began to work on changing his arm. He almost gasped in shock when he felt the tingly feeling come over his arm and when he looked down; he had a black fur paw where his arm had been.

"DA!"

James turned around and grinned. "See, you're getting there. Try your other arm now."

Harry tried to focus the other arm as well but nothing happened. He sighed and continued to work for about half an hour but with no success. Finally, James told him that they would get back to work with the elemental magic. Harry changed himself back and only nodded as they began to slowly review every charm, curse, and spell that Harry had ever learned and he tried to now learn how to do them wandless.

It was going to be a long night.

********

As Harry was upstairs working on this new found ability, Ginny managed to escape from her mother and go up to her room. Molly had had Ginny helping her fold their laundry (which she insisted on doing herself and was one of the only things that Maddy and Mickey allowed her to do) and go back to the Burrow for a thorough cleaning (because even though no one was living there the place needed to be cleaned, didn't it?). Molly had chatted absently about anything and everything, something that Ginny normally enjoyed but today her focus was only on one thing: Harry James Potter.

He had kissed her! He had actually kissed her! And more then once! The kiss had been incredible, exactly like the kisses that she had always dreamed of, perfect and soft and smooth and a kiss that made her feel good and tingly inside. Michael had never kissed her like that before. Then he had asked her who she wanted to date, him or Michael? He was leaving the decision completely up to her. She knew that he was doing the right thing by doing so but damn it she wanted him to just take her and say that she didn't have to find a way to dump Michael gently.

She groaned and buried her face in the pillow. She heard a familiar scratching noise at the door so she jumped up to let Foolish in and then closed the door behind her. She snuggled with the dog on the bed.

"Oh Foolish, what am I going to do? I want Harry, I really do. He's handsome and sweet and sexy and smart and so nice. He's my friend. But then there's my boyfriend Michael and Michael is handsome and sweet and smart too. How can I choose one over the other when I know that by doing so I'm going to hurt somebody?"

Foolish merely rolled over and wagged his tail, sticking his tongue out.

"That doesn't help me out in the least." Ginny replied.

She sighed and stayed snuggled next to the dog, until she drifted off to sleep.

*********

Harry had managed to avoid Ginny for the next week. They had talked of course and still hung out with Ron and Hermione, but Harry had avoided being alone with her since that day out in the garden. She still hadn't said anything to him yet and he wondered if maybe he shouldn't have left her with an ultimatum. After all, yes he did want her, but he also didn't want to lose his friendship with her. She was much too important for something like that. Besides, what if something happened and it didn't work out and then they couldn't even bear to be in the same room as each other.

No, bad thoughts, he cursed himself silently. That wasn't going to happen. He and Ginny would always be friends; he would make sure of it. A life without Ginny in it was just too much for him to bear. He was used to having her around and he wanted to have her around. He wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to hold her in his arms and just snog her senseless. He had other things to think about at the moment like that fact that he was going to a trial to see whether he would be kicked out of school in less then two hours. He shouldn't be thinking about Ginny.

He sighed as he climbed out of the shower and dried off before changing into his clothes. He brushed his teeth and then attempted to brush his hair, but as usual it stayed messy and continued to stick up in every which direction. He stepped out of the bathroom and froze when he saw Ginny snuggled with Foolish on his bed. She looked up when she heard the movement.

"Hi Harry," she said softly.

Harry smiled at her, shoving his hands in his pockets to prevent himself from grabbing her. A flash of that kiss rushed through his mind. "Hey."

She stood up and walked over to him. She looked beautiful. Her hair was pulled back in a long thick braid again. She wore a long white skirt and a black halter top. All he managed to do was sigh. "You've been avoiding me."

He nodded. "I know."

"Why?"

He sighed. "To give you space. To see what you decide. I want you, but I don't want to lose our friendship and if dating you will do that, then I don't want to."

Ginny smiled up at him before wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tight. "I feel the same way. I don't want to lose our friendship, Harry."

He wrapped his arms around her as well to hold her close. "So we're agreed on something then anyway."

Ginny pulled back a little to look up at him. "Will you kiss me again?"

He grinned. "Of course."

He leaned down to capture her mouth with his and -

"Harry, are you ready yet?" Sirius asked as he walked into the room. Harry and Ginny sprang apart quickly. Sirius only grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at them suggestively. "Well, well, well - lookie what I found."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You're gloating."

Sirius grinned. "Well, of course I am. I knew this was coming. Am I interrupting something?"

Ginny giggled as her face turned red and Harry only glared at his godfather. "You know you were."

"Ah well, it happens. We need you to come down now, Harry, we're leaving for the ministry."

Harry nodded and he watched as Sirius left the room before turning to Ginny. "Sorry about him."

Ginny smiled and threw her arms around his neck again. "It's alright. Harry, the trial is going to go great." She kissed him softly and when he looked down into her eyes she smiled. "And I do want to date you."

"What about Michael?"

"I'm going to have to find a nice way to break up with him now, won't I?" She reached up and kissed him softly. "Let's go."

*********

Harry sat in between his father, godfather, and honourary uncle with Dumbledore sitting a few feet away with Professor McGonagall. He was nervous no matter how much he tried to deny it. He trusted these four men with his life and not to mention the deep trust and respect that he carried for his head of house but he was worried. Madam Bones seemed determined to suspend him. He didn't understand why she was so determined to do so. During Sirius' trial he had been so sure that she would make such a better minister then Fudge had but she was quickly proving him wrong. He remembered how she had downright refused to believe him after the third task and how Fudge had been completely on her side. He wondered again why she was so determined not to believe that Voldemort was back.

He glanced up at where she was sitting in the front of the podium in the circular room. Her hair was pulled back into a bun and she wore glasses with a long chain that hung around her neck. Her eyes, the ones that normally looked friendly and soft were now hard and serious and Harry wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but he thought he could see a strange whitish glint to them every once in a while. It reminded him strongly of what Viktor Krum's eyes had looked like before he had tried to attack Cedric in the maze. His thoughts were interrupted when the room was called to be silent and then he could only stare when a short portly man whom he didn't know walked up to the front.

"Good morning. We are here today for the trial of one Harry James Potter. We here at the Ministry of Magic believe that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will be much safer without Mr. Potter in attendance. We have reports that he is a liar and he is now insisting to the world that You-Know-Who has returned. Such a preposterous story is not good for the well-being of the students. We wish for him to be expelled."

Harry gulped. He didn't think that it was a good sign for the trial to start off that way. Dumbledore stood up next.

"My dear, Madam Bones, as I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts I'm sure that you're aware that only I am capable of suspending or expelling students." When she nodded, he continued on. "And since this is so I do not believe that Harry James Potter should be suspended or expelled. He has not done anything wrong."

"But he is insisting that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned and that is such a terrible lie!" Madam Bones insisted her eyes flashing in that eerie light again. "We cannot have him at the school! He must be expelled and his wand snapped immediately! He is delusional and it is a danger for him to be around other students!"

James jumped to his feet, his eyes turning smoky. "How dare you talk about my son that way? He has done nothing to warrant this attack!"

"James, sit down!" Dumbledore demanded, glaring at him. "Madam Bones, I'm going to ask you to reconsider. Mr. Potter has not done anything wrong. Voldemort has returned. I've told you and you did not believe me or you refused to believe me! He will go back to school."

Harry slumped a bit in his chair and Sirius elbowed him. "Sit up." Harry did so and looked up at the minister. Her eyes still had that eerie glow to them and it again reminded him of Krum. But he had been under the Imperius Curse at the time. He looked up at the flash of blonde hair that had entered the room and when he realized that it was Lucius Malfoy an alarming thought crossed his mind. He glanced up at Sirius then.

"Uncle Sirius, look at the minister's eyes, don't you think that they look odd?"

Sirius glanced up at the front and nodded. "Yeah, they don't look normal." He elbowed Remus. "Moony, look at Bones' eyes!"

Remus stared for a moment. "They look almost ... do you think she's under the Imperius?" He elbowed James and pointed it out.

James nodded. "Yeah, that most certainly would explain a lot." He elbowed Dumbledore and pointed it out. "Albus, do you think she's under the Imperius?"

Percy Weasley came into the room then and Harry glared at him. He had still not tried to contact his family in any way and now here he was walking into Harry's trial working as the minister's assistant. He took a seat next to the minister and then made a point to not look at Harry or the Marauders. He also made a point of ignoring the Weasleys who were all in the room as well. This only increased Harry's anger.

Dumbledore however was still whispering with James as he watched the minister closely. Finally he stood up and took out his wand. "Madam Bones, forgive me for this." He muttered something and a jet of yellow light came flying out of his wand and hit Madam Bones square in the jaw. She shrieked and fell backwards.

"Dumbledore!" The portly man shrieked. "What have you done?"

Dumbledore held up his hand in a warning. "Help her up. If she remembers what this trial is about and if she still agrees with the statement then I apologize." He hurried over to Madam Bones and helped her to her feet. By now the entire courtroom was standing. "Amelia, are you alright?"

Madam Bones looked up at Dumbledore carefully, her eyes flashing a normal colour. "I - I think I was under a curse."

Dumbledore sighed in relief. "Ahh, Amelia that does be still my heart! We need to speak, now!"

Madam Bones nodded and dismissed the court room completely, leaving no one but Dumbledore, the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, McGonagall, and the Marauders. "Now, explain everything."

Dumbledore began the story by reviewing everything that had happened at the end of the third task and what Madam Bones had said and done herself. She only nodded as she listened. He then explained the purpose of the trial.

Madam Bones nodded. "I am terribly sorry for everything. Dumbledore, if you say that He Who Must Not Be Named is back then of course I believe you! You would never make up such a lie. Harry, I apologize for any trouble that I may have caused you but I seem to have lost my mind or something."

Harry nodded. "Madam Minister, I think that you might have been under the Imperius Curse. Your eyes looked the same as Viktor Krum's did in the maze right before he attacked Cedric Diggory and he was under the curse."

"But who would have done it?" She asked. "Everyone I work with I trust."

"Even Lucius Malfoy?" James asked; his voice still holding a glint of his anger.

Madam Bones turned to look at James in surprise. "Lucius is one of the most trusted wizards, are you implying something?"

"No, I am," Harry replied quietly. "Madam Bones, that night in the graveyard, Mr. Malfoy was one of the Death Eaters that appeared to worship Voldemort back. Maybe he put the curse on you."

Madam Bones was quiet for a few minutes. "How can you be sure?"

"We learnt through Severus Snape that Death Eaters are branded with a symbol on their left arm. A skull-like face with a snake running through it. I'd suggest that you check his arm." James replied.

Madam Bones nodded. "I will. Thank you, Lord Potter. I apologize again for any inconvenience. It looks like I will have to increase my security. Harry, of course you can go back to Hogwarts. Good day, everyone."

She turned and left the room, obviously still quite shaken over what had happened and Dumbledore turned to smile at them. "See, everything worked out. I'll see you when school starts, speaking of school. We were a little late giving the letters out this year, here are yours." He handed James a stack of letters with the Hogwarts seal. "Goodbye."

James turned to grin at Harry. "Well? Good eye, Harry!"

Harry grinned. "It's over; I really get to go back?"

James grinned. "You really get to go back. Here's your letter."

Harry's grin only widened. He opened the letter to see what he needed this year. He needed:

The Standard Book of Spells Grade Five by Miranda Goshawk
Defensive Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard
The Dream Oracle by Inigo Imago
Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms by George Lively

"Only four new books."

Harry's attention was taken away from his book list by the squeal of delight that Hermione gave. "I'm a Prefect!" She exclaimed, jumping to her feet as she held the tiny badge in awe.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Big surprise!"

James grinned. "Congratulations Hermione."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, good work to be a prefect. Only Moony managed that one."

Remus shrugged. "I was supposed to keep you guys in line - not that I did a good job of that, but I was supposed to."

Harry laughed and then his gaze landed on Ron who was staring into his envelope in shock. "Ron, what's up?"

Ginny walked over and pulled the envelope from her brother's hands. He didn't even move. She looked inside and gasped before yanking out the prefect badge. "No way!"

Fred and George grinned evilly. "Ickle Ronnikins is a prefect!"

"Who in their right mind would make Ron a prefect?" George asked with a look of pure bewilderment on his face.

Molly was busy chatting with Arthur about Percy but she turned at the sound of the chaos. "What's going on?"

Ron seemed to have found his voice by then because he looked up at his mum, his ears burning. "I'm a prefect, Mum."

"What's that, dear?"

Ginny shoved the badge into her mum's hand. "He's a prefect."

Molly squealed in delight and pulled her son into her arms. "Oh, this calls for a celebration! That's everyone in the family!"

Fred glanced at Molly in surprise. "What are George and I, next door neighbours?"

James and Harry laughed at this but no one else seemed to have heard as they were all too busy hugging and congratulating.

Harry looked up at his father. "Are you upset that I didn't make prefect status?"

James shrugged. "Hell, I didn't so why would I expect you too?"

Harry only grinned. He felt better hearing his father say that as his first reaction had been guilt for not getting it and then anger that Ron did. But hearing his father say those words pushed those emotions away. "Thanks Da. Congrats Ron, Hermione."

Hermione grinned as she hugged Ron. "Oh, I'm so proud of you!"

Ron blushed and Harry grinned over at Ginny. The two of them were so obvious to everyone but each other.

Sirius clapped his hands together. "Well, let's head back to the manor so we can have a par-tay!"

They all agreed and began to exit the room. Ginny came up beside Harry and took his hand in hers. "I knew that you would get off."

He grinned at her. "Well, that might have had something to do with Bones being under the Imperius and all."

Ginny laughed before her expression became more serious. "Harry, we need to talk later about us, okay?"

He brought her hand to his lips and smiled. "Okay."

***********

The party went on for hours and by the time that Ginny managed to escape she was exhausted. She just wanted a few minutes alone with Harry to discuss their relationship. She had agreed to date him but she still had to figure out the Michael problem. She liked Michael. He was handsome and sweet and smart. She didn't want to hurt him. Guilt edged its way into her system when she recognized Michael's owl at the window. She let him inside and opened the letter. Her eyes widened as she read what was written:

Dear Ginny,

France is brilliant! I am really enjoying my time here. I've been to all of the major tourist sites like the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. Not to mention the fact that my mum has been dragging my dad and I to every possible store in sight. The woman likes to shop.

It's a beautiful country and I'm so glad that we decided to come. The weather is beautiful and sunny. The beaches of Normandy are incredible! Dad and I went through this tour thing for muggles and did you know that in the 1940s there was a huge battle on those beaches between muggles - something about a second world war - crazy! I've been catching up on the weather in Britain and let me tell you, all that rain - I'd much rather be here basking in the sun.

But I can't lie to you anymore. This letter has a strict purpose.

Listen Ginny, I didn't want to do this in a letter but I felt much too guilty to wait until school started so I hope that you can forgive me. But I met this girl here. Her name is Dominique St. Clair and she's a student at Beauxbatons. Her parents are moving to Britain and she will be attending Hogwarts this year. I think I'm in love with her. She's beautiful and she's smart and she's a lot of fun to be with. I'm sorry, but ... well, would you hate me terribly if I asked you if we could just be friends?

Sincerely,
Michael

P.S. I hope that you're having a great summer!

Ginny read and re-read the letter five times before it fully sunk in. Michael had met another girl and he was dumping her. He was breaking up with her in a letter. He was leaving her for another girl. What a stupid inconsiderate ... why he was amazing! She quickly pulled out some parchment, her quill flying across the page quickly.

Dear Michael,

You have no idea how relieved I was to hear about Dominique. No, of course I don't hate you and I would love to be friends. I met someone else this summer too ... or, well I didn't meet him but ... something happened. I've been feeling incredibly guilty all summer too and trying to figure out a way to break up with you. We were good together but if we met other people that quickly I guess this only proves that we make better friends then we do boyfriend and girlfriend. Dominique sounds like a great girl and I can't wait to meet her! I'm glad that you think that you're falling in love with her. That's a big step.

France does sound brilliant! I've always wanted to go there. Harry and I were just talking a few days ago about all of the countries in the world that we'd like to see. France was definitely one of them. We have had some bad weather here lately, but it's gotten better. I'll see you at school and I'm very happy for you.

Your Friend,
Ginny

P.S. I'm glad that you're having a great summer!

She folded up the parchment and sent it off with his owl before she took out his letter to read it again. She only grinned to herself happily before she hurried out her room to find Harry. She was halfway down the stairs when she heard his voice from behind her. She turned and jumped into his arms shocking Ron who happened to be standing next to him.

"GINNY!" Ron exclaimed. "WHAT ARE YOU -"

But Ron trailed off in shock as Harry's mouth met Ginny's for a long, deep, kiss. "Hello," Harry murmured when they broke apart.

Ginny grinned. "Hi."

"But - but - what? Why? When? How? Harry and - THAT'S MY SISTER!" Ron exploded.

Harry turned to look at Ron. "She is, yes. Do you happen to have a problem with the fact that I'm going to be her boyfriend?"

Ron was silent for a few minutes as his eyes darted back and forth between them and then he glared at Harry. "If you hurt her, I'll kill you."

Harry grinned. "Seems fair!"

Then he turned and kissed Ginny again.

"Oy! And stop snogging!"

They ignored him and continued to kiss softly. When they broke apart, Ginny handed Harry the letter from Michael. "Read this. I just wrote him back."

Harry glanced down at the letter and he read his grin widened. "What luck!"

Ginny laughed. "I know! I wrote him back telling him that the same thing happened to me and that I was trying to figure out a way to break it off easily with him."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ron exclaimed. "Break it off with whom?"

"Michael Corner," Harry supplied. "You know, the guy that she's been dating since the Yule Ball."

"WHAT?" Ron exploded.

Ginny giggled as she stood next to Harry. "We're not dating anymore, Ron. Now I'm with Harry."

Ron only continued to stare them at in shock and then he grinned evilly. "Wait until Fred and George hear about this!"

Ginny only groaned and buried her face into Harry's chest. They watched Ron head downstairs and then Ginny turned to Harry and smiled up at him. "Well, don't you have something that you'd like to ask me?"

Harry glanced down at her quizzically and then his grin flashed. "Gin, will you be my girlfriend?"

She grinned and kissed him softly. "Yes."