Harry Potter Breaking The Chains

"I do know it!" Harry raised his voice. "I was there; I heard him say it. You and Ron were to be taken alive back to him to lure me out."

"You?" Ginny whispered introspectively. Suddenly she gasped and exclaimed, "You had a vision." It was a statement, not a question. Harry nodded his head and kept his gaze locked onto the ground. "Oh Harry," she gasped as she flung herself onto her knees in front of the sofa and took his face into her hands. "Look at me," she ordered. He reluctantly obeyed. She noticed that his eyes sparkled with unshed tears, and her heart went out to him. "Listen to me. It was not your fault. We've all chosen our sides, and we have chosen to stand by you, through the good and the bad. That's what families do; they stick together no matter what. And you're as much a part of the family as any of us and more so than Percy."

Harry shook his head fervently, or as much as he could with her hands still holding his cheeks. "Percy's your brother," he choked out. "He's your family, your blood, not me."

"Family is a lot more than blood, Harry, as you well know," she lectured. "The Dursleys are your blood, but they're not family. Percy may be our blood relative, but he abandoned his family, he lost the right. You, on the other hand, continue to put us in front of your own well being. I mean honestly, coming to Diagon Alley yourself? Why didn't you just tell Dumbledore and let him handle it?"

"I did tell Dumbledore," he explained. "When I had the vision I didn't know they were talking about you. They didn't actually say your names. Ron sent a letter with Pig to me the night before, and they intercepted the owl, but they let it deliver the letter so we wouldn't know where they got their information. I sent Hedwig out first thing in the morning, but she came back a little later carrying Pig. When I read the letter, I put two and two together and knew that it was you he was after.

"There was no time to spare, so I apparated to Hogsmeade with Hedwig and sent her to the Headmaster with my letter. Then I went to Diagon Alley and found you guys. A minute after I arrived, the Death Eaters came. I threw up a shield for you to block their initial barrage of spells, but they also shot at the building. Then I was busy taking out Death Eaters and wasn't able to get a clean shot at the one that snuck up on you. When I saw you being dragged off, I just reacted. Next thing I know I'm running after you. Then I just stunned the two Death Eaters there and took you home. By the time I got back, Dumbledore had arrived and was rounding up the Death Eaters, so I went back to the Dursleys."

"Thank you, Harry. I owe you my life, again," she said openly.

"No," Harry retorted. "You don't owe me anything."

"That's not for you to decide."

"I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything," Harry snapped. "The last thing I need on my conscience is for you to jump in front of a curse for me or something stupid like that."

"There are other ways to repay a debt," she said passionately. Harry quirked an eyebrow at her. She took this as a good sign and continued. "You said that you've been keeping a lot of things to yourself, a lot of secrets, lately. Well, when things get to be too much or when you need someone to talk to who won't judge you or push you to give more than you're ready or willing to give, you come to me. I'll listen, give advice when you need it, and I won't ever push you for more or ever tell a soul what you've told me."

There was silence for a couple minutes. Ginny finally released Harry's face, but she remained on her knees in front of him, studying him carefully. He avoided her gaze for a moment, but then locked onto her eyes searchingly. He saw nothing but concern and honesty in the brown depths. She meant every word that she said. The only question was whether or not that was something he needed or even wanted.

As the silence continued, Ginny began to grow nervous under his scrutiny. She bit her lip gently but held his gaze ardently. After another minute he shifted his gaze to the fireplace which was still empty. He raised a hand, and a small fire sprung up from nowhere. Ginny took the moment to rise from the ground and took the seat next to Harry on the sofa.

As he stared into the crackling flames he started talking. "I found out how the ministry tracks underage magic. It's through our wands. Each one has its own signature that they have on file along with the owner of the wand. That's why no one ever gets in trouble for accidental magic because it's done without the wand. Last summer, when the dementors attacked Dudley and me, I cast a wandless lumos spell because I had dropped my wand when my cousin punched me. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but I later learned that most adult wizards would have trouble casting such a simple spell wandlessly. So I started practicing over the summer.

"It took some time to really get the hang of it, but once I did, it was easy. I never really noticed the feeling of my magic before. When you cast spells with a wand, it's so impersonal. You don't really feel the magic because the wand is focusing it for you. When you take away the wand, all that's left is yourself. You can actually feel the magic coursing through you. It's an amazing feeling. So anyway, I learned to do magic without a wand, which meant I could do magic over the summer without the ministry finding out.

"Those potions ingredients I asked you for at the start of summer were for the animagus potion. It knocks you out and gives you a vision of your animagus form. That's where the black panther came in."

"But Harry," Ginny interrupted, "it takes people years to become animagi. How did you manage it in such a short amount of time? And without any instruction at that."

"I had talked to Sirius about becoming an animagus, and he told me everything I needed to know. It turned out that the hardest part of the process was learning to control your magic in such a way that you could manage to transform without a wand. Since I was already practicing wandless magic at the time, it didn't take me long to fully transform.

"So that's how I was able to do so much this summer. I made a couple trips to Diagon Alley, got a lot of books to keep me occupied, and bought a few things for myself. Remus knows I've been practicing to become an animagus, but he doesn't know I've made the full transformation yet, and he thinks I started the process last Christmas. He's the only other person who even knows about it. And that's all he knows. You're the only one who knows about my wandless abilities."

"Thank you for telling me," she said solemnly. "I know that you don't trust people easily, so it means a lot that you would confide in me. I do have a question though. How did you learn how to apparate? I mean, you couldn't have gone to Diagon Alley if you hadn't already known how to apparate, so it's not like you could have bought a book to help you. So when and how did you learn?"

A panicked expression briefly crossed Harry's face at the question, so Ginny hurriedly amended herself. "You don't have to tell me if you're not ready to, Harry. I won't ever push you for more than you're willing to share. I meant that promise I made to you. I was just curious about it. But don't tell me anything you don't want me to know." She smiled as Harry visibly relaxed.

"Thanks," he said simply. He finally shifted his gaze from the fire and looked into Ginny's face. "It is kind of nice to have someone to share some of this with. Sometimes it feels like I have the entire weight of the world on my shoulders."

"I'm happy I can help, Harry," she told him earnestly. "Just remember that you don't always have to shoulder those burdens alone. There are a lot of people who care about you and would gladly help." She reached out and touched his arm as she finished.

"I know," he said softly. "There are just some things that I need to do on my own." If nothing else, the prophecy made sure of that. But even without the prophecy, he would never willingly put any of his friends in danger.

"Just because you need to do them on your own, doesn't mean you have to do them alone," Ginny commented wisely. "If nothing else you can count on me to be here for you whenever you need me for as long as you need me." She gave his arm a squeeze before drawing back.

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