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Rejection: A Double-Edged Sword	By : brooklynvtc Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Harry/Ginny Views: 21247 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I do not make any profit from this story.

Chapter List
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Hermione looked at Harry and said, "Go, Harry. We'll take care of her. You need to go and fix this." Ginny nodded her agreement with Hermione, and indicated with her eyes to Harry that he should go.
Harry hesitated for a moment, before he nodded and turned on his heel...
"Hermione and I will meet you afterwards, mate!" Ron yelled after him as Harry ran...
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Chapter Twenty-Five
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Harry bolted out the Great Hall doors and tried to make his way to Dumbledore's office as fast as he could. By the time he made it to the giant gargoyles that guarded the winding staircase, Harry found himself panting.
Harry bent over with his hands on his knees for a mere moment, to catch his breath. Before straightening and then cursing because he didn't know the password.
"Lemon Drop." Harry tried.
Nothing happened.
"Bertie Bots Every Flavor Bean."
Still nothing.
Harry went down a long list of different kinds of both muggle and Wizarding sweets that Dumbledore could use for his password, until finally, he said, in an exasperated tone, "Peppermint Pig Snouts!"
The statue moved out of the way, and Harry let out a yelp in victory before running up the stairs.
As always, before he had the chance to frantically knock on the door, Dumbledore called out in a calm voice, "Enter."
Harry pried open the door to see a very serious, albeit calm, Dumbledore, with Snape looming over him with his perpetual scowl in place.
"Hello, Harry," Dumbledore greeted, his eyes twinkling and his mood brightening at the sight of him. Harry felt the pressure of anxiety within himself relax. If Dumbledore was happy to see him, then perhaps he already saw Harry's side of things.
"Hi, Professor." Harry panted, still out of breath from his sprinting run up the castle steps.
Dumbledore smiled, and nodded his head at the chair in front of his desk, indicating that Harry should sit. Harry obediently obliged, quite glad at getting to rest after his fast trek.
"I hear that there was some sort of problem with your first D.A. meeting, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, calmly.
Harry peered over at Snape, his scowl getting more and more refined with each passing moment of Dumbledore's kindness towards Harry.
"Yes, Professor Snape has upset a lot of my students this evening." Harry said evenly, trying to come across as calm and rational as Dumbledore. "Specifically, one first-year Ravenclaw girl who he threatened to expel-"
"She deliberately attacked me, a Professor, with a curse." Snape interrupted.
Harry frowned, starting to lose his composure. "That seems to be a lie, Professor. She seemed too upset to lie about something like that. And besides that point, she has only been allowed to do magic for a little over a week now. Don't you think that she deserves a little slack if she happens to make a mistake?"
"I agree with Mr. Potter, Severus." Dumbledore said, his eyes shifting to the corner to look at the Defense teacher. "It was most assuredly an accident, and it seems that no real harm has been done."
Harry had to fight a self-satisfied smirk at the sight of Snape's jaw tightening in frustration. "There is also the matter of all the detentions and docked points of many of my students. The D.A. is meant to be a safe place, for students to come and learn defense spells in a relaxed atmosphere amongst peers. Now, I'm afraid that people won't want to come if the threat of detention looms over their heads if they attend."
Dumbledore thought this over with his good hand pulling and twirling at his beard. "Hmm... we can't have students feeling discouraged to wanting to learn more, now can we?"
Harry let out a breath, and let himself relax even more. "Exactly. And as leader and one of the founders of the D.A., can I request that Professor Snape not be allowed to chaperone? Many of the children are actually terrified of him."
"You ungrateful, little-"
"Enough, Severus." Dumbledore held up his hand to silence him as he interrupted the insult that Snape was about to hurl at Harry. "Though I may not know the true extent of what transpired this evening, as I wasn't there to bear witness - I still feel that Harry is right. That he is the leader of the D.A. and as such, he should be the one to make the primary decisions."
Harry couldn't hold back his victorious smile as Snape seemed to be seething with rage - though the slimy git didn't say a word to contradict the Headmaster. Harry couldn't help but wish that Dumbledore would ban Snape from teaching, as well.
"That being said, Harry, I still require that you have a staff member to chaperone your meetings."
Harry nodded his consent. "Of course, Professor. I would actually prefer it that way."
It was the truth. He needed the help to keep so many students in line.
But this seemed to cause Snape to reach his limit, as he abruptly strode out of the room with intent and focused anger.
As soon as Snape left, Harry turned back to Dumbledore with a neutral expression on his face. "Sir..." Harry began, "About all of the detentions and points taken-"
"Consider them nullified." Dumbledore appeased, sitting back and folding his hands across his stomach. "I should hope that students will be forgiving of their first D.A. meeting if their punishments are revoked."
Harry couldn't help giving his mentor a beaming smile at the news, and not only because that meant that Ginny no longer had to serve her detention, either. Which also meant more time for Ginny to spend with Harry. But, also because he had been able to keep his word with all of his students, after he assured them all that he would fix everything.
"Thank-you, Professor."
...
It was a little while later when Harry was walking down the spiral staircase from Dumbledore's office. He was entirely satisfied with how the meeting went. No more Snape at his meetings... he would say that he got sort of lucky by managing to pull that one off.
The statue slid out of the way for him to leave, only to reveal Ron sitting with his back to the opposite wall - looking entirely unconcerned - and Hermione, who was pacing with a very stressed look on her face.
Both of their attentions snapped up to him, as the sound of the statue moving alerted them.
"So?" Hermione asked immediately, before Harry could even step out. "How did it go?"
Harry could hear the anxiety in her voice, so when he smiled at them, he immediately alleviated her concerns.
"Snape is banned from meetings." Harry informed them, with a large grin.
Ron let out a whoop in victory, and stood to come over to give Harry a clap on the back. "See, Hermione? I told you that there was nothing to worry about!"
"There certainly was something to worry about!" Hermione argued back passionately.
Ron's face scrunched up as he readied himself for an argument. "Oh, yeah? What exactly are you talking about? Harry is Dumbledore's favorite, and all Harry had to do was show up and ask Dumbledore, and Dumbledore would do it for him."
Hermione's face scrunched up like a prune, her lips pursed in disagreement. "Dumbledore also has a history of looking the other way where Professor Snape is concerned and-"
"Guys!" Harry shouted, interrupting the argument before it got to the point of no return. "Honestly, just snog it out, or be done with it! Because if you keep arguing, I won't be able to tell you the rest, as well as what I needed to show you in the Room of Requirement!"
Both Ron and Hermione gaped open-mouthed at Harry for his boldness. Their cheeks turning a bright red, and it seemed as though neither could meet the other's eye. But Harry also noticed how quiet both were, and a 'kneasel that caught the fairy' grin came to his lips. Neither wanted to confirm wanting what Harry suggested, in fear of the other not wanting it - nor did they want to deny it, in case it would dash the hopes of the other.
But Harry found himself distracted as he looked all around them, and turning his head, looking down both corridors, he still wasn't able to find who he was looking for.
"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked. He thought that Ron had said that they would all meet him after he was done with Dumbledore... so why wasn't Ginny here?
He had been looking forward to showing her this the most...
This snapped Hermione out of her silent dilemma, and she seemed quite glad for the distraction. "She had some more studying to do, Harry. But we invited her to come, I swear."
Harry sighed in disappointment, wondering if he would be able to go talk to Slughorn about not putting so much homework on the fifth years at once... but he knew that he couldn't hinder Ginny's academic career just to fulfill his desire to spend more time with her.
"I guess I will just have to show her some other time, then..." Harry sighed, not even bothering to hide his disappointment, seeing as his best friends already knew about his feelings for Ginny.
Hermione came up to Harry and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Ginny will just be glad that you want to include her, Harry. Before you really got to know her, last year, she always felt so left out and lonely..."
"S-she did?!" Harry stuttered, surprised by this. And one look at Ron told Harry that he was surprised by the revelation, as well.
"Well, yeah..." Hermione continued, now a tad uncomfortable with the change in topic. "After what happened with the chamber, Ginny didn't have any friends. Many students blamed her for petrifying people, even though it wasn't her fault."
"Bloody right it wasn't her fault!" Ron bellowed, quite upset. "If anything, it's my fault, if not that stupid dairy's... I'm her brother and I was supposed to take care of her! I should have realized something was wrong with her, but I was too busy, and I saw her as a bit of an unwanted nuisance. One that had a silly crush on my best mate..."
At the end, Ron's argument became less passionate as he became more and more glum. Harry knew the feeling well. He felt the guilt, too.
"You're not the only one, Ron. Not only did I not encourage you to spend time with Ginny, but I also ignored her after the chamber incident... as though it never happened! What sort of cad does such a thing?"
"A young boy who didn't know to recognize another's feelings because he spent the majority of his life with people who never cared for his own feelings." Hermione interjected, firmly, a stern look on her features that demanded no arguments. "Now enough of this. The real person to blame is Voldemort."
With that, Hermione strode towards the stairwell, and after a moment, Harry and Ron scrambled to follow her.
They caught up to her at the moving stairwell, and Hermione asked Harry how the rest of his meeting with Dumbledore went.
"I asked him to revoke all of the detentions and docked points that Snape gave out, and he agreed that students wouldn't want to come to any D.A. meetings if they felt the threat of punishment over their heads, just for attending. So, he revoked all of them."
They both congratulated him on a job well done on his meeting with the Headmaster. And chatted on how the D.A. had been doing before it had been ruined at the end.
"Romilda had managed the spell right away, as soon as you had walked away, Harry." Hermione informed him, annoyed and a tad put out with the fourth-year Ravenclaw girl.
Harry rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands in his front robe pockets, while Ron laughed outright. "At least she didn't try and force a love potion on you again, mate!"
"A love potion?!" Hermione gasped, her mouth agape with shock.
Harry scratched the back of his neck in discomfort. While he had been under the Felix Felicis potion, it hadn't bothered him one bit that Romilda had tried to poison him with a love potion. But looking back, it really unnerved him. What if he hadn't been on Felix Felicis that day, and Romilda had managed to spray him with that 'cologne' instead of herself? Would Harry still be under the effects of the potion now?
"Harry," Hermione stressed after Ron gave her a brief update on what had happened. "You must tell a Professor of what she tried to do! Administering a love potion against a person's will, is illegal! What if she tries to poison you, again?!"
Harry's eyes widened at the concept and he felt his throat tighten in panic. He couldn't imagine being in love with someone other that Ginny! It was almost blasphemous to even think about it!
"Well, if Harry suddenly has feelings for Romilda Vane, then we will know that she managed to get a love potion to him, and we will bring him to Slughorn." Ron reasoned. "But other than that, there is no way to prove that she has tried to get Harry to fall in love with her through illegal means."
Hermione frowned, not liking it one bit, but knew that Ron's logic was right. "Fine. But the moment we notice any odd behavior in you, Harry, we are taking you to Slughorn."
Harry nodded his understanding, feeling grateful that he had friends to look out for him. When they finally made it to the seventh floor, in front of the wall to the Room of Requirement, Harry was the one that started to pace three times. Thinking hard on a cozy room with six, comfy, reclining chairs.
The door materialized in front of them on the previously blank wall, a sight that was still amazing for Harry to see.
Harry was the first to open the door and went through, Ron and Hermione coming in right after him. Harry immediately went to one of the reclining chairs while Ron and Hermione lingered by the open door, both wearing a look of confusion.
"Harry...?" Hermione asked. "Why did you think of having six chairs?"
Harry shrugged nonchalantly, all the while, trying not to grin. "Because we will be needing them. Now, shut the door before someone comes by and sees."
Still mightily confused, Ron did as Harry asked by shutting the door, and then grabbing Hermione's wrist and guiding her over to the chairs on either side of Harry.
When they sat, Harry decided to begin in the same way that Dumbledore did with him.
"Do both of you know the 'Tales of Beetle the Bard'?" Harry asked.
Both of their eyes lightened in recognition.
"Yes, they are sort of like wizarding fairytales, aren't they? I picked up a book of it in the library to read for fun!" Hermione rambled. "Very fascinating stories, but rather dark. I can't imagine any parent reading it to their young children..."
"Oy!" Ron shouted, offended. "My mum and dad read that to us when we were young! It's not that dark!"
Hermione scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Well, it's no Cinderella story, is it?"
Ron's eyes puckered in confusion. "Who?"
"Do you both remember the story of The Three Brothers and the Deathly Hallows?" Harry asked, interrupting another inevitable argument between the two... about fairytales, no less.
They both snapped their attentions to Harry and nodded, wondering where it was that he was going with all of this.
Harry could no longer hold back his grin as he said out loud, "Well, the story is true."
They both stared at him, their faces giving away no expression. Until finally...
"He's gone barmy..." Ron muttered over to Hermione out of the corner of his mouth.
Harry couldn't help but feel affronted by this. "I have not!" Harry argued. "And what even more, is that the Deathly Hallows are real as well! And I've got two of them!"
Hermione started to look worried, as she stared at Harry. "Harry... you aren't acting like yourself... Do we need to take you to Professor Slughorn, after all? Or perhaps Professor Dumbledore?"
Harry groaned, and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I'm not crazy, and I'm not under some potion or spell!"
Harry dug into his robes pocket and found the chain - which he connected the Resurrection Stone to - and whipped it out. "And I can prove it to you."
He held out the stone in front of him, and rested it on top of his open palm. Immediately, to his eyes, his parents and Sirius were starting to appear in front of them.
"Touch the stone, and you'll see." Harry urged his friends.
The both hesitated for a mere moment, before reaching out and touching the stone, just as his family fully appeared out of the mist.
"Ah, good!" His mum raged, immediately, not even saying hello. She looked very angry, and Harry knew that if she were alive, then she would have an angry flush to her cheeks. His dad and Sirius both looked wary of her, which Harry figured was smart on their end. They were both sitting in their own reclining chairs, while his mum was standing, wearing a hole in the carpet with her furious pacing. "Harry, darling, I need you to give the stone to Severus."
Harry's jaw dropped at that. Give the stone to Snape?! Why the bloody hell would he do that?!
"Don't you mean Snivelus?" Sirius had been unable to stop from interjecting.
Lily Potter's rage-filled eyes turned on Sirius, and he quickly snapped his mouth shut and turned his head down.
His father scoffed. "Oh, come on, Lils! I don't see how you could still object to the nickname! Only the sniveling sort of man can pick on innocent, little first-years!"
Harry's eyes widened. Oh… his father was brave. So brave as to stand up to his mum when she was so worked up like this. But his mum didn't seem to be angry at his dad… oh no, what he said seemed to rile her up more as she proceeded to go on a rampage on how anyone could act so heartless to that 'poor, little girl'!
Turning his attention to his friends, Harry tried not to laugh at the absolute gobsmacked expressions on both Ron and Hermione's faces. They were quite priceless, indeed. It almost seemed as though they haven't even been blinking, which Harry wondered how long they could last with that before their eyes watered.
"Ron, Hermione... Meet my parents." Harry said, and finally both their eyes shifted over to him in shock, as if silently asking him if this was well and truly real.
"...and to ruin Harry's big night with the D.A.! The nerve of that-"
"Lily!" Sirius interjected, snapping both of his parent's attention to himself. "I think that your son is trying to introduce you to his best mates..."
This snapped both of Lily and James' attention to Sirius, who was smirking slightly at he pointed over to Harry's completely gobsmacked friends.
"Oh!" Lily gasped, as if she finally just realized that they were there. "Hello."
Ron absentmindedly raised a hand in hello, while Hermione was quickly snapping out of her shock, and Harry recognized the burning thirst for new knowledge in the witch's eyes.
"Oh, I have so many questions!" Hermione blurted out, seemingly no longer able to contain herself. "Is it you that is really here, or is it just a manifestation of yourselves? Like in a portrait, so to speak. How does it feel to be seen by the living? Do you retain any of your senses besides sight and hearing? Like your sense of smell?"
"Like if Sirius managed to pass gas, would I be able to smell it?" James asked, bemused by all of the questions. "No. And thank Merlin for that!"
"It couldn't smell any worse than the many years I endured of your nasty morning breath, Prongs!" Sirius jibed easily in return.
Lily made a face. "I have to agree with you on that one..."
"Lils!" James pouted, looking wounded. "You're supposed to be on my side!"
This broke Ron from his trance and he started bursting out with laughter, Harry quickly joined in. When they had calmed down enough, Ron clapped Harry on the back with the hand that wasn't grasping the stone. "Your parents are brilliant, mate!"
James grinned brilliantly at Lily. "We've got a fan!"
Then he launched himself up out of his chair, thrusting forward his offered hand to Ron. "James. James Potter," He said as he eagerly shook Ron's hand. "Glad to finally meet my son's best mate! Some of my favorite 'Ron' moments that we watched were, of course, all of the adventures you would go with Harry on; especially your bloody brilliant display of driving that flying car to school! Madness! Then there was the time you followed Harry into the Forbidden Forest to face Aragog, even though you are terrified of spiders! That's a true Gryffindor, that is! And the way you punched Dean in the nose! Classic!"
James continued to eagerly shake Ron's hand, while Ron beamed at all of the praise he was getting. "T-thanks, Mr. Potter."
James finally stopped shaking Ron's hand and waved of the formal title. "Ah, call me James. Oh! I forgot to mention how completely hilarious it was to watch you and Harry completely blunder getting dates for the Yule ball!"
His dad started laughing as a redness started to flush over Ron's cheeks.
"Dad!" Harry exclaimed, embarrassed, while Sirius joined in on laughing at their expense.
"James, stop teasing them," Lily broke in, ever the mediator, but she also was trying to fight an amused smile at the same time - which told Harry that she was enjoying his dad's tirade. Then his mum came up right beside his dad, and held out her hand to Ron. "Pleased to meet you, Ron. I'm Lily Potter. I would have to say that my favorite 'Ron' moment was when you took Harry into your own family... I don't think that you realize the specialness of that gift, and how much it actually meant to Harry over the years."
Ron flushed but smiled at his mum's praise, and shook her hand more firmly. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Potter. Could I call you Lily?"
Lily smiled and nodded, "Of course."
Then his mum turned her attention to Hermione, who was watching the display with so much emotion in her eyes. "And we mustn't forget Hermione!"
James grinned widely as he steered away from Ron to eagerly meet Hermione, dragging his wife with him, with his arm around her waist as his guide. "Hello, Hermione. I must say, that it's nice to meet the brains behind the operation."
Hermione flushed, but beamed at the compliment. "It's nice to meet you as well! Oh, I just can't believe that Harry has been able to reunite with you, his parents!" Tears of happiness started to flood her eyes. "It's so beautiful. I'm so happy for you. For all of you!"
His mum seemed to melt at the sixth-year witch, and the obvious sisterly affection that she had for Harry. Lily came forward and hugged the girl that played an important part in Harry's life.
"I could think of some of my favorite 'Hermione' moments, as well." Lily offered, but Hermione was shaking her head as his mum pulled away. Just the thought of a 'Hermione recap', seemed to embarrass Hermione enough.
"If it would be alright, could you answer some of my questions?"
James grabbed his wife and backed them up until James sat down on a chair, with Lily on his lap. Harry couldn't help but grin at the fact that even in death, they were so in little be that they could keep their hands off of each other.
"Fire away!" James exclaimed, excited at the attention.
Hermione looked right excited as well, and Harry had to admit that he was curious about a few things as well.
"Before you start, Hermione," Harry intervened, then looked at his mum with questions in his eyes. "Why did you want me to give the Resurrection Stone to Snape?!"
Lily frowned, finding her anger from before, once again. "Because I wanted to tell the git off, myself. And make sure he doesn't pick on any of his students ever again."
Harry frowned, his skin between in brows puckering in confusion. "And what makes you think that Snape will listen to you?"
This caused Lily to lose her anger, as uncertainty and a level of sheepishness took its place. "Well, er... you see-"
Seeing his wife's discomfort on the matter, James decided to intervene. "Your mum and Snape were best friends at Hogwarts, Son."
Harry's jaw dropped.
Lily nudged at James' side, and his dad hastily continued. "Or rather, they used to be best friends."
"And what's more," Sirius boasted loudly, "Is that Snivelus has been in love with Lily flower here, this whole time!"
If Harry wasn't shocked before, he surely was now. Snape in love? With his mum?! He thought he was going to be sick...
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Rejection: A Double-Edged Sword