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Author: Gridley Story: Harry Potter and the Price of Freedom Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-HBP Status: Completed Reviews: 18 Words: 30,601
Harry glared at his enemy. He had fought off Voldemort; he refused to back down from this fight. His fingers itched to hold his wand, but it was across the room. "You won't win," Harry snarled. The target of his anger made no response, but then, Harry hadn't really expected it to. Hedwig hooted nervously, and Harry was glad of her support. Without any warning, Harry leapt on his opponent and began to wrestle with it, but to no avail. No matter what he tried, his school trunk refused to shut. Hedwig hooted again, comfortingly. Harry gave up and leaned against his bed. "Yes, I know, girl. Whoever's taking me to the Burrow will be able to magic it shut. I just don't want to spend a second longer here than I have to." For that matter, I didn't want to have spent the last decade and half here, either, but at least it's almost over. Harry glanced around his room. Aside from his school trunk, Hedwig's cage, his wand, and himself, there was nothing but cheap furniture and things Dudley didn't want. He heard the stairs creak and snatched up his wand. There were two possibilities. The first was that this was an attack, in which case he was in trouble. The second possibility was that Order members were here to escort him to the Burrow, in which case he'd be in even more trouble if he didn't treat this as an attack. Moody was a harsh instructor. Harsh enough to throw in a twist. A year ago, Harry would have leveled his wand at the door. Now, he backed into a corner, eyes flicking between the window and the door. He was rewarded by seeing motion outside the window. It rose without a sound, and Harry realized a Silencing Charm had been used on it – Moody had made every window in the house squeak. "Stupefy!" Invisible targets can still be hit. An invisible voice called out "Protego!" almost before Harry had finished speaking, and Moody appeared from under the Invisibility Cloak he'd be using. Moody grunted. "You're learning, boy. And about time, too." "Password?" Harry demanded, holding his guard. "Flobberworm Fungus." Harry lowered his wand. "How do you live like this?" he asked plaintively. Moody's face softened. "You don't, lad. You just don't die." ~~ "Happy Birthday, Harry!" Half a dozen Weasleys and a dozen others chorused happily. Harry smiled as best he could, but it was hard. The Weasley he'd wanted the most was still at Hogwarts in the Hospital Wing. Fred gauged Harry's expression for a moment and then turned to his twin. "I don't think he properly appreciates all this, George." "You're right, Fred. It seems like something is missing." "Well, this calls for heroism." "Dashing skill…" "Bravery…" "This is a job for," George assumed a dramatic pose, and Fred copied him. "Someone else!" They intoned together. Harry just looked at them, puzzled. He glanced around, but no one else was looking like they knew what was going on either. Fred and George just grinned and took up positions on either side of the foot of the stairs. They stood to attention and drew their wands so that they formed an arch over the base of the stairs. "Bring forth Harry's birthday present!" The twins intoned. Harry realized what was happening as soon as a pair of feet came into sight, walking down the stairs. He had Ginny in his arms before she'd walked past Fred and George. Molly was yelling at the twins for breaking their sister out of the hospital wing, but stopped when Harry pulled them into the hug too. If Harry had been paying attention, he would have heard Arthur gently reasoning with his wife, but Harry was far too concerned with the girl in his arms to care. After a few minutes, however, he did notice being tapped on the shoulder. "Mate? You want to blow out the candles on your cake before they coat the top in wax?" Harry gave this all the attention it deserved. He went back to kissing Ginny. Fred was eyeing Harry, his head cocked to one side. "He's snogging our sister, George." "Doing a good job of it, too." George sounded as if he was considering taking notes. "As protective older brothers, we should be…" "Protective?" "I was thinking 'threatening.'" "Well, we did bring her here. I suppose we can't blame him entirely," replied George, thoughtfully. "That doesn't rule out pranking him, of course." George looked puzzled. "Does anything?" "FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!" Harry wasn't sure if the twins had deliberately provoked Molly's wrath in order to give himself and Ginny cover for their escape, but he certainly appreciated it in any case. He never did get to blow out the candles, but somehow he didn't mind. Still, evening came, and the two, grinning foolishly, came down for dinner. Fred and George were setting the table – without magic. Ron and Bill were carefully examining Harry's place setting (and their own) for traps; even without their wands, no one trusted the twins. Bill smiled at the couple as they came in. "Ah! Good of you two to join us. Not that we weren't having a fine time without you, but it seems appropriate that the guest of honor show up for part of his own party." Ginny smiled sweetly at him. "Surely you're not indicating displeasure with my boyfriend's choice of activities, are you, dear brother?" Bill's grin vanished. He looked slightly scared. "Err. Of course not, dear sister." He attempted a winning smile. Harry sighed contentedly. For all its noise, all the arguments, and all the lack of privacy, he would rather be here than anywhere. He was of age now and never had to go back to Privet Drive. He was home. ~~ Harry finished hoisting his trunk into place on the luggage rack of the Hogwarts Express and took a deep breath. His trunk just kept getting heavier, even faster than he was getting stronger. He turned to see Ginny struggling with hers. "Here, let me give you a hand with that." "Oh, thank you, Harry." She smiled at him. Harry bent and grabbed the trunk, and nearly pulled himself off his feet; the trunk hadn't even budged. Taken aback, Harry braced his legs and heaved with all his might. If Ginny could lift this onto the train, I can lift it onto the rack! Sweat broke out on his forehead, but the trunk refused to budge. He took a deep breath and heaved again. There is no way I'm going to look like a wimp in front of my girlfriend. My girlfriend who's laughing. Harry frowned. It was almost as if the trunk was glued to the floor. She wouldn't. He looked up and saw mischief dancing in her eyes. Harry? She's related to Fred and George. Of COURSE she would. He let go of the trunk and drew his wand. "Finite Incantatum." Ginny was now leaning against the compartment wall for support. He glared at her and grabbed one end of the trunk, lifting it with only a little effort. He looked at the underside. There were two small disks near the corners. He pulled one of them off. "Insta-Stick Disks – for all those things you want to tie down." Harry glared at Ginny again and then grinned as a thought entered his brain. He laughed himself and smiled at Ginny. "All right then, you got me. Kiss and make up?" She was related to Fred and George, all right. She eyed him suspiciously before putting her arms around him. He held her to him for a moment, broke the kiss, and carefully looked around the compartment. Hermione and Ron were already gone; they were alone. He smiled and kissed Ginny again, hungrily. He pressed her against the wall, savoring the feel of her body pressed against his. Then he drew back, and this time his smile was not tender. She gave him a happy, fuzzy smile for a moment, her eyes unfocused, and then tried to take a step toward him. She was jerked to a stop. Her robes were stuck to the wall. Harry waved at her. "I'm just going to run to the loo. You'll wait for me, won't you?" He made it out the door a fraction of a second ahead of her hex. Figuring she would think to use Finite Incantatum on herself quickly enough, he walked towards the back of the train. She'd have to head to the front for the Prefect's meeting, so he had some time to himself. Maybe he'd look in on Neville or Luna or… The prickling at the back of his neck was all the warning he needed. Moody had taught him well, and almost before he realized there was someone behind him, he was throwing himself to one side as he twisted and drew his wand. "Attono!" He snapped, aiming hastily. Even from directly behind his wand, Harry could hear the thunderclap of sound. It was one of the area-effect spells Moody had taught him; a cone of sound loud enough to knock out an opponent who wasn't prepared. Or, as in this case, opponents. Crabbe and Goyle sprawled in a heap on the train floor. They had their wands out, though Harry wondered what they had planned to do with them. They were hopeless at just about every spell he'd ever heard of them trying. "Oh! Hello, Harry." Harry whirled around again, but he recognized the voice in time to avoid cursing Dean. He sighed and tried to slow his pounding heart. "Alright, Dean?" "Better than those two. I guess they tried to sneak up on you?" Harry sighed. "Yeah. I don't know why – they're hopeless." Dean eyed him. "Unlike you. Where did you learn that spell? I've never even heard of it." "Picked it up over the summer," Harry answered casually, not wanting to tell anyone Moody had been teaching him. Dean just grinned at him. "If you don't stop spending so much time with Hermione, Ron's going to get jealous. Not to mention Ginny." Harry blushed. "Come on. We should get these two out of the corridor, at least." Dean nodded, knocked on the nearest compartment door, then glanced inside. "Empty. You get their legs, I'll get their heads." ~~ "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore seemed cheerful and full of energy; it was infectious. Harry, getting ready to feast with one hand and holding his girlfriend's hand with the other, would have found it hard not to be happy in any event. "I am pleased to announce that, for the first time in a number of years, I have no new staff members to announce!" For most schools, this might not be seen as an achievement worth celebrating, but here there was a great deal of enthusiastic applause. There were also a few groans, of course, especially from those who remembered that this meant Snape was still teaching Potions. "Some changes are, of course, inevitable, and I congratulate our new Head Boy and Head Girl, as well as our new Prefects." Hermione blushed. Fred had explained to her at length that she shouldn't be honored at getting a badge with 'HG' on it since those were, after all, just her initials. Ron had hexed him. "With that, let the feast begin!" Harry was still filling his plate when a gasp ran through the hall. He snapped his head up and had no trouble locating the source of the disturbance. Professor Dorfomt had disappeared. Silence washed over the hall like a wave. Like a bad TV signal, Dorfomt faded back into sight, looking disturbed. He then faded out again. Dumbledore drew his wand. "Finite Incatatem!" Dorfomt faded in, remained fully visible for a moment, and then faded out. Harry looked at Ron. "Fred and George?" Hermione's mouth dropped open. "They wouldn't!" Ron just eyed her. She sighed. "Actually, they would, wouldn't they?" They heard several more spells from the front. Dorfomt faded in once more, and they could see that he had his wand out, apparently trying to reverse the spell without success. Professor Flitwick drew his wand and came over, making a spiral motion with it. Dorfomt became fully visible with a faint hiss, looking humble. He looked out over the hall, winced, and then turned to Dumbledore. "Headmaster, I am very much afraid that someone has stolen my socks." Harry's eyes snapped wide. Socks. And it would have taken access to the kitchen to pull this off. That made Fred and George highly unlikely. Unless he was very much mistaken, Dobby had just pulled a prank. End Chapter 3 From Notre Dame's online Latin dictionary: attono [to strike with thunder, stun] I write, OHGinnyfan betas, and you review. Isn't teamwork wonderful?
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