Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Suddenly, the atmosphere grew intimate, as if even the air had taken on a pink hue. Harry sensed that something was about to happen.

Ginny took a step closer, pressing her chest against his, feeling his scent.

“So then I thought, I’d like you to have something to remember me by, you know, if you meet some Veela when you’re off doing whatever you’re doing.”

“I think dating opportunities are going to be pretty thin on the ground, to be honest.”

“There’s the silver lining I’ve been looking for,” she whispered, and then she was kissing him as she had never kissed him before, and Harry was kissing her back, and it was blissful oblivion, better than firewhisky.

In that moment, she was the only real thing in the world, Ginny, the feel of her, one hand at her back and one in her long, sweet-smelling hair —

BANG!!!

The door banged open behind them and they jumped apart.

“Oh,” said Ron pointedly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt your little moment.”

Evan, Hermione, Elaine, and Gabrielle came running in. Harry and Ginny were clearly embarrassed by Ron’s rambling.

Ron’s ears were red with rage, and he glared at Harry and Ginny, as though they had been doing something outrageous.

Hermione looked uneasy, Gabrielle covered her eyes and peeked through her fingers, and Elaine wore an expression of wide-eyed curiosity.

Evan buried his face in his hand helplessly; he knew this scene was bound to be awkward.

Harry and Ginny hadn’t fallen out with Ron yet — proof only that their tempers were far too good.

There was a strained silence, then Ginny said in a flat little voice,

“Well, happy birthday anyway, Harry.”

Harry didn’t answer. He wanted to kick everyone out except him and Ginny and slam the door shut.

But the moment the door opened, it felt as though a cold draft had entered the room, and his shining moment had popped like a soap bubble. All the reasons for ending his relationship with Ginny, for staying well away from her, seemed to have slunk inside the room with Ron, and all happy forgetfulness was gone.

He looked at Ginny, wanting to say something, though he hardly knew what, but she had turned her back on him.

Harry thought that she might have succumbed, for once, to tears. He could not do anything to comfort her in front of Ron.

“I’ll see you later,” he said, and followed the others out of the bedroom.

They didn’t stop at the stairwell, and the argument didn’t break out as quickly as they had expected.

Ron marched downstairs, through the still-crowded kitchen and into the yard.

“Harry, don’t —” Hermione said in alarm, biting her tongue in her haste.

“Don’t get excited, Harry,” Evan added.

“Don’t get involved in this. I need to talk to him straight,” said Harry, following Ron.

They made their way to the seclusion of the freshly mown lawn, while the others watched from a distance, ready to rush over if anything seemed amiss.

“Ron takes Ginny too seriously. This twisted protectiveness is suffocating,” said Hermione.

“Ginny really hates that about him,” said Elaine with disdain. She hadn’t spoken to Ron since he got mad at Ginny and Harry for having an affair. “Honestly, if I had a brother like that, I’d definitely try to make him disappear.”

“Alright, Ron only means well,” Evan tried to smooth things over. “You know, he just wants to protect Ginny.”

Across the lawn, Harry and Ron had a fierce argument.

Too far away, Evan, Hermione, Elaine, and Gabrielle couldn’t hear what was said.

In the end, however, it looked like they had reached an agreement, though they both looked unhappy.

Ron kept muttering that Harry had deceived him and was deliberately looking for opportunities to flirt with his sister.

Although anyone would have thought it was Ginny’s right to date and kiss whomever she wanted, and Ron had no right to comment, Harry still said he would never contact Ginny again because he wanted her future to be free and unencumbered, whereas his future was nothing but defeating Voldemort.

With Ron’s forceful intervention, the matter seemed resolved.

Ginny did not seek another one-to-one meeting with Harry for the rest of the day, nor by any look or gesture did she show that they had shared more than polite conversation in her room.

However, Hermione later told Evan that Ginny had cried in her room at noon. She said Ron was a jerk, interfering in her personal affairs, and that his over-protectiveness was suffocating, but it was hard to say he was entirely wrong.

Ron’s intentions seemed good, and his feelings for Ginny seemed genuine, at least on the surface. But reasoning with him was pointless, and no one wanted to try. Fortunately, Sirius’s arrival eased the tension somewhat and brought some comfort to Harry.

His birthday present to Harry was also unexpected: the inheritance of all the Black family fortune.

If Sirius were to die unexpectedly, all the Black family’s possessions would belong to Harry. Even now, Harry could access the vaults that Sirius and the Black family kept under Gringotts. Although Sirius was known for his lavish spending, even a conservative estimate of this fortune would be a considerable sum.

Unlike many pure-blood Wizarding families who suddenly became wealthy or fell into decline, the Black family had always been powerful and prosperous.

At least, it had been so during Sirius’s father’s generation. Even if they weren’t as wealthy as the Malfoys, they were practically on par.

Faced with this astronomical present, Harry tried to refuse, but Sirius persuaded him.

With Sirius’s presence, the atmosphere gradually warmed. Everyone seemed to have forgotten the unpleasantness of the morning, and they sat down in their chairs, grinning happily as Mrs. Weasley raised her wand menacingly, forced Charlie, who had just returned, to sit down, and announced that he was about to get a proper haircut.

As Harry’s birthday dinner would have stretched the Burrow’s kitchen to breaking point even before the arrival of Lupin, Tonks, and Hagrid, several tables were placed end to end in the garden. Fred and George bewitched a number of purple lanterns, all emblazoned with a large number 17, to hang in midair over the guests. Thanks to Mrs. Weasley’s ministrations, George’s wound was neat and clean, but the dark hole in the side of his head was still shocking to see, despite the twins’ many jokes about it.

The birthday party began, and everyone took their seats outdoors.

“Out of the way, out of the way!” sang Mrs. Weasley, coming through the gate with what appeared to be a giant, beach-ball-sized Snitch floating in front of her.

Seconds later, they realized that it was Harry’s birthday cake, which Mrs. Weasley was suspending with her wand, rather than risk carrying it over the uneven ground.

This was undoubtedly very wise. The huge snitch birthday cake wobbled in the air and finally landed safely on the dining table. …

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