Chapter 7: Wands, Owls, and Flying

AN: So, after hearing all your responses, I am going to at least continue this fic, if not finish it. I will be working on another one, but it will take a back seat as this will be my main priority going into the future. As always, favorite and review, and I'll see you in the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own

After the extravaganza that was purchasing school books, Ginny and Harry made their way to Olivander's Wand shop to get Ginny her very own wand. While still displeased about Harry buying Ginny's supplies, Molly was at least somewhat comforted by seeing her daughter truly happy for the first time in what seemed to be forever. Ever since Ron left for Hogwarts, Ginny had been quiet and tended to keep to herself. But ever since Harry came along she seemed like a completely different person. She was smiling and even laughing again, and the light which once shone in her eyes as a child had finally returned.

Upon entering the shop, Harry noticed Olivander seemed to be waiting for them at his desk, as opposed to when he simply appeared from the back of the shop when Harry first visited. His crazy white hair and piercing blue eyes continued to unsettle Harry, but he shrugged off his nerves and proceeded into the shop with an uncertain looking Ginny Weasley behind him.

"Ah Miss Weasley, I was beginning to wonder when I would first see you. And, Mister Potter, what a pleasant surprise," began the wand maker, though his face showed anything but surprise. "I trust that your wand is still in good condition? Eleven inches, holly and a phoenix feather if I remember correctly. Very powerful and good for charms and hexes." At this he turned his attention back towards Ginny. "But alas, we are not here for Harry. We are here for you, Miss Weasley. Now, which is your wand arm?"

Ginny tentatively raised her right arm, her nerves still getting the best of her. Harry, seeing this, put his hand on her shoulder, hoping to somewhat comfort her. This simple act managed to slightly calm Ginny, enough for her to speak at least. "My right-hand sir."

"Good, good, very good. Now be a dear and hold it out for me."

As soon as Ginny outstretched her arm, tape measures came flying in and began measuring her all over.

'Harry,' came Ginny's nervous voice in his head, 'what happening?'

'It's okay Ginny, just relax. He did the same thing with me. Apparently, it has something to do with the wands, I don't really know myself.'

As soon as Harry said this to her, the tape measures disappeared to behind the counter and Olivander whisked away to the back, only to return with a handful of boxes. Taking the first one off the top, he removed the wand and handed it to Ginny. "Here, try this one. Ten and a half inches, birch, with a phoenix core."

Ginny took the wand from Olivander, not moving as she didn't know what to do next. Upon seeing her hesitation, Harry reached out to her through their bond. 'Give it a wave.'

Ginny smiled up at her friend before waving the wand. Immediately all the wands in the stack Olivander brought out disappeared, save one. "No, no, no, certainly not."

Upon seeing that only one wand remained, Olivander sighed to himself. "Well, I suppose this leaves us with only one option." Slowly, Olivander opened the box and held it out to Ginny for her to take out of the box. It was a pure white wand, and upon seeing it, Ginny immediately felt drawn to it. Taking it out of the box, Ginny waved the wand and she instantly she felt connected to it. A warm glow spread throughout her body, and she felt at the wand taping into her magic. The old wands reappeared on Olivander's desk, and the dark musty room seemed to light up. Once the feeling died down, Ginny looked up to the wand maker, an astonished look plastered on his face. "I never thought I would see the day…"

"I'm sorry sir," Ginny interrupted, "but what are you talking about?"

"As you may know, Miss Weasley, I remember every wand I have ever sold. This is helped by the fact that I remember every wand I have ever made. This particular wand, ten inches, holly with a Hungarian Horntail heartstring, was the very first wand I ever made. Despite its affinity for offensive and defensive magic, it has been sitting in my shop for centuries, never claiming a witch or wizard to be its wielder. I believe, Miss Weasley, that it is no coincidence this wand has chosen you. We can be sure to expect great things from you."

Thoroughly amazed, Harry handed over the seven galleons for the wand and guided a speechless Ginny out of the shop, but not before throwing a "Thank you" over his shoulder to the timeless wand maker.

After leaving the wand shop, there was one last stop Harry wanted to make. As he made his way down the alley, Ginny came up behind him confused. "Harry, why aren't we meeting mum and dad back at the Leakey Cauldron? It's back that way…"

"I still want to make one more stop for you," Harry replied, "And…were here." Harry and Ginny came to a halt outside Eeylops Owl Emporium.

"Harry no!" Ginny protested, "Mum barely allowed you buy my supplies for me, she will not stand for an owl!"

"Please Ginny. Once we have already bought it there is no way she will force us to return it. Besides, you need a better owl than ruddy old Erol to deliver your messages home."

"But Harry…" Ginny began to complain but it was too late. Harry was already dragging her inside the shop. Whatever protest Ginny was about to come up with died in her throat upon seeing all the magnificent winged creatures that lie in the shop. Owls of every breed were on full display throughout the store. Harry first broke her out of her stupor by dragging her over towards one of the owls. Ginny's eyes lit up upon seeing him. He was a True Owl, brown feathers cascading down his back with white spots dotted all along. His belly was the complete opposite, containing light brown feathers matched with dark brown dots. The owl's yellow eyes looked down at Ginny, and she immediately knew this was the one.

"This one Harry." She said, pointing to the True owl in front of her. "He's the one."

Harry waved over to the shop keeper, and, after negotiating the price a bit, the man put the owl in a cage and carried it over to the cashier. Harry made sure to have Ginny pick out some owl treats as well, and after handing over the 13 Galleons the two were on their way back to the Leakey Cauldron.

"Oh, there you two are!" came Mrs. Weasley's voice, a look of relief washing over her face, "We were beginning to think you two had stumbled off and lost your way."

"Don't worry, Mrs. Weasley, we just had to make one quick stop after Olivander's. I wanted to make sure Ginny had a reliable way of writing home to you during the school year." At this Harry gestured towards the owl in Ginny's hand, and a sad grin broke out on Mrs. Weasley's face.

"Oh Harry, dear, you didn't have to get her an owl. It must have cost so much!" Mrs. Weasley began to reach into her cloak pocket and drew out a bag. "Here, we have a few extra galleons, take these to make up for it."

"Think nothing of it, Mrs. Weasley. This was my birthday present to Ginny. I know it's a tad bit early, but I wanted to get something special for her. Plus, now she'll have a reliable way to write home to you guys all the time, and you can use Erol for other, family related matters."

Seeing he wouldn't budge on the matter and there was nothing else he could do, Mrs. Weasley finally relented, putting the coins back into her pocket. She would never admit it out loud, but she was beginning to develop a soft spot for the boy. He and Ginny becoming great friends was only a bonus, although she hoped nothing would develop between him and her little girl, at least for the foreseeable future. "Well, if everything's settled, then I guess it's time to head back."

Ron, however, was most displeased that Ginny got something that he didn't, and he wanted it. "But Mum! How come Ginny gets and owl but I don't! And she got all nice new robes too! How come I have to get the hand-me-downs! Ginny should get those, and I deserve to get the new ones!"

"Oh Ron, stop complaining." Mrs. Weasley began to retort, "Your birthday isn't until later in the year, maybe you'll get an owl then. And about the robes, well, Ginny is a girl. She needs different style than you. It wouldn't do for her to be shipped off to school wearing boy's clothes now would it?"

But Ron wouldn't let it go. "But MUM! It's not FAIR!"

"Ronald Weasley you have what you have and that is final! Your robes fit you just fine, and you can use Ginny's owl if you need to send a message that desperately. But for now, you are going to stick to what you have, and you are going to be grateful for it! I have had enough with this insistent complaining. One more word and it'll be off to bed for you with no supper when we return!"

This made Ron shut up, for if there was one thing he loved more than attention, it was food. He quickly sent Harry and Ginny a glare before sulking his way into the fireplace. After Ron disappeared, Harry and Ginny followed, still insisting that Harry didn't know enough about what he was doing to travel alone. Harry grabbed a pinch of the floo powder and, throwing it into the flames, shouted, "THE BURROW!" "Immediately Harry once again felt the sickening spinning sensation, as hundreds of fire places flashed before his vision. This time, however, when he was finally spat out at the Burrow, Ginny managed to keep him from falling flat on his face.

'We're gonna need to work on that at some point.' Ginny said to him.

Harry chuckled to himself before replying, 'Thanks, and yeah, I don't think falling on my face is the way to go.'

Whatever Ginny had to say next was cut off by Arthur coming through the fireplace, closely followed by Molly. No one noticed the knowing glare sent Harry and Ginny's way from the redheaded second year across the room.

Later that night, once everyone had fallen asleep, Harry sent a mental message to Ginny. 'You still up?' he asked her.

'Yeah I am. You sure you wanna do this? It's okay if you just want to get some rest…'

'Don't talk like that. Of course, I want to do this. Meet me out side in five minutes.' And with that Harry closed the connection.

Harry carefully got off his cot and made his way around Ron's bed, careful not to wake him. Going over to where his trunk and belongings were, Harry grabbed his Nimbus 2000 and moved over to the door. After easing the door open, he slipped out in the hallway and gently closed the door behind him. Making his way down the hallway, Harry noticed that Ginny had left her door open. Cleaning up her mistake, Harry grabbed the door handle and closed the door for her. Harry then crept over to the staircase, making careful note to avoid the squeaky floorboard on the sixth step. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Harry worked his way through the kitchen and out the back door. Working his way over to the broom shed, Harry saw Ginny already standing there with a broom in her hand.

'Alright,' Harry said to her, 'let's see what you got.'

The two had agreed to only speak through their mental bond tonight, for one, to decrease the chances of them being overheard by someone in the house and caught, and two, simply to work on the bond and test the limits.

When Ginny first told Harry that she had spent the past year sneaking out at night to fly, he was impressed to say the least. However, his amazement then was nothing compared to what he felt now. Ginny took off from the ground and immediately began flying circles around him, literally. Going faster and faster around the mini-pitch the Weasley's had in their back yard, Ginny's hair began to leave a red blur in Harry's vision. She finally came to a halt right beside hair in a crazy mess behind her, but her face was shining.

'Well,' she said to him, 'what do you think?'

'I think I don't have much to show you, that's what.' Harry replied, a huge smile on his face. 'Come on, I want to fly with you.'

At that Harry shot off into the air, relishing in the feeling of the warm summer night's air whipping around his face. Flying was like a second home to Harry, his first home being Hogwarts. In the air he felt truly free, like he could do anything. He dipped and dived and swirled around in circled before finally pulling up next to Ginny about fifty feet in the air at the center of the pitch.

'Woah,' Ginny said to him, an impressed look gracing her face, 'I think there still are one or two things you could show me.'

'Well,' Harry began to ask her, 'What do you want to start with?'

'Diving' came Ginny's immediate response.

The two spent a good portion of the next hour and a half working on dives, Ginny slowly getting closer and closer to the ground with each attempt. Any normal person would be scared out of their mind watching Ginny pull off these attempts. But Harry was anything but normal. He watched on with pride as his new friend pulled off each attempt better and better, occasionally giving her tips when she needed them. Finally, when Ginny had managed to not only dive inches from the ground but also pull back up into the air in one motion, Harry decided to call it a night.

'Alright, let's turn in. It's almost two in the morning and you know how your mum is with waking up. I'd rather not miss breakfast.'

'Oh, she's only like that with Ron.' Came Ginny's reply. 'She knows that the only way to get him to do anything is to threaten his appetite. Although I will admit I am getting a bit tired.'

Harry chuckled to himself. 'Well at least I know my food is secure. Come on, I'll help you put your broom back.'

Harry and Ginny walked over to the shed and, after putting the broom back into the shed, Ginny placed the lock back on the handle. She casually waved her hand over the lock and an audible click was heard before she started to walk away. Harry, on the other hand, was rooted to the spot in shock.

'Did you just perform wandless magic!?' Harry asked her, astounded.

'Yeah I picked it up about half way through the year. I couldn't find my lock picking tools, so I decided to try it out. It took about an hour, but I finally got it.'

Harry finally snapped out of his shock and caught up to Ginny.

'That is so cool! I guess that's another thing you'll have to show me.' And with that, the two made their way back to their individual rooms.

I wanted to add a quidditch scene with the Weasley boys and Ginny, but I couldn't find a way to make it work because there was an odd number of people. So, I've decided to put it off for a later chapter. That does make this one a bit shorter than I would have liked, but that's the way things are I guess. Thanks so much for the support and as always, favorite and review!