Ginny was sitting at dinner quietly fuming. She'd found a smart new dress in the clothes her mother had packed for this holiday, a smart new dress Ginny was now wearing. All it got her though was teasing from her twin brothers, since their host, Harry, hadn't bothered to turn up for dinner.
They were just about finished eating when laughter disturbed their dessert, laughter coming from someone not sitting at the table. Harry swooped down onto the terrace, with a laughing Hermione sitting behind him on his broom. Her hair was splayed out behind her like a pennant, an indication of the speed Harry was pushing the broom - yet Hermione was loudly laughing while her arms wrapped around his chest.
There were two round tables in use on the terrace, not surprisingly one held the adults whilst the other had all their friends sitting around it. As they landed on the terrace next to their friends, it was Ron who whipped around and posed the question they all wanted to know the answer to. "Since when did Hermione like flying with you? She hates flying, and refuses to go anywhere near a broom."
"Hey, this was Hermione's suggestion. It surprised me too."
Spotting Ginny staring daggers at her, Hermione laid it on rather thick. "Any children of Harry's will probably fly before they can walk. So their mother will need to improve her broom riding skills. My Harry is a brilliant flier and a great teacher. Sorry we missed dinner but a rather late and very large lunch left us not feeling hungry. We took a quick fly around the property and then Harry headed out into the bay. We flew over the sea, barely skimming the waves, and the beach below this terrace is fantastic. We shot up the face of the cliff with the broom almost vertical, I think Harry just wanted me to hold on tight to him - it was so much fun."
Sitting with Millie and having just enjoyed a fantastic dinner, Ron was in a brilliant mood. Seeing Hermione enjoy being on a broom only added to those positive emotions. "Hey, you think she might try out for chaser? I'm going to take a shot at the keeper vacancy. Imagine the three of us on the team, Gryffindor would be unstoppable…"
They shared a quick mental conversation and instantly reached a decision. They might not want this information getting out right now, but neither could stand there and be part of Ron making plans that had zero chance of coming to fruition. Harry and Hermione knew this news would get out soon anyway, and it certainly wasn't worth lying to Ron over.
"Sorry mate, but I won't be playing for Gryffindor next year. I won't be playing quidditch because I won't be at Hogwarts next year…"
Having managed to hold off exploding at hearing Harry's first sentence, the second took all his anger away. "I thought you were looking at tutors?"
"We would basically be living at Hogwarts, but having all our classes tutored. We decided to open our own school, and have already convinced some of the professors sitting here to join us."
Now the cat was out of the bag, Hermione gave them the good news. "We're hoping you can all join us here at the Potter Institute. Well actually, not all of you…"
Seeing this bitch glance in her direction as Granger mentioned not everyone could attend was the final straw for Ginny. Her middle name was Molly and Ginny was channelling her mother as the redhead's temper shot well past boiling point and erupted - scalding everyone.
"You think you're so clever, Granger, trying to keep my Harry to yourself. Leaving Hogwarts to set up your own school, with the only other girls being beastly Bulstrode, Loony Lovegood and two Puff witches who are so into each other to be no competition for Harry either. My mother won't put up with this, she'll make sure Dumbledore stops all of you. Harry's been promised to me for years, and he saved my life - he's mine!"
Switching from a voice that would have shattered glass to one dripping honeyed words, Ginny then attempted to entice her target. "Harry love, surely you can see what she's up to? The bitch is trying to keep us apart. We belong together..."
Moving to place herself in front of Harry, hoping to stop him roasting Ginny for insulting her, Hermione was almost assaulted by the wave of anger coming from her betrothed. She could see only one possible way to deter Harry's temper from exploding. Hermione grabbed her betrothed and kissed him - hard.
This was like waving a red rag to Ginny's bull, her wand was out and a curse heading for Hermione before anyone could stop it. Harry waved his hand and a shield protected Hermione, with Ron stunning his sister before Ginny could do any more damage.
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