Hedwig gave a hoot to show that she would wait, so Ginny ascended the stairs and went to her room to craft her reply to Harry. She pulled Harry's letter out of her pocket and put it into one of the desk drawers that she kept locked. She learned her lesson the hard way when she walked in on Ron reading through the letters she had left lying on her desk the other day. Just as she was dipping her quill in ink to begin writing, her door burst open to reveal a furious looking Ron.
"You just had to go and tell on me to him, didn't you? What, are you trying to turn him against me or something? Is that it? Think maybe then he'll finally notice you?" Ron accused his sister scathingly.
"Just what are you on about now?" Ginny asked in annoyance, turning in her chair to face her brother.
"Well, considering half his letter was spent telling me how I should treat my dear little sister better," Ron snapped, "that can only mean that you've been complaining to him about me. And I want to know why you're trying to turn my best friend against me."
"First of all," Ginny replied icily, "the only thing I said to Harry about you was that you hadn't shut up about Dean Thomas since I mentioned him on the train." Ginny rose from her chair and advanced on her brother. "Secondly, do you really think that I have nothing better to do with my life than to try to ruin yours? Harry seemed mad enough at you without my help, so maybe you should worry a little less about what I am saying about you or not and just grow up." She poked Ron in the chest as she finished, backing him up out of her doorway. Once he had stepped out of the room she slammed the door in his face.
She locked the door and returned to her desk. If she wasn't planning on talking about Ron in her letter to Harry before, she sure as hell was intending to do so now. He really could be a complete prat sometimes.
.....
Harry had been practicing his wandless magic for a couple hours. He was apprehensive about practicing apparation. Despite his successes in his nighttime training with Sirius, there was always the chance that he would make a mistake, and there wouldn't be anyone around to help him if he ended up splinching himself. So he had avoided apparation practice and stuck to other spells.
At one point he had taken his existing curtains, which were fairly thin and would not block out a lot of light, which some of the spells he would eventually be casting would cause, and used his transfiguration skills to make them into a heavier material that would have no trouble blocking all his spell work from the outside world.
His confidence in his abilities was lifting as he encountered more and more success in wandless casting. He still wasn't up to the standards of his regular magic with a wand, but he was quickly closing the gap. The biggest difference at the moment was the speed of casting. It always took him a moment to gather his magic and form it the right way before he could cast anything. He hoped that as he continued practicing it would become second nature to him, allowing him to gather and form his magic at a moment's notice.
Harry eventually gathered up his nerve and decided to try apparating. He started off very slowly as he had the first time he tried apparating with a wand. He focused on a corner of his room and made sure to completely lock the location in his mind before gathering up his magic and forming it into the apparation spell. Once he was satisfied, he concentrated on being in that corner of the room, facing out towards the room, and willed his magic to take him there. With a pop, Harry reappeared in the desired corner looking out towards the window.
Encouraged by his initial success, Harry continued with his apparation practice, popping up all around the room. He started off slowly but was rapidly building speed as his confidence built up. He eventually started softening the sound of his apparation like he had the night before until there was barely a whisper when he disappeared and reappeared.
Late that night, Harry realized that he was making a habit out of missing meals as his stomach reminded him that he had not eaten lunch or dinner yet. He snuck downstairs into the kitchen to appease his rumbling stomach. When he returned to his room it was to a tapping sound emanating from behind the newly thickened curtains he had made earlier that day. When he drew the curtains aside, he revealed a very annoyed Hedwig wanting entry into the room.
Harry quickly opened the window to let his owl fly in. "Sorry, Hedwig" Harry attempted to placate the owl. "I was downstairs getting something to eat." Still annoyed, Hedwig stuck out her leg for Harry to remove the attached letter. Hedwig immediately flew off once free of her burden. As Harry unrolled the parchment, he found it to contain handwriting he was beginning to become familiar with.
Dear Harry,
I'm sorry to do this to you, but I'm in need of a way to vent some of my frustration with your best friend, my dear brother Ron. So prepare yourself for a rant.
That insufferable prat has a lot of nerve. First he wouldn't leave me alone about Dean. Then he keeps hounding me to let him read the letter that you sent me, claiming that it was his right as your best friend. After I told him to sod off a hundred times I caught him snooping in my room reading through my letters. He found yours and judging by his comments I'd say he managed to get through a paragraph or two before I caught him.
As if that wasn't enough, after getting your letter today he barges into my room and accuses me of trying to turn you against him. He claimed that half your letter was berating him for his treatment of me. I told him that the only thing I had mentioned was that he wouldn't shut up about Dean. And I told him to grow up. I also let him know that you seemed upset enough with him without my help before I had even written to you. If you could tell him who your source was, and I'm assuming it was Hermione since I wrote to her about it earlier, that might get him off my back for a bit, but then again that might just put Hermione in my place.
Now before you start writing me apologies, let me just tell you right now that I don't want to hear any of it. My brother is the prat, not you. That's not to say you've never been a prat, but you didn't do anything wrong this time, and I don't blame you in the slightest for my brother's behavior. If it wasn't this, the immature git would have found some other way to get under my skin. I wanted to say thanks for sticking up for me to Ron. Merlin knows he won't listen to me, but he might just listen to you.
Anyway, you are quite welcome for the potions supplies. And I will hold you to that promise (of course I'll keep it a secret). I'm glad to hear that the DA will be continuing, and legally this time. Am I allowed to talk to Ron and Hermione about it? You said I shouldn't mention it to anyone, but I figured you must be telling at least those two about it, right? I won't bring it up until you give me the okay, but I'm just surprised that you chose me to be the first to know.
Oh, and as for Dean, don't worry about forgetting about him and I. You had a lot on your mind at the time. To be entirely truthful, I probably would have forgotten about it too if not for the git constantly reminding me. Yes, that's right, you heard me correctly. I made the whole thing up just to prove that Ron would throw a fit no matter who I dated. Looks like I was right. Don't tell Ron that, though. Annoying as he is about it, I still get some pleasure out of baiting him with it. Sorry again about the rant, but I needed to say all of that to somebody. Write again soon.
With love,
Ginny
Harry could not believe Ron. 'How dare he read my letter to Ginny without her permission? And how could he accuse his own sister of trying to turn me against him? And the nerve of him to claim that it's his right as my 'best friend' to read letters I send to Ginny. This is a time when we all need to pull together, and he's just starting fights wherever he can.' Harry thought to himself. Ginny had said it best: Ron needed to grow up; otherwise he was going to be left behind. As Harry had told Sirius, he didn't have any time for childishness; he had a prophecy to fulfill.
....
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