Chapter 9: Just Two

"Hurry up, it's time to go!" Ginny called up the stairs to Harry. It was indeed time for them to leave on their holiday. They had considered using some of the holiday to attend a few top-flight, professional Quidditch matches: Ginny wondered whether she should take Harry to see The Hollyhead Harpies, the team that she would be playing for next year—but she tactfully decided that it might be better not to remind him of that just yet. Harry, of course, knew the famous Bulgarian Quidditch player, Viktor Krum, quite well, from the time when they were in the Tri-Wizard Tournament at Hogwarts together, but he had no desire, really, to reacquaint himself with the man.

In fact, it had been quite difficult for them to decide anywhere that might be mutually acceptable. Ginny had inherited the Weaseley family attributes of red hair, fair complexion and freckles. This meant that she had never seen the point in following the Muggle custom of sunbathing; that is, trying to turn her skin a deep shade of brown by lying around in the sun for hours—if she had wanted to, though, she knew a perfectly good spell that would achieve the same effect! And as they both lived in the Weaseley family home, they could already spend lots of time together; although total privacy was rarely possible. Their relationship was rock-solid, as far as Harry was concerned, but he did wonder whether that saying that Muggles used: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder", had any factual basis. Harry had also realised that, in the years before Voldermort was defeated, he had become almost entirely preoccupied with either school or his enemies, to the extent that he had never really had any other interests or hobbies, apart from Quidditch.

When he had been growing up in Privet Drive, he had never had any friends, or gone to the cinema, or rode a bike, or hung around with a gang, like his cousin Dudley had; although Dudley was definitely not his idea of a role-model, anyway. He also never got to be really involved in the Dursley family activities, so he had developed into a very insular boy who, if he did not create his own entertainment would have had none at all. He read whatever books were available to him, but as there were few adult books in the Dursley household, and he was never allowed to borrow Dudley's comics, he was left with only his Hogwarts school books until he was old enough the travel to the library in Little Whinging. Even then, because he was never permitted to become a member, he couldn't borrow books to read at home.

Ginny, of course, was almost the exact opposite to him. She had grown up with a large, supportive family, who although they never had much money, did, however, have an over-abundance of love and affection to give her. She no doubt did all the things that other little witches did and had all the same interests. When she grew older she started at Hogwarts and she became prettier, more gregarious, seriously interested in Quidditch—and boys! She had also inherited her family's well-balanced attitude to life and their high moral values. She was, Harry concluded, in every way both ordinary and extraordinary. In truth, Harry thought, he was probably a little in awe of her, which made him want to reach out and hold on to her tightly, even more.

Harry knew that he was also very lucky to have grown up knowing intelligent, strong-willed and grounded women, such as Molly Weaseley, Ginny, Hermione, and even Professor McGonagall. How different his life might have been if he had only had the likes of the seemingly vacuous Petunia Dursley, or the narrow-minded and opinionated Auntie Marge on which to base his opinions and experiences of the opposite sex!

After lots of talking about the holiday, they had finally reached an impasse, until eventually a compromise was reached: they were going camping. Although Ginny Weaseley was a seasoned camper, Harry's first impressions of the idea were quite negative. He was heavily influenced, of course, by his only previous experiences: at the Quidditch World Cup, when the campsite had been invaded by Death Eaters; and then when he had been forced to spend long months on the run from the Snatchers; feeling isolated, being cold, going hungry, and having to constantly move camp sites. It had ended when he had inadvertently betrayed his and the others' location and they had been imprisoned in Malfoy Manor, where Hermione had been tortured. This also brought back the memories of Dobby, the faithful house elf, who had been killed while saving them.

Harry was actually quite ashamed to think that his last few years of extreme happiness had almost made him forget about this episode in his life. If it hadn't been for his sincere desire not to upset Ginny, he would probably have considered cancelling the holiday altogether. But of course when he had told her about his feelings, she had managed to both console him and bring him out of his self-imposed gloominess. He had watched her reactions as he had told her of his reservations, and he was heartened to see that any feeling of disappointment that she might have experienced (especially in him) had been tempered by her natural sense of compassion.

She had been able to reassure him that those dark times were truly over and that they would now be able to stay in places openly, enjoying the environments they visited; and that while Ginny may not yet be as good a cook as her mother, she wasn't bad and they certainly had no need to go hungry while on their travels. And although she might have been thinking it, Ginny decided not to say—at least while in the presence of her parents—that she could always think of ways to ensure that Harry was never cold while she was there with him!

One element of Harry's previous camping experiences was repeated, however: Hermione had offered to lend them her seemingly-bottomless, magical handbag, which would more than comfortably contain their tent, that turned into a small, furnished apartment; together with their clothes and any other supplies that they chose to take with them.

They would have to leave enough time at the end of August to prepare for Harry and Ginny's return to Hogwarts, but she had left a list of the things that she thought that she would need, so that her mother could prepare her trunk for her. Harry, too, had tried to make sure that he had pre-packed everything necessary for his new job, to last at least until Christmas.