Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Ritual
The Ritual
Disclaimer: I don’t own the Potterverse!
Chapter 5
Ginny led Harry back to her room and handed him the book opened to the start of the relevant section, “Do you have your potion with you?”
“No,” he replied. “It’s back in my room. I’ll just take the book back through the ‘secret passage’ with me and read it there. Come get me when you are finished getting ready.”
“Sure,” she replied and followed him into her bathroom. When she saw where the door opened out she was surprised, “That’s the last place I would have tried. Oh well leave it open and I’ll come through when I’m ready.”
Harry shrugged, “Sure.” He walked through carefully keeping his place in the book.
Once back in his room he found his vial of the greenish potion and drank it. It tasted bad but he’d expected that and soon he was reading in a comfortable chair by the window. After a few pages of description there were pages of moving drawings of people making slow graceful motions that flowed from one position to another. The first thing that shocked him is that the moves and positions described were very much like what he knew of tai chi and he wondered if there was a connection, and the second thing was that you had to be naked, outside, and in a clear, unobstructed, and sunny place to do them. At least to get the benefits of doing them. And they had good benefits even if you did not do the empowerment ritual afterward. The motions supposedly helped your magic flow through your body more easily and removed any blockages or constrictions on your magic do to poor health, malnutrition, or old injuries. He could really use that but he dearly wished he do it all clothed.
After he’d read through it all once he found the movements stuck in his mind without effort. He was pondering that when Ginny tapped his shoulder, “Finished reading Harry?”
She was dressed in a silk bathrobe and rubber sandals and grinning at him. He stood and stretched, “Yes I have. Are you sure the potion is why it is so clear in memory?”
“What else could it be?” she replied.
“It might be the book,” he replied. “It might have enchantments on it to improve retention. Or it might be the ritual itself.” He shrugged, “I guess we’d need a native Hindi speaker to check on that though. Maybe we should ask one of the Patils when we get back to school?”
She grinned at him, “Maybe Harry but do you want to show Parvati those drawings? She might get the wrong idea. If you showed Padma, well she hardly knows you so who knows what she’d think.”
Harry blushed, “I was actually think I’d ask Hermione to do it.”
“Well aside from making Parv certain she’s a seeker for the other team instead of just suspicious I see nothing wrong with that idea,” Ginny said grinning. “If all this works we won’t be able to keep it secret for long at all and that combined with the fact that nobody else in Hogwarts is likely to be a parselmouth means that we don’t have to keep the book a secret. Hopefully they won’t realize that both of us have to be able to speak to snakes to have taken the shortcut.”
“I won’t tell if you don’t,” Harry said. “In fact I think we should keep some details of this from everyone, especially your parents and brothers.”
She giggled, “You mean like the naked parts?”
“Especially those,” he said. “Aren’t you worried about your reputation? I mean I’m sure the Gryffindors will be behind you but I know from experiences the rest of the students can be very fickle.”
She snorts, “My reputation has been gone for years. They don’t do it around you but I’ve been hearing girls wondering about what else I might have been forced to do when I was possessed since my second year and coming up with several lewd ideas.”
Harry looks horrified, “They said that to you? Who was it?”
“Not directly to me but loudly to each other in my presence,” she replied. “Far too many to give you names but I’ve gotten used to it so don’t get upset on my behalf. That’s the worst but being on the house team gets its own comments. Haven’t you heard what they used to say about Katie, Alicia, and Angelina? Even though two of them were dating Fred and George?”
Harry grimaced, “I heard it once. I thought I’d stopped it.”
She shrugged, “They just stopped saying it around you.” She grinned, “Or the twins. Nobody wanted to get on their bad side.”
“Now we’ll be coming back from a summer alone on a tropical island,” she started.
Harry interrupted, “But Hermione fixed that.”
Ginny looked at him, “You don’t know mum. If she hasn’t yet she’ll soon try to floo the place to see how I am and realize its fictitious unless Hermione has a lot more resources than I thought. Hermione will have to come clean to prevent a nationwide manhunt.” She poked Harry, “What do you think she’s thinking we’re doing right now?”
Harry groaned, “Your brothers are going to kill me!”
“I think I can stop them,” Ginny said. Then she giggled at the look on Harry’s face, “I’ll tell them we were training. They’ll assume there were adults supervising and we will be able to back up that claim by then so they won’t kill you.”
“Thank you,” Harry said sincerely.
“That’s why I’m not worried,” she said. “But don’t worry, I won’t push you into anything or,” she smirked, “take advantage of you. I’m just going to give you information and leave the choices up to you.”
Harry blinked, “Up to me?”
Ginny nodded, “Yup! I’m not terribly old fashioned but if we are going to get romantic then I want you to initiate it. I will go so far as to tell you I’d like it if you did and I wouldn't offer anything I’m not willing to give. Right now I’ll show you which door I’ll be leaving through and you get to decide whether you'll be joining me or going somewhere far enough away that you can’t see me and I can’t see you.”
She walked through the house to the south and with a last look and a wink she walked outside. Harry stared at the door for several minutes then sighed and went over toward another side of the house before going outside.
Once outside he slowly stripped and placed his clothes on a nearby bench. Sighing he walked out into direct sunlight and started moving. Soon he felt himself becoming more aware of his body. He was aware of the texture of the grass under his feet, the wind blowing across his skin, the warmth of the sun and the sweat slowly forming on his skin. Suddenly the smooth flowing of his motion stuttered and he opened his eyes to see what he’d hit.
Seeing nothing around him but grass and warm air he looked himself over to see if he was hurt. He saw he actually had lost a few scars on his arms from back before Hogwarts. He’d been running from Dudley and his gang and went right through several thorny bushes. He remembered that this was supposed to fix old injuries and such and smiled. “Cool,” he said and got back to going through the motions from the book. When he was hungry he sat down and called for food, then afterward he stood back up and continued. Faster than he’d thought possible the sun was setting and he was feeling incredibly drained. He put on his clothes and had a sylph show him to his room.
Disclaimer: I don’t own the Potterverse!
Chapter 5
Ginny led Harry back to her room and handed him the book opened to the start of the relevant section, “Do you have your potion with you?”
“No,” he replied. “It’s back in my room. I’ll just take the book back through the ‘secret passage’ with me and read it there. Come get me when you are finished getting ready.”
“Sure,” she replied and followed him into her bathroom. When she saw where the door opened out she was surprised, “That’s the last place I would have tried. Oh well leave it open and I’ll come through when I’m ready.”
Harry shrugged, “Sure.” He walked through carefully keeping his place in the book.
Once back in his room he found his vial of the greenish potion and drank it. It tasted bad but he’d expected that and soon he was reading in a comfortable chair by the window. After a few pages of description there were pages of moving drawings of people making slow graceful motions that flowed from one position to another. The first thing that shocked him is that the moves and positions described were very much like what he knew of tai chi and he wondered if there was a connection, and the second thing was that you had to be naked, outside, and in a clear, unobstructed, and sunny place to do them. At least to get the benefits of doing them. And they had good benefits even if you did not do the empowerment ritual afterward. The motions supposedly helped your magic flow through your body more easily and removed any blockages or constrictions on your magic do to poor health, malnutrition, or old injuries. He could really use that but he dearly wished he do it all clothed.
After he’d read through it all once he found the movements stuck in his mind without effort. He was pondering that when Ginny tapped his shoulder, “Finished reading Harry?”
She was dressed in a silk bathrobe and rubber sandals and grinning at him. He stood and stretched, “Yes I have. Are you sure the potion is why it is so clear in memory?”
“What else could it be?” she replied.
“It might be the book,” he replied. “It might have enchantments on it to improve retention. Or it might be the ritual itself.” He shrugged, “I guess we’d need a native Hindi speaker to check on that though. Maybe we should ask one of the Patils when we get back to school?”
She grinned at him, “Maybe Harry but do you want to show Parvati those drawings? She might get the wrong idea. If you showed Padma, well she hardly knows you so who knows what she’d think.”
Harry blushed, “I was actually think I’d ask Hermione to do it.”
“Well aside from making Parv certain she’s a seeker for the other team instead of just suspicious I see nothing wrong with that idea,” Ginny said grinning. “If all this works we won’t be able to keep it secret for long at all and that combined with the fact that nobody else in Hogwarts is likely to be a parselmouth means that we don’t have to keep the book a secret. Hopefully they won’t realize that both of us have to be able to speak to snakes to have taken the shortcut.”
“I won’t tell if you don’t,” Harry said. “In fact I think we should keep some details of this from everyone, especially your parents and brothers.”
She giggled, “You mean like the naked parts?”
“Especially those,” he said. “Aren’t you worried about your reputation? I mean I’m sure the Gryffindors will be behind you but I know from experiences the rest of the students can be very fickle.”
She snorts, “My reputation has been gone for years. They don’t do it around you but I’ve been hearing girls wondering about what else I might have been forced to do when I was possessed since my second year and coming up with several lewd ideas.”
Harry looks horrified, “They said that to you? Who was it?”
“Not directly to me but loudly to each other in my presence,” she replied. “Far too many to give you names but I’ve gotten used to it so don’t get upset on my behalf. That’s the worst but being on the house team gets its own comments. Haven’t you heard what they used to say about Katie, Alicia, and Angelina? Even though two of them were dating Fred and George?”
Harry grimaced, “I heard it once. I thought I’d stopped it.”
She shrugged, “They just stopped saying it around you.” She grinned, “Or the twins. Nobody wanted to get on their bad side.”
“Now we’ll be coming back from a summer alone on a tropical island,” she started.
Harry interrupted, “But Hermione fixed that.”
Ginny looked at him, “You don’t know mum. If she hasn’t yet she’ll soon try to floo the place to see how I am and realize its fictitious unless Hermione has a lot more resources than I thought. Hermione will have to come clean to prevent a nationwide manhunt.” She poked Harry, “What do you think she’s thinking we’re doing right now?”
Harry groaned, “Your brothers are going to kill me!”
“I think I can stop them,” Ginny said. Then she giggled at the look on Harry’s face, “I’ll tell them we were training. They’ll assume there were adults supervising and we will be able to back up that claim by then so they won’t kill you.”
“Thank you,” Harry said sincerely.
“That’s why I’m not worried,” she said. “But don’t worry, I won’t push you into anything or,” she smirked, “take advantage of you. I’m just going to give you information and leave the choices up to you.”
Harry blinked, “Up to me?”
Ginny nodded, “Yup! I’m not terribly old fashioned but if we are going to get romantic then I want you to initiate it. I will go so far as to tell you I’d like it if you did and I wouldn't offer anything I’m not willing to give. Right now I’ll show you which door I’ll be leaving through and you get to decide whether you'll be joining me or going somewhere far enough away that you can’t see me and I can’t see you.”
She walked through the house to the south and with a last look and a wink she walked outside. Harry stared at the door for several minutes then sighed and went over toward another side of the house before going outside.
Once outside he slowly stripped and placed his clothes on a nearby bench. Sighing he walked out into direct sunlight and started moving. Soon he felt himself becoming more aware of his body. He was aware of the texture of the grass under his feet, the wind blowing across his skin, the warmth of the sun and the sweat slowly forming on his skin. Suddenly the smooth flowing of his motion stuttered and he opened his eyes to see what he’d hit.
Seeing nothing around him but grass and warm air he looked himself over to see if he was hurt. He saw he actually had lost a few scars on his arms from back before Hogwarts. He’d been running from Dudley and his gang and went right through several thorny bushes. He remembered that this was supposed to fix old injuries and such and smiled. “Cool,” he said and got back to going through the motions from the book. When he was hungry he sat down and called for food, then afterward he stood back up and continued. Faster than he’d thought possible the sun was setting and he was feeling incredibly drained. He put on his clothes and had a sylph show him to his room.
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