The Ring of Reduction (2)
Chapter 1
The Sunset
Relaxing in a recently conjured lawn chair, Harry Potter suddenly had a sense of feeling out of place, as though something was happening that was not supposed to be happening. The feeling only lasted a second, however. He quickly realized what it was, as he'd had it several times a day since coming to the Burrow from Hogwarts a week ago: it was summertime, and he was happy.
He smiled to himself as he wondered how long it would take for him to get used to the idea. Here I am, he thought, sitting outside in a lawn chair with Ginny, watching the sunset on a nice, warm summer evening, living in a house full of the people I feel closest to in the world. Last year on this day, he recalled, he was at 4 Privet Drive, surrounded by people who disliked him and who he disliked, isolated, and mourning the loss of his godfather, Sirius Black, for whose death he had felt responsible.
The thought caused his smile to fade, though he had long since accepted that he did not bear sole responsibility for what had happened. He still felt sad at having lost Sirius, but the feeling was now tempered by the certain knowledge that though Sirius was dead, his spirit still existed in a way Harry did not exactly understand. He knew now that no one who died was truly gone, since Albus Dumbledore had died a little over two weeks ago, but still had conversations with Harry as he slept. Harry didn't know how it worked, nor did he really care; what was important was that Dumbledore was not gone from Harry's life, and that Harry now knew from direct personal experience that death was not the end of existence.
Ginny moved her head up from where it had been resting on his shoulder, and kissed him lightly on the lips. "What are you thinking?" she asked.
"About how nice it is that I can kiss you any time I want," he replied, knowing his answer would both please and annoy her.
"I meant before that, as you know very well," she responded, though obviously happy with his answer.
He looked at the sunset again as he answered. "About what I was doing exactly a year ago right now, and it made me think of Sirius. I should ask Albus what Sirius is doing now."
"Whatever it is, it's probably something we couldn't understand all that well," she mused. "But at least he's there, somewhere. I'm so glad you get to know that." She rested her head on his shoulder again as he squeezed her shoulder gently.
"Me, too," he agreed. "And I'm still having trouble adjusting to being happy in the summer, but I suppose I've had worse problems." He paused, then after a minute, continued, "Funny how I never really stopped to look at sunsets before."
"Must be one of those things having a girlfriend does to you," said Ron with amusement, having just walked up behind them. "Next thing, you'll be picking flowers and writing her love poetry."
"That would be nice, but I'm happy with him the way he is," said Ginny, looking at Harry rather than Ron. Harry looked up at Ron in mild annoyance, then leaned over and gave Ginny a lingering kiss, only partly to annoy Ron. She enthusiastically returned it, then looked up at her embarrassed brother and added, "Feel free to do that any time, Ron. It seems to work out well for me."
"Yes, I see that," responded Ron dryly. "Not that you two need much of an excuse. I think Mum sent me out here on purpose. She said something about wondering whether you could keep your lips off each other long enough to come in for dinner."
"Bet she was smiling when she said it," said Ginny confidently.
"I wasn't looking at her face, but it wouldn't shock me," conceded Ron. "I swear, I've never seen her so happy as when she's talking about you two. You could start ripping each other's clothes off in the living room, and she'd say, 'look at them, they're so cute.'"