I offer this by way of apology for Thoughts, though if 
you enjoy a sad story, you might want to read Thoughts 
as well :)

Thanks to my indefatigable proof-reader, Minx, yet 
again. She sees things I never would.
 
Promises.
 
It was the start of a new year - his fifth at Hogwarts - 
and it wasn't going to be as much fun as last year, Harry 
decided. That had been obvious on the train. Ron and 
Hermione were all over each other. He had a feeling he 
wasn't going to see quite as much of them as before. 
Still good luck to them - they spent so much time 
fighting and arguing that they just had to be meant for 
one another!

I'd better throw myself into my work, he decided, 
sighing at the thought of it. Or into Quidditch. Harry 
brightened. Quidditch - why not? There was a lot he 
could do to improve his technique. And Gryffindor would 
need a new captain some day! The prospect was 
appealing. No time like the present. He ran upstairs, 
grabbed his Firebolt and some practice snitches, and 
hurried off out. There was a good hour of daylight left.

He sprinted down to the Quidditch pitch, but as he 
neared the stands, he slowed. A familiar figure was 
sitting there. She was looking at the pitch and had her 
back to him. Grinning to himself, he wondered if he 
could sneak up on her. As he got closer he stopped, 
realising he would make too much noise if he walked 
across the seats. Still, when you've got a Firebolt ...

Harry mounted and kicked off. A couple of low circles to 
settle himself and then he flew carefully through the 
stands, just a few feet above the seats. Slowing to a 
crawl, he inched up and hovered just behind her.

"Boo!"

Ginny leapt up, nearly falling into the row in front. She 
turned, eyes wide - and then glared at him.

"Evening" said Harry trying, unsuccessfully, not to 
laugh.

"I'll get you for that!" said Ginny crossly.

"You and whose army?"

"Don't laugh Harry, you gave me such a fright."

"Sorry." He grinned as Ginny plonked herself on a seat. 

"Mind if I sit down?" he asked politely.

"Suit yourself. I'm still going to get you. And that's a 
promise."

He sat beside her, still grinning, and nudged her. "Come 
on - give me a smile."

Ginny sighed exasperatedly - and then half-smiled at 
him. "That was a rotten trick. I thought I was all alone 
out here. I thought I'd hear anybody coming a mile off."

"Not when I'm on good old Silver" said Harry, patting his 
Firebolt.

"Silver? That's not what you call it is it?" she asked 
incredulously.

"Nope. Just made it up."

Ginny giggled. They sat in silence for a while, watching 
swallows catching insects and darting through the 
Quidditch hoops

"So, what are you doing here?" said Harry finally.

"Oh, I just like to ... just sit by myself, sometimes. And 
remember how ..." She stopped.

"Remember how what?" said Harry.

"How, er, how Gryffindor, er, won various games."

"Gin, I didn't realise you were interested in Quidditch. 
Brilliant! I'm here to practise. You can throw some 
snitches for me." He pulled a canvas sack of training 
snitches from around his neck and handed it to her.

"Oh, right. Er, what do I do?" asked Ginny.

"Just take them out one at a time. Don't let them get 
away. Then hurl them into the sky. I'll chase them. 
When I catch them they go 'dead'. I'll drop them back to 
you and you can launch another one."

"All right." She smiled at him.

Harry shot up into the air. Ginny clambered down over 
the seats to the pitch and started throwing the snitches 
for him. She watched as he wheeled around the sky, 
now climbing slowly, now diving towards the ground at 
breakneck speed. Several times she screwed her eyes 
up, just as she did at real matches. Just as she'd been 
doing when he'd caught her reliving some of his finest 
moments. Not that she could ever admit that to him. 
Nor to anybody else.

It was fun for the first dozen snitches, but then her arm 
began to ache. And the sack still seemed full. Harry 
showed no signs of wanting to stop. She gritted her 
teeth and carried on throwing. If nothing else, it was 
interesting watching him from below!

She threw another snitch - it went all of three feet into 
the air and then shot under the stands.

"Gin! What are you doing?" shouted Harry, from high 
above her.

Ginny dropped the sack and sank to the ground. Harry 
floated down and landed beside her.

"I'm tired. I can't throw any more Harry."

"Oh? Okay, let's have a rest. And then you'll throw all 
the better." Ginny suppressed a groan, and nodded.

Harry flopped back on the grass and lay looking up at 
the sky. Ginny sat and hugged her knees, trying to 
avoid looking directly at him, though she very much 
wanted to. He never took any notice of her, not really - 
she was just Ron's little sister. Just somebody who was around, but who wasn't anybody. In spite of the balmy 
evening she shivered.

"Cold?" said Harry, sitting up.

"No, it's okay, I ..."

"Here" said Harry. He picked up his cloak and flicked it 
around her. As he fastened it at the neck, his hand 
brushed against her cheek. A shiver ran through her 
again, but this time of pleasure.

"Harry, I'm okay, I'm not cold."

"You'll need it. Trust me." He pulled his jumper on.

Ginny looked quizzically at him.

"Ever ridden a Firebolt?" he asked. There was a big grin 
on his face.

"No ... I'm not sure I could control it. I wouldn't be used 
to it. I don't think I'd better try."

Harry swung his leg over the Firebolt and hovered a few 
inches off the ground. He dipped the back of the broom.

"Hop on Gin."

She stared and then jumped on, feeling herself going 
pink. Luckily Harry couldn't see her.

"Put your arms around me. Hold on tight. And lean into 
the turns."

She wrapped her arms around him, trembling - surely 
he must feel it? There was a sudden jerk as the broom 
rocketed into the sky. She closed her eyes and hung on 
for all she was worth. They began a long slow turn, so 
she opened her eyes and told herself to relax - if you're 
stiff you'll unbalance the broom. Harry flew steadily 
along and then, somehow, came to a dead-stop in the 
air.

"Seeker's Hover" he yelled, half-turning to her. "Are you 
holding on?"

"Yes" shouted Ginny, tightening her grip, wondering why 
she couldn't do this to him when they were on solid 
ground. Except in her dreams.

The broom leapt forward. Her old Comet could never do 
this. The broom kept accelerating and then suddenly 
Harry dived it towards the ground, pulling out at the last 
moment. Then they were climbing vertically, then 
another dive, faster than the first. She screamed with 
delight - the speed was exhilarating! They headed 
skywards once more and then levelled off. And then 
they were upside down, right-way up, upside down, 
cork-screwing their way towards the ground. Ginny shut 
her eyes tightly - slow climbs and gentle dives were all 
she'd ever done. Up they hurtled once more and then, 
steady level flight. She opened her eyes and realised 
they were heading away from the castle, towards Lake 
Wood. Dare she lay her head against his back?

As they flew along, skimming the tree-tops, Ginny saw 
that Harry was heading for a small conical hill that stuck 
out above the wood. A square stone tower sat on top of 
the hill. Harry circled the tower and then dropped gently 
down to the ground. Ginny slid off the broom, her legs 
shaking. Harry stood grinning at her.

"Enjoy it?"

"It was brilliant Harry. Scary, but wonderful!" She 
flopped to the ground and then unbuckled the cloak and 
let it fall around her. Harry sat down, avoiding the cloak. 
Ginny smiled to herself - he was as shy as she was!

"Where are we?" she asked. "I've never seen this tower 
before."

"You can't see it from the ground, unless you're very 
close to it. The trees hide it. This is Watch Hill - and 
that's the Watch Tower. I found it one day when I was 
scooting about on the 'stick. Hagrid told me all about it 
when I asked him."

"It's very peaceful Harry. Sort of sleepy, as if it's seen 
many things and now it just wants to rest."

"Yeah, it is quiet. And very old too. I sometimes come 
here, just to be, well, alone." He coloured slightly.

Ginny smiled gently. "I know what you mean. 
Sometimes I want to hide away from everybody too. 
And that's not easy in a boarding school, especially with 
the world's supply of brothers always on hand." She 
rolled her eyes and sighed. Fred and George had been 
particularly tiresome over the summer and would 
doubtless continue so.

"Well now you know about it, I hereby grant you 
permission to visit my hill whenever you like!"

"Are we supposed to fly this far out?"

"Probably not" grinned Harry. "But they can't hang you 
for it. And they've got to catch you first."

"So it's our hill is it?" asked Ginny teasingly.

"I guess" said Harry, shrugging.

She realised he'd completed missed her point! She 
giggled.

"What?" asked Harry, puzzled.

"Nothing. I wonder what they used to watch for, from 
the tower?"

"They didn't watch from the tower - they watched the 
tower" said Harry knowingly.

"Huh?"

"Dark Magic is nothing new. There were evil wizards 
long before Voldemort. And some of them made him 
look like a beginner. Back in the 1200s there was some 
nutter called Morthog running around. He killed a lot of 
people, both Muggles and wizards, before they finally 
caught him. Somebody built this tower, surrounded it 
with charms and then locked Morthog up in it. Hagrid 
says the idea was to let him see all the land he thought 
he was going to conquer, but now never would. Just to 
drive him mad I guess. They set wizard guards all 
around it, who watched him until he died of old age. 
That was on September 2nd 1300."

"Harry, that's ... that's today, that's exactly 700 years 
ago" said Ginny in hushed tones.

"Yeah, I suppose it is. Spooky! I wonder if he haunts the 
place? Hagrid says his bones are still in there, at the 
bottom of the tower, buried in the rubble of the 
collapsed floors. I've never been inside. Let's go and 
have a look."

"No way" said Ginny.

"Come on" said Harry, holding out his hand.

Reluctantly, Ginny let him pull her up and drag her 
towards the tower. They walked around it and found a 
hole in the wall. It looked like it had once been a 
doorway. The sun was low in the sky and it was grey 
inside the tower, but they could just make out a mass of 
rubble and a few fallen oak beams still half-supporting 
lumps of masonry.

"Right, we've seen it, let's go back" said Ginny.

"I'm going in to see if there are any bones" said Harry, 
grinning.

"You are not. Seven hundred years to the day since 
Morthog died? Seven is a very magical number you 
know. Things might happen today ... don't invite trouble 
Harry. Let's fly back now. Please."

"Coming?" said Harry, scrambling into the tower.

"No" said Ginny, shaking her head.

Harry rummaged around inside, turning over the rubble. 
He'd no idea what he was looking for. He was sure there 
were no bones - he'd only suggested it to scare Ginny a 
little! Which was a bit stupid, he realised now. And why 
did he want to scare her anyway? She was nice enough. 
True, she was just Ron's little sister, but ... well, she 
seemed to have grown up quite a bit over the summer. 
And she seemed to like Quidditch. So ...

Movement in the far corner of the tower made him start. 
Something glowing was rising out of the rubble. He 
stared. The glow got larger and more intense, filling the 
inside of the tower with a sickly green light. And then 
the glow spoke.

"Who dares trespass in my bed-chamber?"

Harry gripped his wand and started to move slowly back 
towards the doorway.

"Speak, lest thou anger me further. Speak! I command 
it!"

"I'm Harry Potter. Who are you?" It seemed trite, but 
nothing else sprang to mind.

"Who am I?" boomed the voice. "I am Morthog! Know 
this and tremble."

The trembling bit is easy enough thought Harry as his 
legs shook. He inched his wand out, wondering if he'd 
have to fight. Perhaps he could just run and grab the 
Firebolt and ... Ginny, where was she? Had she heard 
this? She'd be terrified. Could he get her onto the broom 
or would she be frozen with fear? She would. He'd have 
to fight. He raised his wand.

"You challenge Morthog? Gryffindor's knights could not 
slay me. What canst thou do?"

"I've fought Dark Wizards before - and won" said Harry 
defiantly.

"You have not battled me. I can destroy you as easily as 
I wouldst squash a flea. You have but one chance for thy puny life."

"And that is?" asked Harry cautiously.

"The fair maiden ..."

"No! You're not getting her" he shouted, realising 
Morthog meant Ginny. He held his wand higher.

"I do not wish to harm her. I only wish for her ... for her 
to have a regular supply of Chocolate Frogs. And help 
with her Potions homework. Dost thou grant this?"

"What?" said Harry, dropping his wand-arm. As he 
watched, the green glow did a loop-the-loop and 
vanished under a beam. A hollow giggling filled the 
tower. Harry turned bright-red as he realised what had 
happened - and what he'd said. He stormed out of the 
tower and around to the front.

Ginny was wearing his cloak, holding it out as she 
twirled around. She was grinning from ear to ear.

"Ha-ha" said Harry.

"I told you I'd get you" said Ginny, smiling at him.

"Right. You did promise. How did you do that?"

"Just a bit of magical ventriloquism. Fred taught me 
once, so we could spook Percy. There's a small slit at 
the front of the tower. It made a nice booming sound 
didn't it? And one of Hermione's portable fires - she 
taught me how to conjure them up last year. I made it 
green, just for effect."

"It was floating."

"Honestly Harry, Wingardium Leviosa, even you must 
remember that. And flames don't weigh much."

"Yeah." He sank to the ground.

Ginny crossed her arms, enveloping herself in his cloak. 
She put her head on one side and smiled gently at him. 
Poor Harry! And he had been prepared to defend her. 
Against Morthog! So ... she sat down beside him. And 
nudged him.
"Come on - give me a smile!"

Harry sighed - and then turned and grinned at her. "How 
are you getting back to the castle? It's a long walk."

"Harry! You wouldn't? I won't tell anybody what 
happened. It'll be our secret."

"Promise?"

"Promise" said Ginny softly. "Our secret, our hill."

"Deal!"

They sat quietly once more, watching the sun set. Ginny 
broke the silence.

"Why did you show me your hill Harry?"

"I don't know. I ... I think I just wanted to share it with 
somebody."

"That's very sweet of you" said Ginny. "I don't think 
anybody has ever shared anything important with me 
before." She looked down at the ground to hide her 
blushes.

Harry stared up at the sky, wondering what he'd just 
done.

There was a loud crash from inside the tower. They both 
jumped up. Another crash. Ginny flung her arms around 
Harry, a strange look on her face.

"It's okay" said Harry. "I disturbed stuff when I was in 
there. It's just something falling down or whatever."

"Maybe" said Ginny nervously.

"You can let go of me if you want" said Harry, chuckling.

"I don't want" said Ginny, hesitantly, looking up at him.

Oh thought Harry, swallowing hard. He looked at her, 
realising he'd never really noticed her before. Her hair 
seemed to be glowing ruby-red in the last rays of the 
setting sun. She'd done something to it since last term, 
he was sure, though he wasn't too sure what. But it 
looked nice. And she had grown somewhat - she wasn't 
just Ron's little sister any more. Not that it was any of 
Ron's business anyway, he decided. A tingle ran through 
him and before he could stop himself, he wrapped his 
arms around her and squeezed her gently. More tingles 
followed.

"That's nice Harry" whispered Ginny. She lay her head 
against his chest and closed her eyes. 

Harry didn't know if he was supposed to say something 
or not, so he opted for silence and squeezed her a little 
more tightly, noticing for the first time her nice, warm, 
freshly-washed smell. He was starting to understand 
what people saw in this. He ran a hand slowly up her 
back and into her long hair, letting his fingers tangle in 
it.

Ginny tightened her grip around his waist, pulling herself 
as close as possible to him. She could feel his breathing. 
It had been slow and rhythmical to start with, but now it 
was getting a little faster, a little more erratic. Like hers. 
She looked up at him, uncertain what to do next. And 
then she decided ...

"You can kiss me if you want Harry."

Harry looked at her awkwardly. She felt so soft and 
warm in his arms. He'd never kissed a girl before, but he 
knew now he wanted to kiss Ginny, more than anything 
else in the world. His hands came up onto her shoulders, 
and then he bent and kissed her lightly on the forehead. 
He drew back, still looking at her, knowing that that 
wasn't how he wanted to kiss her. He ran his hands up 
and down her arms.

Ginny bit her lip and held his gaze, marvelling at his 
piercing green eyes. Then, suddenly, Harry gripped her 
tightly, pulled her forwards and kissed her full on the 
lips, gently to begin with, then harder and more 
passionately. Joy flooded through Ginny. After three 
long years of waiting and silly blushes and embarrassing 
Valentines ... the kiss seemed to last forever and she felt 
as if she was burning up from the inside out. Finally they 
broke apart.

They stood smiling happily at one another. His arms 
encircled her and they hugged.

"Lucky that stuff fell down inside the tower" said Harry, 
swaying her gently from side to side.

"Isn't it" said Ginny, trying to commit every moment to 
memory. Amazing what you can do with a well-placed 
magical fire, she thought to herself. I told you I'd get 
you Harry. And I never break a promise!

T H E    E N D