Eventually, tired of waiting, she poked her head around the tree.
There, laying on the ground, exactly where she'd started the duel, was the unconscious form of Alexandra Black.
Ginny stepped out from behind the tree and cautiously walked towards the Black Heiress. She wiggled her fingers and stared at them in disbelief. Holy Merlin.
"And when I looked back, she was down!" Ginny bounced on her feet in front of where Harry sat, her eyes twin shining beacons.
Harry's smile could only be described as amused.
"Ohh, it just feels so good to be the one laying the smack down instead of being Luna's chew toy! Hah!" She punched the air and spun around on one foot.
Harry slowly got to his feet. "So, you ready to go to the next level on project 'lay the smack down on Luna'?
Ginny grinned. "Yes! I swear I almost had it before Alex interrupted me in class."
"Okay. Go ahead then." Harry motioned to the many stones that lay around them and stepped away.
Ginny's face firmed. Right. She locked her gaze on a nearby pebble, identical to the black one Harry had used before. Focus. Feel the magic pool, form the intent, push it to your finger tips. She cast her gaze around and spotted a similarly identical white pebble a little way off. The spell danced at the edge of her fingers and she knew. The spell surged and she felt the pull in two directions at once, one to the black pebble here, the other to the white pebble there.
She blinked.
The black pebble was there. The white pebble was here.
She'd done it. Her heart soared. She let out a happy sigh.
"Well done, Ginny." Harry smiled and they spent the next hour making fine adjustments to her technique.
Ginny couldn't stop grinning. If she felt good about having wandless magic before, because not even Bill or Charlie could do it, it was nothing to knowing she could now do something that not even Harry could do. Her very own secret weapon. Or, it would be, if she could get the next stage to work. Then she could beat Luna, or perhaps, as Luna might prefer, 'conquer'.
Ginny grin turned bemused. "Harry?"
"Yes, Gin?"
"Do you want to conquer the world?"
Harry briefly stilled where he'd been idly kicking his feet against the stone pillar on which he'd sat, himself before continuing again. "I wasn't planning to," he said, his voice sounding as amused as he looked.
Ginny grinned impishly and hopped up next to Harry. "The other day, Luna said, 'World conquest requires long term plans and short term goals,' and that you do both."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Did she really? That's… interesting." He looked off into the distance. "You know that dominating magical Britain was always the plan. Whether through political, economic, or magical means doesn't matter so much. Vanquishing Voldemort and securing the future of those we care for against the wolves of our world who would seek to subjugate us for their own pathetic ends… that's not something that can be done from a position of weakness." He looked back at her and gave a small smile. "'Conquest' still seems like quite a strong word though."
Ginny smirked. "I thought you also wanted revenge?"
Harry smirked back. "Yes, that too."
"And the world?"
"So long as the world leaves us alone, I don't much care." "And if it doesn't?"
Harry's eyes hardened. "Then I will burn a path to those who threaten us—who wish us dead or enslaved… and tear them apart so they can never threaten us again."
Ginny shivered, met Harry's gaze and saw ten years of hell. She saw her own death. She saw a world ruled by the dark lord. Of course. That's why she was doing all this. It wasn't as though it had much to do with her dream of playing professional quidditch.
She firmed her jaw and nodded.
Luna rolled happily on the leaf strewn ground after one particularly hard duel.
Ginny watched her. The discrepancy between the witch when she relaxed and when she duelled was disconcerting to say the least. "Luna?" Luna stopped rolling in the leaves, blew her hair out of her eyes, brushed away a stray leaf, and slowly turned to face her. "Yes, Ginny?" "Why did you say that Harry wants to conquer the world?" "I didn't say, 'Harry wants to conquer the world', Ginny."
"Yes, you did!"
"I said it's good that Harry could conquer the world."
Ginny blinked. She wasn't sure where to even begin with that comment. "Why?" Luna smiled. "Harry might need to. It would be an awful shame if he needed to and couldn't, wouldn't it?"
Ginny hesitated. "I suppose…"
Luna rose from the leaves, brushing herself down as she went. "Come on, Ginny. Enough talk of Harry conquering the world and making you queen of the Amazons. We've still got lots to do. And Mum baked a pie earlier. There's still some left."
Ginny watched Luna walk off.
Huh?
Ginny felt the magic pour through her.
"Now, this next bit is extremely tricky," Harry said, holding her arms with his own. "The idea is that you shoot only half of the spell while keeping the other half inside yourself, but still realising the spell in its entirety."
Ginny's head swam. Complexity piled on complexity. What she'd struggled with in September now seemed child's play compared to this.
"You know the feeling you get when you swat spells? When the magic feels half in and half out? It should, in theory, feel something like that."
She pushed the switching spell to the very tips of her fingers. She tried to fire it and hold it at the same time, but the spell died and putted out. Damn. She scowled.
Harry squeezed her gently. "Again."
Ginny stared at the stone of the other side of the Burrow's orchard, willing herself to switch places with it, pooling her intent with her magic, and trying to loose it and keep it at the same time.
The crisp November air rustled the few leaves she hadn't yet raked onto the compost heap.
Ginny tried one last time before dinner.
The spell died.
Damn.
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