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      When Times Are Hard...
      Category: Books » Harry Potter  Censor:  PG-13  Genre:  
      Romance/Action/Adventure   Reviews:  10
      Author: pottergirl  - Select Font -VerdanaTimes New RomanArialGeneva Font 
      Size: Bigger (+) - Smaller (-) 




Hello everybody, I’m back with my fourth fic so far. First off all (before I got 
off-the-topic), let me thank all the reviews I got for Ron Loves Hermione Then…  
I think I would rather like to thank you all by name. I am obsessed with reviews 
that’s why I go crazy over them. If any of my reviewers of the above mentioned 
story are here, they will surely find their names (reviewers upto 4 july):
 
Amaia Riddle : Soap Opera ish? I didn’t know it was. He he
Gabrielle D. : You’re a H/H fan so were you actually convinced of R/Hr? I mean I 
was really sure of R/Hr after GoF (since the incident after the Yule ball where 
“Hermione gets the point better than Ron”). so I’ve been trying to convince 
others too. Read my story “Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione” or paste the url in you 
browsers address bar for a series of three chapters, the first chapter for R/Hr, 
the second for H/G and the third that is related to H/G:
http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=story-read&storyid=334700
Hannah Hannah_gill@hotmail.com: You can’t get everything in life! Sorry! I just 
wanted to say that!! Anyway, I’ll try to write some more of what u asked for 
*kissing stuff* he he. Well, I have kept it to minimum at the moment as u 
noticed as well as in my other fics. ( I have uploaded 3 fics so far including 
this one and you’ll notice a marked change in this one) hope u read this message 
and the fic below.
Alexis: I know, I know. I have Word2000 with spell check and I get an A in 
English but I do not read through the fic many times. There are no spelling 
mistakes apart from the usual typographical errors like “mo” instead of “no”. 
I’m sorry I was too crazy just to get it out there on the net; I didn’t get to 
read it in detail. I did read it once though. My English teacher had advised us 
not to rely on spell check as it sometimes leaves out mistakes, which are soo 
obvious. Thanx anyway.
Persephone: concerning spell checks I suggest you to read the above few lines 
and concerning class. You know what? While writing the story I did remember to 
add the line at the top that that eventful day was a WEEKEND but I forgot to add 
it  after I had finished the story. Sorry.
Jordan: Well, what can I say here? The thing is that I myself love long stories 
and search for long ones on the Internet because I save them on my computer’s 
hard disk to read them offline. Therefore, I write long stories and I read long 
stories. I’m sorry, am I a bit too hard? Anyway, there’s fluff, there. I did get 
to the point of the story fairly quickly didn’t I?
Kathy:  Thanx for all the compliments. That’s my favorite pairing too you know 
ever since GoF but I wonder when J.K.R. is going to get them going becoz its 
already their 5th year coming up with three books to go.  I did hurry up and 
decided to write a fic again having both R/Hr and H/G. anyway, who do you think 
should pair with Harry?      H/? 
Geo: Wow! Some people say it wasn’t mushy at all, I mean not too much and Hannah 
Gill asked for more. And good mush? I didn’t think so because I think I wrote it 
quite un-descriptional and got those parts to be quite small. Lets see what you 
think of this story *points in downward direction*
Miss Hermie: Yaaaaaaaaaaaayyy! Another fan of R/Hr. that’s good I think we’ve 
got lots of them here at Fanfiction.net and I think that’s what it will all end 
up to be. Yes, I checked your story out and let me see, it was GREAT. Yeah 
really, I did review it as u may have seen. But as I said in the review it 
unfortunately never turned out soo. But it was a really gr8 read.
Lady Morgana Lefey: I’ll try to keep going as long as I get ideas.
Tiger Lily: Thank you. Its good to know people read my story on the net.
Sephiroth: Harry Potter has a very open and diverse world. That’s why its 
stories are fun to write and a great read.
Harry’sLostSister: Yeah I think you are a bit hyper! He he. Well ofcourse I 
agree R/Hr are 4eva!!!!
Velondra: I know I should have proof readed it and carefully at that too. But, I 
was in too much of a hurry to get it online and I just saw that it has too many 
of those TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. E.g.: “Mo” instead “No”. I think I’ll reload it 
soon and I did find a few other glitches in the story so I will be getting rid 
of them.
Wildcat: I didn’t get that, why would your friends not tolerate it? Yes, I did 
check my spelling but there are differences between American and British 
spellings. He he, I’m not from either of the two countries. Infact I’m very 
indistinctly related to Britain only and that too because our region of the 
world , the sub continent was a British colony which turned out to be India and 
Pakistan. Oops! Off the topic. Thanx anyway. 
AngelStar: he he, I told you to get a box of Kleenex while reading this. I did 
intent to make it that way. And I did feel a little sad and even felt my eyes 
water while writing this.
Phoenix: you loved the story and I loved it when u reviewed
Tahiri Solo: Oh no! Judging by the amount of people asking for R/Hr , I think 
I’ll have to write one soon though the story below is mostly a H/G but it comes 
as a sequel to “Ron Loves Hermione Then…”
Danika: Seamus wouldn’t do that? Yeah,  I did think of that while writing the 
fic. I was thinking of putting Draco in his place, or Dean but I just didn’t 
know what to do so I finally stopped at Seamus. I was thinking of putting in 
some of his thoughts thinking of Hermione in a new light rather than just 
another Gryffindor! 
Yeah I did think I overdid on Hermione’s crying. I mean I thought she shouldn’t 
cry that much and just stay angry or try to persuade Ron, even slap him! But, I 
thought Hermione needed to cry, its been a long time since we heard she cried. 
And remember, Ron called her a Mudblood. She loved him and he hated her as much 
as to call her a Mudblood. That’d break her heart wouldn’t it?
Ron would have listen if he hadn’t broken down. I mean look he really really 
loved Hermione and look he would be heart broken without words to see her with 
Seamus especially after the year before when she had been a really close friend 
of Viktor Krum. He thought he had seen enough to believe in what he thought 
about that that Hermione was double-crossing him. Did that convince you?
Anyway, thanks for all the applause! You don’t know how many times I check my 
fics for reviews daily! *Sniff*
 
Well there you have it. Those who were not reviewers must have been really bored 
so without further ado, I begin another fic dedicated to H/G though it is mixed 
up with some R/Hr. Oops but the disclaimer comes first
                      
 Disclaimer: YEAH YEAH all the characters belong to J.K.Rowling but hey wait! I 
just remembered. J.K.Rowling hasn’t made any pairings yet has she so H/G and 
R/Hr belong to me solely and other fic authors. So Miss Rowling has to put in a 
disclaimer in our name when making that pairing doesn’t she? Do I make sense or 
am I just talking nonsense. Anyway *sigh*, to the story.
 
Claimer: This fic is mine! I mean the plot and everything…
 
Background:
This takes place in the gang’s summer holidays after sixth year. The fifth year 
wasn’t much eventful. Voldemort was still getting more powerful and was still at 
large. Muggle as well as wizard and witch killings were getting common. The 
ministry is getting hints that Voldemort may have returned, the school staff are 
trying to do whatever they can to stop Voldemort. The O.W.L.s have taken place 
for Harry’s gang. In the midst of all these happenings though, relationships 
bloom as strongly as ever between our favourite four……..
 
Hey look maybe it isn’t that good since there isn’t much of a story here. Its 
only fluff. And its only concerning the holidays. But remember, Voldemort is at 
large. He could be anywhere. The summer may turn out to be a testing one, a 
romantic one and also a tragic one. But remember, I don’t promise tragedy. It 
could be tragic. You never know. As Professor Dumbledore said once,
“The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that 
predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed…”  oh well leave all 
of this and lets begin with my fic……..
 
 
                        
                                                      WHEN TIMES ARE HARD….
 
 
When times are hard
Love is deep
When times are hard
Love is strong
When times are hard
Love gives sacrifices
When times are hard
Love protects…
 
Harry stared longingly at the picture of Ginny he had in his hands. She smiled 
and blew kisses at him. Harry sighed. He had been back at the Dursleys after his 
fifth year for more than two weeks already and he was getting really bored. The 
first week had been spent in fresh memories of Hogwarts and doing his holiday 
home work. And now, in his second week, he was getting really bored. He had 
begun to stay more in his room than with the Dursleys most of the time and tried 
to avoid them. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had readily believed that magic was 
beginning to drive him mad. But, that was not really the reason for Harry’s 
boredom at all. He loved being at Hogwarts and that’s why he hated leaving 
Hogwarts but, this time the problem was that apart from this feeling of 
nostalgia, he had two more. Firstly, he didn’t know when he’d be able to meet 
the Weasleys because Dumbledore had told him to wait. He would be informed when 
he could go to their home. Secondly, of course, who could overlook that? His 
friends, Ron, Hermione, Ginny etc. were not with him, which really depressed 
him. Well of course, Ginny wasn’t his friend at all, she was his girl friend.  
Harry sighed thinking of everybody he knew in the magical world. There were six 
weeks to go and nothing to look forward too because he didn’t even know when he 
would be leaving the Dursleys. He frowned and turned over onto his back. He was 
lying on his bed, his stuff packed beside him should Hedwig suddenly approach 
with a call…and the fading sunlight coming in through the window. Hedwig hadn’t 
returned yet. He had gone to deliver a letter to Sirius, which hadn’t been 
replied yet.
Aunt Petunia suddenly popped her head in the door of the room.
“Get down there for dinner!”, she barked at her nephew.
“I’m coming!”, he said grumpily. He knew what he had for dinner today, boiled 
peas and a half apple. But the snacks his friends had sent him would keep him 
alive, he knew. As he was leaving his room, there was a tapping behind him. He 
turned to see a snowy owl at his window.
“Hedwig!!!”, he exclaimed joyfully. He ran to his window and opened it letting 
Hedwig fly in, drop his three letters onto his bed and settle on the perch in 
her cage, tired after fulfilling his journey. Harry didn’t look at her twice. 
The letters were too exciting. He picked all the three and looked where they 
were from; Ron Weasely (his heart leapt joyfully), Sirius Black (his heart 
skipped a beat) and Albus Dumbledore (his brow furrowed in concern). He tore 
open Ron’s
 
Dear Harry,
How’re you doing? Not very well, I guess. It must be pretty boring. Well guess 
what, Dumbledore’s told us we could call you over to our place. So, I owled you 
straight away. Hermione has been owling almost daily. She’s really worried about 
the result of her O.W.L.s anyway; we’ll come and get you tomorrow morning at 
six. A shock is it? Well, Dumbledore’s letter came just a while ago and we 
thought we’d get you as soon as possible. (We’ll come in a car this time, the 
Ministry has granted one temporarily). Ginny’s been waiting for you. She was 
waiting for the owl from Dumbledore too scanning the skies for an owl 
twenty-five times a day. Seems really desperate. But, I guess that’s what you 
and Hermione must be doing too….he he oh and bye the way, Hermione’s coming 
tomorrow evening. We’ll all be re-united soon. And I finished all my homework 
already. That ought to please her!
I’ll leave you here ok. Bye
Your friend Ron…
 
Harry was really happy. He would be leaving the Dursleys just in a few hours. In 
his excitement he forgot about the other two letters and spotting them suddenly, 
opened Sirius’s that was very short much to his disappointment.
 
Dear Harry,
Thank you for writing. I’m worried for you especially when Voldemort’s still 
hiding somewhere and all these killings. Dumbledore said you’d soon be going to 
the Weaselys but he didn’t give the date. Has he owled you? Anyway, I have to 
make this letter short because we have got barely anytime for square meals and 
proper sleep with all the activity. Well, I am glad at least that at present the 
Dementors aren’t in a hot search for me because of the killings and missing 
people. Hope to hear from you soon. Your godfather.
Sirius Black!
 
Harry then tore open Dumbledore’s letter, which too contained two parchments.
 
Dear Harry,
Hope you are enjoying your holidays. I know you have been waiting for my owl 
because you must be extremely bored there. So even if you aren’t enjoying your 
holidays right now, you will because Arthur Weasely will be picking you up 
tomorrow morning at six. I’ve already owled him. You will stay there for the 
rest of the six weeks of your holidays. I am sure you may have cheered up a lot. 
I have heard from Sirius that you are fine. But, I must add that while at the 
Weaselys, you must avoid staying outdoors after sunset and secondly, you must 
stay with you friends if you ever do chance to leave the house at night. You 
should be staying close to Ginny Weasely(perhaps I do not need to tell you that) 
 especially because love has a lot of power. And don’t confuse yourself thinking 
about how I know of all this. I know a lot of things about my students and I 
know that Ginny Weasely loves you very deeply and the power of love has still 
not been determined by anybody to date. It is no doubt a miraculous thing and 
those who love or are loved are very lucky. I am talking about true love.
Before I really confuse you, I must say good-bye. I hope you enjoy the rest of 
your holidays and there are no upsetting incidences.
Headmaster of Hogwarts
Albus Dumbledore
 
Harry quickly saw the other parchment, which to his surprise, carried his O.W.L. 
results. He was glad to find he had got a good amount of O.W.L.s and had passed 
with good grades. He was sure that Hermione, who had been prefect that year must 
have got the most O.W.L.s from among all the fifth years in the school. Then his 
thoughts turned back to the visit of the Weasleys the next day to pick him up 
and immediately his heart thought of his girl-friend, Ginny Weasely who he loved 
dearly and he knew she loved him in return. He was amazed about how Professor 
Dumbledore knew about them as a couple. He grinned and blushed. Then-
“Come down here and get your dinner or you won’t have any!!!” his aunt yelled 
from the bottom of the stairs. He quickly ran out to dinner and especially to 
tell the family about his departure the next. After dijnner, he sent an owl to 
Sirius telling him he would be going to the Weasleys. You obviously know how 
glad the Dursleys were that they were rid of him for a long time. 
 
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Harry was sitting at the back of a large Ministry owned Mercedes. He was 
chatting with Ron who sat next to him. In the front sat Mr. Weasely and the 
driver. Mr. Weasely was looking very interestedly at the muggles on the street 
and whooped with excitement every time they stopped at a signal, when he had a 
lot of time to “see” the muggles.  Ron turned out to be having as many owls as 
Harry and said that his mother had been quite pleased. The letter had arrived 
after Ron had sent Harry a letter so he hadn’t been able to tell in the letter. 
Soon, the talk strayed away from just grades and exams,
“Where’s Ginny? Why didn’t she come?”, asked Harry thinking that would Mr. 
Weasely know he had been going out with his daughter. He thought he had perhaps 
because he had visited the castle during the autumn term when Voldemort had come 
into the school grounds and had gotten a hint that Harry and Ginny were probably 
in love..(for the whole chapter on this incident please read my story, “Harry, 
Ginny, Ron, Hermione”- chapter number three). 
(url: http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=story-read&storyid=334700)
Ron looked at him with a great grin.
“Why do you ask?”, he asked with a great smile plastered on his face.
“Ron!”, Harry hissed with a sideways glance at Mr. Weasely who seemed to be 
looking at a large construction crane by the road.
“Ok! Ok!”, said Ron giggling. “Same as ever as I wrote in the letter. She’s 
really obsessed with you, the Harry Potter!!”
“Hey!”, exclaimed Harry. “It’s not that way and I know that, she’s not 
obsessed!”
“I know, I’m her brother you know? I agree she isn’t obsessed, she really does 
love you”, said Ron quite seriously. Harry suddenly felt they shouldn’t be 
discussing this too much within Mr. Weasely’s earshot and dropped the topic 
picking up a new one.
“What about Hermione?”, asked Harry now bearing the same smile Ron had been 
giving him.
“Oh yeah, yeah she’s fine, I guess she’ll be home by evening, yeah”, said Ron 
waving his hand casually.
“Oh yeah!”, said Harry grinning. “You seem don’t carish at the moment but I know 
as soon as she arrives…” he trailed off seeing Ron go pink. He knew that Harry 
knew. Of course, Ron and Hermione were known to him atleast. It was too open 
between them but every time they discussed this, he turned pink.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Its soo nice to have you here again, Harry dear”, said Mrs. Weasely giving 
Harry a big hug. Everyone seemed to be present in the Weasely’s living room 
welcoming him. Everyone was very cheerful and Harry was really glad to be back, 
they felt like family too deeply and sometimes Harry thought he really was lucky 
to get to know the Weasely’s after he had no parents. Looking around when the 
hugs finally ended, he saw 15-year old Ginny standing right at the back by the 
stairs smiling at him warmly. His heart warmed up a lot. She hadn’t said 
anything up to him until then and he felt he really had to be alone when he did 
or else the whole Weasely family may be looking at them strangely!
He didn’t realize he was almost staring at her and when she suddenly turned and 
ran up the stairs, her white robes swishing around her feet, he realized there 
was a strange silence where three Weasely kids were staring at him. Mr. and Mrs. 
Weasely were not there anymore and seemed to have disappeared. Harry, looked at 
George, Fred, Ron, turning pink.
“What?”, he asked them not being able to stop himself from smiling.
“You-know-what!”, said Fred and stared meaningfully at George and with a wink at 
Harry they both left the room.
“Haven’t said hello, have you?”, said Ron yawning. “Mum’s gone to make 
breakfast. It’s my turn to set the dishes. You go up and dump your stuff in my 
room ok?” Ron smiled strangely and then left. Harry smiled to himself. The 
Weasleys were definitely the best, he thought and collected his things taking 
them upstairs.
Harry dumped his things and then turned to look at the mirror quickly, 
automatically trying to make his hair lie flat instead of looking like a wild 
jungle before leaving. He had to go up and down a few floors before he finally 
found Ginny’s bedroom, which was the first time he had ever searched for it. He 
knocked at her door and heard her sweet voice say,
“Come in..”
He entered and there she was standing in her lovely and apparently new white 
robes, smiling at him and slightly blushing. Harry smiled back and closed the 
door behind him. He stepped towards her and without any hesitation wrapping his 
arms around her, he gave her a long and passionate kiss. When they broke away 
she looked into the green eyes, which had always fascinated her.
“Is that any way to say hello?”, she whispered and rested her head on his chest. 
He was clearly a foot taller than her as he was growing quite quickly now a 
days. 
He smiled and ran his fingers through her silky hair,
“Yeah, it is if any of your family isn’t around”, he said.
“Mum knows”, said Ginny looking back at him.
“Really? Since she came up to the castle?”, he asked with a raised brow.
“Yeah..and dad too. They were really glad, I’m telling you. They really love 
you”, she whispered wishing she could stay like that forever.
“Do they love me only or do you love me too?”, Harry asked. It was definitely 
great to be back with her after two weeks, which had seemed like two months.
“You don’t know how much I love you..”, she whispered again not looking at him. 
Harry gently turned her face towards her. They had barely kissed when there was 
a hurried knock on the door and they suddenly stood within a safe distance of 
each other.
It was Ron calling them to breakfast.
“Not interrupted something, have I?”, he asked grinning broadly.
“No!”, said Harry quickly giving him a playful but hard punch and dragging him 
downstairs with Ginny in tow.         
 
The morning and afternoon passed in a strange flurry. They had breakfast 
followed by a game of Quidditch despite Mrs. Weasely’s saying they shouldn’t do 
so after a meal. Next, they played a game of wizarding chess but Ron was tired 
at Harry glancing at Ginny nearby every second as it seemed so and abandoned the 
game saying he was going to clear his bedroom.
“For Hermione”, sniggered Ginny.
“Gin!”, said Ron exasperatedly.
“Oh come on brother dear, haven’t you cleaned your room too many times today 
already and all last week. A lot of books in there now aren’t there? I 
wonder..”, said Ginny making Harry giggle. Ron tutted and walked off.
Harry and Ginny spent the afternoon more in the garden where they talked-about 
other things for a change. Harry was pleased Ginny could say Voldemort like him 
instead of You-Know-who or something now. Since her encounter with Voldemort the 
last year, she had felt very open on the subject and now talked to Harry 
sometimes about it. 
 
 
Ginny amazingly fell asleep with her head on his lap and Harry had to wake her 
up and lead her to her bed before any of the family saw the what-would-be a very 
embarrassing scene.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Harry was looking out of the window from Ginny’s room. Ron had forbid him to go 
into his room, which he claimed he was cleaning so he decided to look at the 
setting sun. A car suddenly drove up to the front house, which                   
                                                                                 
                                 he could only hear. There was a honk. He knew 
it must be Hermione and he left the room only to find Ron cut his path and 
scramble down the stairs. Amused he slowly followed. When he got to front door, 
the car was gone. But what caught his attention was the tall, straight haired 
(her waves had slowly smoothened out), hazel-eyed girl with a lot of stuff at 
her feet and who seemed to be kissing his friend. Before they noticed him, Harry 
turned around quickly and decided to wait while they came into the dining room. 
After all the usual hi-helloes, congrats (for Hermione who had gotten top 
O.W.L.s) Hermione asked,
“Where’s Ginny, Harry?” Ginny had become Hermione’s best friend since a month 
before the O.W.L.s since she had helped Hermione feel better when she and Ron 
had had a great row.
“She’s sleeping upstairs”, replied Harry looking at Ron who was grinning.
“Wasn’t she sleeping with her head on your lap?”, asked Ron
“How’d you know? you weren’t….”
“Oh well, I was cleaning my room…”
“For the fifth time today and who knows how many times over the past two weeks! 
Really Hermione, I don’t know what’s gotten into him!”
 
They went on and on like this until all of them tired extremely and rescued by 
Mrs. Weasely who gave them an early dinner, were sent to sleep. Hermione found 
Ginny just awake when she entered the room and decided a few minutes up, talking 
won’t hurt, which astonishingly turned out to be longer than a few minutes…a few 
hours to be exact!
 
Within a few days Harry and Hermione got used to the Weasely routine. The group 
of four was usually chatting, playing wizarding chess, studying (that was 
Hermione whenever she felt bored) or taking walks. Harry was sure to stay 
indoors after sunset. Even, if he had wanted to, he couldn’t have because of the 
reminders he got from Mr. and Mrs. Weasely. Ron and Hermione seemed to be 
getting along well and Hermione had feared that Mrs. Weasely might be a bit cold 
to her after since her fourth year when she had been cold to her due to a 
misunderstanding. But, she found that all was well and she didn’t have any 
problem with her going out with her son. 
 
Two days before Harry’s birthday on 30th July, Mrs. Weasely decided to take 
everyone to Diagon Alley to get his or her books earlier. The book lists and 
Hogwarts letter had arrived a day before and to Ginny and Hermione’s delight, 
they contained once again requirements of dress robes. So on a bright, clear 
Monday, all the Weasleys (excluding Bill, Charlie and Percy) and Harry and 
Hermione went to Diagon Alley using floo powder. Hermione had rarely traveled 
with floo powder but unlike Harry she got ‘the hang of it’ pretty soon.
 
Ron had got to buy new robes again this year. He picked some dark gray ones this 
year while Harry decided he liked his bottle green ones and didn’t find any 
other good ones in Madam Malkins’ shop.
They spent some time in a book store coming out with loads of books in bags. Ron 
had wanted to pick up an interesting looking book called 1000 Magical Ways to 
Get Rid Of Your Worst Enemy.
“No”, said Harry plainly looking at the cover, “If we ever fight again, I’ll 
always be under the risk of you playing tricks on me!”
“No!”, hissed Ron so that only Harry, Hermione and Ginny could hear.”Malfoy!”
Anyway Mrs. Weasely never allowed him to get it and he resorted with his own bag 
of books.
 
“I am never going into that wizard wear shop again with you girls!”, exclaimed 
Ron as they were finally able to flop down on chairs in front of Florean 
Frotescue’s shop. 
“We couldn’t get the right shade”, said Hermione.
“…to match with gray?”, Harry asked her.
“…yeah…”, she replied smiling. She had picked up light green ones finally and 
Ginny had decided on a white one. 
They had a good rest eating big ice cream sundaes. Then Ron’s parents came up 
and told them they would be having lunch and then go back to the Burrow before 
it turned dark. 
The eight people went to the Leaky Cauldron to have lunch, which was not quite 
at the time of lunch because the sun was already traveling towards the west and 
would set in another hour. At the long table, most of the people were chatting 
with each other. Ginny was telling her mother about her robes. Harry and Ron 
were discussing the book Ron had found interesting in ‘Flourish And Blotts’ and 
Hermione was talking with Mr. Weasely about “muggle things”, explaining to him 
how televisions worked. In a corner of the table, Fred and George were talking 
in secretive voices. 
 
“We could slip a frog down his throat…”, said Ron to Harry jabbing his fork into 
his peas.
“Ron!”, said Hermione who was now listening to Ron and Harry talking about 
Malfoy.
“What? He is after all a dumbo. I wonder if he failed his O.W.L.s..”. Said Ron 
grinning at her.
“Its possible!”, said Harry grinning.
“Yeah…fho can feat Er-my-knee?”, said Ron through a mouthful of roast and peas.
Hermione took a tissue paper out of her bag and handed it to Ron who cleaned his 
mouth.
“What would I do without you?”, he said after gulping down his mouthful.
Hermione just turned pink and then red when she saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasely looking 
Ron and her way, smiling.
Ron had just begun talking again when Harry dropped his fork with a faint clink 
and touched his scar slightly with his fingers.
“What’s wrong Harry?”, asked Ron suddenly concern etched all across his face. 
“My scar…its bursting…”, Harry muttered.
Harry’s scar was burning with pain with had become quite frequent the past two 
years. But, it was really hot and burning that moment and Harry knew it did that 
only when Voldemort was very closeby. The scar suddenly, full to bursting with 
pain turned really red. Ron of course noticed it. Ginny who had just then seen 
him, knew what was happening. She dropped her knife and fork. 
“Mr. Weasely, I think we should go quickly”, said Harry through grtitted teeth.
“I know”, said Mr. Weasely setting his knife and fork and hastily got up. “If it 
is really hurting you…”
“yes, I think we should leave right now…” said Harry standing up too. Ginny at 
once got up and everybody else followed quickly. Everybody knew when Harry’s 
scar burst with pain Voldemort was very close by. There had been many incidents, 
the last one involving Ginny that made everyone, even Harry sure that the 
intense pain in his scar was a sign Voldemort was very very close. 
 
“Go down to the post office quickly everyone and use floo powder to go back. The 
children will go first. I’ll pay and come”, said Mr. Weasely as his family 
scrambled towards the door. Outside everything seemed normal. Harry, Ron 
Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George walked quickly across the street to the post 
office. Mrs. Weasely looked around hastily, he face pale with anxiety.
 
“You first Fred, George, then Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, then your father and 
I will come!”, she said quickly as Fred disappeared in a whiz of green flames. 
As soon as Hermione had left, there was an almighty boom followed by an 
explosion from outside the post-office. Screams could be heard from afar.
“Arthur!”, squealed Mrs. Weasely and made her way out of the post office leaving 
Harry and Ginny inside. The people inside were scrambling here and there. Harry 
and Ginny were pushed to one side as a whole crowd of people fought their way to 
the fireplace to use floo powder. Harry shielded Ginny from the crowd and led 
her towards another end of the post office where they found a large sofa. Harry 
suggested they hide behind it because either Voldemort or the Death Eaters were 
outside in the street. They were just making their way to the large sofa when 
the door of the large office blasted open and in the door way stood several 
tall, cloaked and masked men. People in the post office screamed. Harry and 
Ginny were about to duck behind the sofa when one of the Death Eaters exclaimed,
“There he is, get him!” pointing at Harry. Harry was wandless and so armless.  
He didn’t think he had any chance of fighting the Death Eaters or Voldemort even 
if he had the slightest chance, without a wand. He stepped in front of Ginny.
“What do you want?”, he asked.
“You! The dark lord has unfinished business with you!”, said another Death Eater 
whom Harry recognized as Lucius Malfoy from the voice. 
“Oh, its you”, said Harry thinking he might as well keep talking. He didn’t know 
why but he thought he had a better chance of surviving. The people in the great 
room were waiting, listening, scared.
“I don’t have time for useless talk boy!”, said Lucius Malfoy. “I’m afraid your 
end is near, Draco would have loved to see this but he’s busy somewhere 
else…Stanley, get him!”.
 
Another Death Eater surged forward and grabbed Harry. He tried to dodge him but 
Stanley raised his wand warningly.
“No, Stanley!”, exclaimed Lucius. “The Dark Lord wants him as he is!” so with 
the help of another Death Eater, the struggling Harry was forced to be led 
along. Ginny had grabbed one of his arms and tugged not letting him go.
Lucius Malfoy turned around.
“You..you’re Weasley’s girl aren’t you? Get aside, girl. Don’t go cause any 
trouble now… or this time you’ll surely reach the same end as Harry Potter!”
Ginny clung to Harry even more.
“No! leave him! He didn’t do anything wrong!”, she said he face red.
“Well… then… Harry Potter and his girl friend will reach the same end…lets take 
them to the Dark Lord”, muttered Lucius. More Death Eaters came and grabbed 
Ginny firmly taking her forcibly outdoors. The scene outside shocked both Harry 
and Ginny. There were several things burning on the road, people were screaming 
and the sky was getting really dark not more because of the setting sun but 
because of the thick smoke from the fires. There were fifth or sixty Death 
Eaters in masks walking around threatening people. And there in the center of 
the street stood a tall, cloaked figure whose back was turned.
 
“Master, we’ve got him and a girl who was hiding with him in the post office”, 
said Stanley loudly. People out on the street looked on as Harry and Ginny were 
forcibly taken to the tall man who was Voldemort of course. He turned slowly, 
his red eyes, flashing, his wand held in both his hands like a whip.
 
“Ah, yes, old enemies meet again, 15 years, I tried to get rid of you 
but….well…this time, I shall and wait! This girl. You’re the same old Weasely 
girl aren’t you?”, said Voldemort. Harry saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasely, pale faced, 
standing in the crowd watching fearfully as their daughter was brought up. She 
looked up at Voldemort who was smiling darkly. She didn’t feel scared at all 
much to her amazement and from the look on Harry’s face, he didn’t too. 
 
“You’re the one who’ll reach a very bad end, Voldemort, one day….”, said Ginny 
and people all around her gasped.
“Ginny!”, squealed Mrs.Weasely stepping forward but being pulled back by a 
prowling Death Eater.
“You’re still talking back, I see, you’ll soon get what you ask for!”, snarled 
Voldemort and raised his wand. In the nick of time Harry yelled distracting 
Voldemort,
“Leave her alone, will you?! What do you want? I know you were searching for 
me!”
Voldemort looked around at him.
“I see you haven’t dumped her!”, he sneered.
“What’s that to do with you?”, Harry snapped.
“Enough! I know your games boy. Like all others who died the easy way before 
you, you won’t die the easy way. I am not going to kill you in a flash of green 
light. You’ll be tortured to death after all those years I was tortured! You 
will be tortured and I’m glad I will be the one who will do that! Death Eaters! 
Stand back!”, screamed Voldemort. The crowds gasped and Harry saw Mrs. Weasely 
crying.
“Picking on armless people now?”, said Harry making Voldemort turn around 
quickly.
“Once you were armless, in the chamber of secrets, Dumbledore’s bird provided 
for you. Lets see now, surrounded but all these Death Eaters and me, armless, 
with no one to your help, what will you do to me?”, said Voldemort with a 
mocking smile.
He raised his wand and before Harry could do anything or think of anything, 
Voldemort had muttered,
“Crucio!”
White-hot pain shot to him from all sides as Voldemort stood there laughing 
loudly. Harry had had to experience the Cruciatus curse before but never had he 
felt it this way. Truly, this could be matched with the killing curse as it 
really felt to him that he’d fall down, dead any moment. He writhed there, 
standing in the middle of the street and when he struggled too much, the Death 
Eaters let go of him, and he fell to the ground. Voldemort paused and said,
“How’s that Harry? The latest version of the Cruciatus curse. Good enough to 
kill isn’t it? A bit more?”
He raised his wand again at Harry. Ginny screamed while the crowd gasped and 
cried. Someone was being killed out there. This time the pain was too much to be 
bearable; it was much more powerful than before but when it stopped Harry still 
knew he was alive. Though his body wanted him to die, to finish the pain in 
every part of his body but his heart and mind wanted him to stay alive for some 
unknown reason. As he lay there on the ground almost dead not making any 
movement, he heard screams and wails. Obviously people thought Harry was finally 
dead. Then he heard Voldemort say,
“AH! The day of my victory! My victory over Harry Potter! Look at him people! 
Dead, at last! And now, Weasely, you die, you meet the same end as Harry Potter. 
Its your punishment for choosing people like Harry Potter to follow around-“
“No!!!”, screamed Harry trying weakly to raise himself up.
“What?!”, said Voldemort shocked he was still alive. “Alive, but- Well, another 
one should just about do it!”. Harry, through his half opened eyes saw Voldemort 
raise his wand. He braced himself for that final feeling of pain that would take 
him to the land of bliss whereupon all pain would leave him. But he knew he 
couldn’t just die like that. 
 
What happened next was quite a blur. Voldemort raised his wand. A few feet away, 
Ginny held by a Death Eater yanked herself free with an amazing power and before 
Harry knew it she was kneeling down beside him, covering him. Voldemort was 
blocked from view. Ginny found Harry’s hand and grasped it firmly. Harry hated 
to think in what state Mrs. Weasely would be now. The last thing he wanted was 
for Ginny to feel the powerful Cruciatus curse because of him. He tried to stop 
her but the effort of his earlier actions had exhausted him completely. He felt 
he was under the danger of dying anyway. But when Ginny held his hand, when he 
felt her strangely warm hand, he felt a feeling of hope and closed his eyes 
waiting.
 
“Now…now…this is really, what must I say, ironic? Lets see, Harry Potter was 
shielded by his mother who died to save him and left a protection over him. And 
now, you, girl are shielding him from me in an attempt to save him, you will die 
for him but unfortunately he wont live as a result…”, sneered Voldemort enjoying 
the scene.
“He wont die. I know it. And I won’t die too. Try your best you won’t kill us 
today Voldemort!! Did you hear me? You can’t do anything to us! As long as we’re 
together”, screamed Ginny. 
“Then you must face it girl!”, screamed Voldemort even louder and raised his 
wand straight at her. Ginny tightened her grasp on Harry’s. There was a flash of 
light. Harry felt Ginny stiffen for a moment and then he felt her become warm, a 
strange comforting warmness and a second later, he heard Voldemort scream. He 
sounded as if he was in immense pain and then suddenly he stopped screaming and 
screeched,
“Death E-Eaters! Back home!” and with loud blasts, there was quite. Suddenly 
people broke into cheers, applauding and Harry felt Ginny hugging him. 
Everything seemed alright suddenly. He saw a blurred form of Mrs. Weasely 
looking down at him but that was all he saw before he blacked out.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        
 
 
Mrs. Weasely was crying.
“Ginny dear, how did you that?? I was soo worried!”, she said hugging her 
daughter as people gathered around looking at Harry and Ginny still cheering the 
fact that Voldemort had fled without leaving any murders behind. Ginny was more 
concerned for Harry though.
 
“Mum, Harry’s unconscious. We must take him some where away from here”, she said 
looking at Harry’s almost lifeless form.
“He’s really in a bad state. Oh! Come on we’ll take him”. She moved forward but 
other people offered to help including Tom the innkeeper and Stanley Shunpike, a 
conductor on the Knight bus, people who Harry had known. Mr. Weasely also 
carried him along to the Leaky Cauldron, a large group of people following. 
Harry was laid in a small room with a large window. The room was airy and Mrs. 
Weasely knew it would help him survive. Soon, with all the people ushered out, 
only Ginny, Mr. and Mrs. Weasely, Harry and an old man who turned out to be a 
former Medi-wizard were left in the room. The medi-wizard examined Harry and 
then turned to Mr. Weasely not saying anything. Ginny was already on Harry’s 
other side holding his hands, waiting for the Medi-wizard to speak.
“Arthur, I don’t know what to say. The boy’s in a very bad state. It’s a miracle 
how he’s still alive… seemed to have suffered a lot. He’ll have to take his time 
to recover. I hope he recovers in the first place. But….. I …very much doubt it… 
he is weak beyond words…he has very little chances…”. The Medi-wizard looked 
away after speaking. He had tears in his eyes like all the others in the room 
except Harry. Ginny was crying silently, tears flowing down her face as if they 
were rivers, not even streams. Mrs. Weasely looked shocked and Mr. Weasely 
looked pale. The door of the room suddenly burst open and in scrambled Ron, 
Hermione, Fred and George but Mr. Weasely didn’t seem to notice them.
 
The scene, everyone crying, in the room, Harry lying motionless on the bed 
struck the four and they stopped in their tracks gaping. Ron suddenly surged 
forwards attracting Mr. Weasley’s attention.
“Ron, how have you come?”, he asked in a whisper.
Ron ignored his question.
“Dad!”, he croaked. “Harry! What’s happened???”. 
“He…He is unconscious and in a very bad state… the Medi-wizard here doubts he’ll 
live”. , Said Mr. Weasely and looked away from his son.
“No! Why don’t you do something? Try to do something!”, said Ron stricken. 
Behind him Hermione had grabbed the door handle to support herself from falling. 
Their friend was as good as dead. Behind her Fred and George were looking like 
statues all liveliness and humor gone as if it weren’t ever there in their 
faces.
The medi-wizard looked at Ron.
“Medicines won’t help here or I would have helped the poor boy….. he needs a lot 
of luck and love..”, he said despairingly. Ginny stopped crying and looked at 
the medi-wizard, then at Harry. The medi-wizard saw her then got up whispering a 
few words to Mr. Weasely who was surprised but at the same time motioned for 
everybody to follow him out of the room quietly. Ginny who wasn’t looking at 
anyone but Harry’s expressionless face never noticed everyone leaving. The 
words, “a lot of luck and love” repeated themselves in her mind. She felt 
hopeful and squeezed his hand tightly. Her eyes were filled with tears. She 
looked at his pale face, jet-black hair and round glasses. His eyes, were closed 
and he looked extremely peaceful. Ginny closed her eyes then opened them again. 
Tears fell from her eyes un noticed by her on Harry’s hand. She slowly, 
hopefully started speaking in a whisper,
“Harry…Harry maybe you can’t even hear me but I think you know I’m here. I’m 
here for you like I have been all through the last year… Harry you don’t know 
how much you’ll be missed if you leave us… you saved me again today by stopping 
Voldemort and he attacked you… I still don’t know if we was successful in 
achieving what he had wanted…Harry if you die, what would become of us? Don’t 
leave us all. You promised you’ll be with me for the rest of my life and here 
you are leaving us…no you won’t die. You’ll stay alive and kill Voldemort… the 
world needs getting rid of him. You have to stay alive and kill him. Stay alive 
for your friends, open your eyes, stay alive for everyone you’ve helped, stay 
alive for all those you risked your life earlier for… stay alive for me… I love 
you…”
 
A cool breeze blew in through the windows. The sun had set and the sky was a 
royal-blue color. The breeze ruffled through her hair and gave her a feeling of 
immense hope. She bent down towards Harry. Her tears had dried away already. His 
face looked as if it was suddenly bright and radiant with a strange light. 
Without another or worry she pressed her lips to his, kissing him. All her love 
seemed to be flowing into him, through her lips. She felt strange as if nothing 
really mattered now except that Harry had to stay alive. Breaking away, she 
looked at him waiting as if something should happen.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`  
 
Harry did not know where he was. The place was strange one. To his right was 
brightness, strange brightness and to his left there was darkness. Something 
invisible was pulling him into the darkness but suddenly something much stronger 
was pulling him into the brightness. He heard a familiar voice draw closer and 
then he heard that voice say
“I love you”. From his right a bright figure, the brightness blinding him 
entered the small area where he stood. He could only make out bright red hair 
and before he could think about anything, the girl came up to him and kissed him 
warmly on his lips. Suddenly everything dissolved around him and when he opened 
his eyes there was the same girl’s face staring into his but the surroundings 
had changed… he was now in a dimly lit but airy room. And he knew that girl… his 
one and only love..Ginny… 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``
 
Ginny couldn’t believe her eyes. Harry was actually looking up at her. Then he 
smiled at her. She couldn’t believe it. He was alive. She couldn’t say anything. 
Her mouth was opened in amazement and she was smiling slightly. Disbelief and 
immense happiness was etched all across her face. Her eyes were dancing. He 
simply smiled and sat up on the bed. He didn’t feel any pain at all. He was as 
good as before, even better, stronger. Suddenly Ginny realized what had happened 
and in a burst of emotions, she broke into tears, sobbing loudly and hugged him 
tightly, not letting go. Harry remembered everything that had happened before he 
had become unconscious and he simply smiled and wrapped his arms around her too, 
tears in his eyes too. She had now drenched the front of his robes in her tears 
but it was a long time before she was able to control herself and let go. When 
she finally did, Harry asked her in a low whisper,
“Where’s everyone and why are you crying so much over me?”
Ginny looked at him, still sobbing and managed to say,
“Harry you don’t know, when Voldemort hit me with the Cruciatus curse…. it sort 
of entered me and then suddenly there was a strange feeling inside me and a 
bright light came out hitting him….. He screamed ad then he fled with all the 
other Death Eaters….Harry…you fell unconscious and then we brought you here….a 
medi-wizard examined you and said you had barely any chances of living anymore. 
Then… I didn’t notice I then but, I notice it now that everyone that is mum, dad 
and the old wizard left the room. The wizard said you could live only with a lot 
of….luck and love…and then..”
“you kissed me, didn’t you?”, asked Harry taking in everything she had said 
seriously. She looked up at him,
“Yes, but how did you-?”
“You wont believe this but..”, he began and told her everything about the 
strange dream he had seen while he had been unconscious. She looked on listening 
intently till the end.
“You could hear me in the end..”, she said.
“You said “I love you” ?”, he asked her smiling.
“Yes”, she whispered her arm in his.
Harry looked at her thinking about what she had said when he had arrived at the 
Weasley’s about two weeks ago,’ you don’t know how much I love you’. He smiled 
thinking of what Dumbledore had said about Ginny having immense love for him and 
the powers of love. He ran his fingers through Ginny’s hair and then suddenly 
she turned to him, 
“Are you really alright? Are you still hurt?”
“No, I don’t know how but I am perfectly fine now.. thanks to you Ginny”, he 
replied lovingly.
“How? Because of me?” she asked him.
“Professor Dumbledore told me in a letter at the Dursleys that you have deep 
love for me and that you will always be sort of protector for me and I should 
stay with you. I’m really glad you’re with me. You stood up for me against 
Voldemort. I really love you….”, said Harry and hugged her tightly.
 
The door of the room opened quietly and Ron peeped in. Seeing Harry all right 
and Ginny in his arms, he closed the door silently again though in his 
excitement and happiness he would have banged the door, but he knew better not 
to. Harry heard the door closed and looked up. Had someone been there, he 
thought. Ginny also looked up puzzled. Harry shrugged and before Ginny could 
reply, he had pulled her into a kiss, long and loving. Neither cared if anyone 
entered or not at the moment. All they knew was that they had deep love for each 
other and that deep love would always do them good. As they broke away, Ginny 
just hugged him doing nothing else.
 
“Hey, everyone must be waiting…”, he began but that’s when the door opened. Ron 
looked in again and then walked in followed by Hermione. Both smiled at them. 
Ginny sat up straight grinning strangely. Ron walked straight over to him.
“Harry we’re so glad you’re alright”, he said sitting down beside Harry. From 
the looks on their faces Harry knew both Ron and Hermione had been crying. He 
couldn’t say anything except smile and stutter.
“Ron…Hermione…”, but suddenly Ron hugged him.
“Hey, its alright…”, croaked Harry with tears in his eyes. Ron finally stood up 
wiping his eyes.
“We thought we’d lost you…”, he said. “The medi-wizard said he couldn’t do 
anything in his power to help you recover and you needed a lot of luck and love… 
then dad told us to go outside leaving Ginny here”
Ginny smiled at him. “That’s a long story…”
Hermione had come over now.
“Harry, are you alright?”, she asked cautiously. 
“Yeah, now I’m fine… you can say thanks to Ginny, she saved my life here…and 
this time it was too close …”, said Harry seriously but ended with a smile. Ron 
looked at Ginny.
“Gin, look I’m sorry for all the times I ever said any thing bad to you…you 
saved my friend…”, he croaked.
“Ron, are you my brother or what?”, Ginny exclaimed really surprised at her 
brother.
 
The door opened again and this time in walked Mr. and Mrs. Weasely smiling at 
the sight of him awake in bed and really fine looking. A large black dog 
followed.
“Sirius!”, Harry exclaimed. It had been a long time since he had seen his 
godfather.
The dog transformed into his godfather and Ron and Hermione moved back to let 
him sit by Harry.
 
“How’re you here, Sirius?”, asked Harry.
“I came here as soon as I could, when I heard the rumours and Arthur called me 
over”, he replied still looking worried.
“Don’t worry, I’m absolutely fine, thanks to Ginny…”, said Harry.
“How?”, asked Sirius looking puzzled matching the looks on Mr. And Mrs. 
Weasley’s faces. 
“We would all like to know, Harry”, whispered Mrs. Weasely still looking pale. 
“We were really worried for you”
 
Harry looked around at the people in the room staring at him. Slowly he started 
telling them about how he saw the dream with the girl having red hair. When he 
got to the kissing part, he saw Ginny looking extremely red, not looking at 
anyone else in the room. When his account of the dream ended he said,  
“I don’t know anything about the time when I was unconscious, though”. He took 
Ginny’s hand in his Ginny looked at him and then slowly started telling everyone 
about what had happened in the street when Voldemort had directed a curse 
towards her and it had rebounded with greater force on himself. She told the 
listeners in the room all about what had happened and seemed to be quite all 
right though pink when she got to the part where she kissed him and Harry had 
opened his eyes.
 
When she fell silent, nobody said anything for a few moments. Then Sirius spoke, 

“Harry, I can only tell you this that you are very lucky. You are very lucky to 
have people who love you so much especially Ginny who I think has un imaginable 
love for you. That was the only cause of what happened tonight in the street 
with Voldemort and here when you were unconscious. Dumbledore had told me about 
you two. He knew that something like this could be possible if trouble ever came 
by. I am very glad for you two”. He fell silent while Harry was smiling up at 
Ginny.
 
“Should we take him back to our home now?”, Mr. Weasely asked Sirius.
“Yes, I should think so. It’s still unsafe for him here though I would think 
Voldemort would still be nursing his wounds thanks to the young lady”, replied 
Sirius, which made Ginny blush again.
“But, Harry do you think you can..get up, I mean?”, asked Mrs. Weasely looking 
at him.
“Yes, I’m, perfectly all right! I want to get up anyway”, said Harry attempting 
to get out of bed.
“Harry, I must go now before some one enters and spots me you know, its possible 
Fudge must have come up now. This is the first attack made by Voldemort openly 
after his re-birth. There are two many eyewitnesses. Fudge will have to believe 
the fact that Voldemort has returned. I have to go back to Lupin’s place now…”, 
said Sirius.     
“Oh..”, said Harry a bit sadly. He always hated it when Sirius had to leave so 
early.. He got to see him so rarely already.
“Don’t worry… hopefully, my name will be cleared soon, we’ll be trying…good 
bye”, said Sirius and transformed into a dog again.
“Bye”, said Harry as he saw Sirius leave closing the door behind him.
 
“So, want to leave now?”, asked Mrs. Weasely with a smile.
“Yeah..”, said Harry and Ron together.
 
It had been the most eventful summer yet.
 
Authors Notes: I hope everyone liked this story. The thing is that I had wanted 
to make it an all R/Hr on the request of the reviewers of “Ron Loves Hermione 
Then…” but it turned out to be a H/G one but it is still a type of a sequel. But 
I promise everyone I have started on the R/Hr and it will be uploaded in a few 
days. Probably 3 days. Keep a watch out. And do do do review. Hope you found 
your names in the reply to the reviewer’s list at the top. Next time I’ll make 
the replies short or no one is going to read my story!
 
Love from Pottergirl *hugs and kisses*
(review in the tiny box down there) *points downwards* 
            Review Story ( be a responsible reader and write a review)
            Title: When Times Are Hard...
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