Note: Originally written early morning 1/6/2010 when I couldn't sleep.
An unbeta'd snippet from an upcoming chapter of Being Harry Potter XCIV. I'm not sure WHERE/WHEN it will pop up - probably not for a couple of chapters, which means quite a while at the glacial pace I write at. Oh, and a tip of the hat to chem prof, whose inspiration for this scene I can see from miles away. I know this is not as good as that one's (heck, it's not as good as it sounded in my head while lying in bed), but it IS just a draft version. Knowing me, it'll see at least two or three revisions before going into my story (and to my beta). (Especially seeing as I'm writing this at 4am my time.) Maybe I'll start feeling inspired again. I know Ron needs work, for one. Comments are welcome. In fact, please do!
---
"But you're supposed to marry Ginny!" Ron exclaimed, managing to draw the attention of the entirety of the Gryffindor Common Room to the squashy chairs that Ron and Harry were sitting in while doing their essays for Charms. Hermione wasn't there. She'd gone to the library to look for books on meditation techniques. Harry had doubted any would be there, but Hermione had insisted on trying.
Harry leaned forward, and glanced from one side to the other. He didn't see Ginny, but that didn't mean she wasn't nearby. Even if she wasn't, the way gossip traveled, she'd certainly hear about it soon enough. "What makes you say that, Ron?"
Ron didn't even blink - and certainly hadn't noticed that the room had gone deadly quiet - as he responded. "Because Potters always marry redheads!"
Ah, there she was. Harry still couldn't see the youngest Weasley, but the way the others in the room were all looking in the same direction was an indicator - Ginny was behind him and Ron. Good. It was a little cruel, sure, but this was a way to nip that little crush before it went anywhere. It probably wouldn't help if this was one of the Love Potion Ginny's, but, if it wasn't, every little bit counted. "Uh... I assume this theory is based on the fact that my dad married my mum?"
Ron, of course, nodded.
Harry sat back in his chair thoughtfully. "Ron, don't take this the wrong way, but sometimes you can be..." 'A real idiot.' He shook his head, censoring himself before he called the volatile redhead something that made his face turn the same color as his hair (and make him turn off his ears). "... really, *really* wrong. You know my dad, yeah, but do you know anything about his dad, my granddad?"
Ron just shook his head.
"My granddad, Charlus Potter, he married Dorea Black, right? Unsurprisingly, Grandmother Dorea had black hair. In fact, her black hair is where me and my dad got ours. Granddad - and many Potters before him - generally had brown hair ranging from a light sandy brown to as dark as Hermione's hair is. But that's neither here nor there. Let's assume, for now, that what you say is true, that Potters marry redheads. Why would you think that means I'd marry Ginny?"
Ron opened his mouth to respond, but Harry just continued, rolling right over his potential response. "First, she's too young. It'd just be plain wrong to even consider dating her for another couple of years at least. Half plus seven and all." Chances were that those raised in the Wizarding World wouldn't know that urban 'rule,' but Harry kept going. "Plus, I barely know her. Aside from the end of second year, and when I've been to your house, I've rarely talked to her at all. And, at your house, she has a tendency to squeak and run away when I'm nearby. Not exactly conducive to a relationship."
Harry could practically feel the heat rising behind him, though he didn't know if it was in anger or embarrassment on Ginny's part. Still, best to bull ahead. "Leaving that aside, she's your little sister, mate, and you and your family are like my own family, right? So, would *you* be willing to marry your little sister?" He rushed ahead before Ron could answer. Or, more precisely, before Ron could appear to be thinking about it. There were just some things that Harry did NOT really want to know about purebloods.
"And then there's the fact that she's a year behind us. We'll both be out of school and looking for work by then. Maybe we'll on the Pro Quidditch circuit. If that were the case, I'd see her once a week during the summer? Maybe? And not at all while she was here for her seventh year."
"Much better to choose from our own class," Harry went on. "So, let's see. There's Tracey Davis. She's a redhead. Cute too."
Ron growled. "She's a Slytherin. You can't be thinking about dating her!"
Harry rolled his eyes. "So what? She's a Hogwarts student. Magic is magic. But fine. Let's consider someone else, then. Susan Bones is a redhead too. She's also one of our - or at least my - best friends since we all rode the Express up together first year. She's not like my little sister..." Here Harry paused. "Actually, she's not related to me at all. You and Ginny are. Another point against." He shook his head and went on. "She's a half-blood, like me - another point of commonality. She's funny, loving and very loyal. And, to use the kind of crude thing most of us guys - and some girls - use to judge, she's very, ah, attractive." The crowd, still suspiciously silent, immediately came to the correct conclusion that Harry was referring to the size of the girl's breasts. Susan Bones was easily a C-cup, and had been before she'd come back to school for her fourth year. And she was still growing. Ginny would likely never get past her current A-cup.
"And then, if we leave aside the personal interactions, there's the political connections. The Bones family is one of the few remaining Ancient and Noble Houses, just like the Blacks and Potters are." Uh oh. Ron was getting red now. He never liked being reminded of how much money Harry actually had. But he'd already started, so the only thing to do was to keep going. "The Boneses have a seat on the Wizengamot, and they're fairly influential besides." Neither of which the Weasleys had or were. "Let's not even mention that Susan's aunt is not only known to be one of the most honorable women in Wizarding Britain, but possibly the third or even second most powerful *person*, behind the Minister of Magic, in it." Which would be one reason why Voldemort would go after her personally if he managed to resurrect himself.
"Throw all that political power together and we could do a lot of good for the world. Imagine, for example, if we could get Wolfsbane subsidized and then could strike all the bad anti-Werewolf legislation. Let people like Professor Lupin get jobs doing what they do well, live somewhat better than hand-to-mouth. This world pretty much expects the Boy-Who-Lived to save it..." And the tone of irritation there was easily heard. "... so why not let me have the tools to do it? So, why should I marry Ginny?"
People had started murmuring and talking again, but it didn't hide the retreating feet that Harry could hear behind him. Yes, it *was* cruel, but sometimes you had to be a little cruel to be kind.
"You should marry for love, though," Ron said in a chiding tone of voice. "Don't you love Ginny?"
Harry shrugged. "I dunno. It's not like I have much in the way of examples, do I? So maybe I do. But like I said, she's like my little sister. You don't marry your sister. Or your cousin, as this case may be." He added, after a moment. "And who's to say I don't love Susan? They say that friendship is a kind of love, after all. Or Tracey for that matter? I don't know her at all, but she could be the best thing that ever happened to me and I wouldn't know it."