Ginny was not in a happy mood. Dusk was just beginning to set in and she was absolutely starving. After having spent the whole day holding Quidditch tryouts, with not even time for a lunch break, there had been very little in the way of real talent on the pitch today. There actually hadn't been a bad turn out, what with three quarters of Gryffindor wanting to play for their house. Now, as she was the only one left to put away the abandoned equipment, all she could think about was how she was going to be the laughing stock of Hogwarts come their first match, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, next month. She thought toward her future and groaned. If she wanted to play for anyone remotely decent when she got out of this place, she'd have to prove herself and create a team that would storm the House Cup. Otherwise, who knew when she would get a chance for the scouts to recognise her talent. At the moment, the sorry bunch she was forced to pick today would not help her to get anywhere near that goal.

"Merlin save us!" she grunted as she kicked open the great chest and forcefully shoved the Quaffle in its place. "I don't know how I'm supposed to make this lot fly straight, let alone play as a team!"

Picking up her broom, she slammed closed the lid of the chest, only to suddenly be thrown backwards as the lid was thrown open, a jet-black Bludger making its bid to freedom. In her forcefulness, one of the catches had come undone.

"Arrrgggghhh!" Ginny screamed to the world, pounding her fists to the dirt and cursing the universe and everything in it. "What is it with today and the send-everything-at-Ginny thing? Why me? WHY ME?"

She rolled to the side, just in time to avoid getting her head smashed in by the incoming Bludger. Spying the bag of beaters' bats and spare brooms, she went into a rolling dive, picking up one of the bats. The Bludger was coming in from the left and she just about managed to whack it back so it went shooting off towards the goalposts.

"Take that!"

She really couldn't be bothered with this struggle. She just wanted to go and get something to eat and then go and drown herself in a nice, hot bath where no one could even think about Quidditch. However, she didn't think the Bludger would let her go that easily.

She had seen how the American Muggles wiggled their bottoms before hitting the ball in that game of theirs. She copied them now, getting ready for the next attack. If she could just hit it hard enough, she'd have enough time to grab the gloves so she could catch it on the next.

"Come on now, you little bugger, come and get it," she spat. She hoped this wouldn't last too long as the light was failing and soon she wouldn't even have a chance at seeing the stupid thing. Ending up in the hospital wing would be such a great end to the day. She made a mental note to have a good, long rant at the team the next practice. Surely someone should have stayed to help her tidy up?

The Bludger arched away, looping the goalposts before zooming toward her. Muttering profanities her mother would have been ashamed to hear her even thinking, she readied herself. But fate, it seemed, wasn't done with her yet. Just at the last moment, the Bludger veered onto a different course and she was forced to dive to the side, the bat painfully bouncing off her skull as she hit the ground.

She saw stars and her brain was foggy, the pain making her dizzy, but she immediately looked around for the Bludger. It was coming towards her. The bat was too far away. Her wand wouldn't help her against the anti-magic jinxes that had been cast over the balls. She wasn't stupid enough to try to catch it with her bare hands. There was no other option: she'd just have to dive again. The light was now rapidly failing and she had to come up with something quick.

"Whose bloody stupid idea was it to charm a deranged ball into something that tries to kill you?" she shouted to the sky.

As she stood there, in a battle stance, she felt like the player in front of the net in the picture Dean had on his wall. Only this time, the object flying towards her was trying to hit her, not avoid her. Just as it was nearly upon her, she saw a movement from the corner of her eye, but she didn't get a chance to see what it was as she threw her body to the right in an attempt to get closer to the bat, hearing the 'whzzzzz' of air swish past her left ear as the Bludger just missed her.

That was close, she thought. I can't just keep diving out of the way; my body feels like it is ready to give up as it is.

She heard a grunt and scuffling sounds. Turning around, she saw a figure sprawled on the floor, fighting to keep the Bludger down. With shock she realised it was Harry. Harry, who'd been missing for the past five months and no one had heard a word from since the moment he left the Burrow three days after the Battle at Hogwarts. Harry, who'd left her heart in shatters and who hadn't spoken a word to her apart from the one 'goodbye' when he left.

"Harry?" she asked dumbly, as if not quite believing he was actually here. I'm hallucinating, she thought. Any moment now I'm going to wake up in the Hospital Wing.

"Well don't just stand there, you big wally, bring the chest over here!"

She rolled to her feet, fighting the dizziness, and ran over to the chest. Together, they managed to get the struggling ball back into its restraints. Once in, it gave a few feeble shakes and then was still. As she closed the lid of the chest, carefully this time, Harry flopped down onto the ground to catch his breath.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" she asked him when she'd finished securing the chest. Her head was throbbing so much that she felt the side of her head. No blood, but what would be a very sore bruise tomorrow morning. She closed her eyes and tried to overcome the pain.

"Hello to you, too. Saving you from a rampant Bludger, so it seems. Nasty little buggers," he replied, pushing himself up on his elbows. "You okay, Ginny?"

Her eyes opened in an instant. She didn't know what caused it, but something snapped inside of her. Maybe it was just the sum total of her day or maybe it was just that she finally found an outlet to vent the furious frustrations that had been piling up inside of her for as long as she could remember.

"No I'm bloody well not alright!" she screamed at him, hot waves of fury burning through her veins. "I have spent the whole day watching idiot after idiot try out for a team I have to make sure win the House Cup this year so that I won't be laughed down. And it's not going to happen with this bunch of talentless fools who can't even stay on their brooms long enough to even take a look at the Quaffle, let alone catch it! Oh no, they couldn't wait to go and fill their stomachs whilst they left their starving Captain to tidy up after them and risk her life with a bloody Bludger on a suicide mission! Ungrateful sods!"

She stood up so she now towered over Harry, her face very red by this point. "And you. You, who is the hero of all the bloody whole-wide Wizarding world, who left with only a measley 'goodbye'. You, who left me hanging on, not knowing where you are, how you are; Voldemort could have risen again for all I knew and taken you away! No one would have known! You, who left us all to deal with the aftermath you were mostly responsible for in your absence."

She was almost spitting the words out now. "And then you dare to turn up and save me again from a Bludger that I could have handled myself? YOU UNGRATEFUL BLOODY BASTARD!"

She felt the anger seething within, burning strongly, smothering any other emotion. He was still on the ground, looking up at her with eyes that were a mixture of emotion. Somewhere deep down inside of her something told her that she was being too harsh, that he was just dealing with the impossible circumstances that were none of his fault. Looking down on him, she could see that his hair had grown slightly longer so that it was now almost irresistible not to reach down and move it from his face. His deep green eyes were fixed to her, as if he was entranced with her every move.

He lifted one eyebrow. "We can let that Bludger out again if you wish, I'm sure you'd win over that tiny stupid thing any day."

"Why you...I'll Bat-Bogey you into the middle of next week!" she screamed as she pulled out her wand.

He came to his feet in a rush, holding his hands up. His eyes held a pleading quality that she felt she would have found amusing had she been in a calmer state of mind.

"Ginny, please. I don't doubt that I deserve to be Bat-Bogeyed, and I definitely deserve the full force of your fiery Weasley temper, but please, at least give me the chance to explain myself to you before curse me into the middle of next year!"

Does he realise how adorable he looks pleading with me like this? she thought. She shook her head, now was not the time to be softening. But he won't be able to hug you if he's got bogies flying around him.

"Fine. You have ten words to explain yourself." She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

Harry stood there, opening and closing his mouth like a child doing a gormless fish impression.

"Erm...err...," he stuttered.

"That's two, you have eight left." Her anger having had its outlet, she was actually beginning to enjoy this. "Is the hero of the Wizarding world having trouble here? I'm sure the readers of Witch Weekly would love to hear about this."

Harry shot her a glare. She was referring to the one and only interview he had given after the downfall of Voldemort. Given Harry's lack of indulgence with the press, she was surprised he even allowed it in the first place. He didn't come away looking too good though, something that Potter fans were quick to blame on 'the excitement and stress of having just defeated the evilest Wizard in history'.

"Fine," Harry countered, "I only need three."

"Seven, three left. Let's hear it."

He shrugged, smiling and daring to take a step closer to her.

"I love you, Ginny Weasley."

Her heart stopped mid-beat at the same time as her breath caught in her throat. His grin grew when he saw that he had just rendered her speechless with his three words.

Did he just say what I thought he said? Did Harry Potter just say he loves me? Her mind was racing. Look at him, standing there, so dashing, so... Harry. And yet he thinks he is so clever.

"Actually, that was twelve words. I only gave you ten." She felt breathless, as if she had just had a fight with fifty Bludgers. How was she going to reply to that?

Harry chuckled smugly. "Mmm, so? What are you going to do about it?"

She couldn't help it. She Bat-Bogeyed him.

"Ginny!" He fell to the floor, his hands covering his head to protect himself from his giant flapping bogies.

Ginny laughed. In fact, she laughed so hard she fell to the ground, unable to hold herself up any longer. She had just hexed Harry Potter, saviour of the Wizarding world, defeater of Voldemort, and he didn't even stand up for himself. When it got to the point of her really starting to need the loo and her head began to pound again, she forced herself to calm down. Perhaps she'd let him suffer enough.

"Okay Harry, get up, you big wimp." She took the hex off him and offered him a helping hand. "Evens?"

"Why oh why did I ever choose to get involved with a Weasley? Everyone's warned me about your tempers; Merlin knows I've had to put up with Ron," Harry muttered as he rolled on to his knees and grabbed her hand. Coming to his feet, he pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I guess we could call it even," he said, his face inches from hers. "Depends."

She could hardly find the air to breathe. Just being this close to Harry again was a magic in itself. "On...?"

"On whether you let me kiss you now without me having to fight off a hoard of any other nasties."

She laughed. "Well, there is always that..."

But she never got to finish as Harry reached down and pressed his lips against hers. It was a soft kiss, firm, but gently asking for permission. Ginny let him know by the way she responded that he didn't need any such thing, sliding her arms up so her hands entwined in the hair at his neck. He moaned slightly, pulling her in closer to his body so she could feel the warmth of him through the layers of her Quidditch uniform. She had forgotten how good it felt to kiss him, to share...

"Owwwwww!" she cried and pulled back, her hands going to the bump on her head that he had just pushed. Sharp pains thudded through her brain, intensifying the dizziness.

"Ginny? I'm sorry, what's the matter? What did I do?" She could hear a note of panic in his voice.

"I got hit on the head earlier in the ruckus." She felt the world begin to spin. Maybe she should sit down.

"We've got to get you to Madam Pomfrey if the Bludger hit you on...Ginny? Ginny!"

She vaguely felt his arms around her, but then she felt and heard no more as the world went black around her.