Disclaimer: The Characters and situations of Harry Potter depicted in this story are the legal property of J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury, and AOL Time Warner, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made off this story and it is being used for entertainment purposes only.
Author's Notes: Decided to have a little bit of fun with Harry and appease my need for Harry Obsessing over Ginny fic. Directly after the Dean/Ginny and Lavender/Ron breakups, somewhere in the beginning of 'Sectumsempra'. HBP and General HP spoilers abound. Read, Review, and enjoy!
The problem of retaining Slughorn's memory finally solved, Harry was more than a little happy when he slid into his seat into the Great Hall across from a seemingly elated Hermione and an even happier Ron. His stomaching was aching for food and his head hurt from not eating all day. He had spent most of the morning recounting the events of the previous night to his two best friends, only to find he had to spend all of his free periods, including lunch, finishing the homework he had not gotten the chance to finish the night before.
Of course, while normally these conditions would have worsened Harry's seemingly good mood, instead it only saw great improvement. Especially considering the news that not only had Lavender and Ron ended their ill fated romance, but Ginny and Dean were quick to follow suit.
Harry, of course, was elated by this recent turn of events. Found himself happier than he had been in months, so much so in fact, thathis new found happiness was even rivaling that of Hermione's who seemed just as happy as he was that the Lavender and Ron relationship-- if one could actually call it that-- was officially over. It made him feel like a git, however, when he realized that he was reveling just a little to much in what was probably Ginny's horrible anguish.
He felt bad for her, honestly he did. When things with Cho and him just sort of fell apart and ceased to exist last year he was upset and heartbroken-- and they hadn't even been going out. He felt even worse for Dean who looked just about as heartbroken as you could get in Charms earlier that morning. Of course, that was only until Harry realized that this would work very well to his advantage in his future plans for him and Ginny.
There was still that monster in his chest that was making his stomach jump up and down at the possibilities that could be awaiting him and the near future.
The very near future, if things went his way.
But his nimble mind was now focused on other things. More important things.
Like, perhaps, getting Ron to realize that nothing was better than his best mate falling for his sister.
Not that he had fallen in love with her or anything. He hadn't. He merely like her that's all. A lot. So much so that she invaded his every bloody thought. But Ron didn't really need to know that at this point in time, did he? Maybe in the future, but not now while he was near some very sharp knives.
"All I'm saying," Ron began, taking a large bite of his dinner roll, "Is there should be a transition period in-between boyfriends."
Harry heartily agreed with this statement, especially since it was concerning the youngest red haired Weasley. Unless, of course, he was the next boyfriend by which case she could come down here and profess his undying love for him for all he cared, transistion period be damned.
Hermione, obviously disgruntled about this, rolled her eyes, "Leave Ginny alone, Ron."
Ron ignored her and looked straight at Harry. Leaned forward as if he were about to tell some huge secret he didn't want anyone to overhear. "I saw that Zabini bloke," Ron gestured his head towards the tables behind them, "looking at her this morning during Lunch and I'll be damned if I'm going to let my sister go out with a no good, dirty--"
"Ron," Hermione eyes widened, her tone warning, obviously bracing herself for whatever nasty name Ron was about to say.
If possible, what he did say, was worse than what she probably imagined.
"Slytherin," he finished after a long pause, rather pink eared as he sat down firmly in his seat next to Hermione. Harry, however, did not miss the fact that he had somehow managed to get closer with the movement as well.
"Well," Hermione began after taking a small bite of her food, "Someone is bound to ask her out soon, so you might as well just learn to live with it."
Both boys glared in her direction, "She's too popular for her own good."
Harry said nothing to Ron's comment, only nodded enthusiastically as he looked over towards the Slytherin table out of the corner of his eye and tried to list all the awful hexes he could put on Blaise Zabini that would make his life as miserable as possible. He was kind of partial to the Furnunculus spell himself and even more partial to watching boils appear all over the victims faces, but lately he had becoming rather partial to Ginny's infamous Bat- Bogey Hex.
Although, Harry had a sneaking suspicion that reason Ginny's favorite hex was so influential was due to the fact of how angry she usually was when she used it. Weasleys in general were famous for their short tempers, and Ginny, when provoked, was like a miniature Molly in the making. Not that he minded of course, Harry actually found it oddly appealing when she told off a seventh year Ravenclaw after he had made a not-so-nice comment about her brother's Quidditch skills.
Found it rather endearing, in fact.
He wondered, briefly, as Ron went on and on about something trivial and not worth listening to, how many detentions Snape would give him if he just up and out of nowhere hexed someone from his house. Even if Harry saw it as a noble, justified cause, he seriously doubted the bane of his existence, the bloody Snape, would. Harry had decided, however, that it would be worth it in the long run. Even more so if Ginny just happened to see the whole thing, come running towards him, jump into his arms, and kiss him for defending her honor.
A silly smile crossed his features at that thought as the entire scene played out in his head.
"Harry?" Fingers snapped in front of his face and he jumped at Hermione's voice and, upon further inspection, rather amused face.
Ron raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "Alright there, mate?"
Harry's shoulders immediately stiffened. Was automatically on defense. He stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth. Chewed for a second then said, "Just fine," as though he weren't terribly embarrassed and afraid Ron could read his very inappropriate thoughts concerning his youngersister.
And, as if by some twisted sort of chance fate had took on a life of its own, the object of his affection and almost all his thoughts took it upon herself to stroll right up next to him that very moment.
"Anyone sitting here, Harry?" She asked with a smile, gesturing to the empty seat next to him.
"Nope," he said even before she had finished asking and was already turning towards the person sitting next to him and asking them to move down to make more room.He did this even though there was more than enough for Ginny to sit.
Hermione snickered at this. Ron looked rather confused, but Ginny seemed not effected in the least as she slid into the seat next to him. Her hand brushed up against his arm lightly for a fraction of a second like his had months earlier in the Library, and he couldn't help the creature stirring warmly in the pit of his stomach.
Harry welcomed it actually, it was quite a pleasant feeling he found. Especially if it meant Ginny Weasley, with her gorgeous fire red hair and smile that as of lately made his knees weak, was sitting next to him. Right next to him, to be exact, with her thigh flush against his own.
Inconspicuously, he looked out of the corner of his eye and noticed for the first time that there was enough space for two people to sit where she was. So, his mind jumped to conclude, she had chosen to sit this close to him. Not that he was complaining or anything, quite the contrary actually, he found he rather liked it. Immensely in fact. So much so that he reached forward for another role, raising out of his seat the slightest bit so he could sit back down even closer, just like Ron had with Hermione some time before.
He was quite possibly pathetic, but he was happy. He wondered briefly, as he watched Ginny interestedly out of the corner of his eye, if there was a happy medium. Andif there was, he think he may just have found it.
"So," Hermione broached, her voice breaking through the haze in his head with caution, "How are you, Ginny?"
The girl in question merely shrugged her shoulders, "Fine."
Harry noticed that she did seem fine. Better than fine, in fact. Ginny seemed rather unaffected by her breakup with Dean, not emotional in the least or even the least bit heartbroken. Harry started to ponder how much was an appropriate amount of time to wait before jumping your best mate's little sister after she had just broken up with her boyfriend of almost a year.
Longer than a day, he figured regretfully.
Ron leaned forward like he had minutes before to Harry, "Can I hex him now? That stupid git… thinking he can treat you like--"
"Ron," Ginny rolled her eyes as she picked at a dinner roll, "Knock it off."
"He's a prat, Gin."
"I broke up with him, Ron. It's not like I'm heartbroken or anything."
Harry's heart did that thing where it beat twice it's normal rate at her words. Now he didn't have to feel so awful about being so happy at the news of her breakup. If she didn't care, why should he? And even if she were heartbroken and was just hiding it, he thought rather wickedly, he was sure he could think of some very pleasing ways to make her feel better.
He grinned stupidly despite himself and poked at the uneaten food on his plate. For some reason he wasn't as hungry as he was before. In fact, he found, he was rather sedate. Peaceful, in fact.
"Well you should be," Ron said stubbornly.
Ginny's perfectly arched eyebrow rose, "You would rather me bawling all over the place like your ex girlfriend?"
Ron seemed to consider this a moment, looked out of the corner of his eye were sure enough Lavender Brown was sitting frowning and on the verge of tears. "Well, I wouldn't exactly wish that on anyone…" Hermione snorted in an unladylike manner at that, "but you two were going out--"
"Oh for Merlin's sake," Harry burst out, rather loudly and surprising both herself and those around him. When he realized he was almost half out of his seat again, he sat back down, rather embarrassed and refused to meet Ginny's eyes-- beautiful as they were, looking at him like he assumed she thought he hadlost his mind.
Which, given his sudden and out of nowhere outburst, may not be the farthest thing from the truth.
"I mean," he began again, ignoring the bewildered looks from Ron and Hermione, "It's obvious she doesn't want to talk about it…"
Dinner after that embarrassing scene went seemingly well. Chatting moved on to more neutral subjects like Quidditch and their mutual hatred for Snape and by that time their conversation grew more lively than ever. Dinner was drawing on and coming to a close, and Harry was dreading the moment he had to stand to go back to the common room.
The moment when he would have to leave his very comfortable seat next to Ginny.
Still poking at the food on his plate as the conversation drove off, Harry wondered if now that Ginny had officially ditched Dean, she would be spending more time with him-- and Hermione and Ron of course. He wondered, quite hopefully in fact, if these suppers together would be come a normal thing.
The monster that had been living his chest since before Christmas roared to life at the thought of Ginny and him spending more time together in the up coming weeks. And as the surroundings of the Great Hall faded around him, his mind played lovely images of the two of them together. Playing Quidditch. Talking by the lake, holding hands… snogging like there was no tomorrow.
Harry wondered, actually pondered for quite a while, what it would be like to kiss someone who didn't fall to pieces afterwards. And then, as if hit in the stomach, he wondered if perhaps he did kiss Ginny like he had been wanting to kiss her for weeks… whether she would fall apart over Dean, like Cho had over Cedric.
Oh, Merlin he hoped not. He didn't think he could handle that disappointment.
His stomach churned at the thought, and he turned to look at her. Studied her face for a moment as she munched on some peas and carrots. Harry imagined this perfectly happy world where Harry could just kiss her right now and Ron would be none the wiser… or even better, he completely accepted it wholeheartedly…
What a perfect, blissfully happy world that would be…
"Harry?"
At the sound of a familiar voice his head snapped to the side, green eyes shooting towards a shaking-with-laughter Hermione. "What?" he asked, innocently, wondering for just how long he had been staring off into space. Or worse, just how long he had been staring at Ginny. Or if she had noticed at all, which would be very embarrassing in and of itself.
"You're… You're um…" She broke off laughing again and in the process made Ron look up from where he was studying the remainder of the pie sitting next to him and start laughing too.
"What?" Harry asked in agitation.
"Harry," Ginny said, pulling out her wand and grabbing his left hand. He couldn't help the shiver of anticipation that ran up his spine the moment her smooth skin slid against his own. The images it created in his mind…"Your elbow was in the jam," she said with a cheeky smile as she waved her wand and said the appropriate spell to make the Jam disappear from his sleeve.
If possible, Harry Potter, who barely ever blushed-- not even when girls older and younger than him were following him around, giggling and professing their love for him-- turned as red as a beet. If possible, he turned even more red when he saw Ginny giggling right along with Ron and Hermione.
All the lovely images of them together flew right from his mind.
He glared at them all and turned back towards the food in front of him grumpily.
"I haven't seen that look on your face since Cho, Harry," Ron said in between laughter as he cut up the last two pieces of pie. He paused, considered something for a moment, and then looked back up at Harry. He leaned forward, knife in hand, eyes wide. "You're not mooning over Cho again are you?"
Harry wondered just what Ron would do with that knife in his hand if he told him he was mooning over his little sister instead. The picture he conjured in his mind wasn't pretty. "No," Harry shook his head adamantly, rather flustered. "Of course not."
Ron seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and went back to cutting his pie. "Good… because I've been through that once and I don't think I could go through that again. Not even for you. It was miserable enough the first time. Cho this and Cho that," he did an awful impersonation of Harry, "you were hopeless."
With a sneaky look in Ginny's direction to see her shaking with giggles, Harry turned even more red. He had to hold himself back from reaching for his wand when Ron good naturedly gave him one of the two last pieces of pie. Grumpily he cut himself a tiny bite and stuck it in his mouth. Watched with a scowl as Hermione fussed over there being no pie left. Thought it served her right for laughing at him.
Nearly choked on his own pumpkin pie when Ron freely and without question gave her the last piece. The very last piece it looked like, for all the other pie plates on the Gryffindor table were empty as well. When in the hell did Ron give up food?
Ginny, having noticed this as well (and Harry of course noticed she had noticed do in large part to his right eye that just seemed to stray to her by its own free will) paused, fork poised at her lips. After a long moment, she set her fork down, food still on it, with a loud clank and stared hard at her brother.
"I wanted that last piece of pie, Ron," she said simply.
Ron stopped mid chew on a roll and stared back at his sister, continued chewing for a moment then swallowed, thankfully, before speaking. "Sorry, Gin. There's no more left."
Ginny looked in-between the two people sitting across from her and then at Harry. Then back again, "What's going on here?"
Hermione swallowed her bite of pie, "What are you talking about?"
"Since when," Ginny began, a rather amused smirk on her face, "Does my dear brother give away the last piece of pie?"
She did make a pretty interesting point, and if Harry weren't so caught up in thoughts about the two of them feeding each other pie at a picnic by the lake he would have commented himself. Instead he merely found himself grabbing his own piece of pie and pushed it towards Ginny.
"You can have my pie, Ginny," he said a little too sweetly in a voice he didn't even recognize.
What the hell was wrong with him?
She ignored him, "Two summers ago Ron fought with Charlie for three weeks because he took the last piece of mums cherry pie. Ron," she looked pointedly at her brother, "Wouldn't even share food with Phlegm," she managed to say the name with as much bitterness as she always did, "over the summer."
"Look, Ginny, if this is about pie--"
The red haired girl cut off Hermione, "What is going on between you two?"
Both people in question flushed rather profusely. A clear indication that they were unusually hot, or being less than truthful about something. "Nothing," they both said simultaneously.
It was definitely the latter.
Ginny smirked, Harry looked at his two best friends with a raised eyebrow,"I think they're lying," Ginny turned, obviously amused towards Harry. He couldn't help it, his heart leapt in his chest the moment their eyes met, "Don't you, Harry?"
He wasn't really sure, didn't really care either way, but he thought it best to side with Ginny on this one. Thought it would help him more in the long run.
"Yeah," he said smirking as well, "I do."
Hermione laughed nervously and not so subtly moved away from Ron, "What would we be lying about?"
"You tell us," Ginny challenged.
"Ginny," Ron intervened, stumbling his words quite a bit. "I think due to the emotional stress your under 'cause of recent developments in your love life, you are seeing things that just aren't there. Maybe you should go lay down for a little bit. It'll make you feel better."
Ginny sniffed the air and crossed her arms over her chest defiantly (Harry found that particular movement quite attractive for unexplained reasons), "I don't think I want to be someplace where I am surrounding by people who are lying to me," almost as if on cue, she turned back to Harry. "Don't you agree, Harry?"
The dreamy 'yeah' he said slipped through his lips without even realizing it.
"I think I'll be going then," Ginny said, and much to Harry's dismay and desperation stood from her seat and started making her way away from the table. If he wasn't worried about being too obvious (which may be a lost cause anyway) he would have ran after her, but instead he chose to glare fiercely at Ron and Hermione for making her go away.
Her absence was felt almost immediately, and Harry couldn't help but feel that lighthearted, floating feeling he had been consumed with all through dinner start to dim. Then fade, and then almost disappear completely within a mere second. His heart ached at her absence despite his wishes for it not too.
Almost immediately Harry felt sad. Alone. Like a hopeless cause. His shoulders slumped. He felt unreasonably defeated.
There was no denying it anymore (as if he were before, which he weren't; Although if Ron were to ask, he might just have to-- Self preservation and all that) he liked Ginny Weasley. Liked her so much he could feel her absence up to a mile away. It was pathetic, even more so now, and that happy medium he thought he had found disappeared as well.
"Harry?"
His ears perked up at the sound of Ginny's voice, he couldn't help it. When he looked to the side and saw her standing there, he could barely hide the smile that graced his lips.
"Are you coming?"
With a final look towards Hermione and Ron who were looking at him rather expectantly, he did what any normal boy who liked a girl would have done in that particularsituation. He stood, grabbed his books, and followed after her. Immediately becoming rather distracted by the gentle sway of her hips in the process.
Oh, Bloody hell, he thought as he raced to catch up with her.
Harry Potter had passed the line between liking and infatuation so long ago he could barely even see it anymore.
And not so surprisingly, as he finally caught up with Ginny right outside the doors of the Great Hall, he didn't really care whether it was pathetic or not.
End.