Newspapers, jealousy and more.
Harry sat quietly in the living room of his London apartment near the fireplace. It was a Friday afternoon. He had worked hard all morning, so he had decided to take the afternoon off. He would like to find Ginny at home, but the Harpies match against Puddlemere United was around the corner, so Gwenog had intensified their training programmes for this week. He was sure though that as soon as it was over, she would have gone there instead of Burrow. They still did not live officially together. However, Ginny spent more time in here than at her parent's house. Harry was about to take the Daily Prophet, when Ron appeared in front of him, making him jump.
"Damn Ron! How many times have I told you not to show up at my house like this?" He said exasperatedly. Apparently, the fact that he had already caught Ginny and him half-naked on the couch was not enough.
"Right. Sorry," Ron answered, ready to disappear.
"Wait, I didn't tell you to..." but he could not finish the sentence as he heard a knock at the door. He went to open it to find Ron.
"Hi, mate. Can I come in?" He asked with a wry Weasley style smile, which he had also seen many times on Ginny's face.
"Come on in," Harry said, moving to let him pass. "So what brings you here?"
"Nothing. I just wanted to stop by and say hi to my best friend and my sweet little sister! Is that a problem?"
"Not really," he said, yet he could not stop suspecting something since they both had just seen each other at work.
"Seriously where is Ginny?" He asked, noticing that his best friend was alone.
"She's at Holyhead Harpies training," he said, sitting on a chair near the fireplace and inviting Ron to do the same.
"And how are things going between you two?" The redhead asked hesitating.
"Good, but why do you ask me?" Harry demanded, scrutinising better his friend. Ron was fiddling too much with his hands and looked tense. Yes, there was clearly something wrong.
"No reason," he replied vaguely, but Harry, who now knew him well, knew that when Ron wasn't saying much, it meant something was bothering him.
"What's up? Do you have to tell me something that I don't know?" Harry asked, prompting him to talk.
"No, I just wondered if everything was all right between you two, that's all," he insisted.
"The sex is great if you want to know," Harry said. The monster inside of him purred at the memory of the last night of passion with his sister. Ginny was very "turned on" before any important game, and Harry was not one who complains about it. He smiled with satisfaction when he saw Ron startled by that comment.
"Ew, mate! I did not mean that!" He said looking away, his ears blushing slightly. "I really do not want to know anything about that."
"Then what is it?" Harry looked at him with a hint of exasperation, which made him feel more like Hermione, Ron seemed to notice that, and perhaps that is why he gave in.
"Oh, OK, but if Hermione asks you something; I didn't tell you anything." Harry nodded, so Ron went on: "Have you read the Witch Weekly lately?"
"Yes, just five minutes before you came here. Do you think that I would read such magazines?" Harry said. "You know very well, how many craps they write about me."
"I know, but maybe this time you should have read it. There is an article about Ginny," Ron seemed to stop at every word as if he feared a possible reaction and Harry was beginning to be fed up with his attitude.
"Ron; or you tell me everything right now, or I'm going to tell Hermione that the bracelet, that you gave for her birthday, in fact, you was not bought, but you found it inside an Easter egg!"
"You wouldn't dare!" But from Harry's expression, he knew that he was not joking and that it was better to speak.
"Ok, all right." And from his pocket, he drew out a piece of paper, which probably he detached from the magazine and he handed it to Harry. The article was taking up the entire page and titled;
"The secret meetings between the redhead player of the Holyhead Harpies and the famous Bulgarian Seeker Viktor Krum."
Harry started laughing hard, and without even reading it, he gave back the piece of paper to Ron.
"And you'd come here just to show me this?" He asked, still laughing.
"Well, yeah. Are you not worried?"
"Worried? Why should I be?" Ron did not seem to understand the behaviour of his best friend if he was in his shoes, he would go mad.
"Well, I do not trust him. And have you seen the picture? The way he hugs her. If I were you, I'd be furious." Ron said. Harry nodded remembering all too well the attacks of jealousy of his friend who had often found excessive, to say the least.
"You know Ron; I think you worry too much about these things."
"Maybe you're right. Even Hermione always repeats it to me."
"And by the way, that picture is clearly false," Harry added, throwing a quick glance at the paper that Ron was still holding.
"If you say so. I'd better go. Hermione should be home any minute," Ron put the article on the table in the entrance. "If you want to read it," he said before greeting his best friend and disappear.
Harry sat down on the chair smiling still immersed in his thoughts. Ginny and Viktor Krum? Now that was ridiculous. It was a kind of thing that only people like Rita Skeeter could have written. Ginny would never have done that. Right? Suddenly he felt a knot in the stomach and gave a look at the table where Ron put the article. No, it was impossible. It was true that, since she had become a famous Quidditch player, admirers had increased, but he trusted her completely. He was sure of it. So why he was still thinking about it? Frowning, he got up to take a Butterbeer, then taking the Daily Prophet he began to read the news, the real ones. Not even half an hour passed that he lowered the newspaper look at the clock. Half past five, Ginny probably was ending her training.
"Are you sure?" His inner voice asked him.
"Of course, I'm sure! She is at training."
"Maybe she skipped it," his voice insisted.
"Impossible! It would be like Ginny."
"Are you sure you know her well?"
"Oh, shut up! Damn Ron! Why did he tell me this?" Standing up, he took the article.
"Ok, just a quick read," he said. He was sure that after reading it and having two more laughs, he would have forgotten all that stupid thing. So taking a deep breath and ignoring the picture with Ginny and Krum, he began to read. He had come already halfway down the page when a sentence could not help him raise his eyes.
"And so I would be a boy unable to see what lies beyond my old glasses? Come on! This sentence does not even make sense!" Once the article finished Harry put it down, grinning. He has been a real fool to worry like that. How could he have thought that Ginny was cheating on him? Furthermore, in the period when he met Krum, he had never shown interest in Ginny; the two hardly knew each other. That article made no sense and was just full of crap. Going near the fireplace, he threw it into the flames, but as he watched the paper burn, he felt the monster inside him waking up again.
Suddenly, he remembered a conversation made with Krum, a few years earlier, at Bill and Fleur's wedding. The boy had made remarks about Ginny, and suspicion began to take over more and more of him. Finally, Harry looked at the photo, now almost entirely burned; that image could also be true. They could have met at the end of a game or at some event to which he was not able to be present. He stood there, still looking at the fire until noticing that he clenched his fists so hard, that he was hurting himself with his nails. Was it possible that Ginny was able of such a thing? He was not sure anymore. He had to go to talk to her, or he would go mad. Damn Ron! He was just about to materialise when the front door opened, and Ginny came in.
"Hi, Harry. Why are you home so early?" She asked when she saw him.
"Where have you been?" Harry yelled her. He had promised himself in every way to stay calm, but the paranoia took over.
"At the training. Has something happened?" Ginny asked worried, noticing his look.
"You tell me! Is there something that you have to tell me?" Harry was aware that with his behaviour, he was just being ridiculous, but he could not help himself.
"No. Oh actually yes, but please Harry don't be mad at me because I tried not do it. I really do, but I just could not resist."
"You could not resist? Ginny, what the hell are you talking about?" She takes a deep breath before speaking again.
"Ok, do you remember Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker?" She started, but Harry on hearing that name stopped her.
"Viktor Krum?" Then it was all true. For a moment, which seemed endless, the boy thought that fate again was plotting against him, taking away the most beautiful thing he'd ever had in his life. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly before looking back at her.
"Yes, that idiot who goes after all the females! It is since he saw me at one of my last game, that he has started to send me lots of flowers and notes." Harry did not say a word to such revelation, but he was sure that his expression was already talking to him. "Notes to which among other things, I have never responded," Ginny said quickly. "But that's not all because I thought that in that way Krum would understand that I was not interested. Instead, he also had the courage to show up at the training, trying shamelessly to me and he has irritated me so much that I hexed him. And then..."
"Wait, wait! You just hexed him, is that all?"
"Well, yeah, and I'm very sorry. I know I had promised you that I would not have done it again after the last time with that reporter but..." Unexpectedly, Harry laughed and ran to her making her twisting around, kissing her passionately. Suddenly he realised how stupid he was to doubt her and he almost felt pity for the umpteenth victim of the famous Ginny's temper.
"Harry, what are you doing? Put me down! I am still all sweaty!"
"I don't care," he said, kissing her again. Ginny moved her face away from him so she could look at him better.
"Harry, what happened? Are you sure you're okay?" She asked puzzled after he put back on the ground. He smiled.
"Never been better. I feel so well with you, and I love you so much." Ginny looked at him even more puzzled; then he noticed the bottle on the carpet.
"I knew it, you drank! It seemed too strange."
"It is a Butterbeer." Ginny took the bottle to be sure, and Harry began to feel offended for her little faith which he knew was absurd. Especially after all the thoughts, he had had before. "And I barely drink."
"And what about Percy bachelor party?" She reminded him with a smirk.
"I'm still trying to forget it," he answered, but smiling. Charlie, Ron, Bill, George and he had decided to entertain Percy, making him drunk. At the end of the night, Percy was the only one sober.
"Okay, I'm going to take a shower before dinner," she said looking at him mischievously before starting slowly to undress, making falling her clothes on the floor in a sort of striptease. Walking her long red hair were moving on her shoulders, and Harry remembered that time on the train, in his sixth year, in which he saw her leaving to reach Dean. It was the first time that he had felt something for her, but he did not know yet that it was love. The sound of water and a more than clear tent in his pants roused him from his thoughts and starting to undress he hurried to the bathroom.