DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: This was the first fic I ever wrote, but I didn't post it until later.

Thing's I'll Never Say

Ginny Weasley woke to the sound of her mother's voice echoing up the stairs. What had the twins done now? Groaning, she rolled over until her feet hit the cold floor. She shoved her feet into her slippers then traipsed downstairs, fully intending to eat a hearty breakfast. She entered the kitchen and saw that Fred, George and Ron were already up, which was unusual seeing as it was the holidays. Then she saw who sat at the table with them.

Harry Potter had his fork halfway to his mouth when he looked up to her and smiled. She squealed, then ran back up the stairs into her room, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

She was breathing heavily and her heart was beating faster than was usual for having simply gone upstairs. She couldn't believe it. Harry Potter was here in her parents' house, eating breakfast at their table, using their cutlery!

"Breathe Ginny!" She told herself.

As Ginny dressed she saw out of her window small figures flailing through the air and she realised that they were the gnomes from their overgrown garden. She watched as Harry threw a particularly violent gnome that had just bitten him. It flew over the hedge and was lost in the field of wheat. When the garden had been successfully de-gnomed she turned back to her bedroom, intending to tidy up before she went to Hogwarts. Their letters had still not arrived and she was anxious to get hers. She would hopefully be going to her new school in just a few weeks time.

Just then she heard the front door slam shut and knew that her dad had just gotten back from work. She had no intention to go and say 'hello' though. Not if Harry was in the kitchen, which she knew he would be. She would see her dad when she knew that she would not be making a fool of herself in front of anyone.

Suddenly there was another explosion of shouting. Something about enchanting cars to fly and flying it to Harry's house in the night. So that's how he arrived then. No wonder the twins and Ron were keeping quiet. As the shouting continued Ginny heard footsteps on the stairs. Opening her door just wide enough to peer through she saw Ron and Harry walking up past her room. Harry looked her in the eyes but before he could say anything she snapped her door shut and turned with her back against the door, eyes shut and a small smile tugging at her lips.

***

Ginny went to sit at the breakfast table one morning to find that a letter had been delivered for her from Hogwarts. Frantically opening it, she saw that she had been accepted and would be expected to get the Hogwarts Express from Platform Nine and ¾ at 11:00am on the morning of the first of September.

She spoke animatedly to her parents about the sort of wand she wanted and what she would take with her to school. Then she caught sight of Harry and Ron in the kitchen doorway. Ginny's elbow slipped off of the table and she accidentally sent her bowl of porridge skidding along the floor.

Damn! Why do I keep knocking things over whenever he comes in the room? She noticed that Harry ignored her mishap and she was grateful. It wouldn't do to draw her mishaps to the attention of everyone else.

As breakfast went on, Fred said about how their book set would not come cheap. Her mum said that they would have to get most of Ginny's things second hand and then Ginny's heart spluttered and almost came to a stop. Harry had asked her if she was starting school this year too. All she could do was nod her head shyly whilst she blushed a deep beetroot red and put her elbow in the damn butter dish. Ginny couldn't believe what she had just done: she felt sure that everyone would laugh at her but nobody, other than Harry, had noticed.

***

Ginny sat on her bed in the girls dormitory at school trying her best to look over her History of Magic notes, but like always her brain seemed to buzz as she read the same sentence again and again. She had just gotten back from a gruelling quidditch practice ready for tomorrows match against Ravenclaw when she would be playing Seeker against Cho Chang because their stupid captain had gotten himself detention every stupid Saturday for the rest of the stupid school year!. Eventually, she decided she would tackle her notes when she was more alert. She put her notes back into her school bag and put that into her trunk at the foot of her bed. Then she lay back on her bed, pulling the hangings closed as she went. She then put her arms up behind her head and thought about her break-up with Dean Thomas.

She was glad that it had ended. He was always so clingy, constantly trying to do things for her like she was an extra valuable piece of china that was liable to break at any time. It wasn't as if she had never gotten into sticky situations before. There was the incident with Riddle's diary during her first year. Last year she had fought alongside her friends in the Department of Mysteries. Not to mention the fact that she had six elder brothers to deal with when she was at home. If she could handle those things she was pretty sure that she could climb through a portrait hole by herself.

Her thought's then turned to Harry. Why did everything seem to happen to him? She knew it bothered him.

"Well," she chided herself, "anyone would be bothered by it."

Duh! But Harry took it in his stride, no matter how uncomfortable it was. He had dealt with the same as many full-grown wizards and more than others. She often saw it in his brilliant green eyes. Those eyes!

She couldn't help but compare them to Dean's eyes when she was going out with him. Harry's had a sort of inquisitive look about them that rarely missed a detail. No doubt a result from being Gryffindor's Seeker on the Quidditch team. Then she thought of Dean's muddy-brown eyes that seemed dull and boring in comparison. His hair was always messy: it was impossible to train it to lay down, but it was messy in a stylish way. Dean's hair, however, was simply messy because he almost never ran a comb through it. Dean's lips always looked dry and cracked, which made kissing him uncomfortable. Harry's always looked so soft, even when he'd been practicing Quidditch in the wind. She longed to feel just how soft his lips were, but she couldn't without giving herself away. I wonder what his secret is, she thought. Ginny smiled to herself.

Harry never felt the need to fill the silence but Dean was always trying to make conversation, using practically everything as a discussion starter. The silences with him were always awkward, neither of them never knowing what to say or do next. With Harry, though, it was a companionable silence that felt cosy. When Dean ate at dinner he often reminded her of her brother, Ron. They both ate like pigs, usually eating about four helpings of everything. Whilst Harry often helped himself to seconds, he knew when to stop. He also ate with dignity, never spoke with his mouth full, elbows off the table and waited till his friends had also sat at the table before starting. Ginny supposed he had learnt those things from his formidable aunt and uncle, who, according to Harry, were the worst kind of muggle's imaginable. She shuddered to think what Harry's childhood had been like.

Ginny thought it had been obvious that she really liked Harry when she first met him. Whenever she was around him she always tried to be normal and keep her cool, but the harder she tried the more embarrassing she became.

During her thrid year, she had sought out Hermione's help, spilling her innermost secret desire's to her. Hermione had sat with a knowing look on her face, almost smug in a way.

Ginny had ploughed on, trying to ignore the look on Hermione's face. She asked whether she thought Harry would ever feel the same way. Ginny had never expected him to like her back but she couldn't help but hope. After all, what would the famous Harry Potter want with a girl like her? Her family was poor and branded blood-traitor for life.

Hermione tried to sooth the innocent Ginny.

"What you have to understand, Ginny, is that boys take longer to mature than us girls. Trust me, and believe me, when I say that one day Harry will open his eyes to see just how pretty you are and will be when you become a woman," This made Ginny blush a little but Hermione ignored it and continued, "And when he does he will be kicking himself for not paying attention sooner. You just have to bide your time and be patient. Relax when you're around him and maybe even go out with other guys so you get comfortable being around them in a romantic way. If you're lucky, that may even trigger his epiphany."

Hermione finished and gave a huge yawn. As she stretched she said, "Right, well, I'm off to bed. Just think about what I've said. Goodnight." She patted Ginny's knee before standing up and leaving for her dormitory.

Several times over the years, Ginny had come close to telling Harry about her feelings. Even when she was in a relationship with Michael Corner she couldn't help but think about Harry. Just as Ginny was preparing herself to tell Harry in her fourth year, news had reached her that Harry Potter was going out with Cho Chang and was planning to spend the day with her in Hogsmeade. It was then that she decided she would not tell Harry what she felt, at least not until she was sure he felt the same way.

Ever since Ron and Harry had caught her kissing Dean in what was a deserted corridor she often thought she saw Harry looking at her from across the common room in the evenings and that he laughed harder at her jokes about Ron's quidditch skills. Maybe she was just imagining things, but at the same time he also seemed to be more distant with her. He very rarely touched her anymore. Whenever they, Ron and Hermione were able to bag their favourite seats in front of the fire he always made sure there was at least one more person sat between them.

Ginny didn't want to get her hopes up but she had not forgotten Hermione's words from so many years before. She knew that her brothers and Harry thought her too popular for her own good so why would Harry suddenly join the bandwagon and take a romantic interest in her? It didn't make sense. When she knew for sure she would welcome him with open arms and forget all about her childish embarrassment at the age of eleven.

***

Ginny felt as though she was floating on Cloud Nine and that anything was possible, such was her euphoria at having beaten Ravenclaw and winning the cup. Almost every single Gryffindor was in the common room, the exception being Harry, who was in Snape's dungeon doing the first of many detentions. She wanted him to finish and be in the common room so they could celebrate with their captain in style.

Ron was waving the cup in the air, yelling the final score repeatedly. No one told him to shut up because they could still hardly believe it themselves. Hermione was stood next to the fireplace hugging anyone and everyone. Others were jumping up and down, punching the air, clapping and cheering whilst some were beyond words or any sound at all.

Right at that moment the portrait of the Fat Lady swung forwards to admit their missing member. Everyone fell silent. Then all of a sudden people roared with delight at the sight of Harry and pulled him through the hole. Ron started to scream the score again whilst Hermione jumped up and down to see over the heads of the crowd to get a look of Harry's stunned face. But Ginny paid no attention to what anyone else was doing. Instead, she ran towards Harry, unable to contain herself and threw herself into his arms, without even thinking of the consequences, when Harry's soft lips met hers.

Every conscious thought was wiped from her mind. This was better than winning the cup. She was doing what she had wanted to do since the first moment she set eyes on Harry at the breakfast table at the Burrow. She was unaware that the room had gone deadly quiet and that a few people looked murderous, whilst others whistled and giggled. When they eventually broke apart she guessed that Harry was looking over her head, searching for Ron. Her brother must have given some form of consent because Harry beamed down at her, then took her hand and climbed out of the portrait hole.

Together, Ginny and Harry followed their feet as they swept through the castle and out into the grounds, heading for the shade of the beech tree that Harry so often occupied beside the Black Lake.

This was a new beginning, a new era, and Ginny would never regret it, never forget the life she was now living with the Boy-Who-Lived.

A/N: I understand that the first time she officially see's Harry is at Platform 9 and 3/4 but I thought it would be more prudent to mean the first time she meets him when she actually knows a bit about him from Ron.

Let me know what you think.

Fresh Water Plimpy =]