"Wake up, Harry! It's Christmas!" Ron jumped on top of the extra bed in his room. The Wealseys had invited Harry 'home' for Christmas. The Burrow was more of a home than the Dursley's place would ever be. Harry couldn't imagine ever being able to repay Mr. and Mrs. Weasley fully for the burden of taking care of him basically every summer.
Harry jumped up out of his bed, excited to see the reactions of every Weasley when they opened their gifts from him. Harry had to be careful with every gift, keeping in mind that the Weasleys were poor and that they (or more like Mr. and Mrs. Weasley) wouldn't accept any large or expensive gifts. Harry had minimal trouble trying to find gifts for the Weasley brothers, and even more trouble finding a gift for the Weasley parents, but he thought his head was going to explode when he was buying Ginny's gift. He didn't want to seem too forward, but he didn't want her to think that he didn't care.
He had come to realize that he was falling for Ginny the beautiful young woman with the pretty eyes and fierce red hair, not Ginny, Ron's little sister. She was all he thought about. During the school year, he barely got his essays done. He had to re-write and essay about the essence of cricket butts when he wrote her name in the middle of a sentence.
"Happy Christmas, Ron." Harry rubbed his eyes and pushed his glasses onto his face, smiling once he could see clearly again. They walked out the room and heard the familiar clank of pots and pans on the stove, signaling that breakfast was on its way.
"Happy Christmas, Mrs. Weasley." Harry said politely. Ron said the same, but with the word 'mom''. Mrs. Weasley looked up and greeted them with a large smile.
"Oh, dearies, will you go and wake everyone else up please? Breakfast will be ready after we open the gifts." Mrs. Weasley shooed them out
They stepped out into the living room, sizing up the pattern-coded presents. Mrs. Weasley always like to wrap each child gifts in a different patterned paper so she wouldn't get the gifts messed up.
"Harry, I will handle Fred, George, Charlie, and Bill. You can get Hermione and Ginny." Ron emphasized handle. Harry nodded and they reluctantly started up the stairs, away from the presents. Hermione was staying in Ginny's room, so Harry only had to go into one room.
Harry stopped outside of Ginny's room and hesitated. He turned to ask Ron if he could switch, but Ron had disappeared into Fred and George's room, having already woken up Charlie. Harry looked back to the door, staring at the sign that read 'Ginny'. He couldn't just go into her room, could he?
Steeling his Gryffindor courage, Harry turned the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open. Realizing he had never been in Ginny's room, Harry took in the purple and black that covered the walls. She had posters of the Hollyhead Harpies stuck to the walls. Harry looked to the lumps covered by blankets on the bed, one with soft brown hair peeking out and one with fiery red hair. Golden, morning light shined through the window above Ginny's bed, flickering through the tree outside, making her hair look like a coursing red and gold river. Harry felt a slight fluttering in his stomach at the sight of Ginny as he quietly stepped towards Hermione's bed, shaking her awake.
"Merry Christmas, Hermione." Harry whispered. Hermione didn't open her eyes, but spoke instead.
"Come lay with me. I want to spend Christmas with you. Alone" Hermione dragged out the word alone sleepily. She must have thought that Harry was Ron and that she was dreaming. It took everything for Harry not to laugh out loud. She and Ron had not quite admitted that they fancied each other, but it was so obvious to everyone. "Hermione, wake up!" Harry whispered, more harshly this time. He shook her shoulders again and her eyes fluttered open.
Once she saw that it was Harry, her eyes widened and blushed as red as Ron's hair. She opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. So, Harry spoke instead. "Wow. Hermione, I had no idea how much you fancied me." His tone was sarcastic, but not loud enough to wake Ginny yet.
Hermione pulled the covers off of her and mumbled something like "I don't fancy you." as she walked out of the room giving Harry even more reason to expect that she liked a certain tall, red-headed friend. Harry finally allowed himself a little chuckle and walked over to Ginny's bed. He kneeled down and took a deep breath. He had begun to develop some... more-than-platonic feelings for Ginny, as he liked to think of them.
She did have a breath-taking smile and cute freckles. Her hair was soft and made him want to run his fingers through it. Her voice was so soft and beautiful. Whenever he was around her his stomach flipped, but that couldn't mean that he liked her, could it? Harry dismissed the thought from his mind, but found it hard, as his face was a mere foot from hers.
"Ginny, wake up. It's Christmas." Harry said softly, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Wake up."
Her eyes opened sleepily and her stomach flipped, realizing that Harry was in her room, waking her up. "Oh! Harry, you startled me." He dropped his hand to the side of the bed to steady himself. She pulled the covers up to her shoulders, but there was no point because she was completely clothed. Harry had no idea the effect he had on her. Harry just chuckled and gave her one of his rare smiles.
Her breath caught when she saw his smile. "You should smile more." The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. Harry continued to grin mischievously. "Why? Do you like it or something?" He said, flashing her another smile. Whenever he was around Ginny, he wanted to smile and, personally, just wanted to look at her beautiful Ginny contemplated her answer. Was he flirting with her? Is this really happening? Should I go along with it?
And go along with it she did. "Mr. Potter, your smile is dazzlingly handsome and I am honored that you shared it with me." She said in an official tone. She stared into his eyes daring him to laugh they both burst out laughing. Once the laughing died down, their eyes met for a few seconds.
Then, all of a sudden the door swung open and Ron ran in. "Hey! Ginny, wake u-. Oi! Whats going on here?" Ron noticed how close their faces were and the fact the they were both smiling and staring into each other's eyes. "I.. I.. Yeah! Ginny, wake up. We're going to open the gifts." Harry exclaimed and Ron, being as thick as a tree, completely forgot the situation when he walked in at the phrase 'open the gifts'.
Harry had stood up and was now facing Ginny. He winked at her before being pulled out into the hallway by the ear. Ron pulled him into the closet across the hall, shutting the door.
Ginny got up and headed out the door. She guessed that Ron had pulled Harry into the closet across from Ginny's room because she heard his voice. "What were you two doing! I can't believe you, Harry. Don't mess around my sister unless it really means something." The last part made Ginny do a double-take and get close to the door to listen, but Harry didn't say anything. "I thought so."
Ginny jumped back into her room as she saw the doorknob turn. Ron walked out, fuming, and stomped down the stairs. A couple moments later Harry walked out, mumbling to himself. He hadn't noticed her standing in the doorway of her room. He started down the stairs.
Ginny took him off guard and grabbed the collar of his pajama top. He gasped and turned to face her and let out a sigh of relief when he noticed that it was Ginny. "Harry. Can I ask you something?" She asked.
"Let me ask you something first." She nodded. "What do I mean to you, if I do mean something to you? I mean, am... am I just the Boy-Who-Lived or am I Harry... just plain old Harry..." He trailed off, not knowing what else to say. He had been wanting to ask her about this for so long. She was so amazing that he had began thinking that she was out of his league, that she is to beautiful to be with someone like him.
Ginny gave him a dazzling smile and reached to his hand. They both felt the electricity pass between them. She pulled his hand to her cheek.
Ginny placed her hand on the back of his neck and gently pulled him towards her. Harry wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her as close as humanly possible, wanting nothing to come between them. In the back of his mind he could hear worries like 'what is Ron comes back and sees us' and others of that nature, but all those worries flew out of his mind when their lips met.