AN: The Usual Disclaimers Apply, I don't own Harry Potter or the world and characters created by J. K. Rowling, I only dabble and play within it. This is a new story that I have been considering for a few days now and I wanted to give it a try. Here Goes, on with the show!

Harry sat in the Gryffindor common room with a small book open before him, it had been a few days since he had began to notice any changes with the Gryffindor Quiditch Team and he was glad that they were finally making some progress with the changes that had been applied for the year. His greatest choice had been making Ginny one of the new Chasers, but at the same time it gave him more time with her as well, something that he seemed to be wishing he could do in private as well as in public. His feelings had always been those of friendship to the younger sister of his best friend, that was until about three days ago.

He had been walking along in the hall with Ron and Hermione, admiring her admonishment of Ron's homework skills when Ginny had joined them and walked to the Library with them. At first he had simply stayed quiet, trying to avoid invoking Hermione's wrath at his own poor study skills when something about the way Ginny kept looking at him caught his eye. He had already decided it was time to ask her about this, when he noticed that she was looking at him in a way that made him feel very important to her.

After she had excused herself to return to her normal routine, he had taken a walk by himself and followed her a few moments later to a quiet alcove that he hadn't seen before. She stood there for a moment and then Dean stepped out of the shadows and kissed her. Not wanting to be caught spying on them, he stepped behind the suit of armor he was in front of and watched quietly as she pushed the older boy away.

"Enough Dean." She said and the boy frowned.

"Yes, I guess this is enough." He said and slapped her hard. "I told you that I was going to wait for you an hour ago, where the hell were you?"

Anger built up in Harry as he watched on, nearly ready to kill the boy he had thought of as a friend. Ginny stood there unmoving. Whispering quietly to herself before she turned on Dean, her wand already in her hand.

"If you ever touch me again I will hex you." She said, "It's over."

She turned and stormed off down the hall, Dean stood there for a moment and then tore off after her calling out behind her. Harry, still stricken with anger pressed the brick into the wall behind him and stepped into the secret corridor that he knew lay behind the statue. Walking along, he kept his ears up and listened as he could faintly hear the two fighting ahead of him. Stepping out of the tapestry at the end he found Dean on the ground holding his face and Ginny running off down the corridor.

Not waiting to see if the boy was alright, he chased Ginny down the corridor and onto the next floor before she turned into a deserted classroom. Entering behind her he gingerly approached the desk she was leaning on, crying into the air. As he stepped up behind her she turned and then seeing that it was him, flung herself into his arms with a muffled sob. Not sure what to do, he gently held her, letting his hands rub her back soothingly.

"I'm s-sorry Harry." She said, after several moments, looking up at him through tear stained eyes, a large red mark on her face from where Dean had hit her.

"Don't be." He said, still holding her, unsure why he hadn't let her go yet.

"I hope you didn't see that." She said, stepping out of his arms.

"I did, bloody bastard." He said and she frowned, sitting down in the chair in front of the desk.

"Harry, I..." She said, and he was alerted to something in her voice. "He normally isn't like that."

Harry nodded, "But, that is not excuse to hit you. Has he done this before?"

She paused, hesitating and then nodded, bursting into more tears as she buried her face into her hands. He walked over and gently pulled her closer into a hug, letting her know that he was there for her. She held onto him as she sobbed into his shoulder, not caring if she upset him.

Finally after several moments she straightened and looked up at him. "Don't tell Ron." She said, a pleading tone in her voice.

"I won't, but you had best stay away from him or eventually Ron will find out about this."

She nodded. "Thanks Harry." She said, standing and moving back a few inches to separate the distance between them.

Something in this move made Harry wonder why she had done so, was she afraid of him? Surely she knew he wasn't going to hit her or anything.

"I guess I better go and hide this." She said, indicating the red mark on her face.

"Yeah, I guess you better." He said in agreement, wishing he knew what had her so skiddish lately around him.

She hugged him once more and then turned and left the room, heading back to her Dorm where he was sure she would apply some salve and spells to make the red mark disappear before dinner.

He sighed and tossed the book onto the couch, hopping to his feet. It was getting to be a routine with him now as he continued to ponder about the situation that he felt was something he should have an answer to. Luckily he had not seen her near Dean since the disastrous moment that had occurred in the hall the other day. He still could not place why he felt so overwhelmed by her presence in his mind now, all of his thoughts bent towards her.

Deciding that a walk might serve him well, he waved a brief note of farewell to Hermione who appeared just as he was slipping out of the portrait hole. As the hall loomed on before him, he didn't know where to go, and just let his feet lead him as they would. He thought as he went until he passed an open doorway and a familiar flash of long red hair caught his eye.