Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. I don't.

How About Some Privacy?

"Er—shall we get out of here?" Harry asked awkwardly, the reality of what he'd just done hitting him full on. "Take a walk or something?"

I just kissed Ginny in front of everyone in our House. Wow, he thought.

"Works for me," said Ginny, a smile playing about her face.

"Er," Harry said uncertainly, now painfully aware of everyone (including an enraged Romilda Vane and a jealously-ridden Dean, who looked as though he would pummel Harry to a pulp and then hex him into next week if he dared to come any closer) watching the two of them. He felt the color rise in his face.

"Let's go," Ginny said, smiling encouragingly and taking hold of Harry's hand. "Just ignore them."

"Okay," said Harry.

With that, the two of them left the Gryffindor common room, amid obnoxious wolf-whistling and various proclamations, including, "Yeah, Ginny!" and "Yeah! Get it, Potter!"

That was rash and stupid. You've got nerve, Harry thought to himself.

But was it really all that bad? He had to admit, kissing Ginny had been quite a nice experience for him, and Ginny really didn't seem to mind. In fact, unless he was very much mistaken, she'd enjoyed it as much as he had.

The two of them were soon walking about the Hogwarts grounds, hand-in-hand.

"Ginny, listen—I'm sorry I took so long to come around, and I'm glad you didn't wait around for me. That wouldn't have been fair to you at all," Harry said.

"Harry, you have nothing to feel sorry about…And I didn't want you to know at all…But I guess I was pretty obvious, huh?" Ginny replied.

Harry grinned.

"Only when you blushed every time I said 'hi' to you and when you knocked things over," he teased.

"Oh, ha ha," Ginny said, keeping up the banter.

"You know, one thing I really admire about you, Ginny, is that you're headstrong. You stand up for yourself," said Harry.

"I haven't always been like that, you know," said Ginny. "First year—well…It's just that eventually, I got tired of people spreading rumors about me and the Chamber of Secrets and rumors about how my family lives…and being made fun of for being poor…And over the summer, I started thinking long and hard about everything that's happened to me over the past four years, especially first year and last year, as well, with the Department of Mysteries and the Death Eaters…and I thought about Hermione telling me that I shouldn't care what other people think and say…and I decided that Hermione's right and that I've always been tougher than I think, that it's not good to underestimate myself, and that I need to be more confident. And most importantly, I need to stand up for myself and those I care about because I don't have to put up with that rubbish…I just did a lot of thinking," she explained.

"I understand," said Harry. "There's only so much shit you can take from Malfoy and the like. Look at me, Ron, and Hermione."

"I know. You know, Harry, I admire you, too," Ginny said. "I mean all the hell you've dealt with—I don't know if I could deal with being You-Know-You's main target."

"Ginny, he did make a target of you—four years ago, and you began to resist. Plus you helped me fight the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. I think you could handle being Voldemort's main target. But I want you to know that I would never wish that on you. Ever," Harry said compassionately.

Ginny smiled.

"I'm here for you, Harry. I want you to know that. I'm here for you no matter what happens," she said, looking Harry straight in the eyes.

Harry returned her gaze and took both of her hands in his.

"I know you are," he said softly. "And I'm grateful for that."

The two of them then leaned toward each other and shared a more private kiss.

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