Chapter 1
"Ron, can we talk for a sec?" Harry asked peering down at Ron who was sprawled on his bed face down still wearing his school robes.
"Yo," Ron replied lifting his head from his pillow.
"Yo?"
Ron shrugged as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. "I thought I'd give it a try. What's up mate?"
They were in their dormitory along with roommates Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom and Dean Thomas, all of who had already retired to their four-poster beds. Ron and Harry had walked in just moments ago from the common room downstairs after (finally) finishing a long, exhausting homework essay (12 inches of parchment) for Professor Snape.
Harry cleared his throat as he sat down on the edge of Ron's bed. "It's about me and Ginny."
"You have my blessing, mate, if that's what this is about."
"Er-well, yeah sorta...Ron, I care about her a lot. I don't think there will be anyone else for me. Ever. But you know, I'm sure we, Ginny and I, we're bound to fight and stuff at times. And if that happens, I er-I don't want that to affect us, you and me, in any way."
"You guys are fighting?" Ron asked suddenly sounding alarmed.
"No, I said if..."
"Ok...if you two fight, what would be the reason? What would you do to her to cause a fight?" Ron demanded.
"N-nothing! I mean I hope I'll never do anything...but Ron it's normal to fight. Aren't there times when Hermione bugs you?"
"Are you saying Ginny sometimes bugs you?!?"
"No, no! I said Hermione!"
"And what is wrong with my 'mione?!?"
"Nothing! Oh bloody hell! This is exactly what I'm talking about!"
"What?"
"This!" Harry yelled waving his hand violently in the space between Ron and himself. "You and me fighting about our girlfriends! This is exactly what I was saying I want to avoid!"
"Oh..."
"Yeah...look, Ron. I don't want my relationship with Ginny to affect you and me, ever. Deal?" asked Harry stretching out the same arm he was waving madly just before toward his best friend.
"Yeah, ok. Deal." Ron said grinning as he took Harry's hand in his.
The two boys shook their hands firmly.
"Ok, great!" Harry said happily as he jumped off Ron's bed and practically skipped toward the dormitory door. It was as if a huge load was lifted off his chest. "Well, g'night!" he called out just before turning the handle open.
Ron yawned and plopped back down in bed. "It's almost midnight. Where are you off to?" he asked smiling sleepily at his friend.
"I'm meeting Ginny at the Astronomy Tow-"
"WHAT?!?!?" cried Ron who was now wide awake.
"Shhh!" Harry hissed. Seamus made a grunting noise as he turned away from them in his bed and Neville murmured something that sounded like "Mmrrph"
"Sorry," Ron whispered. "Why are you meeting my baby sister at the Astronomy Tower?" Ron's hushed voice demanded.
Harry knew he had to think quickly.
"I-I'm meeting Ginny at the Astronomy Tower because...because she's up there with her class right now. I thought I'd go bring her a cup of hot cocoa." He was thankful it was dark in the dormitory for Ron couldn't see the horrid look of guilt across his face.
"Oh," Ron said skeptically as he slowly leaned back in bed again, still eyeing Harry in the darkness.
"Well then...good night!" repeated Harry as he spun around colliding into the hard wooden door. He forgot he hadn't opened it yet. Rubbing his nose and cursing under his breath, he turned the handle and slowly pulled the door open.
"Harry?" It was Neville's sleepy voice.
"What, Neville?" Harry asked impatiently.
"Ginny doesn't have Astronomy tonight, she has it tomorrow. I know because Luna has it with her and I memorized her schedule. Listen, we can go together tomorrow night. I bet Luna would like cocoa too."
Silence.
More silence.
Then-
"Oh, er-right...great...Thank you so much Neville. I almost went up there for no reason whatsoever," Harry said hoping the murderous sarcasm in his voice wasn't too obvious.
It wasn't.
"No problem, Harry. Good night, Ron," Neville said softly.
"Night Neville!" Ron answered almost too cheerfully, though this may have just been Harry's imagination.
Harry closed the door slowly, the reflection of the warm fire in the common room's fireplace disappearing behind the wooden structure. His shoulders weighed down heavily with disappointment. As he dragged himself back toward his bed, he passed by Neville's and felt a strong urge to transfigure his friend's white fluffy pillow into some sort of a man-eating plant. Fortunately for Neville, Harry knew no man-eating plants.
Suddenly, a wave of panic washed over him. Ginny. She was probably up there right now, waiting for him. He could just see her standing there all by herself shivering in the cold, shadowy night. (Note to readers: it is still only the second week of September. It is rather quite warm and comfortable outside. Harry is just being paranoid) I hope she took her cloak, he thought to himself. Then, to his horror, he pictured hormone-raging teenage boys surrounding her and tugging on her cloak asking her if she was out looking for a good time while she helplessly backed into a wall. (Note to readers: this would most likely never happen at Hogwarts. Again, Harry is being paranoid.)
Harry dashed to his bed and grabbed his Invisibility Cloak from under. He threw it on not caring whether Ron or anyone else saw what he was up to and ran back towards the dormitory door. Without hesitation, he threw it open and was about to step out when-
"Harry, wait." It was Ron. He had seen what Harry was doing and was sitting up in bed.
"Ron, listen. I'm sorry I lied to you," Harry spoke hastily as he removed the cloak over his head. "But she's waiting for me now and-"
"Don't Harry. Don't say sorry. I trust you with my sister and I shouldn't have made you think otherwise. Just, just one thing..." Ron was thankful it was dark in the dormitory for Harry couldn't see the look of sheer embarrassment across his face. "If you two were going to...er-you know... you know..."
"What?" Harry asked annoyingly.
"Hveex..." Ron mumbled.
"What?" Harry repeated angrily.
"Have sex!" Ron inadvertently yelled.
Seamus, Neville and Dean's heads all shot up at once from their pillows with the quickness.
Seamus (half-awake): "Who said sex?"
Neville (fully awake): "What about sex?"
Dean (half-asleep): "Ron, you git, that is not how you ask a girl to have sex with you."
"I was talking to Harry," Ron said amusingly glancing over at Dean's side of the room.
Dean (still half-asleep): "Ron, you git, that is not how you ask Harry to have sex with you."
"Aargh, gross! Shut it Dean! Go back to sleep!" Ron hissed as he got up. "Harry, come on. I'll walk you out."
Harry nodded and together they made their way down to the deserted common room where the fire was still glowing in the fireplace. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Ron turned to Harry. "Harry..."
"Yo," Harry said smiling.
Ron laughed quietly.
"Look, Ron," Harry began appearing quite serious now. "Ginny and I are not you know, doing that...not even close. But if we were to, I need you to understand that most likely I will not be coming to you first to discuss it. I don't think Ginny will like that anyways."
Ron nodded.
"But I will promise you this. I won't lie to you anymore. I'm really sorry that I did. Ginny and I made plans to meet tonight at the Tower not to you know, do that, but just to be alone and talk and stuff. Really."
Ron couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, right. Well that's good. Yeah, you guys should talk and stuff. So listen Harry if you don't mention any of this to Gin, that'll be really, really great."
This time Harry laughed. "No problem. Well, I really should go. I'm already late."
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Harry waved and stepped out of the portrait hole before he stopped and poked his head back in. "Ron?"
"Yo," Ron spun around, his right foot on the first step up to the dormitory.
"Have you and Hermione...you know...yet?"
Ron's face flushed. "Er-well...we sort of, I mean we almost..." his voice trailed off. Then he sighed loudly. "I'll tell you next time, mate. It's a rather long, pitiful story."
Harry didn't know whether to smile or look sympathetic, so he did neither. He simply nodded and said "Right," and then he was gone.
