A/N: I'd like to thank everyone for the great reviews! As rewarding as it is to see the 'favorites' and 'followings,' there's something very special about a review, so thank you!
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Chapter 2: Selling It
Ron's mouth dropped, and he stared at Harry with emotionless eyes. "Fake boyfriend?"
Harry nodded slowly. "Mmhmm…"
"And you're doing this…why?"
"Well," Harry began. "Like I said, Ginny just wants to be single for a while, but doesn't have the heart to turn the plethora of boys down. So I agreed to do this to put an end to their asking."
Ron shook his head. "No, Harry. Why are you doing this," Ron corrected, placing emphasis on the word 'you.'
Harry looked confusedly back at Ron. "I'm her friend, Ron. And I'm the only person that it makes sense to do this with, anyway."
"You're her friend," Ron repeated, standing up from his bed and walking to his dresser. They were alone in the dorm room, the other three bunk mates having gone to breakfast already. "And that's it?"
"Yea," Harry said, still confused. "I want her to be happy. And if you could have seen her last night…"
"Yes, I'm sure she was quite worked up," Ron said hastily. "But was it all an act?" Ron pulled a shirt over his head and looked at Harry with raised eyebrows.
"An act…what are you on about?"
"Come on, Harry," Ron said as if he was talking to a five year-old. "It's no secret that Ginny was crazy about you for years."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yea, for years…years ago."
"I'm just saying…"
"Just saying what? That Ginny concocted a plan for me to think that she was miserable being asked out by a bunch of guys, so that I—me, Ron—would come up with the idea of a fake boyfriend, which would result in us occasionally holding hands, which would end with us falling in love? Is that really what that dense head of yours is thinking?"
Harry looked incredulously at Ron as he answered. "It's called inception, Harry, and it's not that far-fetched given Ginny's penchant for mischief and the weird relationship you two already have…friendship you call it. Ha!"
Harry sat back on his bed, taken by surprise. "What's wrong with our friendship?"
"It's weird, Harry. You two constantly look at each other and talk to each other like you are the only people in the room. You give each other incredibly blunt compliments that no platonic relationship should contain. I'm left wondering if you have an incestuous sibling love for each other, or if you're gay, Harry."
Harry guffawed loudly before responding. "Why do people keep saying that? And no, it's not weird. She's a good friend, and I let her know that she's pretty, Ron. What's wrong with that? She is a pretty girl; even you can acknowledge that."
"First of all, that's not all you say. And you do so without any end goal of being with her. You're just complimenting her like her girl friends do. Whereas when most guys say something like that, it's because they'd like to take her out or to a broom closet. With you two, that's never even a possibility."
"And you're upset by this?"
Ron shook his head. "Oh, no. I don't mind that you're not daydreaming about my sister like that, Harry. I'm just pointing out that maybe you've led her on with your very strange friendship, and she sees no other way of getting through this wall you've put up."
Ron bent down to put on his shoes while Harry looked pensively at the wall. What if Ron was right? But he would have seen through that, right? Ginny and he did have a slightly different relationship, now that he thought about it…but it was one that they had built together. He had just as much of a right to be led on as she did, but wasn't. So why should she?
Harry concluded that Ron was full of it, and said, "Look Ron, I appreciate this new point of view, but I promise this is exactly what I said it was. Ginny and I are just friends, like Hermione and me."
Ron sighed and gave one last argument. "Harry, I know how you feel about Hermione. She's like a sister to you, right?"
Harry nodded, afraid of where this was going. "Would you even consider doing something like this for her?
Harry's face screwed up in horror. "Aw! That's awful, Ron. Why'd you have to put that image in my head?"
"I just wanted to illustrate that this is not like Hermione and you. I'm telling you, nothing good will come of this. I don't buy it. Don't say I didn't warn you."
Tired of his nonsensical conclusions, Harry decided to go on the offensive. "Who are you to psychoanalyze my relationship, fake or real, with Ginny? Since we've brought her up, Ron, what's going on between you and Hermione."
Ron's face flushed, and his eyes darted around the room. His forcedly calm voice only added to his obvious discomfort at having the conversation turned on him. "Hermione and I have a very mature friendship, Harry. I wouldn't expect you to understand…"
"Mature, huh? I suppose you do bicker like an old married couple…so if that's maturity I think you're right. Fighting one minute, bumbling poor compliments the next…very mature indeed."
Ron opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. He opened it again. "Shut up, Harry."
Harry and Ron soon made their way to the common room, where Hermione and his fauxfriend awaited. Seeing that there were other people in the common room, Harry narrowed his eyes at Ron before walking right up to Ginny and greeting her with a kiss on the cheek. It was not unlike the one he had given her the previous summer after his final stay at the Dursley's. Ron rolled his eyes as Ginny winked at him. She grabbed Harry's hand and they walked toward the portrait hole. Already, Harry could hear whispers from the few students who had seen their brief display of affection.
The four left the common room and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. Along the way, they heard whispers in the portraits and watched as the painted men and women went from frame to frame, following them and pointing out Harry and Ginny's interlocked hands. Harry didn't blame them. They were confined to these walls for all of their meaningless existence. What else did they have besides gossip?
"So, Harry," Ginny said softly, so no painting could overhear them. Harry could hear some light impatience in her voice, though. "Hermione here doesn't approve of our little charade."
Hermione gasped. "Ginny, don't…Harry, it's just not going to end well!"
Ginny continued, ignoring Hermione's shocked face. "She thinks that this is some elaborate ruse that you have put in my mind so that you can win me over. What do you have to say about that? Are you having me on, Harry?"
Hermione looked mortified and didn't look up at Harry, who had a small smirk on his face. It was time to turn their little judgment back on them. "Well, Ginny, I think Ron and Hermione are meant for each other." Now it was Ron's turn to look mortified, as his face turned a magnificent shade of red and he glared at Harry, his eyes dancing to Hermione to see her reaction. Her reaction was also one of terror, as her eyes widened and mouth dropped slightly. "You see, Ron thinks that this is your ploy to make me fall helplessly in love with his sister."
Ron and Hermione seemed incapable of deciding whether to defend their beliefs or simply walk in silence, so the final result was that of much bumbling and muttering that had Harry and Ginny laughing at their expense. Harry was proud of himself for not dwelling on Ron's theory for long. It was bullocks, after all.
They finished their walk to the Great Hall, and Harry was only partially surprised that most of the students were trying to inconspicuously glance at the entrance to see if the rumors were true. The whisperings began immediately, and Ginny turned her head up to Harry and said, "From Gryffindor Tower to the Great Hall in record time. This must be big news."
Harry closed his eyes slowly and nodded. This was what he signed up for, Harry reminded himself. Steeling himself, he pulled Ginny along with him to Gryffindor table, getting mixed reactions of glowers and congratulations from girls and guys alike.
-0-0-0-
"I'm just saying you're not being very convincing, Harry."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not the best fake boyfriend, Ginny. I'm sorta new at this whole false relationship thing…"
"Shut up, Harry," Ginny said simply. "All I'm saying is people are starting to talk. Saying we aren't as close as we should be."
"I'm gone a lot! And when I am here, I am always walking you to class. We sit next to each other all the time." Truth be told, Harry was surprised how little had changed over the past three weeks. He found that he had already been accompanying Ginny during her studies quite a bit, and they had quidditch and meals together long before the relationship had started. The only major change had been that they snuggled when they studied on the couch, and he held her hand in the hallways. It was nice. "Do they want me to be all over you or something?"
Ginny blanched before concluding. "No…look, just think about it. We've got to sell this. Something dramatic to quell their suspicions."
"They suspect this is a ruse?"
Ginny shook her head. "They suspect this is doomed. If I thought boys were annoying asking me out, then girls asking me if I'm feeling okay or neglected is worse." Ginny slung her backpack over her back before heading up to her room for the night. "Think about it."
Harry followed her with his eyes as she walked up the staircase and disappeared. He was startled when he heard Hermione speak to him. He had forgotten that she was studying with them on the other side of the fire.
"Trouble in paradise?" she asked, her voice flat.
"Ha, ha, ha, Hermione. Let me guess, 'you saw this coming?'"
Hermione shook her head. "Not this actually. I was expecting a much different result."
Harry braced himself before asking the inevitable question. "What were you expecting, Hermione?"
"One of two outcomes. One, the two of you realize your feelings for each other and the relationship becomes real in some dramatic and beautiful way. Or two, this puts a hitch in your already strange friendship, and you two have a falling out."
Harry was a little annoyed at the notion that he and Ginny had feelings for each other. More often than not, when people had congratulated them on their relationship, it was accompanied by a "finally," or "I just knew you two would get together." Harry shook his head and looked at Hermione, frustrated. "Okay…first, Hermione, you read too many romance novels." She looked up at him quickly and he nodded. "Yea, I've seen you with that Twenty Hues of Blue book you try to keep to yourself. Who is that guy on the cover, anyway…Thor?"
Hermione blushed, so he continued, proud of himself. "Second, realize what feelings? And third, why do you and Ron think we have a strange friendship? She's a good friend!"
Hermione let out a long breath. "I will not address your first point, as it is irrelevant. As for what feelings…well, I thought that was obvious. You've told Ginny how beautiful and enchanting she is so many times, you clearly feel at least that!"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Okay, if you count seeing the obvious as feelings, then yes. I feel that Ginny is a tremendous witch: she's beautiful, smart, funny, powerful, and fiery. But I think good things about you, too, Hermione. You're brilliant, and a…" He faltered, the words stopping in his throat. He couldn't do it. Did he recognize that she was a pretty girl in her own way? She had certainly grown up and matured. Harry could see why several guys were attracted to her.
He looked up at her amused face, and finished his thought, not wanting to be proven wrong. "…a very pretty girl," he forced out.
Rolling her eyes, Hermione continued. "Right…so I must be hideous then."
"You're not, Hermione! I just can't say it out loud…it's weird!"
"Ha!" Hermione shouted at him, and Harry realized his blunder. She played him worse than Snape's attempt at the oboe last Christmas. "So it's weird to tell me I'm pretty, but you and Ginny are so comfortable that you know," her voice dropped to a whisper even though there was no one left in the room. "You know her cycle."
"She didn't want to upset me when she was short with me…" Harry lightly defended, though was soon to concede that they indeed had a strange relationship.
"Look, Harry," Hermione said. "Assuming you're not gay, the signs point to you deeply caring about this girl as more than a friend."
"Why do people keep saying that I'm gay!" Harry said. He stood up. "I'm not, and I don't have feelings for her in that way. I can't have feelings for her in that way!" This slight change in phrasing was a new idea to him, and he wasn't too intent on dwelling on it.
Hermione's eyes lit up and Harry glared at her warningly. To her credit, she decided not to pursue it much further than saying, "I don't buy it Harry. Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Ron said the same thing," Harry said pointedly, both reflecting on it and sending a warning message to Hermione that if she kept annoying him, he would bring up the Ron-topic. Hermione nodded her understanding and farewell as Harry turned to head up the stairs. "Goodnight, Hermione."
Harry didn't want to think about his conversation with Hermione, so he went upstairs and expertly, from a year of training with Dumbledore, cleared his mind and compartmentalized his feelings and memories. He would store them away until a day that was more convenient to think about them. Before he drifted off to sleep, Harry noted to himself how much more difficult these thoughts were to keep boxed up and unattended to.
The following morning, a Saturday, found Harry and Ginny curled up on a couch together, resting from the week of work. "You smell nice," Harry commented lazily, as he took in a deep breath and was filled with the scent of flowers and strawberries.
"Mmm," Ginny said, coherently, as she acknowledged the compliment. "And you feel nice." She was lying on top of him, her hands resting on his chest. Harry would have blushed, but the compliment was so similar to the ones they had been giving each other for months that he didn't think twice about it. What he did think about for a second time, however, was his conversation he had last night with Hermione. Usually, through his Occlumency, he would be able to push such thoughts out. But when triggered—like they just were by Ginny—this particular thought process came flooding out of his well organized mind and crowded his thoughts.
Was what they had strange? Were these romantic feelings that he had for Ginny? He had convinced himself for so long that he was merely noticing the obvious that he didn't realize that perhaps it was especially obvious to him. Maybe he could tell her she was beautiful so easily because to him she was the most beautiful thing in the world.
Harry shook his head and went back to work putting those thoughts in the back of his mind. Fortunately, he was soon distracted by an owl flying through the common room window. It dropped a note off to him, and Harry immediately recognized the note as one coming from the headmaster. Ginny must have, too, because she sat up and had a worried look on her face.
He opened up the letter, and Dumbledore's tidy scrawl invited him to his office.
-0-0-0-
"All I'm saying, Professor, is that we should be on the attack a little more. We're always responding and reacting. I feel like a healer waiting at the bottom of a cliff when I should just go up the cliff and build a fence there, to keep people from falling off."
Dumbledore shifted his gaze from the shaking trees below to look at Harry. They were sitting in comfortable chairs high in a mountain cave opening, watching the Giants moving south far below them. Rain fell loudly around them, though the magic shield above them acted as an umbrella to prevent rain from hitting them. "Perhaps you don't yet have the tools or expertise to build an effective fence, Harry."
"So, I'm a healer but I can't build a fence? That doesn't make any sense." Harry knew Dumbledore was right. He was just being stubborn.
Dumbledore smiled at Harry's words. "Perhaps I should not have extended your analogy, then. Butterbeer?" The old man held up a bottle he had bought at the Hog's Head.
Harry hesitated, remembering what Luna had told him was in it, but shrugged it off and accepted the drink gratefully. He took a swig of the delicious drink and it warmed him from the cool autumn air.
"But surely we can do more than chase down Voldemort's many tentacles and chop them off one at a time? If we just slay the monster then the tentacles will stop moving!"
Dumbledore nodded. "Soon, it will be time to do just that. But for now we must weaken him, make him desperate so he makes a mistake. And when he does slip up, then we will be able to attack."
Harry nodded. "I know, Professor. Sorry if I'm impatient, but this whole inability to "live while the other survives" is sort of weighing on me. I'd like to go on living, you know."
Dumbledore's eyes began to twinkle. "I understand that you've begun to live a little, recently, despite the prophecy?"
Harry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Why, you and Miss Weasley, of course. I was always wondering when that would happen. I was actually beginning to wonder if you were—"
"Don't say it!" Harry cut off. "No disrespect, Professor, but I am not a homosexual."
Dumbledore chuckled. "There is nothing wrong with being sure of your sexual orientation, Harry."
"Well," Harry began, "at the risk of making you wonder again, I must tell you that it is a fake relationship to keep the guys away from Ginny for a while."
"Is that what you're telling yourself?" Dumbledore laughed. "Very well. I must say, though, I don't think you need to obey the prophecy and stop living your life. There can be many interpretations to these things, and you can't hang yourself up on this elucidation. You should live your life, to spite Voldemort and this cursed prophecy."
They fell into companionable silence. For most of the summer and this, his seventh, year, Harry had been joining Dumbledore on many Order assignments and for personal training. Sometimes they spent days at a time tracking down Death Eaters and preventing attacks and plans to overtake the wizarding world. During that time he received very specific and useful training from the greatest wizard this century had seen, and his growing abilities could demonstrate it. Sometimes Harry missed the simplicity of his past years at school, but he was extremely grateful for the trust that Dumbledore had shown him.
He watched the Giants below as his thoughts drifted to Ginny, as they were wont to do. She wanted him to do something dramatic, huh? Something to make people think that they were in love. Harry questioned his own feelings at that moment and wondered just how much he did care for her. Was she just a friend as he claimed so often? Or could she be something more to him? Just as he was getting carried away with these thoughts, the trees stopped swaying with the Giants' movements. He looked up at Dumbledore, who nodded at him. They stood, vanished the chairs, and disapparated.
A few hundred feet below, in the dark forest, three Death Eaters knelt on the ground before six large and gruesome Giants. They held out a gift, a large raiment of clothing, which would forever keep its wearer warm. The Death Eaters well knew that the Giants would fight over and destroy the gift before long, but the Giants didn't foresee that. Instead, they accepted the offering in exchange for their services. A night on the town of Edinburgh. They wouldn't stay long. Just long enough to draw out the Order of the Phoenix so the attack on Diagon Alley would go more according to plan.
Suddenly, there was a loud crack and two figures appeared. Bright waves of red light shot from their wands and within seconds, the unprepared and unprotected Death Eaters lay on the cold ground, unmoving.
Harry and Dumbledore turned to the Giants to assess the situation. Within seconds, the Giants' confusion had dissipated and they began swinging weapons and fists at the intruders. Harry had hoped they would simply be able to talk the Giants into submission, but that hope was long gone. Now, in order to ensure they didn't carry out Voldemort's plans, they would need to stop them.
Fighting Giants was tricky, because they held a special immunity to spells. Sure, with enough power and volume, you would be able to take one down, but in a battle of two on six, the fight would be draining. Instead, Harry and Dumbledore needed to use their magic to make the surroundings work to their advantage.
Waving their wands rapidly to make the Giants' weapons less dangerous should they hit their target, Harry and Dumbledore retreated a few steps, getting out of reach. "You take the weather," Dumbledore shouted. "I'll get the trees."
Harry shouted his acknowledgment and began waving his wand into the sky. The rain that pelted down at them soon curved its trajectory and aimed right for the Giants' eyes. Four of the Giants stopped dead in their tracks to shield their eyes, but two of the more frenzied monsters charged more aggressively and swung their weapons blindly.
As one neared him, a tree suddenly uprooted and swung a mighty branch at the Giant. The limb crashed against the Giant and Harry thought of a miniature Whomping Willow. Soon, several trees were doing Dumbledore's bidding, and Harry was reminded of the wizard's greatness. He looked around to see how he could help and sent several boulders hurtling at the Giants who had been detained by the forest.
He was so busy knocking the Giants unconscious that he did not realize one of them was missing. In hindsight he would laugh at himself. How could he misplace a Giant? A Giant!
Nevertheless, the Giant did evade him, and soon he was struck by a club that was two times his size. The club had been charmed to be softer than a feather pillow, so the impact didn't necessarily hurt him. However, the Giant's brute strength had not been altered and the force of impact sent Harry hurtling twenty feet through the air, spinning wildly. He soon connected with an unenchanted tree, and he felt the wind leave him instantly before the side of his head whipped into the tree. He fell a few feet to the ground and tried to steady himself and catch his breath. He felt his side precariously and was relieved to see nothing would be broken or shattered. He felt blood trickle lightly down his cheek, but his head wound was not serious either.
He stood up and motioned to a busy but worried Dumbledore that he was fine. Still trying to catch his breath, he charged back at the Giant who had stopped to admire his work. He began launching charm after curse directly at the Giant's fat face. He saw them slowly start to take effect as the Giant became woozy on his feet and his face began to bloody.
Mustering up his strength, Harry released a final curse, and watched with satisfaction as the Giant fell slowly, twenty feet to the hard ground.
With the other Giants restrained and soon knocked out by rocks to the face, Harry and Dumbledore went to work obliviating the unshielded goons. They would return home the following morning, not knowing why they had traveled south.
"Are you alright, Harry?"
Harry smiled ruefully. "I'll be just fine. How did I lose track of a Giant?"
Dumbledore chuckled lightly. "Well, it's back to Hogwarts, then. Good work today."
Harry nodded and the two apparated to Hogsmeade where they began the walk back to Hogwarts. Harry limped lightly, realizing his leg had taken a harsh blow on the tree. He considered the rest of his appearance as well throughout the long walk: soaked to the bone, blood spattered across his face, and wand out dramatically.
Dramatically.
Harry got an idea and grinned up at Dumbledore as they neared the Hogwarts front door. "What time is it?"
"I imagine its dinnertime just inside these doors," Dumbledore responded. "Why do you ask?"
Harry held up a finger, signaling to Dumbledore to let him open the doors. "I've got to do some selling. You know, something dramatic."
He turned and opened the doors, Aragorn style, with the enormous slabs of wood swinging wide and crashing into the walls on the other side. Lightning flashed behind him as he looked inside to see the whole Great Hall looking up at him in shock. He marched forward, looking only at one person. She sat at the Gryffindor table, just as surprised to see him in such a state as everyone else. As he neared, she stood slowly, and Harry pulled her dramatically to him and captured her mouth with his.
Harry had kissed girls before. First there was Cho…and that was awful. His sixth year, he had briefly dated a Hufflepuff girl named Josie Anders. They kissed many times and it had been nice.
But once Ginny had gotten over the shock and returned the kiss, Harry realized what he had been missing all this time. Her kiss was passionate, her lips moving sensually on his own. Her hands had gone up into his soaked hair, sending trapped water down their faces. Harry's mind completely shut off as he let sheer joy fill him. When they finally released after several long moments, Harry pulled back to find Ginny's face wet and flushed, her lips slightly swollen. She just stared into his eyes in shock.
"Dramatic enough?" Harry whispered, winking. Ginny speechlessly nodded, and sat back in her chair slowly, her mouth slightly open.
Harry glanced back at Dumbledore who smiled widely and Harry finally realized what he had done, and how he felt. The Great Hall was muttering loudly and glancing up at him in awe. A sickening feeling entered his stomach as he realized his great error. This was all he needed to answer his earlier questions as to whether or not he had feelings for Ginny. He felt for this girl, and that kiss would forever be the proof of it. And he could not undo it. He registered that students all around him were staring at him and talking about him, but he couldn't hear a bit of it. And as much as he would have liked to blame it on the injury to his head, he knew that was not the cause. Instead, it was the overpowering feeling and thought that he had just messed up everything that pushed all other noise out.
"I've got to get to the hospital wing," Harry said to his friends who sat together at the table. He looked down at Ron and Hermione who had indiscernible emotions on their face. He leaned down and spoke softly so only they could hear him. "You warned me…didn't you?"
Their mixed emotions were replaced by only one. Sympathy. They both nodded at him sadly as he straightened and limped towards his old friend, Madam Pomfrey.
Moonlight2007: I'm glad you liked the portrayal! I hope this chapter continued that. Let me know what you think!
Guest: To the guest who reviewed, I thank you! Humor is one of the hardest things to write because the way I hear it in my head is fun, but I can never be sure if that voice carries over to the reader. Thanks!
DiaryofTales: I toyed with it being a secret from everyone, but as you can now see, Harry's going to need a little emotional support. It just fit the story and characters better to have them in on it. Thanks for the review, though, and please give me your thoughts on how things might have played out if they didn't know.
DanielWhite: Now what gave you that idea? The unabashed fluff, or the fact that they are obviously in love? Thanks for the review!
turquoiserainlilies: Not half as awesome as your review! Thanks!
