all done chapter 2. this should all have been done a long time ago, but i'm a sucker at this stuff.

hope you guys don't hate me too much.

happy christmas [:

ph! and me not owning Harry Potter? Yeah, that applies here

Friday:

The classroom for Defense Against The Dark Arts always interested Ginny. It was an interesting room that held interesting things, besides Harry Potter. Standing outside the classroom was nostalgic, her back against the bit of wall outside the door. She could hear Harry's voice in that position, the voice of her soft suitor confident and instructive. The slim wooden door did nothing to hide the sound that managed to seep out, even then.

Ginny had long since been dismissed, and had taken the opportunity to put her books away as she knew Harry would still be teaching. There was a slight eruption of laughter in the other room, and Ginny smiled to herself, holding back the inner curiosity that threatened to spill out. As the laughter drifted, Harry's voice became apparent again, as it had before.

"So remember, you've got to focus when you're conjuring the patronus. It has to be a concentrated, happy memory that you can recall easily. Don't make it something that happened when you were 5. Try to think more recent so that the recall ability is quick."

"OK, Professor." Ginny's mouth rose at that comment. Harry had always had a knack for making children feel comfortable. He was a brilliant teacher, patient and powerful, as many teachers at Hogwarts were. He also had first-hand experience, and if being the "Chosen One" didn't give you a hands-on time for Defense Against the Dark Arts, then she didn't know did.

"Professor Potter?"

"Yes?"

"How's it going with Ginny?"

Ginny giggled to herself, and heard many other children in Harry's class do the same. After a long hesitation, Harry answered with a, "You don't know what you're talking about, Mr Sun, and I suggest you focusing on studying."

"Oh, come one, Professor, just a hint. We know you like her."

Harry spluttered, embarrassed by the question, it seems, and Ginny held back her laughter.

"As I said before, you have no idea what you're talking about, Mr Sun, and-"

"Professor, Professor," she head the clattering of chairs and assumed someone was standing up, "I think you…" his voice trailed off. The child, Sun, must have quested his voice to tell Harry because the young teen seemed to explode at the words.

"Mr Sun, I think you should take a seat outside, until class is over to watch your language."

Ginny heard snickering from the other students, and Ginny felt slightly upset for the boy. However, the feeling was shortly replaced by another that made her want to laugh. The boy walked out of the classroom with a satisfied look on his face, and when he saw Ginny, he ran up to her, the grin still in place. "Hi, Ginny."

"Sun."

"You can call me Colbie, Ginny, I don't mind."

"Alright, Colbie then." He was playing with her, she knew, but Harry's last class was the old 4th years, and they didn't really know much better. "I heard what happened in there."

"Wanted you to." Her eyebrow lifted fractionally, making the boy snort in laughter, "Knew you were outside, Ginny. Just wanted to help get your relationship going."

"Relationship?" Ginny tried her best to control the blood that began rushing to her face. She was failing.

"Please, we all know you're going to be the next Mrs Potter."

"Oh, Colbie, you shouldn't say that."

"But it's true," he insisted. Colbie's twinkling eyes reminded Ginny of her brother's. Their eyes had looked like that right before a prank… "Hey, Ginny? You ready for Christmas?"

"Christmas?"

"Two days away? And we even have Hogsmede open to celebrate it. It's going to be fantastic." Just like that, the boy's mind was wandering. It looked like he was enjoying his daydream, because when Ginny asked him if he was ready for Christmas, he flushed and gave a stuttered answer. "Well, well, well, Colbie, looks like you've got a girl in mind. Who is it?"

"Aw, don't tease, Ginny, that's not nice." Ginny smiled softly. Colbie was so young, but she remembered him that way. She might not have known his name back then, but he was always there, with his grinning baby face, and loud laughter.

"So who's the lucky lady?"

"There isn't any, Ginny, leave it alone."

"Oh no. If you're going to tease me about Harry, then the least I can do is tease you about…" she hesitated, her mind trying desperately to remember just who Colbie usually hung out with, and which girl was in the mix. The girl…the girl…a blonde beauty came to mind; shiny golden hair and brilliant blue eyes. The names started with a G. Grace? Gloria? "Guinevere."

His eyes widened. "I don't like her that way, gross," he said, his face telling a whole other story.

"Oh, really?"

"Really! I don't like her that way! That's just weird."

"Glad to know that, Colbie." Ginny and Colbie looked up quickly to see the blonde beauty in the flesh, standing outside the classroom door.

"Gwen!" Colbie's dark eyes reflected panic, the way he backed up from Ginny showed his anxiousness. "I thought you were still in Charms class with Professor Flitwick."

"Well, I'm not anymore," she said, arms crossed across her chest. "But it's good to know that being let out early allows you to find out that your best friend thinks the mere thought of liking her is weird."

"Gwen, that's not what I meant!"

"Wasn't it?" Guinevere raised a skeptical eye brow, her eyes dark and un-amused.

Ginny bit her lip as the two has a back and forth fight, a fight that was not in Colbie's favour. It was escalating, and Colbie was getting desperate. He was trying his best to fight the battle that he knew he would lose. And Gwen? She was losing her patience.

Fast.

"If it wasn't what you meant and if you didn't mean it then why would you say it?" she asked again, blue eyes fierce.

"I don't know, it just happened."

"Are you going to tell me what you meant then?" Colbie's hesitation to answer the question was enough for Guinevere, and the girl merely flipped her hair and began to walk away.

"Gwen! Gwen, where are you going?"

"Away from you. I so don't need this right now," she said, not looking back.

"But Gwen-"

"I do NOT want to hear from you, Colbert Sun, nor do I want you to talk to me. I want you to leave me ALONE." Her voice was cold and emotionless, but as a girl, Ginny could hear that she was genuinely hurt by what he was hiding from her.

"Gwen…" he said reverently, no longer trying to call her back. He said her name like it was a prayer, under his breath.

"Hey, Colbie?" his dark eyes slid up to hers. Even though she was older than him, he was catching up to her in height. He was quite…grown for a 14 year old, although, she could only imagine how much more he would grow in the years to come. "You okay, kiddo?"

"No…" Colbie's forehead creased, "But I can't…I mean…" he ran a hand through his hair, "Can she even do that?"

"Well, she's your friend. And everyone has free will, so I'm going to have to say yes," Ginny sighed when she saw the look that came over Colbie's face; utter hopelessness, "You still have a chance, Colbie."

"What chance? If she doesn't want to be friends with me, I can't do anything."

"There's still Christmas," she said, "You've still got a chance."

"Right," he said, sarcasm lacing his words. He sank down till he was on his haunches. "And what would I give her? I don't know the first thing about girls, let alone what they like. And this would be a sorry gift and a Christmas gift all mixed into one. But I don't really know what for."

"Well, technically-"

"Mr Sun, you can come back in now." Once again, someone had managed to sneak into the conversation. But instead of Guinevere, it was Harry, leaning on the door frame. The class was slowly filing out of the classroom, their shoes light on the stone floors.

Colbie's eyes flickered between Harry and Ginny, before Ginny gave him a light push. "We'll talk about it later, if you want."

"Okay," Colbie walked back towards the classroom to Harry, who gave Ginny a questioning look. She mouthed that she would tell him later, and waved at the children as they walked out, hoping whatever talk Harry would give him, would be a positive one.

*Screw Harmony. That crap never made sense to me anyway*

"So, you got in a fight with a girl because you said something you may or may not have meant, seeing as you may or may not like her, and need our help to get her a present since you may or not need to apologize to her. Correct?"

"Er, yes?" Colbie sat across from Harry and Ginny in the Great Hall, the large food platters out and ready for dinner. He had approached Ginny half-way through dinner, and Ginny had invited him to sit and talk. After all, she had basically offered him her help. It was only fair. Right?

"That does sound horrible," said Harry, his eyes straying occasionally to his two best friends that, once again, had decided to use their time doing homework.

Colbie looked rather awkward where he sat, and nobody blamed him. Being in the presence of his pseudo teacher and his 6th year girlfriend was not doing him many favours.

"Which is why, Mr Potter, I've come to you for help." This was kind of lying, as Colbie had actually wanted Ginny's help, and he had landed up being the center of attention of her boyfriend and his DADA teacher. Ginny's eyes flickered between the 4th year and Harry, watching as an unspoken conversation drifted between them.

After a moment, Harry spoke, and this time he sounded like he would laugh. "You remind me of Ron, kid."

"Ron Weasley? For real?" Colbie grinned, "Wicked."

"Don't get your hopes up, Colbie, that's not exactly a compliment," said Ginny, shooting Harry a look.

He snickered, "No, it's a compliment, Gin." She raised an eyebrow, but he wasn't fazed. "Anyways, Colbie, with this girl-"

"Guinevere," he said, automatically correcting him, "Her name is Guinevere."

"Right, Guinevere." Ginny could see that Harry was holding back a tease or a crude comment of sorts, "So, Guinevere is your friend," he paused to allow Colbie a chance to correct him, but the boy merely nodded his approval, "that you wanted to give a present to?"

"Sounds about right," said Colbie, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked awkward, something that Ginny did not blame him for.

"And what do you suppose we do?"

"Well," for this Colbie gave his attention to Ginny, "I was kind of hoping you would help me find her something for her. You know, for Christmas?"

"Isn't she one of your closest friends?"

"Yes."

"Then why haven't you already gotten her something?"

Colbie blinked twice, before answering, "Well…I wasn't totally sure what to get her. I mean, I don't want to give her something she doesn't like, and I want to give her something…something that she doesn't already have but will like to have." He took a breath and lowered his voice, "And maybe to show her that I'm sorry for what I said and that I didn't mean it at all."

"Because you may or may not like her?" Colbie was silent, his nervousness blatant in his moves and actions. "So you do like her. You don't want to admit it though." Harry scratched the back of his head with a chuckle, "Yep, definitely like Ron."

"So you'll help me?"

"Why not? We can-"

"Great," Cobie sat up, obviously wanting to escape, "I'll see you guys tomorrow outside the Hog's Head after breakfast, alright?" He made his escape before Harry or Ginny could protest, and was out of the Great Hall in less than a minute.

"Well that was interesting."

"Interesting?" Harry glared in the direction Colbie had ran off in, "We just lost our- our day to shop for Ron's present."

Ginny frowned at Harry's decision to change words, but didn't mention it. What had he been trying to say? "Oh, it's not so bad. We're helping a kid out. And besides, you said he was like Ron, right? Maybe Colbie can help us out on what we should give Ron."

"Maybe."

Ginny nudged Harry and gave him a smile. "At least we'll be together right?"

He didn't say anything at first, just studying her with his eyes before nodding, a smiled slipping onto his face, "Right."

done

please R&R