'So that was quite the throwback in there.' Harry said, as he and Ginny reached Florean Fortescue's.

'So embarrassing…' Ginny said, quietly as Harry pushed open the door and held it open for her. Ginny smiled at him as she stepped through the door. 'Thanks.'

'Don't worry about it – they were always singing that song to me at the time you gave it to me.' Harry told her, as he closed the door behind him.

'Oh.' Ginny said, turning slightly pink. 'Sorry…'

'Don't be, it was their fault, not yours.' Harry told her.

'But I was the one who wrote and sent you it.' Ginny muttered.

'And they were the ones that chose to tease me about it.' Harry said. 'Seriously, though, don't feel bad about something that happened years ago.'

'Okay…' Ginny said, quietly, looking at her feet as they reached a vacant table. She looked up enough to see Harry sit in one of the seats and sat down opposite him.

She watched as Harry scanned the menu.

'Hmm…' he said, quietly as he did this. He looked up at Ginny and caught her staring. He smiled as Ginny quickly looked away, her cheeks going slightly pink. As Harry returned to looking through the menu, Ginny picked one up and began looking through it herself.

'Ready to order?'

Harry and Ginny both looked up to see a waitress staring down at them, holding a small piece of parchment and a quill.

'I am.' Harry told her. 'Gin?'

'Yeah.' Ginny said, quietly, blushing at Harry calling her Gin again. 'I'll have a scoop of mint chocolate chip, please.'

'I'll have the same please.' Harry told the waitress. She nodded, quickly scratched down the order on the parchment, before departing.

'The same?' Ginny asked him, shyly.

'Yeah, mint chocolate chip is my favourite.' Harry smiled.

'Mine too.' Ginny revealed, smiling back.

'Well looks like we have something in common.' Harry stated, still smiling at her.

'Yeah, it does.' Ginny blushed.

'I wonder what else we have in common.' Harry said, raising his eyebrows at him. 'I can't wait to find out.'

'Really?' Ginny asked, not being able to control her blushing.

Harry simply just nodded in answer and Ginny couldn't help smiling at this.

Suddenly, the ice cream they had ordered appeared in front of them and Ginny just stared at it for a few seconds.

'Well, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry, so I'm going to dig in.' Harry said, with a small grin, before digging into his ice cream.

Ginny did the same.

'Mmm, so good.' Ginny said, the spoon still in her mouth, before scooping up some more.

'I know right.' Harry grinned, before taking another mouthful. He waited until he'd swallowed it before speaking again. 'So, do your brothers always wind you up like that?'

'Ugh, all the time.' Ginny groaned, rolling her eyes. 'It does my head in.'

'Just be thankful you don't have to live with the Dursley's.' Harry told her, before also rolling his eyes.

'I dread to think what that's like.' Ginny said, scooping up some more ice cream. She then sighed and changed the subject with 'I'm a little concerned about what George said in the shop.'

'What did he say?' Harry asked her.

'He said he'd heard that I have ten boys on to go.' Ginny said, with a sigh. 'Which isn't true of course…but I can't help but wonder if people have been saying stuff about me, you know?'

'I'm sure he was just messing with you.' Harry reassured her. 'And people are always going to stay stuff – I'm their favourite topic, even make it into the Prophet sometimes.'

'I know, that must be awful.' Ginny said, quietly. She then stared down at her ice cream and sighed. 'But I've never had anything said about me before and I'm really worried. If that's going around, then people are going to start believing it and they'll think all sorts of things. What if they start calling me names? Shouting things when they walk past. What if-'

Before Ginny could finish, Harry had placed a hand on her arm, which caused her to flinch slightly and turn pink.

'Ginny.' he began, softly. He waited until her light brown eyes had met his before he continued. 'Please don't get upset about this. You don't even know for sure if it's going around or not, so don't worry. And if it is, which I doubt, then remember, you know it's not true, I know it's not true. Plenty of people know it's not true. And the people that spread and believe it – they're all idiots. If people do start saying things, they'll have me to deal with, trust me when I say, I'm here for you and I'll back you up, no matter what, okay? So, come on, cheer up, Gin.'

Ginny just started at him, now blushing more than ever. She couldn't believe he'd said that and it had changed her mood completely. She smiled at Harry, who had only just removed the hand from her arm and he smiled back.

'There we go, there's that beautiful smile.' he said.

Those last couple of words caused Ginny to blush and smile even more, leaving her speechless for several seconds, before she was finally able to speak again.

'Thank you, Harry, that means a lot.' she said, quietly, still smiling.

'I'm glad.' Harry said, smiling at her, before asking. 'So anything you want to talk about? Anything you want to ask?'

Ginny thought for a moment, before asking: 'So, Ron and Hermione. What's going on with them? I'm curious- they seemed kind of close earlier.'

'Honestly, I have no idea.' Harry told her. 'One minute they're acting like a couple, the next they're biting each other's heads off.'

'Oh.' Ginny said, trying not to laugh. 'I blame Ron for that one. He doesn't have a clue when it comes to girls. Even I know that when I'm not around him all of the time. Remember that time nearly two years ago when he-'

'Shouted at Fleur when he was trying to ask her to the ball?' Harry asked, with a grin.

'Yeah.' Ginny grinned back, not being able to hold in her laughter any longer. 'Before he just ran for it like an idiot.'

'Yeah.' Harry said, now also laughing. 'But nothing can top my wangoballwime.'

'What?' Ginny asked, crying with laughter. 'What did you say?'

'Wangoballwime.' Harry repeated, grinning at her. 'I was so nervous asking Cho to the Yule Ball, that I ended up saying everything in one go.'

'Oh.' Ginny giggled. 'Then what happened?'

'I asked her again more slowly, but I was bright red.' Harry told her. 'And then, of course, she rejected me.'

'Her loss.' Ginny simply said, before finishing her ice cream.

'Well if she'd gone with me, she would have been bored out of her mind.' Harry stated. 'So it wasn't really her loss.'

Ginny just raised her eyebrows slightly and found herself, saying quietly: 'I wouldn't have been bored.'

'Hm? I didn't quite catch that.'

'Oh it was nothing.' Ginny murmured.

'You sure?' Harry asked her. For some reason he really wanted to know what she had said and also, for some reason, he had an odd jolt like sensation in his stomach, not caused by ice cream and this hadn't been the first time this happened today.

Ginny considered repeating what she had said for a moment, but chose not to and instead shook her head and said: 'Yeah, I can't even remember what I said.'

'Okay.' Harry said, feeling slightly disappointed.

'I suppose we'd better go find the other two.' Ginny said, quietly. 'They'll start wondering where we are and possibly think things.'

'What kind of things?' Harry asked her, eyebrows raised.

'Oh, well, you know…' Ginny began, cheeks feeling hot again.

'No, I don't, but enlighten me.' Harry grinned.

'They might think something's going on.' Ginny said, eyes cast downwards, in a voice that was barely a whisper. Her cheeks had now grown even hotter, as she added: 'Between us.'

'So what if they do, if there was, there'd be nothing they could do about it.' Harry said, trying not to smile too much. For some reason, the idea of something going on between himself and Ginny made him feel kind of happy.

Ginny didn't know how to respond to this. She just stared at Harry, who smiled at her. Ginny looked away again before muttering 'We should really get going.'

'Alright.' Harry said, before standing up. Ginny stood up too and looked at him again. He again, smiled at her. Ginny was too busy looking at Harry to be paying attention to where she was going and she ended up crashing into the table, and knocking the ice cream bowls onto the floor with a smash.

'Oh no.' Ginny said, under her breath, feeling her cheeks going hot again.

'Don't worry about it.' Harry said, walking over to her and moving her away from the broken glass.

The two of them watched as a member of staff came running over and immediately repaired the broken bowls.

'Why do I always have to knock things over in front of him?' Ginny thought, as she stood there, still feeling embarrassed.

'Wait here while I go pay.' Harry told her quietly.

'Hang on.' Ginny said, digging into her pocket and rummaging for any money she could find to give him.

'No, I'll pay for yours.' Harry told her.

'But-'

'It's fine, my treat, remember?'

'Yeah, but-'

'Ginny.' Harry said, with small smile. 'It's fine.'

Before she could say anymore, Harry had walked over to the waitress, who had just appeared from the kitchen and paid for the ice creams.

'Come on, let's go.' he said, once he'd walked back over to Ginny and with that, the two of them left.

They bumped into Ron and Hermione outside Flourish and Blotts.

'Oh, there you two are.' Hermione said, holding two bags – one from Fred and George's shop, the other from Flourish and Blotts.

'Where did you go?' Ron questioned, eyeing them suspiciously.

'We got some ice cream.' Harry answered.

'Why?' Ron asked.

'Why not?' Harry questioned.

'You didn't invite us.' Ron grumbled.

'Ron…' Hermione began, trying to get him to drop the subject.

'Why take her and not us?' Ron quizzed.

'Excuse me, I do have a name you know!' Ginny spat. 'And does it matter that I went with him? No. If you're that desperate for an ice cream, go yourself and stop having a tantrum over it.'

Harry snorted at this, Hermione raised her eyebrows and Ron just looked even more annoyed.

'I'm not the one having a tantrum.' Ron said. 'That's you. Like always and especially last night. I bet that's the only reason Harry's talking to you and everything – to stop you being annoying like that.'

Ginny opened her mouth to say something back to Ron, but Harry got there first.

'Actually, I started talking to Ginny because I wanted to.' he said, in an irritated tone. 'She's my friend, Ron, whether you like it or not.'

'I don't.' Ron said under his breath.

'Well, tough.' Harry said, firmly. 'Come on Ginny, let's go elsewhere.'

Ginny nodded and Harry led her away from Ron.

'Sorry, Mione.' Harry said, turning back and looking at her before turning back again, as he and Ginny walked off up the street while Ron scowled at them.

The two spent the remaining time they had in Diagon Alley browsing through items in various different shops whilst getting to know each other a bit better. By the time Mr Weasley came to pick them all up, Harry and Ginny felt as though they'd been good friends for years and cheerfully chatted on the way back to the Burrow too.

That night, Ginny lay awake not believing what had happened today. She smiled to herself – this had been the best day ever by far. She couldn't help but wonder what tomorrow and every day after that would bring.

Meanwhile Harry lay awake, unable to sleep after suddenly realizing that he had feelings for Ginny. And not the friendly, nor the brotherly sort of feelings, but the romantic sort.