Chapter 4

Quite some time had passed, and Jill remained silent. Ginny was beginning to worry about this new girl. She had cried with such agony, Ginny wasn't entirely sure what the best thing would be to do for her. I literally cannot stand Jill's silence, it's as if everyone in Gryffindor has settled into a state of depression, and the one girl who should be the furthest removed from it is in such a mess.

Jill looked up at her, those deep grey eyes filled with so much sadness that Ginny simply couldn't help throwing her arms up around her shoulders.

"Oh Jill, everything will be okay."

She continued to cry, erupting in terrible shudders.

"Please don't cry anymore," Ginny pleaded.

Ginny began to cry as well, into Jill's shoulder. Oh Jill, if only you knew anything about Harry. Everyone is so devastated! I miss him so much, I can only hope he'll pull through this and just wake up. I still can't believe they're trying to keep him in St. Mungo's, his body seems so lifeless, but the Healers must know what they mean when they say he's still alive.

Ginny's tears were spilling onto Jillian's shoulder, she couldn't help it whenever her thoughts drifted back to Harry. She never had a chance to tell him about her little girl crush on him. That's so stupid, if only he knew how I felt, would it have made things worse now? Would they be different? It's hard enough on the rest of my family, even Hermione with him gone, but I-I can't do this!

Both girls seemed oddly glad that they were the only two in the room. No one else could hear them cry, even if it was for different reasons.

oOoOoOo

As Ginny reached up to hug Harry, he twitched. The smell of her flowery perfume mixed with the smell from the Burrow. It was quite overwhelming, and yet highly intoxicating.

Harry had been suppressing feelings for her since last year, Cho had been far too emotional and Ginny was so. . . wonderful.

Instead of crying more, Harry's eyes dried up completely thinking about Ginny in a highly non-friend way. He immediately saw the need to restrain himself from kissing her senseless, she was so comforting right now. If he gave any inkling, especially in his current state, of his feelings she might just run from the room in terror.

I just need to keep up the Jill façade for now, it would scare her away if I tried to claim that I was Harry Potter.

He didn't want to do anything that would end their closeness at the moment. All he wanted to do was hold her close, she was clearly feeling some pain. He breathed in the sent of her hair, sighing softly. After a moment of utter bliss, a light bulb lit up in his head.

"I need to see Dumbledore!" Harry practically shouted, realizing he might fix all that was going on.

Ginny looked up in shock, confused.

"Um, Jill, he said he would be away from the castle for the next month. Didn't you know?"

Harry grimaced, "no, I guess I didn't."

Ginny brushed her red locks out of her eyes and stood up. "Hey, let's grab some lunch, get our minds out of the misery all right?"

She was trying to think of anything else but Harry and all the pain he was causing. Ginny wanted to help Jill as much as possible, maybe a new friend would help the most.

Harry smiled and pushed himself up off the floor. It didn't seem like such a big problem to worry about being a girl than still resisting the urge to leap at Ginny, so tempting.

Shut up! He thought, I need to make this believable, as it doesn't seem like anything's going to be done about this for a month. Damn, this is so frustrating, I might just have to hurt Dumbledore when he gets back, making me a girl, ugh.

Harry reached for Ginny's hand, hoping most girls were comfortable with that among friends. To his joy, Ginny smiled brightly and the two finally left the depressing common room.

oOoOoOo

For the first time in several months Ginny felt elated, her heart was light in her chest, and she was smiling.

"So, how are you enjoying Hogwarts so far?" Ginny asked, hoping she could get the new girl's mind off of her depressing thoughts.

"Uh, it's pretty great, I guess."

"There's really a lot to do here, so you never have to be alone or bored." Ginny sighed, thinking she might always be alone no matter how many people surrounded her, Harry wouldn't be there.

"Oh, that's -- nice."

"Did you play any sports at your old school?"

"Ye -- no, not really," Harry caught himself, realizing he was supposed to be a muggle-born witch who wouldn't know anything about magic, definitely not quidditch.

"Well, we have this great game called quidditch, I bet you would love it!"

Harry smiled, hmm, Ginny talking about sports, I -- no! I can't think that, urg!

"Yeah, it's two teams that fly on brooms. There are three people who try to get a ball called the quaffle into one of three hoops of the opposing team's side. Then there are two beaters who hit bludgers at the other players. And of course there's a seeker who has to catch the golden snitch, this wicked fast, flying ball."

"Wow, it sounds, complicated. But fun."

"There are a lot of rules, but every house is involved, goes to games, cheers, and whatnot."

They had walked into the Great Hall through their conversation and were looking for an open seat among the Gryffindor table. Dean Thomas was waving from the opposite end, smiling brightly. Ginny had dated him briefly in the previous year, but he was still hopeful about dating her again. She didn't ever see him as more than a friend, a lot of good it did her to date him now if Harry wasn't here to get jealous about it.

Ginny attempted to not see Dean's waving hand and steered Jill to a spot near Neville Longbottom.

Harry was smiling by the time they sat next to Neville, finally, someone I like, I wish I knew where Hermione and Ron were.

"Hey Neville!" Ginny chirped in a sing-song voice.

Harry waved sheepishly, pretending as if he had never seen him before in his life.

Neville looked up in relief, he wasn't exactly the most popular boy and Ginny had been the first person to speak to him today.

"Hi Ginny! Um, who's your friend?"

"I'm, Jill." Harry tried not to looked Neville in the eyes what if he sees through to Harry in this girl's body! Oh god, I need to be less paranoid, otherwise I'm going to be spending the next month hiding up in the dormitory.

Ginny rolled her eyes, great, two shy people meeting is a very quiet experience, I might as well help get the ball rolling here.

"Jill here, is new! I don't think she's met many people but hey she might be in defense against the dark arts with you Neville, she's been put into the sixth year class."

Harry looked up in shock, he pressed his lips together to keep from bursting out in questions.

Neville also seemed to be surprised, looking up at Harry, er Jill, with intrigue.

"Wow, that's impressive Jill."

"Um, yeah, thanks." Harry mumbled.

Neville looked down at his watch, "I have to get to class, but it looks like I'll be seeing you later this afternoon Jill. See you Ginny!"

Neville heaved his bag from the floor and scurried quickly out of the Great Hall. Ginny hadn't even sat down yet, so much for being around other people, she thought.

She pulled Jill down to sit and pulled up a bowl of steaming soup. She smiled brightly at Jill before indulging in the delicious goodness that was French onion.

Harry sighed and reached for a sandwich from the platter in front of him, munching quietly. The two, girls remained silent for a while to eat. Each was looking in a different direction, wishing someone else would be starting the conversation soon.

Wonderful, Harry thought. This is becoming quite the awkward experience.


Author's Note:

Is it awkward at this point? Good, it should be. Oh is that not what you were thinking? Too bad, I have put the thoughts in your head, you will now be thinking them (muahahaha).

I can't help but not put Neville in a story, therefore he will be playing a bigger role than you think (cope with it, I know you'll manage).

And yes, I can be quick with a new chapter because I'm amazing (guffaww, guffaww).

One last point, of course. Would you mind ever so much to click that little button you see below these words? It would mean loads of lovely if you reviewed!!