Chapter 4

"Ginny, I think I'm in love with you."

I know it might sound a bit cliché, but my heart skipped a beat at Harry's words and my breath caught in my throat. But for some inexplicable reason, I couldn't say it back. I just lay there, my cheeks burning and my eyes wide with shock.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…I should probably just go…," said Harry. He pushed himself up off the sofa and made to leave. He had his hand on the doorknob before I finally found my voice.

"Don't go…," I said, my voice a bit shaky and higher than normal. I sat up and pushed my hair out of my face.

"Ginny… I…," began Harry, but he seemed to be struggling for the right words to say. "Damnit Gin… if you don't have feelings for me, can you just tell me now? Just tell me so I can leave here and get on with my life and try to forget how I feel about you."

My mouth opened and closed several times. Why couldn't I just tell him that I loved him, that I've always loved him? I've loved him before I even met him; when he was just a boy in the stories my mother used to tell me.

"That's all I needed to know," said Harry dejectedly. And before I could do anything, he was gone. I could hear the soft sound of his apparition through the closed door.

I sat back on the sofa and scrubbed my hands over my face. What have I just done? I let the one guy I've ever loved express his feelings for me and then walk out the door thinking I didn't return those feelings.

Then I did the one thing I've done for years when I needed someone to talk to about Harry, I flooed Hermione.

She was sitting on her sofa, her hair pulled back in a loose plait and reading glasses perched on her nose, reading through an enormous stack of parchment when I spun into her and Ron's flat.

"Hermione, I messed up big this time," I said without preamble and flopped down on the sofa next to her.

"Well hello to you too," said Hermione. "What happened?" she said, taking in my expression.

"Harry." I said simply. Hermione sat down what she was reading and removed her glasses, sitting them on the side table, and waited for me to continue.

"He and I have been kind of seeing each other and he came over to my flat tonight," I started, unsure now that I was here of how much I should actually divulge.

"Well…I could have guessed that part after lunch. You two couldn't keep your eyes off one another," said Hermione, rolling her eyes .

I gave a shaky laugh and continued, "Well… when he came over tonight he told me he loved me."

"Well, it's about time!" exclaimed Hermione, clapping her hands over her mouth in excitement.

"I didn't say anything," I said with a sigh. "He told me he loved me and I said nothing. He got up to leave and still, I said nothing. Then he basically to tell him if I have feelings for him so he know he wasn't just wasting his time, and I said nothing."

"But…but you do have feelings for him," said Hermione, clearly confused.

"I love him," I said. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I've been waiting for this moment for what seems like forever and then I just freeze."

I couldn't sit still so I got up and started pacing around the sitting room. Hermione watched me for a moment before jumping up, the stack of parchment she had been reading earlier scattering to the floor. She grabbed me by my upper arms and shook me.

"What are you doing here?" she said. "Why aren't you talking to Harry? Go tell him how you feel before it's too late!"

I had never seen Hermione like this. Normally she liked things to be planned out and here she was telling me to march over to Harry's flat and express my undying love for him no knowing what the outcome would be.

"I can't Hermione. I think I've ruined any chance I ever had," I said, tears stinging my eyes before falling freely down my face. Hermione let her arms drop to her sides.

"You need to do something. If I know Harry, he's probably working his way through a bottle of Firewhiskey right now," said Hermione. "And we both know that won't end well," she added.

I left Hermione with the promise that I was going to make things right with Harry, but the problem was, I didn't know how to do it. What if I told him how I felt and the thought I was only saying it because he said it first?

"Get a grip Weasley," I muttered to myself before knocking on the door to Harry's flat. I had immediately decided against flooing directly inside. The last thing I wanted to do was startle him. And if he was halfway through a bottle of Firewhiskey as Hermione has suggested, that was the last thing I wanted to do unless I wanted to be on the receiving end of one of the many Hexes in Harry's arsenal.

There was no answer at the door so I knocked again, my hands shaking. This threw me for a loop as I wasn't normally the kind of person to get nervous or scared. I am a bloody Gryffindor after all!

After what felt like an eternity, the door swung open and Harry's head peaked around the corner, his hair sticking up on end. His face registered a minuscule amount of shock before he smoothed his features to show nothing but cold indifference.

"What are you doing here?" he said flatly.

"We need to talk," I said, barely above a whisper.

"I don't think we have anything to talk about. I think we covered just about everything earlier."

My heart sank. "Can we at least talk about what happened?"

Harry sighed and opened the door wider, but said nothing. I took this as an invitation and slipped inside his flat. I quickly scanned my surroundings for any signs of alcohol but found none as Harry closed the door behind me.

"I don't know what else there is to say, Ginny," he said as he maneuvered around me and flopped down on his sofa.

I swallowed past the lump in my throat and took deep breath. "I love you."