Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches

Part. 1: Gift Giving

Harry woke up the next day to the slightly unsettling sight of Ron reading. Once he got a good look at the book that Ron was reading, however, he let out a great shout of laughter.

"Which chapter is it mate?"

Ron smirked, "The, uh, more physical kind."

Harry grinned and pulled out his own copy from under his bed. It was around 7 in the morning; he figured he could read at least two chapters before they had to go down for breakfast.

Ginny cautiously opened the door to Ron's room. She did not want to catch Ron in whatever state of undress he slept in. She wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for Hermione; apparently it was a sin to sleep past 10 o' clock on a summer holiday. After Hermione had whined for an hour straight, Ginny had unhappily come up here to wake the boys so that Hermione can snog Ron some more; just the thought made her shiver. What Hermione saw in Ron was utterly out of Ginny's comprehension, even though she'd known that this would happen sooner or later.

Ginny looked around the room. Both boys were sleeping; Ron's blankets were, thankfully, drawn up to his chest. Just then she noticed something and had to stop herself from laughing with shock. Harry was loosely holding a book, and so was Ron... Harry's book was in danger of slipping out of his grip. So Ginny tiptoed over and gently slid the book out of Harry's fingers. She looked at the title, after all, if they were reading this book in the summer holidays it must be interesting.

"Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to –" Ginny laughed quietly, Harry should know better than this. Or maybe, in their months together, Ron had rubbed off on Harry a bit too much.

"Oi! What are you doing here?" Ron had woken up. Ginny was relieved to see that he was wearing his pyjamas.

"Good morning, dear brother. Hermione wants to snog you, better go downstairs."

Ron's ears turned red, "We nev –"

"Honestly Ron, she's my best friend, she's told me what you guys do."

Ron blinked, and then turned a nasty shade of maroon, "Fine. You better come down too, I won't have my sister –" He stopped when he saw the look on her face. Then he walked, in what he thought was a dignified silence, out of the room.

Laughing Ginny settled down into what was sure to be a very... enlightening... read.

Someone was giggling softly beside him. Groaning Harry turned and blinked up at the person. The picture was still blurry, he felt around for his glasses and put them on. Blinking to clear the sudden burst of light in his eyes, he sat up; and immediately jerked his blankets up to his chest.

"Ginny?"

"Interesting book you've got here, Potter."

Shit. Better do some damage control. "Uh... yea. Um. Ron gave that to me... as a joke. I wasn't reading it..." Smooth, Potter. She'll definitely buy that...

"Don't lie." She said cheerfully, "It was about to slip out of your grip when I caught it."

"Uh..." He mumbled something about falling asleep.

Ginny grinned and started reading out loud,

"Chapter One: Save her from the most evil wizard of time and his pet snake."

"Ginny –"

"Let me finish, Harry. I'm summarizing it for you, can't have you reading all day and becoming a Hermione now, can we?"

Harry sighed; he wished the earth would open up and swallow him whole. Nothing can be more embarrassing than when Ginny decides to tease. He'd learned that in his sixth year.

"Anyways. Chapter Two: Proceed to ignore her for the next three years. Chapter Three: Snog her senseless in front of fifty other people; make sure her ridiculously over-protective brother is there too. Chapter Four: Ditch her at a funeral; give some noble excuse. Chapter Five: Refuse any contact with her for the better part of the following year while on the run to defeat afore-mentioned evil wizard. Chapter Seven: Return and sweep her off her feet."

Harry smirked, "Swept you off your feet have I?"

Ginny sighed dramatically, "All this flattery can't be good for your ego. I'm going to have to start calling you Humongous Bighead like Fred and Geo –" She stopped suddenly and blinked 3 times in rapid succession; Harry supposed, to stop the oncoming flow of tears. After a brief silence in which Harry wished he could say something to comfort her, she whispered, "You'd better come down for breakfast. Mum's made bacon and –"

In an attempt to stop her, Harry said, "Ginny."

She plowed on, ignoring him. "–Eggs and hash browns–"

Harry took her by her arms and pulled her against his chest, she gasped and attempted to pull away, but he held firm. Finally she stopped struggling and relaxed into his hold, resting her head against his shoulder.

They sat like that for a moment before she said, "Sometimes I miss him so bad, it hurts. And George, I just wish... I wish he'd smile more, tease Ron a bit... pull some pranks... it's like he's lost all reason for living. After almost 16 years of having to live with th-them it... I don't know... I just –"

She shook her head, her glorious hair falling all over his chest, and fell silent. Harry didn't say anything for a moment; she had to get this out. After it became apparent that she had nothing else to say, however, he decided he'd give her the locket now; if only to cheer her up. He removed his arms from around her waist and said, "Ginny, I have something for you."

"What?"

"Hold on, let me get it." He got up from the bed and looked around for the robes he'd worn yesterday, he found them lying under his new broom on a chair. He experienced a brief wave of panic when he didn't find the little box in his robes' pocket but quickly remembered that he'd put the box in his trunk. He went over to his trunk and turfed half the contents on the floor. He found the box among the stuff on the floor and went back to the bed. Ginny looked up at him curiously.

He opened the box and showed its contents to her. She looked at the box then up at Harry and then at the box again. Then she said; her voice small, "Who's it for?"

He stared at her in disbelief; who did she think it was for? "It's for you." He watched her face anxiously for her reaction. Her eyes were darker than normal, and the locket was reflected back in them.

Her expression stony, she said, "I can't take it."

"What? Of course you can, I got it for you."

"Harry, all the things I own put together won't amount to what this cost. You've got to return it."

"But -"

"No, Harry. How do you think I'll look? Second-hand clothes and a 1000 galleon necklace."

"It didn't cost that much! And I'm not asking you to wear it all the time, just... for special -"

"But why? Why'd you buy it? I didn't ask you for anything, I was fine with -" She gestured wildly around the room.

"Gin, I never got to take you out anywhere, not even Hogsmeade. But I'm done with Hogwarts now and we can actually go places an-"

"And you want the great Harry Potter's girlfriend to look like she came out of Witch Weekly? Honestly, Harry, I thought you were better than that. 'Guess I was wrong."

And with that she stormed out of the room, leaving an incredulous Harry on the bed, still holding the box.