Disclaimer: the plot and the character Anika is mine, the rest is JK Rowling's.
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Anika had not seen Harry for the rest of the weekend. She and Draco had spent their weekend together at Hogsmeade; she was glad they were able to leave the confining walls of Hogwarts; Draco had told her that Zach and Tanner, the boys who attacked her, was expelled from school. But knowing that didn't seem to ease her mind, it still somehow irked her whenever random visions of what happened popped in her mind. And though Draco tried his hardest to ease her sister, he knew only one person was able to comfort her and that didn't relieve him at all. Only Draco knew about her and Harry's rendezvous the previous night, she knew Ginny would want to know but somehow she didn't feel like sharing it-not yet anyway.
Harry had avoided Anika the next day so he stayed in bed a little after breakfast, it was the weekend and he was sure he would see her; he didn't want to face her now, not when he was confused;. He didn't really know what prompted him to kiss her like that, but one thing is for sure, he cannot-no, wait scratch that- HE IS NOT falling for Anika Malfoy! With that resolved he went down for some breakfast.
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The next few days Harry had steered clear of Anika. He kept away from where he knew she would be; he had also dodged Ginny whenever he saw her, even though he wasn't sure if Anika had told Ginny about their night by the lake, he didn't want to take the chance. Ginny however noticed this and one night decided to surprise Harry and ask him why he had been avoiding her.
"Hey Harry!" Ginny said as she approached the Ron and Harry who were sitting by the fireplace doing their homework.
Harry froze when he heard Ginny's voice and groaned inwardly. He knew he should've just gone with Hermione to the library where nobody would be able to see him.
"Hey Gin" he said not looking up at her.
"Um, can we talk?" she asked him. Harry took in a sharp breath, oh no, he thought. As much as he didn't want to be confronted right by Ginny, she knew she would not let him leave this down; so he nodded and led her to a corner where he knew they will not be over heard.
"Harry I why are you avoiding me?" Ginny asked boldly looking a little hurt
"I…I'm not avoiding you. Who said I was avoiding you Gin?" he said nervously.
"I dunno." She shrugged "I just felt like you have been the last few days. Whenever I approach you, the past few days you made an excuse to leave or something"
She looked up at him as if realizing something, "It doesn't have to do with Anika, right?"
Harry's eyes widened with horror. But Ginny didn't notice this because she was babbling away in front of Harry.
"… Because if it is... well, she's my friend Harry." She finished
"Gin, Anika didn't tell you anything did she?" Harry asked testing the waters
"No, well…" she suddenly looked up at him with curiosity "…is there something I should know Harry?" her eyes glinted with mischief.
She didn't know what was happening but clearly there IS something happening.
"Uh, no…no, nothing!" Harry sputtered
"Oh come on now Harry, what is it? You can tell me." She pressed
With all the years he had been friends with Ginny, he knew she could read him. Harry knew he was a goner now; he groaned and ran his hand through his unruly hair making it a lot messier.
"I kissed her" he mumbled not looking Ginny in the eye
Ginny wasn't sure he heard him right because he said it barely above a whisper. But when Harry looked up at her with guilty eyes she knew her ears heard it right. Harry kissed Anika! She squeaked and threw her arms around Harry's neck. The Gryffindor's stared at them some of them grinning thinking Harry had finally asked Ginny out; Ron was oblivious with all these though as he was scribbling away madly at his parchment a frown on his face.
"Oh! You could've told me earlier Harry; it would have saved me all the trouble! I've been trying to get you to talk to Anika for the past month and blimey was it grueling." She said grinning like a Cheshire cat at Harry.
"Wait, you didn't know? Anika didn't tell you?" he asked perplexed
"Silly! I haven't seen Anika for days! I was so busy with school work I didn't have the time to talk to her this past couple of days" she explained
This made Harry groan even more.
"Ginny, promise me you won't tell Ron, or anyone for that matter! Please!" Harry pleaded giving her a wide puppy-eyed look.
Ginny thought for a moment. Harry and Anika, a couple. As much as she was dying to tell everyone the good news, it also spelled a lot of trouble. I mean, she was a Malfoy for goodness sake! And with that Ginny agreed. Harry let out a breath he didn't knew he had been holding while waiting for Ginny's answer.
The next day, Ginny caught up with Anika in Care of Magical Creatures.
"Hey there lover girl" she whispered
Anika looked at her confused. Ginny smiled a mischievous smile across her face
"You didn't tell me you and Harry were going out" she said pulling Anika just far enough so nobody can hear them. Anika gave a surprised gasp
"We…We're not" she stammered.
"Oh, come off it Anika. I know what's going on; he told me last night that he kissed you. That must've mean something!" she said
"He told you?!" Anika answered shocked. Ginny nodded smiling
"Gin, we're not going out" Anika told her smiling friend
"Wha…But he told me…" she sputtered, a little hurt her friend would lie to her.
"No Gin, we kissed. That's it. We're not going out…though I wished we were" she said the last part in a barely audible whisper that Ginny had to strain her ear just to hear it.
Ginny couldn't believe it! Here she was smiling like crazy thinking her friend had finally gotten her wish (yes, she had known for a while that Anika has a crush on Harry, she figured it out after the Quidditch match.) only to go crashing back to earth knowing that they weren't together. She smiled sadly at her friend, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
