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So far... Harry's 2nd year at Hogwarts. Ginny & Luna are both in Gryffindor. Hermione has explained to Harry he unwittingly asked Ginny to be his girlfriend and she's disappointed not yet to have been kissed. Harry, anxious to avoid more trouble, has asked her on a date up the Astronomy Tower. Now read on...

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Chapter 11

Chary Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Part 6

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~~~ Setting the Date ~~~

It was two days later before Ginny discovered a date when the Bloody Baron would definitely not be haunting the Astronomy Tower.

"Harry! Luna says Nick's having a deathday party!" said Ginny breathlessly as she caught up with him in the Charms corridor. Harry took out his Standard Book of Spells and opened it so it looked like they were talking about schoolwork.

"A what?" he whispered back.

"A deathday party — it's the anniversary of the day he died."

"Ginny, you know Luna is a bit... erm... unusu...ally... nice, but a deathday party? Are you sure she's not—?"

"But it's true! I asked him myself — Nick, I mean — and the Bloody Baron will be there!"

A group of third-years passed them and Harry read out "The Wand-Lighting Charm is simple, but requires concentration. Take care not to accidentally set your wand alight as..." He tailed off as they disappeared around the next corner.

"So... you mean...?" he said.

"We can go up the Astronomy Tower that evening. It's the thirty-first."

Ginny nudged his elbow as another student ran by them.

"The counter-charm for the spell is... But that's Halloween, Ginny! The thirty-first is Halloween!""

"Yes, sorry. Do you mind, Harry? We'll miss the feast." Ginny looked at him closely.

"Not at all! I'd much rather... We can have our own feast, Ginny! Take up a basket from the kitchen and have a sort of picnic under the stars if it's clear."

Ginny tried to suppress a squeal and looked nervously up and down the passageway. "So, it's okay then?"

"It's a date, Ginny!"

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~~~ False Detention ~~~

"So, it's all set!" Hermione finished off her notes and leaned back in her favourite library chair.

"Yes, and all thanks to you — and for managing the little details!" smiled Harry.

"It's been worth it. Ginny's so excited I can see her trembling sometimes, Harry — it means everything to her! It's good of you to go through with this."

"Well, I do really like Ginny anyway so it's not as if it's unpleasant for me to play the part of her boyfriend; I quite like it actually."

"So... I'll go now, shall I?" said Hermione. "I don't really like deceiving Ron but it would be unthinkable for him to find out."

"You're sweet on him, aren't you, Hermione?"

Hermione turned to putting her books away but Harry could tell she was embarrassed and perhaps even hurt by his remark. As he watched his friend leave the library he vowed to help her. Immediately he slapped himself on the forehead. Why, oh why do I make these promises to myself!" He knew he would need every ounce of his devious side to pull this off without causing any bother.

...

"I don't believe it!" cried Hermione to Ron and Ginny as she joined them in the common room. "Filch showed Snape one single clump of mud off Harry's Quidditch boots in the Astronomy corridor and he's got to scrub the whole floor tonight."

"Harry? But he never gets detentions!" said Ginny.

"I know and—"

"Did you say tonight? But it's the Halloween feast, Hermione!" said Ron, looking up from his Daily Prophet. He slapped the newspaper with the back of his hand. "The entire wizarding world will be celebrating and Harry'll be in detention?"

"I know. It's awful." Hermione was pretending to examine a book she'd just brought from the library but she was looking past it to gauge Ron's reactions.

"He can't do a detention on Halloween," added Ron glumly. His face suddenly brightened. "I know! We'll slip away early and take him some goodies from the feast!"

"NO!" cried Hermione.

Ron's mouth gaped at her outburst.

"Er... I mean... No, Ron, you know how Harry hates attention and fuss. Wait for him to come back to the common room afterwards and we'll have a quiet snack. He'll like that. What do you think, Ron?" Hermione looked anxiously for Ron's reaction.

"Well... I guess so..."

"We'll have to save him some baked pumpkin..." said Hermione, sounding as melancholy as she could.

"I'll be a bit late myself for the feast with all this homework," moaned Ginny, winking at Hermione.

"Just leave it till tomorrow," said Ron. "That's what I'd do."

"Can't. Got to hand in two essays in the morning." Ginny stretched and yawned. "Oh well, think I'll take a break before I start them. I'll take a long, slow bath..."

After she had gone out, Ron, with most of his attention buried in the Prophet, muttered, "Don't know how she's got time for a bath if she hasn't got time to get to the feast at the start."

"Helps her relax so she can concentrate better," said Hermione. "You should try it some time."

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~~~ Life and Death Day ~~~

Harry crouched down behind an empty stone pedestal and adjusted his cloak to make sure not a single toe was visible. He sighed and looked at his watch. Ginny was nearly ten minutes late. He resigned himself to being patient and recalled Hermione's advice that it was something called a woman's prerogative so he shouldn't be surprised if Ginny was a few minutes late. Yes, but TEN minutes! retorted a grumpy voice in his head. He kicked the food hamper he had wedged into the alcove and the pedestal wobbled slightly.

He put his head on one side, straining to detect the sound of her footsteps. All he could hear was the distant cheery hubbub of the Halloween feast and the growling of his own stomach. Come on, Ginny!

Fifteen minutes later his mind was oscillating between concern that she might be ill or injured, and the nagging feeling that she had forgotten and was enjoying the feast. Not Ginny! he thought. But suppose she had wandered down to the Great Hall without thinking and couldn't get away easily?

He stood up. He crouched down again. He listened. There was a faint voice but it was not hers. It was odd, he thought, high and harsh but too faint to make out what was being said. He stood up again.

Harry could not stay still. For ten more minutes he paced the Astronomy corridor, pausing at each end to peer along it. Waves of worry vied with irritation. This is getting ridiculous! I'm only doing it for her anyway! I didn't even want this!

He recalled then a little girl in a white frock when he was only six years old and how he had yearned to sit next to her in class but never could. He did not know why he had liked her so powerfully; he had been too young to reflect on the matter. Dudley, seeing his attentiveness, had said she wanted to talk to him behind the bike sheds. How long he waited in vain he did not know but the hurt and disappointment bursting inside was the same as now...

Harry tried to push that feeling away. He fought it irritably, snapping at his own fears like a cornered rat. The darkness in the corridor seemed to close in upon him as he walked back and forth. He began to feel more and more annoyed with himself. He strove earnestly to improve his mood. Ginny might be here any moment. She would come. She must come. He would stay here forever until he starved — THEN she would be sorry!

"Harry?"

He spun around. Ginny was addressing the pedestal where he had told her he would be. He half-stuffed his cloak into a pocket and ran to her.

"What happened?" He wished he had not sound so snippy; he had planned not to.

"I'm so sorry, Harry," whimpered Ginny. "I... think I got lost..."

"You got lost? In Hogwarts?" Why does my voice sound like I'm angry!

"One of the moving stairs turned and I was... I don't think I'd been there..."

"But it's..." He glanced at his watch. "FORTY minutes, Ginny! How can you be lost for—?"

She covered her face with her hands as tears flowed. "I d- don't r- remember! C- can't r- remember what—"

It seemed so unfair to Harry that she should be crying. He was the one who ought to be crying! He was the one who had waited most of an hour!

"You didn't remember we were going to meet here for our first date, FORTY minutes ago?"

Ginny shook her head, unable to speak for the heavy sobs that jerked her shoulders.

What do I care! She's the one who wanted the ruddy date!" Harry flung his head back and his arms up in exasperation, not knowing what to do with the crying girl. He glared at her. She was peeping out between her fingers. There was blood on them.

In an instant his icy stance melted and he was filled with concern.

"Ginny, Ginny! Are you hurt?" He took her hands away from her face and examined them.

"I m- must have f- fallen d- down." Ginny looked as surprised as he was to see the spots and smears upon her fingers.

Harry took out his handkerchief and cleaned away the blood but could see no wound in the unlit corridor. "Just a cut, I guess, but it's stopped bleeding now. You feel alright?"

Ginny nodded but it turned into a shake of her head.

"Do you still want to go up the tower?" he said, not knowing what to suggest.

She did nod this time.

They started up, Harry leading the way because to be side by side on the narrow stairway would mean a closeness that was lost to them. He glanced over his shoulder. Her head was still drooping and she was sniffling with misery. He wanted to drop back a couple of steps and put an arm round her shoulder but couldn't bring himself to do it. His stomach rumbled again and he clutched at himself to try to smother the sound. It wasn't even funny in the circumstances. The food basket, he then remembered, he had left downstairs behind the pedestal. His lips smacked together and he took a deep gasp of air in annoyance.

"I'm really sorry, Harry," whimpered Ginny.

"No, it's just that I left the hamper downstairs. Are you hungry?"

She shook her head. Strangely, he wasn't either — only his stomach was.

They continued to the top then stood awkwardly a little way apart from each other on the main viewing platform of the tower. The stone beneath their feet was cold and unforgiving. The only bench looked hard and damp. High above, the vaulted stones leered over them darkly. Through the surrounding arches neither moon nor stars were visible to lift their spirits, but there were rainclouds aplenty to press them down. She shivered.

"Didn't you bring a pullover or anything?"

She shook her head. All he had was his invisibility cloak but at least it would keep the wind off. He swung it around her shoulders but as she disappeared he felt their separation more sharply. He thought things couldn't get any worse so he pulled the folds of the cloak over his own shoulders too; then over their heads so they could see each other under the cloak at least.

They stood there pushed stiffly together until Harry finally made himself start to put a tentative arm around her. Before he had even finished, she had her two arms triggered tightly around him; still trying to make a success of her first date despite everything.

"Ginny? You're trembling! What happened to you? Did you see someone? Did somebody say something?"

"Oh Harry!" she buried her face between his neck and shoulder. "I don't remember anything! I don't even remember leaving my dorm."

Harry didn't know what to make of that. "I'm sorry this... our... I'm sorry it's not so nice for you, Ginny. Sorry I was a bit grumpy. I wanted your first date to be perfect then I completely spoilt it."

"It's alright though, isn't it?" she said. "Not too bad, I mean? We're here now, together?"

Harry stared into the darkness over her shoulder and stopped himself shaking his head in disbelief. After all that had happened, she thought shivering cold and hungry here up this miserable tower hugging Harry Stupid Potter without even a chair to sit on was 'not too bad?' He thought a bit more as they stood silently holding one another. After a while he began to wonder himself if it wasn't that bad. The cloak was keeping the cold breeze away and she felt soft and warm against him. And Ginny was liking him in spite of everything. Yes, that felt nice — to be liked even though you've spoken unkind words. Perhaps they could salvage something from the evening after all. Maybe all he had to do was kiss her.

She took his silence for disappointment. "Am I alright, Harry? Do you think I'm okay?"

"Okay? I'm not quite sure what you mean, Ginny."

"As a girlfriend, I mean. I don't really know if I'm... I could change a bit if you wanted — if you didn't like me enough, perhaps? Only I don't know what's for the best."

"Change? No, I like you as... how you are. I think you're good as a girlfriend, actually. Yes, very good. Erm... What about me though?"

"Oh, Harry, I think you're great as a boyfriend! No, I only meant me. You're... you're Harry Potter after all." She hesitated for a few seconds as if thinking about what she had said then added all in a rush, It's not just because you're Harry Potter though! I mean..." Harry could feel the tension in her arms as she struggled to express herself. She added rather limply, "I'm not very good at saying things how I mean." Now he could almost feel her squirming with embarrassment.

"I think you're good at saying things, Ginny. It's erm... nice when you say things." He wondered if she understood he meant he liked to hear her talking. She laughed happily anyway so perhaps she did.

Ginny relaxed a little against him then but Harry still knew they were clumsy together. He tried to remember what Hermione had said about kissing but he couldn't remember anything; after all, Hermione had kissed him not the other way round. He had wanted so much to get it right for Ginny and now he was stuck in this moment. There was no going back to practice nor leaving it for a better day. He didn't know what to do. He certainly couldn't let go of her until she released him first.

Yet Ginny seemed satisfied merely to go on holding him. Five minutes passed, then ten, and Harry's legs ached just a little so he knew hers must be too; they both had been on their feet for over an hour since leaving the common room. He shifted his weight back a little and she moved with him but now the wet bench was immediately behind him, digging into the back of his left calf.

To hell with it! It's only water! he thought to himself and sat, drawing Ginny down with him upon his knees; at least one of them would be dry. She seemed to move with him as in a dance. It reminded him of when his Aunt Petunia cut his hair: she shoved his head about with her fingers to get the right angle. It had always seemed rude to Harry — like he was being treated like an annoying piece of clay — but he had learnt to yield before those prods; it had become instinctive in time and was less strain than resisting.

That summed up his life, he thought glumly: it was all just giving way to whatever circumstances were pushing you around at the moment. Resistance created friction and pain so why bother unless it was really important? He would remain supple like his wand, and bend with the winds of tribulation.

He asked himself if Ginny would be that yielding. What had Mr Ollivander said of her wand? Nice and reactive. Was Ginny as alike to her wand as he was to his?

He leaned his weight a tiny bit to the side and she tilted with him. When he eased back she was there too. Without planning it, Harry was soon tenderly rocking her left and right on his lap, soothing away every last teardrop. He could hear each breath and sensed contentment in their rhythm: the ebb and flow of an endless, muted sigh. Her response calmed his every doubt and led them slowly to their centre. Harry and Ginny became very quiet and still.

As their lips gently touched he knew the insufficiency of Hermione's explanation. Caring was only part of the whole spontaneous impulse. Harry was drawn by Ginny's lips as surely as she was to his. It seemed to him that circumstance kissed them together at the right moment: his yielding, her responsiveness; the softness of contact happened to them without a decision. It wasn't something they did; it was something they experienced together.

The intensity of affection that Harry felt was new to him. Never had he been so completely accepted and embraced and he returned that love with equal reverence.

Vaguely were they aware of walking hand in hand back down the tower steps. They were young sweethearts, lost in a vivid sensation, bringing the moment with them and near-oblivious of their surroundings and what the future might hold. The experience had begun to slowly change Harry's view of life and of himself.

"Here, you take the basket, Ginny and go first," whispered Harry. "Make out you went down to the kitchen because you missed the feast doing your homework. I'll come along in a few minutes, weary from my detention and weak from hunger and you can reluctantly let me share your basket."

Ginny giggled softly, her eyes still shining in the darkness. He watched her reach down for the little hamper and walk away backwards watching him intently until she disappeared around the first corner. Only then did he become aware of the commotion of the revellers leaving the feast. He decided to head towards them and come around another way from Ginny.

As he approached, it became clear that the cries and comments were not anything to do with a party spirit: they were sounds of anxiety and confusion — and they were coming from up the next flight of stairs.

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~~~ The Writing on the Wall ~~~

"Harry — what are you doing down there? Haven't you been told to go straight to your common room?" It was Percy Weasley and he was frowning with annoyance as he came down the steps.

"What's going on, Percy?"

"Never you mind. I'll escort you myself. Come along. This way. Quickly now." Percy had adopted his prefect mode and it was hard to penetrate that shell.

"'Escort?' Are we in danger then, Percy? Is someone in trouble?"

Before Percy could answer, Harry had a sudden picture in his mind that he wasn't exactly sure which way Ginny would have gone. Harry had sprinted up half a flight of the stairs before Percy even realised. He had to find Ginny in case it was her that was in peril.

"Potter! What do you think you are doing! Get back down here immediately!"

But Harry was up on the second floor and running towards the knot of teachers at the next junction, his feet splashing through puddles of water along the floor. Snape was the first to hear his approach and stepped forward to block him. "Potter! Where are you going!"

"How dare you flout my authority, Potter!" cried Percy coming up behind him. "Professor Snape, I specifically ordered Potter to go to his common room."

Harry wasn't hearing either of them. He was staring at a dead cat hanging from a torch bracket. Above it, painted on the wall in tall red letters, were the words:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"Potter — What are you doing here?" It was McGonagall detaching herself from conversation with the headmaster, who drew Harry back to reality.

"I erm... Sorry, I panicked, Professor McGonagall! Ran the wrong way! Sorry, Professor Snape." Harry turned away to Percy. "Sorry, Percy, you scared me. I thought we were in danger and I ran away. I'm sorry." Years of rapid excuses and grovelling poured the words out of Harry instinctively.

Certainly Harry Potter's face was as pallid as Snape's and his eyes were still wide with worry and fear. Dumbledore gave him a strange look. "Most curious..."

"If I might speak, Headmaster," said Snape, and Harry, who had avoided confrontation with the Potions Master for so long, had a sudden sense of foreboding. There was a slight sneer curling his mouth. "We do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why did Potter come to this particular upstairs corridor at all? Why run towards danger instead of away from it? And why was he not at the Halloween feast?"

"I just wasn't hungry, sir," said Harry quickly. "My family are Muggles. They hate magic. They have never celebrated Halloween. I went for a walk to work up an appetite — then ran into Percy who scared me into running the wrong way but who I now see was trying to help me in the other direction to safety."

"'Safety,' did you say?" The headmaster was looking at Harry closely over his half-moon spectacles. "Harry, do you know anything, anything at all, about this...?" He gestured at the wall.

"Nothing, sir," said Harry promptly. He turned to look at the wall again. It wasn't his problem. All he had cared about was that Ginny was not in danger. "What is it? Is it a prank, sir?"

"I'll give you, 'prank!'" snarled Filch, who Harry had not noticed in the shadows until then. "Mrs Norris is dead and you think it's a joke! Ask him where's he's been, Professor!" he had turned to the headmaster. "Up to no good I'll be bound."

"Calm yourself, Argus. I regret the demise of your cat but I do not believe Harry has had anything to do with the events of this night." Dumbledore turned to Percy, gesturing for him to take Harry. "If you would continue..."

"Of course, sir," said Percy. "Come along, Potter — and no dawdling."

"But Headmaster," pleaded Snape, "surely the deduction of house points must be—"

"No, I don't think so, Severus," said Dumbledore. "That, of course, is up to the head of his house, Professor McGonagall, but if we are to penalise panic then we should very soon run out of house points altogether, don't you think?"

Harry was too far away by now to fully hear Snape's muttered reply but he imagined it was, "If Potter was panicking then I'm a pork pie."

"Consider yourself very fortunate, Potter," said Percy. "It's not like you at all. I have it on good authority that the staff regard you as a model student and I would have agreed until tonight."

Harry nodded as they walked along, puzzled about his impulsive action. What was wrong with him? He had never gone looking for trouble before in his life unless... unless it was really important.

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—oOo—

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Author's Notes

Hope that kiss wasn't too OTT but Harry needed a good kickstart to fire him up. But don't expect too much too soon! Old habits die hard.

I wish to credit J K Rowling with a few of the lines which are direct or modified quotes from Chamber of Secrets (because I felt they were irreplaceable and the situation unavoidable) to preserve canon as closely as possible unless changed as a consequence of Chary's character.

Many thanks for all comments and reviews. These are most welcome and very encouraging. :)

- Hippothestrowl

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