A/N: I apologize once again for the fast updates, but i'm trying to get most of them done before summer ends. Anyhow thanks to my reviewers. You guys make my day. Oh and Megan, thank you first off, now to answer your question, Ernie is just a medium you see, I guess I'm giving away my story a lil bit, but you see if Harry and Ginny didnt have anyone coming between them then they would be together already and there would be no point to my story. It is still a Harry/Ginny fic. and I picked Ernie cuz I wanted it to be someone who they know but dont give as much attention too...also i had to turn him into a stud, so i had to pick an average looking guy. I didnt wanna make up a character...I hate making up characters...soo i just use Rowling's actual characters...there are soo many to choose from...hahahhaa now that I'm done...enjoy this long chapter. and review review review...hehehehe

Doing favours and returning them

Ginny opened the portrait door as a few people waited behind her. It was still a little early in the night and the next day was Saturday, therefore people were still frolicking around.

Her eyes caught Harry at the far end of the room, sitting at the table, books all around him. He was bent over his parchment writing, every now and then dipping his quill in the ink bottle. A single candle provided as his source of light. He had yet to notice her, so she observed him for a while.

The light illuminated his pale skin and it almost looked like he was glowing. His green eyes glittered behind his round glasses as they reflected the light of the candle. His eyebrows were scrunched up in concentration and he bit his bottom lip as he reviewed what he had written so far. He looked…beautiful to her. He reached over and stuffed the remnants of what looked like a sandwich and watched as his Adam's apple moved when he swallowed.

ARGHH what was her obsession with his Adam's apple anyway? She had yet to figure that one out.

Clearly he was still working on his History of Magic essay that was due Monday morning.

After a moment, he sat back and stretched, yawning at the same time. He pushed his glasses up and rubbed his eyes.

Oh pull yourself together Ginny, she scolded herself, you're just back from a wonderful date with a boy, already you're fantasizing about another?

Harry pulled his glasses back on and scrunched his fringes frustratingly as he went back to researching about the War of the Trolls. He was almost done but he had been at it for quite a while now.

He gave a slight jump and instinctively reached for his wand in his pocket, when a soft voice behind him spoke.

"Need any help?"

He swivelled in his seat to see Ginny looking at him, concern etched on her face.

"Merlin Gin!" he chuckled "don't creep up on people like that."

"Still reaching for your wand I see?" she smiled her gaze pointed at his hand.

He let go of it "Old habits die hard, I guess. When did you come back?"

"Just a moment ago" she blushed which surprised him, "So? Need help?"

"No! I'm almost done. You don't need to do me any favours, anyway" the second it passed through his lips he wanted to take it back.

Her eyes flashed, "I'm not doing you any favours! It's called helping. Look it up!"

Merlin, she looked beautiful when angry.

"Sorry", he mumbled "how was your date anyway?" he asked trying to keep the bitterness from his voice.

"Fantastic" was her automatic response along with dare-he-think a hint of sarcasm? "Oh well, don't worry your head about it, you don't look happy distracted from your work anyway."

"How would you know?"

"It's written all over your face."

"Sorry, 'cuz I'm so obvious" he said dryly.

"You're not", she said quite seriously.

Where was everyone anyway? It wasn't that late was it? He quickly checked his watch. Yeah, it was only ten, so why was the common room deserted? And Gee, it was a Saturday next day, people wouldn't call it an early night on a weekend.

He looked at Ginny, who huffed and said, "Fine, fine I'm leaving. All you had to do was ask. Not look at the watch and hope for me to be gone."

He chortled at her misunderstanding, "No no, nothing like that…"

"You don't have to be so darn polite about it either."

He was about to snap at that but was interrupted by a strong tapping at the window.

"Hedwig?" he reached over and pushed the heavy window open. "Bad timing, Hedwig" he muttered to his bird, low enough for Ginny to not hear it.

He turned to look at the envelope.

"The Ministry?" he couldn't help saying out loud.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw a leaving Ginny, stop when he said that. He pulled it open as Hedwig fluttered around.

As he scanned the contents, he couldn't stop from sinking into the nearby chair.

"Oh shit!"

"What is it?" Ginny asked softly. She moved towards him but stopped halfway as if not wanting to intrude. He kept reading the letter again and again to make sure it was right.

Ginny finally made up her mind and sat next to him. He held out the letter towards her, not finding any reason to keep it a secret. She took it from him and read it quickly. A gasp escaped her lips. "Andromeda is dead?" He nodded. "That leaves you as…"

"Teddy Lupin's only legal guardian" he finished her sentence. "I had forgotten about him. My godson! What am I to do now? I'm barely out of school."

Ginny had begun to rub his back soothingly, which he found quite relieving as he mulled over the matter.

"I guess I have to get out of school…" he started lowly.

"Don't even think about Harry James Potter", Ginny said sternly, looking just like her mother when she did. "You just came…Oh I know!" she whispered excitedly. "Send him over to the Burrow! Mom will take care of him."

"Oh don't be ridiculous Gin! I couldn't do that!"

"Yes, you could!" she said forcibly.

"But it would be a burden on your parents. He's barely a year old."

"Are you saying that my mother is incapable of taking care of a baby? Need I remind you that were are seven siblings and well fed and well taken care of?"

Harry chuckled at this one. "No I don't at all doubt her maternal skills. But…?"

The stubborn Ginny that she was, she glared at him and he felt himself giving away under the stare.

"Oh fine!" he said wryly.

"You can take him back after school ends, if you want."

Harry nodded. "Thanks" he whispered "I owe your family one."

"Don't worry", she answered in the same tone as she laid a soft hand on his face, running her thumb between his eyebrows as if trying to get rid of the worry lines. "We owe you one, Harry!"

They were so close yet he felt deep inside, that they couldn't be any farther.

"C'mon I'll write to your mother. Tell me what to write", he forced himself to say.

Ron woke up the next morning and trudged downstairs after freshening up, only to find his little sister already up.

He yawned and said, "Well, look who's up!"

She turned and her eyes widened, "Me? You're the one who's up earlier than usual. You do realize that today is Saturday right? Even Hermione's not up yet."

"I'm aware", he said as he kissed the top of her head.

"Umm Ron?" she said as he began leafing through the Daily Prophet "I have to tell you something."

"You do? That reminds me I myself need your help with something."

"Ok, you can go first", she said.

"Erm, k …On Monday after classes, I'm keeping Chaser tryouts-

"Ron" she groaned, "you know I wont-

"Hear me out will ya? I just want you to be there with me, help me pick the best one."

"The best Chaser?"

"Yes I mean you're so good yourself, obviously you'll know what to look for right? Pleaasee!?" he pleaded.

"Ok fine!"

"That's my Gin-Gin" he grinned as he ruffled her hair, "so you wanted to tell me something?"

"Oh yeaa…"

Harry followed a few third year girls downstairs, who kept turning and looking every few times. When he gave an involuntary yawn they giggled. He couldn't help smiling back at them. As soon as he entered the common room, he was aware of two red-heads who looked up at him when he entered.

"Oh" he said as he took a step back "I didn't realise this was a family reunion."

Ginny giggled quite unlike the third years he had just witnessed. It just looked all the more adorable on her. Ron snorted as he waved him in.

"Ginny just told me about the Teddy thing", Ron said as Harry settled beside him, "You made the right decision, mate." He nodded at Harry.

"More like, Ginny made the right decision for me." He looked at Ginny who smiled back at him.

He was struck by a future possibility of him and her, helping each other out.

He shook his head vigorously. He was being a sappy idiot.

They were soon joined by Hermione and they made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Halfway Ginny saw Ernie and raced to him abandoning the trio.

Harry wanted to hex Ernie for sure this time, for ruining a perfect morning.

Monday evening, Harry was just finishing up his Herbology assignment, with Hermione's aid, when Ron and Ginny walked in after their Chaser tryouts. It didn't help that both were covered in mud and had extremely serious expressions on their faces. Harry stared at them expectantly, his fingers crossed behind his back.

Looking at his eager face, the siblings grinned equally at each other before Ron stated, mimicking an announcer, "You're looking at the returning Centre Chaser, Ginny Weasley!"

Hermione shrieked and hugged Ginny. Harry couldn't help himself and hugged her too as Hermione let go.

Ron gave him a discreet thumbs up to which Harry just nodded and closed his eyes. He could still sniff out a hint of her flowery scent even though she was filthy right now.

She didn't let go for quite a while and neither did he.

After a while, she slid a hand to his broad chest and pushed him away.

"Wahh…" he said dazed.

Miraculously Ron and Hermione were nowhere to be seen anymore.

Ginny put her hands on her hips, her lips struggling to curve into a smile.

"So, this was your idea huh?" she asked mockingly.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked feigning innocence.

"Oh you know! This whole me helping Ron to find the best Chaser. You knew I wouldn't be able to match my skills to another Chaser. I don't like anyone else taking my place. You knew I wouldn't find anyone good enough."

Harry smiled sheepishly, "How'd you figure it out?"

Ginny snorted, " Firstly Ron can't keep secrets, throughout the tryouts, he kept saying things like "Oh that Chaser plays just like you" Or "Oh that one's gonna be really good for my team, maybe even better than you, don't you think? No offense of course."

Harry cracked up.

"And secondly" she continued, "he's not intelligent enough to come up with brilliant ideas like that", she smirked.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it! He was really upset at losing you as a player. Also sometimes", he said as he looked away "people need someone else to make decisions for them. You made one for me, I returned the favour."

Ginny blushed as she nodded and looked down at her feet.

Was he possibly hinting something? , she wondered.

She cleared her throat, "Oh! Ron was supposed to tell you, but I guess he forgot. We're practising as a team starting Wednesday after classes and for a month until out first match. He's successfully booked the pitch for us. Oh and our first match is on November two, against-

"Slytherin", the two said in unison and grinned.

"And dare I ask who Slytherin Quidditch captain is?"

"Malfoy", she said wryly.

Harry expected this answer but frowned all the same, "Well that's hardly fair. He gets to be Head Boy and Quidditch captain!" They settled on the couch.

"It's probably 'cuz only a few older Sytherin's have returned. And also if you would have arrived earlier, I bet you'd have snagged the Quidditch captain role", she teased.

"Yeah…well"

"So…I don't wanna pry but I hope the muggle life was what you wanted it to be…"

If Harry was surprised at this random change of topic, he didn't show it. "Yes, it helped…get over the…nightmares…the guilt….the scars", he said slowly. She was glad he was talking about it openly.

They were quite for a while, but the silence wasn't awkward at all.

"But I missed everyone…I missed you" he said suddenly. Was it her imagination or had he gotten an inch closer to her?

Someone cleared their throat behind them. "Umm…Gin…don't you wanna take a shower?" said Ron's voice.

The moment had broken as she glanced at Harry pointedly looking away.

Oh, how she wanted to curse Ron sometimes.