Chapter 25

Coming out

As Ginny stirred in bed the following day, she felt a body pressed against her. Panic overtook her, her eyes opened in a flash, and all traces of sleepiness were gone in an instant. In slow motion, almost as if in a trance, she turned to look to her side to discover who was lying next to her and her heart beat quickly. Once she found out that it was Harry, she sighed and relaxed.

She climbed out of bed as quietly as she could, careful enough not to wake him and went towards the door of her bedroom. She removed the spells that she had cast the night before and sneaked silently out of the room and towards the bathroom.

She splashed some water on her face and, as she looked at her own reflection in the mirror, she thought of the conversation that she had had with Harry the previous night, as well as the ones with Fred, George, and Luna. They all had told her the same thing: it was time for her to tell Hermione about her feelings. The Gryffindor in her had to make its appearance soon. She had postponed her coming out long enough for everybody, but most importantly for her.

Ginny didn't like very much the idea of admitting the fact that Hermione was jealous, because admitting it would mean that she could have hope and therefore she would be risking being hurt. Harry's comment couldn't have been more right: she and Ron were very much alike... they both shared the fear of getting hurt.

Ginny convinced herself that she was going to be different than Ron and would act accordingly: first, by coming out to her parents and then to the rest of the world, including Hermione.

She couldn't help but yawn. She cast a spell to find out what time it was. To her dismay, she found out that it was very early: four o'clock in the morning, so she headed to her room and laid down on the bed. Yawning once more, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

She was awoken several hours later by a yell. Scared, she opened her sleepy eyes and searched for the source of the yelling. When she found it, she saw that her brother Ron was in the room. His face was contorted in surprise and then changed to anger, his left fist was slightly clenched and his right hand was accusingly pointing towards Harry, "What are you doing here, with my sister? Why were you holding her?"

"Dammit!" Ron yelled once more, but this time it sounded more like a growl. "My own friend... You above all should know that my sister because of her age is off limits, especially for you; mister attract-all-the-trouble in the world!"

Without waiting for an answer he punched Harry in the face.

"Ouch," Harry muttered as he touched his bleeding nose.

Ginny got out of bed instantly and cast a powerful Bat-Bogey hex on Ron accompanied with an Oppugno spell to increase the effects of the bogey hex. She was completely angry with Ron's childish behaviour. After all, Harry and her were still wearing yesterday's clothes and it was clear to anyone that could see them that nothing had happened between them.

The combination of spells that Ginny used made Ron stumble as several bogey-bats attacked his face. He couldn't see anything but the green monsters that were attacking him. He couldn't help but yell for help. He had experienced this particular spell from his sister before, but not as potent as this.

A minute later, a very upset Mrs. Weasley appeared at the door and yelled, "What in the name of Merlin is going on in here?"

The first thing she noticed was her son being attacked by her daughter's favourite spell. She saw that Harry was lying on Ginny's bed with a bleeding nose and Ginny stood up on the opposite side of the bed; her face was scarlet and both her hands were shaking. It looked as if Ginny couldn't see her or didn't want to. Her burning gaze was directed only towards Ron.

Sighing audibly, Molly removed the spell with a wave of her hand and reprimanded her daughter as her eyes blazed, "What is wrong with you, Ginny? Why would you go attacking your brother like that?"

Gazing then to Harry, Mrs. Weasley smiled as she said, "And why is Harry's nose bleeding?" and with another wave of her wand, Harry's nose was as good as new.

She looked at the three of them, waiting for an answer, "Well?"

Seeing that she was not getting any answers, and knowing Ginny fully well, she turned to Ron and asked him, "What did you do to your sister to cause her to do something like this?"

"But Mum! Harry slept with Ginny last night!" Ron, trying to defend himself yelled above the commotion, pointing his finger accusingly at Harry and Ginny.

"What? Oh dear..." Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, surprised for an instant, but after carefully looking once more at Harry and Ginny, knew that there was nothing she should worry about.

"It's not what it looks like, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry, trying to defend Ginny and himself. "Ginny and I..."

"Harry and I spent the night talking and we fell asleep," Ginny finished for Harry.

"I see," said Mrs. Weasley. "Does anybody know where Hermione is? I haven't seen her since yesterday."

The instant that Ginny heard Hermione's name, her anger vanished and was replaced with sadness. "Hermione went back to Hogwarts, mom. Apparently she had some research to do."

Ron looked at her with anger once more, memories of what Hermione had said to Ginny before leaving back to Hogwarts echoed in his mind. "Aren't you going to tell mom what she said to you before leaving, huh?

Mrs. Weasley looked at him curiously and then she looked at her daughter, "What does he mean Ginny?"

"Nothing, mom," Ginny lied.

Before anyone could say anything, a tap on the window was heard. Errol, the family owl was flying outside the window, waiting to be let in.

Molly Weasley, went towards the window and let the bird in. He clumsily landed on Ginny's desk and waited for Mrs. Weasley to take the note that he had tied to his leg. She took the note and read it.

"Bill and Fleur will be arriving after lunch and will be staying over. Guess you'll have to share bedroom with her, Ginny."

Great! Phlegm is coming... Ginny thought sarcastically, This is just what I needed. But nonetheless, she smiled to her mom in acknowledgement.

Mrs. Weasley's head filled with the tons of things that she had to prepare before her guests arrived which made her forgot about her kids' fight. She left the room without a word to get the house ready for the Christmas gathering.

Once Molly had disappeared, Harry and Ron looked at each other with blazing eyes. They didn't say a word to one another, while a stunned Ginny stood rooted to the spot.

Looking once more at his sister with resentment, Ron left for his own room, leaving Harry and Ginny alone.

"Ginny, are you okay?" Harry asked, tentatively touching her shoulder trying not to startle her. Ginny looked at him and nodded in acknowledgement.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I never meant for this to happen," she told him apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, Gin," said Harry as he hugged her. "It will be all right. You'll see."

They left the room together to get breakfast. When they arrived, everyone except Ron was sitting at the table and they were enjoying their meals. stood up from her seat and welcomed them. She levitated two plates with bacon, toast, and scrambled eggs and two glasses of fresh orange juice that landed in front of Harry and Ginny.

Mrs. Weasley finished her breakfast first and started her preparations for the family dinner. With several flicks of her expert hand, knives, cutting boards, pans and pots flew through the kitchen and set themselves on the empty counter. Carrots and celery flew towards the cutting boards where the knives awaited them to chop them into little pieces. As soon as the butter touched the pans, the magic flames of the stove turned to life and the vegetable squares flew towards the buttered pans. Then, several pieces of meat joined the vegetables as well as some homemade Yorkshire sauce and other sauces. Finally, beef stock was added creating a wonderful stew that filled the kitchen and the house with a delicious smell that invaded and conquered every nose that could smell it.

After trying to get a taste of Molly's stew and getting a slap on their hands for their daring in return, everyone left the kitchen to persue their own activities while Mrs. Weasley continued with her cooking for the family dinner later on.

Ginny went back towards her room after saying goodbye to Harry who had gone with Ron to play some Quidditch, hoping that this would help him to smooth Ron's mood. She entered the room and went towards her desk, where she got a sheet of parchment, quill, and ink and then she sat down in the chair.

She could see the garden out her window, her eyes wandered in the snowy horizon. She spotted a garden gnome in the yard messing with her mom's vegetables. She shook her head and thought, "If mom sees it... she'll kill him for sure."

Ginny submerged the quill in the ink slightly and placed the feather between her lips while thinking what should she write and how. This was a no ordinary letter, this one was for Hermione: a letter in which she would beg her to join her and her family at Christmas dinner. She would also try to explain to her that Luna and she were nothing more than friends.

The problem was that in order for her to explain that to Hermione, she would have to tell her that she was gay. Wouldn't it be better if she told her parents first?

She decided that it was the best course of action, so she left the quill on top of the parchment and headed towards the kitchen where her mother was.

"Mom," Ginny called her mother.

Mrs. Weasley turned to look at her daughter and said, "Yes, dear?"

"Do you know where dad is?"

"I believe that he had to go to the Ministry, but he should be here any minute now, dear."

And effectively, a minute later, a green flame erupted from the fireplace and Mr. Weasley emerged from it. He tossed the ashes from his clothes and step into his home. Sniffing the wonderful aroma that came from the kitchen, his nose made him follow it to the smell.

"Hello, darling," he said and gave a quick peck on the lips to his wife and then said hello to his daughter. "Hello again, my little girl..."

"Hello dad," Ginny said, smiling.

"What are you preparing for tonight, honey?"

"Oh, I'm preparing tons of Weasley's beef stew."

"Smells wonderful," he said smiling and gave her another kiss.

"Ehmm, mom, dad..." said Ginny a bit sorry for interrupting them, but what she needed to tell them was priority and couldn't wait.

"What is it, Ginny, dear?" Molly said while looking at her daughter worriedly, as she just noticed that there was something strange with Ginny's behaviour. "Are you feeling well?"

Arthur Weasley, looked at his daughter with the same worried expression but limited himself to leave all questioning to Molly.

"I'm all right. It's well, ah... There's something I need to talk to you about..."

"How about if we go to the living room, honey... We would be more comfortable there..." said Mr. Weasley, seeing the seriousness in his daughter's eyes. He knew that what Ginny needed to talk to them about was probably important as she had never called them to talk about something just because.

Once everyone were sitting, Ginny looked at both of them, and sighing audibly she pronounced the words that she thought would kill or let live... words that would change everything once spoken: "Mom, dad... I'm gay."