Harry pushed his dinner around on his plate, suddenly not feeling so hungry anymore. He looked down the table to see Ginny snuggled up next to Dean, laughing while they ate. He groaned and threw his fork down.

"Are you okay Harry? You've barely touched any of your food," Hermione asked, looking at him nervously.

"I'm fine," he lied.

"Great, are you going to eat that?" Ron asked, reaching over to take his plate from him.

"Ronald!" Hermione scolded. "Can't you see something is bothering him?"

Harry didn't hear Ron's reply, he had gotten distracted once again by the small redhead who was now walking by him holding hands with another man.

"Practice still on tonight Harry?" Dean asked as they approached him.

"Yeah," Harry grumbled, shoving his plate towards Ron, who looked all too delighted to be getting more food. "See you down there," he said before standing up and accidentally brushing against Ginny's arm on his way out of the Great Hall. He could hear the hushed whispers of his friends, no doubt wondering what was wrong with him now.

He knew, but he wasn't going to tell any of them. Ever since he and Ron had stumbled upon Ginny and Dean snogging behind that corridor, it was like a beast inside him had woken. All he could do was think about Ginny Weasley, how funny she was, how brilliant she was, how good of a Quidditch player she was, and don't forget how bloody gorgeous she was. Why had it taken him so long to see her, to actually see her! And now that he had, it was too late. She was with Dean and she never spared a second glance for him.

He headed down to the pitch to get ready for tonight's practice, trying to shove any thoughts of Ginny out of his mind. He had booked an extra practice for the team before their game against Hufflepuff this upcoming weekend. He figured the rest of the team would be down soon enough. He could change and go over the things he wanted to focus on tonight before they got there.

He had done a good job not thinking about her until he heard her laughter coming from right outside the locker room. A second later, she was all but falling into the room with Dean hot on her heels. They stopped abruptly when they saw him.

"Oh. Hi Harry," she gasped. "You're here early," she said sheepishly. He thought he saw a small blush creeping up her neck. Normally he would find it adorable that she had blushed in front of him, because these days it was few and far between, and up until now he hadn't realized how much he had missed it. But at this instance, it set the beast inside his chest into a fit of roaring anger.

"Well. I am the Captain, Weasley," he grumbled before turning back and slamming his locker shut. He grabbed his broom and headed out to the pitch. He knew he was out of line, calling her Weasley instead of Ginny, and he was sure that he would hear about it later, but he couldn't help himself lately. He couldn't stand seeing her with Dean and thinking about her being alone in the locker room with Dean made him even angrier. He sighed and ran a hand rather aggressively through his hair as he mounted his broom and waited for his team.

Half an hour later, they had assembled in front of him, he ran them through some drills and told them of his plans for tonight's practice. The team did a fairly good job, and he was confident that they would win their upcoming match, which was needed if they wanted to win the house cup this year. He had just sent the team to locker rooms for the night and was about to lift up the trunk containing all the practice balls when Ginny flung herself down on top of it to stop him from going anywhere.

"Hey!" he shot at her.

"What's eating you, Potter?" she asked, venom in her voice, no doubt giving back to him the attitude he gave her earlier.

"Nothing, I'm fine," he replied, trying to shove her off the trunk.

"Bollocks," she said, staring right at him, face still hard.

"Ginny!" Harry said in mock horror. "What would your mother say? A young lady such as yourself using such foul language." He tried to keep the smile off his face but failed. Even though she was with Dean, Harry was thankful they had become such good friends as of late. She really knew how to get to him when he was in one of his moods, even if they were normally about her. That's why when he saw her composure crack at his comment, he couldn't help but take it as a personal victory.

"Admit it Harry, you've been brooding the last few days. What gives?" she asked again, finally getting off the trunk and grabbing one end, waiting for him to get the other. They carried the trunk across the field to the locker rooms.

"Seriously Gin, I'm alright. Just nervous about the match this weekend," he said as they set the trunk down. Hoping his answer would satisfy her questioning, he chanced a look at her only to find her staring at him with a knowing look. She shook her head and narrowed her eyes at him, but thankfully she gave in.

"Fine, but you know that if you need to talk, you can talk to me, right?" she asked, coming over to where he was standing, putting a small, freckled hand on his shoulder. Little did she know how badly he wanted to talk to her, to tell her how he felt, how he couldn't get her off his mind, how she should leave Dean and be with him instead. But he couldn't do that. Hermione had told him she had finally gotten over him, and he wouldn't do that to Dean or her.

"I know, thanks Gin, it means a lot." He replied honestly. He stepped away from her touch and picked up his bag. "You headed back up to the tower?" he asked.

"Nah, the library, I need to actually get some revising done tonight and it's too hard to focus in the common room." She replied, slinging her own bag over her shoulder. He nodded, feeling the beast in his chest growl at what she could possibly be implying that was making it hard for her to focus. They walked out of the locker room and towards the castle, keeping up their friendly banter the entire way, until they reached the staircase where they had to split.

"See ya later Harry," Ginny waved as she headed towards the library. He waved back and hung his head as he headed in the opposite direction toward Gryffindor tower.

A few days after their match with Hufflepuff, Harry found himself sitting on the couch in front of the common room fire, flicking through the prince's potion book. He was startled out of his trance when he heard the portrait swing open and then a loud "huff" before the couch next to him dipped.

He looked to his right to see Ginny Weasley; red faced, with wind swept hair, sitting next to him. Her hands were curled into fists on her lap, and she was taking deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth, which he knew she was doing in order to calm herself. He looked around the common room to see who else was there and found it deserted. He glanced at his watch and noticed it was far later than he had thought. He looked back at the redhead next to him who was still trying to calm herself and was wondering if he should ask what was wrong or just let her be when her head popped up and she glared over at him.

Harry closed his book and set it next to him on the couch. "Alright there Gin?" he asked tentatively.

"No I'm not bloody alright" she growled.

"Don't take it out on me now, I was just checking in on a friend," he said angrily. He went to grab his book and stood up to go up to his dorm when her hand shot out and landed on his arm, stopping him from going anywhere. He looked back at her and saw that her anger had faded and was replaced with something he couldn't quite place, but thought may be sadness.

"I'm sorry Harry. I'm just so bloody mad. The tosser, how could he do that!" she almost shouted, her anger coming back in full force. Harry sat back down on the couch.

"Who's a tosser?"

"Dean, that's who" she said through gritted teeth. Harry felt the beast inside him poke his head up at the mention of Dean and tosser in the same sentence.

"What did he do?" Harry asked, trying to keep his anger in check, clenching his fists.

"We got into a fight earlier and what does he do? He runs off with that tart Romilda Vane! I went looking for him to try to patch things up and I found them curled around one another in an empty classroom!"

That was it, Harry was going to kill Dean, he was going to rip him limb from limb and beat him with them. He must have started to stand up without realizing it because he felt Ginny tug him back to the couch. "Where are you going?" she asked, looking at him in confusion.

"What? Oh…uh nowhere," he mumbled. He rubbed the back of his neck just so he'd have something to do with his hands.

"I can't believe I fell for his line about how he didn't think of her that way. How bloody stupid of me!" she sighed as she flung her head back onto the couch.

"Hey! You're not stupid! It sounds like he lied to you, he's the stupid one. Really stupid if you ask me."

"And why is that?" she snorted in response.

"Romilda Vane has absolutely nothing on you," he said. Almost instantly, he realized what he said and tried to think of ways to play it off without telling her what he meant. Maybe she didn't hear you he hoped.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked quietly, turning her head to look at him. Shit. Harry felt his face heat up and tried to look away, but Ginny just nudged him with her foot and asked again "Harry what do you mean by that?"

He knew there was no way he could back pedal now, so he thought he may just have to tell her some of it. "Uh well you know, she's not nearly as smart as you. Aren't you the smartest witch in your class?" She nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off him.

He rubbed at his neck some more and cleared his throat "Right. Um. She's definitely not as funny as you. She's a right bore to talk to, not that I have done that much, mind you," he added quickly, he could see Ginny trying to fight a smile, but now that he had started, he couldn't seem to stop. "She's nowhere near as talented as the flyer that you are, you could fly circles around her, you're truly brilliant on a broom Ginny."

He watched her shake her head, a smile playing at her lips. "You really think that Harry?" she asked nervously.

"Of course I do! You are an amazing flyer and quidditch player. I reckon by your seventh year you'll be captain no doubt."

He saw the smile on her face grow, she seemed to physically relax after he had said that. She scooched closer to him on the couch until their knees were touching and laid her head on his shoulder. He felt his breath catch in his throat and had to remind himself to breathe, only to be breathing in the flowery scent that was Ginny.

After a few moments of silence, he finally relaxed and rested his head against the back of the couch, until she spoke again. "That was what our fight was about. Dean and I. I told him that after I finish school, I want to try out for the professional teams."

"You do?" Harry asked incredulously. She had never mentioned that to him before, but now that she said it, he couldn't see her doing anything else. He had no doubt in his mind that she would make a team right out of school.

"Yeah, and do you know what he said back?" she asked.

"What?"

"He told me that women weren't meant to play quidditch, that they were meant to be homemakers. He told me I would be better suited to shove out babies and make sure dinner was on the table every night and let the men do the hard stuff," she said through gritted teeth. Harry could feel her shaking with anger once more. Even he knew that wasn't something you should ever say to or about Ginny Weasley, especially if you valued your face not having bats flying out of your nose.

"He did not say that to you!" Harry said, sitting up and turning towards her. "Is he mad? Does he know you at all?" His mind was reeling, how could Dean be so stupid?

"Yes! He did! Can you believe that? Push out babies and make sure dinner is on the table!" she scoffed at the idea. "I mean some women want to do that, and so be it. But I am not some women! I was so angry I hit him with my Bat-Bogey hex and stormed off!" Ha, serves him right, Harry thought.

"Once I had finally calmed down enough, I figured I should go apologize for hexing him and try to make him see where I was coming from, and that's when I stumbled upon him and that tart, lip locked in an empty classroom!"

"Did you hex him again?" Harry asked curiously. Ginny looked at him with furrowed eyebrows for a moment before bursting out laughing.

"You can bet Merlin's sweet pants I did! Both of them, serves them right!" she said once she had calmed down enough to talk.

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Dean and Romilda getting hit with Ginny's infamous hex. The beast in his chest roared in happiness, he settled back onto the couch and Ginny laid her head back on his shoulder. This time he flung a comforting around her shoulders and he felt her snuggle into his side and he could have sworn he heard her let out a small sigh.

"I'm really sorry Gin, that sucks a lot," he said into her hair. He felt her chuckle and looked down at her. "Why is that funny?" he asked.

"You're the only one that calls me Gin, did you know that? I never let anyone call me that, not even Dean or Michael." She smiled.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I won't call you that anymore." he said a bit sadly.

"No! It's strange, but I really don't mind it when you call me that." She said quietly into his chest, he had to admit that he really liked having her here like this.

"Really?"

"Really. It just sounds….right coming from you. Oh merlin. Is that weird to say? I'm sorry!" she said, covering her face.

Harry pulled at her hands "No it's not weird! I don't mind. I didn't realize I was the only one who called you that though. I am sorry for that" he said sincerely.

"Don't be," she said, "if I didn't like it, you would know." She smiled cheekily up at him before settling back into his side.

A few more minutes of silence had passed when Harry worked up the courage to tell her one more thing. "Hey Gin?" he whispered.

"Yeah Harry?"

"I thought of something else you have over Romilda."

"Oh? What's that?"

"You are far more beautiful than she could ever be." He held his breath waiting for her response, hoping she wouldn't smack him for saying something so crazy. After what felt like forever, he shook her a bit. "Gin?" he asked.

Ginny sat up and looked at Harry with wide eyes, as if trying to gauge if he was serious or not. Oh shit, I messed up, he thought. He finally broke her gaze and looked down, finding the hem of his jumper suddenly very interesting. After another moment he felt Ginny shift off the couch. Perfect, I made her run for it. Before he could look up to see where she had gone, she was kneeling in front of him on the rug, looking up at him with her big brown eyes.

"Harry. Did you just tell me you think that I'm more beautiful than Romilda Vane?" Harry was afraid to speak, so all he could do was nod.

"But, you- I thought- why?" she seemed to be having as much trouble forming sentences as he was. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, trying to gather his thoughts before answering.

"Because you are Ginny! I mean, bloody hell, have you looked at yourself lately? You're bloody gorgeous. Your hair changes color in the sunlight, did you know that? It's like when the sun hits it, there are so many colors shining through your hair, it almost looks as though it's on fire. It makes me want to run my hands through it just to see them all. And your eyes have these specks of gold all throughout them that light up when you smile. And you get this insanely adorable crease in between your eyebrows when you're really concentrating on something. And when you get nervous about something you tend to bite your lower lip, like you are right now." He watched as she immediately let go of her lower lip and he couldn't help but smile. It felt amazing to be telling Ginny all of these things he had been thinking for months.

"And your laugh- Merlin Gin- your laugh is the best sound in the entire world. I love it when I can be the one who's making you laugh, that's even better. And forget Dean, I have no doubt that you will make a quidditch team right out of Hogwarts, you're so talented already, there's no way you wouldn't make it. So yeah. You are far more beautiful than sodding Romilda Vane!" he finished, he looked down at Ginny to see her grinning at him.

Before he could register what was happening, Ginny had leaned up on her knees, wrapped her hands around the back of his head and had pulled his lips onto hers. It took a second for Harry to process what was happening, but when he did, he felt the beast inside him purr with happiness. He slid off the couch to be on the same level as Ginny, and wrapped his arms around her waist, she tilted her head to deepen the kiss and he let his tongue dart out to skim her bottom lip. He heard Ginny let out a soft moan against his lips and used that as his chance to let his tongue roam in her mouth, teasing her own tongue.

He could feel Ginny's fingers in his hair, and he thought that he had never felt anything better than that. He let his own hands get tangled in her long red hair, like he had just told her he had wanted to do for so long. He didn't know much about kissing, his only kiss before this being with Cho and not being the best, but he knew that this right here, on the rug in front of the common room fire with Ginny Weasley, was the best thing in the world. It was better than anything he had ever had before and he knew that he didn't want it to end. But when the need for air became too great, they reluctantly pulled away from one another.

Harry grinned at Ginny, who smiled shyly up at him. "Harry, I….wow," she said, running her fingers across her lips.

"Yeah," he replied. He reached out and pulled them back up to the couch, tucking her under his arm. "I've been wanting to do that for a long time," he admitted as he ran his hand up and down her arm.

"You have?" she asked, turning her head to look up at him.

"Yep," he answered. "Ever since Ron and I caught you and Dean behind that tapestry..."

"Harry! That was months ago! Why didn't you say anything until now?" she exclaimed, sitting up so she could see him better.

Harry just shrugged "What could I do Gin? I couldn't come clean, I'd be a total git, you were seeing Dean!"

"Yeah but – Harry, is this why you've been so cranky lately?" she asked, giving him an incredulous look.

All he could do was shrug back, earning him a swat on the arm. "Harry James Potter! You can't possibly be telling me you've been brooding so much over me!"

"Well why not!" he asked "There was nothing I could do, if I would have told you, what would you have done? Surely you wouldn't have broken things off with Dean!"

"You don't know that!" she argued.

"Oh, would you have then?" Harry retorted, starting to get angry.

"Well…um…I don't know!" She tried to fight back, but he realized he didn't want to fight with Ginny. He just plain wanted Ginny. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair again.

"Look Gin, I couldn't do that to you, and you know it. That wouldn't have been fair to anyone. The only reason I said everything I said tonight was because I'm sick of pretending I'm not in love with you. I just couldn't hold it in anymore."

Ginny's eyes went wide again. "Did you just say that you're in love with me?" she mumbled.

"Obviously Ginny, didn't you hear anything I just told you? I didn't make any of that up, you're not just some girl I fancy. I'm in love with you Ginny. I have been for some time now, and I'm sorry if that makes it weird between us, but I needed to tell you and-"

"Harry. Shut up." She leaned in and started kissing him once more. When she pulled away, he looked into her big brown eyes to see nothing but love and happiness. "I love you too Harry, I always have." And with that, he pulled her back to him once more, getting lost in the feel of her lips on his.

END