Poor Harry, Ginny thought as she sat beside him on the couch. He's already been through so much. He just needs something to make him happy. Ginny was still pondering what she could do to give Harry some joy when Hermione appeared on the stairs. Her eyes flicked between Harry who was fast asleep on the couch, Ginny who was sitting with a faraway look in her eyes, and their joined hands resting between them. She smiled at Ginny and motioned towards the kitchen. Ginny nodded and very quietly got up so as not to wake Harry.

Once they'd reached the kitchen, Hermione turned to Ginny and opened her mouth, but Ginny spoke before she had the chance. "It's not what it looks like, Hermione. Harry had a bad dream last night and he came downstairs. I was already down here drinking some tea so we just sat on the couch and talked for a little while. He grabbed my hand and fell asleep." Ginny decided to give the shortest version possible of last night's events. She knew Harry'd be embarrassed if anyone else knew and it wasn't her place to say what they'd talked about.

Hermione nodded at Ginny. She felt like there was more to the story, but she didn't push it. As long as Harry talked to someone, she was fine with not knowing all the details. On the other hand, she'd seen the look of contentment on not just Ginny's face, but Harry's as well when they were holding hands. Ginny was chewing on her lip, lost in thought, as Hermione peered at her intently, coming to a conclusion.

"You still like him, don't you?"

Ginny looked at her with a sad smile. "No, I don't like him. I'm afraid that I'm very much in love with him."

Hermione smiled widely and gave Ginny a hug. "Oh, Ginny, that's wonderful!"

"No, it isn't." Ginny was close to tears, "He'll never feel about me the way that I feel about him."

Hermione cocked her head to the side and observed Ginny. "You know, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Ginny gave a harsh, sarcastic laugh, "Oh, right. You can clearly see that he's just dying to be with me. No, the truth is that Harry will never see me as anything more than Ron's little sister." She wiped a few stray tears off her cheeks and stood up straighter. "Please promise me you won't say anything to Ron or Harry about this. I know you tell them everything, but I'd like to keep this between us."

"Ginny, you're one of my best friends, too. I won't say anything if you don't want me to, but I have a feeling that you're wrong about Harry."

"You sound like Lavender and Parvati when they talk about divination." Ginny gave a short laugh.

Hermione's mouth dropped open, "I do not, you take that back!"

"Sorry, but it's true." Ginny laughed and gave Hermione a hug, "Thanks."

Hermione smiled and helped Ginny start getting breakfast going.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Several days passed and Harry couldn't believe how good he felt. Ever since the night he'd talked to Ginny, he felt like a weight had been lifted off of him. He still had nightmares, but they weren't nearly as frequent or intense as they had been. That morning when he'd woken up to the delicious smell of eggs, bacon, roasted potatoes, toast, and pancakes he'd automatically gone in search of Ginny. He'd found her in the kitchen with Hermione, who was quickly flipping multiple pancakes on the stovetop. She had sweat gathering at her temples and Ginny was smiling at her encouragingly. "You're doing great, Hermione, I knew you would."

"Thanks, Ginny, but I'm not sure burning six pancakes to a crisp would constitute as 'great'."

Ginny laughed and looked over her shoulder to see Harry standing in the doorway. "Morning!" she said brightly, making Harry's stomach flip.

"Morning, Harry." Hermione said, though she still had a look of intense concentration on her face.

"Good morning."

"Harry, would you help me set the table? Hermione, will you be alright by yourself for a couple minutes?"

Hermione nodded with a smirk on her face, "Yes, I am determined to master this."

"I have no doubt that you will," Ginny chuckled. She handed several plates to Harry and she grabbed an armful of cups. As they made their way around the table, Ginny whispered to Harry, "Are you okay?"

Harry felt himself go a little red. "Yeah. Um, thank you, Ginny. For last night, I mean."

"You don't have to thank me, Harry. We're friends." She said this with a sweet smile, but Harry thought he saw something pass through her eyes when she said 'friends'. Just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone, though. I must have imagined it, Harry thought.

"Oh, and don't worry, I didn't tell Hermione anything. I just said that you had a bad dream, we talked, and you fell asleep on the couch. And we won't say anything to Ron if you don't want us mentioning it."

Harry felt himself relax. He had been a little worried that Hermione would figure things out about his nightmares and he also didn't want any more people than necessary to know about them. "Thanks, Ginny."

"Uh, Ginny," Hermione called, "I think I need your help!"

Ginny flew across the room and back to the stove.

Harry smiled as he recalled Ginny giving Hermione all of the credit for that morning's breakfast. Hermione had tried to protest, but Ginny insisted that it was all her. Harry thought Hermione might have protested a little more had she not seen the impressed look on Ron's face.

Speaking of those three, Harry thought, where are they? Harry had decided to take a walk around the fields of the Burrow to clear his mind. It was the perfect summer day, not too hot with a light breeze every now and again. This is perfect Quidditch weather. Harry suddenly had an idea of where to look for his friends, and he walked straight towards the Burrow, but went to a small field just beyond the house. There they are.

Harry smiled as he watched Ron, Ginny, and the twins playing a game of Quidditch...minus the quaffle, bludgers, and snitch, of course. For the quaffle, they were using a ratty-looking ball that seemed to be made out of old scraps of cloth all sewn together and their goalposts appeared to be sticks that he assumed Fred and George had enchanted to form circles and stand upright on larger logs.

The four of them were playing in their normal positions that they played at Hogwarts: Ron was Keeper, Ginny was Chaser, and the twins were the Beaters. Ginny was excellent at the game and scored one goal after another, which made Ron's temper rise. To make matters worse, the twins had started enchanting several spiders to follow Ron around. This caused Ron to make odd movements in an attempt to get away from them, which made Ginny drop the ball and forget about scoring goals all together. She sat on her broom hovering several feet above the ground and threw her head back and laughed. She almost slipped off her broom several times and seemed to finally decided it'd be safer to land and continue laughing at Ron from there.

She's so beautiful, Harry thought. Harry froze where he was as his heart leapt and he felt a shock travel through him. I need to find Hermione!, he thought frantically. He forced his legs to move and bolted from the field. He checked the backyard, the living room, and the kitchen, before he finally checked the room she was sharing with Ginny. He found her curled up in a chair near the window reading from a large book.

"Hermione!" She jumped a foot in the air and clutched her heart.

"Harry Potter, if you ever scare me like that again…" She trailed off as she saw his face. "Harry, what's wrong? What is it?" Her voice was full of worry.

"I'm in love with Ginny!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Hermione simply stared at Harry and she shrieked with happiness, throwing herself into his arms. "Oh, Harry, I'm so happy! This is—," she stopped talking when she looked at Harry, whose face was flashing back and forth between emotions.

Harry felt an inexplicable joy at saying those words out loud, I'm in love with Ginny. His heart was so full it could burst and he felt like he was walking on air. He knew he had a goofy smile plastered across his face, but he couldn't help it. He was in love with the most gorgeous, kindest, smartest, and funniest girl he'd ever known. Ginny had always listened to him when he needed to get something off his mind, she'd given him advice and asked for nothing in return, she'd been able to make him laugh when he didn't feel like he deserved to, and she'd held his hand as he fell asleep that night on the couch. There was so much more about Ginny that Harry couldn't put into words. Why am I so thick?, Harry thought.

That one question brought Harry back to reality. What if she doesn't love me? I knew she had a crush on me her first year, but she's obviously gotten over that, hasn't she? She's dated Michael Corner and Dean. What if she doesn't want to be with me? All of these things swirled through Harry's mind until he remembered that he was still standing in the middle of the room that Hermione and Ginny shared, and Hermione was watching him closely.

Harry sat down on Hermione's bed and stared at the floor, what am I going to do? Harry's head jerked up when he heard Hermione start to laugh. "What's so funny?" he was starting to get rather annoyed.

She put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter, "Oh, Harry, I'm sorry, but it's about time!"

"What?"

"Harry, you can be so thick! I've seen the way you've been looking at Ginny. I was just waiting for you to figure it out."

"You can't tell her!" he said, panicked.

"Why not?" She looked confused by his request.

"What if I've blown it? What if she doesn't feel the same? Promise you won't say anything, especially to Ron! He'd murder me if he found out."

"Please, Ron would get over it," she said rolling her eyes. "Besides, I think he'd be happier it was you and not someone else."

Harry shook his head vigorously, "No, he'd kill me. And I can't ruin my friendship with him or Ginny. Just promise, Hermione."

"Alright, I won't say anything," she grumbled, but Harry was still highly suspicious when he thought he caught a slight twinkle in her eye.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was nearly time for dinner, but Hermione had wanted a few moments alone before she had to be surrounded by people. She thought about Ginny, who had moved on from having a crush on Harry to being in love with him. Then she thought of Harry, who had finally realized he was in love with Ginny. Of course, Hermione had already figured this out days ago. She smiled as she remembered the times that Harry's face would turn red if he accidentally made contact with Ginny, how she'd caught him on several occasions staring at Ginny with a dreamy look on his face, or the jealousy she'd see raging over him whenever the twins poked fun at Ginny about her dating Michael or Dean.

Unfortunately, Hermione had made a promise to both Harry and Ginny that she wouldn't say anything to the other one or to Ron. Ron, she thought. Hermione propped her chin in her hand and looked out the window to watch as Ron helped Harry plan Quidditch strategies. What was she going to do about him?

She loved the sparkle he'd get in his eye when he was really into something, usually Quidditch. She loved the grin he'd give her when he thought Malfoy was going to get into trouble or the way he'd roll his eyes at her when she finished her assignments weeks before they were due. She just loved...him. She wished she had the courage to tell him how she felt.

Hermione sighed sadly, Ron doesn't feel that way about me. How could he? She didn't drop hints, or flirt, or anything, cause that just wasn't her. On top of that, they argued at least once a day, which wasn't a good way to endear herself to him. Besides that, Hermione didn't think she was very pretty or very fun to be around. Her hair was too curly, her eyes were a boring brown color, she had a tendency to be a bit bossy, and she was a strict rule-follower. She snorted at that last thought. Ever since meeting Harry and Ron that quality of hers had given in a little. She didn't mind, though. She'd enjoyed the adventures they'd had together. Hermione shook herself out of her thoughts and headed down to dinner.