Harry frowned and absentmindedly chewed on the end of his quill as he read of his Transfiguration essay. Something didn't flow quite right in the middle...

Suddenly he smelt that flowery smell he associated with the Burrow.

"Hi, Ginny," he greeted, not looking up.

Picking his bag up, she set it on the floor in front of her so she could sit next to him on the sofa. The floral scent engulfed him, had he mentioned that it was really nice? Not to perfume-y or sweet. Smelt like freshly cut flowers and something creamy. It was a really pleasant smell.

She sighed heavily and toed her shoes off.

"That's better," she said in relief and looked over his shoulder. "Homework?" she asked.

"Uh huh," Harry replied, scratching a sentence out.

That didn't make sense at all, honestly.

"Nearly finished," he added.

He felt rather than saw her nod.

"Good," she said and settled herself next to him so her head was on his shoulder.

It was quite a nice feeling. He couldn't even smell the burning sweet wrappers (some third years had chucked them in the fire earlier) anymore, the smell of Ginny's shampoo masked it completely.

He supposed she had a lot of hair so had to use a lot of shampoo and that's why he always smelt it when she was nearby. Though, he could never smell Hermione's shampoo...Harry mentally shook his head. There were some things about girls that he would never figure out. Thankfully, he was slowly figuring out Ginny.

"You smell really nice," he told her as he added an extra sentence, squashed between two lines. He's going to have to rewrite this...

Ginny stiffened next to him and sat up straight.

Immediately he clamped his mouth shut once he realised what he'd just said and his eyes widened. Did he really just say that out loud? Harry checked Ginny's expression. It screamed confused. Oh yes, he did.

"I mean - uh - it's like - um-" he stuttered, feeling his face heat up.

Ginny cocked her head to one side and asked, "You think I smell nice?"

All of his internal warning bells were ringing. Was this one of those girl tricks? Was there a right answer?"

"Um, yes?" Harry answered weakly.

Her eyebrows shot up.

"Really?"

The tone was disbelieving. Harry was panicking now. Had he said the wrong thing?

He decided that keeping his mouth shut and just nodding was the best response.

The corners of her mouth quirked upwards and she shook her head, wafting the smell of her shampoo across him again. Harry sighed in relief. She wasn't mad.

"Seriously, Harry? I'm all sweaty from running all over the place looking for Professor Flitwick, I'm not wearing any perfume and I'm pretty sure I still have tea on me from where I spilt it this morning and you think I smell nice?" Ginny ranted.

"Um, yes?" he tried.

She pressed a kiss to his cheek and shook her head again.

"You're really sweet, Harry, but I definitely don't smell nice."

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"You smell like you so of course you smell nice," he told her matter-of-factly.

"That makes no sense," she said, blinking at him.

He shrugged helplessly this time, not knowing how to explain any further. It made sense to him.

"I like the way you smell," he eventually settled on. That was probably safest.

"Yes, we've determined that," Ginny replied in an exasperated tone. "What I want to know is why."

"Can't I just like the way you smell?"

Ginny gave him a doubtful look.

"I suppose..."

A thought just struck Harry.

"Wait, you wear perfume?" he asked, sitting up straight and looking at her properly.

"Sometimes," she replied, giving her boyfriend a suspicious look.

Harry looked thoughtful. He didn't think he'd ever really smelt her perfume. Maybe it was a light one? Was that a thing? The only perfumes he was aware of was that awful one that Ron got Hermione in fifth year and Mrs Weasley's. Both of which were strong.

"I suppose I can't smell it over your shampoo normally," he said dismissively, pulling his essay towards him again - he really did need to get this done.

"You can smell my shampoo?" Gunny asked him curiously, taking his parchment from him.

"When it's freshly washed," he explained, failing to snatch it back. "Ginny!"

Ginny ignored his plea for his homework and continued, "I just washed it this morning. Can you smell it now?"

"Smelt it as soon as you came over," he corrected, feinting to the left - tricking her so he could snatch his essay back. "Yes!"

She stuck her tongue out at him in retaliation. He didn't see it, but a mischievous look came over her face. Ginny flung her hair forward, making sure it all tumbled over her face, and draped it over Harry. The mass of red hair suddenly obscured his vision.

"Hey!" he complained.

"What?" Ginny asked innocently, her voice slightly muffled by all the hair. "I thought you liked my hair?"

"I do," Harry agreed, trying to push it out of the way. "Just not when it's stopping me from finishing something."

He wasn't very successful at getting it out of his way. It was too smooth and slippery; it just came back - sometimes with more hair! That, and Ginny wasn't helping matters at all. She kept trying to get closer to him until she was practically on his lap and her hair filled every inch of his vision. Harry spluttered as a bit went into his mouth (it even tasted flowery).

"Your hair is really soft after you wash it," he told her.

Finally, Ginny flung her head back. He could see the common room again. There was an amused look on her face

"That's kind of the point," she replied with a grin.

Wasn't the point to get your hair clean? Harry thought about that for a moment before deciding that it wasn't worth it. He certainly wasn't going to complain about Ginny having soft hair. He reached for his quill again.

"Mr Potter," Ginny whispered into his ear, her warm breath making him shiver. "You currently have your girlfriend in your lap doing absolutely nothing and you want to do homework?"

Harry blinked then gave her a matching grin of his own. Looking down at the table and then at Ginny, he decidedly pushed the parchment away.

"It's not due until Friday, anyway," he made the excuse, wrapping his arm determinedly around her waist.

Couldn't have her fall off now, could her? Maybe he could get to taste more than her hair...

They never did figure out what he liked the smell of when she first arrived. It wasn't exactly important when to their current activities.