CHAPTER FOUR______
(I wrote this chapter while listening to Coldplay, so if there are any corny lines, they're probably from one of their songs. Or just simply because I had an inspiration and I wanted this chapter to be sort of...poetic and mellow. Like Coldplay's music. I just realized, music definitely is my muse...
Okay, so I didn't think this chapter was going to be this long, but that's okay...there was a lot of stuff I wanted to put in here so yeah =oP
By the way, thanks to everyone who reviews this. :-) Mwah!!)
Okay. So he likes me. Now what?
Ginny was trying to step of the three foot whole she had created while standing in the same place for an hour. She had no idea what to do now. It was everything she had wanted to hear, and yet, she didn't know what it meant.
More than a friend. So it means he likes me in a different way, right? But this doesn't mean we're dating. Then what does it mean?
She was still confused when she sat down in the cozy Great Hall, but she had decided one thing.
It sure as hell counted as an apology.
After dinner she went upstairs to find Harry looking miserable next to the fire, and she walked right back out the portrait hole and to the library. She didn't know what to say to him yet, but when she got to the library she had decided on a couple of things that she would say if he were still in the common room when she got back there. And he was. It was late, there was no one there except for him, looking calmer and less flustered than he did before.
"Harry."
"Ginny."
"You're brave." That didn't sound how I intended it to.
"What?"
"I mean to say that you're not just in Gryffindor for no reason and I didn't mean it when I said that. I'm sorry. And I think you know that I've liked you as more than a friend as long as I've known you."
Harry stared. For a long, long time.
"I think you should know that I'm stupid for not realizing, until recently, how much better you make my day."
And then Ginny stared. But not for a long time, because Harry went on.
"I had been miserable before you came and started talking to me. Just being around you makes me forget about all the bad things have happened regarding - well. You know."
"I do know. And it's so late, and I'm so tired." Ginny rubbed her eyes, and then looked at Harry. She didn't know what to say.
He took her hand in both of his and looked down at it. "I hope you know that I meant that." He said plainly.
Ginny only nodded. She couldn't really talk, after all. Harry let go of her hand and she stood up, smoothed her shirt, and went upstairs to lay in her bed, where she fell asleep before she even had time to think about any of this.
* * *
Ginny walked down in the common room the next morning to find Ron and Hermione mid-snog on a couch in the common room. Sprinting back upstairs, she realized she never noticed they were a couple. They ARE a couple now, I'm assuming. She grinned to herself. Lovely Christmas gift for Ron, she thought. And Hermione for that matter.
And then she remembered. Christmas gifts. She had gotten them for Ron and Hermione and a couple of girls in her year, but nothing for Harry. Christmas was in three days. She couldn't possibly find anything for him by then. Then again, she didn't really figure he would be getting anything for her. So it evened out, or at least she wanted to believe that it did.
She was glad she had decided to stay for Christmas. She had never stayed before, and she was glad she had - Christmas at Hogwarts was beautiful, and now she would be able to give Hermione her gift on Christmas. Hermione was staying too, she had given some excuse, but Ginny assumed it was for Ron. And Harry, of course, was staying too. She was glad.
Ginny's stomach growled and decided she had waited long enough for those two to be, um, done, so she went downstairs and was thankful when there was no one else down there. Not that there would be - it was nice and abandoned here since everyone had left.
After eating, Ginny had a horrible headache. She had supposed it had been there this morning too, but was too tired to notice. She curled up with a blanket and a book by the fire, but never seemed to get warm.
Watch me get sick or something. That's so my luck.
And she did get sick. Not really sick, but she had a cold and a fever two hours later, and Hermione forced her to go to the Hospital wing. But when they got there, no one was there - she guessed Madam Pomfrey had even gone home for Christmas. So instead, she had to see Professor Dumbledore.
"Ah, yes. I happen to get the sniffles right around this time of year as well. I find it's the dust bunnies that are being kicked up -" He was saying, before Ginny cut him off.
"Professor. If you don't mind, I would really like to be feeling better by Christmas at least, so could you please tell me what I should do?"
"I'm afraid I'm no doctor, Miss Weasley. But I find that lying down with a cool rag on your forehead generally makes the fever fade. Just get some rest." he said. Well, Ron could have told me that...
"Thanks Professor. Happy Christmas."
"Happy Christmas! And to you too, Hermione." he smiled at them, and they walked back to Gryffindor Tower.
By dinnertime, Ginny didn't feel like doing anything but lay down, so she just fell asleep instead. When she woke up, she checked the huge clock in the common room and saw that it was midnight.
"Great," she said out loud. "Now I'm wide awake and alone."
"Ginny! You're up." said a voice from a chair across the room.
"Who's there?"
"It's me, Harry." he said. "Move your feet." And he sat down on the foot of the loveseat she was laying on.
"What are you doing up?" she asked him. He wouldn't have waited...no, he wouldn't.
"I was waiting for you to get up. You've been asleep for 8 hours in here. I knew when you woke up you would be awake, and I'm not tired, so I was down here reading."
"Well," she said. "That's nice of you."
"No problem."
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Ginny thought she felt Harry's hand on her calf through the blanket, but felt too stupid to check, so she just told herself that it was his hand. Harry spoke up.
"Do you feel better?"
Ginny thought about that - she hadn't really noticed. "Yeah, a little bit. I'm not as achy but my head hurts a little." she sat up. "I'm not sure if I still have a fever though."
Ginny was looking the other way when she felt a soft, masculine hand on her forehead.
"You feel okay." Harry said, his voice low, smiling and pulling back his hand, blushing a little. But not as much as Ginny felt she was. They were sitting less than an inch apart now. She gulped, for no reason at all.
"Excited for Christmas?" She managed.
Harry shrugged. "I guess. You?"
Ginny shrugged, too. "I guess." Their knees touched in a tiny spot. She didn't jerk away, and neither did Harry.
He started talking about Quidditch or something, but Ginny couldn't focus her attention on what he was saying. She felt like that one half inch on her knee was burning.
"...don't you?" Harry was finishing whatever he was saying, and Ginny tried to keep her attention away from the little spot on her left knee.
"Oh, yes!" She said, a little too eagerly. He gave her a funny look, but then his attention was distracted, and he looked down at her knee.
"What's this from?" he asked her, picking at a stain on her knee. Picking at it. That included touching it.
Oh. My. God.
Ginny stopped herself from thinking. You're acting so juvenile! So he's touching your knee. Who cares? She fought with herself. But this is Harry Potter. And he was currently rubbing his thumb on her knee, trying to get out a stain. She tried to explain what it was in attempt to get him to stop before her nerves got out of control.
"Oh, that's just from, uh, this morning...I was eating tomato soup and I spilled some. It's okay, don't bother." She put her hand on her knee and started to rub it as well.
Maybe now he'll stop.
But his hand was still there. And he didn't move it. Instead, he laced his fingers around hers and moved a little closer.
Ginny took it all in. His arm was warm against her pajama sleeve, and his fingers were soft and long against her small, girly hand. He started up normal conversation again, and they ended up talking for two hours. Two hours talking about whatever they felt like.
"You know," Ginny said when the clock struck two. "You're the only guy I can talk to about normal stuff."
"What do you mean, normal stuff?" Harry grinned.
"Well all other guys are always asking me stuff about 'Who likes who' and all that...gossip, that kind of stuff. But you talk about other stuff."
"Well, good. And I would love to talk all night, but you're still sick Missy, and you need sleep." He put his hand on her knee as he pushed himself off of the couch.
"Good night," he called from the foot of the stairs, turning around to look at her.
"'Night," Ginny said, and sat down in the common room, trying to remember exactly how they had been sitting. She gave up after about five minutes, and then went to bed. When she laid her head down, she wrote in her journal. About everything.
So I finally found out some of the more interesting aspects of Harry Potter. I'll make a list --
~He's more than just a boy with a scar on his forehead. Much more.
~He once had a bedroom in a cupboard under his aunt and uncle's stairs.
~He has nightmares about Voldemort and wakes up with his scar in pain.
~He speaks beautifully
~He goes flying every night out of the Astronomy Tower to get his mind off of things
~He has the greenest, most brilliant eyes I've ever seen on anyone. And they aren't dull green. Or light green or hazel. They're genuine green.
~Dementors make him nauseous
~He has the nicest hands I have ever seen
~He has abs from doing Quidditch
~...and he showed me because I didn't believe him
~Okay so maybe I did believe him. I wanted to see. Damn. I'm glad I lied. . .
* * *
On Christmas morning, Ginny was feeling 100% better and was in a joyous mood all day. The only people who had stayed at Hogwarts were her brother, Hermione, Harry, and herself.
She got a book from Hermione - what a surprise - about Bewitching things to do what you wanted them to do, which turned out to be very helpful, as it had tips on how to make the brush in the nail polish paint your nails, how to get the broom to sweep by itself, among other things. Ron got her a bunch of sweets from Honeydukes, and they laughed at the fact that she had gotten him the same thing. Harry didn't get her anything, but she wasn't expecting him to. Hermione bought Ron a Christmas Card that said, "Love, Hermione" at the end, and Harry had fun teasing him all day about that. She also got him a poster of Viktor Krum, partially to annoy him, but she knew he still admired him anyway. Ron faked being mad, but gave her a peck on the cheek anyway. Ginny made eye contact with Harry and grinned - they would have to get on him about that later. Ron bought Hermione a picture frame with the picture of those two in it. Colin Creevey took after last year's Second task. Ron and Hermione were both wet in the picture, but Ron had his arm around her and winked from time to time, and Hermione blushed every now and then. Ginny couldn't help but smile when she saw it - it was very Ron and Hermione-like.
The Great Hall looked fabulous for dinner. Twelve Christmas trees were decked with tons and tons of ornaments, garland, and stars, and everyone sat at one big table since so little people were there. After being fully stuffed, Ginny got up to go to the Tower, but Harry stopped her at the entrance.
"Come with me," he said, and she followed him up many, many staircases she had never seen before, and Harry wouldn't speak a word each time Ginny asked him where they were going.
He finally stopped in front of the door of the Astronomy Tower.
"What-?" Ginny started to ask, but stopped when Harry pulled his broomstick out from under his cloak.
"I put a shrinking charm on it," he said, smiling at her, "So you wouldn't see."
"I don't get it, what are we doing?"
"Going for a ride. Hop on behind me, and hold on."
Ginny was tentative, but slid on behind Harry and gripped him around his thin stomach, and they quickly went up and out the top of the tower.
It was unlike anything Ginny had ever experienced. It was exhilarating. Harry was such an excellent flyer, and it was so fascinating to be on the same broomstick with him, flying around Hogwarts grounds, just the two of them, the cool, winter wind whipping through his and her hair. Harry was keeping her warm, she gripped him tighter as she thought about how nice this was of him. Ginny had a huge smile on her face from the minute they took off.
"Where are we going?" she asked him, speaking loudly over the wind. He was still going very fast.
"You'll see." Harry smiled and sped up.
Ginny couldn't tell where they were yet, it was so dark over the top of Hogwarts. She admired all the tiny turrets and tried to remember which was which - she saw Gryffindor Tower, it's friendly light shining through the windows. She looked back and could almost see the huge astronomy tower, and before she knew it, she figured out where Harry was taking her. Over the lake.
Ginny took back a breath. The lake was positively sparkling, the tiny waves rippling in the moonlight. The trees all around were covered in white that looked more like diamonds than snow.
"Happy Christmas, Ginny."
Ginny hugged Harry tighter. "Thank you," she whispered.
He slowed down, circling the lake. "This is where I come every night. I was coming here the first night you followed me."
"How did you--?"
"Oh cut it out, I can turn around and see people in the cloak, you know." Ginny saw Harry grin. "It was all for the better though, because now I got to know you."
"And I got to achieve my goal."
"What was that?"
"To get to know you. The real you. To get to know what's underneath your scar. I don't think a lot of people ever tried that." Ginny laughed. "I feel brave. I've gone where no girl has gone before!"
Harry laughed. "It's true, you have, and I'm still thankful for it." Harry stopped his firebolt, and it rested obediently in midair, high above the lake. He turned around so that he was facing Ginny now. He put his hands around her waist and brought her closer.
Ginny studied his features. He was looking at her intently, and she could just make out the green in his eyes, through the dark. He had a little smile playing on his lips, and he sort of shrugged them out.
"I didn't get you anything for Christmas." Ginny told him, feeling awkward.
"I didn't want anything," He smiled, and pushed a piece of hair out of her face. "Just gimme a kiss."
And Ginny had no time to answer, because Harry's lips were on hers, lightly, but unmistakably. It was quick, but sweet, and Ginny wanted nothing more.
When they pulled apart, Ginny's cheeks hot, Harry said, "We should go. What time is it?"
"10:45," she said. "But why? It's nice out here."
"Well, Ron and Hermione -" he said, shrugging.
"Yeah, okay. Let's go then."
On their way back to the Astronomy Tower, it started to snow. Hard. At first it was beautiful, but then it got ugly - neither of them could see further than three feet in front of them, and Harry was going extremely slow.
"Damn it," he muttered. "Can you see where we are? My glasses have got snow all over them."
"No, I might as well have snow all over my eyes. My fingers are freezing."
Harry took her hand and put it over his. "Hang on, then, we'll be back soon."
But it was slow, and perilous. They were slipping off of the Firebolt, and Harry could hardly keep his grip, or tell how far he was above the ground.
"We should just try to walk back, shouldn't we?" Ginny yelled over the wind and snow.
"Yeah, I was just thinking that, hold on tight," he said, and started to make a dive downward, slowly but almost completely vertical.
"Harry! We're going to fall off!" Ginny yelled. She was pressed so far up against him that it was uncomfortable.
Ginny never expected what happened next. They had come to the ground, but instead of their feet, it was the front of Harry's broom. It hit hard. Harry went flying in front of her, and did about three flips in the two feet snow. Ginny scrambled after him, trying to find him throughout the blizzard.
"Harry! Harry where are you?" She kept yelling, but he didn't answer. She finally stumbled across him, laying stomach down with his face in the snow.
"HARRY! Harry, answer me! Are you okay?!" She fumbled for her wand with her thickly gloved hands, and finally found it, muttered "lumos" and looked at Harry's face in the wand light. His eyes were closed, his lids blue, and his lips were as well. His cheeks were bright red, and he was unconscious.