Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down for dinner in the Great hall. Harry slowly looked around, hoping to see Ginny there. He frowned when he saw she was nowhere in sight.
"Anyone see Ginny today?" He asked his friends in what he hoped was a casual tone.
Ron was busy pulling a bench out for Hermione. "Not since this morning. Why?" Ron looked at him knowingly, arching an eyebrow.
"No reason. Just didn't see her, that's all." They started eating, Ron and Hermione chatting about this coming Hogsmead weekend while Harry kept glancing around the hall every so often, hoping to see a familiar red-head.
Minutes later, Colin Creevy came over to them. Harry winced, knowing he'd start in on Harry's latest Quidditch match.
"Hey Ron," Colin said. "Did you hear what happened to Ginny?" Ron looked up from his shepard's pie and glared at Colin. It was common knowledge that Colin liked Ginny.
"No, what?"
"Well, we were in Professor Clobberall's class…we were covering boggarts…it was her turn…she was in the closet for a long while…and then she just ran out crying…we haven't seen her since." Colin managed to explain under the intense looks he was getting from Ron and Harry.
Harry jumped up and started for the exit. "Harry, wait up!" He could hear Ron and Hermione scraping their benches against the floor in a hurry to follow him.
Inside the common room, Ginny was nowhere to be found. "I'll go look upstairs," said Hermione, gasping for breath as she and Ron dashed in behind him.
Harry ran his hand through his hair, making it stick out even further. Ron sat down in a chair, looking pale underneath his freckles. "She can't have gotten too far," Ron said. "She's probably just hiding for a bit, just to cool off."
"Maybe she's out on the grounds somewhere." Harry reasoned. Hermione came down the stairs. "She's not up in her dormitory."
"Let's go search the grounds then, she can't have gone far." Ron jumped up quickly, grabbed Hermione's hand and led the way through the portrait hole.
At the castle steps, Harry divided them up. "You and Hermione take the area around the lake, I'll go and search the edge of the forest. Meet back here in an hour."
Had Harry bothered to stop and examine his feelings for Ginny, he would have noticed that he was way more upset than one ought to be for the sister of a friend. All he knew was that he didn't like the idea of her being out by herself, scared. He vividly remembered his last encounter with a boggart and it was nothing one could shake off easily.
For ten minutes, he walked around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, looking for any sight of flame red hair in the fading sunlight. Coming around a corner, he saw her. She was sitting on a rock, rubbing the nose of a unicorn, her hair cast into golden highlights from the sun that fought its way through the thick tree branches. Closer up, he could see that she had been crying, her eyes red and swollen.
"Ginny?" he said softly. The unicorn danced nervously, trying to get away from him. Ginny's eyes grew large as she spotted him in the shadows and for an instant, fear was plainly etched on her tear-stained face.
"Harry?" she squeaked.
Harry gently crept towards her, sensing for some strange reason that it was him she was frightened of. "Didn't mean to scare you. Colin told us what happened." Harry's heart broke at her small sound of anguish.
"Oh."
"Can I sit down?"
"Erm…sure." Ginny scooted over, still absently petting the unicorn, who nuzzled her hair. She wouldn't meet Harry's concerned gaze.
After a brief silence, she mumbled, "I reckon I was just being silly."
"No you weren't," Harry assured her. "Boggarts are horrid creatures. Do you want to talk about it?"
Ginny shook her head.
Harry tried again. "You know, I fainted when I first saw a boggart in Professor Lupin's class. Fainted dead away." He smiled trying to gain her attention.
"Really?"
"Yeah. In fact, it took me months before I could banish one." Ginny looked at him, fascinated.
"What was it?"
"You remember the Dementors that were here a couple years back?"
Ginny shivered. "Yes."
"Every time I got near a boggart, that's what it became."
Ginny sighed, slowly shaking her head. "Mine wasn't anything as awful as that. Mine turned into someone….someone very important….someone whose opinion mattered the most to me. You ever think bad things about yourself?" Harry nodded. "That someone stood there and really just confirmed all those bad things about myself were true. I know it sounds sort of silly now, because I know he would never say those things, but it hurt. It hurt to have him tell me that he thought those horrible things were true too."
Harry tipped her face up so that he could gaze into her clear brown eyes. "Ginny, I can't imagine who could've said those things to you…but if anyone ever tried to hurt you like that….you know I wouldn't let him." Harry suddenly stood up and paced in front of the boulder. "I mean, you're bright…and, and funny…you're always smiling…even when this world doesn't offer anything to smile about. Sometimes your beautiful smile is what gets me through the day…"
Ginny smiled softly. "Really?"
"Cross my heart."
Harry stopped pacing and gently leaned over her. "You're such a special person, Ginny, " he said against her lips, "don't ever let anyone tell you differently."
Ginny pressed her forehead against his. "Thank you, Harry," she whispered. She raised her lips to rest against his. "For everything."
He pulled her down from the rock and wrapped his arms around her.
~~~~~~~~
A/N: Oh yeah, I probably should've mentioned earlier that this was going to be total H/G fluff (can I write anything else? Is there anything else?). Guess it's a little late to point that out, but there you have it. : )