A/N: Did I mention how fun this is to write?
Of course you did. Twice in fact. Now get on with the bloody
story! Hush
up, we're not supposed to be in the author's
notes! For those who asked, Harry and Ginny will, of course,
get together in
the end. Damned straight! But
Harry's gotta suffer a bit more…things always seem to come too easy for
him! HA! That's a
jolly good one!
Notice I changed the rating to PG-13. Notice
the title of the chapter. ; )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, the Slytherin Chasers are pretty easy to
deal with, Ron can handle them with no problem," Fred was telling his two
brothers and Harry one evening in the common room.
The first game of the season was up in exactly one week. Tensions
among the two houses were at an all time high.
"Right, and Malfoy does nothing but trail Harry
instead of looking for the Snitch himself," Ron agreed, as they used Bertie
Bott's Every Flavor Beans to represent the game
plan on the table.
"It looks like me and Fred are going to have the
busiest job then, since it's pretty much a known fact the other Beaters
will be
making a beeline for Ginny. That's our biggest
problem. We'll almost have to dog her constantly," George groaned
at the
thought of his little sister getting hit by a
bludger.
Harry, however was only barely paying attention
to the others, sending furtive glances at a set of chairs across the room.
As it
had been for nearly a month, Harry's thoughts
would rather concentrate on a certain red head than anything else, including
Quidditch, which was absolutely unheard of. Ginny
was sitting with some of her other friends, laughing and pretty much ignoring
the fact that she had the rapt attention of a
pair of pure green eyes.
That's right, old boy. Just pretend it
didn't happen. She certainly seems to be doing a good job of it.
Pretend it didn't happen?! How in hell am I to do that when I
can still feel her in my arms? And when these blockheads hear about
what happened, they'll string me up by my—
Stop it! You know perfectly well that
no one was in the stairwell! Which, may I add, is why you are still
alive and not strung up by your—
Stupid bloody useless staircase! Why hasn't
anyone ever fixed it! Why do we need a trick step anyway? It
causes
nothing but trouble, Neville gets caught
in it once a day! This totally was not in our plans!
Calm down, then. Calm down! Calm
down! I practically felt Ginny up in the middle of the stairs and you tell
me to
calm down! It was an accident, you know
that. I know it was an accident, but that doesn't mean
she does. Hell, she's
probably over there telling her friends that
dirty ol' Harry Potter—
She's doing nothing of the sort! She
wouldn't do that anyway. Besides, she's apparently gotten over it,
she hasn't looked over here all evening. Obviously because
she's most likely scared I might finish where I left off!
Nonsense. You didn't even kiss her.
I almost did! I was so close, my lips were almost touching
hers. Oh why can't she have chronic bad breath!
Harry shifted uncomfortably in his chair and feigned
an interest in what the twins and Ron were talking about.
It wouldn't have stopped you if she did.
The only thing that worked was Peeves clanging about in the hallway.
Thank God, he didn't see you or this would be around the school in two
seconds.
This was all her fault, you know! Nothing
would have happened at all if she hadn't called out to me and made me fall
into the trick step.
Don't you dare blame the fact that you can't
concentrate on something as simple as walking up the bloody stairs on her!
Well, if she just didn't have me tied up in knots all the time, I would've
been able to avoid the bloody step in the first place! What the hell happened
anyway?
If I remember correctly, you fell into the
trick step, stumbled, she runs to help you, and you grabbed her and pulled
her down on top of you!
It was instinct. Didn't really mean to
do it. Be that as it may, you should have immediately realized
where your hands were resting and removed them! But
she felt so good laying on top of me like that. Like she was made
to be there. And she didn't seem to mind where they were, I bet she didn't
even notice them.
I'm sure she didn't, especially when that small gasp said that she noticed something else— You promised not to mention that ever again! Besides, that was a natural reaction to what was happening!
Oh yeah! It was a reaction alright! Which is
why you practically threw her off you, wasn't it? Look, at least
one of us has got to attempt to keep the old John Henry down there in control
around her. Impossible. He has a mind of his own around
her. Won't listen to anything we say.
Harry once again shifted on the chair and stole
a glance over to where Ginny was. Green eyes met brown ones and furiously
turned away.
Oh, no. She was looking right at me! She could've just been looking at her brothers. There're over here as well, you
know and probably wondering what the devil's
gotten into you since you haven't spoken a word to them in about five minutes!
And wouldn't they be just pleased to know the
cause…they'd string me up by my—
Yes, they would.
******************
Ginny's mind was occupied by the same subject
as Harry's. Well, almost.
Stop thinking about it, already! He seems
to have done so. I can't! Dear God, how in the world
can I stop thinking
about the fact that Harry Potter almost kissed
me! Why did he do it? Why did he stop?
To answer the first question, your mother already
had that talk with you. As for the second, maybe he came to his senses
and realized that the stairwell in the middle of the entire school was
not the place for—
Mum's talk didn't tell me anything! That
conversation that I overheard in the twins' room one Christmas between
them and Bill and Charlie told me more than
Mum ever did. Point taken.
"Hey, Ginny!" Ginny's attention snapped
back to the conversation her two friends, Patricia and Amy were having.
Trust these two chits to get your mind off of Harry.
"You are going to invite us over for Christmas,
aren't you?" Patricia asked very hopefully.
"Christmas? Why?" Ginny asked curiously, wondering
what she could be up to.
"Well," said Amy, "Your entire family's going
to be there, aren't they? All of your brothers?"
Don't they ever think of anything else?
"Yes, but—" Ginny started.
"Well…only Ron has a girlfriend right?" Patricia
was practically dancing on the table.
"No, Percy's got Penny Clearwater."
"PERCY! Oh, no!" Amy moaned, throwing her
quill down on top of her homework angrily.
"What's gotten into you?" Ginny demanded.
"Percy, is just so….God, he makes me itch to get
under that control of his!" Amy clenched her fingers.
"Yeah, but Bill is so sexy with that earring and
that hair!" Patricia told Amy.
"And Ron's just so….well…RON!" Amy fell back into
her chair in despair.
"Eugh! They're my brothers!" Ginny was horrified.
They're disgusting! I'm going to be sick.
"Oh, Ginny, please." As Amy and Patricia
argued over the attributes of each Weasley male, Ginny let her attention
roam
around the room, stopping on Harry, who was also
looking directly at her.
Oh, God, he's looking over here.
Calm down. He most likely is just interested in what these two
silly girls are giggling over.
Ok, so he turned away. Please
don't start blushing again. I thought we were going to work on that.
Think he's just trying to pretend it didn't happen? Well,
according to that book Hermione gave you, men do tend to do stuff like
that when they are confused about women. Like the way he was acting
the other week or two ago with the whole distant aloof thing. Trust
Hermione to have a book all about making someone fall in love.
Yeah, she said it came in real handy with Ron.
Silly prat would still be floundering around helplessly if she hadn't
stepped in. Think this will work on Harry?
Well, so far it's been successful. He was following you around
like some
love sick puppy, wasn't he? I
guess so. I just thought that was more of him having to follow me around
because George and Fred put him up to it. The Slytherins trying to
sabotage the new Chaser and such.
Don't think so. He doesn't strike me as that
big brother type. What do you think about what happened today,
then? His hands were almost on my—
His hands were resting on your lower back.
He grabbed you when he started to fall. They were on your lower back.
Hmmf. I think they were a bit lower. Either way,
he almost kissed me! That's gotta be some progress.
But then he threw you off of him.
What was that about? I have no idea. Who
can comprehend the mind of a man who wouldn't know love if it bit him on
the—
Behave yourself. You're developing a
mouth as bad as Ron's.
"Oi! Ginny! Come here!" Well this is
just perfect. We'll get to see how Harry's going to react to this
up close.
Ginny got up to see what her brothers wanted with
her. "What is it?" Don't blush whatever you do. Just
stay focused on the twins or Ron or anyone but Harry.
Hi, Harry! Remember how you almost kissed me
earlier today on the stairs? Wanna go back and finish it? Stop
that! Is that a wand in your pocket are you just happy to
see me? Dear God, I don't believe you just thought that.
I was just trying to break the ice.
"We've got a new game plan for the match.
Gotta have an extra-long practice tomorrow evening." Fred gestured to the
rough
diagram of Bertie Bott's Beans that they obviously
were using as a mock-up of the teams and positions.
"Sure," she replied. It's absolutely
amazing how both yours and Harry's faces are the same exact shade of red,
isn't it? "That all? I was just going to bed." He's
driving me crazy! Gotta get out of here now. Ginny wished them
all a good night, and walked away.
***********************
I bet her face was the same exact shade as
yours. Did you see that look she gave me? What the hell
did that mean?
I'd almost say she wanted you to kiss her.
You're nuts!
"Hey, Harry!" Ron snapped his fingers impatiently
under Harry's nose.
"Uh, sorry. What is it?" Harry blinked.
Ron gave him a piercing look. "Just wondering
what was up between you and Ginny that's all." Both Fred and George
stopped and looked up at those words. "Couldn't
help but notice you two looking at each other. And the fact that she told
us
she was going to bed but left through the portrait
hole."
Shit. This is just wonderful. "Nothing.
Nothing's between us." Except the fact that I'm totally head-over-heels
in love with her. "We're just friends," Harry swallowed nervously.
"Huh. That's not what Hermione told me,"
Ron said, still not convinced. "She said she thought you fancied
her a bit."
How bad would Ron miss Hermione after I kill
her? "Well, she's your sister, isn't she?" Harry gave Ron his
best
do-you-think-I'm-nuts-to-like-your-sister grin.
"I know who she is." Ron shot back with his best
don't-think-I-don't-know-what-you're-up-to scowl. "Answer my
question." Both George and Fred were now
really listening to the conversation.
Ok, so you have two options. Tell them
the truth and pray Ginny brings flowers to your grave or deny everything
and just possibly hope to be invited to her wedding when she marries someone
else.
"Well, she is a good Quidditch player. And
she certainly had grown up a bit these past few years."
"She's too young for you, Harry," George said
menacingly. Well, I had a nice life. I sure do wished
I had kissed her just
once before I die.
"She's a year younger than me, George."
Harry was really starting to get angry. "She's a big girl.
She can take care of
herself."
"She's a baby." Ron said firmly. "Besides,"
he grinned, "Mum and Dad wouldn't let her date you."
"Your parents like me well enough. They
might change their minds." Harry returned the grin. Bail
out while you still have
the chance! Go! "I'm going
to bed." Harry almost ran up the stairs before Ron or the twins could
stop him.
The next time you get within twenty feet of
Ginny, alone or not, you better kiss her senseless before her hot-headed
brothers kill you. Good idea.
This was a productive day though, wasn't it? I faced her brothers
and got away with it
and I almost kissed her.
Yes, well…let's not get to confidant.
We still have to figure out what she thinks about you.