Chapter 2-Midnight Meetings
Hermione walked down to the kitchen, and to her surprise, there was already
someone there.
"Ginny?!" Hermione whispered. Ginny was standing on a chair, looking in a
cabinet, and the presence of someone else surprised her, and she jumped, making
her chair wobble. After trying to balance, Ginny fell to the floor. She turned
to see who it was.
"Ginny…are you okay?"
Hermione asked.
"Oh…yes…you just gave me a
fright." Ginny was standing back up.
"Whatcha
looking for?"
"Oh, just graham
crackers…have you ever had graham crackers and warm milk?" Hermione shook her
head. "Oh you have to try it…whenever I can't sleep, it puts me right out.
Here, I'll make some."
Hermione looked doubtful. "I
think I will just make myself a cup of tea, if that's alright." Ginny frowned
jokingly.
After brewing her tea, Hermione sat down with Ginny, who was snarfing down her
graham crackers and milk.
"So Gin, how are things?" Hermione asked, sipping her tea. "Good," Ginny
replied after swallowing. "I'm looking forward to my fourth year. What about
you…and Ron…are you two happy?" he took another bite of her mush.
"I've never been happier," Hermione said with a genuine smile. This made Ginny
smile too. Ron and Hermione, after many months of liking each other, had
finally started a relationship and had been together since. "He keeps me from
getting too serious."
They continued their girl talk until both Hermione's tea and Ginny's mush were
gone. They exchanged goodnights and headed for their rooms.
As Ginny fell asleep, she was thinking about Ron and Hermione.
'I wish I were as happy and in love like they are'. Ginny sighed. 'Oh
well…life's not perfect. Like I need a lesson in that'! She
shuddered to think about the Chamber of Secrets again. And Tom Riddle. She had
let him charm her. She was easily charmed. Ginny double sighed, and then her
mind drifted to Harry. 'I will always like him. But I have given up all hope
of him noticing me. His loss..'
She rolled over, triple
sighed, and went to sleep.
The next night, it was Lee who couldn't sleep. For some reason, listening to
Fred and George snore in unison just wasn't soothing enough to make him fall
asleep. He decided to get a glass of water, or a cup of tea or something.
As Lee walked in, Ginny was
standing by the counter, already pouring the milk into her sloosh. As Lee
walked in, he stopped and took a breath.
'Whoa. When did sweet
little Ginny turn into this…this…beautiful woman?' Lee thought to himself.
'Stop…you can't check out your best friends' little sister.' Lee did his
best to busy himself in looking for the glasses.
"Need something?" Ginny put the milk away and sat down at the table.
"Erm…I was…just…looking" Lee's voice cracked "for a glass of water." Lee
blushed a little in spite of himself.
"Oh…well the glasses are in that cabinet right above you." Lee got his water
and drank it as fast as he could, eager to get back upstairs.
"Thanks Ginny. Goodnight."
And with that Lee hurried up the stairs, embarrassed.
When Lee left, Ginny was just finishing her mush. 'I could've sworn that Lee
was checking me out. That's a new one.' Ginny still couldn't help but smile
to herself. She put her bowl in the sink and went up to bed.
School was starting in only
a couple of days. Everyone had already gotten their school supplies and now
were trying to squeeze the most out of the summer. For Ginny, this was sleeping
as late and as much as possible. Most everyone else was spending the day
outside and playing quidditch.
That night, as Ginny was
preparing her graham cracker sleeping remedy, Harry lay in bed upstairs,
tossing, unable to sleep. He walked down, not really knowing what he was going
to do when he got there. To his surprise, Ginny was already down there, eating
some brown…mush stuff.
"Hi Harry," Ginny greeted, her mouth full. Harry's stomach did a little flip
flop.
'Since when does my
stomach do this for Ginny?' Harry tried to shake it off, and went and sat
down.
"Hi…what is that?" Harry looked half confused and half disgusted.
"Well, this is just
something that helps me sleep…it's only graham crackers and warm milk.
You want some?" Ginny scooped up a spoonful and put it next to Harry's mouth.
Harry reluctantly took it into his mouth. Harry slowly swallowed. The back of
his neck was burning.
"Mmm…that is pretty good."
Harry smiled after he swallowed. Ginny blushed, realizing that she had just
spoon-fed Harry. She took the spoon away quickly, stirring her graham cracker
mush. There was an awkward silence between them for a couple of minutes.
Finally, Harry got up, drank
a glass of water, and said goodnight to Ginny before walking upstairs. He hoped
Ginny hadn't seen him blush, though oddly, he kind of hoped she did.
Ginny was so embarrassed
that she could imagine her face was at least twice as red as her hair was. She
finished off her bowl, mad at herself, and then went to bed.
The next morning, everyone had woken up early to get ready to go to King's
Cross station. Mr. Weasley had gotten a type of muggle car called a 'SUV' from
the ministry. It was this huge thing with big wheels, but everyone fit
comfortably, so no one had any complaints.
Once they had gotten on the Hogwarts Express, they looked for a spare
compartment. Hermione decided she wasn't going to sit with the prefects because
she wanted to be with Ron. They finally found one near the end of the train.
Rain drops the size of Hagrid's tears splattered on the window as they took
off. Once the train started off, Hermione got out her books and started
reading, Ron and Harry started a game of Exploding Snap, and Ginny went off to
look for her friends in other compartments. She found Colin Creevy and talked
to him for a while. The cart came by with sweets a plenty. Ginny just got a
pumpkin pasty. She could see that the scenery was getting more and more dense
and wild, which meant they were getting close to Hogwarts, so she decided to go
back to her compartment and put her robes on. Just as she got into her
compartment, the train lurched and she tripped, and fell backwards, the side of
her head hitting the armrest with a sickening thunk.
Ginny came to, rubbing her eyes, and tried to sit up. She felt extreme pain on
the side of her head, so she lay back down. She opened her eyes, and realized
she was in the hospital wing. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were all sitting there,
with worried expressions on their faces, though Ron's was by far the most
worried.
"You took quite a fall,"
Harry said with an encouraging smile. Ginny weakly smiled back.
"Do you think you can come
back to the common room?" Ron asked. "You've missed the feast, but 'Mione packed a sack for you." Ginny
nodded, sitting up once again. Madame Pomfrey gave Ginny a potion for her pain,
and then let her leave.
When Ginny got back to the common room, Hermione pulled out a sack of food. She
ate it, under the supervision of Ron, Hermione, and Harry, and then Ron sent
her to bed.
The only problem was, she
couldn't seem to sleep. The pain had subsided, but not totally gone away. She
lay in bed for a long time, staring at the scarlet curtains, and then decided
to go down to the common room. When she went down to the common room, she
wasn't alone. Someone was sitting by the fire. It was Harry. Ginny stopped in
her tracks. She stood there for a minute, then made up her mind and took a deep
breath. She walked over and sat in an armchair next to Harry.
"Can't sleep?"
Harry shook his head. His
stomach did a twist. The firelight was bouncing off her cheeks, giving her face
a heavenly glow.
"Me neither. It's harder to
fall asleep with out my graham cracker mush." She chuckled and Harry smiled.
Then there was silence. And that's how it was. Each would steal looks at each
other, and then turn to the fire quickly. Ginny caught Harry looking at her
once, before he turned back, which made her smile, though she wasn't quite sure
why.