A/N: A big "thank you" to all those who reviewed
this fic. It really encouraged me!
PART 6: CONFRONTATION
When Ginny regained consciousness she found herself
lying on a soft, warm bed, and a female voice from far away was whispering her
name. She felt warm and floaty, as if in a dream state. Am I in heaven? She
thought. In reflex, her mouth opened to voice her thoughts, but Ginny only
heard a hoarse "Mmph." She tried to pry her eyes open, but they felt heavy and
lethargic. A hand touched her face, soft and warm like her bed. Then it started
slapping her cheek gently.
"Mmph," Ginny voiced, which actually translated to Where
am I?
The slapping became firmer now, and it stung through
her skin and burned her flesh. Her eyes snapped open.
"Ouch!" The word came out of her mouth in a tiny
squeak, and she looked up into the worried face of Hermione.
"Wha…what happened?" Ginny said, sitting upright.
She looked around the room and found herself in her empty dormitory, lying in
her own bed.
"You passed out," whispered Hermione. She had a look
of pity in her eyes.
"Why?" Ginny asked.
"You don't remember?" replied Hermione. The look in
her eyes became more pronounced now, and it was boring into Ginny's.
In a series of painful flashes, Ginny remembered the
look on Harry's face as he descended the stairs: part humiliation, part anger
and part…amusement? She wasn't sure, because the only thing she remembered was
the blood pounding in her ears, the common room swirling in a haze of colour,
and then blackness.
"Oh no!" Ginny cried, burying her face in her hands,
"I am such an idiot!"
"No you're not, Gin" said Hermione softly. She was
toying the tassles on Ginny's bed, and she seemed eager to say more, but was a
bit hesitant.
"How did I get up here?" Ginny asked the right
question.
"Well, when we couldn't bring you around in the
common room, Fred and George helped me float you in here because you know,
people were starting to crowd around you. Harry and Ron didn't want anyone
finding out about the letter." The mention of Harry's name turned Ginny's
insides into ice, but the questions she was dying to know slipped out before
she had a chance to think about them.
"Where's Harry now? What did he say? Did Fred and
George read it? Oh, I just wanna die!"
Hermione put her hand over hers and did her best to
calm her. "Harry's in his dorm right now. He didn't say anything when you
fainted, though I think he's angry." Ginny winced.
"He's not angry with you, though," Hermione quickly
added, "he still thinks Malfoy had it in for you, for telling him off
yesterday."
"And Fred and George?" Ginny asked timidly.
"They didn't see the letter. Harry hid it in his
pockets when they rushed to your side after you passed out."
"What about Ron?"
Hermione opened her mouth, and then shut it again.
She seemed to be trying to force back a giggle, but tutted disapprovingly
instead.
"When you passed out, he ran out of the room,
cursing."
"Why?"
"He went to find Malfoy – to…to teach him a lesson."
Hermione said calmly, though the corners of her mouth were twitching.
"No!" Panicking, Ginny abruptly got up, but Hermione
held her down.
"Gin, stop! It's OK! I don't think Ron'll find him."
"Hermione, why didn't you stop him? Now Malfoy's
gonna know about the letter!" Ginny shuddered to think about what would happen
if Malfoy got wind of the love letter. It'll be her worst nightmare come true.
"I tried to stop him! But your git of a brother
wouldn't listen. Anyway, he's not going to find Malfoy, because no one's
supposed to be wandering around after dinner, remember? Filch'll probably just
catch Ron and give him detention."
Calming down considerably, Ginny sat back down on
her bed, feeling utterly miserable. She tried to imagine what Harry could be
doing right now, with the letter in his hands, and the thought made her want to
vomit.
"What am I going to do?" she asked Hermione.
"I think you should talk to Harry."
"And confess to the letter? You're asking me to dig
my own grave, Hermione!"
"Do you want to mislead Harry? He's seething right
now you know, because he thinks it was Malfoy. It's not right Gin, you know
that."
"I know," Ginny said dejectedly. Hermione was right
of course, but Ginny didn't mind Malfoy taking the blame, especially after all
the horrible things he'd done to Ron and Harry.
"But he wasn't meant to see that letter!" Ginny
wailed. "I shouldn't've written it. It's all my fault!" How was she going to get out of this one?
"Don't put yourself down, Gin. You can't help who
you like."
"But I can help what I write, and I happen to
have written the most ridiculous things in that letter."
Hermione sighed sadly, "What you feel for Harry
isn't ridiculous," she said. But then Hermione suddenly smiled, "Then again, I
won't deny it," she joked, "sexual fantasies huh?"
Ginny threw a pillow at her, with a look of mock
anger. "Don't start, Hermione!" but she too, started laughing. "I wrote that as
a form of therapy. What a joke this has turned out to be. I only wrote it to
make myself feel better."
"Feel better about what?"
"Oh nothing. It's just that…I feel bad when I see
Harry looking so depressed, and there's nothing I can do to help. And well, I'm
the last person Harry would talk to, so I wrote the letter to express what I
was feeling, even if I'll never be able to say it to him in reality. But I
wrote the letter for myself. It was meant to be for my own amusement, not for
everybody else's!"
"Well, then, you should really talk to Harry,"
Hermione repeated. "Then you can explain what really happened."
"What am I going to say? 'Harry, I wrote that
letter, not Malfoy. I really wrote it to myself and no one's meant to see it'.
Like he'll believe that!"
"I think Harry will understand," Hermione said
softly. "It's the only way to clear up this confusion."
"Oh of course Harry would understand," Ginny
said sarcastically. "I mean, he's known I've had the hots for him, for like,
five years."
"Look, Gin, Harry's confused right now. He's
confused about a lot of things – Cedric's death, for one. That's why he's been
moody lately. He thinks it's all his fault- "
" - that's awful!" Ginny exclaimed, interrupting
Hermione. "It's not his fault!"
"Of course we know it's not," Hermione said
quickly. "But Harry's been through a lot. And I know you must've felt left out
when we were having those discussions by ourselves, but it was because Ron and
I were trying to cheer him up – and Harry only seemed to want to talk to us."
Ginny remembered the days at the Burrow when she spied on
the three of them talking in hushed tones. She remembered how she felt helpless
and left out, and wondered how Hermione knew this. Hermione seemed to have
picked up on her thoughts.
"I'm sure Harry wanted to talk to you too, but he
doesn't know how. He doesn't even want to talk to your Mom. You know Harry, he
keeps things to himself if he can help it. Ron and I had to force him to talk,
even to us. Don't take it personally, Gin."
"I don't…I…I understand."
"Well, good, because I think this is a good chance
for you and Harry to talk about…" Hermione trailed off.
"Talk about what?" Ginny asked, unsure where this
conversation was leading.
"Talk about…you know…" Hermione muttered, "your
feelings for each other," she finished quickly.
"Each other?" Ginny asked incredulously. As if!
She thought.
"Talk about my feelings, you mean. We're
talking about unrequited love here, remember?"
Ginny finished glumly.
"Somehow, I don't think so," Hermione said, in an I-know-better
tone. Ginny ignored her.
"If I do
this, I might as well write a good-bye letter, because this is practically
suicide. I just hope it clarifies things up for Harry." Hermione giggled at
Ginny's morbid declaration. "I'm not joking, Hermione!"
"And neither am I, Gin! I've seen the way Harry had
been looking at you for the past few days, and if you ask me, Cedric and the
letter aren't the only things he's confused about right now." Hermione gave a
slight smile as she said this.
"Are you telling me Harry might fancy me?"
Ginny asked disbelievingly, catching on. "Like, maybe if I turned Asian and
changed my name to Cho Chang, you mean."
"I'm serious, Ginny. Look, I'm not trying to get
your hopes up or anything, that's the last thing I want to do! But I wouldn't
encourage you if I knew you'd just be making a fool of yourself."
Ginny eyed her, looking hesitant. I'd like to see
you make a move on Ron, she thought, if you think it's that easy. But
then again, you've got a much higher chance of succeeding with Ron than I would
with Harry.
"Trust me on this," Hermione said.
Ginny made up her mind before she could think too
much about it, otherwise, she would just chicken out.
"Yeah I trust you," Ginny said, sighing. And with
that, Ginny got up and made to walk out the door.
"Where're you going?" Hermione called out.
"Where else? I'm going to talk to Harry." The door
shut behind her, and Ginny didn't see Hermione's jaw gape open.
*
Ginny marched up to the boys' dormitory, psyching
herself to talk to Harry. She could hardly believe she was actually going to do
this, but as she kept telling herself over and over, the Sorting Hat didn't put
her in Gryffindor for nothing. She chanted the self-confidence boosting song
her mother taught her long ago, in her head. If I can, I can, I can! Her
feet marched in tune to the imaginary music, all the way up to Harry's dorm.
Once she reached the door
marked 'Fifth Years' Ginny knocked firmly, but there was no reply.
She opened the door a little and peered through. She
couldn't see anyone.
"Harry?" she called.
A messy-haired, bespectacled face peered out from
behind one of the beds.
"Ginny?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Ginny?" a second face appeared from behind her, a
carrot-topped, freckled-face, angry-looking Ron. He had just finished climbing
the stairs and was about to go into his dorm, when he ran into Ginny.
"Ginny! Are you alright?" Ron had come around to
face her, looking concerned.
"I'm OK Ron, really!" Ginny said, trying to avoid
Ron's hugs.
"I need to talk to you, Harry." Ginny surprised even
herself with the determination in her voice.
"Er…this is the boys' dorm, you can't talk in here,"
said Ron.
"Well duh! I was gonna ask Harry to come up to my
dormitory to talk," Ginny said sarcastically.
Ron's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Honestly, Ron," Ginny said exasperatedly. She
turned to Harry. "Harry, do you mind if we talk outside for a moment?" she
asked business-like, ignoring Ron, who had opened his mouth to say something to
Harry.
"Sure," Harry said perplexed.
"Bring the letter with you."
"Er…OK."
Ginny and Harry walked out of the room, leaving an
agitated and confused-looking Ron alone in the dorm.
*
The common room still had a few people in it. Fred
and George were to nowhere to be seen – Ginny took this as a good sign, as she
didn't think their presence would encourage her much.
Ginny
led the way into the farthest corner of the room, half-hidden by shadows and
where they wouldn't be disturbed. She sat down on one of the chairs and waited
for Harry to follow suit. He sat down opposite her, and when Ginny was sure
that he was conducive to hearing anything shocking (the way he was looking at
her right now showed he was very curious), she took a deep breath and
began.
"Before I say anything Harry, you'll have to give me
the letter. If I can have it, please?"
Harry handed her the letter. Ginny took one moment
to look at it, get out her wand, utter a spell, and burned it to a crisp. Harry
looked flabbergasted.
"There. Now that's over and done with!" Ginny said,
satisfied at last that the letter was destroyed. She braced herself for what
she would have to do next. She took a deep breath.
"Harry, about the letter…" She trailed off. Oh no,
Ginny thought. This was a lot harder than she had expected. She had been so
confident a minute ago, ready to tell him the truth, but now it seems that her
mind has gone blank. The way Harry was looking at her, and the fact that they
were partly isolated from everybody else in the common room, suddenly made
Ginny very nervous. Her heart was beating so violently behind her chest that
Ginny was sure Harry could hear it. Her throat constricted, and she tried to
force the words she had to say out of her mouth.
"Harry, the letter was – "
" – Ginny I'm sorry." Harry put his hand on top of
Ginny's, with a pained look on his face.
"Sorry?" Now it was Ginny's turn to be
flabbergasted. What on earth was Harry apologizing for?
"It was my fault. Malfoy went after you because you
stuck up for me. I'm sorry he hurt you."
"Oh Harry, Malfoy didn't – "
" – when Dobby gave me the letter, I thought it was
all a joke, but he looked serious. Then I thought of Malfoy and what happened
last night in the Great Hall. It made me so mad to think that he could do
something like that…" Harry's voice broke, and a strange look came over his
eyes. Ginny didn't know what to think.
"Well…I… I'm OK now, Harry," she stammered.
Harry's grip on her hand tightened, and Ginny's
stomach did little flip-flops. Harry was looking at her in that way
again, the type of stare that generated electricity. Ginny, mesmerised,
couldn't tear her eyes away. She saw Harry swallow.
"Ginny…there's something you need to know."
Harry's voice sounded strangely high-pitched, and
even though it was quite dark in the common room, Ginny was sure she saw Harry
blush.
"What is it?" Ginny asked. Was Harry going to say
what she had always dreamed he would say to her?
"It's…it's…"
"Yes?" Ginny's heart did a drum-roll behind her
chest. Say it, Harry. Tell me you care for me, too.
"…It's about Ron," Harry finished quickly. His eyes
darted sideways, then he stared at the ground, looking extremely uncomfortable.
Ginny saw him bite his lip.
"Ron?" Now she was confused.
As if on cue, Ron descended the stairs from the
boys' dorm, marched straight to Harry and Ginny, and said in an impatient
voice,
"Sorry to interrupt your little chat, but Ginny, I need
to talk to Harry!"
"Ron!" Why did Ron have to ruin a moment like this?
It was almost perfect. Almost.
"What is it?" Harry let go of Ginny's hand and
turned around to face Ron. For the first time since she saw him up in the boys'
dorms, Ginny noticed the bruise on Ron's cheek, and a nasty cut above his lip.
She had been so determined to talk to Harry that she had completely overlooked
it. Ron spoke in a rush:
"I found Malfoy sneaking out of the Slytherin common
room and confronted him about the letter, and you know what the git did? He
denied it!"
"WHAT?!" Harry and Ginny cried together.
The end…Of Ginny's POV. To be continued in Key to My
Heart…Harry's POV
