When we last left our heroes, Harry and Hermione were cuddling in the common room while Ginny sorted out her thoughts on the lawn....
Harry stared out of the window blankly. It was a very cold afternoon, and he was glad to be inside, in front of the warm fire with Hermione. He let his forehead touch the glass--it was freezing. He shivered as his skin came in contact with the ice-cold glass, and he felt goosebumps run up and down his arms. Straightening back up, he turned to gaze out onto the front lawn again. It really is beautiful, he thought to himself. Everything was coated in a thick layer of snow and ice as far as the eye could see. The forest, the lake, the bordering trees...he focused on one in particular, however. One with a bench under it. And somebody appeared to be occupying that bench. He peered closer. The figure moved over a bit to lean onto the tree to it's left. As it moved, the hood of it's cloak moved just enough to reveal a lock of flaming red hair. Ginny.
Harry sighed deeply and pulled Hermione closer to him. There wasn't any reason for him to feel guilty, really. Why should he? He had never liked Ginny, so if he had continued to go out with her, that would be worse than dumping her to get at Hermione. It would have been deceitful to continue seeing her if he didn't feel such feelings for her...or did her? As Harry thought about Ginny, he noticed that he started to flush a bit, and that his heart started racing, and that his stomach was flip-flopping. His mind went back to his third-year Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, when he had stood face-to-face with Cho Chang, his cheeks flushing, his heart racing, and his stomach flip-flopping.
As he turned away from the window, he noticed that Hermione had been looking up at him, studying his face.
"Harry," she said softly, still examining him.
"Yes?"
"I understand," she replied, with her know-it-all kind of voice.
"You understand what?" asked Harry, slightly confused.
Hermione towards the window and sighed. "You know."
He followed her gaze, and was startled to discover that it led to the very spot that he had been surveying moments before. A sudden gust of wind blew past, and Ginny drew her cloak closer around her. Harry gulped.
"Hermione..." he started.
"No. It's okay. I felt it, too." She stood up and made to leave, but turned back around. Taking Harry's hands in to hers, she said, "I love you as much as one person can love another. But now I realize that the love we have for each other is different. I love you as the brother I never had, and I hope that I am like a sister to you. I know now that it was never anything beyond than that, and it never will be, but there is nothing that will surpass the love one has for family." She gave him a hug. "Good luck with Ginny," she whispered into his ear.
Harry smiled. After all, there was nothing like family.
~*~
After bundling up in his sweater, cloak, scarf, and gloves, Harry bounded out of the Gryffindor common room. He slowed down as he neared the entrance hall, however. Spotting a wooden chair nearby, he sat down.
What would he say?
He had been such a jerk. He had acted like such an idiot, treating Ginny like a pawn that he used only to get what he wanted. Of course, how could he have ever thought of her as anything else? After all, she was just Ron's little sister, a young girl a year beneath him, a pest who tagged along everywhere.
Yes, that was all she had been to him. A pest. Her constant attentions in his second year had been a form of great embarrassment--he nearly died when he received a singing Valentine in the middle of the hallway, surrounded by students.
That was how he had thought of her a month ago, when Hermione had broken up with him. He wanted something, and he could use her to get it. What mattered of her feelings? She was too young to know love, after all, wasn't she?
Harry let his head lean back until it hit the wall. A bigger idiot had never walked the earth. How could he have ever thought all these things about Ginny? Ginny, the sweet, charming, beautiful Ginny that he knew and had abused.
Of course, in the beginning he hadn't thought of Ginny as sweet, charming, or beautiful. No, in the beginning he hardly thought anything of her. In fact, it wasn't until she was gone that he realized how much she had come to mean to him. How much she had meant to him all along.
But things weren't going to work themselves out as he sat kicking himself in the hall. He stood up and walked over to the monstrous oak doors, his footsteps echoing eerily in the large and deserted room. The doors opened with a long creak, and Harry pulled his cloak closer around as the cold wind nipped at his face. He scanned the snowy landscape for a charcoal-colored figure; after a quick look around, he spotted her, the only break in a sea of white, like an angel stranded in the snow. Faltering slightly as he fought to break a path in the deep snow, he headed off in her direction.
~*~
Ron made his way from the library up to the common room. His mind was still occupied with thoughts of Harry and Hermione. He muttered the password to the Fat Lady, and the portrait swung open. Spotting Seamus and Dean playing a game of wizard's chess, he walked over to watch.
"Hullo, Ron," said Seamus jovially, watching his queen take out Dean's knight. "Lovely game, chess."
"Yeah, yeah," scowled Dean. "Whatever."
"He's just bitter because I'm beating the pants off of him," Seamus said. "I've wiped out half of his pieces, and I still have all but one of mine." He smirked across the short table at Dean as Dean's king was put into checkmate by Seamus's queen.
"Oh, shut up," Dean replied. "You won't be so smug when I beat you next time." He began resetting the board. "You wanna play, Ron?" he asked, looking up.
"No, that's okay. I'll think I'll go finish that essay for McGonagall, I haven't even started..." Ron trailed off as he made to go up to the boys' dorm. As he turned to leave, however, he spotter Hermione sitting by the fire. Alone.
~*~
Harry felt like the walk to the lake was going to take forever. The cold winter air stung his lungs as he panted after trudging through the knee-high snow. Finally, however, he reached the tree under which Ginny was sitting. He drew up his breath nervously and cleared his throat. Slowly, Ginny turned around. As soon as she saw him, she swept back around and left him to stare at her back.
"Ginny," Harry said. "I--I wanted to talk to you."
There was silence for a moment. "Go away, Harry," Ginny finally said.
"But, Gin..." started Harry.
"I said go away," she replied firmly.
"No!" he said. "In fact, I think I am going to join you right here." He plopped down on the bench beside her.
The silence was deafening. They both sat there for nearly a quarter of an hour, saying nothing to each other. After twenty minutes, however, Harry made another attempt.
"Listen, Ginny, I came out here to tell you something, and I want you to listen," said Harry.
"I don't care," replied Ginny flatly. "I have no reason to talk to you." She started to turn back toward the tree, but Harry grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.
"Ginny, listen," he began. "I wanted to tell you--" He stopped and looked at Ginny. Her face was contorted with anger. "Is something wrong?"
"Is something wrong?!" Ginny exploded, apoplectic with rage. "You have the nerve to come down here and ask me what's wrong?!"
The two looked at each other for a moment, Ginny glaring and Harry trying to figure out what she was thinking.
Then, without any warning, Ginny punched Harry squarely in the nose and he toppled over backwards into the soft snow.
~*~
Ron walked over to Hermione a little more quickly than he would have intended to.
"Oh, hello, Ron," said Hermione pleasantly, turning at the sound of his loud footsteps.
"Hey, Hermione," said Ron.
"What's up?"
"Where's Harry?" Ron asked, not bothering to beat around the bush. Hermione looked at him meaningfully for a moment.
"He left a while ago. Why?"
"I wanted to talk to him," he answered. "About Ginny."
"Oh, Ron," sighed Hermione. "You can be so dense sometimes. Why do you think Harry isn't here right now?"
Ron shrugged. "He had to go to the bathroom?"
"Honestly," Hermione muttered under her breath. "If you'll just come sit next to me, maybe you would understand what I'm talking about." Reluctantly, Ron joined Hermione, who was peering out of the window.
~*~
Ginny looked dumbfounded at Harry lying below her in the freshly fallen snow. He made a feeble and fruitless attempt to get back onto the bench.
Without saying a word, Ginny extended her hand to him and helped him to pull himself up.
"Thanks," he muttered, straightening his robes. She didn't answer.
"You know, you punch pretty hard," he said, rubbing his nose tenderly. "I guess you have to, with jerks like me after you all the time."
Ginny snorted. "That's the first honest thing you've said to me, you know."
"I know," Harry said, sighing. "But I came down here to tell you something. I know that it seems that I don't care about you Ginny," he started. "I've been really, really stupid about all this, and I wish I could take back all of the things I've done to you. I had always thought I was in love with Hermione, when..." He trailed off.
"When what?" asked Ginny, looking up at him.
"When all this time," he continued, taking Ginny's hands into his, "I had been in love with you. As soon as I left you in the corridor early and sat down with Hermione, I realized that you were the only person in the world that I wanted to be with. Ever."
Ginny drew in a quick breath. "Harry, I wish I could believe you, I honestly do, but I can't." She drew her hands back and stood up. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." She began to walk back to the castle.
"Wait!" Harry called after her. "You can't just...just get up and leave. I wasn't done talking to you yet...!"
"You weren't done talking to me yet?" Ginny asked incredulously. "Harry, I'm not stupid, okay? So you can Hermione had a fight and now you want to make her jealous again. Who cares about me, anyway? Certainly not you."
"Ginny, you don't know how much it hurts me to hear you say that about me," said Harry helplessly. "If you'd just give me a chance, then maybe you'd see."
"Maybe I'd see what? What a sleazy little rat you are? Harry, I've already given you one chance, and you've shown me that one was far too many. Now, if you please, I'll be going now." She stared at Harry with a loathsome glare.
"Have you ever wanted something so badly," Harry said softly before she walked off again, "so badly that you would do anything, anything, to get it? And just when you think it's within your reach, it leaves?"
Ginny sighed. Of course, she knew exactly the feeling that he was talking about. She had yearned after Harry so hopelessly for the last six years, and then when it finally felt like he was hers, he turned around and went back to Hermione. Ginny knew that she shouldn't have any pity for Harry after what he had done for her, but she couldn't help but turn around and listen to what he had to say.
"It may not seem like it, but you mean the world to me," Harry continued. "I wouldn't mind being stranded on a desert island forever if you were there to keep me company. With the thought that I could wake up every morning to you, I would hardly notice the boiling sun beating on my back and my parched throat crying for water and the sand in my hair. Ginny, I wish there was some way to make you understand what I feel."
"If you really feel that way about me, why did you go and use me like that?" snapped Ginny.
"You have no idea how much I wish that I had never done that," said Harry earnestly. "Please, believe me, Ginny." He walked toward her slowly and picked up her hands again. "Please."
~*~
"They're holding hands?" Ron was looking out of one of the many windows in the Gryffindor common room down at Harry and Ginny on the front lawn.
"Yes," said Hermione. "Is that so hard to believe?"
"As a matter of fact," Ron said, turning away from the window, "it is. If I were Ginny, I probably would have socked him a good one right in the nose."
"Ron!" scolded Hermione. "Harry was being very sincere when he left to go talk to Ginny. I think that he really loves her."
"Yeah, whatever," sighed Ron. "But if he tries to pull any other crap..." He broke off and made a violent gesture in the air.
Hermione glared at him disapprovingly. "Honestly, you are so immature that it is hard to believe you're seventeen."
"You mean I'm seventeen already?" Ron looked surprised. "Whoa, cool!"
"Case in point," muttered Hermione to herself.
"Did you say something?" asked Ron, prepared to be offended.
"Of course not," Hermione assured him. "Now have you copied your notes for Potions yet? Exams are only five months away."
Ron rolled his eyes and followed Hermione to go grab his books.
~*~
Ginny looked up and met Harry's gaze. She thought back to the first time that she had done this. She had been so sure that Harry had been sincere, that he had liked her. But then he had turned around and broke her heart. Now she was back at the same place. It seemed that they had gotten so far, and suddenly everything started rewinding. He was asking her to trust him again. Doubts fluttered through her mind. She didn't want to make the same mistakes. As his deep green eyes and her bright brown ones met, she decided.
"Harry, we both know that you have done some stupid stuff. And that I probably shouldn't be giving you a second chance. And that what I am about to say I am probably going to regret." Ginny stopped for a moment. "But I can't help it, Harry. I love you. With all my heart. Even if I didn't want to."
Harry's face lit up, and Ginny couldn't help but smile. The two walked back up to the castle, hand in hand.
A/N Aww...wasn't that sweet? ::wipes eyes:: Okay, I know the title seems really lame now because it was only one line. But whatever. I thought it sounded cool. So what about that punch, eh? I was *so* looking forward to writing this chapter so I could put that in. Buttkicking!Ginny is by far my favorite. After this there is going to be an epilogue, but that is it. You know, it may seem pathetic, but this is the first story I have ever finished. Wow. Merry Christmas!
Harry stared out of the window blankly. It was a very cold afternoon, and he was glad to be inside, in front of the warm fire with Hermione. He let his forehead touch the glass--it was freezing. He shivered as his skin came in contact with the ice-cold glass, and he felt goosebumps run up and down his arms. Straightening back up, he turned to gaze out onto the front lawn again. It really is beautiful, he thought to himself. Everything was coated in a thick layer of snow and ice as far as the eye could see. The forest, the lake, the bordering trees...he focused on one in particular, however. One with a bench under it. And somebody appeared to be occupying that bench. He peered closer. The figure moved over a bit to lean onto the tree to it's left. As it moved, the hood of it's cloak moved just enough to reveal a lock of flaming red hair. Ginny.
Harry sighed deeply and pulled Hermione closer to him. There wasn't any reason for him to feel guilty, really. Why should he? He had never liked Ginny, so if he had continued to go out with her, that would be worse than dumping her to get at Hermione. It would have been deceitful to continue seeing her if he didn't feel such feelings for her...or did her? As Harry thought about Ginny, he noticed that he started to flush a bit, and that his heart started racing, and that his stomach was flip-flopping. His mind went back to his third-year Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, when he had stood face-to-face with Cho Chang, his cheeks flushing, his heart racing, and his stomach flip-flopping.
As he turned away from the window, he noticed that Hermione had been looking up at him, studying his face.
"Harry," she said softly, still examining him.
"Yes?"
"I understand," she replied, with her know-it-all kind of voice.
"You understand what?" asked Harry, slightly confused.
Hermione towards the window and sighed. "You know."
He followed her gaze, and was startled to discover that it led to the very spot that he had been surveying moments before. A sudden gust of wind blew past, and Ginny drew her cloak closer around her. Harry gulped.
"Hermione..." he started.
"No. It's okay. I felt it, too." She stood up and made to leave, but turned back around. Taking Harry's hands in to hers, she said, "I love you as much as one person can love another. But now I realize that the love we have for each other is different. I love you as the brother I never had, and I hope that I am like a sister to you. I know now that it was never anything beyond than that, and it never will be, but there is nothing that will surpass the love one has for family." She gave him a hug. "Good luck with Ginny," she whispered into his ear.
Harry smiled. After all, there was nothing like family.
~*~
After bundling up in his sweater, cloak, scarf, and gloves, Harry bounded out of the Gryffindor common room. He slowed down as he neared the entrance hall, however. Spotting a wooden chair nearby, he sat down.
What would he say?
He had been such a jerk. He had acted like such an idiot, treating Ginny like a pawn that he used only to get what he wanted. Of course, how could he have ever thought of her as anything else? After all, she was just Ron's little sister, a young girl a year beneath him, a pest who tagged along everywhere.
Yes, that was all she had been to him. A pest. Her constant attentions in his second year had been a form of great embarrassment--he nearly died when he received a singing Valentine in the middle of the hallway, surrounded by students.
That was how he had thought of her a month ago, when Hermione had broken up with him. He wanted something, and he could use her to get it. What mattered of her feelings? She was too young to know love, after all, wasn't she?
Harry let his head lean back until it hit the wall. A bigger idiot had never walked the earth. How could he have ever thought all these things about Ginny? Ginny, the sweet, charming, beautiful Ginny that he knew and had abused.
Of course, in the beginning he hadn't thought of Ginny as sweet, charming, or beautiful. No, in the beginning he hardly thought anything of her. In fact, it wasn't until she was gone that he realized how much she had come to mean to him. How much she had meant to him all along.
But things weren't going to work themselves out as he sat kicking himself in the hall. He stood up and walked over to the monstrous oak doors, his footsteps echoing eerily in the large and deserted room. The doors opened with a long creak, and Harry pulled his cloak closer around as the cold wind nipped at his face. He scanned the snowy landscape for a charcoal-colored figure; after a quick look around, he spotted her, the only break in a sea of white, like an angel stranded in the snow. Faltering slightly as he fought to break a path in the deep snow, he headed off in her direction.
~*~
Ron made his way from the library up to the common room. His mind was still occupied with thoughts of Harry and Hermione. He muttered the password to the Fat Lady, and the portrait swung open. Spotting Seamus and Dean playing a game of wizard's chess, he walked over to watch.
"Hullo, Ron," said Seamus jovially, watching his queen take out Dean's knight. "Lovely game, chess."
"Yeah, yeah," scowled Dean. "Whatever."
"He's just bitter because I'm beating the pants off of him," Seamus said. "I've wiped out half of his pieces, and I still have all but one of mine." He smirked across the short table at Dean as Dean's king was put into checkmate by Seamus's queen.
"Oh, shut up," Dean replied. "You won't be so smug when I beat you next time." He began resetting the board. "You wanna play, Ron?" he asked, looking up.
"No, that's okay. I'll think I'll go finish that essay for McGonagall, I haven't even started..." Ron trailed off as he made to go up to the boys' dorm. As he turned to leave, however, he spotter Hermione sitting by the fire. Alone.
~*~
Harry felt like the walk to the lake was going to take forever. The cold winter air stung his lungs as he panted after trudging through the knee-high snow. Finally, however, he reached the tree under which Ginny was sitting. He drew up his breath nervously and cleared his throat. Slowly, Ginny turned around. As soon as she saw him, she swept back around and left him to stare at her back.
"Ginny," Harry said. "I--I wanted to talk to you."
There was silence for a moment. "Go away, Harry," Ginny finally said.
"But, Gin..." started Harry.
"I said go away," she replied firmly.
"No!" he said. "In fact, I think I am going to join you right here." He plopped down on the bench beside her.
The silence was deafening. They both sat there for nearly a quarter of an hour, saying nothing to each other. After twenty minutes, however, Harry made another attempt.
"Listen, Ginny, I came out here to tell you something, and I want you to listen," said Harry.
"I don't care," replied Ginny flatly. "I have no reason to talk to you." She started to turn back toward the tree, but Harry grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.
"Ginny, listen," he began. "I wanted to tell you--" He stopped and looked at Ginny. Her face was contorted with anger. "Is something wrong?"
"Is something wrong?!" Ginny exploded, apoplectic with rage. "You have the nerve to come down here and ask me what's wrong?!"
The two looked at each other for a moment, Ginny glaring and Harry trying to figure out what she was thinking.
Then, without any warning, Ginny punched Harry squarely in the nose and he toppled over backwards into the soft snow.
~*~
Ron walked over to Hermione a little more quickly than he would have intended to.
"Oh, hello, Ron," said Hermione pleasantly, turning at the sound of his loud footsteps.
"Hey, Hermione," said Ron.
"What's up?"
"Where's Harry?" Ron asked, not bothering to beat around the bush. Hermione looked at him meaningfully for a moment.
"He left a while ago. Why?"
"I wanted to talk to him," he answered. "About Ginny."
"Oh, Ron," sighed Hermione. "You can be so dense sometimes. Why do you think Harry isn't here right now?"
Ron shrugged. "He had to go to the bathroom?"
"Honestly," Hermione muttered under her breath. "If you'll just come sit next to me, maybe you would understand what I'm talking about." Reluctantly, Ron joined Hermione, who was peering out of the window.
~*~
Ginny looked dumbfounded at Harry lying below her in the freshly fallen snow. He made a feeble and fruitless attempt to get back onto the bench.
Without saying a word, Ginny extended her hand to him and helped him to pull himself up.
"Thanks," he muttered, straightening his robes. She didn't answer.
"You know, you punch pretty hard," he said, rubbing his nose tenderly. "I guess you have to, with jerks like me after you all the time."
Ginny snorted. "That's the first honest thing you've said to me, you know."
"I know," Harry said, sighing. "But I came down here to tell you something. I know that it seems that I don't care about you Ginny," he started. "I've been really, really stupid about all this, and I wish I could take back all of the things I've done to you. I had always thought I was in love with Hermione, when..." He trailed off.
"When what?" asked Ginny, looking up at him.
"When all this time," he continued, taking Ginny's hands into his, "I had been in love with you. As soon as I left you in the corridor early and sat down with Hermione, I realized that you were the only person in the world that I wanted to be with. Ever."
Ginny drew in a quick breath. "Harry, I wish I could believe you, I honestly do, but I can't." She drew her hands back and stood up. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." She began to walk back to the castle.
"Wait!" Harry called after her. "You can't just...just get up and leave. I wasn't done talking to you yet...!"
"You weren't done talking to me yet?" Ginny asked incredulously. "Harry, I'm not stupid, okay? So you can Hermione had a fight and now you want to make her jealous again. Who cares about me, anyway? Certainly not you."
"Ginny, you don't know how much it hurts me to hear you say that about me," said Harry helplessly. "If you'd just give me a chance, then maybe you'd see."
"Maybe I'd see what? What a sleazy little rat you are? Harry, I've already given you one chance, and you've shown me that one was far too many. Now, if you please, I'll be going now." She stared at Harry with a loathsome glare.
"Have you ever wanted something so badly," Harry said softly before she walked off again, "so badly that you would do anything, anything, to get it? And just when you think it's within your reach, it leaves?"
Ginny sighed. Of course, she knew exactly the feeling that he was talking about. She had yearned after Harry so hopelessly for the last six years, and then when it finally felt like he was hers, he turned around and went back to Hermione. Ginny knew that she shouldn't have any pity for Harry after what he had done for her, but she couldn't help but turn around and listen to what he had to say.
"It may not seem like it, but you mean the world to me," Harry continued. "I wouldn't mind being stranded on a desert island forever if you were there to keep me company. With the thought that I could wake up every morning to you, I would hardly notice the boiling sun beating on my back and my parched throat crying for water and the sand in my hair. Ginny, I wish there was some way to make you understand what I feel."
"If you really feel that way about me, why did you go and use me like that?" snapped Ginny.
"You have no idea how much I wish that I had never done that," said Harry earnestly. "Please, believe me, Ginny." He walked toward her slowly and picked up her hands again. "Please."
~*~
"They're holding hands?" Ron was looking out of one of the many windows in the Gryffindor common room down at Harry and Ginny on the front lawn.
"Yes," said Hermione. "Is that so hard to believe?"
"As a matter of fact," Ron said, turning away from the window, "it is. If I were Ginny, I probably would have socked him a good one right in the nose."
"Ron!" scolded Hermione. "Harry was being very sincere when he left to go talk to Ginny. I think that he really loves her."
"Yeah, whatever," sighed Ron. "But if he tries to pull any other crap..." He broke off and made a violent gesture in the air.
Hermione glared at him disapprovingly. "Honestly, you are so immature that it is hard to believe you're seventeen."
"You mean I'm seventeen already?" Ron looked surprised. "Whoa, cool!"
"Case in point," muttered Hermione to herself.
"Did you say something?" asked Ron, prepared to be offended.
"Of course not," Hermione assured him. "Now have you copied your notes for Potions yet? Exams are only five months away."
Ron rolled his eyes and followed Hermione to go grab his books.
~*~
Ginny looked up and met Harry's gaze. She thought back to the first time that she had done this. She had been so sure that Harry had been sincere, that he had liked her. But then he had turned around and broke her heart. Now she was back at the same place. It seemed that they had gotten so far, and suddenly everything started rewinding. He was asking her to trust him again. Doubts fluttered through her mind. She didn't want to make the same mistakes. As his deep green eyes and her bright brown ones met, she decided.
"Harry, we both know that you have done some stupid stuff. And that I probably shouldn't be giving you a second chance. And that what I am about to say I am probably going to regret." Ginny stopped for a moment. "But I can't help it, Harry. I love you. With all my heart. Even if I didn't want to."
Harry's face lit up, and Ginny couldn't help but smile. The two walked back up to the castle, hand in hand.
A/N Aww...wasn't that sweet? ::wipes eyes:: Okay, I know the title seems really lame now because it was only one line. But whatever. I thought it sounded cool. So what about that punch, eh? I was *so* looking forward to writing this chapter so I could put that in. Buttkicking!Ginny is by far my favorite. After this there is going to be an epilogue, but that is it. You know, it may seem pathetic, but this is the first story I have ever finished. Wow. Merry Christmas!
