Disclaimer, etc. in first part.
Dedicated: To the Sugar Quill!
The Last Word on the Matter
Harry Potter wandered into the Hogwarts kitchens, intent on a snack; teasing his friends into any sort of admissions of feelings was hard, hungry work. "Hey, Dobby," he called out, "I don't suppose there's any…whoa!" Harry took a step backward. He'd expected to see the normal, happy bustle of the kitchen. It wasn't what he found.
The elves were stationed around the room and each one was working independently; the elves that didn't look miserable looked mutinous. "Harry Potter, sir." Dobby's normally exuberant voice was dull. "What is Winky, who is today in charge of food, able to get sir?"
"Um…" Harry picked his way through the eerily silent room to where Dobby was working and sat down beside him. "Well, I wanted a slice of pie…" in the corner Winky sobbed openly and cut into a pie. "Dobby, I don't want to be intrusive, but what in the name of Merlin is going on?"
Dobby's ears drooped. "We is having 'regularly assigned tasks'. Today is Winky's day as cook, bottle washer and I is potato peeler, letter sealer. Tomorrow…" trailed off brokenly. "It is, sir, our 'new, efficient, way of getting things done'."
"This is Hermione's doing, isn't it?" Harry groaned. All the elves nodded. Winky threw the slice of pie on the floor at Hermione's name. "Well, look, Dobby, I'll talk to her and bring her around when I can. Right now she and Ron are either avoiding each other or snogging each other."
"What?" Ginny Weasley stood in the doorway with eyebrows raised. "How did that happen?"
Harry grinned at her as she made her way to chair across from him. "Oh, well…it all started when Hermione said she and I were like cabbages and crocodiles and went on from there."
"Okay," Ginny shrugged acceptingly. "What's wrong with Winky?" She gestured to the elf, who was now wailing on the floor.
"Hermione's new regime isn't working out," Harry explained. Winky screamed. "Maybe we should change the subject?"
Ginny smiled sweetly and leaned across the table. "Alright. How about…now that my brother's head has finally cracked enough to let his feelings out, do you think yours will as well so that you'll finally admit how you feel about me?
"Uh…" Harry's voice cracked, "um…tell me more about my eyes?" he heard himself say stupidly.
Ginny Weasley laughed lightly and kissed him soundly. Harry forgot all about his eyes.