Title: "An Abundance of Third Wheels"

Author: Emmyjean

Classification: H/G, R/H, G/Other, Multiple POV

Summary: Ron and Hermione are finally a couple, and Harry is only beginning to realize his true feelings for Ginny - but is it too little, too late? Set during Harry's seventh year.

Spoilers: Through Goblet of Fire

Rating: PG

Notes: Everything belongs to Rowling.

PART TEN

"Justin…you really didn't need to walk me up. It's out of your way completely," Ginny said, struggling not to stammer as she stood in the darkened corridor with Justin. He was standing very close to her.

"It's alright...I wanted to," he replied in a quiet voice which for some reason made shivers rush down her spine.

"Well," she began, but then made the mistake of looking up at his face, and lost her train of thought entirely. He was looking at her in a way no boy had ever done before...as if he was trying to absorb her with his eyes. She swallowed, and felt him step almost imperceptibly closer to her. She thought she must have imagined it...but then he reached out and gently took her hands in his.

She felt herself getting dizzy as her breathing became heavier out of sheer nerves, and he very slowly bent his head toward hers - an action which was made even more gradual with the fact that time seemed to be going in slow-motion for Ginny. He was going to kiss her - she knew it somehow. She had known it was going to happen from the minute he suggested he walk her back to Gryffindor Tower - and she hadn't done anything to stop it. She didn't even know if she wanted to stop it...or if she wanted him to do it. It was too late to think about it now, and she closed her eyes and allowed her mind to shut down as he grew closer...she could feel his warm breath on her lips...

"GINNY!"

Ginny jumped back so fast she almost pushed Justin away from her. Disconcerted, she looked about for the voice she recognized but was too afraid to place - and was soon met with the sight she was dreading she'd see. There, about fifteen feet away in the dark hallway, stood Ron. His arms were crossed in front of him, his feet were spread apart in silent challenge, and his face wore a murderous expression. Ginny almost fainted when she recognized that the figure that was standing hidden in the shadows behind him was...Harry.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Ron shouted - but he wasn't looking at Ginny now. He was addressing Justin.

Ginny glanced at Justin, and found Ron's furious expression mirrored on his handsome face...only when he spoke, it wasn't to her brother.

"What is your problem, Potter?" he grit out.

Ginny's perplexed eyes shot back to Ron and Harry...and what she saw made her face go white. Harry wasn't confused at Justin's words, nor was he angry. The only word Ginny knew that accurately desribed his expression was - triumphant. A small, cocky smile creeped across his face, and his arms were crossed in front of him in self-satisfaction.

"Did I miss something or did you, Fletchley? I asked you a bloody question...you answer ME," Ron said incredulously.

"Or can't you stand to lose at anything? No, not the great Harry Potter..." Justin continued as if he hadn't heard Ron speak. Ron's face went visibly red even in the shadows of the corridor, and Harry's eyebrows merely shot up infuriatingly.

"Harry has nothing to do with this!" Ron shouted, his arms uncrossing.

"The bloody hell he doesn't," Justin said dangerously, "She's nothing more than another contest to him...another Quidditch match, another snitch to catch..."

"Enough!" Ron yelled, "I want to know what the HELL you think you're doing, standing here in a darkened hall alone with my sister! What were you planning on doing, snogging her silly right in front of the Fat Lady? Do you have any idea what that would do to her reputation?"

Ginny couldn't stand to hear any more. She decided that because no one seemed to be noting her presence at all anymore anyway, and also because she was about to burst into tears, she would simply take this opportunity to leave. She'd kill Ron later, and Justin...and Harry. She felt she could die of humiliation right this minute. Turning, she choked out the password to the worried-looking fat lady, who thankfully swung open obligingly to let her through.

No one tried to stop her.

She paced the common room, trying to get her breathing under control. If she didn't, it was very likely to turn into sobs at any moment. She couldn't believe Ron would do this to her. After all, wasn't everyone entitled to their own romantic lives without worry of interference and embarrassment? Didn't she keep her nose out of anything he and Hermione ever did, even if she knew it wasn't something Mum would like? Didn't she keep his confidences?

She stopped pacing and sighed painfully - she had thought that she and Ron were closer than all this. She had thought she could trust him.

Suddenly, the portrait hole slid open, and she turned just in time to see Harry climb through in his immaculate green dress robes. The passage closed behind him as he started towards her.

"Harry," she wailed miserably, knowing how awful she must sound, "Why didn't you stop him? How could you let him DO this to me?"

Harry's brows furrowed as he stopped a few feet away from her.

"I did stop him," he replied.

"What?" Ginny was completely confused, "What are you talking about? You were standing right behind him...you didn't do anything! You didn't even speak!"

Harry's brilliant green eyes lit up in realization, and then darkened in anger as he replied vehemently,

"Stop him? I completely support Ron in what he did tonight."

"What?" she whispered, shocked.

Harry let out a silent huff of laughter, and continued, "What did you expect him to do, just stand by and let you get swept off your feet by a rake like Fletchley?"

Ginny frowned and shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"R-rake? I thought...I thought you two liked Justin?"

"Well, not anymore," was Harry's harsh reply.

Ginny felt rage bubbling up inside her...she had lost the support of her brother that night. Was she also going to lose her trust in Harry?

"What...what right do you have to make judgements, Harry Potter!?" she nearly screamed at him, her fists clenching at her sides.

He advanced on her, his eyes now blazing.

"How can you ask me that?"

Ginny laughed humorlessly and replied, "I don't NEED another brother telling me how to live my life, Harry!"

"I don't WANT to be your BROTHER, Ginny!" he shouted back, surprising her into silence. They were both breathing very heavily now.

Ginny suddenly felt her anger drain out of her as suddenly as it had come as she realized that they were standing very close together...her chest was almost touching his. She didn't break eye contact, and suddenly the atmosphere surrounding them changed. It became charged with a kind of tension that Ginny had never felt before, and her heart began to beat ten times faster because of it. Harry's eyes changed - they were no longer glinting with fury. There was something else in their depths now, something Ginny found strangely familiar...

Then it hit her like a ton of bricks to the chest. He was looking at her the same way Justin had been a few moments earlier. She swallowed, and felt as if she was going to burn up with heat and break out in a cold sweat at the same time. Her mind was reeling, and suddenly it was as if pieces of a puzzle were falling into place in her head. The things Justin had said to Harry in the corridor...the charm Harry had bought her...the way he was looking at her now. She thought she saw him lean closer, his eyes not leaving hers...

...and then the portrait hole slid open again and Ron came stomping in.

"The nerve of that prat! I don't know who the hell he thinks he is, talking to me like that...and anyway, what did YOU think you were doing?" he asked, rounding on Ginny, who had jumped back from Harry when Ron had come in.

"I...I don't..." she stammered, feeling her throat begin to clench. She couldn't believe this was happening...nothing was making sense. She had been having such a lovely night, and then this happened.

"I mean honestly, Ginny, don't you care at all about what people think of you? Or our family, for that matter?" Ron went on.

Ginny turned and looked at Harry, who was still looking at her...now with an expression on his face that was somewhere between puzzlement and shock. He obviously couldn't believe what he'd almost just done - of course. He hadn't meant for any of it to have happened just now. How could Ginny have thought that he actually wanted to kiss her...or something? He was probably thanking his lucky starts that Ron had interruped...and ended the foolish wishful thinking of a stupid, silly girl. She felt her lower lip begin to tremble and her eyes well up with tears.

"Ginny?" Ron ventured, his voice softer now.

She felt the tears begin to fall, and Harry's expression fell - he was now looking guilty. That was all she needed. Pity - from the boy she loved. No point in deluding herself anymore, as long as the truth was coming out.

Just then, the portrait hole slid open one last time...and an enraged Hermione climbed through.

"Ron!? Where in Merlin's name did you GO? I sat there like a fool, waiting for you to get back...but then I realized that you had obviously ditched me..." her voice trailed off and her eyes narrowed as they fell upon Ginny, who had indeed begun sobbing.

"What's wrong with Ginny?" she demanded, in a dangerous tone.

Ginny, unable to bear the awkwardness of the situation or the shame of her weeping in front of them any longer, turned, pushed past Harry, and ran up the stairs to the girls dormitories. She needed to lie down, to think, to be alone...to have a decent cry.

Then, maybe she'd be able to come to some kind of settlement with herself on how she was ever going to handle this nightmare - Justin, Ron, Hermione...Harry, and her feelings for him. Right now, all she wanted to do was go to sleep and never wake up again.

To Be Continued in Part Eleven

More fic by Emmyjean at

The Hidden Tower

www.hiddentower.50megs.com