A/N: all right, people, here's chapter three, the most romantic chapter of the whole story. Sorry to disappoint you, but the love scene won't be 'detailed', since the story is rated PG13, and not NC17. (IMHO writing an NC17-rated story in HP category is a real sacrilege. But that's only my opinion.)
I have to say thanks to my wonderful mom again, who persuaded me to make this chapter be a bit more romantic than it originally was – she was right, this is really that particular chapter that really NEEDS to be romantic – you'll see why.
Okay, enjoy, and forgive me for my grammatical mistakes.
Chapter 3
Memories of bubble bath
As Harry walked back to his dorm from the medic bay, he was thinking of the events of the last six weeks. He couldn't express with words how relieved he felt. Ginny was only sick, and not… Suddenly he remembered Trelawney's vision about a birth. *Utter rubbish!*
He still remembered every second of that very evening he got an owl-post from the youngest Weasley…
Dear Harry,
Could we talk privately, please? I've got to tell you something important. Just name the time and place and I'll be there. Thanks in advance.
Ginny
Harry hadn't the slightest idea what the girl wanted from him, but he felt a strange warmth engulf his body…
Funny, he thought, he hadn't even realised how pretty that girl had become… but at that very moment his hands holding the letter began to shake, and his heart began to pound loudly - quicker than ever before. He still remembered his feelings towards Cho, but those emotions seemed suddenly very distant – as though they had come from an earlier life…
Since Ginny wished to meet him in private, he sent Hedwig with the answer that they should meet at 22:00 in the prefect's bathroom. That was the safest place he could think of, and he even knew the current password, because he had overheard Hermione telling it to another prefect shortly after it had been changed.
Harry had to smile at the thought of himself sneaking into the bath three years earlier, when he had to solve the riddle of the golden egg. Back then the password was 'Pine fresh'. Now it was 'eau de Cologne'. How very appropriate for the prefect's bath!
By the time he arrived at the door of the bath at ten o'clock, Ginny had already been waiting for him inside, since he had written her the password in his reply letter.
He entered the bath, closed the door behind himself and walked up to a very shy-looking Ginny. She was wearing her Barbie-pink night dress and her black cloak over it.
"I'm here." Harry said.
"I see." she replied with a timid smile.
"Um, why did you want to talk to me between the two of us?"
"I… I wanted… needed to tell you, Harry…" she began, her voice trembling, her whole body shaking.
"Yes? What did you need to tell me?" he cupped her chin and lifted her face to be able to look directly into her eyes.
Strange, he perceived, up till now he'd never realised what beautiful chocolate brown eyes she had. He was used to seeing her with her eyes downcast when he was nearby… then the recognition struck him: she only cast down her eyes and behaved timidly when HE was nearby. Ron told him that Ginny had always been a very chipper girl, but it never occurred to him to ask Ron why his sister was so shy when he, Harry, was concerned.
Now he managed to understand, why. This girl loved him… earlier he used to think that Ginny only admired him, like Colin or Dobby… but now, for the first time, he understood that it was not simply admiration – it was LOVE...
…and suddenly he realised what that funny feeling that came over him while reading her letter meant…
…he realised that he actually loved her – and not as a friend, or as the little sister of his best friend…
NO. He loved her as a man would love a woman.
"I…" she began again, eager to answer his question, but clearly too afraid to complete the sentence.
"You love me, don't you?" he blurted out, then a second later he regretted doing so. *For Voldemort's sake, how could I ask something like that? What will she think of me now? She'd think that I'm as stuck-up as Malfoy!*
But Ginny wasn't hurt by his question. Not at all. She was relieved. Relieved, that she didn't have to say it, because he had done it for her.
"Sorry, Ginny, I… I was stupid." Harry let go of her. "Now you have all reasons to think that I'm nothing better than Draco, but…" he couldn't finish his apology, since Ginny stepped forward and did the bravest thing in her life: she clamped her hand over his mouth to stop the tirade that was about to come.
"You don't need to apologise, Harry." she said, her right had still on his lips. "You were right. I… I love you…loved you… from the first moment I saw you at King's Cross, on platform nine and three-quarters."
"Really?" Harry thought he might be dreaming. No one in his whole life had told him that they loved him. His parents died when he was one year old, and his foster parents, the Dursleys never told him that they loved him – no, actually they hated him with all their hearts. Later he had friends, but they only liked him, not loved him.
Ginny was the first to tell him this magical word.
"Uh-huh." she nodded, her blush perceivable even in the dimly-lit bathroom. "You are not mad because I love you, are you, Harry?"
"How… how can you think of such a thing?" he knitted his eyebrows. "Mad? No, Ginny, on the contrary. I'm glad that you love me."
A huge smile spread on the girl's face, her eyes radiating infinite happiness, as if they were two bright suns illuminating the whole room.
"Yes." he replied, his countenance mirroring hers.
"Great!" she yelled, falling on his neck, embracing him so tightly that he thought he'd suffocate.
After a minute or two he gently pushed her away. "You are throttling me, sweetheart."
"Sweetheart?" her face lit up again, like the sun at the zenith. "You really called me by that name?"
"Why? Don't you like it?"
"But of course I do! No one has ever called me that before!" she flung her arms around his neck again, her chocolate-coloured eyes boring deeply into his emerald ones. "Would you like to kiss me?"
Her proposal was rewarded by a mischievous grin. "Of course I would." he bent down to her and softly placed his lips on hers. At first their kiss was a totally innocent, childish one, but as they got more and more accustomed to feeling the other's mouth on their own, the kiss started to become more and more feverish. Suddenly Harry drew back. "Gosh, Ginny, I can't stand that heat anymore!"
"Then cool yourself down a bit." she advised, pointing her finger at the swimming pool.
Harry turned red. "I don't have my swimming trunks with me."
"I'll turn my back on you until you get undressed, okay?" she giggled.
*Why not? I could do with a nice swim.* he thought, and turned on some taps that had different coloured jewels in them, indicating what type of bubble bath they could produce.
When the pool was filled with foam, Harry slipped out of his robes and pyjamas and slid into the water. It wasn't as warm as a usual bath should be, but for him it was perfect, since he wanted to 'cool himself down'.
He swam to the other end the pool and was happy to notice that he was quickly cooling down. When he turned to swim back, he saw an orange point among the bubbles about ten metres from himself. It was Ginny's hair.
"Wow, this is really wonderful, Harry!" she squealed, waving him to swim back to her.
Harry lifted his head and peered out of the pool. His suspicion was proven right: Ginny's clothes were lying discarded on the floor.
He gulped. They were in the same swimming pool, both naked. He was grateful to the fragrant foam for covering their bodies.
"Hey, Harry, have you seen this?" she beckoned him closer, showing a rubber duck in her outstretched hand. "Which one of the prefects do you think could be playing with this?"
"No idea." he grinned. "But I bet it belongs to Malfoy."
Ginny started to laugh, her voice echoing in the room. "Oh, Harry, you are so funny! Hey, you shouldn't be still wearing these." she reached out and took his glasses. "They can get wet, you know." she took his glasses, reached out of the pool and placed them on the tile floor. "Much better." she flung her arms around him, pulling him closer. Too close, in Harry's opinion.
*Don't do this to me, please!* his mind screamed as he felt himself getting hard. He swallowed the lump in his throat. *If she makes another step, I won't be able to control myself!* a shiver ran down his spine from the idea of her making another step. He started to quiver, though he felt extremely hot again. As the girl's arms embraced him, her soft, silky skin touching his, he realised that he was lost. There was no way to back out now.
* * * * *
"Oh, Ginny, this was… the most wonderful thing I've ever experienced!" Harry sighed after the very first lovemaking of their lives, stretching out on the soft towel they'd put on the floor.
"It was wonderful for me, too. I've never thought that love could be this beautiful." she answered, sweeping a stray jet-black lock from his face. Her dreamy stare travelled up and down his body, finally stopping on his lightning-shaped scar. "I love you so much."
Harry bent down and kissed her forehead. "I love you too." his smiled faded a bit. "I didn't want to hurt you, you know that, don't you?"
"Stop worrying about that, Harry." she answered. "It was supposed to hurt a bit, but it's okay now. Anyway, it was only because you are too big."
"Big?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I thought it was normal… how d'ya know…?"
Harry didn't finish his sentence, because Ginny began to giggle fervently.
"I have SIX brothers, you know." she smirked. "You cannot help catching glimpses every now and then…"
"Oh." he grinned. "I thought your mother was careful to see to that you wouldn't 'catch glimpses'…" Harry suddenly slapped his forehead, turning as white as a sheet. "Careful??? Holy Horntails, Ginny, we weren't…! We didn't use protection!"
"Huh?" she sat up, blood running out of her face.
Harry was right. They let their hormones take over and guide them into doing the wildest things one could think of, and they totally forgot to use protection.
She jumped up, hastily pulled on her night dress and grabbed a towel to dry her hair.
"Ginny…" he had no idea what to say.
"Too late, Harry. We should have thought a bit earlier." she scowled at him.
Her stare was freezing, and he felt that he was turning into an icicle. He also grabbed a towel and started to dry himself. "Listen, Ginny, maybe… there might be a charm that prohibits conception even after it happened, and… it's by far not sure that is happened at all."
She nodded. "I'll go to the library and look for something like that. Good night."
As the door behind Ginny slammed shut, Harry sat down on the floor with a deep sigh. He couldn't believe he had done it. He covered his face with his hands, trying to close out the whole world. He didn't succeed.
"Finally alone, are you?" a voice broke the silence.
Harry looked up to see Moaning Myrtle sitting on one of the taps. The usually depressed girl was smirking wickedly now.
"M…Myrtle?" he stammered, grabbing the towel to cover himself. "What are you doing here?"
"Just the usual. Watching people bath."
Harry blanched. "How long have you been here?"
The ghost gave him an impish grin. "Long, looong, looooong."
"How long?" he swallowed hard.
"Long enough to see… everything." she shrugged.
He hopped up and dashed to her, dropping to his knees before her. "Myrtle, you won't tell it anyone, will you?"
She saw his lips trembling and started to chortle. "No, Harry boy, I'll keep your little secret in exchange for what you've given me."
"Me? What have I given you?" he gaped. He had been sure that Myrtle would be happy to spread gossips about him.
"What?" she couldn't stop laughing. "Are you asking what you've given me? Boy! You've given me the most pleasurable hour of my life! Er, I mean, my life after death… or whatever. Never mind, I've never enjoyed myself this much. Not even when I lived." she winked at him. "You do have a stamina, Harry. I almost wished I could be in Ginny's place."
Harry's whole face turned as red as his scar. He stood up and put on his glasses, pyjamas and robes.
"I've got to go, Myrtle."
"Okay," she giggled, "but whenever you and Ginny feel like getting horizontal, just feel free to come here!"
* * * * *
After that night Harry and Ginny barely talked to each other. When they met on the corridor, they diverted their eyes. Neither Ron nor Hermione noticed how strangely these two were behaving.
Actually Harry didn't have time to lament on the events, since Quidditch-season started at the beginning of October.
Harry had no idea how much time Ginny spent in the library after their little fling. She searched and searched, day in, day out, but for days she found nothing. Four days after the night they spent in the prefect's bathroom, she finally found the right charm. It was quite a difficult one, but she decided to try it, no matter what. She didn't have anything to lose, so she tried it. The knowledge of having done something calmed her a bit, though she couldn't be sure that she actually succeeded or not.
… OR NOT…
Now, six weeks later Harry was sure that their fears were unfounded. He heaved a sigh of relief as he entered the dormitory.
All the four other boys were fast asleep. He climbed into his bed and dropped off a second later.
He hadn't been asleep for ten minutes when the door opened with a loud bang and a very upset Miss Granger burst into the room.
"They lied to us, guys!"
"What happened, hon?" Ron pulled back to curtain of his four-poster, blinking. "Don't you have a better thing to do than wake us in the middle of the night?"
"It's only 22:00, Ron, it's not that late!" she stated.
"But we had a hard day, Herm. We are tired, you know, and tomorrow we'll have to write that damned test in history of magic." Ron protested. "I know that you'd know all the answers, even if you were woken from your deepest slumber, but it's you and not me. I need sleeping if I want to reach at least 70 %."
"I agree." Seamus yawned. "I had a hard time memorising the names of Uldric the Ugly and Paddy the Puny, Hermione. I want to sleep!"
"You'll sleep after you've listened to me." she declared and pulled open the curtains of Neville and Dean's bed.
Harry didn't stir, but Dean and Neville woke up.
"Okay, Herm, fire away then leave us alone!" Ron sighed. "Who lied to whom?"
"Pomfrey lied to us. To everyone." she dropped herself down on Ron's bed. "There's no illness called clupea. I wanted to look it up in the Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions, but it wasn't there. Then I looked it up in a Latin dictionary, and do you know what it means?"
"No, and I'm not interested either." Ron yawned.
"It means herring!" she shouted. "Herring!"
"And? Maybe Ron's sister got her illness from a fish she had once eaten." Dean commented.
Neville nodded eagerly. "Pomfrey wouldn't lie to us. Never. She is such a nice woman!"
"Exactly." Seamus agreed. "And now get out, Granger!"
Hermione stood up, deeply hurt. "Next time I'll find another riddle, don't expect me to share it with you!"
"We won't!" Dean and Seamus replied in unison.
"Okay!" the girl turned her back on them and left the room, banging the door behind herself.
"At last!" Ron sighed and fell back into his pillows. "She can be so irritating sometimes."
"Is that why you called her hon?" Seamus smirked.
"Um, did I?" Ron blushed. "Must have been a slip of the tongue."
"Sure." Seamus and Dean exchanged wicked glimpses. Granger's late visit had at least one advantage: she gave them a wonderful opportunity to tease Ron.
"Okay, shall we sleep, boys?" Seamus suggested. "I'll have to get up early and write a cheat sheet about the names of the goblins who took part in the revolution of 1612."
"Good idea." Dean said. "I'll do the same. Binns won't notice it. He didn't even notice when he died, so he won't notice if we are using cheat sheets, will he?"
"No, he won't." Ron agreed. "You know, Harry did the right thing, guys. He didn't even wake up. He had a busy day, didn't he? I'm also drowsy. 'night, boys."
"'night."
They were just about to drop off when the door of their dorm opened again and Madame Pomfrey dashed in.
All four boys, who were still awake, sat up in their beds. Harry didn't stir.
"Sorry to bother you so late, boys, but I see you aren't asleep yet." she said. The boys were surprised to see a worried and maybe furious expression on her face.
"Wake up Potter." she continued. "Professor McGonagall wishes to see him."
A/N2: there, you've got it. I need to tell that I'm really no expert on writing romantic scenes, so this one was a real struggle for me. Reassure me that it was worth the struggle – REVIEW!!!
Next chapter will be up soon: Harry having a little 'chat' with McGonagall… (well, more than just a little 'chat') ;-)