Heavy black thunderclouds rolled threateningly across the darkening sky, eliminating any evidence that summer had any part in September at all. Fierce winds whipped the grassy grounds and sloping lawns of the mountain supporting Hogwarts, sending the trees in the Forbidden Forest into a chorus of unpleasant creaking, while dry autumn leaves raked the air with their uneven flight patterns.
The first roar of thunder rent the air as Harry forced open the great oak doors and ran out into the bitterly cold dark-blue world of the autumn evening. The first blast of wind he faced as he opened the doors almost sent flying backwards into the Entrance Hall, and as he began running down the sloping lawns he felt the first bullet-like raindrops slam into face.
Had he not re-encountered the Mirror of Erised ten minutes beforehand, he would have simply shrugged, decided he'd see Ginny in the morning, turned back and spent the rest of the evening in the cozy common room playing chess. It was madness to go out on a night like this one, but all reason had fled from Harry's mind when the Mirror made him reach realisation. Nothing could make him change his mind now, not the rough weather, no warnings of Hermione or Ron's, not the hopelessness of his own situation, or the fact he had no idea what he could possibly say to Ginny to gain her trust again... Indeed, had he been in a logically-thinking mood, he would have had to admit that even the most optimistic would have given up by this point. But logic was not a virtue anymore. Logic had gone flying out of the window when he first realised he loved Ginny, along with reason and rational explanation. He would have made a lousy scientist.
Science, however, was the last thing on Harry's mind, as he sheltered behind a tree for a moment, to check the Marauder's Map. The dot labeled "Ginny Weasley" was alone on the very very edge of the parchment, in as much of the Forbidden Forest as the Map showed, and even as he watched, moved slowly moved to west and disappeared off the edge of the paper completely.
She's in the Forbidden Forest? Harry thought, pocketing the Map and getting blasted by a rush of wind as he left the shelter of his tree. On a night like this? Right! I'm going in after her!
Ten minutes later, he was in the eerie shadows of the forest, well out of sight of the castle or the grounds. The Forest looked particularly dangerous and strangely alive, as every leaf in it rustled, every branch creaked and every tree groaned, all adding up, along the wails of the winds, to a terrifying cacophony, that would have put a less determined sixth-year than Harry to flight.
"Ginny?" he called into the shadowy depths of the Forest, though the wind simply swallowed up his voice, so that even he found it hard to hear himself.
This was ridiculous, he thought. Wandering blindly into the forest, with no idea where to start looking was completely pointless and would only result in getting himself lost, miles away from her and probably eaten by a werewolf or one of Aragog's spiders. However, he knew Ginny had been moving west before, so after quickly performing the Four-Pointer Spell he'd used in Third Task and walking in the right direction for a further fifteen minutes, he found her.
She was sitting on a tree-stump with her back to him several metres in front of him. Her shoulders quivered with either small sobs or the icy winds and rain (probably a bit of both, Harry thought sympathetically) and her long soaking hair was billowing in the gale. What have I done to her? Harry asked himself silently before calling her.
"Ginny?
For moment, the silent figure didn't move, then, as the wind dropped a little, Harry heard in what was barely more than a bitter whisper…
"Go away, Harry, just please leave me alone."
Heart sinking and wishing he knew could think of something better to say, Harry merely said, "Please, Ginny. You've got to listen to me…"
"Listen?" Ginny echoed in her hushed and pained tone without turning around to look at him. "Listen to what? More lies? Do you want to raise my hopes a bit more before you bring me crashing down again?"
"It really wasn't like that!" Harry cried desperately, taking a few reckless steps forward until he was standing immediately behind her.
"Oh yeah?" said Ginny, her voice now as cold as piercing winds and icy raindrops, "Give me one good reason why I should believe y - "
"Because I love you!" Harry burst out, immediately wondering whether this was the best or the worst thing he could have possibly said.
Ginny slowly turned around to face him, her eyes and face equally red and furious. For a moment she looked into Harry's eyes and just as his hopes were rising, she slapped him painfully across the face.
"How low can you stoop?" she hissed. "That's the most horrible, lowest, most wicked trick in the book. How dare you? Have you got no morality? No conscience? No feelings? I don't know what's happened to you, but I can't believe you're doing this to me. I can't believe you lied to me and put me through all this pain! And now you're using my old soft spot for you to get me to believe you? You're sick, you know that? You make me wish Riddle had just finished me off down in that Chamber of Secrets! And during that Quidditch match on Saturday! Did you really think I didn't notice you were trying to use me? Of course, I didn't suspect you of doing that at the time…I was in seventh heaven, but it all makes sense to me now. Why else would you even think of - "
"Ginny, stop it!" Harry yelled, and Ginny, though still glaring at him hatefully, fell silent. "It's not like that! Do you really think I'd lie about something like that to you? Or to anyone? When I said I love you, I meant it! I really did!"
"That's not what you told Ron," Ginny snapped back, entirely unconvinced.
"That was a misunderstanding!" Harry insisted. "And yeah, it's very easy for me to say that, but it's true! What I told Ron was that you should be no more than just a sister to me, and that no other person in their right minds would fall in love with their best friend's sister! But I did and you know what? Love has nothing to do with being your right mind!"
Harry continued before he could stop himself, pausing only to pull his sodden fringe out of his eyes. He was still talking louder than usual and in a slightly more livid tone, but he didn't seem angry with her for making all these accusations – just determined to get his point across.
"And you know what else I've just realised? You've never been just a little sister to me! I've loved you all along and only just realised it now! Ever since you stood up to Malfoy for me outside Flourish and Blotts in your first year, I thought there was something about you…That Valentine dwarf you sent me later that year, I thought it was from Moaning Myrtle or someone, but when Malfoy made me realize it was from you, I was really touched and really furious when he told you I didn't like it. And since you mentioned the Chamber of Secrets – I fought to the end down there for your sake, with absolutely nothing, and it wasn't just so Ron and your brothers could have their sister back, it was for me, too…And it's been like that ever since. Every time you smile at me when we see each other in the summers, whether it's in The Burrow or the Leaky Cauldron or Diagon Alley…I just feel wonderful. And while everyone at that Yule Ball thought I was glaring at Cho and Cedric, I was really looking at you and Neville, hating myself for not working up the guts to ask you to go with me, because going a ball with your best friend's sister was too weird. And as for that Quidditch game on Saturday – I wasn't using you! I suppose that was just all those years of subconsciously feeling these things for you, bursting through after all this time. And these last three days have been heaven for me! Our chats, our laughs, that walk, and everything we shared since Saturday, it all meant the world to me! And if you knew me at all, you'd know that I'd never dream of using anyone like that, let alone a friend of the family and especially not you. Is that really the sort of thing I'd do?"
The only thing that broke the silence that followed was the soft pattering of heavy raindrops thudding against wet leaves and branches, as Ginny's eyes, blazing with something undeterminable Harry had never seen before, stared straight into Harry's. Her expression hadn't changed in the slightest throughout Harry's emotional outburst and stayed firmly that way now. The silence remained for a few more moments, then Harry said "Does it look like I'm lying to you now?" in a soft, almost calm voice.
Ginny's eyes widened for a moment as she continued to stare at Harry's face in silence. Then at last, she spoke.
"Not really, no," she replied with the tiniest of smiles that rekindled the old sparkle in her dimmed eyes.
Harry stared.
"You must think I'm horrible," Ginny sighed, self-disgust coursing through her voice. "I don't know why you're still here, because if you'd made all those accusations at me… I don't know what I'd do. I'm so sorry, Harry. I knew you couldn't have been anything like the monster I made you out to be. I don't know what's got into me lately. I think it's a Weasley thing, getting all upset and taking it on...the people we care about the most."
Harry's eyes widened, but he forced his heart and his hopes to stay firmly where they were, in case of disappointment or misunderstanding.
"So, about that soft spot you mentioned..." Harry began.
"It's become a lot softer," Ginny replied quietly with a smile that lit up the dark forest. "So soft, in fact, that I think I...can you hear that?"
For a moment, Harry wondered what she meant. Then, as his eyes locked on her dazzling twinkling brown ones, he heard it, too. Not through his ears, it felt like it was coming from behind his ribs. He found himself wondering why he hadn't heard it first this time...
"Now's your moment,
Floating in a blue lagoon, (of rainwater and soggy leaves, Harry thought)
Boy, you'd better do it soon,
No time will be better.
She don't say a wordand she won't say a word until you
Kiss The Girl"
"I'm sorry about what I said," Ginny said with a timid smile.
"Don't worry about it," said Harry dismissively. "And I'm sorry about what I said to Ron before..."
"It's fine, Harry," Ginny smiled. "I know how you really meant it now."
"Sha la la la la la
Don't be scared,
You got the mood prepared,
Go on and Kiss The Girl,
Sha la la la la la
Don't stop now, don't try to hide it how
You wanna Kiss the Girl."
"Harry," Ginny began awkwardly. "Can I ask you something?"
"Obviously, you've just done so!" Harry grinned, in impersonation of Dumbledore's deep voice. "You may ask me one more thing however."
"All right, Headmaster," Ginny laughed. "Do you still love me?"
Harry let Sebastian the crab answer that for him.
Sha la la la la la
Float along
and listen to the song,
The song say Kiss The Girl,
Sha la la la la la
The music play,
do what the music say,
Go on and
Kiss the Girl.
