Greetings all! It's Finals week now and my first four finals are over, so I finally had a chance to update the fic. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for reviewing; I really appreciate it!
BTW, anyone buy the soundtrack to HP:COS yet? It's good! My favorite is "Reunion of Friends."
Title: It's Never Too Late
Key Characters: Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione
A/N: I know it sounds like I'm torturing Harry, but honestly, he deserves it!!
Chapter Three: Think About It
It had been three whole days since Harry had talked to Ginny. After hearing that Harry had been awake when she was talking to him, Ginny had ran up to her bed crying. No one else knew about the incident, and Ginny intended to keep it that way. Harry, on the other hand, was following Ginny around, hoping they would "run into each other" and she would be forced to talk to him. However, she would only look at him coldly and get lost in the crowded hallways. Harry was miserable.
So involved in their own lives, it took Ron and Hermione three days to notice that Harry and Ginny both were acting strangely. "Hey mate," Ron said to Harry as they walked to Divination alone, "You alright? You've been acting weird today." Harry sighed, disappointed that Ron had just noticed that he was upset. "Honestly? No, I'm not alright," Harry replied, shifting his bag a little to lessen the load. "What is it?" Ron asked, stopping in the middle of the hallway to look at Harry. Harry's anger at him was lost when he saw the look of genuine concern on Ron's face. "Well… it's your sister. She and I had… an argument, you could say," Harry said, not knowing what to say without completely reveling that he fancied Ginny. "My sister?" Ron said, chucking and beginning to walk to the North Tower again. They were silent for a few minutes until Ron abruptly stopped. "Wait a second… do you fancy my sister?!" He asked, his face turning the typical red. "Um…" Harry stammered, "Well, you could say that, I suppose." Ron squinted his eyes, staring at Harry in thought. "Eh," Ron said finally, his face and stance relaxing, "It's fine. You're better than that Mike prat." Harry smiled for the first time in three days as Ron laughed.
"So what happened now?" Ron asked after Divination was over. "Well, I don't really know why she is all upset. It seems kind of dodgy to me. I really want to see what Hermione thinks," Harry began, "but a few days ago, I was asleep on the couch in the common room, and she came over to wake me up. She didn't know I was awake and she started joking around with me, and then she said 'If you like Ginny Weasley, raise your hand,' and well, I didn't know what to do, so I just didn't do anything. So then, I acted like I just woke up. And as she's getting ready to go up to her dormitory, stupid me blurts out that I heard what she said. She looked at me all strange, got upset, and ran off! Now she won't talk to me or anything!" Ron's eyes glazed over for a second and then he said, "Yeah, my sister… she's weird sometimes. We'd better ask Hermione."
After explaining the whole thing to Hermione at lunch, Harry and Ron were surprised at her reaction. "Honestly! Couldn't you two figure it out?" she asked, exasperated. Harry and Ron looked at each other in confusion and then looked back at Hermione. Sighing, she said, "Look, first off, Ginny is upset that you heard what she said. Second, and most importantly, she was basically asking if you liked her, and you didn't respond! How would you feel, Harry?" Harry paused for a second and then said, "But I do like her!" Hermione smiled and chuckled. "You had better tell her… and good luck. You'll probably need it," she said, reaching for another sandwich. Now even more confused, Harry said, "Why's that?" Hermione stopped and looked at him. Then she said, almost angrily, "You don't get it, do you? All those years you pushed her aside, and now you expect her to want to be with you just because you finally noticed her?! I know you're good at magic, Harry, but this is going to take a miracle! You're really going to have to convince her that you are sorry and that you really want to be with her." Harry silently nodded. He didn't know what he was going to do. Hermione shook her head and they all fell silent.
Upon leaving the Great Hall, ran quickly to the owlry to send Ginny a quick note.
Ginny,
Please meet me in the Astronomy tower tonight at 8pm.
I really need to talk to you about something. Please don't
avoid me.
Harry
Sliding into his chair, Harry had arrived in Charms class just before Professor Flitwick walked in to begin the lesson on Organization Charms. "I sent her a note to meet me in the Astronomy tower at 8. I hope she comes," Harry whispered to Ron before Hermione looked over, motioning for them to be quiet. Ron gave Harry an encouraging look that dissolved to a look of pity when Harry looked away.
After classes ended, Harry went for a walk on the grounds to contemplate what he was going to say to Ginny. Staring out at the lake, Harry thought of his mum and dad. He wished so badly that he could get some advice from his mum and dad. Sure, he had Sirius, but Sirius was still in hiding and it took weeks to get a letter back from him. He needed help right away, but there was no one he could get it from. "I guess I'll just have to tell her the truth and hope that is enough to convince her," Harry thought to himself, getting up to walk back into the castle. Dinner was in fifteen minutes, but he didn't feel like eating, so he walked back up to the Gryffindor common room to calm down for a little while.
Getting a little too relaxed, Harry fell asleep, waking up to Ron's voice in the dormitory. "Hey mate, it's 7:30, shouldn't you get going?" Ron said, seeing that Harry had fallen asleep unintentionally. Feeling nauseous, Harry stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. "Comb that hair!" the mirror said to him, causing him to sigh. "Well, wish me luck, Ron," Harry said, smoothing out his pants. "Everything is going to be fine, Harry," Ron said, clapping him on the back and smiling. Harry managed a weak smile and turned, walking out of the dormitory and into the common room. Ginny wasn't there, thankfully, so he climbed out of the portrait hole and made his way up to the Astronomy tower.
Ginny was standing at a window when Harry finally arrived. "Make it quick. Mike is waiting on me," she said curtly. Harry swallowed nervously and was wringing his hands as he began to speak. "First off, I want you to know that I am very sorry that I ignored you for the past few years. I know that sorry doesn't make things right, but I hope you can forgive me. Second, I'm really sorry that I didn't say anything to you while you thought I was asleep a few nights ago. I'm sure you were mad at me for that, and I'm sorry for that." Ginny nodded and said, "Forgiven." Taking a step closer to her to build up his courage, Harry said, "And the main reason I brought you up here was to tell you this…" He paused, trying to force the words to come out of his mouth. "I- I like you, Ginny. I really, really like you, and I hope that you would want to be my girlfriend, or at least more than my friend."
She stared at him, almost as if he hadn't said anything at all. It was almost two minutes before Harry said, "Ginny?" Her blank stare changed from a look of sadness to a glare. "How dare you? How dare you expect me to dump my boyfriend and go running to you because after seven years you finally noticed me and decided you wanted to me with me?! Should I just drop everything because Famous Harry Potter wants to be my boyfriend?!" Harry hurried over to her and put his hands on her shoulders to calm her down. "Ginny, look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," he said softly. The anger on her face faded away and she began to cry. "You don't know how long I've wanted to hear that…" she said, wiping her eyes as tears continued to fall, "and you don't know how bad it hurts me to have to tell you no."
It was like getting punched in the stomach. "No?" Harry whispered, looking at her in sadness and shock. "No, Harry. I can't. I won't." Ginny said, wiping her eyes and rushing past him, leaving the tower.
Sorry… cliff hanger. ;)