Disclaimer: Here's a big surprise, I don't own anything, and I'm still poor.



Chapter 7

The Letter and the Fight





The next day, Harry told Ron and Hermione all about what had happened to Sirius and as he predicted, he got an earful of advice and ideas on what could be done. Later, Dumbledore called him in to let him know about the results of the trial. Unsurprisingly, Sirius would be going back to Azkaban. The days and weeks passed, and Harry realized there was little, if anything, that he could do.

Fortunately for Harry, he had new thoughts to keep his mind off worrying so much. First of all, the professors were not kidding when they assigned the massive list of course books. If they had thought last year was bad preparing for the O.W.L.s, apparently, it was nothing like the next two years they would spend preparing for the N.E.W.T.s. To top it all off, Snape was exceptionally bitter that he had not been offered the Defense Against the Dark Arts position and decided to take it out on Gryffindors (the new DADA professor had been a Gryffindor) and was giving them twice the amount of homework as the other houses.

"Look on the bright side," Hermione said, "we'll all be expert potion- makers."

"Then how come I'm not passing with flying colors?" Ron challenged.

"Maybe you would be if you actually did the work."

"I do the work!"

"Reading my essay does not count as reading the book."

"Why not? You've practically put the entire book in it anyway."

"Alright!" Harry interrupted. "Ron, reading her essay doesn't count, Hermione, just . . . suffer with us for once."

With that, the three of them burst out laughing and went back to their potions research. Even then, Harry was having a difficult time concentrating on his books. Quidditch was also claiming a great deal of his time. As the captain, he'd held try-outs for the house team the second week back. Not surprisingly, Seamus and Dean became the new beaters and Samantha Duncan, a third year, had become a chaser. Neville had been a bit disappointed that he was the only 6th year boy not on the team. The problem was, Neville seemed to attract disaster everywhere he went. McGonagall had threatened Harry that if he even thought of putting Neville on the house team out of pity, or even in the reserves, she would add to his Transfiguration homework. Not that Harry would really put Neville on the team, he could hardly stay on his broom, but he did feel a bit sorry for his friend when the rest of them headed out for Quidditch practice.

Then, there was always Ginny to take Harry's mind off things. He had spent several late nights the past few weeks talking with Ginny in the Common Room. She had turned out to be a wonderful listener and had plenty of her own things to talk about. Harry was still a bit wary about how much he was telling her, but he trusted her. Maybe it was more than that. More and more as the weeks passed, he found his thoughts drifting back to her. Harry tried to treat her as he always had, for the sake of not getting not getting the living daylights beaten out of him by Ron, but it was getting more and more difficult. The truth was, Ginny had suddenly become a big part of his life. He looked forward to their talks with growing anticipation and found himself suddenly getting nervous about spending time with her. Yet, he couldn't figure out what exactly had changed. All that had happened was that they had become friends.

It wasn't until he was sitting alone in the boys' dormitory, for once, that it hit him. He had taken out the ring Ginny had given him for his birthday and was busy puzzling out what the meaning of the inscription could be. He had never taken Ancient Runes and had no clue how to go about decoding the ancient writing. Ginny had said she found it in an Irish shop, so he guessed that the writing was some kind of Irish writing. He seemed to remember something about ancient Irish wizards, druids, from History of Magic, but he didn't know anything else. He turned the ring over in his hand looking at it fondly. At that moment, he realized that the fondness he felt for the ring was directed more towards the person who had given it to him than the ring itself.

He rolled this new thought around in his head. Harry knew that he had feelings for Ginny Weasley, feelings that had surfaced and been deepened by their developing friendship, not produced by it. Still, he didn't know what to do about it. How were these things managed? Was he supposed to just tell her and hope she felt the same way? That prospect invoked a petrifying fear in Harry? What if she had gotten over her childish admiration and had moved on to other things, other people? If only there were someone he could ask. He couldn't talk to Hermione, she would get all girlie on him and probably suggest that he simply tell his new love interest. He definitely could not talk to Ron, it was his SISTER.

Suddenly, Harry got an idea. He rummaged through the box from Sirius, there had been several things written by the Marauders, maybe there was something in them about how to deal with girls. Harry sat on his bed and scanned through the stack of parchments. There was plenty about sneaking out, classes, the ever infuriating Slytherin: Severus Snape, and all the little discoveries they had made over the years. Unfortunately, none of the Marauders seemed to write about their love lives. Then Harry found something he hadn't noticed before: a letter from his father to his mother. Then Harry got a brilliant idea. He would write down everything he wanted to tell Ginny in a letter, then he could decide whether or not he wanted to give it to her or not. He grimaced, it sounded like such a "girl-thing" to do. Finally, Harry decided it didn't matter, he had to tell someone, and if it had to be a piece of parchment, so be it.

Harry knew even less about writing love letters than he did about ancient runes. At least with runes, there were books to help and as far as he knew, they didn't write books about girls. Harry sat and wrote, starting over six times, until he was completely satisfied with what the letter said. Reading over it again, he folded it up, but didn't seal it yet, still unsure if he was going to actually give it to Ginny. Then, Harry was surprised to find that he still had the enigmatic ring in his left hand. Smiling to himself, he fastened the chain around his neck and tucked the ring under his school robes. Up to that point, Harry had not put the ring on in any way, but just knowing it was there made him feel all warm inside with thoughts of Ginny. Just as he put the letter to Ginny inside the top drawer of his nightstand, the other boys burst into the room. Ron gave Harry a quizzical look as Harry turned around looking guilty. Dean followed Ron in and sat on his own bed facing Harry.

"Where were you at supper Harry?" Dean asked. "You missed it! Nearly Headless Nick and the Bloody Baron almost had a duel!"

"Over what?"

"Nobody really knew, some old feud I guess. It was great though! They probably would have if Peeves hadn't gotten in the way."

Harry laughed at the thought of dueling ghosts. They couldn't really hurt each other, so what would they do exactly. However, Harry knew that the Hogwarts were a lot of talk, but never actually hurt anything. All at once, Harry felt hungry, which was to be expected from a sixteen year old boy who hadn't had his supper.

"Well, I'm going down to the kitchen. Do any of you want anything?"

Despite the fact they had just eaten a full Hogwarts meal, all four of the other boys had a request. Harry rolled his eyes and said, "I'm the one who hasn't eaten here!"

"Well, whose fault is that?" Ron answered. "What were you doing anyway?"

This question was met by another guilty look from Harry and a squeaked out, "Nothing." Before Ron could say another word, Harry was gone.

"Well, that was bloody odd. I wonder what he was doing," Ron said once Harry was gone.

"He put something in his drawer just before we came in," Seamus added.

Ron opened Harry's drawer and took out the parchment. He started reading and got about four sentences in before blowing up.

"WHAT????" Ron shouted loud enough for everyone in Gryffindor tower to hear. "I can't believe this! When did this happen? Why didn't he tell me?"

"Hold on mate," Seamus said, interrupting Ron's tirade. "What's going on?"

"It's none of your business!"

"And it's yours?"

"OF COURSE it's my business! I can't believe he would do something like this! My own BEST FRIEND!"

"What are you talking about? It's a parchment."

"It's not a parchment! It's a . . ."

Suddenly, the sight of Hermione in the doorway cut Ron off. With knowing looks on their faces, the other three boys quickly made their way down to the Common Room. Ron was left speechless for a moment.

"What did Harry do?" Hermione asked calmly.

"He . . . he . . .," Ron looked down at the parchment in his hand and handed it to Hermione. Hermione glanced over the lines with her eyes, but didn't read it. After seeing who the letter was addressed to, she didn't have to read it to know what it said.

"I thought as much. Of course, they both deny it, but it's so obvious."

"YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS???"

"Like I said, Ron, they both deny it, but you can hardly look at them anymore without seeing how they feel about each other."

"Ginny doesn't . . ."

"Of course she does."

Ron was left speechless for another moment, and then another disgusted look spread across his face.

"Then why didn't he tell me?"

"Well, look at your reaction. He's probably been agonizing about what you're going to do to him when you find out."

"Wait till he feels what I'm going to do to him."

"RON!"

"Well, this is my sister we're talking about. My baby sister."

"She is not your baby sister, she's only a year younger than you."

"That doesn't mean I have to like it."

"It could be worse you know."

"How? Wait. I don't want to know."

Hermione giggled, thinking of all the ways it could be worse. "You know, you should really be happy with this whole thing."

"And why, may I ask, is that?"

"Harry's a good guy, Ron. He would never hurt Ginny. Your family has practically adopted him anyway. Besides, he has a lot to worry about, with Sirius back in Azkaban and everything. It'll be good for both of them; in a way, they really need each other."

"Harry has us, he doesn't need a girlfriend. Especially if that girlfriend is my sister."

Hermione sighed. She imagined that things would be bit different. If Harry started dating Ginny, he wouldn't be spending all his time with them. Of course, he would never ignore them. It's just . . . things would be different.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Harry entered the Common Room, surprised to find Seamus, Dean, and Neville sitting around the fire. He passed out their food and asked why they were all downstairs.

"Harry," Neville began, "I think you'd better go talk to Ron. He, er, seemed kind of . . . upset . . . with you."

Harry looked puzzled for a moment, then without another word, headed directly up to his room. When he walked in, Hermione was sitting on his bed talking to Ron, who was facing her sitting on his own bed. Hermione got up immediately and walked quickly out of the room, lightly touching Harry's arm as she past him. Harry looked at Ron, who didn't seem to know how to look at just that moment, and sat down on his bed, where Hermione had just been.

Ron started by handing Harry the parchment. "I found this," he grumbled.

Harry's eyes went wide, but he stayed silent, waiting for Ron's reaction.

Ron continued, "Are you really going to give that to her?"

"I, uh, don't know."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know. I haven't decided yet."

"Why not?"

"I just haven't," Harry said irritably. He really hadn't been in the mood for an interrogation.

"When were you planning on telling me about all this."

"Possibly before I told her . . ."

"POSSIBLY!!"

"I wasn't sure how you were going to take it. I mean, she is your little sister and all."

"Exactly Harry. Don't you think it would be weird for me to see my best friend and my LITTLE SISTER together?"

"Well, yes, I understand what you mean. It's just that . . ."

"You don't even have time for a girlfriend!"

"Are YOU the expert on what I have and don't have time for? Maybe I don't have time for a best friend either!"

"Well, is that the way you want it?"

"Of course not!"

"What about Voldemort?"

"What about him?"

"Ginny will be a target or get mixed up in it somehow."

"She did that without my help. Remember her first year?"

"Ok, fine!"

"What do you want Ron?"

"You should have asked me."

"ASKED?"

"Yes."

"Ask you what Ron? Oh, by the way Ron, would it bother you if I started dating Ginny?"

"Something like that!"

"Alright then. Ron, would it bother you if I started dating Ginny?"

"Yes!"

"Why? I'm not good enough for her? Is that it?"

"Of course you're good enough for her. I don't really think anyone else IS good enough for her. I'm just not ready for the thought of either of you dating, much less each other."

"Well, don't you think it's time to start thinking about it?"

"What are you getting at?"

"What about you? You've had a crush on Hermione for two years and haven't breathed a word of it to her."

"I have not."

"I'm not blind Ron!"

"Ok, fine. Maybe I like Hermione . . . like that. But YOU better not go telling her."

"Why would I do a thing like that?

The two boys fell silent. After several minutes, Harry looked up.

"Would it really bother you? I mean, I know if I had a little sister . . ."

"Fortunately for you, Hermione got to me before you did. She said a bunch of stuff about how it could be worse and how it would be good for both of you and how I can't stop Ginny or you from dating forever. It all made sense then, I just . . . I just need to get used to the idea."

"Well, don't start worrying yet. I don't even know how she feels anymore. I know she had crush on me when she was eleven, but anymore, I don't know. She doesn't get speechless and turn red or anything anymore, so maybe she just got over it."

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

"I can't just tell her. I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Somehow, I don't think that will be a problem," Ron said with a grin on his face.

"Huh?"

Ron walked across the room and opened the door. A very sheepish Ginny was sitting right outside the door.

"I . . . I didn't mean to listen! I just heard you two shouting and came to see what was wrong. Then, I heard my name and . . . and . . . and I wanted to know what you were saying about me."

"Don't worry Ginny," Ron said smiling. "I think you just made Harry's life a whole lot easier." Ron started laughing hysterically seeing the petrified looks on his sister and best friend's faces.

"Er, alright," Harry started, looking only at Ginny. "I think we should go somewhere and talk."

Ginny nodded and smiled nervously. Ron still hadn't stopped laughing, but had collapsed on his bed. He was completely oblivious to the fact that Harry and Ginny had left the room and shut the door.











A/N: Soooooo . . . there's the next chapter for you. Now, we'll get down to the really fluffy stuff next! I will get back to more of the mysteries and adventures, but this is a romance! I've been so happy that people have been reviewing, but please keep reviewing. Tell me what you think because I really want to know. By the way, thanks to Ginny and Ms. Raye Sinic for their reviews last chapter. What happened to the rest of you?? Just kidding. Anyway, I usually update everyday, so keep checking back. Also, I might rework chapter 6 a bit, I wasn't thrilled with the writing. For some reason, it was a hard chapter to write. Anyway, read, review and hopefully, I'll have a new chapter up for you tomorrow.



~~ butterflystarr