Chapter two
Two days later, Ginny was awoken by a loud bang downstairs. She got out of bed, pulled on her robe, and groggily made her way down the stairs. When she walked into the kitchen, she gasped loudly as she saw Harry, Hermione and Ron standing around the table. Ginny realized just then that she hadn't brushed her hair or washed her face, so she had sleep in her eyes and her hair was...well, it was everywhere. She looked at them like she was a deer in headlights, then fought the urge to run away and instead quickly ran her fingers through her hair and rubbed her eyes.
"Good morning Ginny!" said Harry and Hermione at the same time. Ron just watched her, chuckling silently to himself.
"Er, good morning you guys! When did you guys get here?" she asked, trying to keep calm.
"Oh, only a few minutes ago. Sorry we woke you, but my trunk decided to fly across the room and hit the wall when I came through the fireplace," Harry said with a grin. Ginny loved Harry's grin, it was so warm and cheery...
"Oh, yeah, uh, that's fine, I was about to wake up anyway!" she replied, then realizing just how dumb that sounded.
"Well, I'm going to go upstairs and get dressed, I'll see you all later!" With that she ran up the stairs, feeling her cheeks go red.
That evening, everyone under the Weasley roof sat around the table for dinner. Ron sat next to Hermione, who sat next to Harry, who sat next to Ginny. All through dinner, Ginny kept sneaking looks at Harry, and for some reason he felt himself returning them. At one point she accidentally kicked his foot under the table, and for the rest of dinner, and for the next two weeks' dinners as well, they played footsie under the table.
Finally, it was the day before the start of term, and the four of them were in Diagon Alley buying their supplies. They were in Flourish and Blotts getting their books when Ginny became suddenly fascinated by something on display over in the corner of the shop. Harry noticed and watched her eyes as she looked at it ever so longingly. She looked at it until it was time for them to leave, when she sadly glanced back at it and left the store. They were about to go into Quality Quidditch Supplies when Harry told them he'd forgotten something. He returned a few minutes later with a small parcel in his pocket...
The next day, the four of them shared a compartment on the Hogwarts. Ron and Harry were talking about Quidditch, of course, and Hermione and Ginny were sitting next to the window, talking about...
"So, what's going on with you and Harry?" Hermione said quietly.
"Haha, what do you mean? Nothing is going on. I wish!" Ginny clapped her hand over her mouth and turned scarlet, and Hermione laughed hysterically. For the rest of the train ride, the two of them talked about the letters they had been exchanging and the cookies she had been sending. Hermione was thinking of how to get the two of them together with as little conflict as possible. Of course, Ron would flip if he found out that Harry had a crush on his little sister. So how would this ever work?
When they got onto the horseless carriages to head up to the school, it was pouring outside. They arrived at the front of the school and headed into the entrance hall when Ginny slipped on a puddle of water conveniently placed at the top of the stairs.She let out a yell and reached out for Ron's hand, but instead was met by Harry's. He stepped behind her and pulled her up but the damage had been done. She twisted her ankle and couldn't walk on it. She couldn't help but blush and giggle when Harry offered her a piggy-back ride, but she reluctantly climbed on and he carried her all the way to the Great Hall. He sat her down at the Gryffindor table and sat next to her, and they started joking about their ride while they waited for everyone else to arrive, but neither of them seemed to notice the daggers being shot from Ron's glare...
After a while, everyone had arrived, McGonagall had set up the stool with the sorting hat, and the teachers took their seats at the head table. The first years filed into the great hall and waited. Harry assured Ginny that he would take her to see Madame Pomfrey as soon as they finished eating. The sorting was soon over. Everyone fell silent as Dumbledore rose.
"Welcome back, all of you. I hope you all had enjoyable summers, and are ready for polluting your free minds with the knowledge the new year has in store." At this, the students chuckled amongst themselves.
"Speaking of what this year has in store, I'm happy to inform you that this year, we will be holding many more social events, including a Christmas ball." Many students began chatting excitedly at this news.
"You all know that the forest is off limits, so there's no need to tell you again! Dig in!"
During dinner, Ron and Hermione exchanged surprised looks at how much Ginny and Harry had been flirting with each other. So far, Ginny had commented on how good he was at Quidditch (like he's never heard that one before!) and Harry had gushed about how amazingly good Ginny's cookies were (at this Ron expressed shock--how did he know? When had Harry ever had his sister's cookies?) They could barely seem to even notice the presence of anyone else. Hermione kept noting how cute it was, but Ron didn't know how much of this he could take. What did Harry think he was doing, playing his little sister like that? Whatever happened to Cho, or all of the other girls that fawned all over him? Ron couldn't help but imagine all the bad things that would come of Harry and Ginny becoming, well, an item. Ron suddenly stood up and walked off to common room, his head so full of conflict that he had to lay down to sort out his feelings. Only then did Harry and Ginny notice something other than each other.
"Oh dear..." mumbled Hermione, "now what do I do?" Ginny and Harry shared confused glances and the three of them decided it best to let Ron be alone, whatever was bothering him.
After a few minutes, Hermione was starting to feel really bad, so she told them she'd meet them in the common room and set off after Ron. Hermione had just reached the entrance hall when she was headed off by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.
"Where you going, mudblood? Chasing your little weasel? Aww, how sweet! Make sure you tell him hi from me! Oh, and give him this-"
He tossed her a paperback book entitled "101 Ways to Make Money, Quick!"
"I found it in Flourish and Blotts and thought his family might be able to use it..."and finally Malfoy walked off.
Grr, Hermione thought to herself, there's got to be something that will get him so bad...She continued thinking of revenge plots when she reached the portrait of the fat lady and said "elvenshire". She stepped through the portrait hole and saw Ron sitting in a chair by the fire.
"Ron-"
"What do you want?" he snapped, thinking it was Ginny.
"I just, well, I wanted to talk to you about Harry and-"
"I don't want to talk about that right now. Why don't you just go talk about cookies some more?" Ron knew he sounded childish, but he was too mad to care.
"Um, Ron?" Hermione started chuckling. She couldn't believe he couldn't distinguish the difference between herself and Ginny.
"Ron, it's me." She was laughing ut loud now, as Ron turned around and looked at her. He suddenly turned bright red and pale white at the same time, which made for an interesting skin color.
"Oh man, I'm sorry! I was just so mad I wasn't even thinking. I thought you were Ginny." Ron started laughing as well, and Hermione walked over to his chair and sat in the one next to him.
She sat down and faced Ron. He tried to avoid her eyes, cause he knew what she was going to say, but he couldn't help but feel drawn to her gaze.
"Ron, you know that Harry cares about you and would never do anything to hurt you, or to hurt Ginny either. I think that he really likes her, as far as I can tell, and I really think that his intentions are good. I know what you're thinking-but he wouldn't do anything like that to your sister."
Hey, how did she know I was thinking that? Hmm...he thought as he watched the fire reflect in her eyes. It appeared to be dancing around in circles...Ron stared into that fire as Hermione tried to convince Ron that it really wouldn't be that bad if Harry and Ginny dated. But no matter how good her intentions were, Ron just wouldn't hear it. Not that he minded hearing her voice...
Hermione could tell he wasn't paying attention to anything she was saying. But she wasn't upset; instead she felt herself sympathizing with him. She stopped pressing the subject and instead sat quietly next to him, watching the fire. It wasn't that Ron didn't appreciate Hermione's caring effort, but he really just didn't see himself able to accept Harry and Ginny together. Still, he was too tired and distracted to argue, so he too directed his gaze to the fire. They sat there in silence for a few minutes, when suddenly...
"Ron?"
Ron was jolted by the sudden breach of silence.
"Yeah?"
"Well-"
She wasn't sure whether or not now was the best time to bring this up...
"What is it?" asked Ron.
"I was just thinking, um...well, I guess.." she was really having trouble saying this. And all she wanted to say was how much she was enjoying sitting with him in front of the fire! Why couldn't she say it?
Lucky for her, just then the portrait hole swung open and Ginny and Harry stepped inside. Ron and Hermione looked up from each other.
"Ron-"
Ron stood up and climbed the stairs to the boys' dormitories without hearing a word from Harry.
"Wait, Ron!"
Harry followed him up the stairs. Ginny walked over to Hermione and sat in Ron's seat.
"Why's he so upset?" Ginny asked. She honestly had no clue what was going on, especially since she didn't see her and Harry like Ron did.
"Oh, it's, well...are you and Harry together?" Hermione changed the subject.
"Oh, no, but...well, he did ask me to the Christmas ball. Just as a friend of course, we were joking about it downstairs. But that's all."
Hermione sighed. Boy, would Ron be delighted to hear that...
Harry reached the top of the stairs and opened the door. He saw Ron laying on his bed, reading Quidditch Through the Ages for what must have been the billionth time...
"Ron-"
"So, you and my sister, huh?" Ron said bitterly. He sounded much more pissed off than he really was, but he wasn't ready to show that yet.
"Ron, nothing is going on between us! We just enjoy each other's company, that's all. She's a really great person, and I guess you don't think so cause she's your sister. But she's just a load of fun really." If Harry thought that what he just said alleviated the situation, he was dead wrong. It only just affirmed everything Ron thought would happen in the first place, and Ron became sincerely angry.
"So what, she's just a load of fun to you? Is that all she is? You know, she actually likes you, and all you can say is she's a load of FUN!! Geez Harry, you're more insensitive than I thought! That's all she's worth to you then! I knew this would happen!"
Ron slammed his book closed and threw it to the floor. He stood up and towered over Harry.
"Stay away from my sister, she doesn't need someone to play with, she needs someone to actually CARE about her!" And with that, he pulled the curtains around his four poster closed and lay on his bed, glaring pointlessly at the ceiling.
Harry had never seen Ron like this before. He was seriously afraid of Ron for the first time ever. Was Ron right? Was that really all she was worth to him? Or did he think of her as more than, well, a load of fun. What made me say that, of all things? Good job Harry, he thought to himself as he fumbled in his pocket for the small parcel. He took it out, opened the box, and stared at it for a long time before he put it back in his pocket and fell asleep.
Ron noticed that Harry had gone to sleep, but he himself felt too angry to sleep. What does Harry think he's doing, screwing around with my sister like that? Who does he think he is? Ron scowled to himself as he tried to fall asleep, but his head was too busy reeling with thoughts to lay still. After a while, he gave up on sleeping and headed downstairs with a book he had found on the floor of the common room called "101 Ways to Make Money, Quick!" and a Gryffindor blanket. But when he got downstairs, he saw someone already sitting in front of the fireplace, staring into it and thinking fervently...