(A/N) Yes, it is me again. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I had fun writing this one. There is no smut in this one, but it is interesting none the less.
Chapter 13 or Insanity! It Runs In The Family.
The reality of what just happened hit Harry with a force that left him stunned.
Bloody hell! What had he done?
It was not possible. Surely he had not just shagged his best friend's sister for the first time – her first time – up against the Owlry wall.
Ron would never forgive him for this. A sense of desperation clutched his insides like a vice. He must have been mad. Maybe he could use that in his defense. Excuse me, Ron, Fred, George. I just couldn't help shagging your sister. Insanity, you know. I heard that it ran in my family. Harry whimpered. What on earth had been thinking? Out of nowhere, he felt hysterical laughter well up inside him. He was dead.
Ginny was getting concerned as she heard Harry whimper and watched him glance around the room frantically – as if he was looking for an escape route. She blinked rapidly against a sudden burst of tears. What had this meant to him after all? Maybe she shouldn't have lured him like this. She had gone full throttle and pulled out every trick she could think of to catch him, but in the process of the hunt and the chase, she had never stopped to fully recognize what this would do to Harry. Catching a sob in her throat, she tried to gain control over her emotions. She was not going to cry. Crying had never solved any of her problems before, and it wasn't going to solve anything now. She had to think. To act.
Harry looked at an obviously upset Ginny and calmed immediately. He may not have been thinking with the correct head a moment ago, but he was now and it was up to him to try to calm the obviously agitated girl down. He cleared his throat. "Ginny?" He took it as a good sign that she raised her beautiful blue eyes up to his. "I - I don't really know what to say." He could see that Ginny was trying her hardest not to cry, and for this he was thankful. He didn't know what he would do with a crying Ginny. Hell, he didn't even know what to do with an upset Ginny. "I am so sorry. I never meant for this to happen." This seemed to set her off, and Harry rushed over to enfold her in his arms.
"Oh, Ginny. I am so sorry. Please, please forgive me." He could feel the sobs racking her slim body. A body that not too long ago, he had enjoyed to the fullest extent possible. He tightened his hold on her. "Ginny. I know your first time should have been special. Please don't cry. I-I'm sure we can work something out." She raised tear stained eyes to his face and gave him a wobbly smile.
"Oh, Harry." She whispered. "I am the one who should be sorry." At his confused look, she went on. "I never once thought of your feelings in this whole thing. I just have wanted you for so long that I never stopped to think things through." Harry smiled and leaned his forehead against hers.
"Don't worry about it Gin. I am sure that this would have happened sooner or later. I – I mean, look at you. What guy would be able to resist you, huh?" Ginny giggled and put her arms around his neck as he leaned down to give her a sweet, soft kiss on her lips. "Besides," He stated grinning. "It's kind of flattering to have someone want you so much that they try just about anything to get your attention."
"You don't need to say anymore, Harry." She leaned back in his arms and put her fingertips on his lips. "I understand far better than you can possibly know."
BAM!! The Owlry door slammed open, cutting off Harry's train of thought and sending a fresh wave of panic skittering through him.
"What the hell are you doing to my sister!!" Yelled the half-deranged red head that had blown the door almost to splinters. Harry saw two other wild looking red headed boys barreling into the room behind his best friend and could just see the top of Hermione's head as she kept jumping up to see what was going on in front of her.
Harry's mind raced as he watched the three red heads rush towards him. Three very angry red headed boys. Three very angry red headed boys with wands drawn. Three very angry red headed boys with wands drawn and pointed directly at him. Harry's heart jumped into his throat, and he pushed himself away from Ginny.
"I – I couldn't help it, Ron!" He stuttered in his defense. "She's been brushing up against me all week long. Brushing up against me in the common room, brushing up against me in the hallways. What is a guy supposed to do? It's driven me mad." Harry knew that he was rambling, but better to ramble and have them stare at him as if he'd grown an eye in the middle of his forehead than to have them breaking his bones.
"Insanity!" He blurted. "I heard it runs in my family." It was a last ditch attempt at a defense. A poor defense, but still a defense. As the three boys were trying to figure out what he was going on about, Harry spied his chance to sprint pass them and out through the door. As he flew down the stairs, he could hear a murderous bellow and the thundering of three sets of Weasley feet running after him.
"Dammit Harry!" Ron bellowed. "Stop him!" This yelled to a confused Fred and George, but it was too late. Harry had already gained momentum and was almost to the bottom of the stairs before anyone could even get out of the room. Harry could hear Ginny screaming at her brothers as he ran down the last few stairs and turned the corner to go into a different passageway. He ran to a suit of armor that was standing in front of a window and quickly slipped behind it to hide in the shadows.
When Ron, Fred and George came into view, followed by a crying Ginny and a yelling Hermione, he tried to slow down his thumping heart. He saw Ron stop near his suit of armor and peer into the shadows. Harry leaned in closer to the wall and put his hand over his mouth, so that Ron could not hear his tortured breathing. He let out his breath in a deep sigh when everyone passed the suit of armor to look elsewhere for him. He waited a few minutes after they rounded the corner before he stepped out of the shadows and made his way back towards the Great Hall.
What was he going to do? He couldn't hide forever. He had to eat and sleep and sooner or later, he was going to have to go to classes and they were going to be there. He shuddered to think what they were going to do to him when they caught up with him. He just hoped Hermione was around when they killed him. She would see to a decent burial for his remains. He had just turned down the charms corridor when he heard it.
"Harry! Hold up Harry!" It was Ginny. And where Ginny was, her half demented brothers couldn't be too far behind! He quickly ducked behind a door and found himself in a small alcove complete with a small table, a lamp and a full sized couch. Shaking his head, he sat down on the couch. What a bizarre situation this was turning out to be. This was obviously some horrible dream he was having. Maybe he had fallen and hit his head? He put his hand up to rub his scalp. Nope. He couldn't feel anything hurting. That left out head trauma, but what other excuse could there be for what happened? He sighed and settled back against the couch, only to jump up a moment later when the door opened.
"Harry?" He sagged back onto the couch in relief when he heard Ginny's quiet whisper. "Are you okay?" She asked timidly.
"I-I'm fine." He fought for a deep breath after the scare he had just had. "Ginny?" He quickly looked around the room. "Where are your brothers? The last time I saw you, they were with you. Oh, God." He groaned. "I have to get out of here." He struggled to his feet again.
"They are after me, an-"
"Calm down Harry." Ginny said sensibly and got to her feet.
"Calm down?" He eyed her in disbelief. "Your crazy brothers are chasing after me with wands Ginny! This whole situation is insane. It's like a big, bad, crazy dream an-"
"Easy." She pressed her fingers against his lips to silence him. "I'm not going to let them hurt you, Harry. I love you."
Harry came up short. Her words swirled into his ears and for a fast and furious second, he forgot all about the danger that was quite probably lurking right outside the door and focused only on Ginny.
I love you?
"Wh-what did you just say?" He finally managed.
"I love you, Harry." When he just continued to look at her with a blank stare, she continued. "I have for years. Why do you think I did al – Why is your eye twitching?"
Harry became keenly aware of the spasm and slapped a hand over it. Oh, God. His eye was twitching! If he kept this up, he and Malfoy could share a room at St. Mungos. He could see it all now. Harry would twitch and wait patiently for Malfoy to twitch. Maybe they could get a kind of code going with their twitches. One twitch for no, two twitches for yes. Before long they would work up to short and long twitches, and before you knew it, they would have an entire language made out of twitches!
Harry started to grin and Ginny looked at him worriedly. "Harry?" When he just looked at her with an inane grin on his face and twitched, she put her arm around his shoulder. "Harry. Let's get you to the common room, so you can rest." She led him out through the door, crooning to him all the while. She smiled while she encouraged him to climb the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, and walk through the portrait hole. She almost had him to the stairs leading to the dormitory when disaster struck.
"There he is!" Ron's voice sounded to his left a moment before a hand closed around his arm. "You didn't think we were just going to let you get away now did you, Harry?" Before he could answer, he found himself forced up the stairs and into the dorm room with three Weasleys fast closing in on him. He could just barely see Ginny and Hermione trying to pull the boys off balance by hanging onto their robes. He vaguely heard Hermione screaming at Ron to stop. That is just wasn't right to do this. All of this came from far away, like he was in some sort of vacuum. He saw Ron raise his fist, with George and Fred right behind him, when suddenly Ginny stepped between them all.
"You had better back off Ronald Weasley!" Harry, listening from within his vacuum, thought her tone reminded him of her mother when she had found out the Ron, Fred and George had rescued Harry in their fathers old Ford Anglia.
"Now Ginny. This is not something that you have to concern yourself over. Our business is with Harry." Ron smiled indulgently and tried to wrest her from her spot in front of Harry. Ginny didn't budge.
"Then you've got business with me." She defiantly told her brothers while slapping at the hands trying to pull her out of the way. "Harry is with me. I love him, and you will not hurt him!" Ron started to protest but Ginny broke in before they could get even one sentence out.
"You've got three seconds to leave before I start hexing you all." She eyed the three boys. "And don't think I can't get all three of you before you can even start to wave your wands!"
"One." She began counting. Her voice steely and serious, was sending ripples of fear down his spine. He couldn't help himself: he clamped his eyes shut. He was brave when it came to Basilisks and dragons, but watching Ginny hex someone, while she was in this kind of mood, was another matter entirely! And looking into her eyes, he was sure she would.
"Two." Shoes scraped as the three boys scrambled for the exit. The door slammed and Harry's heart pounded with relief.
"They're gone." He breathed, relief flooding through him as he cracked open and eye and stared at the now empty dorm room. Well empty except for Hermione and Ginny, he vaguely thought before he collapsed onto his bed.
Hermione and Ginny looked at each other in shock as they watched Harry's shoulders shake. Ginny rushed over to him and put her arms around his waist.
"Harry?" She said quietly. "Harry, it's okay now. They're go-are you laughing?" Ginny turned his face towards her and saw the huge grin that was on his face. He was laughing so hard, he was crying and he clutched at his stomach as he looked at the two girl's expressions.
Hermione looked at Ginny with concern in her eyes. "I think we should take him to Madame Pomfrey. He may need medical attention Ginny."
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(A/N) This story has another 5 to 7 chapters to go before I end it. I do not want to go on too much past the point of interest. I am going to have a dance within the next 2 chapters, and a big surprise for the ending. Also, I probably won't be updating again until this weekend, when I will have more time to think and write.
Now I would like to thank my reviewers.
John: Thank you for always reviewing. I really appreciate the feed back, and your comments about how the Weasleys were going to react really got me thinking hard on this chapter.
NengSki: Thanks for the great review. You sure have a way with words! I love to see your reviews and always chuckle as I read them.
Frankie: Thanks for the info on the Lexicon. I went and looked it up and found quite a few things of interest there. I am going to incorporate some of the potion ingredients I found there for the antidote for Madame Hooch. She is going to be starring in the next couple of chapters.
Epholge: Well, I just couldn't help but be a little naughty. And it got you to review. *Wink*
To everyone else who has thought of reviewing or have even just read this story, thanks a bunch!! I love you all.
Love Lisa.