Chapter 4

Disclaimer: No, I'm not JK Rowling, I'm not nearly that creative.

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed! I feel so loved(= Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy!

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Ginny was the first one up the next morning. She looked at the clock on the nightstand, and saw that it wasn't even eight yet. She groaned, and tried to fall back asleep, but the thoughts of the night before refused to let her rest. She got out of bed and, grabbing a change of clothes and a towel, headed for the showers.

A mistake. Harry's words kept ringing through her head. How could he say that it had been a mistake when nothing had ever felt so right to her in all of her life?

'Because it obviously hadn't felt right to him,' Ginny thought sadly. But it had been so wonderful. Harry had been correct in thinking that Ginny had never kissed anyone that way before, and the experience had been something that Ginny would never forget. The kisses she had given Michael had been chaste pecks, nothing even in the same league as Harry's kiss had been. This had been partly because she had only been fourteen, she hadn't really been ready for anything more, but mostly because she had still really been hung up on Harry. And she had only just started seeing Dean before term ended, so there hadn't really been any time for anything to develop there. The mere fact that the kiss had been with Harry was probably why it had been so breath-taking.

But it would never happen again. Harry didn't even like her that way. At this thought Ginny became somewhat angry, and turned the taps to the water on rather roughly. It had been him who had kissed her anyway, not the other way around, she thought as she stepped under the hot spray of the shower. So why had he kissed her if he didn't like her? Had she just been some girl, just someone to start making out with when the opportunity arose? 'I just sort of got caught up in the moment. . .' Yes, he certainly had, hadn't he?

Sometime later Ginny walked back into the girls dorms, having worked herself up into a fine temper. Hermione was just sitting up in bed and looked at Ginny when she walked in.

"What's wrong with you?" Hermione asked, watching as Ginny banged open drawers angrily, searching for her hair brush.

"Nothing," Ginny said, "absolutely nothing. What could possibly be wrong? I mean, we're such great friends and everything, so why should I have anything to complain about? No, everything is just fine and dandy!"

Hermione raised her hands, as if to ward off Ginny's uncharacteristic temper. "Well, well. Someone is very grumpy this morning," she said, and stood up to stretch. "I'm assuming this isn't about me."

"No, it isn't," Ginny said, brushing her hair furiously.

"Care to explain?"

"No, I don't," Ginny put down the hairbrush and tried to calm herself.

"All right," Hermione said doubtfully, heading off to the bathroom with her toothbrush. When she returned, Ginny had collected herself enough to say, "I'll wait for you downstairs," in a civil tone, and then she made her way down the steps, deep in thought.

Harry was waiting for her in the common room, and he jumped up hastily from the sofa where he had been sitting when she came towards him. After a few moments of awkward silence, they both started to speak at the same time.

"Ginny, listen, I-"

"Look, Harry, I think we-"

They stopped in mid-sentence, and Ginny said, "You first."

"Gin, I just want to make sure we're okay. I really don't want what happened last night, as good as it was, to get in the way of our friendship."

Ginny, slightly appeased by the fact that Harry had now acknowledged that the kiss had been good, was still about to vent some of her anger on him when she caught the concern in his eyes. Whatever else, he did care for her, if only as a friend, and she felt her resentment melt away. She could not blame him for not having feelings for her, any more then she could be blamed for being unable to control her feelings for him. She looked away from him. "I thought we had agreed to forget about that," she muttered, and looked up again to catch the relieved expression on his face.

"Just wanted to make sure," Harry grinned. Having Ginny as a friend, he had decided, was better then no Ginny at all.

Just then they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and looked up to see Hermione entering the room. "Ready to put our plan into motion?" Harry whispered to Ginny out of the side of his mouth. Ginny nodded but didn't say anything, because Hermione had just walked up beside her.

"Still angry?" Hermione asked. Ginny gave her a look that said 'drop it', while Harry looked at the both of them inquiringly. "Never mind," Hermione said quickly, catching on. "Though I will be talking to you about this later, Ginny. Is Ron coming down soon?"

It took Harry a second to realize that the question was being asked of him, as he had been trying to interpret Hermione's strange comments. "Oh, yeah, he should be down any second now."

Five minutes later Ron came bounding down the stairs. Hermione said, "Well, it took you long enough," to which Ron was about to respond nastily, when Harry said, loudly, "So, wonder what type of weather we're going to have today."

Distracted, Ron looked at him strangely, and then said, smiling, "I don't know, maybe you should consult the open window you're standing next to."

Harry tried his best to look surprised, "Oh, didn't realize that was there. Let's get downstairs, then."

Hermione and Ginny headed out into the hall first, Ron and Harry following. Harry tried to walk slowly, and he and Ron were soon far enough behind to not be overheard by the others.

Harry turned to Ron. "Hermione looks very nice today, don't you think?" Harry asked casually. Ron looked at him, clearly thinking he was joking, but since Harry was doing his best to keep a straight face, Ron took him seriously.

"Err, yeah, I guess so. She looks the same as always, though."

"Hmm. . . maybe I just haven't noticed before what a great figure she's developed," Harry said, doing his best to hide a smile at the horrified look on Ron's face. After all, the comment wasn't at all untrue. She had developed rather nicely.

"Harry, are we talking about Hermione? Because if we are, you'd better stop it, you shouldn't be saying stuff like that."

"Why not?" Harry said. "What's to stop me from saying that I like Hermione?"

"Well, nothing, it's just that, it's, it's. . ." Harry could tell Ron was really thinking hard, "WRONG, that's all! I mean, we've been friends with her since we were eleven. I mean, it's Hermione!"

"I'm aware of that," Harry said, unable to hold back his smile. "But why should that stop me from going after her if I'm attracted to her?"

"Going after her!" Ron was in shock. "Attracted to her! Are you listening to yourself? This is Hermione! You better not make a move on her, or. . . I don't know, but I'll be really upset."

"Why?" Harry asked, looking at Ron attentively, "Are you interested in her?" They might have a breakthrough much earlier then expected if this continued to go in the right direction.

For a second Ron was at a loss for words, and then he sputtered. "ME! No! I mean, it's Hermione, I'm not allowed to feel that way about her. . .why would you even suggest such a stupid. . .She would never be interested in me, anyway. I mean the whole idea is ludicrous, makes absolutely no sense. . . It's Hermione! . . . But just because I would never go out with her doesn't mean that you can!"

Harry's smile widened. Ron was protesting a little too much. He would have liked to continue the conversation, but they had reached the dining hall, and the girls were now within hearing distance, so Harry just said, "We'll see," which had Ron glaring between him and Hermione for almost the entire meal. Harry ignored him, and conversed animatedly with the girls, complimenting Hermione every chance he got. But when Ron's furious gaze wasn't focused on him, he stared across the table at Ginny.

". . .I really think that I might have a chance at chaser, but I'll need to practice. Do you think that you and Ron could help me, Harry?" Ginny asked as she set her fork down on her empty plate.

"Sure!" Harry said. "I haven't been flying since last term, and I could really use a good practice. Do you want to go today?" Ginny nodded excitedly. "You, Ron?"

"You know it!" Ron said, having perked up at the thought of quidditch. "Lets go now! Ginny, Harry and I'll meet you in the front hall after we get our brooms, Okay?"

"Great!" Ginny said, her face lit with excitement. She ran from the hall, skipping a little, and Harry thought that she was absolutely adorable.

"Well, I guess I'm on my own, then," Hermione said. Harry did his best to convince her to come, but she insisted that she needed to do some research for SPEW anyway.

"Suit yourself. Let's GO Harry." Ron said, clearly anxious to get on the field now that he had his mind set on it.

Ten minutes later they were on their way to the quidditch pitch, Ron and Ginny walking on either side of Harry, who was carrying a large trunk holding his quidditch supplies. Harry was using the opportunity to talk about Hermione as much as possible, saying how disappointed he was that she wouldn't join them, how much he enjoyed her company, how wonderful and attractive she was, how he couldn't wait till he saw her again.

By the time they arrived at the pitch Ron was glaring mutinously at Harry, and Ginny, noticing this, was doing her best not to dissolve into a fit of giggles. Harry winked at her, and stopped talking long enough to open the trunk.

Ron looked at the set enviously. "Where did you get that?" he asked, picking up the quaffle and tossing it in the air.

"Oh," Harry said, and hesitated. "Well, Fred and George, actually. They sent it for my birthday."

"Yeah, they've been feeling pretty generous ever since their shop started really selling. Bought Gin a new broom and a whole new set of robes for me. This is really nice, though, must have cost a fortune. Maybe they figure they owe you 'cause you gave them all that money to start up."

"Hmm," Harry said noncommittally, obviously not wanting to continue on with the subject. Ginny smiled at him sympathetically and, taking the quaffle from Ron, said "well, what are we waiting for, let's go!" and sped away, holding the quaffle high and waving it around tauntingly.

Though Harry was a seeker and Ron a keeper, they spent most of the time practicing chaser strategies for Ginny's benefit. Harry was pleasantly surprised by how well she flew, and after half an hour of rigorous practice, he was convinced that there was no reason why Ginny shouldn't easily make the team.

"Wow, Gin, that was excellent!" Harry exclaimed to a beaming Ginny, who had just pulled off the Benaldi-rotation quite nicely in order to catch a rather wild throw from Ron.

"Thanks!" Ginny beamed, throwing the quaffle to him. Just a little exhausted, they had stopped their more serious practice, and were now hovering in a triangle formation, throwing the quaffle around lazily.

After a while Harry's thoughts turned back to the Ron/Hermione dilemma. He grinned. Going for the element of surprise, he said, "you know, Ron, I think I might ask Hermione out before term starts," and watched in amusement as Ron almost dropped the quaffle he had just caught.

"What is with you, Harry! You've never said anything about liking her that way before, and I've been-" Ron stopped himself, and Harry thought that he might have almost pushed Ron over the edge. "Under no circumstances are you going to go out with Hermione!"

"And why not," Harry said, feigning anger. "If she likes me-"

"She doesn't!" Ron said adamantly.

"Well, IF she does," Harry said, staring Ron down, "then when I ask her out it will be her decision to go with me, not yours."

"She. . . will. . .not. . go . . .out. . .with. . . you!" Ron shouted, and threw the quaffel violently at Ginny in his anger.

She had been riveted by the argument going on between the two boys, and was taken by surprise. The quaffle caught her hard in the chest, and Ginny, winded, lost her grip on the broom as she grabbed for the quaffle. She could feel herself slipping, and suddenly she was falling, head first, the ground closing in on her at an amazing speed, and she closed her eyes, letting out a terrified scream-

But then, abruptly, she was flying again, and, looking up at Harry's face, she fainted.

Harry hadn't even stopped to think. As soon as she had started to slip he had been hurtling towards her. He landed, and set Ginny down on the grass. His face drained of color as he looked down at her. If he had been even a second later, she would have hit the ground. That he had caught her at all had been somewhat of a miracle; he didn't think he had ever flown that fast in his entire life.

"Is she all right?" Ron asked worriedly from behind him.

Harry turned on him, "Yes, no thanks to you! What the hell Ron! She could have died! What were you thinking, throwing the quaffle at her like that when she wasn't paying attention!"

Ron, who had been looking guilty, shouted back, "It's not like I did it on purpose! And besides, if you hadn't made me so angry, I would have been paying more attention to what I was doing!"

Harry turned away from Ron and looked down at Ginny. Ron was right. If anything had happened to Ginny it would have been partially his fault. Why was everyone he cared about at some time or another in mortal peril because of him?

Ginny opened her eyes groggily, and Harry kneeled down next to her, saying "Gin, are you all right?" For a second it seemed as if Ginny didn't know where she was, and then suddenly she remembered.

She sat up straight and hugged Harry tightly around the neck. She was trembling a little, and whimpering pathetically. Harry patted her back awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Harry looked at Ron pleadingly, but Ron just shrugged his shoulders, as if to say "beat's my ass, you think I know how to handle this?", so Harry just sat there, patting her back and trying to placate her.

"Gin, you're okay. Calm down. You're safe and you're on the ground. You're OKAY Ginny."

"I know," she gasped, but when Harry tried to ease her away from him, she only gripped tighter. She couldn't seem to stop her trembling. "It's just that. . . I can still see the ground coming towards me. I almost died Harry!"

Harry gently, but forcefully, removed Ginny's arms from around his neck. "Ginny, you've faced death eaters before and didn't react anything like this. Why are you so shaken by what was nothing more then a fall?" He figured that the more he downplayed the event, the less panicked she would be.

Ginny forced herself to calm down. "It's just that, well, with the death eaters I could fight back. There was nothing that I could do to stop myself from hitting the ground just then. I just felt so. . . helpless."

Harry looked her in the eye, "I know," he said sympathetically, "but I was there to catch you."

At his words she felt herself begin to calm, and she took a deep breath. Everything was okay, Harry had caught her and she was okay. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ron approaching tentatively. Suddenly her fear turned into anger.

"Never, Ron, don't you EVER do anything like that again, do you hear me? Do you know what would have happened if Harry hadn't been here!"

"It was his fault that I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing in the first place!"

"Don't even try to blame him for what happened!" Ginny yelled at him. "You need to learn how to control yourself! Ohhh, you're such an ass! You think that Harry might go out with Hermione, so you almost kill me!" Ginny felt herself start to loose control. "Why don't you just grow up and admit that you have-"

"Some serious issues that you need to work out," Harry interrupted loudly, giving Ginny a warning look. She became quiet, but was silently fuming.

Ron looked like he wanted to continue arguing, but thinking better of it, he stopped himself. "You're right, Ginny. I could have really hurt you and I'm sorry for that."

Ginny looked at her brother. He was so stubborn. "Oh, just come here," she said, and walked over to hug him.

He let her go and looked down at her. "Listen, Gin, it wouldn't really be necessary for you to tell Mom about this, would it? I mean I'd promise to make it up to you if you didn't."

She rolled her eyes. "You are so annoying, Ron. No, I won't tell mum. Even if I did want to get you into trouble, I don't think she would ever let me on the quidditch field again."

Ron looked relieved. "Thanks Gin," he muttered. "I'm going to head back now. Are you guys coming?"

"I need to get my quidditch stuff back in the trunk," Harry said, "Would you mind giving me a hand, Gin?"

"No, not at all," Ginny said, catching on that Harry wanted to talk to her.

"Well I'll see you guys later then," Ron said, and turned to leave.

Ginny and Harry watched him go, and once he was out of sight Harry turned to Ginny. "You all right, now?"

"Yeah," Ginny said, "I think that I'm more fed up with Ron then anything."

"I know, you almost slipped just then."

"Well, would that have been so bad?" Ginny asked. "Why are we going through with all this, anyway. I mean, wouldn't it just be easier to just say 'Ron you like Hermione and we all know it, and Hermione likes you too, so why don't you two just hook up, because you're driving everyone else bonkers.'"

"Well, sure, it would be easier, but where would the fun be in that?" he grinned. "Besides, we need to get Ron to admit it on his own. If we force him to face it too suddenly like that, I think he might just become resentful and deny his feelings just to spite us."

"Ugh! Why are boys so fricken dense!"

"We're not all dense! Just Ron," Harry laughed, and Ginny couldn't help but laugh with him.

"Whatever you say. But I don't think I can take too much of this Harry, so promise me we'll get the two of them alone together soon."

"Don't worry," Harry said, "Ron's closer to the breaking point then I thought. I think that tomorrow night would be the perfect time to put phase two of the plan into motion. . ."

"You are such a dork," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

"No I'm not!"

"Ohh, yes you are," she said, smiling, and turned to head back to the castle. But suddenly she was tackled to the ground, and Harry was on top of her, lying against her back. She gasped.

"I'm going to have to ask you to take that back Ginny, or you'll make me do something that I might regret later," Harry said close to her ear.

"I only speak the truth," Ginny said with as much courage as she could muster.

"I'm sorry to hear you say that," Harry said, and Ginny's eyes widened as she gave out a great shout of laughter. Harry, still holding her firmly in place with his weight, had begun to tickle her.

She struggled, wriggling against him, all the while giggling uncontrollably, shouting, "stop, stop!" She managed to turn herself around so that she faced him, and looked up at him, tears in her eyes, gasping through her laughter "H- Harry, you n-need to st-stop! I c-c-can't t-take any more!"

"Not till you take back what you said," Harry said, smiling as he tickled her harder.

"N-n-never!" she shouted, and soon she was actually crying, she was laughing so hard.

"You can end it all now, Ginny," Harry laughed, "just tell me three little words: 'I was wrong'."

Ginny finally gave in, "I was wrong, I w-was wrong! Harry Potter is the most un-dorkiest, coolest boy I've ever met in my life!" she said, still laughing.

"And don't you forget it," Harry grinned, and finally stopped torturing her.

Harry let go and stared into her eyes as her giggles subsided. Still lying partially on top of her, he leaned up and raised his hand, brushing the tears from her cheeks with his thumb. Slowly, Ginny's smile faded to a slight grin. He was staring into her eyes almost adoringly, and Ginny was reminded about the other time they had been in a similar position, and she thought that she would not mind at all if history repeated itself. . .

Suddenly reason took over. 'Stop, Ginny,' she told herself, 'They might feel good now, but Harry's kisses don't mean anything. As wonderful as he is, as much as he likes you as a friend, he's still just a teenage boy with raging hormones. Don't make a fool of yourself again.'

She cleared her throat and said, "The ground is quite uncomfortable, would you mind letting me up?"

Harry, who had been thinking about the kiss of the night before, and wondering how she became more and more beautiful with each passing second, came suddenly to his senses. "Oh, yeah, sorry," he said, and stood, reaching down to help her up.

When she was standing, she brushed off her clothes and looked up at him. When had he gotten so tall? "Should we head back then?" she asked, attempting to cover the awkward silence.

"Yeah, could you help me with the trunk, though?"

"Sure," Ginny said, and was surprised at how heavy it was even though she was only holding one side. How had he gotten it over here without any help?

They were halfway back to the castle, walking in companionable silence, when Ginny said, teasingly, "you really are a dork, you know."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"You just never learn, do you?"

"Nope!" Ginny said, and smiled widely at him, but he just shook his head and grinned.

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Well, phooey, I wasn't too crazy about that chapter, but its okay, I suppose. The next one should be much better *hehehe*, and NO, they're not going to do 'it'. . .yet(=

Please Review!

Oh! I have a pointless question: I'm reading OotP over again (yes, I'm one of those geeks who reads books multiple times) and I was wondering, what does "are you taking the mickey" mean? It's been bugging me. Is it a British thing? I'm assuming it means something like "are you on crack", but that seems like a strange thing to put in a 'children's' book. . .