Hey! All right, I am sorry that I haven't updated for a while … I have just been away, and busy and whatnot.

Thanks you SOOO SOOO SOOO much to my beta, Green – you rock, with you, my spelling would be crappy! (Those are words from the heart, no?)! And another big thanks to Straycat … who tried to help me with the italics and stuff … I think that I have it figured out :o)

Anyways, on with the show :o)

The Charm Bracelet

Part 5

***

Ginny's room was smaller than Hermione's, but it had many more homey touches. The walls had posters of various wizarding music groups and quidditch players, and her dresser was full of pictures of her with her friends. Her personal favourites were the ones that Colin had taken on the train ride home. He had sent them to her the week before, saying the he had gotten doubles so she could keep them. Most of them were just tacked up to her wall, or wedged around her mirror, but a few of the best ones she had put into frames. One was of her and Hermione, just looking at the camera and smiling, and another was of Ron, Harry, Hermione and herself all together with Tonks and a few of the other people who came to pick them up from the train in the background. But her favourite one was the picture everybody in her compartment: Luna looking dreamily towards Ron, and then Harry- Neville looking nervous, and clutching his cactus thing closely. Hermione was wedged between Ginny and Ron, and was looking a little crushed, but not entirely uncomfortable, and Harry, well was being Harry. He was apart from the group, about a foot away from Ginny looking sad, trying to cover it up wit a smile that obviously wasn't genuine.

"Wow, that's a good picture," Hermione said, coming up behind her.

"Yea, it's one of my favourites." Ginny said back smiling. Hermione went over to her trunk and opened it, revealing a massive amount of clothing that Ginny had never seen her wear before. "Wow, that's a lot," She said, eyeing them.

"Yes, well about half of them I don't ever wear, and I thought that you would like them," She said, holding up a pretty tankini bathing suit that was made out of different shades of blue, giving it a rippling effect.

"Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much, Hermione, but you didn't have to," She said, looking at the beautiful bathing suit, and feeling heat go to her cheeks. She had never had anything so expensive looking before, she almost felt like Hermione was doing this as a charity or something.

"Don't mention it. I have grown out of some of it, you are much thinner than me, and most of it I will never wear anyways, I mean, can you actually see me wearing this?" She said, holding up a black dress. Ginny smiled, shaking her head, and blushed at the 'much thinner' complement. Hermione had a beautiful figure, but she was also much more curvy than Ginny, who had smaller hips, and slender arms and legs.

"Well, thanks," She said again, while Hermione piled cloths onto the bed, "So were you having a good summer at your parents house?"

"Well ... yes, I suppose. It isn't very exciting; the only thing that I have to keep me occupied is the Internet, and that can only entertain me for so long."

"Ouch. Well you're here now, we will do our best to keep you amused!" Ginny said. She was really excited that Hermione was here. Ron and Harry were both great, but they were boys, and they lacked a certain ... well ...they weren't the same.

"So, what have you been up to? Written to Dean at all?" Hermione asked.

"Well, no. We only started going out the last few days of school. And even then, I think that the only reason that he asked me out was to get back at Pavarti. Doesn't matter though," She added hastily, when Hermione gave her a look of outrage, "I was kind of, in a way using him to get back at Michael, and Ron." She said, grinning.

"I honestly have never seen anyone get so over protective over a family member! He yelled so loud when we were in Hogsmead, people in the streets were staring at us."

"Ron is just the over-protective type. Of course, He isn't the only one of my brothers that acts like that; you should have heard Bill in the car on the way home after picking up Harry. It was so embarrassing." She said. Hermione gave her a small, sympathetic grin.

"How is Harry, anyways? He seemed pretty happy when he came to pick me up. Even normal." Hermione asked.

"It's weird. We just picked him up yesterday, and he was so happy to get away from the Dursley's. Have you met them-?" Hermione shook her head "-you're better off that way, they're dreadful, any ways, we picked him up and he seemed pretty happy. We got home and during dinner he was pretty silent, but not oddly quiet or anything. Then after dinner, he helped me with the dishes, which ended in an all out water fight. It seemed like he was having fun, but I don't know."

"Water fight, 'eh" Hermione said, her eyes twinkling.

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing. So in general, he is ok?"

"Mostly, yea. Every once in a while he will get a far-out look on his face, like he is thinking about something really painful. But that doesn't happen as often as you think that it would, considering what he has been through."

"Good," Hermione sighed, "I have been worrying about him all summer."

"Well, he's fine, you have nothing to worry about." Ginny said, "By the way, I love your hair, what did you do to it?"

Hermione smiled and blushed. Her hair was still as curly as ever, but it was less frizzy, and her curls were more definite. "Oh, well my mom took me to a salon, and they recommended a few hair products to-" But was cut off by a loud rapping at the door. Ginny answered it to find Ron and Harry.

"Are you finished unpacking yet? We were going to go out back and play a bit of quidditch, and wanted to see if you would like to come. I need to get in shape for the seeker position that you have so kindly held for me," Harry said, grinning.

"Yea, almost. Do you want to play, Hermione," Ginny asked, turning around. She gave a look that seemed to say, 'Are you kidding?' Ginny laughed and said, "We can do it some other time."

"Oh, no Ginny, you go out. I'm not very athletic. I'll just come out and watch." Hermione said quickly.

"Oh, com'on, you know you want to!" Ron said in a teasing voice.

"Not in the slightest bit, thanks"

"Alright. I'll just change and meet you out there in a few minutes then," Ginny said, once again turning towards Harry and Ron.

"Ok, see you in a bit," Harry smiled, and turned down the stairway, followed closely by Ron. As soon as the door shut, Hermione gave her a curious look.

"What was that about?" She asked, sitting on the bed.

"What was what about?" Ginny said, though she could already guess as to what Hermione was going to say,

"You and Harry were ... flirting!" She said, giggling a bit.

"We were NOT!" She said loudly, though she blushed.

"Ginny, I'm pretty smart, I can figure you out,"

"We were not FLIRTING!"

"First the water fight, then the 'smiling and eye contact' ... I don't know, it sounds like flirting to me," she smiled.

"Yes, well you do have a lot of practice in the subject don't you?" Ginny said, hoping to push the topic of discussion away from her and Harry. It was working momentarily, as Hermione went a little pink around her cheeks, but like she said, she was pretty smart, she could tell what Ginny was trying to do.

"Yea, that's not going to work. Anyways, get changed so we can go out." She said, "I'll meet you out there."

"Ok," She said, as Hermione left.

*

Harry hadn't been on his Firebolt for so long that he was extremely eager to get into the air. Ron was over by the shed, getting out the balls and other equipment, including his broom, which he probably treasured more than anything else he owned.

"Sorry we don't have a snitch or anything. We never play with one, don't have enough people." He called, tossing the crate that was used to carry the quidditch materials in.

"Don't worry about it. I don't need one," He said brightly.

"Alright, here come Ginny and Hermione." Ron said, turning away from Harry. Hermione waved at him, as Ginny hurried over to the shed, and pulled out an old broom. She was dressed in a rider-back red tank top, and baggy black track shorts. Harry realized he was staring, and turned away suddenly. Hermione seemed to notice that he was looking at Ginny too, because when she sat down under one of the huge trees in the Weasley's yard, she caught his eye, and gave him a half grin, while raising her eyebrows. Ron, as oblivious as ever, just threw the quaffle at his sister, who spun around and caught it in a way that looked like she used very little effort.

Harry mounted his broom, kicked off. He could feel the cool breeze in his hair, as he accelerated. He circled the pitch a few times, getting used to the feel of his broom once again. Looking up, he could see dark grey clouds in the distance that didn't look promising.

"Harry, you ready? You and Gin against me," Ron called from the other end of the clearing.

"Alright," He said, as Ginny passed him the quaffle. They both sped towards Ron, passing to each other in an attempt to confuse him. It didn't work as well as they had hoped though, as Harry shot on him, he caught it easily, and passed it back saying that he would have to do better than that.

They headed towards the other end of the pitch again, and prepared to shoot on Ron again. This time, it was Ginny who had taken the shot. It barley touched the tips of his fingers as it flew gracefully through the hoop.

"YEA!" She yelled as she punched the air. After a few more shots like that, Harry was certain that Ginny would make chaser the next year. They continued to play for the next hour and a half, but finally went in when it looked like it was threatening to rain. They couldn't have picked a better time, because by the time they had finished packing up the equipment in the shed, it had started spitting on them.

Once they were inside, they had to find other things to do. Ron suggested a game of wizard chess, but no one wanted to challenge him. Finally Hermione did, if only to get him to shut up. The game lasted over an hour...

"No, don't do that, it's stupid, can't you see that his bishop is going to get me!!" yelled the little voice of one of her castles.

"Will you PLEASE shut up?" She yelled back making everybody else laugh.

"Whoa, Hermione, rage problems." Ron grinned.

"Quiet you! Just because you are a freaking chess genius, it does NOT mean that you can rub it in!" She said, irritated.

"Uh huh. Well, it doesn't matter anyways ... checkmate" He said, grinning happily. Hermione scowled as she put all of her pieces back in the bad.

"See Ron, I'm not the only one who doesn't like to play with you," Ginny announced.

"You're all afraid of my intelligence!"

"Yea, that's it," Hermione mumbled under her breath. There was a rapping on the window, "Wow, its coming down hard,"

"Oh. That's not the rain, it's an owl," Ron said, jumping to his feet and letting the bird in. It swooped over his head, and onto Ginny's lap.

"For me, then?" She asked, as it stuck out its leg.

"Whose owl is that?" Ron pestered.

"I don't know..." She said, trailing off as she read the letter.

"Well..."

"It's nothing ... just a letter from one of my friends," She said quietly pocketing it.

Hermione looked at her, and sighed. 'Ok there must be something that I am missing,' Harry thought, as the girls looked at each other, occasionally nodding a bit or sighing again. Harry felt a bit better when he saw Ron looking from girl to girl with a very confused expression on his face.

After a moment, the silence was broken when Ginny announced, "Well, I'm worn out from quidditch. I think that I'm going to lay down for a bit." She got up, and Hermione was about to follow, but she held her arm out and shook her head, "It's ok." She said in an undertone, "I'm good," and with that she disappeared up the stairs.

"Well that was odd." Ron said, "What is her problem?"

"It's none of your business." Hermione snapped, reaching onto the couch and picking up a book. In seconds she was completely absorbed into it, leaving Ron with an astonished look on his face. He turned towards Harry, and asked, "So, you wanna play?"

*

Ginny came down again only for dinner that night. She had been completely silent through the entire meal, and went straight up the stairs as soon as she was done.

Thunder and lightning shook house as Ron and Harry made their way to Ron's room. Hermione had gone to bed about an hour before, saying she wanted to see how Ginny was doing.

"'K, well g'night," Ron yawned.

"Yep, 'night," Harry said back. A few minutes' later Ron's soft snores filled the room. Another flash of lightning filled the room, and was followed by a loud clap of lightning. There was silence for a few minutes before there was more thunder. He sighed ... He was never getting asleep like this. He was to awake, his brain just wouldn't shut up. He sat up in his bed, and reached for his glasses, deciding that a glass of water would make him feel better. He opened the door, hoping that he hadn't waked up Ron. He heard a distinct snore to confirm that he hadn't. Harry crept down the stairs as quietly as he could, trying not to wake up anyone else in the house. He got to the kitchen to find that the lights in the living room were already on.

Ginny was curled on the couch, sniffing softly. There was a cup of tea in front of her on the table, next to a crumpled piece of parchment.

"Ginny?" He whispered, causing her to jump. She turned towards him smiling a bit, though he noticed that her eyes were pink, and she had little blotches on her cheeks.

"You do that to me to often," She said, laughing a little.

"Sorry. Umm, Gin, what's wrong?" He asked curiously.

"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep. You either, I suppose?"

"Yea. Ginny ... have you been crying." He said cautiously, trying not to sound nosy. Ginny looked at her lap, and laughed a little.

"Yea ... heh ... umm ... don't tell Ron, ok?" She said in a strained and small voice, "I haven't cried for years, well at least with him knowing. I'm a little scared what he will do." She laughed weakly.

"Yea, sure, but why? And why are you crying?" He said, sitting on the couch next to her. Of what he knew about Ginny, she wasn't someone who would cry over nothing.

"Uh, here." She said handing him the crumpled letter.

Dear Ginny

Hey, how is your summer going? Mine's going all right. Sorry that I haven't written before this letter, I have been pretty busy

Anyway, I'm writing now as an apology. I know that I asked you out the same day that you and Michael broke up ... and I did it for the wrong reason. Pavarti and I broke up the week before, and she started going out with that pretty boy in Ravenclaw, and for some odd reason I felt like I needed to get back at her. I know, I am horrible, and that was completely wrong. I don't deserve someone like you, Gin, and I don't think that I can stay with you, it just isn't right. Please forgive me.

-Dean

"Oh. Ginny, are you going to be ok?" Harry asked, placing the letter back on the table.

"Yea," She said quietly, still not looking up.

"Ok, do you want me to leave you alone?" He asked, hoping that she would say no. 'Why am hoping that she will say no?'

"No, that's alright." She said. After a minute of silence there was another flash of lightning, and a tremendous clap of thunder that made her jump closer to Harry.

"Your jumpy, has anyone ever told you that?" He said smiling a bit. She giggled just a little, and curled herself up again, burying her face into her knees.

"Are you sure that you are going to be ok?" He asked. She nodded.

"Yea," She sighed, "God. You must think that I am stupid, letting a guy get to me like this ... I'm crying 'cause I got dumped by someone that I didn't even like that much. There are so many more important things going on, like, well You-know-who," She said, letting a few tears slip.

"Don't say that, you're not stupid. If anything, Deans the stupid one, breaking up with you. Any guy would be lucky to have you as their girlfriend" He insisted, not really sure what to say. He wasn't good in situations with emotional girls, crying scared him, and he wanted nothing more than to make her stop right now; and before he could stop himself, he was pulling her into a shy hug. To his surprise, she hugged him back.

It was amazing how her hug was so different than any other he had ever had. It wasn't like Mrs. Weasley's, which were very tight and welcoming. It wasn't like Hermione's, which were excited and usually quite talkative. It was different. New. She was warm and small in his arms, and her head seemed to rest perfectly on his shoulder. He had an unsuspected wave of hatred for the thing that did this to her. Hurt her. He just wanted to make it all better.

"Thanks Harry." She sniffed quietly from his shoulder, "I'm really glad that I have great friends like you,"

"Yea," He said softly, "likewise." To Harry's great dislike, she pulled away from him, though she was still very close.

"I guess that I should get to bed." She sighed, looking at him. Her eyes were so turquoise that it was almost unnatural.

"Ok, G'night Ginny,"

"'Night Harry," She said as she leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek, "Thanks again," she said, disappearing up the staircase.

"Yea," He whispered, "Anytime,"

*

Yea, so that's the chapter. I think that I emailed everyone who review last time … if I didn't, SORRY! Review again and I will … promise :o).

Thanks for reading!!! ~Angi