A/N: Uhhh . . . I was like in a coma or something ;)

Disclaimer: None of the terms or characters that appear in any literature authored by J.K. Rowling belongs to me. They rightfully belong to J.K. Rowling. Any other allusions mentioned on this page do not belong to me either.

Chapter 35

Harry and Ginny returned to their movies after their noteworthy occurrence. Ginny would have rather gone with Harry to see the rest of Pirates of the Caribbean, but she didn't want Mrs. Weasley to worry about her. When she found her seat, she saw her dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief as the credits started to roll.

"Mum, what's wrong?" she asked.

Mrs. Weasley sniffed. "Nothing major, dear. It was just a cute movie. She ended up with the boy she liked," she said.

Ginny gave a nervous laugh. "It's over already?"

"Yes, what took you so long to get popcorn?"

"Oh, it was a long line," Ginny lied. Of course she wasn't going to admit the event that recently took place. "Are you ready to go?"

"Don't you want to wait for the others to be finished with their film?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "You can flirt with some more employees," she joked.

"Oh, Mum," Ginny answered. She wasn't going to continue doing that any longer. "I was acting strange because I didn't have anything to eat." She used to flirt with other guys when she tried to get over Harry. Ginny realized she had been doing the same thing that day. Those days were over when she put Harry as number one. Visions from her dream didn't mean much to her since the kiss either.

"Sure, dear," said Mrs. Weasley.

"We should get home early so we can prepare for Harry's birthday dinner," Ginny suggested. Mrs. Weasley gave her a speculative stare. "I mean, just to be nice is all."

"That sounds like a good idea," Mrs. Weasley agreed. "I need to meet with some people anyway."

Mrs. Weasley tried to make conversation about the movie during the ride home, but all Ginny could do was nod her head as she couldn't stop thinking about Harry. The only time she did talk was when she had to tell Mrs. Weasley that she was driving on the wrong side of the road.

The two arrived home and Ginny heard a Meow! from the closet. "Lola?" she said as she opened it up while Mrs. Weasley went into the kitchen to locate a cookbook. "What are you doing in the cupboard?" She took Lola and just as she turned around, she saw a rather sour and pale face she hadn't expected to see until her return to Hogwarts. Nonplussed, Ginny stared at him and almost choked.

"Miss Weasley, I assume that you have been taught to be somewhat more courteous to your house guests," he said. Staring back at her was Severus Snape.

Ginny stopped gaping and finally replied, "Professor Snape, what are you doing here?"

"I know how much of a snoop you are, but I'm afraid that I am required to keep that information private. Now if you were more interested in your Potions research than the personal business of others--"

"Severus, you arrived!" greeted Mrs. Weasley as she came in. Ginny only wished that Mrs. Weasley listened to what Snape was actually ridiculing her for. Lola released herself out of Ginny's hands and hissed at Snape as she crawled onto the stairway.

"I'll be upstairs, Mum," said Ginny, and she quickly excused herself from the room. Ginny shivered at the thought of Snape being in her own house. "I hope he leaves before we celebrate Harry's birthday at dinner."

Ginny found tissue paper to wrap Harry's birthday gift in. "I think he'll like it," she said as she polished the broken piece of wood with a cloth. "At least Luna would think it's brilliant."

Thinking a small joke gift wasn't enough, she also wrote a note to him:

Roses are red

Potions is dumb

You should know

You're my only one

Love,

Ginny

It might have been a bit silly and light-hearted, but she meant it. Ginny spello-taped the note inside the wrapping paper and put the gift in as well. She was hoping that Harry wouldn't be too thick to read it aloud, but there had to be some point when they would let everyone know of their relationship.

"When though?" she asked herself. I'll talk to Harry later, she thought. Ginny looked at her watch and assumed that he and the rest should have been home by then. It might be a little hard to avoid the presence of Snape if I go check now. "But I'll do it for Harry."

Ginny decided to put the gift Harry gave her to good use. She tried the belt on and it fit rather nicely, and then she walked down some flights of stairs and peaked to see if Snape was in the kitchen. He wasn't, but Harry and Ron were. Ginny smiled and made her way down. She hadn't seen Harry in hours, but it felt like years. Her feet began to feel light and she was almost at the bottom until she tripped over the last step.

"HOLY--" she screamed as she fell. Her body landed on the floor, but her face landed on someone's black leather shoes. Ginny looked up and found out they belonged to none other than Snape. Even if they didn't smell like she would have imagined, she began to gag.

"Get up, Weasley," he ordered nastily. "I told you to keep your nose out of the business of others, but that doesn't mean you can put your nose anywhere you would like."

"I'm sorry, Professor Snape, it won't happen again--" she replied as she kneeled and brushed off Snape's shoes with her hand. Wait, I'm not at Hogwarts right now. Why should he tell me what to do?, she thought to herself as she stood up.

"I'm certain you wouldn't want it to happen again or else--" he began.

"Or else--" Ginny interrupted, but she didn't finish what she wanted to say because she realized that Snape wouldn't forget her rudeness when she returned to Hogwarts for her fifth year. Snape would make the year extra hard for not only her, but also Ron since he's her brother, and Hermione since she's her friend. She didn't even want to think how he would treat Harry if he found out what went on between them. She wanted to tell him to back off, but she ended with, "Or else I'll probably have detention every Hogsmeade weekend."

"Every weekend to be exact, Miss Weasley," he said and then left the room with an even more bitter expression than before.

Ginny looked at Harry and Ron with blank faces. "Every weekend to be exact, Miss Weasley," she mocked in a whisper. "I can't believe he would treat me like that in my own house."

"You better be careful. I always know when you're about to pounce," said Ron. "You better watch out or else he'll make Potions much harder for me for the next two years."

"You always think about yourself, Ron. Isn't that right, Harry?" Ginny said.

"Uh, right," Harry replied without looking at her. "Oh, I need to get something in your room, Ron." He left without saying anything else.

"Ginny, just stay out of Snape's way for today at least," Ron said with a threatening index finger. He followed Harry upstairs.

"But I was wearing the belt," she said quietly. Okay so he's ignoring me now, and for some reason Ron thinks I should treat Snape like a king and I have a song from that Lizzie McGotter movie stuck in my head.