Chapter 4- Harry vs. Brian

"I wouldn't worry about it, Harry. I give it two months tops." Ron took a drink of his butter beer. Ginny's new boyfriend had been the topic of conversation between them for the last two weeks, that is since Brian had officially started dating Ginny.

"But what if it isn't Ron? What if I messed up the best relationship I could have ever had, just because I couldn't work up the nerve to ask her out first?"

Just then there was a loud pop that came from the living room, and moments later Hermione entered the kitchen with a bag full of groceries. "Hey Harry. Hi Ron," she leaned over and gave the latter a kiss on the cheek. "And what are we doing here."

"Harry's pining again." Ron stated while trying to peek in the bag.

"Get your hand out of there. I'm going to make you a proper meal, and you aren't to touch my ingredients!" She then turned her attention to Harry. "Harry, you should just move on. There's no use crying over spilt potion-"

"Unless Snape's going to fail you for it," Ron interjected.

"I'm not crying," Harry clarified. "I just don't trust this guy. I mean does she date every guy that waltzes into her office?" He then folded his arms and found a pretty pathetic pout to match the pretty pathetic whine added to his voice.

"No, she only goes for the cute guys," Hermione stated while getting out the chicken. Harry and Ron both gave her looks of shock and horror. "I'm just kidding! Besides, isn't it up to her who she dates?"

"No," Ron stated very firmly. "Not if the guy isn't good enough for her!"

"Well, that's not up to you to decide either, Ron. Now I know you liked the idea of Ginny going out with your best friend, but you really have to stop treating her like a baby. Now, let's teach you two how to cook."

"I know how to cook," Harry said. "I just don't like to."

Hermione rolled her eyes as Harry left the room. She went to grab the milk to pour some into the bowl she was using, when a rancid smell filled her nostrils. "Eww," she gasped as she poured it down the drain.

***

Ginny was in her bedroom studying Occlumency. It had happened to be the easiest subject in the Auror classes for her so far. It wasn't unusual to find a witch or wizard who knew how to block others from their mind, but it was rare to find one who could use legemency. Even rarer was one who could read your mind even without a spell. Ginny was one of the extremely rare.

It was understandable to the professors that she would have learned occlumency (especially those who knew of what happened in her first year), but Professor Miles was shocked when, while testing her on her own abilities, his memory got tampered into. After warning Ginny not to abuse the gift she had, they ended up using Ginny to help the other students practice this skill. This didn't make her anymore popular with her peers.

So here she was, after another class of evil glares from her fellow classmates, lying in her room thinking about all the events of that day. She was in her own little world when she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Ginny sat up on her bed. In walked Brian.

"Hey, Gin, what are you doing?"

"Nothing, what about you."

"Oh, just had to come see you. Guess what?"

"What?" Ginny's mind was still wandering.

"I just got a promotion."

"Wow! That was quick. I guess they see what a good worker you are!"

"Yeah, it was between me and Steve. How 'bout I take you out?"

"Sure," Ginny grabbed a jacket and they were off to a nice muggle restaurant in London.

Ginny had ordered the Chicken Marsala and was quite enjoying herself, as Brian told her about all the new things he would be doing, and how he might get to travel and such. Ginny wasn't much into the things he was talking about, and instead decided to see if she could control her new skill of mind reading. Ginny didn't feel it was abusing the privilege, since he was her boyfriend. She began to concentrate.

It's a good thing I started dating her. Ginny liked the way this internal dialogue was sounding. Good thing Charlie was the one hiring too. I guess she's pretty, not a bad kisser either. I wonder if she'd go any further with me.

That was all Ginny need to hear. "Brian?" She interrupted him in the middle of her sentence, and he sensed that she was irritated. "Why are you dating me?"

"Uh, because, well, why do you need to know Ginny?"

"Just answer the question," she was loosing her patience. This was what she had hoped would help her 'start from scratch' or as close to scratch as she could get.

"You helped me, and I asked you out, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember, right before you went to interview with my brother!" She shouted this and stood up and ran out of the restaurant. She just kept running until she ended up in Wizarding territory in downtown London. Completely out of breath, she apparated home and ended up right in the middle of the family room. No one was home, at least no one who lived there was home. There in the recliner, was Harry reading the Daily Prophet. He saw how red Ginny's face was, from running, and the frantic appearance made him worry.

Ginny didn't even say a word, she just went up the stairs opened a large suitcase, and messily threw some clothes into it. She was thinking of all the things she needed to do. Write to the headmaster of the academy, Mafalda, and her family, go to Gringotts, exchange her savings into muggle form... her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Go away!" She shouted, expecting it to be Brian.

"Ginny is everything alright?" Harry's voice came from the other side of the door. "Can I please come in?"

Ginny had an internal struggle, but decided to let him come in. "Hi, Harry," she said quietly before turning to back to the tasks at hand.

"Going on vacation?" Harry was trying to be an anchor for her, let her tell when she was ready.

"No," the answer was very short. She really didn't want Harry to think she was being silly or over reacting.

"Well, what's going on?"

"I'm just taking care of a few things. I don't want to be rude, but I really have to hurry."

"Understood, if you need an ear, I'll be downstairs."

Ginny looked at him. She wanted to see what he was thinking at that moment, but knew that of all people to block her from doing so, it would be Harry. She could read in his eyes, though, that he was being truly sincere.

When Ginny turned back to her desk to finish her letters, Harry went back down the stairs to see none other than Brian.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

"Why?" Harry didn't like this situation in the least. There was something weird going on here, and he was going to find out what.

"Because, she just stormed out on me in the middle of dinner! Not that it's any of your business why I want to see my girlfriend.

"Ex-girlfriend," came a voice from the base of the stairs, suitcase in hand. Harry and Brian both looked over in her direction in shock.

"Ginny, hon, what are you doing?" Brian went to her, and tried to grasp her hand.

"That is no longer your concern. Please leave my parent's house, now."

"Ginny, just hear me out-" Brian grabbed her by the arm harshly. This wasn't the first time Ginny had seen his temper, but she certainly wasn't going to deal with it this time. She turned around and slapped him straight across the face. Before he turned back around she had her wand out, pointed straight at Brian.

"Don't you come near me again, or it'll be much, much worse for you." She then apparated to who knows where.

This left Brian alone with a very angry Harry. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing! She all the sudden accused me of dating her because I work under Charlie!"

"What?! Is it true?!"

"So what if it is? That's not any of your concern."

"That's what you think," with that Harry, not bothering with his wand, gave a sharp right hook to Brian's jaw.