Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related names and places are the legal property of J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury, and AOL Time Warner, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Avoiding someone you desperately wanted to see wasn't any easy thing to do, as Harry was beginning to find out. His mind told him to stay as far away from Ginny as he could get. The trouble was that every other single part of him wanted nothing more than to be around her.
It wasn't the fact that he found her quite beautiful; ("Shut up brain!") it was the fact that they had become friends. Their friendship was on a different level than the friendship that Harry shared with Ron and Hermione. They understood each other in ways that no one else did. They both were possibly the only two to survive being direct targets of Voldemort.
Harry sat staring into the common room fire, thinking about this. They had seen each other in the most horrible times of their lives so far. Harry had seen her under Voldemort's control and had nearly witnessed her death. Ginny in turn had seen him, though at a distance, when he announced Voldemort's return. Then only last year she had seen him through being called a liar, being hated by the world at large, and then had seen him lose the closest person to a parent he had had in his life. Yet during all of this, she had not tried to do as the others. Unlike Hermione, she didn't try to figure out a solution to all of his problems. Unlike Ron, she hadn't tried to make him forget his troubles with odd jokes and outings. Unlike Dumbledore, she hadn't wanted to talk incessantly. No, she had listened. Listening was the one thing that Harry had wanted more than anything over the past year. She had done that for him. Ginny never questioned him, she never tried to fix him, she never tried to make him forget, and she never spoke. She would sit and listen until Harry had talked himself into silence. Afterwards, she would give him an encouraging smile, or a squeeze of his hand, but never talk.
And that was what was driving Harry mad. He missed their talks. He missed sitting with her in the common room and discussing Ron and Hermione's latest row, discussing new Quidditch strategies, or discussing their ridiculous amounts of homework.
"Don't be an idiot;" his brain told him, "You don't miss talking to her. You just miss her...period."
"Harry what's wrong with you? You look like you've swallowed a lemon." Ron announced, looking up from their game of chess. "I called checkmate at least five minutes ago, but you've just sat there. Is something the matter?"
Harry looked around quickly. "What? Oh, no nothings wrong. I was just thinking..."
"Oh. Well, listen do you mind if I skip out?"
Harry gave Ron a calculating look.
"It's just I wanted to go and meet Hermione. She should be getting away from McGonagall in a few minutes. And don't give me that look! I'm just trying to make up for being a prat!"
"Well, I'm glad you finally realized it. Go on, I've got work I need to do anyway. I think I'll hit the library."
Ron called his thanks as he pushed through the portrait.
Work; that would take his mind off of her. Harry was proud of himself for coming up with such a good plan. He could finish his essay for Snape, and work out a new practice schedule for the team. Harry ran upstairs, grabbed his bag, and headed for the library.
Choosing a table situated far away from Madame Pince's prying eyes, he sat his things down. He had barely pulled out a chair to sit in, when a mass of red hair spread out over a nearby table caught his eye. The owner of the mane wasn't moving. Harry was in no doubt of whom it could be; he had unwittingly memorized every auburn lock on her head.
Making his way over to her, he saw that she was lying on an open Arithmancy book. The peaceful sound of her breathing made something inside of him tingle. He watched her for a second. One side of her face was stuck to the arm lying across the open book. The other side of her face was visible to him. Not being able to help himself he watched her for awhile. He found himself reaching out and tucking a piece of stray hair behind her ear.
"This is wrong on so many levels." He whispered to himself.
Ginny gave a slight movement, but slept on. Harry knew he should wake her, but he liked seeing her like this. So peaceful, so endearing...
He laid a hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle nudge. "Ginny, come on. Wake up."
She opened one bleary eye, and then raised her head and looked at him. Surprisingly she smiled a little. A very odd look came over her as she gazed up at him. "I was having the most wonderful dream about..." She broke off abruptly and looked wildly around. "Harry! Oh, what...what time is it?" She fumbled for her watch.
"Relax. It's a little after seven."
Ginny didn't relax, however. "Oh no!" She jumped up and started cramming all her things into her bag. "Oh, I'm late for duty! It's my night to patrol the first floor! Oh, Chang is going to have my head if I'm late again!"
"Ginny hold on!"
She didn't, however. Waving over her shoulder, she sped out of the library.
Harry made his way back to his seat, wondering. What had her dream been about? And what was that look she had given him? Was it possibly...
"No, you had just woken her up. She barely knew where she was or who you were. Don't flatter yourself, Potter." With that, Harry turned to his parchment and began to write.
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While Harry knew that a normal life was never going to exist under Hogwart's roof, things seem to be getting back to a routine that Harry was familiar with.
By February, Hermione had begun to talk a bit more. The dark circles under her eyes and the way her shoulders constantly sagged showed her sadness, but there was a semblance of the old Hermione shining through. She and Ron had evidently come to some sort of mutual agreement. They talked and walked together often; even once Harry distinctly heard Hermione laugh out loud at something Ron said. Harry never questioned either of them about their relationship; he simply left them to their own devices.
The beginning of February brought about the return of the Quidditch season. Every Thursday night Harry and his teammates could be found, bundled up against the cold, out on the Quidditch field. Harry found it was even harder trying to avoid Ginny during their practice sessions. He couldn't very well pretend she didn't exist out here. Once, he had thoroughly embarrassed himself by telling off Blaine Mason for narrowly avoiding crashing his broom into Ginny's. Ginny had assured him that no damage was done, Blaine looked bewildered, and Harry spent ten minutes banging his head against his locker after everyone had left.
Harry walked out of the captain's office after one practice session to find Ginny sitting on a bench, leaning against the wall behind her. She was fast asleep.
"Ginny, what are you doing?"
Ginny snapped awake with a start and nearly fell to the floor. "Wha...? Oh, must have dozed off again."
Harry looked closely at her as she bent to pick up her bag. She looked pale, not very bad though. Dark circles had begun to form under her eyes and she looked thinner than she had in ages. For a horrible fleeting second, Harry was strongly reminded of how she had looked in the latter part of her first year.
"Ginny, are you okay? That's the second time I've found you asleep in an unusual place. Is something wrong?"
She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm fine. Well, not really." Her face fell and she slumped back down on the bench. "I guess it's just everything catching up with me. I've had to start studying for my O.W.L.'s. Plus, all the teachers seem to think that the more homework the better. I've got patrol duty three times a week, and every time I turn around there's a bloody prefect meeting!" She scowled at the last words. "You know, that Cho Chang is a down right..." Ginny called her a word that Harry knew would have caused Mrs. Weasley to yell at her.
Harry laughed a little.
"It's not funny! If I'm even a second late, she gives me this ten minute lecture about being responsible. Then she prisses off to do Merlin only knows what, acting like she's the cleverest little witch there is." Ginny wrinkled her nose. "If it wouldn't send Mum straight over the edge, I'd take that stupid badge and tell Chang to shove it up her backside!"
"Does she give anyone else a hard time?"
"Are you kidding? Last week Malfoy actually asked if he could get out of his Thursday night patrol of the sixth floor, and she told him yes! Then she had the nerve to give it to me, knowing full well that I have Quidditch practice on Thursdays! When I told her I couldn't, she threatened to complain about me to McGonagall! She said that being a prefect should be my number one priority."
Harry narrowed his eyes. He had a feeling that he knew what this was all about. "Listen Ginny, she's not after you. She's doing this because of me."
"What's this got to do with you?"
"Well, remember that Hogsmeade trip, when you and I went down to the Three Broomsticks?" Ginny nodded. "Well, she had asked me to go with her a few days before. I told her that I wasn't going to go. When you were...er...talking with Michael, she came over to me. She was mad because she thought I had lied about not going. Then she actually thought that you and I were...well that we were..." Harry felt his cheeks burning. Now was not the time to blush!
Ginny stood with her mouth agape. "No! Why would she think that you and I..." She looked at her feet and then back up. "Well, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! So, that's the reason she's been so horrible to me! I can't believe this! Oh, she's as bad as Michael Corner!"
"What's he got to do with this?"
Ginny stomped around and let out little cries of exasperation. "Oh, the idiot wrote to me over the summer begging me to forgive him. He said he had broken up with Cho and that he wanted me back. I told him to get stuffed, of course." Ginny added the last bit, glancing at Harry. "Then that day at the Three Broomsticks, he came after me again. He said, 'I should have known you run straight to Perfect Potter.'" She stopped there.
Harry knew there was more that he had said. "What else did he say?"
Ginny blushed severely. "Well, nothing that I'd like to repeat." She dropped her head and whispered, "At least not to you."
Harry stood and watched her fiddling with her bag, avoiding his gaze. Before he had realized it, he had taken several steps forward. Without meaning to, he had come within mere inches of Ginny.
"Listen, Ginny..." His voice suddenly caught in his throat as she looked up at him. He had only been this close to another girl once before, and he clearly remembered what had happened. Ginny wasn't crying, though. She was looking at him in a very peculiar way. Her face showed no emotion, her lips were pressed together, and she kept her eyes trained on his. This expression stirred something in him...something he'd never felt before.
Harry opened his mouth several times to finish what he was saying but found his voice wasn't working. He tried to look away, but her eyes held him. There was something causing him to want to take a few steps closer to her. They were already so very close though...
Silence pressed in around them. The seconds that passed felt like hours to Harry. Crazy, half-formed thoughts ran around his head. "Just a few steps..." "Just lean down a little bit..." "I wonder what would happen if I..."
His breath was coming faster and harder. His eyes flickered down for a mere second and saw that Ginny was breathing fast, too. Looking back to her eyes, his mind was made up. It was now or never...
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Paul: Thanks so much for your review! I'm really glad you are enjoying this.
Jedi Buttercup: Ha! I can think of more ways to be cruel and unusual...LOL! I'm so glad you think this is going well! I am trying desperately to keep everything in canon. Don't worry I find myself wanting to hug and smack them too! As to the "Cole" situation...Snape doesn't know who she is yet. As she is/was and Auror, she's very talented at disguising herself. And since she wants to keep her return very secret (and she has very, very good reason...) she's taking every precaution to do so. Don't worry though...I plan on having a bit of fun with Snape and his lovely lady....possibly next chapter. There will be a very funny scene with the two of them. Be patient, my pet...all will be revealed...lol!
hermionegreen: Thanks so much! I'm hoping you enjoy the way I play out the romance. I want them to have this great epic romance. They are going to have the ups and downs like every couple, but on a different level. The world around them is so crazy, but I want them to be a sort of sanctuary for each other.
