Disclaimer: Harry Potter, JKR, kapeesh? 
(Another HP/GW One-shot…call me crazy, or call me the HPGW Fan Fiction Queen) 

*****

I'm not just gonna

Stand around

Waiting for my lips

To be read

Falling through the

Cracks in the ground

My feelings need to be said.

--"Washing Machine", Michelle Branch.

*****

                Winter.

                How I loved winter. The season was definitely made for children. Blankets of snow were for playing in. The cold was for mothers ushering their children in for some hot chocolate. And during that particular season was Christmas. It was my favourite time of the year, for I, myself, am still a kid. It was winter in the Hogwarts grounds, and I was on the Quidditch pitch, flying around in loops and waves on my Firebolt. Even though it was freezing cold, I had to fly in my broomstick. I couldn't just stay in the common room and do homework. No, winter was time for me to play.

                I flew around the pitch a while longer, and after realizing my fingers and toes were numb, I decided to land. Grinning like an idiot, I scanned the ground. It was totally covered in a thick blanket of snow. There were no footprints or whatnot on it. Perfectly undisturbed. A second later I had fallen backwards, flapping my arms up and down in an attempt to make a snow angel. Then I began to laugh. I was surprised, I hadn't laughed for a long time, ever since my godfather was killed. It was also a surprise that I laughed because of my childish action. Obviously, as everyone else had predicted, I was very peculiar.

                Then I saw a flash of red above me, mimicking my movements earlier on. I recognized the "flash of red" as Ginny Weasley, for she was the only one in school with long fiery red hair. Ron had red hair too, but it wasn't as long and as sparkly as Ginny's. She spotted me and waved, giggling at my position. Then she broke into a huge grin. Even though she was almost fifty feet above me, I could see the twinkle of mischief in her eyes. She reminded me of Fred and George so much sometimes.

                She angled her broom and began to dive, right at me. Closer and closer she got, making me slightly frightened. (Just slightly) She was going to crash into me! Unfortunately, I couldn't move, I had no idea why. The tip of her broom was about to knock my nose off when she swerved and stopped. She hovered just a foot above from me, and I could see every freckle on her face. She laughed and leaned towards me, her brown eyes twinkling, "You were scared, Potter."

                I huffed, "No I was not. I was just worried that your stunt would fail miserably." Ginny chortled and landed her broom and plopped down beside me, "You're not the only one with great flying skills, you know."

                I sat up straight and said, "Yes, I suppose there's also King Weasley, a Quidditch legend with his own song," Ginny glared at me in mock anger, "I'm just joking, Gin. You're great at flying."

                She patted my arm, "Keep them coming, Potter, and I'll let you off the hook." That was Ginny, being Ron-esque. I smiled, "Alright. Um, you're good as a Seeker and as a Chaser. You're good at Charms, you're good at Potions, you're good at gossiping—"

                "That's right, pull the other leg," Ginny joked. Then her face contorted into a frown, "Wait, what happened? You're laughing!" I shook my head and sighed, "I've come to terms with my destiny and Sirius, I suppose. As long as I've friends like you, I'll make it, I'll probably even die happy."

                Ginny breathed in sharply, and fiddled with something in her pocket. She took it out and passed it to me. It was a small round piece of wood, the size of a Galleon coin. It was glazed and smooth. I looked up at her, "What's this?"

                "Wood," Ginny said. It looked nothing like Oliver Wood. Ha. Ha. Funny joke. She took it back from me and knocked on it. Ah, I got it. Knocking on wood.

                "You said you were going to die, and I don't want that to happen anytime soon, so knock on it," Ginny said, holding out the piece of wood for me. I knocked on it and said, "I didn't know you were so superstitious."

                "I'm not. It's just a habit I picked up," she said as she pocketed the piece of wood, "I can't have you dying on me now, can I?"

                I laughed once again. At that particular moment, snow began to fall. I watched, amazed at some of the snowflakes being embedded in a sea of Weasley red. I saw one landing on Ginny's rose-tinted cheeks and then it started to melt. I didn't know what I was doing, for I reached out and wiped the drop of water of. Ginny grinned, "Thanks."

                She patted my arm once again and then she stood up. She gave me a wink and started to twirl around, arms wide open. I watched the sight before me. Never had I seen Ginny so beautiful. I had never noticed her in that kind of light. She was enthralling like that, her wavy hair flying in the wind, her rosy cheeks becoming redder by the second. She was such a mystery, wrapped in an enigma. I sounded like a love-sick person, and maybe I was. She then waved at me, "Don't just sit there! Get up!"

                I shook my head, "I'm comfortable right here, thank you very much." Before I knew it, a ball of snow had hit me squarely on my face. I heard Ginny giggling in amusement. No way was she going to get off with that!  I was about to pick up a ball of snow when another snowball hit me. I stood up and said, "Not getting off that so easily, Gin!"

                I threw a snowball at Ginny, unfortunately, it missed her. She chuckled, "Nice one, Harry. Maybe next time you can throw something that will actually hit something!" I huffed, took a handful of snow and threw it at her. It hit her arm. Ginny, open mouthed, broke into a run and pounced on me. I lost balance (Ginny isn't as light as you think) and fell back, pulling Ginny with me.

                She stopped laughing when she found that her lips were on mine. Obviously, it was accidental, for I had no intention on kissing her unless it's deliberate. She quickly got off me, her face flushed. I sat up, muttering, "Sorry."

                "It's okay, it's not your fault," Ginny said, fingering the clasp of her cloak. Then she turned around to look at me so quickly, I was afraid that she had some sort of whiplash or something. She stammered, "H-Harry? I've got something to tell you."

                I nodded, "Fire away." She turned her body to face me. Then she took my hand and cradled it, "I'm in love with you."

                It took a while for me to decipher what she had just said. She was in love with me. Why was I so surprised? I had known that she had fancied me since her first year. Yet why was I so surprised. I gulped. I had no idea what to say. I couldn't say that I was in love with her, because I wasn't. I do, however, fancy her. Because you see, while she was throwing snowballs at me, at the back of my mind I somehow knew that I had started to like her. She was different from any girl I knew. But right now, I had to worry about what I was about to say. Turned out that I didn't have to say much, because she had spoken.

                "I know that you know," Ginny started, "That I like you. And to be honest, I'm really embarrassed that you had to go through all those years with me squealing and pining away at the very sight of you. But, I just had to tell you this, anyway. I can't just stand around and wait for you to notice me. I had to let you know. So there, you know it. I think I'm going back to my dormitory."

                As she stood up, I held back her hand. Then I stood up as well, running my hand through my unruly hair. I said, "Er…don't go yet."

                She didn't look at me. Instead, she stared at our linked hands. She sighed, "Why not?"

                "I've not spoken yet," I said, lifting her chin up, "I think you deserve to know how I feel about you, right? Well, I'm ashamed to say that I don't love you, Ginny."

                I felt her stiffen up a little, and she was about to let go of my hand, but I spoke once again, "But I'm not saying that I've only platonic feelings for you. You see, your feelings for me are not unrequited. What I am trying to say is…"

                "Yes?"

                "I really like you, Gin. And I feel really ashamed that I didn't even gave myself the chance to get to know you better earlier. But anyway, I'm glad that at least I know you better now, even though it's just a little bit. And if the rest of you is like what you are now, then when I get to know that part of you, I would say I love you, too. But would you settle for 'I really like you' at the moment?"

                Ginny broke out into a grin, "Yeah, I'd take that."

                She kissed my cheek, making me shiver. Fortunately she didn't notice it, for it was too cold. Feeling like a little kid, I grinned and squeezed her hand. And right there we stood, staring at each other as snow fell on us, thickening the blanket of white powder.

                Like I said, I love winter.