An Acceptable Risk

Chapter Eighteen

Several weeks past and Ginny found herself being ostracized more and more from her housemates. She was studying alone one night after hours in the deserted library, when she heard the soft click of the library door. She looked up from the parchment she had been doodling on to see Harry removing his invisibility cloak. Looking at him, her heart gave a lurch, and she had to force herself to remain calm.
"Hi Ginny," he said a bit awkwardly. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine Harry," she answered as she rolled up the sheet of parchment she had been writing on. "I was just getting ready to leave, so you can have the library to yourself."
"No you weren't Ginny. Don't leave because of me, and more importantly, don't lie to me.
"Well, why should I stay and listen to yet another person explain to me in excruciating detail the many ways that I'm ruining my life!"
"I wasn't going to say that!" Harry said in a defensive tone.
"Right. You'll excuse me if I find that a bit difficult to accept."
"Well, maybe I was," admitted Harry. "But I didn't come in here for the express purpose of hunting you down and lecturing to you."
Ginny said nothing; she simply raised an eyebrow and waited for Harry to continue.
"I-well I've fallen a bit behind in my classes," explained Harry. "I know I've left it a bit late, but if I want to have any chance at all of passing my NEWTS and graduating, I've got to get caught up.
"Oh," said Ginny in a bland voice, while inside, she shouted with glee; Harry was starting to take an interest in his studies.

"Well, what are you working on?" she asked casually, trying to feign indifference.
"Everything," said Harry sitting down at the table beside her. "Hermione's getting me caught up in potions and transfigurations. Seamus is letting me copy his notes in History of Magic, and Neville is a whiz in Herbology. I've kept up with Defense against the Dark Arts, so that just leaves Care of Magical Creatures and Divinations. Ron's loaning me his notes for Care of Magical Creatures, and Hagrid's said I can come down and do some extra credit." Both Harry and Ginny grimaced at the thought of working with the type of creatures that Hagrid favored.
"So that just leaves Divinations?" asked Ginny. When Harry nodded she continued. "Well, could Lavender or Parvati help you? Both of them love divinations. Her comment caused Harry to roll his eyes and Ginny laughed.
"No, I guess that wouldn't work, would it? They'd realize that you've spent the last few years making up all your predictions." They both burst out laughing and Harry said defensively, "Well, I did try and do it right at the beginning you know, but it's all so --," he paused trying to find the right word.
"Stupid?" offered Ginny with a smile.
"Well, yeah, it is stupid."
"It's really not Harry," said Ginny earnestly. "It's all about opening your mind."

Harry looked at her doubtfully, and she continued, speaking very rapidly. "Trelawney gets so caught up in the mechanics of everything that she forgets that divinations is really about feelings, emotions and intuition.
"Go on," said Harry, "This is really interesting."
"Ok, take for example, gazing into a crystal ball. When you did that, were you looking for the image to appear inside the ball?"
"Well, yeah," said Harry. "Where else would it show up?"
"The ball is a tool to focus on – to relax your mind. You don't see the image inside the ball, but inside your mind."
"Wow! You are good at this," said Harry, his green eyes sparking with admiration behind his glasses.
"Not really," said Ginny. "It just comes easy to me, like flying does to you. So what are you studying now – tarot cards?"
"Yeah, another great mystery to me," admitted Harry.
"Do you have your deck with you? I can show you a few things that will make it easier for you."
"Er-um, No, I don't," confessed Harry. "I figured since I was just going to make the stuff up anyhow, I didn't need them."
"Come on then, let's go back to the dormitory, you can get your deck and I'll show you a few tricks that will make it easier for you.

They quickly gathered up their belongings, and used a charm to shrink them down so that they could carry them in the pockets of their robes. Harry pulled his invisibility cloak around himself, and Ginny was just about to do the same when she remembered she wasn't supposed to have it. She quickly shrunk it and stowed it in her pocket and began to walk towards the library door.
"Come one Ginny, get under here," said Harry. "How did you get in here in the first place?"
"Oh, I just snuck in," replied Ginny vaguely.
"Ginny, with Fred and George as brothers, didn't you learn anything about sneaking around the school?"
"Well, I guess I'm more like Percy," said Ginny as she moved under the cloak with Harry.
"You're nothing like Percy, Ginny," said Harry, his voice thick with emotion. "Nothing at all."

He settled the cloak around them, creating a small cocoon that insulated them from the world. They carefully made their way out of the library, and down the dark halls of the castle. Out of nowhere, Mrs. Norris appeared. Ginny smothered a gasp at the sight of the cat. She knew that wherever Mrs. Norris was, Filtch wasn't far behind. Harry grabbed her arm and led her over to a small nook in the wall where a suit of armour might stand. He pushed her back against the wall, and stood facing her, as if trying to shield her from any danger. Filtch walked down the hallway, his footsteps echoing in the empty darkness. He stopped next to Mrs. Norris who seemed to be staring directly at them.
"What's the matter Mrs. Norris? Is there somebody nearby?" he asked the cat. She gave a loud yowl, almost as if she was answering him, and he peered around the darkened hallway.
"Who is it, who's there?" asked the caretaker. "I know you're here somewhere."
After several minutes, Filtch and Mrs. Norris continued their rounds. Ginny and Harry both gave a small gasp as they let their breath out.
"Oh Harry, that was the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me," she said.
"Even more terrible than the chamber of secrets?" asked Harry incredulously.
"Oh yes. I think getting caught by Filtch would be a thousand times worse than that," she said giving a small laugh. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized that Harry had his arms on her shoulder, and they were standing so close to one another.

Harry looked down into her eyes for what seemed like forever. She was so petite, barely reaching his shoulders. He couldn't seem to tear his gaze away from her lips. He slowly lowered his head towards hers, and captured her lips in a very soft kiss. She kissed him back sweetly, and after a minute, he lifted his head and looked at her and grinned.
"I guess we'd better get back," he said softly.
"Yeah," she answered, her voice shaking a bit. "I guess we'd better."
They moved swiftly down the halls until they came to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Wronsky Feint," whispered Harry and the portrait slid away to reveal the passage to the common room. They clambered inside and entered the empty common room. Ginny sat down on one of the overstuffed sofas in front of the fire, and Harry ran upstairs to get his deck of tarot cards. They sat for several hours with the cards spread out before them but weariness overtook them and the both fell asleep. Ginny woke to find that someone was poking her in the arm. She opened a bleary eye to find Hermione standing beside the sofa.
"Wake up," she whispered. "People are going to start coming down soon. It won't do any good at all for them to find you here wrapped up in Harry's arms."
She slowly, and regretfully extricated herself from his grasp and the two girls ran up the stairs to Hermione's room."