Chapter 4

"Harry."

A head full of swarming thoughts was broken into by an all too familiar voice. Hermione had walked into the common room where Ron and Harry were doing homework. Ron lifted his head instantly and smiled widely. She returned the smile and stood in front of him.

"Are you going to sit down?" he asked.

"No," she said, suppressing a smile at Ron's look of disappointment. "I actually wanted to talk to Harry alone."

Ron raised his eyebrows. "All right," he said, shrugging, trying not to look too intrigued. Glancing back up quickly, he saw Harry and Hermione sidle out of the common room.

After the portrait was closed, Harry stared at Hermione, puzzled. "What's this all about? I thought you were going to take Ron away from me and go snog or something."

She shot him a Look and started walking.

"This isn't about my Divination work, is it? Please don't lecture me on the fact that there is no way I could be eaten by a manticore next week and convince me to take it off of my chart. I've already completed it¯"

"Harry, shush," she said, interrupting his rant. "This isn't about Ron or schoolwork."

He blinked. That was usually all Hermione talked about. "Am I in trouble?" he had to regard the fact that Hermione was a Prefect.

"No, you're not in trouble," she said, laughing. They continued to walk down the stairs.

"Well, then, where are we going?"

"Nowhere in particular," she said carelessly. "I just wanted to get out of the common room so I could talk to you."

"Well, come on, tell me, I'm in suspense!" he said, fixing his sliding glasses on his nose.

"All right," she said, as if giving in. "I heard your practice went for almost three and a half hours last night."

He shrugged. "We've got¯"

"Thirteen practices left until the Cup?" she asked, glancing at him slightly.

He sighed. "Okay. Did Carly say something to you?"

She shook her head. Hermione and Ron had become friendly with the entire team, and Hermione was known for tutoring most of the younger Quidditch players so they could keep their grades up and stay on the team. She and Carly had struck up a friendship.

"No, it wasn't Carly."

"Who then?"

"Why did you make practice go so long, Harry?"

Ginny. Why had Ginny talked to Hermione about this? "Not you, too. We have thirteen¯"

"I'm aware of that," she said. "But I just don't understand why you did it. And neither does Ginny. She told me that she had an awfully interesting conversation with you after practice, as well."

Harry stopped walking, stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at Hermione. "What is this really about?"

Hermione put her hands on her hips and stared up at her friend. "Don't even think about denying it, Harry. I've been there. You fancy Ginny."

Harry was taken aback at the direct comment. "What? You've finally gone bonkers, Hermione."

"That's not what I would call it," she said, smiling.

"It sounds accurate," he shot at her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "All right, all right," she said, waving him off. "But you know what I'm saying, and I know what's going on. I've been there. Don't make me relive it."

"Okay, okay, maybe… maybe…" He couldn't even get it out of his mouth. He wanted to say it now but didn't know how exactly. "Maybe I do… 'fancy' Ginny, but so what? How am I supposed to even go about trying to spend time with her?"

"Well, killing her at Quidditch practice is not a good way to go about doing it. If she dies from exhaustion, when are you supposed to tell her?"

Harry only stared at Hermione. "Okay."

"Granted, Ron wasn't very romantic about his approach until he realized that he'd almost lost me," Hermione said, returning to the incident she had encountered with Ron. "I just don't want that to happen to you," she said.

Harry scratched the back of his head, making his hair even messier than before. He suddenly wanted to tell her everything… he knew he could trust Hermione.

"I don't know how to even go about telling her anything," he whispered. "I expect she doesn't fancy me."

Hermione looked at him quickly. "Are you serious?"

"Well, she, um…" he knew he could tell Hermione all of this, but he had trouble. He figured he'd sound like a prat saying everything he had been thinking at one point. "She's only on the Quidditch team with me, don't you think… don't you think that's all I am to her?"

"Quidditch Captain?"

Harry nodded, but Hermione shook her head. "Please. For two years you were everything to her. You should be happy that she doesn't worship the ground you walk on anymore."

Harry's face turned red. "Where does that get me?"

"Oh please, Harry," she retorted, rolling her eyes. "You don't honestly think you'd be so interested in her if she drooled and sighed and got excited every time you walked into a room? That would just put you off, like it did before."

Harry nodded. He understood what she was saying. Having Ginny worshipping him at one point didn't exactly steal his heart. Yet the moment he had realized she'd moved on, he'd realized that the whole time he could have been getting to know her instead of avoiding her. She was a wonderful girl. Smart, funny, everything he never knew she was.

He finally found the nerve to speak. "S-So, say I do fancy Ginny," he said, trying to sound casual. It was impossible to fool Hermione. "I don't even know the first thing about approaching her without thinking about… everything."

"Well," Hermione said, turning around to continue walking. "I know one thing you can do for sure," she said, chuckling softly. "Don't overdo Quidditch just to see her. That will only confirm your fears about what you mean to her."

He nodded, understanding. "That makes sense," he said quietly.

"There are better ways to get her attention, you know."

He nodded again and then looked at her. "I don't really get how, though. What could I do?"

"There's plenty. Talk to her about something other than Quidditch."

"But I do… I mean… I thought I did…" Harry was now very confused. Maybe that was all they had in common. Quidditch.

"Well, make an effort to talk to her about other things. Ask her about her classes, offer to help her with anything if she's struggling. Get to know her for more than just a Chaser, Harry."

"I really thought I had. What else can I do?" he asked, feeling dejected all of a sudden.

"There's plenty," she said, stopping in her tracks. She turned around and grabbed Harry's arm. "I think I might have a book on this."

"Oh no," he groaned. He ran after Hermione back up to the portrait hole and followed her through after she had screamed out the password ('wheezes!'). Ron looked up and frowned at Hermione. "That was quick."

She said nothing and left Harry behind as she ran up to her dorm. Harry shrugged at Ron and they turned to watch her barrel down the stairs. She blew off the cover of her book and handed it to Harry triumphantly.

"Give it a read," she said, smiling. "It's very helpful," she leaned over the back of the couch where Ron was sitting.

Harry looked at the cover. It was black leather bound with gold writing. It read, Love Spells and Charms: A Guide for Insecure Teenage Wizards.

"You really know everything, don't you?" he asked, smirking at Hermione.

She shrugged. "Go on, read it. You'll get an idea."

"Why would you ever need this?" he inquired.

She waved him off. "Let's not go into that story."

Harry only laughed, walking out of the common room and back up to his dorm. Ron frowned, looking at the stairs and then back at Hermione. "What was that? What did I miss? Does Harry… fancy someone?"

Hermione laughed and leaned closer to Ron. "Do me a favor, love."

"Anything."

"Shut up."

Flipping through the pages of the unused book (which was a large surprise, considering it was Hermione's), Harry found that nothing was helping him. How was a book supposed to help him get to know Ginny?

However, Harry had come across a few interesting things. Some Spells he couldn't help but read over. There were even love potions that sounded enthusiastic. 'Get your crush to notice you!' 'Keep your mate around forever!' 'Keep your mate faithful!' He had to laugh out loud at some things.

Yet after he got past all of the Charms and Spells (none of which were titled 'Get help talking to the girl of your dreams about things other than Quidditch!'), he came upon an entire chapter full of stories. They were stories about past witches and wizards that had used Love Spells and Charms for their plight. This he found very interesting.

The first few were about successes. The Spells and Charms had worked effectively, and the two people in question lived 'happily ever after.' He read about some blunders. There was one he read in which a wizard had wished for a faithful, beautiful, loving mate to be with forever. He hadn't been specific enough in the spell, and had received an immortal Labrador Retriever.

There was a story he read that he knew had solved all of his problems. The story was about a wizard who was a trifle like Harry. He was madly in love with a woman he had gone to Wizarding School with, and was unable to approach. The witch in question was one of his best friends and thought nothing more of him than just that. He had tried everything to get this woman to notice him. He had conjured spells, used charms, and even brewed love potions to help him in his dilemma. Yet nothing had worked. He and the witch were still friends.

The story for Harry got quite interesting after this. The witch was also madly in love with her wizard friend, but refused to think he could be in love with someone like her. Therefore, the spells, potions, and charms were ineffective. However, the wizard soon came up with a terrific idea that had come about in the Muggle world.

He wrote her love poems. The poems worked better than any magic could have. The witch knew how he felt about her after that and they were together for many years after.

Harry slammed the book down. A Muggle poem? It was too simple… it was too easy… why hadn't he thought of it before? He knew Ginny would love it.

But an afterthought caused him to rethink the idea. What about Ron? He was sure that his best friend wouldn't find so wonderful if he knew his best friend was writing his sister love poems. What was he going to do?

He thought nothing more of it, deciding that if he was going to do it, he better do it before he talked himself out. He jumped up from his bed and searched through his trunk for his special red quill ink.

He stopped when he came upon an all too familiar box. He pulled it out. It was the parchment he had bought for Ginny. He knew he was never going to use it for anything after she had forced it on him last Friday, but he had had no choice. He shoved it into his trunk and forgot about it.

However, he pulled it out, intent on using it. There were different colored pieces in the pile, and before he could think twice, he pulled out a couple pink pieces and set to work on his first ever love poem.

For Ginny.