Summary: Ginny's got a secret admirer. Could he be that cute new teacher? Could he be her house team's seeker? Could he be someone whom she knew right from her very first year at Hogwarts? Or could he be one of the most unlikely person to even notice her?
Disclaimer: NOT MINE! Although I wish they were a product of my very own imagination, sad to say I only own the plot & the other characters that might pop up somewhere down the road here.
PhoenixRae's Note: okay, as a treat I think I owe you guys another chapter to be uploaded right away, so here it is. BTW, can you make a guess as to who Ginny's APC is now? I think I left a clue in the previous chapter as to who he could be *wink, wink*
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XX. Harry's Concern
Harry was waiting for Ginny and Abigail inside the common room when the two girls appeared through the portrait hole deep in discussion about something. All day long he was concerned about whatever Ginny was keeping from them. They weren't really close to begin with, but over the years they both learned how to be cordial toward each other and actually became well acquainted. They can have a decent conversation now without Ginny blushing profusely or him feeling awkward because he knew his best friend's kid sister fancied him.
"Ginny, got a minute?" he called out to the two sixth years when they passed by the couch he was sitting on.
Ginny looked apprehensive. She knew what was coming or guessed what was coming, and somehow she was plotting on ways to kill her brother for wrangling Harry into this mess. Just because she didn't enjoy Ron breathing down her back doesn't mean she wouldn't mind one of his friends to do it for him!
"Harry, if Ron sent you to talk to me—"
Harry raised his hand to stop her from finishing her sentence. He got up from the couch and crossed the room towards where the two friends were standing. He turned to Abigail and asked her if she could leave them alone.
Abigail rolled her eyes skyward and shook her head, "I seem to be getting booted out of your company today, Gin," she muttered and walked around Harry towards the stairs, "I'll be in the room when you're done," she told Ginny and ran upstairs.
Once Abigail was gone, Harry turned with a confused frown etched on his face.
"What does she mean by that?" he asked.
"Don't mind her. Blaise wanted to talk to me earlier and he asked her to leave us alone as well so we could talk alone," she gave a careless shrug then met his gaze, "Now, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Zambini wanted to talk to you?" he looked flabbergasted.
"Yeah. What's wrong with that?"
"He's not your boyfriend, is he?"
"What?" Ginny couldn't believe this. Word sure travel fast around at Hogwarts. "Why would you think that he's my boyfriend?"
Harry shrugged, "Because that's what half of the school believed?" he replied lamely.
Ginny made a face at him.
"And you believe school rumour?" she mocked.
"Not really, but after that blunt announcement of yours earlier about getting a little something-something on the side, it made me wonder," he replied honestly.
"Look, I said what I said because I wanted to throw Ron off. He's on overprotective big brother mode and it's kinda getting annoying. I get enough of that already from the other boys, why won't he just leave me alone?"
"Because he loves you," he answered simply.
"And I love him too, but do I give a hoot about him necking with whomever he felt like necking with?" she questioned, her eyebrow raised and her arms firmly crossed over her chest. When Harry failed to give her an answer, she continued. "I don't give a damn whether Ron make out with a Slytherin or a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw even!"
"Ginny—"
But Ginny wasn't finished. She cut Harry off before he could say another word out.
"Tell my brother that I appreciate his concern about my welfare and about my so-called love life—or lack of it—but I would greatly appreciate it if he kept the hell out of it!"
Harry was momentarily rendered speechless. This new side of Ginny was really surprising him. He never pegged her to be this blunt and passionate about getting her brother to stop pestering her. But he wasn't here on Ron's behalf. Ginny might not believe it, but just because he couldn't see her as anything more than Ron's kid sister doesn't mean she couldn't be the sister he never had to him. He worries about her too. He was actually close to suffering from a heart attack when he saw her fell off her broomstick during their first match of the season.
"I will relay the message to your brother, Gin, but let me just get one thing straight right now. I am not here on Ron's behalf," he paused and watched her face take on a stunned expression.
"R-Ron didn't send you to talk to me?" she stammered, a hint of pink starting to form at her neck then slowly moving upwards until hints of it appeared on her cheekbones. Apparently she misjudged him. She jumped right into some unfounded conclusion about the real reason behind Harry wanting to talk to her.
"Nope," he shook his head.
"Then why do you want to talk to me if Ron hadn't sent you to do it for him?"
"Because I'm worried about you, Gin. I've known you since you were eleven, and over the years I've grown to love you like a kid sister. I find myself another one of your brothers fretting over you, wanting to shield you from the harshness of the world outside our protective barrier cast around you," he explained.
"So all this time that I'm berating at you for being Ron's pawn wasn't true?"
"That's right."
"Then I owe you an apology then, don't I?"
"Not really. I think you deserve to vent out your frustrations over our over protectiveness when you're concerned," he smiled.
Ginny looked relieved. "Thank you," she smiled back. "Unlike my brothers, you're the kind of brother I wanted. You're nice, understanding, and doesn't really crowd me much and suffocate the life out of me like my real brothers do."
Harry beamed at the compliment.
"Wow, wait 'til Ron hears about that," he chuckled.
"Hmm…well, I'll make a note to point it out to you when he's within hearing range," she grinned mischievously.
"I betcha he'll be jealous."
"Maybe," she nodded.
"Well, I'm glad we got that straightened out, but you still haven't answered my question."
"What was it?" she frowned.
"Are you and Zambini together?"
"Oh brother," she rolled her eyes heavenwards and shook her head. "You're still going on about that?"
"Hey, as a concerned brother, you can't blame me from wanting to know the real scoop," he pointed out. "Now, spill," he ordered.
"I am not spilling anything to you, Harry Potter. I may like you, but even I am not that thick to spill my secrets to any brother of mine—overprotective or not, I might add."
"Aww…Ginny…" he whined.
"Harry…" she mimicked, walking about him to go upstairs.
"Gin, if you trust me and like me more than you like your other brothers, then you will share it with me, won't you?" he dogged after her, giving her that hopeful, puppy-dog look in his eyes.
"I said I won't and I keep my word," she told him haughtily and continued marching up the stairs with Harry dogging behind her still. He would've entered the girl's dormitory if Ginny hadn't turned around and braced her hand firmly on his chest, pushing him away from the door. "You know what? I'm beginning to regret ever telling you that I like you more than I like my brothers," she gave him a light shove then waved, "Bye-bye, Harry."
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"Why is Harry suddenly all over you, Gin?" Abigail asked. She doesn't look too happy that Harry was often seen hanging around Ginny since the night she had a talk with him.
"Just ignore him, Abs. He's just trying to get some dirt outta me," Ginny replied, concentrating on finishing up her homework that was due today.
"What kinda dirt?"
"Like the dirt that everybody else in school kept on whispering about when they thought I couldn't hear them," Ginny shrugged. It had been a couple of days since she unwittingly announced that she was getting a little something-something (although she wasn't really, except for that one time with her APC after her detention, but she hadn't heard from him since—and even then they only made out in the dark) from someone, but the students were still eager to find out who was the man she was hiding.
"And did you tell him about your APC?" Abigail was the only person who knew what happened that Friday after Ginny was done serving detention. Somehow Ginny couldn't keep the incident to herself and she needed to talk it out with someone, and that someone happened to be her best friend who was the only person who knew about her APC to begin with.
"Are you crazy?" Ginny put down her quill and gave her friend an incredulous look, "If Harry's anything like my brothers, I'm sure he'd want to seek out who my damn APC is and have a heart-to-heart talk with him."
Abigail sniggered, "Good for you, Gin," she applauded.
Ginny rolled her eyes at her friend and went back to answering her homework. She was answering the last of Oliver's long-list of homework questions when someone announced that the mail was here. Ginny looked up on instinct, watching out for that particular owl that often delivered her mail from her APC. So far each eagle, tawny, barn, and Harry's snowy owl swooped in to the large hall, none of them carried a letter to Ginny from her APC.
Abigail saw her friend looking longingly at the owls swooping overhead. She shook her head and gave her friend a pat on the shoulder, "I don't think he remembered you this time, Gin. Remember how long it took before you received his second letter?" she reminded.
Ginny tore her gaze from the swooping owls overhead and looked at her friend, "You're right. And that little incident of ours last Friday? Maybe it was just a fluke," she shrugged, "someone's way of playing a very cruel joke on me once again," she pouted and concentrated back on finishing her homework.
"Now, now Gin, don't be thinking that way," scolded Abigail. "Maybe your APC haven't got time to sit down and write you a letter. Maybe he's mind is still reeling from that rendezvous of yours last Friday to actually get something written down on paper," she excused.
Ginny looked up at the ludicrousness of her friend's assumption and looked at Abigail as if she was demented, "Abs, what happened between us that night isn't something big that would get him off kilter," she pointed out.
"So? A lot of things could have happened to him since that night," she shrugged. "Anyway, I say don't worry about it. Remember whenever you least think about it you get a letter from him? So just let it go and you'll soon…" Abigail's voice trailed off when something pointy landed on top of her head. "Ouch!" she yelped and rubbed the spot where it was poked.
"Who's sending you a letter?" Ginny frowned as she looked at the envelope that landed in front of Abigail.
Abigail picked it up and turned it around. She smirked and raised an eyebrow, "It's not for me, Gin. It's for you," she handed the envelope to her surprised friend.
"For me?" she took the envelope and read to whom it was addressed for. As always it was written using the same scrawl and addressed to Ginny Weasley of Gryffindor House.
"I think his owl needs to wear specs!" Abigail hissed as she continued rubbing the spot where the letter landed on her head. "It hurts," she complained.
Ginny bit her lower lip and apologized on behalf of her APC's owl.
"Well? Aren't you going to open that?"
"I—I don't know," Ginny shrugged.
Abigail rolled her eyes skyward, "Will you just open it? You've been waiting for that thing to arrive and now that it has…well, just read it!" she cajoled.
Ginny stared at the envelope for a while. A part of her wanted to open it while the other part didn't want her to, which was weird of course since she had wanted to receive a single piece of correspondence from him since that night she came back from detention with Oliver.
"Ginny, if you don't open that after I counted to three, I'll do the honours for you," she threatened and started counting.
"Okay, okay. I'll open it," Ginny caved it and practically ripped the envelope open.
No more sadn ess
I wanna be the
one to make you happy
I wanna be the one to give you hope
But, in these days of conscious living
We've got to take it slow
You can't be sure of who you've met
You just don't know what you might get
'Cause, in these crazy times we're living
Love can turn into regret
But you
Could be the one to change my point of view
It's all up to you
Give you love
without the pain
Show you light beyond the rain
Gonna make you happy
Gonna make you happy now
There'll be days when things go wrong
I'll be there to make you strong
Gonna make you happy
I wanna find a
place where dreams can happen
I wanna find a love who'll take me there
And, in your eyes, I see a vision
That makes me want to care
And, if two people both agree
That only love can set them free
Then, together, let us make a world
Of which others only dream
And you
Can be the one to make it all come true
So what you gonna do?
Some days, the
sun don't wanna shine
And I'll be yours and you'll be mine
Gonna make you happy
Happy
I ain't the kind to be untrue
I wanna spend my life with you
Gonna make you happy, yeah
Make you happy, yeah
Gonna make you
happy
Make you feel so good
Happy in love
Love without the pain
Light beyond the rain
Gonna make you feel so good
Happy
It's all up to you
Be your love
I wanna be your love
Show you light beyond the rain
So what you gonna do?
"Uh-hm," Abigail mumbled, reading the letter over her friend's shoulder. "He's really got it bad for you, Ginny, I can tell. And God, why does he have to be so damn sweet and romantic?" she complained, looking at her friend and watching Ginny's face suddenly blossom. "And I think you got it bad too," she added when she noticed that love-sick-puppy look on her friend's face.
Ginny sighed and set the letter down. She looked across the room at the Slytherin table and her smile grew even wider as her eyes landed on the tall dark brown haired Slytherin seventh year with hazel eyes and strong arms.
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A/N: Alright, a sucky ending for this chapter and I apologize. My head's pounding and I want to get this done and I can't think of any possible way of ending it so I ended it the way I did. I'll try and make it up to you guys in the next chapter.
A/N 2: btw, our APC borrowed Celine Dion's Make You Happy
PhoenixRae's THANK YOUs:
SAngel, Crystal, Faxton, vanns (thanks for that song idea, actually, I already have that song listed and it's going to be used in later chapters, hehehe), Krissy, Lady Laughs-A-Lot, Imp, ChoChanger, analie, blue_angel, crazyfriendsfan (our APC will soon be revealed. I think in the next couple of chapters you'll soon find out who he is *winks*), avapouhi, Lia (thanks for liking Ron & Ginny's arguments, and that crack Ginny said just to piss off Ron's an ultimate fave of mine. I just wrote it out of the blue because...well, because I couldn't help myself from laughing and I could just picture Ron's reaction when I wrote it), Princess Amelia, cassi0peia, kat, crystal magic, MelissaAdams, Kendis, jlo's-lil-baby, purus.flere, Miss Marauder (you got that right, girlie. I'm narrowing her APC down now so his identity will be revealed very soon), fishy, Mi, mavis (thanks for not giving up on me so soon! *lol* I was kinda miffed when I couldn't upload the previous chapter soon enough, but now that I have my Internet back I think I'll be able to upload every other day now), animezebra (I guess you'll just have to find out in the next chapters what Blaise wanted to ask Ginny), Lady in White, Crimson, Cassandra Sisenta or Krey-Zey