Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's note: sorry this took time, I wasn't quite sure weather I should do this or not, I doubt weather I am going to write more for this story, but I am doing a Hermione/Ron fic, so watch out for that. I only did this chapter because nearly everyone asked me to (sorry Miraboo). And just for the record (because I feel it my duty) I don't do the going out/dating thing. Well I hope you enjoy this and please review.
After the Quidditch game 2
'I mean, why should she still write to the guy if she says they are only friends' whined Ron.
'I don't know' said Harry in a bored voice.
'She can't still like Krum, can she?'
'I don't think so, they are miles apart'
'Yeah but, she still bloody writes to him'
'Ron!' said Harry through exasperation 'If it bothers you this much then do something about it, will you'
'But what can I do!' said Ron, slightly taken aback by Harry's outburst.
'I don't know, you'll think of something'
'Easy for you to say, you don't have to deal with any of this'
'Er, yeah' said Harry unconvincingly but thankfully Ron was too preoccupied to notice Harry's blunder.
The truth was that it seemed that Harry had nothing of the sort of problems that Ron had to deal with, but he actually had, he wasn't so sure of himself to be certain about anything else, but there were these sort of feelings that he had at the moment, well, not really, he had them for some time, he doesn't even know when they started, or how they came, all he knew, was that there was something funny that he felt while he was around Ginny, something kind of electric and fuzzy. It was the most peculiar feeling.
Ron left the blindingly orange bedroom first, looking highly disgruntled and not sending another glance towards Harry. Harry didn't really mind, he only half registered Ron leaving the room, he was still thinking about Ginny, and with a sad and hopeless little sigh he left the room for breakfast.
His mind was still buzzing about Ginny, she was so alive, as though she had her very own atmosphere that brought colour and vivacity to the places around her, her hair was so brilliant, he could just stare at it and its many shades of red for infinity, but he knew that would never happen, he forced himself to act normally around, her, he didn't know anything about anything at the moment and that was what he would prefer Ginny to know. But there was always a nagging, tiny, almost non-existent voice at the back of his head that always told him that he should tell her.
Harry climbed down the rickety old staircase and entered the tiny kitchen but it held an immense number of people, there was so many flashes of red that was caught in his peripheral vision, but the reddest and most flaming of all caught the focus of his eyes, his nerves shook when he caught sight of Ginny eating her breakfast, he tore his eyes away and sat in his seat. All of a sudden he felt extremely uncomfortable, the chair was harder than the wood it was made from and his elbows scraped the table as he banged them against it accidentally, Ginny didn't notice otherwise he was sure he could have sensed her look at him.
Harry's main thought was just to get out of the Kitchen and away from Ginny, so he could start to feel normal again, but he new it would never work, wherever he went he felt nervous and different, like a never ending cloud over his head, it was irritating him, he felt he had to do something in order to make this hypothetical cloud go away but he just didn't know what.
It was then while he was thinking what to do that he remembered that he had to play Quidditch that morning as all the residence had agreed the night before, his stomach made a summersault and his eyes widened slightly, in order to be unnoticed Harry just tried eating quicker, he would not think about Ginny other wise he'll just stare into space and that would lead to awkward questions when the others shook him into reality, no, he would not think about her.
Ginny was now eating her breakfast more gracefully than the others and the gentle morning light glided onto her face, making her look so majestic and ethereal. She now had stood up, and as a result making her in control of her surroundings, she had said something that Harry did not register and then to his immense horror, left the kitchen and into the golden outside.
Harry felt extremely guilty almost as soon as she left the kitchen, he had just told himself that he wouldn't start thinking about her and yet had abandoned his discipline immediately.
There was no way she could still like him, he had told himself that already, there was absolutely no chance of that ever happening, she had moved on, yes the crush that she had the previous two year were embarrassing, okay, very embarrassing, but that had stopped and she had moved on, she started dating other guys, why should he be thinking about this? This was nothing to do with him. He would not think about her another mom-
'Harry? Are you okay?' said a worried voice that was later to be discovered as Hermione's.
'Huh? Yeah, yeah, I'm er… fine'
'Are you sure?' asked Hermione.
'Listen mate, do you wanna play Quidditch now?' asked Ron, who sounded slightly worried.
'Yeah, yeah, lets play Quidditch' said Harry decidedly, and everyone agreed with his statement, except Hermione who seemed intent on not playing, this displeased Ron greatly.
They all stepped outside onto the fresh green lawn waiting for Ginny. She arrived with twigs and green coloured patches on her white T-shirt; she looked like she had just come from a different world, her face had an occupied far away look to it, the sight of her caused Harry's heat to beat a little faster, he felt the usual soft effects of falling into a dream like state that was (as he started to call) the 'Ginny effect' it mainly consisted of his heart moving upwards, a strange empty feeling in his stomach, a stiffness in his back and the electric nerves stinging his skin, and through all of this, Harry forced himself with great difficulty yet again to act normally.
'Why've you got twigs in your hair li'l sis?' asked George with a tone of voice which told Harry he really didn't care where Ginny was.
'Hum? Oh I climbed a tree' said Ginny dreamily.
'Well let's get into teams, I haven't played Quidditch in ages' said Fred and his voice was loaded with excitement.
'Yeah' said Ron distractedly, looking over to the bench where Hermione was moving towards, he looked really disgruntled.
'Well there are five of us, so we'll have to have a team with one more player than the other' said Harry, trying to sound casual but instead sounding as though he hadn't played Quidditch for five.
'No, there will be too little of us' pointed out Ginny, and Harry's eyes widened painfully as the soft of her voice captured him.
'Not unless Hermione plays with us' said Ron.
'But she already said that she won't play with us Ron' said Harry trying to look normal, or trying to stay sane.
'Well why don't we have one keeper, one beater and the rest do penalties with the Quaffel.' Said Fred
'Sounds alright' Ginny said,
'Shall I be the keeper then?' asked Ron.
'Alright, who wants to be the beater' said Fred directly to George.
'I will', shouted George in Fred's face, and it probably was the excitement in Fred that didn't lead to an argument over who would be the beater.
'Then lets get up into the air'
Harry kicked off from the air doing so with a feeling that it was more of a duty than actual excitement but as usual kicking off into the air had a magic in itself which always took over Harry and it always never failed, for a split second all of his troubles and nerves flew away with the wind, and Harry had a few precious moments of blissful emptiness and was for once in a very long time actually enjoying himself, he felt it easy to laugh and smile and act like a normal person, which was a very rare thing for him to do.
They all played the game enthusiastically, even Harry who had quite forgotten about Quidditch and only wanted to get out of the kitchen to avoid Ginny. It was now Ginny's turn and Harry had no choice but to watch her just like everybody else and he knew he was in great danger of staring at Ginny and everyone speculating a theory that Harry knew decidedly was not true, or was it? Or was it not? Harry did not know what to make of it all, he didn't know if he fancied Ginny or not, well, he thought that he did know but was always afraid to actually admit it to himself for some strange reason.
Harry was now staring hard at Ginny's flawless flying and saw her tenaciously dodge George's Bludger or rather a big stone that could be classified as a rock. She threw the Quaffel with one hand spectacularly into the top hoop that Ron was not guarding. Once she had scored a thought swam into his head gracefully from now where and said,
'She will never like you and will never bloody notice you'
That's right, she'll never like me so what's the point of feeling weird and everything? With the aid of Harry's fruitless thinking he did something both stupid and pointless, Harry yelled through the applause before he could stop himself.
'Good One!' he shut his mouth the moment he had finished speaking and was pleased to find that Ginny had heard him and had inclined her head to show her gratitude and had also given him a small slight smile.
Harry's stomach did a back flip, much as it did with all of the Cho Chang business but with more… emotion. As strange as it sounded it was true.
The invented Quidditch game went on for about half an hour more and there didn't seem to be enough danger for the game to be any more interesting and it also looked like the game was just repeating itself. So they all agreed on playing tag but with flying broomsticks. He himself proposed the idea, the other's didn't seem keen on the idea but they adapt well to it after half an hour.
It was obscene to be chased around by Ginny and the tenacity in her brilliant eyes, Harry was about to fall off his broom.
His firebolt however was too fast for her old broom and feeling obliged he slowed down deliberately so Ginny could have the upper hand. He hoped the others wouldn't notice otherwise it would give them an excuse to talk and that was what Harry was trying to avoid above everything else. Ginny apparently refused to accept help and went off to chase someone else, but it was no later than thirty seconds later that she had sneaked up behind him and tagged him, the shock of his life. But it was even more awkward to chase her he did it very half-heartedly and often tried to avoid it, he thought the others might think it odd, but they thankfully didn't seem to notice.
Ron became steadily more disgruntled as Hermione steadily ignored the game, and what made Ron highly irritated was when she left to retrieve a book. At about lunchtime they stopped playing and admitted themselves to go into the glorious shades of the Burrow, Ginny offered to take in the broomsticks. Something Harry was hesitant with for some reason, it wasn't that he was frightened for the security of his beloved Firebolt, it was something strange to him.
As he passed his Firebolt with shaking hands to Ginny there fingers brushed ever so slightly, and Harry's eyes traveled against his will to Ginny's face, it stayed there and she didn't look up, but moved on to Ron, Harry was left there standing with a mixed feeling of disappointment and emptiness. It was then that he noticed he had to do something. He must tell her.
Ginny was now stalking off without a glance back at them, towards the broom shed, behind a clump of trees. Harry turned around subconsciously and noticed that everyone had entered the house leaving only him outside alone.
Thoughts and debates rallied inside his head, he knew now for certain that he liked her, but was he sure about that? Of course there was no point arguing the point, that was settled with and sealed off at an unchangeable conclusion, he definitely liked Ginny. Seeing her out of that highly feverish crush she had on him and going out with other people made Harry notice that she was not just playing the role of 'Ron's little sister' but that she was an actual person, that she had tastes, and dislikes and opinions and traits. But what does he do now? What is the next step? He couldn't…no, he probably wouldn't be able to… he shouldn't in a million years… tell her his feelings? Maybe that would be best option, but what were the other options? There was only one, he had no choice. Maybe it would be the best thing, end his sufferings.
His legs were numb when the thought of walking towards her occurred and he had to force his legs to start walking, they were extremely heavy and it seemed that every step he took made the length towards her even longer.
'Hey Ginny!' he called but his voice imitated a mouse, and he tried again but the same embarrassment repeated itself. She was now within ten feet of the broom shed and Harry walked briskly towards her, mostly automatically as though running against time.
Subconsciously his hand traveled to her wrist by it's own command, it enclosed around her small, soft, perfect and graceful arm.
'Ginny' he said, trying to make his presence know, obviously she didn't notice he was behind her as her free hand was half way towards her pocket where evidently her wand was kept. Her beautiful brown eyes widened with shock and surprise as they lay on Harry's face, her shock was automatically registered as certain when she exclaimed.
'Oh bloody God!' and through her shock Harry felt his hand cling onto hers a little more desperately.
'I didn't mean to give you a shock, but I did try calling you' said Harry at once ashamed of giving her a fright. She said nothing just kept on looking at him in bewilderment.
'I don't think you heard me when I tried calling you' Harry said quietly feeling increasingly more stupid at his attempt to talk to her. That was when it occurred to him, what was he supposed to say? How was he to say it? The best he could think of was to make an excuse.
'I uh… came to uh… help you' was his pitiful attempt. And through all of this the worst came to worst, he started blushing a little. Oh what bloody perfect timing! She still said nothing, her silence was completely destroying Harry's insides. And to continue his conversation rather than their conversation he attempted again to speak.
'Erm… want some help?' he asked quickly, as though afraid his voice might start to imitate a mouse again at any second. And at last she spoke.
'N… no, I can manage' she said sounding slightly hoarse, and Harry's heart deflated, did this mean she didn't want him there, should he go? No, he wasn't going to give up that easy. But what came out of his mouth next was very much the opposite of what his brain was telling him.
'Right…okay…I'll go then' she said nothing.
'Alright then, bye' he said quietly and sadly, while his insides were no more.
'Bye' said Ginny, and Harry's legs felt even heavier, He knew he was doing the wrong this bye leaving her, he knew he mustn't give up. After five steps, he turned around and headed right back to her, feeling slightly more confident, but the turn of her eyes, made him creep intro low self esteem mode again.
'Listen I need to tell you something' He said desperately, just wanting it all to finish and end, like a bad dream. Ginny turned around, and it was evident that she was shocked again by Harry's presence, but this time he was not going to apologize and stammer he was going to say it, directly, articulately and clearly.
'Yes?' asked Ginny, and this time it was her turn to blush, but she was probably blushing from her cracking voice, however as the thought of what he was about to say to her entered his mind he started to blush spectacularly deeply. He looked at the floor then back up again at Ginny's face. Then it came, not at all what he would have hoped but it came.
'I…I… um… sort of… uh… like you' he said while his voice cracked 'a lot' he added, deciding on telling her the whole truth, it was done, it was finished, it was not finished, he forgot all about her reaction, he forgot that she was going to tell him that she didn't like him, and then he would wallow back towards the house and live the rest of his life in agony. But was worse was there was no reaction, she said nothing, did nothing, and wasn't going to do anything, Harry had now deteriorated and frozen completely.
'Sorry…I understand if you don't feel the same way' said Harry in a small voice, his world was crashing before his eyes. And Ginny still said nothing.
'Alright then, see you around' he said sadly and turned to walk away. What happened next was utterly shocking, it paralyzed Harry right to his very bones and he couldn't move for a full minute.
She took hold of his hand, the touch of it gave him a prickly feeling in his arm, the air tensed and solidified around them. She looked up into his eyes, and he looked and drowned in her brown ones. And very swiftly and silently, she tilted her head upwards and kissed him, she simply kissed him, gently and softly, loaded with nothing but emotion.
Harry placed his hand automatically at the small of her back, and entangled his other hand holding her neck gently, her hand crept up to his hair, and explored its messiness, and soon his hand of it's own command also crept up her neck and also started to discover her luscious red hair, its silkiness such a contrast with his messy rough hair, and he started to kiss her back. His brain was no longer commandeering his body, he felt a strange sense of freedom, a sense of flight, a sense of… he didn't know, it was very foreign to him.
Most unfortunately for Harry their kiss was very short and didn't last long, she broke away from him, looking up into his face, but what came next was far better than anything else, she opened her mouth to say something.
'I like you a lot too' she said softly, and she smiled at him, and his knees nearly gave way, and Harry felt as light as air, things seemed a lot lighter now, everything around him seemed lively and Harry now couldn't speak lest his voice mimic a mouse again, so he leant towards Ginny and kissed her again. This time it was more passionate, more emotional, probably it was because there were no more barriers, no more awkwardness, more freedom…
He couldn't take it any more. He was no longer in control, and he didn't know who was, his tongue swiped at her lips absolutely desperate for permission, and to Harry's utter bewilderment, she obliged and opened her mouth, admitting him…
Her kiss was so heavenly and light, as soft as a swan's feathers and as poignant as life itself. They were in a different universe, somewhere peaceful and they have left the troubles of this world, somewhere utopian, there were connected by a strong bond, something untouchable and unbreakable. Nothing could break them.
There was so many feelings, so many things he wanted to take in, so many somethings he knew nothing about but was certain that they were all not dangerous, he wanted to absorb them all, he didn't want to miss a single thing.
Much to Harry's dismay, they broke apart, and it was like he had run a thousand miles, his breathing was ragged and not rhythmic, and so was hers, her face was flushed and bright, as though she were glowing. He was shocked at first with what he had done but then he felt very comfortable, standing here with Ginny in his arms, quite content with themselves and everything around them. Harry was lost again, and he lost all sense of sense, but it was Ginny who first retrieved them.
'We'd better go back to the house' she said reluctantly, her head on Harry's chest.
'Yeah, guess so' he said, his mind still somewhere very far. Neither of them moved for a while, until Ginny moved away from their perfect and comfortable position. Harry was left feeling as though half f him had disappeared, but that changed when Ginny placed her hand into his.
'Lets go' she said quietly, and they both made their way back to the house, Harry felt as though a hole was filled as though this was part of what he had to do, what ever that was.
The reached the door of the burrow and Harry looked down at their joint hands.
Author's note: Hoped you all liked it, here are my response to my reviewers:
Kissygurl: thanks for your review, good to know you thought it was cute, that was what I was aiming for.
Indiaink: I hope that this chapter explained why Harry liked Ginny, I was thinking along the same lines as you while writing it, but I wasn't really sure, and hate to think that this chapter is thought of as a bunch of fluff.
OrangeSmurf269: nice name, I hope you love me forever now that I have done a second chapter but I am not doing any more, I think this should stay as it is.
Miraboo: it's nice to hear from you again, I am so pleased to make such an impression on you, I hope I didn't spoil it for you by adding another chapter but people did want me to write another one, and I confess that I did want to write it as well, But for you I didn't put in the word 'snog' I don't like it very much myself but I do think it has this sort of weird sense of humor behind, it so I put it. Hope you liked this chapter.
Stochi: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For your review, hope you like this chapter.
Fred-Gearge-Lee-Luver: sorry I haven't read your story, my family dominate the computers at home and there is hardly anytime to do more reading, I will try to read them, I hope you liked this chapter.
Well there you go, please read and review.