With Ron and Hermione out of the compartment, Harry leaned back in his seat and took in the newfound peace and quiet with great contentment. He glanced over at Ginny who had settled herself next to him (a bit further than to his liking) and without even realizing it straightened back up to get a better look at her face. She was looking down fiddling with her fingers when, as if she knew she was being watched, raised her head swiftly and turned to face him. He raised his eyebrows a bit and smiled awkwardly. She smiled back sweetly and her warm chocolate-y brown eyes twinkled before him. Then he heard it…fireworks.

Last summer, on a particularly hot and sticky evening, Harry was in the kitchen at the Dursley's home on Privet Drive long after dinner had been served. He was down on all fours with a washcloth in his right hand and a bucket full of soap water beside him. He had been cleaning up the mess Dudley had made all over the kitchen tile floor. Apparently, Dudley was not satisfied with the birthday gift that his father had brought home for him that night and had thrown a tantrum over dinner. ("I asked for the Nissan Skyline GT-R33 in silver with custom black leather seats! Not blue with the factory race car cloth seats!")
There was brown gravy sauce splattered on the stove and the dinner table, (which Harry had finished scrubbing an hour ago) two of the four chairs, (he hadn't gotten to them just yet) all over the floor, (he was almost done) and even stained some of the cabinets above the stove (he would need a step ladder for those). Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, exhausted after pleading with their furious son to forgive them for their careless mistake, sat in front of the TV in the living room looking extremely beat. Dudley, to their relief, went off to a friend's house to blow off some steam.
They were watching some sort of Muggle romance movie to which Harry had no interest in listening into. Standing up slowly, his knees wobbly from being on the floor for so long, he dragged himself over to the sink to rinse the washcloth and empty the bucket. As he leaned against the wall to take a quick break, he couldn't help but catch some of the words coming from the TV in the next room.

"Baby," (it was a man's voice) "when you look at me like that with those eyes, I hear fireworks". Then he heard a thunderous roar of what must have been the so-called fireworks this man was talking about and a woman gasp "Oh Johnny!" Harry shot a sneak peek over at the TV and saw the man and woman embraced in their arms sharing a passionate kiss.
"Fireworks…" Harry muttered sheepishly, rolling his eyes as he went to retrieve the washcloth from the sink. "What a load of rubbish."

Now, more than a year had passed and those same words he had heard on the TV that dreadful summer night were coming back to him so vividly…
"When you look at me like that with those eyes," Johnny's deep voice echoed in Harry's ear "I hear fireworks"… Merlin's beard! Harry enlightened himself. This is what Johnny was talking about! The tender eye contact and the roaring fireworks…and the hysterical laughter of Ginny and Luna…
Harry's train of thought came to an abrupt halt. Wait. No, that can't be right. Bewildered, he took off his glasses and set it down in front of him. He rubbed his eyes hastily with his hands and with his head lowered put his glasses back on. He slowly looked up and blinked. Then to his disbelief, the truth of the matter slowly began to unfold in front of him.

The fireworks were none other than Neville's cards exploding in his face causing his hair to stand on its ends, which explained why the two girls were laughing so hard. Even Harry, though quite dumbfounded, couldn't help himself to let out a tiny chuckle. He slowly sank back in his seat, watching Ginny's delighted expression at the sight of Luna unsuccessfully attempting to flatten Neville's hair. He tried with difficulty to ignore the feeling of disappointment weighing down his insides and force a smile on his face but found it oddly painful to do so.
Why am I so disappointed? It was a bloody movie, a load of rubbish for all I know. It wasn't real. Not real…Harry's mind wandered back to the dream he had earlier. Dreams weren't real either…were they? Harry suddenly felt very impatient and annoyed with himself.
What was unmistakably real was that Ginny was a girl whose company he appreciated and enjoyed a whole lot. She was smart, funny and never afraid to speak her mind. And she knew a hell of a lot about Quidditch, which he thought was pretty special.

I'm such a bloke, Harry grumbled to himself. She had been sitting next to him for nearly ten minutes now and he hadn't even spoken a single word to her. Instead he was wasting away the precious moments hearing imaginary fireworks and the voice of some Muggle actor from an old, cheesy romance movie. He sat up in his seat for the second time, turned his entire body towards Ginny and cleared his throat. Ginny, noticing this ultimately stopped giggling at Luna and Neville and eyed him curiously.

"What's up, Harry?" she asked innocently tilting her head the same way she had done before when she stood before him after he had woken from his dream. Her long hair fluttered playfully in the breeze from the open window and her ivory skin face was glowing in the ray of sunshine. She looked very pretty. Harry cleared his throat again and spoke at last.
"Er, you mind showing me the photos from your trip?" Ginny's face lit up at his request. "I'd love to!" she exclaimed happily and went to regain the album. Then she plopped back down (this time a bit closer to his liking) spread open the cover of the leather bound book in their laps and spoke in a tone very similar to the one she was using before.
"Ahh yes, yes…" she began, "this was when Fred and George transfigured Percy's swimming trunks to a bright yellow polka dotted speedo…" Harry laughed out loud for the first time that day. It was an excellent feeling.

By the time Ron and Hermione returned from their Head Boy and Girl duty, Harry and Ginny had gone over the entire album. (Though the images of Egypt had been quite beautiful and Ginny's narrating hysterical, Harry decided his favorite part was when Ginny timidly suggested he come along to Egypt next time). They were now deeply engaged in a discussion about (what else?) Quidditch and Neville and Luna were quietly sitting across from them reading a copy of the Quibbler together. Hermione stepped into the compartment first looking very angry.
Her cheeks and ears were flushed and she was muttering something to herself that sounded a lot like "Honestly!"
Ron walked in seconds later rubbing his left arm whispering something that sounded a lot like "It was a bloody joke!" He took a seat next to Neville sighing out loud still mumbling to himself while Hermione sat across from him beside Ginny and crossed her arms over her chest.
Ginny glanced at Harry questioningly mouthing the words "What happened?" and he simply shrugged. He looked over at Neville and Luna and saw they were both peering over the magazine looking anxiously at Hermione.
"So…how was the patrol?" Ginny asked brightly to no one in particular.
Ron, ignoring his sister, jumped up and squeezed himself between her and Hermione. The two girls clicked their tongue angrily at this but Ron didn't seem to care. Neither did Harry. (to his luck Ginny was practically sitting on top of him) Neither did Ginny for that matter, though she pretended to be annoyed. (to her luck her left hand was grasping Harry's right thigh for balance.) They were sitting so close with their sides pressed together and it would have been rather cozy if it were not for their shoulders digging into each other.
Harry leaned back in his seat and raised his right arm over their heads to relieve them of the discomfort. He looked down at her, his chin nearly brushing her nose and spoke in what was his best impression of a comforting voice. "Better?"
He felt his insides squirm as the inviting scent of her shampoo came over him once again.
Ginny's stomach, on the other hand, was doing flip-flops as Harry's warm breath tickled the side of her forehead. She looked up and nodded but didn't meet his eye.
He lowered his arm slowly and rested it on top of the seat behind Ginny's head. A moment later, he was positive he hadn't imagined it when he felt Ginny's body lean back slightly and relax into his. Whatever happened during their patrol that got Ron in trouble and Hermione fuming mad, Harry secretly hoped it would take the rest of the train ride to fix.

A/N: There is a short, bonus chapter after this for all you readers who are curious as to what exactly happened during Ron and Hermione's patrol. Enjoy!
(Note: the bonus chapter is not chapter 4)