Chapter 3
Ginny was out the door before Draco got a chance to say a word.
"Thank you for taking time away from your busy schedule, especially your ridiculous amount of homework that you no doubt should be completing now." Draco said to the empty kitchen in a falsetto voice.
"Well, it's not a problem at all, anything to help a fellow Hogwarts peer. Though you are correct I really must be going. You must have work to do as well. Good night." in his regular tone.
"Good night." he answered himself, in what can be assumed to be Ginny's speech. He was about to leave when he heard a little voice behind him.
"Should we be getting Madam Pomfrey, sir. We is sure she can help you, sir, if you has hit your head and is not feeling well, sir." Draco turned around to see three house elves looking at him in concern. He grunted and left without any further acknowledgement.
"Oh, Ginny, you idiot. It's stress. That's it, you are stressed out." she sighed. "I need a vacation."
Ginny took a pause in her self-admonishment to glare at the heavens where the sadistic Fates sat and looked upon her life – and laughed. Knowing that they were doing this, she bit her lip and squinted upwards, biting back actions that may make them angry, or worse, more humored than they already were.
"Why must you repeatedly toy with my life?" She asked a little louder then she had intended to, though she hadn't thought it made much of a difference, that is, until an arm grabbed her around her waist at the same time that a hand clasped over her mouth. After a few muffled threats and a couple of aimless kicks, one which found something solid, she realized just who had her. She wasn't to pleased.
"Ow! What do you think you're doing?" he hissed. "It's bad enough you're out of the common room passed curfew, but could you possibly be any louder?" Ginny turned to face Harry Potter himself. "I just saw Filch not 2 minutes ago going toward the Tower. I'm surprised you haven't already been dragged in by him. What are you doing out this late anyway?"
"That is –" oops. Too loud. "That is none of your business." she repeated quietly.
"Come on." he told her as he began to guide her by her elbow.
"Stop. Stop it. Let me go." she hissed at him while swatting his hand.
"Shh. Why are you so determined to get detention with Filch?" Harry looked back at her.
"If you're coming down with me, I find it perfectly alright."
"Really mature." Harry rolled his eyes. "What if we get detention together, eh? Then you'll have to put up with me for hours. Go ahead. Keep making a fuss." She pressed her lips together and yanked out of his grasp. He turned to look at her, but she had already passed him up. He followed, irked.
They reached the Fat Lady and said the password (Hinklepunk). Once they were inside the empty common room, Ginny began to make her way to the girls' dormitory. Harry caught her sleeve. She didn't continue, but she didn't turn around either.
"Ginny, we need to talk." She didn't move. "We can't just let go like this." She still didn't respond. He sighed. "Can't you just fogive me? It was a mistake. I'm never going to do it again. I don't want to do it ever again."
"Liar!" Ginny finally turned around with fire in her eyes. "What about yesterday? Did you think I didn't see, didn't notice? Hermione was walking away! She was walking away, damn it! Do you think I'm blind? Do you think I'm stupid? That's it, isn't it? You think I'm stupid. I don't know what the hell's going on right in front of my fucking eyes! I'll bet this isn't the first time this had happened either, this is just the first time you've been this careless."
"That's not true! You know that's not true! Yes, I admit, I kissed her, but it didn't mean half as much as it does when I kiss you. Last Saturday we were studying, we started talking about why she and I never got together and – and – one thing lead to another and we kissed."
"That's all? It didn't go any farther?" Please tell me they didn't... Ginny didn't complete her thought desperately trying to avoid any more pain.
"Of course not! We just kissed! I don't care about Hermione the way I care about you. I – I – I love you. Ginny." he'd said it. Oh, dear Merlin, he'd said it and he meant it. She could see the truth; hear it, the sincerity in his voice and she only felt more miserable for it. Why? She loved him. She'd said so earlier. She'd told Draco and Hermione, only those two. Two people whose confidences she held above others. Could she ever trust Hermione any more and how could she possibly trust Draco to begin with? And Harry? She'd loved Harry, but could she look at him the same after what she witnessed? It was after all just a kiss. No! It was ... horrible.
She was going to be sick. And it showed.
"We'll," she told him turning, "continue this later."
Ginny headed for the her room and left Harry standing by the portrait hole. She made her way up the stairs and saw that someone moving in the shadows. It seems she wasn't the only girl who was saw fit to not abide by the rules tonight. Being a prefect she should investigate, but in her mood this was just one more thing to pile on the 'I don't want to do it, I don't care to do it, therefore, I won't do it' list - right up there with her ridiculous amount of homework, she noted with a groan and a mental 'boo!' as she entered her dorm and threw herself onto her bed.
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Harry stood there watching her go up the stairs and disappear into the dark. A few moments later he stepped towards the couch, when something halted him. Somebody was coming down from the girls' dorms. Ginny? Maybe she changed her mind and wanted to talk to him now. She wanted to tell him she missed him terribly and wanted him back forever and always. Wait, this girl did not have red hair. This girl had brown puffy frizz.
Hermione.
Here we go. She was watching him the entire way until she reached the chair by the fire, not yet extinguished. The time it took for her to get from the top of the stairs to the front of the fire was agonizingly drawn-out. They didn't know what they were going to say, only that there were to be words between them. Whether those words were screamed or whispered, good or bad, simple or complicated that was up to what the moments wold bring. Hermione took her seat in the chair and waited for Harry to make a move of some sort. Hestitantly, he moved to sit on the couch adjacent to her, only then did she remove her eyes to study the intricate design of the hearth.
"Well?" he prodded her. It was apparent she in more need of this discussion than he was. Though, don't be fooled, he had been waiting for this as well, but she wanted it more.
"I see you're trying to resolve things with Ginny."
"How much did you see?"
"Enough." Hermione turned her full attention back to Harry. "All of it. I heard every word. And there was a little more than kissing, Harry, you know that."
"Not that much more." His tone was a bit resentful, for the exact reason, she wasn't quite sure.
"I'm not offended." As if she hadn't hear him. "But I don't think it's fair. Sure, I was the first to initiate it all, but I was willing to stop. You weren't. So I lose my friend. And what do I have to show for it?" her voice broke as she asked this, but she still wasn't crying – yet. "I still have feelings for you. Those didn't go away just because Ginny did."
"I'm sorry. But what I said was the truth. You and I both know we can't help what we feel."
"But we can control our actions. Something you didn't do. You hurt a lot of people, by your actions."
"And I'm the only one right? It's all my fault, because I was the only one who let my emotions take over my actions. Is that correct?" Harry shook his head in disbelief. "In seven years, I've never known you to be such a hypocrite!" his voice lowered in rage as he spoke.
"In seven years, I've never known you to be a dirty, cheating – " she began, lowering her voice to his tone.
"Don't even start! Don't act like I'm the only guilty party. You said so yourself. You initiated it all."
"I also said I was willing to stop it. You weren't."
"I am now. I should have been right after it happened. I understand that, but I can't change that, I can only work with what I have now, which is another chance." Hermione raised her eyebrow to tht statement.
"You don't know that she'll give you one." she pointed out just above a whisper.
"I know, but it's not impossible that she will." And with that he left, got off the sofa and walked as fast as he could to his own room.
Ginny had been bustling around since her meetings with Draco and Harry. She had fallen behind far enough (due to her own procrastination). Ginny woke up Tuesday morning determined to get back on track. Now, a few weeks later and her ridiculous amount of homework, that rose and fell continually, was down to one Herbology essay, though she had Potions and Arithmancy later on in the day, so that was highly subject to change.
As this particulat point, Ginny was on her lunch break, and having locked herself up most of the week decided it was time to get some fresh air in the courtyard.
"Ginny?" a voice behind her called. She knew who it was and she knew why he was calling.
"Hi, Harry." she responded without turning around.
"Hey. I didn't see you at the table. Did you eat?" he asked her as he sat down beside on the grass beside her.
"No. I had a heavy breakfast."
"Oh." Ginny noticed Harry didn't bring her any food. Silence fell upon them, uncomfortable to say the least, or maybe she was just overreacting. She had been doing her best to avoid encountering Harry and Hermione, and though it was not her intention, she found herself farther from Ron as well. He didn't seem all that great either. He'd been moping about as much as Harry and Hermione. All of Hogwarts had notice. Slytherins found this a justifiable cause to celebrate and mock, Ravenclaws saw this as another excuse to think Harry a no good scum of a boyfriend, Hufflepuffs felt sympathetic towards the Weasley siblings, though, not quite so warm to Hermione and Harry, and Gryffindors felt sympathetic towards all four.
Ron had gone to Harry and told him that if he ever need to talk he could go to him, but that was as far as that went. Hermione was seen more often than not with her books and her books alone. And Ginny kept herself in her room, in the library, or in the table in the corner of the commom room.
"I haven't seen you too much." Harry spoke. "How are you?"
"Fine. I've been working on school. Surely,you understand with your N.E.W.T.s preparation."
"Right." There was another short pause. "Look, Ginny, we need to talk. You know this."
"I know."
"Now?" Well, no use in prolonging the inevitable,right?
"I suppose."
"Ok." Harry looked at her. She was sitting with her legs crossed hair, falling in ginger strands across her face, playing with a blade of grass. He wondered how he could possibly have hurt her. Ginny had been nothing but good to him and if he got another chance he'd never let her go again. He loved her, more than he ever thought he could love her.
"I've had a while to think about this. Really think about this. I mean sit there for impossible periods of time and try to find a way to do something so incredible that it would just erase what happened. Needless to say that in all my creative glory, I came up short. Now, if you were a different girl, I probably would have gone out to buy you something really nice and really expensive, but I know you're not the type to be bought. Short of getting down on my hands and knees and begging while kissing your feet – which if you will give me a few more moments of your time, I'll get to that part – I came up with a list of reasons to persuade you." Harry reached into his pocket and took a folded up piece of parchment.
"One, I miss the in-depth conversations we had at one in the morning about all the different reasons the professors have for assigning us ridiculous amounts of homework at one time. Two, I miss the smell of your hair when you lean against me. A sweet, soft smell that I could never place and never want to, because thinking about what it could gives me another reason for you to stay on my mind. Three, I miss the times we used to sneak away from anyone and everyone for just five minutes alone. Four, I miss the way your hand seemed to fit into mine. Five, I miss the look in your eyes when I've done something inadvertently right or good. And finally, number six, I miss all the wholes that have empty parts now that you aren't so close." He finished the list, folded it up, and placed it in his pocket. Gently, he uncrossed Ginny's legs so that they were directly in front of her and positioned himself on his hands and knees.
"I am so sorry." He looked her in the eyes as he told her this, then quickly lowered his upper body to kiss each shoe once. "I beg of you, please forgive me." Once again he kissed both of her shoes. "I am on my hands and knees kissing your shoes. I need you. I love you. I mean it more than ever. For very near a month, we haven't been together. And it seems like forever. Please take me back." Harry punctuated each sentence with a kiss on each shoe and Ginny didn't know whether to laugh or cry or just kick him in the face. How dare he be so sweet and kind and ridiculously romantic and expect her to just come crawling back? How dare he! Oh, how she missed him. Tears were slowly sliding down her cheeks, as she whispered three words that she had been dying to say for weeks and had been dreading to hear come out of her mouth at the same time.
"I forgive you."
It felt so good and it hurt so much, but everyone deserved a second chance. Didn't they? Even cheating ex-boyfriends? Did that go for lying, deceiving best friends as well? She'd have to think about it. Hard.
Harry's face lit up and his green eyes shown brightly behind his glasses and under his locks of dark hair. He pounced on her like a puppy dog and she fell back onto the grass laughing as he kissed her.
A week after that gift of a day, when the happy couple had been reunited, things were going as smoothly as things could go for only being recently patched up. Ron and Harry were on general speaking terms. Ginny and Harry were starting to spend more and more time together, and Ginny got to spend more time with her brother. Ginny rarely ever thought about Malfoy. Aside from the few times she'd seen him in the corridors or glanced at him in the Great Hall, and wondered about that second in time a month ago. If it would ever mean anything, or if it were an ant stepped by someone not watching where they were going.
Yes, everything was going back to the good old times, with the exception of the tension between Ginny and Hermione. The two girls were seperated by a rift that could possibly never be repaired.
On this gray Wednesday, the students were at dinner and Harry, Ron, and Ginny were sitting together, Ron across from the other two, and Hermione was a few more seats away, out of hearing range.
"Are you ever going to talk to her?" Ron asked, mouth full of one dish or another, looking down the table at the girl playing with her food.
"Well, at the present moment, I'd say – no. To save both you and myself from any future questioning: at any other moment, I'd still say no."
"Ginny –" Ron was about to go into an eplanation – possibly detailed – on why she should try to talk to Hermione. Ginny didn't want to hear it.
"Listen. Ron, as much as I would love to hear a summarized lecture on the importance of friends that Mum and Dad used to feed us, I have a ridiculous amount of homework to do and I really ought to get started on it now."
She put her fork down, said her goodbyes with a kiss on the cheek to Harry (it was starting to come naturally again) she grabbed her bag and head toward the library.
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The past weeks ran together for Draco. Everything was work, work, and more work, and then some dodging Crabbe, Goyle, ands Pansy. Really the hero- worshipping got old after 7 years. Admittedly, if he had better worshippers or if he was a different kind of guy, it might have been more fun, but they weren't and he wasn't and it was just plain irritating. Goyle and Crabbe always praising his good looks, was quite frightening from a heterosexual point of view, and Pansy always telling him how intelligent he is only made him wonder how smart he really was when a person who actually did make a 'T' on her O.W.L.s, and didn't seem like she was on the road to improvement had to point this out.
It was dinner, but Draco was in the library, a ridiculous amount of homework weighing on his mind, he had a few bites of chicken and left. Now, he was working on a Herbology essay that should be fifteen inches of parchment; though at the moment, it was only about two, and it didn't appear to grow any longer as he stared at it. It's too bad that being a wizard didn't mean a damn thing when it came to bull shitting your way through a fact-based essay.
Draco had been balancing his chair on its hind legs, staring at those two inches for about a good quarter hour, when through the library door came a red-headed girl in a daze, definitely not in the mood or state to do homework. She took a seat in a chair at a table beside him but didn't seem to note his presence until he lost his balance and fell on his back, creating a raucous pound in the quiet library.
Ginny was out the door before Draco got a chance to say a word.
"Thank you for taking time away from your busy schedule, especially your ridiculous amount of homework that you no doubt should be completing now." Draco said to the empty kitchen in a falsetto voice.
"Well, it's not a problem at all, anything to help a fellow Hogwarts peer. Though you are correct I really must be going. You must have work to do as well. Good night." in his regular tone.
"Good night." he answered himself, in what can be assumed to be Ginny's speech. He was about to leave when he heard a little voice behind him.
"Should we be getting Madam Pomfrey, sir. We is sure she can help you, sir, if you has hit your head and is not feeling well, sir." Draco turned around to see three house elves looking at him in concern. He grunted and left without any further acknowledgement.
"Oh, Ginny, you idiot. It's stress. That's it, you are stressed out." she sighed. "I need a vacation."
Ginny took a pause in her self-admonishment to glare at the heavens where the sadistic Fates sat and looked upon her life – and laughed. Knowing that they were doing this, she bit her lip and squinted upwards, biting back actions that may make them angry, or worse, more humored than they already were.
"Why must you repeatedly toy with my life?" She asked a little louder then she had intended to, though she hadn't thought it made much of a difference, that is, until an arm grabbed her around her waist at the same time that a hand clasped over her mouth. After a few muffled threats and a couple of aimless kicks, one which found something solid, she realized just who had her. She wasn't to pleased.
"Ow! What do you think you're doing?" he hissed. "It's bad enough you're out of the common room passed curfew, but could you possibly be any louder?" Ginny turned to face Harry Potter himself. "I just saw Filch not 2 minutes ago going toward the Tower. I'm surprised you haven't already been dragged in by him. What are you doing out this late anyway?"
"That is –" oops. Too loud. "That is none of your business." she repeated quietly.
"Come on." he told her as he began to guide her by her elbow.
"Stop. Stop it. Let me go." she hissed at him while swatting his hand.
"Shh. Why are you so determined to get detention with Filch?" Harry looked back at her.
"If you're coming down with me, I find it perfectly alright."
"Really mature." Harry rolled his eyes. "What if we get detention together, eh? Then you'll have to put up with me for hours. Go ahead. Keep making a fuss." She pressed her lips together and yanked out of his grasp. He turned to look at her, but she had already passed him up. He followed, irked.
They reached the Fat Lady and said the password (Hinklepunk). Once they were inside the empty common room, Ginny began to make her way to the girls' dormitory. Harry caught her sleeve. She didn't continue, but she didn't turn around either.
"Ginny, we need to talk." She didn't move. "We can't just let go like this." She still didn't respond. He sighed. "Can't you just fogive me? It was a mistake. I'm never going to do it again. I don't want to do it ever again."
"Liar!" Ginny finally turned around with fire in her eyes. "What about yesterday? Did you think I didn't see, didn't notice? Hermione was walking away! She was walking away, damn it! Do you think I'm blind? Do you think I'm stupid? That's it, isn't it? You think I'm stupid. I don't know what the hell's going on right in front of my fucking eyes! I'll bet this isn't the first time this had happened either, this is just the first time you've been this careless."
"That's not true! You know that's not true! Yes, I admit, I kissed her, but it didn't mean half as much as it does when I kiss you. Last Saturday we were studying, we started talking about why she and I never got together and – and – one thing lead to another and we kissed."
"That's all? It didn't go any farther?" Please tell me they didn't... Ginny didn't complete her thought desperately trying to avoid any more pain.
"Of course not! We just kissed! I don't care about Hermione the way I care about you. I – I – I love you. Ginny." he'd said it. Oh, dear Merlin, he'd said it and he meant it. She could see the truth; hear it, the sincerity in his voice and she only felt more miserable for it. Why? She loved him. She'd said so earlier. She'd told Draco and Hermione, only those two. Two people whose confidences she held above others. Could she ever trust Hermione any more and how could she possibly trust Draco to begin with? And Harry? She'd loved Harry, but could she look at him the same after what she witnessed? It was after all just a kiss. No! It was ... horrible.
She was going to be sick. And it showed.
"We'll," she told him turning, "continue this later."
Ginny headed for the her room and left Harry standing by the portrait hole. She made her way up the stairs and saw that someone moving in the shadows. It seems she wasn't the only girl who was saw fit to not abide by the rules tonight. Being a prefect she should investigate, but in her mood this was just one more thing to pile on the 'I don't want to do it, I don't care to do it, therefore, I won't do it' list - right up there with her ridiculous amount of homework, she noted with a groan and a mental 'boo!' as she entered her dorm and threw herself onto her bed.
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Harry stood there watching her go up the stairs and disappear into the dark. A few moments later he stepped towards the couch, when something halted him. Somebody was coming down from the girls' dorms. Ginny? Maybe she changed her mind and wanted to talk to him now. She wanted to tell him she missed him terribly and wanted him back forever and always. Wait, this girl did not have red hair. This girl had brown puffy frizz.
Hermione.
Here we go. She was watching him the entire way until she reached the chair by the fire, not yet extinguished. The time it took for her to get from the top of the stairs to the front of the fire was agonizingly drawn-out. They didn't know what they were going to say, only that there were to be words between them. Whether those words were screamed or whispered, good or bad, simple or complicated that was up to what the moments wold bring. Hermione took her seat in the chair and waited for Harry to make a move of some sort. Hestitantly, he moved to sit on the couch adjacent to her, only then did she remove her eyes to study the intricate design of the hearth.
"Well?" he prodded her. It was apparent she in more need of this discussion than he was. Though, don't be fooled, he had been waiting for this as well, but she wanted it more.
"I see you're trying to resolve things with Ginny."
"How much did you see?"
"Enough." Hermione turned her full attention back to Harry. "All of it. I heard every word. And there was a little more than kissing, Harry, you know that."
"Not that much more." His tone was a bit resentful, for the exact reason, she wasn't quite sure.
"I'm not offended." As if she hadn't hear him. "But I don't think it's fair. Sure, I was the first to initiate it all, but I was willing to stop. You weren't. So I lose my friend. And what do I have to show for it?" her voice broke as she asked this, but she still wasn't crying – yet. "I still have feelings for you. Those didn't go away just because Ginny did."
"I'm sorry. But what I said was the truth. You and I both know we can't help what we feel."
"But we can control our actions. Something you didn't do. You hurt a lot of people, by your actions."
"And I'm the only one right? It's all my fault, because I was the only one who let my emotions take over my actions. Is that correct?" Harry shook his head in disbelief. "In seven years, I've never known you to be such a hypocrite!" his voice lowered in rage as he spoke.
"In seven years, I've never known you to be a dirty, cheating – " she began, lowering her voice to his tone.
"Don't even start! Don't act like I'm the only guilty party. You said so yourself. You initiated it all."
"I also said I was willing to stop it. You weren't."
"I am now. I should have been right after it happened. I understand that, but I can't change that, I can only work with what I have now, which is another chance." Hermione raised her eyebrow to tht statement.
"You don't know that she'll give you one." she pointed out just above a whisper.
"I know, but it's not impossible that she will." And with that he left, got off the sofa and walked as fast as he could to his own room.
Ginny had been bustling around since her meetings with Draco and Harry. She had fallen behind far enough (due to her own procrastination). Ginny woke up Tuesday morning determined to get back on track. Now, a few weeks later and her ridiculous amount of homework, that rose and fell continually, was down to one Herbology essay, though she had Potions and Arithmancy later on in the day, so that was highly subject to change.
As this particulat point, Ginny was on her lunch break, and having locked herself up most of the week decided it was time to get some fresh air in the courtyard.
"Ginny?" a voice behind her called. She knew who it was and she knew why he was calling.
"Hi, Harry." she responded without turning around.
"Hey. I didn't see you at the table. Did you eat?" he asked her as he sat down beside on the grass beside her.
"No. I had a heavy breakfast."
"Oh." Ginny noticed Harry didn't bring her any food. Silence fell upon them, uncomfortable to say the least, or maybe she was just overreacting. She had been doing her best to avoid encountering Harry and Hermione, and though it was not her intention, she found herself farther from Ron as well. He didn't seem all that great either. He'd been moping about as much as Harry and Hermione. All of Hogwarts had notice. Slytherins found this a justifiable cause to celebrate and mock, Ravenclaws saw this as another excuse to think Harry a no good scum of a boyfriend, Hufflepuffs felt sympathetic towards the Weasley siblings, though, not quite so warm to Hermione and Harry, and Gryffindors felt sympathetic towards all four.
Ron had gone to Harry and told him that if he ever need to talk he could go to him, but that was as far as that went. Hermione was seen more often than not with her books and her books alone. And Ginny kept herself in her room, in the library, or in the table in the corner of the commom room.
"I haven't seen you too much." Harry spoke. "How are you?"
"Fine. I've been working on school. Surely,you understand with your N.E.W.T.s preparation."
"Right." There was another short pause. "Look, Ginny, we need to talk. You know this."
"I know."
"Now?" Well, no use in prolonging the inevitable,right?
"I suppose."
"Ok." Harry looked at her. She was sitting with her legs crossed hair, falling in ginger strands across her face, playing with a blade of grass. He wondered how he could possibly have hurt her. Ginny had been nothing but good to him and if he got another chance he'd never let her go again. He loved her, more than he ever thought he could love her.
"I've had a while to think about this. Really think about this. I mean sit there for impossible periods of time and try to find a way to do something so incredible that it would just erase what happened. Needless to say that in all my creative glory, I came up short. Now, if you were a different girl, I probably would have gone out to buy you something really nice and really expensive, but I know you're not the type to be bought. Short of getting down on my hands and knees and begging while kissing your feet – which if you will give me a few more moments of your time, I'll get to that part – I came up with a list of reasons to persuade you." Harry reached into his pocket and took a folded up piece of parchment.
"One, I miss the in-depth conversations we had at one in the morning about all the different reasons the professors have for assigning us ridiculous amounts of homework at one time. Two, I miss the smell of your hair when you lean against me. A sweet, soft smell that I could never place and never want to, because thinking about what it could gives me another reason for you to stay on my mind. Three, I miss the times we used to sneak away from anyone and everyone for just five minutes alone. Four, I miss the way your hand seemed to fit into mine. Five, I miss the look in your eyes when I've done something inadvertently right or good. And finally, number six, I miss all the wholes that have empty parts now that you aren't so close." He finished the list, folded it up, and placed it in his pocket. Gently, he uncrossed Ginny's legs so that they were directly in front of her and positioned himself on his hands and knees.
"I am so sorry." He looked her in the eyes as he told her this, then quickly lowered his upper body to kiss each shoe once. "I beg of you, please forgive me." Once again he kissed both of her shoes. "I am on my hands and knees kissing your shoes. I need you. I love you. I mean it more than ever. For very near a month, we haven't been together. And it seems like forever. Please take me back." Harry punctuated each sentence with a kiss on each shoe and Ginny didn't know whether to laugh or cry or just kick him in the face. How dare he be so sweet and kind and ridiculously romantic and expect her to just come crawling back? How dare he! Oh, how she missed him. Tears were slowly sliding down her cheeks, as she whispered three words that she had been dying to say for weeks and had been dreading to hear come out of her mouth at the same time.
"I forgive you."
It felt so good and it hurt so much, but everyone deserved a second chance. Didn't they? Even cheating ex-boyfriends? Did that go for lying, deceiving best friends as well? She'd have to think about it. Hard.
Harry's face lit up and his green eyes shown brightly behind his glasses and under his locks of dark hair. He pounced on her like a puppy dog and she fell back onto the grass laughing as he kissed her.
A week after that gift of a day, when the happy couple had been reunited, things were going as smoothly as things could go for only being recently patched up. Ron and Harry were on general speaking terms. Ginny and Harry were starting to spend more and more time together, and Ginny got to spend more time with her brother. Ginny rarely ever thought about Malfoy. Aside from the few times she'd seen him in the corridors or glanced at him in the Great Hall, and wondered about that second in time a month ago. If it would ever mean anything, or if it were an ant stepped by someone not watching where they were going.
Yes, everything was going back to the good old times, with the exception of the tension between Ginny and Hermione. The two girls were seperated by a rift that could possibly never be repaired.
On this gray Wednesday, the students were at dinner and Harry, Ron, and Ginny were sitting together, Ron across from the other two, and Hermione was a few more seats away, out of hearing range.
"Are you ever going to talk to her?" Ron asked, mouth full of one dish or another, looking down the table at the girl playing with her food.
"Well, at the present moment, I'd say – no. To save both you and myself from any future questioning: at any other moment, I'd still say no."
"Ginny –" Ron was about to go into an eplanation – possibly detailed – on why she should try to talk to Hermione. Ginny didn't want to hear it.
"Listen. Ron, as much as I would love to hear a summarized lecture on the importance of friends that Mum and Dad used to feed us, I have a ridiculous amount of homework to do and I really ought to get started on it now."
She put her fork down, said her goodbyes with a kiss on the cheek to Harry (it was starting to come naturally again) she grabbed her bag and head toward the library.
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The past weeks ran together for Draco. Everything was work, work, and more work, and then some dodging Crabbe, Goyle, ands Pansy. Really the hero- worshipping got old after 7 years. Admittedly, if he had better worshippers or if he was a different kind of guy, it might have been more fun, but they weren't and he wasn't and it was just plain irritating. Goyle and Crabbe always praising his good looks, was quite frightening from a heterosexual point of view, and Pansy always telling him how intelligent he is only made him wonder how smart he really was when a person who actually did make a 'T' on her O.W.L.s, and didn't seem like she was on the road to improvement had to point this out.
It was dinner, but Draco was in the library, a ridiculous amount of homework weighing on his mind, he had a few bites of chicken and left. Now, he was working on a Herbology essay that should be fifteen inches of parchment; though at the moment, it was only about two, and it didn't appear to grow any longer as he stared at it. It's too bad that being a wizard didn't mean a damn thing when it came to bull shitting your way through a fact-based essay.
Draco had been balancing his chair on its hind legs, staring at those two inches for about a good quarter hour, when through the library door came a red-headed girl in a daze, definitely not in the mood or state to do homework. She took a seat in a chair at a table beside him but didn't seem to note his presence until he lost his balance and fell on his back, creating a raucous pound in the quiet library.
