Chapter Thirteen
The Letter
Ginny,
I'm so sorry that you took what I said the wrong way. I just wrote everything that I was feeling; basically just poured out my entire heart on paper, folded it, sealed it, wrote your name on it and gave it to Hedwig. I'm sorry. I should have reread it... but then again, you're the only person in the world that I trust enough to give my subconscious thought to.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wanted to be completely honest with you. There's so much going on inside my head and I can't make head nor tail of it. I thought that if I just wrote and wrote and wrote, eventually it might make sense. You deserve to know everything I'm thinking, Gin, 'cause mostly everything I think about is to do with you. You're just always there. You're in my house, you're on my team, you're in my favourite family, you live with me, you eat with me, you cheer on Quidditch teams with me and you talk to me like I'm a real person. I don't know, Gin. This is starting to sound like some really, really soppy love letter, isn't it? Words can't actually express what I feel. I've never been good at letter-writing and I guess I'll say that's because I never had anyone to write to. Words are inadequate. I don't have Hermione's brains to summon the right ones to me. What I feel goes beyond words, Ginny. In these last couple of months, you have become one of the people that I care about most in the whole wide world, Wizarding and Muggle; and that means something to me.
You don't have to agree with me and say polite things to me to make me feel better about being so brutally honest with you. You don't have even have to reply. I mean, I'd really like it if you did because if you didn't, I'd always wonder what you thought and shudder to myself about your reaction while I'm trying to get to sleep at night and stuff... but, please consider replying. And be honest! Be honest like I've been honest with you. I've bared my heart and soul to you on paper. Maybe it hasn't felt like that in person, but I have. That kiss we shared in Diagon Alley... man. That blew my mind. It's what I've wanted to do for I don't know how long. It's hard to know when my feelings shifted from a favourite friend to a beloved one, but it's felt like an age. That kiss was completely phenomenal. You're so pretty when you're happy, and you looked pretty happy to me then. That's all I want. To make you smile like that again and again so I can kiss you over and over.
But then... no, I won't write about it now. We both know that our moment was cut short by a particular blonde fiend not worth mentioning on parchment in case someone finds it in a hundred years and thinks that he was part of the story. We need to discuss it. I'm sorry I froze you out afterwards. I was... no, I won't go into it. I really want to talk to you, Ginny. In person. I want to explain and apologise and talk and hold hands and smile and kiss and be with you but I'm getting ahead of myself. Please say that you'll meet with me so that we can talk and I can apologise properly. You deserve to know.
Hey, it's raining again. Don't you think that rain spattering on the roof is comforting? It's like a blanket of protection raining down. Or maybe I'm crazy. But, as always, I'm...
Yours,
Harry.
The next day
Ginny chewed her mouthful of eggs thoughtfully. It tasted slightly different this morning, she'd decided. It was possible that the house elves were getting eggs from different hens this week. Maybe that was it. She swallowed and considered the aftertaste. Definitely different.She'd just started on the toast when the mail arrived.
"Mail!" Neville said.
Ginny rolled her eyes. Was it just her, or was he an absolute genius at stating the obvious? He was sweet enough, of course, but a little simple at times.
"Look, Ginny!" Ron elbowed her sharply. "Did you hear Neville, Ginny? The mail is here!"
Ginny raised her eyebrow. Ron had been a pain in the butt, too.
"Yes, Ron," she said, digging her elbow straight back into his side. "I did hear Neville, thanks, and I don't really care as I'm not expecting Mum to write."
Ron sighed as Pigwidgeon landed in front of him. "The Daily Prophet? Is that all you have to offer?" He gave the bird some toast before it flew off.
Ginny's mouthful of toast suddenly didn't taste so great. She decided that it was time to finish up and get ready for a double lesson of Potions. Picking up her knife, she scraped the remainder of her eggs and toast into a neat pile to make it easier for the elves to clean up.
"Whoa!" Ron sounded surprised. Ginny looked up to see Harry's owl, Hedwig, soaring through the Hall. "Harry's not in here, why is Hedwig swooping on dow—no! Hedwig! Don't--"
"Who knows?" Neville asked around a mouthful of egg.
"Whoa, whoa—what? Hey!" Ron yelped. "Hedwig! What do you want?"
The bird had landed on the table and dropped a letter that she was carrying in her beak onto Ginny's plate. The bird blinked at her twice before taking off again. Ginny frowned and looked at the envelope.
Ginny Weasley
The Great Hall
Probably Next To Ron
(Hi, Ron)
"What's this?" Ron asked curiously, picking up the letter.
"Um, that's mine, thank you, Ron!" Ginny snatched at the letter. She got up hurriedly and left the hall, brimming over with curiosity. She tore open the seal and leant back against the wall of the corridor to read the letter.
Ginny,
Thanks for your reply. Meet me at the Lake. I know you have class... but I promise that this meeting will be more fun than any old Potions lesson. I'll be waiting.
Yours,
Harry.
Ginny reread the note, hardly believing her eyes. He'd gotten her note and read it? He wanted to see her? And—whoa! He wanted to meet with her! Today! The guy was mad. She felt more annoyed than ever. If he thought that she was going to swoon and fall into his arms, he had another think coming. She was not one to be taken for a ride by any member of the wizarding populace. Of course, it'd be different when she actually met up with him. He just... did something to her. She wasn't sure if it was his eyes or his hair or the ways his cheeks dimpled slightly when he laughed. Or maybe it was his habit of running his hands through his hair in an attempt to straighten it whenever he was nervous. It could also be that sweet smile he gave her occasionally when no one else was looking. Or indeed, perhaps it was the way he wrote his letters to her; full of his thoughts and dreams that he shared with no one else, as if he were writing in a journal. Probably it was the way he signed off: Yours, Harry. Hers? Was he really hers? She sighed, thumping her head back against the wall and rubbing at her arm. She was definitely his.
But, she reflected, that didn't mean that she had to give in so easily. She might change her mind. Who knows? Maybe if she held out long enough, she could convince her heart to move on and find someone else who wasn't a "kiss and run away" type. She tucked the letter into her pocket and started walking along the corridor, nodding to many of the portraits. He had apologised for that in a roundabout sort of way, and planned to offer some kind of excuse when she met up with him at the lake. IF she met up with him at the lake. She wasn't so sure yet. Risk getting detention with Snape just to meet up with Harry so he could say something that she wasn't so sure she wanted to hear? Didn't sound like a picnic to her. She trudged up the stairs, smiling politely at the various students making their way past her. Blow it. She wasn't going to get into trouble with Snape. She'd go to Potions.
She had just picked up her books from her bedside table and was making her way downstairs into the common room when she saw Harry. Her heart froze and she came to a halt on the stairs. He was standing with Ron, joking and laughing. Hermione was nearby, studiously working on an essay. She looked up and waved at Ginny. Ginny managed a smile back. Harry noticed the direction of Hermione's wave and turned to look. His face was a picture of surprise.
"Ginny!" Ron said, noticing her as well. "Going to class?"
Avoiding Harry's stare, Ginny made her way down the stairs. "Yes. Double Potions."
"Eww, rotten luck," Ron said sympathetically. "Want to take a shotgun or something for support?"
Ginny flashed him a smile as she passed him. "Haha. Very funny."
Harry put out his arm and stopped her as she passed him. "Gin."
Her heart tap-dancing of its own accord, Ginny stopped. "Yes?"
Harry smiled tentatively at her. "Going to Potions then?"
"She said that, idiot," Ron remarked, having made his way over to Hermione. Harry shot him a glare before returning his attention to Ginny.
"Are you?" he asked again.
She raised her eyebrow at him, trying to calm her heartbeat. "I seem to be, yeah."
He shrugged, glancing over at Ron, who wasn't paying him the slightest bit of attention. "Will I see you later?"
Ginny frowned. "I don't know."
"Please," he said very quietly.
She sighed softly. "After Potions."
"The Lake?" he asked.
"Sure, okay," she replied, managing a brief smile before heading off to class.