"Ginny, I need help." Harry said as he strode purposefully into the shabby library of number twelve Grimmauld Place, where Ginny was lounging in a chair, reading by firelight.

"That has always been apparent." Ginny replied, not looking up from her book.

"What? Oi, shut it you! I'm serious, I need help understanding women."

That seemed to have caught Ginny's attention. She looked up and raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, I'm glad that we agree on something. What can I do for you?"

Harry glared at her, then sighed. "Can you help me deal with girls?"

"Deal with them?" Her eyebrow rose even higher than before. "I think that you need more help than I could possibly offer, if you have to 'deal' with girls."

Harry let out a grunt of acquiesces and dropped into the armchair across from her. He continued, ignoring what she had said. "My past two relationships have been horrible disasters. Cho was always crying, and I don't know what to do about crying girls, and Lisa was only dating me because I'm the bloody-boy-who-should-be-dead-by-now!"

Ginny sat up straight and glared at him. "That is NOT funny, Harry James Potter!"

Harry put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands, running his hands through his hair, distractedly. He knew she was pissed when she used his full name and he had better do something before she blew up at him. "I know, I know… well maybe it was a little funny." He gave her a lopsided grin.

Ginny sighed. "So you want to know how to deal with a crying girlfriend?"

Harry's brow furrowed thinking hard about what he was after. "Yes, but I want more than that. I want to know how to understand what a girl is thinking and I want to know how to be affectionate. I see Ron doing things for Hermione and I'm lost, it would never occur to me to be like he is, but I know Hermione likes the attention. I also want to know when a girl likes me for me and when she only likes me for being Harry Potter."

Ginny nodded in understanding. "Alright, well the affection part is easy to teach you as is dealing with girls who cry too much and maybe some other stuff but for whatever you've seen Ron do, you'll just have to watch him and try to copy, because that's a learned skill, something he probably picked up from dad. I don't know what to tell you about girls who want you for your name though. I guess if you are really good friends with a girl and hang out with her a lot, then she is probably friends with you for who you are not your scar. She'd have to like you a lot if she is going to put up with your moods." Harry started to protest but Ginny gave him a look that said 'don't even try and deny it' so he shut his mouth. Ginny got up and put her book down. "Stand up," she commanded. "Now, you need to pretend that I am crying and give me a hug."

Harry looked at her incredulously. "You want me to practice on you? I've only ever seen you cry twice."

Ginny made an exasperated noise. "Do you want my help or not?" When he nodded his head, she continued. "I cry a lot more than you think, but I know it annoys you, so I try and refrain in your presence. Okay, so when you hug me, just put your arms around me and rub my back."

Harry did was she asked. At almost six feet tall, he felt a little awkward hugging her, she was so small and when he put his arms around her as she wrapped her arms around him. He had never realized how thin she was. Harry then remembered her next instruction when she coughed pointedly and did as he was told, rubbing his hands up and down her back, but it was jerky and unnatural feeling. Ginny giggled. "Maybe if you rest your head on top of mine… good and try to rub my back more… smoothly. I don't really know how to put it better than that." He tried, but her hair was getting in the way, she had so much of it. He took her hair with one hand and lifted it, to put his other one under her hair, and he was able to make smoother motions. In a strange way, it felt nice. "That's good Harry, now all you have to say is, 'I'm here for you' or 'it's okay to cry' or some such drivel as that and you will have learned how to comfort a weeping girl."

Harry's snort of laughter had Ginny laughing as well. He always like that about Ginny, she had a way of making him laugh. Life was hard in war and she still found ways to laugh. They broke apart. "That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I think I can do that. Okay, now what sort of other affectionate stuff do I need to know about?"

"Well, I'm assuming you know how to hold hands, right?" Harry scowled at her as she continued airily. "It's just good to know how clueless you truly are. Let's see, there are many things you can do, kiss the top of a girls head, put your arm around a girl, play with her hair, kiss her neck," she paused to take a breath, then started ticking off more things, counting them on her fingers, "or you can put your arm around her waist, compliment her, buy her things…" Harry raised a hand to stop her.

"What sorts of compliments?"

"Well, it really should be only things that you mean, of course, but if you have to lie, as long as it's believable and the girl is dim, then you'll do fine." She smiled cheekily at him.

Harry laughed as well. "I'm looking to fall in love, Ginny, not just date for the fun of it."

Ginny looked surprised. "Fall in love? But…" A distant look entered her eyes, and she turned her head slightly to the left, staring into the fire. "oh." Was all she managed to get out.

Harry looked at her, she looked almost sad. "Ginny, what's wrong?"

"What?" She looked over at him. "OH, nothing… where was I? Oh yes, compliments, well if you want to fall in love then you need to always be honest, even if the truth sometimes hurts, but you can also be tactful, do you know what I mean?" Harry shook his head. "Okay, so say I cut my hair and it looks terrible, if you love me, you'll probably still think I'm attractive, even with ugly hair, so you can always say something like 'that is not your best hair style, but I still think you look beautiful' or something to that effect. Got it?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. That sounded pretty good, usually all I can manage it, 'you look nice' and the girl gives me a dirty look. Honestly, I just don't get it."

"Well, I'm afraid that 'nice' is not an adequate compliment to a girl, especially if she has spent 2 hours doing her hair and make-up. Girls want to hear things like 'you are gorgeous' or 'you're stunning' or 'you are beautiful' or 'you are so thin' or… well, do you get my point? They want to hear really flowery words."

"You say 'they' as if you aren't a girl."

Ginny cocked her head and considered his statement. "I suppose that after having lived with so many boys, that I'm used to what they will and will not say. When Bill got older, he would actually compliment me, but it was always with 'you look nice' and I knew that he loved me and it was just his way. Maybe I'm more realistic. Many women put a lot of thought into how they look. It's part of their identity, you know? If they are not beautiful or even pretty, this can be heart breaking, and you have to find other things to be good at, like school or being good at sports. Some beautiful girls get a lot of confidence and do well in everything, like Cho, and some need a lot of validation, lots of compliments to keep up their self-esteem. That's what was wrong with Lisa. She would say things, like 'how does this blouse look?' and 'do these pants make me look fat?' and in order for her to be happy you would have to say 'everything you wear is beautiful and you could never look fat in anything because you are too thin as it is.' When I look at myself, I see myself and I'm not going to be able to change that, so I've learned to be happy with how I am and for the most part, I would not change a thing about me. When one looks at themselves that way, I guess it's easy not to need a lot of words. But anyway, back to your girl problems."

Harry's head was spinning. "I've changed my mind, I'm not falling in love, there are too many rules to follow and I'm never going to remember them."

"It's not that hard."

"Yes it is! How come girls have to be so complicated? I mean, honestly, you and Hermione are the one girls I can talk to that make sense all the time… well, almost all the time, you two do have your moments."

"Yes, well PMS will do that to a girl." Harry turned bright red. "Oh, honestly Harry if you want to fall in love, you have to accept and deal with the fact that women have periods! You aren't ten anymore, this should not be that big a deal. And any girlfriend that you have will have a period and she'll be a little cranky sometimes, so you need to suck it up and deal with it."

"I'm sorry, I just… well it's not like I know anything about it, all I know is what I've heard the guys talking about."

Ginny's mouth fell open. She tried to speak, uttered something, stopped, took a big breath, and then continued. "Right, well then, a period will make a girl feel bad for a few days, she might have cramps, which are bloody painful, no pun intended, and because of hormones, she might cry or get mad easily. That's all you really need to know, I suppose."

Harry gave a sigh of relief; this was turning into a really embarrassing conversation. He had always been able to talk to Ginny about things and if he had to suppose, then he was glad she was the one to tell him about this stuff. An awkward silence fell over the library that he wanted to break. "I think I'm doomed to a life of loneliness and confusion."

Ginny gave him a broad smile. "Well, I'll be affectionate with you, so you'll know what to do when you finally get a girlfriend to break your loneliness but I think that the confusion part is permanent."