Author Note: Back, back from the exams…. Gawd! The joy of the end of the year… Christmas is coming as well as inspiration. So, here we go… the third chapter in which I'm trying to give you an insight of Harry-Ginny relationship (like how close they are and stuff). grins Please be prepared for this chapter…to review, I mean. I do HOPE you LIKE it!

Disclaimer: No, I don't intend to make any profits from this story, nor I want to abuse JKR's characters whatsoever. All I want to do is to write a fanfic for a series that I love with all my life PEACEFULLY!

When I went over the Fat Lady Portrait incident in my bed, trying to evaluate all aspects – good and bad – from it, all I could get were disappointment and self-hatred. I could not find any reasons of why I had to refuse him except because of my extreme loyalty towards Luna. I knew Luna wouldn't be so upset; she knew how much I had been dreaming about this. Although I wouldn't be so sure; Luna had her own way to depict hard feelings.

But the more I thought about it, I didn't think I still liked Harry that way. I would probably still be blushing if he said compliments that he would never normally say, like the one when he mentioned that I always would be in my 'bestest form' after a Quidditch practice. I didn't think that he initially intended to make a compliment, though.

I supposed it was for the better if Harry and I stayed as friends. I had strived to make this friendship worked and I wouldn't want to spoil it. It was for the better……right?

Before I realised it, rays of sunlight had slowly crept their way inside through the curtains. I could sense that my mates were waking up and someone had already made her way towards the bathroom. I pulled my thick, cozy blankets over my face; I hardly had got any sleep. I was actually surprised that thought of Harry had managed to keep my mind preoccupied, away from the nightmares that govern my sleep each and every night.

"Ginny…"

I pretended not to hear.

"Wake up, wake up, Ginevra Weasley," I could hear Erika's voice had got louder. She must be talking right on top of my ear.

I grumbled and sought refuge to my pillow. But apparently my action didn't have the intended impact on her – that was for her to leave me alone. She proceeded with stripping away my blanket instead. I squealed in shock of my skin sudden encounter with the chilly air - marking the coming of winter.

"There you go," she said casually.

I shot an annoyed look at her mockingly. I knew I couldn't stay in my bed the whole day. Instead, I calmed myself by a thought of visiting the kitchen for an espresso later.

Much to my surprise, I managed to be walking down to the Great Hall half an hour later with all my dormmates. The Great Hall hadn't accommodated its full capacity by the time I got there. I looked around and all I saw were sour, tired faces everywhere. I couldn't even find Luna whom I knew too well was a morning person. I supposed everyone had got lazy due to the chilly weather, or it might be the fact that it was Friday. I slumped myself in a space between Erika and Hermione. Hermione seemed to be the only person who was apparently not affected by the weather condition.

"Morning," I mumbled to her.

She replied me briefly, very engrossed in her daily dosis of The Daily Prophet.

"So, what's new today?" I asked her almost casually, trying to erase last night incident off my memory and resisting the urge to confide in her. It seemed like working.

"There's nothing new, really. Just a few of normal report on duels between Aurors and suspected Death Eaters and You-Know-Who followers."

She finally lifted her eyes off the page and began to study me.

"What's wrong?" she prompted.

She noticed.

"Wha – oh no! No, nothing's wrong. It's just the weather and all, you know. Making me feel unenergised…"

She lifted an eyebrow to my response, obviously did not just buy what I said. But for no reason I didn't know, she simply shrugged and said "Okay". I was actually surprised at her unusual lack of curiosity. I supposed this had got to do with her extensive list of duties as a Head Girl.

Right at that moment, I saw Harry walking into the Great Hall, looking very badly flushed – even more than anyone else if that was possible. He was closely followed by Ron, who looked uncharacteristically cheery this morning. I knew they would take seats near Hermione so I dug deeper into my bowl of porridge, pretending not to notice their entrance.

Someone had taken a seat in front of me and I could feel a pair of eyes staring at me. I tried so hard to restrain myself from looking up; it worked for like 10 seconds. I wanted to grab a croissant from the pile that I thought was placed right in front of me. Unfortunately, since I couldn't observe my surrounding on account of I didn't want to look up, I knocked a jug full of pumpkin juice over. Naturally, I had to look up and found myself facing Harry who had an unmistakeable amused smirk in his face. It was quickly transformed into a frown, though, when he caught me looking.

"Oops…" I said casually.

I heard annoyed murmurs of 'Scourgify' from my surrounding and sent an apologetic look to everyone. Determined not to create anymore incidents, I got up and told Erika I was going back to the tower because I left my Transfiguration: Advanced NEWT Preparation Vol. 1 in the dorm. She said to meet her on the way to the classroom.

I started making my way back up lazily, wondering whether I could skip Transfiguration and go to the Hospital Wing instead; my lack of sleep had given me a headache. As I was walking up the marble staircase, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around only to find a pair of bright green eyes meeting my brown ones.

"Ginny," he softly spoke, "we need to talk".

My heart started beating wildly against my chest; judging by his expression and choice of words, I could tell that this 'talk' would not be so joyous.

"You know what I said to you last night," he started.

I nodded. My heartbeat had somehow become more uncontrollable. I was actually worried that my heart would burst.

He put an apologetic smile in his face, "forget about it."

I was speechless. Suddenly, it was really really hard to breathe.

I felt like burying myself deep underground.

"I…- I mean, I now understand that you don't like the idea of we going out," he grimaced, "I'm sorry to have mistakenly thought that you wanted to."

He smiled again, more of an uncomfortable one this time. My lips were still numb, refusing to mouth any words that I intended to say.

He continued, "We can still be friends, can't we?"

My body felt like just being stabbed by an invisible knife – I forced a smile.

"I thought…- umm…of course we can," I was finally able to mumble.

He looked very relieved then, "Thanks, Ginny."

At that time, I heard Ron called out Harry's name, informing him that they would be late if they didn't start heading to class. Harry flashed a brief wave and half-flew towards Ron.

"No, Harry. We can't," I mouthed my last words that had failed to escape earlier.

I stood there staring at the exact same spot where he had been standing minutes before. I felt my eyes were burning and something hot was trickling down my left cheek; I ran to the Hospital Wing.

Author Note: There, what do you think…..??? Please don't look at me like that… You know what you have to do, don't you? Just click on 'Submit review' in the bottom left hand corner there. Thanks a LLOOOOOTT!!!