Disclaimer: None of this is mine, sadly. Doesn't that suck?
Chapter Eleven: Love? And a Clearance Pass
The month had flown by. Ginny watched every day as her brothers, Hermione and Harry trained with the three Aurors assigned to the mission with them. In between shopping for new clothes and catching up on what she had missed, Ginny was very tired as she fell into bed each night. She was almost always asleep before her head hit the pillow.
She still had nightmares. They were quickly replaced each night with dreams of Harry holding her. These were good dreams.
Ginny was still living with Harry. He was being very kind to her, Ginny thought. Ginny didn't know how she felt about that. She didn't know how she felt about Harry. Sometimes she thought she caught him staring at her. Sometimes he caught her staring at him.
Neither of them would admit there was anything between them, however. Hermione had kept asking until Ginny had snapped at her one day. Hermione had apologized, and hadn't said a word about it since. But Ginny had ears. The day before, she had overheard her mother and her friend, Jess, talking.
"Is she happy living with Harry, then?" asked Jess.
"Oh, yes," said Molly, with a smile in her voice. "I don't think she's ever going to leave."
Now Ginny watched from behind the glass as Bill, Fred, and Hermione faced of against the Auror trainers. Hermione faced hers with a grim determination. She expertly blocked every curse thrown at her. Her mouth was set in a grim line.
Bill was sparing with an old friend from school. He was throwing everything he had at Bill, who parried it, although sometimes with a bit of difficulty.
Fred battled his trainer, a tough looking, whip-thin blonde with a nose that looked like it had been broken before. Ginny smirked to herself. Fred was treating his partner with kid gloves. He was going to get himself dumped on his-
"Weasly! How do you expect to get in shape to take the bastard down if you keep pulling your punches? I'm not made of glass!"
Fred stared up at the female Auror from his seat on the floor sullenly. "I'm not pulling punches."
"You are. I can tell by the way you flinch as I'm yelling at you. I think we should rotate partners. Hermione, you can spar with me, Fred with Jack, and Bill with Luke."
Fred resentfully walked over to Hermione's partner and shook hands.
Ginny was laughing outright at the expression on her brother's face. She didn't hear Harry come up behind her.
"What's so funny?"
Ginny spun. "Harry! You startled me." She looked back out the window. "I was just laughing at Fred. He and that Auror seem to have a special relationship going."
Harry's eyes widened. "That one?" he pointed to the blond Auror, now sparing Hermione. He watched as Hermione shot a curse at her.
"Yes," said Ginny. "Why do you sound so shocked?"
"Oh, no reason. It's just that Aurora isn't really the type to fall in love with joke-shop owning red-heads."
Ginny just looked back into the training room. Hermione had knocked Aurora down with a curse. Fred immediately broke off his duel and ran to help her. He gently hauled her to her feet. Aurora gave him a tiny smile before going back to her duel.
Harry was gaping. "Did you see that? Fred just- Aurora! He just helped Aurora to her feet! And Aurora let him!"
Ginny smiled. "Told you."
The door to the observation room slammed. Andrew strode in. He stopped, and gave Harry and Ginny a funny look.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" he asked.
Ginny gave an exasperated sigh. "No."
"Just checking," said Andrew, putting his hands up in self-defense. "Listen. I just got clearance for this little party of ours. We leave in 24 hours."
Ginny slowly sunk into a nearby chair. Twenty four hours. To have it all over and done with. Forever. Suddenly, she very much wanted Harry's arms around her, like in her dreams. She firmly pushed the thought out of her head.
Andrew and Harry were both staring at her. Meeting their gazes, she smiled shakily. "I suppose you'd best tell the others. I think I'll go to the Burrow. I want to seem Mum."
Andrew nodded. AS she was leaving the room, Harry caught her arm. "Are you coming home tonight?"
Ginny looked into his eyes. "Yes."
A/N: OK, this chapter is a lot of "She feels this way, blah blah." It was supposed to be something very different. Blame my fingers, they typed as though they had a mind of their own. However, I'm very happy with the chapter. There were a few developments I didn't even know about until I wrote them.
And yes. Ginny's dreams aren't…er, really dreams.
Now, I'm gonna go eat dinner, jot down an update schedule, and then come back and write more! I'm on a roll!
Reviews, please!
Next time: We're off to see the Ferret, the Wonderful Ferret of Oz…
