Chapter 12: Girls and their unfathomable mind

Harry was very near the snitch now. Three feet... Two feet… One foot… and he reached out his hand for the golden thing that's worth a hundred fifty points for his house. He can feel Draco Malfoy hot on his tail but he was too late. Harry already felt his fingers close around the fluttering snitch. The crowd let out a loud cheer as he grinned smugly at the crowd.

He looked down at his team mates but what he saw made his blood froze. A bludger hit Janieve at the back of her head and she released her grip on the broom. She was falling fifty feet off her broom, heading straight for the ground and the crowd screamed in horror. Harry made a move towards her but he was too late. She had hit the ground with a loud sickening thud.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Harry watched as Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse, forced open the mouth of an unconscious Janieve and poured a gurgling black liquid down her throat. Then, Madam Pomfrey left Harry to Janieve while muttering about why she thinks the school should let the students play a healthier sport.

Janieve stirred.

"Janny!"

Her eyes fluttered open and Harry had never been more relieved in his entire life. Except the time when he found out that Hermione was not dead after an unknown spell had hit her by the Death Eaters last year in the Ministry of Magic building.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked as she began coughing dryly.

"My throat hurts. It feels like it's on fire," she said hoarsely.

"I think it's the medicine Madam Pomfrey gave you," said Harry.

"JAN!"

Harry turned to see Hermione and Ron running towards them.

"Jan, are you okay?" asked Hermione fretfully.

"I'm fine," Jan replied, "what happened?"

"It was Goyle. He hit you even when Harry had gotten the snitch. He did it on purpose," said an irate Ron.

"Thank goodness you're okay. You fell like what, fifty feet from the ground?" commented Hermione.

"Goyle should be thankful you're okay," said Harry angrily, "or he'll wish he was never born."

"It's okay Harry. I'm just glad we won," said Janieve. Harry smiled at her.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Glad to see you're okay now," she said. Then, she turned to Harry. "Uh Harry, I think Ron and I will make a move first. We still have uh some unfinished business," said Hermione. Ron looked baffled as Hermione dragged him out without waiting for Harry's reply.

"What do you think they are up to? Do you think they are dating?" asked Janieve, her eyes closed.

"I don't know," replied Harry, "but I hope they are. It's about bloody time."

"It's nice isn't it? To be with the one you love and who loves you." Janieve asked.

She must be thinking about her boyfriend, Harry thought.

"Have you ever dated anyone?" Janieve asked.

"Er," said Harry, "Well, kind of."

"Who?" she asked, her eyes still close.

"Cho Chang," Harry answered awkwardly. Why are they talking about this?

"The Ravenclaw seeker?" Janieve probed.

Harry nodded then realising that Janieve still had her eyes closed, said, "Yeah."

"Do you still like her?" she questioned.

"Er no," said Harry.

Janieve snapped her eyes open and stared at Harry blatantly. Harry suddenly found his shoes to be extremely fascinating. This line of questioning was getting weirder and weirder.

"I like you," Janieve confessed boldly.

Harry sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. What? Did she just say what he thought she said? She likes him? Perhaps he hadn't been clearing his ear wax for sometime and it was impairing his hearing. Firstly, what would a beautiful girl like her see in him? Secondly, why had she suddenly told him that? However, he reminded himself that he had not understood what Cho had seen in him last year too.

So what should he do now? Should he tell her that he likes her too? Did he even like her? She was fun to be with – really funny and beautiful. But did he really want to date her? He wasn't really into the going out and holding hands kind of thing after the disaster he had with Cho last year. But then again, Janieve was very unlike Cho. Janieve was headstrong and independent while Cho cried at every little thing. He could really see himself happy with Janieve. In fact, that thought had more than once crossed his mind but he had merely pushed them to the back of his head. I will ask, he decided.

"Willyoubemygirlfriend?" he asked in one breath. Janieve just stared at him like he had sprouted antlers on his back.

"Forget it Harry," she said in the end.

"What?" Harry asked, totally lost.

"I said forget it. Just leave okay?" Janieve said.

"But what- what did I do?" Harry asked, astounded. What was she talking about? Did she not want to be his girlfriend? Didn't she just told him she like him? Isn't this what she wanted?

"Nothing. Just leave me alone for awhile please?" she said frigidly.

Harry left the Hospital Wing feeling off. It felt like he had waited for this moment to arrive for such a long time and when it did, he screwed it up big time. When he reached the common room, he saw that nearly all of the Gryffindors are there. Hermione and Ron were sitting on the best seats by the fireplace. He crossed over lying bodies to reach his friends.

"So Harry, how did it go?" Hermione asked when he sat down beside them.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked suspiciously. He suddenly had a good hunch what 'unfinished business' Hermione was talking about.

"Don't tell me you didn't ask her! You can't be that dense!" cried Hermione.

"I did," he said quietly.

"You did…wait, you did! Oh Merlin's beard! Harry what did she say?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"She said no," Harry replied dejectedly. And then he told them what exactly happened after they had left. When he had finished, Hermione's face had turned from incredulous to something like a 'that figures' look.

"She told you she liked you first?" said Ron, who looked really impressed.

"God Harry. You have utterly no clue with girls. You too, Ron. Both of you!" Hermione said at the same time.

"What? Me? What has that got to do with me?" protested a flabbergasted Ron. "Girls!" he finished lamely.

Hermione ignored him. "Look Harry, you can't just wait for a girl to open her mouth to say she likes you and then you asked her to be your girlfriend without even telling her whether you reciprocate her feelings," she said seriously.

"Why not?" Ron asked for Harry.

"Because," Hermione said pointedly, like it was something as simple as putting food in her mouth, "she would think you didn't mean what you said!"

"But why would I asked her if I hadn't meant what I said," argued Harry.

"Because that's just how the mind of a girl works," Hermione replied. "I think you owe her both an explanation and an apology," added Hermione bossily.

"But I…" Harry began to object but Hermione cut him out. "Look Harry, if she is important to you, you'll do it."

Harry knew Hermione had struck a nerve. Janieve was indeed important to him. But he had no idea what he was supposed to apologise for, how was he going to pull this off? Ron was right, Harry thought miserably, girls are truly unfathomable.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Harry, where are we going?" Janieve asked while trying to wrench her arm free from Harry's strangled grip. It was the second evening since her admittance to the Hospital Wing and Harry had suddenly appeared and dragged her out of there.

"You'll see," he said mysteriously. He was guiding her through corridors after corridors, his invisibility cloak tucked under his arms, which when Janieve had asked about, Harry had replied, "just in case."

They climbed up flights after flights of stairs, which Janieve lost count after the fifth. Finally they reached a sparse empty area. Harry released his hold on Janieve and began pacing the length of a stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet. A look of concentration crossed Harry's face. To Janieve's amazement, a door appeared on the far end of the wall ten seconds later.

Harry stopped pacing and looked up, a satisfied smile on his face. "Come on, let go," he said, and led a perplexed Janieve towards the door.