Harry and Ginny lined up in front of the fireplace. Lupin and Tonks would be Apparating in Grimmauld Place, carrying Harry's trunk and Hedwig. Soon Harry was feeling the unpleasant sensation of traveling by Floo Powder. He kept his eyes closed because he felt he would get sick if he opened them. The next thing he knew, he had landed on hard, cold floor, coughing soot. Opening his eyes, he looked around, at the kitchen of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, before a colorful fabric completely obscured his vision. Mrs. Weasley hugged him, with a small shriek, before helping him stand on his feet.
"Harry, it's so good to see you dear! How have you been? You look thinner…" she trailed off, looking around at the kitchen, mumbling something like "Muggles don't feed you properly" and " I should prepare something for lunch".
Green flames emerged from the fireplace again, and Ginny steeped out a bit cleaner than Harry. Mrs. Weasley hugged her too, and as Lupin and Tonks Apparated in with Harry's stuff, she ushered her daughter and Harry upstairs, where she told them Ron and Hermione were. They made their way upstairs, Harry noticing that the portrait of Mrs. Black, along with all the other screaming paintings, were somehow removed.
Before they reached the second landing, Harry could hear his two best friends –surprise- shouting at each other. He glanced at Ginny, who returned a small smirk, before he opened the door.
He froze at his step, as the scene was pretty odd, even for Ron and Hermione. They were both standing, facing each other, roughly an inch apart, their faces flushed, but they weren't shouting anymore. They just stared intensely in each other's eyes, not with anger, but with – the only word that Harry could think fitted was- electricity, between them.
After a moment, they both glanced at the door, and seeing Harry and Ginny, stepped back, obviously pulling themselves together. Ron smiled at his best friend, still red in the face, and Hermione flew herself towards Harry, hugging him.
"Oh, Harry, you're here! How are you?" she pushed him away, and grinned at Ginny, before focusing at her best friend again.
"I'm good. What were you…shouting about?" a mischievous little grin appeared on Harry's face for a moment, before he could force an innocent smile.
"Oh…just…well…nothing important, now that you're here mate," Ron came to him, momentarily giving Hermione a dark look, and then shaking his best friend's hand.
They all sat down, silent for a few minutes. Ron and Hermione were shooting glances at each other, before they looked away to Harry. Ginny was grinning broadly at him, and Harry did the same in return, before looking back at his best friends.
"So what have you been up to? Any news?" they all frowned instantly. They knew what Harry meant by I news /I and it was time to get serious.
"Oh Harry, it's been a mad house in here. People coming and going. Loads more have joined the Order, now they know V-Voldemort is back," Harry smiled weakly at Hermione's effort to call Voldemort by his name. She was still scared in saying it, but she did, unlike Ron who flinched at the sound of it.
"Yeah, and we heard them in meetings. They can't keep their voices down, now that there's so many of them," continued Ron.
"They've been saying that there weren't any mysterious deaths or people gone missing…" added Hermione.
"…But they say that there's a number of people, both inside and out of the Ministry, who are believed to be under the Imperius curse," Ron said.
"And Dumbledore says that it's worse this way, because Voldemort hasn't really shown his true colors, but he soon will," Hermione remarked, looking worried.
"We heard that they're worried about Hogwarts, too," Ron lowered his voice as he spoke.
Harry's brain was absorbing this information, but he couldn't help noticing something, "You know I just felt like I've been listening to Fred and George. Have you rehearsed all this, or you just read each other's mind?" he asked, trying to drown a snort, seeing their faces blushing, "Well, if Voldemort –stop it Ron- is laying low, Dumbledore has a right to be worried. Look at what happened last year," his face fell, as he said that, "But Hogwarts? It's the safest place there is."
"I don't know Harry. I've been wondering myself, but it's You-Know-Who at full power we're talking about. Let's hope for the best," Ron had shivered with the mere thought of an attack at Hogwarts.
"Hope? We can't just hope. I bet there's something we can do to prepare, if anything should happen!" Ginny broke her silence, looking intensely at the others, "There must be a…"
"Look Ginny, let's leave the Order to handle this. They're the best, and they can protect us," Harry interjected, trying to convince himself also, to stay out of it. His meddling with things he shouldn't, had led him to his Godfather's death. A mistake never to be made again.
They all looked taken aback by his statement. Ginny fell silent, but after a second stood up curtly, "Well, if that is the case, I think you could excuse 'Mione and me. But until we meet again, remember: Constant Vigilance!"
The girls left the boys laughing, and shut the door behind them. Ron dove headfirst to his bed.
"What's up mate? What's been bothering you?" Harry asked innocently, but knew exactly what the problem was.
Ron lifted his head from the pillow, and looked at Harry momentarily, before sitting up right, "Well, it's…Hermione. She's still writing to that git Vicky, and always tells me it's none of my business, when I try to see what she's writing to him about."
"Well mate, not to be mean or anything, but it's not your business to whom she's writing and what," answered Harry, waiting for Ron's reaction to his words.
"Oh great, take her side now!" but before Harry could open his mouth to explain his opinion to Ron, he continued, "I…know, it's not my business Harry, but, don't laugh, I…I want it to be my business. I don't want her to write to him, and if she does, I want to know what they're writing about. I want her to be my business. You can laugh all you want now," Ron concluded, looking desperate and blushing madly.
"I'm not laughing"
Ron looked up at Harry, surprised, "You're smiling. Why are you smiling?"
Harry got up, and walked to his best friend, putting his arm around Ron's shoulders, "You know sometimes, I think that you could be a good friend of Crabbe or Goyle," stopping to rub his ribs, as Ron had elbowed him hard, he continued, "Mate, I knew that you liked her –or loved her, is it? -, before you did, and I believe that Hermione, being brilliant and all, knew it before even I did!"
"She knows that I loved her all this time?" mumbled Ron.
"Oh, it's love, isn't it? Well, since I think she loves you back, she would have noticed it in your behavior, and your eyes, even if you yourself, didn't realize your feelings at the time!"
"Why didn't she show it in some way then?" muttered Ron looking frustrated, unable to believe this was true.
"It's 'Mione we're talking about, Ron! Remember? Know-It-All, logical Hermione. Proud Hermione. She wouldn't stand it if she was wrong, and you laughed at her face, when she showed you! She's probably trying to make you spit it out, in one of your rows. That's why Krum came in the picture in the first place. I think she liked him a bit, though. It's not like her to go out with someone just to get at you!"
"I'd like it better if she was like that! Vicky ," Ron spat, saying his so-called rival's name.
But suddenly, a weird expression dawned on his face, "So Miss Hermione wants me to spill my guts to her, but she doesn't move a finger? Mmm… Harry are you sure she loves me?"
"From what I see, I think it's a bit obvious! But Ron don't go doing something…"
"Thanks Harry, it's been a most illuminating conversation," Ron cut him off, leaving the room, looking like he was in deep thought.
"Oh, what is he going to do now?" muttered Harry to himself, thinking that he shouldn't have opened his mouth. But then again, it was getting really old, watching them bickering, but wanting to be together at the same time. At Hogwarts it was common knowledge that they liked each other!
Hogwarts. An attack at Hogwarts? Harry lied on his bed, thinking about the War. It was going to get ugly sooner or later. He knew it. Eventually, everything came back to him. Sirius, the War, the prophecy, all the things he had forgotten the past few hours, came rushing in his mind.
He stayed there, until Mrs. Weasley called him for lunch. Luckily, no one had disturbed him all this time; he was dwelling on his thoughts, on the thought of Sirius. Wiping some tears away, and walking down the stairs; he felt the house watching him, the walls closing down on him. Every corner, every inch of the house, reminded him of Sirius. Seconds before stepping in the kitchen, he felt like he couldn't breathe; yet he was fine.
Standing on the doorway, he saw Mrs. Weasley stirring a large cauldron of stew. Mr. Weasley was making goblets float their way to the table, and Lupin was conjuring chairs, enough for all of them. He felt like an outsider. They all looked like having no worries in the world, and he the black sheep, with all his thoughts tormenting him, every second. He stood aside, away from all of them.
His eyes met Ginny's that very moment. She was putting napkins on the table, and just then had raised her head, and looked at him. He felt his body relaxing. It was like the phoenix song, a warm feeling spreading from his eyes to his heart, and from there, to his whole body. He kept staring at her, all the previous thoughts fading away.
The feeling lingered in his heart. He felt the same way he did when he was holding her. Like returning home. He couldn't look away. He didn't want to. Her eyes were so warm, full of …what was that…?
Mrs. Weasley calling Ron woke him from his trance, and broke their gaze. She ushered Harry to a chair, before calling Ron again. When everyone came to the table, Ginny took a seat opposite him. While eating, he couldn't help glancing at her at times, and noticed that most of the times she looked back at him. He was going down, and he knew it. But though the little nagging voices in his mind, told him to stop, - it was his best friend's little sister after all- he couldn't help himself.
He was falling, fast and hard.
All the while they sat for lunch, Ginny couldn't keep her eyes from him. But he couldn't either. Could it be? Could it be that he was beginning to like her? Or better, falling in love with her? She shook her head, trying not to think about it.
Yet in that very loud and noisy kitchen, with all her family and friends sitting beside her, all she could think about was the time Harry and she were alone. She would always remember the previous night. Their silent understanding, his arms around her, and the tension they both felt for a few minutes. She shivered, thinking about the feeling she had for that few moments in his arms. A funny feeling on her lower abdomen, different from the flips her stomach did when she saw him. Then the absolute, and perfect peace and safety she felt in his arms, as they both dozed off.
She wished she could be sure he liked her back. Because she didn't just like him. She loved him. More than he could know.