Chapter 8 – How We All Feel

Ginny was sat at the kitchen table sipping a butter beer nervously. Harry and Ron were expected any minute and her stomach felt like it was going to explode. She had been flipping between emotions since the night before. Sometimes she thought that it was a really good idea and that once Harry knew just how she felt she would be able to move on with her life. Other times she was horrified that she was even thinking of going through with it, how embarrassing it would be to sit there and pour her soul to him knowing that he didn't feel the same.

In that back of her mind she had the tiny glimmer of hope that when she told him her true feelings that he would take her in his arms and tell her that he loved her too. This, of course, wouldn't happen. It was her imagination running riot.

Hermione walked over and squeezed her shoulder, giving her a sympathetic smile.

"Are you ok sweetie?" She asked.

Ginny first nodded, then shook her head and then shrugged. "I really don't know."

"They should be here soon." Oliver said, limping into the room on his crutches.

And sure enough just seconds after he said it they heard Harry and Ron's voices in the hallway. Hermione rushed out to greet them and they followed her into the kitchen when she returned. There was the usual hugging, kissing and handshaking before they sat down and Hermione got them all a drink.

Dinner passed quickly and was less stressful for Hermione than the last one. Oliver was happily getting into another conversation with the two lads about the Magpies last game, which he had missed due to his injuries. Ginny, again, spent the meal saying very little, her nerves were shot and her hand would stop shaking.

As the meal ended the five of them got up from the table and Hermione suggested they should go into the living room. Ginny caught Harry's arm and pulled him aside.

"Ginny what's going on?" He asked, confused.

"I need to talk to you." She said taking a deep breath.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him outside onto the patio. He sat down on the iron bench and looked up at the stars as Ginny joined him.

"So what's this all about?" He asked after the unfortunate silence had gone on for a few minutes.

"Well, there's something I wanted to tell you, but I just don't know how to say it." Ginny muttered.

"Well go ahead, it can't be too bad can it?" He asked.

"Depends on how you take it really." She muttered. "Look I'm just going to say it ok? I don't want you to interrupt of say anything until I'm finished."

"OK." Harry said nodding.

"Harry, I love you." She said bluntly "I always have, always will. Ever since I first set eyes on you I've loved you. I know this is a bad time to tell you this, seeing as how you're moving in with Melissa. But I need this out, because it's killing me living like this. I want to be able to get over you but I really don't see that happening. But I do know that now you know all this I may be able to try to get on with my life. I wish I could say I'm happy that you have Melissa and that you two are getting on so well but I can't. I hate the fact that another woman is making you happy. I hate the fact that you see me as Ron's little sister. I hate the fact that I love you so much it hurts and that you can't even see it."

Ginny faltered and broke down in sobs, burying her face in her hands. She waited for Harry to say something, anything, but he never did. She looked up to see him looking completely shocked.

"I'm done now Harry, you can say something." Ginny said.

"I, I don't kn-know what to say." He stuttered.

"Well just say what you feel." Ginny prompted.

"I'm sorry Ginny, but I love Melissa. We're moving in together in a week and that's the end of it. I'm sorry to hear that I've caused you such pain but I can't help the way you feel. I hope that you can move on from this because I do know how you feel." Harry said to her gravely.

"I think it would be best if maybe we didn't see so much of each other for a while." Ginny whispered.

"I truly am sorry Ginny." Harry said standing up.

"I know. Thank you."

After a moment hesitation they hugged and walked back inside.

--

Oliver had been staying with Hermione for four weeks and the two of them had settled into a routine. Hermione would work Monday to Thursday and each evening they would sit together in the living room and watch a film. Then on Friday they would spend the day together. Sometimes Hermione would teach Oliver how to cook or knit and other times they would spend the day watching Quidditch, Oliver explaining the rules to Hermione. Other days they simply hung out and chatted for hours on end.

Although he missed Quidditch greatly and hated the daytime when Hermione was working he got so bored. But in the evenings when he was with Hermione he almost forgot all about the game.

It was a Thursday and nearing three thirty, which was when Hermione usually finished working for the day. He grabbed his crutches and limped into the living room. Going over to the shelving unit behind the TV he looked at the wide selection of DVDs that were there. He chose a few that he liked the look of and piled them on the floor before sitting back on the sofa and turning to the end of a game of Quidditch that was being played.

His team had won their last game, which he was happy about, but he was disappointed that he couldn't have been there on the pitch with them. He loved the feel of the wind whistling about him, the feel of his broomstick in his hands. When he was up in the air, high up off the ground he could disconnect himself from the world. He could kid himself that he was happy and that his life was complete. But he knew that was wrong, his life wasn't happy, it wasn't complete. He had buried himself in his work in the hope that it would fill in the gaps. It had worked, until recently when he had time off, now he realised how alone he really was.

Just as it was wrapping up after a five hour game Hermione came into the room.

"Hey you." She said with a tired smile.

Oliver took in how she looked, she was wearing cut off denim shorts that were fraying at the bottom and a dark red vest top. Her hair was tightly pulled back into a bun, pinned up with a pen. She looked as natural, he thought, not like the women he usually met who were all dressed up and wearing make up an inch thick. Yet the woman stood before him wearing sloppy clothes and making no effort looked a million times better than all the done up girls he was introduced to.

"Hi." He smiled back "So did you have a good day of writing?"

"Not too bad, I got a few pages done." Hermione answered as she dropped down in front of the TV. "Let's see what you lined up for us to watch."

She quickly flicked through the ones that Oliver had piled up on the floor. She took out a disk and put it into the player before going to sit next to him.

"So," she asked, "What did you do today?"

"Well, first I stared into space for a few hours, I made plans to break into the Magpies training ground but realised that I wouldn't be good at stealth with my leg in a cast so scraped all that" He joked "then I hobbled about for a bit before collapsing in a pathetic heap in here."

"Sounds like fun." Hermione joked.

The opening titles rolled onto the screen and the conversation stopped for a while as they watched the opening of the film. Hermione yawned and snuggled up to Oliver, keeping her eyes fixed on the screen.

--

Three films later the clock chimed eleven and Hermione got up to put the last disk of the evening into the player. This one was a comedy; they had made an agreement that no matter what they watched the last film would always be a comedy. That way they would go to sleep on a happy note.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" Hermione asked, "It's your turn to choose."

"Well I think we should go and play Quidditch but oh! That's right I'm not allowed, how silly of me to forget!" Oliver deadpanned.

"So what are we going to do?" Hermione asked with a laugh.

"How about we go and blow a load of money on things we don't need?" He suggested.

"Shopping!" Hermione squealed happily.

--

That's exactly what they did. After both having a lie in and Hermione cooking them breakfast they got dressed and went into Diagon Alley. Oliver first dragged her into the Quidditch shop and gazed at the brooms with awe for a good twenty minutes before Hermione was able to escape. They then went to see Ginny at Fred and George's shop where she tried to sell them various items that they didn't need. But, being good friends they bought some things anyway.

"Honeydukes!" Oliver demanded as they bid Ginny goodbye.

"Good plan I need chocolate." Hermione smiled.

They set off slowly toward the shop when the heard a call from behind them.

"Miss Granger! Oliver Wood!" a small child ran up to them "Can I have your autographs?"

"Of course you can." Hermione said with a smile and took the pen and pad that the child was holding out. "And what's your name?" she asked the small boy.

"William." He answered, blushing.

Hermione quickly scribbled down a note and signed her name before passing the pad to Oliver who did the same before handing the pad back to the boy with a smile.

--

After getting a huge bag of sweets each they made their way over to the shrieking shack and sat on the fence.

"Hermione I have to tell you something." Oliver said to her as they sat down.

"OK what's up?" She asked as she rooted around in her bag of sweets looking for a jelly worm that kept on wriggling about.

"It's kind of important." He said and placed his hands over hers to stop her from looking in the bag. She looked up and her eyes met his, she took in his slightly scared expression and put the bag at her feet.

"What is this about?"

"Well you told Ginny that she should tell Harry how she felt and she said that she feels slightly better than she did. So I figure that I should do the same." Oliver said slowly.

"Well?"

"Well the thing is the past four weeks have been great. I miss Quidditch, but it's not been as bad as I thought it would be. And that's because of you Hermione. When I spend time with you I almost forget all about Quidditch and its great!"

"Oliver what are you saying?" Hermione asked as he took her hands.

"I'm saying I want us to be together!"

"Oliver don't be ridiculous!" Hermione laughed.

"I'm not being ridiculous!" He said and moved to stand in front of her. "Think about it, haven't we had fun these last few weeks?"

"I don't want a relationship you know that." Hermione said with a frown.

"Oh come on! You don't mean that!" Oliver snorted.

"Yes I did! The only reason you're asking me is because you're bored. If you were still playing Quidditch you wouldn't give me a second thought. In when you start playing again you'll have no time for me." Hermione explained.

"Don't be stupid of course I wouldn't!" Oliver argued.

"Yes you would." Hermione said firmly. "I'm sorry Oliver but I don't want a relationship right now. I'm at a point in my life where I really need to focus on my work." With that she sprung up, grabbing her bags, and walked away. Leaving Oliver stood alone.

A/N – Because you're all so very kind to me and reviewed so nicly I churned this one out for you this evening before I went to a school meeting about our study visit to Germany. So enjoy!

Just in case I don't update again this week I'll tell you now, next week is my SATs so I should be revising an awful lot s it's unlikly that I'll update until the end of the week. But then again I do have Monday of next week off so I may write the next chapter then if I'm not busy.

A big fat virtual hug to my wonderful reviewers –

Angryteabag – I'm working on their denial of their feelings at the moment so they won't be getting together just yet, but they will be spending some more time with each other.
Fuzzypuff,
Porcelain Prayer – I just want to say I really love your story! Thanks for reviewing.
FlairVerona