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            Harry and Ron were silent as they trudged back to the castle after two hours of practice. They were both hot and sweaty and exhausted. Ron had been doing a great job as keeper and Harry had really had to work for the few goals that he'd scored.

            "So Harry, do you think I'll do better this year?" Ron asked seriously as they entered the castle.

            "You'd think that we weren't at the same practice," Harry joked, "Yeah, I think you will, as long as you ignore those bloody Slytherins.  You had a few wicked saves today.  A little more practice and you'll be just as good as Wood was during his Hogwarts days."

            "Seriously?" Ron said with a sparkle in his eyes.

            "Yeah," Harry responded.

            "Brilliant!" Ron said excitedly. Harry smiled.

            "Don't get too full of yourself though," Harry teased, "Or we'll have to kick you off the team."

            The two boys laughed as they walked down the corridor. Then Ron turned to Harry.

            "Who says you have the power to kick me off the team anyway?" Ron challenged with a smile.

            They neared the corner leading toward Gryffindor Tower.

            "Well," Harry started, "For one thing-"

            But Harry didn't get to finish his sentence because he had just run into something, or rather, someone.

            Ginny Weasley had run straight into Harry and was now sitting on the ground looking a little dazed.

            "Ginny?" Ron asked.

            No one responded to Ron as Harry reached out his hand to help Ginny up. She blew a strand of crimson hair out of her face and then took Harry's hand. He helped her up and they stood there for a moment until Ginny realized how close they were and Harry realized that they were still holding hands.

            Harry dropped her hand like he'd been burned and stepped backward.

            Ron was curious for a moment why his best friend's face was flushed, but concluded it was because of quidditch and left it at that.

            "Thanks Harry," Ginny said softly, looking up to meet his eyes, "Sorry about that."

            "It's okay," Harry responded, "Are you alright?"

            Harry could barely think. It's those eyes again. They're so…Ginny must have found some new spell. Yes, that's it. She's practicing some new enchantment she learned.

            Ginny was feeling many of the same things looking into Harry's emerald eyes, but having had much more experience controlling these feelings, she ignored them.

            "Yeah, I'm fine," Ginny said. It was becoming her mantra these days.

            "So how was practice Ron?" Ginny asked, turning her attention to her brother.

            "Oh, it was brilliant," Ron answered with slightly less enthusiasm than he had before.  Harry and Ginny were both acting bloody strange. "So where were you off to in such a hurry?"

            Ginny looked puzzled for a minute and then as if just remembering she answered.

            "Oh, I told Colin I would meet him in the library to study Potions and I'm late."

            "Oh, okay," Ron replied.

            "See you later then," Ginny said as she took off down an intersecting corridor.

            Ron and Harry both looked as Ginny ran down the hallway with her shoulder-length hair swinging back and forth. As Ginny turned a corner Ron pursed his lips and Harry blinked rapidly as if coming out of a trance. They turned back toward Gryffindor Tower and Ron looked at Harry and spoke.

            "You're right about Ginny. Something's up."

            Harry gave him a questioning look. "Why'd you change your mind?"

            "Because the library's that way," Ron said seriously as he pointed down the hallway in a direction opposite the one Ginny had gone.

*********

            Harry and Ron walked into the Gryffindor common room having decided to go take their showers and then reconvene to discuss Ginny. Hermione spotted them from across the room and ran over.

            "Ron," she said slightly out of breath, "I have to talk to you. It's about Ginny."

            Ron and Harry looked at each other in shock. They seemed to reach a silent agreement and then Ron sighed.

            "Harry and I'll go take our showers and we'll meet back here in ten minutes. It seems like we have a lot to talk about." With that Ron left and started up the stairs to the boys dormitory. Ron wasn't usually the one to take charge of the situation, but Hermione thought that this newfound leadership suited the red-haired Weasley.

            She looked at Harry curiously, but Harry just shrugged his shoulders as if he wasn't quite sure what was going on either and started to follow Ron up the stairs. Hermione sat down in a comfortable chair in the corner waiting impatiently for the boys to come back down. Something was going on with Ginny Weasley and apparently she wasn't the only one that noticed. The look that had flown between Ron and Harry made Hermione sure that they knew something too. Now if only they would hurry up so that the three of them could discuss what was going on. Well, she thought to herself, at least they'll be clean. But that thought led to one about Ron in the shower that Hermione banished from her mind as quickly as it appeared. Ron was only her friend, blast him!

            So, sitting in a comfortable chair in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione Granger started to recite the recipe of the most complicated potion she knew. Strangely enough, it was also a potion that she could use to severely harm Ronald Weasley if he didn't come to his senses soon.

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