Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, would I celebrate the release of another book? Maybe. Would I count down the days to release? Probably not. Would I lay around for five hours after Order the Phoenix came out just to read it all in one sitting? No chance.

Deep Inside

Chapter Five

Thirteen Years Old: Vague and Confused

Harry and Ginny went the rest of the way to the Hospital Wing using several shortcuts Harry knew of to make up for lost time. The kindly matron met them at the door.

"There you are, and not a moment too soon! I was about to go off looking for you myself." Her eyes took in Harry's arm around Ginny's waist, and Ginny's head leaning slightly on Harry's shoulder. "Poor dear, you must be exhausted. I never should have agreed to that insanity. Come on, over here, lay down," she said, misunderstanding the situation completely.

Chuckling softly, Harry led Ginny to the bed Madam Pomfrey indicated. He then closed the curtains and waited for Ginny to get her pajamas on before slipping back in. Madam Pomfrey conjured up another bed beside Ginny's for him.

"Now, Mr. Potter, since Professor Dumbledore allowed this, I had no choice, really. And I do trust you. But in accordance with school rules, I will now cast the Virgin Alarm Charm on Ms. Weasley. I don't believe I need to explain it to you, do I?"

Harry stuttered, "Erm...Yes, I mean no, Madam Pomfrey. I understand, thanks." Ginny's ears turned the typical Embarrassed Weasley Red. Madame Pomfrey chuckled.

"Drink this, dear," she said, handing Ginny a potion. "It will give you your strength back. Now be sure you get some sleep, and that goes for both of you!"

Once the two of them were alone, Harry decided to bring up the book. "Gin? What's the book you have with you?" he asked, rolling onto his side to face her.

She rolled as well, facing him. "It's a Publishing Book. They're pretty rare."

"Hermione's told me about them before."

"I got it the Christmas I was nine years old. I've written a stanza of a poem in it every year. I'm rereading it, at my third year here now. Would you like to hear some?"

He nodded, handing her the book from the bedside table. She flipped it open.

"Have you ever felt so much younger?

"Have you ever felt so left out?

"Have you ever been so scared?

"This is how I feel.

"This…That year I felt so much younger than all my brothers. I was too young to go to the Yule Ball without an invitation, too young to hang out with you guys, too young for anything I wanted to do. That was what made me feel left out.

"I was scared for you, Harry. All the stuff you were going through: all the challenges, the whole school hating you, I didn't know how you were going to make it through the year! I was so scared for your life…" she broke off, taking a deep breath.

"But I lived through it, somehow," Harry said.

"That is not the point," she replied. "If you hadn't, I would never have gotten to know you in any way at all. Not even as a friend. That summer, I pledged that I would do what I had to so we could be friends. I had to pretend I was over you, and I proved it with all my "boyfriends" over the past two years."

"All that to be my friend?" asked Harry, sounding a bit overwhelmed.

"Well, yeah. You were important to me. Still are. But that's basically the next installment in the poem. You want to hear it too?"

Madame Pomfrey interrupted. "Maybe he does, and maybe he doesn't, but either way he'll have to wait until morning because the two of you are going to sleep now!"

Harry looked at her and suddenly looked like he was trying hard not to laugh. Ginny leaned over.

"What's so funny?" she whispered.

"The look on her face," he answered. "It looks like Norbert when he had just sneezed."

Ginny snorted at that before she could help it. That of course set Harry off into fits of giggles…No I'm just kidding! Don't kill the author! He guffawed loudly.

The two of them were laughing for so long that Madam Pomfrey was forced to use "Silencio" to get some peace.

A/N: Good? Bad? Okay? Tell me! Please.