Chapter Seven At Long Last
The following day, Bill did not have the chance to try and break the curse on Adria Thornwood.
When Ginny entered the common room later on that afternoon, she learned from Ron both Bill and Dumbledore had left Hogwarts early that morning.
Ginny sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace next to her brother. "Are you all right, Ginny?" Hermione asked from the other side of Ron. "You still look a bit peaked."
"I'm okay, Hermione, a bit tired, I guess. I didn't sleep very well." Ginny grimaced slightly as Hermione gave her a smile in commiseration. "I was wondering if you could help me finish my Arithmancy homework, my brain still feels a bit fuzzy from the potion Madam Pomfrey gave me last night."
"Of course!" Hermione said and the two of them gathered their books and found an empty table not far from the windows. Putting all thoughts of Tom Riddle firmly out of her mind, Ginny glanced up at Hermione and tilted her head inquisitively at the smile on Hermione's face.
Ginny tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she opened her textbook. "Okay, what did I miss? I haven't seen you smiling this much in months."
Hermione looked up at Ginny and blushed. She leaned in towards Ginny and whispered, "Won-Won and Lavender broke up last night."
Ginny looked up and saw Ron animatedly talking to Harry, and avoiding the eye of Lavender Brown who sat in the corner with Pavarti, whispering furiously and shooting Ron dirty looks.
With a rueful smile Ginny said, "last night must have been break up night."
Hermione put down her quill and looked up at Ginny in surprise. "Not you and Dean too?" At Ginny's nod she said, "I know you two had been having problems, but I guess I wasn't expecting it so soon. What happened?"
Ginny waved her hand and mumbled something about Dean always trying to help her when she didn't need help and how the last time they had come through the portrait door together he had grabbed her elbow and it had made her feel like an invalid. The only thing she did not want to tell Hermione about was her feelings for Harry, considering all of the pitying looks she had received from her the last time everyone knew about her crush on the Chosen One.
"What happened between Lavender and Won – I mean Ron?"
Hermione told Ginny about how Lavender had seen her and Ron coming down from the boys' dorm, not knowing Harry was in front of them under his Invisibility Cloak. As Hermione talked animatedly, Ginny found her mind drifting uncomfortably to her time spent in the Hospital Wing last night. She knew she needed to stop thinking about them, but for some reason the scary and somewhat prophetic feeling dreams from the evening before weren't easy to pass off. It was just nightmares, she thought easily in the daylight hours. Staring out over the table to the mingling students in the common room, it was very easy for her to put Tom Riddle and the strange girl out of her mind. Right now all she needed to concentrate on was finishing her homework before it was due tomorrow.
As she and Hermione leaned over their Arithmancy books, Ginny discovered if she turned her head just a bit she had a clear view of Harry who had moved to the chair across from Ron. She watched him talking to Ron, not being able to hear their conversation, but just the cadence of his voice was soothing and somehow disconcerting. Dark pockets of fatigue peeked out from below his black rimmed glasses.
"Is everything okay, I mean, with Harry?" Ginny asked quietly, trying to appear casual as she dipped her quill and wrote her name across the top of clean parchment. "He looks tired."
Hermione glanced behind her at Ron and Harry before turning to look at Ginny. "He's fine, I suppose. As fine as Harry can be," Hermione said as she narrowed her eyes at Ginny. "He would be a bit tired today, I would guess. After he left you in the Hospital Wing we received a note from Hagrid that Aragog had died. Do you know who Aragog is?"
Ginny nodded, remembering with a shiver the story Ron had told her about the huge arcomantula that wanted to let his offspring eat Harry and Ron in their second year.
"Well, Harry decided he needed to go down to be with Hagrid and he also thought he could accomplish a task Professor Dumbledore had given him at the same time. Luck was on his side last evening and he was able to accomplish everything he set out to do."
"I guess that means he finally used his Felix Felcis then." Ginny felt an odd twinge of disappointment somewhere deep in her chest on learning the potion was gone. It had figured into a few of her daydreams involving Harry and it saddened her to realize Harry had used it last night.
Hermione nodded distractedly and pointed out an error in Ginny's homework. Glancing over Hermione's shoulder again, she found herself staring into Harry's green eyes as he watched her. It suddenly became clear to her that Harry could very easily have moved his seat so he could look up and see her. After a few beats, she tore her eyes away and made the corrections to her paper. A flush creeping up her neck made her realize her cheeks were probably stained pink. It didn't help matters every time she looked up, Harry was watching her. What could it mean?
The next time she looked up, she started to find Harry standing right behind Hermione. He pushed his hands into his jeans pocket and smiled at her. "Hey Ginny, I hope you're feeling better."
Ginny nodded as she exchanged a glance with Hermione, who was wearing a knowing smirk on her face. "Thank you, Harry, I do feel better today."
"Do you think you would be up to extra Quidditch practices for the next fortnight before the match with Ravenclaw? If you don't feel up to it, I'd understand."
Ginny smiled up at him, ignoring the scowl of Dean who was staring at her by the portrait hole where he had just entered the common room with Seamus. "Of course I can make the extra practices, Harry!" she said brightly. "Just let me know when and I'll be there!"
And since that afternoon, every time she turned around, Harry was there. At first they tried to laugh it off as silly coincidences, but there was a look in his eyes when he glanced at her she didn't quite know how to identify. She didn't mind him looking at her, not at all, but she refused to act like a love sick puppy around him. She laughed at his jokes or made him laugh with a few of her own, but she never went out of her way to find him or to be overly needy towards him. Just being able to admit to herself she was in love with him again gave her the courage to act casual around him. Especially when Romilda Vane and friends made fools of themselves over him every chance they got.
To her great relief, Dean had been bumped from the team when Katie returned from St. Mungo's that following Thursday. She was so happy Katie had returned seemingly free of any lasting effects from the cursed necklace. No longer did she have to evade his eyes or try to avoid him on the Quidditch pitch. For the first time she could remember she mounted her broom with a feeling of unabashed freedom. As the nights passed with no recurrence of nightmares or unwanted memory flashes, she able to set aside her silly fear she was being possessed by Tom Riddle again. She swore to herself that if anything happened again, she would tell Harry about the girl and Tom Riddle.
Through talking with Hermione Ginny discovered the three of them still visited the girl daily. Hermione said she thought she was helping the girl become up to date on what happened in both the Muggle and Wizarding World while she had been gone, but of course she couldn't be sure because all Adria did was stare out the window when she were there. It made her feel a bit guilty, but Ginny had no desire to see the girl again. There was just something about her which made Ginny distinctly uneasy.
A few days before the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match, Ginny was returning to the common room when Harry streaked past her soaking wet and covered in blood. "Wha—?" she started to ask, but she never had the chance to finish her thought. She stared at him in horror as a few moments later he ran past her again, this time carrying his school bag.
"What on earth is going on?" she asked Ron a few minutes later when she entered the common room, but Ron shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
"I don't know, but it's not good."
An hour later, the four of them sat across from one another as Harry had told them what had happened when he came upon Draco Malfoy in the boys' loo. Icy fear curdled in Ginny's stomach when Harry described what the spell in the Potions book had done to Malfoy. What would have happened to Draco if Snape had not arrived? Ginny shivered at the thought of what would have happened to Harry if Draco had died. In the middle of Harry's explanation, McGonagall entered through the portrait hole and called Harry out of the common room. Oh Merlin! What if they expelled him?
When he returned fifteen minutes later and called the Quidditch team together, she stood beside him to offer him support as he explained he would be in detention this Saturday and would not be able to fly as Seeker against Ravenclaw. She and Ron knew already of course, but the rest of the team reacted with shock and anger. He obviously avoided her eyes as he told her she would be playing Seeker and Dean would take her place as Chaser.
What could she do or say to him to make him feel better? Everything she thought she could say sounded so trite and meaningless, so in the end she didn't say anything. Every time their eyes did meet, she tried to give him a small smile, but he just frowned at her and turned away. It was almost as if she could read his thoughts. They had been so close to winning the House Championship this year, but Ginny knew they didn't have much of a chance without Harry playing. How embarrassing for them as a House if they finished in last place for the first time in years and years.
She sat alongside of him on the couch across from Ron and Hermione and fought the urge to take his hand so fiercely. All she wanted to do was just squeeze it and let him know she was still standing beside him no matter what happened. Then having to listen to Hermione going on and on about the Potions book and the Half-Blood Prince and getting nastier and nastier as Harry tried to tell her to drop it was slowly causing Ginny's blood to boil.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She stood up and stared down at the older girl. "Give it a rest, Hermione!" she said, and peripherally she could see Harry's head shoot up to stare at her in amazement. "By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"
Hermione snapped back at her about how Ginny should be angry too, as Harry ruined their chances on winning the match this week and Ginny had had enough. "Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch," she snapped as she flopped back down on the couch beside Harry, "you'll only embarrass yourself." Then she folded her arms and pointedly would not look at Hermione for the rest of the night. It wasn't too long after her outburst the four of them went to bed without saying speaking another word to one another.
The few remaining practices the following week were a somber affair. In Harry's absence, she tried to rally the team together and even talked Ron and Katie into helping keep the team's spirits up. To her amazement, the team responded to them as the veteran members of the team, she and Katie took turns giving advice while they were practiced. Even Dean who had been steadily avoiding and ignoring her since they broke up listened to her attentively as she offered advice how the Ravenclaw Chasers played.
The morning of the match, Ginny felt as if her insides had tied themselves up in a knot. There was no where she would rather be, but oh how she wished Harry was there beside her as she walked out on the pitch. All around her the stands were filled with the House colors, scarlet, gold, blue and bronze. The din of crowd rose to a dull roar as the sunlight struck the Gryffindor team. It was true most of the Gyffindors were quite vocal in their disappointment of Harry, they were still loyal to their team. Tightening the clasp holding her braid together, she gave one last deep sigh and let it out slowly. She mounted her broom beside her brother and Katie, feeling the warmth of sunshine on her face and knowing whether or not they won or lost, they would give it their all, if only because of Harry.
Where could he be?
Leave it to Snape to keep him in detention for the whole afternoon, where he was probably going crazy wanting to know what had happened on the pitch.
Ginny and the rest of the Gryffindors celebrated in their common room while they waited for him to arrive. Where was Harry? She climbed up on a battered couch, still in her Quidditch robes, keeping a keen eye over everyone's head for him to arrive. She absently pulled her hair from her braid, tugging her hands through the long locks, smoothing snarls and tangles. This was his victory as much as theirs; it was because of him they had the motivation to accomplish it in the first place.
When the portrait swung open and his leg appeared, the crowd erupted in cheers and cries of happiness. His classmates pulled him into the room and Ginny jumped down from the couch and pushed through the crowd. Ron yelled as he pushed the silver Cup towards Harry, "We won! We won! Four hundred and fifty to one hundred and forty! We won!"
Without thinking, Ginny ran to him, and his eyes were on hers as threw her arms around his neck, burying her nose in his neck, drinking in his scent. It didn't matter to her Ron and Hermione were right beside him. It didn't matter to her everyone was watching, it didn't matter to her one bit if people started talking again about Ginny Weasley and her silly little crush on Harry Potter, the Boy who Never Noticed she Existed.
His arms encircled her, momentarily lifting her off of her feet and tangling in the ends of her hair as his hands tightened around her waist. She pulled back and looked up at him and amazingly, he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. An electrifying shock reverberated throughout her entire body and her pulse began to beat erratically as his lips moved over hers, deepening the kiss. Knees weak, she clung to his forearms, knowing if he let her go at that moment, she would melt straight into the floor.
When the kiss finally ended, she stood there staring up at him, blank, amazed and very, very shaken. At first she attributed the silence she heard as her buzz frantically humming in her head. But when she glanced at the crowd, the entire common room was standing stock still and staring at them. Then the boys began to wolf whistle and a few of the girls began to giggle nervously. Ginny was afraid to seek out Ron, or Dean, so instead she kept her eyes on Harry and nodded wordlessly as he gestured with his head towards the portrait hole.
Once the portrait hole swung shut behind them, Harry leaned over and kissed her again.
"Well. It's about time," the Fat Lady said as she raised her glass of wine to them.
"You kissed me. In front of everyone," Ginny managed to say as they slowly walked through the hallways towards the grounds.
Harry's hand reached for hers. She met his smile and took the hand he offered and laced her fingers with his own. The mere touch of his skin against hers sent a shiver to places she had never realized existed. They stopped at the top of the marble staircase. "Are you terribly angry with me?" His eyes clung to hers analyzing her reaction.
Curious warmth spread through her body as his lips spread into a slow unconscious smile. "No, I'm not angry with you, quite the opposite, actually."
He led her down the stone steps and into the orange sunlight of the waning afternoon.
"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that," Harry said with a slight smile as he shyly looked back at her.
You have no idea how long I've wanted you to do that, Ginny thought to herself, but she said, "how long?".
Harry slowed as they walked towards the lake. "Since Ron and I found you and Dean snogging behind the curtain."
"But why ever didn't you say anything before now?" Ginny asked as Harry stopped and wrapped his arms around her. He lightly fingered a loose tendril of copper on her cheek. A delicious shiver ran down her spine as his finger tenderly traced the line of her cheekbone and jaw.
His breath was warm on her face as he whispered, "you belonged to Dean then."
"Not anymore," she whispered as her fingers tangled in the back of his hair.
"No, and I needed to make sure you didn't belong to anyone else," he said and she could feel his uneven breathing on her cheek as he held her close. His lips moved to hers and kissed her slow and thoughtfully, as if she were a tasty dessert he wished to savor. This kiss sent the pit of her stomach into a wild swirl and once again she felt her legs grow weak. She opened her mouth beneath him, the tip of his tongue touching hers sent shivers of desire racing through her body and she moaned against his mouth.
When they broke apart for air, she buried her face into his neck and she breathed a kiss there, this smiling as she felt him shiver.
"Who do I belong to now, Harry Potter?" she asked as she allowed her weak legs to take her to the grass. Ginny swallowed tightly as he dropped down alongside of her.
"Would you do me the honor of allowing me to be your boyfriend?" He asked seriously and his eyes were filled with a curious deep longing. She took a deep breath of utter astonishment and nodded her head, momentarily speechless. Harry smiled at her and laid his head in her lap. Ginny took a moment while he shifted his position to pinch herself on her thigh quite hard. Nope, he was still there, smiling up at her.
With a sigh of bottomless peace and satisfaction, she leaned over and softly brushed her lips over his. She could do this now whenever she wanted. He was hers. Harry Potter was her boyfriend. For however long it lasted, she would never ever forget these first kisses and how blissfully happy she felt, how very much alive.
"Now, tell me everything that happened during the match," Harry said as he reached up a hand to play with her hair.