Chapter 27: Being sick of everything

„Harry are you sure about it? Are there no other possible suspects?"

Harry shook his head and replied: "Sir, I am really sure. It was Malfoy."

"Well let's hear his version of the story. I'll just go and get – "

Dumbledore got interrupted in the middle of his sentence as somebody pushed the door open. "Hello Mr. Dumbledore, Sir. Didn't mean ter interrupt yer, but I – oh, hullo Harry. No bad news, I 'ope! I –"

"Hagrid, you're heaven-sent. Please go to Professor Snape and tell him to come into my office along with Draco Malfoy, IMMEDIATELY."

Hagrid did as Dumbledore said and hurried off. Harry was alone with the Headmaster and they talked about some things concerning his grades at school and his choice of a career as Auror. Some minutes later, Snape and Malfoy entered the room.

Malfoy glanced at Harry, but in Snape's and Dumbledore's presence, he didn't dare to say anything at Harry.

"You called for us, Headmaster? Did Potter get himself into trouble AGAIN?", asked Snape stiffly.

Dumbledore ignored Snape's sarcasm. "No, not at all. Severus, please sit down. You too Draco. I think you heard about the attack on Mr. Potter during the Christmas Holidays?"

"Potter… you've been attacked? What a surprise!" commented Snape. Malfoy sniggered silently and Harry felt his temper rising. "And whom do you suspect?" continued Snape.

"Well Severus. Harry thinks that Draco attacked him."

Draco wore a satisfactory smile. "Why are you grinning?" asked Harry angrily.

"Because I couldn't have attacked you. Though I would have liked to."

"And why can't it be you, Mr. Malfoy?" intervened the Headmaster.

"Because, I have an alibi!"

"Can anyone prove this?"

"Yes, I can!" said Snape loudly. "The second last day before start of term, Mr. Malfoy was in my office and we had a conversation about his future."

Harry rose from his seat. "How do we know that's not a lie!"

"Potter! How dare you call me a liar? You just want to have a scapegoat and you pick out Mr. Malfoy because you're jealous of him!", cried Snape.

"Jealous? Of HIM? Are you insane! I am only telling what I saw, I am only telling the truth!"

Dumbledore told them to behave themselves or he'd have his office cleared. Then he retold the story of Harry's attack. At the end he asked once again: " Draco would you swear to me you weren't anywhere near the library on January the fifth?"

"Yes, Sir. I swear I only was in Mr. Snape's office."

Dumbledore gave Harry a half comforting, half warning look. "Well, innocent until proven guilty. You can go back to your classes now!"

Harry, Malfoy and Snape left the office. As they went down the spiral staircase, Snape added arrogantly: "Potter, you didn't think the Headmaster would trust you word instead of mine, did you?"

Harry fastened his pace and heard the two most hated persons in Hogwarts laugh at him. Running down the corridor, he passed a room. From the room emerged the shouts of two familiar voices. He opened the door which was only ajar and saw Ginny and Cho facing each other.

"Harry, is MY boyfriend. You must have realized it by now!" roared Ginny.

"NO, he doesn't love you. He belongs to me", shrieked Cho.

Harry, already in a bad mood, lost his temper completely. He pushed the door fully open and yelled: "What the hell are you doing here?"

Cho and Ginny went silent. They looked bewildered at Harry. Then Ginny explained: "Well, Cho pushed me in here and told me again to break up with you. She said this would be her last warning to me. And then I tried to make her see the reality. That you and I are a couple, but she just won't accept it!"

Cho looked pleadingly at Harry. "I know you don't love her and deep inside you know it too. Please, tell her I'm the only girl in your life."

Harry couldn't believe it. The next moment an explosion of words came down on Cho. "Cho, you don't mean anything to me. Don't you see that I am in love with Ginny? It's been nearly five months since we're together and I thought you'd finally understood and got over me, but I was wrong. Why do you want to destroy everything? I am happy right now, with Ginny."

"But Harry, we are meant to be together! Have you forgotten everything that ever was between us?"

"No Cho, I haven't forgotten. We had our time, but it's not Ginny's fault, it didn't work out, it's entirely ours. I should have know right from the start that Cedric's death was hard for you. It was too soon to begin a new relationship and have a new boyfriend. All you ever did was playing with my feeling and hurt them. We never even had a real relationship, it wasn't meant to be. We had our time and we didn't profit, we didn't make anything out of it. Maybe it would've been fine some months later, but now it's different. I have a girlfriend I love and nothing you're ever going to do or say will break us apart. You simply have to forget me."

Cho was crying desperately. She grabbed Harry's arm.

"Let go off me!", he hissed angrily.

"Harry, we belong together!", she squealed.

"NO, we don't! Stop making a fuss about this affair." He wanted to rush out of the room, but he turned around and added. "There's one more thing I have to tell you" he said threateningly, "don't you come too near my girlfriend or me again… or I'll deal with you!"

Harry took Ginny's hand and went away with her, leaving Cho behind. Harry had red patches on his cheeks and didn't say a word. Ginny had stood still all the time, Harry had been talking to Cho and was amazed how angry he could get. Now, she glad to be near him.

Neither of them thought about going back to classes now, they had loads to talk about and it couldn't wait. They left the castle and hurried to an edge of the Forbidden Forest where nobody could see them. They sat down on the cold earth.

After a while, Harry blurted out again: "I can't believe it! When will she stop this nightmare? I hate her, I really do."

Ginny hugged him, her head resting on his shoulder. "I am so glad to be with you. The things you told Cho made me realize how much you really love me. Promise you'll never leave me!"

"I promise", he said like all the fools who are in love and make such promises. They talked the whole day away and snuggled up next to each other. They didn't need anybody else and were happy to be alone.

Meanwhile, Hermione and Ron were searching the whole castle for Harry and Ginny. They were worried, because they had seen neither Ginny nor Harry since breakfast. One of Ginny's classmates told Ron, that Ginny had disappeared after the first lesson. After dinner, Ron and Hermione decided that it was time to inform the teachers about Harry and Ginny's absence.

"Mr. Dumbledore?" asked Hermione. "I wondered if Harry has been in your office today?"

The headmaster looked down at her. "Yes, indeed he was seeing me. He surely told you, didn't he?"

"Well, that's the problem", said Ron. "We didn't see him nor my sister all day long. We already searched the whole castle, but they are nowhere to be found."

"It's good you have come to me." The Headmaster called for Hagrid, who came immediately to hear what Dumbledore wanted. "Please Hagrid. Go into the grounds and look for Harry and Ginny. Maybe they are out there." Hagrid trotted along and the others could do nothing but wait.

In meantime, Harry and Ginny were still sitting on the Forest floor. "Harry, let's go, I'm freezing", complained Ginny.

Harry didn't want to leave yet. "I know some things to warm you up", he whispered seductively. He lent closer and kissed her softly, but she returned the kisses more aggressively. They sank down onto the floor and were lying next to each other.

Their kisses became more and more fiery. Ginny ran her fingers through Harry's hair and his hands were moving down her body. Lost in their passionate kissing, he caressed her skin under her t-shirt.

Ginny suddenly realized where this was going to and pushed his hand back. "I'm sorry Harry", she panted. "I'm not yet ready for this."

"Don't worry. We have all the time of the world."

Suddenly, they heard somebody crying out something. As the sound drew nearer, they noticed, that Hagrid, who's voice they recognized, was looking for them. They got up quickly and straightened their clothes. "Over here, Hagrid", they shouted in unison.

"Thank god, I found yeh. What have yeh been doin' out here?", he asked. Then he looked at them and thought it didn't really matter for him to know. "The headmaster wants to have a word with you two."

Hand in hand, Ginny and Harry followed Hagrid into the castle. In the Great Hall, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hermione and Ron were waiting for them. Professor Dumbledore got up. "We found out, that both of you were absent for today's classes and you have come back late after curfew."

Harry and Ginny stared at their shoes and still held each others hand. Harry lifted his head, thinking for an explanation. "I am sorry Professor, it was my fault."

"Harry please, I'm not done talking yet. However, I will not punish you, because I think two lovers need some privacy sometimes."

Harry and Ginny blushed furiously. The headmaster winked at them and sent them off to bed. On their way back to the Gryffindor tower, Hermione asked them out about everything that had happened today.

"Where have you been? We were worried and searched the whole castle for you! You should have told us about it."

"Well, we're back, so everything's fine", said Harry.

"I wonder what Dumbledore meant with privacy for two lovers…", added Ginny thoughtfully.

Hermione and Ron exchanged meaningful looks. Harry raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but you don't make the best impression right now…", explained Hermione carefully.

"What do you mean?"

"Have a look at yourselves", grinned Ron.

Then Harry saw what they were talking about. Ginny's hair was messy and had dead leaves in it. Both their clothes were dusty and rumpled. Ginny's lips were still red and looked swollen from their intense kissing. Harry and Ginny looked nervously at each other, understanding what the Headmaster thought they did.

"So what DID you do?" blurted out Hermione. "You haven't done anything too romantic, have you?"

Harry shook his head and Ginny quickly added: "All we did was talk and … ehm… some kissing, but that's all. We didn't do anything into THAT direction."

"Alright then", grinned Ron. As it was near midnight, they each went to their dormitory.

In Dumbledore's office, he and Professor McGonagall were talking about this incident of rule breaking and school skipping. "Albus, we must do something about this. You can't ignore the fact that we have students in relationships at this school. I wouldn't like them to come too close to each other, but we can't do anything to avoid it. Imagine if a girl got pregnant. The parents would blame us!"

"Yes Minerva, I know. Every year we have the same discussion and as every year, you are right. The children ,or may I say young adults, must be informed about the dangers and consequences of their actions. Each year another teacher had the job to tell our pupils the facts of life."

"I don't want to do it this year. I remember clearly how they looked at me. I am too old to deal with these facts."

Dumbledore smiled at her. "Well, I already considered somebody else for this job. Somebody who gets a better relation to our students. Someone who is still young enough to answer their questions and understand their fears."

"Are you speaking of…?" asked McGonagall uncertainly.

"Exactly. I am talking of her."