Girl Time

Harry sighed as he continued to look out the window at the blur of passing trees. Another year had gone by, and, for once, he had a summer to look forward to.

He would be spending summer holiday at the Burrow this year.

With one more sigh, Harry turned his attention away from the window to his two best friends.

"So, what do you think Harry?" asked Ron. Ron didn't notice the lost expression on Harry's face, but Hermione did.

"You really should take this more seriously," she said pointedly to Harry. "I'm sure you'll agree that Ginny is like a sister to you? Well, she is also one to me. I don't really get along with the other girls at school. She is the only real girl-friend I have."

"Sorry," muttered Harry. "What were you two saying again?"

"You know Ginny's been acting really weird lately." It was Ron who spoke up. "She's been in her own little world since we got back from winter holiday. She's been fending us off with her marks in school, but I have a nagging feeling that she only keeps her marks up to throw us off something."

"We've come up with a plan to get Ginny to spill. She will be spending the summer holiday with me and my parents. Some 'girl time' I guess we can call it. Mrs. Weasley has already owled her approval. She said that since Ginny would only be stuck with the two of you if she stayed, it would be good for both me and Ginny, seeing as I'm an only child. I'll do my best to keep you two posted." Hermione trailed off at the raising of Harry's brows. "What?" she asked huffily.

"I know I'll be going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing that you two think she'll tell you what's going on during this so-called 'girl time'?" Harry suppressed a laugh when he saw the 'Duh.' expressions on both Hermione and Ron's faces. "Look, we've been trying to get Ginny to speak for almost a month and a half now. If she hasn't told us anything by now, I don't think she will anytime soon, or anytime during summer holiday. You both know how much she values her independence. If she really does have a problem, then she isn't about to let anyone help her out of it. And if the supposed problem was at all serious, then we can rest assured that she would be smart enough to tell at least Dumbledore about it."

Harry watched as his words washed over both of his friends. Understanding was slowly flickering across Hermione's eyes. Ron's reaction, however, was the antithesis to Hermione's calm one. He must have been holding in his anger (which as Harry reflected upon, never happened before) for quite some time.

Ron's diatribe, even with its shortness, was like a volcanic eruption. There must have been something simmering under the surface before he finally snapped. The question Harry was asking himself, was how he failed to notice this earlier.

"Something is obviously wrong with my sister, and all you can say is 'We should butt out?! I know Ginny is no Cho Chang, but that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve the attention of the Great Harry Potter!"

Harry only gaped. He had no idea where that had come from. Sure he never really looked at Ginny, never spoke to or about her, but it didn't mean he didn't think about her. Ginny, along with Hermione, were the closest things to sisters he ever had. Hermione was the sister he could hang-out with, and Ginny was simply the baby.

Ron growled when he saw Hermione begin to relent to the logic in Harry's words. He took a deep breath, and calmly turned back to Harry. "I'll admit it could be anything, maybe just simple boy troubles. But then again, the Chamber of Secrets began as only boy troubles. Like you said, she values her independence. And I agree that she won't begin to confide in Hermione, or to any of us for that matter, anytime soon. But she didn't tell anyone about Riddle's diary when she realized that she had to dispose of it. No, instead she tried to flush it down a toilet, only for you to find. She hadn't gone to anyone then, what makes you think she will now?" Hermione looked up and Ron paused before he continued on. "I can't expect the two you to understand, but we have to try. Ginny is my baby sister, I almost lost her once, and I will not let that happen again. Not only is she my closest sibling, but I promised my brothers that I would protect her. After the Chamber of Secrets, Percy, the twins, and I, all got a savage talking to from Charlie and Bill. They said that we had to do a better job of making sure the baby of the family was safe. Every time someone graduated there was another one of those speeches. Before the year started I got the worse of those talks. I was alone in it this year, and I will be next year. I don't want to disappoint, and I don't want to risk anything. But like I said, I can't ask you two to understand, you don't have brothers and sisters like I do."

If it was possible, Harry only gaped more. Tears were glistening in Hermione's eyes. Neither of them had ever seen Ron this way. They never took the time to realize how much Ron really cared about Ginny. They misinterpreted his shunning her out of their group as a 'she's only an annoying little sister' gesture; when in fact, he was only trying to protect her. After all, a lot of the things they did weren't exactly considered safe.

Harry met Hermione's eyes, and they both nodded.

"I assume that you've told Ginny about the summer's events, then?" Harry asked both his friends.

Ron and Hermione only looked at each other with shameful expressions. "Don't take this the wrong way Harry, but you seem to be the most," Ron had to pause as he came up with what he thought as a suitable adjective of Harry and Ginny's relationship, ".detached. to Ginny out of the three of us. So we were wondering is you could tell her."

Harry only sighed as he shook his bowed head.