Disclaimer: Not even in my wildest dreams (not those, you little perv! You know who you are. Mind! Gutter! Out!), can I lay claim to anything that the genius of Ms Rowling has created.

Beliefs Questioned

Harry Potter was one confused young wizard. Ironically enough, the person who usually made less sense than a Nerf bludger had come up with the most logical argument yet for him to date Ginny, and when you consider that was compared to Hermione, that was saying a lot. Quite honestly, it scared him a bit. Luna making sense, according to Neville, was a sure sign that a Seal had been broken, somewhere, and a certain grumpy red-skinned, horned individual with a pitchfork and a goatee was busily buying ice skates in job lots.

Before he knew it, he was back at the doors to the infirmary. He paused a moment, using his Occlumency skills to school his expression back into that of a concerned friend, and pushed through the doors.

Ginny, knowing him as well she she did, could tell that something wasn't quite right, as he made his way to her side.

"Alright there, Harry?"

He nodded and said, "Never better, Gin. You?"

"Yeah, fine thanks." She still wasn't sure if what she'd seen for a moment was real or imagined.

"Good. Ready to head down to the kitchens?"

"Yes. Just give me a hand up, and we can go."

On the way down, Harry held lightly onto her arm the whole time, steadying her. Had it been anyone else coddling her this way, they would've been given a piece of the fiery young witch's mind. However, as this was the selfsame wizard she'd hoped, for far longer than she wished to remember, would notice her, she allowed it. Indeed, she reveled in it. Put quite simply, she enjoyed the attention.

Once the painting leading to the kitchens had admitted them, it only took a moment, as usual, for Harry to be tackled around the knees. Luckily, he had long ago learned that he needed to brace himself against Dobby's exuberant, highly enthusiastic, greetings. This in mind, he'd grabbed onto the work table next to the door, immediately after entering.

"Master Harry is a great wizard to visit Dobby and Winky in the kitchens, and he brings his Miss Wheezy with him, too! What would Master Harry and Miss Wheezy like to be eating?"

Harry gently disentangled himself from the excited house-elf.

"First off, what have I told you about calling me 'Master', Dobby?"

"Not to."

"Right. Do you know what Hermione would do to me if she heard me allowing you to call me 'Master'?

"She would send you to the big, bad, dark, evil, ugly, wizard early?"

"You got it. I'll tell you what, Dobby. If you really have to use some sort of title for me, how about 'Mister'?"

The little elf contemplated this for a moment, then asked, "You won't get mad at this 'Mister', and Miss Hermi won't send you to bad wizard?"

"Exactly. Alright?"

The excitable little creature was happy to have reached an agreement, and nodded vigorously in agreement, his ears flapping as he did so.

"Very good, Mister Harry Potter, sir. May I get you something to eat?"

Harry turned to Ginny, hearing the giggles that she was trying valiantly to keep in. "Shut it, you." he growled at her. He turned back to Dobby and said, "Some cocoa and biscuits for me, and something a bit more substantial for Giggle Girl, here. She's missed breakfast."

Dobby raced off to collect the drinks and foodstuffs for his very favorite wizard and for the beautiful witch with him, keeping up a running commentary as he did so.

Harry and Ginny made their way to their favorite table on the side wall. The two of them had made many trips down here since term had started, and had discovered early on that they preferred having a table away from the door, out of the way of the elves. They had developed the tendency to come down here at all hours of the night and day. It made for a nice place to escape to, one that not many would think to check. He made sure she was seated comfortably before taking his own seat across from her. A moment later, Dobby, followed by Winky, appeared at the table, filling the table with plates of sandwiches, biscuits, crisps, soup for Ginny, and their requested drinks.

The two shared a companionable silence as they made a respectable dent in what they'd been brought. Every so often, Ginny would chuckle, muttering something about 'Miss Hermi', and her sending Master Harry off to the the big bad dark wizard.

As they finished, Harry shook his head at the petite red-head. "Glad the mental image of that amuses you so, Miss Wheezy. Ready to go up to the Tower?"

"But of course, Master Harry Sir." She could no longer hold back, and the peals of her laughter echoed off the walls of the corridors, as they made there way back to their common room.

Late that night, Harry lay back on his four-poster, in a surprisingly still full dorm. Usually over Christmas Hols, most everybody went home to be with their loved ones. This year however, with the war that was being waged, not to mention the ball that was to be held on Christmas Eve, most of the students had stayed back. While Harry didn't have a date himself, he couldn't begrudge anyone else the opportunity to take hold of whatever joy they could find in these perilous times. He was glad that Ron and Hermione had each other. They would need the support each could offer the other in the dark times to come.

The two of them would probably find a way to talk him into attending the ball, no matter how he tried to skive off. They wouldn't be able to bear the thought of him sitting up in the tower all by himself. He'd already decided that he'd allow them to talk him into it anyway. He might make it seem that the only reason was so they'd lay off, but he had another reason entirely.

That reason was something else. Someone else, actually. Ginny, again. He remembered how beautiful she'd looked at the last ball, two years ago. Though it had seemed as if he hadn't noticed her, he had. He'd even surprised himself at how much he'd noticed about her that night, when he stopped to think about it.

He'd remembered how perfectly her dress robes had fit, how her hair looked, even down to things he knew most boys his age wouldn't have. The color of her nails, the fact that she'd worn almost no make-up (nor needed it) or jewelry, the faint scent of jasmine and cinnamon as she'd walked by.

As a matter of fact, it was that same scent that played havoc with his senses, every time he spent any time in close proximity to her now. That, and the fact that she'd developed the most wondrous curves over the past year or so. Very distracting. Really, it was a good thing that most of the students didn't wear much in the way of muggle clothes, preferring robes mist of the time. He wasn't sure what his reaction would've been, if he'd seen anything else the same shade of green as the swimsuit she'd worn that day at the Burrow. Probably best not to think about it, really.

Ever since that innocent kiss on the cheek the morning after his birthday, he'd gone back and forth with himself over whether or not it was a good thing to spend time alone with her. He loved it when it was just the two of them, when he had her all to himself. But, that's where the problem lay. He didn't 'have her all to himself'. She wasn't his, and he didn't know if she ever would be.

"Well, at the rate you're going right now, she never will be."

"Leave off. It'll never happen. She's over me."

"You berk. Did you listen to a thing Luna said? She said 'gave up', not 'got over'."

"Even if that's true, do you have any idea how much of a risk it would be to her?"

"Again I ask, were you listening at all? You and Ginny have the best marks in DADA in twenty years or more. She can take care of herself, you idiot!"

"I still have no business dragging her into situations where she has to defend herself!"

"Alright you pillock. Let me put it into simple enough words that even you can get it. You did not drag her to the Ministry. She all but forced you to accept that she was going along!"

With that reminder, the voice in Harry's head shut up for the night, definitely leaving him with quite a bit to think about. So much so, in fact, that he only managed to get a couple hours of sleep that night.

Ginny lay in her own bed that night, just as confused. For the second time that day, Harry had managed to confuse the hell out of her.

They had spent the day with her family, as well as Hermione. The headmaster had even thought to have Dobby bring lunch and dinner up to the common room for the group. He'd claimed, with a twinkle in his eyes, that it was so that they could all relax. Personally, she was of the opinion that it was more likely that he feared the wrath of Madame Pomfrey. She suspected that the Medi-witch had told him in no uncertain terms was Ginny to walk to the Great Hall, so soon after leaving her tender mercies. She'd probably given him chapter and verse as to what the consequences might be to him, otherwise. Greatest wizard of the age he might be, but he was also wise enough to know that she was not a woman to cross.

Even Ginny, whose temper was formidable in it's own right, wasn't going to test the patience of Madame Pomfrey. She could bend Harry to her will for Merlin's sake. Even the darkest wizard of the age could only manage to do that for a second or two. As far as Ginny was concerned, Tom didn't count. Harry would kick his snaky scaly arse one of these days. The only question in her mind was where and when.

One of the more interesting moments of the night had been right after Dobby had laid everything out for them. Harry had thanked Dobby, as usual.

The house-elf had started to respond, "You're welcome, Mas-Mister Harry Potter." Both had looked at Hermione, to see if she'd caught what had almost been said, each half-cringing. Luckily, she hadn't, as Ron's appetite seemed to have it's usual morbid fascination for her. She'd once compared it to a train wreck you couldn't look away from, no matter how much you wanted to. Truthfully, she wasn't far wrong.

At seeing the semi-guilty, then relieved looks on Harry and Dobby's faces, Ginny again couldn't help but to giggle at the two of them, interspersed with almost inaudible murmurs about 'big, bad, dark, evil wizards'. After about ten minutes of this, her mum was convinced she'd taken a blow to the head when she'd fallen in front of the dementors. With a resigned nod from Harry, she explained to the group what was causing her hysterics. At the reproachful look on Hermione's face, her giggles resumed anew, especially after Harry said that Mione was now likely to send Ginny with him.

What had her confused at the moment was the way Harry had acted all day. When she's seen him at her bedside in the hospital wing, she'd been convinced she was dreaming. The only one to ever do that for her, besides her mum, was Ron. For Harry to voluntarily spend time in the hospital wing was unheard of.

After that ponce Lockheart had deboned his arm like a Christmas ham a couple of years ago, Harry had been out of there as fast as he could, never mind that the Skele-Grow had barely finished working. Later that year, after the basilisk, she wasn't sure he'd been in there at all, except to visit her in the middle of the night. It was like he'd had to reassure himself that she was really out of there and recovering. To this day, she didn't think he'd ever realized she'd been awake during that visit.

He also hadn't let go of her from the time they'd left the hospital wing, through the visit to the kitchens, and up to the tower. Even once they were up there, he'd sat next to her all night, or within reach. Even Ron didn't dance attendance on Mione, and they were dating. In fact, the only time he'd left her side all night was to visit the loo.

When he'd gotten up, Hermione had come straight over. The bushy-haired girl had 'that look' in her eyes again. Ginny tried to head off what she knew was coming. She didn't even look up from the magazine she was looking through.

"Don't start, Hermione."

"Start what?"

"You know you don't do innocent at all well, so don't even try it. You know very well what I mean. Harry doesn't like me that way. Never has, never will."

"Alright Ginny, I'll leave it alone for now, as he'll be back down in a minute or two. Just do one thing for me. Pay attention to the way he looks at you, how he reacts to you, compared to how he reacts to anyone else. Maybe without me pestering you about it, you'll see for yourself."

Seeing Harry coming back downstairs, Hermione went back to sit with her boyfriend. Harry saw the slightly aggravated look on Ginny's face, and asked, "Mione going on about OWLs again?" He shook his head. She can be a right nutter when it comes to some things, yeah?"

Rolling her eyes, the redhead replied, "You don't know the half of it."

As the afternoon eased into evening, and people started to drift off to their homes, dorms, or convenient snogging hide-outs, it ended up with just the four of them again. Molly and Arthur had gone back to the Burrow, with a promise that as many of the family as possible would return for Christmas Day. Fred and George had headed back to the flat above their shop in Diagon Alley. After all, their reasoning went, there were still four valuable and potentially profitable shopping days until Christmas, and they weren't going to let them slip by.

After finishing the excellent dinner Dobby had brought up, Harry and Ron had settled down for one of their infamous Wizard's Chess marathons. The two had set up the board on the hearth rug, with Hermione sitting in an armchair behind Ron, Ginny in the one behind Harry. At one point, Harry had leaned back against her chair, to ask her opinion on his next move. She'd sat forward, leaning on his shoulders, as she peered at the board.

He'd turned his head to face her once she'd had a chance to look the situation over. "Well? Am I doomed?"

She'd turned to face him, fully intending to take the mickey out of him, when she saw the look on his face. It was a look of longing, that stopped whatever cheeky comment she'd been about to make in it's tracks. This time, the look was there long enough that she was sure that it wasn't just her mind, playing some dodgy little trick on her. By the time the look was gone, she had no doubt of what she was seeing, unlike that morning in the hospital wing. After a moment, though, the look did go away, and Harry was back to his usual composed self. She shook herself out of her daze and finally replied.

"Doomed. Utterly doomed, Mr Potter. You may as well concede the game now." She gave him a little wink as she said this.

Harry seemed taken aback by this. "Erm...yes...well...right then..." he stammered. A tinge of pink appeared in his cheeks. After a moment, he turned back to Ron, who was unsuccessfully trying to hide a smirk. "That's it then. Game over."

Ron just grinned and nodded in response. He looked at Harry with a look that said the game was up in more ways than one.

For the rest of the night, Ron and Hermione made a very obvious point of leaving Harry and Ginny to their own devices. In the next few hours, she flirted more with Harry than she had in the entire time she'd known him. She also got more response from him than she ever had, as well. That night, she'd seen him drop things, stutter, stammer, and blush.

By the end of the night, she was finally convinced that he may very well have feelings for her, though she still wasn't quite sure what they were. She'd wanted badly to just come right out and ask him. Gryffindor or not though, she still couldn't bring herself to do it. She'd been in love with him for as long as she could remember, and didn't know if she could take having her hopes and dreams built back up, only to have them crushed once again.

All of this combined to leave the petite young witch as frustrated as Ron would be, were he at a buffet with his jaw wired shut. After a while, she finally drifted off, her dreams filled with a certain dark-haired, emerald-eyed young wizard.

A/N: While I'd love to respond to individual reviews, I really don't want to risk having this story yanked, before I even finish posting it. Sometime in the next few days, I plan on creating a file at my Yahoo group, just for that purpose. I'll let you know when I start doing that, for any who are interested. By the number of hits this story has gotten, I guess a few people like it. LOL I'm gratified at the response this fic has gotten, and would like to encourage you to continue letting me know what you think of it. Thanks!