.:. Secrets Between Friends .:.
Chapter One - Corridor Collision
"Harry! Where have you been?" Hermione shot the question at him as he suddenly rounded the corner in front of her. Startled, Harry skidded to a halt inches away from Hermione's fiery glare.
Harry opened his mouth to respond when someone collided with him from behind. His body was sent into a startled Hermione. With a gasp, a grunt, and a yelp, three bodies landed in a tangle of limbs.
"What… in the… world?" Hermione squeezed out in a strained breath.
"Huh?" Harry muttered.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" the third voice cried out.
Hermione placed the voice. "Ginny?"
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't watch–"
"Look at that. You don't see that everyday!" A voice from down the hall drawled. "It's a Potter sandwich!" Draco snickered. Crabbe and Goyle chortled at either side of the blonde boy whose expression returned back to its familiar sneer. "Gross!" Malfoy made a pained expression and held his stomach. "I think I've got food poisoning now!" Draco barked a laugh, while his gruesome twosome stood there looking puzzled.
"Get off of... me... you two!" Hermione growled reaching for her wand. "He deserves... worse... than food poisoning!" Harry began moving to get up, complicating things for Ginny who was doing the same. By the time the Hermione was standing, Draco had sneered one more time before disappearing around a corner down the hall.
Hermione fumed "I swear, next time I have the chance, I'm going to turn his face into a-a… a rare fungus, and hand him over to Professor Sprout!" She took a deep breath, attempted to smooth out some of her hair – unsuccessfully.
"So, now that he is gone," Hermione turned to Harry and Ginny in a somewhat calmer state. "where have you been?"
"Well, we've…" Harry stuttered glancing at Hermione and Ginny. "I've been … Dumbledore has asked me to …err… help Ginny here with some school work."
"Really?" Hermione's doubt was obvious.
"Yes!" He insisted.
"Yeah," Ginny piped up, and then blushed. "I'm not very good at Defense against the Dark Arts. Well, I mean I can never seem to get Finite Incantatem and Petrificus Totalus right."
Focusing on Ginny, Hermione softened noticeably. "You know, you can ask me anything you want. I've read as much as I have access to, and then some! That means I know alot more than Harry."
"Yes. All you do, is read!" Harry rolled his eyes. "But when it come to the dark arts, I'm a lot stronger than you," He pointed out smugly. "Or anyone else for that matter."
Hermione, warned him with a stern look. "At any rate, there's something I need to talk to you about." She turned to Ginny again. "Sorry, but if you don't mind, we really do need to go."
Ginny nodded shyly. She watched them as Hermione rushed Harry down the corridor leaving her where she stood. Her eyes followed the pair until they were out of sight. Hermione walked swiftly and purposely. Harry on the other hand, had grown quite tall, so his strides were longer and less rushed, but with just as much confidence – something Ginny wished she had more of.
She hugged herself briefly as her mind flickered back to Harry's sprawled body underneath hers. The flash of a camera snapped her out from the midst of her wandering thoughts.
"Colin!" Ginny whirled around. "I told you to stop doing that!"
"I know, but really, I couldn't resist this time! You looked so sad, and … uhh… it just looked nice." The redheaded girl looked away from him, trying to hide the blushing. "See?" Colin teased, grinning. "That's good too, blushing!" He snapped another shot.
Ginny marched away, making her way to her room where she knew she could get away from everything. Colin was soon matching her pace. He had grown quite a bit during last summer as well. It was hard to get used to sometimes. There was another thing that was hard to get used to about the boy; he had taken a real interest in her. Ginny had never expected a boy to like her enough to be her friend, least of all Colin, but he had.
During the first week back from summer holidays when she had locked her self in her room for three days in a row, for a reason she now admitted was over dramatic and stupid, Colin had been her alibi. He claimed that she was sick from a rare condition that he had made up on the spot. Apparently, the disorder whose name cannot be pronounced properly by humans, only lasts for three to five days, leaves no trace, and has symptoms remarkably similar to that of an emotional teenager. When asked about it, he simply said, "I did some research on it in the library."
A month later when Ginny had gone missing for a whole weekend, he had pretended to see her at various points in time. Thanks to Colin a search party had been narrowly avoided!
Ginny was certain the lanky blond boy suspected her odd behavior was related to her fascination with Harry, even though neither of them said anything about it. It was true that her feelings towards the Hogwart's idol had increased exponentially since first meeting him, but she wasn't prepared to open herself up to anyone, even Colin. Not yet.She wouldn't risk loosing the one good friend she can count on by letting him know all the details about her obsession.
"Ginny?" Colin's voice scattered her thoughts away.
"What Colin?" The look on his face stopped her in her tracks. Colin was looking at her in such a way it felt like he was looking inside her. His eyes were so intent on her, she stepped back half a step and held her breath. For a while he didn't say anything, so she waited.
"You should know that I am glad we are friends." He started. He stood and faced her squarely. That was odd for Colin; he rarely was direct or assertive with anyone. "I never thought I could … have such a good friend. And I want you to know that you can tell me anything," He faltered a moment, looking away before continuing. "As long as you don't mind me returning the favor sometime." He turned back to her, with a small smile. Colin's eyes shone wetly before he turned away again.
"Colin…" Ginny whispered, shaking her head. "Wh-what are you getting at?" She didn't understand where he was coming from at all.
Colin took a deep breath.
"Never mind, I'll talk to you later!" He dashed off down the hall.
Ginny was left alone in the hallway again. This time she was utterly confused, and more than a bit worried.
After a few moments of bewilderment she continued on to her room where she puzzled over Colin's strange episode long enough to forget about her plan to watch the Gryffindor's Quidditch match with Slytherin that evening.
June-20-2005: first posted
June-21-2005:minor changes to spelling/grammar and formatting
June-27-2005: minor edit - also named chapter
Read on in Chapter Two!