Chapter 16

G4 - The Counsel of Weasleys (cont.)

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Harry wandered down to lunch, not really eager to get there. While it was true they were having leftover Polish Meat-Balls for lunch - not one of Harry's favorite foods to begin with - the main reason he was a bit wary of such a public place was that Ginny was bound to be there. He didn't know whether the last three days were the best or the worst of his life, but he knew that he didn't want to be forced to take yet another ice-cold shower. This was especially true since Ginny's tempting had forced him to take one 40 minutes ago and even Ron was beginning to notice something odd.

"Hiya, Harry," Ron said through a mouth stuffed with food.

"Hi, Ron," Harry replied back in a relieved voice, sitting next to him - his sister wasn't anywhere at the table. However, within ten seconds - timing that Harry knew couldn't be accidental - Ginny arrived and sat down as well, sandwiching Harry between the two Weasleys.

Ginny said in a sweet voice, "Hi, Harry."

"Hi Ginny," Harry replied, bottling his wariness.

Ginny smiled, and forced herself to turn a bit to face Wanda, sitting to the other side of her and across the table. She talked with her peer for a few minutes, absently following Harry and Ron's conversation as well. And when Ron got to talking about practicing quidditch in the summer, she summoned her nerves.

She'd never done anything like this before, and would be quite surprised if she didn't spontaneously combust within the next few minutes. Her hand slowly crept under the table...

Harry laughed as Ron talked about the moves he tried to invent during the summer, featuring a rather comical half-feint that was supposed to flat-out confuse the chaser attempting to score.

"... but the really good thing is that from the half-feint, you can transition into a sloth grip roll" Ron was saying. "Do you think that the move will get named after me since I inv..."

"Agh!" Harry cried. His head immediately swiveled over to Ginny; understandable considering her hand was now slowly rubbing along the middle of his thigh. But aside from a rather pronounced blush on her cheeks, there was no sign that she wasn't fully engrossed in her conversation with her classmate across the table.

"What is it, mate?" Ron asked, concerned.

"Er, nothing."

Ginny knew she probably couldn't possibly be blushing redder as she tried to continue the casual conversation with Wanda. "So what did your neighbors name the puppies?"

"Er, Ginny," Wanda replied, "Are you feeling ok? You look... well, you look pretty flushed."

"Oh, no," Ginny tried to say in a light-hearted voice which came out a bit squeaky. "I'm fine - absolutely fine. Perfectly alright." It didn't help that she had the definite impression that Harry was staring right at her with a shocked look on his face.

Harry certainly wanted to stare at Ginny with a shocked look on his face, but that would certainly make Ron wonder what was going on. And try as he might, he couldn't see his best friend responding well to him saying, 'Oh, that's nothing - your little sister is just massaging my thigh right now and it took me by surprise.'

Unlike Wanda, Ron didn't notice the odd expression on his friend's face; this was rather surprising since Harry's facial expression included at least two dozen different emotions battling for the forefront.

"Well," Harry said, after managing to swallow a mouthful of ground beef without choking, "I remember a few years ago when I was flying and... er... and... uh... w-well... what was I s-saying?"

Ginny blushed a bit redder still, knowing just why Harry was stammering; her hand was slowly inching up his leg. The strangest and most disturbing part about this was, she was feeling a faint but undeniable thrill of satisfaction. She had no idea why, and frankly she didn't want to know. She felt dirty enough just doing this; she didn't want to think about what it meant that she was deriving a bit of enjoyment out of it.

Within a minute or two more of the tortured lunch, Harry's other leg began trembling slightly and every other word out of his mouth was either stammered or mangled. By now, even Ron was beginning to catch on that something odd was going on with his best friend.

"Harry? You a'right mate?"

Finally, a breaking point was hit. Ginny's hand reached hip-level, perilously close to scandalizing both of them, when Harry couldn't stand a second more.

"Aghh!... I think I'm done," he said in a voice pitched a bit higher than normal, jerking away from the table abruptly. "Good study - gotta lunch now. I mean, well, I... yes, gotta go." With that, Harry quickly fled the hall knowing that he was due for yet another ice-cold shower. And the only person possibly more flustered than him was the auburn haired girl he was fleeing.

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Sorry about the burst posting (Chapter 16-19) – Thanksgiving and moving make it hard to post regularly. Anyway, please review, and if you have the time, do it more than just once for four chapters. Thanks!