The Devils Triangle
Chapter 14: Retreat
If not for the silencing charms she'd placed on the shower stall, Ginny's sobs would have echoed throughout the plumbing of Hogwarts.
She had to wash the smell of him off her and so she scrubbed herself raw, but it didn't work. She could still feel him; she could feel his lips and his hands on everywhere on her body.
The sobs came harder and louder and soon, she could no longer stand. Her back slid down the shower wall until she was sitting on the stone floor hugging her knees. The water was running over her hair and face, blending with her tears and washing them down the drain.
Ginny had never felt so alone.
How could she have been so stupid? She knew what he was, everyone had warned her, and even Draco himself had cautioned her.
She'd let him in. She'd allowed herself to feel more for him than she'd ever allowed herself to feel for anyone. It was a mistake, and it hurt too much to bear.
Ginny stayed in the shower crying until her head was throbbing and her tears had been wrung dry. She didn't want to leave, at least here she had privacy; outside this room there was none.
She'd just been humiliated in front of everyone. She couldn't stand the stares, the whispering and the pity. No one could see her like this. It was dinnertime; she could sneak back to the dormitory without being seen. Drawing the bed curtains around her was her only hope for privacy.
The Gryffindor common room was empty, as was her dormitory. A large box waited on her bed. When she opened it, she found her personal items left at The Three Broomsticks, including the robe and the dragon infested dressing gown that Draco had given her. She threw them back into the box and kicked the box under her bed.
A new supply of tears was ready and began pouring out.
Ginny crawled into her bed, drew the curtains and tried to disappear from the world.
She wished for sleep to come, but more than once just as sleep was about to claim her she'd think she could hear him whispering in her ear. He'd tell her that she was beautiful, and say all the things she needed to hear and which no one else had ever bothered to say.
He'd manipulated her to get what he'd wanted. He'd pretended to be her friend, and he'd pretended to care. He'd used her, just like Tom had used her. Only with Draco it was worse; Draco made her want to be used.
How could she ever forgive herself?
"Gin? Gin, it's Harry; can I talk to you?"
"Go away, Harry," she sniffled, burying herself deeper under her pillow.
Ginny felt a weight settling at the foot of her bed; Harry wasn't going away.
"I said, go away, Harry," she repeated.
"I can't do that, Ginny. I want to help."
"Don't you think you helped enough, in your attempts to defend my honor today? I think you've done enough," she said bitterly, her voice muffled by her pillow and her sniffles.
Harry's voice remained very calm and steady.
"Gin, I'm very sorry for the part I played today. But we can talk about that later. That's not why I'm here… I'm here to return a favor."
Ginny reached for her blanket and pulled it over the pillow that was over her head.
Ginny felt Harry's weight shift as he moved towards the head of the bed; he still wasn't leaving. Harry pulled the blanket back, and lay down next to her; he stuck his head under the Ginny's pillow, and then he held her still so she couldn't turn away from him.
She opened her eyes and sighed, seeing tenderness in his eyes. "Please go away, Harry."
"No. I want you to come with me, Ginny."
"What do you mean?"
"You and I are alike at times like this. You're the one that taught me that. I have a sanctuary, and I want to take you there."
"You do?"
"You don't have to talk to me, or even forgive me. Just come with me."
"How did you get into the girls dorm?" she suddenly wondered.
"Broom." Harry sat up and pulled the pillow off Ginny's head. "Let's go. I'm not taking 'No' for an answer. I'll drag you by the ear if you don't come willingly."
Ginny gave him a dark look and still didn't move.
"Suit yourself," Harry chuckled. He stood up and pulled the covers off of her, and pulled her out of bed, trying not to notice that she wasn't wearing much.
"Put on something warm, we're going out. And gather your things for classes tomorrow; you won't need to come back here." Harry shoved her towards her trunk and Ginny began to do as she was told.
Once she'd gathered her belongings, Harry motioned towards the door but Ginny hesitated and shook her head.
"I don't want to see any one."
Harry shrugged and grinned. "Alright, grab your broom then, we'll go out the window."
Ginny brightened slightly at the thought; she sniffled and wiped her eyes and gathered her broom.
Ginny soon found herself outside on the school grounds.
"Lumos." Harry's wand lit up and cast a beam of light across the grass and he began to look for something on the ground.
"Harry, I'm really not up for an adventure tonight," Ginny grumbled impatiently.
"Just trust me for two minutes. I'm just looking for a rock about the size of an apple. I left it around here somewhere. There it is."
"Wingardium Leviosa." Harry levitated the rock a sent it away from them towards a large tree.
"Harry, that's the Whomping Willow," Ginny gasped, when she noticed the flailing tree.
"Sshhh." Harry dropped the rock onto a knot in the root of the tree and the tree went suddenly limp.
"Come on." Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and led her down into a crevice in the trunk of the large tree.
It was dark within the tree, and Ginny used her own wand to create light as she let Harry lead her through a long underground tunnel.
"Harry, I remember now… you told me about this, we're heading for the Shrieking Shack aren't we?"
"We're almost there, just up this ladder."
They climbed the ladder and entered the house. Once inside, Harry led Ginny through a series of dark and dirty rooms, until they arrived at one that looked quite neat and lived in. It had a fireplace and a large comfortable looking chair and a bed.
"Your sanctuary is the Shrieking Shack?"
"It's not as nice as the Bower, but it does the trick. I come here when I need to be alone."
"So all those times we thought you were off snogging some girl, you were here?"
"No. Sometimes I was off snogging," Harry grinned, "sometimes I was here."
Harry began to conjure a fire, while Ginny looked around.
"Do you bring girls here, Harry?" Ginny asked, eyeing the bed in the corner.
Harry bit back a smirk, and continued working on the fire. "Only you. It's a sanctuary, not a love shack."
"Can't people see the smoke?"
"No, the house is charmed; you can't see light or smoke from the outside. Right then, you have a fire." Harry stood and turned to Ginny. "That box on the table has some butterbeer and biscuits, if you get hungry. Oh, that reminds me… I brought you some dinner." Harry dug through his bag and brought out two paper wrapped parcels. "Just sandwiches, but I didn't think you'd had a chance to eat all day."
Ginny shook her head. "Not since breakfast actually, thank you."
"Also, allow me…" and with a swish of his wand, Harry cast a healing spell to get rid of Ginny's black eye from the Quidditch game.
He was being so sweet when he should be yelling at her for being stupid. Ginny felt the tears begin to gather again. She couldn't look him in the eye; she just looked at the floor.
"I'd say the same rules apply here as the Bower," he continued gently. "You come out for meals and Quidditch, and classes, of course. I only come when expressly invited by you. You can use this place for as long as you need to. And it's our secret; no one else needs to know. Ok?"
Ginny closed her eyes and tried to hold back her tears with long, slow breaths, but she felt her control weakening.
"And here, take this." Harry pulled a ribbon from around his neck. "It's the emergency Portkey they gave me when I was staying at the Burrow. If anything odd happens, use it;
it'll bring you to Grimmauld Place."
Ginny was puzzled. "Why would I need that?"
"You never know, just to be safe."
Harry slipped the ribbon over her head, and lifted Ginny's chin, so she was looking at him.
"Promise me you'll wear it while you're here."
Ginny nodded and one lone tear escaped her eye.
"Right then," Harry continued. "I'll see you at breakfast." Harry turned away reluctantly, he could feel her pain and he wanted to help her relieve it. Ginny was on the verge of breaking down again. Harry was torn between his desire to rip Malfoy apart and his need to stay and help. Then, he reminded himself of his own role in the day's events. He and Draco had argued throughout the Quidditch match, he'd said things he knew would provoke Draco. Harry knew he had the power to enrage Malfoy like no one else, and he knew that he had used that power, and Ginny was the one who got hurt.
"Ginny, my best friend told me something once." Harry stepped towards her and took her into his embrace. "She said, 'This is where you come to cry.' I think she was right; no one should cry alone."
Ginny's control finally broke, and the torrents of tears flowed as she melted into Harry's embrace. Her sobs came even more violently this time, but somehow it didn't hurt as much in Harry's arms. She wasn't alone anymore.
Harry guided them over to the chair before the fire and the sat together while Ginny cried. There were very few words exchanged, but they didn't need them. Harry held Ginny tightly for a long time, until they both fell asleep.
Harry woke first, several hours later. Waking with Ginny in his arms was a revelation to him; he knew he loved her, but he'd never realized how incomplete he was without her. Harry felt whole for the first time in his life.
He watched her sleep on his shoulder… she was beautiful. Perfect. Even the little puddle of drool she was forming on his shoulder was perfect.
"I love you, Ginny Weasley," he whispered.
Ginny stirred, and nuzzled into his neck.
"Mmmm…Draco."
Harry's breath hitched.
"Excellent," Harry chuckled, in spite of himself. "Walked right into that one, didn't you, Potter?"
"Hmm? Harry, d'you say something?" Ginny asked groggily.
"Yeah. Gin, we should move you to the bed, you'd be more comfortable."
"Okay, but you'll stay with me, won't you?" Ginny asked, as she stood and stretched.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"I'm starving, where are those sandwiches?"
Ginny settled on the bed with a sandwich and a Butterbeer.
"Harry, would you do me another favor?"
"What's that?" he asked as he plopped himself across the foot of the bed.
"Ask Ron to switch Prefect rounds with me. I'm not planning to talk to him for a while. I can't forgive him for the things he said to me before the match. I'd ask Hermione to switch, but it's not fair to make her spend time with Draco. I'd say that right now, Ron and Draco deserve each other."
"I'll ask Hermione to talk to him. He's not on my favorite person list at the moment either.'
"Harry… you can't let this come between you! He'd do anything for you, you know that."
"I know, and I'd do anything for him. We'll be fine in the end; it'll just take some time. He was out of line today. I was out of line too. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed Malfoy's buttons the way I did, or let him push mine; I'm not quite sure which way it went."
"What were you two fighting about?"
"Nothing that deserves repeating; I said things I knew would piss him off. I'm so sorry Ginny. I never wanted you to get hurt."
"It's for the best, Harry," Ginny said glumly. "I was stupid for believing that Draco had changed." Ginny's eyes misted over a bit. "I'm so ashamed of myself, Harry. I thought he cared for me. I thought…I guess you were right, I wanted to save him. Instead, I was an idiot, I let him into my head, I let myself be manipulated again."
"Again?" Harry furrowed his brow. "How do you mean, again?"
"Tom Riddle got into my head like that. He…"
"Hang on!" Harry sat up suddenly. "Ginny, no! Malfoy's a scheming, manipulative git, but he's not Tom Riddle! This isn't the same thing at all! You weren't possessed," Harry's jaw clenched slightly, "you wanted to be there."
Ginny abruptly dropped her sandwich and looked at Harry in surprise, and then slumped against the headboard of the bed.
"You're right," she admitted solemnly. "You're right. I'm just a common Essex shlag. Thanks Harry, that makes it all better."
"Oh Bugger!" Harry groaned, as he cursed the gods for putting him in this position. "No Ginny, you're not a shlag. All I meant was that you didn't let him into your head. You let him into your heart, and while I know you're hurting right now, there's nothing wrong with that." Harry rolled his eyes in utter disbelief of what he was about to say.
"And…Malfoy…well, I don't think he was using you Gin. Not really. I've seen the way he looks at you…you can't fake that. Don't get me wrong," Harry quickly interjected. "he's still worthless, and you should kick his arse out of your life. But you shouldn't beat yourself up for caring for him."
Harry cautiously watched Ginny's face as she tried to gain control over her emotions. "Please don't cry again."
"I won't," she stated with conviction. "I'm done with that."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Pansy hated flying, if the gods had meant for witches to fly, it wouldn't involve a very uncomfortable stick shoved up the bum. But she knew where he was hiding and the only way to get there was on a broomstick, so she 'borrowed' Goyle's and made her way to Draco's turret.
As expected, she spotted his bright head slumped over the wall. As soon as he noticed her presence he pulled his robe hood over his head, hiding his face from view.
"What are you doing here, Parkinson?" he asked harshly.
"I thought you might want some company. Crabbe and Goyle aren't exactly 'cry on the shoulder' types, are they?"
"I don't need a shoulder, and I'm not crying," he sniffled.
"No, of course not. Why should you? You finally found a girl you're mad about, who makes you seem almost human, and who makes you happier than I've ever seen you. Then, you manage to lose her by talking about her in front of the entire school as though she's a common tart. Why should you be upset?" she asked dryly.
"Are you here to help, or to rub it in?"
"I think a little of both is in order. You broke all previous records for being a prize wanker today, Puddles."
"I've told you NOT to call me that," he hissed.
Pansy became earnest suddenly. "You've got bigger problems, though. Draco…did you and Ginny…have sex?"
Draco shook his head, and said miserably, "Not entirely."
"Everyone thinks you did. That's what's going around school."
"I'm such a shite," Draco groaned in agony. "She doesn't deserve that. Why do I always let that do-gooding, scar-headed, attention hound get to me? I took something beautiful and made it seem cheap and shameful."
"What are you going to do?"
Draco shrugged. "I don't know. Do you think she'll forgive me?"
"Probably not; even I hate you at the moment, and I'm used to you."
"But you'll get over it; you always do, so won't she?"
"Maybe in time, but considering who you are and who she is, I think this might have been a one chance deal. Not to mention who she has watching from the sidelines, waiting for you to screw-up."
"Potter," Draco snarled. "I just handed her to him, didn't I? Not that it wouldn't have happened eventually anyway."
"He's quite fit," Pansy sighed.
"Parkinson!" Draco gasped in disgust.
Pansy smirked, Draco was so easy; the best way to cheer him up, was to piss him off. "Daphne says he's quite the kisser, lots of raw talent there."
Draco groaned and reached over to grab her, pull her into him and clamp his hand over her mouth. Pansy laughed and squirmed and pried his hand from her mouth.
"Of course I don't think Daphne got the chance to take advantage of as much of that talent as she wanted to before he dumped her."
Draco released her suddenly. "They broke-up?"
"Couple of days ago," Pansy nodded. "He's a free man."
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Draco growled, while pounding his head on the stone behind him.
"Draco, stop!" Pansy held his head still, until he relaxed.
"Pans, I have to talk to her. You have to help me."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Over the next few days, Ginny kept herself busy.
She'd always hated the kind of girl who finds herself a boyfriend and completely forgets about her other friends, but to her horror, she realized she'd done just that. Ginny spent many of her meals at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, catching up with her friends. Like true friends, they rallied around her and behaved as though nothing had happened. Ginny never scanned the Slytherin table, but she felt eyes on her. Draco didn't attempt to approach her.
When Ginny sat at the Gryffindor table she sat away from the trio. Hermione had managed to negotiate a tense peace between Ron and Harry, but she had no such luck with Ron and Ginny. Ron had agreed to switch Prefect rounds with Ginny, but was as far as either of them went in acknowledging the others existence.
Ginny avoided the Gryffindor tower in those first few days, preferring to spend her free time in the 'Tree' as she and Harry called it. Sometimes Harry stayed with her, but she liked the solitude as well.
On Wednesday evening, Harry was just beginning the DA meeting when a commotion at the door drew everyone's attention.
"Stop shoving me!" Pansy Parkinson hissed, as she stumbled through the entrance followed closely by Draco.
For the first time in over three days, Draco and Ginny's eyes met and locked together in a sad and hopeless stare.
If Draco had clung to any hope of getting Ginny back, it was dashed by the look in her eyes. There was no anger or accusation in her gaze, just sadness and futility. Everyone in the room averted their eyes at the obvious pain that they were witnessing, and Harry broke the silence by beginning the meeting.
"Right then. Welcome Pansy," Harry began. "I'm sure Draco will work with you and help you catch-up on what you've missed so far. Why don't the two of you work over there?" Harry indicated a spot on the floor behind and away from Ginny, and thus, out of her direct line of vision.
Draco tore his gaze from Ginny reluctantly, but then nodded to Harry and took the spot he had suggested.
Harry guided Ginny through the meeting; he worked with her as a partner and went out of his way to ensure that Ginny never had to face Draco. However, the dueling segment at the end proved to be most simulating, stray curses seemed to fly in every direction. At one point both Ron and Draco collapsed simultaneously onto the floor with bogies violently flying out of their noses. No one claimed responsibility for throwing that curse, and no one was willing to point any fingers.
Once the bogies were remedied, Ginny watched Pansy help Draco up from the floor, her eyes were glowing and she had a broad delighted smile on her face. Draco was right; she was very pretty when she smiled.
"This is great!" Pansy mumbled to Draco, once he was standing. "We're coming back next week." Draco gave her a pained glare, but then he nodded and smiled back at her.
At the end of the meeting Ginny and Pansy began their Prefect rounds.
Ginny had approached Pansy earlier in the week to tell her of the switch and to ask her not to switch with Draco, if he asked. Pansy had assured her she wouldn't switch and that Draco wouldn't ask.
The first half hour of rounds passed in virtual silence, as several attempts at conversation failed miserably. There was a large white-haired elephant in the room, and they were both trying to ignore it.
"Pansy, just tell me what he wants you to say, so we'll be done with it," Ginny finally snapped.
"Oh…that obvious?" she chuckled. "He wants to talk to you, to apologize, but he said he'll wait for you to go to him."
"That's it? That's the entire message? I certainly hope he's not holding his breath!"
"Well…he also said he didn't want to go back to being the enemy." Pansy felt like she needed to say more, for Draco's sake. "Weasley, I've never seen him like this. You've changed him. He's very angry, but at himself and that's unusual for Draco; he usually finds a way to blame someone else. This time he's taking full responsibility. I know what you must be thinking, but he wasn't pretending with you."
"Harry said that too," Ginny supplied glumly.
"Potter defended Draco?" Pansy asked incredulously.
Ginny chuckled. "He only went so far as to say that he's not a complete monster and that he does care for me. But I'm just not sure. I don't know if Draco can tell the difference between his feelings for me and his love of niggling Harry. I think that's what I can't trust. What do you think, Pansy? Can he tell the difference?"
Pansy looked at Ginny in surprise and thought for a moment.
"I'd rather not answer that," she said reluctantly, "because I honestly don't know."
"Well, that makes two of us."
They carried on their duties in silence until Ginny asked.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Why not?"
"Why didn't you go out with Draco when he asked you?"
Pansy laughed. "I see you like asking questions that don't have answers. I don't know. I was an idiot. I suppose, because Draco had always been there and I was curious for something new. When he disappeared over the summer, I reconsidered that decision. But, by the time I saw him again, he was already gone over you."
"If we ignore his desire to bother Harry, he only wanted me because he couldn't have you."
Pansy looked at her skeptically. "No, I don't think so."
"I do… in fact, I'm pretty certain of it. We knew our relationship would be complicated. I think Draco said 'we both had unfinished business elsewhere'."
"No way! I mean look at you; you're every teenaged boy's wet dream," Pansy said ignoring Ginny's glare. "And, well…I'm not."
"Draco thinks you're pretty, he's told me so more than once."
"He has?"
"Hasn't he ever told you that?" Ginny was surprised, considering how generous with a compliment Draco had been with her.
"No, that's not something a bloke tells a friend."
"Oh…well he does."
"Why are you telling me all this Weasley?"
"I don't know…but would you do one thing for me?"
"What's that?"
"Don't let him become a Death Eater; he always refuses to tell me he won't."
"Hmm… he'll do whatever he thinks is in the best interest of the Malfoy estate. That's where his loyalties lie. It always surprises me how many people can't figure that out about him."
"I don't see how becoming a Death Eater will help, now that he's inherited everything."
"True…and I never could imagine Draco groveling before the Dark Lord."
Ginny laughed.
"That's true, Draco's too much the Alpha dog for that. Can you imaging him crawling before Voldemort to kiss the hem of his robes?"
"Oh, Merlin no!" Pansy shrieked. "Not unless he had a plan to kill him and take over the Wizarding World himself!"
"Yes!" Ginny giggled. "But Draco wouldn't go after Muggles and the Muggle-born; if he were in charge he'd exterminate all the bad dressers!"
Pansy guffawed. "Anyone who wore brown shoes with a black belt would be killed immediately!"
The girls quickly reduced themselves to tears, laughing, and happily spent the remainder of their shift bashing Draco.
Ginny spent the remainder of the week quietly; she spent time with friends and studied in the Tree in the evenings.
She'd invited Harry to join her there whenever he could, and he often came, but usually quite late. He'd been spending his evenings with Professor Snape, in extra Occulmency lessons. He was very vague with Ginny about why his lessons had intensified suddenly. When he arrived in the Tree, he was usually drawn and exhausted and seemed to need Ginny's company as much as she needed his. They found comfort and rejuvenation in each others arms, but neither of them put those feelings into words, they just knew it felt right.
On Saturday morning, Ginny overhead Ron telling Hermione what an absolute git Draco had been during rounds. Neither of them had much of anything to say to each other, and spent most of the evening trying to stop themselves from pummeling the other. It wasn't until they caught two Hufflepuffs in the altogether in the trophy room that the ice finally broke.
Although the subject of Ginny never came up the entire night, it seemed they'd reached a tepid sort of peace.
By the end of the week Ginny found that she needed to make peace with Ron also, so she'd begun to return to Gryffindor Tower. Although they still rarely spoke directly to one another, Ginny and Ron reached a place where they could be in the same room together and even sit within each other's company.
On Sunday evening, the four of them were in the Gryffindor common room. Harry and Ginny were playing Exploding Snaps and Ron was lazing about with his head on Hermione's lap while she read.
Suddenly Ron stood, kissed Hermione and made his way to the common room exit, without saying a word.
"Hey Ron, where you going?" asked Harry.
"Oh… you know…out…for a walk."
"On a Sunday night? After curfew?" Harry was hoping that Ron was sneaking to the kitchens because he was hungry.
"Sure. Why not?" was all Ron said, as he slipped through the portrait hole.
"Hermione, don't you think that's odd?" Harry asked, quite perplexed as Ron was rarely the mysterious type.
"Moderately," she said not looking up from her book as Harry and Ginny exchanged concerned looks.
"Is everything alright between you two?" Harry queried further.
"Yup. Perfect," her lips twitched as she continued to read.
"Then, where's Ron going? It's almost as if he has a date or something."
Hermione sighed, snapped her book shut, and looked up with a grin.
"Oh…I'm fairly certain he does have a date," she said as her grin widened, "but not with a girl."
Harry's eyes widened in horror, but Ginny burst out laughing.
"Chess Sluts?" she asked Hermione, and Hermione nodded and joined Ginny's laughter.
Harry finally caught up with the conversation, with a gasp and a perplexed grin.
"Those two have the strangest priority systems," Harry quipped dryly, while shaking his head.
"Excuse me," Hermione said as she rose, "I promised little Emmet Alcott I'd help him with his Potions essay." Hermione retreated to the corner of the Common room with the small, blushing first year.
"Want to switch to chess, Harry?"
"Sure," he answered, and then gathered up the cards as Ginny moved in the chess set.
As Ginny arranged the chess pieces, she realized she had spent at least some part of every evening with Harry in the past week and a couple of times he had spent the entire night with her. Ginny suddenly felt quite guilty; she hated being needy.
"Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"Thanks for being so nice to me."
Harry chuckled, "No problem at all, Gin."
"But Harry…I'm alright now, you don't have to…baby-sit me anymore."
"I'm not baby-sitting you, Gin," he said, in surprise.
"But you're spending so much time with me… there must be things you'd rather be doing. What about Daphne? You haven't seen her all week."
"Oh…erm…I've been meaning to mention that…we broke-up…over a week ago."
"Harry! Why didn't you say anything? I'm sorry."
"It never came up," Harry shrugged.
Ginny groaned, "But I've been going on and on about poor me and not even bothering to ask about you! I'm so sorry."
"It's really no big deal, Gin. There was no drama, we're both fine. In fact, I saw Daphne with Blaise Zabini today. I think she's seeing him now."
"Pansy broke-up with Blaise?" Ginny asked slyly, as she moved her first chessman.
"Apparently," Harry shrugged.
"But why, Harry? Why'd you break-up? You really liked Daphne."
"It just wasn't right, Gin."
"Okay, well I'm glad you're alright, but you still don't have to spend so much time with me. What about all the other girls? There were dozens following you around at one point."
"No, I'm fine at the moment, Gin," Harry tried to concentrate on the game and was desperately trying to think of another subject to bring up.
"Harry, there's something you're not telling me," Ginny said sternly. "You're not looking at me."
"It's not important, right now," he said insistently, as he forced himself to look her in the eye. Harry desperately wanted a change in conversation.
But Ginny was determined to be as helpful with Harry's problems as he'd been with hers, so she kept pressing, and Harry finally snapped.
"Alright! I broke-up with Daphne because I like someone else," Harry blushed. "Actually, I love someone else."
"You're in love, Harry? Are you sure?" Ginny asked with a hollow voice.
"Positive."
"Then what are you doing here with me? Go ask her out."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"You told me once that I need to work on my timing. The timing isn't right."
"Why not?"
Harry growled to himself, and cursed this girl's tenacity.
"Ginny…" he groaned, and he realized she wouldn't drop it. "She just broke-up with someone, someone she liked a lot. She's hurt, and not ready to hear it. Can we please not talk about it anymore?"
Ginny was rendered speechless.
Their chess game continued in silence for quite a while; in fact, Ginny's shock was so severe, it looked as though Harry was going to beat Ginny at chess for the first time.
"Harry," she finally whispered, staring at the board. "That girl…it might take a while."
"I know. It's your move, Weasley."
Ginny moved her chessman, but she knew that wasn't the only meaning behind Harry's words.
Authors Notes:
Thank you, Jocjarmom for the speedy edit and for questioning my logic. (Becomes quite scary when my readers know my story better that I do!) She contributed several lovely tidbits to this chapter, including the entire bit about Ron/Draco and the naked Hufflepuffs.
'Essex shlag' is entirely the fault of Cloz! If I offended anyone, I'll happily send you off to her!