I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: I didn't want to leave you hanging too long so here's the next one. Please note that this chapter starts a little bit before the last one ended.

My thanks goes to Oomahey for beta'ing this chapter for me!

Chapter 12: From His View

Harry glanced around nervously as the hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He scanned the crowd quickly and saw that Snape was wending his way towards him, a scowl planted firmly on his face. He nearly went to meet him but the castle steward was lining Ron up to shoot at the bulls-eye and he realized that he couldn't leave without drawing more attention to himself. He glanced over towards Ginny and saw that she was watching Ron who was preparing to take his turn. Merlin, she is beautiful! His thoughts swamped him once again, as they had been doing since the night before.

Harry had run off from his friends the night before and had gone to her without really thinking about the possible consequences his actions would have wrought. She had comforted him while he had ranted on about Snape and Malfoy and then he'd held her as she cried. She'd been embarrassed afterwards for her tears but he hadn't minded. He hated that she was hurting enough to cry and had felt a surge of emotion at being the one to hold her.

A small cheer from Ron distracted him and he saw that his arrow was nearly in the center of the bulls eye.

The steward called to Luna and Harry had to stop his laughter as she handed a string of flowers to the dumbfounded man and took up her bow. Her shot went perfectly in the center of the target. Ron clapped him on the back and whispered, "At least we knew she'd do well."

Harry nodded and moved forward to take his shot. He lined up to take aim and pulled back the string back when it happened.

Crash!

It so startled him that he immediately fired the arrow, which went wild and struck the bale of hay next to the one he was aiming for. Harry spun around, searching out the noise to see that see that several peasants were gathered around two men who were fighting. Harry blinked, trying to fully comprehend what he was seeing. Neville appeared to have tackled Snape and now they were brawling on the ground surrounded by bits and debris from the stands.

"Get him!" Someone shouted just as one of Snape's legs kicked out and tripped that man, who knocked into another shabbily dressed who flailed for a moment, hitting another man in the face, before falling and toppling two other people. Harry wasn't sure what happened next but it seemed as if the entire audience exploded into action. Women ran with their children as the men began to hit each other, wrestling, fighting and yelling.

Harry looked over at Ron, whose mouth had dropped open in shock before he spoke faintly, "Blimey, Neville's in there!"

Harry froze momentarily before starting forward to go in after his friend. Ron's hand on his shoulder stopped him and he turned a questioning gaze towards him. "What?"

"I'll get Neville. You make sure Luna and Ginny get out of here safely." Ron said firmly. "I've been in fights with my brothers before, so I'll be okay."

He nodded reluctantly but his urge to see Ginny again was just too overwhelming. So he looked at his best mate, said "good luck," and headed over towards Luna.

She was standing with the horrified looking steward. He shoved a small sack into her hands and took off towards the castle. Luna turned to smile at him before handing him the sack, which was heavy and clinked when it shifted. "I don't think that man believed me about the posy necklace. He just dropped it and ran."

"What is a posy necklace?" Harry asked, completely against his own will. It slipped out before he could stop himself.

"It will protect you from bees," Luna told him serenely. She bent and picked up the string of small, while flowers. "I'm going to go over there and pick some more while everyone is distracted. That way we'll each be guaranteed not to get bumble pox."

"Right, well… I'll be back to get you as soon as I've seen to it that Ginny is safe," Harry told her. She nodded and wandered off to the bed of flowers at the far end of the arena.

He turned to see that Ginny was watching him closely and he sprinted over to her. Harry hoisted himself up and over a small wall before climbing up to meet her. As he rounded the top of the box, he heard her say, "Leave Malferret or you'll be the worse for it!"

"I don't have to- NO! Stop, all right! I'll go!" His usually sneering voice sounded panicked and when Harry was finally able to see them, he instantly saw why. Ginny had pulled a knife on Malfoy and he was slowly backing away from her.

"Go find your nanny and leave me alone or I'll make you pay!" Ginny growled and Harry stood behind her, watching Malfoy as he nodded and backed out before turning tail and running back into the castle.

Ginny turned to face him before throwing herself into his arms. He locked his arms around her waist, swinging her up to kiss her hard on the mouth, reveling in the feeling of her pressed against him. I could stay like this forever, he thought happily, not really daring to examine what those feelings meant. Finally he broke away from her after setting her gently back on her feet. "You need to go into the castle, away from the mob. Ron's in there trying to get Neville out and Luna's safe, picking flowers but I don't want you-"

Ginny cut him off. "That boy is Luna! Why didn't I see that before? Of course Luna would be the only making flower necklaces during an archery contest while dressed as a boy!" She smacked her forehead and began to pace. "Well, we have to stop the fight or too many people will get hurt." She stopped and turned to face the fight, studying it, all the while biting her lower lip.

Her lip… Harry shook his head, clearing the fog from his brain. "I'll handle it."

"Don't be thick, Harry. You've never dealt with a large group of unruly men in your life. No, this job is mine." She smiled brightly up at him. "Don't argue with me, Harry. You know you can't win."

"But I-"

She stopped him again by placing a finger on his lips and he could not help himself, he had to kiss them. Her eyes misted over and she tugged at his head until he was at her eye level, before kissing him again. Harry ran his hands down her back and up again, enjoying the feel of her soft dress and the skin of her back that peeked out above the collar. Nothing is ever going to feel as right as this, a small voice in his head told him.

Ginny broke away with a few small kisses. "I am glad we had time to talk last night." Her voice was breathy and soft.

Harry nodded. "I am too. It felt like… like a weight was being lifted off of me and then-"

"Then I had to ruin it by crying like a little baby!" She broke away from him and went to sit down again.

Harry marched over to her, kneeling in front of her and framing her face between his two calloused hands. The contrast between her soft, pale skin and his rough, tanned hands caught his eye, distracting him from what he was going to say until he caught the look in her eyes. No matter what she looks like, Ginny's made of steel, Harry reminded himself and he smiled. "It's really only fair that if I share with you, you can share with me. I thought that was what it was supposed to be about."

"I suppose," she replied slowly, then giggled. "Yesterday I made Snape kneel for awhile in front of me and I could see it was hurting his knees," she paused and looked down at him, mirth dancing in her eyes, "You can get up though."

Harry let out a snort of mirth. "My knees are just fine. Snape is getting old. Even Neville was able to fight him."

"What?"

"Neville jumped Snape, crashing into the stands and causing that big fight," he informed her and she was immediately on her feet and rushing to the end of the box.

If he hadn't been so startled by her actions, Harry would have tried to stop her but now it was too late. Ginny bellowed at the top of her lungs and he fell back onto his bum to watch her morph into her mother. "STOP IT RIGHT THIS INSTANT! STOP YOUR FIGHTING!"

Amazingly, unbelievably, the crowd froze and turned to face her. Some were bloody, all were dirty and looking astonished.

Ginny glared at them and he, in turn, watched her swivel her head to make sure she'd swept everybody in her vision, in what was a distinctly prima donna-ish manner. "I am ashamed of you! You are grown men acting like children. You will go home immediately and let your wives know that you're fine. If there is any more fighting, I will personally see to it that they are punished! Go now."

He watched, totally flabbergasted as the peasants disbanded until only a bloodied Neville, Ron and Snape remained in the heap. Each was staring up at Ginny as if she was an anomaly to be feared.

"Go back to the jail and get cleaned up, Snape," she called down to them before turning her back on them and facing Harry, who was in complete awe.

"How did you do that?" He finally managed to ask.

"Hermione told me that the peasants love me and any command I give will be followed." She shrugged dismissively. "Mum was the one who taught me to pitch my voice that way. She had to break up more than one fight between my brothers."

"Right," Harry mumbled and moved forward, feeling a clinking against his hip where he'd tied Luna's prize money. He took the money bag from his waist and handed it to her. "Pass this out to the starving people. It's the money Luna won," he explained quickly, seeing her puzzled expression.

"I will," she replied quietly before moving in to kiss him again.

"Can't you stop that for a minute?" They both jumped to see that Hermione was floating above them, looking very frazzled.

"Where have you been?" Ginny demanded immediately. "A riot broke out and I had to stop it."

"I was led away as soon as people began to gather for the tournament and I was taken on a very dull tour of the castle," she retorted peevishly.

"You couldn't control it?" Harry asked her.

Hermione shook her head. "I can, now. But for about an hour, the steering was out of my hands. The only good thing was that I saw several places where you can sneak in during the battle."

"Odd," Harry mumbled, trying to find a reason for it when a large box with a bright red cross dropped at his feet.

"We need to patch Ron and Neville up, they look terrible and Luna's attempting to get them to wear a wreath of flowers! Say goodbye quickly and then join me so we can retreat back into the forest."

He almost saluted her, but decided he didn't want any other boxes dropped on his head. Instead, he kissed Ginny and ran a finger along her cheek, smiling into her eyes. "I'll miss you," he told her earnestly.

"I'll miss you too," she replied hesitantly before kissing him quickly and whispering against his lips, "I… I love you, Harry." Then she was gone, clinking as she fled back to the castle, leaving him completely stunned and unable to move. Did she really just say that? Yes, he answered himself, she did. The question now was what was he going to do about it?

How much do I love you all? I wrote another chapter to make up for my evil cliffy! Cheers and thanks very much to everyone for reviewing! -ywg

auramistealia: That does not sound good but today, I feel fine!

luckycharms445: Yeah, it was evil of me so there's the update.

HakushoRurouni: Not really what I thought would happen for the contest but it ran away from me.

FuNnY cIdE: Thanks and always…

M. R. Moore: Who indeed… were you right?

Schatje: I did feel bad about that so I slaved away for, oh three hours, to write this chapter.

Strangely Sirius: Excellent deduction!

AllylovesHarry: This chapters for you, Ally! HUGS

Sarah: Thanks! I'm glad you had fun with it and thanks for letting me know.