A/n: Well hello readers who decided to remain faithful to my rarely-updated fanfiction! I've been really busy for the past few weeks doing volunteer hours and going to parties and such, but now I finally found time to update Now or Never! I'll try my best to update more frequently, but it's not guaranteed. I'm really sorry for making you guys wait all the time…
This chapter focuses a lot more on Ginny..but it's still an R/H fic!
Chapter Fourteen
"Look I'm sorry if I embarrassed you back there with Professor Potter," Andrew began to apologize. He never realized how fast Ginny could walk and he had a hard time catching up with her.
Ginny stopped to catch her breath. She was getting tired of speed-walking, and she felt bad for Andrew. "No, it's not your fault at all. It's my idiot brother who never gives me a break about the whole breaking up with Harry bit."
"You went out with the Harry Potter?" Andrew said in awe. "You never told me about this…"
"I – I never found a reason to," Ginny shrugged. Andrew was giving her an unusual stare. "Besides it's not like you tell me about your past girlfriends." They began to make their way to an ice cream shop.
"As a matter of fact I do actually," Andrew frowned.
"Well I never asked about them, you just laid the information in front of me," Ginny muttered.
"Oh well I'm sorry for wanting you to know more about me," Andrew said in a sarcastic tone. He opened the door to the ice cream shop and headed to the counter.
"What may I serve you this lovely afternoon?" A plump, rosy-cheeked lady smiled widely.
"Cookies and Chocolate mint with almonds and Butter -" He began to order.
"I'm not hungry," Ginny said firmly. She was not in the mood for anything.
"Well then I'll just have that please," Andrew told the lady.
"Coming up in a jiffy," The cashier nodded. In a flash, she handed him a huge cone of green ice cream with almonds and bits of cookies. Then he followed Ginny to a table near the back. She took out her bag and started reading a magazine. He felt the atmosphere becoming more and more awkward every second.
"Look Andrew, I'm sorry about Harry ok? What do you want to know about us?" Ginny said after a long silence.
Andrew felt stupid. Why was he overreacting so badly anyway? It wasn't his business to know every single thing about Ginny. They only started dating about four weeks ago, and secretly. Ginny broke it off with Michael about two weeks after school had ended because she couldn't get over the whole Harry situation. However Michael was quite a persistent character, and he can't handle being dumped. He thought it would "ruin his reputation". Ginny couldn't handle him anymore and decided she needed to start over with something new. She and Andrew had been good friends since they were in their first years, but nothing more. She thought of him one day as she was looking at her small photo album and coincidentally received a letter from him the same day. He confessed his feelings for her, feelings that he had felt since he was in his 2nd year.
Ginny thought this was a good opportunity to start over again, but at the same time was scared of Michael. Most of all, she was still not over Harry. She had explained everything to Andrew about Michael, and how they would have to see each other secretly, but she never said a word about Harry. Finally when Michael "dumped" Ginny on Harry's birthday, they could finally see each other without any worries. But one thing that Ginny didn't mention to Andrew was that during the whole time they couldn't see each other, all she thought of was Harry. It'll pass…I'm sure it will…this is just a phase I'm going through that's all. I'm doing the right thing. Besides, Andrew's a much better boyfriend than Michael. Quite good-looking too I might add. So the least I can do is give this a shot, she thought to herself.
"I just wanna know why you didn't tell me about him that's all," Andrew said in between licks of his ice cream.
"I just don't wanna talk about him and me so much. Because ever since I broke up with him, everyone's treating me like I'm this evil bitch. They always rub it to my face at least once a day. Especially Ron. He never lets me forget it even for 5 minutes," Ginny replied. She wasn't lying, but she wasn't saying the whole truth either. And I'm only using you to get over him, she added in her thoughts.
"Oh, I'm sorry then," Andrew apologized sincerely. The last thing he wanted to do was make Ginny feel bad about herself.
"Stop apologizing! Nothing is your fault ok?" Ginny smiled weakly.
Andrew smiled back. Then he stretched his hand across the table to hold hers. "You are so…amazing. Sometimes I still can't believe that we're together."
Ginny felt guilty inside. Andrew was a great guy himself. With curly golden brown hair, hazel brown eyes, nice build and charming personality, he could get any girl he wanted. But here he was, sitting with Ginny and telling her how amazing she is; while on the other hand, all she could do was smile and blush.
"Well you better start believing soon!" She joked. He laughed and leaned closer to her.
"I love you so much," He whispered softly.
"I -" Ginny began to reply but he cut her off by kissing her softly and passionately. Well to him it was passionate. To her, it was just a kiss that didn't mean anything. She tried her best to feel the same way he does, and it works very rarely. And when it does work, she found herself thinking of Harry. She pulled away slowly and gave him a small smile. "I have to be getting home now. School starts tomorrow."
"Oh yeah that's true. How could I forget?" Andrew raised his eyebrows. "I'll go home with you."
Ginny stood up and tucked her hair behind her ears. "No it's ok I'll be fine. I'm kind of tired actually."
Andrew looked disappointed, but he knew that if Ginny wanted time alone, that's what she needed to get. "Alright then. I guess I'll see you at the train station?"
"Of course you will," Ginny nodded. She headed for the small, messy fireplace at the very back of the shop. "See you till then." She was about to turn around to face the fireplace when Andrew grabbed her waist and pulled her close.
"You're not leaving me without a kiss are you?" Andrew teased.
"O – Oh no, never," Ginny pouted. Inside her head, she was hoping she could. She wasn't in the mood for kissing or grabbing or any sort of physical activity.
Andrew kissed her fiercely and held her tightly. Then she backed up and smiled one last time and threw in the floo powder. "The Burrow!" And with that, she was gone.
Meanwhile, Harry, Ron and Hermione were simply wandering around Diagon Alley.
"Well fellas, I guess I should be heading home to get some rest. Busy day tomorrow you know," Harry said as Hermione and Ron sat on a bench, tired from walking.
"Oh very well Harry. I hope you have an excellent first day. Say hi to professor McGonagall, and Dumbledore, and Sprout, and Flitwick, and Slyverson, and -"
"I think Harry would prefer teaching than running around and doing errands for you Hermione," Ron snorted. "He probably won't even know half the teachers you'd want to say hello to. Oh yeah I just thought of something. Why did school start late this year? The students should've been in school two weeks ago."
"Don't you read the paper Ron?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Sometimes…not very often…no…" Ron confessed.
"Well Ronald, I told you before and you simply told me to be quiet because you couldn't concentrate on counting your Quidditch trading cards!" Hermione shook her head.
"My cards are very important to me! You know that very well!" Ron exclaimed.
"Ok, ok settle down you two," Harry said exasperatedly. "Since Malfoy broke out of Azkaban Dumbledore's taking extra precautions. He has a feeling that Malfoy can strike anywhere inside Hogwarts. Dumbledore decided to make Hogwarts feel more secure for the sake of the students and the parents. There's also the fact that Malfoy has many friends and connections because of his oh-so-wonderful father."
"Ohhhh…" Ron nodded. "Well I'm sure everyone in Hogwarts will be safe with him around. But I'm not sure about people out of Hogwarts." He looked at Hermione.
"I'm scared too you know." Hermione said softly.
"You shouldn't be. We're always here for you Herm," Harry put his hand on Hermione's shoulder and squeezed it.
"I know," Hermione smiled gratefully.
"Well I best be going now then, drop by Hogwarts sometime for a visit," Harry waved goodbye. He climbed on his broom and prepared to take off.
"Harry, why don't you just disapparate and apparate? It's much faster and -" Hermione suggested.
"He's a quidditch player Hermione, what do you expect?" Ron rolled his eyes. "We'll come by for sure Har. See you soon!"
"Take care," Harry nodded. He waved once more and took off.
A/n: Well that was a pretty long chapter if I do say so myself. A lot of explaining about things and talking. If you got confused over why Ginny's going out with Andrew…well…just ask me in one of your reviews and I'll answer it on the next chapter (which I hope will be out by Friday or Saturday). Thanks so much to the people who still read this!