A/N: Hmm, yeah no real serious reason that this took so long to update (same goes for my other fics which I will be updating in the next week hopefully). I found a new medium for awhile and have been making HP fanvids for quite some time while my writing bug took a very long hiatus. So yeah, sorry about that. Thanks for sticking around though and reading this.
Chapter 3
...
Ginny
slept soundly. Surprisingly enough. But before she did, she lay
there thinking for a long time. She had talked with Hermione, more
to humor her than anything else, before telling her that she was
tired and all she wanted to do was sleep. Ginny didn't want to
talk about it. She was tired of having the same conversation that
they always did.
It was hard to fall asleep in her old bed. For one thing, it was smaller than the bed in her flat. The other thing she missed was Jeff. But as it had always been that way, she couldn't attribute the comfort to him alone. Ever since she'd slept in a bed with someone else, it made it very difficult to go back to sleeping alone.
This she could attribute, she thought angrily, to Harry. The first night they'd slept together, he had held her hand all night long. At first, she had been surprised, almost taken aback. He had apologized the next morning, blushing as he said it. She'd only smiled as she kissed him and slid out of his bed, slipping passed Ron's bed silently, then Neville's, then Dean's. The next time, he'd held her in his arms. Part of this was due to the fact that the heating in the Three Broomsticks was broken and the both of them were freezing. But it had made Ginny feel safer than she'd felt in a long time.
During his seventh year, there hadn't been much time for him to stay at Hogwarts, he'd been gone most of the time and Ginny was left to sleep alone. And on those nights, it was the hardest, because she would be left there to wonder if he would even return this time.
And when he left for good, Ginny couldn't bear to sleep alone in their large bed in the small flat they shared. She left that night, and she hadn't been back since. She could only assume that Ron and Hermione had taken care of things as she stopped receiving bills for it.
By that time, Ginny had found herself a new place, the studio. This one came with Mark, the corresponding struggling artist with an affinity for pillows Ginny never understood. Then a few months later came David and his house in Notting Hill, which she never got to see because that was where his family lived (his family he'd conveniently forgotten to tell her about). Instead, he paid for a small flat for her where he only sometimes slept and when he left her alone, she would sit at the window, awake. And it was possible they had been the best Ginny shivered there in the dark. She liked to think that Ron's comment was way beyond her actions, that it was a gross exaggeration, but here, thinking about it in the dark, she could see the truth in his words.
But then there was Jeff. She felt happier with Jeff than she had in a long while. He was kind, he had a steady job, he was unmarried (all things Ginny now no longer took for granted). He was a charmer, she could see it in his eyes when he met people, and she'd even seen it slightly when she first met him. But with her, he was different. He genuinely liked her and he appreciated her and treated her likewise. In the long line of bad relationships, she wanted to cling to this one. Which is why Harry returning was like throwing a stone into a recently stilled pool. When she allowed her self to think about it, Jeff was the most like Harry of all the other men she'd ever been with. It's not exactly that their personalities were very much alike, but it was in the way they treated Ginny and how comfortable and happy and complete she felt with them.
Ginny turned over. She didn't like comparing Jeff to Harry. She didn't like it because it meant she still thought about Harry, and that she was doing exactly what she resented her mother for doing.
She closed her eyes, trying to picture Jeff lying there next to her and she could finally feel sleep pulling at her. As she drifted off, she heard Hermione move slightly, but in the next moment, Ginny was out cold.
Harry rolled over and stared out the window. The moon was almost full and shown in brightly through Ron's window. Ron was snoring softly and Harry found himself thinking of his days at school and afterwards, and how accustomed he'd grown to absolute quiet as he slept.
It was odd, sharing space with so many other people again. It's not that he'd been in complete solitude for three years, but he spent a lot of his time on his own. There had been dates here and there, some overnight visits but there hadn't been a permanent resident in his flat with him since Ginny. He sighed heavily. Every once in awhile, over the course of the three years they'd been apart, he'd had his share of moments where he'd missed her so terribly that he'd think about going anyplace familiar to try and find her, the lateness of the hour be damned. But he'd never actually done it. And on those nights, he'd actually been able to convince himself that what he lacked was a general female companionship and not just a certain red-headed female's companionship and could then for the most part, ignore the emptiness in the pit of his stomach.
He heard Ron shift in his sleep which suddenly caused him to start snoring much louder than before. Harry rolled his eyes in the dark and stared up at the ceiling, trying to imagine he was alone in the quiet again. And then, through the midst of Ron's snores, he heard something entirely different.
Harry lifted his head slightly from his pillow as he saw the door to Ron's room open. He slid his hand over to the nightstand and gripped his wand as he watched the person tiptoe into the room.
"Hermione?" he blurted out before he really thought about it. She jumped about a foot in the air, while letting out a surprised little yelp.
Ron stopped snoring, "Whas goin' on? 'Mione?" He flicked on the light next to his bed. There was Hermione, clutching her bathrobe around her tightly and looking extremely embarrassed.
Her face was beet red as Harry stared at her questioningly. "Did you uh-did you need something, Hermione?" he asked finally, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted it as the idea suddenly hit him as to why she was there.
Hermione straightened a little. "Well, I um, I sort of forgot that you were here, Harry," she replied, her voice quiet.
Ron's eyes widened as Harry smirked. "All right, I can take a hint. I'm just gonna go sleep on the couch or something," he said, gathering up his pillow and blanket, his face still alight with amusement.
Hermione grabbed his arm. "No, wait, Harry don't be ridiculous, I'll go. Come on, there's no point in you sleeping on the couch."
Harry laughed. "Hermione, its fine. I couldn't sleep anyway. I'll be fine, you two just stay up here and…enjoy yourselves. I'll see you in the morning."
He closed the door behind him and chuckled as he started to descend the stairs.
………………………………………...
Ginny woke with a start. She sat up quickly and as she looked around the room, she noticed that it was still very dark outside. She looked at the clock next to her bed and groaned when she saw that it was only 3:30. She'd only been asleep for about an hour. She slipped quietly out of bed so as not to wake Hermione, but then noticed that the bed was empty.
She must be in the toilet, she thought to herself, There's no way she'd go up to Ron's room while Harry's there. Would she? Ginny tiptoed quietly down the stairs and into the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of water then crept back upstairs. Hermione still wasn't back yet. She's a little more adventurous than I thought, she thought as she furrowed her brow. She crawled back into bed and tried to will herself back to sleep again.
………………………………………...
Harry started down the stairs when he heard the door to someone's room click shut.
Someone must have been in the toilet, he thought as he threw his blanket over his shoulder so as not to trip over it on the way down. When he got to the second landing, he passed Ginny's door. He stopped and turned to it and he suddenly had a brilliant idea.
I'll just go sleep in Hermione's bed. Everyone's already asleep, I'll just wake up early and go back upstairs then. No couch surfing necessary! He gave himself a mental pat on the back for his ingenious plan. While he didn't really mind sleeping on the couch, why pass up an empty bed while it was there. His only thought of Ginny was that she'd be fast asleep the whole time, not even knowing he'd be there, for he had every intention of leaving before she ever woke up.
……………………………………………………...
Ginny heard the door to her room open slowly. She grinned to herself. She thought about not even letting Hermione know she was awake but she just couldn't pass up the sheepish look she'd find on Hermione's face after being caught by Harry.
"So did Harry throw you out, 'Mione?" Ginny asked, her head still facing the other way.
Harry stopped dead in his tracks across the room towards Hermione's bed. Ginny was most definitely not asleep. And that had most definitely not been part of his plan. He willed himself to move back in the direction of the door, but for some reason, he was rooted to the spot, standing there, looking rather like a small child ready for a sleepover with his pillow in one hand and blanket over his shoulder.
Just then Ginny turned around, smiling. It soon faded however, when she saw Harry standing in the middle of her bedroom. Instinctively as one does with any intruder, Ginny pulled her covers up to her neck, even though she realized a second later that this was Harry and it was all something he'd seen before. He quickly looked at the floor, clearly embarrassed and muttered an apology.
"Harry, what are you doing in here?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible and she desperately hoped that he couldn't hear the loud thudding of her heart.
He looked caught off guard by the question, as though he hadn't really expected her to ask him. As if it was the most natural thing in the world for an ex boyfriend to walk into her room and start sleeping on her spare bed. "I-uh…that is. Well, um, apparently Hermione forgot I was up there sleeping in Ron's room, she came upstairs to uh, see him and there I was. Surprise! Anyway, I told her I'd go downstairs and sleep on the couch because I really don't mind that and besides I couldn't sleep because of Ron's snoring. So then I passed your door and remembered that Hermione would no longer be in her bed and maybe I could just sleep there which I'm starting to realize is probably weird enough on its own. Throw in the fact that you're not sound asleep (because I really thought you would be and I thought I'd be out of here by the time you woke up tomorrow) and this most definitely was not my intention to come in here and freak you out like this, really I just want to go to sleep." He realized that he was talking very fast and yet he just couldn't seem to slow down. He wanted her to know as soon as possible that he wasn't just about to try anything funny with her, that he wasn't a filthy pervert coming in here to watch her sleep, or anything weird like that. No, the only weird thing he wanted to do was sleep in Hermione's bed, which he saw now as he stood there near the end of Ginny's bed, was a bit odd.
Ginny watched him intently while he spoke. "Oh," was all she said when he finished.
He looked up at her again. "Is that uh, is that a good 'Oh' or a bad 'Oh'."
Ginny looked slightly amused. "Its an "oh" Harry. I didn't really say it with a positive or negative connotation in mind."
"Oh."
She couldn't help laughing slightly at his reply. "Well, its fine with me if you sleep in here. I just can't believe she actually forgot you were here." She finally let her blankets fall from up under her neck. She wasn't exactly as relaxed as she would have been if it had actually been Hermione walking through the door, but she didn't want Harry to know that. As far as he was concerned, she would show him she was just fine with sleeping with him. Err, sleeping in the same room as him, she corrected herself.
"If you want me to go, its fine," Harry said, starting back towards the door again.
Ginny looked at him, "Harry, do you really want to sleep on the couch when there's a perfectly comfortable bed you can sleep in right here? I already said it was fine, just…just go to sleep," she finished as she flopped back onto her pillow.
Harry nodded as he moved towards Hermione's bed. He picked up her pillow and set it down on the floor and placed his own at the head of the bed. As he lay down, he knew Ginny could not be asleep already. It was weird, they had never slept in the same room in different beds before. Harry thought about commenting on that to her, but immediately thought better of it. If he thought he was having trouble trying to sleep before, it was nothing compared to right now. And although his bed smelled like Hermione, that distinct flowery smell that he'd learned to associate with Ginny all those years ago seemed to permeate his senses, bringing back with it things he'd only recently been starting to relive again in his mind from his brief encounter with Ginny while Christmas shopping. And as he lay there, he knew, he knew that all those times he'd craved, longed for someone sleeping next to him through the long, dark nights, he knew that he had longed for her. He could feel it now, only for her. And now, she was the closest to him she'd been in years, and while he knew he needed her, he also knew that she no longer needed him.
Ginny closed her eyes. She could hear him moving around on the bed next to her and she could still hear her heart beating fast in her chest. And she was almost ashamed to admit to herself that she was nervous. Nervous that he was sleeping in her room, nervous that he was mere yards from her own body. And her nervousness only gave way to frustration. Why was she nervous? She hated that his close proximity still seemed to do things to her that it did in third year. She wasn't a lovesick puppy anymore, so why did she still react that way? Besides, after everything they'd been through together, what was there to be nervous about anymore? There was nothing they didn't know about each other, hadn't shared with one another so what was there to keep from him? And then the realization of the gap, that large gaping hole in the relationship when they discussed absolutely nothing together hit her like a ton of bricks. There were plenty of things that finally, she did not know about Harry Potter and many things that he did not know about her. She had no idea where he lived, what he did anymore. She didn't even know what he'd had for dinner the night before last! There was mystery once again behind those glittering emerald eyes and the mysteries made her anxious and curious to find out what they were, but at the same time, she had to ask herself if she really did want to find out. As she felt her eyelids start to close again, she resolved to not let the mysteries of Harry Potter bother her any longer. It was no longer her responsibility to find out what exactly was going on behind those eyes. She was friend now, a friend happy to take on the role of duties friends are supposed to do, like letting someone sleep in your spare bed, but nothing more. There were no strings attached this time around so really, there was no reason to be nervous at all now that he was back in her life. Now all she had to do was convince the knot in her stomach of the same thing.
Cheers for reading. If you want to go watch my fanvideos, cuz they're pretty much all Harry Potter (duh!), then you can check them out here: youtube . com . / user/ thoughtswopurpose (yeah, erase the spaces). Ok cool.
