Chapter 19

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Harry was sitting in the common room as the house celebrated their Quidditch win over the Slytherins when he felt a surge of anger through the bond, he didn't notice it too much at first because he was angry too. Ginny had no right to just walk up and kiss him like that! Without any warning! And in front of everyone! As if they were in a relationship. The echoing anger through the bond only made him more furious, what if Susan had felt the kiss and thought that it had been his idea, or that he'd willingly gone along with it?

He pushed her away, trying not to be as violent about it as he felt. He knew that would only end badly, 'Be gentle, she has 6 older brothers you don't want to get on the bad side of,' he reminded himself. Unfortunately, he didn't realise that Susan's anger was making his own harder to control.

"No, stop," he said.

"What? Why not?" Ginny demanded angrily and probably louder than she intended, attracting attention from those who hadn't noticed the kiss. The noise level of the room dropped as people started to listen to their conversation.

"Because I don't feel that way about you," Harry replied at a normal volume. "You're a good friend Gin, but I'm not interested in dating you or kissing you. I'm sorry but I just don't feel anything but friendship."

"But you're not dating someone else, so why not give it a try? I'm a good kisser, I promise you'll like it," Ginny asked, smiling encouragingly and leaning in to kiss him again.

Harry turned his head quickly away. "No! I asked you to stop trying to kiss me! I don't like it and I'm not prepared to put someone in danger by dating me. Particularly not if I was just giving it a try to see if I could change my mind about someone. It just isn't worth making you a target, and I honestly don't think that giving it a go would change my feelings, Ginny," Harry replied.

"But we could be great together," Ginny pressed.

"No Ginny, I don't agree that we would be great together. I do not want to date you, and I do not want to kiss you. You are just a friend, and my best mate's little sister. I don't think that can change, and I wouldn't want it to," Harry said determinedly, getting up and walking away from the younger redhead. He saw Ron frowning at him from across the room but wasn't sure whether it was because he'd seen the kiss and thought they were dating and wanted to warn him to treat his sister well like he'd been frowning at Dean for the last few months or because he had seen enough to realise Harry had turned Ginny down. He didn't even notice Dean also looking at him unhappily as he noticed the nger coming through the bond and started to panic.

Harry hurried up to his bed closed and sealed the curtains before casting a silencing charm. He concentrated on the link to Susan and spoke out loud hoping she would connect to him and hear him.

"She kissed me. I didn't kiss back. I didn't ask her to kiss me, I'm sorry I didn't stop her before she did it but I didn't even know she was planning to kiss me until her lips were on mine, she just walked up and kissed me without any warning while I wasn't paying attention," Harry said over and over, begging Susan to understand that he hadn't cheated on her until he felt she'd heard him. That he was 100% committed to their strange relationship.

Susan didn't answer him but he could hear that she was still surrounded by other people. He hoped that she would excuse herself so they could speak through their link but he'd understand if she either couldn't without drawing too much attention or if she was trying to avoid having to speak to him. Luckily, he could also feel that she was calming down, though he still wasn't sure if her anger was in response to something that happened to her and the timing was just a coincidence or if it was the kiss which he was pretty sure she would have felt even if she hadn't been concentrating on him at the time. He closed their connection and finished getting changed for bed before reopening it and waiting for her to respond. He felt extreme embarrassment for a moment and hurriedly closed the connection. They'd agreed that some things were just too private to share.

A few minutes later he had the feeling of being watched which indicated the connection between them was open on Susan's side.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know she was going to try to kiss me. I would've stopped her if I'd known, I didn't kiss her back," Harry said.

"It's okay Harry, the kiss surprised me but I could feel that you weren't into it, and your anger about it," Susan replied. "I was more upset that you didn't warn me before you started drinking that horrible stuff but I guess you couldn't have known that I'd feel the effects too."

"You mean the fire-whisky?" Harry asked, realising uneasily that most of her anger hadn't been about the kiss at all and unlike the kiss, it was his fault.

"Yes, it tastes disgusting and I started feeling tipsy and giggly in the middle of the common room for no reason, you're lucky that I think I managed to come up to the dorm before I made a fool of myself and Hannah didn't drag me down to see Madam Pomfrey," Susan scolded.

"I'm sorry, it never occurred to me that it would affect you like that. I won't do it again. Are you okay?" Harry asked contritely.

"I'm fine but if I end up with a hangover from your drinking then you are going to regret it," Susan threatened darkly.

I would question how you're going to do that through our connection without punishing yourself as well but I don't think I want to know," Harry said before getting up to get himself a drink of water, just to make sure he woke up well hydrated.

"I'll think of something," Susan said determinedly.

"I'm sure you will, maybe you should drink a glass of water to reduce the chance of a hangover," Harry replied once he was back in bed with the curtains silenced.

"So, who kissed you?" Susan asked curiously.

"Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister," Harry said sighing. "I told her I wasn't interested in dating her and warned her of the dangers but she wasn't convinced.

"You told her that you didn't want to date because it was too dangerous like you told me, leaving her to think you would be interested if it wouldn't put her in danger or did you tell her specifically that you weren't interested in dating her?" Susan asked suspiciously. She knew Harry had no interest in the younger red head but she also knew that he was awkward speaking of things like that and wanted to make sure he'd given Ginny a clear message that it wasn't just the risk of harming her that was stopping him from kissing her back.

"I told her I wasn't interested in her, that I didn't see her like that, but she said she wanted to give it a go and see if she could change my mind. Then I told her that it wasn't worth the risk of putting her in danger just to give it a go when I didn't think it would make a difference," Harry told Susan.

"Well if you said it like that, then she should have got the message. It will be her own fault if she doesn't," Susan said with satisfaction. "Ginny's been acting like you're secretly dating for a while now, Megan actually told me that she thought that the two of you were betrothed from her proprietary attitude."

"I said it like that. I couldn't be any more abrupt without drawing down the mother of all prank wars from her brothers against me. Thankfully Alicia and Katie overheard the whole conversation so hopefully they will help reign the twins in if Ginny tries to use them against me," Harry said.

"I must say I wish I had some older brothers to make people think twice before they say things," Susan thought.

"Is there anyone in particular you'd like me to make leave you alone or tret you differently?" Harry asked.

"No, you couldn't do anything anyway without drawing unwanted attention to us," Susan replied.

"Who's been harassing you Susan?" Harry pressed determinedly. "I could hex them from under my invisibility cloak to make them pay for hurting you."

"It's nothing, I wasn't hurt just irritated that Ernie is assuming proprietary airs again, and judging my attitudes to things as if he has a right to form my opinions for me, which I wouldn't put up with even from a husband. You can't do anything about it Harry without drawing attention to our friendship," Susan said.

"Don't worry, I won't say or do anything unless you ask me to but if you change your mind, I've got a couple of products I'm testing out for the twins we could use on him," Harry offered.

"No, he's not that bad. And I guess he's just voicing the opinions most of the other guys have. At least he's honest enough about them that any girl who marries him would know what she's getting into," Susan said sighing.

"I wouldn't want to control your opinions or ambitions like that, I like the way you think. I thought that you'd told him you weren't betrothed and wouldn't be accepting his contract? Why hasn't he got the message that you're not interested in marrying him?" Harry asked.

"I did tell him, but his family pride and ego are so big he could barely comprehend anyone not wanting to marry him. The problem is that since then he hasn't seen me hanging out with anyone else and he knows I haven't destroyed his family's contract so he's starting to act like he thinks I'm going to sign it again, though how he could think that after the argument we had about his cowardly refusal to go to his family's defence if they were attacked I don't know," Susan said sighing. "Part of me wants to go to Gringotts and destroy it. Surely if I wrote to his head of house and explained why I felt I needed to do that he and the rest of the family wouldn't be too offended with me."

"Didn't you say that that's how a lot of family feuds started? I think you should talk that over with your Aunt before you do that and see if there isn't anything else you could do, maybe she could have a quiet word with his head of house and smooth things over so Ernie is pulled back into line without you having to insult the whole house," Harry suggested. "Ernie "might resent being pulled into line by his head of house but he is going to be pissed off whichever choice you make."

"I don't care if he is, I wouldn't care if he stopped speaking to me altogether except that it would make things awkward for all our friends," Susan replied huffing.

Harry laughed. "Yeah but didn't you say that his head of house wasn't his father, if there's a large family then you could insult the whole lot of them if they don't know Ernie well."

"Okay I warned him off again tonight and I'll talk to Auntie if he doesn't back off the attitude. I wish that I could just accept your offer and be done with all this subterfuge," Susan said.

"I wish we could too, but honestly, unless you were prepared to go into hiding until the end of the war, I don't want to risk it becoming public," Harry said. "It would be different if our parents had signed it and everyone assumed that we were just arranged, or if we'd talked before you went to the bank on your birthday and did it then, but if we sign it ourselves now, who knows how many people out there have contracts for me that will be destroyed. Someone is sure to talk about it and then the Death Eaters will know I signed a contract and try to find out who is that important to me. It would make you a target for Voldemort."

"Do you ever think about just taking off, leaving the country and letting the adults fight their own war?" Susan asked.

"I've thought about it but Voldie and I have a connection through my scar, I couldn't guarantee he wouldn't come after me or attack all the people I care about trying to get me to come home and protect them if he couldn't find me. Then I think about what if the prophecy is right and I am the only one that can defeat him, leaving would be abandoning all our friends and everyone to a never-ending war. As unfair as it seems that everyone is expecting me to end him, I don't think I could live with myself if I ran away," Harry said, hoping that she would understand that he really didn't want to be a hero and he didn't think that he had a choice but to stay and fight.

Susan sighed, she didn't think that if was fair that Harry believed he has to sacrifice his life for anybody but she had to admit that there were people that she couldn't willingly abandon either. "You're right, we couldn't start a life together like that. We need to find a way to defeat the bastard. But just so you know this Harry Potter, the first chance I get after the war is over, we're going to forget him and get on with our lives without worrying about what other people think and expect. We'll set up the best mail wards available and set strict rules about what mail gets passed on to us and what gets thrown straight in the fire or sent back with a firmly worded warning to stay out of our business. Then I'm going to Gringotts and I'm going to roll those contracts together and we're going to start planning our wedding and if the bloody ministry and the newspapers won't leave you in peace we'll move to somewhere they can't find you.

"I'm looking forward to it. So long as it's not a big wedding with the whole world invited," Harry replied, smiling.

"No, I don't want a big celebrity wedding," Susan agreed. "I'd be happy enough with just Aunty and Hannah and her family, maybe a few other friends and your friends."

Harry smiled and while Susan couldn't see it, she did feel his contentment with that idea.

-o0o-

The next morning, he hadn't even left the dorm room before Ron accosted him, upset by whatever Ginny had told him after Harry had walked out of the party the night before.

"Why'd you insult Ginny like that? My sister isn't good enough for you?" Ron demanded affronted at the idea that Harry was turning Ginny down.

"That's rich Ron. After all the grief you gave Dean about dating your baby sister, and now you're upset that I don't want to date her?" Harry said laughing.

"Why not? What's wrong with Ginny?" Ron asked angrily.

"She's your little sister. I've never seen her as more than that. You know that I've never encouraged her crush on me, or given her a reason to think I liked her as more than a friend, she's had a crush on the Boy-Who -Lived for years before she met me, and I don't think she's really got beyond that to know and want to be with the real me," Harry said more seriously once he realized his friend was genuinely upset at the idea. "Besides I could ask you the same question. Hermione's like a sister to me and she clearly likes you and I know you fancy her. So, what the hell are you doing making out with Lavender instead of asking Hermione out?" Harry tried to change the subject.

Ron flushed scarlet. "Lavender asked me out. I didn't know how to turn her down without upsetting her. And she's really pretty and popular, I liked that she wanted to kiss me."

"So, you decided it was better to upset Hermione instead, by dating someone else? Or you decided that you wanted to be popular more than you wanted to date the girl you actually fancy?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Do you really think Hermione likes me like that? She wanted to be with you and with Neville, not me," Ron said sullenly.

"She likes you like that. She doesn't want to date me or Neville. She asked you to be her date for Slughorn's party, didn't she? She's just being a bit of an idiot about her magic not being strong enough for some of the more advanced spells. She doesn't want to kiss me or Neville. She just wanted the boost in magic that helping us unblock ours would give her and in the muggle world a lot of people have sex with someone they aren't dating and it doesn't mean anything. I explained this to you. I thought you understood," Harry said sighing.

"So, you don't like Hermione like that?" Ron clarified.

"No Ron. I love Hermione like an older sister, but I don't fancy her at all, and I don't fancy Ginny either," Harry replied.

"So, is there someone else you fancy?" Ron asked.

"Ron, I've told you before, if I fancied someone the last thing, I'd want to do would be to pay them attention and make them a target for the Death Eaters," Harry said sighing.

"So, there is someone, but you're not going to tell them that you like them," Ron concluded.

"I don't want to talk about it," Harry said stubbornly.

"What if she likes you too and she gives up on you because she thinks you're not interested?" Ron asked.

"Then I wish her every happiness with the man she falls in love with. At least she'd be alive to fall for someone else," Harry said bluntly, looking miserable.

"Is it Ginny? I promise not to tell her," Ron asked suddenly.

"No. It isn't Ginny, I've never given her any sign that I might like her like that, please don't encourage her to think that we might be something more than friends in the future, because we won't be. She put herself in danger last night for no reason at all!" Harry said, exasperated.

"You'd say that even if you were crushing on my sister," Ron declared.

"No Ron, I wouldn't. I'm not that self sacrificing. I do want the girl I like to wait for me to be able to date them after the war even if I can't ask them to," Harry said sadly, but not quite honestly. He knew that if it had been Ginny he liked he definitely wouldn't say anything because if she found out, then she wouldn't agree to wait until after Voldemort was dead or to date him in secret. She'd insist on being his girlfriend or put on more displays like the one last night until everyone thought they were dating whether they were or not.

"You're really that serious about this girl?" Ron said shocked.

Harry sighed. "Yeah, I really think I could be," he admitted sombrely.

Ron looked at his best mate sympathetically. "That really sucks mate."

"Yeah it does but you know it could be worse. It could be like you really liking Hermione and not having any real reason not to date her but still not asking her out because you're scared what will happen and dating someone you don't even like because you didn't have the guts to tell her that you're sorry but you really like someone else. Hermione isn't going to wait forever for you to get your head out of your arse about this and you dating Lavender isn't going to help. Dating Hermione isn't going to make her more of a target than she is already for being one of my best friends, but pulling Lavender into our friendship group might make her a target. If you're serious about dating her you should bring her along to training, or set up a time to train with her separately if you don't want to bring her or she doesn't want to come while Hermione's there, and if you're not serious about her then it isn't fair to put her at risk like this for nothing," Harry said deflecting, though he wondered how he was going to fit in a third set of training, and whether the popular gossipy girl would be willing to seriously train to defend herself and her friends and family.

Ron pulled a face.

"The girl you like, it isn't Lav is it?" Ron asked suddenly.

Harry laughed. "No Ron. It isn't Lavender. The only reason I'm irritated at you snogging Lavender all over the place is because it hurts Hermione to have to see it, and you're not really being fair to Lavender either if you already know you'd rather date someone else then you should have told her that when she asked you out. You're angry that I turned Ginny down, imagine how you'd feel if I agreed to date her when you knew I liked someone else, and was only going out with Ginny to fill in time or gain kissing experience, or if I promised to go with her to Slughorn's party and then started dating someone else."

Ron looked perturbed. "Are you telling the truth that it hurts Hermione to see me and Lav together?"

"Yeah, I think it does. That's why she gets so annoyed at you. You're not really any more inappropriate than Seamus or some of the seventh years and she doesn't get so irate when she tells them off as she did last night," Harry said softly.

"I'll try not to do that when she's around," Ron said.

"That's a start but you should really think about breaking things off with Lavender if you like Hermione like that. It isn't fair to either of them," Harry said.

"I won't nag you about who you like if you don't nag me about Lavender and Hermione," Ron bargained.

Harry sighed and mentally apologised to Hermione as he dropped the subject as they walked down to the common room to meet Hermione.

-o0o-

"Ginny's really upset about what you said to her the other night," Hermione said as they met up. Harry groaned internally; couldn't they have co-ordinated their attack so he only had to deal with this once. He wondered whether the twins were also going to try to talk to him or whether they'd go straight for a prank attack.

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true. I'm sorry that I had to be so blunt with her, I tried to be gentle but she wasn't at all subtle about it and she wouldn't give up," he replied.

"Harry, you turned her down and made a fool of her shoving her away like that," Hermione pressed.

"That's not my fault. I never asked her to kiss me, I never encouraged her to want to kiss me, let alone to do it with everyone watching, she assaulted me," Harry replied.

"Harry, that's callous. You hurt her feelings, and you embarrassed her in front of everybody," Hermione scolded.

"So, you're saying I should ask out every girl who walks up and kisses me in front of her friends without any encouragement? No matter how I feel?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"No of course not but Ginny really likes you," Hermione said.

"No, she doesn't. Ginny has a huge crush on the Boy-Who-Lived, not me," Harry replied confidently.

Hermione frowned. "I know she did, but I think she's outgrown that. She likes you, Harry."

"I don't think so, if she knew me well enough to like the real me, she wouldn't have thrown herself at me in front of everybody in the common room. She would've known that I would hate the attention and not made a spectacle of kissing me without an invitation," Harry said dismissively.

"So, you turned her down because of the way she kissed you. She was just excited about winning the game and she wanted to share her enthusiasm with you," Hermione said frustrated with his attitude.

"No Hermione, I said that the way she approached me is proof that Ginny hasn't spent time getting to know me or what I would want in a relationship and that it's proof she can't fancy me plain old Harry because she's never bothered to get to know me, but the reason I didn't want to kiss her was that I don't like Ginny like that and dating someone is going to put them at risk of attack from the Death Eaters. Why would I want to do that to anybody?" Harry said.

Hermione still looked upset with him. "I'm sure she'd keep it quiet if you wanted her to."

"I doubt it. After all what would be the point of dating The-Boy-Who-Lived if you couldn't tell everyone about it?" Harry said bluntly.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed annoyed.

"Why on earth do you want me to date her so badly?" Harry asked tiredly.

"You're two of my best friends and I don't like it when one friend makes another friend cry for no good reason. You didn't even give her a chance," Hermione began.

"Just because I don't want to share my reason for turning her down with you doesn't mean that I didn't have one," Harry said irritated. Hermione was still his best female friend but her nagging had got worse as her confidence in her magical abilities had plummeted, and her insistence that she was right and always knew what was best for him was starting to drive him crazy.

"But Harry…" Hermione began scolding again.

"Leave it alone Hermione. I don't fancy her and no amount of you nagging me about it is going to make me want to date a girl I don't fancy," Harry said tiredly.

"Lay off Hermione. You'd be angry if we expected you to date someone just because the whole of Gryffindor saw him walk up kiss you for no reason," Ron said.

"Most girls would slap a guy across the face if he walked up and kissed her without asking or at least having some indication from the witch that she'd be willing, but blokes aren't allowed to hit girls so I politely asked her to stop and told her that I didn't like it. I didn't do anything wrong!" Harry said. "If someone you didn't like did it to you, you would have considered it to be an assault, but because Ginny's your friend you think it's perfectly reasonable that I should have to put up with being kissed like that!"

"I thought you'd be on Ginny's side," Hermione exclaimed crossly.

"Why?" Ron asked. "You think that I'd want Ginny dating someone who doesn't fancy her? Or do you believe that just because she's my sister I should help you bully Harry into dating her?"

"I'm not bullying Harry!" Hermione said shocked.

"You kind of are, Hermione?" Harry said. "I've told you why I don't want to go out with her, and you just refuse to listen and keep insisting that I should date her whether I want to or not."

"I'm sorry Harry," Hermione said contritely. "I just thought you and Ginny would be great together."

"I think you and Ron could be great together but you don't hear me bullying either of you about it," Harry replied making both his friends blush and look away.

Hermione finally got the message and backed off, not willing to talk about her complicated feelings for Ron with Harry. She realized that she had been insensitive.

-o0o-

The twins had been observant enough to notice that Harry hadn't encouraged their sister's behaviour in anyway and left him alone. They weren't happy that their sister had been hurt but they both could see that she only had herself to blame and didn't take it out on Harry.

So Harry didn't face retaliation from any of the Weasley boys and Hermione might have been convinced to back off, and but Ginny continued to give him heartbroken looks as if she was struggling not to cry and her friends glared at him whenever he was in the same room as she was, and Hermione continued to sympathise with the younger redhead. Harry knew that Ginny might have been sad or more likely disappointed, but he also came to realised that most of the heartbroken looks were deliberately aimed at him. When he saw her while he passed through the common room hiding under his invisibility cloak she seemed much more cheerful and less melancholy, and was starting to flirt with Dean again.

Dean was ignoring Ginny, unable to forgive her for trying to treat him as the consolation prize when she couldn't get Harry even though he still had feelings for her. He was initially upset with Harry about it too but he remained polite and only slightly standoffish with Harry after Harry apologised for hurting him, He accepted Harry's side of the story that he had never shown any interest in dating Ginny and hadn't done anything to encourage Ginny to break up with Dean or to kiss him that night.

After their discussion that night Susan had forgiven Harry completely and trusted him that it wouldn't happen again, though she kept an ear out as much as she could on what was going on with the younger redhead because she got the feeling that Ginny wasn't going to give up that easily.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed and those who followed or favourited this story for your support.