Ginny finally felt like she was getting over Harry half way through second year. Her friendship group now included Colin Creevey, Rebecca and Julia-although Rebecca and Julia were mostly included because they tended to hang onto her as they (like herself) had not made many other friends. They all sat at the Gryffindor table together, and Julia and Rebecca still pestered her about Harry. Of course, they still thought the idea of him saving her was romantic, but Ginny secretly wondered if they were jealous. Either way it was pathetic. They tried flirting with him, but he showed no sign of interest. Even though Ginny wouldn't admit it, she was entirely grateful about that he didn't. The fact that he greeted her in the hallway made it harder to ignore him, but it also felt good at the same time.
Ginny liked having the routine of getting up every morning at the same time, and going to all of her different classes. She particularly enjoyed Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid. Ginny had always found magical animals fascinating and she had desperately wanted to fly Buckbeak. However, Hagrid had selected another member of the class to do it. That was before Harry had flown on him of course, and Malfoy had taunted Buckbeak.
Now Harry, Ron, Hermione and herself were discussing the event the evening of the incident and Hermione was fretting, "I don't know how they can pin this on Buckbeak! It's entirely Malfoy's fault! Everyone knows that!" Ron groaned, "It doesn't make a difference! You know how Malfoy can be!" Harry shot a meaningful glance at Ginny and she knew what he was thinking about-how she had complained about Malfoy making her feel uncomfortable. She shook her head subtly and he seemed to sigh in relief.
It was at that moment that Colin appeared out of nowhere and snapped a picture of Harry, "Hi Harry! How are you?" Harry blinked furiously and responded, "I'm good thanks and yourself, Colin?" Colin grinned enthusiastically and nearly seemed to bounce off the floor as he replied, "I'm great thanks! Good luck for the big game on Friday!" Harry nodded and said thanks in dismissal, but Colin plonked himself down next to Ginny started jabbering eagerly away to her.
Colin continued to pursue her, until one day she'd had enough. It was embarrassing, to say the least. They were sitting at the breakfast table on Thursday morning (the day before the game), and Ron and Harry sat down beside her, with Hermione on the opposite end. They greeted her and Ron watched her interactions with him closely.
Harry was telling Ron and Hermione, "I really hope Hagrid isn't getting sacked." At the same time, Colin was pestering her and she snapped at him, "What is it Colin?!" she asked almost furiously. She heard Ron snicker and threw him a death stare as Colin asked quietly, his cheeks flushing, "I um...was hoping um... you would come to my house over the summer?" He stared at the table and she felt a bit bad for snapping at him, but she also wished the others would stop watching. It irked her. Ginny sighed and took another bite of cereal before saying, "Sure Colin." His smile lit up his entire face and he hugged her tightly in front of everyone, "Thanks Gin! I'll let my parent's know!" He hurried off, probably to the owlery to post a letter.
Rebecca rolled her eyes and laughed, "You know you're leading him on, don't you?" Ginny shook her head in confusion, "No, I was just being kind to him, wasn't I Hermione?" Hermione shook her head and smiled, her curls falling over her shoulders messily as she replied, "I'm afraid Rebecca's right, Gin. You know he likes you in that way. He may think this is like a date." Ginny groaned while Harry and Ron snickered into their cereal. She punched Ron in the arm and muttered, "It's not funny." Ron laughed and shook his head, "That's where you're wrong little sis!" Ginny groaned and shook her head in frustration, "I don't know what to do! I want to be a friend to her but he's just so..." Harry, who sat opposite her supplied a word, "Tiresome?" She nodded in agreement and Harry's eyes shined at her as she laughed, "Exactly!" He chuckled and commented, "I know. I also feel like he's perusing me. That sounds wrong though!" She giggled and replied, "No you're right! He's got this...I don't know like determination or persistence or something. He won't give up easily." Hermione remarked through fits of laughter, "It's a good quality for a future boyfriend Ginny! You don't want to be the one perusing the guy! It needs to be the other way around" Ginny shot her friend a glare and retorted, "I'm not even looking for a boyfriend Hermione. So it doesn't matter either way. I just feel bad about...well you know." She looked at Harry who nodded in understanding. Ginny was the one who had unleashed the Basilisk, but Dumbledore had somehow kept who had opened the chamber under wraps and had managed to pin it all on Tom. Ginny felt bad because she felt like she was to blame for it attacking Colin and Hermione. Only Ron, Harry and Hermione knew the truth and she had quickly forgiven her.
Harry was watching her intensely after her last statement of not wanting a boyfriend. He had been keeping his distance ever since she had suggested it at practice two weeks ago. He'd been polite and made conversation when he had to, but he hadn't asked about Riddle again, and for that she was grateful. She didn't even like thinking about it, let alone discussing it. And besides she knew Harry had other things on his mind which were more important, like fighting dementors and Sirius Black. It was common knowledge amongst the students now that Harry suffered from the dementors more than anyone else.
Ginny stood up from breakfast and said, "I better get going. I have Snape first so I don't want to be late. He already hates my guts because I'm a Weasley." Ron replied through a mouthful of food something that she couldn't make out what he was saying. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Have a good day guys." They nodded and said the same as she walked to Snape's class.
The next day was the Quidditch match and she woke up with nerves in her system. They had practised yesterday evening and it had gone fairly well. She'd managed to score fifty points before Katie had and that had made Harry clap enthusiastically. But somehow she still felt nervous, as if that wasn't good enough. Wood had told her to specifically pay attention to the Quaffle. Don't let anything else distract you. Ginny was especially good at being distracted when Harry was around and it bothered her that she might lose focus.
She got out of bed early, showered and dressed in the bathroom which led off the dormitory. Everyone else was still sound asleep as it was only seven o clock. As she walked down the stairs and into the common room, she noticed a lone figure sitting on the couch with shocking black hair and he was hunched over. Harry.
Groggily, Ginny sat beside him and he looked up tiredly, "Hey Gin! Why are you up so early?" Ginny smiled and replied grimly, "Bad dream." He frowned at her and pushed his glasses up as he asked tentatively, "Riddle?" Ginny grinned and shook her head, "No actually, although I still have those too. This was about the match." Harry laughed, "Well I think that's a better dream to have. What happened in it?" Ginny shivered at the memory as she retold Harry, "I just felt really cold all of a sudden and it was like my broom began to freeze up and I couldn't fly..." she turned to look at him properly and he nodded in realisation, "Dementors?" he asked curiously. Ginny nodded and he shrugged before putting an arm around her whispering in her ear, "You don't have to worry Gin. You'll be amazing and even if we don't win, it will in all likely-hood be because I didn't get the snitch, not because you didn't score points for us." Ginny felt herself blushing at the intensity of his closeness and she found herself moving away from him. Now she couldn't even look at him as she murmured, "Thanks Harry." He seemed to notice that he'd over stepped his mark and so he backed off and replied, "It's no problem Gin. We're going to send Slytherin to Askaban with the way we defeat them today!" Ginny giggled, "Is that the prep talk you always give yourself?" She asked cheekily. He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "The positivity lessons the nerves." Ginny nodded and looked outside at the stormy weather. She wasn't feeling too positive herself...
Author's Note: I've written most of the story already but I realised that her second year was far too short, so I'm trying to add more to it, so it might take longer to put chapters up than usual. Thank you to my first reviewer!