Ginny returned to the common room in a foul mood. Her hand itched more than ever and the old hag had made her write the words for about an hour. She put a healing charm over it which had stopped it from bleeding, but she could see how deep the cuts were now. She better watch herself and what she said because if Umbridge gave her another detention she may just have to chop her hand off.
When she reached the common room, it was pretty packed. She spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione in their usual spot by the fire and she tried to make it passed them without being unnoticed. However, Harry looked at her the minute she got closer to them and he stood up. Ginny sighed and she continued walking until Harry grabbed her hand, "We need to talk. I can't stand this silence." She shrugged her shoulders and replied harshly, "Well, you should have thought about that before you told Hermione." He let go of her hand quickly and asked, "Is that…blood?" Ginny tried to hide her hand behind her back but Harry grabbed it again before she could.
He gasped when he saw the words etched into her hand, 'I must not tell lies.' He asked carefully, "Why did you get another detention Ginny?" She sighed and took her hand back, "Because I was asking Michael on his opinion about Umbridge and he called her a nut-job. I wanted to see if he believed you or not so that I could invite him to join our…club." Harry frowned and asked, "So?" Ginny shrugged her shoulders, "So Umbridge heard. She'd been eavesdropping and she gave the both of us detention.
Harry sighed and shook his head, "Fine. I'll tell Hermione that I'll teach. It has to be a small group though, so that we don't get caught." Ginny nodded and smiled blandly, "Thanks Harry."
She was about to go up to her room when Harry caught her hand again, "Gin, please know that I'm so sorry. I hope you can forgive me. I've hated this tension behind us. It doesn't feel right." Ginny nodded and replied, "I forgive you Harry. Just don't cave next time. Otherwise…I can't promise that I will forgive you so easily again." He nodded vehemently and sighed in relief, "Thanks Gin! I truly appreciate it." She nodded and sighed, "If I had to admit I don't really like life without you either." He grinned at her, one of the first genuine smiles she'd seen on his face all year. Ginny asked suddenly, "When is Hermione holding a meeting?" Harry answered immediately, "They want to go to the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade this weekend. Did Michael sound interested?" Ginny shook her head, "I didn't get to asking him. But Luna's coming." He nodded and smiled, "That makes nine of us."
Ginny smiled and replied, "Great! Let me know when?" Harry said he would and Ginny walked up to her room. Once there, she collapsed on her bed and drew the draping closed around her. She heard the bathroom door opening and two voices she knew all too well echoing from behind the door, "So…is the love potion ready?" Rebecca. Julia whispered in reply, "Yes it is! I managed to get some from Fred and George! I don't know how they smuggle it in." Rebecca laughed, "They're intelligent boys I must admit. So the plan is, you sit down beside Harry, distract him and Ron and Hermione, and then I'll quickly slip it into his morning tea." Julia asked quickly, "How will we make sure that Ron and Hermione won't be watching? Or Ginny? She's always hanging out with them these days." Ginny couldn't help but notice the sound of resentment in Julia's tone and she couldn't help but scowl in response.
Rebecca replied, "Hmm. Ginny is a bit of a problem. She'll be watching for sure! But did you see that her and Harry aren't talking? Maybe she won't be there-one less problem to worry about." Ginny couldn't believe that this girl was so obsessed with Harry. For goodness sake he clearly wasn't interested! She nearly stepped out of her bed to give them an earful when she stopped herself. This could work to her advantage. She would just tell Harry about it and watch them not be able to give him love potion. She giggled to herself and waited for them to leave the room.
Once the girls had left, she hurried down the stairs, but first made sure that no-one was in sight. Then she reached Harry and he stood up, which caused Ron and Hermione to watch intently, "Gin…I thought you had gone to bed?" She nodded and replied, "I had, but then Julia and Rebecca are planning to sneak you a love potion tomorrow at breakfast…" this caused Hermione to giggle hilariously at Harry's shocked expression and Ron also snorted with laughter. This caused Ginny to grin and Harry shook his head in amazement, "Surely they wouldn't be able to sneak some into the school?" Ginny shook her head, "Nope, but they bought some from Fred and George…"
Ginny realized a second too late that she shouldn't have said this in front of Hermione who screeched in indignation, "How many times have I told those two that they CAN'T test their products on the students?" She got up abruptly from her spot and marched purposefully to the twins who were discussing Quidditch with Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet. She began lecturing them and their expressions quickly turned to scowls when they realized why Hermione was in a mood. Their scowls travelled across the room until Ginny felt them land on her.
She rushed to finish, "So Harry, basically don't drink your pumpkin juice tomorrow, particularly if the two of them sit down next to you at any point of the day. He nodded thankfully and Ron chortled behind him before Ginny zooted upstairs to her room and pulled the draping around her again.
It was Saturday morning and Ginny was getting ready for Hogsmeade. Umbridge had implanted new "rules" during the week which were as equally ridiculous as the first one she had initiated. On that note though, Hagrid had returned and that had caused much excitement between Harry, Ron and Hermione which Ginny did not understand, apart from the fact that Hagrid was back.
As she pinned her hair into a bun to keep it out of her eyes, she felt grateful to Luna for mentioning the meeting to Michael. He had approached her and asked her if he could join them. Ginny was meeting him in the quad and they were walking down together with Harry, Ron and Hermione. It was a cold, wintery day and so Ginny was wearing tight fitting jeans and a warm, blue v-necked jersey with a purple scarf.
When she reached the quad, she found the others waiting for her. Michael seemed nervous as she approached him and when he hugged her, he commented, "You smell nice." Ginny couldn't help but blush and giggle, "Thanks, Michael." She saw Ron giving her a sideways glance and Hermione seemed to be holding in her laughter. Ginny couldn't read Harry's expression, although it seemed like he was holding in laughter.
When they arrived at the Hogs Head, they were all so cold and freezing as there had been layers of snow covering the grounds. There were students sitting in seats already and people were talking in small groups. Ginny froze when she saw Cho sitting and talking to Luna. Michael headed towards them and so Ginny was forced to sit down next to him. When people noticed Harry, Ron and Hermione standing by the door they all turned to stare. There were at least about twenty five people there including Hannah Abbott, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnett, the Creevey brothers (Colin glanced at Ginny but pretended not to), the Patel twins, Katie Bell, Susan Bones and several others Ginny didn't know. She glanced at Harry and he seemed as surprised as she felt by the numbers. One of the boys she didn't know seemed to be smiling at her like a maniac and it made her feel uncomfortable. He must have either been a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw. Ginny whispered to Michael, "Who's the boy sitting over there?" She nodded her head subtly in his direction, which caused him to stop smiling and Michael whispered, "Zacharias Smith. He's in my year-a nasty piece of work for a Hufflepuff." Ginny nodded and turned her attention back to Harry.
The three of them took a seat on a bench which faced their onlookers and Hermione began, "Right, well the reason why we're here is because we need someone who can teach us defensive magic, since Umbridge is no good." Ginny thought Hermione seemed nervous as she was twisting her fingers together and she continued, "And we need someone who's really been through that stuff and done it in real life! The only person who could think of with so much experience is…Harry."
Someone interrupted then, it was Zacharias Smith and he asked, "Why? Why do we need to defend ourselves?" That's when Ron retorted, "You- know- who is back you toss pot!" Ginny wasn't surprised that this boy didn't seem to believe Harry's story. The next response fired quickly out of his mouth, "So he says." Hermione responded fiercely, "So Dumbledore says." Smith rolled his eyes, "So Dumbledore says because he says. What I want to know is: where is the proof?" Michael asked in a somewhat accusatory tone, "Harry could tell us more about how Cedric got killed." At the mention of Cedric's name, Ginny felt her heart constrict and she glanced at Michael irritably. He raised his eyebrows at her and shrugged his shoulders. Maybe this was the real reason he'd come along. He knew Ginny wouldn't divulge anything about Cedric or what really happened to him, so he was going to try and get it out of Harry.
She glanced at Harry nervously and found him looking at Cho, two seats away from her. She could feel the tension between the two of them and Harry blurted, "I'm not going to talk about Cedric! That's not why we're here." He whispered fervently to Hermione and she replied in a whisper but Luna interrupted promptly, "Is it true that you can do a Patronus charm?"
Harry froze, uncertain of what to say but Hermione answered for him. Dean replied in a surprised tone, "Wow! I didn't know you could do that, Harry!" Ginny nodded and whispered, "In his first year, he killed the Basilisk with the sword in Dumbledore's office." Harry stared at her, knowing how hard that was for her to tell people. She didn't like talking about it period, whether or not people knew the full story. She felt his green eyes bore into her own. A feeling of nerves filled her stomach and Ginny felt the old butterflies that she used to feel around Harry give a brief flutter. She could also feel her cheeks heating up as he stared at her gratefully.
The connection was only broken when Ron added, "He fought loads of dementors at once in last year." Hermione nodded and continued, "Last year he really did fight You-Know-Who." Harry interrupted and explained that he couldn't have done it on his own and he had loads of help. When he was finished, Hermione sighed, "You're right Harry. And that's why we need your help, because we need to know how to defend ourselves against…Voldemort." Harry glanced up then and Ginny knew it had been the first time Hermione had said his proper name out loud. She grinned at her friend who seemed to be blushing from embarrassment as Harry and Ron stared at her with pride.
Some younger student whom Ginny didn't know seemed to believe Harry as he whispered, "He's really back?" Harry nodded and then they all queued in line to sign a parchment. When Ginny reached the table they'd pulled up, Harry whispered to her, "Thank you. You didn't need to defend me." Ginny smiled as she signed her name and whispered back, "Oh no, I think I did." She grinned at him before leaving with Michael.