Ginny's first exams had begun and they were a nightmare! First had been potions and she had had to create a Draught of Living Death for a practical exam. She hadn't done very well and it had all been a complete mess. It was Monday evening and they were having their last D.A lesson before everyone begun exams. There would be no time for extra mural activities during the exam period, although Angelina still insisted on Quidditch practice every other day.
They were busy learning Rectumsempra and Harry was demonstrating its use on a statue to Ron and a few others. Ginny had just succeeded in blasting it to smithereens and Hermione had put it back together. The whole hall had clapped for her and she'd blushed in embarrassment. During the break, Harry had mentioned to her that Cho was there, probably because of their terrible date.
But suddenly they all heard a massive noise and Umbridge's voice seep through a small hole in the wall saying, "I'll make short work of this!" She blew out the wall, and Ginny had been too close to it. Harry had tried to pull her back, but instead he covered her with his body, as layers of wall flew over their heads. Ginny coughed from the dust and she whispered, "Are you ok?" hoping Harry would hear her. He nodded and whispered, "You?" She nodded and he helped her up, as they stood to find Umbridge, Filch and the Inquisitorial Squad facing them, smug smirks on their faces. Malfoy pulled someone out from behind what was left of the wall and Ginny heard Harry inhale sharply when he saw it was Cho. She clutched his hand tightly to prevent him from losing control. Umbridge yelled triumphantly, "AHA! I told the minister something was going on! I told Dumbledore. Nobody would believe me!" She turned to Filch and said seriously, "Send for Cornelius as soon as possible! Tell him to meet me in Dumbledore's office with Kingsley! Malfoy, search the room!" Malfoy strode over to the desk and immediately picked up the parchment, unrolling it and said exuberantly, "No need, Professor Umbridge, the parchment has all of their names here. And it says at the top, "Dumbledore's Army. Potter, the Weasley's, Granger, Longbottom, and Lovegood are all a part of it, as well as most of the people here. Chang was a member too." Ginny looked at Cho with distaste, only to see her eyes on the ground-avoiding complete eye contact. The word, "Sneak," was written across her forehead in pimples and Hermione looked angry with the girl too. She turned to Harry, who was looking anywhere but Cho. Malfoy continued, "Let's take this lot to Dumbledore." He indicated the people's names who he had read out loud and he headed straight for Ginny, pulling her along and grabbing Harry too. Harry murmured angrily, "If so much as touch her Malfoy I'll…I'll…" Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry and smirked, "Do what, Potter?" he snapped, enjoying seeing Harry seething angrily.
They were dragged into Dumbledore's office roughly and Ginny was surprised to see Kingsley. She thought he might have 'accidentally' neglected Umbridge's order, but it seemed that not even someone as high-up as Kingsley could ignore the old bat, even if he'd wanted to. Kingsley watched with eyebrows raised, as they were dragged into Dumbledore's office by the Inquisitorial Squad. Fudge hadn't arrived yet and Umbridge gloated to Dumbledore, who was sitting behind his desk calmly, and smiling, "Ah dear professor, what a pleasant surprise!" Umbridge almost screamed, "Not a surprise at all, headmaster!" At this moment, Fudge appeared at the top of the stairs they had just walked up. He looked at Umbridge firmly and said, "Right. Let's get to it. What have you discovered, Dolores?" Umbridge grinned maniacally and pointed to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Cho as she gloated, "These, among other students, have formed an army. Malfoy, show the minister the parchment!" Malfoy released Ginny and Harry only to hand over the parchment, and he walked straight back and seized them again. Fudge asked in an almost fake-surprised voice, "Dumbledore's Army?" The witch nodded triumphantly, "Just what we suspected all along! Dumbledore is trying to grab hold of the ministry!" All the adults in the room turned to Dumbledore and Ginny watched in surprise as Dumbledore smiled amusedly, "Ah, yes. I did form this army." Harry interrupted, "No, Sir it was me who did it!" Ginny closed her eyes and then shot Harry an angry glare. He needed to learn when to shut up.
Dumbledore smiled briefly as he continued, "Thank you for defending me Harry, but it says Dumbledore's Army, not Potters'." Ginny sighed in relief. They were in enough trouble as it was without Harry having to make it worse by claiming all the credit. She watched as Fudge shook his head in mock surprise, "Kingsley, get this to the Daily Prophet. Dumbledore, I will have to escort you to Azkaban for high treason…Dolores I'll leave you in charge of the school and the troublemakers." Dumbledore grinned, "I'm not going to Azkaban." Fudge rolled his eyes and a second later, Dumbledore's Phoenix flew down and swept Dumbledore up disapparated with him. The force was so powerful that they all fell to the floor.
When they stood up, Fudge nodded, "Kingsley, get this story to the prophet A.S.A.P. Dolores, you deal with the army." He nodded at her and hurried off down the stairs. Kingsley gave them all a wary look before he left. Umbridge walked towards them, and Harry stood slightly in front of Ginny, protecting her. Ginny grabbed his hand to prevent him from doing anything foolish as Umbridge lent down and grinned, "Oh, this is your girlfriend, Potter? I thought it was Chang. She spilt the beans on your little secret, you know?" Umbridge grabbed Ginny from Harry and pushed her against the wall forcefully. Ginny refused to react as Harry and Ron yelled, "Ginny!" Umbridge smirked in Ginny's face and she let out the most girlish giggle Ginny had ever heard as she said softly, "I'm going to have to use Veritaserum on you too then. See what else your boyfriend is hiding." Malfoy chuckled and Ginny gulped as Umbridge nodded, "Do I detect a hint of fear, Weasley? Good. Finally." The professor raised her wand, and pushed it into Ginny's skull, smiling joyfully, like a little girl who was getting the best birthday present ever. This action caused Harry to attempt struggling out of Draco's hold.
Umbridge released Ginny, who stood stock still, frozen to the spot. The pink witch looked at all of them in turn before raising her wand to her own throat and saying sweetly, "All students who have been involved in Dumbledore's Army will be serving detention with me, every evening for the rest of this week in the Great Hall after dinner. This punishment for defying me and it may continue into the following week. The only member of Dumbledore's Army excluded from the punishment is Cho Chang. Sincerely, Dolores Umbridge."
Ginny was surprised when Cho protested, "But…professor, I was also a part of it." Dolores walked over to Cho, lifted her guilty looking face which was covered in tears and smiled sickeningly, "Yes dear, but you turned them in. You did the right thing." Cho swallowed nervously and Umbridge nodded, "You may all leave."
When they left the office in silence, Ginny noticed Cho pulling Harry to a stop out of her peripheral vision. She was trying to apologize profusely but Harry wasn't having it. Good, she was glad he wasn't letting other people push him around for a change. They walked back to the Gryffindor common in silence and Ginny looked at her already scarred hand. The words, "I must not be so deceitful" were carved into her hand and were already two inches deep. She shuddered to think how much worse it would be if she survived the next two weeks.
Harry grabbed her hand as he examined it carefully. She'd vaguely heard Ron ranting and raging in the background of her mind, but she hadn't realized Harry had been watching her intently. Now she glanced up as he rubbed his finger over her scars and his face tightened furiously as he said angrily, "I should never have trusted Cho!" Ginny jumped at the anger in his voice and Ron and Hermione turned behind to look at him.
He was shaking he was so angry and Ginny whispered to Hermione and Ron, "You go on…we'll catch up." Hermione and Ron nodded. Ginny pulled Harry to the side of the corridor and she stared into his eyes as she whispered, "Harry…she felt so guilty. I could see it in her eyes. She hadn't expected Umbridge to forgive her. Umbridge did that to spite all of us and tick us off even more." Harry groaned as he began to pace, "Yeah! But why did she betray us?!" Ginny rolled her eyes, "Isn't obvious? Umbridge gave her Veritaserum." Harry paused in his pacing as he slid down the wall, his back to it as he grumbled, "I don't understand. You know what? I want to stop caring so much. The more you care, the more you have to lose-I shouldn't have gotten so protective of you. Umbridge saw right through that and used it against me. Like Riddle." He sighed and placed his head in between his knees.
Ginny watched him despair for a second before saying, "I know the feeling, Harry. I felt like that after Riddle robbed me of my control. I felt like I couldn't let you in. I struggled with myself for a long time over it. It was hard enough letting others in, let alone you, when he had made sure I wouldn't want anything to do with you if I survived. He wasn't planning on that though." Ginny gave him a bleak smile as he looked up, watching her intently as he asked tentatively, "And…?" Ginny swallowed, "And you made ignoring you impossible. If you hadn't been so persistent and sweet…I wouldn't have given in quite so easily. And that's why I'm being persistent with you. Remember, no matter how often you feel like you don't want to care-that's exactly what sets you apart from Riddle, the fact that you do care."
Harry nodded and took a hold of her hand, squeezing it in his as he whispered, "Umbridge torturing you, Ginny. I can't stand it! I can't stand not being able to do anything!" Ginny shrugged her shoulders and grinned slightly, "At least I know it's because she hates me. I think she hates that I stand up to her so much." He shook his head grimly, "Don't. It's not worth it." Ginny turned to face and whispered, "It is. I'll stand up to whoever tries to take me down. I think that's the one and only good thing I learnt from the chamber." Harry brushed a strand of her hair aside and whispered, "You're so strong. I pity anyone who tries to take you down." Ginny grinned, "You're strong too, Harry. Look how much you've been through and survived. You can survive anything-even death."
That's when she realized the look in his eyes. It was intense and passionate and she felt like being reckless and stupid and forgetting why they needed to be friends, and only friends. So she went on her instinct and pushed her lips against his. His eyes flew open but the second he she pulled him closer around the neck, he kissed her back and it wasn't anything like the first kiss they had shared. It was smoldering and burning and she felt like she was about to burst into flames. She stood on her knees and knotted her hands in Harry's hair, as he did the same and mimicked her. He sighed and broke away for some air before moving his kisses to her neck.
That's when Ginny heard voices. It was the remaining members of the D.A walking back to the common room. She recognized Seamus' voice a mile away and she whispered, "Harry…we've got to go." He released her and nodded, pulling her up and they made their way back to the dormitory in silence. Ginny went to bed straight away. She was exhausted and a question swarmed in her mind for the rest of the night: Why the bloody hell did I do that?!
Author's note: I'm sorry it's been so long! I'm a week or so away from exams so I can't guarantee updates so often but I'm getting to really exciting parts of the story now so hopefully I'll be able to find time for them. Anyway just to remind you that Harry and Ginny's relationship will happen a lot sooner in my story than it does in the original books because that was my plan in the beginning-I wanted them to have more of a relationship. I liked this bit because I realized they're drawing strength from each other, which fueled the fire. Hope you're all doing well and enjoy this chapter!