Their final practice before the big game on Saturday was an absolute disaster, which wasn't even a strong enough word to describe how bad the match really was. Peakes and Coote were aiming the Bludger's in total wrong directions. They were playing a three on four mock game: Ginny, Peakes and Dean against Demelza, Harry, Coote and Ron. Dean had had to replace Katie as she was recovering in St Mungo's after the necklace incident. It had been that bad. She'd been absent for a big portion of the term.
Ginny was currently trying to score a goal when Peakes aimed a Bludger at her, which she managed to dodge successfully, but then lost the Quaffle in the process. Dean was cold shouldering her the entire time and she didn't understand why. It wasn't like she had ever given him the go ahead to flirt with her. In fact, if anything, she had tried to de-rail him but he hadn't gotten the message.
This was also affecting his Quidditch skills, as he was refusing to work well with Ginny and put aside his silly grudges. It was only infuriating Harry, as well as Ron's surly mood which he had been in ever since Harry had let slip that Hermione had snogged Krum. Eventually at the end of practice, Ron was hurling insults at Demulza, and Peakes had managed to clobber her in the eye with a Bludger. He was apologizing profusely and Ron was shouting insults at Ginny.
Eventually Harry yelled, "ENOUGH!" Ron had just hurled verbal abuse at Ginny, insinuating that she was trying to steal the show because she was the only one who had managed to score any goals at all between herself, Demelza and Dean. Not only that, but he was implying that she slept around and that was not at all the case, as he well knew. She'd been incredibly offended, and the Ron had been cold shouldering herself and Hermione for the last week now and Hermione had been extremely hurt by it all and she didn't know what she had done wrong. Harry had obviously reached his limit and he was now putting his foot down. Ginny cast a healing charm her mother had taught her on Demelza's bleeding lip and she was trying to comfort the tearful girl. Harry approached her concernedly and asked, "Demelza, are you going to be okay?" She nodded and he sighed, "I think you better go and get that sorted at Madame Pomfrey's. Gin, will you take her please?" Ginny nodded and with another frosty glare at her pig headed brother, she muttered, "You better chuck him off the team, Harry, because if you don't, I will." Ron yelled at her, "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!" Harry must have silenced him as Ginny walked with a comforting arm around Demelza towards the hospital wing and said, "Don't worry about Ronald. He's just a big prat. He thinks he knows what he's talking about, but he really doesn't have a clue."
Demelza just nodded, and said, "You shouldn't listen to him either. You're a really good chaser." Ginny smiled, "Thanks. Don't worry I don't. I've learnt to block out a lot of what my brothers say in my life." Demelza laughed, "You're lucky you have a big family though. I'm the only one in mine." Ginny shrugged, "I suppose. But the hand-me downs aren't all that great I can assure you." She smiled and Ginny was glad she could be of some help.
Later that evening when they were having dinner, Ron sat with Dean, Neville and Seamus and completely ignored her when she walked in the dining hall. She walked over to Harry and Hermione, who were sitting once again, on the teacher's side which was where most people tended to avoid sitting. She had to walk past Ron to get to them though so she just marched on, without acknowledging his presence.
After what seemed like a mile long walk, she finally arrived at their spot. She sat down with a huff and grumbled irritably, "The four of them gave me a cold stone silence when I walked past. Obviously, Ron has been spreading more rumors about me." Harry scowled and shook his head, "I'm sorry Gin. He had no right to humiliate you today." Ginny nodded and shrugged, "It's okay." She felt, for the first time, like she desperately wanted to give Harry a hug, in public and not care about what people thought of her Quidditch playing. But she retrained herself and instead just stared into his eyes longingly.
Hermione interrupted and coughed, "Guys, keep the romance on the DL. People are watching." Sure enough, the notorious Romilda Vane was sitting not a few places away, watching them intently. When Ginny looked at her, she quickly turned back to the cronies of Julia and Rebecca and started whispering in hushed voices. She rolled her eyes and Hermione asked, "Aren't you going to eat anything, Gin?" She shook her head and whispered, "I'm not hungry?" Harry frowned, "That's unusual. Why? We had a hectic practice, even if it wasn't a good one."
Ginny shrugged her shoulders and scowled, "Zacharias Smith in Hufflepuff, who was in the D.A last year? He approached me in the hallway earlier as I was walking down here and told me that I'm only in the team because I'm friends with you." This had weighed heavily on her mind on her walk to the Great Hall and she remembered vividly how Smith had sneered at her so condescendingly, almost like Malfoy. It made her cringe internally and she felt sick and nauseous." An angry look crossed Harry's face and he growled, "You're not going to believe him, are you?" she shrugged her shoulders and stared unseeingly in front of her, "I don't know," she whispered. Ginny saw Harry glance at Hermione worriedly through her peripheral vision. She turned to them sharply and forced a smile, "Guys, I'm fine. Really. Smith is the last of my worries right now." However, she didn't sound convincing, even to herself.
Ever since she had dreamt of Voldemort killing Harry, she had been sleeping badly and this concerned her. She feared seeing that again in her sleep and it made her have sleepless nights. Sometimes, she would go down to the common room and get some work done, so she was well ahead in her work. But she worried that she would see it again. She had felt pain like she had never felt before, and it had been so real. The pain didn't seem like it was all in her head. It had rippled throughout her body, causing her to wake up in shock and fear. This was why Smith was the last of her worries. She could take his taunting, and his sneering, but she couldn't take the image of Harry dying right before her very eyes, and not being able to do anything about it.
Harry was calling her name and she shook herself out of her daze and smiled, "Sorry, you lost me for a second. What were you saying?" Harry glanced concernedly at Hermione and she shrugged her shoulders. Harry sighed, "Gin, I think you need to eat. You've exercised. You should be starving." Ginny rolled her eyes and commented, "Fine. If you insist." He nodded and she loaded a mound of baked potato and mini sausage rolls onto her plate. She took half of what she normally ate, but she still had some, which put a bit of a smile on Harry's face. At least she had made someone happy today.
Harry said quickly, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, Slughorn is insisting that the party be…so I just wanted to confirm with you?" Ginny nodded, "Sounds good. How's apparating going by the way? I keep forgetting to ask?" Harry shrugged and grinned, "Well, of course Hermione has already mastered it." They'd been taking apparating lessons for two weeks or so now. Ginny giggled, "I'm not surprised. Were you the first, Hermione?" She nodded, seeming completely distracted. Ginny frowned and asked, "What's wrong? You're so demure, it's strange." Hermione glanced up and said frustratedly, "I just don't understand what I did wrong!" Harry shook his head at the same time as Ginny and said immediately, "You did nothing wrong." Hermione stared at Ron and shook her head, "No, I must have. There has to be a reason why he's mad." Ginny glanced at Harry, who shook his head. She wasn't entirely sure why Harry was keeping this from his best friend. Maybe it was because he feared Hermione's wrath. She wasn't certain. But she deserved to know the truth.
On the way back up to the common room, Hermione departed for the library and Harry murmured, "I hope she's okay." Ginny nodded in agreement, "She's…not herself." Harry stopped her in the hallway and said, "And neither are you." She shrugged and tried to continue walking but he took her hand and stopped her. They were both well aware of the several students milling around the hallway and Ginny was also aware of the physical contact between them. Her every instinct told her to pull him closer, but she resisted it. she couldn't give in so close to game time. The worst part was that she knew just how selfish she was being. She was being terribly selfish, but she just managed to resist the urge, even though it was flooding through her like a tidal wave.
Ginny released his hand quickly and said, "Yeah, it's only because I'm under loads of stress. I'll tell you about it on the way up to the dormitory." On the way up, she explained how she had had the dream of Voldemort killing Harry, and how it frightened her and caused lack of sleep. It also made her lose focus in classes and how she feared it happening again." When she was done, Harry pulled her to the side on the landing before she was about to walk into the common room and said firmly, "Gin, I will never, ever let that happen. I promise." Ginny raised her eyebrows and whispered, "Don't make a promise you can't keep, Harry. We don't know what could happen. There's a reason Voldemort is back." Harry said sincerely, watching her intensely, "I'll do my best, Gin. That I promise." She couldn't help but will herself to believe it, as he pulled her into a bear hug, gripping her tightly. Ginny sighed happily and he felt so at peace when he held her like this-like nothing in the world could tear them apart.
She was very wrong because a second later, Harry pulled away and she frowned in confusion before she saw Romilda standing a few feet away, the cronies on her side. She smiled sweetly at Harry and said, "Hey Harry! Good luck for the big game on Saturday! We have no doubt you'll win!" The cronies looked disgruntled at being included at all, but Harry forced a smile and said, "Thanks." There was silence before Romilda got the message and hurried into the portrait hole.
Finally, it was the day of the first Quidditch match of the season against Slytherin. Ginny went down to breakfast and felt like she couldn't eat anything. Ron had somewhat, begrudgingly greeted her and she was surprised to find him sitting at the table with Harry. She frowned as she walked in and sat down beside Harry who grinned at her, "Ron, has decided to come around a bit." Ginny was even more surprised when Hermione was sitting next to Ron and she asked confusedly, "Was there something I missed out on last night?" Ron grumbled, "Yeah, Harry threatened to kick me off the team." Hermione grinned and nodded, "It was pretty epic I have to say!" They chuckled and she shook her head, "So really, what happened?" Ron said nervously, "Uh, Harry literally threatened me. And I realized that he had every reason to."
Ginny nodded and began piling on food. Sausages, bacon and eggs, you named it. She hadn't eaten since the previous evening and she was positively starving. Suddenly Hermione said angrily, "Don't do that Harry!" She glanced up to see Harry moving his hand backwards from the table and grinning hugely on his face. Lavender walked passed that moment and said loudly, "Cheer up Ron! You're gonna be great!" Hermione rolled her eyes heavily and said sternly, "Harry, you're not allowed to use that in this circumstance!" Harry frowned convincingly, "I don't know what you're on about?" Luna suddenly walked past with a roaring lion mask on her head. There was no doubt whom she was supporting today.
Ron's face suddenly lit up, "Did you…you put…?" Harry nodded and he beamed widely, "Come on Harry! Let's go and win this thing!" They high fived and Harry turned to her, "I'll see you down at the pitch, Gin! You need to get dressed!" She nodded, "Yeah, sorry I forgot to bring my robes down here. I'll be there in a sec." He nodded and kissed her on the cheek in front of everyone, causing her to blush intensely. She smiled in embarrassment at him as he nodded and headed off with Ron, while Dean, Romilda, Julia and Rebecca threw her stink looks. The majority of the table were simply staring at her in surprise.
Hermione giggled, "Someone's in a good mood today." Ginny wanted to crawl under the table. Then she had to remind herself that after today they would be telling everyone that they were together (regardless of whether or not they won) so she better get used to it. She looked up at the teachers table to see Dumbledore smiling at her merrily. Ginny murmured, "We both know he was trying his luck." Hermione shrugged, "Let him, Gin. You better get used to it." Ginny grumbled and then suddenly asked, "What did he put in Ron's drink?" Hermione leant forwards and whispered, "Felix Felicis. It's illegal to use in this kind of situation. He's going to get in serious trouble for it." Ginny raised her eyebrows, "Not if anyone finds out." With that, she finished her breakfast, said goodbye to Hermione and hurried down to the pitch to get dressed for the big game.
Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm quite proud of myself for managing to finish another one so soon! I sat down and worked quite hard yesterday and managed to finish this morning, even though I've had lectures in between and starting my second semester already!
Another important note: I aim to be done with seventh year by the end of this year. If I can't manage that then I aim for January next year. I've gotten my timetable so I can make up for lots of lost time in July when I start my practical and I have two days off during the week where I can put my everything into writing and I'm tremendously looking forward to it! It will be a well-deserved break after a long and grueling year!
The other thing I want to ask is for some feedback on what you want me to do in Gin's seventh year? I'm 99% keeping her at Hogwarts, but some readers have suggested that I write from Harry's perspective too, and I think that would be a good idea. It will be refreshing for me too. I could alternate between the two characters every chapter. Please let me know what you think? I really do take your opinions or suggestions into consideration!
Thank you so much again to everyone who has been faithfully reviewing and reading this story! It honestly means the world to me!