Chapter Twenty-Nine

Ginny was sitting beside Dean on the sofa as they talked over the Quidditch match. Dean was laughing at something, but Hermione could see Ginny's lips tightening, and a moment later she shrugged Dean's arm off her shoulders.

Sensing trouble brewing, Hermione went to join them, just in time to hear Dean say, "And did you see the way Harry was staring at McLaggen? With his head in the clouds like that it's no wonder he flopped off his broom."

"He did NOT flop," Ginny said, looking rather irate. "He got walloped in the head, and I'd like to see how you'd do if you got with one of those things."

"Well," Dean said, looking annoyed, "I wouldn't have gone crashing down like a bad stuntman. You'd think he'd never flown before."

Seamus grinned and said, "At least he can do something wrong, right?"

Dean snorted. "Harry Potter, the Boy Who Fell."

"Shut it!" Ginny said. "It's not funny."

"Ginny," Dean said in a placating tone, "It is a little. I mean…he looked like an idiot."

Ginny stood up, her eyes blazing, and said, "He could have died. You're the idiot if you think that's funny."

Dean looked at Hermione appealingly and said, "But he didn't die, so it is funny."

Ginny sounded remarkably like her mother, as she said, "No. It. Isn't. You're just being ignorant."

"Hey!" Dean said, sounding angry, but Ginny merely glared at him. Catching her elbow, Hermione said, "Ginny? Can I borrow you for a minute?"

Ginny tossed her head and said, "Sure. I'd rather talk to you anyway."

Hermione suspected that that civil reflection was unlikely to soothe Dean's ruffled temper, but she ignored it for now and pulled Ginny towards the Portrait Hole. Ginny came willingly enough, and Hermione looked at her for a moment, suspicious of this unusual cooperation, but Ginny said nothing.

Once they were outside, Ginny leaned against a wall and took a deep breath. "Thanks," she said. "I was about two seconds away from hexing him."

Hermione nodded. "I figured." Privately, she rather thought that Dean would have done his cause much more service if he'd stood up and argued right back at Ginny, rather than attempted to be…reasonable and logical about things, but Hermione didn't plan on telling him that.

She put her hand on Ginny's shoulder and said, "Are you all right?"

Ginny shook her head. She was still very pale, and her eyes looked very dark and sad in the light. "No," she said, "I swear Hermione when I saw Harry fall all I could think was – "

She bit her lip, and cut herself off. Hermione couldn't blame her. Saying whatever Ginny had been about to say would have exposed all of her feelings, and for her own peace of mind, if nothing else, Ginny couldn't do that yet.

"Look," Hermione said bracingly, "Why don't you go up to the Hospital Wing?"

Ginny shook her head. "No, I shouldn't," she said. "You said he has fractured skull – he's probably still asleep, he won't want me bothering him."

She sounded like such a little girl that Hermione wanted to hug her, but she chose something more effective and said, "Look Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let me in went up, she says I've been practically living there lately, which means Ron's been on his own all day. Someone needs to go up there and distract him before he blows a gasket."

Ginny shook her head, but started walking with Hermione in the direction of the Hospital Wing. "I don't know," she said, chewing on her lower lip. "I don't th

ink this is a good idea."

"Ginny!" Hermione said sharply, "You're bringing him roses, or weeping over his body or declaring your feelings of deep attraction to him – you're just visiting. There's nothing too strange about that."

Ginny stared at her. Her hair was falling down, and she had a bruise on one arm, and she looked incredibly fragile. Her jaw was actually trembling as she said, "Do you really think he'd want to see me?"

Hermione felt helpless for a moment. She loved Harry, she'd even loved him when he'd acted like a complete git during their fifth year, but she could never imagine being so vulnerable to way acted, or felt. Harry was an emotional basketcase most of the time – things that were so completely and utterly obvious to even the blindest of mortals seemed to cause him immense difficulty. At least, that's how it seemed to her. Most of the time it never struck Hermione to be hurt by Harry, because even on the rare occasions when he was actually cruel, it was clear his heart wasn't in it.

But for Ginny…

If Harry looked disappointed to see Hermione, she ignored it and chivvied him into the right thing anyway. But for Ginny, it hurt. It must have actually hurt, any time Harry had seemed bored with her, or angry, or indifferent. And once upon time, Hermione might have thought such a response was silly, or extreme, but…when you didn't know if the person you loved, loved you too, and Hermione knew all about that now, then it was hard to have what she might have called…perspective. Hard to be sensible.

"Ginny," Hermione said reassuringly, "I know Harry would love to see you, okay? I'm sure of it."

"Okay," Ginny said. "Okay. Sorry. Being silly."

"No," Hermione said, feeling very old all of a sudden, "I understand."

Ginny seemed to brace herself and grinned at Hermione. "I think Dean's going to be annoyed with me," she said.

Hermione smiled. It was so much easier to talk about Dean – so much easier to watch Ginny talk about Dean. He might make her angry, but he could never hurt her. "Do you think?" Hermione said.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I know, I know, I'm the worst girlfriend in the world. I don't mean to be, it's just…I don't want to hold hands with him all the time, I don't want him to open doors for me or pull out chairs or any of that. I can handle myself, and Dean should know that."

"I'm sure he does," Hermione said, knowing Ginny wouldn't listen.

"It's just, lately, with everything else that's happening, I've felt a bit…suffocated," Ginny said confidingly. "We have lunch every day – and if we don't Dean's sure to ask me why, and why not and am I annoyed with him, and it's just…he can never just be quiet, you know?"

Hermione blinked. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said.

Ginny bit her lip again, "It's… I wouldn't mind spending as much time with him as I do," she said, "if he could just…stop talking, for five minutes. But he can't. I mean, he says he's helping me study, for instance, only he has to talk and talk and show me how to do everything, and…it's not helpful at all. If he could just sit there, maybe do his own work, not hover over me all the time, I swear, Hermione, I wouldn't feel half so stressed about the OWLs."

"He's getting in the way of your study?" Hermione said incredulously.

"That's not what I meant," Ginny said. "Well, maybe a little. I just wish he'd stop acting like I'm a porcelain doll, that's all. He's got to know I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure he does," Hermione said, still studiously keeping her thoughts to herself. "But he probably sees it as polite."

Ginny snorted. "If only he'd had a terrible upbringing!"

"Yeah," Hermione said, smiling a little.

Ginny mused on. "Maybe that's the problem with Dean," she said.

"I'm sorry?"

"He's so bloody perfect," Ginny said. "He never does anything wrong, he's sweet and nice and considerate, he was in the DA, he plays Quidditch – he does have a crap sense of humour, but otherwise…" She sighed, and said, "I've to do more work on Transfiguration tonight, so…I'll have to 'make it up' in the morning."

They'd reached the door to the Hospital Wing, and Hermione took pity on her and said, "I'll tell him I gave out to you about not doing enough of work and that you're in danger of failing. That should make him leave you alone for tonight at least."

Ginny smiled and gave her a quick hug. "You're a lifesaver," she said. "Do you think – "

Sensing that Ginny was about to begin stalling, Hermione said, "I've to go patrol. Prefect stuff."

"Oh, okay," Ginny said. "Thanks."

Hermione smiled at her reassuringly, and headed off down the corridor. She knew it was scary for Ginny, it was always scary, but the truth was Ginny couldn't possibly be happy, neither of them could be happy, until she'd faced her feelings, whatever that meant.

When Hermione looked back, the door was closing behind Ginny. She'd gone in to Harry.