Author's Note: I know everyone has been very upset with me due to the last two chapters, but I promise, this chapter will make things better.
I repeat: THIS CHAPTER WILL MAKE YOU HAPPIER!
keep in mind that this isn't the end of the story, so you are not going to be completely satisfied, but you will be happier!
Enjoy, LOVE Bella
Harry rolled over in his bed, and buried into the cool side of his pillow.
He was trying very hard to ignore the persistent knocking that was being issued on the front door of the apartment, and fall back to sleep, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult every second.
Whoever was at the door did not seem to want to go away anytime soon.
Harry's thoughts drifted through a list of his friends that could possibly be at the door at... 9:05 in the morning.
Alright, so it wasn't necessarily the crack of dawn, but it was Sunday for Merlin's sake! If he couldn't sleep in on a Sunday, when was he allowed to sleep in? 9:05 was an ungodly hour in his opinion.
Harry knew that it wasn't Ron at the door for several reasons. The first was that Ron was never up this early on a Sunday... never. Secondly, Ron obviously had a key to the apartment considering he lived there too...it wasn't Ron.
Harry's list ran short of people after Hermione, who wouldn't bother to knock on Harry's door so early, and probably would have apparated into the flat by now.
He knew of course that there were people who wouldn't simply apparate into the home uninvited, the person at the door being one of them, but he didn't care any longer. The knocking was getting louder if anything, and so Harry threw his covers off and walked unsteadily towards the door.
Normally he would have at least looked through the peep hole to see who was there, that being a basic instinct as an Auror, but he figured that anyone who wanted to hurt him would have blasted through the door by now.
Instead, he opened up the door immediately, and gasped a little when he saw the person standing there... or rather the expression on that person's face.
Ginny Weasley, the girl that had occupied Harry's dreams all night was standing in the doorway in all her glory, but the look on her face indicated she was ready to kill.
"Hey Gin. Why...why are you here so early?" Harry asked, flinching slightly as he saw her eyes flash with warning at his question. He had been around Ginny enough to know what the look in her eyes meant...that girl, as adorable and perfect as Harry thought she was, had a temper that should never be crossed.
"Is it early, I hadn't noticed?" she said sarcastically, stepping past Harry with a huff into the living room.
Harry was about to ask her what was wrong, but he didn't want his head to be bitten off, so instead he stayed quiet hoping she would say something first.
He didn't have to wait long.
"Do you know Harry, I came into your room this morning at the Burrow to apologize for being so distant lately, but could you guess what I found there instead of you?" Ginny asked, her eyes penetrating into Harry's with a blaze of anger.
Harry stayed quiet. Ginny was about to go into a rant, he knew it, and if he replied now, she would probably hex him.
Ginny started talking again almost immediately, not seeming to care whether he responded or not.
"In your room, I found nothing...not a single bloody thing! Do you know how scary it is, to walk into someones room and find that everything is gone except the furniture? I don't normally go into your room much, but I know you keep more stuff in it than that! Then, I go downstairs and floo Hermione, figuring she might know where you went, and she tells me that you moved out!"
Ginny's eyes filled with tears which she quickly hid by turning away.
Harry was completely confused. Why the bloody hell was Ginny so upset by this? He knew she would be angry he didn't tell her, but had she really been that scared?
Harry imagined walking into Ginny's room at the Burrow to talk to her, and finding everything gone...oops. That would be quite scary. Suddenly he felt awful. He had left Ginny no note, nothing. He didn't even say goodbye, although his plan had been to stop in for breakfast.
Harry realized that his brilliant plan last night had been rather stupid. He should have just moved out today with Ron!
Harry tried to reach towards Ginny. "Gin, I'm so sorry, I was going to tell you today that I was moving back into the apartment but... you got here first."
Ginny turned back to Harry, "No shit Sherlock!" Ginny said poking Harry in the chest with her index finger.
"Look, I don't care if you move out, I mean that's wonderful, really! But why didn't you tell me? I thought we were good friends, and then you just leave as soon as I go out and don't even bother to tell me! How the hell do you think that made me feel? Everyone else knew but me! I thought I had finally made it into your little group, had finally become an equal with you guys, and then I get treated like Ron's little sister again...like I don't even matter!"
Harry's heart felt like it was being ripped into two little pieces, and stomped on by a hippogriff.
How had he not considered Ginny's feelings? He had left in a rush so that he could try to put a healthy distance between himself and Ginny, but it just ended up hurting her which he definitely did not want to do. This was a mess, and it was all his fault.
He did the first thing that came to mind and closed the gap between him and Ginny, enclosing her in a hug. Seconds later he felt Ginny's arms wrap around him tentatively, although he could still feel anger radiating off of her.
This feels so right, like we were built for each other... Harry thought, wishing he could hold onto Ginny forever.
Harry pulled back enough to see Ginny's face, which was tear streaked.
"Gin, you are one of my closest friends. I sometimes feel closer to you than I do to Ron or Hermione! I didn't mean to leave without telling you, honestly, but I came here to look around, and I suddenly felt so out of place at the Burrow,"
Ginny started to interrupt with something, but Harry kept going.
"and I know you all say that I'm always welcome there, but I'm a grown man. I can't be living at my best mate's mum's house anymore, besides there was no reason for me to stay any longer." Harry saw something pass across Ginny's face that looked slightly like disappointment, but he was probably just imagining it.
"I promise you Gin, my first priority this morning was to come tell you since you were...out last night," Harry said, stumbling a little when he remembered Ginny's date the previous night.
Harry didn't like that he couldn't tell her the exact reason he moved out. It felt like he was lying to her, but he couldn't just tell her he moved out because he was completely in love with her and couldn't take it any longer. That probably wouldn't go over well, he thought sadly.
Harry could tell Ginny was no longer livid with him. In fact, she seemed to have just about forgiven him. He could tell she was still a little angry that she had been left completely in the dark though.
"Merlin Gin, I didn't realize this would affect you so much. I...I wasn't really thinking about it." Harry said as an after thought, rubbing small comforting circles on her back. I just had to get out, he thought to himself.
Ginny stiffened in his arms slightly. Although he didn't realize it, his words had affected her in a different way than he had intended. He didn't think about it at all? He didn't bother to think that I would be angry if I had been left out?
She had stormed over to the apartment this morning, believing that she was angry with Harry for moving without telling her, but the fact was, she was hurt that she didn't mean more to him, that he hadn't thought of how she would feel when making important decisions. He had become a big part of her life, and she thought he felt the same towards her, but this whole mess was making her doubt everything. Subconsciously she realized that she was upset because she cared for him as more than a friend, but she ignored that realization. Instead, she did the one thing she knew for sure she was good at...she got angry. Really, really angry. She was famous for her Weasley temper after all.
It all boiled down to one thing for her though... Harry didn't love her. At least, she was convinced he didn't.
The hurt feelings came rushing back now, despite the fact that two minutes ago they had vanished. She had actually been comforted by Harry, and was feeling much better, but what he said brought her back to her reality. He doesn't love me.
She could feel her eyes filling with tears again, brimming with the salty liquid that threatened to reveal her weakness. She blinked the tears back though as she felt the hot scorching anger boil through her veins. She could feel the sensation filling her like it had this morning, and she knew she should leave before she made a bigger mess of the situation.
"Well, I'm so relieved that I didn't cause you too much worry. Wouldn't want you to burst a brain cell or something now would we?" Ginny spat out, her anger clouding her brain and making her feel slightly dizzy. I should probably get this checked out, she thought offhandedly.
Harry looked down at Ginny in utter confusion. How had things suddenly gotten worse? Everything was fine a minute ago, and then he said...oh bugger.
He felt as though he had just undone everything he had worked on to make Ginny feel better. He had refueled the fire, and there seemed to be no way to calm it down now.
This was Ginny's cue to leave. She saw that Harry was not happy about this turn in the conversation, and she wanted to escape before they went through the painful cycle again. Besides, being in the same room as Harry for extended amounts of time made Ginny feel dizzy and weak-kneed. Or maybe that was the anger. Either way, she had to get out of there.
She turned away from him, noticing as she did that Harry's expression was one of hurt. This was killing her. She knew Harry wanted to be her friend, and her anger towards him only hurt him, but it stemmed from her feelings of love that she believed Harry couldn't return. It was odd because she knew that arguing with him would not make him suddenly love her, but she couldn't stand to be vulnerable in front of him either. There was no happy medium.
She started walking towards the door, her mind in turmoil trying to sort through all of the contradicting feelings inside of her, and still hoping to just escape with her dignity in tact.
"Forget it Harry. I have to go." she called over her shoulder.
Harry stared at Ginny's retreating back. He had no idea what made her end the fight so suddenly, not that he was complaining, but all he wanted to do was talk to her to tell her how much she meant to him.
He was on the verge of doing this, but something else caught his attention first...
Ginny was almost at the door when she heard Harry breath in quickly, as though he were about to say something. She really didn't want to listen, so she picked up her pace.
Three feet away...two feet...one and a half feet away from the door. Then she felt it. Her foot caught, her body lunged forward, and her mind went blank of everything except for one phrase...oh bugger! oh bugger! oh bugger!
She was going down!
Harry's breath hitched in his throat as his mind was taken off what he was going to say, and forced into watching Ginny. She was tripping, but not just a slight trip or stumble. No, she was falling headfirst to the ground!
Ginny felt as though she were in one of those crazy Muggle movies her dad was so obsessed with, where there was an action sequence done completely in slow motion. She was falling forward one inch at a time.
Eventually she hit the ground...hard. She looked up, down, and all around herself, eyes wide, trying to find whatever was the cause of her fall so that she could place blame. To her dismay, she found nothing.
Oh Merlin's shorts...I've tripped on nothing! I have quite literally fallen to the ground due to nothing! Way to go Ginny, super duper job! Are you going to simultaneously combust next? Who in the bloody world trips and falls on nothing? Who?!
Ginny glanced up at Harry through her lashes in an attempt to be discreet. She really hoped he hadn't seen that.
She saw Harry gaping at her as though she had just simultaneously combust.
Oh bugger, he saw that.
Harry could do nothing but stare at Ginny. He wasn't sure what had happened really, one minute she was storming out of the apartment, and the next she was on the ground!
Harry watched as Ginny looked around her, pretending as though she hadn't just fallen. Without realizing it, his face broke out into a grin, small at first but growing in size as he continued to watch Ginny's shocked face. He couldn't help it, Ginny was just so adorable.
The clumsy streak in her always made him laugh, and situations like this never failed to amuse him. The look on her face was funny as well as the fall, because she looked just as bewildered about the whole thing as he was, as though she didn't realize what had happened until she was on the ground, which actually, Harry rather suspected was the truth.
Normally, whenever Ginny tripped, which she did fairly often, Harry would always make sure she was okay before the two of them burst into laughter.
Today though, Harry could see Ginny wasn't about to laugh.
Ginny was angrier at Harry than she thought possible in a situation like this. So what if they normally laughed at her clumsiness? They were in the middle of a fight, didn't he have the decency to... to...not laugh?
Ginny knew her thoughts weren't making sense, and she really had no reason at all to be angry, but something in her snapped.
She scowled at Harry as he started chuckling. As he proceeded to laugh loudly, she glared daggers right through him. Nothing was working, he couldn't even see her anymore.
"Harry James Potter, you wipe that smile off your face before I do it for you!" Ginny said forcefully.
"Gin, I...I'm sor..I'm sorry. It was just...It was so funny! You know I love your clumsiness." Harry said in between laughs. How was he expected to remain serious?
"For your information Mr. Giggles, I am not clumsy, I am gravitationally challenged!" Ginny shouted loudly, fully intending for her statement to sound serious.
It wasn't until after Ginny had said that last comment, and seen the look on Harry's face when she said it, did she realize how funny of a statement that was.
Your gravitationally challenged? Sure you are genius.
The funniest part, she realized, was that as she said it, she had been dead-serious, which probably made the whole thing funnier.
She glanced at Harry, her lips pulling into a smile, despite the argument seconds earlier. Her gaze locked with Harry's, and before she knew it, they were both clutching their sides laughing.
...
An hour later, Ginny left the apartment and apparated back to the Burrow.
She and Harry had talked about everything that had happened that morning. Harry had of course apologized for what he said, and tried to prove to Ginny how much she meant to him as a friend.
He didn't understand that Ginny wanted more though, and that it was that reason alone that made her so upset. Therefore, even though Ginny was glad she and Harry were friends again, she still felt torn up inside.
The hurt she was feeling didn't really come out until she was back in her room at the Burrow.
She had opened her door, walked in, and sat on her bed to think, looking around at the cheerful light yellow walls. Normally her room made her feel happier and calmer, but it had no effect now as her mind replayed the whole morning. Before she knew it, she was crying on her bed, curled into a cocoon of her limbs pulled as tightly as she could manage into her body.
Everything she felt was fighting to be released all at once with the tears she was shedding, but she felt as though she would never be able to cry enough tears to feel better.
She only had one thought process. Harry doesn't love me. He only cares for me as a friend. I've been wrong in thinking I could get closer to him.
Nothing seemed to make sense anymore except for those simple thoughts.
After a couple hours, Ginny heard a knock on her bedroom door.
"Go away," she mumbled into her pillow.
Apparently the person at the door didn't hear her because they knocked again.
"I said sod off!" Ginny said a little louder. She didn't care if it sounded rude, in fact, she hoped it sounded rude.
"Ginny! What's wrong?!" Hermione asked as she pushed open the door and rushed over to the bed, apparently having ignored Ginny's "request".
"What are you...hiccup!...doing here Hermione?" Ginny asked distractedly, trying to brush the tears from her face and act casually. It wasn't working.
"I came to look for my purse, I think I left it here last night, but that's beside the point. Why are you crying, tell me what's wrong." Hermione said, pulling Ginny in for a hug, and refusing to let go when Ginny pulled away weakly.
Ginny was about to tell Hermione that nothing was wrong, she merely stubbed her toe very hard, but something stopped her. For one thing, she knew Hermione would never believe a crappy excuse like that, she was two bloody smart. Something else though told Ginny that she should tell Hermione everything.
She wasn't sure why she had the sudden urge to spill her deepest secret to Hermione, but she no longer cared enough to think about it.
She sat up, wiped her eyes and nose, and told Hermione the whole story.
She started by talking about the way she had been feeling around Harry since the day she met him. How every time she was around him, her heart sped up and she tripped on things (not like that was any different than normal...). Then, with teary eyes, she explained how she had overheard Hermione and Harry talking in the kitchen several nights ago and how it had made her lose all hope that Harry would ever love her like she loved him. She told Hermione about the awful pulling feeling in her heart.
Ginny could see tears were building up in Hermione's eyes as well, and she was glad she was sharing this with her, glad that they had become good friends that could share awful moments like this. Unfortunately, Ginny didn't feel like this was just a moment. She was fairly certain the feelings she had now would last quite a while.
She then went on to explain how Harry had moved last night, (which Hermione already knew) and how Ginny had not heard anything about it until this morning, making her feel as though Harry could care less about her, even if she knew that wasn't true.
Ginny was grateful for Hermione that she didn't interrupt and tell Ginny how much she meant to Harry as a friend. Hermione simply allowed Ginny to expose her raw feelings, and Hermione comforted her as best as she could. She knew Ginny had to release these emotions now or things would only get worse, and from the way Ginny described this morning, they couldn't stand to get any worse.
Hermione was also very angry at Harry. She had very strong suspicions that Harry felt exactly the same way for Ginny that Ginny felt for him, but he was denying it. Stupid boys. She had known this would create problems, although her solution had been to confront Harry, which had obviously backfired.
Once Ginny had calmed down a little, Hermione pulled back from the hug and said, "Ginny, what if I talked to Harry? From the way things sound, you haven't told Harry how you feel, am I right?"
Ginny looked down sheepishly. "Of course I haven't told him, I already know he would reject me!"
Hermione had expected this. "You don't know that for sure Ginny, he could have been lying to me."
"Why would he lie about that? It's clear he thinks of me as a sister! Look Hermione, I don't care if you think he might possibly feel the same towards me, I will tell you right now he doesn't." Ginny said, sitting up straight, resolve planted firmly across her face.
"Promise me now that you won't tell Harry how I feel." Ginny said, looking into Hermione's eyes intently, showing that she would not change her mind.
Hermione weighted her options. She knew that she couldn't betray Ginny's trust by telling Harry everything, yet at the same time she was almost positive that Harry felt the same towards Ginny. Shouldn't she interfere for the greater good of her friends?
She looked back at Ginny and faltered. Interfering was what had gotten her into this mess, maybe she should sit back and wait for more proof before she told Harry, which she most certainly would do if it seemed right.
In the meantime, Ginny wanted reassurance that Hermione wouldn't tell, and so cautiously, with her fingers crossed behind her back, Hermione promised to keep the secret.
And she would keep it, for a little while at least.
Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the delay there was in putting this chapter up. Like I said, this chapter is mainly transitional, and it is suppose to make things a little better. Some of you are probably smacking you computers yelling that it isn't better at all, but this makes the next chapter possible which will be the one where you all love me again!
Tell me what you thought! The next chapter will be coming soon, to a computer near you!
