Disclaimer: Not my characters. All belong to J.K. Rowling.
Ginny. I love you. I'm going to make my declaration today. I will shout it to the tops of the trees, to the tallest giants, even. I'll shout it at your overprotective older brother, Ron. I'll yell it to him...At a distance, of course. I don't want to see his bad side. And then... Then, I'll whisper it to you. I'llwhisper it into your ear, as intimate as I possibly can. I can only wish that you would return the words.Of course, to wish something does not make it so. But still, I can just imagine whispering to you those words I've longed to whisper, and you, in a nervous voice, whispering them back. The words tumbling off of your sweet, beautiful lips...
Neville looked up longingly at Ginny, who was across the room staring blankly into the fire. Justas she did the night before, just as she did every night since Harry dumped her. An idea hit him, and heran to his dormitory quickly and put away his journal. He ran just as quickly down to the common room once more and came to a quick stop in front of Ginny. "I have an idea."
"Hmm?" Ginny gazed at him vaguely.
"Let's go for a walk, shall we? It's not too late, so we won't get in trouble for being out on thegrounds. If you want, we can nick some food from the kitchens and make a sort of picnic out of it." Nevillel ooked at Ginny anxiously.
"A picnic? That sounds lovely, Neville. Just lovely." She stood out of the chair and straightenedthe wrinkles out of her robes. "Well, I have nothing else to do, so why not? All I've been doing is daydreaming,and I need a break from that."
The two exited the common room. They walked to the cooridor in which the entrance to the kitchenswas hidden, Neville feeling awkward and Ginny feeling almost the same.
"Er... I'll open the door, then." Neville tickled the pear and pulled on the handle that appeared. A femalehouse-elf looked up at the creaking noise the door had made and a smile cracked on her face. In a squeaky voice,she asked what she could do for the two.
Ginny cleared her throat. "We would like some food for a picnic, please."
"Some pumpkin juice, maybe? Half a dozen pastries? Some nice turkey for a sandwich, perhaps?" The house-elf ran around, gathering things as she said their names. "Cookies? Pudding? Soup?"
"Pumpkin juice, two pastries, turkey, and bread will be fine. Neville, do you want anything else?"
"N-no. That's quite enough, I would think."
The house-elf pressed a basket into Neville's arms. "Here's your food, sir. Just leave the basket by the fireplace tonight, and Penny will pick it up tonight, I will." Penny pushed the two out of the kitchens and through the door. "Penny hates to be so rude, but there's work to be done, there is!"
"Well, that was... erm... interesting." Neville stood in front of the door that was once more a painting.
"Yes. I've never nicked food before, Fred and George always got enought for me if I wanted somelate at night."
"Yeah. Shall we go then?"
"Of course." Ginny followed Neville out to the grounds underneath a tree by the lake.
Once there, Neville plucked up the courage to tell Ginny what had been bothering him. "Ginny, there'ssomething I have to tell you."
"Okay." Ginny looked up from fixing her sandwich and gave Neville her undivided attention.
"I... er... well... I... um... iloveyou." The words came out scrunched together, and it took a few seconds forGinny to correctly decipher what he said.
"You love me?"
"Yes. That is, I think I may... well, yeah. I do." Neville felt a great weight pull off of his shoulders.
That's all well and good, Neville, but I don't quite know what to say to that except... well... I may just love you too." Ginny leaned in to Neville and the two shared a kiss that shook the very ground they were sitting on.
"Well, well. Picking up the pieces, Neville?" The two broke apart to find Harry looming over him with an unknown fifth year Ravenclaw glued to his side.
"What do you mean, picking up the pieces?" Neville asked.
"I mean are you 'fixing' what's left of Ginny now that I've broken her?"
"You foolish prat, you did not break me!" Ginny stood up and withdrew her wand. "Any boy that can stand there with another girl on his arm does not have the privilege of breaking me!"
"Sure. If that's what you want to believe." Harry studied Ginny's face. "To you, poor Neville here is probably just a rebound or something." Harry directed his words to Neville. "I'm truly sorry. If I knew she would've picked a weak little thing like you as her next, I would never even have broken up with her.
"Neville is not weak." Ginny's eyes flashed and she muttered a quick incantation. Harry and his "sidekick" ran away quickly as giant flying bogies surrounded the two.
"Ah. Bat-Bogey Hex?" Neville looked at Ginny appraisingly. "Beautiful." However, Neville was not talking about the spell. Ginny blushed and the two once more began to shyly kiss.