A/N: Okay, so I know that these chapters are short. I know that some of you would like me to change that. I'm sorry to you, because I just feel that this is the way this story has to be. Short scenes that give a hint of the bigger picture. The next chapter will be the last. I know I could've done a lot more with this, but there are so many stories and characters and relationships that I would like to write… I just don't have the time to develop each of them as much as I could. Hope you can still enjoy this! And if it helps, I've also just updated Life, for those of you who have been waiting for that like forever.

Falling Out

"Seriously, Gin, you gotta give a bloke a chance. I better get Seamus 'round to a meeting soon, so I don't have to humiliate myself with you. It's getting kinda embarrassing, it is." Dean shook his head, grinning at her.

She gave him a radiant smile. "Well, I could do that. Or you could work a bit harder to stop yourself being beaten by a girl. Who is a year younger than you, I might add."

"Guess I gotta start doing that," he chuckled. "You comin' back to the common room?"

She hesitated, glancing around the Room of Requirement, seeing Michael's back turned, then nodded and followed Dean out the door, still grinning.

The next day, Michael came up to her in the corridor, wearing that shut-off expression he was using more and more often, which always meant he was upset with her about something or other, but didn't want to talk about it.

She wasn't going to have that. She hated his bloody sulking. "What?" she questioned, glaring at him.

His face fell. Obviously he had thought he was a better actor than he was. "Hello to you too," he muttered.

"You're being sulky about something. Might as well let me know what you're being paranoid about this time. Me wanting to learn stuff from Harry somehow meaning I'm declaring my undying love for him? Or something else?"

He stood silent for a moment, his face set, refusing to speak.

"The hell, Mike! Just spit it out so we can get on with our lives already!"

"Thomas." His voice was low, his eyes dark.

"What about Dean? So, I worked with him yesterday. You were with Padma, and you don't see me moping about. I can recognize the difference between friendship and flirting."

"Can you? 'Cause you and Dean looked pretty comfy together. And you'd said you'd wait for me, and instead you went off with him!" He raised his voice, every attempt at holding himself back apparently abandoned.

"I forgot," she said simply, shrugging, ignoring the guilty pit in her stomach that said she'd known very well that Michael would be pissed, but that she'd went with Dean anyway. Because he was fun. Michael had been fun, once, and he still was, sometimes. Except when he was being like this – like she had known he would after seeing his glares over at her and Dean across the room during the entire time they were working together. She just hadn't been in the mood to deal with that.

"Nice," he muttered, turning to leave. "Real nice, Ginny."

She closed her eyes for a moment, not wanting to watch his hunched shoulders walking away. "Mike, wait!"

He stopped, not turning around. She half-ran to catch up with him, looking him in the eyes, making out the sadness behind the anger. "I'm sorry. Okay? There's nothing going on with me and Dean. Or me and anyone else that isn't you, for that matter. So you've gotta stop being so touchy about it. Just trust me, all right?"

Slowly, he nodded.

"You know, there is an empty classroom right about there," she pointed out, grinning suggestively. "If you want, I could prove to you in there just how much I want you and no one else."

She watched him hesitate, and quickly placed her lips on his, knowing this was the effective way to get him to stop sulking and just be the boyfriend she wanted. Just like she had predicted, it only took a couple of seconds for him to kiss her back, and a few more for him to be grinning against her, apparently having forgotten all about Dean Thomas. Just like she had wanted.

A/N: As I said, next chapter will be the last. It hurts to write them falling apart, even if I knew that was the way I'd have to end it. I really came to like Ginny and Michael together…