Chapter Six: Confrontation

" Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose."

--Unknown

Harry struggled to maintain his balance as he lugged his stuff up the stairs towards the Head Boys room. With Hedwig's cage in one hand and few books on the other, he slowly made his way to his room. Hedwig hooted in agitation at the sporadic movement of the cage as Harry entered the room, set the cage down and dropped his books on the table nearby. He dropped onto the huge king-sized bed and sighed while thinking about living the rest of the year living with Pansy. What did he do to deserve this? His last year at Hogwarts, away from his friends, away from his house and stuck with Pansy, Brilliant he sighed as he entered the common room.

The room was indulged in both green and gold, from the curtains to the chairs, Dumbledore did one heck of a job trying to bring the two houses together. Harry snorted, it was easier said than done. He looked around trying to look for Pansy, a truce seemed plausible but he doubted the other party's cooperation.

"Potter," she stated simply. There was nothing more to say. Though she hated to admit it, Potter wasn't bad to look at on a daily basis. He'd definitely grown out of that scrawny phase and developed into a man, a very handsome man at that.

"Parkinson," he said. She liked the way her name sounded coming from him. She quickly brushed these thoughts away.

"Just want to let you know that nothing is going to change," she stated and walked away.

"Ok?" Harry said stupidly to himself. "Women," he muttered and walked back into his room and decided to start on his Potions essay. The next few hours were spent in silence except for the scratching of his quill. He flipped through the Potions textbook gathering facts, data and what not to support his thesis. Snape loved to torment his students by assigning long, difficult essays that were due faster than you can say Quidditch. Harry sighed and dropped his quill and quickly scanned his work, he really should go back and perfect the draft but decided Snape wasn't worth it, it wasn't like he'd ever appreciate Harry's work, if anything he'd look for errors.

He glanced at the frame placed on the corner of his desk it was a picture of him and Ginny. He slowly picked it up smiling, Ginny was laughing as Harry's arms were wrapped around her waist. It was taken just outside of the Forbidden forest on one of their rendezvous with Hagrid. Like any other relationship, they had their share of problems but Harry learned to take the bad with the good, hell he wanted to take anything as long as it was with Ginny. Harry loved her and he admitted it to himself, Ron and Hermione but not to Ginny. To put it simply, he was scared of confessing his love for her and then not being there for her due to an unfortunate turn of events also known as the story of his life. After Sirius's death, he broke it off scared of losing her but soon realized that he couldn't live without her. Ginny had a passion for life and living it to the fullest, she managed to teach him to lighten up a little, helping him realize the past is over and done with but the future is in our hands. As much as Harry admired Ginny's optimism he knew the future wasn't in his hands, Voldemort has returned and he'd have to face him sooner than later. Dumbledore has always been supportive and kept him up to date about the remaining horcruxes but both of them knew this was just the tip of the iceberg and a long, grim battle awaits them. A knock on the door interrupted his train of thoughts and he got up, opened the door to see Ginny. He quietly let her in and closed the door promptly.

"Hey Harry," she said quietly.

"Hey," he replied softy. Right now their relationship was definitely taking a beating and Harry was to blame. The past few days were spent arguing about the course of their relationship after he left Hogwarts, he was surprised to find that Ginny, out of all people, was thinking about the future. As usual one thing led to another and they said some things they shouldn't have said.

"Harry, we need to think about next year whether you like it or not," she said.

"The way I see it, if I live next year we'd still be together," he said coolly. He hated talking about the future especially with Ginny.

"What do you been if I live next year?" Ginny said irritated by his insensitiveness towards the topic.

"I might have to fight Voldemort this year and there is a good chance I might die while doing it," he snapped. Ginny glared at him, this time he'd gone too far and he knew it.

"Fine, then we shouldn't even be worrying about this," she said and started to leave. Harry clenched his fist trying to control his anger and quickly shut the door before Ginny could reach the knob.

"What the fuck do you want me to say, huh?" he yelled furiously. She didn't reply.

"Gin, why are you thinking about the future? Live for the moment, remember?" Harry said slowly regaining composure following his outburst.

"Because I want this moment to last forever" she broke down and covered her face with her hands. "Harry, if anything happens to you—" she stopped midway choking on her tears. Harry quickly embraced her tightly and noticed his vision clouding as well.

"Don't worry about me I'll be fine." He whispered knowing she won't believe him, heck he doesn't believe it himself.

"Harry, what I don't see you after this year? What if I don't see you after Hogwarts?" she whispered.

"Now, let's not get paranoid," he said. Ginny pulled free and gave him an icy stare.

"Why do you always push me away when I'm trying to be realistic?" she snapped. Harry looked down, he wasn't sure how to answer her. Actually, he did but didn't know whether she was ready to hear it.

"I'm afraid to lose you Ginny," he said.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said looking at him sadly as she held his hand reassuring her support.

"You don't get it," he said quietly.

"Maybe I would if you just tell me!" she said frustrated by his oblivious responses. Harry clenched his fist again, trying to control his emotions and contemplating on whether to convey his feelings to her at this point of time. No better time than the present he concluded.

"I Love you, alright" he said feeling both anxious and relieved at the same time. He was afraid to look at her, afraid of her reaction. He quickly felt her arms around his neck and heard her softy cry as she held him. He wasn't sure how much time had elapsed and honestly he didn't care, he was happy to be in her arms. His future may seem desolate but Ginny was like a ray of hope and a cause to fight for.

"I love you too," she whispered. Harry was caught off guard but he didn't say anything, he didn't want to ruin this moment, even though it wouldn't last forever. The tranquil atmosphere was royally shattered when Pansy Parkinson decided to grace them with her presence.

"Potter, we have duty tonight so can we continue this later?" she said sarcastically wearing the signature slytherin smirk. Harry glared at her; living with Parkinson is going to be hell on earth.

Now, for something completely different, I wanted to give Harry's perspective too because a lot is gonna happen in the next few chapters…you might've guessed. …but..im not gonna give u any hints this time :P

Im neutral about this chapter, dont think its bad but could've been better. Edited it as much as i could..tell me if u find mistakes!

Bye, and thank you soo much for ur patience. Im going out of the country this weekend so Ill try to update as much as possible before I leave. Thanks Again!

love! )