Spring

Of all the days to have forgotten a coat, why today? Ginny grumbled as she glared at the downpour. She should have listened to Hermione and learned a 'no-wet' spell, or whatever she'd called it.

Ginny Weasley sat on the bench underneath a small, wooden roof, waiting for the next carriage. She'd come to hogsmeade with her friend Luna for the afternoon to get some sweets. They were supposed to head back to the school together but half-way through the day Luna had asked if it was alright if they'd part ways. Gunny was alright with being on her own so she didn't object when Luna had danced away. She guessed she was going to go and buy some…er, odd objects that she wouldn't be interested in. Later she had spotted someone she thought was Luna, but quickly decided it wasn't. If it was Luna, who was the blond boy that had been tentatively holding her hand? She decided it had to be someone else and let it fade into her memories.

That would have all been fine. Until it had started to rain.

It was an absolute downpour, so quick and out of nowhere that Ginny was convinced it had to be magic. If it was, she was the only student who hadn't been made aware. All the remaining Hogwarts students had left by the time she had finally found shelter at the stop. That left her on her own, in the downpour, with nothing but the wooden bench and a small shelter to keep her company. Are there even any more carriages coming? She worried, glancing out to get a better glimpse of the road. Surely they hadn't forgotten about her. Dinner was probably done already. Was she going to have to walk? In the rain? She'd be absolutely drenched by the time she got back-assuming the gates wouldn't be closed for the night. If it was Hagrid on duty she might be able to get through, but anyone else…her mother was going to kill her when she found out.

With a loud sigh she stared overhead at the dark clouds. Spring had always been one of her favourite times of the year. Flowers blooming, snow melting, and more chances to practice Quidditch! But obviously, with the good came the bad. And that was in the form of blisteringly cold rain that lightening that shook the windows and cloud that completely shut out the sun. There seemed to be nothing but homework to do on rainy days. Yeah, because Ginny couldn't wait to get that done. Nothing good ever happened to her when it rained. She always had the worst luck. Being stuck in Hogsmeade without so much as a coat and no way home was a good example.

After huffing a bit she forced herself to stand. "Might as well get it over with," she grumbled. "Come on feet. Let's get a cold so you can stay in bed all day feeling completely horrid and,"

"Ginny? Ginny!"

Her head popped up. Coming up on the path wasn't a carriage. It was something much smaller. As it got closer she realized it was a boy, carrying some kind of…tarp? With some effort she recognized it as an umbrella that Hermione had told her about. Some muggle invention for the rain. Before she hadn't understood, but up close she finally realized what it was supposed to do. The rain beaded down the sides, leaving the holder underneath mostly dry. Said holder hurried over, making his figure slowly get clearer. Her first guess was that it was Dean, but she quickly disregarded the thought. They were fighting, and he'd never do something like that for her. Second guess was Ron, and she prepared herself for a wicked scolding the whole way home. The boy who came up to her was neither of those options.

"Harry?"

Harry ran up to an open-mouthed Ginny, panting form the run. His cheeks weren't red thought, it was too cold for that. The Umbrella protected him from the water, but a few drops had sneaked through and there was nothing it could do about the puddles on the ground that had drenched his feet. At least he had a jacket, but even with that he was shivering. Nearly as much as Ginny. "G-Glad I found you."

"What are you d-doing here?" she stuttered as she rubbed her arms for warmth. "I-It's late. How did you know I was,"

"Luna," He explained. "During dinner I noticed you weren't at the table, so I went looking and I found Luna already looking for you. She told me that you'd gone to Hogsmeade together then split up, but she hadn't seen you come back. She also mentioned something about Narggles, and I stopped listening," he added sheepishly while Ginny bit her lip to keep the smile off her face. "Anyway, I got to the gates and Hagrid said you hadn't come back. He said it's okay if I wanted to come and find you as long as I got back quick. He's waiting for us at the gate." So it was Hagrid on duty. She breathed a sigh of relief. Her overactive imagination had led her to think it might have been Snape. THAT would have gone well.

"I'm surprised they l-let you come get me," She admitted as she slipped her bag onto her shoulders. "I'd have thought with the death-eaters out and all…"

"I convinced Hagrid to let me go as long as I brought my wand and invisibility cloak," he explained. "But we've got to get back soon, or else he'll probably send out a search party." They both got a bit of a laugh out of that. Ginny imagined all the professors searching in their pajamas.

"Alright, let's go." As she hurried under the umbrella she realized just how small the area of protection the umbrella offered was. Harry's eyes widened when Ginny came so close she almost touched his chest. Um…by any chance, did you bring another one?"

"Uh…No."

"Oh. Okay then." She moved to his side, ignoring the few raindrops that hit her shoulder. "Under the one umbrella it is." Harry nodded, trying to hide the flush on his cheeks.

On through the rain and mud they went. It was hardly the fantasy that her 12-year old self would have dreamt up. Older Ginny decided to scoff at that version of her. She'd gotten over that crush years ago! She'd moved on, wasn't that obvious? He probably just thought of her as a sister anyway, thanks to her brother being one of his best friends. At least it was better than a swooning fangirl she was sure he's pictured her as when she was younger. Well, she hadn't exactly done much to prove him wrong. Thank goodness she grew out of that.

Harry accidentally stepped in a puddle, splashing both of their already soaking feet. Ginny cursed as she tried to helplessly shake the rain out of her shoes. "Gah! I hate the rain!"

"Really?" She looked up to find Harry eyeing her curiously.

For some reason she felt like she should have been embarrassed. "Er…yes. It gets all over and you can't go outside unless you want to get soaked. Remember that time during my second year when you had to play quidditch out in the rain? Harry nodded, grimacing at the memory. Not so much for the rain as for the Dementors. Sometimes the memory still brought an icy chill to his skin.

"Well…The sunshine is nice…But I do really like the rain."

"Come off it," Ginny turned, causing the umbrella to shake. They were both rewarded with a few drops of rain in their hair. "Why would you like it?" He grumbled as he tried to shake the water away. No need for a shower at least.

"Well-Obviously-I'm not the biggest fan of getting wet," he explained while shaking his head. "But I don't mind the rain. It saved me from a few beatings when I was younger." He could tell by Ginny's stare that he wasn't going to get away with changing the subject after that. "When I was living with the Dursely's, their son Dudley always made me his punching bag. Whenever it would rain I'd be able to run through the rain and find a place to hide in the park. Dudley hated getting wet so I'd be safe. At least until I came home of course," he admitted. "But usually when I came back he was busy with his video games." Ginny didn't even pretend to know who 'video games' were.

"But hiding outside in the rain couldn't have been that much fun either. You must have been freezing!"

There was no argument. "Yeah, I guess so. A few times I'd get a really bad cold at the end. But at least I got a few hours to myself. The dursleys never went looking for me because they didn't want to risk catching a cold. It was kind of nice watching the rain fall. A few times I'd bring some games to play or a book to read. Usually not a good one, since the book would usually have a few wet pages thanks to the rain." He drifted off a bit, going to where Ginny guessed was memory land.

Try as he might to make his memories sound happy, they didn't exactly bring up warm and fuzzy's in Ginny's heart. "Still, you were probably freezing. And I don't see how being out in the park all alone is much fun." Harry paused. The sound of the rain slamming against the ground was the only thing they heard as he examined her words.

"…True," he mumbled. But then, surprising her, he gave her a warm smile. "But I'm not alone in the rain now. So that's nice."

Her eyes widened as a warm feeling slipped into her heart.

The two of them chatted about anything and everything on the way back. They laughed at each other when they stuttered so hard they couldn't understood what they said. Ginny teased her brothers by telling Harry stories from when they were kids. Harry asked to the side why Dean hadn't come to get her, and she said she was glad. Harry had a slight smile on his face when she said that. They had a short, meaningful discussion about what had happened in the chamber of secrets years ago. Neither of them had talked about it to others, but they were able to tell each other what happened since they had both been there. She admitted she'd used to have nightmares about being possessed again, while Harry told her what it was like to try and fight the Basilisk without looking directly at its eyes. Slowly the conversation got warmer, and they almost forgot that they were both drenched to the bone.

True to Harry's word, Hagrid was waiting for them both when they got back. "Blimey, the two o' you both look frozen!" He led them inside the castle. Both of them let out a breath of relief as the warm air of the castle surrounded them. "Well, dontcha go standin' aroun' here, get! Go warm up by a fire!" They didn't need to be told twice.

Freezing and hiding their laughter they rushed up to the Gryffindor tower. It took them three times to get the password right with their chattering teeth and laughter. An annoyed picture begrudgingly let them in and they hurried over to the fire. Luckily it was late, and they had no interruptions. All the other students had gone to bed, leaving the two of them in the common room alone. "I-I should probably go get some sleep," Ginny rubbed her arms to warm herself up. But Harry shook his head stubbornly.

"You should warm up first. C-come sit by the fire for a b-bit at least." Before she could protest he conjured up some butterbeer drinks and pulled out a few blankets. "I-If you go to bed now you'll just freeze." She would have objected…but the butterbeers were awfully tempting.

The two of them wrapped the blankets around them as they sat at the foot of the couch with their feet in front of the fire. The butterbeer slowly disappeared as the two of them took their time drying off. Neither of them said a word while they relaxed. It surprised them both to find that the silence wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. They actually preferred it. Near the end neither of them could tell how much time had passed. It was likely close to midnight by the time Harry glanced out the window. "It's still raining outside," he mentioned off hand. Ginny glanced up and saw the rain pouring down on the castle. When she'd been out in the rain she'd absolutely loathed it. Every other memory she had of the rain was awful. But for once, things went okay.

Maybe the rain wasn't so bad after all.