A/N All the chapters so far have been alternating between one persons POV to the other… I thought we could mix it up this time around and see what both of them are thinking….tell me which way you guys like better….Hope you enjoy chapter 6….

"Your move Harry."

"You're so going down."

"I'm just going easy on you because it's your birthday."

"I don't think so Ms. Weasley." Harry teased back as he took her brook with his knight. He watched her as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and nibbled on her bottom lip, contemplating her next move.

As he watched her he absently thought about how since he arrived, they had been spending a lot of time together. One reason was because Ron and Hermione's fighting had reached an all time new high. They didn't even bother to wait to resolve one fight before they would move on to a new one. So inevitably he had been spending time with Ginny just to avoid listening to or refereeing them or the worst, when they tried to drag him into the middle of it. The other reason he had been hanging out with her was because frankly, he just wanted to. They had formed a bond that day in the park and though neither of them had talked about it since the night he had arrived, they seemed to have an unspoken understanding between them. It was nice to have someone who knew some of his secrets, it took some of the weight off his shoulders. Ginny seemed to understand him and he felt comfortable with her, he was quickly becoming to think of her as one of his best friends.

"Ahh…check," she smiled smugly at Harry, who frowned as he stared at the pieces.

Ginny thought about the changes in him since the day she had gone to see him. Thanks to her mother's cooking, he was quickly gaining the weight he had lost during his self appointed seclusion at the Dursley's and some sleep had done him well. But it was the change in his disposition that she was happiest to see. He was now able to express a healthy amount of emotion without having extreme outbursts. Most of the time he was a fairly happy normal Harry, but at the same time she knew he was still deeply grieving for Sirius. She knew for example, that he would occasionally sneak up and spend time with Buckbeak, but she didn't let on that she was aware, as she knew that he needed time to mourn the closest thing he had ever had to a parent. She also didn't mention anything about the far away look in his eyes that he got some times. Sometimes Ginny had a strange feeling that there were times that Harry knew something that nobody else could, something that he wasn't telling her. She didn't know what it was exactly that made her think this, but she did. There was just something about the way he looked when he thought nobody was watching him, that she couldn't put her finger on.

She was pondering this fact when a very red Ron burst into the room, followed by an exceedingly irritated Hermione.

"Ronald Weasley, don't you walk away from me when I'm talking to you!"

"And here we go," Harry said lowly, so only Ginny could hear him, not bothering to look of from the game.

Ron turned on her, "Fine, but you weren't talking to me. Yell, nag, bother, bug, scold, pester, harass, badger, or otherwise irritate me, maybe, but you were definitely not talking to me!"

"And Ron has apparently discovered a thesaurus," Ginny replied in the same sotto voice.

"How dare you say that to me! I'm only trying to help you. But if you are too blind to see that, along with everything else that is sitting in front of your face, then maybe I should just stop talking to you all together!"

Ron started yelling something back but neither of them were paying any attention to Ron and Hermione as they had already expended any and all interest in what they were bickering about. They would have been more likely to have paid attention if they had not been fighting.

"Check mate," Harry proclaimed with a proud sort of grunt.

Ginny scanned the board, he was right. With a sigh she said, "Come on I can't listen to that anymore," as she gestured to Ron and Hermione. "It's a gorgeous day out, we should go enjoy it."

With that she made her way to the back door motioning for Harry to follow her. She sat on the steps of the back porch and kicked off her shoes so she could feel the grass beneath her feet.

Harry sat down next to her, "I think, Ginny my dear, that you are going to owe me ten chocolate frogs."

"Well Harry my dear, my birthday is only eleven days away and at this rate neither of us are going to win."

They were referring to the bet the two of them had made on when Ron and Hermione were finally going to breakdown and admit that they had it bad for one another. Ginny had said by Harry's birthday, where as he had said by Ginny's.

"To be honest, I was sort of hoping that you would win because they are driving me utterly and completely bonkers," Harry stated as he rubbed his temples, "they give me a headache."

"That's why you need to have special quiet places." Ginny told him as he looked at her questioningly, "trust me with six older brothers, I have learned to find them where ever I go. I haven't shown you my tree yet have I?"

Harry shook his head.

"Well then, lets go," she stood up and stretched, reaching her hands high above her head. "I know you're fast in the air but how are you on the ground?"

With that she took off running towards the woods that started at the edge of the backyard. She loved the feeling of her hair streaming out behind her and twigs snapping beneath her bare feet as she dodged between trees. When she finally reached her destination she had to lean heavily against its trunk so she could catch her breath. She looked back and saw Harry running to catch up.

"How can there be woods in the back yard if we are in the middle ofLondon?" He questioned as too he caught his breath.

Ginny laughed that infectious laugh of hers, "Must be magic," she teased. She turned around and began to expertly scale the tree.

Harry watched her climb for a minute. Ginny was right, it was an extraordinary tree. It was mammoth, the trunk must have been at least eight feet across and some of the largest branches must have been four feet around. The lowest branches were low enough to scale easily and the highest must have been at last 25 feet in the air.

She was already six feet off the ground when she turned around, "Well, are you coming?" When she got to her favorite branch, she nestled herself into the grove that was just her size and watched as Harry sat himself on an adjacent branch.

"So what do you think of my tree? I like to come up here to think, this was one of the first places I found here that I could go to be by myself."

"Do you have other places you go?"

"I have a bunch of places at the Burrow, but here, I also like to go up to the roof."

"The roof, really? How do you get up there?"

"By climbing out the window, but that's usually my spot for when I'm mad or upset. I like to come up here to think or to write letters to people. I wrote some of your letters up here."

Harry liked the idea of Ginny sitting up here when she was writing her letters to him. "Who else did you write to up here?"

"Mostly you and Dean of course."

Of course she wrote Dean, he is her boyfriend. Why do I care? It's not like it makes any difference to me. I don't know why, but I don't like the idea of her writing letters to him in the same place where she wrote me. I almost feel like he is encroaching on our experience here together. I'm just being dumb…we're just friends, if anything it would be me encroaching on them.

Ginny looked at Harry curiously, he had an odd expression on his face and she couldn't tell what he was thinking. It had started when she had mentioned Dean, but she couldn't figure out why that would bother him.

"So how does it feel to be 16? Are you looking forward to your party tonight?" Ginny asked, wanting to wipe off that look on his face.

"Yeah, although it's too bad that Lupin won't be able to make it," Harry shrugged.

"What? He was talking about it this morning at breakfast, he said he wouldn't miss it."

"He had to go on an important Order mission."

"Oh..." Ginny was still confused, but she decided not to pursue it.

"So, what did you get me?" he asked nonchalantly. He had been trying to get her to tell him ever since she let it slip that she had already gotten his present.

"You really think I'm going to tell you?" she laughed at him, "Give me more credit than that Potter, besides you'll find out in a few hours."

They sat there for awhile talking about nothing in particular when Ginny realized that it was starting to get late. "We had probably head back if we want to get cleaned up before everyone gets here."

Harry nodded in agreement and waited for Ginny to start her climb down, and jump the last five feet or so. He watched in horror as she cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

He scrambled down as quickly as possible, "Ginny, are you all right!"

He was relieved when she started swearing up a storm. At least he knew she wasn't too badly injured.

"Bloody hell," she groaned as she clutched her foot. "I think I landed on something. Oh I can't look," she held up her foot up to him, "Harry what did I do to myself?"

It was hard to tell as there was blood everywhere. Then he saw it, a huge splinter, no it was more of a sharp stick was sticking out of the arch of her foot, and it looked like it had gone in deep.

"It doesn't look good. We should get you back to the house and get Tonks to get that out since Aurors get medi wizard training, because I don't want to try and get that out myself." He went to go pick her up but she protested. "You don't really think you are going to walk all the way back to the house on that foot do you?" he asked sternly.

She didn't reply but she let Harry pick her up.

"Damn this hurts," Ginny muttered. "But I guess this is what I get for jumping out of a tree barefoot."

"Well at least I was there to help you," Harry stated as he started walking back towards the house.

Suddenly Ginny started giggling.

"What's so funny?"

She had a mischievous look on her face until she flung her arms around his neck and planted a wet kiss on his cheek. "Oh Harry Potter, you're my hero!" she squealed.

"Augg…Ginny, do you want me to drop you and watch you hop the rest of the way to the house?" he asked. "Because I'll do it, don't test me."

Ginny put on a mock pout, event though they both knew he had no intention of following through on his threat. "Fine, I'll be good."

They were almost to the house when Harry saw Mrs. Weasley look out the kitchen window just in time to see him carrying a badly bleeding Ginny onto the porch.

"Damn. Why couldn't we have seen Tonks first?" Ginny grumbled at the sky.

"What happened to you, are you okay!" Molly shouted before she was even out of the house.

"I'm fine Mum, I just stepped on something that I need to get taken out. I'm just lucky that Harry was there to rescue me," she added that last part while looking at Harry, that mischievous glint back in her eyes.

Harry just sighed and rolled his eyes, "Is Tonks around?"

"Did I hear somebody say my name?" Tonks asked walking onto the back porch. "Ginny what did you do?" she asked spotting her foot.

"She thought that jumping out of a tree barefoot would be a good idea." Harry said repaying her for the hero comments.

"Geez Ginny, when did you become as clumsy as me?"

"I've been wondering the same thing," she said with a grimace as Tonks worked on her foot.

"Oy, Harry" Tonks said, suddenly remembering something. "I'm sorry but Lupin got an owl about 20 minutes ago and had to leave on urgent Order business and I don't know if he will be able to get back in time for your party. I'm really sorry, you know that he wanted to be here for it."

"It's alright." Harry said graciously. "I understand."

Ginny gave him a curious glance. How did he know that Lupin wouldn't be able to make it if he only got called away 20 minutes ago and we have been outside for over an hour?

"OWW!"

"There…got it!"

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Ginny had been sitting by herself on the couch watching with mild interest as the twins tried to persuade Mundungus to eat something, what was the question, when Harry came over and sat down next to her.

"How's your foot feeling?"

"It's alright," she shrugged, flexing the foot in question in a quick assessment, "a little sore, but I think I'll live. How are you enjoying your party?"

"I'm having a good time, but I think I ate too much cake, I'm feeling a little queasy," he admitted, rubbing his belly. "But I can't wait to try out some of the stuff Fred and George gave me next year at school."

Ginny laughed, "Just as long as you don't try any of that stuff on me."

"I won't," he promised with a grin, before surveying the room for a minute. "Do you notice anything weird about Ron and Hermione?"

"What besides the fact that they're not fighting?" she joked. However a look from Harry told her that that was exactly what he meant. "Maybe they decided to be good for your party."

"Well it's not just the fact that they aren't fighting, they're not even looking at each other," he pointed out. "And it's not just an 'I'm mad at you, silent treatment' kind of way."

Ginny watched Ron and Hermione for a couple minutes and saw that he was right. Neither of them seemed angry, but they were as far away from each other as was possible and still technically be in the same room. And when she thought about it, they had been like that all through dinner too.

"What do you think is up with them?" Harry wondered.

"I haven't the faintest," she said with a shrug, "but I'll try and talk to Hermione tonight and see if she will tell me what's up. Why don't you see if you can get anything out of Ron."

Harry nodded and watched Ginny pull a small package out of her pocket.

"I didn't want to give this to you in front of everybody, so here," she explained as she shyly as she handed the gift over. She watched his expression carefully as he opened her present and pulled out a silver chain with a silver lightning bolt charm on it. "I thought it was time for you to start celebrating what makes you different, you know part of what makes you special. Oh and I have the mate." She pulled a similar chain out from under her shirt except hers was a silver circle with a lighting shape cut out of it. "I know it's kind of silly," she muttered, her cheeks turning pink, "but I thought that they could kind of be like friendship necklaces or something."

"No, it's not silly," he interjected quickly. "It's perfect, I love it," he assured her already pulling the chain over his head before reaching reached across the couch to give her a hug.

As he hugged her he couldn't help but notice that she smelled like cinnamon. They pulled apart quickly when they were startled by a loud *crack*. Looking for the source of the sound they quickly noticed, as it would be rather hard to miss, that there was a giant octopus where Mundungus had been standing a moment before and the twins looked quite pleased with themselves.

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"So…. Is there something going on between you and Ron?" Ginny casually asked Hermione as she got her PJs out of her drawer.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked defensively.

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"I just mean that it seemed like there was some stuff between the two of you guys tonight." Harry mentioned as he put his presents away.

"What? No stuff, there wasn't any stuff because there was no reason for stuff because there is nothing going on between us. I mean besides that fact that we're friends but that's it…." Ron stuttered.

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"Are you sure because it seemed to me that there was some definite tension going on tonight," Ginny pressed.

"No, I told you…okay maybe something weird did happen this afternoon. But if I tell you, you have to promise not to say anything."

Ginny crossed her heart with her hairbrush.

"Okay…" Hermione took a deep breath. "You know this afternoon, how Ron and I were fighting when you and Harry left. Well we were both yelling at one another, right in each others faces, when all of the sudden he got all quiet and I thought he was going to explode and hit me or something and then all of the sudden he just grabbed me and kissed me….and the next thing I knew I was kissing him back."

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"You kissed her!"

"I know!" Ron threw himself face down onto Harry's bed, his voice muffled as he spoke into the mattress. "I don't know what happened to me. One minute I was so mad I could have socked her and the next minute we were snogging. I don't know what to do, what if she hates me now?"

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Now I don't know what to do. It's so awkward now…."

"Well there is only one thing that matters now."

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"What?"

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"Did you like it?"

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"Yes"

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"Of course I did."

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"Then tell him."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Then you need to tell her that."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Harry practically sprinted down the hall to the bathroom to wait for Ginny, but when he opened the door she was already sitting on the counter, grinning and waiting for him.

"You owe me ten chocolate frogs."

"Now the bet was that they were going to get together before my birthday, and they not officially together and today is my birthday not before.

"Well they kissed today and I say that counts for getting together and we never made clear whether today counted or not, I think that you are just trying to get out of paying up," she accused playfully as she started brushing her teeth.

"Alright, alright, how about we each get each other five chocolate frogs, okay?"

"Deal," Ginny agreed laughing as she handed Harry the toothpaste and spit into the sink. "But I still won."

A/N Did you like this format better or should I switch back to the single POV? Next time Birthdays Part 2 Ginny's Birthday….

REVISED 4/19/12