Chapter 21: I Love You

"HARRY POTTER! OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

Ron Weasley (as well as a few other boys (all the boys of Gryffindor and a few from Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw)) were pounding on the Head's Dorm door.

"Think they saw the notice?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Can you think of another reason why most of the guys at Hogwarts would be beating down the door?" Hermione answered.

"Can you answer it?" Harry almost begged

"Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived and defeated the most evil wizard of the century, is SCARED to face his friends?"

"Well, it WAS your bloody idea." Harry said getting up to face the wrath of the majority of the boys in Hogwarts.

He opened the door to find the boys outside his door.

"For the record, it was Hermione's idea. I wanted to do it Girls ask Boys." Harry defended

"Could you at least give us tips?" Justin asked.

"Why are you asking me? Remember the Yule Ball?" Harry asked them

"THAT'S why." Dean said. "I want to go with Pavarti."

"And I want to go with her sister." Seamus added.

Pretty soon, Harry was overwhelmed with a list of girls whom his friends wanted to take to the upcoming Valentine's dance.

"Okay! Okay!" Harry said with a defeated sigh. "I try to help."

0000

February 14th,

The Great Hall was decorated with red, pink, white, and gold. Conjured cupids and cherubim were flying around the room as couples danced the night away.

"How in the world did you get the Weird Sisters?" Ginny asked her date as they were standing by the punch table.

"I fire called them. We had them booked in a heartbeat when I told them who I was. Turns out, they were in their second year when my parents graduated."

"Small world." Ginny sighed.

Harry suddenly chuckled.

"What?" Ginny asked.

Harry just nodded to Ron and Hermione who were dancing.

"So?" she asked

"Remember at the Yule Ball?" Harry reminded her. "Ron didn't dance the whole night. When he started giving Hermione a hard time about going with Viktor, she yelled at me."

"Viktor? You're on first name terms with Krum?"

"So? Why not? He's famous. I'm famous. We're both Tri-Wizard Champions. We both play Quidditch. We're both Seekers. We're both good friends with Hermione. I have more in common with Krum than I wanted to know."

"Have you told Ron?"

"Are you nuts? You know how Ron feels about him. Maybe after he and Hermione get married."

The two laughed at the thought.

The music stopped and everyone clapped.

"This one goes out to all the lovers out there." Myron Wagtail said.

"May I have this dance?" Harry asked with a James-like bow.

"I'd be delighted." Ginny laughed with a curtsy.

Wise men say,

"Only fools rush in."

But I can't help

Falling in love with you.

Shall I stay?

Would it be a sin?

If I can't help

Falling in love with you.

Like a river flows

Surely to the sea

Darling so it goes

Some things are meant to be

Take my hand.

Take my whole life too

For I can't help

Falling in love with you.

Like a river flows

Surely to the sea

Darling so it goes

Some things are meant to be

Take my hand.

Take my whole life too

For I can't help

Falling in love with you

For I can't help

Falling in love with you

Everyone clapped at the end of the song. Everyone that is, except for Harry and Ginny. They ended the dance gazing into each others eyes.

The words to the song really hit home for the two. It described exactly how they felt about each other. Sure they knew before that they had feelings for each other, but nothing like what they were feeling now.

Now that Harry thought about it, he had NEVER stated a saying he had meant to tell her. Sure he hinted, but after talking to Hermione and his mother, it wasn't the same for women. Or, at least, SOME women

Finally, words that Harry had never spoken to his girlfriend poured off his lips.

"I love you, Ginny."

Her response: he felt her warm lips press onto his.

"Aww." The school cooed.

The couple pulled out and saw everyone watching them. A few girls looked downright murderous (they had been hoping that the couple would break up). After all, they tended to avoid such displays in public. They preferred the kissing in the Head's dorm common room, Room of Requirement, secret passages, or in broom closets. Once in a while, they'd even go down to the Shrieking Shack.

0000

"So," Ron interrogated Harry after the dance in the Head's Dorm. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. The song was just a little too much to handle."

"So, you're sorry you kissed my sister in front of the entire school when you usually do it just around close friends?"

"No. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. I'd kiss your sister in private, or in front of the entire Ministry. Like I told her, I love her. I've loved her for years, but I didn't want to start anything until after Voldemort's defeat. Now that he's gone, I can continue my life, as can she. So, we might as well do it together. Of course, we won't go any further than we are now until we are older."

Harry took a deep breath and braced himself. He looked at his friend and to his surprise, saw him smiling.

"You passed my test." Ron said.

"Test?"

"We all do it." Ron explained. "Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and I interrogate Ginny's boyfriends after they've been with her for almost two years. I'm stage one. Then the twins, then Percy, then Charlie, and finally Bill."

"How come I've never seen you interrogate anyone?"

"Because nobody lasted over a year with Ginny. Also, you passed Fred and George's test when you invested in their joke shop. Yes. I know about that."

"So all that's left is Percy, Charlie and Bill?"

"No. Just Charlie and Bill. Percy's still a bit tweaked at the family about the whole You-Know-Who thing. Why else do you think he never spent the summer at Potter Manor?"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I never told you, but our fifth year, Percy tried to get me to sever ties with you. I tore up the letter and threw it in the fire."

Harry smiled at his friend.

"Thanks mate. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'd be dead by now." Ron said with a smirk. "After all, WHO got you past the chess set under the trap door?"

"You did. And you were my first friend at Hogwarts. You taught me the important stuff."

"Yeah. Like what a Chocolate Frog is."

"And all those Quidditch moves."

That did it. When Hermione and Ginny entered the room expecting an unconscious Harry, they found the two boys talking about Quidditch.

TBC

Coming up,

"Yes. We should be worried." Ron said.

"Malfoy's kissing Ginny." Hermione tried.

"Excuse me?"