Chapter 5 – Back to Hogwarts

Harry was in turmoil when they boarded the Hogwarts express, he was so desperate to follow Mrs Weasleys advice and tell Ginny exactly how he felt. He was pretty sure she felt the same judging by her behaviour around him and to him; he caught her giving him these looks when she was close by and they looked identical to the ones he gave her. He could feel the energy and spark that lit up between them and was pretty positive she did too, the sensation that was caused when they did touch (even so briefly) send shivers up and down their spines.

After they had all found an empty carriage Ron and Hermione left for the prefects meeting leaving Harry and Ginny alone since the day by the hen house. Harry looked over to her, she was sitting crossed legged dressed in dark jeans and her Gryffindor Quidditch Jumper with her head in one of her potions books.

His head was spinning with information and suppressed emotions he had kept hidden as best he could.

I could tell Ginny, Mrs Weasley's right that's what Voldemort wants me to do, to isolate myself. I'd be so much weaker alone and if I had Ginny she would make me want to fight so much more to keep her safe.

However Voldemort would find out pretty much straight away if we got together, he invades her mind like he does mine. He would know if we tried to keep it a secret from others, he would know if he made any connections with Ginny.

Oh god he thought, he might know about under the tree and in the kitchen when we were together, but I don't think Ginny's had any nightmares since the kitchen table incident. He would surely know he thought, he knew every other time she had had nightmares since their conversation in the tree that night.

However Harry knew he'd do anything to catch her and make her suffer to get to me, she could die and where would I be without her, I might aswell die with her. But he also knew that Voldemort would make her suffer anyway, because she was one of his closest friends.

No, no, no, I won't let anything happen to her and she's brilliant at duelling and looking after herself anyway, she would hate me trying to help her all the time. My greatest power is love and it's the only thing I've got that Voldemort doesn't, he wants me to suppress my feelings and make me scared to love or care for anyone.

He'd made up his mind he was going to tell her how he felt about her, he had to, not only for himself but for her. He loved her so much and he couldn't imagine living without her, he was scared he wouldn't live to see his future so he decided to make use of the time he had now.

"Ginny...can I talk to you for a minute?" Harry asked.

Ginny looked over her book and saw the look in his eyes and knew he had something very important to say, she closed her book and put it on the seat next to her and replied "Of course."

"Well...I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and you know with everything that happened...

The carriage door swung open with an almighty crash. Ron came storming into the carriage quickly followed by a flstered Hermione.

"Bloody Malfoy, what an arsehole he really is!" Ron yelled as he plopped in the seat next to a rather nervous Harry.

"Why... what's happened now with the git?"

"He just thinks he runs Hogwarts, the way he goes on sending orders out here and there!" Ron explained.

"God knows why Dumbledore made him a prefect!" Harry replied.

Hermione dropped down into the seat next to Ginny and gave a sigh listening to Ron continuing his bickering; she couldn't understand Dumbledore's reasoning.

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Ginny spent the remaining journey listening to Ron and Hermione complaining about Malfoy, he was a slimy git. But he used to be just a school bully really, just shooting his mouth off and delivering a random hex to someone he disliked. However he had changed last year, he became in fact dangerous and she felt very uncomfortable when he was close to her or her friends. She was pretty sure he had received the dark mark and any remaining conscience he did have had completely disappeared, she thought of him now as pure evil, so why had Dumbledore made him head boy.

It was all too confusing unless Dumbledore thought there was some good left in him, which she thought was impossible.

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They were not far away from school now and her mind drifted back to what Harry had said just before Ron and Hermione had interrupted them, he was about to tell her something very important because she could tell from the way his eyes and face had turned serious.

However Ron and Hermione must not know or he would have continued wouldn't he, but he told them everything. Unless he wanted to tell us this new information separately, but why would he do that for. She knew that whatever it was was playing on his mind and that next time she caught him on his own that he would tell her (hopefully).

"Right!" she announced as she stood up and collected her belongings, "I'm going to get changed I think we're nearly at Hogwarts."

She walked into the corridor and headed towards the toilets to get changed, when all of a sudden the train must have taken a sharp corner and caught her off guard.

She went tumbling into another seating compartment where a pair of strong arms caught her by the waist, as they both collided into the nearby wall. She found her footing and made to stand up and thank whoever and saved her when she realised her saviours hands were still on her waist, she placed her small ones on top of his and moved them away as she turned around to face Michael Corner, who must've been getting changed himself as he stood without any shirt covering his chest.

"You ok there Ginny?" he asked.

She tore her eyes from his chest and looked up and said, "Yes thank you for catching me."

"No problem, glad I did catch you. Wouldn't want you getting hurt would we?" he replied while grabbing his school shirt and putting it on leaving the buttons undone.

"No I suppose we wouldn't. Well I better go and get changed myself, thanks again." She replied as she went to leave the compartment when she felt Michael's hand grab her wrist and turn her gentle to face him again.

"Yes." She said rather irritable that he had grabbed her wrist.

He dropped her wrist seeing the look she had on her face and realised she wasn't a normal teenage girl who would be blushing madly at this point.

"I was wondering when we get back to school, would you like to have dinner together?" he asked.

Ginny looked surprisingly up into his face and realised he was rather handsome and he had just saved her from a rather nasty fall, and she needed to get her mind away from Harry. He didn't return her feelings over the Christmas break and she had made a decision that she needed to move on, and meet new people instead of letting her feelings take over.

"Yes that would be nice." She replied, replacing the frown she had with a genuine smile.

"Great, what about tomorrow. I could join you at your table or you could join the Ravenclaw table, your friends with Luna right?" he asked.

"Yes I am, anything would be good for me."

"Well that's settled, Ravenclaw it is. I'll wait for you outside the great hall tomorrow for dinner." He replied rather eagerly.

"Tomorrow then." She nodded at him as she walked out of the compartment and down the hall to get changed.

Right she thought I've got my new plan in action then, I'm going to meet new people and enjoy myself. However she had this horrible guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach at the thought of having dinner with Michael and realised it was for Harry.

No, I'm not doing this to myself. Harry's had his chance I'm moving on, anyway she was pretty sure that Harry would notice her disappearance, as she sat with him most days for meals and they were good friends but that was it wasn't it.

Authors note

I just wanted to thank everyone who has read and reviewed my story so far, it's abit of a big deal for me to write this. I've always wanted to have a go at writing my own ideas for a story but never had the confidence to. I'm not sure if my ideas will work very well but we'll see.

Please review if you get a chance, it really helps me to continue to write.