Chapter 2: A Good Thing to Gossip About

A/N: This chapter takes the same day as the last chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

"The fact that Harry Potter was going out with Ginny Weasley seemed to interest a great number of people, most of them girls, yet Harry found himself newly and happily impervious to gossip over the next few weeks. After all, it made a very nice change to be talked about because of something that was making him happier than he could remember being for a very long time, rather than because he had been involved in horrific scenes of Dark magic."

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, page 500

The scents of a hundred different types of food wafted out the door as Harry and Ginny approached the Great Hall for dinner, hands still intertwined. Harry grinned to himself as he thought of the day he'd spent with Ginny. After assuring him that none of his bits would be hexed off her brothers (and giving him a second kiss that was worth getting bits hexed off for), she'd gone into detail about the match against Ravenclaw. Despite a few drops of the Quaffle by Dean (which Harry pretended not to be happy about), the Gryffindor Chasers managed to score a hundred and seventy points, while Ravenclaw only managed to get past Ron five times- the third time was because a Ravenclaw Beater pelted a Bludger at him. He dodged the ruthless red ball in spectacular fashion, but was too distracted to stop the Quaffle.

Harry was particularly proud when Ginny described how she'd feinted to one side, as if she'd seen the Snitch in that direction, and sent Cho Chang hurtling toward that end of the pitch, while Ginny not only pulled off a thirty foot dive in the opposite direction, but even managed to catch the Snitch, ending the game on 320-50.

"It wasn't exactly a smooth dive, mind you," said Ginny modestly at one point. "I kind of wobbled a bit after I caught the Snitch. Still, at least I was actually watching the Snitch." She smirked at that last comment.

She did seem a bit smug about Cho's poor performance, but Harry didn't mind. He was, after all, secretly glad that Dean had performed the worst out of the Chasers, and he was on Harry's team! Who was he to talk?

The conversation didn't end at the match, however. They discussed professional Quidditch; he learned that she supported the Holyhead Harpies, and she learned that he was still undecided on specific Quidditch teams, but after spending the year listening to the WWN and reading books on Quidditch teams to try to find tactics for his team, he'd started leaning towards Puddlemere United.

"But don't tell Ron. I don't want him to feel like the only Cannons supporter in the world."

"The truth hurts," muttered Ginny, and Harry smirked.

After that, Ginny admitted that she dreamed of playing for the Holyhead Harpies one day. Harry had heard her say previously that she'd liked to play for them, but he'd had no idea she was serious. He could imagine sitting in a massive Quidditch stadium while her fiery hair danced rapidly from one end of the pitch to the other, tossing the Quaffle through the hoops with ease and triumphantly holding up the Quidditch Cup, with a few small scrapes and bruises as symbols of her hard work.

Harry then told her what he'd told no one else: that he'd once briefly dreamed of being a Quidditch star, but later decided an Auror was the career for him. This led to him telling her about McGonagall standing up for him in front of Umbridge, which led to at least forty minutes spent verbally abusing everything from Umbridge's voice to her clothes to her ugly, toad-like face.

These conversations they had were not life-shattering. But Harry felt as if he already knew so much more about Ginny than he did this morning. They were little details, like the fact that Ginny tends to swear when she's talking about someone she really doesn't like (he found this out whilst they were ranting about Umbridge, or Umbitch, as Ginny calls her), or the fact that she's even more passionate about Quidditch than him or Ron, or the fact that she tucks her hair behind her ear whenever she's about to start talking about something that excites her, or the fact that she injured her wrist the first time she snuck into the broom shed and flew on Charlie's broom, and as soon as her father healed her with the promise that Mrs Weasley would not know, she gave Bill's broom a try. These facts weren't that important, but Harry felt extremely privileged to finally be in a position where he could learn about these things, and looked forward to finding out something else about her the next day.

Eventually, they'd needed to wander back inside, as Harry wanted to avoid any more detentions and their stomachs were leading them towards the Great Hall. They were now standing in the doorway, preparing themselves for some staring and whispering. No doubt word had travelled to the other houses, and considering Harry was famous and Ginny was popular among the students, both of them knew their relationship would be a hot topic of gossip.

"Brace yourself," Ginny sighed, and they stepped into the Great Hall.

For a few seconds, it seemed that no one noticed them, but then the whispers broke out, travelling further up the four house tables like a wave. Harry could distinctly hear girls giggling. He waited for the feeling of annoyance to rise up inside him, the way it has the many times he has been in this situation in the past six years… but it never came. He'd been dealing with muttering almost non-stop since he attacked Malfoy, and it only made him feel ashamed, but this… this made him feel good. He could feel a smile creeping up in his face.

For the first time, Harry was not being whispered about in a negative way, because of his use of Dark magic or because of Voldemort. He was being whispered about because he kissed Ginny Weasley, and was now holding her hand as they walked to dinner, which was something he felt absolutely no sorrow, shame or annoyance about. He squeezed Ginny's hand tighter as they found Ron and Hermione and sat down, feeling lighter than a balloon.

Hermione beamed at they took their seats, but Ron looked slightly wary.

"Hey Hermione," said Ginny, "Hello Ron." She said the last part almost threateningly.

Ron seemed to struggle with himself a bit, but after an impatient nudge from Hermione, who also whispered "Remember what we talked about", he gave Harry a slightly embarrassed smile and said, ears turning pink, "Um… if it has to be anyone, I'm glad it's you. I… I'm happy for you two."

Ginny and Hermione smirked, but Harry looked Ron in the eye and said, sincerely, "Thanks mate."

Once again, Harry heard girls giggling behind him and he sat next to Ginny, but he was once again struck by how much he did not mind.

Let them giggle, Harry thought, Let them whisper. Dating Ginny Weasley is a pretty damn good thing to gossip about.

A/N: Thanks to the La La Land soundtrack for helping me write this chapter. If you haven't seen La La Land, go see it! I've seen it twice, and it's great. The cinematography, the colour palette, the music, the acting, it was all great. And the ending was fantastic.

I know this chapter was a lot shorter than the last one, but I didn't feel like this chapter needed to go on for too long. Please feel free to leave feedback, whether positive or negative. I just want to say thank you to everyone who read the first chapter of this fanfic. Thank you to smallwjl and scrappy8 (anonymous)for reviewing, thank you to Ad23, Beeweezy8, GreenEyedGirl510, McNerdybird, Metal Machine, MollyPrewettWeasley, WeasleyCousin, daydreamer111581, dreamwriter32, jaanaa, smallwjl and vaiolet90 for following this story, thank you to Ad23, McNerdybird, Metal Machine, benjamindh, dreamwriter32 and fantasyrose91 for favouriting this story, and thank you to the 218 people who viewed this story. It blows my mind that 218 people all over the world, from the US to Australia to Peru, read the first chapter of my story. That is insane.

Until next time!