CHAPTER 4

Ginny

George and Harry stood at the doorstep, his foot tapped impatiently against the gravel as Fred knocked.

"I know I told you we would be here a couple of days ago, but … well Ginny is a busy woman." He knocked again,

"It's fine, I understand…" Harry had healed dramatically over the past few days, he was able to stand and walk without the constant feeling of a stabbing pain through his chest. The cut still bled occasionally however, the skin refusing to bond where it was broken. George was chivalrous enough to lend Harry a shirt and jeans, seeming all his other clothes asides from his black jacket were torn apart. George sighed impatiently,

"Come on Gin," he whispered under his breathe, knocking once more. The door swung open, "wow," said George, frowning suspiciously, "Didn't know that actually happened in real life." He stepped through the door; Harry trailed behind him, shutting the door with a quiet snap.

Harry walked into the room anticipation growing in his chest, suddenly he heard George give off a disgusted cringing sound. Harry turned to see Ginny straddling a shirtless man on the couch, hands wrapped around his head and kissing him passionately. George cleared his throat and Ginny looked up, wide-eyed. She snatched the shirt from the floor and handed it to the man,

"Don't you knock?" She whispered angrily, as the man with dark brown hair pulled it over his head.

"We did, you just mustn't have heard us through your horizontal folk-dancing." Ginny scowled,

"Us? What do you mean us?" George nodded towards Harry and Ginny poked her head above the couch and squinted at Harry.

"Oh, of course. The stranger you took in, mum told me about this. Do you know how dangerous that is?"

"Save it Gin, I've already had that lecture. Besides, he doesn't seem dangerous –,"

"They never do," she whispered. Standing right here, Harry thought to himself, he thought George had discussed meeting with Ginny… apparently he did, but Harry was just left out of the equation. Ginny stood and Harry's eyes moved over her, her red hair reached her upper-arm but her eyes were dark and past-ridden. A long faint scar stretched down her shoulder as if a blade had sliced right across it but her face was soft and white, making her hair appear fierier than ever.

Harry saw her move a wand through her long white fingers.

"Do you have a name?" She asked suspiciously, her head cocked to one side.

"James…" Ginny frowned, her eyes meeting his momentarily; he subconsciously pushed his hair down over his scar. Harry's eyes darted to the man who was now standing by the couch,

"Sorry for this Jack," he heard George say, clasping the man by the shoulder. Ginny turned around and grabbed a sword from the table beside her. She whipped it out; it glinted in the light, a dark red handle fitted with gold winked up at Harry. Ginny placed the tip of it an inch from Harry's chest, with one thrust she could have sent it through his heart. Her eyes glinted at him; Harry looked up at George, who protested,

"Gin, he has no weapons, I took them off him, give him a break okay?"

"Well, you better give him weapons pretty fast because I'm in the mood to kill a Death Eater!" Harry's eyes widened,

"I am not a Death Eater!" He argued, as Godric Gryffindor's sword was thrown at him, he caught it and removed it from its sheath. Ginny smirked,

"Really?" She pushed the tip of the metal into his neck where blood beaded. He pushed it away, standing feet from her,

"Gin!" Harry heard the man, Jack say, Harry's eyes darted to him, looking over his appearance; he had bright auburn eyes and light brown hair, his arms were toned and muscular, Auror Harry thought bitterly. "This isn't fair for him," Jack pointed out, "he's injured! And besides, you haven't lost a duel in years."

"Always a first time," Harry smirked; he twirled the sword in his fingers.

"Someone's getting cocky," muttered Ginny, "I can soon fix that," she pointed the blade directly at his crotch, Harry knocked it away.

"Play on words, I like that." Ginny frowned and lurched forward, Harry blocked her. She smirked as the metal clashed, then stared deep into his eyes as if trying to intimidate him. Without another thought they began to duel, Harry had no intention on hurting her, so he mostly defended himself. George and Jack watching in awe as they quickened; their hands became a blur, the swords a glinting light that they couldn't keep track of.

Harry twitched his sword counter-clockwise as she swung hers in the air and Ginny's sword flew further up than she could catch it. As it began to hum through the air, Harry caught it with his left hand and pointed Gryffindor's sword at her chest. She stared in awe at the swords now both in Harry's hands, and slowly, defensively, took out her wand. Harry immediately sensed George and Jack going to do the same.

"Don't need to do that," he muttered, he lowered his own sword and handed Ginny back hers. Ginny stared at her sword as if it had somehow betrayed her. She looked at Harry and frowned, Harry turned around to see both George and Jack carrying the same expressions, he swallowed.

"You got lucky," he heard Ginny mutter, placing her sword back onto the table.

"Or maybe," George said with a small laugh, "you've just found someone better than you."

"Alright, sure, fine. Well done James, you're apparently better at swordsmanship than I gave you credit for." Her voice was full of menace; it was obvious she still didn't trust him. If anything, she appeared even more suspicious of him now that he had beaten her.

"Where are you from?" Ginny asked, he frowned slightly,

"Around," he said carefully, he cursed himself; he needed to get the truth out fast, people's lives were at stake. Ginny's eyes trailed down to the white bandage, now obvious under his t-shirt.

"That's not an answer," she whispered. Harry and Ginny just stared at each other, Ginny had changed, Harry knew this much. She didn't appear to be the optimistic girl she used to be, she had turned into an angry woman haunted by her past, trying to move on and yet failing miserably. Ginny sighed,

"So," she said, eyes opening to rest on George. "Was there a reason you brought a stranger into my house?"

"Now that you have finally asked and stopped attacking your guests with swords, yes, there is a reason." George signaled for Harry to pull up his shirt, Harry clasped his hand around the fabric and pulled up, revealing the white bandage underneath. Ginny frowned and stood, pulling her wand out of her pocket,

"I can't see anything with that on," she muttered absentmindedly, Harry gazed at her, not quite sure what she meant. Without asking permission, she lightly flicked her wand and watched the entire bandage cut in half and fall to the ground.

"Hey!" Said George, coming to a complete stand, "that took –," Ginny raised her hand to silence him.

"George, you asked for my help and now I am giving it to you, don't complain," George rolled his eyes, resigned, before sitting on a chair closer by to watch carefully what she was doing.

Ginny was inches before Harry and he could feel her presence press down on him, she put her wand behind her ear and crouched down on the ground, her hand running over the red wound. Her touch sent shivers up Harry's back, he tried so desperately not to look at her out of fear he might give something away.

"Hm," she said, frowning at Harry's chest as if he were a science experiment. "Deep," she said, gently pushing apart a seal of flesh, "looks like it has been done with something…" she squinted, "sort of blunt, might have been a sharp sword which wasn't so sharp anymore… or something else, I don't know. With a hell of a lot of force behind it,"

"Any recommendations?" George asked, looking at Harry in the same manner. Harry began to feel very self-conscious, he didn't like the feeling of this look, it was untrusting, like he was just an object.

"Say please," Ginny said, turning around. She grinned, both hands still resting on Harry's chest. He felt his blood pump faster around his body, like shockwaves, her dimples deepened.

"Please," George said unenthusiastically. Ginny looked towards Jack,

"Can you get that ointment?" She said,

"Oh wow, technical." George teased. Jack looked at Ginny,

"We have many ointments," he replied,

"The black one… kinda looks like coal and water, I forget what it is called." Jack nodded and left,

"I'll try," he said.

"So, what caused this? Was my guess right?" She asked, it took Harry a while to realize she was talking to him. Her eyes looked deep into him, as if trying figure out a riddle whose ending was completely missing,

"Uh, yeah, basically," Harry said as she raised herself to her feet.

"Doesn't like to give much away does he?" Ginny said, looking towards George who smirked back.

"Just like what I said."

Hahaha, "horizontal folk-dancing" – a term once said to me by a friend, brilliant.

A bit of a short chapter, I know.

Please R and R!

Thankyou so much.

Pheonixxsong