Chapter 11: Rumors

Alright this is the last chapter that I finished back during Winter break. After this the updates will probably slow down as I've had less time to write.

In this chapter Harry and Ginny start off their new school year with a rumor about them spreading through Hogwarts. While the rumor isn't nearly as bad as the one from Harry's previous year where everyone thought he was the heir of Slytherin, it still causes him a decent amount of embarrassment.

As usual, thanks for all of the reviews and I hope everyone enjoys!

(None of these characters belong to me, they are the property of J.K Rowling.)

The following morning went surprisingly smooth. Since everyone was already packed from their trip to Egypt they didn't have to worry about any last minute packing. The ministry had supplied with a couple of ministry cars, which Harry now knew were because of him. Because of all of this they arrived at the train with plenty of time to spare.

"Not being stopped at the barrier by a house elf also helped." Harry thought as he and Ginny passed through the barrier without incident.

While everyone else was boarding the train, Mr. Weasley pulled Harry aside to tell him about Sirius. Harry had to awkwardly tell him that he had overheard Mrs. Weasley and his argument and that he wasn't scared.

After making Harry swear that he wouldn't go looking for Black, Mr. Weasley let him go and Harry got onto the train with Ginny, who'd been waiting for him. They made their way through the train and found the compartment that Ron and Hermione were staying in. There was a worn-looking man that was sitting asleep opposite of them.

Harry eyed the man as he sat down next to him. Ginny entered the compartment and when she saw that there wasn't any room for her she just shrugged and sat on Harry's lap. She grinned when Harry jerked a bit at the contact and his breath hitched in his throat. She looked across from her to see Ron giving her an odd look and Hermione trying to surprise giggle. She just shrugged at them and leaned back against Harry, who seemed distinctly uncomfortable.

There were several moments of awkward silence before Ginny decided to break it. "Harry, wasn't there something that you wanted to tell Ron and Hermione?" she asked causing him to break out of whatever thoughts he was having and focus on the two sitting opposite of him.

"Er… right. Ron and Hermione, there's something that I need to tell you that I discovered yesterday." he began.

Ginny listened to Harry recount the ministry's suspicions that Black was after him as she comfortably leaned against him. He really was quite comfortable. His reaction to her sitting on him had piqued her interest. Who knows? Maybe Bill was right and he was starting to have feelings for her.

They spent the next few hours discussing Sirius Black and the coming year at Hogwarts. During this Draco Malfoy and his fellow Slytherins decided to pay their usual visit.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Malfoy said eyeing Harry and Ginny.

"Do you want something Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"No, I can see that you're already… occupied." he responded sneering.

He left them with Crabbe and Goyle cackling behind them.

"What do you suppose that was about?" Harry asked.

Ron just shrugged. "Don't know mate, but with Malfoy it can never be good."

Harry noticed Hermione staring at where Draco had been with a worried expression, but whatever was on her mind she chose not to say.

After that they rode on the train in relative silence. Ginny had fallen asleep on Harry's lap with her head on his chest. Harry found her rhythmic inhaling and exhaling rather soothing. He also thought she looked cute when she was asleep, not that he would admit that to anyone. Hermione was watching Harry and Ginny in amusement and almost a hint of jealousy, and Ron was staring out the window.

"We must be nearly there." he complained.

Almost as soon as he said this, the train began to slow.

"We can't be there yet." Hermione said checking her watch.

"So why are we stopping? Harry asked.

Ginny shifted on Harry and gazed around blearily. "What's going on?" she asked.

Suddenly, without warning, all of the lights on the train shut off. The train quickly descended into panicked chaos. At some point Neville joined them in the compartment. All of the noise must have woken up Professor Lupin, as he suddenly said, "Quiet!", and produced a handful of flames.

He approached the door and as soon as he opened it a dark, hooded figure stood in the entrance. The temperature of the compartment immediately began dropping. Harry felt the cold seep into not only the room, but into his body. He jerked when he heard a woman start screaming in his head.

Suddenly, he noticed Ginny shaking on him and he instinctually wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him. He immediately felt some of the cold go away and the screaming ceased. Ginny stopped shaking as much and turned her head away from the creature and into Harry's chest.

"None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks." Lupin said as he shot something silvery out of his wand.

The creature turned and left the room. Instantly warmth returned to the compartment. Shortly later the lights came back on and the train started moving again, causing everyone to sigh with relief. Professor Lupin took out a large slab of chocolate and began passing pieces to them. Harry took a bite of the chocolate and found that it made him feel a lot better.

"What was that thing?" he asked.

Lupin was crumbling the chocolate wrapper. "A dementor of Azkaban." he explained. "Everyone eat the chocolate, it'll help. I'm going to go talk to the driver." he said as he got up and left.

Nobody said anything, and Ginny continued snuggling into Harry.

Shortly later Lupin returned. "We'll be arriving at Hogwarts in ten minutes. Is everyone alright?" he asked.

They all nodded in the affirmative and were glad to know that they would be arriving at Hogwarts soon.

"So what did Professor McGonagall want?" Harry asked as Hermione sat down in the spot that Ron had saved for her.

"Oh nothing, it was just about all of the classes that I'm taking." Hermione explained as she began putting food on her plate.

While everyone was eating Harry was interrupted by the sound of giggling coming from nearby. He looked up to see Lavender and Parvati looking at him and giggling.

Ron had noticed as well and turned to the two girls. "What are you two on about?" he asked.

Lavender stopped giggling. "So are you ok with it Ron?" she asked.

"Ok with what?" Ron responded looking confused.

"With Harry dating your sister of course." Parvati said.

Ron's mouth opened and closed several times before looking at Harry. "What?" he questioned.

Harry however had the same gobsmacked expression on his face. "What are you two talking about?" he asked.

"Please Harry, it's the talk of the school. There's no denying it." Parvati replied.

Harry turned to Ginny who was grinning slightly in amusement.

"I didn't realize we were dating. Is there something you haven't told me?" he asked causing her to giggle slightly.

"Don't worry Harry, if we start dating you'll be the first person I'll tell." she replied.

"Thats good to here." he said before turning back to the table.

Ron had a somewhat relieved expression on his face, and Lavender and Parvati looked unconvinced, but Harry didn't push the subject. He glanced over at the Slytherin table and noticed Malfoy staring at him smirking.

He leaned over to Ginny. "I'm thinking Malfoy might be the one who started this rumor about us." he whispered.

"Oh? I guess he did see me sitting on you. I'm sorry, if I'd known it would cause trouble I wouldn't have…"

"No!" Harry interrupted her causing her to give him an odd look. "I mean… er… it's fine. I don't want you to feel bad it was… um… nice. Besides, of all the rumors Malfoy has spread about me, this one really isn't that bad." he finished awkwardly.

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed me sitting on your lap." she giggled before going back to eating.

Throughout the rest of the night Harry and Ginny had to deal with people asking/congratulating them on their relationship. No matter how annoying it was, it did distract Harry enough for him to forget about the dementors. At least until he went to bed that night. He spent over an hour tossing and turning in his bed. Try as he might though, he just couldn't get to sleep. The woman's screams continued to echo through his head and he couldn't help but think that they sounded oddly familiar.

Finally he gave up and tossed his sheets off of him. He headed down to the common room hoping to calm his mind a bit by sitting in front of the fire. When he got there, however, he realized that someone was already there.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Ginny asked as he approached her.

"No. That damn dementor really did a number on me." he said as he sat down next to her.

"Me too." she said quietly. "It made me think of memories that I'd spent all summer trying to forget. About… Tom and the Chamber." she explained shivering.

Harry put an arm around her and she leaned into him. They sat in front of the fire in silence for several minutes before Harry finally spoke.

"I heard my mum." he said almost to himself.

He hadn't realized it until now, but now that he'd spoken it, he knew that it was true. Ginny looked at him questionably so he continued.

"From the night that Voldemort killed her. I heard her screams right before she died." Harry paused but Ginny didn't say anything, She could tell he needed to get this off of his chest.

"At first I recognized the scream, but I didn't know who's it was. I just now remembered where I'd heard it before. Back before my first year I used to have nightmares that would end with a flash of green light, and occasionally a woman's screams. they were my mum's." Harry finished and they sat in silence for a few more minutes.

"I think." Ginny began. "That the reason the dementor affected us so much is because we've both had to deal with terrible things. You've faced Tom three times now, and I was possessed by him. Those aren't things you forget, just grow stronger from." Ginny finished.

"We need each other Gin. When that dementor came. If you hadn't been there I think I would've passed out.I just felt so could inside, but you brought warmth." he explained.

"You did the same for me." she responded.

They sat like that for the rest of the night, with Harry's arm around Ginny and her head resting on his shoulder.

"Harry, Harry wake up." A voice said.

"Just five more minutes." he mumbled.

"Harry now!"

His head shot up. He looked around and realized that he was still in the common room. He and Ginny must have fallen asleep.

"Good, now help me get Ginny up." Hermione said.

He looked next to him and realized that Ginny was still asleep, snuggled into him.

"Ginny." he whispered shaking her.

He wasn't surprised when she didn't answer. It was notoriously hard to wake her up in the morning. Changing tactics he reached down and tickled her side. She gave a loud squeak and jumped up. When she realized what had happened she punched Harry in the arm.

"Prat." she mumbled.

Harry realized that Hermione was still standing there with her arms crossed.

"Er… thanks for waking us up." he said awkwardly.

She glared at him for a few seconds before saying, "You realize that you two have pretty much confirmed the rumor that Draco started right?"

Ginny sighed. "Let them think what they want Hermione. I'm going to shower." she left them and headed up to her room.

"So why were you tow sleeping together next to the fire anyway?" Hermione asked.

"Neither of us could get t sleep last night because of that dementor. It brought up some pretty bad memories. We must have fallen asleep while talking to each other." he explained.

"Well try to be a little more careful for now on. I'm sure half of the school knows about this by now." Hermione said.

Unfortunately she was right. As Harry walked with Ginny through the Great Hall many people pointed at them and they were surrounded by giggles. Ginny just ignored it, but Harry couldn't help and sigh. He really hated just how efficient the rumor mill at Hogwarts was.

"So she predicted that you're going to die?" Ginny asked as they ate lunch later that day.

He nodded his head. "yeah she made a big deal about it. McGonagall says that she does this to a different student every year thought." he explained.

"Still, the Grim isn't something to joke about." Ron said. "You haven't seen any big, black dogs lately, have you Harry?"

Harry thought back to Diagon Alley. "Yeah I have actually. I saw one the day we went to Diagon Alley.

Ron stared at him with wide eyes.

"Probably just a stray." Hermione commented.

"Ron looked outraged at this. "Seeing a Grim. It's-It's really bad! My Uncle Bilius saw one and he died 24 hours later!" Ron said.

Ginny sighed at this. "Ron, Uncle Bilius was really old when that happened. He was seeing Grims wherever he went. It was just a coincidence that he died after claiming to have seen one." she explained.

"Plus, it's been days since I saw that dog. Well over 24 hours. I think I'll be fine Ron." Harry reassured his friend.

Ron looked far from reassured, but he didn't pursue the topic.

After lunch they had Hagrid's first class of the year. It would have been a good class if Draco hadn't insulted the hippogriff Buckbean and gotten his arm clawed. Harry knew that Draco would milk the injury for all it's worth and try to get Hagrid blamed for it in the process.

This is why the four decided to visit him that night. They looked in the hut and could tell that Hagrid had been drinking. After they had convinced Hagrid that it was Malfoy's fault and not his Hagrid seemed to realize that Harry was out after dark. He quickly ushered the out of his hut and towards the castle. As they were walking Hagrid suddenly chuckled and a grin spread across his face.

"Oh, I almost forgot to congratulate you an' Ginny here on yer relationship."

Harry and Ginny both went slightly red, Ron snorted, and hermione unsuccessfully tried to cover a giggle.

"We, er, we're not in a relationship Hagrid. That's just a rumor Malfoy started." Harry said causing Hagrid to chuckle again.

"I know, I was jus messing with ya. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if you two were together. You'd make a good couple." Hagrid said.

This caused Harry and Ginny to blush even more. Harry was thankful that it was dark out so that no one could see just how red his face had gotten.

When they got to the castle Hagrid bid them goodnight and instructed them to go straight to their common room. The awkward silence still hadn't lifted when they got to the common room so they all bid each other goodnight and went to their rooms.

After getting into bed Harry stared up at the top of his four-poster thinking. Normally a rumor started by Malfoy or anyone else about him wouldn't bug him because it was just that: a rumor. And while this current rumor itself wasn't annoying him, peoples reactions to it were confusing him. He was used to people pointing, laughing, or mocking him because of one thing or another.

What was odd about this time was that no one really seemed hat surprised. He'd had several students tell him that they had figured it was only a matter of time before he and Ginny got together. Even Hagrid had just said that they would make a good couple. How could people he barely know think that there could be something between him and Ginny when he wasn't even sure himself?

He was momentarily distracted by thoughts of her long, strawberry-scented hair and chocolate-brown eyes. He shook himself. No. Ginny was his closes friend and also his best mate's sister. he wasn't going to jeopardize all of that just to get a girlfriend.

"Besides." He reasoned with himself. "I'm only 13m I have plenty of time to worry about getting a girlfriend."

With that thought he rolled over and let sleep take him. His dreams, however, were haunted by thoughts of Ginny Weasley.

Several days passed and Harry and the others finally had their first Defense Against he Dark Arts class with Professor Lupin. His classes had been the talk of the school and Harry had been highly anticipating it.

However, at the end of the class he was more than slightly disappointed. It had been a great class, probably one of the best DADA classes he'd ever had, but why hadn't Professor Lupin let him face the boggart? Had he thought that he was to weak to face it? He wasn't arrogant, but he figure that after facing Voldemort three times now he'd be able to beat one boggart.

Ginny tried to comfort him at lunch by saying that she was sure that Professor Lupin had a perfectly good reason for not letting Harry face it, but he didn't really pat attention to her She walked off to her next class with a huff and he immediately felt bad for ignoring her. He knew that she had just been trying to make him feel better, so he resolved to apologize to her that night at dinner.

However, when he sat down at the table he saw that she wasn't there. He cautiously turned to Collin. He hadn't been nearly as bad as he had been the previous year, but he didn't want to encourage anything.

"Hey Collin, you just had class with Ginny right? Do you know where she is?" he asked.

Collin looked a bit upset. "She ran up to her room after Professor Lupin's class. I don't blame her." He explained.

"Why? What happened?" Harry asked concerned.

"Well, Professor Lupin faced us al against the boggart just like he did with you third years. When it was Ginny's turn she stepped in front of the closet. The boggart immediately turned into, well, you. Except you were pretty dead and had a massive wound in you arm, looked like it was from a giant fang, and it was still bleeding. Ginny went pale and started shaking. Professor Lupin quickly got rid of the boggart and ended the class, but Ginny rushed out of the room before anyone could say anything to her." Collin recounted.

"I'd better go talk to her." Harry said while starting to get up.

"No Harry, I will." Hermione said stopping him.

He started to protest, but she silenced him. "After what she saw I don't think seeing you will be good for her, plus you won't be able to get up to her room, only girls are allowed." she explained before walking out of the Great Hall.

Harry exchanged a worried look with Ron before going back to eating. He hoped that Hermione would be able to help Ginny.

Hermione made her way through the portrait hole and up to the second year girl's dormitories. When she looked through the doorway she saw Ginny sitting on her bed looking through a photo album. Her eyes were still red from crying.

She quietly walked over and sat next to Ginny on her bed. She glanced at the picture that Ginny was looking at and saw that it was a recent photo of her and Harry standing in front of a pyramid in Egypt, arm in arm.

"How are you doing?" she asked quietly, figuring she might as well start there.

Ginny didn't respond at first, but she eventually started talking.

"When Professor Lupin told us to think of our worst fears my immediate thought was of Tom. I figured I could just give him a clown face or something to make him less menacing, you know?" But when it was my turn it…it turned into Harry. Or at least what Harry would've looked life if Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, hadn't been there.

Did he ever tell you the full story of what happened in the Chamber? How he'd almost died? When he stabbed that bloody basilisk one of it's fangs stabbed into his arms. If Fawkes hadn't been there to heal the wound he-he would've died, and it would've been my fault. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself." she finished and clutched the album to her chest as tears once again flowed down her face.

Hermione put a comforting arm around her. "But that didn't happen, and that's all that matters. Harry is alive and concerned about you." she said soothingly.

"I-I think I love him." Ginny said in a whisper.

"You… really?" Hermione asked surprised.

Ginny nodded. "I know that I'm only twelve, but I don't think that my feelings for him are just a silly crush. After last year I don't think I'll ever have time for a silly crush again. Harry saved me, not only from Tom but from my own guilt, and he means the world to me. I just don't think that he shares my feelings. Bill gave me hope, but now I'm not sure. All these rumors about us being in a relationship, I don't deny them because I can't help but enjoy hearing people think that we're together. Harry on the other hand embarrassedly denies them. If he did like me than why would he be so embarrassed at the thought of us being together." Ginny rambled.

Hermione sighed. It seemed that ginny and had had a lot on her mind recently.

"I think that the reason that Harry is so embarrassed is because he's a thirteen-year-old boy. He's just beginning to notice girls and is still uncomfortable with the idea of dating. Boys his age are pretty thick, I don't think Ron has even realized that I'm a girl yet."

Ginny laughed halfheartedly at this.

"Plus you know Harry." Hermione continued. "He hates being the center of attention. But I've seen the way he looks and acts around you, and I'm certain that he has feelings for you. Just give him time, if you really do love him than he's worth waiting for." Hermione finished.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes and Hermione thought back on what she had just said. She realized that she'd been partially talking to herself about Ron as well as giving Ginny advice.

Eventually Ginny reached forward and hugged Her.

"Thank you Hermione, I needed to hear that. And I'm sure everything you said about Harry is also true about Ron." she said.

Hermione hugged her back. "I hope."

A/N: So this was a pretty short chapter, but it had quite a bit of emotional moments in it. But don't worry, the next chapter will include a few of Sirius' brake-in attempts so some action is coming!