"Look at this rubbish!" Hermione threw a copy of Witch Weekly onto Ginny's bed, which was opened to one of the articles within. Startled, Ginny glanced down at it. She saw a picture of Harry at the top with the title of the article directly below: "Harry Potter's Secret Heartache", written in sappy, curly letters. Ginny felt like she swallowed a lead weight.

Reluctantly, she read the piece, and after a couple paragraphs she became quite confused, but also relieved. Was this article a joke? It claimed Harry was Hermione's girlfriend, and that Hermione dumped him for Krum. She'd never seen anything so ridiculous.

"Surely nobody believes this?" Ginny said.

"You'd be surprised," said Hermione darkly. "It's obvious rubbish to us, since we know each other so well, but…"

Hermione paused.

"What really grates on me is how Skeeter knew what Viktor had said to me. He told me right after the second task that he wanted me to visit him in Bulgaria, but Skeeter is banned from the grounds, and I didn't see her anywhere. How could she have known?"

"And are you? Going to visit him, I mean?" said Ginny curiously.

"I doubt it, to be honest," said Hermione. "I like him, but I'm not sure I want to be that serious. He's a few years older than me anyway." She turned away from her and stared out the window. "Going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll probably go with Lena. Maybe Demelza will join us too." Ginny laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. The gossip column in Witch Weekly didn't faze her, but it did serve as a reminder what a celebrity Harry really was, and it always gave Ginny the hopeless feeling that he was out of her league.

"I'm gonna kill that Skeeter woman," Hermione said viciously, as she snatched the magazine off the bed and threw it in the garbage. She marched off in a huff back to the fourth-year dormitory.


The weeks and months passed, and still, Harry did not give up the Cho fantasy, despite Cedric and Cho's relationship becoming ever more serious. She asked Hermione almost weekly for updates on Harry's feelings, and it was bad news each time.

"Harry is in denial," Hermione told her one day. "Maybe a summer away from school will help him get over it."

Ginny found this unlikely. A summer away from Harry never made her feel any different about him. She did not have many opportunities to talk with Harry, as he was always with Ron and Hermione, and Ginny was spending most of her time around her own friends. Most of their conversations consisted of "Hey, Harry," and "Hey, Ginny," when passing each other in the corridors, but she continued to struggle talking to him one-on-one without freezing up, blushing or acting silly. It was immensely frustrating and disheartening. As they all got older and teenage hormones started to come out in earnest, she realized her silly celebrity crush from a couple years ago did not exist anymore. She was completely in love with him now, and in love with everything about him, from his beautiful green eyes to his untidy black hair that always stuck out at odd angles no matter how hard he tried to flatten it. It made it all the more difficult to talk to him. She realized that she had felt this way ever since he rescued her from the Chamber of Secrets, but she was just too young to be able to comprehend exactly what it was she felt. But now she knew. She did not confess to anyone, not even Hermione, just how strongly she felt about Harry now, though she had a weird feeling that Hermione knew anyway.

Ginny ran into Michael Corner a few times at the library, as he found out where she usually sat and made a point of sitting near that spot when Ginny was frequently there. He still didn't ask her out, due to what she assumed was either nerves or something involving another girl, and eventually Ginny, who still had not given up on her own fantasy, stopped going to the library entirely.

The day of the third task had arrived, and as nobody had any exams that day, Ginny spent the morning playing games and discussing the third task in the common rooms with her friends Lena and Amber. Amber, a brunette, was more of a Hermione-ish girl who didn't like games much, but with the end of term near and the excitement of the final task in the air, even she had come out of her shell.

At lunchtime she made her way down to the Great Hall and was shocked when she saw Mum and Bill at the Gryffindor table sitting with Fred, George, Ron, and Harry.

"Mum! Bill! What are you doing here?" said Ginny excitedly.

"Came to support Harry, of course!" said Bill. "The families of the champions are allowed to come watch the third task, and what are we if not family to Harry? Certainly not those toads he goes home to every summer."

"Bill," warned Mum.

"Oh come on, Mum, you know they are. Even Harry would admit it."

They all looked at Harry, and he made a face that basically said, Well, yeah, pretty much.

They all had a good time together while eating, however, Ginny was subdued and had an odd feeling of foreboding about the coming task. She had no specific reason to believe something really bad was going to happen, but she felt it all the same. She wanted to yell a warning to Harry, to tell him not to do the task, but knowing she would sound irrational and that he would still do the task anyway, she kept quiet.

Hermione popped in to join them halfway through lunch. Harry looked at her expectantly.

"Are you going to tell us –?"

To Ginny's surprise, Hermione shook her head vigorously to silence him, glancing at Mum.

"Hello, Hermione," said Mum, much more stiffly than usual.

"Hello," said Hermione, her smile faltering at the cold expression on Mum's face.

"Mrs. Weasley," said Harry uncertainly, "you didn't believe that rubbish Rita Skeeter wrote in Witch Weekly, did you? Because Hermione's not my girlfriend."

"Oh!" said Mum. "No — of course I didn't!"

It was clear from her tone that she did, and Ginny couldn't believe Mum could have taken Rita Skeeter's nonsense as truth, but then again, as she hadn't been at school with them, she hadn't gotten any other source of information about it. She warmed up to Hermione considerably for the remainder of lunch.

Mum, Bill, and Harry spent the afternoon walking the grounds, while Ginny went to the library. She felt sick, still feeling a horrible sense of foreboding, but she dismissed it as being nervous for Harry and what he might face in the coming task. She distracted herself by perusing the fiction section, and after a short while, she picked a book that sounded interesting and began reading.

There was a large feast in the evening for the third task, with everything from sushi to ribs to choose from. Ludo Bagman was at the staff table up front, as usual, with Cornelius Fudge now in the seat that had previously been occupied by both Barty Crouch and Percy Weasley. Apparently, Percy was in a bit of a bind at the Ministry with the Crouch situation and was being questioned about it.

After the feast, Dumbledore stood up and announced for the champions to head down to the Quidditch pitch and that the rest of them would shortly follow. Harry stood up and the Gryffindors all gave him a warm round of applause.

"Good luck, Harry!" Ginny said, giving him a blazing look, not caring about how anyone would react. He smiled back at her and said thanks (she blushed) as Hermione and the rest of the Weasleys all wished him luck as well. Harry left the Great Hall with the rest of the champions and Ginny finished eating what remained on her plate quickly, feeling slightly more cheerful.

Soon it was time for the rest of the school to head to the bleachers, so Ginny and her family made their way out the oak doors and down to the pitch.

They found an empty section of the bleachers that was big enough for all of them and sat down, staring at a huge maze of hedges that now sat on the field. The four champions were standing near the entrance to the maze with Ludo Bagman and several professors. Bagman gave the champions their instructions and then announced to the crowd the current score for each champion. Cedric and Harry were leading, meaning they got to enter the maze first, followed by Krum and Fleur, respectively. The task was to find the Triwizard Cup that had been placed somewhere in the maze.

"So . . . on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" said Bagman. "Three — two — one —"

Bagman blew the whistle, and Harry and Cedric entered the maze. Ginny felt a knot in her stomach. Two whistles later, and all four champions were now in the enormous botanical labyrinth. There was nothing to do now but wait with bated breath for who could get to the Triwizard Cup first.

"Wonder how they know who touches it first?" said Fred.

"Dunno," said Ginny. She hadn't thought about this, but now she was curious. "I guess there's some kind of magic placed on the Cup so it knows?"

Ginny never thought staring at a maze of hedges could be so anxiety-inducing. The hedges were much too tall for anyone to see what was going on in the maze, or who was closest to the Cup. After some time had passed, they heard a scream emanate from the maze. It was female, and the assumption was that it was Fleur.

"Wonder what happened?" Ron said anxiously.

"It means Fleur isn't going to be giving you a bunch of kisses after the task is over," said Ginny savagely.

Ron blushed but played along.

"Maybe if I go in and save her…"

A horrible, anguished scream penetrated the air from deep within the maze a few moments later, this time male. Ginny hoped against hope it wasn't Harry; it didn't really sound like his voice, but Ginny had never heard him yell in agony before, so it was hard to tell for sure. The yells lasted for about twenty seconds and then there was a ringing silence. There were murmurs amongst the crowd as people started speculating about what could have caused those awful screams, and to whom they belonged. Most thought it sounded like Cedric. Ginny gulped and she could feel her heart racing.

Red sparks flew up from somewhere near the center of the maze, indicating one of the champions needed to be rescued. About fifteen minutes later, Hagrid and Professor McGonagall emerged from the maze carrying a Stunned Viktor Krum. A roar of rage exploded from the Durmstrang section of the bleachers, matched by a cheer which erupted from the Beauxbatons and Hogwarts areas. Krum was revived and taken over to the medical tent to be hassled over my Madam Pomfrey. Krum looked dazed and disoriented, though from a distance he looked unharmed. Ginny looked at Hermione; she looked a bit crestfallen.

It was now pitch dark, with the stands and the front of the maze illuminated by magic. What felt like at least an hour passed in silence. The crowd had gotten restless and started murmuring again. At last, something happened.

Two figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of the maze and slammed into the ground. Ginny recognized them by their attire. It was Harry and Cedric. But something was wrong. Something was very wrong. It appeared Cedric was Stunned, but Harry was completely distraught, and it looked like he was – crying?

"What happened?" said Ron in a very serious tone that was quite unlike him. The sound of his voice scared Ginny.

There was more murmuring throughout the crowd as people tried to figure out what was going on. Dumbledore rushed toward Harry, and many people had gotten down from the stands and hurried forward to see what happened. Soon Ginny and her family were doing the same thing, struggling to move through the crowd and get a glimpse of Harry and Cedric. Whispers went through the crowd: Cedric was dead.

No, it couldn't be. No, no, no. Cedric dead. NO! How was that possible?

Ginny heard Ron swear loudly, and Hermione gave a horrified gasp. There were several anguished screams from God knows where – people were panicking, shoving each other, trying to get a look –

"We need to get out of here," said Bill. None of them budged. They craned their necks trying to find a hole through the mass of heads and torsos to see for themselves. It could not be true. Cedric couldn't really be dead. Clearly there was some mistake. There had to be.

More screams and wails reached their ears, and the sound was so horrible that Ginny came to accept that the rumors were, in fact, true… that Cedric really was…

"Let's go," Ginny said, her voice shaking. They all made their way back towards the castle, not knowing what else to do or where else to go. Ginny walked without really knowing where she was or how far away they were from the front steps, she merely followed Bill with her mind filled with nothing but utter shock and disbelief.

They reached the oak doors and went inside and made a right into the Great Hall and waited in complete silence. Finally, Ginny spoke.

"Where did Harry go?"

"I couldn't tell," said Bill. "But Dumbledore probably took him to the hospital wing."

"Let's go up there right now!" Ginny said anxiously.

"There's no way they let us in," said George.

"They'll let us in," said Bill firmly. "Or else."

"Fred, George," said Mum, standing up, "take Ginny back up to Gryffindor Tower. I'll get there when I can."

There was an immediate uproar from the three of them.

"I don't want to hear it!" Mum said. "Do it! Now! I will be along as soon as I can. I will let you know what happened and if Harry is okay."

"But I want to see him!" shrieked Ginny.

"Mum's right, Ginny," said Bill. "They'll only let a certain number of visitors in at a time anyway, and we're pushing it as it is."

Ginny and her mother argued all the way back up to the hospital wing, but it was a lost cause that resulted in Ginny stomping up the remaining stairs toward Gryffindor Tower with a thoroughly bad-tempered Fred and George.

The wait in the common room was torturous. Ginny stared relentlessly at the portrait hole, and occasionally people entered, but none of them were Harry, Bill or Mum. Everyone looked extremely grim, and most people were too shocked to talk. Ginny hoped someone would burst in and claim that there was a big mistake and that Cedric was actually fine, but of course, no such thing happened.

After what felt like an eternity, Bill, Mum, Ron, and Hermione clambered through the portrait hole. They looked ashen, but hurried over to where Ginny, Fred, and George were sitting and assured them that Harry was alright.

"But there's a big problem," Bill was saying. "According to Dumbledore, You-Know-Who is back. Harry witnessed it."

Silence followed these words. Ginny turned to Fred and George. George's mouth was slightly agape, and Fred looked paler and grimmer than she'd ever seen him.

Bill recounted everything Dumbledore told him. Mum was crying quietly as she sat next to him. Bill said Harry and Cedric were transported to a graveyard when they touched the Triwizard Cup, and Voldemort used Harry's blood to rebirth himself. By the sound of it, Harry had managed to cheat death again, and Cedric had been caught in a situation where he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Voldemort killed him with the Killing Curse, just as he had done to countless others, including Harry's parents.

"Dumbledore is recalling the Order of the Phoenix as we speak," Bill continued. "Fudge refused to believe him. We're in for a tough ride these next few years. It is incredibly fortunate, though, that Harry was able to get away and alert Dumbledore so quickly. I shudder to think where we'd be otherwise. We wouldn't even know about it yet."

Nobody said anything. Their whole family was in danger now. She had heard the horrors of what it was like during Voldemort's first reign of terror. She didn't want to contemplate what was in store for them over the next couple of years right now. It terrified her.

Ginny laid wide awake until almost three o'clock in the morning that night before finally falling asleep, but woke back up after only a couple hours. She wanted to believe it was all a bad dream, but she knew it wasn't. As there was no sense in trying to go back to sleep so late in the night, she laid on her back and stared at the ceiling, stewing in her own misery. She wasn't sleepy anyway. With a horrible jolt, a thought occurred to her. A thought that was completely inappropriate given the events of the previous day. A thought so shallow and callous she thought she should be cursed into oblivion for thinking it, but she had no control over what her subconscious mind threw at her.

She realized there was nothing stopping the Harry-Cho romance now, and the more she thought about it, the more inevitable it seemed. Harry now had an excuse to spend time with her, and Ginny wanted to vomit as the image of him comforting her while she cried onto his shoulder about Cedric swam to the forefront of her mind unbidden. She hated herself for worrying about these sorts of things at a time like this, but she couldn't control it. She cried silently on-and-off for forty-five minutes, and by the time she headed down to breakfast, she was convinced that her chances with Harry died with Cedric in the graveyard. Cho was destined to be with Harry now. She was a beautiful, popular girl that was good at Quidditch, and she was just Ron's little sister. That's all Harry saw her as, and that's all he would ever see her as. Once Harry got over his nerves, and Cho got over her shock, it was all over. They might as well schedule the wedding right now. She badly wished she could just stay in bed, perhaps for the rest of the day. Or all week. Or perhaps the rest of her life. She longed for the ability not to think, or feel.

After Ginny had managed to subdue her tears, she got out of bed with great difficulty and made her way to the Great Hall and sat by Ron and Hermione. Harry was not there. Ginny gathered he was still in the hospital wing. Despite the lack of sleep, she felt awake and alert, but also despondent. Hermione looked at her as she sat down; Ginny knew it was obvious that she had been crying, but she blended in with everyone else in the Great Hall, so Hermione didn't seem to think much of it. Dumbledore addressed the crowd, instructing them not to bother Harry, or question him, and that Harry would tell his story when he saw fit.

Ginny walked around in a stupor the rest of the day. She saw Harry in the common room that evening, talking with Ron and Hermione and looking miserable. She had not voiced her early morning thoughts about Harry and Cho to Hermione or any of her other friends, and she didn't think she was going to.

After another tear-filled night, she ran into Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas loitering outside the Great Hall the next morning before breakfast. They seemed to be having a heated discussion about something.

"Hi, Ginny!" said Dean, noticing her approach and tearing himself away from Seamus.

Ginny forced a smile with tremendous difficulty and waved her hand in acknowledgement.

"Have you spoken to Harry?" Seamus shot at her. Dean looked apprehensive, as though steeling himself for an outburst.

"Harry never speaks to me," said Ginny tartly. She had to force herself not to burst out crying as she heard the words leave her mouth. "Why?"

"I was just wondering if he told you about what happened to Cedric," he said.

"He told Dumbledore, who told my brother Bill, who told me," Ginny replied tonelessly.

"Do you believe him? Do you believe You-Know-Who is back?" Seamus was being very aggressive. Ginny was surprised; she didn't know Seamus well, but she thought this was out of character for him.

"Of course I believe Harry," said Ginny coolly. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Right, of course you believe him," Seamus sneered. "I should have known better than to ask."

"What, you don't?" Ginny said, flaring up. "Are you calling him a liar?"

"I think there's questions that need to be answered," said Seamus evasively, "and I'm certainly not ready to accept You-Know-Who being back, that's for damn sure."

"It's not about what you accept," said Ginny harshly. "You can not accept it all you want. It doesn't change the reality."

"Harry has a history of embellishing things, or even making stuff up, just to draw attention to himself," said Seamus very angrily.

"Oh, does he?" said Ginny, matching his anger. "Such as?"

"Didn't he concoct some story about the barrier at King's Cross closing so he could make a spectacular entrance in a flying car a couple years ago?"

"Ron was with him, and he said the barrier was shut!" fumed Ginny. "A house elf did it!"

"Right, okay," Seamus sneered. "He's also having strange fits and visions during class, so forgive me if I think he's a loony tune. But go ahead, you and your crackpot boyfriend go cause a panic if you want, it's a free country –"

Ginny pulled out her wand so fast that Seamus didn't even react until the curse had hit him. There was a BANG! and Seamus sputtered as green bats flew out of his nose and began swarming him. Ginny stormed off as Dean roared with laughter at the effects of the jinx.

Ginny slammed her things down on the table next to Lena and Demelza, her cheeks red and her eyes watery.

"What was that?" Demelza said, looking at her in awe. She apparently had watched them argue. "What did you hit him with?"

"Bat-Bogey Hex," said Ginny, not smiling. "I read about it in a library book. Lena and I have been practicing it with each other the past couple months."

"I'm not nearly as good at it as she is, though," said Lena sadly.

"So, what happened over there?" said Demelza. "What were you and Seamus arguing about?"

"He said that Harry was crazy and a liar," said Ginny in a flat voice.

"How could he think that?" said Lena indignantly. "He deserved it, then!"

Ginny didn't feel like talking anymore, so she glanced at the Ravenclaw table and saw Cho Chang sitting with her friends. Her eyes were red and puffy and there were large bags under them, her hair was a bit unkempt, and her face was pale. She did not look like her usual pretty self at all, which Ginny certainly understood. Cho glanced in Harry's direction, but he was looking at his food moodily and didn't seem to notice. Ginny had spotted Harry glancing at her several times already during the last few mealtimes, though, and it was only a matter of time before they caught each other's eye. Ginny felt a strong urge to kick something. She hated being right.

She had two exams that day, which she spent more time than was necessary on because she found the distraction from everything else most welcome. Any time spent on schoolwork was time not feeling pain or worry about Harry, Cho, and Voldemort. School was ending in a couple days and this solution was not going to work for much longer; she needed another way to cope if she had a prayer of making it through the summer.

To her relief, she found the solution in the entrance hall that evening shortly before dinner.

"Hey, Ginny," said Michael Corner, grinning at her.

"Hi," said Ginny.

"So, what do you think?" he said. "Is he back?"

Ginny closed her eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, I believe it too," Michael said. "My father always told me it was only a matter of time. Just because it's an uncomfortable truth doesn't mean it's not true."

"I'm so glad you agree!" said Ginny, feeling a touch of relief that she hadn't felt in a while. "There are a lot of students who don't."

"Well, I have a feeling that won't last very long," he said darkly. "You're a pure-blood though, aren't you? You're probably safer than I am, I'm a half-blood."

"No," said Ginny, "we may be pure-bloods but we're considered blood traitors, my dad loves Muggles, and we fought against You-Know-Who last time. We're not safe."

"I suppose few people will be. What can you do though? Just got to be prepared to fight when the time comes. You can bet I will be."

"Me too."

Michael smiled uncertainly.

"Got any fun stuff planned this summer?"

"Yeah, annoying the piss out of my brothers," said Ginny. Michael laughed.

"I'm thinking about going to America, I've got –"

"Hey, are you ever going to ask me out, or what?" snapped Ginny, cutting him off mid-sentence.

Michael stopped talking abruptly and opened and closed his mouth several times like a goldfish. The silence was quite awkward, but Ginny found it hard to care. Finally, Michael found his voice again.

"I could ask you the same question."

"Girls don't ask boys out!" said Ginny, as though this were an inherent law of nature. This was, of course, not the real reason she hadn't asked him out.

"Are you saying you want to go out with me?" said Michael.

"Yes, I am."

"Oh, er… then yeah, that's great!" he said, blushing a deep crimson. "Shall we take a walk on the grounds, then? It's nice out."

"After dinner. I'm starving."

This, she thought, gave her the best solution to her predicament. She did like Michael, but she wasn't in love with him like she was with Harry, so Michael couldn't really hurt her. It also gave her an avenue to dull the pain she felt over Harry and Cho. There was no way to escape it completely, but it at least provided her a life jacket.

It was a weird feeling, kissing a boy for the first time, but after doing it a few more times it became rather enjoyable. Ginny had always heard it was best to close your eyes while kissing, which she was happy to do, as it made it much easier to pretend Michael was Harry. This made her feel guilty, but fantasies were all she had left now, so she pushed these emotions aside with a feeling of horrible indifference toward everything, even life itself.

The Great Hall was decked out in Hufflepuff colors out of respect for Cedric Diggory during the Leaving Feast. Dumbledore had addressed them all, being very blunt about the manner in which Cedric died and telling everyone that Voldemort was at large and a threat once again. Students gasped and whispered in response. Dumbledore then gave a toast to Harry, honoring his bravery and selflessness for fighting Voldemort and bringing Cedric's body back at huge personal risk.

The train ride back to London was quiet and somber, and most students felt relieved to leave Hogwarts for a while. She sat with Michael, and they discussed their summer plans and got to know each other a bit better.

"I'll write to you every week," said Ginny, as they arrived at King's Cross. They kissed each other goodbye and then disembarked with the rest of the students. Mum was waiting for them and pulled Ginny into a tight hug upon seeing her. It was going to be the worst summer ever.