Ten ways to kill a crush

Chapter - 1

Thirteen-year-old Ginny Weasley was in a conundrum. She had heard something that she wasn't supposed to and she was utterly crushed. She felt like she was falling in a long-long dark hole of despair.

Even eating her favourite pudding for dessert didn't seem to do the trick and not even the thought of attending the Quidditch World Cup the next day put her at ease.

She picked at her dessert and pouted, and when her mum cleared away the dinner table, she noticed the forlorn teen and asked, "Treacle tart not up to your liking?"

"Not really mum, just didn't feel like eating" she answered tentatively.

Mrs Weasley straightened up, and patted her gently, "Is something the matter Gin?"

"I think I'm just tired." she let out emptily with a forced yawn, pushing away her plate, she got up and headed straight to her room.

The makeshift bed belonging to Hermione was currently unoccupied. Figures, she thought, the trio were probably up to something, and as usual she wasn't included. Not that she wanted to be though – currently at that moment. She leapt up to bed and lied down, she stroked the flowery pattern on her pyjamas and remembered the first time she wore them. It was when Harry first stayed in the burrow. She stopped her thoughts and turned to the present.

How was she supposed to face Harry and not burst into a barrage of tears, she knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but she was curious. And it seemed like curiosity didn't work in her favour this time.

The afternoon after Harry arrived at the Burrow, was spent in their overgrown yard, playing a lazy game of quidditch. Her, George and Fred were in one bright team and Harry, Ron and an unwilling Percy in another.

She had fought with Ron when he insisted that she be in the other team, "to compensate for having both Fred and George in one team" he called it. This vexed her slightly but she maintained a cool façade since she didn't want to look too petty in front of Harry, and noted to payback Ron in the form of a prank later on. The game was slow and so they abandoned it halfway through when Mrs Weasley called for an early tea.

As usual being the youngest meant that Ginny had the sordid task of collecting the brooms and keeping it in their dusty shed, but on the way back she tailed after Ron, Hermione and Harry who all seemed to be engaged in a stimulating conversation.

"But Pansy's not as fit as Daphne is she, pales a bit in comparison to her" Ron explained, Harry nodded and added "There's also that crush she has on Malfoy."

Ron jumped up and grimaced, "Oh yeah, that is a bit pathetic, the way she trails after him like a lapdog."

"Why do girls do that, it's not like he's going to like her more just because she's at his beck and call." Injuncted Hermione.

Harry agreed and sagely said, "Well she can't help it can she, having a crush on someone you can't get is more exciting."

"Do you suppose that's why Ginny keeps making moony eyes at you" Ron turned towards Harry asking in a low tone, "It was alright at the beginning mate, but now it's starting to get too much, the barging in on our conversations and all." He whispered, "I could tell her to cut it out."

Hermione scowled and bumped him on the head. "Honestly Ron, it's not the same! It's a childish crush, one that she'll grow out of."

Ginny stilled at once, and her heart raced faster than ever, she seemed to want to hide behind a very tall object, she saw Harry move his lips and utter something in response and her mind blanked and alerted her to stop her brain from registering the sounds that came out.

"It's okay mate, as Hermione said, it's just a childish infatuation, she'll grow out of it and understand sooner or later that I'm like – umm- eh - an older brother to her." Harry responded.

As soon as she heard those words coming out of Harry's mouth, she felt faint. The colour drained out of her face and she felt like running away. She stopped in her tracks and went the other way. She didn't even look back to see if any of the them had noticed her. She walked fast and hurried and soon she found herself running.

The burrow had landscapes of rolling green meadows and tall towering green trees pooling around it. The air usually held a sweet smell that Ginny liked to sniff now and then, which was perfumed by honeysuckles and lazy daisies growing along some of the ponds. But at that moment Ginny felt like the smell was tainted by something unpleasant.

She walked until she found a stout Oak tree, that held bouquets of light green leaves, the trunk seemed sturdy and so she leaned heavily against it and dropped her back until her legs felt the prickly grass blanketing the ground.

A sister – so that's all that Harry thought of her. A little sister. A small whiny girl who deserved to be treated in the same way her brothers treated her. Ignored and left out.

She supposed that she wasn't the most gorgeous creature to grace Earth, she didn't have shiny gossamer blonde hair like Daphne Greengrass that left boys drooling all over. Nor did she have long wispy eyelashes that made most guys freeze in wonder.

Instead, she had shocking knotty red hair, that was mostly a beast to tame. And her face was pasty, pale and round with baby fat, her dad still pinched her cheeks. No wonder Harry thought she was like a sister. She was too baby-ish for him.

She wasn't graceful, she stumbled in her steps, and her voice held a girlish squeak to it whenever she got excited. Folding her arms, she rested her head on it and held her legs close to her chest.

It wasn't like she expected Harry to like her back instantly, but she always felt like she'd have a chance. She hoped that maybe one day in the near future, he'd wake up and look at her with a different glint in his eyes, one where he saw her as someone beautiful, someone pretty, someone he'd like to hold close.

Someone who was just not his best mate's sister.

Her 'childish infatuation' of Harry had cemented even further after the Chamber of Secrets ordeal, he was like a Magi that she'd read about in her childhood fables, one where they'd rescue witches being persecuted by the muggles. She had leaned heavily on Tom Riddle and had confided everything personal to him, only for him to betray her and turn out to be a Dark Lord. In her darkness of confusion, Harry held a beacon of light illuminating a path out of it and held his metaphorical hand towards her.

Now that she knew the truth, Ginny felt confused, surely, he wouldn't have just put his life on the line and battle a Basilisk just to save her, surely not because she was only Ron's little sister.

Or maybe he would've. Because isn't that what drew her to him. His kindness and unselfishness. Because that's what made Harry – well Harry.

That was the reason he was still nice to her, instead of being snotty or cold. It was mostly because of Ron - but also because he was a nice person.

And here Ginny was probably constantly annoying him, maybe even making him feel icky.

Gosh now she felt like cringing. She'd troubled poor Harry constantly. She wanted to erase her previous memories and rid him of his previous memories containing her clumsy attempts at wooing him as well. Maybe she could learn how to Obliviate.

No that was too drastic she decided. She had to forget she had a crush on him, without obliviating anyone – herself included. A bolt of lightning in the form of a novel idea soon struck her.

She could kill this crush in her, but how? Pondering this question on her way back home yielded no answers and neither did it yield anything while she was lying on her bed.

A small creak of the door made her jump, and she saw Hermione – ever the oblivious intruder entering. Ginny narrowed her eyes at her and schooled her expression to remain neutral. She was a bit nattered at her sleeping companion, she thought Hermione would've been the first to understand her feelings towards Harry, especially since she had confided about it to the bushy haired bookworm – but instead she delegated her affections to the label of a 'childish crush'.

Sensing the surprising animosity held by the red head Hermione asked her "What's the matter Ginny, you seem a bit troubled?"

"I'm sorry do I seem a bit childish to you" she replied back in a curt tone, turning her head away indignantly.

Confusion marred the face of the brunette, and her brows knotted up as if she were deciphering a new puzzle, and in a minute, it clicked!

"Oh Gosh Ginny, did you hear our conversation, is that why you were upset all evening?" she asked concerned.

Ginny couldn't hold it, she had to let something out.

"I did! And how awful of you Hermione to call it a 'childish crush'! You know it means more than that to me, he was the first person to ever really go out of his way to help me! I've had crushes before and this wasn't like the previous ones!" she spat out, and it was only when she did, did she realize that she had teared up. She felt childish and immature and immediately put her hands up to her face to hide it.

Hermione ran up to her at once and put her hand over her shoulder and in a surprising move, she embraced her. Ginny froze a bit and looked ahead, the two of them were never really close and neither was Hermione a very warm or touchy person. But at that moment Ginny needed a hug, and she accepted it. She cooled down a bit and pulled away. Hermione handed her a handkerchief and dabbed away at her tears.

"I'm so sorry Ginny, I apologize for calling it a childish crush, it was insensitive of me to do that." Hermione said in a meek tone.

Ginny looked towards her and sighed, "Honestly, it's not that far from the truth is it," she belated, "At least on the outside that's all it looks to be, to Harry, to Ron."

"And even so, Harry doesn't feel the same way about me." She continued looking ahead, pursing her lips in displeasure, "I'm this annoying twat of a little sister just shadowing him."

Hermione startled out an "Oh no!" and shook Ginny's shoulder and stared straight at her. "Harry has never told me anything like that Ginny, and I don't think he'd ever think that."

Hermione clasped her hand and held it, Ginny pushed it away and looked down at the wooden floor, "Even so I'm kind of pathetic, aren't I? Crushing over someone who I have no business to be crushing on." She whispered.

Hermione lowered her eyes, and took her hand in again and she hurriedly spilt out, "You know, I once had a crush on Harry too, it's disappeared now but it was raging mad in my first year."

Ginny looked up surprised and slightly knocked out of her self-pity. "What? I never knew that! Did Harry know?" she questioned.

"Not really," laughed Hermione, "I kicked it out of my system once our friendship grew, also it became sort of hard to see Harry in that way once we became closer."

This was all shocking to Ginny, she'd always wondered about whether Hermione did have a crush on Harry especially since she spent every waking moment in Hogwarts with him, but hearing her finally admit it, felt different. It also made her feel a bit hopeful, because if Hermione - who had to see Harry on a frequent basis was able to get over it, then maybe she could too.

"How did you stop it?" she asked the brunette, "And did it go away in a short while?"

"Hmmmm" Hermione let out pausing for a second, she cupped her chin, and looked at Ginny, "I wonder." She asked in a sceptical voice. She got out of the bed and rummaged through the blue carry on she brought with her. She pulled out quills of different kinds, and hordes of books and even a periwinkle blue dress, until she found the object she had been nefariously searching for.

Her hands held out a shiny pink book, and she thrust it in the air as if she caught the snitch. "Aha! This is it." She cried out.

Ginny narrowed her eyes at the book, and noted that it was a muggle one. The cover read out in squiggly cute calligraphy, 'Ten ways to kill a crush'.

Hermione held the book and explained, "It was all troubling really, once I had that crush on Harry, I couldn't jeopardize our friendship and confess to him, nor could I tell anyone else! – So, I turned to the only place where I knew I could get answers and I found this back home in a bookstore during our summer hols!"

"It helped me a lot Ginny, and I didn't even need to read the whole thing." She looked at Ginny with a hopeful face and continued "I'm sure it'll help you too, and hey! Maybe once you're over it, you can give it to the next bird who has a crush on Harry." This made Ginny giggle a little, she giggled and then tumbled over in laughter at the thought of a line of girls just pining over Harry and passing the book from one to the next.

Ginny straightened herself and then took the book and looked gratefully at Hermione, she inwardly wondered whether this was what it was like having an older sister. She swung her arms around and pulled her close, "C'mon Hermione, let's get some cocoa."

Hermione relaxed against her, and looked worried, "What about your mum, we'd disturb them, and we're supposed to be up early as well." she added.

"I have some ways around that." Ginny smirked mischievously.

Lapping at their cups in her room, Ginny looked at Hermione and asked "So why do you have that book now?"

Hermione looked a bit startled and embarrassed; her cheeks pinked a bit and she squeaked out, "I have another crush that I need to get over."

"Oh," Ginny let out solemnly, she didn't pester her about the new crush and instead held her cup out in a cheer.

Hermione caught on and clinked her mug with Ginny's. "We need to make a toast I suppose."

"What do we toast to?" Ginny wondered.

"A toast to all the girls who crushed on Harry Potter!" cried out Hermione jubilantly, Ginny laughed and after a good few seconds, she added, "Because all the best ones have."