Chapter 35

Ginny and Harry put as much distance as they could from Snape before daring to speak.

"He really does hate you, doesn't he?" she asked in a whisper. "I had never seen you two together, I thought people were exaggerating."

Harry shrugged.

"Yeah. He hates my guts. He's been acting weird lately, though."

"How so?"

"I don't know, weird. He insults me a lot more than before, but he's not always so vicious as he used to be. And... well, I guess sometimes he has a point about me being stupid. Not that I will ever admit that to him, of course."

"I don't think anything excuses that he treats you so bad," said Ginny, getting angry all over again. Snape really had been an asshole back there, she had never heard him talk that way to anyone. It wasn't just the words, though. What really made her shiver was the way Snape had looked at Harry, as if he really really really hated him. Of course Snape was always unfair and generally cruel to everyone outside Slytherin, but this seemed like a whole other level of viciousness.

Harry shrugged again.

"I'm used to it by now. At least he's not making me scrub cauldrons or disembowel disgusting things in detention. Just insulting lines." He suddenly snorted. "I don't think he realizes, but some of his insults are actually useful."

Ginny wondered what he meant by that, but he didn't elaborate and he didn't look as if he wanted to continue talking about Snape. Neither did Ginny, for that matter.

It was really strange how relaxed she felt now with Harry. She hadn't blushed in like an hour, unbelievable as that was. All the dancing and laughing, and then the drama with Ron, and the nasty encounter with Snape had sort of exhausted her nerves. She should feel more embarrassed than ever, after Harry had heard about her crush, but somehow she didn't. Perhaps because Harry had not made any reference to that and was treating her same as before.

After walking for a while longer, they sat on a stone bench surrendered by bushes.

"I'm sorry about your wand," Harry said, sounding guilty. "You didn't have to hex Ron for me, you know."

"I didn't do it just for you, Harry. I've been wanting to hex him since Halloween."

"Halloween?" he asked in confusion.

"That's when he began being a complete prat. Fred and George have already hexed him."

"But... why?"

"Well, because he chose not to believe you, obviously. He should be on your side, no matter what. Even if you had put your name in the Goblet willingly."

"But you just said you didn't hex him for me," pointed out Harry, still confused.

"Not just for you. It's a family thing. We all have to smack Ron in the head whenever he's being stupid. Right now, reason is on your side, so he gets smacked. Hexing counts as smacking."

"Ginny, you can't side with me, he's you brother!"

"So what? You're family too. I side with whoever is being less stupid."

Harry laughed, but his laugh sounded sad and Ginny thought he might want to yell or cry as well. Not that he would cry, she was certain of that, but when a moment later the laugh died in his lips she felt like he might be crying inside.

"Ginny... we are not really family," he said sadly. "The only reason I was ever welcomed in your home was because I was Ron's friend. And it seems like that's over."

Ginny's heart broke a little. Part of her wanted to comfort Harry somehow, while another, bigger part wanted to strangle her brother.

"Don't be silly, Harry," she said. "Ron might be a prat, and he might not deserve nor want your friendship anymore, but you are still family. Did you think we would let your quarrel keep you away? You can still come to the Burrow whenever you want."

It was so obvious! Why would he doubt it?

"Yeah, right." Harry grimaced. "I would deserve for him to curse me if I did that. I'm sure there's some sort of code that prevents a friend from stealing the other's family in case of a fight. I won't do that."

Ginny rolled her eyes. Boys could be so dumb!

"Maybe there is some code between friends, but you are our family before you are his friend, Harry. If Ron is still moping at the end of the year, you can just use Charlie's or Bill's old room, or share with the twins, or Percy..." She frowned. "Well, no, I'm sure you would rather staying with your relatives before sharing with Percy, but..."

Harry snorted.

"Ginny, I would share the attic with your goul before staying with the Dursleys. I would even share with the chickens."

He seemed to regret having said that immediately, his eyes deliberately avoiding her. Ginny was a bit surprized to hear him say that he preferred sleeping with chickens than with his relatives, but not so much. The twins had already told her about the locks in Harry's bedroom's door when they had gone to rescue him, and she knew that last summer he hadn't eaten much there, and that he had blown up an Aunt for some reason. His cousin was an ass, too, according to Ron and the twins. And Harry had not had permission to go to Hogsmeade last year. Never mind the single muggle coin that he had received for Christmas a few years back.

It was the first time Ginny heard Harry say anything about his relatives, though (well, of course it was, she had never before talked with Harry about anything!), and something in his eyes made her suspect that living with those people was much worse than any of them had imagined so far.

She wanted to ask him, but it was obvious that he didn't want to be asked, so she didn't.

"The thing is, we would make room for you at home, Harry," she said firmly. Just in case, she clarified, "Inside the house and out of the attic."

It didn't look as if Harry believed her at all. He looked even sadder by the second, and he even sighed as if resigning himself to be forever alone and homeless. So dumb.

Before she could truly process what she was doing, Ginny had smacked Harry on the back of his head, just like she smacked her brothers on a regular basis.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Harry, looking at her in disbelief and rubbing his head. "What was that about?"

She could hardly believe herself what she had done. Part of her was frozen in terror. But she had already done it, so she couldn't take it back.

"You're being stupid, Harry, so I had to smack you," she said, getting annoyed despite her terror. "How can you believe that you will lose our family if Ron stops being your friend?"

"It's pretty obvious, Ginny," Harry said angrily, climbing to his feet apparently to put some distance from her, which was probably wise if he meant to continue being stupid. "I became Ron's friend in our first year, and that's why I was invited to the burrow. It would be so very wrong of me to expect to still be able to go there now. Ron would never forgive me, and..."

"Who cares about Ron?" she almost yelled. "He's currently being a prat, so just ignore him. And you are still being stupid." Ginny considered to smack him again, and Harry reached instinctively for his wand in response to her glare, although he didn't draw it. "In case you have forgotten, you met our family before you even met Ron. I was there, so I remember. The first Weasley you talked to was mum, and I could swear that was the moment when she first wanted to take you in. The second Weasley you talked to was one of the twins, I don't remember which one. Then the other one. Only then you met Ron. And I would have talked to you too if mum had allowed me."

Harry's defensive attitude suddenly dissolved into a smile.

"What?" she snapped. She was too cross, he better not laugh at her.

"I remember you," said Harry, clearly trying not to laugh. "I was listening from my compartment, watching your family in the platform. You looked so... like a family." He sighed, the smile vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. "I heard Fred and George telling you about me, and you begging to climb into the train to see me."

Ginny felt mortified, and of course she blushed in embarrassment, her annoyance all forgotten.

"I was silly. I bet you would have laughed at me," she said in a small voice, looking at her hands.

"Laugh?" asked Harry in surprize. "Hardly. I thought you were cute. But it would have made me uncomfortable, no doubt. I had just found out that I was a wizard and that I was famous. I had no idea how to handle the attention that my scar brought."

He sat down again, apparently not fearing that Ginny might smack him again. She didn't know how to feel, on her part. Harry had called her 'cute'. She knew she had been a silly little girl back then, her head full of fairy tales and wrong ideas about heroes and adventures. She was still a bit silly in that regard, but she had also learned that Harry wasn't a hero like she had imagined. Some part of her still saw him that way, but another part knew better. And she was beginning to see even more clearly by the moment. She still believed that Harry was a hero, but now she realized that he was also a person, and that being a hero was hard for him.

Harry didn't want to be a hero, but he was one because someone had to, sometimes.

Or perhaps it was silly to think him a hero at all. When would she grow up?

She looked at him, sitting next to her with a completely miserable expression, and she truly couldn't see a hero. He was just... Harry. An orphan with horrible relatives, famous for something he didn't remember, trapped in a deadly Tournament without being able to receive any help. And recently punched in the face by his best friend.

"I was so relieved when Ron sat in front of me!" he was saying, his eyes lost in some distant memory. Probably the memory of that first day in the Hogwarts' Express. "I had always wanted to have a friend, more than anything. I guess that's why I was willing to do anything to keep him at my side."

Ginny's heart broke a little more. It sounded as if Harry had not had friends before Ron. Could that be? That was so sad and wrong!

"You have other friends, Harry," she said softly. "Hermione, for one. And Neville. And, well... me." Ginny had never wanted to be just friends with Harry, but suddenly she wanted to be. He deserved friends, as many as possible. "You can make new friends as well. Ron might come around eventually, or not. That's up to him. You will not lose our family, though. You are an honorary Weasley. And we Weasleys don't let go of people just like that, so don't even try to disappear on us."

Harry still looked highly skeptical.

"You're just saying that because you like me," he said, not meeting her eyes. "I doubt the rest of your family will think the same way. Your parents simply have to side with their son. And Charlie already hates me, so..."

"What?"

"Yeah, Charlie hates me for killing the dragon. He's right, of course."

Ginny jumped to her feet, furious again. Charlie what?

"What do you mean he hates you?" she demanded.

"I saw him after the first task. He was... really angry. All the handlers were. Because I killed their dragon."

How could her brother care more about a stupid dragon than about Harry? That was just inacceptable! He was so going to get smacked!

"Don't worry about Charlie, Harry," she said darkly. "We will handle him."

Harry was staring at her with wide eyes. And then he suddenly broke off laughing.

"I never knew you were so dangerous, Ginny," he said when he sobered up. "You sounded like a mobster, just then."

"A what?"

He hesitated.

"It's a muggle thing, never mind." He sighed, looking sad again. "Don't tell anything to Charlie, please. It's all right, I understand."

Ginny shook her head.

"Not up to you," she said. "We already have one big prat in the family currently —not counting Percy— Charlie will just have to snap out of whatever crap got into his head. You just don't worry. Like I said, you're an Honorary Weasley and that won't change even if some of my brothers are being idiots."

Harry seemed to want to argue, but he must have seen in her face that it was pointless and even dangerous because he finally sighed and shrugged.

Finally Ginny sat down again, and they remained in silence for several minutes. She had forgotten to feel nervous so far, so caught up as she had been in their conversation, but now she was quickly remembering that she was sitting next to Harry, who was her date and who had danced with her only a while ago. Ginny feared she would go back to how things usually were, with her blushing furiously at Harry's every word or generally behaving like a moron in his presence.

She was also feeling self-conscious and increasingly insecure. Had Harry grown sick of her already? Was he regretting having come with her? Ginny had sort of let herself be herself, but now she feared that might have been unwise. What if Harry didn't like her true self? She knew she could be a little intense and maybe even scary, and not everyone liked people like that. Harry was more a quiet sort of person. Even though he had always been best friends with Ron Ginny had the impression that he felt more at ease with someone like Neville, who was also quiet and undemanding. Perhaps Harry was already tired of her, or perhaps he was afraid she would smack him again. That had been unbelievable bold of her. She hoped her dad would not hear of it, since he had said no one was to smack Harry unless he felt comfortable with it.

Ginny felt him drifting away, and she panicked. Suddenly the garden, that had so far been such a nice place filled with fairies, was like a cold, dark forest. Why was this happening? They had been talking until just then, even laughing. Harry had sort of opened up to her, which was really hard to believe, and had seemed comfortable enough around her. Now she wondered if she had imagined it all. Maybe he had been annoyed the whole time. Maybe he was anxiously waiting for midnight to come around so he could leave the event without dying and get rid of her.

Say something, she urged herself. She wasn't ready for this night to end. Ginny knew full well that never again she would have a chance like this with Harry, a chance to be alone with him and get to know each other like Hermione had said. There usually were a lot of people around, and Ginny never had any good excuse to hang around Harry (not that she would have dared, until today).

Say something, anything!

"So, what was that about a house-elf knitting your socks?" she blurted.

Great, she really was a moron. Of all the things to say!

Harry turned to look at her, an embarrassed smile on his face. He really was cute.

"Hum... Well, there is this elf called Dobby," he said. "He came this morning to my dorm to give me a Christmas present. A pair of really extravagant socks." He snorted in amusement. "They are mismatched. Apparently it's too dull for elves to have two identical socks." He suddenly looked guilty. "I sort of blasted him away by reflex, poor Dobby. I guess I'm dangerous to approach when I'm asleep."

Ginny had heard about that. All Harry's roommates had talked about his nightmares and about how he reacted to anyone who tried to wake him. Apparently he slept with his wand under his pillow now, which was perfectly understandable considering that he had only survived a dragon thanks to his wand.

"But why would a house-elf give you a gift?" she asked in confusion. "Is he... yours?"

Harry looked startled.

"Mine? No, definitely not. Can you imagine Hermione's face if I owned a house-elf?" He laughed at the thought, and Ginny couldn't help to join. Hermione would go nuts. After a moment Harry sobered up and continued explaining. "Dobby is a free elf. Or at least I think he's still free. He's working at Hogwarts now, but Dumbledore pays him and he does whatever he wants so I guess he must be technically free."

A house-elf who was paid and worked being free? Was it crazy? Harry seemed to read her question in her eyes.

"He's just odd," he said defensively. "He used to have really bad owners who mistreated him, that probably messed him up a bit. You really don't know the story?"

Harry seemed genuinely surprized, which only irritated Ginny. How would she ever know anything if he, Ron and Hermione kept everything secret?

"You three never share anything," she pointed out, trying not to snap at him.

He smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, I guess we don't. We tend to keep everything to ourselves..." sudden worry appeared in his eyes. "You don't think Ron will tell, do you? I mean... He knows stuff... secrets. It would have never occurred to me that he could betray me, but after tonight..." he gulped, looking beyond miserable.

"Don't worry, Harry," she rushed to reassure him. "We will make sure he keeps his mouth shut."

Despite his misery, Harry laughed.

"Right. For a moment I forgot that you were a mobster."

Ginny was craving to know what a mobster was, but she figured she could ask Hermione later.

"So... the elf?" she pressed, really curious to know the story.

"Well... remember your first year?"

How could she ever forget? Harry almost flinched at her expression.

"Right. Of course you remember. Well, that year this elf visited me at my relatives' house to warn me about something happening at Hogwarts, and got me in trouble with the Ministry by throwing my Aunt's cake... that's why my Uncle locked me up, and why the twins and Ron had to break me out. You really don't know?"

"Just tell the story," she almost snapped. She was trying to remember if the twins had mentioned a house-elf when they had told the story of the car, but she didn't think so.

Harry smiled at her annoyance.

"All right. Well, after that the elf tried to prevent me from going to Hogwarts by blocking the 9 3/4 platform, which is why Ron and I flew your parents' car. And later that year Dobby sent that mad Bludger after me so I would get injured enough as to be sent away from school..."

Ginny was gaping at him. Harry laughed.

"I can't believe you don't know any of this. The thing is that Dobby was trying to protect me, in his dangerous way. I finally asked him to stop before he killed me. And meanwhile it was happening all the Chamber business, you know." He threw a nervous glance at her, but she avoided his eyes. "Afterwards, I finally realized that Dobby's cruel owner was Lucius Malfoy, who had been behind the entire thing, so I sort of tricked him into freeing Dobby by putting one of my socks inside the diary before giving it back to him."

Ginny was now staring at Harry in confusion and growing horror. Had he said... the diary? Tom's diary? Suddenly there wasn't enough air outside. She could feel her ears ringing and her hands sweating. Her heart was beating really fast, as if trying to escape her chest.

"Hum... Ginny? Are you... all right?" Harry's voice asked as if from far far away.

She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands for a long moment, hoping the world would stop spinning. Hands probably grabbed her shoulders to stop her from falling over, but Ginny didn't worry about that now busy as she was breathing. This wasn't the first time this happened to her, so she knew she just had to give it time. It would pass, she just had to breathe and try not to faint. Breathe in, breathe out. Time. Not faint.

Fortunately, she managed to get a grip on herself without embarrassing herself too much. At least she hadn't passed out nor collapsed to the ground. Although she suspected the latter was only because Harry had grabbed her in time. He was still holding her upright, a very worried expression on his face.

"I'm fine," she said weakly, taking a few more deep breaths. Why? Why had this had to happen in front of Harry? Just great, she had smacked him and then almost fainted in his arms, after threatening with hexing him if he didn't dance with her. There was no way he was ever going to like her now.

Harry didn't say anything, he just kept her steady and waited. He really looked worried, and pale.

Finally, Ginny recovered almost entirely and told him that he could let go of her now. He withdrew his hands, but remained vigilant as if to catch her at any moment.

"I'm fine, really," she said, now more firmly. "I just... I don't always handle it well."

He nodded as if in understanding.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," he said. "I didn't... I didn't realize."

"It wasn't... it wasn't the diary itself," she said, although of course the mere word terrified her. "I just didn't know... Lucius Malfoy?"

Ginny had always thought that it had been only bad luck that she had stumbled upon Tom's diary, but that hadn't been much of a comfort. What had she ever done to deserve such bad luck? She had blamed You-Know-Who, of course, but it still had felt unfair that she had been randomly chosen as his victim.

Perhaps it had not been random at all.

Harry seemed unsure as to whether he should say anything else, but he must have understood that she needed to know, because he explained.

"Lucius Malfoy had the diary," he said. "But your dad was making raids or something like that so he tried to get rid of it, and he figured he could use it to compromise your dad. That's why he planted the diary amongst your things. It had something to do with a muggle protection law, I think."

Ginny was trying to absorb the words, the truth. The why. At last, it made sense. She felt like crying or yelling or breaking something.

"So... it was on purpose?" she asked in a whisper.

Harry nodded.

"To hurt my dad?"

He nodded again.

"Does he... does he know? My dad?"

Harry frowned.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if Dumbledore told him."

"Please don't tell him," she begged. "Ever."

He nodded.

"All right."

They sat there in silence for a long time. Ginny felt as if a huge burden had lifted from her heart, while another one even heavier had fallen inside her. Understanding why that had happened to her sort of helped, but it also made it much worse. It had not been random. It had been almost personal.

She wasn't sure if she was more angry for herself or for her dad. She really hoped he would never know, else he would blame himself. And he would try to kill Lucius Malfoy, probably, and then her dad would die. And it would be all her fault for writing in that stupid diary.

Harry also looked angry, she noticed.

"We should all have paid you more attention," he said, a hard look in his eyes very much like when he had killed the dragon. "That year. It was obvious that something was going on with you, but we didn't see it." He sighed, and his eyes softened up, now filled with guilt. "And I... I never ignored you on purpose, you know that, right? I was just... too busy dealing with things, and worrying about myself... like always."

Ginny nodded. She knew that now, if not before. It was obvious, in retrospect, that she had been silly. Harry had never treated her wrong, he just had been busy with his own things, like he said. Flying cars and chasing basilisks through the castle, and dodging mad Bludgers sent by crazy elves. Just like now he was too busy fighting dragons and soon facing mermaids that he didn't even know about yet.

"You... you can talk to me about it, whenever you need to," he added. "I was there, after all. I talked to Riddle, so I know a little about what he did to you. I'm not good talking about stuff, but at least you can trust me not to tell anyone."

Ginny nodded. She was feeling increasingly terrified. She had never talked to anyone about the Chamber, she didn't think she could. It was true that Harry had been there, though. He had met Tom. He knew.

"I'm not good talking about stuff either," she said after another moment. "I mean... I used to talk to... to Tom. Then I couldn't... I couldn't talk anymore. About stuff."

Not about really private stuff. Ginny talked a lot about a lot of things, with Colin or Hermione or her mum. But she had never been able to talk about Tom with anyone. Nor about that year. She still couldn't.

"It's fine," said Harry. "I also can't talk about my stuff. It's hard."

They remained in silence for a long minute.

"I... You must think I'm pathetic," she mumbled finally, feeling really pathetic. "For breaking apart like that."

Harry shook his head.

"It makes sense. I almost lost it just a few weeks ago when I was in detention with Snape. The bastard has one of the dragon's eyes stuck in a jar in his office."

Ginny was horrified.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. He probably put it there on purpose, to torture me."

"How did he get one of the eyes?"

He snorted.

"I guess I sort of gave it to him. I told Dumbledore that Snape could have ingredients from the dragon."

"That's..." Ginny didn't know how to describe Snape. "He's an ass."

Harry shrugged.

"At least I managed to snap out of it before he had to give me a Calming Draught or something. He threatened with that, and no doubt he would have mocked me endlessly." He took a deep breath. "So you see... I'm pathetic too."

Ginny smiled. It was a comfort to know that Harry was also sort of messed up. She had seen him in shock after the first task, but apparently it was worse than it seemed. Not that she really wanted him to be messed up, of course. But if someone like Harry could break apart, then maybe she wasn't as pathetic as she had thought.

They stayed there for a while longer, abusing Snape and watching the fairies fly by, until McGonagall found them and told them that the Yule Ball was officially over and that they were to return to their dorms.

It was midnight, so like in the fairy tales everyone would probably turn into pumpkins at any moment. She knew that tomorrow this strange connection that she felt now between them would be just a story hard to believe. Harry would go back to his hell of a life, and Ginny to her ordinary life without Harry.

But she was somehow okay with that. At least for one night, they had had fun, and they had gotten to know each other a little, and they had even sort of shared a bit of their stuff.

She would cherish this night forever. Especially if Harry died soon and this night was all they got.

"Do you think there might me something going on between Snape and McGonagall?" she asked in a conspiratorial tone as they climbed the stairs of Gryffindor tower.

"What?" asked Harry in shock. "No way! McGonagall is too old. And can you imagine Snape kissing anyone? I bet his saliva is poisonous, McGonagall would just drop dead."

Ginny laughed, and Harry laughed too.