Fallin' All In You by StarlingFlight



Summary: There's a week to go until the Gryffindor Vs. Ravenclaw Quidditch final and tensions are rising and not just between the houses.
Rating: PG-13 starstarstarstarhalf-star
Categories: Post-OotP
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2021.05.15
Updated: 2021.05.28


Index

Chapter 1: Saturday
Chapter 2: Sunday
Chapter 3: Monday
Chapter 4: Tuesday
Chapter 5: Wednesday
Chapter 6: Thursday
Chapter 7: Friday
Chapter 8: Saturday Again


Chapter 1: Saturday

Author's Notes: Hi, This is the first fanfiction I have ever made public online, so any constructive criticism is welcome. It follows the week leading up to the final, plus the day of the final. There will be one chapter per day, so eight chapters in total. I already have the whole thing written, so updates will be regular (hopefully one chapter per day).


“Harry!” Ginny was soaring towards the ground so fast that her cry was lost to the wind. She hadn’t been concerned at first; Harry was surely aware of the bludger zooming directly at him across the near-deserted pitch, but then it had gotten closer and closer, and still, his eyes had been on her; he hadn’t made a single attempt to move out of the bludger's way. It had hit him squarely in the chest; even at half-speed for training purposes, the impact had been enough to make him bend double over his broom and head straight for the ground.

Ginny had been at the opposite end of the pitch, practising drills with Katie and Demelza. The bludger had passed her by inches, a black blur soaring through her peripheral vision. She’d twisted on her broom to follow its path as it whooshed past her ear; that was when their eyes had met. It was the fifth time she’d turned to find Harry’s gaze upon her since practise started an hour ago.

She’d been chastising herself internally - Harry wasn’t looking at her, he was looking at the bludger - when it became clear that he hadn’t even seen the bludger and it was going to collide with him. She’d tried to call his name, to warn him, but it had been too late. All Harry had had time to do was pull up slightly on his broom so he took the hit on his broad chest rather than his neck.

The green grass raced up to meet Ginny. She was laid almost flat on her broom, rushing to the spot where Harry had landed. He was rubbing a hand tenderly over his chest, his face held in a firm grimace.

“Are you alright?” She demanded, jumping off her broom when it was still three feet from the ground. Ginny landed with a thud, the force making her teeth click together, and raced towards him. She stopped leaving a gap of mere feet between them.

“I’m fine!” Harry shook his head in exasperation. “Don’t know how I missed that!”

“I thought you’d seen it, or I would have shouted to you sooner!” She almost demanded to know why he hadn’t seen it, but his health was her more pressing concern. “Lift your shirt up!”

Harry’s eyes went wide; his hand dropped from his chest to land slackly at his side. “What?”

“Lift your shirt up!” Ginny repeated. “The bludger hit you square in your chest.”

“No,” Harry said quickly. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

Ginny took two quick businesslike steps towards him, closing the gap between them. “Just let me see,” She coaxed. “There’s only a week until the final; what would we do if Captain Potter was stuck in the hospital wing?”

Harry jumped away from her as she reached towards the hem of his t-shirt, as though her hands were made of fire and would physically burn him.

“I didn’t realise you were a qualified healer now!” His teasing smile made Ginny’s heart race traitorously.

“It can’t be that hard,” Ginny smirked back at him. “What’s the worst that can happen? I mess up and you die?”

Harry gave a short bark of laughter. “Imagine that, after all the murder attempts it's Ginny Weasley’s overconfidence that finally manages to take me out.”

“Do you think the Death Eaters would do a collection for me? Send me a present; maybe some flowers?” They both laughed hard at the suggestion, conveniently ignoring the horrible circumstances that served as the context to such a joke.

Their eyes met and their laughter died instantly. Nothing seemed funny when Harry was looking at her like that. Like he’d never seen her before; like he never wanted to look away again. Time seemed to stand still, there was only her and Harry, drinking each other in.
In the back of her mind, Ginny heard the echoes of so many aggravating conversations she’d had recently. Dean’s voice rang clearly through her mind. “You were flirting right in front of me! He never stops looking at you!” Ginny had told him he was paranoid; had warned him if he didn’t stop being needlessly jealous it was over. Which of course it had been only two weeks later.

Dean’s voice was replaced by Maddie’s. “Harry Potter is staring at you. He can’t take his eyes off you.” That had been at breakfast last week; Ginny had replied that Maddie was looking for gossip where there was none and advised that Maddie didn’t know Harry well enough to make such a judgement.

Hermione’s voice picked up as Maddie’s trailed off. “I need you to seriously consider the fact that Harry likes you. It’s painfully obvious, Ginny and quite honestly he’s driving me mad with it!” Hermione had been harder to dismiss. She was Harry’s best friend, Ginny couldn’t tell her that she didn’t know Harry well enough. Instead, Ginny had suggested she’d finally cracked from too much reading and refused to discuss the subject any further. Threatening not to do any more revision and leave the library had been enough to get Hermione to drop it.

“Oi!” Ron’s loud bellow snapped Ginny from her reverie. Across from her Harry jumped and began to blink rapidly. “Are you two practising or what?”

Ron landed with a thud beside Ginny, dismounting with all the grace of a troll.

“I was just trying to examine Harry’s injury, but he’s been his usual self about it,” Ginny explained.

Ron nodded in understanding. “Acting like he’s incapable of being hurt?”

Exactly,” Ginny agreed.

Harry’s expression changed to one of deep indignation, “I don’t act like I’m incapable of being hurt! I spend half my bloody life in the hospital wing!”

“Precisely,” Ginny agreed. “And here I am offering my services so you don’t have to go back there. I could get you Romilda Vane if you’d prefer? She’d be very willing to play your nurse.” She forced herself to smile as if she was teasing him. You are teasing him, Ginny told herself firmly.

To her great relief, Harry looked revolted at the suggestion. “No, anyone but her!”

“Anyone?” Ginny repeated. She suddenly felt extremely queasy. “I can get an orderly queue of girls formed for you if you’d like?”

“No,” Harry said once more, his expression turning solemn. “I don’t want a mob of girls.”

What about just one? Thank Merlin, she managed to stop herself from saying it out loud.

“You’re mad, mate!” Ron playfully shoved Harry on the shoulder. Ginny had forgotten that her brother was even there. “They’re tripping all over themselves for you and you won’t even entertain any of them. That Hufflepuff seventh year who tried to talk to you the other day was quite good-looking!”

Ginny found herself idly wondering if it would seem odd for her to beat Ron to death with her broomstick for no apparent reason.

“Can we get back to playing Quidditch?” Harry begged, his hand hovered over his discarded broomstick, summoning it up to his hand.

“Yes, Captain!” Ginny saluted before commanding her own broom back into her hand. Without so much as a glance back, she swung her leg over it and kicked off from the ground, heading in the direction of the hoops to rejoin Katie and Demelza.

The rest of practise passed without incident. Ginny very purposefully refused to think of Harry until he blew the whistle, the shrill noise instructing them all back to the ground. It was almost easy, not thinking of Harry was her most practised skill. It would have been simple, if not for the fact she could feel his eyes on her like his gaze was a physical touch.

In the shower, with the hot water cascading down Ginny’s back and chest, massaging her sore muscles, not thinking about Harry became significantly more challenging. It wasn’t necessarily Harry’s hands she was imagining caressing her, Ginny assured herself. Any faceless stranger could have a very specific I must not tell lies scar across the back of their right hand. She shut the water off firmly, stopping herself from going down that particular mental avenue, as she had so many times recently.

As usual, having to cut her shower short meant Ginny was one of the first girls to emerge, fully dressed, from the shower cubicles. Harry was out of the shower too, he had his back to her. His dark hair glistened with water droplets like stars twinkling in the night sky. He’d changed into his jeans but he hadn’t yet put his shirt on.

For the first time in a long time, Ginny let herself look at him. He wasn’t muscular exactly; but he was toned, she supposed she had his rather brutal strength-based Quidditch training regime to thank for that. Not that she was thankful for it, not that Harry’s muscles had anything to do with her.

He must have sensed Ginny staring at him for he suddenly turned to look directly at her. Ginny couldn’t help but gasp, not at his arresting green gaze or his dazzling smile but at his torso which was almost completely covered in bruises.

“What the hell happened to you?” Ginny demanded. Her footsteps echoed loudly on the tiled floor of the changing rooms as she raced to him. Her hand reached out to brush her fingers across the bruises as she reached him, but she caught herself in time and dropped her hand to her side.

“It's just a few bludgers,” Harry said dismissively.

“You’ve been getting hit a lot recently,” More than even Ginny had noticed by the looks of it.

Harry shrugged before pulling his t-shirt roughly over his head. “The perils of being Captain, I suppose.”

“Maybe you need a new prescription for your glasses?” She’d meant it as a joke but neither of them laughed.

“No, my glasses are fine. I’ve just been… distracted,” Harry said, his gaze fixed on Ginny’s. All of the air seemed to leave the room.

“Distracted?” Her voice sounded a million miles away even to her.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, his eyes seemed to travel the length of her body. “Definitely distracted.”

Ginny’s mind was racing. Everything Dean had said, Maddie’s excited squeals, Hermione’s nagging. All the bludgers he’d taken recently, the way he always seemed to be looking at her even when he was working with Ron or the beaters, how he always seemed to be ready at exactly the right time to walk back to the castle with-

“Are you two ready to head up to the common room?” Ron’s voice smashed into Ginny with the force of a train. Harry jumped for the second time that evening, it was almost like having deja vu.

“Yep,” Harry said brightly, not meeting Ron or Ginny’s eyes. “Let’s go!” He closed his locker with a loud slam and headed directly for the exit, Ron trailing after him.

Ginny forced her legs to move even though they felt like they’d turned to lead. Her brain was still firing at a million miles per hour. Usually, their walks back to the common room were filled with joking and laughter, but Ginny remained silent as they traversed the grounds and negotiated the corridors and secret passageways of the castle. She was vaguely aware of Harry shooting puzzled looks in her direction but Ginny could do nothing about that now. Realisation was washing over with the force of a tidal wave and she was surely going to drown.

She climbed numbly through the portrait hole, her gaze sweeping the squashy armchairs and comfortable sofas of the common room until they landed on Hermione. She was sitting in her usual maroon armchair, a book open on her lap. Ginny made a beeline for her, shoving Ron out of her path in her eagerness to reach Hermione.

“I need to talk to you!” Ginny was sure she sounded frantic, but thankfully Harry and Ron were still quite far behind her.

“Are you alright?” Hermione frowned as she looked up from her book.

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” Ginny’s voice rose in pitch with every word. “Can we go upstairs, please?”

A knowing smile spread across Hermione’s face. “Is this about Harry?”

“Hermione!” Ginny hissed, resisting the urge to clap a hand over her friend’s big mouth.

“Okay, okay!” With infuriating slowness, Hermione closed her book and unfolded herself from her chair. Ginny grabbed her arm as soon as she stood and began to roughly drag her towards the dormitories.

“Where are you two going?” Ron called to their retreating backs.

“Ginny needs me to look over some of her Arithmancy work,” Hermione returned over her shoulder. “It’s probably going to take forever so we’re just going to do it upstairs! We’ll see you in the morning!”

“Night!” Ron called cheerfully.

“Yeah,” Harry chimed in. “Night, see you tomorrow!”

Ginny didn’t let go of Hermione’s arm even when they reached the spiral staircase, she was quite sure she might fall over if she didn’t hold on to something. She led Hermione past the fifth year girls dormitory and continued past the sixth years as well. She didn’t stop until they reached the bathroom, where she pulled the door open with unnecessary force and roughly shoved Hermione inside.

Ginny’s wand was in her hand instantly, locking the door and casting a quick muffliato to ensure they weren’t overheard.

“Ginny, we can’t take over the whole bathroom,” Hermione said, even as she pulled herself up onto the counter.

“This is an emergency!” Ginny cried. She seriously doubted she had the strength to even climb on the counter right now, so she simply slid down the wall and slumped on the floor, letting the coolness of the tiles seep through her clothing and into her skin.

“What’s happened?” Hermione asked. She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees, staring intently down at Ginny.

“I think Harry likes me!” The words sounded insane. Ludicrous. She’d finally cracked.
“I know,” Hermione said simply. “I tried to tell you, remember?”

“I know you did!” Ginny slid further onto the floor, so her head was resting upon the hard tile as well. “But I didn’t think it could be true!”

“What changed your mind?” Hermione waved her wand and conjured a thick, white pillow which she tossed down to Ginny. Ginny lifted her head just enough to slide the pillow beneath her and settled back feeling infinitely more comfortable.

“He was staring at me all practise and he got hit by a bludger that he really, really should have seen coming at him. I went to check he was alright and he gave me this look -”

“What kind of look?” Hermione interjected, peering curiously at Ginny over her knees.

“Kind of like he was looking into me instead of at me. D’you know what I mean?”

“I think so,” Hemione said noncommittally, unwilling as ever to admit she didn’t know something.

“Well anyway, Ron came over and the looking thing stopped and then I was teasing him about having girls lining up for him and his expression got all serious like this -” Ginny sat up and fixed Hermione with her best impression of the solemn expression Harry had given her earlier. “And he said ‘I don’t want a mob of girls', don’t you think that means something?”

Hermione nodded seriously. “Yes, I think so. Was there anything else? Harry’s so difficult sometimes.”

“Well we went back to practising but then after practise in the changing rooms he was shirtless -”

Hermione made an odd gasping, choking sound. “He was shirtless?”

Ginny waved dismissively. “The boys are shirtless all the time in the changing rooms. I never usually look, but Harry’s chest was covered in bruises it was impossible to miss.”

“Ron mentioned that he’d been taking a lot of bludger hits recently.”

“Well, I said to him do you need a new glasses prescription because it’s not normal to have that many bruises and he was like ‘my glasses are fine… I’ve been distracted.’-” Hermione snorted derisively; Ginny ignored her. “So I said ‘distracted?’ like a question and he stared at me all intensely and said ‘Yeah, definitely distracted.’”

Hermione slid off the counter and joined Ginny on the floor. They sat across from one another, both cross-legged. Hermione reached out and took Ginny’s hands in hers.

“How do you feel about it?” Hermione asked.

“Is that a trick question?”

“No,” Hermione said patiently. “You said you’d moved on, so it’s a valid question.”

Ginny sighed heavily and collapsed back against the pillow once more. Her eyes followed a crack on the ceiling as she spoke. "It's not like it was before. It's not because he's famous, or the chosen one. I hate that actually." It was true, all Harry's fame had ever given him was pain. Ginny would take it all away in a heartbeat if she could.

"It's because he's funny and he makes me laugh until I cry. He's kind too, not just in big ways like standing up against blood purists; in small ways as well, like when he invited Luna to Slughorn's Christmas party even though he could have taken anyone and he never makes me feel like I'm incapable because I'm small or a girl. I mean, he tried to stop me from going to the Ministry last year, but that's not the same as acting like I can't get myself through the portrait hole, is it? He understands the difference between a minor inconvenience and real problems. And have you seen how he is with Hedwig? Most boys try and act all macho around anything cute but Harry’s such a good owner, he talks to her and he strokes her and - "

“Okay,” Hermione held up a hand to silence Ginny’s rambling. “You need to take a breath.”

Ginny nodded but remained silent. She hadn’t even consciously realised she thought all those things until they’d started pouring out of her mouth at top speed. She never let herself think about Harry that deeply, to do so would be to invite back old feelings that she’d assured herself were long gone. Old feelings that were rising up within her as if just by allowing herself to consider the possibility of her and Harry she had opened a floodgate that had been straining to burst for a long, long time.

The silence stretched on for long minutes. The only sound was the inconsistent dripping of a leaky tap. Ginny pulled her old hair bobble from her wrist and began to twist it in her fingers.

“What are you going to do?” Hermione asked, breaking the silence.

Ginny said nothing for a moment as she continued to fiddle with the hair bobble. “Nothing,” she said eventually.

“What?” Ginny raised her gaze from the bobble to look at Hermione. She was sat bolt upright on the tiled floor, whilst Ginny hadn’t been looking she’d pulled her hair into a messy bun atop her head. “What do you mean nothing? You like Harry and Harry likes you. You need to do something about it!”

“No,” Ginny argued. “Harry needs to do something about it.”

“Since when do you sit around and wait for a boy to take action?” Hermione demanded. “You asked Dean out, you didn’t wait for him to come to you.”

“Dean’s not Harry,” Ginny said simply.

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“I made a fool out of myself with my pathetic crush on Harry, I’m not going to start chasing after him again now,” Hermione opened her mouth as if to argue but Ginny held up a hand calling for silence and her mouth snapped shut once more. “Besides, what if we’re both wrong? He hasn’t actually told you he likes me, has he?”

Hermione bit her lip before answering. “Well, no, but -”

“But nothing,” Ginny said loudly, her voice reverberating around the tiled bathroom. “We could both be totally misreading the situation. It could be complete wishful thinking on my part and maybe a bit on yours too. I’ve worked too hard to build a friendship - a really good - friendship with Harry to throw it away now.”

“So you’re just going to ignore your feelings for him?” Hermione looked sceptical.

“Yes,” Ginny said firmly. “I’ve become quite practised at it.” So practised at it that she’d actually managed to fool herself into thinking they didn’t exist anymore. She was a fool.

Hermione looked like she wanted to argue the point further but Ginny was saved by a loud banging on the door.
“Hey! This is a communal bathroom! Unlock the bloody door!”

Ginny jumped up from the floor immediately, wand in hand once more and let the door swing open. Behind her, Hermione vanished the pillow she’d conjured as a rather tall seventh year girl came barging into the bathroom.

“You’re a bloody prefect!” The tall girl scowled at Hermione. “You should know better than to lock everyone out of the bathroom!”

“Alright, don’t get your wand tied in a knot!” Ginny snapped. “We’re leaving now; it’s all yours!”

Ginny left Hermione on the landing to the sixth year’s room. It was still early for a Saturday night and her own room was fortuitously empty. She changed into her pyjamas with lightning quick speed and drew her hangings closed, inviting no conversation from her roommates when they eventually came to bed.

Her mind was spinning. Could Harry really like her after all this time? Had she really not known that her feelings for him were still there? It didn’t seem possible she’d been this deep in denial. Really, how could her feelings have done anything but grow once she’d actually gotten to know Harry. She’d been doomed from the start.

Ginny closed her eyes, willing sleep to take her; to provide relief from her tumultuous thoughts. For the first time in years as she fell asleep she let her mind wander to Harry.

****

Disappointment flooded Harry’s entire being as he watched Ginny walk away, dragging Hermione with her. He’d gotten far too carried away this evening. It wasn’t his fault; when she looked at him with those eyes he lost control of himself completely. They were like twin pools of melted chocolate; they had the same effect as chocolate too. He looked at her and felt instantly better about the world. Now that she was gone Harry didn’t feel good at all, though.

He all but collapsed onto the faded old armchair across from Ron, intent to sink into his torment but Ron had other plans for him.

“Chess?” he asked hopefully.

Harry briefly considered declining, he wanted to do nothing but sit quietly and brood but the memory of him telling Ginny that he didn’t want ‘a mob of girls’ played through his mind and guilt clawed painfully at Harry’s chest. “Chess sounds good.”

Thankfully Ron didn’t seem to notice Harry’s sombre mood. He smiled happily as he busied himself, setting up the chessboard on the low mahogany table between them. They played in blessed silence, well Harry did. Ron was chattering loudly and insistently about tactics for the final, but he seemed content with Harry’s minimal input which came in the form of the odd grunt of agreement when Ron’s voice seemed to lull slightly.

Harry was losing even worse than usual, which was unsurprising as his thoughts were wholly on Ginny. His heart had stopped beating for a second when she’d told him to lift his shirt up. For a mad moment, he’d considered doing it. A wonderful vision had sprung fully formed into his brain of Ginny’s face crumpled in concerned anguish at the sight of the many, many bruises. Her fingers, running featherlight over his skin as she gently inspected them, but of course, he’d caught sight of Ron flying towards them from the other end of the pitch and he’d hastily jumped out of Ginny’s reach.

That was when he’d fallen so deeply into her eyes he’d thought he might be permanently lost in them. Ginny hadn’t broken the eye contact either. Surely that meant something? Surely she didn’t stare into everyone’s eyes like that? If only he definitely knew she liked him, then it would be worth risking Ron’s wrath.

He’d tried to test the waters by telling her he’d been distracted during practices. He thought Ginny might have even understood what he was trying to say, she’d looked at him like she’d never seen him before. Harry had been silently begging her to say something, to give him any sign that she might feel the same as he did; but Ron had interrupted.

No matter how quickly he got out of the shower after practice; or how early he got up in the morning intending to intercept Ginny on the way to breakfast without anyone else around, Ron always seemed to be there. For the first time since they were eleven, Harry found having such a loyal best friend to be an utter inconvenience.

“Are you alright?” Ron asked, pulling Harry from his reverie.

“Yeah, why?” Harry asked in as mild a tone as he could manage.

“You were glaring at me,” Ron sounded indignant.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about Horcruxes,” Harry lied. Ron nodded wisely. He asked no further questions but immediately resumed their match by directing his bishop to take Harry’s knight.

White-hot shame burned in Harry’s stomach. Ron had been his truest friend. He’d willingly faced untold horrors by Harry’s side and he’d never once complained about the danger that came with being associated with Harry. Resenting him because Harry couldn’t stop thinking about his sister was grossly unfair. Not for the first time, Harry was struck by the thought that he didn’t deserve Ron’s friendship.


Ron yawned loudly as he put Harry’s king in check. The common room was still half-full, it was only ten o’clock on Saturday night and most Gryffindor’s considered it a point of pride not to waste the best evening of the week in bed; but Harry and Ron had both had a fairly gruelling Quidditch practice and so they saw no shame in retiring early.

To Harry’s surprise, Seamus and Neville were already in the dormitory. Their animated chatter drifted through the door but ceased as Ron pushed it open. Harry saw Neville and Seamus’ faces fall into twin expressions of relief when they saw Harry and Ron walk through the door.

“Everything alright?” Ron asked, as he crossed the room and began to pull his pyjamas out of his trunk. Several other items of clothing fell out and littered the floor; Ron made no move to tidy them up.

“Yeah,” Seamus said evenly. “Thought you might have been Dean. We were just talking about Leoni Keen; you know how he gets when you bring up anyone from Ginny’s dorm.”

Harry’s heart gave a little jolt at the mere unexpected mention of Ginny’s name. He turned away from the other three whilst he changed into his pyjamas, praying they wouldn’t see the blush that he knew was currently burning across his cheeks.

“What about Leoni?” Harry asked, not truly caring one way or another; but desperately wanting to move the conversation along.

Seamus suddenly turned redder than a tomato, so that he almost blended in with the scarlet hangings of the bed he was lounging on. “I was going to ask her to come to the match with me next week.”

“I told him it’s madness!” Neville cried. He flopped down onto his pillows as though the mere thought of attempting to ask out Leoni Keen was more than he could physically bear. “I swear that whole dorm room has taken some sort of veela potion or something!”

“Oi!” Ron barked. He scowled at his covers as he climbed into his bed. “That’s my sister you’re talking about.”

Neville turned a shade of red that matched Seamus. “Sorry! I don’t think of Ginny like that!” He said quickly. “But everyone says that about her lot.”

Harry knew this was true. It had become apparent the first night back after the summer break; by now it was a widely accepted fact amongst the male population of Hogwarts that the fifth year Gryffindor girls were without exception - there was no other word for it - hot.

Wild rumours had erupted concerning beautifying potions and cosmetic spells, but at least in Ginny’s case, Harry knew it wasn’t true. He’d seen her roll straight out of bed and come to the table in her pyjamas in summer with her hair wild and unbrushed, eyes still clouded with sleep and perfect freckles on full display. She was effortlessly beautiful.

“We’re not talking about Ginny anyway!” Seamus waved dismissively. “Like any of us would be stupid enough to go for Ginny when we share a room with you and Dean!”

Harry felt a sinking sensation in his stomach but said nothing. Seamus was right, it would be madness. Now fully changed into his pyjamas, Harry climbed into his bed and hugged one of his pillows to his chest.

“Fine,” Ron huffed. Apparently, he didn’t even consider that his best friend’s silence might be because he was being torn apart by the mental anguish of longing for Ginny. “You’re really going to ask Leoni out? I don’t think I’d have the bottle.” Ron turned pale at just the thought of it.

“Leoni I think I can handle,” Seamus said conversationally. “Maddie Archer on the other hand; every time I see her I consider just falling on my knees!”
Ron laughed and nodded in agreement. “You’d take your life into your own hands with that one though!”

Maddie was blonde with legs that went on for days, there was a long-standing rumour that she was at least part veela but she’d never confirmed or denied it. Every few weeks she seemed to be involved in a new messy break-up. Harry’s awareness of this only stretched as far as an exasperated Ginny leaving him, Ron and Hermione mid-conversation on multiple occasions to run after a crying Maddie after her latest drama.

“Yeah,” Neville sighed. “ Amrinta seems like she’d be nice; she’s always seemed quite friendly. She asked if she could pet Trevor the other day.”

Seamus wolf-whistled loudly, causing Neville to blush once more. “Wants to pet Trevor does she? I hope you took her somewhere private where she could appreciate him properly.”

Neville seemed to choke on air. “What? No! She really was just interested in Trevor! She said he was cute!”

Ron held his head in his hands. “Neville, you’re so dense sometimes! What girl would think a toad is cute? It’s not exactly a Pygmy Puff, is it?”

Neville sat bolt upright on his bed. His eyes were wide as saucers. “You think she was interested in me?”

Seamus shrugged. “Stranger things have happened.”

“Have they?” Neville asked sincerely. Even Harry couldn’t help joining in with the others laughter at the look of incredulity on Neville’s face.

Seamus turned to Harry as the laughter died down. “What about you?”

“What about me?” Harry’s heart was hammering in his chest. He kept his eyes firmly planted on the strachy white pillow; he still clutched to him.

“I reckon you’d definitely have a chance with Maddie Archer.” Neville mused.

“I don’t want a chance with Maddie Archer, thanks.” Harry’s cheeks were burning hotter than the sun. He imagined they were probably brighter than Ginny’s hair.

“I think Harry has enough drama already, without adding someone like Maddie,” Ron said. Harry smiled gratefully at him; his smile vanished as soon as Ron opened his mouth to speak again. “They’re not all drama though, mate. I know Cho turned out to be a bit of a disaster, but we could definitely find someone a bit more relaxed for you.”

“Lizzie Lightwood, for example,” Seamus suggested. Lizzie was the fifth and final member of Ginny’s dorm. She was pretty, Harry supposed and she was quiet, definitely no drama. It didn’t matter though, she wasn’t Ginny. It was like comparing a light drizzle to a hurricane.

As usual, Ron didn’t seem to understand Harry’s silence was not borne out of quiet consideration. “Yeah, Lizzie would be good. She’s quite intelligent as well, I think it’s important to go out with someone who can hold a conversation.”

“You and Lavender stayed up late having philosophical debates, did you?” Seamus asked wryly. Neville almost rolled off the bed laughing. Harry let out a weak chuckle in order to appear as though this whole conversation wasn’t making him feel sick.

The tips of Ron’s ears had turned violently pink. “No,” He mumbled. “But I’ve realised in the future I want a girl that I can talk to. Who doesn’t just want to snog all the time.”

“Aww, do you want to sit up all night and talk about your feelings?” Seamus teased.

Ron withdrew one of his pillows from behind his back and chucked it roughly at Seamus’ head. ”Shut up!”

The pillow hit Seamus square in the face, momentarily muffling his bellowing laughter before it rebounded and landed in Seamus lap. Ron, seemingly remembering that the pillow had actually been quite useful in propping him up, used his wand to summon it back across the room to him.

“So, what do you reckon, Harry?” Neville asked. “Lizzie Lightwood? You could probably even get Ginny to talk to her for you. Warm her up a bit, y’know?”

It seemed incredible to Harry that his worst nightmare had just come pouring out of Neville’s mouth in such a casual manner. He could imagine nothing less appealing than Ginny happily talking him up to another girl, completely at ease with the idea of Harry with someone else.

“I don’t think I’ll bother,” Harry said in a tone that definitely didn’t convey just how vehemently opposed he was to the idea. “I think I’ll just focus on Quidditch for now and you know, N.E.W.Ts are only next year, I should probably concentrate on schoolwork over girls.”

Ron, Neville and Seamus all looked at Harry like he’d suddenly started speaking mermish. He shuffled uncomfortably in the bed, desperately trying not to catch Ron’s eye. He was absolutely certain if he looked at Ron right now the truth would come spilling out.

Fortunately, the door to the dormitory opened with a bang and all heads turned in its direction. Dean was framed in the doorway, his sketchbook tucked neatly under his arm.

“Where have you been?” Seamus asked as Dean tossed the sketchbook on his bed and turned to pull his pyjamas out of his trunk.

“Drawing,” Dean explained. “Out in the grounds. The sunset was really beautiful tonight. What have you lot been up to?”

“Ron’s just been telling us about his feelings.” Seamus winked in Ron’s direction, earning himself another pillow to face.

“Got a lot of feelings, have you, Ron?” Dean said in a joking tone.

“Yeah,” Ron nodded. “I feel like I’m going to be sick if I have to look at Seamus’ ugly mug for another second.”

Without another word Ron pulled his hangings closed, signalling he was going to sleep. Harry gratefully followed his lead, closing his own hangings with a quick goodnight to the others.

He laid back on his pillows and allowed visions of Ginny to lead him into the hazy fog of sleep.


Back to index


Chapter 2: Sunday

Author's Notes: This one is all from Harry's POV. Sorry to any Ginny POV lovers (of which, I am one) there will be chapters later that are purely Ginny's perspective.


Sunday dawned clear and bright. Harry found himself especially resentful of the rule which stated he couldn’t book the Quidditch pitch on both Saturday and Sunday, meaning he’d had to concede it to the Ravenclaw’s today. The conditions were perfect for training.

Hermione (who had always been an avid supporter of this rule) strongly encouraged both Harry and Ron to use the time not spent at practice doing their homework. She had, however, agreed that there was no reason they couldn’t at least enjoy the sunshine whilst they worked and so the three of them enjoyed a morning in the sunshine by the lake.

Hermione’s attention was entirely devoted to her Ancient Runes essay whilst Ron and Harry had lounged on the grass enjoying several games of Exploding Snap. Their homework lay on the grass beside them quite forgotten.

Ron had become more irritable and as a result less fun to play with as lunchtime approached. Eventually, both Harry and Hermione had become so sick of his grumbling that they’d agreed to abandon their prime position in the grounds to go and get lunch.

Harry’s eyes took a second to adjust from the brightness of the grounds to the cool dimness of the entrance hall. He may have missed Ginny walking past him entirely if it had been for her unmistakable hair. His stomach gave a small jolt as he realised she was within talking distance.

She was with Luna. Both of them carried bags full to bursting with books, leading Harry to believe they’d probably spent the morning in the library doing O.W.L work. They were deep in conversation heading to the door when Luna glanced up and spotted him, Ron and Hermione. She nudged Ginny and pointed in their direction.

Ginny’s smile upon seeing him - them - was magnificent. She pulled Luna to a halt, waiting for the three of them to catch up. Harry sped up quite without realising it, fortunately, Hermione kept pace with him and Ron had no choice but to keep up or be left behind.

Luna had wandered back to the Ravenclaw table once they’d entered the great hall, proclaiming that she was going to read her charms notes over lunch. Ginny looked at her like she might have gone mad.

“I’ve been ditched for homework.” She said incredulously as she watched Luna take a seat at the opposite end of the hall.

“You can sit with us.” Harry offered, just to be polite of course. He thought Hermione might be smirking at him but his focus was on Ginny.

“I don’t want your pity!” Ginny sighed dramatically.

Harry had to bite his tongue to stop himself from telling her -completely pathetically - that his lunch would be infinitely more enjoyable with her by his side. He steered her by the shoulders to an empty seat halfway up the table. The feel of her arms in his hands caused his stomach to flutter embarrassingly.

“Come on, I need to make sure my players are eating properly.” He said with as much authority as he could manage. Ginny allowed herself to be guided into the seat, Harry took the spot next to her.

Oh, are you being Captain Potter today?” She teased. “I’d better do as you say then.” Her eyes smouldered as she fixed him with a compliant expression. Harry felt as though all the air had gone out of the room.

“Yes.” The word came out as little more than a squeak. He took a large gulp of pumpkin juice to compose himself.

Ginny leant over the table reaching for the baked potatoes. Her hair fell like a wave over her shoulder and her top rode up slightly, exposing a patch of freckled stomach.

“Is this acceptable, captain?” She paused with her hand on the metal tongs, not yet having picked up a potato. Harry dragged his eyes away from her stomach, to meet Ginny’s. He nodded, the ability to speak had left him entirely.

“Wish we could get some extra practice in today,” Ron said wistfully, reminding Harry that there were in fact other people in the hall.

“It’s a nice day for flying.” Ginny agreed, as she returned to her seat and added a mountain of cheese to her potato. “No chance of an extra practice?”

“The Ravenclaw’s have the pitch booked all day,” Harry said regretfully.

“Ginny, you need to study!” Hermione looked frantic. Ginny bit her lip guiltily. Harry felt a sigh working its way past his lips at the sight but he forced it back down.

“Don’t remind me!” Ginny cried. “Ancient Runes is actually impossible.”

“Of course it isn’t!” Hermione reached across the table and patted Ginny’s hand reassuringly. “Do you want me to help you?”

Suddenly Harry bitterly regretted not taking Ancient Runes himself, a sentiment he’d never professed before.

“Are you sure?” Ginny asked uncertainly. “You could actually enjoy your Sunday.”

Ron snorted. “If you let her talk about Ancient Runes all afternoon she will enjoy her Sunday.”

“Thank you,” Ginny said gratefully, turning to Hermione.

Hermione nodded in acknowledgement before rounding on Ron and Harry. “What are you two going to do with your afternoon?

It would be extremely obvious to profess a sudden fascination with Ancient Runes, Harry told himself firmly. Out of habit, he pulled the Marauder’s Map out of his pocket. Malfoy’s dot was nowhere to be seen. Harry was sure he was in the Room of Requirement.

“Don’t waste your whole afternoon chasing 'round after Malfoy!” Hermione snapped.

“It’s Sunday!” Ron whined. “Can’t we just hang around and play chess or something?”

Ginny said nothing, she was watching him closely. Harry’s skin prickled where her eyes roved over him.

“Fine!” Harry snapped. “But we’re going back to the common room via the Room of Requirement.”

“Yeah, because it’s not like it’s completely out of the way or anything,” Ron muttered.

“I think whatever Malfoy’s planning is a bit more inconvenient than a detour on the way to the common room!” Harry snarled.

“How can you say that?” Hermione demanded. “You have no idea if he’s even planning anything! Let alone what it actually is!”

“Alright!” Ginny waved her hands in the air calling for silence. Harry’s retort died on his tongue. “You have an extremely important quidditch match to strategise for.” Ginny reminded him.

She reached into her bag under the table. “Here, I was going to go through these with you later but it looks like I’m going to be busy with Ancient Runes.”

She handed him a stack of parchment. The pages were covered in hastily scribbled quidditch plays. Her head bent close to his as she tapped them with her wand and the little figures began to move. Her flowery scent engulfed him and it was with great effort that Harry focussed on the manoeuvres Ginny was showing him.

“Ravenclaw’s strength is in their beaters. If we do this then we’ll seriously undermine their defence.”

Harry nodded in agreement. “Puts you at higher risk from their bludgers though.”

Ginny shrugged. “Let me worry about that.” She flipped the page to show him some more ideas. Her lips were inches from his as they bent over the pages. It would be so easy to just bend his head slightly and -

“Let me see!” Ron leaned across the table and pulled the parchment towards him. Once again Harry had forgotten his best friend's existence. He’d forgotten the existence of the entire world with Ginny so close to him.

“Are you ready for the library?” Hermione asked Ginny.

Ginny sighed. “Yeah. Let me know what you think of the plays!” She instructed Harry as she stood

Harry watched her leave until she disappeared through the doors.

***
Harry had no luck getting into the room of requirement. Ron leant against the wall huffing at him every few seconds until finally Harry gave up and stomped back up to Gryffindor Tower.

On the way, they ran into a group of seventh year Ravenclaws who began to boo loudly as Harry and Ron passed. Apparently, they had reached the point in the run-up to the final where the hostilities were beginning to surface. Harry ignored them, having endured much worse taunts throughout his time at Hogwarts. Ron, on the other hand, turned deathly pale.

“Ignore them,” Harry instructed, dragging Ron in the direction of the common room. “They’re just trying to get in your head.” Ron had been playing excellently lately, the last thing he needed was a crisis of confidence. He resolved to keep Ron safely ensconced in Gryffindor Tower away from any Ravenclaws, or worse Slytherins, until dinner.

Once they were safely through the portrait hole, Harry threw himself onto one of the sofas by the window and occupied himself with Ginny’s quidditch plays, making small amendments where he could see potential improvements.

He wished she were there to discuss them with. Ron kept peering anxiously over his shoulder wanting to discuss them in minute detail, but it wasn’t the same as talking to Ginny. Ron’s questions were borne out of concern and self-doubt. Ginny’s opinions would have come from a place of confidence and competitiveness.

Eventually, Harry became so concerned about Ron’s self-esteem issues that he coaxed him into a game of chess, even though he was in no mood to play it. Ron won easily, despite Harry’s best efforts, and regained some colour to his cheeks.

Hermione and Ginny returned to the common room just as the two of them were about to go down to dinner. Ginny flopped onto the empty seat on the sofa beside Harry. Her proximity made the hairs on Harry’s arm stand on end.

“Do you know what?” She asked him by way of greeting. He raised his eyebrows curiously. “I hope a bludger takes me out next Saturday. I can die doing what I love and I won’t have to take the O.W.Ls.”

He nodded sympathetically. “Can you score me thirty goals before your untimely demise, please?”

“Easy,” she said once they’d both stopped chuckling. “Next time give me a real challenge.”

Harry’s brain flashed through a number of inappropriate challenges he’d like to issue Ginny with. He felt the blush creeping up his neck, he just hoped it was suitably covered by the collar of his t-shirt.

“Can we go to dinner?” Ron asked.

“Are you coming?” Harry asked Ginny.

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m starving. Hermione’s a slavedriver.”

“That’s a terrible thing to say!” Hermione exclaimed.

Ginny smirked at her. “I’m just glad you’re not quidditch captain. Harry already works us hard enough as it is.”

“I don’t usually hear you complaining.” He had no idea how he’d managed to speak. Her words had driven his imagination into overdrive.

“You know me, I’m more of a suffer in silence type.” Ginny quipped.

“Well, I’m open to suggestions for improvement.” He laughed.

Ginny’s face changed then. Her amused expression suddenly became serious. “You don’t need to change a single thing.” Harry had the distinct impression she wasn’t just talking about his leadership skills. Her face split back into a devilish grin. “Of course, I might change my mind if we don’t win the cup.”

“Are you saying our friendship depends on the outcome of the match?” He already had a deep suspicion that the match was going to be pivotal.

She shrugged. “There are some things you just can’t recover from.”

“I guess I’ll have to play extra hard then,” Harry smirked as if he was joking. As if the prospect of Ginny’s attention wasn’t enough to make him more motivated than he’d ever been before.

“I guess you will.” She said quietly.

“Are we going to dinner or not?” Ron demanded snapping them out of their banter.

***
Demelza was walking a little way in front of them on the way down to the Great Hall. She was laughing excitedly with her friends, their squeals echoed down the corridor.

On the first floor, they passed a group of Ravenclaw fifth years, one of them sneakily stuck out her leg and Demelza tripped, stumbling to the ground.

“Oi!” Harry roared. His hand was streaking for his wand but Ginny was faster. With a hasty incantation, the Ravenclaw’s face was engulfed by bat-bogeys.

“Try that again, Gilbert and you’ll be in the hospital wing for a week!” Ginny growled. The girl wasn’t listening. She was shrieking at her friends, her hands batting desperately at her face.

Demelza’s friends reached down and helped her up. “I’m fine!” She said brightly as she dusted herself off.

The Ravenclaw had finally managed to free her face from the intruding bat-bogeys as Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione caught up to Demelza.

“I’ll see you in charms tomorrow, Weasley.” The girl glowered at Ginny. “You won’t have your protectors around you then.” She gestured towards Harry and Ron. Ginny’s eyes narrowed dangerously and she stepped forward so she stood alone in the middle of the corridor.

“Try it now.” Ginny opened her arms wide, gesturing for the girl to approach. “I’ve seen your wandwork. I don’t need any help taking you on!”

The girl snorted. “Yeah, like I’m going to risk the wrath of Harry Potter.”

Ginny shrieked in indignation. Harry saw what she was going to do seconds before it happened. He lunged forward and pulled her back just as she began to launch herself into the group of Ravenclaw’s.

“Let me go!” She snarled as the Ravenclaw’s ran down the corridor and around the corner. Once their echoing footsteps died away Harry released his grip on Ginny’s arm.

“I could have taken her!” Ginny declared, whirling to face Harry.

“I know but I didn’t want you to risk an injury this close to the match!”

“The only one with an injury would have been her,” Ginny muttered darkly.

“That’s the third time I’ve been tripped today!” Demelza informed them, ending Harry’s admittedly poor attempts to calm Ginny down.

“Right, let’s stick together.” Harry decided, arranging his players in the centre of the group and directing Demelza’s friends and Hermione onto the outskirts. “I don’t want any injuries before Saturday.”

They made it to the great hall without further incident. Jimmy and Ritchie were sitting together with a group of other third years. Katie was with her usual group of seventh year girls. Harry breathed a sigh of relief that they all seemed in good spirits.

The chanting started as their group made its way between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables. A loud verse of Weasley is our king reverberated around the hall. He watched the colour drain from Ron’s face. In contrast, Ginny was becoming redder by the second.

The Slytherins - who had no chance at the cup regardless of the outcome of the match - joined in with the Ravenclaw’s singing. The volume was ear-splitting.

Harry took Ron’s arm in one hand and Ginny’s in the other and steered them into seats. Ginny’s indignant yells were entirely drowned out by the volume of the song.

Demelza and her friends made their way further up the table where there were enough seats for all of them.

McGonagall’s amplified voice echoed around the hall. “ENOUGH!” Silence fell immediately. Without further comment, McGonagall retook her seat and resumed her dinner.

Steadily the volume in the hall rose to normal levels as conversations resumed. Ginny stabbed at her chicken as if it had personally offended her. Ron pushed his around his plate, failing to eat any of it.

Harry glanced at the other members of his team. Katie, his most experienced player, seemed unphased. Jimmy and Ritchie were staring at each other, their expressions twin masks of terror. Demelza’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. There were still five days until the final, he couldn’t let his team lose their heads yet.

Harry let Hermione try and coax Ron into eating for another twenty minutes whilst he ate his dinner. It seemed Ritchie and Jimmy had no intention of eating anything further either. Demelza had made a valiant effort at her dinner but her plate remained half full.

Harry sighed before standing. “Team meeting in the common room!” He declared. As one, his team rose from their seats and followed him to the door.

The Ravenclaws' boos were drowned out by the chants of “GRYFFINDOR, HEAR ME ROAR!” from their Gryffindor table. Ginny linked her arm through his in a show of solidarity as they exited the hall. Harry’s spirits soared infinitely.

***
The common room was blissfully empty. Most of the Gryffindors were still at dinner. The team huddled in seats near the notice board.

“Right, we knew it was going to get like this.” Harry began. “We can’t let them get in our heads, that’s what they want.”

Katie nodded in agreement. “We simply have to ignore them.”

“You’ve all been playing really well! I don’t want to lose that momentum because of some cocky Ravenclaws.” Harry tried to sound encouraging. Ginny smiled brightly at him. Demelza perked up significantly. “The only reason they're acting like that is that they're threatened. We can win this with skill alone and they know it, we just have to remember that!” Ginny cheered in encouragement, Katie and Demelza quickly joined in. Jimmy seemed to perk up slightly too. Harry smiled gratefully at them.

“Just stick close to your friends in the corridors this week,” Harry added on a grimmer note. He suspected Ron would be stuck to him like glue until the match was over.

“I’m going to be sick!” Ritchie announced before running for the door to the boy's dormitories. Harry dismissed the team, hoping some of his encouragement had sunk in.

Hermione joined them as he, Ron and Ginny took seats by the window.

"Did you have a look at my strategies?" Ginny asked Harry from the seat beside him.

"Yeah," He reached into his pocket and pulled the parchment back out. Indicating the changes he'd made.

She examined them seriously and nodded. "That's really good. I never would have come up with that." She said, indicating some of the amendments he'd made. Harry felt a flush work across his cheeks.

"You did the hard work." He said.

"The hard work is going to be actually winning," Ron muttered grimly.

Hermione placed a comforting hand on his arm. "You're very capable." She told him. "You just have to believe in yourself." Ron seemed to have lost the power of speech but he nodded dumbly.

The rest of the evening was spent in intense discussion over quidditch tactics. Ginny had clearly spent a great deal of time considering the strengths and weaknesses of not only the Gryffindor team but Ravenclaw's as well. Ron was becoming steadily greener in pallor as Harry and Ginny discussed the finer points of the Ravenclaw team. Hermione kept throwing him concerned glances over the top of her book.

Eventually, Harry took pity on him and suggested they go to bed. Ron agreed without enthusiasm.

"What period do you have charms tomorrow?" Harry asked Ginny after bidding Hermione a good night.

"How do you know I have charms tomorrow?" Her brow was furrowed in confusion.

"That Ravenclaw girl said see you in charms,” Harry explained quickly, silently praying she didn’t think he was stalking her. “I'm going to walk you there. I really don't need my best chaser getting injured."

"I don't need a bodyguard!" Ginny crossed her arms defiantly.

"I know, but could you at least humour me?" He did know she didn't need a bodyguard. If he was really worried about the team it wasn't Ginny he should have been following around. Jimmy and Ritchie were much more vulnerable than her.

"Third period, straight after the break." She rolled her eyes as if she was annoyed but a small smile tugged at the corners of Ginny's lips.

"Harry and I have a free third period. So we won't even have to be late." Ron said cheerfully. Harry's heart sank like a stone. There was no good reason to tell Ron not to join them.

"Two bodyguards. Great." Ginny's smile vanished and her tone held as much enthusiasm as Harry felt.

Harry hurried to bed before Ginny had a chance to tell him that actually she didn’t want him and Ron following her around and could he please leave her alone. Even knowing that Ron was going to be with them, guaranteed time with Ginny still made tomorrow hold infinitely more promise than it had five minutes ago.

Back to index


Chapter 3: Monday

Author's Notes: Just an FYI there is one F bomb in this chapter. Also Ginny's views on Ravenclaws practical abilities are her own and don't represent the views of this author :)


The morning had been eventful. Ginny had overslept and almost missed breakfast entirely. Maddie had run into her on the way into the Great Hall and thrust a stack of toast at her that she'd been planning on bringing to Transfiguration for Ginny.

She'd caught a glimpse of Harry over Maddie's shoulder. His shoulders were tense and he was glancing around the hall taking inventory of all his players. He visibly relaxed when he saw Ginny. She flashed him a quick smile and a little wave before turning to follow Maddie straight back out of the door.

"Who are you waving at? Maddie glanced over her shoulder. "Should have known." She smirked at Ginny.

Ginny assumed an expression of wide-eyed innocence and took a bite of toast to save herself from answering.

"Where's Lizzie?" Ginny asked once she'd swallowed the toast. Deftly changing the subject.

"Already in class. She wanted to ask McGonagall some questions about the homework assignment. I said I'd wait for you, don't want you walking around on your own this week."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You sound like Harry. He's insisting on walking me to charms after break." She pointedly ignored the excited butterflies that fluttered through her stomach. It wasn't romantic, it was purely practical. Her brother was going to be there too.

"Walking you to class, is he?" Maddie's casual tone was extremely forced. "Seems like something a boyfriend might do."

"Or an overbearing quidditch captain," Ginny said quickly.

"If you say so," Maddie said in a singsong voice.

Ginny was spared from answering by the loud jeers of the Slytherins waiting outside the transfiguration classroom. The familiar tune rang down the corridor. The lyrics had been modified to wind her up with maximum success.

Weasley cannot score a thing
She cannot find a single ring
That's why all the Slytherins sing
Weasley is our Queen.


The bell rang shrilly down the corridor, sparing Ginny the annoyance of any further verses as Professor McGonagall appeared in the doorway to their Transfiguration classroom.

"Doesn't even rhyme," Ginny said disdainfully to the silent corridor.

"Doesn't make it less true!" Jemimah Flint sneered at her.

Ginny's fingers itched to draw her wand but McGonagall's shrewd gaze was fixed on her so she bit her tongue and filtered into the classroom with everyone else. Maddie steered her protectively into a seat between her and Lizzie near the middle of the classroom.

Ginny forced herself to forget about quidditch and focus on the lesson. Finally, after an inordinately long lecture about switching spells, McGonagall released them to the practical section of the lesson.

Ginny had been attempting to switch her water bottle for a rabbit for only ten minutes when she felt something light hit the back of her head. She reached a cautious hand into her hair and pulled out a wadded up piece of parchment.

She unrolled it to find a crudely drawn picture of what was clearly meant to be her getting knocked off her broom by a bludger. Her face crumpled in agony as she fell out of the sky. She glanced around and Flint waved at her, smiling sweetly. Ginny glared back before resolutely turning back to her work.

Another ten minutes passed before Ginny felt another tap on her head. She growled in frustration as she pulled another piece of parchment out of her hair.

This one showed what she assumed was supposed to be Ron fumbling the quaffle as it soared through his outstretched arms and into the goal hoops. The little Ron figure began to cry as he conceded the goal.

Subtly Ginny raised her middle finger in Flint's direction whilst Professor McGonagall's back was turned. Lizzie gave her a sympathetic look before turning her attention back to the work.

The lesson was almost over. Ginny had successfully switched the rabbit and the water bottle. She was feeling triumphant when the third piece of parchment bounced off the back of her head. It landed by her foot. Ginny considered leaving it there, pretending she'd never seen it but her curiosity got the better of her.

She reached down and scooped it up. The drawing was of Harry, his lightning bolt scar and glasses were unmistakable. He was soaring towards the ground for the snitch but he missed it entirely and smashed into a crumpled heap in the dirt. Flint had added the not-so-witty caption the boy who crashed.

It was stupid. If Harry was here be would have laughed at how idiotic it was. She knew it, but she saw red anyway. Ginny whirled in her seat, facing Flint head-on.

"Will you kindly fuck off?" Ginny asked loudly. There was a collective intake of breath from the rest of the class.

"Miss Weasley!" Professor McGonagall looked furious. Ginny had never seen her lips pressed into such a thin line before. "You will see me after class."

Flint looked like the cat who got the cream. Ginny nodded once in acknowledgement of McGonagall's order and faced forward with her arms crossed awaiting the end of class.

"Sit." Ginny had been rising from her seat as the rest of her classmates filtered out of the room, intending to approach Professor McGonagall's desk but she quickly dropped back into her chair.

"That was unacceptable behaviour for the classroom, Miss Weasley." Professor McGonagall came to stand in front of Ginny’s desk and glowered down at her. "I would ask what caused such an outburst but it's irrelevant. I understand emotions are running high in the lead up to the match but that's no excuse. The eyes of the whole school are upon you and I expect you to behave in a manner which befits the qualities of my house."

Ginny kept her gaze firmly on the floor. It was grossly unfair that the Slytherins got away with everything just because they were so sneaky.

"I think thirty points from Gryffindor seems a fair punishment." Ginny opened her mouth to protest but McGonagall held up a hand to stay the argument. "You're getting off lightly simply because you didn't actually threaten Miss Flint. If I see any more examples of bad behaviour I will be forced to consider more severe punishments." Her tone was laced with warning. Sensing danger, Ginny promptly shut her mouth. "Good," McGonagall said.

"Now I believe Mr Potter and your brother are waiting for you." McGonagall tilted her head in the direction of the door where Harry and Ron were leaning against the wall pretending not to listen.

Ginny snatched her bag off the ground and stomped to the door. Her bad mood lasted until her eyes met Harry’s and her face split into an involuntary smile which he returned.

“What did you do?” Ron asked, his eyes shone with glee at the prospect of his sister being in trouble.

“Apparently my critique of Flint’s artwork wasn’t ‘appropriate’.” Ginny threw the balled up piece of parchment depicting her likeness to Harry as they walked down the Transfiguration corridor. He quickly unfolded it and let out an unamused snort.

“She got your freckles all wrong.” He said as if that was the worst part of the drawing.

“Yeah, well she’s a Slytherin. Of course, she’s going to focus on my most unattractive feature.” Ginny thought gleefully of the hexes she would bestow on Flint once the match was over.

“Your freckles aren’t unattractive. They’re nice.” Harry said in such an offhand manner Ginny wondered if he’d meant to say it out loud at all.

The vision of Flint writhing in pain was immediately dispelled from Ginny’s brain. Little bubbles of happiness fizzed in her chest and a warm blush crept across her cheeks.

Harry was blushing too, his eyes looking anywhere but at her. Internally she was squealing in glee.

He’d only said her freckles were nice, it was barely a compliment. Dean had told her she was beautiful constantly and it had never made her feel half as happy as Harry telling her that her freckles weren’t unattractive.

“Come on, you’re going to be late for charms.” Ron picked up his pace. Ginny wished he'd walk so fast he’d disappear. Harry still wouldn’t meet her eye.

“Where’s Hermione?” Ginny asked, forcing Harry to talk to her.

“Library,” Harry said. He glanced down at her but looked away quickly.

“She tried to get me to go with her,” Ron added. “I told her I’m not spending break in the library when it’s not even an exam year!”

“I’m sure she would have appreciated your company.” Ginny thought she detected a hint of bitterness in Harry’s voice but he was smiling mildly at Ron.

They turned the corner into the charms corridor and were immediately met by the sneers of the Ravenclaw’s.

The Gryffindors were lined up against one side of the wall, the Ravenclaw’s the other like rival gangs who had come across each other in the street.

“Weasley’s brought her bodyguards!” Gilbert pronounced loudly.

“These are my friends,” Ginny said slowly, pointing between Ron and Harry. “I know the concept might be foreign to you, as you don’t have any.”

“I have plenty of friends. I don’t have to resort to begging my brother and his best mate to hang around with me.”

Ginny opened her mouth to respond but she was drowned out as several people jumped to her defence at once.

“I begged her to hang out with us!” Harry snapped.

“I’m her friend!” Luna proclaimed, coming to stand beside Ginny.

“Oi!” Maddie, Lizzie and Colin all yelled menacingly.

Gilbert took a cautious step back so she was pressed against the wall.

Ginny wrapped her arm around Luna’s shoulder, pulling her into a sideways hug. She was grateful to all of them for coming to her defence but Luna had to live with the rest of the Ravenclaw’s. At least the rest of them could escape to the sanctuary of Gryffindor Tower later.

“Thank you,” Ginny murmured in her ear as the bell rang.

She let go of Luna and turned to Harry and Ron. “Well, I can handle it from here.”

“Try not to cause too much trouble,” Ron said as he turned to leave.

“See you at practice,” Harry said.

The mad urge to hug him goodbye seized Ginny. She caught herself as she took a step towards him. They’d never hugged goodbye before, it would be completely insane. Completely weird.

“Bye!” She practically shouted at him, before spinning on her heel and fleeing into the classroom.

Ginny headed for the seat that had been kept free for her between Luna and Maddie. One of Gilbert’s idiot mates tried to trip her on the way but Ginny managed to kick her and make it look plausibly like an accident.

“I saw that,” Maddie said before Ginny had even sat down.

Ginny tried to pretend she had no idea what Maddie was talking about. “Saw what?”

“That weird moment before Harry left. What were you doing?” Maddie’s eyes were brimming with amused curiosity.

Ginny buried her face in her arms on her desk. “I don’t know!” Her voice was muffled by her arms and the desk. She could feel Maddie’s silent laughter beside her.

“Nargles,” Luna whispered wisely as an explanation of Ginny’s bizarre behaviour.

“Ready to admit that you like him yet?” Maddie asked idly.

Ginny didn’t answer but forced herself to remove her head from her arms as Professor Flitwick began speaking to the class about Disillusionment Charms. Ginny was sure from the look Maddie was giving her and the burning sensation across her face that her cheeks were burning crimson. She kept her gaze on Flitwick and refused to look in Maddie’s direction for the rest of class.
***

They’d run into a particularly unpleasant group of seventh year Ravenclaw’s on the way back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry had barely climbed through the portrait hole when Ron had rushed off to be sick.

Harry took a seat in the deserted common room and let the embarrassment wash over him. Had he really told Ginny her freckles were nice? It sounded so lame. Her freckles were striking. They were beautiful. He’d fantasised about kissing each one in turn. Not that he wanted to tell her that either.

Why had he opened his mouth at all? Because the thought of her thinking that they were unattractive was absurd to him and he needed to correct her immediately.

Then he’d pronounced to a corridor full of fifth years that he’d begged her to hang around with them. Where had that come from? It wasn’t even strictly true. Yes, he’d been the one to suggest walking her to charms and he’d asked her to humour him when she’d tried to turn him down but he hadn’t begged.

He’d thought she was going to hug him when he left, it seemed like she was taking a step towards him but it must have been wishful thinking. Just because he was making up any excuse to be around her didn’t mean Ginny was doing the same.

She’d practically screamed her goodbye at him. She was probably desperate for him to leave her alone after he’d acted like such a weirdo.

Fleetingly, Harry resolved to avoid Ginny for at least a few days until she’d had time to forget his insane behaviour but he knew it would never happen. Aside from the fact they had practice tonight where he would have to interact with her as the bloody captain of the team, there was also the inconvenient truth that he absolutely craved her attention and there was no way he was going to make it past dinner without finding a reason to speak to her.

Ron returned from the bathroom looking slightly green. Guilt seared in Harry’s chest. He was sitting here fantasizing about his best mate's little sister whilst he was upstairs throwing up. It felt like treason.

In penance, Harry turned his attention to the Potions essay that both he and Ron had been neglecting and assured Ron he could copy it once he was done as long as he didn’t let Hermione find out and made enough changes so it wasn’t painfully obvious to Professor Slughorn.

***

Ginny caught up to Harry and Ron as they were leaving the Great Hall after dinner. She smiled radiantly at Harry in greeting and just like that all thought of this morning’s embarrassment was banished from his brain.

“Any more trouble?” He asked her.

She shrugged. “A few idiot Ravenclaw’s tried to jinx me in the corridors but lucky for me I was taught disarming spells by an excellent teacher.” Ginny’s wink made Harry’s heart rate increase exponentially.

“And here I was thinking I was preparing you for Death Eaters.” He said with mock seriousness.

“Competitive Ravenclaw’s are the bigger threat, obviously.” She said in an equally solemn tone. They met each other’s eyes and both dissolved into giggles.

“It’s not funny!” Ron snapped. “It’s not even safe to walk between classes anymore!”

“Oh come on, most of those Ravenclaw’s couldn’t hit a target if it had already been hit by an impediment jinx,” Ginny said disdainfully. “They’re all about the theory.”

The late afternoon sun blazed through Ginny’s hair as they walked towards the pitch, making it glint like fire. The effect was mesmerising and Harry had to force himself to watch where he was going or risk walking into one of the many trees dotted around the grounds.

The team was more focused than he’d ever seen them. He set the chasers off practising the plays that he and Ginny had worked out. Ron was tasked with trying to defend against them. Harry worked with Jimmy and Ritchie on their technique, whilst also scanning the pitch for the snitch.

Ginny flew like a dream. Her hair glimmered enticingly in the setting sun, forcing Harry to look in her direction. He drank her in; the determined look in her eye as she zoomed towards the quaffle, the way the muscles in her thighs twitched as she urged her broom forward.

Crash. Yet another bludger that Harry definitely should have seen slammed into his bicep.

“Sorry!” Jimmy winced in apology.

“It’s fine! That’s what you’re supposed to do!” Harry tried to sound encouraging whilst cursing himself internally.

Casually, he glanced down at his arm, a large red welt was already appearing. Just one more bruise to add to the collection Harry seemed to be accumulating.

One hour and three bludger hits later Harry blew his whistle and signalled the team back to the ground.

“Get some rest,” Harry instructed. “We’re back at it tomorrow night.”

Harry showered and changed at top speed. Ron was still only half-dressed as Harry tied the laces on his trainers.

“Are you in a race?” Ron asked him.

“No, just ready to go back up to the castle.” Harry tried to sound casual.

The girls always changed in the showers but Ginny was nearly always the first one ready. As if Harry had summoned her, she emerged from the showers, her t-shirt clinging to her where her skin hadn’t completely dried and her hair piled messily on top of her head. Harry’s fingers ached to grab her, to peel her top from her damp skin and -

“Ready!” Ron announced, gesturing towards the door.

Ginny was still barefoot. She reached into her locker and pulled out a pair of clean socks.

“I need to go into the office a minute,” Harry said.

“I thought you were ready to go?” Ron gave him a confused look.

“I forgot to sign the equipment back in.” He lied.

He disappeared back into the office and stood there lamely, counting to twenty slowly in the dark and giving Ginny time to put her shoes on. He knew it was mad behaviour. He could have just offered to wait for her. That was the sane option, but he didn’t seem capable of taking the sane option around her anymore.

Harry estimated that enough time had passed and made his way back out into the changing rooms. Ginny was swinging her bag onto her shoulder.

“You coming?” He asked her casually as he headed towards the door, Ron on his heels.

“If you’re going my way.” She smiled and fell into step beside him.

They walked up the lawn side by side. Ron launched into an analysis of his performance in practice and Harry and Ginny listened patiently.

“What’s that?” Ginny demanded when they were almost at the entrance to the castle, cutting off Ron’s torrent of information. Her hand shot out and grabbed Harry’s arm. Gently she lifted his sleeve slightly and revealed the bruise the first bludger had left.

“It’s nothing. Ritchie hit me with another bludger.” Ginny’s hand was still resting lightly on his arm. Harry’s breath was coming in short bursts.

“You’d think the captain of the team would be watching more intently.” She muttered.

“I was being extremely attentive.” Just not of the actual game.

Ginny’s fingertips slowly brushed down his arm, making Harry’s skin tingle. Her freckles practically sparkled in the pink-tinged dusk.

“I saw you take at least three bludgers today.” Ron nudged him jovially. Ginny’s hand fell back to her side and Harry dragged his gaze away from her face. “You need to be more careful.”

“Yeah, what will mum say if you get injured on our watch?” Ginny teased as they started walking towards the castle once more. When she spoke again it was with Mrs Weasley’s voice. “Really; Ronald, Ginevra, you just let him get hit by bludgers? Does the poor boy not have enough to deal with without you two failing to protect him from minor inconveniences?”

The three of them laughed loudly and Ginny entertained them with her impressions all the way back to the Gryffindor Tower. Harry's arm still burned where Ginny's fingers had touched him.

He found himself sitting beside her once more in the common room, Ron having claimed the seat beside Hermione.

Hermione smiled in greeting but was too engrossed in an essay for Ancient Runes to engage them in any sort of meaningful conversation.

“Am I allowed to walk around the castle unsupervised tomorrow, Captain Potter?” Ginny asked playfully.

“We’re not following you around again!” Ron said before Harry had the chance to suggest it might be best if he just skipped classes entirely and spent the day trailing her.

“How will I survive?” Ginny’s tone was deadpan.

“At least meet us for breakfast,” Harry said. “I need to make sure you have your strength if you’re going to spend all day getting into fights.”

Hermione’s head shot up from her essay, her smile was knowing.

“I suppose that’s fair.” Ginny smiled. “In that case, I’ll see you in the morning.”

He watched her all the way through the door to the girls' dormitories. Ginny had been gone only a few minutes when Harry decided to go to bed himself.


Back to index


Chapter 4: Tuesday

Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far :) Let the angst continue!


Ginny woke hours earlier than was normal. Her stomach fluttered with excitement. She forced herself to roll over and close her eyes once more. It was breakfast. She’d had breakfast with them hundreds of times. Ron and Hermione were going to be there. He’d only asked her because he was concerned about the team.

He didn’t ask any other members of the team to breakfast, though.

Because she was the only one there. Because she’d made a pathetic joke about him walking her to class, secretly hoping he was going to offer to and he’d probably seen right through it and took pity on her. That was who Harry was, he wouldn’t ever let her make a fool of herself.

When she could lay there no longer, overthinking what was going to be a perfectly ordinary breakfast, Ginny rolled out of bed and set about getting ready for the day. She picked up her mascara and considered it for a second before putting it back down. She never wore makeup on school days; she wasn’t about to start now.

“You’re up early,” Lizzie said when she appeared from the shower, her dark hair fell in wet tendrils around her face, dripping water all over the carpet.

“I’m meeting Harry, Ron and Hermione for breakfast,” As was their morning ritual Ginny waved her wand and instantly dried Lizzie’s hair for her as she spoke.

Maddie, who usually refused to speak to anyone before she’d had a cup of tea, stopped with one leg of her tights halfway up. “You’re meeting Harry for breakfast?”

“And Ron and Hermione,” Ginny added, sensing where this was going.

Maddie completely ignored Ginny. “Like a date?”

“No, like breakfast with my brother and friends,” Ginny said carefully. The last thing she needed was some wild rumour going around the school that she was going on a date with Harry.

“A prearranged breakfast?” Lizzie asked shrewdly. “Who organised that?”

“I’m going to be late,” Ginny quickly threw some pellets into Arnold’s cage, slung her bag over her shoulder and bolted for the door before Lizzie and Maddie could question her further.

She entered the common room to find Hermione and Ron glaring at one another. Harry stood a few feet away from them, his expression unreadable.

"She's here now, so it's fine!" Ron declared loudly.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked cautiously.

“Hermione suggested that she and Ron go down to breakfast without us,” Harry told her.

“I told her that defeats the whole point of us sticking together!” Ron was still glaring at Hermione even as he spoke to Ginny.

“And I told you Ginny and Harry are perfectly capable of walking to breakfast alone and I want to get to class early! I have some questions for Professor Sprout!” Hermione snapped.

“Hermione, this is about the safety of the quidditch team! We’re four days away from the final!” Ron said in a tone of pure exasperation.

“Well, Ginny’s here now. Let’s go!” Harry pushed Ron forcefully in the direction of the portrait hole.

Hermione fell into step beside Ginny as they crossed the common room. “I tried!” Hermione whispered in her ear as the boys disappeared into the corridor.

“Thank you,” Ginny whispered back.

The words didn’t accurately capture the level of her gratitude. Hermione had willingly caused a fight between herself and Ron to try and get Ginny and Harry alone. She deserved more than a thank you.

They were met by cheers from the Gryffindor table as they entered the great hall. Ginny couldn’t help but smile at the house’s enthusiasm.

Ron looked slightly green. Hermione gently led him to a seat and began spooning porridge into a bowl for him, their fight was seemingly forgotten.

There was a loud clatter from further up the table. Demelza had dropped her spoon to the floor and was running for the door. The Ravenclaws and the Slytherins laughed loudly as she passed. Ginny rose to follow her but two of Demelza’s friends were already running after her.

“I’m going to be sick,” Ron announced, for what Ginny thought might be the tenth time in the last few days, before rushing to follow Demelza out the door.

Harry practically growled in frustration. “They’re all losing their heads!”

Ginny placed a soothing hand on his back. “It’s fine! It’s always like this in the run-up to the final.”

Harry seemed to relax under her touch. Ironic, considering her own heart was threatening to beat out of her chest.

“We’re not going to win if we don’t keep our cool!” Said Harry.

“We are going to win!” Ginny said fiercely. “We’ve been playing really well.”

Harry nodded, his expression softening slightly. “I know.”

“It’s just quidditch!” Hermione loudly reminded them.

Ginny and Harry both looked at her as if she’d grown a second head, but neither bothered to argue with her. If Hermione didn't understand the importance of quidditch by now, she never would.

They each turned back to their breakfasts. Hermione kept glancing anxiously at the door, obviously looking for Ron but he still hadn't returned by the time the three of them had finished eating.

“Come on, we need to find Ron before herbology.” Hermione gestured for Harry to join her.

He turned to Ginny. “Are you going to be okay getting to class?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine -” Her every instinct was begging her to tell him she needed an escort. “Ron needs you.”

Harry nodded. “See you later.”

Ginny watched him leaving with a growing sense of disappointment. Realistically, she knew she’d built up breakfast far too much in her head and it never could have lived up to her wild expectations but she’d definitely not expected to spend it worrying over Ron and the nerves of the Quidditch team.

It wasn’t just quidditch piling the pressure on. Ginny’s classes were becoming increasingly intense, O.W.Ls were at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Double potions was particularly gruelling. Slughorn had lectured them for forty-five minutes about the importance of their results.

Lizzie had fled the second class was over, tears in her eyes. Maddie had rushed after her and Ginny had found herself alone. Not ideal when you’re one of the primary targets of a competing house.

She headed for the North Courtyard. The weather was glorious and at least there’d be plenty of witnesses out there. The intensity of Slughorn’s lecture and the growing nerves for Saturday’s final had left Ginny feeling agitated. She needed some fresh air, the fact that she knew Harry, Ron and Hermione tended to spend their breaks out there when the weather was nice hadn’t even crossed her mind.

Hermione was sitting on one of the low stone benches, eyes glued on a book. Ron and Harry were leaning against the ivy covered wall behind her, deep in conversation. Harry’s back was to Ginny and Ron didn’t seem to have noticed his little sister at all. A glint of gold and red from the strap of Harry’s bag caught her eye.

Ginny lightly placed a hand on Harry’s back for just a second, announcing her presence. “Fancy seeing you here!” She said loudly.

“All your friends ditched you?” Ron asked mildly.

“Ron!” Hermione shook her head in exasperation.

“Lizzie went to have a nervous breakdown about O.W.Ls. Care to join her? Or was throwing up this morning enough for you?” Ginny asked, smiling sweetly at her brother.

“Don’t,” Harry warned. “We’re not thinking about quidditch right now.” He glanced meaningfully at Ron who had turned paler than usual.

“Who put you in charge?” Ginny asked idly.

“I am the captain.” Harry reminded her.

“Are you?” She asked in the same indifferent tone.

She tossed the red and gold object she’d carefully removed from the strap of Harry’s bag when she’d greeted him from one hand to the other. His eyes widened in surprise.

“If you’re the captain, why do I have this?” She waved his captain’s badge in front of his face. Harry lunged for it but Ginny was quick, she snatched it back towards her and practically danced out of his reach.

“How did you even get that?” Harry glanced over his shoulder at the strap of his bag, where the badge had been pinned just moments before.

Ginny shrugged. “I’m a woman of many talents.”

Fred and George had taught Ginny how to pick pockets before leaving for Hogwarts, ensuring she had the skills to wind Ron up to maximum effect whilst they were away.

“Give it back!” Harry held out his hand in expectation.

“You want it? Come and get it!” She took two more steps away from him.

“I’m not chasing you,” He said firmly.

Hermione coughed loudly.

“Because you know you can’t catch me,” Ginny’s tone was full of challenge.

Harry shrugged as if he didn’t care but less than a second later he launched at her. Ginny had been expecting it, she carefully sidestepped his advance and climbed one of the empty stone benches, out of his reach.

“You’ll have to be faster than that,” She teased, jumping from one bench to the other as Harry approached.

“No, you’ve made a fatal error,” Harry told her, looking at something behind her rather than at Ginny.

“Have I?” Ginny jumped across two more benches. He nodded as he stalked towards her.

Ginny made to jump across to the bench beside Hermione but Harry was in her path. If she jumped down she’d be within his reach. She turned to retreat but the bench she’d come from was now occupied by two giggling third years. Ginny was cornered.

She lifted the badge high above her head as Harry came closer.

“Now, remember I’m a valuable member of your team.” She said reasonably.

His smile was dangerous. “Oh, it’s my team now, is it?”

As if she weighed nothing he grabbed her legs and pulled her off the bench. Ginny shrieked in surprise but kept the badge clutched securely in her fist.

“Put me down!” She demanded.

Harry’s arm was around Ginny’s waist, her body was folded over his shoulder. her hair was dangled dangerously close to the floor, forcing Ginny to tilt her head to stop it from trailing along the ground.

“Give me the badge and I’ll let you go,” Harry said. Her entire body shook with the force of Harry's laughter.

“Put me down and I’ll give you the badge.” Ginny countered.

“I don’t think you’re in any position to bargain.” Harry’s free hand, the one that wasn’t securely wrapped around her waist, began to tickle her.

“Nooooo!” She screamed. “Harry! Stop!”

Her feet met solid ground but he was still tickling her. Tears streamed down Ginny’s face, blurring her vision. Her breath was coming in short pants. She'd lost the ability to stand and was leaning heavily against Harry's body for support. Ginny could feel his muscles expand and contract as his fingers continued their gentle exploration of Ginny's sides.

“Harry, please!” She gasped.

His hands dropped from her body immediately. He held his hand out once more and Ginny dropped the badge into it. With a shaking hand, she wiped the tears from her face.

“You’re evil,” She told him once her breathing returned to normal.

“You started it!” Harry reminded her. “Besides, I stopped once you begged for mercy.”

“I did not beg for mercy!” Ginny protested.

She took a warning step towards him so they were only inches apart. His green eyes shone down at her, lit with amusement. His cheeks were flushed from the effort of picking her up and his hair was messier than usual, her hand itched to run through it.

“That’s what I heard.” He smirked. Ginny found herself leaning towards him. Harry’s gaze was like a magnet pulling her forward.

“We need to get your hearing checked then.” It was meant to be a snappy retort but it came out as a whisper.

Harry’s smile slid from his face, he was looking at her like he could see into her soul.

Ginny felt herself rising on her tiptoes towards him when the bell rang loud and shrill, echoing against the stone walls of the courtyard.

They both jumped. Harry’s eyes left her and he turned to Ron. Ginny tore her gaze away from Harry and turned to her brother as well. He was watching them with amusement.

“You’re a menace,” Ron told Ginny. “Remember when you were six and you stole my toy dragon? You wouldn’t give it back for a week!”

Ginny never found Ron’s stories of her as an annoying little sister as charming as he did and she especially didn’t appreciate them right now.

“I’m going to Arithmancy,” She practically growled before all but stomping out of the courtyard, proving Ron’s vision of her as a brat irritatingly true.

The theme of the day continued in Arithmancy where Professor Vector spent a torturous half an hour trying to drive home the consequences of not passing their O.W.Ls, which were apparently shame, unemployability and eventual homelessness.

Ginny tried valiantly to concentrate on the work in front of her, but her skin still prickled where Harry had tickled her, as though his fingers were still brushing against her and when the bell that signalled the end of class rang Ginny had only managed to complete half of her number chart.

She left for lunch with a renewed sense of resolve. She was going to talk to Harry. This couldn’t continue if it was going to affect her O.W.Ls so badly and quite frankly she felt like she was being plunged deeper and deeper into madness.

Ginny strode up the gap between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables with purpose, coming to a stop in front of Hermione and Ron. Her plan to speak to Harry hit its first snag; he was nowhere to be seen. She folded her arms over her chest, her chinned jutted out defiantly.

“Where’s Harry?” Ginny demanded.

Ron’s eyebrows rose as he looked up from his plate to see his sister glaring down at him. Hermione smiled patiently at her before answering. “Evidently stalking Malfoy is more important than lunch.”

“He’s at the Room of Requirement?” Ginny clarified, preparing to turn on her heel and march all the way to the seventh floor.

Ron shrugged. “He was, Merlin knows where he’s got to by now. Why do you want to know, anyway?”

“I need help with my defence essay,” Ginny lied. She wasn’t about to declare to her brother that she needed to speak to his best mate about why exactly he hadn’t snogged her yet.

“Bloody hell, Ginny just because you’re doing your O.W.Ls doesn’t mean the rest of us want to spend our lunch in the library. Leave Harry alone.”

Irritation flared within Ginny. She opened her mouth fully intending to tell Ron to stop being a moron, but Hermione suddenly jumped up from the table, distracting her entirely.

“I’ll help you with your essay, Ginny,” Hermione said quickly before turning to Ron. “You wait here for Harry. If he doesn’t show up in fifteen minutes, go and find him and drag him to Charms. Oh, and take him a sandwich.”

Ron nodded in understanding. Ginny wondered not for the first time if Harry fully appreciated the fact that he was only able to get away with half of his misadventures because Ron and Hermione put so much effort into ensuring his basic needs were met. Her irritation with Ron vanished immediately.

Ginny supposed she had no choice but to follow Hermione to the library. She had the forethought to swipe a chicken salad sandwich from the table on the way out. She hastily ate it in four mouthfuls, aware that Madam Pince would kick her out of the library before she’d taken two steps inside if one of her precious books was in danger of crumbs.

“Let me see your essay,” Hermione said, holding out an expectant hand. She’d led them to a deserted corner of the library, their table was at the end of a row of stacks. Behind them was only the stone wall, covered by a tapestry depicting a hippogriff and a dragon in flight. There was no danger of being overheard.

“I don’t care about my bloody essay!” Ginny growled. She slouched back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest once more, glaring at the tapestry behind Hermione as though the creatures in it had done something to offend her.

Hermione reached out tentatively and tugged one of Ginny’s hands, forcing her to uncross her arms. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“What’s he playing at?” Ginny demanded. Hermione was Harry’s best friend, it was her job to make him stop acting like a frustrating enigma of confusion.

“I don’t know,” Hermione said, doing a much better job of keeping her voice library appropriate than Ginny had.

“Have I gone mad? Is it all in my head?”

“Definitely not,” Hermione assured her. “It’s actually painful watching him make up excuses to be around you. He knows full well that you can walk yourself to class.

“He told me my freckles were nice,” Ginny hadn’t planned on saying this but she’d been replaying the words over and over in her head, elevating the compliment to the same level as if Harry had told her she was the most beautiful woman on Earth.

Hermione seemed to try but fail to suppress an amused smile. “I thought he was going to kiss you in the courtyard at break.”

“Well, he didn’t!” Ginny couldn’t keep the bitter edge from her voice.

“I think he’s worried about Ron,” Hermione said quietly.

“What’s Ron got to do with anything?” She didn’t really need to ask, she knew what Ron had to do with it.

“You know how close they are. I think he’s worried that Ron’s going to fall out with him over it.”

Ordinarily Ginny knew that any boy being more concerned about her brother’s opinion on them being together than Ginny’s would make her furious. But this wasn’t any boy. This was Harry and he and Ron were more like brothers than friends.

Harry didn’t have much family, and what he did have was so far below mediocre they didn’t even really count. Ginny couldn’t find it within herself to be mad at Harry for not wanting to risk one of the few people in his life who really loved him.

“Ron wouldn’t fall out with Harry over me,” Ginny knew it with absolute certainty.

“I don’t think so either,” Hermione agreed. “You still won’t make the first move? If he sees Ron’s fine with it then it won’t matter anymore.”

Ginny sighed heavily and pulled herself up from her slumped position in the chair. “I was coming to talk to him in the great hall, but if he’s really not done anything because of Ron then I don’t think I should.”

“Why?” Hermione asked. “Since when do you worry about Ron’s feelings?”

“I do worry about Ron’s feelings!” Ginny cried indignantly. “Just not when he’s being an idiot. Besides, I’m not saying it for Ron’s sake. Harry needs to decide for himself if this is worth potentially falling out with Ron over. I can’t make that decision for him.”

“I’m going to try and talk to him,” Hermione said decidedly.

“What?” Ginny suddenly felt extremely queasy. Her imagination was running wild with visions of Hermione telling Harry that Ginny liked him only for Harry to collapse into fits of laughter, or worse assume an expression of abject disgust. “What are you going to say?”

“Don’t worry, nothing obvious.” Hermione patted Ginny’s hand reassuringly. “He’d only deny it if I tried anything too direct, you know that Harry’s like. But if I can persuade him to open up to me then maybe I can convince him to just talk to Ron, or even better you.”

Knowing Harry, Ginny thought this plan had very little chance of succeeding but she did nothing to dissuade Hermione. At this point, she was open to any suggestion and besides who was she to tell Hermione what she could and couldn’t talk to her best friend about?

Hermione seemed to take Ginny’s silence for permission, for she changed topics as if the matter was settled. “Now, we’ve got ten minutes of lunch left. Do you want me to look over your essay for you?”

Knowing there was nothing more she could do about Harry at the moment and painfully aware that she’d been neglecting her work far more than she should have recently, Ginny gladly accepted Hermione’s help.

She resolved to spend the rest of the afternoon entirely focussed on her lessons and not allowing herself to be distracted by boys, even ones with striking green eyes and messy, dark hair that just begged you to run your hands through it.
***

Harry took a detour past the room of requirement on his way to lunch. Hermione and Ron both implored him to just come straight to the great hall but he refused.

He needed time away from Ron. He’d been avoiding making eye contact with him since break, thankfully Ron had been too focussed on Professor McGonagall’s complex lecture on human transfiguration to notice Harry’s internal struggles.

Ginny had taken centre stage in his brain. The breathless way she'd said his name as Harry tickled her had turned his blood to fire in his veins and he couldn't help but replay the sound over and over again in his mind.

He desperately needed a distraction and he would take it in the form of Malfoy, who hadn’t been in transfiguration and hadn’t appeared on the Marauder’s map since breakfast.

Harry's efforts outside the Room of Requirement proved to be fruitless, with only fifteen minutes of break left he made his way down to the great hall to eat a hasty sandwich.

The hall was almost empty, most students having already eaten and headed outside to take advantage of the good weather. Ron was sitting alone near the end of the Gryffindor table.

“Where’s Hermione?” Harry asked as he dropped into the seat beside Ron.

“Gone to the library with Ginny,” Ron said. “She wanted some help with a defence essay, you weren’t around so Hermione’s the next best thing.”

Harry added crushing disappointment to the cocktail of emotions swirling within him.

“Any luck with the Room of Requirement?” Ron asked.

“No.” Harry’s tone was sharp with bitterness. He roughly dragged a ham sandwich towards him and took a savage bite from it.

“Well, four more hours and you can take your frustrations out on the quidditch pitch,” Ron said cheerfully.

Harry almost told him he wanted to take out his frustrations with Ginny somewhere more private but that would have been counterintuitive to keeping his best friend so he held his tongue.

Instead, he remained silent and allowed Ron to lead him to the Charms corridor where Hermione was already waiting for them, happily informing them she’d already walked Ginny to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

They entered the Charms classroom and Flitwick immediately began distributing toads amongst the class, one per pair.

From his usual perch atop a stack of books, Flitwick instructed them to work in pairs and practice amplifying charms on the toads.

Harry had already begun looking around for Neville when Hermione seized his arm. “Harry, I’m concerned about your wand movements, I’ll work with you.”

“What about me?” Ron asked quickly. It was most unusual for Hermione to pair with Harry, it wasn’t even usually a discussion.

“I really think you’ve got the hang of it, Ron,” Hermione said brightly. “If anything, I think you’ll be a real help to Neville.”

Ron looked dumbstruck. It wasn’t that Hermione had ever suggested Ron was mediocre academically, in fact, she was usually extremely encouraging of him, but she’d never once told him that he might be sufficiently capable as to assist someone else's learning.

With a dazed smile upon his face, Ron snatched up his wand and happily moved a few desks down to sit with a mildly surprised looking Neville.

“What’s wrong with my wand movements?” Harry asked once Ron was out of earshot. “I thought I was alright at amplifying charms.”

“Yes, well additional practice never hurt anyone, did it?” She said dismissively, not actually answering the question. “Besides, I thought you’d be all for giving Ron as many confidence boosts as possible this week.”

Harry hadn’t considered this. He glanced across the room at Ron; he was speaking animatedly with Neville, looking more cheerful than Harry had seen him since Saturday.

“You seemed a bit distracted in Transfiguration," Hermione said, bringing Harry’s attention back to her.

“Yeah, just thinking about tactics for the final,” Harry lied. He kept his gaze fixed firmly on the croaking toad in front of him.

“I suppose being Captain provides additional pressure,” Hermione said sympathetically.

She picked up her wand and performed a perfect amplifying charm as Flitwick passed by. The toad croaked once more and this time it was loud enough to be heard in the corridor outside.

Flitwick gave Hermione a short round of applause before he made his way down the row, turning his attention to Lavender and Pavarti's attempts at the spell.

Seemingly confident that they were no longer under scrutiny, Hermione turned her attention back to Harry.

“It’s just Quidditch then?” She asked, twirling her wand idly between her fingers.

“What’s just Quidditch?” Harry didn’t like the way Hermione was looking at him at all. She was worrying at her lip with her teeth and her eyes had a knowing glint to them.

Hermione rolled her eyes so hard Harry thought they might fall out and roll across the floor. “I am your best friend, you know?”

“Yes, Hermione, I’m aware you’re my best friend,” Harry was thoroughly confused now.

“Right so, if something is bothering you - if there’s something on your mind, then you can tell me about it,” Hermione said in a tone more suited to explaining two plus two to a five-year-old.

Thankfully the noise level in the classroom had risen considerably as more and more of the class managed to cast successful charms and an increasing number of toads began to croak loudly enough that you'd be forgiven for thinking they'd swallowed a microphone.

Harry glanced across the room to the desk Ron was sharing with Neville. Ron was enthusiastically demonstrating the wand movement, brandishing his wand at his unsuspecting toad. Flitwick approached them and made a quick adjustment to Ron’s form.

Harry looked back to Hermione, she was watching him closely. He could tell her now. Ron was distracted by Neville and Flitwick and there really wasn't much chance of them being overheard.

What would he tell her though? Harry couldn’t even imagine how he’d say it. I fancy Ginny. No, that sounded too childish and he was sure Hermione would laugh. I have a crush on Ginny. A crush sounded weak, it didn’t accurately capture how he felt at all. I’m besotted, captivated, completely enamoured by Ginny. It might be a more accurate description of his feelings but he would never say it out loud.

I like Ginny. It was probably the safest option. He could tell her that and Hermione would give him the knowing smile that she’d sent his way so often recently and then she might even give him some helpful advice.

Or she might tell him that Ginny had moved on a long time ago and he had no chance at all. Harry’s stomach twisted into painful knots at the very thought.

Perhaps even worse was the possibility that Hermione might not say that at all. She might tell him that she suspected or even knew that Ginny liked him too (Hermione was good friends with Ginny after all) but that it didn’t matter because Ron would be furious. That it would be a friendship ending betrayal and that Harry would have to choose between Ron and Ginny.

If that was true then maybe it would be better to just know, but Harry didn’t see how he’d be able to get through the rest of charms if Hermione dealt him such a devastating blow.

“Harry?” Hermione prompted.

“It’s just Quidditch,” He said quickly.

Hermione looked disappointed. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Okay,” Hermione said slowly. “At least it will be over on Saturday. Then you’ll be able to focus.”

Harry nodded in silent agreement, his gaze fixed on the warty-toad sitting placidly on the desk. It would be over on Saturday and then his reasons for innocently spending time with Ginny would be over too. The prospect filled him with a sadness bordering on despair.
***
Harry’s conversation with Hermione had played through his head a hundred times over dinner. She obviously knew something was going on, Harry suspected she even knew what.

If he was being so obvious that Hermione had figured it out without Harry saying anything then it was only a matter of time until Ginny, or worse Ron figured it out too.

If he could make it until Saturday, perhaps it would all be alright. After the final, he could get some distance from Ginny, some time to clear his head.

Even as Harry thought it his eyes were searching the great hall for her, hoping he could catch her eye and wave her over to eat dinner with them when she got here.

Ginny never appeared in the hall during dinner though, nor did Harry or Ron see her on their way down to the Quidditch pitch and she wasn’t in the changing rooms like the rest of the team when they arrived.

There was only two minutes until practice was due to start, the rest of the team had changed out of their school uniforms and were ready to go and still there was no sign of Ginny.

Harry was starting to feel anxious, it wasn’t like her to be late. She was a good duellist, he seriously doubted any of the Ravenclaws had managed to get the drop on her.

His mind went inexplicably to Malfoy, what if he’d finally succeeded at whatever he was up to and Ginny had somehow become caught up in it?

He was just about to cancel practice entirely and tell Ron, who hadn’t even seemed to notice that Ginny was missing, that they needed to go and look for her when the door crashed open and Ginny came skidding through. Her cheeks were flushed from running and her hair whipped entrancingly behind her.

“Sorry I’m late!” She called over her shoulder as she dashed into a cubicle to change.

Demelza and Katie called unconcerned greetings to her before making their way out onto the pitch, Jimmy and Ritchie followed quickly behind them.

“You coming?” Ron asked Harry as he made to follow the others out the door.

“I’ll be there in a minute, just need a word with Ginny.”

“I’d rather you have to tell her off than me,” said Ron. “Still, can’t have her being late this close to the final, can you?”

Harry had no intention of telling Ginny off but nodded anyway. Ginny was extremely dedicated to the team, if she was late then there must have been a good reason and Harry wanted to find out what it was.

He needed to make sure that his visions of her caught up in scenes of horrifying dark magic were just his imagination. Ron clapped him on the shoulder before heading for the pitch, leaving Harry alone in the gloomy changing room.

A few minutes later a fully changed Ginny stepped out of the cubicle. She looked surprised to see Harry still waiting in the changing rooms.

“Sorry I was late,” She said before Harry had a chance to say anything. “I’ve just been really busy with Quidditch and I’ve been massively neglecting my work so I thought I could skip dinner and maybe get my Herbology essay done at least but I completely lost track of time -” She was talking a mile a minute. Ginny was usually completely unflappable but Harry couldn’t help noticing how tensely she was holding her shoulders or the little crease that had formed between her eyebrows. “And then I looked at my watch and I was ten minutes late leaving the library and I still had to pack all my stuff up. Then I ran all the way down here but the corridors were really busy with people coming back from dinner and everyone was getting in my way and slowing me down.”

“It’s fine,” Harry said quickly as soon as she stopped talking. “Are you alright?”

Ginny’s shoulders slumped. “I’m fine. It just seems like every single teacher has felt the need to lecture us on the life and death importance of O.W.Ls today.”

“Yeah, I really don’t miss that,” Harry said sympathetically.

Quite without warning, Ginny launched herself at Harry, pulling him into a tight hug. Harry’s arms came around her automatically, holding her to him. The flowery scent that was unequivocally Ginny engulfed him. She buried her head into his chest and took deep, calming breaths.

Harry was frozen. Ginny’s hair tickled his chin, he could feel every curve of her pressed against him. He could quite happily live in this moment forever. School, Quidditch, life-altering prophecies; they all seemed like half-remembered bad dreams with Ginny in his arms.

“Sorry,” She mumbled into his chest before stepping away from him. Harry felt bereft at the loss of contact.

“You don’t need to be sorry,” He said quickly. “I’m here for all your hugging needs.”

Ginny smiled widely at him. “Careful, I might hold you to that.”

Harry longed to tell her that he wished she would. To tell her that he thought about her constantly and that just hugging her made him feel as though he could conjure the world’s strongest Patronus.

He wanted to ask her if she felt it too, but she’d looked so stressed before she hugged him and he didn’t want to give her anything else to deal with right now.

So he settled for a much easier question instead. “Are you sure you're okay?”

Ginny ran a hand through her long hair before pulling it into a ponytail.

“Yeah, professional Quidditch players don’t need O.W.Ls anyway,” She said with a bravado that would have been convincing to anyone who hadn’t spent as much time studying Ginny as Harry had.

“Your O.W.Ls are going to be fine,” He assured her. “Trust me, as your ex-teacher I know what I’m talking about.”

Ginny let out a weak chuckle. “Thanks. That’s surprisingly reassuring.”

The door to the pitch swung open, flooding the drab changing room with light from the late afternoon sun. Harry winced as the brightness assaulted him. He blinked and the room came back into focus. Katie stuck her head through the doorway, an apologetic expression upon her face.

“Sorry to interrupt, but do you know how long you’re going to be?” Katie was looking not at Harry, but Ginny. “It’s just we have some questions about the plays you put together and we’re losing daylight.”

Ginny glanced quickly at Harry before turning back to Katie. “I’m coming now.”

Katie nodded once and disappeared out of the door, leaving Harry and Ginny alone once more. The brightness receded as the door swung closed and Harry’s eyes readjusted to the gloom.

“Come on,” Ginny was already heading for the door, her ponytail swinging from side to side behind her. “Failing my O.W.Ls is one thing but I simply will not allow Ravenclaw to win the cup.”

Harry followed her out of the door, already knowing he was about to take a record number of bludgers this evening.

Back to index


Chapter 5: Wednesday

Author's Notes: Once again thanks to all the readers and especially the reviewers. This chapter is entirely from Ginny's POV and sadly it's very Harry light but that's only because we've seen the big part of this day from Harry's POV in HBP.


It had taken Ginny what felt like hours to fall asleep. She’d lain cocooned in her soft duvet, with her eyes squeezed firmly shut and tried in vain to clear her swirling thoughts from her mind.

Her afternoon had been horribly stressful and far from allowing her to drift into a relaxing sleep, her brain was forcing her to replay it over and over again.

She’d felt better after her chat with Hermione in the library at lunch. She’d been prepared to refocus on her priorities and she’d planned on being a model student for the rest of the afternoon. Really, Ginny should have known better than to try and turn over a new leaf with an afternoon of Defence Against the Dark Arts ahead of her.

Snape had set her an inordinate amount of homework. He’d given the whole class two essays to do and then he’d given Ginny an additional set of questions that he wanted back by tomorrow, stating that he was concerned she was going to fall behind due to attending too many Quidditch practices.

Ginny had thought she had everything somewhat under control but she’d not been expecting quite so much work from Snape. It had become apparent that there was no way she was going to be able to eat dinner, complete all of her homework and go to Quidditch practice. Something had to give, and so she’d decided to skip dinner.

She already knew she hadn’t answered Snape’s questions to a level that he would consider satisfactory and that would mean he’d give her even more work tomorrow so - with Professor’s Vector’s warning that failing her O.W.Ls was essentially the same as failing at life ringing in her ears - Ginny had tried to hastily finish her Herbology essay before practice and had completely lost track of time.

When she’d finally remembered to check her watch it was only ten minutes until she was meant to be on the pitch and she was still in the library with her books and parchment scattered everywhere. Ginny had swept everything haphazardly into her bag and made a run for it.

The castle had been teeming with students milling about after dinner and the crowds had made it impossible to get anywhere quickly. In the entrance hall, she’d run straight into a group of Ravenclaw seventh years who had found it highly entertaining to block her path out of the castle. It had taken two bat-bogey hexes to get them out of Ginny’s way.

By the time Ginny had emerged from the changing room and found Harry waiting for her she’d been sure he was about to yell at her for being late and she’d also been sure if he did she would have cried. She’d launched into an explanation, absolutely determined that she wouldn’t cry in front of him. Or anyone else.

Harry hadn’t yelled at her though, he’d asked if she was alright and then, when Ginny had half admitted she was pathetically cracking under the stress of O.W.Ls, he hadn’t teased her or told her to stop being a baby, he’d been sympathetic.

Merlin, she’d needed that hug. It had been extremely bold of Ginny to throw herself into Harry’s arms like that, but at that moment she hadn’t cared in the slightest. She’d felt like she was about to crumble and she absolutely needed him to hold her together.

Harry’s arms around her had renewed her. If he could get through half the rubbish he had to deal with then Ginny could get through Quidditch and O.W.Ls and the fact that focussing on either of those things was proving to be impossible whilst she was constantly thinking about him.

Practice had gone surprisingly well, Ginny had played to the best of her abilities. She had been absolutely determined to show Harry that she wasn’t falling apart, or too weak to play and in doing so she’d played better than she had all week.

She'd been flagging by the end of practice though. Her lack of dinner had begun to catch up with her due to the physical activity and her determination began to waver when she remembered she still had half of her herbology essay, a set of translations for Ancient Runes and the rest of her number chart for Arithmancy to finish before she could even contemplate going to bed.

Ginny had showered and changed at record speed even for her. With great reluctance she’d set straight off back to the castle without waiting for Harry and Ron, offering a quick explanation about too much homework over her shoulder. Harry had frowned at her in a concerned sort of way but he made no move to stop her.

By the time the rest of the team had returned to the common room Ginny had found a quiet corner and was already hurriedly scribbling away at her Herbology essay, trying to ignore the uncomfortable, gnawing hunger in her stomach.

She’d been so engrossed in her work she hadn’t noticed that Ron hadn’t taken his customary seat with Harry and Hermione, but had gone straight up to his dormitory.

That was until she found a torrent of chocolate frogs being poured across her parchment. She’d looked up to find Ron stood above her, frowning at Ginny in a way that reminded her strikingly of their mother. “Harry informs me you haven’t had any dinner.”

“I’ve got too much work to do,” Ginny had explained, eagerly tearing the wrapper off one of the chocolate frogs and sticking the whole thing in her mouth at once.

“This is my entire emergency stash of chocolate frogs, so tomorrow you’d better come to dinner because I won’t have anything to give you if you don’t. Hermione says she’ll help you with anything you need and Harry says to let him know if you need anything for Defence.”

“This is your entire stash of chocolate frogs?” Ginny had thought she’d misheard him. The offers from Hermione and Harry had barely registered in Ginny’s mind. Ron never shared with her, especially not the last of his chocolate.

“Yeah, don’t go getting all sentimental on me,” Ron had quickly said. “I’m mainly giving them to you because Harry keeps looking at you all concerned, I think he thinks you’re going to pass out and it’s going to be his fault for making you train on an empty stomach.”

“I’m fine,” Ginny had not wanted Ron to think she couldn’t handle Quidditch or school or anything else any more than she’d wanted Harry to think such a thing.

“I know you are,” Ron had agreed. “But chocolate frogs for dinner isn’t exactly the pinnacle of nutrition so maybe come to dinner tomorrow, please.”

It was the ‘please’ that had convinced Ginny that Ron had actually been worried about her. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d purposefully said something that polite to one another. Ginny had been lost for words so she’d simply nodded and without further comment, Ron had turned and stalked back across the common room to Harry and Hermione.

Ginny had returned to her work without so much as sparing a glance in their direction for the rest of the evening. Even when she’d been sure she could feel Harry’s eyes upon her, Ginny hadn’t broken her focus from the parchment in front of her.

By the time she’d finished all her work and finally looked up from the table, there was a mountain of crumpled chocolate frog wrappers beside her and the common room had been empty.

Ginny’s eyelids had felt impossibly heavy and walking up the spiral staircase to her dorm had seemed like a monumental task but when she’d finally changed into her pyjamas and sunk into bed her mind had simply refused to shut off.

She assumed at some point her stubbornness had paid off and she managed to drift off although she couldn’t say for certain when it had been, but Ginny found herself being awoken by the sound of quiet sniffling so she knew she must have fallen asleep at some point.

The room was still dark when Ginny drew her hangings back so she was sure it couldn’t be time to wake up yet. The sniffling became louder as she poked her head further into the room.

“Lizzie?” Ginny heard Maddie say through a yawn.

Ginny groped for her wand under her pillow and illuminated the tip with a mutter. A dim ghostly light filled the room, which brightened slightly as Amrinta’s wand illuminated too.

All five of them were awake now. Leoni sat up in bed, blinking her dark eyes blearily. Amrinta sat crossed-legged on the end of her bed, her usually perfect braids were mussed from sleep. Amrinta’s lit wand was pointed in the direction of Lizzie’s bed.

Maddie had leapt up the moment it had become clear Lizzie was in distress. She toed her slippers on to her feet and pulled the hangings of Lizzie’s bed open.

Lizzie was curled against her pillows, her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Her bed was covered in books and her wand, which was lying forgotten at the foot of her bed, was also lit.

Maddie perched on the edge of Lizzie’s bed, in the only spot available that was free of books.

“What’s wrong?” Maddie asked, gently stroking Lizzie’s hair.

“I c-c-can’t do it!” Lizzie wailed.

“Can’t do what?” Amrinta probed.

“Any of it!” Lizzie cried. She picked up a book seemingly at random and threw it across the room. It collided with the corner of Leoni’s trunk and landed with a thud on the carpet. “I’m going to fail all my O.W.Ls and then everyone will know that I’m not a proper witch!”

“What do you mean ‘not a proper witch’?”Leoni demanded.

Sensing that this wasn’t going to be a short conversation, Ginny pulled her dressing gown on and settled on her stomach, with her head facing the end of the bed. She reached back and grabbed one of her pillows to rest under her chin for comfort.

“That’s what everyone’s saying!” Lizzie proclaimed. “That muggle-borns aren’t proper witches. That we’re mudbloods!”

“Has someone said that to you?” Ginny felt fury rising within her. She was already planning how she would hunt the anonymous person down and teach them to keep their mouth shut.

“Not directly,” Lizzie’s cries may have quietened slightly but she still sounded distraught. “But it’s what everyone’s thinking. That’s what all the deaths and disappearances in the paper are about and if I fail then I’m just proving them all right.”

For a moment there was nothing but silence. As the only full pureblood in the room, Ginny couldn’t help but feel overwhelming guilt and shame that people like her had caused Lizzie to feel this way.

Amrinta rose from her bed and quietly padded across to Lizzie’s. With a flick of her wand, Lizzie’s books flew off the covers and landed in a neat pile on the floor. Amrinta took a seat where the books had previously been and took Lizzie’s hands in hers.

“You’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” Amrinta reached up and wiped a tear from Lizzie’s face. “And that is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.”

Maddie wrapped an arm around Lizzie’s shoulders and pulled her into a tight embrace. “I agree. You can do magic, that’s literally the only qualification for being a ‘real witch’ and you know it.”

Ginny pulled herself up on her elbows so her mouth wasn’t muffled by her pillow. “Those people abducting and killing people are vile morons and it’s not your responsibility to prove yourself to them. It’s on them not to act like complete psychopaths and you’re not allowed to shoulder their guilt for them.” Ginny knew a thing or two about accepting the guilt for things that were beyond your control.

“Ginny’s right,” Amrinta agreed. Lizzie’s face was still covered by her hands but her head bobbed up and down in what Ginny suspected was supposed to be a nod, the wand light pointed at her cast a ghostly shadow on the wall behind her as she moved.

“Have you been up all night?” Leoni asked, eyeing the books that were now stacked neatly beside Lizzie’s bed.

Lizzie took a deep shuddering sigh and finally let her hands drop from her face. Even in the dim light of Ginny’s and Amrinta’s wands, Lizzie looked pale and drawn, the dark circles under her eyes were only enhanced by the shadow of the dim light. “Yeah, I’ve been revising. Sorry, I woke you, a proper witch would have remembered to cast a silencing charm.”

“No,” Maddie said firmly. “A proper witch would have woken up her friends and said ‘oi I’m having a mental breakdown over here. Can you sort me out, please?’”

“Yeah,” Said Amrinta. “And the rest of us proper witches would have reminded you that you’re top of our class. What kind of not proper witch manages to get to the top of the class at a magic school? Doesn’t make any sense does it?”

Tears still sparkled on Lizzie’s face in the wand light but she let out a weak giggle. “Sorry, I’m being really stupid. No one else gets this worked up.”

“Oh, yes we do!” Leoni assured her. “I skipped lunch today to go and cry in the toilets instead. I figure when my parents murder me for failing everything I can try and take Moaning Myrtle’s job.”

They all began to laugh, Lizzie harder than anyone. Seeing that Lizzie was at least somewhat cured, Amrinta crossed the room back to her bed. With a flick of her wand, she sent a chocolate cauldron soaring across the room to each of them.

Ginny’s landed neatly on the pillow in front of her but she ignored it. “I literally can’t eat any more chocolate,” she said by way of explanation as Amrinta watched her curiously. Ginny turned to Lizzie. “You think you’re bad? I skipped dinner to try and get some work done before Quidditch, which made me late to practice. Then I unloaded all my stress on Harry and forced him to hug me. He clearly thought I looked beyond pathetic because he forced Ron to give me all his chocolate frogs.”

Laughter filled the room once more in response to Ginny’s tale of woe. Amrinta waited for it to die down before crossing her arms over her chest and fixing them all with a stern glare. “You all need to stop skipping meals! We’re all eating breakfast together in the morning.”

Leoni ignored Amrinta’s admonishment, instead, she fixed Ginny with an awed gaze. “You hugged Harry Potter? Did he hug you back?”

Maddie answered before Ginny had the chance. “Of course he did! He’s been lusting after her for months!”

Lusting after?” Ginny repeated incredulously. She was infinitely grateful that her blush probably wasn’t visible to her roommates in the dim wand light. “Who even says things like that? Are you ninety years old?”

“No,” Maddie said through a giggle. “But there’s no other word for what he’s been doing!”

“I think it’s nice!” Amrinta announced. “If anyone could use a hug, it’s him.”

“And all the better if it’s from someone as hot as Ginny,” Maddie added sagely.

Ginny grabbed the unopened chocolate cauldron in front of her and chucked it directly at Maddie’s face, her chaser’s aim was true and it bounced straight off the centre of Maddie’s nose. Far from looking offended at Ginny’s assault, Maddie happily picked the cake up, removed the packaging and took a bite from it.

Leoni moved forward on her bed so she was also lying on her stomach, mirroring Ginny’s position. “Was it good? He’s not super muscley like McLaggen but I bet you’d feel safe in Harry Potter’s arms.”

Ginny bitterly regretted throwing the cauldron cake away as it left her with nothing to put in her mouth to save her from having to answer. What was she supposed to say? She liked her roommates a great deal but she wasn’t about to sit here and divulge her deepest feelings to them.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them, what was said in the dorm room had always stayed in the dorm room, but just last year Ginny hadn’t spoken to any of them for six months when they’d refused to believe Harry about Cedric and Voldemort and Ginny couldn’t help the old sting of bitterness that still surfaced occasionally when they mentioned Harry’s name.

“It was just a hug,” She said lamely. It was half true, it was just a hug in the way that a Firebolt was just a broom.

Maddie swallowed the last of Ginny’s cauldron cake before moving the conversation in the exact opposite direction of where Ginny wanted it to go. “Of course if you really wanted to relieve some stress you probably should have just kissed him.”

Ginny was no longer confident that her blush wasn’t visible in the dimness of the room, in fact, she was quite sure they could all extinguish their wands and just use her cheeks as a source of light.

“Oooh, I bet Harry would be a good kisser,” Leoni said. “He’s always so brooding, I bet if he kissed you it would be really intense and passionate.”

“He’s not - we’re not - it’s not-” Ginny seemed to be having trouble forming full sentences. She’d thought many times about what kissing Harry would be like. Leoni was right Harry was brooding sometimes, but he was also funny and daring, and bright, if he kissed you Ginny couldn’t imagine what it would feel like. Just hugging him had been like nothing she’d ever felt before.

“Oh, leave Ginny alone!” Lizzie said, giving Ginny a sympathetic glance. “Surely you’ve got better stuff going on than obsessing over her and Harry.”

“There is no me and Harry,” Ginny said, wanting to dispel any rumours before they began. It struck Ginny as bitterly amusing how words that had come out of her own mouth could be like a knife to the heart.

“Well there might be a me and Seamus,” Leoni said in a casual tone. Ginny was just grateful for the change in topic.

“What?” Amrinta exclaimed, leaving forward over her bed covers. “You didn’t tell me that!”

“It only happened after dinner and you were busy with your Muggle Studies homework so I didn’t want to bother you, but seeing as we’re all up at four AM I might as well dish the gossip. He asked me to go to the final with him on Saturday.”

“What did you say?” Lizzie asked. Her head was still resting on Maddie's shoulder but she seemed to have perked up now they were talking about lighter topics.

“I said yes. Quidditch is usually really boring -” Leoni threw Ginny an apologetic look as she said this. “But I figure it might be more interesting if I’m getting a play by play in that accent.”

All five of them broke into giggles as Ginny, Amrinta, Lizzie and Maddie nodded in agreement. Ginny would never even consider going on a date with Seamus but even she couldn't deny that there was something quite charming about a lilting Irish accent paired with a roguish smile.

"Jake Webb asked to go with me," Maddie said once the giggles had subsided.

"That Hufflepuff seventh year?" Ginny asked, vaguely recalling a tall boy with blonde hair and brown eyes.

"Yeah," Maddie nodded. "I turned him down though."

"How come?" Leoni asked. "I thought he was alright."

"Because he asked me like this," Maddie sat up straighter and affected a sardonic pout. When she spoke her voice was several octaves deeper than normal. "Archer, do you wanna come to the match with me on Saturday. Don't worry about actually understanding the game, someone as pretty as you is worth having to explain all the action too."

Amrinta let out a little cry of indignation. "He did not!"

Maddie nodded fervently. "He did! And when I pointed out that my parents own the Appleby Arrows meaning I basically grew up at the ground and I've forgotten more about Quidditch than he's ever even known he told me I didn't have to pretend just to impress him… apparently, my legs have already impressed him enough!"

There was a collective groan from all assembled. Ginny buried her head in her pillow for a second in frustration. It wasn't anything new they'd all be on the receiving end of idiotic comments like this but if anything it got more frustrating with each insult rather less.

"This is why I stick to girls!" Amrinta proclaimed. "I'm going to the match with Siobhan Quirke."

"Excuse me!" Ginny placed an offended hand to her chest. "You're taking a Ravenclaw to the final? The final which we're playing against Ravenclaw?"

"Yep," Amrinta said unapologetically. "I figure one of us can console the other."

"Fine,” Ginny sighed. “But you'd better bloody cheer for me!"

“Obviously,” Amrinta said as though it had never been in doubt.

“Guys!” Maddie hissed in a whisper.

Ginny turned her head in Maddie’s direction. Lizzie was still leaning heavily on Maddie’s shoulder but her eyes were closed and her breathing had turned even. Maddie made no attempt to move, obviously concerned to wake Lizzie when she’d only just drifted off.

“We need to keep an eye on her,” Amrinta whispered, jerking her head in Lizzie’s direction. “The last one in the dorm makes sure she’s asleep from now on.”

They all nodded in agreement. Ginny’s eyelids were fluttering closed even as Amrinta began to whisper once more. “And no more skipping meals, for any of us. Ginny if you can’t fit your homework in with practice then we’ll help you.”

“Thank you,” Ginny said appreciatively. Her head felt like a boulder sinking towards the comfort of her pillow.

“And if anyone feels like having a cry come to me,” Maddie volunteered in a hushed tone. “Don’t go locking yourselves in the bathroom.”

“Uhuh,” Ginny and Leoni both mumurmed as one.
***

Ginny awoke confused and disorientated. Her head was at the wrong end of the bed and she was wearing her dressing gown. She blinked rapidly and slowly the foggy confusion was dispelled from her brain.

Every inch of her body felt heavy from lack of sleep and just lifting her head from her pillow took a great deal of effort. As she rose into a sitting bed she saw that Leoni had fallen asleep in much the same upside-down position as herself and Maddie and Lizzie were still leaning against one another in Lizzie’s bed.

Only Amrinta had fallen asleep in her own bed, her head against the pillows, but even she was yawning loudly as the alarm sounded shrill and persistent throughout the room.

It took the five of them an inordinate amount of time to get moving and Ginny suspected she, Maddie, Lizzie and Leoni would have all chosen to skip breakfast in favour of an extra half an hours sleep if it wasn’t for Amrinta manhandling them out of bed, absolutely refusing to hear any talk of them missing a meal.

Amrinta marched them all down to the great hall together and Ginny ate her cornflakes under her supervision. They were all too tired to attempt conversation so they ate in silence.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Ginny couldn’t help but notice it was a Harry-less blur. She hadn’t quite realised how much time they’d been spending together until he was absent from almost her entire day. Obviously, he was never in her lessons but she usually ran into him at break or lunch.

Not today, though. Today Ginny stuck close to Maddie and Lizzie at break and they spent fifteen minutes quizzing each other on charms incantations.

At lunch, Amrinta rounded the whole dorm up on the way out of potions and herded them into the great hall like a particularly enthusiastic border collie. Ginny caught a brief glimpse of Harry as she took a seat between Maddie and Leoni. He smiled warmly at her and she gave him a little wave but she’d barely finished eating before Lizzie was begging her to go to the library to start their Defence essays.

By the time Ginny entered Snape’s dark Defence classroom after lunch she was feeling utterly exhausted. She slid into the seat beside Amrinta and dropped her bag heavily to the floor.

Snape swept in as the bell rang, with his usual practised flourish and Ginny could already tell from the sneer on his face that the lesson was going to be unpleasant. Her trepidation only grew as Snape stalked directly towards her.

“Miss Weasley, I trust you have the additional questions I set for you?” Snape held out an expectant hand in front of Ginny’s face. She pushed down the urge to slap it away and pulled the parchment containing the answers out of her bag, placing it in Snape’s waiting hand.

If she’d expected him to take the parchment and begin the lesson then Ginny was sorely mistaken. Snape leered down at her before slowly unrolling the parchment, without making any move away from the front of Ginny’s desk.

She watched as his eyes travelled down the parchment, his nasty smile becoming more and more pronounced the further they travelled. Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and stared defiantly at him. She could feel the eyes of the rest of the class upon her but she steadfastly ignored them.

“This is unacceptable, Miss Weasley,” Snape said in a low voice that travelled easily across the silent classroom.

“What’s wrong with it, sir?” Ginny asked innocently.

“Your answers are rushed and undetailed,” Snape said sharply. “I would expect more complex responses from a first year.”

“I answered to the best of my ability, sir,” Ginny said quietly. Truthfully, she knew she’d rushed the questions but what did Snape expect when he’d set her so much work?

Snape sighed in a bored manner. “If this is to the best of your ability, Miss Weasley then I expect your mother will be receiving another set of disappointing results this summer.” Anger flared white-hot in Ginny’s chest. Amrinta reached over and placed her hand soothingly on Ginny’s.

“No,” Snape said thoughtfully. “I think you can do better, Miss Weasley. See me at the end of the lesson and I shall set you five new questions to be completed by Friday.”

“That’s not fair!” Ginny exploded.

She slammed her free hand on the desk in irritation but Snape barely even blinked at the loud bang it made. “Fine, ten more questions. Does that seem more equitable to you, Miss Weasley?”

She wanted to argue, she wanted to rage and scream and leave the classroom, but Amrinta squeezed her hand and Ginny forced herself to remain calm.

“Yes, sir,” Ginny said through gritted teeth.

Snape gave her a small satisfied smile, which only served to make Ginny more furious, before sweeping back to the front of the classroom and addressing the class at large on the subject of Reductor curses.

She was in a raging temper for the rest of the afternoon. Ginny practically snatched Snape’s questions off his desk at the end of class without looking at him. She refused to speak to anyone at final break but chose to go to the library and spend the precious fifteen minutes making a cursory start on the questions.

The final lesson of the day was potions. Ginny took her place between Lizzie and Maddie and brewed her hair-raising potion in stony silence.

Relief flooded Ginny when the final bell of the day rang. Even if it was an enormous drain on her time there was nothing she wanted more than to get to the Quidditch pitch and get on her broom. The fact that Harry would be there was the silver lining she desperately needed. With this in mind, she eagerly walked back to Gryffindor Tower with Maddie and Lizzie to drop her bag off before dinner.

They were almost at the top of the stairs, Ginny was reluctantly laughing at one of Maddie’s stupid jokes when Harry ran past her. Her heart dropped out of her chest. He was covered in water and blood, his eyes looked frantic.

“Harry!” He didn’t even seem to hear her, he just kept running. More footsteps echoed behind him and Ron appeared around the corner.

“What’s going on?” Ginny demanded, grabbing her brother’s arm to stop him from dashing past.

“I don’t know!” He looked terrified. “I left him alone for five minutes and next thing I know he’s covered in blood!”

“Is it his blood?” Terror gripped Ginny’s heart. The annoyance and fatigue she’d been carrying around with her had been dispelled completely by the sight of Harry in such a state.

“I don’t know! I need Hermione!” Ron was pacing up and down frantically.

“Where is she?” Ginny asked, feeling quite as frantic as Ron looked.

“She went to see Professor Vector.”

“Come on then.” Ginny grabbed Ron’s arm and pulled him down the corridor without so much as a look back at Maddie and Lizzie.

They practically ran straight into Hermione as they rounded the corner into the Arithmancy corridor.

“Where is he?” Hermione screeched upon seeing Ginny and Ron. Clearly, the rumours of Harry running around the castle covered in blood had travelled fast.

“I don’t know!” Ron said desperately. “He made me give him my potions book and then he ran off.”

“Your potions book?” Hermione repeated.

“You didn’t tell me that!” Ginny snapped. Her chastisement of Ron was cut off by Moaning Myrtle floating through the door of the nearest bathroom. She was sobbing loudly.

“Terrible!” She wailed. “Traumatising!” Apprehension rose in Ginny’s chest.

“Just tell us!” Ron demanded, clearly having no patience for Myrtle’s theatrics.

“Harry Potter attempted to violently murder Draco Malfoy right in front of me!” Myrtle floated onto her back and laid a fatigued hand across her forehead.

“What?” The three of them cried in unison.

“Sweet Draco was in the bathroom with me, doing absolutely nothing wrong when Potter burst in and attacked him! He used a vile curse, it cut poor Draco to ribbons. There was blood everywhere. He would have died if Snape hadn’t found them. I was preparing to let Draco share my toilet!” Myrtle sounded more disappointed than anything. Ginny was shaking, whether, with anger or fear, she couldn’t say.

“You’re lying!” She snarled.

“Harry doesn’t even know any magic like that!” Ron defended his best mate faithfully.

“I’m not lying!” Myrtle said haughtily. “I saw it with my own eyes! Now, if you don’t mind, I'm going to warn the rest of the castle to stay away from him!”

“Snape found them.” This was extremely bad. Ginny felt sick. She wanted to see Harry. Now.

“Let’s go to the common room. That’s where he’ll go.” Hermione said practically.

She grabbed Ginny and Ron by the arm and guided them both in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. It was a testament to how worried Ron was that he didn’t even complain about missing dinner.

They reached the portrait hole in record time. Ron took the lead and roughly pushed aside any unsuspecting student who dared to get in their way.

At first glance the common room appeared to be empty, most students were at dinner. It took Ginny a few seconds to spot him, he was being so still and quiet but Harry was sitting by the fire, his gaze far away. The three of them rushed towards him. Ginny placed a hand on his arm and he jumped at the contact.

“Are you okay?” She whispered. He nodded without looking up from the fire in front of him.

“What happened?” Hermione asked.

He didn’t meet any of their eyes as he recounted what had happened in the bathroom. His voice was dull and lifeless. Ginny’s vision fogged entirely when he told them Malfoy had attempted to use the Cruciatus Curse. In her opinion, he deserved whatever he got. She would gladly go and finish the job Harry had started. She was about to tell him this when Professor McGonagall appeared before them. Ginny had never seen her look so furious. Harry flinched at her expression.

“Outside. Now.” McGonagall was practically quivering with rage. Harry moved hesitantly towards the portrait hole. Ginny squeezed his arm reassuringly as he passed but he didn’t seem to notice.

He was gone for fifteen long minutes. Fifteen minutes during which neither Ron, Ginny or Hermione said a word. They all looked stunned.

The common room slowly filled up around them. The rumours had spread like wildfire and curious glances were being thrown at them but they didn’t acknowledge it.

Harry reappeared looking pale and stunned. The common room silenced immediately, he didn’t seem to notice it. He retook the seat beside Ginny and looked at no one.

They sat in hushed stillness for five minutes before Demelza approached cautiously. “Harry?” He jumped at the sound of his name. “Are we having practice?”

Ginny had completely forgotten that they even had a practice scheduled. It seemed hilariously unimportant right now.

“No,” Harry said quietly. He shook his head and seemed to regain a little bit of composure as he turned to look at Ginny. “Can you gather the team for me, please?”

She nodded even though every muscle in her body protested the idea of leaving his side right now. His face crumpled into a look of despair. “Can you get Dean as well?” The words seemed to cause him physical pain.

Ginny returned ten minutes later. The rest of the team and Dean huddled around her. Everyone was looking at Harry expectantly.

“I can’t play on Saturday.” The volume in the common rose considerably as the team cried out their protests. He held up a hand for silence. “I have detention every Saturday for the rest of the year.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Ginny was horrified.

Harry neither agreed nor disagreed with her assessment, but continued as if he hadn’t even heard her. “Ginny, I need you to play seeker. Dean, you’ll have to fill in as a chaser in Ginny’s place.”

Dean turned and grinned at Ginny. Ginny couldn’t have smiled if her life depended on it. She wasn’t half the seeker Harry was but she’d win the cup for him or die trying. She’d do anything to see him smile again.

“This can’t be happening!” Katie looked furious. “What the hell did you do?”

“Yeah,” Demelza agreed. “I can’t believe you actually slashed Malfoy to pieces.”

Harry nodded silently. The whole team's eyes went wide with horror. Ginny wanted to scream. It wasn’t that simple. He hadn’t known what the spell was going to do and Malfoy had been trying to Crucio him. How could anyone not see that it was justified?

“Katie, we still have the pitch booked. Can you and Demelza take Dean and run him through the plays for the chasers, please?" Ginny knew she should go and do it but there was no way she was leaving Harry's side right now. Not whilst he looked so miserable.

Katie nodded and led Dean and Demelza away. Jimmy and Ritchie headed back to their friends at the other end of the common room. Leaving Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione alone.

Hermione broke the silence that descended upon them. She was stubbornly droning on about the evils of the stupid potions book. Ginny watched Harry closely, his expression turning more and more miserable as his shoulders slumped in defeat. Ginny was becoming increasingly agitated. Was Hermione blind? Couldn't she see how bad Harry already felt? And for what, defending himself from an unforgivable curse.

"Give it a rest, Hermione!" Ginny couldn't listen to it anymore and Harry certainly couldn't. She pointed out that Malfoy was trying to torture Harry, which really Hermione should have been smart enough to realise for herself. Harry's head snapped up as she defended him. A smile graced his face. A small smile, but it was better than nothing.

"Well, of course, I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed! But you can't call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny, look where it's landed him! And I'd have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match -"

No. She wasn't going to sit here and listen to Hermione lecture her about things she didn't even understand and in doing so plunge Harry deeper and deeper into a misery he didn’t deserve. Ginny wouldn’t stand for it. "Oh, don't start acting like you understand Quidditch, you'll only embarrass yourself."

She knew it was a low blow. Insulting Hermione's intelligence was going for the jugular. A tiny tendril of guilt unfurled in her stomach but Ginny stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest and glared over Hermione's head at the opposite wall. She could feel Harry's eyes upon her but she didn't move.

None of them said anything for the rest of the night. Logically Ginny knew that a night without Quidditch practice should have been a golden opportunity to catch up on her homework but she wouldn't give Hermione the satisfaction so Ginny stayed there for another hour and a half, stubbornly staring off into the distance with her arms crossed until Harry went to bed.

He’d barely disappeared through the door to the boy’s dormitories before Ginny made her own exit. She pointedly said goodnight to Ron but ignored Hermione completely.

Once in the safety of her dorm Ginny collapsed upon her bed, fully clothed and was asleep almost immediately.






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Chapter 6: Thursday

Ginny awoke for the second morning in a row in a state of disorientation. She was still fully clothed in her uniform but someone - probably Amrinta - had taken her shoes off and draped a blanket over her in the night.

With a sinking feeling in her gut, the events of yesterday evening came flooding back to Ginny with horrifying clarity. Harry covered in blood and running like a maniac, Harry looking more distraught than she’d seen him in a long time in the common room, The outraged cries of the Quidditch team when he’d told them he couldn’t play and Ginny’s fight with Hermione.

A fight which Ginny now realised was at least partially borne out of stress and exhaustion. The whole day had been a disaster from start to finish and Ginny wasn’t above admitting she may have taken it out on Hermione, although she maintained that Hermione’s comments were uncalled for in the face of Harry’s obvious despair.

With great effort Ginny rolled out of her bed and headed for the shower, quite desperate to wash any traces of yesterday off of her. Once she was clean and dried she dressed in a fresh uniform which made her feel like she was continuing the same day with no break at all.

There was still plenty of time before Ginny needed to head to breakfast, but she had another task to complete first. She took a deep breath before heading out of the dorm and instead of heading down the spiral staircase in the direction of the common room, she turned and headed up to the sixth year girl’s dorm.

She didn’t even make it halfway there before colliding with an anxious looking Hermione.

“I was coming to find you,” Hermione said hesitantly. She moved down a step so that she was no longer towering over Ginny.

“Me too,” Ginny’s tone was equally cautious.

Hermione tugged on the end of her braid in an anxious gesture. “I came to speak to you last night, but you were already asleep,”

“You took my shoes off and put the blanket on me?” Ginny should have known, even in the midst of a disagreement Hermione would always take care of her.

“Yes,” Hermione said. “I thought about waking you so you could put your pyjamas on but you looked so peaceful that I didn’t want to bother you.”

Much as she had done to Harry the other day, Ginny engulfed Hermione in a firm hug. “Thank you,” She said into Hermione’s jumper.

Hermione hugged her back without hesitation. “That’s quite alright. I’m sorry about last night, I should have dropped it. I know Harry feels bad about what happened.”

“I shouldn’t have snapped at you though, I was mad at the situation not at you.”

“Yes,” Hermione sighed. “Well, I should have known better than to have a go at Harry in front of you.”

Ginny couldn’t argue with this. She released Hermione from the hug and smiled at her. “Friends?”

Hermione smiled back. “Yes, of course.”

They turned as one and began to descend the staircase in the direction of the common room. “I just wish Harry could see why the book is untrustworthy.”

“I think he’s learnt his lesson,” Ginny’s tone was more defensive than she’d meant it to be. Hermione bit her lip and Ginny suspected she was forcing herself not to retort. They looked at one another and came to a silent understanding that they were going to have to agree to disagree.

Harry and Ron were waiting for them in the common room. Harry still looked withdrawn and downhearted and Ron was throwing him anxious glances every few seconds as though he was worried Harry was about to either throw a tantrum or burst into tears at any moment.

They both noticed Ginny and Hermione appear at the same time and Ron’s nervous gaze was transferred from Harry to the two of them. Harry was also looking cautiously between Ginny and Hermione.

“Breakfast?” Hermione asked Ginny, giving her a friendly smile.

“Yes,” Ginny agreed, returning the expression.

Harry seemed to relax slightly at the exchange. Whether it was because Ginny and Hermione were no longer fighting or because Hermione hadn’t immediately started lecturing him again, Ginny wasn’t sure.

None of them spoke on the way down to the Great Hall. Harry seemed entirely lost to his thoughts. Hermione had looked like she was going to say something to him but one warning look from Ginny and Hermione’s mouth had firmly closed.

The Great Hall plunged into silence as the four of them entered. Every eye was on Harry. The Slytherin table seemed to hiss with contempt and Harry became visibly tense. Ginny’s frustrated rage from last night resurfaced instantly, she would happily fight the whole of Slytherin house single handedly if the Gryffindor quidditch team could afford to lose anymore players, but as the team was already sufficiently handicapped without Ginny getting herself kicked off as well she studiously ignored the leers from the Slytherin table.

Ginny, Hermione and Ron surrounded Harry like a guard detail as they walked him to the table. He sank into his seat and stirred his porridge mindlessly around his bowl. Even their fellow Gryffindor’s were glaring furiously at him. Ginny desperately wanted to hex the hostile expressions off their stupid faces. A feeling usually reserved for Slytherins, or in the last week overzealous Ravenclaws, but not a sentiment she often directed at her fellow Gryffindors..

She wanted to make a joke, to make Harry laugh, but nothing seemed funny when she was this angry. No one understood the importance of Quidditch more than Ginny, but if it was a choice between Harry on the team and Harry being subjected to the Cruciatus Curse by Malfoy she’d happily see Gryffindor at the bottom of the league.

All four of them ate in silence; well Ginny, Ron and Hermione did. Harry did nothing more than make shapes in his porridge with his spoon. Ginny exchanged a nervous glance with Ron after this had been going on for long enough for the two of them to almost have finished their own breakfasts.

Ginny gently reached out and placed a hand on Harry’s arm. He jumped as though she’d burned him but his eyes were more alert than Ginny had seen him all morning when he turned to look at her.

“You have to eat,” She said quietly, keeping her volume low to avoid the whole hall listening to them.

Harry gave her a jerky nod but said nothing. With a sigh he lifted his spoon to his lips and finally took a bite of his porridge. Ginny didn’t turn away from him until she’d watch him have three more mouthfuls.

“Ginny, are you coming?” Lizzie’s voice felt obnoxiously loud, intruding on their near silent breakfast. She, Maddie, Amrinta and Leoni were already heading for the doors.

Ginny cast an anxious glance at Harry. He’d managed half of his bowl of porridge now but he still looked dull and listless and Ginny was very reluctant to leave him.
“Go,” Hermione said firmly, clearly sensing Ginny’s disinclination to separate from Harry. “We’ll see you at lunch.”

Ginny wavered uncertainly. She would gladly be late to Herbology, but aside from getting him to eat, Ginny’s presence seemed to be doing very little to cheer Harry right now. Hermione frowned sternly at her and Ginny’s decision was made.

“I’ll meet you here,” She promised, looking straight at Harry, before turning and rushing to follow the others out of the door.

She caught up to them just as they were heading out of the entrance hall and into the grounds in the direction of the greenhouses. All four of them glanced at her with identical nervous expressions but none of them said anything about Harry, or Quidditch or any other controversial topic, for which Ginny was extremely grateful.

It came as somewhat of a surprise to Ginny when they came to a stop outside the greenhouse, her mind was still in the castle with Harry, who she knew was going to have an extremely unpleasant day, and she hadn’t been focussing on where she was walking in the slightest.

Unfortunately it was Jemimah Flint’s unpleasantly shrill voice that pulled Ginny back to her surroundings. “Bet you’re breathing a sigh of relief, Weasley. Now when you lose you’ll be able to blame it on being in the wrong position.”

The rest of the class had been huddled in two distinct groups on the lawn outside the greenhouses but they all turned to watch Flint and Ginny now.

Ginny snorted derisively. “No, now it’s going to be even more impressive when I win.”

Flint let out a high-pitched screech of laughter. Out of the corner of her eye Ginny saw Leoni wince at the sound. “Yeah right. Don’t worry, you’re a Weasley, you’re used to being a loser!”

Ginny’s wand was in her hand instantly. Her arm shook with rage but she willed herself to hold her temper, reminding herself that they couldn’t afford to lose her from the team.

Flint raised her eyebrows and tilted her head in the direction of Ginny’s wand. “You going to hex me?” She said in a taunting tone. “Maybe they’ll give you double detention with your psycho boyfriend.”

Ginny’s already stretched nerves were dangerously close to snapping. “He’s not a psycho!!” She growled. “And he’s not my boyfriend!”

“Right,” Flint sneered. “You just wish he was.”

A red haze flooded Ginny’s vision. Perhaps it was the fact that Flint had finally said something true that had allowed her words to break through Ginny’s temper. Or maybe it was just the fact that Ginny had felt like punching something for the past twenty four hours and Flint had a particularly punchable face. Whatever it was, Ginny's wand fell from her hand, completely forgotten, as she launched herself across the grass in Flint’s direction.

“Ginny!”

“No!”

“STOP!”

Ginny felt rather than saw several hands grasp her on the arms, shoulders and around her waist and drag her back towards the rest of her fellow Gryffindors.

She struggled valiantly to free herself, determined to get to Flint who was laughing maniacally, but Maddie bent close to her ear and whispered so no one but Ginny could hear. “You can’t win the cup for him if you’re in detention too.”

The fight went out of Ginny immediately and she stopped struggling. She blinked slowly and her vision became clear once more. Amrinta, Leoni and Lizzie all let go of the various parts of Ginny’s body they’d been desperately clinging on to.

Maddie kept hold of her arm and roughly shoved her to the back of the crowd of Gryffindors out of sight of Flint and her sneering Slytherin mates. Amrinta reached over the crowd of assembled Gryffindors, who had happily taken up the position of human shield, and passed Ginny her discarded wand.

The morning continued in a similar fashion. It seemed the entirety of Gryffindor’s fifth year was heavily invested in the match for they continued to surround Ginny in the Greenhouse, keeping her far away from the Slytherins for the whole lesson.

At break, Leoni and Lizzie escorted Ginny to the Arithmancy corridor and they spent the whole fifteen minutes there going over revision notes whilst they waited for class to start.

When she exited the classroom at lunch time it was to find Maddie and Amrinta already waiting for her. They fell into step beside Leoni and Lizzie, pushing Ginny into the centre of them and guided her to the great hall.

“This is overkill!” Ginny said for the dozenth time as they navigated the busy corridors.

“I’ve got ten galleons on this match,” Maddie informed her. “Our odds have already gone down drastically losing Harry, I’m not letting us lose you too.”

“I’m an excellent duellist,” Ginny pointed out. “I was in the D.A. remember?”

“That’s the problem,” Amrinta said in exasperation. “You hex first and think later, not a great way to stay out of detention, is it?”

“It’s not my fault all the bloody Slytherins and Ravenclaws are doing their best to wind me up!” Ginny grumbled, not appreciating the irritatingly correct assessment of her character.

They had reached the great hall now and none of them bothered to argue with her, instead they deposited Ginny in the seat beside Harry.

“We’ll come and get you before Charms,” Lizzie said as the four of them departed to sit further up the Gryffindor table.

“Bloody Slytherins!” Ginny declared by way of greeting to Harry, Ron and Hermione. She stabbed viciously at her chicken salad but it did nothing to ease her vexation.

“Tell me about it,” Harry said dully. He looked no better than he had this morning. If anything he looked more downcast.

Hermione looked anxiously at Ginny. “I hope you’ve not been getting into trouble!”

“No,” Ginny said bitterly. “I’ve been kept quite firmly out of it.”

Beside her, Harry took a deep breath and turned to face her. He fixed her with a serious expression that caused Ginny’s heart to flutter with apprehension.

“Take this,” He held out his hand towards her, in the centre of his palm lay his captain’s badge. Ginny physically recoiled at the sight of it.

“That’s yours,” She said firmly.

Harry looked disdainfully at the badge in his hand. “What good is a captain that can’t even play in the final?”

“You’ve been a good captain all year!” Ginny argued. “This is just one small incident!”

“It’s not a small incident!” Harry snarled. “I don’t deserve it!

Ginny glanced across the table. Hermione was staring at Harry, a mixture of concern and shock on her face. Ron had his head resting in his hands, he was staring intently at the table top as if he’d never seen one before.

“You do deserve it,” Ginny said with as much authority as she could muster. “When we win on Saturday it’s going to be because of the hard work you’ve put in all year.”

Harry shook his head. “If we win.”

“No!” Ginny all but shouted. She felt dozens of eyes turn to stare in her direction, alerted to the scene by the loudness of her cry.

She lowered her volume considerably and moved her head closer to Harry’s so only he, Hermione and Ron could hear her. As she spoke she held her gaze firm with Harry’s, refusing to even blink. “I’ll lead the team for you. I’ll shake Cho Chang’s hand and I’ll call the time outs and I’ll even catch the bloody snitch but I will not take your badge!”

Ginny gently curled Harry’s fingers back around the badge that he still held out towards her and pushed his hand away. Harry didn’t say anything, but he blinked furiously and gave her a stiff nod of understanding. He tucked the badge back into his pocket without breaking eye contact with Ginny.

She tried to tell him with her eyes all the things that she couldn’t say out loud. That she didn’t blame him, that she thought the situation was grossly unfair, that if Malfoy had succeeded in landing an unforgivable curse on him Ginny would currently be in a cell in Azkaban awaiting trial for murder.

Harry looked more present than he had all day. His green eyes were staring back into hers and Ginny felt like maybe he could understand what she was trying to tell him, or maybe he was just grateful she hadn't actually taken his badge away, she couldn’t be sure.

A hand landed firmly on Ginny’s shoulder, forcing her to pull her gaze away from Harry. Lunch was almost over and she’d assumed it was Lizzie or Amrinta come to collect her, she had not expected to look up and find Dean smiling sheepishly down at her.

“Can I have a word?” Dean asked. Ginny felt Harry sink lower into his seat beside her.

“Okay,” Ginny said slowly, before turning to Harry. He was looking between her and Dean, his expression had returned to the dull look he had been wearing when she’d first arrived for lunch.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” Ginny promised before standing to follow Dean.

Maddie, Lizzie, Amrinta and Leoni all jumped up to follow her as she headed in Dean’s direction but Ginny raised a hand requesting they wait a minute and made her way towards Dean alone.

“Is everything okay?” Ginny asked when there was only a few feet separating her from him. They hadn’t spoken since their break up and Ginny couldn’t imagine what he wanted now.

“I just wanted to make sure you were alright with me being on the team,” Dean explained.

“Of course I am,” Ginny assured him. She’d give anything to have Harry instead but Dean was an inoffensive second option. She’d tried not to follow that trail of thought too closely.

Dean shuffled nervously from foot to foot. “I don’t want it to be awkward.”

Ginny shrugged. “In all honesty, Dean, I’m over it-” He flinched slightly at Ginny’s candor but she ignored it. “Is it awkward for you?”

“No,” He said quickly. “I’m over it too.” Dean’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Good,” Ginny said, choosing to believe him. “We don’t have a problem then. I’ll see you at practice.”

Without looking back Ginny turned in the direction of the exit and motioned for her roommates to follow her.

As she left the hall she felt Harry’s eyes on her but Ginny forced herself not to look back. Putting him in direct contrast with Dean only made it blindingly obvious how much more she wanted him. Harry would have implicitly understood that the match and winning came before any awkwardness there might be.

If she looked at Harry right now, she knew her every emotion would be written across her face. She also couldn’t bear to look at him and see that sad, lifeless look on his face for another second. Ginny vowed she’d make him laugh again. She could spend the rest of the afternoon wallowing but by dinner she would see Harry smile.
***

Harry’s morning had been almost intolerable. Everywhere he went he was greeted by a sea of scornful faces. The jeers from the Slytherins he’d expected and really it wasn’t that much different from normal, if it was just the Slytherins, he thought, it wouldn’t be so bad.

It wasn’t just the Slytherins though. He didn’t know what was worse, the disdainful looks from his fellow Gryffindors who were beyond furious with their Quidditch captain for getting himself thrown out of the match, or the falsely bright cheers and thanks from the Ravenclaws for making their path to the cup that much easier.

By the time he entered the Great Hall for lunch he thought it couldn’t be possible to feel any worse than he already did. That notion proved to be incorrect when Dean led Ginny away from him. She’d promised to meet him for dinner, but he knew it was a promise borne out of pity.

Ginny had been his greatest supporter since the incident last night and he couldn’t be more thankful for her, but it stung to know that her sentiments were only because she felt sorry for him. Ginny was more invested in the cup than most, she’d spent so much of her precious time coming up with plays and tactics for chasers and now Harry had ruined everything. How could she not hate him?

Harry could feel Hermione’s eyes on him while he watched Ginny and Dean talk. It was a blessedly short conversation and Ginny was the one to end it but that seemed irrelevant. If they won the match - which Ginny assured him they would - then she'd be ecstatic and Dean's eager arms would be waiting to congratulate her whilst Harry was locked far away in the dungeons.

Maybe that was why she was so adamant about winning. Harry dismissed the thought immediately. Ginny would want to win regardless, she'd never be content with second place but thanks to him it was significantly more likely that was what she was going to get.

"You think Ginny should be captain in your place?" Hermione asked, pulling Harry from his miserable thoughts. He suspected he knew what she was getting at but she was wrong.

"She's the best on the team after Harry," Ron said. Harry smiled in spite of himself. Ron would never in a million years let Ginny hear him say that.

"She's better than me," Harry said. "I can't play two positions like she can."

The bell rang and Hermione and Ron ushered him out of the hall and towards the dungeons. Malfoy was noticeably absent from the classroom. It was a small mercy, Harry felt the eyes of the other Slytherins burrowing into him and he couldn’t even blame them for their glares.

Hermione and Ron didn’t leave his side until he reached his desk, but still he could hear the hissed taunts of the Slytherins as he passed. It was like last year all over again; constantly being called unhinged or a lunatic only last year it had all been lies and this time Harry was actually guilty of the crime for which he was being ostracized.

His potions work was abysmal. Harry tried not to think about the cruel irony that they were supposed to be making laughing potions. He could barely focus enough to read the instructions on the page, the fact that they weren’t of the same quality as the Prince’s was irrelevant.

He gave up after he cut his finger trying to chop his Alihotsy leaves. The scarlet red blood dripped from his skin and fell onto the leaves rendering them useless and conjuring memories of Malfoy’s blood mingling with the water in the bathroom.

Harry flung his knife back onto the chopping board and perched on the edge of his stool. He let the blood drip down his finger, he couldn’t summon the energy to care about it.

“Come here.” Hermione sighed and grabbed his hand, pulling it roughly towards her. With a tap of her wand Harry’s skin knitted itself back together as if the cut had never been there at all.

“Thanks.” He muttered, avoiding Hermione’s gaze as he had been doing all day, knowing that if he looked at her he would see only reproach.

Harry made no effort to continue with his potion. What was the worst that could happen? He couldn’t get in much more trouble. Slughorn peered into his empty cauldron as he passed but he said nothing and Harry took that as confirmation that even the teachers had given up on him.

Ron kept glancing at him anxiously but also didn’t say anything. His potion was taking up too much of his attention to have time to babysit Harry.

The dungeons filled with more and more steam as the potions brewed, Harry was grateful for the privacy it afforded him, he could barely see Ron and Hermione beside him. The Slytherin’s sneering faces were lost in the shimmering vapour.

When the bell rang Harry tried to make a case for skipping dinner entirely. All he wanted was to hide inside the hangings of his four poster in Gryffindor Tower but Hermione wouldn’t hear of it. She placed a firm hand on his shoulder and marched him into the noise and commotion of the great hall.

“Ginny said she was meeting you here,” Hermione reminded him as she steered him into an empty seat at the Gryffindor table. Harry’s spirits lifted for half a second before he remembered she’d only said it because she felt sorry for him.

Ron spooned a large helping of casserole into a bowl and placed it in front of Harry. He forced a spoonful into his mouth without really tasting it, knowing that when Ginny got here - if she hadn’t decided to give up on him entirely, like he deserved - she would only force him to eat anyway.

He managed four gag-inducing spoonfuls when a lower voice whispered in his ear. “I have a plan.”

Ginny’s breath tickled the outer shell of Harry’s ear. Adrenaline surged through him and his heart began to race with increased ferocity. He immediately felt more awake, more alive than he had all day as Ginny dropped into the seat beside him.

“Oh?” Was all he could manage.

“I’ve been having a serious think -” Ginny grinned at him in a way that suggested she’d done no such thing. “If you can’t play then we need a new advantage. Now, Dean is a perfectly fine player but what if we replaced you with a dragon instead?”

Harry smiled for the first time since Ginny had defended him last night. He opened his mouth to respond but she held up a hand to stop him.

“I know what you’re thinking. Where are we going to get a dragon from at this late stage?”

Harry couldn’t stop himself from chuckling weakly. It was the closest he'd come to laughing all day. He’d actually been about to tell her the team would definitely be disqualified if a dragon showed up on the pitch. “But you’re forgetting I have connections. I just so happen to be Charlie Weasley’s favourite sister.”

“You’re his only sister.” Harry reminded her, the grin still in place on his face.

Ginny waved a dismissive hand in the air as if this was totally irrelevant. “It doesn’t even need to be a really scary dragon. A Welsh Green would do the trick, I think.”

“You don’t think I’m a better flier than a Welsh Green?” Harry held a clenched fist to his chest in mock offence. “Need I remind you that I outflew a Hungarian Horntail?”

“Sorry, you’re right!” Ginny placed a conciliatory hand on top of Harry’s and smiled sweetly at him. Harry felt like he could probably outfly a dragon without a broom at this particular moment, it was completely impossible to remain in his dour mood when Ginny was essentially holding his hand and smiling at him like that. “Phlegm managed to get round the Welsh Green so that’s definitely a point against it.”

“I don’t think Charlie’s going to be able to get a dragon from Romania to here by Saturday morning anyway,” Harry said regretfully.

Ginny’s hand remained on his arm as she nodded seriously at him. “I knew there was a flaw in the plan. I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it.”

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” Harry said, still smirking at her.

“Guess we’ll just have to win with good old fashioned hard work,” Ginny sighed. “Much less fun if you ask me.”

“More satisfying though,” Harry pointed out.

Ginny finally removed her hand from Harry’s and turned to serve herself some casserole. He could swear he could still feel her fingers curled over his.

Harry turned his attention back to his dinner. The casserole actually tasted of something now and as he ate he realised he’d been hungrier than he’d known.

“A dragon would be able to block all the hoops at once,” Ron sighed wistfully as he helped himself to apple crumble and custard.

“You’re going to block all the hoops just fine yourself,” Ginny told him firmly. She didn’t actually say or else but it was certainly implied. Ron nodded, his expression grim.

Ginny turned to Harry once she’d finished eating. “Are you going to come to practice?” She asked gently.

Harry shook his head. “No point, really.”

“You can still lead the drills and I’ll take any pointers you’ve got on seeking,” Her eyes were wide with sincerity, but Harry knew she was pitying him again. The team - the whole house really - was furious with him. Going to practice would do nothing to improve morale.

“No one wants me there,” He said honestly.

“I want you there,” Ginny argued.

“You don’t need me,” She could lead the team just as well as he could and she knew it.

Ginny turned her whole body so she was looking directly at him. Her eyes locked intently with his. “That’s not what I said.”

No, she hadn’t said she needed him, she’d said she wanted him there but it couldn’t possibly be true. Not after what he’d done to the team. She was just trying to make him feel better, she would have done the same for Ron. But he’d never seen Ginny look at Ron the way she was looking at Harry right now. Like there wasn’t a single thing he could say or do to make her not want him around. He was lost in the depths of her chocolate brown eyes. He thought he might be in danger of drowning in them.

“Ginny! Are you coming?” Dean’s voice smashed him back to brutal reality.

Harry thought he saw a flicker of annoyance on Ginny’s face but he blinked and she was smiling.

“Are you ready?” She asked, tearing her gaze from Harry and turning to Ron. He nodded in confirmation.

“Are you sure you won’t come?” She asked Harry a final time. It felt almost impossible to say no to her, but he couldn’t face it.

“I’ll see you later then,” Harry knew it was probably his imagination but he thought she sounded almost regretful.
***

Harry followed Hermione back to the common room after dinner. He looked wistfully across the grounds in the direction of the Quidditch pitch as they passed the double doors. It felt unnatural to follow Hermione rather than joining the team; for a second he considered joining them but the thought was too depressing.

He took the seat across from Hermione in the common room. She quickly picked up her copy of Numerology and Gramatica and immersed herself in work. Harry flipped idly through a copy of Quidditch Times and tried not to think of what the rest of the team were doing at this very moment.

He tried not to think of Ginny making Dean laugh, the way she usually made Harry do. He failed spectacularly not to think about how at this very moment Ginny was probably remembering everything she’d ever liked about her ex-boyfriend.

It was better this way, really. Ron could go back to hating Dean and his friendship with Harry would remain undamaged. Ginny would still be his friend too, they’d still talk and laugh together. Summer wasn’t that far away, he’d spend it at the Burrow and they’d play quidditch all day and stay up at night building bonfires in the orchard and making fun of Ron and Fleur.

One day the longing urge to touch her, to run his fingers through her vibrant hair and brush his lips against hers would wane. It had to. He knew it wouldn’t even as he thought it. She was entirely mesmerizing, there was no getting past it. It was the universe’s latest cruel joke at his expense that she just had to be Ron’s sister.

Ron appeared in front of him, breaking Harry’s train of thought. He sank into the seat beside Hermione and gave Harry a cautious smile. Ginny was only a few steps behind him, without hesitation she folded herself onto the empty sofa cushion beside Harry.

“How was it?” Harry asked.

“Fine.” Ron said, giving nothing away.

“It was good.” Ginny said firmly. “Dean and Katie work surprisingly well together. Ron did a good job and Jimmy and Ritchie were both in quite good form.”

Her summary was light on details and Harry was grateful for it. He didn’t need to hear the ins and outs of Dean’s spectacular performance.

“It wasn’t as fun without you, though.” Ron added loyally.

“I didn’t think that even needed to be said.” Ginny agreed. “No one laughed at my impression of a dragon playing seeker, which was hilarious by the way.”

Ron rolled his eyes. “No one else was at dinner with us; they didn’t have the context and I wasn’t going to be the only one laughing at you like some sort of weirdo.”

“I would have laughed,” Harry assured her.

“I know,” Said Ginny. “You always do.”

Back to index


Chapter 7: Friday

The morning before the match dawned bright and clear; Ginny awoke long before the rest of her roommates. She showered and dressed quickly with the unashamed intention of waiting in the common room for Harry.

The common room was empty when she arrived. Weak sunlight was beginning to filter through the high windows which Ginny took a seat near. She withdrew her Defence textbook, a roll of parchment, her ink and a quill and the sound of her scribbling filled the silent space.

Work might now be on the bottom of her priority list (coming third behind cheering Harry up and winning the cup) but she wouldn’t waste an opportunity to get some out of the way and at least it was an innocent reason for being out of bed so early.

Slowly, more and more students began to appear from the dormitories above as Ginny’s quill made its way down the parchment. Ginny didn’t bother to break focus from her assignment, confident that if Harry, Ron or Hermione arrived they would come to her.

“I wondered where you’d disappeared to.” Maddie’s tone was surprisingly cheerful given the early hour.

“I’m just catching up on some work,” Ginny said, looking up from her essay and waving the feathery tip of her quill over the parchment. Lizzie and Maddie stood beside her table with their arms linked together and smiles on their faces.

“I can see that,” Lizzie said. “Are you coming to breakfast?”

“Not yet, I’m just finishing this and then I’ll come down.”

“Do you want us to wait for you?” Lizzie offered. “Day before the match, don’t want to leave you on your own.”

Maddie answered before Ginny had even opened her mouth to respond. “Don’t worry, she’ll come down with Harry.”

“And Ron and Hermione,” Ginny added by force of habit.

“Of course,” Maddie agreed in a patronisingly dismissive tone.

“I’ll see you in Transfiguration,” Ginny said, waving them away with a flourish of her quill.

Ginny turned back to her essay as Maddie and Lizzie’s footsteps died away. The sun was higher in the sky now and her words were becoming more visible in the bright light as she scrawled across the parchment. She’d almost finished her conclusion when she sensed someone drop into the seat across from her. She looked up and was immediately caught in his gaze.

Everyone said Harry’s eyes were green but it was an oversimplification. Harry’s eyes were the exact shade of green as the leaves of the trees in the orchard at The Burrow in the height of summer; near his pupils were little flecks of gold like the sunlight breaking through the trees and warming them as they played quidditch.

“Are you waiting for someone?” Harry asked her.

You. “Just catching up on some work.”

“Oh, I was going to see if you wanted to come to breakfast?”

Ginny looked around the common room before answering him. It was much fuller than it had been when she’d arrived but there were two noticeable absences in the form of Ron and Hermione.

“Yes.” Ginny tapped her parchment with her wand and immediately rolled into a sealed scroll. Without wasting a second she threw the rest of her things into her bag. She smiled at him as she rose from her seat and his responding grin was dazzling. Finally, just the two of them made their way across the common room and out of the portrait hole.

“Where’s Ron and Hermione?” Ginny asked as they made their way through the castle in the direction of the great hall.

Harry bit his lip hesitantly before answering. “Ron was just putting his shoes on, I told him I’d meet him in the common room but he’ll figure it out.”

“I’m sure your disappearance will concern him for all of two seconds before he remembers he’s hungry,” Ginny said with a smile. Harry laughed in response and the sound echoed off the stone walls of the empty corridor.

He stopped walking and turned to face her, his laughter stopped as his expression turned solemn. “I wanted to say thank you.”

“Thank you for what?” She asked, confused.

“For taking charge of the team. I know the situation I’ve left you in is less than ideal,” Harry said sincerely.

Ginny shrugged. “They’re a good team and you’ve trained them well, there’s not really much for me to do at this point.”

“Still you’ve got your O.W.Ls to deal with and you didn’t need this pushed on you at the last second.” Harry reached out and placed a hand on her arm, sending shockwaves rippling through Ginny’s body.

“Well you know I like a challenge,” Ginny said lightly, unconsciously taking a step towards him. Harry did the same so they were barely inches apart, she had to tilt her head to look up at him, his was angled down towards her. All she had to do was reach up and -

“There you are!” Harry jumped back, his hand dropping from Ginny’s arm as though he’d been burned. Ron came strolling down the corridor, Hermione was half a step behind him with a pained expression on her face.

“Were you so hungry you had to ditch us?” Ron demanded.

Harry didn’t answer. His gaze was swivelling between Ginny and Ron with a look of utter confusion.

“I wanted to get to class early,” Ginny lied. “Harry walked with me in case I ran into any hostile Ravenclaws.”

Harry’s eyes remained on her as his brow furrowed deeper in confusion at her words but Ginny simply turned and continued her path towards the great hall.

When they arrived the atmosphere in the hall was palpable. The Ravenclaws and the Gryffindors were glaring at each other across the room from their respective tables. There were loud outbursts of cheers and boos whenever players from either team entered.

When Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny appeared the Slytherins unanimously joined in with the Ravenclaws jeers. Ron’s face took on the now-familiar expression of nausea that was almost a permanent fixture at this point. Hermione took his arm firmly in his and steered him to an empty seat at the Gryffindor table. Ginny and Harry followed at a much slower pace.

“Don’t you just love the sound of open hostility in the morning?” Ginny asked, earning a laugh from Harry.

“Honestly, I’d be lost without it,” He said as they took the empty seats across from Ron and Hermione.

Hermione was practically spoon-feeding a terrified looking Ron his cereal, giving him quiet encouragement every time he took a bite. Ginny stuck to dry toast. Her stomach swirled nervously; the match, O.W.Ls, the fact that she was absolutely positive that Harry would have kissed her if Ron hadn’t interrupted them. It was enough to make anyone tense.

“Honestly Ron, will you stop being so nervous!” Ginny hadn’t meant to snap at her brother but he was whimpering pitifully every time the Ravenclaws so much as looked in his direction and the noise was beginning to grate on her.

“It’s not his fault!” Hermione snarled, glaring furiously across the table at Ginny. “You all get so worked up over Quidditch, is it any wonder it gets to him?”

Ron looked up from his cereal bowl, which he’d been staring piteously into, and smiled gratefully at Hermione, who was too busy glaring at Ginny to notice.

“Sorry,” Ginny muttered, knowing that it wasn’t really Ron’s fault she was wound up.

“I thought you wanted to get to class early?” Hermione’s expression had softened somewhat at Ginny’s mumbled apology but her tone was still sharp and Ginny got the distinct impression she was being dismissed.

“I did say that,” Ginny acknowledged, reaching down to pick up her bag. There wasn’t any excuse she could give to stick around any longer.

She rose from the table and bumped straight into Dean. He smiled down as he reached out to steady Ginny, who had barely stumbled and definitely didn’t need him to catch her. She quickly shrugged his hand off her arm.

“Transfiguration, right?” Dean asked, either not noticing or ignoring Ginny’s brush off. “Come on teammate, I'll walk you there.”

Ginny couldn’t think of a single polite reason to turn him down. She heard Harry’s spoon clatter loudly into his bowl behind her.

“Ginny!” Hermione cried, jumping up from the table. “You promised you’d let me quiz you on Ancient Runes on your way to class!”

At that moment Ginny regretted every crossword she’d ever shared with Hermione.

“It’s for my O.W.Ls,” Ginny said apologetically to Dean.

“No problem, I’ll see you later!” Dean headed for the doors. Both Ginny and Hermione followed him moments later once Hermione had gathered her things and they’d both bid their goodbyes to Harry and Ron.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Ginny said fervently once she and Hermione were out of the hall and walking in the direction of the Transfiguration corridor.

“I did it for Harry,” Hermione said in a cool tone. “He looked like he was going to be sick when Dean offered to walk with you.”

Ginny sighed. “I’m sorry I snapped at Ron.”

She assumed this was the reason for Hermione’s frostiness. Ginny didn’t say anything about Harry’s reaction to Dean, it was genuinely laughable if he thought there was any competition there.

“He’s trying really hard, it’s not his fault he has confidence problems. Not everyone dotes on him like they do you!” Hermione said, looking slightly frantic.

“I know,” Ginny held both hands up in a sign of surrender, before adding defensively. “You don’t need to make it sound like the whole family bullies him though.”

“Harry seems to be doing better,” Hermione said, abruptly changing the subject.

“He seemed to be more cheerful this morning,” Ginny agreed.

Hermione eyed her curiously, her attention so focussed on Ginny she almost walked into a huddle of first years. “Did something happen?”

“No,” Ginny wailed. “I think something was about to when you and Ron appeared.”

“I tried to slow Ron down,” Hermione said apologetically. “But you know what he’s like when it comes to food.” Ginny did know. Hermione had been fighting a losing battle from the start.

“Thanks for trying,” Ginny sighed, before turning the conversation back to Harry. “He’ll be fine once we win the match.”

Hermione looked sceptical. “You’re confident in Gryffindor’s chances then?”

“Yes,” Ginny said firmly. “I’m coming back to the common room tomorrow with the cup or I’m not coming back at all.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “I wish you’d all realise it’s just a game!”

It wasn’t though. If they lost; Ginny knew the guilt would eat at Harry for weeks, possibly even months and she simply couldn’t allow that to happen.

***

The morning passed in a blessedly uneventful blur. Professor McGonagall suggested that Ginny use her empty transfiguration classroom to catch up on work during break, Ginny gratefully accepted though she suspected McGonagall had only suggested it in order to keep her now-seeker under her watchful eye.

Lessons were becoming so intense that any self-respecting Ravenclaw wouldn’t dare to interrupt their learning just to antagonise Ginny so, after break, Charms passed without incident. Her roommates reluctantly let their guard down just slightly and allowed Ginny to sit with Luna who she felt like she hadn’t seen in years at this point.

Their over-protective watchfulness resumed at lunchtime when they once again forced Ginny into the middle of them as they guided her out of the classroom. The corridor was so crowded that Ginny lost track of Luna as she was forced to walk shoulder to shoulder with Maddie and Leoni; she couldn’t see how anyone would be worried about being attacked when there was barely room to put one foot in front of the other.

They turned the corner and Ginny immediately spotted Harry’s messy black hair above the crowd, beside Ron’s unmistakable Weasley-red head.

“I’ll catch up with you after lunch,” Ginny announced. With great effort, she squeezed between a giggling group of third-year Hufflepuffs before any of her roommates had a chance to argue with her. She sidled around a group of tiny first-years with much more ease but found her path blocked by some unnecessarily tall seventh years.

Ginny pressed herself against the wall and managed to edge around them just enough to get a grip on Hermione’s arm which she used as leverage to pull herself forward.

“What the-” Hermione’s hand immediately streaked towards the pocket containing her wand. “Oh! Hello!” Her face lost its defensiveness as she recognised Ginny.

“Is it just me or is the whole school in this corridor?” Ginny said by way of greeting.

“It is rather cramped,” Hermione agreed. Ginny’s appearance had forced Hermione to step even closer to Ron so that their hands were brushing together, Ginny couldn’t help but notice that the tips of Ron’s ears had turned shockingly pink.

“Let’s cut through here.” Harry pulled back a particularly ornate tapestry that was hanging on the wall beside him, revealing a previously hidden stairway. Hermione looked faintly disappointed at the increased space as they left the congested corridor behind.

“Sometimes I think you like avoiding everyone,” Ginny told Harry mildly as the tapestry fell back into place, muffling the noise from the packed throughway behind it.

“Can’t imagine what gave you that impression,” He replied.

“Me either, you’re such a people person usually,” Ginny quipped; their light snickering echoed faintly down the stone staircase.

“I hate taking these shortcuts!” Hermione whined. “They’re always so dark.”

She wasn’t wrong; the staircase was lit only by the flickering light of a handful of wall torches, casting a dark shadowy atmosphere and increasing the risk of falling significantly.

“Hermione,” Her name left Harry’s mouth as an exasperated sigh. “You can’t have a brightly lit secret passage, it ruins the atmosphere.”

“I’d happily ruin the ‘atmosphere’ if it meant I wasn’t at risk of breaking my neck!” Hermione argued.

“That’s the fun of it!” Ginny declared. “What’s life without a little danger? Makes you feel alive!”

“You two need your heads examined,” Ron told both Harry and Ginny as he pulled back the tapestry at the bottom of the staircase and led them onto the much quieter first-floor corridor. Harry and Ginny simply caught each other’s eye and grinned at one another.

They’d barely taken five steps in the direction of the grand staircase when Ginny heard someone call her name behind her. Harry stopped as though it was his own name that had come echoing down the corridor. Ginny turned and was greeted by the sight of Dean rushing towards her, Neville and Seamus trailing behind him. Ginny stopped walking and waited for them to catch up.

"Demelza's going to meet me at the pitch for a bit of extra practice," Dean said as he reached the spot where Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione had all come to a stop. "Do you want to come?"

Ginny felt rather than saw Harry tense beside her at Dean's invitation. She was sorely tempted to turn him down but this was for the cup and she knew Harry wouldn't really expect to do anything that would put the cup in jeopardy.

Still, Ginny didn't meet Harry's eye as she turned to Ron. "Are you coming?"

"I suppose it can't hurt to get extra flying time in." Ron looked more than a little reluctant.

"I'll bring you some sandwiches to Transfiguration," Hermione offered, noticing Ron's hesitation. He perked up significantly now he was guaranteed to be fed.

"I have History of Magic next," Ginny said turning to Harry who was still surveying Dean with an expression more appropriate to facing off against a Death Eater. "I wouldn't complain if someone brought me some sandwiches."

"Me?" Harry asked with a tone of faint surprise.

"As my Captain, I really think it's your responsibility - no, your duty - to make sure I don't die of starvation." She felt sick with nerves if he said no to her with this many people watching she was going to die on the spot of embarrassment.

"Well, I don't want you to perish before the match," Harry said genially. Ginny breathed an internal sigh of relief.

"If you bring me anything with mayo on; I'll never speak to you again."

"I know." Did he? Ginny didn't remember ever telling him about her hatred of all things mayonnaise, which everyone always reacted to with outrage on par with if she'd said she hated puppies.

"You're contempt for mayo proceeds you," Dean joked.

"Come on," Ginny said through a weak, but hopefully polite, laugh. "We're losing valuable minutes."
***

Harry was waiting for her, leaning casually against the stone wall when Ginny approached the History of Magic classroom. He stood just apart from her congregated classmates who were looking at him curiously. Harry seemed not to notice their eyes upon him but Ginny suspected he'd just got good at pretending.

"No mayo?" She checked as Harry handed her a stack of sandwiches wrapped carefully in paper napkins. Through the corner of her eye, she saw Maddie's eyebrows raise into her hairline, intrigue etched upon every inch of her face.

"Nope; didn't want to risk you never speaking to me again."

"It was an empty threat," Ginny said. She was in no way capable of never speaking to him again, or going more than an hour without his attention apparently.

Harry shrugged. "Still not a risk worth taking."

Ginny's eyes met his. "Well, you'd know all about risks worth taking."

"Exactly, so no mayo."

Ginny tore her gaze from Harry's and busied herself with unwrapping the sandwiches before she said something that she'd seriously regret blurting out in front of her classmates.

"Ooh, extra cheese. Are you trying to get on my good side?" As if he even needed to try.

Harry shrugged again. "Need to keep my star player happy."

Once again Ginny restrained herself from saying something she was sure to regret with witnesses around. Some rather forward suggestions for other things he could to make her happy sprang to her tongue quite unbidden.

The bell rang shrilly down the corridor, signalling a five-minute warning for the end of lunch and making certain that Ginny's thoughts stayed in her head where they belonged.

"I'd better get going," Harry said as the bell's peals died away. "Don't want to be late for McGonagall."

"Yeah, that's not a risk worth taking," Ginny agreed as Harry began to walk down the corridor, he was travelling backwards so he was still facing her.

"I'll see you at dinner?" He asked.

"If I make it through History of Magic without dying of boredom."

Harry gave a small bark of laughter. "Me and Ron used to play hangman just to stay awake."

"I bet Hermione loved that!" Ginny called after him as he turned the corridor. Even as he disappeared out of sight she could hear him laugh, probably imagining, as she was, Hermione's disapproving glare.

Harry's laughter had barely died away before Maddie darted out of the crowd towards her. Lizzie, Amrinta and Leoni we're half a step behind her.

"That was the most outrageous flirting I've ever seen!" Maddie declared so loudly Ginny briefly wondered if she hadn't performed an amplifying charm on herself.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Ginny cried in an equally loud voice, hoping that anyone who had heard Maddie would also hear her denial.

Maddie grasped Ginny’s arm and dragged her into the classroom ahead of the rest of their class; she pulled her to a table at the very back of the room far away from the notice of Professor Binns. Ginny didn’t struggle; her focus lay entirely in keeping her sandwiches clutched firmly in her hands.

Lizzie, Leoni and Amrinta followed at a slower pace. Ginny had already spread her parchment, quill and ink across her desk by the time they joined her, keeping up the long-held illusion that she intended on taking notes in Binns’ class even though she usually gave up after approximately five minutes.

Binns started droning on as soon as everyone was in a seat, seemingly not caring that absolutely no one was paying any attention to him. The fact that Ginny had chosen to eat her sandwiches and not even bothered to pick up her quill was of no concern to him whatsoever.

She heard the faint scratch of a quill and chanced a glance at Lizzie who thankfully had started to take notes. Ginny was relying on Lizzie’s entire catalogue of History of Magic notes if she was to have any chance of passing her O.W.L.

Amrinta was absentmindedly running her quill through her fingers, her expression far away. Leoni had pulled a nail file out of her bag and begun to shape her nails with more concentration than Ginny had ever seen on her face in this classroom before. Maddie was sat facing not Binns, but Ginny, her arms folded and her mouth set in a determined line. Ginny continued to eat her sandwiches; pretending not to notice.

“So, he’s delivering your lunch to you now?” Maddie demanded when it became obvious Ginny wasn’t going to say anything.

“I asked him to,” Ginny said between mouthfuls. “I had to do extra practice and Amrinta said I’m not allowed to skip any more meals.”

Amrinta jumped slightly at the sound of her name; it took her a second to process what Ginny had said but eventually, she gave her a little nod of approval.

Maddie wasn’t so easily deterred, however. “And what? He was just happy to be your errand boy?”

Ginny shrugged, willing herself to remain casual. “He is still the captain; he needs to make sure we’re all on form for tomorrow.”

“Oh, so he delivered everyone else's lunch as well, did he?” Maddie’s tone made it clear that she already knew the answer.

“No,” Ginny’s voice remained casual but she couldn’t contain the smile that crept across her face.

“I can’t understand why you’re denying it?” Maddie didn’t wait for an answer, which was good because Ginny didn’t plan on providing one. “Most of the girls in this school would swap their wand arm for a minute of his attention and you’ve got him hanging on your every word.”

Ginny fixed her gaze on the remaining crust of her sandwich. “I’m focussing on the cup.”

Lizzie stopped her note-taking and turned in Ginny’s direction, fixing her with a shrewd expression. “What’s your excuse going to be after tomorrow afternoon?”

Ginny placed the last mouthful of sandwich in her mouth and slowly chewed it until she had no choice but to swallow and answer. “Guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

Truthfully she had no idea what her excuse would be after tomorrow afternoon. She had a mad notion in her head that everything rested on the cup. She was absolutely sure that Harry would have kissed her this morning if Ron hadn’t interrupted. Maybe if they won the cup Harry would be so happy he wouldn’t care about Ron’s reaction.

Either way, something was going to have to give. With the end of the match, would come the end of the Quidditch season and with it the end of Ginny’s innocent excuses to spend copious amounts of time in Harry’s company. If there was one thing she was absolutely sure of it was that she was no longer willing to let that stop her, not when she was sure Harry wanted this too.
***

Three Ravenclaw’s tried to corner Ginny on her way down to dinner but she was so surrounded by the other fifth-year Gryffindors that it was barely a threat. Once again they left her in the seat beside Harry; once again they all glared at him as they passed and once again Ginny wanted to hex them all but just about managed to control herself.

“Did you make it to transfiguration on time?” She asked Harry, pulling his attention from the others’ glares.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “McGonagall still looked like she wanted to murder me though.”

“Of course she didn’t!” Hermione cried. “It’s all in your head.”

“I always think she looks like she wants to murder me,” Ron said sympathetically. He’d stopped whimpering every time the Ravenclaws so much as looked at him but Ginny couldn’t help but notice his hand shaking where he gripped his fork.

Ginny smiled sweetly at him. “Understandable, I often have the urge to murder you, too.”

Ron returned her sardonic smile. “You’ve told me before that I’m your favourite brother.” As she knew he would be, Ron seemed to be distracted from his nerves by the opportunity to wind Ginny up.

“That doesn’t count!” Ginny slammed her hand on the table in indignation, making both her and Harry’s cutlery rattle. “I was six and you had sweets!”

Ron’s smile only grew at Ginny’s protests. “You still said it; no take-backs.”

“I don’t have a favourite brother,” Ginny declared, even though deep, deep down she knew it wasn’t true. “You’re all as annoying as each other.”

Hermione shot a tired glance between the two of them. “You two make me glad to be an only child.”

“Are you sure?” Ginny asked. “Because I have a surplus of brothers if you want one.”

“Yeah,” Ron agreed. “And if you’d rather have a sister; you can have mine.”

Hermione cast her eyes skyward and shook her head.

“Your mum would be horrified to hear this,” Harry said through a grin.

“Nah, she knows we don’t mean it,” Ron said easily.

Ginny pretended to be shocked. “Don’t we?”

Disappointingly, Ron ignored her admittedly weak attempts to wind him up and turned back to his dinner as did the rest of them.

“I don’t think you should practice too late tonight,” Harry said between bites of his steak pie.

“Yes, Captain,” Ginny replied, earning a small smile from him.

“I don’t want you all to be exhausted tomorrow,” Harry explained. “Do some light reaction training and get the chasers to practice some penalties; the cup rests on the points differential.”

“Okay. You could just come and run practice yourself?” The suggestion was tentative; she already knew he was going to decline.

“No, it’s fine. You can handle it.” Harry pushed his half-full plate away from himself; his gaze fixed on the table in front of him.

“Fine,” Ginny sighed. “But I expect you to save me a good spot in the common room.”

Harry’s head shot up, he turned to look at Ginny with a tentative smile. It was beyond her how after everything that had happened this week; he could still be surprised by her practically begging for his attention.

“If I’m going to be sufficiently rested I want one of the really squashy sofas.” And she wanted Harry on the end of it, but to tell him that would be too forward even for Ginny.

Harry’s smile turned playful. “Any other requests?”

“Don’t feed her ego like this!” Ron pleaded.

Ginny pretended to look thoughtful, ignoring Ron entirely. “A chocolate bar as big as my head?”

“Come on,” said Ron, ending their banter. “The rest of the team will already be there.”

Ginny bid both Harry and Hermione goodbye with a cheerful wave and followed Ron out of the door.

Ron’s prediction turned out to be correct; the whole team was already in the air by the time he and Ginny arrived at the pitch. Ginny grabbed Harry’s whistle from the hook by the door as she passed, trying not to think about all the times it had touched Harry’s lips.

The rest of the team received the news of a short practice gratefully. Just the idea of rest seemed to have renewed them. Aside from a few messy passes from Dean, the chasers' formations were near perfect. Ron saved more of the penalty shots than he missed, which had gone a long way to boost his confidence. Ginny made a special effort to be encouraging with him even though it was entirely out of character for her. Jimmy and Ritchie seemed to be communicating telepathically, they were working so well together. Ginny managed to find the snitch in record time after she released it from the crate, but she didn't congratulate herself too much. Finding the snitch wouldn't be the challenge tomorrow, finding it at the right time would be.

They'd been on the pitch for only an hour when she blew Harry's whistle and signalled the team to the ground. After strongly encouraging everyone to rest she dismissed them.

Ginny showered quickly and pulled her clothes on haphazardly, eager to get back to the common room where she was confident Harry would have succeeded in securing her the best seat. She'd barely placed a foot outside the shower cubicle when Dean called her name.

"Walk with me?" He asked as Ginny crossed to her locker in search of clean socks. She couldn't fathom how he'd managed to change faster than her.

"I was going to wait for Ron," She said loud enough for her brother to hear.

Ron waved her away with a meaningful look that Ginny could begin to comprehend. "You two go ahead. I want to trim the tail twigs on my broom. Noticed a bit of drag."

"Can't you do that in the common room?" Ginny asked desperately.

"No, because then I'd have to take my broom to breakfast tomorrow. I'd look like such a tosser."

Ginny couldn't argue with his logic so she had no choice but to follow Dean out of the changing room and into the grounds, silently cursing her brother and the fact he seemed impossible to get rid of whenever Harry was around but the second Dean appeared he wanted nothing to do with her.

"Thought I'd get to see a bit more of you now I'm back on the team," Dean said as they made their way towards the castle. Ginny was walking so fast Dean -who was much taller than her - had to practically jog to keep up with her, the grass was little more than a green blur beneath her feet.

“You’ve seen me at practice.” Which, given how often they’d been practising, Ginny thought was rather a lot.

“I know. It’s been nice to spend time with you again.” He smiled sheepishly at her as they passed through the double doors into the deserted entrance hall.

“You too.” It hadn’t been horrible to see him again during practice but it hadn’t been amazing either, if anything she’d been indifferent to Dean’s presence.

“Maybe we can hang out at the victory party tomorrow?” Dean asked tentatively.

“Let’s just hope there is a victory party.” It was as close as Ginny was willing to come to admitting they might not win, and it was only to allow her to give a non-committal but polite answer.

“True.” Dean agreed.

They walked in silence up several flights of stairs. When they passed the secret passageway that Harry and Ron had found them in all those months ago Ginny almost suggested using it in order to get to the common room quicker but it wasn’t worth Dean potentially misinterpreting the suggestion.

They’d just rounded the corner of the seventh-floor corridor when Dean grabbed Ginny’s arm and pulled her to a stop.

“I want you to know that I get it now.” His eyes were wide with sincerity as Ginny pulled her arm firmly out of his grip.

“Get what?” Ginny asked, bewildered.

“I shouldn’t have been so nice to you all the time. It was totally pathetic.” He shook his head disdainfully. His words proved that he didn’t get it all.

Ginny sighed. “There’s nothing pathetic about being nice. You should be nice to your girlfriend, Dean.”

“So, you didn’t want me to change?”

“No, of course not.”

If anyone needed to change it was her. Maddie and Lizzie had looked at her in complete bemusement when she’d said she’d broken up with Dean for helping her through the portrait hole and why wouldn’t they? Any girl would be lucky to have a boy that always took the lid off the jam jar for her, or held open heavy doors without being asked.

Yet, every time Dean did anything like that all Ginny could see was Tom Riddle’s handsome face staring at her in the Chamber of Secrets. Little Ginny Weasley, not strong enough to resist the transparent flattery of a monster. She’d been strong enough to face everything that came after though. The lack of friends, all the school work she had to catch up on, the guilt, the nightmares. That was what Dean didn’t get; every single little obstacle was proof that she could do it and he kept trying to take them away from her.

“Come on,” Ginny said, already heading towards the Fat Lady. “We both need to rest if we’re going to win tomorrow.”

It was a small mercy that Dean didn’t try and help her through the portrait hole. The first thing Ginny noticed upon entering the common room was that Harry had indeed succeeded in securing her the best sofa, the second thing she noticed was that the smile slid from Harry’s face when he saw her enter the common room closely followed by Dean.

“Where’s Ron?” He asked before she was even halfway to him. Hermione, who had her back to Ginny, whirled around. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Ginny alone with Dean.

“He ditched me to trim his bloody broomstick!” Ginny growled.

Part of her wanted to declare she hadn’t wanted to walk alone with Dean just to remove the devastated look from Harry’s face. Another, much smaller, part of her felt a sense of satisfaction. She had every right to spend time alone with Dean, Harry hadn’t done anything to outright make his feelings known to her and Ginny was at liberty to do as she pleased.

“I told him to just do it up here but he said he’d look like a tosser if he brought his broom to breakfast in the morning.” She claimed the seat beside Harry. Despite what she told herself, she would do anything to make the sadness disappear from his eyes. There was no chance of that whilst Dean was still hovering awkwardly near them.

“See you in the morning!” Ginny said cheerfully, dismissing him in a not altogether polite way.

“Bright and early!” Dean replied, before making his way across the common room to the back corner where Seamus, Lavender and Parvati were huddled closely together.

“I have to congratulate you,” Ginny said turning to Harry, a teasing smile on her face.

“On what?” He asked in obvious confusion.

“I was doubtful of your abilities when I told you to get a good spot in the common room.” She hadn’t doubted him for a second.

“That’s extremely hurtful to hear.” A reluctant smile returned to Harry’s face.

“Well, you’ve proven me wrong.” Daringly, Ginny turned so her back was against the arm of the sofa and stretched her legs out so they rested over Harry’s lap. “It’s a little known fact but this is actually the best sofa in Gryffindor Tower.”

Harry’s gaze was transfixed on the spot where her ankles rested on his thighs. Ginny didn’t dare move a muscle. “I’m glad I could exceed your expectations.” He said faintly.

Ginny quickly glanced over at Hermione, her eyes were fixed on the same spot as Harry’s, her book hanging limply in her hand.

Just act normal. She’d completely forgotten what normal even was; it definitely wasn’t her feet in Harry’s lap. It should be though, life would be infinitely better if even this small amount of physical contact was normal.

“Alright?” Ron’s loud greeting popped the bubble of tension that had settled around their little group. Fast as lightning Harry pushed Ginny’s feet off his lap and leapt from the sofa.

“Sort your broom, did you?” Harry asked loudly. Ginny didn’t know whether to laugh or scream, so she settled for staring at him in abject bewilderment. Across from her, Hermione bit her lip as though she was struggling to contain her laughter.

“Yeah, think I’ve sorted the problem with drag,” Ron said, falling into the chair beside Hermione. “Are you going somewhere?” He looked at Harry with the same expression of confusion Ginny was sure she was wearing.

“What? No.” Harry bent down and pulled something out of his bag before returning to the seat beside Ginny. “Here, I didn’t have any chocolate but you like sweets better anyway.” He threw something small and colourful at her; with the reflexes of a chaser, she caught it.

It was an unopened bag of Fizzing Whizzbees. He was right, she did like sweets better than chocolate, and she liked Fizzing Whizzbees best of all.

“You didn’t really have to bring me a snack!” She’d been joking about the chocolate; she’d thought he’d known it was a joke.

“I know,” Harry assured her. “Consider it a thank you for leading practice for me.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” said Ginny. “And besides you already did,”

“Will you just take the sweets? I know you want them.” He was right again.

“Thanks,” Without any further hesitation Ginny ripped open the packet and popped one in her mouth, savouring the sour fizz of sherbert on her tongue. She held the open packet out to Harry but he waved it away.

“I’ll take one!” Ron held out a hand in expectation and Ginny passed him a sweet without even pretending she wasn’t going to share with him.

“Don’t have too many!” Hermione looked sternly between Ginny and Ron. “You’ll be brushing your teeth soon, the sugar will erode your enamel.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to risk that,” Ginny said as she carefully placed another Whizzbee in her mouth.

“You’re incorrigible.” Hermione shook her head in despair at Ginny’s behaviour.

“You never know, I might lose all my teeth in a horrible bludger accident tomorrow and then my only regret would be that I’d limited my sugar intake for no reason.”

“That would be your only regret in that scenario?” Harry grinned at her.

Ginny nodded. “Definitely.”

The mood in the common room was an odd mixture of nervous excitement. Now and then a random chorus of Weasley is our king would break out. Curfew passed and the common room became full to bursting; a rowdy group of fourth years began to chant by the fire, drowning out the conversation between Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

Ron had turned an unhealthy shade of grey; his fingers trembled as he tried and failed to turn the pages on the comic he’d been attempting to read for the past half an hour. Harry was watching him tensely from the seat beside Ginny.

“You should probably all have an early night,” Harry said, his gaze still on Ron but his volume low enough he could only be talking to Ginny.

“Yeah, Ginny agreed. She was peering over his head at the spot in the corner where poor Jimmy was fidgeting nervously in his seat. “I don’t think the atmosphere down here is as encouraging as some people think it is.”

Without waiting for Harry’s response Ginny leaned over and plucked his glasses off his extremely confused looking face. She carefully climbed on the wooden table that separated Ginny and Harry’s sofa from Ron and Hermione’s and pushed Harry’s glasses onto her face.

From her new elevated position, she’d expected to be able to see the rest of the team, but she hadn’t expected how strong Harry’s prescription was. The world had turned into a blur of mostly red and gold. Ginny swayed slightly on the table, feeling completely disorientated, but managed to steady herself.

She could feel (though not see) the eyes of the common room upon her. She cleared her throat loudly and stood up straighter, mimicking Harry’s usually tense posture. “Team! Bed!” She called in her best imitation of his voice.

There was a rustle of movement underneath the light smattering of laughter that had broken out throughout the common room, which Ginny assumed was the team making their way to the dormitories, though she still couldn’t see anything to be sure. She carefully removed Harry’s glasses before stepping from the table, knowing that if she kept them on a moment longer she was at serious risk of injury.

“I just thought it would have more authority coming from the Captain,” Ginny said as she handed Harry his glasses back.

Harry gratefully accepted his glasses, placing them back on his face immediately. “Can you give me some warning before you decide to blind me next time?”

“Probably not,” Ginny said with a smirk as she reached down and picked up her half-eaten packet of Fizzing Whizbees from her abandoned seat on the sofa.

“No, I don’t expect so,” Harry said in a thoughtful tone.

Ginny did a quick sweep of the common room; it seemed the team had taken her instructions seriously as only she and Ron remained. They both bid Harry and Hermione goodnight before following the others to bed.


Back to index


Chapter 8: Saturday Again

Author's Notes: And so we reach the final chapter! Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed! :)


Ginny’s hands trembled as she reached to pull open the hangings of her four-poster bed. Her every nerve fizzled with timorous anticipation; for the first time in the run-up to the final anxiety threatened to consume her.

Her hangings came open and she was greeted by bright sunlight, perfect match conditions.

“Morning!” Lizzie practically sang at her.

Ginny grunted in response, feeling too sick to speak. It felt like her life was on the line; not just the cup. She told herself it was irrational but her hands still shook and her stomach twisted itself into uncomfortable knots.

She swayed slightly as she stood, reaching out a hand against the end post of her bed to steady herself. Maddie, who had been watching Ginny closely since she’d appeared from behind the cover of her hangings, gave her an encouraging smile and waved her wand in the direction of the old wireless that had been in place on their windowsill since first year.

A low bass and a fast beat permeated the room, pulsing through Ginny and filling her with a renewed sense of determination. She took a few deep, calming breaths and felt herself relax.

The music followed her into the bathroom, the wireless had been magically amplified by Lizzie in third year so that they could all listen to it whilst getting ready in the mornings.

Ginny took her time in the shower, allowing the warmth of the water to work out any tension in her muscles. She lost herself to the motivational music as she returned to the dormitory, pulled on her quidditch uniform and braided her hair into a long plait down her back.

“Here,” Maddie held out a slightly frayed red hair bobble to Ginny. “This is my lucky bobble, you can use it today.”

“Are you sure?” Ginny asked uncertainly.

Maddie nodded enthusiastically. Ginny reached out a tentative hand and plucked the bobble off of Maddie’s hand before using it to secure the end of her braid.

“Here, take this as well!” Amrinta was lying on her bed, still in her pyjamas. She held out a tiny golden Elephant pin clutched in the tips of her fingers. “My Nani says you should always have an elephant on you for good luck.”

Ginny smiled appreciatively at her as she took the badge and pinned it to the front of her Quidditch jersey.

“Might as well do the thing properly,” Leoni announced, rummaging around in her drawer before withdrawing a black jewellery box which she threw at Ginny with no warning. Fortunately Ginny managed to catch her first target of the day. “Put those in.”

The tiny box opened with a snap to reveal a pair of silver earrings shaped like acorns nestled within its velvet interior. A long-forgotten memory surged in Ginny’s brain of her mother taking her and Ron for long walks in the woods near The Burrow to collect acorns, assuring them both that they would bring the family good luck.

Ginny quickly removed her usual plain gold studs from her ears and replaced them with the acorns. “Thanks,” she said to the group in general.

“Wear this as well.” Lizzie approached from the opposite side of the room where she’d been flipping through revision notes in bed since before Ginny had risen. She reached for her wrist and pulled off an old, slightly frayed purple and blue friendship bracelet that Ginny had never seen her remove before. It had a little silver horseshoe charm that glinted in the bright sunlight spilling through the window.

“My sister made me this the day we found out I was a witch,” Lizzie explained. “She said my magic would make it really lucky.”

“I can’t take that,” Ginny said quickly. She knew how much Lizzie missed her sister when she was away at Hogwarts and Quidditch was a violent sport; the chances of it getting lost or broken were high.

Lizzie ignored her protests, gently reaching out and pulling Ginny’s arm towards her she slipped the bracelet over Ginny’s hand and pulled it tight on her wrist.

“Thank you,” Ginny said quietly. She seriously doubted the efficacy of lucky charms but she didn’t doubt the encouraging effect her friends supporting her had had.

“Don’t thank me,” Lizzie said firmly. “Just go out there and win for us.”

“Do you have your own good luck charm?” Amrinta asked curiously as Ginny turned to feed Arnold and Lizzie returned to her notes.

“No.” Even as Ginny said it she reached for the packet of Fizzing Whizbees she’d placed next to Arnold’s cage last night and slipped them into her pocket.

The dormitory door flew open with a bang; Katie and Demelza rushed inside making the dormitory feel cramped and overcrowded.

“Come on,” Katie said authoritatively as she took Ginny by the arm and steered towards the door. “You need to eat.”

“Good luck!” Lizzie, Amrinta and Leoni called as one.

“You’re going to smash it!” Maddie shouted as Ginny disappeared through the doorway and allowed Katie to lead her down the spiral staircase.

Jimmy and Ritchie were already in the common room, pacing nervously up and down the length of it; their bodies practically trembling with nervous anticipation.

“Alright?” Ritchie said weakly as Ginny, Demelza and Katie entered the common room. Ginny smiled in what she hoped was an encouraging way, speech seemed to have failed her.

The door to the boys' dormitories swung open and Harry, Ron, Dean, Neville and Seamus all emerged together. Ron’s skin looked especially green when contrasted with his scarlet quidditch robes, Dean was grinning broadly, Harry looked miserable.

She’d been expecting it, but still, Ginny’s heart sank a little at the way his shoulders hunched and the small frown on his face. Just a few more hours, she reminded herself, and she would bring him the cup and this whole nightmare would be over.

Hermione entered only seconds behind the boys. Her eyes landed on Ron immediately and without so much as a word of greeting to the rest of them she rushed towards him.

“Are you alright?” Hermione rubbed her hand up and down Ron’s arm in a soothing gesture. Ron nodded, seemingly unable to speak.

“Right,” Katie began ushering everyone towards the portrait hole. “Let’s get some breakfast.”

With some careful manoeuvring around Dean and Demelza Ginny fell into step beside Harry.

“How are you feeling?” He asked her; the tension in his shoulders seemed to dissipate a little as they headed in the direction of the great hall side by side.

“Oh, you know, very calm and relaxed,” Ginny said in a falsely breezy manner. “Why is something happening today?”

Harry finally smiled, though Ginny thought his eyes still looked sad behind his glasses. “I thought I heard something about a Quidditch match.”

Ginny gestured to the row of windows lining the corridor they were currently walking down, offering them a view of the grounds. “That’s fortunate, looks like good conditions for one.”

“Yeah, couldn’t have asked for better actually.” Harry agreed. “We’ve been lucky.”

“That would be me,” Ginny said with a smile; Harry threw her a confused glance. Ginny lifted the arm upon which Lizzie’s bracelet was attached and shook it slightly. “I’m covered in good luck charms.” She swept her hand over her body, indicating the earrings, the badge and the hair bobble.

“That’s a lot of luck,” Harry said dryly.

Ginny nodded. “I know, we’re practically guaranteed to win now. I’m wondering why we even bothered doing all that training.”

“Wow, I hope no one’s told the Ravenclaws about good luck charms,” Harry teased. “Wouldn’t want them to counteract your foolproof new strategy.”

“It wouldn’t matter if they had all the good luck charms in the world,” Ginny said seriously, looking up to meet Harry’s eyes and hoping she didn’t walk into something.

“No?” Harry asked.

“No, my team captain came up with an excellent strategy all of his own and I don’t really see how the Ravenclaws stand a chance.”

Harry mirrored her serious expression. “I hear your captain had a lot of help from his star chaser.”

“Yes,” Ginny agreed. “They make an excellent team.”

Harry grinned; he looked as though he was about to respond but it was at that moment that they entered the great hall and were hit by a wall of deafening sound. The Gryffindors cheered loudly at the arrival of their Quidditch team and the Ravenclaws boo’d with equal enthusiasm. The hall was a sea of scarlet and blue as students made their allegiances known with scarves, rosettes and t-shirts.

The Ravenclaw team appeared before Ginny had even reached the Gryffindor table and the noise level became untenable. Students from all houses were cheering and hissing in equal measure; some were banging their fists on the table or stomping their feet against the stone floor. Not even McGonagall attempted to silence the thunderous noise.

Ginny chose the seat across from Ron, as was customary Harry took the one beside her. The volume diminished slightly as both teams took their seats but the atmosphere in the hall still buzzed with anticipation.

Ron’s expression was akin to if he’d already been hit by a bludger. Harry pushed some dry toast across the table at him.

“You need to eat something,” Harry said firmly but Ron didn’t seem to hear him.

Hermione tore a tiny piece off the corner of the top slice and waved it in front of Ron’s face, with great reluctance he opened his mouth and swallowed it in one. Secure in the knowledge Hermione would take care of Ron, Harry turned his attention to Ginny.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Aren’t I always?” Ginny said lightly, secretly not feeling alright at all. Harry’s eyes narrowed slightly and Ginny knew he saw right through her.

“I hope you’re going to save me a drink at your victory party,” Harry said with forced optimism which Ginny knew was solely for her benefit.

“Maybe you’ll be out in time to catch the end of the match.” She knew he wouldn’t be. There was no way on this earth Snape was going to let him out until it was over. Win or lose, Harry would be the last to know.

“Maybe,” She knew Harry didn’t believe it either. “You haven’t eaten anything.”

Ginny tore her eyes away from his and reached blindly for the first item of food she could reach which happened to be a crumpet. She took a bite without even bothering to butter it.

Time seemed to be ticking away with impossible speed. Every student in the school seemed to be in the hall now, the noise was ear-splitting. Ginny felt as if her hastily chewed crumpet might make a reappearance.

“You need to take the team down to the pitch,” Harry instructed her. He was eyeing Ron and Ritchie cautiously, the rowdy atmosphere of the hall seemed to be agitating them. She nodded dumbly and stood on shaking legs.

“Let’s go!” Ginny said loudly, willing her voice not to shake as she waved and motioned for the team to follow her. Hermione and Harry rose with the rest of the team and followed Ginny out of the hall.

In the entrance hall Ginny, Ron and Hermione paused by the wooden double doors to say their goodbyes to Harry.

“I’ll see you all after,” Harry said, his voice dripping with bitterness.

“I hope Snape’s not too much of a dick,” Ron said consolingly; he was leaning heavily against Hermione for support.

“It will be over before you know it,” Hermione assured him as she pulled Ron out of the door and lead him towards the pitch.

Ginny remained where she was, separated from Harry by inches that suddenly felt like miles. “I’ll have a butterbeer waiting for you.”

“You’ll be much too busy celebrating to worry about me,” Harry said in a joking tone but the humour didn’t reach his eyes.

“I always have time to worry about you.”

Ginny hadn’t planned to say it; part of her wished she could reach out and shove the words back into her mouth, but it didn’t matter; Harry was giving her that sceptical look again, as though he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, believe what he was hearing.

“I would wish you good luck,” He said, the teasing smile returning to his face. “But you’ve already got plenty.”

“I could always use some more,” She assured him.

“Good luck,” Harry said, taking a step backwards in the direction of the door that led to the dungeons.
“Back at you,” Ginny said, beginning her own backwards retreat out into the grounds.

She allowed herself one last look at him, promising herself this was going to be the last time she saw that sad smile on his face, before turning and walking with purpose towards the pitch.

The cheers of the crowd were muffled but still audible within the confines of the changing room. Ron was sitting with his head in his hands, taking slow controlled breaths. Ritchie and Jimmy stood facing each other with their hands on each other’s shoulders and their foreheads resting against one another. Demelza, Katie and Dean were throwing a quaffle between them with increasing ferocity.

Ginny stood on one of the benches and clapped to get everyone’s attention “This is it-” The team nodded in agreement. “This is the moment we’ve been training for. We’ve come so far and I’ve seen each of us improve so much since the start of the year. Ravenclaw are a good team but we’re better!”

“Yeah, we are!” Demelza stomped her foot on the tiled floor, causing an echo throughout the room.

“We’re going to go out there and play like it’s our last chance! Because it is!” Katie and Demelza began to cheer. Ritchie and Jimmy were jumping up and down still clutching each other’s shoulders.

Only Ron still looked nervous. Ginny grabbed his arm and pulled him back from the others as they began to filter out onto the pitch.

“We’re going to win this,” She told him. “For Harry.”

Ron gave her an odd look as though a particularly difficult puzzle he’d been struggling to work out had finally clicked into place in his head. “Yeah, we are.”

Ginny let go of his arm and Ron turned to follow the others out of the door. Ginny paused for only a second to take one of the Fizzing Whizbees out of her pocket and pop it into her mouth.
***

The sky was cloudless; the sun bright and blinding as Ginny stepped out onto the soft grass of the pitch, a liability when your job was to search for the snitch. Madam Hooch was waiting in the centre of the pitch, Cho Chang beside her, her Blue and Bronze captain’s badge glinted in the sunlight. Ginny could feel the blood pumping through her legs as she made her way across the pitch and faced Cho.

“Are both teams ready?” Madam Hooch looked between them.

“Yes.” Cho’s voice was melodic as usual.

Ginny nodded, suddenly overcome with nerves, standing next to Cho never did anything for her self-confidence. Cho held out her arm and Ginny clasped Cho's hand within her own, the handshake was over as quickly as it started. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Ginny watched to ensure the rest of the team were in the air before kicking off and following them.

She soared higher and higher, leaving her nerves on the ground.

“It’s Katie Bell with first touch of the quaffle.” The familiar disdainful drawl of Blaise Zabini drifted across the pitch. “Of course Gryffindor are always favoured by the teachers so it’s unsurprising really.” Ginny rolled her eyes and guided her broom higher as she made slow circuits around the pitch. Cho was on the opposite side, mirroring Ginny’s movements.

“Bell passes to Thomas, who drops to Robins. Robins hogs the quaffle as she speeds towards the Ravenclaw hoops. She shoots… she scores.” The stadium erupted into cheers from the Gryffindor stands. Fourteen more goals and Ginny could begin to search for the snitch in earnest.

“Thomas drops the quaffle, it’s caught by Swift. Swift passes to Trainor, Trainor dodges a bludger from Peakes and shoots… Trainor scores! Not hard to get past Weasley of course.” Ginny groaned. The Ravenclaw’s screamed their appreciation for their chaser.

The match quickly became contentious. The beaters were sending bludgers zooming across the pitch with wild abandon, it was all Ginny could do to stay high above them and keep out of their path.

Demelza scored two goals in quick succession and was quickly followed by another goal from Katie. Gryffindor’s celebrations were soon muted when Swift scored two goals of his own.

Ginny saw a glint of gold at the opposite end of the pitch, hovering dangerously close to where Cho was gliding past the Ravenclaw hoops. It was too soon, if Ginny caught it now Gryffindor would win the match but lose the cup. Without further thought, Ginny pushed herself into a breakneck dive towards the Gryffindor hoops.

“Weasley seems to have spotted something, no surprise she’s off at the first sight of gold. Merlin knows her family could use some.” Ginny growled in anger but she was flying so fast the sound was snatched away by the wind. “Chang's quick on her tail. Weasley has the lead but Chang’s a fast flier.”

Cho had zoomed across the pitch in record time, falling for Ginny’s trap. Ginny did a quick circuit around the base of the hoop posts and flew leisurely back to her preferred height above the rest of the game.

“Looks like Weasley was faking; Unsurprising, she’s known for being a tease.” Ginny flew higher, leaving Zabini’s irritating drone behind her. Cho followed her closely, bumping her hard on the shoulder as she passed.

Dean scored another goal and Ron blocked two from Ravenclaw. The Gryffindor stands were practically buzzing with excitement as Ginny passed them. Demelza and Katie pulled off a tricky pass which allowed Katie to bring the score to 60 — 40 in Gryffindor’s favour.

It was the most contentious game Ginny had ever participated in and she was forced to remain out of the action, eyes scanning the pitch for any trace of the snitch. Her fingers itched to take the quaffle but she thought of Harry, locked in the dungeon with only Snape for company and her resolve held firm. The score changed quickly, scarce minutes passing between goals.

The score was 150 — 100 in Gryffindor’s favour, thanks to some excellent playing by Demelza when Ainsworth — one of the Ravenclaw beaters — smashed a bludger into Demelza’s stomach even though she was nowhere near the quaffle, which was in Ravenclaw’s possession. Demelza clung onto her broom with one hand, the other clutched around her middle.

Ginny signalled a time out to Madam Hooch as Demelza raced for the ground; Ginny hot on her tail. When she reached Demelza she was laid flat on the grass wheezing loudly.

“Are you alright?” Ginny asked. Demelza nodded, unable to speak. “Do you need to go off?” Ginny prayed she didn’t. They had no more reserve chasers.

Demelza shook her head. “Just. Need. Minute.”

“What the hell were you doing?” Ginny rounded on Ainsworth who had been directed to the ground by Madam Hooch.

“Misaimed.” He shrugged.

“If your aim is that bad you have no business being on a Quidditch pitch!” Ginny spat

“Don’t have a go at my players!” Cho snarled, having now landed beside Ainsworth.

“Well, maybe if you learned to control them better I wouldn’t need to!” Ginny was furious, they absolutely could not afford to lose their chaser.

“Enough!” Madam Hooch stood between them, blocking Ginny’s view of Cho’s stupid face. “Penalty to Gryffindor. Who’s taking it?” Madam Hooch looked at Ginny expectantly. She was about to volunteer Katie when —

“I am.” Demelza had managed to fight her way back to her feet. Without another word, she remounted her broom and kicked off.

Demelza scored the penalty effortlessly; the Gryffindor team was reinvigorated by Demelza’s quick recovery. Ron managed to block three shots in a row from the Ravenclaw chasers. Katie scored three times in the space of five minutes. Dean and Demelza took another goal apiece, making the score 210 -100. Soon Ginny would be able to look freely for the snitch and end the game.

“Chang dives for the ground.” The words made Ginny’s heart falter. She swung her broom around. Cho was a blue and bronze blur as she zoomed in the direction of the grass near the Ravenclaw stands. Ginny could see the glint of gold hovering just above the ground even from here

She practically laid horizontal on her broom as she willed it to fly as fast as it could in Cho’s direction. She was too far behind, Cho was going to beat her to it. There was nothing Ginny could do; her heart was in her mouth as she silently willed her broom to travel at a speed she knew wasn’t possible.

A black blur streaked through Ginny’s periphery. Cho was so focussed on the snitch she didn’t even see it coming; the bludger smashed into Cho’s side knocking her off course. She screamed in frustration as the snitch disappeared. Relief flooded Ginny to the very core of her being.

“Peakes foils Ravenclaw’s attempt at the snitch with a hasty bludger.” The groan of disappointment from the Ravenclaw stands was deafening. Ginny zoomed off course, speeding straight for Jimmy and wrapping him in a tight hug.

The Ravenclaw’s had almost tasted victory and it showed. Trainor got another two goals past Ron and Swift followed it up with a third. The score changed to 210 - 130 in Gryffindor’s favour, making the time when Ginny could begin to search for the snitch further out of reach.

Dean and Demelza wrestled back possession of the quaffle, quickly passing it to Katie who easily managed to get another goal for Gryffindor. Now they had possession the Gryffindor chasers didn’t let it go. In the space of fifteen minutes, they managed to sink another four goals. The score was now 260 — 130, just two more goals from Gryffindor and Ginny could end it. She silently willed the chasers to keep their momentum.

Another outrageous bludger attack by Ainsworth earned Gryffindor a second penalty which Katie scored without trouble. The Ravenclaw’s were getting desperate now. Cho looked almost frantic as she circled the pitch desperately seeking any sign of the snitch. Knowles practically knocked Dean off his broom as he stole the quaffle.

“Knowles passes to Swift who passes to Trainor. Trainor backpasses to Knowles and GOAL!” The Ravenclaw’s erupted into cheers. “That makes the score 270 — 140” Ginny forced herself to breathe. They still had a good lead. They could do this.

The quaffle was set loose once more. “Robins takes possession. She passes to Thomas — Thomas dodges a well-placed bludger from Quinn. He’s heading for the hoops. GOAL!” One more and Ginny could catch the snitch, she didn’t let herself think about the fact that that was a challenge in and of itself.

The quaffle returned to the pitch and immediately went into Ravenclaw possession. Trainor raced towards the Gryffindor hoops with it tucked firmly under his arm. Ritchie aimed a bludger at Trainor which he managed to avoid but he dropped the quaffle in the process.

Katie caught it. She dodged and weaved with expert precision as she rushed to the opposite hoops. Katie passed to Dean, narrowly avoiding Swift who was streaking towards her to try and take the quaffle. Dean caught the quaffle as Ginny saw it.

The snitch was high above the game, fluttering aimlessly towards the clouds. It was a risk, if Ginny caught it and Dean didn’t make the shot they would win the game but lose the cup. If Ginny didn’t go for it; Cho might or it might take hours for it to reappear.

Dean was almost at the hoops. Ginny laid flat on her broom and followed the path of the snitch, listening intently to the commentary.

“Thomas approaches the hoops.” Ginny urged her broom forward. “Ginny Weasley is striking for the snitch! Chang’s close behind her!” The snitch was less than 20 feet in front of her. Ginny could feel Cho chasing just behind her.

“Thomas dodges Ainsworth’s bludger. He shoots… he scores!”

No one cheered. Ginny could feel hundreds of eyes upon her. Cho was drawing level with her. The snitch was fluttering just out of reach. Ginny silently urged her broom forward.

“Bell sinks another Quaffle for Gryffindor whilst Ravenclaw Keeper, Ancell is distracted.” Zabini’s condescending tone was crystal clear in the silence of the stadium.

Ginny reached out a hand. Cho tried to knock it out of the way but Ginny held firm. The cool metal brushed her fingertips, Ginny’s hand closed around the snitch.
***

“GINNY WEASLEY CATCHES THE SNITCH!” Zabini had to yell to be heard over the screams of the crowd. “GRYFFINDOR WINS THE QUIDDITCH CUP!”

Ginny felt dizzy with relief as she aimed her broom towards the ground, the snitch still clutched in her hand. She was halfway to the ground when the rest of the team caught up to her. Ron reached her first, he engulfed her in a hug, forcing them both to balance perilously on their brooms. Dean and Katie joined them, tightening the huddle. She was jostled further by the arrival of Demelza, Ritchie and Jimmy.

As one they found their way back to the ground, swaying slightly as they landed. Her ears were ringing, blood and adrenaline surged through Ginny’s veins. The rest of Gryffindor house was cheering and screaming in jubilation as they spilt onto the pitch.

Ginny was pulled out of the grip of her teammates as soon as her feet met the grass and hoisted into the air. She was balanced somewhat precariously on Seamus and Neville’s shoulders.

“WEASLEY IS OUR QUEEN! WEASLEY IS OUR QUEEN!”

Ginny felt as though she was still flying. She was propelled on the shoulders of her housemates to a hastily erected stage and placed back onto her feet beside Ron, who had actual tears streaming down his face.

“YOU DID IT!” He screamed over the noise of the crowd. Ginny nodded dumbly. For all her bravado she’d never really been certain they could do it without Harry. Harry, who was stuck in the dungeons and had no idea that they’d won. That she’d won.

The rest of the team joined Ginny and Ron on the stage. The admiring faces of Gryffindor house gathered around the grass below them. Maddie was waving a Gryffindor scarf above her head. Hermione was hugging Neville to her as both jumped up and down in excitement. Lizzie and Amrinta were spinning each other around in a celebratory dance.

Dumbledore and McGonagall appeared beside her, The Quidditch cup floating in the air in front of them. Dumbledore addressed the crowd but Ginny barely registered his words; her ears were still ringing. Next thing she knew the cup was being thrust into her hands; on instinct, Ginny lifted it into the air, an action which was met by a roar of approval from the Gryffindors assembled below her.

The cup was heavy and her arms were still shaking from adrenaline and shock, Ginny quickly passed it to Ron. Her brother looked at it with wide-eyed amazement.

Take it!” Ginny instructed him. Ron’s smile was luminous as he took the cup from her.

No sooner was it out of her hands than she was being lifted off the stage again and carried rather roughly in the direction of the castle. The jubilant atmosphere was infectious; Ginny couldn’t contain the laughter that burst from deep within her as she balanced on Neville and Seamus’ shoulders once more.

“I can walk!” She said between giggles.

“WEASLEY IS OUR QUEEN!” Was their only reply.

They had to put her down once they reached the grand staircase, the stairs changed too quickly and there were too many trick steps for it to be safely traversed on someone’s shoulders.
Ginny’s feet met the solid ground of the entrance hall and she looked longingly at the door to the dungeons. She was the hero of Gryffindor, everyone was screaming her name; demanding her attention for their celebrations but she would swap it all just to go down there and tell Harry that they’d won. That he could stop torturing himself.

For a moment Ginny considered doing it. Marching down to the dungeons, throwing caution to the wind and finally putting an end to the tension that had been growing between them. Her feet began to carry her away from the grand staircase but it was short-lived. She was quickly swept up in the crowd of celebrating Gryffindor’s and pushed back towards Gryffindor Tower.

Amrinta wrapped her in a fierce hug and Ginny almost fell on the stairs, she grabbed for the nearest solid object to steady herself and found herself clutching onto Demelza's arm. Demelza pulled Ginny out of Amrinta's grasp and wrapped an arm around her.

"You were amazing!" Demelza's smile was wider than Ginny had ever seen it.

"You were amazing!" Ginny parroted back.

"We were amazing!" Katie cried, wrapping her arm around Ginny's other shoulder.

"GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR!" The three of them bounced up and down as they chanted, the other members of the crowd spaced out to give them room.

"PARTY IN THE COMMON ROOM!" Seamus called from the front of the crowd.

The suggestion was met with yet another roar of approval, this one seemed even louder as it echoed off the stone walls of the castle.

Ginny barely registered the path they took to Gryffindor Tower, she was passed from person to person to have their congratulations bestowed upon her. They reached the portrait hole and a myriad of hands reached out and pulled her inside.

The atmosphere in the common room was exultant. There was no music yet but people were dancing anyway. Loud rounds of cheering broke out every few seconds and people kept reaching out to clap Ginny on the back.

Maddie pulled on her arm and dragged her further into the common room. Ginny passed Ron as she followed Maddie deeper into the room; he stood by the window, the cup held aloft for the benefit of a sea of wide-eyed admirers. Hermione stood watching him, her eyes shining with pride.

Ginny found herself glancing at the portrait hole every five seconds whilst Maddie and Lizzie chattered excitedly beside her. She’d only just managed to tear her gaze away for possibly the fiftieth time when the volume in the common room somehow rose higher than it already was.

Ginny’s head snapped around as though she’d been compelled to turn and look. A slightly dazed-looking Harry was being pulled roughly into the common room by a dozen people at once.

Ginny’s vision became hazy as her focus fixed on Harry. Her feet were moving of their own accord; carrying her towards him. She forgot about Lizzie and Maddie behind her, she forgot about Ron who had also been heading in Harry’s direction. She forgot about the cup. There was only Harry. Harry looking at her like he wasn’t aware of anyone else in the crowded common room either.

Her ability to judge insignificant things like distance seemed to have ceased but she must have been close enough because Harry caught her like he’d been expecting Ginny to launch herself at him, like he’d been waiting for it. Her arms came to rest around his neck, pulling him closer. Harry’s head was already moving towards hers.

Finally, their lips met.

Harry is kissing me. Harry is kissing me. Harry is kissing me.

It couldn’t be real, it had to be a dream. But Ginny had had this dream many times before and it had never felt like this. Ginny's imagination had never correctly captured how his arms would feel around her waist; pulling her closer to him, she'd never been able to accurately conjure how smooth his hair would feel when she ran her hands through it, nothing she could dream up would ever compare to how his lips felt soft but firm as they brushed against hers.

Winning the cup had been amazing but this was sweet victory. She was flying and she didn’t even need her broom.

Reluctantly, they broke apart and Ginny suddenly became aware that they were in the middle of the extremely full common room. The common room was now deathly silent. She heard someone wolf-whistle and a smattering of nervous giggling but she saw nothing but Harry in front of her.

He was smiling magnificently as his eyes scanned the room above her head. Ginny might have had the presence of mind to wonder what he was looking for if it wasn’t for the fact her mind was still trying to adjust to the life-altering fact that Harry had just kissed her.

His arms dropped from her waist as he jerked his head in the direction of the portrait hole. Ginny found that she was unwilling to continue living in a world in which she wasn’t touching some part of him so she took his hand in hers and led him out of the common room.

***

“Congratulations!” Harry said once the portrait hole had swung closed behind them. His smile was breathtaking; his hand was still in Ginny's. She thought she might need to use her spare hand to pinch herself.

"I know I'm a good kisser but I don't need to be congratulated on it." Her own smile was so wide her cheeks actually ached.

“On the cup,” Harry clarified as though she hadn't understood him perfectly.

He tugged on her hand and pulled Ginny further down the corridor, away from the Fat Lady. Ginny followed without question.

“So you don’t think my kissing skills are worth congratulating?” Ginny teased. She tried to look offended but her smile seemed to have been fixed with a permanent sticking charm; she couldn't honestly say if she was walking or floating down the corridor.

"I'm not sure." Harry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I might need to test them again. Just for evaluation purposes, you understand."

Ginny’s heart hammered an unsteady beat in her chest. “Well, I wouldn’t want you to make an unfair assessment.”

His lips were back on hers before she'd even finished speaking. This kiss was not the same as the first. That had been full of surprise, an expression of so many unsaid things. This one was slower, more exploratory. Harry's lips pressed against hers once, twice, three times. His hand found its way into her hair. She took a step closer to him. His tongue ran against her bottom lip. Ginny heard herself sigh as her lips parted for him.

"Ahem!" Harry's tongue paused its pursuit of her mouth. Ginny's eyes flew open and they jumped back from one another, further apart than they'd been since the kiss in the common room but still connected by their entwined hands.

McGonagall stood in front of them, her expression no less stern for the Gryffindor scarf wound tightly around her neck.

"I was just on my way to the common room to congratulate the team," McGonagall said, eyeing the pair of them shrewdly. "You flew wonderfully, Miss Weasley."

“Thank you, Professor,” Ginny said, trying to look contrite but she was still beaming and she was sure she must look quite ridiculous if the twinkle in McGonagall’s eye was anything to go by.

“Ginny was just going to tell me about the match,” Harry said, attempting a similar expression of wide-eyed innocence and failing just as spectacularly as Ginny suspected she had. “It was a bit loud in the common room.”

McGonagall looked at him astutely over her glasses "I'm sure Miss Weasley will be perfectly capable of making herself heard now you've removed your tongue from her mouth, Mr Potter."

A sound escaped Ginny's lip that could only be likened to that of a strangled cat; Harry's face turned redder than Ginny's hair.

McGonagall's lips rose slightly at the corners as if she was struggling to suppress a smile. "I'll be passing back this way in ten minutes. I trust this corridor will be deserted when I do so."

"Yes, Professor." They said in unison. McGonagall nodded once and continued her journey to Gryffindor Tower.

"Come on." Ginny pulled Harry in the direction of the grand staircase as McGonagall's robes disappeared around the corner.

Harry’s hand was wonderfully warm in hers; he followed her without hesitation as she led him further and further away from Gryffindor Tower and hopefully away from any further interruptions.

“Where are you taking me?” Harry asked, grinning down at her.

“Outside; Can’t imagine you’ve seen much daylight in the dungeons.” Ginny felt as though she might be radiating her own sunlight.

“No,” Harry agreed. “I did get a lovely hand cramp though.”

“This hand?” Ginny held up the hand that was firmly entwined in her own and pretended to inspect it. “It seems fine to me, we’ll have you back to catching snitches in no time.”

"Oh, you don't want to steal my position then?" Harry’s gaze was fixed firmly on the spot where their hands were clasped together, he looked as though he’d never seen anything so fascinating.

"No, being seeker is so annoying. You're completely out of the action for most of the game."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." His tone was playful but his smile faltered slightly; Ginny knew he was blaming himself for missing the match.

"It wasn't all bad,” Ginny assured him. “Everyone acted like I'd performed a miracle when I caught the snitch."

They reached the marble staircase that led to the entrance hall; Harry took the stairs two at a time and Ginny had to practically jog to keep up with him.

"Ginny Weasley; Gryffindor legend," Harry said reverently as they passed through the double doors into the grounds. The sun was still shining brightly. The sky was a perfect, cloudless blue.

"Well, at least I know my Captain was appreciative of my efforts,” Ginny smirked up at him.

Harry suddenly looked nervous; he ran an anxious hand through his hair. “Was that okay?” He said sheepishly. “I mean, I did just kind of accost you in front of a room full of people.”

Ginny couldn’t help but laugh at how timid he looked. Apparently, he’d conveniently forgotten the part where she’d thrown herself at him. “Yes, that was okay. Merlin forbid, you do anything the normal way.”

Harry tried to look affronted but the happy smile had returned as soon as Ginny had assured him the kiss was welcome. “I can do things in a normal way!”

“Go on then.” Ginny removed her hand from Harry’s and crossed her arms, her eyebrows rose in expectation.

Harry looked confused. “What?”

“Ask me out in a ‘normal way’” Ginny explained.

“Wasn’t that implied in the very public kiss?” Harry asked through a laugh.

Ginny shrugged, very much enjoying the bewildered look on Harry’s face. “You said you can do things the normal way - I was just offering you the opportunity, but if it’s too much of a challenge for you…”

Harry’s eyes narrowed. “I see what you’re doing.”

“Me? I was just giving you a chance to prove yourself. I can get you an audience if you’d prefer?”

“No,” Harry said quickly. He reached out and took Ginny’s hand back in his, unfolding her arms. She let him without any protest. They’d stopped walking as Harry looked down at her, his expression earnest. “Ginny, I really like you. Will you go out with me?”

For a fraction of a second, she thought about pretending to consider it, just to mess with him but she felt completely exposed, caught in his sincere gaze. She’d imagined him asking her this very thing so many times, the fact that it was really happening didn’t feel funny at all.

“Yes.” She was surprised to hear her voice shake a little as she spoke.

Harry’s face split into a dazzling smile. He took a step toward her; Ginny found herself doing the same, closing the gap between them. Her hands rested on his shoulders keeping her steady as she raised up on her tiptoes to meet him. Harry’s hand cupped her face, his thumb stroked across her cheek, it felt more intimate than anything she’d ever done in her whole life. She was sure she’d never get tired of kissing him.

“I really like you too,” Ginny whispered against his lips once they finally broke apart.

“Really?” Harry looked like he couldn’t quite believe his own ears.

“Really.”
***
Ginny was officially his girlfriend. Just thinking it made Harry feel a bit dizzy.

To think this morning he’d woken up, sure she was going to end up back with Dean after the match and now her hand was in his and she’d just given him the most wonderful kiss of his life. He half wondered when he was going to wake up, this wasn’t the kind of thing that happened to him.

“I was starting to think you were never going to make a move,” Ginny said as they continued their slow walk around the lake.

He didn’t bother pretending he hadn’t been pining after her for a ridiculous amount of time. He knew it had been obvious. Hermione’s knowing looks hadn’t gone unnoticed, he should have known that Ginny wouldn’t be oblivious to his attentions either.

“Well, you are my best mate's little sister. I had to weigh up the risks.” Honesty was the best policy, he decided.

He braced himself, ready for Ginny to tell him off, to tell him that her love life wasn’t any of Ron’s business, but she didn’t.

She nodded as though he’d just confirmed something she’d already known. “Was it worth it?”

“Definitely.” Now he had her, Harry didn’t know how he had gone so long without her hand in his; without being able to kiss her just because he wanted to. “Besides, I think Ron’s okay with it. He nodded at me before we left.”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “That’s the one and only time I’m allowing Ron’s feelings to be a factor in this relationship,” She said firmly.

This relationship. The formality of the words made his heart thump louder in his chest.

“Fair enough,” Harry agreed.

They had reached the halfway point in the circuit around the lake; the castle looked a fraction of its size in the distance. The trees that dotted the shoreline were becoming more frequent and thanks to the shade they offered the number of students enjoying the afternoon sun was also increasing.

“OH MY GOD!” A fifth-year Hufflepuff girl with dark hair exclaimed, pointing brazenly at Harry and Ginny; or more specifically the spot where their hands met.

Ginny sighed quietly. “Trudy Parsons is honestly the nosiest person I’ve ever met in my entire life.”

The girl - Trudy - had turned to her friends and they were all whispering with their heads bent close together. Harry found that for once he didn’t care that people were whispering about him. If the cost of Ginny’s hand in his was a new round of gossiping about him then he was more than happy to pay it.

Ginny pulled on his hand and led him away from the lake and further into the cover of the trees, away from the prying eyes of their fellow students. He didn’t mind the whispering but he definitely didn’t find anything to complain about in Ginny leading him somewhere more private.

She settled on the soft grass underneath the shade of an old beech tree, pulling Harry with her. They sat facing one another with their hands still entwined. The trunk of the tree was wide enough to keep them mostly shielded from the prying eyes of the rest of the school.

“I guess my good luck charms were more powerful than I gave them credit for,” Ginny said brightly, shaking the wrist that still contained the bracelet she’d shown him earlier.

A memory rose in Harry’s mind at the mention of good luck. “I seriously considered using my Felix Felicis to get you alone.”

Ginny rolled her eyes even as she began to laugh. “Did it ever occur to you to just ask to talk to me alone?”

“I kept trying! I couldn’t get rid of Ron!” Harry cried, remembering the frustration of trying to get Ginny alone for more than five minutes. “Believe it or not, I know you’re perfectly capable of walking yourself to class!”

“Well, that may be true,” Ginny agreed, her brown eyes shining with amusement. “But please feel free to continue inconveniencing yourself by walking me there in the future.”

Harry didn't see how it could be considered an inconvenience at all. It was everything he'd been wanting for months, handed to him on a plate. "Shall I still bring Ron along or not?"

Ginny shrugged. "Depends on how much you want to kiss me."

"No Ron, then," Harry said seriously.

“My thoughts exactly.” Ginny was already leaning in to kiss him again.

As was becoming regular the rest of the world fell away and the only thing left was Ginny; her lips on his, her hands; small and warm and perfect in his own, the sweet floral scent of her hair drifting to him on the summer breeze. She was overwhelming, there was simply no room for anything else.

Harry had assumed mere moments had passed when they broke apart again but the sun was sinking lower in the sky and the temperature had fallen to a point that the breeze no longer seemed gentle.

“You’re making it very difficult for me to convince myself that we need to go inside,” Ginny said quietly. Her face was so close to Harry’s that he could see her freckles in stunning detail, they were even more captivating up close.

“Maybe we should just stay out here then,” Harry suggested. He had absolutely no desire to leave this spot ever again.

“It’s very tempting,” Ginny said. “But I’m a Weasley who hasn’t eaten since breakfast.”

Harry suddenly remembered that he hadn’t eaten either. He had definitely felt hungry in Snape’s office, but all thoughts of food had been completely dispelled from his brain by Ginny’s kisses. Now he thought about it, he realised his dizziness might not be entirely Ginny’s doing.

“We should probably do something about that,” Harry said, pulling Ginny with him as he rose from the ground.
***

The Fat Lady began to squeal with excitement as Harry and Ginny approached. “Well if it isn’t the talk of the common room!”

Quid Agis,” Ginny said, ignoring the Fat Lady’s comments entirely. With a look of disappointment from its subject, the portrait hole swung open.

The victory party was still in full swing. Someone had started playing loud music since Harry and Ginny had left and some of the older students were dancing rather erratically in the middle of the room. There were more wolf whistles as Harry climbed into the common room behind Ginny but they both ignored them.

Ginny’s hand found Harry’s once more once they were both firmly inside the common room. Ginny began to lead him towards the empty sofa across from Ron and Hermione. Harry’s stomach clenched nervously as he approached Ron, his earlier nod of approval suddenly seemed extremely vague.

“Hello,” Harry said cautiously as he took the seat across from his two best friends. He’d expected Ginny to sit beside him like always but she lifted his arm and slid underneath it, leaning against him.

Ron’s eyebrows shot up and Harry’s trepidation rose. For a moment he felt the urge to push Ginny away but he dismissed it immediately. He’d agreed that Ron wasn’t going to dictate their relationship and this was the first test. Besides, when it came to resisting Ginny he suspected all of his willpower had already been spent.

Ron waved his finger between the two of them. “This is definitely happening then?”

“Yes,” Ginny said firmly before Harry had a chance to say anything.

Ron nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, in that case, I approve.”

Ginny’s hand left Harry’s; her arms folded across her chest. Harry didn’t envy Ron the glare she was giving him. “I’ve told Harry and now I’m telling you. You don’t factor into our relationship. Any opinions you have you can keep to yourself.”

“Be nice,” Harry said pleadingly.

Ginny’s expression softened slightly. “Fine,” She muttered. “I’m going to get some food, I’ll bring you some.”

“I’ll come too,” Hermione said quickly, giving Ron a reproachful look before standing to follow Ginny in the direction of the food table someone had set up at the other side of the common room and leaving Harry and Ron alone.

An awkward silence the likes of which Harry had never experienced with Ron descended upon them.

“So,” Harry said just to break it.

“It’s fine,” Ron said at the same time. “It was a bit of a shock but Hermione pointed out how obvious it was and now I can’t believe I didn’t notice.”

Harry felt the heat of a blush spread across his face when Ron pointed out just how unsubtle he’d been.

“So we’re alright?” He clarified. He didn’t think he could have been any happier today but Ron being really and truly okay with the idea of him and Ginny being together made Harry’s spirits soar even further.

“Yeah, I suppose if she has to go out with someone I’d rather it was you.”

“Don’t say that in front of Ginny. She’ll dump me on principle,” Harry said, only half-joking.

Ron snorted derisively. “Are you forgetting that she’s had a crush on you since she was ten? Imagine the fun Fred and George are going to have with this.”

Ron was practically quivering with excitement at the thought of his brother’s teasing of Ginny. Harry suspected he had a fair bit of teasing coming his way in the future too.

Ginny and Hermione reappeared with plates full of food. Ginny retook the seat beside Harry, already chewing on half a cornish pasty. Ron didn’t even wait for Hermione to sit down before stealing a sausage roll off her plate.

“Is everything okay?” Ginny asked once she’d swallowed her food. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously in Ron’s direction.

“Yes,” Harry assured her, reaching over and taking the other half of the pasty.

“I was just reminding Harry of when you couldn’t even look at him without turning bright red,” Ron said cheerfully.

“Ron!” Hermione slapped him lightly on the arm.

“Yes, that was before I knew any good hexes,” Ginny growled, the warning was implicit in her tone.

“You wouldn’t dare hex me,” Ron said without any trace of concern. “Mum would kill you.”

Ginny turned in her seat to look around the common room. “Would you look at that, Mum’s not here!”

“How was Snape’s detention, Harry?” Hermione asked loudly, clearly wanting to change the subject. Harry had no desire to speak about anything as depressing as detention when he was in such a good mood but he seized the change of subject anyway.

“Really boring. He had me writing out old detention records from the 70s. Absolutely pointless use of a morning.” He would tell them about his dad, Sirius and Lupin’s antics later; right now he was blissfully pretending Snape’s detentions didn’t exist.

“Miserable git,” Ron muttered.

“Enough Snape talk!” Harry declared. “I want to hear what happened at the match.”

Ron’s face crumpled in confusion. “Hasn’t Ginny told you?”

Harry realised he’d made a grave error. He’d had no intention of telling Ron he’d spent the better part of the afternoon snogging his little sister.

“No, we’ve had more important things to discuss,” Ginny said.

She didn’t give Ron a chance to respond before launching into a detailed play by play of the match. Once Ron had overcome his obvious disgust he began to chime in, adding what he believed to be important details that Ginny had missed.

An indignant red flush crept up Ginny’s neck and onto her face as she explained Ainsworth’s foul of Demelza and her ensuing argument with him and Cho. Harry was just grateful that he could finally stare at her unashamedly, watching her eyes spark with passion without worrying that everyone was questioning his motives.

“Is Demelza alright?” He asked, quickly scanning the room for any sign of her dark features. He found her sitting in a huddle of her fellow fourth years, laughing loudly at something one of her friends muttered to her.

“Alright? She got up and scored the penalty herself even though she was winded. It was fantastic!” Ginny assured him before continuing with her stream of commentary.

Hermione’s eyes slowly glazed over as Ginny and Ron continued to dissect the finer points of the match for Harry’s benefit. Harry was doing his best to listen intently but he was hyper-aware of Ginny’s hand in his and the fact that she’d steadily become more daring as Ron had become engrossed in their play by play and her legs had slowly made their way across his knees so that she was all but sitting in his lap and really how was he supposed to concentrate on anything with Ginny this close to him?

“I’m going to bed,” Hermione announced when Ginny finally paused to take a sip of her butterbeer.

Harry began to say a quick ‘goodnight’ when she very unexpectedly launched herself across the table and enveloped Harry in a hug. He froze for a moment in surprise before lifting his free hand, the one not clasped in Ginny’s, and awkwardly patted her back. His eyes met Ron’s over Hermione’s shoulder but Ron looked just as bewildered as Harry.

“I’m just so glad you finally did it!” She cried, rather loudly in Harry’s opinion, as she released him. “You’ve been driving me mad!”
Harry had no idea what he was supposed to say to such a pronouncement, but he was saved from answering as both Ginny and Ron burst into loud laughter which he felt safe joining in with. Once their laughter died down, Hermione faced Ginny directly.

“I’m not going straight to sleep. I’m going to read,” Hermione said, giving Ginny a meaningful look.

“Okay.” Ginny nodded in understanding.

With a final chorus of ‘good night’, Hermione disappeared through the door to the girls' dormitories.

“Right well, I know when I’m third-wheeling,” Ron said, also rising from his seat.

“You’re not third-wheeling,” Harry said quickly, not wanting Ron to feel dismissed.

“You are,” Ginny contradicted him.

“Rude,” Ron said, rolling his eyes at Ginny. She smiled sweetly at him in return. “Night, love birds.” He waved over his shoulder as he made his way to the boys' dormitories.

Ron had been gone all of ten seconds before Ginny let out a huge yawn.

“You’re tired,” Harry said.

“I’m fine.” She waved dismissively. “I’ve had a busy day; won the Quidditch cup, got the boy. It’s all very tiring.”

She flipped her position so she was leaning against Harry rather than the arm of the sofa, snuggling into his side until she was comfortable. Harry’s heart might have stopped beating. He would quite happily sit here all night with Ginny’s head resting against his chest, her flowery scent drifting from her hair and entirely intoxicating him. He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, just to make sure it was actually real. Her eyes drifted closed and she smiled serenely.

“Just need a quick nap,” She murmured.

“It’s almost midnight,” Harry told her.

“A long nap then.”

“You need to go to bed.” She wasn’t going to get a good sleep in the common room.

Ginny sighed heavily. “If I go up there everyone’s going to interrogate me. It’s going to be ages before they let me go to sleep.”

“Might as well go and get it over with then,” Harry reasoned. A persistent voice in his brain practically screamed at him to shut up and let Ginny stay where she was but he knew she must be exhausted and she really did need to go to bed.

“Easy for you to say.”

Harry laughed humorlessly. “You realise I have to share a room with your brother and your ex-boyfriend?”

Ginny’s eyes snapped open. “I hadn’t thought about Dean.”

Harry couldn’t pretend to be sorry to hear Dean hadn’t crossed her mind. “He smashed his glass when we kissed.”
Ginny winced slightly. “I’m not surprised; he was always adamant that I liked you. I guess sometimes being proved right isn’t pleasant.”

This was news to Harry who had never asked Ginny for details of why she and Dean had broken up, or indeed for any details of their relationship at all.

“Come on.” Harry gently extracted himself from under Ginny’s weight and pulled her from the sofa. “Looks like we both have unpleasant situations to deal with.”

Ginny bit her lip guiltily. “I think yours is going to be worse than mine.”

“I’ve faced much worse,” Harry assured her.

“Me too,” Ginny said quietly. Harry knew it was true; he also knew that if he didn’t want a perfect night to end on such a sombre note he needed to change the subject.

“Can I ask you to meet me for breakfast now without having to pretend it’s purely out of concern for your quidditch performance?”

Ginny beamed unashamedly. “As my boyfriend, that's actually your job now.”

Ginny’s boyfriend. It was the first title that had been bestowed upon him that he actually wanted, that he was very much looking forward to living up to.

Harry took her hand and led her towards the doors to the dormitories. “I’ll meet you here in the morning.”

Ginny nodded enthusiastically and reached up on her tiptoes towards him. Her good night kiss was long and slow. Harry still didn’t care that they were in the middle of the common room, which had admittedly cleared significantly since their first kiss this afternoon.

They finally broke apart when Ginny yawned mid-kiss. Harry chuckled as she looked reluctantly at the door that marked the entrance to the girls' dormitories.

“Good night, Ginny.”

She quickly brushed her lips against his one last time. “Night, Harry.” She whispered against his lips.

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