Harry found a strange satisfaction in teaching DA lessons - all the joy that Umbridge had taken away from Defence Against the Dark Arts was back, thanks to Hermione’s suggestion. These days, he found himself waiting to get through with lessons only to focus on what he would teach in the next DA meeting.

It was a small added benefit that he had reason to loiter around Cho, who seemed worse at performing some of the spells than other students. She would often fumble with the incantations, giving Harry the perfect excuse to pull her aside and help her figure out each spell. During those stolen moments, while Harry appreciated looking at Cho’s flushing cheeks, he found that neither of them ever said much to each other.

During one of the DA meetings, when Harry decided to divide people into pairs to duel each other, he found himself looking at Cho nervously as she faced off against the youngest Weasley.

Harry turned to Ginny cautiously.

Since that unfortunate incident at the Yule Ball, Ginny had hardly spoken more than six words to him at a time.

Harry, Mum asked for your laundry.

Harry, can you pass the potatoes?

So Harry’s dad was a Chaser?

I want to play as a Chaser too.

Those consisted of the major interactions he’d had with Ginny Weasley in the last year. And the last two were meant more for Sirius than Harry anyway.

But they were forced to spend time together since Ginny and Hermione shared a friendship that neither he nor Ron could understand. And with the Weasleys basically having spent all summer at Grimmauld Place, Harry had no choice but to share space with Ginny. But she acted aloof, barely glancing towards him anymore, which left Harry wondering whether he preferred the younger Ginny, who didn’t speak to him either but for much less hostile reasons.

He couldn’t fault her, of course.

He still couldn’t think about the Yule Ball without thinking about the cruelty with which he had dismissed her.

I would never date Ginny Weasley.

He could hear himself saying those words whenever he found himself in her presence, which happened often enough that Harry had gotten used to the uncomfortable ache in his stomach any time she was close.

Despite the guilt that still gripped him, Harry had never apologised. He wanted to, desperately. But it seemed worse to bring up the incident than to let it lie and take Ginny’s cold silence instead. He felt awful about it, but he was too much of a coward to acknowledge what he had done.

So while he could barely call himself Ginny’s friend, he knew that she was an exceptionally powerful witch. She could pull off defensive spells within a couple of tries, and usually, those spells could knock off people twice her size. She was mouthy too, as much as he knew of her. She was capable of scaring her six older brothers and keeping them in line, even the twins, who ignored all other forms of authority but somehow had what seemed like an irrational fear of Ginny’s Bat Bogey Hex.

Harry realised that he was cringing a little, anticipating that Cho wouldn’t come out of this duel unscathed. Hermione nudged him in his ribs, breaking him out of his thoughts, and he finally said, “Let’s begin.�

The girls bowed towards each other, and before Harry knew it, he heard Ginny cry, “Flipendo!�

He turned his head just in time to see Cho knocked back with force, ending up in a heap on the floor. She looked a bit embarrassed, but quickly brushed it off and stood up, releasing a Disarming Charm towards Ginny, who managed to duck and avoid the incoming spell. Ginny was quick on her feet, Harry noted impressively and sent back a Jelly-Legs Jinx, which caught Cho yet again. Harry heard a few laughs from across the room and held back his own laugh, feeling a bit bad for Cho, who was definitely not performing anywhere even close to her opponent.

Finally, Ginny was hit by at least one of Cho’s spells, which was a Stunning Spell, but a weak one, and therefore, had done very little damage except for throwing Ginny back a bit. When she straightened up, she looked just a tiny bit annoyed. Harry grimaced a bit in anticipation, knowing that the duel was almost up, when Ginny cried, “Incarcerous.�

Cho now had ropes binding and gagging her as she struggled pitifully. Ginny had a triumphant smirk on her face, and Harry shot sparks out of his wand to end the duel. Marietta ran towards Cho to free her, while Harry thought it was best to confront Ginny.

“Great work, Ginny,� he said, pulling her away a bit from her group of friends who were congratulating her. “But I haven’t taught that last spell in any of the DA meetings. Where did you learn that one?�

She cocked an eyebrow at him.

“I looked it up,� she answered, crossing her arms across her chest. “Plus, Dad’s told me about it. I always wanted to try it.�

“That was your first time casting that spell?�

Harry couldn’t help but be impressed.

“I might have cast it against Goyle once before.�

Harry held back a smile and said, “It’s good that you know it, but I don’t want you using spells that I haven’t taught the rest of the DA.�

“Why? Isn’t the point to make ourselves better at defence? Who says we have to stick to a Potter-approved curriculum?�

There was a challenge in her voice and Harry found himself feeling annoyed.

“Well, I’m the one teaching everyone the spells, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t try and introduce new spells without consulting with me first.�

“Well, if you’re going to be a tyrant about it.�

Before Harry could say much more, Ginny walked away coolly and went to stand beside Michael Corner, who Harry had just recently found out was her boyfriend.

She really is over me then, Harry thought. He didn’t know why, but he felt a surge of annoyance when Michael pushed Ginny’s hair back behind her ear and she gave him a brilliant smile. She used to smile at me like that, Harry thought. He wanted to support her moving on and dating, but he had to agree with Ron - she could find someone better to be with.

The lesson continued for another four or five duels but Harry was still thinking about the duel between Ginny and Cho. He wanted to speak to Cho after the meeting, but she quickly excused herself and disappeared with Marietta, perhaps to avoid Harry after her banal performance. He felt another surge of anger towards Ginny, who stood surrounded by Michael, a couple of her friends, and even the twins, who were appreciating her spellwork. She was laughing, her brown eyes sparkling. Harry knew he was being irrational - Ginny had only done what she was meant to, which was to duel someone and beat them - but he wanted to call her out for not going a bit easy on Cho.

“Let’s go, mate,� Ron said and clapped him on the shoulder, Hermione following close behind him. “Ginny really took it out of Cho today, didn’t she?� Ron sounded proud, and really, why shouldn’t he? Harry was also beyond impressed at how powerful and resourceful Ginny Weasley was.

“Do you think Cho is okay?� Hermione asked. Ron laughed and responded, “Who cares?� When Hermione nudged him towards Harry, Ron cleared his throat and said, “I mean, of course she must be fine. It’s not like those spells did any lasting damage.�

Harry took one last look towards Ginny, who caught his eyes for a second. Her smile immediately disappeared off her face when she looked at him, a guarded expression replacing it.

Harry knew he had no right to get bothered by whatever Ginny Weasley did, but boy was she starting to get on his nerves.

HGHGHGHG

The next time he was annoyed at Ginny Weasley, he was kissing Cho. They had just leaned towards each other, and Harry was nervously trying to enjoy the first kiss, the first kiss, of his life when he heard what sounded like a surprised gasp.

He was half thankful (he didn’t think that kisses were supposed to feel so…wet) that he had to pull back from Cho and half annoyed that someone had just witnessed what felt like the most private moment he had ever experienced in his life so far. And his irritation doubled when he turned to see the face of Ginny, who was very obviously trying not to laugh.

“I’m really sorry,� Ginny said, holding her palms up in apology. “I just left my book bag here somewhere, and I have an Arithmancy essay to finish.� She crossed the room at a quick pace and looked around. Harry wanted to ask her to leave, but instead, he felt Cho pull away entirely, standing much farther away from him, looking sheepishly at her feet. Ginny found her bag and was exiting the room again, but not before she said, “Sorry. Please continue.�

Harry felt that, at that instant, he would have loved to murder Ginny Weasley, if she wasn’t his best friend’s sister. His insides were bubbling up with indignation; why was she so happy anyway? A year ago, seeing him kiss someone else would have probably wiped that smug smile off her face in an instant. And now, here she was, snickering at his first kiss.

But just as he felt anger about having been embarrassed by Ginny, the recollection of the Yule Ball came up to the forefront of his mind. Hadn’t what he done far worse? She had looked embarrassed as well, except she had had a much larger audience. And was getting caught kissing really worse than a group of boys making fun of your clothes and then one of them proclaiming for the whole group to hear that he would never date you?

No, he had no right to feel angry or irritated at Ginny.

Not today, not ever. Not until he gathered up the courage to apologise anyway.

Neither he nor Cho shared another word, and Harry thought it was better to head back to the Common Room.

HGHGHGHG

Siriu s was pacing the floor in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, while Harry and Hermione were waiting for the Weasleys to join them for breakfast. Usually, Mrs Weasley was the first one in the kitchen, preparing the breakfast. But this morning, she was visiting Mr Weasley for an early breakfast at St. Mungo’s. The Weasley kids, on the other hand, were habitually late.

Ron was the first one to make it through the kitchen door, followed by the twins, and at last, Harry saw Ginny step through the kitchen door, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her hair was still dishevelled and Harry noted that she was wearing a Christmas jumper, perhaps last year’s, on top of her night clothes. She briefly smiled at everyone, even at Harry, as she took her seat next to Hermione - both of them began whispering to each other almost instantly.

Harry and Ginny had fallen back into an uncomfortable silence since he had been a bit of an arsehole to her, yet again. He couldn’t believe that he had forgotten about Ginny being possessed by Voldemort in her first year. Lucky you, that’s what she’d said to him. There was something about this girl that Harry kept getting everything wrong around her. Harry didn’t even remember thinking too much about Ginny before that night at the Yule Ball, but since that blasted incident, he could never take her completely out of his mind. Maybe it was because there was that unresolved, unmentionable episode that existed between them. Maybe Harry should pluck up the courage to apologise, finally. Maybe he should also throw in an apology for forgetting that he wasn’t the only person whose mind had been messed with by Voldemort. Maybe he should stop offending her around Christmas time, once and for all.

“So, what are you all planning to do today?� Sirius cut through the air, his Christmas spirit still very much intact. It was driving Harry up a wall to see his godfather trying to play the fairy godmother to the entire Weasley clan. For a few days now, Sirius had been pulling Ginny to help him decorate or bake Christmas treats, spending time with the twins in their room helping with their experiments for the joke shop, or playing wizards’ chess with Ron but losing spectacularly and loudly every time. Since Hermione had just joined them a day ago, she was yet to be pulled into Sirius’s Christmas cheer. And Harry had kept away until now.

Despite his fumble with Ginny, she and Hermione had lifted a load off his shoulders. He was not possessed, at least according to Ginny. And who here knew any better than her? Certainly not him.

“Oh, we have some homework to take care of,� Fred immediately responded, winking at Sirius, their small altercation with him over Mr Weasley’s condition already forgotten.

“Yeah, I would love to take a look at it when you’re through,� Sirius laughed and offered. “Maybe I can help? After all, I did help create the Marauder’s Map.�

“Yeah, and I can’t believe that Harry didn’t tell us that before we put two and two together,� George spoke and threw Harry a dirty look. Fred and George had realised that Sirius was one of the Marauders when they had overheard Remus call Sirius ‘Padfoot’ one morning. The knowledge had much improved the relationship between the twins and Sirius.

“Ginny, should you and I try and find a few more Christmas ornaments then?� Sirius offered. “Maybe Hermione can help - I think the house still has some spots that feel like the gloomy and morbid ancient House of Black.�

The girls nodded, looking happy enough to help, leaving Harry and Ron to make their way back into their shared bedroom, where they played Exploding Snap. While playing the game, Harry could hear Ginny, Sirius, and Hermione laughing from across the corridor. Harry’s thoughts wandered to Christmas and he came up with something that might finally help fix the rocky relationship he shared with the youngest Weasley.

Equipped with an idea, Harry quickly finished his game against Ron to put his simple but perhaps effective plan into motion.