Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does (she's so lucky... *sigh*)
A/N: Sorry about how long it takes me to post chapters... but with school it's hard to write and take the time to format it and everything... I'm working on chapter 4, so i'll post it as soon as I can!
Ron and Hermione were lying on Hermione’s bed making out. They were really going at it; they flew apart right as I averted my eyes.
“Oh my God!” I shouted, starting to run out of the room.
“Wait, Ginny, I can explain!” Hermione yelled. I stopped and turned back to face her.
“What is there to explain?” I asked her. “You’re in our room snogging my brother. What about it?”
“Well, if you’d just knocked…” she trailed off, obviously annoyed.
“It’s my room, too!” I replied loudly, glaring at her. It was all I could do not to really scream at her. “I have every right to come in here. Why should I knock?”
“Because I may be busy,” she said as if she was talking to a very young child. I rolled my eyes and slammed the door, leaving them to pick up where they left off. I shuddered at the idea, scarred for life by what I had just seen. Having no idea where to go next, I walked over and sat on the stairs. I was utterly miserable.
It was silent for a long time while I sat and thought about what was going on in my life. After a few minutes I concluded, My brother is going out with my best friend who is quite angry at me and has kicked me out of my room, my brother’s best friend, who just happens to be Harry Potter, is acting very strange, and I don’t have anyone my age to hang out with. Well, there’s Harry, but I feel so odd around him...
By the time I was out of my haze I realized there was someone coming up the stairs. I listened to them, realizing that the steps sounded uneven, like one foot was different than the other. It must be Moody, I realized.
Sure enough, Moody’s head popped into view (or what was left of it, anyway). “What are you up to?” he asked, looking at me suspiciously. It was hard for me to look at him with his eye spinning so madly. I had a feeling he knew, but didn’t want me to know that he knew. He could see through walls, for God’s sake!
“Well, I just…” I trailed off, not wanting to tell him what was wrong. I didn’t really trust him. Not after what had happened with him as my teacher in my third year. Or who I thought was him, anyway.
“Walked in on Ron and Hermione?” he inquired. “I’m surprised you didn’t earlier. They’ve been doing that for weeks””
I felt nauseous, and seeing his eye spinning around did not make me feel any better. Moody went on about how Ron and Hermione had been kissing practically since we got here and even started supplying me with more detail.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I told him. “Please, no more!” He shrugged and continued mumbling about the pair. I fled down the hall to Tonks’s room.
I knocked on the door, and she opened it, stepping aside to let me in. “So you finally walked in on them,” she stated very matter-of-factly. Her tone drove me crazy and made me slightly angry.
“It was bound to happen sometime, Ginny,” she told me, putting her arm around my shoulders comfortingly.
I said nothing and surveyed her room. She had a large bed with a big, dark red canopy pulled back at the sides. A big, fluffy chair of the same color sat in the corner. She walked over and sat on the bed, pointing to the chair and saying, “Sit.” I obeyed, walking slowly over to the chair and flopping onto it with a sigh.
She sat there on the bed, staring at me in silence. I think she expected me to talk, but when I didn’t, she warned me, “You should talk to Hermione before this whole thing blows completely out of proportion.”
“It already has,” I informed her, “but you’re probably right. I’ll talk to her tonight.”
She eyed me. “You should talk to Harry, too.”
I started to blush when she said that, but I had no idea why. It’s just Harry, for God’s sake! I thought.
“He likes you,” she said. I rolled my eyes.
“That’s crazy. Harry never liked me, even when I liked him…” I trailed off.
“People change, Ginny,” she argued. “Maybe he’s liked you all this time and has never really admitted it to himself. Or maybe he only started to fancy you this summer.”
“But that doesn’t matter because I don’t like him anymore,” I protested. “I haven’t for years!”
Tonks looked at me dubiously, but didn’t have the opportunity to because someone knocked on the door, then opened it without waiting for a response. Harry’s head popped into view.
“Tonks”” he stopped when he saw me. “Oh, hi, Ginny, I was wondering where you were.” He gave me that strange look again and my face started to grow hot.
“What’s up?” Tonks prompted. She turned to look at me almost as if to say, “I told you so!”
“It’s time for dinner. Mrs. Weasley is getting worried that something happened to the two of you,” he finished.
“Oh, okay, I’ll be right down. Ginny, why don’t you go on?” she suggested, giving me a triumphant smile. I glared at her but left the room.
“So, um,” Harry started, “are you going to play Quidditch?” He was bright red and obviously feeling very awkward.
“Oh, uh, yeah. With you back as seeker I think I’ll probably try to be a chaser. I’m not very good, or anything, though,” I said. I felt so uneasy around him!
“I’m sure you’re fine, Ginny,” he reassured me.
I sighed heavily. Things weren’t going as I had planned them. I was expecting to have Hermione hanging out with me, not snogging my brother, now that Harry was here.
“What’s wrong? You seem…” he trailed off, searching for the right word. “Angry. Sad. I dunno. Just not normal, I guess.”
“I”” I wasn’t sure if I should tell him or not. Why is this happening to me so much? I never used to have to wonder if it was okay to tell someone something or not. I just knew, I thought.
“Tell me,” he prompted. I looked at him carefully. His face was pale and unsmiling. He seemed dead. It was amazing how much Sirius’s death had affected him. They hadn’t been so chummy when they first met (or so I’d heard). Harry apparently yelled at him for betraying his parents, and Sirius apologized and he’d as good as killed them. How had it happened that in less than two years they had become so close?
“I walked in on Hermione and Ron snogging,” I blurted. Why did I even care if I told or not? Hermione wasn’t speaking to me.
You’re not speaking to her, either, part of me said, but I tried my best to ignore that part. I preferred the other part, which said that she’d started it.
Harry looked stunned. Much more stunned than I ever was, even when they first started acting strangely and “talking” all the time. “I knew something was up,” he said incredulously, “but I didn’t know it was like this!”
I grimaced. “Hermione hasn’t really said anything to me since school ended. She told me she and Ron were talking, so she never had the chance to speak to me. She and Ron have such deep conversations, you know,” I joked, grinning for the first time in what felt like forever.
A small smile tugged at his lips, and he snorted. I felt a small surge of triumph. Making someone laugh who was as sad as him felt like a big accomplishment. Why? I pondered.
“That’s true,” he replied. “Were they, you know…” he trailed off, but I knew what he meant.
“Yeah,” I said. “They were really… enthusiastic. It was kind of sickening.”
He looked at me, smirking slightly. “Was it really that bad?” he asked. “You act as if you were just told you were going to be tortured to death tomorrow.”
I shuddered. “You had to be there, I suppose. Plus, Ron isn’t your brother.” He looked thoughtful at this and nodded slowly.
“True.” We were saved from any further conversation when we entered the kitchen. We got our food (pasta) and sat down. I just started to eat, too hungry to wait for anyone else. Harry just stared into his food. He didn’t seem like he was going to eat it. Tonks arrived a few minutes later and managed to almost drop a plate on the ground, the food sliding off. Mum sighed and shook her head, cleaning it up with a swipe of her wand. She handed Tonks another plate, which Tonks accepted and held very carefully with both hands, making sure not to spill any spaghetti.
She sat down on my left and whispered in my ear, “Do you feel any better?” I thought for a minute. Come to think of it, I did feel better. A lot better. And I wasn’t especially mad at Hermione any more. I was ready to make up.
Best to make up with her tonight, I thought. I don’t want to interrupt her and Ron again… I shuddered as I thought of it, causing both Tonks and Harry to look at me quizzically.
“What’s wrong?” Harry asked, looking at me worriedly. He seemed almost protective, as if he wanted to know who (or what) was doing making me uncomfortable and make them stop. I had to stop myself from goggling. I didn’t know why he was looking at me like this.
Tonks gave me a very understand and all-knowing look, and I could tell that she knew what was going on. “I would suggest you stop thinking about it, Ginny. You’ll never get anywhere being so bitter,” she advised. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Harry still looked puzzled.
Tonks and I looked at each other. “Never mind, Harry,” we chorused. He scowled at us and returned to picking at his food and moving it around his plate. The two lovebirds came into the room just then. Hermione’s hair was more messy than normal, and her face was flushed. She was breathing heavily. Harry glanced up from his plate, and a look of understanding passed over his face.
“Hey what were you guys doing?” he asked casually. Way too casually. Ron didn’t look miffed, but Hermione glared at me, mouthing, “You told.”
The look kind of scared me, but I knew I had to hold my own. I couldn’t cringe and back down now; Hermione would only get worse. You have to stop letting her walk all over you, Gin! I told myself. No stopping now. You’ve come too far.
“So?” I asked her aloud. “If you’re willing to””
“Shut up Ginny!” she yelled. Everyone looked up, startled. Her eyes were full of fire; for a minute I thought she was going to slap me.
C’mon, ‘Mione, I challenged her silently, fixing her with a hard stare. You know you want to. She refused the challenge, gave me one final scowl, and went to get her food.
“How do you expect to make up with her now?” Tonks asked.
“Tonks, you don’t get it. Hermione always does this to me. Maybe it’s never this bad, but she still does it. I mean, she does it to everyone. And she always wins. I didn’t have a choice. I’ll still talk to her tonight after the edge has worn off, but this is probably one of the only ways I’ll ever get Hermione to treat me as anything but inferior,” I explained fiercely. “What was I supposed to do?”
Tonks looked at me quizzically. “I just hope aren’t in too deep. I know how close you two you are.”
“She’ll snap out of it.” Harry spoke for the first time since he found out what we had been talking about. His voice was so neutral I wondered whose side he was on. I mean, he would side with me, right? They were his friends, too, and it was very likely he would ignore them, too. “She always does.”
We ate in complete silence. Harry didn’t eat very much, and he left the table first. He only managed to consume about half of his plateful. I was really worried about him.
Since I had come down earlier than Hermione and Ron I decided to claim my territory. I hurried up to our room and sprawled out on my bed, reading Hogwarts, A History. Once again, that didn’t work. I hoped we received our letters soon. I wanted to know if I was a prefect.
Hermione and Ron came in a few minutes later. Right before she entered, I heard her say, “I really have to talk to Ginny. You go talk to Harry. I’m worried about him.” And with that, she knocked and came in without waiting for a response.
“Ginny, we need to talk,” She said. “I’m really sorry about how I’ve been acting. I just realized how much it might be bothering you.”
I smiled. “You know, Hermione, I was going to talk to you, but I decided it might be better to wait until tonight.”
“No,” she demanded firmly, “we have to talk now. I just… I really like Ron.”
“I know, Hermione. You and Ron have liked each other for ages,” I replied. “I noticed it, even when you didn’t. And the whole thing about telling Tonks and Harry… well, Tonks guessed. And Harry needs someone to talk to. He asked me what was going on, and at first I didn’t tell him, but then”it just slipped out. He really needs you two right now.”
“He needs you, too, Ginny,” Hermione told me. “He really likes you. Can’t you tell?”
“But what about Dean?” I asked.
“Dump him. You like Harry, too, and he needs you more,” Hermione advised.
I sighed. “I do not like Harry. How could you even think that? But the thing about Dean is I don’t really think I like him, either. At least not like that. It’s too bad, breaking things off before I really gave him a chance,” I admitted. “He’s a really great guy, but I don’t think he’s my type. And we never even really went out.”
“What was it you just said? ‘And I noticed it, even when you two didn’t’? I think that applies here,” she said, grinning mischievously. I glared at her, but my glare was dampened by my wide grin. Things were back to normal with Hermione.
A/N: Okay, you've read it (I bet a lot of you predicted what was going to happen; as to those of you who suggested I do that, I've had it planned that way basically since I started writing the story), now REVIEW!!! I'm not posting until I get at least ten. Closer to fifteen or twenty would be better, but if I haven't gotten ten reviews by the end of next week I'll submit the next chapter on Sunday. (Ainsley and LeeAnn, it only counts the first time you reveiw it. and only if you review it in ENGLISH)