A/N: Here it is! The last chapter of this fic! In away, I've been waiting for this and dreading it at the same time. I just hope its well-received... Thanks again to Tal and Ainsley (although they didn't do much editing this time, because I was too eager to get it on)!!
We ate an early dinner once we got back to Grimmauld Place since we didn’t have any lunch and chatted about what had happened at Diagon Alley.
“What did you think of Fred and George’s joke shop?” Tonks asked, joining the conversation. Mum had interrogated her thoroughly to make sure there were no Death Eater encounters. It would’ve been funny, if it hadn’t involved questions about death eaters and Voldemort.
“It was great!” Ron replied eagerly.
“I still think it will be a problem at school,” Hermione said disapprovingly. “You didn’t buy anything, did you Ron?”
“No. You stopped me, remember?” he responded, looking at her in a slightly annoyed way. I winced. The last thing I wanted was those two fighting. It could ruin my friendship with Hermione and Ron. And knowing them, they might make me do some strange picking thing where I had to decide between Hermione or Ron. They were normally pretty fair and very nice to me, but I imagined that they could do some strange things if they broke up. And that was just about the last thing I wanted to do right now. I still had a lot of mixed feelings about what had been going on lately, like with the Department of Mysteries. And with Harry. I didn’t think I had ever been more confused in my life. He seemed like he liked me, but I was over him. Wasn’t I? I thought I had gotten over that years ago. Like when I was a third year. Right?
Well then why did I flinch at his touch? Why did I feel so strange when he hugged me back on his first day? I was apparently so wrapped up in these thoughts that I had no idea when Tonks started to talk to me.
I stopped thinking when Tonks shook my shoulder. “Ginny? Are you okay? You haven’t touched your food, or even moved, in fifteen minutes. And Hermione, Ron, and Harry have all finished. Ron and Hermione said they were going up to your room, though, so I would suggest you be careful.”
“Oh. Okay,” I replied. I was slightly disoriented from having thought so much. It took me a few minutes to comprehend
what Tonks was saying.
She looked at me concernedly. “Are you all right? You seem a bit… dazed.”
I shrugged. “Yeah. I was just thinking.”
“About what?” she asked.
“Tell me, did Ron and Hermione seem a little bit angry at each other about the whole Joke Shop thing to you?”
She shrugged. “Hermione was a little bit annoyed that he would do something like that. But not angry. I mean, really. Haven’t you ever been annoyed at someone before? Because it’s really not all that different.”
“Okay, good,” I replied. “Because I don’t want them to get angry and then break up and make me choose between the two of them.”
“Ginny, they would never do that!” Tonks exclaimed. “I don’t think its going to be a problem. From the sound of it, they were going off to your room to snog.”
I sighed. “Great. Now I can’t even get into my room.”
Tonks shrugged, eyes twinkling. “You could always go to Harry in his room. I’m sure he wouldn't mind talking to you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Maybe I should.”
“Good idea.”
“And it wouldn’t be to ask him out or anything like that, either. I’ll bet you a hundred Galleons nothing’s going to happen.” Sadly, I didn’t even have a hundred Galleons. Too bad.
“That’s all right, Ginny. Keep your money.”
“Fine. I will,” I told her, standing up. “I’m going upstairs.”
“Okay,” Tonks said. “Have fun.”
“I looked over my shoulder and glared at her, then continued out of the room. I made my way up the steps and knocked on the door of Harry and Ron’s room.
“Come in,” I heard Harry say.
I opened the door and came in hesitantly. “Hey, Harry,” I said. “I heard that Hermione and Ron were going to be in my room, so I decided to stay away.”
Harry smiled slightly. “Good idea.”
“I thought so,” I said, nodding and going to sit down next to him.
We talked for a little longer, and the butterflies that I got when I was alone with Harry started to come.
And what Ron had said started to play over and over in my head. Why couldn’t you go out with Harry? Why couldn’t you go out with Harry? God, it was driving me mad!
I had to do something about it. If I didn’t I would go crazy.
I turned to Harry, who was telling me about something. He looked at me concernedly.
“Are you all right, Ginny? You seem a bit…I don’t know, unsettled.”
I nodded.
And the next thing I knew, I was kissing Harry.
And he was kissing me back.
As soon as I realized this, I pulled away from him. “I’m so sorry Harry, I have no idea what I’m doing. I really have to go,” I told him, running out of the room.
I scrambled frantically down the hall to Tonks’s room and knocked frantically on the door. Tonks opened it and looked at me. “You kissed him,” she said bluntly.
I nodded reluctantly. “Why was I so stupid?”
“You weren’t stupid,” she replied. “There was nothing stupid about it. You liked him.”
“What’s your point?” I asked angrily, walking into the room and closing the door behind me. “We were having a conversation and I started going crazy and kissed him. I was temporarily insane. What am I supposed to tell Harry?”
She looked at me quizzically. “Tell him? Did he kiss you back?” I nodded again. “Well, then, you should tell him that you’d gladly go out with him.”
“But he probably was only kissing me back to be nice””
Tonks snorted. “You don’t kiss someone back to be nice, Gin. You only kiss them back if you like them. So go back and talk to him.”
I sighed and started heading out the door. “Fine.”
“Wait, Ginny,” Tonks said. I turned around and looked at her. “I told you so.”
I stuck out my tongue at her playfully, then walked nervously back down the hall.
I knocked on the door to Harry’s room again.
“Come in,” he said. I entered very reluctantly.
“Ginny,” he said, as if pleasantly surprised but slightly embarrassed. His face was bright red. I sat down next
to him. “I hope””
But I didn’t want him to say any more. I leaned in again, and our lips met again.
And this time I wasn’t too nervous to enjoy it.
We were still kissing on Harry’s bed when I heard the door open and Ron yell, “Oh my God!
I looked toward the door and said, “Ron, go away.” Then I turned back to Harry.
I heard Ron gag as the door shut and shout, “I’m scarred for life!”
“Bye! See you next summer!” everyone yelled as the train started moving. Everyone, that is, except Tonks, who was nowhere in sight.
“I can’t believe summer’s already over,” I mused.
Ron nodded. “I know. But it was a good summer.”
“Yeah,” I said. “But don’t say you’re not excited about this year.”
He shrugged. “I am. But I wonder”who do you think the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher is?”
“I have a feeling”” I stopped when I heard the door open.
“Tonks!” Hermione exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m teaching,” she replied, grinning. “Is there room for me in here?”
We nodded, and I sighed happily. Maybe Sirius had just died a few months earlier and we had all basically faced our worst nightmare, but at least we all had each other. And Tonks, since she was teaching. This was going to be a great year. I could just tell.
A/N: Wow! I'm finally done! This fic has been in the works for three or four months (about), and it feels good to be finished with it. But I'll miss all of my wonderful readers. *sob*!! Check out my other fics (my new one, "Behind Closed Doors," a Lily and James romance fic, is going to be submitted soon), and check for the sequel (which should be coming soon)!!
~Molly ;D