Chapter 11 Her Man, His Girl
During the meal, the only noise in the hall was the clanking sounds of cutlery, with everyone busily stuffing in all they could. It wasn’t until dinner was near completion that people started talking again. The four of them were rather quiet too. It could be because they were all starving from the error-prone journey to Hogwarts earlier. It could more likely be that they were giving Harry a break, trying hard to not make him feel worse than the present, judging by his very long face. As he was eating, he was contemplating why he was always stuck with the worst situations. Keeping his head down the entire time, he didn’t want to catch Sam or even Dumbledore. He was upset at him, for selecting him as mentor. He was now certain that Dumbledore had indeed gone mad this summer for choosing him.
“Harry, something is very peculiar tonight,” whispered Ron joyfully, finally breaking their silence as his eyes scanned across the Gryffindor table.
Harry poked his head up and noticed Ron’s cheeks were somewhat flushed but it didn’t accompany his usual awkwardness. On the contrary, he appeared very confident and self-assured as he flicked his hair flamboyantly.
“Yeah, I was about to say the same thing,” Hermione cut in uneasily, her eyes also darting back and forth at their table and the tables of the other houses. “The girls… they’ve been looking at our direction constantly all evening. And it’s only the girls, from all years… but it’s the way they’re looking at our direction… They… they look like they’re… Erm… how should I say this… they look like they’re__”
“In heat!” Ron pronounced explicitly as Harry and Ginny choked on their dessert.
As Harry glanced across the table cautiously, he caught three seventh-year girls that were huddled together gasp in between their giggles and immediately pulled their heads down, jeering some more. He noticed another girl, probably a fourth-year, smiling sweetly at him and he had to immediately turn away because he was starting to blush. Not knowing what was going on, the corner of his eye accidentally caught the neighboring Ravenclaw table, and the girls there were doing the same thing.
With her eyes darting between the giddy girls and Harry’s blushes, Ginny recognized their reactions. A sense of jealousy swept over her, because they appeared to be flirting with him. She smiled sickeningly, because there was nothing she could do.
“Hey Harry! Ron! Ladies, why were you late?” Oliver came over to them, shielding Harry somewhat from the many flirtatious eyes burning at him.
“A long story for a long journey! You don’t want to know,” Ginny sighed deeply. She was glad he came over to provide some distraction to all the silliness.
“Well, Ginny, you guys missed the announcement about the team flying competition. It’s been confirmed! Just want to make sure you’re aware of it. I expect all four of you to participate!” said Oliver excitedly. “So find yourselves a partner that has a solid broom who can really fly and you’ll win the competition, where you’ll be crowned the Hogwarts Broomstick Prince and Princess of the year!”
Still blushing, Harry glimpsed at Ginny, trying to establish eye contact with her. He suddenly found himself eager to ask her to be his partner. As he replayed the beautiful images of how he managed to catch her in the air at the Burrow even when he was blinded by pumpkin flesh, he was thinking that they could perform an exact stunt like that together and dazzle the crowd.
Besides the reason that Ginny was extremely talented, Harry wanted to ask her because unknowingly, he didn’t want her to be asked by other boys. Certainly, he wasn’t interested in the competition and winning it; the last thing he needed was to attract more attention to himself. But he felt that he must participate, for Ginny’s sake. He somehow forced himself to rationalize that his reasons for participating and wanting to be her partner were entirely and genuinely related to her safety and well-being. She might have an accident with other boys and they might hurt her in the process, because most of them were not as skilled as him in the air, he thought to himself smugly. He was almost convinced that his motives were completely innocent.
However, Ginny’s attention remained solidly on Oliver, as if her eyes were permanently anchored to his adam’s apple. It was now evident to Harry that she was purposely not looking or speaking to him. During the entire broom ride to Hogwarts earlier, he recalled she was especially quiet and emotionless. He would ask her questions, hoping to start an intelligent and interesting conversation, only to get countless one word grunts in return. Then he began to tell jokes, hoping to make her laugh, only to get silence in return.
“For the first time ever,” Oliver explained proudly. “Students who are not Quidditch players can be in the Quidditch fields and be part of the spotlight.
“I mentioned to Gin a few weeks ago about my plan for you four,” he continued smartly. “Ron, you can team with Hermione and Ginny can team with__”
“It’s really happening?” she cut in immediately before he could utter Harry’s name.
“Yep! Too bad I can’t be a part of it! I would love to compete if I could!”
“Who would you ask to be your partner… if you could?” asked Harry pryingly.
“Well, there’s a girl that’s very good and talented… I’m sure we can win if we team up. But who cares!” he shrugged his shoulders. “Why think about the impossible?”
Harry could feel his stomach flipping. He swore Oliver’s eyes just glimmered at Ginny.
“I think I understand why…” muttered Hermione vaguely, glancing at the giddy girls disgustingly at the table again.
“Uh?”
“Harry, you may not want to know this. But… I think…all the girls… they are after you because of the competition. They may all want you to be their partner.”
Ron chuckled mockingly, “Poor guy! Destined to be tormented by girls! First, a girl mentee from hell and now the entire school of girls is after your tail. Hmm… some of them are actually very pretty! Hey Harry, I’m jealous! Unless you’re willing to share some of them AARGH…”
Hermione had just kicked Ron angrily in the knee. He quickly silenced himself, noticing Ginny’s darkening face. Her eyes narrowed menacingly as they scanned the hall.
“Yeah, Harry. That mentee of yours looks like...” Oliver did not finish his sentence. Instead he just shook his head. “But I can’t blame her entirely for acting out on Filch. You weren’t here for the sorting ceremony… when McGonagall thought she was a boy and everyone laughed… It was pretty bad…
“Anyway, getting back to the competition thing, it’s only natural, Harry. Everyone wants to choose the best person to team with to win!” Oliver glanced around the hall and smirked. “The whole school knows you’re an awesome flyer. And you’re probably the only student with a Firebolt.
“Just promise me, Harry, to be gentle with all these girls, okay? We don’t want a trail of broken hearts along the staircase of the girls’ dormitory!” he grimaced as he slowly strolled away. “Goodnight guys!”
With Oliver no longer shielding him, Harry noticed all the girls’ heated eyes on him, smiling sweetly at him again, sending chills down his spine. Hoping to reestablish his connection with Ginny, he turned his eyes to her timidly, fantasizing and wishing that she could also gaze at him the way the other girls were. Sadly, she was now seemingly peering at Oliver’s disappearing footsteps, as if Harry was invisible. Oddly, she appeared to be very distracted. Disillusioned, he closed his weary eyes; he was wondering painfully why the one girl he really wanted to see was not looking at him.
“If I were a girl, I would want to team with Harry too,” Hermione nudged Ginny’s arm secretly, who was sitting numbly and pretended to not have heard her.
“What do you mean, Hermione?” Ron groaned jealously.
“AARGH!” Hermione shrieked, shaking her head and getting up hastily. “You’re so dense! I’m going up! I’m exhausted!”
“WAIT FOR ME!” screamed Ron.
Unbeknownst to Harry, Ginny wasn’t peering at Oliver at all; she was agonizingly watching the way the girls in the hall were drooling over her man, but couldn’t do anything about it, because as painful as it was, he was no longer her man for her to fight for. Ron was right, she thought to herself despairingly. Many of them were very pretty and would be perfect for Harry. From the corner of her eye, she spotted him, and his eyes were closed. He must be exhausted, she pondered despondently, having to complete the journey to the castle with his Firebolt and having to take her with him, doing all the steering by himself, while busily keeping her entertained with his attempts at comedy. While listening to his jokes as they were flying in the sunset, she had desperately hoped he would bring up the time he accidentally kissed her mum goodnight instead of her last year. That would definitely make her laugh. It worked when they were attacked in the secret passageway last year. At the time, even though he was seriously injured, all Harry cared about before falling unconscious was to see his girl smile and to hear her laugh again. Unfortunately, with his memory loss, he would have no recollection of those memorable events they shared together.
A band of annoying girlish giggles broke out from the Hufflepuff table, piercing through Ginny’s thoughts. Seeing them point at Harry furtively, she realized it was time for her to step aside, and let a new girl take her place. She quietly got up because she couldn’t take it anymore, and she didn’t want him to see her eyes which were beginning to water. As she marched out of the hall dejectedly, she gave Harry one last longing glance before she reached the doorway, only to find him sitting alone with his eyes still closed.
“Goodbye, my Harry,” she whispered through her defiant tears as she stormed away.
Harry’s eyes were closed because he was now concentrating on organizing all the right words in his head to ask Ginny to be his partner for the competition. He was determined to ask his girl and he was determined to do this right, as he was reminding himself to make sure his eyes must glow at her. Realizing that Ron and Hermione had stormed out of the hall, Ginny must be sitting alone with him now.
“Ginny, can I…” Harry opened his bright green eyes, only to find sadly that the one girl his eyes wanted to sparkle for had already disappeared.
The Boy Next Door by gossipweaver
Chapter Notes: Seeing so many girls looking at him, she can only stand aside helplessly, because he’s no longer her man for her to fight for… Seeing so many girls looking at him, he can only close his eyes helplessly, because the one girl his eyes really want to see is not amongst them…