Chapter 15 Silent Cries From Afar… His Secret Admirer
“Hermione, look at all the publicity for the Hogwarts Team Flying Competition!” Ron flipped open the newspaper, effectively shielding him from her wicked signals to him to quit chatting about it, because Harry’s footsteps were coming closer.
“Spectators are welcome to support the students and take part in this first time ever event by purchasing tickets at Hogsmeade’s participating locations. Be mindful that audience seating is limited and in very high demand according to many Hogsmeade barkeepers, therefore it is advisable to purchase tickets early…” he started reading the paper out loud.
“Let’s see…” he continued excitedly, skipping to another article. “It will be a spectacular showcase of both athleticism and artistry as students will pair up and master the airs with their brooms in a mesmerizing background of explosive music and an assortment of magic charms they will perform under the powerful spotlight that will certainly light up the dark skies…”
“Ahhem!”
“The idea originated from Mr. Oliver Wood, former member of the Puddlemere United Quidditch team and now teacher’s assistant of Hogwarts… The cause of all the fanfare and excitement is because of the fact that highlighting the group of competitors is none other than Wood himself. A former student of Hogwarts, Wood is scheduled to match his skills against the students of today and he will close the show by being the final competitor of the evening…”
“AHHEM!”
“We’ll see how a twenty year old body will match up with the younger ones. Rumor has it that he is hampered with a lingering back injury. Known for his relentless competitive spirits, however, it will be a treat for his fans who want to relive the power and dominant display of the former keeper in the Quidditch fields again…
“Sources say he is teaming up with one student named__
“AARGH!” the newspaper abruptly ripped apart at the seams because Hermione had just hurled an apple at him and it went through the paper and smacked him in the face. Rubbing his nose sheepishly, he finally caught her piercing glare darting between him and Harry, who was slouching listlessly by the fireplace.
“Sorry,” Ron murmured. “I didn’t know he’s here.”
During the past few weeks, Harry had tried to stay invisible as much as possible, not wanting to have anything to do with the competition, even though he had been constantly stopped by girls who offered to team with him up to the very last minute, with most of them extremely pretty according to Ron’s tactless assessments. Harry was glad the sign up deadline finally passed, because rejecting girls was definitely not his favorite pass time. He could sense their resentment and disgust, but there would be no compromise, because he always knew from the bottom of his heart that he would pair with no one except Ginny. Sadly, she had chosen Oliver instead of him.
Now that the deadline had passed, all the girls had since stopped breathing over him, and things were starting to get back to normal except Ron and Ginny. Ron had desperately wanted to participate but Hermione said the competition would disrupt her preparations for the December exams, even though they would be held around Christmas and the competition date was in early December. To add to Ron’s disillusionment, she also forbade him from asking other girls. Therefore, all he could do was talk about the competition endlessly.
Ginny was the only participant amongst the four of them. Logically, with Oliver’s unsurprisingly gruesome training regimen, she would have to spend all of her time in the fields with him when she didn’t have class. Since she was a fifth year, Harry would not even get a chance to see her during his classes. Nowadays, the seat next to Hermione, the one she usually took when they ate in the hall, would also be conspicuously empty.
The only time Harry could catch a glimpse of Ginny was by spying on her when she was training with Oliver. When Sam mentioned to him Oliver was giving her a hard time because of her poor flying techniques, Harry offered to help his mentee. He purposely chose to help her in the early sunrise, so it would let him catch an occasional display of Ginny’s brilliance in the fields at the same time. Judging from Sam’s practice sessions so far, he thought she wasn’t that terrible at flying; he was contemplating whether Oliver was deliberately penalizing her for what happened at the hall that breakfast, and her blocking his way. He felt bad for her.
The date of the competition was drawing closer and closer, but Harry was trying to appear as unaffected as ever. However, every time he saw Ginny leaving the common room with her broomstick, his insides would claw at him, knowing that once again, she was getting together with Oliver to practice.
The weather was surprisingly balmy for a December, making Harry forget that today was the eve of the flying competition. Sitting with Sam in the common room in the early evening, they were holding one of their weekly mentor meetings. For some reason, Sam insisted on having the meeting in the common room instead of McGonagall’s stuffy classroom. As usual, she was mindlessly babbling to her mentor about her dream boy and her silly crush when…
“Sam, your hair’s longer now,” Harry smiled melodiously. “I think you look cute with long hair. That buzz cut was… freaky. Maybe that thick boy of yours you keep telling me about will notice you now.”
Sam was taken back by his unexpected compliment. It was the first time Harry responded to her silly chatter and uttering her name with a flattering remark in the same breath. It was also the first time he was able to silence her.
“Sam, are you okay?” Harry studied her pale face that was quickly reddening, noticing a glimmer in her eye. “Are those bags under your eyes?”
“Oh, it’s nothing!” she turned away and laughed like a hyena.
“Of all people, you’re the last one to criticize other people’s eyes! You’re the one with four eyes!” she snapped at him crossly, hoping he would stop being so nice to her. But he continued to smile at her; after so many meetings and practice sessions with her, her endless insults became part of his habits. In fact, he was beginning to enjoy Sam’s company. Her unpredictable behavior was intriguing and her insults filled the gaping hole from the emptiness that was left behind by Ginny.
Suddenly, there were sounds of hurried footsteps coming from the staircase. Harry had since stopped paying attention to them. He knew who those familiar footsteps belonged to. Seeing her with her broomstick would only make him feel sad again. The little voice in his head that would tell him to check was all too familiar as well. However, this time, he was determined to ignore her, but it proved to be much more difficult this time because Harry noticed Sam was now gazing at the staircase, and she had expressions of utter amazement on her face. He finally gave in to his curiosity and turned to the staircase as well. He could see Ginny was wearing an unusually oversized raincoat, busily clutching it to keep it closed together, but it was her face that caught his attention. With her red hair up, her face was revealed in its entirety and she appeared to be wearing some makeup. She looked radiantly beautiful as she slipped out of the common room.
With a twinkle in her eye, Sam quickly gathered herself and tugged at Harry’s frozen arm, dragging him to the doorway with all her might, “Harry, I want to check out the sunset. Let’s… continue our chat outside.”
Harry was too numb to protest and he mindlessly allowed Sam to steer him out of the castle in the process. In his mind, he was just killing himself, for letting the beautiful girl of his dreams be paired up with another boy. Before he knew it, Sam had dragged him to the bushes overseeing the Quidditch fields.
“Perfect spot!” Sam hooted excitedly, pushing her hair out of her eyes. She realized Harry was right. Her silver hair had grown considerably these past few months.
According to Harry, it was a perfect spot too, because from where they were, he could clearly see Oliver and Ginny in the Quidditch fields in full view. They were having their practices together, but this one was definitely special, because Oliver was wearing formal attire instead of his usual sweats. He immediately understood why, because his eyes glowed when he saw Ginny remove her raincoat. It turned out she had been hiding her costume underneath the bulky raincoat. She was mesmerizing in her glittering red gown.
Harry gasped when he saw her spin around for Oliver, displaying her beauty for him. His eyes were burning jealously because he had just discovered her outfit was backless.
Soon after, Harry could hear music coming from the Quidditch fields as Oliver and Ginny took to the skies. It was a fast beat song. It was obvious they were doing a practice run through of their routine for the final time.
“What a horrible song! It must be Oliver’s idea! It’s totally not Ginny’s style! Doesn’t even match her outfit!” Sam frowned and looked up at Harry sympathetically, who was standing silently next to her as he was gazing sadly at the two of them flying together.
“Harry, Oliver’s very handsome with his stone green suit and tie,” Sam’s arm was inching for his back. She wanted to pat him and comfort him, but at the last second, she withdrew it and put it back to her side.
“Yeah, very handsome,” he mumbled sourly.
“Harry, you’ll be even more handsome in your blue… never mind… you’ll see…” she chirped, but her voice had lost the usual spunk.
“Harry, I forgot to tell you I… have detention… with… Snape. He caught me dozing off in class… so I have to head back,” Sam choked, wiping the corner of her eye. But Harry’s eyes were too busy locking themselves at the Quidditch fields to notice.
“Harry, it’s such a gorgeous sunset! A bit windy though! Promise me you’ll… stay here and… enjoy it for a while! See ya!” she forced herself to giggle and quickly hopped away, leaving Harry alone to painfully watch Oliver and Ginny spinning and twirling in the air, his hand on her waist, releasing all kinds of light with their wands.
Harry’s mouth fell open when he saw Ginny suddenly in freefall.
“Ginny!” he called out with his arm outstretched. But before he even started to run for her, he saw Oliver immediately catching her by the waist, doing a few graceful twists in the process. He couldn’t help but remember that this was the maneuver he dreamt of performing with Ginny. Biting his lip, he continued to watch them, hoping that Oliver wouldn’t hurt her in the process.
Hiding behind the bushes from afar, Sam knew she had no intention of heading to detention. She would stay with him, secretly watching him to make sure he was okay, just like he was secretly admiring Ginny to make sure she was okay. She pulled him here and left him alone because she wanted him to memorize their entire routine, every twist and throw, with no distractions coming from her.
Unlike Harry, Sam refused to let her hopes go. Gripping at the bushes, she was determined to keep holding on to the possibility of them performing together tomorrow evening. Even though the odds of that happening are next to zero, she would not let go of this possibility until the final second of the competition had passed and until the final applause had been cheered.
According to Sam, nothing was impossible. That was why for the past week, she had stayed up every night in order to put together a costume for Harry, in the event that he would need it when he would pair with Ginny tomorrow, even though she had to get up before sunrise to practice broom flying with him. That was the reason why she kept dozing off in class, and she couldn’t escape Snape today.
Sam was constantly late for her practice sessions, but Harry was very patient with her and didn’t seem to mind, because he would take advantage of the time by himself to observe Ginny training her routine. What he didn’t know was she was never late for their sessions. Instead, she was hiding behind the bushes just like now, watching him as he would watch Ginny. She wanted him to see more of Ginny and learn more about their routine.
Looking for an excuse to sneak a peek at her costume, Sam asked Ginny to teach her to sew, despite the fact she had no interest in these girlish things. Sam was surprised she accepted, given the fact that she was Harry’s mentee. However, Ginny treated her with none of the hostilities that she showed for her mentor. In fact, she was quite protective of her. On one occasion, when Ginny saw her being teased by her fellow classmates for being the only girl with a boy as a mentor, Ginny came along and threatened the bullies away. It could be that the deep protective feelings Ginny harbored for Harry was now being directed to his mentee.
Ginny was demonstrating to her the sewing spells in her room by using her own red gown as the example, and seeing the gown was what Sam needed in order to tailor the costume for Harry. She wanted him to project a look that would compliment Ginny and her red gown under the spotlight. She was proud of her sewing efforts. With the help of magic and having Ginny as her teacher, she taught her all the necessary spells and she made him a stylish blue tuxedo, a silver shirt and red bow tie, and she finally put in the final touches last night.
She was now visualizing in her mind what Harry and Ginny would be like together tomorrow. She realized Harry never practiced with Ginny, but she knew he would never let her down. He would always pull through for her. Standing under the spotlight, the two of them would be the final competitor of the evening. They would step into the Quidditch fields and perform perfectly, with Harry strong and handsome in his blue tuxedo, and Ginny as the most beautiful girl of the entire competition in her flowing red gown. The ending pose would find Ginny in Harry’s arms, where she always belonged. Maybe fate would stop being so cruel to them for once and grant them a chance, so they could be happy together again. It had been so long she couldn’t remember the last time the two of them laughed to each other.
Knowing Harry since the beginning of her existence, Sam was deeply aware what size of costume would fit him comfortably. Unbeknownst to him, she became a part of his life two years ago when Ginny gave her to him as a Christmas present.
Her existence was a result of their pure love. She was with them at both their happiest moments, as well as the sad ones. She witnessed their dreams, nightmares, laughs, and cries. She felt their heartbeats and experienced their pure love for each other. Once, she was in Ginny’s bed when she was crying after Harry kissed her on the forehead. In the following year, she was in Harry’s bed when he was crying over his betrayal that he had since forgotten. In their desperate times, she rested on both their thumping hearts and restored their energy when they needed her help. Most of the time though, she was on Harry’s shelf, watching him grow up physically and unfortunately, aged emotionally as well.
Once again, they would need her help, and hopefully this time, in the form of a human girl, she would be able to guide them back to their paths before it was too late. What she didn’t prepare herself for was that the ability to fall in love was a large part of being human, and she found herself accidentally and gradually falling in love with the boy that was in front of her eyes, the very boy she was trying to help, so he could get back with his girl.
Sam understood that loving someone does not mean having to be with that person. In her case, it was impossible anyway, being what she was, a spirit of a shattered dove statue. She would still do everything in her power to help him though, because loving him would mean doing what was best for him, and that would be to help him find Ginny, because he belonged to her and no one else. A smile gradually filled her pale face as the corner of her happy lips would meet a drop of tear quietly rolling down her cold cheek. She realized she had to say goodbye to him now while she still could.
“You’ve seen too many tears and shed too many for your life time, my dear Harry Potter…
“You occasionally let some out when the pain is too much to bear, but too many are still drowning in your broken heart…
“Hopefully, when Ginny’s by your side again, your pain will be gone.
“I promise you… I’ll never cry in front of you… because I don’t want you to have to see more tears…
“Even though I really want to cry every time I see you… I’m so moved by you…
“I’ll always giggle for you… act strong and foolish in front of you…because…
“I don’t want to add to your burdens… I don’t want you to care about me… worry about me… because I know you will, being the good person that you always are…
“I want you to care about Ginny… devote your all to her… love her and only her…
“There cannot be another girl other than Ginny in your heart… I will not allow you…
“Until the day when you’ll find your Ginny again… that’s when my time is up… and I’ll go back to the way I was… and I’ll be nothing more than a passerby in your life…
“You’ll remember me as… the spirit of the dove statue… the clown… the girl… with a big mouth… bad hair… and a bad attitude…
“Harry, Ginny, good luck with the competition… because I know there will be a miracle tomorrow… all the stars will be aligned for the two of you…
“I’ll pray for you tonight…”
The branches that she had pushed aside the whole time to give her a view of Harry suddenly snapped back to their original position, effectively breaking off her gaze on him. Thankfully, he did not notice the whistling sounds caused by this. Sam gazed at her fingers tiredly and she could sadly see why she lost her grip on the branches; her hands and arms were starting to get blurry and they were losing their shape with the rest of her body. She was so focused on Harry she didn’t notice that the autumn leaves had been floating through her teary face and body the entire time, like she was a part of the misty air. She gently closed her teary eyes. She understood what was happening to her.
“I don’t have much time left, Harry… there’s only so much I can do to keep me in this form…
“So make sure you catch Ginny tomorrow…
“Harry… you deserve nothing but the very best in the world… and that’s Ginny…
“Never lose hope… Harry.
“I’ll miss you… my good friend…
“I love you… Harry Potter.”
The Boy Next Door by gossipweaver
Chapter Notes: The doves were Ginny’s Christmas gift to Harry two years ago. From then on, she’s been the symbol of their love, quietly sitting on his shelf, watching over him. When she decided to come back to him in the form of a little girl, she didn’t realize that the ability to love someone is a large part of being human. Even though she has fallen for him, she is determined to admire him only from afar, because he belongs to someone else…