Ginny Weasley found herself in detention for the third time this week; she had not been paying attention in Charms, and had accidentally managed to make half the desks in the classroom run out of the room in fright, when she was supposed to be making them dance a jig in front of the class.
As she wrote her lines, ’I must not frighten the desks’, she allowed her mind to wander onto other things including the upcoming Quidditch match against Slytherin, where she could finally get some revenge against Colm Lucas. Whoever won that match would win the Quidditch cup, and Ginny, in her first and last year as Gryffindor Captain, desperately wanted that cup. Mainly though, she thought about Harry; she hadn’t seen him since their argument at Christmas. Ginny knew that Harry had been in contact with Ron and Hermione, but every time she attempted to speak to either of them about him they mysteriously had something else to do.
Ginny sighed, she missed Harry desperately; all she wanted to do was say she was sorry for what happened at Christmas.
Well…that’s not all I want to do. she giggled to herself.
Ginny looked up and out of the window, it was a sunny May evening and she could hear the students outside talking loudly and laughing. Taking her eyes from the window, Ginny looked at the old clock hanging on the wall; it was ten to six, and her detention was nearly over. Ginny did not feel like eating dinner tonight (it was due to pre-match nerves, though she would never admit it) and she planned to go straight to the Gryffindor Common Room as soon as she could.
Today had been a long day, long and uneventful. Fridays were usually amongst the busiest days of the week, but since Lupin and Harry both disappeared and caused Defence Against the Dark Arts classes to be suspended, the students taking the subject at N.E.W.T level were left with a lot of free time.
Just as well, Ginny thought, the exams were in a little over a month. None of the N.E.W.T Defence Against the Dark Arts students were worried though, they were all sure that they had learned enough from Lupin and Harry to comfortably pass their exams.
Ginny looked up at the clock again and saw that it was now six o’clock. She threw her quill into her bag and left the piece of parchment bearing her lines on Professor Flitwick’s desk, which gave the tiniest shudder of fear when Ginny approached it.
After being harassed by Peeves the Poltergeist on her way back to the common room, Ginny decided she would settle down in one of the comfortable chairs by the fire and finish her Transfiguration homework.
When she arrived, Ginny saw that the common room was empty; she suspected that everybody was still at dinner. She pulled one of the chairs up to her and withdrew her quill, a textbook and a long piece of parchment from her bag, opening the textbook to page three-hundred and thirty-four, Ginny began to read.
After a couple of minutes Ginny began to feel tired, Transfiguration was not a fun subject to read about. She decided to give her homework a rest for a moment. She put her textbook and piece of parchment to one side and set down her quill. Ginny stared into the fire, watching the flames dance and lick over the logs, she began to feel extremely drowsy…Ginny’s eyes snapped open as the fire in front of her grew large and roared emerald green.
What’s going on? Nobody can come through the Hogwarts fireplaces, she thought frantically.
Ginny gasped as she saw Harry appear in the flames, clear as day, he extended a hand to her and she took it, letting herself be pulled into the fire. Ginny’s head spun as she travelled through the Floo Network. The spinning began to slow as Ginny gradually came to a halt, she stumbled out of the fireplace and looked around; she was in Grimmauld Place, but it was not how she remembered it, where it had once been dark and dank it was now light and dry, it was liveable, and when she looked next to her, she saw Harry standing next to her.
“Harry? What’s going on?” she said.
Harry said nothing, he merely raised a finger to his lips.
Ginny fell silent as Harry took her hand in his and pulled her into him, his face was close to her, she could see into his eyes, she saw herself there. Ginny closed her eyes and lent into Harry…
“Ginny! Ginny, wake up!”
Ginny opened her eyes, Colin Creevy stood in front of her, fanning her with a piece of parchment. “Colin…what? Where’s Harry?”
Colin looked at Ginny with a curious expression on his face. “Harry? I don’t know. He hasn’t been in since Christmas has he?”
Ginny sighed; it had all been a dream.
The common room was now packed with people, more people than usual it seemed, Ginny guessed most of them were simply hanging around in the common room longer than usual so they could wish the Gryffindor Quidditch team luck for tomorrows big game.
Ginny decided that she needed to be alone, so she left to go up to the girls dormitory, before she could get there however, she was accosted by Demelza Robins, one of the Gryffindor Chasers.
“Hi, Ginny.”
“Hello, Demelza. Look I don’t want to be rude but I’m just about to go up to bed so would you mind?
“Oh right, ok. It’s just…Euan sort of…well…got sick.”
Ginny swore loudly; Euan Abercrombie was the Gryffindor Seeker. “What do you mean he got sick?”
“He got sick. I’m not sure what happened. I think somebody dared him to eat a pound of doxy eggs for a bet.”
“Who dared him to do that?”
“Some second year…Hamish McClaggen, I think.”
“McClaggen? Not Cormac’s little brother is he by any chance?” Ginny asked; she thought she already knew the answer.
“Yes, he is. Why?”
“Cormac ate a pound of Doxy eggs for a bet once, it kept him in the hospital wing for about three days I think.”
Demelza sighed. “Euan, the idiot. Well…what do you want to do? We need a Seeker.”
“I’ll play Seeker tomorrow. Use Jack Fife, you know, the fourth choice Chaser.” Ginny pointed, indicating a tall youth with short brown hair sitting in the middle of a big crowd of people. “Take him out tonight and make sure he’s up to speed. He should do alright, he only narrowly missed out during trials.”
An amused expression came over Demelza’s face. “Isn’t he that guy that has a major crush on you?”
“How should I know? Just take him out alright!” Ginny snapped.
“Shouldn’t you… I mean, you’re the Captain after all.”
Ginny hesitated; she should really oversee proceedings and see if Fife was up to the task. “Oh… I’m not feeling too good. I trust you anyway, Demelza, you make the call, okay?”
Demelza Robins looked very pleased with herself. “Okay, Ginny. You get some rest. We need you on form tomorrow!”
Ginny smiled. “I’ll be fine, right, I’m going up to bed, see you tomorrow.”
“Night,” replied Demelza, and she moved out of Ginny’s way, letting her climb the staircase to the dormitories.
Ginny changed into her pyjamas as soon as she got into the dormitory, she reached to her neck to take off her locket, just as she had done every night for the past five months, and when her hand found it wasn’t there, she felt awful, just as she had done every day for the past five months.
Ginny was not actually feeling very tired as she got into bed, she had all intention of finishing her Transfiguration homework, but as soon as she got under the duvet, she felt extremely tired and fell asleep almost immediately.
After a bad nights sleep, in which she had dreamt about Hermione enticing Harry away from her, whilst wearing a very short skirt and lots of dark makeup, Ginny got up out of bed and looked at her watch; it was a quarter to nine. Ginny got up and brushed her hair, she threw on some robes and headed down to breakfast. Ginny received a loud ovation as she entered the Great Hall, the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were all cheering loudly, the Slytherin table were booing at hissing. Ginny smiled. You can tell it’s a Quidditch day.
Ginny did not eat much for breakfast, although she was a seasoned Quidditch player and a two-time cup winner, Ginny still got nervous before the big games; the only difference this season was that she was the Captain, and she could show no fear.
After breakfast Demelza Robins took Ginny to one side. “Fife is in. He’s not brilliant, but he’ll have to do. When Euan gets better I’m going to kill him!” she hissed.
Ginny laughed and sat back down at the Gryffindor table. Luna Lovegood had wandered over; she was wearing her famous lions head hat, which was at the moment purring softly as she tickled it with her wand.
“Good luck today, Ginny,” she said in her usual floaty voice.
“Thanks, Luna, want to come sit with us?” Ginny said.
“Oh no… I better not. It’s best to sit with my own house, I suppose,” said Luna, though she looked more than a little put out.
“I wonder why she did not get put into Gryffindor,” said little Dennis Creevy, who had popped up opposite Ginny.
Ginny pondered before answering, she had wondering that same thing. “Maybe the Sorting Hat got it wrong. I’m told it happens from time to time.”
“Who told you that?”
“…Well, nobody, but I’m sure it does get it wrong from time to time!” Ginny blushed.
Most of the students remained in the Great Hall until it was time for the Quidditch match. Ginny led her team to the Gryffindor dressing room where they all changed into their scarlet and gold uniforms.
“Let’s do this, guys,” she said, giving every member of the team a meaningful glance.
Ginny led the team out onto the pitch; the crowd was a sea of scarlet and gold, save for one quarter that was silver and green. Ginny looked around; you could smell the excitement on the air. A familiar roaring sound was coming from near the commentary box, and sure enough, when Ginny looked up, she saw Luna Lovegood standing there with the magical microphone, her hat roaring loudly.
Ginny stood opposite Colm Lucas, the Slytherin Captain, they shook hands and Ginny made sure to attempt to crush his hand, just as he was trying to crush hers.
Ginny mounted her broom and flew up to join the rest of her team mates in the air. Madam Hooch blew her whistle to start play and opened the chest releasing the balls. Ginny hovered higher than her team mates, keeping an eye out for the elusive Golden Snitch.
Almost immediately Gryffindor had scored, as Demelza Robins scored her first goal of the game; she was easily the best chaser on the field seeing as Ginny was not playing in that position. Ginny caught a glimpse of the Snitch hovering near Lucas’ broom, Ginny gave chase to the little golden ball, she followed it as it dipped and dived, ducked and dodged through the stadium; it was currently heading for the Gryffindor box, Ginny sunk down on her broom and gave a burst of speed, she was getting close to it, the Slytherin Seeker was nowhere to be seen. Ginny stretched her arm out to catch the Snitch when it suddenly darted upwards, leaving Ginny a clear view of the person stood in the front row of the Gryffindor box, it was Harry, looking resplendent in his old Gryffindor robes, his Captains badge still pinned to his chest.
Seeing Harry totally took Ginny’s mind off of the game, and when she tried to grab the Quaffle off one Jack Fife, her team mates called for a timeout.
“Ginny, are you okay? asked Dennis Creevy, resting his beaters club on his shoulder.
Ginny looked at her team, concern was etched on their faces, and they needed her. “Yes, yes. I’m fine, let’s get on with it!” she said enthusiastically.
When play resumed however, the Gryffindor team were not as sharp as they were beforehand, and Slytherin were taking advantage; Sixty-Forty, Sixty-Fifty, Slytherin were catching up, Sixty-Sixty, Sixty-Seventy. Now Slytherin were now winning, Ginny needed the Snitch. Sixty-Eighty. But she just could not focus, she dropped altitude a bit to clear her head, however she looked over at Harry as she did so, she could not help it, she was drawn to him just as she always was.
What is he doing here? I’ve got to get away! Ginny panicked to herself, and she shot upwards on her broom, back into the fray going on above her. Ginny flew high, high above the other players, but she could not stop thinking of Harry.
Shaking her head, Ginny decided there was just one thing for it. She had to play again, with or without Harry on her mind. She needed the Snitch.
And she saw it. She saw the figure of Colm Lucas chasing the lightning flash of gold, putting all her flying skill to use Ginny gave chase, she caught Lucas, and began to go past him; the Snitch suddenly accelerated away from them both and shot upwards at least one hundred feet, Ginny continued the chase, Lucas however, dropped off the pace, and grabbed a bat from one of the Slytherin Beaters. He took aim at the Bludger coming towards him -
Ginny almost had the Snitch, it was brushing her fingers, all she had to do was close her hand… SMASH!
Ginny felt a blinding pain in the back of her head, and everything went hazy, instinctively she raised a hand to her head and she lost control and slipped off of her broom.
Ginny began to scream as she fell, the sharp air whipping across her face, her broomstick was flying off of its own accord. Her team mates hovered in midair, watching her fall with terrified expressions on their faces; all of them too shocked to move. Ginny screamed again, preparing herself for the fall that would surely kill her when she found herself swooping off of the pitch, carried away by someone on a broomstick, someone who was skilled enough to fly a broomstick with no hands.
The world was a blur as Ginny flew away from the Quidditch pitch and towards the lake, she felt herself coming to a halt underneath a tree by the lakeside. Ginny looked up at the figure who was holding her in his arms, and as her eyes came into focus her heart skipped a beat. “Harry!”
“Hiya, Ginny. I’m back.”
Words were no longer necessary. He pulled her closer to him and he kissed her. Ginny felt all of her worries and anxieties fly out of her body, she was electrified by the touch of his lips on hers, enraptured, she drank him in; she never wanted this moment to end. After what seemed like an eternity, Harry pulled away. Ginny moaned as his lips left hers so she grabbed him and pulled him back in; she had got him now and she wasn’t letting him go. Eventually she decided to loosen her grip; they did need to talk after all. As she let him go Harry pulled away from her, he was breathing heavily, and grinning at her.
“I’m back, Ginny.”
“You said that already,” she smiled at him, she felt exhilarated.
“I’m back for good, back for you. I’ve been thinking non-stop about you for the last five months,” Harry said, his voice full of emotion.
Ginny looked deep into his green eyes; they were dancing with excitement. “You’re really here right? I’m not dreaming again?”
He kissed her again.
“Nope, not dreaming,” he said.
“Definitely not.” She smiled up at him.
“I want to be with you, Ginny. No. I need to be with you. No, please. Just listen to me, Ginny,” Harry said when Ginny had opened her mouth to interrupt. “I’m not saying I’m not worrying about what might happen but if anything threatens you. I promise I’ll be there to protect you.”
“I know you will, Harry. But I can look after myself too you know. You’re a good teacher.”
“Thanks,” he said, smiling at her, “Anyway, I think you’d better have this back.” He reached into his robes and pulled out her locket, Ginny smiled as he fastened it around her neck. “Much better.”
“I couldn’t agree more. I’ve missed this. I’ve missed you. Do you know how long I’ve waited for you to hold me, Harry?”
“Getting on for two years?” Harry sniggered.
“Oh trust you to ruin the mood!” Ginny laughed. She moved to get up in mock anger but it was not until she moved that she realised she was in agonising pain.
“Ouch!” she shrieked.
“Oh yeah, your head, sorry, Ginny, I totally forgot…I just thought what I had to give you was the sort of thing that could not wait.” Ginny smiled wider when Harry said that. “We better get you to the hospital wing,” Harry said, “We better return this as well.” And he opened his hand to reveal a small golden ball, struggling against his grip.
“Where did you get that?”
“Caught it, right before I caught you. Why don’t you give it back? At least that way Gryffindor will have won the cup!” he said, letting the snitch go and then catching it again, Ginny nodded in agreement. “Right, it’s time to go.” And without another word Harry scooped Ginny up in his arms and carried her to the hospital wing.
Ginny sighed as Harry carried her to the hospital wing; things were certainly looking up.
A/N - Thats it for Chapter 14 - Sorry about the long wait!