Ginny stomped her way across the front lawn and over to the shore of the lake. She now stood there waiting for him to catch up, with her arms folded defensively across her chest, and her foot tapping in irritation. He kept his distance, unsure how she would react if he got too close. “Well?” she barked at him.
“Would you please drop the attitude?” By this point in time Harry was genuinely annoyed, this row had been completely blown out of all proportion.
“I’ll drop the attitude if you drop the obnoxiousness!” she retorted.
“When have you ever known me to be obnoxious?”
“Well there was… You’ve always thought a lot of yourself, Harry “ sodding- Potter, the stupid, Prat “ Who “ Lived. It doesn’t wash with me,” she yelled spitefully across the lake.
“Good, I don’t want it to.” He saw her falter slightly; this effectively swallowed her whole argument. He listened closely for a second and heard her breathing calm. “Ginny, I need to apologise for what I said. I really didn’t mean it the way it sounded…”
“Exactly how did you mean it?” she asked sarcastically.
“I didn’t mean it at all; I just said it to annoy Ron. There’s nothing that your brothers could do that would put me off you,” he said softly. Sensing that it was safe to do so, he took a step closer to her.
“Maybe you wish you hadn’t started seeing me at all. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about them.” All the anger was now gone from her voice; she spoke in a much gentler tone that was full of anguish. It worried Harry more than the wrath of her temper ever could.
“I don’t. Ginny, you’re one of the best things that has ever happened to me and I wouldn’t give you up for anything. No one understands me the way that you do and nobody challenges me like you either. You’re the world to me.” He took another step closer.
“I couldn’t bear living with the thought that you’re only with me because you’re terrified of dumping me,” she said sadly.
“Well, I honestly don’t think that I’ll ever want to dump you but if I do, I promise I’ll be straight with you, no matter what the consequences,” he smiled charmingly at her.
“You make it all sound like a big joke!” she suddenly cried. “It’s all right here and now, but next year everything will be different. You’ll be off training to be an Auror and I’ll be stuck here. You’re so naïve, Harry, people here at school more or less accept you as ‘just Harry’ but when you get out into the real world you’ll be back to being ‘The Famous Harry Potter’ again. Girls will be throwing themselves at you left, right and centre. All kinds of girls, rich ones, pretty ones, smart, kind and caring girls; all after you. How can I compete with that?” she looked at him for the first time in the course of their conversation and quite startlingly there was complete defeat in her eyes.
“Simple, you don’t have to. The only beautiful, smart, kind and caring girl that I’m interested in is standing right in front of me.” He took the final step towards her and brushed his fingers against her cheek. “Those other girls can be as pretty, clever, rich, kind and caring as they want, they don’t stand a chance. I’m in love with you, Ginny,” he said firmly.
“Oh, Harry!” she wailed. She threw herself against his shoulder and began to cry quietly, she was mumbling incoherently into his robes so he could only make out bits and pieces of what she was saying like ‘I thought you didn’t love me’ and ‘I was sure it was over.’ He let her tears run their course and when she was finished her eyes were puffy and bloodshot.
“I’m sorry, Harry,” she sniffed and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her costume.
“I’m the one who should be sorry, I started all this.” He used his thumb to wipe away a tear that was making a bid for freedom down the side of her nose.
“No, I pushed the team to go on strike…”
“Let’s just agree to both be sorry, eh? We both were in the wrong at some point,” he reasoned. She nodded in agreement. “Ms. Weasley, could I be so bold as to ask for a kiss?” he said in a sarcastic, smug, aristocratic voice.
“You may,” she whispered. When she leaned towards him there was a terrible clanging noise. They glanced up to see their headdresses had become entangled.
“Sorry,” he blushed. “My antlers appear to be interfering with your halo.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls!” she giggled.
With the air between them cleared they walked back up to the castle with Ginny tucked under Harry’s arm, he loved the way that she seemed to fit into that little nook perfectly. She was just the right height to rest her head on his shoulder comfortably, and he had the perfect stature to rest his chin on the top of her sweet smelling, red hair. They skipped out of going back to the party in order to search for Ron, but just as they were passing the doors to the Great Hall, Ellie appeared. “You two made up then,” she smiled at them.
“It was just a silly argument,” Ginny blushed.
“I’m glad to hear it, unfortunately there are still stormy waters ahead. I assume you were going back to Gryffindor Tower and not anywhere else?”
“That was the intention,” Harry said unashamedly.
“Well, you might want to watch out. Hermione shot after Ron not long after you two disappeared. By this time their argument is probably in full swing and this isn’t going to be a silly one like yours. This is serious and they’re going to need all the help they can get if they’re going to make it through. Be careful how you tread,” she advised.
“We will,” Ginny replied, once again looking quite sad. “I don’t think they’ll make it through this,” she said to Harry as they started climbing their way to the seventh floor.
“They’ll get through it. It was just a case of mistaken identity, and they’ll get over it.” Harry shrugged.
“So you’d be prepared to forgive and forget if I’d kissed Malfoy?”
“I’m not saying that I wouldn’t be angry and hurt, but I suppose in the end it wouldn’t matter.”
“I have to tell you that I’m eager to try out the new, mature you. I’m almost certain that you’d sulk for weeks if I’d done what Hermione has. Not that I blame her, it was mistake,” she added hastily.
“We’ll soon see.” Harry motioned to the fat lady’s portrait; they had arrived there with surprising speed. Before the portrait was even open they could hear the shouting.
“HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW?” Ron bellowed at Hermione as his sister and her boyfriend clambered through the portrait hole. Harry and Ginny held off to one side to avoid being caught in the middle of the row.
“I wasn’t thinking. I was just caught up in the moment. It never occurred to me that the person I was kissing wasn’t you!” she cried. Ron was striding back and forward in front of the fire while Hermione sat in a chair as far away from him as possible.
“BUT HOW? HE ISN’T EVEN THE SAME BUILD AS ME, HE DOESN’T SOUND LIKE ME, AND I VERY MUCH DOUBT THAT HE KISSES LIKE ME!” Ron was beetroot purple in the face and was screaming at the top of his lungs.
“I’ve already told you I wasn’t thinking!” she protested.
“WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT HE WAS ME?”
“He walked up to me and took my hand, I just assumed…I never would have thought that Malfoy would try and kiss me…”
“WHY NOT? MALFOY CAN’T RESIST IT WHEN YOU DANGLE SOMETHING HE WANTS IN FRONT OF HIM, HE WAS BOUND TO MAKE A MOVE!”
“What do I have that Malfoy wants?”
“HAVEN’T YOU SEEN THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT?” He waved an angry hand over her dress and when she blushed he turned his back on her furiously. “IS THAT WHAT THIS WAS ALL ABOUT? WERE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME JEALOUS?”
“Of course I wasn’t. If I was I certainly wouldn’t pick Malfoy to do it!” she yelled with an expression of disgust.
“I thought everything was going so well between us?” Ron said much more quietly.
“It is. This doesn’t change anything!” Hermione argued.
“IT CHANGES EVERYTHING! DO YOU HONESTLY THINK THAT I CAN HUG YOU KNOWING THAT HIS HANDS HAVE BEEN ALL OVER YOU? HOW CAN I KISS YOU WHEN ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS WHERE THAT SCUM’S TONGUE HAS BEEN? IT MAKES ME WANT TO PUKE!” he reverted back to his ear drum shattering screams.
“Well I’m sorry that I make you ill! Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll go to bed before you can insult me any more. Perhaps in the morning you’ll realize that you’re being irrational and maybe we can talk in a civilized manner.” Hermione rose from her seat with the familiar haughty manner that she adopted when under attack.
“That’s not going to happen. I’m sorry, Hermione, but it’s over,” Ron said so quietly it was almost a whisper. This left her speechless; she stood there staring at him with her eyes and mouth open wide.
“Don’t you think that’s a bit much, mate?” Harry said tentatively.
“You’d be okay with Ginny kissing that rat bag, would you?”
“Well, no but…”
“Then don’t criticize.” Ron snapped.
“I’m not criticizing, I just think that you should give yourself some time to think about it,” Harry was trying to reason and not get agitated.
“I DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT MALFOY WITH HIS TONGUE DOWN MY GIRLFRIEND’S THROAT ANYMORE! YOU SAW THEM, THEY COUULD PROBABLY TELL US WHAT EACH OTHER HAD FOR LUNCH!” Although Harry hated to agree with Ron when he was in such a foul mood, he had to. He had squeezed past Hermione and Malfoy on the way to the buffet and it had been difficult to tell where one of them ended and the other began.
“It was just a mistake!” Ginny added her voice of reason to the battle.
“THE WORST ONE THAT IT’S POSSIBLE TO MAKE!” Ron shouted before turning his back on all three of them. “I’m sorry but I can’t, I just… can’t,” he sighed. He looked at each of them before scampering up the stairs to the boy’s dormitory. Hermione burst into tears as soon as he was out of sight, Ginny and Harry tried their best to comfort her.
“He’ll come round, Hermione, he just needs some time to get over it,” Harry assured her as he cradled her head against his shoulder. Ginny was on her other side holding her friend tight against her as well.
“It’ll be all right, you’ll see. We’ll talk to him, won’t we, Harry,” she said confidently but her eyes were pleading with Harry to agree.
“Of course we will. One day when we’re all old and wrinkly, we’ll laugh about all this,” Harry smiled at her.
“I think I’ll go up to bed now,” Hermione said quietly. “Thank you.” She walked away from them desolately and left her feeling of deep despondency with them.
“I really think this is the end for them.” Ginny was close to weeping too.
“How can you be so sure?”
“You know how much hatred there is between our family and the Malfoys. As far as Ron’s concerned, Hermione kissing Malfoy is the ultimate betrayal. No apology is going to make this better,” Ginny shook her head gently, she had really hoped that Ron and Hermione would make it; they’d been getting on so well. Now everything they’d worked for over the last seven years lay in tatters at their feet.
A/N: Please don’t kill me! The next chapter is….The Lions vs. The Snakes.