4. Hogsmeade: Conversation
Ginny fought to stay calm, watching Harry carefully. He’d backed away from her and she’d followed; now, there was nowhere for him to go. His back was literally against the wall, and she was the cause. The realisation worried her. She gently put her left hand on his shoulder, deciding not to drop the jumper she still carried in her right. She stepped closer and finally, by moving almost toe to toe with him she managed to catch his sad green eyes. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong,’ she said forcefully, though her voice was barely more than a whisper. ‘But I think I’ve been a bit stupid today.’
The room was still and silent. She did not need to turn to know that everyone was watching them; she could feel the pressure of their curious stares and realised the effect that being the centre of unwanted attention at such a personal moment was having on Harry. She lowered her voice further. ‘I don’t want to finish with you, Harry, I…’ She stopped mid-sentence, somehow managing not to say the ‘L’ word. ‘… I don’t want to be with anyone but you.’
His relief was obvious on his face and in his stance; it was so palpably clear that there was no need for her to ask him anything else. Her concern about Cho vanished; she cursed herself for her stupid jealousy.
She smiled at him. ‘We need to talk, Harry; let’s go outside for a minute,’ she whispered, shivering theatrically. ‘Now, I’m cold,’ she said loudly. ‘I think I’ll put my jumper back on.’
As she pulled the thick green wool over her head, lunch arrived, delivered magically to the table. There were gasps of surprise from the group. There were meat pies, quiches, hams, cold beef, salads and pickles - a massive cold buffet. Harry looked helplessly at Ginny when her head emerged from the jumper.
‘Later,’ she reassured him before tipping her head forward, sliding her hands around her neck and freeing her hair from beneath her jumper. ‘We’ll talk after we’ve eaten.’
‘This is my thank you,’ Harry muttered awkwardly to the group, trying to break the uneasy silence that had fallen around them, ‘my thank you to all of you for sticking with me, for being there when I needed you and for all of the amazing things you did last year.’ He looked at Ginny; she smiled encouragingly, took his hand, and led him to the table.
There was a great deal of embarrassment and confusion as everyone found a place and sat down. Dennis, still only fifteen, remained standing. He filled his goblet with butterbeer and raised it. Everyone else hastily filled their goblets with mead.
‘Fred Weasley,’ Dennis said, nodding to George, who was sitting next to him.
‘Fred.’ Everyone raised their goblets; George stood.
‘Colin Creevey,’ he announced, returning the toast.
‘Colin,’ everyone replied. Even Aberforth Dumbledore had raised a glass to the two fallen members of the DA, Ginny noticed, though he had turned his back on the room, trying to conceal the fact.
After a few moments of mournful silence, George asked, ‘What’re we waiting for? The grub’s going cold.’
There was rather more laughter than should have been expected from such a feeble joke, and much of it sounded self-conscious. The atmosphere between Harry and Ginny combined with Dennis and George’s determined remembrance of their dead siblings had brought a fug of discomfort and depression into the room.
‘Thanks, Harry,’ sang Luna, when the laughter died down, ‘you really are very nice.’
Harry blushed.
Cho stood, raised her glass to Harry, and smiled. ‘To Harry, who really is very nice,’ she said.
There were cheers and more laughter as Harry managed a shy smile. Ginny forced herself to smile and raise her glass, wishing that she’d thought of doing what Cho had done. Cho’s act had unsettled her once again; she was up to something. But whatever was going on, Ginny was sure that, at least so far as Harry was concerned, it wasn’t romantic. That fact had been obvious from Harry’s desperate plea before the meal, and that was all that mattered.
‘We should have a reunion every year,’ Ron suggested. There were mutters of agreement as everyone began helping themselves to the food.
As people began to eat, drink and gossip, the atmosphere began to improve. The meal progressed slowly as those who had left school told each other where they were working and old acquaintances were renewed. Ginny watched Harry carefully from the corner of her eye, trying not to make her observation apparent to anyone.
He relaxed noticeably as attention moved away from him. He was sitting between her and Hermione, who was firing dozens of questions about Auror training at Ron and Harry. Listening to the conversation, Ginny discovered that she already knew everything that Hermione was being told. Harry’s letters to her were obviously much more informative than the ones Ron sent to Hermione.
While trying to keep an eye on her boyfriend, Ginny held a half-hearted conversation with Neville, who was on her right. She amused herself by trying to analyse the seating arrangements. Everyone had simply grabbed a seat with their friends. Luna was between Neville and Dean; then came Seamus, Lavender and Parvati. Michael had squeezed himself between the twins, meaning that he had probably wanted to chat one of them up. As he was working with Padma already, Parvati must have been his target. The other Ravenclaws were clustered together. Then there was Hannah, sitting between Terry and Ernie. She was as far away from her ex-boyfriend as she could manage and still be with her fellow Hufflepuffs. She and Justin hadn’t spoken, and Justin’s tale of his black eye hadn’t gone down well with either Ernie or Susan. As she watched the Hufflepuffs, Hannah glared at her, and Ginny suddenly realised why. Hannah would be better for Neville than Romilda. She must get them back together; she owed Hannah that.
There was no point in confronting Harry about his feelings, not here and now. Getting him talking would require time, tact, patience and privacy. For a moment, Ginny considered the possibility of simply dragging him away from the Hog’s Head. She dismissed the idea soon, however. It would spoil the party, and it was selfish of her; she couldn’t keep him to herself all of the time, though it would have been nice to have him alone more than she’d managed so far today. How had they ended up here, and what were her options?
She’d hurt him. He pushed himself to the front and took control only when necessary. He tolerated being the centre of attention, but he didn’t like it. He had never liked the stares and whispers or the fame; he had simply become good at ignoring them. This, of course, made his life ridiculously complicated. He’d spent years ignoring the gawkers and gossipers. He would, she realised, spend the rest of his life trying to be less famous than he was while doing a job which would often get him in the papers.
It would never be “Aurors Arrest,” after all; it would be “Potter Arrests” in the papers, even if all he did was stand around while Ron did the work. She and Ron had joked about that over the summer. Ron would love the publicity, but he knew that it would never be his. She’d wondered aloud why Ron didn’t get more annoyed. “I don’t need to,” he’d told her, “Harry gets annoyed enough for both of us.” It was during that conversation that she had realised how selfless her youngest brother could be.
Over the summer, they had spent most of their free time in the Muggle world. Harry was so much happier there; where no one pointed or stared at him. It was, he’d often told her, like wearing an Invisibility Cloak but still being seen.
It was amazing how frequently he appeared in the Wizarding press. Most of the reports were nonsense, and Harry seemed to be impervious to the many wild, hurtful, press stories, presumably because he’d been at the centre of so many over the years.
Her choice of clothes today had been an attention-grabbing mistake, as had her first, joking, response to Harry when they’d met. Harry, she knew from experience, could be very insecure. He had managed to reach the conclusion that she wanted to ditch him based on almost nothing; she tried to work out how. As she tried to analyse what had gone wrong, a series of unpleasant thoughts crossed her mind.
He’d told her, in his own clumsy way in his last letter, that he loved her, and she had made a joke. She suspected that, as a consequence, he’d concluded that she didn’t feel the same way. She had dressed rather more provocatively than she’d intended. She’d done it for him, but he seemed to have assumed that she’d done it to impress the other boys. Then, when she’d suggested that he take someone else to the Charity Ball; he’d thought that she was telling him to find someone else. Damn!
Harry was still in mid-conversation with Hermione. She didn’t interrupt; she simply slid her arm around her boyfriend’s waist, squeezed him tightly, and rested her head on his shoulder.
‘I’ve missed you so much,’ she whispered. That was enough, she felt him relax; though not completely. There was still something wrong, something worrying him; should she mention the letter? She decided against it. She simply stayed close throughout the meal. She touched him, held him, and reassured him at every opportunity. Knee, arm, hand; regular, gentle contact.
‘Speech,’ everyone shouted as the plates were cleared away. Harry shook his head.
‘You’ve got to say something, Harry,’ Hermione whispered; Ron nodded his agreement. Harry looked at her, hoping for an ally.
‘Sorry,’ she whispered apologetically. ‘They’re right, you really should say something.’
Harry reluctantly stood and looked around at his friends.
‘I didn’t invite you here to listen to me talk,’ he began, ‘just to say thank you.’
‘So, I’ll simply propose a toast.’ He looked down at Ginny, she smiled encouragingly. As he gazed into her eyes, his own suddenly brightened and sparkled, and he grinned mischievously.
‘This group doesn’t owe its existence to me; I simply ended up as its leader,’ he began with a shrug, ‘and I’ve no idea why!’
Everyone laughed.
‘It was probably because no one else wanted the job. But, Dumbledore’s Army isn’t mine; not really. It belongs to all of us; especially after the amazing things you all did last year. But as for the beginnings, well, this little group of ours owes its creation to a very special lady. A lady who, almost from the day our school year started, just over three years ago, worked tirelessly to make sure that Dumbledore’s Army came into existence.’
Hermione looked down, embarrassed. Ginny watched Harry shrewdly, he was choosing his words very carefully. She caught George’s eye, he was grinning; he saw her and winked, giving her unneeded confirmation that she was right.
‘Without her drive, her passion and her strongly held beliefs, we would never have started this group. I’m sure, by now, that you’ve all guessed who I’m talking about. I have to say that I’m happy to see that she’s finally been rewarded for her efforts; that she has at last got some well-deserved recognition for her talents.’
Hermione blushed furiously.
‘So, everyone, please raise your glasses and join me in a toast … to Dolores Umbridge; may she rot in Azkaban.’
Ron howled with laughter; Hermione’s jaw dropped, and then she, too, joined in the laughter. Through cheers, Ron kissed his girlfriend, and the meal ended on a happier note than it had begun.
Ginny had planned to grab Harry the moment that the meal was over, but he was busily apologising to Hermione. Her brothers collared her before Harry had finished. Almost as soon as the dirty dessert plates disappeared from the table, Ron and George arrived. They lifted her bodily from her seat and dragged her to a quiet corner of the room. She wasn’t really surprised and didn’t protest.
‘What the hell are you wearing?’ Ron asked angrily, ‘are you trying to make everyone think that you’re … you’re …’
‘…a shameless hussy?’ George interrupted, grinning at Ron’s discomfort. ‘Seriously, not-so-little Ginny, that’s not the sort of top you should be wearing in public. I’m not sure that you should be wearing it in front of Harry in private, either; although I don’t think that you were expecting the reaction you got, were you?’
‘No,’ Ginny murmured sadly.
George pulled her into a powerful hug. ‘What was the idea?’ he asked.
Ginny returned the hug and told her brothers. ‘I haven’t seen him in a month; I thought that I’d give him a treat.’
‘You gave every bloke in the room a treat,’ Ron told her.
‘Except us, of course,’ George added, ‘you just made your two favourite brothers unhappy; don’t do it again, or I’ll be forced to take serious measures.’
‘What could you possibly do?’ snorted Ginny dismissively.
‘I’ll take a photograph of you in that top.’ George told her.
‘And then what?’ she rejoined sarcastically, curling her lip.
‘He’ll send it to Dad,’ Ron informed her, a wicked smile on his face. George grinned at Ron’s observation and at Ginny’s look of abject horror. He slapped his brother on the back.
‘He’s not as thick as he lets everyone think, is he?’ George chortled.
‘You can relax, boys,’ sighed Ginny, ‘I’ve learned my lesson; I really have. I’ll save the mini-skirt and halter top for a day when I can guarantee that I’ll get the desired reaction from my boyfriend.’
Ron blushed to the tips of his ears; George laughed loudly and pulled his sister into another tight hug.
‘You’d better be careful, little Ginny,’ he told her. ‘Remember; if you can’t be good, be careful.’
‘Good,’ boasted Ginny, laughing at last at the ridiculous situation she’d put herself in, and thankful to George for lifting her spirits, ‘I’m not going to be good, I’m going to be bloody brilliant, and so’s Harry!’
George laughed. Ron, however, was obviously uncertain whether to laugh or not, so he changed the subject.
‘Found out anything about the Slytherin team?’ he asked her.
Ginny nodded and proceeded to tell her brothers about her upcoming first match against Gryffindor’s fiercest rivals. For several happy minutes, she forgot her worries as she entertained her brothers with the information she’d discovered about her opposition.
‘Girls?’ Ron snorted in disbelief, ‘they’ve never let girls on their team before.’
‘You probably won’t be able to tell the difference,’ said George. ‘Most of the Slytherin girls look like blokes, anyway. There was one in our year who had a moustache; and that Fenella Gray girl, the one we met at Colin’s funeral, is taller than every bloke in this room except Ron, and possibly Terry.’
‘Fenella’s okay,’ Ginny said, ‘she helped Colin and Dennis, remember?’
George nodded and looked around the room at the mention of the Creeveys, ‘The little squirt is looking lost again; he really misses Colin, you know,’ he said, and strolled off to talk to the fifth year.
‘George and Dennis,’ said Ron curiously as he watched his brother amble across the room, ‘d’you think that they’re good for each other? Sometimes I think that they just argue about whose brother was the best.’
‘They are helping each other cope,’ considered Ginny, ‘George has us, but Dennis has no other brothers or sisters. George thinks that he’s doing Dennis a favour, being a surrogate big brother. I reckon that he’s actually helping himself more than he’s helping Dennis, but Dennis appreciates the attention, especially from one of the oldest DA members; he’s so much younger than the rest of us.’
‘He’s two years below you,’ Ron told her, ‘that’s the difference between George’s year and us, it’s not that much.’
‘He’s going to be an Auror, you know,’ Ginny told her brother.
‘Dennis!’ Ron looked astonished, ‘he’s got about as much chance as Lavender.’
‘He’s as determined as Lavender,’ Ginny said, ‘he’ll do it.’
Ron shrugged, took a deep breath and asked the question Ginny had been waiting for ever since George had left them.
‘How’re things between you n’ Harry? Hermione held me back when you took off your jumper; she said that Harry wouldn’t want a scene, that you n’ Harry would sort it out. But you haven’t, have you?’ Ginny gazed up into her brother’s deep blue eyes, almost a foot above her own, and wondered why she was trying to sort things out by herself.
‘Ron,’ Ginny, admitted, her face serious, ‘I’ve hurt Harry. I didn’t do it deliberately, but I did it. I need a few minutes alone with him; will you help me to prise him away from everyone else?’
‘Of course I will.’ Ron smiled. ‘I know what he’d be like if you two don’t sort this out. So do you. He’ll brood until it is sorted, and I couldn’t cope with him being like this until the Slytherin game.’
Ron stopped, then spoke solemnly. ‘You know, there’ve been loads of times over the last couple of years where I’ve had a go at Harry; told him not to mess you about. He didn’t always appreciate it, and neither did you. But now, I’m going to tell you! He’s my best mate, Ginny; don’t you mess him about, either, be straight with him. If you two split, it will be hell for everybody; you could break him.’
Ginny began to protest.
‘Let me finish,’ ordered Ron firmly. Astonished, she did.
‘If you intend to dump him, do it sooner, not later. Me n’ Hermione’ll pick up the pieces. If you’re serious, and now that I’m living with him I can tell you that I’m absolutely bloody certain that he is, don’t let him brood.’ Ron looked over the top of her head, ‘Now’s our chance’ he’s with Hermione and Neville. Let’s go.’
Ginny hugged her brother and they walked rapidly towards Harry. Michael Corner had obviously failed to impress Parvati; he moved to intercept them, but Ron blocked his approach, grinning as he placed a firm hand on the dark-haired Ravenclaw. Ron had never liked Michael.
She continued past Ron and a protesting Michael, but found her path blocked by Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell.
‘Can I ask a personal question?’ Alicia asked cautiously.
‘I think you just have,’ Ginny sighed, ‘but yes, I’m still going out with Harry.’
‘That’s not what I want to know,’ Alicia said, a surprised look on her face, ‘I’m not interested in Harry, Ginny,’ she said, ‘frankly, I still see that scrawny undernourished little first year whenever I look at him. I don’t think many of the girls here are interested. He’d be too much hard work.’
‘No more than I am,’ observed Ginny wryly, ‘so, what did you want to ask me, Alicia?’
‘How did you do it?’ Alicia asked.
‘Do what?’
‘The vest top, how did you make it so tight?’ the older girl asked in a whisper.
Ginny grinned. ‘Carefully applied Shrinking Charms plus a Cushioning Charm for the chest. It isn’t really very difficult. I can show you, but not now; I really need to speak to Harry.’
‘Okay, thanks.’ Alicia smiled and let Ginny pass.
As she continued towards Harry, Ginny saw Hannah Abbott standing alone and looking rather lost. She approached the blonde witch and looked up into her grey eyes.
‘I was rude, before, Hannah,’ apologised Ginny, ‘I shouldn’t have interrupted your conversation with Nev.’
Hannah said nothing.
‘Let’s both go and talk to Harry,’ Ginny suggested, Hannah glanced towards Harry, Hermione and Neville and nodded silently.
When they reached Harry, they discovered that he was involved in a complicated discussion with Hermione about werewolf rights. Neville was looking bored.
‘You were telling Hannah about last year at school, Nev,’ Ginny said, ‘but I interrupted. Hannah’s been asking me about it,’ she lied, ‘but I thought, as you were there right to the end and I wasn’t, you could answer her questions.’
‘What do you want to know, Hannah?’ Neville enquired.
‘Well, just, what really happened,’ said Hannah nervously.
‘That will take all day,’ Neville told her, smiling, ‘I hear that you did a good job, too, eavesdropping on Death Eaters, passing information to the resistance.’
‘It wasn’t much...’ The buxom blonde witch smiled modestly and took a step backwards. Ginny watched with interest as Hannah backed away from Harry and Hermione. Neville followed almost unconsciously.
Harry and Hermione were still discussing werewolves. Ginny listened to them in silence. She was desperate to interrupt, but she was happy to be close to a Harry who was obviously passionately interested in the topic of conversation. Ron joined them, winked at his sister, and changed the subject, teasing Hermione about being Head Girl. Ginny took the opportunity to move her boyfriend away from Ron and Hermione.
‘I seem to have made a bit of a fool of myself today, Harry,’ she said. ‘Thank you for the party; it was a great idea, and we should do it again next year. If we do, I promise that I’ll behave myself.’
Harry looked at her, sadly, ‘I’m sorry if I’ve done something to upset you, Ginny; I’ve really missed you this last month.’
‘I’ve been missing you, too, Harry; shall we go outside for a while? We could try to find somewhere quiet to talk.’
Harry nodded; he rather hesitantly reached forwards. He was even uncertain whether it would be all right for him to take her hand. She grabbed it eagerly and gave a squeeze of encouragement. He led her towards the door. At last, time alone, Ginny thought.
A bell chimed, the noise coming from inside Hermione’s robes.
‘Hogwarts students,’ the Head Girl announced, ‘we have half an hour to get back to school before Filch closes the gates and reports us to the Headmistress. It’s a fifteen minute walk, so we need to be getting ready to leave.’
Aurors and Schoolgirls by Northumbrian
Chapter Notes: Harry and Ginny need to talk, but will they be able to snatch a moment together?
Chapter Endnotes: Thanks (in alphabetical order) to Amelíe, Andrea, Apurva and Natalie for their comments, corrections and input. Please review. Constructive criticism is always gratefully received.