163Well, that could not have gone any worse. I jump as I feel a small tap on my shoulder. I turn and see a very distressed Harry. I sort of remember him telling me to talk to Ron alone, away from people, in a quiet environment.
Well, I completely failed.
"Come on Ginny, we need to sit before people start staring again," Harry mumbles before grabbing my hand and dragging me to the table. I might have been a little dazed after Ron and I's very public fight….
Crap, I mean me and Ron's very public fight. Darn that Hermione, I'm even starting to think in correct grammar. But as soon as Harry takes my hand it's like an electric shock to my system.
We are holding hands.
I am holding Harry Potter's hand.
I quickly command my body not to sweat. No way is my stupid body going to gross Harry out with sweaty hands. We reach the table and Harry lets go of my hand, causing me to return to sulking. All my real problems rush back to me and I remember all too clearly that I have a brother that is extremely pissed and I am out of green juice.
I look at Hermione and then at Harry. Both look sullen. I know that I am the one that royally screwed our chances of getting rid of Lavender, but I wasn't aware of how disappointed these two would actually be.
"Okay I'm really sorry I lost my temper with Ron, but I think we need to come up with a plan fast," I say in what I hope is an assertive voice.
"There's no hope now," Harry mumbles. "She's probably brainwashing Ron to hate all of
us right now as we speak".
"No, we'll catch her in the act and make Ron see the truth!" I cry. "If he sees her in all her skanky glory, then how can he not believe us!"
"And what exactly do you suggest we do to catch her?" Hermione asks finally looking up. I know this Ron situation must be getting to her. Her crush must be worse than I thought.
"Well I was actually hoping you had some ideas, since you are the smartest here," I say laying it on a little thick; she loves it when I complement her brain.
"Hey, what about me?" Harry asks jokingly. He knows he doesn't compare to Hermione though.
"Well, you'll have to give me some time to think," Hermione states with a determined expression and a slight nod of her head. "Why don't we all meet up later tonight after everyone's gone to sleep, and discuss what we come up with?"
"Well, we better get going to our classes. It is the first day after all!" she chirps in her studious voice as she ushers us out of the Great Hall.
I turn towards Charms and find Harry right behind me. "I was just wondering, what was so great about that juice?" Harry asks with a curious expression as he continues to walk next to me.
Why was he going this way? He had Care of Magical Creatures right now. But it's not like I was eavesdropping on him and Ron or anything…. Or that I memorized his schedule by heart….
"Well Harry, it tastes beyond amazing. Better than the food at the Back-to-School Feast," I say, confirming his bewildered look. "But it's one of those things you have to drink to understand what I mean," I continue, trying not to sound all crazy over the green juice.
He still looks at me with a bewildered, slightly-concerned-for-my-sanity look but I don't blame him. After all, I didn't understand why Hermione loved it so much until I tried it either.
"Oh? Next time you get some, you'll have to let me try it then," he says with a smile before waving and sauntering off towards Hagrid's cabin.
Yeah, there's no way he's getting anywhere near my green juice. I don't care how cute he is. There are just somethings that are more important than boys.
Okay, I can see how I might sound a little crazy.
Charms flies by as does the rest of the day and then it's off to double Potions.
Whoever put together my schedule is cruel. What a way to end a Monday. At least we have Potions with the Ravenclaws. I set my second-hand cauldron down on the table next to Luna's.
"Hello Ginny," she says dreamily.
"Hey Luna, I've missed you," I respond. I sure did miss Luna. She's like the Hermione of our year, except weird. Always talking about creatures nobody has ever heard of or wearing weird things with her robes.
"I've been sensing a disturbance in the atmosphere. It's probably just Nargles though," she says in her soft, sleepy voice right before Snape starts on one of his long rants.
What are bloody Nargles?
I'm only half listening to Snape describe the uses of some potion we're supposed to be making later. I take out some parchment and start doodling. By the time he finishes, we only have a few minutes left in class and I have a full piece of parchment, covered in dragons and various pictures of Lavender in peril.
"Next class, we will make the potion," Snape says dryly before walking out of the classroom. What a productive class. But at least my first day is over. There isn't even that much homework to do, which is good since I still have summer work to do later. As I am rolling up my parchment, I feel a tap on my shoulder.
"My favorite was the one with the dragon," Harry's voice says, coming from nowhere. At first I think I'm going crazy but then I remember that he has an invisibility cloak.
"What are you doing here?" I whisper to the empty space behind me, searching around for any sign of a body.
"I needed a place to hide while I shoved off Divination," Harry responds. Leave it to him to skip most of his first day. "And plus, who would look for me in Snape's room?" he says. I wonder how he knew that I had Potions at the end of the day….
"Well why are you still invisible?" I ask, getting annoyed that I can't see the gorgeous person I'm speaking to. I watch as a ripple through the air reveals the cloak sliding off, and Harry sitting right where Luna had been earlier, a little more to the left of where my gaze had been focused.
He smiles and I have no idea why. He continues to look at me with those emerald green eyes and I suddenly feel the need to do something with my hands.
"So what are you up to Potter," I ask as I gather up my books and put my caldron away.
"Oh you know, the usual. I'm supposed to meet Ron for dinner but I've got some time to kill before then. What about you?" he asks.
"I was just off to the library to finish my summer work," I say. Why is he so interested anyway? He's just making small talk, I tell myself.
"Well I'll walk you there. The Great Hall is on the way anyway," he says, grabbing my bag. He wants to walk me to places now? Does that still fall under the small talk category?
I reach out for my bag in surprise. "Are you sure? I don't want to make you late for your man-date or anything," I say with a smirk, forgetting about my nervousness and enjoying Harry's discomfort at the word 'man-date'.
"Ron's a big boy, he can wait," Harry responds returning my smile. We start to walk to the library and an awkward silence settles in.
"So have you come up with any ideas?" I ask, trying to fill the silence of the hallway.
"Err, no, I'm not really the planning type—that's more of a Hermione thing," he responds looking ahead.
"Yeah my ideas are really bad," I say.
"They can't be that bad. At least something is better than nothing," Harry reasons, with a positive smile.
"No way, they completely suck," I respond giving him a trust-me-they-suck look.
It's kind of weird, being alone with Harry like this. He seems nervous without a few people around him, or should I say around us. He has a different type of charm, it's like an awkward type of charm.
"Tell me some," he demands, trying to prove to me that I can think of good ideas.
"I uh-" I stammer. Saved by the library I think as the big oak doors approach us. "See you tonight Harry!" I say. There is an awkward moment where I think about giving him a hug of a hand shake or something but I just grab my bag and quickly walk into the library.
Of course, Hermione is here, surrounded by a mountain of books. I sit down at a clear spot and pull out some homework. Hermione won't think of breaking the silence of the library to talk to me; that is if she even notices I'm here.
Sometimes she gets into this zone where she doesn't even notice anything. One time, Harry and Ron spent an entire day throwing enchanted paper airplanes at her and she didn't even notice until she woke up with one stuck in her hair the next day.
So I settle into my own little zone and try to redirect my thoughts of Harry and what just happened towards thoughts of school work. At first, this works for a while until all my work is completed, including my charms paper that isn't due for another week.
I look towards the window and see that it is completely dark, but Hermione is still sitting next to me with her nose in a book. I silently tear a piece of parchment and start to write a note:
Sorry to interrupt but have you looked out the window recently? I think it might be time to meet up with Harry.
–G.
I drop it onto her book, forcing her to look at it. I hear a sigh as she moves for the first time in hours and starts packing up. She follows me out of the library towards the tower.
"How was your first day?" I ask, trying to break the silence that has followed us out of the library.
"Oh, it was wonderful! Whoever made my schedule loves me. I mean Care of Magical Creatures and double Ancient Ruins!" Hermione gushes with a pleased smile. Lucky her. My classes don't excite me as much hers do for her. She continues telling me about every single detail of her day including all of the books she has read in the library, until we reach the fat lady. I mumble "apple crumble" and the portrait swings open to reveal an empty common room.
"I thought Potter was going to wait for us?" I ask, looking around for the dark-haired boy.
"I did wait for you," says Harry as he pulls off his cloak. Does he wear that thing everywhere?
"Alright then, is everyone ready to discuss our plans?" Hermione asks in a professional tone. She really does enjoy these kinds of things.
Harry looks a little confused and I'm guessing he doesn't have much of a plan.
"Ginny, why don't you tell us your plan," Hermione demands, looking at me expectantly.
Crap, I don't really have anything. I just figured we were going to use whatever plan Hermione came up with. So I decide to say the first thing I think of.
"Well why don't me and Harry date. You know, to piss off Ron," I blurt out, trying to sound reasonable. Oh crap, that made no sense at all. Did I really just say that?
"Ginny, have I taught you nothing! You should have said 'Harry and I'" Hermione says with a smirk, looking like she's trying to keep herself from bursting with laughter.
Harry looks embarrassed and asks, "How exactly would this get rid of Lavender? Sure, it would piss Ron off, but it doesn't interfere with his relationship with her at all."
"Um, I hadn't really gotten that far in the planning stage yet," I answer quickly, looking at anything but the two humans in front of me. Why don't I think before I speak?
Hermione is trying not to laugh at me and I can feel my face reddening.
"Why don't we just stalk Lavender? We could work in pairs and one of us could stay with Ron and bring him when we need him. It won't be too hard with my invisibility cloak," Harry says, finally breaking the embarrassment of the room.
"Wow, Harry how did you know what my plan was?" Hermione asks, looking dumbfounded and amazed that anyone could match her genius, even if it's for a second.
"I'm all for stalking Lavender," I add, eager for them to forget my previous outburst.
"Alright, so Harry why don't you babysit Ron tomorrow and we'll follow Lavender after dinner," Hermione asks, looking excited as the plan to get rid of Dragon Dung is falling into place.
Harry hands me the invisibility cloak, looking a little disappointed. I guess he'll have to actually attend his classes now.
I look down at the cloak in my hands and silently fight the urge to sniff it.
"How about we utilize the Marauder's Map too?" Harry suggests.
"Oh yes, of course. You should hang on to that tomorrow to make sure you and Ron don't run into us," Hermione says with a smile. It's all coming together now.
"We'll send you a signal on the enchanted galleons we used in 5th year for the DA," Hermione adds, pulling out three golden coins from her pocket and handing one to each of us.
"Do we still use them the same way?" Harry asks as he runs his thumb around the rim of the coin absentmindedly.
"Yes of course, but this time we'll be sending private messages, so instead, you think the person's name first before your message or it will be sent to all of the coins," Hermione explains.
"So who's going to babysit Ron after Harry?" I ask Hermione casually but practically begging her with my eyes for it to be her.
"I'm not sure yet, I'll draw up a schedule during my free period," she answers with a smirk, knowing exactly what I want. Trying not to imagine my possible future evening with Ron which is bound to be just great fun, I change the subject.
"So Harry, what are you and Ron going to do tomorrow?" I ask.
"Oh you know, it'll just be a typical guy night," he answers secretively.
Before I can question him further, Hermione cocks an eyebrow and asks, "And what exactly is a typical guy night?"
He just smiles up at Hermione with an innocent puppy-dog look. It reminds me of the look I give my mother when I'm saying something she doesn't want to hear and I'm begging her not to punish me.
"We'll probably just talk about girls…and then try out dangerous spells or maybe I'll get him drunk," Harry says with a chuckle, the innocent look disappearing and being replaced by a look of amusement at something he's remembering.
"Harry, what girls do you have to talk about," Hermione asks with a sly smile. He reddens and stutters, "N-nobody at the moment, but there was Cho Chang," he says sheepishly.
"She doesn't even count Harry since she was in love with Cedric," Hermione counters.
Harry shoots her a glare for bringing that up again, which quickly turns into a disappointed, slightly-disgusted cringe. "Well, I guess I'm in for an evening of Ron and Lavender's exploits then," he sighs.
We all shiver. Even thinking about those two sickens all of us. I mean, who'd want to get with that piece of Dragon Dung anyway?
"Oh Harry, don't get Ron drunk either, he needs to be competent when he discovers Lavender," Hermione says. She doesn't approve of alcohol but Harry and Ron certainly do.
"I was only joking about that Hermione," he retorts, but his face says he wasn't. Hermione doesn't believe him either but drops it; I guess she didn't feel like lecturing tonight.
"Well this was an easy planning session. Harry, are you sure your okay with babysitting Ron tomorrow?" Hermione asks. He just nods glumly. Yeah, it will be sad to babysit Ron when it's my turn too.
"Well, I'm going up to sleep now, so goodnight you two," she says with a sleepy smile as she climbs the stairs.
"Yeah see you tomorrow Ginny," Harry says with a yawn. He breathes in like he's about to say something else, but lets the air out again and turns to walk up the stairs towards his dormitory, leaving me all alone in the common room.
A/N: So first, I'd like to say thanks to everyone that is reading this, and don't worry, it's about to get very interesting in the next few chapters. I promise. I still love everyone who reviews but if you haven't, that's okay too. I hope you like my story and continue reading.
PS: Since school is starting up again, chapters will probably not be up as fast as they have been, but I've got a good chunk of this story already written, so it shouldn't take to long.
PPS: This is NOT a Half-Blood Prince story, it's after the downfall of Voldemort and the war. They're back in school to finish the year took place during the war and because Ginny is 1 year younger then Ron, Harry and Hermione, it's her 6th year and Ron, Harry and Hermione's 7th. I hope that's not too confusing.
-M