Walk

The morning dawned muggy and hot in Ottery St. Catchpole. Harry Potter was to be found putting on his usual shorts and t-shirt. Since he had arrived at the Burrow two weeks ago, he had gotten up early every day to go for a short walk through the woods in the backyard. It helped him clear his head and he found himself more able to be open and friendly with his friends, as opposed to taciturn and morose.

Harry stumbled down the stairs into the kitchen to have a quick breakfast before he went. In the kitchen already was Ginny Weasley, Harry's best friend's little sister. As the summer progressed, Ginny had slowly begun to lose the little sister label. Harry could now confidently call her his friend.

She looked up from her cereal and the Daily Prophet, which was spread over the table.

"Hi, Harry. What are you up to today?"

"Oh, I thought I'd take a walk then see what you and Ron and Hermione were doing," he answered as he went to the cupboards.

"Mmm..." She paused. "Where are you going to walk?"

"Uhh... I thought I'd go through the woods a bit." Harry said distractedly as he moved cans and boxes to find the cereal he was looking for.

"Oh." She nodded and went back to reading.

Harry found his breakfast, cereal and an apple, and ate silently across from Ginny. He was staring at the upside-down newspaper blindly while eating and didn't notice Ginny glancing at him.

Suddenly, with such fast movement that Ginny slopped her cereal on the table, Harry jumped up, pushed the chair back with an unpleasant scraping noise, and said, rather loudly, "Well, I'm off. See you."

Harry strode meaningfully out the door, already feeling better. The sky was a medium gray, but he could see in the distance, the sky was closer to black. He slowed a bit as he reached the forest and breathed deeply. He loved it in there.

"Hey, Harry! HARRY!" he heard as he entered the trees. He whirled around, subconsciously putting his hand to his wand. He dropped it a second later; it was only Ginny.

She was sprinting towards him, holding an apple and trying to take bites but not stop. Harry waited. She was panting when she caught up to him.

"Hey.... d'you mind if... if... I... join you?" she asked.

"Wha- oh, sure." He had been expecting that she was just relaying him a message.

They marched off into the forest, not talking at first. Harry was grateful that she wasn't talking yet, and was pleased that the silence was not tense in the least.

"So... do you come here often?" Ginny said, around twenty minutes later.

"Yeah, every morning before Ron gets up," Harry answered. It had started to drizzle, but they both continued walking as if it were still dry. Harry kept his head down and started kicking a pure white stone he found.

"That's nice."

The conversation turned, predictably, to Quidditch first. The one they both knew and were passionate about. After, they talked about the Gryffindor team's prospects. It turned from there to people they thought would be on the team, to who would be captain, to them telling each other about their friends.

Ginny was surprisingly easy to talk to, not unlike Hermione or Ron. Harry and Ginny had been walking for at least forty minutes, possibly more and all the while the clouds had darkened and the rain had picked up.

"Maybe we should head back, now," Harry said in a lull of the conversation after a funny story about one of Ginny's dorm mates. The rain was coming considerably now, and Mrs. Weasley was surely looking for them. Ginny looked a little disappointed, but agreed.

They started talking about their families, and life before Hogwarts. Harry was again grateful the Ginny didn't require much answering on his part. She shared little anecdotes about life with the Weasleys, good and bad, sad and happy. Harry hunched his shoulders against the wind and continued kicking the stone he had found. He was smiling to himself, thinking that maybe his life would have been like hers, had he parents.

Ginny, sensing his mood, continued telling him about her life all the way back to the house. They reached the house just as Ginny was telling a story about Bill and Charlie playing Quidditch.

"And so then Charlie started to zoom around, doing dives and flips and everything. Fred and George, Ron, and me were watching, amazed, but Bill didn't like him showing off, so he took the Quaffle and hit it with the Beater's bat right at his stomach as Charlie was pulling up from a dive. He fell flat on his back and mom had never been madder at Bill. It was worth it, thought. Charlie was becoming unbearable. He was better after that." She was gesturing with every word she said, but Harry kept his head down, shoulders hunched and laughed, almost sadly, the whole time. She illustrated Charlie falling off his broom by staggering backwards and flailing her arms. At this, Harry looking up, laughing openly, and relaxed his shoulders. Ginny seemed pleased.

They continued on; Ginny wasn't quite done with her story.

"After mum found Charlie on the ground, she said Bill had to spend the next week doing all the chores by himself. He looked so sad, I remember. He went up to his room and wouldn't talk to mum. Later, when I was going to bed, I walked by his room and heard mum talking to him, but she sounded nice and comforting and... mum-like." She too had been looking at him kicking his stone, but she turned to look into his face. "It was then, I think, that I realized that mum would always be there for me, no matter what, that she would always love me. And Harry-" she stopped at faced him fully. He stopped too, but kept his eyes down. "She'll always be there for you too. We'll all always be there for you. And Harry-" she surprised him then by putting her hand on his cheek and forcing him to look at her. He allowed her to, and looked into her eyes. "I'll always be there for you." He tried to jerk his head back to the ground, but she held fast. He w! as happy she did. "Always." She was almost whispering, but her words dripped with sincerity. He nodded.

Abruptly, she turned back to cheerful and practically skipped over to a tree and sat down. She patted the ground next to her.

"Are you kidding?" he half-laughed, holding up a hand to the rain. "It's pouring." And it was- as they were talking, they hadn't realized that the rain had almost become torrential. "Shouldn't we go in?"

"Oh, come on! You told me you loved the rain. Come on," she added when he pointed to the house.

Shrugging, he walked over to her and sat next to her. They were silent. Harry leaned his head back and loved the feeling of the water dripping down his face.

"Thanks," Harry said quietly, not looking at her.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"I said- thank you, for everything." He turned his head to look at her, and surprised even himself when he reached down and found her wet hand. He forced his fingers through hers and clutched, not even letting water separate them.

Ginny, with her mouth slightly opened, looked at Harry, then to their hands, then back. Nodding, she returned the pressure he was giving her. They just looked at each other, neither knowing what to do. Harry felt a pleasant leap in his stomach. Still, they said nothing.

They both jumped when they heard the screams of Mrs. Weasley. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? IN THE HOUSE- NOW, GINEVRA WEASLEY!" Mrs. Weasley added when Ginny looked reluctant. "YOU TWO ARE GOING TO HAVE AWFUL COLDS! In the kitchen, come on! Luckily I just made some Pepper-Up Potion."

"Mum, please, it's just a bit of rain," Ginny tried, when they got inside the house.

"Ha! Just a bit of rain, eh? Its been pouring all day. How long have you been out there?"

"Just a couple of minutes, honest Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, laughing when Ginny looked back at him whispering in his ear, "'A couple of minutes?' Hours, maybe." Harry just smiled still more widely.

"All right, all right," Mrs. Weasley said as she ushered them into the kitchen.

Harry had no idea what any of what had happened earlier meant, but he did know that he was the happiest he had been since before he could remember. So, after drying off, Harry and Ginny joined Ron and Hermione doing homework in the living room. As Harry and Ginny occasionally shot each other glances and smiles, Harry thought, "Maybe this year won't be so bad, after all."