The Looniest Loony Around

Harry Potter was convinced. He was convinced that he had officially gone around the bend. He was convinced that he was giving Luna Lovegood a run for the title of the Looniest Loony Around.

What WAS he thinking?

Oh right, he wasn't.

Last night had been wonderful. He had been up late, preparing for his extra training lessons with Kingsley when she had come around, making some joke about his inability to look up from a book. She said something about suffering from Hermionitis. But when he did look up, his foolish self jumped up, grabbed her and kissed her. He had confessed his feelings for her and had been delighted to find out that she fancied him too. But now, as the sunlight streamed through the sixth year boys' dormitory windows, he could scarcely believe that he had kissed Ginny.

Why? Because Ginny wasn't just a girl, she was a girl with six brothers and six OLDER brothers at that. It wasn't fair.

All right, Ginny was pretty and smart and pretty and funny and pretty and she didn't make him feel as if the weight of the world was on his young shoulders. Plus, she was also pretty. But Harry was terrified, to say the least.

Harry was also worried. Today was the traditional Quidditch season opener, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin and his co-captain refused to talk to him. He had been foolish enough to wake him up in the middle of the night and tell him everything. He didn’t want him to find out from anybody else.

But what his terrified and worried mind failed to realize was that, today being Ginny's first match as Gryffindor Chaser and Ron's first match as Gryffindor Co-Captain, the entire Weasley family including all the six OLDER brothers were in attendance at Hogwarts.

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The game could easily have been a total disaster, Harry thought as he flew around the pitch with the Snitch in his hand. But, Ginny had been awesome. What Ron let through, Ginny more than made up as a Chaser. By the time Harry spotted the Snitch near the Hufflepuff corner of the stands, Gryffindor was leading 80-60. The catch had been an easy one. Malfoy had no clue where the snitch was, and was currently seething under the glares of his fellow teammates.

As Harry descended towards the rest of the team, he could see Ginny bouncing on the balls of her feet, gazing up at him. Ron was nowhere to be seen. He hoped Hermione could set him right.

All logical thought left his mind as Ginny launched herself at him, kissing him full on the lips. And being the now proven looniest loony around, Harry kissed her back.

But when he came up for air, his blanched face had a terrified look, which to Ginny could mean only one thing, her brothers, her six OLDER and very angry brothers were standing right behind her, glaring daggers at Harry.

And Harry being the brave hero that he was, did the only thing that occurred to him. He pulled an amused Ginny onto his broom and flew away, as fast as his trusted Firebolt would take him.

By the time they landed near the beech tree by the lake, Ginny was laughing uncontrollably and Harry soon caught on to the infectious laughter. As they rolled around laughing, Harry marveled at the fact how his troubles seemed to melt away when he was with Ginny.

"Hi," whispered Ginny, when the laughter died away, her hand caressing Harry's cheek.

"Hi," Harry whispered back, his hands lost in Ginny's hair.

As if drawn together by an invisible rope, their lips met once, twice, thrice and once more as they lost themselves within each other.

"What do I do, Gin?" asked Harry a few moments later as he sat with his back against the tree.

"You have to face them."

Harry didn't like that answer. And it showed on his face.

Ginny smiled at him. "Come on, Harry. You've faced dragons and Death Eaters. Surely you're not afraid of my brothers, are you?" she teased, as she snuggled up against him.

Harry shot her a withering look. "I'm serious, Gin."

"You don't regret it, do you?"

"Regret what?"

"Kissing me, being my boyfriend."

"No," he replied honestly. "But I'm scared. It doesn't help that two of your brothers own a joke shop, which, I might add, is the biggest business success story the wizarding world has seen since the Floo Network was introduced. One of them is a curse breaker, another works with dragons. One is an idiot and the last one is a prat and my best friend. I think I have a right to be scared."

"But," he continued, "being with you cancels it all out. You're the best thing that has happened to me in my whole life. I couldn't regret being your boyfriend, even if I wanted to."

"You, Mr. Potter," Ginny replied teasingly, with a huge smile on her face, "were supposed to be hopeless around girls."

"I still am," Harry said, grinning roguishly. "But you're not just any girl. You're you," he added earnestly.

"Stop when you can, Harry. Hermione's not going to believe this when I tell her."

"You're going to tell her about all this," Harry said, aghast.

"Harry, we're girls, we tell each other everything," she replied, smiling slyly.

"Everything?" he questioned, positively mortified now.

"Everything," she confirmed. "Come on, let's go. You've got a battle to fight."

Harry got up, holding his Firebolt in one hand and Ginny's hand in his other, and trudged on towards the Quidditch pitch, feeling a little better.

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"Potter," growled Bill Weasley, as Harry and Ginny entered the Gryffindor changing rooms.

"Weasleys," replied Harry, inclining his head towards them, slowly turning a sickly green.

He would have probably bolted from the room, had it not been for the firm grip Ginny's hand had on his. Suddenly he realized that her brothers were not likely to find the subject of hand holding amusing at this point of time and tried to pull his hand away. But, Ginny was having none of it.

"Ginny, you can leave. We want to talk to Harry." It was Bill again.

Ginny narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Talk, Bill," she scoffed scornfully, "more likely, attack. You can say whatever you want to right now. I'm staying right here."

Bill blanched. Maybe it was because of Ginny's words and the veiled threat underneath them or maybe it was just the way she was idly fingering her wand.

Her message delivered, she surveyed them all.

But, obviously, the twins, Charlie and Ron were having none of it.

"Stay out of it, Ginny. This is between us and him," said Charlie, pointing at Harry.

"You stay out of it, Charlie. This is between me and him," shot back Ginny.

"The backstabbing git," started Fred.

"The cheating scumbag," continued George.

"Look, guys...." started Harry.

"Don't look guys us, Potter," said Ron. "Get her out of the room first."

It was then that Harry realized a startlingly simple fact. The Weasley brothers were scared of their little sister. Very, very scared. The battle was already won. As long as he had Ginny, they couldn't harm a single hair on his body. He grinned.

Bill, being the oldest and the most mature of them all, came to the same conclusion as Harry. "Ah, the victim has discovered our weakness. With our red fur ball at his side," he said, looking fondly at Ginny, "he can't lose."

"You'll do, mate," he added, holding his hand out for Harry to shake.

"But, Bill…." began Charlie.

But Harry wasn't listening to him. He could see the telltale signs of Ron coming to his senses. Once Bill was fine with it, Ron's approval was only a matter of time.

Ron looked up at Harry. And immediately all was fine, forgiven and forgotten.

Ron motioned towards Ginny, who was laying into the twins, Charlie and Percy, and gave Harry a look that clearly said, What have you gotten yourself into?

Yeah, what had he gotten himself into? What was he thinking, dating Ginny, fierce Ginny, short tempered Ginny, cross-me-and-I'll-hex-you-into-next-week Ginny?

It was only then that Harry realized that he was crazy. He was daft. He was barmy. He was the looniest loony around. But, really, he was just a lucky, lucky guy.