The Matchmaker

So far, Ginny had to admit, the day had not gone as badly as she had feared. She had walked into Hogsmeade with her friend, Luna Lovegood. It was a blustery day, reminding them that winter was not far off, but still comfortable enough to enjoy being outdoors. Luna, although a bit odd at times, was a good person to chat with and always good for a laugh. The two girls had ambled along the main street of Hogsmeade for a short while, until running into Neville, who promptly found an excuse to drag Luna away. Laughing to herself, Ginny decided it was time to head to Honeydukes, where she had agreed to meet Harry.

Entering the shop, Ginny took a quick glance around but Harry was nowhere in sight. Deciding she must be early, Ginny began to peruse the various sweets, looking for something to keep her mind off of the nervousness she could feel creeping into her stomach. After some time, she glanced at her watch and realized that Harry was half an hour late. Temper rising, she worried that maybe he had changed his mind and decided not to meet her. Well, Ginny thought, I'm not going to stand around all day waiting for him! Feeling that she needed to buy something after standing around the shop for so long, Ginny grabbed a sugar quill from a barrel and went to the counter to pay.

After making her purchase, Ginny thanked the clerk and turned to walk out of the door just as it swung open from the outside.

"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed, running a hand nervously through his dark hair and making it stick up even more than normal. "Good, I was afraid you would have left. I'm so sorry I'm late."

"Late? Oh, we were supposed to meet today, weren't we?" she asked in false recollection. She was embarrassed by having to wait so long, and she knew that she was lashing out in a horribly passive aggressive manner, but Ginny could not help herself. "I'd completely forgotten!"

To make matters worse, it didn't look like Harry was buying her little white lie at all. She watched as his brow furrowed in confusion and a smile played in his eyes. "Oh, well, I'm sorry anyway," he said warmly. "We're both here now though, if you'd like some company?"

"Sure," she answered. "Where would you like to go?"

"Why don't we head over to the Three Broomsticks?"

They walked over to the pub in relaxed conversation, chatting easily about the Quidditch team and their prospects for the year. It was strange to be strolling through Hogsmeade with Harry like this. It was much more comfortable than she had expected, almost normal, even though it had never happened before. Ginny laughed quietly to herself.

"What is it?" Harry asked as they walked up the steps to the Three Broomsticks.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking how a few years ago I would have given anything to be spending the day with you like this, and it's much different than I had imagined."
"Really?" Harry asked, intrigued. "Better or worse?"

He opened the door for her as they headed inside. "Well, I'm not blushing and stammering for one, so I'd have to say that's positive. Being friends is so much easier!"

They were confronted by the noise inside the building as soon as they entered, and Ginny quickly began looking around for people she knew. She did not see the small frown that quickly crossed Harry's face at her remark. "Look!" she cried, "There's Neville and Luna. Why don't we go sit with them?"

Harry followed her over to the large table, squeezing between bodies and tables in the crowded space. It seemed that almost everyone had decided stop in for a Butterbeer today. Fortunately, 'everyone' did not include Ron, which Harry noticed as he immediately scanned the crowd for his best friend. The last thing he wanted was for Ron to see him walking in with Ginny. They sat down with Luna and Neville, Hogwarts newest unofficial couple. Harry thought they were strangely well matched. Having a girlfriend (even if they weren't calling it that) had certainly helped Neville's confidence a great deal, and he likewise had a special talent for keeping Luna's head out of the clouds. At least more often anyway. Harry saw Neville raise a questioning eyebrow as he and Ginny joined them, but he ignored it.

Ginny and Luna quickly began talking about their classes and approaching OWLS, their sympathetic companions offering advice now and then. Harry glanced at the door from time to time, unconsciously looking for his best friends. He had expected them to end up here eventually with everyone else. Soon other members of the former Dumbledore's Army joined them. Dean and Seamus took a seat at the table and shortly after they were joined by Susan Bones and her boyfriend, Justin Finch-Fletchley. Harry began to relax slightly, although still reflexively sneaking looks at the door. Although now in a large group, he was still extremely aware of the fact that he was sitting right next to Ron's sister, a fact that he knew his best friend would frown on. He did not know how he would react if Ron asked him again about his sister, but Harry was aware that he was not a very good liar. His best chance was not to have the conversation at all.

Harry jumped slightly as he felt something unexpectedly touch his leg right above his knee. He nearly choked when he looked down to see the pressure was being put there by Ginny's hand. Blushing slightly, he quickly looked up at her expectant face, realizing that she had been trying to get his attention. Harry had been so caught up in his thoughts that he had not heard Ginny calling his name.

"You can budge over if you want," Ginny said coolly.

"Huh?" Harry said, still nervously aware that she had not moved her hand yet and doubting rather he really wanted her to. She leaned in closer to him to keep the rest of the table from overhearing their conversation.

"You can move to a different seat."

"Why would I do that?"

"Harry, since the moment we sat down you've been watching that door like it's going to explode or something," Ginny said with a small smile, removing her hand from where it had rested and creating a void in the closeness Harry had felt at her light touch.

"No, I haven't!" Harry denied quickly, fully knowing it was a horrendous lie.

"God forbid someone, that someone being my brother, of course, should walk in here and see me sitting next to you!" Ginny whispered angrily. Harry was not particularly intimidated, however, as the only thing he seemed to be able to focus on at the moment was the feeling of her warm breath on his ear. She was so close it was driving him mad. "Don't be such a prat, Harry. We're only friends, sitting with a very large group of our other friends. I don't know what you think my brother could find to say about it."

Harry was about to respond when a movement at the door of the pub caused him to recoil from Ginny slightly. A head of bushy, brown hair was slowly working it's way purposefully toward the bar. Harry was surprised that Hermione did not come over to say hello, but even more surprised that Ron was not with her. He had assumed that they would stay together for the day. He noticed that for some reason she seemed to be carrying a picnic basket, and for the life of him, he could not figure out why. The room was much too crowded to be able to see what Hermione was doing at the bar, but Harry was not curious enough to go over and find out. Finished with her task, Hermione left quickly, without ever glancing around the room at all.

"So, do you think my brother is ever going to pull his head out of his bum?" asked Ginny, who had obviously seen him observing his friend.

"What do you mean?" Harry replied. Ginny gave him a knowing look and Harry laughed, his green eyes flashing. "Oh, I think they'll get it together eventually."

"You know, I think you and I should really do the entire house a favor and speed up the process," Ginny said with a mischievous grin.

Harry was rapidly reminded of her relationship to Fred and George. He didn't realize the resemblance could be so uncanny when Ginny was up to something. "And how do you propose to do that?"

"Well, I think my dear brother needs a little competition - or at least, he needs to think he has competition," she said, giving him a meaningful look.

Completely lost, Harry asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, it would be pretty easy for you. You already spend a lot of time with Hermione. You would just have to find excuses to spend more time with her alone."

"You don't think I would...!" Harry sputtered. "Have you gone completely...?" He couldn't think of a strong enough word. Maybe he had been wrong about Ginny after all. He considered for a moment whether or not she had been dropped on her head as a child.

His thoughts must have shown on his face because Ginny answered exasperatedly, "Oh for goodness sakes, I'm not telling you to go snog her! Just spend more time with her." Harry had a sudden vision of being alone with Hermione in the library, listening to her drone on about how he should do his work ahead of time and start studying for next year's NEWTs. It sounded about as much fun as being locked in a cage with one of Hagrid's blast-ended screwts.

"There's got to be someone else better for this!" Harry exclaimed. "I don't want to get in the middle of it. They are both my friends."

"All the more reason," Ginny said calmly.

"No way," said Harry intensely. "No way am I getting involved in this. You've gone completely mad!"

Harry was saved from Ginny's response by horrified screams and what sounded like an explosion coming from outside. The entire pub became frighteningly silent as Harry's stomach dropped to his feet.