Paper Should Be Good Enough

Paper should be good enough--Chapter 6

"I'm all right," Neville says for the millionth time. "It doesn't hurt that much." Eventually most of the Gryffindors wanders out of the hospital wing and Ginny, Harry, Hermione and Ron are the only ones left.

"Unforgivable Curses," Ron says to Harry. "It could be one of You-Know-Who's people. Who else in the school would be powerful enough to use one of them?"

"No students," Hermione says. She bites her lip. "Harry, I think you should take Dumbledore's advice and hide, for your own good. If someone is able to walk easily into the common, all they have to do is walk up a flight of stairs, and..." She swallows hard and leans on Harry's shoulder. Harry puts his arm around her, and Ginny is suddenly swallowed into bitter jealousy.

"It's okay, 'Mione. Everything's all right. I'm not going to run away. Besides, you know as well as I do that the more I run, the closer I get to him. Fate tends to do that to me."

"Whoever it is, they're good at Memory Charms, too," Neville says. "They wiped my memory clean from about 7:30 forward. I don't even remember what I was doing in the common."

"Did you see anything, Ginny?" Ron says.

She looks up. "Hmm?"

"Did you see anything?" he repeats.

She cocks her head to the side and blinks a few times. She bites her lip. "I don't think so."

"Dianthe Donnelly said you were late to bed," Hermione says. "Were you with Neville?"

"I don't think so." Ginny touches her forehead. "I... I don't remember."

"Maybe your memory was wiped, too," Harry says. He looks at her and she looks at him. Ron breaks through the silence.

"Are you sure?" He gives Harry another odd look and grabs Ginny's shoulders. "If you can remember anything, tell us."

"All right," she says, then steps back. The very thought of Ron's hands on her shoulders wells pure disgust in her body. She looks over at Harry again, who nods so barely that she hardly notices.

She leaves the hospital wing, all those feelings of disgust, jealousy, pride, and smugness jelling into a sublime high like nothing she's ever felt before.

We should tell Harry to tell Ron

, Tom says to her. It's time. Ron is going to reveal himself. You know he will. You need to make Harry truly love you, so that he won't make the fatal decision of choosing "friendship" over true love. It's time to show Ron's true colors.

Yes. Yes. That's what I'll do.

--------

The note Harry slips in her pocket at lunch. Wanted to let you know that Neville is out of the hospital wing. Forget about the Astronomy Tower. Come to the dorm. Make sure no one sees you. We really have to talk. I'll try to lock the door, but I can't promise anything.

She makes yet another excuse, slips up into the dorm, and Harry is there, waiting. He kisses her on the cheek and grins. She grins back. "Did you miss me?" she says.

"More than anything." She sits beside him on the bed. Harry is staring deep into her eyes, and he appears to be puzzled. "Ginny," he says. "Why are your eyes turning colors?"

She shrugs. "It must be the light. You know I have brown eyes."

"They just... well, they look green."

She shrugs again, and runs her hand against Harry's. "Harry, I think we should tell Ron." She shushes his frantic, obvious denial with a finger to his lip. "He'll find out eventually and he'll appreciate it more if he doesn't find out by walking in on us snogging. It's for our good." She pulls her other hand away and takes his hand in both of hers.

"He'll kill me, Gin," Harry says. His eyes dart away from her face. "He'll beat me senseless. He'll hate me for the rest of my life."

She touches her hand to his face. "Don't you love me, Harry?" she simply says.

He looks up into her now greenish-brown eyes. "Yes," he says. He pulls her into his arms and strokes her back. "We'll tell him tomorrow," he says. "Tomorrow, I promise. If that's really what you want."

"I don't want to have him protecting me like that anymore," she says. "I'm not a child." She settles against him. "You don't think I'm a child, do you?"

"No," he sighs. "No. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, Ginny."

She leans close to his ear and whispers, "Do you really love me, Harry?"

"Yes," he whispers.

"Good." She pulls away and cups Harry's chin in her other hand, says, "You're mine, Harry. Isn't that right?"

"Yes," he says again. "You've given me everything I ever wanted."

She kisses him on the cheek, and he flushes. "That's right, Harry," she whispers. "I know you, I know you more than anyone knows you. You must trust me and only me, Harry. Do you understand?"

"Yes," he says again. "Yes, Ginny. I trust you more than anybody."

"I looked up the Fidelius Charm." Tom's words slip through her lips like water. "No one knows about us, no one will be able to take the secret from me. You said you trusted me, Harry..." She leans closer to him and whispers, "Prove it."

His breaths quicken, and he seems to be panicking. He pulls away. "Ginny... Ginny, I trust you, I love you, it's just, it's just that he's been in your head before and maybe..."

"Voldemort is not going to take me over," she says, laughing. "I'm not a child, you said so yourself, and yet you think I'm as weak as that?"

"Of course not, Ginny, of course not."

"Then do it, Harry."

"Ginny, this is the charm that killed my parents. I'm a little wary of using it." She stands up and starts to walk away, when Harry grabs her hand. "Ginny," he says louder. "You're not going to leave like that."

"All you have is words," Tom says through her. A lull goes through her body and she falls into a state of deep mental calm. "What's your proof?"

Harry turns her around and kisses her, hard, pressing her against the wall. She melts against him, arching against his touch as his hands slide down her back, pulling her close to him. He kisses down her neck, and she breathes heavier, whispering Harry's name.

This blissful universe where she and Harry are together shatters with a single gasping of breath from a foreign voice. The air vibrates with silence dead as night. Harry pulls away from her and she flushes as she looks up.

Neville.

"Shit," Harry says. "Neville, please--please don't tell anyone." He is blushing an almost Weasley red.

"What are you thinking, Harry?" Neville says in a strangled voice. "Ron will kill you if he finds out, and house points--she's a girl, Harry, and she's in a boys' dorm! What'll people think?"

"Neville," she says. "You can't say anything, because we're telling Ron tomorrow. He'd rather hear it from us." Us. She treasures the word. "I don't care what he thinks anymore. He can't control me. You know how he reacted when he found out that you asked me to the Yule Ball." Neville nods quite nervously, swallowing hard. "You don't deserve to get that onslaught from him. This is our responsibility." She nods to him. "You understand, don't you?"

Neville nods again, swallows again. "I'm not that good of a liar, you know, if he says anything..."

"You'll do all right," she says. "You better, anyway." Ginny looks at Harry and kisses him on the cheek. "I'd better go. Tomorrow, we'll talk, Harry, all right?" When he nods, she goes for the door, but it opens before she reaches for it.

Ron stands there, and his eyes alight as he recognizes his baby sister in his dorm. "Ginny, what the hell are you doing in here?" He storms in and gives Harry a dirty look. "Go before McGonagall finds you in here." She doesn't move, if only out of fear of this new fury. His voice does not raise. It intensifies. "Now."

She leaves, but not quickly enough to avoid hearing Ron's onslaught on Harry. "I told you to stay away from her, Harry! You know she's head over heels in love with you, and all you're doing is encouraging it!" Rather than hear Harry's complete denial, she quickly sneaks back up to her dorm.

Tom is sitting on her bed when she arrives in the dorm. "Great job with Harry. You're a hero, saving the Boy Who Lived's life. Why, I think a special award from the school is in order."

"Oh, Tom," she says, blushing. "None of that. I have to, he doesn't know about Ron. Besides, I really do.. I really do love him."

"I'm glad." He pats the spot next to him on the bed and she sits beside him. "If you continue on like this, you'll be married within the next month! It's really romantic, you know, Ginny."

She blushes again. "I'm so glad you're helping me like this, Tom," she says. "I don't know how I lived without you."

He leans very close to her. "You didn't," he whispers. "Life doesn't begin until the plot has enough to thicken it. All those people living 9 to 5 lives aren't living. They're just... existing. You existed. I helped you live. Right?"

"Yes, Tom."

He pulls away from her. "Ginny, I don't know if you're really ready for what Ron has planned against Harry. Are you sure you can fight your brother?"

"With your help, I can do anything, Tom."

"That's right, Ginny," he says, his face serious. "We're soulmates, we were meant to be together. And without each other, neither of us can live."

His hand caresses over her shoulder, her collarbone, to her chest, and something is... not right. Her hand slaps over the spot he was touching, and the feeling fades, eventually.