Fate

Chapter 8 - Ask Me Again

The next week went rather fast for Harry. True, he did have an enjoyable time keeping up his and Ginny's stunt in front of Ron and Hermione. Both he and Ginny seemed to not be able to control their laughter very well so the acts they put on were short and to the point, each one making Ron and Hermione get more and more exasperated with them. Of course, Harry's two best friends still weren't about to give up their new found time with each other. "Prefect Duties" now consisted of things like snogging in the broom closet and midnight strolls to the astronomy tower, but Harry watched them all with a grin behind his hand and a satisfied feeling in his heart. He was glad that they had found each other.

His and Ginny's relationship grew immensely due to Ron and Hermione's "new found romance" (though they never called it that themselves). When they weren't pretending to fight in front of Ron and Hermione, they walked and talked together, laughing about Fred and George's newest products and enjoying one another's company so much that they often found themselves winding up in the same corridors, trying to "bump into" each other.

The curtain finally came down on a lot of things the night in the common room when Ron and Hermione caught them speaking to each other.

"What's all this about then!?" Hermione stormed into the common room, scaring Harry and Ginny to death as they both jumped, startled out of the current conversation they were having.

"Oy! Since when do you two stay in the same room together?" Ron added, coming up beside Hermione and throwing annoyed glares at the pair. Harry and Ginny both felt a tad bit embarrassed, but ended up laughing at their joke that was now in the open.

Hermione seemed to catch on first as she saw them both laughing their heads off, her face turning bright red and her fists clenching.

"Oh...you...argh! Harry Potter you are absolutely the worst!" She cried.

They just laughed harder and Hermione stormed out of the room, leaving Ron who was slowly beginning to realize the truth as well.

"So you two were never-"

"No," Harry said, still shaking with laughter.

"And you made us think that-"

"Yes," Ginny said smirking, their laughter having died down.

Ron's ears turned bright red and he rolled his eyes at them, mumbling something about "Prefect duties" and hurried out the portrait after Hermione.

"10 Galleons they're off to a broom closet."

"That's a suckers bet, Gin."

They settled back onto the couch, the fire in front of them dancing off the dark floor and walls, giving them the only light they had at the late hour.

Ginny yawned with exaggeration and stretched her arms. "Bliminey, what time is it?"

"Half past midnight," Harry answered, checking his watch. He was lounging in the corner of the couch, one arm up on the back of the couch and the other on the armrest with both legs stretched in front of him.

"Merlin, I'm tired..." She dropped her head down, resting it on Harry's shoulder softly. He almost tensed when she made contact but managed to keep his shock from showing. They had become quite close in the past few days. Quite close indeed.

"You don't mind, do you?" She asked sleepily, not opening her eyes.

"No, of course not," Harry said quickly, not quite able to take his eyes off her.

"Oh, good..." He words slurred out and she brought her legs up on the couch, curling more into him and sighing softly, letting sleep take her.

Harry couldn't stop staring at her and watched as her breath became even and soft, her stomach rising rhythmically. He felt himself nod off slightly as he watched her, his head bobbing as he tried to stay awake, The last thing he wanted right now was to wake her. He managed to scoot farther down so he could rest his head and felt the darkness take him as he slowly drifted off, feeling Ginny's comforting weight by his side. Right before he fell asleep, his arm dropped slowly so that it rested on the small of her back, but he made no effort to move it and let the exhaustion take over.

Neither saw Ron and Hermione sneak in 15 minutes later, both of them throwing exasperated looks at the pair on the couch. Hermione snuck over and wrote a small note, sticking it on the table in front of them and Ron got a small common room blanket to lay over Ginny.

"What about Harry?" Hermione asked him questionably as they both started away.

"Are you nutters?" Ron almost hissed, amazed that Hermione would have to ask. "I may approve of Harry as her boyfriend but that doesn't mean I'm going to stick them under the same blanket together."

Hermione blushed quickly and rolled her eye. "Ron, you are such a prat." She reached out to shove him away, but he caught her wrist and did the exact opposite, pulling her in for a long kiss.

----

At the same time, in the same castle, Remus almost collapsed with the effort of practicing the spell again, Sirius catching him as he lost his balance and was about to tumble over.

"Steady on, mate," Sirius said, concerned. "Give it a break, will ya?"

Remus scowled at his best friend but allowed himself to be lead to a chair to sit in. "It has to be perfect Sirius, and if we only have two days left that doesn't give me much time."

"Listen to yourself, Moony," Sirius pleaded, bringing him over some chocolate. "You're exhausted. You're not going to be much help to us if we get there and you can't even see straight."

The werewolf bit bitterly into the chocolate but was thankful for the warmth it gave his body, as well as the perk of energy he received. The spell definitely did take a lot out of him just performing it once. He had done it almost five times today, trying his best each time to get rid of the tiny glitches that he saw in it. Two days...

"I don't want to be responsible for us not even going to the right place," Remus said darkly. "It'll be hard enough to get to the right date. What if we end up halfway around the world?"

"We've left enough time that we could travel there and still change it," Sirius said firmly. "Besides, have faith in yourself, Remus. It'll be a breeze."

"I hope," Remus said softly, completely serious.

They both were silent and Remus looked up to see Sirius looking thoughtfully at a calendar in front of him. They were currently in the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore had turned in about an hour earlier, explain that the two could continue practicing as long as they needed and take one of the many spare rooms that they no doubt knew about across the many hallways of Hogwarts. That left Remus and Sirius on their own to work on the spell. It was rather a good opportunity, as Remus knew he wouldn't have Dumbledore's strength when he had to perform the spell and he needed to get used to using Sirius' power with his.

"We should tell him soon."

Remus didn't ask who his friend was talking about.

"Like tomorrow, or I guess today considering that it's already after midnight. He needs to accept what we're telling him."

Remus, to Sirius' surprise, nodded in agreement. "But carefully, Sirius," he added, looking at his friend hard. "Remember how he reacted about the body. And you shouldn't leave anything out. Get the surprises out now and don't leave anything for him to be shocked about once we make the trip."

Sirius nodded shortly, looking quite serious and determined. "You want to come with me?"

"No, you go. He's more comfortable with you."

"That's a load of bull, Remus," Sirius scoffed. "He's known you longer than he's know me."

"But you're his Godfather," Remus pointed out. Though he was arguing, he had an itching desire to see how Harry would take the news. It was almost a sense of anticipation to see Harry happy again.

"And you're practically his uncle," Sirius reminded him firmly. "We'll clear it with Dumbledore in the morning and then we'll tell him tomorrow-er-today I mean."

"I already asked Dumbledore about it."

"Ah, so that's why you agreed so readily."

Remus smiled. "Yes, now that we have a real plan, a real spell and a real goal, Dumbledore wants him to know as soon as possible so he can adjust to the fact and make up his mind whether or not he wants to come."

Smirking, Sirius looked slyly at his best friend. "Make up his mind? You think he's going to not want to come?"

Remus tried to hide his own smirk as he shook his head. "No, I have no doubt what he'll choose, but Dumbledore's the one who insisted we give him a choice."

"Doesn't seem to know our Harry too well does he?"

"Who knows? Harry might surprise even us."

"Oh, I don't doubt it. There are few things that boy does that don't surprise me."

----

Thankfully, Harry awoke early the next morning and felt his face heat up as he felt Ginny's comforting weight leaning on his side, her breathing soft and regular. He saw the blanket draped across her and suddenly realized how cold he was. That's when he spotted the note on the table in front of him. Looking around and seeing that no one was around, he reached forward, careful not to disturb Ginny and plucked it up, his eyes going wide at the familiar handwriting.

Gin and Harry-

Nice try you two.

-Ron and Hermione

His moving unfortunately woke Ginny who sat up sleepily. "Harry?"

Feeling quite annoyed, he showed her the note and saw her face turn as red as his own. She quickly checked the clock.

"Let's go down to breakfast. I'm not in the mood to have an audience."

Harry couldn't agree more. Besides, breakfast would be starting right at 7:00 and it was almost that time. They scurried out of the portrait hole (Ginny being sure to fold the blanket and put it away) and were both quiet on the long walk to the Great Hall. Entering, they noticed only a few scattered students around, groggily eating their breakfast and trying to read their textbooks propped in front of him. As it was Saturday, there was ample time for studying through the weekend and Harry wondered vaguely what the students were attempting to do by getting up this early on purpose.

They both collapsed at the Gryffindor table, neither quite sure what to say to each other or how they were going to get out of this pickle.

Thankfully, the food appeared as they sat down and they both started to dig in, but neither seemed very interested in eating.

"Merlin, what if Colin got a picture?" Ginny finally said aloud, shaking her head and staring glumly at her unappetizing porridge.

Harry cringed at the thought, but with the embarrassment came another feeling that he couldn't quite explain. Was it hope?

"Would it really have been that bad?" He was surprised to hear himself ask.

Ginny looked at him quickly, surprised.

"It's just..." he racked his brain about how to say it. "I don't care about being seen with you Ginny."

The corners of her lips twitched up slightly and she blushed furiously.

"In fact, I think last night was the first time in a long while I didn't have any nightmares." Harry's own face flamed up and he couldn't believe he was actually saying this to Ginny! What was he thinking? He turned away, highly embarrassed and tried to focus his attention on his eggs and sausage. He had never seriously considered Ginny Weasley in the "girlfriend" department before, but the more he thought about it, the more appealing the idea became.

They were both saved from another bout of embarrassing silence by students starting to enter the Great Hall. At once, Hermione and Ron plopped themselves across from the pair, both with raised eyebrows and slight smirks.

Ginny and Harry both glared at their anticipating faces and refused to say anything.

"So..." Ron began, leaning back in his seat and looking smug.

"So what?" Ginny said back haughtily.

"Well now that the stunt's over, can't you two tell us what's going on between you guys?" Hermione said bluntly.

Both Ginny and Harry blushed again.

"Nothing, nothing's going on," Harry said quickly.

Hermione just raised her eyebrow and Ron started laugh/coughing behind his hand.

"We're friends," Ginny said in exasperation.

"Yeah, and Ron and I are brother and sister," Hermione said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Well, I'm sure you guys wouldn't have noticed with all the 'Prefect Duties' you've had," Harry said, smirking. He still had one up on them and was pleased to see his two friends start to blush just as bad.

"Harry, come on, mate, she's my little sister!"

"Oh, thanks for that Ron, that makes me feel so much better."

"I wish you two would stop talking like I'm not here," Ginny pouted.

Harry sent her an apologetic look and turned back to Ron. "Seriously, Ron, nothing's going on..." he looked back over to Ginny. "Not really anyways."

Ginny saw his eyes looking at her with a type of pleading expression and at first she thought he was going to make up another lie and was asking her to play along. However, that was definitely not what he did next.

"Not yet, anyway," Harry continued, still looking at Ginny. She began to get nervous under his gaze and saw Hermione and Ron looking at them with wide eyes.

"Gin, will you go to Hogsmead with me this afternoon?"

Ginny's eyes flew open wide and her mouth dropped. Rarely could anything surprise her so much, but this had been the last thing she had been expecting. It seemed Ron and Hermione were having similar thoughts as their eyes flickered back and forth between the youngest Weasley and the last remaining Potter.

She got caught up in his eyes again and saw his silent pleading as they twinkled, totally focused on her. She realized it took a lot of guts for him to ask her like this, in front of not only his two best friends, one of which was her older brother, but also the growing crowd of Gryffindor students that were sitting around them, most who had heard what Harry had asked.

"Yes, I believe I will," she said with as much fervor as she could.

Harry smiled in relief. "Brilliant."

At once they both turned back to Ron and Hermione who were now the ones with gaping mouths and wide eyes.

"Go on, Ron," Harry said, smirking. "Ask me again."