Secrets

"Ginny?" A shocked voice interrupted her thoughts, startling her. She looked up to see Ron, Harry, and Hermione staring at her from their positions in the Gryffindor common room.

Uh-oh, she thought uncomfortably. She'd thought they'd be in bed by now.

"Yes?" She spoke with much more casualness than she felt. She stepped through the portrait and looked at them expectantly, waiting for Ron to switch into big brother mode. He did.

"What on Earth are you doing up this late?" he asked, bewildered. She shrugged.

"I could ask you the same question," she said evenly. Harry, Hermione, and Ron became looked away uncomfortably.

"That's different," Ron said, glaring at her. "We were talking about something important." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Besides," he continued, "WE weren't out gallivanting around at one in the morning - dressed like that!"

"Excuse me," she replied hotly, flipping her sleek red hair with an angry jerk of her head. "I wasn't 'gallivanting'! And it isn't any of your business how I dress!"

How she was dressed, Harry realized, was actually quite appealing. Realizing he had just thought this about Ron's baby sister, he mentally smacked himself in the head. Harry accompanied it with a cry of frustration.

Ginny and Ron stopped fighting momentarily, distracted by Harry's outburst.

"You okay, mate?" Ron frowned. "That's the third time you've done that today."

"Er- yeah, fine, sorry." Harry felt somewhat awkward.

"Well, at least these two have stopped fighting." A look of irritation crossed Hermione's face. "They were getting so loud I was worried that they'd wake the whole tower. Ron, please stop being childish. You've been out of Gryffindor tower past curfew quite a few times before; Ginny has never asked you to explain yourself. You shouldn't ask her."

Ginny shot Hermione a look of extreme gratitude.

"But-" Ron attempted to argue, but Harry cut in.

"Oh, stuff it, Ron. It's one in the morning and we all want to go to bed. Couldn't you two just pick up tomorrow or something?" he asked, annoyed.

Ron, who looked like he was about to protest, relaxed when Hermione's firm hand touched his shoulder. She leaned over and whispered something in his ear, diverting his attention and causing him to go red in the ears.

Seizing her opportunity to escape, Ginny silently thanked Harry and Hermione with her eyes and slipped away before Ron could notice.

*************************

At breakfast the next morning, Ron and Hermione were arguing. Harry wasn't listening. He was too busy watching Ginny down at the other end of Gryffindor table. She was talking animatedly to a couple of other sixth year girls. A strand of her deep red hair fell into her eyes as she leaned over to better hear what her friend had to say. Harry felt the sudden urge to brush it back for her. She's definitely pretty, he thought.

"Guys," he said, getting Ron and Hermione's attention, "I'll meet you in Potions. I think I'm going to go talk to Ginny."

"Sure, I guess we'll see you later then," Hermione flashed him a knowing smile. Harry hated that smile.

"Yeah, see you." He was uncomfortably aware of Ron's questioning look. As he made his way to Ginny, he could hear Ron's slightly confused voice.

"What does Harry want to talk to Ginny for?"

"Oh never mind that," Hermione replied mischievously, "We've got twenty five minutes before Potions all to ourselves-"

Harry shuddered. Although he was happy Hermione had successfully distracted Ron, after a year he still didn't fancy picturing his two best friends snogging. Trying to block out the vivid mental images, he sat down next to Ginny. The girls she had been talking to started to giggle.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter," Ginny said easily, ignoring them. Ginny had completely lost her shyness in his fifth year. This, accompanied with early morning Quidditch practice (Ginny had been made a chaser after her fourth year), summer love between Ron and Hermione at the Burrow (Harry just felt weird around them when they got...mushy), and late night talks under the stars in the Astronomy tower (Ginny, from her experiences in her first year, could truly understand everything Harry had gone through with Voldemort) had brought them together as very close friends-but nothing more. Ginny's girlhood crush seemed nothing but a distant memory.

"Good morning, Miss Weasley. Hello Sara, Emily." He smiled at her friends. The giggling continued, but Ginny only rolled her eyes.

"Don't you girls have something better to do?" she asked pointedly.

"Not really," Sara replied, but seeing Ginny's look, she sighed and consented, "Fine, we'll leave."

"Bye, Harry," Emily said with a flirtatious smile. Harry could still hear them giggling as they left.

"Sorry about that," Ginny apologized. Harry shrugged good-naturedly.

"I don't know what you see in them." Harry took the apple she offered him. She knew him well enough to know he was always hungry.

"Oh, they only act like that when you're around," Ginny told him cheerily. "The great Harry Potter aura affects their common sense."

"I have an aura?" he asked, shaking his head slightly. She grinned at him, and began grabbing her books, preparing to go to class.

"You have Herbology first, right?" he asked her casually. She nodded absent-mindedly.

"Can I walk you to class?" He felt a little bit awkward. Ginny stopped what she was doing. Harry almost thought he saw her eyes shadow, and she suddenly seemed very tense.

"Um-I can't today Harry, sorry, I have to, um, get something." She didn't meet his eyes. Harry felt really stupid. He shouldn't have asked.

"Oh, no problem," he said quickly, "But-um, I'll see you at Quidditch tonight, right?" The shadow disappeared from Ginny's eyes. She loved Quidditch.

"Of course," she said, her eyes bright. "I can't wait to try out the new techniques we've been working on."

"Yeah, we've really got to step it up if we want to beat Slytherin next match." Harry was glad the strange tension was gone from their conversation. They had never had problems talking before.

"Definitely," Ginny agreed enthusiastically. "But I have to go. I'll see you later, Harry."

And without waiting for a reply, she hurried out of the Great Hall.

Harry sighed, feeling very stupid indeed.