Waking Up

Waking Up

The portrait that served as the door to the Gryffindor common room swung open, and in climbed Katie Bell, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, all dressed in their scarlet Quidditch robes. It was a rare occurrence to see any player on the Gryffindor Quidditch team indoors on a Saturday morning, much less the captain, the Seeker and the Keeper. Upon entering, the three immediately performed a cursory search of the common room, but did not appear to find whatever it was they were looking for.

Lavender and Parvati were sitting in front of the hearth, bent over their Divination homework, when Katie approached them and asked in her best captain voice, "Girls, have you seen Ginny Weasley anywhere?"

The girls exchanged a look.

"She's the little one with the short red hair?" asked Parvati.

"Yes," said Ron. "My little sister."

Parvati shook her head. "I haven't seen her anywhere."

"Me neither," added Lavender.

Katie frowned and turned to the boys. Speaking softly, she asked, "Could she have overslept? She's never missed practice before, unless she was in detention."

Harry shrugged, but Ron answered, "I can't think of where else she could be. We can't go up to her dorm, obviously, so you'll have to check."

The three left the girls to their homework and went to the staircase that led to the girls' dormitories. Katie disappeared up the stairs to the Fifth Year dorm, while Ron and Harry waited for her in the common room. The minutes stretched, and Ron began tapping his foot nervously.

When Katie finally reappeared, she was carrying an apparently unconscious Ginny in her arms. Ron's face turned deadly pale, and even Harry looked extremely disconcerted.

"What's wrong with her?" demanded Ron in a high-strung voice.

Katie shook her head, carrying the passed-out girl to a nearby couch and laying her down on it. "I don't know," she said. "She was like this when I came in, and no matter how hard I tried to wake her, she wouldn't budge."

Ron and Harry looked at each other, and Harry said, "Malfoy."

"That brat?" snorted Katie. "What about him?"

"The game against Slytherin is next week," said Ron. "He's trying to sabotage our game by taking out one of our most important players. He knows we won't be able to come up with a replacement Chaser in time."

Katie shrugged. "That's not important," she said resolutely. "Our main goal right now is to fix Ginny. Any bright ideas how to wake her up?"

"Should I go get McGonagall, or Madam Pomfrey?" asked Harry.

"I prefer that we should try to solve this on our own, first," said Katie hurriedly, looking flustered. It seemed their illustrious captain had a thirst for proving her independence.

"I know what's wrong with her," said a voice behind them, and Katie jumped a foot before turning around to face the speaker with an irritated expression.

"Do you?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah," said Lavender. "I'm pretty sure that's what it is, anyway."

"What, can I ask, is that?" asked Katie, crowing her arms over her chest.

"A spell to put people - well, girls - to sleep," said Lavender. "I found this book on the stairs outside the Potions classroom and -"

"Get to the point, Lavender!" said Ron loudly.

Parvati glared at Ron, while Lavender continued speaking at her own easy pace. "Yeah, it was full of spells from, like, fairytales, and illustrated, too. Quite lovely illustrations, actually. Anyway, it turned out the book belonged to Pansy Parkinson," Lavender and Parvati exchanged a disgusted look, "and one of the spells in there is called the Sleeping Beauty Hex."

"If you cast it on a girl, she'll fall asleep until someone she loves and who loves her back kisses her awake," explained Parvati.

Ron's face was both pale and blotchy, and he was ringing his hands. With an expression of distaste as though he were about to swallow a bucket full of flobberworms, he turned to Harry and asked, "Where's Dean at?"

"He's probably out by the lake, trying to draw the giant quid again," said Parvati, and smiled sweetly when Ron glowered at her.

"Go get him, quickly," said Ron.

Parvati and Lavender ran out of the common room, surrounded by a cloud of not-quite-repressed giggles.

While they were waiting for the girls to return with Dean, Katie attempted to calm down, Harry wandered the common room aimlessly, and Ron sat in a chair across from the soundly sleeping Ginny, watching her for the tiniest sign of life or wakefulness. There was none. Fifteen minutes stretched like an eternity before Dean Thomas finally entered the common room, followed by Lavender and Parvati.

"Ron, Harry, could you explain what's going on here?" asked Dean. "The girls weren't really very clear on it all."

Katie explained, and Dean's brow furrowed more and more. Finally he said, "So she's supposed to wake up if I kiss her?"

"You are her boyfriend, aren't you?" demanded Ron, scarlet-faced.

"All right, all right, I'll do it!" said Dean defensively. He shuffled over to the couch Ginny lay on, sleeping, and crouched beside it. Brushing her cheek with a hesitant hand, he leaned down and kissed her very softly. When he moved back all eyes were on him and his eyes were on Ginny.

Ginny didn't stir.

"He doesn't love her," ruled Lavender with authority.

Ron rounded on Dean. "Have you been leading my sister on?" he asked dangerously.

"What? No!" said Dean. "No, I like her! I really do!"

Parvati and Lavender rolled their eyes in unison. "Liking her isn't enough, Dean Thomas," said Parvati with a sigh.

"You have to love her," added Lavender.

"And she has to love you," completed Parvati.

"Obviously this relationship isn't serious enough to break the spell," said Lavender, and Parvati nodded. "Who does Ginny really love?"

Dean, looking rather insulted that his relationship with Ginny was being judged so harshly, said, "She was with Michael Corner before me." Glancing at Ron, who was still flushed and narrow-eyed, he added, "I'll go get him!" and dashed out the door.

Dean returned quickly with Michael and, to everyone's surprise, Cho. Pushing Michael over the Ginny's sofa, Dean elected to remain in the background with Parvati and Lavender. Cho and Harry avoided each other steadfastly, and Ron ignored everyone but his sister and her ex-boyfriend. Glances passed between Michael and Cho, but it seemed an understanding was achieved, because Cho nodded.

Quickly Michael leaned down to kiss Ginny's lips, and even more quickly he straightened, watching her limply sleeping body.

Ginny didn't stir.

A faint breeze whispered through the common room, one which might have been made up of three or four sighs of relief. Michael and Cho departed with wishes of luck for the sleeping girl, and Ron was closer to civil than he'd ever been around one of his sister's partners. Katie, however, was looking increasingly desperate, and looking at her watch oftener and oftener.

"We're missing so much practice time," she said. "The game is next week!"

"You have to find someone who Ginny loves," said Parvati earnestly.

Ron turned to Harry. "Well, this is your moment, mate," he said.

"What?" asked Harry, startled.

"Ginny loves you!" replied Ron fervently. "If you kiss her, she'll wake up! Now get over there and kiss my sister!"

"But Hermione said Ginny doesn't fancy me anymore!" protested Harry, "Besides, I never -"

"She loves you! You love her! You kiss her, she'll wake up, and we'll all get back to practice and win the game against Slytherin next week! Everyone lives happily ever after! What's wrong with you? Just kiss her already!" As he spoke, Ron pushed Harry nearer and nearer to the couch and the unconscious girl.

Harry looked at all the people gathered around. Katie's face was neutral, Dean wore a quiet scowl, Ron was vehement and Lavender and Parvati thoughtful.

"She could have been lying to Hermione," said Parvati.

Lavender smiled at Harry soothingly. "Just try it, Harry. It can't hurt, can it?"

Harry took a doubtful step towards the couch, and sat down on his knees next to it. He tried to ignore Ron's jittering, jerky movements and Katie, who was trying to calm down her Keeper with little success. Vaguely he wondered whether it would be easier if it was Christmas, and there was some mistletoe around. Shaking the thought from his head, he put his lips on Ginny's and kissed her, then stood up very quickly.

Ron watched the two of them expectantly.

Ginny didn't stir, and Harry looked back at his best mate apologetically.

"Hey, what's going on?"

Both Harry and Ron jumped around, only to see Neville standing in the doorway to the boys' dorms in his bunny slippers.

"Oh, hi, Neville," said Ron with an audible sigh of relief.

Neville's eyes moved from Ron and Harry, to Dean and the girls, to Ginny on the sofa. He joined them, still looking at Ginny. "Is she ill?" he asked.

"We think Malfoy hexed her," said Harry.

"To keep her from practicing for the game next Saturday," added Ron.

Neville looked at Ron, and then back at Ginny. "Have you told Professor McGonagall? I bet Madam Pomfrey could make her better before lunch."

"We're exploring other options at the moment," said Katie. She looked to Lavender, who immediately explained the hex to Neville, with Parvati occasionally chiming in to help.

"Well, of course she didn't wake up!" said Neville once the explanations were done with. "You've been using the wrong people!"

"What?" said Ron.

"The wrong people," repeated Neville. "Ginny isn't still in love with Michael or Harry, you know."

"Who is she -?" started Ron, but stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening as they fixed on Neville. "You," he said raspily, then shook his head quickly. "Kiss her, Neville. Kiss her now."

Neville shook his head quite calmly. "Oh, no," he said. "It's not me, either."

"Who is it, then?" asked Ron, who was looking as though he was just short of having his head explode from impatience.

Neville smiled with a semblance of mystery. "I'll be right back," he said, "Don't worry," and left the common room through the portrait hole.

Ron circled the couch, muttering to himself, as they waited for Neville to return. Parvati and Lavender watched him from the corners of their eyes, whispering worriedly among themselves. Katie had sat herself down across from Ginny, drumming her fingers on a side table and checking her watch roughly twice a minute.

"He's taking his sweet time about it, isn't he?" said Ron irritably.

Just them, the portrait door swung open and Neville walked in. Closely following him was Hermione.

"What's so urgent that I have to leave the library in the middle of an Ancient Runes translation?" she asked.

No one answered.

"Well?" she asked again, more forcefully.

Katie stood up. "Hermione, are you in love with Ginny Weasley?"

This time, it was Hermione's turn to fall silent. She looked at Neville questioningly, and he shrugged.

"She's over there," he said, pointing to the couch on which Ginny was still passed out.

"How did you know?" asked Hermione, her voice so low that it would not have been heard, had the room not been so completely silent.

"You're quite obvious, actually," said Neville. "Both of you."

"You mean -" said Hermione, her eyes torn wide and her mouth falling open.

"Hermione!"

She turned around. It was Ron.

"Ginny's ill," he said. "Someone's hexed her, and you've got to make her better."

"Me?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, you!" said Ron. "Neville just said, didn't he? It has to be someone who she loves, doesn't it?"

"What has to be?" asked Hermione.

"The Sleeping Beauty Hex," said Lavender. "You know the story, don't you?"

Hermione's face turned a pretty shade of pink.

"What are you waiting for?" demanded Ron. "Just kiss her already, will you?"

She rushed across the room and kneeled next to the couch. Ron watched her with anxiously tightened lips as she whispered something too quietly to hear. When she kissed her, her hair fell to cover both their faces, hiding them from view. Yet Ginny's legs were clearly visible when they moved, as was her hand when it reached up to touch Hermione's neck and face.

Behind them, Neville moved to join Harry and Ron. "You're not angry?" he asked Ron quietly.

Ron diverted his eyes and said, "Only that you couldn't have brought her here more quickly."