Moments of "Time"

Sixth Story. The rain is falling.

Early in the morning,

The sun was up and the sky was very blue,

Without a warning,

As I looked out, my thoughts returned to you...

- Electric Light Orchestra, "Rain is falling".

Dean Thomas was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, doing his Potions homework. The essay he was writing was moving along pretty slowly, meaning that he would either need help soon or Snape would have his heart for breakfast. Dean looked around and by the absence of Hermione concluded that the second was more probable.

As he rolled the parchment up, he noticed that Ginny came in several minutes ago, her face red and he noticed that she was crying. She was now sitting in the armchair nearest to the fire, watching the flame's mesmerizing dance. Dean stood up and came up to her.

"How'd it go?" he asked. She stopped sobbing and looked up at him.

"Awful... The joke turned out to be true..." she replied and turned back to the fire.

"But... That's great! That means you and Harry can be..." but his words were cut short by a rising wail from her, "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Ha-Ha-Harry thinks it was my idea to break them up... Now he won't talk to me," she replied, stammering a bit from the tears and the emotions.

"But... If it was a simple joke then how can he blame you? How can you accept it even?" Dean protested. Ginny looked up at him, the sobbing stopping for a moment.

"Because... because I did not plan this as a joke. Because I know he's right - I... I was trying to break them up..." she replied and the sobbing resumed.

Dean crouched in front of her.

"Listen... Even if this is true, even if you were trying to break them up, the fact that she was cheating on him still stays. How will he live with that?" he asked, then, as an afterthought, he added "How will she live with that? Especially if you're sitting here and crying your eyes out because of what you did!"

She had stopped crying by now and was listening to his words, as if a part of the enthusiasm that fueled his words somehow passed into her as well.

"You're right!" she said determinedly, getting up. Dean stood up as well.

"That's the spirit!" he said, handing her a handkerchief. She looked at it for a brief moment, then at Dean, and then she accepted it, wiping the tears from her face. "That's better," Dean observed. "You can keep it," he added as she extended her arm with the now-wet handkerchief towards him.

"Oh Dean, what would I do without you?" she asked, giving him a hearty hug.

"Er... Stay out of Azkaban for not strangling me to death?" he suggested as she let go of him, the colour rising to her face.

"Sorry. Gotta run now!" she said, darting towards the portrait hole, but stopped dead in her tracks when she was several paces away from it. "Dean?"

"Yes, Ginny?"

"Thanks!"

Having said that, she left the room.

*****

Two days later, the entire school was buzzing with the news (which, due to the absence of Seamus on his usual duty, was delayed for these two days) of Harry splitting up with Cho and making up with Ginny, who made him see the truth.

For those two days, Cho could not dare to come near anybody from Gryffindor, for the shame was great. It all ended on the third day after The Incident, when Harry had made her an offer - they stay friends, but she would never lie to him again.

"Agreed?" he asked. They were standing in the hallway not that far from the library, Ginny standing hand-in-hand with Harry, Cho trying to avoid Ginny's eyes.

"Yes, agreed," she replied finally, her voice unusually quiet. They shook hands, all three of them, and this ceremonial process was not intruded upon by anybody, even the tall dark Gryffindor, who was standing further down the hallway, watching The Boy Who Lived be in peace thanks to his actions, which, unfortunately, ruined his own hopes...