I'm A Believer

It was Harry's first real Friday night this term and he was already caught up in a serious workload. He jammed his quill into the inkwell across from his almost blank piece of parchment and held his feather over what looked like a promising paragraph.

Term had only begun last week and he already had relentless lessons in all of his classes. Right now he was trying to start an eight and a quarter inch essay on Muggle Awareness of the Wizarding World for Professor Binns. Harry couldn't help sitting there staring out of the Gryffindor common room window. Everyone else there seemed to not care about the work they had to do and thanks to Hermione, Harry had caught the habit of doing his work when it was assigned rather than on his way to the class the day it was due. But then again, he couldn't seem to focus on his first paragraph but found himself thinking about Quidditch.

This year's team was different, but even though Quidditch enthusiast, Oliver Wood no longer attended Hogwarts, the team seemed more likely to conquer than ever. Perhaps, Harry thought, it's because without Wood around we don't feel as pressured. When their old teammate was still captaining the players, the rest of them felt that if they had lost horribly, let alone lost all together; Oliver would attempt to kill himself in one way or other.

Besides the fact that the Gryffindor line-up now had more confidence than before and there was a new member, they were still different. Just about every one on the team was paired up with somebody. There were about two inter-team couples and the rest were paired with a fellow housemate. Fred and George were paired with Angelina and Katie, Alicia had found her way to Lee Jordan, and of course Ron was harmonizing with Hermione. Harry was the only one left over.

Now that Harry thought about it, he hadn't exactly had a special bond with a girl... or had he? Maybe he, Harry Potter, had been too caught up in himself to realize anything that had been going on. Possibly it was time he found someone special to confide in.

The first name that came to mind was of course Cho Chang. Harry shook his head mentally to get the thought of his Quidditch rival out of his head. He had liked her, but over the summer it seemed that he began to think less and less of her. It was probably because of the tragic death of her beloved Cedric Diggory. Harry couldn't possibly ask her out after her boyfriend was killed and he alone was the only witness to tell.

His brow was furrowed in deep thought as he wondered about girls. The two remaining houses were definitely out of the question, so Harry hopefully looked around the crowded Gryffindor common room. Ron and Hermione had just came through the portrait hole, as they said they'd be visiting the library before dinner, they had most likely just got back... Fred and George were secretly writing their ideas for their shop in a corner... Angelina and Katie were sitting on the couch behind the twins, probably laughing about something they did... Neville was desperately searching under chairs and tables for his toad Trevor for about the hundredth time... and chitchatting by the fire were Lavender and Parvati.

Parvati Patil. The name played over and over in his head. The two had gone to the Yule Ball together and she was very pretty, but she was almost certainly more talk than what she said she was. They probably didn't have much in common, and what could Harry do about it?

Maybe this kind of love just wasn't destined for Harry. It seemed so unfair. Shouldn't he have someone? Harry figured that even though he was the-Boy-Who-Lived and had gone through so much, it didn't necessarily mean he was right for someone out there...

I thought love was only true in fairy tales

Meant for someone else but not for me

It seemed that now Harry thought about this sort of love, he realized it was all around him. It was haunting him and causing him self-pity. Of course he didn't want all that, nobody would. Harry knew he wasn't conceited but did he really deserve it?

Love was out to get me

That's the way it seemed

Disappointment haunted all my dreams

Harry sighed and decided to keep searching. He figured that maybe if he looked hard enough, he'd find someone. His green eyes travelled down the table he was sitting at and landed on the freckled face of Ginny Weasley. She was sitting quietly as usual, reading The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection for Defence Against the Dark Arts. He gazed at her from across the table. Just last week, he and the girl he was staring at had helped Ron reveal his true feelings to his partner in quarrelling, Hermione. At that instant, Harry had finally realized that Ginny had been there all along...

Suddenly, Ginny looked up from her book. She saw Harry's eyes on her and smiled. Harry hesitated. What did this mean? He didn't know. That was for sure... but he had the sudden urge to smile back. Ginny continued the smile, and then returned to her book and jotted down a few notes on the parchment that rested next to her elbow.

At the moment, Harry felt different. Strange, yet satisfying. What did it mean? A girl just smiled- that was it! Maybe it was the smile, Harry pondered. Maybe that's why I feel so... I don't know, he thought to himself. Suddenly, Harry grinned. He knew what it was, and it arrived just in time.

Then I saw her face

Now I'm a believer

Not a trace, of doubt in my mind

He knew it was a bit early to jump to conclusions, but was he in love? Had that one smile made Harry realize his feelings all along? Ginny had smiled at him before but nothing had come over him then. Maybe he had to think about it to actually notice. But one thing was for sure... Harry had never felt this way before. Was it love? He reckoned so...

I'm in love

I'm a believer

I couldn't leave her if I tried

Now that he had discovered it, and in such a short time, he felt that he didn't want to let that go. He looked down at his own parchment and couldn't help but smile. No, not because he actually thought of an opening paragraph but because of the rushing feeling inside of him. He tried to hide it but ended up snorting because he wanted to laugh. Ginny looked over at him, bewildered and Harry felt his face grow hot.

Maybe all of those times he despised this love, he should have actually appreciated it. Whenever the Gryffindor Quidditch team had practice, the teammates that were going together flirted and he'd get annoyed. Well, who wouldn't? They were always joking with each other and Harry just felt left out.

I thought love was more or less a given thing

Seems the more I gave, the less I got

But now he had Ginny. Or at least he thought he did. Well, she didn't exactly know that he had discovered her, had she? Well Harry didn't know, he could know less about girls and what he did know didn't help in the least.

He had a chance with Ginny, though. He knew that much and also knew that it was an advantage. She had a crush on him since, well forever. Of course she would be glad to go with him. Wouldn't she? Well, at least he knew that Ginny wouldn't be like the other girls he had thought of. They'd probably leave him broken-hearted somehow. But Ginny on the other hand, Harry couldn't see her doing such a thing.

But Harry's new discovery kept him happy, no matter what bad things came to mind. It wasn't like those other times, when he wanted happiness all he received was even more loneliness and hard work

What's the use in trying?

All you get is pain

When I needed sunshine I got rain

Harry took a glance out the window and saw that the evening sky was fading away and night was approaching. He decided he should get started with his essay. He dabbed his quill in his inkwell as he did before all of these thoughts came to mind and began to write.

Though Harry was writing about Muggle Awareness, he didn't seem to be thinking about it too much. He found himself thinking about Ginny instead. Of course they had both helped Ron do what he should do about his little 'situation' but did she still like him? It had been a long time and Harry reckoned he didn't pay enough attention to Ginny for her to care anymore.

Harry figured that maybe he could act a bit more aware of her, talk to her more and things like that. Maybe then she'd notice him again.

As Harry continued his essay, he began to think about how pretty Ginny was. He hadn't really noticed her before. But then again before he ever really did think about Ginny this way, she had been labelled under 'best friend's little sister'. But now that Harry noticed, she was in fact, very attractive.

Then I saw her face

Now I'm a believer

Not a trace

Of doubt in my mind

I'm in love

I'm a believer

I couldn't leaver her if I tried

Her freckles that were scattered across her face complimented her hazel eyes that matched. Her pale skin looked vibrant with her famous Weasley hair and her...

"Er, Harry," interrupted a voice. Harry turned around in his seat to find Ron and Hermione standing behind him. Ron's face was a bit pink and Hermione was trying to hold herself back from laughing out loud.

"Yeah," said Harry awkwardly. Ginny was now looking at what Ron had to say.

"I know I'm not as smart as Hermione," Ron started, pointing at Harry's parchment, "but I don't think the reason's why Muggle Awareness should be taken seriously is because of Ginny, Ginny, Ginny, Ginny, Ginny..."

Across the table, Ginny was chuckling while burying her face in her book and Hermione was overcome with a fit of giggles.