Keep Your Day Job

Keep Your Day Job

Chapter 3

"All love that has not friendship for its base is like a mansion built upon sand." ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

As Harry rushed out of The Three Broomsticks, he ran straight into Hermione, knocking her backwards.

"Aargh!" she cried as she toppled over, dropping her bag of Honeydukes sweets.

"Oh, gosh, Hermione, I'm sorry," he said as he helped her off the ground. He picked up her candy as she brushed herself off.

"It's alright, no big deal," she said, taking her bag from him. "Hey, where are you going in such a hurry? And where's Luna?"

"Oh. About that...Luna and I had a talk, and..."

"And you're off to find Ginny?" Hermione asked knowingly.

"Yeah, how did you...?"

"Luna and I have been talking about this for weeks," Hermione said offhandedly. "She saw right through all this matchmaking business from the start. You wouldn't guess it, but she's quite clever, when she's not talking about those Kacky Snorgle things," Hermione said.

"Trust me, I know. Wait...so you knew all along too? That Ginny...me and Ginny..."

"Fancy each other? Of course I knew. Even Ron knew! Who didn't know?" Hermione asked.

"Well, apparently I didn't know. And neither did Ginny," Harry said, slightly embarrassed.

"Oh, right. Well, now you know! And you'd better go enlighten Ginny as well," Hermione smiled.

Harry grinned widely at her. "Thanks Hermione!" he said and turned to leave, but then turned back to her. "Wait, I forgot to ask. How's your date going? Where's Ron?"

"We were half way here when he realized he'd left one of his bags at Zonko's. He ran back to get it, and I came on ahead to get us a table," she said. "And don't call it a date, Harry. Ron might faint if he heard you."

Harry laughed. "Right. So how's your, uh, day been?"

Hermione sighed. "Let's just say I hope you have more luck with Ginny than I'm having with her brother. I'm beginning to think he's hopeless."

"Hermione," Harry said. "You can't go wrong with Ron. Even I know that. Even Ron knows that." Hermione smiled brightly.

"Harry," she said, "thank you. Now go away!" He shook his head, laughing, and turned away. "Leave me and my hot date alone!" she yelled jokingly at his back.

"See you later, Hermione!" Harry called behind him as he hurried to the castle. Just then Ron appeared behind Hermione.

"Was that Harry?" he asked.

"Oh, Ron! Didn't see you there!"

"Who do you have a hot date with?" Ron asked with a twinge of suspicion in his voice.

Hermione's cheeks flushed. "Uh..."

* * *

Harry bounded through the portrait hole. Ginny was sleeping soundly with her head on the small table. Her vivid hair was strewn across her papers, and her hand was hanging limply at her side. Harry smiled and strode over to her. He reached out to put his hand on her shoulder, but paused when one of the papers scattered about caught his eye. Reasons Why I Hate Harry Potter. What? He picked it up and began to read: He's stubborn. He's moody. He has a Saving People Complex. His hair is always messed up. He's oblivious when it comes to girls. What is she doing? How could she bring up his 'saving people complex', after it's brought him so much pain? Why was she doing this?

"What...?" he wondered aloud.

Ginny woke at the sound of his voice. "Mmm...Harry?" she said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "What're you..." but she stopped when she saw the parchment in Harry's hands, a horrified expression on her face. "Harry, give me that, it's..."

"It's too late, I've read it!" he shouted heatedly.

"Harry, you don't understand!"
"You're right, I don't understand! I don't understand what you're doing!" Harry yelled in a very hurt voice.

"Please, Harry, just let me explain..."

"I don't want to hear it," Harry spat angrily before he tore up the steps to his dormitory and slammed the door.

"Oh, no...I'll have to tell him, or he'll hate me," she said softly, and put her head down on the table, but snapped it back up quickly as Hermione rushed through the portrait hole. The front of her robes was sopping wet. Ron came in behind her, his robes also dripping.

"Hermione!" he called, but she was already upstairs. Ron looked at his sister as if to explain, but then ran up the stairs to his room. Ginny ignored the incident and turned back to the table, rifling feverishly through her papers.

"Where is it? Where the bloody hell is it!" she yelled at the papers.

* * *

Harry barely glanced up as Ron burst into the room, sputtering something about Hermione.

"Didn't mean to spill butterbeer all over her! I got it on myself too, it's not like it was a personal attack on her! Maybe if she hadn't been spewing some nonsense about me being a prat I would have been less distracted. Honestly, all I did was comment on how pretty Madam Rosmerta looked, and she blows up in my face!" Ron sat down on the edge of his bed. He looked to his friend for a reaction, but Harry was staring out the window. "So, where's Neville?" Ron asked.

"Hmmph," Harry replied.

"Yeah...so anyways, Hermione is completely overreacting!"

"RON!" Harry said abruptly, yelling at his friend. "You--like--Hermione," he said very slowly, as if he was helping a kindergartener sound out a sentence.

"Well, of course I do, she's my best friend, besides you."

"Ron! You fancy Hermione." Ron blushed and tried to stammer out an argument. Harry threw a copy of Quidditch Through The Ages at him. Ron ducked, staring at Harry.

"Ron, please, just go away. I can't...deal with this at the moment," Harry said, lying back on his bed.

"Uh...are you, feeling alright?" Ron said with a cautious air.

"Go, or I'll get Ginny to put her Bat-Bogey Hex on you!" Harry immediately winced at this statement. Ginny. What the hell was wrong with her? he thought. Harry groaned loudly. Has everyone gone crazy?

"Honestly, everyone's gone bloody insane," mumbled Ron as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Seconds later, the door burst open again.

"I thought I already told you to go away!" Harry yelled without looking up to see who was there, assuming it was Ron.

"Yeah, well, you're just going to have to bloody deal with it!" Ginny screamed, storming in the room. Her face was bright red and she was clutching a piece of parchment in her fist.

Harry looked up at her. "What do you want? Come to tell me how much you hate me? List more of my flaws? Here, I'll give you one--I pick horrid people to be my friends!"

"SHUT UP!" she hollered back at him violently. Harry was taken aback. "You are so stupid, Harry. Don't you get it? I had to write that list! I couldn't do this to myself again!" He stared at her blankly. She let out a cry of frustration, crumpled up the parchment in her hand and threw it as hard as she could at him. It hit him square in the face, bounced of his nose and landed in his lap. He picked it up. "Read it," Ginny said shakily.

* * *

Ron walked around the common room, kicking the occasional chair leg or ottoman. As he walked past the fireplace he kicked the stone hearth and stubbed his toe rather savagely. Swearing loudly, he slumped into an armchair, sighing. Harry's gone nuts. Undoubtedly due to Ginny, he thought as he heard her scream something at Harry upstairs. I don't know how to talk to Harry when he's like this, all frazzled by girls. Hermione would know...Ron thought. He took a sharp intake of breath at the thought of her. He should apologize to her. Perhaps Harry isn't completely nuts...he did have a point...

"I like her," Ron said under his breath. He smiled.

"I like her," he said louder. He stood up and strode towards the girl's dormitory stairs, his face set in determination. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, he opened the door, cupped his hands on the sides of his mouth and called, "Hermione!" up to the top of the tower. No answer. He yelled again. She didn't come. "Hermione Jane Granger!" Finally her mane of thick curls appeared, sticking out of her door frame at the end of the hallway. Looking startled, she walked to the end of the hallway and stood at the top of the stairs. She looked down at Ron, her hands on her hips.

He searched for the right words to say, to tell her how she made him feel, what she meant to him, that she was perfect. "You've changed," he said, gesturing at her clean robes. He cringed inwardly at his comment.

"You haven't," she said bitterly.

He looked down at his front, realizing that he was still covered in butterbeer. "Yeah...I've been kicked out of my room...anyways, will you come down here for a moment? Please?"

"Why?" she asked flatly.

"Uh...because, I want to talk. To you," he added stupidly. He noticed other doors opening and heads peeking out, trying to figure out what was going on. She stepped down one step, then hesitated when she also noticed their new audience.

"Tell me why you want to talk to me," she said.

"No, it's...personal," he murmured, looking at all the other girls, wincing at the eruption of giggles.

"What Ron? You're going to have to speak louder!" Hermione said, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Hermione, please come down," Ron pleaded. She just stared at him, trying to conceal a grin. He inhaled deeply. "Suit yourself," he said as he starting running up the stairs.

"Ron, you know you can't make it up here, the charm on the--aarrgh!!" There was a loud wailing noise, and the stone steps fused together to form a slide. Ron toppled backwards, and Hermione, who had been standing on the top step, cried out as the step beneath her feet gave way and she slid downwards. They landed at the bottom of the steps in a crumpled heap, Hermione on top of Ron. He smiled at her, and she immediately pushed herself off of him.

"Ron! You are an insensitive fool!" she said huffily, straightening her robes.

"I know," Ron said, "and I'm sorry." Hermione stopped scowling. "Hermione," he began. "I'm sorry about today. I'm sorry I spilled butterbeer on you."

She shook her head slightly and smiled sadly. "Ron, I don't care about the butterbeer."

"Then why were you so upset with me?" he asked.

She couldn't look at him. "Because...uh..." she muttered, but finally she drew the courage to look up into his sincere blue eyes. "Because I just don't think you get it, Ron. You see, the thing is," but she stopped here. Ron was staring at her with an oddly glazed expression on his face. "What Ron? Why are you staring at me like that? Do I have something on my face?" She raised her hand to put to her face, but before it reached her cheek, Ron had grabbed it and held it in his own hand. They stared at each other, just like they had so many times before. But this time, instead of blushing and turning away, Ron leaned in quickly and touched his lips to hers. Before she even had a chance to register what'd happened, it was over, and he was glancing at her nervously. She beamed at him.

"Sorry, Ron, for ever doubting you," she spoke softly as she clasped her hands behind his neck and leaned in for another kiss, and neither Ron nor Hermione took notice to the whoops and exclamations of relief coming from the girl's dormitory.

* * *

Harry looked at Ginny uncertainly. "Please. Read it," she said again. Harry smoothed out the paper. He has a Saving People Complex. His hair is always messed up...

"Ginny," he said softly, the anger in his voice gone, a deep sadness in its place. "Why are you doing this? I've already seen this...I--I don't..."
"No, you haven't already seen this one."

"I'm pretty positive I have," Harry said, the annoyance returning to his voice.

"No, Harry, just listen! You haven't!" Ginny said loudly. She warily walked over to where Harry sat on his bed and pointed at the parchment. "Read the title."

Harry looked down. Reasons Why I Love Harry Potter.

"What?" he said quietly.

Ginny's face flushed, but her voice didn't falter. "Just read it."

Harry cleared his throat and read Ginny's scrawled handwriting. Reasons Why I Love Harry Potter: He has a Saving People Complex. His hair is always messed up. His eyes are brilliant (and as green as a pickled toad--urgh, scratch that last part). He's unbelievably brave. He's unbelievably loyal. He's unprejudiced. He's a horrid chess player. He's generous (Fred and George probably love him for that reason as well). He's smart (although I don't think he knows it). He's funny (I don't think he knows that either). He saved my life (that one's obvious). He listens to me. He understands me. When I'm around him, I smile more...

The list went on for a couple more lines, but Harry stopped here. He'd seen enough to be thoroughly flattered, thoroughly relieved, and thoroughly confused.

"Ginny..." he said, gazing at her. "If this is all stuff you...love...about me, then why did you..." he trailed off at a loss for words, but she understood what he meant. Her back was turned to him. She began to speak without turning around to face him.

"I've worked so hard, Harry. I've worked so hard to get over you, to get over my schoolgirl crush. And I did get over it, and then you became the most important person in my life--my best friend. I wanted you to be happy, and I thought you'd be happy with Luna. But today, just thinking about the two of you...I couldn't let myself like you again. I couldn't ruin what we have. So...I wrote the list..." She turned around and looked at him, smiling in spite of herself. "You know, like a pro and con list? I know it's stupid, but I thought I could convince myself that I still only saw you as a friend. Anyways, I began to write the hate list, but all these things that are so great about you kept popping in my head, and...that's it."

Harry was still confused. Luna and Hermione really need to publish that book, he thought. Ginny caught the bewilderment on his face.

"Honestly, Harry, how thick are you!" she said exasperated. "All of this, the list, you and Luna, all of it, is just a front!" When he didn't answer, she cried out in annoyance. "Do you need me to spell it out? I--like--you!" she yelled at him in anger. She immediately blushed and turned away from him again. Harry stared at her back, his heart soaring.

"You like me?" he asked modestly, really just to hear her say it again.

"Yes, you fool! Always have," she said, still not looking at him.

Grinning hugely, Harry silently punched his fist in the air with joy, unable to contain himself. He wanted to jump up and hug her and then snog her fiercely, but he had a better idea. He cleared his throat. "Reasons I love Ginny Weasley..." he began. Ginny stiffened, but still would not turn around. Harry continued confidently, "She has a Setting People Up Complex. She's brilliant. She's stubborn. She's fiery--and I don't mean her hair, although that is as well--I mean her personality. She's passionate. She listens to me. She understands me. She..." but before Harry could carry on, Ginny had wheeled about and threw her arms around him.

"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry for being so awful and stupid!" she cried into his shoulder.

"No Ginny, I'm the one who should be apologizing," Harry said. She drew back and looked at him, puzzled.

"Why?"

"Because I've been even more oblivious than your brother, and that's no small feat. I should've realized my feelings for you a long time ago," he said. Ginny's ears turned red and she smiled. Looking into her eyes, he continued, "There are lots of things I should have done a long time ago," and with that he swiftly pulled her to him and kissed her firmly. She returned the kiss longingly, and a few moments later when they broke apart, she smiled against his lips.

"Apology accepted."

Harry laughed, but then set his face in a stony expression. "Ginny," he said seriously, "I need you to do something for me."

"What is it Harry?" she asked, anxiety crossing her face.

"Promise me," he said in a grave tone, "that you'll lay off the matchmaking for a while," he said, his lips twitching with a smile.

Ginny scowled at him. "Oh, shut up," she smiled at him, running her fingers through his hair and kissing him again.

* * *

Later that evening, Neville stepped through the portrait hole, but then quickly turned around and went back out, almost knocking over Luna.

"Ron and Hermione are snogging!" he said in disbelief.

"Hmm, it's about time ..."

"No, Luna, you don't understand! Ron and Hermione!" he watched her face for a reaction. "Are snogging!" Neville said excitedly. Luna remained unfazed. "Oh, never mind...should we go find Harry and Ginny, then?" he asked.

"No, I suspect they're busy as well," she said, ignoring Neville's surprised face. "Looks like we're alone tonight, Neville. Let's go walk around the lake," she said dreamily, slipping her hand into his and leading him away. Neville took one last incredulous look at the portrait hole, and then allowed himself to be guided away, his cheeks as red as the smoke in his Rememberall.