It's About Time

Chapter Two

"I Have to Tell Her"

Harry awoke excruciatingly early the next day. When he looked at his watch, he groaned. It was five in the morning.

"It's not as early as I thought. Fuck! Now I've only got an hour to take a shower, get ready for practice, and eat breakfast!" Harry thought angrily.

He got up from his bed, took his towel from his trunk, and headed towards the dormitory bathroom. His bad mood lifted when he passed Ron's bed. He'd heard Ron muttering Hermione's name in his sleep. He smiled at his friend's stupidity. Harry was pretty sure that Ron didn't know about his feelings for Hermione. Harry, on the other hand, had noticed in their fourth year during the ordeal of finding dates for the Yule Ball.

He walked over to Ron's bed and stuffed a sock into Ron's mouth. He didn't want Dean, Seamus, and Neville to taunt Ron about his feelings for Hermione if they found out.

"As if they're thick enough to not have noticed already," Harry thought.

Ron chocked a little and rolled over in bed. He snorted and began to snooze without even bothering to open his eyes.

"I hope he works up the courage to tell her how he feels because all this stupidity is driving up the wall!" he thought impatiently.

He shook Ron trying to wake him. Ron opened his eyes slightly.

"What?" he asked, while removing the sock from his mouth.

"Quidditch practice, get up."

Ron moaned and sat up straight. He got out of bed and made to enter the bathroom. Harry stopped him.

"Hey, wait your turn. I'm going to take a shower."

Ron waved off this comment and signaled for Harry to go take his shower.

Harry walked into the bathroom and locked the door. He took off his pajamas and stepped into the shower. The water was warm straight away unlike the shower at the Dursley's. Harry scrubbed with all of his might trying to get rid of the drowsiness that had taken over his eyes. He was unsuccessful and threw the soap down in impatience. He washed off the soap and grabbed his towel. After he dried himself, he picked up his toothbrush and began to brush his teeth. He rinsed and left the bathroom in a hurry.

He changed into his scarlet Quidditch robes, grabbed his Firebolt, and went down to the Great Hall to eat a quick breakfast while Ron took a quick shower.

There was hardly anyone in the Great Hall as it was 6:00 on a Saturday morning. Harry ate some bacon and toast before he ran to the Quidditch pitch with Ron tailing behind him. He was already late and as captain he had to be one of the first on the pitch. When he arrived on the pitch, the rest of the team was already there. They all seemed to be fighting a losing battle with their eyelids. Ron panted as he tried to stuff the piece of toast he had in his hand into his mouth.

"Hi, Harry," Ginny murmured dully.

Harry waved and observed his team. There were many new additions. Fred, George, Alicia, Katie, and Angelina had all left the year before so Harry had had the responsibility of replacing them. Fred had been replaced by a third year named Benjamin Dickens. His brother, Jonathan, had replaced George. Ginny had taken the place of Angelina while two other fifth years took Alicia and Katie's positions. The two fifth years, Aimee McCarthy and Adam Blake, were very talented and Harry was glad to have them on the team along with a fierce Ginny. The new Beaters weren't nearly as talented as Fred and George but they were still fairly talented and willing to practice until they should become the best.

Harry blew his whistle. The team mounted their brooms and kicked off the ground. Harry did a few laps around the pitch on his Firebolt while the team took their positions to begin yet another fierce practice before their match against Slytherin tomorrow.

***A few hours later***

"Hermione, can I talk to you?"

Hermione glanced up from the book she was reading and saw her red-haired best friend looking down at her.

"Sure."

"Listen, I'm sorry I made you angry last night."

Hermione smiled. "It's okay, Ron. I guess I just overreacted. Here sit down and have some pumpkin juice with me."

"Thanks."

He sat down on the grass next to her. She handed him a glass of iced pumpkin juice. He took a sip and chanced a look at her from the side of his eye. He decided to say something.

"Have you seen Ginny?"

"No, I didn't see her in the Great Hall."

"Oh," he responded awkwardly. "Why are you eating lunch out here by yourself?"

"Well, you, Ginny, and Harry were all at practice so I decided I might as well get some fresh air. It's such a nice day.

Ron nodded.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" said a bodiless voice from behind them.

They turned and saw none other than Draco Malfoy and his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Looks like Weasley's got himself a girlfriend. Tsk, tsk and a mudblood at that. Shame on you, Weasel," Malfoy teased with a smirk.

Ron made to punch Malfoy in the face when he felt Hermione touch his arm and whisper in his ear.

"Let me handle this."

She stood up and her face settled into a frown.

"Why don't you go fuck yourself, Malfoy? It's not our fault that your father got thrown into Azkaban. Go cry to your mother if she has the patience to listen to your spoiled whining. Grow up already! Not everyone is going fall to their knees to please you! I do not have dirty blood! If anyone is a mudblood around here, it's you. At least my parents have the decency of running their own lives and not being bossed around by some Dark Lord. If you're father is the big man you claims he is, then why doesn't he stop listening to You-Know-Who and run his own fucking life! But I guess with the pathetic son he has, he needs to feel someone is doing something right! Go find a life and leave mine in peace, you asshole!" Hermione screamed at Malfoy, while pointing her wand at his heart.

"Don't talk about my family that way! What do you know about class! Now I've seen everything; a beaver and a weasel trying to teach me, a Malfoy, about life!"

Hermione removed her wand and slapped Malfoy with all of her might. He staggered as his knees buckled under the impact. Crabbe and Goyle ran to catch him as his body threatened to fall face-first into the grass. They dragged Malfoy up to the castle while he tried to get to his feet.

Hermione was livid. Ron stared at her in amazement. That was the second time that Hermione had lost her temper with Malfoy and slapped him across the face. He grabbed her shoulders and faced her.

"That was amazing, 'Mione!"

Hermione panted from her anger but managed to smile at him. Ron laughed loudly as he recalled Malfoy's face when Hermione had insulted his father. Hermione sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. About ten minutes passed, during which Ron and Hermione sat in silence. Growing tired of the everlasting silence, Hermione was just about to suggest that they go up to the common room, when Ginny's voice sliced the silence like a knife.

"Hi, Ron. Hi, Hermione!"

"Hi, Ginny," they responded at the same time, though rather unenthusiastically.

"Jeez, don't look so happy to see me," Ginny said, noticing their hostility.

"Sorry, Ginny," Hermione apologized quickly. "We didn't expect anyone, but what do you need?"

"Well, I actually came to talk to you Hermione. I want to know how to prepare that potion to make your hair so silky. I've been meaning to ask you since I noticed how beautiful your hair looks now," Ginny explained.

"Ginny, is this really important? I need to talk to Hermione, too," Ron said, suddenly starting to get up.

"Yes! It's urgent!"

"Okay, okay! Ron, can we talk later? The potion does take a long time to make."

Ron nodded his agreement, though he did it very reluctantly. Hermione finally smiled and gave Ron a kiss on the cheek. She left at a run with Ginny.

"Bye!" Ron shouted after her, not wanting her to go.

His face was as red as his hair both from embarrassment and anger.

"Ginny! Why did you have to pick now to want to do your hair?" Ron thought in ardent anger.

He recovered from his anger and walked up to the castle. Maybe Harry would be able to help him with these mixed emotions he was feeling.

***At Gryffindor Tower***

"Well, for starters Ron, I already knew about your feelings for Hermione. I was wondering when you were going to figure it out, actually."

Ron's mouth opened in disbelief. He'd just told Harry about his feelings for Hermione only to find that Harry already knew.

"Now, we've got to figure out how you're going to go about telling her. Maybe-"

"Whoa, what do mean?" Ron asked nervously. "I can't tell her. I just can't. I was going to tell her, but Ginny interrupted me just as I was about to tell. Now I've lost my nerve!"

Harry ran his hands through his messy, black hair making it stick up even more than usual.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," Harry thought impatiently.

"You have to tell her, Ron, or you'll never know how she feels," Harry explained. "Repeat after me, I-have-to-tell-her."

"But Harry-"

"No 'buts', just repeat!" Harry half-shouted.

Ron was a bit taken aback but decided not to test Harry's patience.

"I have to tell her," he said obediently.

"Good," Harry said.

Harry grabbed Ron by the scruff of his neck and dragged him to the portrait hole. He pushed Ron out.

"Find her and tell her, Ron!"

Ron stumbled out and repeated Harry's orders. Harry turned back as the portrait closed and collapsed into an armchair. He sighed.

"Love is a funny thing, isn't it Harry?"

"What are you on about, Dean?" Harry asked, a bit irritated.

"Oh, c'mon Harry! You know exactly what we're talking about! How can you urge Ron to confess his feelings when you don't have the nerve to confess your own feelings!"

This time it was Seamus who had spoken.

"Go tell her you love her, Harry," said Neville's trembling voice.

"What are you guys on about?"

"Harry, stop acting like a prat. Go tell her for the love of Merlin's beard," Dean said with a mischievous smile.

Harry caught on to what they were saying and made to escape to the dorms. Dean and Seamus were too quick for him. They grabbed him just as he had done to Ron and pushed him towards where she was sitting. He stumbled but had no choice; he had to sit next to her.

"Hi, Harry," she said in a surprised tone.

"Hi, Ginny," Harry said, trying not to sound nervous.

He wished he was on the Quidditch pitch. There he wasn't nervous when talking to her. Yet somehow, whenever he tried to talk to her outside of the Quidditch pitch, his words came out a jumble and he made an ass of himself.

"Where's Ron?" she asked looking around the common room.

Harry explained where Ron had gone. Ginny sighed.

"I thought he'd never figure it out!" she said a bit relieved.

They both laughed for a moment. He nervously looked over at Dean, Seamus, and Neville. They mouthed for him to get on with it. He shook his head fervently. Dean threw his hands into the air and suddenly stepped up to him and Ginny. He cleared his throat. Ginny looked at him with a strange, suspicious look.

"Excuse me, Ginny. Harry has something he'd like to say," Dean announced.

Ginny turned her attention to Harry, who was looking at Dean with his mouth open.

"Yes, Harry?"

Harry gulped. He began to stutter and Dean (being the great friend that he is) smacked him hard on the back. It was now or never.

"Ithinkyou'rereallybeautiful!Ilikeyou,Ginny!" he mumbled.

He had spoken so fast that Ginny stared at him.

"Uh, sorry? I didn't catch that," Ginny said.

He sighed and gathered his Gryffindor bravery. " I really like you, Ginny. I thought about you all summer. I've thought about you all year, even."

Ginny blinked rather stupidly.

"What?" she said again.

"What I mean is-,"Harry began once again.

He changed his mind. Instead, he brought his face close to hers and slowly put his lips on hers. She accepted the kiss. It was a short, soft kiss but it was filled with hunger, necessity unlike any other.

When they parted, Harry looked into her eyes. She was crying. He wiped the tears form her face and kissed her once again. The kiss ended and Ginny found herself breathless and hot in the face.

"Excuse me, I have a question," Neville asked, taking advantage of their break. "Won't Ron be angry if he finds out you two are, you know, dating?"

Harry looked at Ginny and began to panic.

"He's going to be okay. He better be okay. Besides, I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself. I make my own decisions," Ginny said assertively.