Anything at All

Harry groaned as he sat down at one of the tables in the Gryffindor common room. It was a fine Saturday morning in mid-April, lazy and sunny and warm. The kind of Saturday morning Harry would have loved to have spend doing something productive. In this case, productive could be used in the same context as sleeping. He was dead tired.

That bloody git Malfoy had given him detention. Oh, how he hated the fact that Malfoy was a prefect. Snape had made Harry cut newt's eyes off the dead creatures until one in the morning. So he had to spend this wonderful Saturday doing homework...again.

Usually he could count on Ron keeping him company, as Ron tended to procrastinate when it came to actually using his brain.

But Hermione and Ron had been doing their homework together lately, and spending lots of time together on the weekends. Not that Harry minded terribly. He, along with the rest of the Weasleys, was glad that Hermione and Ron had stopped shouting at each other long enough to realize that they were in love.

He just missed his best friends at times. They still spent the weekdays together, but the weekends were just for the happy couple. Well, looking on the bright side, that left time for homework.

What he missed the most right now, though, was Hermione's History of Magic notes. Three feet of parchment on goblin rebellions in the nineteenth century. Honestly, Professor Binns was unnaturally obsessed with goblin rebellions.

Harry put his History of Magic essay away, intending to ask Hermione if he could use her notes later. If she could detach herself from Ron's lips for long enough to give the notes to him, of course.

With a sigh, Harry picked up his Potions essay. He stifled a yawn as he reached for his textbook.

He looked up the ingredients for the Draught of Peace, a difficult potion he had made incorrectly last term. As punishment, Snape assigned him to write an essay on the correct concoction of the potion.

So engrossed was he in trying to remember the correct way to stir the potion, that he didn't notice the footsteps behind him.

"Two drops of hellebore, Harry, not three," said a tired voice over his shoulder. He glanced up to see Ginny Weasley standing behind him, grinning sleepily. "We did that potion on Monday," she informed him, by way of explanation.

He looked at her pleadingly.

"Ginny," he said, pouting in a most unconvincing manner. "I'll love you forever if you help me with this essay."

She put her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrows.

"You know, Potter," she said, doing her very best Draco Malfoy imitation, complete with sneer and aggravating drawl. "I have a whole list of things I'd like to do today."

She reached over and picked up a bit of spare parchment off the table, pretending to scan it.

"Nope, I don't see 'Help slow-witted Gryffindor write an essay for that charming teacher, Snape' anywhere on here."

Harry jumped out of his chair, fighting a smile. He turned and knelt on both knees, facing Ginny with his hands clasped together in front of him.

"Oh, please Miss Weasley," he said in an exaggerated groveling fashion. "I'll do anything, absolutely anything if you help me!"

She looked at him, her eyebrows still raised, but the sneer gone. She looked genuinely curious.

"Like what?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of him.

"I'll murder Ron for you!" Harry declared. "He irritates you, doesn't he? Never liked the freckly git myself. Didn't talk to him much."

Ginny looked at him, clearly fighting a smile. He continued.

"Please, Miss Weasley, I'll do absolutely anything, anything at all!" He looked at her questioningly.

---

Ginny loved it when Harry was like this. He'd been talking to her lots lately, since Ron and Hermione were busy using the Marauder's Map to find empty classrooms to snog in. He'd talk to her, joke with her, and they'd help each other with homework. Although she had the advantage from that angle, because he was a year ahead of her, and he could help her more than she could help him.

But she had him beat at potions. Which is why she could enjoy this situation to its fullest. She had been stunned to realize that the crush she had on Harry her first and second year had come back, stronger than ever. This time around, though, she was sure it wasn't one sided.

Well, almost sure.

Which is why she grinned mischievously, making her resemblance to Fred and George all the more apparent.

"Anything?" she asked wickedly.

---

Uh oh. That was the famous, unmistakable Weasley 'I'm up to something' grin. Harry had seen it on the faces of enough Weasley males to recognize the same sardonic twist on the face of Ron's sister.

Oh, that was a good thought! She is Ron's little sister, he thought experimentally, though without much conviction. Nope, didn't work. He still fancied her.

Damn.

Ron was going to butcher him.

Ron was going to cut off his fingers and toes with a carrot peeler and make a tasteless Christmas wreath out of them.

That would only be after he whacked Harry soundly about the head and shoulders with his new Cleansweep Eleven. But Harry couldn't help himself.

"Oh yeah," he said, with a wicked smile that matched Ginny's previous one. "Anything at all."

---

Ginny looked at him considering. "Get up," she told him. He picked himself up off his knees.

"Hop on one foot," she said, somehow managing to keep a straight face as he complied.

"Now spin around in a circle three times, then shout 'Ginny Weasley is the best and most wonderful person ever in the history of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!'"

She couldn't help but crack a smile as he spun around in a circle, alternately spinning nearer to her, and then farther away. "One...Two...Three..." he counted loudly as he spun. Then he stopped, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs "GINNY WEASLEY IS THE BEST AND MOST WONDERFUL PERSON EVER IN THE HISTORY OF HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY!"

"Hear, hear!" called Seamus Finnigan from the sixth year boy's dormitory. This caused Ginny and Harry to collapse into hysterical laughter.

---

When they recovered, Harry looked at Ginny expectantly.

"Is that all?" Harry heard himself say. He wondered what had possessed him to agree to this deal in the first place.

Oh yeah, he reminded himself. Ginny had smiled. He suspected that he'd jump in the lake and kiss the giant squid if Ginny asked him with a smile.

He was such a sucker.

He gave her a rakish grin as he waited for her answer.

---

She contemplated the question with a pensive look. "Nope," she said casually. "I think that's all. Unless, by any chance, you'd agree to serenade Draco Malfoy in the Great Hall to the tune of 'She's Lost that Loving Feeling.'" she smiled at his stricken look. "No, I didn't really think so." He looked immensely relieved. She thought it exceedingly ironic that Harry Potter, Boy Extraordinaire could try to take on a dozen Death Eaters with only five teenage cohorts without the slightest sign of fear, but cowered in panic at the idea of dire humiliation.

She actually thought it an extremely endearing quality.

Then, thinking about Harry's bravery, she made a decision to be brave herself.

"There is one thing..." she said.

-----

In Harry's opinion, she said it quite nervously. What cause would she have to be nervous? He was the one most likely to be humiliated here. But she was nervous all the same.

He could tell by the set of her shoulders. He could tell by her face. After four months of watching Ginny Weasley's face obsessively, he could catch almost every nuance of her expression. Definitely nervous. Or at least uneasy.

Why was she uneasy, what was so important for her to say? Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Only one thing?" he asked, keeping his tone light. "Well, lovely Miss Weasley, I'd be glad to do anything that would brighten up your day."

He had thought he was prepared for anything. But he wasn't prepared for her next words. He wasn't prepared for her to look him straight in the eye and utter four shaky, life changing words.

"You could kiss me."

Harry almost didn't believe his ears. But there she was, standing in front of him, a blush starting to creep up her cheeks.

"I...Harry...I mean...I was just..." Oh no, she was trying to get out of it. He couldn't have that, now could he?

So he took three steps, closing the distance between them. He wrapped his arms around her, lowered his head, and gently touched his lips to hers.

---

Ginny couldn't believe her luck. Harry Potter was finally kissing her. She wanted to dance, she wanted to sing, she wanted to laugh merrily and traipse through the rain. But more than any of those things, she wanted to kiss him back. So she did.

---

Harry was astonished. Was this little Ginny Weasley kissing him so vehemently? The same Ginny Weasley he rescued from the Chamber of Secrets? The same Ginny Weasley who used to blush to the roots of her hair the minute he walked into the room?

Suddenly he realized that this was most certainly not the same Ginny.

She had quite grown up.

So involved were the two that they didn't hear the portrait hole open. They were unaware of their audience until Ron gave a strangled gasp. Harry looked up quickly, and saw Ron and Hermione standing there, both looking as shocked as if the Chudley Cannons had won the World Cup.

He was prepared for Ron's angry yells. He was prepared for the death threats. He was prepared for the time when the death threats would be carried out. He was prepared for Ron to rant and rave, saying, "Anyone but Ginny, Harry! Why my sister?!"

What he wasn't prepared for was for Ron to jump into the air waving his fist, and let out a joyous whoop.

He was even more unprepared for Ron coming over to him and exclaiming, "It's about bloody time, mate."

But what he was most unprepared for was Ginny's luminous smile. That beautiful smile, coming from that wonderful person, absolutely amazed him.

Yes, Ginny, he thought, as he reached for her hand. Anything at all.