Can't Fight the Moonlight

That was it. Ginny Weasley was fed up with Harry Potter. She was in her fifth year, he in his sixth, and it was about bloody time one of them made a move.

They had been flirting around all her fourth year. And then in the Ministry of Magic, when Sirius died...was murdered, Ginny corrected herself. When that bitch, Bellatrix Lestrange had murdered Sirius, all thoughts of pursuing a relationship had been pushed from both of their thoughts.

But she hated seeing him like this. She hated knowing that he was hurting, and not being able to comfort him. She was infinitely jealous of Ron and Hermione, who got to be there for him, got to comfort him, and got to be around him whenever they chose.

Her heart broke for him at least twenty times a day. She longed to throw her arms around him, ease his pain and tell him it would get better. But she couldn't, because he would misinterpret her intentions.

So she sat here by the fire, watching him talk with Hermione and Ron. She sat here, all alone, while they talked about whatever it was that was going on that day. Then, sick of moping, she got up and marched over there, sat down, and said "So what's going on?"

To her surprise, they willingly told her and included her in their conversation. She made a crack about that awful prat Malfoy, and watched as Harry and Ron collapsed into laughter.

She did that. She made Harry smile, as she had been longing to do since Merlin knows how long.

She really should have gone over there sooner.

As she listened to them talk, she made a decision. She was going to win the heart of Harry Potter if it was the last thing she did.

Under the lover-sky
Gonna be with you
And no one's gonna be around

Over the course of the next few days, Ginny made an effort to be around the trio. Hermione had looked at her strangely at first, but now Ginny rather thought she was encouraging her to hang around. That Hermione had always been too sharp for her own good. It didn't help that Ginny had practically told Hermione how she felt about their resident tragic-little-hero, in one of those innumerable chats by the fire.

Oh well, Ginny thought, one can never have too many allies.

Even clueless Ron noticed that something was afoot. She hated it when he was perceptive. Ron with a shrewd look on his face was enough to cause first years to go into hysterics. Not that he hadn't practically told her to go out with Harry on the train ride home last term. She knew what he meant by that furtive look in Harry's direction, after telling her to chose a better boy. So she had insinuated that she fancied Dean Thomas just to get back at him. Which, come to think of it, was totally childish.

She approached Hermione (who was on her own for once) in the library.

"Can I have a word, Hermione?" she asked nervously.

Hermione looked strangely relieved, as if she knew what was coming. Knowing Hermione, she had already concocted a plan to help the littlest Weasley. Ginny sure hoped so. "Hermione," Ginny said, "I was wondering if you could help me."

Her next words came tumbling out of her mouth in a rush. "I mean, I like Harry. I like him a lot. But I don't know how to get him to notice... I mean, Merlin, what the boy's already been through, I hate to ask him out if he's just going to turn me down. He doesn't need to worry about me in addition to everything else, but knowing Harry he probably will. You know he has a sort of saving people thing. But I need to know if he likes me, and I don't know what to do to find out. Because I'm just now getting to be his friend and I don't want to mess that up if we can't have something more and...Hermione, are you laughing at me?"

Hermione was laughing at her! She had put her head in her hands and was shaking with suppressed giggles. Madame Pince was looking daggers at them.

"Fine then, Hermione," Ginny said angrily, "just don't even bother." She started to walk away, but hesitated when she heard Hermione's voice.

"Wait!" Hermione called, gasping for breath and still laughing. "Ginny, come back! I can help you!"

Unable to prevent herself, Ginny walked back to Hermione. "Really?" she asked

anxiously. Hermione nodded her head.

"Sorry," Hermione said, "It's just that you were so worried, and I already know that Harry fancies you. Not that Harry has mentioned it, because I don't even think he knows himself. But I've seen the way he watches you when he thinks no one is looking. All he needs is a push in the right direction."

Ginny stared at her, stunned. "He..." she broke off, looking skeptical, "he...fancies me?" She looked at the older girl skeptically. Hermione just nodded. Ginny got up and gave the older girl a hug. She loved it when Hermione was too sharp for her own good.

"Of course!" Hermione said, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Now all we have to do is work out a plan. I already have a few ideas." Ginny smiled as she sat back down. She knew her friend so well.

"So it's all settled then?" Ginny asked fifteen minutes later, looking just the teeniest bit frightened. Hermione smiled at her comfortingly. "It will be fine, Ginny! Just go up to your dormitory and fix yourself up a bit. We want Harry to be incapable of taking his eyes off of you. Come down to the common room at sunset. I'll take care of everything else."

If you think that you won't fall
Well just wait until
'Til the sun goes down

Ginny looked at herself uneasily in the mirror. She hoped she looked okay. She was wearing a spaghetti strapped tank top, (borrowed from Lavender Brown...not that Lavender knew about it), in a dark green color that complimented her hair. She had on a pair of brand new jeans that were so tight she didn't know what her mother was thinking. Note to self, buy looser jeans next time self is in London. She had fixed her hair with the top part in a clip, and a few fiery ringlets framing her face. She wore the slightest hint of makeup, (borrowed from Parvati Patil...not that Parvati knew about it), and thought she looked rather fetching. She just hoped that Harry thought the same. Was it normal to feel this nervous? Was she overreacting? She didn't even know if Hermione's plan would work. But Merlin, she hoped it would.

She looked into the mirror and glared at her reflection "Ginny Weasley," she told herself fiercely, "you look amazing. Harry won't know what hit him. You will march down that staircase and when you march back up you will have Harry Potter wrapped around your little finger." She held her little finger up for emphasis before continuing, "Harry Potter is in love with you, even if he's too thick to notice it. So MARCH, Ginny!"

"That's the spirit, love!" Her mirror chirped at her happily. Ginny just rolled her eyes, before relaxing her features into a serene smile. Then she walked out of her dormitory and headed to the staircase. She waltzed down the stairs composedly, but all her calm almost vanished when she saw Harry. He was looking at her like she was the last chocolate frog in Honeydukes. She felt a blush creep up her cheeks, but stubbornly ignored it.

She walked over to Hermione, passing right by Harry in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner. "Everything all set?" she asked in a low voice. Hermione gave her a thumbs up.

The plan was a simple one. Hermione would say in a clearly distressed voice that 'oh no, she had left her Arithmancy book in the astronomy tower, and would Ginny mind terribly going to retrieve it for her, as she had a most difficult test tomorrow'. Ginny would get up to go and Hermione would then exclaim that 'Ginny couldn't possibly go running around Hogwarts all alone at this time of night'. At which point Harry's saving people thing would come in handy. Ginny didn't know what Hermione would do if Ron offered to accompany her, but Hermione had said she would take care of it.

After fifteen minutes of pointless chatter, during which Harry and Ron had joined them, Hermione put the plan into action.

Too late to back out now, Ginny told herself. She was more nervous than she was that time in first year, when she had sent Harry that singing goblin valentine.

"I'll go with you, Ginny," Harry said immediately, as the two girls had known he would. Ginny smiled fondly, sometimes Harry was so predictable. She really loved that about him. Well, truth be told, she loved everything about him.

"What?" Harry asked her suddenly, and she realized she had been smiling at him dreamily, occupied with her thoughts.

"Nothing," she said quickly, "we better go, though, it's almost nine."

If you had asked Ginny later what she and Harry talked about on that fateful walk to the astronomy tower, she wouldn't have been able to tell you. Apparently Harry was satisfied, though, as he made no further comment on her strange behavior.

As they climbed the stairway to the astronomy tower, Ginny took a deep breath. This is it, she thought, it's now or never. She sincerely hoped it would be now.

Underneath the starlight, starlight
There's a magical feeling so right
It will steal your heart tonight

"I can't find it anywhere!" Harry exclaimed. They had been looking for Hermione's Arithmancy book for exactly seven minutes. Ginny had been counting. I'll do something, she told herself heatedly, just not right this second. She was furious with herself. Here was her big chance to impress Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived in Her Dreams, and she was acting like a coward. She squared her shoulders. Right now, right this second, before she had time to think about what she was doing and back out, she was going to make a move.

"Harry?" she said quietly. He turned to her, his face illuminated by the faint moonlight coming into the tower. Her heart constricted in her chest, he was so breathtakingly handsome.

He looked into her eyes, and his were such a vivid green, and filled with such emotion that she couldn't speak. She almost couldn't believe that she was actually standing here, and Harry was looking at her. Looking at her with his heart in his eyes, so that she could tell that he was ready for whatever came next.

She had intended to say something. She wanted to let him know what she felt, after five years of waiting in hope for him to notice her, and now she couldn't say a single word. But maybe her eyes were as expressive as his were, because he closed the distance between them quickly. Her heart quickened at his proximity, and the sensation in the pit of her stomach had nothing to do with nervousness. She was swept with waves of heat as he lowered his head down, and down and down in a spiral of emotion and physical attraction, into the accumulation of every hope, every wish she had ever made upon that mythical star, and then...he stopped.

"Ginny?" he said softly, and she could feel his breath caressing her face. Their lips were a mere half an inch apart, so that when he spoke his lips almost touched hers. She looked up into his eyes and wondered what had caused him to pause. She suddenly had a sinking feeling in her abdomen as the look in his eyes expanded to include apprehension. He wasn't going to kiss her. What was she going to do? She'd never be able to look him in the eye after this, she'd be too embarrassed.

But then he spoke again, laying her fears to rest.

"Ginny, if we don't stop right now, things can't go back. If I kiss you, we'll never be friends again. It's been hard enough these past months without the memory of a kiss shared in the dark...

You can try to resist
Try to hide from my kiss
But you know, but you know

That you, can't fight the moonlight

"...Thing's won't ever be the same. So I have to know, Ginny. Do you want to be just friends? Do you want to be buddies who happen to snog every chance they get? Because I can't be that with you. I love you too much. So if you aren't serious, tell me, and we'll find Hermione's dumb book and leave. But I need to know, and I need to know now."

Ginny looked at him with a radiant smile. He loved her! So of course she replied, in a voice filled with happiness, and told him all the things she'd been wanting to say ever since she could remember.

"Harry, I love you. I love you more than life itself, and I swear I've never been more serious about anything in my life. From the first time I saw you, I loved you. And when you saved me from the basilisk, I loved you even more. When you fought the Hungarian Horntail, I was more scared than Hermione was! And in the ministry, when the Death Eaters wanted to torture me, and you stepped in front of me, I thought I might die from the perfection of it. But I've come to realize that it's more than your heroics, Harry. It's everything you are. It's the way you're always there when Ron needs you. It's the way you never let your fame go to your head." Harry was growing steadily more embarrassed as she spoke, but she didn't care. She continued speaking rapidly. "It's your heart, Harry. It's the fact that you have so much love in you that you overflow with it, and everyone wants to be around you and bask in it. You treat everyone as equals, and never look down on anyone because they're younger, or stupider, or less talented than you. You're the first person I'd want in a fight, and the last person who'd ever betray me. You're funny, and smart, and you have this way about you that draws people in. Hell, Harry, I'm even in love with you're smile. I'd love to sit here and tell you all the ways that I love you, but bloody Merlin, if you don't kiss me right this second, I think I'll die!"

Deep in the dark, you'll surrender your heart
Don't you know, don't you know that you
Can't fight the moonlight...No

So he did. He kissed her. And it was the most wonderful experience of her life, right up there with riding a broomstick. He touched his lips to hers gently, and then more forcefully. She parted her lips and he accepted her unspoken invitation, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. She met his thrusts with ones of her own, and reveled in his taste, in the feel of him, in his hands on her hips, and in her hair. She wrapped her arms about his neck and wound her fingers in his messy, jet black hair. She kissed him as scorchingly impassioned as any kiss ever heard, seen or read about in the entire world, and he returned her flaming kisses with ones of his own. She could have gone on in this manner for any number of hours, but eventually they pulled apart, panting for breath.

"We had better get back to the common room," she said tremulously, uncertain of what to do next.

Harry gave her a most resplendent smile. Then he surprised her by reaching over and taking her hand.

"Okay," he said with a rakish grin, "lets go, then."

You can't fight it...
It's gonna get to your heart

When they reached the common room, they were met by a furious Ron, who demanded to know what in Merlin's name had taken so bloody long.

They explained, without going into too much detail, what had occurred. Ginny knew that Harry was anxious for Ron to be happy for him, so she gave Ron a sparkling smile when he clapped Harry on the back and congratulated him.

"Of course," Ron said with a smile and a placid look that belied his words, "if you break my wonderful little sister's heart, I'll eviscerate you with a dull butter knife."

Harry looked down at Ginny, their fingers still intertwined, and said with a heartfelt smile, "In all honesty, Ron, I don't think that will be a problem."

Ginny about melted into a little puddle at his feet. Harry could be so sweet sometimes.

Hermione just smiled at them over the top of her book.

As they sat down around the table, Harry turned to Hermione and said with an amused smile, "Find your Arithmancy book then, Hermione?"

You can try to resist
Try to hide from my kiss
But you know, but you know
That you can't fight the moonlight
Deep in the dark, you'll surrender your heart

Don't you know, don't you know that you,

Can't fight the moonlight...No

You can't fight it,

It's gonna get to your heart.