Really

"Oi, Ginny!" someone shouted. Ginny turned around to see Dean Thomas walking towards her, holding a badly wrapped package.

"What?" she asked curtly. Quidditch practice had been a bust, and she was not in a good mood at all.

"I got requisitioned to give this to one of you," Dean said, holding up the package. "Malfoy's being a right git, you know. Poncing around the school with that little Inquisitorial Squad badge, acting like he owns the place. 'Thomas, deliver this to the Weasels, will you? I've better things to do than associate with muggle-loving filth like them.'" Dean mimicked, a foul look on his handsome face.

"Malfoy's always a git," Ginny said with a shrug. "Thanks, though."

"No problem," Dean said, handing the package to her. "I just saw Ron with Jack Sloper," he added. "What happened?"

"Sloper's an idiot and knocked himself out with his own bat," Ginny said with a frown. "They're headed to the hospital wing."

Dean gave a low whistle. "I bet Angelina's not too happy about that."

"You'd bet right," Ginny said darkly. "She was furious. Ran off muttering about how she wished Fred and George were back on the team."

"Well, at least she didn't say anything about wanting Harry instead of you," Dean reminded her. "Did she?"

"No," Ginny said with a slight smile. "She seems to be quite happy with me."

"Of course she is," Dean said. "You're excellent. Don't blush, it's true."

Sure enough, Ginny was blushing. She didn't take praise well, for some reason. It might have had something to do with a load of older brothers that had called her names all her life.

"Thanks, Dean," she said, giving him a smile. "I'm going to go play postman and deliver everyone their Easter eggs."

"Yeah, I've got to go make sure Seamus isn't doing evil things in my absence," Dean said.

"What kind of evil things?" Ginny asked curiously.

"You don't want to know," Dean said, shaking his head. "It would just make you paranoid."

"I trust you," Ginny said with a shrug. "See you later."

"Bye, Ginny," Dean said, and strode off down the hall, his long legs covering the distance quickly.

Ginny smiled slightly as she walked back down the hall. She had always been friends with more boys than she had girls, because girls were, in her opinion, quite useless. They got offended easily, while boys would laugh when you made a scathing comment. Girls would talk about you behind your back, but boys were too caught up in Quidditch to even notice if you were doing something wrong.

Yes, she thought, boys were much better friends. Ginny knew many boys that were only her friends, boys that she didn't have romantic feelings for at all, boys she'd never go out with if someone paid her a thousand Galleons, boys she'd never touch with a ten foot pole...Harry Potter, for instance.

Oh, Ron might think she liked Harry, but she didn't. Not in the least. She was going out with Michael Corner, for goodness sakes. Ginny would never entertain the thought of being more than friends with Harry. She simply would not. She didn't even think of him that way anymore. And that was the end of it.

Really.

Rolling her eyes and telling herself forcefully to think about something else, Ginny tried to guess where everyone could be. She didn't fancy the thought of carrying around a big box all day, and so set off to find her brothers, Harry, and Hermione.

Deciding that she should check the common room first, Ginny headed that way.

She crawled through the portrait hole and caught sight of Hermione sitting at a table, her books spread out around her. Hermione looked up, smiling when she caught sight of Ginny.

"Why aren't you at practice?" she asked.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Don't ask."

"That bad?" Hermione said. "Ron's going to be impossible."

"Don't complain," Ginny scolded. "You're the idiot that decided to be his best friend."

Hermione sighed. "I better finish reviewing Ancient Runes. Ron's going to be storming around noisily for the rest of the night and I'll never get any work done."

"You'll never get any work done with him around, period," Ginny said teasingly. "He's driving you to distraction."

"No comment," Hermione said breezily.

"Mum's sent us Easter eggs," Ginny said, walking over, setting the box on the table and deftly unwrapping it. "Here's yours."

Hermione reached over to take the beautifully decorated egg, with iced wands shooting little icing sparks across the chocolate surface.

"Well, it's a bit bigger than last year," Hermione said ruefully. "I thought your mum was going to do me serious injury."

"Mum's always had a bit of a soft spot for Harry," Ginny said fondly. "Also, she thought you were going to break Ron's poor heart."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You are both delusional."

Ginny gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like, "Denial!"

"I've discovered a few new jinxes I've been dying to try out," Hermione said offhandedly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows.

"It means get out," Hermione told her. "Now. Don't you have eggs to deliver?"

"Fine," Ginny said. "I'll leave you alone to daydream about having Ron's little redheaded offspring."

"Brown hair is a dominant gene," Hermione said absently, returning to her Ancient Runes textbook.

Ginny picked up the box of Easter eggs and headed towards the portrait hole. As she was about to crawl through, Hermione's voice came floating through the air.

"Harry's in the library, by the way."

"Thanks, Hermione," Ginny said sarcastically.

"Any time," Hermione replied, amusement in her voice.

Ginny climbed out of the portrait hole and set off for the library.

To her chagrin, it began to feel as if someone had let loose a dozen Golden Snitches in her abdomen. To think that talking to Harry would make her feel this way. It must be a residual thing from when she'd had a crush on him. It had to be. Because she certainly didn't fancy him any more.

Really.

Talking to your friends shouldn't make you feel nervous, Ginny chastised herself. Honestly, you're acting like a child.

She was getting better, though. Not once this year had she made a fool out of herself about Harry, a fact which pleased her to no end. Ginny entertained the hope that Harry had forgotten all about her crush on him. She didn't want him to think about her that way.

Really.

Whilst Ginny had been absorbed in her thoughts, her feet had carried her to the library. Taking a deep breath, she prayed desperately to whatever deity might be listening that she not embarrass herself.

Walking into the library, she quickly spotted Harry sitting at a table, apparently lost in thought.

"Hey, Harry," she said, walking over to him. When he didn't answer, her stomach sank. Why wasn't he talking to her?

"Harry?" she tried again, in a timid voice that made her cringe when she realized it was coming out of her mouth.

He still didn't answer. Now she was getting angry. He had the nerve to sit there in his chair and ignore her? Like hell he would. She was Ginny flipping Weasley, and she would not be ignored.

Then she realized that he was looking troubled. Her anger evaporated as if it had never been, to be replaced by concern. Harry had been looking rather preoccupied lately, and didn't speak much. He just moped around being depressed.

Ginny rolled her eyes. If no one was going to do anything, she'd have to step in.

"Harry, I'm talking to you," she said firmly. "Can you hear me?"

"Huh?" he said, coming out of his funk and looking at her. "Oh, hi," he said, flashing her a small smile as he pulled his books to him. "How come you're not at practice?"

"It's over," Ginny said. "Ron had to take Jack Sloper up to the hospital wing."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Well, we're not sure, but we think he knocked himself out with his own bat," Ginny said, sighing heavily. Today was just not her day. Reminding herself of what her objective was, namely to keep Harry occupied, she spoke again.

"Anyway...a package just arrived, it's only just got through Umbridge's new screening process."

She placed the box containing her mum's eggs onto the table, fighting a scowl at the words written across the top.

Inspected and passed by the Hogwarts High Inquisitor.

How dare that Umbridge woman poke around other people's things. It was an invasion of privacy, that's what it was.

"It's Easter eggs from Mum," she explained, when Harry looked at her in question. "There's one for you," she said, rummaging around inside the box until she found it. "There you go," she said triumphantly, putting the egg into his hands.

Harry looked at his egg in a strange manner, as if he were about to cry. Ginny's heart twisted uncomfortably in her chest, because she knew that Harry was feeling a lot of strain and anger lately.

"Are you okay, Harry?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry assured her, in a rather unconvincing manner.

It hit Ginny what the problem was. Hermione had told her all about Harry's date with Cho, and what a mess it had been. Ginny had tried hard at the time not to be happy about it, but seeing the look on Harry's face she found that she didn't feel joyful in the slightest.

"You seem really down lately," she said, determined that she'd do everything she could to cheer him up, even if it involved hunting Cho down and giving her a good, sound verbal beating. "You know, I'm sure if you just talked to Cho..."

"It's not Cho I want to talk to," Harry said abruptly.

Ginny's heart leapt momentarily. Maybe it was her he wanted to talk to. Maybe he'd finally realized what he'd been missing out on. Then her brain kicked in, saying to her, maybe not.

"Who is it then?" she asked, watching him closely. There was always a chance...

"I..." Harry started, then faltered. He looked around quickly, apparently making sure no one could hear them. Her breath caught, although her brain demanded caution.

"I wish I could talk to Sirius," he muttered, and Ginny's brain said I told you so, in a very smug manner. "But I know I can't."

That's what was making him depressed. Ginny began to think of ways to contact Sirius, unaware that she was staring at Harry as she did so. She watched idly as Harry unwrapped his egg and ate a piece of the chocolate, but nothing came to her.

"Well," she said, reaching out and stealing a bit of his egg, although he didn't seem to mind, "if you really want to talk to Sirius, I expect we can think of a way to do it..."

"Come on," Harry said dully. "With Umbridge policing the fires and reading all our mail?"

He was starting to get down again. She couldn't let that happen. She said the first thing that popped into her head, hoping to make him laugh, or at least feel happier.

"The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve."

Harry looked at her hopefully. She knew that he was trusting her, thinking that maybe she could think of a way to do what he needed done. The fact that he was relying on her like he would a real friend gave her a surprisingly buoyant feeling.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

"Oh damn," whispered Ginny, jumping to her feet. "I forgot - "

Madame Pince was making her way towards them, her face screwed up in anger.

"Chocolate in the library!" she screamed. "Out - out - OUT!"

Ginny and Harry bolted from the library, pursued by Harry's books, bag and ink bottle. They stopped when they were out of sight of the library, both overcome with laughter.

"Sorry about that," Harry said ruefully. "I forgot we weren't supposed to eat chocolate in the library."

"I did too," Ginny confessed. "Madame Pince looked like an overgrown vulture chasing us down, didn't she?"

"Yeah," Harry said with a laugh.

"Well, I have to finish handing out eggs," Ginny said. "I'll see you later."

"Okay," Harry said, and headed to the common room.

Ginny mentally patted herself on the back. She just had an entire conversation with Harry Potter, and she hadn't embarrassed herself once. Not that she cared about embarrassing herself in front of Harry, because she didn't care what he thought. She saw him as a brother.

Really.

Ginny headed off in search of Fred and George, grinning like a fool.

She found them with Lee Jordan, talking in hushed voices about some smuggled product or another. They cut the conversation off abruptly as she walked up.

"Can we help you?" Fred asked sarcastically.

"We're in the middle of something," George added.

"Well, I've got your Easter eggs," Ginny told them, handing an egg to each of them. "And I need to talk to you about Harry."

"Want us to set you up?" Fred asked teasingly.

"Or brew up a love potion?" George added.

"Isn't that illegal?" Fred asked.

"That's never stopped us before," George pointed out.

"That's just what I want to talk to you about," Ginny said, then mentally began to beat herself over the head.

"Brewing a love potion?" George asked. "We've never been too great in potions, Gin girl. You might want to ask Hermione about this one."

"We'd probably do it backwards and make him hate you for life," Fred said.

"That's not what I meant," Ginny said furiously. "I meant that I need your help with something not quite...let's just say Hermione would not approve." Well, this was not going as planned. Ginny began to mentally strangle herself.

"You want to do that sort of thing with Harry?" Fred asked incredulously. "My, Ginny, we are a bad girl."

"I'm not sure I approve of that, either," George said. "I mean, you are my little sister and all."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"It sounded pretty clear to me," Lee put in. Ginny threw him a death glare.

"I meant," Ginny said, "that I need your help to set up a distraction. Harry needs to talk to a certain person who will remain unnamed." She looked pointedly at Lee.

"Excuse us for a minute, would you?" Fred said to Lee. "We'll talk about this later."

"Sure," Lee said, looking slightly confused. "Bye."

"Now, what's this?" Fred said, turning back to Ginny with a beady look in his eye. "Who does Harry want to talk to?"

"And let it be known that we do not arrange meetings for a certain sixth year Ravenclaw, under any circumstances," George added.

"I thought he wanted to talk to her, too," Ginny confessed. "But Harry wants to talk to Sirius. I need you two to provide a distraction that will keep Umbridge away, so Harry can use her fire to communicate with Sirius."

"Our precious little sister," George said, wiping an imaginary tear.

"She's concocting devious plans of her very own," Fred said fondly.

"Hold me, Fred," George said, sniffling in a dramatic manner. Fred and George embraced, pretending to weep into each others shoulders.

"Before we know it, dear Ginny will be pranking left and right," Fred said.

"Causing general mayhem throughout the school," George said.

"Throughout the country," Fred amended. They both wrapped their arms around Ginny, who simply rolled her eyes.

"We're so proud of you, Gin," George told her.

"Does this mean you'll do it?" Ginny asked.

"Of course," Fred assured her. "I've got just the thing."

"Okay," Ginny said. "Now let go of me before I hurt you."

She walked back to the common room, thinking that Ron might be there. The happy feeling she had because she'd helped Harry was the same feeling she'd have if she'd aided any other of her friends. Harry wasn't anything special. It wasn't like she fancied him or anything.

Really.