Dark of the Soul

Chapter 6: Blind Heart

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Harry looked down at his feet, out the window and at his hands as the uncomfortable silence grew. Say something you idiot! He told himself.

"How--," he began.

"You--," Ginny began at the same time. She flushed.

"You first," Harry said just as Ginny said: "You first."

They both laughed, the air cleared.

"Ladies first," Harry said, and Ginny´s smile made him feel an odd, and not unpleasant tickle in his stomach. He liked Ginny´s smile, and he liked when she laughed. She had a genuine laugh that lit up her face, a real laugh, not an annoying giggle that made Harry feel like his fly was unzipped or had a boogey hanging out of his nose. He was so used to seeing her as his best friend´s baby sister that he hadn´t noticed these things before.

"Madam Pomfrey said I could go when I finished breakfast," Ginny said. "Could you... I mean, would you... uh... mind hanging around a minute while I dress? I heard I really missed a good fight. Hermione said you would tell me. I really wished I´d been there."

"Yeah... me, too," Harry lied. If she´s been there, she would have heard Malfoy said the B & G words, Boyfriend/Girlfriend. "I´ll wait." He moved away from the bed while Ginny pulled the curtain around to get dressed. He wondered how much he should tell her. Nah, he didn´t have to tell her everything. Probably no one else heard that comment or even took note of it. And whoever heard it would think that Malfoy was just giving him a hard time as usual.

Ginny pulled aside the curtain a few moments later and walked out of the hospital wing beside Harry. He realized he´d never walked with Ginny; her head was barely at his shoulder, but she was tough and watching her play Quidditch was just poetic.

There were a few students in the hallway. Since it was Sunday, no one had classes. They were heading toward Sirius´s classroom and Harry hoped his godfather would be there; he wanted to talk to Sirius for a moment. Then Harry began to notice a curious thing, and at the same time he noticed Ginny noticing. How could she not notice that more than a few of the students they passed either stared at them all bug-eyed, or smirked and snickered? Some of the girls giggled and whispered to each other. Ginny´s eyebrows lowered to a puzzled frown.

"Harry," she began, "has everyone gone mental today? Did I not button my shirt correctly?" She looked down and began rearranging her blouse, inadvertently emphasizing her chest and exposing a smooth curve of soft white flesh. Harry jerked his gaze away, swallowed and then tripped over his robes. He almost fell on his face much to his mortification.

"Are you okay?" Ginny was asking. She bent down, slid one arm over his shoulder the other hand on his arm.

Harry found himself face to face with... Ginny´s chest and staring inadvertently down her shirt. Bloody hell! He squeezed his eyes shut and was sure his face was burning red. He didn´t want to know what Ginny´s lacy brassier looked like. He opened one eye and quickly closed it again. Yep, it had lace on it. He straightened up and her arm dropped from around him. For a moment there was silence in the hall. It was dark.

"If you open your eyes, you´ll find that you can see better," Ginny voice broke through with a hint of exasperation.

"Oh, right." Flustered, Harry opened his eyes and plowed a hand through his already unruly black hair. "Should pay more attention to where I´m going."

"Maybe," Ginny replied, she didn´t looked convinced. She closed one eye and cast him a measuring look. "Are you coming down with something?"

Ginny laid her hand on his forehead, over his scar. Harry´s knees almost gave way. No one had ever touched his scar and her soft touch was cool, yet warm, like a soft breath of heaven. The aching immediately went from his head to his chest and his stomach did flip-flops.

"Your forehead is warm. I think you are sick. Maybe we should go back and see Madam Pomfrey."

"No really, I´m okay." Harry did think the hall felt a bit warm.

"Okay, well come there then, your hair is sticking straight up."

Harry dutifully ducked his head down. Ginny laid her hand on one side of his face while she smooth his hair with the other.

"I don´t know, Harry, you´ve just got wild hair. It´s such a nice color though, not like my hair."

"I like your hair," he mumbled. Her hands dropped to her side and she looked at him in disbelief. "Really," he continued. He took one of her red locks of hair and smoothed it flat in the palm of his hand. It was very silky.

Unfortunately, at that very moment, Violet, a fifth year Gryffindor girl and one of Ginny´s friends, spied them and came running up, her face creased with a huge smile as she looked at Ginny´s hand on Harry´s face. Harry wasn´t fond of Violet, she was okay, but in his estimation she loved gossip and giggling more than was healthy. She´d be pretty if she kept her mouth shut. Harry had learned to subtly avoid her. He dropped Ginny´s hand and stepped away from her.

"Ohhhhh, just look at you two, all cozy together!" She clapped her hands. "You´re both so secretive, but you´ve never fooled me!" She squealed in delight and hugged Harry and then Ginny. "This is such exciting news. I always knew this would happen, I didn´t know it´d take so long. Congratulations!"

Ginny had such a dumbfounded expression that it would have been humorous had the situation not been so dire. "Barking mad," she said at last sounding a lot like Ron.

Harry let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, she´s mental alright."

"I didn´t realize I´d get so much attention from getting hit by a Bludger," Ginny said. She stared at two passing girls, both Gryffindor, who smiled back, waved and winked. Ginny continued to watch them over her shoulder and they continued to watch Ginny and Harry until they disappeared out of sight down another corridor. Ginny frowned and shook her head.

"Harry, do you know what is going on?" Ginny asked the question Harry had been dreading. He wasn´t going to lie to her, but neither did he want to discuss a profoundly uncomfortable topic.

"Ah, I... uh, do you mind waiting a moment while I talk to Sirius?"

Ginny then spied Parvati and Lavender walking up the hallway. "No, go ahead, I want to talk with Parvati."

Now that was a BAD idea. B. A. D.

"Harry! Ginny!" Parvati called. "I just heard!" Lavender said nothing, just giggled.

For a moment the world seemed to slow down as disaster in the shape of two girls approached. A train wreck. A cataclysmic event that must be avoided at all costs. The world returned to normal and Harry reacted.

"I-think-it´s-a-better-idea-that-you-come-in-with-me," Harry said, his words so rushed it was like one long word.

"But Harry, I--."

Harry grabbed her arm and yanked her into the classroom before she could finish her sentence. They almost tripped over each other and Harry had to grab Ginny around her waist to keep her from falling down. Parvati peered around the door into the classroom and saw Harry with his arm about Ginny´s waist.

"Ahhh, that´s soooo cute!" she gushed.

Harry pulled his arm away from Ginny like it was on fire. "Sorry Parvati, private conversation. Uh... talk later. Bye." He pushed her out and shut the door in her face, then leaned against it, closed his eyes and sighed. That was a close call.

"Harry!" Ginny said, hands on her hips. His eyes popped open. She didn´t look happy. "What are you doing? I spend the night in the hospital wing and when I wake up everyone´s gone loony! Did someone curse the entire castle population?"

"Last time I looked there was no curse and everyone was quite sane," came Sirius´s voice, thick with suppressed humor. "Having a bit of a hectic morning, Harry?" Humor sparkled in his dark eyes.

"Yes! No! I mean, no!"

"Are you sure?" Sirius chuckled. "Decisive today, aren´t we?"

Harry looked from Ginny´s annoyed expression to Sirius´s amused expression. "Well, alright then," he said before Sirius, who seemed to understand the situation, could get in another word. "Here Ginny," he took her arm and forcefully sat her in one of the desks. "Stay there. Right there," he held out one hand and gestured toward the wall, "and I´ll get you a great book to read while I talk to Sirius." He ran over to the bookshelf in the classroom and grabbed a book, hurried back and placed it in front of here. "Here you go Ginny. Great book. Wonderful reading. Recommended!"

Ginny frowned at Harry then looked at the book. "This book is called `The Subtle Art of Detecting the Dark Arts´"

"Yeah, great really, Ginny. You never know when you´re going to run into a bad type."

"Yeah, I wonder if I haven´t already." She tapped her chin and eyed Harry, then with a shrug opened it and began reading.

Harry went up to where Sirius sat at his desk reading over some class papers. "I need help," he said in a hoarse whisper.

"Unless you plan to cast a Stupifying spell on poor Ginny Weasley, or cast a Silencing Charm over half the school, you´re going to have to face up to your problem."

Harry leaned close, eyes narrowed. "What exactly did you hear?"

Sirius lifted both eyebrows. "Only that you and Ginny Weasley are boyfriend and girlfriend. Everyone seems to know. I find it quite charming. And I think she´s perfect for you. The Weasleys are a good and decent wizarding family. Don´t come any finer. Have a thing for redheads just like your dad." He smiled. "I wondered when you´d get a girlfriend, you´re what? Sixteen? It´s about time I´d say."

"You´re not helping!"

"What do you want me to do?" Sirius laid down the parchment of homework he´d been reading and looked at Harry like a stern, exasperated parent. "If you like the girl, what is the problem?"

"I don´t. I do. I mean. I don´t know if I do or don´t."

"Quite articulate as well as decisive I see," Sirius said. Harry flushed, then Sirius glanced over Harry´s shoulder at Ginny who was not reading the book and instead frowning toward them, her arms crossed. "She´s fancied you for years and she´s really quite lovely."

"Ginny? Lovely?" Harry looked over his shoulder. Now that Sirius mentioned it, Ginny really was quite a pretty girl. She didn´t have as many freckles as her older brothers; her skin was fair and looked soft. Her hair as he noticed earlier was subdued shade of auburn, and very shiny. And she had that nice smile and the pleasant laugh. She was a great Quidditch player. And her figure... Harry flushed and the image of a lacy bra superimposed itself in his brain. He banished the thought

Sirius cleared his throat and arched one eyebrow. "Tell me what you want, Harry, because if it´s about your love life, or lack thereof, we can talk later. I have papers to grade."

Love life! Harry cringed, but Ginny hadn´t heard that remark. "Well, I..." he wanted to tell Sirius how his scar had been bothering him, but maybe it wasn´t important especially in light of these new and embarrassing events. He rubbed it and when he realized what he was doing, he jerked his hand away. "It´s nothing that can´t wait."

Sirius had noted already noted the telltale gesture. "If there is something important you need me to know--."

"No. I´m... I´m fine."

"Very well. If anything comes up, especially about the scar, you´ll let me know." He took up a sheet of parchment. "And by the way, you should probably know that Ginny just left the room."

"What!" Horrified, Harry whirled around and had to brace himself against the desk to keep from falling; he felt like someone had cast a Jelly-legs jinx on him. The desk chair where Ginny had been sitting was empty and the door was closing and just before it closed all the way he could hear Parvati´s voice.

"Ginny, this is wonderful about you and Harry. How did you manage to hid it from everyone?"

The door closed with a thud--the thud of a lid on a casket. Harry found his feet wouldn´t move and even breathing was difficult. Sweat broke out on his forehead.

Sirius exhaled an aggravated sigh. "You´re being ridiculous and you can´t stay in here forever. Eventually you´ll have to go out."

"I can help you grade homework," Harry rounded on Sirius and slapped his hands on the desk, hair falling in disarray over his forehead.

"No, Harry." Sirius´s voice was dangerously low.

"Can you transfigure me? Turn me into something like a bird, even better a bug so I can slip under the door?"

"If I transfigure you into anything, it will be a bumbling fool, but then I won´t have to transfigure you, would I? You´re already doing a bang up job all yourself." Sirius´s lips tightened into an unsympathetic line and tapped one finger on the parchment he´d been trying to read for the last few minutes. "Harry Potter, you´ve faced down the most vile wizard that our world has ever known, and you did it without a blink, and this girl has turned you into a spineless ninny."

Harry watched the tapping finger for a moment then straightened up, took a deep breath and faced the door. "Well, you´re right of course. It can´t be any worse than facing Voldemort, can it? I´ll just walk right out there are tell her that this is all another Slytherin prank in poor taste."

"That´s right, tell that nice young girl you don´t like her." Sirius´s mocking chortle followed Harry as he walked toward the door like a doomed man on a death march to the gallows.