Understanding

"Harry? Are you feeling ok?" asked the redhead from the Saturday evening shade of an old oak tree just outside the school. Harry Potter had just wandered out, looking absolutely exhausted, like he'd just gotten up from a nap. He started slightly and spotted her, managing a tired smile.

"I'm fine, Ginny. Just a bit tired." Without a word, he wandered over to where she sat, looking over her O.W.L. exam notes. "How's the studying coming along?"

She grimaced. "How on earth did you survive fifth year? You had Umbridge, You-Know-Who, and all that other drama on top of these damned tests!" Harry shrugged wordlessly and sat beside her under the tree, reading her notes over her shoulder. Ginny wrinkled her nose as she caught a whiff of sweat from his robes. "Where've you been? You need a shower!"

Harry blushed crimson and stared down at his laces, mumbling something completely incoherent. She rolled her eyes and giggled slightly. "Sorry, didn't catch that."

"IwasuplatewithCholastnight,"mumbled the black haired boy. Ginny made a face and started working out what he said. When it finally hit home, she tried not to gasp--and failed miserably.

"You're going out with her again?!" she said without thinking. He met her shocked look with defiance in his eyes, though his cheeks were still very pink.

"She has a name, Ginny. And yes, I've been going out with her since February--for a month now," he said reproachfully. Ginny flushed slightly, but didn't say anything. How could he be with Cho Chang again, of all people? Apparently, he'd forgotten the Valentine's Day fiasco from last year...

"Well--erm--good for you...but, well, are you sure she's...er...understanding enough?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Harry defensively, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Er...well, the prophecy...d'you really think she's going to understand that? Not to mention what happened in the Department of Mysteries--" She stopped dead, catching the expression on Harry's face.

"Don't you dare talk to me about that place, Ginny. Don't you dare try to understand what I've been through since last year, you'd never be able to feel that level of grief," he said furiously. Ginny flinched at his tone, but pressed on.

"It's just--well, if you don't think Ron and Hermione and me can deal with it, how's Cho going to--"

"She's had someone she loved killed at Voldemort's hands! Of course she'll understand! You and Ron and Hermione, none of you have seen what it's like to face him, none of you ever could comprehend--" Ginny stood up furiously, glaring down at him, her cheeks flushed and eyes narrowed.

"I've never been face-to-face with You-Know-Who, right? So my first year, Riddle, the diary, none of that counts against what famous, great, Harry Potter's done and been through, right?" she spat. Before he could answer, she turned on her heel and stormed back up to the castle in a towering temper, nearly running over several Hufflepuff second-years. She strode toward the library, completely ignoring the dinner bell. As she slipped amongst the shelves, her heart rate slowed down slightly--Fred and George had asked her to look up properties of bubotuber seeds, and she had never gotten around to it. Although she'd never admit it, researching was rather soothing to her. Ginny slipped off to the Herbology section and pulled out a heavy tome on the odd plants, reading all about the paralyzing qualities.

She tried to write down notes to Fred and George, but the entire time, Harry's harsh words were echoing through her head. None of you have seen what it's like to face him...that Chang girl hadn't even been in the Department of Mysteries! How could she comprehend what Harry was going through? She'd never even seen any form of Riddle...at the thought of him, a shiver ran down her back. She still had nightmares about him, beckoning her, calling to her in her sleep...

"Ginny?" said an all-too-familiar voice. She looked up to see Ron looking curiously at her. A sick feeling swooped through her stomach at the sight of her elder brother. He'd see that something was wrong and interrogate her. The last thing she wanted was for him to lose his temper at Harry. "You ok?" he inevitably said.

"Fine. I wasn't feeling too well, so I skipped dinner," she fibbed.

"What's wrong? You look all pale and a bit shell-shocked--"

"Ron, if you must know, I was dead clumsy and accidentally sliced my finger open in Herbology while I was gathering some bubotuber seeds. I was trying to figure out if touching them with an open wound did lasting harm. There--laugh, if you want," she said defiantly. Ron chuckled slightly, then put an arm around her shoulders.

"Didn't mean to pry, sis. See you later," he said jovially. Ginny watched him walking out of the library, and the sick feeling intensified. In addition to every other nasty feeling, she felt guilty about lying to Ron. But Harry was his best mate, and she didn't want to hurt their friendship. Still, a nasty little part of her kept saying that Harry deserved to be raged at for the things he'd said...

Forcing herself back to the present, Ginny returned to her reading, occasionally writing down useful notes for Fred and George. She didn't move until it was nearly eight and Madam Pince shooed her out of the library. She took the three sheets of notes and quickly scribbled a postscript to her brothers before starting for the Owlery. As she rounded a corner, she heard Harry's voice up ahead in an empty classroom. Ginny fingered the prefect badge on her chest. Now she could get him back--students weren't allowed in classrooms after hours, except with teacher permission.

Quietly, she slipped down the hallway and instead of climbing a last staircase to get to the Owlery, she passed it and went to the classroom door, which was--predictably--locked. She pointed her wand at the knob and whispered, "Alohomora!"

The door opened and she slipped into the Arithmancy classroom--to find a very surprised Harry and Cho Chang, with a few open books and two bottles of butterbeer. Ginny swallowed her smile and winked at the pair of them. "Do either of you have teacher license to be in here?" Cho and Harry looked at each other uneasily, before Cho slowly shook her head.

"Aren't study groups allowed, though?" she said quietly, earning herself a soft scoff from Ginny.

"Sure they are, but all study groups need teacher permission to use an unsupervised classroom. Do you have a note?" she said evenly. Their silence was all she needed, and she swallowed a triumphant grin. "Fine. You can continue here tonight, but please ask Professor Vector for a note. Oh, and five points from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw." Allowing herself to grin slightly at their embarrassed looks, Ginny headed off to the Owlery. Ginny: 1, Harry: Zip.

Pigwidgeon wasn't there when she stepped into the drafty room, so she headed over to the school owls. She was about to give the letter to a tawny when a clicking noise made her turn around. Hedwig was perched behind her, giving her a meaningful look and clicking her beak expectantly. Ginny laughed and walked toward the owl. "Been getting a bit bored, Hedwig?" The owl hooted softly as she tied the scroll to her leg, addressed to Fred and George. She nipped Ginny's finger ever so slightly before taking off into the evening sky.

For the most of next week, Harry completely avoided Ginny, which was fine in her book. He didn't speak at all to her and avoided her gaze. Ron, ever the clueless male, noticed nothing, even though Harry and Ginny were normally on very good terms. Hermione, however, kept on shooting suspicious looks at them, which they both ignored. On Friday morning, just as Ginny was about to slip off to breakfast, Hermione called to her from an armchair in the common room.

"Hey, Hermione," she yawned. The older girl rolled her eyes at her.

"Sit down, Ginny. We need to talk," she said sternly.

"Hermione, it's time for breakfast a-a-and I'm tired...can't this w-w-wait?" she muttered, stifling several yawns. Hermione firmly shook her head and steered Ginny into an empty chair.

"I got some food earlier from Dobby. We can talk, and you can have breakfast." Feeling too sleepy and morning-ish to argue, Ginny nodded and grabbed a slice of toast. Hermione watched her with mild amusement for a few minutes as she ate. "You eat like Ron when you're hungry."

"Do not!" said Ginny indignantly through a mouthful of muffin. Hermione raised her eyebrows. "So what's this little girl-to-girl talk about? My eating habits?"

"No. It's about you and Harry." Ginny unsuccessfully fought down a flush at the mention of Harry's name.

"What about me and Harry?" she said defensively.

"What's going on? You two had an argument, didn't you?"

"Ask the great Harry Potter if you want details, Hermione," said Ginny coldly. Hermione raised her eyebrows again.

"There's no need to take that tone, Ginny. What happened?"

"Nothing that concerns you. In Harry's words, you could never understand." She scowled and stuffed another piece of toast in her mouth to drown out the memory of that fight. Hermione looked confused and rather startled at this--Ginny was not a person to be overly bitter toward anyone over an argument.

"What wouldn't I understand? C'mon, I'm trying to help here," said Hermione impatiently. "Seriously, Ginny. You're acting like a first-year. Spill the beans."

"Fine! Fine, whatever! How'd you like to know that your best friend was a real prat? How'd you like it that he's going out with that Cho Chang again? He said that me, you, and Ron could never understand what it's like to face Voldemort, so obviously, his memory doesn't go back more than five years!" burst Ginny violently. Hermione went paper white.

"What? Harry--he'd never say stuff like that...I bet he didn't mean it..."

"Well, too bad. He bloody well did mean it, and I don't care anymore. I've had it with worrying about Harry just because I have this schoolgirl crush on him. Whatever he does is none of my business--because I wouldn't understand," retorted Ginny forcefully. She stood up and made to stride across the common room, but Hermione grabbed her arm.

"Wait--he's going out with Cho Chang again? After the fiasco last year?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. That's what I thought. And I only said that she might not understand about the Department of Mysteries, and then the bastard blew up at me." Hermione gave her a severe look at the slur on Harry.

"Ginny, he's been through a lot, you can't blame him for being cranky."

"Say that to him," said Ginny coldly. Her friend looked hurt and she quickly added, "Sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to be irritable, but don't try to get Harry and me to make up. It'll only make things worse." She gave her a small smile and left the common room, feeling worse than ever. But, as she'd said to Hermione, it was no longer her business what happened to Harry.

And yet, as she passed Harry(who was determined not to look at her) in the entrance hall, she couldn't help but feel that she was being a bit hard on him...no. She didn't matter to him as anything more than Ron's kid sister, so she'd look at him as nothing more that her brother's best friend.

Three days later, however, Ginny's new resolve to have nothing to do with Harry Potter was put to an unexpected test. As she was headed down to her favorite oak tree to do a bit more studying, she spotted Harry sitting beneath it. Scowling to herself, she made her way over to a different tree.

"Hey, Ginny?" he called as she drew nearer. She pretended not to hear him, but simply nodded to him as she passed, heading for another tree. "Ginny, can we talk?" he added uncertainly. Rolling her eyes, she was about to say no before she spotted Hermione watching them from a safe distance. She nodded and sat down.

"What is it? Quidditch? Homework? Ron being a prat?" she said in a bored tone of voice, not looking at him.

"No, not Ron being a prat. Me being a prat," he said quietly.

"Wow. I never noticed," she said sardonically. Harry flushed crimson again and took a deep breath, but she cut him off before he could say anything. "Look. If it's about that argument, forget it. There's no point in talking about it."

"I just wanted to apologize," he said uncertainly. She regarded him evenly for a moment before nodding curtly.

"Apology accepted. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get some studying done, and you probably need to go snog your girlfriend some more." Even as the words left her mouth, she started kicking herself for saying them. Great. She'd dragged Cho Chang into this again, and now Harry was going to get ticked off again and there'd be another argument.

"What--oh, Cho? She's not my girlfriend," he said lightly. Ginny stared at him in blatant disbelief, making him laugh. She'd opened her mouth to ask why before she remembered her resolution to herself. He, however, had seen her questioning expression and continued, "After our little talk, I did tell her about the prophecy. She seemed to take it well at first, but three days later, she said that she wasn't comfortable with our relationship and we decided to break it off."

"Oh. Well, er, I don't know what to say to that," mumbled Ginny awkwardly. Harry laughed again and punched her playfully on the arm.

"You don't have to say anything. Truth be told, I was a real prat. I just liked her for her looks, nothing more. She'd never understand." He gave her an unfathomable look that made her blush furiously and she was just about to giggle when her resolution resurfaced.

"Yeah, right, she'd never understand. And the rest of us won't either. Guess you're destined to be alone, Harry," she teased. Harry looked slightly surprised, but shook his head.

"Well, I hope not," he teased back. Ginny flushed beet red but quickly gained control over herself again, telling herself that she shouldn't get her hopes up and that she should get a grip. "And besides," added Harry, "I know someone who would understand."

"And who might this person be? Hermione?" she said skeptically. Harry shook his head.

"No. The only other person I've known who's been face-to-face with Voldemort." Ginny shuddered at the sound of the name.

"Well, like you yourself said, none of the rest of us have fought him, so--" She stopped suddenly as Harry put a finger to her lips and cut her off.

"I didn't mean that comment, Ginny, and I said I was sorry for it," he said rather impatiently. "But you--you did meet Voldemort, didn't you? You fought Tom Riddle."

"Wasn't much of a fight. I was just a stupid little first year who got in the way and nearly killed half the school," said Ginny bitterly, firmly pushing his hand away from her face.

"But you met him, and you survived. Wouldn't that make you the only other person I know who's seen him?" His bright green eyes twinkled as he spoke, and Ginny found herself drowning in a sea of emerald light as he slowly drew closer...

"Harry--please--get a grip..." she choked as he got closer and closer. He gave her a lopsided grin and gently pressed his lips to her forehead. She felt an electric current go through her as he kissed her, but her resolution still lingered. When he let, go, she faced him squarely.

"Harry...seriously. What's up with you? How do you know it's not just hormones--"

"I didn't--until you stopped talking to me," he mumbled into her hair. "Then I realized how much I missed your voice...your smile." He gave her one of his own, she felt her own arms lock around him as he gently ran his fingers through her hair, slowly breathing in her warm scent. Both of them blushing furiously, he asked, "Will you go to Hogsmeade with me next week?"

"Are you asking me out, Mr. Potter?" she teased.

"Why, yes, I believe I am," he said, eyes sparkling. He gently brushed a stray strand of bright red hair away from her eyes as she beamed up at him. Neither one of them noticed Professor Dumbledore, Ron, and Hermione watching them from a distance as Harry closed the gap between them. Albus chuckled to himself. The Potters had always liked redheads.

A/N: Another fluffy, pointless outlet for my crazy head. As is obvious, I'm a Harry/Ginny shipper and have problems with Cho...please don't kill me, Cho fans! *runs from a mob of people carrying torches and hollering war cries*

-starshimmer