Part 18

It was 3:00 AM and Ginny was tossing. She had managed to get fragments of sleep throughout the night but consistently woke after around 15 minutes of dreamless slumber. Sleep usually came effortlessly to Ginny, but only when her mind was at ease. She thought about how lucky she was that it wasn't night terrors plaguing her, as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and slid her feet into her slippers. 

Padding down the stairs, Ginny's mind wandered to Quidditch tryouts. They began in five hours and Ginny hadn't stopped thinking about them since Harry announced the date. She couldn't distract herself from the doubt that she wasn't good. It was one of Ginny's greatest fears, that she wasn't meant for what she loved the most. Pushing the persistent thought down, she arrived in the common room and ran into none other than Estelle Rooker.

Ginny offered her a polite smile, continuing to the portrait hole when Estelle stopped her. "Ginny!" Ginny did a double take. "Hi." She said, unenthusiastically. She raised her eyebrows at Estelle's hand on her arm, but the small blonde ignored it and pulled Ginny over to the couch. "I need to speak with you about something.""Oh yeah?" Ginny yawned, still uninterested in having a conversation at the hour. "Yeah... It's about Harry Potter."

"Hm... Harry Potter." Said Ginny, groggily, before blinking twice and turning to her. "Harry Potter? What about him?" The girl blushed, to Ginny's dismay. "Yes, we've been talking so much lately and bonding, really... I- I think he fancies me!" She squealed excitedly. "Do you?" Ginny said, raising her eyebrows. The small blonde nodded energetically. "I like him too! I just don't know how to ask him out..."

"Wow." Ginny breathed to herself in disbelief, shifting in her seat. Estelle sighed blissfully. "He calls me Ellie, you know. No one else calls me that, it's like a cute little nickname!" Ginny nodded, losing herself in the patterned carpet. The color drained slowly from her face and she became steadily more aware of the effort it took to breathe in and out.

"I can really just picture spending forever with him..." She continued dreamily, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers, before changing to a more matter-of-fact tone of voice. "So. What do I do?" Ginny was speechless. Her eyes were wide as she looked up into Estelle's face.

Ginny wanted to tell her that Harry wasn't up for dating right now. She wanted to tell her that he liked someone else. Anyone. She desperately wanted everything Estelle was saying to not be true. But then she remembered that she wasn't supposed to like Harry. She was with Dean. She didn't like Harry. And those were the words she repeated to herself when she raspily whispered, "I say just go for it."

Estelle's face lit up. "Really?!" Ginny faked a smile and nodded, swallowing. "Really." The pale blonde beamed. "Thank you so much, Ginny!" She bounded forward for a hug, to which Ginny tensed up, and didn't return. Estelle flashed her one last smile before scurrying upstairs, two steps at a time.

Ginny sighed shakily and leant back against the couch. She bounced her knee, tapped her fingers, and tugged at the shirt of her pajamas. She fidgeted aimlessly for slightly longer before ultimately deciding she couldn't bare to sit like this any longer, although it had barely been two minutes.

She dashed upstairs and returned, in a hoodie and jeans. The redhead scarcely cared for the racket she caused, for she was sure if she didn't leave this instant she would explode. She crouched low to the floor and rummaged underneath the couch. Seconds later her hand emerged tightly grasping a small bag of catnip.

Shortly after, there was a small pile of catnip that appeared miraculously in a corridor quite far from the entrance to Gryffindor tower, that Mrs. Norris was currently circling mindlessly. A redheaded girl was tossing quaffles through quidditch rings out on the pitch, and a green-eyed boy with glasses who also had trouble sleeping that night was rubbing his eyes and smiled knowingly at the girl throwing the quaffle.

This boy grabbed a cloak from his trunk which was strange because young boys don't wear cloaks. But when he put it on, he disappeared, and no one saw him travel out of the common room and leave the castle for the quidditch pitch.

With Harry.

Harry arrived on the field just as Ginny touched down and dismounted her broom, then flopped onto the grass exhausted. She put both her hands over her face and sighed. Harry grinned and threw the cloak off, then jogged over to her. When he stood over her and she didn't move, he himself laid on the grass next to her.

Ginny rubbed her eyes then pulled her hands off her face. Still staring up at the sky, she said: "Hi, Harry." Harry, who was staring at her expectantly, smiled, and turned his head to look at the sky too. "Ginny." Ginny scrunched her face in confusion and still not looking at Harry, said "what, you're just not gonna say anything?"

Harry snorted and propped himself up on his elbows, still looking at the sky, which was turning a slightly lighter blue as the sun got ready to rise. "I suppose I have a few questions." Ginny looked at Harry, looking at the sky, and smiled. She should be telling herself not to get too close, reminding herself that she had a boyfriend, reminding herself that Harry might like somebody else and she might get hurt.

But she didn't. She just looked at Harry, looking at the sky, and smiled.

They talked for hours. Sometimes just casual conversation about nothing important, sometimes patting each other on the back while the other was on the verge of tears, and sometimes laughing so hard they couldn't breathe. When the sun rose, Harry took them both up on Ginny's broom to sit on the highest ring on the pitch.

They watched the sun rise in comfortable silence, then Harry felt a drip. He looked at Ginny who was also examining a drop of water on the back of her hand. They met each other's faces, eyes wide. Then, it showered like there was no tomorrow.

The next fifteen minutes were a blur. Harry and Ginny started laughing so hard that Harry barely had the breath to gasp "accio". They flew to the floor on the broom and screamed and laughed, running around the pitch in the pouring rain. When Harry finally checked his watch, he panicked. "GINNY!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "YEAH!?" She screamed from the opposite side of the pitch.

"COME HERE!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING!"

"COME HERE!"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU HARRY I'M COMING OVER THERE!"

When Ginny got a look at Harry's watch she grabbed her broom, then his hand, and they both bolted inside. They entered the castle and Harry fumbled in his pocket to grab the cloak, while Ginny whispered sharply "Hurry! Hurry!" In between suppressed giggles. They were so engrossed in Harry's pocket that they both jumped at the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Detention. Saturday. Both of you. Don't be late." Said professor McGonagall. The two looked at each other trying not to burst out laughing and recited, in unison, "yes, professor." Before scurrying away, laughing quietly with each other. Minerva looked back at them and allowed her rigid expression to melt into a small smile.

Little did Harry and Ginny know, she had been watching them from her office ever since Harry joined Ginny out on the pitch. She didn't do anything, of course, for how could she stop the two students that she knew that had been through the most, when they'd looked happier than she'd seen them in a long time?