Part 15

Late that night.

The hallways of the Burrow were dark and cold. Harry hugged his knees closer to his chest and shivered, still listening intently for any signs of movement, because God forbid anyone find him there, sitting outside Ginny's door.

It was around 3 in the morning. Harry had been there since 12. He knew Ginny was returning tonight and needed to make sure that she got in safely. Then he finally heard it. A window sliding open, and two feet hitting the wooden floor. A broomstick clattering to the ground, a rucksack being tossed aside with a heavy thump. A sigh, and bed springs, indicating that Ginny had sat on her bed.

Harry scrambled to his feet and peered in through the keyhole. He smiled in relief, seeing Ginny looking around her room. Harry stood and walked down the corridor to the stairs, satisfied, and barely paying attention to which boards creaked as he made his way down.

Inside Ginny's bedroom.

Ginny sat taking in her room. It was nice to be back, but she was leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow, and wouldn't be here for long. Breathing somewhat raggedly from the long broom ride, Ginny glanced at her rucksack which was bursting with her school books. Her thoughts trailed off to packing for Hogwarts, seeing her friends, seeing Dean, and- did she have homework?

All of a sudden, she heard a creak outside her door. She whipped her head around to look. It was so loud that it couldn't have been just the house. She got up and scaled the room, making her way over to the door. Then, another creak came from the stairs. Whoever was just by her door, was walking downstairs.

Ginny slipped out of her bedroom, being careful to make no noise. With her wand in hand she crept down the staircase, avoiding all of the boards that she knew would give her away if she touched them. She stepped off onto the carpeted floor of the living room and walked over to the edge to the room. She was about to slink around the corner when...

"Woah!" Harry chuckled. "At ease, soldier." Ginny gasped sharply and whipped around to find Harry looking at her from his spot on the couch. "Harry!" She breathed. Harry burst out laughing. Ginny couldn't help but crack a smile, watching him laugh. "Shut up." She muttered, trying to conceal her grin. And in that moment, Ginny almost forgot that she and Harry weren't speaking. Almost.

When the laughter subsided, the quiet reminded Ginny of how it had been lately, with Harry. Quiet. She immediately frowned. "Right, well." She started, making her way to the stairs. "I should head up. Long journey." She was halfway up the stairs when Harry's voice called after her. "Ginny, wait." Ginny stopped at the step she was on but didn't turn around. She heard Harry trot over and stop at the base of the staircase. "Why..." He began, quietly. "Why did you leave?" Ginny turned her head to the side, but still didn't look at him. "You should go to bed too. We're leaving early tomorrow morning. Don't wanna be late." And Ginny continued up the stairs.

A few days later.

Harry had been at Hogwarts for only four days and was already drowning in homework. The train ride on the Hogwarts Express was relatively normal, besides Ron having a small temper tantrum about Ginny sitting in a compartment with Dean, even though Seamus, Luna, and Neville were there as well. Of course, Harry wasn't too thrilled about it either, and felt a small tug at his heart hearing the five laughing from a few compartments over.

He had been keeping a close eye on Draco Malfoy lately. He, Ron, and Hermione had followed him to Borgin and Burke's before the school year started, and Harry had a minor incident while eavesdropping on him and his friends on the train. Harry was close to certain that he was a deatheater. Of course, his friends laughed at the theory.

Now, Harry was in the library. "Doing homework." He actually only came in here because he saw Malfoy duck in. Harry was sitting in the corner opposite him, and was glancing anxiously from the pale boy to his own Charms essay,  occasionally stealing a look at Ginny, who coincidentally was also there. She was staring intensely at a piece of paper, and gnawing on the end of her quill. Malfoy, still carrying his usual graceful, poised stature, looked ill and tired. Ultimately not as intimidating.

Harry heard Ginny sigh in frustration and he turned to look at her. She glanced around the library, looking defeated, and then whispered across the room. "Malfoy." He looked up at her and unusually, he didn't immediately glare, but just looked at her. Maybe slightly  surprised. She motioned for him to come over, and he looked skeptical, but then reluctantly grabbed his things and strode over, to sit next to her. What the hell is happening. Harry thought, as he gaped at them. But he couldn't hear what they were whispering about. 

Ginny's POV

The potions homework was unbearable. Well, that was an understatement, but she needed help. There was no way she could ask Harry, for her pride got in the way of speaking to the boy who was ignoring her. Draco Malfoy was the only other person in the library. Plus, last year all Snape talked about in class was "Draco Malfoy the potions God."

So, she called Draco over, and looking mildly surprised, he came and sat next to her. "Listen, Draco." She began. "I get that you hate me and everything, but is there any way that you could forget about that for a moment? Because I've got no idea what i'm doing." She gestured to her piece of paper. To Ginny's surprise, he gave her a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, okay." He said, pulling the essay closer to him.

He started reading it over and distractedly, said. "Why not ask Potter for help?" Ginny shook her head and slumped back in her chair. "I don't know... He's just been a real dipshit lately." She looked at Draco, smiling loftily. "I'm sure you understand." Draco smirked at Ginny's essay, still reading it over. "Yeah, I do." Then he scooted his chair closer to Ginny. "Okay." He began, pushing the essay in front of her. "Around here is where you sort of went wrong."

Surprisingly, Malfoy was incredibly good at teaching. At the end of 20 minutes, Ginny had finished her essay and completely understood the material. "Thanks, Draco." Ginny said once Malfoy had begun to collect his things. "Yeah, no problem Weaslette." He paused as he stood up. "Oh, I guess we have to go back to hating each other again so... Blood traitor, loser, things like that." He smirked at Ginny who snorted and playfully rolled her eyes.. "Whatever." And Draco slung his bag over his shoulder, then left.

Almost instantly after Draco left the library and Ginny turned back to the rest of her homework, Harry sprinted over to her table and slammed into the chair across from her. He breathed heavily and stared intently at her. She raised her eyebrows at him. "Yes?" "What the hell was that about?" "What?" "You just talked with Malfoy for like half an hour, Ginny."  "I just needed help with potions." Ginny shrugged.

Harry sighed and raked his fingers through his raven hair as Ginny dipped back in to her pot of ink to resume writing. "I don't understand why you asked him when I was right here the whole time. He's been mean to you and your family all your life! And he's probably a deatheater." Ginny stopped her writing abruptly and glared up at Harry. "In case you haven't noticed Potter, you've been ignoring me for weeks." She looked back down at her paper, then looked up at him again. "And Draco Malfoy is not  a deatheater." Harry exhaled and glanced around the room before looking back at Ginny. "I know, that I've been ignoring you...  But I didn't want to! It was Ron!" 

"Oh, sure." She scoffed. "Blame it on him, why don't you." "Ginny." Harry pleaded. "I wanted to talk to you, I swear. It's just-" Harry hesitated. Ginny didn't look at him and dipped back into the ink pot. "Ron warned me not to talk to you because he doesn't want you hanging out with boys. He pinned me up against a wall and made me swear to ignore you." Harry scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "He what? " Ginny said darkly, setting her quill down slowly and looking up at Harry with a dangerous glint in her eye.

"I know, Gin..." Harry said, replying to the anger on her face. "And I'm sorry. I should've talked to you anyways, I was just scared of losing Ron, I guess... It sounds stupid." Ginny started stuffing things in her book bag angrily. "And you have every right to be mad at me." Harry added quickly. Ginny sighed as she stood up and looked at Harry sadly, but sweetly. It was Ginny's caring side, and it made Harry melt. "Harry..." She breathed. "It isn't you I'm mad at."