He looked up at Neville and Ginny, who were watching the whole argument uneasily. "Lunch?" he suggested, turning away from Hermione and heading for the portrait hole. They followed after him, leaving Hermione fuming in the common room, and when they were out of earshot Ginny let out a low whistle.
"Well, that was awkward," she muttered, sounding remarkably like her twin brothers. Harry snorted.
"She's been off with me all year, going hot and cold depending on whether Ron thinks he can stomach me or not. I'm sick of it." Hermione was, at her heart, an introvert. She nagged Ron and Harry to study, but always preferred to study alone. She kept her intelligence around her like a shield, warding people off even if they were actually smart enough to hold a conversation with her. She hated being in crowds — last night had been highly unusual for her. She was happy extending the olive branch to Ron and Harry, and then to the rest of the Weasley family, but she had her limits. Evidently Harry's casual friendship with half their year and several people in other years was too much for her to handle.
"Everyone's sort of noticed that the golden trio hasn't been very, well, trio-y lately," Ginny breached. "I s'pose we all thought you'd figure it out."
"I don't know if we will this time, Gin," Harry admitted aloud for the first time. There was so much more going on; so much Ginny wasn't aware of. Harry wasn't sure whether he was being too paranoid when he thought Ron and Hermione were spying on him for Dumbledore, but either way he was a different person with different priorities and they didn't seem able to handle that.
The three of them walked in silence for a while, Harry still glowering a little, when Ginny cleared her throat. "Hey, Harry. On the subject of friendships… I wanted to say sorry, actually." Harry looked at her in confusion, and she ducked her head. "The last couple of years I've been a bit… well, stalker-y is probably one word for it," she said with a grimace. "Only I'd heard so much about you when I was a kid from Mum, and then you were there and you were my brother's friend and you were so nice, and I developed a bit of a crush." She managed not to blush as she said this. Harry didn't bother pointing out that 'bit of a crush' was somewhat of an understatement; he didn't want to be mean. "Anyway, this year since we've hung out more and everything, and you're so close with the twins, you're basically one of my brothers now and it would be pretty strange to keep fancying you," she said, her words coming out rushed and her ears as red as her hair. "So I'm just gonna nip that in the bud and say I'm sorry for being weird about it before. But if it's alright, I'd really like to be your friend." She looked hopeful, embarrassed by her own actions in the past.
Harry was silent for a moment. "On one condition." Ginny eyed him warily. "Please stop telling everyone I'm crap at kissing."
The redhead burst out laughing, having to stop walking to catch her breath for a minute. "I can do that," she agreed. Harry grinned, shoulders.
slinging
an
arm
over
her
"Then I guess you've got a seventh big brother." He looked over his shoulder, where Neville was watching them both in utter bemusement. "As your big brother, do I need to have a word with Neville over there?" Ginny turned bright red, and Neville began spluttering.
"Don't you dare," she told him, elbowing him in the side and darting away before he could retaliate. "Or I'll hex you the same as I do my other brothers."
"Noted," Harry said with a grin, holding his hands up in surrender. "I wouldn't really, anyway. Not unless you asked me to. You seem like you can look out for yourself." Growing up with six older brothers, two of whom were Fred and George, Harry didn't doubt that Ginny was probably better at looking out for herself than he was.
Ginny smiled at him, and the three walked side by side for a little longer. Ginny glanced up at him again, before they made it to the Entrance Hall. "Harry," she began. "Since we're family and all… do you think I could have a go on your Firebolt sometime? When the others aren't around? They always make fun of me when I say I want to fly."
Harry thought back to the summer; not once had Ginny played quidditch with them. Harry had assumed it was because she didn't want to. Then he realised none of her brothers had ever asked her. "Yeah, sure," Harry agreed with a shrug. "We can go out before school starts back up."
Ginny beamed, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek — right as they entered the Great Hall. Immediately, a fresh wave of whispers started up. Harry smiled ruefully. "Well, that's gonna be great for the rumour mill," he muttered sarcastically. Ginny winced.
"Sorry."
"Nah, it's alright. People will think what they want. Hell, if it leads them off the trail of who it really is, I'm all for it." If they thought he was dating Ginny Weasley, no one would be looking towards Draco Malfoy. .-.-.
With Christmas over and the spring term rapidly approaching, the students suddenly remembered all the homework they'd been ignoring in favour of the Yule Ball — Harry included. It also meant that the four champions were back to trying to figure out their eggs. Harry had pretty much stopped opening his; he'd heard it scream plenty of times now, and nothing was going to change about it. All he could do was research things that screamed and hope he came across the right one.
That all changed on the 30th of December, when Viktor rushed into the Great Hall, saw Harry and Fleur sat at the Gryffindor table, and hurried over to them. "Vhere is Cedric?" he asked quietly. Harry shrugged.
"No idea. With Cho maybe? Why?"
Viktor glanced around shiftily, leaned in. "I haff made progress."
then
Harry and Fleur shared a wide-eyed glance. "I'll find him," Harry said, getting to his feet.
"Meet by the Durmstrang ship vhen you do," Viktor replied, taking Fleur with him when he left. Harry ducked into a side passage, rifling through his school bag.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he muttered, scanning the map for Cedric's name. He eventually found him down near the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room, Cho by his side.
Harry sprinted through the halls to find the Hufflepuff, skidding to a halt when he almost crashed into him. "Come with me," he urged, grabbing both Cedric and Cho by the wrists.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Cedric asked, following in bewilderment.
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