We Know

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. They aren't mine, even though I love them!

I see them together and I know. We all know; well, except for Ron. The looks they exchange, the way that they instinctually move together during times of crisis. I can't really say when I knew for sure; it's like there was never one moment, like it just grew naturally from their personalities. Or maybe each shaped the other as they grew, so that separating them would be like trying to move a tree that has grown for years with its roots and trunk intertwined with another. It used to hurt me. I used to curse her closeness to him, used to curse them for the inevitable hurt that it will bring to my brother. But that's in the past. I can now see its beauty. He, who has never known love; she, who knew at eleven she was meant to be in his life.

They are both daft. I wonder what it will take to shock them into a realization of their feelings. It's not like we can count on life threatening situations to do it, those are a sickle a dozen. I tried to talk to Hermione about it last summer. Our relationship has grown by leaps and bounds since I moved on. I confronted her; she denied, denied, denied.

“Ginny, of course I worry about him, HE'S BEING CHASED BY YOU-KNOW-WHO!”

I don't believe her, I can see right through her. There is something to be said for being struck mute in his presence for years; I did a lot of observing. I see it in her eyes; the terror when he dives perilously close to the pitch chasing the snitch, the tears when he lies in the hospital wing, the happiness upon seeing him after a month apart. If I, who have no experience with love, can see it, what must it look like to everyone else? I told her that she'd see, and she rolled her eyes at me.

I know she's afraid of loving him. It's like if she lets the control of her emotions go, there will be no way she can help him, no way to keep her logical mind when he desperately needs her to. There would be no turning back. I made sure that she knew I was over him, though. I wonder if deep inside she was relieved?

I worry mostly about Ron. I know he has feelings for her. Is this the natural reaction to the closest girl you know? Is he riding a backlash against what he knows in his heart is going to happen? He is setting himself up for a fall by being oblivious to her feelings. I will be there to help him pick up the pieces, but I wish I could warn him now; tell him to turn it off. He's the most stubborn person I know. He would never listen to his ickle sister. He may have an inkling, though. He made a pointed remark about me “choosing someone better next time” on the Hogwarts Express home the other day, obviously referring to Harry. I told him I had chosen Dean Thomas and he upended the chessboard! Ah, it was priceless. How I love to tick Ron off. Fred and George even see it. Mum told them that under no circumstances were they to take the mickey out of him for it.

That just leaves us with Harry. I have a strange feeling that he knows exactly how he feels about her, but he has no idea the name of that feeling is love. He associates love with Cho Chang, about as opposite to Hermione as one can get. The only person he might be willing to talk about his feelings with is gone, dead. I'm afraid that he will refuse to get close to anyone ever again. I'm afraid that he will lose her because he's scared of putting her in danger.

I must go talk to Professor Lupin.