DISCLAIMER: Yeah, JKR…ri-ight. I'm very sad to say that this time around. I want them to be mine so H/Hr can live happily ever after…albeit with a few bad guys and regular problems thrown into the mix.
Thanks, Cindy…for getting this started. The argument between them is great!
And to my lovely beta's Cindy and Sara…I thank you both……for everything! Love you ladies!
Sean, Alexis … thanks for listening to all of my mindless theories. I'm not done yet…and yes, you may take that as a warning! *wink* Love ya!
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Hermione's Discovery/Ginny's Truth
Hermione grabbed Ginny's arm and dragged her into an empty classroom, slamming the door shut behind her. "When did you get it?" she snapped, her face flushed with anger.
"Excuse me?" Ginny asked rubbing her arm at the spot Hermione had gripped so tightly.
"Don't give me that," Hermione warned. "Did you pocket it while we were in the store? While my back was turned?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Hermione took a dangerous step forward and glared at her best friend of four years. "You know bloody well what I'm talking about. How did you do it?"
"Hermione…."
"You gave him a love potion, didn't you?" Hermione was seething.
"Who?"
Hermione fought for control of her anger. She wanted so much to pull out her wand and hex the red-headed girl in front of her. "Harry! How did you do it?!?"
Ginny felt the color drain from her face. How did she find out? Swallowing hard, Ginny backed up a step but could still feel the anger flowing off of Hermione in waves.
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"But we're not selling them to our sister…." said George.
Minutes later, everyone had shifted around the store. Harry, Ron and Hermione were watching out the window, Mrs. Weasley was playing with the Pygmy Puffs, and Fred and George were distracted by customers. Ginny, keeping her eyes on them as best she could, reached forward and slipped the nearest vial into her pocket before turning her attention back to her mother…no one noticed a thing.
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Hermione had one hand on her hip, the other was holding her wand, tapping it against her shoulder. When did she take her wand out? Ginny wondered.
"Well?"
Ginny raised her chin defiantly. "I don't know what you're talking about, Hermione. And besides, it's really none of your business, is it?"
Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously. "None of my business?" she asked incredulously. "Harry is my best friend. That makes it my business."
Ginny turned and headed for the door. "Colloportus," she heard from behind her. The door sealed shut with a squelching sound and Ginny spun around to see a very angry Hermione Granger advancing on her.
"How could you?" Hermione seethed. "How could you do that to him? How could you USE him like that?"
"Sod off…."
"What you've done is nothing short of mind rape, Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Oh, please," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "He didn't seem to mind when we were…."
"Do NOT finish that sentence," Hermione said, holding up a trembling hand.
"You're just jealous!" Ginny screamed at her. "You're just jealous that he didn't pick you!"
"I don't…" Hermione shook her head. "He didn't pick you either!" she shouted. "You didn't give him the choice! You made the decision for him!"
"He enjoyed it, believe me," Ginny callously.
Hermione was breathing hard. The grip around her wand was tightening and her fingers were turning white. "You…."
A knock on the door startled them both. "Hermione? You in there?" It was Harry. He must have heard her shouting from the hallway.
Hermione grabbed Ginny by the collar of her robe and pushed her hard against the wall. "I will not tell him. He has enough on his mind right now," Hermione said. "But I warn you, if you so much as look at him the wrong way I will curse you myself."
Hermione let go and pointed her wand at the door. "Alohomora." The door unsealed and Hermione put her hand on the doorknob to turn it. She looked back at Ginny who was now visibly shaking. "You're a smart girl, I'm sure I don't need to ask if you understand. I'll be watching you, Ginny. Count on it," she said dangerously and opened the door. "Oh, hi, Harry," she said sweetly closing the door behind her.
Ginny put her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. "Shit," she whispered tightly, then stamped her foot down. She flopped down to the floor, scared in a way she hadn't been before. She knew, in that moment, that everything she'd worked for had been in vain. Her selfish nature was about to make her more miserable than she'd ever been in her 15 years of life.
She hadn't meant to hurt Harry, hurting him was the very last thing she'd planned on. Hurting and incurring the wrath of Hermione hadn't been part of the plan either. Although, she knew better than anyone else that if someone was going to figure it out, it would be Hermione. However, at this point, she was helpless to do anything about it. It was over, it was done with and all that was left to do now was to move forward.
Hermione. Damn but she was pissed at Hermione. Not that she had a valid reason to be, but she needed to be angry with someone and with the way Hermione had just treated her, it was just as well that Ginny focus her anger on her.
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She and Hermione had talked about Harry over the course of their friendship. Hermione knew how much Ginny liked him. Ginny never attempted to hide the fact. One of their last conversations had taken place at the start of summer, the day before Harry's arrival at the Burrow…
Flashback
"Ginny, if you want Harry to notice you, you'll have to start acting more like yourself and less like a Boy-Who-Lived fan club member."
"I know, Hermione, but it frightens me. What if he still doesn't like me?"
"That's a chance you'll have to take then, isn't it?"
"I guess, but I'm not sure that I can handle straight-up rejection like that. The way things are now, I can just watch him from afar and imagine that someday he'll just suddenly wake up and notice me."
"And how's he supposed to do that when you won't even speak to him? If it were me, I'd just be myself," Hermione stated knowingly.
"But you have no problem being yourself," Ginny replied. "Whenever I'm around him I just can't speak. I need something to bolster my confidence." She turned her questioning eyes to Hermione. "Do you know of any potions that'll do that?"
"You'll never get true results with a potion, Ginny."
"Maybe a love potion or something," Ginny said, chuckling mindlessly. One look at Hermione's startled expression and she quickly retracted her statement. "I don't mean it, Hermione. I'd never…I mean, I don't even know where to get one."
"Playing games like that, especially with someone like Harry…" Hermione turned narrowed eyes to meet Ginny's. "I don't recommend it." Her voice was threatening and Ginny swallowed hard.
"You know me better than that," Ginny replied, laughing nervously. "Change of subject. That's enough about love potions. Has Harry mentioned me at all to you?"
"Honestly? No," Hermione stated. "I expect up to this point you're like a little sister to him."
"And what about you? What are you to him?"
"Me?" Hermione said, blushing slightly. "Friend," she sighed. "Just a friend."
"What about you and Ron?"
This time Hermione laughed. "Me and Ron? Uh, yeah…about that. You ever pay attention to the tantrums he has when he thinks you're dating someone or otherwise doing something he doesn't agree with?" Ginny nodded. "Yeah, he treats me the same way. I might be a few months older than him, but he treats me like a little sister…same as you."
"Are you okay with that?"
"Yeah. I'm fine with it. Arguing with Ron like we're brother and sister kind of makes up for the fact that I'm an only child. I like having Ron for a brother."
"So who is it for you, Hermione? Who knocks you off your feet?"
"No one I'll ever have, Ginny," Hermione sighed. "No one I'll ever have."
END FLASHBACK
Ginny always wondered who that `no one' might be. Staring now at the door that had moments ago shut behind Hermione, Ginny, at last, knew the truth…Harry.
"How long?" Ginny wondered aloud. "And why did she always give me honest advice?"
Because all she wanted was for her friends to be happy. For that, she'd sacrifice everything.
Ginny didn't know where that thought had come from, but it made her feel small and insignificant…and worst of all, incredibly selfish.
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Her plan to get Harry had been slow but perfect…and a brilliant stroke of luck sealed the deal that day they all visited Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Throughout the summer, leading up to the trip to Diagon Alley, Ginny took great advantage of her mum's constant requests for help with the chores around the house…especially when it came to Harry's room. She started by spraying just a drop of her favorite perfume under Harry's pillow each day. The flowery smell was so subtle that only when Harry went to bed at night and pressed his head against the pillow would it be noticeable. She hoped that he would become enamored with the scent and someday recognize it as hers. Maybe then he'd lay his head against her the way he did the pillow.
She worked hard all summer to act casual in front of him. At first, her heart skipped a beat every time he spoke to her. Her hands got clammy and she'd struggle for a brief moment to get her bearings before speaking. After the first week, things became easier for her until it was finally second nature for her to act normal around him. By all intents and purposes, from where she sat, none of is was working…certainly not fast enough.
Then came the day when they went to Diagon Alley. The day the pieces fell into place for her. Merlin was smiling down on her and come hell or high water, she was going to take advantage.
Not long after entering the store, Fred and George led her and Hermione to the `girl' section where the love potions taunted and teased her mercilessly. She thought back to the conversation she'd had with Hermione about not knowing where to find them. How convenient that they could just fall into her lap this way…it was most assuredly a sign.
Fred and George told her they wouldn't sell her one so when no one was looking, she pocketed two bottles. She wasn't sure how much she'd need, but two bottles was certainly more reassuring then one.
It was that night, when they got back to the Burrow, that she put the first drop into his juice. She didn't know how much to give or if it had to be given undiluted. She was following her instinct. She assumed that if she gave it to him in smaller doses, Hermione would be less suspicious than if there was a sudden change in Harry's attitude toward her. Knowing she was well on her way to getting her man, she was content to sit back and wait.
Ginny had never been more excited to get to school then she was that year. The next phase of her plan was something she'd tried the previous year, but hadn't been successful at.
She'd dated Michael Corner the previous year to get Harry's attention. When it became evident that it wouldn't work, she found the most menial of excuses to break up with him and found what she hoped to be a lucky break with Dean Thomas…who just happened to be Harry's friend and dorm mate. Her fingers were crossed that Harry would hear Dean talk about her and feel a sudden urge to claim her for his own.
Then, the Department of Mysteries happened and Harry had withdrawn the remainder of the year and the opportunity to announce that she was dating Dean didn't come until they were on the train heading home. Her plan was put on indefinite hold. She and Dean hadn't broken up at the end of the year or at any point during the summer, so she assumed when she got on the train that day that everything was well between them. Ron and Hermione were in the Prefects carriage and Harry was left alone…she didn't stop to think that it might be her first real chance alone with him, for her, it was her first big chance to blow him off.
"Fancy trying to find a compartment?
"I can't, Harry, I said I'd meet Dean. See you later."
The look of devastation on Harry's face nearly killed her, but she smiled a satisfied smile and walked away, leaving him standing in the corridor, looking after her. She flipped her hair hoping the scent of her perfume would waft his way and she walked away to find Dean.
There were few indications during the year that Harry was noticing her. She thought, on occasion, that she'd seen him watching her but she could never seem to catch his eye to know for sure. Taunting and teasing him with flips of her hair and well-placed snogging sessions with Dean were getting her nowhere, and frankly, Dean had long since become excess baggage.
Slipping Harry the potion was proving to be more and more difficult and there were often days between the small doses she would give him. Hermione seemed to always be watching, even when she wasn't sitting right there next to him, she was always aware of what was happening with him. It was hard to get anything past her where Harry was concerned and Ginny knew, as the year went on, that she was beginning to press her luck.
That was until the Quidditch match. Harry had gone and gotten himself in trouble again and it was left to Ginny to be the Gryffindor hero. She took her time catching the Snitch, waiting until Gryffindor was far enough in the lead to clench the house cup. Thankfully her plan worked. Once she clenched the house cup she felt emboldened. Her intent was clear as she fought her way toward him…she was going to kiss him. No more waiting. It was her moment…and Harry beat her to it. It was like her own little piece of heaven and she never wanted it to end.
It was on one of their `walks' that Harry told her what finally made him realize he was attracted to her…
FLASHBACK
"Why now," Ginny asked. "I've been waiting four years for you to notice me. Why now?"
"Four years?" Harry repeated. "I'm not worth four years of waiting Ginny."
"Probably not," she said casually, "but it doesn't change the facts."
Harry placed his hand on her cheek and leaned forward to smell her. "Do you really want to know?"
Ginny nodded.
"Your perfume," he said. "On the first day of potions, Slughorn had a love potion brewing and we walked past, each of us was filled with three distinct smells. One of mine was your perfume. Of course, I didn't know it then, but not long after, I smelled it on you. From that point on, I fought against the urge to kiss you. You became an almost like an obsession. I even went so far as to question what was more important to me…you or Ron."
Ginny looked taken aback. Never had she thought that by trying to win his love, she would risk his friendship with Ron. "Harry, I'm sorry," she said before she could stop the words.
Harry looked at her questioningly. "What for?" he asked.
This was her defining moment…the moment to tell him the truth. "I'm sorry that you had to fight for so long. I wish it could've been easier for you," she said, ignoring the niggling feeling in the back of her mind.
"Well, I'm here now," he replied. "No more worries."
END FLASHBACK
After the first week they were together Ginny slowly began to wean Harry from the untruths. She stopped giving him the potion altogether and wore the perfume with much less frequency. The web she'd spun around him was slowly beginning to tear and break away. Harry wasn't leaving her and she wanted so much to believe that she'd finally gotten through to him. She needed to believe that he had finally fallen for her the way she'd fallen for him so long ago.
That was before the death of Professor Dumbledore. His death seemed to stir something in Harry that nothing else had to that point…not even the death of Sirius. Ginny knew, in her heart, that her time with Harry was coming to a close. She could sense it in the way that he began to withdraw from her. She clung to every ounce of hope she could…but ultimately, she knew that something based on lies, manipulation, and deceit didn't stand a chance in the end.
When he finally said the words, her heart was already breaking. It had been breaking since the first time he looked into her eyes with nothing but honesty and trust. She knew that someday she would lose him…that he was never hers to keep. He thought he was being noble when he left her standing alone. In truth, he was breaking free of something that never should have been holding him.
Humor had always been her defense, it was what got her through the first painstaking days of `being herself' with Harry. Her brand of humor was not for everyone, she knew that. But with Harry, he just seemed to understand that being who she was, it was all she really had to call her own. It was how she survived all those years with six brothers. It was how things started and it was how she let them end.
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Ginny sighed and stood up, she'd reflected far too long on her actions over the past year. She couldn't bring
herself to do it anymore. She wanted what she could get from Harry. A day in his life would've been enough if that
was all he offered. She'd obsessed over him for so long that she let her own selfish desires take over…it was
something she'd have to live with for the rest of her life. The weeks she had with him were the best she'd
known.
She wondered though, "Why couldn't he love me? Who is it that's holding him back?"
She stepped out of the classroom and into the corridor. It wasn't long before she heard the familiar laughter of Hermione Granger. She took a few more steps and her heart skipped a beat when she heard him speak. She wondered if it would always do that. A few more steps down the hall and she saw them standing in the middle of an open classroom. Harry's eyes were focused solely on Hermione as she spoke animatedly about something Ginny was sure he already knew. He laughed in all the right places and the smile he wore was the first genuine one Ginny had seen in a long time.
She nodded her head as the realization dawned on her. And as much as she wanted to hate Hermione for it, she knew she couldn't. Hermione hadn't tried to fool Harry into loving her, she hadn't tried to manipulate him or play mind games with him. As she stood there looking at two of her closest friends she realized that had she taken the time to look before…she would've known what a waste the last four years had been for her.
EPILOGUE
"Hermione, can I speak to you?"
Hermione eyed Ginny wearily. She still wasn't sure how much trust she could place in her. "What is it?"
"Can we go somewhere else, somewhere private?" Ginny asked. "This is important."
They were at the Burrow and people were gathered everywhere making preparations for the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. "It's your house, where do you want to go?"
Ginny led her down a path that Hermione had never seen before. It ended in a small clearing where a fallen tree now served as a bench for anyone lucky enough to find it. It was incredibly peaceful and for that much, Hermione was grateful. Peace had been seriously lacking since her arrival to the Burrow the previous week.
She looked at Ginny curiously. "What is it Ginny? They're going to know we're gone pretty soon."
Ginny looked down at where her hands were wringing together. She seldom allowed herself to feel this way. She was at a loss to find her own brand of humor in this…in anything anymore, really. She raised her eyes to Hermione's. "I have to ask you something."
Hermione raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Okay," she said, gesturing with her hand for Ginny to hurry.
"First, I want you to know that I'm nearly positive that I know the truth."
"Go on," Hermione said, looking at her now through narrow, scrutinizing eyes. "What truth?"
"I know you're in love with Harry," Ginny replied. A part of her wanted to continue that sentence…and I know he's in love with you too. But the more selfish part of her wanted to keep that piece of information locked up tight. She wasn't about to encourage the relationship. She felt she'd done her part by bowing out gracefully when Harry broke it off with her.
"Okay," Hermione said, lowering her head and staring down at her feet. She refused to either acknowledge or deny Ginny's revelation. "And?"
"You're not going to deny it?" Ginny asked, shocked by Hermione's lack of response.
"I'll only tell you that what I feel for Harry or for anyone else is my business, Ginny. Is that all you needed?"
"No. That's not it," Ginny replied. "You can say what you want about your feelings for Harry. I know the truth, Hermione. I can see it in your eyes. What I want to know is…" Ginny paused to study Hermione closely.
"Yes?" Hermione said, beginning to get irritated by Ginny's evasiveness.
"I wonder why you spent so much of the year acting jealous toward Ron knowing full well that you were in love with Harry. Are you playing games with my brother?"
"Excuse me?" Hermione shouted. "Am I -"
"Come on, Hermione, everyone knows Ron likes you. What was that all about?" Ginny shouted back.
"What makes you think I'll tell you anything after what you did to Harry?"
"Who else can you tell?" Ginny asked softly. "Is there anyone else you can talk to?"
Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. "I lost them both last year, Ginny. I lost Harry to you and Ron to Lavender. I didn't know what to do. Even when Harry went through his crush on Cho, I still had Ron. Granted, he's not a great substitute for Harry, but he works." She looked intently at Ginny. "It wasn't like I could begrudge Harry a little happiness now, is it? I couldn't rage at him or fight with him the way I could Ron. If I had, he would've known…and I couldn't let that happen."
"So Ron was your scapegoat?"
Hermione nodded. "Basically, yeah. Everyone needs a place to vent. For all intents and purposes, I thought Harry had finally found happiness. It was the reason my face hurt from smiling so much when you shared your first kiss that day you won the house cup. I've never wanted anything for Harry except happiness and safety. I'd die for him, Ginny, and that has nothing to do with love. It has everything to do with who he is. He's the most amazing, the strongest person that I know. All of the jealousy that I felt over the last year…the last few years…was because of Harry. If I was jealous of Ron over anything last year it was because he had someone to hold and I didn't. I told you before, I love Ron…as a brother, nothing more."
"Well, I certainly hope you plan to tell him that," Ginny said lightly as she jumped to her feet. "He's a right git lately thinking he's got somebody to love…and I don't."
Hermione chuckled. "But he does, Ginny. Didn't you know?"
Ginny turned abruptly, her wide eyes staring at Hermione in shock. "He…he does?"
Hermione chuckled louder. "I can't believe you don't know."
At Ginny's penetrating glare Hermione finally answered. "Luna. Apparently when a man and a woman witness a frog mate with a fly, it produces some sort of pheromone that brings those two people together when they might never have …"
Her explanation was lost as Ginny began to laugh and lead Hermione back to house…and to Harry.
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