The Interview
To him, it was like the other countless interviews he had been forced to endure. So many people were asking him, now that the war was over, for interviews, that Harry made up a rule on taking interviews (really, it was Hermione's idea, but wasn't everything?)
If the reporter/interviewer/whatever in question could send him at least one interesting question that he would be asked in the interview, then he would agree to be interviewed by said reporter/interviewer/whatever in question.
There were some unique ones that he liked, and the one sent by this particular interviewer was no exception. However, it was one had to think about, and still didn't know. Harry was hoping that something would just come to him once the question had been orally asked.
This interview, though, was special. It was the first one with his new fiancé, Ginny Weasley. He knew that he would get bombarded with questions concerning their relationship that he wouldn't know how to answer properly, so he invited her along instead of the usual Ron or Hermione.
"So, Harry," the reporter, a wizard at about thirty, began his final question. "What is the wisest thing anyone has ever said to you?"
It was naturally expected that it was something that Albus Dumbledore, or perhaps even Sirius Black told him, but that was the reporter (and Ginny, I suppose) wasn't sure.
Harry himself thought so as well, but there was only one quote that he could come up with.
"It seems like forever ago, but I remember it as if it happened just yesterday," he began. He said it slowly, hesitantly, as if he were thinking carefully of his words, but he wasn't. They were being plucked bit-by-bit, straight from his heart. "Someone had told me that I was `a great wizard'. I remember replying that they were better, but then they said, `Books! And cleverness! There are more important things [such as] friendship and bravery'." Harry got a fond twinkle in his eyes that neither the reporter nor Ginny had ever seen before. "And I believe, that if that person had more time, they would have added, `love' as well onto that sentence." Harry seemed to snap out of whatever daze or memories of yesteryear he was in, because he smiled sheepishly and waited patiently for the reporter to finish up and see him and Ginny off.
But instead, Ginny voiced what the reporter was wondering, saying in a soft, respectful voice, "So was that… was that what Professor Dumbledore told you before he died?"
Harry frowned, startled. "What? Dumbledore? Before he…? No."
"So when did he say it?" Ginny was terribly confused.
Harry shook his head. "He didn't. At all. Dumbledore didn't tell me that at all."
"But you said…'if that person had more time'…. Who was it, then?"
Harry laughed. "Oh. No. This was back when I was eleven. We were about to be separated and that's when they told me." He smiled again, thinking of his best friend and mentor, his guide and his confidant.
The reporter caught Harry's expression and said with a knowing gleam in his eye, "This person must be very special. First love, perhaps?" The reporter wasn't stupid-whomever Harry was talking about was someone he was clearly in love-or was in love-with.
At this, though, Ginny scowled, her expression clearly saying: I was and still am his first love, you buffoon!
Neither Harry nor the reporter noticed. But Harry said, blinking away his utter puzzlement, "What? Me in love with Hermione? Of course not!"
Ginny gaped. "Hermione told you that?"
Harry was amazed that it took her that long to figure out. Well, though I love her, she is related to Ron… "Yeah, of course, Hermione! Besides Dumbledore, she's the wisest person I know!"
Again, Ginny scowled.
The reporter said, "So you and Miss Granger have never…?"
Harry waved a hand. "No, never. By god, though, people still keep thinking that we had-or still have-something. I mean, it's been five years since the first accusation and they still keep coming!"
By that time all three had stood up and made their way to the door, Ginny oddly sullen.
Saying their goodbyes, the couple left, leaving the reporter wondering aloud, "Maybe the rumors haven't stopped because the potential of something great just… never disappeared."
Harry just then poked his head in. "Oh, excuse me again. I left my cloak behind."
"Oh, no problem," the reporter said, handing him his emerald cloak.
"Good day to you then," Harry smiled-perhaps a bit forced?-and left the reporter alone again.
Had he heard him? The reporter wondered.
Nah.
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Both Harry and Ginny were both silent as they apparated back to Ginny and Luna's flat.
Ginny felt jealous at Hermione being the wisest person Harry knew (Dumbledore didn't count as he was dead). It was silly, she knew, because what did being wise have to do with love? But really, it was as if she had been waging a silent war with Hermione since… nearly forever.
As much as Hermione had denied it, Ginny was convinced that Hermione loved Harry. But Hermione had been nothing but supportive of her relationship with Harry, so Ginny thought her fears were for naught.
However, it was as if it didn't matter if Harry and Hermione weren't romantically involved. He would still tell her everything, still talk about her often, and Hermione still knew things about Harry that Ginny didn't-and that bothered her deeply. She was Harry's future wife-she should know everything about Harry, not Hermione!
Suddenly, she remembered asking her mother, at a very young age-right after she had first seen Harry, in fact-about love. "How did you know that you wanted to marry Daddy?" She had asked.
Mrs. Weasley smiled fondly at the incoming memories. "I don't know, sweetheart. We were best friends, your father and I, before we fell in love. But I think… I think that I knew that life wouldn't be as sweet if I didn't have him beside me." She affectionately smiled at her youngest child. "Remember, Ginny, the best marriage partners are not only lovers-they're friends."
Had she and Harry ever been friends? Not really, not in the beginning. They'd mostly just snog and talk about quidditch.
But what about now? They'd snog and talk about quidditch, and her family, and work and… and that was it.
She didn't even have to wonder what Hermione and Harry talked about.
Ginny thought back to her first year, when she had asked Hermione in wonder, "What do you even talk about with the Boy-Who-Lived?"
Irritably, Hermione had rolled her eyes. "Oh, honestly. Harry's just a normal boy. He acts and talks like any other pre-adolescent would."
"But what do you talk about?" It was hard for eleven-year-old Ginny to imagine that Gryffindor's bookworm talked with-let alone was best friends-with the Boy-Who-Lived.
Hermione frowned, thinking. "We… well, we talk about anything, really."
"Anything? Everything?"
"Everything." Hermione said. "There's nothing that Harry and I can't talk about-at least, nothing that I can't talk about and Harry can't listen to. And, believe it or not, it goes both ways. Harry can talk about quidditch all he likes, and even if I'm not interested or I've heard it before, I still listen." Finishing off, she said, her face softening, but her eyes took on a more determined look, "We're best friends, Ginny. It may be hard to believe, considering you think he's some god and I'm well… not, but he's there for me. And I will always be there for him."
Ginny, coming out of her memories, realized with a pang that that was love.
And then Harry said something.
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Notes: I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I say I don't hate Ginny, that she only annoys me, but I've put her as some kind of a villain in stories such as "Ordinary" and "Not Like Them". So, I'm trying to add some insight and prove that Ginny's not bad, she's just… not for Harry.
So I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow and I don't know when I'll get part two up-but it will be before school starts, don't worry.
Tell me what you think!
WRITTEN: August 10
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