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The thing about dragons

I always thought Ginny's joke about the Hungarian Horntail had something personal behind it. After all, Harry was pretty impressive on the first task.

Ginny let her mouth open slightly along with the rest of the audience in the stands. Dragons!

Dragons,she repeated to herself, tapping her forehead. It was obvious now that they had been dragons all along, and both Hermione and Harry had known about it. Ginny felt foolish for not having figured out the reason for her brother Charlie's mysterious visit to Hogwarts earlier. She also regretted failing to understand Hermione's sudden interest in the day job of a dragon trainer in Romania. Most of all, she regretted not having had the opportunity to help Harry by telling him the answer to the question that his brother always gave when asked how he managed with the most rebellious dragons: 'Conjunctivitis'.

Ron looked at her suspiciously, as if he could read her internal monologue and knew that she had not yet gotten over her feelings for Harry, despite what she had promised her brothers over and over again during the summer. But really, what did Ron care? He and Harry hadn't spoken in weeks, and Harry wouldn't be staying at the Burrow anymore. So it didn't matter if she still found herself drooling every time she saw Harry smile. Ron and his big mouth, ruining everything.

Anyway, that was in the past,  Ginny no longer drooled over him or any other man; she was following a strict improvement plan based on the rules in the September issue of Teenage Witch. Thats why she had refused to wear any Gryffindor badge or hold any sign during the first test, except for the pin under her robes.

Bagman left the tent once again, and upon hearing the whistle, Cedric followed him. The Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin stands erupted in applause, chanting "The true champion."  Ginny clenched her fists and was surprised to see that her gesture was copied by Ron.

Cedric appeared uneasy and took a hesitant step forward. He then raised his wand towards one of the rocks surrounding the Swiss shortnose dragon. Suddenly, the rock turned golden. Was he looking to create an imitation of the egg in order to replace it? The barking that followed ruled out such a hypothesis, leaving the audience just as confused.

The farmer began to run across the field, diverting the dragon's attention. Cedric took advantage of the distraction and began to try to get closer to the nest. Step by step, slowly and cautiously until his feet broke a branch on the ground, a sound imperceptible to humans but more than enough for the dragon.

Fire, burning the left side of Cedric's body. Climbing Fleur's skirt. Spitting into the air trying to catch Viktor Krum, until it was finally Harry's turn to face the largest and most fearsome of them all: the Hungarian Horntail.

The dragon's yellow eyes glared at Harry. Its scale-covered tail hit the ground once, twice, three times, in warning. To the sides, the audience was booing, but Harry didn't seem to hear the crowd. His eyes were completely focused on the dragon's wings.

Harry raised his wand and shouted, "Accio Firebolt!"— but nothing happened. The crowd began to laugh, led by Slytherin, and then the broom flew through the air straight into his right hand. Without wasting another second, Harry climbed onto it and began flying in the direction of the horntail.

"He's crazy," Ron said. But Ginny couldn't find the strength to respond. Her eyes were fixed on the broom, watching it move from side to side and up and down, trying to distract the mother from those eggs.

"THE TAIL!" Ron shouted, getting up from his seat, but it was too late. The scales had torn his robe. His brother sat down on the edge of the stands again.

"Now he is talking to her??" Ron squeezed Ginny's knee hard.

The beast stood on its hind legs and raised its black wings, but before the animal understood what was happening, Harry dived at full speed in the direction of the eggs, grabbing the golden prize just as he had seen himself catch the snitch in numerous matches.

Harry was an incredible quidditch player, the best on the broomstick, and the bravest. Ginny sighed; she was lost. No one would ever top that. A dragon! He had flown over a dragon!

"He is so incredible and fearless..." Ginny said to her brother, but Ron was already in the field running towards the tent. At least she would have more summers to drool over the image of Harry flying in her yard, recreating the confrontation with the horntail over and over again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-'' You know, this is precisely the reason why Romilda asked me the other day if it was true that you had a Hippogriff tattooed on your chest''- Ginny said taking a breath.

"What?" Harry stopped short for a millisecond before bursting into laughter.

The two were in one of the broom closets on the third floor enjoying the last hours of Saturday. Their ties lie on the floor next to their robes, Harry's shirt completely unbuttoned, and Ginny's skirt a few inches higher than her mother or McGonagall would approve.

"Why a hippogriff?" Harry asked, clearing his throat as if finally noticing the state of their clothing.

"I think," said Ginny, fixing her hair with her hand, "that is because of your trip to third year, but it seems to me like a waste to choose a flight across the lake during Hagrid's class as your best adventure. Anyway don't worry, I told her it was actually a Hungarian horntail. Much more masculine''

"Did you tell Romilda what?" Harry said mortified.

Ginny rested her hands on Harry's still uncovered chest again, waiting to see how the blush crept up his cheeks, she loved having that power over him after having blushed for him for so many years.

-'' I told her that you have a Hungarian horntail on your chest'' - Ginny said with a devilish smile - ''You should consider it, by the way.''

-'' And why would I get a dragon tattoo?''- Harry rested his hand on Ginny's back, bringing her even closer if that was possible.

-"I never told you?" said Ginny, "how much did it impress me that you outflew a dragon?"

-"No, I don't think so," Harry said, pretending to remember.

-"It was the most impressive thing I saw you do," Ginny added, running her hands over his chest.

-''Yes?''- Harry asked.

Ginny nodded and sealed the distance between their lips once again, undoing the two buttons that had cost Harry so much.

-"I think Sirius would have approved of a tattoo," Harry said almost breathlessly before leaning down to kiss her once more.

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The thing about dragons

I always thought Ginny's joke about the Hungarian Horntail had something personal behind it. After all, Harry was pretty impressive on the first task.

Ginny let her mouth open slightly along with the rest of the audience in the stands. Dragons!

Dragons,she repeated to herself, tapping her forehead. It was obvious now that they had been dragons all along, and both Hermione and Harry had known about it. Ginny felt foolish for not having figured out the reason for her brother Charlie's mysterious visit to Hogwarts earlier. She also regretted failing to understand Hermione's sudden interest in the day job of a dragon trainer in Romania. Most of all, she regretted not having had the opportunity to help Harry by telling him the answer to the question that his brother always gave when asked how he managed with the most rebellious dragons: 'Conjunctivitis'.

Ron looked at her suspiciously, as if he could read her internal monologue and knew that she had not yet gotten over her feelings for Harry, despite what she had promised her brothers over and over again during the summer. But really, what did Ron care? He and Harry hadn't spoken in weeks, and Harry wouldn't be staying at the Burrow anymore. So it didn't matter if she still found herself drooling every time she saw Harry smile. Ron and his big mouth, ruining everything.

Anyway, that was in the past,  Ginny no longer drooled over him or any other man; she was following a strict improvement plan based on the rules in the September issue of Teenage Witch. Thats why she had refused to wear any Gryffindor badge or hold any sign during the first test, except for the pin under her robes.

Bagman left the tent once again, and upon hearing the whistle, Cedric followed him. The Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin stands erupted in applause, chanting "The true champion."  Ginny clenched her fists and was surprised to see that her gesture was copied by Ron.

Cedric appeared uneasy and took a hesitant step forward. He then raised his wand towards one of the rocks surrounding the Swiss shortnose dragon. Suddenly, the rock turned golden. Was he looking to create an imitation of the egg in order to replace it? The barking that followed ruled out such a hypothesis, leaving the audience just as confused.

The farmer began to run across the field, diverting the dragon's attention. Cedric took advantage of the distraction and began to try to get closer to the nest. Step by step, slowly and cautiously until his feet broke a branch on the ground, a sound imperceptible to humans but more than enough for the dragon.

Fire, burning the left side of Cedric's body. Climbing Fleur's skirt. Spitting into the air trying to catch Viktor Krum, until it was finally Harry's turn to face the largest and most fearsome of them all: the Hungarian Horntail.

The dragon's yellow eyes glared at Harry. Its scale-covered tail hit the ground once, twice, three times, in warning. To the sides, the audience was booing, but Harry didn't seem to hear the crowd. His eyes were completely focused on the dragon's wings.

Harry raised his wand and shouted, "Accio Firebolt!"— but nothing happened. The crowd began to laugh, led by Slytherin, and then the broom flew through the air straight into his right hand. Without wasting another second, Harry climbed onto it and began flying in the direction of the horntail.

"He's crazy," Ron said. But Ginny couldn't find the strength to respond. Her eyes were fixed on the broom, watching it move from side to side and up and down, trying to distract the mother from those eggs.

"THE TAIL!" Ron shouted, getting up from his seat, but it was too late. The scales had torn his robe. His brother sat down on the edge of the stands again.

"Now he is talking to her??" Ron squeezed Ginny's knee hard.

The beast stood on its hind legs and raised its black wings, but before the animal understood what was happening, Harry dived at full speed in the direction of the eggs, grabbing the golden prize just as he had seen himself catch the snitch in numerous matches.

Harry was an incredible quidditch player, the best on the broomstick, and the bravest. Ginny sighed; she was lost. No one would ever top that. A dragon! He had flown over a dragon!

"He is so incredible and fearless..." Ginny said to her brother, but Ron was already in the field running towards the tent. At least she would have more summers to drool over the image of Harry flying in her yard, recreating the confrontation with the horntail over and over again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-'' You know, this is precisely the reason why Romilda asked me the other day if it was true that you had a Hippogriff tattooed on your chest''- Ginny said taking a breath.

"What?" Harry stopped short for a millisecond before bursting into laughter.

The two were in one of the broom closets on the third floor enjoying the last hours of Saturday. Their ties lie on the floor next to their robes, Harry's shirt completely unbuttoned, and Ginny's skirt a few inches higher than her mother or McGonagall would approve.

"Why a hippogriff?" Harry asked, clearing his throat as if finally noticing the state of their clothing.

"I think," said Ginny, fixing her hair with her hand, "that is because of your trip to third year, but it seems to me like a waste to choose a flight across the lake during Hagrid's class as your best adventure. Anyway don't worry, I told her it was actually a Hungarian horntail. Much more masculine''

"Did you tell Romilda what?" Harry said mortified.

Ginny rested her hands on Harry's still uncovered chest again, waiting to see how the blush crept up his cheeks, she loved having that power over him after having blushed for him for so many years.

-'' I told her that you have a Hungarian horntail on your chest'' - Ginny said with a devilish smile - ''You should consider it, by the way.''

-'' And why would I get a dragon tattoo?''- Harry rested his hand on Ginny's back, bringing her even closer if that was possible.

-"I never told you?" said Ginny, "how much did it impress me that you outflew a dragon?"

-"No, I don't think so," Harry said, pretending to remember.

-"It was the most impressive thing I saw you do," Ginny added, running her hands over his chest.

-''Yes?''- Harry asked.

Ginny nodded and sealed the distance between their lips once again, undoing the two buttons that had cost Harry so much.

-"I think Sirius would have approved of a tattoo," Harry said almost breathlessly before leaning down to kiss her once more.

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Experimentally in love

Ginny volunteers to participate in an experiment to help out her friend Luna with her research. In this experiment, they track the progress of a couple's affection and romantic feelings while simulating a real relationship. To ensure optimal results, they are trying to reach a large group of men to find the best compatible match with Ginny. Ron's friend, Harry, is asked to join. Ginny assured him he will likely not be the chosen one and to just fill in the survey.

If you sign up for this survey, you agree to take part in the experiment. This will somewhat simulate a real relationship, but you will receive your instructions on what to do from us. There will be regular checkups. There will be no sexual actions required or allowed. You will only need to participate if you are selected from the pool of survey participants. While the complete purpose of the experiment can not be shared as to not mess with the result, we will research the progress of a relationship and the increase of affection and attraction throughout the dating process.

Word count: Estimated 15K-20K

Coming soon!

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At tea time, everybody agrees

For the #severalsunlitdaylights & @corneliaavenue-ao3 challenge. Day 10:Midnights.

''Miss Weasley, please go ahead''- The High Inquisitor pointed to the seat in front of her.

She had heard from Fred and George, embroidery by embroidery, a detailed image of Professor Umbridge's office, and yet the descriptions did not honor the strangeness of being under the gaze of dozens of cats.

Ginny adjusted her robes and tried to remember the manners classes her mother and Aunt Muriel had insisted she attend as a child. Umbridge nodded, approving of the mimicry she was striving for. Chin forward, shoulders back, ankles crossed. The inquisitor maintained the carved smile. Challenging her to be the brave one to break that silence.

Tic Tac. The clock reverberating on the walls, Umbridge waited a few seconds before looking down and sliding a pink porcelain cup to its end.

"Sugar?" Umbridge asked and with a small wave of her wand, dropped three pink cubes into the cup. Ginny stoped chewing the gum in her mouth and reached over to took a small sip.

"Don't be shy," Umbridge smiled encouraging her to take another sip.

Ginny nodded. She had never tasted something like that. It felt strangely like home. The aroma of a conversation at the end of the school semester, at the kitchen table, laughing with her mother as she told her about…everything. Ginny drained her cup with a big slurp, suddenly forgetting about manners. After all, she was in what could be described as her home, having tea with an almost maternal figure. That was. Suddenly everything was crystal clear. Umbridge was a second mother to her who could tell her everything without fear or shame.

-''Precisely''- she smiled as if reading her thoughts- ''I want you to tell me everything.''

-'' I haven't done a single potions essay in my life. I copied all of Percy's old work'' - Ginny said

-'' My dear, we are not here to judge your lack of education '' - Umbridge gave a pause- ''Why don't we talk about your summer instead''

-''My summer?''- Ginny chewing her gum once again- ''Is it because I lied to Michael? I told him that Errol had crashed and lost his birthday present but I didn't buy him anything because I had no money. ''

-''Michael?'' - said the inquisitor starting to sound impatient- ''No, I don't care about that Michael of yours. Why dont we talk about Harry instead?. Did you spend the holidays together? Anywhere in particular? With someone in particular? Someone like Dumbledore perhaps''

-"Harry, that's the problem, isn't it?" Ginny said, raising the cup again and going for another drop of that elixir. "Everybody wants to talk about Harry, nobody wants to talk about Michael. Which is a shame. He likes me for who I am, isn't strange? Also delicate, but mostly strange. Because until now I have only felt like a monster ….

-'' Were or were not your relatives and Harry involved in a secret organization against the ministry? Are they now? That's how your dear father ended in St. Mungo, perhaps?''- Umbridge pressed.

-"Harry," Ginny said, looking at the cat behind the woman in pink. "He's a real problem, right?"

-'' He is. He is the problem. It's always him'' - The liquid went down her throat gently making it easier to articulate that forbidden phrase- ''Yes, we spent the holidays together. We usually do. Because of Ron, obviously. Just teenagers in a house, not talking that much. Actually, we argued this Christmas. I don't even remember why, but it was his fault. The prophet says it, so it must be right: he is the problem. Everybody agrees. Sometimes I think… I promised never to say it.''

"More tea." Umbridge refilled the cup and Ginny nodded, closing her eyes again to feel the fumes.

-'' Sometimes I think they're right. That he is the problem. Every time he leaves me on the side of one of his adventures and pretends that it is for my own good. The typical phrase that he camouflages. It's so annoying, to hear the covert narcissism he disguises as altruism. I swear sometimes he sounds like some kind of minister's office''

"Ahem," Umbridge coughed but Ginny straightened up, her fingers clenched around her mug.

-'' What adventures do they leave you out of? From some secret group? Of some resistance movement?''

-'' Or maybe the problem is me. Always rooting for the anti-hero''- said Ginny.

-'' Miss Weasley, answer. Is Mr.Potter organizing a secret group among students to overthrow the prime minister?''

Ginny could only laugh

-'' Sorry professor- Ginny said chewing the gum once again- No, he is not. But the other day I had this weird dream I didn't dare to tell anyone until now. I was at detention, in this very same room, only that instead of cats there were parrots and they were saying strange things like blood, quill, tea…''

-'' High Inquisitor, sorry to interrupt but Professor McGonagall is on her way''- Flich enter- ''She demands to know why one of her students was absent from class ...''

-'' Go away''-Umbridge stood up making the cup and sugar jars disappear- ''Quickly run to class and never mention about what we talk. That's what friends are for, right?''

Ginny nodded and grab her things finally breathing again.

Backpack in hand and excruciating pain in the head, Ginny somehow found her way back to the Great Hall for dinner.

-''You guys have to improve that anti-Veritaserum gum'' - Ginny sat next to Fred- ''My head is going to explode.''

"But did it work?" George asked.

-'' Yes, but only because I told him the truth that five years ago we all agreed that Harry is the problem.''

-'' Hi to you too''- Harry said coldly seating next to her.

-'' I mean just because you fix the problems you create that doesnt mean you….and…because… and for the record you cause a lot of trouble''

-'' You know George I think the gum also affects the ability to form coherent sentences''- said Fred causing a big laugh that start to die when she start the retale of Umbridge tea invitation. Minus some details of course…

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Chapter 6: Flower crowns and photoshoots

He opened the door of his locker and Ginny burst out laughing immediately. On the inside of the locker door, there were five photos of her.

Harry glanced at where she was looking. “Oh, yeah. The guys were so kind to put this up for me. Even included two calendar photos.”

She bent down and looked closer to see what photos they picked. “How nice of them.”

“I know.” He pointed at one of the photos. “That one was already on there, they added the rest.”

Her eyes widened and she looked at him in surprise.

“Oh, not like that,” he told her with a huff. “I had all players I look up to on there.” He rummaged around in the locker for the photos they replaced. He showed her. “You, my dad in his Hogwarts years — also a Chaser, the former Phenton Phoenixes Seeker Maddox, and Wronski.”

“That’s a good selection for sure. But you have to tell me,” she said, her eyes sparkling.

“What?” he asked as he took a towel and a fresh change of clothes.

“How does it feel to meet your idol?” she said, swaying from left to right while batting her eyelashes at him.

“Shut up.” He closed his locker. “I am going to shower.” He walked around her and headed towards the shower stalls.

“You know I do autographs!” she called after him.

“Why would I want that when your nail marks are on my back?” he responded.

When she looked, she could indeed see some faint red marks. “Do you need those healed?”

He turned to her, grinning. “Why? Are you embarrassed?” He turned back around and disappeared into the shower.

Full chapter: AO3/Fanfiction.net

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obviously ginny always holds a candle for harry and her feelings for him never really go away, but what do you think is the point when her feelings change from a childhood crush to realised actual adult feelings?

(I love this question so here I am, back on my bullshit with another Hinny meta not a single soul asked for)

“— how she didn’t think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her…” “She thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more — myself.”” 

There’s a huge gulf from the Ginny being talked about in that first quote and the Ginny speaking in the second. How and when and how Ginny gets from one to the other - both to this new way of seeing herself, and holding a new, healthier set of feelings for Harry that he will return and deeply value - is tricky to parse out because of how much Ginny’s growth clearly happens off-stage (and is… criminally underwritten). But I do think it’s clear that that this shift does happen but actually hadn't really thought about it properly before sooo I have been scratching my head over this one since you sent this ask.

The headline is: I basically think Ginny’s crush dies in the chamber. As early as Ginny’s second year, in PoA, she’s made a decision to cope with Harry’s inevitable presence in her life, and that’s to have her feelings be less about revering him, and more about making him feel supported and loved, both by her and by her family. She makes her feelings less about who she is relative to him, and much less about an immediate hope of reciprocation, and more about reinforcing in Harry a sense of his own worth and value as something that need not be a comment on her own. As they both grow up, and she gets to know him better, I think she starts to understand that they are fundamentally incredibly similar people. She learns that she has a unique understanding of him that other characters don’t, someone who she can help be better, and ultimately someone she knows how to love well and someone who knows how to be loved by him. And that in part is a testament to how much work she does - with the help of good guidance - to like herself and like what she brings to the table, both in seeing the parts of her that are similar to Harry and liking them, and in being confident that the parts of her that are different to Harry can be ways of understanding him and loving him in ways he really needs. Basically, when Ginny starts to see herself as somebody worthy of love and similar to Harry, not someone unworthy and defined by their inadequacy relative to Harry, that’s when the crush is gone and the real feelings emerge. I think that level of self growth starts to happen much earlier in canon for Ginny than it does for lots of her peer characters, especially Harry, Ron, and Hermione. 

Full reasoning is below the cut, and I am using the word reasoning loosely, because there is absolutely no rhyme or reason why I have written as many words on this question as I have. Ask me a Ginny question and I will act up, apparently

The crush

What’s really significant about Ginny’s crush on Harry (and is imo quite overlooked) is that it’s defined by an incredibly low sense of self-worth and a terrible loneliness on little Ginny’s part. Riddle tells Harry how Ginny feels about herself, and tbh it’s absolutely fucking heartbreaking. Obviously, this version of Ginny’s sense of self is refracted through Riddle’s most uncharitable telling, but I think we should take it as containing at least an element of truth (because what makes Riddle such a master manipulator is his capacity to understand people’s fears and anxieties, and to play to them):

‘Little Ginny’s been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes — how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how —” Riddle’s eyes glinted “— how she didn’t think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her…” ‘No one’s ever understood me like you, Tom… I’m so glad I’ve got this diary to confide in… It’s like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket…”

The Ginny we get a sense of in these lines is of someone who thinks very little of themselves, who is defined by friendlessness, and has so deep a sense of isolated inadequacy she very easily becomes dependent on someone who shows her the first bit of genuine interest and makes her feel worth listening to. Obviously, Ginny is very loved at this stage, by both her parents and her brothers, but she’s not really seen, and she clearly feels both alone and deeply insecure. Unlike Ron’s way of dealing with his own sense of inadequacy, which is expressed, at various stages, through jealousy and resentment, Ginny feels her inadequacy into a crush that isn’t just about how great Harry is, but how great Harry is compared to her, and how unworthy she is of his attention. She doesn’t seem to have close friends, she has no-one who sees her as an equal, no emotional support that meets her where she’s at, and she is deeply doubtful that she deserves more. (I don’t want to say Ginny/Snape parallels but uhhh well........ you know)

There are elements of the crush that will remain a constant in Ginny’s feelings towards Harry throughout the series. She'll remain extremely protective of him ("Leave him alone, he didn't want all that"), she'll continue to admire him a great deal, and obvs she … fancies him. But the crush and her later feelings for Harry are clearly pretty distinct. When we see glimpses of her crush in other scenes - at the Burrow, in Diagon Alley, in the Valentine’s incident - it’s an endearing but ultimately juvenile, all-consuming view of Harry, in that way that crushes often are when you’re very young, but also one that speaks to her inability to see Harry as a real person and, especially, a person who is not better than her. Her crush isn’t empowering, but humiliating. It's something over which she has no control, and experiences publicly and very bodily (the whole-body blush, the physical clumsiness of knocking everything over, hiding behind doors and watching him at the Burrow). When she writes and commissions the Valentine, she talks about his appearance and his legacy in such a telling way. ‘I wish he was mine, he’s really divine’ isn’t the line of a confident person shooting their shot - it’s hero worship from someone who very much does not think themselves worthy of worship, and therefore direct adoration upwards at the person they’ve put on a pedestal. Although she’s not exactly asking Harry out directly with the Valentine (it’s supposed to be anonymous, and it’s only outed as Ginny by Malfoy), she pitches herself to Harry as someone who is in awe of him and really fancies him, but gives no sign of a capacity for great mutual understanding, no demonstration of their (many) similarities, no sign of deep care and no kind of pitch for her self as someone great who deserves love, someone funny, clever, and attractive, the traits that will later define the Ginny Harry falls for.  

Leaving the crush behind

I think the aftermath of the Chamber is really significant for Ginny’s changing feelings for Harry. Leaving aside the lingering trauma of possession and her near-death experience, it’s hard to overstate how absolutely fucking awful it would be to interact with Harry after that.  It’s not just that Riddle reveals the depth of little Ginny’s clearly intense feelings for him to Harry - mortifying enough - it’s that Riddle told Harry that Ginny’s obsession with him meant she inadvertently fed Riddle information that would render Lily Potter’s sacrifice moot, cost Harry his life and bring Voldemort to some form of power again. Though of course what Ginny reveals to Riddle isn’t an active betrayal of the Pettigrew vein, there are few consequences of having a crush that would be worse than the person you have a crush on nearly being killed because of it. A very reasonable response would have been to avoid Harry forever, and try and put that whole episode, and her feelings for him, to bed. 

But she… doesn’t do that. Of course, Harry’s in her life whether she likes it or not. But she doesn’t have to become who she does become to him by OotP, and it’s clear then that she actively makes a series of choices to turn her feelings for him into something that is useful and kind for Harry: something that helps him and improves him, rather than starting at a point of thinking he’s perfect. Her appearances in GoF and even PoA lay the groundwork for the approach to him that she’s mastered by OotP. In PoA - so in the aftermath of this experience where Harry is the person who serves as the biggest reminder of her ordeal, and also Riddle’s chief victim - other than her awkward hello in Diagon Alley, the only reminder of Ginny’s feelings for Harry come when she leaves him the get well card she makes for him in the hospital wing. Harry’s narration implies the get well soon card is an expression of Ginny’s crush: he describes her as “blushing furiously”. But both making and delivering the card takes a huge amount of courage, and it’s a fundamentally selfless gesture - it’s literally a wish for him to get better, to make him feel like someone cares about his welfare, and a sign she is already starting to try and channel her feelings for him into something kind and supportive.(Obviously he… hates that the card sings so, you know, swing and a miss on execution, but she’s trying). Other than that, she only pops up to briefly share a private laugh with Harry over Percy (the first one-on-one injection of humour to their relationship), and to console Ron and reprimand the twins when Scabbers ‘dies’, establishing her as someone who acts with love and kindness, even if not directed at Harry himself.

In GoF, Ginny comes closer to honing this approach. She blushes when she sees Harry again at the Burrow, but she also then talks with confidence and humour in front of him with relatively little effort. She really reaches a crossroads over the Yule Ball, where she sets herself on the path away from validation from Harry and towards a stronger sense of who she is and what she believes in. She doesn’t ask Harry to the Yule Ball, even though several other characters do ask him out. She doesn’t chance rejection, but nor does she risk mortifying him. When Ron suggests she go with Harry, she turns him down and honours her commitment to Neville, something she finds difficult but is her choosing who the person she wants to be: someone who does the right thing, the selfless thing, who doesn’t ask Harry to validate her, but also who won’t accept the idea of being an afterthought last-option invite for Harry Potter. Because we’ll later be told, by Hermione, that Ginny met Michael Corner at the Yule Ball, I think we’re supposed to take Christmas 1994 as the period where Ginny starts to actively turned a corner in her feelings for Harry. With Hermione’s help (and I think it is this Christmas where Hermione advises Ginny on this), Ginny resolves to seek out romantic companionship elsewhere, where she will be able to be herself - something that might attract Harry in the long-run, but that will have its own value, too. The time where Ginny's sense of her own worth was calibrated around how much better than her she thought Harry was is increasingly in the rear-view mirror.

After the crush

By the time we get to the summer of OotP, something really big has shifted in Ginny’s mind about how she is going to be around Harry and what he is to her. The depth of Ginny’s growth, self-improvement and self-knowledge is on full display here, and she’s clearly reached a relative peace with herself. She has a confidence she didn’t have before; she’s got clear skills and abilities that mark her out as talented and assured (including Quidditch, but also her sense of humour and magical abilities); she’s actually shown herself capable not just of controlling her bodily and emotional responses to Harry, and also become an incredibly sophisticated liar (lol); and, crucially, she’s no longer lonely but surrounded by friends and in a romantic relationship that seems to be stable and healthy enough for a fourteen year old relationship, a real fuck-you to Tom Riddle. From the very start of OotP (“I thought I’d heard your voice”, “We know, Harry”), she can see what she’s become towards Harry: a shrewd reader of him, empathetic, supportive, forgiving, someone rooting for him, wanting good things for him and for him to grow and mature in happy, healthy ways, unafraid to call him out or help him grow when he’s displaying destructive coping mechanisms, lashing out or craving the approval of unworthy peers, and, crucially, someone who has pushed any thought of reciprocation to the back of her mind.

She also really understands who Sirius is to Harry in such a deep and profound way. Over the prefects issue, she’s the one who instigates of the conversation that consoles him over the Prefects issue - she’s the one who draws Sirius in as someone whose example (as a person who clearly was not a Prefect) will be a comfort to him (as well as just like, giving him valuable bonding moment with his godfather and knowledge of his father at school):

“What about you, Sirius?” Ginny asked, thumping Hermione on the back. Sirius, who was right beside Harry, let out his usual barklike laugh. “No one would have made me a prefect, I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge.”

On the train, when Ron and Hermione go to the Prefects carriage and Harry feels suddenly bereft, it’s Ginny alone who stays with him and agrees to sit with him on the train, finding the carriage with Neville and Luna to sit with, even though she’s with Michael at this point. Does Ginny still hold a torch for him? Sure, but she’s still holding a torch in sixth year, and she’s happy to leave him on his own on the train then. She decides in this moment Harry’s need is great, and wants him to not feel alone on his first train ride without Ron. She also shows here that she’s matured and grown up a lot more than he is in some significant ways. She doesn’t share his acute embarrassment about Neville and Luna, and she sorts him out after the Stinksap debacle, helping his embarrassment in front of Cho. Obviously there’s the ‘lucky you’ scene (side note: I love Ginny’s at his side on the tube as soon as they leave St Mungo’s after the conversation about possession). The ‘lucky you’ scene does not scream ‘please love me I’m so in love with you’. It’s a sign of deep care for a person, but it’s the behaviour of a person who no longer gives much of a fuck about being thought well of - they want to be helpful, it’s a very selfless kind of love, but she’s sort of over expecting things of him. 

The Easter egg scene is another case in point of someone who clearly has some level of deep feelings for someone else - as evidenced by their obvious close knowledge of that person developed through watching them closely and generously - but who has turned them into something directed and selflessly productive. We can see that Ginny’s approach has meant something to Harry even if he hasn’t really clocked it. That he gets upset over the Easter egg certainly speaks to how much distress he’s in, but it also speaks to a subconscious feeling of being in the presence of someone who allows him to let his guard down, even if he's baffled as to why his body has behaved like this. Fifteen year old Harry sits, despairing over his fifteen year old father’s failings, grappling with his doubts about his parents’ path to romantic love, consoled by the thought that “his mother had been decent” - when Ginny enters, reaching through fifteen year old Harry’s own failings (irascibility, self-isolation) and gets through to what he needs. Selflessly, she suggests he tries to talk to Cho. She demonstrates strong emotional intelligence towards him, she delivers him a path to getting what Harry really wants - a conversation with the one person he sees as family, about his dad. That Ginny is the person who makes possible Harry’s one conversation about James with Remus and Sirius is so significant (and why I’ll always be mad that JKR cut the plan to have Harry literally confess the James memory to Ginny in the library and then mention Ginny’s advice to Sirius and Remus. The cut “That’s what Ginny said” line that Harry was supposed to say to Sirius and Remus from the JKR OotP planning notes lives in my head not just rent free but claiming full squatters’ rights). 

Even more significantly in OotP, Harry quietly shows her that, while there’s a lot to admire about him, and lots of empathise with, there’s also a lot to be disappointed with him in. I think this only cements Ginny’s sense that her approach is the right one, and avoids setting herself up for further disappointment. The truth is that Harry lets her down several points in OotP, not just in the ‘lucky you’ scene. On the train, he is at least a bit embarrassed by her - not as much as he is of Neville and Luna, but certainly doesn’t think of her as a “very cool person”. Harry spends the whole book screaming at everyone for information, feeling frustrated about being patronised and deemed too young, but does the same thing to Ginny four times: once, at Grimmauld Place, where he lets Molly remove her from the room and makes no case for her entitlement to knowledge, and then three separate times after he's had the vision of Sirius being tortured:

“Hi,” said Ginny uncertainly. “We recognised Harry’s voice — what are you yelling about?”  “Never you mind,” said Harry roughly. Ginny raised her eyebrows. “There’s no need to take that tone with me,” she said coolly. “I was only wondering whether I could help.”  “Well, you can’t,” said Harry shortly. “You’re being rather rude, you know,” said Luna serenely.

And then again a few pages later in the Forest: 

“I’ve got a broom!” said Ginny. “Yeah, but you’re not coming,” said Ron angrily. “Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!” said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking. “You’re too —” Harry began. “I’m three years older than you were when you fought You-KnowWho over the Sorcerer’s Stone,” she said fiercely, “and it’s because of me Malfoy’s stuck back in Umbridge’s office with giant flying bogeys attacking him —” “Yeah, but —”

One more time for emphasis, Harry, there's not enough salt in that wound:

“Look, you three” — he pointed at Neville, Ginny, and Luna — “you’re not involved in this, you’re not — ”

I think this is in part why Ginny moves onto Dean so quickly at the end of the OotP year and doesn’t wait around to see if post-Cho Harry is interested in something. Obviously, she would see and respect the enormity of Harry’s grief. But she has just spent a year receiving confirmation that Harry doesn't see her as an equal and doesn't seem to intend to meet her emotional needs in any of the ways she has learned to meet his. She dumps Michael because she knows what she’s worth, and though she’s briefly single she fills Michael’s space with someone else who clearly admires and values her, something Harry has shown no sign he is capable of doing (yet). She leaves OotP having found a way of being around Harry that works for her, that offers him meaningful friendship and support, and that both sees him and sees through him. She’s not about to ask for more, out of respect for him but also out of self-preservation. (I think she is also beginning to grasp that if anything ever did happen with Harry, it would be temporary, in ways that colour her approach to it, too.) 

All this is to say, by the time we get to HBP, Ginny has five years post-crush under her belt of overcoming the unhealthy and toxic aspects of her feelings for Harry, honing who she is to Harry and living with her feelings for him, and also just... becoming someone she herself likes and who she believes deserves love and respect. Her feelings aren’t gone, but she’s built a life that doesn't centre them, and she’s happy with who she is to Harry, and how she can make him feel loved without asking for romantic love in return. The trouble for her is that Harry’s about to have an absolute shocker and realise their significance to one another in ways that threaten the equilibrium she’s found. But that's the trouble when you have a massive sense-of-self glow-up Gin! Sometimes people clock them and go: wow wait. So sorry baby you did this to yourself! 

[silverlining317]

Can’t wait for the Dean fic! Can we as a collective acknowledge that Dean and Ginny got together very shortly after she dumped Michael. That means he must’ve been flirting with her while they were still together. Dean ‘steal your girl’ Thomas

Dean Thomas when he sees Ginny giving Michael Corner the time of day:

Dean has rizz it’s canon soooo I had to drop a sneak peek of him in action 👀

First DA meeting back after Christmas, he’d asked how her dad was doing. She’d let him know the good news in her typical Ginny way, quick joke, shut down need for further questions (‘he’s doing alright. Not dead, that’s the main thing. What’s a couple of snake bites between friends?’) But he’d wanted to keep her there, keep chatting before she drifted back over to the Ravenclaws, so had pressed it a bit, asked if they’d spent the holidays between Devon and St Mungo’s. Whenever he’d pictured wizard hospital, it’d been a bit like an episode of Casualty but with more owls, and when he’d pictured Devon it was the proper seaside, like when his primary school did that trip to Southampton and his mate Liam threw that crisp packet at a seagull. Of course, then his brain had conjured up Ginny on a beach, bikini, licking something. There’d been something extra daring about imagining it when she’d been right there, chatting to him, her boyfriend stood five yards away, chatting with all the other Ravenclaws who wouldn’t know a good laugh if it hit them round the face.

‘Oh, we weren’t in Devon in the end,’ she’d said. ‘We ended up staying in London.’

‘Really? D’you have family in London, or something?’ We could’ve met up, he’d thought. Imagined taking her - somewhere. Wherever people take girls — he’d have to ask one of his cousins. Maybe go central, or use that Christmas money from his auntie to take her to the cinema or the good chicken shop in Forest Gate, hold her hand on the bus. He’d glanced over at Michael, who’d started eyeing the two of them suspiciously from over by the crash dummy, and resisted the urge to wave.

‘It’s a bit complicated,’ she’d said. Her smile was apologetic, curving its way out of her bottom lip. He’d wanted to ask more but didn’t know how, and her tone sounded final, so he’d dropped it. It would be ages til he’d learn what that smile meant — all cover, hiding things he’d had no hope of ever asking about. ‘Sorry to be cryptic.’

‘Nah,’ he’d said. ‘Keeping it mysterious, I like it.’

Little glint in her eye, mischief. ‘Well, you know. A girl’s got to keep her secrets close to her chest.’

‘Good place for them.’ Alright. Doing it? Yeah? Ok, he’s doing it: ‘Maybe I could have a look sometime.’

For a second he’d really thought he’d fucked it. But a new smile had crept up her face, then, like she’s intrigued, impressed, by the sheer audacity of it.

‘Ginny.’ Of course, then Corner had shown up, face like thunder, come to claim what’s his. ‘We’re pairing up, Harry’s just said. Thomas, you get your own partner, yeah?’

[silverlining317]

A joke as old as time

Written for @hinnymicrofic, 12 July prompt: Furious

Ginny was furious. First, because it was seven in the morning on a Sunday, and she was already awake. Second, because if it were up to her, she would still be in her bed after a long night of dancing. Third, because the people who had woken her up kept talking and talking. Finally, because the topic they were talking about couldn’t be more stupid.

Who cared if his brother was a lousy dancer who hadn’t paid Padma the slightest bit of attention? Pff, of course, everyone already knew that he liked Hermione, was it necessary to repeat it with the first rays of dawn? Yes, we were all aware that Harry had spent the night in a bad mood, next to his brother, looking at…at her? That last one was new.

Ginny leaned towards the edge of the bed, careful not to alert her roommates.

-“ Ginny? Like our roommate, Ginny?”- one voice she couldn’t recognize behind the curtain asked.

-“ That was what Parvati said, but keep your voice down before we wake her up. It seems that a dark-haired man with blue-green eyes was looking at Ginny the whole night. I mean she didn’t say who as they began to giggle, but I think they meant Harry.”

-“I doubt it was Harry.” -her companion said mockingly.- “Did you see the dress she was wearing? On a date with Neville noneless! How could someone be jealous of her with that company?”

Ginny didn’t need a mirror to know that her face had turned the same red as her hair in that instant. She was furious. More than furious, choleric, and the fact that she knew the man they were talking about was, in reality, Michael not Harry hardly had anything to do with her mood.

-“ Shall we go down for breakfast? , I want to be among the first in the great hall.”

Ginny, on the other hand,  tried to be one of the last at the Gryffindor table that morning. Although that didn’t stop her from running into Parvati and Lavender.

“Ginny” - They greeted her indicating the empy seet in front of them. She looked in all directions searching for a familiar face to excuse herself but couldn’t find one.

“Good night?” -Lavender asked as Ginny faced her luck and leaned into the seat across from her pair.

“Lovely,” Ginny said with no trace of passion in her voice.

“You were lucky to attend with a gentleman like Neville,” Parvati added. “I, on the other hand…I’ll tell you something, Ginny, I think I did you a favor by going on a date with Harry before you did. To you and the rest of the school.”

Ginny bit into her toast trying to contain her temper. Now she was vex. Ron, Hermione and Harry enter the Great Hall at that moment. 

-’’Hermione’’- Ginny greeted her in a plea and her friend nodded- ‘’Lavender, Parvati, girls it was great talking to you lot, but I have to say hello to my brother, so… Don’t worry, I promise to tell the boys that they lost their chance with you two Parvati’’.

Just like that, Ginny slid to the other end of the table ready to join them when a shudder stopped her halfway. The group of three laughed among themselves in an already closed circle, in which if they accepted her it was only out of compassion. None Ron nor Harry nor Herminonie want their little sister to join their bubble. Her crush on Harry was the oldest and most worn out joke in school and Ginny couldn’t keep humiliating herself like that. She couldn’t keep doing that to herself. She got up from the bench and walked out to the Quidditch pitch instead.

[silverlining317]

A joke as old as time

Written for @hinnymicrofic, 12 July prompt: Furious

Ginny was furious. First, because it was seven in the morning on a Sunday, and she was already awake. Second, because if it were up to her, she would still be in her bed after a long night of dancing. Third, because the people who had woken her up kept talking and talking. Finally, because the topic they were talking about couldn't be more stupid.

Who cared if his brother was a lousy dancer who hadn't paid Padma the slightest bit of attention? Pff, of course, everyone already knew that he liked Hermione, was it necessary to repeat it with the first rays of dawn? Yes, we were all aware that Harry had spent the night in a bad mood, next to his brother, looking at…at her? That last one was new.

Ginny leaned towards the edge of the bed, careful not to alert her roommates.

-'' Ginny? Like our roommate, Ginny?''- one voice she couldn't recognize behind the curtain asked.

-'' That was what Parvati said, but keep your voice down before we wake her up. It seems that a dark-haired man with blue-green eyes was looking at Ginny the whole night. I mean she didn't say who as they began to giggle, but I think they meant Harry.''

-"I doubt it was Harry." -her companion said mockingly.- "Did you see the dress she was wearing? On a date with Neville noneless! How could someone be jealous of her with that company?''

Ginny didn't need a mirror to know that her face had turned the same red as her hair in that instant. She was furious. More than furious, choleric, and the fact that she knew the man they were talking about was, in reality, Michael not Harry hardly had anything to do with her mood.

-'' Shall we go down for breakfast? , I want to be among the first in the great hall.''

Ginny, on the other hand,  tried to be one of the last at the Gryffindor table that morning. Although that didn't stop her from running into Parvati and Lavender.

"Ginny" - They greeted her indicating the empy seet in front of them. She looked in all directions searching for a familiar face to excuse herself but couldn't find one.

"Good night?" -Lavender asked as Ginny faced her luck and leaned into the seat across from her pair.

"Lovely," Ginny said with no trace of passion in her voice.

"You were lucky to attend with a gentleman like Neville," Parvati added. "I, on the other hand...I'll tell you something, Ginny, I think I did you a favor by going on a date with Harry before you did. To you and the rest of the school.''

Ginny bit into her toast trying to contain her temper. Now she was vex. Ron, Hermione and Harry enter the Great Hall at that moment. 

-’’Hermione’’- Ginny greeted her in a plea and her friend nodded- ‘’Lavender, Parvati, girls it was great talking to you lot, but I have to say hello to my brother, so... Don't worry, I promise to tell the boys that they lost their chance with you two Parvati’’.

Just like that, Ginny slid to the other end of the table ready to join them when a shudder stopped her halfway. The group of three laughed among themselves in an already closed circle, in which if they accepted her it was only out of compassion. None Ron nor Harry nor Herminonie want their little sister to join their bubble. Her crush on Harry was the oldest and most worn out joke in school and Ginny couldn't keep humiliating herself like that. She couldn't keep doing that to herself. She got up from the bench and walked out to the Quidditch pitch instead.

[silverlining317]

Mickey Ears

Written for @hinnymicrofic, 11 July prompt: Disney

Ginny sipped from the sweet hot chocolate as she sat across from Harry in the little parlour. She looked outside as the rain started pouring over the most magical land she had ever visited, Disneyland Paris.

Harry looked worried this was going to dampen her mood but decked out with Mickey ears, a new backpack and a fake wand, the rain was not affecting her much. It would clear up again soon enough.

“Do you want to taste?” she asked as she held up her chocolate.

Harry eyed his milkshake and shook his head. “I’m good. Thanks.” He smiled. “Are you having fun?”

She nodded. “Are you sure Mr Disney wasn’t a wizard?” She lowered her voice. “It’s hard to believe none of this isn’t true magic.”

Harry smiled. “There are rumours...”

“Aha! I knew it!” she said so loudly the family beside them looked up. Her mouth snapped shut and she offered them an apologetic smile — She didn’t know how to apologise in French.  

“Are you going to show me what you bought for me?” Harry pointed to the shopping back.

“Yes, I must. You have to wear it the rest of the day.” She dug in the bag and showed him Mickey ears of his own. “They’re Gryffindor coloured!”

Harry sighed but held out his hand. She pushed his hand aside, reached across the table and plopped the ears on his head.

“How do I look?” he asked her.

She smiled brightly. “Absolutely adorable. Like I could just wrap you up and—”

“I am two heads taller than you,” he interjected, cocking his head at her with a slight smirk.

She pouted slightly and took another, rather indignant sip from her hot chocolate. “That won’t stop me.”

His mask drops and a smile breaks out. “Yes, I know.”

[silverlining317]

Seeking Advice

@hinnymicrofic July Day 9:Broomstick

’‘It was a fresh, breezy sort of day and as they passed the Quidditch stadium, Harry glimpsed Ron and Ginny skimming over the stands and felt a horrible pang that he was not up there with them… . “-                                                    Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, Chapter 25,  a.k.a Harry and Cho disaster date.

"Weasley, 10 minutes have passed. Bring me that snitch. NOW!”- Angelina yelled

“I’m trying” -Ginny spun harder. They had started practice thirty minutes ago and it felt like forever. 

She loved Quidditch, she loved flying, she loved Quidditch, she loved flying, Ginny repeated to herself, going around in circles in the sky. Although to tell the truth, the lack of action was beginning to creep up on her nerves.  Angelina, Alicia, and Katie flew from one side of the court to the other in shimmering splendor. Like three parts of the same person, scoring goal after goal, despite her brother’s best attempts.

Meanwhile, Ginny was flying at low speed near the entrances of the stadium in search of an invisible gold. Instead, what was visible at that moment was the line of students heading towards the castle gates towards Hogsmade. Line in which a certain couple she desperately avoided thinking about was heading for a dream date.

-“Weasley”- Angelina stopped near her- “Keep your eyes on the pitch. 12 minutes have passed since I dropped that snitch. HARRY COULD CATCH IT IN LESS THAN 4.5!”

 "But Harry is busy with Cho right now,“ Alicia laughed and the whole team joined her. Including Ginny who gave her fakest laugh to date. Ron somehow seemed to notice her pain. 

It was not surprising that Harry had no feelings for her, she was a lousy seeker, unlike Cho who, even with everything that was happening, had managed to resume her performance and finish the previous match in 15 minutes.

-’'BY THE BEARDS OF MERLIN!”- Angelina flew in her direction once again- “Is Ravenclaw paying you to make us lose the final? Or is it that your boyfriend convinced you to sabotage us? THE SNITCH JUST PASSED BY YOU, OR IS IT THAT YOU ARE SO DISTRACTED THINKING ABOUT …”

At that very moment the quaffle sped by millimeters from Angelina’s ear, to Katie’s apologetic cries behind her, but before Angelina could react Ginny stepped forward catching the red leather ball against her chest. Just what she needed, Ginny thought.

Angelina extended her arm: “Throw it back to me, if it’s not too difficult for you…”

But before she could finish that sentence, Ginny was already halfway towards the posts. His brother’s expression filled with terror as he quickly readjusted back into his Keeper position. Ginny just smiled at him, and with the accumulated frustration of that day, that practice and that date, she threw the quaffle with all her might. The ball described a perfect parabola on its way to the center of the third and highest hoop.

-“WEASLEY” - Angelina screamed like never before.

“That’s 10 points” -Ginny said.

-WEASLEY DOWN IMMEDIATELY- Angelina said

-“Which Weasley?” -Ginny asked innocently.

-“DOWN OR YOU ARE OUT OF THE TEAM”

Ginny nodded and descended to the center of the court, followed by her captain.

-“You owe me 10 laps for disobeying me.” - Angelina said- “15 for not being able to catch a snitch… and 20 for not telling me before that you could play as a chaser.”

Angelina fought the smile on her face and for a moment Ginny thought she heard a “That was wicked” from her captain.

————————————————————–

Back in the Gryffindor common room, after the longest shower of her life, and the most shameless gossip session with Hermionie (in which obviously cupids and tea rooms were not lacking). Ginny saw Harry alone at the Gryffindor common room, watching the last of the night’s flames fade away.

“Harry” -Ginny came closer- “Do you mind if I sit down?”

“Go ahead” -Harry pretended to go back to his nearly empty essay, though for minutes he didn’t write anything.

“Actually I came because I need your help in a delicate matter ” -Ginny said.

Harry rests the quill on his lap and leans into her a little. Always used to secrets.

-“Angelina threatened to kick me out of the team if I didn’t improve my skills…”- Ginny began, earning Harry’s interest- “and well, it’s not that I think you’re the best, nor the youngest seeker in 100 years, but Charlie doesn’t answer my letters, and well I don’t think the rest of the teams want to help their rival, so…”

“So you want me to give you some advice?” Harry said beginning to smile.

-“No need to be so smug about it” -Ginny tossed him a piece of parchment which Harry quickly caught.

“First, it’s the reflexes…” Harry said.

[silverlining317]

Seeking Advice

@hinnymicrofic July Day 9:Broomstick

''It was a fresh, breezy sort of day and as they passed the Quidditch stadium, Harry glimpsed Ron and Ginny skimming over the stands and felt a horrible pang that he was not up there with them. . . . ''-                                                    Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, Chapter 25,  a.k.a Harry and Cho disaster date.

"Weasley, 10 minutes have passed. Bring me that snitch. NOW!"- Angelina yelled

"I'm trying" -Ginny spun harder. They had started practice thirty minutes ago and it felt like forever. 

She loved Quidditch, she loved flying, she loved Quidditch, she loved flying, Ginny repeated to herself, going around in circles in the sky. Although to tell the truth, the lack of action was beginning to creep up on her nerves.  Angelina, Alicia, and Katie flew from one side of the court to the other in shimmering splendor. Like three parts of the same person, scoring goal after goal, despite her brother's best attempts.

Meanwhile, Ginny was flying at low speed near the entrances of the stadium in search of an invisible gold. Instead, what was visible at that moment was the line of students heading towards the castle gates towards Hogsmade. Line in which a certain couple she desperately avoided thinking about was heading for a dream date.

-''Weasley''- Angelina stopped near her- ''Keep your eyes on the pitch. 12 minutes have passed since I dropped that snitch. HARRY COULD CATCH IT IN LESS THAN 4.5!"

 "But Harry is busy with Cho right now," Alicia laughed and the whole team joined her. Including Ginny who gave her fakest laugh to date. Ron somehow seemed to notice her pain. 

It was not surprising that Harry had no feelings for her, she was a lousy seeker, unlike Cho who, even with everything that was happening, had managed to resume her performance and finish the previous match in 15 minutes.

-''BY THE BEARDS OF MERLIN!''- Angelina flew in her direction once again- ''Is Ravenclaw paying you to make us lose the final? Or is it that your boyfriend convinced you to sabotage us? THE SNITCH JUST PASSED BY YOU, OR IS IT THAT YOU ARE SO DISTRACTED THINKING ABOUT ...''

At that very moment the quaffle sped by millimeters from Angelina's ear, to Katie's apologetic cries behind her, but before Angelina could react Ginny stepped forward catching the red leather ball against her chest. Just what she needed, Ginny thought.

Angelina extended her arm: ''Throw it back to me, if it's not too difficult for you...''

But before she could finish that sentence, Ginny was already halfway towards the posts. His brother's expression filled with terror as he quickly readjusted back into his Keeper position. Ginny just smiled at him, and with the accumulated frustration of that day, that practice and that date, she threw the quaffle with all her might. The ball described a perfect parabola on its way to the center of the third and highest hoop.

-''WEASLEY'' - Angelina screamed like never before.

"That's 10 points" -Ginny said.

-WEASLEY DOWN IMMEDIATELY- Angelina said

-"Which Weasley?" -Ginny asked innocently.

-''DOWN OR YOU ARE OUT OF THE TEAM''

Ginny nodded and descended to the center of the court, followed by her captain.

-''You owe me 10 laps for disobeying me.'' - Angelina said- ''15 for not being able to catch a snitch... and 20 for not telling me before that you could play as a chaser.''

Angelina fought the smile on her face and for a moment Ginny thought she heard a ''That was wicked'' from her captain.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Back in the Gryffindor common room, after the longest shower of her life, and the most shameless gossip session with Hermionie (in which obviously cupids and tea rooms were not lacking). Ginny saw Harry alone at the Gryffindor common room, watching the last of the night's flames fade away.

"Harry" -Ginny came closer- "Do you mind if I sit down?"

"Go ahead" -Harry pretended to go back to his nearly empty essay, though for minutes he didn't write anything.

"Actually I came because I need your help in a delicate matter " -Ginny said.

Harry rests the quill on his lap and leans into her a little. Always used to secrets.

-''Angelina threatened to kick me out of the team if I didn't improve my skills...''- Ginny began, earning Harry's interest- ''and well, it's not that I think you're the best, nor the youngest seeker in 100 years, but Charlie doesn't answer my letters, and well I don't think the rest of the teams want to help their rival, so...''

"So you want me to give you some advice?" Harry said beginning to smile.

-"No need to be so smug about it" -Ginny tossed him a piece of parchment which Harry quickly caught.

"First, it's the reflexes..." Harry said.

[silverlining317]

pssssst… new fic coming soon out now!

posting the first chapters of a new fic called beasts this week 👀

update: fic now posted on ao3 here!

lil vibe check for the occasion 🌿🌲🌳🌱🍃🍂🍁🪹🪵🪨🪶🐾

'From beasts we scorn as soulless, In forest, field and den, The cry goes up to witness The soullessness of men.' — m. frida hartley (1928)

“And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.” — maurice sendak, where the wild things are (1963)

plus a lil playlist to take you up to the highlands, out to the forest + get you feeling suitably feral:

feeling curious?🦉🐺🦌 ask me anything! (i don't bite)

[silverlining317]

january recs: reading, listening, writing

jumped on the bandwagon to do my own shameless round-up of january highlights, including a lil WIP sneak peek.......

Reading:

Already Gone by @takearisk-ao3 (AO3) (Harry/Ginny, multi-chapter WIP, post-DH)

the talk of the town amnesia fic, has me absolutely gripped. also the last chapter was 🥵 and by that i mean it was low key hot uhh excellent

and tomorrow came again by bettysgarden12 (A03) (Gen, next gen, twoshot) '

'an examination of the children of heroes'. beautiful, rich writing, and a charming insight into the next gen’s journey through hogwarts. it’s sharp and bright and so hopeful. made my whole day. also the phrase 'a hurricane in a skinsuit' has lodged forever in my brain

up and down and barely made it over by cosmicwritings (AO3) (Bill, oneshot)

given i am a sucker for a brilliant character study and for bill weasley, i couldn't not love this. rich in insight and warmth for our unproblematic coastal king bill weasley

perimeter walks by @evesaintyves (A03) (Remus/Tonks, WIP)

a remadora vignette series that just aches, it's so good. there's this really bodily, physical quality to the writing that just stays with you in your bones ages after reading. cannot wait for more

drafts by @turanga4 (A03) and the sum of all parts by @incalculablepower (A03) (Dean, drabbles)

all the pieces @harrypocter winter sun fest have all been really excellent, but i particularly enjoyed these two short dean character studies, especially if read together. both carefully and tenderly explore dean's relationship with his art and his reflections on his life and his war, and really pack such a punch for east london's golden boy

to be always kind and true by clarewithnoi (AO3) (James/Lily, oneshot)

a really tender jily love confession fic, lovely in so many ways but particularly this line: 'She still isn’t looking at him when a noise erupts from his throat.  It’s somewhere in the family of scoffs, but it’s not mean.  It’s strangled and a little hoarse, and it leaves him as though through an attic window, where he can’t control its escape.'

Listening:

ceilings by lizzy mcalpine (like every other sad girl on tiktok)

emily i'm sorry by boy genius (ditto)

tropic morning news by the national (like every other… sad dad with an electric vehicle? idk)

sunset by caroline polachek (these days i wear my body like an uninvited guest - good! fckn! opener!)

i bet on losing dogs by mitski (because there's a y in the day)

Writing...

putting out orchards after so long, and actually having people take something from it was the best part of this month. if you read it and reached out i cannot thank you enough, truly brought the sunshine to the dreariest of januaries. if you haven't read it and like jocks in love then have i got the fic for you:

right now... i’m writing a few new things. the project i’ve been working on most is a new one called beasts. its alternative title is: the hanging out with hagrid award. it's multi-chapter, pre + post-war, and it's about our girl gin. it’s foresty and a bit feral and its vibes are kind of like this and also this:

‘How do you become an Animagus?’ Sunken eyes dart briefly to hers, alight with something. Stupidly, she gets her hopes up. But then he looks away, scratches Buckbeak’s wingfeathers where they’re starting to matt. ‘I suspect,’ he says, ‘that your mother’s opinion of me wouldn’t be much improved if I told her fourteen year old daughter how to risk her life to become an illegal Animagus.’ She’s actually thirteen, at this point, but decides pointing that out won’t help her case. ‘Since when were you scared of what my mother thought of you?’ She’d quite like a grin from him for that, doesn’t get one. He’s in one of those moods. Not for the first time that summer, she feels herself slip into a sulk. She inspects him, through her scowl, how his skin is pulled taut over sharp cheekbones, a face ghosted by grandeur. She thinks she might have been able to make Sirius Black laugh, once, if she’d been born twenty years earlier. Resents that she's missed the boat.

and also a bit like this -

'We teach our children that ours is a world sorted into beasts and beings. Don't you know a beast when you see it? Even the smallest child in our world knows that beasts are savage creatures. They know nothing of humanity, of conscience, of kindness. They live only by their own lawlessness. Beings, we say, are not like beasts. We beings have laws, government, a sense of common good. Beings know right from wrong. Beings know what we owe to each other. I used to think this war had made beasts of beings. But now I wonder if the beings might well have been beasts all along. Are wars just be the savagery of beasts by another name? What if beastliness is a requirement of being? What if being is trying to overcome our own beastliness? And what if we can't? I wonder what to make of this. I wonder what I will teach my children.'

[silverlining317]

High Infidelity

I imagine that Dean always had the doubt of whether Ginny cheated on him. Ginny for her part tries to be noble in her own way.

————————————————————

“Ginny, wait…” Dean started running after his ex-girlfriend. Ginny quickened her step. It wasn’t the first time she had heard that phrase from his mouth, and for a month, she had done everything in her power to escape the conversation that preceded the call of her name -“‘Please”- Dean said - “I promise not to talk about us, I just want to know if you’re okay” -“Okay?” - Ginny stopped short just inches from the great hall. -“ I heard that Harry broke up with you and…” “Of course” -Ginny laughed- “Is that why you came for? To rub it in my face that now I am the one they left? Are you happy to know that you were right? That Harry was just using me to feed his ego because there was no way someone could get over the chosen one?” -“ I’m sorry I said those things to you”- Dean sighed- “We had broken up for no apparent reason and you were already snogging him  in front of the whole school…” “I didn’t want to have that conversation then and I don’t want to have it right now” -Ginny straightened up - “Have a nice break.” -“ Please, Ginny”- Dean stopped in front of her, cutting her way- “Don’t you think I deserve it? I never got between you two nor fed the rumors that you had been cheating on me all along.” -“ Well, maybe you should have listened to them”-said Ginny uninterested “What are you talking about?” Dean said with his mouth half open. -“ I cheated. For months. Maybe all summer, it feels so far away now that I can’t remember.” A pair of third-year girls had stopped a few statuettes away. -“It’s not funny,” Dean said through gritted teeth. -“It’s not meant to be a joke” -Ginny said, walking back to the great hall. -‘’ Are you going to leave after telling me that?“ -Dean said, taking her by the elbow. -"Let me go” -Ginny lowered her eyes to the elbow, and just as that Dean let go of her arm. -“ I do not understand.”- Dean move his head- “Why would you two do something like that to me? We have always been friends” -“ Do I really have to spell it out for you? We all know the only reason I didn’t break up with you sooner was that I didn’t want to miss that thrill of seeing him jealous. I spent the entire Christmas break flirting with him and pretending you didn’t exist. So yes, maybe  we didn’t kiss sooner but I definitely cheat” -“ Are you okay, Dean?” - Ginny approached touching his shoulder- “Do you see now how painful it is to be asked how you are?… When they see you on the floor bleeding to death…”

“I don’t recognize you,” Dean said with glazed eyes.

-“I’m sorry, perhaps I bent the truth too far around. I spent the whole year trying to ignore what I felt, even though you insist me to tell the truth  . I was dancing around. Wasn’t i?”

“You don’t have to go on,” Dean said.

“Why not?” Ginny said. “You told me you want to know how I was doing? You have been chasing me for a month now to make me confess that I had been unfaithful. How many times exactly did you ask me after the final what I saw in him? I never knew what you expected me to say. I mean, Do I really have to chart the constellations in his eyes? You used to make fun about my valentine song so often… I bet its not the only thing you regret now.”

“I was a lousy girlfriend to you,” Ginny laughed. “It feels liberating to say it out loud.But don’t worry, destiny is making sure that I pay the consequences. Everyone is staring at me now. Some even with pity. They know that he left me scarred. I’m going to be the first one they come to question and the first one they come to torture…”

The voices in the great hall were louder and lower than ever.

-Ginny…

-“ Yeah. So perhaps everyone should know that I’ve been cheating on you all this time, because of the three of us you’re the only one with a chance of getting out clean from this story. Take care Dean…please”

[silverlining317]

High Infidelity

I imagine that Dean always had the doubt of whether Ginny cheated on him. Ginny for her part tries to be noble in her own way.

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"Ginny, wait..." Dean started running after his ex-girlfriend. Ginny quickened her step. It wasn't the first time she had heard that phrase from his mouth, and for a month, she had done everything in her power to escape the conversation that preceded the call of her name -"'Please''- Dean said - ''I promise not to talk about us, I just want to know if you're okay'' -"Okay?" - Ginny stopped short just inches from the great hall. -'' I heard that Harry broke up with you and...'' "Of course" -Ginny laughed- "Is that why you came for? To rub it in my face that now I am the one they left? Are you happy to know that you were right? That Harry was just using me to feed his ego because there was no way someone could get over the chosen one?'' -'' I'm sorry I said those things to you''- Dean sighed- ''We had broken up for no apparent reason and you were already snogging him  in front of the whole school...'' "I didn't want to have that conversation then and I don't want to have it right now" -Ginny straightened up - "Have a nice break." -'' Please, Ginny''- Dean stopped in front of her, cutting her way- ''Don't you think I deserve it? I never got between you two nor fed the rumors that you had been cheating on me all along.'' -'' Well, maybe you should have listened to them''-said Ginny uninterested "What are you talking about?" Dean said with his mouth half open. -'' I cheated. For months. Maybe all summer, it feels so far away now that I can't remember.'' A pair of third-year girls had stopped a few statuettes away. -"It's not funny," Dean said through gritted teeth. -"It's not meant to be a joke" -Ginny said, walking back to the great hall. -‘’ Are you going to leave after telling me that?" -Dean said, taking her by the elbow. -"Let me go" -Ginny lowered her eyes to the elbow, and just as that Dean let go of her arm. -'' I do not understand.''- Dean move his head- ''Why would you two do something like that to me? We have always been friends'' -'' Do I really have to spell it out for you? We all know the only reason I didn't break up with you sooner was that I didn't want to miss that thrill of seeing him jealous. I spent the entire Christmas break flirting with him and pretending you didn't exist. So yes, maybe  we didn't kiss sooner but I definitely cheat'' -'' Are you okay, Dean?'' - Ginny approached touching his shoulder- ''Do you see now how painful it is to be asked how you are?... When they see you on the floor bleeding to death…''

"I don't recognize you," Dean said with glazed eyes.

-''I'm sorry, perhaps I bent the truth too far around. I spent the whole year trying to ignore what I felt, even though you insist me to tell the truth  . I was dancing around. Wasn’t i?''

"You don't have to go on," Dean said.

"Why not?" Ginny said. "You told me you want to know how I was doing? You have been chasing me for a month now to make me confess that I had been unfaithful. How many times exactly did you ask me after the final what I saw in him? I never knew what you expected me to say. I mean, Do I really have to chart the constellations in his eyes? You used to make fun about my valentine song so often... I bet its not the only thing you regret now.''

"I was a lousy girlfriend to you," Ginny laughed. "It feels liberating to say it out loud.But don't worry, destiny is making sure that I pay the consequences. Everyone is staring at me now. Some even with pity. They know that he left me scarred. I'm going to be the first one they come to question and the first one they come to torture...''

The voices in the great hall were louder and lower than ever.

-Ginny...

-'' Yeah. So perhaps everyone should know that I've been cheating on you all this time, because of the three of us you're the only one with a chance of getting out clean from this story. Take care Dean...please''

[silverlining317]

Like Home

For @hinnyfest, prompt #26:  'You are my home''

It was difficult for me to follow the order of the prompts with this scene in mind and I had to write it down. I think it is a fanfiction of many fanfiction that I read. There's something  about hinny in OOTP that feels real special.

The first sentence is from the movies***

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"Make it a powerful memory, the happiest you can remember. Allow it to fill you up… Think of the happiest thing you can." -said Harry

The thread of smoke that came out of Luna's wand began to swarm into a tail. One hop. Two hops. The rabbit began to dance in the air.

-''I did it''- Luna smiled

"Brillant" -Harry said approaching the next student. He was such a good teacher, Ginny shook her head. It was not time to return to that fantasy. It was enough that her brain took advantage of when she was unconscious to dream about him. She refused to daydream about his teaching abilities too. She had to focus on her happiest memory. That was the important thing at the time.

-"Can you choose the shape of the Patronus?" -Lavender said shaking her wand as if hitting someone.

-"No." -Harry said, replicating the correct wrist movement once more.-  "It's linked to the personality of the person who casts it."

-'' But if I change my personality''- Lavander said giving softer strokes now.

"I'm not sure that will work." -Harry said- "A Patronus is unlike any other spell. It comes from intense memories. It's as if the magic infiltrated into your most sincere emotions and beliefs.  A part of you that you didn't know or didn't want to admit existed.''

"That was so sweet Harry," Lavender said.

-''Regarding the wrist movement''- Harry  tried to divert the attention.

Don't think about him. Ginny repeated herself. She closed her eyes, and from the green of his eyes, she brought back the color of the grass after a summer dew. Fine drops adhered to the grass. Grass on which she would later fall after several attempts to maneuver one of her brother's brooms. The room of requirements began to emanate the aroma of dawn and little by little Ginny felt herself back in the burrow. Happier than ever...

-'' I read the other day in Volume II of Defense Against the Dark Arts, that the Patronus of soul mates is linked. It can even take the same shape''- said Hermione intruding into her fantasy

"So that's why you were so happy that Ron's Patronus was a Jack Russell?" -Ginny said with a smirk.

"Perhaps." - said Hermione with a beaming smile.

-"Now what we're all wondering is:  Behind what a stag runs after?" Ginny said, watching as Harry approached Cho from behind.

"Ginny... your boyfriend is three students away" -said Hermione.

"Whatever." -Ginny said, too disgusted by the scene she was seeing between Harry and Cho to think of anything remotely happy.

"I'm telling you. Thar Ravenclaw uniform must have something" Ginny said without being able to take her eyes off Harry's lips that were now very close to Cho's ear-  "They scammed us with these colors. Red and gold. Who thought it was a good idea? Blue complements the skin way better.''

-'' Ginny, concentrate. You have to keep working on your Patronus''- said Hermione- ''I can help you''

-'' It's a swan!''- Ginny said shaking her head- ''It's a bloody swan!''

The bird spread its wings. Padma and Parvati stood before the celestial image with their mouths wide open.

"It might be pretty, I give her that one. But it won't scare anyone" -Ginny said trying to look away as Cho and Harry hug each other. -"I mean if a dementor comes and sees a swan. A strutting swan...''

"Ginny, focus," said Hermione.

"Also, I might be wrong. But, I don't even believe swans and stags cohabit in the same spaces. Ha. Even their Patronus notice how mismatched they are" - Ginny said, waving her wand from side to side.

-"Just because Patronus can adapt to match each other it doesn't mean they always do." -Hermione said rolling her eyes. "Besides, it's not always a sign of love. They can also evolve to match the shape of another person's animal for darker reasons. Like when love became an obsession.''

"WHAT?" -Ginny's wand fell to the floor and she hurried to pick it up "How did you wait until this point to share that piece of information, Hermione? So wise yet it did not occur to you what could happen if I managed to make a corporeal Patronus?''

-''Ginny...''- said her friend

-'' A huge stag or doe could have come out of my wand without any warning''- Ginny said very slowly, over pronouncing each syllable-'' I don't need this. I truly do not. I'm making an effort to get over him. I don't want the whole DA to know how obsessed I truly am...Michael is over there. I  can't have my boyfriend seeing that for merlin's sake! ''

"Stop it. Your Patronus isn't going to be a stag. Not a doe" Hermione said. "Actually, it's not going to be anything, if you don't stop distracting yourself."

-''I'm trying''- said Ginny dropping her wand again

-'' I don't think you are obsessed either. ''- said Hermione- ''Just a little bit too infatuated. Which its bad. Because your boyfriend over there has been trying to gain your attention for half an hour now''

" To be honest I don't care about Michael. Not since yesterday when…" - Ginny started to speak but halfway through her face began to freeze- "A lot, I care a lot about him. I'm thinking right now about our first date to focus on the Patronus. How joyful it was. I fancy him so much''

Harry leaned against the wall and nodded. In the same way that Professor Flitwick did when he wanted us to close our mouths and show him the progress. Hermione smiled at Ginny, murmuring something along the words: "you can do it.

Ginny closed her eyes trying to return to the lawn of the burrow. Wind on his face. The aroma of the wood. Unprecedented happiness bristled his skin, and suddenly. Suddenly the image of a stag appeared between the trees that guarded the Quidditch field of her home. No, no Ginny couldn't do that to herself. She wrinkled her nose and instead searched inside herself for the saddest moment she could imagine. She needed to stop that Patronus from shaping. 

From the damp earth to the frozen floor of the Chamber of Secrets. Blood splattered like a crimson lake. The wounds of  Harry.  Harry, who was there despite not knowing her. Willing to risk his life and save her in the most heroic way.

 As if her mouth didn't respond to her commands, her lips muttered the charm. Ginny dug her nails into her palm. Think about the Chamber, she said. The diary. Tom. Something sad to prevent that stag from appearing. 

From the tip of her wand, a silver mist began to rise taking the form of four legs. Ginny started to shake. That couldn't be happening to her. Be sad, she repeated in her mind. Be sad, she orders herself. Her father on the hospital after the snake attack.

The legs recoiled, vanishing against the haze of a misshapen Patronus.

-"You looked like you were in pain." Harry said walking up to her.- ''Something happened?''

-"It's hard for me to think of anything good with everything that's going on." -Ginny lied. To the extent that just having him this close was enough for her to be able to conjure a thousand Patronus. 

-'' Trust me, I understand you more than anyone''- said Harry- ''Still, I'm sure that growing up in the burrow must be like having a neverending source of happiness''

-'' Yes''- Ginny smiled, fleetingly remembering a hundred of them- ''But...''

"Keep that in mind" -Harry said close to her- "Focus on the details. The scents, the colors, the sounds...''

Ginny nodded. Imagining her 9th-year-old birthday. Money was scattered. Her parents explained that they could not afford to buy her the present she wanted. She went to sleep crying only to woke up and find all of her brothers in the kitchen waiting for her to present the Weasley's version of that explosive cards game. They spent all night crafting and enchanting it for her. 

"Expecto patronum," Ginny said, and back again a huge four-legged animal began to emerge. Ginny turned to see Hermione who was looking at the scene with a face of absolute terror. It was shaping like a doe. The symbol of her obsession. She need a distraction. Ginny looked at Cho, and just like that, the fog vanished into nothing but air. 

-"You're very close to it." -Harry said.- "Maybe you need to try another memory''

-"Yes, that must be." -Ginny said- "I'm a little tired. I did not sleep well. Can we call it quit ?''

-"It's like you already have it and somehow you sabotage yourself in the middle." -Harry said.- "Maybe it's the noise."

"As I told you, I'm tired," Ginny said with a pleading look at her friend.

-"Just one more time"- Harry said, his green eyes sparkling with excitement. How could she say no?

-"It has to be something that  gives you hope. Something that makes you feel like home" Harry said brushing her arm without notice.

-"Harry, maybe we should try again, next week. " said Hermione. Ginny never loved someone so much.

-"Next time then." -Harry said reaching into his pockets, "Maybe it would help to ask others what memory they have used."

-"Yes, that's an excellent idea," Ginny said, nodding her head and then nodding back once more in an attempt to camouflage the disappointment she felt at her cowardness. 

"My life isn't that transcendental either." -Ginny added in a desperate attempt to break the silence created by students who were starting to leave.

-'' It could be something simple''- said Hermione- ''I for example imagined myself the first part of my Christmas break. When I went skiing with my parents. ''

Liar. Ginny told herself. They both knew very well that she had been imagining her first visit to Hogsmeade with Ron. But she couldn't blame her when she kept saving her from being face-to-face alone with Harry, who for some reason refused to go. He must be waiting for Cho. Ginny felt that two more seconds thinking about her would be enough for her to create a corporeal antipatronus.

-"I used a memory from this Christmas too" -Harry said.

"Snuffles?" Ginny guessed.

- '' Well, yes but then I was thinking about the four of us playing exploding snap the night before returning to the castle.'' - said Harry

Ginny froze. The four of them? Like them? Ron, Hermione, Harry and her? Ginny start to remember each day from their stay at Grimmauld Place. Trying to find some other time when Harry might have shared that game with four players. Someone else that didn't involve her. He didn't. So that means she was a  part of a memory that he had used to create a Patronus?

 A cold air climbed up her neck, bristling every inch of her skin. Like energy overloading Ginny's body, she need to channel that emotion.

-"Expecto patronum" Ginny reached out for her wand and spoke the words before she could even think of their implication.

A huge animal began to gallop across the room.

"It's beautiful," said Hermione.

-''Brillant Gin''- Harry said- ''I knew it would be easy for you to achieve that spell.''

The horse kept galloping through the air until it approached its owner to give her a little caress.

"I told you" whispered Hermione.