Chapter 1

Harry stared blankly out the window of 12 Grimmauld Place and tried to make himself relax. It was the start of his 17th summer and most young men his age would be excited about turning seventeen, finally becoming of age. But most men were not Harry Potter, destined vanquisher (or destined victim, if one was pessimistic) of a Dark Lord. He didn't even have any plans for his upcoming birthday. He was sure his friends would do something, but it would be small and probably confined within the very house he now called home over the summers. Harry knew that was fine, in fact it was great, compared to how he used to spend his birthdays. He shouldn't expect anything more, but already he felt stuck in the house, as though everyone was watching him, waiting for him to crack. It was driving him absolutely nuts.

Why couldn't he just go blow off some steam for once?

Because Voldemort was on the move again. Even without their connection via his scar, the Order knew Voldemort was getting closer. Since Harry now had a handle on his Occlumency lessons, the constant pain in his head was tapering off. It still throbbed and he couldn't help the fact that every now and then he let his guard down. But for the most part Harry thought he deserved a round of applause for even getting that far in mastering the skill. Snape was a dreadful teacher to have inside his mind. The only way Harry got around it is that Remus Lupin would help him on the off days. Hermione had even been trying to master it, and Harry cheered himself with the fact, that for once, he was loads better at something before she was.

Of course, Hermione didn't have someone trying to get into her brain all the time and she had other things to worry about - things of a more...private nature. Harry smiled as he thought of his two best friends finally confronting each other about their feelings. It had happened at the end of term a few weeks ago. After a year of letters from Krum and Ron getting shirty with each of them, Harry, with some help from Ginny, had managed to get the two locked inside the Room of Requirement to 'sort it all out'.

He hadn't been surprised at all when later on, worrying about the two having harmed each other in some way, he'd unlocked the room to find the two of them having a nice snog on a sofa. Harry thought he'd heard the entire castle sigh a breath of relief after that. He much preferred Ron and Hermione snogging to Ron and Hermione bickering. Even though they still did that. The only thing was, Ron gave in a lot faster now, and Hermione seemed...less determined to be right.

Harry sighed and pulled his eyes away from the window that never seemed to be truly clean, no matter how often Mrs. Weasley scrubbed it. He flopped down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling instead. He didn't begrudge his friends their happiness. He was glad they could finally be more comfortable with each other. But it was just one more reminder of all the things he didn't have...all the things he'd lost. Ever since Sirius's death a year ago, Harry hadn't even thought about girls. After his miserable experience in 5th year, Harry reckoned he had good reason to be wary. Still, it did leave a person sort of lonely; one kiss, in how many years? Hermione and Ron had just started seeing each other and already they had him beat. Harry didn't even think he cared, really. It was just another thing about him that wasn't normal; what 17-year-old didn't have girls on the brain?

A knock at the door broke him out of his reverie, and he used his wand to unlock it from the bed. Dumbledore had seen to it that he could do magic at 12 Grimmauld Place before his official birthday.

"Harry?"

"Ginny? What are you doing here?"

Ginny Weasley smiled at him as she came into the room. She looked around the small room he'd made for himself and then sat on the edge of the bed.

"We just got in, all of us. Ron said I should drag you out of your Room of Pity and get you to join us all for lunch."

"My room of pity, eh?"

Ginny nodded, and then smiled as she looked around again. "I hate to say it, but he wasn't exactly exaggerating, was he? This is pitiful."

Harry shrugged. Most of his things were in his trunk, still packed from school. He didn't really have anything from the Dursley's to add to the decor. What did they expect? He'd opted to take over the old bedroom because he reckoned it was time he have his own room. He was also tired of Ron waking him up from one of his nightmares, constantly asking him if he was okay.

"You should let me help you decorate it a bit," Ginny was saying thoughtfully.

"I don't fancy having a room with pink wallpaper, Gin - "

"Ha! I don't have pink wallpaper in my room - "

"You used to; I remember it from when I saw it at the Burrow - "

"I was twelve years old, Harry, times have changed, thank you very much," Ginny folded her arms at him, but he knew she wasn't really angry. This was how they spoke to each other most of the time. It was like some sort of game he couldn't remember ever agreeing to play. Suddenly Harry became aware of the fact that he knew Ginny definitely wasn't twelve years old anymore, and blinked as the odd thought entered his brain.

He sat up on the bed and looked around, maybe it wouldn't hurt to have a bit of a tidy up...

"Okay, well, what do you suggest then? Some flowers by the window? A nice picture of Hedwig for the wall?"

Ginny laughed at him. "Not quite, but it wouldn't hurt to have a tidy up, would it? What do you say I help you make this room liveable?"

Smiling because she'd said out loud his exact thoughts, he agreed.

"Fine. It'll be our summer project while Ron and Hermione snog each other to death. Every time they start to go at it, we'll work on the room," he said, chuckling.

"Dear me, Harry. I don't know if I can do that much work on this room. We're talking a major overhaul in design and layout! Good thing Ron and Hermione have already hit that all-critical stage of 'Annoy Your Friends and Family with Your Googly-Eyed Ways'. We're going to have tons of free time on our hands."

Harry laughed and the sound made him realize he hadn't done that in awhile. It felt good.

"They haven't been that bad, have they?"

Hermione had been staying at the Burrow since the end of term because her parents had taken a trip to Australia.

Ginny tutted. "You have no idea. I swear, Mum threatened to have a bucket of ice water travel around over Ron's head for the first few days there. Luckily, George and Fred overheard her and really did it. She stopped them before it went too far, but Ron got the message. He and Hermione have become less...demonstrative while in the presence of anything older brotherly or parent like. Unfortunately for me I am neither of those things, and they have no qualms about displaying their un-natural tendencies in front of me."

Ginny made a face as she pictured it, and Harry laughed again. "Well, surely you're used to people kissing, right? You did go out with your share of boys last year."

Ginny blushed slightly but shook her head. "Well, it's different you know, when you're one of the kiss-ee's. But Ron's my brother! I don't want to be privy to too much information about his practices, you know? Besides, I haven't dated that many boys - "

Harry grunted. "Right. There was Dean and then that Clancy boy from Ravenclaw. Then there was Colin Creevey, Hector Stormis and - "

"Harry! I didn't kiss all of them! You're making me out to be some sort of scarlet woman. Besides, I didn't know you'd been paying so much attention."

Ginny glanced at him and then met his eyes before looking away. Harry noticed, and tried to shake the uncomfortable feeling that had suddenly appeared between them.

"Well, as a stand in for Ron, I can only say it's my duty as an acting-brother to look out for the interests of the littlest Weasley." Harry meant it as a joke, but it sounded odd coming out of his mouth, and a strange emotion flickered across Ginny's face. It made him immediately sorry for bringing it up.

Ginny shrugged and then stood up. She looked around the room again, and then smiled. "We'll just have to see what we can do with this place. I can't have my...what did you call yourself? My 'acting-brother' living in a hovel, now can I? Come on, let's get down to lunch. I'm sure Ron's eaten about half of everything."

Harry nodded and then followed her out of the room. Maybe the summer wouldn't be that bad, after all. He had Ginny to help him out, and Ron and Hermione to tease. Things could be worse.

After spending lunch with the Weasleys and Hermione, Harry realized two things; one, that the house was much brighter with them there ( before he'd been staying up in his room mostly, since it had only been members of the Order keeping an eye on things) and two, Ginny had been very much correct about Hermione and Ron. They were obnoxiously obvious about wanting to be some place private. Harry soon found out that it didn't matter if he or Ginny were there, as long as there were no adults around. He marvelled especially at his previously studious and serious friend and couldn't believe Hermione had suddenly turned into what appeared to be a raging set of hormones, equalled only by Ron's. It was, to put it impolitely, quite disgusting.

"Er, look, we didn't get you two together so that you'd keep annoying us, you know," he said as he cleared his throat for the third time. He saw Ginny cover her mouth with her hand, as though hiding a smile.

Hermione pulled away from Ron first and gave Harry a little smile. "Sorry, Harry. We just..."

"Haven't had much time to do that at home," Ron finished for her.

"Well, try to pretend you're still there - for the sanity of me, and the stomach of your sister. She told me all about you two."

Ron glanced at Ginny, who was by now turning red, trying not to break into laughter.

"Er, yeah. Sorry. Reckon you're right, Harry. Don't want to give the make-out queen over there any more ideas."

Ginny stopped trying to laugh suddenly and stared at her brother.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me. I saw you in that cupboard with, ugh...I can't even say his name, at the end of term. Remember? You convinced me not to knock his head off, even though I should have anyway..."

Harry looked at Ginny in surprise, who was by now glaring daggers at Ron.

"Shut-up, Ron," she said quietly.

"Why? Don't want Harry to know you're just as into snogging as the rest of us, do you?" Ron turned to Harry, a big smile on his face. "You know, it pains me to say it, because it is my baby sister and all, but you'll never believe who I saw - "

Ron stopped talking because at that moment Ginny's recently removed shoe had hit him on the head. Ron jumped up from his chair, spilling Hermione to the floor, and turned to face his sister.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Watch yourself," Ginny yelled at him and even Harry could see that she was beyond angry. "You have no idea what I was doing in that cupboard and if you say one more word, dear brother, I'm going to have to tell Hermione and Harry about that paper you keep in your trunk!"

Ron, who looked like he had been about to yell back, suddenly deflated, and his ears went bright red.

"What paper?" Hermione asked as she dusted herself off.

"Never you mind," Ron snapped at her. With one last glance at Ginny, Ron stormed out of the room.

Hermione looked at Harry, who merely shrugged at her, then followed Ron out. She glanced over at Ginny before she left, but Ginny was breathing heavily and had turned herself around to face the wall.

Harry didn't know what to say.

"Er...Gin..."

"The nerve of him! Mentioning things he knows nothing about. I should Bat-Bogey Hex him till next week, the git."

Harry watched as she paced back and forth in her anger and didn't say anything else. He knew by now that an angry Weasley was one best left alone for a few minutes. Instead he let his mind wander to whomever it was she had been kissing that she hadn't wanted him to know about. He also wondered why Ron would get so upset about her mentioning a simple piece of paper...

Ginny flopped down on the couch next to him and grunted. He glanced at her and saw that she still looked angry, but at least she looked slightly more sane. He cleared his throat after awhile and she looked at him.

"Sorry," she gave him a half-smile.

"It's okay. Ron got you pretty - "

"He's just being his usual git-self. I shouldn't let it bother me."

"So..." Harry paused, suddenly wondering if he wanted to know the answer. "Who did he see you with in that cupboard?"

Ginny's eyes widened as she looked at him. "Oh, not you too, Harry. It's nobody's bloody business who I was in that cupboard with!"

Harry held up his hands in innocence. "Sorry, I just thought that if you told me then it wouldn't matter that Ron had something over you."

Ginny seemed to think about it a moment and then shook her head. "You're right. It's stupid too; I wasn't even doing what he thinks I was doing."

"So," Harry hoped his voice sounded nonchalant enough, "who was it then? Vincent Crabbe? Goyle? Malfoy?" Harry laughed, but it quickly died when he saw the stricken expression on her face.

She moved away from him on the couch and then cleared her throat nervously.

Harry stared at her."You're kidding right? It was one of those three? Oh, Ginny - "

"I was just talking to him, that's all. He said he had information he wanted to share... about... V-Voldemort. I didn't realize he wanted to share it while plastering his lips on me. It had all been a gag just to see if I would get into a broom cupboard with one of them. Don't worry, I hexed him well."

Harry felt two things, relief that she hadn't actually been snogging one of the Imbecile Three, and anger that they thought they could take advantage of her like that. It was the anger that came out though, and unfortunately it directed itself at Ginny.

"Why'd you even believe them? That's a dodgy source if there ever was one, Ginny. I thought you had more common sense then that!"

Ginny's eyes flared warningly at him. "For your information, it was right after you'd had that dream about Azkaban being broken into, and I thought I could get some information out of them. I was only trying to help you, Harry."

"I don't need you to help me Ginny - "

"No, I reckon you don't. You don't need me at all really, do you? No one does, it seems."

Ginny stood up suddenly and stomped out of the room in a huff. Harry stared after her in shock. He had only meant that he didn't need her to kiss a Slytherin to get information, not that he didn't need her as a friend.

Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Maybe he'd been too optimistic about the summer looking up.

The next morning Harry awoke to persistent knocking on his door. Groaning as he tried the block the sound out by pulling the blankets over his head, he finally gave up and grabbed his wand.

"It's open," he called out, expecting it to be Ron. Except it wasn't. It was Ginny.

"Rise and shine, sleepy-head. Time to get to work," she said as she brought in what looked like a very rickety ladder and two cans of paint.

Harry grabbed his glasses and saw that his first impression had been right.

"Er, I thought you weren't talking to me?"

Ginny looked down at him and smiled. "It'd be an awfully long summer if I decided to do that, now wouldn't it? All I'd have to talk to would be Hermione and Ron in between snog sessions and how boring would that be? Besides, I really do want to re-do this room. I love a hopeless project."

Harry sat up and looked at the cans of paint again. Then he realized he didn't have a shirt on and wrapped the sheet up closer to him. Ginny didn't seem to notice. She was walking around the room and looking at the faded wallpaper.

"Hopeless?" Harry said dumbly as he watched her. She turned her head and glanced at him.

"Yeah, utterly and totally hopeless," Ginny paused and then said the rest quietly under her breath, "I'm definitely no stranger to that."

Harry frowned at her and wanted to ask her what she meant, but he was so pleased that she wasn't mad at him for yesterday anymore that he didn't care. He grabbed his robe off the floor and threw it around his shoulders as he got out of bed.

"Well, can I shower first and grab a bite to eat?"

"Sure, Harry," Ginny said with a smile. "You go do that and I'll bring some food up for you. Then we can dive into getting this wallpaper removed!"

"You're very strange, do you know that?" he asked her as he grabbed some clothes from his wardrobe.

"Why?"

He turned at the door and looked at her. "Because you're just a tad too excited about removing old musty wallpaper. Is there something going on that I should know about?"

Ginny laughed at his raised eyebrow and pushed him out of the room. "I just can't wait to get started on making this room nice for you, that's all. Some people would be gracious about it, you know."

Harry grinned at her and nodded. But then he suddenly sobered.

"Gin, about yesterday, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that you weren't needed, you know I appreciate your friendship and all that you do for me - "

"I know, Harry. I don't know what got into me."

She smiled at him and Harry nodded again. "Well, good. As long as you don't truly believe I don't need you - " he paused, suddenly shy for some reason. He stared down at the bundle of clothing he clutched in his hand.

"Go shower, Harry. You look sleepy still," she said lightly and closed the door.

After showering, Harry stopped in on Hermione and Ron, who were both reading in Ron's bedroom. It looked very suspicious, so he left the door open after he left, telling them that if they got bored they could come help Ginny and him in his room. He was only slightly surprised when he heard the door click shut softly behind him before he reached the stairs. Maybe it was a good thing that he'd picked a room that wasn't right next to Ron's. He didn't want to think about what he would hear at night...

When he reached his door, he entered and stared in shock at the sight before him. Ginny had definitely been busy. Half the wallpaper had already been stripped off.

"Er, I wasn't in the shower that long, was I?"

Ginny looked up from the corner she was sitting in and smiled.

"No, I'm just fast. There's your breakfast," she said as she nodded at the bed.

Harry smiled gratefully at the fresh bread and jam she'd brought up and poured himself a cup of tea. He watched her for a moment as he chewed.

"Er, Ginny... what exactly are you doing?"

Ginny was sitting in the far corner of the room, using a small flat like instrument to scrap the wallpaper off the bottom. Except it didn't look like it was going very smoothly. She cursed as she tried to chop off a particularly big glump of paper.

"I'm trying to get this blasted paper off this bottom layer here. Except of course it's been on for near a millennium and it's being rather stubborn about coming off. Not all of us can use magic yet to do the hard stuff," she said pointedly at him.

Swallowing the last bit of toast, he smiled at her. "Want some help, then?"

"Please. But don't hurry on my account, Harry."

"You just looked like you were having so much fun."

Ginny made a face at him and then stood up, causing Harry to momentarily forget that he'd been about to tease her some more. When Ginny had first come into his room he had noted that she had been wearing a long shirt over her shorts, perfectly loose and comfortable. Now, however, she had tied the shirt up under her chest and exposed the pale white skin of her stomach. Harry marvelled at how short her shorts now seemed and at how long her legs were. Her legs were lightly freckled and graceful, almost coltish. He watched as she dusted herself off, her hand travelling over her stomach and shorts. Harry suddenly felt very strange indeed.

Ginny glanced up at him. "Well, are you going to help or just watch me all morning?"

"You...what'd you do to your shirt?" he asked her, saying the first thing that popped in his head.

"It got hot, so I just tied it around me. Why? Is it weird?" Ginny looked down at herself, frowning.

"Er...no...just...um..." Harry faltered and then shook his head. He got up off the bed and grabbed his wand. He aimed it at the clump of wallpaper she'd been working on, causing it to fall lightly off the wall.

"Brilliant, Harry. You do the rest of the room like that, and I'll start working on those mouldings."

Ginny brushed past him and Harry found himself turning to watch her walk away. His eyes travelled downward until a voice in his head told him to stop being so pervy, and he quickly turned back to the wall. What on earth was the matter with him? This was just Ginny. He set his mind to removing the rest of the wallpaper and ignoring the strange tightening in his chest.

An hour later, and Harry was almost done with the wallpaper. Ginny was standing on the ladder, stretching upwards to clean the plaster mouldings that travelled the length of the room. Finishing up with the last of his task, Harry glanced over at her to let her know and promptly forgot what he was doing. He was suddenly aware that if she just stretched a little bit more and if he moved his eyes upward, well, he'd have a nice view of -

Harry never got to finish that thought or wonder once again what in the blazes his problem was, because as he stared at Ginny he saw the ladder begin to wobble. He watched in what felt like slow motion as she tried to right herself but instead caused the ladder to fall backwards. Quidditch skills often did come in handy, and this was no exception. Harry bolted from his position near the bed and caught Ginny just as the ladder collapsed beneath her. The two of them fell backwards onto the floor in a tangled heap. Harry felt the air go out of him as he buffered her with his body. He realized suddenly that he was holding her by the hips and that she was moving the lower part of her body against his in a way that should have been unpleasant, but of course, it wasn't. With a sinking realization Harry felt something in his body twitch in response and he did the first thing that came to his mind. He shoved Ginny out of his arms and into the air.

Ginny yelped in surprise. She righted herself and then looked down at him.

"Merlin, Harry! That hurt, what's wrong with you? I think you bruised my arm."

Harry muttered an apology and forced himself to stand up, his mind racing. No, this wasn't happening. No, no, no...oh no. Harry felt the heat rise up to his face and turned abruptly around, away from Ginny.

Ginny was looking at the small bruise that was already appearing on her upper arm and frowning.

"Bloody hell, Harry, you should watch how you're shoving people about. Look at this bruise!"

Harry turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder. "Sorry," he said again, his voice sounding gruff and deep. He tried to think of the least arousing thing in the world...Snape in his underpants...Snape in a dress...Mundungus Fletcher kissing Snape in a dress...

Ginny stared at him for a moment and then looked down at the ladder, which had broken in the fall. She kicked it with her feet.

"Stupid thing. Reckon I have to have mum fix it - "

"Yeah. Yeah. Why don't you go have her do that?" Again the gruff voice came out of his mouth and Harry pretended to be looking at something in front of him. Except, of course, all that was in front of him was a bare wall.

"Harry? Are you all right - "

"Look! I'm fine, just...go...take care of the ladder," he said, his voice raising and breaking. He turned his head to face the wall again and willed his body to behave. Merlin, he would die if Ginny saw what had happened to him...just from feeling her skin in his hands and her body moving against him.

Ginny was silent for a moment but then he heard the door open and close as she dragged the ladder out.

Harry felt his entire body relax, well, almost his entire body, and slumped against the wall in absolute horror.

It appeared that while Harry's mind hadn't necessarily had girls on it, his body at least, had definitely been paying attention.

Harry didn't know what to do with himself after that. Well, he knew, but he didn't fancy Ginny walking in on him doing that, so he made for the lavatory, praying he wouldn't run into anyone. Locking the door behind him, he rested his head against the cool surface of the mirror and took deep breaths.

What was going on? A few weeks ago he'd sat next to Ginny in the common room, and sat next to her on the train ride home and nothing. Now all of sudden it seemed he couldn't keep his eyes off her. Was he finally cracking up? Would he now be saying hello to people from the third floor ward at St. Mungo's and stuck practicing writing with Lockhart for entertainment?

She's a girl. A nice, attractive girl and your response is entirely normal, a very matter-of-fact voice sounding suspiciously like Hermione's said in his head. But that didn't make him feel better at all - Hermione was a nice, attractive girl too and Harry had never once had a reaction like this to her and he'd seen her in fancy clothes, not just a tee shirt and short shorts.

They were really short, weren't they? And did you notice how nice and tan her legs were? Wonder if they feel as smooth as they looked.

Harry banged his head against the mirror, cursing. He definitely didn't need that voice in his head either.

A knock on the door made him squeak and jump at the same time.

"Harry? Are you okay?"

It was Ginny, sounding concerned. Harry looked down at himself and cursed his very existence. No, he was not okay.

"I...I'm fine. I'll be there in a minute."

That strange deepness was in his voice again but if Ginny noticed, she didn't say anything. He heard her move down the hallway and then released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

He suddenly wished he had one of his spell books in the loo with him. Maybe there was a spell he could use to make himself be a normal person...from now until death. Yeah, that sounded good. How was he supposed to get through the rest of the summer like this?

Harry glanced at his reflection in the mirror and noticed his skin was flushed and his eyes were dark. He splashed some cold water on his face and took deep breaths again. Eventually he felt his body return to normal. After he was sure everything was where and how it should be, he ran a hand through his hair and made at face at himself.

"You stupid git, get a grip on yourself," he said to his reflection.

"Actually, dearie, I was about to suggest that myself. Do I need to tell you about the birds and bees?"

Harry stared at the mirror in horror. He'd forgotten these mirrors were magic. He knew they could see your face, but he didn't know they could see... well, everything.

Harry didn't reply and bolted out of the loo, reminding himself to make sure he kept the towel around him whenever he went to the shower...

Ginny was very slowly sliding into a state of teenage confusion. Harry was acting very...odd. Well, odder than normal. He'd barely said two words to her since he'd come back into the room and they'd worked the rest of the afternoon in silence. Every time she'd try to engage him in conversation, he'd grunt an answer and turn away from her. She knew him well enough to know that something had bothered him or shocked him, but she couldn't think of what. Unless it had something to do with when she had been in his arms, when he had saved her from falling off the ladder. But she couldn't help that, could she? It wasn't her fault the ladder was faulty.

Another thing that was bothering her is every time she went to close the door, he'd walk over and open it again. And not just open, but widely opened. It was as though he didn't want to be closed off in a room with her.

Finally, she'd had enough of the silent treatment and closed the door with a decisive snap. Harry's head popped up immediately and he looked at her. She folded her arms and stared back at him. He seemed confused for a moment and then she watched as his skin flushed pink.

"Er, Ginny, open the door," he said quietly.

"No. Not until you tell me what's wrong," she said stubbornly.

"There's nothing wrong. Open the door."

"Codswallop, Harry. I know you too well, you know. You've only said five words to me since you came back into the room. This project was supposed to be fun, not tedious."

Harry stared at the wall and shook his head. "Sorry if I'm boring - "

"Bloody hell, Harry!" Ginny said loudly and his eyes flashed to hers.

"Nice language, Ginny."

"I didn't say you were tedious, but I will say being treated like I don't exist is. Learn to listen," she said angrily. There was something about his stance that was driving her crazy. She was overcome with an urge to just shake him. Sometimes he could drive her absolutely batty.

"Well, I'm sorry I'm not much of a conversationalist today, OKAY?" Harry yelled at her suddenly. "I didn't know I had to entertain you."

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. She crossed the small distance between them and was amazed when he jumped back from her, as though he didn't want to be too close. She stuck a finger at his chest anyway.

"Look, Harry, I'm your friend, you know. I don't need you to tell me everything nor do I need you to 'entertain' me as you just so eloquently put it, but I do need you to treat me with some respect and a little dignity. I need you to not jump down my throat because I care enough about you to ask what's wrong. I thought we'd gotten past all this - " Ginny paused suddenly, realizing she had backed him into the corner of the room. They were standing very close and as Ginny looked into his eyes, she forgot what she had been saying.

Harry's eyes had gone from their usual bright green to very dark and suddenly Ginny became aware of how pink his skin was, as though he were flushed with heat. He licked his lips unconsciously and Ginny watched the movement, as though fascinated. Harry looked openly at her then and she felt a strange feeling in her stomach. She'd seen that look before on a boy, but she'd never thought she'd see it on Harry. Not for her, not now.

As Harry bent his head downward to finish what the look asked, Ginny pulled away from him abruptly. His head fell forward and she moved out of the way. He looked at her in surprise and she knew her face was heating up. She backed away from him.

"Oh, Harry...I...I'm sorry. But I can't. I can't let you...no. Sorry," she said one last time and then she turned and moved to the door, yanking it open to leave.

Ginny was aware of her heart hammering in her chest and her body felt both sick and elated at the same time. Why? Why had Harry finally noticed her and wanted to do something about it? Why now? When it was too late?