22. Christmas Morning

Harry returned to Gryffindor tower that afternoon, with Professor McGonagall a step behind. They paused outside the portrait of the Fat Lady. "All right Harry, you know the rule. If you want to go somewhere, ask the Fat Lady and one of the other pictures will send a professor along to get you. I know I don't need to impress upon you the importance of following these measures Harry. I know it will take some getting used to but it's just the way things must be done. Now go inside and say hello to your friends, they've been worried sick about you I'm sure."

Harry nodded and climbed through the portrait hole. He was actually quite relieved that there wasn't a big commotion awaiting him when he entered the common room. Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione were nowhere to be seen. Ginny was curled up in an easy chair by the fire with a large book open in front of her.

She looked up and smiled as Harry entered. "Good, you're back."

Harry's mind rapidly dredged up the situation last time he had seen Ginny and came to the conclusion that perhaps it hadn't ended on the best note. "Um," he began, "I'm sorry about last week, you see…" He trailed off because Ginny was shaking her head.

"Don't worry about it Harry, I overheard Ron and Hermione talking about the Drops of Vengeance and figured out what happened by myself. I'm not mad at you if that's what you're worried about."

Harry eyed her a bit uneasily, she didn't normally talk to him this directly. Scratch that, she never talked to him this directly. His mind raced for something to say, he settled on a simple query. "Where are the others?"

"The others? Oh, you mean my brothers and Hermione." She eyed him up with a note of concern. "You know, I'm usually the nervous one, it's pretty disconcerting to have you go all weird on me like this."

"Um, sorry?" Harry ventured. He took a few steps closer then dropped into the chair opposite Ginny's.

She rolled her eyes at him, "Well in answer to your question, Fred and George are in the Library trying to master their newest prank, a book that reverses words when you're not looking. As for Ron and Hermione," She grinned mischievously, "they've gone for a little 'stroll'." Her eyes sparked and she sat up a bit straighter. "I've go an idea, let's go check up on them." She winked at Harry, "I'm sure we can embarrass them terribly." She stood decisively, "I can't wait to see Ron's face when we catch him." She cocked an eyebrow quizzically, "Well?"

Harry offered a slight grimace, "Have fun."

"What?"

He shifted uncomfortably under her hurt stare, "I have to stay here. Any time I want to leave the tower I have to have a Professor escort me."

She stared at him without comprehension. "You must be joking."

"Ron and Hermione didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

In answer Harry pulled his collar to the side, revealing the spell mark below his shoulder. "They're worried about this."

Ginny stepped closer to peer at it. "What is that thing?"

"A holding spell. It's all that's keeping me alive. The faculty are worried that anything dangerous that I do that involves magic will break the spell and kill me."

Ginny reached out tentatively and brushed a finger across the raised, black lines. "What's it holding?"

"A sliver of a machine, the one that attacked me during the Quidditch game."

"It's just a piece?"

"Yes, but it's enchanted."

"My god… and you can't go anywhere without a staff supervisor?"

"No."

They stood in silence for a few moments. Both of them seemed to notice how close they were at the same moment. And that Harry had stood up and Ginny had moved her hand up to rest on his shoulder. Ginny blushed furiously and snatched her hand back, destroying the silent moment.

"I, uh, guess I'll go find Ron myself then," she stammered, whirling away.

"Wait," She froze, her back turned, waiting for him to finish, "I have something, that maybe, well… it might help," he finished lamely, wondering why it had been so hard to get something so simple out.

He bolted up to his room and rummaged around in his trunk until he came up with what appeared to be a blank piece of parchment. He pointed his wand at it, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Faint lines traced out and thickened until a map of the entire castle and grounds appeared. Little dots wandered around with tiny names identifying them. Harry rushed downstairs and thrust it into Ginny's hands, finding himself unable to meet her gaze.

She glanced down and gasped, "Is this," here eyes snapped upwards, "the Marauders Map? Fred and George gave it to you?"

Harry was still unable to look at her directly, "Yeah."

"You can't give me this, it's one of a kind!"

"Well, I just thought you might want to borrow it for tonight, I thought maybe it would help is all." He finally managed to pry his eyes away from the floor between his feet and meet her gaze.

Ginny's own expression was unreadable. After a moment, she said softly, "you sure you can't come?"

Harry shook his head, and it seemed quite heavy, "The Fat Lady will report me to the professors if I do."

Something clicked in Ginny's eyes and she darted forward to land a quick peck on Harry's lips. He stood there stunned for a moment while she seemed to consider. Then her eyes widened further than Harry had even thought possible. He reflected dimly that it made her almost unbearably cute.

"Oh my God," she gasped, her expression transforming to something akin to horror. With that she darted out through the portrait hole and was gone.

Harry flopped down in the nearest chair and wondered why the older he got, the less he seemed to understand. Especially when it came to women.

* * *

The next day was Christmas and it dawned bright and clear over the snow covered castle. Ron was snoring loudly in the next bed when Harry opened his eyes to see the pile of packages at the foot of his bed. His feet easily found his slippers and he shrugged a fuzzy robe on over his pajamas. The package on top was from Hagrid, and it was full of various baked goods. Harry pulled a particularly hard lump of fudge out and bounced it off Ron's head.

Ron woke with a start. "Wha!?"

Harry tossed another piece of fudge at him, "Happy Christmas Ron!" He smiled brightly.

Ron stretched and yawned, "Oh right, same to you."

Harry eyed him critically, "You look exhausted, what were you doing last night?"

Ron blinked blearily, "'Mione and I went for a walk. Would have been nice too, except Ginny found us, somehow." He shook his head, "that girl's so embarrassing."

Harry tried to hide the grin from his face and failed miserably, "Right, so what were you two doing?"

Ron tore open his first package, also from Hagrid, "I told you, we went for a walk."

Harry's grin turned sly, "Uh huh, come on Ron, I'm you're best friend, you can tell me."

"Tell you wha-" Ron's face darkened a bit, "Oh, no, it's not what you think."

"Oh really? And what do I think?" Harry playfully lobbed another piece of fudge over.

Ron laughed and lobbed it back, "It's not as if we were…" He trailed off in embarrassment.

Harry nodded sagely, "Right, right. So, have you kissed her?"

Ron looked to be getting a tad bit exasperated, "Yes."

"How many times?"

Ron tore open the package from his mother and pulled out the customary sweater. Harry was holding its green twin. "You know, she's your friend too, why don't you ask her?"

"Because bothering you is more fun."

"If you hadn't bought me this Chudley Cannons poster…," he held up the present from Harry he'd just unwrapped.

"I know, I know, you'd beat me senseless." Harry returned to his own pile of gifts. Ron had given him a bag of enchanted marbles he had bought in Hogsmeade. Hermione had given him a polished brass lion's head that could be affixed to the head of a racing broom and Harry gave a small wince when he saw it; he hadn't told either Ron or Hermione about his being off the Quidditch team. From the Dursleys he received a piece of lint, which was about par for the course when it came to presents from them.

The one disappointing part was that there was nothing from Sirius. No package, no card, no letter. Harry began to seriously toy with the idea he might be dead. Harry banished that thought and headed down to the common room.

Ginny and Hermione were sitting by the fire chatting in low voices. Fred and George were huddled over something that looked like a cauldron across from the stairway. Fred looked up in surprise, "You're not Ron."

Harry blinked, "Of course I'm not-"

"Get down you fool!" George screamed. Harry dove into the common room just as a magical blast sailed over his head and sparked against the wall.

"Do I want to know?" Hairy stood up blinking at the mass of green dripping down the wall.

Fred gaped at him in exasperation, "He said get down!" Harry ducked again and narrowly escaped as the green mass exploded into a flurry of screeching pixies which buzzed around angrily for a few moments before popping into red and green confetti.

Ron came down in time to see the bits of tinsel settling all across the common room. "Do I even want to know?"

Fred and George were absorbed in critiquing their latest work.

"Solid idea I think, just need a surer delivery method, maybe in a wand."

"Hmm, well we can't expect people to lug it around in a cauldron. Still, I think we need to move away from wands."

"Well we certainly can't put it in food."

"Let's worry about the delivery later, I'm more worried about the delay from…"

Harry left them to their calculations and wandered over to join Ron, Ginny and Hermione. Ginny glanced up as he approached, mumbled something about getting ready for breakfast and bolted up the stairway to the girls' dormitories.

Hermione shook her head, "Now what was that-" she stopped herself when she noticed that Harry was still looking at where she had been. "No! I don't believe it."

Ron glanced around confused, "What? I don't see anything."

Hermione laughed, "Harry likes Ginny, Ginny likes Harry! Oh, this is too perfect!"

Ron's jaw dropped. "Harry, what are you thinking? The girl's out of her mind, you know she is!" Then his face darkened and he leaned forward, "If you hurt my sister-" Hermione laughed and pushed him back playfully.

"Come off it Ron, they'll be fine. I, for one, think they're going to make a despicably cute couple."

* * *

Harry and Ginny were feeling rather uncomfortable around each other and both probably would have avoided the other for the rest of the day if they could have. But seeing as the school was nearly deserted and everyone gathered to eat at the same long table, they instead spent most of the day sitting next to or across from the other in uncomfortable silence. Every now and then each of them would make a stab at starting a conversation but it never quite seemed to work.

Harry wondered what had happened to the strange, self-possessed Ginny he had spoken to the night before. He also wondered why he himself was drawing a complete blank when it came to trying to talk to her. All he knew was that he truly did want to talk to her, and he didn't much care what it was about. Unfortunately, with good intentions aside, Ron and Hermione's good natured ribbing, Harry's constant faculty chaperone, and the fact that both of them were too tongue-tied to make conversation all conspired to make Christmas day very awkward indeed.

That night in the common room Ron and Hermione were curled up together watching the fire. Fred and George were carefully laying out their next prank, hoping neither of them would notice as they quietly enchanted the floor under the couch to try and eat shoes. Harry was lying on a couch of his own, reading a book and shivering a bit in the chill.

"Would you like a blanket?" Harry looked up to see a very self-conscious Ginny hugging a folded afghan to her chest. "You looked cold, is all."

Harry ventured a smile, "Thanks," he pulled up his legs to make a space, "would you, uh, like to sit down?"

Ginny smiled in return and Harry wondered why he never noticed how pretty her smile was before, in fact he wondered how he could have missed it. She sank down to perch on the cushion at the far side of the couch. She quickly dropped the blanket into the space between them, then snatched her hand back.

"Thanks," Harry repeated as he pulled the blanket around his shoulders. Then he noticed that she was shivering a bit as well. "Um, if you're cold," Harry flushed, feeling terribly awkward, "I think there's enough blanket…" He pulled it away from his shoulders and draped it across his front, offering her the other end of it.

Ginny inched along the edge of the couch until she was close enough to squeeze under the blanket. Both of them sat in silence, siting rigidly and trying to pretend they weren't stealing glances at the other.

Just then there was a tremendous sucking sound and Fred disappeared up to his ankles into the common room floor. George burst out laughing, "Guess that worked a little too well!"

Ginny and Harry both exploded into laughter as Fred desperately tried to disenchant the floor. Ginny leaned back onto the couch and after a few moments, both of them realized she was nestled into the crook of his shoulder. Both a bit unsure, their faces turned to look at the other.

Here goes nothing, Harry thought, then leaned in quickly to kiss her. It was short and sweet and he pulled back after just a moment.

She continued to look at him in wide-eyed incomprehension. After a moment her breathing slowed and she blinked a few times. "That was nice." Harry nodded solemnly, then ventured a smile.

Ginny shifted forward and made as if to stand, but Harry caught her hand lightly in his own, "Wait," he said softly. Her wide eyes turned to meet his and he could almost feel her racing heart, "You're not going to run away every time we kiss are you?"

"I guess not," she admitted after a moment. She sank back to the couch and, after just a moment of hesitation curled into the crook of his shoulder again. An unsure smile stole quietly across her face, then strengthened when she looked up to see it mirrored in Harry's.

He bent down and kissed her again. "Merry Christmas Ginny."

She kissed him back, "Merry Christmas Harry."