Like a switch had been flicked

 

 

 

As you all probably know by now, I didn’t fall in love with Ginny the first time I saw her, standing by the Hogwarts Express, bidding her brothers goodbye. It just didn’t happen like that.  Please, that stuff only happens in those sappy movies Hermione likes to watch in secret, anyway.

 

Nor did I fall in love with her when she sent me the singing Valentine. At the time I was too young to think about love, and too embarrassed to think about Ginny. Seriously, that thing just gave me the creeps.

 

You might think it was when I heard she had been taken to the Chamber of Secrets, and yes, I admit that was one of the scariest moments in my life, and I felt my heart contract painfully at the thought of her dying, but it was not then. Neither it was later, when I went to the Chamber and rescued her from Tom Riddle, sword in hand. I had an evil, albeit young, wizard to defeat that day, so you’ll understand if I was a bit distracted to notice Ginny’s beauty, at the time.   I close my eyes at night, and I can still picture her in my mind’s eye, cold and pale on the stone, and there was something about her, something I could see even then, but couldn’t recognize.

 

I did notice later, when Tom Riddle had been defeated, I could finally stare into her eyes and relish the fact that she was alive. But with the basilisk and poison and all of that, I just didn’t have much time to focus on her then.

 

There was that brief moment later in Dumbledore’s office when our eyes locked and I thought I felt a touch of electricity pass between us, but it was quickly gone and I forgot it in my haste, not only to retell the story, but to keep Ginny from getting expelled.

 

There weren’t any love letters written during the summer, no matter what Ron might have told you, so we can rule that one out right away.  Heck, during that summer I had more important things to worry about, like those horrible Dursleys, and Aunt Marge. Love just wasn’t on my list of priorities.

 

Some people might think it was during that brief moment, by the Hogwarts Express, where we shared a laugh at the sight of Percy and Penelope. And, yes, I did think she had a lovely laugh at the time, and maybe I stopped thinking of her as Ron’s little sister at the moment and started thinking of her more as Ginny, but there wasn’t more to it. It just wasn’t time.

 

We won’t even discuss what happened with the Dementors on the Hogwarts Express. I mean, do you think I was thinking about anything but my parents at the moment?

 

Eh, no. Just in case you needed to hear it.

 

There wasn’t really much …eh, how to say it …contact between us for the rest of third year, and in the summer there was the Quidditch World Cup, and even if that did bring out a couple of interesting conversations involving all the Weasleys, I was just too focused on Quidditch, and the chance I was getting, and then the Dark Mark, and everything that happened to think about Ginny.

 

Again, yes. I know this story is starting to become boring, but you wouldn’t want me to lie, would you?  I didn’t claim it was interesting, I only said it was special. And, so it is, so bear with me.

 

There was a ball that year, and when Ron suggested I go with Ginny, well, honestly, I wouldn’t really have minded. But she already had a date, and she was too loyal to abandon poor Neville, so I had to suck it up, and go with Parvati, which for some reason, made me feel somewhat disappointed. But Cho was at the ball, so I just convinced myself it was nothing. Nothing at all. It’s not like I really wanted to go with Ginny, after all.

 

With all the weird stuff at the beginning of fifth year, it was kind of nice that Ginny stuck with me on the Hogwarts Express like she did. I wasn’t feeling that happy, what with Ron being a prefect and going off with Hermione to sit someplace else, and well …it was just nice. Even if we did have to sit with Luna.

 

I was a little conceited, at the time, and when Hermione first told me that Ginny was going out with that Michael bloke, and she had finally got over me, I just couldn’t believe it. I mean, I’m the Boy Who Lived …and he is …what? But once again, there was Ron’s mention of Cho, and Cho was pretty, and the sound of her name made my heart beat a little faster, so I just forgot about the touch of  anger I had felt at hearing that Ginny was going out with someone else.

 

She kept going out with him, of course, and I got to know her better during DA lessons. It seemed like the more I talked to her, the more I spent time with her, the more I liked her. And, the more I disliked him. I mean, it’s not like I wanted her for myself, but Mrs. Weasley thought of me as a son, so I had to protect Ginny as any big brother would. And, that Michael bloke just wasn’t good enough for her.

 

Standing in Dumbledore’s office after telling him of Mr. Weasley’s accident, and everything that came with that, made me feel closer to her, to all of them. As if I was really part of the family.

 

But, I think the moment my heart was claimed forever was when she stared at me with those big brown eyes and confronted me with something I had almost forgotten. She had been possessed by Voldemort once, as well.  I was not alone.

 

It wasn’t that difficult to go on as if nothing had happened, because, well …now, looking back, I can pinpoint the exact moment I fell in love with her, but at the time, I didn’t know it. Sure, there was this tingling feeling whenever she was around, and when she won the Quidditch Cup for us I felt my heart beat faster than ever before, but it was all too much to process at the moment. Besides, there was still Cho, and at the moment, I thought I still had feelings for her.

 

There was moment, however, when I think I came close to noticing how I felt. It involved the library, Ginny and an Easter egg. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because she thought of me, or because she offered her advice about Sirius, or because she didn’t seem to care about Cho, but in that moment I just wanted to put my arms around her, and never let her go.

 

I did nothing of the sort, of course, the moment passed, and I did not dwell on it. I had many things in my mind at the moment, and it seems like I was not processing anything. Ginny came with us that day, to the Department of Mysteries, and I felt butterflies in my stomach every time I stared at her, but I attributed them to fear. Because no girl had ever caused me to feel like this, and Ginny Weasley, of all people …who would have thought?

 

It was, amazingly enough, during one of those quiet moments, when my mind was occupied with Sirius, that the truth came to me. By all accounts, it shouldn’t have, because I had a lot to think about, and it certainly didn’t feel like the right time, but I had cheated myself for a long time, and this time, it just didn’t work.

 

I was sitting in my room and suddenly my eyes rested on a girlish hair clip resting innocently on Ron’s bed. It was Ginny’s; it had to be Ginny’s. For one thing, Hermione didn’t use the things, and it just …had to be Ginny’s.

 

So, I was sitting here, staring at her hairclip and it suddenly occurred to me: I was in love with her.

 

 

It wasn't like being struck by a bolt of lightning or hit by a meteor; it didn't land on me like a ton of bricks or leave me short of breath or give me heart palpitations.  It was just something I suddenly knew.  It was just like a switch had been flicked on somewhere, to coin a phrase.

 

What did I do? Well, I am not ashamed to say I did the most cliché thing ever. I ran downstairs to find her. Now, she could have been sitting by the lake, or in a deserted classroom, allowing me to go down in one knee and profess my undying love, but I warned you this was not a romantic story, just a special one.

 

She was actually sitting in the busy common room, curled up near the fire writing what looked to be like a Potions essay.  She didn’t have a dreamy smile which made my heart beat faster; instead she was frowning as she stared at the Potions book with something akin to hate.

 

I took a couple of determined steps toward her until I was standing by her chair, and her eyebrows rose slightly as she noticed exactly who was  standing beside her, and I don’t think I was imagining the fact that her pupils were dilating. “Harry?” she said, her voice uncertain.

 

Actually, it wasn’t my imagination; they were really dilating, and the corners of her mouth were turning up in a slight smile. I took a deep breath and, completely ignoring the startled look on her face or the people who were now staring at us, I leaned close to her and pressed my lips softly to hers. “Mind if I sit down?” I asked.

Her eyes widened slightly and she put a hand over her heart as a happy smile spread across her face. “No, not at all Harry,” she said. “You may not believe me, but I was thinking about you.”

Yup, I was right.  A switch had definitely been flicked on.  

 

The End

 

A little fluffy ficlet, for you all. I’m soo very nice, don’t you think? A thousand thanks go to Brandon D. Ray, one of the best x-files fanfic writers out there, for the idea, and the phrase. But, the blame for this lies squarely on Kat’s shoulders, for she made stop writing my chapter, and work on this. So, I BLAME YOU, Kat. *giggles* And, I thank you.

 

This story is for Marian, the Queen of Fluff, just because I want to dedicate something to her. :)