Chapter 3: Relationship Pros and Cons
"What happened?" was the first thing Hermione said when she saw Harry's face.
Harry had walked back up to the castle to find Hermione waiting on the steps for him. He wanted to talk to her about it, but all the same, it was strange because this was about a girl. Well, maybe it's for the best- Hermione's smart, and she might be able to help, he thought.
"Can we walk?" Harry asked her.
"Sure. Lets go down to the lake and you can tell me all about it," she said with a comforting smile.
They walked away from the castle and towards the lake. At one point, they saw Ginny walking slowly back to the castle- crying. As soon as she saw them, she broke into a run; sight of her was lost almost at once.
"Did you two have a fight?" Hermione asked, plopping down on the only grass near the lake.
"No... Yes... Kind of..." Harry replied, joining her.
"Do you remember that 'little chat' between Ginny and I earlier? We were talking about you and Ron. Well, more so you and Ginny and me and Ron," she blushed. "Wait- you can't go telling Ron anything I tell you now."
"I won't tell him anything you don't want him know."
"Good. Ginny and I have been having chats since our fourth year- her third year. We talked about how we both wondered if you and Ginny would ever get together, and if Ron would ever do more than consider me; well, hoping. To be truthful, Ginny really liked the idea of Ron and I- though, not as much as you and her. So I told her that if she really wanted to get together, she should just get comfortable around you, and maybe, though I doubted it would happen, I told her maybe you would come around."
"And what was her advice to you?"
"To quit hiding my feelings and to maybe see some people- she said Ron is the jealous type. So, obviously, Victor, although I rather enjoyed his company, and McGlaggen were two people. Before your birthday we had another talk. We both decided that we should both try to help ourselves. She couldn't do much, but I could. And as you know, I didn't.
"You remember that this afternoon we snuck away? I had to tell her what I'd done. And she had a question for me. Did you want to get back together? So I told her that I didn't know and that I would ask. I also told her that until I got back to her, if she truly wanted to get back together, she should make the first move, since men who are scared typically don't. And that hadn't backfired completely with me- the only thing wrong with mine and Ron's relationship is that now we're a smidge awkward around each other."
"You need to stop reading so many books," said Harry.
"Why's that?"
"You're starting to talk like one."
They laughed.
"So, are you going to tell me what happened?" Hermione asked.
"Well, you saw Ginny pull me outside. I'd cut her off earlier and she wanted to know what happened to us after the wedding. So that's what I started to do- until she... Well, she sort of... grabbed me, and... At first I didn't mind, but I'd already decided to end it between us completely. I pulled away and told her that we couldn't, I couldn't do it anymore."
"Couldn't do what anymore?"
Harry jumped up- he couldn't sit and tell this story.
"You know how it's been! When Dumbledore died, I had to ditch her, then on my birthday- well, you know! I've put her through hell. My life is going to change a lot now, but I don't know how much of it will be good," said Harry, getting hot. He felt as though he had already explained himself clearly.
