Conclusions
Ginny's run out of her good parchment and has been reduced to using something she dug out of the bottom of her trunk, hating the way her quill scratches over the rough surface. As though it isnât punishment enough to be writing about History of Magic, sheâs got to do it on this piece of rubbish.Â
âBloody, buggering fuââ she swears as the point of her quill pierces a hole straight through her conclusion. Apt, probably - it had been flimsy at best. Thereâs a metaphor here, somewhere.
âRevision going well, then?â
The wry voice startles her so much that she nearly upends her bottle of ink all over her weak â in more ways than one â essay. âFuck, Harry, Iâd no idea you were there.â
She blinks up at him in surprise and finds him smirking, standing at the table sheâs claimed in a corner of the library, looking adorably entertained by her plight. His bookbag is slung carelessly over his shoulder, his hair mussed, his stupid face made more handsome by the teasing lilt of his smile. Her heart flutters a bit, because thatâs just what it always does with him. She ignores it valiantly, and hates him for it, a little.Â
âSorry,â he says, though he sounds more amused than anything. âMind if I sit?â
âCourse,â she says, gesturing to the seat opposite. âCanât guarantee there wonât be more swearing, though.âÂ
He eyes her holey essay as he sits, jerking his head questioningly toward the parchment. âWhatâre you working on?â
âSomething for Binns.â
âAh, Iâd be swearing, too.â
âFucking hell, eh?â
They share a smile, and Ginny reckons sheâd be better off writing an essay about that - the way she knows exactly when heâll find something funny; the way jokes fall a bit flat when the punchline isnât his eyes seeking her out, green and piercing and flickering with amusement. Sheâd fill the parchment with ease.Â
Itâs easy to write about something you canât stop reading into.Â
Just like sheâs madly reading into the way heâs shown up here - no Ron, no Hermione - and sought her out, like itâs normal, like theyâve been doing this for years even though they havenât. It feels like they have, though. Thatâs the worst part of it.
âWhatâre you doing here?â she asks, like he might just come right out and say it - to see you.
He doesnât. She pretends that she canât be disappointed by what she expects.Â
âTransfiguration,â he says darkly.Â
âWhereâre Ron and Hermione, then?â she prods, picking at it like a scab, like a masochist. I wanted to get you alone, she urges him to say. Iâve been trying to all week and I havenât even been subtle about it.
âDunno,â he shrugs. Scabs bleed when you pick them, incidentally. âI can survive an evening without them, you know.â
âCan you? I donât reckon your track record is all that spectacular on that front, if Iâm honest.â
âHey, I havenât died even once.â
âRight,â she jokes. âAngling for a new nickname? âThe Boy Who Hasnât Died, Even Onceâ?â
He lets out a soft chuckle. âRolls right off the tongue, that.â
âIâll owl Rita for you. We can workshop somethingâ
They smile.
She wants to shake him until he admits to it, confesses, like this thing brewing between them is a crime. She wants to lay all the evidence out in front of him, the aspiring Auror, and see what he makes of it. He canât quip his way around the smiles and the banter and the looks he gives her. See, sheâll say, donât you see?
Heâs got shit vision.Â
They sit together for far longer than sheâd planned to stay. At some point he adjusts in his seat, and his foot winds up touching hers, and he doesnât even have the decency to move it. She fancies she can feel his warmth through their trainers, but no - it must be her own traitorous heart, frantically pumping warm blood to her foot like itâs the only part of her body that needs it, like the parts of her that arenât touching him have ceased to matter because maybe they have.Â
Maybe sheâs been distilled to the edge of her foot.
They talk about strategies for the Quidditch final, and OWLs, and argue playfully about which of her mumâs mince pies is the best. Ginnyâs always fancied herself good at impressions, but she surprises even herself with her impression of easy nonchalance. All the while itâs building - each look, each smile, each easy joke they set each other up for feels like a firework sheâs adding to the heap in her chest, ready to explode with the slightest spark.Â
Youâve got me alone, she tells him. Do something about it.
Itâs nearly curfew. They start gathering their things, and still he hasnât done anything. If he were any other boy, Ginny would cut through the bullshit herself, but something holds her back. She canât fully articulate, unravel, why, but she needs him to be the one to admit it. She needs him to decide sheâs worth the risk. Heâs meant to be brave, isnât he?
As sheâs packing it away, Ginny remembers her abandoned essay, still punctured pathetically. She sighs, holds it up for Harryâs evaluation. âThink Binnsâll even notice?â
âGive it here,â he says, and she hands it over. He pulls his wand from his robes and waves it wordlessly, the gaping tear sewing itself together so it might never have been there. Ginny doesnât know why she hadnât thought to do that herself.Â
âThanks. Only now, Iâve actually got to write a damn conclusion.â
He laughs and holds it back out to her. âYouâre on your own.â
âArenât you meant to have a hero complex?â she quips, pushing the parchment back toward him. âSome useful saving-people thing? Have a go.â
To her immense surprise, he shoots her a wry smirk that sends a tingle through her stomach. âAlright.â He pulls out the quill heâd only just packed away, scrawls something at the bottom of her parchment, shielding it from view. Â
Sheâs gone utterly daft. Her heart is hammering in her chest, beating a tattoo on her ribcage; she wonders if her fingers are trembling as they reach across to take her essay back, fully convinced sheâll find the words Go out with me scribbled there.Â
In conclusion, heâd written, this essay is over.
She snorts, mostly at herself. Sheâs officially deluded. Cracked. What is wrong with her?
âWow. Thanks for that,â she says drily. âHow would Binns have known otherwise?â
He grins. âAnytime.â
âTotally unrelated, but do you offer refunds? Perhaps a voucher for another Harry Potter rescue at a later date?â
âNon-refundable. Sorry.â
âIâm going to be honest,â she lies. âI expected a better rescue than that.â
He shrugs. âYou expect too much from The Boy Who Hasnât Died, Even Once.â
She canât help herself; she laughs. His eyes seek hers out - green, so green, twinkling with amusement and something that looks so fond. Sheâs going to set fire to the heap of fireworks in her chest, just to get it over with. Sheâll explode in color, driven to madness by the boy who hadnât died even once but whoâd killed her, slowly, with smiles.Â
In conclusion, she thinks, Iâm utterly fucked.









