Setting: The Half-Blood Prince
Summary: Harry returns to the Tower to find the Lions celebrating the winning of the House Cup, and almost gets more than he bargained for.
Warnings: OOC-ness, and major AU
Word Count: 1,214

A/N: seems you guys like these little drabbles :) well, I will keep them coming; when I get ideas, I will write them out. Enjoy this one!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its affiliates are the property of JK Rowling, Bloomsbury/Scholastic Books and Warner Bros. Studios. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended and no money is being made from this. In simple terms: I DO NOT OWN.

"Speaking"

Harry was bone tired. He had just come from another night of detention with Snape and it left him feeling drain. While before, he would've balked at doing detention, or been too angry over Snape's treatment, this time, he knew he deserved it.

Why? Because it wasn't just a simple fight between him and Malfoy. No this time, he had almost succeeded in killing the other boy and to be honest, he felt that the detention was too good. He had expected to be expelled or even worse, sent to Azkaban, but he knew that that was never gonna happen, so instead, he was left with Snape drilling his mind with guilt.

He knew he could argue that it was pure self-defence as Malfoy had started to use the Cruciatus curse on him, but he wouldn't have felt right.

Because while the Cruciatus curse was devastatingly harmful and dangerous, at least he knew what it could do and the effects it would have.

Unlike with the curse spell he had casted. He had had no idea what the Sectumsempra spell would do. It had been the first spell to come to mind as he had been thinking about the potions book and that's where he had seen the spell.

He could've casted any other spell, for example, Protego, but instead, he had chosen to use an unknown and dangerous spell.

Malfoy could've died because of him.

He may not like the other boy, but he never wanted him dead.

He knew that he'd have to apologize to Malfoy for what happened. He was not looking forward to that, but he would do it.

But…he would give the other boy some time to cool off.

With a sigh, Harry continued his journey back to the tower. As he got closer, he couldn't help but to wonder how the Quidditch match went.

He got to the Fat Lady's portrait and gave her the password.

"Go on in dearie," The Fat Lady replied with a huge grin.

Harry was a bit taken aback by it. "Is everything ok? Did something happen?"

The Fat Lady chuckled and opened the entrance without saying anything.

The noise hit his eardrums and he immediately stepped inside, only to see the entire House cheering and celebrating.

What was going on?

"We won!" Seamus screamed as he ran up and grabbed Harry's arms.

"What?" Harry was confused.

"The match!" Seamus explained. "We won the match! Gryffindor won the House Cup!"

Suddenly the celebration made sense and the pure elation in the room soon spread through him and he felt himself smiling in response.

He looked around and caught saw Ron over at the fireplace with Hermione and watched as his best friend gave him a huge grin. He started to make his way towards them, but movement out of the corner of his caught his attention.

He turned fully towards it, only to see Ginny heading down the stairs and rushing towards him, an intense look on her face.

Thinking that someone was behind him or that she was going out, he stepped to the side just as she reached him.

As she was already in the motions of giving a hug, when Harry suddenly moved out of her way, her momentum and tilted position sent Ginny crashing to the floor.

The commotion and her 'what the hell?' silenced the room and drew everyone's attention.

"What did you do that for?" Ginny demanded as she stood up and glared at Harry.

"Because I didn't know what you were going to do," Harry told her calmly.

"I was going to kiss you," Ginny revealed hotly. "Why did you move?"

Harry stared at the girl with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but do you make a habit of going around kissing guys without giving them warning or even knowing if they wanted it?"

Snickers echoed through the room, causing Ginny to flush in anger and embarrassment.

"Why would you even do that?" Harry asked. "If some guy just threw himself at you and mauled you, would you like it? No. You'd hit him with a Bat Bogey hex or go to McGonagall."

"Mauled?" Ginny repeated, "It was just a kiss. A kiss because I like you and I know you like me too."

Harry took a slight step back. "Who told you I liked you? When did I ever give you that impression?"

Ginny was confused. "But…you got so jealous and angry whenever you saw me with another guy."

"So did Ron," Harry pointed out, "does that mean he likes you as well?"

"Gross," a student muttered, drawing snickers from the room again, and an angry flush to Ron's face.

"We belong together Harry," Ginny said, unable to understand why he wasn't cooperating and feeling the gaze of the room on her.

"Says who?" Harry asked. "Ginny, we have barely held a conversation in the five years we've known each other. We know nothing about each other; not our likes or dislikes, nothing. I've always thought of you as my best friend's little sister and nothing more. We have had barely any interaction and you believe we're meant to be? Why?"

"I've liked you since I was ten," Ginny revealed, "since before that."

"You've liked the Boy-Who-Lived," Harry shook his head. "And that just proved it. And it makes me wonder just what you expected when you chose to kiss me in front of everyone despite not knowing if it'd be welcome; you were banking on the fact that I would be too embarrassed to do anything but go along with it."

Ginny flushed and looked away. That was exactly what she had planned on.

"We're meant to be, just like Ron and Hermione," Ginny tried again, "everyone else knows it as well. I mean, they keep saying we're like James and Lily all over again."

"In looks maybe," Harry pointed out, "but personality wise, no we're not. I'm sorry Ginny, but I've never thought of you that way. I've always just seen you as Ron's little sister…nothing more."

"But," Ginny started.

But Harry wasn't done. "And even if I didn't, the fact that you would do this, that you would pull something like this, tells me that you don't really know me at all."

Shaking his head once more, Harry turned and headed towards the boys' dorm, leaving Ginny staring after him, feeling embarrassed, rejected and angry.

When he got to the stairs, Harry stopped and turned to look back at where Ron and Hermione were.

While Hermione looked thoughtful, and a bit worried, he saw that Ron looked angry.

A part of him was nervous as to what Ron would do next, but more than that, he kind of didn't care; something had shifted within him the last few weeks, a shift that had started the moment he had seen Malfoy bleeding to death in Myrtle's bathroom.

Yeah Ron was going to be pissed and probably yell at him, but he wasn't going to apologize for something he didn't feel.

Sighing, he turned away from the sight of the two and continued his way up the stairs.

Tomorrow, he would deal with everything else; Ron and figuring out how to apologize to Malfoy.

He was still tired and he just wanted to sleep.

A/N 2: Initially, I was going to end it with Harry walking away after Harry told Ginny that just because Ron and Hermione were meant to be, didn't mean they were, but my fingers kept typing lol. But I hope you guys enjoyed the rest of it anyways.

A/N 3: Also, this is under the assumption that Harry and Hermione's talk, after Hermione saw Ron and Lavender, went a bit differently.I know there are guys that are friends with girls and don't realize what they feel for them until something happens, but that cannot be said for this case; unlike the mentioned situation, canon has shown that Ginny and Harry barely spent any time together to be able to get to know one another. yeah i know he can still see she's pretty, but to get these really intense feelings from seemingly out of nowhere? intense feelings that create intense jealousy? no...at least, not in my honest opinion