Chapter 11-

A/N- What's this? A new chapter? Please don't kill me!

Harry's entire body protested painfully as he sat up from his bed the next day. He groaned as he rolled his head, feeling it crack in several places to remove the kinks in it.

"Abraxeau didn't have to smack me that hard," he muttered to himself grumpily.

When Abraxeau said that he had a plan to explain Harry's disappearance, Harry didn't think it would involve the giant lion swatting him around like a cat does to a ball of yarn. One would think that the former founder of Gryffindor House would be more careful with his last surviving descendant, but apparently not.

Groaning again, Harry slowly hopped out of bed and got dressed into his school robes, but jumped when he heard a quiet trill. Harry looked up at the top of his four-poster bed to see Elenara perched on top, giving him an amused look.

"I don't suppose you can cure aching muscles?" asked Harry. When the phoenix did not respond, Harry's shoulder sagged in defeat and he marched down to the common room, making sure to not wake up Ron or the other boys.

It was still early in the morning, but the common room was not empty. Hermione was laying on the couch, a book over her face, and Harry could hear light snoring coming from her. Harry grinned and moved closer to his best friend, then placed his hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"Hermione? It's time to wake up," said Harry.

"Huh? What?" mumbled Hermione, and the book dropped from her face onto the floor, her eyes blinking rapidly.

"You fell asleep," said Harry, his smile widening even more.

"Oh bugger," muttered Hermione and she sat up and picked up her fallen book.

"What were you reading about?" asked Harry, moving to sit beside Hermione instead of crouching on the floor.

"Phoenixes," answered Hermione. "I'm trying to understand why they choose certain witches or wizards to be their familiars."

"Find anything interesting?" said Harry, feeling a little curious now.

"Not much," admitted Hermione. "Phoenixes are really mysterious magical creatures, and no one really knows why they become connected with people. There are loads of theories about it though."

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment students started trickling down the dormitory stairs to head for breakfast, so Hermione stashed her book away in her bag, which had been resting at her feet and she sprinted back up to her dormitory to get dressed.

Harry decided to wait for his friends to come down before heading to breakfast so that they could go together. Some kids said hello to Harry, which he returned politely but for the most part he just sat on the couch and waited as patiently as he could.

Harry saw a familiar flash of red hair coming down the stairs, and he couldn't stop the stupid grin from springing on his face when Ginny appeared, accompanied by some of her friends. She smiled and waved at him, but remained with her friends and left the common room.

Harry was too busy gawking at Ginny that he didn't see Ron and Hermione approaching.

"Can you stop staring at my sister's backside please?" groaned Ron, and Harry jumped in fright.

"Bloody hell mate!" gasped Harry, placing his hand over his heart dramatically.

"Oh sod off Harry. Now can we please go to breakfast? I'm starving!" said Ron, and he practically pulled Hermione towards the portrait door, leaving a red-faced Harry to stumble after them.

One would think that Harry would be used to the stares he got so often, but alas, he still felt extremely uncomfortable as he sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast with so many eyes scrutinizing him. He could only wonder how outrageous the rumour mill was going right now. Luckily for Harry, Ron and Hermione would glare at anyone they caught staring, making the offenders avert their eyes as quickly as they could, and Harry wasn't bothered.

Midway through his plate of food, Harry sensed somebody coming towards him, and he did his best to appear too busy to pay attention to whoever it was. Seconds, then minutes passed, and finally Harry sighed and turned to face his obnoxious stalker...

Only to instantly regret it when he came face to face with Cho Chang.

"Hi Harry!" said Cho brightly.

"Er... hey Cho," said Harry awkwardly, giving Ron and Hermione pleading looks. Both of his best friends only shrugged indifferently, as if to say "she's all yours."

"So there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up," said Cho, apparently completely oblivious to Harry's inner turmoil, "and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?"

"Go with you?" repeated Harry dumbly.

"Uh huh. So what do you say?" asked Cho hopefully.

Harry had to admit, the girl was nothing if not stubborn. But she really did not get it.

"Listen Cho. You're a really nice girl and all but..." began Harry slowly.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, he's not bloody interested in you!" screamed somebody a little down the table.

Harry whipped his head around so fast that he felt his neck crack, and he saw Ginny glaring at Cho, red-faced and chocolate brown eyes wide and blazing with fury. Her voice was so loud that kids from all over the hall were staring at her like she had lost her mind. From the corner of his eye Harry could see Seamus Finnegan slipping Ron a few sickles, the gangly redhead looking smug.

Ginny too noticed that she had gathered the attention of just about everyone, and her face turned even more red, if that was possible. She stood up then, grabbed her bag and marched out of the Great Hall, ignoring the leering jeers from the Slytherins.

"Damn it," muttered Harry, and he too jumped out of his seat and raced after her, but not before giving the Slytherin table a look that instantly made them shut up.

Ginny wasn't in the entrance hall or anywhere to be seen by the time Harry left the Great Hall, but he sniffed around for her scent to indicate where she had gone, but for some reason he couldn't smell anything, but it probably had to do with the mingling of countless other scents.

Feeling dejected, Harry returned back into the Great Hall.

oOoOoOo

He never had much of an opportunity to speak to Ginny about her outburst, as she seemed to be avoiding him. When he did see her though, she was surrounded by friends her own age, and Harry really didn't want to make things awkward between them.

Because of the sudden distance between them, Harry was feeling really glum, and his bad mood was only worsened when he saw Ginny beginning to hang out with Dean Thomas again. The dark-skinned Gryffindor boy would always give Harry a triumphant look whenever he caught Harry staring longingly in their direction, until one day Harry purposely grew his fangs out, which made Dean look away in fear.

One of of these bad days, Harry and Ron were both desperately trying to finish their Transfiguration essay Professor McGonagall had given them in the common room on their favourite couch, which unfortunately was due the next day. What was worse, Hermione wasn't with them because she was busy studying Harry's ancestors' journal in the library and comparing their deeds to historical Wizarding events.

Harry groaned and leaned back against the couch, while Ron was still leaning over the coffee table as he furiously scribbled down on a piece of parchment. He took off his glasses and cleaned the lenses with his t-shirt before he put them back on, and he felt himself sink into the comfortable couch. Harry wasn't sure if it was the fact that he had numerous felines encoded into his DNA, or if he was just tired, but suddenly the couch felt ten times more comfy than usual. Maybe he should just rest his eyes for a moment...

Until he heard the sound of somebody laughing, a very familiar laugh that had the beast inside squirming uncomfortably. Harry sat up straight like a rod and his head whipped around to the right, and he saw Dean and Ginny sitting together. Dean was saying something animatedly that had Ginny giggling softly, but Harry's sensitive hearing could pick it up from a mile away, and he felt his stomach clench with jealousy.

"Aw, come on," muttered Harry in an annoyed voice, "don't tell me they're dating again."

"Huh? What was that?" said somebody beside Harry, and the raven-haired boy froze in place. He had completely forgotten that Ron, Ginny's brother, was sitting right next to him. "Who are y-" began Ron, then Harry sensed as his gaze followed Harry's and he looked at him in confusion. "Why do you care who my sister dates?"

"I don't. I don't care," said Harry quickly, facing Ron to look at him with what was hopefully an uninterested expression, but inside he was panicking. How the hell could he forget that Ginny's over-protective brother was sitting beside him?"

Ron gave Harry a funny look that he couldn't read, but the lanky redhead only shrugged and grinned to himself. "Whatever you say mate," he mumbled before returning to working on his essay.

Harry really had to resist the urge to punch the smug grin on Ron's face.

oOoOoOo

Harry didn't get the opportunity to speak with Ginny for another week after the close call with Ron, long after October had ended and November was well under way. The snow was falling heavily, creating the thick blanket of white that covered everything outside.

Harry was walking back to Gryffindor Tower when his nose picked up her scent, and he stopped in his tracks.

"What's wrong Harry?" asked Ron, as he and Hermione both stopped once they realised that Harry was no longer walking with them.

"I uh... there's something i have to take care of. I'll see you at lunch?" said Harry quickly. Ron only shrugged indifferently and kept walking, while Hermione gave him a skeptical look but she ended up following her boyfriend. Harry sighed and sniffed around, following the fresh scent away from his original destination.

The familiar flowery and wooden scent of the youngest Weasley ended up leading Harry to the Astronomy Tower, which Harry thought to be odd seeing as there were no Astronomy classes during the middle of the day. He climbed the stairs quietly, wishing he had brought his Invisibility Cloak, and he made sure to be quiet when he spotted Ginny, so that he wouldn't disturb her.

Not for the first time, Harry was struck dumb by just how beautiful Ginny was. The way the sunlight shone through her red hair, highlighting the various streams of red, gold and orange and making it look like fire as it blew gently in the wind. Even from behind her Harry could tell that Ginny's face would be perfectly serene as she looked over the Hogwarts grounds.

"Ginny?" said Harry tentatively, taking a few steps closer.

"Yes Harry?" said Ginny, not even bothering to look behind her shoulder.

"What are you doing up here?" said Harry with a light chuckle as he moved to stand next to her.

"I come here sometimes to think," answered Ginny. "It really is a peaceful place when there's nobody trying to sneak in here for a snog."

"Ah," said Harry.

"What are you doing here?"

"I followed your scent."

"Right, because that's not creepy or anything."

Harry scowled down at Ginny, but it changed into a grin when he saw her smirking at him mischievously. They fell into comfortable silence, merely being content with one another's presence as they watched the students far down below scurrying to their first classes.

"So I take it we're not going to class?" asked Harry.

Ginny shrugged. "I've only got Tonks this morning, she won't mind," she said nonchalantly.

"Right," said Harry quietly before gazing off towards the Scottish hills far away. "Ginny?"

"Yes Harry?" said Ginny, not tearing her gaze away from the view.

"Why did you get so angry when Cho asked me out?"

Harry saw how Ginny's face paled and her whole body stiffened slightly, and he could hear her heartbeat picking up until it was beating rapidly.

"I'm just getting annoyed at how she keeps throwing herself at you even though it's obvious you don't like her that way," she finally said.

"Ginny, you know I can tell when someone's lying, right?"

Ginny seemed to sag in defeat. "I uh... er..." she seemed to be struggling for the right words to say. Finally, she took a breath and said, "You know how I had that really embarrassing crush on you for a few years?"

"Yeah," said Harry, feeling his eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"And Hermione said that I ended up giving up on you because I was sick of waiting around?" she pressed.

"Yeah, but what's this got to do with-"

"Please let me finish Harry," interrupted Ginny, and Harry could see the pleading look in her eyes, so he closed his mouth and nodded.

"Anyway, I gave up on waiting around for you, so I went on dates with other guys, and tried to act normally around you. But that didn't mean that I didn't stop liking you."

Now it was Harry's turn to freeze up. Wait, what is she saying?

"I like you Harry, a lot," said Ginny, looking up at him determinedly but at the same time she looked a little scared. "And not just as a friend. I never gave up hope that you would finally notice me. I really, really like you, but I feel so stupid for hoping that you'd feel the same way."

She likes me? Harry felt his heart flutter excitedly as he processed this information. The beast within him wanted out more than ever now, because it knew that Ginny wanted him as much as he wanted her.

"I know you'll probably never like me the same way, but I had to say it," continued Ginny, unaware that Harry was smiling at her because she had lowered her face to look at the floor.

"Ginny," said Harry, trying to get her to look up at him.

"I hope this doesn't change anything between us or make you really uncomfortable," said Ginny.

"Ginny..."

"I mean, we've only just become actual friends,"

"Gin..."

"I don;t even know why i started hanging out with Dean again, I still think he's a bloody git. Oh gosh, you probably think I'm some sort of scarlet woman now!"

Harry rolled his eyes impatiently, then grabbed Ginny's chin and lifted her face up before crashing his lips against hers. Ginny let out a startled squeal before she realized what was happening, and Harry felt her relax into his arms and kiss him back.

Kissing Ginny Weasley was a million times better than Harry ever imagined. Her lips were amazingly soft, unlike anything he had felt before. It was like the Weasley twins' fireworks were going off all around them, and it seemed as though every animal encoded in Harry's DNA were letting out triumphant roars of victory as his blood sang.

Eventually Harry pulled away from Ginny to catch his breath, both breathing heavily. Ginny looked at Harry with a mixture of wonder, joy and confusion while harry gave her a crooked grin.

"I've been wanting to do that for a while now," muttered Harry huskily.

"You have?" said Ginny incredulously, her eyes widening slightly.

"I've had the biggest crush on you since I came to the Burrow this summer," confessed Harry.

Ginny snorted. "And I've only had the biggest crush on you since I was ten years old," she replied sarcastically.

"Touché," said Harry. "But I thought you didn't like me that way anymore, so I didn't act on my feelings towards you."

"Sounds like we were both acting like ponces," giggled Ginny.

"Can't argue with that," laughed Harry. He then straightened up slightly and took a step back from her slightly.

"Ginny Weasley, would you do me the honour of coming with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend as my date?"

Ginny's eyes sparkled and she nodded her head vigorously. "Of course I will!"

Harry responded by leaning down and kissing her again, this time more softly than before. He felt Ginny smile into the kiss and her hand came up to cup his face.

"Be expecting a lot more of those Miss Weasley," said Harry, pulling away again.

"I'm counting on it, Mr Potter."

oOoOoOo

As much as he wanted to scream to the whole world that Harry was dating Ginny, he couldn't. After spending most of the morning together, laughing and kissing each other senselessly, they both agreed that for now at least, they should keep their relationship a secret. Harry was worried about Voldemort finding out about Ginny through some Death Eater's kid who attended Hogwarts, and Ginny was worried that they would never be left alone because of it.

Not that Ginny minded in all honestly, she was actually keen to get into a duel with Cho when the Ravenclaw girl fond out.

They decided to not tell their closest friends either, and Harry was already beginning to find it difficult to keep his secret hidden from Ron and Hermione, especially Hermione. When Harry and Ginny finally returned from the Astronomy tower for lunch, their bushy-haired friend looked ready to grill into them both for missing classes until she saw how close Harry and Ginny were standing next to each other, and her face changed from annoyance to suspicious.

Harry consciously took a step away from Ginny and let her go sit with her friends while he sat down next to Ron, making sure to avoid Hermione's piercing gaze.

"You were gone an awfully long time Harry," commented Hermione.

"Ginny was upset," was all Harry offered.

"And it took you a few hours to cheer her up?" said Hermione, and when Harry finally looked up, he saw that one of Hermione's eyebrows was raised.

"Er... yeah," said Harry, swallowing thickly.

"Oh lay off him 'Mione. Theyprobably just had a long talk is all," said Ron, finally joining in the conversation.

"Right, and I'm sure the fact that they both look thoroughly disheveled had everything to do with the wind up wherever they were," said Hermione sarcastically.

Harry's eyes widened. "W-what?" he stammered.

"Oh come off it Harry. You've been snogging Ginny all morning!" said Hermione.

Ron choked and spat out his pumpkin juice. "What?!" he spluttered.

"They've been snogging!" said Hermione. "Look at how disheveled he looks!"

"Will you shut it!" hissed Harry.

"You're not denying it," pointed out Hermione smugly. Harry really wanted to hex her right now.

"Alright fine," he growled out instead. "Yes, Ginny and I kissed. And it was bloody brilliant."

"I did not need to hear that," grumbled Ron.

"Oh shut up Ron. I've walked in on you and Hermione enough times as it is," snapped Harry. He smiled triumphantly when Ron's face turned red and he looked away.

"So are you two dating?" asked Hermione excitedly.

"I guess so. We're going to Hogsmeade together," said Harry.

"Oh Harry!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Will you shut it! We don't want anyone to know just yet," said Harry. He didn't add that he was also going to keep his two best friends out of it as well.

"Okay, okay. I'm just so excited is all!" gushed Hermione. "You two have been circling around each other for months now."

"Don't remind me," grumbled Harry. When he looked down the table, he spotted Ginny staring at him with a questioning look. Jon could only shrug and jerk his head towards Ron and Hermione, who had quickly fallen into another argument, as if to say sorry.

Ginny only rolled her eyes before giving Harry a big smile. Harry winked at her, which funnily enough made Ginny blush spectacularly and look away.

Yes. This is going to be interesting, thought Harry happily.

"Stop staring at my sister!" hissed Ron angrily, making Harry jump in surprise. He looked back just in time to see Hermione smack Ron upside the head.

"Leave him alone!" she snapped.

"He's gawking at Ginny like-" started Ron.

"Like you gawk at hermione when you think no one's looking?" said Harry innocently.

Ron only scowled at his best friend, while Hermione was blushing furiously.

oOoOoOo

Because he had a spare period owing to the fact that he dropped out of Divination, Harry spent his afternoon exploring the Hogwarts grounds in his various animal forms. He spent most of the time as his smaller animal forms, though every now and again he would transform into either his tiger or direwolf form, as they were the two animals he was most comfortable being.

That being said, Harry was becoming exceptionally fond of the latest animal he had learned to transform into; a small but stocky and heavily muscled wolverine. Despite its small size, Harry could feel how powerful it was, and at times he had to rein in his instinctual aggressive behaviour on more than one occasion when he came near other students. Small but aggressive, Harry was sure that the wolverine would come in handy one day.

He was flying around Gryffindor Tower in his golden eagle form when Harry's extremely acute vision spotted a flash of brilliant red, a stark contrast against the white of the fallen snow, near the Forbidden Forest before it vanished. So Harry glided on the warm air currents till he was directly below where he had spotted the red colour, and tucking in his wings, Harry plummeted into a vertical dive.

As he fell closer and closer to the earth, Harry realised that the flash of red he saw was actually Ginny's hair, and she was currently in her Care of Magical Creatures class. Harry spread open his wings and perched himself on top of a tree branch at the edge of a clearing, and watched intently as Hagrid led a few unicorn colts into the small clearing.

Harry cocked his head to the side in interest, remembering how last year Professor Grubbly-Plank had taught Harry's class back in his fourth year. Ginny seemed particularly excited, and Harry remembered that she had a love of animals almost as fierce as Hagrid. Harry idly wondered if ginny was interested in becoming a dragon handler like her older brother Charlie.

Harry stretched his wings and flew off his branch over to another tree so that he could get a better look at the unicorns, as well as see Ginny better. His path required his to fly directly over the clearing, and one of the fifth-years pointed out loudly towards the green-eyed golden eagle. When the others looked up at the tree Harry had perched on, he could see the instant look of recognition Ginny had on her face, and she smiled up at him. Hagrid too seemed to realise who the eagle was, because he waved down for him to come closer.

Harry gently glided down and landed on Hagrid's outstretched arm, being careful not to sink his huge fangs into the jolly half-giant's meaty arm. But despite being one of the largest flying birds in the world, Hagrid dwarfed him easily and seemed to not display any discomfort towards him.

"Do you know this bird?" asked a curious Hufflepuff.

"Yeh, this here is-" began Hagrid, but Harry let out a loud squawk and beat his wings furiously to drown out his voice. Hagrid seemed to get the hint, because he finished with, "er Brownie. He lives 'round here."

Brownie? Seriously? thought Harry incredulously. He saw Ginny giving him a smug smile, and the eagle let out another indignant squawk because his now-girlfriend would never let that nickname down.

Harry flew off of Hagrid's arm and landed on a post that Ginny was standing next to, and she ran her fingers through his brown coat of feathers in a soothing manner. They both got odd looks from the other students, but they ignored them.

When class finished, Harry waited until everyone was well and truly gone before transforming.

"Really Hagrid? Brownie?" spluttered Harry exasperatedly.

"It was all I could think of!" said Hagrid.

"You realise that that nickname is going to stick?" said Harry.

"I like it," commented Ginny offhandedly.

"Of course you do. You like anything that'll embarrass me," snapped Harry.

"Oi. Just be grateful that I haven't started calling you Tigger," warned Ginny, and Harry swallowed thickly.

Oh yes, very interesting.