It's here! Yay! Harry may seem a little OOC in this. And the slash makes it's first appearance. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter. This post was made possible by the fact that it's my wonderful friend, Gill's, birthday. So happy fifteenth birthday Gilly! Love you!
"Well?" he asked impatiently, a vase starting to shake.
A tense silence was his answer. Seconds stretched into minutes and Harry stood there, barely contained anger in his eyes.
"Nothing to say?"
More silence.
"I see," he said, exiting the room without making another sound.
Harry looked out the window. Sunset.
Had he been in his room for that long?
He remembered trying to control his anger and then finally unleashing it onto random objects that made a satisfying crash before they exploded into hundreds of tiny pieces.
Snape, and Malfoy, were in this house. His house.
And they were allowed to stay. Because they hadn't really killed Dumbledore. Harry had just imagined the entire thing and Dumbledore was still alive, sitting at his desk, doing work while eating whatever candy it was he was addicted to at the moment.
Yes.
That was the truth.
Harry believed that about as much as he believed that he would come back to Ginny some day.
Ginny…
That brought him to another enigma.
Ginny…
He was attracted to her. At least, he had been. He wasn't too sure about that anymore. She'd been beautiful, she'd been interesting, she'd been accessible. She was there and felt something for him.
But did he still feel something for her?
Harry sighed and just lay there, staring at the ceiling.
Stupid hormones.
"Harry?"
He looked over to the locked door, sure that it was Ginny behind it, trying to coax him out. Harry sighed and got off the bed, opening it. Sure enough, Ginny was standing there, a cautious look on her face.
"Hi."
"Hi."
She blushed and started to walk away, not giving him a second glance. When she was halfway down the hallway, he realized he was supposed to have followed her. He walked quickly to catch up to her.
They moved silently, not talking, just a constant game of look away. Ginny would look at him from the corner of her eye, then look straight ahead again. Harry's gaze didn't move from in front of him.
"So…I umm…I heard about what happened earlier."
"Did you?"
"Yes," she said, managing to grasp Harry's hand in hers, "I don't think it was right of them to keep it from you. You had a right to know."
He nodded absent mindedly, taking his hand out of hers.
Ginny stared at the floor for a bit, trying to say what she really meant.
'Where's your Gryffindor courage now Weasley?'
"Harry?"
"Yes?"
"I was wondering…are we ever going to get back together? I mean, after You-Know-Who is gone and the war is over."
"I don't know Ginny."
"But is there going to be a chance? I know you have other things to deal with, but just know that I'll always be here, no matter what."
She smiled at him then, a small, shy smile, full of warmth, the setting sun providing a lovely backdrop. Ginny reached out, holding his hand in her warm one. At that moment, Ginny looked like an angel, come to save him. If he could have picked a moment to fall in love, this would have been it.
But he didn't.
The smile faded, she moved away from the window, and his angel became Just Ginny again.
"I-"
Harry felt his throat close up. Whatever he was going to say had been forgotten. Everything else around him had floated away. Every thought was suddenly concentrated on Malfoy, whose back was turned to them and had just closed his door.
When he turned around to face them, the only way he could describe him was a deer caught in the headlights. Malfoy looked as if he was hoping the ground would just open up and swallow him whole.
Harry wasted no time with niceties and strode right to Malfoy, managing to pin him to the wall.
"You," he said in a deadly whisper.
"Potter, let me go."
"You bloody bastard. How dare you show your face around here after what you did? You aren't worth the extra space."
"Potter, I demand you let me go."
"You demand I let you go? You demand that I let you go! And you think I'm going to listen to you? You think I'm going to just let you go and continue to live?"
"Unhand me. I only did what I had to do. Now let me go and eat my dinner in peace."
"I still don't trust you. I don't trust you one little bit. I want to know why you're here, and why any of us should trust you."
"That is none of your business."
"Tell me now Malfoy. I want answers, and you have them. So I suggest you give me some. Or we send you back to Voldemort."
He felt the shudder run through the body beneath him and smirked.
"Answer my questions. Or I will find a way to send you back to him. I don't think Voldie's going to take you crawling to the Light very well. Lucky for you, we're a little more benevolent."
Malfoy looked up, right into Harry's eyes.
"I have nothing to say to you. Now let me go."
Harry crushed his lips to Malfoy's.
I would like to be able to say something dramatic. That at that moment, the world started to turn dark and cold, growing devoid of any hope. That when I saw them together, my heart shattered, tears streamed down my eyes, and I fell over the edge into madness.
But nothing like that happened.
A girl just saw the man of her dreams kiss his school rival.
The world didn't implode, I didn't die of heartbreak, and life went on.
But what I saw that day changed something in me.
Contrary to what people believe, it wasn't the kiss that was my turning point. It wasn't their farce of a relationship.
It was Harry.
That day, my image of my perfect prince, my knight in shining armor, was shattered.
Harry could feel anger, could feel pain. Could feel hate. And he certainly felt that in abundance. I could tell by the way his eyes seemed to glow with an unnatural force. He wanted nothing more than to walk over there and kill Malfoy in excruciatingly painful ways.
I realized it for the first time in my life just then. After a lifetime full of childish fantasies and fairy tale endings, I had finally discovered something.
Harry was only human.