A/N: This is a fic I wrote about two years ago for the purpose of provoking the lovely Dr. Foetus, one of the three friends with whom I share this account. As a consequence, it's not very well-written, but I'm too lazy to improve it. The first chapter, unfortunately, contains neither foetuses (see profile) nor other sorts of mind-effing weirdness, so stay tuned for the next installment!

- Janine

Chapter One: Split Ends

"Harry, you are an incredibly tactless and dim-witted –"

"Okay, okay!" Harry interrupted. "What have I done, anyway?"

He, Hermione and the Weasleys had barely gotten through the front door when Hermione had rounded on him.

"Ginny – was – crying," Hermione said through gritted teeth.

"I know!" he said impatiently, ignoring the swoop of guilt in his stomach.

"DO YOU WANT TO BREAK UP WITH HER AGAIN OR WHAT?" Hermione yelled.

Harry stared.

"Exactly," she said, seeming satisfied with his startled look. "You were supposed to console her, not leave it to George, who's got quite enough on his mind without a howling little sister blowing her nose on his dress robes!"

"She wasn't howling or blowing her nose on his dress robes!" said Harry furiously, trying to ignore another swoop of guilt.

"You know what I mean! For heaven's sake, it was his twin brother's funeral, what do you expect? If you've got any sense, go to Ginny right now and do something about all of this!"

Hermione was fixing him with such a venomous glare that he felt quite unnerved. "Alright," he said, holding his hands up in surrender. He turned and climbed the stairs to the first floor, quite conscious of Hermione's eyes burning into the back of his head.

He paused at Ginny's door, wondering if he really ought to do this. Perhaps Ginny now thought he was not good enough for her? After a few moments, he raised his hand and knocked.

The door opened a crack, and a pair of brown eyes appeared behind it, still a bit puffy from crying. For a split second they just stared at each other; then Ginny did something Harry had not at all expected – she flung the door wide, threw her arms around him and planted her lips firmly onto his.

It was very short. Harry barely had time to register what had happened before she broke away and stepped back, panting slightly.

"I'm sorry," she said shakily. "It's just – you've been avoiding me, and . . ."

"Yeah, well," said Harry, still feeling a bit dazed, "Hermione thinks you need me, so . . ."

"She's not wrong," said Ginny, pulling him into the room and closing the door. She sat down on her bed and patted the spot next to her. Harry sat.

For a few minutes they sat in silence, gazing out the window at the orchard below. Then Ginny pulled the hairpin out of her hair and said, "Check for any split ends, will you?"

"Er, okay," said Harry, startled at this sudden command. He reached out and took a tendril of bright red hair and angled it towards the light, but his mind was not on split ends. He was alone with Ginny, and she apparently needed him . . . his brain seemed to have gone fuzzy, and he was now playing with Ginny's hair instead of checking for split ends, and, judging by the expression on her face, Ginny didn't really care about split ends either . . .

"D'you think I could ask you something?" Harry asked after a while, still winding a lock of Ginny's hair around his finger.

"I think you'll find that you can, one of these days," Ginny replied.

"Well," he proceeded, "if I asked you, what would you say?"

Ginny looked at him. "I would say 'yes'," she said, without the tiniest hint of embarrassment.

Harry couldn't help it. A broad grin spread slowly across his face. "Well, let's just hope you won't have changed your mind when I do ask you," he said.