It was no secret, Ginny Weasley had always had a crush on Harry Potter since the day she'd met him. And, it was no secret either now that Harry Potter had “heroically” defeated Lord Voldemort during the Battle of Hogwarts and destroyed all his Horcruxes with the help of his two best friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, with Albus Dumbledore destroying one too and Neville Longbottom killing Voldemort's pet snake, Nagini.

As the news spread however, Harry didn't feel much like celebrating like hundreds of others were. A lot were mourning over the dead and their losses, filled with sorrow but nonetheless glad the war was over and the Dark Lord dead. But Harry Potter was one of those people mourning too, although he did not look it. He had been devastated and angry when he'd seen Remus Lupin and Tonks' s bodies lying on the floor in the Great Hall, lifeless. He had also been devastated when he'd seen the body of Colin Creevey and Dobby dead too. Surprisingly, Fred Weasley, one of the twins, had deflected a Killing Curse just in time, but ended up being hexed into unconsciousness anyway. The good news is that none of the Weasleys were dead, and neither were any others unless you include 7 Hufflepuffs(2 5th years, 1 6th and 4 7th years), 3 Slytherins (all 7th years), 2 Gryffindors (a 4th year and a 6th year), 1 Ravenclaw (7th year) and a few Aurors. All of Voldemort's Inner Circle had been rounded up and sent to Azkaban, Sirius Black had been cleared of all charges when Peter Pettigrew was discovered alive, the Malfoys were given Hell even though Harry made amends with Draco, and when they had plans to put Severus Snape to Azkaban too, Harry backed him up with all of his evidence that he was not and never really had been a follower of Lord Voldemort. He showed him Snape's memories he had recollected when Snape had been injured(but managed to survive, so did Sirius but only just), Dumbledore's memories and Dumbledore's portrait also had a say in the issue. Snape was then cleared of it all but removed as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry while Kingsley Shacklebolt took over as Minister for Magic and Minerva McGonagall was made Headmistress of Hogwarts. Harry didn't know what made him save Snape of all people, but he was absolutely certain his mother would not have wanted him to stand aside and do nothing when he held evidence of his good side and his bravery, which Harry had called Snape “the bravest man I ever knew” in front of the whole Wizengamot.

All was well. Well, almost.

While Hogwarts was being rebuilt, the students had to be sent to wizard families to be educated until Hogwarts was restored. People from Muggle families would have a wizard or witch from the Ministry as a private tutor but the Muggle kids would be grouped together. Hermione however, was allowed to stay at the Burrow with Harry and all the Weasleys so it was sort of a holiday, only at most times they were to learn things. Harry still hadn't turned 17 since his birthday was in July and they were still in the middle of May.

But while they were at the Burrow, Sirius hadn't been able to visit due to being at St Mungo's after that horrible curse had almost blown up his brain. He was lucky to be alive, or not so lucky, but the Healers said he would be out in a few weeks or so, so Harry tried not to worry too much. Surprisingly on his first day being “tutored” by Mr Weasley at the Burrow, Harry received a letter from none other than Severus Snape.

“Snape?! Bloody Hell! What does he want?” Ron exclaimed at the news. “Keep your voice down!” Harry hissed at him. They were in Ron's bedroom. Ron, Hermione and Harry were discussing the letter which Harry now held in his hands. “I helped him not get chucked into Azkaban since he wasn't really following orders from Voldemort, he was following them from Dumbledore all along. I know that because I have proof, I told you all that before, remember?”

“Yeah, about him killing Dumbledore on his orders being all part of a plan... I remember Harry. So anyway, what does he want?” “He's thanking me, by the look of it.” “What!?” Hermione and Ron both shouted out in surprise. “Shh!” Harry hissed but he knew somebody must have heard for he heard footsteps outside the door. The door opened and Ginny came in. “What's all the fuss about?” she smiled innocently as she sat next to Hermione. “Nothing. Stay out of it.” Ron snapped and Ginny turned to him and frowned. “Excuse me? It can't be too serious, not now Riddle's gone! So come on, what's up?” “Harry helped Snape during his hearing at the Ministry and gave enough evidence that Snape was on our side all along so he wouldn't get chucked into a cell in Azkaban. Now he's received a thank you letter from him.” Hermione said quickly, glancing at Harry, who was looking at his shoelaces, suddenly finding them very interesting.

Ginny raised eyebrows, her blue eyes the most beautiful eyes Harry had ever seen as they stared at him but he refused to look at them. “A thank you letter? That's...weird. Are you sure it's from Snape and not somebody pretending?” “I know it's from him. I can tell by the handwriting,” Hermione said with a frown of her own. “But I seriously don't know what could've driven him to write a thank you letter to Harry.” “It isn't just that. He's apologising for his behaviour at school too, his treatment towards me in particular, and says he's got important news to tell me about my mum and dad whenever I get the time to meet him.” “What?! You're barking? Is he trying to be friendly now?” Ron suddenly burst out. “Maybe, but Ron, we should forgive him, after all he was on our side all along, it was all an act-” “Blimey Hermione, did the act entail treating Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors like dirt on the sole of his shoe while a new threat popped up every year?!” “Ron-” Harry tried but Ron interrupted. “You can't just expect me to forgive him for that! I'll forgive him for being a git, that's for sure, but you can't just forgive him Harry! Look at how worse it was with you!” “Ron-” Harry tried again. “And anyway, I bet he's got a reason for trying to make amends with you. Maybe he's realised that now nobody will want to be near him and his only comfort is knowing if you're around with your mother's eyes and your father's looks he can taunt you all the time-” “RON!! SHUT UP!” Harry yelled and Hermione, Ginny and Ron looked at him. “It's up to me whether I forgive him or not. Now I don't care whether he used to hate me or still does, but this letter is obviously by his hand and if he's asking for forgiveness from me I might give it if it will stop him hating me forever.” “Since when do you care about him hating you?” Ron breathed. “Since I found out he was best friends with my mother before my father bullied him, dated my mother and Snape and my mum no longer saw each other which is probably what drove him to become a Death Eater.”

Ron gaped at him, Hermione beamed and Ginny looked...well, happy. She'd always admired his forgiveness. “You've gone mental too! I don't know what exactly happened when you killed old Voldyface but ever since then you've got totally barmy!” “I'm glad you think that.” Harry replied coldly, got up and left. “Oh, well played, Ron!” Ginny said waspishly as she too, got up to leave, although she was doing so to go to the kitchen and not outside. It was only at dinner that Harry saw the rest of them again, having been all alone behind a few trees and passing them time by gripping grass from the ground and watching birds fly around. Occasionally one or two would fly down to peck his untied shoelaces but left whenever he shooed them off. It was at dinner that he felt the worst he had in months. He'd begun to have a crush on Ginny ever since after the war now, but at dinner it became clear it upset him she was not his girlfriend.

It was as if she was teasing him, sitting across the table from him, watching him all the time with those beautiful blue eyes, that lovely, flaming red hair with the scent of apples from her shampoo and her rose water perfume mixing together to make a very Ginny-like mixture that fit perfectly. Of course, he'd only caught the scent when he brushed past her on his way into the dining room, but he memorised it and now eating a good meal of shepherd's pie he couldn't help but notice she was teasing him. She was wearing a top much too short for her with no bra and her short skirt revealed the most amazing thighs Harry had ever seen...until they went under the table of course, but still even without makeup, which she rarely ever wore anyway, she was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen.

He could feel his hands start to sweat as he looked into her eyes and immediately looked down at his plate, avoiding her for the rest of the evening. That same night before he fell asleep, he told himself he would try as hard as he could to avoid her as possible. She was Ron's sister for Merlin's sake, and Ron was like a brother to him! He could never do that to Ron, especially if Ron found out when Harry had kept it a secret...if that ever happened, which Harry told himself would not be likely to happen. Satisfied, he quickly fell asleep after that.

He was woken up by Ron, who grunted, “8:45. Mum's gonna go mental if we miss our lesson at 9. God I hate being homeschooled!” Harry had to agree at that too. If he wasn't being homeschooled, he may not be in danger of falling for Ginny! He got dressed as quickly as he could, had two pieces of toast, some pumpkin juice and a bit of porridge, despite the fact he wasn't very hungry. All thoughts of Ginny however, were wiped from his mind when he and Ron followed Hermione and, Ginny and Mr Weasley into the yard. There was a great big table there with lots of little instruments, some Muggle and some wizard, a big banner above read “Charms and Muggle Studies” (Ron snorted at that and he and Harry sniggered) and next to the table was...-

“Hagrid!” Harry exclaimed as Hagrid sweeped him into a bone cracking hug. “'Ello 'Arry,” he chortled as Harry looked up at him. “What are you doing here?” Hermione asked as she and Ron were both sweeped into hugs. “Bin helping yer Da' with all the Charms and Muggle stuff for yer lesson.” “Will you be teaching us anything Hagrid?” said Ron who looked excited, but sounded a bit unsure. “As a matter o' fact, I will be. Care of Magical Creatures an' Transfiguration, since McGonagall can't do it! Mind,” he suddenly looked a bit sombre, “Dunno if that will work out well, my transfigurations aren't always...perfect...” he winked at Harry, who grinned, something he hadn't done in a while. A long while.

“Neville is supposed to be coming too,” Mr Weasley added in a delighted tone as he looked back at the house. “By floo I think.” Not a split minute before we heard Mrs Weasley conversing with Mrs Longbottom and Neville walked through into the yard, covered in soot but otherwise not hurt. Harry was glad. Usually Neville was an accidental prone boy, but if it hadn't been for him, killing the snake in the Battle of Hogwarts and sticking up against Voldemort with a speech that Harry was sure wanted to make Voldemort kill him, had been the bravest he'd ever seen Neville. He was glad for that.

“Hey Neville,” they all greeted him. “Hi guys,” he replied as he came over and there were hugs at that moment. “Right, well, you five best get ready you have 10 minutes, we'll just be conversing about our lesson.” and with that Mr Weasley turned back to Hagrid to talk. Harry suddenly had a nagging feeling he was being watched. He turned around to see where the others were going. They were heading towards a tree to sit in the shade. Except for Ginny. 'Damn!' Harry cursed in his head. No matter what she wore she was always pretty and right now she was wearing a girl's white shirt with a short, velvety green skirt. “What's wrong Harry? Won't you join the others?” she asked and that soft, smooth, velvety voice rang in Harry's hears. He tried to clear his head by thinking of broccoli instead, something he had no wish to eat at the moment. “Er, I'm fine...” “You don't need to lie to me Harry. Is it me?” “No, of course not, why would you think that?” he looked up into her eyes and knew at once that she already knew what was wrong. He glanced over at Ron, Hermione and Neville under the tree, who suddenly burst into laughing. Harry looked at his watch. 'Damn, that hadn't even been a minute!' “Do you want to join the others?” Harry asked her instead, holding out his hand. He didn't know what made him do it and was going to pull it back when she took it and a strange feeling filled him. It was an odd sensation, but it wasn't bad. “All right.” Was all she said in reply, never taking her eyes off him, until the turned to go in the direction of the others and walked towards them, holding hands. They let go of course, only when they'd reached the tree. Harry tried to look normal and not sit next to Ron too quickly but even that was hard! He didn't want to give the wrong impression. He was falling in love with her but he didn't want to shy away from them all, not even her, but whenever she was near him...he tried not to think about it. Instead, he concentrated on their conversation but wasn't really joining in, and he was sure he caught Ginny glancing at him from time to time. “Are you all right Harry?” it was Neville. Four heads turned to look at me. “Yeah, I'm fine,” I tried to smile but it must've looked forced since they didn't look convinced. “Are you sure? You don't look too good...” he trailed off when I didn't answer and only nodded. “I'm fine. Really.” he glanced at his watch. Still 5 minutes to go. “I er,” he caught Mr Weasley going back into the house for something and caught Hagrid spilling things on the floor. “I'm going to help Hagrid.” he suddenly decided and got up to go when he heard Ginny's voice, “Mind if I come?” Harry at once groaned inwardly, knowing he could never escape her if she was acting all innocent. “Sure, you live here, why not?” but he didn't turn to look at her although he did catch Ron saying to Hermione, “What do you think Hagrid's going to bring for his lesson?!” Harry held back a snort of laughter with a small cough, causing Hagrid to acknowledge his presence. “'Arry, you've got free time b-” “Need some help with those?” Harry pointed at the bouncing objects on the floor. “Yeah, thanks.” It wasn't easy catching the objects, Harry had to jump at the ground, roll over, and all sorts of what would've been embarrassing had he not been so concentrated on his task. He could feel Ginny smirking at him, especially when his top went up and showed his stomach and abdomen, which was covered a second later when Harry finally caught a bouncing object and threw it in the basket from whence it came. There were still four objects to catch and Hagrid almost stepped on one too, while Ginny tripped and nearly fell over had Harry not caught her. “Thanks Harry.” she said quietly, looking into his eyes and not letting go of his wrists. “No problem.” Harry replied just as quiet, smiling. It wasn't until he heard the annoying “boing boing” of the bouncing objects that he looked away from her and dove straight for the nearest one. He caught it with his left hand and, careful not to squash it, threw it in the basket. The last one bit him and left Harry confused. “These things can bite?” “Oh! Yeah, forgot to tell ya, it's bad when they bite cos then it hurts for a few hours, should stop hurting by the end of the day mind, but you can't really do anything when you've been bitten. Why d'you ask?” then he spotted Harry's face of “Are you kidding me?”, holding his bloody hand.

“Damn!” Hagrid cursed out loud and was going to turn around when Ginny said, “It's OK Hagrid. I'll take him inside.” Hagrid then looked between the two and a grin started creeping up his face. “What?” Harry said but Hagrid waved it off, still grinning, “Nuthin', nuthin'..” and turned back to his task. Ginny took a bandage from the table and knelt next to Harry, wrapping his hand carefully. Harry felt as if he could relax but he tried not to. Of course, if he relaxed he'd probably feel better and it would be like last year, just friends...but no, this was different. It couldn't. It should, but couldn't. Harry now had a crush on her and Ginny was in love with him and even if Ginny was letting on more than Harry was, it was sort of obvious for those who looked harder.

Ginny helped him up and held his uninjured hand as she led him inside.

“Harry I wanted to ask. Would you like to have tea with me down by the pond? It's near the forest, not too far. After classes of course.” “Er, I don't think that's such a good idea-” “Say yes Harry.” Harry looked into her pleading eyes and muttered, “Yes.” She smiled. “Wonderful.” “What is?” Mrs Weasley bustled towards them and upon seeing Harry's hand, wipped out her wand and summoned a First Aid kit. “What happened to you now?” she sounded exasperated. “Hagrid's biting objects fell out of a box and I helped him getting them back in with Ginny. One bit me.” he said simply and could feel one of Ginny's fingers tracing patterns on the back of his arm. He knew she was doing it on purpose but he didn't think it was a good idea to do that in front of Mrs Weasley.

It wasn't as if it was a secret, after all, that she'd wanted to be his girlfriend. Mrs Weasley undid the beautifully wrapped bandage on his hand, hard, causing Harry to gasp as it seemed to tear his skin too, at which Ginny gripped him tighter in silent support. Harry looked into her eyes and held eye contact until Mrs Weasley declared, “Done. It will still hurt for two or three hours, but the spells have stopped any infections going.” “Thank you Mrs Weasley.” “Don't mention it, Harry, dear. Oh and Errol returned from Hogwarts with a letter for you, Harry.” Harry took the letter Mrs Weasley was holding out for him and slit an opening with his uninjured hand. He scanned the parchment and at once knew it was Snape writing to him.

He read in his mind:

Mr Potter,

I believe you are being educated with the Weasleys until the school his rebuilt?

If you could pop into Diagon Alley on Sunday at around 3, I will be grateful. Try not to mention this to your godfather until he has fully recovered.

S. Snape

Harry frowned at that. What was it he couldn't tell Sirius? Was it so important? And why did Snape want him to meet in Diagon Alley when Snape himself could just come to the Burrow? Harry reread the note once, memorised the time and and date to meet and scrunched up the note, throwing it in the bin. “What was that?” Ginny asked with a light tone of amusement and a twinkle in her eyes. “Rubbish.” Harry replied with a smile, but Mrs Weasley took the envelope still lying on the table and grumbled, “That's Snape's handwriting.” Harry turned to see her fierce look. “What did he want?” “Not much really.” Harry lied but neither Mrs Weasley nor Ginny were convinced, but Ginny didn't say anything. It was Mrs Weasley who was in a mood. “I know you proved his innocence Harry dear,” she said as lightly as she could, “But that doesn't mean he's forgiven by me. If he's giving you a hard time, just tell me and let me handle it, all right?” “Sure. I'll bear that in mind, Mrs Weasley.” Harry smirked as he and Ginny headed back to their lesson.