Destiny Reversed

Chapter 9 Ice Breaker

Ron has been giving Harry an extraordinarily hard time –more so than he had for Ginny's past boyfriends; Harry should know, he was the one Ron had complained to. Perhaps it was because Ginny was much more serious about Harry than she was for Dean or Michael, who could be considered to be brief, experimental flings.

In fact, he still remembered vividly the confrontation the second day of school; his jaw still throbbed.

"Harry, is everything okay?"

Snapping out of his daydreams, Harry returned Ginny's gaze. "Yeah, fine," he said distantly. Once again he felt the flirtatious butterflies he had become accustomed to last year whenever he looked at Ginny. There was an immense urge to just snog her, to see if her kisses were the same . . . but contrary to popular belief, Harry Potter does possess some self-restraint.

So instead, he settled for holding her hand, savoring the warmth of her deceptively little palms. They walked down the hallway in comfortable silence, listening to the bustle of the students surrounding them, although it was quieter and less chaotic than it had been less than a year ago.

"You're different," Ginny commented, her brown eyes serious.

"So are you," Harry said, realizing that there were indeed subtle differences, though she still remained, essentially, his Ginny.

Ginny shook her head. "No, but you're . . . I dunno . . . it has something to do with the Diagon Alley attack, doesn't it?"

Harry blinked, surprised. Wasn't she good friends with Violet? "Didn't my sister tell you?"

There he goes with "my sister" again.

Shaking her head, Ginny replied, "No, but you know her . . . she keeps things to herself sometimes."

"Yeah," Harry said distantly, unconsciously rubbing her hand with his thumb.

"OY!"

Both of them turned around, cringing at the familiar voice.

Ron Weasley, feet thundering down the hallway, screeched to a stop in front of them, staring at their intertwined hands in horror. Pointing accusingly at Harry, he said, "I told you to stay away from my sister!"

Harry valiantly resisted the strong urge to roll his eyes.

"Who I date is not for you to decide," Ginny said hotly, stepping in front of Harry.

"If I decided, you wouldn't be dating at all!" Ron exclaimed.

"Good thing you don't decide, then. And you'd better watch it; Harry's team captain."

Eyes wide, Ron looked up at Harry. "You'd kick me off the team just cause –see, Ginny, this is exactly why you shouldn't date! Never know who could turn out to be a git!"

"Bit hypocritical there, aren't you?" Harry muttered, remembering vividly the almost sickening snog sessions between Ron and Lavender.

Ron stared back and forth between them, looking flustered. He looked torn between scorning his sister and yelling at Harry; he decided on the latter.

"You have no right to date my sister!" he shouted, pointing a determined finger at Harry, "I've seen you –snogging in broad daylight! You're too old for her, and –and –I won't let you take advantage of her!"

Harry's eyes narrowed dangerously as he felt anger pulsing through his veins. Before he knew it, his temper had got the better of him at Ron's infuriatingly exaggerated protectiveness and unfounded accusation.