"Professor Potter," she greeted. "How lovely to see you today. What brings you to this fine corridor?"
"You know," Harry mused thoughtfully, scratching his chin idly, "I could give you detention for mocking a professor."
"Well, Professor Potter," Ginny purred as she sidled up to Harry, "would I be serving that detention with you personally?" Ginny's female friend giggled girlishly as heat flooded Harry's face at the thinly veiled innuendo, giving him a blush to rival any Weasley's.
Harry gulped audibly as he took a moment to compose himself. When he responded it was in a brisk, business-like tone. "As a matter of fact, yes. If you would please follow me to my office, I will give you the details momentarily." He turned on his heel and, without a second glance back, strode purposefully to his office on the 5th floor. When he reached the door, he opened it up and waited outside in the hallway. A moment later Ginny rounded the corner and walked up to the door, shooting Harry a questioning glance which he studiously ignored. Without comment, he motioned her to precede him into the office with a wave of his hand.
Ginny stood in the middle of the room while Harry shut the door behind him, surreptitiously adding privacy wards with a wave of his hand, and sank into one of the arm chairs. Ginny followed suit, sitting in the seat opposite him. He maintained his stoic expression for a moment before breaking into a broad grin and letting out a hearty guffaw. "Well played. I must say I am impressed. I've been working hard on maintaining complete control over my emotions, but that comment caught me completely off guard."
"What can I say?" she asked, a wide smile lighting up her face. "It's a gift."
"Indeed," he replied seriously. "But all flirtations aside, there was a reason I was waiting for you in the corridor."
"Oh?" she purred suggestively, leaning forward in her chair.
"Stop that," he reprimanded with a grin.
"Sorry," she said unapologetically. "Go on. What did you need to talk to me about?"
"Well, it's about Dean actually," he started. "And Ron. Dean stopped me after breakfast this morning. He asked me if he had done anything to upset Ron because your brother has apparently been pretty cold to him lately."
"Oh no," Ginny groaned.
"Please tell me that you remembered to tell Ron the truth about you and Dean," Harry said pleadingly.
"Of course I remembered to tell him," she scolded distractedly. "I was just counting on Ron being reasonable about the whole situation once he found out the truth and dropping the animosity he had built up over the summer towards Dean. I obviously gave my brother too much credit."
"Well then the way I see it we have two problems to deal with," Harry said logically. "How do we get Ron to quit being a prat? And what do we tell Dean?"
Ginny groaned as she slumped forward, putting her head in her hands.
"Okay, first things first: do you want me to talk to Ron for you?"
"No," Ginny stated. "It's my fault he's being a prat. And he's my brother. I should be the one to set him straight. I don't want him taking any of his anger out on you."
"Well, if you need any help with him, let me know," he told her. "Now, what should I tell Dean. I already told him that I might know the cause and that it wasn't anything he had done but was more of a misunderstanding on Ron's part than anything else. I didn't want to say any more than that without talking to you first."
"Thanks, Harry," she told him sincerely, reaching forward and lightly squeezing his knee. "It's nice of you to look out for me, but I think we should tell him the truth. He's got a right to know why my brother is being a prat to him. God, that's going to be an embarrassing conversation."
"I'll talk to Dean and explain everything for you," Harry offered. "You just worry about setting your brother straight."
"No," Ginny shook her head. "No, I should be the one to tell him. This is my mess, and you shouldn't have to clean it up." By the time she finished the statement, her head was bowed forward, buried in her hands.
"Ginny," Harry said gently, reaching forward and tilting her face up to meet his gaze. "That's what friends are for, right? Helping clean each other's messes? You worry about Ron and let me talk to Dean."
Ginny's eyes sparkled as she was caught in Harry's mesmerizing gaze. "Thank you, Harry. That really means a lot. I was not looking forward to that conversation… I don't even really know the bloke."
"It's nothing," he said warmly, finally removing his finger from her chin and leaning back in his seat. He turned his gaze to the fireplace, which sparked to life at that very moment. He sighed contentedly.
After several minutes Ginny broke the silence. "Harry?" she asked tentatively.
"Hmmm?" he answered distractedly.
"I hate to bring this up right now, what with you just agreeing to help me with the whole Ron/Dean situation…" she began hesitantly.
Harry turned his full attention back to the red-haired young woman sitting opposite him. "Ginny, don't ever hesitate to ask me for anything. If you need something, then just ask away," he told her warmly, then added as an afterthought, "The worst thing that can happen is I say no."
"Well, I've just been thinking," she stated, "and I know that you're really busy and all, what with your regular classed and the HA and Quidditch and everything, but I was wondering if you could help me with something, a little project I'd like to start working on."
"I'd be glad to help you Ginny," Harry stated honestly and unhesitantly. "Just tell me what you need."
She smiled warmly at him as she continued. "Well I really want to become an animagus. And I was hoping that maybe you could help teach me. I can do any necessary reading on my own, I was just hoping that maybe you can help me out with the transformation. I know you're busy, so I don't expect you to put a lot of time into it, but if you could maybe meet with me an hour or two a week, I would really appreciate it."
"I think it's a great idea," Harry responded genuinely. "Of course I'll help you out, as best I can anyway. I don't think I really managed the transformation by conventional means, but I might be able to help you along."
"Oh, Harry, thank you," Ginny all but squealed as she launched herself out of her chair into Harry's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.
....
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