Fair game

Harry awoke in the hospital wing. Not in the office sorting files, but as a patient, in the hospital bed. Harry was nothing short of confused. How did he even wake up here? He just remembers his detention spent with Ginny, and then casually blacking out. He fully opens his eyes, and pathetically tries to sit up, but his muscles prove he’s too weak for that right now. He turns and sees Ginny, sprawled on a chair next to his bed, sleeping peacefully. He’s seen Ginny sleep before, whenever there was a late night at the burrow or maybe she knocked out studying in the library. She always looked content, cute, or the most accurate word according to Harry, beautiful.

“Hey Ginny…” He says softly. His voice alone wakes Ginny.

“Oh my gosh, Harry, you’re awake! Do you want me to get Madam Pomfrey?” Ginny said.

“I'm fine for now, I just need help standing up right,” and Ginny proceeds to help him, “What happened to me?”

“Madam Pomfrey hasn’t observed enough to diagnose you. She said you had to wake up before she tested you.” Ginny said, “but enough about that. How are you feeling Harry?”
Ginny takes her seat, inching a little closer this time.

“Oh me? I’m fine. Feeling weak, and confused, but fine. Anyways, how did I go from detention to here? And why were you sleeping next to me?” Harry asked.

Ginny began to explain. “Well, we were at detention and you said something about taking me to be your date for Slughorn’s dinner party…”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Well, I had asked you a question and you weren’t answering and the next thing I know you're knocked out. We’re lucky we were in the hospital wing, you know, Madam Pomfrey being so close. After that they got you to a bed and gave you some medicine for the time being. Professor McGonagall advised me to alert the quidditch team and your friends of what happened. She sent me to bed, but I woke up early to be here.”

Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and was touched Ginny did that for him.

“Ginny, you’re great. Thank you for being here.” Harry said sincerely, staring into her rich brown eyes. Harry really loved her eyes.

The tiniest bit of tears welled up in the eyes Harry adored so much. Ginny wiped them away. “Y’know you really scared me, Harry. Don’t do that again.”

“Hey, don’t cry. I’m okay Ginny,” he let the words sink in, “I’m okay, okay?” He tucked a strand of Ginny’s auburn hair behind her ear. As the sun slipped through the hospital wings windows into where Ginny was sitting, Harry noticed each and every freckle she had was highlighted.

Ginny grabbed his hand and squeezed it, bathing in each other's sweet silence. But suddenly, Hermione and Ron rush inside the hospital wing, eager to visit Harry.

“Harry!” Ron called out. He glanced at Harry and Ginny’s hands, which quickly separated once Ron came. “Well Ginny, I see you’re here early.”

Ginny rolled her eyes. Hermione took a seat. “Harry, I heard what happened. You gave me quite a scare, honestly.”

“You know me Hermione, I’ll do anything to get out of detention.” Harry joked.

“Not funny Harry!” Hermione said, but Ginny found it amusing.

Ron, his focus unwavering on Quidditch, voiced his concerns. “Mate, I know this isn’t really a priority right now, but what is the quidditch team going to do? We need you!”

Shit. Caught off guard, Harry realized he'd forgotten about the upcoming match. "Well we have no choice. Ginny's gotta step in as seeker, and we've got to find another Chaser."

Ginny, taken aback, questioned, "I have to play seeker? And who's the Chaser?"

“Dean Thomas.” Harry said.

“What!” Ginny and Ron said in unison.

“Listen, I understand it's not ideal. He’s literally the last guy I would want on this team. But he’s pretty good, and I did tell him if we ever needed a Chaser we would look to him.” Harry said.

“But-” Ginny tried to protest.

“No buts, I'm the captain and I made a decision. I trust one of you guys will ask him to play in the match?”

“Count me out,” said Ron.

“Ugh, this is so unfair.” Ginny said. Suddenly, the door swung open and the stern figures of Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Madam Pomfrey entered the scene.

“Mr. Potter, how are you feeling?” Madam Pomfrey said.

“I’m fine, thanks. But what happened to me?” Harry said.

“I’m afraid what you consumed will cause you to be bedridden for a couple of days, before your muscles can regenerate. And even after that you will have to use crutches just to walk. I’m sorry Harry, I know you had a quidditch match.” Madam Pomfrey reported.

“What caused this? What was it- dark magic? I knew Malfoy was up to something!” Harry said.

“It wasn’t dark magic silly boy,” said Snape, and Harry twitched at the fact that Snape had just called him that. “Just a badly made Infatuation potion. The stronger an alchemist tries to make a potion, the more disastrous it is if it fails, and in this case they failed. I'm assuming you were stupid enough to drink the potion?”

“Yeah, like I would drink a cup labeled ‘badly made infatuation potion for Harry Potter’. They probably spiked my juice, it tasted so odd.” Harry proceeded to detail the strange juice he drank, and Hermione theorized on how they got there before hand to spike it.

“There’s no way that person knew that Harry was going to drink that exact cup. They could’ve gotten a random person hurt!” Hermione said.

“I'm sorry,” Ginny interjected, “But who poisoned Harry with an Infatuation potion?!”

“We did some investigating, and eventually a certain student admitted to what she had done. I can assure you Mr. Potter got the justice he deserved, and the student has been properly punished.”

“Who?!”

“Romilda Vane.”
***

Thankfully it was a Saturday, so Ginny didn’t have classes to dread. She decided to skip breakfast and contemplate what she was going to tell Dean. Something along the lines of ‘Hey Dean, sorry for punching you in the face, come be a Chaser please!’ would have to work.

In the common room, she was bored. Most of her friends practically ran away from her when they found out what she did, and Ron and Hermione were off on their own.

She found a place in Harry, to talk and joke and play games and to simply… relate to each other. He was a great friend, and they were beginning to become closer. Ginny's old self would freak out knowing this information, but she found herself realizing that she needed to become friends with Harry and actually know him, instead of being some obsessed fan like Romilda.

She made a mental note to visit Harry later. She sat in the common room alone, unsure what to do with her Saturday without her friend. At this time, she and Harry would be studying, or maybe hanging out with Ron and Hermione, or on the quidditch pitch, a place where they both felt safe. But she couldn’t do that today.

As people started to bustle back, Colin Creevy approached Ginny. “Ginny! Is it true Romilda poisoned Harry? Where is he?”

“Colin, Harry is in the hospital wing right now. I don’t really want to talk about it.” Ginny said.

“I heard Romilda is banned from all Hogsmeade visits, and she has eleven detentions! Oh, and she might be suspended. Funny right? All of the Gryffindors gave her stink eyes at breakfast. Y’know, I was confident about our game against slytherin, but not anymore. I mean, without Harry, it's going to be pretty hard to win.” Colin remarked.

“Harry’s going to be out for a bit, so I’m playing seeker.”

“Who will be the Chaser?”

“Dean Thomas.” Ginny said. Speaking of the devil, Dean Thomas entered the common room, “Whoops, looks like I got to go, Bye Colin.”

“Bye, sorry about Harry.” He said. Ginny steadily marched up to Dean, mentally preparing to talk to him. She hasn’t dared to approach him since the interaction they exchanged that got her into lots of trouble. Professor McGonagall said she owed him an apology, but Ginny just hadn’t gotten to it yet, even though deep down she knew that an apology was due.

“Hey Dean? Can I talk to you in private?”

***

They made their way out of the common room and outside into the courtyard. The warm fall air hit them, and Ginny and Dean sat on a bench overlooking a bunch of trees. Ginny took it in, realizing how beautiful the Hogwarts campus was.

“So,” Ginny said, “I’m here to extend you an apology. I’m sorry. I don't know what went over me, honestly.”

“Ginny it’s fine, I was way out of line. I accept your apology.”

“Good, I'm relieved,” said Ginny.

“Is that all or?” Dean inquired.

“Actually, I’m here to ask you something. I don’t know if you heard about Harry or not but, it’s not looking too good and he’s going to be out for this upcoming game. Since I’ll be playing seeker, can you be our replacement Chaser?”

“Yeah, I would be honored! I’m really sorry about Harry, but I’m glad I’ll be playing!”

“Great! We have a practice tomorrow at six, so be there.” Suddenly the mood of the conversation shifted. “Hey, Dean. How would you feel if me and Harry started dating? I mean, I wouldn’t want you to view it as like, a slap in the face or the reason we broke up. I’m sorry if I made you feel inferior to him while we were dating, because you’re not, you’re great. I just really like Harry–”

“Ginny, don’t worry about it. I’ve moved on, I’m past our relationship. I don’t care if you date Harry, I’m actually rooting for you guys.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Ginny said, a bit humbled but glad.

“Especially because….”

“Especially because what, Dean?”

“Especially because I might be gay.” Dean said.