Written for @hinnymicrofic

“Better put the salve on that Harry. Looks like it’ll bruise— sorry.”

Peakes stands in the doorway across from him, expression sheepish, holding a tin containing the bruise salve.

At the mention of his injury, Harry flushes, praying the reason he was hit head on by a bludger during practice wasn’t completely obvious to the rest of the team.

Because of course, the reason is Ginny— or more aptly, his inability to keep his eyes off Ginny.

“That’s alright. Glad we’ve got a beater with good aim,” he says, trying to keep his tone light, ignoring the smarting pain from the spot on his left arm where the bludger hit. “Ravenclaw won’t know what hit them.”

Peakes beams at the praise.

“Cheers.” Peakes tosses the tin of salve across to where he sits on the changing room bench.

Harry catches it in his right hand with a wave. “See you tomorrow.”

He rolls up the sleeve of his t-shirt, trying to reach around to the back side of his left arm, where he’s certain a nasty bruise is forming.

“Here, let me help.”

His head snaps up at the sound of her voice across the now-empty changing room. Ginny walks towards him from the cubicle, her long hair swept up into a ponytail, cheeks still flushed from practice.

He’s struck, yet again, by how beautiful she is.

“Thanks, but you don’t have to—“ his words die as she takes the tin from his hands and her fingers graze over his palm.

“It’ll be easier, you can hardly reach.”

Her fingers, warm and gentle, press the salve onto his bicep.

His stomach does a Wronski Feint.

“I suppose I should apologize,” she says, the corner of her lips curving upwards as her fingers make smooth circles on his arm.

He stares at her for a moment too long, tries to ignore his stomach, now doing backflips as she rubs the salve in. He knows she’s teasing, setting up a joke, but he hasn’t worked out the punchline yet.

“What for?” he replies, hoping his hair looks handsomely windswept and not like the disaster he fears it is.

“For scoring such a spectacular goal that you completely missed that bludger bearing down on you.” Her smile widens as she says it.

His laughter echoes in the empty room.

He speaks before he thinks, the words spilling out, honest— something he’s noticed happens a lot when he’s talking to Ginny.

“It wasn’t the goal I was distracted by.”

It was you. I can’t stop looking at you. I fancy you.

He doesn’t say it, his self preservation instinct kicking in. He looks up at her instead and adds with a grin, “Though it was a brilliant right hook, as usual.”

He swears that her cheeks flush, but then he’s back to staring into her eyes, warm, golden brown, shining in the light.

“Well, it couldn’t have been the snitch, because I saw it take off towards the far hoops as I passed mid pitch.” Her smirk is back, her lips full and pink.

He wants nothing more than to kiss her.

“Unless I’m just seeing things?” Her brow quirks, a challenge.

“You aren’t,” he says, heart racing, mouth dry, as close as he’s ever come to telling her how he feels.

“Well, what was it then?”

You. Just you. Always you.

She sets the tin onto the bench, and she’s closer now— close enough that he can see her long lashes and the faint dusting of freckles across her nose.

He looks straight into her eyes, decides.

This is it. This is the moment. Be bold.

He tilts his chin up towards her, moves closer, and she leans towards him, her lips slightly parted, eyes closing—

Bang! The slam of the door to the shower cubicle echoes.

They jolt apart as Ron appears, fully dressed, hair damp. “Let’s go to dinner, I’m starving.”

Harry has never loathed his best mate’s absolute shit timing more.

“Thanks for waiting,” Ron says, completely oblivious to the fact that he’s fucked Harry’s chances.

“We weren’t, you idiot.” Ginny rolls her eyes and motions to Harry’s arm and the salve tin on the bench.

“That’s going to be nasty tomorrow.” Ron winces, looking at his arm, where the salve shines over the bludger’s mark. “Harry, mate, you’ve got to keep your eyes up. Don’t want to miss what’s right in front of you.”

Harry looks straight at her, hopes she’ll understand.

Day 17 and we’re returning to the Burrow for a HBP missing moment from @somesunlitdays, read it on AO3 here

Title: Helpless Author: somesunlitdays Pairing: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley Warnings: None Prompt: Paper chains and other homemade decorations

The luggage in the overhead rack wobbled precariously as the Hogwarts Express pulled into King’s Cross station and came to a staggering halt. Both Pigwidgeon and Hedwig hooted, flustered, the latter fixing Harry with a reproachful look. 

“It’s not my fault,” he grumbled, placing her cage on his seat. People were already swarming the corridors, dragging with them their trunks and cages and woolen scarves. “You’re becoming too demanding, I’ve noticed. Calm down a bit.”

Hedwig ruffled her feathers indignantly.

Once he and Ron had pulled on their cloaks and cleared away the remains of their lunch – which had consisted largely of cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties – Harry peered out of the compartment door in an attempt to gauge whether they could get off the train with ease. 

It was no good; the corridor beyond was packed.

Moving to slide the door shut, fully intent upon waiting for the crowd to thin before leaving, Harry spared the passing students a cursory glance. 

He cursed inwardly.

A group of tiny students wrapped in blue scarves were staring at him, open-mouthed and paused mid-step. Harry would have laughed at the sight they made had their attention not been focused on him. Moreover, three fifth-year girls were loitering near their compartment, giggling and throwing curious looks in his direction.

“Merry Christmas!” came Ron’s voice without warning. Alarmed, Harry turned around to find Ron looking over his shoulder and addressing the three girls. Grinning, he nudged Harry and added, “Go on, Harry – don’t just stand there. Say something.”

The girls, looking expectantly at him now, giggled again.

“Oh, er…”

“Merry Christmas, Harry Potter,” one of them blurted, sounding slightly breathless.

“Right, thanks. You too.”

Feeling his face burning, Harry slid the compartment door shut with a loud snap.

“‘You too’?” Ron repeated. He sounded deeply amused.

“Shut up,” Harry snapped, pulling out a box of owl treats to lob some into Hedwig and Pigwidgeon’s cages, both of whom were showing distinct signs of creating a racket. 

“Really well said, mate. Wait till I tell the other boys of your fantastic responses. They’ll be queuing up to get tips from you.”

“…and it was blissful oblivion, better than firewhiskey; she was the only real thing in the world, Ginny, the feel of her, one hand at her back and one in her long, sweet-smelling hair…”

I have soooooo many but I'll try to narrow it down to my top 5 haha (in no specific order- I don't think I could choose between them if I tried)

like passing notes in secrecy

of chest monsters and more

noticing

everything I wanted

extremely non-platonically

every now and then i remember how the movies robbed us of this iconic kiss

Harry and Ginny ❤️

● HP women being hated and bashed by misogynistic fans everywhere.

○ Ginny being called ugly or fat or a slag or a love potioning criminal just because Harry ended up with her and not the ferret or his best friend, who he himself identifies as a sister.

○ Hermione being called a Ron-obsessed crybaby just because she dared to cry when she was sad and was emotionally mature.

○ Lily Potter's identity being erased just so that people can push their Death Eater/James Potter ships when he died for her.

○ Molly being bashed as the money hungry, manipulative woman when she took Harry as her own, even though she had little to share.

○ Tonks being called ugly or temperamental or incompetent when she dared to love a man who didn't love himself.

● Fanon Draco Malfoy.

● Any form of Weasley bashing.

NEVILLE | GINNY | LUNA

I find it really sad how overlooked is the rarity of Harry and Ginny's couple dynamic.

In stories like Harry Potter where the main character is clearly the main character and not just the person who gives us their point of view for the story, it's very common that the love interest isn't an equal to the hero. Usually, the love interest is one of the helpers of the main character which inevitably creates an unbalanced dynamic where a lot of the life experiences of the love interest revolve around the main character. Take Ron and Hermione, they are not equals to Harry. They are equals to each other, they are the only two people who know what it means to be Harry's best friend in the war but the stories/adventures they are involved in aren't theirs. They are not equals to Harry, which doesn't mean they are less or more, just something else.

Ginny on the other end is the only character between the young ones - besides Harry obviously - that is a main character in her own right. She has her own story, her own friends, her own adventures, her own giant trauma, and her own relationship with darkness. She has her own hero story with her leading the rebellion at Hogwarts and her own helpers, Neville and Luna.

She is a main character whose story we don't have the opportunity to read. And Harry is her love interest just as much as she is Harry's one. She may understand Harry perfectly and so be perfect for him, but Harry understands her perfectly too and therefore is the only logical love interest for her.

And even after the books she keeps being Harry's equal becoming famous in her own right with professional Quidditch and then assuming the most influential role in Wizarding World sport as editor of the sports section for the Prophet.

She even has her sort of prophecy with the whole being the first daughter in seven generations and the seventh sibling, something that supposedly makes her quite powerful, something that we see, something that even Slughorn, a man who knows pretty much all the people who are worth being known, recognizes.

To solidify this point, her story is circular like Harry's. If Harry starts this story as someone who needs to be rescued and who is in search of a family he ends it with him protecting other people for a job and having a loving family. Ginny starts her story as a young girl who as such has to hide her true ambitions, as someone who because she wrote in a diary faced unspeakable horrors, and she ends the story with being famous for her talent, the mother of a youngest sibling and girl that she'll make sure will grow up not needing to hide her ambitions and a journalist, reclaiming her passion for writing.

On the other hand: Charlie Kirk reaped what he sowed. It’s impossible to overstate the level of harm this man did. He acted as a propaganda arm for fascists and billionaires, advocated against the rights of women and minorities (he proudly said he would force his 10yo to give birth if she were raped and impregnated), and railed against reforming the very gun culture that killed him.