The weeks slipped by in a whirlwind of schoolwork, Quidditch practices, and quiet moments in the Gryffindor common room. The golden hues of autumn gave way to the chill of winter, blanketing Hogwarts in frost and casting a soft, silvery glow over the castle grounds. For Harry, the season brought both comfort and a strange sort of urgency, as if each passing day carried him closer to choices he hadn’t yet prepared to make.
One Saturday morning, Harry sat by the window in the common room, his gaze fixed on the snowy landscape beyond. A light snow was falling, each flake drifting slowly down to join the pristine layer that had settled over the lawns and the Forbidden Forest. It was peaceful, but Harry’s thoughts were anything but.
Ron and Hermione were in the library, neck-deep in research for an upcoming assignment, but Harry hadn’t been able to focus. There was something weighing on him, a question that had been tugging at the back of his mind for weeks. It wasn’t about school or even about the next Quidditch match—it was about Ginny, about the feelings he had been trying to understand, the feelings he couldn’t ignore.
He glanced down at his hands, a strange mix of nervousness and anticipation swirling in his chest. How could something as simple as a friendship feel so complicated? Every time he saw Ginny, his heart seemed to skip a beat, his thoughts tangling in ways he couldn’t quite untangle. He knew he cared about her deeply, but was it more than that? Was it something he wasn’t ready to put into words?
Lost in thought, Harry didn’t notice Ginny approaching until she was right beside him.
“Harry?” she asked, her voice gentle but filled with curiosity.
He looked up, startled, a faint blush rising to his cheeks. “Oh—hey, Ginny. I didn’t see you there.”
She smiled, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “You seemed pretty lost in thought. Mind if I join you?”
Harry shook his head, motioning to the seat beside him. Ginny settled into it, her gaze following his to the snowy grounds outside.
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They sat in companionable silence for a while, watching the snow fall. Harry’s mind raced, searching for the right words, for some way to express what he was feeling without complicating things further. He didn’t want to ruin their friendship, didn’t want to risk the bond they had built. But at the same time, he couldn’t keep pretending that he didn’t feel something more.
After a few moments, Ginny broke the silence, her voice soft. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Winter always feels so… peaceful.”
Harry nodded, grateful for the distraction. “Yeah, it does. It’s like everything just slows down, like you can forget about all the worries for a while.”
Ginny turned to him, her gaze thoughtful. “You’ve been quieter lately, Harry. Is something on your mind?”
Her question caught him off guard, and he hesitated, unsure how much to say. But Ginny’s eyes were kind, filled with understanding, and he found himself wanting to share his thoughts with her, to let her in.
“It’s just… I’ve been thinking a lot about the future,” he admitted, his voice barely more than a whisper. “About the choices we’ll have to make, about the people we care about.”
Ginny nodded, her expression unreadable. “I get it. Sometimes it feels like everything’s changing so fast, like we’re being pulled in so many different directions.”
Harry glanced at her, a mixture of relief and gratitude filling him. She understood—she always seemed to understand. And for a moment, he wondered if maybe, just maybe, she felt the same way.
