A/N: Takes place in the summer after HBP and before DH. No direct romance but mentioned Harry/Ginny, Bill/Fleur, Remus/Tonks and possibly Ron/Hermione. Rated simply for a couple of swears.
All Ginny had wanted was some advice. At that moment, though, all she was getting was a headache. The source of said headache? Well that would be the four females around her.
At the time, asking for advice on Harry and a 'girl chat' had seemed like a great idea. Trouble was the only girls she felt comfortable enough to chat with were from completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
At the end of her bed, sat on an old wooden chair usual book propped in her lap, was the frizzy-haired, slightly cynical, very non-believing yet highly intelligent Hermione Granger, the friend Ginny found herself sharing with her brother and newly ex-boyfriend. She glanced up from her book sympathetically; Hermione might have been able to help her with homework... boys, however, not so much. Hermione knew Harry well though, so she was some merit.
To Ginny's right, perched on her bed under the window crossed legged, blonde hair turned white in the sunlight, her nose buried in an upside-down copy of The Quibbler was a girl that could be considered Hermione's opposite; Luna Lovegood. It could be said that, like Hermione, Luna was inexperienced with boys. This may just be their only similarity, though. Whilst Luna was also smart she believed in just about anything that seemed so unbelievably weird that... well, that people just didn't believe in it. Luna was an oddity and it could be said that Hermione found it hard to converse with her at times.
At the centre of it all though Hermione and Luna were friends and that was all that really mattered. Luna with her calm pale complexion, white-blonde hair and radish shaped earrings and Hermione with a slightly more flushed complexion, bushy hair and unpierced ears. Friends.
Friends might still be a little pushed when describing the other two around her.
Perched elegantly if not slightly awkwardly on the end of her bed, playing with the end of the duvet cover was Ginny's new sister-to-be Fleur Delacour. Fleur was, in one word, flawless. Well, on the outside at least; Ginny had had trouble getting along with the quarter-veela for she was rather open-minded and either did not notice when she was insulting others or did not care. More recently though, the two had made up- Ginny loved Bill and Fleur loved Bill, which meant that they had been able to put their differences aside.
The final person Ginny had sought advice from was, in hindsight, probably the main cause of her headache. Slouching right next to her as if it were her own house was Ginny's adopted, for lack of a better word, sister, the (surprisingly) newly wed Nymphadora somethingorother. Tonks was not perfect and had never claimed to be- she could be, she had the ability to look exactly like Fleur if she felt the need, but she didn't and that might just have been one of the things that Ginny admired the most about her. Ginny had always gotten along with Tonks even if she was loud and had the ability to break everything within a metre of her. At that moment in time, however, she seemed more intent on eating the sandwich Ginny had made herself for lunch than actually helping.
Hermione and Luna were opposites in personality- on appearance alone, one might not see how different they were. Fleur and Tonks, however, were a different story.
Yes, on the outside Fleur was perfect- silky blonde hair, bright blue eyes, perfect features, and perfect posture, elegant, graceful and tall... Then again, she was part veela. Always wearing the most fashionable, cleanest, non-ripped clothes even then Fleur was sitting up straight and looking quite out of place in the messy room.
Tonks however looked very in place within the messy room. On the outside Tonks was... Well, Tonks- bright pink hair, eyes that rested on any colour (apart from grey, the colour of her 'godforsaken' family), slouching backwards and probably the clumsiest person one could meet. Even now, Tonks' shirt was a shocking shade of yellow with 'Never Mind the Bollocks, here's The Sex Pistols*' (apparently something to do with to some kind of muggle band) printed across, her jeans patched heavily and already sporting a new rip across the knee and her socks horribly mismatched.
Fleur and Tonks were never going to quite see eye to eye but they were, at least, on good terms with each other, which was more than could be said about the way they had felt the previous year, when Fleur would often make snarky comments about Tonks' appearance and clumsiness and Tonks had taken to calling her a 'jumped-up veela bitch'. Bill had, once again, been the source of the truce between the two- Bill being Fleur's fiancée and one of Tonks' longest-known, best friends.
Individually Ginny may have actually been able to get something useful from each. Together, she just felt slightly awkward.
Only Fleur seemed to reciprocate this feeling, though.
"Ginny" Luna began in her light, almost sing-song voice. "Is there a particular reason that you have gathered us in your room? Have the gnomes in your garden been giving you trouble again? Or has there, perhaps, been an outbreak of Wrackspurts that have invaded your brain?"
Ginny stifled a sigh. She was not in the mood for discussing such odd things with Luna. Unfortunately for Ginny, odd creatures came along with the package that was Luna Lovegood.
"No, Luna."
"Are you sure? You know, those gnomes can be quite tricky at times. Daddy said-"
"No, Luna, the gnomes are not trying to harm me, there are no Wrackspurts in my brain and- Tonks, stop it!"
"Stop what?" The auror asked, a look of innocence crossing her face.
"Stop trying to eat my lunch."
"I wasn't doing anything! But now you mention it I'm starving-"
"Tonks, your arm is literally five centimetres from mine. I can feel you moving it towards the plate. No, you can't have it" Ginny cut her off as she opened her mouth to ask. "Because I was planning on eating it."
The only reply Ginny received was a glare. Ginny was used to Tonks by now, but to anybody else it might seem odd that, at twenty-four, Tonks still seemed to have the mental age of something around an over-excited seven year old. Then again, the same went for Fred, George, Charlie and sometimes even Bill. Marriage hadn't changed Tonks though and that was something that Ginny was glad about.
"I 'ave to say," Fleur began "I would also like to know what eezactly you were wanting advise with. I am, of course 'appy to 'elp" she added hastily. This whole knew friendly relationship was new to the both of them.
"Look, I'm sure if you just talked to him again..." Hermione said quietly, looking up from her book.
"I know you know him, Hermione but I just wanted to be sure-"
"Are you talking about Harry Potter?" Luna asked.
Ginny flushed slightly but continued anyway.
"How do you even know I was talking about... about him?"
"Are you perhaps asking about Dean Thomas again?" Luna inquired.
"Ginny, ma cherie, eef you want 'elp you are going to 'ave to tell us." Fleur actually looked sympathetic for once.
Ginny sighed and played with a loose strand of her jumper. Would it sound childish to admit that Harry was her problem? Then again, they had all come here on her behalf.
"What's up, Ginny?" asked Hermione. "What really happened? Down by the lake?"
Ginny felt Tonks beside her sigh a little too over-dramatically.
"You were right; she's having Harry problems."
"Tonks!" Ginny exclaimed
Okay, so maybe she was having Harry problems but they were her Harry problems. Hers and hers alone and if she wanted to blurt them out then she would. Tonks, however, had not right.
"What? Don't beat around the bush, Gin, its boring" she replied, reaching again for the plate.
Ginny, now rather irritated, picked up the plate and held it out over the floor, out of reach of the Auror. Tonks moved after it, ending up collapsing on her side, half on Ginny. Ginny used her initiative and ignored her.
"Look, I'm sure if you just talk to him-"
"No offense Hermione but just shut up, alright? Look, I've already taken your view on this and it hasn't helped. Considering this and the fact that there are no books in the world that could help me here, you're point is invalid."
"Well, if you don't want my help" Hermione replied rather huffily.
"It's not that I don't want it, it just doesn't help." Ginny sighed; she hadn't meant to snap but Hermione sure wasn't helping.
Hermione snorted and turned back to her book.
"And you" the redhead began, turning to her Auror friend who was still sprawled on her side, arm leaning across Ginny's stomach.
"What'd I do?"
"You aren't helping, either. Any advice you've given me is unhelpful and you're too happy."
"Sorry. Want me to go cry in the corner?"
"Tonks-"
"Be happy, Ginny!"
"You are such a hypocrite!" Ginny snapped. "You've been telling me to be happy, keep my temper and stop pining. What exactly have you just spent a year doing?"
"What's your point?"
Ginny sighed.
"If I give you this sandwich will you stop talking?"
"Possibly. I mean, I can't be a hundred percent sure..."
Ginny rolled her eyes and handed over the plate to the hungry Auror, who finally sat up.
"What do you think I should do?" Ginny asked her last hope; Fleur. If she was honest, she wasn't quite sure why Luna was here. Actually, considering the fact that she'd already got opinions from Hermione and Tonks, she wasn't sure why they were here, either. In truth, she just hadn't been confident enough to approach Fleur alone.
"Well" Fleur began after a moment's consideration. "Firstly, I theenk that you and 'Arry make a very cute couple. I theenk, though, zat 'e thinks 'e is protecting you-"
Tonks snorted at this and Fleur paused to glare at her. Unfortunately, this might just have been the first time she had had a reasonable conversation with Fleur.
"Carry on, Fleur"
"Well, as I was sayeeng,'e theenks zat 'e is protecting you. He has your safety in mind and you should consider zis-"
Fleur was stopped by another snort, this time accompanied by a small cough from Hermione. Luna remained almost silent, simply humming a strange tune under her breath.
Ginny glared at Hermione before giving Tonks a sharp jab in the ribs.
"Ouch!"
"Shut up. Carry on, please."
With one last frosty look, Fleur continued.
"As I was saying, 'e theenks zat you are in danger from zee Death Eaters if you are with 'im-"
"But I'm not! I mean, I am but I'm in danger anyway-"
"Oh, it's the Ministry workers you need to worry about most" Luna chimed in. "Did you know that they are trying to bring us down using a combination of gum disease and dark magic?"
"You are right, we are all in danger. I theenk you should just talk to him, eef he really loves you zen maybe 'e will see differently. 'Arry is a good person, 'e is kind hearted but in zeez times nothing should get in ze way of love." Fleur continued as though the conversation had not been interrupted.
"That's alright for you to say, you're getting married in two weeks" Ginny muttered, drawing her legs up to her chest.
"Per'aps. The two of you will work it out though. Love can surpass all."
This time it was Ginny that snorted- she never had had quite high opinions of love.
"Well," Hermione, who had been obviously bursting to say something again, began "As long as you don't use a love potion. You do know how dangerous they are, don't you? In Advanced Potions Making it says that they can are often considered one of the most dangerous potions to be created. You know, it's theorised-"
"Hermione. I am not going to use a love potion. How would that help?"
"Well I was just making sure..."
"Juss' snog 'im 'gain" Tonks mumbled through a mouthful.
"Tonks."
"Mmmm?"
"That's not the answer to all of life's solutions. I don't care how many times you've suggested it over the past month; it's still not a valid suggestion."
"Why'm I 'ere then?"
"I wanted moral support!"
She swallowed.
"You're sixteen, you don't have morals. 'Sides, you're only young, shouldn't the worst of your problems be whether the Harpies win the cup or not?"
"You know, I theenk zat Tonks ess right, Ginny."
Ginny frowned at this. Since when were they allowed to gang up on her?
"If you love someone, let them go!" Luna joined in the conversation once again.
Ginny and Fleur simultaneously looked at Luna, puzzled. Hermione put down her book and Tonks even stopped chewing. Luna Lovegood, say something sensible?
"Yes, if you love somebody let them go. Maybe you should let Harry go, but before you do tell him how you feel. If he loves you back, he will come back. Oh and don't kiss him under mistletoe; Nargles hide there."
Then Ginny did something that she hadn't done for a while. She laughed.
It was at that moment that Ginny realised that yes, her friends were odd and unhelpful but she wouldn't trade them for anyone else.
Oh and she was totally taking Luna's advice over anyone else's.
*I can't be the only person that could see Bill and Tonks in Sex Pistols tshirts, right?
