"Ginny! C'mon, we have to go to Ron's Zonko meeting," Mrs. Weasly said as
she knocked on Ginny's door.
"NO! Don't come in! I mean, uh, I'll be right there, Mom!" Ginny freaked as Harry's letter almost blew off the windowsill. She sighed, and looked out the window at the rolling green hills and the darkening but light blue sky. She wished Harry was there, and laughed as she remembered Harry writing, 'Dudley's getting fatter. I can tell by the way his hand-me-downs keep getting bigger.'
She watched her bright red hair blow in front of the blue sky as she heard her mother yell, "Ginny!" again, and sighed once more as she thought of Ron's stupid Zonko meeting.
"Coming, Mother!" Her mom was recently in to polite names such as 'Mother' instead of 'Mom,' and Ginny raced down the stairs before her mom made her wash the dishes, which was Ron's chore, for making him late to his Zonko meeting.
* * * *
Harry hid in his closet, as his relatives thought he was in his room reading a letter delivered by his owl, which he was. They never looked in his closet, and Harry would sneak down the stairs to wash the dishes once he was done reading Ginny's letter, as always. He could picture her with her red hair streaming against the blue sky looking out of her window down at the green hills. He grabbed a toy wand, which he was forced to use, and whispered, "Lumos," and the end of the toy would light up for a few minutes, long enough for him to finish Ginny's letter. He chuckled as he read, ''I have to go now another one of Ron's stupid Zonko meetings, and I have to hurry or I'll make Ron late, and then "Mother" will make me wash the dishes for him. Write back soon! Ginny.'
"I'm sorry, Aunt Petunia! I know Hedwig has been screeching a lot lately, and you love your beauty sleep. In fact, I'll send her away right now." Harry ran to his room and finished tying his letter to Ginny onto Hedwig's leg before releasing her out the window. "I'm very sorry, Aunt Petunia, and I won't let it happen again!" He heard her mumble, "You'd better be sorry," before turning back around to the dishes. Harry ran to his room before she could notice that she was doing his new chore again, and thought that he would say he forgot it was his chore again for the third time. Well, the first time, he wasn't lying. He couldn't wait to get another amusing letter from Ginny, and although he knew there was no way he would get one today, he stared out at the summer setting sun. It was six o'clock now, and he wondered what Ginny was thinking at Zonko's right then.
* * * *
"Eew! Mum, a worm? Don't let him order that one, please!!!" Ginny conferred hopefully. If Ron did get that stupid joke set, she was crossing the line and putting it back in his room as spider, even though she didn't usually use magic out of school. They always scared her, even though she knew what joke packs he had gotten. "Why does he get to buy them anyways? Career, smareer! He only uses them to scare me! He doesn't even get the ones that are actually funny!"
"Remember, Ron's only in the beginning of his career, so he doesn't know what will be funny and what won't." Ginny recited the whole sentence, beginning with the word 'remember,' just like she did every Saturday at six. Then they would go home for supper at six-thirty, which indubitably would be garden salad with cheeseburgers, the start of the small celebration of her dad's one day off, Sunday.
* * * *
Ginny smiled at her rainbow glowing pixie friends in the bushes as she passed Fred the salad. She was a magical person, she sometimes thought, but then felt silly at her childishness. 'One day,' she thought, 'I will tell Harry about this. He'll understand.' As the stars lit up the sky and the terrace, she thought about how she played the wooden flute she had found in the forest, and how the pixies danced to her music. Of course, she hadn't known how to play the flute the minute she picked it up. Somehow, a lavender purple pixie taught her, and as she remembered, a similar pixie, maybe the same one, flew over to her and smiled.
She heard George say, "Wake up, Gin!" as she watched the pixie fly away into the forest. "Watcha lookin' at? Pixies?" Fred and George laughed as she scowled and wondered why they found this so funny.
* * * *
"It was wonderful, Aunt Petunia. Thank you," Harry uttered in a monotone voice before standing up and clearing the table of the mess made of chicken leg bones and gravy, thoughtfully produced by Dudley. He left out the 'with love' part that he usually applied to homemade things without sarcasm.
"Not so fast!" Uncle Vernon put in, his neck veins bulging." Say it like you mean it or don't say it at all!" That was obviously a lie, seeing as how he would get yelled at anyways if he didn't say it.
Thank you, Aunt Petunia, it was wonderful." Harry repeated it almost mockingly. His uncle nodded as Harry thought,' They really are suckers.'
* * * *
"I need four new robes, seven books, two cauldrons, and three packages of parchment, complete with quills."
"What you want is different from what you need," Harry said to Ginny. "You need four robes, seven books, two cauldrons, and FOUR parchment sets." Ginny's scowl changed into a smile as they walked through Diagon Ally, and she giggled. 'I'm so happy I'm friends with Harry.' As they were third and fourth years, Ginny had a crush on him, and they couldn't be near each other. 'But now that we've matured, we can be friends,' Ginny had thought. Yet there was something different, something that had changed since they had started regularly exchanging letters. Something that had made her feel like she had a crush on him again, but it wasn't like last year. She felt like she knew him better than a friend. They'd told each other things that they wouldn't of if they were face to face, but because of that, they'd been more comfortable face to face, too.
Earlier, Mrs. Weasly gave Ginny barely enough to cover what she "needed," but said she expected a lot of change. "Who are you going with? You are not going alone or with Harry," her mom instantly said. Her mother had gotten word of what happened last year, and was 'concerned.'
Ginny had to think fast. "Uh, don't be silly, Mom. I'm going with Felicia. Yeah! She's meeting me at, uh, Gringotts'!"
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No! I mean, no thanks, Mother."
Felicia, her best friend at Hogwarts was kind of popular, and was going with a bunch of her other friends, who were popular, unlike Ginny. They weren't REALLY popular, but they were more than Felicia. She sometimes invited Ginny with them, but Ginny never went. She heard them once talking about her in the bathroom, and it made her feel uncomfortable. It wasn't Felicia though, and Ginny was dying to know if they talked behind her back, too.
As Ginny and Harry walked into the bookstore, they both tried to walk through the door at once, and they ended up with each other's faces an inch away from each other. That left Ginny in the one position with Harry that she had wanted to be in last year: her lips hovering over his cheek.
All Ginny could remember was last year, her embarrassment every time she saw him or vice versa, not mention the time he saved her after she fell into a trance and was going around writing threats on walls in blood at Hogwarts, and. . . . oh, she had to get away! She ran and ran, until she smacked into Felicia.
"What do you think you're. . . . Oh, it's you."
Ginny just stared at Felicia, and then started to run again, but Felicia grabbed her by her shirt to stop her.
"Where are you going? What's going on?"
Ginny just shook her head as her eyes watered, and fell on the ground sobbing.
* * * *
Harry stared after Ginny. He felt like asking someone, 'What just happened there?' but hopefully no one noticed anything except for Ginny running. Which could have been better, but. What did he do? He thought he knew her so well. Well, maybe not as much as he thought, because Ginny's emotions didn't show in her writing if she didn't want them to. Harry wished he could do something, but couldn't move until she was long gone. He saw Ginny smack into Felicity, or Fanny, or what ever her name was. Fiona looked mad until she saw that it was Ginny, and Ginny looked confused. To tell you the truth, so did Faith. Maybe he offended her and didn't know, or something like that. All he knew was that he had to get back to the Inn before she did. They had gotten along fine exchanging letters (actually more than fine), and when they get caught in a door, she bolts. 'Did I miss something?'
Felicia pulled Ginny up and gently helped her to a chair outside one of Diagon Ally's many pubs, restaurants, and bars. "What's the matter with you, girl?"
Ginny just sobbed harder and tried to say something, but it sounded like," Eh Howie. Ee won it to ee tuther."
"WHAT?" Felicia gave her a tissue, but it didn't help much. Then she just sounded like a trumpet hitting a bad note, and when she tried to talk again, it came out like a dying cow. "Howieeeeeeeeeeeeeee," she cried.
Felicia knew that Ginny had had problems last year, but this was absurd. She had sent her a letter telling her how much better she was getting to know Harry by talking or writing to him instead of asking Ron or stalking him! As Felicia delicately pushed her curly locks of golden-streaked but brown hair behind her ears, she looked at Ginny with her chocolate eyes. "Girl, CALM DOWN! Whatever it is, we can fix it."
"Noooo," Ginny wailed. "Everything I've worked so hard for has aparated to nowhere! My whole relationship is ruined!" Hadn't Harry felt the least bit uncomfortable? They had gotten to know each other as FRIENDS. Hadn't they?
"NO! Don't come in! I mean, uh, I'll be right there, Mom!" Ginny freaked as Harry's letter almost blew off the windowsill. She sighed, and looked out the window at the rolling green hills and the darkening but light blue sky. She wished Harry was there, and laughed as she remembered Harry writing, 'Dudley's getting fatter. I can tell by the way his hand-me-downs keep getting bigger.'
She watched her bright red hair blow in front of the blue sky as she heard her mother yell, "Ginny!" again, and sighed once more as she thought of Ron's stupid Zonko meeting.
"Coming, Mother!" Her mom was recently in to polite names such as 'Mother' instead of 'Mom,' and Ginny raced down the stairs before her mom made her wash the dishes, which was Ron's chore, for making him late to his Zonko meeting.
* * * *
Harry hid in his closet, as his relatives thought he was in his room reading a letter delivered by his owl, which he was. They never looked in his closet, and Harry would sneak down the stairs to wash the dishes once he was done reading Ginny's letter, as always. He could picture her with her red hair streaming against the blue sky looking out of her window down at the green hills. He grabbed a toy wand, which he was forced to use, and whispered, "Lumos," and the end of the toy would light up for a few minutes, long enough for him to finish Ginny's letter. He chuckled as he read, ''I have to go now another one of Ron's stupid Zonko meetings, and I have to hurry or I'll make Ron late, and then "Mother" will make me wash the dishes for him. Write back soon! Ginny.'
"I'm sorry, Aunt Petunia! I know Hedwig has been screeching a lot lately, and you love your beauty sleep. In fact, I'll send her away right now." Harry ran to his room and finished tying his letter to Ginny onto Hedwig's leg before releasing her out the window. "I'm very sorry, Aunt Petunia, and I won't let it happen again!" He heard her mumble, "You'd better be sorry," before turning back around to the dishes. Harry ran to his room before she could notice that she was doing his new chore again, and thought that he would say he forgot it was his chore again for the third time. Well, the first time, he wasn't lying. He couldn't wait to get another amusing letter from Ginny, and although he knew there was no way he would get one today, he stared out at the summer setting sun. It was six o'clock now, and he wondered what Ginny was thinking at Zonko's right then.
* * * *
"Eew! Mum, a worm? Don't let him order that one, please!!!" Ginny conferred hopefully. If Ron did get that stupid joke set, she was crossing the line and putting it back in his room as spider, even though she didn't usually use magic out of school. They always scared her, even though she knew what joke packs he had gotten. "Why does he get to buy them anyways? Career, smareer! He only uses them to scare me! He doesn't even get the ones that are actually funny!"
"Remember, Ron's only in the beginning of his career, so he doesn't know what will be funny and what won't." Ginny recited the whole sentence, beginning with the word 'remember,' just like she did every Saturday at six. Then they would go home for supper at six-thirty, which indubitably would be garden salad with cheeseburgers, the start of the small celebration of her dad's one day off, Sunday.
* * * *
Ginny smiled at her rainbow glowing pixie friends in the bushes as she passed Fred the salad. She was a magical person, she sometimes thought, but then felt silly at her childishness. 'One day,' she thought, 'I will tell Harry about this. He'll understand.' As the stars lit up the sky and the terrace, she thought about how she played the wooden flute she had found in the forest, and how the pixies danced to her music. Of course, she hadn't known how to play the flute the minute she picked it up. Somehow, a lavender purple pixie taught her, and as she remembered, a similar pixie, maybe the same one, flew over to her and smiled.
She heard George say, "Wake up, Gin!" as she watched the pixie fly away into the forest. "Watcha lookin' at? Pixies?" Fred and George laughed as she scowled and wondered why they found this so funny.
* * * *
"It was wonderful, Aunt Petunia. Thank you," Harry uttered in a monotone voice before standing up and clearing the table of the mess made of chicken leg bones and gravy, thoughtfully produced by Dudley. He left out the 'with love' part that he usually applied to homemade things without sarcasm.
"Not so fast!" Uncle Vernon put in, his neck veins bulging." Say it like you mean it or don't say it at all!" That was obviously a lie, seeing as how he would get yelled at anyways if he didn't say it.
Thank you, Aunt Petunia, it was wonderful." Harry repeated it almost mockingly. His uncle nodded as Harry thought,' They really are suckers.'
* * * *
"I need four new robes, seven books, two cauldrons, and three packages of parchment, complete with quills."
"What you want is different from what you need," Harry said to Ginny. "You need four robes, seven books, two cauldrons, and FOUR parchment sets." Ginny's scowl changed into a smile as they walked through Diagon Ally, and she giggled. 'I'm so happy I'm friends with Harry.' As they were third and fourth years, Ginny had a crush on him, and they couldn't be near each other. 'But now that we've matured, we can be friends,' Ginny had thought. Yet there was something different, something that had changed since they had started regularly exchanging letters. Something that had made her feel like she had a crush on him again, but it wasn't like last year. She felt like she knew him better than a friend. They'd told each other things that they wouldn't of if they were face to face, but because of that, they'd been more comfortable face to face, too.
Earlier, Mrs. Weasly gave Ginny barely enough to cover what she "needed," but said she expected a lot of change. "Who are you going with? You are not going alone or with Harry," her mom instantly said. Her mother had gotten word of what happened last year, and was 'concerned.'
Ginny had to think fast. "Uh, don't be silly, Mom. I'm going with Felicia. Yeah! She's meeting me at, uh, Gringotts'!"
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No! I mean, no thanks, Mother."
Felicia, her best friend at Hogwarts was kind of popular, and was going with a bunch of her other friends, who were popular, unlike Ginny. They weren't REALLY popular, but they were more than Felicia. She sometimes invited Ginny with them, but Ginny never went. She heard them once talking about her in the bathroom, and it made her feel uncomfortable. It wasn't Felicia though, and Ginny was dying to know if they talked behind her back, too.
As Ginny and Harry walked into the bookstore, they both tried to walk through the door at once, and they ended up with each other's faces an inch away from each other. That left Ginny in the one position with Harry that she had wanted to be in last year: her lips hovering over his cheek.
All Ginny could remember was last year, her embarrassment every time she saw him or vice versa, not mention the time he saved her after she fell into a trance and was going around writing threats on walls in blood at Hogwarts, and. . . . oh, she had to get away! She ran and ran, until she smacked into Felicia.
"What do you think you're. . . . Oh, it's you."
Ginny just stared at Felicia, and then started to run again, but Felicia grabbed her by her shirt to stop her.
"Where are you going? What's going on?"
Ginny just shook her head as her eyes watered, and fell on the ground sobbing.
* * * *
Harry stared after Ginny. He felt like asking someone, 'What just happened there?' but hopefully no one noticed anything except for Ginny running. Which could have been better, but. What did he do? He thought he knew her so well. Well, maybe not as much as he thought, because Ginny's emotions didn't show in her writing if she didn't want them to. Harry wished he could do something, but couldn't move until she was long gone. He saw Ginny smack into Felicity, or Fanny, or what ever her name was. Fiona looked mad until she saw that it was Ginny, and Ginny looked confused. To tell you the truth, so did Faith. Maybe he offended her and didn't know, or something like that. All he knew was that he had to get back to the Inn before she did. They had gotten along fine exchanging letters (actually more than fine), and when they get caught in a door, she bolts. 'Did I miss something?'
Felicia pulled Ginny up and gently helped her to a chair outside one of Diagon Ally's many pubs, restaurants, and bars. "What's the matter with you, girl?"
Ginny just sobbed harder and tried to say something, but it sounded like," Eh Howie. Ee won it to ee tuther."
"WHAT?" Felicia gave her a tissue, but it didn't help much. Then she just sounded like a trumpet hitting a bad note, and when she tried to talk again, it came out like a dying cow. "Howieeeeeeeeeeeeeee," she cried.
Felicia knew that Ginny had had problems last year, but this was absurd. She had sent her a letter telling her how much better she was getting to know Harry by talking or writing to him instead of asking Ron or stalking him! As Felicia delicately pushed her curly locks of golden-streaked but brown hair behind her ears, she looked at Ginny with her chocolate eyes. "Girl, CALM DOWN! Whatever it is, we can fix it."
"Noooo," Ginny wailed. "Everything I've worked so hard for has aparated to nowhere! My whole relationship is ruined!" Hadn't Harry felt the least bit uncomfortable? They had gotten to know each other as FRIENDS. Hadn't they?