This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling

A/N: This is written for the quidditch league fanfiction competition season 6

Round 3- 90s Nostalgia!

Beater 1- Hey Now (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun)— Cyndi Lauper.

Prompts- 5. (Word) Cryptic

9. (Word) Horror

12. (Emotion) Fear

I have been told beforehand that it was going to be a normal dinner where we could catch up and spend some time together. I accepted, of course. I've been working at the Ministry more often than not. Seeing Harry, Ron, and Ginny sounded amazing and stress free.

I should have known It wouldn't be just a regular dinner invitation.

A devious grin on Ginny's face is never a good sign. So when she opened the door to Grimmauld Place, I knew something was going on that I wouldn't agree with. Ginny has a worse poker face than Harry.

I decided to ignore the expression for now and leaned in for a hug. "Hey Ginny, how are you? I haven't seen you since your latest season started."

Her grin turned into a smile and she motioned for me to come inside. "I've been great." She turned her head towards the kitchen and shouted, "Hermione's here!"

We slowly made our way to the kitchen as Ginny excitedly informed me of her Quidditch team. She told me that the Holyhead Harpies were at the top of the leaderboard that season and they had a huge chance at the World Cup.

Before she could say more, we were interrupted by Harry and Ron's exuberant hugs.

Oh how dearly I've missed them.

If there wasn't so much work to do at the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, I would see them more often than every few months. That might not seem like a long time, but for me it might as well be years.

We gathered around the table and I took a moment to appreciate the food on display. Out of all of us Harry had always been the best cook thanks to his years of experience cooking for the Dursleys, I savor it when I get the chance.

By the time everyone was seated with their food, idle chatter had started up again.

Ginny leaned toward me, that grin back in place. "Have any plans for this weekend?"

I kicked myself mentally for not taking Ginny's grin as the warning it was earlier.

I've never been good at lying to my friends, especially without warning. I gave a resigned sigh and said, "No, nothing pressing, why do you ask?"

Ginny's expression brightened. "Good, we're having a girl's weekend. All of saturday will be getting pampered, going shopping, and anything else that comes to mind. We'll have a sleepover and get breakfast in the morning." She began clapping her hands in her building excitement. "And I invited Luna to go with us, we're going to have so much fun."

I relaxed slightly at that last part. Maybe Luna's calm presence would balance Ginny out? This wasn't my idea of fun but maybe Luna would help. There's only so much energy I can handle from Ginny. My friendships at Hogwarts mostly revolved around Harry and Ron. Sure, I was around girls a lot because of the dorms and common rooms but 'girls' activities were still a foreign concept.

But I would never be able to say no to her when she's this excited anyway. I glanced over at Harry and Ron, knowing it would be the same for them. They just shrugged apologetically and continued eating.

I turned back to Ginny and realized with a dawning horror that her grin had morphed into something much more foreboding. I grimace. "As long as we stop at some book stores along the way and there are plenty of breaks."

"Yes, yes, of course, we're going to have so much fun," she said, drawing out the last three words, her grin unwavering.

Right, I thought while shoving some food into my mouth. That isn't cryptic at all.

All things considered, the day started out fine.

We all met up for breakfast at Grimmauld Place, cooked by Harry of course, before departing to a Muggle spa that Ginny said was, "The best place around."

The whole experience was awkward for me. To have multiple people waiting on me hand and foot was very strange. Getting a massage was even more so, but Ginny and Luna seemed to be enjoying themselves so I made an effort to deal with it for them.

They made up for it later, whether they realized it or not was irrelevant, when we stopped at three different book stores. I made sure to get no less than ten books from each.

Our next stop was a dress shop, Luna wanted to look at, with the strangest dresses I had ever seen.

We walked in, and I immediately went toward the couch next to the dressing room to rest my feet.

Ginny and Luna both set down their shopping bags with Extension charms, next to me. Ginny stretched and said, "I'll head down to the Leaky for some drinks, Butter Beers sound good?" At our agreement she nodded. "Alright, be back in a few."

After Ginny left to get our drinks, Luna started looking around at the dresses and picked out the strangest ones to try on.

Every time she stepped out of her dressing room, the dresses just kept getting weirder. One was entirely made out of peacock feathers, and the one after that was made out of a variety of seashells.

Right as Luna stepped out the next time — dressed in what looked like an array of sharp fish bones — I realized it had been awhile since Ginny left. Checking the time revealed that Ginny had been gone for nearly half an hour. Even if she had to wait a while for the drinks, it shouldn't have taken her that long to apparate there and back.

I looked over at Luna apprehensively. "Do you think she's alright?" I tried to tell myself I was just being silly, but the instincts I gained from the war insisted something was wrong. They'd never been wrong before and they probably weren't then, no matter how much I hoped they were.

It seemed Luna felt the same way because she grimaced and said, "Let's have a look, I've been feeling quite anxious." She turned back to her dressing room and changed back into her own clothes in record time.

We grabbed our bags and made sure our wands were easily accessible before Apparating to the closest Apparation point to the Leaky Cauldron.

We started walking down Diagon Alley to reach the Leaky Cauldron when I noticed a small cluster of people muttering nervously to each other.

Nodding at Luna, we walked closer to see what they were so nervous about. Horror dawned on me when I realized the group was staring at the entrance to Knockturn Alley.

It wasn't the same as it had been years ago but it hadn't changed much. It was still filled with sleazy characters, so when we got close enough to hear someone in the group say, "That poor Weasley girl." I was filled with fear.

The knowledge that she could take care of herself didn't help calm my nerves. The fear would grow until I knew she was safe. We picked up the pace, and we finally spotted Ginny.

She was caged in at the entrance to the alley by two thug looking guys that look like they hadn't had water touch their skin in years. In a world where Aguamenti is a common spell, it was obvious this was a choice they made.

With her back to a brick wall, Ginny looked tense and angry, but so far unharmed. She must not have wanted to cause a scene and seemed to be barely able to hold herself back. Her wand was in her hand but still lowered at her side.

My fear mixed with anger, and I had no such reservations. Let there be a scene — as long as Ginny would be safe it didn't matter.

Luna and I made sure to approach from behind the two thugs. Ginny spotted us, but did her best not to give us away. I motioned for Luna to move towards the one on the right so we could surround them.

We jabbed our wands firmly into their necks, taking them by surprise and cutting them off mid-taunt. Ginny, finally giving up on passivity, raised her wand as well.

Keeping my voice deceptively calm, I said, "What is going on here?" Besides going a little stiff, they didn't show any other outward reaction to our appearance.

The one who had my wand to his neck grumbled, "None of your business."

The other one scoffed at our presence. "This is between us and the little ginger."

I increased the pressure on my wand. "Why don't you leave her alone? She clearly doesn't enjoy your company."

I could hear the smirk in his voice when he replied, "And if I don't? What then? Are you going to stupify me? Tickle me to death?" He gave a low chuckle. "We know dark magic, spells you couldn't even imagine."

I scoffed. "I don't need dark magic, it's all about creativity." I moved my wand slightly lower. "How would you like to have a flock of birds fluttering around in your stomach? One quick Avis and you'll have birds tearing you apart from the inside."

This seemed to give them pause. After a few seconds of deliberation, he backed away, the other guy following his lead. "Fine, have it your way."

We kept our wands on them until they disappeared further down the alley.

As soon as they were gone, we deflated and sighed in relief.

Ginny puffed out a breath. "Sorry I worried you, guys. I would have taken care of them, but there were too many people around and taking them on by myself guaranteed someone else getting hurt." She paused and gave me a side glance. "Would you really have done that?"

I raised an eyebrow at that question. "If it was necessary." I scrunched up my nose. "Though I would rather not. That would be extremely disgusting."

We all shared a chuckle. I sent a quick Patronus to the Auror office, explaining the situation, while Ginny sent a similar one to Harry and Ron.

With that taken care of, I looped our arms together and pulled them down the street. "Come on let's get back to our girls' weekend."

Ginny had planned this for us, and I'd be damned if I let some random thugs ruin our fun.