My entry for Hondagirl's First Love challenge and Megsy42's Random Characters challenge, both on the HPFC forum. Check it out - great place to be. :)
The Wrong Shade Of Chocolate.
People don't marry their first love.
That's what Lee's mother used to tell him, anyway. He had never believed her, had always replied "You only say that because you never married Dad! You don't mean it." A statement he thoroughly believed.
So it came as a shock to Lee when ten years after his mother first told him this he watched as his first love married none other than Harry Potter.
Ginny Weasley, Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies, had married one of Lee's best friends.
She never knew he loved her, and though he likes to believe she did, she didn't. Not for a second.
To Ginny he was always 'Fun loving Lee'. Lee Jordan, Fred and George's mate; and later just 'George's mate Lee.'
To Lee however, Ginny was the first and only girl he ever truly loved. Sure, there were other girls, but none as bright or as daring as her.
He had never made a move at Hogwarts because it was against the friend's code. You don't hit on your best mate's sister.
He used to tell himself she was too young for him anyway. She was fourteen when he left Hogwarts, much too young for a relationship. Deep down he knew it was an excuse.
After Ginnys wedding he always thought she'd leave Harry and come rushing into his open arms. She never did.
After her first child was born, he thought she'd leave Harry and come rushing into his open arms, child in tow. She never did.
After her second child was born he gave up on Ginny and after the third one was born he gave up on love altogether.
He turned to drink and started going to muggle bars where no one knew his name, taking a different girl back to his place every night of the week. Each and every one of them had chocolate brown eyes and hair like flames.
They were never the right sort of flames or the right shade of chocolate.
One day he ran into Padma Patil in the leaky cauldron. She didn't have red hair and her eyes were the wrong shade of chocolate but she brought him back to life; taught him how to feel things again.
It took time but by the next Christmas he was in love with the girl, no, the woman that was Padma Patil.
That New Year's Eve, after they had made love for the first time, Lee asked her the question that was originally meant for another; "Will you marry me?"
They married that spring in the church at Godric's Hollow. As he leant in to kiss the bride he caught sight of a mane of flaming red hair leaving the church.
After the wedding Lee found Ginny crying in the churchyard. She looked up at him with her big, chocolate eyes and smiled. "Lee..." she whispered, "Where did we go wrong?"
He sat down next to her and put his arm around her. "We were never right." He told her. "I loved you, once upon a time, Ginny Weasley."
"It's Ginny Potter now." She said quietly.
"To me you'll always be a Weasley. Just like George and just like F-Fred." He hadn't said the name for twelve years; it sounded foreign to his ears.
He hugged Ginny to his body and stood to let her go. "No one marries their first love, Ginny. Not even us." He murmured as he took one last look into her chocolate eyes. They seemed different now; the wrong shade of chocolate.
"What was that about?" asked Padma when Lee returned to the reception.
"Just saying goodbye to an old friend." He replied.
She smiled at him. "I love you, Lee Jordan."
Lee beamed. "I love you too, Mrs Jordan."
He looked deeply into her chocolate eyes and realised; they were the right shade of chocolate all along.
My first time writing Lee/Ginny, Reviews are very much appreciated! I don't think I'm quite finished with this story – Ginny's version will be coming next, possibly followed by Padma's. :) thank you for taking the time to read this! –Moge..x