Author's note: It should be obvious that I don't own Harry Potter; otherwise this would be a new book in the series, wouldn't it?
A great many things had come to pass in the life of one Ginny Weasley. In her life, she had brushed with death, witnessed the fall of a regiment of evil, and ensnared somebody who was, in her own opinion, far above her. Perhaps, recently, the playing fields were leveled, as she had helped bring down the aforementioned regiment alongside him. At the very least she must have provided morale to those in a more front-line position.
A direct result of this conquest was that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry was made secure, as it had been in the past. A side effect of this was that a chunk of the faculty was dead, including the legendary wizard Albus Dumbledore. The positions were filled in theory, but in practice, it was debatable whether or not the new staff could match its predecessors.
Another hot topic of discussion was whether or not the new 7th years could match the heroism of the newly graduated army of saviors. Of course, the battle was won, and to fill the shoes left would be out of question for many students. However, having been licked by the fire of war, Ginny would be considered one of those veterans. But was it a title to hold in pride? Was the prestige, the fame, the worship something to relish?
Ginny had a time of quiet reflection during her summer vacation. The ending of the sabbatical was neigh, and the flurry & thunder of her last year at Hogwarts with it. The new school supply list had come in, so she ventured out to go on her final shopping trip for Hogwarts. She had chosen to go alone, as attempting to go out as a family would be useless without her brother.
Her first stop was Madame Malkin's. She had just entered the familiar place when a witch spotted her.
"I know you!" she gleefully exclaimed. "I saw you in the Prophet! You fought with Harry Potter!" The witch squeaked with delight.
"Yes. I did." Ginny offered a small smile to the witch.
"Trudy! Look who I just saw! It's Harry Potter's girlfriend!" The witch hysterically shouted out. A dead silence entered the shop.
No less than two seconds later, all patrons made a scramble to Ginny. Every eye in the shop lay upon her. A rather squat little witch bulldozed through the speculators. "'Swhat's this I hear? Lemme 'ave a look at 'er. I reckon that 'Arry Pottah'd 'ave some beau'y queen on 'is arm." the little plump witch squawked.
Meanwhile, there was an endless melody of questions from the mob that surrounded her. They all seemed to follow the same vein, mainly inquires about her boyfriend.
"Where's Harry? Why aren't you with him? I swear to fucking GOD, if you're cheating on him, I will fucking KILL YOU." a small 13-year old girl ominously said to her. Ginny was about to open her mouth, but the ceaseless stream overpowed her.
"I heard Harry just broke the wand and strangled You Know Who with his bare hands." A wild-eyed little boy remarked.
"Have you and Harry done it yet? If so, how big is he?"
"Can you just thank Harry for me?"
"Could you ask him to sign something for me please? Oh, I don't have anything with me. Wait, I have my socks! If you'd just kindly wait as I remove my shoe…"
It went on & on. Finally, Ginny just turned on her heel and began to push through the crowds towards the exit. As she left, she heard the fat witch exclaim "Blimey! 'Arry's lost it! 'E coulda got a giwl with some tits at the least!" Ginny made sure as she left that her foot firmly impacted on this unpleasant humans.
Every shop she went, every street she turned on to, it was more of the same. More ridiculous questions. More ridiculous people, who ranged from the inappropriate to the downright hateful. More offensive commentary hurled at her. Finally, she decided she'd just tell her mother it was too difficult to be seen in public. As she made her way home, out of the corner of her eye she spotted a rather withered and downcast, yet still well-groomed and polished figure dressed to the nines in an elegant black suit. She craned her neck around, as the sight seemed familiar.
The figure followed in like fashion to lock icy gray eyes with her. It was Draco Malfoy. He shot a look back at her. She hurriedly put her head down and went about her way with increased speed.
When she was finally home, it began to sink in to her how different life was going to be now that she was a major celebrity. Her final year at Hogwarts would be completely unlike her previous years. But she was up to the challenge. It was bound to die down eventually. After all, Harry made it through school with his fame, and he fared well. She hadn't seen him in a while. It was time to owl him. She needed to talk to the one person who could understand this chaos and make her feel happy….