Hey!
Here is the long-awaited sequel to "Only Time." I'm taking a lot of
suggestions from many of my friends/reviewers like I said I would. This story
is a mixture of all their ideas. I hope you like it! I have always wanted to
write a post Hogwarts H/G and this is the result of my musings. Please review;
I would like five in order to get a second chapter! Thanks!
Cheers!
Bella
Only Time
Prologue
"Genny!"
Ginny groaned. That was the voice of Ginny's sister in law, Fleur. Fleur was
married to her oldest brother, Bill, and she was constantly setting Ginny up on
dates. The result was all were disastrous, as Ginny wasn't very outgoing, and
men found that slightly unnerving, and a sort of mixed dread when Ginny set
eyes upon her sister-in-law.
She shoved the box of embossed stationary cards in its file cabinet and stood
up. "Coming, Fleur!" she called. Ginny ducked into the bathroom of
her tiny stationary shop and stared into the small mirror over the sink. Fleur
was part veela and gorgeous, with silky and annoyingly perfect blonde hair. Her
eyes were a crystal-clear blue, and although she was a little over thirty, she
looked to be not a day over twenty. Ginny always felt like she had to look her
best around Fleur, otherwise her sister-in-law would sniff disdainfully and
make a not-so-subtle comment on whatever happened to be wrong with Ginny's
appearance.
Her hair looked frightful, as she had suspected. Her fiery locks were tied back
with an old dusting cloth, as she had been cleaning out the storage room. She
quickly pulled the cloth off and noticed she had a horrible case of hat head.
She tried to make her hair look normal, but she soon gave up. It would match
the rest of her appearance, as she hadn't a shred of makeup on.
She walked into the bright, sunlit front room of her shop and squinted at the
sudden light. It was very dim in the storage room.
"Genny! What 'ave you done to you 'air?!"
Fleur exclaimed, rounding on her and examined Ginny's
hat head.
"Fleur-"
"And you 'ave no makeup on! Come 'ere, we are not leaving zis shop until you look presentable!" Fleur pulled a
chair up from behind the counter and pushed Ginny down in it. She began
magically applying makeup to Ginny's pale, freckle-dusted face. Within minutes,
Fleur had worked her magic (no pun intended) and the two women set off down the
streets of Hogsmeade together.
Wizards gaped and ran into poles when they noticed the girls. Ginny didn't know
it, but it wasn't only Fleur they were gaping at. Ginny had a petit, slim,
curvy figure. Her red hair was thick and shiny and it fell to the middle of her
back. Her chocolate brown eyes were flecked with gold, and they were always
very warm.
"Fleur! Where are we going?" Ginny
complained as they walked briskly down the street.
"We 'ave to go and meet Bill at ze twins shop and we are Apparating from zere," she answered shortly.
They arrived at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Ginny's twin brother's (Fred and
George's) shop. They were all going to the Weasley house for their monthly
family dinner.
"Hey, baby," Bill said as he caught sight of his fairly new wife. He
put his arm around her and they kissed passionately.
Fred rolled his eyes and grinned. "Hey Gin."
They hugged and Ginny looked around cautiously. "Where's Kyle?"
Kyle was Fred and Angelina's eight-year-old son, who had inherited his father
and uncle's passion for wrecking havoc.
"Oh, he's already with Angelina and Claire." Claire was their four
year-old- girl that took after her grandmother, Ginny's mother, Molly. She was
always the sensible, bossy one, the voice of reason.
"Are you two at it again?!" George called loudly at Bill and Fleur as
he emerged from the back room of the shop. "Hello, Gin," he greeted,
and Ginny pecked him on the cheek.
"Ready, are we?" Fred yelled at the still kissing couple.
"How d'you think they can go for so long without oxygen?" Ginny
mused.
George turned to his twin. "Gred?"
"Yes, Forge?"
"I think this calls for the Profession Snog Control Squad, don't you?"
"Undoubtedly."
"Ginny,
if we don't come back, tell Mum we love her."
Ginny giggled. "Alright," she promised.
The twins gritted their teeth with mock determination and walked forward.
George grabbed Bill by the shoulders and Fred (to his delight) grabbed Fleur by
the shoulders. They then mouthed "One, two, three!"
and jerked. Bill and Fleur were not happy about the separation, but they
grudgingly Disapparated with Fred, George, and Ginny.
Ginny appeared in the middle of the cozy, warm living room that belonged to the
Burrow.
"Ginny!" Her mother rushed to her and embraced her. "It's been
too long, Ginny," she scolded. "You ought to come and visit your poor
Mum more!"
"Yes, and your poor Dad," came an elderly
male voice from behind her. "Hello, Gin," he said as
they hugged.
"Aunt Ginny!" Ginny turned to see two
identical blondes rushing towards her. Their names were Laurie and Miranda,
Ginny's brother Charlie's eleven- year-old daughters. They were about to start
their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Hey Gin," Hermione, Ginny's best friend and sister-in-law, hugged
her, followed directly by her daughter, Emma, who had inherited the Weasley red
hair, but her mother's thick curls.
"Hey Hermione, Emma. Hello, Ron!" Ginny
hugged her brother and kissed him on the cheek. She then bent down and kissed
Harry, the busy, small five-year-old who was named after a very dear friend.
Ginny pushed his namesake out of her head and began to walk around.
Ginny mingled and chatted until she had spoken with everyone. She leaned back
in her chair and looked around contently. Nothing could ruin this. She was
perfectly content, and so was everyone else in this room. The love that
radiated off of everyone would have been blinding if it were light. Nope,
nothing could ruin this-
CRACK!
There was the unmistakable clatter of shattering glass. A picture had somehow
been knocked off of the mantle. Ginny put her glass of wine down and fished her
wand out of her pocket. She turned the wooden picture frame over and felt her
chest constrict.
He was there, smiling up at her, his jet-black hair as messy as usual, his
green eyes sparkling with a hidden light. And she was there, next to him, with
her arm slung around his shoulder. She was looking as carefree and as happy as
he was. The live Ginny burst into tears.
Hermione was there in an instant. She fell to the floor when she saw whom the
picture was of and hugged Ginny.
The room went stalk still. No one dared to even breathe. Mrs. Weasley rushed
forward and surveyed the damage, holding back her own tears. "Oh, dear…don't
worry, love – there's no harm done-"
Ginny's mind unwillingly wandered to that night. She stood up angrily.
"No! I won't, I wont! I promised myself.I won't!" She buried her face in her hands and
ran up the stairs.
"Should I go?" Hermione ventured to Molly.
"No, no, I think it's best we just leave her
be," Molly sniffled, and repaired the old picture.
~*~*~*~*
Ginny tore up the stairs to her room. It had pictures of him in it. Everywhere. Why hadn't she noticed it before? Even when she
closed her eyes, she could see those green eyes on the back of her eyelids.
Ginny made up her mind.
She would escape from it, from it all. From him. She
closed her old bedroom door and locked it. She then Apparated
to her flat in Muggle London. She grabbed everything she needed; all her
money, clothes, jewelry - everything except her furniture and packed it in a
large, magically expandable bag.
Then she Apparated to the place farthest away that she knew of, and she vowed
never to come back.
*One Year Later *
"John!"
John Garrison stopped on his way to the coffee shop to wait for his best
friend.
"Hey Johnny boy. Whatcha doing?"
"Cal, it's raining. Why are
you eating an ice cream cone?" It was true. John's best friend Calvin, or
Cal, was slurping on a large chocolate ice cream cone.
"Hey, I've got an umbrella. What's up your arse
this morning?"
John rubbed his forehead. "It's Becca," he
sighed.
"Becca? That oh-so-very-hot supermodel that you're dating?"
"Correction: That I was dating," he sighed again.
"What happened this time? Don't tell me it 'just didn't feel right'
again!"
John, ignoring his friend, said, "It just didn't feel right!"
"Argh! John, you're the most sought-after bloke
in all of England. How could a supermodel
like Rebecca Henson and last months girl, actress Gloria Stance not be the
right one?!"
"Cal, unlike you, I don't
date girls just because they're pretty."
Cal looked affronted. "I do not!"
"Whatever. I need to go shopping this afternoon,
there's nothing in my fridge."
"Why don't you hire servants? Your house is certainly big enough to house
twenty of them, at least!"
"Because, Cal, I
like living alone."
"You stopped being fun when you went to law school. I lost my best
friend that day," Cal said mournfully.
"Shut it, Cal."
"Whatever, Scar Head."
"Don't call me that."
"Is that a threat, Garrison?"
"Sure as hell it is, Williams."
"Yeah, bring it on!"
"Cal, stop it. You're
embarrassing me." John said nonchalantly. The fact was,
he was too used to his best friend to care.
"See? I told you the kid in you died when you went to law school."
"A mocha latte, please." John said politely to
the employee at the coffee shop.
"Here you are, sir. Come back, Mr. Garrison, sir." The employee said
as John handed him the money.
"Thanks, I will. C'mon Cal. And how would you
know that the kid in me died? You don't know what I was like when I was a
kid."
"Yeah, well you don't know either," Cal pointed out.
"Well, I did once." The two twenty-six-year-old men arrived
at John's firm. "Right, I'll see you later."
"See you." Cal walked off.
John entered his office and began his day at work.
~*~*~*~*
"Urgh, no, don't need those." John was at
the grocery store, trying to find something suitable to eat. Suddenly, he felt
as though he was being watched. He walked three steps, and the person behind
him walked three steps. He moved to the cereal isle, and the person behind him
moved to the cereal isle. Damn, probably
someone who wants my autograph, he thought, thoroughly irritated.
"Is there something you want?" he snapped as he turned around.
It was a very pretty woman with dark skin and dark hair. She looked to be a few
years older than John. When she saw him, she let out a shriek
and fainted dead away.
John's perfect born reflexes allowed him to catch her before she hit the floor.
A stick of wood fell out of her pocket. He picked the piece of wood up without
thinking and pocketed it. Then he began yelling for help.
The store called an ambulance and John rode in the back with her, since she wasn't
shopping with anyone.
He called Cal and Cal came to the hospital
immediately. John paced around the waiting room for a time until the doctor
said that she had woken up, and she had simply blacked out. If John hadn't
caught her, her injuries would have been a lot worse.
John and Cal went in to see her. She paled when she saw him, but she quickly
covered it up.
"Hello. I'm Angelina Weasley," she raised her voice when she got to
the name Weasley, as if hinting something.
John suddenly felt dizzy. Weasley…Weasley. He had heard that name before…He
shook his head to clear it, and a strange picture of a family of redheads in
front of a pyramid hovered in his minds eye, before disappearing.
A bit alarmed, he dismissed it as a client or someone.
"John
Garrison," he said pleasantly, shaking her hand. Her face fell, but it
soon went back to its smile of gratitude.
"Thank you for catching me. The doctor said I would probably have cracked
my head open if you hadn't." She felt into her pockets for something, and
then she let out a yell. "Did you find a shiny wooden stick around
me?" she asked desperately.
"Yeah. Is this it?" John pulled the stick
out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"Oh, thank God you found it!"
Cal sent John a very questioning look. Was this
woman mad?
"So, why did you faint?" Cal asked abruptly.
"Was it because of Scar Head over here?"
She looked as though she would faint again. "You-you have a scar?"
John glared at Cal and then raised the
fringe of his bangs, revealing a lightning-bolt shaped scar, going diagonally
down the side of his forehead.
Angelina gripped the sides of her bed. She swallowed, then
said, "Well, I want to thank you for not causing me too much bloodshed. I
was on my way to my mother-in-law's house to eat dinner with my family. I would
love it if you came. Please come," she begged.
John couldn't resist the look of pleading in her eyes. "Alright."
"I'll come too!" Cal said jovially.
"No!" Angelina burst. "I-I mean, I would just like it to be Har-" stopped and shook her head, "John."
Cal sent John another questioning look, but left
anyway. "See you tomorrow, then, mate."
"Bye Cal."
"Mrs. Weasley, you may leave. Your charts are back to normal now," the
nurse said as she stepped in. John helped Angelina off her bed and they left the
hospital.
"Here's my car. Cal brought it for me. We
can drive to your mother-in- law's, right?"
"Yes, but it's a bit far, I'm just warning you." Angelina had driven
to her mother-in-law's on many occasions.
They chatted lightly about their lives, although Angelina remained strangely
silent when asked about her job.
As they were nearing Molly's (Angelina's mother-in-law's) house, Angelina broke
the silence by asking him another question.
"Where did you get that scar?"
John rubbed it thoughtfully. "I dunno, I've always had it."
Angelina
fell silent, then asked again, "Where did you
grow up?"
"I have no idea."
"Who are your parents, then?"
"Beets me."
"How could you not know who your parents are?"
"Well, I was in an accident and lost my memory."
"What-what sort of accident?"
"I don't know. I was found in front of that hospital, unconscious, bloody,
and battered."
Angelina gasped. Those eyes, that hair, those glasses... she squeezed her eyes
shut and came up with a mental picture of a man she knew, but hadn't seen for
nine years. "Oh, my goodness," she whispered, daring to believe who
was sitting next to her.
"What?" John asked curiously.
"I know who you really are," she said in a voice barely above a
whisper.
The car swerved.
"What?!" he demanded, turning to look at her. "What did you say?!"
"I know who you are. Your name is Harry Potter."
A/N: I'm sorry, I'm terrible about cliff-hangers, but if you review (hint,
hint) then you'll get the next chapter!!
Cheers!
Bella
