1. The Awakening.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters. This is just fanfic.
NB: This is set after the whole Voldemort debacle. Ginny is five years out of school.
I had an image of us kissing, sweet but urgent, my arms around her waist and her hands drawing my face closer towards her mouth. She let go briefly to quickly discard her cardigan and then her shirt. In an instant, her hands were back to caressing my face. I could smell the familiar scent of flowers in her beautiful silver hair, and just a hint of honey and silk. I reached out and smoothed my hand on the back of my head and let my hand trail down the rest of her hair. I then felt her tongue glide over my top lip, luring me in. How could I protest? It was simple, I couldn't. Our tongues met and I felt my stomach drop with longing. The warmth in my stomach and the butterflies in my heart fluttered down to my lower abdomen and then reached where it was most desired. I wanted her. Not just now, but forever. This would be the first moment of forever for us.
The moment she had stepped through our doors, I felt that familiar twinge. I hated her. Not for the reasons that I gave everyone. I knew Fleur was no home wrecker. But instead, I hated her because she never gave me the light of day. The way she looked at me with such authority, such demand, made me crazy. If only she knew how I really felt. How I wished she would call off her wedding to my brother. And most of all, I hated the way she made all the boys stare, not because I was jealous, but because I didn't want anyone looking at her like that except for me.
'Ginny?' My heart fluttered when she said my name and I looked up, fixing my face into its usual blank stare whenever she looked my way.
'Yes?' I recited, nonchalantly.
'Are you ready to go?'
'Where?' I said a little rudely. Well I had to keep up my façade. I didn't exactly want to sound loving and out myself in front of my entire family.
'To ze florist, silly…' Fleur smiled in the most adorable way; not at all offended by the way I had just spoken to her. God bless her. 'I'd like to spend some time whiz my zister-to-be before ze wedding of course. Pluz, I need a zecond opinion on ze flowers.'
'Oh, right. Umm, yes. I'm ready to go. Just let me go get my shoes.'
I went upstairs and hurried to find a nice pair that made my legs look longer and fixed my hair into a messy bun, bits of red straggled out of the elastic. I rushed to my vanity and put a little mascara on and a light amount of lip liner on to make my lips look subtly pouty. The boys wouldn't realise I was doing this for Fleur. They would just put it down to me being available and trying to find my next squeeze. Harry was still a little upset with my decision to break up. But he understood why it had to happen. In fact, only he and Hermione knew. I think secretly he and Hermione were just waiting for me to end this "phase" and be with Harry for the rest of my life. But deep down in my heart I knew this was not a phase. This was how it was to be for the rest of my life. I just loved women too much. And more specifically I loved a woman, the woman that I was about to go shopping with. How could anyone not appreciate her?
I clip clopped down the stairs in my casual heals and spotted Fleur by the fireplace. 'You look very nice,' she said as an off cut comment as she surveyed me top to bottom. I gave her a small smile in return. She handed me some Flu Powder and motioned me to go first. I stepped into the fireplace and clearly stated where I wanted to go.
A couple of seconds later I was in Diagon Ally. Fleur was by my side a couple of seconds later.
'Shall we go?' Fleur still had a strong accent. But it was beautiful. She grabbed my hand and led me through a smaller lane just past a sweet shop. I picked up a scent that smelled like her and I gave her a quick side-glance in the reflection of another shop window when she wasn't looking. My hands were starting to sweat as she continued to hold my hand. I subtly let go of it and rummaged my hand through my hair, suddenly reminding myself of the vision in my daydream earlier of her hands tangled in my hair. Fleur hadn't even noticed I'd let my hand fall from hers and I felt a little colder on the inside.
A minute later we walked through a wooden door marked, "Sprigs of Spring". A plump looking witch was at the counter trimming the stems off some roses, and sprits a potion onto the petals, which instantly glowed a deeper red.
'Ah yes, the Weasley wedding.' She bustled over to her appointment book on the other side of the counter and ticked off the appointment. 'How are the nerves Fleur?'
'Zey are fine. I am pozitively excited to be organising ze flowers today.'
'And you should be,' the witch gave us both a warm smile. 'I have a series of arrangements for you to see. Please be specific with what you want and I'm sure I can fix it up for you. Experiment as much as you'd like. Feel free to add, subtract or even swap flowers around.' Fleur thanked her as the older witch took out her wand and the arrangements appeared.
All bouquet's and assortments were lovely but none of them "Fleur". If it were Fleur's wedding and mine there would be only white flowers, with hints of soft yellows and blues around the room. To my surprise, after sorting through all the assortments, Fleur came up with an exact replica of what I had just envisioned. This scared me just a little.
'Ginny? What do you sink?' I quickly came out of my daydream and looked at the flowers, then right into her eyes.
'I think they're beautiful,' I expressed very seriously. I suddenly felt tears in my eyes that surprised me. I quickly headed for the door escaping with a puzzled Fleur calling out, 'Ginny?'
I managed to reach a public bathroom near my favourite ice-cream parlour. I tried to quieten my sobs, but there was nothing I could do for the tears…
When I saw Fleur with our flowers, I had come to my senses that this reality really was a nightmare. I had to stop daydreaming… Fleur was about to marry my brother. And I would not dare take that away from him. How could I interfere? I loved Bill. And I loved Fleur. No, Ginny. Stop it. Stop it now! This had to end. I had to escape. Would Bill be mad if I didn't attend the wedding? I sure as hell knew mum would threaten to kill me but I was just as strong headed as her. I was her daughter after all. Maybe Harry would let me stay with him for a bit while I got my affairs in order. I had just started a new job, which paid better than the last, and soon I would be able to afford my own place. All I needed was a couple of months. Thinking through my near future calmed me down some. But then I heard a knock on the cubicle door.
'Ginny? Can I come in?'
'I'm on the toilet.'
'No you're not, you're as quiet as a mouse. How could you be on ze toilet?'
I let out a sigh and unlocked the door. 'Dat's better now, izn't it?' Not really, I thought to myself. You're still marrying my brother. Why can't you acknowledge the longing in my eyes that I know you see sometimes? I didn't answer her question. Instead I just sat there as she stood towering over me.
'Vhat is wrong whis you, Ginny? Please, I want to 'elp.'
'You can't'. Well you can, but you just don't understand yet. I looked up at her, trying to hint at what I felt for her without being too obvious. I swore she realised at that moment because she paused and her eyes drifted to the side as she stood deep in thought. A light seemed to go off in her head and she slowly looked back at me with squinted eyes, not in anger, but in thoughtfulness. I sat perfectly still.
She looked at me for the longest of times and my heart started racing. 'Ginny…' She was quiet for another moment. 'I sink I know where zis is going. It'z not only ze men who fall for me.' My cheeks went pink, and then slowly crimson. I felt a familiar twist in my stomach as I felt a rejection coming along. 'But I am marrying your brozer soon… Pleaze, you are zuch a beautiful girl, exquisite even. You can 'ave anyone you vant.' Th twist tightened.
I said nothing and instead looked into her eyes. Her beautiful deep eyes. She held my gaze curiously. I held my hand up to her face and she dropped her gaze. 'I'm sorry, Ginny, I can't'. She blushed the most extraordinary of shades and she looked magnificent. She turned to leave and said with her back towards me, 'I'll zee you at home zen, shall I?' And she was gone.
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