A/N: This fic was written for EvylinDevilin's Letter Challenge in the HPFC forum. The characters I got were Ginny and Krum. Thanks Evylin for the inspiration!
I do not own Harry Potter or anything that is part of the Harry Potter universe. Credit for that goes to JKR. The rest is mine.
Jealousy and Wishful Thinking
"Hey, Hermione, have you seen Ginny?" Ron asked me.
I don't think so," I replied unconcerned. I was admiring the Black family tree. It was terribly cruel how the noblest faces were burnt away, but still it had the potential to be a beautiful piece of art.
"Well she must be around somewhere. When you see her tell her that Mum wants her to help in the kitchen."
"Sure, I'll go check our room." As I walked up to the room I shared with Ginny I realized that I hadn't seen her around the house all day. It wasn't like her to stay hidden away. It usually seemed like she was everywhere do to the amount of energy she had and how quickly she moved around the house.
Upon entering the room it seemed empty, so I decided to go and check for Ginny elsewhere. But just as I was about to head out the door I heard a faint sob coming from behind me. Looking into the room again I noticed Ginny sitting on the floor in the corner of the room.
To say the least, she looked terrible. Her hair clearly hadn't been taken care of in a while, her face was blotchy and red from crying, and her hands shook as she clutched a piece of wrinkled parchment in her hands.
"Ginny, what happened?" I asked.
Having just noticed that I was there Ginny quickly tried to wipe the tears away. Then, apparently remembering about the paper in her hands, she quickly shoved it into the pocket of her sweater.
"Nothing," she said as she tried to fix her hair. "What are you doing here?"
"Um, we share this room," I said, "And I was looking for you. No one has been seeing you around lately."
"I've just been, you know, thinking about some stuff."
Realizing that this was a good place to start, I sat next to her and put my arm around her shoulders. I realized that they were shaking slightly.
"What were you thinking about Ginny?"
"Harry and…," she looked hesitant to continue, "and you. I'm a little jealous of you right now."
"You're jealous of me?" I asked. "Why? I mean, I know you still like Harry, but Ginny, you do know that we're just friends. There's nothing to be jealous of there."
"I know," Ginny said slowly, "That's not exactly it."
"Then what is it?"
"Harry doesn't notice me. And he only cares about me as Ron's baby sister. I want him to think I'm beautiful and I want him to want to be with me whenever he can."
"Oh, Ginny, I know. I do," I said rubbing the smaller girl's back, "But, I don't see what this has to do with me."
Ginny took the parchment out from her pocket and held it to me.
"What is this?" I asked.
"A letter. It's yours, from Krum."
"You read my mail?" I asked. That was something I would never expect from Ginny.
Nodding sadly she said, "I'm really sorry. I was looking for a book to read in the closet and I saw it and I don't know what came over me… I just read it. Then I read it again and again and again."
"Let me see which letter it is," I said. Viktor and I had written many letters to each other so far over the course of the summer. As I reread the letter I was brought back to the memories I shared with him. The letter Ginny had found had been the sweetest one Viktor had written.
Dearest Hermione,
How are you doing? All is well here. Well, almost all. You wouldn't believe how much I hate not seeing your face. Those last moments we spent together in Hogwarts were amazing. Now I am wishing that we could have stayed there in that time forever. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about you and how much I am missing you and your beautiful smile.
The weather has been a little nicer this summer. It's still really cold, but nice none the less. It's the most beautiful view when you see it from the sky. I really wish you could see it. If you were here I'd take you up on my broom with me and fly with you. I'm not sure where we'd go, but it'd be wonderful because you'd be there with me.
I hope you're having a terrific summer. I know things are hard right now, but try not to let that get to you too much. I know you'll be able to make the best of any situation you're in. Give my regards to Ron and Harry.
Missing you tremendously,
Viktor
"I'm jealous of what you and Viktor had," Ginny said once I had finished reading the letter and had put it aside.
"Ginny, Viktor and I broke off the relationship. You know that."
"Well, yeah, but still he cared about you and treated you specially and I want that. I want it more than anything. But Harry doesn't notice me."
I thought carefully about the way Ginny was feeling right now. I really did think that her and Harry could get together some day. The only problem was that Harry just hadn't noticed her yet, and Ginny wasn't able to think of anything else.
"Maybe you should just move on for the time being," I said carefully.
Ginny gave me a blank look, preventing me from guessing at what she was thinking.
"I mean, try seeing other guys. Maybe Harry doesn't see you as more than just a little sister now, but with time I'm sure he will."
"You think I should try and make him jealous?" Ginny asked sounding slightly confused.
I thought about this. No. Mind games were not a good idea. They led to all sorts of trouble.
"You don't need to try and make him jealous. You just need to live your life. You can't do that if you're waiting around for Harry. Just move on and enjoy yourself. When the time's right, Harry will come around."
"You think?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah," I said, "For sure."
Ginny gave me a small smile.
"Thanks, Hermione," she said handing me back my letter, "And I'm sorry about reading your mail."
"Hey, it's no big deal," I said, "I'm just glad I could help."
Thanks for reading! I wasn't so sure about how to write these two characters so I hope I did them justice. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought!