This was written for violet-phoenix-rose's Calendar Challenge and the pairing was inspired by Mr Toulouse – I've decided to do a collection of Katie/Ginny one-shots, one for each month. They work together as a set, but they don't really form a complete chaptered fic, that would take too long to write, but there is an element of continuity between them, I think. Enjoy!
The sound of fireworks and music dribbled into the darkness around Ginny Weasley, as she sat alone on a bench on the outskirts of the party. The Burrow was alight with New Year's festivities, with shouting and kissing and a general sense of happiness. She didn't feel like she could relate to these things in the slightest, and so she retreated to the bench at the bottom of her garden, a bottle of firewhisky in her hand.
She watched the stars aimlessly. Fireworks exploded but she didn't notice them trickle down the sky and over her, like fairy dust or shooting stars. She looked but didn't see.
"Ginny?"
A slightly slurred voice resounded from a few metres away. The sound of stumbling footsteps followed, the tottering click-clack of heels on stone beating irregularly: click-clack-click-cli-clack…clack-clack. And then the sound of laughter and a body tipping slightly too far into a bush.
Ginny followed the sound of drunken laugher. She found herself standing over a shaking body amongst the shrubbery. Katie Bell lay amongst the ferns, giggling like a nutcase.
"Katie?" Ginny asked, incredulously. She was completely and utterly smashed. Ginny had never been that great friends with Katie but she had never seen her as the type of girl who'd drink quite this much. She held out her hand.
Once Katie had staggered to her feet, Ginny led her back to the bench.
"Katie, how much have you drunk?"
"What…?" Katie said, gazing a little to the left of Ginny's head.
"Sit down," she sighed.
"Ginny," Katie said, beginning to giggle again. "Why are you out here all alone?"
"It's quieter."
"It's a bit…" Ginny could physically hear her drunken brain searching for the word.
"Lonely?"
"Yeah…"
"Mmm. I'm used to being lonely, though. It's the only thing I can rely on these days."
"Oh."
Ginny glanced at her watch.
"Only a minute until midnight, don't you want to go back to the party?" she asked.
Katie paused, as if to think.
"No… not really," she eventually said.
"Oh. Okay then," Ginny said, slightly bemused. She went back to staring into space, beside her Katie watched with curiosity.
Ginny glanced at her watch again.
"Ten seconds."
"Nine, eight, seven…" Katie tailed off as if she couldn't quite remember what came next.
Ginny kept staring at the second hand, inching closer to a new year, a new start.
"Three, two, one,' she counted. She looked up. "Happy New Year, Katie." Ginny said, smiling.
"Happy New Year, Ginny," Katie replied.
And in that drunken, new year's moment, Katie pulled the red-headed girl two years her younger into a kiss.
As Katie pulled away, Ginny raised her eyebrows, not quite sure what to say.
"Yeah," Katie mused, "I can see why the boys like you, Ginny."
Ginny merely smiled, and looked at Katie almost knowingly.
"But what about the girls?"