Unexpected Swim
By: Emma
Written for: the A Wet!Weasley Challenge at checkmated.com
Ginny Weasley couldn't believe her dirty rotten luck.
*After* she had spent the afternoon in OWLs, she'd decided to go for a stressbuster run around the length of Hogwarts. Unfortunately, a gang of particularly foul Slytherins were standing in a group in the middle of the footpath as she approached the lakeside.
*No problem,* she'd thought, *I'll just go around them, there's plenty of room between the path and the lake, I can squeeze past without them noticing.*
So, she started to jog past the group...when her foot slipped on the muddy grass. As if falling straight on her ass wasn't embarrassing *enough*, she slipped exactly where the land became uneven and ran down to the lake.
Before she knew it, she was completely emerged in the icy, creature dwelling water. Gasping for breath, she reached the surface and clawed her way out, breathing heavily, about to explode.
After minutes of attempting to get up the hill, she managed...looking like she herself was a sea monster. A couple of first years nearly screamed when they saw her, but she was slowly learning not to care.
All she'd wanted was a run!
She huffed to herself as she stumped past the gang of Slytherins, who were howling with mad laughter.
"Gits," she muttered as she hopped on one foot (for she'd lost her other shoe, you see.)
*So, here I am, drenched from head to toe. Merlin, is the common room just moving further and further away, or are my eyes tricking me?*
She concluded that her eyes were indeed tricking her, for moments later she reached the Common Room entrance.
The Fat Lady stared at her, wide eyed.
"What happened to you, dear?" she gaped.
"Toad feather." Ginny said dully, not wanted to mull over her day.
"Go and get a warm bath, dear," suggested the Fat Lady, and Ginny sent her a small smile as she swung open.
As soon as Ginny entered the Common Room, however, her smile disappeared.
The Creevey brothers in the corner. Ron, Harry, Dean, Seamus and Neville in front of the fire playing a game of exploding snap. Hermione scribbling on an enormous piece of parchment o f what Ginny presumed to be homework at a lone table. Parvati and Lavender sitting in bean cushions mulling over tea leaves.
And yet, so immersed in their activities, they all seemed to have the ability to be distracted by the smallest of things, like somebody entering the common room.
The room fell silent.
Ginny glared at them all, hoping that it would look threatening enough for them to pretend that she didn't exist.
No such luck.
"So, er, Gin..." Ron sniggered from the table at the fire, "You er...went for a swim?"
"Well Ron, I don't know." Ginny replied acidly, "Seamus, do I look wet to you?"
Seamus sniggered even harder, putting his head in his hands.
Ginny went a fierce shade of red.
"You sure you want your answer there, Ginny?" Dean snorted.
Everybody except Ginny and Hermione laughed. Hermione, however, didn't say anything to Ginny to help, but merely glared at Ron as if he were the biggest idiot in the world.
*The biggest idiot in a loving kind of way, of course,* Ginny thought nastily as she walked up to Ron's table of fifth year boys, who were suddenly looking a slight bit fearful.
"Ginny," Harry choked, "What happened?"
"Oh, didn't you hear, Harry?" Ginny raised an eyebrow as she wrung out her hair *directly over her brother's head*, "I went for an unexpected swim."
"Oi!" Ron shouted, standing up and glaring at his sister, "What was that for?"
"Why Ron," Ginny stood back and admired her work with a Malfoyish smirk, "Did you go for a swim?"
Even Hermione laughed, but Ginny could only guess that it was because *Ron* now had water dripping from his hair.
"Gin, that isn't funny!" shouted Ron, and she narrowed her eyes at him, "Why not?"
"Because! I spent my entire morning on getting my hair like this!"
Ginny raised her eyebrows at her brother, her temper rising, "Well, maybe *I* spent my entire morning getting *my* hair like *this* only to have it *frizzed* out by the sun, *flattened* by my stress for my Potions OWL today, and *drenched* because of my slip in the lake because a group of Slytherin *gits* wouldn't move off of the footpath! Heaven forbid that your *hair* get messed up, I know that it means so *much* to you to have your hair defy *gravity* every day, because otherwise you wouldn't have a chance of impressing *Hermione*!"
Ginny turned on her heel, not meeting the eye of anybody, split up the girl's staircase and slammed her dormitory door shut.
She leaned on it for a moment, her eyes shut in frustration, and after a moment...shame.
She had just divulged her brother's biggest secret. Which, wasn't exactly a secret, everybody seemed to know, but still...hearing it out loud must have caused a kind of mayhem out there.
He pushed me to it, though, she thought to herself sternly, He poked fun at me, and that's just not a good idea...especially when I'm stressed, tired, wet, possibly injured and PMSing.
Just as she had settled herself onto her bed, she heard an urgent (or angry, she couldn't tell which) knocking at her door.
She glanced into her mirror, and saw her reflection with a little gasp.
She looked like a drowned rat.
She sighed, "Come in."
Hermione appeared at the door, looking apprehensive.
"Oh," Ginny said weakly, "Hermione, I'm sorry-"
"Its ok," said Hermione, waving her hand airily at Ginny, "Actually, you did us both a favour down there."
"Us both?"
"Ron and I. Actually...I've wanted to tell you, but we've been keeping it secret...even Harry didn't know..."
Oh. Oh! OH!
Ginny's jaw dropped, "When did this happen?"
"About two weeks ago," Hermione grinned, "And I've been itching to tell people..."
"But you've been acting particularly distant with him for the past bit." Ginny said, furrowing her brow.
"We figured that we may as well act as though we're fighting all the time so that people wouldn't suspect." Hermione bit her lip.
"Your brilliant idea, I suppose?" Ginny said dryly.
"Actually, no. Ron thought it up. I was quite proud of him."
Ginny smirked, "I never knew that brains could be shared through spit."
Hermione slapped her arm playfully, then resumed a serious face, "But Ginny, are you ok? Do you want to come out into the hallway so that he can apologize?"
Ginny waved her hand. Suddenly, nothing seemed as bad as it had minutes before. So she'd gotten muddy? She'd have a bath. So she was stressed? She'd meditate. So she was PMSing? The sooner it came, the sooner it would go away.
"Don't worry about it," Ginny smiled at her friend, "Just tell them I'm absolutely fine. I'm going to take a bath, but I'll be down later."
"Alright," Hermione patted her arm, "Have a nice bath. You can use my aromabubbles if you want."
"Thanks."
*
"Yeah, Gin...I'm sorry about yesterday. I was a git."
Ginny smiled furtively. She was walking around outside with her brother. He'd suggested it that morning, saying that after her Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL, she would probably be kind of stressed out, and that he'd knock any Slytherins out of her way.
They'd started off talking about her OWL, which had gone really well (she hadn't expected it to be anything less than wonderful, considering all of her DA meetings she'd clocked in the past year) and then they talked a little about the death of Sirius, and how the anniversary of his death was only a few days away, and then they gossiped a little ("Luna's got a crush on a Gryffindor fifth year, but she won't say who!" and "That makes two of us." and "Who, Gin?" and "Oh, nobody you know." and a disgruntled "Oh."). Then they walked in silence for a bit, before Ron brought up yesterday's events.
"Well," Ginny said, a twinkle in her eye, "It was good in a way...it got me to out you and Hermione, at least."
"Right," said Ron, a blush creeping up his neck.
"Ron?" she said, after a moment.
"What?"
"Do you like..."
"What?"
*Splash!*
Ginny roared with laughter as she watched her brother sputter and spit out lakewater from a few feet below, "Ron, what I was going to ask before you *fell* was..."
"Fell! *Fell!?* I can't believe you pushed me, Ginny Weasley!" he shouted, sliding back down into the water as he tried to make his way up the hill.
"Pushed? No. Its not called pushing, Ron," she giggled, "Its called an unexpected swim!"