THE FUTURE AWAITS

All is Well

Ginny Weasley. Everybody knows her. Let's rephrase that, everyone knows her as Bill's, Charlie's, Percy's, Fred and George's, or Ron's sister. That's it, nothing too special. Students don't bother to know the V-I-R-G-I-N-I-A (or the G-I-N-N-Y) that forms her first name, but at least they know her brothers if they ever took a test called "THE WEASLEY SIX." She never wanted them to notice her anyway; she was too much of a bookworm. One can usually find her by herself in the corner huddled up with a book or studying or something that an average Joe usually wouldn't do. So it wouldn't be too much of a surprise if they ever found her in the library.

Tall weeds, about 4 feet tall, scattered around the front yard. The house was in complete darkness, no lights emitted from the windows. Kristin walked to the door. There was something about this place that attracted her. There was something about it she couldn't explain. Maybe it leads to her mysterious past which no one seems to recall. She reached out her hand to open the front door when. . .

"Boo!" a voice cried out.

Ginny jumped and looked at the person who, she thought, rudely interrupted her. Of course it wouldn't be much of a surprise that it was one of her brothers. They were the only ones who notice her anyway. Standing behind her was no other than the youngest one, Ronald, otherwise known plainly as Ron.

Oh dear Ron. How I wish you would stop bothering me, she thought, wincing at the idea of him irking her to watch the Quidditch game again, not like he asked her three times already this morning.

"Nice to see your reading that book again," he snickered. "Come on. Let's go watch the Quidditch game against Slytherin."

"I'm busy," Ginny replied, giving him a glare. She'd never really cared about these Quidditch games. She thought they were rather boisterous and would prefer to sit someplace quiet.

"Busy with what?"

"What do you think?"

"Don't tell me you're busy with that book." He pointed to the novel and chuckled. "That's not busy. That's free time. Come on, I'm not kidding."

"What makes you think I'm kidding?"



Ron looked aghast. "You would actually read rather than see the Slytherins losing to another game?"

"Nice to see you know me," Ginny whispered, as she went back to the novel.

. . .the wind suddenly blew through her as a forewarning of what would happen. . .

Ginny saw the book suddenly disappear from her hands.

"What do you see in this?" Ron asked, flipping through the pages.

"I see it as a way to use my time wisely," as she sighed and grabbed it from his hands.

Ron looked at her as if she just decided to join a band of flying monkeys. "Using your time wisely? You're fourteen years old and teenagers do not use their time wisely. They have fun doing other stuff."

"I'm glad to know I'm not one of them."

"Gin, come one."

"No, now would you please leave me alone."

"Weasley, stop hassling your sister," interjected a bitter voice.

Ron turned around and came face to face with Draco Malfoy.

"What are you doing here?" he spat.

"Why is it your business?" Malfoy muttered. " I just wanted to walk around before the game."

"The game you will lose as usual," Ron replied with a smirk.

"You're just ever so respectful aren't you?" he said with his usual sarcastic drawl.

If not add the annoying brother, might as well add his worse enemy, right? Ginny got up and left those two alone, knowing what damage they could do to each other. She walked right out of the library. Just as she was walking down the stairs, she heard her name. Oh no, won't you just leave me alone, Ron? she thought, as she angrily turned around and saw Harry facing her.

"Whoa, I'm sorry. Are you having a bad day?" he asked.

She smiled and was relieved. "No, just an annoying older brother."

Harry laughed. "I guess Ron can be a bit pestering, but he means the best for you."



She narrowed his eyes at Harry with a look of disbelief. "Would seeing a Quidditch game be really the best for me, rather than reading a book?"

"Hey, at least you would see me." Harry smiled.

What's with boys and showing off their abilities? She gave him a questioning look, and Harry quickly got the hint.

"I was just kidding, honest," Harry told her, throwing up his hands. "I think it would be best if you did learn something," he added, putting his arm around her, and walked down the stairs. "What Ron is probably trying to depict, even though he's not doing quite well in it, is that you should go out and have fun, not just isolate yourself from everyone. Understand?" as he squeezed Ginny's shoulder and left, while flashing a smile to her as he disappeared to the Great Hall.

She sighed. Harry had been her crush in the last four years. Even though Ron was older than him by a couple of months, Harry was quite sensible. It was true she had been detaching herself from others, but ever since word got out about her being brainwashed by Voldemort three years ago, people have looked at her as if she had a contagious disease. It wasn't worth it being stared at as an alien in a different world, but it also wasn't worth not doing anything exciting. Maybe she'll take his word on this.

Upon entering the Great Hall, Ginny heard the buzzing of people talking about the Quidditch game starting at two o'clock, which was about an hour away. She found a seat, and just observed everyone. Seamus and Dean were busy laughing at Neville, who acquired gray hair in the last two days, probably an effect from a prank they played on him. Harry was sitting with the other Quidditch players listening intently, as Angelina discussed what was happening. Ron found his way into the Great Hall with a glum expression, with Draco entering not soon after. Colin and his brother were trying to fix a camera, which looked badly damaged, as a puff of smoke surrounded them when opening the shutter. And Lavender, well she and Parvati were talking in hushed voices as if they had a secret plan.

Ginny lazily glanced pass a few other people, but then straightened up, as she got a faint feeling that someone was watching her. She quickly looked around the room, trying to get a glimpse of her observer. Justin Finch-Fletchley was talking to fellow other Hufflepuffs. A group of Slytherins were huddled together at their table, with Draco laughing about something. The Ravenclaws were listening to Nate Elliott, as he was telling a joke. Wait a second, Ginny thought, as she looked back at the Slytherins. Draco was still laughing, but she swore could swear that one second when she looked back at them, he looked at her and smirked. She narrowed her eyes. I wonder what he's up to. Maybe. . .

"There you are!" exclaimed Ron, interrupting her thoughts.

"Oh hey, Ron," she said, getting suddenly interested to start eating her lunch.



He sat beside her, and looked at her as Ginny started wolfing down her lunch. He had never seen her eat so fast in his life.

"Whoa! Ginny, slow down! No one's trying to beat you at a food eating contest!" Ron's concerned voice told her.

She stared at him, with a mouth full of food, and swallowed. "I know."

"Well," he hesitated but continued on, as he stared at his hands on the table. "You're wondering what I'm doing here. I'm just here to apologize for um, being a prat this morning and uh, at the library." Surprisingly Ron looked up at Ginny, as he said the last line. "I should respect your opinions and not force you to do anything that you don't want to."

Why does this sound like he rehearsed this speech before talking to me? Well, at least he knew he was being annoying, she thought, as she just nodded her head and kept eating.

Ron just kept staring at her as if there was a question bugging his mind.

"What?" she asked, as she gulped down her last bite.

"Why are you eating so fast? Hopefully you're not trying to escape me," he added with a laugh, sounding a bit forced.

"Well, there's going to be a Quidditch game in about an half an hour, and I want to get good seats," she explained, listening to what Harry had said.

Ron's face suddenly got excited. "Great! I'm glad you're coming. This will be your first game to watch the Gryffindors against Slytherins." He unexpectedly hugged her, making it very hard for her to breathe.

"Uh, Ron?" she managed to squeak out.

"Yeah," he asked, as he was smiling with a dreamy expression.

"Could you maybe let me breathe?"

He suddenly released his hold on her. "I'm sorry, just got caught in the moment," he told her, as his ears got red.

Ginny smiled. Right, Ron. She looked around the Hall and saw about a third of the people left to get seats to see the game. The Quidditch players on both teams already went off to the locker rooms. She looked back at her brother. I guess Harry's right. He's not so bad after all, as she stood up and held out her hand to help her brother up.

"C'mon Ron, we don't want to miss the game."