With a sigh, Ginny Weasley pushed the loose strands of fiery red hair out of her face. She tucked them behind her ear and made a tight fist with her hand and slammed it against her knee, frustrated with the report before her.
She glanced up at her window, from which poured the golden rays of the sun, deceptively convincing that all was right in the world. The day was a fine one, just right for children to tumble about in the soft green grasses while making up adventures for themselves and creating worlds of their own.
Yet not only was the grass the perfect green, the leaves on every bush and tree were at their finest, too. The whole of the natural world seemed to be in competition, determined to beat the others with outstanding beauty; flowers of all different kinds and colours were open for the world to see and even the blackest of spiders and most slithery of snakes looked less frightening and dangerous in the warm, summer sunshine.
But it was not to be that Ginny could waltz outside and play games like she used too. Instead she was sat criss-cross on her bed, attempting to determine the best course of action regarding the piece of parchment she held.
It was the day that her O.W.L. results had finally come in, and for the past week Ginny had been waking earlier than anyone else, suspecting that any day her results would come. When the owl came swooping down unusually early, she untied the letters and snuck back to her bedroom, and because she was the only one left attending Hogwarts, she didn't have to worry about what to do with letters addressed to her brothers, and she was relived that she didn't have to make up any lies regarding aforementioned non-existent letters.
Now it was midday and she was locked in her room, tired and frustrated. The last hours had been spent attempting to choose what to do with her O.W.L.s. Ginny wasn't sure if she should show them off and have them ignored or hide them away and pretend they never came.
Ginny couldn't decide what to do and just for the sake of doing something, again counted the number of O.W.L.s she received, and again counted only eight; which, given the situation and distractions the previous year, was a fair amount.
She had expected nothing more; in fact, she had expected to make less than what she had gotten, though she knew in truth that Voldemort probably didn't care how wonderful or terrible her scores were.
Suddenly there was a loud crash from the stories below, and Ginny grabbed her wand, ready to protect herself or aid whomever needed help, but quickly enough the sound of strained laughter made its way thru the floorboards of her bedroom, leading her to presume that Ron had clumsily dropped something…again.
Ginny quietly returned her wand to her pillow, and leant back against the wall, reflecting that less and less everyday laughter was heard in the Burrow, especially with the twins having moved out and with Percy gone there was no one to tease; even Bill these days wasn't good for a laugh.
Ron tried his best to make jokes, but most of the time they fell flat, yet people still laughed simply for the sake of laughter; though everyone knew it was empty mirth, and no one tried to cover it up, too tired and sick with worry and unspoken fear.
Gazing mournfully at the parchment in her hands, Ginny decided that it was best if she feigned having not received them; there was no time for anyone to celebrate her accomplishments and no one to admonish her for receiving so few. There would be a time and a place for her scores, but this was not it.
The war was raging and her family and friends fighting, and her brother was preparing to get married, there was no place for academic accomplishments, for a reminder of Hogwarts and the way the war had come between her and Harry.
As she folded the parchment and thought of Harry, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at his noble attempts; of course, she herself didn't realize that in her own way, she was attempting to be noble, too, by allowing something that should have been remembered to be forgotten.
Ginny decided that that was war, and that sometimes small things, and big things, were passed over in favour of more pressing matters.
So it was that when her mother asked her about her O.W.L.s later that day, Ginny just laughed and commented on the dysfunctional habits of Hogwarts, and denied that she had gotten them.
She figured she'd just hide them away until the end of the war, and then bring them out as an extra little bit to add on to the cheerful victory due the Order and good people of the world. However, it was that for long after the Final Battle her grades were both out of sight and out of mind, with all the reconstruction the world required, both physically and emotionally.
It was not until several months later that she pulled them out and revealed them to everyone. It was then that they could all celebrate, having no other distractions, no war and no grief, simply life to focus on, and that's what grades are, a part of life.
(And yes, Percy did grumble, as expected, quite vocally about how few O.W.L.s Ginny received…)
AN:: I don't own Harry Potter!!!!!!
I've suddenly realized that I think I forgot to put a disclaimer on my last fic...
Nywho. Uhhhh. I guess this fic doesn't need much explanation. Just...things get passed over in war time, important or not.
Sooooo...yeah.
Thought of the Day: One month gone by; crazy month gone by.