"He'll be all right", murmured Ginny.
As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.
"I know he will"
The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.
Once Ginny stopped reading the document entitled "Epilogue – Nineteen Years Later", she felt confused.
"I don't understand, what is this?", asked Ginny, feeling like she was in some weird alternative bizarre world.
"That is a look of what your future can be", said Professor Flitwick.
"Well, it's not a bad future" said Ginny with uncertainty.
"No, I guess it is not bad, but is it really what you want?", he said, looking her in the eyes.
"It's just that there are some things that bother me"
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that Harry didn't tell me that he heard Percy. I know there was a time when everyone thought that I hated him, you know, when he was working for Fudge. It was just that I missed him so much, and I was afraid that he was changing like I did in my first year. You know he was the only one that really understood how I felt during and after my first year. The only one that got that that experience will be a part of me forever, that it'll never go away."
"Yes, I know that, but why would Harry know all of this?", he said, already knowing the answer, but at the same time knowing that she needed to vent.
"Because if I marry him, it'll mean I trust him that much. How can I trust the little friends I have more than my husband? Well, there are 2 options. The first is that he doesn't know and the second that he doesn't care. If he doesn't know, it means that I don't trust him and if he doesn't care, well... that's just sad."
"Is that all that bothers you about your possible future?", he said placing a hand on her shoulder for a moment.
"Do you really want to hear me rambling?"
"What are friends for.", he asked while smiling warmly. That sent Ginny to a full time rambling.
"How can I just nod at Draco? Why don't I go talk to him and how can it be that his son's name is Scorpius.?"
"I know that Scorpius is not that great of a name, but Draco is not better."
"It's not the name, I mean I'm the first to admit that it is hideous name, but the problem is the meaning behind the name. Every name in the Black family is something related with stars and constellations, like Draco, Narcisa, Scorpius, etc. If his son is named after a constellation, it means that he guides himself by the family rules. That is something he promised himself never to do again after Albus died and more so after Severus died. It means he's not happy, that he's not himself and what is worse is that I'm not with him; I can't help him because I'm not talking to him. I mean, how could I if I don't even go close enough to say hi."
"Something else?", he asked, knowing that there was more.
"Neville is not there because he is a teacher, I get that, but where is Luna? Why isn't she with me? I know I'll freak out, at least internally, when I sent my kids away. I know I'll have a hard time, because I always got to see my brothers off every year and then I didn't saw or heard of them for the longest periods of time; well, except for Percy, he was so sweet, he owled me every week. But back to Luna, I've lived so much with her this lasts years. Especially with the D.A. on our sixth year and with Draco's and Severus's friendship. And yours, of course. How can it be that I won't have her by my side at a moment like that, it's just wrong that she isn't there."
"We were a great group, weren't we?", he said, not knowing an other way to comfort her.
"Yeah, we still are, the greatest and strangest group ever. Neville, Luna, Aberforth, Draco, Severus, you and me. That's an other thing that bothers me. I don't think that Harry wanted to name one of our kids after Severus only because he was one of us. And all of our kids were named after people that were important to Harry, but not necessarily to me. James, Lily and Albus. I mean, sure, Albus was a great man, but I'm closer to McGonagall than I ever was to him"
"You like the name Minerva? Really?", he asked, incredulous
"Well, between Lily and Minerva, I'll stick with the second. It has way more personality.", she replied with confidence.
"Severus would be growling if he were here.", he said, smiling fondly at the memory of their friend.
"Yeah, I really miss him", said Ginny, sitting in the desk that was next to her, with a far away expression on her face.
"We all do, love, we all do", said Filius, placing a hand in her shoulder
"How can a son of mine be worried about being placed in Slithering? Especially after getting to know Draco and Severus? And what kind of a mother am I? How can I see he's worried about being placed in Slytherin, and pretend that I don't hear?", she asked with a lowered head and a sad tone in her voice.
"I honestly don't know", he replied sadly.
"Well, that's something, a Ravenclaw not knowing something?", teased Ginny, but after the failing in trying to lighten the mood, she went on in a more serious tone "Is that what awaits for me? Wanting to be with Harry is what I've always wanted, but if I'm going to loose so much of myself in the process,then I'm not so sure anymore. Am I going to become in one of those stupid people that think that just because Tom was in Slythering then everything that comes out of there has to be evil too? And what if another future is worse than that?; Oh my God, I sound like such a whiny stupid little girl!", cried Ginny frustrated.
"And what's new about that?", asked Draco Malfoy, who was standing at the door.
"Oh!, shut up, you'll have a receding hairline", said Ginny bitterly, but with a teasing smile on her lips.
"What?!?", asked Draco, drawing instantly his hands to his hair melodramatically, "I can't possibly have a receding hairline, I just checked this morning".
"First of all", said Ginny, like she was trying to explain a Kid why the grass was green and not pink", I said that you will have a receding hairline, not that you already got one, and secondly, do you really check every morning if you're loosing hair?"
"Well,... it's just that,..."started Draco, sending Filius and Ginny into hysterical laughter. Annoyed, Draco cast a Silencio charm on them, but you could still see, by their expression, that they were laughing stronger that before. But there was a difference, because now they could hear what Draco was saying. "I don't check every morning, OK?, it's just that since that dream I had, I've been wondering if I was really going to loose my hair.", he saw the confused looks of his friends "I've been having it for a while now. I'm in the train station, there is a lot of fog and a women and a kid are standing next to me. Then I can hear a voice on off. It says that the women and the Kid standing next to me are my wife and son, Scorpius. And later she starts saying some bullshit about me, and I quote his hair was receding somewhat, which emphasized the pointed chin. It's 15 minutes later that I wake up trembling. It's after a while that I realize that I'm a wizard, so I can grow my hair back. It's just a pointless nightmare. Besides my chin is not pointed, it's distinguish" Draco was waiting for more laughter after that last line, or any other reaction that the ones he got; the shocked expression of his friends. Filius and Ginny looked at each other and then both of them nodded. Ginny walked closer to Draco and gave him the document with a serious expression in her face.
After a pair of minutes, because Draco's a fast reader, his face went pale, well, paler than usual.
"The war is over, Potter won and Voldemort lost, why do I keep dreaming the future?", asked Draco, feeling completely lost. It was then that he realized they were still under the spell. He removed it.
"I don't know, but if you dreamed it, it's more real than what I thought it was", said Filius, shocked
"Ginny, did you have a fight with Percy again?" asked Draco, concerned.
"No, I don't know why Harry ignored him, but I thought you would be more concerned about your receding hairline", said Ginny, trying to lighten the mood.
"Come on, I'm like the greatest wizard ever, well except for Severus. I can grow my hair back. Besides, if I have a receding hairline it must be because I'm a celebrity. I´ll go low profile on and out of the station, I mean there's bound to be too many common people.", said Draco with a smirk on his lips. Filius and Ginny smiled, but Ginny's smile looked too forced to Draco, so he added, "Look, the future is never written on stone, so all the premonitions and stuff just shows you one possible future, in the end it's your decision to take it as the future you want, or not"
"Thanks", said Ginny as she went to hug him, "But you have to watch it, otherwise your reputation would be ruined. You just manage to save the muggle world while staying the bastard everyone loves to hate, you don't want to loose that for something as showing compassion", she said smiling, this time for real.
"Well if you keep hugging him, it's bound to happen", said Filius smiling at them, but he could tell neither of them wanted to let goof each other.
"You're a great writer, so write the future you want, that way you'll never forget it" said Draco before letting her go and it was the perfect timing, because it was just when Harry Potter walked through the door with an old parchment in his hands.
"Malfoy, what are you doing here?", said Harry with hate in his voice.
"What does it looks like?", asked Draco with a smirk.
"It looks like you're bothering Ginny because she's like my girlfriend now", said Harry, in a "stating the obvious" kind of way
"No, you got it wrong, we were going to organize an orgy, you see, but it turns out that we need one more person for that, because otherwise we would have a threesome and while that's still fun, we would still prefer the orgy. We where actually waiting for Lovegood, but I think you'll do", said Draco looking Harry un and down while Ginny and Filius were trying desperately not to burst out laughing. And that required a bigger effort when they saw Harry's shocked expression.
"I do not like blond guys!", he yelled while his face turned red.
"So every other guy it's OK?", said Draco, pointing at Filius
It was after only a few minutes that Draco, Ginny and Filius started laughing uncontrollably. After that Harry didn't turn red, he turned purple.
I know that this was supposed to be a one-shot, but I got inspired and I think that it turned out OK, so I wanted to share it with you. So I'm making a story out of this, but I'm not really sure when the next chapter will be ready. I guess that's what happens when the real life interferes with the fictional life, oh well. Hope you like this chapter and constructive criticism is always appreciated
Luna Lovewood was standing outside the room, giggling silently. She had come to meet with their friends, but as they were tormenting Harry, she decided to just hear them and laugh at Harry's distress.
It was well known that in their first years of school Draco had tormented Harry out of hate. Then it was out of envy and, as only a few knew, for cover up. But lets make it clear that he was never a spy, not for the Order and not for the Death Eaters. It was just as cover up for some hidden intentions, and no, it wasn't his undying love for Harry Potter, or Ginny, or Ron, or Hermione. Actually it wasn't out of love for anyone of the Order of the Phoenix members, or of muggle proceeding, like it was with Severus. It was his destiny, his responsibility to have a choice in the outcome of the war. It is true that everyone had choices to make that affects the future, but this was a special choice. Something to do about dreams.
So it was only after the war that he tormented Harry just for the fun of it. Draco said once that it was fun because Harry (or, in his words, Potter) fell for it every single time. And who could blame him, everyone ended up laughing in the end, well, except for the Golden Trio.
Suddenly Luna heard steps behind her and she didn't thought twice about it and disappeared. Disappear as in turning invisible, not as in running like hell. I know, this is really strange, even for the magic world, but it will be explained in time.
Turning around the corner the figure of Blaise Zabini showed up. Out of all the students of Hogwarts he wasn't one of the people that were especially mean to Luna, but he did laugh at her when the crowd did, and that was reason enough to have a little fun with him.
Slowly, very slowly, she approached him. Just because she was invisible that didn't mean she couldn't make any noise. When she was close enough she blew air in his ear. This caused an interesting reaction. He jumped like 2 feets high while shrieking like a girl, a 5 year old girl. Luna tried really hard not to laugh out loud, but when he started to look around every second to see what had happened she couldn't take it anymore and she burst out laughing.
Of course the laughing alerted the people inside the classroom, or maybe it was the shriek, who knows. Harry opened loudly the door with his wand at hand, ready to kill someone, while the others came out slowly, silently and with their wands ready for a battle. When the sounds of laughter was clearly heard; Draco, Filius and Ginny just smiled. Harry for his part was shocked, because he couldn't see where the laughter was coming from. And Blaise was just looking paranoid.
Luna appeared on the other side of the shocked and the paranoid guys, still laughing. The only ones that saw her appear were Filius, Draco and Ginny, but they knew already of her strange ability. When Harry and Blaise finally saw her, they didn't know how to react. That's way they didn't reacted at all, they just pretended that having someone appear behind your back, at Hogwarts, was the most normal thing. Remember that invisibility cloaks are really rare and that it is impossible to appear at Hogwarts.
It's interesting that, even with people that are used to unusual things, people still tended to ignore what they don't understand.
"What do you thing you were doing?" yelled Blaise, while approaching Luna until he was at 2 inches from her face.
"Laughing", she answered in between giggles.
"Liar, you gave me a blow", said Blaise with the most threatening voice he could make. Sadly, the tone didn't matter, not after the phrasing he used.
Harry looked clueless, Filius and Draco smiled a little bit wider and Luna continued giggling, but Ginny looked dead serious.
"Really", said Ginny raising an eyebrow," Luna, we already talked about this" she said with a "concern mother" tone of voice, at which Blaise relaxed and gave Luna some space. Surely the weasley Girl could control her friend. Ginny continued:
"Blows need to be given in private dear, at least most of the times. But well, tell me the details", she said, starting to smile, while Blaise's jaw dropped to the floor.
At that Luna put her clueless face on, not as clueless as Harry's, but it was because hers wasn't real.
"I'm actually not sure, it was the first time that someone shrieked while I was giving a blow. Is that a good or a bad sign?", she asked, looking confused. That did it, after that, almost everyone was laughing hysterically. Except for Harry, who continued looking clueless; and Blaise, who was blushing, deeply ashamed of his phrasing.
It was after a couple of seconds that he was able to compose himself and walk closer to Luna; not Harry, he was still clueless. This time Blaise used a low, deep voice to say:
"Luna, love, that is good, really good, because...", he came even closer, making Luna's back rest against the wall and her breathing come out faster. And when his mouth was just a breath away from hers, he said almost in a whisper, "Only you can make me do those noises", after that, there was silence. They stood there, just a breath away from touching, from kissing. Just feeling the heat from the others body through the smallest amount of space between them.
Ginny, Draco and Filius were shocked, while Harry was still clueless. And as suddenly as it started, Blaise turned around and walked away.
After he was gone Luna slides down the wall and ended sitting on the floor, a shocked look on her face. Draco, Filius and Ginny went to her to help her. How, they had no idea, but the least they could do was try. And Harry, ... well ..., was still clueless.
As Filius and Draco were trying to help Luna stand up without much success Harry suddenly wasn't so clueless anymore.
"You gave him a blow job? In the middle of the hallway? What kind of person are you!" exclaimed Harry. OK, so he was still clueless, it's just that he didn't know it.
At this point Luna, who was mostly herself again, looked up at him from the floor with a "are you alright up there?" look. And if Luna was giving you that kind of look, it meant that you were definitely having problem upstairs. It was then that everyone turned to look at Ginny, waiting for her to do something with this weir example of a human been, after all, he was her boyfriend.
"Harry, darling, sweetie, honey, what Luna was saying was that she blew some air in Blaise's ear, not that she gave him a blow job" she said, like a mother would explain his son why the sky couldn't possibly fall down, but Harry still looked unconvinced. "We were just making fun of Blaise, that's way we were making blow jobs puns, right?", asked Ginny to the others, searching for help.
"Honestly Potter, do you think that everyone is like you? Only you ejaculate that fast", said Draco and then looked at the group, "there, I helped". Ginny was about to answer to that when a soft voice interrupted her.
"Well, anyways, that was an interesting reaction", said Luna, although if she was talking about hers or Blaise's reaction, it was anyone's guess. With that she stood up and walked away. Well, actually she skipped away, but with Luna it is the same as walking.
It was a couple weeks later that Ginny found herself walking down a hall with the Golden Trio. This day was a very special day for her, because finally, after almost 2 months since Severus's death, he was going to get the recognition that he deserved. It is true that it was some time ago that the actual burial had taken place, with only Neville, Luna, Aberforth, Draco, Filius, Minerva, Ginny and a couple of Slitherine's as witnesses. It had been small, but it was the most meaningful burial they had ever witnessed.
Now Severus was finally cleared off of all charges and that was the reason why he was getting a second burial ceremony, not that the rest of the people knew about the first one. That's because making a big deal about the first one would have been a terrible idea, with everyone looking for Death Eaters and Voldemort's allies and all that jazz.
Once they arrived near the lake, where the ceremony was taking place, they saw a huge crowd. Ginny didn't missed the amazing difference in the amount of people in this ceremony compared with the first one, as well as the difference in the meaning. While she was comparing the both of them, the crowd parted so that the Golden Trio, and Ginny, could walk to the front row.
Once they were settled the ceremony started. Some minutes into it, Ginny started to regret agreeing to go with Harry to the ceremony. He had managed to convince her that because they were a couple they had to go together, otherwise "what would people think". They needed to show a strong image to the people that were still suffering from the war and show compassion and respect by going to the ceremony. Sadly he managed to convince her and only now was she able to understand the full meaning of his words. Because showing respect was just showing it, not feeling it. She hadn't expected him to feel as strongly as she did for Severus, but she had expected him to feel something, after all Severus had loved his mother and saved his life. But the Golden Trio just stood there, calmly looking respectful during the ceremony, and out of the three of them, only Ron looked sad.
Ginny realized how unfair Severus's life had been, never being recognized in life and being remembered now only because Harry said he helped in bringing Voldemort down. But what about all the other sacrifices he made? The important ones, like sacrificing his happiness for that of his loved one, or risking his life and sanity by protecting Draco, and during the year by saving countless of students lives over and over again.
Ginny's hands started shaking, her throat hurt by unpronounced sobs, and her eyes burned by unshed tears. That's when she felt Harry's hand in hers. It was through a blurry vision that she could see her friends a few feet's away. Her eyes locked with Draco's moist ones and that was all it took for her tears to start caressing her face. Harry didn't notice her tears, but he did notice her hands increasing shaking, so he tightened his grip on her hand. Draco came to her in seconds after meeting her eyes, with the rest of her friends a little behind him trying to open their way through the crowd.
When Draco reached her, he took her in his arms and hugged her strongly, in an attempt of giving and taking comfort at the same time. Ginny started crying into his shoulder while she felt the wetness of his tears on her neck.
"You're going to ruin your bad boy's reputation", she said between sobs.
"Don't worry, I'll go kick some puppies afterwards to make up for it", he replied in a low and rough voice. It was then that Harry looked Ginny's way and started complaining.
"Malfoy, take your hands out of my girlfriend, this is a ceremony and it's not the time to show disrespect by manhandling her", he said while trying to take Ginny away from the tight embrace.
That was when Ginny realized that whatever she did right now would affect strongly in her future. But it wasn't only her future that she would be affecting. She separated a bit from the embrace that she and Draco where sharing.
That's when she knew that she just wasn't ready to make that huge decision, she needed time. That's when her eyes locked with those of Luna, and she instantly got it.
Years later people still couldn't figure out how Ginny vanished out of thin air. Luna they didn't noticed she was there in the first place, well, except for the people that knew and Blaise, who couldn't seem to be able to looked away from her.
It was in front of all the school, with everyone looking at her
The first time that Draco noticed Ginny, when he really noticed her, was in his seventh year, the year that was chaos all around.
He always thought that most of his problems were partially Potter's fault, but that year proved him how wrong he was. Sure, Severus was the new school headmaster, but that title was only in name, because the power of that position was held by other people, powerful Death Eaters.
Draco knew that he had a huge part in the war. Sure it wasn't a hero's part or something one could feel proud of it afterwards, but he knew it was very important. He had dreamed about it many times, and he had made his decision a long time ago. No one could be able to suspect why he was doing this, why he would, eventually and without anyone's but Severus's knowledge, help Potter.
It was because of his parents, it was because he loved them and it was because they loved him. The monster that his father was turning into under Voldemort's wing and the submissive shadow that his mother was becoming was more than he could take. He knew that a future with Voldemort in the power would kill his family, not necessarily in a literal way, but certainly in an emotional one.
It was sad really, because his father honestly believed in the cause that Voldemort was fighting for, he really thought that it was the best for his family. After all his beloved father was killed by an angry muggle mob when he was 13. Sometimes when people don't understand something, they ignore it, but other times they struggle to destroy it. The mob decided to destroy it but Lucius's mother decided to ignore it. And she tried to ignore it so hard, that she ended up ignoring everything, his son included.
Who could little Lucius blame other than the Muggels? How could he be able to understand wizards that defended said Muggles? How could he accept muggleborns, if they showed how much closer the Wizarding World was becoming to the Muggle World? He would never be able to understand why Draco had to help in bringing Voldemort down.
So, as you can see, Draco's involvement with the "light" side had nothing to do with Ginny, but nonetheless it was on a Friday in his seventh year that he noticed her.
Every Friday was the same, all the students went to the great hall to watch the punishments. It was a new form that replaced the detentions, something about it not being safe anymore.
The after curfew detentions, or the romantic night walks outside the castle (understand forbidden Forrest) were stopped. Now the punishments were imparted for everyone to see. This new measure was applied by Mrs Umbridge and Severus, as an Order of the Pheonix spy and as a suspected Death Eater, had no say in the matter. Not that he'd ever let people discover that.
That was how every Friday after classes the students went to the great hall to see, sometimes, blood run. And it was this particular Friday that Draco really noticed Ginny.
She was in line, waiting for her punishment. A punishment totally deserved, if you thought defending your brother was a horrible offence to the institution of Hogwarts. Most punishments were only a little embarrassing, like showing your boggart for the whole school to see, or being forced to drink veritaserum and order to relate the most embarrassing moment of your life, etc. It was only some times when there was pain involved, only when Umbridge was in a really bad mood. And that day she was in a terrible mood. Someone had broken into the Ministry of Magic and stolen something of great value for her, a necklace.
Usually the order of the punishments were by alphabetical order, but today she had a particular redheaded girl in mind.
"Today we'll make thing a little bit different, shall we? I think it is really unfair that we do this always in alphabetical order, so today we'll do it backwards. That means we will start with Miss Ginervra Weasley". She said with her characteristic sickening sweet tone of voice.
She was in front of all the school, with everyone looking at her. She knew it would be this way from the moment she opened her mouth to speak up in behalf of her brother, but she knew that had she remained in silence she would have hated herself. Now she had to deal with the consequences and that was the reason she was standing in front of the school.
"Well Miss Weasley, are we ready?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
"So insolent, but that's what we're here to fix, aren't we?"
"Are we done with the stupid questions?"
"Excrucior!", yelled Umbridge pointing her wand at Ginny. The instant the curse hit Ginny she was suspended in the air with her arms perpendiculars to her body. It was only seconds later that her scream pierced the air. She could feel how the pain shot through her head until it reached her brain, her hands until her fingernails were on fire and her feet until her bones were dust. She could feel the warmth of the blood sliding down her cheeks, her fingertips and the center of her feet and how her hot tears burned her eyes and screams leaked from her lips.
"Not so sassy now, are we?", She let the curse run on a few more minutes.
When she ended it Ginny dropped heavily on the ground. "Next!", screamed Umbridge completely ignoring the lump on the floor that was Ginny. A small girl stepped forwards with trembling hands and unsure steps. Umbridge pointed her wand at the little girl and started to speak her curse, when a voice interrupted her.
"That was all?", asked Ginny. Umbridge turned around slowly and looked in shock at Ginny's trembling form trying to stand up.
The professor, if you can call someone that treats students like that a professor, yelled again the curse "Excrucior" at Ginny. This time the gashes from were the blood came became visible, they were in her hands, her feet, her forehead and, if you were paying attention, the material of the back of her red robe became redder. The screams were weaker, but not lower. The tears united with the blood and made rivers on her cheeks and down her neck. And with the sweetest voice Umbridge could muster she said,
"Sorry darling, what did you said? I didn't cached it. Well, I guess it wasn't that important", with that said, she dropped the curse, "Now, were was I? Oh yes, Next!", once again the little girl stepped from the crowd, but it was only after 3 little steps that Ginny's voice sounded again.
"I said, was that all?", she said, just a little above a trembling whisper. Her attempts at standing up were unsuccessful, which belied the arrogance of her speech. Quite a few people in the audience were, by now, slightly concerned about the girls health.
But many people didn't know that the "Crucio" curse was not the most painful curse of all. It was highly illegal because of the need of hateful feelings to fulfill it, but also because of it's unnatural nature. It was pain without the physical part, but also without the physiological part, it was just pain without a reason and without a motive, well, other that the desire to hurt, and it leaves no prove like scars or wounds, hence the illegal part.
The most painful curse was, in fact, this one. "Excrucior" means crucifixion in Latin and, as well known by the Romans, this procedure was reserved only for dangerous criminals that were sentenced to death. Likewise for roman Wizards this curse was the worst death sentence known at the time. It ensured a slow and painful death and it generally took the curse one to tree days to kill its victim.
Ginny couldn't even scream this time when her weak body was lifted once again in the air. All eyes were on her in an astonished shock. That's the reason why only one pair of eyes noticed the blond girl come out of the crowd of students and lead the little girl to her seat, just were the audience was watching the "show". Then, slowly and unnoticed, she stood were the little girls used to be.
It was then that Ginny fell on the floor, unconscious. Having finished, Professor Umbridge turned around with a satisfied smile and called out for the next student. When in the place of the little girl she found an older student she was surprised and confused but then pleasure took their places. Because now instead of the girl there was someone that she had been wanting to punish, someone she hadn't been able to catch before. Someone she had wanted to see suffer since a while ago. But now she was offering herself, willingly? She didn't dare to question it, so she just decided to enjoy it.
"Well, well, well, it seems that the time has arrived for you to pay for your faults, Loony … oh! I'm sorry, Luna Lovegood", she said with a saccharine sweet smile.