We, Ginny and I, were sitting in the common room after having finally finished our homework. Occupying a corner of the common room we sat talking so quietly that no one else could hear us.
The conversation slowly drifted to Ginny's favourite topic as of late. It was as if she saw herself as some match maker that was destined to end what she my 'dry spell'. I'd already knew from past experience that letting Ginny match make was a big mistake.
"Come on," she whined when she realised that I wasn't paying attention to the conversation. "I'm good at match making – I've been told so by loads of people. I promise I'll set you up with someone good this time."
"Really?" I said in disbelief, raising an eyebrow. "Name one person that said that you're good at match making and I'll believe you."
"Alright, fine," she relented, "So no-one's said that before. But stop trying to distract me. Seeing how you wouldn't even think of giving Anthony Goldstein the time of day, what about Ernie Macmillan?"
I sighed knowing that there was no way for me to stop her. When she started talking about this topic, she wouldn't stop. After all, she was her mother's daughter.
"Ernie Macmillan?" I repeated cautiously, watching as she started to smile, believing that she had finally found someone that I wouldn't turn down. "No thanks."
Her smile deflated quickly and she narrowed her eyes. "Have you even spoken to Ernie once?"
"Have you?"
Ginny nodded her head unconvincingly before stopping, seemingly gaining enlightenment, "You're not still hung up on your ex are you?"
"No of course not," I insisted, wrinkling my nose slightly. "We've been broken up for over a year now Ginny. I said no to Ernie because I don't like him that way. And at least, out of the two of us, I have spoken to him before."
"Well who do you like then?" She asked patiently.
"It is possible for me to not like anyone at the moment." I answered, making Ginny roll her eyes as she looked away from me.
I let out a small internal sigh of relief, thankful that I was able to make my way through the conversation without revealing myself. She'd freak out if she ever found out who I liked. I mean, how in Merlin's name was I supposed to be able to tell Ginny who I fancied?
I fancied her brother, for Merlin's sake. I fancied Ronald Weasley and had done since fourth year. My crush was a secret, one that I would make sure to take to the grave. I had managed to keep it a secret from everyone. Or rather, almost anyone.
But, as per usual, both Hermione and Harry knew about my secret crush. They both seemed to have this knack for being able to uncover the secrets that I was desperately trying to hide from everyone. Thankfully Ron himself was clueless and that was through dumb luck alone. Harry had tried so many times to bring his attention to my crush that it was a miracle that Ron was still unaware.
He and Ginny certainly made a pair.
The three of them walked into the common room and spotted the two of us sitting in the common room. As they walked over towards us, I watched colour bloom on Ginny's cheeks when she spotted Harry. Merlin was I glad that I didn't seem to possess the ability to blush. If I had then I'd have spent to majority of my time in Hogwarts looking like a tomato.
Harry settled down across from us, Ron and Hermione sitting down on either side of him. He looked between the two of us.
"What were you two doing?" He asked, suspicious of our sudden silence. Ginny regained her composure.
"Ginny's been trying to set me up," I answered, receiving a sympathetic look from Hermione at my words. "Again."
"Who with this time?" Harry might have looked sincerely concerned but his eyes gave away his amusement. He always found it so funny that Ginny was unaware of the person that she should have, in Harry's opinion, been setting me up with.
"It was Ernie Macmillan," Ginny piped up when it was obvious that I wouldn't answer Harry.
Ron snorted and Ginny looked sharply at her brother. Seeing the look his sister was giving him, he raised his hands up in defeat and started to explain himself.
"It's just Macmillan and her," He said as if those words were able to explain everything. I furrowed my eyebrows at him. If he didn't explain himself soon –
"What's so funny about that?" Ginny demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Come on," Ron said glancing at Harry for support. Harry looked away from Ron, not willing to sacrifice himself alongside Ron.
"Sorry, mate," Harry said apologetically, "You dug your own hole, you need to get yourself out of it."
Ron turned back to his sister, "It's just that – it's not as if she's the most…desirable girl in the school, now is it?"
I clenched my jaw in irritation. Ron hadn't meant to be hurtful intentionally and I knew that. But that didn't change the fact that at times he could be the most hurtful person that I knew.
"If you must know Ronald," Hermione cut in tersely, shoot him a glare, "I happen to know that Ernie does in fact have a crush on her and that he isn't as shallow as you. Not that you're not pretty," she assured me as an afterthought.
I smiled gratefully at her. Only to lose it when Ron spoke again.
"Yeah alright, but I know that she'd never go out on a date with him, right?" He glanced at me for confirmation.
"And why wouldn't I?" I demanded, raising an eyebrow and ignoring Ginny's pleased exclamation of 'You'll go on a date with him!" She piped down at the sight of my glare.
"Because he's not you're type!"
"And how would you know what my type is?"
"Actually," Harry cut in with a small mischievous smile, "I think that of all people he should know exactly what your type is."
I glared at Harry before risking a quick look over at Ron who clearly had no idea what Harry was on about. But Ginny was another matter altogether. From the way she was looking between Ron and me, I knew that she as beginning to put it all together. I had managed to keep it hidden from her for so long.
Forget Voldermort killing Harry, I'd probably beat the no nosed freak to it.
I was screaming my lungs out beside Hermione as we huddled close together on the stands, watching the quidditch match that was happening above us. We watched as Ron dove to save a goal, successfully catching the quaffle against his chest. I screamed louder making Hermione flinch from beside me. She let out a laugh when I stopped screaming and playfully hit me on the shoulder.
"He's doing well for his first match," she muttered knowingly into my ear. I didn't glance at her and instead kept my eyes on his figure as he hovered in front of the three hoops. "Maybe the good luck hug you gave him came to good use."
"Oh please," I scoffed, taking my eyes momentarily off from him to look at her. "We both know that it was whatever Harry slipped into his goblet at breakfast."
"It was cheating, that's what it was." She frowned at the mention of the incident and I shoved her shoulder with my own.
"Come on Hermione, just let it go."
Neville started a cheer of "Potter! Potter! Potter!" from beside us. We looked up into the sky again and quickly located Harry who surged towards what I could only assume was the snitch. He pressed himself flat against his broom before sitting up suddenly and stretching his hand out in front of him. He inched forward and closed his hand. A whistle blew to signal the end of the game and cheers rang out across the Gryffindor stand.
Slowly the crowd started to leave the stands and head back to the common room. Ahead of us, Hermione and I could hear Dean and Seamus discussing who was in charge of smuggling firewhisky out from the kitchen this time.
We made our way into the common room and I flinched slightly as Ginny appeared seemingly from thin air at my side. How had she gotten changed so quickly?
She took my elbow and started to usher me up the stairs to the girl's dorms. Opening the door to my dorm, she pushed me in and shut the door behind her. Pressing her back against the door, she smiled at me.
"You know that this isn't your dorm, right?" Her smile only grew in response.
"Ginny?" I said warily, backing away from her as she advanced towards me.
"We are going to make my brother eat his words," She said, approaching me with a determined glint in her eyes.
She walked towards me then, and it took every part of my will power to keep myself rooted to my spot. Every cell in my body was screaming at me to back away. But, Ginny managed to work her magic fairly quickly and we were out of my dorm in under twenty minutes.
Walking down the stairs, I glanced around the common room. My eyes immediately went to Ron who was watching me when I made it to the bottom of the stairs. His shock was obvious.
"Don't stand here like a lemon all night," Ginny said before she disappeared into the crowd of people.
Looking over Ron's shoulder I made eye contact with Hermione who gave me a longsuffering look. It seemed as if she had been on her own for a while now. Brushing past Ron, I headed for Hermione who looked over me from head to toe, her eyebrows rose towards her hairline when she took in how unlike myself I looked thanks to Gnny's help.
"Ginny?" She asked, not needing an explanation as to my sudden change. I nodded once.
"Yeah," I said self-consciously, trying to pull the skirt down lower.
Hermione began to talk but it was in a very distracted manner. I watched her closely, noticing her eyes flickering repeatedly to something over my shoulder as she spoke. Furrowing my eyebrows slightly, I turned to look over my shoulder. My eyebrows rose as I found Ron walking towards us.
I turned to look back at Hermione, only to be greeted with her back as she walked away from me. She approached Harry and started talking to him. Glancing back around the room I was suddenly face to face with Ron as he came to a stop in front of me. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"You, um, you look nice." He paused and looked away from me momentarily. I used the chance to tug at the bottom of the skirt again. Realising that I was now alone with Ron I looked around the common room as well. Merlin, since when had I become so nervous n his presence?
"Ron-"
"Do you want to dance?" He asked, looking back towards me and extending a hand forward.
"No thank you." His eyes snapped up to mine and I smiled to soften the blow from my following words. "I mean it's not as if you're the most desirable boy in the school."
I caught the half smile that appeared on his face, telling me that he had picked up on the joke. Turning away from him, I made my way towards Harry and Hermione. The two of them looked back at me.
"Where's Ron?" Hermione asked, looking around the common room.
"I have no idea," I admitted before joining the conversation that the two of them had been having.
It was probably no more than five minutes later when a chant of "Weasley! Weasley! Weasley!" started up. I looked around the common room and towards the crowd that had formed around Ron and… Lavender?
Harry called my name quietly from beside me. Ignoring him I watched as Lavender pulled Ron into a kiss. Feeling a lump grow in my throat I turned away from the image.
Making eye contact with Ginny, I saw the sympathy in her eyes and tried to give her a brave smile. Hearing the way the cheers became louder I felt my smile waver. Pushing myself through the crowd, I exited the common room. Letting out a deep shaking breath, my hands clutched my frame as it shook with silent tears. Making my way through the castle I eventually sat down on some stairs, paying no attention to where I was. Hearing footsteps approaching me, I attempted to bury my face into my hands.
The footsteps stopped at the top of the stairs. Quietly I heard Hermione call my name. Lifting my head from my hands, I looked up at the top of the stairs to see Ginny and Hermione looking around for me.
"I'm here," I said lifting a hand to wipe away my tears. The two of them walked quickly down the stairs to sit on either side of me.
I set my head on Hermione's shoulder and Ginny rubbed soothing circles on my back.
"He's an idiot," Ginny said quietly and I summoned a small sigh.
"Yeah he is," I muttered quietly, not even bothering to deny the truth.
Letting out a small sigh Hermione pulled out her wand and conjured up some birds. My eyes fell onto the grip that she had on her wand. Her knuckles had turned white; a tell-tale sign that she was close to losing her cool.
We sat in silence, listening to the chirps of the birds when the sound of giggling filled the halls and surrounded us. I stiffened as Ron and Lavender ran into us. Lifting my head from Hermione's shoulder, I turned slightly away from them both. There was no way that I was letting them see my tears. Ginny took my hand in hers in an attempt to comfort me and I gave her a small smile at the gesture. The giggling didn't stop and I rolled my eyes. Why was Lavender acting like such an idiot?
Did I want someone that was obviously attracted to an idiot? No, I didn't. But could I do anything to stop myself from liking someone who was attracted to an idiot? Not even in the slightest. Now if I could only make myself get over this crush that had been going on for far too long.
Hermione raised her wand towards the pair of them and I watched her silently. She glanced at me as if asking for permission and I shrugged, what did I care what she did to him?
"Oppugno," She muttered making the birds shoot straight at Ron. He struggled to avoid them. Once the onslaught of birds had stopped, he straightened up and his eyes landed on us.
"Are-are you alright?" he asked as he caught sight of me. I glanced away from him, physically turning away from his gaze.
I chose to ignore him as Lavender tugged at his arms. "Come on Won-Won."
Yeah, go on Won-Won.
Ignoring Lavender he repeated his question again, calling my name as he stepped closer to us. "Are you alright?"
"Just go away!" I shouted as I scrambled to my feet, sickened by the way that Lavender was hanging off of him. It didn't matter if I wore these clothes that I was uncomfortable in because I wouldn't ever be as pretty as Lavender was. He wouldn't even care about me. He shouldn't have been able to look at me with so much care, especially when he had broken my heart just minutes ago. He cast one shocked look at me and seemed to consider stepping even closer to us. "Just go away," I muttered, defeated.
Lavender took that as her cue to pull Ron out of the room and I sank back down between Hermione and Ginny. I pulled my knees to my chest as Ginny shook her head.
"What a brainless bint," Hermione muttered making me crack a small smile.
I hadn't spoken to Ron in months and it was difficult. He had spent the first few weeks doing anything and everything that he could think of to get me to talk to him. But he had eventually gotten the hint. He couldn't understand why I wasn't speaking to him and why should he? It wasn't as if I had ever told him of how I felt. But nevertheless he was smart enough to understand that he needed to leave me alone.
Pulling my trunk after me, I followed Ginny down the train. I was dreading spending the holiday with Ron.
"I don't think that I want to spend the holiday at the burrow," I admitted quietly, spying Lavender walking up ahead of us. She stopped at a carriage window and seemed to do something on it. What was she doing now?
"Well tough luck," Ginny said bluntly. "It's too late to do anything about it now. Besides, I'm pretty sure that Mum would murder me if you didn't come."
"Besides," Hermione added, "It's not as if he's the only Weasley at the burrow. You'll probably spend so much time with all of the other Weasleys that you won't even bump into him once."
Her voice trailed off as we stopped in front of the carriage window that Lavender had stopped in front of. Seeing the heart on the window, I already knew who was inside of the carriage. Ginny cleared her throat and led us further down the train.
"Why don't we go find an empty carriage," Hermione suggested, ignoring the curious looks the two boys inside the carriage were giving us.
"Hermione's right," Ginny continued as if nothing had happened, "Knowing the twins, they'll kidnap you on the first day because they haven't seen you in ages."
Ginny had been right; the twins had decided to stick to me like glue. I had been here for a few days already and had hardly spent any time away from the pair of them. On the plus side this meant that I very rarely saw Ron but it also meant that Mrs Weasley was suspicious of what could be going on between the me and one of the twins.
"Come on," Fred insisted as he pulled me into his old room. "I need you to test one of our products."
I sat down on his bed and watched him shut the door behind him. He went to his old dresser and opened up a large box. Ruffling through the box, he seemed to find what he was looking for. Lifting something out of the box, he set down a small vial in front of me.
"How do I know this won't kill me?" I teased, picking the vial up curiously. I tipped it from side to side slowly to watch the clear liquid inside of it move.
"Why on Earth would I want to kill my pretty little Gryffindor?" He asked, standing up to go back to the box.
He rummaged through the box to pull out an identical vial as the door to the room was opened. I glanced up to see someone get physically shoved into the room. George followed after them and shut the door.
"What-" Ron swallowed the rest of his words when he caught sight of me sitting on Fred's bed. I glanced away from him.
"Come on, Ronnykins," George cajoled as he made Ron sit across from me. Snatching the vial from Fred, he handed it to Ron, "Just help your older brothers with a little test of a product."
"What do these exactly do?" I asked making sure to look away from Ron. He seemed determined to make me look at him and I was determined to not meet his gaze.
"It's just a little potion to help you release your inner prankster, love," George assured me, "It's absolutely harmless."
Rolling my eyes, I took the top off of the vial. Ron did the same and I glanced unsurely at Fred.
"Ready?" The twins asked looking between the two of us.
I nodded and raised the vial to my lips. Leaning my head back, I tipped the vial and swallowed its contents quickly.
"So we're just going to ask you a few questions," George started as he turned to face me, "Why have you been avoiding Ron, love?"
I narrowed my eyes at him and was about to refuse to answer him when I was forced to answer the question against my will. "He broke my heart."
I slapped my hand over my mouth in shock as I glared at the twins who were looking very pleased with themselves. They had fed us veritaserum without us knowing! Ignoring the way that Ron was looking at me, I stood and tried to walk to the door. Fred, anticipating my move went to stand in my way, blocking the door.
He smirked slightly down at me, "Now how did he do that then?"
I gritted my teeth in an attempt to hold back an answer but of course it was no use, "He kissed Lavender Brown."
Dropping my head into my hands, I shut my eyes as humiliation set in. The twins, deciding that they had humiliated me enough, turned to face Ron. I let out a deep breath, I had never planned on telling Ron my feelings for him.
"And you Ronny?" George asked, "Why have you been avoiding her?"
Ron answered straight away as though he had no reservations, "I haven't been avoiding her, she's been the one that practically runs out of the room whenever I enter it."
I rolled my eyes and tried to figure out if I could sneak past him. Fred, seeing how irritated I was becoming, gave me a small smile before asking, "Why did you kiss her then?"
"I didn't kiss her! She was the one that kissed me!"
"And I suppose that she just made you kiss her back and stick your tongue down her throat," I muttered sarcastically, unable to stop the glare I threw Ron's way.
"Getting back on track," Fred said clearing his throat, "Do you fancy Lavender, Ron?"
"No." His eyes widened slightly as the next words poured out from him without his control, "I fancy-"
"Who?" It left me before I could even attempt to stop it.
"You, I fancy you."
My eyes widened and I turned back to face Fred who was still blocking the door. "Can I go now?"
He looked searchingly down at me as if he couldn't understand me. But he made no move to get me to remain in the room. Silently Fred moved out of my way and I walked out of the room, leaving three uncharacteristically silent Weasley brothers behind me.
I would be going back to ignoring him. The fact that I knew he liked me back changed nothing. It didn't change the fact that he still had a girlfriend.
I was sitting in the now deserted common room rushing to finish off an essay that was due in tomorrow. Really I should have done it yesterday when I had time but I had been kept busy with Seamus and his stories of the holidays. Now, I had to rush to finish this potions essay for first lesson tomorrow.
Someone sat down beside me and I looked up briefly to see Ron. Contemplating about whether or not I should have left, I decided that it would be better to get this essay finished and then go up to bed. He made no move to talk to me. Instead he sat beside me in silence. Only when I had finished my essay and was packing up did he move.
I went to stand up and he caught my arm, pulling me back down beside him. When I was sat back down, I was pulled into a kiss. Freezing in his hold for a fraction of a second before I melted against him, I closed my eyes. But I was soon snapped out of it.
What was in Merlin's name was I doing kissing someone who had a girlfriend? Or rather, what was he doing going around kissing girls that weren't his girlfriend? I pulled myself away from Ron, physically pushing him away from me.
"Ron, you've got a girlfriend." I really shouldn't have needed to remind him of the fact.
"No I don't," he said quietly, "I broke up with her when we came back to school."
No more words were exchanged. Instead, he pulled me back towards him for another kiss. This time I let all thoughts leave me as I returned the kiss and wove my arms around his neck. I pulled away from him sharply at the sound of wolf whistle. Looking in the direction that the sound had come from, my eyes widened when I noticed Harry standing at the top of the stairs leading to the boy's dormitory. He grinned and raised his fingers to his lips to let out another round of wolf whistles.
He was so embarrassing.
"Merlin guys," he said grinning, "It's about bloody time."