Chapter 2 -
It was not a large room, space enough for a small bed, desk, book shelf with a built in cupboard that housed her clothes and school trunk. She had always liked it, cosy enough to feel like her personal corner of the universe. Yet just large enough for summer when she would fling open the windows and let the Weird Sisters blare out the wireless whilst she danced around the room. At this moment she found herself staring out the closed window wondering what she could possible want as a reward. Ron had gotten a new broom, but since he had left with Harry and Hermione she had decided that it was temporarily hers anyway. She was also slightly concerned whether Quidditch would even be played at Hogwarts this year. No, she thought, a broom was not a necessity at the moment. As she gazed over the orchard in her yard she realised that this was the first time she had fully registered just how far away and unreachable Ron was. She tried not to think about whether this feeling was truly about the distance from her brother, or whether it was amplified by the fact that he was also with Harry.
Flopping onto her bed Ginny's gaze centred on a speck of dirt on the ceiling directly above her forehead. Harry, that was someone who she had actively been pushing out of her mind for weeks since they had broken up. They were together such a short time that some days she could convince herself that it was all just a lovely dream. She couldn't feel as though she had truly lost anything, just that the possibilities he offered had been put on hold... indefinitely. So she had decided that she would not pine, and would not shut herself up waiting for a boy that may never return, or may not be the same when he did. Having thought that, she also felt like she did not have the energy nor the inclination for what now felt like the youthful dalliances of the like she'd had in the past with Michael or Dean. Well, she said to herself, this was no time to speculate over her potential availability for the year ahead, she honestly had no clue what to do with herself.
What with all this tyranny of distance and hard times ahead, Ginny realised that she knew what she wanted for her reward. It was going to be a stretch because she had only heard of them through hyped up advertisements in the Daily Prophet and they would undoubtedly be expensive. There were not often new developments in wizarding communication, they were technologically speaking, flying through the dark ages with birds and bewitched fireplaces. Unless you had a floo handy there was not much in the way of a medium for real time conversation. According to the ads Ginny had seen this was about to change. A new product was being released that was similar to what muggles called a "mobile." Apparently a much easier concept for the wizarding community to grasp, particularly in light of the previous failed attempt to adapt and import the "felly-tone" as her dad called it.
'Perfect for the witch or wizard on the go' the ads had said. Yes Ginny thought this would be a very useful contraption, and something that she was confident she could convince her mother and father was a very good idea, especially in these troubled times, where waiting for an owl just felt like forever.
Ginny was strangely excited as she awoke early the next morning to go to Diagon Alley. It had been quite some time since she had seen anyone other than her family, since the wedding actually. Even longer since she had been able to venture out from the Burrow into the world. This, she reasoned, must have been why she was feeling out of sorts lately, a sense of being cooped up and mollycoddled. She felt differently about herself here than at school, she supposed this was because at school she was a sixth year yet at the Burrow she would always be the youngest. She also noticed that it was as though she only truly flourished when she was in the company of others, surrounded by the varied stimuli that multiple hundreds of her fellow young witches and wizards offered. It was for this reason she was taking note of what she chose to wear on what was to be her only foray into the world before heading back to school. Tight dark blue jeans and a white v-neck half sleeve cotton top. It sounded casual enough in her head but once she had actually clad herself, looking in the mirror her trademark outfit seemed different. It was of course because she had filled out somewhat over the summer, gentle curves finding their way snugly into the tight jeans. Ginny made a mental note to visit Madame Hesperidins' Hosiery and Brassiere Boutique because she was in definite need of the next size up in bras. To this end she had sent an owl the previous afternoon to her friend Luna Lovegood, a nice chance to catch up outside of school and hopefully a good excuse to leave her mother's side for more than five minutes. Putting the finishing touches to her sleek long hair, Ginny left her room holstering her wand in the magically concealed pocket her mother had recently insisted on tailoring into the muggle pants she so loved.
