She didn't quite know why she was happy.
She didn't get to go to Hogsmeade. Professor McGonagall had ensured that. She had a mound of homework piled around her as she sat in the armchair closest to the fire in the otherwise unoccupied Gryffindor Common Room. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dean, and everyone else had headed off to the village for some shopping and butterbeer, and Ginny, not wanting to have to spend the whole day with Dean, had purposefully set off a few dungbombs in her Transfiguration class yesterday. McGonagall had made sure that she had a detention for today.
The... properties... of... moonstone... no... she thought and scratched it out. She crumpled the length of parchment into a ball and threw it at the dully glowing fire. "Who am I kidding anyway? Snape hates me; he'll give me a D on this no matter what."
She closed her eyes, and shook her head. And then she remembered. The importance of sharing a house with Hermione Granger. Her Dorm was right below Ginny's.
Ginny leapt over the back of the chair and up the stairs. Yanking open the door, she bounded straight to Hermione's bed and pulled the trunk of papers out from underneath. Snape may have hated Hermione Granger, but he couldn't not give her O's on everything.
Here it was. Fifth year. Properties of Moonstone Essay.
She yanked it out, and hurried back down to the common room, beginning to rewrite it in her own hand. With this, she could most definitely get an O.
She hurriedly stowed Hermione's essay underneath her robes as said girl entered; she saw Ginny and beamed, heading straight for her.
"You look happy, Hermione."
"I am!" she positively beamed. Ginny gave her a sly smile. "Would this have anything to do with the fact that Mr. Ronald Weasley broke up with Ms. Lavender Brown?"
"No!" Hermione retorted in a squeaky voice. Her face was red. Ginny laughed. "Give it a rest, Hermione. I know you fancy him, Harry knows you fancy him, I think even Draco Malfoyknows you fancy him, so just let it be."
Hermione's face had drained of color. "He doesn't know, does he?"
By the emphasis on the "he", Ginny took that it wasn't Malfoy Hermione was referring to.
Ron Weasley stumbled through the portrait hole, his ears red.
Hermione's face suddenly flooded with color, and Ginny, grinning wickedly, said, "I left my fanged Frisbee in the room of requirement. See ya, Hermione!"
"No, Ginny, you can't leave me alone with-" Hermione whispered, but Ginny simply waved. Then- "wait, Ginny, Fanged Frisbees are banned! You're a prefect, you know better!" but Ginny was already out of the portrait hole.
Chuckling to herself, she made her way down the corridor. She knew the tapestry was around here somewhere... and there it was. She closed her eyes and paced back and forth. I need to find my Fanged F- a small giggle caught her attention and she opened her eyes.
She saw nobody. Gripping her wand anxiously, she turned on the spot, then cocked her head. Where had she seen that door before?
Wand still aloft, she moved towards it. It was a room, large and stone. Sunlight streamed through the windows, causing dust particles to dance visibly in the air.
In the center of the room sat a large mirror. She moved closer. What on earth was Dumbledore thinking, filling such a large room with a totally random mirror? Granted, it was an attractive mirror...
"spellious revelio." she whispered, waving her wand over it. Nothing happened. So, no spell cast on it.
She moved closer, then jumped back in fright.
Lily and James Potter were in the mirror, holding a little baby Harry.
As she got closer, she noticed that some things were off. James had a lightning scar on his forehead, and his eyes were green. Lily's hair was a different shade of red, and longer, and her eyes were brown. And the mop of hair on the baby's hair was brown, not black.
The man, whoever he was, had one arm around the woman. They were married, Ginny knew. They both had matching silver wedding bands on their fingers. And they looked young, probably early twenties.
And Ginny knew who they were. They were Ginny and Harry, married, with a son.
"Like it?" said a casual voice. Ginny whirled around. Dumbledore strolled casually out of a corner. She put a hand to her heart. "Professor, you scared me-"
"Erised stra ehru oytube cafru oyt on wohsi." Dumbledore murmured, tracing one finger over the lettering carved into the top that Ginny had not noticed before. Ginny gasped. When she was little, she'd been obsessed with writing backwards. It'd been like her secret code, and she and the twins used to write their scheme ideas backwards, so mum couldn't read them.
"I show not your face but your heart's desire." Ginny said automatically, then frowned. It actually made sense. Then her eyes widened as they drifted back to the mirror's glass, and she turned to look at Dumbledore. "Does this mean-"
"It means whatever you want it to mean, my dear."
Ginny remembered this the next day, in the Common Room after the Quidditch Match she had just played seeker in. She remembered it when Harry Potter climbed through the portrait hole, and she remembered it when she flew at him, fully intending to kiss him.
He got there first.
A/N: Ah, Harry and Ginny... I've loved them together since the second book, but I've loved Hermione and Ron since the first. I'm thinking to do Lily, how she realized how much she loved James by the mirror, and then Luna and Neville (I KNOW Luna married that Rolf guy, but that is SOOOOO STUPID!!! Can't JKR see that Luna and Neville belong together? Hello, they were the last remaining couple in the 6 ministry peeps! It was Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Neville! C'mon... Harry and Ginny, Hermione and Ron, and Luna and Neville! It just GOES!) Anyway, done with that rant. So, review!