Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters by J.K. Rowling. I only own the plot and my characters.

A Love Grown Apart

Ch.3- The Party

Friday finally came and Ginny was actually really excited. She didn't know why but the idea that she was going to see Harry at the party seemed to live in her head happily. Ok, ok, she admitted it. So what if she hadn't gotten over him after they broke up in her fifth year? Harry had gone off to kill Voldemort and when he came back he hardly seemed to have time for the Weasleys because of work and the stupid press. They grew apart but Ginny knew deep down he still cared about her no matter how many girlfriends he had and she was determined to win him over.

"Hmmm," she thought aloud, "what should I wear?" she wanted Harry to look at least twice when he saw her.

"Personally I think that that red top and black mini make you look super sexy," a seductive whisper in her ear.

"Jake you're not ready yet! The party is in like an hour!" Ginny shrieked.

"I'm not going," said Jake sharply.

"What? Why not?" se had secretly been hoping Harry would get jealous of at the sight of Jake, after all, Jake was really hot.

"Because every time your brothers see me they try to jinx me!" he snapped.

"So? Jinx them back! It's not like you're a squib!" Ginny retorted.

Jake muttered something about not wanting to hurt anyone and Ginny ignored him.

"Fine. Don't go. I'm sure we'll have a great time laughing at the fact that you can't jinx anyone."

"Ginny, no matter what you tell me I'm not going."

"FINE!" Ginny screamed, "get out of my room I'm trying to change." She pushed him out the door and started to dress in the outfit Jake suggested.

-

One hour later Ginny apparated alone to the Burrow. She could tell the party was in full swing when she got there. She was just wondering whether Harry had arrived when someone apparated right behind her. Her heart skipped a beat as she turned around to see Harry standing there.

"Harry!" was all she could say.

"Oh my! Ginny! How are you? It's been nearly a year!" he looked happier than ever, and just as handsome.

"I know! Feels like forever doesn't it?" Harry bent down and gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek. Ginny thought she might have died and gone to heaven.

"Shall we go inside?" He asked. All Ginny could do was nod and go into the door Harry was holding opened. 'He is such a gentleman!' she thought.

As soon as they went in they saw Mrs. Weasley pushed her way through the crowd to greet them. "Harry! Ginny! How are you?"

"I'm fine mum." Ginny said.

"Me too, Mrs. Weasley." Harry seconded.

"Oh, there you are!" it was Hermione beaming at them. " We're just waiting for Bill and Fleur to make the announcement."

"Announcement?" Ginny asked, "What announcement?"

"We'll tell you soon enough," Hermione said with a mysterious smile.

Ginny frowned and turned around. To her amazement, Harry was there holding out a drink for her.

"I thought you might be thirsty," Harry said.

"Thanks. Where's your girlfriend?" Ginny said, "I heard you were going out with a model."

"Who, Gisele? Yeah we are going out but she couldn't come because she got sick."

"I read in the paper she was pregnant," Ginny said without thinking. 'Oh no what if he thinks I'm all interested in gossip!'

To her surprise, Harry merely grinned and said, "Did you? Well, I'm sure she's not pregnant, If she were, I would have known before any of the papers, don't you think?"

"I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't mean to say that," said Ginny quickly, "I just- she- I didn't mean to." she stuttered while she felt herself going red.

"No, it's ok," he said, "I understand. I guess you could put two and two together but Gisele just has a common cold, she's not running around puking or anything. Besides, nearly everything in the magazines these days are not true. We just learned to ignore it and stopped reading the Prophet. I wouldn't be surprised about all the rumors about us."

"Sorry." She said again quickly. Just then, the front door opened and Bill and Fleur came in with their two children, Alice and Cory.

"Ginny! 'ow are you?" Fleur asked.

"Fine," Ginny said shortly, "excuse me I hear someone calling me," she was not in the mood to talk to Fleur, she still didn't like her. At that moment, Hermione spoke.

"Can we have everyone's attention? The reason why we asked all of you to come is because Ron and I are getting married!"

There was silence and then an outbreak of congratulations that lasted at least fifteen minutes. Ginny stood there not talking to anybody. Why hadn't they told her anything? After all, wasn't she Hermione's best friend? Suddenly Hermione pushed her way through the crowd and made her way to Ginny.

"Ginny," she began, " I know you're angry because I didn't tell you but--"

"Aren't we supposed to be best friends?" she interrupted.

"Oh, Ginny what are you, ten? Of course we are best friends because I wanted to surprise you and ask you to be my maid of honor." Hermione said in a hurt voice.

"Me? You wanted me to be your maid of honor? Why?"

"Didn't you just tell me we were best friends?"

"Fine," said Ginny after thinking it over, "who's the best man?"

"Harry, of course." The fact struck Ginny and she suddenly forgot about being angry with Hermione.

"Yeah I guess that was kind of predictable," she turned around and was just wondering whether she had had too many friewhiskeys and was dreaming about it when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"I just heard the good news." She turned around to see Harry with a mysterious smile on his face.

"Which ones? The one where Hermione and Ron are getting married? I wouldn't really call that good news…"

Harry chuckled. "No, not that one. The one the you are the maid of honor and I am the best man."

"Won't Gisele get jealous when we walk down the aisle?" Ginny said without thinking but as soon as she said it she knew it sounded wrong, "I meant that when I am the maid of honor and you are the best man."

"No, I don't think she'll get jealous," Harry said thinking it over, "Whatever everyone says Gisele is pretty down to earth."

Ginny seriously doubted Gisele really was down to earth but she kept this thought to herself. "Well Harry it's been nice talking to you but it's getting late and Jake is probably wondering when I'm coming home."

"Who's Jake?"

"My boyfriend."

"Oh, yes I guess it is getting late, you don't want to keep him waiting," Ginny didn't know if it was her imagination but she heard a note of disappointment in Harry's voice, "hey do you want to meet me tomorrow at 2 pm in Diagon Alley after I get done with Quidditch practice? To catch up on old times"

"Umm… Sure," she couldn't believe her luck. Harry Potter was asking her out! Wait, he wasn't asking her out he just wanted to catch up. 'Damn!' she thought.

The happy feeling inside of her suddenly deflated like an old balloon. She smiled at Harry and turned around to leave before she did something stupid.

Maybe there would be a good outcome tomorrow…

(A/N) Ok I know they are kind of out of character but I just felt like writing it this way.

To my reviewers:

xxdresstokill: thanks!

tobydog: I am going to fix that as soon as I can. I guess I just didn't notice because I rushed through the first two chapters. Thanks for pointing it out! As for the length of the chapters, I guess I don't know how long they will be but this one was longer than the first two and the next one is also in the same range. Thank you for reviewing!

Please review! They really help a lot…