A/N: Okay, so I want to thank EVERYONE for all the alerts, favorites and reviews. You are all brilliant people! So, this is slightly more OOC as it goes! Neville is coming out of his shell though! :D
Ginny was shocked that Muggles could build such large homes without magic. The three of them arrived at the Granger's home, which was a large, rather stately manor, just past Wolverhampton.
"Your house is really nice, Hermione."
"I know, right?" she said, hanging her coat up.
"Watch out for her mum's chest, hard as rocks." whispered Ron. Ginny looked over at him with a weird expression, but he seemed to be series.
"I'm home!" called Hermione, her voice almost echoing through the foyer.
"Hey, hey, hey! How are my best friends?"
Ginny turned, to see who she assumed to be Hermione's mother – though she looked nothing like a mother. She was dressed in a bright pink gaudy Muggle sweat suit; unnatural blonde hair curled up every which-way.
"Hey, Mrs. Granger. This is Ginny." said Harry.
"Hello, sweetheart. Welcome to our home." she said, reaching out to pinch Ginny's cheeks. "Just want you to know, if you need anything, don't be shy, okay? There are no rules in this house! I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a cool mom. Right, Hermione?"
"Mother, please stop talking." said Hermione, looking embarrassed.
"Fine, fine, I'm gonna make you guys a holiday treat!"
With that, Hermione's mother sauntered into the other room, and Hermione led the way upstairs. She opened tall, white door, to reveal an incredibly large bedroom, almost the size of a classroom.
"This is your room?" asked Ginny incredulously.
"It was my parents' room, but I made them trade me."
"This is bloody huge!"
"Put on some music."
Ron put on an unfamiliar, loud song.
"Ginny, do you even know who sings this?" asked Harry.
"The Weird Sisters?"
"I love her," said Hermione, "She's like a centaur or something."
She stopped in front of the mirror, and stared into it.
"Lord, my hair is a mess!"
"Oh, please. Look at these freckles," said Ron.
"At least you guys look good in dress robes," said Harry. "I'm so skinny."
Ginny watched them complain for a minute or so, wondering when so many variations on fat and skinny had appeared, before she noticed that they had stopped and were now looking at her.
"Um, I have really bad breath in the morning?"
"Ew." they said together.
There was a bit of an awkward silence as they looked at his disapprovingly, until Hermione's mother came in with a tray, doing a sort of dance.
"Hey, you guys! Happy hour is from four to six!" she said, handing them tall drinks.
"Is there alcohol in this?" asked Ginny, sniffing the top of the glass.
"Oh, God, honey, no. What kind of mother do you think I am?" she said, looking very stern for a moment. "But would you like some? If you're going to drink, I'd rather you do it in the house."
"Oh, uh, no, thank you!"
"So, guys, what is the hot gossip? Tell me everything. What are you guys listening to? What's the cool jams?"
"Mom. Could you go fix your hair?"
"Okay. You kids keep me young. Oh, I love you so much." she said, blowing a kiss before exiting the room. Hermione sighed, red in the face. Ginny got up, and to avoid any more chat, began perusing the large bookcase attached to the wall. She pulled out a large, pink, leather-bound book with words scrawled on the front.
"Oh my God, I remember this!" said Ron, snatching it away from Ginny's hands.
"I haven't looked at that in forever," said Hermione. "Come check it out, Ginny."
"It's our Burn Book. See, we take people's photos from the yearbook, and we write comments." said Harry.
They flipped through it.
Angelina Johnson is a grotsky little byotch.
"True."
Vincent Crabbe is a fat virgin.
"Still half true."
Cedric Diggory made out with a Chocolate Frog.
Luna Lovegood, slut.
Ginny stared at the page, mouth agape. Luna? Would she be written in this book?
"Fitting surname," sniggered Ron.
"Who is that?" asked Hermione.
"That kid Neville."
"He's almost too awkward to function," said Ginny unthinkingly.
"That's funny. Write that down."
"They have this Burn Book, where they write mean things about everyone at Hogwarts."
"What does it say about me?" asked Luna.
"You're not in it." said Ginny quickly.
"Those bitches."
Ginny looked at Luna, shocked by her rather outlandish choice of words.
"It's an off day," said Neville.
"I think you should steal the book, personally,"
"No way!"
"I have to agree with Luna," said Neville sheepishly, "I mean, we could publish it, and then everyone would see them for who they are."
"My daddy always told me that there are two kinds of evil people. People who do evil things, and people who see evil things being done and don't try to stop it."
"I can't spy on them anymore though. It's weird."
"It'll be like our little secret. She'll never find out."
The next day, Ginny found herself alone in the Quidditch locker rooms after tryouts. Feeling satisfied with her skills, she awarded herself to a long, drawn-out shower. When she had finished and turned off the taps, she heard movement outside of the stalls.
"Hello?" she called.
"I know your secret."
"Shit!" Ginny muttered under her breath, sufficiently caught off guard by Harry's stealth. She calmed slightly before replying.
"Secret? What are you saying about?"
"Oh, well, Ron told me you like Draco Malfoy. I mean, I don't care, do whatever you want. But let me just tell you something about Draco," said Harry from behind the door. She could see him raising his nose in the air in her head. "All he cares about is school, his mom, and his friends."
"Is that bad?"
"But if you like him, whatever. I mean, I could talk to him for you if you want."
"Really? You would do that?" squealed Ginny, sounding a little too excited. She calmed again before answering. "I mean, nothing embarrassing though, right?"
"Oh, no, trust me. I know exactly how to play it. Easier than catching the snitch," he said. "But wait. Aren't you so mad at Ron for telling me?"
"Oh, no."
"Because if you are, you can tell me. It was a really bitchy thing for him to do."
"Yeah it was pretty – er – bitchy, but I'm not mad… I guess he just likes the attention."
"See, Ron? I told you she's not mad at you!"
Ginny froze for a second.
"I can't believe you think I like attention!" said Ron angrily from behind the door. She heard his footsteps carry away until they were no longer audible.
"Okay, well, love you! I'll see you later."
Ginny relaxed as soon as she was sure that she was alone yet again. She breathed deeply – with Harry's blessing, it was her chance to go at Malfoy.
On January 23rd, he asked her what day it was.
"Oh, it's January 23rd."
To her pleasure, two weeks later, they spoke again.
"It's raining."
"Yeah!"
But Ginny was far from satisfied, she knew how to play this.
"I'm completely lost… can you help me?"
"Yeah, sure. Six is the most magically powerful number, and you can take every dividend of that and use it to your advantage as well."
He was wrong.
"Is that the solution?"
"Yeah, it's the same thing."
Wrong again.
"Thanks, I get it now." said Ginny, smiling and flipping her hair.
"Hey, my friend Theo is having a scary costume party tonight. Wanna come?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Great. It's on the seventh floor and stuff. Here's a flier. It's supposed to admit one person only… so don't bring some other guy with you."
"Er – grool."
"Grool?"
Ginny comprehended her mistake, having had it said back to her by one of the most attractive guys at Hogwarts.
"I meant to say cool and then I started to say great."
"Right, well... grool. See you tonight."
Ginny grabbed her stuff as Professor Vector let the class go for break.
"Hey, Weasley," called Ernie. "You staying for the meeting?"
"Yeah! I'll be right back," said Ginny, halfway through the door, though she had no intention of returning. She hurried to the Gryffindor dormitories.
"What do I wear? What do I wear?"
"Well, if you're a girl, generally you dress like some kind of scarlet woman. If you're a guy, you dress to your advantage." said Neville.
"Advantage?"
"You know, like, your looks. Make yourself look attractive and stuff."
"I am not a scarlet woman."
"Your hair is scarlet and you are a woman, though," said Luna. "Most of the girls in our year wear underwear sets and animal fixtures, though."
The Room of Requirement was easy enough to find. Regular conversation, however, was not. By the time Ginny had arrived, it seemed that 80 percent of the kids there were already sloshed beyond belief.
She maneuvered through the swaying crowd, until she found a scantily-clad Hermione and an overbearing Ron.
"What are you?" asked Ginny.
"I'm a king, duh." said Ron, holding his glass high in the air.
Ginny snatched it from him, and took a swig. A bitter fluid burnt trails down her throat – Ogden's Firewhiskey.
"Why are you dressed so scary?" asked Hermione.
"Isn't this supposed to be a scary costume party?" said Ginny, tilting her head to figure out what Hermione was. Brightly coloured feathers seemed to be attached to her barely-covered behind. "Are you a peacock?"
"Duh," she said, "Have you seen Anthony?"
"You know who's looking fine tonight? Pansy Parkinson."
"Okay, you did not just say that."
"What? She's a good kisser."
"Isn't she like, your cousin?"
"Yeah, maybe. She's like my fifth cousin. See, you have your cousins, your first cousins, then you have your second cousins…"
"No, Ron."
"That's not right is it?"
"You know, I'm actually gonna get going…" said Ginny.
She wandered away from the conversation, Ron's glass – now empty – still in her hand.
"Hey!" called Draco, over the crowd.
"Hey."
"You made it! I guess the Room of Requirement isn't all that hard to find, after all." he said. "And you are… a vampire?"
"Spot on!" said Ginny.
"Clever. Can I get you something to drink?"
"Yeah, sure."
Draco smiled as she handed him the cup, and disappeared within the raucous crowd.
"Oh my Merlin, Ron, stop it. Don't do it."
"Hey, Pansy!"
Ginny returned to Hermione, though her eyes were across the room, and on a certain Harry Potter talking to a certain Draco Malfoy.
"Oh, no. Didn't anybody tell you? You were supposed to wear a costume, Potter."
"Shut up. I need to talk to you," said Harry, tugging on the collar of his shirt. "You know that Ginny girl?"
"Yeah, she's cool. I invited her tonight."
"Well, be careful, because she has a huge crush on you."
"How do you know?"
"Because she told me. She tells everybody. It's kind of cute, actually. She's like a little girl. She wrote all over her Potions text, 'Mrs. Draco Malfoy'." said Harry slyly, "And she sewed 'I heart Draco' into the inside of her robes."
"Oh, come on."
"Well, who can blame her? I mean, you're gorgeous. And okay, look, I'm not saying she's a stalker, but she saved this old quill you had used, and she said she's gonna use this hex and make you like her."
"Excuse me?"
Ginny watched the other side of the room hopefully – this was it! Harry had promised, and here he was.
"I know she's kind of socially slow and weird, but she's my friend, so just promise me you won't make fun of her."
"Of course I'm not gonna make fun of her."
How could anyone hate Harry? He was such a good… slut!
She stared over in disbelief as Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter were connected at the lips. It was completely absurd, yet it was happening. She felt dumb to have ever trusted Harry; she bit down on her lip to stop herself from screaming as she rushed from the room.
"What are you doing? You broke up with me." said Draco, pulling away.
"That's just crazy, why would I break up with you? You're so hot."
"I hate Harry. I hate him!"
"What? What's going on?" asked Neville.
"He took him back. Harry took Draco back."
"Oh, no, Ginny," said Neville, pulling her into a hug.
"Why would he do that?"
"Because he's a life-ruiner," said Luna, "He tends to ruin people's lives."
"I mean, when we were in second year, he made everyone sign this form saying that Luna was…"
"Neville, please," said Luna, "Don't worry Ginny, she won't get away with this again. We're going to do something."
"We are?" asked Neville.
"Harry Potter is an evil dictator. How do you overthrow a dictator?"
"I don't know, I don't pay attention in History of Magic."
"You cut off his resources. He would be nothing without his high-status man candy, his athletic, good physique, and ignorant band of loyal followers."
Ginny nodded.
"If this is going to work, you have to hang out with them and pretend nothing is wrong… I think you can do it, Ginny." said Luna, grabbing her hand. "Can you do it?"
"I can do it."
"Alright, let's rock this bitch!" said Neville.
