The Christmas Party
"Okay, you make me wonder why I bought that dress for me and not for you!" Madison said as she entered their dorm and spotted Ginny standing in front of the mirror.
The latter laughed slightly and then said:
"Stop it! I'm sure it fits you perfectly..."
"Not as well as it fits you..." Madison said, eyeing Ginny, her eyes widening even more by the second. "You look amazing!"
Ginny met her friend's gaze in the mirror, smiling widely.
"Thank you. And thank you for letting me borrow the dress, I love it"
It was true. The green colour went perfectly with her dark red hair and it was cut just the way Ginny liked it; not too short but not too long, either.
"It's nothing" Madison said and then they both fell silent.
Ginny cleared her throat and then started:
"Listen, about last night... I know you guys were only trying to help me out, I'm sorry..."
"No, I'm the one who should be sorry" Madison interrupted her. "I'd heard before that the McLaggens are both awful, I was simply too shallow"
She looked down, probably embarrassed with herself, and Ginny put her hand on her friend's shoulder.
"It's okay" she said and Madison added:
"And I know I shouldn't have said those things about you not wanting to go with anyone but Potter. That's really none of my business"
"We were both acting stupid" Ginny said, realizing that it actually didn't hurt that much when her friend mentioned her ex-boyfriend's name... "Let's just forget about it. Still friends, right?"
Madison smiled back before hugging her tightly.
"Always"
How do you make a time line haha
The first thing Ginny heard as she came down to the common room was a squeal and as she turned around she saw Emily standing there, clapping her hands excitedly before she ran over to her friend.
"Oh my god Ginny, you look absolutely stunning!"
"So do you!" Ginny exclaimed.
Emily was wearing a midnight blue dress and it fit her perfectly.
"Thank you" Emily said and then nodded towards Colin Creevey who was standing next to her, smiling widely. "Well, we were just leaving. I'll see you and Dean at the party!"
"Absolutely, have fun!" Ginny said and she was still waving at them when someone said her name:
"Ginny!"
She turned around and spotted Neville, wearing what looked like bright new black robes and a smile on his round face. He looked really handsome and Ginny grinned at him.
"Luna won't be able to take her eyes off you" she said triumphantly and Neville's cheeks immediately turned red.
"You look really nice too" he said, eyeing Ginny's dress.
She smiled at him.
"Thank you. Now go down and meet her, I'll see you both later"
Neville nodded and gave her one last bright smile before climbing through the portrait hole, leaving Ginny alone. However, she didn't have to wait long before Dean turned up, also wearing black robes.
"Hi" he said and she noticed how his eyes widened as he eyed his date. "You look... you look..."
He cleared his throat and Ginny laughed as he continued:
"You're really beautiful. I mean, your hair and your dress..."
"It's actually Madison's dress" Ginny told him as they were climbing through the portrait hole.
Luckily, he let her help herself...
"Well, either way it looks amazing on you" Dean told her and Ginny smiled at him.
"Thank you"
Maybe this night would actually be fun, after all...
How do you make a time line haha
Ginny was bored. Frankly, there was no other way to put it. Slughorn had, just like last year, done an excellent job with the decorations and one barely had time to think "I'm hungry" before someone (who wasn't, according to Slughorn, talented, famous or rich enough to actually attend the party) came with a tray, offering different types of snacks. The problem was just that there weren't too many people for Ginny to make conversation with; she didn't want to disturb Neville and Luna who seemed to have a great time and Emily and Colin had already disappeared (possibly snogging under a mistletoe somewhere in the castle).
Of course, this wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for the fact that Dean, Ginny's date, was more interested in discussing football with a Ravenclaw boy in fifth year than talking to her. She was actually surprised by this, seeing as Dean had seemed so excited at the thought of taking her in the first place...
"Well, I'm pretty sure Manchester United will win against Arsenal..." the Ravenclaw boy said excitedly and Ginny rolled her eyes as Dean replied, seeming more enthusiastic than ever before.
But she'd already stopped listening. Instead, she enjoyed herself by looking around the room, trying to discover at least one or two familiar and friendly faces. She did spot a girl that she sometimes talked to in Charms class and was just about to make her way over to her when someone put a warm hand on her shoulder.
"Ms Weasley! Excellent! Merry christmas!"
Slughorn beamed down at her. Ginny smiled back before quickly looking down to avoid the big camera that a man she didn't recognize (probably a camera man that Slughorn himself had hired) held in his hands. Slughorn chuckled.
"Oh, don't be shy of the camera Ginny, I assure you it's quite harmless!"
His gaze wandered off to Dean.
"Is this young man your date?"
Unfortunately Ginny felt like saying but instead she nodded, trying her best to look pleased.
"Yes it is professor"
"Excellent!" Slughorn said again. "Why don't you ask him to interrupt that conversation for a second or two and have a picture taken with the both of us? I'm sure he'd enjoy it, it'd be a memory for life!"
Ginny felt like telling Slughorn that she'd rather fall off her broom on purpose than having a photo taken with Dean right now, but since she knew doing it would mean that he'd have to interrupt that stupid football discussion of his...
"Hey, Dean!" she said, pulling his arm slightly.
He looked away from the Ravenclaw boy, obviously somewhat annoyed.
"What?"
Ginny nodded towards Slughorn who immediately explained:
"I just told ms Weasley here that I'd love a picture of the three of us for my collection! It'll only take a minute, now if you please..."
Dean raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Uhm... okay, fine" he said and walked over to Slughorn and Ginny who were both already standing in front of the camera.
"Big smile now everyone!" Slughorn said happily and the camera man snapped a picture.
As soon as he was done Dean stepped aside and headed over to the Ravenclaw boy again while Slughorn, once again, put his hand on Ginny's shoulder.
"Good to see you ms Weasley, take care!"
"You too professor, merry christmas!"
And Slughorn and the camera man left. Ginny looked around the room again; the girl from her Charms class was gone. Instead her gaze landed on Blaise Zabini who stood next to Daphne Greengrass, a very pretty girl in his year who was also a slytherin. Of course. Why hadn't Ginny thought of the possibility that he might be taking her?
To her great surprise, however, Blaise also looked bored and barely spared Daphne a single glance even though she kept adressing him, looking very excited as she spoke. Before Ginny had time to look away Blaise stared right back at her and she quickly looked down, feeling her cheeks getting slightly red.
It was never nice having people thinking you might be spying on them... Especially not if the person in question was someone that you'd only the other night had promised yourself to ignore for the rest of your life...
Feeling a sudden urge to do something and not just stand there Ginny said:
"I'll go get us some drinks"
Dean actually looked at her this time and nodded.
"Sure, thanks" he said.
As Ginny came back with two glasses filled with butterbeer the Ravenclaw boy was gone.
"Your date had to leave?" she asked sarcastically and Dean raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"What do you mean?"
Ginny stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Sometimes, boys could really be thick...
"The Ravenclaw boy" she said slowly, speaking as if she was adressing a five-year-old. "You two seemed to have such a great time"
"Give me a break Ginny" Dean snapped and she was so taken aback by his reaction that she actually flinched. "It's not often I get to talk to someone here who even knows what football is"
Ginny was still angry but decided not to say anything. Of course Dean should talk to people who shared his interests, but did he really have to do it here, tonight when he was supposed to be her date? It just didn't make sense.
Not everything does Weasley, you'll learn that one day.
And hearing Blaise Zabini's voice inside her head definitely didn't make things better...
It was as if Dean had been able to read her mind when he suddenly said:
"I don't get it, why has Slughorn invited Zabini and his friends?"
GInny turned her head the way Dean was looking and saw Blaise making conversation with Theodore Nott and his date Astoria, Daphne's younger sister. However, Daphne herself seemed to have left the scene.
"Well, why wouldn't he?" Ginny asked. "None of their families have any obvious connections to You-know-who..."
It was true. Sure it was common knowledge at Hogwarts what Blaise and the others thought of muggleborns and most people would probably say that they did have connections to Voldemort. But unlike the Malfoys, there were no proves pointing against them.
"Yeah, but they're slytherins..." Dean said, almost sounding disgusted.
It wasn't like him and in some way, it made Ginny feel really uneasy. She waited for him to continue, to actually come up with a real reason to why Slughorn shouldn't have invited them. But he didn't. She snorted.
"So that's it? You think that's enough reason not to invite them?" she asked, shaking her head in disbelief. "Grow up Dean, we're not in second year anymore. There are more important things than which house you belong to in school"
And just as Dean turned to look at her, his gaze hard, Ginny realized the truth in her own words. What did house rivalry matter now, when so many other things were at stake?
"What's the matter with you?" Dean asked. "You've really changed"
His actual words weren't the problem; it was the way he said them. Like he hated it. Like he hated her...
"Well, you know what, maybe I have" Ginny snapped, refusing to show him that he'd actually managed to hurt her feelings. "Maybe I've actually learned a few things during these past couple of months..."
"And you think I haven't?" Dean interrupted her cooly. "You think being a mudblood is easy these days?"
Ginny shook her head slowly, almost whispering:
"Don't call yourself that..."
Dean snorted.
"Why not? Everybody else does. And for all I care you might as well, since you now defend the slytherins"
They just looked at each other. Or more likely, Ginny looked at Dean and Dean glared back. Then, she shook her head slowly, hating the way tears erupted in her eyes.
"If you really believe that I'd call you that..." she started, swallowing. "...then I have nothing more to say to you"
She only saw how he opened his mouth to reply before she turned around and hurried off, wiping her eyes angrily while walking. She was done partying for tonight. Done with everything.
How do you make a time line haha
At first, Ginny planned to just head back to the common room and go straight to bed. But then she realized that people still might be up and she didn't really feel like telling Madison or anyone else what had happened at Slughorn's party. Therefore, she soon changed directions and walked towards the library instead. She knew that it was the most likely place to be deserted at this hour and if she was lucky Madame Pince hadn't locked the door...
Ginny was lucky this night. The door wasn't locked and she closed it softly behind her before she walked through the library with quick steps. Then, she sat down by a table as far away from the entrance as possible. And as soon as she'd sat down, she couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face. And once they'd started, there was no way for her to stop them.
Ginny cried more than she had in years, more than what was normal for her. She cried out of worry, sadness and loneliness. She cried because she missed how things used to be, before everything became so... complicated. She missed the Ginny Weasley she'd been before, the strongest girl her older brother Fred knew. Because this surely wasn't her...
It didn't take too long before she seemed to have run out of tears; the sadness was still there but instead of the wetness on her cheeks she now felt nothing but exhaustion. She sat there for a while, silently debating with herself whether she should stay in the library or go back to the Gryffindor tower and sleep.
Right as she was about to stand up and leave, however, she heard how the door leading into the library opened and closed again. She didn't move, hoping that whoever it was would leave without noticing her.
But the steps came closer and she quickly turned her face away as the person stopped in front of her; she didn't want him to see her red face with the now messed up make up.
"Go ahead" she said hollowly. "Laugh at me"
Blaise Zabini was quiet for a short while before he asked:
"Why would I laugh at you?"
"Because of this"
Ginny looked down at herself, for a moment forgetting about hiding her face.
"Me storming off, leaving my date alone at the party. Sitting here, crying to myself in the library on a friday night... This is almost as bad as me taking Lucas McLaggen, you should be happy"
But the way he looked at her, shaking his head slowly, made her lock her gaze with his. She could see that he, too, looked tired. Miserable.
"You're wrong again" he said. "That doesn't make me happy. At all"
They looked at each other for a moment before the intensity in his dark eyes made Ginny look away.
"Then why are you here?" she asked, her voice still trembling from her earlier outburst of tears. "This is the second time we meet in the library in just two days, do you come here often?"
But he didn't answer her question. Instead, he took a few steps towards her and seemed to hesitate for a moment before he said, his voice low:
"I'm sorry"
It took Ginny some time to realize that those words had actually come from the mouth of Blaise Zabini. This was even more awkward than hearing Mc Gonagall admit that she was wrong... The proud slytherin stepping down from his pedestal, apologizing to a "bloodtraitor" like herself? A gryffindor and a Weasley. Why?
"For what?" she asked as soon as she'd regained her ability to speak.
There was a short silence.
"For the other night, I had no right to jump to conclusions and say that your life is easy..."
"But you were right, too" Ginny interrupted him, forcing herself to meet his intense gaze again. "I know nothing of your life"
Blaise didn't say anything. Ginny looked away, staring out the window even though she couldn't make out anything. Just darkness.
"I just hate it all, you know" she told him softly, not taking her eyes off the window. "I hate the way everybody seems so... lost, I hate that everything has changed"
She turned to look at him again. For some reason, she felt like telling him what she hadn't even told Neville or Luna:
"I even hate myself for who I've become and the things I say and do" she finished quietly. "I feel so weak"
As usual, his face was unable to read. At least he didn't laugh at her. In fact, he didn't even smile. But it didn't look like he pitied her, either, and that's what she liked about talking to him. It was impossible to say what he was thinking and therefore impossible to tell if he judged her or not.
And right now, she didn't want to know.
But he was still a slytherin, the friend of Harry's and the others' greatest enimy (apart from Voldemort himself): Draco Malfoy...
"And I have no idea why I'm telling you this" she said, snorting slightly. "I'm sorry"
"It's fine"
She was happy to hear him speak. That she wasn't the one doing ALL the talking. She looked at him again.
"Daphne is probably looking for you" she said, feeling slightly lonely at her own words. "You don't want to keep her waiting"
Blaise nodded.
"I'll see you around" he said.
Ginny nodded back, smiling slightly at the way he used her words from that day in Hogsmeade. It was almost a week ago, now...
She noticed that he'd stopped, with his back facing her. She wondered why, but got her answer a second later as he said, his voice somewhat hard:
"You look beautiful tonight, Weasley"
And then he kept walking. Walking away from her.
How do you make a time line haha
Before Ginny had time to properly react to what had just happened, and what Blaise Zabini had actually said, the door to the library burst open again and she heard Neville's voice:
"She should be in here... Ginny! Ginny, where are you?"
"I'm here"
Her voice broke at the end of her short sentence but apparently her friends had heard her anyway and soon they turned up. She tried to give them both a smile but failed.
"Hi" she said and Luna hurried forward and gave her friend a hug.
"We realized you were missing from Slughorn's party so we came looking for you"
"How did you know I was in here?" Ginny asked, wiping her eyes quickly so they wouldn't see that she'd been crying.
However, she was pretty sure they hadn't missed it since Neville eyed her worriedly before saying:
"I know you use to come here when something troubles you, and since Dean looked so upset... What's wrong?"
But Ginny just shook her head. She trusted her friends and she loved them dearly, but she couldn't even bring herself to tell them right now. In fact, she wasn't even sure what she'd say if she did. Nothing made sense at the moment and there were so many things that made her cry that she wouldn't even have known where to start; the constant worry about the war, her family and her friends. The fight with Dean that now seemed absolutely unnecessary. Blaise Zabini and the confusion he brought with him...
"Nothing" she said. "It's nothing I... I'm just tired"
But Neville didn't seem happy with that answer and she could see him furrowing as he turned around and nodded towards the door leading into the library.
"We saw Blaise Zabini coming out of here... You know, Malfoy's friend?"
Ginny nodded. She knew, perfectly well by now...
Luna looked around the room curiously.
"But there's nobody else in here" she said dreamily. "Did he come in here to talk to you?"
Her eyes widened slightly at her own words and Neville, too, looked surprised at the bare thought. And the way they reacted made Ginny realize that it'd only cause trouble to tell them anything; they wouldn't understand...
"No, he..."
She cleared her throat uncomfortably.
"I have no idea what he was doing in here" she finished.
Actually, that was true. What was he doing in the library in the first place? He hadn't followed her, had he?
Neville's still suspicious and worried face expression brought her back to reality and she stood up.
"I think I've had enough for tonight" she said weakly. "I'm going to bed, or I might oversleep and miss the train tomorrow"
Neville and Luna both looked at each other and Neville cleared his throat uncomfortably before saying:
"I think we'll be staying up for a while... If that's all right with you"
Ginny smiled. They really looked cute together, she'd have to ask them both to give her all details tomorrow on the train ride back home...
"Of course. I'll see you both tomorrow, good night"
"Good night Ginny"
How do you make a time line haha
Ginny hadn't been lying when she said that she was tired, so she was surprised to find that she couldn't fall asleep once she'd climbed into bed. The thoughts kept spinning around in her head and she felt like she couldn't make sense of anything.
Why had he come to the library? Could it be, that that was that his favorite place for thinking, too?
You look beautiful tonight, Weasley.
If someone had told her a month ago that Blaise Zabini would tell her that she would have laughed. In fact, it was laughable even now. Why? Had he gone crazy? Had too much butterbeer to drink at Slughorn's party?
Ginny sighed, turning around in bed for the hundredth time that night. This year at Hogwarts was a lot of things, and "normal" definitely wasn't one of them.