Disclaimer: I own the plot and that's all. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.
A.N.:: Thanks for the reviews and thank you for being patient with me to get this chapter up. You all deserve smarties. Here's the next chapter.
Chapter Four: Summer Pt.Two
The next week of summer was pretty hectic. Everyone basically forgot about my "incident" in Diagon Alley and whoever my mystery hero was. I was pretty relieved about that.
Anyways, the next week we were getting ready for the wedding. Bill and Phlegm, ahem, Fleur's wedding. Which meant that family would be coming over, which meant even more people into the house, which got me stuck with Gabrielle Delacour as my other roommate. Not that I don't like her, but she is related to Phlegm.
Mom was running around like a madman, trying to get everything perfect since the wedding was happening here. She was even crazier than Fleur or Bill, though Bill just had to mostly pick out his robes and agree with anything Fleur said.
But, of course, the best part of this whole week was when the bridesmaids had to get fitted for the dresses, and guess what? Fleur had picked me to be a bridesmaid. Oh joy. I was definitely not happy about this because well, Fleur, she absolutely adores pink. It's her favourite colour on the whole planet. And well, with my red hair, pink just looked nasty. So, I secretly hoped she would kick me out of being a bridesmaid. It could happen.
So, here we went, myself, Fleur, my mom, Fleur's mom, Gabrielle, and a couple of Fleur's cousins to a small boutique in London; muggle London to be exact. Why we went there, I had no idea at that time, but a couple hours into the wedding I asked Tonks and she had told me that Fleur's mother had bought a dress in muggle London at that same boutique and so had her mother and her mother and so on. A tradition, I guess.
As I was saying, about seven of us went to this little boutique in London. And this is where my second adventure began.
"Ginny?" asked Fleur, as we were walking to the shop.
"Yes?" I replied, annoyed. My mother turned around, as she was walking in front of me and narrowed her eyes at my tone of voice. "Yes?" I repeated, nicer this time.
"'Ave you zought of a colour you might like to wear for ze wedding?"
No, I hadn't, Fleur. I was secretly hoping you might kick me out of the wedding and never speak to me again. "Um, actually, I thought teal or aqua was a nice colour since it could go with my hair," I answered.
She smiled at me and turned towards her mother. "Mere, ow about teal?"
Her mother turned towards me and nodded. "Oui, zat vould be nice."
We kept walking until we reached the boutique, which was called Amelia's Closet. As we all piled in the store, I sat down on one of the pink armchairs perched near the windows. The rest of the family searched through dresses, trying to find the perfect one. It was terribly boring.
"Ginny!" called my mother. "Come over here and try this dress on!"
I groaned, got up and walked over to my mother who was holding an aqua-ish dress that looked like it went right to the floor. I sighed, it did look pretty. She handed the dress to me and pushed me into the closest dressing room.
After a few moments, I slowly stepped out of the dressing room. Walking to stand on the circular stage, I took a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Gosh, did the dress really look amazing on me. Everyone around me looked at me in awe.
"Oui, oui! Zat is ze perfect dress!" exclaimed Fleur. "We 'ave to get it!"
While everyone agreed to what Fleur was saying, I looked over to the window to see some guy walk past the boutique and stop to look inside. The guy had pale blond hair and wore all black; it was none other than Draco Malfoy.
I could've fainted at that point. Malfoy sightings in the same week! Trying not to dwindle on my thoughts, I looked back over to the window to see his figure walk across the street and into the bookstore.
Stepping down off the stage and into the dressing room, my thoughts began to jumble around in my head. What was Malfoy doing here in muggle London? Why did he look into the shop? But the thought that stood out the most was maybe I can ask him why he really saved me. And so I went with that thought.
After changing into my clothes, Fleur bought five aqua dresses and we left for lunch. All the while, my mind was working its way to an excuse of how I could get into the bookstore.
"So, what restaurant are we going to?" I asked, hoping to sneak off when we got there.
"This very fancy french place that Fleur and Jean-Marie know," my mother replied.
"Ve're here!" exclaimed Fleur from in front of us.
We walked in and got seated quickly. Mother was right, the place was very fancy. I felt underdressed, as well as very nervous. I was going to ditch my family for a Malfoy of all people!
"Ginny, are you alright? You look a little nervous," asked my mother.
"A-actually I do feel a bit nauseous," I replied. "Maybe I'll go to the washroom and just freshen myself up a bit."
They all nodded at me, while I got up to leave for the washroom. In there, I stood pacing around for a few moments. How could I get out of here? And would Malfoy still even be there? Looking to my right I noticed a small window. Perfect.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Escaping out of a window is so cliché. Yes, well to all of you, get the bloody hell out of here. I had no other way out. So, my hands grasped the ledge, which was above my head, and my feet took hold on the vent below me. I hauled the rest of my body up, and poked my head out the window. I twisted by body around and brought one foot up and over so that I was sitting straddling the window's ledge. I brought the other leg over and very graciously jumped down. Okay, so the last part didn't happen. I had brought my other leg over when I started to tip and almost fell head first into the ground. My hands had caught the ledge at the right moment and I, oh-so graciously hung from the window outside.
Jumping down, I brushed myself off and began walking across the street and looking for the bookstore Malfoy had gone in. Finding it down the street a bit, I pulled open the door and walked inside.
The store was about medium in size and the walls were covered with books from top to bottom. There were two floors and a small counter just a couple meters from me. I walked over to the counter and clicked on the little bell to single that I needed help.
A small, chubby man came out of the back room and walked behind the counter. "Anything you need help with Miss?" he asked.
"Um, my friend came in here a few minutes ago. Blond hair, wearing all black. Is he still here?" I answered.
The man nodded. "Yeah, I remember him. Strange bloke he was, but no, he's not here. He left just a few moments ago. Headed up the street, maybe you can still catch him."
"Thanks for the help," I said and left the store.
He had already left. I felt sad and I had no idea why. This was Malfoy I was talking about. Oh well, better head back to the restaurant.
I turned the corner and climbed up onto the window's ledge again. Mother would be worried about me. She's probably already checked the washroom and found you weren't there. What are you gonna do then, Ginny? She'll be furious with you for sneaking off like that, and after a Malfoy boy, no less. Though, mother doesn't know why I left, so she can't be that ang-
"Following me around, Weasel?" said a voice from the washroom.
I was pushed out of my thoughts and scared to hell and back when I saw that he was there. I very nearly broke my neck by falling off the ledge and into the washroom, but he was there just in time to catch me.
"Malfoy?!" I nearly shouted. "What are you doing here? In the ladies room?"
"You followed me into the bookstore," he stated simply.
"Anyone could walk in here and see you! Plus, my mother is probably terribly worried about me right now."
"Why did you follow me?"
I let out a sigh. "Did you just hear me?"
He looked at me. "Of course I did, you were standing in front of me. I just chose to ignore it."
"Well, whatever you're here for, you can just leave because my mother is worried about me."
"Why did you follow me?"
I took a different approach. "Why save me?"
He didn't even blink an eye. "Are we still on that? I thought we covered that."
I opened my mouth to speak when I heard some banging on the door. I looked at Malfoy. "You locked it!?"
"Of course I did. What were muggles going to think when they saw some random guy in the Ladies' room?"
"That you're a pervert?" I answered.
He stepped closer to me. "Weasley, whatever reason I saved you for is my business, not yours."
It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. "Just like Dumbledore's death, right?"
His body stiffened and his eyes grew angry. "Don't talk about things that you don't know the facts to, it'll only get you in trouble."
He stepped away from me once more, looked back at the locked door and then back at me. "I'll be seeing you, Weasley," he said before disapparating.
I sighed. I was very stressed out. After unlocking the door and dealing with the many ladies who were outside the washroom, I made my way over to where we were seated.
"Ginny, you missed all of lunch!" my mother exclaimed. "I went to check on you and the door was locked. Did you do that?"
No, mom. That was Draco Malfoy who has been occupying my mind for the better part of the week. I nodded. "I just got sick in the middle of the floor and had to clean up," I replied.
"Anyone could have seen you!"
"Mom, the door was locked. There's one window in there that looks fairly high up. I'm pretty sure no one saw me."
I looked around at the table and notice that the better half of the party had left. "Where did Fleur go?"
"They had to leave early to go get the flower arrangements, but I stayed to wait for my daughter. And since you're here, we can leave now."
"How was dress shopping?" asked a voice from behind me.
Without turning to see who it was, I sat down on the grass and waited for them to sit beside me. "Fine," I answered.
"What colour is it?" they asked again, while coming to sit down beside me.
"Didn't Phlegm tell everyone?"
"No, she wants to keep it a secret for the wedding. But, maybe you could tell me."
I sighed. "Why are you here, Harry?"
He looked at me and frowned. "To ask about your day."
"Bullshit. What's the real reason you're here?"
He turned to look at the sunset and sighed. "It's just that you've been really distant lately and I want to know why."
I looked at him. "Harry, I know you haven't been paying attention to me since before the, uh, funeral."
"You're right, I haven't. But, you're everything to me Gin, and Voldemort and his followers are doing everything to destroy those that are closest to me, and you cannot be apart of that."
I think my heart may have melted when he said that I was his everything. "Harry, he's gonna come after me, us, the Weasley's anyways."
He nodded. "Yes, I've already figured that. But, maybe I can keep him away from you guys for a longer period of time than what he may have planned." He sighed. "I just don't want to see anyone get hurt."
"I know I'm supposed to say everything's going to be alright and no one's going to get hurt, but that would be a lie." I paused and looked at Harry. "People are going to get hurt, Harry, a lot of people. And some will die, and some will get injured and maybe some will even get as badly hurt as Neville's parents. And everything may never be alright, but people will deal with it the best way they can, because that's what we do."
He nodded. "You're way better at the whole speech thing than Ron or Hermione. They just tell me what I want to hear, it gets old sometimes."
I grinned. "Well, that's what I'm here for."
He grinned as well and started to stand. "Is it okay if I just leave now? I'm supposed to be meeting with Professor McGonagall in a few minutes."
"Of course you can go Harry. I'll just watch the rest of the sunset," I replied.
He waved goodbye and headed inside.
I did watch the rest of the sunset that day. It was truly beautiful; it seemed like the rest of our days could be as beautiful and as peaceful as it was then. But, and there's always a but, I knew that it wouldn't happen. Because it never happens. Not in reality anyways.
A.N:: Good or Bad? Please review and tell me what you think.
xo