Chapter 10
Life's Cruelest Ironies
Ginny's Age: 15
The dungeons were even colder than normal with the fast approach of Christmas, but for some reason, Ginny Weasley had not thought much of Christmas, she realized as she started to leave Potions. Yes, she had ordered presents for her family and friends, and was looking forward to seeing her parents over the holidays, but other things seemed to fill Ginny's mind. Like Dean. And Quidditch. Like Fleur, and Percy, and the twins' shop. Like O.W.L.s and the Order of the Phoenix. And of course, as always on some degree, Harry Potter.
Just after exiting the classroom with her schoolbag slung across her shoulder, Ginny saw Dean running down the stairs with a huge grin across his face.
"Harry's put me on as a Chaser for the match!" he shouted. Grabbing Ginny around the waist and lifting her to her feet, Dean spun her round the dungeon corridor. Several Gryffindors sighed in approval or bravely hid their jealousy, while many Slytherins sniggered or did little to mask their expressions of disgust.
"Isn't. That. Lovely." Came a sharp voice from the Potions doorway. Snape. "Five points from Gryffindor for nauseating displays of affection," he called as he swooped down a hall, presumably towards his office.
"Just because no one's ever shown him affection," Ginny whispered.
"Another five points from Gryffidor for failing to hold your tongue, Ms. Weasley."
When he turned to leave again, Ginny made a great display of using her tongue-- to stick it out at him. "Come on, Ginny. We've lost enough points for Gryffindor today."
"We?" Ginny teased, but they ascended to the entrance hall, anyways.
"You're right, it was just you. All the more reason to preoccupy your tongue," he replied and leaned down to kiss her.
"I love it when you do that," Ginny told him as they wandered towards one of the school's lesser-known passageways.
"So I have good technique?" he asked.
"And I pride myself," Ginny laughed. "When I began dating you, you had the experience of a twelve-year-old."
"I bet I did. Had my first girlfriend when I was twelve—in first year."
"Really? Who?" Ginny was entirely curious, while a different sort of girl would have been at least slightly jealous.
"One of the Patil twins. I dated her for two hours one Valentine's Day."
"Two hours?" Ginny giggled. "Wait, one of the Patil twins? Which one?"
Dean laughed nervously, "I don't really know. I think I might have kissed both of them."
"So that's why it only lasted two hours?" Ginny concluded.
"Yep! I reckon that would do the trick, huh?"
"Probably!" Ginny and Dean had settled onto the ground and she leaned into him, laying her head on his chest. "Chaser, you say?"
"Yup, now I'll be around to protect you on the pitch," he joked.
"Oh, I need protecting now?"
"Mm, hm! You're a damsel in distress. Now we better go get dinner soon. Practice starts at seven."
"That was the worst practice ever!" Ginny shouted as she stormed into the castle at ten o'clock.
"It's alright, really! We'll do fine! I mean, Harry will catch the Snitch before Ron can let too many goals in."
"He better! Ron's such an uncoordinated prat! He nearly broke Demelza's nose when he ran into her! And Harry's too busy being a good friend or the "Chosen One" or whatever the hell he is to just kick Ron off the team! Not that McLaggen the troll would be much better but at least he can fly!"
"Calm down, Ginny!" Dean screamed as they found themselves in the same deserted passageway behind the tapestry that they were in earlier. "You don't really think Harry's the Chosen One, do you? And he is our friend?"
Ginny sighed. Just like with Michael, there would always be things Dean couldn't know about the Order and such. And if by Chosen One, Dean was referring to the one who would have to kill You-Know-Who, then, "Yes" would be her honest answer. "No, not the Chosen One. Of course he's my friend, I'm just frustrated."
"I see that," he whispered and slid his arms around her. It was not long after that Ron and Harry found the couple locked in a heated embrace.
"Oi!" he had called. Oi! Indeed, Ronald! She nearly bit his head off, that stupid brother of hers. He was too much of a coward to ask out Hermione, and too much of a jealous warthog to stand anybody else snogging. Ginny was all fired up and ready to go at him after that awful practice. The fact that her head was topsy-turvy from her recent encounter with Dean certainly didn't help her mentality.
And yet, even while spitting insults at her brother, Ginny's eye was on something else.
"And Hermione snogged Viktor Krum," she'd shouted, knowing how that would get him. "It's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, Ron, and that's because you've got about as much experience as a twelve-year-old!" Didn't that sound familiar?
Yet through all this, Ginny watched Harry. She knew how it felt to watch Harry kiss someone, but wondered what his reaction would be. And his reaction astonished her. He, Harry Potter, the Chosen One, savior of the Wizarding World, her brother's best friend, her Quidditch captain, her pathetic schoolgirl crush, the one and only Harry Potter-- was jealous. She practically cackled at the irony. Harry Potter was jealous of Dean! Because Dean had kissed her!
The red headed girl stormed out of the passage, but veered in a different direction than Gryffindor tower. She needed to cool her fire before speaking with her boyfriend. Ginny's head was spinning and she could not stop laughing maniacally. Positive that any passerby would dubb her completely insane and admit her to St. Mungo's on the spot, Ginny found the portrait of the small witch in violet robes. She swung it open and crawled into the hole. In such a small place, where she could here her evil cackles echo around her, she calmed down a bit, but she still panted and gasped for air as she stumbled towards the lake.
Harry Potter, on some level, found her attractive. The look in his eye made it obvious to Ginny that this was the first time he saw her as a woman, instead of his best mate's little sister. This was one of life's deliciously cruel joke in Ginny's opinion.
Harry likes me, but I'm with Dean. Ginny thought. Should I break up with Dean? Should she? She didn't know, but came to a conclusion. There was something else in Harry's eyes. Confliction. I'm Ron's little sister, and he considers me off limits. Or at least Ron would mark me off limits, but he marks me off limits for everyone. Or he tries anyway.
It was dark at the lake. Completely alone aside from the night owls and crickets, Ginny began talking to herself. "This is really just my luck isn't it? I pine after a boy for fifteen years and when he finally notices me, I'm taken. Ugh! I hate men!" Ginny pulled out her wand and began drawing in the dirt.
Suddenly, a thought donned on Ginny, and she voiced it to the giant squid. "Do I want to go out with Harry? Yes, of course I do! I've wanted to for years. Yes, but I have Dean now. Do I care for Dean more than I do for Harry?"
Though Ginny was fairly certain she'd much rather be with Harry than Dean, she groaned aloud and fell backward, onto the grass. She awoke several hours later, only to remember that she'd probably want to get back to the castle. The idea of Hagrid or Filch finding her there at six in the morning was rather unappealing. It seemed to Ginny that all of her options were unappealing at the moment.
Resuming her lifelong practice of composing letters she'd never actually send to Harry, Ginny spoke to the dark and silent Hogwarts grounds.
"Dear Harry, You're an idiot! Love, Ginny"
Disclaimer: Apparently, only one person reads these disclaimers. But for you, I will continue. I do not own any of the characters, places, etc. Wouldn't it be nice if no one owned anything, and we could all just run free, hold hands, and skip in a field of daisies? I'd totally be Amish if they suddenly allowed electricity.
A/N: I want to thank everyone who reads my story. It's really very nice of you to put up with me and my stupid ideas. I'd never really thought of sticking the title in there like that, but it just came. I don't really like the title. It changed like six times before I just gave up.