Well I am back even though I should be at school, being irresponsible and all that good stuff.
=D
I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always please review!
Chapter 14 Acceptance
"Ginny are you awake?" Finley whispered through the drawn curtain. Ginny groaned and rolled over, "Finley?"
"Yep!"
"Go away."
Ginny hid her head beneath the warm pillow but knew that Finley wouldn't go away. It was unfortunate because she had been having such a pleasant dream and now she couldn't remember it, only that Draco had been an intrical part of it. Not surprisingly she felt the cool breeze as Finley pulled her curtains away from her bed. Ginny grimaced at her through the pillow but remained cocooned inside her blankets, one of which had been knitted by Mrs Weasley herself the very year Ginny went to Hogwarts for the first time. She was particularly fond of the old holey quilt because it reminded her of past times. The quilt was grey with seemingly random purple, navy blue, and green strands of yarn knitted in often enough to catch the eye. Molly had sewn a bright red fleecy area along the edges of the entire blanket, and at the bottom left corner had stitched GINNY in bright yellow. It had been a project to get rid of all her old materials, and also to give Ginny a blanket so she wouldn't feel quite so lonely at Hogwarts and Ginny adored the thing, so much in fact that now it was worn and ripping in places. She sat up immediately when Finley pulled that quilt, among others, off of her. This left Ginny curled up in her pyjamas shivering. She decided that now was a good time to remove the pillow from her face and revealed an angry face even as she hid her grin.
"Nice bed head, Ginny!" Finley teased her holding up her blankets, "it's time to get up."
Ginny rolled her eyes at the Gryffindor, "it's Saturday." she reminded her groggily. Finley merely smiled at her friend, "I know that. But you have a lot of explaining to do," she pointed at the table by Ginny's bed, "I brought you toast."
Ginny stuck her tongue out but saw no way to escape the bright eyed girl, "fine." she muttered swinging her legs over the edge of her bed and rubbing her tired eyes, "am I at least allowed to get dressed in peace?"
Finley nodded, "Ill give you 15 minutes. Go!"
Ginny growled at her but sluggishly opened her trunk anyways. She pulled out the first thing she saw which happened to be a dress she had bought from a muggle shop and had yet to wear. It was white and the bottom ballooned out if she span, it had yellow zigzagged vertical lines and a slightly plunging neckline that made her hope Draco would see her. She quickly pulled her white cardigan on over top, leaving it unbuttoned and then she checked her clock. Only ten minutes left. She slipped her feet into white flats with hard to see flower stitching in them. She ran a brush through her hair in a rush and used a weak concealing charm for the bags under her eyes and then she was ready. Looking in the mirror she knew that with more work on her face and hair she might look like she fit in. But she didn't care to work harder to make herself look presentable, the only one she would want to impress was Draco and he had seen her looking much worse than she did now. She left the dorm with minutes to spare, but Finley was tapping her foot impatiently only a few paces away. An unobstructed grin broke onto Finley's face when she saw Ginny and she hurried to push her back into the dorm.
"I know you don't care to work a bit harder but you look much to pretty for me not to!" she pulled out her wand and began working on Ginny's hair. Soon Ginny felt like nothing more than a doll. Finley had curled her red hair and then charmed it into a messy bun with some curls falling down and framing her face. She had also applied a thin layer of dark brown eyeliner and gold eye shadow onto Ginny's untouched eyes, she topped it off with a layer of mascara and only then did she declare Ginny 'ready'. Ginny grabbed her thick red backpack before they left the room and swung it onto her back, much to the dismay of Finley.
"It ruins the look, you know." She complained as they left the common room, Ginny's new look eliciting many stares while also managing to turn her bright red.
"This look is more you than it is me, Finley." Ginny admitted as yet another person stared at her. Her stomach growled and she cursed herself for not having eaten the toast.
"Where are we going and why is the great hall not on the list?"
Finley shushed her as they passed Harry, Ron and Hermione. Ginny smiled and waved at them, meaning to pass by as usual but Finley stopped.
"So, Harry, are you tired?" She chirped innocently, much to the discomfort of the boy.
He shrugged and looked questioningly at Ginny, as if to say 'what's wrong with your friend?
"Why would he be?" Hermione questioned as Ron chuckled in the back ground.
"No reason." Finley murmured slyly, "well, come on Ginny we've got lots to do!" She said grabbing Ginny's arm and dragging the confused girl away from the just as baffled trio.
"Bloody hell, Finley what is wrong with you today?"
Finley grinned evilly but didn't say a word until they were well away from anyone and everyone. Only then did she sit down and stare at Ginny in a way that made it clear she was to sit to.
"We couldn't have just talked in the common room?" Ginny asked warily.
"I know you're secret!" Finley revealed dramatically, flinging her arms wide and winking. Ginny couldn't help but think that it was a weird reaction to have when one found out about a friend cutting oneself, but Finley always had been odd so she immediately started to think of a believable excuse.
"I saw you and Harry last night, in fact, so you can't hide it!" Finley wiggled her eyebrows at Ginny, but she was overcome with waves of relief and hilarity and couldn't speak.
"So, how long has this been going on?" Finley asked stroking her chin thoughtfully.
"Never!" Ginny giggled, "I liked him for a bit but we've never snuck out together especially not last night!" Later on she would curse herself for not running with the lie, but for now the absurdity of what Finley was saying made her only option to deny it.
"I saw you though, you weren't in bed so I found you. And it had to have been Harry, who else could it have been?"
Ginny bit her lip, then mimed locking them up and throwing the key but Finley shook her head at her disapprovingly.
"Come on, tell me and I will tell you what happened with me and Lukas yesterday!" she bartered hopefully.
"I can't." Ginny sighed, leaning back on her hands and staring at the canopy of trees.
"Why? He can't be that bad."
"Why don't you tell me about you and Lukas first?" Ginny smiled crookedly, trying to get herself off the hook.
"Noper. I am much to interested in your late night escapades with mystery man."
Ginny through a leaf at her, but it didn't make it far enough and Finley looked unimpressed, "come on Ginny, I'm your friend." she said slowly, "don't you trust me?" Ginny had never really had a friend, and she was loath to lose Finley so soon after becoming her friend so she decided to be part way honest.
"Well, it's a lot like Romeo and Juliet, so I can't tell you who he is."
She thought Finley's face would be broken apart by her grin, whereas her own ears felt so hot she was sure they would fall off any moment.
"We just started talking this year." She could see Finley actively considering who it could be, she hoped Draco wouldn't even cross her mind.
"He's a really good listener, he is really caring and deep and even kind of shy, but he's also really silly and fun when he wants to be."
"Shy, that crosses out Collin and Price, and Leo is way to serious to be silly and fun ever, at least I think so. Plus, I don't see how he could fit into the role of Romeo. What house is the guy in, can you tell me that?"
Ginny shook her head vigorously, "NO!"
"Not ours then?"
Again Ginny shook her head, although in a more guarded fashion this time around.
"Ravenclaw?"
Ginny stuck out her tongue, "you can't just go through the houses that's not fair!"
Finley made a face, "well if you wont tell me the house could you at least tell me the year?"
Ginny sighed, knowing if it came down to it she had to choose one or the other, "sixth." she muttered folding her arms.
"And you're absolutely certain he isn't Harry?"
"Positive."
"If I guess it will you tell me?"
Ginny wrinkled her nose, "um…no?" she wavered.
Finley smiled at her, "you'll tell me eventually, I'm sure of it."
Then they stood up and began walking back to civilization, "I'm HUNGRY!" Ginny roared as she sprinted forwards, tripping over a tree root and laughing at herself.
They ended up at a fast paced jog all the way to the great hall, they fell down red faced and still giggling beside Lukas and his friends.
Lukas snaked his arm around Finley soon after she sat down, and though unsurprised Ginny couldn't help but be happy for them.
Finley grinned around the group, "doesn't Ginny look fabulous today?" She warbled, lacing her hand with Lukas's and tilting her head backwards to eat grapes directly off of the vine. It still amused Ginny to see the girl eating them in that fashion but she had since the first year, and probably before. She heard a few replies from the guys and blushed as she felt their eyes on her. Dakota, a short waif of a girl with wacky blue hair and matching eyes grinned at her, "I love the dress. I think I have one like it in lime green."
"Thank-you," Ginny said graciously as she continued to eat her soup.
"Look at those Slytherins," Dawson spat glaring across the room towards Blake, a Slytherin fifth year boy who was both very fit and very attractive. Blake had skin pale enough to rival Malfoy's with contrasting dark hair and eyes. Currently he seemed to be joking with his friends about something, and he very pointedly looked towards the Gryffindor table a number of times.
"They're disgusting, don't even deserve to be a part of this school." Leo said in his signature collected voice, but anyone could tell by his sour face what he thought of the opposing house.
"Filthy snakes." Collin agreed, his camera still around his scrawny neck.
Ginny felt like she should say something, so she forced out a few words; "god awful excuses for wizards they are." She was rewarded with smiles from everybody. But as she glanced back towards the Slytherin table she had a hard time convincing herself of her own words. Draco was sitting with Blaise, and they seemed to be deep in discussion, there was space on all sides of them and when Pansy tried to scoot closer to Draco she saw him give her a chilling look. Needless to say Pansy backed off, Ginny grinned widely before returning her gaze to her own table. They were still bantering about the Slytherins so she poured herself some pumpkin juice and drank it quickly.
She looked curiously at Finley and Lukas, neither of which had said anything yet and was jealous of the obvious adoration they shared. She thought about Draco and their secretive nights that were glorified in her mind. According to her watch it was just barely lunch time. She gave another longing look towards Draco before forcing herself to engage in the conversation with her peers. With the help of Finley she thought she had a chance of being accepted, and she knew it would be stupid of her to ruin it by being antisocial. However, when a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts she had no qualms about muttering an excuse about the library before rushing out of the hall. Rather than torture herself with the library she found an empty room and practised her charm work, trying desperately to ignore the increasingly demanding words of Tom. She knew she couldn't avoid him forever, but she hoped that by distracting herself with her wand work she could hold him off. She smiled cheerily right before destroying a pillow, then she made the next one do cartwheels even as the feathers from the first danced merrily around the room. Eventually however she couldn't keep up the pretences. The feathers drooped to the floor where they lay lifelessly and Ginny was once again drawn into the warm, comforting arms of Tom as his deep, creamy voice washed away her doubts of the boy of her past.
Well what do you guys think of this one? I'm not the bestest at conversations but I tried so I hope it isn't too terrible. Please, oh please review. It makes me a much happier person when you do! hahaha =]