A/N: Wow, I got so many reviews! Twenty-one! INCREDIBLE! Anyway, here's the next chapter, it's quite short but it's important. Sadly, no Tom in this one.
Disclaimer: Get the idea into your head. I don't own it. Now move on.
The Letter P
Chapter Twenty-Nine: P is for Predicted
"Riddle, it's…" she whispered. She didn't have a word for what she thought. Harry had never given her flowers – instead, his killer did. It was too bizarre to even try and comprehend. And, also too beautiful, though the flower was tiny, inexpensive, and probably just taken from the Greenhouses.
The rest of Riddle's sentence blurred, and she fell quietly asleep with her nose to the little yellow flower. And she found an odd sensation – the pang of odd disappointment was gone, and replaced by a bloated feeling like she ruled the world.
xxx
The late-November blew in sharply through the Astronomy Tower windows, ruffling scarlet tresses and caressing a shiver up her spine. Sitting with her back against the wall, her schoolbag discarded near the door, her knees tucked up against her chest and her arms loosely encircling them.
It was cold, but she didn't wear a scarf or her winter robe. Her cheeks were ruddy from the chill, as all six of the broad windows on the walls of the octagonal tower were flung wide open. The window through which she stared depicted a clear, crisp sky, dotted with fluffy clouds, and sprinkled with a powder snow, come early.
Ginny had much to think about; impossible to have time to contemplate such things, however, what with lessons, Quidditch practice, and homework. Also, all of her free time was taken up by Grace's perkiness or joining in on Alden's shy, reluctant studying, to keep up the image that she actually did fancy him.
Now, she had evaded her companions, leaving quickly after Charms with the amiable, stuttering Professor Vander, and disappeared, heading somewhere that she could wallow deeply in her musings.
Svengali.
Myrtle's 'murder', and who had done it.
The Christmas Ball.
And, lastly, Riddle's primrose, sitting in a position of importance upon her desk, in a polka-dotted vase – a topic that had been invading her mind strangely all week since it had been given to her.
As her mind strayed back to the flower, the Astronomy Tower door flew open with a bang and two giggling people burst into, tangled in each other's arms. Ginny looked sideways, and saw Scott and a girl – not even Isabella Mackenzie. A willowy blonde girl with a platinum smile and a swirling gypsy skirt, whom she knew vaguely from Arithmancy class as a Ravenclaw named Ishbel. Neither noticed the redhead.
"Hello," she said.
Startled, the two kissing sixth-years jumped, and whipped around to stare at her. A guilty red flushed across Scott's handsome features; Ishbel huffed.
"Oh." Scott scratched the back of his head. "Hi. Cat. Hey."
"Hey," said Ginny coolly, fixing a beady stare upon him.
"Um. I know that… that you're seeing someone else. And so am I!" he gestured feebly between him and Ishbel, who smirked, "but, um. Technically, cat, we never ended it, so…"
"You're two-timing me?" Ishbel shrieked in her thick, Russian accent.
"No, doll, no," Scott shushed her. He then turned back to Ginny. "Er. Cat – it's over," he declared, puffing out his chest, as if to say, and that's final!
Like I'd want him anyway.
"It never begun," Ginny replied softly, before casting her eyes down, from the window, and smoothing out her skirt, for want of something to break the heavy stillness.
Scott frowned.
Ishbel leaned towards him, blonde hair spilling like water over her slender shoulders. "Scottie," she hissed, sparing a narrow-eyed glance at the redhead, "can we go? She's such a freak – I don't feel comfortable here."
"Yeah," Scott agreed.
Ginny was unsure if he was agreeing to leaving, to not feeling comfortable… or to her being a freak. Probably the latter. She fumed silently.
"Well, I guess I'll see you around, cat," Scott proposed. "The next Quidditch match, eh?"
Ishbel sneered. "If she can manage to stay on her broom," she said venomously. She turned to Scott, and draped herself elegantly over his thigh. "Come on, let's leave," she simpered.
They made as if to depart from the Astronomy Tower, but Ginny quickly stood.
"No, it's okay," she said. "I was just going." She could muse her thoughts somewhere else – the library, perhaps. She picked up her schoolbag and slung it casually over her shoulder. Her ex-boyfriend and his most recent tart were already snogging by the time she reached the door.
"By the way," she said, turning halfway, one hand on the door-frame. Scott and Ishbel looked at her; Scott slightly irritated, and Ishbel furious, at being interrupted, "if you wanted a cat… you could have gone to the pet shop." She shrugged. "After all, it's where you got your latest catch." She looked pointedly at Ishbel, before smiling sweetly, and slipping through the door.
xxx
"And so, and so, and so, aim for the bowls, don't miss, aim, please, yes? Remember the wand movement, a sharp jab, yes, a jab, no, no, no, Miss Hartwin, not a swoosh, yes?" Professor Vander scanned the classroom. "Very well, yes, try it, go on, try it."
Ginny stared at the tip of her wand. Did Professor Vander really expect water to come out? She glanced sideways – seemingly so, as Alden was now jabbing his wand sharply, muttering under his breath, and beaming when clear liquid trickled down into the bowl. She looked to the other side, and saw that Grace had no success either.
The brunette was fiercely jabbing the air, snapping, "Aguamenti", and the only thing that was happening was her wand firing an unpleasant green sludge backwards into her face.
Stifling laughter, Ginny turned back to her own bowl. She pointed her wand, stabbed it forwards swiftly and cried, "AGUAMENTI!"
A shriek ran out from everyone in the class, following by hilarious laughter, as Ginny scrambled over her desk to retrieve her wand, spinning at high-speed on the floor, and spurting ice-cold water in all directions.
"Sorry, Professor," Ginny shouted over the roaring of water, gripping her slippery wand and desperately trying to make it stop.
How the hell do you turn this thing off?
"Finite incantatem!" she yelled at it, and the flow was abruptly cut off. The wand coughed up one last jet of water, before stilling in Ginny's wet hand.
Hair hanging in sodden dark strands around her drenched face, Ginny tried not to burst out laughing. Luckily, the rest of her class did it for her. "Sorry, Professor," she said humbly, her cheeks heating up and a grin threatening to break out on her face.
Professor Vander was also laughing very hard. "Yes, yes, well, you can clean this up, hm, yes," he said briskly through his giggling, gesturing at the water-saturated floor with one fat hand.
"Yes, sir," said Ginny, and quickly set to work, waving her wand over the water and making it disappear. Then she returned to her seat, grinning sheepishly at Grace and Alden.
Right. Let's try that again, shall we?
Ginny attempted the charm again – this time, it sprayed out as widely as possible, as if someone had put their thumb over the end of a Muggle hosepipe. And, in the sparkling liquid, dancing through the air and glittering a thousand colours as it caught the light… she saw something.
She saw herself.
Stamping her foot, shouting, near the verge of tears.
Blood spreading out in a pool, gathering at her feet.
A dress the colour of the darkest wine.
Running out into the rain, standing barefoot at the top of the stairs, staring out into the darkness and screaming.
Riddle, smirking directly at her, eyes sparkling with something that she'd never seen before.
A blinding blue light.
Running, as fast as she could, throwing her arms around someone's neck, and kissing them as hard as she could.
She jerked back into reality so hard that she toppled backwards and fell out of her chair. Several boys in the back of the classroom laughed, but Ginny was too shaken to care.
The redhead lifted her hands and looked at them; trembling. With good reason, too – she had predicted, seen her own future. It involved blood and death, something that she never wanted to deal with again.
But was terrified her more was the kiss. It wasn't a hello how are you kiss, or even a goodbye see you later kiss, or a just as friends kiss. It was an all-out kiss.
She was going to start to feel for someone, and truly feel for them. And then she'd be torn into pieces again when it couldn't work out, or – worse – when she had to go home, back to the twenty-first century.
And that was why she was shaking.
She was going to fall in love.
xxx
A/N: Sorry that it's short and that it hasn't got any Tom in it. Three guesses who Ginny'll fall in love with? –COUGH- Please review, I love you really.
xxx
BDSanta2001: Ouch. I sprained my wrist and I've fractured my toe three times… but never my tailbone. I just thought it would be funny. Thank you for the review. Pan's Labyrinth? No, I haven't seen it. It's supposed to be good, though. Is it?
Eternal Passion: Yeah, he's so sweet in a weird kind of way. Thanks!
kyraThePoop: Thanks! Er, interesting dream! Lol! I love Sweeney Todd, it's brilliant. The time-travel concept is kind of confusing, but it's supposed to be. Ginny doesn't fully understand it, so neither do you, really. Sorry. It'll make sense later. Half-baked? I'll try to find it. Isn't Tom just lovely?
AppleC0re: Yeah, the tailbone thing was a fantastic stroke of inspiration. We all love Tom. Thanks!
Pixar: I'm glad everyone liked that, I loved it too. I wasn't sure if it would work. Yeah, your description of Tom picking the flower is just about spot-on, lmao! The blade of grass thing will be coming back into play soon, with another sweet chapter. Look oooouttt. Haha! Ginny did indeed break her pretty little bottom. Not that I've got a thing for Ginny's ass. -shifty eyes-
audrhole: I just made an agreement with myself that I was going to post a chapter per day. Anyway, I'm WAYYY ahead of you guys, so I just post what I've already written. She does eventually start to refer to him as Tom, which of course Grace picks up on and teases her about. Thank you!
storm-brain: -gasp- What is with your burning hate of Tom? –hugs him defensively- There, there, ignore the mean reviewer. Lol, just kidding.
chimis: Yup! Proud Chinese-speaker! Really? Aw, I feel so loved. I missed you too.
Intricacy: And thus, the remedy has been delivered. Bwahaha. It depends how long you take to do your homework. If this was on my homework-scheme, then it'd be about right. I despise school-work. (Yes! I am still at school! CHILD PRODIGY, I TELL YOU! MAHAHA!)… Random. Thank you!
creative-writing-girl13: Er, he was just saying something like "Are you okay" because she sort of zoned out. But then she fell asleep. Yay!
Josephine Sawyer: Yeah, I wasn't too sure about the Malfoy-Ginny scene either in the Entrance Hall. But I needed to show Tom sort of going all Voldemort-y in order to save her. Cheesy, yes, but it's fun. I can slow down the updates, if you want, but we'd probably both get attacked by an angry mob of other reviewers with pitchforks and torches. –shiver- Tom was kind of flirting with her, except that he doesn't really know how… he doesn't even realize he's doing it… he just does it… because he's awkward with her because –whispers- he's starting to have feelings for her. But I didn't tell you that.
ricekrispies: Slytherin did indeed win the match, just shortly after she was blasted to Kingdom come. Technically, he didn't call her a Mudblood, but he was just being mean about all Mudbloods. And the Mudblood comment was… here: "Yes, Peregrine – but, unfortunately, this isn't the film set of The Littlest Elf," said Riddle darkly. "This is reality, and, here, if you're not pureblood, then reality is absolute shit. Life is hell when you have to be a Slytherin living with the fact that you're related to one of those filthy Mudbloods." Then, gaze icy and voice arctic, Ginny said to Riddle, "and by the way, Riddle – don't give me that crap about how hard life is not being pureblood… I'm Muggleborn. I am, so quote: 'one of those filthy Mudbloods'." Does that make it clearer for you? Thank you so much for the review, it makes my day.
Saene: That line was good, wasn't it? I loved it. I think I'm a sort of mix between Tommy-boy, Hermione, Luna and Ginny. Sarcastic and anti-social, a smart know-it-all and not the prettiest of girls, totally dippy, and quite scarily fierce. I'm very good at lying as well, except that I feel awful about doing it, and I end up shrieking, "I LIE, I LIE!" Well. Metaphorically, of course.
SiRiUsLyInLuV31: Unfortunately, quite a lot of chapters. This is a long fic. My longest. I just don't do short fics, sorry. What would you say if I told you they kissed in Chapter 46? –cringe- Sorrreeee.
XxRandomHeartxX: Don't we all just want to be in Ginny's position? It's perfect. I've actually been in love – not the stupid, omg he's hot I'm in love I want to marry him oh look his friend is even hotter I'm in love that my cousin indulges in… - properly… and if my life was a fic, then the author chose angst. –pout- Anyway. All's said and done, so I'm just praying that said author decides to give me a fairytale ending. I thought that the flower thing was so sweet, too, I was almost crying at the sugariness of it all. Thanks for the review.
Exhexoex: Thank you so much!
Xxx
That was a lot of review-replying. PHEW.
