A/N: More reviews! Three-hundred! WOW! More Tomness. And some Quidditchness. Have fun.
Disclaimer: Get the idea into your head. I don't own it. Now move on.
The Letter P
Chapter Thirty-Seven: P is for Plowing Into People
"…I heard what Fionn said… in the Hospital Wing. Before she left… …thank you," Riddle murmured, his words so soft that Ginny had to strain to hear them, and then his breathing slowed, and the redhead knew that he was truly asleep.
Face still glowing like the setting sun, Ginny turned and left the room. She spared a backwards glance through the window, and then departed the hospital, feeling as though she might implode from blushing so much… but also oddly pleased.
xxx
The fifteenth of December. Five days until the Yule Ball (they had decided that it wouldn't actually be at Christmas, because many people wanted to spend the day with their families).
Ginny was so excited; she couldn't wait. However, there was only one problem – five days to go, and she didn't have anything to wear. On the way out of lunch, the redhead mentioned this to Grace, who had returned a few days ago. The reaction that her friend had, you'd have thought she said 'I'm getting married to Slughorn' or something like that.
Grace gasped. "You're joking, right?" she gaped. Then, without further ado, she snatched Ginny's arm and dragged her away.
"Help!" Ginny shrieked to an amused-looking Alden. "Help!"
Alden merely laughed.
I'll pay you back for this, thought Ginny crossly, scowling at him.
Ten minutes later, Ginny was staring in horror at her reflection. "No," she said flatly. "I'm not wearing this."
It – known better to herself as The Poofy-Sleeved Horror – was white and shaped a bit like a cloud at the bottom, separated into distinguishable body parts only by wide pink ribbons.
"What?" asked Grace. "It suits you."
"Get it off. Now."
The brunette Slytherin huffed. "Fine."
Next was a floaty green number that Ginny did, admittedly, like the colour of… she just hated the dress.
"No."
"No."
"No."
"What answer were you expecting?!"
"Ew no."
Grace sighed. "This?" she held the last dress up.
"No-" Ginny automatically said, and then she looked at it. It wasn't half bad. In fact, it looked really pretty. "Maybe."
"Try it on!" Grace said enthusiastically.
"You're like a five-year-old," Ginny laughed, and she disappeared into the bathroom. A moment later, she emerged wearing it.
"THAT'S SO NICE ON YOU!" Grace shouted.
"Okay, okay! It's nice – I get it – keep it down," Ginny shushed her friend. She glanced in the mirror. "It's okay, I suppose," she lied, ignoring her brain screaming, MINE!
"Cool. That means that you're wearing it," said Grace, and she started to put in pins and extra stitching so that it would fit (Ginny flushed red with humiliation when the hem had to be raised ten inches).
When they left to find Alden, Ginny couldn't help but grin. She was going to look spectacular – just as she needed to, as she fully intended to make that retard Scott see what he could have had.
xxx
Slytherin-Ravenclaw. Ginny pulled her green robes tight around her and listened impatiently to Jack Swithin's pep-talk speech. Pep-talks were supposed to be short, but, in the style of Oliver Wood, it was so long-winded that she was certain that the Quidditch pitch would decompose before they got onto it.
"-Malfoy, you're going to behave today, or you're off the team. You know what I mean. Flax and Peregrine – just do what you did last time. Okay," Jack clapped his hands. "I think that's it."
"Hm?" said Magnus sleepily, lifting his head up from his folded arms.
Jack scowled at him. "Okay, everyone up. We're going on," he said, firing one last glare at Magnus.
Ginny snatched up her borrowed broomstick (she hadn't saved up enough yet for her own. Buying loads of sweets for Riddle hadn't helped) and marched onto the field, behind Flax and Malfoy. The winter air hit her like a sledgehammer, and she shivered. She was glad that she'd wore her twenty-first century jeans under her Quidditch robes.
The cheering and applause exploded as they rose into in the air, in a semi-circle formation, opposite the Ravenclaws (Magnus flew to his hoops).
Jack flew forwards and clasped the hand of the Ravenclaw Captain. Then he returned to his place and waited.
A pause…
TOOT!
The whistle blew harshly, and Ginny dived forwards for the Quaffle, which had just been hurled into the air. She swooped upwards, swerving past the Ravenclaws and took their clumsy attempt at diving for the Quaffle as an advantage moment to power towards the Ravenclaw hoops.
"And Perergine is firing away to try and score, followed swiftly by Flax, she passes to Flax, Flax to Malfoy, Peregrine again, Flax – oooh, he's dropped it – caught by Malfoy, tossed to Peregrine – score!"
Raucous shouts of cheering and triumph echoed through the stadium from the green-clad section of the stands.
Grinning at the goal she had made, she fired a smug look at the Ravenclaw keeper – namely, Scott - and then shot after the Quaffle again.
"Reeve passes to Lynn, Lynn to Odgello to Yates – fabulous interception from Malfoy, passes to Flax, back to Malfoy, Flax, Peregrine – long pass to Malfoy – score!"
Reeve glared at Malfoy, Ginny, and Rupert Flax. Ginny tossed him a winning smile. He hurled the Quaffle down the pitch.
Up the pitch, down the pitch. Slytherin's score rose steadily. Ravenclaw started to catch up.
Seventy-fifty.
Come on, Ginny thought desperately, glancing sideways at Vegrandis, the Slytherin seeker. He was floating around the left side of the pitch. Hurry up and find the snitch!
Seventy-sixty.
Eighty-sixty.
Ninety-sixty.
Then, as Ginny hurtled down the field, Quaffle tucked in the crook of her elbow, she saw a familiar blur of gold, near the Ravenclaw goal-hoops.
But where was Vegrandis?
She looked around, still flying forwards at high-speed, and saw him, several metres below her. On a flash of inspiration, she dropped the Quaffle.
"Damn," she said loudly.
"And Peregrine's dropped the Quaffle, she's diving after it-"
Ginny swooped down, faster, faster, and just as she caught the Quaffle and swooped up, she hissed to Vegrandis, "Ravenclaw goalposts." Then she was away, passing back and forth with the other Slytherin chasers. As Flax scored another goal, she glanced backwards, and saw Vegrandis surreptitiously trying to sneak closer to the hoops.
"The snitch!" she cried, pointing in the opposite direction. The gaze of the Ravenclaw seeker snapped to where her finger was directed.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the willowy, ginger-blonde haired fifth-year seeker was tearing towards Scott, an aggressive, determined look in his eye.
"HAS VEGRANDIS SEEN THE SNITCH?" roared the commentator. "Ooh, clever diversion from Peregrine, Vegrandis is racing to the Ravenclaw goalposts, Cavalier is at his heels – good Merlin, that's fast flying – they're going faster – they're going to hit the posts – THEY'RE GOING TO CRASH INTO THE HOOPS!-"
And a split-second later, in what even Ginny had to admit was a truly spectacular save, Vegrandis dragged the nose of his broom upwards, shot towards the sky like a missile, and snatched the Snitch out of the air, a few feet above an oblivious, and bewildered, Scott.
Cavalier, the Ravenclaw seeker, however, smashed into the left goal-hoop at full speed.
"OH, and that looked painful! But Slytherin has got the Snitch, Slytherin win! Two hundred and fifty to sixty! Slytherin… WIN!"
Ginny let out a very un-lady-like roar of happiness, and did an odd sort of twirl on her broomstick. "WOOOOO!" she yelled, speeding towards the group hug (well. Slytherins aren't very cuddly people. It was more of a group slamming-sweaty-bodies-together-and-grunting kind of thing) and wedging herself in between Vegrandis and JACK Swithin.
"We did it!" she cheered.
"Yeah," agreed Jack. "I saw you telling Vegrandis where the Snitch was. And I saw your diversionary tactic - good work."
"Aw, thanks!" said Ginny cheerfully as they untangled their arms and robes and broomstick handles from each other and lowered themselves down onto the ground of the pitch.
"Thanks," said Vegrandis, with a smile. The fifth-year had always seemed quite shy, but nice. "I didn't notice the Snitch," he admitted as they walked straight through the changing rooms and out the other sides – it was the holidays, and there weren't any classes, so why bother changing?
Ginny grinned. "Anytime. That was a good game. And by Merlin that was a good pull-up. If I tried that, you would all be scraped me off the sides of the posts," she said flatly.
Vegrandis laughed. "What, you mean like Cavalier?" he joked.
"Yeah!" she turned back to look at the other seeker, draped inelegantly through the hoop, looking broken and battered, while his team tried to get him down. She laughed, too.
The Slytherin seeker's blue eyes flickered over her face. "Say," he started to say, "are you going with anyone to the-"
However, Ginny had tuned out completely. She'd just seen someone leaning against the door to the Entrance Hall. Someone sporting a white cast on their left forearm. Someone tall, pale and dark.
"Riddle!" she squealed, sprinting up the stone path towards him, grubby second-hand Quidditch robes billowing out behind her.
He stood up straight, the smallest of smirks twisting the corner of his thin mouth. He opened his mouth to say something, evidently expecting her to stop.
She didn't.
He only had time to frown and say, "Peregrine, slow-" before she plowed into him at about a hundred miles an hour, flung her arms around his stomach and hugged him tightly.
Riddle actually stepped backwards; something that would, in normal people, have translated into stumbling and falling over. "Okay, Peregrine," he said bemusedly. "It's nice to see you, too, but I don't quite feel the urge to spontaneously attempt to rugby-tackle you to the floor."
Realising what she was doing, Ginny flushed bright red and let go of him as though he was on fire. As though her face wasn't ready to combust, she said cheekily, "I didn't knock you to the floor, did I? Anyway," she pouted. "It wasn't a rugby-tackle. It was a glomp."
"A what?" echoed Riddle incredulously.
Damn. Time period. Mentally slapping herself, she said, "Never mind."
"I'm not even going to inquire as to what a… glomp is," said Riddle, shaking his head slightly.
"Never mind," Ginny pressed onto him. "It doesn't matter. It's just like a hug."
"Do you call that a hug?" Riddle raised an eyebrow. "I call that a potentially lethal assault on my person."
"Pah." Ginny flapped a hand dismissively at him. "It would have been lethal had you been shorter. However, you're colossally tall instead, so you didn't have to worry."
Riddle opened his mouth to say something, and then Ginny realised that his mouth wasn't flashing or at all shiny. "Your retainer!" she interrupted him. "It's – where'd it go?"
"After I left St. Mungoes', I went… home. While I was there, I was ordered to the dentist. I don't have to wear it any more," said Riddle with a slight shrug, though in his eyes he looked embarrassed and rather pleased.
Ginny was going to give him a congratulations in reply, but then Vegrandis stormed crossly through the doors, shoving past them.
"Hey!" Ginny called after the seeker, remembering that he had said something to her. "What was that you were saying to me a second ago? Sorry, I just kind of ditched you. What did you say?"
"Doesn't matter," said Vegrandis angrily.
"Palmer!" Ginny called after him despairingly.
"Who the hell said you could call me by my first name?" Vegrandis snarled, whirling about to face her.
Okay, maybe not so shy and nice as I thought!
"Sorry for caring," snapped Ginny.
"If you must know, I was asking you to the Ball!" Vegrandis growled. "But I take it back – you're obviously going with lover-boy here."
"Hey!" Ginny said furiously. "I'm sorry that I cut you off, and no, I am not, for a matter of fact, going with lover-boy here!"
"I wouldn't go with you anyway, you stupid Mudblood filth!" Vegrandis spat.
Eyes narrowing, Ginny prepared to lunge forwards at him. She wasn't sure what she planned to do. Claw at his eyes, probably. However, instead she crashed into Riddle's back, as had quickly stepped between them. Irritated at him spoiling her fun, she peered around his side.
"That, I believe, will be a week's detention with Slughorn for offensive and discriminating language, Vegrandis," said Riddle coldly.
Vegrandis glared, and muttered darkly, "Biased arsehole."
"Two weeks," said Riddle, his jaw set and his tone icy. "Did you think I didn't hear that?"
"I don't care," Vegrandis sneered, displaying true Slytherin spirit. "You can have her. As the saying goes, blood should stick together. Or in this case-"
"Okay, let me deal with this," said Ginny, storming out from behind Riddle. Before a single syllable could be said in protest, she had whirled her wand out and pointed it between the Slytherin seeker's eyes.
Vegrandis made a small whimpering noise before gathering his courage and hissing one last, "Mudblood!"
Ginny mock-gasped. "Oh no!" she 'cried'. "I'm a Mudblood! My blood… is mud!" she let out a bark of derisive, humourless laughter. "Does it look like I give a damn?" she considered stabbing him in the eye with her wand, just as a warning. She decided not to. "See, the thing is, Vegrandis, that I don't care. That's the wonderful thing about me. You can call me Mudblood and filthy and worthless until the cows come home – and I'm not going to care. I'm not going to run away and cry. Admittedly, I'll probably jinx your head off, stemming from the position of mercy I have you in now, but I don't care!"
"I'll… I'll get you for this," growled Vegrandis.
"Will you?" said Ginny fiercely. "Vermus nez!"
Green light exploded from the tip of her wand, and massive slimy winged creatures crawled from Vegrandis and started to attack his face.
"Making friends, all the way – just making friends," said a cynical voice from behind her.
"Shut it, you," said Ginny, rolling her hazel eyes. "I just defended you. Though I have to confess I was impressed by your heroic attempt at protecting me."
The smallest smudge of pink was discernible on Riddle's cheeks. He was looking down at her with something strange and unreadable in his eyes. Like a kind of respect, mixed with sadness and something else that made Ginny's stomach hurt.
xxx
A/N: Sad. But nice and fluffy. Please review. Thanks to my beta SilvanXan.
kyraThePoop: We all love Ginny and Tom. And Tom. Especially Tom. –giggle- Svengali – soon. Tom better – you just saw it. Thanks!
Intricacy: Thank you! Aw, I'll pay attention to you on your birthday. –huggle- HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hey, you don't need friends or a life. All you need is a chapter of fluffy fanfiction and lots of chocolate.
Hydra27: Ewww. Just hearing about it makes me shiver. White Noise is brilliant. I hadn't planned to make him tease her about the marriage thing, but I think I'll put that in. Thanks for the idea and the review. DAMN CAT! Leave the reviewers alone!
Storm-brain: hem hem. Say… eighty chapters? –cringe- Sorry. It's very long. You can give up on it now if you want. I'll just publish a oneshot about the house-elves. But nothing too long. Happy?
Annabel-lurvs-purple: Thanks!
Pixar: Hahaha! Can I use that phrase in here at some point? 'I think I might vomit rainbows and perhaps a few bunnies'. HAHAHHAH! So funny. Anywho. Thanks!
AppleC0re: Thanks! And I can't tell you the answer to that. Haha.
SerenityKaitlyn: Really? Cool. I'm the same age as you. –highfive- WOO! Yes, thanatophobia is a fear death, and I'll get the Dark Lord in contact with you very soon. –winkwink-
LovesYouVewyMuch!: Haha. I like your pen-name. Thanks!
BDSanta2001: LMAO, your review made me laugh. Lol, I wish. –sigh-
Darkangel24700: Thanks!
Chimis: Ah, so cute.
Kriz: Yeah, basically, Ginny transformed herself into Fleur. Except shorter and with a different name. Thanks so much!
Exhexohex: Yay! I spelt your pen-name right! I was wondering if I should do something like that, but I decided it was too much too soon. And, um, svengali is "an act of possessing and manipulating someone to perform evil deeds, usually finished by death of the victim", so quote.
XxRandomHeartxX: I'll personally slap your computer upside the head if it keeps trying to get you away from my fic! HWACHA! –kungfu move- Thanks! Yeah, lol, it's like every review: "they're so adorable. They're SO adorable. They're really cute. They're so adorable." ARGH!
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