A/N: Thanks to reviewers. There's mostly SR-GAP action in this, and a little TMR-GAP. And, by the way, a phaeton is a horse-drawn carriage.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Though I wish it was.
The Letter P
Chapter Eighteen: P is for Phantom Phaeton
"Um. Thanks," she stammered, her stuttering echoing through the stone corridor. "For taking me to the Hospital Wing. And… and it might have been my fault that I fell. Maybe."
Now did Riddle turn his face mostly to her, though his body stayed facing forwards (he couldn't turn his whole face, as he would either have to turn around or dislocate his spine). He said nothing, but inclined his head in a short nod, acknowledging what she had said, and then continued up the stairs. Kill him! MURDER! NOW! Point your wand at him AND KILL!
Ginny gripped her wand tightly, flourished it from behind her back, and pointed it at the back of Riddle's head… and lowered it. She could kill him later. Later.
xxx
"You ready to go, cat?" asked Scott.
Smiling, Ginny nodded. She looped her arm through Scott's elbow and walked with him down to the carriage. The second Hogsmeade outing of the year, and she was going to have so much fun.
She regretted not being able to go with Alden and Grace – they were fun to be around, and she was getting very close to them. However, Ginny was determined to:
A) Make Scott fall for her, so that she could flaunt it in the face of whichever girl he had been seeing while she was passed out, or
B) Dump him publicly.
The latter choice seemed rather mean, and the first rather bitchy, so Ginny decided that she was just going to have as much fun as possible with her boyfriend.
Scott climbed into the carriage first, and sat down, waiting for Ginny to get in.
"Ladies first, m'dear," said Seamus in his lilting Irish accent, holding the Hogsmeade carriage door open, and bowing low. Ginny giggled, and curtsying ridiculously, hopped in-
Don't think about that!
Ginny slid in across from him. She didn't feel like being cuddled today.
"You look really nice," commented Scott, winking. "D'you do something to your hair?"
I never do anything to my hair.
Every day, Ginny looked the same – hair slightly wild, dark eyeliner, clothes that sold nothing – but Scott always said that she looked especially beautiful and special.
"Why?" Ginny demanded, her eyes flashing across to Scott's. "What's so nice about me today? I want to see you if you notice," she lied, "what I did." She fluttered her eyelashes and twisted her lips into a flirtatious smile, letting her red fringe fall into her eyes.
Looking flustered, Scott bit his lip. "Um." He scanned her face, and her clothes. "New clothes?"
"No."
"You… did something to your hair?"
"No."
"Make-up?"
"No."
"You seem to have less freckles?"
"Is that an insult?!"
"No, no! Of course not, I love your freckles, there's so many of them, and they're so… freckley," said Scott nervously. He coughed a bit, then patted the seat beside him. "Come here, cat."
"Why should I?" Ginny said. "I'm fine here."
Rolling his eyes, Scott stood. "You dolls are so hard to please," he joked, and then sat beside Ginny, sliding his arm around her waist.
I can't believe I like you.
"Mwah," said Scott, tilting his face down to Ginny's.
"What the hell is 'mwah'?" asked Ginny incredulously as he smirked into the corner of her mouth.
"Shut up and kiss me, cat," said Scott, pressing his lips to hers.
I. Am. Not. A. Cat.
Scott's hands were dangerously travelling south when Ginny spied the town of Hogsmeade through the windows, creeping towards them. Smirking into Scott's mouth, she was conjuring up a plan, judging by what she knew from experience.
One…
Two…
Three…
The carriage lurched to a stop, and using the momentum, Ginny tucked her legs up, and kicked Scott hard in the stomach, sending him flying across the carriage and hitting the chairs on the other side.
"Ohmigod, Scott!" she 'cried'. "Are you okay?"
The Ravenclaw grunted, "M'fine," before staggering out of the carriage.
Score one-up to Ginny Peregrine, I believe?
"Where to, Scott?" Ginny asked. Now that she'd had more than her revenge for not seeing her in the Hospital Wing, she was happy to enjoy the day with him.
"Hm. Shall we go to Honeydukes?" Scott suggested hoarsely, still massaging his abdomen.
"Sure!" Ginny chirped. She laced her fingers through his and tugged him there, like a six-year-old eager for the pony-ride.
Bells ringing as they stepped through the door, Ginny immediately made for the chocolate counter. Dippet had provided her with some money for her stay, and she was delighted to think of wasting most of it on glorious, glorious chocolate.
"I'll have that one and that one and a few of these and maybe I'll try on of these and what's today's special?" babbled Ginny happily to the lady behind the counter.
I can barely understand myself, Ginny thought shamefacedly, but the woman seemed to comprehend her chatter, and handed her a bag filled with goodies.
"Scott, you finished?" called Ginny through the crowd. "I'll meet you outside."
She headed out of the stuffy sweet-shop, pulled a piece of sour sweet from her bag, and chewed on it happily. She was delving into the bag for her second piece when Scott emerged.
"Mm, what did you get?" asked Ginny, peering into her boyfriend's sweet-bag. "Oh, I love those! I couldn't find any though…" she looked devilishly up into Scott's eyes, and then crowed, "Mine", dived into the bag and stuck a piece of pink taffy in her mouth.
Grinning in return, Scott bit the half of it protruding from between her lips and quickly kissed her around the taffy before pulling his half away and eating it.
"Oi!" said Ginny, swallowing her half. "That was mine! And I'll get it back, thank you," she grinned and captured his mouth with hers, sliding one arm around his waist.
"Should – we-" mumbled Scott between bouts of fierce tongue-wrestling, "find – a – bench?"
"Mm-hmm."
xxx
Ginny giggled as they climbed out of the Threstral-drawn carriage, her hair mussed and her lips swollen. She glanced over to the front of their phantom-drawn phaeton, and considered saying hello to the Threstral who had attended to their transport-needs - but if Scott couldn't see them, then he'd probably think that she was mad, and if she explained it to him… well. An invisible omen of death didn't do much for the romance.
"I had a fabulous time, thank you so much," sighed Ginny as they headed up to the castle together. She linked her fingers with Scott's and swung their hands back and forth in time with their steps. "Why does it have to end now?"
"Because its curfew in ten minutes and I'll get a huge telling-off from Dumbledore, saying that I'm a Prefect and I 'should know better'," pointed out Scott, raising his eyebrows. "And so should you, Ms. Peregrine."
"Nyah," said Ginny childishly, jutting out her lower lip in a cute pout.
"Don't do that," whispered Scott. "It's irresistible."
Yes, Scott, and I have you in the palm of my hand…
"Come on…" said Ginny, fluttering cinnamon eyelashes with a flirtatious smile.
"I am going to ignore how damn cute you look when you do that, and listen to reason," said Scott firmly. "Let's go, cat. Up to the castle."
"Fine."
The two sixth-years headed up the winding path from the carriage pick-up, when someone came from a meeting path from the greenhouses and they met, rather awkwardly.
"Oh. Hi," said Ginny, abruptly letting go of Scott's hand. "Riddle."
Riddle's eyes were flaring dark fire. "Peregrine," he said, inclining his head to her in greeting. Since the apology-thanks moment at the dungeon stairs, his tone towards her had warmed slightly from sub-zero to freezing. His gaze then flashed to Scott – who his greeting to wasn't quite as warm. "Reeve," he said stiffly, his voice cold.
"Sir," said Scott sardonically, and he smoothly wrapped an arm around Ginny's waist, pulling her close to him, so that she was fitting neatly against his chest. Marking her as his.
Ginny flushed, and suddenly found that she couldn't meet Riddle's eyes, which were trained upon her. What was worse than her obvious avoiding of Riddle's gaze was when Scott spontaneously took hold of the side of her face, turned her to him, and pressed his lips firmly against hers.
For a moment, the seventeen-year-old redhead was too dazed and confused to pull away. Then she did; ripped her head away, and - unsure why she did – immediately looked over at Riddle.
The tall, dark Head Boy was staring at them. Again, the unreadable eyes.
How strange.
Those eyes weren't unreadable because they held no emotion…
… but unreadable because they held so many.
His gaze flashed up to directly above her head; without a word, without anything, Riddle turned and left.
Ginny watched until his back had disappeared from sight, before turning in Scott's arms, and hissing, "What the hell was that about?"
Her boyfriend wore a smug smirk on his lips that Ginny didn't like at all, which he instantly dropped when he saw that she had noticed it. "Nothing, cat," he said, with a smile that was supposed to be reassuring but instead angered her. "To the Great Hall?"
"Whatever," Ginny muttered, pulling away from his hold on her waist and walking up the path.
"Cat, what's wro-"
"Stop calling me Cat!" shouted Ginny, spinning back to face him, crimson tresses and lime-green dress flaring out. "I am not an animal, Scott, I am a person. I suggest you start treating me like it!"
"Cat – I mean – Ginny – doll, wait – Ginny!" Scott yelled after her, chasing her up the path.
By the time he had caught up to her, she was in the Entrance Hall, and making her way to the Great Hall doors.
"Ginny," he panted, grabbing hold of her elbow.
"Scott!" said a girl coming down the Entrance stairs - Gryffindor princess, Isabella Mackenzie; eyes such a shade of blue that they almost seemed lavender, thick curly dark hair cut in the latest fashion, the most flattering and expensive clothes; Charms extraordinaire. "So good to see you! Thanks, by the way, for Wednesday night… you were brilliant."
A pause filled the air.
I passed out on Wednesday.
The Slytherin redhead turned slowly to Scott. "So, Scott. What were you brilliant at?" she asked sarcastically, her tongue sharp with anger and her eyes narrowed.
"Oh, hey Ginevra… what was it? Peh-something. Mudblood. The screamin' freak. Whatever," she dismissed Ginny with a wave of one manicured hand, and then sashayed up to Scott. "You know…" she said in a low, sultry voice, "you could do so much better than her."
No. Freakin'. Way.
"Excuse me?" Ginny demanded, swirling around to Mackenzie, eyes turning to hazel steel. She could feel Scott growing uncomfortable beside her, but she ignored that – for now.
"Well, of course he can do better than you," sneered Mackenzie, eyeing her in disgust. "A hot-tempered, redhead, Mudblood with spastic tendencies?" she laughed. "How could you do worse?"
Spastic.
Again, that word.
How dare she!
And then, realization.
Oh my God. Scott told her. He told her. He told
"Scott," said Ginny, turning back to him. Her words were strangled, and she fighting desperately to keep her voice even and from wobbling. "You told."
"Cat, it's not that big a deal," said Scott, trying to make his voice low and soothing.
Not. That. Big. A. Deal?! Who the hell does he think he's dealing with?
Ginny was struck by an overwhelming urge to curse him into oblivion, to rip his head off, to throw herself at him, to tear his hair out, to claw at his eyes, to stab him, to cut him to pieces, to scream –
However, as much as she wanted to, she couldn't. Because if she even gave him the tiniest scratch, she'd lose control and kill him.
And the only person I am supposed to be killing is Riddle.
Refusing all of her desires, Ginny stuck up a rude hand-gesture at both of them, the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw, and walked away to the Great Hall.
No-one here is trustworthy! Ravenclaw arseholes, Hufflepuff bitches, and Gryffindor tramps! Only Slytherin is safe for me to befriend people.
The notion made Ginny laugh. Back a few months (or forwards a few months, and forty-eight years), her thoughts would have been precisely the opposite. And so, laughing hysterically, and still with the urge to kill, the redhead entered the Great Hall.
xxx
A/N: -GASP- Evil evil Scott! Sorry about the really bad snogging scenes, I'm rubbish at writing those. Meh. Thanks to my beta SilvanXan. Review. Review. Do it or I'll stalk you and eat you.
WARNING: PLOT TWISTS!! –manic giggle- THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE THEY ARRIVE! ARRRRGH!
gmmstoleurlife: Thank you!!
creative-writing-girl13: Thanks!
megs: Thank you! Um, I hope that this chapter answered your question. Lol. No, Grace is only joking. She's just trying to annoy Ginny, and she thinks that Scott's cute. You know. 'Cause he is. –wink-
storm-brain: Yeah, Ginny's basically slowly losing it. Lol. Thanks!
Intricacy: Ooh, thanks! Yeah, it's supposed to be a little OOC, because it's so un-Ginny to kill someone. Because she can't. She's too much of a good girlie. Sort of.
Saene: Oh, I just hated the sequel because Melody pissed me off. Sorry to swear in a review reply. She just really annoyed me. Thanks! Someone gets it! I mean, DUUURRRR. Lol. Anywho, thank you!!
midnightblue17: Thank you! I have continued. See? Lol. And about the undying love thing… probably never. Hahahaha. Hahahaha. Hah. YAY! COOKIES! –dives on them-
vlucia: Thanks! Well, I thought about that as well, but, like you said, the War kind of made her more reckless. Plus, she doesn't really want to kill him (for reasons –wink- unknown to us yet). She was just kind of using her pissed-off-ness to… I dunno. Lol. And, as to the Horcrux question, I don't think so. I haven't got that deep into the plot yet. I'm working on it. Thank you!