After the jolly season of Christmas, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's snow had melted, and spring had certainly sprung. Birds were chirping in the grounds, the sun shone like a ball of gold in the sky, white puffy clouds blew across the periwinkle sky, and flowers were in bloom. People were happier, even moreso than in Christmastime, probably because the weather was nicer and more cheerful. Classes came back, much to Hermione's delight and everyone else's dismay. But they only had a semester left until term holidays, which was looking like a haven for the people who didn't particularly like their subjects.
"What are you doing, Hermione?" Ron asked, with an arm around her. Since his 'startling' revelation, he had been more open with his affections with Hermione, and she was happy to comply. "Homework, this early in the semester?"
"I have to revise. I've forgotten what the twelvth use of dragon's blood is, but turns out since fourth year they changed it to seventeen uses because the wizarding scientists used higher quality, more modern and updated instru--"
"Okay, that's enough now." Ron said, with a sheepish grin. "I'm getting confused!"
Harry sat beside Ron, looking a bit out of it. He looked to his blank piece of parchment and spoke.
"How evil do you think Snape is?" He asked, while Hermione was whispering something in Ron's ear. "A whole seven inch essay, on the first lesson of semester. What a bastard."
"Language," Amelia pointed out, making a lovey face at Harry.
"Yeah, yeah..." He looked around at Ron and Hermione. "Do you even think they're aware of anyone but each other?"
"I hate to say it, but, no." Ginny said. "RON?"
Ron turned around. He had lip gloss smudged over the side of his face. "Eh?"
"Nothing," Ginny smiled. "Just seeing if you were alive."
"Okay." He turned back around.
Ginny wished Draco was in Gryffindor so he could join in on their bashing session of Ron and Hermione's little 'romantic moment'. The two were ignoring the comments, so it made the situation even funnier. She was feeling better about the whole thing. Not just the growing relationship between Amelia and Harry, but Ron and Hermione's too. Plus the missing friend that had been deceased for over a semester now. No more fainting spells for Ginny, she was relaxed as a cat on a rug under a fire. No more weird dreams either. Divination lessons always had a surprise in store though.
Fred and George sat down at the table under the main window of the Gryffindor Common Room and joined in the bashing session also.
"Dead to the rest of the world, he is." Fred said, but then he saw Angelina, and walked off with a dopey expression on his face.
"Heh heh.." George looked at his retreating figure. "Hogwarts, the school where it's Valentines Day, all day, every day!" Most everyone laughed. "Ah well, I saw it coming. Couples are beginning to form, I suppose." He gave a loud, fake sigh.
"I want Draco to be here." Ginny said, in a miserable tone which she hadn't meant to enforce.
The rest looked at her oddly.
"Really," Amelia said, looking thoughtfully at Ginny. Harry looked to the ground. "Well, he's in Slytherin, ain't he?"
"Yeah. 'Spose so."
She didn't mope for the rest of the day, but instead, Ginny and Amelia spied on Ron and Hermione. Yes, it was childish, but it was something to do, and that was what they were in need of. They would, however, leave their spying alone if it became too personal for their liking.
"Wanna elope?" Ron asked Hermione, and Amelia giggled. Eloping, running away to get married, would be a hysterical option in her opinion.
"Not now." Hermione said, with a hint of annoyance in her voice. They had been spending quite a while together since Ron came out of the closet, and by what Ginny and Amelia saw, she was suffocating. Ron was very sweet, but not twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. "I've got homework to do. Maybe later."
Ron grinned at her, thinking this meant a definite yes, but he had to wait a while. "Fair enough."
This was the time Ginny and Amelia broke off the eavesdropping and spying. They had had enough for now. They went to the comfy chairs in front of the fireplace, which had burning coals in it, but emitted little heat. Harry was sitting alone by the fire, his body and chair silhouetted by the fire. He was looking over at Ron and Hermione, with a strange expression on his face.
"Hello Potter." Ginny said.
"Hey," Amelia echoed.
"Hi." Harry said, looking up at the two. "Any questions?"
"No. Just wondering why you're sitting here all lonesome." Amelia said.
"Ron and Herm are overdoing it." Harry said. "To be honest, I liked it better when lies were being told. Ugh, I won't be able to have a normal conversation with them at all now." He was frowning.
"You'll get lines on your forehead if you do that," Amelia pointed out. "And I know how to talk..."
"Okay then." Harry said.
Amelia looked up at Ginny with a face practicaly saying 'Dear-GOD-this-is-my-only-chance-Ginny-go-away!'
"Well, I'm going up to the dorm now so if you need anything I'll.. be up there." Ginny trotted up the spiral stairs. She could hear the voices of the people in the Common Room fading away until she was at the top of the tower, where her dorm room was.
She went to her bed, sat on it, and closed the curtains around her. As she was closing them, an icy draught blew, and she shivered. She turned around, and what she saw made her mouth open in a way made to scream. But no noise came out, she was breathless. There, sitting on the left pillow of her double bed, was a ghost. A teenage-looking girl with a mischievous-looking face, messy brown hair tied up in a ponytail and a gangly figure was looking at Ginny nicely. Ginny's mouth opened and closed like a fish.
"Hello!" The ghost said, cheerfully and smiling. "I came to deliver a message. To you. I assume you're Ginny Anastasia Isobelle Weasley?" Ginny nodded. "Well, I've got a message from Anastasia Weasley, who lives in the Skyward Temple with me."
Ginny couldn't believe it, either this was some kind of practical joke, or she was going mad. Anastasia Weasley was her grandmother who she cared for a lot, but died of natural causes when she was 79.
"She said that I should deliver it because I know my way around more than she, y'see, she went to Beauxbatons and not Hoggy-warty Hogwarts. She says that you should cheer up. She's been watchin' you, and your thoughts too. She says Ron and Hermione mean well, but they are suffering from a deadly bout of school relationshipping. She says it happens to the best of people. And also that someone's plotting against Dumbledore in the name of Lord Voldemort. You know who she is, and so does Anastasia, but it's never occured to you that the person could be deadly." Her face became frightful. "It's not the apocalypse, is it? Geez, I'm happy I died when I did." She lifted up her chin, where Ginny saw a painful scar slashed across her lower neck. She winced. "Thanks, Lord Crap-e-mort. Bloody Death Eaters. Anyway, it's better than the apocalypse, I hear that's really bad. A book called the Bibble or something says it'll really hurt. Or whatever."
Ginny gave a short laugh. She had a copy of this 'Bibble' in her room on her shelf. Her favourite chapter was Genesis, which had the creation of the world in it.
"That Bibble is a whole buncha' guesswork, in my opinion. Hey-- I'm ranting! Kewl! But anyway, that's about it. Anastasia sends her love, and she'll be in contact with you in your Divination lessons, as she has been all year." Ginny gasped at this. and the girl's ring on her finger began to glow faintly. Both of them noticed it. "Well, the swotty winged people up in the Temple are calling me.. I gotta go. I'm only allowed here a little while. Remember- Divination!" And with a poof of white smoke and a few white feathers fluttering onto Ginny's pillows, the girl ghost was gone.
All of a sudden, most everything seemed to fit together like a puzzle. Ginny only needed one more pieces- WHO and WHY?
*****
Divination was anticipated greatly by Ginny as usual, but possibly more than previous lessons. Ginny had lately had conversations with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown who were happy to discuss Divination and were also in Gryffindor, but she hadn't noticed them before. They were nice, and seemed to get along well, but Parvati seemed to be putting Lavender down when they were chatting amongst each other, which slightly annoyed Ginny.
She sat with Lavender and Parvati this time, knowing that they would give her better advice on what she was hopefully going to see better than Harry and Ron, who were biased because they didn't particularly like the subject.
Professor Trelawney was to teach them about seeing souls this lesson. Ginny had never heard of the art before, and it sounded quite complicated by the way Professor Trelawney was putting it.
"To see a soul, you have to focus on the soul you want to see, nothing else, my children. Nothing else. Otherwise, you might contact the wrong astral plane, and see the wrong being. I believe some people in the room will have trouble with this, some people's Divination sub-conscious is shortened by the ways of the mind." Her eyes brushed upon Harry and Ron, and they both grinned at her evilly. Ginny snorted. "Open your books to page 131, and we'll see who we can come in contact with spiritually..."
Ginny flipped through the pages of her Divination book, seeing different pages in turn. There was one that said 'trembling'. She had a terrible sense of deja vu. It reminded her of the document she had read in the hospital, about Maya Greenword, and her condition. 'Ah, it won't hurt to have a quick look,' she thought, and went back to the page.
...causes the affected person to tremble violently with sudden surges of power every now and then. One must learn to harness the power of this technique, or they may well be charged for manslaughter or murder.
Ginny was looking at grotesque pictures of this particular Divination mindspell, it was named 'Indefinito' by the prophet Merlin, when Parvati pointed out that she was on the wrong page. Ginny flipped to the right one, as to not look suspicious.
And now that she was actually reading the task at hand, it looked even more difficult. There were vague pictures on either side of the paragraph, showing people putting their hands up to their forehead, and some kind of glowing.. Ginny took this for elaboration to make the spell look neat, and she did not mirror what the pictures did. The ingredients for the incantation that she needed were candles, and a small, crystal bowl of water. She got the items and sat down. She and Lavender worked in a pair, much to Parvati's dismay, as she now had to work with Professor Trelawney.
"Hokay," Lavender said in her cheeky yet graceful voice. "You go first, I don't like the sound of this.."
"Alright." Ginny was happy to do it, because she was reassured by the memory of that ghost girl in the dorm. "You get it all ready, and I'll try and contact someone's soul."
While Lavender aligned the ingredients as they were shown in the book, Ginny wondered whose soul to contact. Her grandma's, that ghost girl's, Harry's, Ron's, Hermione's, Draco's? She decided to come in contact with the ghost girl's soul, she thought that contacting her grandmother would make her cry, and Ginny really didn't need that to happen in her favourite class.
"Now, Gin, you have to put your hands to your forehead." Ginny swore inwardly. Meanwhile, Lavender was frowning at the book. "Think clearly of the person you want to contact, and block out everything else. Then you should repeat 'Incantatio, Hailious, Grandetionus'." She stuttered a bit on 'Grandetionus', it was quite a big word. "Yeah. Repeat the words in your mind until you hear a kind of bell, it says, and then say helllo or something, I dunno... okay, try it!"
'Okay, okay...' Ginny said in her mind. 'Clearing mind, clearing mind.. ooh, pretty crystal.. wait-- clearing mind, clearing mind...' Ginny then spoke the words over and over inside her head, thinking of the ghost girl's face. She then heard a shrill ringing of some sort, and took this for the bell sound that was supposed to happen. She then said a tentative 'Hello?' in her brain.
"Ginny Anastasia Isobelle Weasley?" The familiar voice replied. "Hello, daahling! How ARE you?"
"You can just call me Gin, uh, I don't know your name."
"Okay, Gin! Me name's Calista, also known as the Goddess of the Grapevine." Her contagious laugh made Ginny smile. "But anyway, why are you calling me? I was just eating and then you said hello and I nearly fell off my chair.."
"Well, we're doing this soul thingy in Divination and I wanted to call someone and I almost immediately thought of you so.. yeah. How's my grandmother?" She felt her voice choke, even though she wasn't really speaking.
"Oh, she's great. We were sharing the bowl of grapes, she's next to me now.. I'll say hi for you.. .. she said hi back."
"Wow." Ginny's eyes stared to water, and her throat felt like it was bring strangled, she was trying so hard not to cry. "Well, it's my partner's turn to do this thing now, I'll be in touch soon. I'm just working out how to do this, and soon I might be pretty good at it!"
"Yeah, you inherited your Divination talent from Anastasia here, my friend." She chuckled. "Seen anything bad lately?"
"Nope.. listen, I've gotta go soon, my friend's nagging me..." At this point, Lavender was poking Ginny's arm. "And can't you just tell me the details of this bad thing that's happening?"
"Um, no. Sorry. Sworn to secrecy. Well, I'll see you later then!"
"Alright, bye!"
Ginny disconnected her internal plane to Calista, and left the rest to Lavender. She sat, silent in her chair, thinking about the evil doings that were supposedly going to strike at any minute. There was a shriek from behind her, and Lavender jumped, causing her concentration to snap, and a hard frown to appear on her face.
Professor Trelawney was pointing at Harry, white-faced. "The- the-..."
"The what?" Seamus Finnigan asked out loud, and a few people echoed 'yeah'.
"The Grim! It is back! It's still attached to your depressed mindspan, your tragic childhood, your.. your..."
At this point in time, Harry rolled his eyes, and the Professor stalked to her crystal-clad desk, and sat down. "I don't see why you aren't taking this so seriously-"
"With my utmost respect, Professor Trelawney," Harry said in a kind of angelic voice. "I've had over five Grim scares, and I'm not dead yet." A few people laughed. Professor Trelawney did not think it very funny.
"I'd like to see people laughing when innocent people are being killed, when.. when.." At this point, she gave a hideous sneeze. "Ahh.. I didn't see a cold in my fortune telling this morning.. class dismissed.." She walked to the window. "This must be the bronchitis I was talking about in the first lesson.."
Outside of the sweltering classroom, Harry and Ron gave each other a high-five.
"I didn't know you were so good at sneezing charms, Ron!" Harry said, with joy in his voice. Ginny, Parvati and Lavender all glared at him and stalked away.
"What's up with them?" Ron asked in the distance, motioning rude signs at their backs.
"I dunno." Harry said thoughtfully.
*****
For the next two days, there was no sign of the Grim, as usual, for Harry. Ginny was still slightly annoyed at Ron for cutting off their class, she was looking forward to who Lavender might talk to.
"Oh, I was going to talk to Binky, my dead bunny rabbit." Lavender said, with a tear in her eye.
"I talked to this friend of my grandmo..." She stopped in mid sentence. A loud BANG was heard from the grounds, and everyone rushed to the large windows of the common room.
Even for the bright, perfect day, there was a mauve-ish coloured pea-soup fog hanging around the lake, grounds, and Hagrid's hut's area. There also seemed to be a light at the heart of the fog. Ginny saw no logic in this; it couldn't be an intruder meddling, it was impossible to Apparate into the grounds, you can't dig into it, you can't really get into Hogwarts secretly any way possible. Except the tunnel from the one eyed witch statue to Honeydukes, but people would have stopped someone coming in... or maybe this was one of Peeves' tricks? That would be very possible indeed.
But as Ginny watched, from her spot behind Amelia and Parvati at the window, Lavender hanging onto the sleeve of her robes, she felt an uncanny sense that something weird was happening. Dumbledore might be surprising them, that counted as a possible also. But this seemed ... wrong.
People started to back away after a while, the fog wasn't doing anything, it was just hanging there, and slowly the noise level in the Gryffindor common room stepped back up to nomal. Ginny and Amelia still stood at the window, Lavender had disappeared somewhere with Seamus, and Parvati had gone to show chat up some seventh years. Amelia spoke.
"I had a dream about this." She said softly. "Do you think that's a coincidence?"
"Probably." Ginny said. "The teacher won't let us outside now. That's a shame. They'll think it's Dark activity or something."
"Yeah, and such a lovely day too." She laughed. "I know this isn't a laughable matter, but.."
"I get'cha." Ginny said.
Getting tired of the misty view out from the window, Ginny and Amelia trotted up to the comfy chairs by the fireplace and sat down. For a moment, they said nothing, they just sat, deeply involved in their thoughts. Suddenly, Ginny burst into laughter.
"What? What's so funny?" Amelia asked, with a tinge of humour in her voice.
"Sorry, sorry..." Ginny breathed deeply to slow the giggles. "I was just thinking, maybe Volde-ooops-You-Know-Who regenerated or something.. wouldn't that be just ironic, don't you think?"
"That's not funny..." Amelia said, slightly dissapointed. "Hmph." She sat up, and sighed.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know." Ginny replied.
...And the person who is threatening your kingdom's name is Maya Greenword... I will be your shield and the light of the Temple shall guide you along your way...
Ginny woke up, pleasantly, despite the horrible dream she'd had. Fog, death, evil, death again. And a soft voice. It all seemed so familiar.
"Amelia?" She whispered, into the light of the morning. A rustle behind the curtains of her bed said she was awake. "I've had another dream."
"Come in here." She said groggily. Ginny opened the curtains to her bed and sat at the foot of it. Amelia was rubbing her eyes, and groaning. "This is too early for me. Ick. Tell me now, or I'll fall asleep again.."
"Okay, what happened was, there was death and evil and fog and--"
"Wait, did you say fog?" Amelia asked, suddenly.
"Yes."
"D'you think that would relate to the fog that's happening now?"
"Elementary, my humble Watson! Anyway, then there was this voice and it said stuff about Maya Greenword and the Temple and .."
Since we last left off with Ginny, she had told Amelia everything of her sightings in Divination, to the daydreams and things. She seemed to be piecing the puzzle together already. Amelia was a stickler for mystery and thriller books, so it seemed viable that she could help with the current mystery.
"Is Maya evil?" She asked, bluntly.
"I dunno.. but it sounds like she is from what I've seen and heard. And read, too."
"Then, she is. Let's say... person 'X', Maya, is evil. It's kind of like algebra in mathematics. In that, you have to put the number as a letter because you don't know what the number is."
"I ... don't get it." Ginny said, smiling cheekily. "But I agree that Maya is evil. Even though we don't know much, and I'm trusting the people up at the Temple more often.."
"It's a good way to go." Said Amelia, smiling back. "Now, go away. I want to sleep some more. Weekends are very precious to me."
Ginny went back to her bed, and slept as well.
*****
Ginny sat in the dark Transfiguration classroom. Professor McGonagall's writing was messy on the blackboard, because she couldn't see what she was writing. Many fifth years were squinting to see what she was writing.
"O'neill, light the lamps." The Professor said, sternly and calmly. "Please."
Donald O'Neill lit the lamps, then sat down. He too was squinting at the blackboard before, and having glasses had done him no justice.
The now grey-ish coloured fog was covering the windows, and that was why no-one could see. Most people wished that it would just go away, but Ginny saw it as some kind of significance. Dumbledore couldn't magick it away, so this Maya person must be more powerful than we thought, Ginny told herself day after day. And while the fog was getting thicker, Dumbledore was getting sicker. He coughed alot every day, and was sneezing. He also spent more time sleeping than staying awake. Even so, the school was still being held up by the strong Professor McGonagall, who, in Amelia's opinion, was a model for feminism. Whatever that was. McGonagall helped Dumbledore, and she kept the school tidy and all loose ends cut off.
"How, may I ask, do you Transfigure oneself into an animal?" She asked the class. Ginny started listening again. She was daydreaming, as usual. That would figure why she never did very well in Transfiguration.
"By way of the Animagus charm, Professor!" Amelia said, chirpily. For her, Transfiguration was a cinch, and she enjoyed it that way.
A small smile played upon McGonagall's lips. "Yes. Five points to Gryffindor."
Amelia whispered "Yesss!!"
"Pardon, Miss Gainsborough?"
"Umm... nothing, Professor McGonagall." Amelia said, smiling sweetly. This put McGonagall off her fury strike, and she decided not to scold the girl.
"Animagi are people who turn into animals. I'm sure you know about them. There are only twelve registered animagi, myself included, but there are hundreds of illegal ones who want to turn into animals as not to look suspicious for a crime, or something similar."
Blah blah blah. It seemed to go on forever. Although they had learnt this kind of thing in third year, she talked and talked and talked.
Thank goodness the bell went a minute after Ginny had thought it would never end. They went to their next class, Potions. On the way there, she passed Draco, and he winked at her. She touched his hand back. When they had finally gotten to the Potions dungeon, the Hufflepuff students all glared at Amelia as she walked past. She turned around swiftly and pulled an ugly face at them, and they glared even harder. Ginny laughed at them. Hufflepuffs were so fickle. They believed what they wanted to believe, and then stuck by it, stubborn as a mule. The new belief was that Amelia was Snape's long lost daughter, which was close enough, she being his niece.
"For Christ's sake, she's not his goddamn daughter!" Jersey Willis said, cursing at the Hufflepuffs. He swore a lot, by way of habit, and it was just his luck that Snape was billowing down the empty corridor, and his words echoed in the murky silence.
"Thank-you, Willis. Fifteen points off Gryffindor." His sarcastic tone was menacing, and Jersey said no more.
They waddled inside after the despised teacher, and sat down in groups of twos and threes. Amethyst Carmody, who was having a catfight with Sarah Parkes and her other little groupies, sat down with Amelia and Ginny, looking as if she would rather be sitting in a cat litter tray. Amelia glared over at her.
"Betch," Amethyst whispered under her breath.
"Pardon?" Amelia asked, angelically.
"I said, betch." Amethyst glared again.
"Betch? What's a betch? And what are you? New Zealandish or something?"
"Shut up, white trash." Amethyst's pouty lips proclaimed (she was part Maori).
"Let's leave it at that..." Ginny said, looking at both of them warily. They had had many fickle fights, but they hadn't swiped at each other about appearances or accents before. "Shut up."
Amelia dramatically and affrontedly stuck her rude finger up at Amethyst. Ginny almost laughed, but Snape was gathering attention from the class, and she had some potions to revise.
Immediately after the lesson, Amethyst went and apologised to Sarah. Probably because she couldn't stand staying around Amelia, nor Ginny, any longer.
"Thank God I lived through that..." Amelia said, sighing. "I thought I was going to be scratched to death by her acryllic nails."
Now Ginny laughed. "Too true. But you did bring it on, you know. Don't do that again."
"Yeah, yeah.." Amelia muttered, knowing the same thing would happen the next morning.
As they walked into the Great Hall, their mouths opened in shock.
"What the HELL?!" George cursed loudly. A few people laughed, but some looked at him weirdly, including Professor McGonagall, who was sitting at the head of the hall with the rest of the teachers. Hagrid's laughter boomed across the hall in big waves.
The Hall was decorated with green and blue streamers, and balloons to match. There was music in the background, soft chamber music, the pipes' sounds flowing over the students, and as Ginny looked around, she noticed about two dozen nymphs playing organs in the corner. A big banner said, behind the teachers at the head table, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALBUS'.
"Ahh! I see!" Ginny exclaimed. "It's Professor Dumbledore's birthday!"
They all went to the Gryffindor table, which was littered with more streamers and party poppers and the like, and sat down. A huge red cake sat in the middle of the table, and as people looked around, they noticed green, blue and yellow cakes for the other houses. A purple cake was for the teachers.
When everyone was settled down, Dumbledore stood up and addressed the body of students. He coughed for a moment, but then began to speak.
"I've decided to convert the usual dinner to a birthday celebration!" He said, smiling warmly, his blue eyes dancing behind his moon glasses. "Cake after dinner! As you might have guessed," He motioned to the banner behind himself. "Today is my birthday! And, as the Indonesians say, saya umur rasiha tahun! Which means, my age is a secret. I'm also celebrating the defeat of Lord Voldemort," Many people, including Ginny, cringed. "Since New Year's Eve, this year. Or should I say last year. I have no idea. It's been a peaceful time, though. Please raise your goblets to peace, and to many more years of the same!"
Ginny raised her goblet, along with the others. She looked to the Slytherin table, where only a few people were raising their glasses, Draco included. She smiled at this. He didn't like the Dark Arts anymore. She knew it was just some kind of fad.
They put their goblets back on the table, and commenced eating. Although, it was very hard to eat with a delicious looking cake right in front of your eyes.
Twice, Ginny looked past Amelia and Harry shooting hearts at each other to see Draco, and twice he was looking back at her. Twice he looked down at his food, his cheeks turning crimson, and twice Ginny looked down at her food also, feeling like a lobster with sunburn.
Overall, it was a happy celebration, and the cake was the best tasting cake she had ever eaten. She would never again think her Mum's were the best now, and Fred, George and Ron seemed to be thinking the same. Unfortunately, a few fourth years had spiked the pumpkin juice, and everyone ended up a bit giggly and flushed. When they were told to go to their common rooms, Ginny, Hermione, Fred and Seamus all stumbled out last, having had the most pumpkin juice, being held up by friend. Hermione had her arm around Ron, and she was planting kisses on his neck messily. Ginny reminded herself never to let Hermione, nor herself, to drink any alcohol from then on.
"We're going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow morning," Fred grumbled, and more giggles followed. "I'm serious!" He half yelled, just about toppling over.
As they were wobbling past the majestic Marble Staircase, Draco popped out of the shadows.
"Ginny.." He said, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "What happened to you?"
"Spiked Gryffindor pumpkin juice." Amelia mumbled, with Ginny leaning on her shoulders.
"Uh, is it possible if I can have a word with Gin?" He asked again, still looking at her.
"Sure, just bring her back to the common room safely." Amelia replied. "Watch out she doesn't fall over.. she seems to be kinda tipsy.. well.. I'll see you later, Ginny? Ginny?" She looked down at her.
"Yup.." Ginny warbled.
"Bye, then." Amelia skipped off to see if Harry was alright, and Draco and Ginny had a minute to themselves, at last.
"You're in a bad way." Draco said. Ginny was sitting on the stairs, her head on her knees. "You alright?"
"Yes. Fine." Ginny said. "Remind me never to drink pumpkin juice again. I don't like it anymore." She said, almost sulkily.
"Well, what I just wanted to say, was," He started, but Ginny cut in.
"You were looking at me." She rushed.
"I know." Draco said, looking at her still. His grey-blue eyes drew in her current state, and he sighed. He sat down next to her. "You're really drunk. How much bloody pumpkin juice did you drink?"
"Eight gobletfulls or so," She said, and Draco leaned back and laughed. "I was thirsty! The steak and kidney pie was salty! I didn't know alcohol was there! S'not my fault.."
"Of course not. Now, let me speak." Draco said, impatiently.
"Can we walk?" Ginny asked, suddenly having an urge to walk someplace. Alcohol has a weird effect on witches, she secretly thought.
"Sure. To the Gryffindor common room?"
"Yep pleaseee.." She sort of slurred.
They walked, Draco holding Ginny up, slowly, but steadily.
"So, as I was saying," Draco started again, but yet again, did not finish.
"What's your favourite colour?" Ginny suddenly asked, looking into his eyes dreamily. She blinked twice, and was unaware of the flittering feeling inside her heart.
"Green." He stated, frowning. "Now--"
"Mine's purple. Oh, and orange! Red, and yellow and blue and green and white and lovely pretty pastel colours are the best." She said, kind of fast, and looked forwards. They were nearing the common room now, and she could see the shiny, silk, pink dress the Fat Lady wore becoming closer and closer.
Draco walked silently for a while, and then stopped at the painting. "This it?" He asked.
"Sure is, spunk boy." She said, then covered her mouth and giggled. "Oops, sorry.."
He tinged pinkish for a second, then said "Ginny, can you just shut up for a second? Please?"
"Oh, okay." She said, smiling, despite the harsh way the sentence was said.
"I- I- uhh.." Draco looked to the floor.
"Well, what?" Ginny asked, standing heavily on the floor, her vision become clearer for a minute.
"I'm starting to regard you as more of a friend." He said, stuttering on some words. It was obviously hard for him to say. "Much more." He looked up at her, as if to ask her permission.
"Good." She said, grinning, feeling very warm all of a sudden. "I've been feeling that way for most of this year."
Draco grinned too.
"Well..?" Ginny asked.
"Well what?" Draco asked quizzically, still grinning.
"You're supposed to kiss me, idiot!" She happily whispered, rolling her eyes. "Ah, stuff this."
And she pulled a puzzled Draco towards her, where they joined together for a moment before breaking apart, reluctantly.
They burst into laughter, Ginny laughing hard because of her current status.
Draco's fair hair fell over his eyebrows, his laughing eyes, and he leaned in to Ginny's cheek and gave her a quick peck there.
"Well, goodnight Miss Weasley, I shall see you tomorrow." He turned around and commenced walking away, but Ginny grabbed his arm.
"You do realise an inter-house commercial relationship is going to be very hard." She said seriously.
"Who cares?" He said, shrugging. "Works for me." And he smiled a cheeky smile and turned around to walk again. Ginny watched his retreating back. She sighed.
"Patronus Excellency." She said, happily, to the Fat Lady.
"I really need a bloke.." The Fat Lady complained, as the potrait shut.
Ginny stumbled into the common room. There was no-one there. She then crawled up the spiral staircase to the girls' dorms (she didn't want to fall whilst walking up them), and opened her dorm's door.
Amelia was sitting on Ginny's bed, Amethyst and Sarah snoring lightly in their respective beds. Amelia grinned evilly.
"You took a while." She said, looking at her closely.
"Well, we had a bit to talk about." Ginny snapped back.
"You look all flustered." Amelia pointed out.
"Well, I feel all flustered. I need a drink." Ginny went to the bathroom and drank some tap water, grateful it wasn't pumpkin juice.
"I need to get changed, get off me bed.." Ginny ordered Amelia.
"Well, okaaaaay then, no need to be so huffy about it.." Amelia replied cattily, and went to her own bed and drew the curtains. "Gawd."
But just before Ginny rested her tired head on her pillow, Amelia spoke again.
"He kissed you, didn't he?" Her voice was curious.
"Maybe." Ginny said mysteriously.
"I'm guessing that means 'yes' in Ginny language." Amelia said.
"Sure does." Ginny said. Amelia giggled, and they said goodnight.
That evening was worth one hundred hangovers, she thought to herself before she fell into a deep sleep.
"Who cares? Works for me..."
-To be continued!-
Fanfiction
Author's Note:
Mwa ha ha. There's your daily dose of fluff for today, kiddies! Savour it, cause there won't be another part of this series until at least February, cause I'm going to Bali. Whoohoo! Anyway, how did you like it? Please review.. this is my first time at writing fluffy stuff, and I need some pointers. And I don't care if people are out of character, especially Draco, because that's their attitude in this series. Ever considered Draco actually being nice to his friends, apart from being a big ol' meanie? I do, and that's why he is a bit OOC in my fics. He treats Ginny differently from other people, because, well, if you just read this, then it's probably pretty obvious. ^_^ Anyway, hope you liked it! (And I know it's a bad title but I couldn't think of one, okay?) And the actual translation of 'saya umur rasiha tahun', which Dumbledore said in Indonesian, is 'my age secret years'. Just thought you might wanna know!