Ohcrapwhatthebloodyhelljusthappened?
Ginny stared in complete
shock for approximately 1.5 seconds. Then the full, entire, repulsive
realization of what she'd done hit her.
I. Just. Kissed. Dra. Co.
Mal. Foy.
Oh. Oh, oh, this is bad. This
is really. Really bad. Since Ginny had no other idea what to do, she did the first thing to
came to mind – she slapped him. With all the energy she had. She could actually
hear the echo of the blow ringing out through the hall, despite all the loud
giggling and chatter.
"Ow!" Malfoy grabbed
his face protectively and muttered something rude under his breath that sounded
a lot like muddy duck. He glared. "What the hell did you do that
for?"
Ginny glared right back with
a ferocity that would make Professor Snape shrink back with all the meekness of
a kitten. Most people found it shocking that cute little Ginny Weasly had a
temper, but really, when she got mad, it was like World War III squared, times
a hundred plus one. "What the hell do you think I did that for?" she shrieked,
not noticing or caring about the ridiculously huge crowd slowing with their
attempts at dancing to watch the scene playing out between Ginny and Draco.
"You—you complete prick, you total bas—"
Malfoy had been watching
Ginny with something that actually looked like mild amusement (right,
really goddamn funny, Ginny thought sarcastically), but when she started in
with language that many of the Gryffindors had yearned to use to Professor
Snape, he cut in. "Oh, cut the crap, Weasly," he snarled disgustedly.
"Please. Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it."
Ginny stopped short. What
the—
Draco succeeded in hiding his
shock at his own words. What the—
Then Harry stepped in and
completed the sentence for them both. " 'The hell?" he demanded.
Confused, surprised, and pissed didn't even begin to describe the sentiments
Ginny saw illustrating his expression. He narrowed his eyes menacingly at
Malfoy.
Ouchie. Ginny thought she could give
a mean look, but she obviously had nothing on Harry. "Er," she said intelligently,
shifting her feet uncomfortably. Now faced off with her year-long boyfriend,
rather than his worst enemy, she found it quite hard to admit that she had very
stupidly kissed Draco Malfoy, mistaking him for Harry, who looked a whole deal
different. "Well—er…well, I…um, he…" she mumbled, tilting her head at the
sickeningly arrogant egomaniac she had previously been screaming at.
Somewhere behind Harry,
Malfoy snorted.
Okay. 'Really, really, extremely
pissed off' definitely didn't describe Harry's expression now. Perhaps if she
added in a few more thousand 'reallys'? Harry said something not-nice to
Malfoy, who threw it back in his face, sightly modified and a teeny bit more
vulgar.
"Would you stay the hell
out of this? It is none of your goddamn business, Malfoy!"
Malfoy snickered. "Well,
considering that your darling Weasly and I just had an extremely unpleasant,"
he emphasized, looking straight at Ginny, "snog, I'd think that it sure as hell
is at least partially my business."
Harry stopped short. Stark
whiteness overtook his face. He blinked. Blinked again. Ginny winced. She could
just see the long, hot string of curses running through his head. "You're
lying," Harry stated finally, his voice holding no conviction.
"Am I?"
"Yes," Harry snapped, letting
out his breath. He glared. "Damn it, Malfoy, do you think I'd actually believe
you? You – you bastard, how far are you willing to go to piss me
off? Shit!" He shook his head and launched into a long spiel on Draco Malfoy's
disgusting, horrible personality, using such graphic language that Ginny was
quite sure he was glad the loud music and excited chatter masked his voice from
the professors' table. She twisted her hands together anxiously. Oh, dear.
This is not what I pictured the new year like at all.
She was so distraught that
when she caught sight of Ron and Hermione barging over, she was actually grateful,
her mind somehow dismissing the teeny tiny fact that Ron would most likely
explode louder than Harry. Which was saying something, as Ginny was
acutely aware of the fact that they were drawing strange glances.
Hermione grabbed Ginny's arm.
"What," she hissed anxiously, "in the world is going on?"
Ginny chewed on the inside of
her lip. She weighed her options. A), tell Hermione now, and have her
shriek in astonishment and disgust, adding to the incredible noise Harry was
making, B) tell her later and have her blow up in astonishment and
disgust in a quiet spot, causing echoes to reverberate around and then have her
yell again at Ginny for not telling her sooner or C), not tell her at
all.
Option C was looking pretty
tempting.
Ginny looked around
furtively, not meeting her friend's eyes. Then—
It was like the world had
suddenly snapped into focus. She saw
everything, crystal-clear. She realized what she had done, she realized the
consequences, and she realized she should do what she really should have done
the second she'd slapped Malfoy – get the hell out of there.
"Ginny! What happened?"
Hermione demanded anxiously, grabbing her shoulders.
Ginny wrestled herself from
Hermione's admittedly strong grasp, whirled around and started for the exit.
"Ginny!" Hermione called, and a second later, she was beside
Ginny, snatching at her hand. "Gin. Tell me what's going on."
"Nothing."
"Nothing
my ass. Ginny, sweetie, it's me, it's Hermione, you know you can talk to me.
What is it?"
Ginny
yanked her hand away. "Okay," she snapped. "You want to know?
Fine? I kissed Draco Malfoy. Happy now?" Then she spun on her heel and
bolted, her low-heeled sandals clacking loudly against the wooden floor of the
Great Hall.
As soon as the words left her
magically reddened lips, all three of them – Harry, Ron and Hermione – froze.
"Oh, shit," Hermione said.
*
Ginny Weasly ran frantically
through the corridors up to Gryffindor Tower, clutching up the ends of her new
green dress robes with white-knuckled hands. She skidded to a disordered stop
in front of the Fat Lady, who woke up with a start. "Huh? You're all supposed
to be at that…dance thingy," she complained, patting down her rumpled pink
dress. "Now. Password?"
Ginny sucked in her breath
after running up stairs, tearing around corners and rushing down corridors for
about ten minutes. She racked her
brains for the password. "Oh, God, it's…crap, I don't know!" she wailed, stomping
a delicate new Enchantment! designer label sandal to the floor. "Oh…please, let
me in!" Ginny pleaded in what she hoped was in a beseeching tone, but probably
just sounded like a five-year –old girl begging her mother for a lollipop.
"I—I'm a Gryffindor, oh, you know that!"
The Fat Lady looked
irritated. "If you don't know the password, then why bother coming up here at
all?" she pointed out waspishly. "Of course I can't let you in without it."
Ginny called the Fat Lady
something that Mrs. Weasly would have had her walking around with a mouthful of
soap for a week if she had heard her little girl. The plump woman looked even
more annoyed. "Well!" she said disdainfully. "I certainly won't let you
in without the password after that. I must admit, I highly doubt that
you're Sirius Black or anyone, but really, what do you take me
for? A fool?"
Ginny was extremely tempted
to answer that question with biting sarcasm, but she held her tongue and was
surprised when the Fat Lady started, as if something had just occurred to her.
"Hang on," the Fat Lady began, her voice slightly quaking. "Y-you haven't got a
– a knife or anything, have you?" The Fat Lady then immediately shook
her head. "No, no, of course you haven't," she muttered under her breath, more
to herself than to the petite redhead in front of her.
Ginny rolled her eyes in
contempt. "Of course not, you id—" She stopped in the middle of a stinging
insult as she fully grasped the chance she had to get inside. The Fat Lady had
been downright scared stiff of anything of the sharp steel quality ever since
Ginny's second year, when Sirius Black had gotten inside the castle. "Of course
I do," she answered, stretching to her full, not-very-intimidating height of
five feet six. "And" – she dropped her voice into what she figured what was at
least slightly menacing tone – "I'm not afraid to use it."
The Fat Lady was clearly not
intimidated by Ginny's slight stature and tone of voice. "Prove it."
"Fine." Ginny reached into
the folds of her dress robes and pulled out—
"That's a wand,
dearie," The Fat Lady sneered in obvious condescension. "Honestly. I'm not a
complete dunderhead."
"Wanna bet?" Ginny countered
with more confidence than she actually felt. She wanted to scream! This was
insane, absurd! She'd just kissed her boyfriend's archenemy and she was
bantering with the friggin' Fat Lady, for God's sake! It was almost
amusing. Almost. "Tressholdus!" she cried with only the slightest waver
to her voice, waving her wand with a flick of the wrist.
The Fat Lady gave a little
shriek when she saw the glinting silver errupting from the tip of Ginny's wand.
"Okay!" she said, sounding panicked. "I'll let you in! Just—just don't hurt
me?" The portrait swung open, revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor common
room.
Ginny leapt through the
second there was room enough to let her through. "Coward," Ginny murmured under
her breath, regarding the Fat Lady. But she was actually glad for the Fat
Lady's cowardice – it was what had let her through in the end. Ginny
glanced at the glint of silver she'd conjured up and nearly smiled. It was just
a silver hair clip. She tossed it aside.
Finally she collapsed into a
worn red couch next to the fireplace. Crookshanks, who Hermione had taken to
leaving in the girls' dormitory but leaving the door open, jumped into Ginny's
lap, purring loudly. Translation: Pick me up. Pet me. Love me. Ginny did
just that, scooping the warm long-haired cat into her arms and stroking it
behind its ears distractedly. "Crookshanks, what've I done?" she groaned
dismally. "I've made such a huge mess of things. What's wrong with me? I should
have known that it was pitch-black, I couldn't see anything, I should
have known I'd grab the wrong person!" Recalling the kiss, Ginny blushed. "And
it couldn't be a worse person either, Crookshanks. Oh…." She leaned her
head against the cat's furry body.
Suddenly – "Ginny!"
"Oh, bloody hell, the
password's—er, actually, I forgot it."
"Fiddlesticks!"
"When the hell did you start
saying fiddlesticks?"
"It's the password,
you git!"
"I knew that."
"Would you both shut up?"
Ginny jumped in surprise when
she heard the voices – they were, unmistakably, in order, Harry, Ron, Hermione,
Ron, Hermione and Harry. She leapt from the couch, giving Crookshanks a mild
shock. He prowled away in indignance, but Ginny didn't care. She was quite sure
she'd broken some kind of record as she did a hundred-yard dash across the
common room and streaked into the sixth-years girls' dormitory, flinging
herself onto her warm comforter. To
hell with all of them. Ginny wasn't exactly certain why she didn't want
to see Harry – sometimes that was the only decent part of her day – but she did
know that she positively did not want to talk to them, did not
want to discuss the…er…event rationally, didn't want to…
Her thoughts were, again,
interrupted by the trio, who were speaking in loud voices down in the common
room.
"She's not in here."
"I noticed that,
thanks, Madame Brilliance. Where the hell is she, then?"
"Perhaps she went up to bed?"
"I'll go check!"
"Harry! You can't go
into the girls' dormitory?"
"Oh, and you're assuming that
I give a fu—"
"Fine, then! Come with me.
But if McGonagall catches you two—"
"Oh, shut up, Hermione."
Ginny immediately kicked off
her Bewitched! sandals and crawled under the covers, snapping her eyes shut.
The door creaked open. Ginny snuggled further under the blanket, hiding her
head, and opened an eye to peek through the space between the comforter and the
mattress.
"Ginny?" Harry asked
uncertainly. He turned to Hermione. "Which bed is hers?"
"The third one from the
window," Hermione answered. She flicked on the light cautiously and crept
apprehensively towards the end of the dormitory. "Gin? Ginny, are you in here?
Are you okay?"
Ron snorted in derision.
"Well, duh squared. Malfoy's bloody tongue has just met the inside of my
little sister's mouth. Of course she's not okay, Hermione, what a
goddamn stupid question!"
Ouch, Ginny thought. Either he really
hates Malfoy, or I'm the best sibling he could ever have, because he
never speaks to Hermione like that. She adjusted her position slightly to
get a better view of the three seventh-years.
Suddenly her view was
obstructed by a figure wearing green dress robes that would have matched her
own had they not have been fitted for a male. The figure completely blocked her
vision, making everything look dark. However, when she blinked a little, she
could make out some light. Enough light to see that she was totally in line
with—
Oh. Oh, oh, dear. I'm quite
the slut today, aren't I? First I snog with Draco Malfoy, of all people, and
now I'm looking into Harry Potter's—
"Guys!" Harry's voice was sharp, if not stern. "Do you
ever shut your mouths? If you would stop bickering, you'd realize she's here." He bent down and, to Ginny's relief, she was no
longer looking into – well, er…somewhere, more…private –
his green eyes took up the crack. That reminded Ginny that she was pretending to be asleep, and she squeezed her eyes
shut quickly.
"Ginny,"
Harry said, pushing the blanket aside."Ginny. You awake?"
Go away, Ginny thought pointedly. Go away and leave me alone.
Harry
prodded her gently. Ginny didn't dare move. Finally Harry apparently gave up.
He kissed her on the cheek. "All right, Ginny. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
He added under his breath darkly, "And then maybe you'll tell me why in the
bloody black hell you were kissing Malfoy."
He spat the name out in distaste and stood up. Ginny dared to open one of her
eyes again, as Harry was shaking his head in disgust. He mumbled something
quite similar to "clucking bell" and then left the dormitory with Ron and
Hermione.
Ginny threw the blanket off herself and sat straight
up with a sigh. God. What the hell was she going to do?
*
"Oh, do hurry up, Ginny!" Harry prodded, grabbing her arm. "Let's go to
Zonko's, I'm running out of Filibuster's Fireworks. Besides, we have to meet
Ron and Hermione in Three Broomsticks soon, just a quick stop by Zonko's, Gin?"
Ginny smiled, but she stood firm. "I'm tired, Harry," she protested,
not budging from the bench she was perched on. "Let me stay here for a while.
How about you go to Zonko's by yourself, and I'll meet you and Ron and Hermione
in ten minutes?" She lifted the sentence into a question and raised an eyebrow
imploringly at Harry.
He looked slightly disappointed, but he nodded. "Yeah, okay," he agreed
readily with only the slightest tinge of reluctance. "Bye, Ginny." He leaned
over, kissed her quickly, and left the vicinity.
As soon as he was out of sight, a tall, slightly imposing figure swept
in before Ginny. "Bloody finally he left," the person muttered.
Ginny's eyes narrowed, her eyebrows arched in suspicion. "Who are you?" She
craned her neck, but for some reason she couldn't make out his face. A charm of
some kind, no doubt. Obviously this person wanted to keep his identity hidden,
which meant one thing – he was either trying to get to Harry, or get to her.
Ginny pulled her arm back, and slapped him. Hard.
If Mr. Faceless even felt the
slap, he didn't acknowledge it. Just grabbed her arms and pinned them down to
her sides. "Zip it, Weasley," he snapped harshly. "Now shut up. Let me do what
I came here to do and let's get it over with. Petrificus totalus!" As he
said this, he waved a wand.
Oh, crap. Full-body bind. All she
could do now was sit. Bloody wonderful. This person might kill her any second now,
and all she'd be able to do was sit there like a zombie. "Mmmf! Mmf!" Ginny
whimpered, unable to move her lips.
Which, she found out in horror, were
the target that the person was aiming for. Leaning over –
He kissed her.
Oh. Whoa. In that half a second, fireworks
exploded. A marching band played in the distance of her mind. It was like
Independence Day squared. Ginny was so damned overwhelmed, she completely
forgot about Harry, about the fact that this was a complete stranger…hell, she
even forgot her own name!
And then – nothing. The stranger
yanked away. "Finite incantatem," he said coldly. To her relief, Ginny could
move. She made to hit him with all her strength, but then she was too shocked
to do anything. It was like a mental version of the Full Body-Bind.
Because the tall figure in black had revealed his
face. And it was Draco Malfoy.
"This never happened," he snapped, recognizing the
expressions of confusion, anger, and disgust spreading over her face. He held
up his wand. "Obliviate!"
And then he was gone.
*
Ginny woke up with a start, sweating. She looked
around the dark room, pressing a hand to her temple. Shit. What the hell was that
dream all about? Ginny fully believed the theory that dreams were messages from
your subconscience, but right now, she really didn't want to believe
that. Her? Harry? Draco? A Memory Charm?
Oh, has he upgraded to the first-name-basis status
now? a tiny
voice in her head demanded, the voice half-amused, half-disgusted.
Ginny groaned and clapped her hands onto her ears,
knowing it was no good, she'd argue with herself anyway. Gin, sweetie, what
the hell? Calling him 'Draco'? Well, wouldn't Harry love to hear that…
Shut up, Ginny thought miserably. I'm
trying to figure out this rotten dream. What does this all mean? Does it mean I
should…actually…be…with…
Malfoy?
UGH!
No way. That's just way too wrong. Ginny lay back
down in her bed. Strange…her, Harry, Malfoy, a kiss, a Memory Ch—
Hang on.
A Memory Charm. A Memory Charm? Yes, a Memory
Charm! Ginny nearly threw her hands up in the air and cheered. That was it.
That was it! Magic really was the answer to everything, when it came
right down to it. She could modify Harry's memory, Hermione's memory, Ron's
memory…hell, even her own memory. After all, she didn't want to be the
one burdened with that especially disgusting memory of that moment.
She got out of bed and stepped into her
cream-colored night slippers. Taking her wand from the bedside table, she
whispered "Lumos" and slipped gently out of the girls' dormitory.
Clutching her wand tightly, Ginny padded quietly into the seventh-year boys'
dormitory and located Harry's bed quickly.
She took a deep breath as she stood before the
sleeping form of Harry Potter. As much as her mind rebelled against the idea,
she focused hard on the memory she wanted to erase from Harry's mind, much as
the thought of reliving that moment repulsed her. When she had painted a
complete, clear, vivid picture of that moment in her mind, sharpened the focus,
she bit her lip and waved her wand.
"Obliviate."
*
A/N: I remember the horrible
cliffe I left you with in the prologue, and this mini-cliffe is my way of
apology. ^_^ If this chapter seems a bit odd, it's because I just had a tooth
out and I'm rather cranky. But I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for
anymore, so I wrote this quickly. I'm also sorry about the weird formatting,
Word just sucks.
As
for that dream Ginny had, well, it's a lot more relevant than you guys
might think. After she does a Memory Charm on herself, she's going to have more
strange dreams, as well. I'm not telling you what's going on, it's too
fun to have a secret. ::giggles in girlish delight:: Ta-ta!
Disclaimer: Me? Own anything? You're
sadly mistaken, m'dear, Ginny and Harry and the gang belong to the brilliant,
the great, the wonderful J.K.
!Note to All Shippers!
Hopeless romantics
crying "R/H! R/H!" – Ah, I know I promised you R/H in the summary, and fear
not, Polly will get her cracker in the next chapter.
Those
waving the H/G flag – You must be horribly, horribly disappointed in me right now. Well,
don't worry, be good and hopefully I'll produce something for you soon.
Everyone aboard the D/G ship – Hey, wasn't Ginny's dream
enough? But even still, you'll get a kick out of the dreams she's soon to have
after she Memory Charm-ed herself…
Other
shippers –
Please don't bail out on me now! This is just the beginning of the fic,
anything could happen… But still, I highly doubt Midnight will end up in
Neville/Hermione, Draco/Pavarti, Harry/Cho and Ron/Ginny. =)
