All the characters and locations in this fanfic belong to J.K. Rowling,

except for a few minor characters that I have added to spruce it up!

A Love to Die For

Chapter 1

I was sitting in my fourth year Transfiguration class. Behind me, Colin

Creevy was tugging on a lock of my Weasly-red hair. I tried to swat his

hand away but he wouldn

t stop. Class was almost over and everyone was growing restless. For some

reason Professor McGonagall

s lesson was especially dull today. I was having a hard enough time

concentrating without Colin helping. Of course, Professor McGonagall, with

her hawk-like senses, picked up on my lack of intrigue for the concept she

was discussing.

Miss Weasley, could you please repeat for the rest of the class what I was

just explaining?



she asked, staring directly at me with an angry glint in her eye. She knew

that I would not know the answer. I never could understand why she always

seemed to enjoy taking points from her house so much.

Well

...

umm

...

I began,

I didn

t exactly hear you, Colin was

...

I trailed off as she approached my desk.

I am very disappointed in you indeed Ginny. I

ll have to take five points from Gryffindor for this, you know. Back to

what I was saying about the exam you will all be performing for me tomorrow

...

I heaved a sigh of relief the minute she was out of hearing distance and

pulled my hair back out of the reach of Colin. I knew I should be paying

attention since she was talking about a test and her tests were always

hard, but I knew that I would do well. We were only two weeks into the year

and were still reviewing third year transfigurations. They were so simple.

I couldn

t understand why Lilly, the Hufflepuff next to me was chewing on her eraser

and looking as if she were about to die of confusion. Just as I started

sketching a face on my scroll, Professor McGonagall dismissed us.

I gathered up my things and slipped out the door. The minute I entered the

crowded hall, I saw Harry Potter, accompanied, as usual, by my brother and

Hermione. I wove my way through the crowd and squeezed in just far enough

behind Harry to hear what he was talking about. He had a Quidditch match

tonight and he and Ron were trying to think of ways to

accidentally



injure Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Seeker. He had been getting especially

vicious lately: trying to knock Harry off his broom, picking fights with my

brother right outside Snape

s dungeon knowing that he would catch Ron fighting and take points from

Gryffindor. If there were one person in the entire school that I truly and

honestly hated, it would have to be Draco Malfoy. He was just so cruel to

everyone he met, and for no apparent reason. Even his so-called friends

were subject to his teasing and mocking.

You could spill something on him today in potions!



cried Ron triumphantly. He glanced from Harry

s doubtful look to Hermoine

s downright disapproving one and I couldn

t help but giggle.

Ron, you know that Snape would notice. Plus, there is no reason for Harry

to try to injure Malfoy to keep him out of the match tonight. I

m sure Harry will beat him perfectly fairly,



Hermione lectured. Harry sighed and grimaced as Ron and Hermoine began to

bicker.

Abruptly, Harry, Hermione and Ron turned out of the hallway and into their

next class without even noticing that I had been walking directly behind

them. I continued along the hall staring at my feet and sinking deeper and

deeper into my own thoughts. I was simply tired of being so invisible. I

was tired of living in the shadows no matter what I did. I wanted someone

to recognize something good that I had done entirely on my own and be proud

of me. I was the youngest in a family of 7 and although I was the only

girl, anything I did was never important because one of my brothers had

done it before. I had loved one boy since I was 11 and he barely even knew

I existed. To all of my peers, I was just cute little Ginny Weasly, poor,

and yet always happy. I was someone to be pitied. I was someone who didn

t want the attention of other people. I was too shy and independent to want

attention. I did not want to be famous or even well known. I just wanted

someone to notice me and think:

She seems like a wonderful person. I want to be her friend.

I glanced briefly up from my feet to see a tall sixth year boy, whom I

slammed directly into, causing all my books, papers and wand to fly from my

arms and spread all over the floor. I bent over to pick up my potions book

at the exact moment that the boy did and my forehead smacked into the back

of his head. I jumped back and began to apologize the same time that he

did. We both began to laugh at ourselves as we gathered up my things.

I am so sorry!



I said trying not to laugh.

I really should have been paying more attention to where I was going. I

guess I just-

No, it

s really all right. It was my fault too. I should have been watching out

for beautiful girls. This is the least I can do,



he said, also clearly on the brink of laughter. He handed me a stack of

papers and books then paused to look at me. He was really quite attractive.

He had soft looking, wavy brown hair and bright blue eyes that sparkled so

you felt he was about to laugh. Suddenly he held his hand out to me and

said,

I

m Cliff.



I shook his hand and then, realizing we were going to be late for class, I

jumped.

As I dashed down the hall towards the greenhouse, I felt a pair of eyes

watching me.

* * *

I was sitting in my favorite class and I couldn

t enjoy it. I wanted to break my wand over Harry Potter

s ugly famous head. He and that stupid Weasley git wouldn

t shut up about how Harry

s godfather, Sirius Black had been cleared of all charges and was going to

adopt Harry as soon as he could. This meant that Harry would no longer have

to go live with those muggles that were his only family, meaning Potter

would be happier which would inversely make me more miserable.

I didn

t actually care at all about anything that happened to Potter, unless he

suddenly became a lightning-scarred beetle that I could step on. The only

reason I knew any of this at all was Snape had decided that, as punishment

for Potter, the two of us were to be forced to sit next to each other for

the rest of the year. Ron and their poofy-haired friend, whatever- her-

name-was, sat on the other side or Potter. They would always talk about the

stupidest things whenever Snape wasn

t paying attention.

He told me he would send another owl today. It sounded like something

important. I wonder what he wanted to tell me,



Harry rambled. He had, of course, said this to Ron but I was just itching

to insult one of them.

Maybe he

ll tell you that he finally found a vacancy in a cave nearby that the

Weasley

s can live in. Or, am I mistaken? Was it not the Weasley house that

collapsed because it even magic couldn

t keep that many rooms up on it?

Ron

s face turned a deep red that matched his hair perfectly and lunged at me,

only to be pulled back and scolded by Hermione. Satisfied, I sat back in my

seat and began thinking of a much more serious matter; how was I going to

defeat Potter in our Quidditch match tonight? I had to beat him. There was

no question about it. I didn

t care if the team won the game; I just had to catch that Snitch before

Potter got to it. Maybe, just maybe, if I found something I could beat him;

it would make up for everything else that he had that I didn

t. Sure, he had lost his parents, but they had loved him. My parents never

had, and never would love me. Not that I cared.

I couldn

t help but laugh at myself for pitying my situation. No one cared if my

parents loved me, why should it mater to me? Potter was staring at me. It

took me a moment to realize that I must have laughed louder than I thought

I had. I smirked at him treacherously and he looked away.

I glanced down at the pile of ingredients sitting in between Potter

s cauldron and mine. We were supposed to be adding fern spore to the opaque

potion we were mixing but since Potter had resumed conversing with Weasley,

I took the liberty of adding spider legs to Potter

s cauldron. His potion immediately turned murky brown and began hissing. I

quickly went back to mixing fern spores into my own cauldron just as Potter

noticed something was wrong with his potion.

Potter! What did you do to your potion?



Snape snapped at Harry. I sat back and prepared for an enjoyable round of

Potter Vs. Snape



when Snape told the class to bottle up our potions and wash out our

cauldrons.

I

ll see you after class,

Potter,

he hissed pointedly at Harry.

Sighing, I poured my potion into a phial and gave my cauldron to Crabbe and

left the dungeon for the dining hall. I wanted to eat quickly so I could

change into my shorts and thin shirt I wore under my Quidditch robes alone.

* * *

I walked into the Slytherin Quidditch team changing room later than I

should have been and was confused by what I saw. There was no broom waiting

for me; no Quidditch robes left. I looked around and noticed someone who

wasn

t on the team wearing my robes and holding my broom. A third year girls

that I had never seen before was talking to Chris Polemic, our team

captain.

I

m sorry, Malfoy. What are you doing here? Did you not know that Marissa was

taking your place this year?



He said in a mocking tone. Everyone in the room burst into laughter. I

stalked out and ran up to the school. I couldn

t believe that he had done that. How could he? Hadn

t my father threatened him to give me the position of Seeker again this

year? I should not have been replaced by a second year girl. She was

probably a Muggle too.

When I got to the wolf statue that opened into the Slytherin common room, I

found a poster stuck to its face. I tore it off and nearly shouted the

password at the statue.

* * *

I walked into the Gryffindor common room and sat down in front of the

roaring fire with my book. It was a muggle book called Jane Eyre that

Hermione had given me. As I opened my book, something fell out of it. It

was a small paper that said in large letters:

1.1

1.2 Musical Comedy Murders of 1940

1.2.1 Auditions: Friday September 13

7-10 p.m.

meet in the theater

I didn

t even know that Hogwarts had a theater. Not that it surprised me; Hogwarts

had many rooms that I had probably never seen. I had absolutely no idea

where the flyer had come from. Maybe Hermione had left in the book. I very

much doubted that though, considering that this was Hermione. Then I

remembered, the sixth year boy I had run into in the hall, Cliff. He must

have dropped it when I ran into him. Then it had found its way into my

book. That had to be it.

* * *

I ran up the stairs to the Slytherin boys bedrooms and threw open the

curtians I had put up around my bed. It wasn

t that I was upset about being kicked off the team. I didn

t care one bit about any of those people. In fact, I had yet to meet a

single person in this school that I really liked. The reason I was so mad

was, I had lost my only chance at defeating Potter. Sure, Snape liked me

more, but that didn

t matter. I wanted to beat Potter honestly and fairly. I wanted to know for

myself that I was truly better than Potter. Quidditch had been my only

chance at beating Potter without cheating.

Suddenly I remembered the paper I had torn off the wolf statue outside the

common room that was still crumpled in my fist. I was about to tear it when

the idea of reading it struck me. I turned it over and read it. It was a

flyer for play auditions. I had never heard of Hogwarts doing a play. It

sounded rather interesting. Maybe I would go to it. I had nothing else to

do now that I would no longer be playing Quidditch. Might as well.