Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the other characters in this
story, only the plot and Lorelei Campbell.
A/N: I edited this, I explained it at the bottom in case it's your first time reading this, don't want to give anything away! So please, by all means, read and review! I'd love to hear your comments!
Voldemort's Worst Scandal
Prologue
Ginny Weasley sat, motionless and stoic, in the gilded, red plush chair. Her arms and legs were folded; her brows were furrowed. Her stony gaze was fixed upon two people and two people alone. These two waltzing people were special to Ginny, more special than the rest of the dancing couples, more important at the moment, even, than the bride and groom. All that mattered was that she keep watching these two, Harry Potter with Lorelei Campbell, that she keep the beat of the song they were dancing to synchronized with her own heart.
Lorelei Campbell was only invited to the wedding of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger for one reason. Mrs. Weasley had insisted that they invite her, although the family had previously ignored her (unintentionally). The Weasleys had only just discovered that Lorelei existed, because she was the daughter of the only two Muggle Weasleys (with whom they had no contact): Mrs. Weasley's cousins were accountants who had ended up with a witch for a daughter. Lorelei, the daughter, looked nothing like the rest of the Weasley family; the red hair that made a Weasley stand out in a crowd was lost in her. She didn't even have the same last name, seeing as she was from Mrs. Weasley's side of the family. And, Ginny thought, it's all thanks to my mother's sympathetic side that brought her, and I've lost Harry to her.
Now, all of a sudden, Harry seemed only to have eyes for Lorelei, and it broke Ginny's heart to see this happening. She had told herself all those years ago that she was long over Harry, that he was just a childhood crush. And then she had started dating other Hogwarts students. But one day Ginny had realized that deep down, she really loved Harry Potter and had only dated others to make up for what she wanted.
But then came Lorelei, with her long, curly blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and perfect complexion; Lorelei with her short black dress, tan skin, high heels. Lorelei had ruby-red lips that shimmered in the dim light. Of course Harry would prefer Lorelei Campbell to Ginny's red curls, pale complexion, and freckles. Lorelei was a dream, and Ginny was just...there. Ron's little sister.
Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her deep green maid-of-honor dress. Harry was Ron's best man. Ginny was Hermione's maid of honor. Shouldn't they dance together? Shouldn't that be made a custom? She almost laughed out loud at the thought of herself going forth before the Ministry of Magic and announcing her proposition to make best men and maids-of-honor at weddings dance together.
Over the months since Ron and Hermione announced their engagement, Hermione had been like a sister to Ginny. Hermione had moved into the Burrow, sharing a room with Ginny, and there had been many a night when Mrs. Weasley had had to come in and scold them for talking until all hours. Ginny and Harry had also become close, just from the simple fact that he had been at the Burrow at least once a day every day since before the engagement. He had helped to plan things and run small errands. Ginny's brother, Fred, had once remarked that suddenly the Burrow had become "Wedding of the Year Headquarters," what with all of the people Apparating in and out at random points throughout the day.
Lost in thought, Ginny's eyes had strayed to the other couples dancing. There were her parents, her brother Bill and Fleur Delacour, her brother Fred and Angelina Johnson, her brother George and Alicia Spinnet, Ron and Hermione, of course..
She had to keep a horrible memory from entering her mind. With everything that had happened in the past, it was hard to keep her thoughts averted from the tragedies. Ron and Hermione's wedding had been a way for everyone to relax, to learn to put the past behind them. But while it had been easier for the wizarding world and for everyone else, it had been much harder for those who had been directly related to this incident to be able to just forget.
Ginny remembered the months of sleepless nights followed by, worse, the months of nightmares that had haunted her by night and memories that had tortured her by day. Ron had been the same way, although he had managed to control it better and keep it more discreet.
With Hermione, things had been much, much worse, of course. She had had the nightmares by night, the memories by day, and had suffered such a loss; it was unbelievable. Before the wedding, while Hermione was living at the Burrow years after the Incident, sometimes the household had been awakened to one of Hermione's nightmarish screams. Everyone would crash into her bedroom to find the normally cool and composed Hermione Granger reduced to a sobbing ball of fear. Mrs. Weasley would crush her into a hug and then run off to make some tea while Ron would enfold his fiancée into his arms and attempt to console her. Her agony was overwhelming, and yet, compared to the others, she had gained something else, although clearly her loss still pained her.
Harry had suffered the same nightmares, the same memories, and a loss equivalent to Hermione's, but he, like Ron, was able to keep it quietly to himself. Draco, however.no one ever knew what Draco Malfoy was feeling, no one but Hermione. Ginny inwardly cursed the Incident that had caused she and her friends so much pain..
When she finally snapped back to reality, Ginny quickly went to focus her gaze on Harry and Lorelei, inwardly chiding herself for forgetting and getting lost in the past again. But when she went to look, Harry was gone and Lorelei had snagged herself a new partner, Seamus Finnagan. Where, then, was--
"Punch?" asked a familiar voice above her. Ginny craned her neck to see who it was, and lo and behold, there was a bespectacled pair of green eyes twinkling down at her. The same eyes that had just been on Lorelei Campbell were now fixed upon her. Ginny felt her stomach come alive with butterflies.
Ginny put a hand to her throat and yelped, "Harry, you scared me!"
He smirked slightly. "Sorry," he said, shifting his weight from one leg to another. He looked as though he thought it was funny, however. He was holding two punch glasses in his hands. "Punch?" he offered again. He held out one of the glasses of bright pink liquid.
Ginny hardened, unwilling to forgive him so quickly. "Isn't that for Lorelei?"
"No, it's for you. Why?" Harry inquired. A lock of his messy black hair fell over his eyes and Ginny couldn't help but think how cute it was. She wished she could just melt into his embrace.
"You've only been all over each other all night," Ginny said, however, because had she melted into his embrace, she would have made Harry spill punch all over Grandfather Weasley, who was snoring nearby. Harry replied while she was thinking of that.
"That's only because Mrs. Weasley asked me to be nice to her because she only knew her family, out of all of the guests. So I just took her around, introduced her to a few people, and voila- alone once more," chuckled Harry. Ginny blushed. She had been fooled. "Now," Harry continued, "are you going to have this punch or not?"
She took the glass he offered and, using his free hand, Harry pulled a chair next to her.
"Great wedding, huh?" Harry asked Ginny, who was now wondering what on earth to say now that she had Harry Potter sitting next to her. She was thankful that he had started the conversation.
Ginny replied, "Yes, I was wondering if Ron and Hermione would ever manage to tie the knot, with all of the arguing that went on beforehand."
"Actually, all those catastrophes were quite funny to me," said Harry, taking a sip of his punch.
Ginny sighed, exasperated, and raised her eyes to the ceiling, heaving a sigh. "Harry Potter, I should have known that you would think so." Then she almost slapped herself for being so matronly.
However, she privately agreed with Harry that the events preceding the wedding were amusing. Ron had refused to be married anywhere but Scotland, in the little ancestral church that had seen all Weasley weddings since the year 988. Hermione, although seeing Ron's point, had objected, pointing out that it would be expensive. They had to save all of the money they had until Hermione could secure a teaching position and Ron could finish Auror training. To make it possible for them to be married in Scotland, Harry had gone around to all of their relatives, teachers, and old school friends and collected money for them. If it weren't for Harry, they wouldn't be there in the first place.
But that was only Catastrophe #1. After it, Hermione had tried to make Ron and all of the other ushers to wear tuxedos instead of dress robes so as not to make her Muggle guests uncomfortable. Ron had flat-out refused and Hermione had stomped up to Ginny's room and had evaded coming out for three days. Finally Ron had gone up to the room and talked her out of her little mood. Needless to say, Hermione had given up on the tuxedos.
But to put a little obstinate flair into her bridesmaids, she had had the bridesmaids buy matching dark green Muggle dresses-green to correspond with Scotland's scenery and Muggle to show that she was still stubborn.
Following this, there had been countless littler arguments about things like what color to make the invitations, what month to have the wedding, and whether or not to invite Draco Malfoy.
As a matter of fact, they had invited Draco Malfoy, thanks to Hermione's relentless persisting that Draco actually wasn't as bad as everyone thought. She had found this out during the Incident. Although Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had all been there for the Incident, only Hermione had come out of it liking Draco, who had also been involved.
Draco stood now, in a shady corner, wearing robes of deep black velvet. He was inspecting his newly manicured nails while he watched Hermione and Ron dance wildly around the dance floor. They whirled about in uncontrollable circles. The crowd had backed off to the edge of the floor to give them space. The couple was holding hands as they spun; Hermione was leaned way far backward and her head was thrown carelessly back as well. The lilt of her laugh could be heard throughout the whole room as her curls fought themselves free of the bun they had been pulled into. Ron gazed at her in admiration, leading her around and around and around, never getting dizzy, just lost in looking at her. He was laughing, too, however. Gradually, Ron pulled her back up toward him and their unruly twirling turned into a calm sort of revolving as they slowly spun with their arms locked around each other.
Hermione was the only reason that Draco had come to this wedding. There had been a sort of silent bond between them ever since the Incident. The Incident was never mentioned, and marked the death of Voldemort and the return of something much worse.
A slow song started, and Draco stopped his train of thought for a second as he saw that almost everyone was dancing to the song. He, of course, would never dance with anyone here. He was lucky to have been able to escape, and if his father found out that he was here, Draco might be left out of the Malfoy family tree. Or chopped, so to speak.
Over on the other side of the room, Harry Potter asked Ginny Weasley quietly, "So, do you want to dance?" He blushed crazily, but only he knew this, as the lights in the room had been dimmed. He was relieved when Ginny accepted.
"Of course," she replied. Harry stood and offered her his hand. Ginny took it and Harry led her onto the dance floor, where they swayed slowly with the beat of the song. Ginny rested her head on Harry's shoulder and Harry held her close. Once, however, Ginny caught Harry look at Hermione briefly with a sad look upon his face, a look that made her sense that he was far off, back in the past. As he well should be, Ginny chided herself. After what they put each other through all those years ago, after what could be.after what had been. That was, until the Incident had gone and happened. She wondered whether or not she should just give up, untangle herself from Harry's arms and ultimately move on. Then, she thought, he just needs time to move on. They went through a lot, and though it was eleven years ago, we all still need to recover.
That's what it's always been, thought Draco in his dark corner. Potter and Weasley, Potter and Hermione, Potter and Ginny. All of them were always together. Since the Incident, they had all been together even more than usual. Ever since the Incident had come to be, since it had tied them all up into it. Since it had forced a connection between Draco and the rest, when it was clear that they had wanted nothing to do with each other. But that had not been for them to decide. Voldemort had decided for them.
It had happened eleven years ago, when Draco, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were in their sixth year at school and Ginny in her fifth. And one can only imagine what causes them all to wake up from a nightmare, doused in cold sweat, even after eleven years...
A/N: Thanks for reading this! I made it more descriptive and tried to convey the impact of the Incident with more hard-hitting subjects, like the paragraph about Hermione's nightmares. I want to make sure you understand just how much this Incident is going to matter to them.
x
A/N: I edited this, I explained it at the bottom in case it's your first time reading this, don't want to give anything away! So please, by all means, read and review! I'd love to hear your comments!
Voldemort's Worst Scandal
Prologue
Ginny Weasley sat, motionless and stoic, in the gilded, red plush chair. Her arms and legs were folded; her brows were furrowed. Her stony gaze was fixed upon two people and two people alone. These two waltzing people were special to Ginny, more special than the rest of the dancing couples, more important at the moment, even, than the bride and groom. All that mattered was that she keep watching these two, Harry Potter with Lorelei Campbell, that she keep the beat of the song they were dancing to synchronized with her own heart.
Lorelei Campbell was only invited to the wedding of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger for one reason. Mrs. Weasley had insisted that they invite her, although the family had previously ignored her (unintentionally). The Weasleys had only just discovered that Lorelei existed, because she was the daughter of the only two Muggle Weasleys (with whom they had no contact): Mrs. Weasley's cousins were accountants who had ended up with a witch for a daughter. Lorelei, the daughter, looked nothing like the rest of the Weasley family; the red hair that made a Weasley stand out in a crowd was lost in her. She didn't even have the same last name, seeing as she was from Mrs. Weasley's side of the family. And, Ginny thought, it's all thanks to my mother's sympathetic side that brought her, and I've lost Harry to her.
Now, all of a sudden, Harry seemed only to have eyes for Lorelei, and it broke Ginny's heart to see this happening. She had told herself all those years ago that she was long over Harry, that he was just a childhood crush. And then she had started dating other Hogwarts students. But one day Ginny had realized that deep down, she really loved Harry Potter and had only dated others to make up for what she wanted.
But then came Lorelei, with her long, curly blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and perfect complexion; Lorelei with her short black dress, tan skin, high heels. Lorelei had ruby-red lips that shimmered in the dim light. Of course Harry would prefer Lorelei Campbell to Ginny's red curls, pale complexion, and freckles. Lorelei was a dream, and Ginny was just...there. Ron's little sister.
Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her deep green maid-of-honor dress. Harry was Ron's best man. Ginny was Hermione's maid of honor. Shouldn't they dance together? Shouldn't that be made a custom? She almost laughed out loud at the thought of herself going forth before the Ministry of Magic and announcing her proposition to make best men and maids-of-honor at weddings dance together.
Over the months since Ron and Hermione announced their engagement, Hermione had been like a sister to Ginny. Hermione had moved into the Burrow, sharing a room with Ginny, and there had been many a night when Mrs. Weasley had had to come in and scold them for talking until all hours. Ginny and Harry had also become close, just from the simple fact that he had been at the Burrow at least once a day every day since before the engagement. He had helped to plan things and run small errands. Ginny's brother, Fred, had once remarked that suddenly the Burrow had become "Wedding of the Year Headquarters," what with all of the people Apparating in and out at random points throughout the day.
Lost in thought, Ginny's eyes had strayed to the other couples dancing. There were her parents, her brother Bill and Fleur Delacour, her brother Fred and Angelina Johnson, her brother George and Alicia Spinnet, Ron and Hermione, of course..
She had to keep a horrible memory from entering her mind. With everything that had happened in the past, it was hard to keep her thoughts averted from the tragedies. Ron and Hermione's wedding had been a way for everyone to relax, to learn to put the past behind them. But while it had been easier for the wizarding world and for everyone else, it had been much harder for those who had been directly related to this incident to be able to just forget.
Ginny remembered the months of sleepless nights followed by, worse, the months of nightmares that had haunted her by night and memories that had tortured her by day. Ron had been the same way, although he had managed to control it better and keep it more discreet.
With Hermione, things had been much, much worse, of course. She had had the nightmares by night, the memories by day, and had suffered such a loss; it was unbelievable. Before the wedding, while Hermione was living at the Burrow years after the Incident, sometimes the household had been awakened to one of Hermione's nightmarish screams. Everyone would crash into her bedroom to find the normally cool and composed Hermione Granger reduced to a sobbing ball of fear. Mrs. Weasley would crush her into a hug and then run off to make some tea while Ron would enfold his fiancée into his arms and attempt to console her. Her agony was overwhelming, and yet, compared to the others, she had gained something else, although clearly her loss still pained her.
Harry had suffered the same nightmares, the same memories, and a loss equivalent to Hermione's, but he, like Ron, was able to keep it quietly to himself. Draco, however.no one ever knew what Draco Malfoy was feeling, no one but Hermione. Ginny inwardly cursed the Incident that had caused she and her friends so much pain..
When she finally snapped back to reality, Ginny quickly went to focus her gaze on Harry and Lorelei, inwardly chiding herself for forgetting and getting lost in the past again. But when she went to look, Harry was gone and Lorelei had snagged herself a new partner, Seamus Finnagan. Where, then, was--
"Punch?" asked a familiar voice above her. Ginny craned her neck to see who it was, and lo and behold, there was a bespectacled pair of green eyes twinkling down at her. The same eyes that had just been on Lorelei Campbell were now fixed upon her. Ginny felt her stomach come alive with butterflies.
Ginny put a hand to her throat and yelped, "Harry, you scared me!"
He smirked slightly. "Sorry," he said, shifting his weight from one leg to another. He looked as though he thought it was funny, however. He was holding two punch glasses in his hands. "Punch?" he offered again. He held out one of the glasses of bright pink liquid.
Ginny hardened, unwilling to forgive him so quickly. "Isn't that for Lorelei?"
"No, it's for you. Why?" Harry inquired. A lock of his messy black hair fell over his eyes and Ginny couldn't help but think how cute it was. She wished she could just melt into his embrace.
"You've only been all over each other all night," Ginny said, however, because had she melted into his embrace, she would have made Harry spill punch all over Grandfather Weasley, who was snoring nearby. Harry replied while she was thinking of that.
"That's only because Mrs. Weasley asked me to be nice to her because she only knew her family, out of all of the guests. So I just took her around, introduced her to a few people, and voila- alone once more," chuckled Harry. Ginny blushed. She had been fooled. "Now," Harry continued, "are you going to have this punch or not?"
She took the glass he offered and, using his free hand, Harry pulled a chair next to her.
"Great wedding, huh?" Harry asked Ginny, who was now wondering what on earth to say now that she had Harry Potter sitting next to her. She was thankful that he had started the conversation.
Ginny replied, "Yes, I was wondering if Ron and Hermione would ever manage to tie the knot, with all of the arguing that went on beforehand."
"Actually, all those catastrophes were quite funny to me," said Harry, taking a sip of his punch.
Ginny sighed, exasperated, and raised her eyes to the ceiling, heaving a sigh. "Harry Potter, I should have known that you would think so." Then she almost slapped herself for being so matronly.
However, she privately agreed with Harry that the events preceding the wedding were amusing. Ron had refused to be married anywhere but Scotland, in the little ancestral church that had seen all Weasley weddings since the year 988. Hermione, although seeing Ron's point, had objected, pointing out that it would be expensive. They had to save all of the money they had until Hermione could secure a teaching position and Ron could finish Auror training. To make it possible for them to be married in Scotland, Harry had gone around to all of their relatives, teachers, and old school friends and collected money for them. If it weren't for Harry, they wouldn't be there in the first place.
But that was only Catastrophe #1. After it, Hermione had tried to make Ron and all of the other ushers to wear tuxedos instead of dress robes so as not to make her Muggle guests uncomfortable. Ron had flat-out refused and Hermione had stomped up to Ginny's room and had evaded coming out for three days. Finally Ron had gone up to the room and talked her out of her little mood. Needless to say, Hermione had given up on the tuxedos.
But to put a little obstinate flair into her bridesmaids, she had had the bridesmaids buy matching dark green Muggle dresses-green to correspond with Scotland's scenery and Muggle to show that she was still stubborn.
Following this, there had been countless littler arguments about things like what color to make the invitations, what month to have the wedding, and whether or not to invite Draco Malfoy.
As a matter of fact, they had invited Draco Malfoy, thanks to Hermione's relentless persisting that Draco actually wasn't as bad as everyone thought. She had found this out during the Incident. Although Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had all been there for the Incident, only Hermione had come out of it liking Draco, who had also been involved.
Draco stood now, in a shady corner, wearing robes of deep black velvet. He was inspecting his newly manicured nails while he watched Hermione and Ron dance wildly around the dance floor. They whirled about in uncontrollable circles. The crowd had backed off to the edge of the floor to give them space. The couple was holding hands as they spun; Hermione was leaned way far backward and her head was thrown carelessly back as well. The lilt of her laugh could be heard throughout the whole room as her curls fought themselves free of the bun they had been pulled into. Ron gazed at her in admiration, leading her around and around and around, never getting dizzy, just lost in looking at her. He was laughing, too, however. Gradually, Ron pulled her back up toward him and their unruly twirling turned into a calm sort of revolving as they slowly spun with their arms locked around each other.
Hermione was the only reason that Draco had come to this wedding. There had been a sort of silent bond between them ever since the Incident. The Incident was never mentioned, and marked the death of Voldemort and the return of something much worse.
A slow song started, and Draco stopped his train of thought for a second as he saw that almost everyone was dancing to the song. He, of course, would never dance with anyone here. He was lucky to have been able to escape, and if his father found out that he was here, Draco might be left out of the Malfoy family tree. Or chopped, so to speak.
Over on the other side of the room, Harry Potter asked Ginny Weasley quietly, "So, do you want to dance?" He blushed crazily, but only he knew this, as the lights in the room had been dimmed. He was relieved when Ginny accepted.
"Of course," she replied. Harry stood and offered her his hand. Ginny took it and Harry led her onto the dance floor, where they swayed slowly with the beat of the song. Ginny rested her head on Harry's shoulder and Harry held her close. Once, however, Ginny caught Harry look at Hermione briefly with a sad look upon his face, a look that made her sense that he was far off, back in the past. As he well should be, Ginny chided herself. After what they put each other through all those years ago, after what could be.after what had been. That was, until the Incident had gone and happened. She wondered whether or not she should just give up, untangle herself from Harry's arms and ultimately move on. Then, she thought, he just needs time to move on. They went through a lot, and though it was eleven years ago, we all still need to recover.
That's what it's always been, thought Draco in his dark corner. Potter and Weasley, Potter and Hermione, Potter and Ginny. All of them were always together. Since the Incident, they had all been together even more than usual. Ever since the Incident had come to be, since it had tied them all up into it. Since it had forced a connection between Draco and the rest, when it was clear that they had wanted nothing to do with each other. But that had not been for them to decide. Voldemort had decided for them.
It had happened eleven years ago, when Draco, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were in their sixth year at school and Ginny in her fifth. And one can only imagine what causes them all to wake up from a nightmare, doused in cold sweat, even after eleven years...
A/N: Thanks for reading this! I made it more descriptive and tried to convey the impact of the Incident with more hard-hitting subjects, like the paragraph about Hermione's nightmares. I want to make sure you understand just how much this Incident is going to matter to them.
x
