Through the Cracks: Part 4
Chapter 4: Great Expectations
Disclaimer: yeah yeah.. I don't own them.
***
Turning the color of a ripe raspberry, she shook her head and mumbled a barely inaudible response. "Not really." She turned away from his gaze, staring out the window. She found another pair of eyes staring back from the street corner.
***
Ginny recognized the lone figure on the sidewalk, and she knew all too well the glint in his immaculate gray eyes. Her eyes were wide and she quickly turned away from the window. She felt almost sick. Her head throbbed and she was feeling rather dizzy.
"Gin, you feeling alright? You look kinda.well. bad." Ginny knew that Ron always meant well, even when his vocabulary was lacking. It took her a while to calm down, the drum of her heartbeat was slowly calming, but the feeling didn't recede quite as easily. She couldn't quite place the feeling, but it was fairly evident that it was going to stick around for a while.
"Yeah. I'll be ok." She took a breath. "Can we . Can we go? Do you think? Maybe?" She mumbled on into silence. Hermione looked at Ginny, then at Ron and Harry, and then back to Ginny.
"Yeah, Gin, we can go." Ginny realized that the three of them were giving her very peculiar looks. She rose from the booth, and all but threw herself through the door, leaving the others to catch up with her. The cold air hit Ginny full on; it stung as it filled her lungs. She shivered as a few stray snowflakes crowned her ringlets. She heard the hard crunch of snow behind her, as Harry appeared. Ron and Hermione were ambling along a ways behind him.
"You sure you're all right Ginny?" Harry was still pulling on his cloak. His fingertips slipped on the silver fastening several times before he got it clasped. She smiled weakly and was suddenly overcome with another wave of vertigo.
"I'm feeling a lot better actually." She felt the earth move under her feet and sudden cold spread through her veins. "I'll just need to sit down for a bit." She felt her knees buckle just as she collapsed onto the nearest hard surface, which happened to be an enchanted fountain of Artemis bewitched to constantly spout miniature glowing bubbles. Harry grinned his crooked smile, not sure whether he should be worried.
Ginny took another deep breath and focused on the glossy green bubbles that were hovering around her elbow. Harry had sat down next to her, and she was trying furiously to keep from blushing, although in this weather it was hard to decipher from frostbite. Hermione came rushing up, dragging Ron along behind her. Her nose was scarlet from the cold, and it seemed that Ron was slowly becoming a single shade of red.
"Everything a'ight Gin?" Ron seemed perhaps a bit punch drunk-or it was Ginny's impression that he was. She nodded. She was about to say something, she hadn't figured out what yet, when Harry interrupted her.
"-Why don't you guys go and save a carriage for us, I'm just gonna wait with Gin until she's feelin' a bit better." An odd feeling struck Ginny. She didn't want Harry to stay. To him, she'd always be an obligation as Ron's little sister. She furrowed her eyebrow in protest.
"I'm feeling quite well, actually. Just got a bit dizzy." Her remark was laced with contempt as she regained composure. Ginny stood up, glaring at Harry; she did not want to be deemed invalid by anyone, especially him. Gathering her strength, she began to walk once more, leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione to catch up.
Which they did. Harry trotted along beside her. With his big green eyes and shaggy hair, he reminded Ginny intensely of a puppy whose paws were still a bit big for it's body.
"Hey Gin, I didn't mean it like that." He hesitated. "D'you think I could talk to you for a minute?"
"And what would you call this?" Hermione looked at Ginny with surprise. To her it seemed that Ginny was being spiteful. For a moment, Ginny reminded her of.No. Hermione was not going to compare one of her closest friends to someone who reveled in making a mockery out of Harry, purely for entertainment. But that's exactly what it seemed Ginny was doing.
"I mean, could we talk, somewhere? In private?" Harry's eyes were pleading. He looked at Hermione in confusion, and then turned back to face Ginny.
Ginny shrugged. She wondered how Harry liked to be treated like he didn't exist. She knew about how the Muggles had treated him, he had spoke of it on a rare occasion. She also was quite aware of how his head had inflated quite a bit. With his still persistent, and never wavering level of fame, Harry was usually so humble, but not lately; not with hundreds of girls willing to do anything to go to the ball with him.
"I don't know why not." Ginny wrapped her finger around one of her rogue curls, tugging at it offhandedly.
Harry had stopped trudging through the slush, as did Ginny. Ron had his arm around Hermione, and they continued onward. Ron glanced over Hermione's shoulder at Harry. Even if he was his best friend, Ron was still quite protective of his little sister. Hermione urged him to quit eavesdropping and pulled him along towards the seemingly endless line of carriages.
"Listen, Ginny, I was wondering.seeing as how both of us .well, neither of us have." He was fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve. "Would you like to, well .would you consider?" He coughed nervously and dug his heel in the snow. Ginny smiled. The infallible Harry Potter was at a loss for words.
Ginny couldn't waste a golden opportunity like this. "Would I consider?" She mocked puzzlement with a sly grin on her face. Harry laughed and finally turned his gaze from the sleeve to Ginny.
"Obviously I've been going about this all wrong," he said taking a deep breath. "Ok. Ginny. Wannagototheballwithme?" He exhaled quickly.
"Excuse me?" It sounded like Harry had been speaking a foreign language- Gibberish perhaps.
In an odd detached voice, he responded. "Ginny, Would you be my date for the ball tomorrow night?" As an afterthought he added, "And advise any and all of your brothers not to kill me on sight?"
She smiled. Harry had a double threat going for him. Since Charlie had acquired a position as Assistant Gamekeeper, and Ron had always exercised his persistent position of Primary Sister-Keeper, Harry would have an interesting conversation or two with them both.
"Yes, Harry. Sounds lovely." An awkward silence enveloped the tension between the two of them. Harry flashed a smile, exposing his pearly whites. Ginny noted that he probably used that kind of smile for the countless, and unexpected photo shoots from tourists and Witch Weekly photographers.
"All right then. Well I suppose, we should be going. It's getting rather late." His voice was rough, as if he had swallowed a frog. Ginny nodded and the pair followed the now barely visible footprints towards the carriages.
---
Draco had been hoping for a carriage all to himself when he was shoved into a coach with Malcolm Baddock, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. Blaise and Pansy sat in the opposite seat, twittering incessantly about nothing. Malcolm's eyes were closed; he was dead asleep.
'Stupid Git,' thought Draco. 'He's been dumb enough to be bored to death by these two ninnies. He should've invested in some earmuffs. I think a nice pink frilly pair would suit him well. I would opt for a nice black pair myself. And bloody hell, if Pansy puts on any more perfume I think I may throw her to the Blast Ended Skrewts myself.' He settled into his seat, closing his own eyes and trying to block out the brainless chatter.
He knew Ginny Weasley had seen him outside the window of the Three Broomsticks, and to tell the truth, he hadn't cared much. The first thought that had crossed his mind was as to how she had come by his mother's necklace. By her having something that he wanted, she held leverage over him, even without her knowing it. The second thought that came to his mind was of a few lazy snowflakes still lingering on her cheek, mixing in sharp contrast to her freckles. And how.Draco stopped himself. If he was going to concentrate on the important matter of how to retrieve the necklace from Weasley, he couldn't be thinking about all of her freckles. In the back of his mind he knew that he had to get it back, it wasn't necessarily a conscious decision, it was engrained into his mind. And the fact that she had exactly 53 freckles scattered across her flawless cheekbones was not important. 54, he had forgotten the one in the corner of her left eye.
'Goddammit, Draco, get a hold on yourself.' Internally he kicked himself, as he usually did, his psyche gave him a black eye as well, for dwelling on the precise number of freckles the girl had. 'This is going to take some more thought.' He engrossed himself in his mind, trying to block out Ginny's face in his mind's eye. If he was going to get back a part of his mother, he would have to ignore the fact that he obviously found her attractive, and that he knew she had freckles in the constellation of Leo on the back of her neck. Yes, he had to forget the freckles. No matter how appealing he found them.
---
Ginny watched the snow tear past the windows. Ron had started to snore lightly after he beat Harry at a game of wizard's chess. Of course, Harry had begun snoring halfway through the game, but after being kicked in the shin by Ron, he had been able to hold off sleep until the game had finished. With the two males -Ginny didn't want to call them Alpha males, they were more like. well, she didn't know, but they definitely weren't Alpha-sound asleep, Hermione had produced a book from her bag and was now grossly absorbed into the hidden meanings of Stonehenge or something of that nature. This left Ginny with nobody to talk to, and she wasn't exactly inspired to attempt a sketch at the moment. The candelabras in the carriage were nearly extinguished, and only a sliver of moonlight lit the path of the coach.
Ginny reviewed the night's events. 'Nothing too special,' she thought. 'Now I have a dress and a date for the ball.' In the back of her mind, she felt a bittersweet pang, and a sinking feeling. This was what she had wanted for six years, she had wanted Harry to see her as more than Ron's little sister, constantly in need of rescue from a 16-year-old Tom Riddle and big fangy snakes. 'Now at least,' her line of thought continued, "I don't have to follow him around, begging for his attention.' Then she felt alarmingly smug. She knew of about 400 other girls who would have died to be her in this instant.
Then, disregarding her schoolgirl fantasies, she paused for a moment. 'If this is what I've always wanted, then why doesn't it seem to matter anymore?'
Ginny closed her eyes and rested her head against the chill of the glass, letting the rock of the carriage lull her to sleep.
A/N: viola! Another chapter completed and It's finally getting easier to attempt filler. I've got angst on a silver platter coming up, so please review and let me know any suggestions, whatsoever. And no, Draco's not going to be the sensitive-inner songwriter-type, this was just momentary relapse. Also, I think Malcolm's last name is Baddock, anyone know for sure?
Alrighty, enough rambling on my part, I'll just stop now. Yes. Now. * ahem* - ry
Disclaimer: yeah yeah.. I don't own them.
***
Turning the color of a ripe raspberry, she shook her head and mumbled a barely inaudible response. "Not really." She turned away from his gaze, staring out the window. She found another pair of eyes staring back from the street corner.
***
Ginny recognized the lone figure on the sidewalk, and she knew all too well the glint in his immaculate gray eyes. Her eyes were wide and she quickly turned away from the window. She felt almost sick. Her head throbbed and she was feeling rather dizzy.
"Gin, you feeling alright? You look kinda.well. bad." Ginny knew that Ron always meant well, even when his vocabulary was lacking. It took her a while to calm down, the drum of her heartbeat was slowly calming, but the feeling didn't recede quite as easily. She couldn't quite place the feeling, but it was fairly evident that it was going to stick around for a while.
"Yeah. I'll be ok." She took a breath. "Can we . Can we go? Do you think? Maybe?" She mumbled on into silence. Hermione looked at Ginny, then at Ron and Harry, and then back to Ginny.
"Yeah, Gin, we can go." Ginny realized that the three of them were giving her very peculiar looks. She rose from the booth, and all but threw herself through the door, leaving the others to catch up with her. The cold air hit Ginny full on; it stung as it filled her lungs. She shivered as a few stray snowflakes crowned her ringlets. She heard the hard crunch of snow behind her, as Harry appeared. Ron and Hermione were ambling along a ways behind him.
"You sure you're all right Ginny?" Harry was still pulling on his cloak. His fingertips slipped on the silver fastening several times before he got it clasped. She smiled weakly and was suddenly overcome with another wave of vertigo.
"I'm feeling a lot better actually." She felt the earth move under her feet and sudden cold spread through her veins. "I'll just need to sit down for a bit." She felt her knees buckle just as she collapsed onto the nearest hard surface, which happened to be an enchanted fountain of Artemis bewitched to constantly spout miniature glowing bubbles. Harry grinned his crooked smile, not sure whether he should be worried.
Ginny took another deep breath and focused on the glossy green bubbles that were hovering around her elbow. Harry had sat down next to her, and she was trying furiously to keep from blushing, although in this weather it was hard to decipher from frostbite. Hermione came rushing up, dragging Ron along behind her. Her nose was scarlet from the cold, and it seemed that Ron was slowly becoming a single shade of red.
"Everything a'ight Gin?" Ron seemed perhaps a bit punch drunk-or it was Ginny's impression that he was. She nodded. She was about to say something, she hadn't figured out what yet, when Harry interrupted her.
"-Why don't you guys go and save a carriage for us, I'm just gonna wait with Gin until she's feelin' a bit better." An odd feeling struck Ginny. She didn't want Harry to stay. To him, she'd always be an obligation as Ron's little sister. She furrowed her eyebrow in protest.
"I'm feeling quite well, actually. Just got a bit dizzy." Her remark was laced with contempt as she regained composure. Ginny stood up, glaring at Harry; she did not want to be deemed invalid by anyone, especially him. Gathering her strength, she began to walk once more, leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione to catch up.
Which they did. Harry trotted along beside her. With his big green eyes and shaggy hair, he reminded Ginny intensely of a puppy whose paws were still a bit big for it's body.
"Hey Gin, I didn't mean it like that." He hesitated. "D'you think I could talk to you for a minute?"
"And what would you call this?" Hermione looked at Ginny with surprise. To her it seemed that Ginny was being spiteful. For a moment, Ginny reminded her of.No. Hermione was not going to compare one of her closest friends to someone who reveled in making a mockery out of Harry, purely for entertainment. But that's exactly what it seemed Ginny was doing.
"I mean, could we talk, somewhere? In private?" Harry's eyes were pleading. He looked at Hermione in confusion, and then turned back to face Ginny.
Ginny shrugged. She wondered how Harry liked to be treated like he didn't exist. She knew about how the Muggles had treated him, he had spoke of it on a rare occasion. She also was quite aware of how his head had inflated quite a bit. With his still persistent, and never wavering level of fame, Harry was usually so humble, but not lately; not with hundreds of girls willing to do anything to go to the ball with him.
"I don't know why not." Ginny wrapped her finger around one of her rogue curls, tugging at it offhandedly.
Harry had stopped trudging through the slush, as did Ginny. Ron had his arm around Hermione, and they continued onward. Ron glanced over Hermione's shoulder at Harry. Even if he was his best friend, Ron was still quite protective of his little sister. Hermione urged him to quit eavesdropping and pulled him along towards the seemingly endless line of carriages.
"Listen, Ginny, I was wondering.seeing as how both of us .well, neither of us have." He was fidgeting with the hem of his sleeve. "Would you like to, well .would you consider?" He coughed nervously and dug his heel in the snow. Ginny smiled. The infallible Harry Potter was at a loss for words.
Ginny couldn't waste a golden opportunity like this. "Would I consider?" She mocked puzzlement with a sly grin on her face. Harry laughed and finally turned his gaze from the sleeve to Ginny.
"Obviously I've been going about this all wrong," he said taking a deep breath. "Ok. Ginny. Wannagototheballwithme?" He exhaled quickly.
"Excuse me?" It sounded like Harry had been speaking a foreign language- Gibberish perhaps.
In an odd detached voice, he responded. "Ginny, Would you be my date for the ball tomorrow night?" As an afterthought he added, "And advise any and all of your brothers not to kill me on sight?"
She smiled. Harry had a double threat going for him. Since Charlie had acquired a position as Assistant Gamekeeper, and Ron had always exercised his persistent position of Primary Sister-Keeper, Harry would have an interesting conversation or two with them both.
"Yes, Harry. Sounds lovely." An awkward silence enveloped the tension between the two of them. Harry flashed a smile, exposing his pearly whites. Ginny noted that he probably used that kind of smile for the countless, and unexpected photo shoots from tourists and Witch Weekly photographers.
"All right then. Well I suppose, we should be going. It's getting rather late." His voice was rough, as if he had swallowed a frog. Ginny nodded and the pair followed the now barely visible footprints towards the carriages.
---
Draco had been hoping for a carriage all to himself when he was shoved into a coach with Malcolm Baddock, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. Blaise and Pansy sat in the opposite seat, twittering incessantly about nothing. Malcolm's eyes were closed; he was dead asleep.
'Stupid Git,' thought Draco. 'He's been dumb enough to be bored to death by these two ninnies. He should've invested in some earmuffs. I think a nice pink frilly pair would suit him well. I would opt for a nice black pair myself. And bloody hell, if Pansy puts on any more perfume I think I may throw her to the Blast Ended Skrewts myself.' He settled into his seat, closing his own eyes and trying to block out the brainless chatter.
He knew Ginny Weasley had seen him outside the window of the Three Broomsticks, and to tell the truth, he hadn't cared much. The first thought that had crossed his mind was as to how she had come by his mother's necklace. By her having something that he wanted, she held leverage over him, even without her knowing it. The second thought that came to his mind was of a few lazy snowflakes still lingering on her cheek, mixing in sharp contrast to her freckles. And how.Draco stopped himself. If he was going to concentrate on the important matter of how to retrieve the necklace from Weasley, he couldn't be thinking about all of her freckles. In the back of his mind he knew that he had to get it back, it wasn't necessarily a conscious decision, it was engrained into his mind. And the fact that she had exactly 53 freckles scattered across her flawless cheekbones was not important. 54, he had forgotten the one in the corner of her left eye.
'Goddammit, Draco, get a hold on yourself.' Internally he kicked himself, as he usually did, his psyche gave him a black eye as well, for dwelling on the precise number of freckles the girl had. 'This is going to take some more thought.' He engrossed himself in his mind, trying to block out Ginny's face in his mind's eye. If he was going to get back a part of his mother, he would have to ignore the fact that he obviously found her attractive, and that he knew she had freckles in the constellation of Leo on the back of her neck. Yes, he had to forget the freckles. No matter how appealing he found them.
---
Ginny watched the snow tear past the windows. Ron had started to snore lightly after he beat Harry at a game of wizard's chess. Of course, Harry had begun snoring halfway through the game, but after being kicked in the shin by Ron, he had been able to hold off sleep until the game had finished. With the two males -Ginny didn't want to call them Alpha males, they were more like. well, she didn't know, but they definitely weren't Alpha-sound asleep, Hermione had produced a book from her bag and was now grossly absorbed into the hidden meanings of Stonehenge or something of that nature. This left Ginny with nobody to talk to, and she wasn't exactly inspired to attempt a sketch at the moment. The candelabras in the carriage were nearly extinguished, and only a sliver of moonlight lit the path of the coach.
Ginny reviewed the night's events. 'Nothing too special,' she thought. 'Now I have a dress and a date for the ball.' In the back of her mind, she felt a bittersweet pang, and a sinking feeling. This was what she had wanted for six years, she had wanted Harry to see her as more than Ron's little sister, constantly in need of rescue from a 16-year-old Tom Riddle and big fangy snakes. 'Now at least,' her line of thought continued, "I don't have to follow him around, begging for his attention.' Then she felt alarmingly smug. She knew of about 400 other girls who would have died to be her in this instant.
Then, disregarding her schoolgirl fantasies, she paused for a moment. 'If this is what I've always wanted, then why doesn't it seem to matter anymore?'
Ginny closed her eyes and rested her head against the chill of the glass, letting the rock of the carriage lull her to sleep.
A/N: viola! Another chapter completed and It's finally getting easier to attempt filler. I've got angst on a silver platter coming up, so please review and let me know any suggestions, whatsoever. And no, Draco's not going to be the sensitive-inner songwriter-type, this was just momentary relapse. Also, I think Malcolm's last name is Baddock, anyone know for sure?
Alrighty, enough rambling on my part, I'll just stop now. Yes. Now. * ahem* - ry