Things Change
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything, but I definitely own this piece of writing! J.K Rowling owns all the characters and stuff. I do, however, own her 'friends' and some more new characters that'll appear later on, and the plot is ALL MINE!
A/N Ohmigod, chapter three is here!
I'm on the phone to my mate Ali at the mo; he's talking about the naivety of the main character in his novel. It's *really* interesting. No, it is actually. And funny. =) He himself is mister naïve so I don't know what he's going on about.
He's telling me to shut up because I'm singing a song better than him. Heehee.
He has just mentioned radical pie. Ooooooo.
Anyways, this chapter, well, I don't know how the *hell* it's gonna turn out. All very confusing. Basically, I haven't planned any of it, so it will be all mumbly jumbly.
If you don't like that, tough. Also, to the person who said I should read the HP books more, I've read them about twenty times (seriously) and I *know* she hasn't got a picture perfect life, and believe me, she *won't* get one either. Not in this story.
AVRIL LAVIGNE RULES! I'm listening to her album at the moment. Her music always helps me write.
So, here we go with chapter trios.
p.s. Orli Blum is like Orlando Bloom ::drool::
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Ginny stared at her reflection in the fractured floor-length mirror. In place of her school robes were a black skirt and a blouse, with a faded black jacket of her mother's. On her head sat what was, in her opinion, an absolutely ridiculous black hat. She wore a pair of slightly laddered tights, and shoes that didn't quite fit, and she hated it all. It was the outfit her mother wanted her to wear for the funeral. She had picked it out for her, which in Ginny's opinion wasn't fair because all her brothers were wearing what the hell they liked. Bearing in mind they all wanted to wear black suits of course.
Still, Ginny didn't like it, and this was one occasion she wanted to choose something for herself. She felt bad making a fuss, but she had to do it, just this once. What she wore today meant a lot to her, because it would be what she was wearing when she said goodbye to Charlie for the last time, and she wanted it to be special.
Biting her lip, she turned round to her mother, who was standing behind her, and shook her head slightly. Mrs Weasley's face fell, and then looked confused.
"Don't you like it Ginny dear?" she asked.
"It's not that I don't like it...," she lied, picking at the jacket with her fingers. "I just...well, I wanted to wear something that I like and that...that Charlie liked"
"Are you sure?" Mrs Weasley asked. She looked a bit angry now, but as much as Ginny hated upsetting her family, she carried on anyway.
"Yes, I'm...uh, sure. I really would appreciate it if I could wear something of...um, mine, perhaps?" she said, ending up turning her statement into a request.
"Really Ginny, I...you don't really have anything suitable. Your brothers are all wearing suits"
Ginny sighed and clenched her fists beneath the too-long sleeves of the jacket. She was starting to get irritated.
"But mum, they all *want* to wear suits. If you're respecting their wishes, couldn't you respect mine?"
"Dear, I really think that –"
"I don't care what you think!" Ginny suddenly burst out, the frustration becoming too much, but she flung her hand over her mouth as soon as she had spoken. Her mother looked visibly shocked, but this almost immediately turned to rage.
"Virginia Weasley!" she shouted, her face beginning to flush with anger. "How dare you speak to me in such a manner! Be grateful that your father and I have let you wear something that looks nice! We could have made you wear something ridiculous! You should be thankful!"
Suddenly, Ginny decided she didn't care if she'd just been rude to her mother. If her mother could be that closed minded and sexist, then Ginny, to be quite frank, didn't give a damn.
"Something nice?!," She cried, outraged. "How could anybody call *this* NICE?! I hate it, I absolutely hate it!"
Before Ginny knew what was happening, Mrs Weasley had stormed across the room towards her and raised her hand –
"Mum!" Ginny cried before Mrs Weasley could bring her hand down across Ginny's face. Mrs Weasley stopped dead in mid-air, her expression quickly turning to shock as she realised what she had been about to do.
"Ginny...oh, Ginny, I'm so sorry, sweetheart, I'm so sorry" she said, almost whispering she was so upset. Her eyes filled with tears, and then before Ginny could say anything, she fled out of the door and down the stairs. Ginny just stood there against the mirror.
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Ginny sadly picked up the skirt from her bed and put it on over the tights, being careful not to ladder them any more than they already were. She then proceeded to pick up the blouse, but before she could put that on too, she had a sudden thought. Turning to her wardrobe, she opened the doors and rummaged through the small pile of second hand garments before she pulled out a pink spaghetti strap top. It had a small silver 'V' on it, for Virginia. Charlie had brought it back for her from his holiday in Italy when she was thirteen. She quietly slipped it on over her head before putting the black blouse on top.
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"Charlie Weasley was a good person, kind and warm-hearted, close to his family, a polite, well-mannered young man..."
Ginny stopped listening as the vicar droned on and on, tuning out meaningless words. She didn't much care for what the man thought of Charlie. All she wanted to do was remember him, which was what the funeral was supposed to be for in the first place, not listen to some vicar going on about him. Her brothers, on the other hand, were all listening intently, as if the sermon actually meant something. Bill sat on one side of her and Ron on the other, both with tears in their eyes. Ginny's eyes were moist too, but not because of what the vicar was saying. She was thinking about Charlie...
Hey Ginny!" Charlie cried. "Catch!"
Ginny giggled as he threw the Quaffle towards her, reaching out with her little eight year old hands as she tried to catch it. It went high over her head and landed in a bush behind her. Giggling again, she smiled apologetically and stuck her arms in the bush, trying to get the Quaffle out from under it.
"Well done Gin!" cried Fred from the over the garden wall. He jumped over it to join them, George and Ron following closely behind.
"You can't catch Gin," Ron told her matter-of-factly. "You're not very good"
Ginny pouted and crossed her arms.
"Well, neither are you!" she replied crossly. "At least *I* can catch *sometimes*"
Ron glowered at her, but forgot about his anger when Ginny proceeded to drag the Quaffle out from under the bush. She threw it to him, and he dropped it. She grinned, pleased to demonstrate her point so well. Charlie just laughed as he picked up the Quaffle and threw it to Bill, who stood next to him. Bill threw it to Ginny again in one last attempt for her to catch it. She reached up high, stretching out her little arms, jumping upwards. She was almost there; she could almost touch it...
She caught it and rolled over in the long grass, her face flushed with pride as she sat up, grinning from ear to ear.
"I caught it, I caught it!" she cried, holding it up triumphantly. Her brothers all whooped with joy, jumping into the air with glee. Charlie ran over to her and hugged her happily, picking her up in the air and singing her around.
"That was brilliant Gin! Well done! We'll make a proper little Quidditch star out of you yet!" he yelled joyfully, setting her down on the grass and giving her an affectionate squeeze.
And then the tears came. Hot salty droplets running down her cheeks, leaving little rivulets of water on them. She remembered that day like it was yesterday. The memory had always been a happy one before, but now it brought pain with it too. She fiddled with her handkerchief, pulling it taught as she tried to suppress what had become a fast flow of tears.
Bill heard her quiet sobs and put his arm around her. She rested her head against his shoulder, turning her body towards him in a search for comfort. He just hugged her tightly, rubbing her back with his hand and offering her his own handkerchief (hers was drenched in tears). She remained that way for the rest of the funeral, her sobs almost inaudible, but her body shaking so badly that it was obvious she was crying.
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The first time Ginny saw Harry and Hermione was on the Monday after the funeral, when her and Ron went back to school, and she was sitting in the common room after lunch. She had avoided Ron all of that week before the funeral, not really wanting to talk to him, and so had not had a chance to talk to Harry or Hermione. Not that she really talked to Harry anyway, just sort of spluttered and went red. Damn that ridiculous schoolgirl crush. She *still* hadn't got over Harry, even though the fact that it would be a good idea had finally managed to seep into her brain (albeit a little dimly). What she really needed was somebody else to keep her mind off of him...
"Ginny?"
Ginny was broken put of her reverie by a voice which sounded *very* familiar. Looking up, her worst fears were confirmed when she found herself looking into the face of Harry Potter.
"Uh, uh..." she garbled unintelligently, opening and closing her mouth in a rather good imitation of a goldfish.
Harry looked at her as if she was some strange new species he had found smeared on the bottom of his shoe.
"Hi Ginny. I just wanted to say that I'm awfully sorry for you and Ron," he continued, sitting in the armchair across from her. "Hermione agrees with me and sends her compliments"
'Sends her compliments?' Ginny thought to herself, confused. 'Could you get anymore formal?'
"Uh, well, um...thanks, yes, thank you...um..." she managed to say instead, looking down at the floor and turning even more red.
Harry raised his eyebrows, but smiled slightly, before getting up and going to join Hermione and Ron, who were sitting at the window seat, their fingers intertwined between them. Ginny sighed as her eyes followed Harry over to them. If only she could find someone who would love her just as much as Ron loved Hermione.
'If only Harry would...' she thought longingly. She looked over at him again from behind some of her hair, only to find, to her complete and utter distress, Parvati Patil sitting next to him, flirting! And what made it worse was the fact that Harry was flirting back!
Ginny gasped, but immediately berated herself for doing so. 'Don't be ridiculous Ginny, he's Harry Potter! Girls would die just to *flirt* with him, and if it was someone like Parvati, of course he'd flirt back! She's beautiful! What do you expect?'
Hearing the bell ring for lessons, she grabbed her bag and quickly dashed out of the portrait hole, eager to get away from having to see Harry and Parvati pouring over each other. She didn't bother waiting for the other girls, even though she knew they'd be pretty angry when they got to Divination.
She reached the north tower out of breath, like usual, and found she was the first one there. Usually the students walked as slowly as they could to Divination.
Ginny leant against the wall, assuming that the ladder wouldn't come down until the whole class had assembled beneath the trap door, but she was wrong. It came spiralling down from the ceiling almost as soon as her back touched the wall, the trap door opening along with it.
"Come in, Miss Weasley, come in..." came Professor Trelawney's voice, wafting down he stairs from the classroom.
Looking up at the ladder, Ginny frowned, but ascended it anyway. How come Professor Trelawney knew it was her down here? Maybe she had a secret spyglass in the ceiling were she could see everyone down below...
Shrugging, Ginny emerged through the trap door into the sweltering classroom, and saw that, instead of the numerology charts she had expected, there were packets on each table that looked as if they held overly large playing cards.
"Ah, Miss Weasley..."
Professor Trelawney had appeared next to the enormous fireplace, looking even more like an oversized dragonfly than usual.
"I had seen with my inner eye that this morning I would suddenly, without warning, switch to a new form of divining the unyielding fog of the future," she said, her eyes gazing towards the packets on the tables with a faraway look in them. She turned back to Ginny, who was standing by the trap door awkwardly. She had never been alone with Professor Trelawney before, and she was feeling slightly uncomfortable as the only person under her gaze. The professor looked at her expectantly.
"Well, my dear, sit down, sit down..." she said, waving her thin arms towards the pouf Ginny usually occupied. Ginny sat down uneasily, but the packet on her table soon distracted her. It was a vivid purple colour, inlaid with silver Celtic designs that were so complicated and beautiful she felt as if she could get lost in them.
Professor Trelawney noticed her interest in the packet and swooped down next to her.
"You want to know what this is, I presume?" she said, picking the packet up and turning it over in her spindly fingers. "It is one of the more beautiful forms of Divination, my dear. It is..." she paused dramatically. "The Tarot"
Ginny looked at her blankly.
"The Tarot, my dear, the Tarot. You must know of it?" Trelawney said impatiently, putting the packet back down on the table and frowning.
Ginny looked even more blank for a moment, but then...come to think of it, she had heard of the Tarot. Her mother didn't really put much faith in divination, being a practical sort of woman, but she had once mentioned something about Tarot. She had, now Ginny thought about it, seemed rather iffy about the whole thing. 'A load of old nonsense', she had called it.
"Well, um, maybe a *little*" Ginny replied nervously. Professor Trelawney's face looked almost relieved at these words and she quickly reverted back to her old persona.
"Seeing as we have yet to be joined by the other members of your class, who, I have foreseen, will be quite some time" ('could they go any slower?' Ginny thought desperately) "I shall be kind enough to give you a personal lesson"
'Oh bloody hell' Ginny thought, riled. 'Not this. Anything but this'
But her prayers weren't answered.
"Now my dear, if you would be so kind as to open the packet and draw the deck out, we can begin"
Ginny did as she was told. The cards were even more beautiful than the packet, with spiralling designs flowing over the back. She turned them over so they were facing up and saw, not numbers as she had expected, but a picture. It was of a man in a colourful jester's suit dancing around on some clouds. There was an ornate '0' underneath the picture.
"Ah, now that, my dear, is The Fool, the first card in the Major Arcana. He is unnumbered and can replace any card in the deck. But beware, for he is the spirit of chaos, of the unexpected!" Trelawney cried dramatically, waving her hands around in the air. "He has a positive side, of course" she added, but she quickly skimmed over it and went on to the negative. "But if you draw this card there will be folly, madness! Look before you leap, my dear!"
Ginny groaned inwardly. Professor Trelawney was such a pessimist, and Ginny suspected she rather enjoyed it.
Professor Trelawney took her through some more of the cards and their (negative) meanings, before suddenly clapping her hands, making Ginny jump.
"The rest of the class!" she said in fluttery voice, floating over to the trap door and opening it with a wand. Ginny didn't even know Professor Trelawney *had* a wand, she used it so little.
"Welcome students" she said in her misty voice as they climbed up the ladder. "Although you are all late, I had already seen this unfortunate event with my inner eye, and you will all be excused. We cannot fight the journey of the fates"
The class sat down in their usual places around the tables and Professor Trelawney began explaining the 'mysteries of the Tarot', as she put it. Lara, Ana, Lizzie and Sophie all seemed to be in a mood with her, but they still sat on the same table. She smiled apologetically as they got their stuff out.
When Professor Trelawney had finished explaining about all the cards and the suits and the court cards (A/N The court cards are the king, queen and jack in ordinary cards – the king, queen, knight and page in a Tarot deck), she set them into pairs to read their own cards. Ginny was left out, like usual, and so Professor Trelawney took the opportunity to carry on their earlier 'one-on-one' lesson, much to Ginny's disappointment. Even being partnered with Roderick Mohnagan had to better than Professor Trelawney throwing death omens at you every which way and that.
"We are going to start off with the most simple reading, the Three-Card Spread. It involves laying out three cards to represent past, present and future...but first you must clear your mind of all extraneous thoughts..." she said hazily, closing her eyes and waving her hands around over her own multicoloured cards, palms down.
'Extraneous?' Ginny thought, baffled, as she tried to copy Professor Trelawney and feeling utterly ridiculous.
"Now you must shuffle the cards, remembering to reverse some (A/N I think reverse means shuffle some upside down). That is very important, my dear"
So Ginny shuffled them whilst trying to clear her mind *and* think about not getting a paper cut at the same time.
"Now, take the first three cards from the deck, one at time, and lay them down in front of you...the first for the past, the second for the present, and the third...for the future..."
Slowly, Ginny drew the first card from the pack and laid it out in front of her. It was the Nine of Wands.
"This card is not reversed, my dear, meaning it is positive...," said Professor Trelawney, sounding almost disappointed. "This means that, in your past, you have always had stability and a certain strength in your life, perhaps at home. Correct?"
Ginny nodded.
"I thought as such. Now, the next card please..."
Ginny took out the next card, and laid it on the table. The Six of Cups. Reversed. Oh dear.
Professor Trelawney's eyes seem to glint at the prospect of bad news, and she let a small gasp escape her lips as she leant back in the armchair she had occupied.
"My dear, I perceive that bad times are happening for you right now, perhaps a great change that you are having trouble accepting? And possibly some unresolved and very bad pain?"
Ginny felt a stab of grief through her chest as the sudden thought of Charlie emerged in her brain. Yep, she was definitely going through a lot of pain right now, and she was certainly having trouble accepting something...his death. She sniffled and silently counted to ten, trying to suppress the pain that had made a sudden reappearance. She nodded vaguely to let Professor Trelawney know she was right.
"Then let us proceed to the third and final card..." she replied, waving her hand towards the deck. Ginny drew out the last card and placed it on the table. It was a picture of seven cups, each one slightly different to the last. It was the Seven of Cups (A/N Obviously!).
'Bet this one's just as bad' thought Ginny, feeling very depressed.
But Professor Trelawney didn't look completely happy with this next prediction. That had to be a good sign.
"Ah, so it is the seven of cups representing your future. The card of choices. As it is not reversed, then the meaning is more positive, although" (here there was a gleam in her eye) "it is not *entirely* positive. You must make an important decision; however, there are many options to choose. But beware, you must make your decision carefully, child, since not all is as it seems! Doorways of opportunity open, but you have to develop intuition to know which one you must choose..."
Maybe not the best good sign ever given. Ginny felt deflated. Her day was getting steadily worse by the second. She didn't feel like making choices and all that right now. It just wasn't the time. Why did her life have to be so bloody confusing?
"Now, I think that will be all for today..." Trelawney murmured, getting up from her armchair. "Please pack away class...farewell and good fortune to all..." she said, looking at Ginny with a sad glance.
Ginny descended Professor Trelawney's ladder gloomily, not bothering to try and catch up with her 'friends', who still seemed to be in a mood and had gone to the common room ahead of her. She walked back in silence, thinking about the predictions the cards had made. They had seemed pretty accurate, although Ginny doubted Professor Trelawney had much influence over them anyway. The first one, the Nine of Wands, had mirrored her childhood almost perfectly, although there had been a little hiccup now and again (i.e. being the youngest and getting the least attention). Then there had been the Six of Cups, which had been pretty much spot on, what with all that had happened recently...and then the Seven of Cups. Choices...Ginny didn't like the sound of that. Anyway, what choices could she possibly have to make? She didn't have anything *to* choose. Not school subjects, sports, friends...nothing really.
She was broken out of her musings when she collided head on with someone. Her packed school bag split, sending books, ink holders, parchment and quills, flying everywhere. Both her and the other person yelped as they were splattered with blue ink.
"Watch it!" cried the person she had bumped into. "You've just ruined my robes!"
Ginny looked up from her inky school uniform to see something that would help to make her day ten times worse.
"Malfoy!" she cried, seeing the silver hair and icy eyes she dreaded meeting.
"What did you think Weasel, an elephant?" he replied angrily, hastily brushing his robes in an attempt to remove the ink that was quickly staining his immaculate uniform. "You've just ruined my robes! But then again, I expect you've never had anything new, so it wouldn't matter to you, would it"
Suddenly Ginny felt that red hot flush of anger that had become so familiar lately. She felt like she wanted to strangle Malfoy there and then, but she did the next best thing she could think of. She shouted.
"Oh for goodness sake Malfoy, SHUT UP! For once in your life could you just give it a rest with the clever remarks!"
Ginny took in a deep breath, her face red, her fists clenched. She had never stood up to Malfoy before, never had enough backbone to do so. What had changed to make her do something so...non-Ginnyish?
Malfoy stood dead still for a split second, his expression one of shock, before he regained his composure and his famous smirk appeared. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ginny, in her anger, swept past him and picked up her belongings, which were strewn across the floor, before trying to put them back in her bag, giving up, and finally stalking off up the corridor and out of sight.
Malfoy stared after her, his earlier shock and confusion back on his face. When had the youngest Weasley developed a backbone? Shrugging, he turned back towards the dungeons, putting his hands in his pockets lazily as he contemplated what could have caused such a change. Perhaps it had been the death of that brother of hers. He'd have to find out. The youngest Weasley had suddenly become a lot more interesting.
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A/N Wow, nine pages! So much! I doubt I'll be making a habit of it though, as my mum's a bit iffy at the moment cause she thinks ff.n is taking priority over my homework. I'm on half-term for Christ's sake! Oh well, I shall have to convince her otherwise. Sorry it took so long to update, but I had loads of homework in the week leading up to my holiday (which is now =) Yippee!) so I didn't have much chance to do any writing. Also, I've been betaing Nalia's fic 'One Last Chance With You' (I'm pretty sure it's that one. I know it used to be called 'The Mission') so I've been pretty busy these last few days. Btw, did you notice my little bit of R/H fluff? I love R/H! (almost as much as D/G, but not quite).
I'm gonna try and do shout outs in the next chapter, but I haven't had a chance yet, even though I keep meaning to. I'll just say: THANKS SO MUCH to all my reviewers! It means a lot, and I love to read them! I mean it! Actually, I do have one shout out, but only cause I remember what the review said.
cashew – you got your Draco/Ginny interaction! I'm sorry it's not much, but I decided that was the best place to leave it. I promise there'll be more soon! Also, please tell me if I'm writing the whole grieving process okay. I've never really been in the situation of having someone really close to me die (touch wood – not Sean Biggerstaff! I know, I know, *terrible* pun) so if you see anything ridiculous or wrong, please tell me, I'd appreciate it. Also, update! (please? No pressure!)
Anyway, I'll try and do the rest of the shout outs next chapter. Happy reading and reviewing! (please!)