Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me. I do not know the proceedings of British bingo-halls, nor the pay you get for sitting watch. All is based on my own horribly boring experience a few days ago when I had to endure a bingo watch for my (symphonic) band. What I do for music…

I'm also not really sure if "bingo" is used as an expression in English, but if it isn't, then consider it an equivalent of "hole in one" etc.

Many thanks to my beta-reader, Waterfall, who took some time out from her other reading to do this. *grin*

Bingo

by aurora borealis

"Bridget 69. Six-nine."

The voice in the speaker sounded as bored as Ginny felt as it read up read out the numbers.

Who would have thought that sitting in a room, doing whatever you wanted (but quietly) for four hours would be boring?

All Ginny had to do was empty the ashtrays every hour and the trash bins half as many times. For this she was given one Galleon and 8 Sickles an hour.

Oh, yes, Ginny felt very lucky to get the summer job at the local wizarding bingo. But it didn't prevent her from being bored out of her skull.

"Irving 37. Three-seven."

It had given her the opportunity to do her homework for the holiday, though. When forced to do something that didn't disturb others, homework really was the most productive option. But she'd finished all of it a few days ago, she'd even written the outline to the small extra credit thesis her college professor wanted her to do, and now she was out of ideas.

Sometime after twelve  a young man entered and sat down at the table beside hers. Their eyes met and Ginny hurriedly looked away. She had seen him before, of course. Not so much in the last few years, and she hadn't planned on meeting him after she left school. Then he'd suddenly turned up to play at the bingo.

Now, Ginny had only worked there for a few weeks so she couldn't know if he was a regular player or not. But she had this feeling in her gut that said he wasn't all that interested in winning or not.

That in itself went against everything she'd ever learned about him. He had always hated to lose, no matter what it was in - Quidditch, Exploding Snap, duels or verbal matches.

"Nigel 11. One-one."

It was time for her to empty the trash again. Ginny felt his eyes on her as she stood up, and she glanced at him. He met her gaze with that annoying smirk of his, and she huffed a little as she went off to start her round. She met his eyes again when she came back, but she broke the contact after only a split second.

She tried to ignore the pleasant tingling that was spreading through her body.

"Gerald 56. Five-six."

What was he doing here, really? There had to be a hundred more interesting things he could do, and it wasn't like he needed the prize money. Ginny grew more and more irritated as the time dragged by. She was sure that he was only doing it to irritate her. How dare he use her as a source of entertainment? It was just like him in his younger days, tormenting people for the fun of it.

As she passed his table again, she stopped and turned towards him. His eyes met hers again, but this time she didn't flinch away.

"What are you doing here?" she asked bluntly.

He smirked again. "Guess."

Well. Two could play that particular game. "You came to profess your undying love to me," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You came to say that everything you said about using me against my brothers was a lie, that you've really loved me all along and can't live without me, and that the only reason you pushed me away like the garbage you claimed I was was because you wanted to protect me from your father." She took a deep breath and waited for his reaction while the speaker went on:

"Oscar 1. Single-one."

The smirk turned into a smile. "Bingo," he said.