Unconventional Commitments

Chapter Ten

You Can See By the Way I Walk...

This is so not my fault. I am not in Harry's bed, Harry is in my bed. Er…well, technically, my bed is Harry's bed, since it is his house, his guestroom, his money that furnished it and all that…but for the night this was meant to be my bed to sleep in. Alone.

But I am not alone, in fact, I am far from it. Not only is someone else in this bed, they are currently smothering me. Literally smothering me, I think that I might die of suffocation if he doesn't get off of me!

With this thought I roughly shove Harry to the side. This let me tell you, is no easy task. That boy is definitely not a lightweight. Too many years of Quidditch or something, I suppose.

I simply shrug as he groans loudly and melodramatically places a hand to his forehead.

I give him his standard three seconds to fully awaken and surmise the situation. It is actually quite humorous to watch him come to the realization that, for once, this is not my fault, nor that of alcohol. It's entirely him. A nice change, I must say.

"Uh, Ginny…what in the bloody hell is going on?"

I smile at him sweetly, "I was hoping that you could explain that to me, Harry. You see, this is the room that you provided for me for the night. My room. My bed. I have every right to be in here, whereas you…not so much."

He looks thoughtful for a moment. "It's my house." Well, shit, if he wants to be anal about the whole thing.

I hop out of the bed with much more spirit than I am used to having in the mornings. For once, I am fully clothed (thank God) and am not in the least bit hung over. Yes, today is a good day.

"Well," I say cheerfully, "I'll just be off then. I have work this morning, as I am sure you do as well. Goodbye, Harry dear."

I attempt not to laugh at the look on his face. I will not openly mock poor, confused Harry…

"But…Ginny! How did I…"

"I wouldn't know, of course. Maybe you sleepwalk?"

His eyes widen.

"Oh, and I thought that you would like to know," I add helpfully, "that you talk in your sleep as well. I must say, Harry…I never knew that you felt that way about bananas. Downright disturbing if you ask me." I shudder dramatically before disapparating.

Okay, so I do feel a tad guilty about the banana comment. It was kind of cruel; I mean Harry is probably sitting there wondering what the hell he would say about fruit. And after a moment he'll jump to the conclusion that he was not talking about fruit, but something that looks like a banana. Then he'll flip out because there is no reason for him to talk, or think, about things like that. Then he'll worry that he's gay…

I can't help it, even if I do feel guilty; it's still funny as hell. I finally shrug it off; I'll just assure Harry on a later occasion that he is not gay.

After showering and dressing I apparate outside the twins shop and for the first time in months—perhaps the first time ever—I feel almost happy to be at work. Shocking, I know.

Whistling out of tune, I walk in and immediately duck to miss the giant spider that drops down every time that the door opens. Note to self: must find a way to get Ron to come into the shop.

I nod at Lee who is currently standing/hiding behind the register, sniggering to himself as he watches a boy no older than five innocently picking up a piece of candy from the dish. Sighing at Lee, I quickly walk over to the boy and gently take the candy from him, while replacing it with a piece of non-poisoned candy from my pocket.

I raise a disapproving eyebrow at Lee before walking into the back of the store, where I know I will find the mad scientists.

"Ginny! Gred, look at that…Ginny, our sister Ginny, is here. At work. Before nine 'o clock."

"I see, Forge. Positively astonishing…"

"Well," I respond, "I find that it is much easier to wake up in the mornings when I have a purpose to be up. Such as…oh, I don't know…beating up two redheaded twins that don't know when to keep their mouths shut at family dinners?"

I walk over to their table and pull up a chair. "No need to look quite so frightened, boys. Really, it wouldn't kill you to buck up a bit…I have no intentions of harming a single hair on your heads at the present moment. I have no desire to break a nail…No, the real reason why I am up and here so early is that I truly did wake up pleasantly this morning. I must say, there really is no better feeling than waking up in the arms of a man, don't you agree? Actually, don't answer that, if you do agree, that is the sort of thing I don't want to know."

Smirking at their now open mouths, I strut out back to the sales floor in a style a la Tony Manero. I must remember to thank Colin for forcing me to watch Saturday Night Fever. At least he was good for something. Though, I must confess, it did give me worries about his…er, masculinity that he would adore a movie such as that. Not that I am prejudiced, because I'm not…I just don't want anyone that I am going with to be a pouf. For that matter, even someone who I have at one time went out with…it doesn't put me in the best light.

No matter though…I'll only worry about that if Colin does turn out to be…you know. Which, I'm sure that he's not. I mean, just because he's keen on 1970s John Travolta, that doesn't mean a thing. Right.

It takes me all of ten minutes to recall why I normally dread coming to work. It is so unbelievably boring in there. Seriously, you would think that a joke shop of all places would be interesting to work in, but it isn't.

You know why it's so boring? Because no one ever comes in! Fred and George successfully frightened off all their customers with their various pranks that amused them at first, but after seeing the plunge in their sales, they find it less hilarious.

At least before I could see someone turn into a penguin every so often. Now if customers do want something, they order by mail. Of course, on Hogsmeade weekends, this is an entirely different story. But those don't come around that often…

And sure, on regular weekends the braver souls will still venture in…but it's a Monday morning. The only chance of anyone coming in is the stray five-year-old that wanders from his mother. Oh well, at least I'm getting paid to just sit here.

As I was contemplating ways to get Ron to walk through the shop's front door, someone else did. I look up in surprise, and then immediately begin to laugh, for they have failed to get out of the spider's way.

My laughter stops, however, when I notice that the customer is Dean. Damn…I thought that I was done with Dean Thomas for at least another five years. Not that I am not just thrilled to see an old friend, of course; it's just that it is unprofessional to have visitors while working. Yeah, that's it.

"Umm…Welcome to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"

He appears relieved. "Ginny, I'm glad that it's you."

"I know what you mean. I'm glad it's me as well."

He stares at me blankly. "Oh. Uh, well anyway I came to see if I could take you out to lunch, to make up for my truly atrocious behavior the other evening."

"It's nine-thirty in the morning."

Dean looks down at his watch, "So it is. Breakfast then?"

I shrug. "Why not?" After all, never turn down a free meal. "Just give me one second." I grab my wand before I open up the door to the back room and poke my head in. "I'm leaving; I'll be back in like an hour."

"Leaving? You just got here," Fred protested.

I shoot all three an impatient look. "I have been here for four hours. Don't you think that I deserve a bit of a break?"

"Four hours?" George echoes. "You've been here a half an hour. If that."

"I got here at nine."

"Yeah, and it's—" he gives way to utter incredulity when he glances at the clock, which I changed by way of magic two seconds prior. "It's one 'o clock…"

"Well, I cannot help it that the three of you have been back here playing around while I covered all the customers…I suppose time flies when you're having fun. But I wouldn't know, as I have been working."

"Uh…sorry, Ginny."

"Yeah, take a break."

I smirk at Dean as I walk back onto the sales floor, and lead him out the door.

"So," Dean begins conversationally over coffee, "I think that Lavender and I are broken up."

"You think?"

"Well, I was quite pissed…so I cannot be sure. But I attempted to floo her this morning, and she told me 'Sod off, you bloody wanker,' so that sounds like we're done."

"Oh. I suppose that is one way to go about breaking up with someone."

He smiles cheekily, "Yep. And I have you to thank, Ginny. Really, I don't think that I would have gathered up the gall to do it if I hadn't—"

"Gotten wasted?"

"Well that, and spoken to you. You made me realize that not all girls are…Lavender."

"Ah, well my goal in life has been successfully completed then. Kudos to me."

Dean leans closer to me over the table. "This is what I mean…you're like a mate. But you're a girl."

"Two keen observations, Dean."

He continues on, "You are just the whole package, Gin. And I…like you. Really like you."

Uh-oh, uncomfortable territory. Going behind enemy lines here… "I like you too," I say carefully. "You're a really good friend."

"Is that what we are?"

"I like to think so."

"So that's how it is, huh? I'm your friend and…Potter? is your boyfriend?"

"I didn't say that. Dean yesterday was the first time we've even spoken in years…I think that you need to rationalize a bit."

"Maybe. Or maybe the spontaneous Ginny that I used to know needs to come out and play."

"Look, I think it'd be best for me to go. I really do hope that we can be friends, Dean, I'd like that. But…we aren't going to 'play' if you catch my drift. Friendship is all Spontaneous Ginny can offer at the moment."

He gives a small smile. "Friends is fine with me, Gin."

I stand, and he follows suit. I can't help but feel a little sorry for him, so I reach out and give him an extremely friendly hug.

But, of course, my entire life has to be one huge dramatic ball…

I hear the words, "Well…all right then," followed by the slamming of a door. Of course, I look up to see what is going on, and who should be walking out the door other than Harry James Potter?

Isn't life just peachy bloody keen?

I flash Dean an apologetic look before sprinting out onto the street, catching up to Harry quickly, as he didn't get very far.

"Harry…Harry, stop for a second!"

He whirls around and looks far angrier than I expected. "You want me to stop? How about you stop, Ginny? Stop playing your games!"

"Games? Harry, you don't understand—"

"No, Ginny, the problem is that I do understand. God, I was so stupid…you know, last night I thought that maybe you felt the same way about me that I feel about you…but you don't. You never have, and you never will. Maybe it's some psychological attention thing from growing up in a big family…I don't know. But you are in constant need of male attention! No one is good enough for you, are they? Not me, not Colin, not Dean…"

"It isn't like that. I mean, yes, it used to be…but nothing was happening with Dean."

"Let me tell you what it is like, Ginny. I like you…a lot. There, I said it. I like you, I have went out of my way to be around you, I am behind on work because I'm too bloody busy thinking about you, and planning out some way to get you to go on an actual date with me. I finally had a bit of hope this morning, only to find you with Dean Thomas, when you told me that you had to go to work. So you obviously lied to me so that you could go see Dean again, even though you lead me to believe that you would rather see me. Guess you're just never satisfied."

"But…" I stop suddenly. Why should I have to explain myself to him? We are not anything; it isn't as though we are going out. And if he likes me half as much as he says he does, then he should trust me!

"Fine, Harry. If that's what you want to think, then go ahead. I'm some sort of sex-crazed floozy that needs at least three boyfriends at once. You've pegged me to a tee." Without another word, I disapparate, feeling uncommonly sad.

A/N- Angst…now there's something new. Lol! Oh, I must say…some of your reviews had me cracking up with your guesses for the Austin Powers quote. But nice to know that you think that my lines are worthy of AP. Seriously though, go rent Austin Powers 1-3 again…it's worth the money.

The quote was from Austin Powers in Goldmember and was "Stick that in your pipe and smoke it." Said by Dr. Evil in the minimum security prison scene. Good job to Diocletian, RussellGrl15, and Dangerously Non-Existent. You all win…uh ten bonus points? Wow, that's the worst prize ever.