Not According to Plan

Disclaimer: I own Adrienne, Eric, Jackie, Luke, Claire, and no one else.

Author's note: Thanks to all the wonderful reviewers

Chapter Three

"Oww!" a voice from downstairs yelped.

Jordyn. Always left early in the morning as if she left early enough George and I wouldn't know that she spent the night. Please, we aren't morons. Plus, she walks into that side table every morning on her way out the door. There is no way you couldn't hear her.

"Shush!" Fred snapped. "They might hear you!"

"Fred and her are getting pretty serious aren't they?" A voice said. I pulled the covers away from head. George was standing in the doorway of my room, still in his mismatched boxers and tee-shirt, his idea of pajamas.

"Yeah." I answered, sitting up. Sleep was no longer an option, what with Jordyn still moaning in pain, Fred loudly telling her to be quiet, and not to mention George standing in my room.

"I never thought that I'd use Fred and serious in the same sentence without the word 'not' included in there." George said, sighing. "Our little Freddie is growing up so fast," he said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.

"George- just let me sleep."

"Oh, with Freddie all grown up and you all tired, I'm all alone." He teased in a sing-song voice.

"You are late." Adrienne when I burst into our office nearly two hours later.

"I come bearing coffee!" I said, holding out the carry out container. Adrienne immediately scooped one up.

"All is forgiven," she said as she sniffed her usual French vanilla coffee.

I passed Jackie, my co-worker in the entertainment section, her cinnamon cream coffee, I left Eric's (the mail guy) on the spare desk. He'd be around for it in a bit.

"So how'd the dance go?" Adrienne said, pulling her wheeled chair right up next to my desk. "Did you get lucky?"

"Adrienne!" I said, nearly spilling my coffee on my ice blue skirt.

"I meant did Jordyn have any problems at the dance, you wacko. But speaking of the other meaning, did you?" She said, her usual blunt self.

"Jordyn was herself, a little bit air headed. But the dance was pretty non- eventful for me." I answered, not wanting to get into the gory details of a night that I was praying never happened.

"Speaking of Jordyn, remember how you owe me for that?" Adrienne started. Figures, that was why she asked. She didn't care about Jordyn the muggle, she needed something. "I need to cash in on that favour."

"What?" I asked, not sure of what was to come out of her mouth, but I was very sure that I wasn't going to like whatever it was.

"You know about the crush of the month column? The one where the reporter spends two weeks with the crush to get to know him? Well this month's crush is a quidditch player and you get to cover the story." Adrienne said, folding her hands nervously.

"Is that all? Of course I'll do it!" I squealed, jumping out of my desk chair. Crush of the month reporter. Only the reporters with the most seniority get that article. And believe me, I don't have the best writing skills in this place or the most seniority.

"Great." Adrienne replied.

"What does the crush look like?" Jackie asked, scooting her chair in too. Honestly, this office is more like a social hour rather than a workplace.

"Blonde hair, steel grey eyes, and he's a quidditch player." Adrienne said with a smile.

"Wait why aren't you doing this piece?" I asked her. Department heads had first choice on article topics. And Crush of the Month wasn't something that you passed up lightly.

"You know, there really isn't time to explain. You will meet Draco at the train station in London. He just got signed to the England Team." Adrienne said, pushing me towards the door.

"Whoa," I said, stopping. "I am NOT doing an article about Draco Malfoy."

"Please! Someone has to do it!" Adrienne pleaded.

"Why don't you do it? He's your fellow Slytherin!" I snapped back, waving my hands in frustration. This time the coffee spilled.

"I didn't know him when I went to school. He's like five years younger than me. Besides, I can't."

"Why not?" I said, very pissed. I was not going to spend a month of my life hanging with Draco Malfoy and his quidditch team.

"Because Draco used to date my cousin Isabella. If she found out that I was writing an article about having a crush on him, then she would kill me! I can't have my family going against me! They all officially hate him since they broke up!" Adrienne moaned, making big sad puppy dogs eyes.

"My brother is best friends with Harry Potter! Draco and Harry hate each other!"

"That isn't an excuse! It's not like they used to date like my cousin and him did! If you dated him that would be one thing!"

Now was my chance. If I told her about last night, then I would be home free. "Adrienne, remember that dance last night. Well, I danced with a masked stranger. And that masked person turned out to Draco; a rather ugly scene that I'd rather not repeat." But even as I said it, I could tell how fake it sounded it though it was the god awful truth.

"Adrienne please!" I pleaded, grabbing onto her am. "Why can't Jackie do it?"

"I wouldn't do it if you paid me too!" Jackie said. "Plus I have this report on the Weird Sisters due next week. I can't go on a trip with the quidditch team."

"Top of the morning to ya all!" Eric called out, popping in the office to pick up his coffee.

"Let Eric do the report! He likes guys, it can be his crush!" I begged.

"Ooh, I want to do the Crush of the Month report, who is it?" He said, sipping his mocha iced coffee.

"Draco Malfoy." Jackie, Adrienne, and I said in unison.

"Oh, Merlin, I will not write him as my crush! You know I have better taste than that!" He huffed, whisking off with the mail cart.

"Looks like you're stuck with it, Ginny." Adrienne said with a smile.

"I better get a pay raise soon." I snapped, grabbing my coat and heading home.

"I need a month off," I told Fred as walked into the shop later that afternoon.

"Ha, ha. We are short-handed around here as it is. You can't just call a vacation anytime you want. How are you even going on vacation? You told me the other day that you were broke." Fred replied, not looking up from the receipts that he was filing.

"Not vacation, Fred. I need to go on location every day for the next month for a report."

"Oh. Will you be gone for the whole time or just busy during the day?" George asked, from behind the counter. I didn't notice him when I had walked in.

"The whole time." I said, sinking onto my trusty stool.

"Well, we can just ask Jordyn to fill in for a few days." Fred said nonchalantly.

George looked at me with fear in his eyes. Jordyn plus a shop full of wizard magic tricks equalled a ton of questions and most likely a big disaster.

"What about Lee? I say we ask Lee." George suggested. Fred nodded. "That would probably be better. Hell, Bill's six year old daughter, Claire, would be better." He muttered the second part under his breath so that Fred couldn't hear.

"Thanks guys, I owe you." I said, organizing the cash register. Honestly, Fred and George are just so disorganized. Why can they not separate the sickles from the knuts? Is it really that hard? "So how is business coming?"

"My tongue is no longer swollen." Fred answered happily, clapping his hands together in delight. "But it does shock me once in a while."

"We are going to market it for those students who tend to fall asleep in class." George added.

"A jolt of energy with each lick," Fred laughed but stopped abruptly due to an electrifying zap. "Ouch!"

"Oh, this product is going to sell loads." I rolled my eyes.

"We think so too." George replied, missing the sarcasm. You would think as much as the twins used sarcasm, they would know when it smacked them in the face. But no, not my blockheads of brothers.

"I have to go pack. See you guys later." I said, apparating to our house down the street.

Now what in the world are you supposed to pack on trip to see one of the people that you truly hate and I don't use that word lightly. Seriously, what do you take? A book of crossword puzzles to keep busy in the tense silence? A wooden stake to drive through his heart? Wait, I think that only works for vampires, darn.

Socks. Check.

Umbrella. Check.

Wand. Check

Tee-Shirts. Check

Train Ticket. Check

Wooden Stake. Check. Hey, you never know.

After packing all of the above (except the stake. They might ask questions about that at the train station) and much more, I decided that I was ready to leave. Not ready to be with Draco, mind you, but ready to go.

Kings Cross Station was packed with people. I hadn't been there since returning home my seventh year. It felt nice and normal to return there as if I was heading off on another adventure to Hogwarts.

I had so many adventures in Hogwarts. So many, now that I look back, I realize how very lucky I am not to be dead. But at the time, I followed Harry and didn't have another thought after that. If he was okay with risking his life then so was I. That was stupid and I think deep down a part of me knew that when I was breaking into the Ministry of Magic and every other dumb thing I ever did involving him and the late Dark Lord. I was stupid because I was in love with him.

The fact that I was in love with him was stupid in itself because he never really loved me. He had just defeated the Dark Lord and I think he wanted some freedom. At least that's what he said when he broke up with me. "Ginny, it's just that everything is different and I still have some questions I want answered. Believe me, it's not you, it's my situation." What a jerk. Yet for some reason, I was never really mad at him. It's hard to be mad at the one you love, even when they tell you they don't love you back. It's almost like you're mad at yourself for not being good enough.

Well, I got over that quick enough. I dated a couple of guys after Harry, but nothing really serious until I met Luke when I was twenty. He worked at Teen Witch with me, he was a photographer. To make a rather long and annoying story short, Luke asked me out, I said yes, we went to parties, dancing, etc, Luke never told me much about his personal life, we broke up for two days, Luke apologized with a dozen roses, I got back together with him, I finally found out where he lived, he asked me to move in, I said no, he broke up with me for a week, he apologized with two dozen roses, I got back together with him, he worked late one night, I went over to his flat to surprise him with dinner, he came in the door kissing one of his models, I dumped my glass of wine on his model friend, I threw an oven mitt at him, I moved in with Fred and George, he came and apologized with three dozen roses, I threw the roses in face, his eye got cut by a thorn, he had to go to the hospital, he came back yet again but I wasn't home, George was, Luke tried to get him to tell him where I was, George punched him, Luke had to go to the hospital again, and that was the last anyone has heard from him. George reckons that his insurance company told him to stay away from us, they weren't going to cover any more of his medical accidents that occurred at 15 Sawyer Court.

And now I was off on another adventure, not to Hogwarts and not in love, but on an adventure with a quidditch team and an enemy. I can't wait.

Sorry this chapter took so long to post! I just saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The movie was sooooo awesome. I loved it! The best of the three movies by far. Anyway, please review!

Sincerely,

Simple plan gc fan