Title: The Lucky One

Author: Sneezy Mouse

Rating: PG-13 due to implied naughtiness and slight cursing and inebriation.

Disclaimer: All recognized characters; places and references to events and the aforementioned belong to the wonderful mind of J.K. Rowling.

Author's Note: This chapter is a bit shorter than the others. I like to think of it as a bit of an interlude and stepping stone into the next phase of Ginny and Oliver's relationship.

I also have two things to address right at the beginning. One, congrats to Lia06 for being my one hundredth reviewer. She has reviewed, I think, every chapter so hooray for her. Secondly (and this is far more serious), I want to address pushy reviewers.

I really don't care if you say 'update!' a million times in your review. Whatever. However, when I am getting pushy reviews and e-mails (not all from the same person, mind you. The e-mails are from someone completely different than the reviewer and a lot more irritating) telling me I need to write a good sex scene? I don't do sex scenes. I do cop-outs. This site is accessible to every age of people and the 'R' ratings mean nothing. I could have a page of warning and underage people could still read it. Plus, sex scenes don't really fit, I feel, with the light-hearted tone of this story. If I continue receiving these harassing e-mails and reviews, I will stop this story. I don't mean to punish the reviewers and e-mailers who aren't to blame, but a very few can spoil it for all. I hope you all understand and heed this warning, because I won't warn you again.

Sorry for the bitching, but it was unbelievable what this person was e-mailing me.

Hope you enjoy it chapter eight.

Chapter Eight
Fate Sometimes Comes in a Crustaceous Persuasion

Ginny didn't quite know where she was going. She had ended up in downtown London, but she definetly didn't want to chance the Leaky Cauldron or Diagon Alley tonight. Her anger was raging and she was afraid she'd take it out on some innocent friend of hers.

Instead, she wanted to drown her anger in some alcohol. Her flat wasn't that far. A few drinks and a stumble home. That sounded like a rather enjoyable plan in Ginny's mind so now all she had to find was pub where she could execute this plan in.

She passed a few extremely seedy looking places and finally settled on a mildly nice-looking place called The Prancing Lobster. Slightly intrigued by the name more than anything else, Ginny entered. It was, indeed, a mildly nice-looking pub. Barstools, tables and booths adorned edges with a fairly large dance floor practically filled with dancing bodies. Ginny plunked herself down on an empty barstool.

"What'll you have?" asked the tender.

"Something that works really fast," Ginny practically yelled. The music was really loud. The bartender winked knowingly and soon produced a colorful drink that Ginny took a sip of. It was strong, that was a definite, but it also had a nice sweet taste to it. Her thoughts, however, quickly drifted from her drink to Ron, Oliver and men in general.

Her first foray into the romantic world was of course with Harry Potter. Of course, he wasn't a real part of it so much as her imagination. Starting at the age of ten when she had first laid eyes on Harry when he was trying to get through to Platform 9¾, Harry was a very intricate part of her school girl fantasies.

It would always be the same basic story. He was the hero that would save her from some sort of trial and tribulation. In her first year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, (his second) Harry had saved her from the Chamber of Secrets, Tom Riddle and impending death. She never fantasized about that occurrence that much though, as it was very painful and very real. She tended to like her fantasies to stay that way: fantasies, not realities.

That didn't halt her other one's though. In her third year, Ron had begun showing some romantic interest in Hermione and Ginny always wished they would date, leaving Harry by his lonesome. Then, she would become his best friend, later his girlfriend, later his wife and later the mother of his children.

Then Cho Chang happened. She had been so angry at herself for saying she would go to the Yule Ball with Neville. When Ron had suggested (in seriousness) that Ginny and Harry go together, her heart had soared then plummeted like a rock when she remembered Neville. Harry squashed her heart even more when he told them that he had asked Cho to the Yule Ball.

But salvation occurred in the form of Michael Corner. He was in Ravenclaw, but he had been sniffing about more and more as the end of the year approached. Eventually, Ginny had abandoned the fantasy of Harry and her ever being together and began seeing Michael, in secret to everyone but Hermione.

They wrote post to one another all through the summer; awkward little notes that Ginny never knew how to end. 'Love' was always too serious, 'Sincerely' was too informal. It took Ginny two weeks to finally decide to just end them simply with 'Yours.' Ginny remembered thinking it to be one the biggest things in her life at the moment, second only to the rise of Voldemort.

School began and classes resumed. She got to see Michael and it was great up until the point Ron found out. The snide comments were abounds whenever Ginny was in earshot. At the D.A. meetings, Ginny could tell Ron was thisclose to hexing the Hell out of Michael, had Hermione not been there to tell him not to. Also, Harry was having a lot of problems and Ginny knew vaguely about his "possessions" by Voldemort so she tried to make herself accessible to Harry, should he ever need to talk.

With Ron berating him constantly and her trying to be (platonically) there for Harry, it wasn't a surprise when Michael decided to end things with her in favor of Cho Chang. It was more than a sting to learn that not one, but two of the boys she had fancied decided to opt for Cho instead of her. She had a summer to get over it, however and had her sights set on Dean Thomas.

Dean was a Muggle-borne wizard a year above Ginny, a Gryffindor and a friend of Ron's. Ron was a little more open to this idea, mainly because he had easy access to Dean if the occasion to yell at him ever arose. They began dating after the first Hogsmeade trip and lasted through Easter. Ginny decided that Dean wasn't really what she was looking for in a guy so she gently told him they were through. Dean seemed pretty okay with it and they remained friends.

For the rest of the school year, summer and part of the next school year, Ginny was unattached but feeling pretty good. She was most definetly unprepared for the day Blaise Zabini waited for her outside of her Transfiguration class. (He had Charms and got thirty points knocked off of Slytherin for leaving early without explanation.)

Blaise was a year above Ginny as well, and a Slytherin which was most definetly not approved of by everyone she knew. However, Blaise did seem different from most Slytherins in Ginny's opinion. Yes, he was a Pure Blood and had ties to Death Eaters (an aunt, two uncles) and was exceedingly wealthy but he never once uttered the word 'Mudblood' when they were together in any way, shape or form.

He was also the nicest boy that Ginny ever had the fortune to date. He was by far the most attractive. (Ginny realized that most Slytherins tended to be either grotesquely ugly or achingly attractive.) He was constantly showering her with gifts for no reason other than her hair looked nice or she smiled at him. It was all very sweet and Ginny couldn't help but be selfish and accept the flowers, jewelry and other trinkets he gave her.

But it was a romance likened to Romeo and Juliet because it spanned to warring houses. Of course, neither Ginny nor Blaise committed suicide, it was still close to the story line. Over the next summer, Ginny had read the Shakespearean tale and actually cast the real-life people to characters in the show.

It was doomed to end, Ginny knew that from the beginning. With Ron and Harry (and to a lesser extent, Hermione) protesting the most on the Gryffindor side and Draco Malfoy attacking full-on from the Slytherins, Blaise and Ginny had to end it. It was a very sad, melancholic good-bye, the most painful of Ginny's break-ups by far.

They had met in an old abandoned corridor in the middle of the night. Ginny had shown up holding a box containing all the gifts Blaise had given her. With tears threatening to spill over, Ginny handed him the box and said it was over. Blaise was shocked they were ending it, citing that she was a Gryffindor and they were supposed to be brave. He was a Slytherin and didn't care what people thought. Ginny just pushed the box towards him again.

He took the box from her this time and just threw it against the wall. Ginny heard a few of the objects tinkle as they shattered. She was about to say something in response, but Blaise thrust his mouth upon hers. One thing led to another and they had sex. Not his first, but it was hers and she never regretted it. She still broke up with him afterwards. He tried to talk her out of it again, but she stood her ground, though privately reluctant about it. It took nearly four hours (not including the sex) to actually end their relationship.

Over that summer, Blaise had sent her back the box containing his gifts to her. They were all charmed back together and Ginny privately cried for a few days over it, but kept the box hidden in her room, occasionally taking out a knick-knack and reminiscing.

Seamus was the next relationship she had. It never amounted anything to the extent of her and Blaise, but it was mostly a good time. With the threat of Voldemort extinguished, Ginny felt pretty good and she and Seamus began a letter correspondence, as he had graduated Hogwart's the year prior. However, keeping up on correspondence got lost in the throes of Ginny's schoolwork, N.E.W.T.s studying and having a great seventh year and they broke up by letter. Ginny was not affected by the break-up, as she went out to Hogsmeade later that day.

Since then, Ginny had the occasional date with a random male of Hogwart's and when she graduated she became a notorious serial dater. Nothing ever 'clicked' with her, so she moved on…

Ginny stopped thinking about her relationships and began to think about Oliver. More precisely, what Oliver said to her during their argument.

"You're needy, insecure and desperate for someone else."

With all her prior relationships floating about her head, she began to believe that maybe Oliver was right.

"You don't need a bloke to make you happy… in reality, you are desperate for it."

God, she was desperate wasn't she? She had gone on a date with Draco Malfoy of all people. She had asked him up to her flat on the first date! It was under the pretense that he would get to just see the place, maybe have some tea but Ginny couldn't honestly say they wouldn't have done more. Now Ginny did understand it. Oliver was right. She was desperate.

Now thoroughly depressed and on her way to a great hangover, Ginny spied the person next to her was getting ready to light a cigarette.

"Can I have one of those?" she asked. The man looked at her, shrugged and pulled one out of the pack. He held up a light for her and she drew in a very deep breath, almost coughing from the amount of smoke she inhaled.

"Thanks," she said, blowing the smoke out. The man nodded and turned away to talk to the person next to him.

Ginny decided she was depressed enough for the night, having drank and smoked, (a thing she loathed doing, but sometimes just needed) so she tried to get off her barstool so she could go wallow in peace. Those plans were put to a stop when a man who sidled up to Ginny as she tried to get up and said, "whoa there. You're not going anywhere until I buy you a drink."

Ginny blinked at him.

"Or maybe your name? A phone number, perhaps?" he asked.

Ginny blinked again, but said something as well.

"I've had enough to drink, thank you." She was actually coherent when she spoke. Maybe she hadn't drunk as much as she thought?

"Come on," he said, "don't leave yet. My mates and I only got here a few minutes ago. I spied you earlier but – "

"Look, I just want to go home," Ginny said.

"Well," the man said, nodding approvingly, "I can't say I'll argue with that. How far is your place?"

Ginny's eyes narrowed and she blew a puff of smoke in his face.

"I meant by myself," she said.

The guy grinned.

"I didn't."

"Look, I'm extremely pissed off at the moment. I have numerous relationship issues that have all decided to come crashing down on me tonight, I got in a huge fight with my older brothers – I have six, by the way – about me shagging my brother Percy's best mate after I got drunk, I'm in a bar that I don't know, drinking away all my problems and I'm smoking which is a thing I hate doing. I do not need to add punching some asshole's lights out because he was harassing me for a shag to my list of problems."

Ginny walked away and had just walked out the door when the guy came up behind her and whispered lewdly in her ear,

"How about you just suck me off, then?"

Ginny raised the hand not holding her cigarette and smacked the guy on the side of the face.

"I said I didn't need to," Ginny said. "Not that I wouldn't."

"You bitch!" he said, clutching his cheek.

People were staring and Ginny had frozen, wondering how this happened. One remark, albeit crude, and she was bar trash, fighting in public with another of the world's many assholes. The shame was rising through her body in the form of a bright red flush.

"What's going on here?" the owner of the pub said, having heard the commotion and came out to investigate.

"We were talking in the bar," Asshole began, "and she led me outside and just went mad! Stupid bird hit me!"

Ginny massaged the hand she used to slap him and looked away, ashamed of herself. She had hit someone three times tonight. The first to were her brother, of all people, one of the people she loved most in the world and then this guy from the bar. What was she turning into?

"It's swelling," the guy said, prodding his cheek.

"Should I call someone?" The owner said. "Are you planning on pressing legal charges?"

Ginny closed her eyes, willing the scene playing out in front of her to go away. This couldn't be happening to her. She was not going to be one of those people who went to bars all the time and got so drunk she got in fights over a comment. Her salvation came in the form of a loud, Scottish-laden voice.

"There you are! I'm sorry I'm late, love, but there was no need to cause a commotion."

Ginny opened her eyes and saw Oliver standing next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"This isn't your problem," the asshole said to Oliver.

"Oh, but this is all my fault, really," Oliver insisted cheerily. "I swear. I was later and that just makes my Ginny hear madder than a raging hippogriff."

Ginny did not want to believe Oliver was standing here, saving her ass, talking about hippogriffs to a bunch of pub-patron Muggles. Said Muggles seemed too intrigued by the fight, however, to pay notice to Oliver's odd metaphor.

"Oh, sweet Merlin," Ginny muttered.

"Your Ginny?" Asshole repeated.

"She slapped him," the owner told Oliver. "I might have to call someone to take legal actions. Assault charges could spring from this."

"She hit you?" Oliver asked the asshole, aghast. Asshole, in turn, fiddled with the buttons on his shirt, unsure of what to say. He obviously didn't want to admit he was hit by a girl.

"Well, sort of," was his reply finally.

"Gin-bear!" Oliver said, looking at Ginny. "Did you really? But she's just a little thing. Not even seven stones soaking wet."

"Watch it!" Ginny hissed quietly.

"You want to be arrested?" Oliver hissed back, just as quiet. Jumping back into a cheery mode, he said, "well, I never. I mean, I've seen her angry but hit someone? My Ginny?"

"Either I call the police, or I don't," the owner said impatiently.

"Forget it," Asshole said. "I'm out of here." He turned a slunk back into the bar, but not before Ginny had a chance to see his cheek turning a nice reddish blue shade.

"You," the owner said, pointing to Ginny, "go home now."

"Done." Oliver gave the owner a big, grateful smile. "Thank you so much for your professional handling of the situation."

The owner wasn't sure if he had been insulted or not, but Oliver began leading Ginny away before he had a chance to figure it out. Ginny had halfheartedly led Oliver to her flat, him clasped tightly to her to prevent any stumbling, but when they reached her stoop, she wrenched herself out of his grasp and stalked angrily towards the door.

"No thank you, then?" Oliver asked.

Ginny huffed but didn't turn around.

"I can take care of myself," she said.

"Obviously," Oliver said, still calm. "You almost got arrested for assault, you know that right? You work in the Ministry. You know how hard it is for witches and wizards to deal with Muggle-related crimes in a Muggle courtroom."

Ginny began up the front steps but Oliver darted in front of her.

"And," he continued, "I saved your ass, Ginny, so you should be more grateful." He surveyed Ginny. "Are you drunk?"

"No!" Ginny said angrily. "I've just had a really shitty night, as you should be well aware of."

"Ginny," Oliver said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder.

This small gesture made Ginny freeze up and think about all of what happened tonight. Now, not just coming back in spurts, every thing that happened tonight came rushing back. Hours worth of information flooded her mind in matter of seconds. Ron's confused face, Fred's jesting comments, Ginny's fist making contact with Ron's face not once, but twice. Plumes of smoke rising from her mouth as she sucked down a mysterious drink. Her palm colliding with another guys cheek.

It was too much for any person to handle, even a strong willed person such as Ginny. Her ears throbbed, her chest stung, her stomach felt heavy, a lump was in her throat and her eyes were burning. She was never this weak and if she was, it was not going to in front of Oliver. She only let this happen around Hermione or her Mum… not Oliver, a man she barely knew.

"Ginny," Oliver said again, "you can talk to me."

Those soothing words, words any person would say in this sort of situation, touched Ginny beyond any explanation and she turned around and buried her face in Oliver's chest. The two of them stood on the doorstep, Oliver's arms wrapped tightly around a breaking Ginny, him slowly stroking her hair.

"Shh…" he said. "Ginny, don't cry…"

Author's Note: Not a lot of interaction, mainly a rehash of Ginny's life. I like his chapter because you get a little understanding on why Ginny is the way she is. Also, credit for the end scene goes to Sarah Dessen's book This Lullaby. I thought Remy and Dexter's relationship slightly mirrored Ginny and Oliver's. If you haven't yet, read that book. Anyway, thanks so much to my chapter seven reviewers who are as follows:

MindGame, elijahsbaby1981 (I know nothing about anatomy. If it is, we'll just pretend that he had turned around of something…), FullMoon-Witch, Branmuffinpower, hippy girl, ayumi-dono, Lia06 (x2), Spordelia Chase, son gomay vidal goku, Thiralin, RickyRemembers, green smurf, Silly Penguin, Julia, hippygirl, lady patronus, Icelandic Morning Glory (love the s/n!), katerina, sirius-black-4eva, and harrypottermarriedme.

On two last minute side notes, I got AIM and a livejournal where I will be keeping an update and maybe posting my one-shots and cookies that haven't made it to yet. Also, I will be keeping a running commentary of the events in my life… not that any of you care. For AIM, feel free to add me to your buddy list and IM me if you want to chat, discuss things, ask me questions, get advice… whatever. I am totally open.

My AIM s/n is FeatherCait.

My livejournal can be found at www . livejournal . com / users / sneezy(underscore)mouse. Just take out the spaces and replace (underscore) with the actual symbol. Feel free to add me to your friends list.

See you in chapter nine: L-Words Make You Do Strange Things