Disclaimer: All characters and main ideas recognized in the Harry Potter series belong to J. K. Rowling. If they belonged to me, then I would be very rich right now, and I wouldn't be sitting at this computer, uploading to a site.
Claimer: The plot of this fanfic belongs to me, and to no one else. This plot is an original creation which blossomed while trying to evade insomnia.The Forgotten Prophecy
Written By: Jeeths
Chapter 15: To Go or Not to Go?
Ginny took a deep breath before walking into the dining room. She gave Harry a small smile which he returned, rather hesitantly, before she took a seat to the right of him. She realized she couldn't be mad at him forever, especially with her going away for a year.
"I forgive you," she whispered quietly so only he could hear.
He wanted to ask 'For what?' but decided against it, because he didn't wish to push his limits. Instead, he settled to whispering "Thank you," back, shining a grateful smile and giving her hand a small squeeze underneath the table and letting go so that it seemed like a friendly gesture.
As dinner proceeded, small talk floated around the table and Ron was closed-mouthed about Ginny's issues after receiving a short glare from Ginny. However, Ginny grew slightly nervous the closer they got to dessert.
Harry, noticing her apprehension, took her hand underneath the table and gave it another small squeeze. "Gin, don't worry, how could they say no?" he questioned.
"By saying one short syllable," she replied anxiously.
"I'm here for you," he whispered, pulling up her hand and placing a light kiss on the back of it, making Ginny's eyes widen in shock.
Ron kicked Harry under the table, making him drop Ginny's hand in surprise, and also making a blush rise up Ginny's neck and onto her cheeks.
However, it was too late. Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley had already seen the more than friendly gesture. A light grin was playing about Mr. Weasley's lips. Mrs. Weasley looked as if she was going to cry tears of happiness. Ginny could see it now; her mother was probably already planning what to write on the wedding invitations. Harry winced at his mistake. 'Here we go,' they both thought.
"Is there something you need to tell us?" Mr. Weasley asked, directing it more towards Harry rather than the both of them.
"Actually—" Ginny started, but her words stopped as soon as they had begun.
"OH THIS IS WONDERFUL!" Molly exclaimed, leaping up from her seat to hug an uncomfortable looking Harry and a crimson Ginny. "I've been waiting for this to happen for quite a while! It's about time! I never really liked that Cho character Harry dear, no offense meant. Ginny and you are just PERFECT for each other! I—" she was cut off by a very embarrassed looking Ginny.
"Mum! Please sit down! You're embarrassing me!" Ginny exclaimed, blushing an even deeper, beet red.
"Oh, I'm sorry dear, quite my mistake," she replied, quickly returning to her seat looking sheepish.
"How long did Ron know?" Ginny whispered to Harry, noticing her not-so-surprised brother, and avoiding contact with any of her family members' eyes.
"Since a bit before you walked into his room to fetch some owl treats," he replied in the same hushed tones.
"So that's why he was being nice," she said, glancing at her brother, alerting him to what they were talking about, in which he grinned in response. "Well here goes nothing," she said to Harry, giving him an anxious smile.
"Good luck," he said, praying, for her sake, that God was with her.
"I'm going to need it," she replied, before standing up from her seat, causing the legs of the chair to screech across the floor. The noise caught everyone's attention as she rose to face her parents, their faces revealing open curiosity.
"Dad, Mum, I have something to tell you, which does not directly concern my relationship with Harry," she paused, waiting for some sign to continue. Mr. Weasley gave a slight nod and she went on with renewed confidence.
"Mum, you've been curious as to what this ring actually signifies, am I correct?" she questioned, gesturing to the ring that adorned her left hand.
"Yes," Molly said as Mr. Weasley closely began to inspect the ring, having just sighted it.
"Why, this must have cost a sack of galleons!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed.
"That's what I was saying! She's promised to that ferret, Malfoy!" Ron shouted out of nowhere.
Mr. Weasley shot him a bemused, but curious glance.
"But that's odd considering you and Harry got together…so that doesn't make sense…" Ron trailed off.
Ginny rolled her eyes while Harry tried to keep down fits of laughter. Meanwhile, Mrs. Weasley had an amused gleam in her eyes.
"Don't worry about it Dad, it was all a ploy to get Ron all riled up, nothing of importance," she said, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture towards the now scandalized looking redhead.
"Anyway, as I was saying, Dumbledore, as well as Madame Maxime from Beauxbatons, and Crane Karkaroff, Igor Karkaroff's son who as you know, has taken the position of Headmaster at Durmstrang, organized an exchange program available to four students from each school. Four students from Hogwarts would go to the foreign schools, while students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would go to Hogwarts and each others' schools. Two students from Hogwarts would go to Beauxbatons for a semester, while the other two go to Durmstrang, and then they switch for the next semester," Ginny paused to take a deep breath.
"Those who wished to take part in the exchange program," she continued, "had to earn it. They had to have exceptional grades and write an essay explaining why they would like to be apart of the exchange program and what each individual would gain from the opportunity. What I've said thus far is mainly for Mum's purposes, as I'm sure you already know about this particular program," Ginny stated, looking towards her father for confirmation. He gave a nod and all was understood within the family. Mr. Weasley had of course known about it as his job would not have let it pass unchecked.
Now was the moment everyone was waiting for. Ginny braced herself as she said, "I wrote an essay and turned it in, at the moment deciding it would be too expensive to go on the trip and just wanting to see if I could become one of the candidates, thinking I could back out if I actually had received the opportunity. Well, I received a letter congratulating me on being accepted into the program, but I no longer wish to back out, I want to go. I wish to go on this exchange program for many reasons. Think of the opportunity it would be, to learn different languages, to start a new leaf, make new friends, and learn types of magic I'd never even dreamed of learning at Hogwarts. By the way," she said, slipping off the ring from her finger, "this is a portkey to Beauxbatons, read the inscription on the inside," she told them, handing the ring to her father and sitting down. She took Harry's hand underneath the table for comfort as she anxiously awaited their reply once they had digested this new piece of information.
Mrs. Weasley was the first to speak, "Well…this is quite the shock…"
"I know it is, because you probably didn't expect me to even try to go out for this opportunity, but the matter of the fact is, I did, and I did better than I expected," Ginny said.
"You are absolutely not going anywhere!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed.
Ginny had a look of utmost surprise printed across her face. If that reaction was to come out of anyone, she didn't expect it to be her father. If anyone, she would have expected it to come out of her mother, who now sat there nodding along with Arthur's decision. There was stony silence emanating from everyone else, until Ginny decided to break it.
"Why not?" Ginny said, being stubborn and wanting a full explanation, seeing as how she had given them one.
"We can't afford it!" Mr. Weasley argued.
"Well, I have Aunt Prewett's inheritance, and this isn't squandering money, it's putting it to good use!" Ginny exclaimed at their lack of argument.
"I am not having my one and only daughter and youngest child going into some foreign country alone!" Mr. Weasley yelled. Ginny's shock continued to grow. They thought she couldn't handle herself. They probably didn't trust her without her brothers watching her, making sure she didn't get into trouble. Look at how fine that worked out.
"It's not as if I'd be alone! It would be perfectly safe, you know how Dumbledore is, and he would never let anything happen to me! Why can't you just trust me?" she asked.
"Well, we trusted you once, and you blew it. After that incident, it's hard to trust you again," he said wearily.
"How dare you bring that up! I'm still suffering from that mistake I made several years ago! It was a lack of good judgment!" she exclaimed, clearly infuriated by his lack of compassion.
"Well, who knows if you'll come across another situation where you'll have a 'lack of good judgment'?" he retorted. Sparks were flying through the air.
"You learn from your mistakes, and I've learned from mine, but yes, there are more mistakes I can make. Although, I doubt any will be as extreme," she admitted.
"And I won't allow you to have an opportunity to commit those mistakes. Now you are going to Hogwarts next year where your brother can watch over you. As long as you live under this roof, you follow my rules," he said, as if the matter was settled.
"Fine, you want another Percy, you've got one. I won't be squandering my money, but I'll certainly be moving out, so I can do what I please without having to ask for your permission for things I shouldn't even have to ask permission for," she said, narrowing her eyes at her father.
"Fine," he replied, the solemn, stony expression evidently unmoved by her statement.
"Fine," she said, standing up from the table, the chair's legs screeching against the floor.
"NO!" Molly said, a dam of tears about to break way. "Ginny sit down! This is ridiculous! I am not having another child of mine move out of the house and not even communicating with the family. Now, Arthur, Ginny holds a good argument, and now I wish to have her go. Ginny dear, you make sure you write often," she said, in fear of her one and only daughter not being in her life any more, just as Percy had done.
"But Molly-" Arthur implored.
"Ginny is going! End of discussion!" she yelled. When Mrs. Weasley wanted something, she would get it. "SIT DOWN!" she shouted towards the still-standing Ginny. Ginny hastily complied.
Dessert passed by silently. Mrs. Weasley cleared the plates from the table, and Ginny set to washing them while Harry dried them and Ron put them away in the cupboard.
After all was done, she slowly and silently trekked her way up to her room. She knew she would not be leaving on peaceful terms with her father, but if that's what it had to take, then so be it.
To Be Continued…
Review Please!
Thanks to Kelley for another awesomely BETA-ed chapter! I'm glad to know I'm doing better! (Oops, I didn't send it! )
A/N: I hope you guys are satisfied with this much so far. Sorry it was kind of short…I'm working on the next chapter, and I was wondering if you would like me to speed it up and go forward in time with significant flashbacks or do it piece meal…I know my friend Mimi was telling me that its kind of at a point where its not going forward anywhere, but this is the summer that is significant to the rest of the story. Anywho, tell me your opinions about it please! I honestly don't know why I'm updating now because I have three tests to study for, and they're all tomorrow! Please wish me luck! Oh yeah, I'm thinking about revising the first few chapters a bit to flow more smoothly…my writing seems to have developed a bit since I first started out…and when I look back I'm thinking, "What was I thinking?" or "Yeah, people definitely don't read past the first chapter." But yeah, tell me if you think I should revise the first few chapters or not. I kind of know where I'm heading with this, and I know the overall plot so hopefully I don't accidentally change something which I originally created to be significant in the rest of the story. Anywho, onto the review replies! By the way, thanks for the amount of reviews I got since my last chapter. I really appreciate them and please do keep the work up.
Devlin Rose: I'm glad to hear that you're beginning to get interested in it! Did you like this chapter? I realize that it was a bit short…
Ryaniez: Shut up Ryan, I know that you don't appreciate it, and you were only trying to keep me from crying, but I honestly don't care. You probably won't even see this anyways, because you're not a fan of fanfics…
RiOt-GaL: I'm glad to hear that you like the sarcasm! That's what I'm all about! If you hear me in real life I'm really sarcastic, maybe every other sentence is pure sarcasm…anyways, I'm glad I'm able to make you laugh, I was hoping none of the jokes were corny…Did you think this chapter was funny? Not much of it was sarcastic though…
Firebreath: Thank you! Here's more! And there's more to come!
FireAndIce392: Thanks! I'm glad to hear that you love it! Did this chapter go to your liking?
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Latin-chick6953: Thanks! I'm happy that you like it! Here's an update and there's definitely more to come!
Caspia: Oh wow, three reviews from you! Muchos Gracias chikka tikka! Does this chapter answer your questions? Hopefully it does, I tried to answer them…
Ashfaulk: Hehe, wups, I accidentally left you in suspense for a long time. But it was actually much longer than I intended it to be! I had a bunch of technical difficulties with my email and sending it to my BETA…sorry bout that!
Damia - Queen of the Gypsi's: haha sorry you were actually 102…it's all good though! Your review still counts as much as 101 did! I agree, Dalmatians are adorable! Yeah, this is pretty much the "transition phase" I guess you would call it…Did you like this chapter? I know its kind of short, but its significant.
Cinnamon Spice: You're number 101! Yay! I've actually never heard of Ginny having a rich uncle in any story…and that's saying something because sometimes I go to read a long completed story, and then I realize I've already read it before. Yep I've read a lot of D/G fics in my day, and I've only been hooked on fanfics since this past summer! Haha, I like that…hooked on fanfics…did you like this update?
