What's in a Name?
Summary: Sick of being constantly known as a Weasley's little sister, Ginny moves to America to start a new life for herself. After two years, she's perfectly happy...but then her past comes back to bite her in the arse. Harry/Ginny
Rating: PG-13 for language
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of it's related characters, I HAVE NO OWNERSHIP OVER!
.
Chapter Two: On My Own
.
"Our greatest experiences are our quiet moments." -- Nietszche
.
Two Years Later: San Francisco, California
Ginny awoke to a loud buzzing sound next to her left year. She groaned loudly and slammed her hand down on her cheap alarm clock that was screaming at her from a bedside table. She heard it knock to the ground and beep softly and then went off. She buried her head deeply into the confines of her pillow, trying to ignore the beating sunlight coming in through the half drawn blinds on the only window in her room.
"C'mon, Reggie." Phoebe's voice broke through the haze of her semi-conscious state. Ginny lifted her tussled head a few inches to see her flatemate, Phoebe poking her head into her room. "You're gonna be late again."
"I know, I know." Ginny said hoarsely, forcing herself to a seated position, moaning in pain, feeling sore. "Ugh! I told you that hike around Angel Island would kill me!"
"Oh, you know you loved it." Phoebe said, moving completely into the room, opening the blinds even further, allowing the bright sunlight to emerge into the white room, blinding Ginny. She groaned loudly.
"Phoebs!"
"Reggie!" Phoebe replied in the same tone. "Get up! Get up!"
"Fine, I'm up." Ginny said, getting out of bed, frowning intensely. "Are you happy?"
"Thadda girl." Phoebe smirked at her and left the room so Ginny could get dressed.
"You're worse than my own mother." Ginny muttered under her breath.
"I'll take that as a compliment!" Phoebe called from the hallway.
Ginny yawned widely and walked to her mirror. Her hair, once the vivid red that had immediately identified her as Weasley, was now a light brown with blonde highlights. she pulled it up into a bundle on the back of her head. She still had her freckles, but they had been lightened in the Californian sun, while her skin had tanned. She pulled on a pair of long light blue jeans with a white peasant blouse. Her limbs still retained the coltish look, even though she had grown into an adult.
Ginny had moved to San Francisco two years after Luna had suggested she live her own life. Okay, so she hadn't said that exactly, but Ginny had drawn her own conclusions from Luna's comment to her. She had changed her hair and her name. She was now Reggie Evans. She had remembered that Harry's mother's madien name was Evans. She didn't want to forget her old life entirely, and she liked having that reminder of it.
"Reggie!" Phoebe pounded on her door. "You're going to be late again!"
Ginny opened her door. Phoebe stood outside, knowingly. "I know, I know." Ginny said. "I know I'm going to be late. Say it for me?"
"I told you so." Phoebe said with a grin. She handed Ginny two pieces of toast wrapped in a paper napkin. "Just don't do it again."
"Have fun at class." Ginny said, taking a bite out of one of the pieces. It was only slightly buttered, just the way she liked it. Phoebe was a native San Franciscan, born and raised in S.F. She had wavy sandy colored ringlets that framed her heart-shaped face. Dark blue intelligent eyes were lined with eyeliner today, and her hair was pulled up away from her face into a bun. She was a year older than Ginny, but was at a post-magical school University in the city training to be a Healer.
"Yeah, loads of fun." Phoebe said impatiently. "Go!"
"See you at the Orange Court after work, okay?" Ginny said, and with a loud POP! She Apperated to MCS, Magical Child Services, straight into her office.
"Reggie?" A head poked around the door. It was Ryan, her personal assistant. He was tall with dark brown hair that was almost black. It reached his earlobes in curls. His face was dark, a tanned shade that the sun could never give. He walked into, holding a cup of tea in his hands. Her gave it to her and she accepted it graciously. "You've got a new case."
"I do?" Ginny said, placing her purse down on her desk, and taking a sip of the tea. Peppermint with honey, her favorite. "But I haven't finished with Hopkins yet, or Rosenthall!"
Ryan shrugged. "Brooks gave Hopkins to Amy. He wants you to take this new case. Here." He handed her a folder.
Ginny sighed. "Thanks, Ryan." She took the folder and placed it on her desk.
"Anytime...hey, sweetheart, are you okay?" Ryan cocked his head to peer at Ginny's distained face.
Ginny shook her head. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. John Hopkins needs to get out of that house. I'll put a fire under Amy's ass to get the case done. How's Derek?" She asked expertly changing the topic of conversation.
Ryan's face lit up like a jack-o-lantern at Halloween. "He's wonderful! We went to this amazing, cafe last night in North Beach. He has such exquised taste."
"Sounds like you two are becoming serious." Ginny took another sip of tea. "Going to the Giants game today?" She asked slyly.
Ryan grinned too, tapping his nose. "Oh, yeah Reggie. You know me too well." He winked at her.
Ginny smiled. "Okay, I need to get working on the Rosenthall case if I'm going to get started on this other one. Any court assignments that were handed out today?"
"None for you." Ryan said, shaking his head. "It's a slow week."
Ginny nodded. "Okay, go. I need to get started." She flapped a hand at Ryan. Ryan smiled at her, and went outside and closed the door to do whatever it was that personal assistants do all day long.
Ginny sat down at her desk and moved the new case folder to one end, reminding herself to work on it when she finished with Rosenthall, and went promptly to work.
*~*~*
Ginny finally did finish her case, sending the file of the maltreated child in a magical home to the criminal courts. No doubt in a couple weeks she would be called in as a witness. She hated court dates. They took so much time out of her schedule, already. She walked to her favorite cafe to meet Phoebe, that was a couple blocks from her office building. The Orange Court was a normal sized building, and she pulled the door open and walked in. True to it's name, the walls of the Orange Court were a vivid color of orange. And the ceiling was a shade of white with different colors that splashed the ceiling. Ginny walked up to the counter. "Give me a cup of green tea?" Ginny asked to the owner, an overweight man in his late forties.
"No problem, Reg." He said. "Any milk, sugar?"
"Just some honey packets, Frank." Ginny said.
"Tough day at work?" Frank asked, pouring hot water into a waiting cup and placing the tea bag in with the steaming water. He put the cup on a saucer and gave her some extra honey packets with a wink.
"The worst." Ginny smiled, despite her words. "But it turned out good. I got a kid out of bad home."
"Well that makes up for everything right?" Frank handed her the tea, giving her another wink.
"Of course it does." Ginny said, pulling out some Muggle money and paying him. "Thanks so much, Frank."
"Anytime, Reg." Frank waddled back to help a customer that needed advice choosing a pastry.
Ginny walked over to the table that she and Phoebe always sat at. Phoebe was late again. She took a slow drink of her tea, trying not to scaled her tongue. It had been nearly two years since she had left home. She had moved to S.F. because she had fallen in love with it when she had read some articles in a travel magazine a couple years ago. She had met Phoebe at Golden Gate Park when she had been walking. They had started to talk over some lattes and Ginny revealed that she was living at a motel, and Phoebe had offered her a place to stay for a while. They liked each other so much that they had just stayed together. There was a space of a couple months where they both hadn't revealed that they were witches to each other, each thinking the other one was a Muggle and practiced their magic in secret. Phoebe had walked in on Ginny lifting a chair with magic to look for a lost ring, and started laughing insanely.
It wasn't like Ginny didn't miss her family. She still listened to Chudley Cannon games on her magical radio to hear about where Ron was lately, and the Daily Prophet occasional had a piece on Percy. (His latest project was getting equal rights for Werewolves. Ginny had laughed at that, knowing that Percy's friendship with Remus after Sirius' death had been informational for Percy.) She wondered if her youngest niece Bianca had grown much, and if she resembled her Veela mother, and if she had any siblings yet.
Phoebe stormed into the Orange Court looking livid. "I swear to every God and Goddess in existence, that he needs to die!" She exclaimed, throwing her book bag down. "That sexist PIG!" At her outburst, several people looked over.
"Phoebs, calm down." Ginny said, alarmed. "What happened? Did your Professor..."
Phoebe shook her head, several strands of blonde hair escaping her tightly wound bun. "No, not my professor. That...that poor excuse for a human, Aaron!" She blew out a puff of air. "I can't believe him!!"
"What did he say?" Ginny asked.
"He told me that a Healer's job 'was no place for a woman'. Who the HELL does he think he is?" Phoebe looked like she wanted desperately to punch someone.
Ginny nodded and made some soothing noises while Phoebe ranted away. Ginny's attention began to wander as she listened to Phoebe drone on about the poor soul named Aaron. She began to watch her fellow customers, chatting away happily, sipping on coffee or munching on food. Her gaze fell on the back of a tall man paying for a cup of coffee to go. His midnight black hair was messy and unkempt.
Ginny's heart began to pound.
As the man turned to put some money in the tip jar, Ginny caught a glimpse of a pair of bottle green eyes. Ginny gasped loudly.
"Reggie?" Phoebe asked, looking alarmed. "Are you okay?" Phoebe reached over to stroke Ginny's hair.
Ginny re-gained her breath and she realized that the man had left the store while she had gone into a panic. "I'm fine." She gasped. That couldn't have been...It just couldn't have! "It's just...I thought I saw...saw someone that I knew."
Phoebe turned to look around. "Where?" She inquired.
"He's gone." Ginny said quickly. "Anyway, it probably wasn't him."
Phoebe smiled. "Well that would be a first, huh? The first person you know since you left England."
Goddess, please don't let it be him... Ginny thought to herself as Phoebe continued on her rant.
