Author's Note: Bonjour. Yes. Ew I can't believe I just said that I hate French. Anywaaaays, this chapter is a flashback. Generally I would put flashback chapters in italics but this chapter has so many god damn italics, and some of them are kind of important, and I'm far too lazy to take them OFF italics and put the rest IN italics. So yes. This chapter is a flashback. Can't say there was no way for you to know now. Unless you don't read the Author's Notes which you SHOULD because I enjoy writing them and they contain IMPORTANT information such as what I ate for breakfast this morning. A peanut butter chocolate chunk cookie and some Diet Coke. It's peanut butter and jelly tiiiiime. Anyways yes. Not much else of any importance. Except, the two songs used in this chapter, I need to give credit to the artists once again because blah blah blah laws and shit that I don't actually care about...and because they kick ass. If I ever use a song from a shitty artist which I will never do, I will not give credit to the artist. -SNORT-. Anywaaaays the first song of magicalness be Gifts and Curses by the ever wonderful Yellowcard. And the word Ginny replaces the word Mary. Very thorough aren't I? Aaaand the second song that Ginny and Laura don't really sing right because they're fucked up and drunk is Disappear by Hoobstank. And yes I did just give away part of the plot. Oh well when you mention the word drunk it's just encouragement to read the chapter. People love it. Haaaw. As if. Anyways yeah.. Go to it. Hope you enjoy the splendiforous FLASHBACK chapter. There I reminded you again you can't forget. And I mean even if you didn't read the Author's Note or forgot what it said thirty seconds after reading it, it still isn't a very hard thing to figure out. And even if the chapter totally confuses you it's still funny and wonderful as it involved Laura and J.J and Ginny and naked pie and a big ugly beast. Well now that I've babbled a fair fucking bit, read the chapter. Yus.
Of A Simpler Time
The sky shone brightly with dark cold colours, but the air still blew refreshingly warm onto her face. Ginny laughed loudly for no reason. She never needed a reason.
"I can feel the branches through the blanket on my ass!" Laura cried throwing her head back all the while releasing loud giggled
"What ass?" Ginny snorted. "Do I have a ass anymore?it's so numb!"
"Let me check!" J.J joked grabbing Ginny stomach as she howled loudly
"Peeerv!" Laura droned rolling on top of her brother and pulling his hair. Ginny gave a muffled cry from beneath all their body weight, laugher still detectable. J.J poked his sister hard in the side. She shrieked and toppled off the top of the pile next to Ginny who let out a loud snort. Laura responded to this by reaching out and grabbing her friend's nose. She flailed insanely, thrashing her legs, which forced J.J on top of Laura who stuck her knee up catching his stomach. He gave a loud groan and reached out with his hands. Their screams of laugher could have been heard for miles around as for several minutes the mayhem continued.
A mass of empty vodka bottles lay soaking in the summer dew of the grass, their brooms some feet away closer to the other end of the Quidditch pitch where the three of them were lying on a thin blanket as a million stars slowly found their places in the dark evening sky. J.J opened another bottle of stolen liquor.
"To the end of exams!" he declared rasing the large bottle into the air. Noticing he had nothing to clink the bottle against Laura slammed her fist against it helpfully. A splash of cold fizzy vodka hit Ginny in the face as she gave another blissful laugh and licked the area around her dark lips, then collapsed further onto the blanket taking the bottle J.J passed her and not hesitating to take a long swig. It felt cold against her tiny fingers and as she clutched it tight, trails of the substance still escaped in trickles and poured down her face, finding her way to her ears. She loved the way it felt.
"I can't wait till next year." she piped up passing the bottle to Laura. she was lying on her stomach his her head on her arm, gazing in wonderment up at the castle alight with the glow of a million fairies.
"Nothing'll be different right?" Laura asked letting herself fall down next to Ginny, their hair entwining together into one great mass. "I mean a lot of stuff is changed. It'll be fifth year. And Ginny's in all those classes for perfect kids-"
J.J interrupted with the sound of the now empty bottle being tossed carelessly aside before he laughed.
"Perfect? Far from it. Will you look at her? Lying out on the Quidditch pitch after curfew with stolen vodka and stolen––pie, that you just had to have for some reason. And drunk might I add."
"Ladies don''t get drunk." Laura said scoldingly
"Like I said. She's drunk." Ginny rolled over, drooling in the slightest and smacked J.J across the head. He laughed again and she smiled.
"Well we don't." Laura pressed, grinning herself "We don't get drunk. We just...reach our peak.."
"That sounds rather sexual." her brother noticed raising his eyebrows as Ginny rolled back over and released a fresh snort. "And plus that. We could be having sex out here."
Ginny just stared at him.
"No we couldn't."
Laura cackled.
"Burn."
"Well we could be."
"No we couldn't." she repeated.
"Well they don't know that!" he exclaimed gesturing tipsily to the castle
"They don't know we're gone." Laura pointed out
"Well they could. And if they did. They could think we were out...canoodling. And they would know she was far from perfect."
Ginny just laughed. Being perfect didn't concern her. She never tried to be perfect. She did what everyone else did. Apparently she was better at most of it. Oh well. She took a swig draining the drops from one of the bottles. She didn't care. They could call her perfect. Lying there she had to agree more with J.J. She was far from it. But so what?
"Look there's Snape checking to see if anyone's out here and sealing up the castle"" Laura snorted. "Never thinks to check here the old git does he?"
Ginny was about to answer, at least she figured she was when a loud slamming snapped her eyes towards J.J and she realized he was pulling out his guitar. She blinked. He really was quite good looking.
"Where's your amp?" she asked in a drunken voice
He stared
"It's an acoustic Gin."
She stared blankly back clearly too wasted to process this.
"Where's your amp?"
"Erm...it's...it's...it's inside Gin." he said grinning and beginning to let his hands bend effortlessly strumming a familiar song.
"Ginny belongs to the words of a song" he sang jokingly. Even in her state she knew the song well and snorted as she pulled Laura over with her to listen better.
"I try to be strong for her. Try not to be wrong for her."
There was only him. Only him and his guitar. The night sky slowly faded away as Ginny forgot her hand on Laura''s back. His eyes were really quite pretty. She wasn't even listening...she didn't need to pay attention to the music. The music paid attention to her. She heard it without trying.
"Ginny's alive in the bright New York sky"
She inched just a little bit closer...
"The city lights shine for her."
His fingers were one giant blur, and he never so much as glanced at them.
"Above them I cry for her."
She loved the way he rolled the word "above" around a million times on his wet lips...
"Everything's small on the ground below...down below..."
He was looking at her too, she realized now. His gorgeous eyes were on her. She couldn't look away. She felt lost in his eyes. Only she was''t lost. She could never be lost in him. He knew him far too well. Ginny beamed. She loved that.
"What if I fall..."
He seemed to be singing slower...
"Well where would I go?"
She moved even closer.
"Would she kno-ow?..."
"Fuck you''re hot." Ginny blurted out "You're sexy."
J.J stopped playing and stared at her.
"You''re drunk."
"No!" she protesting slamming her hand down on the air. Only the air wasn't solid and she toppled over forward grunting with laughter
"DO YOU KNOOOOOOOW THAT EVVVV''RY TIME YOU'RE NEEEEAR!" Laura screeched suddenly throwing her arms into the air with drama, "EEEEVERYONE ELSE JUST SEEMS SOOOO-" She stopped abruptly "Whoooa I like totally forget the rest of the words! Hmmm...oh wait! DO YOU KNOOOOOOOOOOW- wait fuck did I already sing that part?"
"Hey I know that song!" Ginny yelled "I know that song!"
"DO YOU KNOOOOOOOOOW! DO YOU KNOOOOOW! Uhhhh...DISAPEAAAAR! JUST STAY HERE WE'LL DISAPEAR MAKE THEM NEAR-MAKE THEM-DO YOU KNOOOOOOOOW!"
"That could not be more wrong." J.J said plainly.
Ginny stood up and started to dance, flailing her hips insanely, wagging her head so her long hair fell into her face, blocking her view.
"Hey shut up, it was good!" she scolded him. She tried to take a step forward but fell forward into J.J.
"Hey there." he said.
"Whoooa!" she screamed scrambling backwards, "Your head is like growing things!"
She pointed to J.J's head, her eyes popping out of her own head as she screamed. Laura stopped singing and stared too.
"Hey yeah!" she agreed toppling over to her brother and grabbing one of his ears, "They look like pie!" she squealed excitedly "What the fuck are they?"
"They're ears Laura and if you try to eat them I swear you won't live to see our next birthday."
"Oh my GOD!" Ginny exclaimed interrupting him. "That is the COOLEST WORD."
"What?" he asked blankly "Birthday?"
"Ears!" she said it again "Eeeeeearrrrs. Eeeeeeaaaaaarsssss."
"You have them too." he pointed out chuckling.
Ginny felt the sides of her head.
"Hey yeah!" she noticed "Wow that is fucked up!"
Laura whipped her head around snapping her teeth, trying to catch one of her ears in her mouth
"Fuck, it's so hard!" she yelled as she toppled over backwards
"How hammered are you two?" J.J asked through laughter.
"Oh shut up and have some more vodka!" Laura exclaimed spiritedly. She grabbed her brother's shoulder for support as she skipped along the pitch. J.J shrugged, reaching for another bottle and within seconds he had downed the entire thing.
"DO YOU KNOOOOOOOOOW THAT EVERY TIME YOU'RE EEEEARSS- I mean-EVERY TIME YOU'RE EEEEARSS-I mean- wait, oh my GOD guys I figured out something really cool!" Laura guffawed now rolling around on the grass "Near rhymes with ear! I mean with ears! But it's near...hmm...nears?...EAR. Fuck it worked a minute ago!"
"Where'd that girl go?" J.J asked seeming to finally to be a little wasted himself
"Le Gin?"
"Yeah that."
"Dunno!" cried Laura starting to prance
"I'm heeeeeeeeeere!" Ginny yelled from the opposite end of the pitch. "Let's get NAKED!"
"Let's get PIE!" Laura screamed in response
"NAKED PIE!" Ginny cried back sounding demonic and insane.
Laura liked this idea.
"YEEEEAAAAHHHHHHH!" she shrieked starting to run forwards dragging her brother with her, "COME ON BUDDY, WE'RE GETTING NAKED PIE!"
But J.J still had some sense in him.
"Guys maybe we shouldn't be going that close to the Forbidden-"
"NAKED PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" his sister screamed one more time before she booted from the pitch pulling off her t shirt as she ran so she was only in her black strapless bra and hip hugging jeans.
"La! Oh fuck I don't wanna see that!" he said trying to shield his eyes and summon back his sister at the same time.
"Oh my god I get it! She's the pie! The naked pie! Because she's getting naked and--Laura wait, I get it!" Ginny screamed running after her and mimicking Laura's previous actions "I WANNA BE PIE TOO!" she pulled off her own top and revealed a bra identical to Laura's. The result of two girls who never go shopping without each other
"PIE?" Laura bellowed only feet from the forest "I LIKE PIE!"
"COME ON SEXY MAN!" Ginny bellowed turning to face J.J "You know you wanna be pie!"
Ginny was standing roughly ten feet from J.J in only her bra. His mouth opened the smallest bit as all of his energy was poured towards not letting his eyes drift towards her freckly chest that seemed to be revealed more every moment as the bra was strapless and Ginny was too small to have much to hold it up
"Fuck." he muttered staring up at the sky "SERIOUSLY guys come back here...and...put your... tops on."
Ginny gave a drunken grin and thought nothing of his words. But just then-
""AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" they heard a scream issue in Laura's voice from some ways away by the forest. All fell silent. Ginny went to run towards her
"PIE! NAKED-I'M COOOOOOOOOMING!", but she tripped tipsily to the ground as she spun around. J.J started forward and pulled Ginny up off the ground
"Laaaaaa?" he slurred, not bashed enough to not know something was wrong.
From the approaching distance they heard her shrill cry again. They were both running. And then they saw it.
"FUCK!" Ginny bellowed at the giant hairy creature behind Laura. "IT'S BIG!"
She took a step forward but J.J caught her by the stomach and pushed her behind him
"GINNY RUN! GET AWAY!" he yelled sharply. But it was far too late now. Whatever it was, was too close. For the first time the air felt cold. It had huge black eyes and long dark hair surrounding its horns and mouth, dripping saliva
"WHAT IS IT?" she yelled
"LAURA!" he cried as it approached her
"FUCK!" Laura yelled trying to dodge it but, she tripped and fell flat on her face. She didn't get up.
"LAURA!" Ginny screamed frantically. Reality was beginning to creep back up on her.
"GINNY RUN!" J.J repeated "GET AWAY!"
"NO I WON'T" she yelled back "I WON'T, I WON'T LEAVE HER HERE! I WON'T LEAVE YOU!" tears were beginning to spill down her cheeks, "WHAT IS IT?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" he sounded frustrated "JUST GET OUT!"
But that was not even an option in Ginny's mind. Recklessly she sped forward, moving towards her friend until the beast reared on its enormous hind legs. Ginny took hurried steps backwards and found herself, falling onto the hard ground too. Suddenly she was very aware she was only in her bra.
"GINNY!" he bellowed voice strangled with fear
"Holy-" Laura was stirring
"LA STAY THERE. DON'T FUCKING MOVE! DON'T LET IT KNOW THAT YOU'RE-"
"GINNY MOVE!" she screamed as though she hadn't even heard her brother "MOVE!"
Immediately Ginny turned to face the beast and she could see what Laura meant. She was going to die tonight. It reared once more and began towards her. She scrambled desperately backwards
"HEY!" Laura screamed her face red with tears. But her voice was full of determination "HEY YOU!"
"LA DON'T!" Ginny''s voice was breaking. It was harder to get words out. "DO-ON'T!"
"HEEEEEY!" she hollared again. It stopped and turned towards her. "THAT'S RIGHT!" Laura yelled getting to her feet and spreading her arms apart. "I'M RIGHT HERE."
"LAURA NO!" Ginny sobbed uncontrollably "NO!"
It was feet from her now
"FUCK NO!" J.J yelled running full speed. But he was just too far away. Laura rounded and began to run, curving around the monster. It stopped in its tracks confused. But then it turned its enormous head swiftly after her and its horn caught her in the back of the leg. Ginny heard her strangled moan and let out a loud reasonless scream. Ginny was still on the ground. J.J came up behind her, she could hear his quickened breath. He pulled her up to her feet and moved in front of her but-
"LAURA!" she yelled
"I'M HERE!" she responded through sobs. The beast had lost interest. It turned to J.J and Ginny. His grip was now tight on her arms, she could barely move. She tried to start towards it, overcome with anger but his already numb hands tightened
"Ginny no." he whispered. But she broke free.
"LAURA GET AWAY FROM IT! I'LL DIS-"
"GIN FUCKING D-"
"HEY!" she screamed as Laura had "HEY!"
He ran up behind her and grabbed her around the middle once more
"Ginny-"
"Jay no!"
"Go back-"
"No-"
"Go back up to the castle and tell them-"
"NO!" she screamed too loudly not to be heard.
It narrowed its dark eyes once more, as Ginny twisted herself free.
"Laura run!"
"I can't!" she heard Laura sob "I can't!"
There was no room to run this time. Before Ginny had even attempted escaping it was happening in a flash of sharp quick moving horns and J.J's yells from somewhere behind her. The beast caught its long dark horns on her soft stomach. They cut through the flesh as pain burst sharply into her body and she let out a loud wail.
The only upside was it was satisfied. With one last snort the beast turned on its heal and galloped back into the Forbidden Forest.
The first thing Ginny heard was J.J's strangled yell of frustration.
"ARGH!" he cried as he ran frantically towards the girls who were both lying on the ground covered in dirt and blood in their matching black strapless bras about ten feet away from each other. "Oh, fuck." he exclaimed falling to his knees in between them. First he crawled to his poor sister, who was now sitting up breathing hard with her face in her hands, "Laura." he said concernedly "Are you okay?"
"I'm-fine." she gasped, which was obviously a lie.
"Calm down." he said soothingly, "It's gone now okay?"
She nodded several times, both hands on her vibrating leg
"Let me see." he said staring at her leg
She shook her head
"It's f-fine. Go. Go see Ginny. Wh-what did it do t-to-"
"Shhh..." he laid a hand down on her leg and felt her breath sharpen. He looked up. "Can you walk at all?"
For the first time Laura let out her trademark snort
"Now th-that was a stupid question you dumbass." she said gesturing to her mangled leg. He laughed too but then a soft moan from Ginny brought them back to Earth.
"Here." J.J muttered pulling her up. She was shaking violently. He wrapped her limp arm around his shoulder and helped her walk the few feet over to Ginny where J.J collapsed to his knees once more and Laura carefully sat down.
Ginnys eyes were closed tight and distinct shivers were issuing from her pale mouth.
"Ginny." J.J said urgently "Gin..."
She slowly opened her eyes and registered both of them sitting there. Her mouth opened and she moved her lips, but no words issued. They were patient.
"Cold." she said finally resuming shivering.
"You must be going into shock or something." he said slowly. "Just breathe okay?"
J.J looked down at the blood issuing from her pale stomach and bit his lip. Laura gave a loud hiccough.
"Our brooms." she said rubbing her face "They're all over-"
"Forget about it." he said sharply.
"They'll know we were-"
"They won't" he said firmly.
Without another word J.J tore off his black sweater and his t shirt. He reached out and slowly tied the t shirt around Laura''s bloody leg, pausing as she winced. Then he wrapped the sweater around Ginny and picked her up easily in his arms. Her eyes were shut tight again.
"How do you know about all this shit?" Laura said suddenly and loudly, "I mean fuck I've lived with you my whole life, when the fuck did you learn to keep a cool head in a crisis?"
"I never really learned anything particular, I just eventually learned to do the exact opposite of whatever you did." he said with a roll of his eyes "Grab my shoulder you midget freak."
She snorted and did as told.
"You're so hot." she commented as they started back to the pitch, J.J with Ginny in his arms. He stared at her blankly.
"Not like THAT!" she screeched "I mean you POSSESS BODY WARMTH! Fuck...that bull shit is wrooong."
He stared again
"Well, I haven't been half naked for the past twenty minutes."
Laura raised her eyebrows and laughed
They arrived back at the pitch and cleared the empty vodka bottles away from the blanket. Snape had sealed the castle so going back up was not an option until morning. J.J gently lifted Ginny out of his arms and set her on the blanket where she stirred, opening her eyes and sat straight up.
"Whoooa..." she muttered slapping a hand to her head and staggering backwards when it hit with such force. "My head."
Laura sat down slowly and gave a weak smile
"Congratulations, the makings of your very first hangover."
Ginny snorted
"First? Not likely."
Laura grinned at her
"I know it just sounded like the right thing to say."
They both stared blankly at each other for a moment and then snorted once more.
"How do you get a hangover twenty minutes after you're drunk?" J.J cut in.
Both girls stopped laughing and stared up at him blankly
"Well excuse me Professor." Laura scoffed
"I just mean-"
"Oh fuck you, you're never even able to get drunk because you're so huge! You're like Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk!"
He stared
"What's that now?"
"You know! And he's like a giant who lives at the top of the beanstalk!"
"Jack wasn't the giant La. Jack was the kid who climbed the beanstalk."
Laura looked confused.
"You mean he climbed the giant?"
"No, Laura the beanstalk wasn't the giant either. The beanstalk was the beanstalk."
She stared off into space for a moment attempting to register this. Then-
"Oh fuck you. You're huge. That's my point."
Ginny gave a cough a lied back down.
"It really is cold." she said weakly
"It's not cold." said Laura.
J.J stared avidly at the chunk missing from Ginny's middle. Gently, he applied pressure, with the black sweater and watched as the dark blood seeped through and leaked onto his hands. Ginny gave a dry sob.
"Look maybe we should all just go to sleep. No teams have practice tomorrow, no one's gonna catch us, there aren't any classes...we need sleep." J.J yawned
He waved his wand and cleared the empty vodka bottles before helping Laura lie down underneath the enormous blanket next to Ginny. He crawled under, on the other side of her. She was still shivering. He gathered his nerve and slowly wrapped his arms around her tiny, fragile body, to keep her warm. He could feel her breath. And he felt right for one of the first times in his life. He felt perfect.
"Jay..." Ginny said sleepily.
"Mmm?" he said
"It won't change will it? Next year?"
"No." he said without hesitation
"What if it does? What if it''s all different and weird?"
"It won't be." he answered simply "I won't let it be."
"Promise?" she asked drifting to sleep
"I promise if you do."
"I promise..." she muttered in a voice barely above a whisper.
They all drifted in out and out of uneasy sleeps throughout the night. J.J could often hear his sister singing in her beautiful voice. He was sure she wasn't asleep. A few times she even got up off the ground, and stood on one foot staring up at the night sky as she sang. He could hear tears in her voice. But he didn't get up. She didn't need to know he was listening...
He opened his eyes. The sun wasn't out yet...he heard crickets still chirping incessantly. He shifted his arm a little to check his watch...it read 3:48AM. J.J glanced up at the sky and then down at Ginny who was sleeping peacefully. He could still feel her warm breath...he looked to her stomach where his sweater was still wrapped around the deep wound, and one of his hands was placed. But she wasn't shivering anymore...maybe he shouldn't be-...slowly J.J began to lift his hands away from her body. A small grunt issued from her mouth as he did so.
"Reflex..." he muttered to himself.
But it wasn't. Maybe she wasn't asleep after all. Ginny reached out with her minuscule hand and touched his wrist
"Don't..." she murmured gently bringing it back around her body "Don't stop Jay...I don't want you to...I love you..."
J.J wasn't even aware if she knew what she was saying. He didn't respond. He simply put his hands back where they were and smiled breathing in the warm night air...
Ginny blinked her eyes open and rubbed the sleep out of them. Her stomach was throbbing. Her head was pounding. She glanced around her. Laura was still fast asleep on her left snoring quietly.
J.J was gone. She glanced up. He was sitting a few feet away from the blanket with his back to her and a guitar in his hands, strumming quietly. She glanced at her watch. 7:32AM.
"Morning Jay..." she said weakly "Whatcha doing?"
He turned around and glanced at her then at his guitar.
"I dunno...I just...felt like I needed a guitar in my hands." he replied with a sheepish grin, "Sorry if I woke you up."
She shook her head and yawned, balancing on her elbows
"Don't be."
"How d'you feel?" he asked placing his acoustic on the ground and looking at her, eyes full of concern.
"Can't complain." she shrugged, sitting up. "But...what happened last night?"
His expression vanished
"You don't remember? Not any of it?"
She shook her head and he snorted.
"And that kind of frightens me as I'm in my bra and you're not wearing a shirt."
"Nothing happened." he said through laughter
"Holy fuck." Laura was stirring. "Oh god. We didn't screw did we? If I screwed my brother I'll kill myself. Wait...is this heaven? Fuck we died didn't we? I'm gonna kill myself if we're dead. Wait how did..." she glanced down at her leg "What the fuck? Jay did you try to eat me or something?"
"Hey wait..." Ginny looked down at her throbbing stomach covered in J.J's sweater "What the fuck happened here?"
They were both staring him. He thought of last night...a million emotions coming over him.
"Don't...don't stop Jay...I don't want you to...I love you..."
He took a deep shaky breath
"I dunno...I dunno...I mean...nothing happened really..." he muttered
"How did-" Laura began gesturing to her leg
"I dunno." he cut in. "Madam Pomfrey'll fix it up in a heartbeat...I guess...I guess nothing that happened last night really matters."
Ginny glanced at him suspiciously
"What's up Jay?"
She could always see right through him...
"Let's just head back up to the castle." he smiled
"Errrmmmm buddy." Laura piped up gesturing to her bare stomach and dark bra.
"Fuck." he muttered looking away. Throughout the havoc of the previous night he'd forgotten to avoid looking at his sister. "Your shirts are over by the other end of the pitch I'll get them."
Laura shrugged
"Kay!"
He returned and tossed both of them their t shirts. Ginny winced when she slid her's on, then rolled it up past her cut. She stared at it for a second then predictably let out a snort.
"It's so huge." she giggled pointing at her stomach.
"Mine too!" laughed Laura hopping around on her good leg "Biiiiiiiig. Big and...naked." She stopped hopping and blinked a few times. There was silence. "Hey wait. I think I remember something...naked...naked."
"Naked?" Ginny asked blankly
Laura said nothing. Then-
"Pie." she turned her head. "Pie. I remember something about pie."
Ginny just snorted
"Sorry La that doesn't help much. Thanks to you, pretty much all of our memories involve something about pie."
J.J gave a nervous laugh.
"Yeah...yeah...let's just head back up."
Laura nodded.
Then the two of them gathered up their things, each grabbed onto one of J.J's shoulders and headed back up to the castle to enjoy the last day of their fourth year.