Chapter 7 – Meet Melissa

Friday night came around quickly and Ginny found herself sat in her room not being able to move. Hermione and Oliver were both happily getting ready to go out. Ginny had never told them about seeing Harry with the girl so they had no idea what the news was they were being told.

At six there was a knock upon Ginny's door and Hermione poked her head round.

"Hey whyaren't you ready?" she asked as she took in the fact Ginny was sat in the pyjamas.

"I can't go." She whispered.

"What? Why not?" Hermione asked, bewildered.

"I just can't." She sighed.

"Yes you can. Come on you get all dressed up and blow Harry's socks off. We'll go and it'll be fun, we'll find out this exciting news that Harry has to tell us. Don't you want to know what it is?"

"I think I can hazard a guess." She muttered as she was dragged off the bed. A wand was pointed at her and spells were said.

Ginny found herself in a pair of blue jeans with a silver halter top. Her hair and make up were done and a pair of black and silver heels was on her feet.

"Great! So you are ready!" Hermione said brightly. "So come on lets get going, you know how flustered Ron gets when we're late.

Ginny was dragged downstairs into the living room, where Oliver was waiting, and pushed into the fireplace. Hermione and Oliver squeezed in with her and after a clear command of 'Grimmauld Place' they were away.

A few seconds later they stepped out of a different fireplace. They were now in the hallway of Grimmauld Place where Harry and Ron had moved into when Hogwarts have finished. Hermione and Ginny had been offered rooms there too, but the girls had turned them down. Hermione because she wanted to be independent and have a place where she could write her book alone and Ginny because she wouldn't have been able to bare seeing Harry so often.

"Hello? Anybody in?" Hermione called out and Ron hurried into the hall.

"Hi guys!" He said with a grin, he pulled both of the girls into a hug and gave them a kiss on the cheek. He then turned to Oliver and shook his hand making pleasantries such as 'good to see you' and 'long time no see'

"Anyway come on through, Harry's cooked so I make no promise that you'll be well tomorrow morning." He joked as they walked into the kitchen.

--

Harry was stood in the kitchen over the cooker flicking his wand about. The potatoes were peeling in the sink and there was soup stirring itself on the hob.

"Hey guys!" He greeted them as they all sat around the small table in the room. "This is very nearly done so if you want to go and sit down I'll bring it through in a minute."

The four of them walked into the dinning room and looked at the set table; the table that had six plates and glasses on.

"Hang on a minute, six? There are only five of us." Oliver said with a frown.

"Oh no we have another person coming. She should be here soon." Ron said as he sat down.

"She?" Hermione asked with raised eyebrows.

"Oh yeh, well you'll find out soon enough. Harry can field that one." Ron said secretively.

--

A few moments later Harry walked in with a bowl of steaming soup and a ladle. All eyes were turned on him expectantly.

"What?" He asked with a chuckle.

They all looked to the spare place then back to Harry.

"Oh I see." He said with a nod and walked from the room. When he came back in he wasn't alone.

A girl was with him. She was tall and slender, wearing a pair of jeans and a black halter top, much like what Ginny was wearing.

But she looks so much better than me Ginny thought bitterly.

"Guys this is Melissa." Harry said as he slipped his arm around her waist. "We've been seeing each other for a while now."

"What! And you didn't tell us?" Hermione asked, shocked.

"Well, I don't know I we wanted to see if it would work out first. And well Melissa and I are moving in together!" He said as the two of them broke into a grin.

"Wow that's great!" Hermione said happily "Congratulations you guys!"

"So Melissa this is Hermione, one of my best friends we went to school together, this is Oliver who's staying with he for a while he was my Quidditch captain and this is Ginny, Ron's sister." Harry was saying and Ginny flinched as she shook Melissa's hand.

Is that all I am to him? I'm just Ron's sister. She thought sadly.

--

All through the meal Ginny said very little, she just sat and watched Harry and Melissa sadly. They seemed so happy together, so wrapped up in each other. Many times in the evening she was blinking back tears.

Hermione spent the whole evening glancing nervously at her friend. She could tell that Ginny was finding this hard. Worse than hard she could tell this was crushing her. She didn't know what she could do. Harry and Melissa were all over each other and not aware of how much pain Ginny was going through.

Oliver and Ron had started a conversation about Quidditch and Oliver was having a great time. Finally someone who he could carry on a good conversation with, he thought happily. The bad thing about living with Hermione and Ginny was they didn't really follow Quidditch to a great extent, so they didn't talk about it so much.

When they had all finished dessert they went through into the living room where Melissa went to make them all a coffee.

"So what do you guys think?" Harry asked excitedly.

"She seems nice," Hermione replied, "You two seem happy together."

All Ginny could manage was a smile and a nod.

"I'm going to go." She declared a few moments later "I have to go to work in the morning. I'll see you at the Burrow tomorrow night if you're there."

With that she got up and walked into the hall, and ignoring all protests from her friends, she left.

--

That night Ginny sat in the astronomy tower wrapped in a crochet blanket, eating her wait in ice cream. Tears ran down her cheeks, but she didn't bother to wipe them away.

She had heard Hermione and Oliver get in a few hours before and Hermione had come looking for her but Ginny had spelled the door shut and after banging on the door for a while Hermione had left her alone.

This was the worst night of Ginny's life. She was only eighteen years old she shouldn't have to deal with this heart break. She had loved Harry since she met him when she was ten years old. That's eight years she spent pining after him, comparing all other guys she met to him. And, of course, none of them ever came close.

She had tried so many times to get over him, but it proved impossible. She loved him and that was the end of it. When she had left school she had still seen a lot of him as she had visited Ron a lot and Harry had always gone to dinner at the Burrow on Saturday nights. She had thought they had gotten closer and her hope had risen that maybe they would eventually get together.

But now with Melissa on the scene it seemed that any hopes she had were now smashed.

--

"I'm really worried about Ginny." Hermione said to Oliver about a week later. "She just mopes about all day, have you seen how little she eats?"

"She needs to get over Harry." Oliver said simply.

"Well I think that's obvious." Hermione sighed "It's just how we do that."

"She needs closure." He suggested. "She needs to get all her feeling out in the open and tell him. That way he knows and she can move on."

"You know as well as I do that she'd never do that." She snapped and walked over to the sink where she started washing up.

Oliver rested his head in his hands and watched her as she scrubbed away at the dishes. She looked beautiful, or so he thought, with her hair tied back but a few strands escaping and her pink v-neck sweater rolled up at the sleeves. She wasn't even wearing makeup, he realised, and she looked gorgeous.

He shook his thought out of his head on concentrated on the conversation they were having.

"Well if you suggest it to her the worst that will happen is she'll say no. it's worth a shot, just to see if she will." He pointed out.

"I guess you're right." Hermione said.

"Of course I am." Oliver chuckled and ducked as she threw the tea towel at him with a grin.

That evening Ginny got in from work and went straight up to her room. She had done this every single time she had returned from work. Hermione would usually come up and try to talk to her but wouldn't stay long.

Just as she guessed it Hermione came up and knocked on the door.

"Ginny? Can I come in? I've got you a cup of tea." She called through the door. Ginny gave no answer but with a flick of her wand the door was unlocked and Hermione came in.

"You have to stop this. It's not doing you any good; you won't get over it this way." She said as she set the mug down on the dresser.

"I don't want to get over him though Hermione. I love him." She sniffed.

"Ginny you think you love him. Just talk to him, tell him how you feel, it might help you move on from this."

"I can't do that!" Ginny gasped, looking at Hermione wide eyed.

"Why can't you?" Hermione inquired. "What have you got to loose? Yeh it may be embarrassing straight after you do it but it'll be better in the long run."

"I don't know," Ginny sighed "Do you think I should?"

Ginny looked at Hermione expectantly as she considered her answer.

"I think it would be good if he knew. If it was out in the open it might help you move on from it. Get on with your life." Hermione said soothingly.

She walked over and gave Ginny a hug as a sob escaped her friend's mouth. Hermione sat for a long time and soothed her friend as she cried.

"Ok I'll do it." Ginny nodded eagerly. "Can you ask him round for me? Just ask him to come to dinner, him and Ron alone, not with Melissa. That way if I change my mind it won't look strange."

"Sure I'll do that right now. I'll ask him round for tomorrow." Hermione smiled reassuringly and started to walk from the room.

"Hermione?" Ginny called after her, Hermione turned around to face her friend. "Thank you."

Hermione smiled and nodded before walking away.

She quickly wrote a note to Harry and Ron asking them to join her, Ginny and Oliver for dinner the next night before going into the living room and collapsing down onto the sofa next to Oliver.

With a sigh she rested her head on his shoulder. She asked, "When was it that our lives got so very complicated?"

A/N – This was ready for last night but I went to see the Hives so by the time I got back it was about midnight and I was too wiped to update then so I'm sorry that you had to wait a day more than you could have.

Thank you to my reviewers –

angryteabag,
FlairVerona,
D-daygirl,
Buffy,
chris,
RandomSmirf13,