Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters.
-Chapter 2-
"Merlin you could cut the tension in that room with a knife. Possibly even a giant sword," Ginny muttered softly to herself.
Her shoulders were slumped and her head was bowed as she walked to her room, leaving Hermione and Ron to continue watch Harry unpack in what she believed was a strained silence.
Harry had just arrived this morning just after breakfast. Suffice to say that he looked absolutely exhausted. His once glowing green eyes now portrayed a distant, lost look. There were also barely noticeable worry lines inching their way into the corners of his eyes and forehead.
Arthur Weasley had gone to pick up Harry alone, considering our history with Harry's relatives, the Dursley's, was not exactly a pleasant one, minus the twins fun with Harry's obese cousin Dudley.
Ginny was sure the Dursley's, including her mum and dad, would just love a repeat of that performance.
Before Harry came to the house, everyone felt a bit fidgety while preparing for his arrival. No one knew exactly just how to act when he arrived. They had all agreed to make sure his stay here was as comfortable as possible. Even the reluctant, although she did not show it, Ginny.
'I don't know what the bloody big deal is. It's not like we treat him anything other than like family. I swear mum wishes she could adopt him,' Ginny grumbled, 'I understand his pain, but he is not a bloody porcelain doll and should not be treated as such. Harry can take care of himself, but of course he needs us to help him get through it. Although I am skeptical about this whole situation, I will give it a shot, for Ron's sake.'
Ginny nodded in reassurance to herself, in hopes it would all work out in the end. Upon Harry's arrival, everyone, including Ginny, donned happy expressions plus wide smiles, welcoming him into the Weasley home.
Harry looked a little bit flustered by the gathering of red-heads, but it seemed to relieve him for the time being. His sparkling luster had returned, making him seem almost normal again, on the outside anyway.
By the time he was able to retreat up to Ron's room, with Ron, Ginny and Hermione in tow, he had become awfully quiet.
Hermione and Ron were both in the room, helping Harry unpack and settle in. Ginny opted to stay by the door, halfway in the room, halfway in the hallway.
Ron and Hermione were making small talk with him, using the basics such as 'How are you? ', 'You grew taller', 'ready for our sixth year at Hogwarts? '. Ginny watched him carefully as he responded he spoke with them.
It was relieving to see that he was comfortable and relaxed.
Ginny narrowed her eyes into small slits, 'There's something different about him, something cautious and reserved, and it seems to be making Ron and Hermione a bit tense,' thought Ginny.
Ginny had to admit she was a bit jealous at the attention Harry was receiving. Her mother had completely ignored her this morning when Ginny said she had degnomed the whole garden by herself. She felt very proud for accomplishing something that usually took more than two people to do.
Ginny flushed a deep red, silently fuming. She had stomped up the stairs loudly and into her room, slamming the door. Even that did not seem to make her mum aware of what was going on with Ginny or that she even existed at the moment.
'Always about Harry bloody Potter and his worries. Hell it is always about Ron or even Hermione! So bloody unfair I tell you! The only way to get any attention is if I was to say something about what happened in my first year. Then comes out the "Oh Ginny!", or "Do you want to talk about it?" What nonsense. What complete and utter nonsense.'
Just then Arthur tapped on the door. "Hello Ginny? I just thought you should know that we plan to take a visit to Diagon Alley today. Harry-,"
'Harry again? How shocking..,' "-seems to be up to it, as well as the rest of us do, so please do hurry up, we are all ready to go and are just waiting for you," said Arthur, his voice calm and collected.
Before Ginny could say anything, footsteps could be heard fading in the distance, meaning he had already left to go downstairs with the others. Ginny let out an exasperated sigh.
'Diagon Alley, eh? Maybe I can actually find something worth buying with the little bit of money I have saved up from my last few Christmas' and birthday's. ' She moved over to her dresser, pulling out the bottom draw all the way until it threatened to fall out.
Ginny reached all the way in the back of the draw with her arm and searched. Her fingers brushed metal and she enclosed them on it.
She pulled out a small scratched up, dented light green metal tin. Using her wand, she tapped the top of the tin, whispering a small incantation or what appeared to be a password over it.
With a resounded 'pop' it opened to reveal a small worn leather pouch. Ginny grinned to herself and took the pouch out, the coins within jangling against each other with glee.
"Ginny! Let's get a move on!" yelled Molly Weasley from the bottom of the steps. Quickly, Ginny placed the tin back and closed the draw.
She got up and placed the small pouch in the newly sewn in pocket in her robes, patting it lightly with a small smile. Her smile quickly disappeared at the looks on everyone's face, excluded Harry, who looked passive.
'Oh Great, now they are going to scold me for keeping everyone waiting. Mind you, they only just waited till the last minute to tell me we were going to Diagon Alley. Oh look, Mum's giving me that disapproving look, wait for it..," Ginny thought, anticipating a quick chide from her mother. She pressed her lips into a thin line and crossed her arms.
To Ginny's surprise, Molly only shook her head, whispering a small 'tut, tut' under her breath and walked over to the fireplace. Her mouth must have opened in shock because Harry was giving her an odd look. Ginny resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him, but settled for a shrug instead.
The side of Harry's lip twitched and he shook his head, his unruly black hair becoming tousled. He looked away from her and moved over to the fireplace. Ginny waited till everyone was finished going through before glancing around the house.
'This is my life. When will I learn to just live it? To live it my way?' Ginny thought dejectedly before grabbing a handful of floo powder and stepping into the fireplace.
"Diagon Alley," she yelled loudly and clearly, disappearing within the emerald green flames.
–––––––––––––––––––––––-
"The Stormchaser," Draco breathed out as he approached the Quidditch Store in Diagon Alley.
Without a single thought more, he pushed his way through the crowd of young boys who were gazing in awe at the new Stormchaser broom from behind the glass. Draco raked his eyes over the beautiful, hand carved broom with open adoration.
"The new Stormchaser! I heard it's supposed to be even better than the Firebolt by a long shot! Isn't that something? Too bad it isn't even up for sale yet. It'll be a long while before that happens," a boy at around the age of 10 whispered to his friend, whose eyes were wide.
"Really? That's amazing! I heard it was carved from solid oak and finished off with a burnt dark blue color that looks almost black! I want one so badly! Just look at it," the boy gushed.
Draco silently agreed it really was a brilliant broom. It was first time he had ever laid eyes on it personally, and he had even secretly ordered one through Storm Brooms Inc.
Being ridiculously rich did have it's advantages.
The second he heard that there was a broom that was going to be produced and would outdo the Firebolt, he just had to get it, whatever the cost or however it may have looked.
'It's simply brilliant! Even the colors! Why, it's almost completely black, including the broom needles. The dark blue, almost black color wasn't a bad touch either; it would go nicely with my wardrobe and Quidditch uniform. Thank Merlin it wasn't some awful color like red, how unlucky that would be." Draco shuddered at the thought of flying around with a red colored broom.
'Like some bloody Gryffindor,' he thought in disgust.
"Wow, which broom is that?" A little brown haired girl to Draco's left was bouncing and pointing at a broom that was on the bottom of the Stormchaser.
Draco quirked an eyebrow and looked down at what appeared to be a dark purple broom. He narrowed his eyes at it and could have sworn the broom had a sort of slender appearance to it.
'Odd,' Draco thought. He leaned down and forward to get a glimpse at the handle and possibly the name. An engraving caught his eye as he examined the handle closely.
The name, Silent Wisp, was plainly written in silver script. Draco's face contorted into one of amusement.
'So this is the broom that was created for the sole purpose of fitting a female fliers needs," Draco thought, 'how pathetic, it is obvious that witches developed this silly contraption. They clearly could not handle a normal racing broom just like everyone else in the wizarding world very well could.'
Although Draco found it dumb to create a broom for just witches, he had to hand it to them for making a broom worthy of rivaling a Firebolt.
He could just see the Holyhead Harpies rushing to get their hands on some. Not just an all witches team, but all witches broom team as well. Draco shook his head and looked back up to the Stormchaser again, giving it another once over before he went to go get a butterbeer.
His mother had departed for home earlier in the day. She had said she was tired and that he should feel free to come home whenever he pleased as long as it was before dinner. He had nodded and told her that he was just going to go to the Quidditch Shop and then go get a butterbeer. Then he would return home and have dinner with her. She had smiled at him, before entering their carriage and headed to the Manor.
Unbeknownst to him, a smile crept onto his lips as he thought about the many wins to come once he got his Stormchaser. With a nod, he walked away, but not without glancing back over his shoulder.
'I shall be seeing you again my friend, in either October or November. The sooner, the better. Can't wait to see the look on everyone's face, including Potter's, when they find out I have gotten a Stormchaser 8 months before it is even open for sale,' Draco thought with an immense amount of glee and excitement.
He was so into his thoughts of superiority in terms of brooms and flight that he did not notice that he was going to bump into someone.
Someone who was as equally lost in their thoughts as he was. They both unknowingly walked right into each other, which, of course, tossed them back into reality.
Draco reflexively grabbed onto the closest thing or in this case person, to keep from falling.
This just so happened to be the same person he bumped into. Upon seeing a mass of red hair, Draco instantly let go, only to realize that the person had grabbed onto him as well.
They both tumbled into a heap on the cold stone ground, groaning all the while. Draco was the first to untangle from the awkward position he involuntarily fell into and stood up.
He at once brushed his robes free from filth. After he was done and seeing how he was such a gentleman, he leaned down slightly and extended his hand, offering to help the young girl up. The young girl pushed herself up using the palms of her hands and turned to see whom she had collided and fallen with.
Without hesitation, Draco's eyes as well as hers, widened in recognition.
"You!" Draco said accusingly, pulling his hand back and straightening himself. No way would he help her up, especially since she bumped into him.
'At least I think she did. Bah, that doesn't matter! She should still pay for ruining my robes and embarrassing me," thought Draco furiously.
The person Draco Malfoy had crashed into was none other than Ginny Weasley.
Author's Notes: Fwoosh -wipes forehead-, this chapter wore my poor brain out. I was going to make it two separate chapters, but then I thought..ah what the hell. I think it's better as one, don't you? D Anyway, hope it came out alright. Working on the 3rd chapter now as we speak! Fun, fun, fun. Oodles of fun indeed. HhehEHheE.