Disclaimer: I don't own anything, only the plot that I co-share with my BETA, Darkflower2113 =). The characters and company belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.
Was It Something I Said?
Chapter 2 –Telling Him What ForGinny sat at the Gryffindor dining table by herself, having successfully gotten out of bed on time this morning and was enjoying a piece of toast when Ron sat down in front of her with a thump. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
"What's up?" she said, smiling at him expectantly when he didn't answer straight away. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow of his own.
"What's…what's up? What the bloody hell do you think is up? Last nights display of yours was uncalled for. I can't believe you embarrassed me and Hermione like that, in front of the whole Common Room." He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't impressed and Ginny could see that though she didn't have the faintest idea what he was even talking about.
"Ron…I really can't help you, I've got no idea—"
"Damn right you've got no idea. You're my little sister Ginny and I care about you a whole lot, I just can't believe you did that to me. You were wrong too, I might mention." He said, his ears tingeing red.
Ginny sat still; perplexed as she didn't have the faintest idea what he was rambling on about. He looked very upset by it though. She wished she knew…wait a moment. He was joking with her. It figured he'd do something like that, try to confuse her and she'd get upset. Well it wasn't going to work.
"Oh very funny Ron." She said sarcastically, though quietly, she didn't want to draw attention to the fact that Ron had almost tricked her into being embarrassed.
"What? No it's not…what are you on about?"
"What am I on about? What are you on about?" she asked, confused again. He seemed to be telling the truth, that he didn't know what she was talking about. This was very confusing indeed.
"Last night…" he said frowning at her, concerned. How couldn't she remember last night? It wasn't possible; she'd acted so strangely. Not at all like herself.
Ginny in turn frowned and repeated what he'd said. He just frowned more and stood up suddenly.
"Fine." He says, staring at her. "Fine, if you're going to pretend it never happened then maybe that's the best thing." Ron walked off then, to Hermione and Harry who were standing at the entrance to the breakfast hall waiting for him. Hermione looked at Ginny quizzically and Ginny shrugged to her and she turned and walked out of sight. Ginny sat, dumbstruck and shrugged, biting once more into her piece of toast.
Ginny walked to Transfiguration on her own, not that she minded. She liked this class and always liked walking there. The corridors were light and bright up here, she looked through their arches out onto the Hogwarts grounds. It was a perfect day, blue sky, and puffy white clouds circling above. How Ginny wished she could be out on a broom right about now but she sighed, heading instead through the Transfiguration classroom door. She sat down in her usual seat and pulled out her books, and sighing again when she saw that they had a relief teacher. Wait a moment, a relief, at Hogwarts? She looked up at the teacher taking McGonagall's place and was shocked to see Professor Binns there instead. She smiled slightly and leant her head on her stack of books in front of her as he started to lecture about the history of Transfiguration. Dimly she wondered how he could make this lesson boring, though she supposed, it was just his way.
She listened to him for a few moments before she landed in a stupor, thinking about how funny he looked floating ominously in the air reading from a heavy textbook that was as translucent as he was. Her mind drifted in and out of what he was saying though she found herself wishing once again that she were out on the grounds. She imagined herself up on a broom, circling the goal posts and throwing the Quaffle through the hoops of the opposing team. She shot, she scored. She suddenly came out of her sleepy state with a jerk, she'd been holding her head up with her hand and it had slipped. She looked around discreetly, checking to see if anyone had seen her. It looked as though they hadn't until she locked eyes with Colin who wiped the corner of his mouth, indicating that she had been drooling. She immediately wiped at her mouth and found nothing there. She mouthed 'Funny Colin' across the classroom and he smiled crookedly.
She was left then to think about Colin and his behaviour towards her. He was a nice boy. He'd helped her out of various situations before and she was thankful for that, though she wasn't sure whether she'd ever really thanked him. She made a mental note to do so one day. Her thoughts drifted more and more, coming to rest on Hermione, Ron and Harry. Ron, what had he been talking about earlier that morning? He really wasn't making any sense. She shrugged it off again, deciding to just forget about it, he wasn't going to tell her any more than he already had.
The lesson ended forty-five minutes later and Ginny realised with dread that it meant time for Potions again, this time only a short lesson which she was thankful for. She gathered her things and this time walked to class with Colin who chattered in her ear about the picture album he'd been preparing for his parents wedding anniversary. Ginny nodded, smiling but not listening that closely to him for she had just seen Ron, Harry and Hermione walking across the grounds.
Ron and Hermione were carefully avoiding each other and Harry was walking between them, ignoring their behaviour pointedly. She wondered how he coped sometimes with them acting like that. She knew she wouldn't, though she'd never say anything about it, it would be too far out of line. Un called for…un...called…for. Had she said something about their relationship? She hoped not…no, she couldn't have, she'd have known if she'd been so rude.
Ron caught her eye and turned away pointedly and with a pang she looked at Harry who shrugged and smiled, giving her the impression not to worry about what was going on. She shook her head and tuned back into the one sided conversation that Colin was having with her.
"It sounds lovely Colin." She said, smiling grimly and pushing open the door to the dark classroom.
"How lovely for you to join us Miss Weasley, Mr. Creevey." Snape's voice came from the shadows. Ginny frowned slightly.
There he goes again. She thought, not showing any emotion on her face.
"Good day Professor." Ginny said, a neutral expression on her face.
"Where's the good in it Miss Weasley? It surely is not good for you. That Potion you made yesterday is still fouling up this classroom." He said, smirking down at the two of them.
Ginny could feel Colin shaking slightly with anger. He really didn't like her to be bullied like this. She would point out that it wasn't only her receiving the nasty treatment but she didn't think that it would go down too well. He reminded her forcibly of one of her brothers for a few seconds, so protective. She smiled; it was nice to know that she was cared about. Maybe not as much as she'd like and maybe not by the people that she wanted, but cared about all the same.
Ginny said nothing but just let the Potions teacher stare down his hooked nose at them until he was satisfied. Which she mused, took much too long to happen. She shuddered slightly, not liking being stared at by him for such a long period of time. Colin shared her views and scrawled 'Git' on a piece of scrap parchment and she wrote that she agreed and that he should be put under lock and key. Ginny didn't like to admit it, but she was extremely angry. She liked to keep her cool around the Potions class so that she wouldn't do something she regretted but she found that she was only a second or so away from a melt down. If he spoke to her one more time…
"Weasley! Get over here and clean up this mess!" Snape called to her from the other side of the room. She rolled her eyes and stood but fell back into her chair as she came over dizzy. Her eyes closed involuntarily and she recalled feeling like this once before as lights popped in front of her eyes. She opened them again and frowned and walked over to the Potions teacher.
"Pathetic lonely git." Ginny muttered, however Snape heard snippets of her comment and spoke to her about it.
"Excuse me?" Snape asked, looking at her nastily, thinking that he could scare her into being quiet. How wrong he was.
"You heard me." Ginny replied, pointing her wand at the mess on the floor that she suspected the teacher had created on purpose.
"Would you care to repeat what you said?" he asked, smirking though not as prominently as usual.
"What, so you're deaf in your old age now too? Do I have to spell it out for you? You are a greasy git with no social upbringing whatsoever; you take pleasure in picking on your students just because they don't like you and you wonder why that is. Well I'm here to tell you that I've had enough of you treating me like nothing."
Ginny looked on in satisfaction to see her teacher's eyes widen in shock. He didn't seem capable of speech at that present moment though it looked as though the wheels were turning fast in his head, thinking of a suitable punishment for the way she was behaving. She found that she didn't care in the least. She felt as though she was doing all the other students that he picked on justice. Helping them somehow.
She concentrated on the mess and lifted it into the air with a simple 'Wingardium Leviosa' and dumped the whole lot on his desk. He jumped out of the way of the slime that was now eating away at his desk.
"Oops." Ginny said in a fake giggly voice. She was enjoying herself now.
"Get out." Snape said in a voice that looked as though was giving him great pain to keep controlled.
"Now why would I do that?" Ginny asked, looking at him with round eyes. He just narrowed his and shook his hair out of his eyes.
"Oh yes, about that she said referring to his oily mop of hair. "I'm sure that if you washed it once a year or so it wouldn't look nearly as bad. It's called personal hygiene. You could do with some. I'll even lend you soap if you like. You do know what that is don't you?" she asked, biting her lip to stop from laughing.
"Detention." He said acidly, looking very much as though he wanted to put his hands around her neck and squeeze tightly. Ginny just laughed airily.
"Oh no, I don't think so. I don't fancy sitting in a room with you any longer than I have too. Especially not alone." She said, wrinkling her nose.
"Miss Weasley, if you do not behave yourself at once I shall be forced to call upon—"
"Oh dear lord. Hasn't anyone told you that sallowed pale skin is out this year? As it was the year before that and the five years before that?" she asked and this time he cracked.
"Out! Get OUT! NOW!"
"Well if you're going to be like that, then fine! I'm going!" she said, grabbing her bag and leaving the room.
"Meet me in Detention tonight, eight o'clock tonight." Snape said, ignoring her earlier declining comments.
"I told you before I will not—" Ginny stopped midsentence, dizzy once again though this time it passed quickly and she found herself standing in the middle of the Potions classroom with her bag on her shoulder and her index finger pointing menacingly at Snape. She dropped it immediately and stared around her, noticing that every face was turned to hers and she blushed brilliantly.
"Er…bye!" she said fleeing the room, incredibly embarrassed.
After the disastrous scene in Potions Ginny had fled and found herself on the grounds, sitting on the edge of the lake by herself as usual. She looked down into the water at her reflection and studied herself. She could tell by looking at the freckled face that she wasn't the type to yell at a teacher for no good reason. At least that's what she figured had happened, she hadn't stayed long enough to find out what had really happened. She huffed out a breath and poked a stick into the water, disrupting the reflection. Though soon there was another reflection there, a dark haired one.
"Harry!" she said turning around, surprised that she hadn't heard him coming.
"Hey." He said dropping down next to her.
"Hi…what brings you out here?" she asked him, settling down again.
"I could ask you the same question." He said waggling his eyebrows and she smiled grimly. "Since when do you skive off lessons?"
"Snape." She said wearily.
"Oh. What happened?"
"I'm the wrong person to ask, I wouldn't have a clue." She said sighing and looking at him for an explanation of his presence.
"Trelawney kicked me out." He said with a laugh, obviously not caring at all about being dismissed early.
"What did you do?" Ginny asked tracing patterns in the water with the stick now.
"Fell asleep." He muttered and they both laughed at this.
"I suppose she took it as a personal insult." Ginny mused and Harry nodded.
"Probably. Well she told me to get out…so I did. Literally. I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity. Didn't think the loony old bat would do it though. She's threatened me and Ron before but I guess this time it really ticked her off." He added as an after thought, still laughing at his teacher.
"So Snape gives you troubles?" Harry asked a few minutes later, his eyes darkening slightly.
"Yes, but he does to everyone so it doesn't matter." Ginny said quietly, tossing a stone into the lake.
"Of course it matters. I don't trust him. I really don't." he said, tossing out a stone himself and it skipped across the water before sinking with a 'plunk'.
"I agree with you. Ron's mentioned his dislike for you." Ginny said as Harry looked at his, eyes widening.
"Dislike? It's more like loathing, which I share just as equally for him." Harry said laughing though he didn't sound remotely amused.
"I wonder why he's like that though? It doesn't make any sense. I didn't do anything to deserve this. I'm sure you didn't either." She added quickly and Harry nodded.
"No, I didn't do anything either, for me it's just because I'm James Potter's son. I exist. That's why he baits me." Harry said, casting a dark look across the lake.
"I just wish he'd find someone else to pick on!" Ginny said angrily surprising herself at the bitterness in her voice. Harry looked at her and nodded. She fought down a blush. She didn't mean to sound so angry.
"I know exactly how you feel." He said frowning.
Ginny sighed and threw a rock again and it made it to the other side of the lake and hit the bank with a thud and tumbled down into the water. The two acquaintances sat in silence for a few minutes, taking it in turns to hurl rocks into the water. They were silently competing with each other, trying to out skip the other. Ginny had just thrown a rock a metre further that Harry's when he spoke.
"You know Gin…if you ever want to talk about anything… you can come to me." he said, sounding awkward and not sure at all if he should be offering this comfort. Ginny was flattered and looked away for a moment before turning back to her brothers' friend and nodding politely.
"Thank you Harry. I might just do that." She said staring out across the lake.
Harry could never know how much his pieced together sentence could mean to her. He'd just offered her something that not many people had ever offered, a listening ear. Though she mused, he probably didn't mean for her to search him out and talk to him, not in front of his friends especially. She wouldn't embarrass him like that anyway. He was much too nice to be bothered by her. He probably felt obligated to offer this to her and she fought back the tears, hoping that she was wrong, and that he really did want to talk to her and spend time together.
Harry turned to talk to Ginny again and realised with alarm that she was on the verge of tears and he snapped his head forward again. What did he do to deserve this? He didn't know how to handle crying girls! First Cho and now Ginny (on the odd occasion, Hermione too). Though, he knew that Ginny was very different from Cho but that didn't make it easier to approach her now. He cleared his throat, startling her and she looked to him, holding back her tears.
"Er…Ginny, are you ok? I'm sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean…ugh. Sorry?" he asked, smiling apologetically at her.
"It's alright! I'm fine. Just thinking about things." How lame can you get Ginny? She scolded herself inwardly, not telling him the real reason for her change in mood. She didn't want to look stupid in front of him by telling him she was just happy that she may have found another friend. She'd been able to talk to Harry for over a year now without stuttering in his presence, she didn't want to ruin things now when he was suddenly taking an interest, even if it was a small interest.
Harry sat still next to Ginny. He wasn't game enough to talk again, just incase her tears spilled over. She claimed that she was fine but he wasn't so sure. He felt slightly bad, He'd never payed that much attention to little Ginny Weasley. No he admonished himself, she wasn't little anymore. She was sixteen, she was a valuable asset. She'd helped in her own way when the War had finally broken out over the summer. She'd help nurse the injured and had been there to help him too, after the final battle between himself and Voldemort. The thing that he didn't understand was that she had become shyer than before. He suspected that she was still feeling the effects of the war.
"Ginny…" he said suddenly, not meaning too. She looked at him and gave him a questioning look. "Do you think about the summer much?" he asked her, plucking a stand of grass from the ground and shredding it with his fingers. He watched as she did the same.
"Sometimes. Though I wish I didn't dream about it." She said and her eyes widened and he instantly knew that she hadn't meant to say the second part of her comment out loud.
"You…dream about it? What do you see?" he asked her because at the time of the war he'd been in a remote room of the castle fighting Voldemort when the students of the school had been trying to fight off his Death Eaters.
"I see…everyone I know, fighting their own Death Eater. I see Ron throwing hex after hex at his Death Eater, becoming tired, though the Death Eater is showing no signs of relenting on his own curses. I see Hermione flatten two at once with some spell I've never heard of before. I see Neville trip one of them over by accident and he knocks him unconscious…" Ginny said smiling slightly and she snapped out of her daydream and looked at Harry and spoked again. "Why do you ask?" she said, raising an eyebrow.
"I just…I never saw any of that. I never saw them get hurt, you did. No one's ever told me more than I knew myself. I just wanted to know. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you that." He said shaking his head, shocked at himself for even daring to ask.
"It's fine. They're all ok. We're lucky we didn't lose anyone we cared for this time. It could have been so much worse. It's in the past now." She said tucking her legs under her. Harry nodded and stood, holding a hand out to her, which she grabbed and they headed back to the castle together for Lunch. Ginny wondering what would meet her when she arrived in the Dining Hall. Harry walked next to her in silence, deciding that he wanted to get to know Ginny better and help her to come out of her shell once more, to help her forget about the past, to find the girl that he had met briefly in his fifth year.
"Ginny!" Colin Creevey careened around the corner of the Dining Hall and his eyes searched the Gryffindor table for the youngest Weasley and he saw her sitting between her brother and Harry.
"Ginny!" he said sitting down opposite her, next to Hermione who started slightly as she was deeply involved in a book. "What you did back there…it was…amazing!" he said, awestruck. Ginny looked left and right and smiled nervously. "Snape was livid after you left. It was priceless!"
Ginny looked at him but had no clue what he was talking about. She knew she'd done something in the Potions class and apparently Colin was trying to talk to her about it, though what it was, she had no idea. She just smiled politely and ate her lunch slowly and surely so that she wouldn't have to answer him any time soon. She prayed that Colin would get the hint and go away before Ron started asking questions.
"What'd she do?" Ron asked, his fork stationary on the way to his mouth.
Too late. She thought grimly. Though, she mused, it would help to know what's going on.
"Tell them Ginny!" Colin said excitedly and Ginny looked around wildly.
"No, you can Colin." She said and Colin grinned and launched into the story of her having told Snape what the rest of them dreamed about telling him. Harry looked bemused, Ron looked shocked and Hermione put down her book and listened intently.
"Really?" Ron asked, looking slightly put out. "Wish I'd been there." He added a moment later, eating the food on his fork.
Harry just looked at Ginny and shook his head. "Why didn't you tell me that when we were outside? That's great Ginny." He said smiling encouragingly.
"I didn't do that. Colin's lying! That isn't funny Colin. Why would I do something like that?" Ginny asked, annoyed.
"What? Of course you did it, ask anyone in the class! You told Snape what for!"
"I hate him but I'd never say so!" Ginny said and she stood up and left the Dining Hall in a huff.
The four Gryffindor students looked at each other and Colin just stared after Ginny.
"You know, that's the second time in two days that she's denied doing something that we very well know she's done anyway." Ron said looking suspicious. "I wonder what's gotten into her."
"What does it matter? She's finally getting a chance to speak her mind, something that's she's never been able to do before." Hermione said, looking after Ginny fondly.
A/N: Hey guys. I hope you liked that one. Plenty more to come I promise you. =).
To my reviewers!
MilesFromNormal You bet I'm back. It's been to long I tell you, just far too long. Not that I exactly have a whole lot of free time to do this in but hey, I can't deny my reviewers. Did that sound conceited? It wasn't meant too! I promise lol. I'm glad that you are enjoying this story so far, I hope chapter two was as enjoyable as one. Just to clear up for everyone: Yes I do know that Ginny's real name is Ginevra. I wrote this story before J.K. announced it on her site so I hope that I am forgiven for my little mishap. So that's that sorted.
LauraKay and you shall have more lol. =)
LiZzIe-WeAsLey Oh I hear you! I'm a major R/H shipper too since I've just seen PoA a few more times. I absolutely love the Shrieking Shack scene (the one that is before Draco getting his Slytherin butt kicked by an 'invisible' force. Woot! Go the golden Trio. (Don't get me wrong, Draco rocks too ; -)) Ron's yours? But -but…who's Hermione going to end up with?! Noo!!! Though I'm sure she wouldn't mind sharing him since they are both too thick to notice one another lol.
MyOwnLittleWorld Glad you liked it. I loved writing the first chapter. How was Cali? I bet it was fantastic. Sigh wish I could say that I'd been there. Though I'm about to watch the O.C. which is based there so I'm kinda there…in spirit lol. I'm so sad. Sorry I've taken so long to update, wanted to milk my reviews for all they were worth. rubs hands together Just kidding everyone! Huggles Hannah! And once again, thanks for your great reviews. (I'd just like to take this moment to say that I now use 'huggles' in everyday language! Don't you feel special that you are influencing people!?)
Luvhp224 Yeah, that disease of mine is a real pain in the you know what. I don't deny that I suffer from it. You are right but I'm afraid that it's something we'll all have to get used to because since you pointed it out, I've noticed that I do it a lot, in all my stories. That will just have to be the way that people determine my stories. See! There's a positive side to my disease! Lol. But seriously, thanks I appreciate your honesty even if it was a little blunt and shocking. Sede mentioned that you are taking a break from Heartbreak Home. Personally I think it's a great story and I'm glad that I get to read it before everyone else!
Darkflower2113 Doing quite well aren't we? Lol. If you ever want to add something in here, let me know! Lol.
JamieBell I agree with you about Harry's comment. It seemed the perfect way to end the chapter. I love adding Harry comments in here and there. That and the fact that you are so right about yelling till your heart is content. I've been doing that lately and even though I've upset a couple of people; it's made me feel better. I'm starting to sound like a real tyrant with comments like this…Oops. Lol. Keep reading and enjoying!
Jenny I have to agree with you there. I really couldn't see Ginny and Draco together, unless she was put under the Imperious Curse or something…woah, just came up with an idea there. That rarely happens. Feel free to use and abuse it anyone! (Sorry if anyone has used that before, it just came to me and I've never seen a story like it before.)
AngieGS Ah you got me. You make me look bad Angie! Right on both accounts. Ginny probably is a bit timid but she needed to be for the story to work so yeah she is sort of out of character but if she was then it wouldn't be much of a change for when she's…well you'll see. =) As for Ron, I don't have an explanation for that I'm sorry. Though in a way I think Ron is pretty protective of Ginny and he might care about her grades just a little bit more than his own. For, the way I see it, he is supposed to be looking after Ginny and Mrs. Weasley will blame him if she does badly at Hogwarts! Ha there we go, I made an explanation. I hope it computes.
A Harry and Ginny Dreamer Hey thanks! Much appreciated, I'm still waiting on those 'tonnes' of reviews lol.
Swishy Willow Wand Glad you thought it was funny. I assure you there are more funny moments to come!
Sorrowful Rain Snape is most definitely evil but I don't think I portray him nearly as well as some people do but I try. =)
Rayah Papaya Yes, Ginny is in her 5th year. I wish I could stand up for myself like she does. Go the girl power!
And that is all from me this time around folks! Hope tis up to standard! See you soon.
Nesserz. =)