Ginny's point of view again! All the costumes are in the dormitories, and Ginny has to hide hers before anyone sees it! There's a twist on an old character, and Luna is acting very...normal. I'm deciding to be very nice and adding a lot of the chapters at once. Please review!
And you already know that I don't own Harry Potter. :)
On the Friday that the costume slips were due, Ginny strongly considered dropping hers into the fire.
'It's a stupid idea,' she thought. 'It'll never work.' She started shredding the edges of the parchment, but stopped, realizing that this could be her one chance to tell Harry how she felt before he found a way to ask Luna on a date.
"Professor McGonagall," Ginny approached her after class, strongly tempted to run out the door. "I have my costume slip." She extended her partially shredded piece of parchment to McGonagall.
"Thank you, Miss Weasley," Professor McGonagall took it from her and opened a drawer. Ginny noticed that it was full of parchment slips.
"The costume ball seems popular," Ginny commented.
"Yes," Professor McGonagall set Ginny's costume request on her desk and rifled through the untidy pile. "All the heads of houses have about this amount of costumes to get. I've never even heard of some of these. What on earth is 'Godzilla'?" McGonagall shook her head at a piece of parchment she had taken out of the drawer.
"No idea," said Ginny. She hoisted her bag over her shoulder, and noticed, with a thrill of panic, that McGonagall had put back the Godzilla slip and was now reading hers.
"You are going as Guinevere?" Professor McGonagall asked. "I remember someone turning in a slip for King Arthur, but I can't remember who it was, and I'd have a job finding it in here." She gestured to the drawer as she dropped Ginny's slip on the top of the pile.
"I want to keep it a secret," Ginny blushed.
"I'd better not spill the big secret then," McGonagall joked. "You'd better hurry off to lunch now."
"Right," Ginny began to walk towards the door. "'Bye, Professor."
"See you later, Ginny," Professor McGonagall answered.
As Ginny closed the door behind her, she marveled at how easy it was to talk to Professor McGonagall. Her primness during class led students to be a little wary of her, but after class she was like a family friend.
'And she called me "Ginny." Not "Miss Weasley."' Ginny raised and lowered her eyebrows upon entering the Great Hall.
"Ginny, over here!" Hermione beckoned. Ron and Harry were, for once, talking on their own.
"Hey, Hermione," Ginny slid into the seat next to her.
"So, what was your dream about?" Hermione smiled slyly.
"Well, it was about Harry," Ginny kept her voice low, and leaned closer to Hermione.
"I knew it!" Hermione exclaimed quietly. Ginny felt the blood rush to her cheeks.
"Well we were both in Binns's class…" Ginny told Hermione everything, turning scarlet when she got to the part about Harry kissing her.
"I knew it!" Hermione repeated. "It must have killed you when he went to Hogsmeade with Luna."
"He went to Hogsmeade with LUNA?" Ginny tried to contain herself. If Harry had already gone on a date, then Luna might have considered not going to the Halloween Ball…
"You didn't know?" Hermione grimaced. "Well, yeah, he did. Ron told me that after she turned him down for the ball he was all upset, so he told Harry to ask Luna to go to Hogsmeade with him. She was quite normal, actually. We saw them the Three Broomsticks." Hermione shrugged.
Ginny tried to make this piece of information mean nothing to her, but she must not have done a good jog, for Hermione patted her shoulder in reassurance.
"Well, he isn't going to the Costume Ball with anyone," Hermione sounded as if she had just remembered this scrap of information. "I could tell him to ask you. It's not too late for you to coordinate costumes."
"Nah," Ginny shrugged. "I already have a plan to catch his attention. Thanks for making him go as King Arthur."
"Are you going as Guinevere?" Hermione asked.
"Yep," Ginny nodded. "Thanks to the fact that it's a masked ball, he won't recognize me."
"Why don't you want him to recognize you?"
"I think that's obvious," Ginny shot a sarcastic look at Hermione.
"And you're sure you wouldn't rather me tell him to ask you?"
"No. I want to surprise him, so don't say anything."
"Alright," Hermione smiled, then, feeling Ron's hand on her arm, winked at Ginny and turned to join Harry and Ron's conversation. Ginny picked up her bag, and began walking out of the hall.
"Ginny?" She turned to see Zacharias Smith grinning goofily at her. She remembered him from the year before; he had been a very unpopular member of the DA.
"Yes?" She asked politely. She looked over Zacharias's shoulder, feeling as if someone was watching her, and saw Ron looking in her direction. He gave her a warning look as if to say, 'Don't even talk to him Ginny.'
"Can I carry your bag?" His grin widened. Ginny was about to hand it to him, for he was very nice, but saw Ron stand up, so she hastily withdrew it.
"I can manage," She smiled, and walked out of the hall. She didn't care what Ron thought, but she wasn't about to have a duel start in the Great Hall just because someone wanted to carry her bag. She was halfway towards the History of Magic classroom when she realized, from a load roar, that she hadn't eaten any lunch. Shrugging this realization away, she kept walking.
She was startled to see Luna standing at the doorway, humming to herself.
"Hi, Luna," Ginny said automatically.
"Hey, Ginny," Luna smiled, twisting a silver chain with a Celtic symbol on it around her fingers. "What's up?" Ginny was shocked. Surely that was a too casual greeting for Luna!
"Um, not much," Ginny cast around for something to say. "Uh, I heard you went to Hogsmeade with Harry."
'Why did I bring Harry into the conversation?' Ginny thought as she blushed.
"Yea," Luna launched into the subject like a typical teenager. "He was really sweet. He talked me into trying a butterbeer, and I actually liked it! Then he stood up for me against Malfoy."
"I can see him doing that," Ginny forced a smile. "Um, that's a really nice necklace." She cast around for another subject, this time picking a topic completely unrelated to Harry.
"Thanks," Luna looked at it for a moment. "It was my mom's. She was fascinated with English history. This particular symbol might have been a token of power, something that Merlin might give King Arthur or something like that."
"Are you going to the dance?" Ginny asked automatically, for the name 'King Arthur' had triggered this question.
"No," Luna sighed. "I have to look for the crumple-horned snorkack. Are you going?"
"Yes."
"What are you going as?"
"It's a surprise."
The classroom door opened, and Ginny and Luna entered. Professor Binns was floating behind his desk.
"My first early students for – what is it now? – a hundred years…" Binns used a monotone similar to his lecturing when he spoke.
Ginny took a seat near the back, and Luna took the one next to her. Luna began doodling on a piece of parchment as the rest of the class filed in. Ginny noticed that Luna's drawing was very good, and she was about to ask where she had learned to draw so well when she realized that Luna was drawing a picture of Harry and herself outside the Three Broomsticks, outlined in a frame of butterbeer bottles.
Ignoring her jealousy, Ginny sank into a dream state, reliving the best dream of her life over and over and over…
That night at dinner, Professor Dumbledore told all the students that their costumes would be in their dormitories. Ginny caught Hermione mutter something like, "Bet there were a lot of house elves helping. Hmph!" Ginny giggled, the turned her attention to eating as fast as she could, barely pausing for breath.
'I've got to get up to my dormitory so I can hide my costume!' Ginny thought as she wiped pudding off the corner of his mouth.
With a quick, "See you later, Hermione!" Ginny bolted out of the Hall, and began to sprint up to the Gryffindor common room, barely remembering to jump the trick step. She gasped, "Mandrake roots," to the Fat Lady and ran up the stairs to her dormitory.
A beautiful blue dress lay on her bed. A silver amulet pinned a purple cape to the dress's shoulder, and a similar amulet served as a necklace on a silver chain. Slightly feminine lace-up boots were on the floor. A blue mask outlined in black sequins was on her pillow.
Ginny emptied her trunk and lay her costume carefully inside. She covered it up with her cloak, and replaced the rest of her belongings. Then she retreated back to the common room, and, as an afterthought, tip-toed up to the boys' dormitories. She located the sixth years' room, and opened the door halfway. Nobody was there.
Ginny stepped inside the dormitory, and located Harry's costume. His tunic was purple, as were his leggings. A blue cape was pinned to the shoulder of his tunic by the same amulet on Ginny's costume. He had similar boots, thought slightly more masculine, and a black mask with blue sequins.
'Perfect,' Ginny thought with a thrill of excitement. She walked back down to the common room, not even a full minute before Ron, Harry, and Hermione burst in.
"Hey Ginny," All three said in unison.
"Do you want to come and see my costume with me?" Hermione asked. Ginny was grateful that Hermione hadn't mentioned her secret costume.
"OK," Ginny followed Hermione up the stairs to the girls' dormitories as Harry and Ron mounted the steps to the boys'.
The two girls gaped at Hermione's costume when they reached her dormitory. Her robe was a deep red with gold symbols all over it. A gold belt sported the most beautiful sword and scabbard either of the two had ever seen. Her shoes were gold, and looked more like slippers than shoes. Her mask was made the same as Ginny's, red with gold sequins.
"Excalibur," Hermione touched the sword gently, as if afraid she was dreaming.
"It's beautiful," Ginny hardly breathed. Then, struck by a sudden thought, she said, "Try it on."
"What?" Hermione had just picked up the mask carefully.
"Try it on," Ginny repeated. Hermione giggled, then took the robe into the bathroom to change.
"The Room of Requirement outdid itself," Hermione said as she emerged from the bathroom. "Look at the lining." She showed Ginny the inside of her sleeves. The lining was red silk, dotted here and there with gold stars.
"You look so pretty!" Ginny held the slipper-shoes out to Hermione. "Go show Ron; he'll wet himself with amazement!" The two girls laughed and went down to the common room to find Merlin and King Arthur smiling sheepishly at them.
Ron wore deep blue robes with stars on them. He had a tall wizard hat on his head, and held fake hair and beard.
Harry stunned Ginny in his costume. It had looked handsome when it had lain on Harry's bed, but when Harry wore it, it looked ten times more handsome.
"Wow, Hermione," Harry nodded, smiling. Ron just gaped at her.
"You look beautiful," He managed to choke out. "Ginny, aren't you going?" He noticed Ginny was the only one out of the four of them whom was not wearing a costume.
"I want my costume to be a surprise," Ginny said, still looking at Harry.
The four of them heard the pounding of feet, and hurried upstairs to their dormitories to change back into their school robes.
Ginny woke early the next morning. It was Halloween, and she could hardly wait for the ball. It would start at noon.
Ginny went down to breakfast early, and was surprised to see the entire staff tucking into a wonderful breakfast of French toast and pancakes. Noticing that she was the first student, she sat down uncomfortably, and began to help herself to the pancakes that appeared in front of her.
She was just washing down three pancakes with a glass of orange juice when Hermione entered. She sat down across from Ginny.
"Can I se your costume?" She asked, stacking pancakes into a napkin.
"OK," Ginny said as Hermione stood up. She led the way to the Fat Lady's portrait.
"What does it look like?" Hermione asked.
"The colors are the same as Harry's, but they're opposite, you know: his tunic is purple, my dress is blue. We also have the same amulets." Ginny gave the Fat Lady the password, and she and Hermione tip-toes into Ginny's dormitory, so as not to wake Ginny's roommates.
Ginny extracted her costume from her trunk while Hermione started to eat one of her pancakes. She laid the entire costume out on her bed, except the boots, which she placed on the floor.
"It's beautiful," Hermione wiped her fingers on her robe and touched the purple cape. "It is the exact opposite of Harry's. He will definitely notice you."
Ginny smiled, satisfied, and began to put her costume back in her trunk. Her roommates had hung theirs up by magic. The three of them were going as a butterfly, a snitch, and a unicorn.
"Halloween was always a time to show your inner child," Hermione nodded at Ginny's roommates' costumes.