Ginny Weasley and the Goblet of Fire

A/N: This is just a scene from Goblet of fire that I wrote after re-reading the book. And what might have happened if told from Ginny's perspective. Just a little one-shot that i thought would be fun to add. Oh and I made up names for the other 3rd year Gryffindor girls since we never actually hear any of their names.

Ginny walked through the Hogwarts Express looking for a compartment with two empty seats. She stopped abruptly when she came upon Harry's compartment. For a fleeting moment, she thought about asking to share their compartment. After all, there was plenty of room. Even if they did look rather secretive all huddled together looking at something in a jar. She should have known better than to think they would let her sit with them.

"Ginny? Why did you stop?" Gretchen looked at her curiously.

"What?" she said as she tore her eyes away from the Trio's compartment.

"Why did you-Oh." Realization hit Gretchen as she followed Ginny's gaze straight to Harry Potter. She took Ginny's arm. "Come on, Gin."

Ginny pulled her arm away slowly. "I'm just going in to say hi."

Gretchen raised an eyebrow. "I'll continue on then shall I?"

Ginny nodded sheepishly.

"Gin! Gretchen! Over here!" A girl with long black hair had poked her head out of a compartment further down.

"Hey Vi! Go on, Gretchen. I'll be there in a minute," Ginny said, smiling. Gretchen walked down the hall and joined Violet in a noisy, crowded compartment.

Ginny turned her attention back to the Trio. None of them had noticed she was standing there. 'It figures,' she thought to herself. She stood there watching them for a moment. Ginny had to congratulate herself on how well she had concealed her feelings for Harry this year. Everyone, from Gretchen to Hermione to Luna Lovegood had told her to continue on with her life. That Harry would either see her eventually or he wouldn't at all. That last bit from Luna, she always knew how to say the most difficult things with an overwhelming sense of carelessness about being so blunt.

"Ginny, you just have to be yourself. He'll grow to appreciate it in the long run," Hermione had said.

But Ginny wasn't interested in the long run. She had wanted nothing more than for Harry to ask her to the Yule Ball but had quickly been advised by Violet to just accept Neville's offer.

"Just go with Neville. Considering the fact that Harry Potter hasn't been able to ask anyone yet proves he might just be too unreliable. Whereas if you say yes to Neville, you'll be going to the ball for sure. And consider yourself lucky. You're one of the only third years asked to go yet," she'd told Ginny, sounding slightly disappointed.

And of course it had been her unlucky fate that very same evening, Ron had offhandedly suggested that Harry take Ginny as a last resort. Her heart had sunk to the pit of her stomach as she tried to, ever so casually; tell them that she was going with Neville. But what had hurt even more was that Harry had barely seemed to register either comment as he walked determinedly over to Parvati and practically demanded that she go with him to the ball and to find Ron a date as well.

Pushing the depressing thought to the back of her mind, she conjured up a memory from the ball itself. She recalled herself inaudibly gasping at the sight of Harry in his bottle green robes that made his own green eyes shine even brighter, a feat hardly deemed possible in her opinion. She had also regrettably noticed how lovely Parvati had looked on his arm as they waltzed in front of the school.

And then there had been the tournament. Ginny shivered to remember Harry as he had appeared at the edge of the maze, tightly clutching the Triwizard Cup in one hand and Cedric Diggory's limp body in the other. She couldn't help but think of what she would have done if it had been those brilliant emerald eyes to come back lifeless. He would have been gone forever.

Just as she was about to knock on the glass of the door, she heard her name again.

"Ginny, if you're just going to stand there, you might as well just come over here and have some fun before we have to say goodbye for the ENTIRE summer." Violet was standing in the hall with her hands on her hips. At the same moment, Hermione looked up at Ginny and smiled. Ginny waved a bit halfheartedly and then turned to join her friends.

"You ok?" Gretchen asked, putting a hand on Ginny's shoulder.

Ginny flashed a genuine smile. "I'm fine, guys. Really!" she added as the other two continued to give her a look of concern. The three of them were about to step back into the noisy compartment when they heard someone say Ginny's name…again.

"Ginny!"

She turned around and came face to face with Michael Corner. She heard giggling behind her but she refused to turn around and watch as Violet nudged Gretchen.

Ginny had seen Michael quite a lot this year. The first time had been his mortifying fall in the library in front of Ginny and her pack of friends. But he merely stood up and flashed a fairly handsome smile at the group. "Ladies," he'd said as he exited the library, a small limp in his step.

And many other times over the course of the year, he seemed to be fairly close. Ginny didn't quite think it was lurking, but it was somehow odd when he always popped up so quickly. Of course this had sparked many rumors among the third years of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Michael was a nice boy, fairly quiet if anything but what made it more exciting was that he was a fourth year. Ginny herself would never have seen it coming, for even after having a fairly normal second year, she didn't think anyone at Hogwarts would forget her more than eventful first.

"I uh, was wondering of I could ask you something," he said, talking over the giggles and whispers from the compartment behind them.

Ginny smiled. "Sure Michael." She shoved backwards slightly, knocking Violet into Gretchen and they both tumbled unceremoniously back into the compartment.

Michael looked a little more at ease and he smiled at her. "Well, I wanted to know I um if maybe I could write to you over the summer? And uh maybe next year we could…maybe go to Hogsmeade together sometime?"

Although she halfway expected this, the question in reality took Ginny a little off guard. Mostly because the only other interaction she'd had with a boy like this was when Colin Creevey had asked her to sit with him at dinner one night. She'd been so shocked that she'd fallen off the bench and he'd gone off after her friends had laughed him away. She had apologized to him later and well, now it seemed as though it had never really happened.

Snapping out of her reminisces once again, she looked at Michael. She glanced over his shoulder a bit, looking at the door that blocked her from Harry's view. Then, with a new flare of determination, she thought to herself, 'What the hell?'

"Sure, Micheal. I'd like that a lot," she said genuinely. For truth be told, she had never really minded seeing him more often that year.

He smiled again and looked rather as though someone had lifted a large weight off his shoulders. He reached up tentatively and tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear. "I'll see you around then," he said.

Ginny nodded and watched as he turned around and walked away. She rolled her eyes as she heard whistles and hoots coming from the compartment behind her. Michael turned around and laughed. He waved at her and she waved back before turning around to see Gretchen and Violet's faces glued to the glass window.

She sat down between Violet and some other girl and smiled slightly as she played with the bit of hair behind her ear.

It might take the Boy Who Lived a little time to catch on, but in the mean time, Ginny was determined to have her fun.