Chapter 12: Can't Let Go
Auburn hair everywhere, her eyelashes fluttering seductively…Ginger. She beckons to me with a finger. God, she's beautiful!
"Oliver, come to me!" she whispers.
"You don't want me anymore…" I'm so confused.
"But I need you…" she continues to beckon to me. "Oliver. Oliver…"
"Oliver! Wake up." Fred and George Weasley were violently shaking me awake.
"Big Quidditch match today, mate," Fred said.
"Best get up."
I pulled myself out of bed. I'd been having dreams about Ginger since the first Hogsmeade visit. She won't speak to me, won't even look at me. I don't know what to do.
Lightning bolts were flashing out on the horizon and thunder rumbled in the distance. I stared out the window, filling depressed. I'd thrown myself into this first game since I no longer had Ginger. I just wish I knew what I'd done.
The team started down to the Great Hall to eat something. I couldn't eat. I felt miserable.
Soon, the Entrance Hall was buzzing with people heading out to the pitch. I got sight of a head of long, auburn hair. Ginger.
"Let's get going," I said to the twins.
We started out to the pitch. I ran after Ginger. I touched her arm, rain pouring violently on all the students.
"Hi," I yelled, to be heard.
"Oh, hello." She smiled weakly. She continued to walk, me following. "How've you been?"
"Oh, I've been great." I stopped her. "Ginger, what did I do?"
"Nothing." She looked at me shocked.
"Then why won't you speak to me?" I gazed at her insistently.
"I've been busy." She waved me ahead of her. "You'd better hurry…The match."
I ran into the changing room, slightly happier than I had been, but still all in all feeling dreadful. I couldn't even make my pre-match speech.
We walked onto the pitch and mounted into the air. After about a half an hour, I had to call a time-out. Potter wasn't able to see where he was going.
Just as I thought all hope was gone, Potter's friend Granger came down and made his glasses waterproof. If I hadn't had a little hope that Ginger might talk to me, I would have kissed her. We remounted our brooms and took off.
Then, we lost. Just as Potter was about to catch the Snitch. Dementors cluttered the ground in the arena. He fell off his broom. I cursed loudly.
Ginger's View
I raced up the stairs, drenched. The team was just leaving the infirmary. I ran up to the twins.
"How's Harry?" I gasped.
"Fine. Just a little weak. Better than Wood is, I'd wager." Fred smiled at me.
"Oh, it's just a game!" I almost collapsed in relief.
"Whoa, now! Careful!" George put a hand under my arm to support me.
"Thanks," I sighed. I smiled. "I was just hoping Harry was alright."
"He's fine. Why don't you go check on your boyfriend?" Katie smiled sweetly.
"Boyfriend?" I looked at her puzzled.
"Oliver," the twins pronounced slowly and in unison.
"He's not my boyfriend," I said, blushing in embarrassment.
"Sure, he's not." Katie winked at the twins.
"He's not! He's my very best friend, but not my boyfriend!" I glared at the Gryffindors.
"Well, if he's your 'very best friend,' go check on him. He should still be in the changing room." Angelina smirked at me.
"Fine! I will!" I stomped back down the stairs and back down into the rain.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," I whimpered into the rain.
Wood's View
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," I yelled pounding my fist into the shower tiling. "Flint was just waiting until the last minute, just so we'd lose."
"That's actually true, Wood," an oily voice said behind me.
"Flint, haven't you done enough? Get out!" I bellowed.
"Look, mate. No hard feelings. It just slipped my mind. Let's shake on it, shall we?" Flint walked toward me.
"Take one more step and I'll clean this whole room with your bloody face." I stared at the wall in front of me.
"Fine. Have it your way, then." I heard Flint's steps walk toward the exit. "He's all yours, milady."
I straightened. I closed my eyes and said a quick prayer. Then I cleared my throat and yelled, "Who is it?"
"Just me." It was that sweet, melodious voice I'd been dreaming of. "Checking on you."
I turned off the shower and turned to face her. "We've got to quit meeting like this."
I walked past her and went to get my towel.
"Oliver, please!" Ginger followed me, her voice pleading. "I'm sorry, ok? I'm sorry!"
"Yeah, me, too!" I faced her, furious at the sight of her. "Why are you talking to me all of the sudden?"
"You asked me to, you prat!" Her eyes narrowed to venomous slits. "You were the one who asked me why I wasn't talking to you earlier. Remember?"
I pulled on my boxers. Then I rubbed my forehead. I sighed. "Maybe you should just go. You're good at that." I slid into my pants."Fine! I will." She turned, sending her long, wet locks flying. Her footsteps echoed to the door.
"Wait!" I turned to her, holding my hand up. "Ginger!"
"Yes?" She was breathing heavily, unshed tears shining in her eyes.
I collapsed onto a bench. "I'm sorry. Truly." I looked at my hands, feeling helpless. "I don't know what happened to us." I choked back a sob.
Ginger stood there for a moment, staring at me. Then she ran towards me and collapsed onto me in a hug.
"Oh, please don't cry! I don't want to make you cry!" She sobbed into my neck. "If you only knew, if I could only tell you, perhaps you'd understand why." She looked up at me, her beautiful eyes filled with sorrow.
"Did I do something?" I asked the blunt question.
Ginger laughed softly. Her fingertips traced the contours of my face. "Of course not, sweetheart." She kissed me.
"Then what happened?" I whispered, pulling her from the floor to my lap.
She placed her head on my shoulder and snuggled into me. "Well, for starters, after the, uh, afternoon we, uh…I thought you thought I was all stories. I mean, I say let's take it slow, then I throw myself at you. I must've seemed quite forward, untruthful, and a little mental. I was only going to stay a way for a little while."
"Then why didn't you?" I kissed her cheek.
"Well, then I had an awful dream." She commenced to tell me of a nightmare she'd had not long after we'd been together about the Dark Lord and her demise. She told me of going to Dumbledore in the middle of the night. And she told of the Headmaster's advice.
"I'm confused, Gin. If he told you not to turn me away, why did you?"
"I laid awake a little while after returning to my room, and that whole time I was thinking 'What if he tries to hurt my family to get to me? What if he hurts Cho and my other friends? What if'-" she choked back a sob, "'What if he tries to hurt Wood?' I was hurting you to try and save you from what might happen."
"That's sweet, Gin." I wiped a tear off her face. "But you said 'might' happen. I'm not going to forget about what you mean to me just because I might get bruised up a little."
"I'm not talking about getting bruised up a little. I'm talking about death. He wants me to help him, Oliver." She stood up, looking grimly at me. "He'll kill anyone who gets in his way, including people who won't help find me. Use your big head, Oliver! I could cause you to…to…die!" She turned around and sobbed into her hands.
"I don't care. I love you, Ginger. No one, not even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, will change my feelings for you, or chase me away." I turned her around and looked into her eyes. "Did you hear me? Nothing's going to chase me away because I love you."
A gorgeous grin spread over her tear-streaked face. "I love you, too." Then she stood on her tiptoes and gave me a kiss.
We sank back down onto the bench, her head on my shoulder, my head on top of hers. My hand slid up and down her arm. She was shaking.
"What's wrong?" I looked down.
"I'm cold," she stuttered. "And a little scared."
"I can take care of the coldness," I smiled a roguish smile in her direction. "And, as for you being scared, we'll deal with it as it comes…together." I kissed her forehead and pulled her closer.
"Okay," she whispered. She closed her eyes and breathed heavily. "Okay, Oliver."
A/N: I know this story had both characters' points of view, but Oliver was 'drowning' himself in the showers when Harry woke up in the hospital, and I had to show you how Ginger got provoked into going to see him. So, I threw that bit in. R/R, puh-leeze! Nellie