Disclaimer: Cheese and rice. These things are killing me.

let's give it up to the new year

issalee

This must be it,
Welcome to the new year.
The drinks were consumed,
The plants were destroyed and the hor'deurves dismantled.
I'm not smiling behind this fake veneer.
I am often interrupted or completely ignored,
But most of all I'm bored.
I'm trying to find out if my words have any meaning.
Lackluster and full of contempts when it always ends the same.
Why won't she listen to me?
Why did I come?
Oh why did I come here?
These humans all suck;
I'd rather be home feeling violent and lonely.
I'm not trying to sound so insincere,
But the postcard that's taped to the freezer reads, "Wish you were here."
How I wish I could disappear?

-Together We'll Ring In the New Year- Motion City Sountrack

Ginny eyed the blue-haired man next to her with obvious resentment, glaring fiercely as he picked up something from the platter in front of them and popped it into his mouth without blinking.

On top of her head, Sorano hooted balefully, ruffling up with pride as she attempted to emulate her master's facial expression. On her wrist, Gwinn seemed to be writhing in either silent laughter or fury.

"Ah, she's only been here a day, Nori," Hideyuki Tanaka wiped at his glasses and then cuffed Yoshihiro. "This is all your fault?"

Hiro flinched. "How was I supposed to know he would think it was fun?"

From the general direction of the kitchen came Atsashi, who had managed to detach herself from Seamus long enough to come in and glower in the general direction of everyone in the room.

A bead of sweat fell down Ginny's cheek.

"Blowfish," said Tessa, attempting to be helpful, "are to be cooked with great care. Otherwise, they can have some of their poisonous properties still left in them, and then the consumer of said fish will instantly die a terrible and gruesome death."

"That," Hideyuki said irritably, "does not help the poor girl at all."

Hiro did nothing but glance back at the kitchen, and then Atsashi, before he merely growled and satisfied himself by throwing something at Noriyuki's head.

"Itai!" Nori shouted, pulling the plants off his head. No one noticed as Gwinn's head reared up and quickly became three-dimensional as he grabbed at the slice of blowfish Ginny was supposed to be eating. He contracted just as Nori turned around, and did a double take.

"Whoa! It looks like you've got some guts!" He grinned and held out a hand, which Ginny shook. "I mean, I cooked that fish myself, and I didn't think you'd actually eat it!"

He gave Ginny an odd look as she clasped her hand quickly, and her arm began to quiver.

"Um," she said brightly, "I've got to go."

"What's wrong?" Hiro said, looking worried. "If Stupid Saado did something wrong to you…!"

"No!" Ginny stood up and nodded. "Um…I've got…diarrhea!" They all gave her odd looks, and she smiled widely. "Er…of the mouth! Yes, and I must go—um, brush it out—gottagobye!" She sprinted from the room.

A moment later, Blaise and Draco entered, looking rather shell-shocked. "I think," Blaise ventured to speak first, "that I was nearly just bulldozed over by a fire truck."

"No," Tessa told him. "That was just the red hair. It was Ginny. She ate blowfish and got diarrhea of the mouth, so she had to go brush it out."

"Oh," the boys echoed.

Noriyuki clapped his hands together. "So! Who wants to be next?"

Meanwhile, Ginny sat in the bathroom, trying desperately to keep from laughing as Gwinn clambered out of the toilet bowl, soaking wet and covered in distinct bits and pieces of the fish he had just eaten.

"Ew," Ginny said.

"Draco," Gwinn said.

Both of them were quiet. "That," Ginny said, after a moment of thought, "was an unfair pun. And I don't appreciate it."

"I don't care," Gwinn said. Ginny frowned at him.

"What's got you in such a tizzy?"

"I don't get into tizzies."

"But you're in one now."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Then you're an idiot."

"And you are a dragon."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"I hate you!" Gwinn cried, folding his wings over his head. "Because you keep thinking that these mind games you're playing with that poor boy are fun, you don't even maybe care that I have to suffer as well!"

"You told me you hated Gwendolyn!" Ginny shot back. "You said you hated her!"

"You of all people," Gwinn said quietly, "should know that sometimes that's not really the case."

There was a moment of silence, and then Ginny held up an arm, flinging it towards the window, eyes smoldering. "Get out. And don't come back. Ever."

The Elemental regarded her, nothing but fury and maybe a little bit of regret in his eyes, before he spread his wings out and took a running leap into the air. He clipped Ginny's hair as he flew by, cutting a lock of it, before he took off through the open window in a rush of cold wind.

Ginny sat on the ground and stared at the window. Sorano carefully fluttered down to the ground, eyes wide and questioning, before she toddled into Ginny's lap. The redhead held the Rab owl close.

"He'll come back," she said calmly. "I'm bound to him, and besides, he wouldn't leave Gwendolyn behind. Or Aislinn, either."

But Gwinn didn't come back.

Over the days, as Ginny grew accustomed to sitting on the hard tatami mats for meals and laughing over the low table, she felt the lingering coolness on her wrist and huffed, a little angrily as she did so. She was a stubborn creature, and refused to admit she had been wrong.

So she went through more blowfish eating contests, learned how to handle chopsticks without flicking the food up her own nose, became adept in beginner's self-defense, managed to light a ceremonial dragon costume on fire, became obsessed with anime, and learned how to use Japanese slang and much, much curse words, without Gwinn around to insert sarcastic comment or uplifting statement—here.

Of course Aislinn knew, which meant Tessa did as well, but both refrained wisely from speaking about it. Ginny went on with life as normal, coddling Sorano, teasing Atsashi about Seamus, arguing heatedly with Nori, Yuki and Hiro over strategies, plotting with Tessa, and alternately ignoring and lavishing attention upon Draco.

"You're odd," he said one day, as they sat in the courtyard.

It had been charmed to have sakura blossoms blooming all year long, in an enclosed area that looked just as though they were outside, and felt like it as well. Ginny was wearing the kimono Atsashi had gifted her with, and she was currently trying to pry Sorano out of her obi.

"And you," she said, struggling with the owl, "are just upset about the fact that I told you you looked like my pet moose."

Draco frowned. "Too true. But that's not it. You've been acting weirdly since a few days ago. Tonight's New Year's Eve, and the last day we're spending here before we go our separate ways. What's eating at you?"

Ginny looked at him. "Do you know what my favorite food is?"

Draco had to admit he didn't.

"And what about my favorite color? And book? And movie? And what's my catchphrase? Flower? Favorite sibling? Parent? Older friend figure? Quidditch team?" She paused. "Well, second-favorite, since now it's a little obvious."

"No," Draco said, frown deepening. "I don't know what any of those are. What's the point of them?"

Ginny shook her head. "Absolutely nothing, that's what. Because I obviously don't know those answers for yourself, and you don't know me as well. Honestly, it's just as well, since it proves an amazingly difficult point I had to make."

She stood and stretched. "I've got to go. I'm meeting Atsashi, she's going to teach me how to make bento and then we're going to give Nori a makeover while he sleeps." She walked off, leaving Draco feeling more than a little befuddled.

When Tessa moved out of the shade of the tree she had been stalking—nay, casually observing—them from, he glanced up at her with the same puzzled expression.

"Um," she said, thinking for a moment. "Cheesecake, purple, Fire In My Pants of Passion series, Trolling, 'Let us make haste and make merry—love, that is', daffodils, trick question, trick question, Hermione, and Australia."

Draco, at a loss, mumbled the first thing that came to mind. "Daffodils?"

Tessa nodded. "She thinks they're amazingly plain and loves them for it. She doesn't understand why no one else does."

Draco flopped back into the stone bench he was sitting on, looking dazed now. Tessa shot him a pitying look. "Yes, she makes us all feel like that on some days."

"Shut up."

Blaise was lounging around in the front room pretending he knew how to use the remote control when Tessa came in. She flipped over the remote and turned the TV on, then slipped into his lap. The Italian wizard smiled gratefully at her.

"Thanks, I wasn't really sure—"

"No problem," Tessa interrupted him. "Really. I have a question to ask you, though."

"Ask away, Milady."

"Is it stupid when people fall in love and can't realize it?"

Blaise looked at her, and then grinned. "We have two of the densest, most stubborn people in the Wizarding World as our best friends. What do you think that means, then?"

"We should kill them?" Tessa said subtly, arching a dark eyebrow. She held up her glossy black curls on either side of her head and cackled evilly. "And I shall smite them with my mighty smiting powers of—smitedommy doomy doom doom."

"I think you are the craziest person I've ever met," Blaise said, as though this was new to him. Tessa slapped him on the chest.

"But seriously, Blaise, what do you think? They're driving me crazy, and this summer Ginny was supposed to come and stay with me at Grandmamma's but there's no way I'll spend it with her while she mopes. And Grandmamma was going to let us leave early so we could visit Mum's side of the family as well. Ginny would love the experience, Muggles and more Muggles galore."

"What?" Blaise attempted to hide a perplexed look, and failed miserably. "What do you mean, Muggles? Didn't you tell me you must come from the strictest line of purebloods ever? You're a Reeve."

Tessa tugged at her hair. One of the best parts about being so worshipped for your looks was the fact that heritage was never discussed, and this meant she could cover up her Muggle mother's side of the family easily enough. It was one of those things she had 'forgotten' to tell Blaise, and she wasn't sure whether now was a good time to tell him or not. In fact, she had not planned to expose the secret until after their fourth child, just in case. But comprehension was slowly dawning on Blaise's face, and she grimaced.

"You're a Muggleborn?"

"No," she said, quickly. "My mother's side is totally. But Blaise, don't get upset about this; I meant to tell you, really I did, but we've just been—I've been so—it shouldn't even—"

Her bumbling explanation was cut short as the rice-paper door slid open. Noriyuki stepped through, waving a scroll jovially. "Ohayo. Do you know where Draco-kun is? I've got a letter from him, given to me by a very pretty owl—all preened looking for him. I expect she was disappointed not to be able to meet him."

Blaise gently rolled Tessa out of his lap and leapt up. "I'll take it to him." He took the scroll and rolled his eyes as Noriyuki eyed Tessa with something akin to what a predator looks at his prey like. If Blaise knew anything about Stupid Saado, Tessa would soon be involved in a contest. The words "I dare you" or "I bet you" were never far from his mouth.

He smirked, pushing back the roiling emotions that had surfaced at Tessa's confession, walking quickly to the courtyard.

Draco was still there, except now he was getting bored with his moping ways and was twiddling with a flower stem, still too sulky to actually get up. Blaise slid into the seat next to him and handed him the scroll as he sat up, but Draco didn't open it.

"You're upset about something," the blond declared regally. "And since that's the only thing I'm sure of at the moment, I demand that you tell me."

Blaise shook his head. "Read the letter first. Then I'll tell you."

Draco eyed him suspiciously, but then untied the ribbon around the scroll and opened it impatiently. It read:

Draco,

Your father is leaving for an extended vacation to Aruba. He will be gone for a week, but I understand that you only have about two days left of your vacation. I need you to come to the Manor immediately; this is urgent news.

As well, you might be pleased to know that the roses you planted over the summer are in full bloom in the Summer Garden.

Love,

Mum

P.S. It also seems that you've forgotten tons of your hair gel at home. Your Gel Closet is still stacked, and I saw your Gel Trunk still under your bed.

"Merlin, Draco, you have a trunk and a closet for your gel?" Blaise was reading the letter over his friend's shoulder. He suddenly became quite dreamy. "Do you know something, Draco? If I could cut the fingers off of a million gloves and use all that gel—oh, the things I could do to embarrass a few people…do me a favor and bring back forty pounds of it or something, okay?"

Draco shrugged nonchalantly, although now felt a little worried. His mother's letter was lighthearted, but Malfoys could write a letter requesting the assassination of their worst enemy and make it seem like they were asking the man out for a crumpet or two.

"Hey," he said, striving for a change in subject. "You've got to tell me now what had you so down!"

Blaise squirmed, and Draco silently cheered himself for not having a blond moment right then and managing to remember.

"Er…it's nothing."

Draco gave a withering glare.

"Fine! It's just—well, Tessa and I just had an argument, is all."

"Did she leave you and promise to make sure you never bore children and never fell in love again?" Draco prodded helpfully.

"No."

"Oh."

Blaise stared at him accusingly. "You sound disappointed."

"So?" Draco glared at his friend until the boy gave in, sighing unhappily as he continued regaling his unhappy moment. When he was done, Draco nodded wisely.

"I see."

"Really?" Blaise said hopefully. Draco stared at him.

"Well…um…no, but see people usually say that. What I do see is someone who never usually cares about stuff like that caring. What's up with you?"

"I don't care!" Blaise said stiffly. "But my family will! If I keep seeing her and they find out about it, can you imagine the consequences? For Merlin's sake, they were proud of Rabastan even though he was a killer! What makes you think they'll be proud of me if I marry a half-blood?"

"You were never bothered by it before," Draco said, eyes shifting slightly to watch Noriyuki, who had apparently abandoned Tessa and was currently on the roof, speaking to Seamus.

"Didn't I answer that already? It doesn't matter anyway, Draco. My family will disown me, and even if I can get past that what about Carina? I've got to make sure nothing happens to her, you know? I don't want her to end up like one of them, and even if she doesn't they'll either kill her or send her away from me." Blaise ran his fingers through his hair, eyes dancing nervously. "She's my sister, and I can't just let them take her away from me."

Seamus had just launched himself off the roof and disappeared over the other side. Draco felt vaguely satisfied, and even more so when Noriyuki flung himself off immediately afterward. He turned his full attention back to Blaise.

"Couldn't you always take her with you?" he asked.

Blaise pulled a look of disgust. "Yeah, sure, and how do you think that'll work? After this year I'm free, but she's still too young to finish Hogwarts, and she'll have to attend school. They'll find her that way and claim she's not old enough to make her own decisions." He frowned. "Draco, you're slipping. You should be the one to tell me that."

The blond frowned back. "Maybe I shouldn't. Make your own decisions, Blaise. I can't do everything for you."

"I never asked you to," the Italian shot back. "You were the one who asked what happened!"

"I am a curios man!"

"Oh please," Blaise cried, throwing up his arms. "You can count all three chest hairs! That does not make you a man!"

"I grew another one this week!" Draco said indignantly. "Is it my fault I have baby's skin? Soft and smooth, geez, I never asked for it!"

Blaise glared at him. "Stop taking everything as a joke! Draco, for Merlin's sake, you're not acting like a Wizard anymore! You're acting like—like a Weasley! Or a Muggle, even!"

"Shut up," Draco growled. "It's your fault we're involved with these fucking girls anyway. Who was it that didn't want to go along with the Break Their Hearts plan?"

"It's your fault because you fell in love first!" Blaise cried. He jumped off the bench and stalked away angrily, leaving Draco once more, dazed and confused behind him.

No one was very up to the New Year's celebration the members of the Japanese Quidditch Team had planned, but by the time the food had been laid out and they were all settled in with the decorations, bad moods were ignored in favor of chatting over everything and anything. It was a memorable night.

Ginny spiked the punch, of course, with seven bottles of sake. She obviously did not realize how strong this was, because as soon as Yoshihiro took a cupful, he was pickled to the feet. No one noticed, because they were all rather drunk as well.

Atsashi and Seamus had disappeared a while ago (Ginny had walked in on them in the bathroom, and then walked out) and Hideyuki had only been silenced mumbling when Nori had shoved down three cupfuls of punch into his gullet.

So it was nearly midnight, Tessa had tripped twice and ripped something once, sang the French National Anthem seven times (all of the verses, oh Christ), and managed to attempt to snog Noriyuki thirty-four times, much to Blaise's chagrin.

In fact, the Italian would love nothing more to than to stand up and knock some sense into the drunk Tessa, but he couldn't seem to feel his legs at the moment and had to settle for glaring at her every time she moved (slowly, so very, agonizingly, slowly) across the room.

Draco was sitting in a corner and doing something with several pieces of paper and some scissors and an unconscious Hideyuki that was making him giggle. Ginny was glancing back and forth between him and Noriyuki, who seemed to have decided he was President of the Continent of New Jersey and was sitting on top of the table making speeches about how they needed to rename the Garden State the Epicenter of the Universe.

Ginny was feeling a little put out by the time everyone was too drunk to do much but stare expectantly at the large bay window set into the east wall.

Draco had not gotten drunk enough to snog her senseless.

Blaise and Tessa had not snogged each other senseless.

Noriyuki had given up on the holding office, and was now sitting at Ginny's feet, glaring at his fingers. Sighing, Ginny stepped out from behind Noriyuki and out of the room. She slipped on a coat and, walking by the room with only a slightly worried glance in, she pushed open the front door and stepped out.

Snow was swirling through the air, letting everything around her feel crisp and bright. Ginny shivered and drew her coat around her further. Gwinn would have loved this weather, she expected.

The stars were visible; since the flat was on a rather secluded street anyway, and Ginny glowered up at them as though it was their fault she was standing outside, in the cold, by herself.

"Stupid Gwinn," she muttered. The television must have been turned up high at the neighbor's, because she could hear a muffled announcer's voice reporting that it was now 11:54 PM.

She wanted to ring in the New Year with someone, Ginny supposed. It didn't even have to be Draco. It could have been Tessa, or Hermione, or Harry, or even one of her brothers. It wouldn't have been such a huge deal. She suspected that if she hadn't spiked the punch anyways, the night would have turned out sour. She had found out from a teary Tessa about her fight with Blaise, and she was starting to get disgusted with boys more and more.

"Geez," she said to herself, kicking up more snow. What she would give right now for Gwinn to start off with some comment she thought utterly asinine but that made her laugh anyway.

Something fluttered onto her shoulder, and her heart leapt to her throat before she realized it was just Sorano.

"Oh," she breathed. "Did I leave you inside? Sorry."

The two of them, mistress and pet, stayed like that, sharing silent thoughts and feelings. After a while, Ginny flopped down into the snow.

"This," she said, "is stupid. Let me tell you something, Sorano. At the beginning of the year I was loath to come back to school. Some prat had decided red hair didn't mean anything and that I should be placed in Advanced Courses. I was very upset. Also, my brothers were still not dead. I was very, very upset after that."

Sorano hooted softly, as though she understood.

"And then Malfoy just waltzes in, being all confusing and nice and then mean again. And those kisses—geez! No one should be allowed to kiss like that and live, I mean, come on, Mal-Ferret might not be as conceited as I thought if all he's bragging about is true."

Ginny waited patiently until Sorano turned wide eyes up at her and blinked, swiveling her head a little. "So then, we fight, make up, fight, make up, and then stop speaking. And make up! And then fight again! This is more repetitive than Harry's hospital visits! And it's also very traumatizing for a girl my age to fall in love and not even be sure of it!"

Ginny sat up then, growling a little. It took her a moment to pinpoint the noise, but when she did, she had never felt more angry in her entire life.

The neighbors were cheering raucously. Ginny had missed New Year's.

And suddenly, she hated Draco all over again.

Cheese and rice, so I tried updating on Saturday and Sunday, and then my computer won't let me! So that's why it's late. That and because I seem to have lost much of the data from my computer and I am oh so very pissed off right now because I don't know what happened. And did I mention I've been going to sleep really really late (like, two in the morning) and I haven't woken up later than 7:30 for two weeks straight? This is so depressing, I have even managed to stop bemoaning the loss of my seventh pair of nice earrings.

Cheese.

I need a nap and some Prozac, please.

And Ginny is angsty because I am too...sorry.