Using the prompt '"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous" -Ingrid Bergman'
Next Comes the First Kiss
He was dead. Gone. Fred wasn't coming back. She had seen it happen. She had seen the Death Eater fire the curse, and then she had seen her brother's lifeless body.
Percy had cried like she had never seen Percy cry before; George had just gone quiet.
After the war, both her mother and father had cried over him. Her mother hadn't stopped crying for weeks, now. It was horrible. Her whole family was in ruins, and Ginny couldn't take it anymore.
So she left. She wasn't really sure where she was going (Harry had locked himself away in Grimmauld Place and had requested no visitors, Ron and Hermione only seemed to want each other's company, and everyone else was too upset to even talk).
She found herself in Diagon Alley one day, where the streets were just starting to come to life again. Shops were reopening with brand new signs, and advertisements in the windows for new assistants.
It felt peaceful.
She stopped out the front of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and looked up at the sign. Once, this had been the most popular shop in the wizarding shopping district. Even when every other shop had boarded up, the joke shop kept on going.
Now, though, there was no sign of life at all. She contemplated knocking on the window to wake George up, but she decided against it. He just needed time.
"You'd think that would be open, wouldn't you?"
Ginny bristled at the voice; she knew that voice. It was the voice that wanted to send Harry to Voldemort.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed, spinning around to face Pansy Parkinson. You should be in Azkaban, she wanted to add, but she didn't.
"Shopping," Pansy answered as if it were obvious. She gave Ginny a suspicious look. "I was just merely trying to make conversation." She made to leave, but Ginny wouldn't let her.
"You tried to kill my friends!" she cried. "And my family."
Pansy stopped, turning around again. "I never killed anyone," she said.
"You tried, though."
Pansy nodded. "But I didn't."
Ginny wasn't sure what it was, but there was something in Pansy's voice that made her believe that the girl regretted her actions. She seemed… sad.
She shook her head. Now was not the time to pity someone who could have potentially been Fred's murderer.
"Okay, well, that's good to know," she said. This time it was her turn to walk away.
"Wait… Weasley!"
Closing her eyes to compose herself, Ginny stopped, and turned to face Pansy. "If you're trying to be nice, Parkinson, the least you can do is call me by my first name."
A rush of anger seemed to flash before the Slytherin's eyes, before she sighed, and then nodded. "Ginny."
"What do you want?" This was not what Ginny had been hoping for when she had escaped the Burrow. She wanted peace and quiet; she wanted to feel close to her brother again, not talk to somebody she hated.
"I was wondering if… if you'd like to talk."
Ginny frowned. "Talk?"
Pansy nodded. "Yes."
Ginny shook her head. "Not interested." And this time she continued walking for real, not even bothering to stop despite Pansy's protests. Parkinson had followed her all the way to the entrance of Florean Fortescue's closed down ice-cream parlour. Even after his disappearance, no one had bothered to reopen it again.
"Just listen to me," Pansy begged. "I know –"
"You don't know anything, Parkinson!" Ginny cried. "You don't know what it was like being in that castle, forced to hide from teachers because you wouldn't torture first years for their satisfaction. No, you were high up with the Carrows. Probably their favourite, because you wouldn't say no. How many marks did you leave on students, Pansy? How many will never be able to lead a normal life again because of you?
"My brother died trying to fight for what was right, when you were too scared, too pig-headed, and too evil to care how many people you killed. You're evil, Pansy, and I want nothing to do with you. You should be in prison, not roaming Diagon Alley, following me like a lost puppy."
She was breathing heavily now, finally getting what she had wanted to say, off her chest. She felt so angry, so mad, at the world. She had to shout at someone.
For a moment, Pansy stood there, staring at her with an open mouth. And then… and then the next thing that happened was all a blur. Pansy had leaned forward, pressed her lips to Ginny's, and then disappeared.
Ginny blinked. Had Parkinson just kissed her? And had she really enjoyed it?
Why was she smiling?
And here is chapter 3! I hope you liked. I know it's a bit odd, but... I'm still quite happy with it.
