Chapter 2

Ginny let out a groan of frustration and leaned her head against the door of her closet. She had one hour left before the dinner and she was no where near close to ready for it. Behind her on the bed was a pile of discarded clothes that she had tried on, her hair was up on the top of her head in a messy bun and there was still ink on her forehead. Ginny was far from her goal of looking absolutely stunning. In fact, she was the exact opposite. In an act of desperation she grabbed a handful of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. Sticking her head inside, she yelled out her destination. Seconds later she was facing the back of a man in front of his living room.

"Hermione?!"

The man gave a startled jump and dropped his water. He turned around.

"Ginny? What're doing here? Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for the dinner? Oh and what's that on your forehead?"

"Hi Ron, I need Hermione, is she there?" Ginny said completely ignoring his other questions.

"Yeah, one second." Ron left the room leaving Ginny alone, her knees were starting to hurt.

"Ginny?" Came Hermione's voice as she walked into the room wearing a gorgeous pink halter dress. "What do you need?"

"Hermione," Ginny said in relief. "I need your help, I can't figure out what to wear." She said desperately.

Hermione snorted. "Are you serious?"

"Hermione, please." Ginny pleaded.

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute. Oh, and by the way, you've got something on your forehead."

Seconds later the girls stood in the middle of Ginny's disastrous bedroom trying to decide on outfits.

"What about that black dress I gave you for Christmas last year?" asked Hermione at last.

Ginny looked to the ground and mumbled something along the lines of "...too short"

"Oh come on Ginny, its sexy Harry will love you in it. Where is it?" She said rummaging through the clothes.

Ginny frowned. "I'm not doing this for Harry, I'm with Oliver."

Hermione sneered in disbelief. "Oh, but of course. Here it is!"

She pulled out a black spaghetti strap empire dress that was just above knee length from the midst of the large pile of clothes. "Go take a shower and put it on and a pair of your strappy heels. And get that black thing off your head, you look ridiculous."

Half and hour later they both stood in front of the mirror admiring their progress. Ginny looked amazing with her hair straightened and her make-up done by Hermione. Ginny sighed deeply.

"Okay," she said. "I'm ready."

Hermione just stood there admiring her work for another second longer.

"Right," she said snapping back to her senses. "Let's get going, I'll just meet Ron there."

Grabbing her purse they both quickly apparated to restaurant.

The place was jam packed with Weasleys, some Grangers, and a Potter. All of them where sitting around talking, laughing and just having a good time. It seemed they had reserved a whole section of the restaurant for this. Ginny, keeping her eyes down so as to not make eye contact with Harry, looked around for her seat. She was just finished with one side of the table when someone called her.

"Ginny!" She looked up, and just to her luck it was Harry. "Hey, your seat is right here next to me."

Ginny smiled weakly and made her way around the table to her seat cursing Hermione under her breath all the way there for the seating arrangements. She sat down in the seat that Harry had pulled out for her and started politely at him waiting for him to speak.

"You look good Gin," Harry said pausing, when Ginny said nothing he continued. "It's been awhile, I'm sorry but you know I couldn't tell you anything-"

"Yeah," Ginny said her temper getting the better of her. "What am I? Just Ron's kid sister to you, right?"

"No," Harry sighed and ran his hands through his hair making his hair stand up a bit more. He looked tired and Ginny felt the slightest bit bad about what she said. "Ginny, I did love you, I wasn't lying..." Did, he said did Ginny thought to herself. "...I really liked what we had and I wish we didn't have to end it but I had to do it so I could finish the war. I thought you of all people would understand," he said accusingly.

Ginny said nothing for a couple seconds then-"I do understand Harry, I'm sorry."

"No it's okay," Harry said smiling. "I still do love you Ginny. I mean, you're one of my best friends."

Ginny smiled with much effort. He didn't love her in that way; it was a brotherly/friendly love. For some reason this hurt her a lot more than she thought that it would be. Perhaps she still did have feeling for him. Ginny shook her head slightly not wanting to think about it she grabbed her wine and drowned the whole thing.

The rest of the dinner passed without much on Ginny's part. She kept her head down to her plate in hopes of giving a reason not to talk to anyone, especially Harry. She only cheered half-heartedly when Ron and Hermione gave out the news of their engagement which pretty much everyone already knew, and she merely poked at her food. All she could think about was Harry and how he didn't love her anymore. No, she told herself firmly over and over again. I'm with Oliver, he's very sweet. I like Oliver. However, every time Harry and she made eye contact she hastily looked away and busied herself with her food. When the dinner was over she stood up quickly and grabbed her coat and was heading for the door when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder.

"Ginny," it was Harry. "Wait up. We hardly got to talk, what do you say we come back to my place and have some coffee?"

"Harry," Ginny said softly. "I-I can't. I'm seeing Oliver Wood-"

"So? Come on Gin," Harry pleaded. "All I want is to hang out with you again."

Ginny looked around trying to find an escape, this was a dangerous path to tread on and she wasn't sure she was capable of going there right now at her drunken state. Finding no excuse not to go, she looked at him and nodded in defeat.

"Brilliant," Harry said grinning. Gripping her arm tightly, he turned gracefully on the spot and vanished into thin air.