Hello again! Thanks for coming back for Chapter 3 and I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and signed up for story alerts.
As promised this chapter is a little more light-hearted than the last one, I'm pretty happy with it so I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think, happy reading!
'Sorry! I'm so sorry, Ginny!' Neville apologised.
'That's ok Neville.' Ginny winced as he trod on her foot, again. Her toes were throbbing.
'I-I really didn't mean to…' Neville spluttered, turning red.
'I know.' She smiled at him through the pain. 'Don't worry.'
Even though tonight hadn't worked out exactly as she'd hoped, Ginny was very grateful to Neville for bringing her, she was one of the few third years who had been invited.
She looked around at the other couples on the floor. Hermione and Viktor Krum were dancing nearby. Ginny caught her eye and grinned. Hermione blushed and smiled back at her bashfully. Krum was looking happier than Ginny had ever seen him, he just couldn't take his eyes of Hermione.
Ginny glanced over to where Harry and Parvati were waltzing together, quite awkwardly it seemed. Parvati was dragging Harry around the dance floor and he looked very uncomfortable. Her heart went out to him, she knew how he hated things like this.
Still, Ginny couldn't help thinking how different it would have been if she had been Harry's partner. She would have joked with him to make things a little easier, if they'd had a laugh it would have made the whole thing more enjoyable.
Ginny sighed, she'd come so close...
'Sorry you're not enjoying yourself, are you?' Neville asked apologetically, looking at his feet. 'We could sit down, if you like?'
As Ginny looked up at Neville's disappointed expression, she felt a rush of affection towards him.
'No, Neville I am!' she said earnestly. 'Let's keep dancing.'
Neville gave her a grateful smile.
'I know I'm not very good at this…' He muttered so quietly that Ginny had to lean in to hear. 'But I just wanted to say thank you for…putting up with me.
'Don't be daft, I-'
'No really, it means a lot and-'
'Well, well, well look who we have here.' A snide voice cut across Neville. 'Longbottom, I didn't realise they were letting squibs in tonight.'
'Get stuffed Malfoy!' Ginny snarled.
'Ooh looks like I touched a raw nerve.' Malfoy smirked. 'Who would have thought it? Longbottom's got himself a girlfriend.'
Pansy Parkinson shrieked with laughter as Neville turned bright red and started spluttering.
'I don't think much of your date, Malfoy.' Ginny snapped. 'I didn't think even you would be that desperate.'
'You watch your mouth, you filthy little blood traitor!' Malfoy spat.
Neville had to grab Ginny around the waist to stop her launching herself at Malfoy.
'J-just leave it!' Neville begged. 'It's not worth it!'
'Yeah listen to your boyfriend, Weasley.' Pansy Parkinson smirked.
Ginny ignored her and glared into Malfoy's smug face, refusing to back down.
'You know what Malfoy?' she growled. 'You think you're so big and clever, swanning around the castle like you're better than the rest of us but you're nothing more than a pathetic piece of scum. So why don't you take Parkinson and run off crying to Daddy and do us all a favour? C'mon Neville.'
She grabbed his hand and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson in a stunned silence.
'I-I'm so sorry.' Neville spluttered. 'I didn't mean for, you didn't have to-'
'Neville don't apologise, that wasn't your fault!' Ginny insisted.
'Still, thanks for sticking up for me.' Neville smiled weakly. 'You're a great friend.'
Ginny squeezed his hand. 'No problem.' She smiled back at him. 'Fancy a drink?'
xxx
'…and then you should have seen the look on Malfoy's face, he looked like he'd been slapped!' Neville said gleefully, retelling the story to everyone at their table.
'Nice one, Ginny!' Dean Thomas patted her on the back.
'Yeah, it's about time someone put him in his place.' Seamus agreed.
Ginny smiled and took another sip of her butterbeer. Even though she had humiliated Malfoy, she still didn't feel like it was enough. If only she'd had her wand on her, she'd been looking for someone to practise the bat-bogey hex on…
Trying to take her mind of Malfoy, Ginny glanced up again at the couples on the dance floor. Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies were slow dancing a short distance away from her. Fleur was talking animatedly and tossing her head from side to side, her long silvery hair swishing behind her. She was probably complaining about something as usual, thought Ginny. Davies was staring at her as though entranced, he was wearing that nauseating, dreamy expression which Ginny had seen etched on Ron's gormless face so many times. Fleur was like some kind of disease which infected every boy that looked her way. Ginny chuckled to herself, perhaps she would start calling her Phlegm…
Ginny looked away from Phlegm and Davies in disgust as they started engaging in a game of tonsil tennis. On the opposite side of the floor, Ginny spotted the twins.
Fred and Angelina were dancing so wildly together that the couples around them had started to vacate the area around them. George and Katie were dancing close by. Katie was laughing out loud at something George had said. Something mischievous no doubt…
This gave Ginny an idea.
'I'll be back in a minute.' She muttered.
Taking care not to trip over in her high heels, Ginny half-walked, half-danced over to where the twins were.
She tapped her brother lightly on the shoulder. 'George?'
'-and then we told him it couldn't have been us, because Fred's allergic to parsnips!' George roared with laughter and Katie joined in.
'Oi!' Ginny prodded George sharply in the ribs.
'Ouch!' He yelped. 'Hey, what was that for?'
Ginny ignored his protests and instead smiled sweetly at Katie.
'I'm really sorry Katie, but would you mind if I borrowed my brother for a second?'
'Of course not.' Katie smiled. She turned to George. 'I'll be over here chatting to Alicia, ok?'
'Kay.' George replied, massaging his side.
Between them, Ginny and George managed to tear Fred away from his energetic dancing and the three of them sat down at a table.
'So what's this about, Ginny?' George asked, sounding intrigued.
Ginny quickly told them about Neville and Malfoy.
Fred swore. 'That slimy git.'
'I know.' Ginny agreed. 'Which is why I need your help.'
The twins exchanged an identical confused look.
'How are Weasleys' Wizard Wheezers coming along?' Ginny asked innocently.
'Excellent.' Fred smirked. 'We've been looking for someone to test them on.'
'Anything to help our favourite sister.' George winked.
Ginny grinned. She really didn't know what she would do without them. 'Do we have a plan?'
'Ok, here's what we're going to do…'
This was going to be fun.
A/N: Ooh suspense, what will they do? Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please please let me know your thoughts and ideas by leaving a review! You know you want to really...byeee :)