Here it finally is, chapter 10. I just changed universities, so I currently don't have a job or friends to distract me from this. Which makes me sound awesome.
And, in the last chapter, Ginny was less than mature. But what do you expect? She's no Mary-Sue. And of course, a big thanks for sticking with this story for so long. It's taking it's sweet time and it really makes my day that so many have stuck with it for so long.
Years from now, I'm going to look back at this and laugh. Many, many years from now.
Turning the knob to get herself into her own flat, Ginny couldn't help but considering jumping from the window that was to her left. Really, it was fairly high up, if she hit the pavement at the right angle, she just might die. Or just get enough brain damage to be left alone.
"Ginny!" Nikki squealed as soon as the door was open. "Good thing that was you, or I'd be mighty embarrassed right now." the American giggled.
Ginny gave her best grimace/grin and trudged into her home.
"Why is Seamus at the table?" Ginny asked, pointing and forgetting that Seamus could in fact see her.
"You mean, 'Hi, Seamus, ol' buddy, ol' pal, how's the sexiest man who's ever been to my home?'" Seamus corrected from where he was at the table, drinking black coffee from one of the many mix-matched mugs in Ginny's collection.
"No, I don't think that's exactly what I meant." Ginny answered, pondering the possible reasons why he would be in her flat this early. None of them were good and many involved her now needing to burn her furniture.
"Seamus and I came here last night and had passionate sex on your couch, bed, and on the kitchen table." Nikki grinned.
"Oh--oh god," Ginny managed to choke out, slapping a hand over her mouth and taking off for the bathroom, dropping the newspaper that had been under her arm.
After four retches and seven minutes, Nikki poked a tentative head into the bathroom.
"Is this a bad time to say I was only joking? That we only came here for breakfast since Seamus and Dean had no food?" she asked her friend, grinning slyly.
"I hope you get hit by a bus." Ginny mumbled, her words echoing strangely from the inside of the toilet bowl.
"Yeesh, Gin, news travels fast about you." Seamus remarked, opening the paper that Ginny had dropped.
She could practically hear the headline, the news that would undoubtedly start a thousand emotional wrecks for her.
GINNY WEASLEY, INTERNATTIONAL BUSINESSWOMAN, PREGNANT. WHO'S THE DADDY?
Who's the daddy? Really, Daily Prophet? This was the best way to use your "International Style" section?
"Ginny, I have a feeling this is not what you wanted to happen. Judging by the fact that all the blood has left your face." Nikki observed.
"It--it's all gone? Completely?" Ginny asked, her eyes dried out despite her constant blink at the periodical.
"You look like Sir Nick." Seamus confirmed, referencing their Hogwarts days.
"Right, I'm going to bed, and when I wake up, I would very much like it if the two of you had somehow fixed my life and maybe made me some tea." Ginny stated, pulling herself off the floor.
"I can promise you tea…" Nikki started, letting her voice trail off as Ginny shut her door.
It didn't take long for Ginny to slip into sleep, but of course, sleep was just as complicated as her waking life.
"Oh, Gin-bug. You're a mess." a familiar voice spoke up.
"Why do I not even have to open my eyes to know that gentle scolding is coming from my dead boyfriend?" Ginny muttered.
"Because no one else speaks to you the way I do."
"From the grave?"
"Hah! Yeah." Sonny laughed at this statement with genuine glee, something that Ginny was always missing the most about him. He was completely genuine, there was no second guessing.
"What's up, Son? What are you doing back in my reality?" Ginny asked, sitting herself up. Sonny was lying on the bed next to her, his arms behind his head looking perfectly comfortable.
"Well," he started, yawning lazily, "first off, this is a great bed, second, and more importantly, it seems I only show up when you're all stressed out. Therefore, something must be bothering you."
"I'm single, pregnant, and having a conversation with my dead boyfriend."
"Your delightful dead boyfriend."
"My homosexual dead boyfriend from the sounds of it."
"Now, let's not get snippy! Does your living boyfriend know about me?"
"He knows that I was engaged to a muggle who passed away who I miss very much."
"And still love."
"Forever."
"Aw, you're making me blush."
"You set yourself up!"
"Right, now back to what we were talking about."
Ginny let out a disgruntled sigh. She really didn't want to discuss her love life with her old flame. Even if he was dead and possibly a figment of her imagination.
"Gin, does he know you still see me from time to time? My, taken out of connotation that has a completely different meaning."
"No, I haven't told anyone. How exactly do you explain to a person that sometimes you see or have conversations with your dead boyfriend?"
"What's really crazy is that you seem to be used to it."
"Let's not try and compare craziness in this particular situation."
Sonny straightened himself up and looked Ginny right in the eye, his expression completely serious.
"Gin, you know something's just not quite right."
"I do know."
"But do you know what?"
"No, I really don't." Ginny sighed. The obvious answer was everything, but she had learned a long time ago that everything was always not right, the trick was to find out what was wrong.
"Ginny, please, please figure it out. Figure out what's wrong before it's too late. I don't know how often you'll be pulling me out of your mad little head to help you." Sonny took her hand, and to Ginny's great surprise, his hand was completely solid.
"Oh, no," she whispered.
"What is it?" he asked her, his concern doubling.
"You're solid." she pointed out, near tears.
"I am," he nodded back, his voice solemn.
"That means you're a dream, aren't you? You're not nearly as real as you should be, you're just a dream and I'll wake up and you'll be gone."
Gently, Sonny wiped away a tear that had escaped Ginny's rapidly blinking eyes, "You should have figured out by now, just because I'm leaving doesn't mean I'll be gone forever."
"But you won't be here and I need you!"
"You need the living, Gin. You need life."
Ginny woke with a start, shooting up in her bed, completely alone as real tears made their way down her face. Longingly, she looked next to her, to where Sonny had been. Kind of. She couldn't figure it out, he was there, but he wasn't. He was definitely dead, but around to bother the living.
"Something's not right, something's wrong." Ginny muttered to herself, getting up and going into her bathroom to wash her face with the coldest water she had available on tap. Checking the clock, she saw she had slept till lunch, but really wasn't hungry.
She knew she should eat, this wasn't like in school when she could just skip a meal and become so hungry that she stopped thinking about her problems and started thinking about food. Granted, it wasn't healthy, but it was effective for a mental break. No such luck at that moment, right then she had to worry about someone else. Something. It.
Whatever. Her mind grumbled, her mood suddenly sullen. This stupid things got me in the paper in a bad way, and it has everyone in my business more than ever, and it could very well be the reason I keep seeing my dead boyfriend like a crazy person…
As she emerged from the bathroom, Julio was crouched in the hallway, his eyes wild.
"That's not good." Ginny muttered to herself, stepping out of the way of the slightly crazed cat.
Really, there were two things that were capable of making Julio so extra crazy. One, was another invasion of owls meaning and invasion of owls which really wouldn't be a terrible thing. A nice distraction at that moment. The second, however…
"I--uh, made tea!" Nikki chirped, looking thoroughly uncomfortable as she and Seamus sat, holding mugs and planning escape routes.
"You made a lot of tea." Ginny croaked, her eyes wide with worry.
"Needed it." Seamus mumbled.
There, sitting across from her friends, who were undoubtedly feeling enormous amounts of shame for having taken part in some rather lustful acts the night before, were the two most terrifying people Ginny could think of, sitting there, politely sipping tea.
There were her parents.