"Dammit," Ginny swore as she opened her eyes. Her jaw was throbbing, and she tasted blood. It was still dark outside, and no one was around. She spat onto the ground next to her, then pushed herself to a sitting position. The alley spun in front of her, and she leaned to the side, retching. Ginny groaned, then tried to stand again. She succeeded in kneeling, and reached out to grab for her purse. She frowned, turning slowly to look behind her. No purse.
"You blood bastard," She muttered, struggling to stand up. She leaned against the brick wall for support, then patted her side to make sure she had her wand. She grasped it tightly, visualizing her house, then Apparated with a small pop.
"Ginny! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Lavender, I'm fine." Ginny sank into the couch, rubbing a hand over her face.
"Gin, you are not! What happened?"
"Nothing. I need to go to the Ministry tomorrow though. My purse was stolen." Lavender crossed her arms, standing in front of Ginny with a sad look on her face.
"Ginny, are you sure you're okay?"
Ginny nodded, looking up at Lavender. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll see you next Friday." Lavender pursed her lips, then nodded.
"Okay, see you soon. Give me a call if you need anything." Lavender motioned to the fireplace, touched the back of Ginny's hand gently, then Disapparated. Ginny sighed, rubbing her jaw. Lavender was a good friend to her, even if they weren't "best friends". She was the girl Ginny had a good time with, the girl who looked after her after too many drinks. I should be that friend to her, Ginny thought to herself.
She groaned as she lifted herself off the couch, stumbling to the dark kitchen for a vial of Hangover potion. She shoved aside several bottles of Firewhiskey and vodka, biting her lip when she couldn't find any.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit," she muttered, realizing she'd have to go straight to Diagon Alley in the morning, and–even worse–have to deal with her hangover tomorrow morning. She almost whimpered as she realized this would have to be done before 8 a.m. and it was currently two o'clock.
Ginny sank into one of the chairs in the kitchen, tapping her wand gently against her jaw while muttering "Episkey". She felt the swelling decrease a bit, and knew the color of her skin had returned to an ashen hue instead of purpling. Her eyes began to droop, and through her haze she knew she should head upstairs to her bedroom, but it was so far away...
A quick knock at the door woke Ginny from her disturbed sleep. She fell as she panicked, realizing it was Sasha or Sarah's mother at the door.
"One second," she called shakily to the door, bolting upstairs to change. Her kid's parents could not see her like this. She pulled her hair back roughly, ripped off her dress and threw on her trousers from yesterday and an old jumper. She fiddled with a tin of mints, growling when the lid wouldn't open. She angrily threw it against the side table, where it burst open, littering the floor with tiny white squares. She grabbed one, shoving it in her mouth before frantically running down to open the door.
"I'm so sorry, I had to run to the grocer's and grab a few more juice boxes, I just ran out last night and totally for–" Ginny stopped mid-sentence, furrowing her brow and setting her lips in a thin line.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here?"
Ron shuffled his feet, looking down at the cobblestone walkway. He held out Ginny's purse, raising his head to look somewhere above her shoulder.
"This was dropped off this morning. Er, I thought I'd check on how you're–" She ripped the small bag out of his hand, clutching it to her chest.
"Thought you'd see how I'm doing on my own? Going to go back to loving Mummy and Daddy, tell them how crap my life is? Leave," she hissed at him, slamming the door in his face.
She locked it manually, pressing her body against it as if her scant body weight would prevent her brother from coming into her life again. After a few moments Ginny pushed herself off from the door, glancing at the clock as she did. It was only 7:23. She still had over half an hour before the kids arrived. Stupid, bloody Ron. At least he had caused her to wake up on time.
Ginny slowly walked up the stairs, her head pounding in anger and pain as her hangover set in. She threw her purse on the bed, then scratched out a note to Lavender when she got to her room, pleading for Hangover potion in exchange for free alcohol on Friday. She sent it on its way with her owl, Pepper, then trudged to the bathroom to splash cool water on her face and fix her make up.
She went downstairs, steadily taking the steps one-by-one. The refrigerator doors opened with a lazy flick of her wand, and nine yogurts flew out and settled themselves on the counter, along with nine spoons. Ginny rummaged threw the cabinets, looking for a container of formula. Today was her rough day: five toddlers, four preschoolers, and two infants. She gritted her teeth, taking in a deep breath as she slowly shook one bottle to mix it up, setting it down and picking up the other as she exhaled. She glanced at the drawer with her cigarettes, biting her lip as the want overtook her.
"No," she said out loud to herself. She never smoked or drank anything but coffee and water when she was watching her kids. Their parents trusted her, and also provided her with her salary. She couldn't lose that. She set the bottle down, laying her hands on the cool counter while she rearranged her face in a soft smile.
Even though last night turned out awful, she knew that it would repeat itself in two days. This time, I won't bring my purse, she thought with a wry snort. A knock at the door brought her out of her reverie, and as she turned to look at the clock she knew it was 8 sharp. Natalie's mum was always there first on Saturday morning.
Two hours later, Ginny's head was throbbing with pain. Lavender still had yet to send the much needed potion, and there was nine energy-filled kids in her living room.
She heard a crash! and almost dropped Brandon, the baby in her arms. She rushed to the living room, wincing as Brandon began crying. Seven kids backed away from the vase that lay shattered on the floor, while two others ran to hid behind the couch.
"What happened?" She asked above the din of Brandon's wailing. All of the kids looked down at the floor. Ginny rubbed her forehead with one hand as she began to bounce the screaming baby in her arms. "Nik, Sarah, come here please."
The two children guiltily looked at Ginny as they moved from behind the couch and stood in front of her.
"How did this happen?" Nik burst into tears, and Ginny clenched her teeth. She couldn't tolerate any more crying, or she would cry herself. "It's okay," she said gently, kneeling in front of the small boy. She noticed he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. "Neither of you are in trouble, but I need to know how the vase broke."
"W-we were playing house, a-and I wanted to give her something nice, 'cause I'm the d-daddy," Nik whimpered, looking at Sarah out of the corner of his eye.
"Did you drop it?" Ginny asked softly, thinking that he was trying to live up to his expectations of what a dad should be. Nik nodded, shifting his glance to the broken china pieces.
"You're not a good daddy," Sarah said, crossing her arms and pointing her nose in the air. Ginny gaped and grabbed Sarah's arm, pulling her to face Nik.
"Apologize right now," Ginny said sternly, noting the sudden worry that flashed in her eyes.
"Sorry," the little girl mumbled, looking back to the floor. Nik smiled and hugged her. Ginny left the two children, frowning as she wished adults could act as mature as children could, swallowing their pride and accepting each other with no qualms.
She bounced Brandon as she grabbed a bottle, relaxing as his attention went to the bottle instead of his cries. The throbbing in her head returned, and she wished there was an owl tapping at her window with a little vial tied to its leg.
It wasn't until she was waiting with Brandon for his parents to pick him up later that day that the long-awaited tapping came. She glanced at the sleeping baby, then at the window, shifting Brandon to her shoulder as she quietly eased open the latch. The owl stepped in, almost human-like, and cooed up at her softly. Ginny frowned as she lifted the letter off of the animal's leg. No vial was attached. The outside of the envelope was blank, very unlike Lavender; she always decorated any piece of paper she could grasp, a result of her addiction to the Muggle pill Adderall. She opened it with one hand, peeking to make sure Brandon was still asleep.
Thanks for the potion.
There was no signature, no other words. She scowled, seeing red at the thought of someone intercepting her post. Not only had someone read her note, they had taken the note that was possibly attached from Lavender along with the Hangover potion. Son of a bitch.
She gave Pepper a piece of bread crust, then sent her upstairs. Ginny crumbled the note in her hand, shoving it into her pocket as she bounced Brandon. Ten minutes later she heard a knock at the door, and almost cried in relief. Finally. Five minutes of small talk later and Ginny closed the door softly, almost running to the kitchen to get her cigarettes. She hungrily lit it with the end of her wand, practically moaning with satisfaction and relief. After quenching her need, Ginny began to think clearer. She walked upstairs to her room, lightly smoothing Pepper's feathers at the top of her head as she scratched out a note.
"Take this to the person who took the potion, okay?" The owl blinked twice, stepping toward the window. Ginny opened the latch, watching as Pepper lazily sailed away on the wind. The note had been brief and to the point:
Do not fuck with me.
Ginny always found that short and sweet was the way to go.
review please! i promise, there will be d/g interaction in the next chapter! i will not disappoint!