When You Wasn't Famous

By: Sam Lincoln

Disclaimer: The characters from Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling and are used here without permission.

"When you're a famous boy/it's gets really easy to get girls/It's all so easy you get a bit spoiled/but when you try to pull a girl who is also famous too/It Feels Just Like When You Wasn't Famous

-When You Wasn't Famous, The Streets

Chapter 17: She Plays With her Hair

Harry was seated in what had quickly become "his" corner of the VIP lounge in the Lonely Mermaid. He kept his eyes focused on the entry to the lounge not wanting to miss Ginny's arrive as he waited for Dean and Seamus to return with the next round of drinks. Harry swirled the remaining drink in his glass and noted to himself at the rate they were going it would be cheaper to pay for the overpriced bottle service the club offered. A flash of red coming into view gave Harry hope that Ginny and finally arrived, but he quickly realised it was Ron climbing the stairs to the upstairs lounge. Harry did his best to tamp down his disappointment as he watched his old friend walk over to the table.

"Good to see you Ron," Harry said. He stood up from the table and the pair shared a quick hug.

"Congratulations on the match," Ron said. "That was some flying today."

"I could have done better on a few of my feints. Are Ginny and Hermione going to be along?"

"You know how girls are, they always take forever to get ready. When I left Ginny was still trying on outfits, but they should be here shortly."

"Want to sit down while we wait? Dean and Seamus are off getting the next round. And I'm sure they'll bring extras." Harry motioned for Ron to take a seat.

"Actually mate, I was wondering if we could have a chat, bloke to bloke y'know?" Ron asked.

"Yeah sure, why don't we talk over here." Harry lead Ron to a small alcove in the back of the lounge and then cast privacy wards around them. "Let me guess, this is about Ginny."

Ron stared at Harry. "Er yeah, how did you know?"

Harry shrugged. "What else would you want to speak to me in private about? I'm a little surprised you didn't storm over to my place and have it out with me the minute Hermione told you." He sat down on an overstuffed sofa. "And I know Hermione told you about it because Ginny never would and yet you know."

Ron sat down on a chaise lounge across from Harry. "It could have been Luna."

"Fair enough but we both know it wasn't. Besides in the end it doesn't much matter who told you, you know," Harry said. "So are you going to do the scary older brother intimidation thing?"

Ron bit back a laugh. "Merlin no, Ginny would have my hide if I tried to do that."

"Then what exactly? As I recall you weren't exactly pleased that the two of us dated in the first place."

"And I was right too, what with you breaking her heart and all." Ron held up a hand to cut off Harry's protestations. "But that's water under the bridge, and not what I wanted to talk to you about. Well not exactly."

"In that case what do you want to talk to me about?"

"The past week's reminded me of how much fun we had when we were mates. I never realised how much I missed that."

"Same here, it's been great spending time with you, Hermione, and the rest of your family. We should do it again when we get back home."

Ron shuffled in his seat and rubbed his palms on the legs of his trousers. "See that's the thing, it has been great, but that's because you and Ginny are together." He took a deep breath then fixed Harry with his stare. "I can't be friends with a bloke who breaks my baby sister's heart. I just can't."

"I'm not going to break Ginny's heart this time," Harry said while he glared daggers at Ron. "We both know exactly what we're getting into. The moment we leave it's back to our separate lives, and we are okay with that."

"It's funny, that's precisely what Ginny said too."

"Did you threaten Ginny with ending your friendship with her if she broke my heart?" Harry asked. He did nothing to hide the disdain from his voice.

"No of course not, but I did tell her I think the both of you are talking a load of bollocks. You still fancy each other, so why bother hiding it? Just admit that you want a real relationship." Ron looked on as Harry's face fell. "You do don't you?"

"I don't know honestly. Being around Ginny again has been brilliant and the…" Harry caught himself before he finished sentence. "Well let's just say Ginny is a cut above the women I normally spend time with."

"You bloody well better think so. I'd hate to have to thrash you for thinking Ginny is some kind of common slag."

A smile broke out on Harry's face. "You're welcome to try, but I know which one of us is the the better duelist."

"Remind me again which one of us grew up around Fred and George?" Ron asked. He cracked his knuckles for dramatic effect.

"The one who wasn't raised by a Marauder. Admit it, you can't trump that."

"That's just not fair. Still, you're a posh Quidditch star these days."

"And you work in a shop. I wager over the course of the year I take far more hits than you do."

"Then at the very least I will do a good job of bleeding on you."

"I'd rather not have to fight you at all Ron; so the less we talk about the possibility the better."

"Don't mess around with Ginny's feelings and we won't have a problem."

Harry ground his teeth together in frustration. "You said you talked with her. Does it sounds like I'm messing around with her feelings?"

"Not on purpose, but the moment you go swanning off."

"Merlin save me from the helpless romantics surrounding me." Harry threw up his hands in disgust. "You're just as bad as Neville, you know that right?"

Ron folded his arms across his chest. "I'll take that as a compliment. There are far worse blokes than Nev to be compared to."

Harry considered Ron's statement before nodding. "Fair enough, but you have to admit it's bloody annoying to have to listen to everyone and their brother offer advice on your love life."

"As I recall you didn't have any problems giving me 'advice' when it came to Hermione."

"That's because you were absolutely helpless. If it wasn't for our prodding the two of you would still be arguing with each other, not arguing then snogging."

"We don't argue that much, only when I do something stupid." Ron said to Harry and held up a threatening index finger. "Don't say it,"

Harry tried, and failed, to contain his laugh. "I wouldn't dream of it. That was too easy a setup, even for me."

"You're a true friend Harry," Ron said.

Harry leaned back on his couch and flashed Ron a smug grin. "I try."

"I'm beginning to rethink this whole you're perfect for my little sister thing."

"So does that mean you'll be okay with me 'ditching' her once the tournament is over?"

The smile fled from Ron's face. "I stand by what I said before. I can't be friends with anyone who breaks Ginny's heart."

"And I keep saying I'm not going to break her heart."

Ron nodded. "Good so we've got that sorted then. Now you said something about drink?"

"Neville and the other should, ah there they are." Harry pointed over to the entrance of the lounge where Neville, Dean and Seamus were standing. They were all holding trays loaded down with glasses and bottles filled with various liquors. Harry dismissed the wards around the alcove and strode over to his friends. "What took you so long?"

"If you hadn't run off the wait staff then we wouldn't have to go through this ridiculous process every time we want fresh drinks," Dean said. He set his tray down on their table and took a large swig out of a pint glass.

"Sorry Dean it can't be helped. Team security and all that. I don't want to think what might happen if someone tampered with our drinks."

"Or your ego just demands that you have your so-called mates wait on your hand and foot," Seamus said. He tossed back a shot of Firewhisky then dramatically flopped onto a chair.

"I am the one who's paying for all this. So if you look at it that way, collecting the drink is the least you could do. Also I trust you lot won't run off and tell the papers what we get up to here." Harry levitated shot glasses to his four friends. "And now a toast. To old friends and new memories." The rest of the group murmured their agreement and they all drained their glasses.

Neville glanced over at Ron and motioned with his head for the taller man to follow him. "So did you talk to them?" he asked.

"For what good it did," Ron said. "Ginny and Harry both insist they know what they're doing."

Neville looked over at Harry and saw that his oldest friend kept stealing glances towards the entrance to the lounge as he talked with Dean and Seamus. "Maybe so, but I still think they're lying to each other. What does Hermione think about all this?"

Ron couldn't hold back his laugh. "Hermione? She thinks we're bloody mental for trying to knock sense into Ginny and Harry. She says the both of them are too mulish to be told what to do."

"What about Luna?"

"Oh Luna is fully on board. She claims the only way to clear out the Gildygrims, or whatever, in their heads is to bang them together a couple times."

"Bang their heads together, I wonder if that would work?" Neville rubbed his chin as he mulled over the idea.

"Is this really a good idea mate?" Ron asked Neville.

Neville spied the top of Ginny's head coming into view and nudged Ron. "Your answer's right there," he said as he pointed at Harry and the dazed look on his face as he watched Ginny approach.

Harry did his best to keep what he was sure to be a stupid looking grin off his face as he hastily clambered to his feet. "Ginny, it's great to see you," he finally managed to force himself to say.

"It's great to be here," Ginny said. She plucked the a glass of Firewhisky from Harry's hand and knocked the drink back in one shot. "After all that means we won today, and we get to do it again next week."

"Knock-out tournaments, there's nothing like them," Harry said. He slid behind Ginny and rested his hands on her hips. "How long did you want to spend socialising?" He asked, leaning in close to her ear so no one else could hear them.

Ginny turned her head so she could look up at Harry. "But I just got here, and you already want me to leave?"

"The sooner we leave the sooner I can," he leaned even closer and murmured something almost completely inaudible that caused Ginny's face to turn bright pink.

She took a step away from Harry with a glazed look on her face. "I, er, oh sod it. It was lovely to see you all, but I'm afraid I'm feeling quite knackered and really must turn in for the night." She picked up a bottle of Firewhisky from the table and beat a hasty retreat from the knowing chuckles. Harry sketched a bow to his friends then followed after Ginny.

As they stepped off the staircase leading down to the main floor of the club they ran into Hermione and Luna. "You're leaving already?" Hermione asked Ginny. "Didn't you just get here?"

"I did, but Harry has something, er, pressing to show me."

"Yes it's, er, strategy for the Italy match," Harry said. He didn't really intend to lie to Hermione and Luna, but he also didn't want to be too obvious about what he and Ginny were up to since you never knew who was listening.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry's lame explanation. "The pair of you are impossible. I suppose thought there's nothing to be done about that." She reached out and hugged Ginny. "I'll see you when I get back."

Ginny smiled at her friend. "Of course now you better go make sure Dean and Seamus don't convince Ron to do anything too foolish, and if they do be sure to take pictures."

Hermione pulled a face. "Remind me again why it was a good idea to spend time around you again Harry? You and the others always brought out the worst in Ron."

"Perhaps, but it's always fun," Harry said with a smile.

Hermione swatted Harry on the arm. "I'm sending you the bill if he causes any damage."

"Be sure you do. I'll gladly pay provided you take pictures," Harry said. A crash from above them sent Hermione scurrying up the staircase.

Before Ginny could drag Harry off Luna stepped in front of them. "Er hi Luna," Ginny said. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Luna cocked her head to one side. "I don't know why I never noticed this before."

"Noticed what?" Harry asked.

"You both have a terrible infestation of Madilight bugs. It's really quite amazing you can play Quidditch at such a high level. Most people would fly right into the stands."

"Luna we do not have any Madilight bugs infestations, whatever those are," Ginny said.

Luna shrugged her shoulders. "If you insist, though my instincts on this are rarely wrong, and it would explain ever so much."

"If we did have a 'Madilight bug' infestation, and I'm not saying we do, how would we get rid of them?" Ginny asked.

"Oh that's easy, just admit the thing you're denying. Have fun tonight having sex." Luna spun on her heels and dashed up the staircase. Ginny and Harry looked at each other and shrugged before Ginny dragged Harry to their private Apparation point.

Author's Notes: This worked out to be an okay mirror of the previous chapter, plus we learn of the existence of a conspiracy! I will admit the existence of the super private, warded against everything including Animagus forms is so I didn't have to think about that while having the characters hang out in a bar. Still don't like writing for Luna. Thanks again for reading.

-sam