QLFC- Season 10: Finals
Tigger warnings; Romance and kissing and some minor innuendo references
Montrose Magpies
Chaser 3
Prompt: Write about someone showing their appreciation/support for someone else.
Optional Prompts:
arriving to an event
Ginny twirled about, her large, white, flowing dress swishing around her ankles. Carefully picked out after a week of careful sleuthing (with help from some of her Muggle-born friends), it was tailored to her Quidditch toned physique and was magically enchanted to display different symbols when she turned in the sunlight. She twirled, the white dress glittering to show broomsticks and the emblem of the Holyhead Harpies before returning to pure white.
Hermione, dressed in a bridesmaid peach dress, came into the room, her naturally curly hair bullied into a ponytail. Ginny wondered how long it had taken her to accomplish that, but
"You look lovely, Ginny. Harry won't be able to take his eyes off of you."
Ginny smiled mischievously. "Soon it'll be your turn to walk down the aisle."
"Not for another three months," Hermione reminded her. Ron had proposed just the day prior, probably inspired by Ginny's wedding.
"Thanks for everything," Ginny said. "Without you, this day, this dream, would never happen."
"I didn't do anything," Hermione insisted. "Just gave you a pep talk every now and then."
"Much more than that," Ginny said, checking the clock to see there was about thirty minutes before the wedding ceremony began. "Let me tell you..."
Summer 1992
Twelve-year-old Ginny Weasley jolted awake in the middle of the night. This had been happening much more lately than she would like to admit. She counted how many hours of sleep she'd been accumulating the last week and came up with a dismal number.
Please just let me sleep...Ginny pleaded to the night.
She arose and went down to the kitchen to get some water.
"Ginny?"
Hermione stood behind her, turning the young girl. Even by the little moonlight penetrating the walls of the Burrow, Hermione saw the sleep deprivation on the young girl's face. "You look horrible!"
Ginny knew she couldn't hide it. Hermione walked over to her and pulled the young woman into a hug. Ginny began to cry uncontrollably into Hermione's nightgown.
"Chamber?"
"Yes," Ginny said, sobbing.
"Tell me."
Ginny hesitated but gathered all her Gryffindor courage and began to spill everything. Her nightmares, lack of sleep, her fears Harry would blame her for everything that had happened down in the Chamber.
"Come on, come sleep with me tonight," Hermione said, steering the young girl to the room she was staying in at the Leaky Cauldron.
Ginny allowed herself to be led away. She got her first full night of sleep in weeks. For the next six years, Ginny and Hermione shared their own single dorm at Hogwarts.
"Okay," Hermione said, still brushing Ginny's hair. "I concede. I did help you that time."
"Without you, this day wouldn't be possible," Ginny said.
Hermione still looked unconvinced, so Ginny skipped to her next memory, just after she found out Harry didn't have a date to the Yule Ball.
Thirteen-year-old Ginny bolted up the girls' dormitory stairs. After some bad dreams, Hermione had managed to get herself and Ginny a dorm all to themselves a year ago. The young redhead threw open the door, startling Hermione who was reading a book on her bed. Ginny collapsed on her four poster while crying hysterically. Hermione, not sure what to make of this, walked over to her.
"What happened?" Hermione asked, thoroughly puzzled.
It took awhile for Ginny to compose herself. "I missed out on a chance to take Harry to the Yule Ball."
Hermione blinked. "Didn't he ask Cho?"
"Yes," Ginny said. "Then Neville asked me. I said yes because I didn't think Harry was going to. Then Ron said 'Ginny go with Harry."
Ginny buried her face in the pillows again. Hermione couldn't help but feel sorrow and exasperation for the young teenager; Ginny's crush on Harry was legendary but this was beyond anything she'd seen so far.
"Look Ginny. I hate to deliver some bad news, but Harry doesn't see you as you yet."
Ginny looked up, tears still visible on her cheeks. "What?"
"You're still Ron's sister to him," Hermione said.
"But…..."
"Get out there, relax around him. Show him the Ginny that is full of fire, that loves to play Quidditch, that likes to take risks and is tough. That's who he hasn't seen yet."
"But..."
"Trust me on this. Go with Neville. Have a good time."
"Your advice allowed me to show Harry who I truly was," Ginny explained.
Hermione smiled. "You hooked up with Michael Corner remember? You didn't follow my advice."
"I didn't fully follow your advice," Ginny admitted. "But I did later. Why prod me about it on my wedding day? Besides, I also have you to thank. Remember the Valentine's Day disaster?"
Hermione winced at the memory.
"Last but not least."
April 1997
Ginny leaned against the chair, glad that it was over. She hoped that it would be worth it. Many of the signs were there and she hoped she wasn't misreading anything. Besides, she had hit her breaking point and it had been a doozy.
"I'm just trying to help you," Dean said.
"I don't need help," Ginny said. "I can open doors and get through portrait holes on my own without assistance."
"I'm trying to be a gentleman."
"Gentleman don't try to help a lady everywhere. They respect their ladies and don't try to over help them."
"Fine. Then find yourself another gentleman."
Ginny rolled her eyes, grateful it was over. Five minutes later Hermione sat down in the seat Dean had just vacated.
"Having a good day?" Hermione said, no bit chipper herself. Ron's break-up (that included some innuendo accusations by Lavender against her that made her wince) with Lavender had shaken her, but now she couldn't remember when she had been this happy.
"You?" Ginny said, with a sly smile that made Hermione nervous.
"Me?"
"Lavender and Ron," Ginny said. "Quite the break-up. I heard it in the girls' dorms."
Hermione smiled. "What about you?"
"Dean?"
"Yes, Dean."
"Well, he tried helping me through the portrait hole again and I kinda lost it, " Ginny admitted, sitting down on her bed. "'Find yourself another gentleman'. What an idiot."
"Why did you date him then?"
Ginny snorted. "You know why. You said 'get another boyfriend'."
"Harry?"
"No, not at first..." Ginny said, looking away. That was all Hermione needed.
"You still like him?"
Ginny laid down on her bed, letting her hair flow over her eyes. What had really broken her relationship with Dean was seeing Harry as boyfriend material again. She had long thought she had gotten over her silly girl crush on the Boy-Who-Lived, but it had only retreated for a bit. She couldn't help staring at him, thinking about him during the day, and dreaming about him at night. She shook her head at the smartest girl in Hogwarts.
"Oh Ginny, it was really meant to be wasn't it?"
"Only if Harry stops seeing me as Ron's sister," Ginny bemoaned.
"He already has."
"No. That's not enough," Ginny said. "Harry won't make the first move."
"Then you make it," Hermione said.
Ginny pushed some hair out of her face.
"Make it?"
"You heard me. Make it," Hermione said, leaving their shared dorm and a bewildered Ginny behind.
"Make it," Ginny said, laying back onto her bed again.
Ginny pondered Hermione's advice. Something told her she had to wait for the right moment to make her move. Put herself in such a way that would activate the mutual attraction that she guessed was brewing between them. Ginny tried to follow Hermione's advice to the letter. But what did it mean? Hermione refused to elaborate and the younger teenager knew better than to push. At the next Quidditch practice, Ginny put herself out there. Imitating Ron's keeper abilities and McLaggen knocking Harry out earned her plaudits from the team - but not the results she had hoped for.
Come on Harry, just say let's go off somewhere, Ginny pleaded silently as the two of them walked back together. Alas, they took the most direct route to Gryffindor Tower.
"Great Harry, hey I'll talk to you later," Ginny said, breaking away from him as they reached the common room.
Ginny went off to the girls' dormitory to rethink things. Hermione arrived a short time later.
"How'd it go?" Hermione asked.
"Did you see us kissing?"
"No."
"Then how did you think it went?"
Hermione sighed. "Fine. Then let's hatch a small plan."
"What?"
"Feminine wiles."
Ginny's eyebrows went up.
"Tantalize him," Hermione said. "Let him continue to walk back with you from Quidditch. Talk to other boys. Harry will crack eventually."
"Fine, but this is the last time I do things your way," Ginny said resolutely.
Gryffindor Common Room, Quidditch Party Celebration
Ginny lay in a corner of the common room, her eyes dulled by boredom.
"Really?" came a voice that Ginny had come to despise.
"Go away, Dean," Ginny snarled, hand gripping her wand.
Dean, shaken by the response, walked away confused by Ginny's sudden hostility. Ginny lay in the corner, watching the party continue until Hermione came over to her.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"What do you think?" Ginny responded.
"We won the House Cup. We're ahead in points for this year, you just broke up with Dean. Everything should be going well."
Ginny sighed. That wasn't what had been troubling her. "Then why does it feel like I lost."
"Harry?"
"No, it isn't just Harry," Ginny said.
"Part of the problem?"
"It's the problem," Ginny said. "Why does it need to happen when I'm studying for my OWLs?"
"Oh, I get it…" Hermione said. "Well, what can you change?"
It was as if someone lit a lightbulb in the younger teenager's head. Ginny jerked up knowing the answer.
"Now that's the Ginny I know. Go get him."
Ginny nodded and walked into the main area. A small dance was going on in the east wing of the common room while the rest was full of chattering students eating sweets, playing games, and doing other activities. She walked around in the common room, trying to find Harry. She knew he was in detention with Snape but, as Ron had reported, he was usually done by 10. Had Snape kept him late deliberately this night? Ginny glanced at a nearby clock and saw it was slipping past 10:30.
"No, Colin," she said, seeing him come her way. "I'm not interested in more photos. You've already taken enough."
She walked towards the dance when she heard the opening of the portrait hole. Her heart leapt with excitement as Ginny knew it could only be one person. She glanced towards the hole, wondering how she was going to react. Her mind racing, she knew she had just seconds before Harry came into the common. She then remembered the hug that Harry had gave her just after they had defeated Slytherin. She began to lightly jog towards the portrait hole, relieved when Harry stepped in.
"We won!" Ron sounded off behind her. ""
Harry then met her, as she was just feet from him now. She threw her arms around him, looking up at his face. Suddenly, she felt him hug her back and pull her closer. She closed her eyes and held her breath as their lips met for the first time. It was as if her nerves were on fire, quivering as years of pent-up emotion was released in mere seconds. Ginny trembled as his hands worked their way through her red hair, not believing what had just happened. Harry's lips were like butterfly wings to her, Ginny wanting nothing more than to kiss the daylights out of him. But she tried her best to get the message of how much this meant to her across to him without going too far as she wanted to save French kissing for another time.
When they finally broke apart Ginny giggled a bit, only now realizing just how many people had witnessed it. Harry motioned towards the portrait hole and she gladly obliged. As they left, Ginny took his hand, skipping alongside him.
"Happy today are we?" Harry said, unable to stop laughing.
"More than happy. We are Quidditch champions, though it would've been better if you were there-and I finally got to kiss the boy I've been crushing on for nearly six years. So, yes it's a good day."
"What about the..." Harry began, stopping as Ginny suddenly pushed into a corridor hidden behind tapestry.
Harry noted that it was in the same hidden corridor that he had stumbled upon Ginny and Dean making out so many months ago.
"Later," she whispered seductively in his ear, throwing her arms around his neck. "First, we have some business to attend to. And remember to open your mouth."
Lips meeting again, Ginny held nothing back. She had finally achieved her goal and she didn't plan on letting the Boy Who Lived go any time soon as their tongues warred with each other for space- and the monster that had tormented the young redhead roared in triumph.
"I'm done and touched," Hermione said, holding back tears.
Both heard the organ start playing and the doors to the chapel open. Arthur Weasley came through, ready to escort his only daughter to the altar.
"Come," Ginny said, pulling Hermione along with her.
"What?"
"Dad you take right arm and Hermione left," Ginny said. "I want both of you to escort me down the altar."
Bemused, both did of he said.
"Let's go," Ginny said as they entered the chapel.