Where Ginny is running, but not out of shame.

GINNY XVI

She ran through the corridors. It reminded her of the many times she ran away in her first years at Hogwarts. Only, this time, she was not running away, but running at someone, a someone who was actually running away from everyone. She had watched the whole scene, and she was as stunned as everyone else when it happened. But the moment her brother ran away, she followed him. She felt he would need support for quite a while.

She found Ron in a secret corridor, leaning his back against a wall, and slowly hitting his head against it.

"Hey, Hey! Stop!" she said.

"Idiot. I'm an idiot," he complained.

She almost wanted to throw him in the face that he was indeed an idiot. A part of Ginny was sympathetic towards her brother, but the other part wanted to laugh about it, even though she knew it wasn't the time.

"Here. Let's go to the common room," she said, grabbing his arm.

"No! Everyone is going to laugh at me."

"Oh, you're being stupid!" she said, which gave Ginny the impression to sound like Hermione. "Come on!"

She grabbed her brother's arm more forcefully and dragged him back to the common room. It had happened in the Entrance Hall. Most people were in the Great Hall at the time, getting dinner, busy enjoying the end of the term and the beginning of the Christmas holidays. Hopefully, the story wouldn't spread too much. But Ginny knew there were few chances of it. All they needed was one person beginning to spread the word about this, and the whole school would know by tomorrow morning. They could only hope that the story would not linger too long. The good side with the upcoming ball was that so many pieces of gossip travelled through Hogwarts that none survived very long.

"Fairy lights," she told the Fat Lady, and the portal to the common room opened. Ginny led Ron to an isolated corner of the tower and got him sitting comfortably in an armchair.

"Why did I do it? Why did I do it?"

Because you're an idiot, Ginny wanted to say once more, in part because it was true, in part only to laugh. You really had to be an idiot to invite Fleur Delacour to the Yule Ball.

Ginny was torn between the envy to laugh at Ron's predicament, to comfort her brother, and to hit him on the head for doing such a foolish thing. Really? Of all the girls he could invite to the ball, he chose Fleur Delacour? Fleur Delacour? Not only she was sure to refuse, but she was probably the worst girl to invite.

"It's okay, Ron. Nobody died," she said, patting his arm.

"For now. I'm of a mind to throw myself into the Giant Squid."

"Don't say that. No one will remember what happened by tomorrow. You'll see."

"Not me. And I am sure Fred and George will ensure I never forget."

Ginny agreed with him, but she chose to not voice it. Fred and George already had lots of things to not let Ron forget. One of them was when he danced with Professor McGonagall when their professor showed them how to dance. Ginny refrained from laughing. The situation was just hilarious.

"What's up, Ron?"

Ginny turned to see that Harry just arrived. Her heart had a small jolt, but otherwise she kept the same behavior as before he walked into the common room. She got much better at handling her emotions when Harry was around.

"Why did I do it? I don't know what made me do it!" Ron complained, looking horrified at what he just did.

"What?" Harry asked.

Ginny chose to answer, although she still struggled to not laugh at the whole situation.

"He… just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him."

Harry was probably just as stunned as if he actually saw her brother make the ask in real life. "What?"

"I don't know what made me do it!" Ron managed to utter. "What was I playing at? There were people, all around. I've gone mad. Everyone watching. I was just walking past her in the Entrance Hall. She was standing there talking to Diggory. And it sort of came over me. And I asked her!" Ron truly looked horrified, and for good reasons. "She looked at me like I was a slug or something. Didn't even answer. And then, I don't know, I just sort of came to my senses and ran for it."

Ginny looked to Harry who seemed to be controlling his envy to laugh as well. However, he didn't look disgusted or horrified by what Ron did. He only looked at him with sympathy.

"She's part Vella," Harry revealed, to Ginny's consternation. "You were right. Her grandmother was one. It wasn't your fault. I bet you just walked past when she was turning on the old charm for Diggory and got a blast of it."

That would explain lots of things. Ginny didn't forget how all boys reacted at the Quidditch World Cup when Veelas showed up. She didn't forget either how Fleur attracted every boy's attention. It seemed there was more than beauty to it. Ron was right to a certain extent, finally. She patted him further, feeling a kind of limited additional sympathy for him, while still thinking it was stupid for boys to lose their ways in the presence of such women, even if magic was involved in the equation. The fact that Fleur Delacour went after Cedric was proof enough of her priorities in life if she went after one of the most sought boys in Hogwarts.

"But she was wasting her time," Harry resumed. "He's going with Cho Chang."

Ginny wasn't that surprised by the news. She knew Cho Chang. From looks and reputation, only. The girl was always wandering with a dozen of friends who followed her all around the castle. Their group wasn't without reminding Ginny of the gang following Pansy Parkinson in Slytherin, even though they were not as nasty. But Ginny had no problem imagining these two popular people together. They fitted together perfectly.

Ron had looked up to Harry, a questioning gaze on his face.

"I asked her to go with me just now, and she told me," Harry further explained, his mood darkening all of a sudden.

All envy to laugh left Ginny immediately. Her heart suddenly stopped. She looked at Harry with wide eyes, unbelieving what she just heard.

Cho Chang. Cho Chang? Of all the girls in the school, she was the one Harry invited to the ball? The one he wanted to go with? It was as if something crumbled inside Ginny.

"This is mad!" Ron complained. "We're the only ones left who haven't got anyone. Well, except Neville." This was another jab for Ginny. It was as if she didn't matter. "Guess who he asked? Hermione!"

"What?" Harry asked. He seemed totally surprised. Ginny wasn't sure how to feel at the news that she wasn't the only girl they expected to have no one for the ball.

"Yeah, I know. He told me after Potions! He said she's always been really nice, helping him out with work and stuff, but she told him she was already going with someone. Ha! As if! She just didn't want to go with Neville… I mean, who would?"

"Don't," Ginny finally snapped. "Don't laugh…"

As if things couldn't be worse, Hermione came through the portrait at this moment.

"Why weren't you two at dinner?" Hermione asked, oblivious as to the reason.

"Because… Stop laughing, Ron." He was the only one laughing. Harry at least got the decency to not laugh about the situation. "Because they've both just been turned down by girls they asked to the ball."

Ron stopped laughing. Harry's expression was harder to decipher. "Well, I…" he began.

"Thanks a bunch, Ginny," Ron retorted to her, interrupting his best friend. Well, he shouldn't have laughed about Neville and Hermione, especially not after the humiliation he endured and the stupidities he made.

"All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?" Hermione asked, sarcastically. "Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you."

For a moment, no one said a thing. Harry seemed about to say something, but Ron talked before he did. "Hermione, Neville is right. You are a girl."

"Oh, well spotted," she replied on quite a dark tone.

"Well, you can come with one of us!" he said, indicating him and Harry.

"Ron…" Harry started, but it was as if her brother and Hermione were in their own bubble and ignored everyone else. It wasn't the first time Ginny saw that happening. She witnessed the same phenomenon on several occasions at the Burrow when Hermione came to visit.

"No, I can't," she stated.

"Oh, come on," Ron complained again. "We need partners. We're going to look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has…"

"I can't come with you because I'm already going with someone."

"No, you're not! You just said that to get rid of Neville." Ginny thought she felt as insulted as Hermione must feel right now.

"Oh, did I?" her friend replied, sounding angrier by the second, and for good reasons. "Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean no one else has spotted I'm a girl."

To Ginny's surprise, her brother smiled, which was completely inappropriate given the circumstances. "Okay, okay. We know you're a girl. That do? Will you come now?" the apologies were clearly not enough and too late.

"I've already told you! I'm going with someone else!"

And she ran away in a furious pace towards the girls' dormitories.

"She's lying," Ron stated once she was gone.

"She's not," Ginny protested.

"Who is it then?"

"I'm not telling you. It's her business," she said sharply. She wouldn't betray Hermione, especially not after that. Ginny was maybe the only one to who Hermione told who she was going to the ball with.

"Right," Ron said, raising his arms in the air, giving up, much to Ginny's satisfaction. "This is getting stupid."

This was one of the few times Ginny agreed with her brother in these last few minutes. Indeed, many stupid things happened today. Ron inviting Fleur Delacour to the ball, Harry inviting Cho Chang, Ron mocking Neville, Ron thinking no one could invite Hermione. And Harry, in the meantime, remained there, not saying a single word.

"Ginny," Ron began, "you can go with Harry, and I'll just…"

"I can't!" she replied way too quickly. Why did she reply so quickly? Later, she would regret it. But for now, words tumbled out of her mouth as her heart pumped faster than ever. "I'm going with… Neville. He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought…"

"It's fine," Harry said, interrupting her, sounding exasperated, a feeling Ginny shared, though she wished it wasn't her that he cut off. "Okay. It's no trouble. I already have someone, anyway."

"WHAT?"

Ginny and Ron said the same word together in unison, something Ginny would never have thought possible in the current circumstances. She was still under shock as Ron first spoke after that unexpected revelation.

"But… I thought Cho Chang turned you down," Ron uselessly reminder them.

"She did," Harry replied exasperatedly. "But I asked another girl afterwards, and she accepted."

If Ginny's heart could slump lower, then right now it did.

"Wait. You waited for weeks to ask the girl you wanted to come to the ball with you?" Ron asked, totally dumbstruck. "When finally you invite her, she says no, and a moment later, you ask another out of the blue?"

Harry looked quite embarrassed. "Well, that's not really how it happened…" Harry began, but Ron fell back even deeper in his armchair.

"Unbelievable! I'll be the only one without a partner to this stupid ball."

Right now, Ginny felt that all this business around the ball was indeed totally ridiculous. She had enough. She stood up.

"I think I'll go and have dinner."

She left them on this, storming out of the common room, almost slamming open the portrait.

"Thanks for treating me like a punching bag," the Fat Lady said behind her back, but Ginny didn't care. She kept walking, not caring about her surroundings, and went to the Great Hall, like she said she would.

She didn't have much appetite, but she forced herself to eat. In fact, she ate furiously, internally cursing against everyone in her life. Especially, she cursed against Harry. Why didn't he invite her to the ball? He must have known she would gladly go with him. But no, instead he waited for weeks before asking Cho Chang to accompany him. Cho Chang, of all the girls in Hogwarts! Ginny found it almost as stupid and pitiful as Ron asking Fleur Delacour. Couldn't Harry have at least asked Hermione? Ginny wouldn't have minded that much. She knew they were friends. But really, that girl?

Ron's behavior also angered her. He had been totally unfair towards Hermione, and also towards Neville, and towards Ginny herself. The way he asked Hermione to come with him, as if he assumed she would always be free and available. And the way he suggested Ginny could go with Harry. Again, he did it by assuming his little sister could be matched with anyone anytime. Why didn't he suggest to Harry to invite her before? From the way he talked, he knew Harry wanted to invite Cho Chang. She was his little sister. Why didn't he even tell Harry about the possibility to invite her? No, instead he waited at the last moment, when he thought there was no choice left. And it was already too late. Even if Ginny had been willing to accept going with Harry, he was already going with someone else. Whoever that girl was, Ginny hated her right now.

Ginny wasn't very talkative this evening, and she made a few people who tried to talk to her during dinner go away with her rudeness. And she was fine with it. She wanted to be alone. She went straight to bed when she came back from the Great Hall, the first evening of her Christmas holidays ruined.

The next morning, her mood was a little better. She enjoyed her breakfast. It seemed that Hermione was better as well, for she was eating with Harry and Ron once again. This didn't stop Ginny from throwing dagger with her eyes on Cho Chang when she walked nearby, although Cho didn't seem to notice her.

Fred and George were discussing their new tricks, and the possibility to cause a surprise during the Yule Ball that would leave everyone speechless.

"Don't ruin the ball," Ginny warned them. She didn't want her experience during that ball to be worse than she thought it might be.

"Oh, don't worry, little sister. We're not trying to ruin the ball. We're merely thinking about ways to spice it a little," Fred said.

However, spicing things up could take many meanings for Fred and George. At the end of breakfast, Ginny noticed Harry standing up and leaving early, without Ron and Hermione. She found it odd. They usually left together. Ginny left the table not long after, and while she walked past Ron and Hermione, she heard the girl speak.

"I'm going to the library. I'll advance some of my homework."

"Come on, Hermione. Slow down and relax. It's the first day of the holidays," Ron said.

"I'll have more time to enjoy them later."

"Hey! Who are you going to the ball with?"

But Hermione was already walking away, and she caught up on Ginny. "So, Ginny. Do you have any plans for today?" she asked.

"Not really. I just wanted to take it slow. Are you really going to the library or was it an excuse to get rid of my brother?" Ginny asked her.

"I am going to the library. But I admit a few hours far from Ron will do me some good," she added.

"I don't blame you." They came across Harry, who was heading back towards the Great Hall. The professor McGonagall was heading in the opposite direction, away from them.

"Hey, Ginny," Harry said, talking to her, which resulted in the usual slight jump in her stomach. "What are you doing today?"

"I… I'll be going to the library with Hermione," she said after a moment, hesitating.

"Oh. Okay. Well, I'll see you both at lunch, I guess."

And he walked away while Hermione and Ginny stayed behind. Hermione spoke up once Harry had disappeared. "Something's telling me that I'm not the only one to hide in the library to avoid someone."

Reluctantly, Ginny nodded.

"You want to talk about it?" Hermione asked her.

Ginny nodded again, and the girls headed towards a corridor that was barely used, better suited to a private conversation than the library or the common room. When Ginny was done telling Hermione, her friend nodded emphatically.

"Oh, Ginny, I'm really sorry. But there's no way you could have dropped Neville to go with Harry. It would not have been fair for him."

"I know," she said. She knew it would not have been fair. "Anyway, it would have been useless. Harry already had someone. Mere minutes after another girl refused him."

"Do you know who that girl is?"

"No idea." Truth be told, Ginny wasn't sure she wanted to know who it was. "I thought he may have told you."

Hermione nodded by the negative, her voice with an edge now. "He didn't. Though he told Ron, and only Ron. Your brother tried to use it to get me to say who I was going with. I refused, of course. And Ron asked me again who I was going with when I left the table. You didn't tell anyone, did you?"

"No, I swear. No one knows."

"Thank you, Ginny," Hermione said, grateful. "Look. I understand you would have liked to go with Harry to the ball, but I think it's probably for the better that you didn't."

"Really? Why? Why didn't he think about asking me? I would have said yes immediately."

"Because… Harry is not looking at you the same way you're looking at him."

Ginny sighed and looked away. She knew that very well. She had learned to live with that fact since her second year. She could spend time with Harry now, talk to him, without blushing or being unable to utter a single word. But knowing it and being told about it didn't make her feel better about it.

"You would probably have gone to this ball with high expectations, and you would have been disappointed. I think it's really better this way."

"We could have gone simply as friends," Ginny suggested.

"And you would have managed? To go with Harry to a ball as a friend?"

Ginny wasn't sure about it. Yes, she was more comfortable and normally behaving around Harry, but going to a ball with him, holding his arm, dancing with him… "Maybe," she replied uncertainly. She could have tried, at least. "Why not? He could have invited me as a friend, like Ron did for you?"

Hermione didn't seem to like the comparison and grimaced. "I don't think the boys see it that way. Look, Harry was asked by quite a few girls to accompany them to the ball recently, and he said no to each one of them." This made Ginny's mood both lighter and darker. "He wanted to go with one girl, but he only mustered the courage to ask her when it was too late."

"Good for him," she snapped. "Why are boys able to fight a dragon, but unable to simply ask a question?"

Hermione shrugged. "No idea. Talk to me. He started watching me in the library at the beginning of the year. You imagine how long he took to first talk to me?"

Ginny had to admit that indeed, Harry was not an isolated case here.

"Look, Ginny. It's probably better that way. Furthermore, it's not Harry who asked you to the ball. It's Ron who suggested you go with him. Just try to enjoy the ball on Christmas. It will go well."

She hoped. Neville was very kind, and Ginny admitted that she was excited when he invited her. She didn't think she would have the chance to attend the ball, being a third-year. But Neville was so clumsy, she hoped she wouldn't end with stew spread all over her dress. Though at least it would be something funny. She simply had to not watch Harry with his partner the whole evening.

"I can't wait to see Ron in his dress robes," Ginny said, grinning. Hermione laughed at that too.

"It's probably better that he goes with no one," Hermione recognized.

"Maybe I'll take a picture, like mom suggested. Are you sure that you want to go to the library?"

"Well… If you want to tag alone, I better not. He's probably going to be there. We better go somewhere else."

Hermione had managed to lift up Ginny's mood. She finally spent quite a good first day for the holidays. In the evening, she was back in the common room, playing Exploding Snap with Fred, George and Ron. Harry and Hermione were not far away from them, but reading. Harry had played with them earlier, but he left his place after some time.

Around five forty-five, Harry stood up all of a sudden, and Ginny thought he was coming back to play with them.

"I've got to go," he said instead, heading for the portrait hold.

"Where are you going, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I've got something to do," he replied as he walked through the hole, and he disappeared, not granting them any further explanation.

"Where did he go?" Ginny asked. What could Harry need to do at this hour?

"No idea," Ron replied, right before an explosion ruffled his hair, causing everyone's laughter including his own.

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Next chapter: a POV we haven't seen in a very long time