Ginny awoke a bit earlier than usual on the day of the Hogsmeade trip. She was looking forward to it, although she couldn't help but feel that spending a day with her boyfriend in Hogsmeade should have made her more excited than it did. She got up, dressed quickly, and headed down to breakfast.
To her great surprise, she encountered none other than Albus Dumbledore almost immediately after exiting through the portrait hole.
"Ah, Miss Weasley!" he said, his eyes twinkling.
"Oh — hello Professor!" said Ginny.
"Getting an early start on your Hogsmeade trip, I see."
"Yeah, I suppose so," she said. She noticed Dumbledore's right hand was still blackened and dead-looking. He had mentioned it dismissively during the start-of-term feast, but seeing it up close, it looked a whole lot worse, and it alarmed her.
"I have a small favor to ask of you," he said.
"Of course," said Ginny.
Dumbledore held out a scroll of parchment using his normal hand.
"Please give this to Mr. Potter when you see him today."
"Sure thing," she said, taking the parchment. "He didn't get himself another detention, did he?" she added, before she could stop herself.
Dumbledore chuckled.
"I can see why you might think that," he said pleasantly. "But no, he has not been given detention. Good day to you."
And with that, he ambled back towards his office. Ginny stared after him for a moment, then continued her way down toward the Great Hall. Somewhere along the third floor, she pulled out the scroll of parchment again and looked at it. Should she open it? She thought that might be rude, even unethical, but her curiosity ended up getting the better of her. She unrolled it in spite of herself and read:
Dear Harry,
I have scheduled our next lesson for Monday at 8 PM. Please let me know if you cannot make it. Enjoy your trip to Hogsmeade today.
Yours sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
Remember: I enjoy Acid Pops.
A lesson with Dumbledore? That was certainly interesting. Knowing Harry, it was probably something that wasn't any of her business, but her curiosity was certainly aroused, perhaps more so than before she had read it. She rolled the parchment back up and stuck it in her bag, feeling slightly guilty.
She was not the only one up a little earlier than usual today. She found Parvati and Lavender already seated at the Gryffindor table, along with the Creevey brothers and a few seventh-year students, including Katie Bell. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had not arrived yet, and neither had Lena, Amber, or Dean, so Ginny sat next to Lavender and Parvati, and Demelza Robins joined them shortly after.
"Hi, Ginny," said Parvati and Lavender.
"Hi," said Ginny brightly. "Looks like the weather's gonna be miserable for today's Hogsmeade trip, unfortunately."
"Are you going with Dean?" asked Parvati.
"Yeah, hopefully he'll be down here soon."
Lavender gave a small squeal as Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the hall. Parvati caught Ginny's eye and grinned.
"What in the world could she see in him," Ginny muttered.
The trio took their usual spot at the table. Ron and Harry appeared to be laughing heartily about something, but Hermione did not appear at all amused.
They all chatted for a little bit about Hogsmeade, boys, classes, and their early Christmas plans. Ginny was noticing Harry, Ron, and Hermione having their usual animated and secretive conversation. She tried to catch snippets of it, but they were too far away and speaking too quietly, until Ron said, "It was a laugh! Just a laugh, Hermione, that's all!"
"Hey Ginny!" said a familiar voice. Dean had just sat down next to her and gave her a kiss. His timing could not have been much worse. "It's a cold one out there! Make sure you bundle up! You about ready to go?"
"Yep, I'm ready now!" said Ginny, trying to sound enthusiastic.
"Great!"
And they set off towards the oak front doors, where Filch was jabbing people with his Secrecy Sensor. Suddenly, Ginny remembered.
"Hang on, Dean! I have to give Harry something."
"What?" grumbled Dean. Maybe she was just being overly paranoid, but Ginny thought she noticed a note of suspicion in his voice.
"Dumbledore told me to give this to Harry," she said quickly, pulling the scroll out of her bag. "It'll only take a second."
Dean was not stupid; he, along with a lot of other Gryffindor students, knew about Ginny's longtime childhood crush on Harry before she had dated Michael Corner. Still, assuming she had interpreted his tone correctly, the insecurity and lack of trust was very irritating. She couldn't help but think their relationship would be doomed if he continued to get upset every time she mentioned Harry. She went back through the double doors to the Great Hall and over to the Gryffindor table where Ron was laughing again at something Harry had just said.
"Hey, Harry, I'm supposed to give you this."
Harry looked around and took the scroll from her.
"Thanks, Ginny… it's Dumbledore's next lesson!" he said to Ron and Hermione. Ginny felt less bad about reading it now that he had just voluntarily blurted it out in front of her. "Monday evening! Want to join us in Hogsmeade, Ginny?"
"I'm going with Dean, might see you there," she said, and she headed back to the entrance where Dean was waiting for her. He held out his hand as she approached, which she took. It took her a moment to process what had just happened. Did Harry really just ask her to join him, Ron, and Hermione in Hogsmeade? That was a first. As she had already made plans with Dean, she couldn't back out of that at the last second; that would be incredibly unfair to Dean. However, she felt very frustrated. She had always wanted to be a part of their group. She felt a twinge of resentment towards Dean and was suddenly reconsidering their relationship. All that time she spent last year, stressing over Harry and Cho… and this was the end result? In the grand picture, it seemed absurd. She made a mental note to ask Hermione about this later; ask her if she really knew what she was doing with the advice she had given her. Ginny's mood was suddenly very sour.
"We're going to have a great time," Dean was telling her.
Ginny nearly laughed at the ironic timing of this remark. She was definitely not going to have a great time now, and taking a step outside did nothing to dissuade her from that mindset. It was frigid and the wind was unbearable. She lifted her scarf up to cover everything except her eyes and kept her head bowed as low as she could while still being able to see where she was going. To make matters worse, it was sleeting.
"Blimey!" shouted Dean.
Several times Ginny considered telling Dean she wanted to turn around, but once they were more than halfway there, she figured there was no point. At last, they reached the village, and Ginny pointed to The Three Broomsticks, indicating she wanted to go in, and Dean did not need any further convincing.
The warmth could not have been more welcoming, and as Dean went to get a couple of butterbeers, Ginny took a seat at the nearest open table, trying not to imagine herself hanging out with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in a universe where she wasn't a complete idiot. Of course, telling herself not to think about something ensured that she would be thinking about it. Fortunately, Dean returned with the butterbeer, yanking her away from the depressing ruminations, something she had not been dealing with for several months.
"Here you are, babe," Dean said, plopping hers down in front of her.
"Thanks," said Ginny, forcing a smile.
"Whew!" Dean said. "Didn't know it would be THAT bad out!"
"Yeah, that was rough," Ginny agreed.
"I was hoping to take you to Madame Puddifoot's, but I'm not sure with this weather…" Dean said, trailing off. "Ever been there?"
"No, thank God," she said without thinking. Her bad mood was causing her filter to develop some cracks.
"Oh, right then." Dean looked a bit put out, but he rallied quickly. "Anyway, Ginny, I was really hoping we could have a talk."
Ginny groaned internally. She had a feeling she knew where this was going.
"What kind of talk?"
"A talk about… us."
Yep. That's what she thought.
"What about us?"
"Well, I just thought… maybe we could — take the next step. You know, in our relationship."
"I'm liking things the way they are, to be honest," Ginny said, keeping her demeanor as friendly and casual as possible. She had just been considering taking a step backwards in their relationship. "I enjoy spending time with you, Dean, of course I do, but I don't think I'm really ready for a serious relationship in the way you're suggesting."
Dean stared at her for a moment.
"I see," he said finally. "Erm… why not?"
"Well, we haven't been going out that long, and after Christmas I'm going to be spending a lot of time preparing for O.W.L.s," Ginny said.
"Not that long? It's been, what, six months now, right?"
"Something like that," Ginny said.
Dean looked a bit irritated at her vagueness. She could tell he knew the exact day they began dating, but truthfully, she did not. She dimly thought about how awkward this was going to be when their anniversary came around, if they were indeed still dating at that point, which at the moment she was really hoping would not be the case.
"So, just what did YOU have in mind for our relationship, Ginny?" he said. "When would be an acceptable time to actually get serious?"
"We're not serious now?" Ginny retorted. "We hang out every day, we snog, what part of this relationship is not meeting your —"
She stopped abruptly, as she regretted this question before even finishing it; she knew what the answer was.
"Well, erm…"
"We're fifteen, Dean!" Ginny exclaimed. "Relax! There is plenty of time for us!"
"We could be dead tomorrow!" Dean shot back. "Especially with me being Muggle-born! You've heard about all the disappearances, right? People are already starting to elope left and right —"
"We're still in school! We have classes, we have our own dorms, and I have friends here that I don't want to just ditch. I just don't see a realistic way to be more 'serious' than we are right now. We're just teenagers! It's less stressful if we just keep it more casual like we have been. You respect that, don't you?"
Dean paused, looking like he was trying to come up with another retort, but then said resignedly, "Of course, Ginny. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
"I'm not upset," she said untruthfully.
As they finished their butterbeers, Dean suggested going to Honeydukes. Ginny was tempted to protest given the weather conditions but figured they might as well since they were already in Hogsmeade anyway, and she didn't want to do anything to set Dean off after their conversation, so she agreed. They exited the Three Broomsticks back into the wind and sleet, hurrying as fast as they could towards the sweet shop.
"Oh no, Zonko's is closed!" said Dean, pointing at a boarded-up shop just past Honeydukes.
Ginny groaned. That was one of her favorite places in Hogsmeade.
"Hang on, I just remembered, I need to go to the Post Office," said Dean.
"Why?"
"I told my parents I'd keep in touch more, make sure they know I'm all right, you know…" he trailed off again. Ginny felt bad, she couldn't imagine what it would be like being a Muggle-born right now, or a parent of one. Glad to get out of the nasty weather again, she followed him inside.
She had never seen so many owls. There were at least two hundred of them sitting up on a bunch of colored shelves, each color representing how long it would take the owl to get to their specific destination. Dean must have been in awe, too, because he spent a couple minutes looking around at all of them.
"Pretty cool, isn't it?" Ginny said.
"Yeah," said Dean, who seemed to have forgotten what he was there for.
"I really like that one," Ginny said, pointing to a big grey one. She found her bad mood subsiding a bit.
"I like that that brown one over there…"
They ended up spending a good fifteen minutes admiring the owls before Dean finally remembered what he went in there for. While he wrote his letter, Ginny heard a commotion outside. She went to the window to investigate and somehow found herself wholly unsurprised that Harry Potter was the source.
He was standing outside the Three Broomsticks with Ron and Hermione, accosting a squat man who Ginny recognized as Mundungus Fletcher. Mundungus was holding a bunch of stuff and Harry was absolutely beside himself, yelling right in his face. Ginny caught Mundungus picking something up off the ground that he had apparently dropped and with a loud CRACK, he Disapparated.
Ginny made a mental note to ask Harry about this later as she went back over toward Dean, who was focused on his letter and didn't appear to have noticed any of the ruckus down the street. At last, when he had finished and found the right owl (which took another fifteen minutes), they exited the post office and started towards Honeydukes. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gone.
The wind and sleet had not let up, and Ginny pulled her scarf back up to protect her face. She hoped she would run into the trio in Honeydukes and find out what all that was about. Maybe she could salvage this trip by accepting Harry's invitation a little late and passing it off to Dean as a happenstance encounter.
They entered the sweet shop but instead of the trio, Ginny saw someone that made her want to turn right back around instead: Professor Slughorn. He looked around as the bell on the door rang when they opened it.
"Miss Weasley!" he boomed, quickly making his way over towards them. Ginny groaned again.
"What am I, a Blast-Ended Skrewt?" muttered Dean. Ginny forced a laugh. She knew the remark would have been funny if she were in a better mood.
"She's a cheeky one, this!" Slughorn chortled, looking at Dean, once he had waddled over. "Don't believe I've seen anyone perform a Bat-Bogey Hex like hers in quite a while!"
"Yeah, she's the best," Dean said, giving Ginny a glowing look.
"I'm having another little party Monday evening," Slughorn said brightly, addressing Ginny. "Think you can make it? You've missed the last few! I can't have that!"
"I've had Quidditch practice," said Ginny. This was perfectly true, but only because Harry kept scheduling them to coincide with the parties, and she knew he would do so again. "But if there's no Quidditch this time, I'll for sure be there!"
"Excellent!" he boomed. "Well, must be off now, have a lovely afternoon, Miss Weasley! And you too, Mister, uh…"
"Dean Thomas," Dean said, looking sour.
"Right! Thomas! Well, good afternoon to you both!"
He gave Ginny a wink, then bundled up and headed out the door.
"What goes on at these parties?" said Dean.
"Dunno, but I assume they're just like the one on the train. He invites well-connected people for a big snob-fest. Harry always schedules Quidditch practice whenever he learns of them, so I know I won't be going. Haven't been to one since the train ride."
Dean grunted as if to say, "Interesting."
"He used to be head of Slytherin, did you know that?"
"I did, actually," said Ginny. "He mentioned it."
"He doesn't act like your typical Slytherin though, does he?"
"Not really, but I'm still not a huge fan of him — damn it!" she said suddenly.
"What?" said Dean.
"I just realized, I'm not going to be able to get out of going to his party this time."
"Why not?"
Ginny was furious with herself again. She just realized Dean was not going to like her reply one bit.
"Harry's not going to be able to schedule Quidditch practice that day," she said, hoping Dean wouldn't press her any further. No such luck though.
"Why is that?"
"He has — something else that evening."
Sure enough, Dean suddenly looked very disgruntled, to put it mildly. Of course! Ginny thought mockingly to herself. She was reaching her boiling point. Of course Ginny Weasley would have Harry Potter's daily schedule memorized! Harry Potter, Ginny's longtime shameless crush! Harry can't so much as sneeze without Ginny knowing about it! She found herself scowling before Dean had even responded.
"And how would you know that?" he said, making no effort to hide the suspicion in his voice this time.
Ginny knew full well that Dumbledore would not want the fact that Harry was having private lessons with him getting around the castle.
"He told me, but I had forgotten," she lied. "And there's no need for that tone."
"Well, forgive me, but —"
"You do not trust me," Ginny said coldly. "You're being incredibly insecure."
"It could have been literally anyone else and I wouldn't have a problem!" Dean shot back, stung. "But surely, you have to sympathize with me a little here given, well... given your history with him!"
And there it was, now out into the open, confirming all of her suspicions.
"I can't believe this!" cried Ginny. "I can't believe you're getting your knickers in a twist over something so stupid!"
"You think I'm being stupid, huh? So you slobbering all over Harry for three years was just in my imagination, huh? And the imagination of everyone else in this school?"
"You never had a silly crush when you were twelve or thirteen years old?" Ginny shouted. People were starting to stare, and her face was now resembling a large pomegranate. "Give me a break, Dean! Why would you even bring this up! I have more recently had a crush on Michael Corner, and unlike Harry, I actually dated him!"
Dean glared at her for a moment, then pushed the front door open rather aggressively and set off walking down the street as fast as he could.
"Dean! Come back!" Ginny yelled, but he ignored her. "Boys!" she said irritably. More irritating to Ginny than his insecurities was the knowledge that they were, in fact, perfectly valid. She should have just told him that he had another detention with Snape, but it was hard to come up with lies on the fly in tense situations. Dean likely would have questioned how she knew that too, so it didn't really matter.
She decided to head back to the Three Broomsticks, again hoping she would find Harry, Ron, and Hermione, now that her boyfriend had ditched her. It occurred to her that Dean had probably been keeping those thoughts bottled up for a while. For one insane moment, she had a fleeting desire to walk up to Harry (assuming he was there) and snog him shamelessly to get even with Dean, but quickly shook off this outrageous thought.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were not in the Three Broomsticks, however, and so she ordered a couple more butterbeers and some lunch and decided to head back to the castle. The trip back was lonely and miserable, and when she mercifully reached the front doors to the castle, she immediately took off her wet hat, coat, and scarf and carried them over to the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.
There weren't many students in the Great Hall when she arrived, as it was after lunchtime now, and most were either still in Hogsmeade or in their common rooms. Still, she hadn't been sitting long when a familiar dreamy voice greeted her.
"Hello, Ginny."
It was Luna Lovegood. She looked cheerful and had her wand stuck behind her ear as usual.
"Oh, hi Luna," said Ginny stoically.
"Your date with Dean went badly," she said in her usual matter-of-fact tone.
"He just got really petty and insecure."
Ginny began drying off her clothes with her wand as best she could. She figured it wouldn't be long before everyone in the school heard about the tiff. "I guess you heard us arguing in Honeydukes?"
"No, I stayed here," said Luna. "But I could tell though. Either that or you had a Wrackspurt."
Ginny tried not to laugh. What a Wrackspurt was, she had no idea… but one gets used to Luna's strange musings after a while. She continued drying her clothes using a spell she had recently learned in Charms with moderate success.
"So are you and Harry going to get together now?" Luna said suddenly.
"What?" Ginny spluttered. Did she hear her correctly?
"You and Harry," she said dreamily.
"Dean and I haven't broken up!" Ginny said, a little angrier than she intended, and her face was turning pink again.
"I see," said Luna. "I just thought it was a good opportunity."
"Harry doesn't even see me that way!"
"I don't think that's true," Luna said nonchalantly. Ginny stared at her, puzzled. She suddenly felt a bit queasy. Luna pulled out The Quibbler and started immersing herself in it.
"Do you know something?" she found herself whispering.
"He seemed upset you didn't sit with him on the train from London," Luna intoned, not looking up from her magazine.
Disappointment flooded her as she was hoping for something far more significant than that. She perked up, however, as she thought about how they had become close enough where he felt disappointed not to spend time in her company. Her eleven-year-old self would have been over the moon about that. She tried not to think about her eleven-year old self too much, though.
She racked her brain trying to think of any recent encounter with Harry that would indicate he had started having feelings for her, but she could think of nothing even remotely conclusive. Inviting her to Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione definitely didn't qualify.
"I'll see you later, Luna," Ginny said, gathering her things and setting off towards the stairs.
She encountered Dean on the way back, who was waiting for her by the tapestry on the second floor, in which behind it was a secret shortcut up to Gryffindor Tower.
"Ginny!" he exclaimed. "Ginny, I'm so sorry! I was such a prat!"
"Yes, you were," Ginny responded, but she smiled.
"You were right, I was being incredibly insecure!"
No he wasn't, said a nasty voice in Ginny's head.
"I forgive you, Dean," she said. "I just wish you hadn't made a scene."
Dean looked a bit sheepish and uncertain.
"I forgive you," Ginny repeated, kissing him on the cheek.
"Right," said Dean, looking quite relieved. "Right, thanks."
They made their way back to the common room, which was quite packed. Lots of people had cut their trip to Hogsmeade short as well. Ginny saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione by the fire, chatting. She made sure they sat as far away from them as possible.
About a half-hour passed when they heard a wild rumor involving Katie Bell; apparently, she was in the hospital wing after an incident involving a necklace while they were in Hogsmeade. Nobody knew much more than that, though the speculation was that the necklace was cursed, and she had touched it.
"Supposedly Harry saw it happen," Ginny was informed by Demelza, who had become a good source for gossip. She had a lot of friends amongst various age groups.
"Of course he did," said Ginny sarcastically. Harry was involved in everything. That meant Ron and Hermione probably saw it happen too, and she decided she would sit with them at dinner to get the full story.
When she arrived in the Great Hall, she spotted the pair, but Harry was notably absent. Ginny plopped herself down next to Hermione.
"So you saw what happened to Katie?"
Hermione told her everything freely: they were walking behind Katie and her friend Leanne on the way back to the castle from Hogsmeade, they were arguing about something, Katie was holding a package and acting funny. Leanne and Katie fought over the package; it ripped, and Katie touched the necklace that was inside and immediately rose up into the air and started writhing before collapsing in a heap on the ground. Ginny opened her mouth in horror.
"…Hagrid carried her back up to castle and McGonagall took her to the hospital wing," Hermione finished, looking very pale. "Leanne explained everything to her, and we figured she'd been put under the Imperius Curse."
Ginny let the story sink in for moment before asking, "Where's Harry?"
"He said he wasn't hungry, but I think he's just mad at us."
"Why?"
Hermione hesitated.
"He thinks Malfoy gave Katie the necklace."
Ginny waited for Hermione to continue, but she did not.
"Okay?" said Ginny finally, urging her on.
"Okay, what?" said Hermione.
"Is that it? Why's he mad at you then?"
"He's mad because Ron and I didn't really take it seriously. He thinks Malfoy's replaced his dad as a Death Eater."
"Well, that's not that far-fetched, is it?" said Ginny.
"Not you too!" said Hermione defeatedly.
Ginny was surprised that Hermione would find the idea of Malfoy being a death eater so unbelievable. Ginny merely shrugged and grabbed a roll.
"Why not?" she said.
"Malfoy wasn't even in Hogsmeade today," snapped Hermione. "McGonagall said he was doing detention with her."
"Hmm," said Ginny, who had to admit that was a pretty good alibi. "Well, maybe he wasn't responsible for this, but he could still be a Death Eater."
Hermione said nothing. Ginny knew she was biting back a jab about her only saying that because she fancies Harry. She decided to change the subject.
"Me and Dean had a row."
"Oh?" said Hermione, with interest. "What about?"
Ginny explained what happened.
"We've already kissed and made up though. He apologized."
Hermione looked slightly disappointed, which Ginny found odd. Wasn't she the one who told her to date Dean in the first place?
"Speaking of which," Hermione said, lowering her voice so Ron wouldn't hear. "I think Harry inviting you to Hogsmeade with us is a good sign."
Ginny had forgotten about this as the Katie Bell incident drove everything else from her mind.
"But he was clearly inviting me just as a friend," Ginny responded, "otherwise he would have said 'would you like to come to Hogsmeade with me' and not 'with us'."
"Maybe, but he clearly values your company. He may not be head over heels for you or anything, but it's a step in the right direction."
Ginny felt like she had a knot in her stomach, but she silently talked herself out of getting her hopes up, knowing she would just be setting herself up for heartbreak.
A/N: I realized after writing this that it is eerily similar to the Hogsmeade chapter in "Ginny Weasley and the Half-Blood Prince" by RRFang (Also a great story, check it out) and considered rewriting it completely, but I really feel this is the time where Ginny and Dean should have their first fight, and it seems there's only one obvious way to make that work. Don't sue me! :D