Chapter One: Pumpkin Carving in Ottery St. Catchpole
Ginny POV
Ginny debated picking up the pace as she walked the familiar worn path along the wooded, hilly outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole. She had been late leaving Quidditch practice from the Holyhead Harpies training pitch, the catalyst for her current chain of tardiness. Because she was late leaving practice, she had been late leaving her flat in Holyhead, which meant she was of course late leaving the Burrow because besides the fact that she was already behind schedule, she should've known that her parents wouldn't just let her Floo into their fireplace and leave, they'd of course want to have a nice chat that lasted far too long.
Ginny didn't want to rush her walk in the countryside because she really missed Ottery St. Catchpole. She especially loved the way it looked and smelled during autumn and wanted to take her time to enjoy her surroundings. However, was taking a nice, leisurely stroll amongst the changing colors and light crisp breeze worth arriving late to Hermione's cottage? Ginny tucked the package of baked goods her mum had sent her off with under her arm and began to take the path at a run.
As Ginny came upon the quaint little cottage tucked inconspicuously against the tree line of the woods, she paused to catch her breath. She took in the small home, and couldn't help but smile – it was just so Hermione. An old, yet clean cobblestone walk led to the front door with tidy flower beds on either side. Hermione had changed out the planters hanging beneath her front windows – they'd contained summer annuals last time Ginny had come around and now held a colorful assortment of chrysanthemums. Ginny walked across the cobblestones and admired the flower beds as she passed, noting which ones had been propagated from her mum's gardens at the Burrow, the orange and red dahlias in particular. She let herself in with the key Hermione had given her after she helped her move in, and strode down the short entryway into the sitting room, where she thought she'd find Hermione. The room was empty, but Ginny took her time before moving on to the kitchen, as Hermione's sitting room was her favorite room in the whole house.
Surprising surely to no one, Hermione's sitting room had one whole wall dedicated entirely to bookcases overflowing with books. On either side of the large, east-facing window to the right of bookcases were two cozy arm chairs, and across from them was a matching sofa, one of Ginny's favorite places to nap. Between the furniture sat an old coffee table, a hand-me-down from Hermione's parents, that held an assortment of educational magazines as well as the latest copy of the Daily Prophet. Ginny crossed the room to the windowsill, which held a big part of why this room was her favorite.
Sitting on the windowsill were three framed photos. One was a static photo of Hermione and her parents at King's Cross Station before her very first trip on the Hogwarts Express. Another was a moving photo of Hermione, Ron, and Harry that Hermione had forced the boys to allow fellow Gryffindor Colin Creevey to take of them during their second year at Hogwarts. Hermione was in the middle sporting a big smile with an arm around each of the boys, and they were in their full Hogwarts uniforms, robes and all. The last photo was another moving photo and was a bit more recent, taken right after Ginny's debut Holyhead Harpies match. It'd been against the Chudley Cannons, not too far from Ottery St. Catchpole, and Ginny had scored a whopping 110 points in the win. Ginny, in her full Harpies kit, was grinning broadly as she held up the Quaffle from the match that had been magically engraved to read:
Ginny Weasley
9 - October - 1999
First Match - Start - Win
Holyhead 360 – 80 Chudley
Hermione was looking not into the camera, but at Ginny, her eyes shining with pride as she planted a kiss on her cheek, causing Ginny to turn and look at her. As the photo was magical and moving, Ginny could watch the kiss on her cheek repeated over and over again, if she wanted. But as she was late to begin with, she knew she shouldn't continue to dawdle. She walked back into the hallway and continued until it opened up into the kitchen.
Ginny loved Hermione's kitchen, as it loosely reminded her of the kitchen at the Burrow. There was a large west-facing window over the farmhouse-style sink that often caught the most beautiful sunsets you could ever imagine. The original cabinets had been quite shabby, but over the summer Hermione had enlisted Ginny's help in fixing them up, which included painting them a nice shade of sage green and changing out the hinges and cabinet pulls. Ginny had made the mistake of suggesting they swap out the worn and carved up butcherblock countertops, but clearly, she'd been completely mad to suggest they remove such beautiful historic material. There was a wooden kitchen table, another hand-me-down from Hermione's parents, and four wooden chairs right in the middle of the kitchen, where she and Hermione had shared many meals while Hermione was learning how to cook. She wasn't half bad either, but she'd likely never be as good as Ginny, who had learned from her mum and was arguably better in the kitchen than anyone else.
Ginny set the package of baked goods on the kitchen table and walked over to the sink to run a finger over the dishes sitting in the drying rack beside it. As she felt that they were in fact dry, she pulled her wand out and directed the dishes to stack themselves neatly in the first cabinet to the left of the stove.
"Trying to make up for the fact that you're late by cleaning up my kitchen, are you?"
Ginny smiled before she turned to face the woman who had just entered the kitchen. Hermione was wearing a burgundy sweater, loose-fitting jeans, and her light brown hair was falling in loose curls over her shoulders. As always, she was stunning.
"Hey now, I've been here for a while," Ginny said with a grin, "Plus, I'm not sure five minutes late really warrants a telling off. But I suppose old habits die hard, Prefect Granger?"
Hermione glared at her and put her hands on her hips, but Ginny knew it was all for show.
"Why were you late, Ginny?"
Ginny shrugged, "Got caught up at training. Besides, if you hadn't been so insistent on not connecting your fireplace to the Floo Network, I would've been here a lot sooner."
"Ginny, my fireplace is in my bedroom! I'm not going to have people traipsing in and out of my room whenever they come to visit! Besides, you could've Apparated."
Ginny wrinkled her nose as she shook her head, "Yeah, no, I couldn't have. You know how much I hate it."
"It's not that bad."
"It makes me queasy! Besides, my coach doesn't like us Apparating too much, she says it throws us off for training, takes too much of our energy or something like that."
"Alright, alright... Will you get the knives out of the drawer? The big ones?"
"What for?"
"To carve pumpkins, of course. Isn't that why you've come over?"
"Hermione, you must be joking…" said Ginny, a combination of disbelief and light amusement on her face as she handed the knives to Hermione. "We're doing this by hand?"
"Of course we are. This is how I've always carved pumpkins, and I'm not going to stop now just because you might be a little tired from Quidditch practice," Hermione responded, giving Ginny a look as she took the knives from her.
"Hermione, be reasonable…" Ginny lightly whined.
Hermione raised her eyebrows at Ginny disapprovingly. That look, combined with over ten years of friendship and many experiences with said look, was more than enough for Ginny to know that she was fighting a losing battle.
Ginny sighed, "Fine… We'll do it your way."
"Thank you," Hermione said with a satisfied smile. She handed a few old copies of the Daily Prophet to Ginny, "You can cover the kitchen table with these."
Ginny shook her head and smiled, amused with the bossy woman in front of her, before she willingly took the newspapers and began to spread them across the wooden kitchen table.
Hermione Granger had always been something else. She was opinionated, stubborn, and a bit of a know it all. She was also incredibly thoughtful, kind, and a fierce friend. She was passionate, brilliant, and her work-ethic was unmatched. She was exceedingly beautiful without even trying. She was everything Ginny could ever want in a partner. She was also devastatingly straight. So, long ago, Ginny had resigned to the fact that they'd likely only ever be friends, best friends, and had begrudgingly worked to accept it over the years. It hadn't always been easy, watching Hermione date men who weren't anywhere near good enough for her, but Ginny knew she'd grin and bear just about anything, even listening to Hermione gripe about the duds she dated, if it meant the woman was in her life.
"Is this to your standards, Miss Granger?" Ginny said in a teasing tone as she placed the final piece of newspaper.
Hermione rolled her eyes playfully, but still took a moment to look over Ginny's work. Ginny laughed.
"I guess that'll suffice, yes…" Hermione said before motioning for Ginny to follow her out into the back garden.
Hermione's produce garden had exploded since the last time Ginny had seen it. In early spring, Ginny had helped put up a few rows of raised beds for Hermione to grow produce in, and now Hermione's plants had grown so large that the wood of the raised beds was barely visible. Most commanding of all were the pumpkins she'd planted. The plant had deep green vines running every which way with large orange pumpkins appearing every so often.
"Wow Hermione, your garden has really taken off!"
"Thank you. I'm honestly much more pleased with it than I thought I'd be. I've appreciated your mum's guidance, I'm not sure what it'd look like if I didn't have her to turn to for advice."
Ginny nodded – her mum's gardens were legendary.
Hermione walked out into the garden, careful not to step on any of her plants as she maneuvered towards the pumpkins. Ginny followed behind.
"What do you think of this one?" she asked, rolling a round pumpkin over where it lay on the grass.
Ginny nodded, "Good looking pumpkin. What are you planning on carving?"
"Crookshanks."
Ginny grinned. She loved Hermione's ginger cat, and not just because they shared similar hair color. She was clearly his favorite, even though he belonged to Hermione, and she loved the way that lightly got under Hermione's skin.
"Speaking of my son, where is Crookshanks?"
Hermione gave Ginny a look as she stood up, lifting the pumpkin up off the ground with her, "Oh, I'm sure he's off in the woods somewhere. I just de-gnomed the garden yesterday, and you know how fond he is of them."
Ginny looked longingly out at the woods beyond Hermione's back garden.
Hermione laughed and nudged Ginny lightly with her elbow, "I'm sure he'll be back soon. Now go on, pick one."
Ginny took her time, inspecting each and every pumpkin in Hermione's garden, before picking one of the smallest.
Hermione raised her eyebrows, "Really?"
"Yes, really. It's perfect."
"Ginny, it's far too small! What are you planning on carving?"
"It's not too small, it's just right. And you'll just have to wait and see."
"Does this have anything to do with the fact that I'm not letting you use magic?"
"…Maybe…"
Hermione rolled her eyes, but smiled, "You're ridiculous sometimes, you know that?"
Ginny grinned, "And you still love me despite it."
"Yes, yes, I do love you, Ginny."
Even though Ginny knew it wasn't meant in the way she had wished it was, she still loved to hear those words come out of Hermione's mouth. She took Hermione's pumpkin from her and carried both pumpkins back into the kitchen, placing them on the table.
"So uh, what's for dinner?" Ginny asked, eyeing the empty stove.
Hermione shook her head, "Honestly, sometimes you remind me so much of Ron. I've got your mum's signature stew in the fridge, it'll just need some heating up on the stove."
"Ah, that must be why she sent me with this," Ginny said, opening the package of baked goods her mum had sent over with her. Inside was a fresh loaf of her best bread, along with a few pumpkin pasties. "Would you mind putting the stew on the stove? I'm starving…"
Hermione rolled her eyes but did get the stew pot out and onto the stove to warm. She then poured both she and Ginny a mug each of Butterbeer and sat down at the table to begin working on her pumpkin, spurring Ginny to do the same.
"So, how was practice today?" Hermione asked, her brow furrowing as she focused on carefully cutting the top off of her pumpkin.
"Long, which I like. Not sure many of my teammates enjoy when practices go long, but I always love a bit more time in the air," Ginny said, a smile on her face as she took a sip of her Butterbeer.
"And how's the new reserve you're seeing? What was her name?" Hermione asked absently as she continued her attempt at getting the perfect cut around the top of her pumpkin.
"Georgia? Yeah, that wasn't really anything serious. She's been traded to Ballycastle anyway, so that made for a clean break."
"Mmmm... I'm sure one of these days you'll find a woman who you'll deem good enough to actually take seriously…" Hermione said, finally pulling the top off her pumpkin and beginning to scoop the seeds out.
"Yeah, maybe…" Ginny muttered, taking another sip of her Butterbeer. She felt Hermione's dark brown eyes on her and looked up, "What?"
Hermione paused, before nodding at Ginny's pumpkin, "Aren't you going to start?"
Ginny looked down at her pumpkin, "Oh yeah, of course. I just wanted to give you a head start. I know how competitive you get, and since my pumpkin's far smaller than yours, I figured it'd take me no time at all to finish."
Hermione raised an eyebrow at her.
"But clearly, I was wrong…" Ginny added with a chuckle, beginning to cut into the top of her pumpkin.
They continued to chat as they carved their pumpkins. Ginny about the British and Irish Quidditch League standings, Hermione about her job at the Ministry. Ginny purposefully didn't ask about Hermione's latest boyfriend, Edward, but of course, he was brought up in conversation regarding Hermione's job.
"Can you believe he said that? He was directly implying that I wasn't prepared for the meeting when I was honestly the only one properly prepared for it. Edward wanted to let him have it, but I managed to calm him down."
"Mmmm…" was all that Ginny could muster in response. As always, she wasn't fond of Hermione's newest boyfriend. He seemed pompous, just as the others had been. She wasn't sure why Hermione insisted on dating men that worked at the Ministry, most of them were insufferable at the very least. Sure, there were a few good ones, like her dad, but the majority were unbearable.
"Did I tell you he's taking me apple picking?" Hermione asked, lightly biting her bottom lip in concentration as she carved out the last feature on her pumpkin.
"No, you didn't. When?" Ginny asked, hoping her voice didn't sound as if she was too disinterested.
"Well, he wanted to go this Saturday, but I told him that I obviously couldn't because of your match against Puddlemere."
Ginny smiled. She absolutely loved when she took precedence over the men Hermione dated.
"So, we'll be going on a weekday, but I'm sure the orchards will be far less crowded that way."
"Yeah, probably," Ginny nodded, still smiling about Hermione prioritizing her match over a date with Edward.
"Alright, what do you think?" Hermione asked, turning her pumpkin to face Ginny. Unsurprisingly, it was a near perfect depiction of the squished face of Crookshanks.
"If Crookshanks were here, it'd be like he was looking in a mirror," Ginny grinned. Hermione made a face, but smiled as well.
"Let me see yours. Are you done?"
"Sure am!" Ginny said proudly, turning her pumpkin around to face Hermione. The brunette's jaw dropped.
"Ginny, what is that?"
"Come on, have a guess!" Ginny said, trying to keep from laughing.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at her, "It looks like a simple circle!"
"Ah, that would be far too easy, Hermione… Come on, guess again!"
Hermione glared at her, "What is it, Ginevra?"
Even though she knew Hermione meant it to be intimidating and scolding, she loved when she called her by her given name.
"It's a lot of things! A Quaffle, a Bludger, the sun, a full moon…" Ginny listed.
"It's a bloody circle, Ginevra…" Hermione stated, still glaring at her.
"And a circle, yes. So, do I win? Extra points for all of the different things I've created on this teeny tiny pumpkin?"
She could tell that Hermione was about to break, the way her top lip was twitching as she fought off both a smile and a laugh.
Ginny grinned broadly and sighed, "Fine, I guess I'll let you win… Even though you only carved one thing…"
Hermione rolled her eyes, and got up to ladle the stew into two bowls. Ginny hopped up too and cut the bread, a piece for each of them. Hermione softened as they ate, eventually laughing at Ginny's ridiculous claim that she should've won based purely on all the different things her simple circle could have been interpreted as.
"You're just mad you didn't think to do something so genius…" Ginny teased lightly as they placed the carved pumpkins out on the back wall of Hermione's garden. Hermione shook her head and smiled as she dropped a tea candle into each pumpkin, and lit them. They walked back to Hermione's back door and looked out over her garden to admire their work. One beautifully carved pumpkin perfectly portraying Crookshanks, and one pumpkin with a hole in it.
Hermione put an arm around Ginny's waist, rested her head on her shoulder, and sighed, "Honestly, you're lucky I love you… I doubt anyone else would let you get away with this kind of stuff…"
Ginny looked down at the woman beside her, and smiled, "I know…"