DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and anything else is the property of J.K. Rowling. I don't own anything and I don't make any money off of it, sadly. :: really needs some money to buy more anime and really wants to kidnap Sirius and Draco and keep them in my closet ::
A/N: All righty, This is my first fic and I just want to say that there is going to be D/G, I'm a firm believer in that ship, it's the only one I read anymore, but the D/G is going to take a while to get to that point. You'll just have to trust me, there will be some good stuff in here but, I have to build up to it. I'm not a "bam! They're in love" kinda author. So read, please review, and enjoy.
CHAPTER 1:
Intro to a smudged clean slate
You never really think about fairy tales much as you get older, but they are what you live on when you're younger, so they never truly leave you. A girl can never truly give up the dream of a knight in shinning armour galloping up to the beautiful princess after defeating the evil black knight and his dragon, and whisking her away on his white stallion into the sunset. Yeah, Right!
I almost had my fairy tale ending. I had my hero, even had a sword (he also had a phoenix and an old hat). I had a dragon….of sorts…well; it was a basilisk, King of Snakes and all. And there was a black night…kind of…oh, all right; it was a diary using myself to bring a memory to life.
It's an unorthodox fairy tale, but it fits my criteria nicely. The hero slew the dragon and defeated the black knight and whisked me, plus two others, off on his phoenix to safety.
But it was never truly happily ever after, the hero kept going on adventures leaving the princess high in her tower. Not much of an ending
I suppose that my nickname as the "Gryffindor Princess" isn't that far off, if you think about it, I've got the loving King and Queen (Mum and Daddy), a slew of protecting knights at my beck and call (i.e. Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred George, and Ron). I live in a tower (Gryffindor Commons) of a magical castle (Hogwarts).
But, and that's a very big but and I know it, I'm not a princess. I'm no longer the innocent little girl, the castle isn't mine and the tower isn't mine. The knights, as much as the care, don't fuss anymore, they'd much rather leave me to my girly devices. The King and the Queen have bigger things on their mind then their little princess. And lastly the hero barely knows I exist. As much as I want the fairy tale ending I grew up with, I know it'll never happen.
Growing up in the magical world, all you hear about is the Boy Who Lived and how at the age of one had defeated the most evil wizard who lived. That's the stuff fairy tales are made out of. So I suppose it wasn't difficult for a little girl with an overactive imagination to start believing herself to be the princess to his hero. I was there when the hero returned to the magical world. To see Harry Potter in person at ten years old is akin to seeing your favourite celebrity and hoping against all odds that he believes in love at first sight as much as you do. Then you go home with your heart all a flutter and hope that he remembers you as you day dream about the day that you can join him in the magical castle.
I spent that year in my room with my pictures of Ladies and Knights, both magical and muggle, knick knacks of unicorns and dragons, dolls, fairy tale books, both magical and muggle, and pretty little things. My diary was full of my fanciful stories, poems, and songs that year. I daresay I became sucked into my own fantasy. I suppose that all girls dream of their Prince Charming and future, somewhat. But being alone when you've always been surrounded by family your entire life tends to make you a bit stir crazy. I mean Ron and I were alone for three years before he left me for school. That's when Harry's celebrity became a bit more of an obsession with me. I would daydream about my Prince Charming.
After a year of me being stuck in my fairytale world, the knights came home to entertain their little princess. Stories of the castle filled the house and merged with my own fantasies. I mean what else would spark it besides the hero yet again defeating the Evil Wizard.
Then one day, the princess came down from her tower to find the hero sitting down at breakfast with the knights. The princess, having just woken up and looking atrocious with a head of messy hair and her long hand-me-down nightdress, was mortified and ran back up the tower, wailing about how it wasn't supposed to be that way."
~*~
"Ginny! Get to bed already!"
"Fine! I'm going! You don't need to baby me!" The youngest Weasley child scrambled to pick up her parchment and Quick Quotes Quill. She stood up and huffed at her only remaining brother in school with her.
"Well, if you stop acting like such a child, nobody would have to baby you!" The tall, freckled, red haired boy loomed over his small sister.
Rolling her eyes, Ginny apologize, knowing he wouldn't back down, gave her best innocent little sister look to him and climbed the stairs of her dorm. She put a silencing charm on the usually squeaky door and entered. She stored away her parchment and quill in the hidden compartment in the lid of her trunk, then plopped into bed, not bothering to remove her dressing gown, draw the hangings, or scamper under the sheets. After a long while, Ginny fell into a troubled and restless sleep.
Ginny was woken the next morning, the first Saturday of her fifth yeah to a thwapping in the side of the head at seven in the morning. She rolled over only to get another flying head butt in the ear from an overexcited Pigwidgeon. Trying to roll over again, she landed on the floor. Red faced she stood up, grabbed the tiny owl, pulled the note from its clutches and threw him out the tower window. She read the simple note;
"G
Meet me in the entrance hall at 7:15
D"
Ginny looked at the time and ran to the showers with her things, took an extremely short shower, cast a drying spell and ran back to her dorm to change. She threw on a soft yellow t shirt, a pair of Ron's old cut offs, and an old pair trainers. Grabbing her thin cloak, she raced out of her dorm and down the seven floors to get to the entrance hall and meet the angered face of Dean Thomas.
"You're late Gin."
"Sorry, you really didn't give me much time to get ready." She huffed angrily but covered it by trying to catch her breath. She gave him an apologetic smile.
He looked at her a little hurt, "Come on, let's go for a walk." He reached out a hand and took her elbow, leading her out the main door.
They winded their way down the path to get to the gardens. Dean sat on a stone bench and motioned for Ginny to sit next to him. She did so a bit hesitantly, confused by his unusual serious demeanour. "Ginny." He looked at the ground, "I really like you, and you're a great girl…"
She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Ron."
He looked at her half heartedly and nodded, "Ron."
Deflated, she answered, "All right. I understand. I don't blame you, it's him. He can be such an overbearing, insufferable git sometimes." She started to turn red in the face.
"Don't blame him completely Gin, it's not all him. Though going to bed every night with him muttering, 'Hurt my little sister and I hurt you,' doesn't help much. There's also the fact that we're both in Gryffindor, so thinking of you as anything beyond 'the little Weasley sister' is difficult." He looked at the ground again, ashamed that he really didn't have anything besides brotherly feelings for her.
Ginny knew it was true, she had to accept it, to anyone in Gryffindor she would only be known as someone's younger sister, and she wouldn't be able to out live the image. "I understand Dean, it was bound to happen." She looked a little glum about her possible dating pool.
"Um….Gin?'
"Yeah?"
He smirked at her, "Do you mind telling Ron that you broke up with me, or that it was a mutual break up. Yeah, that ones better! D'you mind?"
She glanced up at his nervous face, knowing full well that if she told Ron that he broke up with her Ron would be out for blood. "Yeah, no problem. I'll make sure he stays off your back."
He smiled, gave her a chaste brotherly kiss on the cheek, "Thanks Gin, see you later." And he sprinted back up to the castle, leaving her to think about things in the warm early September air.
Just when she thought that most people were beyond the Chamber of Secrets incident and people were being friendly again, she had been blindsided by the pure, innocent little sister Gryffindor Princess image. Tossing the now stifling cloak off her shoulders he stomped her feet in a mini temper tantrum. Then sighed, having accomplished nothing. The amusingly remembered how well it worked on her brothers.
She had learned to control her temper. As any witch or wizard knew, if you became over emotional without some semblance of control, magic started to happen. It ran rampant in the Weasley house, especially with Ginny's temper about being ignored. But Ginny had spent the most part of this summer at a Muggle Summer Camp. She had convinced her father that it would help her understand muggles further if she went. She had been taking Muggle Studies at her father's insistence, and had actually become fascinated by them.
After having gotten her father's approval she leaned toward the twins for the money. The twins had recruited Ron and Ginny for test subjects and sales representatives in school, so they gave money to Ron and Ginny when they were in need. So little Ginny Weasley went to summer camp, which was an experience of a lifetime in and of itself.
Snapping out of her reminiscence, Ginny remembered that she was in the process of controlling her temper. She took a couple of deep breaths and retrieved her wand from her cloak pocket, "Accio Quick Quotes Quill! Accio parchment!"
Practicing for D.A. and Charms had gotten her to get this down well, and moments later her quill and parchment were in hand. She picked up her cloak and decided to walk down to the lake to insure that she wouldn't be snuck up upon or eavesdropped on.
She leisurely walked down to the lake, sat against a large rock and set herself up.