Chapter One
She watched Harry at his table in the library. He was laughing quietly with Hermione and Ron, over something clever Hermione had said no doubt. Hermione's eyes sparkled, and the boys listened in total captivation. They saw Hermione in a way Ginny could only dream of them seeing her.
Ginny watched as Hermione tilted her head and laughed at a joke Harry had made. Her bushy hair fell into her face when she looked down again, and she smiled as Harry picked up her quill and used it to hold her hair back. Ginny sighed regretfully. If only she could be that close to Harry....
They had asked Ginny to sit with them, but she'd refused. She'd claimed she had something she needed to look up in this or that encyclopedia, but she just didn't want to get in their way. Besides, Ginny thought begrudgingly, they seem to be having a fine time without me. She buried herself in the first textbook she'd found, 1001 Herbs You Thought Were Useless, But Aren't. Ginny pretended to be deeply involved in the effects of basil in a plant growth potion as Harry stood up and approached her.
"You find what you were looking for?" He peered over her shoulder and looked skeptically at her book.
She tried to be casual, lightly flipping her hair over her shoulder in an attempt to flirt a bit, and nodded. "Yeah," she lied, tapping her book. "Right where I thought it would be."
Hermione and Ron had finally gathered their books and rejoined Harry. "Ready to go, Harry?" Hermione asked. "You have to be on the Quidditch pitch by seven, and it's already six-thirty. Ron and I want to get there early so we can get good seats..."
Ron grimaced. "Yeah, Hermione's right. We still have to stop by the common room to give Neville his wand back too, he dropped it earlier."
The three walked away, forgetting to say goodbye to Ginny, until they reached the door. Harry pulled at Ron's sleeve. "Should we have asked Ginny to go with us? She might be upset we didn't... girls are sensitive like that."
"Nah," Ron rolled his eyes and spoke in a tone which made it clear what he was saying should be obvious. "She's not really a girl. She's just my sister." Harry shrugged, and they ran to catch up with Hermione.
Ginny had heard them. After all, they had only been a few feet away and Ron hadn't made an effort to be quiet about it. He always was the careless one. Not a girl. Thanks Ron. How am I ever supposed to have any chance with Harry, if all Ron does is enforce that I'm just his little sister? I'm very much a girl... Ginny sighed, sinking again into the chair and trying not to be too upset with Ron. Soon she heard footsteps behind her.
"Hey, Ginny," Seamus Finnigan grinned, his hands in his pockets. His hair had been cut recently, she could tell. It was a bit too short in the back, but at least he didn't have that stupid tail anymore. He was tall, but not gawky, thin but not twiggy. He had the muscles of someone who obviously practiced for his team. Ginny smiled back, straightening her posture a bit.
"What have you been up to?"
Ginny shrugged. "Not too much, you?"
Seamus shifted his weight a bit. "Just stopping by to say hello...I was just about to head to the pitch, for the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff game. I have to be on my broom in, what, fifteen minutes? Are you going to go?"
"Yeah, I probably will." And watch Harry for awhile, she thought about adding, but didn't.
Seamus beamed. "Great! Cause, you see, there's this party if we win, and I was hoping you would go with me. There'll be food, and card games, and Exploding Snap, and-"
Ginny cut him off. Boys never 'just stop to say hello', she laughed silently. "Yeah, Seamus, I'll go with you." Who needs Harry and Ron anyway? At least Seamus thinks I'm a girl, she thought defiantly. He was nice enough, and why shouldn't she have a good time? She stood up and started gathering her books.
Seamus put on his cloak and grabbed his broom, which had been resting lazily against a bookshelf. "Meet me in the common room after the game?" he asked her.
She nodded, and he left. Ginny picked up her bag and headed to the common room to drop it off and pick up her cloak before she went to the game.
Walking through the corridors, Ginny juggled her books and supplies, nearly losing hold of everything at least twice. I really should make a point not to carry so much, she thought, irritated.
Just as she'd finished that thought, she turned the corner, to see two boys rush through the halls. One, gaining on the other, appeared for a second as a blur of black. The other, Neville Longbottom, took that moment to crash into Ginny, stumbling, and then running on, still in obvious fright, from the black blur in the distance.
Ginny knelt to gather her fallen books and quills, but looked up just in time to see the once advancing boy trip over her and crash into a suit of armor.
The armor fell on top of him, and all Ginny could see of him was his head, covered by his cloak due to the fall, and his hand.
"Weasley!" Ginny instantly recognized the voice. His identity was confirmed by the silver ring on his hand. He had a manly, yet somehow delicate hand, and the ring matched his skin tone nicely. However, this was Malfoy, and she wouldn't allow herself to gawk at him like that idiot Pansy Parkinson did.
"WEASLEY!" he shouted again, and she snapped out of her thoughts. He may have been an arrogant git, but he was an arrogant git trapped under a rather heavy metal body. Feeling charitable, she took out her wand.
"Wingardium Leviosa..." she muttered. The armor became upright with a swish and flick of her wand. Malfoy rose slowly to his knees, combing his hands back through his mussed silver hair. It refused to stay in place, falling back into his eyes. He picked up his wand, which had flown from his pocket at the impact, shoving it into his robe.
"Think it'd be funny to trip me, eh, Weasley? Trying to protect pathetic little Longbottom?" he sneered at her, brushing the dust of his cloak in a superior manner.
Ginny glared at him. "You would think that wouldn't you? That I'd try to trip anyone! And to think, after your eloquent upbringing you can't even rise above chasing a defenseless boy through the halls. What did Neville do now, continue to exist? Seriously, Malfoy, I should have just left you trapped under the armor." She felt her ears turn pink in anger as she collected her things to leave.
As she started to walk away, however, he turned her around with a forceful pull of her arm. His body could not have been more than a hand-span away from hers and it seemed to radiate a heated power. "If you think, Weasley," he whispered in a deeper, gruffer voice than normal, a glint in his eye, "that you can ever leave a Malfoy, you are vastly mistaken."
With that he let her go, disappearing around the corner and leaving her alone in the corridor.