At the End of the Say
Rating- R
Disclaimer- I own nothing…*tear*
Madame Pomfrey let Ginny out of the hospital the week before the dance (Malfoy was let out the day before). During that week all she and Malfoy did was trade insults-well he smirked a lot but she suspected he did it to annoy her.
Ginny sighed and rubbed her temples, she had just ended yet another fight with the arrogant Malfoy heir. Sometimes she wanted to strangle him.
She yawned loudly. Madame Pomfrey said she would be extremely tired for the next few days. She slowly dragged herself into the Gryffindor common room, and into her room. She had her rounds tonight and she needed to be awake for them.
She sank down onto her bed, letting out a soft moan of comfort, and fell asleep.
"Salazar?" Helga asked the man sitting next to her.
"What" he answered, raising his eyebrows.
"What if we're wrong about them?
He shrugged "Then at least we can't die," he told her smirking.
Helga hit him, but smiled none the less.
"Do you think," she asked "that Istahar will choose mine?"
Salazar snorted "Of course she will, who is she going to choose? The mudblood, I think not!" he said indignantly.
Helga sighed, she hated that word. Salazar himself had made it up and wouldn't stop using it.
"Do you think she'll choose yours?" she asked him.
Salazar nodded at her, "Why wouldn't she?"
Helga shrugged her shoulders, not answering the question. "I'm not sure I want mine involved," Helga muttered, not meeting her lover's eyes.
"Why the hell not?" the man asked, his voice rising.
"Because,' Helga said finally glaring at him "I don't want her to get hurt!" She screamed the last part at him.
"No get hurt?" he asked, disbelievingly. "This is what she was born for, ever since the two Goddesses came down to her at the time of her birth-you never told me who her two Goddesses were," he added as an afterthought.
"Well why should I?" Helga asked, "You never told me yours!"
"Don't be childish Helga, it's not becoming" Salazar sneered.
She crossed her arms over her chest "I'm not," she insisted.
Salazar rolled his eyes "I'll make a deal with you," he said. "I'll tell you who came for mine, and you tell me who came for yours."
Helga thought this over a moment before nodding, "Fine," she sighed in defeat.
"Zeus, and Poseidon," he said, bragging.
Helga understood why he made the deal-he loved to brag. She sighed not wanting to say, but a deal was a deal. "Artemis, and Aphrodite," she all but whispered.
"What?" Salazar yelled "The Goddess of the hunt and the Goddess of beauty came to her, and yet you still fear for her? Not only that Artemis is the Goddess of the animals, yours has two of the greater Gods!"
"Rowena's has Hera and Demeter!" Helga said, as if that explained everything.
"Oh wow, Demeter," Salazar said in mock respect
"Yes, but Hera," she said trailing off.
"What about her?" he asked.
"She's queen of the Gods," she said.
Salazar nodded "you're scared what the other Goddesses would do to her."
Helga nodded mutely then cleared her throat. "What about Godric?"
"What about him?" he sneered.
"Who are his Gods?"
"Ares, and Apollo," he told her.
"And you're not scared?"
"No, I have the two strongest Gods, it's he who should be scared," he told Helga, haughtily.
"You're too confident," she told him.
"And you're too scared," he answered her back.
She sneered "Isn't that the definition of a Hufflepuff?"
"No, it didn't use to be, you my dear were definitely not loyal," he told her stroking her hair.
"It's not like I cheated on you," she told him.
"No," he agreed "but you cheated with me,"
"True," Helga admitted.
Ginny woke up from her dream a little confused, who the hell were these chosen people that they keep talking about? She stretched and jumped out of the bed, today was the day of the dance. They had no classes, as it was a Sunday, and Malfoy had told her that they wouldn't be working on the potion anymore.
She slowly made her way to the prefect's bathroom, grabbing a towel from her trunk.
"Lemon Zest," she said, some muggle born had made up the password and said something about a cleaning product. She sank into the bath, and put on the taps.
She heard giggling behind her, and immediately spun around.
She put her hands to her chest, breathing deeply, it was only the mermaid.
"Those school robes do hide a lot," the mermaid winked at her.
Ginny's face turned a deep shade of red that clashed horribly with her hair. The mermaid waved away her embarrassment with shrug of her shoulders.
"I thought I was going to have a relaxing bath," Ginny muttered.
The mermaid giggled again, and hoisted herself up onto the rock that was on the other side of the large bath.
Ginny laid her head back against the edge of the pool, and a sigh of pleasure escaped her mouth.
The mermaid looked at Ginny, with something that looked like jealousy.
"What's your name?" she asked the mermaid, deciding to be polite.
"You know," the mermaid said a little sadly, all traces of her earlier jealousy gone, "I'm not sure I remember."
Ginny looked at the mermaid "Why not?" She asked.
"Because no one has ever asked me," the mermaid told her.
"Oh, do you want a name?" Ginny asked, a little unsure.
The mermaids face brightened, "That would be nice," she said her face breaking into a brilliant smile.
"Do you like the name Sandra?" Ginny asked, she couldn't think of any names.
"It's a nice name," the mermaid thought for a moment "but I don't think that it's the right one for me."
Ginny nodded, "How about Taylor, I think it means morning dew in some language?" she asked, smiling, Taylor was a pretty name.
The mermaid thought again, before nodding her head "I like it," she told Ginny, a slight blush on her cheeks.
Ginny nodded "Hello Taylor, my name is Ginny," she said, holding out her hand.
Taylor flipped off the rock, and swam over to take Ginny's outstretched hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ginny was on her way back to Gryffindor tower, when someone grabbed her by the arm.
"Ginny," the person rasped,
"Neville?" She asked in surprise.
He was breathing heavily, "Can you tell me if Crabbe and Goyle are waiting near that suit of armor?"
Ginny looked out from the corner they were hiding in, and looked for the two said boys.
"Yes," she told Neville, who ran a hand through his already tousled hair.
"Why?" she asked him curiously.
"What?" he asked her distractedly.
"Never mind," Ginny sighed, untangling herself from Neville's tight grip on her forearm. "I'll see you tonight," She told him, leaving the curiously nervous boy standing were he was.
She said the password (Pixie dust) and walked into the common room.
She made her way to her dorm, pushing past a gaggle of shrieking girls on the second landing.
"Merlin," she said, those girls were loud. There was still at least ten hours until the dance, and Ginny was bored. She grabbed the book about divination and started reading.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Draco Malfoy was in his room putting the last ingredients into his Felix Felcis. An hour later and he was done with the potion. He smirked and poured it into the vile on his nightstand.
He stared at the gold colored liquid for a minute or so, before taking of his pajamas and getting into the shower. The dance was after all only three hours away, and Draco liked long showers.
He stepped out of his bathroom, with a towel around his waist. He checked the clock, an hour until the dance. He hated these things. He sighed and ran his hand through his wet hair. He walked over to where the bottle filled with golden potion lay, and picked it up.
"Here's to luck," he muttered, and drank it.
He smirked and placed the bottle down. He walked over to his closet and pulled out his costume. Maybe the ball wouldn't be so bad, after all he was feeling lucky tonight.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ginny was putting the finishing touches on her costume when she heard a tapping sound at her window.
She walked over to it, and opened it. An enormous black owl flew in and landed on her bed. It dropped off the present, before quickly flying back out, not waiting for a reply.
Ginny finished with her hair, and walked over to her bed. She picked up the box, and shook it. She heard clanking. She opened it slowly, a little bit afraid. She looked inside, and found three golden bangles that matched her costume. She looked around for a note of some sort, but found nothing. She shrugged and slipped them onto her wrists.
She walked out of her room, and down the stairs. Natasha was waiting for her, cracking her whip at the scared looking first years that wouldn't be going.
Ginny laughed and grabbed her friend by the arm. They walked out of the portrait hole.
"You know," Natasha said thoughtfully "You really do look like Cleopatra."
Ginny nodded "And that leather," Ginny said, directing her comment at Natasha's outfit "fits like a second skin."
"I know," Natasha said smiling.
Ginny rolled her eyes, and walked down the stairs, still pulling Natasha behind her.
The got to the doors of the Great Hall, and Natasha pushed it open, barely containing her excitement.
Natasha headed straight to the dance floor, while Ginny went off to the sidelines.
She was standing and sipping her pumpkin juice when Neville Longbottom, dressed up as a werewolf, came over to her and asked her to dance.
Ginny forced a smile and nodded-she didn't like the feel of the fake hair. They danced together for two dances, until Ginny said that she needed a break. Neville nodded, and went to fetch them some drinks.
"Hey Gin," came a female voice that Ginny didn't really want to hear.
"Hello Hermione," Ginny said, not bothering to smile. Hermione was dressed very elaborately in a Queen Elizabeth dress, and Harry hanging onto her arm as some King. She didn't know how, but they had convinced Ron to come as their servant.
Hermione frowned "Are you still upset at me?" she asked. "Because it's been over a month-"
"I hope you're enjoying the dance," Ginny interrupted smoothly, and walked off. That girl was really starting to get on her nerves. She looked at the couples dancing. Natasha was dancing with some masked person. She smiled and waved, Ginny waved back.
"Here you go," Neville said, appearing suddenly next to her with her drinks.
"Thank you," Ginny said, and took the juice from Neville. She sipped it slowly, not wanting to back out and dance with Neville, who was anxiously waiting for her.
She finished her drink and let out a small sigh that Neville either ignored or just didn't hear.
He grabbed her hand and led her out to the dance floor again. In the middle of their first dance the masked boy that was dancing with Natasha came over to her.
"May I cut in?" he asked traditionally. Neville looked like he was about to say no, but the boy grabbed Ginny's hand, and Neville realizing defeat walked away.
"Hello," the boy said.
Ginny just nodded back. They dance the next few dances together.
The boy was an amazing dancer, Ginny thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Draco Malfoy smirked as he finished his last dance with the Weasley girl. When the dance had ended he smirked and walked away from her. He looked back to find her still staring at him, trying to figure out who he was. Her gaze was broken though when Dumbledore got up onto the stage to speak.
"Sonorous," he muttered. Draco looked at his watch, midnight exactly.
"Good evening," he said his eyes twinkling with delight. "As you all know, or have guessed I am here to announce the winners of the competition."
"God I don't want to win," Draco muttered to Blaise, who was sitting next to him.
Blaise raised an eyebrow "Why not?"
Because it would ruin my plan for the little Weasley Draco said to himself, but out loud he just told Blaise that it was stupid.
"The winners are," Dumbledore said as an owl flew down to hand him the envelope. "Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley, please come up and claim your prize.
Ginny knew she shouldn't be upset, she knew it was a fixed competition, but she couldn't have helped hoping.
"Thank you all for coming," Dumbledore finished, as he led the three winners into the back room.
The ball was over, and Ginny found Natasha, who was also upset at the winner choices.
She ranted about it all the way to the Common room.
"Pixie Dust," Natasha snarled at the portrait.
"No need to be so rude," the woman huffed, but swung open all the same.
Natasha stomped up to their room. She took the costume off, and threw it onto the floor. Ginny did quite the opposite. She slowly and carefully took off her costume not wanting to rip anything, and hung it up. It was very expensive after all. She put on an old shirt of Charlie's and went to bed.
"I'm so nervous!" Helga told Salazar, who just yawned.
"I know," he rolled his eyes.
She shook her head; she still couldn't understand why he wasn't scared.
"Let's talk about something else," he suggested.
She nodded "Yes, I suppose we should."
But she was still not at ease with what was to come.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey guys, I'm so sorry that it took me this long to put out the chapter but I've been really busy. I know it's not as long as usual and I'll try harder next time. But for now please review! I really appreciate your patience!
-->