I'm positively awful. I completely forgot that I needed to update this. Sorry, sorry, my dears. This chapter is longer, I promise. There are only one or two chaps like the last one, so your need for story progression will be pacified, worry not.
Prepare to despise Ginny….
A Touching Romance
Chapter 3 ~ A Surprising Lack of Flaming Hair
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The morning after Ginny's trip to the kitchen, she woke with a feeling of accomplishment in her gut. Humming happily, she went about her morning routine, rather pleased with herself.
She found Harry waiting for her in the Common Room. To her distain, Hermione was also with him, so Ginny made quite a show of giving Harry a rather prolonged and passionate good-morning kiss. When she finally pulled away, Hermione looked very uncomfortable, if not a bit sad. Ginny just smirked at her and sauntered off for the portrait hole. Harry followed dazedly behind, rather useless after such a kiss.
They entered the Great Hall one after another, and took seats at the Gryffindor Table, Harry and Ginny on one side, Hermione on the other. Ron soon joined them, sitting on the bench beside Hermione. Morning greetings were exchanged, and Harry and Ron struck up a conversation about Puddlemere's chance at the Cup.
Soon the plates and goblets filled with food and drink. Piles of every scrumptious breakfast food imaginable soon appeared, and each student happily tucked in. When a small pitcher of pumpkin juice materialized right next to Harry's place, Ginny squirmed excitedly in her seat.
Throughout the entire meal, Ginny could hardly sit still. Every time Harry took a sip of his juice, she did her very best to contain a little squeal of delight. Her problems had never seemed so easy to fix.
Finally, after what seemed like an age, Harry downed the last of his juice. For a moment, nothing happened, and Ginny began to wonder if maybe the potion hadn't worked very well. But then a soft white glow appeared around his hands, creeping up to eventually surround him completely.
She peered around at the others sitting near, but no one seemed to notice.
Satisfied, she settled back in her seat with a smile on her pretty face. Now she had only to leave and enjoy her holiday.
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As Ginny was finishing up her packing that night, she heard a knock on the door. She went to open it and found a steely faced Hermione glaring back at her.
"What did you do to him?" she asked immediately.
Ginny was taken aback. "I don't know what you're talking about," she lied quickly. She turned round and continued folding shirts to put in her trunk, anxious to keep Hermione from seeing the blush she knew was spreading across her cheeks.
"Don't play dumb with me, Ginny," Hermione said softly. Ginny was surprised that her voice was so calm. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. I saw that glow around Harry. What did you do to him?"
"It's nothing that will hurt him," she said. "At least, it shouldn't."
Hermione moved to stand beside her. She reached out and forced Ginny's face towards her. "Tell me what you did," she said. Ginny saw the frantic concern in Hermione's eyes and knew she now had the upper hand.
A smile found its way to her lips. "It doesn't concern you, Hermione," she spat. Hermione looked hurt, and her hand dropped to her side.
But then Hermione shook her head slightly, drawing her shoulders up. "If it concerns Harry," she began strongly, "It concerns me."
Ginny couldn't help but laugh. "You think you're so noble, don't you, Hermione?" she asked scathingly. "Waltzing in here to protect Harry from big, bad Ginny. You may be Harry's best friend, but I am his girlfriend. I will always take precedence over you."
Hermione's eyes blazed. "That is not true," she said angrily.
Ginny stepped towards her until their noses nearly touched. "Oh, yes, Hermione, it is," she countered. "There is nothing you can ever do to have the kind of connection with Harry that I have."
"I refuse to stand here and take this from you!" Hermione exclaimed. "Despite what you may think, Harry loves me. And I love him, like the brother I never had." She spun around and strode to the door.
When her hand reached out for the knob, Ginny said softly, "No, you don't."
Hermione hand froze in midair. "Excuse me?" she asked, incredulous.
"You don't love Harry like a brother," Ginny replied. "Maybe your feelings for him used to be completely platonic, but they are far from platonic now."
Hermione turned around, bewildered. "What are you saying?"
Ginny leaned against her bedpost casually. "I'm saying that you don't think of Harry as a brother. You love him as so much more than that."
Hermione shook her head. "I don't know what you mean."
Ginny laughed again. "Don't play dumb with me, Hermione," she said in a high, squeaky voice she thought sounded just like Hermione's. Her voice took on its usual tone as she said, "You know exactly what I mean. You love Harry. You're in love with him. You have been since you and Ron broke up."
Hermione recovered from her initial surprise. "Any feelings I may have for Harry are none of your business," she said.
"Oh, but they are, Hermione," Ginny retorted. "They are every bit my business. In case you haven't noticed, I am Harry's girlfriend, not you."
Hermione looked away, staring out a window to the grounds.
"That kills you, doesn't it?" Ginny asked then. "You could have handled your feelings for him if he had stayed single, couldn't you have? But he asked me out. He initiated a relationship with me. He chose me over you." With a sick sort of joy, she realized the effect her words were having on Hermione. "He would never even consider you as more than a friend. You're his sister, and nothing you do will ever change that. He loves you, yes, but not the way he loves me. He'll never hold your hand or kiss you, and he will never return your feelings, Hermione, so you might as well give up on him.
Hermione turned around quickly and fled the room, tears streaming down her face.
Ginny finished packing her trunk and crawled into bed, satisfied that Hermione was no longer a threat to The Plan.
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Ron and Ginny were set to leave in the morning just after breakfast. Ginny spent the time before the departure studying how the potion affected the people who touched Harry.
Parvati Patil brushed his arm while they were passing through the portrait hole and yelped when an electric sort of shock ran up her arm. Cho Chang ran into him as she sped around a corner, causing a painful looking welt to appear on her arm. Ron clapped him on the shoulder in congratulations after having successfully maneuvered the Grand Staircases on the way down to breakfast, making his face turn a light shade of blue.
All the little things that happened in the hours before and during breakfast made Harry and his group of friends (except for Ginny, of course) extremely confused. Nobody knew what was going on, and not one of them had made the connection between touching Harry and the strange occurrences. Hermione became suspicious when a Hufflepuff fifth year came to introduce himself as a junior writer for the Daily Prophet, and his hand grew sharp quills where he'd shaken Harry's hand. She watched Ginny throughout the meal, but Ginny had practiced keeping a blank and emotionless expression and was confident in The Plan's foolproof step-by-step procedure.
It soon came time for Ron and Ginny to leave. Harry and Ron attempted to embrace before he left, but it became apparent that this was futile, as Ron couldn't get within a foot of Harry after the first try.
"I have absolutely no idea what's going on," Harry said, looking confused. "But I'll try to find out and fix it before you two get back."
"Oh, don't worry, Harry," said Ginny sweetly, with a glance at Hermione. "I'm sure everything will be alright." Ron stood beside Harry, twirling his wand and trying several different incantations to see if anything changed his and Harry's situation. Just as Ginny reached up and pressed her lips to Harry's, there was a resounding crack, and Ginny's hair set fire. "RON!" she screamed, trying desperately to put it out.
In the end, Hermione conjured a bucket of water, which she poured over Ginny's head, but a good five inches of her thick red hair had been burned off by that time. Ron attempted to divert some of Ginny's anger by hugging Hermione goodbye, something that would usually have put his sister in a bit of a better mood. But no such luck. She exploded with rage at Ron, and yelled at him all the way to the carriage. She assumed that one of his spells had gone wrong and caused the fire.
She didn't even consider that the fire might have been caused by her lips on Harry's. She didn't think to look back at Harry and Hermione as she and Ron climbed into a carriage. She didn't see Harry put a comforting arm around a miserable looking Hermione's shoulders. And she certainly didn't see Hermione's complete lack of electric shocks, painful welts, blue face, or flaming hair.
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Hehehehe - Good thing Ginny didn't look back, or else we'd have no story! Wasn't Ginny horrible? I really can't stand her anyway, so this story is just a way to vent my frustration at her.
Review! Review!
~ Violet Kefira
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