A/N: Thanks to all who have read. I've been curious as to how many people are actually following this story with interest, so if you could please leave a review (any length is fine) with your thoughts or questions I'd be much obliged.
Someone asked if there would be other pairings in this story, and the answer is a most definite no. Seeing as Harry is dead, he very well cannot be with Hermione. Luna won't come into play at all (as of now at least) and Ron is…well...a whole other story. Ron is essentially the character of Tybalt, who is a pretty serious dude in the play. You've had a brief mention already of why he is the way he is. He's lost his innocence and is now essentially trapped in his own world of vengeance and hate. But more on that later. :o)
* * *
"Hermione dear, have you seen Ginny at all today?" Mrs. Weasley asked while bustling about the kitchen. "Guests will be arriving within the hour and I have yet to see that daughter of mine."
"I think she's just got in," Hermione responded as she finished hanging black and gold streamers around the Weasley's living room with a wave of her wand.
Mr. Weasley sighed indignantly. "Where that girl goes off to I'll never know. Would you be a dear and call her down for me," she directed at the young witch who was now blowing up balloons with a flick. "She can help you with the decorating while I tell her all about Neville."
"What's this about Neville?" Ginny questioned as she bounded down the last steps of the Burrow's rickety stairs.
"There you are," her mother replied hurriedly. "It's about time you start helping us with your father's party. And don't touch those," she added as Ginny reached for a plate of sandwiches. "They're for the guests."
.
"And since I've lived here for the last seventeen years, I suppose that means I don't get to eat," she said matter-of-factly.
Mrs. Weasley raised her eyebrows at her youngest child. "You'll eat once we're through and you're dressed. Now help Hermione with those balloons."
Ginny threw up her hands defeatedly. "Fine," she said walking into the living room to join her friend.
"You won't believe what your father told me this morning," Mrs. Weasley started as the girls swished and flicked away. "It seems that Neville came to visit him at the office yesterday."
"Neville?" Hermione questioned. "What would he want?"
"That's just what I asked Arthur. He doesn't want you to know Ginny, so I trust you girls can keep this between yourselves."
Hermione and Ginny exchanged interested glances. "Alright," they acquiesced.
"Neville asked for your father's permission to ask for your hand, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said excitedly.
There was momentary silence, followed by a loud pop as Ginny accidentally blew up a black balloon. She froze briefly, afraid she had misunderstood what her mother had just said to her. She glanced at Hermione, who too wore a puzzled expression on her face.
"Isn't it wonderful?" Mrs. Weasley continued, unable to see her daughter's reaction while bustling about in the adjoining room. "If all goes well, we can have the wedding within the year. We'll have to meet with Augusta, of course, and she can be rather forceful at times. The good thing is that you won't have to worry about…"
It was at this time that Ginny quit registering what her mother was going on about. Marry Neville Longbottom? Her? It was one thing to be his friend, but his wife? Not to mention the conjugal duties that came with said title. Disturbed at the mere thought of having to be intimate with the round-faced, doe-eyed boy, she knew at once she had to stop the thoughts of marriage that her mother seemed to be entertaining so grandly in her head.
Hermione had already begun blowing up the balloons again, still listening to Mrs. Weasley while keeping a wary eye on Ginny as well.
Ginny took a deep breath. "Mum?"
Mrs. Weasley seemed unable to hear her, as she had continued with her banter and was now onto, what Ginny realized with horror, possible honeymoon locations for the newlyweds. "Your father was always interested in holidaying at that Muggle amusement park in the States. Diz-nee-land…or something like that. I always said that New Guinea…"
"Mum!" she called out a little louder. Pop went another balloon at the end of her wand.
"…because your great Aunt Muriel went there, and she said it was completely divine. Of course that was over forty years ago..."
"MUM!" Ginny practically screamed.
Mrs. Weasley rushed into the living room, wiping her hands on her apron along the way. "What in great Cesar's ghost has gotten into you?" she asked Ginny with a pointed stare.
Trying not to set off her mother, Ginny thought it best to start in a calm tone. "Mum," she said carefully. "I think you've forgotten something rather important."
"Like what?"
"Like love," she said flatly. "Neville and I don't love each other. And I don't think that just because someone asks you to marry them you should-"
"But Neville does," she said importantly. "He told your father so."
Ginny laughed weakly. "He…he…what?" she finished with a deadpan.
"He loves you," she repeated clearly. "Surely that must mean something."
"Yeah Mum, it means he's a stalker!" Ginny groaned in frustration. "And I can't believe you're actually trying to force this on me!"
"I'm not forcing this on anyone," Mrs. Weasley replied shortly. "I just think you should be open to the possibility. You are so stubborn Ginny, that you let great things pass you right by just because it's not perfect to you. "
"When it comes to who I am going to marry, I think I have all the right in the world to be a tad picky," she shot back defensively.
Mrs. Weasley clicked her tongue loudly. "All I am asking for you to do is at least try to get along with Neville. Try and be accepting of his love. That boy has had a difficult life, and not enough of it filled with love if you ask me. Imagine your parents in the state that his are in, orphaned as a baby, in constant fear of You-Know-Who's followers…"
And she's off again, Ginny thought tiredly. I'll never get her to stop unless…
"Alright Mum! Alright!"
Mrs. Weasley became silent. She smiled hopefully.
"I'll look at him …and try to like him," she granted. "At least if what I see is likable."
Mrs. Weasley knew this was the most she could expect from her daughter (at least for the time being) and departed back into the kitchen. Ginny, now thoroughly indignant, returned to blowing up balloons with Hermione - until -
Pop! Pop! Pop!
"Let's get you away from the balloons for a while," said Hermione as she gingerly led her friend away from the living room. "Try and put it out of your mind, at least for tonight."
"I can't," she replied with a shudder. "Neville will be here, and I'll have to dance with him."
-->