Green Ginny

1. Green Ginny

I have randomly decided to upload this one-shot, because I’ve had it written for a very long time, and I’m in a particular mood for making Ginny look bad. ^_^

Warning: if you like Ginny the character, don’t read this. It isn’t a nice story about her, I’m telling you. Me? I’m not very, ahem, fond of the character, as I’m sure is extremely obvious.

# # #

Green Ginny

By the time Harry Potter had turned eighteen he had himself a new start. He had defeated Voldemort using the one weapon he could not understand, the “power-he-knew-not” as the Daily Prophet referred to it. The simple fact was that Harry could love; Harry was loved. Voldemort never had been. It was the stark difference between Harry and Voldemort that had brought his downfall. After years of Voldemort’s complicated theories as to how Harry survived the night of his parents death, the answer was not a spell in itself, but in love.

Harry apparently loved very deeply. He loved his parents, he loved Sirius, and he loved his friends and every person that was dear to him.

Ginny Weasley was one of those people. She was a friend. Harry loved his friends.

But he didn’t love her specifically, like he loved Hermione Granger. Just the mention of that awful name caused Ginny’s heart to twist and ache with jealousy. Harry Potter loved Hermione as his life partner, his lover, his soul mate. She had special recognition and placing in his heart.

How he had gone to fixating and adoring her to loving and cherishing Hermione was beyond her. All she knew was that she was sick to her stomach with how everyone was starting anew after the war, so happy and optimistic, and there she was still without the man of her dreams.

She had thought that by letting Harry bravely break off their relationship in order to protect her (that night she had gone to sleep with a smile on her face; he wanted to protect her! He wasn’t doing that for Hermione!) it would make for their romance to be truly special. He would return from war, dirty and sweaty and looking very good, but he’d be relatively unscathed, and she would run into his arms and they would share one heart stopping kiss---much like when they had kissed in the common room to applaud and cheers. She had even expected it to be on the front cover of the Prophet the very next morning.

They would then marry and she would give him the large family he deserved. Ron and Hermione would be together, happy and all-smiles, though bickering as always, and together they would all be one big happy Weasley family.

It had not happened that way at all.

Harry returned from the war with Ron and Hermione, all three scathed but not too seriously, and they spent a few days in St. Mungo’s recovering. The press was all over it, and Harry did not request to see Ginny; still, she thought he was holding out until he was all better for her.

That was not it, either.

The thing was, she had missed a lot while the Golden Trio had been away hunting horcruxes and battling Death Eaters.

Ron and Hermione were not interested in one another and were never going to be again. They attempted a brief and awkward relationship while the three were just beginning their hunt, but it ended when they decided once and for all that they were horrible together, no ifs, ands or buts about it.

Ron then decided to look to Luna Lovegood, realizing that the fact that she kept “growing on him” meant that he actually had begun to fancy her quite seriously.

Harry and Hermione’s story was not as simple. There was a bit of the expected angst and some tension as the two tried to sort out their feelings for one another. They struggled year-long to be together properly, hoping for the chance to be safe and happy once the war was over.

Ginny would never forget how foolish she felt when she worked up the courage to visit Harry in St. Mungo’s. It was three days after he had vanquished Lord Voldemort, and she went through the trouble of buying him a present from the gift shop, hoping that would get her in good with him.

She hummed and smiled as she made her way down the hall to his hospital room; Harry Potter had been given a private room. The Healers figured he obviously deserved it. She stopped in front of the door to his room, grinning confidently, and she fixed her hair a bit before knocking. She wanted to look good. Ginny raised her fist to knock and then thought better of it.

She didn’t need to knock! She was Ginny Weasley, the love of Harry Potter’s life! He would be ecstatic to see her again; he’d probably keep her in his room for who knew how long!

Quivering with excitement, she turned the knob and opened the door, walking into the room.

“Oh shit!” she gasped, taking a large step back and bumping into the nearby wall. Her eyes were wide with disbelief and she looked as if she were a muggle who had just seen a ghost.

Harry and Hermione were sitting on his bed, talking closely, and just as she walked in Hermione had leaned in to kiss Harry very affectionately on the mouth. They didn’t even notice she was there until she cursed and bumped into the wall.

“Ginny,” Harry said slowly, looking confused. “Erm, hey.”

Hey. Hey. That was it? Just a stupid fucking hey!? She stared at him as if she could not believe what he was saying.

“What’s going on?” she demanded angrily, tossing the wrapped gift aside, to the floor. It skidded to a stop somewhere underneath his nightstand.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

“I mean, what in the hell is going on?” she yelled furiously. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. They didn’t really understand what she was on about.

“You were kissing!” she elaborated when they didn’t say anything. “You were kissing her, Harry! What the hell was that? What … what about you and me?” she asked softly, tears coming to her eyes.

Harry still didn’t seem to understand what she was talking about. “Ginny, what are you talking about?”

She yelped in distress and brought a hand to her mouth, looking utterly heartbroken. Harry and Hermione almost felt sorry for her.

“Ginny,” Hermione said delicately, “I thought Harry and you broke up a year ago.”

“It was temporarily!” Ginny spat to Hermione. Had it been venom Hermione would have been dead.

“It was not, Ginny, and you know it,” Harry told her severely, no longer looking confused. He looked annoyed. “I told you very clearly at Dumbledore’s funeral that it was over between us, and you agreed. I didn’t even talk to you at Bill and Fleur’s wedding. Wasn’t that a clue at all that I was moving on?”

“NO!” she screamed, crying some more. Her tantrum was very unappealing. Her face was screwed up with emotion, red from anger and wet from her tears. She looked like a train wreck; so much for looking ‘good’. “No, Harry, you broke up with me to protect me---we were supposed to get back together! We were … we were supposed to end up together!”

“Ginny, you’re being stupid.”

“No, I’m not being stupid! Harry!” she said desperately, moving from the wall and to his bed. “Harry, I know you think you want to be with her, but … think about it, really. You’re substituting me for her! I know it must have been tough having no other girl around and so having to resort to Hermione, but … I’m here now. We can be together.”

Hermione nodded her head in pity. She stood up, reaching out to pat Ginny consolingly on the arm, but Ginny aggressively swatted her arm away.

“Don’t you come near me!” she growled. “How could you do this to me? You’re supposed to be my friend! And now you’re taking Harry from me…”

“Ginny,” Hermione said with a stern bluntness, “you’re delusional.”

Harry stood up too, and put his arm around Hermione, hoping she would get the hint.

“Ginny, a lot has changed. An entire year has gone by. We’ve all matured beyond belief. When I dated you I had no idea what I wanted, I just was going after what was easy. You were always willing to drop everything to be with me, and that was easy; I liked that then. But I’ve grown up. I love Hermione.”

Hermione looked over at Harry, her brown eyes alight with love and care, and she smiled at him.

“Well, fine,” Ginny said, feeling absolutely pathetic. “I’ll just go and leave you two to be together. I’m not going to harp on about you when you want to be an arse. You can both sod off, by the way!”

She left in a storm of rage, slamming the door shut as hard as she could. Her temper tantrum didn’t seem to affect them one bit. The moment she was gone they returned to being at complete ease.

The very next day they were released from St. Mungo’s, and the Daily Prophet did yet another front cover article on Harry and his two partners Ron and Hermione. They included a photograph of Harry himself, taken upon leaving St. Mungo’s. They also included two photographs of the trio together, one from when they were younger and a second from recent times. The final picture they included were of Harry and Hermione. It was a lovely photograph for everyone but Ginny; it was of the two walking out of St. Mungo’s together, holding hands and looking content. The photographers following them had wanted them to stage a dramatic kiss for the front page, but they didn’t want the attention. They were content without such publicity.

# # #

There was a huge bash thrown for Harry’s eighteenth birthday. The party was thrown at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, which had been completely redecorated and refurnished for the party. And it was a nice party. Harry really enjoyed it.

Granted, he spent most of his time in the company of the people he liked best---Hermione, Ron, Remus, Neville and Luna, but he did mingle with a few former classmates and other Order of the Phoenix members.

Though both were pretty awful dancers, Harry and Hermione enjoyed sharing a few dances. The fact that they weren’t the best dancers was hilarious. It kept them laughing as they danced to the music Tonks was selecting herself from the front of the ballroom. They even got to dance a song by themselves, as everyone else looked on and beamed.

Ginny looked on and felt like puking. She settled for pouting. She had since apologized to Harry and Hermione for her tantrum, explaining to both that she had not been in the right state of mind that day. They had accepted her apology calmly enough, but they did not seem to even notice she was alive. Neither of them paid her much mind.

“Hey Ginny,” Neville said, coming to a stop beside her. She was standing at the edge of the dance floor watching the couples dance, specifically Harry and Hermione. “Do you want to dance?” he asked nicely.

“No, Neville, I don’t want to dance,” Ginny snapped moodily.

“Oh, okay then,” Neville said quietly. He turned to look at the dance floor as well, and the two stood there in a long silence. Finally, he glanced at her, and said, “What’s wrong? You looked miffed about something.”

“I am not miffed about anything, Neville. You’re imagining it.”

“Oh, okay. I was just wondering what was troubling you. Everyone is so happy tonight, especially Harry. I’m really glad things are turning out so great,” Neville said earnestly. “Everyone here deserves some happiness.”

“I don’t apparently,” Ginny mumbled.

”What? Yes, you do!” Neville said. “Why don’t you dance?”

“Because I hate dancing; dancing is stupid.”

“Do you remember when we danced at the Yule Ball? That was loads of fun; you didn’t seem to think dancing was stupid then,” Neville pointed out.

“Neville, will you leave me alone?” she asked tearfully. “I’m clearly heartbroken here, having to be around Harry and Hermione---Harry doesn’t even know I’m alive. It’s as if he went to not knowing I’m alive, to knowing and appreciating I’m alive, and now to not knowing I’m alive. And that Hermione! That Hermione—”

“—loves Harry very dearly, Ginny,” Neville interrupted. “They are really good together. Maybe you should move on and stop dwelling on it.” He took a step back, frowning. “If you don’t want to dance with me, I’m going to go chat with someone else.”

She didn’t say anything as he left her alone again. Sighing, she folded her arms and thought of how to better the situation. There had to be a way. She had gotten Harry to fancy her once, she could do it again.

Reaching into her jumper pocket she retrieved her wand, smirking slowly. Romilda Vane had come across an old love spell her grandmother had used to trick her grandfather into noticing her, and the rest was up to the caster to keep that attention.

If she were to get the attention of Harry for a second time she would hold it for keeps. She would not mess up like she had the last time, allowing him to break up with her and then go run off and spend a year exclusively in Hermione Granger’s clutches. She would not let him go this time; she’d cling onto every last inch of him.

Still smirking, she subtly pointed her wand at the dancing Harry and Hermione, trying to get a good aim at Harry. Unfortunately, Hermione was in the way. Ginny waited as they turned and spun, laughing all the while. Eventually they switched positions and Harry was in perfect aim.

It was then or never for Ginny, and she was not passing her opportunity up!

She opened her mouth wide and bellowed, “Trickacoporous!”

A second passed and nothing happened but people turning and looking at her with surprise. She ignored their stares and looked down at her wand in confusion. Then, suddenly, it gave a violent, jumping vibrate and the next thing she knew her own curse had backfired on her, a puff of thick and green smoke engulfing her completely.

Everyone had stopped dancing, the music stopping too, and every party guest was now watching on in a mixture of mingled shock, curiosity, and apprehension. No one knew what was going on.

Ginny coughed and coughed through the thick smoke, her wand falling from her grasp and to the floor. She thought she was going to pass out from being unable to breathe and from inhaling so much of that strange green smoke, but then it started to thin, and her vision was clear as day.

Everyone was indeed looking at her, and once the green smoke had cleared, everyone began laughing.

She frowned, heartbeat racing in terror. Why were they laughing?

“What did you do to yourself?” someone managed to call out to her through their fits of laughter.

Alarmed, Ginny raised her hands up to look at them, and then she screamed. She was green! Her skin was green. She had somehow turned herself green. Absolutely horrified, she ran off and out of the ballroom, crying and panicking. Was she going to stay this way forever? She locked herself in the bathroom, staring wide-eyed into the mirror at her green reflection. She collapsed in cries of disbelief, wondering how she could be so unlucky! Why had her spell backfired?

Back in the ballroom, everyone had slowly gone back to dancing. Tonks, befuddled, had turned the music back on.

“I suppose Ginny has given a new meaning to green with envy,” Luna said.

Ron couldn’t help but laugh. Ginny was his sister, but it would be a good moment to bring up whenever she tried to make fun of him about tripping around Fleur.

“You said it, Luna,” Ron replied. “What was she doing, though?”

“I think she was trying to cast a spell, but it backfired,” Luna told him, smiling serenely. “Ginny will be fine. She has always said she loves attention, and I think she looks quite becoming in green.”

Ron laughed.

“Where did she go?” Harry asked, Hermione and himself joining Ron and Luna on the edge of the dance floor. They were both pink in the face and breathless from dancing.

“I dunno; I think she left,” Ron said, shrugging. “Yeah, I know I’m her brother and I should go after her, but I kind of like that for once I’m not the one making an arse of myself, so I’ll leave it be.”

“She never does come to your rescue when you’re embarrassed, does she?” Hermione asked.

“Not really. She usually just calls attention to it and makes it worse. But what happened?” Ron asked the couple. “Why in the hell did she turn herself green? Why would she want to?”

Hermione shook her head, smiling cleverly. Harry loved that clever smile of hers.

“She didn’t purposely do it, Ron,” Hermione explained knowingly, “she must have tried to cast some kind of a love spell, and it backfired on her, because of her jealousy. Those spells are ridiculous and shouldn’t be counted upon. They backfire very easily and have dire consequences; I suppose the spell Ginny tried to cast backfired on her, because of her envy, hence why she’s green.”

“All right, know-it-all, thanks for the long explanation,” Ron said teasingly, “all you had to say was that she was jealous.” He turned to Luna and offered his hand. “Care to dance, my lady?”

“Well, Ronald, if you had informed me beforehand that you would want to dance I would have worn my magical tap dancing shoes. You should really see me go!”

Together they stepped off into the crowds of dancing party guests, leaving Harry and Hermione alone. Hermione turned to Harry, that tempting clever smirk of hers still on her face.

”So, what do you think?” she asked.

Harry looked down at her, eyebrows raised. “What do I think? I think Ginevra Weasley is easily on the top ten list of the most pathetic people I’ve met in my life.”

Hermione laughed. “Only the top ten?” she asked, amused.

“Well, it’s not like I have the list actually written down or anything,” he remarked, chuckling. “Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.”

“Do you think she’s all right? Should I go and find her? I could probably set her right again …”

“No, let her be,” Harry said simply. He brushed a few strands of hair behind Hermione’s ear, his hand resting gently on her cheek. “You’re too compassionate for your own good, Hermione. She hates you. I think maybe some time being green will do her good, don’t you think? It’s not easy being green.”

Hermione had only just begun to smile when Harry surprised her with a kiss. She brought her arms around his neck, drawing him closer, and his hands came to rest on her waist. They were not sure how long they stood there kissing (not that they cared), but it was for a very, very long time.

Meanwhile, Ginny stayed green for an even longer time, for even when her skin was rid of the color, her personality was not.

# # #

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review.

And, yes, I will update One Night Standards tomorrow!