Disclaimer: Not mine, unfortunately. JK Rowling owns it all…
A/N: My reply to the "Flowers in the Attic" challenge by What Contented Men Desire, here you can find it: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26767 Hope you will enjoy, it's kind of dramatic at times.
Thanks to my beta Gingercat!
Craving the Fame
Chapter Two: Attempts At Seduction, Part I
When Ginny McTrodden, formerly Ginny Weasley, spotted who was knocking on the door of her and her husband's home from behind their house elf Stender, she grinned and went to greet her old friends.
"Harry! Hermione!" she squealed, hugging them both. "It's so good to see you! Come in, come in!"
The two smiled nervously at her, and once the kids were playing in the living room, the two adults explained their situation to Ginny.
"We are sorry to ask you this, Ginny" Harry said, "But Ron and Luna's flat is obviously too small for eight people living in it, and the same goes for Neville's. We truly have no other choice"
"Oh, nonsense, Harry. You don't have to justify yourself. You and your family are in a time of need and what are friends for if not for helping each other in dire situations?" Ginny said, contemporarily fluffing her hair.
"Well, but don't you need your husband's approval to let us live here?" Hermione asked, frowning.
"Who, Albert? No, he will be fine with it, as long as I approve" Ginny haughtily said, and Hermione felt a wave of disgust for her friend. She at times wondered how she and Ginny managed to remain friends when the redhead had changed so much from the little girl she first knew.
But after all, Hermione guessed she might have changed with the years herself, and not having realized it.
A few minutes later, Ginny was giving them a tour of the manor, and pointing out which rooms would be theirs, a sudden excitement bubbling inside her. This was the perfect occasion for her.
Of course, she was rich thanks to the marriage, but she was not famous. Only being Ginny Potter could make her famous like she craved, and while being married to Albert and spending lots of money was fun, now she had Harry forced to live in her house. A chance she must not let slip through her fingers to seduce him and convince him to leave that bookworm and marry her.
How could he have preferred Hermione over her perfect looks in the first place she couldn't fathom, but this was clearly a gift from fate to help her get what should have always been hers.
"Harry, this will be your room" she said, showing him a nice guest room, well furnished. It would have been perfect, if only it had had a double bed.
"Er, Ginny, there's only a bed here" the raven haired wizard gently protested, and the redhead looked at him apologetically, while on the inside she was grinning.
"Of course, there's only one bed, otherwise I couldn't try to seduce you if you slept in the same room of Hermione!" she thought, but instead she said, "I'm truly sorry, but we don't have double bed guest rooms…"
"Oh, well, we can always transfigure it" Harry shrugged, and took out his wand. Ginny scowled but no one noticed.
However, Harry's spell didn't affect the bed. Ginny almost squealed as she remembered.
"Oh, yes, how could I forget. Albert said we shouldn't transfigure the furniture, if we need something we can just buy it, so he made sure everything was transfiguration-proof. He says he doesn't want me to think he's not willing to spend money for my sake"
Hermione almost snorted. Ginny was wearing some really expensive robes, and saying she wasn't going cheap on her husband was an understatement.
The tour continued, and Hermione was a bit miffed that her room was on the opposite end of the corridor from Harry's, but sadly in the middle there were the bathrooms. Ginny had planned it well, putting them on that floor when she could have given them a double bedroom on the top floor. Now she just had to seal it before any of the Potters could find it and wonder why she kept Harry and Hermione separated when they could have had that room.
--
That night at dinner Harry, Hermione and their three children who had been quite satisfied with their new rooms but were still a bit sad for losing the house where they had grown up, and where their memories lay, met Albert McTrodden for the first time after a long time.
He was a rich wizard of Scottish origins, but born in France, where his father, Philippus McTrodden had met Jeanne Ducourt, a stunningly beautiful blonde woman, who was also one of the best Healers in France.
The two had met at a conference in Marseille, as Philippus was a Healer himself at St. Mungo's, even if his family inheritance would have permitted him to enjoy the pleasures of life without having to work.
Albert had chosen to not follow his parent's path in Healing, but he was a successful Herbologist, which was why Neville had recognized his name when Ginny had announced their wedding. From the little Hermione knew of him, Albert had been experimenting on some new varieties of magical plants in his personal greenhouse near Manchester. Well, the greenhouse was on the propriety of the house so he was never far away from home, but far enough that if some accident happened, those in the manor wouldn't be threatened.
Dinner was overall pleasant, and Ginny and Albert were the perfect hosts. After dinner Harry asked how come they didn't have children, and there was a bit of tension before Ginny explained that she felt she was still too young to be a mother.
Truth was, she had no intention of giving Albert a child, because she still hoped one day she would be married to Harry. Only then she would have babies, only Harry's.
--
For the following two weeks, life continued quite normally. Harry and Hermione would head to work in the morning, and Albert too, leaving Ginny home with the kids and the house elves.
That left the redhead with plenty of time to plan how to get Harry. She knew she shouldn't freak him out too soon, so she settled for a flirtatious nature, wearing dresses that while not vulgar, exalted her curves, especially her boobs, exposing her cleavage quite a bit.
Ginny also knew Hermione wasn't stupid, and if she stepped out of line the brunette would annoy her to no end, thus Ginny decided to slip a Confusing Potion in her food, so that her "enemy" wouldn't be aware of her advances toward Harry. As for Albert, their marriage was loveless, at least on her part, and he knew it but claimed he was content enough to be married to her. Clearly he lived in the delusion that one day she would love him back.
Poor lad.
However, if Harry noticed her flirting with him, he didn't show it at all, and the fact frustrated Ginny quite a bit. Deciding to step up her game a notch, that night she slipped Hermione a Sleeping Draught, so that the brunette excused herself early. The children were already in bed, and Albert claimed he had something to research so he closed himself in the library. That left Ginny and Harry alone in the living room, chatting.
Both were sitting on the couch, and Ginny moved closer.
Harry raised his eyebrows at her, but resumed sipping his Butterbeer.
"We don't see you often anymore" he pointed out. "Well, we didn't before this whole ordeal" he corrected himself, earning a giggle from Ginny, "but you know what I mean. The Weasley dinners, you don't attend them anymore"
She shrugged. "Mum keeps pestering me about grandchildren, and I don't want to hear about it" she said, moving even closer, their shoulders now touching.
Harry decided she might have had too much to drink, and that a retreat was a good course of action, so he excused himself, standing up.
Ginny followed suit, and smiled sweetly at him.
"Good night, Harry" she whispered, before kissing him hard on the mouth, pushing herself against him.
It took Harry a moment to shake himself from the shock, and he immediately pushed her away.
"Ginny, what the hell do you think you're doing?" he angrily said.
The redhead just raised her wand. "Obliviate!" she whispered, erasing the memory of the kiss from his mind.
"Good night, Harry" she said, before heading to her own bedroom. Her first attempt had gone awry, but after all, she hadn't pushed her luck too much. She still had a few cards to play, and hopefully they would have the desired effect.
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