TITLE: All Roads Lead Back
KEYWORDS: Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Draco and the rest of the gang. Primarily H/Hr, but a slew of various ships as well. Post-HBP.
SYNOPSIS: Harry Potter always figured that once his destiny was fulfilled he could finally have a happy, normal life. Unfortunately for him, he fell in love with his best friend...and everything went straight to Hell! A very gradual, slow moving H/Hr love story told through multiple canon character perspective as well as several flashbacks. Set 7 years after the final battle.
SPOILERS: All six books.
WORD COUNT: 8,146
RATING: NC17 for language and later sexual content.
BETA: Padfoot & murphsmine
WARNING: Some one-sided H/G. It might make some uncomfortable. And yes it is mean. *g* You have been warned.
DISCLAIMER: If it looks like it's JKR's, well, that's because it is. She's provided me with the canvas and I'm truly enjoying painting on it.
Friday, 05/27/05
"That cow!"
Ginny looked up from her plate of Death by Chocolate cheesecake, and stared across the table at her dining companion, her fork still poised at her lips.
"THAT COMPLETE AND UTTER COW!"
At the second earsplitting utterance Ginny blithely rolled her eyes and proceeded to swipe a bite of the creamy morsel off of the gold plated utensil she held in her hand.
When Lavender had floo'ed that morning to ask her out to lunch Ginny had jumped at the invitation. She had been feeling forlorn and inconsolable since dawn, and thought that maybe a change of scenery and some good girl talk might help improve her mood. But if Lavender thought that her own minor trials and tribulations were so earth shattering, Ginny found herself feeling hard pressed to feel any sympathy for her. Ginny knew of trouble, real trouble. It had only been a few hours since she and Harry had had an encounter, of the frustrating kind, and she was still smarting from the experience.
Ginny had awoken during the middle of the night to hear her husband whimpering loudly in the bedroom down the hall from her own. She had been worried about him as of late. Something seemed to be weighing heavily on Harry's mind.
For the past few nights at the dinner table Ginny would look up from her stew or her salad to see a detached and far away look on her husband's face. Ginny surmised that whatever was disturbing Harry had a lot to do with the big case he was working on currently. Draco Malfoy had even stopped by the Palace late one evening two weeks prior to drop off some important looking parchments. Harry made it a point to never socialize with Malfoy outside of work, so Ginny could only view this breach of normal conduct as important.
Ginny hardly minded that Harry showed so much devotion to his career. The thought of the great and powerful Harry Potter, taking on all evil doers, and making the world safe for all wizarding kind was far more of a turn on than she cared to admit. When Harry left Puddlemere to become an Auror, Ginny convinced herself that for Harry chasing after the Snitch would never compare with saving the world. Harry Potter was a hero. And that was who Ginny married, a hero. Ginny's only wish was that he would show as much devotion to her and their marriage. She cooked for him. She kept his house clean (with a little help from Dobby). She attended to his every whim. How could she love him any more? Here she was even, leaving the comfort of her cream colored duvet to see why her husband wasn't sleeping well.
She was in such a tear to get to him that she didn't even bother to slip on her bedroom slippers, or throw on her dressing gown. He's seen me in less; she mused as she smoothed down the front of her ankle length midnight blue peignoir, and pulled its left strap back onto her shoulder. As she padded down the oriental patterned runner of the hall, she could hear the sounds from Harry's room getting louder. When she reached the oak door of the bedroom she knocked tentatively on it.
"Harry?" she nervously queried.
All she got back were jumbled, muffled groans that sounded like "stop" and "don't". Ginny gently pushed open the door, thankful that it hadn't been locked. She had foolishly left her wand back in her room.
As she stealthy entered through the door, she looked towards the bed. Although she could barely see due to the darkness surrounding her, she could make out Harry's form writhing on the mattress. Ginny's heart sped up in fear. Back when they were still dating Ron had once joked that if Harry and Ginny were ever to get married Ginny would need to invest in crash padding for their bedroom. Ginny had assumed that her prat of a brother was making an off-colored joke at her and Harry's expense, so she hexed his eyebrows off in retaliation. She had used a non-verbal incantation and Ron hadn't been aware that his brow line had been spelled as smooth as a new born babe's bottom until his girlfriend at the time, Hermione, entered the Burrow's kitchen and collapsed onto the floor in a fit of tears and laughter. When Hermione would answer his questions of "what's so bloody funny" with only more giggles followed by pointing, Ron retreated to the bathroom to go have a look see.
Ron didn't speak to Hermione for two days after that. It took him one whole week to finally forgive Ginny.
Hermione later confided to Ginny that in those last few months before Voldemort's defeat Harry, who had always been prone to nightmares before, had almost gone mad from the visions Riddle started sending him during the night. The Dark Lord, sensing that the end (either way) was near, decided to go for broke and use the connection he had to Harry's head like a weapon against him.
As soon as he would fall into a deep sleep, Harry would see before his eyes scenes of death and destruction. Mangled bodies would be everywhere, and all of them would resemble the people that he loved and cared about the most. The insides of Harry's own head had become a battlefield. No matter where he laid his head at night; the Hollow, Hermione's, Hogwarts, those dreams would follow him.
Since Ron usually slept nearby his best friend it usually fell to him to try to comfort Harry during these episodes. Ron would even get in the bed and hold him while he whispered comforting words to try to help both of them get to sleep. This went on for months with poor results until Hermione ended up in the bed with both boys as well. She and Ron would sleep on either side of Harry; all three faces pressed together so closely that one could hardly tell whose tears were whose. Eventually Harry was able to sleep through the night.
"I'm sure that after Harry and I get married I'll be able to take care of him just as well," Ginny had high-handedly told Hermione then.
However Ginny never got the chance to make good on that claim. After the wedding, once she and Harry began sharing the same bed, Harry never once roused her from her sleep. Ginny began to suspect that Hermione had simply exaggerated the whole story. Typical. However when Ginny questioned Harry about it not too long after they got married, he confirmed the truth of Hermione's claims.
"Well you don't dream so awfully any longer," she irritably complained.
They were both lying in bed at the time preparing to go to sleep. He turned on his side to face her.
"That's because I have you now."
He then leaned over and kissed her forehead.
"You're the best security blanket a bloke could have."
Of course no sleeping was done after a comment like that.
As Ginny reached the bed and crouched over Harry, she couldn't help but think that such was the case no longer.
By this time her eyes had adjusted to the dark. Harry was lying on his back with the sheets thrown off him. His right leg was bent on the bed while the other was twitching. He was clad only in a pair of satiny black pajama bottoms; his nicely sculpted chest was bare. This was the closest Ginny had been to her husband in weeks, and her mouth nearly watered due to the proximity. She bit down on her lip to withhold the groan that wanted to come out at the sight of all that smooth, hairless skin.
Harry's head was turned facing her and his usually untidy, shaggy mop of unruly long hair was even more tousled than normal. He looked like an angel, a ravished angel. He had his right arm thrown across his forehead while his left was at his side, the hand mindlessly clutching at the bed slip. Ginny couldn't help but be entranced by the imprint of the swollen erection that strained against the material of Harry's pajama bottoms.
Even though she knew that Harry was having a nightmare, Ginny was a tingle all over. To put it bluntly, she was in heat. There was just something unquestioningly erotic about his appearance. His tensed body just seemed to hum with some kind of kinetic sexual energy. Why with the way his face was all screwed up in concentration, it looked almost similar to the way Harry looked when he was about to...
"Please..."
Ginny furrowed her brow, her train of thought lost.
"Please, don't..." Harry moaned.
Ginny ducked down nearer to him and placed her hands softly on his shoulder.
"Harry, wake-up," she gently said trying her best not to spook him.
"Stooooooooooop..."
His voice sounded so wretched and pleading that Ginny had a hard time believing that it actually belonged to her big strong husband, and not to some snotty nosed little brat begging his mum for a lolly. As Ginny pondered on this further, she felt two strong hands latch on to her upper arms in a firm grip. Before she knew what was what, she had been flipped on to her back, her body being pressed into the bed by the man straddling her.
"What the-"
Ginny didn't get to finish her sentence; a pair of soft full lips was in the way.
Yessssssss! Ginny nearly wept from the sheer relief of it. This was it. This was what had been missing all this time. This was what had been lacking in her marriage. Passion! Fuck devotion. Passion was what she wanted, she thought as their tongues tangled over and over again. Why Harry hadn't kissed her like this since...well, Harry had never kissed her like this! It was like he was trying to pour his very soul into her. Ginny almost protested. It's just all too much! It will never fit, her thoughts screamed in her head. But her body? Her body didn't seem to mind. Parts of Harry were touching parts of Ginny that they hadn't touched in ages.
When Ginny had been thrown on the bed her nightgown had ridden up to her hips. Without even realizing, it she wrapped her legs around Harry's waist and tried to urge him as close as she could by pressing her heel to his bum. The only thing keeping him from sliding right into where she desperately needed him was his pajamas and her knickers. Damn the luck! Ginny would have reached down and removed the offending garments herself if her two hands hadn't already been busy, fisted in Harry's shock of cool crisp hair. Harry's own hands were caressing the sides of her face. His calloused fingers rubbed at her skin gently, and the two sensations combined made her almost scream in delight. Instead Ginny moaned into his mouth as Harry slowly moved his hands across the planes of her face. His fingers crept slowly into her hairline, then plunged into her fiery mane; her silky, straight hair. They threaded through out her baby fine tresses.
All of a sudden everything stopped. Fingers stopped stroking. Lips stopped caressing. Harry's pelvis stopped pushing furiously against hers.
"Ha-Ha-Harry..."
To Ginny's confused mind she couldn't figure out why all of the good, tingly sensations had ceased. As she slowly opened her eyes, and dropped her legs and arms to the bed, she caught the soft glow of light that was emanating from Harry's wand tip. He was still on top of her, but he was in a sitting position. Though his whole body was stiff with tension, Ginny could see that his...arousal...had deflated somewhat.
"Harry, I don't understand. What's wrong?"
That was when she looked fully at his face. As long as she would live, Ginny believed she would never forget the expression she saw there. Shock. Harry was completely surprised to find that the woman underneath him, the woman he was about to make mad, passionate love to, was his wife of more than five years.
"Ginny?!"
"Yeah, it's me. Why did you stop?"
Harry looked at her with wide, dark green eyes clearly confused as to how they had ended up in this particular predicament.
"I...um...I..." Harry stuttered out. "I g-guess I had been dreaming?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and swallowed back her irritation.
"That much is clear. You were making so much noise that I came in here to see what I could do for you."
"Oh," he said dully.
"Yeah, oh."
Ginny sat up and Harry practically leapt off of her, kneeling on the bed to her left.
"Then we started...well, you know. And then you stopped."
That last bit came out a mite bitter.
"Why did you stop?" she asked again.
Harry ran his hands through his hair and looked around the room as if he was searching for answers anywhere he could find them.
"I don't know, Ginny. I guess I was just tired and confused. I really didn't know what I was doing," he casually said. His eyes seemed determined to look anywhere but at her.
"Oh." Ginny closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry. Not now at least!
Harry spoke the incantation to extinguish his wand and slipped it back under the pillow where he usually kept it. The room once again was shrouded in darkness.
"I'm zonked," he said as he stretched his body out and gathered his poor rumpled sheets over him. "I think I'm going to try to catch a few more winks. Tomorrow is Friday and I need to be alert for our department briefing."
He closed his eyes as he laid his head back on the pillow.
"Are you staying?" he asked, stifling a yawn.
If she had still been Ginny Weasley she would have snapped at this point. She would have jumped on Harry and beat at him with her tiny fists until he was black and blue. She would have jumped on Harry and shagged him good and proper until he was black and blue. She definitely wanted to jump on Harry and cry on to his chest, be it black or blue. But she was Ginny Potter. Her husband was tired and he needed to be up bright and early so that he could save the world.
"No Harry, I don't think so. I'm afraid my feet are too cold and they'll just keep you up the rest of the night," she said as she removed herself from the bed. The false cheer in her voice nearly made bile rise up in her throat.
A dreamy sort of smile crossed his face and Harry turned over on his side, his back facing her.
"You're just too good to me, Ginny," he murmured sleepily.
Ginny wasn't sure how long she stood at the side of that bed, but it was well after sleep descended on Harry making his breathing shallow. Eventually she found herself back in her room. She walked over to her nightstand in a trance-like state and picked up her wand. She then went into the bathroom connected to her bedroom. She cast a spell to lock the door and one to block all sounds from leaving the room. She then cried herself to sleep on the tiles of the floor.
Harry had already left for the day by time Ginny came downstairs to prepare breakfast.
"I don't care if she has the most read column in the Prophet; Daphne Greengrass is a no-talent hack!"
Ginny picked up another morsel of cheesecake on her fork and lifted it to her lips. This is almost better than sex, she thought as she swallowed the delectable confection down. Well, definitely better than not having sex.
"What are you on about, Lav?"
They were having lunch at the Leaky Cauldron that day with plans to go into Diagon Alley after. Lavender was sitting across the table from her, head lowered over a copy of the Daily Prophet, her plate of fruit salad untouched.
"THIS!" she exclaimed irritably. She practically shoved the page she had been reading into Ginny's hands. "Just look at this tripe!"
Ginny dropped her fork on her plate and picked up the paper. The first thing she saw was a small picture of the witch who covered the society section for the paper by her byline, Daphne Greengrass. The cute, dark haired, coal eyed woman had been in Lavender's year back at Hogwarts. Her column was called "Daphne Tells It All". It covered the big social events of Great Britain's wizarding elite. Engagements, weddings, baby announcements, parties, promotions; all of it was spread out over three to four pages. If you also wanted to find out what couples were living in separate houses, the names of those engaging in torrid affairs, or who was going to kill his wife if he walked in on her with the wireless repairman yet again, Daphne told that all too. It really was little more than a gossip sheet. It was also the first section most people usually turned to in the morning. Daphne's picture winked at her. Ginny and Harry's comings and goings had once been featured often.
"What am I supposed to be looking at again?" Ginny asked trying to figure out what had her friend all in a tizzy.
"My Morgana, Ginny, the bloody mention of the engagement party!"
Ginny spread the paper out on the table and looked all over for the announcement. She eventually found it at the bottom of her right hand side.
"Aha! Found it."
"Took you long enough," grumbled Lavender.
Ginny ignored the comment. She scanned the notice quickly, and finding nothing wrong, looked back up at Lavender again.
"I don't get it. What's so bad about this?" a confused Ginny asked.
"What's wrong with it?!" Lavender exclaimed. "What's wrong with it?!"
Ginny sighed. Lavender could be so dramatic.
"What happens when two Gryffindors fall in love," Ginny read from the paper in a fake announcer's voice. "Wedding bells! Ronald Billius Weasley, charming Keeper for the Wimbourne Wasps, and Lavender Brown-Pye, the young widow of the late broom entrepreneur Cornelius Shepfield Pye, will be joined on June 23rd at an as yet unnamed location. Since the banns were announced just a few days ago all of Great Britain has been a-twitter over the news. If you always knew that these two lovebirds were destined to be together, like I did, come join the happy couple this Sunday begin the Rites for their blessed union. The fête will be held at the Weasley family compound in Ottery St. Catchpole. Although this will be the bride's second wedding, we here at the Prophet are keeping our fingers crossed that it will hopefully be her last."
Ginny had to smother the giggle that bubbled up at the subtle dig.
"Why did she have to mention Corn?"
"Well you were married to the man, Lavender."
Lavender looked at Ginny as though she were simple minded.
"That was ages," she said, a bored expression on her face.
"The man only died three years ago."
Lavender scowled at that, so Ginny quickly switched topics.
"Other than that, you must admit it was a perfectly fine mention." She then handed the paper back to Lavender.
"Sure, but who is going to read it," she said in a loud and whinging tone as she snatched the paper back.
At this point most of the other customers at the tables surrounding them turned to see what the fuss was about. Lavender gave them all the stink eye.
"Ron and I got tossed to the bottom of the page as if we were rubbish," she pouted as she turned back to the table.
Lavender loved her social standing almost as much as she loved Ginny's older brother.
"But did you see who got a big photo and interview?"
"It looked like McLaggen and the Pug," Ginny said as she took a sip of her butterbeer. Lavender had opted to try a frothy, fruity drink that would pop and fizz and put on a little firework display every few minutes. After she swallowed down a bit of it, she opened the paper back to the society section again.
"Pansy and Cormac: Tales from a happy Slythedor marriage," she read in a voice oozing with disdain.
She turned back to Ginny.
"What's so special about a Slythedor marriage?"
"Well you know there has always been a long standing rivalry between the two houses. Some say the grudge goes back as far as Godric and Salazar. You hardly ever hear about inter-marrying between the two." Ginny shrugged. "I guess some think that the McLaggens are rare and therefore special."
"Well it's not like they rewrote the bleeding Magna Carta!"
Ginny snorted. Lavender was really taking her Muggle studies seriously.
"The Pug and her li'l bitch are always in this thing," Lavender said as she shook the paper furiously. "The happy couple this...the happy couple that, when we all know that Cormac can't keep it in his pants."
"He used to chase Hermione around her desk when they worked together at the Ministry."
"Gabby Delacour says that he is always over at Beauxbatons recruiting the pretty young things for his department. Ha! She can hardly keep the silly little bints in class when he comes around."
"I hear he does the same thing at Hogwarts. Never chats up any of the blokes."
"Humph," muttered Lavender as she speared a melon chunk off of her plate and chewed it furiously. "Of course Parkinson probably doesn't give two shits. She only married the brute because he had the three things she loved most; money, connection, and pure blood," Lavender counted out on her fingers.
Ginny tittered.
"Well..." she took another bite of her dessert, "...I bet I know one thing McLaggen has that Pansy doesn't love."
Lavender looked at Ginny, half-listening as she sipped on her Pink Pixie.
"A penis."
Lavender's drink went shooting out of her mouth. Once again they drew stares.
"Sorry," Ginny apologized sheepishly to those sitting nearest her. Lavender scooted her chair closer to the table.
"No!"
Ginny shook her head affirmatively.
"No!"
Ginny chuckled.
"But what about Malfoy, weren't they an item once?"
"Yes. Then in my Fifth Year, your Sixth, Draco Malfoy became He Who Must Not Be Named's errand boy. Pansy needed someone to keep the loneliness at bay, didn't she?"
Lavender hung on to Ginny's every word. It was as if V-Day had come early this year.
"Tell us who Ginny, tell us who?!" she pleaded.
Ginny looked at her with an evil gleam in her eye.
"I don't know if I should," she teased.
"Ginny, please?"
Ginny laughed.
"Ok, ok."
Ginny looked around to make sure that their conversation wasn't being listened to. She then turned back to Lavender.
"Let's just say that Parkinson might make that gossip section constantly, but I'm pretty damned sure that dear Daphne isn't telling it all."
For a second, Lavender was totally at a loss as to what Ginny could mean. And then she made the connection.
"You are fucking with me!"
"No, no my friend. You and I don't have that kind of relationship, but Daphne and Parkinson sure did. Moaning Myrtle told me."
"Myrtle?" asked Lavender bemusedly. "Forgive me Ginny, but I have a hard time believing anything an emotionally stunted 14 year old dead girl would tell you."
"Don't knock the dead, missy. The Hogwarts ghosts knew all the best gossip," Ginny confided. "And if it went down anywhere near the pipes, you can believe Myrtle saw it."
When school reopened after the War, Ginny found herself back at Hogwarts being named Head Girl and Gryffindor house Quidditch captain. She also was Harry Potter's newly re-established girlfriend. This should have made her the most popular girl in school. Instead Ginny never felt so isolated.
The boys avoided her as if she had the plague. None of them wanted to get too friendly with The Chosen One's girl. If he could take out a dark lord, what couldn't he or wouldn't he do to them. Since Ginny only had eyes for Harry she didn't really mind the lack of male attention.
Most of the females ignored her as well, though. She had a gorgeous, rich, older boyfriend who was being recruited by all the top teams in the Quidditch league. It also didn't help that said boyfriend was the savior of all wizarding kind. Oh how the girls hated her! At first it had hurt, but eventually she came to see that all the other girls were just jealous. Ginny could hardly blame them. She would be jealous too if she wasn't so damned lucky.
Ginny had prestige, power, and at last she had her man. She convinced herself that if it meant having Harry in her life, she was willing to suffer the abuse. She just wished she had a friend she could talk to. With Colin dead and Luna off in her own world usually, Ginny realized that she wasn't really close to anyone else in her year. Before she had spent most of her time hanging with Harry, Hermione, and Ron, now she was all by herself. Neville was once again living in Scotland, in the city of Aberdeen going to school, and would visit her on the weekends. But other than those too brief moments spent with him Ginny felt terribly alone. That was how she and Moaning Myrtle became friends.
Myrtle had long held a grudge against Ginny because of the whole chamber opening, Riddle possessed, diary throwing incident back in First Year. What most people didn't know, and what Ginny was far too embarrassed to tell, was that for years after Myrtle would harass Ginny whenever she could. If the ghost caught the poor girl in the restroom on her own, she would soak her from head to toe. The harassment only got worse after she and Harry officially started dating in her Fifth Year. Myrtle had always had a bit of a soft spot for Harry.
By her final year Ginny felt that it was time to bury the hatchet with the dispirited spirit. One night after making rounds, Ginny entered Myrtle's sanctuary in the first floor girls' toilet. Before the usually high strung ghost could attack her, Ginny told her that she wanted to call a truce and be friends. Myrtle made crying like noises for ten minutes straight before happily agreeing. After that Ginny would spend an hour or two with Myrtle after her Head Girl rounds almost every night. Ginny would gush about Harry to the enraptured ghost, and Myrtle would tell her all of Hogwarts' secrets. It was a relationship of mutual benefit.
"You remember that restroom on the first floor, the one that Myrtle haunted?"
"More like terrorized," Lavender huffed.
"Yes, well, let's just say that a lot of...interesting things went down in that bathroom. Harry, Hermione, and Ron stole some ingredients from Snape and brewed up a potion in there once. Myrtle told me."
Lavender arched one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows.
"You're sure that's all they did in there?"
"That's sick, Lav!" Ginny snapped.
When the pretty young blonde looked perfectly chastised, Ginny immediately regretted losing her temper.
"They were only Second Years back then, besides Myrtle gladly told me all of the sex stuff."
"Like?"
"Filch bawling like a baby crying, 'Selene, Selene...why can't you love me Selene? Why can't you notice I'm alive', while wacking off."
"Selene? As in Professor Sinistra, that Selene?"
"That Selene."
"Gracious," said Lavender as her hand fluttered to her chest.
"Yes. Then there was the story of Terry Boot. He would sneak in there every Tuesday night with a duffel bag filled with girl's lingerie and knee socks he filched from the laundry. He also would carry around a large pair of Mary Janes. He liked to strip all of his own clothes off, slip on a pair of the stolen knickers, the socks, the shoes, and nothing else. He would then study his Arithmancy book until the crack of dawn."
"I always knew he was a poof."
"You only thought that because he didn't ask you to the Yule Ball way back when," Ginny teased.
"I had a perfectly lovely time with Seamus, thank you very much."
Ginny laughed as Lavender stuck her tongue out at her.
"But finish tell me about Parkinson and Greengrass," Lavender begged.
"Nothing much left to tell. They would just have these passionate little trysts and Myrtle would watch." Ginny snickered. "She would even act them out for me."
Ginny gave a little cough and changed her voice to sound eerily enough like Pansy's, high pitched and annoying.
"'Ooh Daph, your hair is as soft as a demiguise'."
Lavender chortled.
Ginny adopted a lower, silkier Welsh accent.
"'I'll love you forever and ever Pans'."
Lavender could barely control her laughter.
"You know, her plumbing might not work any more, but Myrtle sounds like a right perv."
"And how!" Ginny agreed.
The two women then entered into a companionable silence for a few seconds. Ginny finished her cheesecake and Lavender plopped a grape she lifted off of her plate into her mouth.
"Think they're still doing it?" asked Lavender curiously.
"Parkinson and Daphne?" Ginny queried. "I don't right know. But I have been at a Ministry function or two where you could cut the sexual tension with a knife."
"Goodness," exclaimed Lavender. "But you know it all makes sense now, all the little write-ups she gives the Pug. You know Slytherins never believe in giving something for nothing. I always knew Greengrass was an old snake through and through."
"Aww, Lav, Daphne isn't that bad."
Lavender scoffed at that, but Ginny still tried to argue the matter.
"She isn't, as far as Slytherins go. She's always been nice to me."
"Probably wants in your knickers!"
"Lav!"
"Well it's true."
"No really, Daphne never fell into that whole pureblood rigmarole that most Slytherins hold to. In fact her parents backed the Ministry during the War," Ginny said.
Lavender picked up the paper again and began to skim it.
"Be that as it may, I still don't like the bitch," Lavender said as she gave a toss to her summery blonde hair. "And I'll never be able to read this thing the same way again. Listen to this: As I was having supper at Presto's, the place to see and be seen, late Monday night Perfect Pair−rubbish−the McLaggens popped in for a bite. Being on such intimate terms with the couple..."
Ginny sniggered.
"...I made my way to their table to sit down and have a chat. As the three of us reminisced over our happier years in school; Hogsmeade visits, the Yule Ball, getting caught after curfew, I couldn't help but be in awe of the affection that lay between the couple. As Cormac, the Assistant Deputy Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, left the table to discuss important Ministry matters with his colleague, Galeta Hersh-"
"Oh come on now, she doesn't even work in his department!" Ginny interrupted.
Lavender continued to read.
"Pansy and I got down to business-goodness, at the table in front of everybody, ladies...kinky."
"You're so bad, Lav!"
"Shush! I'm still reading," she said in a mock stern voice. "'Pansy', I asked, 'please tell all the faithful readers of Daphne Tells it All just why you have such a lasting strong marriage'. The stunning, statuesque-oh I think I'm going to be ill now-blonde gave me a peaceful and content smile. 'My marriage is strong because I make sure my Cormmy is happy. I didn't need to bind him to me to keep him by my side-why that sanctimonious little-He's there because he wants to be there. I wasn't one of these pie in the sky little girls who think that marriage is all rainbows and unicorns. I knew that if I wanted a long lasting, healthy relationship I would have to work for it'."
As she continued to read from the paper, Lavender raised it in front of her. The view of her redheaded friend was blocked. She babbled on and on, completely clueless to the fire she was fanning before her.
"'And my hard work paid off. You know Daph, there are mornings when my darling husband won't even let me out of bed'−somehow I doubt that, old girl−As Pansy and I laughed over this−I bet they did−she slowly leaned in and left me with this final thought to share with you, dear readers: 'If you have to question the strength of the marriage, you might want to question the marriage'."
Lavender lowered the paper.
"The woman has no shame," she said, finally looking at her friend.
She was stopped cold.
When a magical child is born, its lineage doesn't automatically guarantee that the small babe will grow up to be a witch or a wizard. In fact the question of whether or not a child would have substantial powers or be a Squib(a condition that had once been rare, but was now growing steady prevalent due to the marriages of such closely related purebloods) could not be answered until said child showed any magical aptitude. Generally this occurred around the ages of 4 or 5 once the child expelled their first bit of accidental magic. This was a small blessing in and of itself. No mother would like to have a tot going through its terrible twos that could make its porridge fly across the room. Of course there are always exceptions. Yevgeny Murat was fabled to have somehow charmed his stuffed chimaera to stalk and eat his older sister's pet crup all at the tender age of 18 months. But such cases were rare.
In the Weasley household Molly and Arthur's boys' powers tended to pop up at age 5. Percy actually performed his first bit of accidental magic at the age of 3. Even then he was a suck-up. But the only Weasley daughter did raise concerns. By the summer of her 9th birthday Ginny Weasley still hadn't shown any magical abilities. Her parents were not overly concerned, though. They still had another year before drastic measures that would encourage her powers to come out would need to be taken. George had even helpfully proposed that they lock her in a pen with a half-starved quintaped once...and was promptly boxed in the ear for the suggestion.
Ginny, by all accounts, seemed to be unaware of her deficiency. She appeared to be a cheerful, boisterous child who lived for fun and mischief. But this was all an act. Ginny hated not having what others had! Although Ginny's parents made due for their large nest as best as they could, she still felt their lack of wealth keenly. Being a female didn't even exempt her from having to wear her brothers' old hand me down robes and trainers. Ginny valiantly soldiered on through this degradation.
But the idea that she might not grow up to be a witch, something that should be her natural birthright...Ginny couldn't even bear the thought of it. She would rather die than be a Squib! She never told a soul any of this though, just buried it deep down inside and put on a sunny smile. Ginny suffered Ron's teases. Ginny withstood pitying pats on the head from her mum followed shortly by a murmured, "poor dear". Ginny even ignored Percy's adult-like quips of, "at least she can't cause more trouble". She did plan to turn him into a pigeon the very first chance she got.
Then that fateful summer the whole family, minus Bill, went to visit Charlie in the Ukraine. Charlie, having recently graduated from Hogwarts, was in Chernihiv to apprentice under the acclaimed dragon huntress Gerda Winkler. She was a diminutive, older witch whose grandmotherly appearance often concealed her fierce temperament. She was the foremost expert on all dragon species, both living and extinct, in the world. She was also missing the limbs and an eye to prove it. She could hog tie a baby Fireball, smoked imported Salem pipes, and had a voice like a brass gong.
Gerda also liked for the young men in her tutelage to call her mother. Charlie simply adored her! He wrote home, sometimes three letters a week, gushing about "Mother". Molly couldn't stand the woman, sight unseen. As soon as Arthur got some leave time from the Ministry, and Percy finished up his Fourth Year while the twins were leaving their Second at school, she packed up her family to go visit her second born.
They spent two weeks camped out by the Desna river. Arthur and the boys would go out in the field with Charlie and his work mates, while Molly would watch Gerda like a hawk from the sidelines. Ginny usually was forced to stay with her mum. All in all though, Ginny enjoyed the trip. On their last day there Arthur gave Molly a wad of Muggle money, to Ginny's eyes what looked like a small fortune, to go buy his little princess something nice for her birthday.
They walked into town and Molly looked for a shoe store to buy Ginny a nice new pair of girl's shoes. But as they walked the streets, Ginny's attention was caught by the display in a nearby shop window. The store sold expensive porcelain figurines. Ginny instantly fell in love with a statuette of a Ukrainian noble woman dressed in a lilac colored Renaissance gown holding a small brown puppy. Ginny wanted to be that girl, but she would settle for being able to buy her and put her on her bureau. She tugged her mother into the store.
Molly at first tried to refuse her daughter's request, but after seeing Ginny's pleading face, acquiesced. The two Weasley ladies entered the store and waited for someone to serve them. And they waited. And they waited. They stood there for twenty minutes and watched customer after customer get served, some who had even come in after them.
After a while a discomfited Molly tried to shuffle her child out of the store, but Ginny would have none of it. She had to have that pretty lady! And her little dog too! Didn't her mum understand that? But before she could ask, Ginny saw one of the very attractive, well dressed shop girls lean over to her colleague and say, "bidnny" (poor), then look at her and her mum. Ginny may not have spoken the language, but she knew what that look meant. It was the same look she received from the other children when she showed up to Mandy Brocklehurst's birthday party in patched robes. It was the same look her mother got from passersby as she walked into the secondhand stores in Diagon Alley. It was the same look in little Meleficent Avery's eye as she informed Ginny that her mum said that they couldn't play together any longer.
Oh yes, Ginny knew that look. Usually she would force down the anger that would swell up inside her at those moments.
But not this day.
Something inside of Ginny just…snapped. She felt a heated wave throb, vibrate all through her body. It felt coarse. It felt sickening. It felt ugly. It felt powerful. For the first time in her young life Ginny Weasley experienced rage. Molly, who had been halfway out the door at this point, felt the pulse in the air of powerful magic being expelled. She turned to see her child's eyes turn indigo and her long red hair nearly stand off her head. Molly yanked her daughter out of the store as a porcelain swan sitting on a stand near her head exploded.
Ginny ended up breaking every figurine in the store that day, all save the girl and her little brown puppy. Ginny was officially a witch. She was also grounded. Molly stressed to her that if she ever let her emotions get out of control like that again it could be disastrous. Ginny had to learn how to control her temper. And she did. She never had another episode like that one in Chernihiv again. Until now.
Lavender tore her gaze from the near purple face of her future sister-in-law, and placed it on the now empty flute she had been drinking out of. The glass had been rattling around on the table as if it were doing an angry jig. As Lavender looked at the tables nearby, she saw that all of the glassware and teacups were doing the same thing much to the consternation of the other patrons.
"Um...Ginny..." she fearfully said.
Ginny snatched the paper from her hands.
"Let me see that!" she snapped as the tremors came to a halt, thankfully. "Why this is just a pile of tosh! Absolute rubbish! Daphne obviously left a few things out. Ahem..." Ginny said before mimicking Daphne's accent. "'Pans, luv, how have you and your man whore of a husband managed to not kill each other after all these years'?"
She then gave an airy toss of her head and began to simper like Pansy.
"'Why Daph, dear, I simply allow my husband to chase after anything in knee socks and pig tails. And when I'm feeling particularly peckish myself, I invite you over, spread you wide open on my marriage bed, and put my tongue up your crotch!"
Ginny then threw the newspaper across the table. Lavender looked at her in shock.
"Ginny!"
Ginny defiantly met Lavender's eye and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"What's gotten into you today?"
More like what hasn't gotten into me today, she broodingly thought.
"Well whatever it is, I like it!" Lavender beamed, eyes bright with mirth.
Ginny looked at Lavender's big cheerful grin and couldn't fight the small smile that appeared on her own face.
"I've missed this you know, having a close female friend. I haven't had one since Parv ran away to New Guinea to chase after that mad Muggle she was in love with," Lavender said as she reached across the table, grabbed Ginny's hand, and squeezed it affectionately.
"I'm going to love being your sister, Ginny!"
Ginny squeezed back.
"I'm going to love having you for a sister, Lav. I wouldn't have chosen anyone else for Ron. I'm really glad he is marrying you."
Lavender squealed at this and clapped her hands merrily.
"I am too. Now let's pay the bill and get out of here so we can do some shopping."
~~**~~ ~~**~~
Ten minutes later the two nattily dressed women were walking down Diagon Alley, arms linked, chatting away. They made a lovely picture and some men couldn't help but gawk. Both girls were slender and stunning, though Ginny was a tad on the short side. Their elegant robes (both had accounts at Twillfit's and Malkin's), and stylish coifs (Ginny's long auburn locks were up in a French twist, while Lavender's fell just above her shoulders in golden waves) spoke of money. Though Ginny was easily the prettier of the two, Lavender's naturally vibrant and vivacious personality radiated from her and made her virtually the center of attention. They were the cream of the magical elite and every little girl wanted to grow up and be them. Lavender and Ginny knew this and relished it.
"Oh, did I tell you? Ron and I are going to file the adoption papers later today."
"Oh Lav, that's brilliant," Ginny said and squeezed her friend's arm. "Mum will be so excited!"
Lavender smiled.
"She treats Vi just like she was one of her own grands."
"And spoils her rotten too," Ginny clucked. "I never had it half so good. Rosemary, Felicity, and Violet get away with murder."
"Violet Weasley, that has such a lovely ring to it, doesn't it."
Even though it was not really said as a question, Ginny still shook her head affirmatively.
"Much better than Vi Pye, by any account. Could you imagine?! That's what the children at Hogwarts in a few years would have called my child; Vi Pye. Why that's tantamount to child abuse!" Lavender proclaimed.
Ginny was too amused.
"Well you did marry Olde Pye, Lav."
"I declare a change in subject," she stated primly.
"Alright, alright," Ginny said while giggling.
"Did you see that bit about Blaise Zabini in the paper?"
"No, what?"
"Looks like he got married."
"Oh? Do we know the witch?"
"The name didn't sound familiar; someone named Amparo Leon."
"Hmmm. Probably just left Hogwarts. More than likely some pure-blooded, elitist snob like him."
"Snob or not, back in school Blaise was such a yummy piece of arse," Lavender said in a dreamy tone.
"Lav!" Ginny exclaimed, scandalized.
"You know I never got to date a black bloke."
"Lav!"
"Did you and Dean ever-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence!"
"Ok, ok. Spoil all my fun," she said in mock seriousness.
As they came to halt suddenly, Ginny felt the dark cloud she had been under all day, begin to finally disperse. She really did enjoy the times she spent with Lavender. And she felt just horrible about losing it like that in front of her friend. It wasn't Lavender's fault that Pug Faced Parkinson was a horrid little bitch! Ginny could barely even remember what she had been so upset about. Everything about Pansy's life was a lie. Her secure marriage, her happy husband; they were all lies. And what's more, the woman probably had even begun to buy into her own self-invented delusions. Ginny could almost feel sorry for her. In fact she did feel sorry for her, she decided. Ginny Potter pitied Pansy McLaggen.
"Oh look, there goes Susie. She must be on lunch from Mungo's."
Ginny turned to look across the street at the plump, short woman whose dark blonde hair was tied in a severe top knot on her head.
"SUE! OH, SUSAN!" Lavender shouted failing her arms about.
The woman in the lime green Healer's robes walked into Obscurus Books, oblivious to Lavender's cries.
"Oh poo! She must not have heard me. You know I heard Parkinson is seeing her. I wonder how Susan in putting up with that nightmare. You would think the Pug would have gone to one of her little Slytherin mates. Tracy Davis has had her own practice over in Hogsmeade for years. 'Course Tracy Davis was as dumb as a garden gnome back in school. I wonder how she managed that."
"Hang on Lav, why would Pansy be seeing Susan Goldstein?" asked Ginny, a perplexed look on her face. "Susan treats pregnant witches."
"Well...yes," Lavender said, turning to look at the younger woman. "The McLaggens are expecting. I thought everyone knew that. It was in the paper just last week. Though how they managed that..."
Lavender chose that moment to look into the store front she and Ginny had stopped in front of and instantly lost her train of thought.
"Ooh, looks like Persephone's is having a sale today. Goody for us," she said as she turned back to her friend.
Lavender's happy smile quickly turned in to a frown of worry at the sight of the younger woman.
"Hey, your eyes are watering," she said.
"Oh, are they?" Ginny asked as she took the white handkerchief with her monogram, GMP, out of her robe pocket and dabbed at her eyes hurriedly. "I think I may be allergic to this new scent I'm wearing, is all."
"Oh, I hope it isn't that Chased garbage. It's made by that Cordelia Hunting; she plays Chaser for Appleby. I tried a sample of it just last week and it turned the back of my neck pea green. These barmy celebrities! Just because she can fly a broom real fast, does not make her qualified to make and hawk perfume."
Lavender continued to prattle on and on, never noticing her friend's stilted laughter.
"Next thing you know the stupid bint will have her own line of women's robes. Imagine!"
Lavender strolled right into the lingerie boutique and immediately walked over to a rack of sheer night gowns that left nothing to the imagination. Ginny followed slowly behind her. Lavender picked up a risqué, rose colored baby doll, and held it up against her body.
"You know, I bought one of these last year for Ron's birthday. He wouldn't let me out of the bedroom all weekend long," the flighty blonde boasted with pride.
Must be nice, thought a gloomy Ginny as she sidestepped the peek-a-boo nighties and headed straight to the back to look at the thermal underwear.
A/N: Next up is Harry's POV. Things to look forward to: Horcrux hunting, Tonks and little Wolfie Lupin, as well as the answer to just how and the hell Harry managed to get himself married to Ginny.
A few more points of interest...
1) All characters other than Galeta Hersh, Yevgeny Murat, Gerda Winkler, Meleficent Avery, Felicity Weasley, Amparo Leon, and Cordelia Hunting are canon.
2) The ages of the Weasley boys might be a little off for purposes of this story, but not by much.
3) I don't think we've ever been told clearly how old Myrtle was when she died so I made her 14.
4) According to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them a demiguise is an ape like creature that can make itself invisible and whose long silky hair can be used to make invisibility cloaks. A quintaped is a dangerous carnivore that is covered in thick reddish-brown hair, has five clubfooted legs, and a low-slung body. It has a taste for human flesh.
5) Persephone's lingerie boutique, the Pink Pixie martini, and Presto's restaurant are all original to this story.
Tell me if you like it. Tell me if you hate it. Just tell me something. Please review.