London, 9:36 p.m. Bachelorette Party
“Another firewhiskey, miss?”
“Mmmm, how many have I had so far?” I asked the bartender.
“Three.”
“Make it four,” I said. I had taken to sitting at the bar by myself for the evening. Fleur’s last night as a single woman was as obnoxious as I had though it would be. She had a bunch of her snobby friends from Beauxbatons there, along with Tonks, the old people (meaning Mum and Fleur’s mum), and lots more people that I had never seen before.
At the start of the night, I tried to look excited for Fleur, but that was just not possible. She kept coming over to me and introducing her friends, who got more unbearable by the minute. She would say, “OOHHHH GEE-nee! You must let me introduce you to my BEST friend from child-‘ood. Gee-nee, this is Clair.”
“Eet ees a pleasure to meet you Gee-nee. I ‘ave ‘eard soo much about you. Fleur, her ‘air really is as red as you mentioned!” And then she did one of those shrill, snobby laughs. You know, when they stick their noses up into the air and let out a screech only audible to dogs. So that made me thrilled to be there.
Then she introduced one girl to me who didn’t speak any English, even though she had been studying the language for seven years. Her name was Window or something. I couldn’t understand what she said because every time she spoke it sounded like she was sneezing. Those girls just kept coming and coming. Which explains why I ended up at the bar.
That, and the fact that I had received another letter the previous day from Hermione.
I woke up the morning after we got Ron’s letter when Mum came into my room. She looked as though she had been crying.
“Mum, what is it? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’ve just gotten a letter from Hermione. It seems that they won’t be able to make it to the wedding after all.”
“Why not? Is everything alright?”
“Why don’t you read the letter and see for yourself,” Mum said. She handed me the folded parchment and left me alone in my room.
The letter said:
To the Weasley clan,
I’m terribly sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Harry, Ron, and I will not be able to make it to the wedding after all. Harry thinks that there are Death Eaters that have found out our location, and we don’t want any of them to follow us to the wedding. I think we’ll be leaving the country. I can’t tell you where we’re going, because I honestly have no idea. Ron is too upset to write. He was very much looking forward to visiting. And Harry says that he’ll miss seeing you as well. Sorry again, and please send Bill and Fleur our regards,
Much love,
Hermione
And so, I went to the bar. By myself. Drinking unhealthy quantities of firewhiskey. I mean, I had just gotten used to the idea that my brother, my best friend, and my ex-boyfriend were safe, and now they’re about to leave the country to avoid getting killed by dark wizards!
“What if something happens to them?!? What if Harry dies?” I kept thinking.
Anyway, soon the room was filled with staggering blondes and slurred French accents. The only sober person in the whole bar was Tonks. She must have been there to keep us safe. Order stuff, I think. She visited me at the bar.
“Hey Ginny. How’s it going?” she asked.
I motioned to the growing number of empty glasses at my side. “How do you think it’s going?”
“Not good, huh?”
“Nope. Not good at all.” I said, only tripping over my words slightly.
“What’s wrong, then?”
“It’s these stupid girls! I mean, can they even hear themselves talk? I can’t understand what the hell they’re saying sometimes, but it sounds really dumb! Bill has no idea what he’s getting himself into,” I said, purposefully not mentioning Harry to her.
“Ginny, don’t you think you’re being a little harsh? You don’t know these girls that well, they could be really nice...” Tonks said.
“I’m not being harsh. I’m just telling the truth!” I shouted. The bartender passed by, and I said, “Yeah mate, I think I’ll get another one of those. And one for my dear friend Tonks. She needs a bit of a pick-me-up, I’d say.”
“Ginny, I think you’ve had enough firewhiskey to last a lifetime. Let’s go outside, get some fresh air,” Tonks said reasonably.
Then I whispered loudly to the bartender and said, “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. FIFTEEN, you hear me? I’ll want another drink by the time I get back.”
Tonks grabbed my arm and helped me get out of the bar without tripping and making a huge fool out of myself. I didn’t really pay attention to where we sat down. All I remember is that it was really warm out and that I suddenly felt like dancing. But Tonks restrained me, and she said, “So your mum told me about Ron and everyone.”
“What about them?”
“You know what I mean. They’re not coming to the wedding. You must be upset.”
“No I’m not upset at all, actually. If they’d like to go off and get killed, that’s fine with me. I mean, obviously it would be nice if Ron stayed alive. He is my brother, you know. And Hermione, too. But it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other if I ever see Harry again,” I said. This was a blatant lie. Tonks knew that it was, too.
“Ginny. Stop pretending like you don’t still have feelings for him,” she said.
“I’m not pretending. I’ve moved on. I really have,” I said.
“You are the worst liar in world,” Tonks said.
“I am only bad at lying when I’m drunk. For instance, right now. Actually, I’ve never really been drunk before. In fact, I’ve never even had firewhiskey before, and after tonight I don’t think I’ll drink any more of it, because between you and me, it tastes awful...”
Then this song by the Weird Sisters came on that I absolutely loved, and the urge to dance was back. I hopped up from my seat and began to flop around foolishly, thinking I was looking cool. But I really wasn’t. Still, I was having a good time. Tonks just watched and resisted the temptation to laugh at me. She must have been glad that there weren’t a lot of people out that night because she probably would have been embarrassed by association with me.
But then this group of girls walked by. They went to Hogwarts too, but they were a year younger than me. One of them spotted me dancing -- or rather having a spaz attack -- and they started laughing. Right in my face! I mean, how rude is that?! I decided to walk up to the leader of the pack whose name was Esmeralda. (I’m sorry, but who looks at a newborn baby and says to his spouse, “Oh hey, honey. Doesn’t she look like an Esmeralda?”)
“Hey! Esmeralda! How’s it going? I haven’t seen you since school got out.”
“Oh hi, Ginny. I didn’t realize that was you,” She then shared a look with one of her friends that seemed to say, “Wow, classic dance moves,” and they burst into laughter again.
“Hey, uh, guys? I’m right here. Usually the rule is that you wait to laugh at someone until they’re not right in front of you,” I said.
That shut them up.
My pal Esme then said, “Oh no we weren’t laughing at you! We were laughing with you, silly!” Then she lowered her voice so that it was almost a whisper, and she said, “So how are you holding up? Everything alright between you and Harry? I saw you two talking at the -- you know -- funeral... It looked pretty serious.”
I didn’t quite know what to say to that.
“Uhhh, yeah, I guess we’re alright. I mean, we’re still friends, I guess. But we’re not technically together anymore, so...but I gotta go back inside. It’s my brother’s fiance’s bachelorette party.”
“Oh that’s too bad. I’m sorry to hear that. Well, have fun at the party!” Esmeralda said.
“Yeah thanks. See you in September,” I said.
I turned around and saw that Tonks had already gone back inside, so I headed in to find her. Before I reached the door, however, I heard Esmeralda and her friends begin to talk excitedly.
“Oh. My. God. Harry Potter is single!!!”
“I know!!! Who can blame him, though? Did you see the way she was dancing?”
“Not to mention the fact that he’s wayyy better than her.”
“And now he’s going off to save the world! When he comes back all victorious, I am going to be there to take Ginny’s place.”
“Oooooh good idea! Except it won’t be you, it’ll be me. He’s sure to be over her by then!”
I waited for them to round the corner, and then I began to cry like I had never cried before. I knew that girls could be catty, but no one had ever said things like that about me. That I knew of, anyway. They really struck a nerve when they said those things about Harry and me, too. Other than Harry dying, his getting over me was my greatest fear.
I spent the rest of the party outside by myself like a loser, crying to death. Tonks finally came and found me when it was time to go home. The last thing I remember about that night was Mum tucking me under my blankets.
Without You by goldnsnitch79
Chapter Notes: Please Review!!!