Last week I finally took Hermione aside and confronted her about Harry. It didn’t seem like she was going for it, though (her being in love with Harry, that is). To my surprise, she seemed kind of confused. She will get over herself soon enough and realize that she loves him…hopefully. You know what? I think she is too scared to think it could be possible. Oh no, I’m meddling again, aren’t I? I think I’ve done enough.
Today was the day of another Hogsmeade trip. It was the perfect day to be outside, too. The weather was just below zero, and if you stayed outside long enough, your nose became an icicle. It was wonderful weather. …Ha, don’t worry, I’m only joking about it being wonderful.
This morning at owl post, a large, grey-feathered owl dropped a letter into my cereal, splattering me with milk.
“Who’s it from?” Natalie McDonald, a younger Gryffindor asked me.
I skimmed over it.
“It is from my brother Bill,” I said grinning.
I then wiped myself with a couple napkins and read the letter.
Dearest Ginny,
It’s your dear oldest brother here. I just wanted to mail you and Ron to see how everyone is doing at Hogwarts. There’s nothing new at Gringotts, except one of the receptionists got married. I don’t think that would interest you, though. I suggest that everyone stays at Hogwarts for Christmas though. Dumbledore thinks it would be safer at the school now that...you-know-what has happened. I obviously can’t say very much here, except that things are going well and Fleur and I are missing everyone. Mum is threatening to cut my hair in my sleep if I don’t cut it myself soon. You should write a letter to tell her to stay off my case, ha ha ha. Dumbledore says that he’s going to try and do something to get everyone to stay for the holidays so everyone will possibly be safe. Who knows what he has up his sleeves? Well Gin, this owl here is getting tired of waiting, so I’m going to end it here. I’m thinking of you!
Love,
Your big, but not-so-bad, brother Bill
P.S. I hear that you’re kicking some butt on the quidditch field; Ron wrote to me about last game. When you come home, you’ll have to put your skills to the test against me!
I giggled to myself at the post script. Bill was always teasing me for becoming a ‘quidditch jock.’ I looked up to see that Ron had just gotten a letter as well.
“Is that from Bill?” I asked him.
“Yeah,” he answered, looking up. “What do you think Dumbledore has planned when Bill says that Dumbledore’s got a reason to make us stay?”
I was about to open my mouth to answer when Dumbledore himself began to speak over the students.
“Good morning students,” he said as his airy voice somehow rang out across the hall. “I would like to announce a couple of things. First of all, I would like to say that the sign-up sheet for students who are staying over the holidays has been posted. Secondly, I would like to announce that this month we are having a Winter Masquerade Ball over the holidays,” he said smiling and looking at us over the rims of his half-moon glasses. “It will be held over the break, though. I suspect many of you would like to attend. The Weird Sisters will be gracing us by performing for us once again,” he said as many students began to whisper to each other excitedly. “And I hope that everyone has a wonderful time at Hogsmeade on this fine morning. Thank you for your attention.”
When he sat down, everyone began talking to each other eagerly.
Ron chuckled. “That must have been what Bill meant,” he said.
“That’s one way to get everyone’s attention,” I added.
I noticed that Harry looked apprehensively at Hermione, and I made a note in my mind to have a talk with him later.
I also couldn’t help but notice over at the Slytherin table that when that awful Pansy Parkinson heard, she’s been eyeing Malfoy with great interest.
I looked at Malfoy with a sore feeling in my stomach. I knew that even if he wasn’t talking to me, I don’t know what I would do if he said yes to go with someone else to the Masquerade Ball…if he was even going himself.
The Parkinson girl noticed whom I was staring at, and then grinned viciously as she rested her hand on Draco’s shoulder. Draco didn’t notice much, and continued talking. I turned away, feeling angry.
Who does that girl think she is, anyways? Does she know that I love him? How could she know? I don’t even know her.
Hermione interrupted my malicious thought. “Ginny, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I snapped. “Why do you think something is wrong, anyways?”
“I saw you looking at Malfoy again,” she said quietly. “And I saw what Pansy did. Don’t mind her, okay? She’s just trying to make you mad.”
“That and she’s all over Malfoy,” I said bitterly.
“Come on, Ginny,” Hermione said. “Just don’t mind her, okay? You know that if Draco was ever interested in her, he would have done something about it earlier.”
It was hard for me to believe that as I watched Malfoy smile at Pansy. “Right,” I said disbelievingly.
She looked over at the Slytherin table. “That doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “You know how he attracts all of the Slytherin girls…”
‘0Like that helps any,’ I thought grumpily. Why did the boy that I happened to love have to be one of the most desirable boys in the school?
I continued to scowl until Hermione spoke up again. “Come on, Gin,” she said, tugging at the sleeve of my robes. “Let’s leave now. I think they’re starting for Hogsmeade soon.”
We walked together outside where all ready a big group of people had formed. Almost all of them grinned and waved jovially to Hermione. She smiled back. Anyone who had permission to go to Hogsmeade wasn’t staying behind today as today was the last Hogsmeade visit before Christmas, and everyone had Christmas shopping to do.
A few galleons jingled in my pocket as I still fumed over Malfoy. A frigid wind blew and shoved bits of ice down my collar. I adjusted my crimson and gold scarf to cover part of my face as my teeth began to chatter.
When we reached Hogsmeade, Hermione decided to stay with me instead of going with Harry and Ron. She probably felt sorry for me or something. …Oh, no. I shouldn’t think like that about Hermione, she’s only trying to be nice. First we went into Honeydukes to browse through the sweets. Apparently, that’s where everyone else went as well. After going through the shelves, jars, and boxes, Hermione and I left with Chocolate Frogs for Ron, Honeydukes famous chocolate for the equally famous Harry, and a large cake for my mum and dad. I didn’t really see what Hermione got though.
After a long day of Christmas shopping, Hermione and I decided to go to the Three Broomsticks. We put down our many bags of purchases and each ordered a hot chocolate. After all of the shopping, I had bought an extremely thick and boring book for Hermione that talked about all of the significant wizards of the sixteenth century. I know it’s going to catch her interest. Other new purchases I made were a book of joke ideas for Fred and George, a couple of joke items to lighten Percy up (snakes in a can, ha ha ha!), a scarf for Charlie, and a model of a dragon for Bill that had flames actually shoot out of its snout. I secretly bought a little enchanted snow globe that played a soft, sad little tune. On the bottom of the globe were the snow fell, there was an outline of a heart that you could barely see in the snow drift. I bought it because it reminded me of Malfoy when I saw it in the shop. I didn’t show it to Hermione, though, because she would have probably told me to get my mind off of him.
We noticed a couple students at a nearby table wrestling over a Christmas catalogue. One of their wands sparked and the catalogue burst into flames.
“Oh no!” Hermione cried in a scandalized tone. “They’ve killed a book!”
I laughed and got Hermione to calm down. A silence passed as we listened to the chatter of everyone else.
Hermione glanced at me as she sipped her mug. “Are you having fun?” she asked with a grin.
“Not anymore,” I said gloomily as I saw Malfoy walk through the door over Hermione’s shoulder.
“Aww, Ginny,” Hermione said as she put down her mug. “Don’t worry about him. He’ll come around.”
“Easy for you to say,” I muttered.
“What are you talking about?” Hermione asked, hurt.
“Well at least the person you love loves you back.”
“Huh?” was her initial response.
“You know,” I said feeling very annoyed, “Harry…”
Her cheeks turned pink as she stared at me. “You…I don’t even…Do you really think so?” she asked.
I nodded, starting to feel bad that I was taking out my anger on Hermione. “So what do you think about that Masquerade Ball?” I said, changing the subject.
She stayed silent for a while. “I don’t know if I’ll go,” she said. “I mean, I’m not really the ball type of person… What about you?”
With a wry glance at Malfoy I said, “Yeah I think I will, you know, just to go and see it…but I probably won’t enjoy it if he’s there with one of them,” I said moodily, talking about Malfoy and the group of girls that were ‘discreetly’ following him.
“Don’t worry about it Ginny,” Hermione said. “He cares about you, you know. Why do you think he still comes to all of the D.A. meetings even though all of his friends stopped coming?”
Well that was a new thought. I waved it away because I was too caught up in my own misery.
“Come on Ginny,” she said looking at a clock. “It’s almost time to go. We better head out now.”
When we got back from Hogsemeade, it was all ready time for dinner. At dinner I sat silently, feeling bad for myself. I know that’s not good, but I couldn’t help it. I did notice tense glances between Harry and Hermione, though. Ron was in a conversation with a few Ravenclaws. Malfoy, I noticed, began to stare at me again. That familiar mad thumping of my heart started again. Our gaze held until some Slytherin girl waved a hand in front of his face and demanded his attention. I didn’t say anything during dinner at all, but I then remembered my note to self that said to talk to Harry. When we were leaving the Great Hall, I noticed that the sign-up sheets to stay for the holidays were practically filled. I decided to add my name on it, and felt my heart leap into my throat as I noticed that I signed under Malfoy’s showy signature.
After dinner, I took Harry aside in the common room where he was talking with a few other Gryffindor boys.
“Harry?” I asked. “If it’s okay I’d like to talk to you.”
“Sure,” he said as he excused himself from Dean, Neville, and Ron.
“So…is there anything wrong?” Harry asked as we went to the other side of the room.
“No, actually I kind of just walked to ask you something.”
“About what?”
“Well…about Hermione.”
A look of concern flashed over his eyes. “What’s the matter? Is there something wrong?”
I laughed. “No, no, save your heroics for another day. Hermione’s not in distress.”
Harry gave me a puzzled look.
All of a sudden I felt very, very awkward for talking to Harry and Hermione about each other behind their backs.
“Well I was just wondering if you…if you…”
“If I what?” Harry pushed.
“You know…well, no you don’t. You fancy Hermione don’t you?”
A look of embarrassment took over his face as he began to turn red. “Who…erm…what gave you that idea?” Harry said as he shot a poison-filled glance at Ron, who obviously had no idea what was going on.
I laughed again. “Don’t worry, no one told me or anything. You can trust me, you know.”
Harry nodded, still obviously very embarrassed. “Okay.”
“Well I only know because it’s obvious,” I told him.
“It is?” Harry asked, surprised. “So then that would mean that Hermione…”
“No, she doesn’t know,” I answered before he could string the words together to make the question. “She’s not very knowledgeable in that area. But you do fancy her, right?”
“I thought you said you knew,” Harry said accusingly.
“I’m only asking to make sure.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Well do you?”
“Oh yeah, sorry about that…erm…yeah,” he said, looking very uncomfortable.
I grinned. “So, for how long?”
Harry’s eyes became very distant. “You know, I have always loved her. I’ve loved her since the time she barged into my compartment, looking for Neville’s toad.”
“Okay, Mr. Romantic, I suggest you ask her to the ball then. She’ll be delighted.”
“She fancies me too?” Harry asked with a hopeful look on his face.
“Yes,” I replied. “She doesn’t know it yet but yes, she does.”
“Okay,” Harry grinned and returned to what he was doing before.
I then went into a chair in the corner and pulled out the snow globe I bought at Hogsmeade. I was glad I was able to help Harry and Hermione on their way, but I just wish there was someone to help me. I fiddled with the snow globe with Malfoy on my mind. The sad little tune began to play again as I tipped it over and watched the snow fall to the bottom. Most people go through their lives looking for someone to love. That wasn’t a problem for me. I all ready had someone to love, but would I ever have someone to love me back?