look me in the eyes and burn

Chapter 5 - Check Mate.

"Hey Harry," Ginny greeted sweetly when her head popped in through the door, "Mum wanted me to give this to you. Said you should wear them tomorrow to give a good first impression." She handed over a bundle of, as it turned out, some of his cousin's enormous clothes, freshly ironed.

Hadrian smiled at her gratefully and hid behind the appreciative façade his irritation at Molly's blatant disregard of privacy. Or even decency.

Honestly, who just went through someone's else's clothes?

Nevertheless, he didn't let his irritation show and smiled at her gently.

"Thanks, Ginny." He laid the clothes on the armchair by the fireplace before turning back to the still loitering girl.

The fierce red-head opened her mouth.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck, Harry, for tomorrow. Not that you'd need it, with Dumbledore there and all." She chuckled lightly, "Still, good luck." A quick, chaste kiss was pressed against the boy's cheek.

However, before Hadrian even really comprehended what had just happened, the girl was all but fleeing the room again, "And don't be too nervous, even Hermione said they can do nothing. You'll be great." She called over her shoulder before vanishing from sight.

Dumbly, Hadrian brought a hand up to his kissed cheek and rubbed lightly.

He had lipstick sticking there.

Uncomfortable, sticky lipstick. It was just so... so itchy and weirdly sweet smelling.

He didn't like it.

Not at all.

Someone gagged.

Loud and overblown and theatrical.

"Merlin, Harry, can you not do this with my sister? Especially in front of me." Ron's disgusted voice reached his ears.

Rolling his eyes fondly, Hadrian turned to the male red-head.

"I didn't do anything," he defended himself before pointing to the still open doorway Ginny had just vacated, "she just kissed my cheek. I had nothing to do with it."

"Whatever, just, if you want to go out with my sister, don't hurt her, or I'll make you regret it. Making all these kissy-gooey faces on front of me counts to that." As if to reinforce his statement he gagged once more before laughing and winking at him salaciously.

Hadrian didn't say anything. Nor did he do anything. He simply stood there, his hand still on his poor cheek. Meanwhile, he was sure his face had scrunched up lightly.

He and... Ginny? A shudder ran down his frame.

It was not only that he remembered their disastrous few months together the first time around, but also because, well, it was Ginny; a red-haired, fierce and independent woman.

Not that anything was wrong with these traits, mind you, but the problem was that Lily, his mother, had been described like this.

And considering how often he was compared to his father...

Also, he much preferred blonds.

Or people who were not children of a woman who'd declared herself Hadrian's substitute mother...

Hadrian's lip curled in aversion, "No thank you. Ginny is so not my type. So you won't have anything to worry about."

Ron snorted, "sure, whatever you say, mate."

Shrugging, the man started striping, not paying the other boy in the room any attention. He took off his new, actually fitting, clothes in order to put on some comfortable sportswear.