Chocolate ♕ Ginny Weasley

thirteen

Chapter Thirteen;

Patricia didn't see Ginny all summer. For a while she thought that it might have been because of Michael, and her heart broke. She minimised her contact with Ginny over that break to try and come to terms with what she was feeling - only it didn't work at all, and Patricia found herself enduring her worst summer ever.

She thought that, due to her distance, things might become strained between the two of them. But when Ginny ran up to her on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and cried, "Cia, I've missed you!" and flung her arms around Patricia's neck as though she was never going to let go again, everything was back to normal between them.

The two of them ambled on to the train, close behind Harry Potter, who had been staying with Ginny's family for the summer. Patricia recalled how the Ministry and the Daily Prophet had been against him and Dumbledore all summer, and felt her heart go out to him. It mustn't have been easy.

As the two joined Harry in trying to find a spare compartment, they shared their disgust over the newly set Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook.

"Whoever set us such a terrible book must be an awful teacher," Patricia grumbled. She rolled her eyes. "I've tried reading ahead twice. Both times I fell asleep before ending the first paragraph."

Ginny fake gasped. "That's not like you at all, Cia!" Patricia reached over and hit Ginny over the head with the said book. Ginny yelped and batted it away with her hand. "Then again, it is rubbish. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were assigned the same book as well."

Patricia gazed at the abomination people dared to call a book and pulled a face. "I want to burn it."

"I want to burn it throw it at whoever assigned it," Ginny muttered. "While it's still on fire."

Patricia laughed and they fell into a playful conversation about how they were going to extract revenge on the Slinkard book-setter.

Whatever teacher they imagined, though, was always much better than the teacher they actually got.

From the moment Patricia lay eyes on the new toad-like staff member dressed in a horrible cardigan and wearing an Alice band in her hair, she wanted to gag. She'd exchanged a look a disgust with Ginny before they separated for their House tables.

If the sight of the new professor – Dolores Umbridge, Professor Dumbledore had said – was enough to send a shiver of dislike down Patricia's spine, her voice turned that dislike into absolute loathing. Patricia cringed at her horrible, high-pitched voice and tuned her entire speech out. Her eyes found Ginny's and for the rest of the speech, they communicated their horror by pulling faces. Patricia giggled at each face Ginny made.

Patricia dreaded their first Defence lesson, when she and Ginny wouldn't be able to make the situation more bearable by making each other laugh. And sure enough, when she left Umbridge's classroom after their first lesson with her, all Patricia wanted to do was march straight back into the room and curse the toad with every hex there was under the sun.

"She's horrible," Ginny spat after their first lesson. Defence had been their final lesson of the day; they were now both in the library, trying to work on the homework Umbridge had set them. Ginny was too consumed by anger to focus – her temper was as fiery as her hair. Patricia could practically see flames burning in her dark eyes. "I want to punch her. I don't care if I get expelled, it will feel good."

Patricia placed a hand on Ginny's arm. "Gin, I would care. Hogwarts would be so boring without you."

Ginny's expression softened ever so slightly.

"Well, I'll do something else," the redhead concluded. She clasped her hands behind her head and leaned back. "Hide behind a pillar and curse her when she walks past."

"There are no pillars in Hogwarts."

"Then behind a door or staircase!"

Patricia snorted. "Unless you can turn invisible, you'll be caught."

"Cia!" Ginny moaned. "Stop ruining my fun."

"Relax." Patricia winked. "There are other, more subtle, ways to get revenge on her. Why don't we slip one of your brother's Skiving Snackboxes into her tea? Or maybe a love potion for Professor McGonagall, and watch her get savagely attacked all day long?"

Ginny paused for a minute, and then burst out laughing, which earned herself a glare from Madam Pince. "That would be a most wonderful sight," she chortled, her eyes shining.

Patricia grinned, enraptured by Ginny's laughter. How was it possible for someone to be so breathtaking when they laughed? How was it possible for her laughter to sound so much like music? And how did Ginny Weasley's every movement manage to intoxicate her?

"Here, give me your essay," Patricia said suddenly, leaning her hand out to the parchment with only one paragraph written. She needed more work to do to distract herself.

"What?"

"I know you can't be bothered with Umbridge's crap, so I'll take it on board for you."

Ginny grinned, a bright smile on her face. "You're the best, Cia," she exclaimed, handing over the essay. "I love you."

Patricia's froze, her heart missing several beats.

"I know you do," she whispered and looked down. She pushed her hair in front of her face and went to work on finishing the essay. Her hand shook as she wrote.

Oh, Gin, Patricia thought with a sigh as she finished Ginny's essay. You break my heart. You're also a liar. If you loved me, then you wouldn't be with Michael Corner right now. You'd... You'd be with me. Like I want us to be.

Ginny Weasley, I think I might be in love with you.

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