Breakups and Makeups

Ginny swung herself through the portrait hole and slammed the Fat Lady behind her, cutting off Dean’s angry cries.  “Gracious!  Young lady, do take care not to shatter my glass next time!”

“Put a cork in it,” she muttered.  The Fat Lady gasped, but Ginny was already halfway up the staircase, her hair streaming behind her as if her anger had actually set her head aflame.  “I should have dumped him ages ago,” she said furiously.  “Sexist prat’d do anything to cop a feel.”

She wasn’t entirely sure where she was going, but her feet carried her onwards regardless.  It was too early for bed, but staying in the common room was equally implausible for her.  Dean had shouted at her for a good three minutes before she interrupted his rant to break up with him, and he had started right back up again as she stormed out.  Someone else had been yelling, too, though Ginny had been far too focused on her boyfriend...well, ex-boyfriend’s angry words.  A tart, he had called her.  An unpleasable tart.  She had never heard the term before, but the tone of voice he had used made guessing at its meaning simple.

“Just because I want a relationship based on more than snogging and chauvinism doesn’t make me a scarlet woman,” she muttered as she crossed into the seventh floor hallway, ignoring the strange looks she got from the other students wandering the corridors.  “He’s no good at it anyhow, don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner!”

“Ginny?”  She stopped in her tracks and turned around to see Neville, Ernie Macmillan, and Hannah Abbott staring at her.  “Everything okay?”

“Of course it is,” she said angrily.  “It’s all perfect.”

Neville raised his eyebrows and turned to the Hufflepuffs.  “I’ll see you later.  Best get back quick before Filch catches you.”

“See you, Neville,” Hannah said.  Neville caught back up to Ginny and smiled at her.

“Ernie was worried that his Reductor Curse wasn’t quite strong enough, so Hannah asked me to tutor him a bit.  We thought it best to stay as far from Filch as possible.”  They began to walk again, and Ginny’s fury began to quell in Neville’s calming presence.  “So what happened?”

“Dean happened,” she replied.  “I finally had enough of him, so I broke it off, and he’s unhappy, to say the least.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”  Neville scoffed and she narrowed her eyes at him.  “Really, it’s for the best.  He was getting annoying.”

The sixth year didn’t say anything, but Ginny could tell that he pitied her anyhow.  I don’t want pity, she thought.  I don’t need it.  I just want to get away from all thoughts of him for a while.

“So where were you headed?” he asked after a long silence.

“Anywhere but the common room.  Dean was shouting at me and there was another argument, too.  It was just too much, know what I mean?”

“Yeah.  Well, the Astronomy Tower’s usually empty this time of night if you want to go somewhere and, er, talk or whatever.”  Ginny glanced at him, almost smiling at his bumbling statement.  “Don’t even start.”

“Start what?  I’m not doing anything,” she said, but her smile broke through.

“You’re laughing at me!  I don’t know how handle angry women, you should know that by now!” he cried.

Ginny shook her head and opened the door to the Astronomy Tower.  “It’s a good idea, though.  Talking.  We haven’t had a proper conversation in ages.”

“Too true.”  The pair walked up the spiral staircase in silence, and Ginny felt herself relax more and more just by being in the presence of her friend.

The moon was just rising over the Forbidden Forest as they emerged at the top of the tower, and Ginny sat down on the nearest bench and sighed happily.  “It’s just nice to get outside once in awhile.  Dean always liked to be inside if we weren’t at Quidditch.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that about him.  Seamus, too.”  Neville sat beside her and breathed in deeply.

“They must believe the rumors about the Umgubular Slashkilter infestation,” said a third voice.  Ginny and Neville turned to see Luna perched on the stone wall that surrounded the tower, smiling up at the stars.  “It’s ridiculous, but I suppose most people don’t realize that they were all caught and trained during Cornelius Fudge’s reign.”

“Luna, isn’t that a bit of a dangerous seat?” Ginny asked.

“No, not really.  There’s a bit of a platform behind here, so if I fall off I can just climb right back up.”  Regardless of her assurances, Luna jumped from the wall and joined Ginny and Neville.  “I’ve just been charting the twilight sky, you see.  I think it may come up on our Astronomy O.W.L.”

“Where’s your parchment?” Neville asked.

She giggled.  “Why would I need parchment to memorize the stars?  You’re quite strange sometimes, Neville.”

Ginny laughed at Neville’s expression.  “Merlin, I’ve missed this.”

“You haven’t hung out with me in ages,” Neville reminded her.

“Nor me,” chimed in Luna.  “I quite miss having friends.”

“You’ve still got friends, Luna,” Ginny said.  “Sorry I’ve been so absent, though.  Dean got a bit clingy after Christmas.  Wanted to eat every meal together and do our homework together and schedule our showers at the same time so we could minimize the time we spent apart.  He’s so annoying.”

“Oh, have you finally broken things off?” asked Luna.  “That’s good.  The amount of Wrackspurts around both of you multiplied when you were together.  It wasn’t very conducive to clear thinking at all.”

Neville opened his mouth, closed it, sighed, and opened it again.  “I have to say, I was feeling a bit left out.  You hung out with Seamus a lot, and Parvati and Lavender.  Even your brother and Harry and Hermione, but never us.”

Ginny’s stomach dropped.  “There’s no excusing it, I know, but...well, Dean didn’t really want to spend time with my friends.  I didn’t even spend all that much time with Ron or Harry off the Quidditch pitch.  His friends were another story.  Recently, he acted like I was mostly arm candy and a make-out buddy more than a girlfriend.”

No one spoke for a while.  Ginny watched the moon rise higher and higher into the sky, and her heart felt lighter with the movement.  She was free from Dean and his demanding personality.  Free to spend more time with her friends.  The friends who still apparently liked her after having been ignored for three months.

“This leaves you free, then.”  Ginny and Neville turned to Luna, who was poking at a spot of dirt on her bare foot with her wand.

“Free to spend more time with you guys, yeah.”

“Well, yes, but not just that.”  Luna looked up, and her eyes were the exact color of the moonlit stone.  “You’re free to wholeheartedly pursue Harry.”

“W-what?”  Ginny blushed and stood up.  “That’s ridiculous, Luna.  I got over Harry years ago.”

Neville laughed.  “Right, and Snape’s my favorite professor.  Ginny, you’ve liked Harry for as long as I’ve known you.”

She turned to face her friends, who were both grinning broadly.  “Harry Potter is my older brother’s best friend.  Do I like him?  Yes, but only as a friend.”  When the other exchanged a skeptical glance, Ginny wilted against the barricade behind her and sighed.  “Besides, he doesn’t like me like that.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t try,” said Luna cheerfully.  “Speaking of trying, Neville, when are you going to get a date?”

“W-what?  Where did that come from?” Neville asked loudly, a blush creeping up his neck.

“You seem to run around with Hannah Abbott quite a lot,” she continued.  Ginny laughed as Neville made a choking sound.  “Do you like her?”

“Hannah and I are just Herbology partners.  There’s nothing else there,” he spluttered.  Ginny noticed Luna grin and blush at his words, and she raised her eyebrows.  Did Luna...  “And what about you, Luna?  Why aren’t you with anyone?”

Before Luna could respond, a light caught Ginny’s eye.  Filch was standing in a window of the nearby Divination Tower, staring at the three students with a look of delight.  His lantern swung menacingly as he turned around and disappeared from view.  “I hate to interrupt this conversation, but I think Filch is on his way to send us to detention.  We aren’t supposed to be up here and he knows it.”

Luna and Neville both stood up, and Neville led the way to the staircase.  Ginny held Luna back for a moment.  “Luna, why did you look so pleased to hear that Neville and Hannah are just Herbology partners?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ginny,” Luna whispered, but her rosy cheeks told another story.

“Do you like--”

“What are you two doing?  Come on, or Filch is going to have all our limbs in manacles!” growled Neville from the stairs.  Ginny winked at Luna to let her know that her secret was safe and they took off to follow their friend.

After narrowly escaping Filch and Mrs. Norris and bidding Luna farewell, Ginny and Neville entered the Common Room together.  Most of the students had drifted off to bed, but Ron and Hermione were among the few still downstairs.  “There you are!” said Hermione, standing from her chair and crossing to hug Ginny.  “I wanted to make sure you were alright earlier, but Lavender got in my way and before I knew it you were gone.”

“Was Lavender the other one yelling?” she asked.

“Yelling?  More like losing it,” said Ron.  He touched his right cheek gingerly and winced in pain.  “I hadn’t realized just how strong an arm she has.”

“Yes, well, you’ve finally managed to make her break up with you, so you probably won’t have to worry about being hit by her again.”  Hermione looked a little too happy at this idea, and Ginny and Neville shared a knowing glance.  “But are you alright, Ginny?”

“I’m fine.  I bumped into Neville and Luna after I stormed out, and we talked for a while.”

“She was definitely angry when she first saw me, though.”  Neville shuddered.  “I feared she might Bat Bogey me for talking to her.”

“It’s not an irrational fear there, mate,” said Ron.  Ginny swatted the back of his head, making her brother cry out.  “Ow!”

“Right.  It’s been a long day, and I’m thoroughly knackered.  Good night to you all.”  Ginny smiled at the others and crossed to the girl’s staircase.  Before going upstairs, she turned around to watch her brother and friends sit down by the fireplace.  The three sixth years were smiling and joking about something, and she couldn’t help but smile.

She had missed this.