Title: "Seeking Ginny"

Author: Casca

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Through Goblet

Classification: Post-Hogwarts H/G

Summary: Ginny Weasley has tried for years to bring to an end to her feelings for Harry Potter… she's even uprooted her life… but what happens when it's time to come face to face with him again? A post-Hogwarts tale revolving around Ginny's discovery of herself…while coming to terms with her feelings for Harry.…

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Note: I hope that this chapter does not disappoint you. It introduces and focuses on several themes that will be a big part of the story and has more "action" as you've begged for. I'd just like to take this opportunity to point out that this fic doesn't have a lot of action—it's mainly an internal study of Ginny's character and how she and Harry can find each other after their lives have lead them down different roads. I believe that slow, detailed build-up makes the actual "love story" all the more gratifying, even though it's frustrating to read (and write, believe me). So forgive me for that and for the long length of this chapter! Thanks and I'll be looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it!

On another note, I'd like to thank Splatt for the fastest beta of the longest chapter yet and Emmyjean for the very detailed one—all done so that this chapter could be uploaded in time for Halloween. I am shocked to be able to update with a Halloween chapter on Halloween! Hope yours was a spooky one!

This chapter has been updated as of March 2006

~Chapter Nine~

Though she didn't have a real job, Ginny felt as though she had even less time to herself than she'd had when she'd been living in Paris. She reckoned that Brian had a lot to do with it since their time together could no longer be spent just sitting around the flat and having dinner or studying and catching up now meant making the effort to get together. Between Brian, Hermione's recent need for wedding help, spending time with Sarah and working at the joke shop, Ginny felt she had more to do than anyone. Not to mention the new development.

Ginny had been the one with the big idea and she had to admit that it had turned out to be extremely successful, though Fred and George would probably take credit for it. In reality, however, it was Sarah who had made it all possible - though Sarah, always modest, would credit Ginny. In any event, unlikely group that they were, Ginny, Sarah, Fred and George combined their creativity in a small business venture that had surprised all of them with it's immediate success.

The idea had come to Ginny while working a busy day at the Hogsmeade joke shop, assisting in providing young boys with tools that would eventually wreak havoc on the lives of their families, when she noticed something about Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' patrons for the second time. Very few customers of the female variety actually bought anything, but there were many young girls in there, waiting for their friends or brothers. They huddled around the doors or roamed the shop carefully, constantly looking over their shoulders in case something were to explode, and occasionally being brave enough to pick up a product with the very tips of their fingers.

Ginny decided to target the girls and see if there were any products they might be interested in. She quickly found that, though she'd always been fascinated with Wild-Fire Whiz-Bangs and Portable Swamps, most young girls were not. They were more interested in the sorts of things advertised in Teen Witch, which promoted the latest styles in robes, cosmetic charms, potions for the hair and… skin products.

Ginny had immediately thought of Sarah's "lab" and mentioned featuring her stuff in the joke shop to the twins. It hadn’t been something that she'd necessarily thought out, and when she brought it up to them, she hadn’t expected them to downright refuse. Perhaps it had been a good thing that they did because it brought out the old defensiveness in her.

"Are you mad?" George had said, while Fred and Charlie, who had stopped by earlier, laughed.

"No, I'm not mad," she'd said, feeling furious that they weren't taking her seriously. "You have no products that target girls. It's all about turning humans into animals and playing with fire and girls just aren’t interested in that sort of thing."

"You were."

Ginny waved her hand. "Only because I wanted to impress you lot, and don’t ask me why. Look, I think it would be a very smart business move for you."

"We're a joke shop, Ginny, not a salon," Fred had said, finally coming up for air from his laughing bout. "I mean, lotion…?" He'd looked like he was about to start up again but Charlie had interupted.

"Hang on a minute… she does have a point. Have you even tried that lotion?"

At this point, Fred had sent him a suspicious look. "Have you tried that lotion?"

Charlie didn’t look the slightest ashamed. "Yeah, it's brilliant. Emma has some."

Ginny looked surprised. "Where did Emma get hold of a bottle?"

"Her mum – she's friends with Angelina Johnson's mum, and –"

"Is everyone friends with Angelina Johnson's mum?" Ginny had mused.

It had taken more than Charlie's endorsement to convince the twins. The final verdict had remained a huge 'no' until a few days later, when Ginny went in for an afternoon shift and, out of the blue, Fred had pointed to her and said, "Fine. Tell Sarah she's on."

Ginny hadn’t needed telling twice—she had no idea what had changed their minds, but that wasn't important. The only problem left had been to break it to Sarah.

Sarah had not been as firm as the twins, but she was just as unsure about it. Her main concern had been that the lotion would be a huge failure and that Fred and George would hate her forever as a result. Ginny had assured Sarah that if the lotion did become a huge failure, they wouldn’t blame Sarah at all. It would only be added to the long list of things they already held over Ginny’s head, none of which Ginny cared about in the least. And anyway, it wouldn’t be a failure - it was already an enormous success just from word of mouth, and Ginny could only imagine what would happen once it was properly marketed. Sarah, unable to provide a valid reason that Ginny couldn’t argue against, had reluctantly agreed.

And so, after a brief discussion about financing and one week of Sarah frantically making enough to fill the display Fred and George had ordered, the product hit the shelves—and the jars flew off of them as if people were summoning them from their houses.

Not that the display the twins had supplied was exactly a success – in fact, Ginny had accused her brothers of sabotage the moment she’d seen it. The huge photograph of Sarah that they’d chosen to market the product was probably the worst one that they could find, and it wasn’t even recent – it had probably been taken in third or fourth year. Poor Sarah was staring straight at the camera, her eyes wide and her mouth open in dumb shock.

Ginny had been outraged. Sarah had been close to tears. Fred and George argued about originality and focal points, things Ginny and Sarah refused to try and understand. In the end, it was too late to change it and the product sold anyway. Ginny supposed that she had to hand it to Fred and George – they certainly knew how to get people's attention.

Whatever the reason, the products spoke for themselves. They sold with huge success, causing Sarah to go into full-blown creative-mode, spending hours in her lab brewing products and inventing new things.

"I always wanted to try out new ideas but I always felt guilty for indulging so much time in a hobby," she explained from behind a cloud of orange smoke one afternoon when Ginny stopped by to see how she was doing. "But if it's benefiting others, then I don’t feel guilty at all!" This was punctuated by a loud explosion as the orange smoke turned green and they threw their arms over their heads for cover.

After several weeks of Sarah's products selling like mad, Ginny sat at her kitchen table sporting wrinkled nightclothes and a messy knot of hair, carefully magicking hand lotion into bottles for Fred's afternoon pickup. Since her charm work had been suffering lately due to her impatience to get things done quickly, (evidenced by the unsuccessful Waking Charm that had caused her to sleep late this morning) Ginny took careful time to make sure the jars were filled properly. It was a rather time-consuming process so when a knock on the door revealed Brian in rather spiffy navy business robes and vest, her eyes lit up.

"You've come to help! Grab a jar and fill!"

Brian stared at the huge mess on the kitchen table, which included four bubbling cauldrons and a large carton of jars with Sarah's acne-covered face staring up from each of them. Wincing, he muttered,

"Never mind, I'll use my lunch hour somewhere else."

"Wait!" she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him inside. "Fred is going to be here any minute and I'm not even close to being done. Here, have a seat…take a carton…thank you," she smiled brilliantly at him as she sat down again.

Reluctantly, Brian complied. Before starting, he sniffed a jar full of lavender lotion and made a face. "Right, so I've been meaning to ask you," he said, setting the jar back down and reaching for an empty one. "When are we going to start looking for flats?"

Ginny nearly choked as she gulped her hot tea. "Brian," she said, her eyes watering, "Shall I paint the picture of my life for you?"

He rolled his eyes. "You don’t have to paint anything. I understand that you want to have a proper job first. But Ginny, I can pay your half of the rent until you find something."

"I don’t want you to pay for anything. I'm not going to move in with you and make you support me."

"You're doing it to your parents."

She laughed. "That's different. My parents are used to children who never leave home. Look at Ron."

"Yes, but Ron's getting married and moving out."

"I don’t plan to live here forever!" she exclaimed, laughing. "It's just…my finances are a bit…non-existent right now. Look, can’t you just find some nice girl to settle down with and leave me alone?"

Brian leaned across the table and pointed a finger at her. "If you ever think that I'm heading in that direction, I want you to snap me out of it. Do we understand each other?"

"If you ever think of heading in that direction, I'll start planning the wedding myself."

"You only say that because you know it's safe."

She sighed. "I wish it weren't. You'd make some girl very… miserable," she decided, shaking her head in defeat.

"I know. That's why I'm not doing it—out of the goodness of my heart."

Ginny stood and walked towards the pantry to get another tea bag. "You never do anything out of the goodness of your heart."

"Ginny, that's a horrible thing to say," said Molly, stepping into the kitchen, holding a basket of gardening tools. "Hello, Brian."

"Hi, Mrs. Weasley. Do you need help with that?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine, thank you. I'm off to try my hand at this tree-growing business. Anyway, mind you talk in low voices, Julian is napping upstairs." With that, she went off to garden.

"Anyway, just hurry up with that, won’t you?" Brian said. "You're my only prospect for a flatmate right now and besides, I miss finding your bras and things in my washing."

Ginny had just shaken her head at that when the back door closed again. Thinking that her mother had forgotten something and that she'd overheard Brian's comment, she whirled around. However, it wasn't her mother who had come inside. Standing in the doorway were Fred, Ron and Bill, brows lifted, looking like some sort of guard. Ginny snorted. "What are you lot doing home?"

"You know why I'm here, Ginny," Fred said menacingly. "And it doesn't look like you've finished."

The others trailed in and Bill, being the only decent one among them, stopped to introduce himself to Brian.

"Just about, look!" Ginny exclaimed. "Most are filled. Here, you can take what's finished and—"

"No, you can take them back with me. I've got plenty for myself to do, Ginny, I can’t be stocking shelves; we're in development for those Rooster Eggs I was telling you about. Also, I forgot to tell you, we're getting requests at the Diagon Alley shop for the lotion, so let Sarah know she'll have to make double."

"Double! But she can't, she's—"

"She has to, Ginny, we can't sell them at one shop and not the other."

"But Fred, this wasn't supposed to be—I mean, I thought they would be just for the girls in Hogsmeade—"

"There are girls in Diagon Alley too, Ginny!"

"Yes, but—"

"We need the product. Sarah should have thought of this before. If she wasn't going to have the time—"

"It's not Sarah's fault," Ginny insisted. "Don’t blame her for being successful."

Fred looked as though he wanted to say something else but Ginny shook her head. "Look, forget it, alright? You'll get your supply for Diagon Alley. You just have to give us a little time."

"Right, let's go. We have to be there before the after-lunch rush, it's almost one o'clock—"

"One o'clock!?" Ginny shrieked. "I have to meet Hermione for wedding stuff—oh, damn it all to hell!" she exclaimed to which her mother replied, "Ginny," as she stepped back inside the house.

"I have to meet her in five minutes, Mum, and I'm not even dressed!"

"I'm going to go," Brian said, standing. "My break is almost over – I'll see you tonight?" he asked Ginny, who stared at him distractedly until he said, "Dinner with my mum? She owled you yesterday?"

"Oh, yes, yes," Ginny remembered. "Six o'clock – I'll be there. I want show her some of Sarah's new foot cream."

After Brian said farewell to everyone, Ginny dashed upstairs, feeling badly that she hadn't been able to settle things with him. She vowed to spend the entire evening with him and his mum tonight. She dressed in record speed and when she thudded down the stairs, saw a very terse Fred leaning against the worktop, lifting a brow at her.

"I'm sorry," she said breathlessly, "Hermione's waiting, Fred, I'll have to stock the shelves later."

"Ginny, you made a commitment to us—"

"I know, I know, and I promise to be there as soon as Hermione and I are finished."

"Never mind," Fred sighed, "I'll do it this time, but next time it's on you."

"Agreed," Ginny said and couldn’t resist punching his shoulder affectionately before Disapparating.

She went straight to Hogsmeade, Apparating right on a small street called Wellington Avenue where Hermione had seen a boutique for bridal robes. Ginny followed the numbers along the row of trendy pubs and shops, all completely new to her. There was nothing to do with wedding robes at all, however, and nothing even close to the name Hermione had given her. She stepped inside a clothing shop and asked the girl at the counter if she knew where the place was with no luck. Ginny tried another shop and then another, but nobody had even heard of the place and Ginny had the distinct feeling that something in Hermione's directions had been wrong.

She groaned when she looked at her watch and saw that it was half past one – half of Hermione's lunch hour was gone. Apparating back into her bedroom, she began to anxiously leaf through the papers on her desk, trying to find Hermione's letter; when she couldn't, she whistled for Maurice to send a fast note of apology off to her, but remembered that he was out delivering letters to Christian and Aurelie.

"Pig!" she called, racing up the stairs into Ron's room. But Pig's cage was empty. "Damn!" she cried, then shook her head.

She wasn't mistaken. That address had said Wellington. Ginny remembered this because Wellington Avenue in Hogsmeade had become quite famous over the last few years for its fashionable little shops and fun pubs, but Ginny had just missed the start of it when she'd left for Paris. Now, every time she admired somebody's jumper or cloak, they all pointed her in the direction of one place: Wellington Avenue. Ginny had remembered thinking that they would most definitely find suitable wedding robes there.

Once again, she Apparated, but this time to the very start of the street and began slowly walking down, looking at all the shop names carefully. She'd been in such a hurry that she'd probably walked right past it, though that didn’t explain why none of the shop owners knew anything about it. By the time Ginny had gone halfway down Wellington Avenue, a glance at her watch told her that it was no use—Hermione would have to be heading back to work in a few minutes anyway. Feeling terrible that she hadn’t given herself more time, Ginny looked up and down the row of shops that lined the street in two vibrant strips, each structure a different shape and color.

Her attention was drawn to the one in front of which she happened to be standing. It was a tall building made of bright sapphire bricks and looking to be almost three floors, complete with a small balcony overflowing with potted plants. What was mostly different about it from all the others was that it had an outdoor tiled patio of sorts, which was fenced off with a pretty fence. Ginny glanced at the lopsided sign over the doors reading "Sarah's Sews – For all your sewing and knitting needs."

Ginny decided to try one last shop to see if they knew anything about the boutique she was searching for and then she would stop at the post office and write to Hermione.

The inside of the sewing shop was just as intriguing as the outside, with a round tiled fountain directly in the middle of the floor and baskets and baskets of brightly colored sewing supplies. Ginny had the urge to take up sewing just so she could frequent this shop.

"What can I do for you?" asked a voice from behind a counter; Ginny noticed that the countertop was tiled with the same blue patterned tiles that the made up the fountain.

"Sorry," Ginny said to the woman. She had piles and piles of white hair which were pulled and twisted into several knots on top of her head and was smiling despite a fatigued look in her eyes. Ginny inquired about Hermione's wedding robe shop, knowing that it was hopeless and sure enough the lady looked confused.

"I've never heard of that before. But then, if it's new I've probably not heard of it."

"Oh, well, thank you. You have a beautiful shop yourself," Ginny said.

Her smile disappeared. "Thank you. It’s…not mine anymore, though."

Ginny looked at her interestedly. "It’s been sold?" She was suddenly excited that this adorable place may become something else, something she might enjoy.

"No, not yet. I've got to sell, though, sales are down. Nobody sews properly anymore, no time – new charms are always being discovered for that sort of thing. But there's no art in that, that's what I say. Learning the art by hand, it's so much more rewarding!"

Ginny nodded, feeling rather sorry for her, but still anxious to know what sort of company would buy the place. She made a mental note to stop by in a few weeks to inquire about it as she headed toward the exit and smiled at a young girl in her teens standing at the doorway. She had her arms crossed and looked rather impatient as her mother shopped in the fabric aisle. The site made Ginny think of all the impatient girls at the joke shop, waiting for the boys to finish indulging in creating mischief.

Ginny paused, her hand frozen on the door handle. A very tiny thought entered her head and suddenly all the blood in her body rushed to her face. It was a heady feeling that made her dizzy, and it was all due to one tiny, passing thought. Going with instinct, Ginny whirled around, unaware of the impatient look being thrown at her by the teen in the doorway, and marched straight up the white haired woman behind the counter.

"What's your asking price?"

~*~

For as long as she lived, Ginny would remember the week following her discovery of the pretty sewing shop on Wellington Avenue as a complete blur of numbers, questions, prayers and a permanent feeling of anxiety. She would remember rushing home after talking to the white haired lady for nearly an hour and owling Bill with a shaking hand, asking him to meet her after work and how her anxiety only increased when he couldn’t answer any of her questions. She would also remember that her excitement on the matter tripling when he told her that if anyone could pull it off she could and what was she doing talking to him of all people when her other two brothers would have all the answers she needed?

She would remember dreading that she would have to plead with Gringotts for them to lend her the gold this would need and anxiously brushing up on her Gobbledygook to impress the goblins. And finally, she would remember the day that it all came together when the twin brothers that she'd cursed and fought with and idolized her entire life became her heroes and that she'd vowed to spend the rest of her life indebted to them for so much more than the piles of gold they basically gave her on good faith.

"Invested," they called it – to be paid back in time along with a small percentage of profit which Ginny knew was more than fair since there wouldn't be a great deal of profit for awhile. She suddenly didn't care about galleon amounts or her pride or anything that would prevent her from taking what Fred and George offered, which she would always deem a gift no matter what terms they used. Ginny was prepared to put it all aside and be grateful to the point of worship for the rest of her life.

It didn’t matter that Ginny and Sarah were just two girls, one with a university degree in linguistics of all things, one with basic bookkeeping skills, neither with any shop owning experience at all. It didn’t matter that they would probably have to put their blood and sweat into this for many years to come to make it work and that the chances of it failing were big no matter how good a feeling Ginny had about it. Nothing mattered. Ginny had never felt this inspired before about anything. Those feelings of restlessness had suddenly come alive inside her and she was actually excited, rather than unsure, about the months to come.

Sarah, on the other hand, was completely terrified. It had taken Ginny, Fred, and George to convince her that this was an opportunity that she couldn't pass up. Ginny has laid everything out very clearly for her. She, Ginny, would take complete control of remodeling the shop. Fred and George, as the investors, would provide the funds. Ginny would hire one or two or as many assistants as Sarah needed to actually brew the products. The only thing Sarah had to worry about was inventing formulas and since she already had two basic products and a horde of others in the works, there would be no reason for her to have to quit her job.

It had taken four hours, three pots of tea, and basically shooting down every 'but' Sarah could muster before Sarah finally said, "Okay…what do we do first?"

Fred and George grinned. Chills raced down Ginny's spine and she leapt from the table and danced exuberantly around the kitchen. "I promise you, Sarah! I'm going make this as easy on you as I can!" she declared, pulling her friend from the chair and twirling her around.

"Now, wait, don't say that," Sarah said, laughing. Ginny felt a thrill at the sparkle in Sarah's eyes. "I'm prepared to do my share of the work. If we're to be partners then I'll make the commitment, same as you."

It wasn't until a week later, when Ginny was sitting at the kitchen table of the Burrow with the title to the shop laying on the surface in front of her that she began to feel afraid.

All the paper work had been completed. She and Sarah officially owned the little shop on Wellington Avenue. Well, technically, Fred and George owned it since they had provided them with the money, but they became so furious when Ginny had offhandedly mentioned this earlier that they were going to draw up their own contract, stating that it this was a loan and nothing more. When Ginny and Sarah signed, there would be no question as to who the owners were.

Nevertheless, it was frightening seeing her name on such an official document. Property Owner, it said. She was the owner of a property, soon to become a business. A thrill raced through her. She thought of the little shop, of Sarah's Sew, that was now taking shape in her mind as the place that was going to sell lotions and hand creams and things that Ginny had never particularly cared too much about. It was the place that she was going to actually own, along with Sarah, her oldest friend in the world, now linked together in business as well.

Suddenly, a host of "what if's" began to seep their way into her mind. And just as she was starting to panic, there was a tiny knock at the back door and Sarah stepped in cautiously.

"Ginny?"

"Oh, come on in, Sarah," Ginny said brightly, aware that she couldn't vent to Sarah about her worries because it was all she needed for Sarah to start panicking as well.

"I quit my job," Sarah said as she pulled up a chair.

It took Ginny several seconds to comprehend what she had said. "You…you what?!"

Sarah shook her head as if it were obvious. "It's not going to work, Ginny. I'm never going to be able to give the shop my full attention if I have to constantly be worrying about my other job—"

"But, Sarah…it's your job!"

"Yes, and my parents completely support me in the decision – they think I have a great talent and they're really excited. They encouraged me to quit!"

"But…Sarah, how will you manage?”

To Ginny's surprise, Sarah rolled her eyes. "I don’t spend any gold, Ginny. I never have. That's why I have plenty saved."

"Sarah, we don’t know how long it will be before we actually make a profit—"

"I'm willing to take the risk, just like you," Sarah insisted, leaning across the table in earnest. "The truth is, I should have had this idea. Only I would never have had an idea like this. I'm never willing to take any chances because I'm always so worried about things going wrong. But this time, it's not going to go wrong. I feel it, Ginny. Especially with the two of us as partners."

Ginny looked at Sarah's brilliant, eager smile, knowing that her friend was speaking from her heart. Above anything Ginny would remember later as she looked back on the whole thing, she knew that she would remember this as the moment she felt the most scared and the most excited. The two seemed somehow intertwined.

~*~

Sarah of Sarah's Sew and her business were scheduled to move out two weeks after they had signed all the papers, which meant that Ginny and Sarah had two weeks to plan everything before they were actually able to move in. They agreed to keep the fountain in the middle of the shop and Sarah had the idea to make the water scented with a different scent every day.

Sarah's creativity seemed to flourish, as did the lab in her attic which would eventually move to the basement of the shop. She had thought up several new products and now their inventory consisted of an array of lotions and creams in many different scents and functions, as well as specialty items such as self-massaging foot cream and easy-styling hair solution. Sarah was also credited with the idea of the "Feel-Good Bar" which was a tentative title that Ginny loved and Sarah, Fred and George hated. It would be a counter in the shop where Sarah would offer an array of botanical oils, bottled charms and many, many scents for the customers to create their own personalized products. The scents ranged from eucalyptus to chocolate cake to Mrs. Scower's Magical Mess Remover and the charms and effects were endless.

The only decision that remained was the name of the shop. It was a point of conversation every hour of the day. No matter where Ginny was, someone would look up and blurt things from out of the blue. "The Essential Body?" or "Sea of Skin?" Ginny was completely uninspired by all of them. Soon they would have to start printing the labels for the products and then what would they do?

The title they used for practice had been a nickname that Fred and George had taken to calling Sarah. Every time Sarah walked into the Burrow, one of them would shout out, "It's the Lotion Lady!" In order to put something on a label or sign, they used "Lotion Lady" for the time being. It had been funny at first, but soon became a huge source of pressure every time they saw it. Ginny decided not to think about it and trusted that inspiration would hit randomly, just as it had for virtually every other decision so far.

As autumn arrived, plans for the shop began to finalize. The first Hogsmeade weekend for Hogwarts students occurred during the second week of October and Ginny watched hoards of young girls gather round the front of the shop, talking excitedly and pointing to the "Coming Soon" signs which listed some of the products. Ginny then had the idea to advertise by offering a sampling of the products, so Sarah forced her cousin Rosemary to stand outside the shop giving out samples of Idea-Inspiring Body Cream, designed to inspire intelligence and sharpen the senses. Sarah thought it would be the perfect thing for students having a difficult time getting back into the swing of school again. Ginny suggested she and Sarah use it to help inspire them with a name for the shop.

Their goal was to open the doors for the next Hogsmeade visit, during November, which would require a great deal of haste. However, they already had several faithful customers who'd returned all weekend to pick up more free samples for their friends, so it seemed a reasonable goal.

On Saturday morning, Ginny shopped for supplies while Sarah had locked herself in the attic, brewing products. By lunchtime, however, Ginny was due elsewhere and she had just enough time to drop off the supplies she'd purchased at the shop before Apparating to a little restaurant where Hermione had chosen to meet for yet another wedding discussion.

When she entered the restaurant, Ginny did a scan of the crowd for Ron's red hair, but all she found was a table of hags in the corner and a blonde woman at the bar. Marveling that she was the first to arrive when Hermione was always early for everything, Ginny found a table with four chairs and sat down to wait. It never entered her mind that she would be sitting for more than twenty minutes before anyone arrived, and when she finally saw Hermione wave to her from across the bar, Ginny waved back, feeling only slightly put out. Hermione also had a lot to do these days, what with the wedding and the big projects at St. Mungos.

"Is everything okay?" Ginny asked when Hermione stared at the table in confusion.

"Where's Harry?" she demanded.

Startled, Ginny looked at the clock over the bar. "Late, I suppose. Why?"

"I told him one o'clock," she said impatiently.

Ginny quirked a brow and smirked. "Yes...well, you only just arrived yourself and it's twenty past."

Hermione heaved a huge sigh. "Well…"

"Where's Ron?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, he couldn’t make it – he had something to do for work."

Ginny had work to do as well, but she'd made time to be here. "What the hell is he doing? Shouldn't he be here to actually, oh, I dunno – be the groom?"

Hermione waved a hand. "He insisted that we go ahead and quite frankly, Ginny, I'm rather glad of it. He'll only complain about everything, you know how he is. Thanks for being here, by the way. I know that you're really busy with the shop—how is that going?"

"Hi," came a male voice and they both turned in surprise to see that Harry had arrived and was whipping off his cloak. "I know, I'm late. Sorry."

"So was Hermione," Ginny piped up before Hermione could scold him.

Harry glanced at Ginny, who grinned.

Hermione replied impatiently, "It doesn't matter. Let's just get started.”

"What about Ron?"

"Ron’s not coming, we'll do just fine without him."

"Why do I have to be here, then?" Harry asked with a bit of a whine in his voice.

"Because I need you to help me figure out which day is best to have the wedding since your job is the biggest obstacle we have."

Ginny sighed inwardly. Must she goad him?

Sure enough, when Ginny chanced a glance at Harry, he was sending a very narrowed look at the bar, but she couldn’t focus on that when there was a bit of a confusing thought presenting itself.

"Hang on," she said, looking at Hermione, "You're setting the date for the wedding, and the groom’s not even here? That's a bit of a big decision, isn't it?"

"Ron doesn’t care. This sort of decision doesn't matter to him. His job will give him the time off when he needs it. Your dad is his boss, for heavens sake!"

Ginny nodded, deciding to bite her tongue. Harry himself was sitting back in his chair, arms crossed, looking as though someone had just told him to sod off.

"Now I really wanted to clear it up with you, as well, Ginny, since you'll be having your shop and everything and I'll need to know when a good time would be for you to take a few days off. Because we'll have a lot going on during the days beforehand - having fittings for our dresses, that sort of thing."

"Well, I'm not really sure how it's going to go," Ginny said slowly. "I mean, we haven’t even opened yet, but I'll just do what's necessary on the days you'll need me."

This was not the answer Hermione seemed to want. Rather than say more to Ginny, however, she turned to Harry. "What about you?"

"What about me?" he asked with a bit of temper in his voice.

Hermione, ignoring his tone, continued, "When would be a good time for you to take some days off?"

Harry shook his head as if all of this was too much information. "How many days off?"

"Two or three… perhaps?"

Harry stared at the table, still shaking his head in disbelief as though Hermione had asked him to fly all the way to Egypt on his broomstick so they could have the cerminoy in a pyramid. Ginny remained silent, casually fingering her straw.

At last, Harry raised a brow, lifted a hand off the table and replied, "I don't know."

"You don’t know?" demanded a deadly voice.

"Okay," Ginny interrupted Hermione before something terrible happened. "Harry, is there a certain time of year when aurors perhaps aren't as busy as usual?"

"No," Harry said bluntly, looking at Hermione, "I have no idea when I'll have a case or when I'll get called away. You know this, Hermione."

"So, that's it then. You just won’t be there if you happen to be working on a case.”

Harry lifted his hand in a gesture that plainly said that he couldn’t deny it. Ginny closed her eyes, feeling Hermione's frustration and she was about to interject when a fourth voice interupted the silence.

"Mr. Potter?"

They all jumped in surprise. A barman stood in front of them, offering Harry a letter, the Ministry of Magic seal glimmering in the candlelight.

"This came for you by Express Owl," said the barman importantly before walking off.

Harry opened the envelope, then shook his head with a humorless smile. "I have to go," he announced, stuffing the letter inside the envelope and yanking the cloak from the back of his chair, obviously aware of the irony as he declared, "I'm needed somewhere."

With that, he was gone. Ginny glanced at Hermione, who was staring at the table miserably. Though her heart went out to Hermione, Ginny felt like she was overreacting just a bit to Harry's temper tantrum, when it had been Hermione's comment about his job that started it all. Come to think of it, Ginny couldn’t help but wonder how Hermione of all people could be so angry that Harry was devoted to his work. Ginny reckoned that Hermione ought to be proud that he'd become serious about his job.

"Hermione, don't…let it upset you," Ginny said, wanting to voice her opinion, but deciding against it. She didn’t want to hurt Hermione's feelings any more than they already were. "Harry's not going to miss your wedding."

Hermione laughed somewhat sadly. "He'll miss it just to prove a point."

"Hermione, Harry would not—"

"Yes, he would," Hermione said rashly. "You haven’t been around lately, Ginny. He's different."

Ginny paused before saying, "He wouldn’t miss your wedding, though, Hermione."

Hermione shook her head and began to gather her handbag and cloak. "You don't understand. Anyway, you're right. I should wait for Ron to do this," she said, rapidly pulling her things towards her. "But waiting for Ron to do anything is like waiting for a—"

"Hermione." Ginny placed a hand on her arm to stop her. "Stop for a just a minute. You need to take a deep breath and relax. You're going to drive yourself mad."

"I can't help it," she cried, letting go of everything so that it slumped in her lap. "It's all on my shoulders, Ginny. Ron doesn't know anything about weddings and let's face it, he doesn't care what sort of flowers I hold or what the color of the ribbons on the champagne goblets should be or whether the guests throw moon dust or unicorn powder at us after the ceremony. It's all up to me, and I thought with you and Harry involved, we could make it a group project, just like the old days and it would make Ron want to be involved, but Harry… BLOODY Harry—" Ginny's eyes popped open. "—He can never come through anymore. It’s like he’s not capable. Who was I kidding, thinking things could be like the old days? It just can't, it just can't—"

"Deep breath!" Ginny exclaimed, interrupting Hermione's rant and grabbing her hand.

At last Hermione stopped talking. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, after a minute of silence. "I'm very stressed."

"I can see that," Ginny laughed and squeezed her hand. "Hermione… Ron's stupid."

For a moment, Hermione simply looked at Ginny, then they both started to laugh—Ginny hadn't meant to be funny, but it was a rather amusing way to change the subject.

"Not with everything," Hermione said, giggling a much-needed giggle, "Just…at this sort of thing. And other things too, but—"

"Yes, and that's the reason I don’t understand why you had any expectations at all about him! You knew he would be useless, didn’t you?"

Hermione sighed again. "Well, I sort of… had a bit of hope."

Ginny lifted a brow. "Well…when you’re married, hope is all you’ll have to cling to."

"Hey," Hermione said, visibly trying not to laugh. "Don't talk like that about him. I like him."

"At least you finally admit it. Seriously, Hermione, you can’t let yourself go mad over this wedding! It's one day."

"It's not just the wedding," Hermione admitted, "It's this project at work that takes so much of my concentration, and then—" she hesitated, then broke off.

"What?" Ginny prompted.

Hermione looked up at her. "It's Harry, too. I don’t know what to do anymore. Ron's no help, he's told me not to stick my nose in Harry's business, that he'll snap out of whatever's bothering him—" Hermione shook her head and Ginny felt her guard raise suddenly. This was something that she had no desire to hear. "Ron thinks he knows Harry better and that I'm just trying to create a problem for him because I want to nag or something, but… I'm really, really worried and I don’t know what to do. There's something really wrong, I know it, and nobody believes me."

Ginny cleared her throat. "Erm…have you brought it up to Harry?"

"Of course. But it's complicated. You know how he is, if he doesn't think that someone can relate to him he thinks he can’t talk to them, he thinks they won't understand and… actually…well…" She looked at Ginny nervously for a moment.

"I…I was actually thinking that…well, perhaps, you could…"

Hermione trailed off, and Ginny leaned forward. "What?"

"Well… talk to him. You two used to be so close…"

Ginny's mouth went dry. "Hermione… we're not anymore."

"But at Hogwarts—"

"At Hogwarts," Ginny interrupted, then shook her head, not even knowing what she'd been about to say. "I…that was a long time ago. We grew apart, Hermione. I moved away and…it…it's just different now. I can't help him."

"You won’t know unless you try," Hermione said quietly.

Ginny opened her mouth several times before finally saying, "I don't even know him anymore. How can I help him?"

"Because … you’ve helped him before and it made all the difference."

Ginny shook her head. She was trying to ignore the feelings that were building up inside of her, familiar feelings, bitter feelings and she didn’t think it was fair to have to feel them right now.

"Look, just… think about it, okay?" Hermione said after they both sat in a few seconds' silence.

Ginny nodded, just to appease Hermione, but she feared that it wasn't going to end there.

~*~

October rolled to a close with a bit of bang and though Ginny had technically been responsible for what Fred and George called the best Halloween bash since the 1967 poltergeist revolt, (though they hadn't been alive to experience the revolt, Hermione pointed out, so they couldn’t actually compare) the thing had taken on a life of it's own.

The sulking and the huffing of late had caused Ginny to think how unbelievably uptight everyone was acting lately. A very quick, jumbled idea had formed in her head and before she knew it, the idea had been born. Halloween was only a few days away, on Friday – why not get together that night and have a bit of a party? They could use the shop, it was coming along quite well and was more spacious than Ginny had initially realized. Ron had agreed instantly and Hermione had warmed to it. Later, she'd mentioned it to the rest of her brothers, Sarah, and Brian. They all seemed to think it was a good idea, and that had been the extent of the official invitations from Ginny herself.

A day later, Ron told Ginny that he'd run into Seamus Finnegan and mentioned that he should come to the party with Lavender. She thought it would be good to see them again, so she agreed. Sarah then mentioned that she'd spotted Dennis Creevey one morning and he'd yelled that he would see her on Friday, and that Colin couldn't wait either. Sarah had spilled her tea in her haste to relay the message to Ginny. It wasn't until Rosmerta at the Three Broomsticks commented on the big Halloween bash that she was hearing so much about did Ginny throw up her arms in defeat. She was already going to be spending the entire day before the party making refreshments with her mother. Now she had to seek out help from Sarah's mum as well.

But even though she hadn't planned on it, Ginny was excited about seeing all of her old friends in one place again. It would be like the old days Hermione kept talking about.

"The place looks fantastic!" exclaimed Hermione on Friday evening when she and Ron arrived, a few minutes early.

"Doesn't it?" Ginny said, doing a little twirl in the middle of the room. The entire place was covered in cobwebs, eerie lights, and every trick from the new Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes Halloween Collection. This included Pearly-white Dancing Ghosts waltzing through tables, Sweet Spitting Jack-O-Lanterns that spit some of the most popular WWW sweets and The Bat Chase that, earlier, had found Sarah running around the room screaming as a fake bat pursued her.

"And you look fantastic as well," Hermione grinned and played with the sleeve of Ginny's dress. Ginny had reckoned that since she was the hostess, she should fit in with the Halloween theme. Her dress was long and black, like some sort of old-fashioned widow's gown with a high neck and long sleeves.

"Well, hello!" called a cheery voice from the doorway. Ginny was glad to see that she wasn't the only one to dress up a bit as Lavender Brown stepped inside the room, clad in a black dress that was similar to Ginny's. However, Ginny's eyes bulged slightly when she saw the drooped neckline on Lavender's.

"Where's Seamus, Lavender?" Hermione asked, smoothly shouldering Ron to the side when his eyes took the same tour Ginny's had.

Lavender shrugged vaguely. "Oooh, free stuff?" she exclaimed and walked off towards the basket of lotion and cream samples Sarah had put together.

Ginny saw Hermione and Ron exchange a look but before Ginny could wonder about it, the door opened and Fred and George sauntered in, wearing bright orange robes with matching top hats.

"You two look ridiculous," Hermione said, choking on a laugh.

Ginny giggled. "Where did you get the hats? They're wild."

Fred and George exchanged a grin and before anyone knew it, they had whipped out their wands, tapped the rim of their hats and a gush of green goo poured from the inside, covering their faces. Hermione shrieked and jumped out of the way, and Ginny burst into laughter.

"They remind me of my bogey hexing days," she said with nostalgia.

"They should," Fred commented from under the goo, tapping the hat once more so that the green slime vanished into a puff of purple smoke. "We used a good portion of your hex."

"Then I should get a good portion of the profit," Ginny said sarcastically.

"You are, you are," George assured her, "It's still in the testing stage. Once it hits the shelves, we'll talk."

"Good, because I can use it towards my debt. This way I'll be able to pay you back faster—"

"Oh, please," groaned Ron. "Can we not talk about bloody work and gold and product testing? I'm going to eat." With that, he walked off.

Ginny and the group had been so interested in the bogey hats that they hadn’t noticed more guests arriving, but sure enough the place was slowly filling up with people. Most of the faces were familiar, so Ginny took her time mingling with everyone. There were people she hadn't seen since before she'd gone to Paris, people that she had run into once or twice since coming back, and ones that she saw often. It was fun to actually see them all in one place for a change.

She chatted with Brian and his date (whose outfit made Lavender's dress look modest), and laughed at Dean Thomas who had come alone and was pursuing Katie Bell for a dance. ("…if it's the last thing I do, Ginny, honestly, I've been in love with her since THIRD YEAR!"). Ginny herself accepted a dance with Dennis Creevey, who blushed furiously and told her he liked her dress. She giggled at Neville who watched Luna Lovegood with a perplexed look on his face as she flicked the cherries off her slice of cake and listened with half an ear as Bill and Brian became engaged in a rather intense discussion on the political structure of the Ministry. She spotted Lavender standing in a corner and began to move closer so that she could ask her if she was having a good time, but froze once she actually saw her face.

If looks could kill, whomever Lavender was gracing with narrowed eyes and deep frown would be as dead as the imitation ghost that waltzed near her.

"The turnout is pretty good!" Hermione exclaimed to Ginny, appearing from inside the crowd.

"Yeah… hey, Hermione, what's wrong with Lavender?" Ginny asked, pointing to him. "If looks could kill…"

"Oh, dear," Hermione said, peering over the heads of some people, trying to follow Lavender's gaze. "Oh, not again."

"What?"

"Look," she said, guiding Ginny's gaze to where Seamus Finnegan was standing with some witch Ginny didn’t know.

"Who is that?"

"Who knows?" Hermione asked impatiently. "The two of them must be at it, I tell you, every gathering we have, if they're not trying to get the other jealous, they're all over each other. Look, see?"

Ginny looked. Seamus had a huge grin on his face and leaned closer to the girl he was talking to, who suddenly burst into hysterical laughter, clutching his shoulder. When Ginny looked back at Lavender, she saw her stalk off towards the refreshments table and grabbed a bottle of something, pouring a hefty drink.

"Now she'll get pissed and snog someone and there will be a huge row between Seamus and whichever poor sod she decides to single out," Hermione said matter-of-factly, sipping her butterbeer daintily. "This is really good butterbeer! Is it a new brand?"

Ginny tried to get her mind around the fact that Hermione was telling her there would be a huge row at her Halloween party, when something about Hermione's butterbeer statement made her freeze. "Wait a minute. The butterbeer tastes different?"

Hermione's eyes widened as they met Ginny's and they both had the same thought at the same time. "Don’t drink any more of it," Ginny said automatically, grabbing the bottle from her and stalking off.

"What did you do to the butterbeer?" she demanded of Fred, walking up to him as he danced a slow, sloppy dance with Angelina.

"Huh?" he asked, looking at Ginny with glazed eyes.

"Try to focus, Fred, what did you do to the butterbeer? What's in it?"

To Ginny's surprise, he didn’t try to deny it, but buried his wickedly grinning face on Angelina's shoulder and said nothing.

"Oh, this is just great, Fred, it's the only non-alcoholic drink out there!"

"I don’t bloody believe it," Angelina snapped, lifting her shoulder so that it jammed into his face.

"OW!" he exclaimed, clutching his jaw. "What the—"