The Story of Virginia Weasley

Chapter 6: Neville's secret

Ginny sat numbly by the fire in the common room, her fingers touching her lips lightly, as she thought about the kiss. She was still mad at Draco for what he did, but now she felt more puzzled than angry. Instead of pushing Draco away, Ginny had given in. She yielded into the kiss, and she actually... enjoyed it. Was it all just a bizarre dream? After all, in real life, there was no way that she would like Draco Malfoy, right? Ginny reassured herself that the only reason she had liked the kiss was because it was her first real kiss, and not because it was Draco Malfoy.

'... a perfect dark blue,' said a voice, which Ginny recognized as Ron's.

A moment later, Ron walked into the common room through the portrait hole, followed by Harry and Hermione and other Gryfinddors.

'You know, Ron,' said Hermione in a matter-of-fact tone. 'I believe it was indigo.'

Ron stared at Hermione stupidly. 'Huh?'

'It's near to dark blue, but in Potions, being near is not enough.'

Ron groaned, and dropped himself to the nearest armchair. 'Sometimes, you sound a lot like Snape.'

Hermione merely scowled at him, while Harry smiled secretly to himself.

'Hey, you're here early,' said Hermione suddenly, turning to Ginny. She narrowed her eyes, and said in a suspicious tone, 'You weren't skipping classes, were you?'

Ginny smiled sheepishly. 'I wouldn't say 'classes'.'

'Oh no. Please say that you missed History, or any other class where the teacher doesn't notice your absence,' said Ron, his eyes on his sister.

'It was Transfiguration.'

Ron moaned, and slid out of the chair onto the floor exaggeratingly. Hermione lifted an eyebrow at this, and opened her mouth to comment, but soon decided otherwise.

'What were you thinking, Ginny? If Mum finds out, she'll send me a Howler.' And then, mimicking Mrs Weasley's voice, Ron said, 'Ronald Weasley! How can you let this happen? Your naïve, innocent sister! How can you corrupt her? You're leading her to a life of crime and felony! I trusted you, Ronald, to look after her in school, and this is what you do? Blah, blah, blah.'

'Oh, come on, Ron. That's a bit exaggerating,' said Ginny, laughing.

'Oh yeah? She'll blame me, you'll see,' said Ron darkly.

Gnny shook her head, and stood up from her seat. Sometimes, Ginny wondered if her brother had been dropped on the head as a baby. He was far too paranoid. She was about to walked up the stairs into the girls' dormitory, when Neville approached her. Ginny wondered if it had anything to do with the toilet incident.

'I saw you,' said Neville, his eyes darker than usual.

Ginny frowned. 'Huh?'

'I saw you with Malfoy.'

Ginny blushed, as she remembered the kiss once more. 'Um... that was a misunderstanding, Neville.'

'Misunderstanding?' shouted Neville angrily. Heads turned towards Neville's direction almost in unison. Lowering his voice, he said, 'How can I misunderstand... that?'

Afraid that others might overhear, Ginny pulled Neville aside. 'It meant nothing. I was just talking to him, you know, to try to... um, find out about the scandal everyone was talking about, and uh, he did... you... to um, stop me talking.'

At this, Neville seemed to relax. 'Oh. That's good... I mean, that's horrible of him. So... it mean nothing?'

'It meant nothing, really,' Ginny lied, forcing a smile on her face. 'He's Malfoy, for God's sake.' That was to reassure herself more than to reassure Neville.

'Right. Right. What was I thinking?' laughed Neville.

Ginny smiled, and turned to walk away. Neville stared after her, and opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He sighed sadly, knowing that he would never have the courage to tell Ginny how he felt about her. Somewhere not so far away from him, a pair of eyes watched intently.