Cry Me A River

Cry me a river

Prologue

Sob me a sea

She could have danced, danced till her feet bled and limbs ached. She wouldn't care - all she knew was that she was happy enough to dance. He had said he loved her, not Cho. Never Cho. Ginny brushed a strand of red hair out of her eyes and smiled at him. They were in her backyard, the sun had just set and the wind still smelled of lilies and honeysuckle. He smiled back and gently leaned in, giving her forehead a kiss. Still grinning, she wrapped her arms around him and breathed in his scent. It was like oranges and vanilla and a wood like musk Ginny couldn't place, lingered on his hand me down grey sweater. She'd never felt so happy before. His hands gently stroked her hair and she murmured in pleasure as she hugged him closer.

"Ginny?" asked a voice. It wasn't her Harry's though, not at all. She just hugged him closer and ignored the voice. It called again, this time louder, more urgent. And then again and again, becoming more urgent and impatient each time. Ginny finally looked up and saw the look Harry had plastered to his face. Pure joy, radiated from his every pore. And then it changed.

The wondrous smile that had once graced his face disappeared, replaced by an angry sneer. His eyes no longer shone in the light of the setting sun; his gaze became cold and cruel. His gentle stroking hands tightened on her hair and pulled. A sharp cry of pain was emitted from Ginny's mouth as she fought to free herself. The sky instantly darkened and the air became as cold as ice. Ginny could see the white clouds her breath made, and when she shivered Harry's grip on her hair tightened.

"Harry?" she asked softly. The pain caused her eyes to water. Harry just smiled at this, not a happy smile like before though; it was cruel and evil this time. Harry suddenly stepped forward and slammed her head into the back of the old willow tree that had stood in her yard for years. Ginny's head snapped forward on impact and tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Ginny," Harry said menacingly, "did you believe me? Did you believe a word I said?" Ginny's shoulders started to shake as she sobbed. The sight of her tear stained cheeks would soften any other man's grip on her, but this time it was different. This time, Harry's grip tightened on her hair and slammed her head into the tree once again.

"Harry, stop. Please stop," Ginny begged. She could feel blood ooze from a wound that the impact caused. She struggled hard to become loose, but to no avail. Harry slammed her skull into the tree trunk again. Warm blood flowed though her red hair, forming a burgundy mess. In an act to save herself, she stepped down hard on Harry's foot. He winced in pain and loosened his grip. Quickly she kneed his groin. He let go, doubled over. She turned on her heel and tried to scamper to the house, but he was too quick. He grabbed her waist and she tumbled to the ground. Spying a sharp stone, she clutched it and brought it up, slamming it into Harry's skull. A sickening thud told her that she had done more than just make contact. Shaking, she rose to her feet, bloody rock in hand and unconscious Harry at her feet.

Giving a sickened sob, she dropped the stone and hurried to the house. The door screeched as she flung it open. No one seemed to be home, not a soul in sight. Trying to calm herself, Ginny grabbed a paper bag that was left carelessly on the kitchen counter and tried to breathe in and out. That was when she heard it: the creak. It came from upstairs and was quickly followed by a muffled curse and shout.

Quietly as she could, Ginny crept up the stairs, her sobs now silenced. The only light that seemed to be illuminating the second floor crept from underneath her bedroom door. Something Ginny had once heard about Muggle horror films came to mind: never open the door. Curiosity didn't want her to listen, though. Curiosity shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind and out of reach as she grasped the handle and opened the door.

It was Harry, dozens of him. They all turned their heads and stared at her. Their evil smiles and hungry eyes took in her form, and started to move toward her. She tried to run, but her feet wouldn't let her escape. They seemed to be frozen to the spot. The multiple forms of Harry reached out to her, but suddenly shrank away as a form appeared behind her. The Harrys skulked back and away from them, pressing themselves into the deepest corners of her room.

Ginny could tell that whatever was behind her was a boy. She could tell that he was taller than she was, and while he was pressed up against her, she could tell that he was slender and yet muscular. He smelled like cinnamon and leather. Which was almost enough to make ginny's knees buckle. When he stepped away though, Ginny recognised her saviour and she was shocked. It was Draco Malfoy. There was no mistaking the blond haired Slytherin boy. Despite having been mentally tortured by him for the last 6 years, he was handsome enough to make her momentarily forget all the nasty things he'd said.

"Weasley, now haven't you gotten yourself in enough trouble today?" he said with a smirk, "It seams to me that you cringe in the face as danger as well." Suddenly, all the hateful things he'd done to her came rushing back and loathing once again coursed through her veins.

"I eat danger for breakfast," she retorted, not covered up her lie as well as she had hoped.

"And yet you would cringe in face of a bagel. I do hope toast and tea doesn't give you nightmares."

"Shut up Malfoy," she growled. His smirk widened in return and he stepped closer.

"Oh little Weasel, what will I do with you?" he breathed. Slowly he leaned forward and touched his lips to hers. The kiss seared her mouth and seemed to flow through her veins. She'd never been kissed like this before. Heck, she'd never been kissed on the mouth at all. So this was quiet a good start. She snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Deepening the kiss, his tongue darted in her mouth. She moaned softly and protested a little when he pulled away.

"Well, little Weasel," he drawled softly, "how was that?" Before she could reply, the world around her became fuzzy and swirled. Malfoy melted before her eyes and became part of a background of swirling colours. Her surroundings came into focus, and became her bedroom again. This time the view was from her bed where Ginny was waking up from a rather disturbing, yet strangely pleasant dream.

Ginny tore off the covers and hurried downstairs. What was left of her family was sitting around the breakfast table. She composed herself and sat down beside her brother, Ron, who was already halfway through his scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. Ginny's mother picked up a skillet and ladled eggs and two strips of bacon onto a mint green plate.

"Here you go," she said as she set it down in front of Ginny.

"Thanks," she replied as she tested the scrambled eggs out. Her mother was fiddling with new recipes nowadays, so Ginny never really knew what she was biting into. Deeming them edible, she dug in.

"We're going to Diagon Alley soon, so you two hurry up. We'll beat the crowds if we're early," announced her father before he took a bite of his buttered toast. Quick as a flash, Ron stuffed the rest of his eggs and bacon in his mouth. Years ago Ginny would have looked on with mixed astonishment and horror, but she was used to his eating habits now.

"Thanks Mum," came the muffled voice of her brother as he grabbed his last piece of toast and dumped his empty plate in the sink. Ginny just continued to eat slowly, there was no real need for them to hurry. She was the one who caught on to the meaning of her father's words. Soon, really meant one o'clock.

Diagon Alley was the only place to get school supplies. That was known throughout all of Britain. Any child that was attending Hogwarts or any similar wizarding school was outfitted here with wands, parchments, books and pets,and where knuts, sickles and galleons could be taken from a vault in Gringotts. This last was what presently occupied the Weasley family.

Ginny hated riding in the carts, she always had. Once Hermoine had told her that Muggles could just get money from a machine with a card. What did she call it? Oh yes, a credit card. This, in Ginny's opinion was a much more sensible thing to do.

The cart came to a sudden halt and Ginny was quite nearly thrown from it. Grumbling, she exited the cart with her mum, dad and Ron. The goblin opened the vault with a key and the door swung open. The contents were a little more plentiful than they had been years ago. It was easier for her parents to put only two children through school, since the others had already graduated and were occasionally helping them financially. They still had to buy second hand books though.

Her father leaned over and collected a handful of coins, slipping them into a blue pouch. He did the same with a red one before handing the blue one to Ron and the red one to Ginny. They both gave him a forced smile as her stomach continued to do the polka due to their cart ride. Determined not to throw up on her shoes ginny quickly slipped her pouche into her pocket, as did ron. Ginny climbed back into the cart and braced herself. The ride up always seemed worse than the ride down.

Flourish and Blotts was as busy as usual when the Weasley children entered. The shopkeeper signalled that he would be with them in a minute, so they waited patiently. His rather large task of wrapping a pile of books never seemed to go any faster so Ginny read the titles of some books on a shelf. Muggle Livin' Made Easy by Carman Wiggleworth, and Three Thousand Ways To Cook Newt by Alyssa Macdougally lined the shelves along with Potions Made Easy by Henrietta Johannua. Ginny was about to reach for Potions Made Easy when the shopkeeper finally finished wrapping the books and headed over to them.

"Hogwarts?" he said in a gruff tone. They both nodded and the shopkeeper grimaced. He pulled out a pair of dragon hide gloves and reached for the store display. What seemed to be a display of ordinary powder blue books turned ugly as the storekeeper tried to pull one down. The book growled and hissed as he delicately picked it off the shelf. It shook fiercely and promptly fell out of the shopkeeper's grasp. Ginny gulped as the storekeeper gingerly lifted if off the ground and brought it over to the counter. He dropped it on the counter and fiercely bound it with a length of rope that was kept in a pile on his desk. Then he handed it to Ginny.

"Though they don't look it, these are worst then the biting books we had years back," he said with a grimace, "be careful not to get your fingers caught in the pages, you could lose a few."

"Sir?" asked Ron tentatively, "can we have another?" The shopkeeper paled, but put his gloves on nonetheless.

Their school shopping finished for the day, Ron and Ginny stopped by a lovely ice cream parlour around the corner. Ron, being the traditionalist, ordered a vanilla ice cream cone, while Ginny tried the more adventurous Rainbow Surprise. The surprise was that you never knew what the flavour would be; it changed every time. The brother and sister contented themselves to eat the cones outside. That was when she saw him.

Not 50 meters away stood Draco Malfoy. The dream came rushing back and Ginny blushed furiously. Ron, noticing his sister's discomfort, turned around to see what she was blushing at. His mouth made a very thin line at the sight of his bane. Turning back to his sister, Ron tried to reassure her.

"Don't worry Gin, the amazing bouncing ferret won't be bothering you this year," stated Ron. Ginny face cracked into a grin at the mention of a transfiguration Draco had once gone through, cast on him by a former Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher. The mere sight of a scrawny white ferret bouncing repeatedly for a group of onlookers was enough to bring tears of laughter to many a Gryffindor's eye.

"No, maybe this year it will be a Hinkypunk," choked out Ginny, tears of mirth threatening to fall. Ron's face cracked into a huge grin and his shoulders began to shake with laughter. Most unfortunately, Malfoy decided to look in their direction at that very moment. He hated the Weasleys. He hated all of them, from their fiery red hair to the freckles that graced their face to the amount of money in their Gringotts account. The sight of the brother and sister laughing together was almost more than he could handle. It definately didn't help when Potter and Mudblood Granger showed up.

"Ginny! Ron! I didn't know you'd be here," exclaimed Hermione. Harry just grinned and greeted Ron with their customary handshake.

"We headed out early this year," explained Ron. "We had hoped to beat the crowds. Guess we were a little wrong in that thought." The crowds around had become more and more busy as the day had progressed.

"And how are you Gin? Hope your big brother has been good?" said Hermione with a chuckle. They all knew that Ron could be as mischievous as Fred and George, and usually Ginny was the butt of the joke.

"Awful," said Ginny truthfully. Ron had decided one day to turn her hair purple while she slept. Mrs Weasley had nearly hit him over the head with the frying pan for that little prank. Thankfully her mother had been able to turn her hair back to its original colour. That, and the fact that she had seen her brother chased around by their mother with a frying pan, was vengeance enough. Besides, she'd get him back with the canary cream she'd stolen from Fred and George.

"I wasn't that bad," Ron said, looking quite offended.

"You turned my hair purple! That qualifies as awful." she exclamed

Now it was Hermione and Harry's turn to chuckle. Ginny winced and they stopped abruptly: his smile had reminded her far too much of her dream. The thought of Harry ever doing anything like that was preposterous, but look in his eyes alone was enough to give her nightmares.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Two Weasleys, one Mudblood and Scar Face," came a drawl from behind them. The four friends quickly turned around and found themselves face to face with none other than Draco Malfoy. His trademark smirk was plastered to his face and his silvery blond hair was slicked back into is usual style.

"Hit the road Malfoy," Harry growled. Malfoy just smirked and continued his banter.

"I would, but once I'd hit the road, splattering might occur. And I'm sure that the sweepers wouldn't be too happy prying my bloody body from the road. So, no, I won't be hitting the road, but what I will do is harass you until it gets boring," stated Draco, bluntly. Ginny couldn't believe he'd said that all with a straight face, let alone had the nerve to bother them. Well, that was a lie. She did believe he had the nerve harass them. That was just him.

"Shut up Malfoy," warned Ron.

"Or what? You'll hit me? That'll be the day."

Ginny had expected Ron's next move. It didn't really surprise her that after hearing Malfoy's barb Ron would hit him. Ginny was just surprised that Ron hit him as hard as he did. Malfoy fell onto the cobblestones hard, clutching his jaw. Ron tried to assault him again, but Malfoy was too quick. He grabbed Ron's arm and sharply twisted it. Ron cried out in pain and went knee first into the cobblestones. Malfoy quickly tried to kick him but was stopped by Ron's elbow slamming him in the mouth.

"Boys! Boys! Stop this at once!" cried the voice of Mr. Weasley. He and his wife had just turned the corner and were carrying quite a few wrapped packages. Mr. Weasley reached down and pulled Ron up by his collar. Ron gave Malfoy a dirty look as he picked himself up and dusted himself off.

"Ron Weasley, I would have expected better from you!" came the cutting voice of his mother. Ron winced more at this than at his heavily bruised knee or at being pulled up by the collar. His mother always had this effect on him.

"But mum, he was-"

"Not another word, Ronald Weasley. I don't care what he did! I expect better of you. What kind of example are you setting for you sister?" Mrs. Weasley snapped, "Oh, hello Harry, I didn't notice you till now, you too Hermione. How are you both?"

"Just fine thanks," said Harry softly.

"Me too," also answered Hermione. Mrs. Weasley smiled and promptly invited them to stay at The Burrow for the rest of the summer. Hermione smiled back and said that she'd ask her parents. Harry on the other hand readily agreed. It was in that moment that Ginny realised Malfoy had snaked off without a word.