Bloopers

Bloopers

Chapter 1: Plays and Ponderings

On the path of life, thought Ginny Weasley, there are too many rocks, bumps, hills and mountains. But it wasn't time for psychology, rather time for to pay attention to tonight's Muggle Studies assignment. As she jerked out of her daydream, the last thing she heard was "a topic of your choice, anything about Muggles," before sinking back into her stupor. Usually, the brown-eyed, rosy-cheeked, freckled redhead was a very diligent student, never wandering into dreams, however, today, something just wasn't right. Ginny usually had a temper and wit as fiery as her vivid red hair, but today when Ron performed his daily morning sarcasm, she just stared into her goblet of pumpkin juice, hardly even hearing him. "Ginny," Hermione had whispered urgently, "you and me will have lunch together. Just the two of us." The fourteen-year-old Weasley turned over her friend's words over and over again, until lunch came around.

As Ginny sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, a voice spoke in her ear. "What, may I ask, happened to the normally talkative Miss Weasley?" Ginny nearly jumped three feet in the air at the sudden noise. Or is it the fact that Harry is right next to me? she thought. Rubbing goose bumps off her arms, she nervously scanned tried to answer. Sitting down next to her, Harry said "Are you sure you're feeling alright, Ginny? You seem, well, pretty quiet. It's kinda, unlike you, no offense." "Oh, I'm OK! Really, Harry. Nothing is wrong, I'm, just, umm, thinking about an assignment," Ginny said quickly, scanning the Great Hall for Hermione. Harry didn't seem too satisfied with Ginny's answer, but decided not to interrogate her. He too looked around the Great Hall, but instead of watching the doorway like Ginny, his eyes froze on the Ravenclaw table. At the same time, Ginny looked back at him, and followed Harry's gaze to the very pretty Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw sixth year, who Harry seemed to like a lot. She sighed, and started to pour herself some pumpkin juice. When Hermione came in a few minutes later, both Harry and Ginny had started lunch. Rushing over to them, she pulled Ginny to the far end of the Gryffindor table, and sat her down.

"Spill," she ordered Ginny. "What is going on with you?!? You've hardly talked all day, and you look like you're going to have a nervous breakdown any moment!"

Ginny sighed. "That's just the bloody problem! I don't know what the hell is going on! I'm trying really hard to figure it out! Maybe its stress, maybe I'm sick, or just really tired! Oh, listen to me! I'm cursing up a storm! I sound like Ron!"

"Not a chance," Hermione interrupted. "You sound nothing like Ron, he curses about triple as much as you just did within one minute!"

Ginny managed a weak smile, before starting again. "Hermione, all this bugging me is getting really annoying, and it isn't helping! First Ron, then Harry, now you!"

"Harry?!?" Hermione looked down the table at Harry talking to the other boys in fifth year. Ginny was so discouraged she hardly even noticed Hermione's shocked look.

Ginny seems pretty depressed about Harry, Hermione thought. I wonder if this has anything to do with Cho Chang?

Gryffindor Fourth Year Girls' Dormitory

Ginny sat on her four-poster bed with her quill, ink and notebook in hand. For the Muggle Studies report, she had decided to compare Muggle plays to wizard plays. She had always liked the way Muggles performed their musicals. She had only seen one Muggle musical in her life, as compared to the six or seven wizard plays. The one she saw was Les Miserables, and fell in love with it immediately. The acting, plot and music had captivated her. Ginny understood why Muggles called it "simply magical". Watching it gave her a feeling of "magic" she had never felt before. However, the wizard musicals, though very entertaining, just didn't have the same type of magic that Les Miserables had. Sometimes, she even felt that she could connect to characters in the Muggle musical. Eponine loved her very close friend, Marius, just as Ginny liked Harry. However, Marius loved Cosette, just like Harry liked someone else, Cho.

He hardly even knows her, thought Ginny. How can you like someone you barely even know?

She felt a strange connection with Eponine, that even some lines in "On My Own" matched her mood once in a while.

On my own,

Pretending he's beside me.

Ginny sighed, stared out the window, and sang softly to herself another selection from "On My Own".

I love him,

But every day I'm learning,

All my life,

I've only been pretending!

Without me,'

His world will go on turning,

A world that's full of happiness

That I have never known...

Yes, Ginny pondered bitterly, a world full of happy dreams, of Cho Chang. Ginny, you're being melodramatic!

Gloomily, she loaded up her quill and started to compare plays.

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor Common Room...

"Harry, are you alright?" As Hermione's voice shattered the world Harry had traveled to moments ago, Ron began to snigger. Hermione threw him a you-shut-up-or-I'll-strangle-you look. Harry looked at both of them, very puzzled.

"Would one of you mind telling me what's going on? The two of you have been very secretive today."

Hermione looked at him nervously and took a deep breath.

"Well Harry," she began, "it's all very simple. I'm assuming you still like Cho, especially after, well, you know, Cedric." Hermione's voice trembled slightly, however, she went on.

"So, now, were you thinking of asking her to the Hogsmeade visit next week with you?"

Harry turned slightly red at the mentioning of what he was contemplating only moments before.

"Why am I taking that as a yes?" Ron teased.

"If you insist on me telling you," said Harry, "I was thinking of asking her, and to prove that I'm not too chicken to, I'll ask her tomorrow!" With that, he gathered his things and went up to the dormitory room.

Fifth Year Boys Dormitory

Harry pulled the curtains around his four-poster bed so that he wouldn't have to speak to Ron when he came up. Hours later, Harry was still awake. He pulled out the brown leather album Hagrid gave him at the end of first year, and started to leaf through the contents. Whenever he missed his parents, friends, Sirius, his godfather, or was just lonely, he looked through the album. Harry knew it backwards and forwards, as he had looked through it constantly, especially over the summer holidays. He started from the beginning, the pictures of him and his parents, next came the picture of Harry with Ron and Hermione. After that were some strangely funny pictures that Colin Creevy had taken over the past few years. The Gryffindor Quidditch team practicing, looking pretty good, Ron burping up slugs after trying to curse Malfoy, back in second year, and then came the picture Colin took of the Gryffindor table at breakfast in the Great Hall.

He has some real potential, Harry thought, on being a professional photographer.

Harry smiled to himself. He would never tell Colin though, or else he would start snapping pictures everywhere.

The picture captured breakfast with the Gryffindors perfectly. Hermione was doing nothing but reading, once in a while looking up to give Harry and Ron a mini-lecture for not finishing their homework on time. Fred and George were whispering among themselves, occasionally letting Lee Jordan in on a secret, and Ginny, talking a mile a minute to some girls in her class.

Ginny, Harry thought. Ginny talking. Why did she hide whatever is wrong from me? Am I her friend? Or not? What's going on around here?

As he drifted off into a troubled sleep, he decided that tomorrow, he would ask Cho.