The New Year

Hey everyone! This is Rose (I last submitted fics at Schnoogle . . . Born of the Sun, a founderfic, and White Bird on a Silver Thread, a seventh year fic, can be found here at http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Rose_Fay/). Amanda (author of the post-Hogwarts D/G fic at http://www.astronomytower.org/authorLinks/Weekend_Soul/) and I have just started a new Yahoo group, Pillar of Fire, for discussion of our fics as well as general D/G goodness. (You can join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PillarofFire/) Among other fun stuff we do, we plan to be writing round robins which will be posted here under the username of Pillar of Fire. This is the first chapter, written by me. If you are interested in writing the next chapter, see the A/N at the end.

The New Year: Chapter One

Ginny pushed a strand of bright hair away from her face. Dodging an inebriated fellow partygoer, she slipped onto the balcony for a breath of cool night air. The elegant, jazzy music drifted outside, and the light fell goldenly through the glass doors and onto the marble floor of the balcony, contrasting sharply with the darkness of the night.

Leaning onto the marble balustrade, Ginny gazed into the deep, velvety skies. The stars seemed so close, and Ginny almost lifted a slim white finger before she recalled that she was earthbound. Stars are for the lucky ones, she thought wistfully, wishing she could catch one, but knowing she was too ordinary to have any right to.

It had always been that way. Growing up, she had existed in the shadows of her brothers, and of her brother's friends. Stars belonged to people like them, she thought. Stars belonged to people who made a difference, who saved lives, who were smarter, and braver, and better than average.

Stars weren't meant for her.

A soft sigh escaped Ginny's lips. There had once been someone, she thought, knotting her fingers so tightly together that her knuckles turned white. There had been someone who had told her she was worthy of stars. He had taught her to laugh, to live, to love. But that had been so long ago; as the years went by she had forgotten again, caught up in a struggle against her life, against her fate, against the very stars. The years had slipped by, one by one, so like each other that she did not take account of them. She only knew she grew older, and that it did not matter because there was no one to care.

But it was too late to mourn things already lost, she told herself sternly. Tonight was New Year's Eve - a night for celebrating what was to come, not regretting what was already passed. But she couldn't help remembering a pair of gray eyes, and a smooth, cultured voice that became softer when he spoke to her . . .

The doors of the balcony behind her opened, breaking her train of thoughts. Ginny whirled around, bitterly resentful of this intrusion on her tryst with the past. But the angry words died on her tongue as she saw who it was.

It couldn't be. She was dreaming. Wishing on stars had never worked before, she thought, staring incredulously at the vision that stood before her. He had been a boy then, and he was undoubtedly a man now, but the long years had not changed him so much. The same tall straightness, the same panther's grace, the silky hair that fell a little over his eyes, the luminous pale gray eyes that looked so boldly into hers. Ginny felt her heart catch in her throat.

"Draco?" she asked.