A Life More Ordinary

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. Hermione had the afternoon off to study for her NEWTs classes and told Ginny that she'd study in her dorm room. Hermione didn't have to worry about being sexually frustrated by Ron or snubbed by Harry for the rest of the day. Ginny also had an easy afternoon. Her Muggle Studies class was being cancelled in favor of the BATs tests. The tests, which stood for Boring Aptitude Tests, were a good way of deciding which career path to take. It helped students figure out which subjects they showed an aptitude for and an interest in and the results suggested career paths they might be interested in. The BATs were a brand new test that the Ministry had decided to try out on Hogwarts' sixth year students as an experiment. The new Minister for Magic, Amelia Bones, had been inundated with owls from parents who complained that once their children got out of school they didn't seem interested in the career they had prepared for. Many were sick of supporting "deadbeat children who sat around and read The Daily Prophet's want ads instead of holding jobs." Minister Bones had the BATs created as a way of helping guide students towards careers they would be continue to be interested in long after they left Hogwarts. The test had lived up to its name and was incredibly boring. Her Muggle Studies professor had promised the class that results would be back after the winter holidays. Ginny wasn't particularly interested in the results from the BATs test. She knew she wanted to be a healer.

Ginny walked back to Gryffindor tower with Colin and discussed what he was getting Ivy for Christmas. "I want to get her something nice, but I don't have a lot of pocket money," Colin lamented to Ginny. "My dad's a milkman. Galleons aren't exactly flowing out of his pockets."

Ginny nodded. "I know. My dad works for the Ministry for Magic and we're still poor. I'm lucky that I worked for Fred and George this summer at their shop to earn some pocket money for the school year."

"What can I get her that's relatively cheap, but won't look like I'm being cheap with her?"

"You have all those pictures, right? Why don't you make her a photo album with pictures of her and her friends?" They were now standing at the portrait hole's entrance. Ginny knew Colin wouldn't want to carry on this discussion in the common room, so they were stuck outside carrying on the conversation.

"I could do that. I have a lot of pictures that I took at different quidditch games using my zoom lens." Colin leaned against the wall and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Do you think she'd like that?"

Ginny nodded again. "I'm sure she would. Could you," Ginny lowered her voice to a whisper, "include any pictures that you have of you and her?"

Colin shook his head. "We never take any. I'm worried someone will see them." He stepped aside to let Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan climb through the portrait hole. Both boys looked at Ginny quizzically and Seamus made a rude hand gesture that insinuated something was going on between her and Colin. Ginny pulled her wand from her robe pocket and raised it threateningly in the air, which caused Seamus to squeal like a pig and run into the common room.

"Well, it doesn't matter. She'll like anything you give her, Colin, because it came from you." She took his hand and rubbed it reassuringly. "Kneazle," she murmured and pulled him through the portrait hole. Ginny had forgotten to drop Colin's hand once they were in the common room and the whole population started to make catcalls and whistles when they saw them holding hands.

Colin quickly dropped Ginny's hand and rushed up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. Ginny adjusted the straps of her book bag and began to walk to the stairs that led to her bedroom. She stopped when she noticed Ron coughing rather loudly in her direction.

"Do you need a cough drop, Ron?"

"Is he your new boyfriend?" Ron asked. Ron was sitting at a table with Harry. Both were glowering at her. She could understand why Ron was upset. He hated any boy she dated and especially didn't like Colin. She had no idea why Harry was looking so annoyed.

Ginny decided to wind Ron up. "I don't know if he's my boyfriend yet. He was just asking me about something in the hallway. I don't know how you spell it, but I believe it's pronounced ménage a trois?"

Seamus practically choked on the butterbeer he had been drinking and Dean Thomas's quill flew out of his hand. Ginny started laughing and began walking back to her bedroom.

"Ginny, that's not funny! We're talking about your maidenhood here!" Ron had stood up and was taking quick steps toward her.

Ginny stopped walking and faced him. "Ron, honestly! Must you be involved in every aspect of my life? Can't I have a guy friend who isn't trying to put the moves on me? Must my 'maidenhood' be on the line with every boy Italk to?"

Ron frowned. "Ginny, you don't know boys like I do. One minute Colin will try to hold your hand. The next, he might try to put his hands elsewhere." Harry walked up next to Ron and seemed ready to join the conversation. "Is he your boyfriend, Ginny?"

Ginny wearily rubbed her eyes. She was tired of this continual fight with Ron. "No, Ron, he's not. He's a friend. Some guys can have women as friends."

Harry, Ron, Seamus, and Dean snorted at this comment. "That's not possible," Harry commented.

Ginny looked at him. "Really? I thought you were trying to be my friend, Harry. Does this mean that all you really wanted to do was shag me?"

Harry looked taken aback by her comment. Ron turned accusatory eyes toward Harry. Dean and Seamus turned their chairs from the fire they had been sitting by to get a ringside seat. "No, no. I want to be your friend, Ginny." Harry turned his eyes to Ron. "Honestly, Ron! I'm not trying to shag Ginny!"

Now Ron looked angry. "Are you trying to say you're too good for Ginny?" Both boys were now facing each other, the previous argument with Ginny apparently forgotten. "She's very pretty, you know! I have to keep my eye on her all the time."

Harry shook his head vigorously. "No! I don't think I'm too good for her. I've noticed how pretty she is."

Ron stepped closer to Harry. "What do you mean you've noticed? What are you doing looking at her so much?"

Apparently, there was nothing Harry could say that was going to get him out of this mess anytime soon. Ginny smiled to herself and quickly walked away from the argument. Mission accomplished!

Ginny walked quickly up the stairs to the girls' dorms and tossed her school bag onto her bed. She then went looking for Hermione in her bedroom.

"Alright, Hermione?" Ginny asked as she flopped onto Hermione's bed.

Hermione closed the thick book she was reading. "I'm great. How about you? Are Ron and Harry downstairs in the common room?"

Ginny laughed. "Yes. I was talking to Colin Creevey when I came in and holding his hand . . ."

"What?"

"Oh, he's worked up over what to get his girlfriend for Christmas. I grabbed his hand to console him and Ron and Harry took it all wrong. Mind you, I think Dean and Seamus wound them up before we came in."

Hermione put a hand to her mouth. "What did they do?"

"Ron got very brotherly and asked me if Colin was my boyfriend. I was mad and so I told him Colin was asking me about a ménage a trois . . ."

"You said what to Ron?" Hermione looked scandalized by what Ginny had said.

"I was just annoyed that he puts on that act anytime I'm with a boy! He's got this dumb idea that I shouldn't date. The weird part about that is coming up." Ginny waved Hermione's comments away and started back on her story. "So then he tells me to be serious, that my 'maidenhood' is at stake. And I told him that Colin wasn't my boyfriend, that he is only a friend and Harry remarked that guys can't be friends with girls."

"Has he been drinking Firewhiskey? Aren't he and I friends?" Now Hermione looked angry.

Ginny shook her head. "I dunno. Maybe since you are already with someone, he doesn't consider you a girl. Listen, it gets better. After Harry said that, I remarked that he was trying to be my friend and did that mean he was just trying to shag me?"

"What did he say?"

"He said that no, he was trying to be my friend. Apparently, that got Ron's knickers in a twist because then Ron turned on Harry and asked if Harry thought he was too good for me." Ginny finished the story with relish and tucked one of Hermione's pillows under her head.

Hermione pulled the pillow from under Ginny's head. "Well, what did Harry say?"

"Oh, he made up some nonsense about how he had noticed that I was pretty, which wound Ron up even tighter. I left them arguing downstairs." Ginny took back the pillow and laid back down on it.

Hermione squealed, which was something Ginny had never heard Hermione do. "Do you know what this means?" Ginny shook her head. "Harry sees you as a woman now! You're a pretty girl he wants to get to know better." Ginny looked at Hermione quizzically. "This is good!"

Ginny sat up and looked Hermione in the eyes. "Yeah, well I won't start planning our wedding or anything. He's still mad at me." Ginny snapped her fingers and hopped off Hermione's bed. "C'mon! There's something I have that might help us both out!" She grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her towards the sixth years' room. Once they got to the room, Ginny dropped Hermione's arm and ran over to the trunk that sat at the foot of her bed. She flipped the trunk's top open and began dumping the contents of the trunk onto the floor. Large piles of books, candies, old pieces of parchment, quills, ink pots and innumerable items of clothing were spilling out onto the floor. Ginny sifted through the books until she found the one she was looking for. "Look at this!" She thrust the book into Hermione's face.

Hermione took it and read the title. "Lavinia Lockhart's Charms for the Teen Witch. Who's Lavinia Lockhart?"

"Gilderoy's sister. She's made a name for herself in the beauty arena of the wizarding world. She owns a makeup company and has a clothing line." Ginny flashed Hermione a wicked grin and showed her the cover. A voluptuous blonde witch was waving merrily at the girls. "There are charms for everything in here. Beauty charms, glamours, spells to place on clothes, everything!"

Hermione grabbed the book from Ginny. "How come you didn't show this to me earlier?"

"My aunt Hazel sent it to me at the end of summer. She thinks that since I live in a house full of men I need beauty help." Ginny sighed. "I only brought it here on a whim. I thought it might be fun to play with the spells and charms in the book. But now we can use it to get back at Ron!"

Hermione was busily flipping through the book. "What do you mean?"

"We can use the charms to make you look better, you know like you have make up on. And there are spells for tightening clothes, lowering hemlines or raising them. We can make him beg to forgive him for being such a twit!"

Hermione smiled. "We'll use them on you too. Harry's already noticed you and asked you on a date, although in a wimpy manner so that if you refused him it wouldn't look like he asked you out. Let's make them both suffer!" Both girls sat on Ginny's bed, flipping through the book and plotting against the boys.