Sometimes It Be That Way

What a Beautiful Day

*

On Christmas Eve, Ginny made it a point to buy Draco a gift. She had found her way into Hogsmeade without any of the teachers' permission and had bought him a gift that she had seen earlier, thinking it to be the perfect gift to give him. It wasn't too stylish and she wondered why she was even going out of her way to buy a present for a guy she was supposed to hate, but she felt compelled to after their conversation in the library. Thus, this is how she ended up walking into Hermione and Harry during her trip to Hogsmeade, and they didn't take her lack of permission too well.

"Ginny!" Hermione nearly shouted. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the castle, in bed, sleeping."

Ginny sighed and held up her purchases, which luckily included presents for everyone else too, to hide Draco's. "I had to shop," she said cheerily. "I didn't do it before so I had to do it now."

"But you should be putting so much stress on the--" Hermione nudged Harry before he had a chance to say 'baby' "--on yourself," he corrected himself. "Shopping is very, very stressful. Especially during the winter. You should be at Hogwarts sleeping."

"I'm fine," Ginny said, grinning. She waved their anxiousness away. "Just a light headache, that's all. But other than that, I'm totally good to go. In fact, you guys don't have to worry. I'm almost finished shopping for gifts."

"You're so light and cheery, today," Hermione commented, a strange look on her face. "Is this part of the mood swings?"

"There are mood swings?" Harry asked, shocked. Both Ginny and Hermione looked at him like he was crazy.

"Really, Ginny," Hermione started again, her voice taking on a parental tone. "You should really be in bed--"

"Enough with the bed thing!" Ginny exclaimed, starting to lose her patience.

"Ginny," Hermione scolded, "get back to the castle right now. We'll finish up with your shopping for you."

"I can do it myself," Ginny said, crossly.

"Ginny," Harry ordered, "just go up to the castle."

"Just because we slept together, Harry, doesn't mean you get to boss me around!" Ginny sneered at him, borrowing a trait from Draco. Students who were passing by heard this little 'announcement' with shock. Some even tripped over themselves to keep their eyes glued to the threesome as the were walking by.

Harry looked taken aback by this sudden outburst against him. Hermione stood rooted to the spot, trying not to look at anyone passing by. "Ginny, I--" Harry stammered. "I was just trying to--"

When he saw that Ginny was ignoring him, he closed his mouth and stalked off. Hermione opened her mouth to protest his leaving but decided to talk to Ginny instead. "What's with you?" she asked Ginny. "For a month, you've been so consumed with yourself and nothing else that you hid yourself in the library. Then, suddenly you're cheery again, practically bouncing all over the place like you were fourteen again, and now you have insulted Harry in front of practically everyone we know."

"Actually, I was kind of wondering why you were back on speaking terms with Harry, all of a sudden," Ginny threw back at her, spitefully.

Something dark crossed Hermione's expression before it withered away. "There's a lot that has happened that you don't know about, Ginny. In fact, Harry and I have been friends again for a couple weeks now." She measured her next words carefully. "Ever since Snape found you sleeping in a corridor." Ginny looked up sharply at that mention of that. She had no idea Hermione had known about that. "Yes, Ginny, I know about that. In fact, everyone who knows about what happened was told about it. Because we're your friends."

Ginny lowered her head shamefully, tears coming to her eyes, as Hermione walked away. When the crunching of Hermione's boots no longer sounded on the snow, she finally looked up and realized that many students were simply staring at her, some reproachfully. She finally couldn't take it anymore and fell forward into the snow.