Summary: It's the last year at Hogwarts for Harry and the gang. The war between the light and dark is continuing. But that's part of the outside world. Everyone is still very much inside their own little worlds at Hogwarts, where Professor Dumbledore is trying his hardest to make everything seem as normal as possible. But how can you be normal when you have strange things happening to you after your 16th birthday? Plots form and unfold. Ginny Weasley isn't a little girl anymore, no, she's someone very special. Draco Malfoy is the first to discover who Ginny Weasley really is.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything pertaining to the Harry Potter series, just the plot. All of the other stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling…that lucky woman. LOL.
Chapter One: The Temptress
"GINNY!"
Ginny Weasley groaned into her pillow – morning has come.
"Can't a person get any decent sleep around here?" Ginny thought, "Wait…What day is it? OH SHIT! Harry and Hermione are coming today!"
Ginny jumped out of bed and rushed into the shower. After 10 minutes, her hair was dried and she was curling her hair with something called a curl-er, which she had found a couple years back in her father's collection of muggle things. She could ask her mom to swish her wand, but she found that using the curl-er was fun.
"Perfect! Now clothes. Jeans and tight T-shirt or nice white dress?"
After a couple minutes of thinking about the different reactions people might give to each outfit, Ginny chose to wear the dress. It fell nicely down to the tops of her knees, circular like an upside down flower. Modest, as it would seem on the hanger; when worn, it emphasized Ginny's full-grown body. Being tight at the top and loose at the bottom, the dress created an image of teasing innocence. For the final touches, Ginny applied some light make-up, and chose a pair of adorable white heels to wear.
"GINNY! GET YOUR ARSE DOWN HERE!"
Rolling her eyes, Ginny grabbed a pale yellow sun hat and walked downstairs fashionably slow just to piss of her brother.
"GINNY!" shouted Ron, "HARRY AND HERMIONE'S HERE!"
"I hear you Ron! You don't need to scream like a girl to get my attention." Ginny said in exasperation to her red-faced brother.
"Wow Ginny! You look different! Not in a bad way, it's great." Hermione looked upon Ginny with a smile like an older sister. "I like what you did to your hair too." Hermione touched a lock of curls slightly.
It was true. Ginny's bright red hair became dark and rich like velvet. It cascaded down past her shoulders in graceful waves. Her plain brown eyes were now like dark chocolate and her body finally took shape into a body that every girl - and woman - would turn green over.
"Thanks Hermione! But I must say you look great too. No wonder Ron chose you over all the other girls chasing after him." Ginny giggled as she saw Hermione and Ron blushed a bit.
Ever since Hermione broke up with that guy, what was his name – Krump? Ron finally gathered the courage to ask Hermione out – with Ginny's help of course. She had to do the dirty work of putting down all the other cute girls following after her brother. Weird to say, Ron had indeed grown up as well. His bright orange-red hair had grown darker and playing quidditch did well to his figure.
Although Ginny was smiling at the couple on the outside, inside Ginny's smile faltered thinking why she couldn't have what Ron and Hermione had. That was to love and be loved in return and for who she really was.
"Hey, where's Harry?" Ginny asked nonchalantly.
"Oh, he's outside with Sirius and the others. You didn't meet Sirius yet did you Ginny? You'll like him a lot." Ron bent down to whisper in his sister's ear. "Mom thinks he's still a paranoid freak killer, so just keep that in mind when you see her face." Ron snorted while Hermione nudged him with a disapproved look.
"Okay, well, I'll go out first." Ginny said, "You guys could take your time if you want to." She added slyly, grinning at Ron's suddenly stone red face.
Outside, she could see Harry and Sirius with Fred and George asking for Sirius' signature. As Ginny walked towards them, she laughed in humor due to Sirius' helpless expression of not knowing what to do. Harry also seemed to be enjoying his god father's disorientation.
"Oi! Ginny! Look, it's Sirius Black! The serial killer that mom was always talkin' 'bout!" George shouted. Sirius just scratched his head and raised an eyebrow.
"Hello Mr. Black, I'm Ginny." Ginny introduced herself shyly.
"Oh, please call me Sirius, Ginny. I heard a lot about you from Harry!" Sirius nudged Harry with a grin. "Wow, being the youngest child and the only daughter of 7 children, you probably get a lot of attention!"
"That's not true. I'm the most invisible girl in Hogwarts. Small, quiet, and invisible." Ginny thought as she looked at Harry. "But this year will be different. This year, they will notice me. They would see. Especially Harry…especially Harry."
Putting those thoughts to the side, Ginny put on her happy façade.
"Sure do! But talk about protective older brothers!" Ginny rolled her eyes. "I swear they watch me 24/7." Ginny brought her voice to a hush, but loud enough so everyone could hear. "I'm scared at times now. Them knowing everything I do give me the creeps. And also, Harry's practically part of the family, so another brother doesn't help either."
Sirius broke out into a hearty laugh. The youngest Weasley girl had spunk and humor. But something tugged at his heart as he looked over Ginny. Something in her brown eyes told him things about loneliness and a longing for something. His heart reached out to her, but he wasn't sure what to do. Sirius decided that it wasn't his place to talk to her either, since he had just met her right now. Another thing Sirius noticed though was that Ginny was, and have been, staring at Harry for the longest time, but nobody has noticed—except for him.
Ginny must have stared at Harry for a long time for Ron and Hermione were there now talking with Sirius. Ginny just sighed and decided to take a walk around the forest behind the Burrow to think. Should she really waste her time chasing Harry around? Did she really love him that much and was she really that desperate? She had a chance…a very small chance that she could…
"Hey Ginny!"
Ginny turned and saw the last person she expected to see—Harry.
"I didn't even get to say hi to you! Didn't see you go there!" Harry said out of breath. "So, hi!" Harry gave Ginny one of his warm smiles that set Ginny's heart on fire.
"It's okay, Harry. It's nice to see you again, too…I missed you."
"Yeah me too." Harry returned. "Hey come on! We're going to Diagon Alley soon. Can't leave without the youngest one can we!" Harry gave Ginny a wink and jogged back to the Burrow.
Ginny watched with sad eyes. She's not going to be a shadow this year. This year, she's going to be the star of the show.
"Hey I'm going to Madam Malkin's shop to get an outfit for some of the dances and new school robes!" Ginny shouted to the group as she jogged backwards toward the shop.
"Okay! Just Meet us at the Ice Cream Parlor in an hour and a half!" shouted Hermione back.
"Okay!"
That year, Bill and Charlie didn't come to visit the Burrow because of extra work and their new-found girlfriends. Every year they always bought presents for everybody, and Ginny got gift certificates (A/N If there are such things in the Wizard World) for a few things at Madam Malkin's shop. Hopefully she could buy a dance outfit and brand new school robes that actually fit her. They would be so much nicer than those old hand down robes that were getting too small and too short for her.
When Ginny entered, Madam Malkin greeted her with a warm welcome. "Hello Ginevra! Bill and Charlie purchased some gift certificates some time ago. Here to use them? Two outfits and 3 school robes correct?"
Startled by the sudden warm outburst, Ginny could only say one thing, "Yes."
"Okay then. Let's go to the back of the shop to take your measurement."
Ginny then followed Madam Malkin to the back, and the measurement was finished in a flash.
"My, my, you have a very petite size my dear. Girls and women would probably look at you jealously all the time!"
"I wish! If only Harry could look my way." Ginny thought to herself quietly.
"Wait here dear while I get your robes and some very fashionable dress robes and dance outfits." Madam Malkin said while walking and murmured something under her breath about how dress robes were so hard to come by now days due to the war. Ginny wondered to herself what in the world the war had to do with dress robes.
A few minutes later, Madam Malkin came back with a trail of several dress robes and formal outfits following her in the air. Ginny, seeing the mass of floating material was erased of all thoughts and feelings. All she was concentrating on was that what would happen if everything fell. Surely she wouldn't survive.
"Oh dear…I think I brought too many!" Madam Malkin exclaimed with a giggle upon looking at Ginny's expression.
Way too many.
"Okay Ginevra, do you have anything in particular that you would like?" Madam Malkin asked.
"Oh, uhm…I'm not really sure. But I guess a dress that wouldn't show too much skin but just enough to be fashionable. No straps are okay, although Ron would probably kill me. And…" Ginny thought for a moment.
"This year.You promised. You are going to change. No shy Ginny. You are going to show your everything! Your natural beauty that would make Harry sorry for not accepting you for these past years! No, your whole love life! He took that much from you. Show him what he was missing!" An inner voice reminded Ginny of her goal that year.
"Did you think about it dear?" Ginny snapped out of it and looked at the shop keeper. "Just to tell you dear, dress robes seem to be a thing of the past these days. More and more young people like you are wearing dresses to the school dances. So just feel free to look at everything dear."
"I think want something that I could look great in. No, beautiful! I never had that. I never appealed as beautiful to anybody—just cute. I want to look stunningly beautiful. But I don't think I can pick that out from all this" Ginny gestured all the line of cloth. "Can you pick a few for me? I will really appreciate that Madam Malkin."
Madam Malkin was a little startled, but moved by this girl's passion to be noticed. She had a hunch that it might be because of a certain boy with jet black hair, but didn't voice her guess.
"Okay dear. I have three dresses in mind that would look stunningly beautiful on you!" Then Madam Malkin made all the dresses disappear except three – a dark forest green, a gold, and a black.
"Let's try on the forest one first!" said Madam Malkin excitedly. And then with a flick of her wand, Ginny was in the green velvet dress. It hugged onto every curve, flared out past her hips, and the spaghetti straps showed off her pale, creamy shoulders. The neck line made a v, showing a glimpse of cleavage. Ginny stared into the mirror and turned around. The back swooped down low, exposing her arched back. Ginny liked it.
"Is this really me?" Ginny thought in wonder. "I look…different."
"Like it dear?" Madam Malkin asked softly. Ginny turned to Madam Malkin and nodded and then turned to the mirror again.
"Okay the next." Madam Malkin decided and with a wave of her wand, Ginny was in a strapless gold dress. The short, tubular shape made Ginny's legs look long and slim. It was considerably low due to the scrunching of the fabric down the center of her chest.
"Ron would faint if he saw me now." Ginny thought in fascination as she stared at herself in the long mirror.
"Okay. Let's try the last one. I personally like this dress and took it from my collection especially for you Ginevra. But one thing I have to tell you, it shows a great deal of skin. I don't think any of your brothers would be very happy if you wore this to the ball in front of everyone, but try it on anyways dear."
"Okay" Ginny replied softly. With the last flick, she saw her reflection and took a sharp intake of air. She looked…sexy. The dress was jet black with no straps. But the unique thing about this dress was that starting from the top at her sides, thin lines of black made criss-cross patterns. The fabric started widely at the top and then gradually became thinner as it went down until it hit the bottom of her waist, ending with a small bow. From there, the black material flowed like water down to the floor. The black silk hugged her upper body and then flared out, making Ginny look like a mythical land mermaid if there was such a thing.
This dress was perfect.
"Well?" Madam Malkin asked with a smile. She could tell when her customer felt that something he or she was wearing was perfect, and at that moment, Madam Malkin could tell. That dress was perfect for Ginny Weasley.
"I love it! It's so beautiful!" Ginny licked her lips and bit her lower lip. "Thank you so much Madam Malkin! I think this is the one."
"I thought so. Just stay here for a while. I have another customer to tend to." Madam Malkin said and walked away with a proud look on her face. Another customer who found exactly what they were looking for: it was the best kind of satisfaction to a shop keeper.
"This is it Ginny! This is the dress." Ginny whispered with a smile. She had never felt any happier in her whole life. With a stupid grin on her face, Ginny continued to look at herself in the mirror.
"Wow! Who's this? The littlest Weasley! My, my, did we finally grow up?"
Ginny turned around only to look into a pair of cold grey eyes. Malfoy.
"Well what do you know," said Ginny sarcastically cheerful. "It's Malfoy." All at once, the cheerful tone was replaced by hatred. Ginny then smirked. Draco smirked back. For a moment they were having a smirk/glare fight until Draco finally broke the connection and ran his eyes up and down Ginny's body and smirked even more. Ginny tried not to blush but had to show a tint of pink in her cheeks. She felt as if she was being x-rayed. When she couldn't take it anymore, Ginny turned back to the mirror and stared at Draco in the mirror. He changed a bit too.
Draco's hair was no longer slicked back, but instead, it fell naturally over his eyes. His white skin now had a tint of color, probably "tanned" from quidditch training. Taller and more built. Handsomer too. Ferret boy has become a man over the past couple years. No one could argue against that. Ever since the first hint of manhood in Draco's 5th year, girls chased after the dangerously cold Slytherin boy like there was no tomorrow. Ginny, however, was one of the girls still chasing after a brave lion's heart, not that of a cold serpent.
"Wow. I thought Harry was hot, but Draco got built up too." Ginny thought. Then a split second later, she mentally bonked herself on the head in horror. "What the hell am I doing? He's a Malfoy! Not just any Malfoy, but DRACO MALFOY! The guy who made your life miserable, remember?! The guy who might have cut your luck with Harry! Ah forget Harry! This is the guy who mercilessly insulted your family name!" Ginny groaned inwardly. She couldn't be checking out the spawn of the devil!
"Looks like Weasley's not the little girl everyone thinks she is anymore. Especially in that kind of dress. Where the hell did Malkin get that? Wait, am I checking out that Weasley girl? Draco! She's the lowest class of wizards. She associates with Potter and mudbloods like Granger. But…she DOES have a great body." Draco groaned. Shit. That minx. She'll pay.
But that very moment, Madam Malkin came back and flicked Ginny back into her normal white sun dress and gave all of Ginny's things in a nice bag.
"Then have a nice day my dear! Come back when you need anything else!" Madam Malkin said while waving.
"Okay! Thank you Madam Malkin!" Ginny waved and walked past Draco and smirked. "Bye Draco." Draco returned the smirk as she walked out. She had called him by his first name.
"That's a first." Draco thought with an eyebrow raised by her unexpected actions.
"Oh dear! Ginevra left her hat." Exclaimed Madam Malkin.
Draco turned to the distressed shopkeeper.
"I'll give it back to her on the train." Draco took the hat and looked out the window to see the most tempting girl ever—the innocent temptress with hair red like wine.
Well? How was it? Please Review and tell me what you REALLY think! Love you guys lots!
-- C.E.
Next chapter: Hello Hogwarts! Ginny and Draco talk. Draco gets an idea. Harry showing interest? What's up with Dumbledore announcing a singing contest? Class of wine making?