Ginny Weasley and the Year of Exploring: /Deleted Scenes/

Hi there! These are some ficlets that didn't get used in the final story. You can probably guess why. Inconsistencies with the plot, general bad writing, and just… BECAUSE!

My Notes: I wrote this scene to use as an early chapter; it may have even been the first. But it just didn't seem to work. I show Harry's attraction to Ginny and Hermione's tiny urge to snog her early on, to sort of set the scene (originally, Harry liking Ginny was very key to the plot), but it didn't seem like a very appealing first chapter to me. This is where Harry, Hermione and Ron were while Ginny sat pensively on the green hill in the first chapter, by the way. I was worried about revealing that Hermione had a little crush on Ginny from the very beginning. It would have just ruined the fic, because I made a point of keeping Hermione from showing her true feelings for Ginny until the very end. That made them getting together even sweeter. ;;

"This has been the best summer!" Hermione announced happily. "I'll have to thank you and your family again, Ron."

Ron snickered. "For the millionth time? All right, all ready! Calm down." However, his disposition deceived his tone of voice; he was smiling.

"Too bad Ginny didn't come with us," Harry said suddenly.

"Harry, she's been hanging out with us the whole summer. Besides, it's just the water hole." Ron splashed the cool, clear water for further emphasis.

Hermione nodded. "Every other time we've come she's been here too. And this place has been near her house for ages – it's the same old, same old for her."

"But..." Harry began.

"Oh! Right, you just want to see Ginny in her string bikini again!" Hermione said.

Ron made a sort of disgusted cough in that protective older brother way, while Harry fidgeted. "You really fancy my sister, mate?"

Hermione looked at Harry expectantly and laughed when he shrugged meekly. "Oh, lovely hormones."

"It's not my fault! She does not leave much to imagination!"

Hermione agreed, thinking about that. But Ron just shook his head in disbelief. "I don't want to hear this!"

"You asked!" Harry said and defensively threw water at Ron's face. "You think I like hearing about Lavender all the time?"

Thus broke out a vicious water fight. Rubbing the water from her eyes, Hermione wondered if she and Ginny would have been on the same team if the other girl had been there. Maybe they'd win, and do a victory dance, and collapse happily into each other's arms and lie on the beach, soaking in the sun and thinking what great partners they were.

My Notes: This was one of the ways I originally thought of using for Ginny's karaoke inspiration. But I didn't like it very much, preferring a scene with Hermione (see chapter 9).

Ginny twirled the wizarding radio knobs, her brow furrowed in determination. She heard brief flashes of stations – talk shows, popular music, news broadcasts, but continued on. Just a few minutes ago, Mariah had told Ginny about a radio station playing Muggle music, so why couldn't she find it?

'Oh, there we are!' Ginny thought triumphantly as a smooth voice announced that she was listening to "All Muggle music, all the time."

Lying back on her bed, Ginny listened to the music being played and felt relaxed.

"Now you've got to respect this lady... Really! Most of you Muggleborns probably know this one, and if you don't, crank up the volume and learn."

Ginny sat up partially in surprise but partially in recognition. She knew this song! Her dad had a bunch of old record-thingies and her whole family would forever remember this song as the one that made Arthur jump around the house, singing at the top of his lungs.

My Notes: Meh. Didn't really like this bit. Also didn't use it because I realized I should stick with a fic describing things solely from Ginny's point of view. If I'd shown Hermione knowing that Ginny was friends with a bisexual and finding out from said girl that Ginny was madly in love with her, it would have ruined the fic. I did not want you to know that Hermione had a little crush on Ginny until the very last chapter. And I just kinda got sick of Chantal – such a boring character, merely a plot device, you see. Besides, Hermione's smart enough to be able to figure out things on her own!

Chantal and Hermione had never exactly spoken before. Could it be helped? Hermione had her schoolwork and Chantal had her...

Hermione frowned. What did Chantal have? Her friends? Her boyfriends? Her sluts? She shook her head and tossed out the ideas: If Ginny liked Chantal, she couldn't be that bad.

'And it's unfair to be prejudiced,' Hermione added.

Nevertheless, Hermione felt out of place when she approached the Hufflepuff girl in the Hogwarts courtyard.

"Good afternoon, Chantal," Hermione said politely.

Chantal and one of her girlfriends were sitting on a stone bench, giggling and writing out their homework. At Hermione's voice, Chantal reciprocated with a greeting, but it was much warmer.

"Can I have a minute?" Hermione felt too business-like around these flamboyant people, but she couldn't help it!

Chantal nodded, agreeing, and turned to her friend to shoo her away. They giggled.

After sitting down awkwardly, Hermione turned to Chantal and divulged, "I think there's something wrong with Ginny."

My Notes: I didn't really want to use this scene; it struck me as kind of boring. I just wanted to show it to you guys in case you were wondering if Ginny ever got in trouble for doing karaoke. This is really just some back-story.

Professor Minerva McGonagall sipped her tea pensively. "But it was not hurtful or destructive in any way," she said suddenly. One of her soft spots was for her own Gryffindors. She loved them.

"Except to our ears," Severus Snape said with a cold laugh.

Dumbledore looked sternly at the Potions Master. "I do not think that we should draw Miss Weasley's singing abilities – or disabilities – into this. Professor Sprout, you have something to say?"

It was only a few days since Ginny had given her little performance. Dumbledore had called a professors' meeting for that Saturday primarily to talk about the dinnertime cabaret. So far no one had really cared much.

"The song has a good message, I suppose. It's not like some of that 'rap' music muggles are listening to these days." Sprout wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Can't we just leave this matter be?" Madam Pince spat irritably. "And go on to a more serious topic? The upkeep of the library, if I may?"

"I agree, Madam. And from Miss Weasley's behavior recently, I don't see another musical number in store." Dumbledore smiled slightly, and then sipped some water from his simple silver goblet. "This meeting is adjourned."

"But – the – ... library ... bookshelves ..."

My Notes: Well, obviously this chapter didn't make the final cut. I like it for the hints of H/G, but in relevance to the plot, it was horrible. As soon as I decided to add in the part about Draco wanting Ginny to throw a Quidditch match and Harry wanting Ginny to win it, this scene was rubbish. Harry couldn't know about Ginny's problems; essentially, he was one of them. He added pressure to the Quidditch conflict: Harry, Ginny's ex-crush, her brother's best friend, who means so much to Ginny, and who was trusting her to win the game versus Draco, Ginny's tormentor, her brother's worst enemy, who Ginny hates so much, who was trusting her to lose the game. So in the end, I prized extra stress over the game rather than yummy H/G. Also, Harry isn't very in character in this chapter. He should have been furious and CAPS LOCK-Y (à la Order of the Phoenix) when he heard about Draco abusing Ginny. He should have run off to a teacher or something. And he didn't have a word to say about Ginny liking Hermione! Either Harry isn't very opinionated or he doesn't care as much about Ginny as I was trying to make him come across as. Really, the only reason for this chapter was so that I could show that Harry liked Ginny but that the possibility of them being together was ended once and for all; Ginny's in love with Hermione.

"So Ginny, that was quite a performance."

"Pink boas suit you well, you know."

"I think you've gained more than just a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T around here!"

Harry sighed, deciding everything sounded dumb, and gave up on witty opening lines. And he did this not a moment too soon because just then, the portrait hole opened into the Gryffindor common room and Ginny ambled in.

Hearing the noise, Harry turned away from his audience, the wall, and grinned at Ginny. He knew it was Ginny; he had been waiting for her.

"Wait… Harry, what are you doing here?" Ginny sounded surprised, and she was. She was tired and feeling like a vomit-flavored Bertie Bott's. She'd come to the common room, anticipating it to be empty, and hoping for quiet solace in the familiar space.

"Ah. Well I was just wondering why you were here. Shouldn't you be at Charms class?"

"I have cramps," Ginny lied. Usually anything related to her period freaked out the men around her. Many times before, Ginny had cured this simple ailment with a pill from Madam Pomfrey and continued on with her normal schedule, but Harry couldn't know that – he wasn't a girl.

Although it was true that Harry was not a girl, he was clever enough not to trust Ginny's excuse. "Ginny, I think there's something else, too." He moved closer to where she was standing, frozen in a paralysis. "And I think we need to talk."

He closed the final game in between them by reaching for her hand and drawing her close. Ginny took a seat on one of the Gryffindor-red couches, and Harry sat next to her. And they did talk. She looked down at her hands on her pleated grey skirt and told him everything. AT first she felt a little awkward and paranoid – Would Harry tell Ron? Or Hermione? Or just laugh at her? But when she spoke she realized it wasn't so much for Harry as it was for her. It was a therapeutic experience. She just talked about everything that had transpired in her first five months of the school year, and in such great detail and so vividly that sometimes she was at a loss for words, and became impossible to understand, and then hundreds of words would crash back in her brain and explode like a myriad of fireworks being set off all together, and you know that all the fireworks are beautiful, but you can't look at them all, so you admire the ones you can, but mourn for the fireworks that you miss out on, that shoot up and blossom and are beautiful, and when you miss them, all you get is a smoky skeleton... And that was how Ginny's life unfolded around Harry.

He didn't speak. He didn't think she'd hear him if he did anyway. She was so absorbed in her story that tears welled up in his eyes, for how could she go through all these hells and heavens and he not notice while she struggled? Harry had always had a soft spot in his heart for Ginny – when he saw how helpless she was in Slytherin's Chamber in his second year, how hard she tried to be at least a fairly decent Seeker in his fifth, and now she was just breaking his heart. He should have been there for her more. He could barely comprehend how Ginny had survived all this time without a confident! He decided the only way this could every be even remotely possible – for anyone – was as a result of having a strong will, good heart, and beautiful soul.

Ginny appeared to be crying too. She finally looked into Harry's eyes, the first time in a while, and said, "Harry, I tried! I tried to like boys! Why was I born a girl if I was destined to be a lesbian? Why can't Chantal be Ernie MacMillan or Seamus Finnegan or even...you?" Ginny asked, choking a little on the words, tears flicking out of her eyes. "Then I wouldn't have to sing karaoke and do endless amounts of homework and hurt the ones I love! Would people accept me if I was The-Girl-Who-Shagged-The-Boy-Who-Lived?"

Under other circumstances, Harry would have blushed and giggled, embarrassed. But that day, all he did was wrap his arms around her, feeling her warmth all over him, and tilts his head towards hers, their foreheads touching, their tears melding together and forming new runnels. And together their breasts heaved, their hearts tried furiously to mend, and their legs got pins and needles from just sitting there.