Work Text:
Ginny yanked her arm out of Dean's grip. "No! I'm done! This is over!" she cried.
"Ginny!" he protested, but she cut him off with a single finger.
"I don't need your help, your protection, your breathing down my neck! I've had it! I'm a girl, not a porcelain doll! We're through!" She turned on her heel, flaming hair billowing like a roaring fire as she stalked out of the common room.
Between his so-called chivalry trying to help her through the portrait hole (as if she hadn't been doing it on her own just fine for the last five years) and his over protective nature like she might break, she wasn't even sure how the relationship had lasted so long.
She wasn't sure where she was going, but the Tower was the last place she wanted to be. Being a Weasley, she wasn't even surprised when she ended up in the Great Hall. Her family had always been very food oriented. Ron was an endless pit, Mum thought there was a food to fix every situation, and even Fred and George had started their business with edibles. She plopped down next to Piper Stone at the Ravenclaw table and poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Who incurred the Wrath of Weasley this time?" Piper asked after a sufficient dramatic pause.
"Dean and I just broke it off," she grumbled, adding sugar and cream.
"Actually broke it off or did you break him in half?"
Ginny shot her friend a scathing look and the girl put her hands up in surrender, her hair turning from blue to white like the proverbial flag of truce. Ginny sipped her coffee and Piper went back to a letter she was reading. She didn't want to be too cross with her friend- she had been going through a lot of family drama lately that more than trumped boy trouble.
"How's your brother?" she asked.
"Recovering. He's not happy about being in St. Mungo's, but at least he's being constantly watched," she answered. "Mum says he's being a pain about some of the potions they're making him take." She folded up her letter and stashed it away, turning to her friend. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No. Besides, you already know about it."
"Yeah, but when someone is really upset about something, sometimes it makes them feel better to vent about it several hundred times."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Where's Luna?"
"Erm, I-" Piper looked uncomfortable as she turned back to a plate of half eaten food. She shoved a biscuit in her mouth and spoke unintelligibly, glancing across the room before lowering her head.
Ginny followed her eyes and saw the girl with the big eyes and the dirty blonde hair just getting up from the Gryffindor table with Harry. His hand found hers and their fingers laced together as they walked out of the room, talking and laughing, looking lovingly at one another. It wasn't such a surprise- they'd been seeing one another since Slughorn's Christmas party in December. That didn't make it any easier.
"You're usually not here when they're here," Piper said quietly.
"Well," Ginny said stiffly, "I suppose I'll have a lot more free time to be here now that I'm single." Suddenly, she wasn't very hungry. She stood, climbing off the bench. Her foot hooked on a support and her coffee spilled down her blouse when her body jerked. Already, laughter was rippling through the hall.
"Here, let me-" Piper was already pulling out her wand.
"Leave it," Ginny said sharply, tears stinging her eyes and she told herself it was from the heat of the coffee, not the humiliation. "It's a bad day. Might as well live with it." Her friend looked so sympathetic and defeated. She couldn't take it. "I'll see you later."
Before Piper could protest, she had left the table, ignoring the jeers and reenactments going on at the Slytherin table. If she hadn't left her own wand in the Tower, she'd give them something to really trip over. Out in the hall, someone stepped on her untied laces, nearly knocking her over to the stone floor.
"Gin!" said a familiar Irish voice. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching-"
"It's fine, Seamus," she grumbled, not really in the mood to deal with Dean's best friend who had had the gall to laugh about Harry's fractured skull not long ago. She crouched down to ties her shoes when the lace broke off in her hand. She half scoffed, half sobbed as she examined the frayed end. "Brilliant."
"I could fix that if you-"
"I'll thank you not to set my bloody foot on fire!" she roared, standing back up to glare at him. She would be lying if she said she wasn't just a little disappointed that he didn't flinch. In fact, he had that same look Piper had. Merlin, it was like pity. She would not be pitied.
"If you need to talk-"
"I'm fine! It's called a bad day- I'll live!" She turned away from him and continued to her original destination- the bathroom.
Once safely inside, she went to a sink, splashing some water in her face and examining her coffee stained shirt. She pulled it up, looking at the reddened skin of her stomach. If it weren't for the amount of creamer she had poured in, she'd be in the hospital wing right now. The door opened and she shoved her shirt back down, pulling out a tube of color changing lipstick George had given her for Christmas and pretended to be touching up her make up.
It was a group of third years and half of them didn't even have to go to the bathroom. They split off, some heading for the mirrors, some for the toilet. One of them jarred her arm and she hissed.
"Oops, I'm sorry!" the curly haired blonde squeaked.
Ginny glared down at her and the girl clamped both hands over her mouth, eyes wide. A snicker escaped the thirteen year old. Rolling her eyes, she shoved the tube in her pocket and pushed through the group and out the door. She just wanted to be alone. Was that too much to ask?
She headed outside, the chilly April air just warm enough to hint at the blooming Spring yet still cold enough to make her wet shirt feel worse. She pulled her cardigan tighter about herself and buttoned it to hide the stain. She walked until she couldn't hear voices anymore, finding herself at the edge of the covered bridge. The wind blew a bit more harshly here and she turned away from it. At least she would be alone.
Venturing further onto the decaying planks, she found a space that looked dry enough and had a bit of shelter from the biting cold. She sat down and pulled her knees to her chest. She probably should have stayed with Piper. Though being alone was what she wanted, it also meant she had to be alone with her thoughts.
Harry holding Luna's hand; her general God awful day; her fight and break up with Dean, though that didn't really bother her so much. It had been coming and she had known for a while. You couldn't force something that wasn't there, but what else could you do when every time you turned around, the one you want doesn't want you? She had thought there had been something at Christmas, but... Maybe she had been making it up in her head. Hermione had told her to be herself and date other people, but she kept coming back to Harry.
Ginny didn't realize there were tears on her face until a cold hand reached to wipe them away. She jerked in surprise, looking up into the intense pale blue gaze of Seamus Finnigan.
"Bloody hell, what do you want?" she demanded. She pressed back further into her hiding space and rubbed furiously at her eyes.
He opened his mouth to answer and then frowned. "You've got something on your face."
"Seamus, if you're going to sit there and point out that I was crying-"
"No, I mean... It's blue. Now it's pink."
Ginny hastily wiped her hand on her cheek, discovering the culprit of her lipstick. "Brilliant," she muttered, leaving the rest as she hit her head on the wooden board behind her. At least that explained the Third Year girl.
Before she had time to tell him to sod off, Seamus had eased himself down next to her, pulling the sleeves of his jumper down over his hands. He gazed out at the trees and mountains past the railing on the other side of the bridge. Ginny rolled her eyes and looked away from him.
"I heard about you and Dean."
"Good news travels fast," she remarked. "Shouldn't you be consoling him?"
"He's locked himself in the dorm," he answered. How long had she been wandering the grounds that Seamus had made it to the Tower and back? "I went to open it with my wand, but one of the portraits threatened to report me to McGonagall if I blew the door up."
She snickered despite herself. Seamus seemed pleased with himself by her reaction. Ginny rolled her eyes, forcing her face into a scowl.
He paused for a moment, picking at a loose string. "Do you want to talk?"
"No," she said quickly.
"Gin, you can't just-"
"It's just a bad day, Finnigan," she said sharply. He looked at her with those eyes and she slumped a little, looking away. "You wouldn't understand."
"You really think I wouldn't understand watching someone you like and care about walking around and happy with someone else?" he asked bluntly. She looked at him with wide eyes. "Or to watch that person moon over someone else? You're not the only one, Ginny."
A blush of embarrassment crawled up Ginny's neck as she realized who he must be talking about. Just because Harry and Ron were oblivious didn't mean everyone was, especially when being presented with a rather obvious confession. His blue eyes held her still as a statue, so intense was his gaze. It made her blush spread to her ears.
"Seamus," she began quietly. "I'm sorry, I never even thought-"
He smiled and shrugged. "I don't exactly go around spilling me heart out willy nilly. I just wanted you to know that you're not alone. Bad days happen. But there are people who understand. And even if they don't, they'll listen." He reached over and poked her forehead. "Even dunces like Harry Potter."
She couldn't help but smile. Seamus reached over with the sleeve of his jumper and wiped off the last bit of lipstick from her face. The wool was soft and her blush crept ever higher across her face.
"You know what the key to a bad day is?" he asked. She shook her head. "Turning it around. C'mon, Weasley, you're better than this day. You kick it's arse, not the other way around."
He stood up, offering her a hand up. She took it, getting to her feet and into the wind again. it didn't seem as cold or as bracing now.
"Thank you, Seamus," she said. "I really appreciate it. I really appreciate you."
He grinned and pulled out his wand. "Now how about I fix your clothes for y-"
"No!" she said quickly. "I would... Not appreciate that." She laughed nervously and he shrugged, resigned as he stowed his wand. "You're a good friend, Seamus."
"Oh, are we friends now?" He arched his eyebrows.
"'Course we're friends. As long as you don't make fun of people with injuries or tick me off," she added.
He rolled his eyes. "Well, he deserved that crack to the skull. And if he still can't see you, he deserves another. And maybe a new script for his glasses." He gave a lopsided smile. "There are other people out there. Ones that see you and know how to treat you."
Ginny smiled back, impulsively pulling Seamus into a hug.
"Thank you," she said again, kissing his cheek. As she pulled back, her stomach was full of butterflies and she was sure her face was blending with her hair by now. She supposed Seamus had a certain sort of dashingness to him. He seemed so at ease, even after what he had said. "Um, have you eaten yet? I sort of skipped food earlier and am regretting it terribly."
"Yeah, but I could eat again," he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets.
They made their way back up to the castle in a comfortable silence and instead of the cold remnants of breakfast, were greeted with the fresh start of lunch in an almost empty hall. As she laughed at something silly Seamus was telling her, she decided that she should spend more time with the Irish boy who understood a bad day.