Participants:
| Scene Title | Romance Theft |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Ginny, Hermione, and Angelina discuss boys. Then Ron arrives. |
| Location | Gryffindor Common Room |
| Date | December 24, 1994 |
| Watch For | The snatch! The leap! |
| Logger | Ginny |
It's just after dinner, and most of the students have filtered away, to pack and get ready to leave for break. Ginny has just the single suitcase, with everything charmed tiny to fit into it properly. She looks rather impatient: it would seem that Molly hadn't shown up yet, and neither had any of her brothers. Perching on the arm of a cushy chair, she looks watchful, waiting for word to be sent that her mother or one of her older brothers are coming for her.
Angelina comes down the stairs from her dorm, pulling her suitcase behind her. She hasn't gotten a chance to really say goodbye to anyone yet, or hand out her gifts, but she figures she will just send them out by owl when she gets home and has a decent chance to shop for them. Though she continues to act as if nothing is going on, she relaxes just a little seeing that Ginny is still here waiting. That means the others haven't left either. Not that she cares. Just saying.
Hermione is also downstairs. She doesn't have her suitcase with her, as her parents are still in France until the the end of the week, when she'll join them in London. At least the library is still open for that week. Taking the stairs a few at a time, she enters the Common Room with a bit of a thud, a thick leather bound book in her arms just behind Angelina. Seeing that it's not as empty as she assumed, she stops suddenly and blinks. "Oh!" She smiles at Ginny and Angelina. "Hey Gin. Angelina."
Ginny turns to smile at the two girls as they join her in the common room. She gives Angelina a teasing mock-salute. "Hullo, Captain. Hermione. You lot excited to be going home?" Her face softens, though a bit of anxiety is still present on her features. She loathes being late.
"Ginny. Hermione." Angie gives each of them a smile before settling into her favorite chair. "I don't know. Part of me is ready to go home for a bit. But part of me just wants to stay here. Not that anyone is staying, besides Harry and Ron. Or is Harry going home with you, Ginny?"
"I've still got a bit here," Hermione tells Ginny with a smile. Taking her book, she snags a spot on the lumpy comfortable couch. "Why isn't Ron going home with you guys?" She asks, interested, but not really. She opens her book and closes it again, listening.
"Ron usually stays if Harry does. I think Harry might be staying at the school this year. According to Ron, anyway. Why, I'm not sure. All alone for the holidays." Ginny clucks, a sound that was just as ingrained as her red hair. "I do believe Ron's coming home, though. The twins, two. Dunno where they all are, Mum should be here soon."
"Oh. So the twins are going home then? I considered staying here, but if everyone is going, I guess I'll go as well. It's no fun to stay if there is no one to talk with." Angelina hangs the crook of her knees over the arm of her chair and gets comfortable. She's clearly in no hurry to go. "Not looking forward to see Tremayne. He'll likely try to convince me I want to go into the Ministry, while mum and dad try to keep the prophet away from me."
"Right." And sometimes Hermione stays, too, if the other two are going to stay. Though since she's not speaking to Ron, that would make staying here very awkward between the three of them. "They're probably all bragging about their Yule Ball experiences." The girl rolled her eyes. "You'll have Harry to talk to. Maybe the two of you could train," she grins, knowing how crazy the both of them are about it. And then she raises an eyebrow. "You know, I do get to ask you one question, as I haven't had a chance to yet."
Ginny blushes at the mention of the Yule Ball, but doesn't try and bring it up. The events of that night still felt rather tenuous and unreal. She coughs, shifting on the armchair she's now sitting in. Her face changes from discomfort to sheer curiosity when Hermione mentions that question. Brown eyes dart from Hermione to Angelina and back again.
"We could. But it gets boring just training with two people, day in and day out. There are only so many rounds of dodge you can play, and so many times you can run the path down by the lake." Angelina's dark gaze turns to Hermione, then she shrugs. "Yeah. I guess you didn't. You want to ask it now?"
At Ginny's reaction to the mention of the Yule Ball, Hermione's eyebrow just remains raised. "Do I need to ask you a question as well?" she asks the red-haired girl. But, then, she just turns to Angelina. Instead of the roundabout way that Angelina attempted to reconcile Ron and Hermione, the witch is much blunter. "I would, actually. I was curious as to what happened between you and George." Because, well, she may be blunt, but she's also observant.
Ginny shakes her head at Hermione. "I'll tell you about the Ball later." Once she can focus on it. For now, she's quite interested in these goings-on. "She's his one true darling!" Ginny exclaims, unable to keep quiet. "They pine for each other like night pines for day!"
Wow. If that isn't a loaded question! Angie's head drops forward a little as she tries to hide a tiny grin. "Well. I'm not sure I know what you mean, Hermione. And I'm answering truthfully…" Her movements are swift, however, as she pulls out a throw pillow from behind her and lobs it at Ginny. "We do noooot."
Ginny, Hermione, and Angelina are all three sitting in the Common Room, curled up in various chairs. Ginny and Angelina have their suitcases with them, Hermione, a book. Ginny is spouting off phrases straight from trashy romance novels, and it seems that Hermione is getting the sitch on George and Angelina.
Ginny's answer certainly causes Hermione to giggle. Though, she tries to hide it behind her library book. "I mean!" she tries to get the conversation back onto the proper track. "The Yule Ball! He asked you, didn't he? And you said yes?" Because those all matter.
"You're still reading those things, Ginny?" Ron says, stepping off of the bottom stair from the boy's dormitories, rubbing at his eyes. Seems Ron can't get any sleep, and he's made his way down to the Common Room. He wasn't expecting company, however, but this isn't a bad thing. At least he won't be staring into the fire all by his lonesome. And then the conversation has moved onto the Yule Ball, and Ron rolls his eyes (albeit secretly where they cannot see them), and he flops down in a free spot on the couch. He looks over at Hermione for a few moments, before turning his eyes towards the fire.
Ginny tries not to steal Angelina's thunder by answering for her. Instead, she merely squirms gleefully in her chair, her lips pressed tight together, though it's clear by her eyes that if she spoke, it'd be more about One True Darlings. Ron's arrival makes her squeak, and she cries, "Yes! They're good! You could learn something from them, I bet." Ginny nods firmly to punctuate this.
"Yes, yes. He did ask me to the ball. But, as I told Ginny, there were no flowers involved, he didn't get on one knee, he didn't stare soulfully into my eyes, or declare me his 'one true darling'. None of that. Just asked me. But only after Ron tried to play a prank, and wrapped me up in it, and I walked away angry cause boys are just idiots." So says Angelina.
When Ron sits down on the couch next to her, Hermione stiffens and quickly makes sure that she's as close to the other side as possible. Though she glances in his direction, she doesn't greet him or even acknowledge his presence. "But he asked you, which is something," she grins. "The flowers and one true love happens afterwards."
"It wasn't a prank," Ron says, standing up from the couch and leaning forward… only to snatch a romance novel that was hiding next to Ginny. He flops back down on the couch, and accidentally brushes into Hermione— and freezes, only to immediately move a good three feet down the couch. Pretending as if it didn't happen, he speaks again in a casual voice. "Well, it was, to get back at George, but he really does like you. Although I think you know that by now. Let's see here…" He opens the book to a random page, and begins to investigate.
Agh! "Ron!" Ginny squawks indignantly. "Give that back!" She sits up and reaches over for it, glaring at him. "When I said you could learn, I meant to get your own. Not steal mine!" And hers seems rather well-read indeed, with various corners folded over - a habit Hermione would most likely scold her over - and various passages underlined. The words talk of true love, of soul mates, of darlings and sweethearts, and, in certain passages, of heaving bosoms.
"What makes you think I know anything of the sort?" Angelina looks toward Hermione. "In a way, it's all….awkward now. Sometimes. Like the other day, we were goofing around and shoving each other, and he put his arm around me a gave me a noogie, just like he would anyone else. Only then, he realized his arm was around me. And I did at the same time." Whatever happened, it apparently didn't go well from there.
"I'm sure it'll get less awkward." However, Hermione isn't really free to say anything at the moment because Ron is here invading girl talk. So, she just grins and attempts to intercept Ginny's stealing of the book back from her brother to investigate why this whole romance novel has captured the mind of her friend. However, when Ron brushes against her, she freezes, too, snapping a look at him and then trying to go back to ignoring him, sitting back, without the book. And she's not sure it ever will be less awkward. So, her advice is really just what she hopes.
As Ron reads the pages on the book, jerking his arms away from both Ginny and Hermione and anyone who tries to grab it ever, his face slowly transforms to confusion, disbelief, and ultimate, what can only be described as disgust. "You read this?" Ron says, eyes still roaming over the text. He's amazed at what's he's reading. Absolutely amazed. "One true darling? True love? Heaving— what?" He turns and looks at Hermione, not even worried about the whole awkward thing going on. "Do you read this stuff?!"
Ginny turns pink, but this time not with embarassment - indignation rage making her try to snatch at the book again. "That is my private novel, Ronald!" She only uses his fullname when she's Displeased. "Give that back this instant or I'll… I'll..!" Ginny sputters, unable to think of a proper threat.
"Ron, give her the book back." Ooooh. Angelina's Captain Voice. "If you boys acted decent, and didn't play so many games to try to make us figure out if you liked us or not, these books would hold no interest." She rises, reaching for her suitcase. "I should go look for…er…someone. I need to say goodbye."
"No! Of course I don't read them." Hermione turns a bright pink and moves forward again to snatch the book out of Ron's hands. Of all the first times for them to speak after a fight, this is what she asks her? If she reads romance novels? "I read proper romance novels, like Pride and Prejudice." She smiles at Ginny. "Not that there's anything wrong with these ones, Gin! My mum reads them." Glancing over at Angelina, she nods. "Of course. Have a good holiday if I don't see you, Angelina!"
"Good," he says, shaking his head as the novel is snatched out of his hands. Go on, take it. He's seen enough. "And I have no idea what Pride and Prejudice is," he says, leaning back into the couch, looking over at Angelina as she stands and giving her a small wave. "Have a good holiday Angelina." He looks back into the fire, and after a moment, he snickers to himself, shaking his head with a grin. "I can't wait until I tell Harry about those books."
Ginny gasps! "Don't you DARE, Ronald Bilius Weasley!" She squawks out the full name and without any other warning than that, LEAPS from her chair to Ron's couch and tackles him. "Do it and I'll tell the entire school about how you wet the bed until you were eight! And how you had nightmares about the ghoul that lives in the attic coming to steal your socks! And.. and.." There's more sputtering as Ginny aims a sharp elbow at Ron's stomach. "You keep your mouth shut!" Ginny glances up from pummeling Ron to smile warmly at Angelina. "I think I saw the twins heading down to the Great Hall for a snack. Try there?" Then her eyes narrow and she turns back to her brother.
"It's a brilliant novel," Hermione sniffs in Ron's direction, snatching the book and getting out of the way just in time for Ginny to tackle Ron. Scrambling up from the couch in order to not get tangled into the ball of Weasleys that suddenly manifested, she slips the book on top of her library one. Really, how could anyone want to stay the for holidays when this is what's in store for them? "I'll just put this in your room, shall I, Gin?" Already, she's moving upstairs to place it there without a reply. The last thing she wants to get in the middle of is a brother and sister fight.
Angelina hmphs softly as she heads for the door. "I was not going to look for the twins. Why would I be going to look for the twins?" At the door, she turns to looks back, face serious for some reason. Too serious. "Happy Christmas, everyone. Be careful, alright?"
Tackled by Ginny, Ron falls off of the couch and is pinned to the ground as she begins to pummel him. Raising his arms in defense, he tries to get her to stop. "Oi!" he yells, trying to grab her wrists. "None of that is true! And don't say my middle name! And stop talking!" he shouts, voice getting louder as he goes on, all punctuated with a loud "OOF!" when the elbow connects. He scrambles out from under her, moving to the stairs and putting a good distance between them. "Fine, fine! I won't tell him!"
Ginny glares daggers at her brother. "You bet you won't!" She rises to her feet, tossing her now touseled hair out of her eyes. Watching him warily, she tosses a smile over to Hermione. "Sure, 'Mione. Maybe you could lend me Pride and Prejudice sometime?" Spinning on her heel, she walks over to pick up her suitcase and flounce over to the entrance of the Common Room. "I'm going downstairs to find the twins. Get your suitcase ready, Mum will be here soon to take us to the Burrow!" There's one last thing asked, in a slightly gentler tone. "Is, um, Harry coming?"
"Of course," Hermione pauses on the steps and nods at Ginny. "I've got it at home, I'll bring it back after break." That taken care of, she eyes Ron and her friend's tackling fight before climbing the rest of the stairs so she can put Ginny's smutty book in a safer place where Ron's prying hands can't reach it.
"Yeah, yeah," Ron says to Ginny, taking a few steps up the stairs. He glances over to Hermione for a moment, looks as if he's about to say something, but then he's talking to Ginny again. "I don't think he is, no. Which is well and all, because there's an new No Snogging Harry rule at the house. We all do our best to follow it." With the last word (or at least he thinks so; hopefully Ginny won't come chasing him up the stairs), he bounds up the steps to the dormitory to go do some last minute packing.
Ginny lets out a breath in a huff that she does hope is clearly heard at Ron's back. Perhaps he got the last word, but she got the last, er.. sound? Yes. She looks disappointed at the lack of Harry this holiday - and maybe even Snogging Opportunities, though the idea makes her palms sweat. With a cough, she climbs out of the portrait hole and out of the common room before anyone can spot her flaming cheeks.
Any additional notes fall to the bottom.