Fic: Bright (HP)
Oh, who am I kidding? I have no little ideas any longer.
Title: Bright - Part One
Fandom: Harry Potter (with a twist)
Characters: Ginny Weasley/Natalie MacDonald
Word Count: 1067
Author's Note: What if the boy called Harry Potter did quite exist in the way he does in the books? What if Arthur Weasley didn't marry Molly Prewett but he still had a daughter named Ginny? What if Hogwarts burned to the ground several decades ago? Here's a glimpse into what life might be like for a couple of young women on the cusp of a destiny.
Ginny stared at the bright red gem, mesmerised by the way that the candlelight burned in the heart of the jewel. She'd never seen anything so beautiful... and so horrifying. "Where did you say you got this?" she asked in a strained voice, trying her best to wish away the words she knew she was going to hear.
"Oh, I got it from some guy on the corner of Diagon Alley by that bookshop you like so much. I was stopping in to get you a present. It's almost our five month anniversary." Natalie held up the bag that most likely held the book Ginny had mentioned wanting last time they were shopping, her smile devilish and bright. Normally that smile would have had Ginny forgetting half of what her girlfriend was saying, but not today. Not with a ruby the size of her fist sitting on the table where their dinner should have been.
"Love, we don't have money for that book I was looking at and we definitely don't have money for something as expensive as this ruby. I don't get my pay voucher for another two weeks and that's only if the talks with the Ministry go according to plan. Quidditch can't go on without MoM approval and I don't get paid if I don't play."
Natalie shrugged, her dark hair hiding her face. This couldn't be good. The normally vivacious girl suddenly didn't want to talk. That meant there was something she was hiding. Sweet Hera, how did she pay for this ruby? She was normally so good with their measly finances. Ginny was lucky if she saw a few hours of playing time each week, just enough to keep her face out in front of people who might see her play and want her for their starting team. The front desk job at the Obscurus Reseach Collective that Natalie held onto by the good graces of Mr. Trogwater was enough to keep them from going hungry, but only just.
"Natalie?" Ginny held up the ruby. "What did you use to pay for this?"
"I haven't paid for it. Yet."
Well, that made everything clear as mud, now didn't it? "Natalie MacDonald. If you don't answer my questions, I'm going to walk out that door. We talked about this. If this relationship is going to work, we've got to talk to each other. Communication. Remember? What you're doing right now is not communicating. Tell me why you felt you needed a ruby when you're really more of a sapphire girl." She tried to make a joke because the threat of walking out the door had done what she'd intended it to do but Natalie's face was more pale than she'd intended it to be. Hastily sitting the gem down, she held out her arms. "Come here and talk to me."
With her face buried in Ginny's neck, Natalie told the whole story. "They were so pretty so I stopped to look. The man wouldn't let me touch any of the other jewels, only the rubies. He said I was a griffin-something. Could tell just by looking at me. I thought he was just a barmy old man but... well, they reminded me of your hair and that got me thinking of other things and next things I knew, I was telling him all about how it was almost our anniversary and how I couldn't afford to get you a present, or something nice for dinner even. He asked me some questions about you and then told me I should take it home. That you were a griffin-something, too. And this was our legacy."
She shifted then, lifting her head so that Ginny could see there were still tears lingering in her eyes that hadn't fallen yet. In fact, her jaw was jutting out just the slightest bit. "I asked where he got them. I did. He said there was a school once. Everyone went there. It burned down years ago and these are from the rubble. He cleaned them up and was giving them out to people who deserved them."
"Deserved them? How did we deserve them?"
Natalie shrugged, the fire keeping her back straight dimming. "He said we'd have to figure out how we would deserve them. That we would be called to our true destiny and they would come in handy."
"They?"
Ginny felt her anger growing as Natalie clamped her hand over her lips, her dark eyes growing wide as she realized she'd been caught in a lie.
"Natalie, you said THEY. I heard you. Did you get one, too?" But Ginny didn't need to be told the answer. It was all too clear that her girlfriend had gotten them into something she didn't know if she was ready to deal with. "Fine. We'll take them in to the Ministry tomorrow and have Dad look them over. He'll be able to tell us the truth. With any luck, these things are just paste."
"We only have the one."
"But I thought-"
Natalie stood to her feet, her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm not a complete dunce, you know. My first stop was Hilston's Fine Antiques. He's the one I sold my mother's necklace to for the down payment of the flat. I figured he could tell me if they were real stones. I figured they'd be paste, too, and I'd just have him set them for us in a pretty necklace or something. But they're real. And he gave me a partial payment on mine. That's how I was able to buy your book and it's how you and I are going to pay for our dinner out tonight. No cooking for either of us."
The whole thing was making Ginny feel slightly queasy but she let herself be pulled to her feet as Natalie began gushing about all the things she had planned for them over the next several days. From the way she was talking, the partial payment was substantial. Of course it was. No road to ruin was ever paved in thorns, only roses. But she couldn't crush Natalie's spirit any more tonight. Tomorrow, first thing, she would take her jewel in for her father to size it up. She'd get to the bottom of this mystery and see if, afterwards, she couldn't find the man who'd put ideas into Natalie's head about destinies and riches.
Title: Bright - Part One
Fandom: Harry Potter (with a twist)
Characters: Ginny Weasley/Natalie MacDonald
Word Count: 1067
Author's Note: What if the boy called Harry Potter did quite exist in the way he does in the books? What if Arthur Weasley didn't marry Molly Prewett but he still had a daughter named Ginny? What if Hogwarts burned to the ground several decades ago? Here's a glimpse into what life might be like for a couple of young women on the cusp of a destiny.
Ginny stared at the bright red gem, mesmerised by the way that the candlelight burned in the heart of the jewel. She'd never seen anything so beautiful... and so horrifying. "Where did you say you got this?" she asked in a strained voice, trying her best to wish away the words she knew she was going to hear.
"Oh, I got it from some guy on the corner of Diagon Alley by that bookshop you like so much. I was stopping in to get you a present. It's almost our five month anniversary." Natalie held up the bag that most likely held the book Ginny had mentioned wanting last time they were shopping, her smile devilish and bright. Normally that smile would have had Ginny forgetting half of what her girlfriend was saying, but not today. Not with a ruby the size of her fist sitting on the table where their dinner should have been.
"Love, we don't have money for that book I was looking at and we definitely don't have money for something as expensive as this ruby. I don't get my pay voucher for another two weeks and that's only if the talks with the Ministry go according to plan. Quidditch can't go on without MoM approval and I don't get paid if I don't play."
Natalie shrugged, her dark hair hiding her face. This couldn't be good. The normally vivacious girl suddenly didn't want to talk. That meant there was something she was hiding. Sweet Hera, how did she pay for this ruby? She was normally so good with their measly finances. Ginny was lucky if she saw a few hours of playing time each week, just enough to keep her face out in front of people who might see her play and want her for their starting team. The front desk job at the Obscurus Reseach Collective that Natalie held onto by the good graces of Mr. Trogwater was enough to keep them from going hungry, but only just.
"Natalie?" Ginny held up the ruby. "What did you use to pay for this?"
"I haven't paid for it. Yet."
Well, that made everything clear as mud, now didn't it? "Natalie MacDonald. If you don't answer my questions, I'm going to walk out that door. We talked about this. If this relationship is going to work, we've got to talk to each other. Communication. Remember? What you're doing right now is not communicating. Tell me why you felt you needed a ruby when you're really more of a sapphire girl." She tried to make a joke because the threat of walking out the door had done what she'd intended it to do but Natalie's face was more pale than she'd intended it to be. Hastily sitting the gem down, she held out her arms. "Come here and talk to me."
With her face buried in Ginny's neck, Natalie told the whole story. "They were so pretty so I stopped to look. The man wouldn't let me touch any of the other jewels, only the rubies. He said I was a griffin-something. Could tell just by looking at me. I thought he was just a barmy old man but... well, they reminded me of your hair and that got me thinking of other things and next things I knew, I was telling him all about how it was almost our anniversary and how I couldn't afford to get you a present, or something nice for dinner even. He asked me some questions about you and then told me I should take it home. That you were a griffin-something, too. And this was our legacy."
She shifted then, lifting her head so that Ginny could see there were still tears lingering in her eyes that hadn't fallen yet. In fact, her jaw was jutting out just the slightest bit. "I asked where he got them. I did. He said there was a school once. Everyone went there. It burned down years ago and these are from the rubble. He cleaned them up and was giving them out to people who deserved them."
"Deserved them? How did we deserve them?"
Natalie shrugged, the fire keeping her back straight dimming. "He said we'd have to figure out how we would deserve them. That we would be called to our true destiny and they would come in handy."
"They?"
Ginny felt her anger growing as Natalie clamped her hand over her lips, her dark eyes growing wide as she realized she'd been caught in a lie.
"Natalie, you said THEY. I heard you. Did you get one, too?" But Ginny didn't need to be told the answer. It was all too clear that her girlfriend had gotten them into something she didn't know if she was ready to deal with. "Fine. We'll take them in to the Ministry tomorrow and have Dad look them over. He'll be able to tell us the truth. With any luck, these things are just paste."
"We only have the one."
"But I thought-"
Natalie stood to her feet, her arms crossed over her chest. "I'm not a complete dunce, you know. My first stop was Hilston's Fine Antiques. He's the one I sold my mother's necklace to for the down payment of the flat. I figured he could tell me if they were real stones. I figured they'd be paste, too, and I'd just have him set them for us in a pretty necklace or something. But they're real. And he gave me a partial payment on mine. That's how I was able to buy your book and it's how you and I are going to pay for our dinner out tonight. No cooking for either of us."
The whole thing was making Ginny feel slightly queasy but she let herself be pulled to her feet as Natalie began gushing about all the things she had planned for them over the next several days. From the way she was talking, the partial payment was substantial. Of course it was. No road to ruin was ever paved in thorns, only roses. But she couldn't crush Natalie's spirit any more tonight. Tomorrow, first thing, she would take her jewel in for her father to size it up. She'd get to the bottom of this mystery and see if, afterwards, she couldn't find the man who'd put ideas into Natalie's head about destinies and riches.