19 Years (HP - Drarry)

Chapter 39: Girls, Girls, Girls

Saturday, November 18, 2017

"Finally!" Ginny exclaimed, shutting the door firmly against the November chill and collapsing against it as she unwound her scarf. "I thought they'd never leave." She let her drooping eyelids fall closed, relaxed her shoulders. As much as she loved parties, they took a decided toll on her. The walk back to Hogwarts with the children had been pleasant - the air was so crisp everything seemed to sparkle, like if you made any noise at all to disturb the stillness, the whole world would ring like a bell. She'd gotten a better picture of what had been going on with her ex-husband and his ex-nemesis. Al - and Scorpius, who stuck closer to her quiet son's side than his own shadow did - were far more perceptive than their fathers. She'd been able to ask much more pointed questions, after observing them at the party, and felt that she had significant progress to report - just as soon as she found the energy to stand up.

Instead, her weary legs sagged under her, and she slid slowly toward the floor.

"Oh, no you don't!" came a fondly annoyed voice. Ginny cracked one eye open to confirm that it was, in fact, Pansy who'd found her.

"Hullo, Pans," she said, yawning. "Have you come to fetch me, then?"

Pansy snorted. "Actually, I was just on my way to collapse in the library with the others. Come on - you can't stay there."

"Why not?" Ginny stuck out her lower lip, in the pout that almost always made Astoria cave. Unfortunately, it had no effect at all on Pansy. "Bloody lawyers," Ginny grumbled, as Pansy grabbed her wrists, heaving her to her feet.

"Yes, well. Come on, then. Your back will thank me in the morning."

Ginny stuck her tongue out at her. Pansy was right, of course. She wasn't as limber as she'd been when she was a teenager, even if the Harpies' notoriously brutal practice regimen did keep her in excellent shape.

Pansy flung herself into "her" chair - indistinguishable from the others, in Ginny's view, which she wisely kept to herself. Ginny looked up at Luna, Hermione, and Astoria, who'd just walked in, and felt her lips quirking up into a grin. Luna caved first, and soon they were all giggling.

Pansy rolled her eyes at them. "Merlin. After that, I need a glass of wine. No, two. But I'm too tired to get it." She stared longingly at the sideboard across the room.

Astoria groaned as she dropped daintily into another chair. "Why did we decide against having a house-elf, again?"

Hermione, who had just curled up next to Pansy, straightened, indignant. "Because we don't condone slavery or indentured- oh."

Pansy giggled and swatted at her girlfriend. Astoria regarded her steadily for a moment, and then lazily removed one glittery gold high-heel and lobbed it at Hermione, missing her by several feet. The shoe bounced harmlessly off the arm of the chair by Pansy's head.

"I meant to do that," Astoria said loftily.

Pansy raised a brow. "Sure you did."

Ginny groaned. "Forget wine. I could really go for some chocolate right about now." She kicked off her shoes and draped herself across the arm of Astoria's chair, leaning her chin on her girlfriend's shoulder. She began unpinning Astoria's hair, scattering the pins on the carpet below them and combing the honey-blonde curls with her fingers. Her own lion's mane of fiery red had been tamed for the evening, too, and she set to work on her own hair once Astoria's had been freed. The silky strands tumbled down, spilling over their shoulders and mixing with Astoria's curls. Ginny admired them for a moment, glinting in the gentle glow from the candles - yellow and red, sunshine and flame. Astoria turned to look at her, and Ginny lost herself in the contemplation of those sparkling eyes, blue-gray, like the sea on a cloudy day, ringed with just a hint of green.