In the Light of Darkness

Disclaimer: These are not my characters; they belong to J.K. Rowling. I am only creating a story with them.

The corridor was dark and vacant, abandoned by all previous occupants. It was empty and aphotic to Ginny, who might have thought it scary at any other time. No, she welcomed it. The light brought out her imperfections and secrets. This lurid dusk comforted her.
He\'ll never see me, she thought. I\'ve always been a sister to Harry. He\'s never just seen me as a girl. She was Ron\'s sister. She was off limits.
But why? Why do people look at where you come from before they consider you?
She dreaded the common room. The fire would still be burning, making the room illmunate. Someone was bound still be up, and they would ask her why she\'d been out so late. They\'d ask her why her robes were torn and why her eyes were swollen.
She had followed Harry once before. It wasn\'t the first time she\'d watched him in silence, but she never gone that far. In her fourth year, after a D.A. meeting, she had stayed behind. She hoped to be able to talk to him alone, without Ron and Hermione beside him.
Maybe I could tell him, she had thought. It was dark in there, too. He wouldn\'t see her blush; it would be like wearing a mask. She could ask him to go to Hogsmead with her. If he said no, or if he asked if Ron and Hermione could come, she could play it off as a friendly visit. Hermione had said that he would come around after he realized how serious she was. She just had to be bold.
\"I really like you, Harry.\"
A female voice came from the Room of Requirements. Bemused, Ginny stepped silently to the door frame. She turned and saw Harry in the Room. Cho Chang was standing beside him, very closely. She took a fistful of Harry\'s robes and cranned her neck so that her lips were level with his. Taking the initiative, Harry placed his lips on her\'s and kissed her.
That night had then unfolded like the present one; Ginny had ran quitely from the room, her faced strained with tears. Reatreating to an unknown loft in a tower on the west side, she was left to cry and speculate what this fresh hell would mean.
Would she live forever in his shadow? A shadow it was, so comforting and yet at times frightening. Harry\'s smile brightened her spirits, even when she was having a bad day. It scared her to think that she would always love him from the sidelines. She was Heathcliff of present day, and the crewl hand of fate was the puppeteer Emily Bronte. Ginny felt she would never be discernible.
So, again she sat looking out on the grounds in her loft. She could see the stars in all their glory and the regognizable patterns in them. Pisces was getting closer to Draco. The irony.


Ginny woke up again. The thought of another day in the backround made her want to give up entirely. She got up and brushed her teeth in a painstaking pace. Pulling on her cloths, she saw the saw the same freckled, brown-eyed face in the mirror. She grimaced at her tarnished reflection.
Lavender came in and brushed her teeth, too, as Ginny began combing her hair. Ginny pulled her copper hair into a pony tail. Lavender pulled out her make-up bag, and began applying Wilibuster\'s Witches Brew Lip Gloss. Ginny peered at her from the corner of her eye. Lavender\'s skin was always perfect. Her eyes always jumped out at people and were highlighted by a light dusting of pink. She also had many more friends than Ginny.
\"Lavender,\" she said in a casual inquiry, \"Can I borrow some of that?\" Ginny never thought much about make-up. Her mother had encouraged her, of course, but she never had considered it; make-up was costly and felt dirty on her face.
\"What, make-up?\" Lavender said, suprized. Inspecting Ginny\'s face, hers suddenly grew stern. Lavender became unusually bussiness-like. \"You\'ve been long overdue for one of my famous makeovers.\" Ginny didn\'t know whether to take this lightly.
Lavender\'s face lit up. \"Ooh, maybe some gold liner and brown eyeshadow!\" She took a pouf and dipped it into powder for Ginny\'s face.
All in all, it wasn\'t nearly as gross as she\'d imagined. It felt nice, like a facial mesage. Lavender curled her eyelashes and put on her brown mascara. \"There,\" Lavender said, like an artist inspecting her work. Ginny opened her eyes and turned to see herself in the mirror.


\"You look... different.\" said Hermione, peering at her. Ginny searched Hermione\'s expression for a glimmer of aproval. Insead, it was slightly disarrayed and wary.
\"Is it a nice \'different?\'\" asked Ginny.
\"Emm... yes.\"
Ginny sighed and turned back to her breakfast.
\"No... it\'s nice!\" said Hermione despiratly. \"It\'s pretty, you only just startled me.\"
\"Really?\" Ginny asked uncertainly.
\"Yes. I like your hair as well.\"
\"Lavender did it for me. She says I look good in browns and pastels.\" Ginny tossed her hair in the manner she was told to, in order to keep it airy and flowing.
\"It\'s only,\" said Hermione, who chose her words carefully, \"Lavender only sees the outside apperance. She\'s materialistic.\"
\"Do you think he\'ll notice?\"
\"Who?\" Hermione said suddenly.
Ginny looked uncomfortable. \"Oh, no one....\"
They heard a rustle behind them. Harry and Ron were making their way torwards them. Glancing at herself in her goblet, then tossing her hair once more, Ginny watched them. As Harry laughed, Ginny could feel the corners of her own lips turn upward. Ron was making vulgar gestures with his hands, and Harry laughed harder.
\"Hey, Ginny.\" He set his books down on the table.
\"Hi Ha-\" she started.
\"Hermione,\" interrupted Ron. \"Do you have the Charms homework? I don\'t understand it a bit.\"
\"Oh, yeah,\" said Harry, hitting his palm to his forehead. \"Quiddich practice... I forgot!\"
\"We better get to the library and get started, then.\" Ron said. \"Come on.\" He took Hermione\'s arm. \"Oh, Ginny, what\'s up with you? You look a bit wonky.\"
\"It nothing... just a bit of a pick-me-up.\"
\"It\'s not bad.\" he said. Inside, Ginny wanted scream at him.
\"See you.\" said Harry.
\"Bye.\" Ginny said.
Hermione gave her an apologetic expression and hand gesture as she was being led out of the Great Hall.
Ginny sighed heavily. Harry hadn\'t looked twice at her new image. She had thought if she looked like the other girls that he\'d see her just as a girl. No, it was the same, just as it had always been; she balanced her prettily made face on her hand. Her eyes stung, and she wiped away her eyeshadow with her tears.
For a moment she felt a pair of eyes on her. She turned and saw a pair of grey eyes on her, twin moons as satilites of her sadness. Was there pity in them? It was as if she stared at the face grey-eyed Athena. She realized they belonged to someone in Slytherin at the same time that he realized she saw him. Draco Malfoy snickered back at her.


(Please review this, because the only way a story can be revised into a better form is if the writer has edited it. Feel free to point out any mistakes, I welcome feedback. Compliments are always nice, too.)

(And please don\'t feel dissapointed, hookup in my next addition!)