Chapter Text
Everything that could go wrong went wrong, and it was a complete disaster that not even magic could fix. One might even say that magic was the cause of it.
You see, the wizarding population in Britain is actually pretty small, at least compared to bigger places like literally everywhere except here. Not everyone lives near the center that is Diagon Alley, but it is the meeting place for most witches and wizards and everything magical in-between like half-giants and centaurs or whatever or whoever decides to roam through the streets.
Since the population is small and they all share a place where everyone meets everyone, this also means that Diagon alley works rather similarly to that of a small village where everyone knows everyone and everyone is up in everyone’s business.
There’s almost a hundred percent chance that you will run into someone you know on the streets of wonder. It might be a former Hogwarts student, your colleague from work, your neighbour’s sister’s cousin’s uncle, or maybe all of these mixed together. Ginny had actually run into one of those once, believe it or not.
This also means that you have to be careful with who you date and how you end things, because you will see your ex again. And his mom and dad and siblings and neighbours and old classmates and literally everyone.
Hermione had recently gone from strictly being an intern at the ministry to getting an actual real adult job as the assistant to one of the assistants to a highly ranked member of the Wizengamot. Being an assistant’s assistant wasn’t exactly what Hermione wanted in life, but she was slowly but surely working her way to the top where she deserved to be.
Everyone was proud of her, of course, and Ron had somehow gotten the brilliant idea that they should all celebrate his girlfriend’s promotion by getting shitfaced at the Leaky Cauldron on a Saturday night (because god forbid they went out on a weekday when the bar wasn’t filled to the brim with everyone they knew).
Ron and Hermione had invited Ginny (obviously), alongside Harry, George and some of his brother’s friends from the shop and some past Gryffindor classmates like Angelica, Lavender and Neville.
Whoever thought of inviting Lavender was honestly stupid (it was definitely Ron’s idea), because not only did it mean that Hermione had gotten upset at Ron for inviting his ex to her promotion party, it also meant that Lavender had invited Padma who had invited Dean.
Ginny had invited Luna who had been ecstatic to get a chance to spend some time with Ginny’s friends and their old friends and acquaintances from school in a fun environment.
Ginny had noticed that Luna didn’t seem to have a lot of friends. While Ginny invited Ron, Hermione and occasionally Harry over to their apartment for regular meals and semi-parties and game nights, Luna never had people over that were her own friends.
She had noticed that Luna and Harry were pretty close friends since school, and that there were a few past Ravenclaws who sent letters every now and then, but she never invited any of them over on her own.
It made her sad to think that Luna didn’t have people to confide in and who threw lame parties that still became epic in people’s stories afterwards. The platinum blonde girl still had her, but Ginny knew the importance of a big support system, having grown up surrounded by her family and friends.
So, she had hoped that the party would be a great way for Luna to make some new connections. In retrospect, she should have been careful with what she wished for, but how was she supposed to know?
No, they had still not had ‘the talk’. Tomorrow had turned into tomorrow which turned into tomorrow and suddenly it felt too awkward to bring it up. But tonight, she really wished that she had told Luna how she felt before someone else snatched her moon away.
“Dean, what are you doing here?” Ginny stopped in front of Dean who stood at the bar with an arm around Padma, laughing and doing shots. The pair both looked drunk by the way they swayed on their feet, but to be fair, Ginny was also as shitfaced as the rest of the youthful drunks in the Leaky Cauldron.
Dean turned around and Ginny saw his eyes widen comically before he unwrapped his arm around Padma and went to embrace Ginny into a familiar hug that felt all kinds of wrong. Dean’s long, wiry arms stretched around her and his tall, solid form towered over her as her ex-boyfriend unknowingly put at least half his weight on her to keep steady. Ginny stood there like a pole, stiff and hard and awkward but lacking all the chemicals to turn her on.
She felt trapped in Dean’s embrace although she was sure it was meant to be friendly, and she quickly unwrapped herself from his arms and pushed the drunk man back into Padma’s arms. The other girl was staring at her with cold eyes although they had been quite good friends back at Hogwarts. Ginny didn’t understand why, as it should be her that would be upset with Padma, if anything. She was the one who had slept with her boyfriend at the time. But just as it had not bothered her to see Dean in bed with another girl back at his apartment that day which felt like years ago, it didn’t bother her now either.
“Hey Gin! What are you doin ‘er?” Dean threw her own words back in her face, although with a slurred british accent that definitively made him even more unattractive. Had she even liked him to begin with? She couldn’t quite figure out exactly what she had seen in the man before, but knew that there had to have been something. His brown eyes, perhaps? His humor?
Ginny tried to throw Hermione a panicked look across the room where she was busy dancing with Ron, but the girl was way too occupied with staring into Ron's eyes to notice. Urgh, sometimes it sucked having your brother and best friend date each other. They were the cutest couple ever, but she didn’t want to see them stupidly in love all the time.
Well, apparently she was on her own now. She sweeped the room with her eyes and stood on her tiptoes to look over the tall crowd, but Luna was nowhere to be seen. Ginny swore that the blonde girl had been just behind her a few minutes ago. Luna had promised her that they would keep each other company throughout the night, and that they would dance together and forget all their newly found adult worries like work and rent and what food to cook for the rest of their lives.
Her eyes found Gwenog’s, who was surrounded by some other of her teammates from the Holyhead Harpies. Her teammates cheered her over and Ginny turned to join them as she would much rather spend the night talking about Quidditch and making up dances for the team to show off after winning their games, but Dean took a hold of her arm and pulled her back.
“Come on Gin-Gin, dance with me!” Dean’s glassy eyes paired with his puppy expression did nothing to guilt-trip her like they used to whenever the man wanted something. She decided to be firm and let the man know that she wanted nothing to do with him.
“Let go of me, Dean!”
This time, Padma got upset at Dean instead of her and forced Dean’s hands to let go of her arm. “Dean, what are you doing? You’re here with me, remember?”
Ginny sped away from the pair as soon as she was free and smiled as her teammates hollered loudly as she approached them. There were drinks practically forced down her throat for the next hour, but she was honestly just happy to forget about everything for a while.
She still hadn’t catched a glimpse of Luna since the beginning of the night, and she was starting to worry. What if something had happened? She decided to check the bathrooms to see if her friend was hiding in there.
Several things happened at once.
Zola, one of her teammates, noticed her trying to leave and threw her into a dancing-like embrace, where they were face to face and the other girl’s arms were wrapped around the back of her neck. “I just need to tell you that I think that you’re like, so fucking hot! Do you wanna make out?”
Ginny felt herself getting flustered and completely lacked words as she stuttered and stammered like a troll. Zola smelled like butterbeer and whisky with a hint of sweat and arousal, and although it wasn’t a bad smell, she found herself missing Luna’s softly scented perfume made out of flowers.
And that was when she noticed Luna with her tongue down Neville’s throat. She had to admit that Neville had grown up quite a lot since their Hogwarts days and that the man was objectively attractive with a handsome face and toned body paired with a boyish smile, but seriously? Okay, so maybe they hadn’t talked about being exclusive or what they were, but Ginny was sure that Luna also liked her just as much as she liked Luna and that they were slowly making it towards the ‘exclusive relationship’ stage. But here she was, her moon goddess, proving her wrong.
She felt anger and humiliation and embarrassment fill her from head to toe, and was sure that her face was a red shade matching her fierce hair. How could Luna do this to her?
At the same time, she felt a wave of self-consciousness hit. Was it her fault? Had she waited too long to confess her feelings that the other girl had lost interest? Shouldn’t she be happy that her friend was having a great time at the party when Ginny was the one who had wanted her to gain new friendships? This was clearly not a friendship, however, and that made something ugly and sour form inside of her like vermin running around in her belly.
That was why she decided to make out with Zola despite the fact that she was in love with Luna.
“Uh, sure?” Zola leaned in without hesitation and pressed their lips together. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant as their lips moved against one another and Ginny tasted butterbeer on the inside of the other girl’s mouth, but there wasn’t any spark. It mostly just felt wet and distant and she soon broke it off, feeling bad for leading the other girl on even if this was just supposed to be a one time thing that Zola would probably forget about the next morning.
“Is something wrong?” Zola sounded concerned as she leaned against Ginny with a frown visible on her forehead.
“I’m sorry, I’m just not in the mood. But thanks?” God! Could she be any more awkward? Who thanks someone for a makeout session?
Zola nodded and soon went off to kiss someone else, which did make Ginny feel a bit better. What was she even thinking? It wasn’t like Luna would be jealous if she had even seen her, and it was definitely a bad idea making out with a teammate. Gosh, what if this fucked up the good team spirit the team had created during her short time there?
As she continued her path toward the bathrooms, she couldn’t help but shoot a glance in Luna and Neville’s direction and locked eyes with Luna, who was staring at her with an odd look on her face that Ginny had never seen before. Luna always looked the epitome of serenity, calm and soft and happy. But now she looked kind of serious, her lips tight and unsmiling. She shook her head at something Neville said and then they started talking about something.
Ginny tore her eyes away from the scene, not wanting to know what was going on between them. She felt disappointed in the way the night turned out. This was supposed to be a fun night out to celebrate Hermione, and look at what it had turned into. A disaster!
The space in the Leaky Cauldron was limited, and she had to push her way forward. She desperately wanted to wash her mouth with some water to rinse it from the taste of butterbeer and saliva that Zola had left, and decided that it was really time to find the bathroom even if she knew Luna wasn’t there.
The lights that had previously felt fun and exciting now hurt her eyes and she felt more drunk than she had before as she noticed her legs were having a hard time carrying her straight forward. She wanted some peace and quiet to gather her thoughts, and so the bathroom seemed the place to be.
And that was when it got even worse.
Suddenly she lost her footing and was sent tumbling down on the floor with a body underneath her. And guess who it was? Harry.
Harry’s ears turned bright red and Ginny lied on top of him, reminding Ginny of their teenage days when they had been a couple and sneaked off together in the halls of Hogwarts in search of broom closets. They hadn’t been a couple for long before realising that they weren’t really as in love with each other as they thought and deciding that they were much better off as friends, but it was still awkward to end up in this position with one of her exes.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! Let me just get off-” Ginny exclaimed way louder than necessary to drown out her embarrassment and turn it into energy to move her limbs away from Harry’s body that felt stiff underneath her. He was most likely as mortified as herself, if not more by the look on his face.
She managed to roll off Harry and got up to her feet. As she was about to offer him a hand to help him up that might also work as an offer of apology for her clumsiness, someone else did it for her. There was a tall guy with blonde hair that looked very similar to Draco Malfoy who helped Harry off the floor as Harry’s ears turned a shade darker than what would be physically possible.
Harry thanked the man who leaned close to whisper something in his ear before wrapping his arms around Harry’s back in a display of affection that looked more like possession than anything. Oh. Was Harry here with this guy tonight? Hermione had mentioned that they could bring a plus one, and Ron had added that they could bring as many plus one or twos or threes as they wanted as long as they all congratulated Hermione and bought them drinks.
The idea that Harry might not be straight had never hit her before, but he looked snug and comfortable against the other man’s chest and she thought he looked happier than he had ever been with her. She felt happy for him. Things with Harry had been a bit awkward considering their dating history, but he was practically family since Molly had all but adopted him in her brother’s second year, and she felt warmth fluttering in her chest as she watched the adoration play across Harry’s face. He deserved to be happy after everything he had been through.
The pair excused themselves and Ginny’s mind entered some kind of reflection-mode. She wondered how many of the people she knew were actually queer. It wasn’t like she had always known or something, like she thought things were supposed to work when it comes to sexuality. She had thought that you just knew from the second you were old enough to have crushes, that either you liked boys or girls or both or nothing and that was it.
Apparently, it wasn’t that simple. Ginny had learned that most things weren’t that simple when one was an adult.
She reached the bathroom and closed the door to a stall behind her with a thump. Taking a few deep breaths helped to calm her down, and she opened the lid to the toilet to relieve her bladder that she hadn’t noticed was starting to ache.
The sound of pee hitting the porcelain bowl echoed across the stall and she wondered if everyone could hear it. She fumbled to try and find her wand that should be tucked into the waistline of her snugly fitted jeans (that were definitely more of a formal pair than casual), but let out a frustrated groan as she realised that her wand was missing. There went her chances of casting a silencing charm. Guess everyone would just have to hear her pee.
Seriously? What else could possibly go wrong in one night?
It seemed like her bladder worked like Hermione’s handbag that was enchanted to fit literal Hippogriffs with the size it was on the inside. The pee seemed to be never ending as she tried to squeeze it all out but found that there was always more to be found.
Someone knocked on the door and Ginny tried to take a pause from peeing, but the stream just wouldn’t stop. She ignored the embarrassment of knowing that the person on the other side was most likely hearing every sound and let out a not quite confident, “Be right out!”
She heard annoyed murmurs from outside as the person said something about all the stalls being occupied and people taking their time. After what felt like hours but was more like two minutes, Ginny wiped her front and flushed the toilet. Ready to go outside and wash her hands.
What she was not expecting was to come face to face with Neville, who was struggling to hold a drunk Hermione upright as she leaned against his side. Neville seemed as embarrassed as herself as he smiled sheepishly and made an attempt at a hollow laugh to ease the tension.
“What happened? Where is Ron? And why are you in the girl’s bathroom?” Ginny demanded to know, taking charge and helping to hold Hermione upright by swinging an arm around her friend’s shoulder and another around her waist.
“Ron? Who’s Ron? I don’t know him!” Hermione yelled loudly as she burst out into a fit of laughter that made Ginny and Neville share a worried look.
“Just how drunk is she?”
“I don’t know, but Lavender showed up and tried to kiss Ron and Hermione got mad and everything just…”
“Well, I see.”
“She said that she really needs to… um, use the bathroom. Could you help her? I don’t really feel comfortable going in with her, but I don’t want to leave her on her own in case she hurts herself or something.”
“Yeah, yeah sure. Where’s Luna, by the way?”
Her casual attempt at asking for Luna’s whereabouts didn’t seem to appear casual as Neville’s eyes tore through hers. He had a small smile on his lips that looked somewhat between apologetic and like he knew something that she didn’t.
“She wasn’t feeling well so she went back home.”
“Without telling me? We live together.”
“I know it’s none of my business, but I think she was a bit upset about you and that girl you were making out with. I think she likes you.”
“What?”
Hermione decided to burst their bubble as she let out a moan and smudged mascara over her face with her hand. “I’m going to pee myself, Nev. Like allll over the floor.”
“Shit, let’s get her inside.” Ginny and Neville navigated their drunk friend into the stall and Neville closed the door to stay behind, but Ginny could hear that he hadn’t left. She needed to know what it meant, what he had said, and having a door between them made it feel easier.
“Hey Neville?”
“Yes?”
“Why were you and Luna kissing? Are you like… into each other?”
“Oh, no, no. I mean, I’ve kind of had a crush on her for the longest time when we were back in school, but I’m dating Hannah Abbott now.” She heard him take a deep breath and lean against the door as Hermione giggled as she emptied her bladder.
“It was a misunderstanding. She was really drunk and thought that I was you for some reason, and I was too shocked to do anything, but once I realised what was happening I stopped it and we had a conversation about how she was really in love with you but she thinks that you don’t like her because you haven’t said anything.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, thanks for explaining.”
“No problem. Are you okay with taking Hermione home or do you want me to help? I really need to get home.”
“I think I can handle it.”
The sound of footsteps walking away made Ginny yell out. Neville had been really kind and wasn’t at all the douche trying to steal her not-yet girlfriend like she had thought.
“Wait! I’m sorry if I was rude, you’re right, I like Luna a lot and I was kinda jealous so I kissed that girl but then I realised that it was a mistake. And I’m totally over sharing, sorry… but thank you for taking care of Hermione, like really. I promise I’ll buy you a plant or something for your being such a nice friend. Like, most guys wouldn’t go into the girl’s bathroom if their life depended on it.”
“It really wasn’t a problem, Ginny. I like to think that’s just basic human decency, you know.”
“Well thank you, anyway.”
“I’m not saying no to that plant, though.”
“I’ll send it next week!”
“I’ll be expecting it!”
Neville was starting to leave again when Ginny shouted one last thing.
“Oh, and I hope Hannah forgives you!”
Maybe it was overstepping boundaries, but Neville laughed nervously as he left and Ginny decided that it felt nice to have cleared the air. Neville was really such a nice guy.
Upon exiting the bathroom and leading Hermione through the crowd of people, Ginny felt exhaustion hit her and really felt that it was the perfect timing to go home. She just had to find Ron first so he could help Hermione home. Ginny needed to go back to her and Luna’s apartment as soon as possible to try and fix things like she should have done weeks ago.
She later decided that someone must have cursed her with a bad luck’s charm , because just as she had thought that this night couldn’t get any worse, it did.
Ron was arguing with Lavender, who was crying her eyes out and cursing her brother’s name. Ginny sighed and decided to get this over with. She tapped Ron’s shoulder and watched as he noticed her and as his eyes found Hermione’s drunken state, still hanging off her shoulder and giggling like a little schoolgirl.
“Mione! I’m so sorry, are you alright?”
To his benefit, he did really sound like he was sorry. In fact, he sounded devastated and like he was about to start crying as well. Lavender huffed and tried to get Ron’s attention when Harry emerged from somewhere in the crowd, holding her lost wand with the Malfoy-lookalike trailing closely behind him.
“Ginny! You lost your wand when you tripped earlier.”
Those were Harry’s last words before he tripped right into Lavender’s back, making the drink in her hand fly straight into Ginny’s face.
Ginny closed her eyes and blinked away the liquid running down her face. Her hair had become soaked and her bangs stuck to her forehead in a sticky mess. She opened her mouth and let out a loud, frustrated scream as she dropped Hermione into Ron’s arms and gasped as she looked at Lavender.
It wasn’t like it was the girl’s fault, and Ginny felt like she couldn’t possibly be surprised by anything at this point, but she still stared angrily at Lavender with cold eyes as the alcohol ran down her face and messed up her clothes, running down her shirt into her bra and down her jeans. Gosh, she really needed a long, hot shower after this.
Hermione struggled in Ron’s arms as she cried out, “Cheater!” Ron shook his head as tried to comfort her. “Come on Mione, let’s go home.”
Ginny let Ron deal with Hermione as Harry walked up to her looking absolutely sorrowful. “I’m so sorry! That was not supposed to happen, I promise.”
Ginny took her wand and nodded at Harry, not having the energy to say anything anymore. She really just wanted to go home.
“Let me clean you up!” Harry offered as he brought out his own wand and spoke the charm before Ginny had the chance to decline.
It was supposed to be a sweet gesture, and Ginny would have appreciated it, if Harry hadn’t mispronounced the cleaning charm and made holes appear through her clothes, revealing part of her bra and knickers as they grew in size.
Harry looked mortified as the guy behind him started to laugh and Ginny decided that it was time to run away from this hellhole to never ever return.
Just as she stepped into the fireplace to throw some floo powder and make her way home, Michael Corner stepped into the front door and caught her eyes, waving at her.
Honestly, fuck this party. That was Ginny’s last thought before the flames embraced her and the night was finally over.