Curiousity Killed the Cat

“A bit of cleaning” is a very bad way to describe the rest of our day.

More like: turning the whole house upside down.

Never in my life had I been so close to just falling down the stairs, hitting my head so hard I was put in a coma for the rest of my life, because I wanted to. I have a feeling we all felt the same way when it finally time to go to bed, which meant no more cleaning.

Let me tell you, getting up the stairs was a challenge.

I tossed myself onto the mattress, groaning when my back hit it. My legs and everything were tired and sore. Ginny tried to fall onto her bed, but she missed and hit the floor, not seeming to notice. Hermione, after watching Ginny, slowly lowered herself onto her mattress, sighing when the pressure was released from her legs.

“That sucked,” Hermione mumbled, covering her face with a pillow.

“Tell me about it,” Ginny said from the floor, “when this wedding is over, life will be a lot better.”

“Just think Ginny,” I said, a smile forming despite my state, “you get to be a bridesmaid or flower girl, whatever you are. I just get to be a bystander.”

“Shut up,” she groaned, throwing some article of clothing my way.

“Yeah well, you’re going to be dating Harry, who will appear to be a chubby Muggle boy,” Hermione said, a smirk on her face.

I groaned. “Great, can I just be a cat for this wedding? Must I go in a dress?”

“If I have to go in a dress, you can suffer too,” Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

“I don’t see what you hate about them,” Hermione said, shaking her head at Ginny and me.

I raised an eyebrow. “Why do I hate them? Hermione, they are things made for men.”

“It’s true, they were made so men can have a cheap thrill every once and a while,” Ginny agreed, laughing.

“Ha, just think, any time Ron sees Hermione in a dress, he gets a thrill,” I said, my tone bored and emotionless.

That is until we realized how funny that was and burst out laughing.

“Oh no,” Ginny said, horrified. We were currently sitting in her room, hiding from Mrs. Weasley so she couldn’t force more cleaning on us. The worst part was she thought it would be silly for us to use magic, seeing as we all (minus Harry and Ginny) seventeen.

“What?” I asked, pushing myself off the mattress and looking outside.

“They’re here,” she said. It took me a while to notice who she meant but sure enough, I saw them.

Fleur’s parents and little sister.

“We have to hide,” Hermione said, making a run for the closet. Seeing as it was quite a small closet, Ginny opted for hiding under the bed, leaving me without a hiding spot. I looked around for what seemed like forever before I heard footsteps, causing me to just transform into a cat and hide under the bed with Ginny.

“Girls! Girls! Come meet Fleur’s family!” we heard Mrs. Weasley say. Moments later she appeared at the door, looking inside for us. “Girls! Oh, they’ll meet them later I suppose.”

We waited for about five minutes before coming out of hiding, covered in dust, well in Ginny and my case.

“That was smooth,” Hermione muttered, coming out of the closet, nearly tripping on a pair of shoes.

I sighed. “Are they staying here?”

“Yes,” Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

“Where will they stay? I mean, with everyone here…” Hermione wondered out loud.

“Great, if I have to sleep with you, only to be kicked in the face, I will kill you,” I said, glaring at Hermione, who tinged red.

After hiding out in Ginny’s room for a while, we figured we could only live for so long without any food, we trudged downstairs, trying not to draw attention to us. We found Harry and Ron also downstairs. Ron was shoving food into his mouth as usual while Harry seemed to be being harassed by this little girl who I recognized as Fleur’s sister.

I figured Harry would like me to come in right about now because he was waving frantically. I laughed and changed directions, going away from the other two, and headed for Harry. When I saw Fleur’s sister, I saw my self esteem drop about twenty points. Great, I’m being upstaged by a twelve year old.

“Oh hi, hello,” Harry said quickly, pulling me onto his lap, nearly causing me to spill my coffee. I grinned at his panic stricken face and turned back to the gorgeous little girl. God I really need to do some self-esteem exercises or something.

“Gabrielle, this is my girlfriend,” he said, as if to get the message clear that he was taken.

It took every ounce of strength not to laugh at her annoyed face.

With a huff and a flip of her silvery blond hair, she hopped off the table and stormed off, probably to go and bother someone else.

“I owe you,” he said, sighing.

I smiled. “Was it necessary to put me on your lap? What am I? A shield?”

He shrugged. “Like I said, I owe you.”

“Big time, seeing as that little girl, who is prettier than me I noticed, is going to try and kill me in my sleep,” I said, glancing over to see the glaring girl.

“She’s not prettier than you,” Harry argued, not even glancing at Gabrielle.

I raised an eyebrow. “Were you looking at her?”

“No.”

“…Why not?”

“Because I don’t like her. I like you.”

“She’s still prettier,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“You worry too much,” Harry said, rolling his eyes at me, a grin forming on his face.

A loud cough came from the other side of the room, made by none other than Mrs. Weasley. I was confused at first but then realizing I was still on Harry’s lap, I jumped off, grabbing my coffee and sitting in the chair next to him. For the sake of Mrs. Weasley of course.

“God this wedding could not come fast enough,” I groaned.

“We all feel the same,” Harry said. “Look at it this way, a day before the wedding is my birthday.”

“That’s right,” I blinked. “What do you want?”

“I don’t want anything,” he said, leaning back in his chair.

I raised an eyebrow. “Everyone wants something. What do you want?”

“World peace?” he asked, a small grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes. “Something that can fit nicely in a box with wrapping paper?”

“A rock,” he said, seriously.

“I am not getting you a rock for your seventeenth birthday.”

“But it’s what I want.”

“You’re impossible,” I muttered, glaring at his laughing face. Fleur’s family had traveled upstairs, probably to put their stuff away. Mrs. Weasley went outside to go and weed the garden or something. Ron, on the other hand, was still shoving food into his mouth.

“Come here,” Harry said, pulling me back onto his lap, seeing as Mrs. Weasley wasn’t in the room.

“What do you want for your birthday?” I asked, again.

“You,” he said simply, grinning at my confused face.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“That’s it. All you want is something you already have.”

“Sounds about right.”

“You’re impossible,” I repeated, shaking my head in annoyance. “I think I’ll just give you a rock.”

“It better be a good one.”

I will never understand a teenage boy’s mind…