Shhh...Dont make me scared!!
&&& Ohhh, Very? Sorta making me regret insulting her now


*Smiles* <33

They probably make him twitch. xD

Oooooh! Then you might enjoy zis ficcie.

LOL. I do believe you shall see more of Shreya, in the future.

xD

Ohhh Really?

Hmmm I wonder what she's up to tbhhh

Nothing too horrid i hope! xD

LOL

She might not be up to anything horrid but, you know, things don't always turn out the way we want them to.



Aaaaaa! I want to update! But I can't, because I am not on my computer, where I have the next chapter saved. =[ But I'll update later today [or early tomorrow morning, if it's night for anyone reading this], so stick around, guys. =]

Ahhh tell me about it!!!
Butt Even if its not her plan to be evil...it may turn out evil -thinks-
Gahhh i have to find out me thinks!!

Quote:

Aaaaaa! I want to update! But I can't, because I am not on my computer, where I have the next chapter saved. =[ But I'll update later today [or early tomorrow morning, if it's night for anyone reading this], so stick around, guys. =]

Ohhh I cant wait...something to look forward to, me thinks -nodss-
Shall stay tuned!!

Aww.

I'll try to update later, today. I have an exam, tomorrow.

Thank you. =]

LOL!

I shall try to read it today...I have homework due in tomorrow..and i have ALOT to do

Good Luck with your Exam


Your welcome <3

You're welcome, as always, love!

NUUUUU! Don't cry, my Maxaxxaxx!

Aww. Take your time!





I might update, pretttyyy soon.

I am waiting for an update!!!



PAMS! PAMS! PAMS!!

Love,
~~Jay~~

Chapter 9:
The Illusion of Summer


"Bend low again, night of summer stars.
So near you are, sky of summer stars,
So near, a long-arm man can pick off stars,
Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl,
So near you are, summer stars,
So near, strumming, strumming,
So lazy and hum-strumming."


Ginny wondered, as they stepped into Aunt Muriel’s room, why she was here. That it had to do with the dress for the ball, she knew, but she was pretty certain that she would not, not on pain of death, consent to wear any of Muriel’s frilly dresses.

The room was, she noticed, both larger and drier than the one she had been allotted. Aunt Muriel pointed to a chair, in the corner. Ginny sat down in as ladylike a pose as she could muster – Aunt Muriel could find fault even with the way she sat, or crossed her legs, or placed her hands on the arms of a sofa, and so on – and the Great-Aunt proceeded to walk over to a cupboard that was the size of the Ginny's bedroom, at the Burrow. She came out, a tiny while later, with a dress that she held by the neck - and Ginny’s eyes widened, perhaps in awe.

It was, except for the fact that it was in Aunt Muriel’s clutches, a beautiful dress – pale pink silk, that scrunched up at the front into a lovely foam, its gathers of golden held, at one side of the waist, by a buckle of pure silver. It cascaded downwards, in a sea of expensive fabric, and its hem touched the floor in little points of light that were, Ginny realized rather suddenly, circular gemstones that shone a beautiful, red-orange in the light of the lamps of Aunt Muriel’s bedroom.

“For me?” Ginny asked, stunned.

“I bought it earlier today,” Aunt Muriel replied, very dispassionately. “The shopkeeper said it would suit red hair, and I only hope she was right. Of course, not much looks good on you,” she went on, rather scathingly. “But this is the best I could do, for you.”

“Thank you!” Ginny was too stunned by the fact that Aunt Muriel could actually consider spending on a wearable dress for her, to be bothered by the remarks. “It’s beautiful, Aunt Muriel!”

“I am glad you think so,” Aunt Muriel sniffed. “It has cost me a little fortune but, for the well-being of my family, I am ready to sacrifice my self, my welfare, and my own interests. I am a most noble and ingenious lady, as I am sure you already know.”

Noble? Ingenious? Ginny found it easy, right now, to resist the urge to hand Muriel her fifteen-year old and very battered copy of Omnigott's Basic Dictionary for Seven Year Olds. Instead, she shook her head a little, at the thought of the last time her mother had borrowed a dress, for her, from the Great Aunt - Ginny had managed to rip it, and Aunt Muriel had thrown a proper tantrum. That, too, without ever getting to know that Ginny had been secretly sneaking into a neighbour's garden, via a wall, when the dress had been torn. Lord knows what would have happened, had she actually come to be aware of that!

"I'll be careful," she said out loud, pretty sure Aunt Muriel remembered the last time she had spent some money, on her great-niece. Even though the dress had been a loan, and not a gift.

“You may do as you like with it,” Aunt Muriel replied with a wave of her hand. “I have no use for this – it is yours.”

That declaration was, of course, quite the shock. “Mine?” Ginny asked. She had owned many, many beautiful things, and more than one of her ex-boyfriends had been lavish with gifts, but a dress this delicate could certainly not be for her. Certainly, Aunt Muriel could not be content to give it away, like this.

“You have grown a bit, Ginevra,” Aunt Muriel sniffed. “I see you no loner rip your dresses – except, of course, the ones you wear to that stupid game you play.” She meant Quidditch, of course. “It appalls me, the way you are more than happy to smudge your sleeves and dirty your face, for the sake of a flying mop. But, I must say, I see an improvement in you. I told your mother as much.”

“I think she might have failed to mention it,” Ginny said dryly. Or forgotten it because you must have instantly followed your little compliment with two dozen SO-not-compliments. “But thanks, I guess. The dress is pretty brilliant, at any rate.”

There was not much more conversation -- Ginny swept into the bathroom with the dress; and when she emerged, half an hour later, she realized it had been integrated with a fitting spell – it clung, like a little child, the scent of the fabric both beautiful and rich, of rosewater and light jasmines, and things whose reminders made Ginny generally happy, though they were as far away as possible from her happiest memories of pillow-fights and snowball attacks, and rough Quidditch.

She surveyed herself in the mirror, amazed at how beautiful the dress made her look. She had always been pretty, but it seemed to touch up the quality - make her seem, not like the girl next door, but like a young woman who knew her place in the world, bold but pleasant, sensible but powerful. She was not sure if that thought was, altogether, comforting – she would want no one to think that she held, in society, a higher place than in actual – but she could not say she did not like the fall of the dress.

With a tiny shrug, she ran a hairbrush through her cascade of flame-colourd locks -- deciding, after a moment, not to tie them up in an updo, but to let them open, for they curled very slightly at thends, and looked gorgoues in contrast with her dres.

- The shopkeeper had been right, it seemed.

“Aunt --” she stepped down the staircase and Aunt Muriel - who had been leaning against the back of a chair in the dining hall, a book propped open as she helped herself to a glass of cold juice - looked up, and nearly choked on her drink.

“Ginevra!” she exclaimed. “You look, for once in your life, like a true lady! I would never have expected a good dress to make your hair bearable to look at, but this outfit manages to. Congratulate me on choosing with such brilliancy!”

That was, Ginny knew, as near to a compliment as she might hope to worm out, some day, from Aunt Muriel. “Thank you for the dress,” she said simply, as she floated up to Aunt Muriel in a sea of pretty foam. “Am I to apparate? To this ball, Aunt?”

For the second time in the past five minutes, Aunt Muriel nearly choked on her drink. This time, however, the circumstances were definitely not in Ginny's favour. “You shall be the death of, Ginevra!” the Great-Aunt exclaimed, with dignty. “Apparate indeed! The proper transport for a ball is, of course, a carriage. But I can not expect you to know that," her voice was a dark mutter, now.

Ginny gave a little roll of her eyes. “Does that mean I get to go in a carriage?” She had never used a real carriage before – the only ones she had sat in had been the ones at Hogwrtas, and they had been quite horseless, then. Nothing grand.

“Indeed,” Aunt Muriel said loftily, rising to her feet to shut the book. “My carriage shall take you to the ball. Come now, we must not be late. You shall enjoy the ride, Ginevra – the people here are nothing like the chatterboxes you call neighbours, back at the Burrow."

Ginny ignored the remark and, gathering the sides of her dress in little fistfuls of lace, followed Aunt Muriel into the gardens. From there, they arrived at the end of the path that led up to Aunt Muriel’s mansion, where a carriage pulled by two, magnificent horses, was at the ready.

“Enter,” Aunt Muriel said smugly and, with a shrug of her white shoulders, Ginny slid inside as gracefully as was possible. Aunt Muriel pushed the curtains aside, to face her great-niece. “You must remember, Ginevra,” she said, quite importantly. “That you go to represent me. You shall observe all etiequette, present the host with a gift, talk in soft tones, dance when required, address titled men by their proper names, and display no sense of unladylikeness. You must not trip over your dress and let everyone know you have huge feet, or break your high heels and let everyone know you've probably never worn them before, or chatter away like the insensible thing you can be. You must also not –”

The instructions continued for the next five minutes, and Ginny listened to them as intently as she could though, at the back of her mind, she wondered if it was not better to throw caution to the winds, and be herself when the time to act – or, rather, stand with “your legs close together, Ginevra – it is unladylike to stand otherwise” – came. Indeed, as Aunt Muriel’s words continued to roll out like a never-ending carpet, her mind wandered off into thoughts of it own, and she paid no more attention to the Great Aunt. She came back, in fact, to earth only when Aunt Muriel’s voice grew ten times louder than it usually was.

“GINEVRA WEASLEY!”

“Aunt Muriel!” She nearly jumped up, in her seat.

“You have not been paying attention!” Aunt Muriel snapped, furiously. “Have you heard a word I have said about the gift, and the proper way to offer it to the host?”

Gift? What gift? Ginny blinked, pretty sure she had none on her. “I might have missed a few words,” she admitted, rather cautiously. “If you could explain the part about the gift again, please?”

Aunt Muriel probably wanted to snarl; but, realizing there was no way out but to go over her lecture again, shortened it and did not, this time, beat about the bush with other matters. “You must offer the host a gift," she snapped. "It is considered a sign of gratefulness at being considered honourable enough to be invited – you don’t know the rich and the famous, Ginevra, they do not value many people, and if they invite you, they clearly think you are worth at least a little.”

Ginny was pretty sure was was worth more than a little – her mother had always told her she was a “darling,” even if a very fiery one – but she did not think it would help matters to say so, at the moment. Complicate them, if anything, “I think I get that," she said. "But what do I have to give the - what is the guy's name again? The host guy's?”

Aunt Muriel’s eyes widened. “Ginevra!” she exclaimed. “Do not tell me you do not know the name of – oh, forget it. You are to visit Lord Gopal at his mansion, where he is celebrating his son's seventeenth birthday, today. You will present an approrpaite gift –”

“WHAT is the gift supposed to be?” Ginny cut through, now more than a little irritated. Could they not get to the bottom line, here?

“Let me speak!” Aunt Muriel flared, not at all pleased at the interruption. “You shall have to learn to listen patiently, if you are to be a part of the richer cream of society, Ginevra! But –“ her voice softened, a little –“That is quite beyond the point. It is a platinum goblet, the gift. You must present this to the host, who will greet you once you step inside the hall of the party. Do you understand?”

“Do I have to make any fancy speeches?” Ginny asked, point-blank. “Say something stupid, or –”

“Yes,” Aunt Muriel said, rather curtly. “You must thank him, and express how honoured you are to receive such an invite.”

“But I didn’t receive the invite,” Ginny pointed out. “You received it – I only get to go because you think you -- uh, deserve to reign in your mansion like the queen that you are." This was her cue to roll her eyes, but she did not. Thankfully. "I certainly don’t think Mr. Goatpaddle, or whatever his name is, will be very pleased if I let him know that.”

“His name is not Googoopaddle!” Aunt Muriel flared. “You are most ungrateful.” She scowled, then heaved a sigh of exasperation, and plowed on relentlessly, “You can not ruin my reputation, Ginevra. Do you understand that?” It was clear the old woman had a good name in social circles, and she valued it above many things, even – maybe especially – over her red-headed great-neice.

Ginny gave half a nod.

“I understand,” she replied, quietly.

*

[] Reference:

+ "Bend low again, night of summer stars -" - Carl Sandburg, Summer Stars from Smoke and Steel.

Maxie!
Simply amazing! Finallly Muriel did something nice for Ginny. The necklace!
Keep writing! PAMS!

Thank you!

I did always say she isn't all bad.

Will try my best.

=]

All hail Great *cough*egotistical*cough* Aunt Muriel!




Mkay, at first I was like: ZOMG, Muriel has given a proper compliment!
But at the very end, I just -ed. You gotta love her.

And the carriage part reminds me of Cinderella! I'll be looking out for some similarities later, my brilliant Maxaxxaxx!

xD

Muriel: Praise is no doubt, my true due.

What? =pp

Glad to know I Muriel can make you laugh, luff. =p

Oooh, Prince Charming?

I MISSED SO MUCH!!!! Sniffff.
*gasps* Muriel must be... schizophrenic o.O
Yay for weird, mental greataunts.

Sokay, you ish here now!

=]

Muriel: WHAT did you just call me?

LOL, yay. xD

Hello Maxie! Another tremendous post! I just so much enjoy reading this that I had to read it over again to find some of my favorite things to comment on. But, once again I loved it all to much to pick favorites I think. This though, makes me wonder: What Aunt Muriel was like when she was growing up. She fails to mention she couldn't have made the choice without the aide of the shopkeeper. [/QUOTE]Ginny realizes the responsibility of maintaining the reputation of her Great Aunt. Yet, it will only be show, because she has never had to be so proper and formal. Like after a very hard long winter, and you long for summer, spring finally shows up. A beautiful day with flowers promising to be abundant and beautiful, birds chirping and building nests, and the sun radiating it's beauty, but you step out in it to bask in the spendor, only to find the air is cold, not chilly, but cold, and unenjoyable, forcing you once again to go indoors and admire the illusion. Great post Maxie. Much love to you, and I'll be watching for news of your next post.

Thank you, Connie.

It's always a pleasure, to have you here. <3



As always, I shall leave the title open to interpretation. But I always love to hear what you make of it, Connie.



Thank you. *loves on you*

=]

honestly hilarious post Maxie...really Ginny gets her great aunt on her wits end...awesome...

what a description...awesome...how,how i wish i own something like this!!!

omg!how concieted is she?
.........but she makes me laugh and Ginny's reaction is all the more hilarious...

hilarious...

and Lord Gopal???nice...nice......

waiting for more...

Thanks, luff!

Thank you, and aww! You can borrow my dresses.

You like the name? xD

I like lord Goatpaddle very much

OHMIGOSH THAT DRESS! *faints* I looooooove it! And the prettiest dress I ever wore was to my sisters wedding lol.. Kaay, back to reviewing the awesomest story!
Muriel is hilarious :Imao: and the best.. Oooh the son is 17.. To young for Ginny lolz.. Platinum Goblet! *wants it* For other reasons then most
That dress *needs to stop commenting about it* but seriously am I the only one drooling over it?
Wow! Ginny got a really good compliment from Muriel! I'm in a state of shock here! I waaaant to go that ball with her carriage.
Haha a lecture! Poor Ginny has to make a speech! What horror!
Pams when you can, I loved the chapter!

-slips on Muriel FC tee-

Muriel speaking that way about quidditch just made me laugh SOOPER hard.

Maxie > Muriel

Don't even get me started, Maxaxxaxxxx-love!

Although I think we know who my Prince Veela Charming is.

P.S: Good luck on those exams! I've got a buttload as well, although I try to find time to relax on SS. -points to siggy-

Sooo Sorry its taken me a while to read it Homework!
Butt-Butt i can say that i LOVE reading it -nodss- much more fun then homework!
Awww The dress, i fell in love with it too! Andd i think it sounds beautiful.
Att Least Aunt Murial was nice to Ginny...even if for a bit.
Noww id LOVE to hear about whats going to happen at this ball....hmmm
-sits down to wait- I shall wait too see Please post soon!
Alsso Haha the mans last name sounds funny
x

Thanks for the reviews, guys!

I love all of you, and will read when I have some more time.

THANK YOUU. <33