[rowanxginny]

ofelahwriting·:

He released the strand of hair that he had been holding so tight, instead moving his whole hand into her crimson red hair. Merlin he loved her hair the most, sometimes he thought that it was so red that it would burn him. Sometimes he wished it would, just so he could feel something. Could he even burn anymore? What would happen if someone tried to harm him? Was he invisible? So many questions, so many mysteries, Ginny being one of them, and the one he was most eager to figure out. 

“I can think of a few things that we could do…” He said, his voice wickedly deep, his eyes slightly fogged over with the thoughts running through his head. He shook his head, snapping himself out of his daze, and ran his red hair through his long pale fingers. He would keep Ginny, but he also knew that he needed to be patient, with time he would have her all to himself, he would stop at nothing. He just needed to make her want it as much as he did, he didn’t just want her diaries entries, he didn’t just want her time or her heart, he wanted her soul. He wanted everything. 

“Alright I won’t keep you, this time.” He said, giving her his most charming smile that made him look almost boyish. He moved his hand from it’s grip on her hair to run his fingers down her arm, until he was grasping her hand in his. “Enough talk of staying or going.” It can wait, he thought. If he pressed it would only upset her, it was better to play the long game and be patient. After all what else did he have to do? He had all the time in the world, to plan and scheme, to think of Ginny and all his wicked plans for her. 

He pulled her down so that they were sitting across from each other, and once again he smiled at her, impersonating goodness. “Tell me about your day.” He said, taking her hand in his, running his fingers along the lines on her palm, as if he was reading her future, her secrets. He didn’t need to read her palm to find out her secrets, he had his old dairy and her own words for that. Her future though? That he would surely like to know. 

Inhaling sharply through her nose, Ginny’s lips parted, almost like she wanted to say something and couldn’t figure out the words. Even if they formed together in her mind, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to gather her wits properly in order to say anything. Not with his hand sliding into her hair like it belonged to him, keeping her steady. Keeping her in place, exactly where he wanted her to be. That should bother you, a quiet voice whispered in the back of her mind, tugging at the edges of her conscience. Going where he tells you, following where he guides. It won’t end well. Tom’s eyes were locked on hers and maybe it wasn’t so but Ginny felt a challenge rise between them. Was he daring her to listen to the voice in her head telling her to back away and make him follow her for once?

It never occurred to her that that might be the last thing Tom wanted from her. It never occurred to her that it wasn’t a game, that he only wanted her here. It was Ginny’s way, to challenge and push and never sit still. But even so, he was still winning. Even though she acknowledged that part of her doubted, she didn’t listen. She stayed where she was, silently wished for Tom to keep holding her just as he was. And so he won. And would continue to win.

“Care to share your ideas?” Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow. A slight twinge of disappointment fluttered through her when he let go of her, but it was quick to disappear as he traded her hair for her hand and held it tightly in his own. “I’m easily bored, you know. I need something to occupy my time.” This was her, this was the Ginny Weasley who could tease and jest and push back when she wanted to. She loved to play games and she loved to push boundaries. Seeing if Tom would actually answer her instead of letting his sentence trail off into nothing so she could wonder about it for hours was part of the fun. I can think of a few things we could do. They both knew Ginny would turn those words over and over in her mind every night until she got something to appease her curiosity.

“My day?” she repeated, shrugging her shoulders carelessly. “Lessons, lessons, quizzes, Quidditch practice, gossip...it’s all more of the same.” That much was true at least. It thrilled Ginny to know that she had something that separated her from the rest of the students she spent every day with. Something that was just for her, her own little secret that she could share with Tom. “As I said, easily bored. Why do you think I spend so much time here with you? It’s more fun.”

[rowanxginny]

ofelahwriting·:

Cassie chuckled, taking a sip of her drink. Before Rowan had caught her eye she had every intention of making a french exit. Her parents would have been upset with her, ‘You never behaved like this before’ would surely be said, as it was a sentence that she now heard regularly. It was true, a few years ago she would never be sipping a full glass of whiskey, ignoring her parents friends, wearing a dress like this, and so much more that her parents didn’t even have an inkling about. She was too occupied with being the perfect daughter, as if it would make up for the loss of their other daughter. 

She chuckled, taking a sip from her full glass. “Everyone here has a problem, just some people are better at hiding it.” She rolled her eyes, knowing full well what her former classmates got up to behind closed doors. “Maybe we can save each other from boredom.” She mused, her lips quirking up into a sly smile. She wondered how long she could play this game before her recognized her or she slipped up and gave herself away. A part of hoped that she could just go on like this forever, playing the mystery girl, because Rowan would never look at the old Cassandra like he was looking at her now. 

“Do you think anyone here is actually having any fun?” She asked, looking out at the sea of suits and cocktail dresses. They all looked perfectly at ease, laughing, smiling, mingling happily amongst each other. Was this some people’s idea of fun? “Or are they secretly as miserable as us? Or are we just party poopers?” She was used to being the quiet girl in the corner, it was how she spent her whole life until college. 

She almost coughed up her drink trying to hide her laughter when he said I don’t recognize you. Was she really so different? “Oh I just know someone who knows someone.” She said once she composed herself, playing her little coughing fit off as an accident. “I’m really just a gate crasher, heard there would be an open bar and thought I would tag along.” She side, hiding her smile behind her glass. 

Patience was supposed to be a virtue, but Rowan had never had the talent of keeping it up for too long. It was always restlessness with him, always trying to see where the next best thrill was to be had and chasing it as soon as he had an inkling of what he was in for. Occasionally, he’d roll with the punches completely blind just to add to the excitement. And standing here, in a party that he felt like he’d attended thousands of times over in his life, was not doing him any favors. Was this what a time loop felt like? Having to repeat the same process over and over and over again, forced to pretend like it was something new each time the clock reset itself and you were pushed back to the starting line? Champagne glass in one hand, charming smile plastered on, friendly comments at the ready—and go.

Now, though, it seemed like he’d met someone who had caught onto the game just like he had, and Rowan reveled in it. “Some people are too scared to be judged for being themselves, you mean?” he corrected with a knowing look. “It all begins to feel like one big party blending into each other at some point, right? Saving each other from boredom is like an act of heroism at this point. It’s the moral thing to do.”

If he fed into her comments to keep her standing there with him, no one but Rowan had to know. And, he suspected, this girl surely had to assume he was playing it up just a bit for his own benefit of keeping her company around. But the night had just barely begun and she was pretty, witty, funny...and he’d seen more self-awareness in her in five minutes of conversation than he’d seen in dozens of conversations with half the guests in the room right now. He couldn’t speak for the other half—he had no idea who they were. “I gotta admit, I kind of hope they’re all just as miserable as we are. Because if they’re all having a good time and we’re missing out on something, then we must be really pathetic.”

Rowan eyed the girl curiously, still trying to figure her out as he watched her smirk through her response. Something about it felt like an inside joke he’d forgotten, a bit too personal. “Gate crasher, huh? Well, who hasn’t found their way into a party they weren’t invited to when they were on the hunt for some free drinks and a good time?” If Isaac ever felt like making an appearance, he could ask about this girl with some semblance of subtlety, but that didn’t seem to be happening so Rowan was left on his own. “Sorry, I never did catch your name?”

[rowanxginny]

ofelahwriting·:

Tom didn’t know where he was, what he was, just that it was pure magic, dark magic. It felt like only yesterday that he was roaming the halls of Hogwarts, that he had opened The Chamber, but now he was here, in this place that he didn’t understand and from what Ginny had told him decades have past since he had attended Hogwarts, that the Tom he once was was long gone. 

“Hmmm,” He hummed, curling her crimson hair around his finger, relishing in how solid it felt, when he felt more akin to a ghost than human. He studied Ginny’s pretty face, the tilt of her head and how her body drew closer towards him. Such a sweet girl, so much goodness in her. It drew him to her, like a moth to the flame. It was a twisted game he played, to see how far he could good, how much goodness he could take for himself before she stopped him.

“You could always stay.” He grinned down at her, pulling at the stand of hair down tightly wrapped around his pointer finger. He didn’t pull hard, not enough to hurt, just enough to put pressure on her scalp, a reminder of the literal and figurative hold he had on her. “Maybe I won’t let you go back this time Ginny.” His voice was smooth, like a snake and his grin was beautiful but with a dangerous edge to it. “Maybe I’ll keep you here with me as long as I like, you wouldn’t mind that, would you?”

The idea of keeping Ginny here – wherever here was – was all too tempting. In his own twisted and rotten way he cared for her, like he had never cared for anyone. She was his, his sweet Ginny, no one else’s. He hated the idea of her going back to her world, where others could talk to her, see her, touch her. He was going to be her everything, he would never stop until he possessed her completely and had her all to himself. 

Ginny’s head tilted up of its own accord, shifting her weight onto the tips of her toes and rocking forward towards Tom without realizing it. That’s how it always went with them, wasn’t it? Him, drawing her in, closer and closer and closer until they were only a breath apart. Her, allowing herself to be pulled further in until she couldn’t find a way out. She always felt like she was half-awake here, but the part of her that remained awake was so completely enthralled that she couldn’t be bothered to care.

Her lips parted slightly at the sensation of Tom toying with her the way he was. Dark eyes, charming smile, a solid grip, firm on her mind. She sighed softly, letting her eyes fall closed for just a moment, just to let herself be. It was dangerous to feel so comfortable in a place that was so incredibly foreign. She didn’t know what boundaries of magic they were pushing, but she knew she felt herself practically vibrating with the force of it. But maybe that was just Tom, Ginny thought to herself, letting his voice wash over her. Maybe it wouldn’t matter where they were as long as he stood with her just like this.

At the feeling of him tugging on her hair, Ginny’s eyes snapped open, finding Tom’s boring directly into her. It was sharp, fleeting, and quick, over as soon as it had begun. She leaned into his touch before she’d even fully processed his words, and she kept her eyes on Tom even as she moved her chin up, following the direction that Tom guided her head in. He didn’t hurt her, but he held her. The simple act in itself made her keep her feet rooted in place, follow him where he led her. A smile found its way onto her lips.

“Tom,” Ginny began, her focus returning to her for just a second when she finally heard his words. There was no way she could stay here forever and part of her thought that Tom knew it, that he was just teasing her to rile her up. But then Ginny thought maybe he did mean it, that hewas planning on keeping her here forever. She didn’t know how he could do that—the very idea seemed to defy logic, but so did everything else she’d experienced since she’d found the diary. “You couldn’t keep me here,” she continued. It was not the first time they’d gone back and forth like this and surely it wouldn’t be the last, but she still tried to outwit him with facts. How long would it take her to realize hat outwitting Tom simply wasn’t an option? She’d lose, every time. “What would you do with me here? You’d get bored of me, wouldn’t you? Besides, how would I even survive here? How would you?”

[rowanxginny]

ofelahwriting·:

She remembered when she was younger she would follow Rowan and her brother around everywhere, especially after Rebecca died. She never said very much, tried not to bother them, she was just wanted to be around them, to be around anyone, even if they mostly ignored her. What teenage boy wanted their geeky little sister hanging around, but her brother let her stay as long as she was quiet and didn’t embarrass him. Then they left for college and Cassandra was alone again. 

She chuckled, watching him as he looked her over. All night people had been giving her a double take, at first they looked confused because they couldn’t quite place her, quickly followed by surprise when they realized who she was. Rowan didn’t look at her like that, in fact he didn’t look at her with any recognition at all, and thats when Cassie realized that he didn’t recognize her.  Part of her was a little hurt, had she really been so invisible back then that he didn’t remember? Another part of her felt pride and excitement. All her work to reinvent herself had paid off, now she could have some fun. 

“Yeah you seem like the type.” She said with a smirk. “Whats not to love about sucking up to parents friends and avoiding people you went to high school with right?” She joked, a mock cheery grin on her face. She reach over the bar to to grab a bottle of whiskey and refilled her glass, practically filling it to the brim. “But at least they have an open bar right?” She asked, holding her glass out to clink against his. 

“Oh I’m having a grand old time, catching up with my nearest and dearest.” She gestured  towards the room of revelers. Wasn’t a graduation party supposed to be full of ones nearest and dearest? If someone saw how many people had fit into the lake house her parents had rented for the celebration one could assume that Cassandra was on of the most popular girls in town, but she was just looking out into a sea of strangers. 

“So how do you know the family?” She asked, feeling just a little bit wicked. 

This girl in front of him couldn’t have been someone he knew. Rowan would have recognized her, surely. Her smile was bright, if a little sharp, but the edge only added to whatever it was about her that had him continuing this conversation instead of simply begging off, finding Isaac through the crowd and getting drunk together. Just like when they were in high school, grabbing at loose bottles of beer that were left laying around and trying to finish them as fast as possible, doing whatever they could to make sure no adults saw them.

"Oh, I went to high school with absolutely none of these people,” Rowan said, shaking his head as he marveled at the fact that he was still here. “I’m here for moral support. Saving some of the unluckier partygoers from boredom. Except now I’m the one that’s bored and if I go back to that open bar, some people might begin to think I’ve got a problem.” He clinked his glass with hers, cocking an eyebrow up at her glass, filled all the way up. Not the way he’d have chosen to take his whiskey, but it was amusing enough to say the least. And she didn’t seem to mind.

The crowd of guests around them didn’t seem to pay any attention to the pair of them, leaning against the bar and talking like it wasn’t a graduation party where they should be celebrating the guest of honor. And Isaac still remained nowhere to be found. What was the harm in flirting if Rowan knew that it wouldn’t lead to anything? After all, it was a party. Make new friends, meet new people, wasn’t that what it was all supposed to be about? And he wasn’t looking to invest in any businesses like the countless fathers and entrepreneurs seemed to be hounding him for, so why shouldn’t he talk to a pretty girl who seemed to have enough wit for both of them, and share some of his own?

“Yeah, you look like you’re having a ball.” Rowan looked out at the guests and wondered just how many people were actually here. And how many of them even cared what they were celebrating. The girl’s question brought his attention back and he looked over at her. “I’m the brother’s friend. But he’s gone off on his own, probably got lost in a bunch of suits. Can’t keep track of them all, can you?” He rolled his eyes. “What about you? Close friends with the family? I don’t recognize you.”

[rowanxginny]

ofelahwriting·:

            Tom always knew when Ginny had opened the dairy, his days were spent aimless, almost as if he was dreaming, but when Ginny thought of him or opened the dairy it was like being woken up. Thankfully for Tom she had been turning to the dairy more and more everyday and he no longer had to wait long until he was joined by the girl with hair like fire. 

“Hello Ginny,” He drawled, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth as Ginny appeared before him. When she first started writing in the dairy he could only communicate with her through the pages but as their bond grew they had begun to appear to each other. If she was alone he could come to her but mostly she came to him, wherever he was, he still wasn’t completely sure. He approached her, his best smile plastered onto his handsome face. It was the smile that always got him out of trouble, that made people feel at ease, hid the bile that surrounded his heart. 

“I’ve missed you.” He said, reaching out and tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear. He wasn’t lying completely, he had missed her. No – He had been craving her, he needed her, that was different from missing. 

Ginny’s heart was already pounding by the time she saw Tom. Opening up the diary, she knew exactly what would happen, and it was with a rush of adrenaline that her hand lifted the cover, anxiety mixed with anticipation, trepidation mixed with excitement. She’d turned towards the diary more and more in the past few weeks—months, if she were truly being honest—but actually seeing the person behind the words that had appeared before her on the page...it had left a feeling inside the pit of Ginny’s stomach that hadn’t gone away since the very first time she’d seen him.

Tom. His name, simplicity at its finest, just seemed to fit in her mouth. He’d become a comfort to her in a way that not even the diary itself had managed to achieve. In the beginning, she’d poured her soul into the blank pages, reveling in the way ink had traced letters next to hers in a handwriting she hadn’t recognized, finding a friend that Ginny had been sorely missing. And it had been enough until the first time he’d appeared before her. And ever since then, Ginny had been asking herself how, how, had she thought conversing with Tom through a magical diary would be enough to suffice?

But now, Ginny was here. She wasn’t exactly sure where here was, but magic itself had boundaries she couldn’t comprehend and didn’t try to. All she knew was that it was too much of a risk for him to come to her, not when the only place she had any privacy was her dorm and even then, there were four other girls who could walk in at any moment. To enter and see Ginny writing furiously in the diary was not out of the ordinary, not anymore, but it just wasn’t enough, anymore.

“Tom,” she breathed, unable to match his smirk and settling for the barest hint of a smile instead. He always seemed to be able to pull that off when she never could. If her heart had already been pounding at just the sight of him, then it stuttered when he brushed her hair back, his hand shifting across the side of her face. He felt strange, like there was a thin film of something between them, but Ginny pushed the irregularities away. She’d never heard of anything like this and was hesitant to ask anyone in her life, afraid they’d take the diary away, take Tom away. “I’ve missed you, too,” she admitted. “It’s always boring out there. I have more fun here with you.”

[rowanxginny]

ofelahwriting·:

              Her parents house was filled to the brim with party goers. They were all here to celebrate her but she barely recognized any of them. Sure one looked vaguely familiar, she had seen another one’s picture in one of the family albums, and wasn’t that the prom queen? But she didn’t know any of them, they were all people her parents had invited, people from the past that Cassandra had tried to put behind her, that she no longer had a connection too and no longer knew her. They all remembered the quiet girl who hid behind long brown hair and large unbecoming glasses, who spent ever Friday night on the couch watching TV with her parents while her classmates were out partying. They all remembered the girl who had lost a sister. 

She wasn’t that girl anymore, that girl was a stranger, Cassandra had left her behind with all these people. College had changed her, gone was the long hair and glasses, replaced by a chic hairstyle and black eyeliner, she wore slinky dresses, drank red wine,  and spoke Italian. She had started taking a shot every time someone exclaimed “My, you’ve changed!” tonight, and she was starting to wobble on her heels a bit. 

Of course there was one person she remembered at the party, one person that she could never manage to forget. Rowan Lane. Her brothers best friend, the boy she pined over for years but never said more than a few words too at a time. She had hoped that he would be here tonight, had even worn her favorite little black dress just in case. It had paid off, he had been looking at her the whole night, he never looked at the old Cassandra like that. 

She watched him as he made his way to the open bar, her brother finally missing from the picture. She followed suit, making her way to the bar to stand besides him. “Are you enjoying the party?” She asked, giving him a sly smile.

Rowan wasn’t quite sure what he was doing here.

Wandering from room to room, a glass in his hand that kept being refilled with various types of alcohol—from whiskey to tequila to a dark, sweet rum that he’d actually rather enjoyed—while his mind was somewhere far, far from here. It was somewhere where the guests at the graduation party were not, in a space filled with loud music and empty houses, nothing but his head, empty of any thoughts, present to keep him company.

But here...here, there were crowds. Here, there were people Rowan didn’t recognize at all, almost every single person he’d come across so far except for his best friend and his parents, who were responsible for throwing the party for their daughter, fresh out of college. And he hadn’t even seen the guest of honor. Rowan doubted he’d even recognize her upon first glance. How long had it been since he’d seen Cassandra? He’d left for college as soon as he could, so eager to get away from home, and she’d been, what? Thirteen? Fourteen?

Suffering through the grief of losing a sister (Her twin, Rowan reminded himself grimly, as if the situation couldn’t get any worse than it had) and then thrown right into the pit of high school. And if what Rowan remembered of Cassandra had held up true, then it surely couldn’t have been an easy time for her. Quiet, unassuming. But Cassandra, admittedly, was the furthest thing from Rowan’s already-distracted mind, not when there was a gorgeous girl eyeing him down from across the room. It had been something like a personal game to Rowan, spending the night searching for the girl in the black dress with a wicked smirk.

Well, if I have to be here, he thought to himself, making his way to the bar with his empty glass in hand, already preparing to get himself a fresh drink and returning the girl’s smile when she appeared at his side. “Oh, having a blast,” he remarked. “A bunch of college kids and some friends of the parents? Just my kind of scene.” Rowan looked her up and down and took a sip from his refilled glass. “And you?”