Ginny Weasley, character sketch

[edenfalling]

This is something I saw done a year or so back, and decided to work on now to sort of kick myself into gear on "Secrets" and see if I could stir up some half formed post-HBP plotbunnies.

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My Ginny...

--is not a slut, thankyouverymuch. There's nothing wrong with liking boys and having some fun together. It's not her fault if they think it's more serious than it really is.

--is not a bitch, either. Well, not much. Okay, so she has a temper. You try growing up with six older brothers and see how nice you turn out.

--wears masks; who she is depends on who she's with. Usually she doesn't mind that. Usually she doesn't even notice when she shifts. But sometimes, when she's all alone, she wonders if she still has a real face. Then she tells herself off for being a whinging idiot.

--still wonders if there might have been a way for her to save Tom. She's pretty sure that was impossible -- you can't save a person who doesn't want to be saved -- but she's secretly ashamed that she never really tried, not once she found out he was behind the Petrifications. Even more secretly, she's glad she didn't try. That way she'll never be sure that she would have failed.

--loathes failure. She loathes weakness in general, particularly in herself. Weakness in other people is to be pitied, mocked, or despised, depending on how she feels about the person in question.

--despite this, really does like most people. She wants people to be strong and sensible, and is sure most of them could be if they'd only bother or if someone could get them to listen. She's willing to help, but she runs out of patience faster than she likes to admit.

--had only one close female friend before she was eleven. She's still somewhat unsure of how to deal with other girls and sometimes falls back into the dominance games that she played with her brothers. She doesn't have many close male friends either, though -- she's convinced that most boys are macho idiots, and will point to her brothers as evidence.

--once practiced kissing on a feather pillow. She was pleasantly surprised by how much nicer a boy's mouth is.

--is extremely possessive of her family and friends. Fleur scorned her family and tried to "steal" Bill, so Ginny fought back. Hermione couldn't be sensible and just tell Ron how she felt -- she let weakness get the best of her -- and Ginny couldn't stand that. Harry is hers now, and he can talk all he wants about sending her away. She's not really going. Oh, she'll stop kissing him and all that, but there's no way she'll let go of him now.

--often regrets her temper-driven impulses, like insulting Hermione and crashing into Zacharias Smith, but can't bring herself to apologize. She's aware that this is a character flaw. She's also aware that she doesn't try nearly as hard to correct it as she probably should.

--is a bit of a control freak. When upset, she begins to organize things around her. If eating, she gets obsessively precise about cutting food and cleaning sauces off her plate.

--has a strong sense of justice in the abstract, but it becomes a little hazy when dealing with actual people -- her emotions get in the way.

--has a deep-seated sense of inferiority, stemming from being the youngest, being female, and being relatively socially isolated until she came to Hogwarts. She refuses to admit this to anyone, and overcompensates for it in several of her public faces.

--first liked Harry because he's the Boy Who Lived. Then he stayed at her house and she realized that he was just a boy like her brothers... but different. He was quieter, for one thing, and there was a certain feeling around him. He made her feel like the world was a more special place, safer and brighter. Unfortunately, this brought out her inferiority complex. She's still not sure just what it is about Harry that pulls her, but it's there and she can't really ignore it. She's very glad that she actually likes his personality as well, and that he's easy on the eyes; otherwise she might be in a bit of trouble.

--genuinely did like her other boyfriends, but never felt that pull toward them. Dean's a better kisser than Harry, though, and sometimes she misses that. She doesn't miss their arguments. Arguments that don't go anywhere are pointless, especially if they're not fun either.

--knows a lot of dirty jokes. She likes to tell them to people and watch their reactions.

--spent most of her childhood thinking red hair wasn't anything unusual. Then she realized that it made her stand out. In her first years at Hogwarts, she resented that. These days, she's decided that sometimes standing out can be useful.

--keeps more secrets than most people realize. She used to tell Ron everything, but then he went to Hogwarts and started brushing her off. So she turned to Tom, and that... well, the less said about that year, the better. These days Ginny's better at keeping up her masks.

--cries in her sleep sometimes. She doesn't know she does this.

--is quite good at Potions, thankyouverymuch. One of the great trials of her life is that nobody seems to recognize this, because Snape hates her and sometimes she gets too angry to pay attention to what she's doing in class.

--is also good at Herbology. She loves flowers -- they're one of her girlish indulgences -- and if she had her way the back garden at the Burrow would have no gnomes at all. Instead, there would be huge sweeps of wildflowers and grasses, and then some tidier plants like rosebushes and topiary hedges. She knows that's not practical and her family needs to grow vegetables, but sometimes she daydreams of petals and perfume.

--learned to cast jinxes before she learned any other magic. It was self-defense, really -- the twins stole Charlie's wand and she had to get revenge.

--has mixed feelings about Quidditch. On the one hand, she loves flying and she loves the thrill of doing something she's good at and winning. On the other hand, she doesn't like being confined to the pitch, and she doesn't like the way the game and the other players spoil the purity of the sky. Sometimes she pauses during practices and pretends Harry's still on the team, so she can watch him spiral free above her.

--knows intellectually that Tom Riddle is Voldemort, but has trouble making the emotional connection. Tom felt human to her; Voldemort is the monster under the bed. Tom betrayed her; Voldemort can't engage any of her emotions other than hatred. She pities Tom, a little, when she remembers him. There's nothing left in Voldemort to pity. The stupidest thing of all is that he did that to himself.

--still feels excluded from the circle of HarryRonHermione, no matter what she sees in Harry's eyes when he looks at her these days, no matter how many memories she shares with Ron, and no matter if she's the only girl Hermione can really talk to. She's still not one of them. That makes her feel weak, feel like a failure, and she hates that. She's not going to stand around and let them keep her out anymore.

--can be unthinkingly cruel to people she doesn't know well. She'll usually apologize if this is pointed out, since she's not emotionally invested the way she is when she's angry at someone.

--thinks Ron is an utter idiot for refusing to accept money from Harry. If Harry pays for things, she can save her own money and invest it in the twins' business. That's a much faster way to stop being poor than whatever half-formed plans Ron may have.

--will not back down or give up, ever; she'll break first. (Or she'll lose her temper if it's something unimportant.) She hates asking for help. She grew up relying on her parents and brothers, but she's left home and her brothers have their own lives. She tried relying on Tom. She's through leaning on other people.

--has a habit of writing her thoughts on parchment to put them in order. Now and then she still pauses as if she expects an answer. When she notices that, she usually burns the paper in question.

--is terrified that Harry will die in the war.

--has never even considered that he might lose.

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Hmmm. I still want to write a Ginny/Harry/Draco triangle (not necessarily 'love' triangle, but definitely an emotional tangle of some sort) or threesome. Something that takes HBP into account, something that happens during the war. I've written some post-war stories and a lot of pre-war stories, but the only things I've ever written set during the upcoming war were totally focused on Muggle OCs. Besides, I want to see if I can make Voldemort and the Death Eaters into credible villains on my terms, while still keeping them canonically accurate.

Maybe I should do this exercise for Harry and Draco as well.