"That's the difference in our world between what guys are allowed to do and what girls can do. The second I accepted the payment to be his potential girl, I was honor bound to refuse all other offers until my patron set me free of my obligation to him. If I had done so, I could have kept my honor intact. At that point, even if I wasn't a virgin any more, I still would've been able to make a respectable marriage connection for myself with the coin I had earned from him as my dowry. And chances are good I'd have found a decent guy to spend my life with because everyone knows the Weasely family is poor and barely scraps by with all our members. But I didn't. I played him for a fool instead."
"Yes, I could've asked him if I could date another boy while he didn't wish to have me on his arm. And he might even have said yes after setting down some rules for me so I wouldn't impinge on his honor while doing so. Considering he'd said repeatedly I didn't interest him at all, he'd have probably jumped at the chance to have me fall for some other guy. But even while I was dating those other boys, I was still taking his coin, Ron. And that's what makes me dating them so very wrong. I should have stopped taking his money when I decided I didn't want to be his girl on standby any longer. I didn't."
"No matter how you slice it, that's wrong. I knew and I didn't care because I thought he didn't know. And what he didn't know wouldn't hurt me. Yet when Neville asked me to go to the Ball with him I went straight to Harry and got his permission first. I had already gone on more than a few dates with Michael at that time without asking Harry. But for Neville, I asked first. What does that tell you Ron? It tells me I knew I had to ask before being seen in public on another guys arm. Yet I never asked him if I could date Michael. Either before the Ball or after."
Ron frowned. "Wait if you were dating Michael before the Ball, why'd you want to go with Nev?"
"Michael and I had gotten into a fight about Harry and whether or not he knew I was supposed to be his girl. I said Harry didn't know and Michael claimed he did. he was certain Harry knew and I wouldn't believe him because even then I knew what I was doing was wrong. So we broke up.
"Neville's almost as rich as Harry and I don't know. I guess I was thinking if there was a chance I couldn't get Harry as my future husband, Neville wasn't a bad second choice, you know? So when he asked, I wanted to accept. It got my foot in the door. Got him to see me as a potential future bride. But I had to do things right with Neville because he wasn't like Michael. Neville's just as highborn as Harry is. He has a station in this world he'll assume as soon as he turns seventeen just as Harry does and will. Michael doesn't. So I went to Harry first for permission to be seen in public on Neville's arm."
"After the Ball, Neville made it clear he didn't want to date me. That he'd only taken me to the Ball because Harry thought I wanted to go and he wouldn't be seen in such a setting with me on his arm. It'd give people the wrong impression. Neville said he knew I was taking money to be Harry's girl and he wouldn't poach on another guys territory. That I would never do as his girl any more than I did as Harry's. Because I was for hire."
"So when Michael came around a few days later wanting to make up, I said yes. It seems the whole Ball thing and the rumors about it told Michael Harry did know I was supposed to be his girl and Michael wanted to date me again. But that entire incident told Harry I knew the rules, Ron. You know it did."
Ron nodded glumly. Her asking if she could go with Nev to the Ball would've told Harry she knew she was to ask him before going anywhere with another bloke. He also knew Harry knew about Michael because he'd been the one to tell him. He was gloating because Harry had lost Ginny to another for being too thick to see what a great girl she was. Hermione had been furious with him for that. Absolutely livid.
Ginny continued explaining to her brother. "In any case, it doesn't matter now. Everyone and his brother -and sister- knows Harry will never marry me. Nor will any other respectable boy we know. Because I'm not a suitable future wife for them. My involvement with you, Hermione and the Headmaster in destroying Harry's name and reputation here at school has told them that. My dating boys I didn't first get permission to be with only confirmed what they already knew. I'm a girl raised in this world that still believes in betrothal agreements and marriage contracts. I knew the rules and I broke them of my own free will. Now I have to pay the price for my own choices."
Ron grimaced but nodded his head. But Ginny was still speaking. "We really shouldn't have under-estimated Harry's intelligence that way. Nor should we have assumed that just because he didn't say anything, he didn't know what we were doing behind his back. How many times has he shown us just how very observant he is? It's always him who puts all the little random clues together, Ron. Every year, we know what's going on in this school and we deliberately feed it to him piecemeal. Only giving him information when it seems he's giving up or uninterested in whatever challenge the Headmaster had us set up for him. Yet he puts all those little bits of information together and shows up at the right place at the right time to do what needs to be done. Yet we underestimated him in regards to our own bad behavior. And considering how you and Hermione acted any time he said anything even slightly hurtful or negative to or about me, it really isn't that much of a surprise he didn't call me on my bad behavior towards him as anyone else, including you, would've."
"As for why I'm not mad at him anymore. . well that's simply because, as Colin's ghost pointed out to me, he didn't offer me the payment. The Headmaster did. And Mum and Da approved it. As Colin said, Harry had nothing to do with it. None of us asked him if he was ok with us getting paid to be near him and not one of us considered how he feel about it when he found out. Because he was always going to find out one day. Did you really think he'd just laugh it off when he did? You know him better than that. Or at least you should."