Ginny woke to the sound of a gentle knock at the door. She blearily opened one eye, seeing the first cool rays of morning sunlight turning the walls of the room to a pale pink. She slowly turned her head towards the door, wondering who wanted to come in at such an early hour. Her curiosity increased as the door handle turned and the door was slowly pushed open. The hinges creaked in protest until it stopped, half open, displaying a view of the empty hallway. There was no one there. She blinked once, twice …
“Dotty says misses must get up now. The clock has passed seven.”
Ginny let out her breath and lifted her head enabling her to look down and catch a glimpse of a green arm and a brown rag disappearing around the side of the door. Laughing inwardly at herself for forgetting she was at school, she rolled over and promptly fell off the bed, letting out a small yelp on the way down.
Peals of laughter rang throughout the room. Harriet leaned over the side of the next bed and smiling cheerily said, “Good morning, Gin.”
This was a bad start to a very bad day.
***
Fifteen minutes later, they made their way down to breakfast, passing portraits of young winking teachers and clanking suits of armour. All around them was the hustle and bustle of the first day of term and excited chatter of the students sharing stories of summer holidays.
Ginny suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Luna, her bright blonde hair swinging as she walked out of the Ravenclaw common room.
“Hello, Ginny.” She smiled vaguely at Ginny’s dishevelled appearance. “Your hair’s a bit tangled this morning. It must be the Havlocks. There are so many around at this time of the year and cause so much disruption.”
“Hi, Luna.” She chose to ignore Luna’s last comment, and pushed her long damp hair back over her shoulders and into a ponytail. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you. Did you finish reading for Transfiguration?”
“Just now. I’m so glad you reminded me yesterday. McGonagall would not have been pleased.”
Luna laughed and hitched her bag higher up her shoulder as a first-year jogged by her in a rush to get to breakfast. “I’m sure she would have understood. You’ve had a lot on your mind this summer.”
“Haven’t we all?” Ginny countered. They walked in silence for a while. The summer had been difficult for everyone. Death Eaters were growing in number and crimes were becoming so frequent, even the Daily Prophet couldn’t record them all; cold-blooded murders, kidnappings, houses even swallowed up in flames. But hardly anyone was convicted. The Ministry was all but falling apart; Death Eaters were infiltrating its highest ranks and corruption eating it away from the inside. Ginny’s father was even considering resigning from his job; the only thing keeping him there was the family’s need to eat. She, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been busy frantically trying to find the Horcruxes based on a single sheet of paper left behind by Dumbledore, summarizing all the research he had been doing on it over the past year.
“Do you miss him?” Luna asked suddenly, midway down the stairs.
Ginny, confused, replied, “Miss who?”
“Obviously not, then,” she giggled. “I was talking about Harry.”
“Oh. Well, they only left yesterday. How could I miss him already? Besides, we broke up at the end of last term.” Truth be told, Ginny was more annoyed with him rather than missing him. Over the last few days he, Hermione, and Ron had been making and discussing plans for their trip to Norway, where they believed the last Horcrux was hiding. They had absolutely refused to allow Ginny to come, saying it was more important that she went to school and continued her education, and that it would be too dangerous for her to go, and so on. All in all, they had treated her like she was young and naïve, after everything they had been through together. So, yes, it was true that she did not miss him, or Hermione and Ron. At least it stopped her worrying about them.
“I know that you are jealous that you can’t go with them to Norway,” Luna said, surprising Ginny with how on the mark she could be, while most of the time being ridiculously vague.
“I am not,” Ginny replied childishly, not wanting to appear to care.
“I would be too. You know, one year my cousins found a dead Yartail off the beach in Mexico and they decided that they were going to go and explore this cave where the Yartails live. They wouldn’t let me come because the Yartail often lives with the sphinx, so they said I was too young and not knowledgeable enough. I though it was very unfair.”
Ginny nodded absently, silently wondering what this had to do with her and Harry.
They finally reached the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table, joining Parvati, Lavender, Seamus, and Dean in the midst of a conversation about whom they thought was going to be on this year’s Quidditch team.
“Ginny,” Dean said turning to look at her, “you’ll probably be Seeker now that Harry’s gone.”
There were murmurs of agreement and Dean picked up the breadbasket and waved it in front of Ginny’s plate. She took one and smiled at him in thanks.
Luna turned and started talking to Neville, not being too interested in Quidditch.
“I don’t know. I think that Colin’s got a good chance,” Ginny said, looking over at Colin at the other end of the table. She waved slightly when he caught her eye.
“Maybe. He’s better at chasing though, as is …”
Ginny let the words wash over her, eyes scanning over the room in habit, searching for familiar faces, and for the first time noticing the absence of any bright Weasley red hair. Feeling strangely sad, as the only one left in Hogwarts, her eyes fell on the Slytherin table and skipped past those of Draco Malfoy. She did a double take however, feeling outraged. “What is he doing here?” she thought. After all he had done. He’d just disappeared, and she hadn’t heard one word about him all summer, and suddenly, he was back here, as if nothing had happened.
He looked up, feeling her glare. He raised an eyebrow and she narrowed her eyes, watching his stormy grey ones lighten in amusement. He turned back to Pansy then, purposely lifting his hand to run his finger over her cheek.
Ginny turned away, vaguely embarrassed, and stood up, knowing what she had to do. Having someone like that in the school was dangerous, and she was one of the only people who knew what had happened last summer.
“Where are you going Gin? You haven’t finished your breakfast!” Luna looked up at her in confusion.
Ginny bent down to whisper in her ear, “Malfoy’s here. I’m going to owl Harry.” She watched as Luna’s eyes widened slightly and flicked a glance over at the Slytherin table.
“Do you want me to come?”
“No, I won’t be long. You keep up the good work with Neville.” Luna looked slightly shocked, and Ginny gave her a half wink and rushed out of the hall.
***
Ginny pushed open the door to the Owlery, wincing at the sudden blast of cold air. She clutched in her hand the small piece of parchment that she’d written her simple note on.
“Pig?” she called softly. There were a few rustles of feathers and low hoots, but no small fluff ball flew over to meet her. “Pig!” she repeated loudly.
“Pigwidgeon?” She looked around, but all she saw were a variety of blinking eyes, staring back at her in different colours. Sighing in frustration that he’d chosen now to be off hunting, she went over to pick a school owl, a tawny-coloured, wise-looking one which looked slightly put out to be called upon, but stuck out its leg nevertheless.
She carefully tied the note to its outstretched leg, gave it the small chunk of bread that she’d kept from breakfast, and watched as it spread its wings and flew out of the window.
Hoisting her over laden schoolbag on her shoulder, she walked back out of the Owlery, preparing herself for her first lesson of the year, Transfiguration.
However, she only made it back down the cool, grey staircase to the top corridor before she was stopped in her tracks by the sight of the tall haughty figure of Draco Malfoy leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
***
“Damn,” Harry whispered angrily, lifting his wand from the surface of the knife handle.
“What?” Ron replied quietly, seeing his breath crystallize in the chilly Norwegian air.
“This isn’t it.” Harry rested his hand against the stone wall as if to steady himself.
“What do you mean this isn’t it?” Ron asked, sounding slightly panicked.
“Just what I said, this isn’t it. This isn’t a Horcrux.” Harry could feel disappointment flood through his veins.
Hermione pushed her way past Ron to stand next to Harry and pulled out her wand. “Let me try,” she whispered, leaving them no choice. Muttering the words of the old charm, she touched her wand to the knife, the handle a beautiful and sinister figure of a dragon with a snake curling around its tail and its fiery breath as the sharpened edge. However, no familiar green glow spread around the knife.
Hermione just stood there staring accusatorily at the faded silvery sheen of the knife, which showed no sign of changing. She dragged her eyes away and pushed her hand through her hair, slowly pocketing her wand again.
“What do we do now?” Ron whispered, sounding lost and looking around at the darkened round room filled with dusty ornaments, weapons, books of every size and suspicious looking pieces of glimmering jewellery.
“We get out of here,” Harry replied shortly, looking out through the castle window at the pale wintry sun and icy forest below, “and hope that the way out is as easy as the way in.” He stepped away from the knife and turned around to the black wooden door resting halfway open as they had left it.
Trying not to touch anything, they all slipped back out of the door into the torch-lit hallway, lined with floor-to-ceiling tapestries depicting battle scenes and long extinct magical creatures. Hermione took one last lingering look at the knife and pulled the door closed again, whispering ‘Silencio’ to stop the hinges from creaking and echoing around the whole castle.
Harry led them to the nearest window, fumbled around at the wall, and grabbed hold of his Invisibility Cloak to reveal their broomsticks lined up against the stone.
Through the window appeared a small, majestic bird; flapping its wings silently, it perched on the ledge and looked straight at Harry, holding out its leg to reveal a tiny folded piece of parchment. Looking across at Ron and Hermione, who shrugged, he carefully unknotted it from the owl and opened the note to display a short message written in neat, loopy writing.
Harry, Malfoy’s back in school. Meet me in the place we discussed at 8 pm tonight. Owl me if you can’t make it. Ginny x.
He passed it to Ron, who held it out letting Hermione read it over his shoulder. A moment later he nodded and handed it back to Harry, who pocketed it, gave a Knut to the owl, and reached for his broomstick.
One by one, they squeezed out of the window and flew off into the rising morning sun, leaving the isolated black shadow of the castle far behind them.
***
“Malfoy,” Ginny stated, expressing her surprise at seeing him there when a moment ago he’d been busily eating breakfast. She continued walking, unconsciously moving to the opposite site of the corridor from him and clutching her bag tightly under her arm. When he didn’t say anything and just stood watching as she got closer, she continued, “Following me now, are you?”
“What makes you think I’d do you the honour?” He smirked and pushed himself off the wall to walk towards her.
“Don’t pretend you weren’t.” She glared at him for the second time that day.
“All right. But I know who that owl just flew to.”
Ginny stopped walking and turned to face him looking down at her with a superior look in his grey eyes and his whitish-blond hair illuminated by the sun shining through the window behind him. “Wow, Malfoy. What a stroke of genius. I think a Blast-Ended Skrewt would know who I sent that owl to.” Ginny was not in the mood for his games. “Get to the point.”
Draco looked a little put out, but continued nonetheless. “You think Harry’s going to give a toss that I’m back in Hogwarts?”
This time Ginny was a little disturbed that he had guessed the content of her note so accurately, and nervously fiddled with the worn cuff of her school jumper. “Then you must be deluded. I know what you did last year, and why you think you have a right to come back after…after…” She couldn’t even find the right words to use.
“After I did nothing?” Ginny remained silent. “That’s right,” he continued, his grey eyes locked with hers in a piercing stare. “I. Did. Nothing.” He sounded almost bitter.
“It doesn’t make any difference; we all know what you were intending to do that night. You’ll be gone by dawn. McGonagall won’t allow you to stay.” She knew her words held no firm threat, but she refused to allow herself be intimidated by him and drew herself up, matching his stare.
His mouth turned into a sneer. “If she let me in in the first place, what makes you think she’d suddenly change her mind?”
Ginny hesitated and Draco cut in, “You think darling Harry will be able to supply any proof? After all, I haven’t done anything wrong. No rules broken, no laws overstepped… Besides, Potter has no objection to my being here.”
Ginny was taken aback at how certain he sounded. “Why would he think that?” “Of course he does.” Her voice sounded thin to her own ears.
Draco suddenly realized something, and his voice took on a teasing tone, as if he were speaking to first-year whose file had exploded in the hallway. “Don’t tell me… Potter has been keeping secrets from his little girlfriend? Now this is news.” Draco looked positively delighted.
Ginny felt distinctly uncomfortable now, but refused to stoop so low as to ask him what he was talking about. “You have no idea what you are talking about. I have to get to class.” She began to move past him.
“Have fun, Weasley. I’m sure your next conversation with Potter will be fascinating.”
“Go screw yourself, Malfoy.”
“Oh, that won’t be necessary. I have Pansy for that.” He smirked.
Disgusted, Ginny pulled a face and walked around him, feeling the prickling of unease eating away at her. She wondered what exactly it was that Harry had been keeping from her.
“Dotty says misses must get up now. The clock has passed seven.”
Ginny let out her breath and lifted her head enabling her to look down and catch a glimpse of a green arm and a brown rag disappearing around the side of the door. Laughing inwardly at herself for forgetting she was at school, she rolled over and promptly fell off the bed, letting out a small yelp on the way down.
Peals of laughter rang throughout the room. Harriet leaned over the side of the next bed and smiling cheerily said, “Good morning, Gin.”
This was a bad start to a very bad day.
***
Fifteen minutes later, they made their way down to breakfast, passing portraits of young winking teachers and clanking suits of armour. All around them was the hustle and bustle of the first day of term and excited chatter of the students sharing stories of summer holidays.
Ginny suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Luna, her bright blonde hair swinging as she walked out of the Ravenclaw common room.
“Hello, Ginny.” She smiled vaguely at Ginny’s dishevelled appearance. “Your hair’s a bit tangled this morning. It must be the Havlocks. There are so many around at this time of the year and cause so much disruption.”
“Hi, Luna.” She chose to ignore Luna’s last comment, and pushed her long damp hair back over her shoulders and into a ponytail. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you. Did you finish reading for Transfiguration?”
“Just now. I’m so glad you reminded me yesterday. McGonagall would not have been pleased.”
Luna laughed and hitched her bag higher up her shoulder as a first-year jogged by her in a rush to get to breakfast. “I’m sure she would have understood. You’ve had a lot on your mind this summer.”
“Haven’t we all?” Ginny countered. They walked in silence for a while. The summer had been difficult for everyone. Death Eaters were growing in number and crimes were becoming so frequent, even the Daily Prophet couldn’t record them all; cold-blooded murders, kidnappings, houses even swallowed up in flames. But hardly anyone was convicted. The Ministry was all but falling apart; Death Eaters were infiltrating its highest ranks and corruption eating it away from the inside. Ginny’s father was even considering resigning from his job; the only thing keeping him there was the family’s need to eat. She, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been busy frantically trying to find the Horcruxes based on a single sheet of paper left behind by Dumbledore, summarizing all the research he had been doing on it over the past year.
“Do you miss him?” Luna asked suddenly, midway down the stairs.
Ginny, confused, replied, “Miss who?”
“Obviously not, then,” she giggled. “I was talking about Harry.”
“Oh. Well, they only left yesterday. How could I miss him already? Besides, we broke up at the end of last term.” Truth be told, Ginny was more annoyed with him rather than missing him. Over the last few days he, Hermione, and Ron had been making and discussing plans for their trip to Norway, where they believed the last Horcrux was hiding. They had absolutely refused to allow Ginny to come, saying it was more important that she went to school and continued her education, and that it would be too dangerous for her to go, and so on. All in all, they had treated her like she was young and naïve, after everything they had been through together. So, yes, it was true that she did not miss him, or Hermione and Ron. At least it stopped her worrying about them.
“I know that you are jealous that you can’t go with them to Norway,” Luna said, surprising Ginny with how on the mark she could be, while most of the time being ridiculously vague.
“I am not,” Ginny replied childishly, not wanting to appear to care.
“I would be too. You know, one year my cousins found a dead Yartail off the beach in Mexico and they decided that they were going to go and explore this cave where the Yartails live. They wouldn’t let me come because the Yartail often lives with the sphinx, so they said I was too young and not knowledgeable enough. I though it was very unfair.”
Ginny nodded absently, silently wondering what this had to do with her and Harry.
They finally reached the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table, joining Parvati, Lavender, Seamus, and Dean in the midst of a conversation about whom they thought was going to be on this year’s Quidditch team.
“Ginny,” Dean said turning to look at her, “you’ll probably be Seeker now that Harry’s gone.”
There were murmurs of agreement and Dean picked up the breadbasket and waved it in front of Ginny’s plate. She took one and smiled at him in thanks.
Luna turned and started talking to Neville, not being too interested in Quidditch.
“I don’t know. I think that Colin’s got a good chance,” Ginny said, looking over at Colin at the other end of the table. She waved slightly when he caught her eye.
“Maybe. He’s better at chasing though, as is …”
Ginny let the words wash over her, eyes scanning over the room in habit, searching for familiar faces, and for the first time noticing the absence of any bright Weasley red hair. Feeling strangely sad, as the only one left in Hogwarts, her eyes fell on the Slytherin table and skipped past those of Draco Malfoy. She did a double take however, feeling outraged. “What is he doing here?” she thought. After all he had done. He’d just disappeared, and she hadn’t heard one word about him all summer, and suddenly, he was back here, as if nothing had happened.
He looked up, feeling her glare. He raised an eyebrow and she narrowed her eyes, watching his stormy grey ones lighten in amusement. He turned back to Pansy then, purposely lifting his hand to run his finger over her cheek.
Ginny turned away, vaguely embarrassed, and stood up, knowing what she had to do. Having someone like that in the school was dangerous, and she was one of the only people who knew what had happened last summer.
“Where are you going Gin? You haven’t finished your breakfast!” Luna looked up at her in confusion.
Ginny bent down to whisper in her ear, “Malfoy’s here. I’m going to owl Harry.” She watched as Luna’s eyes widened slightly and flicked a glance over at the Slytherin table.
“Do you want me to come?”
“No, I won’t be long. You keep up the good work with Neville.” Luna looked slightly shocked, and Ginny gave her a half wink and rushed out of the hall.
***
Ginny pushed open the door to the Owlery, wincing at the sudden blast of cold air. She clutched in her hand the small piece of parchment that she’d written her simple note on.
“Pig?” she called softly. There were a few rustles of feathers and low hoots, but no small fluff ball flew over to meet her. “Pig!” she repeated loudly.
“Pigwidgeon?” She looked around, but all she saw were a variety of blinking eyes, staring back at her in different colours. Sighing in frustration that he’d chosen now to be off hunting, she went over to pick a school owl, a tawny-coloured, wise-looking one which looked slightly put out to be called upon, but stuck out its leg nevertheless.
She carefully tied the note to its outstretched leg, gave it the small chunk of bread that she’d kept from breakfast, and watched as it spread its wings and flew out of the window.
Hoisting her over laden schoolbag on her shoulder, she walked back out of the Owlery, preparing herself for her first lesson of the year, Transfiguration.
However, she only made it back down the cool, grey staircase to the top corridor before she was stopped in her tracks by the sight of the tall haughty figure of Draco Malfoy leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
***
“Damn,” Harry whispered angrily, lifting his wand from the surface of the knife handle.
“What?” Ron replied quietly, seeing his breath crystallize in the chilly Norwegian air.
“This isn’t it.” Harry rested his hand against the stone wall as if to steady himself.
“What do you mean this isn’t it?” Ron asked, sounding slightly panicked.
“Just what I said, this isn’t it. This isn’t a Horcrux.” Harry could feel disappointment flood through his veins.
Hermione pushed her way past Ron to stand next to Harry and pulled out her wand. “Let me try,” she whispered, leaving them no choice. Muttering the words of the old charm, she touched her wand to the knife, the handle a beautiful and sinister figure of a dragon with a snake curling around its tail and its fiery breath as the sharpened edge. However, no familiar green glow spread around the knife.
Hermione just stood there staring accusatorily at the faded silvery sheen of the knife, which showed no sign of changing. She dragged her eyes away and pushed her hand through her hair, slowly pocketing her wand again.
“What do we do now?” Ron whispered, sounding lost and looking around at the darkened round room filled with dusty ornaments, weapons, books of every size and suspicious looking pieces of glimmering jewellery.
“We get out of here,” Harry replied shortly, looking out through the castle window at the pale wintry sun and icy forest below, “and hope that the way out is as easy as the way in.” He stepped away from the knife and turned around to the black wooden door resting halfway open as they had left it.
Trying not to touch anything, they all slipped back out of the door into the torch-lit hallway, lined with floor-to-ceiling tapestries depicting battle scenes and long extinct magical creatures. Hermione took one last lingering look at the knife and pulled the door closed again, whispering ‘Silencio’ to stop the hinges from creaking and echoing around the whole castle.
Harry led them to the nearest window, fumbled around at the wall, and grabbed hold of his Invisibility Cloak to reveal their broomsticks lined up against the stone.
Through the window appeared a small, majestic bird; flapping its wings silently, it perched on the ledge and looked straight at Harry, holding out its leg to reveal a tiny folded piece of parchment. Looking across at Ron and Hermione, who shrugged, he carefully unknotted it from the owl and opened the note to display a short message written in neat, loopy writing.
Harry, Malfoy’s back in school. Meet me in the place we discussed at 8 pm tonight. Owl me if you can’t make it. Ginny x.
He passed it to Ron, who held it out letting Hermione read it over his shoulder. A moment later he nodded and handed it back to Harry, who pocketed it, gave a Knut to the owl, and reached for his broomstick.
One by one, they squeezed out of the window and flew off into the rising morning sun, leaving the isolated black shadow of the castle far behind them.
***
“Malfoy,” Ginny stated, expressing her surprise at seeing him there when a moment ago he’d been busily eating breakfast. She continued walking, unconsciously moving to the opposite site of the corridor from him and clutching her bag tightly under her arm. When he didn’t say anything and just stood watching as she got closer, she continued, “Following me now, are you?”
“What makes you think I’d do you the honour?” He smirked and pushed himself off the wall to walk towards her.
“Don’t pretend you weren’t.” She glared at him for the second time that day.
“All right. But I know who that owl just flew to.”
Ginny stopped walking and turned to face him looking down at her with a superior look in his grey eyes and his whitish-blond hair illuminated by the sun shining through the window behind him. “Wow, Malfoy. What a stroke of genius. I think a Blast-Ended Skrewt would know who I sent that owl to.” Ginny was not in the mood for his games. “Get to the point.”
Draco looked a little put out, but continued nonetheless. “You think Harry’s going to give a toss that I’m back in Hogwarts?”
This time Ginny was a little disturbed that he had guessed the content of her note so accurately, and nervously fiddled with the worn cuff of her school jumper. “Then you must be deluded. I know what you did last year, and why you think you have a right to come back after…after…” She couldn’t even find the right words to use.
“After I did nothing?” Ginny remained silent. “That’s right,” he continued, his grey eyes locked with hers in a piercing stare. “I. Did. Nothing.” He sounded almost bitter.
“It doesn’t make any difference; we all know what you were intending to do that night. You’ll be gone by dawn. McGonagall won’t allow you to stay.” She knew her words held no firm threat, but she refused to allow herself be intimidated by him and drew herself up, matching his stare.
His mouth turned into a sneer. “If she let me in in the first place, what makes you think she’d suddenly change her mind?”
Ginny hesitated and Draco cut in, “You think darling Harry will be able to supply any proof? After all, I haven’t done anything wrong. No rules broken, no laws overstepped… Besides, Potter has no objection to my being here.”
Ginny was taken aback at how certain he sounded. “Why would he think that?” “Of course he does.” Her voice sounded thin to her own ears.
Draco suddenly realized something, and his voice took on a teasing tone, as if he were speaking to first-year whose file had exploded in the hallway. “Don’t tell me… Potter has been keeping secrets from his little girlfriend? Now this is news.” Draco looked positively delighted.
Ginny felt distinctly uncomfortable now, but refused to stoop so low as to ask him what he was talking about. “You have no idea what you are talking about. I have to get to class.” She began to move past him.
“Have fun, Weasley. I’m sure your next conversation with Potter will be fascinating.”
“Go screw yourself, Malfoy.”
“Oh, that won’t be necessary. I have Pansy for that.” He smirked.
Disgusted, Ginny pulled a face and walked around him, feeling the prickling of unease eating away at her. She wondered what exactly it was that Harry had been keeping from her.
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