Ginny’s day dragged in a distracted haze.
Transfiguration with the now Headmistress McGonagall would have been interesting had she been paying attention. They had moved on to the transfiguration of bigger objects into animals, today’s lesson being turning their desks into warthogs. Ginny’s most successful attempt had been getting the table to grow a snout and snort a little, but it was still mostly immobile. Thankfully Professor McGonagall overlooked her particularly appalling efforts, probably deciding it was due to all the stress of the summer.
Following this was History of Magic, which she was seriously regretting having chosen to take, instead spending the lesson making spectacular efforts to stay awake. Luna was taking this class with her for a change, so she got a chance to tell her that she was meeting Harry. She decided not to mention her conversation with Draco, at least not until she had spoken to Harry. Luna agreed to cover for her if anyone asked where she was, in return for asking Neville if he had a girlfriend. Ginny didn’t think she even needed to ask, but she would anyway.
Harriet persuaded her to sign up for the Quidditch trials on Friday during lunch, since the new Captain was Seamus Finnigan. She hadn’t been entirely sure that she wanted to play this year, with all her friends no longer being part of it, but decided she would probably regret it if she didn’t even try out.
***
Lord Voldemort swivelled his head towards the door.
“Come in,” he hissed. The door opened, revealing a hooded Death Eater standing with his arm held in the air, about to knock. “You can take your mask off, Severus, we all know it’s you.”
“Yes, sir.” He pulled off his black hood, revealing hair of the same colour hanging in waves over his forehead, and almost black eyes dancing around the room. He lowered his head in front of the Dark Lord to express his servitude.
“You have something to tell us, Severus? Or are we graced with your presence for a catch up over a cup of tea?”
Nobody laughed.
“Harry Potter and his friends have not found the last Horcrux. They mistakenly believed it to be the Norwegian Knife of Everlasting Fire. They were wrong of course…”
“Yes, they will never find the true Horcrux, even when it has been sitting under their noses for the last six years. That is the beauty of it. One of my most ingenious ideas.” Lord Voldemort’s mouth twisted into what was supposed to be a smile, but looked more like a grimace, while his slitted eyes flashed bright red.
“Yes, sir. I’m sure it is.” One of the Death Eaters muttered in agreement. None of them in the room knew what the Horcrux was; Lord Voldemort had told only one person.
“Nevertheless, I feel it is important that we try to bring in Harry Potter earlier than he has intended, while he is still a weak schoolboy and is far from finding the last Horcrux. Severus, I want you to liase with Garth to find a suitable lure for Mr. Potter. Of course, either of his two worshipping associates would be ideal, but I feel that they are too closely watched. I’m sure that you will come up with something, or someone, appropriate.”
“Yes, my Lord. Is there anything else...?”
“No thank you, Severus. That will be all. I will of course expect to see you again in two weeks exactly with the lure I have asked for. That should provide me ample time for me to prepare. You may leave.”
Snape turned back towards the door, reaching for the handle, but stopped.
“One final piece of information that you may find enlightening, my Lord.”
“Yes?” Voldemort looked pointedly at the door, becoming impatient with this longer than necessary interruption.
“You do realize from what source Harry Potter has been getting his information? Aside from that fool Dumbledore, of course.”
“I do. I find it a very interesting state of affairs indeed. I will of course be speaking to the relevant people regarding this. I view it as a significant failure on Lucius Malfoy’s part and I also believe that you ought to take part of the responsibility.”
“Yes, sir. I am sorry that it has provided you such inconvenience.” Severus looked towards the ground, wondering if he was to be punished.
“I need you in good shape for your latest assignment. I will consider your mistake forgotten if you succeed this time. I suggest you leave now before I change my mind.”
Snape left the room rapidly, and without looking back, shut the door firmly behind him.
***
Ginny’s afternoon passed even more slowly than the morning. She spent the majority of Care of Magical Creatures watching Firenze’s tail swish whenever a small bee flew near it and the remainder trying to sort through the thoughts in her head and the questions that she was bursting to ask Harry later that evening.
Her last lesson of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts. This was the one everyone had been most looking forward to, knowing that there was yet another teacher, a Professor Dart. Rumours had already informed them that the Ministry had appointed him, Professor McGonagall having had no say in the matter. After the last disastrous Ministry-appointed teacher, everyone was very curious as to what this person would be like. The professor, who had been welcomed as usual the night before at dinner, was old, probably early fifties, with graying hair, jet black eyes and a well-cut set of expensive-looking robes.
It was soon apparent after the first five minutes that they had overestimated the lesson. Professor Dart was desperately boring, and clearly had not the faintest interest or knowledge in Defense Against the Dark Arts. In a similar manner to Professor Umbridge, he followed the specification word for word, reading passages from their NEWT textbook and conjuring up faint, still images of any dangerous animals instead of demonstrating the real thing. He did not care in the slightest when the students were obviously not paying attention, and began to chatter amongst themselves, pass notes and even move their desks together to read the latest copy of Teen Witch Weekly. Apart from a few unnerving scans of the room, he might as well have been teaching to an empty classroom.
***
Ginny looked up from her textbook to the clock above the bookcase, watching as the hands shifted to read five minutes to eight. She looked at it a moment before finally registering that she had only five minutes to get all the way to Hogsmeade to meet Harry. Throwing her books into her bag, she flung it over her shoulder and ran from the library, ignoring Madame Pince's cries of protest.
She ran through the halls and was almost at the entrance to the secret passageway to Hogsmeade when she ran straight into none other than Pansy Parkinson, knocking her books and papers flying across the hallway.
“Stupid bitch,” Pansy muttered under her breath.
“Sorry!” Ginny gasped, starting to walk off. She just didn’t have time to stop and help.
“You should be. Pick them up.” Pansy stood there with her arms crossed, her brown curls perfectly in place, and gave Ginny a deathly stare.
I don’t have time for this. Harry was probably there by now and would leave if she didn’t turn up soon. “I have to go,” Ginny said, fixing Pansy with a matching stare before turning to run off.
She didn’t get very far before Pansy’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm in a steely vice, “I said ‘pick them up’ you bloody -”
Before Ginny even knew what she was doing she had pulled out her wand and muttered ‘Paralysis partialus’. Pansy’s arm fell to her side, allowing Ginny to sprint off down the hallway, ignoring Pansy’s stream of insults following her down the hall.
Another voice, however, joined in over Pansy’s.
“Detention, Miss Weasley,” Ginny stopped and slowly turned around to see Professor Slughorn looking at her with a lazy stare, “for cursing a fellow student.”
Ginny shut her eyes briefly, before opening them to see Pansy smiling smugly at her next to their Potions teacher.
“And for you, Miss Parkinson, for disgusting use of language in school.” This wiped the smile off her face and she began to protest before Professor Slughorn cut her off.
“You will both meet me in the Potions dungeons at six o’clock tomorrow evening. This has, in fact, come at a rather appropriate time; I am running out of Truth Serum and was looking for some volunteers…”
“Yes, sir,” Ginny sighed in defeat and watched as Professor Slughorn bowed his head in response, indicating she could leave. Without another moments wait, she strode around the corner and slipped passed the gargoyle to enter the dark passage to Honeydukes.
She didn’t notice the shadowy figure watching her through a crack in the classroom door opposite her.
***
“Ginny! I thought you weren’t going to come.” Harry was standing by the fireplace with his hands in his jeans pockets and his dishevelled black hair falling across his face.
Ginny looked at him feeling the familiar comfort at seeing her friend again, having felt a little lonely at school without knowing many people very well. “Sorry I’m late. I ran into Pansy in the hall; she caused a fuss, I get detention.” She slumped down on one of the armchairs in the small warm sitting room at the back of the Three Broomsticks.
“What a nuisance. I’m glad to be rid of her,” Harry said simply, looking at her warily and having a vague idea of what was coming up.
“Anyway, I didn’t come here to talk to you about Pansy. Did you find the last Horcrux?”
“No. It wasn’t it.” She looked carefully at Harry’s face, but saw no expression flicker across him face. This in itself made her feel a little sad. There had been a time that Harry could never disguise his emotions. He had had to grow up fast…
“Oh God. I’m sorry, Harry. Is there anything I can do?”
He just shrugged. He looked so tired, and weary beyond his years.
“I don’t think so. I’ll show you the picture we’ve been given again. You never know, the Hogwarts library might come in useful.” He flashed her a rare smile. “But I know this isn’t what you came to talk to me about.”
“I want to talk about Malfoy.”
“I know.” He looked straight at her.
Ginny decided to jump straight to the point. “What have you not told me about him?” Harry pushed his hand through his hair, and finally fell onto the sofa opposite Ginny and crossed one foot over the other.
“Okay. Malfoy has been helping us to work out what the Horcrux is.”
Ginny stared at him incredulously. “Right. And why would he do that?” She tried to hide her sarcasm, but failed.
“I…I got him out of a tricky situation at the beginning of the summer. He owes me. So I got him to look at the picture, and see if he had any idea what it might be. After all, he knows better than any of us about various Dark objects. He also knows Voldemort better, knows how his mind works and he knows how to access places we would spend months trying to get into.”
“And you would actually believe him? And now you’re surprised that this Horcrux isn’t actually a Horcrux? He could have fed you a bunch of lies; he could even have passed information on to You-Know-Who himself!” Ginny questioned, feeling her anger rise at how naïve they were being.
“No. He couldn’t. That’s the beauty of the Wizards Debt. He cannot physically lie, or betray us. Besides, we never told him why we were searching for these objects. We showed him the clues we had, and that was it. He doesn’t even know what a Horcrux is.”
“But he was obviously wrong.” Ginny refused to believe Malfoy would ever help them.
“He genuinely believed that the Horcrux was the knife. He didn’t betray us. He was simply mistaken.”
“I can’t believe you’re standing up for him like this! After everything he has done.”
“I don’t like him, I never will, but I do trust him. He has been forced into things since day one. He’s not evil, just misguided.”
Ginny stared at him with her mouth hanging open. Then she laughed. “You sound just like Hermione.”
Harry frowned, then smiled slightly. “I do, don’t I? I’ve pretty much just repeated what she said to me a few months back. I have to get out more.”
Ginny laughed, feeling the tension between them ease slightly, but it didn’t dissolve. She continued quietly, voicing the hurt she was feeling, “I still don’t see why you didn’t tell me any of this.”
Harry looked across at her. Her hair was falling around her face like a river of fire, and her eyes were wide and her small face set, trying to hide her feelings but not really succeeding.
He felt an inexplicable guilt wash over him and looked at the floor. “We decided that the fewer people that knew about Malfoy helping, the better. If this got out, he would be killed immediately. We thought…we thought we’d keep it between us. It was just safer that way.”
Ginny realized that this was a pathetic excuse. They didn’t tell her, they didn’t trust her, and they certainly didn’t consider her one of them. But somehow, she wasn’t surprised. “You know I would never have told anyone.”
“I know.” Harry looked at her, and she noticed that he looked guilty. He was fiddling with the arm of the sofa, and shifting around as if uncomfortable.
She decided not to say anything. There was nothing more to say. He’d just confirmed what she had been pushing to the back of her mind for all these months. It was always just Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Never her.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, deep in thought. Ginny tried to get her head around trusting Malfoy, but whenever she thought of him, his sneering face would fill her mind, and all she could think of was what a spiteful, horrible bastard he was. No, she could never trust him.
She took a deep breath. Now was not the time to hold grudges. Not against Malfoy (well maybe against him), but certainly not against Harry.
“So, show me that picture again and I’ll see what I can find in the library.”
He smiled at her, showing his relief and gratitude. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a well-used piece of parchment and handed it to her. Ginny looked at it, familiarizing herself with the picture and running through the main features, a dragon and a snake. The dragon was lean and wiry, but the strength of muscle could clearly be seen in its limbs. Sharp spikes protruded from its back, and its eyes were fierce and fiery. The dragon was holding its head back, as if ready to unleash its flames, and its tail was flicking to the side. Coiled around its tail was a giant snake, winding tightly between the spikes. Its tongue was flicked out and it was looking bravely into the eyes of the dragon.
“We’re sure it’s nothing to do with real dragons? I’m sure Charlie could help if it was,” Ginny questioned him.
“No, we’ve looked into that already. Hermione thinks that it’s a metaphor for something. We just don’t know what.”
Ginny put her head in her arms and groaned. “So it might have nothing to do with an actual dragon or snake? It could be anything!”
“Well, yes. It will be related of course, but this is Hermione’s area really. She does the thinking.” He grinned at her.
“Okay. Well I’ll see what I can find in the library, but don’t get your hopes up. Do you want Malfoy’s help?” Please say no, please say no.
“No. He’s helped us, so he’s paid off his end of the debt, even though it was unsuccessful. He can do what he likes now.” Ginny nodded, relieved.
Harry took back the drawing of the dragon and looked at it as if hoping that the Horcrux would suddenly appear out of the parchment.
“Well, good luck,” Ginny said, standing up to give Harry a quick hug, which he returned enthusiastically.
“You too. How’s Hogwarts?” They had reverted to the safe area of small talk.
“The same. I’m going to try out for Quidditch again. It won’t be the same without you and Ron though.” She smiled.
“Seamus is captain now, I hear. He’ll be good. God, I miss Quidditch already.”
“You’ve only not been in school for one day!”
Harry laughed, and picked up his broomstick and his heavy black coat and opened the door. Ginny followed him out through the pub and into the rapidly cooling night air.
“I’ll owl you if I find anything that may be helpful,” she whispered.
“Same here. I want to hear all the news from Hogwarts too.” He pulled on his coat and swung a leg over the broomstick. “See you soon, Gin.”
“Bye, Harry. Send my love to Ron and Hermione.”
“Will do.” He kicked off the ground and raised a hand in greeting as he sped away into the starry sky.
Ginny watched until he disappeared behind the trees, then set off back to Hogwarts, pulling her cloak tighter around her.
Transfiguration with the now Headmistress McGonagall would have been interesting had she been paying attention. They had moved on to the transfiguration of bigger objects into animals, today’s lesson being turning their desks into warthogs. Ginny’s most successful attempt had been getting the table to grow a snout and snort a little, but it was still mostly immobile. Thankfully Professor McGonagall overlooked her particularly appalling efforts, probably deciding it was due to all the stress of the summer.
Following this was History of Magic, which she was seriously regretting having chosen to take, instead spending the lesson making spectacular efforts to stay awake. Luna was taking this class with her for a change, so she got a chance to tell her that she was meeting Harry. She decided not to mention her conversation with Draco, at least not until she had spoken to Harry. Luna agreed to cover for her if anyone asked where she was, in return for asking Neville if he had a girlfriend. Ginny didn’t think she even needed to ask, but she would anyway.
Harriet persuaded her to sign up for the Quidditch trials on Friday during lunch, since the new Captain was Seamus Finnigan. She hadn’t been entirely sure that she wanted to play this year, with all her friends no longer being part of it, but decided she would probably regret it if she didn’t even try out.
***
Lord Voldemort swivelled his head towards the door.
“Come in,” he hissed. The door opened, revealing a hooded Death Eater standing with his arm held in the air, about to knock. “You can take your mask off, Severus, we all know it’s you.”
“Yes, sir.” He pulled off his black hood, revealing hair of the same colour hanging in waves over his forehead, and almost black eyes dancing around the room. He lowered his head in front of the Dark Lord to express his servitude.
“You have something to tell us, Severus? Or are we graced with your presence for a catch up over a cup of tea?”
Nobody laughed.
“Harry Potter and his friends have not found the last Horcrux. They mistakenly believed it to be the Norwegian Knife of Everlasting Fire. They were wrong of course…”
“Yes, they will never find the true Horcrux, even when it has been sitting under their noses for the last six years. That is the beauty of it. One of my most ingenious ideas.” Lord Voldemort’s mouth twisted into what was supposed to be a smile, but looked more like a grimace, while his slitted eyes flashed bright red.
“Yes, sir. I’m sure it is.” One of the Death Eaters muttered in agreement. None of them in the room knew what the Horcrux was; Lord Voldemort had told only one person.
“Nevertheless, I feel it is important that we try to bring in Harry Potter earlier than he has intended, while he is still a weak schoolboy and is far from finding the last Horcrux. Severus, I want you to liase with Garth to find a suitable lure for Mr. Potter. Of course, either of his two worshipping associates would be ideal, but I feel that they are too closely watched. I’m sure that you will come up with something, or someone, appropriate.”
“Yes, my Lord. Is there anything else...?”
“No thank you, Severus. That will be all. I will of course expect to see you again in two weeks exactly with the lure I have asked for. That should provide me ample time for me to prepare. You may leave.”
Snape turned back towards the door, reaching for the handle, but stopped.
“One final piece of information that you may find enlightening, my Lord.”
“Yes?” Voldemort looked pointedly at the door, becoming impatient with this longer than necessary interruption.
“You do realize from what source Harry Potter has been getting his information? Aside from that fool Dumbledore, of course.”
“I do. I find it a very interesting state of affairs indeed. I will of course be speaking to the relevant people regarding this. I view it as a significant failure on Lucius Malfoy’s part and I also believe that you ought to take part of the responsibility.”
“Yes, sir. I am sorry that it has provided you such inconvenience.” Severus looked towards the ground, wondering if he was to be punished.
“I need you in good shape for your latest assignment. I will consider your mistake forgotten if you succeed this time. I suggest you leave now before I change my mind.”
Snape left the room rapidly, and without looking back, shut the door firmly behind him.
***
Ginny’s afternoon passed even more slowly than the morning. She spent the majority of Care of Magical Creatures watching Firenze’s tail swish whenever a small bee flew near it and the remainder trying to sort through the thoughts in her head and the questions that she was bursting to ask Harry later that evening.
Her last lesson of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts. This was the one everyone had been most looking forward to, knowing that there was yet another teacher, a Professor Dart. Rumours had already informed them that the Ministry had appointed him, Professor McGonagall having had no say in the matter. After the last disastrous Ministry-appointed teacher, everyone was very curious as to what this person would be like. The professor, who had been welcomed as usual the night before at dinner, was old, probably early fifties, with graying hair, jet black eyes and a well-cut set of expensive-looking robes.
It was soon apparent after the first five minutes that they had overestimated the lesson. Professor Dart was desperately boring, and clearly had not the faintest interest or knowledge in Defense Against the Dark Arts. In a similar manner to Professor Umbridge, he followed the specification word for word, reading passages from their NEWT textbook and conjuring up faint, still images of any dangerous animals instead of demonstrating the real thing. He did not care in the slightest when the students were obviously not paying attention, and began to chatter amongst themselves, pass notes and even move their desks together to read the latest copy of Teen Witch Weekly. Apart from a few unnerving scans of the room, he might as well have been teaching to an empty classroom.
***
Ginny looked up from her textbook to the clock above the bookcase, watching as the hands shifted to read five minutes to eight. She looked at it a moment before finally registering that she had only five minutes to get all the way to Hogsmeade to meet Harry. Throwing her books into her bag, she flung it over her shoulder and ran from the library, ignoring Madame Pince's cries of protest.
She ran through the halls and was almost at the entrance to the secret passageway to Hogsmeade when she ran straight into none other than Pansy Parkinson, knocking her books and papers flying across the hallway.
“Stupid bitch,” Pansy muttered under her breath.
“Sorry!” Ginny gasped, starting to walk off. She just didn’t have time to stop and help.
“You should be. Pick them up.” Pansy stood there with her arms crossed, her brown curls perfectly in place, and gave Ginny a deathly stare.
I don’t have time for this. Harry was probably there by now and would leave if she didn’t turn up soon. “I have to go,” Ginny said, fixing Pansy with a matching stare before turning to run off.
She didn’t get very far before Pansy’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm in a steely vice, “I said ‘pick them up’ you bloody -”
Before Ginny even knew what she was doing she had pulled out her wand and muttered ‘Paralysis partialus’. Pansy’s arm fell to her side, allowing Ginny to sprint off down the hallway, ignoring Pansy’s stream of insults following her down the hall.
Another voice, however, joined in over Pansy’s.
“Detention, Miss Weasley,” Ginny stopped and slowly turned around to see Professor Slughorn looking at her with a lazy stare, “for cursing a fellow student.”
Ginny shut her eyes briefly, before opening them to see Pansy smiling smugly at her next to their Potions teacher.
“And for you, Miss Parkinson, for disgusting use of language in school.” This wiped the smile off her face and she began to protest before Professor Slughorn cut her off.
“You will both meet me in the Potions dungeons at six o’clock tomorrow evening. This has, in fact, come at a rather appropriate time; I am running out of Truth Serum and was looking for some volunteers…”
“Yes, sir,” Ginny sighed in defeat and watched as Professor Slughorn bowed his head in response, indicating she could leave. Without another moments wait, she strode around the corner and slipped passed the gargoyle to enter the dark passage to Honeydukes.
She didn’t notice the shadowy figure watching her through a crack in the classroom door opposite her.
***
“Ginny! I thought you weren’t going to come.” Harry was standing by the fireplace with his hands in his jeans pockets and his dishevelled black hair falling across his face.
Ginny looked at him feeling the familiar comfort at seeing her friend again, having felt a little lonely at school without knowing many people very well. “Sorry I’m late. I ran into Pansy in the hall; she caused a fuss, I get detention.” She slumped down on one of the armchairs in the small warm sitting room at the back of the Three Broomsticks.
“What a nuisance. I’m glad to be rid of her,” Harry said simply, looking at her warily and having a vague idea of what was coming up.
“Anyway, I didn’t come here to talk to you about Pansy. Did you find the last Horcrux?”
“No. It wasn’t it.” She looked carefully at Harry’s face, but saw no expression flicker across him face. This in itself made her feel a little sad. There had been a time that Harry could never disguise his emotions. He had had to grow up fast…
“Oh God. I’m sorry, Harry. Is there anything I can do?”
He just shrugged. He looked so tired, and weary beyond his years.
“I don’t think so. I’ll show you the picture we’ve been given again. You never know, the Hogwarts library might come in useful.” He flashed her a rare smile. “But I know this isn’t what you came to talk to me about.”
“I want to talk about Malfoy.”
“I know.” He looked straight at her.
Ginny decided to jump straight to the point. “What have you not told me about him?” Harry pushed his hand through his hair, and finally fell onto the sofa opposite Ginny and crossed one foot over the other.
“Okay. Malfoy has been helping us to work out what the Horcrux is.”
Ginny stared at him incredulously. “Right. And why would he do that?” She tried to hide her sarcasm, but failed.
“I…I got him out of a tricky situation at the beginning of the summer. He owes me. So I got him to look at the picture, and see if he had any idea what it might be. After all, he knows better than any of us about various Dark objects. He also knows Voldemort better, knows how his mind works and he knows how to access places we would spend months trying to get into.”
“And you would actually believe him? And now you’re surprised that this Horcrux isn’t actually a Horcrux? He could have fed you a bunch of lies; he could even have passed information on to You-Know-Who himself!” Ginny questioned, feeling her anger rise at how naïve they were being.
“No. He couldn’t. That’s the beauty of the Wizards Debt. He cannot physically lie, or betray us. Besides, we never told him why we were searching for these objects. We showed him the clues we had, and that was it. He doesn’t even know what a Horcrux is.”
“But he was obviously wrong.” Ginny refused to believe Malfoy would ever help them.
“He genuinely believed that the Horcrux was the knife. He didn’t betray us. He was simply mistaken.”
“I can’t believe you’re standing up for him like this! After everything he has done.”
“I don’t like him, I never will, but I do trust him. He has been forced into things since day one. He’s not evil, just misguided.”
Ginny stared at him with her mouth hanging open. Then she laughed. “You sound just like Hermione.”
Harry frowned, then smiled slightly. “I do, don’t I? I’ve pretty much just repeated what she said to me a few months back. I have to get out more.”
Ginny laughed, feeling the tension between them ease slightly, but it didn’t dissolve. She continued quietly, voicing the hurt she was feeling, “I still don’t see why you didn’t tell me any of this.”
Harry looked across at her. Her hair was falling around her face like a river of fire, and her eyes were wide and her small face set, trying to hide her feelings but not really succeeding.
He felt an inexplicable guilt wash over him and looked at the floor. “We decided that the fewer people that knew about Malfoy helping, the better. If this got out, he would be killed immediately. We thought…we thought we’d keep it between us. It was just safer that way.”
Ginny realized that this was a pathetic excuse. They didn’t tell her, they didn’t trust her, and they certainly didn’t consider her one of them. But somehow, she wasn’t surprised. “You know I would never have told anyone.”
“I know.” Harry looked at her, and she noticed that he looked guilty. He was fiddling with the arm of the sofa, and shifting around as if uncomfortable.
She decided not to say anything. There was nothing more to say. He’d just confirmed what she had been pushing to the back of her mind for all these months. It was always just Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Never her.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, deep in thought. Ginny tried to get her head around trusting Malfoy, but whenever she thought of him, his sneering face would fill her mind, and all she could think of was what a spiteful, horrible bastard he was. No, she could never trust him.
She took a deep breath. Now was not the time to hold grudges. Not against Malfoy (well maybe against him), but certainly not against Harry.
“So, show me that picture again and I’ll see what I can find in the library.”
He smiled at her, showing his relief and gratitude. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a well-used piece of parchment and handed it to her. Ginny looked at it, familiarizing herself with the picture and running through the main features, a dragon and a snake. The dragon was lean and wiry, but the strength of muscle could clearly be seen in its limbs. Sharp spikes protruded from its back, and its eyes were fierce and fiery. The dragon was holding its head back, as if ready to unleash its flames, and its tail was flicking to the side. Coiled around its tail was a giant snake, winding tightly between the spikes. Its tongue was flicked out and it was looking bravely into the eyes of the dragon.
“We’re sure it’s nothing to do with real dragons? I’m sure Charlie could help if it was,” Ginny questioned him.
“No, we’ve looked into that already. Hermione thinks that it’s a metaphor for something. We just don’t know what.”
Ginny put her head in her arms and groaned. “So it might have nothing to do with an actual dragon or snake? It could be anything!”
“Well, yes. It will be related of course, but this is Hermione’s area really. She does the thinking.” He grinned at her.
“Okay. Well I’ll see what I can find in the library, but don’t get your hopes up. Do you want Malfoy’s help?” Please say no, please say no.
“No. He’s helped us, so he’s paid off his end of the debt, even though it was unsuccessful. He can do what he likes now.” Ginny nodded, relieved.
Harry took back the drawing of the dragon and looked at it as if hoping that the Horcrux would suddenly appear out of the parchment.
“Well, good luck,” Ginny said, standing up to give Harry a quick hug, which he returned enthusiastically.
“You too. How’s Hogwarts?” They had reverted to the safe area of small talk.
“The same. I’m going to try out for Quidditch again. It won’t be the same without you and Ron though.” She smiled.
“Seamus is captain now, I hear. He’ll be good. God, I miss Quidditch already.”
“You’ve only not been in school for one day!”
Harry laughed, and picked up his broomstick and his heavy black coat and opened the door. Ginny followed him out through the pub and into the rapidly cooling night air.
“I’ll owl you if I find anything that may be helpful,” she whispered.
“Same here. I want to hear all the news from Hogwarts too.” He pulled on his coat and swung a leg over the broomstick. “See you soon, Gin.”
“Bye, Harry. Send my love to Ron and Hermione.”
“Will do.” He kicked off the ground and raised a hand in greeting as he sped away into the starry sky.
Ginny watched until he disappeared behind the trees, then set off back to Hogwarts, pulling her cloak tighter around her.
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