Part Seven:
Over the last two weeks, things had been very strained in Gryffindor House, at least for the illustrious Trio and one Ginny Weasley, and it had only grown worse in the last six days when the majority of the other students had gone home for the Christmas holidays. The angry silences that filled the near-empty tower had left ample time for brooding, time Harry Potter had taken advantage of in order to come to a rather simple conclusion. Firstly, Ginny was quite possibly nutters. And secondly, neither he, nor his two best friends, had managed to do anything but push the youngest Weasley further into the slimy Slytherin clutches they’d so recently found her to be in.
He hated to think it, that all their efforts to help had only made things worse. The entire thing, he had to admit, could have been handled better. For starters, he and Ron probably shouldn’t have interrogated the redheaded witch quite so ferociously about the kiss they’d witnessed beneath the invisibility cloak. Actually, as Hermione pointed out afterwards, they could have avoided Ginny’s livid response to the revelation of their eavesdropping by not mentioning anything they’d seen in the small dungeon room at all. After all, they certainly had enough to question her about with what they had seen between the two when Malfoy had come for Ginny’s help.
Of course, Hermione herself probably should have followed her own belated advice by not needling the younger witch about Malfoy’s comments regarding Mr. Parkinson’s deal with the Ministry or Ginny’s reference to Narcissa Malfoy being Pansy’s mother. Avoidance of those questions would have at least prevented the youngest Weasley’s surprisingly rude instructions for Hermione to mind her own bloody business and keep her mouth shut about things she didn’t understand.
While he was sure things would have still gotten ugly, without Ginny’s comments, he and Ron most likely wouldn’t have acted so harshly to the fifth-year in their heated defense of their bushy-haired friend. That could have possibly kept the whole affair from escalating into the all-out shouting match that had led to Ginny’s current angry avoidance of all things Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
Harry let out a heavy sigh. So much could have gone differently, though he had to admit that the first thing that could have changed for the better was Ginny’s not getting involved in whatever sordid mess the dungeon royals were embroiled in. He still couldn’t believe that Ron’s innocent little sister was apparently friends with Parkinson and Malfoy – and in the case of the rotten little ferret, more than friends – and that she had lied to them about it all this time.
Sure, he had never been particularly close to the younger witch, they hadn’t even really been what you would call friends, outside of her being his teammate in Qudditch and his best mate’s little sister. But it still felt a bit like a betrayal to know the extent to which she had gone to keep such a large secret from him and the others. Maybe if he’d known about some of this sooner he would have been able to talk her out of the insanity of her actions, but then again, the attempt he would have made was probably part of the reason she hadn’t told him in the first place.
Anyway, it didn’t really matter what could have happened or why it did, but rather the fact that it had happened in the first place, and what he was going to do now that he knew it. It was the last that had led him to don his invisibility cloak and follow the petite redhead through the deserted hallways.
There was a little voice in the back of his head saying that following Ginny was part of what had started this whole mess, but seeing as she had refused to talk to him any of the times he’d tried to corner her over the past few days, he felt like he didn’t have any other choice. It wasn't like he could just wait for her to be alone in the tower that night, as she was so rarely even there anymore, spending most of her time in the rooms that had apparently been given to Narcissa and the sixth-year Slytherins.
The same curiosity that had haunted him the first moment he had watched Ginny running towards, and then entering, Slytherin House with Malfoy still burned relentlessly within him and he just had to know exactly what was going on. Sure what he’d seen when they’d followed the redhead and her two ‘friends’ had answered some of his questions, in a way, but it had also raised so many others. And it was those others that were currently driving him mad. So he needed to know, and since Ginny wasn’t talking, he’d have to find another way of getting the information. Hence his carefully trailing her steps through the many dank dungeon corridors as Ginny turned yet another random corner.
Seemingly random, that is, as the Marauders’ Map showed him quite clearly that her path was anything but. Inside a set of rooms several feet down this empty hallway there was a small dot indicating N. Malfoy was in the far left room, while in the front-most room there paced one labeled D. Malfoy, and that, he knew, was where she was headed. His suspicions were proved correct as his unknowing guide reached out and opened the door. Harry rushed forward to follow the younger witch into the room, but it appeared that she had learned from the last incident, as she kept a firm hold of the door as she went through, pulling it closed as she did so, effectively preventing him from slipping in unnoticed. The bespectacled boy sighed as he watched the door close and spent several moments shifting from foot to foot deciding whether or not to go in anyway.
If he opened the door at this point, Ginny would know someone was following her, and with her knowledge of his cloak, it would probably only take her seconds to figure out who it was and rip the concealing garment from his shoulders. Harry pictured the look that had twisted the fifth-year’s normally pretty face when she’d realized he and the others had followed her the last time. He really, really didn’t want to see how angry she would get if she knew he’d done it again.
And angry she most certainly would be if he opened the door. As would her blond companion, and the boy's mother, he was sure. His going in and proving that he was following her yet again would only further enrage her, and she’d never give him any answers if she got even more angry than she already was. No, he couldn’t go in, he decided with another sigh. No matter how much he wanted answers, he wasn’t getting them tonight.
Slumping his shoulders in defeat, Harry turned back the way he had come, debating whether or not to try again the next night. Even if it didn't get him an opportunity to speak with her, it would at least allow him to keep track of her, and be close at hand should her so-called friends try anything, as he was sure they eventually would. So absorbed was he in that inner discussion that the savior of the wizarding world walked directly into a very startled Pansy Parkinson.
End Part Seven
Over the last two weeks, things had been very strained in Gryffindor House, at least for the illustrious Trio and one Ginny Weasley, and it had only grown worse in the last six days when the majority of the other students had gone home for the Christmas holidays. The angry silences that filled the near-empty tower had left ample time for brooding, time Harry Potter had taken advantage of in order to come to a rather simple conclusion. Firstly, Ginny was quite possibly nutters. And secondly, neither he, nor his two best friends, had managed to do anything but push the youngest Weasley further into the slimy Slytherin clutches they’d so recently found her to be in.
He hated to think it, that all their efforts to help had only made things worse. The entire thing, he had to admit, could have been handled better. For starters, he and Ron probably shouldn’t have interrogated the redheaded witch quite so ferociously about the kiss they’d witnessed beneath the invisibility cloak. Actually, as Hermione pointed out afterwards, they could have avoided Ginny’s livid response to the revelation of their eavesdropping by not mentioning anything they’d seen in the small dungeon room at all. After all, they certainly had enough to question her about with what they had seen between the two when Malfoy had come for Ginny’s help.
Of course, Hermione herself probably should have followed her own belated advice by not needling the younger witch about Malfoy’s comments regarding Mr. Parkinson’s deal with the Ministry or Ginny’s reference to Narcissa Malfoy being Pansy’s mother. Avoidance of those questions would have at least prevented the youngest Weasley’s surprisingly rude instructions for Hermione to mind her own bloody business and keep her mouth shut about things she didn’t understand.
While he was sure things would have still gotten ugly, without Ginny’s comments, he and Ron most likely wouldn’t have acted so harshly to the fifth-year in their heated defense of their bushy-haired friend. That could have possibly kept the whole affair from escalating into the all-out shouting match that had led to Ginny’s current angry avoidance of all things Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
Harry let out a heavy sigh. So much could have gone differently, though he had to admit that the first thing that could have changed for the better was Ginny’s not getting involved in whatever sordid mess the dungeon royals were embroiled in. He still couldn’t believe that Ron’s innocent little sister was apparently friends with Parkinson and Malfoy – and in the case of the rotten little ferret, more than friends – and that she had lied to them about it all this time.
Sure, he had never been particularly close to the younger witch, they hadn’t even really been what you would call friends, outside of her being his teammate in Qudditch and his best mate’s little sister. But it still felt a bit like a betrayal to know the extent to which she had gone to keep such a large secret from him and the others. Maybe if he’d known about some of this sooner he would have been able to talk her out of the insanity of her actions, but then again, the attempt he would have made was probably part of the reason she hadn’t told him in the first place.
Anyway, it didn’t really matter what could have happened or why it did, but rather the fact that it had happened in the first place, and what he was going to do now that he knew it. It was the last that had led him to don his invisibility cloak and follow the petite redhead through the deserted hallways.
There was a little voice in the back of his head saying that following Ginny was part of what had started this whole mess, but seeing as she had refused to talk to him any of the times he’d tried to corner her over the past few days, he felt like he didn’t have any other choice. It wasn't like he could just wait for her to be alone in the tower that night, as she was so rarely even there anymore, spending most of her time in the rooms that had apparently been given to Narcissa and the sixth-year Slytherins.
The same curiosity that had haunted him the first moment he had watched Ginny running towards, and then entering, Slytherin House with Malfoy still burned relentlessly within him and he just had to know exactly what was going on. Sure what he’d seen when they’d followed the redhead and her two ‘friends’ had answered some of his questions, in a way, but it had also raised so many others. And it was those others that were currently driving him mad. So he needed to know, and since Ginny wasn’t talking, he’d have to find another way of getting the information. Hence his carefully trailing her steps through the many dank dungeon corridors as Ginny turned yet another random corner.
Seemingly random, that is, as the Marauders’ Map showed him quite clearly that her path was anything but. Inside a set of rooms several feet down this empty hallway there was a small dot indicating N. Malfoy was in the far left room, while in the front-most room there paced one labeled D. Malfoy, and that, he knew, was where she was headed. His suspicions were proved correct as his unknowing guide reached out and opened the door. Harry rushed forward to follow the younger witch into the room, but it appeared that she had learned from the last incident, as she kept a firm hold of the door as she went through, pulling it closed as she did so, effectively preventing him from slipping in unnoticed. The bespectacled boy sighed as he watched the door close and spent several moments shifting from foot to foot deciding whether or not to go in anyway.
If he opened the door at this point, Ginny would know someone was following her, and with her knowledge of his cloak, it would probably only take her seconds to figure out who it was and rip the concealing garment from his shoulders. Harry pictured the look that had twisted the fifth-year’s normally pretty face when she’d realized he and the others had followed her the last time. He really, really didn’t want to see how angry she would get if she knew he’d done it again.
And angry she most certainly would be if he opened the door. As would her blond companion, and the boy's mother, he was sure. His going in and proving that he was following her yet again would only further enrage her, and she’d never give him any answers if she got even more angry than she already was. No, he couldn’t go in, he decided with another sigh. No matter how much he wanted answers, he wasn’t getting them tonight.
Slumping his shoulders in defeat, Harry turned back the way he had come, debating whether or not to try again the next night. Even if it didn't get him an opportunity to speak with her, it would at least allow him to keep track of her, and be close at hand should her so-called friends try anything, as he was sure they eventually would. So absorbed was he in that inner discussion that the savior of the wizarding world walked directly into a very startled Pansy Parkinson.
End Part Seven
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