Osiris Curse

It was midnight, way past curfew. Yet making his way from the Gryffindor Tower to the Hospital Wing was a lone mysterious figure. Of course, had Argus Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker, walked by; he would've seen nothing.

Because the mysterious figure, was a boy in an invisibility cloak. His name was Harry Potter.

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Ginny was tossing and turning on her bed, unable to get to sleep.

"It seems this is happening to me a lot lately," she reflected.

Ginny propped up her pillows to make a back cushion for her to sit against. Once she had gotten comfortable, she gingerly picked up the glass rose.

It was giving off this clear, almost blue color due to the moonlight that was shining in through the window above her bed. Delicately, she traced her finger over all the gentle curves of the precious flower.

"Good thing he got me a glass flower rather than a real one," she thought to herself, "I have a black thumb rather than a green one. No wonder I do horribly in Herbology. The poor rose would probably burst into flames in some imitation of a phoenix, only it wouldn't some back to life."

She sat there just replaying over and over the brief encounter she had with Draco in her mind. Until... the door for the Hospital Wing had opened and closed very swiftly. Carefully she placed the rose back on her nightstand. Looking around she whispered,

"Hello? Is someone there? Hello?"

"Hello!" a cheerful voice said back, causing Ginny once again to fall of her small bed, with a small 'Eep.'

When she clambered back onto her bad she saw at the foot of her bed, Harry Potter with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" she whispered

"You don't have to whisper I put a silencing spell in here," he answered

"You didn't answer my question! What are you doing here?" she demanded, but Harry grinned slightly when he realized she wasn't whispering.

"Coming to see if you were ok," he replied honestly.

Normally this answer would've made her heart swell like a balloon, but the fact that it was 12:07 at night got Ginny a wee bit upset.

"Was I not important enough to see during the day? You can't come see how I am until it's convenient for you, is that it?" she demanded.

A hurt look crossed over Harry's face.

"No of course not! That's not the reason I didn't come yesterday! It's just that..." his voice trailed off.

"It's just that what?" Ginny asked, a venomous look on her face.

Harry stood there contemplating his answer, shuffling nervously on his feet.

"Look forget it," Ginny said in a tired voice, "If you don't mind I'd like to get to sleep so just go."

Harry looked extremely regretful and injured.

"I'm sorry Ginny, you're right I should've come yesterday. Please forgive me?" he begged.

Ginny looked at his face and could tell he was sincere. A small smile crossed her lips and she decided to forgive and forget.

"You're forgiven," she said warmly, "and I'm not really tired, actually I'm quite bored. Want to stay a talk a little bit seeing as I can't leave here?"

Harry's face lit up.

"I'd love to!"

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Several hours had passed and daybreak's first light was entering through the window.

(A/N: I realized I tend to do a lot of light through the window stuff, hehe. I just love that stuff.)

Harry's eyes fluttered open. He took a moment to get his bearings and realized where he was.

He was sitting on a very uncomfortable chair in the Hospital Wing. But he didn't mind, because he spent the whole night talking and laughing with Ginny.

She was sleeping peacefully on the Hospital bed next to the chair he was sitting in. He remembered how they spent the whole night just talking about stupid, useless junk and eventually both had drifted off to sleep. He watched her now as she peacefully slept. He made her take the Dreamless Sleep Potion right before they both fell asleep. All he needed was for her to have another case of freaking out like the other day.

He was going to just leave so that Madam Pomfrey wouldn't have his head when she made her way into the Hospital Wing. He didn't want to disturb Ginny either. But as began to walk towards the door he heard a voice behind him,

"Tell me the truth, what happened yesterday?"

Harry froze in his tracks then slowly turned around.

"Um... I was about to head down and get some breakfast, would you like anything?" Harry asked, trying to distract her.

"Harry... I'm serious, what happened? Why won't anyone tell me?" Ginny asked, obviously irritated.

"Well... um..." he slowly walked over to her bed. He was about to make up some wild cockamamie story when he looked into her eyes. That was a mistake. Her hazel eyes were looking at him with such pleading and there was a depth to them that made Harry's heart beat faster. He couldn't lie to these eyes, ever.

"Look Ginny, Dumbledore told me not to tell you, he said something about you having to figure everything out yourself. All I know was when I found you, you were shaking and crying something awful. I'm not sure but I think I may have heard you muttering something about everything being your fault. Look, that's why none of us came yesterday, because we didn't think we could lie to you about yesterday. I just proved we were right." Harry said the last line more to himself.

Ginny's brow furrowed at this new bit of information. She was deep in thought about what Harry told her trying to figure out what must've happened. Harry finally coughed and said,

"Hey Ginny, I'm really glad you're ok. Whatever happened yesterday, well, I mean, if you ever need some help or something always know that you can come to me." Harry suddenly seemed a bit uncomfortable and decided to leave. "Well, I'll be off. My offer for bringing you back some food is still open."

Ginny realized Harry was still there and looked up at him with big, hazel eyes that were full of gratitude.

"Oh, no thanks Harry. But listen, thanks. I mean thanks for being the only person to be honest with me. I was beginning to feel like a pariah the way everyone would act. So, thanks."

"Your welcome," Harry said, feeling a bit fuzzy inside. Smiling the whole way he reluctantly left Ginny and went to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Ginny in the meanwhile decided to catch up on some sleep considering that since the beginning of the term she hadn't had very many decent nights sleep.

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"Ginny, honey, wake up," Ginny heard a feminine voice calling from somewhere faraway.

"Ginny, time to get up," the voice said louder.

Ginny tried to respond but her vocal cords were still in sleep mode and all that came out was a 'hmmm.'

"C'mon honey, Dumbledore said you can leave," the voice said which Ginny now recognized as Madam Pomfrey.

Ginny was now fully awake at this announcement.

"Really? I can go?" Ginny asked earnestly, eyes wide open.

"Yes, Dumbledore says your free to go," Madam Pomfrey looking a bit upset at this.

"Who-hoo!" Ginny shrieked in joy jumping out of bed and changing into some robes that had been brought from her dormitory.

Madam Pomfrey walked out muttering something about no one listening to her medical imput.

Ginny now dressed in her Hogwart's uniform fixed her hair and went through all her toiletries in the Hospital Wing's girl's bathroom.

Throwing her bag over her shoulder she raced out the Hospital with a quick thank you to Madam Pomfrey.

She ran into the Gryffindor fifth year dormitory and tossed her stuff onto her bed.

She was alone since everyone else was in class. She had the option of going back to class with everyone else, but today she was in no mood to sit in class for long hours and listen to boring teachers drone on and on. Sure, Hermione would lecture her later for skipping on class (even though she had permission!) and how important it was to get a good education. In Ginny's opinion, Hermione needed to loosen up; or else she'd end up in Madam Pomfrey's care for a nervous breakdown due to stress. Ginny told Hermione this once, Hermione responded with a 'Granger's can handle anything.'

So, what would she do? She could hang around in the library, get work done, and see if there was anyone to chat to.

"Yea, that sounds so exciting Ginny," she said sarcastically to herself. "Then maybe I could go to Professor Binns' class and ask him to review the entire 100 years war between wizards in France and Italy."

It was moments like these when Ginny felt she was a schizophrenic.

She finally decided to get some Quidditch practice in and then meander around the grounds outside for a bit.

Ginny changed into some muggle gym shorts and tee shirt that Hermione had given her. Ginny's mom figured if Ginny couldn't use most of her brothers hand me downs, then she could use Hermione's. Ginny didn't particularly mind seeing as Hermione had good taste. Only thing was pretty much everything she got from Hermione was muggle clothing.

But really, Ginny liked the muggle fashions. Ginny particularly liked the pants that reached only to her knees. Hermione had called them something: kippers, or capers or something. (A/N: If you don't know what I mean, its capris, also known as pedal pushers) Hermione had also given her some pieces of material Ginny never wore. Some she called halter-tops and others tube tops. Either way they were too showy for Ginny. Actually they were too showy for Hermione, also. Hermione's crazy Aunt Edna bought them for Hermione for her birthday and Hermione gave them to Ginny. So they had never been used. Ginny thought maybe one day for something extravagant she'd wear them along with some tiny skirts Aunt Edna had bought for Hermione as well.

Ginny slung her Firebolt over her shoulder and headed down to the Quidditch pitch. Once her feet felt the grass of the pitch through her tennis shoes, Ginny took a moment to look around. All the stands were empty, and the hoops on either side seemed so ominous looking. Ginny took a deep breath and could smell the wet ground under her. They had watered the grass this morning. Ginny went over to the door in the small dugout on the east side of the pitch where they stored the Quidditch balls.

The room was very dark and musty. She walked over to the cabinet where they stored all the balls. There was a numerous amount of Quaffles and strapped down were about twelve Bludgers. On the back of it were five golden snitches, wings folded down, as they weren't activated yet. They had spares of each because some tended to be lost throughout the year.

Ginny was tempted to grab a snitch, and practice seeing as she was the back-up seeker. Her conscious told her not to though because she wouldn't want to lose it. Ginny ended up grabbing three Quaffles to throw around and practice shooting. Holding each ball by its handle in her left hand and her broom in her right Ginny headed out.

Dropping all of the Quaffles, Ginny pushed off the ground, enjoying the feel of the wind whipping around her face. She had forgotten to bring something to hold her hair back so her red locks were flying wherever the wind took them. Her one white lock was still hanging by her face.

Ginny did several laps around the pitch weaving in and out of the tall stands. She hadn't flown in awhile and Ginny only realized now how much she missed it. Forgetting that she had come for practice and not fun, she did several loop-de-loops and spirals. Practicing her Wronski Feint, Ginny would suddenly turn her broom as steep as it could go without physics taking over and her flying sideways on her broom. The wind rushing past her would howl in her ears as the ground rushed closer to her. As she got closer and closer her mind was screaming to pull up, that this was suicide, and she'd end up in the Hospital Wing again. Yet, there was something pushing her to go farther and not stop.

She could feel her body tensing up ready for the impending the crash. She could recall later thinking she must be crazy.

Then as she was several inches above the cold, wet ground, she jerked her broom handle up and her broom went soaring upwards again. As she ascended she squealed with the sheer joy and triumph she felt. The adrenaline was still pulsing through her body, blood still pumping in her ears.

"This," Ginny said aloud to no one in particular, "is life."

She then decided to more tricks just because it was so much fun. She pulled her broom perfectly horizontal and steadied herself. Cautiously, she slowly arched upwards. First, she brought her right foot onto the broomstick and then her left. She pulled herself from the kneeling position into a standing one. She wobbled slightly, but other than that she was fine.

Flying like this was... was indescribable. It felt so risky, fun, powerful, and vulnerable at the same time. Ginny would occasionally, lightly kick the side of the broom to turn it while she swung into the turn to keep herself on the broom. She could see even more than usual and felt so rhapsodic. It was intoxicating, flying like this, and she wondered why more people didn't fly this way.

Ginny decided she should fly normally, when she nearly broke her neck at a turn. Ginny spent the rest of the afternoon doing Woollongong Shimmies, Starfish and Sticks, Sloth Grip Rolls, Double Eight Loops, and other various tricks Charlie had shown her when she was growing up.

Only when the enchanted lights came up because it was now quite dark out, did Ginny realize she had to get back to the castle for dinner. All that flying had really worked her appetite.

Ginny circled downwards and then, as her broom was low enough hopped off, and caught her broom before it hit the ground.

Ginny ran the unused Quaffles back to the cabinet then with her broomstick in her hand she sprinted off towards the castle.

Before eating, Ginny decided, she should quickly shower and change seeing as she was disgustingly sweaty and grimy.

Once she was refreshed and presentable Ginny bounded down the stairs towards the Great Hall. Her face reddened when she burst through the doors and realized she was last in. Most people thought she had been in the Hospital Wing all day though so no one really noted it. There were however, a few strange stares as she quickly took her seat. Giving each and everyone who looked at her peculiarly, an evil glare, she flounced down next to Colin and Harry. Harry gave her a warm smile as they remembered they're midnight causerie. She returned it and then pretending as if the other day never happened (which in Ginny's memory it kind of hadn't); she began to join in on the conversation of the strange meat that was staring all of them in the face. Sometimes Dumbledore's tastes in food, not to mention a lot of other things, weren't vastly popular.

As everyone was stuffing themselves, Ginny snuck a look over at the Slytherin table, remembering Draco's visit.

She saw Draco conversing with another fifth year Slytherin who Ginny thought might be named Malcolm. When Malcolm (or whatever his name was) turned away to grab some of his food back from Goyle, who'd tried to nick it, she saw that Draco could sense someone's gaze on him. He vaguely looked around until his eyes landed on the Gryffindor table. Ginny wanted to desperately look away, but her eyes weren't following her brain's commands.

That's when Draco did something Ginny would've expected a year ago, but not now. He twisted his face in a face that showed nothing but contempt and disgust. There was malice in his eyes and he then turned away in a matter that clearly said, "You're not significant enough for me to even look at."

Ginny's face burned and as much as she tried she couldn't turn her head away. She saw him as he had a wonderful time conversing with his fellow Slytherins, and how he flirted shamelessly with several ugly, syrupy harpies who were also in his house.

"What happened?" she asked herself. "I thought we had become friends or at least felt a small bit of respect for each other."

She sat there in shock until Ron jerked her out of it.

"Um, Gin... what is so particularly interesting about the Slytherin table?" Ron asked with a bit of pique.

Ginny snapped her head to his direction.

"What? Oh nothing, I was... I mean... I was just thinking... not looking at anything in particular," she stammered out.

Ron and Hermione seemed satisfied with this answer and turned back to Seamus to argue some point or another, but Harry looked at her strangely. He quickly glanced towards the Slytherin table then back at her. Some emotion passed through his face but Ginny couldn't place it.

"Knut for your thoughts?" Harry asked, still looking at her with the strange look in his emerald eyes, pulling a bronze coin out of his pockets.

"Just thinking about..." Ginny tried the first thing that came to mind, "about how much I learned about you last night. Like I knew some things about you and knew a couple other things about you from Ron, but last night, I dunno, I got to know you."

Harry apparently quite liked this answer and slid the Knut towards her.

"Same here," he replied.

Ginny slid the coin back towards him and they shared a warm smile. Ginny slightly lowered her head and some strands of hair fell in front of her face.

Harry's hand went up on it's own volition and held a certain lock in his hand.

"Hey, this is pretty cool. Did you magically dye it?" Ginny heard him ask.

Her eyes went wide open in shock. She was briefly reminded about Draco's discovery of her lock a couple days ago. She, on instinct, jerked her hand up and tucked away the hair and knocking Harry's hand away.

Harry's face flashed with an expression of pain.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" Ginny apologized, "I just freaked out, I didn't want anyone to find out about it! I didn't mean anything with it!"

Harry looked at her a few moments and then smiled again.

"I understand. Don't worry, I won't tell Ron or anything. He'd probably freak, it makes you look older," Harry said genially.

"Really?" she asked a little content about that last statement.

"Really. You shouldn't hide it. I mean if you dyed it, why would you tuck it away?"

"Well..." she said hesitating to tell the truth, "I didn't dye it. It just showed up."

His expression became one of concern. "It just showed up? Aren't you worried it may be something dangerous?"

Ginny couldn't tell him that she didn't care if it was dangerous. That parting with this lock seemed impossible. "Um... I think it's a hereditary thing that skips generations."

"Really? That's cool, I never knew that!"

"Yea..." she replied weakly.

Everyone was beginning to get up, meaning dinner was over.

"Walk you to your room?" Harry asked, grinning.

"You only say that because you stay in the same place!" Ginny teased.

"Au contraire Mademoiselle, I say it because you have enchanted the socks off me this evening," he retorted.

Ginny snorted, in a very unladylike way. Harry stuck out his arm regardless.

They were walking towards the Gryffindor tower when they ran into none other than, Malfoy, flanked by his two henchmen.

"Ah Potter, I don't believe they allow dogs inside the castle," Draco drawled, motioning towards Ginny.

Ginny's face flushed, not just at the insult but at the fact that she felt foolish for ever thinking Draco Malfoy could be nice.

"Shut Up," Harry growled. "Don't you dare ever speak of her like that.

"Oh Potter, I see! You're doing some charity towards the Weasley family, since they're the only family you got. I mean, Why else would you be associating with filth such as this," Draco sneered, "Not that your much better," he added.

Ginny's eyes stung with tears that she refused to let herself shed; her throat had closed up. She wanted to stick up for herself, but she kept seeing how Draco had been so kind to her the other day. This couldn't be happening. He'd shown he had a heart, where had it gone?

Harry on the other hand was ready to attack Draco. He was about to launch himself towards Malfoy when Ginny grabbed the back of his robe. He turned and looked at her questioningly.

"No," she whispered.

"What?" Harry asked.

"No," she said her voice cracking, "Don't. Just don't, let's just get away from here."

"But..." Harry started.

"No!" she said a bit forcefully, then softened, "Please?"

Harry consented and was pulled away by Ginny who was supporting herself against him, as Draco watched with a smirk on his lips.

Ginny gave Draco one last pained look, eyes shining with unshed tears and then continued walking.

No one noticed, but the smirk on Draco's lips, shrunk ever slightly.