The Wrath of Virginia

The Wrath of Virginia

.:I:.Turn of the Tables

The train stopped abruptly, making a sleeping Ginny Weasley fall ungracefully to the carpeted floor of her compartment.

"Bloody hell," mumbled the disgruntled redhead. "What was--" She couldn't finish her sentence because when she was trying to sit up her hand rested on her robes and that pulled her back down when she tried to stand up.

"Son of a-- " she started when a rusty voice echoed above her:

"Excuse the interruption: the Express is making an emergency stop, Dumbledore's orders. That is all."

Thanks for keeping us informed, Ginny thought bitterly.

There wasn't many to interrupt anyway, only a few Slytherins, a handful of Hufflepuffs, a Ravenclaw or two and her. All of them coming back from the Holidays and their loving families -- with the exception of the Slytherins and their, more than likely, unloving families-- rejoicing with all those warm fuzzy feelings.

T'is the time to show off presents, Ginny mused. She did not even want any gifts this year. Perhaps a few Sickles, even a couple of Galleons was all she was asking for. She could get what she wanted, because her own family obviously did know her. When was the last time she ever wore purple? She wasn't complaining, she could have been born into a Slytherin family, as her mother kept telling her.

No matter, she was glad --nay, grateful-- to be returning to Hogwarts. Though it wasn't any different there. Perhaps it was worse, she could scarcely get around the school without being teased for her freckles, hair, small chest, lack of friends and so on. All thanks to one individual. Yes, you guessed it: Draco Malfoy.

The name was like acid on her tongue. He always seemed to humiliate her and make it look as if she embarrassed her self on her own. And kept out of the watchful eye of Ron and Harry, for they would probably murder him if she let out how he tortured her for the past five years. Malfoy was clever, for most of the students in Hogwarts just thought Ginny was just extremely clumsy. Like that time in her forth year when he "accidentally" bumped into her on the grand staircase and she fell into some of the after effects of a Dung Bomb explosion Filch had yet to clean up.

Ginny managed to stand up and collected herself. What's the stop for? she wondered. Never in all her years in Hogwarts did the train stop for any reason, save for the whole Dementor debacle in her second year.

No matter. Ginny sat back down on the compartment seat. Within two uneventful minutes the Hogwarts Express finally started up again. She soon found that nothing else could occupy her time more than sleeping. She could think about her decision, the one she tried to avoid for the entire duration of the Holidays: before she was boarding the Hogwarts Express, Harry proposed to her.

Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter had been seeing each other for over a year now without a bump in the road. They were in love. Truly. But she wasn't ready for marriage; she had a whole other year of Hogwarts after this one.

But now with Voldemort destroyed, it was safe for him to have a family, but that didn't mean he had to rush into things, Harry probably wanted to make sure he didn't lose her like he almost did at the end of her fifth year. Ginny knew her decision but she did not want to break Harry's heart. All her life she went along with what everyone else wanted to do, it kept her more hidden in the shadows, more blended; though it was not at all easy to blend into the crowd while being Harry's girl. She knew that this was how fate played out, they were meant to be, as some may have said.

And she wasn't ever truly forgotten. She knew they would never forget. They wouldn't ever forget her part in opening the Chamber of Secrets. They probably thought she was still possessed by Voldemort's memory. The walls of Hogwarts never forgot.

Harry said he'd support her any way he could when/if they were married. But it was just the simple fact that there were too many things she wanted to do before that time came, she did not know if she ever wanted to be married. She loved Harry with all her heart, but was that enough?

Ginny was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't even seem to notice that she was playing with the ring Harry gave her. She kept it on a chain her brother Charlie gave her on her eighth Christmas. She didn't want to keep it on her ring finger. Maybe one day.

Ginny was holding it up to the light when the train gave a sudden jolt, it was tipping over to the right, and before she knew it, the chain slipped from her fingers and fell out the half open window. She started towards it, silently praying it wasn't lost when the cabin gave a lurch and the window made contact with her elbow.

Being under the average size for a sixteen year old, she slipped right out the window. The Express was keeling over now, every single cabin; one by one they would fall over the bridge; in the distance, she had been in the last compartment; she could see flames swallow the engine of the train. But no one else fell out. Perhaps they already left the train while it had stopped.

In any case, she saw the silver chain on a screw hanging over the wheel. Ginny shifted her hand clamped on the windowsill and edged toward the chain.

"A little closer... little more...and...got it!" with the cool metal clamped in her hand, she was edging her way down to catch a nearby pole from the bridge. Her bloodied hand was just letting go of the sill when a strong hand clamped around her small wrist.

Who ever it was, she just hoped it wasn't--

Malfoy.

"What are you doing?" he shouted over the wind. His face was hard; there was no malice in his icy eyes.

"Just hanging around," was her reply. She knew what she was doing, what was he worried about?

"Well, if you're alright-- " he began to loosen the grip around her wrist, meaning to scare her -- even in the face of death he managed to torture her, amazing -- when the whole Express just plunged into the lake the bridge crossed and Ginny just made it to the pole under the bridge, pulling Malfoy with her.

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What will happen to our two heroes? Will they be swimming with the fishes for the rest of eternity? Or did they some how escape? What is the cause of this momentous disaster? Are the Slytherins some how behind it? Or did it have to do with that emergency stop?

Tune in next time to The Wrath of Virginia wherever Internet maybe available.

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And here it is, your moment of Zen:

Butthead: Numbers piss me off.

Beavis: Yeah, there's like, too many of them.