A Bump in the Night

Chapter 5

Ginny was let out of the Hospital Wing that evening. She headed to the library careful to avoid people she knew. She hated lying to people and she couldn't tell them who she was meeting.

In the library, she didn't find Draco right away. Oh god if this is a joke or something...she thought. However, she rounded a corner and came to a table in the very back, hidden between the School Prefects and School Head Boy and Girls book cases. (The last person to have been there was probably Percy.) Anyway, that is where she found Draco.

"Nice hiding spot," she said causing the boy to snap his head up.

"So you made it, Weasley," he sneered.

Ginny's insides turned. What had she been thinking? Why had she come here? He hadn't changed. She went and stood near to where Draco was sitting in case she had to make a break for it.

"What have you found about her?" asked Ginny cautiously.

"Well come sit down and I'll show you." Ginny didn't move. "Come on, I won't bite you."

"That's not what I'm scared of..." Ginny muttered. Funny, Malfoy hasn't even made a crack about my family, she thought.

When she sat down, Draco slid some books over so she could get a better look.

"I found these in the Restricted Section." Draco said quietly. Drawing Madam Pince's attention would not be a good idea. "This is Estel Anderson. She came to Hogwarts in 1938. She 'mysteriously' died in 1942... she would have been in your year." Draco looked at Ginny to see she was frowning. Well you didn't expect her to run around screaming or faint or something did you? He thought. She's not Pansy.

"Did it say how she died? Or where?" asked Ginny.

Draco pulled out another worn book. It held newspaper clips. "It says she died in that bathroom I found you in."

"She died like the girls in Hermione's dorm did. I saw her..." Ginny trailed off.

"What did you see?"

"I think I saw Estel. She was on the floor and had been stabbed by a knife. Blood was everywhere. She looked like she was there for a few days. She had bruises and cuts all over her and she suddenly opened her eyes and took a breath. It was really raspy. It was horrible." Ginny said, staring into space.

Draco put his hand on hers. What am I doing? He casually took it away. She looked back at him now. "How did you see her?" she asked.

Draco opened his mouth but at that moment the heard Harry and Ron and Hermione's voices coming close. Ginny and Draco sprung apart and hastily grabbed they books. "Go to the Astronomy Tower..." Ginny hissed.

"OooOHHhh." Draco wagged his eyebrows cheekily.

Glaring not so angrily, Ginny slipped between two book cases, vanishing in the shadows. Draco went the opposite way. Just in time, too, for at that moment The Amazing Three (Harry and Co.) appeared. They were talking about Snuffles or something or other. Whatever it was Draco didn't care and went on his way.

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Once inside the tower Draco told Ginny what he had seen.

"I saw a girl on the ground next to my bed. She looked like she was struggling to get free from some ropes or something. I could hear her breathing and then silence. I couldn't see very well. She was partly in the shadows. I turned on the light and she disappeared."

"Parvati, Lavender, and Kathryn all died when Hermione saw the girl. Why didn't the people in your dorm room die?" Ginny asked after a while.

"I don't know. Maybe it was because I turned on the light. That could have disrupted something. Another thing, if Estel died in a violent way why didn't she become a ghost?"

"I don't know." Ginny answered.

They talked for a while after that. She really is beautiful Draco (finally) admitted to himself.

He's not as bad as Ron and the others made him out to be, Ginny thought. They had stopped talking. Draco leaned in. This was it. Ginny leaned in as well.

Then they... "I have to go," Ginny whispered. With that she left.

Leaving a very confused Draco.

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