Ginny Weasley and the Heir of Slytherin

Ginny and Harry were sitting together under a tree in a beautiful field. The sun was shinning brightly overhead -- it was a perfect day. He reached forward and gently caressed her cheek. Ginny's skin tingled a little, but she smiled anyway. It was such a wonderful moment. Then he started moving closer to her -- they were coming together into a tight embrace -- she was going to be snuggled in Harry's arms. When they were together, they would both feel all snug and happy.

"Ginny..." she suddenly heard a voice from off in the distance say. It sounded like it was the wind. She looked up into the sky to see where it was coming from.

"What?" Ginny asked the sky, annoyed that her moment with Harry had been interrupted. Something was prodding her, but she tried to ignore it.

"Ginny, you need to wake up," it told her. The voice sounded vaguely feminine.

"What?" asked Ginny. This didn't seem to make a lot of sense.

However, she found Harry, the tree, and indeed the entire scene had dissolved. She could feel a sheet and blanket draped over her and her heavy head resting on a pillow. She knew it had only been a dream -- knew she was in her bed -- but she didn't want to wake up -- she wanted the dream back. The prodding continued -- it was probably her mother or Percy. Couldn't they leave her alone for just one moment of her life? Couldn't they just let her enjoy a good dream without ruining it?

"C'mon Ginny, it's time to wake up."

The voice was definitely female and it took Ginny a second or two to place it -- it was Kimmy Seong. Ginny squinted her eyes open. She wasn't at home -- she was in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory at Hogwarts.

"Ginny, remember me?" Kimmy asked cheerfully. "We met in Diagon Alley."

"Yeah, I remember," Ginny said groggily, as she forced herself to sit up. It was strange how in the early moments of waking up she had somehow forgotten she was at Hogwarts now. Kimmy was wide awake and already fully dressed. How early had she gotten up?

"You know, I've never been in a boarding school before," Kimmy told Ginny in a slightly nervous voice.

"I've never been in any kind of school before," Ginny replied casually.

"You haven't?" Kimmy asked, obviously surprised. "How'd you learn to read and write and everything?"

"My mum taught me," Ginny explained tersely as she prepared to get out of bed, wishing she could sleep for awhile longer.

Eventually, Ginny forced herself to her feet. It was quite chilly with only a nightdress on -- chilly enough to make her shiver a little -- but she was no stranger to the cold. She and Kimmy were not the only ones awake -- another girl was sitting by a mirror brushing her light brown hair. It took Ginny a couple seconds to realize it was Fleeta Fleece as she looked very different with her hair down. Fleeta threw Ginny a sharp look of disapproval, which she returned.

"Well, girls," Kimmy said buoyantly, apparently not noticing this, "I was thinking -- we're probably all going to get to be really close friends. I mean, we're going to be eating together and dressing together and sleeping in the same room and everything."

"Oh, joy," Fleeta said sarcastically without even looking at her.

"As Ginny already knows, my name's Kim Seong," Kimmy continued, ignoring Fleeta's rudeness, "but I like to be called 'Kimmy.' Anyway, I'm sure we're all a little scared being in this strange new place, but we're all in the same boat so I think we should all be friends and help each other out and everything."

"All right," Ginny agreed, though she was certain she would survive Hogwarts perfectly well without anyone's help. Kimmy turned to Fleeta.

"Oh, were you talking to me?" she asked haughtily.

"Uh, yeah," said Kimmy, "I was talking to both of you. I was wondering if you'd like to be friends with us?" Us? Ginny had no intention of being Fleeta Fleece's friend.

"Well, you can stop wondering, because I won't," Fleeta said as she stood up to get a better look at her reflection in the mirror. Ginny was privately relieved.

"Why not?" asked Kimmy, sounding rather appalled.

"Because I have standards," Fleeta replied proudly as she tied her hair up with the same blue hair bow she had worn the previous day, making herself look unmistakably like she had then. Judging by the rest of her outfit, she was apparently continuing her trend of dressing like someone from the year 1900.

"What kind of standards?" Kimmy asked curiously.

"Standards that don't let people like you be my friend," Fleeta answered curtly, before turning to strut out of the room. Kimmy looked crushed.

"It's all right," Ginny assured her, "she's just not a nice person."

"How long have you known her?" Kimmy asked skeptically.

"Since yesterday," said Ginny casually, "but I already know everything about her I want to."

"Maybe she'll open up later," Kimmy suggested hopefully.

"Yeah, that'll happen after they reinstate the Triwizard Tournament," Ginny said sarcastically.

Kimmy sighed and turned to Lorelei Pasiphaë's bed to pull back the scarlet curtains. Lorelei was fast asleep and curled up in a fetal position. She was still wearing her school robes from the previous day.

"C'mon, wake up," Kimmy said, shacking her gently. "Today's our first day." Lorelei, not quite awake, moaned in response. "C'mon, you have to get up so you can get dressed. Well, you already are dressed, I guess, but... well, just get up, okay?"

Lorelei's eyes opened slowly and seemed to take in Kimmy's sunny face very gradually. Staring at her with a blank expression, Lorelei sank down into the bedclothes, shivering and looking terrified as though Kimmy was some kind of terrible monster.

"It's okay," Kimmy told her in a very soothing voice. "It's okay. What's your name?"

"Lorelei Pasiphaë," said Ginny. "I remembered it from the Sorting."

"Your name's Lorelei?" Kimmy asked her. "That's a pretty name -- a very, very pretty name." Lorelei, staring at Kimmy as though she had never seen another human being before, nodded anxiously. She was blushing a little too, which looked odd with the greenish complexion she still seemed to have. Ginny could only assume she must be recovering from a nasty bout of dragon pox.

"Can you speak?" Kimmy asked her kindly. Lorelei didn't say anything for at least three seconds, but she eventually nodded, her green eyes widening even further. Kimmy looked sympathetically back at her for a moment.

"You can talk to me," Kimmy told her gently. "Why don't you tell me how you feel?" Lorelei opened her mouth, but it took her awhile to make any sound come out.

"I --" she mumbled, speaking in a hoarse voice. "I'm, uh -- I -- I feel -- I'm... cold..." Lorelei shivered and tightened the blanket around herself. Kimmy brought Lorelei into her arms and held her tightly, rocking her like a baby. Lorelei started to cry silently into Kimmy's shoulder.

"It's okay, it's okay," Kimmy cooed her.

"I -- I feel scared," Lorelei muttered, sounding as though she had just figured out how to string words together into sentences.

"Of what?" Ginny asked hopefully.

"Of -- of -- of --" Lorelei began in a very low voice, "of... everything..."

"Oh, you can't be afraid of everything!" Kimmy said instantly.

"Well, I am," Lorelei insisted. "I feel cold. I just wanna go home... I -- I feel so scared and hungry and tired and -- and cold and -- and... tired... and..."

"It's okay, it's okay," Kimmy told her gently. "Everything's all right now."

Ginny was starting to feel excluded, but didn't say anything. As Ginny finished getting dressed, Kimmy went on coddling Lorelei, telling her that everything was all right and that she would always be there for her. Not that Ginny could find any fault in her motives, but she thought Kimmy was treating Lorelei too much like a baby. Though Lorelei didn't seem to mind this Ginny still didn't like it. It seemed similar to the way Ginny's family treated her like a four-year-old -- too similar.

Down in the common room, Ginny found Hermione sitting alone in a corner reading a book. Ginny decided to say hi to her. After all, Hermione was very close to Harry, so Ginny could find out about him from her. She had already heard a lot about Harry from Ron, of course, but something told her Ron wasn't the most reliable source. Maybe Hermione could even help Ginny work up to actually talking to Harry. Maybe it would be easier anyway without her family always there.

"Hello, Hermione," Ginny said, trying to sound casual, as she sat down by Hermione. "What're you doing?"

"I was just rereading Wandering with Werewolves," Hermione gushed enthusiastically. "Isn't Professor Lockhart amazing?"

"Very," Ginny said shortly.

"I was just reading how he saved a house-elf from a Stuttering Curse," Hermione continued breathlessly. "The things he can do, isn't he incredible? It's so nice that we can be taught by someone who has this much experience, isn't it?"

Ginny didn't want to answer, but fortunately for her Hermione went on rambling about Lockhart apparently not requiring any response from Ginny. Ginny didn't listen to any of this, as it was all very boring, but instead tried to decide how soon she should mention Harry. How long was natural? Though she did want to find out more about him, she didn't want it to seem as though she had an abnormal interest in him. It was already embarrassing enough that everyone thought she was stuck on him.

"Are you listening to me?" Hermione asked suddenly. She had sounded angry -- and slightly hurt.

"Yeah," Ginny lied, not wanting to hurt Hermione's feelings. She decided to listen to everything else Hermione said just to be nice, but Hermione wasn't talking anymore. She was studying Ginny carefully -- with something very much like dislike...

"I'm sorry," Ginny said without thinking. Her face felt rather hot now and a tight knot had formed in her stomach. Why did she even care whether Hermione liked her anyway?

"Are you really sorry?" Hermione asked in a small voice.

Ginny wasn't sure how to answer that question. Are you really sorry? Well, she felt pretty bad, but did she really feel sorry? She thought it over and decided that her feeling bad came close enough to qualify as feeling sorry. That was probably the kind of thing Hermione had meant anyway.

"Yes," she said eventually, looking up at Hermione's apathetic face, "I am sorry."

Hermione didn't say or do anything.

"I wasn't listening and I'm sorry," she said, looking Hermione in the eye, which she thought was rather brave of her. Hermione looked at her, seeming to be having a change of heart. There was an awkward moment of silence between them. Though Ginny could still hear other people talking, she and Hermione remained completely silent.

"Why don't I show you down to the Great Hall?" Hermione said eventually. "I was waiting for Harry and Ron, but they're obviously sleeping in after the little adventure they had last night." There was a palpable degree of scorn in her voice as she said the last part of this which Ginny somehow felt the sting of.

"I can find my way there by myself!" Ginny replied indignantly as she got up. She hated it when people assumed she couldn't do anything on her own.

"No, you can't," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "Trust me -- it took me about a week and a half to find the Great Hall without getting lost." Hermione hadn't sounded at all patronizing when she had said this. Maybe -- just maybe -- she was at least one person who didn't think Ginny was "too young".

"All right," agreed Ginny and they left the common room together. As they traversed a chamber filled with bronze sculptures of various types of fish, Ginny asked Hermione about Harry and Ron's late arrival at Hogwarts. Hermione gave a huge sigh before answering.

"Dean Thomas said that Ron said the barrier at Kings Cross wouldn't let them through," she explained grimly, "so they decided to fly a car to Hogwarts. Then they crashed into the Whomping Willow."

"Well," Ginny said carefully, "then they shouldn't really get in trouble, r-right? I mean, they didn't have any other choice, did they?"

"There are other ways of getting to school then flying a car," Hermione responded. "I suppose you don't have any idea where that car came from, do you?"

Ginny wasn't going to tell Hermione the truth about the car, but she didn't want to lie either, so she said nothing. Neither she nor Hermione said anything more for the rest of their journey to the Great Hall. Ginny wanted to tell Hermione that she was being completely unfair and that she ought to be feeling sorry for what Harry and Ron had gone through. But she didn't.

Ginny's first thought when she got downstairs was that the Great Hall definitely looked different in the daylight than it did at night. She wasn't sure which version of the hall she preferred, but eventually settled on the night -- though perhaps this was only because it happened to be a dull, cloudy day. Hermione sat down and took out her copy of Voyages with Vampires, propping it open against a milk jug. Ginny decided to sit a fair distance away from her. She wasn't sure whether or not she liked Hermione, but she did think she had had enough of her for the day.

When Harry and Ron arrived, they received a very stiff greeting from Hermione. The damage had been done -- couldn't Hermione just put it behind her? Still it was better than no greeting at all and that was what Ginny gave them. Of course, now Ginny didn't have to be near Harry and could at least eat in peace. But it was just so sad that she was actually happy about that. Well, a little happy anyway.

Ginny suddenly heard a rushing sound above her and looked up to see about a hundred owls swooping down into the room. She involuntarily jumped in fright though she knew it must simply be the morning mail. Fleeta Fleece grinned superiorly at her. Ginny felt humiliated.

"Errol!" she heard Ron say. Ginny looked down the table and saw Errol had crashed into Hermione's milk jug while attempting to make a delivery. She was about to scoot closer to see what the letter was until she noticed Errol had a scarlet envelope in his beak -- a Howler. Ginny cautiously backed away hoping Fleeta Fleece didn't know she and Ron were related.

Ginny tried to go back to eating and pretend she hadn't noticed the Howler, but she was anxious simply because she knew what would happen in a few moment and couldn't resist half-listening.

"What's the matter?"

"She's -- she's sent me a Howler."

"You'd better open it, Ron -- it'll be worse if you don't. My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and --" (Ginny heard a gulp) "-- it was horrible."

There was silence for a moment as Ginny tried to think only about eating her porridge. She didn't really care what she was eating at this point so long as it preoccupied her.

"What's a Howler?" Ginny heard Harry ask. There was no answer, but she knew poor Harry would know in just a few seconds...

"Open it -- it'll all be over in a few minutes --"

Ginny tried to think of a good way to get out of the Great Hall before Ron would be forced to open the Howler, but she couldn't. She looked up, giving up on her previous plan, and began to brace herself for what was going to happen.

Just because Ginny knew what was coming didn't mean she was ready for it. At the most unexpected moment, she heard a loud burst of sound. She had known what she would hear before she heard it and she was right -- it was her mother's voice, magically magnified about a thousand times, scolding Ron for flying the car to school. The world was so unfair. It wasn't Harry and Ron's fault the train had left without them, but Harry looked so ashamed of himself...

As talk began to rise up again Ginny looked down at her porridge, no longer feeling hungry. Ginny didn't know who she was more angry with -- Harry and Ron had been beaten up by a mad tree and were made to feel guilty for it by her mother, Hermione and Percy, but were adored for it by almost everyone else in Gryffindor. Harry and Ron shouldn't have been scolded or praised for what had happened -- they should have been pitied. Was Ginny the only one who could see how they must feel?

Or was she simply the only one who cared?

If she were Harry's friend, Ginny would gently put her arms around him, stroke his back and tell him the whole thing about the flying car wasn't his fault. He would really like her because she would be so understanding -- not at all like the heroines of some books Ginny had read who always seemed to demand absurd feats of the hero. Harry was only human after all -- just like she was. Ginny felt certain that if Harry knew her -- really knew her -- he would like her just as much as she did him.

But that was never going to happen. She had blown her chance to connect with Harry over the summer. She so wanted to be his friend, but just being around him made her feel more self-conscious than she could handle. Maybe it was just not to be.

Ginny looked down at her schedule to see what her first class was.