A Taste of Smoke

Ginny sighed and looked around her. Her last year at Hogwarts. It was an interesting thought, one Ginny wasn't sure she was ready for. It wasn't that she didn't want to graduate, at times it felt like that was only thing she wanted in her life! The problem was that after Hogwarts the future was so blurry. Her family, especially her parents, seemed to take it for granted that she would join the Order and follow in her Gryffindor family's footsteps but Ginny was tired of following. No one ever saw her for her; they saw her red hair and saw her brothers. At times Ginny just wanted to shout, "I AM A GIRL DAMMIT!" But she knew that would not help anything. Her family had not even noticed that she had changed this summer, well Charlie had because he always noticed everything about Ginny, but he was the only one. The rest just glanced over her and dismissed her as the littlest Weasley. "Well to hell with them," thought Ginny. "I don't need them or anyone. I am free in nine months. Relatively speaking it's a very short time. Then I can go off and do what ever I want. No more littlest Weasley for me!"

Ginny sighed again. No matter what she told herself nine months seemed interminable. Nine months of the same thing over and over and over. Hogwarts suddenly seemed so mundane. "Well, there is one surprise," amended Ginny, her eyes drifting over to where Malfoy was sitting. Just at that moment he looked up and caught her assessing him. He scowled and she mentally shrugged. Malfoy was the same spoiled little boy as he always was, hiding behind his sneer. "He does sneer an awful lot. I wonder if he can stand being here without Harry and his usual enemies? Oh well, it's not like he ever noticed me before." Ginny stopped her mental wanderings, why did it matter if Malfoy noticed her? He was never important. Confused, Ginny turned to Colin to answer a question he had been asking her about, something about what she thought Draco was doing back.

All around Ginny, the sudden reappearance of Malfoy was all people could talk about. It was just another thing that Ginny was tired of. For the seven years she was at Hogwarts all her Housemates could do was gossip about people, specifically Draco Malfoy and the other Slytherins. It just added to the monotony. Ginny wished her friends could talk about something else. At least Colin usually talked about photography, except for tonight. She dismissed Colin's question by asking him about his summer project which was to develop Muggle photos with wizarding film. Apparently it seemed to work except that as soon as the Muggles realized they could move they either got scared and ran away or they remained fixedly in one place. Luckily, just as Colin was finishing his explanation of the trials and tribulations of combing the Muggle and wizarding world, Dumbledore stood up to welcome everyone back to Hogwarts.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts," intoned Dumbledore. "Before you are dismissed to go to your respective Houses, I would like to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is off limits too all Hogwarts students. Also, I would like to welcome Professor Pinch as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. I am sure you will find her as interesting as her spells are useful. There has been an additional staff member added to the Hogwarts roll this year: Draco Malfoy as Deputy Head Boy. In these times of heightened tension an extra level of protection is not unwelcome. After showing the first years to their dorms and distributing the new passwords, will all the prefects and the Head Boy and Girl please join Mr. Malfoy in the Study Room beside the Library to go over the plan for the upcoming year. That is all, thank you very much; you may go to your rooms now."

Instead of heading to the Gryffindor Common Room, Ginny headed directly to the Study Room. She knew that the other prefects would show the first years where to go and tell them the password. With Peter as the other Seventh Year prefect and Head Boy, she knew the Gryffs were in good hands. Besides, Peter liked to take control and would not miss her at all. She was not the only prefect who had that idea apparently because when Ginny stepped into the Study Room she was greeted with a squeal of girlish joy. For the first time that evening, Ginny smiled a full smile!

"Luna!" she cried.

"Ginny!" answered Luna as they fell into each other's arms.

"It's been too long," said Ginny.

"I know. The summer was not the same without you."

"How was Greece? Did your father find what he was looking for?"

"Yes! We got some lovely photos of a family of Hippocampi. I think it may even with some awards."

"I hope so!"

Luna was Ginny's closest friend probably because Ginny could never predict what Luna was going to say or do. Luna accepted everyone as they were and was one of the only people who saw Ginny for who she really was, even though Luna was hopelessly in love with Ron.

"Well, that was touching. Aren't you supposed to be with your Houses?" interrupted Draco.

Ginny turned around. This was the first time she was able to study Draco face to face. He seemed more muscular than she remembered. She had to admit the muscles were flattering, for an albino ferret, Ginny quickly amended to her silent assessment when she realized what she was doing. Ginny mentally shook herself. There was no reason to be considering Malfoy, even if he suddenly turned into a sex god; he was still an arrogant git. Ginny had the horrible suspicion that Draco had noticed her appraisal when his customary smirk spread across his features. To cover up her blunder, Ginny replied as curtly as possible, "Since when does it take seven people to tell eleven firsties a ridiculously simple password?"

Draco was spared from replying, or Ginny was spared from Draco's sarcasm, when the six prefects from Slytherin entered the Study Room. As soon as they saw Draco their conversation stopped and they became visibly edgy. "Helwan, Sais, Daliya, Ward, Doran, Lisht," greeted Draco. Adrianne Lisht, clearly the leader of the group as a Seventh Year, nodded her acknowledgement to Draco. Ginny remembered that last year Adrianne was part of what she dubbed the Ferret Fan Club. "Well, she must be happy about the new state of things." Draco paid them no more attention as he waited for all the prefects to gather. Predictably the Gryffindor prefects were the last to enter.

"I know all of you are wondering what I am doing here again. Let me assure you, I have no more desire to be here than you have to see me here, but this is how things are. Basically my job is to help with patrols and to deal with the punishments you give. You are to report to me all punishments that you mete out, and any disciplinary cases you feel are above your meager abilities you are to give to me."

"Here are the schedules for September's patrols. Please take one. I do not have the time or the inclination to make copies so this is the only schedule you will get. There are no substitutions and no complaining. That is all. You may leave."

Ginny snorted. Leave it to Malfoy to be cryptic and superior when explaining, oh, anything at all. Ginny very much doubted that they would have even had this conversation if Dumbledore had not announced it. She glanced at her schedule and was not surprised to see that she seemed to be patrolling every Friday and Saturday. "Well, there goes my weekend. Not like I was doing much else with my time," she thought. The other Gryffindors did not seem to share Ginny's nonchalance and were busy giving Draco's back death glares. "Oh well," grumbled Emily, a sixth year prefect. "What else can you expect from a Death Eater?" Ginny could not resist giving Draco one last glance after that comment was made. If Draco heard the comment, which he probably did, he gave no indication. "Nope, Malfoy has definitely not changed."

***

That night Ginny lay awake longer than she thought was necessary thinking about the upcoming school year. It wasn't that she wasn't tired, she was, but just as she would start to drift off to sleep an image of a blond head would pop into her mind. This threw her into such a tizzy about why she was thinking about Malfoy of all people, it would wake her up from her doze and she would have to start the process all over again. After an hour and a half she was thoroughly sick of this and decided she needed to do something about it.