Ginny Weasley and The Year of The Snake

Ginny Weasley & The Year of The Snake

Chapter One ~ A Conversation on the Stairs

It was freezing on the tiny platform of Hogsmeade station, the rain was driving down in icy sheets. Ginny heard Hagrid's familiar voice call out.

"Firs'-years this way!"

Ginny turned around and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake. Ginny remembered what it had been like to cross that lake on her first time to Hogwarts. She remembered how excited she had been to come to Hogwarts, how much she'd been looking forward to it and how badly it had turned out. Suppressing a shudder she turned and followed the rest of the school up the rough muddy track to where at least a hundred stagecoaches were waiting for them. She couldn't see anything pulling them but assumed that it was probably just a spell. She spotted a familiar brown head getting into the carriage nearest her and pushed her way through the remainder of the crowd and pulled her self into the carriage. The carriage smelled faintly of mould and straw inside.

"Hey Rose," said Ginny, sitting on the seat opposite her.

"Hello Ginny," said Rose coldly.

"How was your holiday?" asked Ginny frowning.

"Fine thank you," replied Rose just as coldly. Ginny was just about to open her mouth to ask what was wrong but Rose turned to look out of the window before she could get anything out. The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was uneventful, except, when they travelled through a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates where two towering Dementors stood guard. Ginny sighed quietly and leant back into the lumpy seat, she hoped this would be a better year than the last.

The carriage swayed to a halt and Ginny scrambled out, stepping down into the icy rain. She joined the throng of students working their way up the castle steps. She pushed her way through the large group of them at the door to the Great Hall and made her way inside. She went and sat down at the Gryffindor table and waited for her brothers to show up. She only had to wait a few moments before she saw Fred and George enter the Hall. They ambled over to her and sat down on either side.

"Hi there Ginny," said Fred.

"How's our baby sister?" asked George, patting her head.

"I'm good," replied Ginny, sticking her tongue out at him.

George gasped. "What rudeness Gin, I wonder who you could have possibly learned that from," he said teasingly.

"Who cares," said Ron flinging himself down next to Fred. "I just want to know when the feast is going to start," he said peering around at the packed hall.

"Well the Sorting is about to start," said Ginny, pointing at the old tattered Sorting Hat. Silence descended on the Hall as a tear near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat began to sing.

"A Thousand years or more ago,

When I was newly sewn,

There lived four wizards of renown,

Whose names are still well known.

Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,

Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,

Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,

Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.

Now each of these four founders,

They valued different virtues.

Bold Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring nerve and chivalry,

Set Gryffindors apart.

Fair Ravenclaw, if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind.

Or perhaps in sweet Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,

And unafraid of toil.

Or yet in shrewd old Slytherin,

For those with great ambition,

Those cunning folk'll use any means,

To achieve their plans.

Yet how to pick the worthy ones,

When they were dead and gone?

'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,

He whipped me off his head.

The founders put some brains in me,

So I could choose instead!

So slip me now around your head,

I've never yet been wrong,

I'll take a look inside your mind,

And tell you where you ought belong."

The hall burst into applause as the song ended and the Hat bowed politely to each of the four tables before becoming still again.

Professor Flitwick stepped forward and unrolled a long piece of parchment that touched the floor. "When I call out your name you will please put on the hat and sit on this stool." Ginny smiled when she heard Ron exclaim when he saw how long the list was and realised how many names he would have to sit through before he could start eating.

"Anderson, Rebecca!"

A tall girl with glasses and brown curly hair stepped forward, put on the hat, which slid down over her eyes and sat down on the stool. After a moments pause the Hat yelled out,

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Hufflepuffs clapped loudly and welcomed their newest member.

"Barnard, Sarah!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Barnard, Sophie!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Cool, more twins," said George to Fred. Fred rolled his eyes.

"Bulstrode, Julian!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Calloway, Alyssa!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Where's Hermione?" Ginny asked Ron.

"No idea, Professor McGonagall wanted to see her and Harry about something," Ron replied.

"Oh, so that's why its Flitwick doing the sorting not her," said Ginny turning back to watch 'Eleanora, Felton' get sorted into Slytherin.

"Gilbert, Michael!'

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Isn't that your friend Rebecca Gilbert's little brother?" asked Ron twirling his fork around in his fingers.

"Yeah, I wonder where she's sitting?" said Ginny.

"Down there, with that other girl, the one with brown hair. What's her name?" asked Ron pointing down to the other end of the table nearest the door.

"Rose McDougal," said Ginny frowning.

"Why aren't you sitting with them then, I thought you three were friends?" asked Ron.

"We are," said Ginny thoughtfully. "Just that Rose was in a bad mood earlier in the carriage so I though I'd sit with you guys instead."

Ron nodded and returned to spinning the fork and Ginny went back to watching the Sorting ceremony.

"Gioseffi, Katherine!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Griffin, Benjamin!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Howard, James!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Ignatius, Balthazar!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Ivory, Alexander!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Lang, Mai-Ling!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"McDonald, Rianne!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Montague, Lyra!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Oliver, Leo!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Sloper, Jack!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"How many more can there be?" groaned Ron.

"That many," said Fred, pointing at the diminishing line of first years.

"Oh very funny Fred," Ron replied rolling his eyes.

"Have either of you ever noticed that pretty much everyone with Asian descent seems to end up in Ravenclaw? asked Ginny.

"Well yeah," said Fred.

"Cause that's where all the good looking ones go," finished George. "That Cho girl doesn't look too bad," he said, glancing over at the Ravenclaw table.

"George," said Fred reaching over Ginny and slapping his brother on the back of the head. "She's on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, you know what Oliver said about dating people from other teams."

"Humph."

"Anyway, I thought you were interested in Alicia Spinnet?"

"I am," sighed George, "but she doesn't seem to be interested in me."

"Don't worry George, she'll come around, maybe you should just stop playing so many practical jokes on her," said Ginny patting her brother on the back.

"Hey look its almost over," said Ron cheerfully. The four of them looked back at the sorting to watch the last four being sorted.

"Vieira, Matthew!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Whiting, Ellen!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Windsor, Francis!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Zabini, Sebastian!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"You made it," said Ron noticing Harry and Hermione and moving over so that they could sit down. Ginny saw Ron mutter something to Harry but couldn't quite hear what it was. Harry had just opened his mouth to say something back when Dumbledore stood up for his start of term notices. Ginny smiled, she had always liked Dumbledore, and he'd been so nice and understanding about what had happened last year. You couldn't help but trust him.

Dumbledore stood and beamed around at everyone.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast. As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on ministry business. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave the school without permission. Dementors are not fooled by tricks or disguises, or even invisibility cloaks. It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the Prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no students runs foul of the Dementors. On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. Firstly, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. As to our second new appointment, well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other that Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his game keeping duties." Ginny grinned happily and clapped along loudly with the rest of the students at the Gryffindor table. When the applause had finally died down Dumbledore said a few more words and then the golden plates began to fill with food.

~*~

"Rose, Becca wait up," called Ginny, pushing her way through the other students on their way to bed. She had just reached the doors when she felt someone grab her wrist. She turned to see who it was and gasped. "Malfoy! Let go of me!" she shrieked wrenching her arm out of his grip.

"Oh, sorry, wrong person," said Draco, not even realising who she was and grabbed the person next to her. "Why'd you run off like that Celeste, I thought you were going to help me play that prank on Pansy?" he asked the girl. Ginny looked to see whom Malfoy was talking to, it was a pretty girl about her own height maybe a little bit taller with golden-red coloured hair and bright blue eyes. Ginny remembered her from her Potions class with the Slytherins.

"Aww, Draco, if Aury catches us she'll give us detention for sure, you know how she's been with the whole 'I'm a Prefect' thing," said the girl that Draco had called Celeste. Aury, whoever that was, reminded Ginny of Percy when he had become a Prefect.

"But she won't catch us. You know she's going to be busy with the stupid first years for at least another fifteen minutes and knowing her she'll go through all the rules as well. That's got to give us at least half an hour. She won't catch us and anyway if she does she'll blame it on Blaise, you know what those two are like," said Draco, giving her a pleading look.

"Fine, fine, I'll help," said Celeste laughing at Draco's pathetic face.

"Excellent," said Draco, his normal smirk returning. They began heading out of the Great Hall again when Draco whirled around and stared at Ginny. "Are you Ginny Weasley?" he asked Ginny.

Ginny stared at him in astonishment.

"Of course she is," said Celeste, looking in bewilderment at Draco.

"Strange," said Draco, more to himself than anyone else.

"What do you mean strange!" said Ginny recovering from her shock.

"You just look different is all," he said before whirling around and heading out the doors, Celeste followed him after throwing a puzzled look at Ginny.

Ginny shook her head, bewildered by what had just gone on and hurried out of the hall and up the marble staircase that led to the first floor. She ran along the first floor corridor and up another flight of steps and on to a landing and up a third flight of steps that went up two floors and came out at the opposite end of the corridor leading to the Gryffindor common room. Catching her breath she walked towards the common room. "Fortuna Major," said Ginny to the portrait of the Fat Lady. The Fat Lady smiled down at Ginny before swinging open. Ginny climbed through the entrance to Gryffindor tower and looked around for her friends. She spotted Michael Gilbert, Rebecca's younger brother and walked over to ask if he knew where Rebecca was. Except the second Michael caught sight of her he turned and scurried up the stairs to the boys dorm. Before she got a chance to even think about his odd behaviour someone clapped her on the back. She turned around and saw John Donovan, a boy in her year, smiling sardonically at her.

"Not planning on setting another Basilisk on us this year I hope, Ginny?" he said sinisterly, gripping her shoulder hard.

"No," she said faintly, feeling slightly scared. John Donovan was not somebody you wanted to annoy. He was generally very nice but if you got on his bad side you'd most likely be shunned for the rest of your school life. His father was very high up in the Ministry and did a lot of work for Azkaban. Although their whole family had always been in Gryffindor they would have done very well in Slytherin, especially John.

"Well that's good isn't it," he said brightly, "because if you were..." he trailed off, let go of her arm and walked away.

"What is with everyone today?" Ginny muttered to herself. She took one more look around the common room and figured her friends must be in the dormitory and set off up the stairs.

~*~

"What was that, Draco?" asked Celeste, grabbing hold of his arm and swinging him around to look at her.

"What was what?" asked Draco.

"Why did you ask if that was Ginny? I mean you must have known it was Ginny, you've teased her often enough," said Celeste pointedly.

"Well I thought it was, but like I said, she seemed different," said Draco, playing with the ring on his finger absently.

"What sort of different?" asked Celeste, determined to know what Draco thought.

Draco sighed exasperatedly. "Well her eyes for one thing, they didn't look brown and I thought they were and her hair didn't look red, actually it looked more like a brown or black. I dunno," he said, flinging his arms up. "I only saw her for a split second.

"So why'd you ask if it was Ginny?"

"Cause as we were leaving I glanced back at her and I thought it was Weasley, but she looked different before, so I asked. One of them 'spur of the moment' things I suppose, but ah well, now how about this joke?"

Celeste rolled her eyes. "Do you ever think of anything else except tormenting people?"

"Not much," said Draco seriously.

"Come on you great galumphing galoot."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?" yelled Draco after her retreating form.

"AN AWKWARD, UNCOUTH PERSON!" she yelled back.

~*~

"There you are," said Ginny when she caught sight of Rebecca and Rose sitting on Rose's bed. "Didn't you hear me call out to you in the Great Hall?"

"No, must have missed it. Sorry," said Rose, sounding as though she couldn't have cared less. Ginny glared at her.

"What's the matter with you, why are you being so mean?" asked Ginny, starting to feel angry with her.

"I'm not being mean, Ginny, I just don't want to talk to you," said Rose very slowly and coldly. Ginny could practically see the ice dripping off her words.

"Why not?" said Ginny angrily.

"Because," said Rose, as if it was obvious, "you, are a freak!"

"What!" exclaimed Ginny, her voice beginning to rise.

"Rose!" hissed Rebecca.

"Fine!" said Ginny, her blue eyes flashing in fury. She turned on her heel and ran out of the room, down the stairs and out the portrait hole. She ran through the corridor until she reached a tapestry of a young boy, dressed in Gryffindor colours with a high ruff around his neck. She yanked it back unceremoniously and stepped through the hole in the wall onto a wide stone staircase. She stumbled down the stairs holding tightly to the railing. Tears stung her eyes, she couldn't see where she was going, and didn't remember how long she'd been going down. Had she missed the turn off? She stopped and wiped her eyes roughly with the back of her hand, glancing down she saw the bottom of the stairs only a few feet away and a faint light was flickering. It was obvious she had come too far since she'd been in this place a hundred times but never this far. Ginny sat down on the steps and glared at the floor. "Stupid school! I hate it here! Why couldn't I have been born a Muggle, or at least a Squib, it would have been so much easier!" she shouted into the darkness, her voice echoing off the high walls. She grabbed a piece of stone that must have fallen out of the wall at some time and threw it with all her might at the flickering light.

"Ow!" yelped someone.

"Who's there?" called Ginny, feeling anxious. What if it was someone who would report her for being out of the dorms after curfew?

"Just me, and aren't you a little young for teenage angst?" asked a tall, gangly blonde boy, who was standing smiling down at her.

"Who are you?" asked Ginny.

"Phillippe."

"How do you know how to get in here?" she asked, puzzlement imprinted on her face.

"My common room is just outside here, on the other side of the hall actually and when you're brothers with Lachlan you always know where everything is," he said sitting down a few steps below her.

"Oh," said Ginny, feeling rather stupid.

"I came out into the hall because all the first years are kind of crowding up the common room and I heard someone shouting in here and thought I'd come see who it was. Sorry about scaring you," said Phillippe looking up at her.

"That's okay," said Ginny, nodding her head sincerely. "Who's Lachlan?"

"My older brother, he's in the sixth year," he said shrugging, "he's a Prefect actually, but no one knows why, everyone reckoned he'd be the last person to get it."

"Why's that?" asked Ginny, beginning to like this boy.

"You know those two Weasley twins?" asked Phillippe.

"Yeah, who doesn't?" said Ginny laughing.

"Exactly," he smiled, "anyway, Lachlan's just like them except maybe not quite so over the top. He mostly just does stuff to his own house. Why were you yelling all that stuff out before, if you don't mind me asking that is?"

"Oh," said Ginny he cheeks flushing a bright pink. "Well, some of my friends, that is, we were still friends at the end of last year but now they said they don't want to talk to me anymore. Actually Rose just said it, but whatever she does Becca will do too."

"Do you know why they don't want to talk to you?" asked Phillippe.

"They called me a freak," said Ginny quietly, "and John Donovan asked if I was going to set another Basilisk on them this year."

"Are you Ginny Weasley?" asked Phillippe after a quiet pause.

"Yes, but I didn't do it on purpose! It wasn't my fault! I didn't know what was happening!" said Ginny hurriedly, afraid that Phillippe would leave.

"I know you didn't, its okay," said Phillippe reassuringly.

"Thanks," said Ginny gratefully. She was just about to open her mouth to say something else when two people laughing loudly pulled back what Ginny assumed to be another tapestry covering the entrance to the flight of steps she and Phillippe were sitting on and stepped inside, still laughing uncontrollably.

"You do realise that if Aury catches you, you'll both be cleaning the Slytherin bathrooms with a toothbrush. Do you have any idea how long that takes?" said Phillippe slowly and softly. The laughing stopped abruptly.

"Phillippe, is that you?" asked a boy.

"Yes, Draco," said Phillippe whose eyes had become accustomed to the dark and could actually see them. Ginny's eyes widened. Malfoy? What's Malfoy doing here?

"Hey Philly, what you doing in here?" asked the girl standing next to Draco.

"Talking," replied Phillippe.

"Oooh, do you have a girlfriend, Zabini?" asked Draco cheerfully.

"No, just talking to my friend Ginny," said Phillippe, knowing that Draco would probably have a heart attack when he realised who it was.

"Oh, hey Ginny. How are you?" asked Celeste, noticing who it was and sitting on the step below her.

"G-good," stuttered Ginny. Here she was, after curfew, sitting in a secret stairwell, with a boy she'd just met and two Slytherins.

"What on earth are you doing in here Weasley?" asked Draco disdainfully.

"For goodness sake Draco, stop being such a prick," said Celeste.

"What the hell are you two doing in here, anyway?" asked Phillippe in an attempt to change the subject. Arguments between Draco and Celeste were never pleasant.

"We're getting back at Pansy for being an overbearing cow," explained Draco.

"We've put white die in her hair care potion, two stink bombs in her pillowcase, short sheeted her bed and stuck a Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Firework on the inside of the water jug beside her bed, so when she pours herself a drink it'll be doused in water and will go off, pretty much in her hand," chortled Celeste.

"We thought it would be a good idea to depart for a while. It ain't going to be a pretty sight," nodded Draco seriously. "Especially since Aury's now a Prefect, imagine how much trouble the culprit will be in when Pansy tells her what happened," he said, smiling innocently.

"Uh-uh," said Phillippe turning to Celeste, "you do realise that Aury will blame our darling brother Blaise, don't you? Phillippe asked.

"Well, yeah," replied Celeste.

"And, this doesn't bother you?" he continued, raising an eyebrow.

"No," answered Celeste, looking confused, "should it?"

"Are you two related?" burst out Ginny, who had up until this point been too surprised to say anything.

"Of course they are, Weasley, the do have the same last name you know" said Draco condescendingly.

"I didn't realise," blushed Ginny.

Phillippe sent Draco a scathing look. "There's ten of us actually," he said.

"Yeah, our Dad's Italian, he wanted a big family," continued Celeste.

"He got a big family," laughed Phillippe.

"Bloody rabbits," muttered Draco.

Celeste rolled her eyes. "It goes Zara, Lachlan, Aurora, also known as Aury, Phillippe, Blaise, me, Sebastian, Zachary, Tristan and the youngest one, Azalia, she's eight. And to top it all off we're all in Slytherin," said Celeste.

"You are?" asked Ginny bewildered. "But I thought you were in Hufflepuff, you're so nice" said Ginny looking at Phillippe. This was too much for Draco who collapsed onto the floor laughing so hard, tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"You know Ginny," said Celeste seriously, "not all Slytherins are mean. Sure there are ones like Pansy Parkinson who are complete and utter bitches and there are complete dickheads like Draco here, but we're not all bad, really. Anyway, Draco's actually quite nice once you get past the whole 'I'm so much better than you' attitude. Its just misconception that all Slytherins are evil."

"Yeah, honestly Ginny, we really aren't that bad," said Phillippe, throwing a nasty look at Draco, who was now lying on the ground taking large steadying breaths. "Honestly, it wasn't that funny, was it?" he asked.

"Actually, it was pretty funny," said Celeste grinning.

~*~

Ginny walked up the stairs to her dormitory, Phillippe's parting words still racing around her mind. "If anyone gives you any trouble just come and find me. Wouldn't want anything to happen to our little Heir of Slytherin, now would we?" Ginny doubted that she would ever take him up on the offer. She yawned widely, crawled into bed and was asleep before her head even touched the pillow.