Ginny Weasley and The Year of The Snake

Ginny Weasley & The Year of The Snake

Chapter Three ~ The Bad Side of Gryffindors

Ginny traipsed up to her dormitory, pushed open the door and trudged over to her bed. She dropped her bag at the end of her bed, sat down and drew the crimson curtains around herself. Sighing, Ginny lent back on her pillows and pulled her bag towards her. She held it upside down, letting pieces of parchment, quills and books rain down into her lap.

"Homework seemed so much easier last year, probably because Tom was helping me," mused Ginny to herself, turning the pages of her transfiguration notebook. She glared at her messy notes and threw it aside in disgust. "I'll do it later," she said to herself and curled up on her side, pulling a little toy dog from under her pillow and hugging him tightly.

~*~

"How's Draco," asked Phillippe, flopping down onto the couch beside Celeste.

"Either sulking from being bathed by Madam Pomfrey or contemplating the detention he's going to be given," replied Celeste, staring into the fire.

"Oh, care to explain?" asked Phillippe.

"Ginny and I took him some lunch, and they got into a bit of a fight and she ended up pouring pumpkin juice all over him," said Celeste, smirking.

"Good for her, he could do with a bit of colour," said Phillippe, smiling.

"Phillippe!" cried Celeste, hitting her brother on the arm. "Don't tease him, it's not his fault he's got vampire in him."

"Sure he does," said Phillippe sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"He might," said Celeste, looking amused, "you never know with that lot."

Phillippe laughed and stood up to leave. "Well, anyway, it's nice to see you're taking my advice," said Phillippe, looking pleased.

"Yeah, well I think she's nice and I dunno, her friends, or ex-friends seem pretty mean to me. I know, I've been watching them in class and at meals," explained Celeste.

"Oh, and Celeste, why would he have been bathed by Madam Pomfrey?" he asked.

"Well, she did say he would have to be bathed, just not if she was doing it, but wouldn't it be funny if she did," said Celeste, looking malicious.

"You're terrible, you do know that, right?" asked Phillippe.

"You wouldn't want me any other way," replied Celeste, confidently. "Right?"

"Right. Cya kid," he said, ruffling her hair and walking away.

"Right," said Celeste quietly, looking back into the fire.

~*~

"Where's Ginny?" Hermione asked Ron.

"No idea, why?" asked Ron.

"I was just wondering if she'd seen my Arithmancy book, I seem to have mislaid it," said Hermione, looking along the Gryffindor table on Monday morning, but she couldn't see Ginny anywhere.

"You probably just left it in the common room," said Harry, "you going to eat that?" he asked, pointing to her piece of toast.

"No, you have it," said Hermione, standing up. "Come on, we'd better get going, we don't want to be late for Divination," Hermione snapped, pulling Ron's sleeve, "hurry up." Hermione walked hurriedly towards the doors, Ron following after her.

"Hold on you two," cried Harry, grabbing his books and running after them. He ran around the corner and crashed straight into Ginny Weasley.

"Watch where you're going next time," snarled Ginny, getting up and brushing off her robes. Harry scrambled to his feet.

"Sorry, Gin," he said, looking down at her. His green eyes widened in surprise, her normally bright brown eyes seemed dull with large dark rims under them. Her vivid red hair was hanging limply down her back and looked messy, as though she hadn't bothered to brush it lately. "Err, got to go, don't want to be late for class," he said hurriedly, and ran off after Ron and Hermione.

Ginny shrugged and continued on, she was in no mood to worry about other people's strange behaviour. She walked across the stone flags of the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Ginny stared in dismay at the miniscule amount of food that her housemates had left her. She pulled a clean plate towards her and picked up a piece of toast and some bacon.

Ginny ran over what she had being thinking about that weekend while she munched idly on her piece of toast. She had thought about what Phillippe and Celeste had told her. How Rose, Becca, John and now even Colin had turned against her. They wouldn't even look at her now. Ginny had heard Rose and Becca talking about her on Friday afternoon, they hadn't known she was lying on her bed with the curtains closed. Rose had mentioned that Ginny wasn't a real Gryffindor, because real Gryffindors didn't let themselves be associated with Slytherins, let alone disappear with them at lunch or sit with them in class. That a true Gryffindor would never have attacked anybody, or let themselves be possessed, and that she, Ginny, could not be trusted. They had left after that, apparently Becca had to meet Colin and after they had gone Ginny cried herself to sleep. When she'd woken up she had gone down stairs to sit in front of the dying fire in the common room. The Sorting Hat had told Ginny that it thought she would do well in Slytherin. It had wanted to put her there, but she had told it very firmly that she should be put in Gryffindor, because, if she weren't it would break her mother's heart. So the Hat had placed her in Gryffindor, but now Ginny was starting to think that maybe she should have risked her mother's heart and listened to the Hat. After all, hadn't it been sorting students for at least a thousand years, you'd think it would know what it was talking about by now. Celeste had said that she should be a Slytherin, not a Gryffindor. Phillippe had called her the little Heir of Slytherin. Rose said that she wasn't a real Gryffindor, and Tom, evil, manipulating Tom. Ginny's Tom. He had said many times, that if she'd only stop being so obsessed with Harry Potter and bothered to focus on her own ambitions she would have made a wonderful Slytherin. Her ambitions? What were her ambitions? Ginny had sat by the fire, its fading light flickering on her face, and thought about what she had always wanted. Ever since she was little, she could remember wanting to be different. She didn't want to be known as the littlest Weasley, or the seventh Weasley child, or the Weasley girl, or anything to do with 'Weasley'. It wasn't that she didn't love her family, because she did, it was that she wanted something different, she wanted to be special. She wanted to be rich too. She thought that maybe she could invent a cure for Dragon pox, or a counter curse for Avada Kedavra or become a famous writer. But then she had heard about Harry Potter, how he was famous and everybody loved him. She'd found out everything she could about him and in her naïveté she began to think that maybe if she could meet him and make him like her then they would get married and she wouldn't need to do anything to be different or special, because she would be famous just for being the great Harry Potter's wife. Only, things hadn't gone as planned. She and Harry had met, but Harry was too wrapped up in his own world to even notice her, except, of course, when she had need saving. Tom had told her not to expect too much, after all why would Harry ever notice her. Tom said that if she really wanted to be different she would set herself apart from the rest of her family, do something different, something that would attract attention. He had said that she should find some people with power and become friends with them, no matter what it took. Because when it came down to it, it didn't matter if you were good or evil, it mattered who had the most power. It was only ever the people with the power who were left standing at the end.

~*~

"What are you doing in here, are you still eating breakfast?" asked a blonde girl in Slytherin robes.

"Err," faltered Ginny, staring at her, annoyed a being disturbed mid thought.

"Because if you are you've just missed you're first lesson, I hope you realise that," said the girl.

"I have?" asked Ginny, surprised. "Well then, what are you doing in here?"

"I left something," said the girl, obviously not pleased that she was being asked a question by a younger student.

"Whatever," said Ginny scathingly, getting to her feet and leaving the Great Hall. She hurried along the corridors to her Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. "Sorry I'm late Professor," said Ginny walking into the room.

"That's okay, you've only missed the first five minutes," said Professor Lupin, looking up at her. He stared at her for a moment before frowning and looking back at his class, who were all mutely watching Ginny.

"Do you have your books with you, Miss Weasley?" asked Lupin.

"No," replied Ginny, sitting down at an empty desk.

"Why not?" he asked, his brows knitting together.

"I forgot them," Ginny stated calmly. "Why, were we using them?" she asked, feigning innocence.

"As a matter of fact we are," Lupin replied, "could someone please share with Miss Weasley?" he asked, addressing the rest of the class. None of the Gryffindors moved.

"Anyone?" asked Lupin again.

"I will," said Celeste, beckoning Ginny over to her table. Ginny stood up and walked to the back of the room where Celeste was sitting, without so much as even glancing at her fellow Gryffindors even though they were all glaring daggers at her.

"Hi Celeste," said Ginny sliding into the chair next to her.

"You look terrible," hissed Celeste, "where have you been?"

"Eating," said Ginny nonchalantly.

"Eating," repeated Celeste looking disgusted. "Where have you been this whole weekend, I've been looking everywhere for you?"

"I've been in my room," replied Ginny.

"In your room? The whole weekend?" asked Celeste, sounding disbelieving.

"Yes," replied Ginny, looking guilty.

"Ladies, do please pay attention," came Professor Lupin's voice from across the room.

Ginny drew her chair closer to Celeste and acted as if she was reading the course book diligently. "I've just being doing some thinking, that's all," explained Ginny quietly, so as not to attract Professor Lupin's attention.

"Thinking about what?" whispered Celeste.

"Stuff I haven't thought about in ages," answered Ginny seriously. "Can I trust you?" she asked, looking Celeste straight in the eye.

"Definitely," said Celeste honestly, looking straight back at Ginny.

"Well, I was thinking about what you said, in the Hospital Wing, that you thought I should be in Slytherin," said Ginny, looking at the textbook. "The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, it said I would do well there, but I wanted to go to Gryffindor, like my brothers. Except now I think maybe I should have let it put me where it wanted, I mean wouldn't it have known best. I thought I was doi..." she trailed off under Celeste's stony glare.

"Are you telling me that there could have been another Slytherin girl in my year, besides me and she said she wanted to go to bloody Gryffindor?" ground out Celeste, between clenched teeth.

"I guess," replied Ginny, taken aback by Celeste's reaction.

"You guess," repeated Celeste derisively. "You're the Heir of Slytherin, Ginny, you're famous in Slytherin."

"But I'm not the Heir of Slytherin," said Ginny, starting to feel angry.

"We know that, but its what people call you, they respect you," said Celeste seriously.

"They do?" faltered Ginny.

"Yeah, they do. I bet you anything they'd treat you better than that lot," she said, pointing to the Gryffindors sitting in front of them.

"Why would they do that, I've heard what most of them are like, they hate my sort," said Ginny firmly.

"And what sort would that be?" asked Celeste exasperatedly.

"Muggle lovers and poor wizards," said Ginny, staring at the desk, her cheeks glowing red.

"Maybe so, but we have them in Slytherin and they all have really good friends, they're happy, Ginny and you're not, I can see it," said Celeste resolutely. "We have a couple of half bloods too you know, Adonis and Stacey Beaumont. Their great grandmother was a Veela, but their mum married a Muggle. Actually, come to think of it there's a Muggleborn too, he's a first year, Alexander Ivory."

"Yeah, so, it doesn't matter to me, its not like I could change-"

"Yes, you can!" said Celeste eagerly.

"No, I can't!"

"Why not?" asked Celeste, annoyed at Ginny's continuing stubbornness.

"Because you can't change houses just like that, there must be some sort of rule against it," countered Ginny.

"There isn't," said Celeste smugly.

"How do you know that?" asked Ginny suspiciously.

"Because, I've read Hogwarts: A History and there was never any mention about not being able to change houses."

"Yeah, but I doubt there was any bit saying you could."

"Yes there was. There was a boy who changed from Ravenclaw to Gryffindor about two hundred years ago," Celeste told her with the air of someone who knew everything about everything. "Apparently the Hat wanted to put him in Gryffindor in the first place but he thought he was too smart for Gryffindor and told it to put him in Ravenclaw, but the Hat was right. The boy changed in his third year," said Celeste eagerly. "Come on, what do you think?"

"I think you're nuts. Why would I change houses, especially from Gryffindor to Slytherin? Imagine what my parents would say, anyway all the Slytherins would hate me and as if Professor Snape would have me. That is if Dumbledore even agreed. It wouldn't work," said Ginny firmly, indicating that she wanted the conversation to end.

Celeste glared at her for a moment before continuing on, regardless of what Ginny wanted. "I'm not nuts. There's nothing wrong with changing houses, I wanted to change to Ravenclaw a while back, I even talked to Dumbledore about it, but then I found out I'd have to share a room with Luna Lovegood, so I changed my mind pretty quickly. You would get to share a room with me and we get on pretty well, don't we?"

"Yeah, but-"

"And," continued Celeste hurriedly, before Ginny could start to argue, "I'm sure Professor Snape wouldn't mind, you're one of his best students, we all know that. When I went to talk with Dumbledore he liked the idea about changing houses, he said it might bring more house coalition." Celeste took a big breath and Ginny cut in before she could continue.

"My parents would have a heart attack and all Slytherins hate Gryffindors, why would I be any different," said Ginny pointedly.

"I'm sure your parents would understand and if they really care about you they'll love you just the same," she said enthusiastically. "And if all Slytherins hate Gryffindors, then why on earth would I be talking to you?" reasoned Celeste.

"I, umm, I don't know. Its not like things are bad enough for me to do something drastic like change houses," replied Ginny.

"Sure they aren't," Celeste said sarcastically. "Ginny are you blind or something? They're not talking to you, they glare at you when you pass them, they talk about you behind your back and I'm sure that if you died in the night they wouldn't care less. Who are your other friends in Gryffindor?" asked Celeste suddenly, catching Ginny by surprise.

"Well, there's Colin, actually no," Ginny said, glancing over to where Colin was sitting next to John Donovan. "Well, there's my brothers," she said, determined to think of someone.

"Other then family," said Celeste.

"Harry and Hermione," said Ginny.

"Oh yeah, because I see you spending so much time with them," said Celeste sarcastically, confident that she had won.

"Well at least I don't spend all my time around Malfoy," said Ginny childishly.

"He's not that bad you know. All he is, is a spoilt, blond prat who gets sulky when things don't go his way," replied Celeste, rolling her eyes.

"Malfoy's another reason I wouldn't change," said Ginny stonily. "He hates me."

"What does that matter, everyone else would like you. I like you, so does Phillippe and I'm sure the rest of our family would like you too. There's one of us in every year and if we like someone everyone else generally does too. They don't seem to have a problem with you either," Celeste said, indicating the six Slytherin boys near them "And Draco doesn't actually hate you, he just hates your brothers. It's only because of some stupid fight between your grandfathers that's got passed down the generations. The fight doesn't extend to you because you're a girl and it was just between the guys because Draco's grandfather got angry with your grandfather because he married the girl that Draco's grandfather wanted. So Draco's grandfather killed your grandfather's brother, your great uncle," explained Celeste. "Which makes perfect sense to me and I don't see why you lot are still angry with each other, its kinda silly really."

"How do you know all that?" asked Ginny interestedly.

"I ransacked the Malfoy library, I like wizarding family history," shrugged Celeste. "So you'll think about it?"

"Think about what?" asked Ginny.

"About changing."

"I suppose so," said Ginny, shrugging.

"Cool, well make up your mind sometime soon, you can tell me in detention, its on Thursday in the Trophy room, straight after dinner," said Celeste, as the bell rang for the end of the lesson.

"Yeah, okay, I'll give it some thought," Ginny said noncommittally, standing up and leaving the classroom.

~*~

The rest of the day passed without incident. The Hufflepuffs in Charms and Transfiguration left Ginny alone and the only Ravenclaw in double Herbology who ever even bothered talking to any of the Gryffindors was Luna Lovegood. So Ginny spent the class with Luna potting Mandrakes. At dinner Ginny stared at the Slytherin table while idly picking at her dinner. She watched Celeste and Phillippe talking to each other very fast over a boy with black hair that was sitting in the middle of them, trying to eat his dinner without much success. Ginny wondered what they were talking about, could it be her?

"Ginny, may I have a word?" came Percy's voice form behind her, startling her.

"Sure," said Ginny, turning to face her older brother, "what's up?"

"I've been hearing a rumour that you have been spending a lot of time with a certain Slytherin girl, in classes and out," said Percy gravely. "I don't think that associating with Slytherins is a very good idea Ginny, especially after what happened last year," said Percy, looking very serious. "You never know what people might start to think."

"How do you know, you're not in my classes?" asked Ginny crossly.

"You're friend Rose came to talk to me about you today, she's worried about your behaviour Ginny. She says you're not acting at all like yourself, that you're spending all your free time with those Slytherin children and that you won't talk to her anymore," said Percy anxiously. "I think that you should talk to her, she certainly seemed worried and I also think that you should stop communicating with any of those Slytherins, you'll be better off sticking with your own kind, Ginny," said Percy ominously. Anyway I have to go now," he patted her awkwardly on the shoulder and left.

"How dare he, how dare she! That stupid little cow, I can't believe she lied to him like that and him sticking his nose in my business, he has absolutely no right!" exclaimed Ginny furiously, she rose to her feet suddenly, startling Hermione who was sitting next to her and stormed down the aisle. "McDougal!" said Ginny sharply, looking down at the brunette girl.

"I thought I'd made it quite clear Ginny, we don't speak to traitors like you," said Rose silkily, turning around to face the angry redhead. Ginny was aware that people around them were beginning to eye them warily. Whatever Rose may have said next was anyone's guess because Ginny swung her hand around and slapped Rose with all her might. Gryffindor table went quite. All eyes turned on Ginny. People still had forks on the way to their mouths and others were in the middle of chewing. Ginny's eyes widened in shock and Rose put a hand up to her cheek where a large red mark was growing. Some of the Ravenclaws had turned around in their seats and were staring bewilderedly at the Gryffindors. Rose got to her feet and ran out off the Hall crying loudly. Ginny was about to turn and walk away when a hand came down on her shoulder. She whirled around and saw Professor McGonagall looking down at her sharply.

"What was that about, Miss Weasley?" asked Professor McGonagall. Ginny opened her mouth to say something but no sound came out. "Perhaps you should come with me," said Professor McGonagall, motioning for Ginny to follow her. Some of the students watched her go but the rest just thought that it was probably only a fight that had got out of hand, so they went back to eating. Harry, Hermione and Ron stared at her in stunned silence as she passed them. Ginny followed her head of house up the marble staircase, down a hallway and into McGonagall's office. "Please take a seat," said Professor McGonagall, indicating one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"Am I in a lot of trouble?" asked Ginny quietly.

"No. Not yet at any rate. Although I would recommend that you not hit people with quite that much force," replied McGonagall. Ginny saw an amused look in her eyes but it was gone the next second "I actually wanted to speak with you and now seems as good a time as any."

"You did?" asked Ginny surprised.

"Yes, actually I wanted to talk to you about a few things that have come up recently. Firstly, I would like to know why you weren't in History of Magic today? I know some of you may think it an unnecessary subject but you are still required to attend lessons."

"I was late to breakfast and I, well, I just forgot to go to class," said Ginny, her cheeks resembling two strawberries.

"I see, well as long as you don't make it a habit to forget about your classes, it should be okay," said McGonagall. "Now, something interesting happened today. I was approached by two Slytherins, who were concerned about your well-being. They seemed to believe that some of the Gryffindors in your year were being unpleasant towards you. Is this true?" she asked, looking very serious.

"They," began Ginny, but was cut off by Dumbledore entering the room.

"Hello Minerva, Miss Weasley, how are you?" he asked brightly, sitting down in the seat next to Ginny.

"Alright, Sir," answered Ginny.

"Good, good," continued Dumbledore. "Well carry on," he said and popped a lemon drop in his mouth. "Would either of you like one," he asked, indicating the lollies. McGonagall and Ginny stared at him. "Obviously not."

"Well, what were you going to say, Miss Weasley?" asked McGonagall, turning back to Ginny.

"Its just that they won't talk to me anymore and they said I wasn't a real Gryffindor, that I was a traitor," said Ginny hurriedly, looking at her shoes, which she noticed could do with a good polish. "And, John Donovan said that I'd better not set any monsters on them this year, or else," she said, glancing at McGonagall.

"I see," said McGonagall, pressing her lips together.

Dumbledore nodded slowly and turned his blue eyes on Ginny. "Tell me, Miss Weasley, is there anything you can think of that we might be able to do to amend this?" he asked, his light blue eyes twinkling at her.

"I was thinking that maybe I should change," replied Ginny, self-consciously.

"Really," said Dumbledore eagerly, "why?"

"Well, they're not going to change the way they think about me and if a teacher talked to them it would probably make them despise me even more, but if I changed to a different house that I have friends in who still like me then..." she stopped for a moment to consider what she was saying. "Then it wouldn't matter about the way the others treated me because I wouldn't be there anymore," said Ginny, suddenly realising what Celeste had been trying to make her realise in class earlier.

"Excellent reasons, Miss Weasley, it is a pity that Gryffindor is one of the houses that seems to hold grudges the longest" said Professor Dumbledore. "What do you think, Minerva?"

"As much as I'd rather Miss Weasley stay in my house I do understand her point of view and children can be awfully cruel," she said this last part to Dumbledore. "Do you think it's a good idea, Albus?" she asked, looking worried.

"Well I always like to see students think for themselves," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling away. "In fact last year one of the Zabinis talked with me about changing to Ravenclaw, although she changed her mind in the end, don't know why though, she's would have made an exceptional Ravenclaw. So would Miss Granger come to think of it," Dumbledore said, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Was it Celeste Zabini?" asked Ginny.

"Why yes, I think it was," replied Dumbledore.

"What house were you thinking of going to?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Slytherin," answered Ginny, looking somewhere just about McGonagall's head.

"I thought so," said Dumbledore pleasantly.

"You did?"

"You see Ginny I was actually a little surprised to see you sorted in to Gryffindor. You probably don't remember this but I once met you when you were three and you started talking to me. One of the first things out of your mouth, after you'd asked me for a lolly was 'I'm going to be famous'. I thought that was quite an ambitious statement for a three year old and I felt sure you would end up in Slytherin. So when you were sorted into Gryffindor I realised that I must have being wrong, but as I do at the beginning of every year I had a chat with the Hat," Dumbledore smiled cheerfully. "Can you guess what it told me?"

"That it wanted to put me in Slytherin?" asked Ginny, playing with the hem of her skirt. Professor McGonagall's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"And you said 'no' because you were worried about your mother's reaction and now it seems that the Hat is going to get its way after all. Well maybe, I want you to go away and think about it because this needs to be the right decision for you. and when you've decided if you really want to change or not then come back and tell me. When you've decided, just pop by my office and let me know, the password's Sugar Quill," said Dumbledore, smiling down at her encouragingly.

"Right," said Ginny, getting to her feet. "I suppose I'll come and see you tomorrow or something."

"Miss Weasley, before you go, why did you slap Miss McDougal?" asked Professor McGonagall.

Ginny clenched her fists, her eyes flashing blue for a moment. "She was telling people things about me and well, she deserved it. Anyway, I really should get going it's getting late and curfews at nine. Bye, and thanks, Professors."

"That's quite alright, Miss Weasley," said Professor Dumbledore, watching the young girl leave.

"Well it seems as though you have been right again, Albus," said Minerva frowning at him.

"Yes, pity. I was hoping that things would just go back to normal this year, but obviously that was too much to hope for. Did you notice her eyes?" he asked, sighing.

Minerva nodded looking nervous. "Is it?" she asked, her voice trailing off when she saw Dumbledore nod.

"I believe so. I was hoping that it was entirely gone but it seems not. I hope she decided to change, it would be best for everyone involved and there is a possibility that it will be subdued by being among its own kind," continued Dumbledore, looking suddenly very old.

~*~

Ginny climbed through the entrance to Gryffindor tower her mind racing a mile a minute. She spotted Ron over in a corner with Harry and Hermione so Ginny headed over to them. "Ron, can I speak wit you for a moment?" Ginny asked her brother.

"Err, can it wait Gin, I'm kind of in the middle of something," replied Ron, glancing up at his sister for moment before returning to his chess game with Harry.

Ginny turned away, feeling hurt, she looked around the room but she couldn't see any of her other brothers around. She shrugged and made her way up to her room. There was a light on but no one was in her dormitory. "Oh, no, I can't believe they did something as childish as that, honestly!" exclaimed Ginny, walking over to her trunk, which had been pushed over. Ginny righted the trunk and gathered up her clothes, books and random pieces of junk that had fallen out of her trunk. She pushed back the lid and was about to put her things back inside when she noticed something written in red on the underside of the lid. It was written in what looked like red lipstick and said simply, 'You Will Pay Traitor'.

Ginny gasped and leapt to her feet, dropping her things on the ground. She dashed down the stairs and into the common room, looking for one of her brothers, but they all seemed to have left, even Harry and Hermione were gone. Ginny was about to turn and go back upstairs and find Hermione when she noticed John Donovan crossing the room towards her, a menacing look on his face. Ginny didn't stop to think, she bolted across the room, shoved open the portrait hole and tore down the corridor. She reached the staircase and holding on to the banister jumped down them four at a time. She ran along more corridors and down more flights of stairs until she reached the statue of the stone gargoyle on the second floor that marked the entrance to Dumbledore's office. "Sugar Quills," gasped Ginny, panting hard. That gargoyle leapt out of her way revealing a spiral wooden staircase. Ginny groaned, not more stairs. She had only gone up one step when the spiral staircase began to move slowly upward. It stopped in front of a large old door. Not knowing what else to do she knocked on it loudly.

"Come in," called Dumbledore, "it's not locked."

Ginny pushed it open and stepped into the large and beautiful circular room. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, most of who were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk, which Dumbledore was sitting behind, staring interestedly at her. "I want to change and I want to change now," she demanded, striding over to Dumbledore's desk and peering into the old wizard's amused eyes.

"That was quick, Miss Weasley," said Dumbledore, leaning back in his chair and peering at her over the top of his half moon spectacles.

"I've made up my mind. Anything has got to be better than living with that lot," said Ginny forcefully.

"It's a big decision," said Dumbledore. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to talk this through with your parents?" asked Dumbledore, twinkling at her.

"Sod them, I don't care," replied Ginny impatiently.

"May I ask what made you decided so speedily?" asked Dumbledore, still twinkling annoyingly at her.

"They touched my stuff," replied Ginny heatedly.

"I see. Well if you'd like to take a seat," he said, pointing to one of the large armchairs in front of his desk, "I'll just get the Sorting Hat." Dumbledore rose to his feet and stepped around his chair towards a large shelf that stood behind his desk, reached up and took down the shabby, tattered Sorting Hat. "Here we go," Dumbledore said, walking around his desk to where Ginny sat and placed the Hat gently down on her fiery red head.

"Aha, you again," said a little voice in her ear. "So you've come to get resorted have you?"

"Yes," thought Ginny.

"Its not often students reject the house I want for them, its normally only happens about twice a decade, but I've had three in the past two years. You, Potter and a Miss Hermione Granger, lovely name, Hermione."

Ginny was nonplussed, Hermione and Harry, who would have guessed. "Can we just get on with this," grumbled Ginny. "I'm tired and I don't want to have to go back to Gryffindor common room tonight, I don't feel safe there."

"Okay, keep your hair on. Well, I still think you could do very well in Slytherin, especially after last year, boy was that kid one hell of a Slytherin."

"Huh?" asked Ginny confusedly.

"SLYTHERIN!" yelled the Hat, causing Ginny to jump.

"Congratulations, green will go very nicely with your colouring," said Dumbledore brightly, taking the Hat of her head and placing it back on the shelf. "I'm sure your friend Celeste will be very pleased."

"Err, yes," replied Ginny, not even bothering to ask how he knew she was a friend of Celeste. "So was that it, did I change, it doesn't seem any different?" asked Ginny, feeling a little confused.

"Look at your tie," said Dumbledore, smiling knowingly down at her.

"Oh," said Ginny slowly, looking down at her tie, which was now green and silver stripes instead of red and gold, "wow. Are you sure this is okay to be doing, I mean it is Slytherin?"

"Ginny," said Dumbledore seriously, sitting down at his desk again and leaning forward to look at her. "There is nothing wrong with Slytherin. They are just like every other house, but because Voldemort was a Slytherin they are now scorned and treated with disrespect. Have you noticed how the other houses treat them? Sure, some of the children there aren't exactly people you might want to tell all your secrets to but you can find people like that in every house. As I'm sure you've noticed."

"Yes, but why don't Slytherins care about it, you know, last year, Tom. Celeste said that Slytherins don't care about that and won't hold it against me and the other Slytherins in my classes didn't seem to mind us talking but my house, my old house did," said Ginny, correcting herself.

"An awful lot of Slytherins joined Voldemort, I'm not saying that there weren't people from other houses too, because there were. An awful lot of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs joined too, when he was in full power. Unfortunately Slytherin seems to contain a lot of children from the old wizarding families and most old families have dabbled in the dark arts at one time or another, or their friend's families have. So most of them can already understand what being possessed would have been like. I dare say some of the older children would have seen dark magic first hand. I believe that is what you friend Celeste may have meant," explained Dumbledore. "Also, I believe that because none of them were attacked last year that they would probably think of you as somewhat of a hero, especially after taking down so many Gryffindors," said Dumbledore, winking at her conspiratorially.

Usually Ginny felt very ashamed of her involvement in the attacks of last year, but Dumbledore always had a way to make it seem a little better than it really was.

"Is everything okay?" asked Dumbledore gently.

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, just a little scared, I haven't told anyone that I was even thinking of changing, except Celeste," said Ginny.

"That's quite okay Miss Weasley, this is your decision to make, not theirs and I think that you will be happy there," replied Dumbledore, smiling. "Now, do you think its time to contact your new Head of House," asked Dumbledore, rising from his chair.

"Right, Snape," sighed Ginny.

"Ah, yes, the dreaded Potions Master," chuckled Dumbledore, walking over to the fireplace. He took a small bowl down from the mantelpiece and threw in a handful of the fine green powder. The fire roared green and Dumbledore bent down and called into it. "Severus Snape!" Severus' head appeared a moment later.

"Yes, Headmaster?" asked Professor Snape, his usual scowl firmly in place.

"Could you come up here for a moment?" asked Dumbledore, offering his hand to Severus. Severus's arm appeared a moment later and grabbed Dumbledore's hand firmly. Dumbledore took a few steps back, pulling Severus with him. There was a loud whooshing noise and a second later Professor Snape stood in Dumbledore's office brushing soot of his robes.

Ginny's jaw dropped. "I didn't know you could do that," she said in amazement.

"Of course you can, Miss Weasley," said Snape, after glancing at her. He did a double take when he noticed the changed uniform and spun to face Dumbledore. "What's going on?" he hissed at the Headmaster.

"Severus, I would like to introduce you to the newest Slytherin," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling amusedly.

Severus raised an eyebrow. "I see," said Professor Snape, staring at Ginny. "Excuse me, Miss Weasley, I need to speak with the Headmaster a moment, would you mind waiting outside," said Snape, turning back to Dumbledore. Ginny nodded and hurried out of the room. "What's going on?" demanded Snape.

"Severus," said Dumbledore, sitting down, "do you remember what you, Minerva and I discussed at the end of last year?"

"If you mean about Ginny Weasley, then yes," replied Snape, taking the seat opposite Dumbledore. "He's not entirely gone is he?" asked Snape, running a hand over his eyes.

"I think that remnants of him are still there," said Dumbledore, leaning back in his chair.

"How do you know?" asked Severus, looking nervous.

"Her eyes, Severus, when she's angry and I suppose when she's scared too they go blue, like his and something else, I just can't quite put my finger on it," sighed Dumbledore.

"So you sent her to my house, why, what's wrong with Gryffindor?" asked Snape suspiciously.

"Some children in her year are making life difficult for Ginny, they haven't done anything physical yet but I'm worried, especially after Miss Weasley slapped Miss McDougal," said Dumbledore, trying to look serious but a small smile escaped behind his long white beard.

"What makes you think she'll be any better off in Slytherin?" asked Severus.

Dumbledore looked down his long, crooked nose at Snape. "Because, Severus, she has spent a lot of unwanted time with one, she'll be just fine," smiled Dumbledore, getting up. "It's getting very late, Severus," said Dumbledore, pointing to an old Grandfather clock by the wall. Its long gilded hands pointing to twenty past ten. "You should really be taking your new charge down to her new home, I'll contact one of the house elves to bring down her belongings."

"Right, I'll take her down, but if one thing goes wrong, one thing at all, I'll be bringing her straight back here. I do not want any trouble in my house," said Snape firmly, standing up and walking to the door.

"Severus," called Dumbledore from behind his desk. "Wish her luck from me," he said, his blue eyes twinkling from behind his half moon spectacles.

Severus rolled his eyes.