The Hospital Wing and the Astronomy Tower, the Sequel

"Ginny!" Ron Weasley called up the stairs to his younger sister. "Ginny! What did you do with my broomstick?"

Ginny jogged down the stairs clutching Ron's broomstick in her right hand and a wand in her left hand. "I've got Harry's wand as well," she said, handing Ron the broomstick. "He almost forgot it."

Ron and Ginny, along with Ron's best friend Harry Potter and girlfriend Hermione Granger were rushing about the Burrow, the Weasley family home, readying themselves for their train trip to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Where's my Head Girl badge?" Hermione called, strolling to Ron and Ginny at the foot of the stairs.

Ron shrugged. "Maybe Fred has it again," he said.

Hermione made a sound of indignation. "Why is he being so immature?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Because you're being mature enough for the lot of us," said Harry, who had just come down the stairs to stand behind Ginny.

"Here's your wand, Harry," said Ginny, holding out Harry's wand.

"Thanks, Ginny," said Harry. He held his hand open to Hermione. In the centre of his palm lay a little silver badge with the words 'Head Girl' inscribed on it.

Hermione snatched the badge. "Thank you, Harry," she said, pinning the badge to her shirt.

Molly Weasley hurried past. "Have you all got your robes?" she called as she passed. "I don't want you forgetting anything!"

"Yeah, we've got everything mum," said Ron.

"Are we ready to go?" asked George, pulling on a jacket, a piece of toast in his mouth.

"Yeah," said Ginny, jumping down off the stairs. "I'm sitting in the front." She skipped, yes, skipped, out of the front door and stood outside beside the red Ford Anglia. Arthur Weasley loved Ford Anglias; so naturally, he'd gotten himself a new one once he'd raised enough money.

George followed his younger sister, Ron, Harry, and Hermione trailing beside him.

"Did Charlie put all of your belongings in the boot?" Mrs. Weasley asked, following her children and Harry and Hermione outside.

"Yes, mum," said George. "Everything's under control. We've fifty minutes before eleven, everyone'll get to school just fine, and I'll be at work for twelve. Be sure to wake Fred, he's opening the shop today."

"Don't worry, dear," said Mrs. Weasley. "Now you all have a good school year." She kissed the foreheads of Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione.

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Bye mum," said Ron. "I'll see you in a few months."

Mrs. Weasley sniffled. "Goodbye, Ron. Don't forget to owl me."

"I won't," said Ron, opening the car door, climbing inside.

"Bye Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione, waving before stepping into the car after Ron.

Ginny pulled open the door to the passenger's seat at the front of the car and climbed inside, taking her seat and pulling on the seat belt.

"Goodbye, Harry dear," said Mrs. Weasley, wiping a tear from her eye.

Harry smiled and nodded, climbing into the back of the car, sitting beside Hermione.

"That's enough, mother," said George, mockingly. "No need for tears, this is a happy time, we'll get a few months without Ginny's whining."

"Shut it, George," Ginny called from inside the car.

George chuckled and opened the door to the driver's seat. "See you later, mum," he said, sitting himself in the car. "And stop that crying, woman!" He closed the door as his mother scowled at him.

George started the car up, and drove away, Molly waving to the retreating car.

***

Once at King's Cross Station, George unloaded the trunks from the boot. Hermione took her cat, Crookshanks, and Harry took his owl, Hedwig. Ginny picked up the cage in which Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon was resting.

"Be careful," said Ron. "If he wakes up, he'll be fluttering all over the place."

Ginny handed her brother the cage, who carefully placed it on top of his trolley.

The five of them (George, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny) strode to platform nine.

"Go on, then," said George to Ron.

Ron took a deep breath and ran forward into the ticket barrier separating platforms nine and ten, disappearing into what seemed like thin air, although he had actually ran onto Platform 9 3/4.

Hermione followed, and Harry went right after her.

"Bye George," said Ginny, gripping her trolley.

"It's not going to be that easy," George smiled. "I've got to see you off properly."

"All right then, see you on Platform 9 3/4," said Ginny, starting forward. And not long after, she too, emerged onto Platform 9 3/4.

Hogwarts students everywhere were boarding the train, first years saying farewell to their parents; one girl was crying. Parents were hugging their children; Neville Longbottom's grandmother was scolding her grandson, as usual.

Ginny spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione loading their trunks onto the train, so she made her way to them through the crowd. She picked up her own trunk, hurling it into the baggage compartment.

"Do you see Blaise anywhere?" Harry asked, looking around for his girlfriend.

Ron shook his head. "Let's go in and get a place to sit," he said.

"Okay," said Hermione, grabbing Ron's hand, following him onto the train.

Harry followed Hermione and Ron onto the train, leaving Ginny momentarily alone.

Ginny felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around, hoping to see Draco Malfoy. But instead, it was George.

"Now you can say bye," said George.

"Bye George," said Ginny, hugging her brother. "And tell Fred bye for me too."

"What about Percy?" asked George.

"Yeah, him too," said Ginny. "I'll see you later."

George nodded as Ginny boarded the train, waving to him.

Ginny stepped into the train, still wanting to see Draco. Ever since Lucius and Narcissa had been sent to Azkaban, Ginny's family had become warmer to Draco. But Ron and Fred still held their little grudges, but the rest of the family was just fine. Molly had been the first to accept Draco, and she'd accepted him as one of her own, but maybe not as much or as fast as she'd accepted Harry and Hermione. And Bill, Charlie, Percy, George, and Arthur had followed Molly in Draco's acceptance.

But Ginny hadn't seen Draco since the first week of summer because he'd been sent to spend the summer in France by the ministry. Draco had been furious; he didn't understand why he couldn't simply stay at Malfoy Manor. So Draco had been sent away, and Ginny hadn't seen him for five weeks, and she did of course miss him.

Ginny found Harry, Ron, and Hermione in a compartment near the middle of the train. They had been joined by Blaise Zabini, Seamus Finnigan, and Verity Abernill (whose hair was now brown). Verity was fairly new at Hogwarts as she had been transferred from Durmstrang halfway through February earlier that year. Ginny didn't know her very well, she only knew that she was good friends with Seamus, and that Draco had known her before Hogwarts.

Ginny waved as she entered the compartment.

Harry had his arm around Blaise, who looked half asleep, her head buried into Harry's chest.

Verity, who was reading a copy of the Daily Prophet, smiled cheerily.

Ron and Hermione were sitting side by side, Hermione was reading the Standard Book of Spells Level 7.

Ginny took a seat in the space between Harry and Seamus.

"Where were you?" asked Ron.

"Just outside," said Ginny. "Saying bye to George."

"No sign of Malfoy then?" Ron asked. "They've probably sent him to Beauxbatons."

"They have not," Blaise mumbled. "He came back yesterday."

"Oy! Voldemort escaped!" said Verity. "Just last night."

"Is your scar hurting, Harry?" Blaise asked, sounding severely bored.

"Ooh, remember that nightmare you told us about?" said Ron.

Harry nodded. "How did he escape?" he asked. "He was in one of those high security cells."

"It's the stupid minister's fault," said Verity. "Not wanting to mix dark creatures, what kind of a bloody half-witted excuse is that? They should've gone ahead and given Voldemort the Dementor's kiss regardless of what he said."

"This is really bad," said Harry, frowning. "He'll probably get all his Death Eaters out of Azkaban, and who knows what he'll do now."

"He'll want to get Draco," said Blaise, yawning. "He's probably still outraged."

"Where is Draco, anyway?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know," said Blaise. "Probably dead by now."

"Don't say that!" Ginny cried. "That's terrible!"

"That's Blaise for you," said Verity, turning the page of her paper. "Completely terrible."

"Well if Voldemort's escaped last night, and Draco's not here, there's only one explanation," said Blaise, sitting up.

"He's probably around here somewhere," said Verity. "Nothing to worry about, Ginny."

"If You Know Who's escaped, then there's going to be a load of new rules at Hogwarts," Ron groaned. "That's all we need, and seventh year with tons of rules and restrictions."

"Since when have you cared about restrictions?" Hermione questioned. "It's never stopped you before."

Harry chuckled.

***

At twelve o' clock, the lady with the food trolley came around to the compartment in which Harry, Blaise, Hermione, Ron, Seamus, Verity, and Ginny were sitting.

Seamus and Verity jumped up, and pulled out a handful of coins each.

"Be right back," said Seamus.

Verity and Seamus returned with their arms full of sweets, chocolates, and cauldron cakes.

"We got about ten of everything," said Verity, letting her armful of junk food pour onto the seat. "Take whatever you want."

Seamus sat down, dropping his armful of sweets onto his lap. "Chocolate Frog?" he offered Ginny and Chocolate Frog.

Ginny shook her head. "Nah, I'm all right," she said.

"Harry, what about you?" Seamus asked, holding the Chocolate Frog out to Harry.

"Oh, I'll have it," said Blaise, snatching the Chocolate Frog from Seamus. She opened the wrapper and took out the frog, taking a bite out of it. "Who wants the card?" she asked, holding up the famous witches and wizards card.

"Who is it?" Ron asked.

"Oh, it's a new one," said Blaise. "Bartemius Crouch the fifth."

"Percy's ex-boss," said Ron. "I haven't got one of those."

"Well here you go," said Blaise passing Ron the card.

"I'm, er, I'm going to go out there for a bit," said Ginny, pointing at the door.

"If you see Dean, tell him where I am," said Seamus.

"Yeah, I will," said Ginny, getting to her feet. She opened the sliding glass door and exited the compartment. She walked down the train, looking inside the windows of random compartments. She saw Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students whom she did not know, a few Gryffindor second years, some scared looking first years, and, unfortunately for her, Crabbe and Goyle, doing something they definitely should not have been doing on the train.

Ginny shuddered, trying to erase the mental picture from her mind. She walked on for a moment, and stop to look into a compartment. She smiled when she saw Draco, but he wasn't alone. A couple of nervous looking first years were sitting around him.

Ginny opened the door, trying hard to contain her joy. "Well, well, if it isn't Malfoy," she said, trying to sound cold, and succeeding, to some extent.

Draco looked up, wearing that familiar smirk. "Little Weasley," he drawled.

"What's this?" said Ginny. "First years? We can't have evil scum like you molding the minds of future Hogwarts graduates!"

"Better evil scum like me, than Muggle loving filth like you, Weasley," said Draco. He got to his feet, brushing past Ginny, and exited the compartment, leaving the first years gaping open-mouthed in his wake.

Ginny smiled to herself, and turned to follow him out of the compartment.

When Ginny stepped out into the corridor of the train, Draco sneered at her, taking her hand, and leading her to the very end of the train, where there was an empty compartment.

Ginny followed him into the compartment, a little smile playing about her lips, and he closed the door behind her.

Draco didn't speak, but instead, he cupped her face in his hands and leaned down to kiss her.

Ginny wrapped her arms around Draco's neck, kissing him back.

Draco moved his hands down to Ginny's waist, pulling her to him.

At long last, they parted, each gasping for air.

"It's been a summer," said Draco.

"It's been too long," said Ginny, kissing Draco's lips.

Draco smirked. "It took you long enough to find me," he said.

"I was waiting for you to find me," said Ginny.

Draco snorted. "With your brother there?" he asked in disbelief.

"Oh, right," said Ginny, smiling.

Draco leaned down again and kissed her passionately.

Ginny leaned into the kiss, realising exactly how much she had missed him the past five weeks. She'd waited too long for this, but still, as always, it was worth the wait.

When Draco parted from her, Ginny found herself wanting more.

Draco sat down, and Ginny followed him.

"So how was your summer?" she asked. "Did you miss me?"

"It was a bit of waste, really," said Draco. "I never did like France."

"I thought about you a lot," said Ginny.

"Anyone would," said Draco. "And I suppose I thought about you and all." He reached into his robe pocket, as if searching for something. He pulled out a little black box. "I found this," he said, showing her the box. "I thought you might just like it."

Ginny took the box with shaky hands. "What is it?" she asked.

"Open it and find out," said Draco, sarcasm evident in his voice.

Ginny opened the box slowly, revealing a little gold coin with a dragon carved onto it.

"It's the back you should see," said Draco. "It's really amazing, reminded me of that book of yours."

Ginny lifted the coin out of the box and flipped it over in her hand. Her eyes widened when she saw a moving engraving of a girl battling a dragon. "Where did you get this?" she asked.

"Found it," said Draco.

"Found it?" asked Ginny. "But where?"

"On the floor," said Draco.

"The floor?" asked Ginny.

"Yes, the floor," said Draco.

"But where on the floor?" asked Ginny.

"Er, just left of the centre," said Draco.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I mean where was it?" she said.

"In France," said Draco. "Didn't I already tell you that?"

Ginny made a sound of frustration.

Draco smirked. "It was in the room I was staying in at Villa Malfoy," he said.

"Villa Malfoy?" asked Ginny. "There's a Malfoy Manor and Villa?"

"Get used to it," said Draco. "Owning land is easy when you're rich. There's also a Malfoy Cathedral and a Malfoy Road."

Ginny raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, it's quite amazing," said Draco, not sounding amazed in the slightest. "So I'm assuming you like the, er, the, ah, whatsitcalled."

"A coin?" Ginny suggested.

"Er, yeah," said Draco. "But if you look closely, there's a little hole at the top, so it might be a pendant or something."

Ginny studied the coin, and spotted a hole, shocked that she hadn't seen it before.

Draco pulled a fine silver chain with a tiny clasp on the end out of his pocket. He took the coin from Ginny's hand and threaded the silver chain through the hole in the coin. "See, it's a pendant now," said Draco. "I am so clever."

"Oh yeah," said Ginny. "So clever."

Draco handed the chain with the pendant on it to Ginny.

Ginny took the chain and put it around her neck. "Can you close it?" she asked.

Draco took either end of the chain and clasped it shut. "Yeah, so you like it?" he said. "Because, you know, everyone'll be jealous of you; it's not everyday you come across something like this."

Ginny smiled. "I love it," she said.

"Yet still, I get no gratitude," said Draco. "So typical of you."

Ginny giggled and kissed him on the cheek.

"That's it?" asked Draco.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "That's it," she said.