Over My Head

Chapter 6: The Cage

The world is a vampire, sent to drain

Secret destroyers hold you up to the flames

And what do I get for my pain?

Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game...

Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.

-"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" by Smashing Pumpkins

I had gotten a cramp. I suppose it comes from lying on the floor in a strange position whilst reading a book by moon and candlelight. Yes, whilst.

"I'm in over my head, aren't I?" I said out loud to myself, and therefore no one in particular. Of course, I should have known she was standing in the door between our dorms. God, Potter and His People were everywhere.

"Harry doesn't think so." I closed my eyes as her voice filled my head. She was so damn intoxicating sometimes. I loathed her for it.

"Come for more sex-capades before another snog-less night with your honey?" I could almost taste her hurt expression.

"Why are you so angry?"

"You have to learn to ask the right questions, Hermione. It's not about my anger. It's about your lack of it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Just Philosophical bullshit. Do you want to get down to business?"

"Is that what you think of it as?"

"No. No, I think of it as a stroll through a meadow. A very dark, creepy, emotionless meadow with lost of painfully orgasmic flowers."

"I've never heard you use that word before."

"What? Meadow? I'll admit, it doesn't fit in with my usual sarcastic vocabulary."

"No. Well, yes, I have never heard you use that word either, but I was talking about orgasmic."

"You've never heard me talking with Malfoy then."

"You...you two talk about orgasmic things?" She seemed slightly jealous. She still had it in her mind that I was fucking him behind her back. It never occurred to her that if her back wasn't turned so often that her suspicions would be allayed.

"Not in the way you're thinking of. So, shall we have at it, then?" I got up and shoved Slayer onto my bookshelf.

"Oh. Oh my."

"What?" I turned to her. Her eyes were on my bookshelf. "Yes, Hermione. That's a shelf. You place books on it. There are many just like it in the library."

"I never realized you had so many books before. Nor did I realize you had a place to keep them all."

"Hermione, you sleep in this room half the time. How the hell did you not notice?"

"I do tend to be slightly preoccupied when I'm in here, don't I?" She was moving slowly towards the books. I think there was some sort of gravitational pull that dragged her in. Some sort of awareness-triggered event horizon.

"Well, I do my best to see to that, I suppose." Her fingers traced the spines of different books carefully and delicately. I loved her hands.

"You have an intriguing collection here, Ginny. A lot of these are muggle items. Heart of Darkness, for instance."

"It's a good book," I said defensively. I couldn't tell whether she was praising or criticizing and, as was my habit, I took it to be the latter.

"I think you misunderstand me. I'm amazed. I love everything here, but I hadn't thought anyone else at Hogwarts had ever even heard of any of these...oh. Now that's interesting. I've never seen this before." She was looking at Slayer.

"Oh, that's just My Spiffy New Slayer Book. It was written by a bunch of old guys who watched young girls do cool things and then die."

"It's not called My Spiffy New...oh. Sarcasm. You do that a lot."

"Noticed, did you?"

"So, you've been learning about this Slayer person, then? Do you have a reason?"

"Yeah. I'm supposed to take up the duties of a slayer or something. Only I'm not her, because she lives in California. It's all very confusing. I'll tell you some other time. I sort of want to sleep now."

"So the Slayer is a she?"

"Yep. Always a girl."

"And about how many of them are there?" She seemed interested in a demanding sort of way.

"One."

"What?"

"There's only one at a time. That one dies, another one is called...really, the morning would be a much better time for me to explain this..."

"There's only one?" She seemed thrown, and she seemed to believe that if there was only one, it couldn't be as important as she had originally thought. "What's her purpose, then?"

"Well of course there's only one!" I was yelling, I realized, and brought it down a notch. I suppose I was angry that she thought it was an offhand thing. I'm not sure why that angered me, though. Perhaps because I'd spent the last few hours reading about it as a sacred duty, or perhaps it was because I was about to take up the duty. Even so, it wasn't like me to feel so strongly about anything. "That's why she's called The Chosen One." I stopped again, running my hands through my hair in anger mixed with fatigue. "And her job is to slay evilness."

"Evilness?" She spoke quietly, as if afraid of another out burst. "In general?"

"Vampires mostly, hence the title "Vampire Slayer"...and some demons. Anything that's evil...not human, wants to destroy and/or unleash hell on Earth. Do you want to just read the fucking book? I want to go to sleep."

"Yes. I would like to read the, er, fucking book."

"I have never heard you say fuck before."

"Yes? I don't suppose I ever have said it before." She smiled mischievously, a strange light in her eyes. "How did I do?"

"For a virgin, not too bad. But don't do it again anytime soon."

"I...I'll let you sleep now." She took the book and began to walk out. For a moment she stopped to turn and kiss me on the mouth. "Goodnight Ginny."

"Goodnight."

***

I woke up the next morning, having gotten the most sleep I'd had in a long time. It seemed to me that Hermione's mere presence assuaged my insomnia somewhat. Unfortunately it was Monday, and I had to go to classes instead of meditating on this prospect.

I entered the common room only to be assailed by a wave of laughter from the teenage girl inhabitants of the room. Mostly Parvati and Lavender. I scowled. Despite the fact that almost all of my classes were accelerated, and the others were with them, they still treated me like some sort of infantine outsider. Of their class, Hermione was, sadly, the one who gave me the most respect. I suppose that said something about me. The girl who used me for her own strange desires and then abandoned me in public was the person who respected me most. And it really wasn't just the Gryffindor seventh years. It was our entire house that ostracized me. I deserved it, really. I spent my time with Draco Malfoy. Of course I deserved it.

"So what are you going to wear?" Lavender was squealing at Parvati. Dear god, I thought to myself, this is obscene. There were several other girls around them, some from my year and some from fourth and fifth. I even recognized a third year. Strange thing was not that there was a third year with them, but that I recognized her.

"Hey Brown," I called over.

"What?" she replied.

"Ooh, I am truly touched. You used your nasty tone with me. Granted, it's a little lacking. Not to offend, but there's no real threat to your malice. It's not like you'd ever try to corner me in some dark alley or anything. Well, you might, but that would really just be funny more than scary."

"What do you want Ginny?"

"I'm just wondering why you aren't all heading down to potions. I mean, it's starting soon, isn't it?"

"Are you taking potions with us now, too?"

"Yep. Just got promoted. Personally, I don't think of it as a promotion so much as a way to blow this joint one year sooner."

"So you didn't hear?"

"Hear what? I tend to be out of the loop on things, you know. Living in my own dorm, no gossip bothering me late at night. And people really don't visit me that often. Unless Draco suddenly counts as a person."

"It's Snape."

"What about him?"

"So you really didn't hear?"

"Oh fuck this Brown. Do you really think I'd be banging on your door if I knew what the hell was going on? Let it out already. I got shit to do."

"Snape isn't here. He left or something and class is cancelled."

"There now. Was that so hard? Oh, sorry about the...er...inappropriate language. Hope I didn't spoil your latest crop of simpering morons." I turned toward the portrait hole and began walking forward. I was just at it when Hermione came down the stairs.

"Oh, Ginny!" she called. Damn you.

"Yes Granger?" I turned back around.

"Here's your book." My face whitened slightly. But due to its initial paleness, I don't think anybody noticed. I stared at her, trying to see what she was trying to do. I looked at the book as she handed it to me. She'd covered it with the jacket from a book entitled The Life and Times of Rowena Ravenclaw. "It's all I had that would fit," she said quietly, our hands touching slightly as she passed it over.

"I see. Quick thinking. I guess I should have realized you would do that. The queen of quick thinking, aren't you?" There was no one close enough to hear us, but Lavender and Parvati seemed determined to lean as close as they could. "So," I continued a little louder, "What did you think?"

"It was very...insightful," she replied, catching on, "and highly informative. I never knew half of those things...about the slaying of the evil...snakes. And I loved the accounts of the more important battles...with Salazar Slytherin."

"I have read the book Granger. There's no need to inform me of its contents."

"Well, yes. But did you read the prophesy section? With the about part about her, Rowena, being the only one...who could defeat Slytherin?"

"Yes, of course I did. That was the most important part. Well, I must go. Stuff to do." I turned, feeling the bewildered stares of the other Gryffindors upon me.

I went to Dumbledore's office, where the stairs were already waiting, meaning I wouldn't have to try to come up with a password. Once up the stairs, I knocked on the door. It opened on its own.

"Ah, Miss Weasley. Harry has informed me of your decision." He was a pretty creepy old guy sometimes.

"Yeah well, it's no big. I mean, I'd probably just end up killing something anyway."

"You read the book?" I looked down at the smiling picture of Rowena Ravenclaw before removing that cover and handing my momentarily most prized possession. "And what did you think then?"

"Same answer. I'm not the Slayer, but I seem to do well enough on my own with these things. So I'm still gonna do it."

"Yes, about that." He stood up and walked around his desk, toward me. All the while he stared me down with those intensely burning blue eyes. Creepy old guy.

"What about that?"

"I would like for you to research your heritage and find out if there are any lines of demon blood in your family."

"You think I'm not human? You're not alone or anything, but I think you're the first person I know who had enough balls to say to my face."

"Children will be children," he said, half comforting and half amused. "But truly Miss Weasley, I need to know."

"Yeah whatever. I'll owl my mother."

***

That night I was alone in Hogsmeade. Well, I didn't know it, but Hermione had followed me. I'd gone out onto the school grounds and staked three vampires already, but another one had gotten into town.

I listened closely, standing silently beside the wall of the graveyard. I heard a sound coming from inside the cemetery. I followed it.

Someone, or something, was clawing its way out of a grave. A new vampire. This would be too easy. I walked over and pulled it the rest of the way out by its hand.

"Now I'm gonna give you a chance to just give up right now and let me stake you. If you don't, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to fight you."

"Hmm. A fight." He pounced on me, pushing to the ground before I managed to turn the fight around, holding his arm with one hand and pushing at it with the other. With a loud crack, his bone broke.

"I guess that means you're not gonna just give up." I stood up and noticed that he'd gotten dirt all over my new leather pants. "Now that's just cruel. Well, you've angered me. I'm afraid there will be no more diplomatic attempts." I pulled him up by the shirt collar and pushed him back from me before reinstituting the fight. I pulled out my knife and drove it through his heart, knowing that he would feel the pain without turning to dust.

"You are evil," he said, smelling my hair.

"Back off asshole," I replied. "You're not really one to be throwing out such judgments, are you?" I moved back a bit and kicked him in the stomach, right below his wound. Finally, I decided to give him a rest and shoved the newly-carved stake into him. "That was great. Maybe I'll call you sometime."

"You say that," said a teasing voice from behind me, "But I know you never will." I turned. She was the vampire I'd chased here.

"Ah. You. You know, I'm really tired. Can we just do this quickly?"

"That one. That one you just killed there was nothing. But you already knew that. They will all be nothing compared to what you will have to do."

"Enough talking. Time for fighting." She stood still, forcing me to move toward her. I tried to stake her immediately, but she grabbed my arm and spun me around, moving my head to the side.

"This won't take too long, darling," she whispered. "Hmm. A boy has tasted you. I can feel it. And you'll let one more taste you also. But...strange...you don't like boys...let me see your wrist dear." She used her free arm to turn my wrist toward her, showing an "m" shaped scar that was there. "Yes. And he'll know her too. Doesn't matter what you do, you can't stop him. But don't worry. You won't be around to care. Not really." She bit into my neck.

"Hey bitch!" I heard a familiar voice from somewhere behind me. Within seconds the vampire was dust. I turned to see Hermione staring at my neck. "Oh Ginny, are you alright?"

"Hermione," I whispered, out of breath. "I...thank you."

"Oh, you're welcome." She walked a little closer and pulled out a piece of cloth, which she applied to my neck. "Here, let's go this way," she said, leading me over to sit down. "Do you know what she was talking about? The tasting and stuff?"

"I suppose, Hermione, that it is time I told you a story."