This is my first fanfiction in quite a while. It's only a one shot! I hope you enjoy it. (: Please review. I'd love some constructive criticism. I know this isn't the best piece of writing since the beginning of the Earth. But, tips and other advice would be welcomed!
Unfortunately, Harry Potter isn't mine, and I do not own the characters; however much I love them.
They belong to the amazing J. K. Rowling!
Ginny winced as she climbed through the portrait hole. Alecto didn't play nice with her students. Especially those who dared to think muggles were the same as wizards, just without the wand waving. Instead of giving Ginny the liberty to be punished in front of the class, and having the chance that someone would stand up for her, Ginny had been stuck in detention with Alecto and her equally brutal brother, Amycus.
Detentions used to be bearable. Sure, no one enjoyed them, but they were almost a treat compared to detentions now. Ever since Snape took over as Headmaster, and Alecto and Amycus took position as teachers detention was hell. Hell was preferable. Even the regular teachers had to walk about on tip toe, and they rarely, if ever punished the students. The students were punished with vicious beatings and grueling attacks. The Cruciatus Curse was a favorite of Alecto's while Amycus enjoyed torturing the student with many other curses before taking to Cruciatus. Physical beatings always followed after.
Many students kept their mouths closed until they got to the safety of their common room before they talked about the injustice of it all. With each day, it got worse. The detentions were more brutal, and the students more terrified to even utter a sound. The Great Hall was quieter than it had been since Ginny has came to the school.
Hogwarts used to be a place of fun, and adventure. A place to call home. A place that was safe.
Now?
Hogwarts was a prison.
On many occasions, Ginny would come into the common room and find a few first years crying. This wasn't the magical place they were promised, sometimes Ginny felt like bursting into tears herself. They couldn't do a damn thing, could they? Everything was so hopeless. More people died each day, some were fighting, and some were innocent. They died in the cross fire. They died because they saw something they shouldn't have. They died because they were related to the wrong people. They had the wrong connections.
Much like Ginny Weasley did.
It only added insult to injury. Detentions became worse when the Carrows realized who she was. Sometimes they would taunt her. They'd whisper how Harry would be killed by the Dark Lord. It always took everything she had not to cry. Instead, she bit her lip, and took the beatings.
This time, she came back, her right cheek was swollen and she had a small cut on her forehead. Her limbs felt like they were going to fall off. She ached all over, but the swelling and the cut was all she had to show for it.
Ginny walked into the dimly lit common room. Only a few students lingered by the fireplace. She sighed and rubbed her face as she nodded towards them. Only one nodded back at her, while they spoke in hushed whispers. Ginny would have joined them, but she was much too tired. She dragged herself up to the girls dormitory.
Lavender, Parvati and a few other girls were awake, much to her surprise. All the whispering that had been going on as she entered had now stopped. Most of the girls looked apprehensive, but Lavender Brown sat up and stared at Ginny with an accusing look.
"Where is he?" Lavender Brown asked loudly.
Ginny stared at the girl. "Who?" She asked as she headed to her bed, and began taking her uniform off.
"Harry! And Hermione? And Ronnie-" Lavender coughed, "and Ron? Where are they?" She demanded to know.
Ginny pressed her lips together and pulled on a night gown. She felt the eyes of every girl in the dorm burning into her back. Her eyes were trained on her bed as she finished getting ready to lay down. A balled up sock hit the back of her head, and Ginny turned around glaring at Parvati, she had never been friends with her. But, what had warranted this?
"Why aren't they doing anything?" Parvati asked. "I thought Harry was the "Chosen One"? Why aren't they helping? People are dying! My mum..." The girl stopped, tears starting to form in her eyes.
Ginny felt a pang of guilt. "I don't know...I don't know where they are. They didn't tell me anything." She bit at her lip and stared at them all, as they sat staring at her.
She ducked her head down, and climbed in her bed, she had almost drawn her curtains before Lavender decided to speak up again.
"You don't honestly expect us to believe that, Ginny. Your brother is best friends with them, and you were with Harry! We all know that he was at the wedding thing. It was all over the papers! Something has to be going on Ginny. Where are they? You have to know! Doesn't Harry send you owls? You two were together!" Lavender took a breath, and stared at her. "Why aren't they helping?"
"Maybe because they're trying to save themselves? He's undesirable number one! Everyone wants to hunt him down and kill him! Don't you understand that? He can't be out saving the world. The world is against him! He can't help here. He can't run to my house! It's being watched!" Ginny told them as she rubbed her temples. "Harry hasn't sent me an owl, because it could be intercepted. And, anyway, Hedwig died. I wish he would. The world needs him, Hogwarts needs him. I need him." Ginny told them quietly as she played with her blankets. "Ron is at home, ill. Hermione? Well, I don't know where the hell she is. Probably hiding like all the other muggle-borns. She's too smart to get herself killed."
Ron wasn't ill, and Hermione was probably with the boys. Right where she should be. But, where were they? Everyone needed them, and they were gone. The only hope Ginny had was that she knew he was alive. Everyone would know if he wasn't.
"They're doing something. They have to be. Harry wouldn't just leave us. I know he wouldn't. " Ginny told them while she rubbed at her swollen cheek. "He wouldn't leave us here, knowing that You-Know-You has control over Hogwarts. I bet you a thousand galleons that he's working to get rid of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
Lavender and Parvati looked at one another before looking at Ginny. "What if he isn't?" Parvati asked quietly, her eyes staying on the floor.
Ginny blew out the candle next to her bed, and stared at the two girls. "Then, he's not the only one fighting.." She muttered, before drawing the curtains around her bed.
The two girls spoke in hushed whispers before turning in. Ginny laid in her bed, wide awake . She stared at her curtains.
Harry, where the hell are you? If you don't take care of Ron and Hermione...I'll kill you myself. Take care of yourself, too. I miss you. God, I miss you. Hogwarts is hell, and I'm worried all the time. Malfoy is even more obnoxious, if that's possible. We need you, Harry. Hogwarts needs you.
Most of all, I need you.
Ginny closed her eyes lightly, feeling sore. She'd go to the hospital wing tomorrow to get something for the swelling. It didn't hurt as much, anymore. It just ached in the background, while the wounds inflicted to her heart opened themselves back up, and hurt her the most. Classes would be hell. But, that's what Hogwarts had become, now. Hell.
Little did she know, Harry was enduring his own hell. And he laid in his own bed, at that exact moment, staring at her place on the Marauders Map while she fell into a dreamless sleep.