A/N: This First chapter is about Ginny's reaction. Please review as feedback is always great :)
Ginny walked towards Harry, who she knew was coming from detention in Umbridge's office. He looked pale, shaken up, like something bad had happened.
Ginny who counted Harry among her closest friends, saw these signs, warnings straight away, and knew something was wrong.
He had a certain look, that people rarely saw, that he involuntarily displayed when something was really getting to him.
His eyes were sad, and lacked the sparkle they always had. His hair was tossed as if he had been nervously running his hands through it and he was fidgeting with the sleeves of his robes, they were pulled down to cover his hands and he was pulling at the loose wool of his jumper.
All things that would go unnoticed by most friends, but not Ginny. Things didn't usually get to him, this reaction was rare. She knew there must be something badly wrong.
He had seen her now, and was walking towards her, he had perled up, trying to look like nothing was wrong, but it was too late.
They had reached each other and Ginny was full of questions.
"What happened? Whats wrong? Who is it? What did they do?"
But all she managed to say was "Harry?"
She always got the feeling that he ment more to her than she did to him, that she trusted him more than he trusted her, that their relationship was a little one-sided. That was just how she felt sometimes.
"Oh hey Ginny," he said, faking a smile. He could see the concern in her face. "Harry whats wrong?"
"Nothing, are you going to meet the others in the Great Hall?" he asked trying to change the subject. As if his eyes weren't enough of a distraction for her, she got lost in them so often.
"Yes Im on the way there now, but seriously what happened with Umbridge?"
"It doesn't matter, it really doesn't."
""Harry if something has you this shaken up, it clearly matters."
He winced, causing him to stop fidgeting with his sleeve, this was definitely not nothing.
"Harry your hand…."
He pulled away but changed his mind as she reached out for it. She took his hand in hers and gently pulled up his sleeve.
They had been walking but stopped when Harry showed the sign of pain. The corridors were quiet, most of the students were already in the Great Hall, but just in case, they had backed into a corner. Ginny sensed Harry's secretiveness about the topic.
Her hand was shaking slightly as she pulled back his sleeve with one hand, her other holding his. Harry looked her straight in the eye, waiting for her reaction, her gaze was focused on his hand.
She had gotten the jumper just to his wrist, when she saw it, the red raw cut. "Harry, shes hurt you, we have to tell Dumbledore, we have to."
"No Ginny, I did that myself."
Before he could say anymore, he was interrupted. "She drove you to that, Harry no, don't hurt yourself!" Ginny was a mix of emotions; anger, despair and sadness.
"Wrong again Gin, look." She pulled up more of his sleeve, realising she was still holding his hand. "I must not tell lies," she read the red lettering on the back of his hand.
"Umbridge made me write that, she gave me a quill some parchment but no ink. When I asked about ink, she said I wouldn't need it, every time I wrote on the parchment, it etched into my arm."
"She's sick Harry, go to Madame Pomfrey and get that looked after, I'll go with you if you want me too, then we can try contact Dumbledore."
"Let's go to the Great Hall, if its still sore later then I'll go see her ok? But were not contacting Dumbledore, we cant risk getting caught by the ministry!"
"Harry…"
"Trust me Ginny," he interrupted. "Ok."
She let go off his hand and they walked towards the Great Hall. Ginny had been waiting for day where she would hold Harry Potters hand, that was how she planned it.
"But this was your third detention, what did she make you do the other days?"
He gestured towards his hand. "She wanted it to sink in."
Ginny looked back at him in horror, there was something about Umbridge, with her bright pink outfits and sickly sweet voice, that made everything she did seem worse. How could someone who appears like that, inflict such pain on a teenage boy?
"We have to do something, to stop this!" she finally said. Just as she did, they reached the Great Hall, and he replied with a 'We'll talk about this later' look before sitting down beside Ron and Hermione.
