Chapter 1: The new school-year

As the summer weather turned colder and the date closed in on September 1st, it was about time to return to Hogwarts for another year of learning. In the case of Ginny Weasley, this meant preparing for her O.W.L.'s, amongst other things.

After the last of the pudding was eaten and the Gryffindors had found their way to Gryffindor tower, Ginny could already feel the pressure of being in her O.W.L.-year at Hogwarts. Classes hadn't even begun yet, but while sitting by the fire in the Gryffindor common room, she overheard Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan discussing their O.W.L.-results from the year before. This was it. This could be a defining year for her future career.

The next morning at breakfast, Ginny received her class schedule for her 5th year at Hogwarts. As she looked up and down her schedule, she sighed. She was starting off with Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall… and the Slytherins. Transfiguration wasn't Ginny's worst subject but the Slytherins! Had it just been the Hufflepuffs, but no it had to be the Slytherins on her first day back at Hogwarts.

At lunch, she sat with Harry, Hermione and Ron while they discussed the morning classes, they each had had. Ginny chuckled to herself for a moment. At least it was Transfiguration she herself had had with the Slytherins, the others had had Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins. Normally, Defense Against the Dark Arts would be okay, but this year this also meant Professor Snape. She'd take Professor McGonagall over Professor Snape and Malfoy any day. By being Ron's sister, she had to deal a lot with Draco Malfoy also over the past four years. And the impression he left with her wasn't quite the best. She had always found him extremely arrogant and stuck-up.

Even though, Harry had been spending a great deal of his summer vacation at their place, Ron was still admiring Harry's "Quidditch Captain"-badge. Ginny shook her head. She knew that Ron had always wanted to become Quidditch Captain like Charlie had been but seriously! Whatever happened this year, at least she didn't have five older sisters to live up to like Ron had five older brothers.

That first day back at school, went by in a haze of "Welcome back" and "So fifth years, now it's getting serious". After dinner, Ginny went straight to her dormitory, which now read "5th years" instead of "4th years". She didn't have the energy to sit in the common room and be social with all the rest of Gryffindor House. Especially, she didn't have the energy to sit and hear Ron complain about not being rid of Snape anyway since Snape had switched from Potions to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Neither Harry nor Ron had received a high enough grade to continue with Potions with Snape as the teacher. This had been a highlight of Ron's summer holiday.

Ginny's friend and fellow Gryffindor 5th year, Julie Wickle, followed her up to their dormitory and, like Ginny, threw herself onto her bed to just lay and stare into the air.

"Tough first day, huh?" Julie muttered.

"I knew our O.W.L.-year would be a step up from last year, but…" Ginny sighed. Just starting this sentence drained her of energy. At least she wasn't alone in it. Besides her, there were three other Gryffindor girls in her dormitory, who shared the same fate. There was Ginny's best friend in the dormitory, Julie, and two other girls, Amber Pett and Jessica Hanson, both of whom were muggleborn.

"If September 2nd had at least been a Friday. But no, it has to be a Monday so we're starting off with a full week." Julie continued. Julie turned towards Ginny. "I thought maybe McGonagall and Sprout would go a little bit easy on us. At least on the first day, but no. They were both as tough as you'd expect Snape to be and we don't even have Defence Against the Dark Arts with Snape until Thursday."

"I know, Julie. I have to be a 'Hermione' and move into the library. Maybe even as early as next week!" Ginny added. "I may not even try out for Quidditch this year." This comment made Julie sit up.

"But, Ginny! You're great at Quidditch. The house team needs you to beat Slytherin! And with Potter being Captain, you're bound to make the team anyway. I am pretty sure, he has a crush on you." Julie said with a grin.

The following days went by just as the first had done. Neither Ginny nor Julie felt breathing room until Saturday morning when they woke up and realized that even though they were already packed with homework, they at least wouldn't receive any new ones today. And just as they had talked about on Monday, they moved into the library right after breakfast on Saturday to start a two-foot long parchment on "The Dangers of Human Transfiguration" for McGonagall, which was to be handed in already on Monday.

"So, Ginny. Anything happen in your summer holiday? I mean, it's tough times and all." Julie whispered, breaking the silence.

"Well, my brother is getting married next summer so he brought his…. Well, he brought her to our house to stay with us. Apparently, it would be good for her to get to know us. I suppose he just didn't think about the rest of us." Ginny answered, also whispering. "Oh, right and then Harry and Hermione came to stay with us also as usually. That's all fun though." She added.

"But your brother's fiancé? You don't sound too excited. Wait, which brother?" Julie asked, suddenly remembering that Ginny had several brothers. "And who's he marrying anyway?" Julie wanted all the juicy news as always.

"It's my oldest brother, Bill. He's great, but her…" Ginny mimed choking someone. "He's marrying Fleur Delacour…" She noticed Julie's face react to the news. "… and before you get too excited, she's way too arrogant. I can't stand her, and Bill could do so much better than her." Ginny scribbled down a sentence on her parchment and then added "Anything happen in your holiday?"

"Well, at least nobody died. I guess that's positive." Julie said quietly.

For the next hour, Ginny and Julie worked silently on each of their assignments from Professor McGonagall. The library also become more filled with students trying not to fall behind already in their first week. Most of these were students from either their O.W.L.-year, like Ginny and Julie, or their N.E.W.T.-years.

September turned October and the weather outside became colder, windier and rainier. In Ginny's eyes, the weather outside reflected the classes inside pretty well. As tough as the first week might've been, the weeks following became even tougher. Ginny never thought herself as being behind in school or unintelligent, but she became very unsure if she was capable of passing even a single O.W.L.

Every weekend spent in the library turned to every weekend and every weeknight spent in the library. That was when Harry hadn't planned Quidditch practice. Because, of course she had to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. And Harry, well, being Harry, had of course given her a Chaser-position along with Katie Bell and a third-year boy she didn't really know. If there was one thing, she would ever envy Ron, it would of course be that he had free periods in the middle of almost every day by now. She could definitely use those for more studying.

During September, Ginny usually had Julie with her in the library in the weekends, but as Ginny started going to the library on weeknights too, it was alone. Julie wanted to pass her O.W.L.'s but was as obsessed as Ginny appeared to be. Ginny usually sat in one of the back corners as it was more quiet, because there weren't as many people walking by to find books or seats.

Some days were worse than others. On a Sunday evening, having worked almost two days straight, Ginny almost felt like she done all of her homework. Not necessarily very well, but she had done it and was ready to turn in two rolls of parchment and had read 6 chapters for the next two days. All the time knowing that when a new week started again tomorrow, she would be back here with a new dose of homework. The thought of it… well, she had learned in the past five weeks, that it was best not to think about it. And it would only get worse. She knew that. The fall would be nothing compared to the spring when her O.W.L.'s were just around the corner.

As Ginny sat in the library one Thursday evening in the middle of October, sweating and almost crying, over her Defense Against the Dark Arts-assignment, she felt someone walk up behind her. Would that 'someone' just go away, she thought to herself.

"You don't look too good there, Ginny?" That 'someone' asked her.

Ginny looked up. She knew that voice. She knew, that she knew that voice, but the tone! The tone did not match the voice. She couldn't believe that if she turned around, she would be seeing Draco Malfoy, the arrogant jerk from Slytherin. The arrogant jerk who, well definitely didn't like the Weasleys for being 'blood-traitors' and if it was him, was asking her how she was.

Ginny turned around to face whoever it was, asking so politely, almost like he cared, how she was doing. And there stood Draco Malfoy. The blond-haired, arrogant, racist jerk from Slytherin who was currently in his 6th year at Hogwarts. What could he possibly want?