This is set durring the seventh book.
I do not own Harry Potter. No duh.
The war had been raging on for what seemed like forever. No one had paid attention to the youngest Weasley. Because the school had been taken over, she was glad that she hadn't really been noticed. It made her life that much easier.
Her grades had begun to slip drastically. All she could think about was what was going on outside of the castle. Was everyone okay? What was really going on? What did the Slytherins know that she didn't? So many questions and thoughts running through her head made it impossible for her to pay attention to anything, let alone schoolwork. Being one of the only lions left in the snake pit didn't help her case much.
Every day became more of a struggle for Ginny. She missed having someone that she could complain to, like she did Tom in her first year. No, she couldn't want someone like Tom. Tom had tried to kill her that year. Anyone like Tom would bring her nothing but pain. Wouldn't they?
Ginny, laying down waiting for sleep to overcome her, shook her head. She was going mad.
A loud bang sounded form outside. Ginny sat up and grabbed her wand. What seemed like an eternity passed while she waited. Finally, the door was opened by McGonagall.
"Everyone needs to go to the Great Hall." After saying that, she went to tell everyone else.
Ginny got up and met up with the only remaining Gryffindors. Together, they made their way to the Great Hall. The entire way there, her housemates were whispering. Everyone was concerned about what was going on.
Upon arriving to the Great Hall, Ginny noticed that all of students were gathered outside of the doors, and Snape was trying to get them to shut up. Finally, after succeeding for the most part, he spoke. "Because of the arrival of your new headmaster, all of you are to be re-sorted. Also, you are to treat the headmaster with more respect than you have ever; those of you who don't will be severely punished."
"He will call you up, one house at a time to be re-sorted," he continued. "Because it is late, and the headmaster is irritable, do not, do NOT, under any circumstances complain about the sorting. Do I make myself clear?"
No one answered, but everyone knew that the professor was serious and that they should probably follow the rules that he had just told them. People began to whisper about who the new headmaster could be, and why he would make them all be re-sorted.
"Silence!" Snape yelled over the crowd. Everyone shut up. "Once you walk through those doors, you will remain silent. Understand?"
A few students nodded.
"Good."
Snape opened the doors and began to lead the students into the Great Hall. Ginny, who was not in the back, hadn't paid much attention to Snape's little speech. She had heard the gist of it, but had for the most part tuned him out.
When she saw who the new headmaster was, she froze. No. No! Not him. No. Why? How? NO! Ginny's mind screamed.
Standing by the sorting hat was none other than Tom Riddle. It wasn't the snake-like Voldemort that Ginny had seen in the ministry, but a seventeen or eighteen year old Tom Riddle. He was wearing dark green robes, and he looked at the students, irritated.
"Slytherin." All of the Slytherin students made their way to the front of the room. Tom called out every Slytherin and most of them ended up in the same house, save for the one student that ended up in Hufflepuff.
"Ravenclaw." Luna was sorted into Gryffindor, and two more were sorted into Hufflepuff.
"Hufflepuff." One Hufflepuff was sorted into Ravenclaw, two into Gryffindor, and one into Slytherin.
"Gryffindor." Tom went through the list of names and Ginny was fearful that he would know her's. It would be horrible if he remembered her. Surely he would make her life a living hell. Ginny was so struck with fear that she didn't realize that she was the only person left standing.
"Miss Weasley, although you may be tired could you hurry up? Although you may be tired, I can assure you that you are not any more important than everyone else and get to decide when you are sorted."
Ginny went bright red in the face, realizing that he had probably called her name more than once. She also hated that he had just openly insulted her in front of the entire school.
"Of course I'm not any more important than everyone else. I'm a blood-traitor after all, am I correct, Voldemort?" As Ginny spoke she walked closer and closer to Tom.
At first he seemed surprised by her outburst, and then he was annoyed. "This is the only warning that you will get from me. You do NOT disrespect me. If you do so again, you won't like the consequences. Now, sit down so that you can be sorted."
Ginny sat down on the stool and let Tom place the sorting hat on her head. The hat still went down passed her eyes.
"Ah, a Weasley. Hm… You have some dark memories. You're not the naïve girl that only saw the goodness in people like you used to be. You don't trust very easily anymore. You still have many Gryffindor qualities, but I'm not so sure if that's still where you belong." The hat started.
"I belong in Gryffindor." Ginny said to the hat.
"Hm…" the hat was ignoring her. "You're smart enough to be in Ravenclaw, but you lack the motivation to do the work. You still have some of your Gryffindor qualities, but you have many Slytherin qualities as well. You can speak Parseltongue now, interesting. Hm… you've changed a lot since your first year. SLYTHERIN!"
Ginny jumped off of the stool and threw the hat on the ground. "NO! You stupid—urg! No… no, no, no, no, no."
Everyone in the Great Hall was speechless. Then, suddenly, the Great Hall erupted into sound. How could the Gryffindor princess, the person that everyone was sure was in love with the Harry Potter, be sorted into the house that was practically the exact opposite of her old one.
"The stupid hat—it's nutters. I don't belong in Slytherin. It's impossible." Ginny was mumbling to herself, subconsciously walking to the Gryffindor table.
"Where are you going?" A voice sounded from behind Ginny.
"To where my house sits." Ginny answered back without looking at the speaker.
"The hat just put you in Slytherin."
"Well, the hat's loony. I'm in no way a Slytherin."
"Yes, you are. Now, go to your table. Oh, and you'll be punished for disrespecting me." Tom grabbed her arm and dragged her over to where the head boy, Draco Malfoy, was. "Take her to the Slytherin common room and make sure she stays there. Have someone watch her to make sure that she doesn't leave. Or are you incapable of doing that, too?"
"I'll make sure that she stays there, Headmaster."
"Good." And with that Tom walked up the front of the room.
Ginny tried getting up, but Malfoy grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. "Do you want to get into even more trouble, Weasley?" Ginny tried to pry his hand off of her arm, but she failed. "Stop." Eventually Ginny gave up.
About as soon as Ginny had given up fighting Malfoy, Tom began to speak. "As you all now know, I am Voldemort, but here, you will call me Headmaster or Professor Riddle. If any of you disrespect me, you will be punished. If any of you try to go back to your old house, you will be punished. It is the dawn of a new age here at Hogwarts. For the people that were sorted into a different house, your crest on your robes have been changed and your possessions have been moved into your new room. All of the passwords have changed. You will follow the prefects to your new houses. You are all dismissed."
As soon as they were dismissed, everyone stood up. "Slytherins follow me," Malfoy called out, not letting go of Ginny's arm. Malfoy led them down to the dungeons where the Slytherin common room was. Ginny's common room.
Ginny still couldn't believe that she was re-sorted into Slytherin. It was impossible. She didn't belong there. She was a Gryffindor. She had been for as long as she could remember. How could the hat say that she changed enough to be put into Slytherin? Why did life have to be so cruel?
"We're here," Malfoy called out. "The password is Parseltongue. New passwords are posted in the common room and they stay there for two days. After that, you had better know the password or you're sleeping outside." They all entered the common room. The common room looked exactly like Gryffindor's, but the colors were different and the Slytherin common room seemed colder. "The dorms should be the exact same as the house that you're coming from. Pansy? Could you come here a second?"
"Yeah," she answered walking over. "What's up?"
"I need you to watch her for me," he said looking at Ginny. "Make sure that she doesn't leave."
"No problem."
Pansy took Ginny's arm. "Here's your dorm, but since Draco asked me to watch you and my dorm has an extra bed, you'll be sleeping with us. Go grab anything you need."
Ginny walked in and grabbed her wand, which she had left in her other room by accident. She was going to get out of this place. There was no way that she was going to sleep in a room full of snakes. As soon as Ginny opened the door she had her wand pointed at Pansy. "Stupefy."
Pansy was caught off of guard and was hit, but the minute that she started to run Ginny was hit by body binding spell. When she fell, she hit her head on the wall, and she blacked out.