For the Writing Challenge part of the Light it up like it's the 4th of July Event at The Golden Snitch. (You should come and join! We're a fun forum!).
Prompt: (song) Firework by Katy Perry.
Durmstrang, Pirin.
Word count: 499 words.
Ginny puts her hand on the homework table and closes her eyes. She counts to ten. She opens her eyes her bubble bursts. She's still there. The whispers too.
It's too much. She closes her book, grabs her school bag and gets the hell out of that place that treats her like she's some kind of bomb about to go off. All they see is a little girl who was fooled into opening the Chamber of Secrets. Ginny isn't angry at them; she's angry at the Headmaster, who said no one would know.
"Well, everyone knows," she says sarcastically.
"I don't," the painting of a man says. Ginny doesn't know what makes her stop walking but she does and faces the portrait. The man has curly brown hair and a beard. His eyes are bright with what Ginny can only describe as fun. "Would you care to tell me?"
"Would you care to know?" she asks.
"I asked for a reason, girl," he says. The paintings around the man are attentive but pretending to ignore them. "Will you tell me?"
Ginny does. At first, she tells it in general terms. Yes, I opened the Chamber. No, I didn't know what I was doing.
Then, she's crying and holding her book tight against her chest. Her tears are flowing as she tells the paintings (who have stopped pretending not to hear) how lonely she has been this year and how Tom uses that to his advantage.
"The other Gryffindors think I'm a traitor," she shares at the end when her crying has come down to sobs and her eyes are red. "What did I expect?"
The man seems sad.
"You expected your family to understand and they didn't," he says, rubbing his beard.
She tries and fails to smile.
"I opened the Chamber," she says and to her own ears, it sounds like an excuse for the behaviour of her housemates. "But I wish at least one Gryffindor understood me."
The man laughs. "Consider your wish granted, little lady. Let me introduce myself: I'm the portrait of Godric Gryffindor, at your service."
Her eyes are wide and she is mute for a second. "Why no one told us you exist?"
"They never bothered to ask," he says in complicity with a smirk.
"Yeah. I guess they didn't."
A few seconds pass in silence.
"Thank you, Mister Godric."
"Whenever you need it, Miss Weasley, I will be around."
"How do you know my name?"
Godric Gryffindor's portrait laughs again. "There have been many Weasleys around Hogwarts for a long, long time."
She giggles. "Thank you again, sir."
Godric slightly bows his head. "Just remember to let your red and gold burst through the sadness, girl. You'll be alright, little Gryffindor."
Ginny goes back to her common and even if there are still whispers behind her back, her paper–thin life rips apart and the colours come through.