She was swimming through an ocean, a very cold ocean. Now, she was no longer swimming, but drowning. She tried to scream, but her lungs filled with icy water. She reached upwards towards where she hoped the surface would be, and grabbed ahold of her older brother's newly grown beard. Ginny Weasley opened her eyes to look into her brother, Ron's. He smiled, wairily. She was still holding his beard. "Uh, hey, Gin. It's time to get up. We leave for the train in an hour," Ron said, trying to extract his beard painfully from his sister's grasp. There was no need. The moment the words, "an hour," left his mouth, Ginny was flying from the bed with a screech. He jumped back, stroking his beard and mumbling to himself. Maybe Hermione was right and he should get rid of it. He had never thought of it as a danger. Ron walked out of the room, still muttering.

Ginny, meanwhile, had grabbed a set of clothes from her dresser and was running for the bathroom. She took a quick shower and dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a hunter green tank top before going downstairs. She would use the makeup charm Hermione had found over the summer to fix her face after breakfast. The table was crowded when she arrived. Harry was there, as was Hremione, her best friend and Ron's fieance. The two had finally gotten together over the past summer. They would be married a year after their graduation from Hogwarts, which meant, next year. Fred and George were also there, with their wives, Angelina and Katie. Ginny smiled as she sat down, Harry and Fred scooting in opposite directions to give her room. This was her family. She would do anything to protect them, anything.

An hour later, the whole happy group stood on the platform 9 3/4. Molly Weasley sobbed as her youngest son set off for his final year at Hogwarts School For Witchcraft and Wizzardry. Ginny hugged her mother and older brothers goodbye, before leaving them to give their last minuite advice to the three upcomming grduates alone. She stepped onto the train and set off in search of an empty compartment for them to sit in.

Suddenly, however, her arm was grabbed by a strong, meaty hand. An overly stupid voice said, "Look here what I got, Goil! It's the little Weasel, and all grown up too!" It was Crabbe. Ginny looked up at him in fear. He was much larger than she was, considering that she was only 5'2" and weighed, maybe, 115. Then, she heard another familiar voice.

"Leave her alone. She's not worth it. We have more important things to worry about." It was Draco Malfoy. He shoved Crabbe's arm and the larger boy dropped her unceremoniously on the ground. "Next time stay out of our way, Weasley," Draco said, then stalked by with his cronnies a his heals. Ginny got up from the ground and went into the next empty compartment she found. This was going to be a long year.