Author's Notes: Ok, so here's the first chap of the new An American Witch in Hogwarts, well, except now it's Eyes Wide Shut. I hope you like it, but keep in mind; it will be different from the old one.
Disclaimer: Now now, I hope we haven't forgotten the old slogan? Don't own, don't sue.
~*~*~Eyes Wide Shut: Ch.1-Back To School~*~*~
I've been looking so long at these pictures of you
That I almost believe that they're real
I've been looking so long at my pictures of you
That I almost believe that the pictures are all I can see
-The Cure, Pictures of You
Beep Beep Beep.
"Shrrrhmmkka, shadditoff."
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
"No, donwanna gerrup."
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
"GAH!" A figure, completely cocooned in pale pink sheets, the only part of her showing a head of flaming red hair, rolled off the small bed to the carpet below with a thud. "Ow."
And thus, Ginny Weasley was awake, and ready for her first day of sixth year at Hogwarts.
*~*~*
The black drapes shifted open magically, at precisely seven o'clock, sending the bright rays of the morning sun over the bed and its inhabitant.
"Oh Merlin, no," the person groaned, turning over to shield his face from the light. A pale hand rose from the black sheets to cover his eyes. "Will someone close those stupid blinds?!?" His voice was hoarse from sleep.
A house-elf scurried in within moments, standing at the foot of the bed, fidgeting with her bandaged fingers (she had dropped two plates the night before). "Mistress has said you must be getting up now," she chirped at him.
Draco Malfoy's only answer was to groan and turn over.
*~*~*
"DON'T YOU JERKS TOUCH ME!!! NO, AHH!!! HEY, I KNOW MY RIGHTS!!!!"
"Save it for the judge, ki-Ow! She bit me!!"
"Hah, serves you right, you dirty ape, now hands off the merchandise!!!"
The two security guards finally dragged the struggling girl to the door, and tossed her out of the Macy's. The one not nursing his bitten hand sighed. "Listen, girlie, we know you're a minor and homeless, so we'll let you off with a warning this time, so long as you get yourself to a shelter or something," he told her almost pleadingly. The girl scowled.
"I'm not homeless! I've got a home, more than one in fact!"
The other man stopped rubbing his hand regretfully. "Then go!" He said, his voice whiny with pain and annoyance.
She scrambled to her feet on the dirty sidewalk as quickly as she could, flipping her chin-length dark purple hair away from her face, revealing two eyebrow piercings and a dark expression. "Fine," she growled out through gritted teeth.
The girl then shoved past the two men roughly, taking care to stick her nose as high in the air as she could. They rolled their eyes and went back into the store. Her kind was seen more than enough every day. They couldn't stop and care about each one.
*~*~*
The Burrow was unusually quiet for the first day back at Hogwarts. In, it was the quietest it had ever been.
Ron and Harry had been staying at Hermione's house the past couple weeks. 'Guess they're still celebrating,' Ginny thought with slight disgust as she shifted through a pile of worn clothes, wrinkling her nose at everything. Finally, she just sighed and chose a faded Weird Sisters shirt, with several holes, and equally patched up old jeans of Fred's. Ginny had to tighten her belt as much as she could just so they'd stay up.
She hopped down the stairs calmly, strolling into the kitchen and checking Errol for the post. Four bills, a letter for Ron, junk, junk, junk, and a promotional offer addressed to A. Weasley. Ginny grimaced at that. 'When will they stop addressing it to him?' Ginny shook her head regretfully and shoved it in her back pocket, taking care not to let any part show. It was almost habit now.
Ginny poured herself some cereal, and made tea, taking both into the living room. She sat on the couch, staring at the TV. She somewhat wanted to turn it on, but was reluctant to disturb the silence and her mother.
So she just sat there, staring at the blank screen and thinking.
*~*~*
Draco sat on one side of their big dining table for breakfast. He glanced at the other end, but his mother wasn't there. Frowning, he yelled for his house-elf, Tinkle.
"Tinkle! Get in here you filthy little wart!" He yelled, thinking vaguely, 'Ooh, wart, that was a good new nickname,' all the while smirking horridly.
Tinkle sprinted in, sliding slightly on the floor but regaining her balance just before she reached Draco. "Yes Young Master Malfoy?" She asked, yellow green eyes bulging. She was wearing a white pillowcase with a monogrammed DM in the corner. She had been Draco's fifth birthday present.
He scowled inwardly at the "Young" part. "Where's my mother?" He barked at Tinkle.
"Missus is in the church," she told him.
He now scowled openly, staring at the wall. "Fine, dismissed," he told her absently, running a hand through his pale blonde hair. Twinkle's brow (if she had one) furrowed in confusion, until Draco gave her a sharp kick in the side. As she hobbled away, she sighed in relief. For a second she had thought something was wrong with him.
*~*~*
Harry Potter, defeater of Lord Voldemort, and the savior of the wizarding world, rolled over onto his back, yawning widely before groping for his glasses and jamming them on his nose. He lay there for a bit, basking in the afterglow of a full night of sleep happily. Harry then sat bolt upright on his makeshift bed as he remembered he had to go back to his school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that day.
He was in the living room of the Granger house, on September first. In a couple of hours he'd be boarding the Hogwarts Express and going off for his seventh and last year at Hogwarts. Ron Weasley, his best friend, was still snoring soundly next to him, but he could hear Mrs. Granger and Hermione (Mr. Granger was on a business trip) bustling about in the kitchen adjoining the room.
"Ron," Harry said, giving his redheaded friend a shove. "Ron, get up."
Ron mumbled something about chicken and turned away from the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry rolled his eyes and just jabbed Ron harder, pushing him off the small mattress and onto the carpeted floor with a thud.
"Ow." Ron's voice was muffled by the floor under his face.
Harry chuckled a bit and stood up, stretching his arms above his head before padding through the swinging door into the kitchen. "Good morning, Mrs. Granger, 'Mione," he yawned.
They both greeted him happily, and Hermione excused herself to go wake up Ron. Harry and Mrs. Granger made polite conversation for a bit, before Harry decided to get changed and pack up his bags. When he was fully awake and done with that, he headed back down the hall towards the living room.
On the way, he passed by Hermione's room. The door was ajar, and some noises were coming from inside. He peeked through, and the sight that met his eyes wasn't entirely a surprise.
Ron and Hermione were on her bed, giggling and kissing each other slightly, while Ron tried to tickle her. Hermione kept squealing, and batting his hands away to scold him, but she just ended up kissing or touching him again.
Harry watched them in silence before walking past.
*~*~*
"Aunt Esther? Hello? Anyone home?" The girl walked through the door of the large home slowly, frowning as she called. She gave a surprised face, before shrugging and shutting the door behind her. However, she had only gone about four steps before a middle-aged woman in frilly black dress robes ('Of course,' she thought with an inward sigh. 'She's in mourning.') wearing oversized pearls walked down the elaborate staircase towards her.
"Evelyn, darling, you mustn't stay at school so late anymore, I have very important news to tell you," Esther said. Her voice was just a bit too high to be comfortable listening to, and she always spoke annoyingly softly.
"It's Evie," the girl grumbled under her breath, but she followed her aunt into her small study anyways.
Evie fell back on the velvety black couch ungracefully, not bothering to cross her jean-clad legs. "Yes, Auntie, what is it?"
Esther Ashton smacked her lips slightly before she began talking. "Well, I know you've had some, problems, adjusting to living with me," Evie snorted inwardly at that, she made it no secret that she hated it here, "so I was just thinking, how about you go stay with my cousin and her family? I think you know them, the Malfoys."
Evie's eyes widened impossibly, and she jumped out of her seat. "WHAT?!? I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THAT JERK DRACO AND HIS PARENTS?!?!?"
Esther pursed her lips tightly. "Now, now, Evelyn Marianna Ashton, you will not yell at me in this household," she scolded viciously, watery blue eyes almost bugging out of her head.
Her niece just shook her head slowly. "No."
"What did you just say?" Esther's voice was dangerously soft, and Evie was immediately wary of any movement that might reveal her aunt going for her wand.
But she still held her ground. "No, Auntie, not this time. I've been shuffled around too many goddamn times! And now, you're sending me to live with the devil himself! God, just when I was starting to get happy again, now that he's gon-" Evie cut herself off, and stared down at the ground.
Esther stood up, drawing herself up to her full five and a half feet impressively. "Do not talk to me in that tone of voice, and most of all, do not even *dare* to rejoice right now!" Suddenly she stopped and dabbed theatrically at her eyes with a sniffle. "Oh, my most precious Lord, when will you be back again?" Esther wailed at the ceiling.
"Wait a minute, why are you looking up? I thought hell was that way," Evie remarked nastily, pointing downwards lazily.
She thought her aunt would blow her top again, but this time, she just smiled, her fake pearly whites shining brilliantly. Esther pulled her wand out in a flash and shrieked, "Petrificus Totalus!" while pointing it at her niece.
Evie's arms and legs sprang together instantly and her jaw snapped shut audibly, before she fell to the floor with a sort of clatter noise. She gave a strangled growl deep in the back of her throat, but that was all. Esther gave a sniff of satisfaction, and sat down at her desk, completely ignoring the teenager now glaring as well as she could at her.
A little while later, suddenly she threw down the quill she was using with a horrified face. "Oh my word, I had completely forgotten!" She exclaimed. Esther grabbed a silver bell and rang it loudly, within moments a ghost floated into the room. Evie could have grinned. Finally, her aunt had remembered her! 'Maybe now she'll undo this damn spell.'
"Yes miss?" The ghost butler asked her, voice grave, as usual.
Esther waved a hand towards Evie. "Pack her things, she's going to England."
'Damn her.' Evie thought.
*~*~*
"Ginny," those voices, usually laughing uproariously or loudly cracking a joke, were mere whispers. "Hey Gin, we're here to take you to the station."
Ginny snapped out of her trance, and stood up to greet her twin brothers, Fred and George. They had grown taller than she remembered, and were now crowding the narrow hallway as they stood there, waiting for her.
"Hey, I'll be back in a second, I just need to grab my trunks," she told them, standing up slowly.
Fred flapped a hand at her. "Naw, it's ok Ginny, I'll get your stuff," he said, before jumping up the stairs quickly, leaving George and Ginny alone.
"So, how've you been, Ginnykins?"
Her eyes flickered for a second at his childhood nickname for her, before she smiled slightly. "I'm alright," she said quietly. Ginny glanced deliberately up at the ceiling, and her brother, about to start speaking again, followed her gaze and quieted.
"I'm just asking," George told her, voice back to that hoarse whisper. "Because, well, I feel rather guilty that I left you with Mum all summer. I know Ron left too, so, how've you been holding up with her?"
Ginny felt a pang in her heart at his words. "I've been fine, honestly. Mum's doing better anyways, she just sleeps a lot now," her voice was slightly stiffer, colder than before. She couldn't tell if he picked up on that, because Fred chose that moment to reappear at the top of the stairs.
They made their way out of the house quickly and quietly, the occasional thud or grunt being the only noise that broke the silence.
They climbed into the twins' orange Jeep and drove off, with little or no talking. Ginny shifted half in her seat, feeling the seat belt tighten, constricting her shoulder. She gazed back at the Burrow. For once, it was now both quiet and dark.
*~*~*
Draco braced himself for a moment, before tugging briskly on the handle of the huge door and walking through it.
Instantly he shivered. It was freezing in the Malfoy Church. Before the war, he could have counted his visits on one hand, with plenty of fingers left, but ever since, it seemed that he was visiting almost once a day.
The Malfoy Church was one of the darkest places in the Manor, with thick black and gray drapes covering the dusty stained glass windows. He was rather glad they were covered. All the windows depicted scenes of extreme violence and bloodshed. Draco could remember almost crying when he saw them as a child.
The floor was crudely cut stone, worn smooth by time, from a now empty quarry on their lands. The pews were some dark wood, polished and smoothed at every opportunity, and since it was such a small, personal church, there were only five rows on either side of the aisle. Up at the front, kneeling on the altar, Draco could see his mother, though she was completely covered in black. He sighed inwardly.
"Mother, I'm leaving now. The train is departing soon," he called out, coming to a halt in the middle of the aisle. He didn't dare get any closer.
Narcissa Malfoy stood slowly, still weeping slightly, though her face was partly obscured by a black veil.
"Already?" She sniffled, heart-brokenly.
He inclined his head slightly. Much to his surprise however, she didn't burst into full-fledged tears. She only walked up to him, and dabbed at his Head Boy badge with her handkerchief lovingly. "My Draco," she smiled softly, "as Head Boy. Oh, you're turning out just like your father!" At this she sobbed again, and turned away from him. Draco left slowly, her last words echoing in his mind.
"Just like your father…"
'Well, at least I'm still alive,' he thought bitterly.
*~*~*
"YOU WANNA HEX ME, I'LL HEX YOU, YOU WANNA CURSE ME, I'LL CURSE YOU, AND IF YOU MESS WITH ME, YOU'RE GONNA GET IT JUST AS GOOD!" The song blasted out of the car radio, making Ginny's ear drums pulse and ache slightly. Fred was banging his head along with the fast beat, while George, who was driving, was screaming the words along with the lead singer.
Ginny wished she was back at home with the only the dull quiet to wrap around her.
She was shaken out of her thoughts by a sharp turn. She glanced up with surprise. "Where are we going? This isn't the way to the station," Ginny asked with confusion.
Fred turned around in his seat to face her. "I know, we promised Mrs. Granger that we'd pick up Harry, Ron, and Hermione. You don't mind do you?"
Ginny shrugged. "It's fine, we've got time," she told him. She had turned back to the window, before remembering something and twisting to face him again. "Wait a minute, Hermione lives in Lancaster! How will we get there?"
George laughed a bit. "That's the thing we were asking you about. If we, just happened, to 'accidentally' use a 'borrowed' Portkey, you wouldn't tell, would you?" He asked her, face in the rear view mirror a mix between amused and nervous. Fred had turned around, and was watching her anxiously as George pulled into a secluded, woody area. She laughed. It felt just like old times.
"Of course not," she reassured them.
Fred beamed at her and turned back, just in time to join in the last chorus of the song with George. Ginny found herself glad when the music finally died.
The car rolled to a halt, and Fred pulled out a small box. He flipped the lid to reveal a crushed soda can. "Ready?" He asked his siblings. They nodded, and put their hands on the metal, and before long, they felt that familiar tug and off they went.
*~*~*
Harry stifled a yawn, and checked his watch. The train left in an hour. The watch was a birthday present from Hermione and Ron, and it corresponded exactly to the lunar time. That was Hermione's addition. Ron added the lady who shed her clothes every hour.
Harry grinned slightly, remembering the fight they had had. Eventually, though, a compromise had been reached. She now only stripped at noon and midnight.
Harry put his hand down again, and shifted Hedwig's cage to under his other arm. Ron, Hermione and Harry were all waiting outside her house for the twins and Ginny to pick them up for the ride to the station. Mrs. Granger was fussing about her only daughter, even more emotional than Hermione herself at the prospect of her last year at Hogwarts.
He wondered vaguely about life after Hogwarts. What if he didn't become an Auror? Would he just work at the Ministry? Harry shuddered inwardly at the thought.
Luckily, he was stirred from his thoughts by Fred, George and Ginny Portkeying in. His head snapped up, and he grinned at the sight of the twins.
"Hey!" He cried out, rushing up to greet them along with Ron and Hermione. Ron hadn't seen his brothers in almost a month, and his little sister about three weeks. Hermione and Harry had gone longer without the jokesters. Soon the air was filled with greetings.
"Alright, alright, I think we've been properly reacquainted," George said with a grin. "We should get going."
They all said their goodbyes to Mrs. Granger, who simply covered her face with a handkerchief and made shooing motions with her hand as she wept. Hermione shook her head slightly as her mother left.
"Everyone ready?" Fred asked, holding a different box, this time with a rusted nail inside. Everyone touched it, and instantly they got back to the car. They all piled in, and off to the station they went.
*~*~*
Ginny sank into the plush seat of the Hogwarts Express and gazed out the window at the changing scenery with relief. It was oddly comforting to know that all you had to do for the next several hours was sit. They had actually arrived early for once, but due to the rush, plus the added factor of finding a compartment, she had only sat down once the train had already started.
Ron, Harry, and Hermione were at the Head Boy/Girl/Prefect's meeting. Hermione, of course, had been appointed Head Girl, just as surely as Harry and Ron were prefects. All had been mystified when Harry didn't receive the Head Boy badge, but they wrote it off as another one of Dumbledore's unknown-yet-still-oddly-understandable reasons.
The train went inside a tunnel, plunging the compartment into darkness. Soon after, the lights flickered on. It was a long tunnel, almost the entire train ride, Ginny knew from the train home last year. They had had to find a new route when the old train tracks had been destroyed.
The compartment door slid open, and Ginny let her head fall slightly on her shoulder, and closed her eyes slightly, faking sleep. She didn't feel like talking to any one, especially since the conversation would probably be mindless chatter about their summers. Ginny almost shuddered at the thought, but remembered just in time not to. Most sleeping people don't shudder randomly.
There was a sigh, and light footsteps as the person walked in and sat down on the seat across from her. She risked squinting her eyes open slightly, and almost gasped.
Draco Malfoy was sitting across from her.
*~*~*
Draco stifled a yawn. He was in the Prefect's meeting, and it was boring. Granger had taken over as soon as she stepped in the door, of course, talking about some dumb little house elf thing, and Weasley and Scarface kept shooting him dirty looks. Every time they did, Draco would shine his badge obnoxiously.
However, after a while, it got a bit tiring to keep up with baiting them. He caught the Mudblood's eyes and jerked a hand to his wrist, tapping on an invisible watch. She got the hint, tinged pink, and dismissed them all. From the way most of the younger students almost ran out, Draco could tell he hadn't been the only bored one in the room.
He strode down the train, occasionally checking in compartments to see if they were empty. None were, stupid crowded train.
Draco spotted Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, and Crabbe and Goyle in one compartment, but he pulled back before they saw him. He didn't want to deal with them now, with Pansy's sickening attempts to seduce him, and Blaise and his cronies talking about his father. They acted like he was a martyr.
Draco almost gagged at the thought.
So, he bypassed that compartment and moved on. Pretty soon, he came to one compartment near the back; actually it was the last one. There was no noise coming from it, so Draco assumed no one was inside.
Draco stepped through, then sighed. There was someone in it; a girl, who looked like she was sleeping. 'Ah well,' he thought resignedly. 'There is nowhere else.'
He sat down across from the girl, and scowled. She was a Weasley, Ginny Weasley to be exact. He glanced around the compartment quickly, as if it would show him another door, another compartment so he wouldn't have to sit with her. And yet, he was still in the last compartment, stuck with her.
This was going to be a fun train ride.
*~*~*
'Three-thousand four hundred fifty-four, three-thousand four hundred fifty-five, three-thousa-' The sound of footsteps approaching stopped Evie in her counting of the ceiling dots, and she attempted to look at the door and see who it was, but it was out of her range of vision. Soon however, the person walked through the door, and she could see. Aunt Esther.
Evie was still in her aunt's study, under the Petrificus Totalus spell and lying on the floor. She had been left there for hours, it was now nearly dark. She had almost given up hope that Esther would even come back. Evie wouldn't put it past her aunt to just leave her there for the night.
Esther swept in, livid. She towered over the still girl, glaring horribly.
"Well?" She snapped. "When were you going to tell me?" She waved a letter furiously as she spoke, and Evie, after attempting to furrow her brow in confusion, caught a glimpse of her school seal, an eagle holding a wand in his beak. 'Uh-oh…' Evie thought. 'She's found out.'
Esther didn't seem to notice that Evie wasn't answering, she just turned sharply on her heel and started raving again. "Not only have you been *expelled*, you were expelled almost a week ago!! And school's only been in for two weeks!! What on earth have been doing all these days?!? Roaming the streets like all your ruffian friends? It's not enough that you look like them, with that horrid hair and those unsightly piercings-your mother would have never stood for them, that's for sure-now you have to act like them too?!?"
She went on to insult Evie's intelligence, lament about something or other, but Evie had long since tuned out her aunt. Evie remembered reading a book when she was younger, in it a boy was being yelled at and he wondered if people could have ear-lids to shut out all horrible noise. She had always liked the sound of that, it made so much sense to her.
Unfortunately, she didn't have any ear-lids, so her thoughts were broken through by the shrill voice of her aunt. "Are you paying attention to me at all you idiotic girl?!?" Esther shrieked. Evie would have jumped if she could, as it was, she sort of shook on the floor. Her aunt finally noticed the spell still in effect and waved her wand almost carelessly, with an impatient sigh. "Finite Incantatem," she said, then, once Evie stood, stretching and easing cramps, resumed her shrieking. 'It's like a pack of vultures, cawing shrilly as they dive in for the kill,' Evie mused thoughtfully.
Finally, though, Esther stopped yelling, and just stood there, glaring profusely as she panted slightly from lack of breath. "What did you even do to get expelled?" She wondered with slight amazement.
Evie scuffed a foot slightly, it was a habit she had when she got nervous. "Uhh, a variety of things, disrespect, getting into fights," her voice dropped to a mere murmur, "and the fact that I was still on probation from the alcohol fiasco last year." Her gaze dropped to the ground.
Esther just inhaled sharply, then let the breath out slowly. "I'm much too tired to deal with this right now," she muttered to herself. She glanced back to her niece and her lips thinned. "Well, I suppose now I won't have to deal with the transfer papers now will I?"
"Transfer papers?"
She tut-tutted. "Of course. You didn't expect to just live and not go to school there now did you? No, Evelyn, you're going to Hogwarts, with your dear cousin."
Evie had a sudden vision of herself having a heart attack.
"…And you're leaving first thing in the morning."
*~*~*
Disclaimer: Now now, I hope we haven't forgotten the old slogan? Don't own, don't sue.
~*~*~Eyes Wide Shut: Ch.1-Back To School~*~*~
I've been looking so long at these pictures of you
That I almost believe that they're real
I've been looking so long at my pictures of you
That I almost believe that the pictures are all I can see
-The Cure, Pictures of You
Beep Beep Beep.
"Shrrrhmmkka, shadditoff."
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
"No, donwanna gerrup."
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
"GAH!" A figure, completely cocooned in pale pink sheets, the only part of her showing a head of flaming red hair, rolled off the small bed to the carpet below with a thud. "Ow."
And thus, Ginny Weasley was awake, and ready for her first day of sixth year at Hogwarts.
*~*~*
The black drapes shifted open magically, at precisely seven o'clock, sending the bright rays of the morning sun over the bed and its inhabitant.
"Oh Merlin, no," the person groaned, turning over to shield his face from the light. A pale hand rose from the black sheets to cover his eyes. "Will someone close those stupid blinds?!?" His voice was hoarse from sleep.
A house-elf scurried in within moments, standing at the foot of the bed, fidgeting with her bandaged fingers (she had dropped two plates the night before). "Mistress has said you must be getting up now," she chirped at him.
Draco Malfoy's only answer was to groan and turn over.
*~*~*
"DON'T YOU JERKS TOUCH ME!!! NO, AHH!!! HEY, I KNOW MY RIGHTS!!!!"
"Save it for the judge, ki-Ow! She bit me!!"
"Hah, serves you right, you dirty ape, now hands off the merchandise!!!"
The two security guards finally dragged the struggling girl to the door, and tossed her out of the Macy's. The one not nursing his bitten hand sighed. "Listen, girlie, we know you're a minor and homeless, so we'll let you off with a warning this time, so long as you get yourself to a shelter or something," he told her almost pleadingly. The girl scowled.
"I'm not homeless! I've got a home, more than one in fact!"
The other man stopped rubbing his hand regretfully. "Then go!" He said, his voice whiny with pain and annoyance.
She scrambled to her feet on the dirty sidewalk as quickly as she could, flipping her chin-length dark purple hair away from her face, revealing two eyebrow piercings and a dark expression. "Fine," she growled out through gritted teeth.
The girl then shoved past the two men roughly, taking care to stick her nose as high in the air as she could. They rolled their eyes and went back into the store. Her kind was seen more than enough every day. They couldn't stop and care about each one.
*~*~*
The Burrow was unusually quiet for the first day back at Hogwarts. In, it was the quietest it had ever been.
Ron and Harry had been staying at Hermione's house the past couple weeks. 'Guess they're still celebrating,' Ginny thought with slight disgust as she shifted through a pile of worn clothes, wrinkling her nose at everything. Finally, she just sighed and chose a faded Weird Sisters shirt, with several holes, and equally patched up old jeans of Fred's. Ginny had to tighten her belt as much as she could just so they'd stay up.
She hopped down the stairs calmly, strolling into the kitchen and checking Errol for the post. Four bills, a letter for Ron, junk, junk, junk, and a promotional offer addressed to A. Weasley. Ginny grimaced at that. 'When will they stop addressing it to him?' Ginny shook her head regretfully and shoved it in her back pocket, taking care not to let any part show. It was almost habit now.
Ginny poured herself some cereal, and made tea, taking both into the living room. She sat on the couch, staring at the TV. She somewhat wanted to turn it on, but was reluctant to disturb the silence and her mother.
So she just sat there, staring at the blank screen and thinking.
*~*~*
Draco sat on one side of their big dining table for breakfast. He glanced at the other end, but his mother wasn't there. Frowning, he yelled for his house-elf, Tinkle.
"Tinkle! Get in here you filthy little wart!" He yelled, thinking vaguely, 'Ooh, wart, that was a good new nickname,' all the while smirking horridly.
Tinkle sprinted in, sliding slightly on the floor but regaining her balance just before she reached Draco. "Yes Young Master Malfoy?" She asked, yellow green eyes bulging. She was wearing a white pillowcase with a monogrammed DM in the corner. She had been Draco's fifth birthday present.
He scowled inwardly at the "Young" part. "Where's my mother?" He barked at Tinkle.
"Missus is in the church," she told him.
He now scowled openly, staring at the wall. "Fine, dismissed," he told her absently, running a hand through his pale blonde hair. Twinkle's brow (if she had one) furrowed in confusion, until Draco gave her a sharp kick in the side. As she hobbled away, she sighed in relief. For a second she had thought something was wrong with him.
*~*~*
Harry Potter, defeater of Lord Voldemort, and the savior of the wizarding world, rolled over onto his back, yawning widely before groping for his glasses and jamming them on his nose. He lay there for a bit, basking in the afterglow of a full night of sleep happily. Harry then sat bolt upright on his makeshift bed as he remembered he had to go back to his school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that day.
He was in the living room of the Granger house, on September first. In a couple of hours he'd be boarding the Hogwarts Express and going off for his seventh and last year at Hogwarts. Ron Weasley, his best friend, was still snoring soundly next to him, but he could hear Mrs. Granger and Hermione (Mr. Granger was on a business trip) bustling about in the kitchen adjoining the room.
"Ron," Harry said, giving his redheaded friend a shove. "Ron, get up."
Ron mumbled something about chicken and turned away from the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry rolled his eyes and just jabbed Ron harder, pushing him off the small mattress and onto the carpeted floor with a thud.
"Ow." Ron's voice was muffled by the floor under his face.
Harry chuckled a bit and stood up, stretching his arms above his head before padding through the swinging door into the kitchen. "Good morning, Mrs. Granger, 'Mione," he yawned.
They both greeted him happily, and Hermione excused herself to go wake up Ron. Harry and Mrs. Granger made polite conversation for a bit, before Harry decided to get changed and pack up his bags. When he was fully awake and done with that, he headed back down the hall towards the living room.
On the way, he passed by Hermione's room. The door was ajar, and some noises were coming from inside. He peeked through, and the sight that met his eyes wasn't entirely a surprise.
Ron and Hermione were on her bed, giggling and kissing each other slightly, while Ron tried to tickle her. Hermione kept squealing, and batting his hands away to scold him, but she just ended up kissing or touching him again.
Harry watched them in silence before walking past.
*~*~*
"Aunt Esther? Hello? Anyone home?" The girl walked through the door of the large home slowly, frowning as she called. She gave a surprised face, before shrugging and shutting the door behind her. However, she had only gone about four steps before a middle-aged woman in frilly black dress robes ('Of course,' she thought with an inward sigh. 'She's in mourning.') wearing oversized pearls walked down the elaborate staircase towards her.
"Evelyn, darling, you mustn't stay at school so late anymore, I have very important news to tell you," Esther said. Her voice was just a bit too high to be comfortable listening to, and she always spoke annoyingly softly.
"It's Evie," the girl grumbled under her breath, but she followed her aunt into her small study anyways.
Evie fell back on the velvety black couch ungracefully, not bothering to cross her jean-clad legs. "Yes, Auntie, what is it?"
Esther Ashton smacked her lips slightly before she began talking. "Well, I know you've had some, problems, adjusting to living with me," Evie snorted inwardly at that, she made it no secret that she hated it here, "so I was just thinking, how about you go stay with my cousin and her family? I think you know them, the Malfoys."
Evie's eyes widened impossibly, and she jumped out of her seat. "WHAT?!? I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THAT JERK DRACO AND HIS PARENTS?!?!?"
Esther pursed her lips tightly. "Now, now, Evelyn Marianna Ashton, you will not yell at me in this household," she scolded viciously, watery blue eyes almost bugging out of her head.
Her niece just shook her head slowly. "No."
"What did you just say?" Esther's voice was dangerously soft, and Evie was immediately wary of any movement that might reveal her aunt going for her wand.
But she still held her ground. "No, Auntie, not this time. I've been shuffled around too many goddamn times! And now, you're sending me to live with the devil himself! God, just when I was starting to get happy again, now that he's gon-" Evie cut herself off, and stared down at the ground.
Esther stood up, drawing herself up to her full five and a half feet impressively. "Do not talk to me in that tone of voice, and most of all, do not even *dare* to rejoice right now!" Suddenly she stopped and dabbed theatrically at her eyes with a sniffle. "Oh, my most precious Lord, when will you be back again?" Esther wailed at the ceiling.
"Wait a minute, why are you looking up? I thought hell was that way," Evie remarked nastily, pointing downwards lazily.
She thought her aunt would blow her top again, but this time, she just smiled, her fake pearly whites shining brilliantly. Esther pulled her wand out in a flash and shrieked, "Petrificus Totalus!" while pointing it at her niece.
Evie's arms and legs sprang together instantly and her jaw snapped shut audibly, before she fell to the floor with a sort of clatter noise. She gave a strangled growl deep in the back of her throat, but that was all. Esther gave a sniff of satisfaction, and sat down at her desk, completely ignoring the teenager now glaring as well as she could at her.
A little while later, suddenly she threw down the quill she was using with a horrified face. "Oh my word, I had completely forgotten!" She exclaimed. Esther grabbed a silver bell and rang it loudly, within moments a ghost floated into the room. Evie could have grinned. Finally, her aunt had remembered her! 'Maybe now she'll undo this damn spell.'
"Yes miss?" The ghost butler asked her, voice grave, as usual.
Esther waved a hand towards Evie. "Pack her things, she's going to England."
'Damn her.' Evie thought.
*~*~*
"Ginny," those voices, usually laughing uproariously or loudly cracking a joke, were mere whispers. "Hey Gin, we're here to take you to the station."
Ginny snapped out of her trance, and stood up to greet her twin brothers, Fred and George. They had grown taller than she remembered, and were now crowding the narrow hallway as they stood there, waiting for her.
"Hey, I'll be back in a second, I just need to grab my trunks," she told them, standing up slowly.
Fred flapped a hand at her. "Naw, it's ok Ginny, I'll get your stuff," he said, before jumping up the stairs quickly, leaving George and Ginny alone.
"So, how've you been, Ginnykins?"
Her eyes flickered for a second at his childhood nickname for her, before she smiled slightly. "I'm alright," she said quietly. Ginny glanced deliberately up at the ceiling, and her brother, about to start speaking again, followed her gaze and quieted.
"I'm just asking," George told her, voice back to that hoarse whisper. "Because, well, I feel rather guilty that I left you with Mum all summer. I know Ron left too, so, how've you been holding up with her?"
Ginny felt a pang in her heart at his words. "I've been fine, honestly. Mum's doing better anyways, she just sleeps a lot now," her voice was slightly stiffer, colder than before. She couldn't tell if he picked up on that, because Fred chose that moment to reappear at the top of the stairs.
They made their way out of the house quickly and quietly, the occasional thud or grunt being the only noise that broke the silence.
They climbed into the twins' orange Jeep and drove off, with little or no talking. Ginny shifted half in her seat, feeling the seat belt tighten, constricting her shoulder. She gazed back at the Burrow. For once, it was now both quiet and dark.
*~*~*
Draco braced himself for a moment, before tugging briskly on the handle of the huge door and walking through it.
Instantly he shivered. It was freezing in the Malfoy Church. Before the war, he could have counted his visits on one hand, with plenty of fingers left, but ever since, it seemed that he was visiting almost once a day.
The Malfoy Church was one of the darkest places in the Manor, with thick black and gray drapes covering the dusty stained glass windows. He was rather glad they were covered. All the windows depicted scenes of extreme violence and bloodshed. Draco could remember almost crying when he saw them as a child.
The floor was crudely cut stone, worn smooth by time, from a now empty quarry on their lands. The pews were some dark wood, polished and smoothed at every opportunity, and since it was such a small, personal church, there were only five rows on either side of the aisle. Up at the front, kneeling on the altar, Draco could see his mother, though she was completely covered in black. He sighed inwardly.
"Mother, I'm leaving now. The train is departing soon," he called out, coming to a halt in the middle of the aisle. He didn't dare get any closer.
Narcissa Malfoy stood slowly, still weeping slightly, though her face was partly obscured by a black veil.
"Already?" She sniffled, heart-brokenly.
He inclined his head slightly. Much to his surprise however, she didn't burst into full-fledged tears. She only walked up to him, and dabbed at his Head Boy badge with her handkerchief lovingly. "My Draco," she smiled softly, "as Head Boy. Oh, you're turning out just like your father!" At this she sobbed again, and turned away from him. Draco left slowly, her last words echoing in his mind.
"Just like your father…"
'Well, at least I'm still alive,' he thought bitterly.
*~*~*
"YOU WANNA HEX ME, I'LL HEX YOU, YOU WANNA CURSE ME, I'LL CURSE YOU, AND IF YOU MESS WITH ME, YOU'RE GONNA GET IT JUST AS GOOD!" The song blasted out of the car radio, making Ginny's ear drums pulse and ache slightly. Fred was banging his head along with the fast beat, while George, who was driving, was screaming the words along with the lead singer.
Ginny wished she was back at home with the only the dull quiet to wrap around her.
She was shaken out of her thoughts by a sharp turn. She glanced up with surprise. "Where are we going? This isn't the way to the station," Ginny asked with confusion.
Fred turned around in his seat to face her. "I know, we promised Mrs. Granger that we'd pick up Harry, Ron, and Hermione. You don't mind do you?"
Ginny shrugged. "It's fine, we've got time," she told him. She had turned back to the window, before remembering something and twisting to face him again. "Wait a minute, Hermione lives in Lancaster! How will we get there?"
George laughed a bit. "That's the thing we were asking you about. If we, just happened, to 'accidentally' use a 'borrowed' Portkey, you wouldn't tell, would you?" He asked her, face in the rear view mirror a mix between amused and nervous. Fred had turned around, and was watching her anxiously as George pulled into a secluded, woody area. She laughed. It felt just like old times.
"Of course not," she reassured them.
Fred beamed at her and turned back, just in time to join in the last chorus of the song with George. Ginny found herself glad when the music finally died.
The car rolled to a halt, and Fred pulled out a small box. He flipped the lid to reveal a crushed soda can. "Ready?" He asked his siblings. They nodded, and put their hands on the metal, and before long, they felt that familiar tug and off they went.
*~*~*
Harry stifled a yawn, and checked his watch. The train left in an hour. The watch was a birthday present from Hermione and Ron, and it corresponded exactly to the lunar time. That was Hermione's addition. Ron added the lady who shed her clothes every hour.
Harry grinned slightly, remembering the fight they had had. Eventually, though, a compromise had been reached. She now only stripped at noon and midnight.
Harry put his hand down again, and shifted Hedwig's cage to under his other arm. Ron, Hermione and Harry were all waiting outside her house for the twins and Ginny to pick them up for the ride to the station. Mrs. Granger was fussing about her only daughter, even more emotional than Hermione herself at the prospect of her last year at Hogwarts.
He wondered vaguely about life after Hogwarts. What if he didn't become an Auror? Would he just work at the Ministry? Harry shuddered inwardly at the thought.
Luckily, he was stirred from his thoughts by Fred, George and Ginny Portkeying in. His head snapped up, and he grinned at the sight of the twins.
"Hey!" He cried out, rushing up to greet them along with Ron and Hermione. Ron hadn't seen his brothers in almost a month, and his little sister about three weeks. Hermione and Harry had gone longer without the jokesters. Soon the air was filled with greetings.
"Alright, alright, I think we've been properly reacquainted," George said with a grin. "We should get going."
They all said their goodbyes to Mrs. Granger, who simply covered her face with a handkerchief and made shooing motions with her hand as she wept. Hermione shook her head slightly as her mother left.
"Everyone ready?" Fred asked, holding a different box, this time with a rusted nail inside. Everyone touched it, and instantly they got back to the car. They all piled in, and off to the station they went.
*~*~*
Ginny sank into the plush seat of the Hogwarts Express and gazed out the window at the changing scenery with relief. It was oddly comforting to know that all you had to do for the next several hours was sit. They had actually arrived early for once, but due to the rush, plus the added factor of finding a compartment, she had only sat down once the train had already started.
Ron, Harry, and Hermione were at the Head Boy/Girl/Prefect's meeting. Hermione, of course, had been appointed Head Girl, just as surely as Harry and Ron were prefects. All had been mystified when Harry didn't receive the Head Boy badge, but they wrote it off as another one of Dumbledore's unknown-yet-still-oddly-understandable reasons.
The train went inside a tunnel, plunging the compartment into darkness. Soon after, the lights flickered on. It was a long tunnel, almost the entire train ride, Ginny knew from the train home last year. They had had to find a new route when the old train tracks had been destroyed.
The compartment door slid open, and Ginny let her head fall slightly on her shoulder, and closed her eyes slightly, faking sleep. She didn't feel like talking to any one, especially since the conversation would probably be mindless chatter about their summers. Ginny almost shuddered at the thought, but remembered just in time not to. Most sleeping people don't shudder randomly.
There was a sigh, and light footsteps as the person walked in and sat down on the seat across from her. She risked squinting her eyes open slightly, and almost gasped.
Draco Malfoy was sitting across from her.
*~*~*
Draco stifled a yawn. He was in the Prefect's meeting, and it was boring. Granger had taken over as soon as she stepped in the door, of course, talking about some dumb little house elf thing, and Weasley and Scarface kept shooting him dirty looks. Every time they did, Draco would shine his badge obnoxiously.
However, after a while, it got a bit tiring to keep up with baiting them. He caught the Mudblood's eyes and jerked a hand to his wrist, tapping on an invisible watch. She got the hint, tinged pink, and dismissed them all. From the way most of the younger students almost ran out, Draco could tell he hadn't been the only bored one in the room.
He strode down the train, occasionally checking in compartments to see if they were empty. None were, stupid crowded train.
Draco spotted Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, and Crabbe and Goyle in one compartment, but he pulled back before they saw him. He didn't want to deal with them now, with Pansy's sickening attempts to seduce him, and Blaise and his cronies talking about his father. They acted like he was a martyr.
Draco almost gagged at the thought.
So, he bypassed that compartment and moved on. Pretty soon, he came to one compartment near the back; actually it was the last one. There was no noise coming from it, so Draco assumed no one was inside.
Draco stepped through, then sighed. There was someone in it; a girl, who looked like she was sleeping. 'Ah well,' he thought resignedly. 'There is nowhere else.'
He sat down across from the girl, and scowled. She was a Weasley, Ginny Weasley to be exact. He glanced around the compartment quickly, as if it would show him another door, another compartment so he wouldn't have to sit with her. And yet, he was still in the last compartment, stuck with her.
This was going to be a fun train ride.
*~*~*
'Three-thousand four hundred fifty-four, three-thousand four hundred fifty-five, three-thousa-' The sound of footsteps approaching stopped Evie in her counting of the ceiling dots, and she attempted to look at the door and see who it was, but it was out of her range of vision. Soon however, the person walked through the door, and she could see. Aunt Esther.
Evie was still in her aunt's study, under the Petrificus Totalus spell and lying on the floor. She had been left there for hours, it was now nearly dark. She had almost given up hope that Esther would even come back. Evie wouldn't put it past her aunt to just leave her there for the night.
Esther swept in, livid. She towered over the still girl, glaring horribly.
"Well?" She snapped. "When were you going to tell me?" She waved a letter furiously as she spoke, and Evie, after attempting to furrow her brow in confusion, caught a glimpse of her school seal, an eagle holding a wand in his beak. 'Uh-oh…' Evie thought. 'She's found out.'
Esther didn't seem to notice that Evie wasn't answering, she just turned sharply on her heel and started raving again. "Not only have you been *expelled*, you were expelled almost a week ago!! And school's only been in for two weeks!! What on earth have been doing all these days?!? Roaming the streets like all your ruffian friends? It's not enough that you look like them, with that horrid hair and those unsightly piercings-your mother would have never stood for them, that's for sure-now you have to act like them too?!?"
She went on to insult Evie's intelligence, lament about something or other, but Evie had long since tuned out her aunt. Evie remembered reading a book when she was younger, in it a boy was being yelled at and he wondered if people could have ear-lids to shut out all horrible noise. She had always liked the sound of that, it made so much sense to her.
Unfortunately, she didn't have any ear-lids, so her thoughts were broken through by the shrill voice of her aunt. "Are you paying attention to me at all you idiotic girl?!?" Esther shrieked. Evie would have jumped if she could, as it was, she sort of shook on the floor. Her aunt finally noticed the spell still in effect and waved her wand almost carelessly, with an impatient sigh. "Finite Incantatem," she said, then, once Evie stood, stretching and easing cramps, resumed her shrieking. 'It's like a pack of vultures, cawing shrilly as they dive in for the kill,' Evie mused thoughtfully.
Finally, though, Esther stopped yelling, and just stood there, glaring profusely as she panted slightly from lack of breath. "What did you even do to get expelled?" She wondered with slight amazement.
Evie scuffed a foot slightly, it was a habit she had when she got nervous. "Uhh, a variety of things, disrespect, getting into fights," her voice dropped to a mere murmur, "and the fact that I was still on probation from the alcohol fiasco last year." Her gaze dropped to the ground.
Esther just inhaled sharply, then let the breath out slowly. "I'm much too tired to deal with this right now," she muttered to herself. She glanced back to her niece and her lips thinned. "Well, I suppose now I won't have to deal with the transfer papers now will I?"
"Transfer papers?"
She tut-tutted. "Of course. You didn't expect to just live and not go to school there now did you? No, Evelyn, you're going to Hogwarts, with your dear cousin."
Evie had a sudden vision of herself having a heart attack.
"…And you're leaving first thing in the morning."
*~*~*