II.
Returning to Hogwarts for the first time since the Battle was an emotionally trying experience, to say the least. Ginny watched an unfamiliar professor calling the First Years over, Hagrid nowhere in sight. She let all of the other students pass her by as they stepped into what to most of them looked like empty carriages. As they walked past wordlessly, she looked up at the enormous castle that she knew so well. It seemed to be almost less alive than it usually was; as if it understood the great casualties it had suffered. And it probably does, Ginny mused, stepping into the last Thestral-drawn carriage and trying hard not to think about all she had lost in the Battle and its aftermath.
Minutes later, she entered the Great Hall. The tables that had for so many years been filled with happy, chattering students were before her. Not one was more that ¾ full. Ginny knew that many of the students had been severely injured during the Battle. Some were dead, others still missing. Several had switched schools or decided to be home-schooled. The energy of the room reminded her vaguely of the previous year. Dumbledore was just dead and there had been Death Eaters at the long teacher's table. Ginny shuddered at the memory. Where as that feast had been tensely silent and intimidating, this one was more... peaceful. It was a somber peace, not unlike that of Professor Dumbledore's funeral, but a peace all the same. Ginny looked at the half-empty teacher's table. Professor McGonagall sat in the center, looking tired and aged beyond her already considerable years. Professors Sprout and Flitwick sat on her right and left, respectively, looking just shy of defeated. Those three aside, the table's remaining occupants were mostly young professors unfamiliar to Ginny, except, of course, Oliver. He was seated almost directly in front of the Gryffindor table. He caught her eye and smiled as she took her seat.
During the Sorting, Ginny looked around the Great Hall. She saw several familiar faces, but few she could put names to. She scoped the Hall once more before her gaze finally landed on Oliver again. He smiled, noticing her glance, before turning to clap for Gryffindor's newest student, Derrick Trumpton. Ginny looked down at her still-empty plate. Trumpton. Surely that means we're almost done? Then there'd be the feast, and a word from Professor McGonagall...Ginny sighed and sunk down in her seat. She wished she could skip to breakfast the next morning to get her schedule with the note at the bottom explaining the duties and privileges of the Quidditch Captaincy. If nothing else, that was what she looked forward to for the year ahead. Practicing, playing, and (hopefully) winning, corresponding with teams across Europe...she grinned at the idea of it all.
The rest of the feast passed without incident. Ginny hadn't paid much attention, only enough to gather what information was necessary. This she reviewed as she walked alone towards Gryffindor Tower. The first bit that had caught her attention was when McGonagall had stated that she'd be performing dual-duties as Headmistress & Transfiguration Professor, "Until I can find someone who teaches it as well as I do," as she put it. The only other news was that with the reduced student body, first year students would be eligible to try out for their House Quidditch teams. Ginny had begrudgingly accepted that it would probably be necessary.
Ginny stepped through the portrait hole and into the Gryffindor Common Room. She knew that lingering there would bring up a whole mess of emotions that she was in no mood to process, so she wasted no time in getting up to her dorm...which she found to consist of only one bed. She went through a mental checklist of her year mates. She knew Jasmine's family was still missing and hadn't expected her to return. Claudia's uncle was revealed to be a Death Eater after the battle, so that was understandable. Cynthia, whom she was on friendly terms with, had owled her to say she'd be home schooled...Ginny sat down on the bed. That left only Shannon unaccounted for, and Ginny had never much gotten on with her. She stood, deciding to ignore how ridiculously alone she felt. She threw her robes down on the floor, (If it's just my room, I might as well) and put on her pajamas, brushing her teeth before climbing into bed. She wrote her family a quick note that she'd post in the morning, saying that she'd gotten to school well and hadn't forgotten anything important (It wasn't like she knew, she hadn't even thought of unpacking) and explaining her living arrangements. She finished and signed the note, laying it on her bedside table as she blew out the lights to lay down in bed. All of her needlessly complicated thoughts and feelings were pushed out of her mind as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.