Innocent

A/N: This year will be in two or three parts, I haven't decided yet. R&R as usual.

And while he wishes he could escape this
But it all seems so contagious
Not to be yourself and faceless
And a song that has no soul

I remember feeling low
I remember losing hope
And I remember all the feelings and the day they stopped

Innocent – Our Lady Peace

I was back for the worst summer of my life. How to describe it is one simple word – cold. No, not weather wise, its always hot in Egypt, but emotionally. There are many things that I can explain using the word cold in the sentence. My mother was giving me the cold shoulder. My brothers (all except Bill, he always was and still is my favourite) were avoiding me like a cold that they didn't want to catch. My father described my eyes as cold and empty.

How can you tell when someone has turned Slytherin in their heart, and not just their house? Look at their eyes. Look at the emotions that play across them, or the lack thereof. That was me. I had empty eyes. The only emotions that ever played across my eyes were hurt, grief, pain, and anger. Other than that, they were just cold and empty.

We won the Daily Prophet draw, and mum and dad took us all to Egypt to see Bill. Ron got a new wand (the idiot broke his old one on some tree), Fred and George a book of pranks (what were they thinking? Or were they thinking at all?), and Percy got a beautiful, expensive, heron-feather quill. I was given the leftovers – four galleons, twelve sickles, and a knut.

Much to my mother's dismay, I bought (with help from some of my pocket money) a Slytherin-green jumper, with silver detailing around the cuffs, neckline (which was dangerously low), and hemline, a dark green tank top to go underneath, and a beautiful silver necklace with an ornate charm in the form of a snake hanging from it. It took about fifteen galleons out of my savings, but it was totally worth it! My parents wanted me to take them back, but really just couldn't face the fact that I would be a teenager soon (twelve days!).

---

I shut myself in my room for the month before we left for Egypt, and spent as little time as possible in my room at the Leaky Cauldron, seeing as I had to share a room with the Mudblood Granger.

While we were at the Burrow, I was barely eating, barely sleeping, performing magic illegally (the Ministry can only tell where the magic is coming from, not who), and moving from my spot on the bed only to change books or to use the bathroom. Why? Because I had no one at home. No one who understood why I was a Slytherin. No one but me.

Basically all I did in my room was read. I read my way through all of the books in our house, including my brothers' old school books, and Percy's "Learning to Apparate – though we strongly suggest brooms" pamphlet. I had mastered more spells than any of them ever had, AND learned to Apparate in that month, though no one except Draco knows it.

---

On the train to Hogwarts, I met up with Draco. I was so happy to see him, I had to hold myself back so I didn't run up to him and hug him. When he saw me, he gave me a nod and motioned for me to follow him. So I did.

They found a compartment together –

Sorry, but I have to interrupt, but when it says "together", it means together with those two buffoons Crabbe and Goyle. They seemed to have gotten even stupider over the summer. OK, continue!

- and they just sat and talked. He told her about the excitement of his summer, and she told him about her lack of it. She told him of her studies, and he was genuinely impressed. She showed him what had come of her Patronus so far, and he was even more impressed. It didn't have a clearly defined form, yet, but looked to be some huge cat.

He told her about his fabulous trip to Spain, and how he had seen the vineyards that he would one day own, run, and, most importantly, make money from. He told her of the house he stayed in, with its green shutters, all the way down to the silvery-green carpet. It truly was a Slytherin house.

That's when it happened. They felt it coming, the happiness and ease of the situation was being sucked out of the air, and the smell of rotting flesh intruding into the compartment. Draco grabbed Ginny's hand and dragged her down the corridor.

"Follow me! This way!" he yelled over his shoulder. They sped into the closest compartment that was free of the – whatever it was. It was, to Ginny's horror, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan's compartment. Then it invaded their compartment.

Do you know what it was? It was a Dementor, one of those vile, soul-sucking beings. I remembered the worst times of my life. I remembered falling of Bill's broomstick, and breaking my ankle in 3 places when I hit the ground. I remembered being walloped with mum's wooden spoon for setting the chickens loose – again. I remembered many of the things Tom had shown me, but was surprised when being sorted into Slytherin wasn't in the mix. I realize now that being sorted into Slytherin was one of the best things that happened to me in my life.

Draco was screaming. Screaming, and unnaturally close to crying. Slytherins didn't cry. Slytherins were supposed to be cold and unable to cry. Fred and George couldn't even make a joke about it, that's how terrible the thing was. They just sat there, looking morbid. As it left, the room seemed to visibly brighten. Draco was still as pale as a ghost, and was shaking uncontrollably.

Ginny walked over to him and put her arm around his shoulders. He flinched at the contact, but relaxed and allowed her to steer him back to their compartment, blasting one Dementor on the way, and her Patronus turned out to be a panther.

She sent Crabbe and Goyle to find another compartment, and she stayed with Draco while he regained his composure.

This was the year I discovered my gift. I was asleep earlier than I usually was, but this didn't stop Draco, of course.

Gryffindor had just lost their match against Hufflepuff. Draco, who would have been ecstatic about this, was even happier, as the Boy Wonder had fallen off his broom.

He burst into her room, not caring that she was asleep, raving about how brilliant it had been to watch Potter plunge to the ground. The noise woke Ginny, and instinctively, she went for her wand, and threw out her hand to guard herself from who ever it was.

Ginny wasn't, however, ready for the onslaught of emotions and thoughts that invaded her mind, yet somehow she knew that they didn't belong to her.

She felt like she was light enough to float on air, yet she could sink to the bottom of the deepest ocean at the same time. The glee she felt turned quickly to worry, and then she was snapped back to reality by a pair of strong hands gripping her and shaking her shoulders.

"Ginny? Ginny, wake up! What's wrong Ginny? Oh, Merlin, what did I do?"

She felt the arms scoop her up, and start running with her. Then the struggle for consciousness began, and she gave in easily to the blackness that enveloped her mind.

Days passed before Ginny woke to startling, pristine white. Of course, she thought, I must be in the hospital wing. She didn't remember how she got there, or when it was, but she managed to register that Draco was asleep in the chair next to her bed.

She needed Madame Pomfrey, she realized, as a pain shot through her chest as she tried to sit up. She let out a strangled cry, and barely managed to stay on the bed, as she grew light-headed from the pain.

She threw her pillow at Draco in a desperate attempt to wake him. He woke with a start, and jumped as he saw her face turning blue from lack of oxygen. A look of comprehension dawned on his face as he ran to get the matron, and she passed out again.

I can't tell u what my gift was now, because I didn't know what it was then, and you have to go in chronological order for these things. I was out for three more days, and I can assure you that it wasn't Draco by my side when I woke up…

"Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, what a pleasure it is to see you, may I inquire as to why you are at Miss Weasley's bedside?" Ginny heard the matron ask.

"Yes, I'd quite like to know that, myself," Ginny added, startling everyone, as they didn't know she was awake.

"Well, Poppy," Professor Dumbledore stated, "when you informed us that you could find nothing wrong with Miss Weasley here, other than the fact that she has been unconscious for days, I was intrigued."

"Oh, well, its nice to know that I am merely an investigation, but I feel rather dir- ah!" she screamed as she was attacked by a less violent onslaught of visions, but she was not prepared.

Thoughts of some kind of power and (most strangely) sherbet lemons were drifting through her mind. She guessed these must be Professor Dumbledore's thoughts. But they were there only to be replaced with thoughts of --

"No matter what you may think, Professor Snape, I am not merely acting or trying to deceive anyone, neither am I lying here simple to get out of class." Ginny said this quietly, yet there was no doubt she was angry.

Snape just sat there, a pale pink flush rising up into his sallow skin. He tried, unsuccessfully, to think of a witty remark, but could barely manage a sneer.

"My dear Miss Weasley, have you any idea how much of a rarity you are?" Professor Dumbledore exclaimed, visibly excited, barely restraining himself enough to stay in his chair.

"What, being a Weasley in Slytherin doesn't make me rare enough already?" she sneered. Professor Dumbledore pretended not to have heard her, and continued on, "My dear girl, you are, unmistakably, an empath!"

A/N: Ah-ha! I left you with a cliffhanger! I'm sorry it took so long for me to update, but there will be more to come!