A/N: Thanks for any and all reviews!

Chapter 2:

THE RETURN TO HOGWARTS

King's Cross was as busy as usual. People bustling around with trolleys, enormous suitcases, and to the astonishment of muggle passers by, cages containing owls. Now and then, one or two of the strange people with cages and wearing robes would walk straight towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten and then misteriously disappear into nothingness. Strangely, nobody seemed to notice this phynomenon.

A whole prosession of redheads, followed by a gorgious woman with flowing silver hair moved towards the barrier and disappeared one by one. All that was noticed was the strikingly beautiful woman and, to the dismay of many men, a glint from the wedding ring on her finger.

Ginny stood on platform nine and three quarters and glanced at the big scarlott steam engine, into wich many robed school children were crowding. She had mixed feelings about returning to Hogwarts. She didn't want to leave her family, especially knowing that she might not ever see them again, but on the other hand she was desperately looking forward to seeing Neville and Luna again. The summer had been too long, not that she ever complained about the heat, but she couldn't bare one more day of sitting and doing nothing at home, whilst the order made plans. Also, Luna and Neville would now be her only links to Harry.

Ginny wasn't the tearful type, but the afternoon after Bill and Fleur's wedding when Harry, Ron and Hermione had left without the chance to say goodbye, she had been inconsolable. Preferring not to show her weekness to her family, she stayed in her room for several hours to cry her tears and get it over with. She had thought of Harry's birthday when they had shared their last kiss, of her brother Ron and how they had had fun playing quiddich with him and how they could tease each other, about Hermione who had probably been her best friend and of the nights lying awake discussing everything from boys to what the Order were planning.

The morning after Bill and Fleur's wedding was one of the worst she had ever experienced.

Ministry officials searching every corner of their house, the fear that the fake Ron would be seen for what it really was, the relentless questioning...

Ginny had been flippent and had thus earned herself diar warnings from the officials. After stalking off to her room, she had been followed a little later by one of them. A big baulding man who had tortured her as a lesson to "show proper respect to her superiors," and ocasionally throwing out questions about Harry's whereabouts.

After losing her temper, regaining her wand, jinxing the official practically into a jelly, having been warned and cursed at by the other questioners after which her mother was in tears, they had all finally left to take the baulding man to Saint Mungo's and while all injuries were being seen to by her very shaken mother, her father had sent off patronuses to everyone to assure them that the family was okay.

"Ginny dear, time to get on the train!" Ginny shook herself and turned to give her family hugs.

After many tearful kisses and hugs bestowed upon her by her mother, only a few less by her father, who was refraining from speaking, many jokes and concerned warnings from the twins and even a hug from Fleur, Ginny was waving at everyone from the window of the train as the train rapidly increased speed.

She waved one last time and then turned away from the window to search for her friends.

Out in the corridor, throngs of students were crowding into compartments, calling greetings to friends, jostling and talking at the top of their voices. They all stared at Ginny as she passed.

Well, she was Harry's girlfriend when she had last seen many of them and somehow, judging by the whispers, everyone already knew that Harry wasn't coming back to school. She supposed it would only be a matter of time before they realised that neither Ron or Hermione were there and she'd be expected to do a lot of explaining.

She hurried past groups of students trying to get her attention, scanning the crowd for Neville and Luna, but they were nowhere in sight. She supposed they had already found a compartment. She glanced into every compartment as she passed, avoiding the eyes of the occupents until she spotted a girl with long, slightly cleaner than usual, blonde hair and a boy who seemed to be looking for something under a seat, judging by the fact that she could only see his behind.

"Luna! Neville! I've been looking for you all over!" She slid the compartment door closed behind her.

"Oh, hello Ginny!" Luna got up to hug her friend. "Neville's lost his toad again. You didn't see him in the corridor, did you?"

Before Ginny could answer, however, Neville stood triumphantly with a toad clutched in his hand.

"Hi, Ginny." He hugged her.

"Have a good summer?"

"Well, it was okay, discounting the fact that a load of death eaters barged into my brother's wedding," answered Ginny, "Luna was there too."

She and Luna proceeded to tell Neville all about the wedding and their holidays.

"The cherry on the cake was when Daddy told me about Snape becoming headmaster," finnished Luna.

"What!" Nevile promptly dropped his toad, which immediately scuttled under the seat again. "Snape's the new headmaster after what he did?"

"It isn't surprising though," remarked Ginny, "the ministry has fallen, so you'd expect the death eaters to want complete control of Hogwarts. Did you really think they'd let McGonnigal be head mistress?"

Neville admitted that she had a point.

"The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is going to be Amycus Carrow," continued Luna, "and since professor Burbidge disappeared, his sister, Alecto, will be taking Muggle Studies. They're death eaters."

"What fun! I expect we'll be hearing all about their defects." Ginny shrugged.

"Of corse not," exclaimed Neville. "The majority of students will be too scared to complain."

"I ment the defects of muggles." Ginny grinned. "But speaking of being too scared to complain, I've been thinking the DA will have to reform and do the complaining for the students. Their representatives in a way."

"Ooo, that would be lovely," cried Luna. "I enjoyed DA sessions so much!"

"Only this time it won't be all about learning defence," murmered Neville. "This time, we'll be making use of them."

"This time, said Ginny, it will be for totally different purposes. Once again, we'll be opposing the ministry, but this time, we'll be doing it to catch attention. Our goal will be to oppose everything Snape, the death eaters, the new ministry order and You Know W ... Voldimort."

"What would that include," asked Luna. "Could we put a nest of nargles in Snape's office, or finksen in the Carrow's tea, to eat their vocal chords, or ..."

"We'll talk about that at our first meeting," Ginny cut Luna's excited ramblings short and grinned at Neville over Luna's shoulder. "This time we're serious though, Luna. It's going to have to be more than pranks. We're going to have to rebell in harsher ways."

"So no muggleborns at school this year at all," said Neville mournfully, "but it isn't really unexpected. As you said, it was only a matter of time until that happened since the ministry fell."

"I'm so glad that Hermione's safely off with Harry," Ginny noticed the irony of her words. "Everyone has to present themselves for questioning at the ministry. Dean wrote to me this summer and told me he'd be on the run."

"Off with Harry," Luna tilted her head to the side. "So that's why they're not coming to school? Ron, Harry and Hermione are going to try to defeat You Know Who?"

Ginny could have kicked herself for bringing up the subject and mentioning that Hermione was with Harry. "No, I ment safe with her parents," she quickly corrected herself, "On the run, and Ron's at home with spattergroit."

"Do you really think we're so thick, Ginny," Neville looked her straight in the eye, something that he would have been too shy to do in the past. "We know that Hermione would never go on the run with her parents without Harry and Ron, and I'm pretty sure Ron will never be sick enough to let Harry go anywhere on his own."

"Please, let's just drop it." Ginny didn't quite know how to react, but at least she knew that her friends wouldn't breathe a word to anyone.

She felt a twinge of annoyance at Hermione's name being mentioned next to Harry's all the time during Luna and Neville's observations. She had never been included in the trio, even when she had been going out with Harry. She was close to Harry, close to Hermione and close to Ron, but never close to the trio. Things were always kept from her.

Why should Hermione accompany Harry on his destined trip? Was it because she and Ron were of age? Did one year make such a big difference?

Ginny had to admit that she was slightly afraid. Afraid, and yes, a little jealous. Why should Hermione share so much with Harry? She had always suspected that Hermione was in love with Ron, which definitely was the case from Ron's side, but could it be possible that Hermione had been misleading her? Were she and Harry secretly wishing to be together?

No, she knew that these were thoughts of an overly anxious mind. Once again pushing Harry into a corner at the back of her mind, she turned to continue her conversation with her friends.

Just then, the compartment door slid open and Draco Malfoy entered with his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

"This compartment's taken!" Ginny got to her feet.

"Not so fast, Weasley." Malfoy smirked. "It would most definitely not be wise to lose your temper as easily as usual this year. Things are changing at Hogwarts."

"Yeah. There are more of your type to protect your delicate neck," growled Ginny. "I can see you'll be feeling much more confident."

"watch what you're saying, blood traitor," spat Malfoy.

"Or what? You'll set the head master on me? Well, he ran away from the battle last year, so he's just as big a coward as you are."

Crabbe cracked his knuckles.

"Oh, you'll set these two on me?" Ginny sneered and continued. "Too thick to string the letters of a curse together? Planning to make them beat me up for you?"

"Blood traitors like you will be killed by us by the time this year is over, but we might let some of you girls lick our boots and beg for your lives first for fun." These were the first words Ginny had ever heard Crabbe speak.

"What did you say?" Neville had gotten to his feet and was pointing his wand at crabbe's throat.

"Oh," Longbottom has finally found the courage to defend his hero's girlfriend," said Malfoy maliciously. "I wonder what Potter would say if he knew how fast his tigress found another mate?.

At this point, Ginny lost her patients. "Reducto," she cried. The force of her spell blew Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle right out of the compartment and sent them crashing down in the passage, amongst other rubble.

Ginny slammed the compartment door shut again and sunk back into her seat.

"This year I'm not taking any of their..." Fuming, she ran out of words to describe her anger.

"Just ignore them," soothed Luna. "We'll just see who has the last laugh when the DA is up and running again."

"what kind of things should we do though," asked Neville thoughtfully. "I mean, I suppose we could carry on learning new jinxses and countercurses and stuff, because the room of requirement will provide the right books, but what can we do to sabotage Snape's regime?"

"Well," began Ginny, "I was thinking we could..."

Suddenly the compartment door slid open again and a big, burly blonde man was ciluetted in the opening. Ginny recognised him as one of the death eaters she had fought the previous year on the night of Dumbledore's death. He had a nasty, ratlike face.

"Miss Ginevra Weasley, I take it," said the man, pointing at Ginny.

"Yes," she replied stiffly.

"Yes who?"

"I have no idea who you are."

"I am professor Carrow."

Ginny made no reply.

Well?"

"Well what?"

"You ruddy well know what, incilent welp," shouted the man, "Address me properly."

"Yes, Professor?" Ginny put as much contempt in the title as she possibly could.

"Mr. Malfoy has just informed me that you used a curse against him. He hit his head on the wall of the train corridor and he could have been seriously injured. You will be serving detention tomorrow night at my office."

"Yes Professor," replied Ginny, looking him straight in the eye.

He turned and slid the compartment door shut behind him.

"So much for behaving ourselves this year," laughed Ginny.

Neville, on the other hand, looked slightly worried. "What sort of detentions to you think they'll make us do this year?" he asked.

"Oh, probably lines and so on." Ginny shrugged.

The compartment door once again slid open, this time revealing the usual smiling woman with the trollie. "Anything from the trollie dears?"

Ginny bought a few packets of Chocolate Frogs and Berty Bott's Every Flavoured Beans to share with her friends before shutting the compartment door again.

Ginny had always been more responsible than her brothers, saving her pocket money for special ocasions, after which she always seemed to have a few sickles left.

Previously, Ginny had saved up so many gallions as to make her brothers jealous. At the Quiddich world cup she had been able to afford an Ireland rosette, a minniture firebolt, a moving figurine of her favourite chaser on the Irish team, Cara Troy, a shamrock scarf and even a pair of glowing leprechaun earrings.

The previous year, she had also filled a whole shopping bag with merchandise from Fred and George's shop. She was their favourite sister, so she always got a discount, but having the same understanding of finances as Fred and George, she could understand their not wanting to give out free products to siblings, especially in such a large family.

The rest of the journey passed amicably, talking, eating Every Flavoured Beans and Chocolate Frogs and even ocasionally laughing.