Hahaha Chapter 2
Ginny sighed. She was sitting in Headmaster's office. It was Sunday, she'd just gotten out of the hospital wing that morning, and came here straight after getting out of bed. Instead of Madam Pomfrey, there was someone else just as fussy. Madam Millikan, who'd bothered her about "getting out of the ward so early." Apparently her belongings were already somewhere. Like I have any idea what's going on... Ginny had...sort of calmed herself down. I still don't know what the hell is happening. In front of her, Headmaster Dippet was fumbling in his drawers for her records. His office was rather drab and plain, compared to when she'd seen Dumbledore's.
"Ah, Miss Courtois," said Dippet, pulling out a file from one of his drawers. "Let's see..." he pulled on his glasses. Ginny blinked. Harry had glasses..."Well, it seems you are in a lot of N.E.W.T. classes...judging from your O.W.L.s" he said. Ginny's jaw dropped. Had her old O.W.L.s somehow carried on to this time? Cause she hadn't done too well...
"Er, what were my O.W.L.s again, sir?" she asked. She was still not getting used to this getting-sent-back-in-time thing. In fact, she didn't think she ever would.
"Why, you had Outstanding in all of them," said Dippet, looking over a sheet of paper. Her grades? "Except for Care of Magical Creatures, of course. I was so sorry to hear of your Professor Archaius's death. Dragon pox at his age..."
"Er," Ginny bit her lip. Outstanding in EVERYTHING?! What the bloody hell...I only had Os in Transfiguration and DADA. Have my O.W.L.s been changed?! Why?! Oh....stupid mission... "What classes am I taking, sir?"
"Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology, Potions, History of Magic, Astronomy, and Divination," said Dippet, reading off a list. Ginny gulped. Astronomy? Divination? She had never attempted Divination before...
"Sir, whose the Divination Professor?" asked Ginny. Surely Trelawney wasn't.
"Professor Jenista," said Dippet. He crossed his fingers and stared at her. "Perhaps we shall do the sorting now?"
"Erm-," Can't I just request to be in Gryffindor? Wait...won't the hat just put me in Gryffindor since I was there? "Uhhhhh, sure," Ginny got up and pulled the hat off a shelf. Her hands caressed it; it wasn't as raggedy as she remembered. She sat down on a stool and tentatively put it on her head. I never expected to wear it again. The hat didn't even cover her eyes as it had when she first put it on as a first year.
Hello my dear...unexpected time change, eh? Er...yes...can I be in Gryffindor? Oh...odd. Well, dear, you can't just request to be in the house you want to be in, even if it was the house you were previously in...I see you have a darker and mroe sinister purpose... No, Harry told me that he asked you to be put into Gryffindor But he didn't have the same purpose and intention as you do...you want to achieve something, and there's one house that will help you. Er, okay...just not- Why, you belong in-
"Is it possible...to change houses?" asked gulped. Slytherin, really. Dippet shook his head, the corner of his mouth up in a smile.
"The Sorting Hat is always right," he said. "Slytherin is not bad, it will take you to great things." Ginny gulped. Tom Riddle had taken advantage of her six years ago. She couldn't let him do it again. Her fingers loosened around her wand. Dippet cleared his throat, "You will get your time table tomorrow morning, I'll have your head of house - Professor Slughorn - give it you." Dippet looked over at the portraits on the walls. "Phineas!"
Phineas Nigellus raised his head. He looked up at Ginny curiously, before snapping to Dippet. He looked exactly like how Ginny remembered him. Stiff and haughty.
"Yes, Armando," said Phineas. He eyed Ginny carefully. "A new Slytherin? Congratulations." Ginny didn't answer to that.
"Yes, Phineas," said Dippet, "I need you to call a prefect to escort Miss Courtois to her common room." Phineas disappeared through the portrait. To Slytherin Common Room? He passed through the other portraits and out of the room, disgruntling several past headmasters.
"Er, Professor?" Ginny cleared her throat. "Do you...Do you mind if you called me Ginevra?" asked Ginny. Seraphine was too weird of a name. Dippet raised an eyebrow and stared at her questioningly. "It's, uh, my middle name," explained Ginny. Please go along with it. I do not want to be called Seraphine. I won't respond!
"Alright, Miss Courtois," said Dippet. Ginny sighed. With her blonde hair, she didn't even look like a Weasley anymore. She couldn't lose her identity. That'd be too much...The door burst open, and a boy strode in. He was tall, with dark hair and a handsome face. A seventh year? A prefects badge shone on his chest. Oh, thank God it's not Tom Riddle. Ginny shivered. She didn't think she could take the dark haired boy who had so taken advantage of her six years ago.
"You wanted me, Professor?" said the boy, looking at Ginny curiously with his dark eyes. No, thank God it's not Tom Riddle. Tom had green eyes...However, he did look oddly familiar to Ginny.
"Yes, Mr. Black," said Dippet. Oh, Black. He's a Black. Figures why he looks so familiar...thought Ginny. "Miss Seraphine Courtois is a sixth year transfer from Beauxbatons. She's just been sorted into Slytherin, so please show her around."
Ginny blinked. A Slytherin?! Show her around?! I hope he's not nasty...Mr. Black - whatever his first name was - looked at her curiously.
"Alright sir," he said politely to Dippet, keeping his eyes on Ginny. He held the door open for Ginny, who eyed Dippet curiously.
"Any questions, Miss Courtois?" asked Dippet. Ginny shook her head.
"No, sir," she said.
"Very well then. Feel free to come to my office whenever there is need. Various prefects such as Mr. Black will help you out, as well as your Head of House," said Dippet. Ginny nodded timidly. "Good day then, Miss Courtois, Mr. Black."
Ginny followed the-seventh-year-prefect-whose-first-name-she-still-didn't-know out the door. Everything in Hogwarts seemed to be exactly as she remembered, minus the Death Eaters at every corner when Snape took over. She and the-seventh-year-prefect-whose-first-name-she-still-didn't-know walked silently next to each other. Awkwardly silently.
"Er," He's not going to bite, Ginny. "What's your first name?" Black looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Ginny stared back.
"Sterling," he said.
"Oh, then who's Orion?" said Ginny without thinking, remembering the name from the Black family tree she had seen two years ago. Oops! She almost clapped a hand to your mouth, before remembering it would make it look too obvious. He doesn't know I've been to his house! Stupid me!
"How do you know Orion?" asked Sterling curiously, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Er," began Ginny. "I-, uh, I met him in...Diagon Alley?"
"We don't go to Diagon Alley," said Sterling, raising an eyebrow. Oh right, the Slytherin families normally go to Knockturn Alley. Smooth, Ginny. "Some alley," Ginny tried to change the subject. "How're you related to him? He's a Black too, right?"
"He's my older brother," said Sterling slowly. "He graduated two years ago."
"Oh," said Ginny. "What year are you?" She asked curiously.
"Seventh," said Sterling. "Where exactly did you meet my brother?" He asked again, rather impatiently.
"I don't remember!" said Ginny aggravatedly. "I'm from France, remember that?"
"Ah, right. Beauxbatons," sneered Black, "Are you pureblood? How come you don't have an accent?"
"I was raised in English. I'm as pure as you," grumbled Ginny. Slytherins of the past were just as obsessed with blood status as they are in the future, she grumbled silently.
"I've never heard of any Courtois," sneered Black.
"Yeah, obviously," Ginny searched for an answer, "I'm French. How many French families do you know?" Sterling looked dumbfounded for a second.
"Watch yourself," he growled, "I'm prefect," he said, pointing to his shiny badge.
"I can see that," said Ginny. Black glared at her. They had stopped in front of a blank stretch of wall. Ginny blinked. She hadn't even kept track of where they were going. This was the Slytherin common room, she remembered. Tom Riddle's diary had once shown it to her. Ginny shuddered absent mindedly.
"You'll need to remember where this is, of course. And the password," said Black, going into automatic tour guide mode. Black stared up at the wall. "Grindylow," he said, and the wall slid open, revealing a dark common room decorated in green and silver. Ginny shuddered. I never thought I'd be one a Slytherin. She felt a sick feeling in her stomach. Breathe, Ginny. You can do this. She stepped into the common room, following Black. She blinked and looked around. Funny, it seems exactly like the Gryffindor common room, except silver and green and full of suspicious and unfriendy people. A pang of home sickness passed through Ginny. She was all alone now. All alone in Hogwarts. And with blonde hair. Blonde. Students lounged around the common room. It was midday, Ginny remembered. They sat in separate groups, whispering or chatting loudly. A couple of groups stopped when they saw Ginny and stared at her. I knew I looked bad in blonde hair...
"Where's Riddle?" Black spoke to a few students sitting domineeringly by the fire place. Ginny blinked. Riddle? She didn't want to see Tom Riddle now. She was tired, and distraught. Ginny looked around at the three students Black was speaking to. She thought she saw a Lestrange...Bellatrix's husband, maybe? He looked familiar, sitting in the middle, obviously domineering over the two other boys.
"Great Hall," said the Lestrange-looking-one. He and the two others with him were staring at Ginny curiously. Almost glaring. Ginny stiffened. "Who's she?" the boy asked Black.
"I am Ginny," Ginny cut in. Lestrange looked at her, amused at her abrupt answer.
"Where does Ginny come from? Your name is Seraphine." said Black coldly, staring at her like she was stupid. Oh, right. She hadn't told him her "middle" name.
"Er, my middle name," Ginny felt weak under their stares. Others in the common room were now listening in. "From Ginevra," she said. Lestrange glanced at Black, who cleared his throat. He pointed to a door near a bulletin board.
"That leads to the girls dorms. Your stuff should be in the sixth years' room," said Black, his black eyes boring into hers. "You can find your way now, can't you? I'm sure -- if you have taken your O.W.L.s -- you've had a tour of the castle when you came and took them, haven't you?"
"Sure..." said Ginny. I haven't taken those O.W.L.s...has Dumbledore done something? Put my presence in the past, so that people really remember me? Lestrange and his two comrades --who looked and seemed oddly like Crabbe and Goyle, now-- stood up, still keeping their eyes on Ginny. Their eyes bore into her, making her feel uncomfortable. Alienated. Ginny shivered. She was different. No Weasley had ever been in Slytherin. Ever.
"So, uh, I'll go now," she said, glancing around uneasily. They seemed to be waiting for her to leave. "So, erm,... see you?" She said to Black. It wouldn't hurt to be nice to the Slytherins. She was stuck with them for two more years, anyways. Black nodded.
"Feel free to ask us for anything," said Lestrange suavely, almost too nicely. His voice was deep, and verbato. It shot chills down Ginny's spine.
"Right," lied Ginny. I'll be sure not to ask him anything. Lestrange was still staring at her, making Ginny uncomfortable. "Uh, bye."
Lestrange and his two cronies got up, and Ginny turned on her heel to the girls' dorms, ignoring the stares of everyone in the room. She blinked back tears. She missed her brothers. Fred and George's humor, Ron's oddness, Percy's stick-up-his-arse attitude. Most of all, she missed Harry...
The dorm room was empty. It was the middle of day, but still Ginny was tired. There were four beds in the room, one of which had her things by it. The bed hangings are green, she acknowledged. She shuddered, so unused to the green and silver and snakes instead of the Gryffindor lions and red. Hogwarts -- no, Gryffindor tower -- had been her home. Now she was a Slytherin.
A Slytherin. Ha ha, she thought dryly, as she lay down on her bed. She fell asleep right away.
After all, don't people sleep when they are most distressed?