I'm just Fred and George compared to JK's work--joking, as always

btw, r.i.p. Fred... and huge thanks to beta-er, Lisa

4. (about disappearing and wondering)

-The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality.-

Albert Einstein

Everyone in the compartment besides Neville and herself was staring at Harry as though he was some odd species of animal Hagrid had brought in for their lesson.

When Harry didn't answer Slughorn's comment about his new nickname, (honestly, the Chosen One? People needed to stop reading old legends if they couldn't come up with something more original than that), Slughorn tried it another way.

"Of course, there have been rumours for years…. I remember – well – after that terrible night – Lily – James —"

Harry's eye twitched slightly at the mention of his parents, though the rest of his face stayed motionless.

"— and you survived —" Another long pause followed, but Harry still didn't say anything. She wondered how many times Harry had had people trying to figure out what had happened the night his parents died. And didn't it make him sick to hear the story again? Ginny felt like she might be sick herself, and there was no way she'd heard the story as often as he had.

"— And the word was that you must have powers beyond the ordinary —"

A snort disguised as a cough was audible from Zabini, and before Ginny could control herself, her temper was already lost.

"Yeah, Zabini, because you're so talented…at posing…" She felt several pairs of eyes fasten on her. Part of her really wished she had not made that remark; after all, she was in front of a teacher. But another huge part of her was actually pretty pleased with herself, because she had been witty – especially when she saw Harry's answering grin.

Zabini looked angry, but it didn't make him look any better than he usually did.

"Oh dear! You want to be careful, Blaise! I saw this young lady perform the most marvellous Bat-Bogey Hex as I was passing her carriage! I wouldn't cross her! Anyway —"

His eyes went back to Harry. Ginny became infinitely more annoyed – Slughorn clearly did not understand that Harry was not about to say anything.

She shot a glance at Neville, who looked at her and nodded. They were thinking the same thing. Even though Slughorn was a teacher, he was just fishing for information. Their friend needed to be rescued from this bugger.

"So modest, so modest, no wonder Dumbledore is so fond – you were there, then? But the rest of the stories – so sensational of course, one doesn't know quite what to believe —"

Ginny suppressed a sigh with difficulty.

"— This fabled prophecy, for instance —"

"We never heard a prophecy," Neville pointed out.

"That's right," Ginny said. "Neville and I were both there too, and all this 'Chosen One' rubbish is just the Prophet making things up as usual." Neville shot her a grateful glance for taking over, but she thought she might have handled it with more tact, because now, the attention was on them too.

"You were both there too, were you?" Ginny nodded slightly, but didn't say anything. Maybe Harry's tactic was the best. Just nodding and saying nothing. It seemed to work: Slughorn was clearly disappointed, but then began to waffle on about the Holyhead Harpies.

She looked at Harry, who was looking out of the window, a little smile playing about his lips. She nudged him, and sat a bit more upright, to whisper in his ear:

"My entire collection of Chocolate Frog cards if you can make us disappear from here."

But he just smiled and shook his head.

"He saw me hex Zacharias Smith. You remember that idiot from Hufflepuff who was in the D.A.? He kept on and on asking about what happened at the Ministry and in the end he annoyed me so much I hexed him – when Slughorn came in I thought I was going to get detention, but he just thought it was a really good hex and invited me to lunch! Mad, eh?"

Both boys nodded.

"Better reason for inviting than because of their mother's famous, or because their uncle —" Ginny was nodding along, but Harry broke off and was suddenly staring at the back of Zabini's head.

"Their uncle's what, Harry?" Neville asked, but Harry seemed to be on an entirely different planet.

"I see you two later," he said quite suddenly. Neville shot a bewildered glance at Ginny, but even she, though she knew more about Harry's quirks, she also was quite confused about what was happening.

"But what're you – ?" Neville spluttered, but Harry barely seemed to hear him. He pulled out his Invisibility Cloak and whispered, "Later!" then walked away from them, after Zabini.

"Huh? What was that all about?" Neville asked.

"I don't know. Maybe he had a brain wave or something."

"Or a Wrackspurt got him," Neville mumbled.

"A what?"

"Oh, haven't you heard?" He asked, suddenly amused. "According to Luna, they float through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy."

Ginny forgot for a moment that she was worried about Harry and laughed out loud.

"Luna's a bit mad, but she's friendly, and most of the time she's a quite a good listener." Neville nodded in agreement and they kept walking down the corridor. When they came to Dean's compartment, she said goodbye, and walked in. Seamus was playing Exploding Snap with Evelyn, one of the girls in Ginny's year and a good friend of hers, while Parvati and Lavender were both reading their horoscopes.

"Hey," Dean said, after she kissed him. "Where've you been? We're almost to Hogwarts!"

"Eh, bit of a long story. I met the new professor – he was having a gathering in his compartment and invited me along."

Dean's eyebrow lifted sceptically, and Ginny couldn't blame him for not completely believing her. She let him pull her into his lap, and he whispered, "Well, don't stay away so long next time. I really missed you and we have catching up to do since you couldn't come over this summer."

She nodded, wrapping herself up in his arms and kissing him again. She liked Dean just for being so….protective and safe. But just as the kiss was about to turn into a snogfest that they hadn't had since June, she stopped them. Something was bothering her a lot.

"Er… you know, I put some of my books into Hermione's trunk, because I didn't have any space left in mine. But I have to get them back, because I won't see her until tomorrow, and then classes will have already started." Dean looked disappointed when she climbed out of his lap, and Evelyn looked away from the tower she and Seamus had built from the Exploding Cards to give her a questioning look.

"Do you have to get them now?" her boyfriend asked, refusing to let her go.

"Yeah, I sort of promised. If we arrive at Hogsmeade while I'm in the other compartment, will you take my belongings, Eve?"

Evelyn nodded and turned back to the game, while Ginny gave Dean a peck on the nose and left. She heard the tower of cards explode the moment she closed the door, but didn't bother to look back.

She had to know if Ron of Hermione had an explanation for Harry's sudden weird behaviour.

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If I were Tonks, my haircolour would be the brightest pink after the reviews!

Next up: Ginny...