Chapter 4: Return To The Living
She walks through the corridors as if in a dream. Everything looks slightly blurred, the sensations are oddly unfamiliar. She trips over her own feet and scolds herself for being so clumsy.
She walks for what seems like hours before her legs are screaming in protest. She looks around anxiously, trying to remember the way to her common room. What is wrong with me today?
It feels like an eternity before she finds herself in front of the Fat Lady's portrait. Why is she looking at her like that? She mutters the password and stumbles into the common room. She makes it to the couch before she collapses. Her eyelids grow heavier and heavier. Her limbs feel like lead. She closes her eyes and gives in to sleep.
~*~
She is running down an empty corridor, her heart pounding in her rib cage and tears streaming out of her eyes. There are hurried footsteps approaching, causing a sense of icy panic to grip her like a vise.
She ducks into a corner and curls into a ball, sobbing into her knees and praying she will not be heard.
A distorted face split into a maniacal grin appears in front of her. She tries to run again, but the person stops her. She finds herself pinned under their heavy weight, their hands around her throat. She beats her fists against them and tries to scream. But no sound comes out.
~*~
She awakens when she falls to the floor. She opens her eyes and finds herself staring into a familiar face.
Ron is towering above her, his brown eyes wild and his hand raised and clenched into a fist, as if ready to strike her. Hermione stands a few inches behind him, her face pale white and her hand over her mouth.
Ron's fist swings down. She dodges out of its way, scrambles to her feet, and looks at him in bewilderment, her heart pounding.
"Ron, what are you doing?!?"
"You're - Not -Real!" he grinds out through clenched teeth, attempting to punch her again and again, and each time barely missing.
Her heart drops into her stomach. "Of course I'm real!" she says, feeling slightly sick.
"No! Leave me alone! Stop tricking me!"
She looks at Hermione for an explanation. Hermione merely takes a step backward, shaking her head as if in disbelief. She notices that she looks as if she hasn't had a decent night's sleep in several weeks.
"I'm not tricking you! Ron, what is wrong with you?"
He puts his hands over his ears and sinks to the floor, drawing his knees close to his chest as tears begin to fall down his pale and freckled cheeks.
"You're not real. You're dead. You're dead. You're dead."
Everyone in the common room is staring, their eyes moving from her to Ron and then back again. All of them look as if they have seen a ghost.
Feeling tears sting her eyes, she takes a few steps back, then turns and runs out, the portrait swinging closed behind her.
~*~
She runs blindly down the corridors, not knowing or caring where she is going.
"You're dead."
Her head is spinning. She feels like she may be sick.
"You're dead."
She collides with someone, hard, and falls to the floor.
"You're dead."
She wipes tears from her eyes to clear her vision and looks up. A boy with pale skin and eyes and hair is looking down at her, his face bearing the same expression as those in the Gryffindor common room.
"Ginny?"