Chapter Four

The castle was, as usual, decorated in spooky cobwebs and pumpkins, and it felt wrong. How could someone, anyone, celebrate at a time like this?

More and more students had fled home with the help of Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, and the like. Ginny herself had gotten many pleas to come home; mum, dad, Bill, Charlie, the twins.. they all wanted her home. "Safe". But how could she run away with some many others trapped here, the outside world being worse than their home. Not the mention Malfoy! What was wrong with him? She had little to gain by returning home. She knew, knew that her parents would lock her away, to keep her safe. Which is useless. She could help. She was helped by staying at Hogwarts.

She had gathered them together. Those who remained. And they planned. Tension rose alongside the joy of Halloween as the feast loomed closer.

~.o.O.o.~

"Gin, pass me the eyeliner, please - black."

Nodding and tossing it across the loo her and her dorm mates were getting ready in, she quickly turned back to the mirror she had been looking into, her own makeup already done.

Her brown eyes were lined in thick black eyeliner, mascara on her eyelashes, silver and black eye shadow across her lids, and a pink/red lipstick that actually didn't clash with her hair by some miracle. With a quick glance at her watch, Ginny called out a five minute warning, moving to put on her dress; a silver low-dip (almost uncomfortably low, to be honest) with only one shoulder, which clings until halfway down her bicep before galling loosely with a thin, sparkly material. Black gems adorned the dress, starting thickly around the top then gradually decreasing. Yes, she knew she was wearing Slytherin colors - that was the point. With one last smirk into the mirror, Ginny slipped her old, worn wristwatch off and instead opted for starting to place her jewelry on. Well, not hers- Demmie's. She was almost as rich as Malfoy, her blood just as pure also, but her family had never once strayed from the light - for the most part. No one talked about her elder brother, though. Before long, Ginny's pale neck had a silver chain against it, a silver heart with emerald gems at the end, which rested comfortably above her breasts, a matching bracelet on her arm with a sleeve, the bare arm wrapped in a bracelet with a waterfall of diamonds hanging down.

"Gin - you look - whoa." Grinning at Demmie, Gin just slipped a pair of black flats onto her feet before replying, "Thanks. Dem. You too. And you, Alice!" Each was decked in the colors of other houses - Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw respectively.

"I still can't believe you're doing Slytherin; you could still change real fast if you want." Shaking her head, then heading out the door, Gin finally replied. "No, I can't. Luna'll be doing Slytherin. I can't abandon her."

Finally they made their way into the castle to the Great Hall, surrounded by a sea of the other house's colors. Catching sight of Luna, Ginny moved to her at once, catching her arm so they could stick together. They had to go in first; they were the only two willing to do Slytherin, so they needed to go in first, before they had a chance to react.

"Let's do this." After Ginny walked in, the others followed - and went to the table of the colors of the houses they were wearing. Therefore, Ginny and Luna had to go to the Slytherin's table. Snabbing two seats before they could react, Ginny shoots a smirk down the table, realizing all too late who she was next to - Malfoy. "What are you doing? Have you lost your bloody mind, woman?"

Ignoring him, and all the others Slytherin's that were giving the pair dirty looked, Gin smiled at Luna before striking up the most random conversation she could handle, though it somehow ended up at quidditch.

"I think that the Cannons might actually have a fighting change this year – Ron would be happy. Of course, the Harpies will still beat them, though."

"Ha! The Harpies? No way, the Bulgarians will run them into the ground."

Turning to look at Malfoy, her brown eyes piercing his stormy ones, Ginny waited a few seconds before tipping her head back with a laugh. "Oh really, Ferret Face? Why do you say that?"

"Krum, of course. He's ten times better than all the Harpies combined."

Nodding thoughtfully, as though she was thinking about it, the red-head took a few seconds before laughing right in his face. "Gwenog Jones has more talent in her pinky than the Bulgarian's entire team has, least of all Krum." Unaware to the two, the rest of the Slytherin house watched on with rapt attention as their head boy's lip curled up into a sneer.

"Stop lying to yourself; Bulgaria has Krum."

Glancing at Luna with barely concealed laughter, the redhead finally let a small snort escape, then the air burst into laughter, much to the displease of the blond. One by one, people turned to look at the Slytherin table, then winced as Draco practically growled, "What is so damn funny?"

"You.. you sound like.."

"Ron!"

When Ginny finally replied, Draco's every got hard, and once the laughs died down -a few were from his house own, even!- he raised his eyebrow at the Weasel and drawled, "How exactly is that so?"

"Well, until Viktor bagged Hermione-"

"-He shagged her? Likely! Was he so small that he had a resort to a mudblood?"

"No, he had enough class not to stick himself into every slag that flirted with him. Why? Jealous, Parkinson? Didn't get a turn with the world renounced quidditch star?"

Snorting without looking at the pug faced girl beside her, Ginny turned her attention back to Malfoy with ease. "And, to answer your question, Ron idolized Krum until he, as I was saying, bagged Hermione. Now he hates him. But Krum came to Bill's wedding earlier this year. Guest of Fleur's. He was actually pretty cool. He had the guts to stay and fight against the party crashers. They didn't even have the courtesy to leave a gift, either!" Staring piercingly across the table at Draco for a few more seconds, Ginny finally turned to look back at Luna, picking up the conversation right where it had left off.

~.o.O.o.~

She had to have lost her mind; it was the only reason she could be acting like this. But she was, he could see. The way she had put Pansy down; it was more than slightly funny, but also something he'd do completely fine. Could she actually be so.. so, stupid as too think this was a good plan? He was sure it was hers; there was no way any other sane person could have come up with the plan, if only for the fact that they were scared shitless of the Carrow's. But for whatever reason, she wasn't.

After what had happened a few weeks ago, she spent a couple days.. not herself, but came back with a fire in her eyes he didn't recognize. And it almost -almost- scared him. Not for himself, but for her. And that fear could do nothing but increase as he watched the Carrow's throughout the meal.

A/N: This was supposed to have the first match of the year included, but I decided to post something rather than nothing, and I'll have all weekend to chill at the pool and work on it for you guys! Sorry again for the shortness; it was supposed to be about twice as long, but there's just some things you really can't get out of, no matter how much begging and pleading you do. :p Silly parents.
Anyhow! I hope you enjoy, and what do you think of Ginny's plan? What do you think the Carrow's will do? Hehe..
p.s. - Not beta'd, but ran through a couple grammar/spelling checkers real quick to make sure there's no silly mistakes. Hopefully they caught everything and the next chapter will be beta'd by an actual human being.
Until next time,
-Phantom