Trouble

Moon: Hello everyone, I'm back. Now, grammer notes - for some reason, I've been spelling galleons and gallons. Thanks for pointing that out - I'm used to using a very small computer, and I had to have my old one replaced. the bigger keypad is making me prone to typos, and I don't always catch them all. I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 9: Dobby's Warning, Back to School

All too quickly, July turned into August, and Harry, Carrie, Pierce and Miranda returned to Little Whining. Very reluctantly. Thankfully, Mr. Fawkes was in much better temper then when they had bolted, so he only scowled and berated her for going off on her own. Much better than the alternative.

Harry returned to the Dursley's house, which was feeling more like a prison than ever before. He was nastier to the bridge club than ever before when they went to his house, resulting in many threatening to stop coming to meetings if Petunia didn't keep him away from their tables. So he spent most of Tuesdays and Fridays on the roof.

He got into more fights with Dudley and his groupies, which he noticed to his cold delight were going more badly for Dudley these days – he was learning to separate the group and fight them one at a time.

He tore up Petunia's garden one day when he was in a particularly vindictive mood. This, of course, only served to make his aunt and uncle angrier and angrier with him, to the point where Petunia ordered him to stay in his room at all times except mealtimes.

Of course, Harry used his cloak to get outside when he was starting to go crazy, but opening his door and finding him not there only made Vernon tighten security more and more. He was one incident away from putting prison bars on Harry's windows. It was being more like prison than the actual prison had been.

A few days before he was scheduled to go to Hogwarts, Uncle Vernon pulled him aside and told him that a business associate from Grunnings would be coming to their house. "I'm warning you," He said firmly, "I won't have your delinquent behaviour ruining my chances of promotion."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Don't give me that attitude!" Vernon blustered. "I mean it. This is a very important meeting, and it could change a lot around here. You've never been grateful for everything we've done for you -" Like what? Harry thought scornfully "-but even you can understand how important this is to me."

"Into your room, for the rest of the day. You just stay in your room and pretend you don't exist – and if that bloody cat makes a single peep, I'm throwing her out. Understand?"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry said with as much sarcasm as he could put into that word.

Vernon scowled angrily and shoved Harry towards the stairs. Catching himself by the bannister through long practice, Harry walked up the stairway and into his room. Once he was inside, he let out an angry growl.

He'd love no more then to mess up Vernon's meeting – preferably with paint guns, pinatas and glue – but he was worried about Vernon following through with his threat of throwing Maria out of the house. He could keep her in the back yard and feed her there, but there were vicious stray dogs in Surrey and he didn't want her vulnerable to them.

It was always frustrating when he didn't have the freedom he had gotten used to after years of lawbreaking. Harry felt like a caged bird more and more every day he spent inside Privet Drive, and it was threatening to drive him out of his mind. Trying to play by the many, many rules the Dursley's had after disregarding them for years felt like someone had attached weights to his shoulders.

Why obey the rules? Because if he was in Juvie for too long, he would miss the Hogwarts train. And they had realized it. That was the worst of it.

Adding to his unhappiness and cabin fever was the fact that, for some reason, Daphne and Tracy's letters weren't reaching him. Something or someone was cutting them off, and if Harry hadn't been a virtual prisoner in Privet Drive, he would have gone looking for whatever was causing it.

Harry slammed his door shut as hard as he could to vocalize his displeasure with this. His window was still open, so he could always climb down the side of the house – something he had done many times before when confined to his room. He put some food and water in a dish for Maria and grabbed his Hogwarts bookbag.

Maria scampered over to the windowsill when Harry had halfway climbed out of it and mewed pitifully.

"I know," Harry told his irate cat. "I hate it too. But those dogs are getting worse, and you're one of four things that makes this prison even marginally bearable. I don't want you getting hurt."

Maria yowled in displeasure, causing Vernon to roar from somewhere down stairs, "I told you to shut that cat up!"

Harry gave an angry snort, stroked his cat's head and swung his feet out over the side. He grabbed onto a nearby tree branch and swung onto it, ignoring the smaller branches that swatted at his face. From there he climbed to the ground with practised ease.

Harry retreated to the far end of the Dursley's back yard, taking a deep breath of cool September air. He opened Advanced Charms and started reading. The fact that he couldn't preform any magic around the Dursley's wore on him. The Underage Restriction rule was absolutely absurd; how was a muggleborn supposed to keep up if they couldn't cast any spells over the summer?

Then again, it was probably lucky for Dudley that it did exist, or Harry would have hexed him half to death weeks ago, to hell with any consequences. That mini killer whale had given it his all to make Harry's life as miserable as possible. Harry was getting to the point where he wouldn't mind having his wand snapped if it meant hurting that brat. The unfairness of his situation roared in his ears whenever Dudley punched him or took his food.

Hogwarts would be an eventful school, if last year was any indication. Harry wondered if the Headmaster had stowed away any more killer dogs and trolls this year. Yes, he had managed to survive that the fist time, but that was mostly because there had been a floor between them, and all six of potential victims were fast runners.

And in any case, wouldn't Granger's parents have complained that their daughter had almost died? Harry wondered about that. There hadn't been any outward signs that someone had commented on the hellhound being inside school. If that had been Dudley in that position, Petunia and Vernon would have been raising all kinds of hell.

The wizarding world must really operate differently from the muggle one.

Harry's eyes skimmed the second year spells when suddenly there was a popping noise. He looked up from his textbook and swallowed a yelp of surprise.

Standing in front of him was a small, battered creature identical in all but gender to the creature that had picked up Daphne and Astoria when he'd seen them at Diagon Alley. A house elf.

"Dobby has found Master Harry Potter!" The little creature said in a loud voice. Harry's head snapped to the right, sure his insufferable neighbours John and Olive would overhear the creature. But nothing stirred at their window.

"Quiet!" Harry barked. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

The House Elf nodded jerkily, like he was in physical pain. Harry wondered what was wrong – had he sprained his back or something? He was pretty sure any creature shouldn't move like that.

"Dobby knows that Master Harry Potter is a great wizard...Dobby is a mere house elf, sir. But Dobby must tell you something..."

"Tell me what?" Harry asked, putting his textbook aside. "Look, my aunt and uncle are not very receptive of magic and magical creatures-" he looked Dobby over critically. "And right now isn't exactly the best time-"

"Oh, of course, sir, Dobby understands...but Dobby must tell you...it's difficult to say, sir..." the elf was trying very hard to tell him something, but it wasn't being very clear.

Harry couldn't help it; his impatience and confusion got the better of him. "Okay, sit down and tell me what's wrong, then."

"S-S-Sit down?" Dobby stammered, looking at him in shock. Before Harry's stunned eyes, he suddenly ran into the fence head first. And then he did it again.

"Bad Dobby! Very bad Dobby!" The elf shouted.

Alarmed, Harry jumped to his feet. "Hey! Hey, stop that!" He grabbed the elf before he could hammer himself again and pulled him away from the fence. "What was that?"

"Oh, Dobby is being a very bad elf, sir. Dobby must punish himself very severely for coming to see you-"

"Why?" Harry demanded, feeling the beginnings of a migraine headache coming on. Why couldn't anything around him make sense?

"Because Dobby is disobeying his master, sir." Dobby said, wringing his tiny hands with such violence Harry half expected them to dislocate. "Dobby is disobeying orders, house elves must always obey their masters."

"Master?" Harry echoed. "Wizards have slaves?"

"Oh no sir, house elves are a bound race. We are supposed to serve our families." Dobby said frantically. "No matter what, sir!"

"Well, who is your family? Your master?" Harry insisted. Most decent punishments didn't involve doing something that could potentially give you a concussion.

"M-M-M-M-Master is...m-master is..." Dobby's voice was shaking worse than every before. He was obviously terrified and thinking of what his master would do if he found out about this. "Master is M-Master Lucius Malfoy, s-sir."

"Malfoy?" Harry echoed. "As in Draco Malfoy?"

"Draco Malfoy is Young Master, sir." Dobby said unhappily. "Dobby is bound to serve them."

"...So there's something Malfoy doesn't want me to know?" Harry guessed. That he could believe. "Alright Dobby...what is that?"

"Master Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts this year!" Dobby exclaimed. Once again, Harry winced at his volume.

Not go back? Stay at Privet Drive all year? There mere thought nearly made Harry physically ill. "Why not? Why shouldn't I go?" He asked.

Dobby merely groaned, grabbed one of Harry's textbooks and began beating himself over the head with it.

Harry's nerves, already on end, wouldn't tolerate this. "No! No, stop that! Give me that. And be quiet!" He wrenched the book out of Dobby's hand. Dobby ceased his wailing, probably because Harry had given him direct orders, and stared up at the young wizard as though he had lost his sanity. "Listen to me! Tell me why." Harry ordered.

"Because-" Dobby swallowed. "B-Because the Heir will be back at the school!"

"The Heir?" Harry repeated, mind racing. Dobby's jaw locked shut, clearly it was too much for the elf to continue any further.

The Heir...that could mean a lot of things, and none of them that obvious. He remembered his history book of the Founders. Was one of their Heirs coming to the school? That was probably it; pureblood wizards liked to pride themselves on how far back their bloodlines went – it was possible there was a direct descendant from at least one of the Four still alive. But why would he or she be a danger?

"Y-Y-Yes, sir...that is why Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts..." Dobby said, his voice shaking.

Harry set his jaw. There was no way he was going to let some brat drive him away from the one place he had been completely accepted because of fancy ancestry. He was not trading Hogwarts for Stonewell and an entire bloody year unable to use magic, stuck with the Dusleys.

But somehow he had to convince Dobby to let him go. "Dobby. You're afraid of your Master – no, don't hit yourself, just listen."

Dobby had made to punish himself – again – and only stopped when told to, looking up at Harry in confusion.

"You shouldn't have to be afraid of him," Harry went on. "So let's say this – you let me go back to Hogwarts, and I will find a way to have Malfoy declare me you master. How does that sound?"

Dobby stared at Harry with abject disbelief. "M-M-Master Harry Potter would d-do that f-f-for Dobby, sir?"

"Of course." Harry said, with a roll of the eyes. "I take good care of the people who are nice to me. Just let me go to school and I'll take care of things."

"Master Harry Potter sir is very great indeed! But Hogwarts will not be safe! Master Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts!" With that, Dobby snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Harry let out a sigh and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. This was already shaping up to be a repeat of last year. Damn it. Well, if he was careful – and clever – there should be no reason he wouldn't be able to escape unscathed. After all, he'd been in bad fixes before. He was going to be fine.

Right?

Time Skip

Ginny Weasley shuffled through her second hand trunk, second hand robes and second hand books and put a lot of effort into hiding her current emotional turmoil. The ghoul in the attic was making more noise than usual, but she had grown accustomed to ignoring him.

If only my mum had been willing to buy me a new robe, she thought sadly.

Of course, her family's lack of money was nothing new to her – and this was going to be her first year at Hogwarts! - but she recalled Ron's many, many letters complaining about people taunting and tormenting him about being poor. Mostly perpetrated by that rotten Malfoy character, if his raging comments were anything to go by.

No, Ginny was worried that if she came to school looking completely second-hand, no one would want to be friends with her. And she had never had friends, beside Luna anyway. And Luna wasn't always easy to understand. Lack of money went hand in hand with loneliness as far as she remembered. If only there was something she could do to help her family.

She'd begged her mother to buy her at least one new textbook, only to be turned down, repeatedly. She gae a familiar phrase – when you're father's next payment comes, we'll see. But their father never made very much, because few people at the Ministry took him seriously due to his fascination with muggles.

Ginny often walked out to his garage and watched while he tinkered with muggle gadgets and batteries, wondering how they worked. She had never been in the muggle world, and with all her father talked about them it was beginning to interest her as well.

But it was no mystery that this was why he wasn't payed so well – his boss didn't share his enthusiasm for their unmagical counterparts.

Luna could see her unhappiness and tried to cheer her up, in her own way. Thus, Ginny ended up spending several hours on a Wackersprout hunt. While it left her tired, and they didn't find any, it had the effect Luna wanted – Ginny was in better cheer when she went home. Her friend was strange, but she was very kind.

Finally, her first day of school drawing nearer and nearer, they went do Diagon alley.

Most – if not all – of Ronald's complaints about Draco Malfoy rang true when they ran into the boy and his father, Lucius, after buying their new Lockhart books – the ones she'd be needing for defence. They were much more expensive than her mother would have liked.

Lucius Malfoy had come up behind them at some point and had immediately pulled out one of her old books. He berated her father for being involved with the raids the Ministry was doing, and commented on their lack of money. Ginny opened her mouth to say something only for Percy to elbow her in the ribs.

Her father urged them to move on, but Ginny could feel Lucius's eyes on her in a way that made her feel dirty.

He had no idea what their life was like! Ginny fumed internally as she violently shoved her books into her trunk, still dwelling on that moment. Lucius had inherited the fortune he loved to flaunt around so much. He was handed everything he could want while her father – a much better man – had to struggle to keep what they had. What kind of justice was that?

She wanted to rip her hair out or break something. The more she thought about it, the more trapped she felt.

She let out her breath. Was it not fair of her to wish her father made more money? He already worked so hard to get them what they had. What right did she have to demand more of him?

She sat back on her knees, though the soles of her old shoes dug into her skin painfully. Her fingers worked their way through her long red hair. Stop thinking about them. It's just making you upset, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Instead she thought about Hogwarts. Her entire family was in Gryffindor. There was no reason the hat would put her anywhere else, right? Would her parents be angry if she was sorted somewhere else? Most of her siblings had a die-hard hatred of Slytherin, and Percy and Ron seemed to think very little of Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw wouldn't be that bad, she thought, but she wouldn't count herself as particularly clever.

Her heart thudded in her chest. Oh dear, what if she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor? Would her parents stop loving her? Would her siblings hate her? Would it be because there was something very wrong with her, that the teachers saw unfit to be in Gryffindor?

Ginny buried her face in her hands. She wanted to cry but refrained. She didn't want her brothers thinking she was a little baby.

She was going to be fine. She would. She just had to think on it.

Thinking on that, Ginny pulled her caldron over and began pulling out her Lockhart books. After a few volumes her hand touched a small black book.

Confused, Ginny removed it from the caldron and stared at it. She hadn't bought this. Where had it come from? Her fingers opened the cover and turned several pages. It was completely blank.

Frowning, Ginny deduced that it must be a diary. Well, she could certainly use a place to put her thoughts. She sat aside, grabbed her quill and wrote; Thoughts from Ginny Weasley.

She was about to write more when suddenly the ink vanished. A squeak of shock escaped her, and she stared at the pages. After a second, the ink reappeared, but arranged into different words -

Hello Ginny.

Time Skip

Harry walked into King's Cross station, Dobby's warning still ringing in his ears. "The Heir is coming to Hogwarts." No matter how many times he considered that enigmatic statement, he didn't come any closer to guessing what it might mean.

The Heir could be one of the first year students coming to the school, but that wasn't a small number, and Harry had no idea what he would be looking for.

He stood at the entrance to the station, alone with his thoughts, Maria's cage balanced precariously on the top of his trolley. People looked oddly at him as they passed by but didn't say anything. It would have been nice, he thought ruefully, if Dobby had given me some indication of what kind of danger to expect when he got there. Now I'm walking in blind.

"-a flying car! Really Arthur!"

Harry gave an 'oof!' of surprise when someone walked into him from behind. The redheads – the Weasley Family, he realized – continued past them, caught up in whatever they were discussing. He turned around to see a small redhead mumbling apologies as she collected her books. That was the girl who'd shown him the entrance to 9 3/4 last year; Ginny.

"Hello." Harry said. Ginny paused in her corralling and looked up. Her eyes widened when she saw him and she jumped to her feet, forgetting about her other books.

"Oh! Harry! Harry Potter. H-Hello. I-I'm s-sorry, I was just thinking and, and well I wasn't really paying attention to where I was walking." She said, blushing so fiercely her face was the same colour as her hair.

"No worries," Harry shrugged, and dropped to his knees to collect the other fallen books. He stood up again and handed them to the girl, who would probably pass out if her face got any redder. "This is your first year, right?"

"Y-Yes." Ginny accepted the books from Harry and clutched them against her chest. "V-Very nervous, Fred and George and Percy have been talking about Hogwarts for years now, and now I'm finally going. My whole family's been in Gryffindor, like you – but, I'm worried I won't be." She blurted this all out on a single sentence, and then looked embarrassed. "A-and you didn't need to know that, I'm sorry-"

Harry rolled his eyes and smirked. So he had a fangirl. Oh, the many ways he could take advantage of that. If what Pierce had told him about the time he had one, it was like having a worshipper who'd do anything for you.

That thought was enough to put him in a good mood. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Eh, don't worry about it. We're all a little talkative in our first year in."

Ginny blushed again and looked around. "Mum? Dad?" The crowd around them had changed. Evidently, they'd been left behind.

"They seem to have left without us," Harry said mildly, grabbing his trolley again. "No matter. Let's find the platform – the train leaves soon."

Ginny looked extra nervous now that her family had accidentally walked off without her. Harry took it on himself to lead her through the crowd of muggles towards the archway to the Platform.

When they reached the platform, however, it became evident that something was wrong. Astoria was standing in front of it, kicking the wall, oblivious to the attention and stares she was drawing to herself. "Damn it!"

"Astoria." Harry said, walking up behind her, Ginny trailing behind. "Astoria, calm down. People are taking notice."

Astoria spun around, her blonde hair whipping behind her, green eyes filled with anger. "Harry! Thank Merlin someone's here – something's wrong." She said, "And if I ever get to Hogwarts I'll personally strangle the one responsible."

Harry raised a hand defensively. "Hey, take it easy. What's the matter?"

"Take it easy-?" Astoria's eyes widened. "Harry, something's sealed the gate to the platform! Daphne got in just fine, but when I tried to follow her-" She slapped her hand against the wall, which held steady as though it were an ordinary wall. "See? !"

Harry's eyes widened. That was bad. The train was going to leave any minute.

"What the hell?" He walked up to the wall and tapped it himself. It didn't budge. "Has this ever happened before?"

"If it has, no one's ever mentioned it." Astoria fumed. "Or how to get to Hogwarts when someone's locking you out of the platform!"

"Someone?" Harry repeated. "Who would freeze the platform?"

"NO idea." Astoria said through gritted teeth, "but if this is supposed to be a prank, I'm not finding it very funny."

They both turned their attention to the clock.

"Oh no..." Ginny whispered. "My parents must have already gone through, they've left me behind! What do I do?"

Astoria blinked and looked at Ginny, noticing her for the first time. "Oh. Hello, who are you?"

"This is Ginny Weasley." Harry responded for her. Ginny brightened when he said her full name. This one is easy, all right. "Her parents got away from us when we bumped into each other."

Astoria nodded. "Astoria Greengrass." She said.

"...Hello," Ginny said timidly.

"I don't suppose you know any other ways to Hogwarts?" Astoria asked as though not expecting an answer. Sure enough, Ginny shook her head. "Damn it all." She crossed her arms. "What are we going to do then? We can't just stand here!"

Harry thought about it, and suddenly remembered something Molly Weasley had said. "Ginny?"

"Yes?"

"Your mother said something about a car." He recalled. "Is it a normal car?"

"Oh no," Ginny shook her head. "My dad – he's fascinated with muggle stuff, and one thing he did this summer was restore one and give it the capability to fly. He's really proud of it."

Astoria's eyes lit up. "We do have a way to Hogwarts! That's wonderful. But -" She glanced at Harry. "Can you drive?"

Harry smirked. "Yeah."

"W-Wait!" Ginny protested. "My mum – mum will be really mad if I take it! I could get in a lot of trouble – mum could send me a Howler."

"Blame us." Harry responded. "Tell her we talked you into it. Believe me, it works. Don't you want to go to school? Besides, I think this qualifies as special circumstances." He waved a hand at the sealed gateway. "This is our only chance. Or we could all be stuck going to St. Brutus for the year."

"St. Brutus?" Astoria looked blankly at Harry.

"It's a school for 'incurably criminal children'. My uncle likes to threaten to send me there instead of Hogwarts whenever I annoy him even slightly." Harry said.

"B-But." Ginny shook her head wildly. "Harry, if we get caught the consequences can be very serious! The Ministry might get involved!"

"Then we won't get caught." Harry turned around fully to face Ginny, a false pleading look in his expressive green eyes. He gave her a smile he usually reserved for the staff of Winners whenever he shoplifted there. "Please, Ginny. You're our only hope."

That did it. Ginny lead them back into the parking lot towards a blue car. It was an older model then the one Carrie used, and thus had simpler to drive. Ginny importantly tapped it with her wand, and the three of them piled their trunks in the back, Maria and Hedwig being placed with Astoria in the back seat. Ginny sat up front with Harry, pointing at various parts of the car explaining what they did.

"That's the invisibility button," She said, tapping the silver button with her finger. "makes the car vanish. But-"

"-not here," Harry agreed, finishing her sentence for her. "Too many muggles. Let's find a garage." Astoria hung over the back of Ginny's chair as Harry put the car in gear and drove it off. They ducked into a back alley and Harry swung it into the driveway, being careful not to turn the steering wheel too hard.

Harry pushed the silver button, and the car shimmered. A muggle walked right past it, giving no indication he saw it. Harry felt himself smirking again.

"Wicked."

He put the car in gear and had it fly into the sky. The buildings seemed to shrink as the car coasted over them. "Now all we have to worry about it the aeroplanes." Harry said. Ginny let out a squeaking noise and stared out her window. Astoria was doing the same, gaping down at the world below. This was the first time either of them had seen Britain from the sky, Harry mused.

"Look at that!" Astoria said, amazed. "Is that all muggle London?"

"What can I say?" Harry shrugged. "There is a lot of us."

"There's the express!" Ginny cried. She pointed downward. Sure enough, there was the Hogwarts Express, streaking across the countryside like a scarlet snake.

"We'll check every thirty minutes, to make sure we haven't lost it." Harry said, before pulling them back above cloud cover and flooring the accelerator.

The car sped on above the clouds, like wandering into a dream. The sun blazed down from an endless sea of bright blue, the clouds making all kinds of shapes beneath them. Ginny stopped her worrying about getting caught to stare out of her window. Astoria had dropped her unhappy mood ages ago and would enthusiastically point at various things whenever they dropped below clouds to keep an eye on the train.

"This is amazing," Astoria said. "Do all muggles have one of these?"

"More often then not." Harry said. "Although most of them can't fly." He added as an afterthought. "We have aeroplanes for that."

The drive itself continued for several hours, and was in fact quite pleasant. There was a stack of sweets in the glove compartment, and Harry was free to discuss muggle life with the two girls. Ginny, now feeling giddy over her first major break of the rules, had inherited her father's interest in muggles. That coupled with her obvious crush on him had her hanging on his every word. It was both cute and extremely amusing. Astoria, having never met a muggle in her life, listened curiously, her arms resting on the back of his chair, interrupting only to ask questions. The thought that he had managed to pull off a more dramatic entrance to school then Fred and George Weasley also put a smug grin on Harry's face.

Several hours later, Hogwarts finally came into view. Astoria was feeding Maria and Hedwig when the car started to descend. "Where are we going to park it?" Ginny asked nervously. Now that they were here, the excitement of having pulled off the theft had once again given way to anxiety. It reminded Harry of the first time he'd shoplifted.

"Out back." Harry responded easily. "Right behind where they keep the express. The train'll be along in a few minutes, and we'll just join the crowd. Easy, and no one will have to know."

The tires touched the ground as Harry followed the last bit of train track to the garage where the train was kept. Turning the steering wheel to the right he swung the car around back. "Last stop, everyone out!" He said cheerfully.

Ginny sprang out of the car, squeaking as her cramped muscles strained in protest. Astoria got out more carefully, holding Hedwig's cage. "Well, that was interesting," She said.

Harry got out of the car, turning it off the same way Ginny had activated it, before getting Maria out. She didn't seem to like flying very much, because she was giving him an evil eye.

"Grab your trunks," He said. "The train will be here very soon."

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

Slipping into the crowd, Harry felt a twinge in his stomach. Shouldn't he feel bad about using Ginny that way? A crush was so easy to manipulate...but had she deserved to be put in that position? After all, if they had been found out they could have faced expulsion from Hogwarts, and she hadn't been wild about doing that until he'd given her the Look.

But when no one looked sideways at them as they entered the school, he decided that it didn't matter – no harm had come from it, and they had gotten to school on time to boot! Astoria looked like she enjoyed the trip a lot, and was currently walking up the hall to be Sorted.

She grinned at Harry as she walked past. Ginny offered him a tentative smile, before turning her eyes to the floor looking guilty as sin.

Again, Harry felt a twinge, but dismissed it quickly. It would stop bothering her after a little.

Daphne looked a little suspicious when Astoria had reunited with her on the platform, clearly not entirely buying the story of being in a different compartment. Now she was smiling as Astoria went to get Sorted; with any luck she wouldn't think too hard on it.

"Greengrass, Astoria!"

Harry watched as Astoria scampered up to the hat and sat on the chair. After a second, the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

Astoria put her hat down and darted over to where her sister was sitting, the table clapping and cheering.

"Lovegood, Luna!"

A dreamy-looking blonde girl walked up to the chair. Harry watched curiously as the hat shouted "RAVENCLAW!", and the strange girl walked – no, wandered – down to the Ravenclaw table and sat down. That was a strangeness he had come to associate with Carol – maybe they knew each other?

"Weasley, Ginny!"

Ginny walked up to the hat. It sat on her head and waited. And waited. The hall grew quiet, and suddenly the hat yelled - "SLYTHERIN!"

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&&%%&

Ginny sat frozen on the chair, unable to comprehend what had just happened, though the word was ringing in her ears. Slytherin? Her?

McGonagall gently pushed her in the direction of her new house. There was a scattering of polite applause, but she could feel several of the house members glaring at her. She swallowed. Then – then Astoria stood up and waved her over. "Over here, Ginny." She said.

A boy nearby – Malfoy, Ginny realized, she remembered him from Diagon Alley – glared at her, but she seemed not to notice. Nervously, Ginny walked over to her and sat down at the offered seat.

"That was unexpected." Astoria remarked, "We were expecting you to be Sorted with the rest of your family. Well – welcome to Slytherin! This is my sister, Daphne."

The older blonde on Astoria's other side nodded and smiled. "Hello Ginny." She said quietly. She glanced at her younger sister. "You've met?"

"On the train," Astoria lied immediately. "We happened to run into each other while looking for a compartment to sit in. We talked a lot."

Ginny nodded, praying her guilt didn't show in her face. Her father was going to be so worried...she'd have to make sure it 'reappeared' when she came back for the summer...oh dear...they'd be so angry with her...they were already going to go spare, she'd been sorted into Slytherin...

Her hand went into her bag and she felt Tom's diary. She relaxed a bit; Tom had been a Slytherin. He'd be able to calm her down. She knew Astoria, too, and Harry Potter had made sure she got to school.

That couldn't be too bad, right?

End Chapter

All right, the reason I had Harry manipulate Ginny like that was I felt that I wasn't having him do enough questionable things. If that unsettled you, good - it was meant to. Harry doesn't really meant to put her in trouble, but he's so used to not caring about the consequences of his behavior that the seriousness of getting her involved isn't occurring to him. Also, if you think the car thing was dealt with too easily, trust me, it's going to come back - and Ginny is going to suffer for it.

Review please!