After looking into the windows of a few compartments, I found Dana sitting with Holly, April, and Colin. I walked in.
"Ginny!" Dana squealed and jumped up to hug me.
Holly and April also hugged me. Colin's eyes lit up at the sight of me.
"Hiya Ginny! Guess why? My brother's starting this year. His name's Dennis," he said.
"Hey Colin. That's cool," I said.
"Do you think he'll be in Gryffindor too? I hope he is. I mean, all of your brothers are in Gryffindor too, right?"
"Er, yeah, maybe he will be,"
"But are all families in the same house?"
"I don't know, Colin,"
The conversation continued until we got to Hogsmeade station, and the five of us got into a carriage. The second we got to school, Colin ran off. Probably to find Harry, I thought, rolling my eyes.
"So, how was your summer?" I asked Dana after we sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"Pretty good, but I missed this place. It's horrible not being able to do magic," she said.
"I know! Especially since a lot of my family CAN," I agreed.
"How was your summer?" she asked.
"Pretty good, we went to the Quiddich World cup," I said
"Lucky! I wanted to go so bad, but my parents wouldn't take me," she said, looking disappointed, "How was it?"
"Amazing! I think I'm going to try out for the house team next year when Oliver leaves. I don't know if I'll be good at keeping though. Maybe I'll wait until Angelina and Alicia leave, then I can be a chaser, I'm better at that," I said.
"You should! With all the Quiddich players in your family, you're bound to get on the team," she said.
"I hope so, I would love to be on the team. I'm staving, I hope the sorting doesn't take too long," I said.
"Yeah, me too," she replied as the first years walked in.
After the sorting and the feast, Dumbledore made his speech.
"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year," he said.
"What? But Quidditch is one of my favorite things at Hogwarts!" I wailed, looking over at Fred, George, and Harry. They all looked appalled.
But I quickly got over the shock when he announced the Triwizard Tournament would be happening this year. So that's what my family was talking about! I, of course, would never in a million years enter, but I was very excited to watch it. I was glad of the age limit though, I did not want to be bothered worrying about my brothers entering.
As soon as we entered the common room, Hermione rushed up to us.
"Ginny! I can't believe it!" she exclaimed.
"Can't believe what?" I asked, confused.
"The slave labor! Even at Hogwarts! It's appalling!"
"Slave labor?" I was even more confused now.
"House elves! The use House Elves to make the food and clean,"
"Yeah, I know," I said.
"But they don't even get paid or anything!"
"House elves don't want to be paid, Hermione. They LIKE working," I said, patiently.
"Yeah, don't get so worked up," said Dana.
She glared at us, "So you don't care about the poor creatures?"
"I didn't say that!" I said.
"Well, I DO care and I'm going to start an organization. Those elves should be freed," she stated, before stomping up to her room.
I rolled my eyes and followed Dana up stairs. I fell asleep, exhausted, as soon as I laid down.
The first day of classes went rather smoothly, until dinner.
"Hey Ginny, did you read this yet?" Holly asked me, handing me a newspaper.
"No, what's it about?" I asked, sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.
"It's about your dad," said April.
As I read the article, anger bubbled up inside me. Who does this Rita Skeeter think she is, anyways? She had no right to talk about my father that way!
"Hey, look at your brother," Dana said, pointing to the entrance.
I looked over and saw Ron being held back by Harry and Hermione, with Harry talking to Malfoy. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it definitely looked bad. As they were leaving, Malfoy aimed a curse at Harry, and I couldn't help but scream. Luckily, it wasn't just me, there were several people screaming.
"OH NO YOU DON'T LADDIE!" said Professor Moody, coming from being them. He then proceeded to turn Malfoy into a ferret and bounce him up and down in front of the whole school. I must say, it was the most hilarious thing I've seen in a long time. Until, of course, Professor McGonagall came and put an end to it. I couldn't wait for Moody's class, Fred and George said that it was really great.
"I'm so excited, this class is supposed to be really good," Dana said to me on our way to DADA the next day.
"I know," I agreed.
We got to the class, sat down, and took out our books.
"You can put those books away, you won't need them," Moody said as soon as the class began.
"Okay, this class might be a little advanced for you, but I'm showing you anyways. You need to know what you're up against, and you need to be prepared. Constant Vigilance! Today, I'm going to show you the unforgivable curses. According to the Ministry of Magic, I'm not supposed to show you illegal Dark curses, but Professor Dumbledore reckons you can cope. Only third years and above. So, you any of you know which curses are unforgivable?"
A few hands went up into the air, including mine. My dad had told us all about the Imperius Curse, which he had had to deal with on many occasions.
Moody pointed at me and said, "Miss Weasley, correct? Arthur Weasley's daughter? Yes, your father helped me out of a tight corner a few days ago."
I smiled at him and said, "The Imperius Curse."
"Yes," he said and took a jar with many spiders out of his desk. He picked one up and said, "Imperio!"
My eyes widened. I didn't think that he would actually perform the spell. I thought that he would just teach them to us. Moody made the spider jump around and dance, which made the whole class laugh.
"Think this is funny? Would you like it if I did this to you?" he practically growled.
The laughter ceased almost immediately.
"Years ago, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse. It was some job for the Ministry to sort out who was being controlled and who wasn't," he said, "The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how. But not everyone will be able to do it, so avoid being hit with it altogether. Constant Vigilance! Anyone else know one?"
Not that many hands went up. Moody called on a Gryffindor boy in my year named John Applebee.
"Er, the Cruciatus Curse," he said.
"Right, the torture curse," said Moody, walking back over to his desk, "Engorgio! Crucio!"
The spider began to twitch and rock. It was horrible, and it really looked miserable. After a few seconds, I closed my eyes, not being able to watch it anymore.
"You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse, that was very popular. So, anyone know any others?"
I thought it was safe to look, and I opened my eyes. The spider looked more relaxed, but it was still twitching. No one raised their hand to answer the question.
"Okay then, the last - and worst - curse is the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra," Moody said, and my heart sank. I knew what was coming.
"Avada Kedavra!" Moody said, pointing his wand at the spider.
There was a flash of green light, and the spider instantly rolled over.
"Not pleasant. Only one person is known to have survived this curse, and he goes to this school," Moody said quietly.
So that's what happened to Harry's parents, and what was supposed to happen to him.
"Avada Kedavra is a curse that needs a lot of magic behind it. I bet you could all say those words pointing your wands at me and nothing would happen. But I'm not here to teach you how to do it. I'm showing you because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. Constant vigilance!
"Now, those three curses are the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any of them on a human being will earn you a life sentence in Azkaban. Get out your quills and write these notes," he said.
I walked out of that class very subdued. It was a great lesson, but no one could walk out of that class cheerful.
After dinner, Dana and I decided to go to the library to get some homework done, as we were horrible procrastinators. It wasn't a surprise to see Hermione sitting at a table, so we walked over to her and sat.
She looked up, "Oh, hey, I'm just finishing up."
I grabbed one of the badges in her box. It was colorful and said S.P.E.W.
"What's 'spew'?" Dana asked, looking over my shoulder.
"It's not spew, it's S-P-E-W. It stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare," she explained, "Do you two want to join? Elf enslavement goes back centuries. It's a wonder no one's done anything about it before."
"Hermione, they like being enslaved, that's their nature," I said patiently, for about the millionth time since the World Cup.
She glared at me and continued making her badges. I rolled my eyes and turned to Dana.
"She's been going on and on about this 'house elf enslavement' for months,"
"Well they deserve to be treated right!" Hermione exclaimed, making Dana and I jump.
Neither of us tried to convince her otherwise, and opened our books after sharing bemused expressions.
"I'm going to go see if Harry and Ron will join, since you two obviously don't care," Hermione said after a few minutes and stalked away angrily.
Hermione still hadn't given up the spew lectures by the next day, and it was driving me mad.
"Come on Ginny, these house elves clean and cook and they are unpaid and enslaved!" she said the me for the millionth time that day.
"Oh, give it up, Hermione! They like it," I said impatiently.
"They're brainwashed! They don't know what they like since they've been doing it their whole lives," she raged.
"Hermione, if I buy a badge, will you shut up?" I asked, just wanted her to leave me along about this.
"Yes," she promised.
"Here," I said, handing her two sickles, "Merlin."
"Thank you!" she exclaimed, handing me a badge and running off again with her collecting bin.
Author's Note: Mmkay, so I had this chapter written about 5 days ago, but it wouldn't upload for some reason, so sorry. Anyways, next chapter is the first task and maybe the Yule Ball. I'm excited to write that ) So yeah, please review