Disclaimer—no ownership
Dinner passed by slowly, unbearable slowly.
None of her housemates attempted to speak to her, but she was the subject of many whispers, pointed fingers, and stares from not only her own house but the other three as well.
Not eating much due to her lack of appetite, Ginny looked around anxiously. None sat near her at the Slytherin table and she had never felt more isolated.
Her cheeks were in a constant state of red as she ducked her head to hide the brown eyes that tears pooled in.
She sneaked a glance at the staff table where Harry was talking quietly to Sirius, their expressions were very intense.
Draco Malfoy who was sitting toward the other end of the Slytherin table, there as a representative of the board of governors but choosing for this meal to sit with some of his previous Slytherin housemates, was giving her an odd look. But when she her head to inspect it further he was animatedly joking with the upper class-men and she wondered whether she had imagined it.
Looking back toward the staff table she caught Heather staring at her. The older witch offered a smirk and mimed gagging while gesturing towards Malfoy.
Ginny rolled her eyes at that, Heather always was a bit over-dramatic where Malfoy was concerned. To quote her she said he was the spawn of the devil's consort who lived to spread evil amongst Great Britain.
She was very overdramatic.
McGonagall saw her miming and shot her a quick look leading Heather to suddenly sit up perfectly straight and send the aging professor an innocent smile.
Ginny turned back to her food feeling slightly better from the familiar antics.
The feast, thankfully, did end eventually. And as she made her way to the Slytherin common room trailing behind the group slightly as they all shot her distasteful looks when she neared them too closely, she felt something warm and familiar against her hand.
As she opened her palm she saw that a note, which had not been there moments before, now lay in it. Looking around she noticed the retreating figure of a young man with messy black hair, and clutching the note tightly she continued to make her way back to the Slytherin common room.
Slewyn, one of the fifth year prefects, a boy with a rather nasally voice and short neat brown hair turned swiftly toward them as soon as they entered the common room through the stone wall.
Ginny had to admit that while very different then the cosy, warm Gryffindor common room that had been described to her, this room was still very...cool.
There, she had thought it—something about Slytherin was cool! Fred and George would never forgive her if they found out.
But standing underneath the green tinged ceiling that afforded a view of the lake above, she admired the stark difference from warm, cosy Gryffindor.
Certainly there was something colder about the Slytherin common room, more than just the air, but it was fitting and in it's own way...dare she think it...bad ass.
Slewyn however was now beginning his monologue, his dark brown eyes looking very intently at all of them before he started pacing in front of them with his hands clasped behind his back.
Ginny thought he looked very much like every villain in the muggle movies as he did this, striding back and forth addressing the group—she half expected him to start blurting out his plans for world domination instead of where the loo was and such.
"Now, I do not know what you did in your home lives, nor do I care." She also thought he spoke strangely proper and with an air that conveyed no small amount of haughtiness. But perhaps that was just a Slytherin quality.
"In Ravenclaw they are surely instructing their little first years, to be good little students and never break a rule. Gryffindor the idiots are just scouting them for quidditch talent, that is all they're good for after all..." This was punctuated by a few laughs which made anger rise up in Ginny in defense of her family. Some of those laughing looked at her flushing cheeks and sneered at her as they continued to laugh.
"And—well it is no matter what those worthless Hufflepuffs do anyhow."
One girl in particular, who had long, beautiful brunette hair that just absolutely shined, laughed so shrilly and hysterically at the two jokes that it was ridiculous. Upon noticing Ginny's glare she seemed to only laugh harder, clearly taking mirth from the red head's discomfort.
Slewyn eyed Ginny rather shrewdly as she was the only one not laughing, but he continued without a word to her.
"But here we conduct ourselves very differently. We do not care what petty rules you break. It does not matter. What does matter is that you are not caught—bring shame upon this house and the consequences will be severe." He let that word hang, a little melodramatically for Ginny's taste. If he wanted to learn to threaten people into behaving he would need to take some lessons from Molly Weasley before he scared her, she thought.
"You are Slytherins, be sly. If you want to hex someone, do it so that no one can prove it was you, even better—frame a Gryffindor. Now, past that note you are also expected to stay out of the older classmates' way. If you have a question, ask someone standing here in this room with you, not including myself. If they cannot answer it, then deal with it yourself. We are not your substitute parents and you should not expect to be coddled, because it will not happen. Do not make needless noise in the common room, and do not bring any kinds of ridiculous fights before any of the prefects, especially myself. It is time to become self reliant, if there is one thing you will learn in this house—that is it!"
He stopped there looking around the room as if to press that point.
"Girls your dormitories are down that hall," he gestured towards a dark hallway lit by green lanterns toward the left.
"Boys, you are this way." And with that he left the room, the first year boys hurriedly striding to catch him as he led them towards their dorms.
"Well he's an inviting one," Ginny muttered to herself has he swept out of the room with his robes billowing behind him in a way so characteristically Slytherin. She wondered if he had rehearsed that to be so...well she hated to be redundant but dramatic did seem to fit what she was trying to say. He was a rather dramatic fellow. Perhaps he taken 'cloak billowing' lesson from Snape.
She snorted at the thought.
One girl, who was tall for their age, with shoulder length blonde hair and hazel eyes that seemed kind, smiled at her comment. However the moment that might have began a friendship then was ruined, when the brunette girl that had been laughing so ridiculously earlier turned towards Ginny.
"Say something blood traitor?" She asked, her pretty but cold blue eyes surveyed Ginny.
Blushing furiously and looking around at the other four girls for help, Ginny was somewhat unsure of what to do.
Two girls, one extremely fair haired with black eyes that did not seem to compliment her other coloration, and the other with a mouse brown mane and brown eyes to match, seemed to be rallying behind the shiny haired brunette. They both had looks of excitement at the prospect of whatever they were going to do to Ginny.
One girl seemed rather indifferent to situation, her black hair back into a bun she seemed to already be heading into the dormitory.
Another girl, who had auburn hair, a much, much darker red then the fire that was Ginny's, seemed sympathetic but too afraid to help.
Only the blonde girl who had been sharing the smile with her earlier was eyeing the other two with distaste.
Finally deciding that she wasn't a Gryffindor anyway and there was no need for her to prove any kind of bravery, Ginny just left following the black haired girl to the dormitories.
It seemed the three bitches were not finished yet though.
"We were talking to you Weasley, didn't your mother teach you any manners!"
Ginny's face burned and she clenched her fists, feeling the note Harry had given her against the palm of her right hand. She kept walking however determined to ignore them in hopes they would become discouraged.
She reached the first year's room and went over to her bed, happy to see her trunk had made it there. She had had some vague fear it would be taken to Gryffindor in mistake. The key to her trunk sat in her pocket but before she could reach to pull it out she felt a tearing sensation in the back of her head.
She gasped, as her head was ripped backwards, the mouse haired girl having a hold of it.
She struggled and reached to hit her away but her arms were grabbed by the blonde one with the black eyes before she could so much as touch the other girl.
"Gwendolyn she almost hit me!" The mousy haired girl cried to their chocolate haired leader.
Well you idiot you yanked my hair out, you're still yanking my hair out!
Ginny thought to herself.
"Now that is just unacceptable Weasley. Ella is from a good, proper family; rather unlike yours. It is clear your dear Mumsie really didn't teach you anything but I guess she was too busy whoring around to—"
Ginny violently kicked out at Gwendolyn's shin, almost catching her but the blue eyed girl was able to jump out of the way barely in time. She wasn't sure exactly what 'whoring around,' was but she was sure it wasn't a compliment whatever it entailed.
"Now, now, Wealsey that wasn't very nice. Here in Slytherin we are lady like—how you got sorted into this house I'll never know." Gwendolyn laughed at her own joke.
Ginny could hear the other three girls banging on the door asking to be let in, as the three that were in the room with her now had locked them out. The indifferent, black haired one included who had been removed when they had entered.
The door could be locked from the inside and was not able to be opened from the outside when it was.
Finally deciding just to damn it to hell as they were beating her anyway, Ginny opened her mouth, "My mother had plenty of time to teach me not to associate with spoiled, nasty little girls like you!"
Gwendolyn adopted a very ugly look on her pretty face however before she could say anything, the blonde one cried out something which stopped Ginny's heart in dread.
"Look she has something in her hand!" She exclaimed while waving about note Harry had given Ginny.
Gwendolyn had a frighteningly happy expression has she plucked the note away from the blonde one.
"Good work Alex!" She said like one might say to their dog after it rolls over for them.
"Well let's have a read then," she sneered in Ginny's face.
"Ginny," she put on a rather stupid voice has she read the note, her hand on her hip as if she was a teacher taking a note from an unfocused student in class.
"Meet me in my room, look in the top of your trunk and you'll find something that will help you."
She tucked the note into her pocket as if it were hers after that, a movement that perhaps made Ginny's blood boil more than anything else Gwendolyn had done that night.
"Who are you meeting Weasley? I'll admit you are a bit young—" She said, and Ginny indignantly thought—as if she is any older!
"—to be having such relations, but I guess money must be tight in the household this year. Well I won't let us get in the way of you making a living," and with a wave of Gwendolyn's hand the other girls released Ginny.
Ginny began to let out a sigh of relief that it was over when Gwendolyn stopped from where she had been walking to the water closet and stood with her back facing Ginny for a moment.
Then she abruptly turned on her heel back to the youngest Weasley.
"But what exactly is in your trunk that would be so helpful?" She said curiously, a vindictive smile on her face as she tapped her chin with her finger.
Her minions, the mouse haired and blonde haired girl were quick to rush over to Ginny's trunk and try to rip it open, but of course it didn't work.
She ushered them out the way and pulling out her wand with a look of triumph on her face said, "Alohamora."
Ginny smirked then not being able to help it.
That trunk had been very expensive. Ginny had even objected Harry buying it for her as there were much less costly trunks, but it was expensive for a reason.
It was only able to be opened by the key, which as of right now was sitting in Ginny's pocket.
It was virtually indestructible and the key, and the key alone could open it.
Not to mention that Gwendolyn's, Ginny even thought her name with spite, wand movement had been completely horrendous and Ginny doubted the spell would have worked on even a weak lock.
Hermione had taught her that one a while ago, and Ginny felt a little bit of warmth in her heart and a confidence from thoughts of one of the girls she loved like a sister.
Gwendolyn however stopped and looked closer at the trunk then as if seeing it for what it was.
"I'm surprised you could afford one of these Weasley, well I guess prostitution does have it's benefits."
Ginny wondered what prostitution, or for that matter whoring was. Most of the nasty comments Gwendolyn had been spitting at her had not understood that well by Ginny due to her sheltered life. And she felt a lot of anger over that right now because she hated nothing more then being insulted and not even being able to understand it.
"Where is the key?" Gwendolyn was speaking to her again.
Ginny however had already made up her mind, if she was going to be in the house that was known for flight rather then fight, then she was damn sure going to take advantage of it.
She turned, quickly unlocked the door and ran as fast as her legs would carry her.
She sprinted past her other three other dorm-mates who, still waiting by the door looked bewildered, she ran past all of the older students lazing about the common room, and she ignored Slewyns shout about 'disrupting,' them as she kept running.
She ran out of the dungeons all the way to a portrait a little ways from the fat lady, and gasping for breath with a terribly painful side stitch she murmured the password, "Evans," to the picture of a young girl in a field of flowers, to be admitted in.
She stumbled in and onto one of the chairs immediately inside and struggled to catch her breath.
Harry who had been sitting at the small desk in his room looked up at the hurried entrance.
"Gin—why are you breathing so hard? Where's the cloak?" He asked worriedly as he got up to make his way over to her.
However instead of answering Ginny just burst into tears.
She hadn't cried so hard since she was six and she walked in on her sixteen year old brother, Ron, who had promised her he would play hide and seek with her, but instead she had found him snogging Lavender Brown.
He had yelled at her to leave, and when she asked him about hide and seek he had told her he didn't have time for her 'silly stupid little games.' Honestly the entire incident had made her dislike Lavender despite the fact it wasn't entirely, or exactly her fault. She still however disliked Lavender. She was certain Hermione would have slapped Ron and told him to keep his promise instead of continuing to snog.
She still remembered that, she had burst into tears and hurriedly ran into the orchard where she climber her favorite tree and where she had stayed until that night when Ron had come out and bashfully apologized, by order of their mother, telling her he was just flustered earlier.
However now she was sitting there sobbing just as hard, if not more, then she had been then.
Harry, not completely understanding but knowing it had not been a pleasant experience in the Slytherin dorms, walked over to the chair, which was large enough to afford him to sit next to her. He then rubbed her back soothingly like Sirius had done for him when he was seven and the reality of the fact he would never know his parents had fully hit him.
"Shh, it's alright Gin. I'm here now." He said in a soft voice, as she continued crying into his shoulder, she was now mumbling about something but her voice was so subdued and racked with sobs it was impossible to understand.
"They hate me!" He finally understood something she was saying as the sobs began to quiet down.
"I'm sure they don't—"
"They grabbed my hair, while the other one held my arms back and they called Mum all these words that—that I don't even know what they mean! They hate me!" Ginny finished interrupting whatever platitude Harry had been planning to say.
Tears still streaming out of her eyes Harry continued rubbing her back entirely unsure of what to do has he had never seen her this upset.
"What exactly did they call your Mum?" he finally asked, partly out of curiosity and partly just out of something to say.
"A whore! Whatever that means!" Ginny almost shouted. Harry winced, partly due to just how naive Ginny was, partly due to how much that naivety was going to be lost this year, and partly due to how cruel those girls were actually being. He just couldn't believe that they would physically assault her in such a way.
He would think she was being over dramatic but that was more Heather's speciality.
"It's just... a really nasty word." Harry said, not wanting to go into what exactly it curtailed.
Ginny however took great offense at this and ripping herself out of his arms stood to turn and glare at him with her arms folded across her chest angrily.
"I'm so tired of no one telling me anything." She said, with ice cold venom instead of with the usual passionate anger and Harry saw a hint of why she had become a Slytherin tonight.
"I'm so tired of being treated like a little girl! How does anyone ever expect me to grow up if they never let me see or hear or just know anything about—anything!"
She glared at him waiting for a response.
"Look why don't you write Hermione and ask her, I just don't feel like I—like I would do as good of a job explaining it." Harry responded hastily.
"How you're a Gryffindor is beyond me, anytime an awkward matter of conversation ever comes up all you do is refer me to Hermione!" Ginny said frustratedly.
Harry rubbed his eyes as he took a deep breath.
"Who says I would have been a Gryffindor anyway? Heather and I weren't ever sorted y'know."
Ginny stared at him having forgotten that fact. "Yeah but come one, everyone knows you would have been a Gryffindor," she said sullenly.
"No. Everyone does not know, they assume—just like we assumed you would be a Gryffindor and see where that got us."
Seeing Ginny's stricken look he hastily went on grabbing for words, "Which we shouldn't have done, we shouldn't have assumed. You are your own person, not your brothers and I think everyone just...forgot that for a moment."
However the troubled look did not leave her face as she came to sit back next to him, her body having slouched like all the defiance and life was taken out of her.
"Do you think my family will disappointed?" She asked in an uncharacteristically small, very insecure voice.
Putting an arm around her again Harry tried to reassure her.
"No, they might be a little...surprised, but Ginny they love you. I know you're angry about...some of the things that have happened lately, but we all love you and we never meant it to hurt you. You're right, we have been sheltering you too much and it's time to let you grow up some, but we just wanted you to enjoy your child hood, it's not like we all got together and said 'Hey you want to really mess with Ginny? Let's all pretend to sleep with other people like it's normal and not tell her about the soul bond, it''ll be hilarious!'"
Ginny cracked a very small smile at that, the first one she had given Harry in quite some time, which made him feel quite a bit better.
"Well, sometimes it just sure feels that way." She said tiredly.
"I know, and I'm sorry about it. It was just what we thought best at the time."
They sat there in silence for a moment before Harry went on.
"I think it's really cool that you're in Slytherin."
Ginny raised an eye brow at him, "Yeah?"
"Yeah, I mean they're supposed to sly, and let's face it you never get caught, and the one time you did get caught for putting the glue in Sirius's hair and making it stand up straight you just smiled your way out of it anyway—if that is not sly then what is? Not to mention proud, and you definitely are very proud, maybe a bit too much pride."
Ginny lightly punched him on the arm.
"And—green will look much better with your hair then the red would have!" He tapped her on the nose with his finger as he said this as fathers often do when they are teasing their daughters.
Ginny made a face at him, "Y'know, I think you're turning into a tad bit of a girl Harry."
Harry looked playfully offended at that, "Far, far too much wedding planning with Hermione—at the feast tonight I found myself upset that the napkins didn't match!"
Ginny laughed a little bit about that.
They were silent again for a moment, Ginny finally beginning to really calm down and feel better.
"What was in my trunk?" she asked abruptly.
"What?" Harry asked startled out of his thoughts.
"What was going to help me that was in my trunk?" Ginny repeated.
"Oh, well it was supposed to be a surprise, but, well a kind of family heirloom of mine, I guess you could say."
Giving him a look that clearly said 'please explain further,' Ginny waited.
"My Dad's old invisibility cloak," Harry said simply.
"Your Dad had an invisibility cloak!" Ginny said excitedly.
"Oh what Fred and George wouldn't have killed for that when they were in school!" She went on.
"Well you have to use it responsibly though," Harry said seriously.
Seeing the bewildered look he was getting he continued, "Hermione said I had to say that."
Ginny grinned.
"I'll tell you what, I know an elf that works here that could go fetch your things—"
"But the lock?" She interrupted.
"Elf magic works differently they can get in without it, and you do have the key still right?" He asked.
She nodded and pulled it out of her pocket to show him.
"Anyways, I'll have him go get the cloak just in case you want it tomorrow." Harry said knowing tomorrow would be a very hard day for her, especially if the episode tonight was anything to go by.
"And you need a change of clothes and your toiletry bag anyway."
And so he called the elf, and took care of some other matter before the two went to bed.
His heart ached for her having to go through so much, but he couldn't help but let the thought cross his mind that he fervently hoped that today had just been an exceptionally trying day and that she wasn't going into the extremely emotional teenage girl phase early.
Merlin forbid that!
Please Review
Thank you to all who reviewed last chapter
Guest 1—Yes, Ginny is starting to get quite a bit more independent, I'm not saying Chamber won't happen but I will say it will not happen immediately. Harry will find himself quite unexplainably angry at more then a few teen age boys in four or five story years.
Thanks for reviewing
Guest 2—I'm surprised by how many people have been so surprised—But I guess she is taking some rather dramatic steps out of her shell and will be forced to grow up very quickly now in the snake pit.
Thank you so much for reviewing