*UPDATED*

Chapter 9 – Start


"We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." T. S. Eliot (1888 - 1965), Little Gidding


Ginny's eyes opened slowly due to the sun that was coming in; yet, it didn't take her a second to close them back and turn around in her bed.

A minute or so later, she opened her eyes again and sat up a little, putting her arms around herself after realizing it was a little chilly. She was only wearing a small top, since it had been boiling hot last night; however, she could tell that the weather had dropped down a few degrees.

"You might want to start getting ready," a voice suddenly said. "Breakfast started half-an-hour ago and class starts in forty-five minutes."

Ginny looked at the girl, who had her back turned to her and was unpacking stuff from her trunk. The girl was wearing her pyjamas too but she had a toast resting on the night stand beside her. She had short black hair and was thin; she wasn't a tall girl, maybe even a little smaller than Ginny, and that was saying and awful lot.

"Um...okay, thanks," Ginny muttered, really not knowing what else to say. She opened her trunk, which she hadn't bothered to unpack, and grabbed her bad of toiletries. Ginny suddenly looked a little lost, there were three doors in the room; one that lead to the staircase, one that lead to the bathroom, and one that lead to a small closet with blankets and pillows. She could remember that much, but she couldn't recall which was which; she could swear that the one on the right was the bathroom, but she wasn't about to risk it and walk into a cupboard.

The girl turned around and looked at Ginny with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

Ginny bit her lip, trying to restrain herself from snapping at this girl, why the hell did she sound so bitter?

The red-head turned around, a hand on her hip and the other one holding the back.

She breathed in deeply, trying not to get angry. "I can't remember which door leads to the bathroom."

The girl snorted and Ginny took a second to look at her. She knew this girl; she had a long thin nose, small lips and two big light green eyes. Ginny pressed her lips together, trying to figure out her name; she knew that she knew her but she wasn't sure...she just...

"It's the one on the right the other one is..." the dark-haired girl started explaining.

"A closet, I know..." Ginny finished, making the girl raise her eyebrow again.

"If you checked it last night, how come you-" the girl suddenly stopped talking as she seemed to recall something. "When you said that you couldn't remember which one it was, what did you mean?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, but then the girl ran a hand threw her short hair, pulling it back, and Ginny recognised her. "You're Anna, aren't you?"

The girl nodded with a rather strange look on her face. "Yeah," she answered with her eyebrow still raised, so high that her fringe was almost covering it. "Anna Mirfield. And you are a new girl, which is kind of strange since that doesn't tend to happen at Hogwarts, but I guess that not many normal things happen here anymore. So, anyway, I saw you talking to Harry Potter and the Weasleys last night, so...what are you? Like a cousin of Ron's or something? Because you've got red hair and all-"

The girl suddenly stopped, blinking with realization. She looked at Ginny with big surprised eyes and hesitantly, her lips parted. "Oh, god...you're Ginny, aren't you? Of course, I'm so dumb; I didn't recognise you with the hair and the well...age."

Ginny pressed her lips together again, feeling a little awkward. "Hi, I guess," she said simply, not knowing what else to say.

"Umm...hey," Anna spoke, also feeling awkward but it didn't last long; a second later she started interrogating the red-head. "What happened to you? After you got possessed, Potter saved you and then you dissapeard. I even asked your brother once; he said you went to Beauxbatons."

"Yeah, I don't know, I felt like a change...but with this whole Voldemort shit..." Ginny spoke but shut up, realizing Anna really wasn't that interested.

"It's good to have you back, I'm sure Vicky, Kate and Ginger will be happy to hear it too," the girl said absently.

Ginny shrugged and breathed in. "Yeah, well, I'm going to..." Ginny started saying as she pointed to the bathroom.

"Sure, see you in Defence; we have it first thing with Ravenclaw."

Ginny nodded and quickly turned to go to the bathroom. God, how she hated awkwardness.


"They look good on you," Harry's voice was heard as Ginny descended the stairs in her school robes. Harry smiled and got up from the sofa where he was sitting, he left something he had been holding on a table nearby and walked up to Ginny, reaching for her tie. Ginny looked at him strangely and Harry laughed. "You didn't tie it correctly."

Ginny snorted as Harry did the tie for her. "Doesn't this tend to be the other way around?" she asked with amusement.

Harry laughed. "We don't tend to do things the right way around."

Ginny shrugged. She really didn't know what it was that Harry and she were doing. What were they? Were they going out? Were they seeing each other? Were they friends? Ginny knew it was pathetic to look for labels, it was something far too typical for people like Harry and she, but she couldn't help it. Since she was eleven, she had been used to feeling alone and not thinking, trying her best to just go on auto pilot, do anything, anything¸ to prevent him from reaching her. She had never thought about love, about boyfriends, about anything that wasn't keeping herself busy, making sure she couldn't be tormented by voices and memories.

Ginny shook her head, her typical move after losing herself thinking about something. Harry smiled at her and she smiled back.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

He shrugged. She showed him a knowing look. "Fine, I saw you didn't go downstairs to have breakfast, so I brought you something up here."

Ginny laughed. "You know, I have legs and hands and a brain, Potter. I can feed myself alone."

Harry was silent and Ginny suddenly felt a little guilty, so she went on her tiptoes as kissed his cheek sweetly. "But thank you," she said, making the young man smile.

Harry reached for a packet that was about the size of a ping pong ball and handed it to Ginny, who raised her eyebrow.

"It's shrunk," Harry told her, making her nod in understanding as she left the package on the table again and pointed her finger at it, making it go back to its original state. She then proceeded to open it, finding a plate with sausages, bacon and a toast. Ginny smiled and grabbed a chair. She was about to summon a knife and a fork when she realized Harry was looking at her, wide-eyed; it didn't take her long to realize why he was in that state; she had just done a non-verbal spell in front of Harry. She turned up to look at him and then turned around to see if anyone else had seen her. There was only a few second or third years in a corner, so she went back to looking at harry.

"How did you do that?" he asked calmly, obviously having recuperated from the sudden shock that had caused him to not speak up until then.

Ginny played dumb. "Do what?" She asked and tried to change the subject. "Did you bring a knife and fork or should I summon them?"

"Well," Harry answered. "I was going to do that, but seeing as you don't even need a wand, maybe you should."

Ginny sighed. Harry grabbed a chair and sat beside her. "As far as I know, they don't teach non-verbal spells in Beauxbatons," he whispered. "And especially, not wandlessly. Not even Dumbledore can do that."

"I wouldn't believe all that Dumbledore tells me, if I were you. He's pretty good at making the lies seem complete truth," she told him, quickly summoning the knife and fork and digging in. Harry suddenly looked annoyed.

"Dumbledore's not perfect," he told her, making her look up. "But if he's ever made a lie seem true, it's been for my own good. He cares about me like he would about a grandson, and I love him like grandfather. Whatever your reasons are for not trusting him, I would forget them."

"Why?" Ginny suddenly spoke angrily. "Because you say so? Sorry, Potter, but I've got my own brain to think and decide with. And that man lies all the time, telling people everything's okay, telling people that they're going to be fine! And they're not fine!"

Harry frowned. "He's a human being, he makes mistakes, and maybe he does think that things are going to be fine. Besides, I don't want to fight about Dumbledore; we're talking about you being able to do non-verbal spells here."

"Well, I don't feel like talking about that," Ginny answered back, standing up and shoving the plate to a side. "Thanks for the breakfast, but I'm not hungry, I'm going to grab my books and head for class."

Ginny walked up the stairs without a second glance at Harry until she reached the corner of the stairs, were she turned to look at him for a split second before turning back around and continuing to walk up the stairs.

Harry sighed. And wrapped the food up again, shrank it, placed a warming charm on it and left it on the table, taking out a piece of parchment and scribbling something on it:

Take it; you'll be hungry later on.

He left it there, knowing that she'd see it, grabbed his books and headed for Charms. When he was half-way there, Ron and Hermione spotted him.

Oddly enough, Ron was the first to realize he looked slightly angry.

"What's up, mate?" he asked Harry, as Hermione eyed both of them. Harry looked up at Ron and shook his head.

"Red-heads," the emerald-eye boy muttered before walking off. Ron stood still, with a confused look on his face.

"What have I done, now?" Ron asked Hermione, who shook her head, sighed and grabbed Ron's hand.


Ginny walked down and saw the package resting on the table. Her first instinct was to leave it there, but her Weasley stomach protested and she took it, shoving it in her pocket a little angrily. How dare he get angry at her for merely expressing her opinion? They were nearly in the twenty-first century, were they not? Couldn't a woman express her opinion?

All upset because of Potter, are we? Well, look at that.

Ginny closed her eyes tightly and held her books close to her chest as she started walking, only concentrating on where she was going, trying hard to keep him out.

"Ginny!" A voice shouted while she was standing in the middle of a moving staircase, she didn't think she'd ever get used to these things.

She turned around and found that the voice belonged to the blond girl whom Harry had introduced her to on the train. She was wearing her school robes and a Ravenclaw tie, but, making her uniform look extremely unique, she had added three thick bracelets to her arm, a pair of big dangly feather earrings, and bright red sports shoes that could be seen when she walked.

She waved a little awkwardly; she couldn't even remember her name. She tried to think back and was happy when she realized she was called Luna.

"Luna, isn't it?" she asked the girl as she reached her.

"Yes, Luna Lovegood," Luna answered with a smile as they continued walking towards their destination.

"Lovegood, as in Xenophilius Lovegood, from the Quibbler?" Ginny asked in surprised.

"Yes, daddy is the director of the Quibber, do you read it?" Luna asked absently.

Ginny laughed joyfully. "Sure thing, I adore it. Sometimes, when I needed to take my mind off...well, off things, I just opened it, read something and laugh."

"Laugh?" Luna asked absently. Ginny realized the other girl might get offended if she spoke about the real reason why she thought the Quibbler was funny, so she just gave her a good enough answer.

Ginny nodded. "Sure, I love the way the articles are written, the irony in them sometimes...it's hilarious."

Luna didn't say anything for a few seconds. She then walked onto another staircase and Ginny followed her. "I'm really happy that Harry's found you, you know?"

Ginny's eyes widened as Luna startled her with her statement; Ginny was about to ask where that idea came from, but she was interrupted by Luna.

"Neville used to say that Susan and he would probably get married, like Ron and Hermione; but I knew that wouldn't happen. I've got an eye for these things, you see?"

Ginny shrugged. "I-I guess, but... don't say anything, ok? We're not really... serious or anything."

Luna let out a small strange laugh. "Don't worry. I don't really have a lot of friends to tell, but, of course you're serious, it's so beautiful when you see two people love each other."

Ginny breathed in and decided to ignore the last comment. "Well, hey, you know...I don't really have a lot of friends, I'm...I'm different...so, maybe you and me could...you, know, be friends."

Ginny didn't really know what had possessed her to do something that was so out of character for her, maybe it was sympathy for Luna, or more, it was sympathy for herself; she hadn't had a friend, since... well, since ever, and she felt like Luna was just the kind of friend she needed.

Luna continued walking and was silent for a few seconds; she then looked at Ginny and smiled. "We're already friends, silly."

Ginny rolled her eyes but smiled.


"Hey, Ginny, Hey, Luna," Hermione Granger's voice was heard as the two girls came out of the DADA class. Ginny looked up, surprised to see the older girl there.

"Hello, Hermione," Luna greeted her happily. "Did you know werewolves can drink a potion to make them sane during the full moon?"

Hermione looked at the blonde for a second. "Yes, Wolfsbane potion. Professor Snape and Slughorn make it for Professor Lupin every full moon."

"What are you doing here, Hermione?" Ginny asked in a slightly bitter voice. She couldn't help it, Hermione had never shown any understanding to Ginny since she had arrived at the Burrow a month before; she had only attacked her in one way or another. Ginny knew she hadn't been an angel or exactly trustworthy, but Harry believed in her, he trusted her in a matter of days... Hermione? Not so much.

Hermione bit her lip. "I wanted to...well, I've got a free period and I was...well, I know I should wait until my class but..."

"We don't know who the second teacher is," Ginny suddenly said realizing what the older girl wanted. Hermione blinked and suddenly looked frustrated. "Not even Lupin knows; she's showing up tonight. We know she's a young Auror, just that."

Hermione sighed. "Well, I'll have to wait then."

She then turned around and started walking.

"What's with the wanting to know, anyway? Why does it matter?" Ginny asked her and Hermione turned around, looking a little embarrassed.

"I always make a timetable the day the term starts; with all the teachers and a map of Hogwarts with their offices...I can't do that unless I know," Hermione admitted. She then turned around again, before Ginny could make any silly remark.

She did make a remark, but not the one Hermione was expecting.

"I get what Ron meant; no one else could have been head girl," Ginny told her truthfully. She didn't know why she had said it; she just felt it needed to be said.

Hermione turned around again, as if to say if Ginny was joking or not. When she saw she wasn't, she smiled.

"Thanks," she said, truthfully. "By the way, he'll be at the Library after sixth period. Just, if... you know, you want to sort out whatever."

Ginny didn't need to ask who she was talking about.


"Studying? On the first day?" Hannah Abbott asked Harry as she saw him sitting at a table in the library. She laughed and sat opposite him. "Let me guess, a book about Dark Magic?"

Harry looked up at her and sighed. "Defence Against Dark Magic. I need to see what I can teach you people when we start the DA again."

"You're going to continue?" Hannah asked him curiously. "I thought you'd be too busy this year. With all the private training and stuff."

Harry sighed again. "I will be; but I'll have some of you guys covering for me. You know, Neville, Luna, you...maybe even Dean and Sea-"

Harry stopped dead in his tracks. How could he have just forgotten? Hannah put her hand over his, comforting him.

"I did it the other day; it's okay, Harry. We haven't had time to...adapt, to...deal with it," she explained, rising Harry's moral a little. It hadn't been the best day for him.

Harry squeezed her hand and let go of it. "What about Ginny?" Hannah suddenly asked. "Will she be joining the DA too?"

"I'm not sure she needs it," Harry muttered under his breath, but before the girl could ask him what he had said, he answered her out loud. "Maybe, depends... she's not really comfortable with... the Dark Arts in general."

Hannah bit her lip. "Are you two... you know?"

Harry looked up, a little startled. Hannah laughed.

"Come on, Harry... the way you looked at her yesterday... it's pretty obvious."

He was going to have to be careful if he didn't want Ron to find out. Harry chuckled.

"I don't know, it's complicated... she's a Weasley, a pretty unique Weasley, and, well, I'm...we're in the middle of a war..." Harry tried to explain.

Hannah looked around. "What about Suse?"

Harry looked up at her with a sympathetic smile. "I... care for Susan; I love her, just not really in the way I thought I did. I'm worried about her, but it's over between us, at least in that way."

"I'm scared for her, Harry," Hannah confessed. "What if something happens to her? What if she dies?"

Harry stood up and walked around the table, kneeling down beside Hannah, and grabbing both her hands.

"She's going to be okay, she's a clever girl, she'll be okay... they'll all be okay."

Harry didn't know who he was trying to convince, her or himself.


Harry was walking towards the common room.

Ginny was walking towards the library.

Both of them thinking only in finding the other.

Ginny turned a corner and Harry came out of a tapestry that was hiding the exit of a small shortcut.

They both looked up, finding each other and, somehow, after a few second of pushing and shoving, ended up in a broom closet nearby.

"We need to talk," they both said in unison.

Ginny chuckled, but became serious. "Well, obviously, or I wouldn't have pushed you into a broom closet. I'm not clichéd enough to bring you in here to snog."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, confuse. "I pushed you into the closet."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "So typical of us, pushing and shoving each other when we could've just walked in."

Harry frowned.

"Could you put some light in here, please, I would like to see your face when I'm talking to you," Ginny asked.

It was Harry's turn to roll his eyes. "Why should I have to take my wand out when you can just use your finger?"

Ginny kicked Harry. "I can't bloody well use my finger to cast 'Lumos', it's a spell that can only be casted with a wand and I can't reach mine. Besides, I'm not going to try and cast a fire in here; we'd end up pretty screwed up.

Harry sighed, took his wand out and cast Lumos, then saw that there were two torches in the back of the closet, so he lit them up. "More screwed up that we already are?" Harry asked, her, referring to her last comment.

Ginny frowned at him but she didn't say anything. They were silent for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry, for yelling at you or just getting mad, I...I shouldn't have," Harry apologized.

"Yeah, you bloody well shouldn't have," was Ginny's answer, startling Harry, who was expecting an apology.

Harry grew a little angry. "Yeah, but you shouldn't have kept it from me, I've been totally truthful with you, I've told you things that only a few know, I've given you all my trust, it's only fair that you give me yours."

Ginny pressed her lips together tightly.

"I never asked you to trust me, I never asked you to go near me, and I never said I would give you anything in return," Ginny let him know.

Harry gulped. "Is that your final say?"

Ginny bit her lip but remained impassive. "Umm...I...Y-Yeah," she spoke hesitantly and with regret once the words were out.

"Fine, then," Harry said, making a move to get out of the closet. It was getting too stuffed anyway.

Ginny grabbed Harry's arm quickly, making him turn around, looking into her eyes, his body pressed to hers.

"It's not that I don't trust you," she said after a small pause.

Harry frowned again, showing that that answer wasn't enough for him.

"No, listen to me, Harry. I trust you, but I don't want to hurt you. If I tell you everything, we'll both get hurt. I'm not ready to let it all out and you're better of finding out slowly, taking it one step at a time," she explained, hoping he would understand.

Harry felt her take his hand and, although he wanted to be mad and wanted her to tell him everything, just like he had done, he couldn't be mad at her because he understood. He hadn't spoken to her about the Dursleys, or his battles against Voldemort... maybe they both needed to take it slow.

He looked at her for a second. She was wearing her muggle clothes, unlike him, who was still wearing his school robes. Her hair was falling down her face, messy and obviously asking to be pulled back, but he liked it that way; all natural, all Ginny.

He lifted his left hand and caressed her cheek. "I-I think I understand, but you can't leave me in the dark; there are some things I just need to know."

"Okay... like?"

"Like why the hell you seem to be more powerful than Dumbledore himself," Harry spoke seriously.

Ginny breathed in a few times. It was too much and Harry could see that.

"Fine, what about the reason why you can do wandless magic? Can you deal with that?" Harry asked her, holding both her hands in his own. The light was dim, for the torches were small, but it was enough for them to see each other.

Ginny breathed in slowly one last time. "I can... that's okay."

She sat down and leaned against the wall. Harry copied her, still holding her right hand in his left.

"Beauxbatons is a school for French girls, and let me tell you that French witches tend to be pretty... well, you've met Fleur haven't you?"

Harry chuckled a little.

"It really is easier to simply tell you that no one's really friends there, we all had our private chamber... we went to classes from 7am to 5pm and we had to be in bed by seven. Besides, most people went home during the weekends. I obviously couldn't; not that I wanted to, mind you," she continued telling him. Harry frowned.

"So, I had a lot of free time and Beauxbatons has a huge library; at the beginning I spent all my free time learning French so I wouldn't have to use a translating charm everywhere, but when I finally got the hang of it... I started looking for new things to learn."

Harry gulped, she sounded like Hermione.

Ginny smiled absently, as if remembering a moment she was fond off. "We've got so much power, even Muggles have power... this world is filled with power coming from everywhere. It's all about how our brain digests it. Muggles and Squibs, for example, only have about a 3 percent of the power that we have, sometimes a little more. That's where mediums and tarot readers all come from, they feel what they tell people... well, most of the time anyway. And then there's us who are filled with power, it radiates off us, but most of it is just left behind, we use our wands and only use the amount of power that we need. With time we get used to using only the power that we need, and when we get to harder spells, our brain doesn't know how to digest all the power at once. So, I started studying and using my free time and in the end I realized I didn't need the wand most of the time. Well, I mean... sometimes I do use it... on harder spells, but the enlarging spell isn't one of them, you only have to picture what needs to happen in your head... it's harder when you're doing spells where you don't know the outcome."

Harry was looking at his knees, trying to understand everything that Ginny was telling him.

"So, you just studied. Hermione's been studying all her life and..."

Ginny shook her head. "No, Harry I needed to study. Hermione does it because she wants to achieve the most she can, because she's brave enough to take on what she can't do... that's the reason she's a Gryffindor instead of a Ravenclaw, she's not just smart, she makes herself smart. I... it was different with me. If I wanted to continue sane, I needed to push myself... I can't explain why, not right now, I'm not ready to... but you just need to know that I doubt other people could do it as easily as I did... I wish it had taken me more time, it would've stopped me from doing other things."

"So," Harry muttered. "You can do wandless magic, non verbal spells... and you taught yourself... studying..."

"Exactly!" Ginny said, glad that he understood it.

Harry turned to look at her with a sly smile. "And you're a Weasley?"

Ginny's jaw dropped and she hit Harry on the arm. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well," Harry spoke, rubbing his arm where Ginny hit him. "I'm not saying that the guys aren't smart, because... they are. Bill was top of his class, Charlie makes those dragons behave, Fred and George... well, they're pure geniuses, Dad and Mum are smart in a way I can't even understand, Perce is... well, he's Perce... and Ron... Ron has this strange way of surprising me all the time, so I'm not going to say anything about him."

"Fine then, so what is that comment meant to mean?"

"Well, it's just that, apart from... maybe...Percy. Gin, they all can't go a whole hour studying or thinking for that matter... especially if there's food somewhere in the world," Harry explained in amusement.

Ginny bit her lip. "Yeah, well... then all this is probably because, in between you and me, French food... is really not my thing."

Harry laughed; he laughed out loud, like he hadn't laughed in ages.

Ginny looked at him with a smile and, once he settled down, she leaned over and placed her lips on his.

Harry pulled back a second later. "We've still got to talk about your sudden hatred towards Dumbledore..."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Harry, we're both in a broom closet... we've got an hour before someone starts thinking Voldemort kidnapped you, and, I still haven't snogged you properly... so, what would you rather, talk about an old guy with a white beard or kiss-"

She didn't get to finish the sentence.