It was the day of the Hogwarts Express' departure. Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Harry, George, and Fred all went in Mr. Weasley's company car. Mrs. Weasley had insisted on calling a taxi, but Mr. Weasley wanted to show off his newly found driving skills. They had rented a car and magically expanded its inside so all of the children could sit in the back seat. All their trunks had been loaded into the boot.
On the way to the Express, they didn't say anything to each other. Hermione was amazed at how Ginny was so snappy with her, and Harry had been very distant with Ron. Fred and George didn't talk because they sensed a tenseness in the air.
When they arrived at the station, Ginny walked off without Ron, Hermione or Harry to find her friends. She took her trunk out of the boot and walked towards Platform 9 3/4, dragging the trunk along behind her. She heard a cold voice in her ear just as she was about to start a run into the wall.
"If it isn't the girl named after an alchoholic beverage."
Draco Malfoy.
"If it isn't the boy with a weird last name to match his attitude." She answered coldly at his face, he was smirking. "What do you want?"
"Oh, just wanting to say hello. Where are the Dream Team?"
"Excuse me?"
"The Dream Team. Scar face, the pauper and ... that know-it-all."
"Oh, you mean Harry, Ron and Hermione? I wouldn't call Hermione a know-it-all if..." But then she realised she was angry at Hermione and she stopped talking. "I don't know where they are, and I could not care less."
"Alright. See you later, then." He stalked off, almost emitting his own black light as he walked. Ginny smiled at his back, and then went back to trying to get into the Platform.
She successfully went through the wall, and looked around for someone familiar, and saw Hikari, a Chinese witch exchange student that had arrived at Hogwarts during Ginny's fourth year.
"Hey-- Hikari!" Ginny waved as Hikari looked around, and grinned at Ginny.
"Halo Ginny!" Hikari was a short girl with dark hair. But over the holidays, she seemed to have acquired some bright blonde streaks in her hair.
Ginny walked up, pulling her trunk along, and Hikari joined her to help her with the trunk.
"I can speak better English now. If I mistake, then please correct me." Hikari smiled again. "I saw Stonehenge... that's what it is called? It's made by ancient wizards and those Muggles built a road beside it." Ginny laughed.
"Yeah... look, it's Persephone! Hey, Seph!!" The girl Persephone looked around. For a fifteen year old, she looked extremely mature for her age, and as she walked gracefully over, some of the boys turned their heads.
"Hello, people." She said, looking at Ginny in particular. "Hey, nice hair!"
"Oh, I noticed now!" Hikari exclaimed, looking at Ginny. "Beautiful."
"Stop lookin' at me..." Ginny said, embarrassed. "And I see your hair, Hikari..."
"It's the look of the tiger." She said, striking a pose. Persephone laughed, and shook her head.
The train's whistle blew, a shrill, blinding sound, and Hikari jumped.
"However many times I hear that, I still get scared." She said with a small smile.
They boarded the Express, and claimed a compartment for themselves. They sat down, and looked out of the window in silence. Hikari sat next to Ginny, and Peersephone sat across from the two. She looked at them.
Ginny saw Harry, Ron and Hermione boarding the train. Ron stopped to let Hermione on before himself, and Harry looked apprehensive. Ginny rolled her eyes. After around two minutes, Ginny could feel the train moving along it tracks very slowly, until it finally came to a normal speed and it stayed that way.
Persephone wasn't as talkative as usual; maybe it was because Ginny and Hikari weren't speaking to her as much. They were chatting together about the Quidditch rules.
"So, you cannot obstruct the Seeker?" She asked curiously.
"Erm, I don't think so. Maybe you should ask Harry, because I'm not sure about that one."
"Ohh, Harry." She went a bit red. "He is handsome."
Both Persephone and Ginny laughed at this, and something struck Ginny.
"Where's Zilde?" Zilde was their other friend, although she had been sent away to Greece for a holiday, where her ancestry mainly existed. None of the three had heard from her for a long time.
"Did anyone see Dawson's Creek during the hols?" Persephone asked. " Did you see when..." Persephone was a Muggle-born witch, and didn't know that neither Ginny nor Hikari owned a television.
"I've heard about Dawson's Creek... it's about that guy Dawson who lives near a creek or something?" Ginny said, with a hint of laughter in her voice. She had learned to live without technical gadgets like computers and televisions.
"Yeah... I've heard rumours about Dawson drowning in the creek and that's why it's called Dawson's Creek!" She said excitedly. "But then there's the rumour about Dawson's ashes being thrown into the creek after he died of cancer..."
Hikari rolled her eyes.
"Heeeeeeey, look!" She said, pointing out the window. A small owl was fluttering out there, struggling to keep up with the pace of the train.
"Pigwidgeon!" Ginny exclaimed. "Oh, this is Pig. You haven't met him before. I wonder what he's doing here..." She opened the window and Pig swooped around the room, narrowly missing Persephone's head. "Come here, Pig..." Pig flew to Ginny and landed on her shoulder.
There was a note tied to his leg. Ginny opened it and read:
Ginny,
This is Harry. Come to our compartment; no. 24. Now. Discussion, Hermione and Ron want you here too.
Come now.
-Harry.
"How unusual." Ginny said out loud. "I've got to go... I'll be back though... seeya."
"But Gin..." Persephone started, and Ginny left.
Ginny shut the door and walked down the narrow walkway in between the compartments. She found number twenty-four safely, and opened the door. Ron, Hermione and Harry were sitting, looking very serious.
"Hi Gin," Hermione said brightly. Ginny didn't return the smile, which she thought was mean, but she was still p.o.ed at her. "Sit down." Hermione said. She patted a seat next to her, and Ginny sat.
"What do you want?" Ginny asked rudely.
"Erm... we've just heard something... from Sirius." Ron began, but Hermione finished it off.
"Sirius says... that another person's been killed. You-Know-Who's work."
"Oh my God... who?" Ginny said, putting her hand over her mouth.
"It's... it's..."
"I hate to say this, but it's a friend of yours... Zilde?" Harry said.
"That's not funny, Harry. That's just cruel." Ginny turned and left. The last thing she heard was 'Well, we tried to break it to her...'
She then realised it was true. They really had been telling the truth. She opened the door and went back in.
"I-It is true?" She said, her voice stammering. "You're telling ... truth?"
Ron nodded his head. A silent tear dripped down Ginny's face, and Hermione opened her arms. Ginny wandered into them, and they both shared a hug. It seemed to last only a second, but Ginny had to go.
"I'd better go and tell Hikari and Seph now." She left, and walked dumbly down the corridor, tripping over her feet a little bit. When she got to the door, Ginny stopped. She couldn't do it. She decided to act as if nothing had happened... yes, that would be the better way to go.
Their bright faces broke her heart. They had absolutely no idea. Seph looked at Ginny's red eyes.
"Were you crying? Ohh, dearie me..."
Ginny sat down and didn't speak much for the rest of the trip. Near the end, she got dressed into her robes (Seph and Hikari already had done that) and checked she had everything that she needed. There was an awkward silence for a while of the trip, and when they felt the train come to a stop, they got off the train. Their trunks had been taken up to their rooms already.
"Well, I'd better go with the other Slytherins now..." Persephone started. "I'll see you at the Great Hall?"
"Yeah, alright. Seeya Seph." Ginny had been astounded that she and Persephone had turned out such good friends, for the house differences forbidded their friendship.
"I'm going with the other Ravenclaws just now. Hey-- Cho!" Cho Chang was Hikari's cousin. "Bye Gin!"
"Bye Hikari."
Ginny was all alone now, without her friends. But she spotted Fred (at least, she thought it was Fred) and walked over to him. He looked at Ginny, and raised an eyebrow.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"Nothing. I was just wondering if I could stand with you, my favourite brother, of course."
"Haven't you got any Gryffindor friends?"
Tears stung Ginny's eyes. Zilde had been in Gryffindor. She dismissed the tears and said a strong 'No.' Fred laughed.
"Well, aren't you the special one then."
They walked together up to the castle.
"So, where's your other half? You know, George." Ginny asked after a while. Fred laughed again.
"I am George! Seriously, you'd think living with me, let alone being part of the family, would make you see our differences?"
"Oh, George. Okay. Then where's Fred? And... what differences?" Ginny asked, puzzled.
"I have style." He said, taking a pose. "I have grace." He did a fake ballerina pirhouette. "And he's over there." George pointed over to Fred, who was quietly chatting and smiling with Angelina Johnson. "He's so obvious..." And George shook his head. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I haven't got a pranking partner, while he's off gushing over her." He scowled, and looked up at the many turrets and towers of Hogwarts castle. "It's a big castle, Gin."
Ginny giggled at George, and an idea struck her.
"Hey, I can pull pranks!" She said.
"You got any records?"
"Erm, no."
"Good, you'll be perfect, come with me." They both entered Hogwarts.
Ginny took a deep breath, and the smell of Hogwarts castle filtered through her nostrils. It was a beautiful smell- of stone and a slight musty smell. It looked squeaky clean, but by the way George was looking, Ginny knew it wouldn't be clean anymore.
George opened a cupboard, and then pressed a board inside of it. There was a swirling circle inside of the cupboard, and a tunnel appeared inside of the circle.
"Wow..." Ginny said, wide-eyed. "But shouldn't we be going into the Great Hall?"
"Stuff the Great Hall, this is more important."
"We won't get any dinner! What if we get caught?" Ginny called, as George slid down the tunnel.
"Follow me!" His voice echoed. "And we won't get caught!"
Ginny closed the door of the cupboard so it was in complete darkness, and slid down the tunnel.
Blinding whiteness engulfed her, and in no time at all, she was down at the bottom of some chamber.
"Here we have it!" George sighed. "Oh, I missed all my babies."
Ginny looked around. Hundreds of practical jokes supplies boxes were laid out about the place. Dungbomb crates, biting teacups, the whole lot.
"This is Fred and mine's collection. Like it?"
Ginny was in awe. Not only was this a very unusual sight, there was a big statue standing above all the crates that looked very familiar...
George walked to a box and opened it up. Dust flew everywhere around the box, and George struggled to see. He coughed, and looked in the box.
"Ah, 'ere we go." He held out his hands, and on them were laid many of the Ton-Tongue Toffees. "Mum didn't destroy these ones. We conveniently hid the majority of them in our trunks. Hehe." He gave a loud, fake, evil laugh.
Ginny, meanwhile, had realised why the place looked so familiar.
"This is the Chamber of Secrets!" Ginny screeched. "George, you're using the Chamber of Secrets for your joke supply?!"
"You know, you're sounding a lot like Mum these days. Yes, this is the Chamber of Secrets. What's your problem?" George looked at Ginny.
Ginny ran around, and found a familiar spot. She lay down, and pretended to be half-dead.
"Does this refresh your memory?" She asked George, laughing. "This brings back a whole lot of bad memories. Only my first year, George! That was really scary!"
"Heh," George chuckled to himself. She hadn't changed since her first year. She was still a shy, reddening girl who spent a third her life on school, another third reading romance novels, and the last third blushing about Harry Potter.
"Why so quiet, Georgie?" Ginny asked.
"Just thinkin'." George shrugged at himself. "Well, this is all I need. We'd better be off." George's pockets bulged, and he walked towards the tunnel.
"How're we going to get back up there?" Ginny looked curiously towards the tunnel, looking nervous. This place gave her the creeps.
"The old-fashioned way. Teleportion!" George walked to a small boulder. "This, as you may not have known, is a re-usable Portkey. Fred did it. He's kind of clever. Okay, I'm lying. Bill did it. He's always in for a joke, good old Bill."
Ginny sighed. Didn't she know it...
"Well, come and touch it!" George did so, and dissapeared.
Ginny took one last look, hopefully, at the Chamber. She shivered, and touched the boulder. She felt herself being pulled from every angle, and then it stopped. Ginny was back in the cupboard, with George beside her.
"Well, we're back in that darn cupboard again!" Ginny retorted at the darkness. She clasped the handle (there was one on the inside) and opened it.
The first thing they saw was not very pretty. Professor McGonagall, looking down her thin nose at them. Her lips were tightened, and her face was set in a glare.
"Hi Minerva!" George said cheerfully. "Erm... nice weather?"
"Come with me." She said. Ginny gulped, and followed her. George, however, ran the other way, towards the Gryffindor common room.
"George," Ginny hissed. "Get here!"
George reluctantly followed both Professor McGonagall and Ginny, and after what seemed like a year of walking, they reached her office. They sat down on the spindly chairs provided.
"Change of upholstery, eh, McGonagall?" George said jokily. She didn't answer. Neither did George.
"You two have been caught in a cupboard. A cupboard. What is a cupboard, George Weasley?" She said icily, focusing her glare upon George, who squirmed.
"Erm-- a place to put things?" George said, meekly. Professor McGonagall walked to her fire, which burst into flames. She paced in front of it.
"Now Ginny Weasley, what do you think a cupboard is?" Her gaze was softer on Ginny, probably because she didn't have much of a bad record.
"I agree with George, a place to put things."
"Yes. You are both right. You have been caught in one of those. Why, may I ask, were you in a cupboard?" She turned around, and glared at the both of them.
"Because there was something in there I wanted to show her..." George started, but didn't finish.
"Really. What was that? ... No, I don't want to know. But both of you have missed the Sorting, and the feast. You shall both recieve detentions, and no dinner. Understood?"
They both nodded a yes.
"Now, I can't guarantee that you were doing anything rule-breaking in there. You must have been there for a good purpose, missing one of the most important things in our school, but I don't want to know. Your consciences will decide. Go to your common room, both of you. The password is 'collywabble'." Professor McGonagall shooed them out the door, and slammed it shut.
"Good one, George!" Ginny said, whacking him around the head. "Yeah, we wouldn't get caught, would we?" Ginny was fuming. This would mean her first ever detention. She had been trying to go through all her wizarding school years without a detention.
"... Sorry?" George said. "It happens all the time, Gin. If you're going to become like me or Fred, ya gotta have as many detentions as you can possibly get! It builds your self-esteem-- hey, where're you going?"
"I don't think I'm fit to be a prankster anymore, George." Ginny said slowly, with gritted teeth.
Ginny stormed down the corridors to the Gryffindor common room. George followed, although kept quiet. They reached the Fat Lady, and both said 'collywabble', and entered. People had not yet finished the feast, but one girl sat in the middle of the room in a chair. Ginny hadn't seen her before.
"Oh... hello." She said, timidly. "Are you Gryffindors?"
"Yup!" George answered loudly. "We just got a detention today! How cool..." And he walked to his dormitory.
"Who was that?" The girl asked.
"Ohh, that's my brother, George. He's one of the twins. The other one's Fred. Don't worry about them, you're never going to be able to tell them apart." Ginny said, smiling, despite her half-angry state.
"And what's your name?"
"I'm Ginny Weasley, and who might you be?"
"I'm Gainsborough... Amelia Gainsborough." She smiled, and laughed. "What year are you in?"
"Oh, fifth." Ginny sighed. "Ever heard of Harry Potter?" Ginny thought, by Amelia's accent, that she would be foreign. It was kind of mixed between Dutch-Africaans and English.
"Oh! He's in this house!" Amelia exclaimed. "Wow... I've always wanted to meet him. An idol of mine, I must admit."
Ginny looked Amelia up and down. She was tall and gangly like Ron, with pale skin, bright blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.
"Well, what dorm are you in?" Ginny asked.
"I get to choose. I don't know a lot of people, you and George are the first people I've actually spoken to." She smiled again. "Can I be in your dorm? I'm a fifth-year too."
Ginny was taken aback, in a friendly sort of way. This girl was not only very nice, but straightforward. Just like Zilde.
Ginny looked to her feet. A wavy depression flew over her, and she felt faint. Things were dissapearing in her mind... and then two hands grabbed her by the arms. Things came back into focus.
"Hey, Ginny, are you alright?" Amelia's worried voice was heard in Ginny's ears.
"Um, yeah, I'm fine... just felt a little weird there..."
"Are you a fainter?"
"I s'pose so." Ginny shrugged.
"Don't worry, my dad was a doctor! I can help you if you faint." She frowned. "You still look bad."
"Nah, I'll be fine." Ginny scolded herself in her mind for being too brave. "So, you don't have a dorm? I can get Filch to put an extra bed in ours, so that you can sleep in there if you want." But then Ginny reminded herself that Zilde wasn't going to be there again. "Actually, I correct myself, there's a spare bed from someone who left the school. You can sleep in that."
It may have been rude, just saying that someone could sleep somewhere, but Ginny liked this new girl and felt she had to welcome her.
They smiled at each other, and the feast must have finished because people started flowing into the common room. Harry, Ron and Hermione all came in together, and sat in their usual spots next to the fire. Other people went up to their dorms, and Lavender and Seamus entered and made a big fuss about bidding adieu and kissing at the staircase. Amelia laughed at them, and then she saw Harry. Her eyes almost popped out of their respectable places.
"Get used to it," Ginny whispered. "I have."
"You too?" Amelia whispered back.
"Yep. Ain't he cute? Even his scar's cute..." Ginny said dreamily.
They rolled their eyes at each other and went up to the dorm. Ginny led the way, up the spiral staircase and down a small corridor lined with doors. One door, a very familiar one, said 'Fifth'. That was their dorm.
When they went inside, Amelia said a loud 'oooooh!'. The perfect square windows beside each of the curtained beds had a beautiful sunset inside of it. The shades of red, orange and purple silhouetted the cliff face and made it look black as pitch. Ginny showed Amelia her bed, and she climbed on top of it.
"Why's there a 'Z' here?" She asked curiously. A red, paper 'Z' was stuck at the head of the bed.
"Oh, Zilde must have forgotten to take it." She said, with a tiny hint of gloom in her voice. "Sorry, Amelia."
"Oh, call me Mill! Everyone does at home. And this is supposed to become my second home, right?"
Ginny smiled to herself.
"Yeah..." She found her trunk in front of her bed that she had had since her first year. It was next to Zilde's bed, as usual. Except now it would be Amelia's bed. "Hey, what's the time?"
"It's ten past eight." Amelia said. "Y'know, I think we'll get to be good friends!"
"Me too," Ginny said. "But there are some people you have to watch out for."
"Really?" She asked. "Like who?"
"Draco Malfoy, he's really mean," She said, immediately wishing she hadn't said it. "Then there's Pansy Parkinson. And Crabbe and Goyle and Professor Snape."
"All from Slytherin, is it?" But when Ginny had said to look out for Snape, she sort of winced.
"How'd you guess?" Ginny tinged pink. Last year, her Potions lessons were going good, and Draco Malfoy was being nothing short of lovely to her.
"Oh, I've heard rumours. I was so happy when the Hat put me into this house. I've heard it has the best record." Amelia looked around, and sighed. "I'm happy here."
Later that night, they went to bed. Ginny drifted off to sleep in no time at all, and had a horrible dream about Dobby and that he got run over by a steamroller that was being driven by a snowman. In the middle of the night, however, she awoke to a yell.
Ginny looked around wildly. No-one but herself and Amelia were in the room. Obviously the other girls in the dorm were somewhere else, doing who-knows-what. Another yell told Ginny that Amelia was the one calling. She was still asleep, and tossing and turning. Ginny walked over, and jumped as another yell was heard.
"Father .." She mumbled. Ginny listened intently. It wasn't eavesdropping. She was asleep. "Dissmission... Potter..."
"Whoa." Ginny said aloud. She walked numbly back to her bed and fell asleep again.
The next morning, things were better. Ginny showed Amelia where the bathrooms and showers were, and they both got dressed and headed down to breakfast.
"Ohh, please introduce him to me..." Amelia begged Ginny as they trotted down the spiral staircase. "Pleeeeeeeeaaaase..." She put on a puppy face.
"How can I say no to that face?" Ginny laughed. "Okay, but I'll introduce you to Hermione and Ron too. It'll seem weird if I just go 'Oh, hi Harry, this is Mill,' and ignore Ron and Hermione." Was it her imagination, or was she saying 'Ron and Hermione' more than often?
They entered the Great Hall for breakfast. All four tables were buzzing with talk as they walked past. Ginny winked at Persephone and waved to Hikari, pointed to Amelia and mouthed 'new'. Hikari waved at Amelia as well. Persephone was being ogled by most of the boys at the Slytherin table, but still winked back at Ginny and Amelia.
"You're friends with a Slytherin?" Amelia asked Ginny, looking kind of sour. "Yeah, she's really great! You'd get along really well with her. Her name's Persephone, but she'd prefer it if you called her Seph, she hates her name." Ginny sat down next to Hermione without noticing.
"And the Ravenclawrian?"
"Did you make up that word?" Ginny asked, looking at her.
"Yeah! Cool, eh? Anyway, you friends with her?" Amelia smiled to herself.
"Yes. She's from China. That's Hikari."
"And that's a Japanese name." Amelia said, getting a piece of toast and spreading some kind of dark brown paste on it.
"I dunno." Ginny said, shrugging. "What the heck is that?" She asked, pointing at the dark brown stuff.
"Vegemite!" She replied, smiling brightly. "From Australia. I don't know what it's made out of, but it tastes bloody good, mate."
Ginny laughed at Amelia's stereotypical impersonation and asked if she could try some. Amelia said yes, so she spread it on a perfectly-toasted slice of bread, and bit into it.
"Augh!" Ginny said, spitting it out. "It's so bitter!"
"Exactly. I don't know what it's made of 'cause I don't want to spoil the taste. Anyway, have some marmalade if you hate it so much."
Ginny did so, and halfway through her toast, a squeal was heard next to her.
"Gin, where's the ceiling?" She asked, frightened.
A few people laughed as Ginny explained the sky was bewitched to look like the sky outside. A bird flew across the ceiling.
Later, they finished their breakfasts, and went towards the door.
"Hey! You've got to introduce me!" Amelia said, suddenly.
"Ohh, later, it's too late now. I'll do it at lunchtime. Sorry... have you got your timetable?" Ginny had gotten hers during breakfast, handed from Hermione. They had a light-hearted chat afterwards, and then turned back to their other conversations.
"Yup." She said it brightly, even though she was dissapointed she didn't get to meet her 'idol'.
"Don't worry, you'll see him throughout the day." Ginny led Amelia to the Potions classroom. "It's a pity we've got Potions first, the teacher is a bit ... erm ... grumpy." She said, referring to Professor Snape.
"Professor Snape?" She said, looking a bit bewildered. "He's my uncle!"
Ginny nearly fell over.
"Snape -- your uncle?!"
"Yeah... nothing much, really."
"Ohh, he'll favour you." Ginny said, as they neared the dungeon door. The Gryffindor fifth-years were standing in a line next to it, Snape always told them to do so. They didn't dare disobey him. The Hufflepuff fifth-years did the same.
After a few minutes of light chat, Professor Snape billowed down the hall to the door. He spotted Amelia and gave her a small smile, but looked at Ginny and the others with his usual kind of loathing.
They entered and sat down. The dungeon was cold, and drips of water fell from the ceiling as they entered. The floor was slippery and mossy from its time of being wet, but that would all dissapear after a week of being stamped on.
"Fifth-year Potions." He started, in around a whisper tone. "Further than fourth-year, but insects compared to sixth-year." Speaking of insects, he trod on one on the floor, and it made a little squelching noise.
He went on, discussing the types of potions they were going to learn that year, and looking around at them all disgustingly.
"And on a note of different section, I would be pleased to introduce a new student," all the fifth-years looked towards Amelia. "Amelia Gainsborough, a relative of mine." They narrowed their eyes, despite Amelia's smile, and looked scandalous.
"Hey," She said.
"I did not ask you to speak, Milly dear." Professor Snape said in an icy tone, although not as mean as he did to the rest of them. "Now, have you got all of your ingredients for the year?"
The rest of the lesson went alright, but Amelia was being favoured, and the class members were noticing it. There was going to be a lot of rumours that night.
*****
The day's lessons went well, although Ginny had something niggling in the back of her mind, as though she should have thought it ages ago. She couldn't put her finger on it. It stayed there until dinner, when she realised it.
"Amelia!" She said, slapping her fist on the table. Her plate jumped, and so did her goblet, which nearly spilled, but Fred caught it. "Good save," She added to Fred. "Amelia, if your uncle is Snape, then why aren't you in Slytherin?"
Amelia grinned mischieviously.
"Oh, but what then?" She asked, looking at George. They had begun to get along quite well. "I dunno, I guess it was just... me. My family does have a Dark wizard record, I don't care about it, but I guess I'm not going to turn out like them."
She got a raised eyebrow from Dean, at the end of the table, but she ignored it.
"More questions for you, Milly dear." Ginny said, imitating the way Snape had called her in Potions. "Why isn't your last name 'Snape'?"
"Because my mother and father weren't married." Hermione dropped her knife and it fell to the floor. "I don't care about that either. But my Mum's name is Gainsborough, and Dad's was Snape. I still keep in touch with Dad's family because they're part of me, I guess."
Well, Ginny hadn't expected an answer like that. She was embarrassed now, and Amelia detected it.
"No need to be embarrassed, I don't care about it." And she went back to her eating. Then she nudged Ginny. "Gonna introduce me yet?"
"In the common room." Ginny whispered.
Their dinner was finished and their plates were cleared not long after that. Amelia and Ginny made their way up to Gryffindor Tower, and on the way, Ginny passed Hikari. They waved and said 'hi' to each other and went their opposite ways. Ginny was sad to see her go; but she was in Ravenclaw, after all.
They said hello and the password to the Fat Lady, and entered the common room. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down at a table, where Harry was showing them an old piece of parchment. He poked it with his wand, and Hermione looked at it intensely, she was tracing it with a long finger.
Ginny and Amelia edged up to the trio, and they looked around before either of them had tapped them on the shoulder or said anything.
"Hello, girls." Ron said. "What're you doing?"
"Just saying hello." Ginny said. "Oh, and I don't believe you've met my new friend; Amelia Gainsborough!"
Amelia stepped forward and said a small 'hello'.
"Oh, hi!" Hermione said brightly. "Do you like Arithmancy?"
Ginny chuckled inwardly, but also thought 'Geez, kinda quick to strike, wasn't she.'
Harry looked her up and down and went kind of pink.
"Hi." He said. "Umm..."
"Oh, and this is Hermione Granger," She pointed at Hermione. "Ron Weasley, my brother," She pointed at Ron. "And Harry Potter. " She pointed at Harry.
Amelia looked at Harry and went pink also. Ginny had learned to not do this by thinking of penguins, so she didn't go all hot-faced.
"Hello again," She said to them all. "Oh, and Hermione, I do like Arithmancy. What's that you're looking at?"
Harry put his wand back on the parchment and muttered something, unnoticed.
"Erm, an antique piece of paper..." Hermione said quickly.
"Ohhhhh, from the 15th century?" Amelia asked. "I've seen old pieces of parchment dating back to thirteen thousand BC because of Dad's work. Very interesting."
Hermione, Ron and Harry all looked at each other nervously.
"Gee it's late, Harry, I think we'd better be going." Ron snatched the piece of parchment, stood up and walked away.
"It was very nice meeting you, Amelia Gainsborough..." Harry said, and did the same as Ron.
Amelia went pinker, if that could be possible.
Hermione chuckled at her.
"Well, Amelia, it was nice meeting you as well. I really recommend Arithmancy, and, well, I think Harry might have taken a liking to you as well. As much as I hate saying it," She sighed. Ginny felt something gurgle in her stomach. "Well, I'll see you guys at breakfast." And she left.
Ginny felt a bit out of it from then on.
When they travelled up the spiralling staircase to the girl's dorms, Amelia stopped speaking about Harry.
"You've been very quiet since our little intro." She said shortly. "Don't worry, I'm not going to start on what I'm calling my sons and daughters... yet."
The gurgle in her stomach still lingered. It wasn't a sickly gurgle, but a kind of hateful one, that left her stomach empty and not working properly.
"You don't like the idea of me and Harry eloping, do you Gin?"
"Mill," She started, but didn't get to finish.
"Don't worry, if you don't want me to talk about it anymore, then--" Ginny cut her off mid sentence.
"Come to think of it, I don't mind. I don't mind at all. Hey Mill, here's a medical breakthrough, I don't think I like Harry anymore. I guess he's not my type, and I didn't really have a chance anyway, and I can tell he likes you. Don't make that face at me, I don't mind."
"I don't want you doing this, Gin." Amelia looked at her soulfully.
"You're made for each other." Ginny said. "And I like someone else now."
"Who?" Amelia asked.
"Later. In the dorm."
They entered the dorm. There were only two people in it, two best friends named Sarah Parkes and Amethyst Carmody.
"Ohh, will they hear?" Amelia whispered, motioning to the two, who were looking in a medium-sized golden mirror and swapping different types of cosmetics.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're dead to the world. Hey, Sarah!" She called.
"Go away," She snapped, not even looking up.
"See?"
Amelia giggled.
"Well, okay. Sit down." Ginny sat down on her bed. Amelia sat on hers, which meant she sat opposite Ginny.
"Go on," Amelia said, almost greedily. "Say who!"
"I like..."
The words left her mouth before she could control them.
"...Draco Malfoy."
Amelia was stunned. Come to think of it, so was Ginny.
They both got ready for bed without saying a word, and just as Amelia was about to close the curtains of her bed, Ginny spoke.
"Mill, d'you think it was my heart speaking just then? I don't mean to be so corny, but you know..."
Amelia bit her lip and thought a minute.
"Picture his face and his name in your mind, and you'll know." Amelia said, in a whisper. She seemed to know quite a bit about this. She gave Ginny a small smile. "That's all I'm saying. G'night, Gin."
Ginny pictured his name and face in her mind, and knew what she thought. It was decided.
-Back-
Author's Note: Evil, evil cliffhangers! This took quite a few Cokes to finish. Aww, how sweeeeet! Another Neon Genesis Evangelion title borrowed. I can't think of any good titles, people! If you have any comments or questions, please either Owl me (literally) on the main page, or sign the g-book. Thankies! ^_-