PART 3:
MALFOY
When she got off the Hogwarts Express,
she cast a glance at Harry, Ron and Hermione's way and saw that they were still
absorbed in their private conversation. She ended up sharing a carriage with
Colin Creevey on the way to Hogwarts, who kept blabbing on excitedly about
everything under the sun. Ginny only half-listened, his enthusiasm totally
uninfectious.
During
the start-of-term feast her mood was further dampened by the sight of Draco
Malfoy from across the hall, grinning and joking with his friends Crabbe and
Goyle, probably dreaming up plans to annoy Harry for the coming year. Her
suspicions were confirmed when, after the feast had ended and the students were
filing out of the Great Hall and into common rooms to bed, she saw Draco
slither over to Harry and she heard him say "Have a nice summer with the
Muggles, Potter?" under his breath.
"Sod off Malfoy" Harry replied automatically,
being so used to Draco's taunts. Ron whipped out his wand threateningly.
"Because it might be your last summer with
them, if you know what I mean."
"What… you're gonna turn the Dursleys into
bugs? You'd just be doing me a favor. Not something you'd wanna do, is it?"
"My father knows about the hexes you put on us
last year Potter, so I'd watch it if I were you." His eyes didn't look amused
all of a sudden, and Crabbe and Goyle leered threateningly behind him.
"Thank God you're not me - you and your father
can go to hell."
Ginny was surprised to hear Harry talk this
way, but then she didn't blame him, after his experience with the death eaters.
Malfoy's eyes narrowed, and he said in a low voice,
"Those hexes are nothing compared to what my
father can do to you. So if anybody's going to hell, it certainly wont be me".
The
words came out so maliciously that Ginny felt anger clouding her eyes. She
turned to him and said, "You're nothing but a stinking coward Malfoy. You're
only confident when you have your fat and ugly friends leering behind you and
your evil father to protect you."
Malfoy's cheeks burned, and he eyed Ginny with
pure hatred.
"You watch your mouth, you little brat!" he
spat, "or I'll show you how very much like my father I can be!" And he
stalked off.
Ron pointed his wand at him and was about to
hex him on the spot. Hermione only just prevented him from doing any damage.
She dragged a red-faced, seething Ron up the marble staircase, but Harry didn't
follow. He was looking at Ginny with his mouth gaping open, and then he blinked
and stood on the spot rigid, looking at the space where Malfoy had disappeared.
Ginny walked cautiously towards him, wondering whether she should say
something. Instinctively she reached out to touch Harry's arm, and he was
pulled out of his reverie and turned to stare at her.
"Don't let him get to you Harry," she said
softly. Harry looked deep into her eyes and opened his mouth to say something,
then closed it again. Ginny could see his jaw muscles tensing and relaxing, and
could tell that he was fighting whatever it is that was welling up inside him.
"He's not worth it," she added.
"Yeah" Harry said finally, then grinned, "You
tell him Ginny!" then he walked up the staircase without another word.
Ginny trudged up behind him, lost in a flurry
of thoughts. Harry doesn't need all this, she thought furiously to herself. He's
had enough already.
Just
as she was thinking up 101 ways of killing Malfoy (none of which she would ever
try, of course, but in Ginny's philosophy, it didn't hurt to dream) she
suddenly remembered the letter she had written Harry, the one she never got to
burn. She quickly searched her pockets, feeling around for the piece of
parchment. Feeling nothing, she had a moment's panic before she remembered she
was wearing her school robes. The letter was in the pockets of her other robe,
the one she had hastily stuffed in her trunk before they left the Burrow.
Feeling somewhat relieved, Ginny raced up into the Fourth Year Girls' dorms and
scanned the room for her trunk (the trunks had been magicked there earlier).
When she spotted it, she quickly opened it, took out her robes from the
previous day, and felt its pockets. Sighing with relief, Ginny took out the
parchment and was about to burn it when Tanya and Cissy burst into the room.
