"Lost"
by Dorthey Star
Chapter Two
A few days later, everyone came back to Hogwarts. Everyone, that is, except for Draco. He had been absent since the morning after he and Ginny had made love. Ginny was determined not to let it ever happened again, so she stopped wearing the short skirts and started wearing less revealing clothes so that no guy would be attracted to her. She also started to pay attention to her studies and spent most of her time either crying or studying in the library. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, of course, had not noticed the change.
Hope, Ginny's best friend, had chin length dark brown hair, brown eyes, and lots of freckles. She was very short and almost as petite as Ginny was. She ran into the common room the moment she arrived back at the school and found Ginny sitting in a chair by the fire, looking very sad. Ginny was thinking about Draco and where he might be. All thoughts of telling Ginny about her vacation flew out of Hope's head.
"Ginny! What's wrong?" Hope asked and knelt by the chair.
"Nothing," Ginny said softly, smiling a fake smile, and turning back to the fire. Hope had the sneaking suspicion that she'd just lost her friend.
"I'm here if you need me, Gin," Hope said sadly and walked up to her dorm.
That night, as Ginny slept, Hope walked into her room.
"I don't know what's happened, Ginny, but just know that worst comes to worst, I will always be here for you," she whispered in her friend's ear, then left the room.
***
[Author's Interruption: due to lack of plot at this time, I'm skipping forward quite a bit in time. I'm sorry if it confuses you!]
***
It was September of Ginny's 6th year, and she was not looking forward to going back. Her mother had been pleased with the change in Ginny. No one else had noticed. Mrs. Weasley hadn't asked why her daughter had changed, and Ginny hadn't offered the information.
She boarded the Hogwarts Express with a heavy heart. Ever since Christmas, she'd lost her popular status. Hope still tried to be her friend on occasion, but it was become harder and harder as Ginny was becoming more antisocial.
She sat down in a compartment by herself and stared out the window. She glanced at the door long enough to see a familiar flash of platinum blonde hair. Draco Malfoy was back. Ginny's heart tightened in her chest several times, and her breath got caught in her throat. She'd secretly been longing for him to come back, but also dreaded it, too. She looked away from where Draco had been.
***
All during the feast, Draco stared at Ginny. She looked miserable. She wasn't wearing the same clothes, and her hair was braided in two neat pigtails like a six year old would wear- not a sixteen year old. She also was alone. No person at the Gryffindor Table was talking to her; she just sat poking at her food. Draco couldn't understand what had happened to Ginny. She used to be cheerful, outgoing, and popular. Now she was…nothing.
After the feast, he sought Hermione out of the crowd and pulled her into an empty classroom.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" she spit angrily.
"What does Ginny wear? What kind of clothes? What about her hair? Does she study a lot?" he asked her calmly, keeping all emotions out of his voice.
"Why do you want to know?" she asked hostility.
"Just answer the question," he said evenly, blocking her way out of the classroom.
"She wears short skirts, and kind of tight tops and always wears her hair down. She doesn't study a lot because she's popular," Hermione said quickly and quietly.
"Wrong," Draco said.
"What do you mean, wrong? Of course I'm right. I'm the one that knows Ginny; you don't," Hermione snapped.
"If you hadn't been ignoring her for the past two years, you would see the difference. Look at her next time you see her; you'll see what I'm talking about," he said and swept out of the room, leaving Hermione looking puzzled.
***
Three days later, Ginny sat in the library, doing extra credit work for Charms, when Hermione walked in and stood next to her table.
"Do you mind if I sit down?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Go ahead," Ginny said, surprised that Hermione still knew who she was.
"What happened to you, Ginny? What happened to that happy, energetic, popular, sunny girl that I used to know?"
"You used to know? Did you ever truly know me? Did anyone besides… besides certain people?" Ginny asked, disgustedly, not allowing herself to say his name.
"Of course I know you, Ginny," Hermione said, moving around uncomfortably.
"Did you ever think that I would feel left out when you, Harry, and Ron always had your heads together and were planning? Did you ever think that it hurt me when you completely ignored me for TWO YEARS?!" Ginny asked, finishing in a shout with tears streaming down her face.
"Miss Weasley! Miss Granger! Please leave!" Madame Pince called from her desk. Ginny gathered up her books and swept out of the library with Hermione on her tail.
"Ginny, wait!" Hermione called. Ginny stopped.
"What?" she asked, sighing impatiently.
"We haven't been purposely ignoring you, Gin," Hermione said soothingly.
"But you have. Go away. I don't want to talk to you," Ginny said, the tears flowing harder, and ran up to her dorm.
Draco left the dark corner where he'd been watching the whole thing with a thoughtful look on his face. All he wanted was for her to be happy, and this was a different turn than he had expected.
***
Ginny sat in her room, staring at the open novel in front of her, but did not read it. The thoughts of what Hermione had said were still going through her head. What happened to you, Ginny? What happened to that happy, energetic, popular, sunny girl that I used to know? Ginny realized the truth in her words. She was no longer ever happy, she had little energy because she usually got little sleep at night, and she was far from popular. Another set of words came back to her. I don't know what's happened, Ginny, but just know that worst comes to worst, I will always be here for you. Hope had spoken those words long ago when she had thought that Ginny was asleep. She finally knew what she had to do. She had to learn to trust again.
Disclaimer: everything, except Hope, I suppose, belongs to JKR. Hope is having a special cameo appearance (she's a girl at my school…) although this is far from her personality and I doubt that she would appreciate it..
Author's Note: things are a bit messed up, no? If she sounded like a slut because of the "tight tops" part, I honestly didn't mean for her to…Hermione just said that because, um, she would never wear what Ginny used to wear? To be expected in chapter three: Ginny and Hope have a good girl talk, Hermione talks to Harry and Ron, who then confront Ginny, and Draco thinks, and then acts (unlike Ron, he knows when to take action and what to do, and thinks before he speaks).