Disclaimer: I claim none of the ownership for any characters in this fic
that belong to the great and powerful JK Rowling. However any of the
characters that have not appeared in one of the HP books belong solely to
MOI!! The plot is also one of my own creations. Happy reading!
Ginny sat in her cramped bedroom, her mind so deeply involved in the leather bound book she had propped on her knees to notice anything else around her.
'Flame encasement is considered a dark art, but can be a useful method of protection from that very thing. The black, scorching flames will surround the object/person the curse is directed at with flames that create a combination of burning and freezing embers that will trap the thing they surround for a span of 10 minutes. The flames are real and will do enough harm to the person to get hit with the curse, to prevent them from retaliating in kind. This curse is learnt by few because it takes a great amount of magical ability..'
"Cool." Ginny murmured when she finished the paragraph. She had come across this book by rummaging through her brothers old trunks stashed in the attic. Bill had taken advanced DADA, and had needed to read up on many Dark Arts curses in order to get his job as a curse breaker in Egypt. Obviously, this had led him to borrow many different books only found in the Restricted Section in the library at Hogwarts. Somehow, he had managed to forget to return this particular one called 'Dark Arts, Curses and Hexes You Shouldn't Use On Your School Mates' and Ginny had found it while looking for a second hand 'Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five' she could use this upcoming school year. Thinking that it would probably be a more interesting read than her assigned school books, she had used a quick illusion charm to change the cover page and had been reading it in her spare time ever since.
Ginny had always had a weird fascination with the dark arts, not that she would ever use them, she just liked to study and learn about them. Lets face it; they were quite a bit more interesting than Herbology. She had also refrained from telling anyone about this new past time of hers, because her family would most defiantly NOT understand. They still looked at her as the baby of the family, who should be sheltered, and protected from anything corruptive. After that whole mess with Tom Riddle's diary, it seemed (if possible) that they became even more protective than before. If they ever found out that she was secretly studying dark arts, they would just act shocked, and forbid it. She could almost here their reactions.
"Ginny honey, there is just no need for it! Such knowledge would be too disturbing for a sweet little girl like you" would be her parents reply.
"Planning on joining You-Know-Who's forces little Gin-Gin? There something you're not telling us about yourself?" Fred and George would come up with something like that and never let her live it down.
"Ginny! Dark Arts are evil! Only dark wizards like Snape and Malfoy study that type of thing." Typical Ron response, tell her she's wrong and diss Snape and Malfoy well he's at it.
Ginny sighed, she loved her family and all, but they just didn't understand her at all. When they looked at her all they see is 'sweet innocent little Ginny'. They didn't even realize how good she was in potions, probably the only Gryffindor to avoid losing house point in Snape's class at every chance. She was probably the best in her year, even better than Hermione was at her age in a few classes. DADA, potions, charms and Care of Magical creatures were her strong points. The reason no one saw her talent, was because where she excelled was evened out by her other classes that always succeeded in bringing down her average grade.
Ginny didn't care though; she really didn't want the attention. She wasn't made a prefect this year and that didn't come as a surprise or a disappointment. Even though her grades were better than the other girls in her year, she never participated in anything, and wasn't looked at as leader material.
Thinking about this coming school year reminded her of another year she would have to put up with being ignored and overlooked. Ginny had no close friends at school, though this thought was quite depressing, she had no plans to make any. Ginny had opened up to a stranger once, she had been naive and innocent at the time, and wanted nothing more than to have someone to confide in, and to understand her feelings. She had gotten that, but for a great price. Tom had taken advantage of her trust in him and slowly sucked out her life energy. Her trust had almost been the cause of her death, along with countless others. Since that day, Ginny had been weary of opening up to anyone. She would NOT be used like that again. She had also ensured that she would never be so naïve as to allow someone that privilege.
Once, Ginny had been the blissfully innocent girl everyone still thought she was, but that Ginny had died with Tom Riddle's diary. She had studied beyond her years for school, and had learned about the harsh reality of life. If anything, Ginny Weasley learned from her mistakes.
Her door being slammed open knocked her out of her thoughts; she quickly shoved her book under her bed just as a head with bushy brown hair was backing into her room. Hermione, of course, Ginny thought to herself. She had been so caught up in reading she almost forgot Harry and Hermione were coming today.
Ginny sighed, it wasn't that she didn't like Hermione, she was really nice to her and all, but her arrival also meant barely any privacy left for Ginny. Ginny liked to take sanctuary in her room, but that wasn't possible when someone else was sharing it with you.
"Hey Hermione, need a hand?" Ginny asked politely. That's what everyone expected of her after all; to be perfectly polite and sweet to everyone, why disappoint them? It would only lead to unwanted prying into her life, with everyone wondering what had gotten into her lately.
"Yeah, thanks Ginny, my trunk is heavier than ever this year." Hermione panted as she continued to drag her trunk through the doorway.
Ginny picked up her wand, preparing to do a simple levitating spell. "Wingardium leviosa!" she said lazily.
Hermione gasped as her trunk shot up over her head and made it's way slowly over to the corner beside Ginny's pile of school stuff. Ginny was shocked when the spell seemed to have trouble keeping the trunk from crashing to the ground.
"What the hell do you have in here Hermione, the spell can barely hold it up!" Ginny exclaimed, while lowering the trunk with not a little bit of effort to the ground. She exhaled her breath when no damage seemed to have come to her floor with the impact.
Hermione completely ignoring the question started in on Ginny, "What do you think your doing?" She demanded in her bossy voice.
Ginny merely blinked at her, a slight smile wanted to play at her lips but she kept her face skillfully blank. Hermione was obsessed with rules (almost as bad as Percy.almost), so Ginny knew with certainty what would come next. "What do you mean? I just got your trunk into the room for you." She replied innocently.
"You know perfectly well what I mean! You're not to do magic during the summer! I know living in a wizarding home lets you get away with it because it can barely be detected but the rule is put in place for your own safety! Not to mention the safety of others!" Hermione's cheeks had flushed in anger or enthusiasm, Ginny couldn't tell. She did know how much Hermione loved giving lectures though, and figured she really was relieved that she didn't have to lug her trunk any farther.
Ginny merely smiled and said, "Sorry Hermione, you're right, I could have dropped the trunk right on your head or something! I guess living at the burrow, constantly surrounded by magic, it is easy to forget your not supposed to do any. I promise to be more careful." Ginny almost laughed when Hermione started beaming her pride. She supposed Harry and Ron never even pretended to take her lectures seriously.
That night at dinner, Ginny dressed in her best muggle style sundress. It was blue, and the person who sold it to her said it set off her hair. Her mother had been skeptical, because of the snug fit, and the fact that it showed off her calves, but the nice sale lady convinced her it was perfect choice for a young lady. The real reason her mother had given in had ultimately been the fact that it had been one of the few things on sale.
To her family's dismay, Ginny had developed the body of a young woman over the summer. Thus making it virtually impossible to continue wearing her brother's hand-me-downs. Her mother had brought her to a muggle shop in Ottery Street Catchpole, and had purchased a few outfits that would last her throughout the summer and the school year to come. She would also have to get her some new robes for school to accommodate Ginny's new figure. Ginny couldn't help but feel bad that she was costing her parents money that they really didn't have, but it really wasn't her fault she was growing up.
As she and Hermione entered the packed kitchen, Ginny caught her first sight of Harry sitting with Ron most probably discussing quidditch.
"Alright, Harry." She greeted absently as she and Hermione took seats at the table.
Harry spared her a glance and smiled his hello. A few years back, Ginny probably would have fainted at that much acknowledgement from the Boy Who Lived. Thankfully, she had gotten over her embarrassing crush, but unfortunately had yet to live it down when it came to her brothers. Considering that Harry had never paid any attention to her for the last five years, it gave her quite a shock when she saw him do a bit of a double take and look her over like he had never seen her before.
"Hi Ginny." He said, it almost sounded a bit amazed, like he couldn't believe Ginny was actually a real live female. He completely removed himself from the conversation with Ron, (who didn't even seem to notice because he was openly goggling at Hermione in his usual fashion.) Ginny saw Hermione blush under Ron's intense scrutiny and rolled her eyes. They had been dancing around each other for a year already. It was obvious they both liked each other, but neither was brave enough to admit it out loud. While she was observing this, Harry took the opportunity to switch to the seat beside her.
"You look really nice today." He said shyly.
Ginny couldn't help but smile at his nervousness. He was really cute after all. Too bad she felt nothing but that for him any longer. Ginny sighed bitterly, could Harry finally be noticing her, after five years of never sparing her a second glance. Did he even realize how much that had hurt her? Probably not, he was just a guy, and if he were anything like her brothers he wouldn't notice anything at all. Ginny decided to play along, see what was going through that head of his.
"Thanks." She replied, batting her lashed trying not to burst out laughing. "Mum had to buy me some new clothes because my brothers didn't fit any longer." Ginny tried to look him in the eye well saying this, but couldn't help but notice that his eyes weren't on her face.
She barely controlled herself from letting out a disgusted sound. Typical, typical, hormone driven teenage boy! She had heard the things Fred and George said about Angelina and Alicia's figures. At the time she had thought sorrowfully that no one would ever think of her that way, but there was no mistaking that look in Harry's eyes. It was the same one all of her brothers had gotten when they started on about one of the pretty girls from school. Harry might suddenly like the way she looked, but he didn't know a damn thing about her! However a particularly female thrill made it's way through her moral thoughts. Harry thought she was good looking! Did that mean that other boys might start to notice her too? She pushed that thought away disbelievingly. Watching Harry's face, she noticed he now seemed to be going through some kind of inner turmoil.
At one point, she might have been worried about him, but this boy had so many problems, and had never once expressed a need to let her try and help. They drifted into an awkward silence, almost as bad as the one Ron and Hermione were stuck in permanently. Ginny looked around at the other people in the kitchen. Fred and George were trying to slip bits of their inventions into the desert, while Molly was busy bustling around other parts of the kitchen. Percy had finally moved out (much to Ron's delight) and was living with his wife Penelope Clearwater in Hogsmeade. Bill and Charlie had returned from Romania and Egypt but were working for Dumbledores 'Order of the Pheonix' so they were rarely home. Arthur was reading The Daily profit with a worried tense look he seemed to carry permanently. Voldermort had laid low for the first year after his rebirth. Now that he had recovered most of his dark forces (with the exception of most giant and werewolves thanks to Hagrid and Rumus Lupin) he was throwing the wizarding world into panic. There was a death eater attack about once a week, mostly muggles so far, but that was sure to change when he was back into full power. Her father was no doubt reading up on another attack.
"Anything new dad?" She asked cautiously.
Arthur looked up as if just noticing everyone was here, "Oh, no nothing for you to worry about dear." He said reassuringly.
Ginny scowled. She also made a mental note to sneak a look at the paper later tonight. She noticed Harry was still in deep thought, sneaking the odd glance her way then pretending he hadn't. She was extremely grateful when her mother magiced all of the food to the middle of the table and everyone became distracted while piling food onto their plates.
"Harry, Hermione, I suppose you two were made prefects again this year?" Mrs. Weasley asked proudly when everyone had his or her share of food. She treated both as if they were her own kids, and was therefore extremely proud of their accomplishments.
Hermione beamed. "Yes, I was pretty worried that I wouldn't get the spot though, seeing as how Lavender had been getting pretty good grades lately."
She was interrupted by Ron's snort of disbelief. "C'mon Erm-ion-ee, your smar-est in the year!" he reassured through a mouthful of chicken and mashed potatoes.
Hermione just blushed while Mrs. Weasley scolded Ron for his table manners.
"Mum, did you get all our stuff today in Diagon Ally?" Ginny questioned, she was ridiculously eager to try on her new female school robes. She knew that they weren't that different, but they would probably look better, and fit more comfortable. Mrs. Weasley had taken her measurements the night before, and gone shopping this morning.
"Yes, I've got all the bags out in the living room for you lot to go through later. Ginny, because of all your new robes, I'm afraid you will have to go look in the attic for most of your books, I'm sure one of your brothers needed the same ones at some point.
"That's no problem mum." Ginny reassured, she already had most of her booklist and had been reading them from her periodic searches of the attic already. She was too happy about not having to go to school in second hand robes to care about the state of her books.
After dinner, everyone figured out whose stuff was who's and left to pack the rest into their trunks. They would be leaving for Platform 9 3/4 tomorrow morning and Mrs. Weasley was threatening anyone who dared not to packed beforehand.
Ginny and Hermione were both having a considerable amount of trouble packing their trunks. Hermione's heavy trunk problem was revealed as stacks upon stacks of books, stuffed as closely as possible. When Ginny asked what they were all for, Hermione said she had bought them in Diagon Ally last year, and were all very interesting reads. Ginny just shook her head, she would bet her last galleon that Hermione had most of them memorized. Ginny was having trouble, because she was trying to sneak a bunch of battered books she had found in the attic into her trunk without Hermione asking questions about it. Most of them were advanced curses and curse breaking techniques from Bill. However Charlie had a collection of Magical Creature books that looked to be mostly about big and dangerous monsters and such. Percy had advanced books in every subject, so she acquired some potions and transfiguration stuff as well. She was hoping to bring up her transfiguration grade this year; so a little extra material wouldn't help (even if her brothers didn't study it until their seventh year)
Ginny didn't sleep well that night. Aside from the fact Hermione kept making weird sounds in her sleep that would sometimes come very close to sounding like 'Ron', she was dreading the year to come. She had always looked forward to going to Hogwarts when she was young. Now, all she wanted was to get these years over with so she could move out and get a job somewhere. She could start her life over, independently. But there were three years of torture left, and tomorrow would be the start on another one.
Ginny sat in her cramped bedroom, her mind so deeply involved in the leather bound book she had propped on her knees to notice anything else around her.
'Flame encasement is considered a dark art, but can be a useful method of protection from that very thing. The black, scorching flames will surround the object/person the curse is directed at with flames that create a combination of burning and freezing embers that will trap the thing they surround for a span of 10 minutes. The flames are real and will do enough harm to the person to get hit with the curse, to prevent them from retaliating in kind. This curse is learnt by few because it takes a great amount of magical ability..'
"Cool." Ginny murmured when she finished the paragraph. She had come across this book by rummaging through her brothers old trunks stashed in the attic. Bill had taken advanced DADA, and had needed to read up on many Dark Arts curses in order to get his job as a curse breaker in Egypt. Obviously, this had led him to borrow many different books only found in the Restricted Section in the library at Hogwarts. Somehow, he had managed to forget to return this particular one called 'Dark Arts, Curses and Hexes You Shouldn't Use On Your School Mates' and Ginny had found it while looking for a second hand 'Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five' she could use this upcoming school year. Thinking that it would probably be a more interesting read than her assigned school books, she had used a quick illusion charm to change the cover page and had been reading it in her spare time ever since.
Ginny had always had a weird fascination with the dark arts, not that she would ever use them, she just liked to study and learn about them. Lets face it; they were quite a bit more interesting than Herbology. She had also refrained from telling anyone about this new past time of hers, because her family would most defiantly NOT understand. They still looked at her as the baby of the family, who should be sheltered, and protected from anything corruptive. After that whole mess with Tom Riddle's diary, it seemed (if possible) that they became even more protective than before. If they ever found out that she was secretly studying dark arts, they would just act shocked, and forbid it. She could almost here their reactions.
"Ginny honey, there is just no need for it! Such knowledge would be too disturbing for a sweet little girl like you" would be her parents reply.
"Planning on joining You-Know-Who's forces little Gin-Gin? There something you're not telling us about yourself?" Fred and George would come up with something like that and never let her live it down.
"Ginny! Dark Arts are evil! Only dark wizards like Snape and Malfoy study that type of thing." Typical Ron response, tell her she's wrong and diss Snape and Malfoy well he's at it.
Ginny sighed, she loved her family and all, but they just didn't understand her at all. When they looked at her all they see is 'sweet innocent little Ginny'. They didn't even realize how good she was in potions, probably the only Gryffindor to avoid losing house point in Snape's class at every chance. She was probably the best in her year, even better than Hermione was at her age in a few classes. DADA, potions, charms and Care of Magical creatures were her strong points. The reason no one saw her talent, was because where she excelled was evened out by her other classes that always succeeded in bringing down her average grade.
Ginny didn't care though; she really didn't want the attention. She wasn't made a prefect this year and that didn't come as a surprise or a disappointment. Even though her grades were better than the other girls in her year, she never participated in anything, and wasn't looked at as leader material.
Thinking about this coming school year reminded her of another year she would have to put up with being ignored and overlooked. Ginny had no close friends at school, though this thought was quite depressing, she had no plans to make any. Ginny had opened up to a stranger once, she had been naive and innocent at the time, and wanted nothing more than to have someone to confide in, and to understand her feelings. She had gotten that, but for a great price. Tom had taken advantage of her trust in him and slowly sucked out her life energy. Her trust had almost been the cause of her death, along with countless others. Since that day, Ginny had been weary of opening up to anyone. She would NOT be used like that again. She had also ensured that she would never be so naïve as to allow someone that privilege.
Once, Ginny had been the blissfully innocent girl everyone still thought she was, but that Ginny had died with Tom Riddle's diary. She had studied beyond her years for school, and had learned about the harsh reality of life. If anything, Ginny Weasley learned from her mistakes.
Her door being slammed open knocked her out of her thoughts; she quickly shoved her book under her bed just as a head with bushy brown hair was backing into her room. Hermione, of course, Ginny thought to herself. She had been so caught up in reading she almost forgot Harry and Hermione were coming today.
Ginny sighed, it wasn't that she didn't like Hermione, she was really nice to her and all, but her arrival also meant barely any privacy left for Ginny. Ginny liked to take sanctuary in her room, but that wasn't possible when someone else was sharing it with you.
"Hey Hermione, need a hand?" Ginny asked politely. That's what everyone expected of her after all; to be perfectly polite and sweet to everyone, why disappoint them? It would only lead to unwanted prying into her life, with everyone wondering what had gotten into her lately.
"Yeah, thanks Ginny, my trunk is heavier than ever this year." Hermione panted as she continued to drag her trunk through the doorway.
Ginny picked up her wand, preparing to do a simple levitating spell. "Wingardium leviosa!" she said lazily.
Hermione gasped as her trunk shot up over her head and made it's way slowly over to the corner beside Ginny's pile of school stuff. Ginny was shocked when the spell seemed to have trouble keeping the trunk from crashing to the ground.
"What the hell do you have in here Hermione, the spell can barely hold it up!" Ginny exclaimed, while lowering the trunk with not a little bit of effort to the ground. She exhaled her breath when no damage seemed to have come to her floor with the impact.
Hermione completely ignoring the question started in on Ginny, "What do you think your doing?" She demanded in her bossy voice.
Ginny merely blinked at her, a slight smile wanted to play at her lips but she kept her face skillfully blank. Hermione was obsessed with rules (almost as bad as Percy.almost), so Ginny knew with certainty what would come next. "What do you mean? I just got your trunk into the room for you." She replied innocently.
"You know perfectly well what I mean! You're not to do magic during the summer! I know living in a wizarding home lets you get away with it because it can barely be detected but the rule is put in place for your own safety! Not to mention the safety of others!" Hermione's cheeks had flushed in anger or enthusiasm, Ginny couldn't tell. She did know how much Hermione loved giving lectures though, and figured she really was relieved that she didn't have to lug her trunk any farther.
Ginny merely smiled and said, "Sorry Hermione, you're right, I could have dropped the trunk right on your head or something! I guess living at the burrow, constantly surrounded by magic, it is easy to forget your not supposed to do any. I promise to be more careful." Ginny almost laughed when Hermione started beaming her pride. She supposed Harry and Ron never even pretended to take her lectures seriously.
That night at dinner, Ginny dressed in her best muggle style sundress. It was blue, and the person who sold it to her said it set off her hair. Her mother had been skeptical, because of the snug fit, and the fact that it showed off her calves, but the nice sale lady convinced her it was perfect choice for a young lady. The real reason her mother had given in had ultimately been the fact that it had been one of the few things on sale.
To her family's dismay, Ginny had developed the body of a young woman over the summer. Thus making it virtually impossible to continue wearing her brother's hand-me-downs. Her mother had brought her to a muggle shop in Ottery Street Catchpole, and had purchased a few outfits that would last her throughout the summer and the school year to come. She would also have to get her some new robes for school to accommodate Ginny's new figure. Ginny couldn't help but feel bad that she was costing her parents money that they really didn't have, but it really wasn't her fault she was growing up.
As she and Hermione entered the packed kitchen, Ginny caught her first sight of Harry sitting with Ron most probably discussing quidditch.
"Alright, Harry." She greeted absently as she and Hermione took seats at the table.
Harry spared her a glance and smiled his hello. A few years back, Ginny probably would have fainted at that much acknowledgement from the Boy Who Lived. Thankfully, she had gotten over her embarrassing crush, but unfortunately had yet to live it down when it came to her brothers. Considering that Harry had never paid any attention to her for the last five years, it gave her quite a shock when she saw him do a bit of a double take and look her over like he had never seen her before.
"Hi Ginny." He said, it almost sounded a bit amazed, like he couldn't believe Ginny was actually a real live female. He completely removed himself from the conversation with Ron, (who didn't even seem to notice because he was openly goggling at Hermione in his usual fashion.) Ginny saw Hermione blush under Ron's intense scrutiny and rolled her eyes. They had been dancing around each other for a year already. It was obvious they both liked each other, but neither was brave enough to admit it out loud. While she was observing this, Harry took the opportunity to switch to the seat beside her.
"You look really nice today." He said shyly.
Ginny couldn't help but smile at his nervousness. He was really cute after all. Too bad she felt nothing but that for him any longer. Ginny sighed bitterly, could Harry finally be noticing her, after five years of never sparing her a second glance. Did he even realize how much that had hurt her? Probably not, he was just a guy, and if he were anything like her brothers he wouldn't notice anything at all. Ginny decided to play along, see what was going through that head of his.
"Thanks." She replied, batting her lashed trying not to burst out laughing. "Mum had to buy me some new clothes because my brothers didn't fit any longer." Ginny tried to look him in the eye well saying this, but couldn't help but notice that his eyes weren't on her face.
She barely controlled herself from letting out a disgusted sound. Typical, typical, hormone driven teenage boy! She had heard the things Fred and George said about Angelina and Alicia's figures. At the time she had thought sorrowfully that no one would ever think of her that way, but there was no mistaking that look in Harry's eyes. It was the same one all of her brothers had gotten when they started on about one of the pretty girls from school. Harry might suddenly like the way she looked, but he didn't know a damn thing about her! However a particularly female thrill made it's way through her moral thoughts. Harry thought she was good looking! Did that mean that other boys might start to notice her too? She pushed that thought away disbelievingly. Watching Harry's face, she noticed he now seemed to be going through some kind of inner turmoil.
At one point, she might have been worried about him, but this boy had so many problems, and had never once expressed a need to let her try and help. They drifted into an awkward silence, almost as bad as the one Ron and Hermione were stuck in permanently. Ginny looked around at the other people in the kitchen. Fred and George were trying to slip bits of their inventions into the desert, while Molly was busy bustling around other parts of the kitchen. Percy had finally moved out (much to Ron's delight) and was living with his wife Penelope Clearwater in Hogsmeade. Bill and Charlie had returned from Romania and Egypt but were working for Dumbledores 'Order of the Pheonix' so they were rarely home. Arthur was reading The Daily profit with a worried tense look he seemed to carry permanently. Voldermort had laid low for the first year after his rebirth. Now that he had recovered most of his dark forces (with the exception of most giant and werewolves thanks to Hagrid and Rumus Lupin) he was throwing the wizarding world into panic. There was a death eater attack about once a week, mostly muggles so far, but that was sure to change when he was back into full power. Her father was no doubt reading up on another attack.
"Anything new dad?" She asked cautiously.
Arthur looked up as if just noticing everyone was here, "Oh, no nothing for you to worry about dear." He said reassuringly.
Ginny scowled. She also made a mental note to sneak a look at the paper later tonight. She noticed Harry was still in deep thought, sneaking the odd glance her way then pretending he hadn't. She was extremely grateful when her mother magiced all of the food to the middle of the table and everyone became distracted while piling food onto their plates.
"Harry, Hermione, I suppose you two were made prefects again this year?" Mrs. Weasley asked proudly when everyone had his or her share of food. She treated both as if they were her own kids, and was therefore extremely proud of their accomplishments.
Hermione beamed. "Yes, I was pretty worried that I wouldn't get the spot though, seeing as how Lavender had been getting pretty good grades lately."
She was interrupted by Ron's snort of disbelief. "C'mon Erm-ion-ee, your smar-est in the year!" he reassured through a mouthful of chicken and mashed potatoes.
Hermione just blushed while Mrs. Weasley scolded Ron for his table manners.
"Mum, did you get all our stuff today in Diagon Ally?" Ginny questioned, she was ridiculously eager to try on her new female school robes. She knew that they weren't that different, but they would probably look better, and fit more comfortable. Mrs. Weasley had taken her measurements the night before, and gone shopping this morning.
"Yes, I've got all the bags out in the living room for you lot to go through later. Ginny, because of all your new robes, I'm afraid you will have to go look in the attic for most of your books, I'm sure one of your brothers needed the same ones at some point.
"That's no problem mum." Ginny reassured, she already had most of her booklist and had been reading them from her periodic searches of the attic already. She was too happy about not having to go to school in second hand robes to care about the state of her books.
After dinner, everyone figured out whose stuff was who's and left to pack the rest into their trunks. They would be leaving for Platform 9 3/4 tomorrow morning and Mrs. Weasley was threatening anyone who dared not to packed beforehand.
Ginny and Hermione were both having a considerable amount of trouble packing their trunks. Hermione's heavy trunk problem was revealed as stacks upon stacks of books, stuffed as closely as possible. When Ginny asked what they were all for, Hermione said she had bought them in Diagon Ally last year, and were all very interesting reads. Ginny just shook her head, she would bet her last galleon that Hermione had most of them memorized. Ginny was having trouble, because she was trying to sneak a bunch of battered books she had found in the attic into her trunk without Hermione asking questions about it. Most of them were advanced curses and curse breaking techniques from Bill. However Charlie had a collection of Magical Creature books that looked to be mostly about big and dangerous monsters and such. Percy had advanced books in every subject, so she acquired some potions and transfiguration stuff as well. She was hoping to bring up her transfiguration grade this year; so a little extra material wouldn't help (even if her brothers didn't study it until their seventh year)
Ginny didn't sleep well that night. Aside from the fact Hermione kept making weird sounds in her sleep that would sometimes come very close to sounding like 'Ron', she was dreading the year to come. She had always looked forward to going to Hogwarts when she was young. Now, all she wanted was to get these years over with so she could move out and get a job somewhere. She could start her life over, independently. But there were three years of torture left, and tomorrow would be the start on another one.