Wow! Five reviews already...a new personal record for me. Thanks so much to all of you wonderful people!
PATIENCE101 (TWO reviews...how awesome), Darcel and animegirl_mika...you got me through a long hard day.
Thanks a lot! And just so everyone knows, if you take the trouble to review my story, then I always always
always take the time to check out your stories and review them. Fair is fair, right? So please keep
them coming, because I'm terrible at dialogue and I could really use some pointers on characterization
and the like. Also, I could desperately use a beta reader, so if anyone is interested or knows where I can
find someone who is, I would greatly appreciate it if you would let me know. Ok, enough of that.
On with the show!
Disclaimer- Don't own up and I'm still too lazy.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ginny stood in the middle of a room. The floor was made of rough wooden planks and the ceiling
disappeared into darkness high above her. There was a murkiness to her peripheral vision, a kind of
indistinct grey ness that made her dizzy. But it wasn't the dizziness that was causing the knot of
uneasiness in her belly, nor the dilapidated state of the room she was in. It was the Watchers.
They inhabited every corner, they were behind her no matter which way she turned. They were hidden
in the blackness above and were even peering up through the cracks in the floorboards and no matter
how still she was or how silent she forced herself to be, they could still see her. In fact, the more
invisible she tried to become, the harder they seemed to stare into her. Panic welled up before she could
repress it and she spun around just in time to see a pair of angry grey eyes looming over her before darkness
closed in.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
She sat up, gasping for breath, and was startled further when she caught a glimpse of fiery movement
out of the corner of her eye.
'Idiot! You think you'd learn to move that dratted mirror after having been frightened by it for the
last five years!' she grumbled under her breath.
Feeling the adrenaline pulsing through her veins and realizing she wasn't going to sleep any more
that night, she threw back the scarlet and gold coverlet and crept over to finally take care of the
bothersome mirror. As she grasped the lightly gilded edges and tried to lift it from its hook, she found her face
centimeters from the surface of the glass. Glancing up, she met the eyes of her reflection and had the
disconcerting feeling that her mirror image had become independent of her real body and had joined the
ranks of the Watchers in her dream.
"Not really a morning person, are we, love?"
Startled, Ginny almost dropped the heavy frame as her reflection sprang to life and laughed cheekily
at her. When she recovered, however, she was inclined to agree with the gentle jab.
"No, no I'm not. I'm not really much of an any time person." she said, somewhat sadly.
"That's true." said the mirror. "I've seen you staring into me at all times of day and you can never quite
manage a healthy glow. I'm sure you could improve your looks if you would just smile once in a while."
"What's the point of improving my looks? Nobody ever sees me anyway."
A now thoroughly melancholy Ginny studied her face as it was reflected back to her. Horrid
red hair curled around her face and shoulders, framing a face so pale it was almost white. A light
dusting of freckles equally as horrid as her hair graced her nose and her too-big eyes stared back
at her in an average, ordinary brown colour. As her gaze traveled down her eyes took in a body that
was so skinny and small as to render her childlike in appearance for the rest of her life. She sighed
hopelessly and once again averted her eyes from the mess she saw reflected back at her.
Finally setting down the mirror so that it faced the wall, she returned to her soft, warm bed
and proceeded to toss and turn and feel generally miserable for the rest of the night.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Draco had had a nard night, as well. It was true that insulting the Weasel and frightening her
out of her wits had calmed him and steadied his nerves, but it hadn't been nearly enough. He had gathered
what little self control he could and traipsed back through the Slytherin common room and into his own dorm.
Concealing himself in the curtains, he had proceeded to lie down on his bed, fighting admirably against
the stinging and hot pressure under his eyelids. It was a losing battle, however, because no matter how well
he could control himself when waking, the dream world was beyond his jurisdiction. When he woke, there were
wet spots on his black silk pillowcase.
Which was part of the reason he was in such a foul mood as he strode to the Great Hall for breakfast
the following morning. The other part of the reason was that he had remembered his dreams, in which a small
redheaded figure stared up at him, eyes boring into his until he felt the plaster he was encased in shatter.
The debris hit her hard in the face and chest, knocking her down and he remembered annoyingly accurately the
heartbreak he'd felt at seeing her small form lying motionless on the ground. Even though it was just a dream,
he hated anything that had to do with Weasleys and he especially hated letting them get under his skin. That is
why he was especially angry this morning at the smallest of their litter, Ginny Weasley.
Stomping to his seat, Draco turned to face the doors of the Hall just in time to see a flash of red hair
which he probably would have missed entirely had his thoughts not been focused on her previously. He continued to
stare at as she sat at the far end of the Gryffindor table, remembering how it had discomfited her the night before
and determined to ruin her morning meal. She seemed conscious of eyes on her, but
didn't quite seem to know where they were coming from. He was leaning back, thoroughly amused, as he watched her cast around the Gryffindor table carefully,
searching for the owner of the eyes, when then he noticed something very strange. Where ever she looked, and however
much she bent and twisted and leaned to better see the people at the far end of the table, no one looked back at
her. Their gaze slid right over her and landed on the person they were looking for, no flicker of
acknowledgement, nothing. Hell, the even paid more attention to their ridiculously pathetic House Ghost!
The realization hit him slowly, as it was still early and he hadn't touched the steaming mug of coffee by
his left hand.
'They can't see her, can they?' he thought to himself. 'She's so stupidly silent and still that even her
'valiant and caring' fellow Gryffindors don't notice her.'
His thoughts were reflected in the sneer he wore on his face, smug and superior and filled with no small amount
of malice, which was the terrifying view Ginny had when she finally found the owner of the watching eyes.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
'Why is he looking at me like that?' Ginny's thoughts raced frantically as she put her head down and hunched
her shoulders, trying to escape the steady gaze she felt focused on her.
'I didn't mean to see him fall, I was just trying to help. I didn't do anything wrong!' As she realized this, she
became more and more angry at the agony Malfoy was putting her through for something that hadn't been her fault and
hadn't really even mattered. She hadn't seen him fall on purpose. It was his own damn fault if he was too big of a
pansy to stay upright! With this thought she raised her head and met him stare for stare with smoldering eyes.
'Try and punish me for seeing your weakness, Draco Malfoy. Just you try.' she thought. 'I won't let you.'
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
'Why is she looking at me like that?' Draco felt the sneer fade from his face as he was confronted with a full blast
of Weasley rage. 'I didn't do anything wrong, I was just looking at her!'
With the righteous indignation that comes from being entirely innocent, Draco Malfoy's eyes began to narrow and in a few
moments he was glaring back just as hard at the insufferable littlest Weasley.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
'What the hell am I doing? Why am I glaring at Draco Malfoy? He could eat me alive!"
With a great effort, Ginny tore her eyes from the compelling grey gaze and threw herself out of the dining
hall at a stumbling run. She didn't know that her sudden surrender had piqued the interest of a certain silver haired
Slytherin to the point of persuing her in her flight.
PATIENCE101 (TWO reviews...how awesome), Darcel and animegirl_mika...you got me through a long hard day.
Thanks a lot! And just so everyone knows, if you take the trouble to review my story, then I always always
always take the time to check out your stories and review them. Fair is fair, right? So please keep
them coming, because I'm terrible at dialogue and I could really use some pointers on characterization
and the like. Also, I could desperately use a beta reader, so if anyone is interested or knows where I can
find someone who is, I would greatly appreciate it if you would let me know. Ok, enough of that.
On with the show!
Disclaimer- Don't own up and I'm still too lazy.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ginny stood in the middle of a room. The floor was made of rough wooden planks and the ceiling
disappeared into darkness high above her. There was a murkiness to her peripheral vision, a kind of
indistinct grey ness that made her dizzy. But it wasn't the dizziness that was causing the knot of
uneasiness in her belly, nor the dilapidated state of the room she was in. It was the Watchers.
They inhabited every corner, they were behind her no matter which way she turned. They were hidden
in the blackness above and were even peering up through the cracks in the floorboards and no matter
how still she was or how silent she forced herself to be, they could still see her. In fact, the more
invisible she tried to become, the harder they seemed to stare into her. Panic welled up before she could
repress it and she spun around just in time to see a pair of angry grey eyes looming over her before darkness
closed in.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
She sat up, gasping for breath, and was startled further when she caught a glimpse of fiery movement
out of the corner of her eye.
'Idiot! You think you'd learn to move that dratted mirror after having been frightened by it for the
last five years!' she grumbled under her breath.
Feeling the adrenaline pulsing through her veins and realizing she wasn't going to sleep any more
that night, she threw back the scarlet and gold coverlet and crept over to finally take care of the
bothersome mirror. As she grasped the lightly gilded edges and tried to lift it from its hook, she found her face
centimeters from the surface of the glass. Glancing up, she met the eyes of her reflection and had the
disconcerting feeling that her mirror image had become independent of her real body and had joined the
ranks of the Watchers in her dream.
"Not really a morning person, are we, love?"
Startled, Ginny almost dropped the heavy frame as her reflection sprang to life and laughed cheekily
at her. When she recovered, however, she was inclined to agree with the gentle jab.
"No, no I'm not. I'm not really much of an any time person." she said, somewhat sadly.
"That's true." said the mirror. "I've seen you staring into me at all times of day and you can never quite
manage a healthy glow. I'm sure you could improve your looks if you would just smile once in a while."
"What's the point of improving my looks? Nobody ever sees me anyway."
A now thoroughly melancholy Ginny studied her face as it was reflected back to her. Horrid
red hair curled around her face and shoulders, framing a face so pale it was almost white. A light
dusting of freckles equally as horrid as her hair graced her nose and her too-big eyes stared back
at her in an average, ordinary brown colour. As her gaze traveled down her eyes took in a body that
was so skinny and small as to render her childlike in appearance for the rest of her life. She sighed
hopelessly and once again averted her eyes from the mess she saw reflected back at her.
Finally setting down the mirror so that it faced the wall, she returned to her soft, warm bed
and proceeded to toss and turn and feel generally miserable for the rest of the night.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Draco had had a nard night, as well. It was true that insulting the Weasel and frightening her
out of her wits had calmed him and steadied his nerves, but it hadn't been nearly enough. He had gathered
what little self control he could and traipsed back through the Slytherin common room and into his own dorm.
Concealing himself in the curtains, he had proceeded to lie down on his bed, fighting admirably against
the stinging and hot pressure under his eyelids. It was a losing battle, however, because no matter how well
he could control himself when waking, the dream world was beyond his jurisdiction. When he woke, there were
wet spots on his black silk pillowcase.
Which was part of the reason he was in such a foul mood as he strode to the Great Hall for breakfast
the following morning. The other part of the reason was that he had remembered his dreams, in which a small
redheaded figure stared up at him, eyes boring into his until he felt the plaster he was encased in shatter.
The debris hit her hard in the face and chest, knocking her down and he remembered annoyingly accurately the
heartbreak he'd felt at seeing her small form lying motionless on the ground. Even though it was just a dream,
he hated anything that had to do with Weasleys and he especially hated letting them get under his skin. That is
why he was especially angry this morning at the smallest of their litter, Ginny Weasley.
Stomping to his seat, Draco turned to face the doors of the Hall just in time to see a flash of red hair
which he probably would have missed entirely had his thoughts not been focused on her previously. He continued to
stare at as she sat at the far end of the Gryffindor table, remembering how it had discomfited her the night before
and determined to ruin her morning meal. She seemed conscious of eyes on her, but
didn't quite seem to know where they were coming from. He was leaning back, thoroughly amused, as he watched her cast around the Gryffindor table carefully,
searching for the owner of the eyes, when then he noticed something very strange. Where ever she looked, and however
much she bent and twisted and leaned to better see the people at the far end of the table, no one looked back at
her. Their gaze slid right over her and landed on the person they were looking for, no flicker of
acknowledgement, nothing. Hell, the even paid more attention to their ridiculously pathetic House Ghost!
The realization hit him slowly, as it was still early and he hadn't touched the steaming mug of coffee by
his left hand.
'They can't see her, can they?' he thought to himself. 'She's so stupidly silent and still that even her
'valiant and caring' fellow Gryffindors don't notice her.'
His thoughts were reflected in the sneer he wore on his face, smug and superior and filled with no small amount
of malice, which was the terrifying view Ginny had when she finally found the owner of the watching eyes.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
'Why is he looking at me like that?' Ginny's thoughts raced frantically as she put her head down and hunched
her shoulders, trying to escape the steady gaze she felt focused on her.
'I didn't mean to see him fall, I was just trying to help. I didn't do anything wrong!' As she realized this, she
became more and more angry at the agony Malfoy was putting her through for something that hadn't been her fault and
hadn't really even mattered. She hadn't seen him fall on purpose. It was his own damn fault if he was too big of a
pansy to stay upright! With this thought she raised her head and met him stare for stare with smoldering eyes.
'Try and punish me for seeing your weakness, Draco Malfoy. Just you try.' she thought. 'I won't let you.'
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
'Why is she looking at me like that?' Draco felt the sneer fade from his face as he was confronted with a full blast
of Weasley rage. 'I didn't do anything wrong, I was just looking at her!'
With the righteous indignation that comes from being entirely innocent, Draco Malfoy's eyes began to narrow and in a few
moments he was glaring back just as hard at the insufferable littlest Weasley.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
'What the hell am I doing? Why am I glaring at Draco Malfoy? He could eat me alive!"
With a great effort, Ginny tore her eyes from the compelling grey gaze and threw herself out of the dining
hall at a stumbling run. She didn't know that her sudden surrender had piqued the interest of a certain silver haired
Slytherin to the point of persuing her in her flight.