The Trouble Begins
Harry wakes up early the next morning to the sound of Colby's deep snoring. He sees that Ron is looking at him in annoyance, dark circles under his eyes. He meets Harry's gaze and sighs. "Wake him up," Ron mouths.
Harry gets up and creeps over to Colby's bed. The older boy is sleeping very deeply and, by the sound of his snoring, is going to be very difficult to wake. He rolls onto his side and snorts a bit.
"Uh, good morning, Colby," Harry begins quietly. "Colby, you might want to wake up. Classes start soon and…"
Colby rolls onto his stomach and pulls a pillow over his head. Ron shakes his head. "Wake up, Colby. Time for breakfast!"
Colby sits right up and looks about eagerly. "Good morning, Harry," he says warmly. "Sleep well?"
Harry just nods and laughs. "Let's head down to the dining room."
Breakfast is far crazier than usual on this morning. Most of the students are still over excited about the Americans being there to even let them alone to eat. They were asked dozens of questions over and over again.
"Enough!" Johnny roars suddenly. She gets up furiously, knocking Dennis Creevey over. Her eyes blaze in frustration as she storms out of the dining hall. "Can't a gal get something to eat without every adolescent in the wizarding world hammering away at her?"
Ginny looks positively livid with embarrassment. She obviously has to deal with Johnny's quick temper on a far more regular basis since the pair has been paired up as buddies for the Americans' stay. She gets up and rushes after Johnny, flashing Harry, Hermione, and Ron an apologetic smile.
"She's going to make Ginny go crazy this year," Ron says, genuinely feeling bad for his little sister. He shakes his head. "I wonder if she can request getting that lunatic paired up with someone else."
"Ginny's too polite to do that," Hermione says. "Besides, how mad do you think Johnny would be if Ginny did that?"
Harry shrugs and looks at Colby. "Is there any way to calm her down or is she always about to erupt like a volcano?"
Colby stares after Johnny for a minute before answering. "We like her mean. She's a great Beater. When she gets on the Pitch, all that anger goes into the game. She may be Gryffindor, but even Slytherins are scared of her when she's mean."
"You… Americans!" Hermione snaps suddenly. Colby looks confused and the other Americans look at Hermione in mild amusement. She gets up. "You want her to be mean? Do you even care that maybe she'd like someone to be sympathetic? That maybe all she needs is someone to listen to her? Some people are mean because they're defensive. Maybe she's defensive because she thinks no one cares?"
"You're going to go talk to her then?" Matthew asks. Hermione looks astonished. "If you're going to, be our guest. But wear a helmet. She throws things and believe you me, once you've seen her swing a Quidditch bat you'll realize what power she's got in those arms of hers."
Cynthia nods. "We're about as close to her as anyone gets. No one knows what her problem is. She won't open up to any of us. But if you think you, some American hating snob, can succeed where we haven't, go right ahead."
Hermione storms away angrily. Harry and Ron glance at each other. "Hey, you might want to give her a break, guys. She's just…" Ron starts, trying to defend her but not really knowing why.
"A snobby aristocratic wannabe," Denise finishes for him. "Look, you guys are great but why hang out with a geek like her anyway? She doesn't like Quidditch, she is a bossy know-it-all, and she's so mean!"
Harry and Ron don't have an answer for them They finish their meal in silence and then head off to class, with Colby close behind.
"Uh, Joann?" Ginny says as she heads into her room. She sees Johnny pacing around the dormitory, fuming. She is throwing pieces of parchment into her bag and punching the wall as she passes it. "Careful, you don't want to hurt yourself…"
"I don't care. It's not big deal, anyway," Johnny says. "I'm strong enough to handle stupid little hurts like this…"
Ginny frowns. "You're a Beater, used to getting banged up a bit, then?"
Johnny manages a weak smile. "Sure thing. Got smacked around a lot back home and decided I liked the abuse," she chuckles.
"What happened back home?" Ginny asks. She realizes that she doesn't even know where Johnny's from.
"My folks raise horses. Big ones," Johnny begins. She sees Ginny listening attentively from the door. "It's your room, Ginny. Come in and sit down for a bit. I'll tell you a story."
Ginny smiles and sits down on her bed. Johnny stops pacing to face Ginny. She's wearing a thick flannel shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Ginny smiles, able to picture the bigger girl riding horses and living on a ranch somewhere in the United States. "I was born in Texas but moved to New Mexico when my folks were killed. I was about a year old when they died. My adopted parents are great. Hard workers with big hearts. My pop raised me like one of the boys. Drove Ma crazy. She wanted me in dresses and helping her in the kitchen. But Pop let me go out and help him with all the horses."
"How'd you get beat up on, then?" Ginny asks.
Johnny laughs. "Thrown off the horses, of course. But I just kept getting back on and getting thrown off again. Pop used to tease me mercilessly. Asked what I'd do about school if I got my brains beat out of me. Imagine our surprise when I got the letter from Hogwarts."
"Did you show any signs of being magical?" Ginny asks.
Johnny shrugs. "I suppose not getting hurt as bad as I could have was a good sign. But mostly I was about as Muggle as you could get."
The girls look at each other in silence for a bit. Johnny grabs her bag. "I suppose I'd better get to class. Doctor Zimmermann hates when we're late."
"Funny, considering he didn't even arrive to take over the Defense Against the Dark Arts position till this month," Ginny mutters, regretting that the conversation has to come to an end.
"To be continued," Johnny says, as though reading Ginny's mind. She feels a lot better now that she's talked to someone. She grins and leaves the room.
