One morning as she sat out on the lawn with Goyle, Ginny had her arms
wrapped around her legs which were tucked up close to her body. She was
sitting next to Goyle, who was leaning against "their" oak tree, and Ginny
confided in him how she had never had a real, true friend who wouldn't just
turn around and stab her in the back. She expected him to mock her, but
instead he nodded.
"I know exactly what you mean," he said rather sheepishly.
"You do?" Ginny gasped; she had never known that Gregory was in any
discontent with his Slytherin friends.
Nodding slowly, Goyle said, "Draco isn't really a friend; he's more of a
master than a friend to me. And Vincent, you know, Crabbe, he's too thick in
the head to understand when I talk about how lonely I get sometimes. Everyone
else thinks that I'm just as thick as Vincent and can't string two words
together. They never give me a chance."
Ginny mulled his words over while playing with her hair. "I guess
everyone just avoids me because they've known me for five years, and think
I'm a complete reject and social outcast. I don't mind really, I'd rather
have all those self-obsessed girls leave me alone than have them completely
ruin my life. They've already ruined it enough as it is with their horrible
gossip and false rumors. They don't understand what it's like to be me: the
younger sister of six wonderful and heroic and funny boys who came before me!
'Oh, it's just another Weasley,' they say. 'She'll be no trouble; marvelous
and perfect and just like her older brothers!' They don't consider whether or
not I /i to be like my brothers, they just automatically assume that
I do.
"Of course, it's not easy to follow right after Ron, best friend to the
ifamous, perfect/i Harry Potter. I don't even like Harry that much, he's
just my brother's best friend, so I have to be nice to him."
Goyle looked utterly confused. "I thought you-you had a crush on him..."
he said, his voice trailing off. Ginny had no idea how hard it was for him to
say that. To his relief, she merely laughed at the statement.
"Oh, Gregory! That was in my first year. I was young and impressionable;
I thought that anyone as good and famous as the great Harry Potter
/i be as wonderful as he was made out to be. But Gregory, he's
really not like that. He isn't like that at all! In real life, he's rude,
conceited, and all-around really mean to me. But Ginny's feelings don't
count, Ginny's only the daft younger sister of his best friend Ron. You know,
Gregory, I think Malfoy has quite a /i reason to hate Harry. There's
really not much of him that's likable at all, except for how famous he is,
and I don't blame anyone for being jealous of him for that! Why, Harry
doesn't very well ideserve /i to be famous, did you know that?"
Goyle had been leaning against a tree, sinking in every word she said.
When she finished her small speech, he blinked rapidly. "I really don't know
how Malfoy really feels about H- I mean, Potter. As I said before, he's more
of a master than a friend. Masters don't really confide in their servants-or
should I say slaves?"
Ginny was startled by the way that Goyle had spoken of Malfoy. "Why do
you say such a thing? I thought you and Crabbe were devoted to him or
something like that?" she asked inquisitively.
"Oh, no, Ginny. It is your turn to have the big misconception. For
generations and generations all of the Crabbes and Goyles to be something
like bodyguards to the Malfoys. Also, all of the Crabbes and Goyles follow
each Malfoy into the..." his voice trailed off suddenly, and he realized that
he had said too much.
"Into the what, Gregory?"
"I shouldn't have said that, Ginny. Forget I ever said that."
But Ginny couldn't help but feel curious. "Come on, Gregory, tell me. You
can trust me-you know that."
For the first time in their short friendship, Goyle turned nasty. "I told
you to forget it, Ginny, so forget it!"
Seeing the fierce look in his eyes, Ginny grew scared. "All right, all
right, no need to lose your temper there, Gregory," she joked, though inside
she was quaking at how rough he had been.
Goyle hung his head. "I'm sorry, Ginny," he murmured. "It's just
something few people would understand. I can't discuss it with anyone outside
my family. My family being the rest of the Goyles, the Crabbes, and the
Malfoys."
Ginny looked into Goyle eyes and saw in his deep brown orbs that he truly
was sorry. "It's all right," she said. "I was foolish to press the matter as
I did, I'm sorry as well. You really have nothing to be sorry about."
Goyle merely nodded, and somehow to his great surprise discovered that
Ginny's hand had entertwined itself with his. He looked at her, and she
smiled at him. He smiled back, and they both stared out towards the lake.
Ginny laid her head on his shoulder, and she whispered to him, "Please,
Gregory, stay my friend forever. I don't know what I would do without you."
It felt good to Goyle that he was needed, and it wasn't for help in
getting out of a good scrap. He smiled to himself as he said, "I'll be your
friend for forever and more."
His last three words were echoed off of Ginny's lips, "Forever and more."
Ginny awoke later that day to find that she had fallen asleep out on the
lawn, leaning against Goyle. She blinked her eyes open, and looked at her
best friend, who was writing furiously in his diary. As soon as he felt her
movement, Goyle shut the blue book and smiled at her. "Good afternoon,
sleeping beauty," he said, playfully teasing her. He knew she thought she
looked horrible, and he always made it a point to comment on how pretty she
was, and she would always wrinkle her nose at him. This, time, though, she
gave the small smile of a person awaking from a peaceful slumber who had been
dreaming of someone they had cared for.
Ginny laid back on the warm grass and stretched. "What time is it?" she
asked Goyle, who checked his watch.
"Two thirty."
She sat straight up, looking around, a few blades of grass stuck in her
curly hair. "Gregory, is it really that late?" she asked as Goyle picked the
grass out of her flaming locks. He nodded to her, and she stood up, brushing
off her robes. "They'll be worrying about me," she said as she made herself
presentable.
Goyle looked at her questioningly. "Who will?" he asked, quite curious as
to who would care about where she was, if she claimed to be such an outcast.
Ginny shook her head. "Never you mind," she said. "The point is, I must
hurry back to the common room. They'll be wondering where I am!" After these
last words, she knelt down beside Goyle, and hesitated before leaning towards
him, and then leaning forward even farther and kissing him quickly. He looked
very shocked, and she kissed him again before saying breathlessly, "I must go
now. I'll talk to you later." With that, she had disappeared inside the
castle before he had the chance to say another word.
Ginny arrived in front of the fat lady within five minutes and quickly
said the password before hurrying inside. There, awaiting her arrival by the
fire sat the three people she feared most in her short life. Harry Potter,
Hermione Granger, and her brother, Ron Weasley.
Harry was the first to stand up and speak. "Where have you been, Ginny?
Why didn't you tell us you would be gone for so long? Who have you been with,
girl? Speak!" he shouted at her as she quivered by the wall.
Ron stepped up beside Harry. "Come on, Ginny. You heard the man. He wants
to know where you've been, so tell him!" Ginny's brother shouted angrily at
her.
"I-I fell asleep in the Library," she said, speaking the partial truth.
"I was studying for my Potions exam. It's going to be horrible this year- I
just know it is!"
Ginny's feeble explanation satisfied Hermione, one to always get a head
start on studying, but this was not enough for the great Harry Potter. "Exams
aren't until June!" he shouted. "It's only the beginning of March at this
moment!"
At that time, Hermione, the only one who had ever been kind to her came
up and touched Harry's arm. "Harry, you remember the fifth year Potions exam.
It was horrible, even for me. She has a good excuse."
Even though obviously Harry was not satisfied, he calmed down at the
touch of the one whom he loved. He put his arm around her and glared at
Ginny. "If you're so eager to get a head start on studying for your exam,
then how come you fell asleep?" he questioned her, a trace of anger still in
his voice.
"I-I was just so tired! I stayed up very late last night studying as
well, and then today I just drifted off. I'm so sorry, Harry, I really am. It
won't happen again."
Removing his arm from around Hermione, Harry walked up to Ginny, getting
right up in her face and spitting as he spoke. "Sorry's not enough, little
girl. And I'm not going to bother to take your word for it that it'll never
happen again. I'm going to make an image in your mind to make /i
that it'll never happen again!" And with that, he reached out with his hand
and slapped her. Ginny's head snapped to the side, her cheek growing cold
against the stone wall.
Harry took a couple of steps back to get a good look at her, and Ginny
used the room to slide down the wall to the floor, where she buried her face
in her knees. Ron and Hermione watched quietly as Harry kicked Ginny hard in
the shins while saying, "Come on, girl stand up! Receive your punishment like
a true woman!" When Ginny did not stand up, Harry grabbed a clump of her
fiery red hair, and yanked it up. Ginny screamed as she was pulled to her
feet. Harry, still holding onto her hair, got right up in her face and
whispered harshly, "The next time I tell you to get up, you get up.
Understood?" He demanded sharply.
Ginny did not answer, but merely sobbed quietly, her scalp burning where
he had pulled her hair. Harry yanked her hair again. As she yelped, he
growled, "I said, is that understood?" This time, the tears pouring down her
cheeks, Ginny nodded. Disgusted, Harry let go of her hair and pushed her
against her wall. There was a soft ithud /i as Ginny's head hit the stone
wall and she once again sank to the floor, this time unconscious.
wrapped around her legs which were tucked up close to her body. She was
sitting next to Goyle, who was leaning against "their" oak tree, and Ginny
confided in him how she had never had a real, true friend who wouldn't just
turn around and stab her in the back. She expected him to mock her, but
instead he nodded.
"I know exactly what you mean," he said rather sheepishly.
"You do?" Ginny gasped; she had never known that Gregory was in any
discontent with his Slytherin friends.
Nodding slowly, Goyle said, "Draco isn't really a friend; he's more of a
master than a friend to me. And Vincent, you know, Crabbe, he's too thick in
the head to understand when I talk about how lonely I get sometimes. Everyone
else thinks that I'm just as thick as Vincent and can't string two words
together. They never give me a chance."
Ginny mulled his words over while playing with her hair. "I guess
everyone just avoids me because they've known me for five years, and think
I'm a complete reject and social outcast. I don't mind really, I'd rather
have all those self-obsessed girls leave me alone than have them completely
ruin my life. They've already ruined it enough as it is with their horrible
gossip and false rumors. They don't understand what it's like to be me: the
younger sister of six wonderful and heroic and funny boys who came before me!
'Oh, it's just another Weasley,' they say. 'She'll be no trouble; marvelous
and perfect and just like her older brothers!' They don't consider whether or
not I /i to be like my brothers, they just automatically assume that
I do.
"Of course, it's not easy to follow right after Ron, best friend to the
ifamous, perfect/i Harry Potter. I don't even like Harry that much, he's
just my brother's best friend, so I have to be nice to him."
Goyle looked utterly confused. "I thought you-you had a crush on him..."
he said, his voice trailing off. Ginny had no idea how hard it was for him to
say that. To his relief, she merely laughed at the statement.
"Oh, Gregory! That was in my first year. I was young and impressionable;
I thought that anyone as good and famous as the great Harry Potter
/i be as wonderful as he was made out to be. But Gregory, he's
really not like that. He isn't like that at all! In real life, he's rude,
conceited, and all-around really mean to me. But Ginny's feelings don't
count, Ginny's only the daft younger sister of his best friend Ron. You know,
Gregory, I think Malfoy has quite a /i reason to hate Harry. There's
really not much of him that's likable at all, except for how famous he is,
and I don't blame anyone for being jealous of him for that! Why, Harry
doesn't very well ideserve /i to be famous, did you know that?"
Goyle had been leaning against a tree, sinking in every word she said.
When she finished her small speech, he blinked rapidly. "I really don't know
how Malfoy really feels about H- I mean, Potter. As I said before, he's more
of a master than a friend. Masters don't really confide in their servants-or
should I say slaves?"
Ginny was startled by the way that Goyle had spoken of Malfoy. "Why do
you say such a thing? I thought you and Crabbe were devoted to him or
something like that?" she asked inquisitively.
"Oh, no, Ginny. It is your turn to have the big misconception. For
generations and generations all of the Crabbes and Goyles to be something
like bodyguards to the Malfoys. Also, all of the Crabbes and Goyles follow
each Malfoy into the..." his voice trailed off suddenly, and he realized that
he had said too much.
"Into the what, Gregory?"
"I shouldn't have said that, Ginny. Forget I ever said that."
But Ginny couldn't help but feel curious. "Come on, Gregory, tell me. You
can trust me-you know that."
For the first time in their short friendship, Goyle turned nasty. "I told
you to forget it, Ginny, so forget it!"
Seeing the fierce look in his eyes, Ginny grew scared. "All right, all
right, no need to lose your temper there, Gregory," she joked, though inside
she was quaking at how rough he had been.
Goyle hung his head. "I'm sorry, Ginny," he murmured. "It's just
something few people would understand. I can't discuss it with anyone outside
my family. My family being the rest of the Goyles, the Crabbes, and the
Malfoys."
Ginny looked into Goyle eyes and saw in his deep brown orbs that he truly
was sorry. "It's all right," she said. "I was foolish to press the matter as
I did, I'm sorry as well. You really have nothing to be sorry about."
Goyle merely nodded, and somehow to his great surprise discovered that
Ginny's hand had entertwined itself with his. He looked at her, and she
smiled at him. He smiled back, and they both stared out towards the lake.
Ginny laid her head on his shoulder, and she whispered to him, "Please,
Gregory, stay my friend forever. I don't know what I would do without you."
It felt good to Goyle that he was needed, and it wasn't for help in
getting out of a good scrap. He smiled to himself as he said, "I'll be your
friend for forever and more."
His last three words were echoed off of Ginny's lips, "Forever and more."
Ginny awoke later that day to find that she had fallen asleep out on the
lawn, leaning against Goyle. She blinked her eyes open, and looked at her
best friend, who was writing furiously in his diary. As soon as he felt her
movement, Goyle shut the blue book and smiled at her. "Good afternoon,
sleeping beauty," he said, playfully teasing her. He knew she thought she
looked horrible, and he always made it a point to comment on how pretty she
was, and she would always wrinkle her nose at him. This, time, though, she
gave the small smile of a person awaking from a peaceful slumber who had been
dreaming of someone they had cared for.
Ginny laid back on the warm grass and stretched. "What time is it?" she
asked Goyle, who checked his watch.
"Two thirty."
She sat straight up, looking around, a few blades of grass stuck in her
curly hair. "Gregory, is it really that late?" she asked as Goyle picked the
grass out of her flaming locks. He nodded to her, and she stood up, brushing
off her robes. "They'll be worrying about me," she said as she made herself
presentable.
Goyle looked at her questioningly. "Who will?" he asked, quite curious as
to who would care about where she was, if she claimed to be such an outcast.
Ginny shook her head. "Never you mind," she said. "The point is, I must
hurry back to the common room. They'll be wondering where I am!" After these
last words, she knelt down beside Goyle, and hesitated before leaning towards
him, and then leaning forward even farther and kissing him quickly. He looked
very shocked, and she kissed him again before saying breathlessly, "I must go
now. I'll talk to you later." With that, she had disappeared inside the
castle before he had the chance to say another word.
Ginny arrived in front of the fat lady within five minutes and quickly
said the password before hurrying inside. There, awaiting her arrival by the
fire sat the three people she feared most in her short life. Harry Potter,
Hermione Granger, and her brother, Ron Weasley.
Harry was the first to stand up and speak. "Where have you been, Ginny?
Why didn't you tell us you would be gone for so long? Who have you been with,
girl? Speak!" he shouted at her as she quivered by the wall.
Ron stepped up beside Harry. "Come on, Ginny. You heard the man. He wants
to know where you've been, so tell him!" Ginny's brother shouted angrily at
her.
"I-I fell asleep in the Library," she said, speaking the partial truth.
"I was studying for my Potions exam. It's going to be horrible this year- I
just know it is!"
Ginny's feeble explanation satisfied Hermione, one to always get a head
start on studying, but this was not enough for the great Harry Potter. "Exams
aren't until June!" he shouted. "It's only the beginning of March at this
moment!"
At that time, Hermione, the only one who had ever been kind to her came
up and touched Harry's arm. "Harry, you remember the fifth year Potions exam.
It was horrible, even for me. She has a good excuse."
Even though obviously Harry was not satisfied, he calmed down at the
touch of the one whom he loved. He put his arm around her and glared at
Ginny. "If you're so eager to get a head start on studying for your exam,
then how come you fell asleep?" he questioned her, a trace of anger still in
his voice.
"I-I was just so tired! I stayed up very late last night studying as
well, and then today I just drifted off. I'm so sorry, Harry, I really am. It
won't happen again."
Removing his arm from around Hermione, Harry walked up to Ginny, getting
right up in her face and spitting as he spoke. "Sorry's not enough, little
girl. And I'm not going to bother to take your word for it that it'll never
happen again. I'm going to make an image in your mind to make /i
that it'll never happen again!" And with that, he reached out with his hand
and slapped her. Ginny's head snapped to the side, her cheek growing cold
against the stone wall.
Harry took a couple of steps back to get a good look at her, and Ginny
used the room to slide down the wall to the floor, where she buried her face
in her knees. Ron and Hermione watched quietly as Harry kicked Ginny hard in
the shins while saying, "Come on, girl stand up! Receive your punishment like
a true woman!" When Ginny did not stand up, Harry grabbed a clump of her
fiery red hair, and yanked it up. Ginny screamed as she was pulled to her
feet. Harry, still holding onto her hair, got right up in her face and
whispered harshly, "The next time I tell you to get up, you get up.
Understood?" He demanded sharply.
Ginny did not answer, but merely sobbed quietly, her scalp burning where
he had pulled her hair. Harry yanked her hair again. As she yelped, he
growled, "I said, is that understood?" This time, the tears pouring down her
cheeks, Ginny nodded. Disgusted, Harry let go of her hair and pushed her
against her wall. There was a soft ithud /i as Ginny's head hit the stone
wall and she once again sank to the floor, this time unconscious.