Ginny waited until the other girls left for the Great Hall the next morning before she pulled her bedcurtains aside. She fished her schedule out of the pocket of her robes and squinted at the parchment. Herbology first, with the Hufflepuffs. Ginny scrambled to get ready, knowing that her laziness this morning might negate her chances at breakfast. In her haste, she nearly fell down the stairs to the Common Room, earning some strange looks from the Gryffindors that were lounging there.
Once in the hallways, she had to be more careful. If a teacher saw her running, she might waste precious minutes being lectured. Barely avoiding the missing stairs, she plunged down staircases and through corridors, clutching her book bag to her chest. As she neared the Great Hall, she heard a door behind her open. Glancing back, she had a brief view of Professor Flitwick disappearing into a room before she felt herself collide with something very alive.
Someone's hands grabbed her arms to keep her up, but her books slid out of her grip and onto the floor. Ginny whipped her head around, and her forehead collided with a pointy chin. "Weasley," said a cold voice, and Ginny tried to pull away, glaring at Draco Malfoy's smug face. Malfoy's hands gripped Ginny's arms as she struggled, and Crabbe and Goyle closed in, treading on Ginny's books as they did so.
"Let me go, Malfoy," she spat, trying to wrench out of his grasp. She glanced at Malfoy's cronies, then met his eyes again. "Let go!"
"Am I scaring you, Weasley?" Malfoy drawled, "Are you scared?"
"No, Tom," whispered Ginny as her stuggles lessened, her eyes suddenly clouding with tears.
"What did you call me?" Malfoy demanded. He didn't wait for an answer. Shoving her to the floor, he nodded to his followers. "Come on. It's not worth our time."
Ginny stared at the three retreating black robes. IWhat had she called him? Tom?/I As she gathered up her books, she told herself once again that Tom Riddle was gone. And yet, for a fleeting moment there in the hallway, he had been back.
Ginny stood, her books gathered and her hope of breakfast gone, and wandered off to the greenhouses. She wasn't really hungry anymore, anyway.