A/N: In which Ginny makes a pact of sorts with another Slytherin, and several new teachers arrive.
Disclaimer: [insert random witticism about not owning HP characters here when caffeinated].
~*~
When Ginny left Draco's dormitory that night, she had made sure to pin her Prefect badge onto robes straightened with Neatening Charms. She had painstakingly charmed her hair smooth, and except for the dewy lips and the glimmer in her eyes, she looked... relatively normal. To the casual eye. She was just on Prefect rounds, of course... if anyone asked.
The list of the dead extended beyond Dean and Padma, and in the cold, dark hallways, Ginny shivered slightly. She could forget, for a time, with Draco. But only for a time, and it was still in the back of their minds. It was all wrong for them to be together like that...
It was chilling that her own Head of House was the only Head still alive, out of the ones she'd grown up knowing.
But even the studious Hermione couldn't quite focus on studies these days. Every day, several more empty seats not from the deaths created gaping holes in the silent long tables of the Great Hall. Students were being taken home by outraged and concerned parents. Others...
Draco had told her who the others were. Students like Millicent Bulstrode and Theodore Nott and Delano Moon... they had been out in the open. Bulstrode had been the one to hit Professor Sprout, who'd always been kind to her, with a Shaking hex that had sent the woman straight out the window of the tower she'd been keeping the young students in, in an effort to avoid the Death Eaters. Three first-years had been killed before a scrappy little Slytherin named Persephone Vafer had thrown a brick at Millicent's head, knocking her down and dazed. Then the rest of the tearful first-years had swarmed the large Slytherin girl, and had snatched her wand away.
Though many Death Eaters, student and non-student alike, had been apprehended, only too many more were still running loose. Voldemort had lost the terribly-gained ability to touch Harry again, but he was still alive. It was unfair...
Ginny was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost passed by a classroom that should be empty, completely unnoticing, but a few more muffled sounds from it caught her attention, and she silently pushed open the door.
And stared.
As Pansy Parkinson and Neville Longbottom, both wearing startled expressions, immediately straightened, the girl hastily buttoning up her blouse. For a few moments, no one spoke, the couple stunned at being discovered, and Ginny shocked at seeing just who they were.
And then, it was Pansy who spoke first. Despite the fact that her usually impeccable coiffure was mussed, and her tie dangling loosely over a blouse buttoned wrong... Despite the fact that her skirt had been rolled up to reveal lace garters on silk stockings... she still managed a perfect little sneer, and stood up straight, shoulders back, towering over Ginny on her high heeled shoes. "Here to take points from Slytherin, Weasley?"
Neville gave her a pleading look, and Ginny blinked slightly, before asking in a faint voice, "What... is going on?"
"What is going on," Pansy drawled, "Is ME..." she pointed at herself, "About to relieve Neville over there of a case of the tight trousers. Or, I would have, until YOU came along, and I DO have enough decorum not to continue doing so in your presence, as he might not like that."
"I... see," Ginny managed, eyeing the two. Neville... and PANSY!? But Pansy had one hand, almost protectively, on Neville's arm. The 7th year girl also had a perfectly plucked eyebrow raised in a challenging sort of look, as if daring Ginny to say something derogatory.
"And before you think of squealing, let's get some things out in the open," Pansy stood somewhat in front of Neville, giving him the chance to put his clothing in order with some privacy. "It would hurt YOU much more if I tell... than it would hurt ME if you did."
There was a defiant sort of urgency in Pansy's voice, and Ginny knew exactly what she was talking of. But the redheaded girl turned towards her housemate instead. "Neville?"
"It was my choice," Neville said quietly, his face solemn, "I'm..."
"Are you happy, then?"
"Is anyone happy now, with what's... gone on?" Neville asked rhetorically, "I almost wish SNAPE was back... just so..."
"Well, Snape... and the others... aren't going to come back," Pansy said harshly, "Now that it's been made QUITE apparent that anyone can die at any time, shall we move onto the part where we make the uneasy truce and keep each other's secrets in a mutually beneficial pact of survival and then TRY to be happy because that's exactly what the Dark Lord doesn't want?"
It was a curious echo of what Draco had tried to tell her earlier, when she was lying in his bed. Ginny gave the other girl a long look, and something... a curious sort of understanding, passed between their eyes. Slowly, the redhead nodded and held out a hand for the Slytherin to shake.
Pansy's lips quirked into an almost-smile. "I probably don't want to know where that hand's been, and what it has been doing, but..." She shook it briefly, "Now that you've been successfully traumatized, Weasley, back to your Common Room."
Ginny went, the odd encounter somehow making her feel a little better about everything.
~*~
One at a time, the classes started to resume. On Monday morning, a somewhat tired Ginny looked up at the staff table... to see a very familiar face, sitting next to Professor McGonagall. Angelina Johnson, who'd usually worn a smile in Ginny's recollection, was looking rather solemn as she discussed something or another with her former Head of House, a thick sheaf of parchments in her hand. When Ginny caught her eye, the former Gryffindor Chaser gave the girl a wan smile, and Ginny smiled back, wondering what Angelina was doing here...
And then Dumbledore, his face still pale and thin with the evidence of the recent battle, stood up and gave a short speech... and then they had a Charms instructor again.
Solan Montague arrived two days later, for Potions. And with that post, the duty of running Slytherin House also fell upon the young man's shoulders. Most of the Slytherins welcomed this former captain back with warily open arms. It was the most divided and secretive house after all, and Montague seemed content to keep his own counsel as far as the war and which side he supported was concerned. He spoke to Draco and Ginny, the Potions tutors, briefly one evening, giving them civil if rather quiet thanks for their endeavours to keep the students on task after the battle. And when Ginny remarked to Draco, much later and in private, that he seemed different from the haughty-seeming Slytherin Chaser of his school days, Draco shrugged.
"I don't think that Montague has changed any more than any of the rest of us... but that doesn't say anything."
Or perhaps Montague HAD changed. Ginny watched the young man talk with Angelina at the high table, as the two sat next to each other for breakfast a few days later. He listened to whatever it was that Angelina was saying... and he was even smiling.
No different from herself and Draco, though... and she didn't even think that their new Charms and Potions instructors had gone nearly that far. That morning, there were two more new faces at the staff table, both of them Ravenclaws. Cho Chang, who had only left last year, was now the youngest staff member, and there was a flying instructor again. The Ravenclaws gave their former Seeker a smile, and Cho promised, in a brave sort of voice, to be a responsible and caring Head of House. And by her side, a cast on one of his arms half-hidden by his sleeve, was Roger Davies. A young Auror of twenty-one, with a too-old look in his dark blue eyes.
Roger Davies would only be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and replacing the deceased Professor Lloyd who'd taught them til then... until his wounds had healed, and then he would have to go back to active duty. Dumbledore explained this to everyone else, who all nodded and gave Professor Davies small, strained smiles.
And Ginny noticed that Cho's smile was the most strained of all.
Disclaimer: [insert random witticism about not owning HP characters here when caffeinated].
~*~
When Ginny left Draco's dormitory that night, she had made sure to pin her Prefect badge onto robes straightened with Neatening Charms. She had painstakingly charmed her hair smooth, and except for the dewy lips and the glimmer in her eyes, she looked... relatively normal. To the casual eye. She was just on Prefect rounds, of course... if anyone asked.
The list of the dead extended beyond Dean and Padma, and in the cold, dark hallways, Ginny shivered slightly. She could forget, for a time, with Draco. But only for a time, and it was still in the back of their minds. It was all wrong for them to be together like that...
It was chilling that her own Head of House was the only Head still alive, out of the ones she'd grown up knowing.
But even the studious Hermione couldn't quite focus on studies these days. Every day, several more empty seats not from the deaths created gaping holes in the silent long tables of the Great Hall. Students were being taken home by outraged and concerned parents. Others...
Draco had told her who the others were. Students like Millicent Bulstrode and Theodore Nott and Delano Moon... they had been out in the open. Bulstrode had been the one to hit Professor Sprout, who'd always been kind to her, with a Shaking hex that had sent the woman straight out the window of the tower she'd been keeping the young students in, in an effort to avoid the Death Eaters. Three first-years had been killed before a scrappy little Slytherin named Persephone Vafer had thrown a brick at Millicent's head, knocking her down and dazed. Then the rest of the tearful first-years had swarmed the large Slytherin girl, and had snatched her wand away.
Though many Death Eaters, student and non-student alike, had been apprehended, only too many more were still running loose. Voldemort had lost the terribly-gained ability to touch Harry again, but he was still alive. It was unfair...
Ginny was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost passed by a classroom that should be empty, completely unnoticing, but a few more muffled sounds from it caught her attention, and she silently pushed open the door.
And stared.
As Pansy Parkinson and Neville Longbottom, both wearing startled expressions, immediately straightened, the girl hastily buttoning up her blouse. For a few moments, no one spoke, the couple stunned at being discovered, and Ginny shocked at seeing just who they were.
And then, it was Pansy who spoke first. Despite the fact that her usually impeccable coiffure was mussed, and her tie dangling loosely over a blouse buttoned wrong... Despite the fact that her skirt had been rolled up to reveal lace garters on silk stockings... she still managed a perfect little sneer, and stood up straight, shoulders back, towering over Ginny on her high heeled shoes. "Here to take points from Slytherin, Weasley?"
Neville gave her a pleading look, and Ginny blinked slightly, before asking in a faint voice, "What... is going on?"
"What is going on," Pansy drawled, "Is ME..." she pointed at herself, "About to relieve Neville over there of a case of the tight trousers. Or, I would have, until YOU came along, and I DO have enough decorum not to continue doing so in your presence, as he might not like that."
"I... see," Ginny managed, eyeing the two. Neville... and PANSY!? But Pansy had one hand, almost protectively, on Neville's arm. The 7th year girl also had a perfectly plucked eyebrow raised in a challenging sort of look, as if daring Ginny to say something derogatory.
"And before you think of squealing, let's get some things out in the open," Pansy stood somewhat in front of Neville, giving him the chance to put his clothing in order with some privacy. "It would hurt YOU much more if I tell... than it would hurt ME if you did."
There was a defiant sort of urgency in Pansy's voice, and Ginny knew exactly what she was talking of. But the redheaded girl turned towards her housemate instead. "Neville?"
"It was my choice," Neville said quietly, his face solemn, "I'm..."
"Are you happy, then?"
"Is anyone happy now, with what's... gone on?" Neville asked rhetorically, "I almost wish SNAPE was back... just so..."
"Well, Snape... and the others... aren't going to come back," Pansy said harshly, "Now that it's been made QUITE apparent that anyone can die at any time, shall we move onto the part where we make the uneasy truce and keep each other's secrets in a mutually beneficial pact of survival and then TRY to be happy because that's exactly what the Dark Lord doesn't want?"
It was a curious echo of what Draco had tried to tell her earlier, when she was lying in his bed. Ginny gave the other girl a long look, and something... a curious sort of understanding, passed between their eyes. Slowly, the redhead nodded and held out a hand for the Slytherin to shake.
Pansy's lips quirked into an almost-smile. "I probably don't want to know where that hand's been, and what it has been doing, but..." She shook it briefly, "Now that you've been successfully traumatized, Weasley, back to your Common Room."
Ginny went, the odd encounter somehow making her feel a little better about everything.
~*~
One at a time, the classes started to resume. On Monday morning, a somewhat tired Ginny looked up at the staff table... to see a very familiar face, sitting next to Professor McGonagall. Angelina Johnson, who'd usually worn a smile in Ginny's recollection, was looking rather solemn as she discussed something or another with her former Head of House, a thick sheaf of parchments in her hand. When Ginny caught her eye, the former Gryffindor Chaser gave the girl a wan smile, and Ginny smiled back, wondering what Angelina was doing here...
And then Dumbledore, his face still pale and thin with the evidence of the recent battle, stood up and gave a short speech... and then they had a Charms instructor again.
Solan Montague arrived two days later, for Potions. And with that post, the duty of running Slytherin House also fell upon the young man's shoulders. Most of the Slytherins welcomed this former captain back with warily open arms. It was the most divided and secretive house after all, and Montague seemed content to keep his own counsel as far as the war and which side he supported was concerned. He spoke to Draco and Ginny, the Potions tutors, briefly one evening, giving them civil if rather quiet thanks for their endeavours to keep the students on task after the battle. And when Ginny remarked to Draco, much later and in private, that he seemed different from the haughty-seeming Slytherin Chaser of his school days, Draco shrugged.
"I don't think that Montague has changed any more than any of the rest of us... but that doesn't say anything."
Or perhaps Montague HAD changed. Ginny watched the young man talk with Angelina at the high table, as the two sat next to each other for breakfast a few days later. He listened to whatever it was that Angelina was saying... and he was even smiling.
No different from herself and Draco, though... and she didn't even think that their new Charms and Potions instructors had gone nearly that far. That morning, there were two more new faces at the staff table, both of them Ravenclaws. Cho Chang, who had only left last year, was now the youngest staff member, and there was a flying instructor again. The Ravenclaws gave their former Seeker a smile, and Cho promised, in a brave sort of voice, to be a responsible and caring Head of House. And by her side, a cast on one of his arms half-hidden by his sleeve, was Roger Davies. A young Auror of twenty-one, with a too-old look in his dark blue eyes.
Roger Davies would only be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and replacing the deceased Professor Lloyd who'd taught them til then... until his wounds had healed, and then he would have to go back to active duty. Dumbledore explained this to everyone else, who all nodded and gave Professor Davies small, strained smiles.
And Ginny noticed that Cho's smile was the most strained of all.