Title: Ginny From the Block

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything...

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Chapter One: Getting Settled
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An hour later Ginny found herself following the same regal lady, whom she now knew to be the Head Mistress Professor Snow, into the Sunstone Great Hall. The students were just getting seated for Dinner. Ginny stayed close to Professor Snow as instructed. Professor Snow had explained that she would be introduced to the school and sorted by their Sorting Hat into the house she would be a part of for the duration of her time at Sunstone. It was all pretty familiar ground for Ginny so she just smiled and did as she had been told.

Ginny noticed the curiosity of several of the students as she passed them on her way to the front of the hall with Prof. Snow. She smiled at them and nodded but continued going. Finally Prof. Snow reached the head table. She stood before it and waited for everyone's attention. As one of the other teachers called everyone to order Prof. Snow began to speak.

"Good evening students. Tonight we welcome a new student to your ranks." She motioned for Ginny to come stand beside her. "Her name is Miss Ginny Weasely and she comes to us in her fourth year from our brother school of Hogwarts in England."

Several whispered conversations broke out at that announcement. Hogwarts was an extremely popular and acclaimed school among witches and wizards. It didn't hurt that the Head Master Prof. Dumbledore was the most powerful wizard alive.

Professor Snow waited for the voices to die out again before she continued. "Miss Weasely will now be sorted by our Sorting Hat and placed among her house."

Prof. Snow motioned to the side and Ginny saw a male professor that looked to be in his early forties step forward holding a cushion with the Sorting Hat (almost identical to Hogwarts') on top. He handed the hat gently off to Prof. Snow and then retook a seat at the head table.

Prof. Snow motioned again to Ginny. She pointed her towards a stool that magically appeared beside the older woman. Ginny took it hesitantly. She knew that Sunstone had four houses just like Hogwarts, but she had no idea if any were better or worse like Gryffindor or Slytherin.

"Hmm..." The Hat began to speak and Ginny was reminded of her sorting her first year at Hogwarts. She grinned at the memory. "Much to work with here...many thoughts...many many things...bravery and courage abound...always out to help a friend and right a wrong...not very hard at all..." The Hat paused. "Any preference?"

Ginny smirked. "Well, since you don't have an actual Slytherin? Not really." She heard a muffled sound and looked up at Prof. Snow. She could have sworn the woman was laughing.

The Hat chuckled a bit as well. "I'll have to agree with my brother Hat...WHITEHORN!"

The hall erupted into cheers and every student at the middle table on the left stood and began clapping. Ginny smiled widely and followed Prof. Snow to her new table.

Prof. Snow stopped near the beginning of the table before a very pretty girl with long brown hair with blonde streaks and a huge smile. The girl's beautiful blue eyes twinkled at her. "Hi."

Prof Snow smiled. "Ginny, I would like you to meet your new roommate Dawn. Dawn, this is Ginny Weasely."

Since Prof. Snow explained that at Sunstone all students only shared dorms with one other person that didn't surprise Ginny. What did was that it almost seemed Prof. Snow had known Dawn would end up Ginny's roommate, and therefore had known which house Ginny would get.

Ginny's eyes widened as she met Prof. Snow's knowing gaze. "You knew."

Prof. Snow shrugged and even that movement looked smooth and regal. "I had my suspicions."

"Let me guess..." Ginny smiled. "The equivalent of Gryffindor?" Prof. Snow nodded with a grin and then left Ginny to get acquainted with her new roommate. Ginny and Dawn quickly took seats at the Whitehorn table and set out to get to know each other.

"So..." Dawn smiled. "You're new, right?" At Ginny's nod, Dawn continued. "Well, so am I. This is actually my first year at ANY witchcraft and wizardry school. I just went to normal schools before now."

Ginny's eyes widened. "Really? Why?"

"Didn't know I was a witch..." Dawn explained. "Though my sister would swear she's always known." Her eyes twinkled. "It's actually a really long story, but the point is that I only showed up on the lists towards the end of school last year. They had me take a million and one makeup classes this summer, and although I'm still going to be a year behind where I should be...here I am!"

"A year behind?" Ginny asked.

"Oh," Dawn shrugged. "I'm sixteen so technically I should be a Sixth Year, but I'm in Fifth instead."

"Oh, okay." Ginny nodded. "That's still pretty good for someone who's just getting started."

Dawn smirked. "Just getting started is an understatement. I didn't even know there WERE schools of witchcraft and wizardry. When I got the letter we were going to turn down the offer, but then Willow went on and on about it being such a huge honor. Then we found out Sunstone is right outside my home town, so I can go visit anytime I want."

"Who's Willow?" Ginny questioned her. She knew she was asking quite a lot of questions but Dawn didn't seem to mind.

"She's my friend." Dawn told her. "She's a witch too...but a different kind of witch. She didn't know anything about special schools either, but when I got the letter she looked it all up on the net and now she's like the expert or something."

Okay, different kind of witch? Net? Which question to ask first. Ginny was beginning to think this was going to be a long night. She took a deep breath and dove on in.

Three hours later, Ginny felt as if her brain might explode. It was just quite impossible for a normal brain to take in this much information in such a short span of time.

Dawn had explained first about her strange little makeshift family of her sister's friends, then about how she'd grown up and how she came to attend Sunstone, then about everything she knew about Sunstone, then all about her hometown which was apparently only two or so minutes outside the Sunstone Grounds (Sunstone was hidden from muggles by mystical barriers), then finally about everything that had happened in the last two weeks (first weeks of the term) of school. Now Dawn was once again going over the Sunstone basics with Ginny.

"...and the other houses are Buckwood, Wolfstone, and Hawkthorne."

Ginny nodded as she pieced together the information she remembered. "Whitehorn's are known for bravery and courage like Gryffindors, Buckwood is loyal and true like Hufflepuff, Wolfstone has all the brains like Ravenclaw, and Hawkthorne has the deceitful little snakes like Slytherin."

"That about covers it." Dawn smiled. "Though I don't actually know those other houses so I can't be sure."

"I know them...they fit." Ginny grinned. "So what was this about free weekend nights?"

"Oh..." Dawn's smile widened. "On Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays we are free to leave the grounds and only have a midnight curfew. That means we can head into Sunnydale and hang at The Bronze." Dawn paused. "Or...I can head home or on patrol with Buffy..."

"Patrol?" Ginny frownd confused. She was confused on a lot of that actually, but that word stuck out.

"Oh...uh..." Dawn bit her lip. "My...uh...my sister Buffy likes to walk around town at night and she calls it her patrol. No big deal." Dawn assured her, but Ginny wasn't really buying it. She'd have to look into that.

Seeing how nervous Dawn was, Ginny decided to change subjects slightly. "But you mean...they actually let us leave the grounds anytime we want on weekends? They just let us visit this town? It is like Hogsmeade?"

"Hogsmeade is that magical town, right?" Dawn asked and Ginny nodded. "Then no. Sunnydale is just a muggle town. It's my hometown, but we can go every weekend if we want. They suggest we don't go alone, but anyone over third year has the priviledge."

"But what if someone does magic by mistake or something?" Ginny couldn't believe they just let students stumble through a muggle town.

Dawn, surprisingly, threw back her head and laughed. "Oh, I wouldn't sweat that. You'd just be another gang member on PCP."

"Huh?" Ginny frowned more confused.

"Inside joke." Dawn explained. "It just means that people will ignore the things they can't explain. They are COMPLETELY clueless." She shrugged. "Besides, from what I can tell most of the students here grew up in muggle towns and those who didn't basically stick to the school on weekends and don't go to Sunnydale. It's really funny because I thought everyone would want to get out and go."

Ginny certainly planned on checking out this muggle town, but she still understood the other student's hesitation. "Maybe they're afraid?"

Dawn got a strange look in her eyes. "Maybe they're smarter than I gave them credit for." She then immediately seemed to snap down some guard on that topic. She quickly found another one. "So...what about you? Why did you come to Sunstone anyway? I heard Hogwarts is the best witchcraft and wizardry school in the world."

That made Ginny bite her lip and start to figet. "Well...partially I really needed a fresh start and I wanted to find my way out of my brother's shadow. I've always just kind of been the extra little Weasely and...I didn't want to be that anymore. I wanted to be someone of my own. I guess, I wanted to find myself a bit."

"And the real reason?" Dawn's gaze was entirely too knowing.

Ginny felt her face heat. "I had this crush...for a long time really...on my brother's best friend. Well, I sort of still do have it actually, but...I have or had recently started to develop another crush...and this one was DECIDEDLY unhealthy."

"Unhealthy for who?" Dawn's gaze turned concerned.

"The world as we know it." Ginny smirked. "It's a really long and confusing story...maybe another time?"

Dawn nodded. "Definitely. We'll have to trade secrets."

Ginny smiled widely and geniunely. She REALLY liked Dawn and she was really starting to believe that they could be great friends. This day had ended even better than she could have hoped. Life was looking up...