Cast Away
Chapter 6 ~ Dinner
In the Great Hall, Ginny met up with her friend since first year, Sigma Orionis. Sigma was a short, skinny girl with long, straight black hair. Her skin was almost white, absolutely clear of all freckles and spots. Her nails were rather long, and always painted a sparkling silver colour. She had dull brown eyes, which only lit up when she was in a very bad mood.
'Sigma!' Ginny ran up to her friend. Sigma had PSI, in other words, Personal Space Issues, which meant that she didn't like being touched, by anybody. So Ginny refrained from giving Sigma a hug. She came from a Muggle family, therefore Ginny was not able to see her during the holidays.
'Hello Ginny, I trust you had a lovely holidays?' Sigma didn't talk much. Her voice was whispy and hard to understand, so when she did talk, she said the right things.
'Oh, not too bad, my house was torn apart and put back together, nothing much else interesting happened.' Ginny told her. Sigma didn't say anything. 'Should we go get a seat at the Gryffindor Table?' Sigma nodded, so they went and took their seats at the table. Ginny sat next to Cassandra, the least prissy of the trio, Maria, Julia and Cassandra, and Sigma took her seat next to Ginny.
'She's weird,' Cassandra was saying to Julia and Maria, they obviously hadn't noticed Ginny and Sigma sit down. 'I don't know why they put her in Gryffindor, her brother is so much more normal than she is.'
What the hell is she talking about? Ginny thought to herself. She glanced at Sigma, she was off in her own world, her eyes glazed over, and she appeared to be staring into space.
'Who are you talking about, Cassy?' Ginny asked, looking at the three girls.
'No one,' Julia quickly said.
'Really? Someone who is weird, in Gryffindor, and has a brother, hmm, who might that be?' Ginny said sarcastically.
'Lighten up Ginny, we weren't talking about you.' Maria said impatiently from the other side of Julia. Ginny was about to say something, but her thoughts trailed off as Professor Dumbledore stood up and clapped his hands together for the student's attention.
'Welcome, welcome, to a new year at Hogwarts!' Applause rang through the Great Hall. 'Before I start anything, I would like to make the announcement of our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Alpha Antares, or just Professor Antares.' A youngish looking woman stood up. She had short blonde hair which was pulled up into a small pony tail on top of her head with parts of her hair falling out. Her eyes were blue, and she looked like a fun lady to have as a teacher.
'Oh she looks fun, we haven't had a female Defense teacher yet, well, one that was any good… I hope she's good!' Maria whispered.
'Hey, Parvati Patil's sister starts this year, hmm, what's her name again? Um, it's … I'll think of it in a second… Ptolemy Patil, that's the one. Mr and Mrs Patil must have a thing for names that start with "P".' Julia finished.
'But you said Tolemy? With a "T"?' Maria said with a confused look on her face.
'The "P" at the start is silent.' Julia said simply.
'Oh, okay then.'
'With that out of the way, Minerva may continue with the sorting ceremony.' Dumbledore said, and beckoned for McGonagall to fetch the first years.
Ginny sat through the sorting ceremony, not bothering to watch or even listen. Occasionally, she would glance over to Sigma and whisper something to her, but otherwise, Ginny sat in silence.
'Ooh, look, there's Ptolemy! Doesn't she look just like her sisters?' Julia cooed.
'She does look a lot like them,' Maria answered.
'Patil, Ptolemy,' Ptolemy walked up nervously and sat on the rickety stool. Professor McGonagall placed the sorting hat on the small girl's head.
'This should be good, seeing as Padma's in Ravenclaw, and Parvati's in Gryffindor.' Cassandra said.
'GRYFFINDOR!' The Sorting Hat called out.
'Another one,' Ginny sighed, she just wanted to eat and go up to her much missed bed at Hogwarts. She also missed being able to choose what she would eat that night, and was beginning to get quite hungry.
When the sorting ceremony finished, Ginny and Sigma followed Maria, Julia and Cassandra, for the small fact that Maria had the Gryffindor password, and neither Ginny nor Sigma knew it. Little did they know, that Maria, Julia and Cassandra weren't headed up to the Gryffindor common room yet. The three stratigically weaved their way through the crouds of people, finally assembling on the second floor at the Library.
'Are they coming?' Julia asked, peering out of the library and down the corridor. Ginny and Sigma pressed flat against the wall to avoid being seen.
'What are you two doing here?' A voice called out, Julia, Maria and Cassandra stepped around the corridor, and saw the situation. Phillip turned to the three girls, 'What are they doing here?'
'I think the question is, what are you two prefects doing here? You're supposed to be leading the first years up to the common room.' Ginny said to Phillip and Maria. The prefects exchanged worried glances and both bolted for the nearest staircase.
Drew looked at Cassandra and Julia, in hope they would be able to go somewhere else.
'Shouldn't you guys be getting back to the Gryffindor common room now? The password's Fiddlesticks.' Julia said, dismissing Sigma and Ginny.
'Thanks,' Ginny said shortly, and she led her friend away.
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~* Just a note, sorry that my chapters seem to be getting shorter, but not to worry. I just didn't have anything else I wanted to add to that chapter. The next one shouldn't be too far away, and it should be a lot longer. *~
purfectchild ~ I'm glad you liked Ginny in that chapter! She does seem happier now that she's with her friend Sigma, so her attitude should start getting better! Oh yeah, Draco coming! I think everyone's looking forward to his arival, which won't be disappointing! I hope you liked this chapter.
Jorrn716 ~ Thank you for your review, yes, it does seem appropriate for Ginny to be the forgotten one. They're at school, did you like the chapter? It will get better don't you stress. Ginny will get more self esteem now that she has Sigma to be there for her.
Darcy16 ~ Thankyou for reading! Yes, Ginny will be okay, it will all turn out good for her, eventually… lol. Tonks, well, I didn't like the way JK wrote her to be honest, she seemed too much like a Mary Sue, so I changed her character around a bit. Thank you for putting this story under your favourites, I hope this chapter was up quick enough, sorry about the length though.
Serpent of Light ~ I did have a good weekend, thank you! Yes, I have a lot of praise for Luckyducky7's story The Source, it's so good! If you can't find it, it's in my favourite stories. I'm writing this fiction fast so that it can catch up to all my others, so when it's about 25 chapters long, the chapters may not come out so fast!
HarryzBabe ~ Yeah, it is sad that her parents ignore her, I want people who read it to feel sorry for Ginny. I didn't want people expecting Tonks to be as she was in the books, I didn't like her character much, to Mary Sueish. Did you like this chapter? It was only dinner, and more evidence that Phillip, Drew, Julia, Maria & Cassandra have something going on. Ptolemy Patil will come up later, that's why I added her in as well.
kura52 ~ Oh Herm and Ron aren't so bad in later chapters, they're just annoyed because Ginny told them off at Grimmauld Place. I thought about what you said with Ginny having one best friend, and I created Sigma for the occasion! Yes, the Gryffindors in Ginny's year are not peachy, but they are capable of being sickly sweet if the occasion calls for it. Draco will make his flash appearance in the next chapter! Dum dum dum. I hope you liked this chapter.
rose petel ~ Sorry to disappoint you, but Draco didn't show up in this chapter, but don't you worry, he will be in the next one for sure!
SexySlytherinChick ~ Oh, sometimes Molly and Arthur are in character, but for the main time they appear, no, they're not in character. Ha! Tell Ron to bugger off, if you'd like I'll tone his arrogance down a little bit okay? Cool! I hope you liked this chapter.