Chapter Ten

I'm On My Way to Misery and Happiness Today

Ginny sat quietly in her compartment of the Hogwarts train, staring out at the window. Droplets of water splashed against the pane as it rained heavily outside. Ginny couldn't ever remember a time when it had rained during the send-off to Hogwarts but it was London, after all. The weather was usually rotten.

Ginny sighed and stretched her arms out, leaning back into the seat. Cases and pet carry boxes surrounded her as she savoured her last few moments of privacy and solitude before the rest of the group returned. Ron and Hermione had to help shepherd the first years on board, and Harry was trailing after them. Luna was nowhere to be seen and none of the other Gryffindors had bothered to pop their heads in to say hello. Her brow furrowed and she settled deeper into her bad mood. She opened her carry bag, taking out the book she was reading. Men Are From Mars... Women Are From Venus. It hadn't been much else but amusing so far. Funny ideas that Muggles have about themselves.

She turned a page as the door to the compartment slid open and Harry burst in.

"Ginny!" he smiled exuberantly at her. "Hello!"

Ginny glanced at him, surprised. He'd already greeted her at the train station, albeit less enthusiastically. "Uh... hi again, Harry."

"Wotcha reading?" he asked companionably, sitting next to her.

"A Muggle book," she answered him, closing it and putting it back in her bag before he could see the title. She didn't need him to tease her about that, of all things. "What're you doing back in here?"

Harry pretended to be affronted. "Well, I had planned to sit in here for the whole journey, you know!" he laughed.

Ginny smiled politely. Yeah, with Ron and Hermione so you can all chat away happily and aimlessly while I sit here and pine away for you.

"Fair enough," Ginny replied, glancing away from him to look back out at the window. "Is the train nearly ready to go?"

As if in response to her question, the already-humming engine spluttered and revved higher. A loud screeching noise was heard as the brakes were released, and the train started moving slowly away from the platform.

"Oh," Ginny murmured. "I guess that answers the question."

Harry had been inching along the seat toward Ginny while she gazed out of the window. He loved the way that her hair sat on her shoulders. He was leaning closer and closer to it when the sliding door opened. Abruptly, he moved back. Ginny hadn't noticed.

"Harry!" Ron came in, beaming and red-faced with exertion. "Gawd, those first years have got some luggage between 'em, haven't they? Jeez!" He flopped onto the seat next to them. "I reckon I must have carried fifty tons of darned socks in carry bags!"

"Slight exaggeration," Hermione amended as she came in behind him. She sat down next to Ron and smiled excitedly at Ginny. "Isn't it great that we're back on our way again?"

"Sure is," Ginny said, trying to smile.

"It's fantastic!" Harry agreed. "I was going out of my mind all summer. Can't believe the time for freedom has arrived!"

"Freedom?" Ron mocked him.

Harry flushed. "Well, at least I'll be allowed out of my room at Hogwarts," he said. Ron laughed.

"One day, I swear, Harry... those Muggles won't know what hit them," he said, his expression turning serious. "When we're Aurors... we'll go and show 'em who's boss."

Harry shrugged. "I'd rather just not see them again, y'know?"

"Oh yeah," Ron said, nodding. "That's fair enough too, Harry. Hey. HEY!" he bellowed. "NEVILLE! WE'RE IN HERE, MATE!"

Neville poked his head around the door worriedly. "Oh, there you are!" he said in relief. "I thought I could hear someone calling out."

"Calling out?" Hermione asked sweetly. "Or shouting loud enough to be heard at the South Pole?" She rubbed her ear ruefully, glaring at Ron, who grinned, his enthusiasm obvious. He leaned over and poked her in the stomach, tickling her.

"Poor 'Mione," Ron said teasingly as Hermione laughed helplessly.

Neville regarded the pair unblinkingly. "Well," he said at last, "Guess I won't interrupt that little interlude." He turned around and started dragging in a big trunk. "Can yer give me a hand, Harry?" he puffed.

Harry got up and helped Neville maneuver his trunk into the overhead locker, stepping on Ginny's toe in the process and not noticing.

"Thanks!" Neville grunted and sat down next to Ginny. "How's it going, Gin?"

Her toe smarting, Ginny blinked back the tears threatening to spill over. She swallowed thickly and smiled at Neville. "Fine, thanks, Nev. How was your summer?"

"Oh, yeah, really good!" Neville said. "Gran took me to see this awesome toad exhibition in London! We saw all these really fantastic toads. There's so many different species! I think Trevor got a bit jealous of all the attention I was giving them, weren't you, Trevvy?"

Ginny jumped as Neville pulled his toad out of the pocket closest to her. "Oh, sorry," Neville said, frowning at her reaction. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"It doesn't matter," Ginny said. She tuned out of the conversation and resumed her gazing out of the window at the rolling countryside whizzing by the window. She couldn't remember ever taking so much notice of the coloured patterns of the summer trees. Green, yellow, green, yellow, green, green, a hint of orange, green, green... She sighed softly as she saw the miles outstretched before her. Ages to go.