Thankyou for all the reviews, people! 51!!!!! They are all really encouraging, and so far I haven't had any flames, which makes me incredibly relieved.

BTW, the 'v' in Sabine's speech means 'w'.

Sorry I couldn't put this up earlier, but ff.net was down for AGES, and so I had to wait.

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING from the Harry Potter universe. Everything belongs to the great goddess of that world, JK Rowling.

Chapter 3-

Back to School

Ginny couldn't get back to sleep that night. Apart from the fact that the bruises ached, she was scared. Why had Virginia's bruises appeared on her? Did they share a bond?

Ginny idly wondered whether her injuries would appear on dream-Virginia. However, Ginny wasn't about to harm herself just to see if they did.

Her mind turned to school. The holidays were almost over, and soon it would be time to board the Hogwarts Express. Ginny didn't want to go back to Hogwarts. After the Chamber of Secrets 'incident', she had been shunned and looked down upon by most of the student population, many of whom thought that she was either tainted, Voldemort's servant, or just a plain freak.

She had no friends except the Dream Team, and they always seemed to wrapped up in themselves to notice her most of the time. Ron treated her as a little sister who had to be protected, Harry, as the annoying girl who used to have a crush on him, and Hermione . . . well, Hermione was a bit better than the other two. She helped Ginny with her schoolwork, and listened to problems, but Ginny knew that she wasn't really a friend; she was more like a sister or a tutor.

Ginny usually threw herself into her schoolwork. She wasn't naturally a brilliant student; she just studied so much that her grades HAD to be high.

Looking at the clock on the wall, Ginny buried her face in the pillow. It was only four-thirty in the morning. Turning on the light, she grasped the book next to her and began to read. It was by a Muggle author; Ginny had gone back to the library and borrowed some books. To her surprise, many of them had been quite good. She loved Shakespeare, especially 'Hamlet' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.

However, the book she was reading now was rather boring. It was 'Bleak House', by Charles Dickens, and she found it hard to read. She couldn't understand the language he used, and nothing seemed to happen to Esther, the main character at the moment.

After an hour, she put the book down. Esther Summerson can go hang, she thought tiredly as she picked up another book, this time 'The Dark is Rising', by Susan Cooper. This book was much more to her liking than 'Bleak House', and until seven o'clock she remained immersed in the battle between good and evil.

~~~~~~

"The last time I'll be seeing you off, Ron," Mrs Weasley said, her voice muffled with tears, "You're all grown up!" She swept Ron into a giant, bone-crunching hug and turned to Hermione and Harry. Ron was being thumped on the back by his father, to help the circulation in his body come back.

Ginny grinned, but then her expression turned to one of surprise (mingled with horror) as Mrs Weasley turned on her. "Mum!" she hissed, "I'm sixteen."

"Remember to write as soon as you get there," Mrs Weasley ignored her protests as she gave Ginny a hug, "and be a good girl."

Mrs Weasley gave her a kiss on the cheek, and then waved her onto the Hogwarts Express.

Ginny sighed, and following the dream team to a carriage, plonked her gear on an empty seat.

Ron turned to her in surprise. "Ginny, what are you doing?"

Ginny stared.

He continued, "This is our carriage, and you know, it's our last year, and. . ." he finished lamely.

"I understand," Ginny whispered, and taking her stuff back, she walked out the door, and closed it behind her. She sank against the wall. Even the Dream Team didn't want her any more.

She could feel tears threatening to escape her eyes, and wiping a hand over them, began to search for another carriage, preferably empty.

Suddenly a voice close to her ear made her jump. "Well, well, if it isn't the Weasel's little sister. All alone, are we?" Ginny turned, and found herself looking into the steel-grey eyes of Draco Malfoy, which were currently sparkling in glee.

"Nice to see you haven't changed during the summer, Malfoy," Ginny said, narrowing her eyes. "Could you please let me pass?"

Draco ignored her. "Been crying, have you, little weasel?" he said, noticing her red-rimmed eyes. "Finally realised nobody likes you?"

"Let me pass, Malfoy," Ginny repeated, before pulling something out of her pocket and pinning it on her jumper. "I'm a prefect, you know, and if you don't move I shall take points off Slytherin."

She waited, expecting to see Malfoy move. Instead a slow smile crept across his face. "Is that so, little weasel? I didn't know a prefect could take points off the Head Boy," and reaching into his robes pulled out his Head Boy badge.

Ginny stared at it in amazement. Draco Malfoy? The Slytherin bully, a future Death Eater- is Head Boy?

Grinning at her, Malfoy turned on his heel and left, his robes following him like faithful dogs (or like Crabbe and Goyle).

Still blushing at how she had made a fool of herself, Ginny opened a carriage door and looked in. Four girls were sitting in it, her year mates in Gryffindor. Sarah, Liz, and Vera didn't like her much, and they made sure that she knew it. Sabine, the fourth girl, had come in third year, so she didn't really understand why everyone disliked Ginny. This was why Ginny liked Sabine the best out of all the girls in her year.

"Oh, Ginny!" Sarah, one of the girls in the carriage who was playing Exploding Snap started. Her partner, Liz, said nothing. Vera just turned up her nose and continued to look out the window.

The last girl, who was sitting in the corner, reading a book, looked up. "Salut, Ginny," she said brightly. "Vant to sit here?"

Ginny nodded shyly, placed her trunk in the rack above their heads, sat down next to the girl and pulled out her own book, 'Ivanhoe'.

"How were your holidays, Sabine?" Ginny asked the French girl timidly.

Sabine beamed. "Magnifique! Ve vent to ze beach, and ve shopped and," she lifted her hands in the air, "so vuch, ve did! Vhat did you do, Ginny?"

"Oh, nothing really," Ginny said, not wanting to tell Sabine about the dream-people. She changed the subject. "What are you reading?"

Sabine blew a wisp of brown hair off her head. "Ze textbook for Potions." She made a face. "Eet is boring."

"Yeah," Ginny agreed. "I'm reading 'Ivanhoe'." Sabine looked blank.

"It's about a knight called Ivanhoe who entered tournaments," she said, not really in the mood for exaggerating.

"Interesting." Was all Sabine managed to say.

Ginny bent over her book again and began to read, though she wasn't processing the words. All she could think of was Draco Malfoy, and how much he looked like Wilfred Malfoy. And, according to the Dream Team, he had an attitude like Wilfred too.

He hadn't seemed THAT bad to her, Ginny contemplated, except for the comment about no one liking her. Of course, that was really the only time he had ever spoken personally to her.

Ginny's eyelids started to fall, and giving a yawn, she fell asleep over her book.

~~~~~~~

After the beginning of the year feast, it was Ginny's job to escort the First Years up to Gryffindor Tower. After that job was done, she was free to do whatever she wanted until curfew.

Ginny decided to go to the library, and research her dream-people, after all, if they were witches and wizards, there was surely to be something in the library about them. And if not. . . well, she could always look up why Virginia's bruises appeared on her neck.

The library was quite a walk from Gryffindor Tower, and Ginny soon began to think of other things. Busy wondering about whether Gryffindor were going to win the cup or not, Ginny wasn't looking where she was going, and she got quite a shock when she collided with someone's chest.

"Watch where you're going, Weasel," came a familiar drawl, as Malfoy's face came into focus.

"Why don't you watch where you're going," Ginny snapped back.

Malfoy scowled. "Don't you know that you are traipsing the hallways outside of curfew?"

Ginny sighed. "It isn't ten-thirty yet, Malfoy," she answered, annoyed.

His eyes gleamed. "I can assure you, Weasel, that it is indeed ten-thirty."

Ginny looked quickly at her watch. He was right. She cursed under her breath. It must've taken longer than she thought to put the first years to bed.

"As Head Boy," Malfoy continued, "I feel it is my duty to take twenty points off Gryffindor."

Ginny groaned.

"Have a good night, Weasel," he said, smirking, as he swept past her.

It was then that Ginny realised he had come from the direction of the library. Maybe he was just finishing off homework. Maybe.

That night Draco Malfoy, Head Boy, Slytherin Quidditch Team Captain, and unarguably one of the most hated Slytherins in the school, had a dream, just like he had almost every night for the past few weeks.

The blonde man was standing in front of two people who Draco recognised from other dreams before this one. They were blonde too.

"Must I, Father?" the son said in a drawl.

His father nodded curtly. "Relationships with the girl's family are strained at the moment, Wilfred. This marriage will help things considerably."

"She is supposed to be quite pretty," Wilfred's mother ventured, "It is not as if you are marrying a hag."

Wilfred gave an exaggerated sigh, sweeping his arms wide. "If it's for the honour of our family, then, Father, I suppose I must do it." Suddenly he smirked. Draco could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

"You may leave now, Wilfred," his father commanded. Wilfred bowed, and then left.

Draco felt himself drawn by an irresistible force to Wilfred, and so he followed as the other man made his way through what looked like a manor.

Draco peered into the rooms that they passed. They were all expensively furnished. Wilfred stopped, and Draco realised with a start that they were in the servant's quarters.

Wilfred moved over to talk to one of the servants that had rushed up to him, and Draco strained to hear what they were saying. He could only catch parts of it.

". . . don't say. . . take the body and dispose. . . don't want to marry. . . never tell. . ."

The other man kept nodding at frequent intervals while he listened to Wilfred's instructions. Draco recognised him from a previous dream. He thought that the servant was probably Wilfred's most trusted, as he seemed to be used a lot.

Wilfred ended his conversation, and started to walk away. He went through the door, but then came back to the servant. "Remember," Wilfred said urgently, "the pass. And make sure nobody, and I mean nobody sees you, else all is lost, and it will be to your folly as well as mine."

The servant nodded again, bowed, and watched as Wilfred exited.

Draco made to follow him, but found he was stuck to the floor, and could not move.

Then the dream ended, and Draco fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

At the other end of the castle, Ginny was asleep as well, completely unaware that she wasn't the only person in the school with strange dreams. Draco Malfoy also dreamt of Wilfred Malfoy and Virginia Weasley.

~~~~~~~

This time, to try and stop you guys getting the prescribed reviews before I've finished the next chapter, I won't be putting up the next one until I've got 75 REVIEWS. That means I need 24 more than I already have. So, if you are interested in the fate of Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley, review. And even if you aren't, review anyway.

Big thankyous go to those who reviewed the previous chapter: Sami, Heavenly Moonstone, 5 anonymous reviewers, V (thanks), Sun-and-wind, purple aurora lights, rocket, crazed spyromaniac (interesting name), elen, dreammaker128, Faith Akiyama, bubblez fairy, cosmos, JEN, zunamoonlight, and finally, Draco-lover.