I'm on school holidays now for two months, so HOPEFULLY I'll be able to update a bit quicker.
Also, who knows who Malakbel was???
Disclaimer: I think we all know who Harry Potter and Co. belong to by now.
Chapter 6-
The Catastrophe of the Secrets
"How has your day been?" Ginny looked exasperatedly at the stubborn Welsh girl in front of her.
There was a silence, broken only by the sound of Alistryna brushing a stray bit off dirt off her immaculate robes.
Ginny bit her lip before saying, "Mine's been wonderful so far," until I started to talk to you that is, she silently added.
Alistryna still did not respond, instead admiring her perfectly shaped nails.
A long pause followed Ginny's comment, stretching until it was extremely uncomfortable.
Ginny took the time to study her buddy. Another day had passed since she and Alistryna had been assigned one another, and it was now the section in the day that Dumbledore had allocated to 'buddy-time'. Most other people had been pleased with the buddies they had been given; Ron had taken immediately to Grieve Kennedy, a Ravenclaw fourth-year; Harry with his buddy, Richard Irons; and even Hermione had been content with her Slytherin buddy, Moira Garroch.
It was just Ginny's luck to get the girl who was possibly the most foul-tempered girl in the entire school as a buddy. Alistryna was not only tetchy, but she was withdrawn and silent, favouring everything with a scowl rather than a smile.
Right now she was perched on a desk in the empty Arithmancy classroom, her legs drawn underneath her. Her hair was done up in a simple braid, with stray bangs escaping to partially hide her pale face. Her ordinary brown eyes were downcast, staring at her fingernails as if they were the most interesting things ever to grace the planet.
"That's an interesting colour of nail polish you have on," Ginny remarked, neglecting to say that wearing nail polish was against the school rules. She reached over to look at the girl's nails, lightly brushing Alistryna's hand.
Startled, Alistryna pulled back from Ginny, her eyes wide like a scared rabbit.
"What's the matter?" Ginny exclaimed, wondering if she had somehow hurt the first-year.
"N-nothing, I just thought-" Alistryna stuttered, "I need to go now," she said quickly, and grabbing her book bag fled through the open door, leaving a very puzzled Ginny Weasley behind.
~~~~~
"I don't understand her, Hermione," Ginny complained to the bookworm of a girl next to her. "I mean, I'm really nice to her, and then when I lean over to look at her nails, she jerks up and stares at me as if I'm bloody death warmed up!" she finished vehemently, looking at Hermione.
"That is weird," Hermione remarked absentmindedly.
"Hermione, are you even listening?" Ginny pulled a book (How to Know if You're in Love: Ten Tips by Marianne Amour) out of the way to stare at Hermione.
"Of course I was," Hermione blustered, a faint blush rising in her cheeks.
Ginny glanced at the book before looking, grinning, at Hermione's now bright red face.
"So, who's the lucky man, 'Mione?" She teased her friend gently before rising and turning towards the portrait entrance. She had a sneaking suspicion that the man who had captured the Head Girl's heart was Ron. She had caught Hermione staring at him a few times, blushing when he talked to her, and she had also found a piece of paper with Hermione Weasley, Hermione Weasley-Granger, and Hermione Granger-Weasley written on it.
It didn't take a genius to figure out the Hermione had fallen hard for Ron Weasley. Even Harry knew, and though Harry was brave and chivalrous, he wasn't exactly quick on the uptake.
Standing in front of the Fat Lady, she looked again at Hermione, who was again sitting crouched over her book, reading it furiously. "You coming down to tea now 'Mione?" Ginny asked.
Hermione looked up. "I'll be down soon," she promised, before immersing herself in her book once more.
The dining hall was full of students when Ginny walked through the door. The room suddenly went quiet, and all eyes were turned towards Ginny Weasley. Some people started to giggle.
Nervously Ginny made her way to the Gryffindor table and sat down. In front of her was a piece of parchment. In her peripheral vision she noticed that everyone else had one too. She looked down at the parchment and read through it, eyes widening as she read further.
Some Things We're Sure You Don't Know About Ginny Weasley [it read]
•Ginny Weasley has never been kissed
•Ginny Weasley…
The list seemed endless, filled with many embarrassing titbits and secrets about Ginny. Ginny's eyes filled with tears, and she glanced at Sabine who was sitting further down the table. Sabine was smirking, and was being patted on the back by Vera and her clique.
"Je suis désolé, Ginny," the French girl said, spreading her arms wide and laughing merrily. She was soon joined by most of the people in the hall, all of whom had read the things that Ginny had told to Sabine the night before.
Jumping up, Ginny rushed from the room, crying. Sabine, the girl whom she had thought was her friend, whom she'd trusted, had betrayed her. Seemingly sweet, kind Sabine, the girl who was always smiling and happy.
"My dear girl, whatever is the matter?" the portrait of the Fat Lady asked worriedly.
"Magicus," Ginny whispered the password through her tears, and as soon as the portrait opened she ran to her dorm, pulling out a backpack and hurriedly packing a few clothes and toiletries in it. Yanking out her wand, she quickly muttered a shrinking spell on her bed.
Stuffing her now miniscule bed into her pocket, she glanced around the room to see if there was anything she had missed that was important. There wasn't.
Creeping out through the Fat Lady again, Ginny looked around for any students that mightn't be at tea. She didn't want anybody to know where she was going to go.
~~~~~
Placing her backpack on the floor, Ginny took out her shrunken bed and performed the counter-curse. Instantly her bed resumed its normal size.
"As if I was going to stay with that group of- of- witches," Ginny snarled to herself.
Ginny looked around the room that she had made into her new bedroom. It was a nicely proportioned little room near the Astronomy Tower. She had found it a few years ago, and ever since then she had used it as a kind of escape from the real world. She had a feeling she would be using it a lot more often now the entire school knew all her secrets.
Well, not all my secrets, Ginny reminded herself as she felt the familiar prickling of tears.
She hadn't told Sabine about the dreams. She wasn't that stupid. Sabine and Vera would have had a field day with all that information about Wilfred and Virginia. The whole school would have thought her even crazier than they already did.
Idly she moved to the tiny window that was in the room. It didn't let in a lot of light, but it showed a marvellous view. The green rolling lawns, the beautiful garden, the sparkling lake, the owl flying around…
Ginny looked closer at the owl, trying to see if it belonged to anybody she knew.
Her mouth made a small 'o' of surprise when she realised it was Malakbel, the owl the Weasleys had bought to replace Errol when he had finally died. She sighed. Her mother probably had sent Ron a letter wanting him to ask Hermione out. Mrs Weasley desperately wanted them together, even more than Ginny and Harry did.
Ginny had a feeling that the one thing that would make her mum even happier would be if she and Harry got together. Ginny had told her mother countless times that she wasn't interested in Harry; Mrs Weasley took this as a sign of denial.
Ginny gave a tiny groan when the owl suddenly changed course and began to fly towards Ginny's new room. Resigned, she opened the window, and stepped aside so Malakbel could come in. With her current luck the bird was probably bringing a Howler from her mother about something.
Gingerly taking the letter from Malakbel, Ginny gave a smile of relief when she realised that it was just an ordinary letter. Sitting down on her bed, she slit open the envelope and began to read the letter.
Dearest Ginny, [it read]
Professor Dumbledore sent a letter to us immediately telling us of what has happened to you.
"They found out about the secrets that quickly?" Ginny said amazed. She read on.
Why didn't you tell us of the dreams earlier? We might have been able to help with dealing with them perhaps. Sweetheart, we are so sorry that this has happened to you. Right now you're probably wondering why this curse has been placed on you, not a Weasley girl from the original Virginia's generation, or a Weasley boy.
The fact is, we don't know why the curse was placed on you. Maybe it was just bad luck. Maybe it was meant to be. But if it was 'meant to be', we should have done more to prevent it. It is our fault this curse was placed upon you.
Our family, you see, has known about this curse for hundreds of years. That's why in every generation a girl is called Virginia; it is to remind us of the curse. We didn't know when it would strike, and for the last few decades we started to think that the curse was just a myth, something to scare young children with. We were wrong.
The curse originated when our family tried to curse another family with whom we were fighting with. But even then we were not good at curses. We performed the curse wrong- to our detriment, not to the other family's.
You need to be told, Ginny darling. There is no cure for this awful curse. You might have worked out by now that the bearer of the curse receives the injuries of another. If they get a graze, you get a graze in the same spot and so forth.
Your namesake supposedly died of a sudden fever that killed her very quickly. Our family has never bought that. We KNOW that she was murdered. Virginia's relatives never got to see her body. Her husband's family were concerned that the fever might still be on the corpse and might transfer itself to the Weasleys.
Darling, our family has always known that the real reason was that Virginia had been murdered, and that the real reason we couldn't see her was because her body was mangled in a way beyond recognition, in a way that no strange sickness could have done.
This curse that has been placed on you…if Virginia was beaten to death, say, you would receive those beatings too. You would die from those injuries, just like Virginia would have.
If there's anything you want us to do, angel, we'll do it for you. We'd go to the ends of the earth for you. We love you. Forever.
We can't come to see you on Dumbledore's orders, but every minute of every day we'll be thinking of you.
Love
Mum and Dad
Ginny sank back into the bed, the catastrophe of the secrets forgotten. For a few moments what had been foremost on her mind had been pushed away, but now it was back in full force.
She was going to die, and most likely a very awful death. All because of a curse.
How did Dumbledore find out? She wondered. Nobody knew. Nobody except herself.
Her thoughts drifted to Draco Malfoy. She sat up swiftly. What if he knew? He knew about the dreams, didn't he? And she had accidentally told him that she was cursed. Telling Dumbledore wasn't Malfoy's style though. He was more likely to blackmail her or do something Slytherin like that.
~~~~~
Down in the dungeons Draco Malfoy lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. He had not gone to tea that night. He couldn't have gone; otherwise he would not have been able to steal the Dreamless Sleep Potion from Professor Snape's office.
His gaze turned to the glass vial that contained the precious potion. Maybe tonight he would be able to get some rest from those bloody dreams.
He thought about the first dream he had experienced.
It was the dream in which the man had died. The images were still clear in his mind. The man who looked so like him that Draco sometimes confused him with himself had been covered in armour, from his head right down to his toes. In his hand was a wand.
Opposite him was another man arrayed in the same type of kit, with a wand in his hand also.
The duel had been quick, fast, and furious. That last thing that Draco remembered of the dream was the man who looked like himself falling dead to the ground, blood still running from his wounds.
Draco had looked all these people up in the library. Wilfred was his look-alike, and Douglas Weasley his opponent. Speaking of Weasley…he didn't know why he told Dumbledore about the girl, Ginny. Maybe he thought that Dumbledore would be able to solve their similar problems.
But no, he thought bitterly, even Dumbledore can't help us.
Draco carefully unscrewed the vial, took a large gulp, and hoped for the best.
~~~~~
Thankyous go to:
Kittylioness, gilt trip, Luna Writer (I got the Welsh name from this really cool Celtic names site that had names from Wales, Scotland etc. I'm not sure about your story. It's really good though) The Brainless Wonder (She might lose her head, she might not) Angelika (Ginny would just suddenly lose her head, no-one would do it. And yes, ther'll proably be some romance between Ginny and Draco) Shards of Normality (Of course the name thing is a compliment. I think it's thought-provoking) Cactuskitty, dracosgal, Marigold, GoldenRed Phoenixia (yes, mmm, chocolate, I luv chocolate) Heavenly Moonstone, sun-and-wind, purple aurora lights, flav0ftheweek (You'll find out Alistryna's problem real soon, I promise) sexy-sassy-sweety (thankyou!!!) karen (thanks!) and one lonely little anonymous reviewer.