Life -In-Death

Chapter 2 : New

Ginny woke up the next morning with a start. Her nightmare ended the same as always, she tried to forget. She was aching all over. She looked at her arm fleetingly, and gasped at what she saw. Her arm was raw. All she saw was red. She turned her head away, ignoring the pain, and threw the covers off of herself. She swung her legs over the side of her four poster bed and slipped her feet into her slippers. She let out a yawn, as she got up, scratching, and walked into the bathroom. She put on the water for her daily shower, trying not to think of last night.....trying not to think at all. She gathered all the courage that she had, and lifted her face up to her mirror. She recoiled at what she saw. She looked dead. She shuddered as she looked into her own eyes; they were emtpy. Her eyes kept staring back out at her, they didn't look like her own, they looked as if they belonged to someone else, someone evil. Someone not of this world. She felt the same uneasyness she had felt last night, the same anger, before she had smashed the window. She wanted so badly to smash that mirror, to kill the person in it, to destroy that image forever. In frusrtation, she searched through her drawer, looking for anything to help her. She didn't find what she was looking for, but she knew where she could.

Last year, for Harry's birthday, Ron had gotten him a pocketknife with a lion engraved on it. That was her goal, that is what she wanted. As she left her room, turning off the water, and heading towards the seventh year boy's dormitories, she had one thing on her mind; the knife. She walked camly across the threshold as she reached her battered hand towards the knob of the dormitory. She turned, and opened the door, trying not to divulge her presence, but the damn door emitted a slight squeaking noise. She winced as the loud sound cut through the peaceful silence. Ron moved slightly, mumbling something about tap dancing and spiders. Ginny let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. She crept over to Harry's trunk, excited that she was going to complete her mission. She opened it with her wand, silently, and delved her hand inside. She threw things around in it, Harry wouldn't notice because it was already messy. Her hand delved deeper and deeper until it clutched onto the hilt of the pocket knife. A sadistic smile appeared on her dead face, as she lifted the knife for closer inspection. She stared the lion right in the eye, unblinkingly.

"Yes," she breathed silently to herself. She used the sides of the trunk to help herself up off of the floor, as she pocketed the knife in her robes and quietly crept out of the room. She practically ran back to her dorm, thankful she had her own. She ran to the bathroom again, clutching the knife for dear life. She stared at the stranger in the mirror again, challenging her. She lifted the blade out of its home, never letting her gaze lift from the other Ginny. She lifted the knife to her already marred skin. She pulled the blade across her wrist, and the now familiar sting was back. She felt herself sit back onto the loo, feeling empty, but fulfilled. She took the knife in the other hand, as the other arm was already covered in red welts, and started to cut into herself.Deeper and deeper. It was like she was posessed, she kept cutting, not seeing what she was doing. Once she stopped, she shook her head as if coming out of a trance. A solitary tear slipped down her cheek, the only show of the pain she really felt inside. She looked down at the blood, watching it drip from her body, onto the floor of her bathroom. It was like she was trying to cleanse herself, take out all the bad blood in her. The blood that had attracted the monster. She picked up her wand, only to drop it right away, for a sharp pain shot up her arm. She gasped slightly at the pain, then resolved herself. She picked up her wand and muttered a cleaning spell. She smirked at the image in the mirror, who almost seemed to be glaring, and put on the water once more, taking off her robe. She stepped into her shower, letting the warm water run over her skin. She cleaned her body, making sure no blood was left.

She left her bathroom ten minutes later, with a towel wrapped around her, as she went to her dresser. She opened the first drawer and pulled out an old v neck shirt that she had forever. She placed that on her bed and went back over to the second drawer and pulled out a pair of jeans that were getting slightly too small for her. She shrugged, it didn't matter, no one would really care anyways. She also pulled out a pair of knickers and a bra, and placed all her items on to the bed. She flicked her wand and all of a sudden the clothes were on her, and her robe was on the bed. She took her hair out of the towel, and muttered a drying spell and her hair was perfectly dry and in ringlets. She used to love her hair, for it was a deep auburn colour, but now she wished that she could just get rid of the trademark Weasly hair. She knew that her brother, despite not noticing everything else that was wrong, would notice if she coloured her hair. She looked up into the dresser mirror, forcibly not looking herself in the eye, but just looked at her hair. It used to be shiny, but now it was like the rest of her, dull. She gripped her hair hard, making herself wince, then pulled out her wand. She didn't care, she was going to do it. She coloured it black and then had dark green streaks in it. She muttered another spell to style it, making it messy, but perfect to her individual taste. She smiled wickedly at her self in the mirror. She grabbed her robe and left her dorm, with a slight jump in her step. Today was gong to be interesting.

She walked out of her dorm, placing her hood up over her hair, passing everyone withouth looking, and headed towards the Great Hall. She hadn't wanted anyone to see yet. She opened the doors to the Hall to find the golden trio already there. She sat near them, but never with them. Ron hated it when she "followed" them around. Pfft, like she'd follow those pansies around. Ron nodded his head towards her in greeting, while Harry and Hermione just kept talking. Ginny glanced at Ron, acknowledging him, but then looked back to her plate. He looked at her wierdly, but shrugged and went back to his second helping of breakfast. Ginny decided that it was now or never. Did she really want attention from Ron that badly? She didn't know anymore, but what was done was done. She placed her hands to the sides of her hood, and lifted it up off her head. She let it fall away. Harry looked up for a second, dismissing it, and looked back down, but then did a double take. He stared openely.

"Ron, ron!" said Harry, not looking from Ginny, as he hit Ron's arm repeatedly, trying to get his attention.

"Feht?" he said, with a mouthful of food. So gross, Ginny thought to herself. Hermione was now looking at her too.

"Oh, Ginny, your beautiful har! what have you done?" Ron looked up at this, and dropped his fork.

"Virginia! What have you done to your hair!!" he screeched. She smiled inwardly.

"Well, I've changed it slightly." she said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. She reached her hand up to her hair, feeling it, "I thought it was quie fit, Ron, don'tcha think?" She knew she was antagonizing him, but she just loved to watch the different shades of colour his face could turn. He pushed himself up off he bench, and stalked over to Ginny. He pulled her up off the bench by her robe. By now, people were staring openly at them.

"Vriginia! Does mom know about this??" he asked, anger evident in his voice, "Hmm?? I can't believe you! What is your problem?" Ginny looked away from her brother, disconnecting her robe from his hand, and sat back down.

"Ronald, as you know, I am 16 years old and I do not need permission from you or mom. Just get over yourself Ron, and stop making a scene." She said, scolding her brother. He glared daggers at her, but listened, and walked back to his seat, but not before threatening her.

"We'll talk about this later," he said, through his teeth. Ginny just rolled his eyes. She went back to her breakfast, but she could hear the whispers of the trio, and the rest of the hall. She piled food on to her plate, but just sat there, staring at it. She didn't want to eat it. She had no appetite. She sighed, resting her head on her hand. This caused her sleeve to travel down her arm, revealing her injuries, she hadn't noticed. She was so busy trying not to think that she didn't even notice someone coming towards her, or that they could probably see her arm. She started when a shadow fell over her. She looked up into cold, grey eyes, that were filled with mirth.

"I think that it's quite an improvement, Weaslette." Draco Malfoy said, so simply, and then walked out of the Great Hall. Ginny stared after him, shocked. She heard Ron's footsteps come over to her again, as she stared after the form of Malfoy.

"What the hell is going on here, Virginia?" he asked increduously, "what are you doing, talking to that git?" Ginny tore her eyes away from where Malfoy walked off from and look at her brother.

"Ron, if you hadn't noticed, he was the only one talking, I hadn't said a word!!" she said, her face getting redder. Ron was about to say something, when she got up, throwing her bag over her shoulder, hitting her brother. He fell to the ground with a thud and a curse, as Ginny walked casually out of the Hall, smirking.

She opened the doors, only to be grabbed by strong arms and pulled into a neighbouring alcove........

a/n well, there's the second chapter, I hope that you like it. Sorry if it's a little slow right now C:

Kicksomeass: Thank you so much for reviewing! It means so much to me that you like it! You rock!!! :)