Chapter 3
The next morning came all too quick for Ginny, yet it was a Saturday, and that meant sleeping in and lazing about. Apparently the dog didn't know that.
"Go away." She growled, burying her head under the pillows and flapping a hand at the dog who was digging at her side. "Shoo!" She said and the dog knocked her pillows to one side, forcing her to retreat under the blankets. Lance was not so easily deterred and he followed to slobber all over her face.
"Eww! Yuck, Lance!" Ginny cried and threw off the covers. "Fine, I'm up! Happy?" She asked heatedly and dragged her weary, be-slobbered frame into the bathroom to take a shower.
The usual insanely frigid shower served to wake her and put her in the right mindset for the day. Glancing around dourly, Ginny dressed in a leaf green sweater her mother had made for her one Christmas and a long, loose, brown skirt that swirled around her boots.
With a few swishes of her wand, a long poster was hanging before her with a rough picture of Lance then his size and coloring. Multiplying it by a dozen with a complicated twitch, swish, then flick of her wand, Ginny tucked all of the copies into her large book bag amidst the broken quill nibs and spare bits of parchment.
Calling to Lance in a low undertone and checking to make sure the coast was clear outside, Ginny set out for the castle to breakfast and then inform Dumbledore that they were leaving.
It was a cold late-autumn day, blustery with the clouds a steely gray above them. Dark undercurrents looping through the silver mesh promised rain and the witch allowed herself a relishing smile. The rain washed everything clean with absolute impunity.
Leaving Lance outside with a wary eye around, Ginny made her way into the Great Hall. The enchanted ceiling, unfortunately, allowed the gloom outside to percolate down and no mean amount of candles would stave off it off.
Thus breakfast was a dreary affair, its only highlight coming when Dean Thomas and Lee Jordan performed a fairly unobtrusive Jelly-Legs Curse on a passing white-haired Slytherin who, in turn, shot around and hexed Ron with a hair-growth charm. Grinning madly, Ginny passed the rest of breakfast watching the by-play, rooting for one side and then the other.
The duels ended with a sharp reprimand from Professor Snape for a fork-tongued, Pinochio-nosed Malfoy and detentions for the Gryffindors, some who were sporting long, mousy tails and whiskers.
Quitting the Hall with a wide smile on her face, Ginny collected Lance from the base of the doors and led him back inside. The dog stiffened beside her once they passed through the main foyer that led into the Great Hall. Growling and hackles raised in challenge, he raised his nose and began to scent out the threat.
Slightly bemused and a little nervous, Ginny lay a hand on his head, "What is it, luv?"
"You're not allowed to have dogs on school property Weasel," Hissed a cool voice from the shadows and Ginny's hand went instinctively to her wand.
"What would you know of it?" Ginny asked, her heart jamming itself uncomfortably under her collarbone. Lance's lips curled back from his teeth and she tangled a hand in his fur to hold him. He quieted but his eyes tracked Malfoy as he moved across the room.
"Don't pretend like you've grown a back bone!" The boy's mirth was palpable, a force that roiled around the room. Ginny's stomach clenched and her breath shortened to an unsteady gasp.
"Malfoy! You leave my sister alone!" The cry came from Ron who was standing, red-faced in anger and shaking, by the Gryffindor table. He was flanked by Harry and Hermione, each half-risen from their breakfasts. Students brushed by them with an industrious intensity that made it quite clear that they wanted no part in this little drama.
"More to play? But I think the stench of rodent is becoming too overpowering..." Malfoy turned to the corridor leading to the dungeons, stopping only to toss a final jab back at the Gryffindors, "Keep an eye on that Virginia of yours, Weasley. Wouldn't want her to get hurt…or something."
"Ginny?" Said Hermione tentatively as Ginny whirled on them, "What's—" But Ron cut her off before she could finish.
"Did he hurt you?" He demanded and Ginny shook her head mutely, an angry fuzz descending over her thoughts, "No? Good cuz Mum's gonna tear you apart the next time she sees you. What were you thinking? Not sleeping in your dorms?"
This seemed to remind him of a previous train of thought because he began to roar, words reverberating though the Hall, "And who is he? Where's he hiding? Because once I've found out who you've been sleeping with, he's DEAD! You are going to march your arse right up to those dorms and write a full letter of apology to mum...are you listening to me Ginny?"
White with rage and impotent fury at his implications, Ginny said nothing, only pointed her wand and jerked, "Silencio!"
Without another word she tapped Lance on the shoulder and marched all the way to Dumbledore's office.
