Was It Something I Said?
Chapter 5 --Ginny awoke the next morning, Harry on her mind. As much as she didn't want him to be, he was. Then she remembered the night before and how he'd asked if he'd see her the next day. She hadn't realised prior to last night that she liked Harry. He'd never payed her much attention, even after saving her from the Chamber…she recalled with a shudder.
She'd first liked him because he was 'Harry Potter' after she'd gotten to know that he was the same as everyone else she'd stopped liking him as much. Thinking she realised that this time she liked him was because he'd helped her out a great deal the night before. Perhaps that was why she was attracted to him; she had seen first hand how generous he could be without thinking anything of it or asking for thanks in return and that made her feel special.
Perhaps her liking him was just due to the fact that she craved attention and he gave it to her, unknowingly. She knew was that it wasn't a good idea to get too involved. It was her O.W.L year and she didn't need distractions. Though, she thought guiltily, she hadn't been spending too much time on her studies lately. She made a mental note to do something about that. Maybe Hermione could quiz her later on what she knew.
She climbed out of her bed and offered a small smile to Sachelle in greeting who in turn fled the room, squealing out for her friends. Ginny stood stock-still wondering what on earth she'd done, then shrugging, picked out an outfit to wear for the day. It was sunny out so she grabbed a pink shirt that had a smart 'G' embroidered onto it and a cotton skirt that her Mother insisted she take with her 'just in case.' and pulled them on, as she was tying her shoes someone knocked lightly on the door and she called for them to come in. It turned out to be Hermione and she looked pleased to see that Ginny was up and ready.
"Good morning! Care to spend some time out on the grounds with us?" she said smiling brightly.
"Actually, I have a bit of homework that I need to get though." Ginny said, annoyed that she would have to stay inside.
"Perfect. So do we." She said walking back to the door, Ginny following after she grabbed her school bag.
Due to the lovely weather Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny set themselves up underneath the tree that was next to the lake meaning that they were rewarded with the soothing noise of the water lapping against the edges of the lake. They'd been working quietly for an hour or so when Ron started rummaging through his bag and produced a bag of Sugar Quills. He threw one to each of them and sat back and sucked on his loudly. After several minutes of this Hermione sighed loudly and threw down her real Quill and picked up the one Ron had offered her and began to suck it.
Ginny however continued working, frowning at her Charms work. Annoyed she threw down her Quill and sucked on the sweet sugar one thrown at her carelessly by her brother. She let the sugar melt on her tongue and closed her eyes and put her face up to the warming sun.
SMACK!
Ginny held her head, having just been hit in the back of it. She saw stars in front of her eyes and heard footsteps then cursing.
"Bloody hell! Sorry Ginny." Came a boy's voice. She turned around and shielded her eyes from the sun and looked into the guilty faces of Seamus and Dean.
"So you bloody well should be!" she said standing up to face them. "I could have choked on this!" she said, gesturing with her Sugar Quill wildly. She noticed with satisfaction that they drew back slightly, though they were a good few inches taller than her. They muttered their apologies quickly and reached for the 'Soccer Ball' as they called it but Ginny beat them too it. She grabbed it and squeezed it so hard that her fingernails pierced it and it went down with a soft 'hiss' of rushing air. She threw it back to Seamus who caught it and held it up by a point and laughed nervously.
"Thanks Ginny." He said and with Dean, walked back to the Castle very fast indeed.
Ginny plopped back down to where she'd been sitting before she'd been hit in the head. She now had a dull thumping in her head. She didn't think that she'd be able to concentrate now however she went back to her books, deftly ignoring the surprised looks on the trio's faces.
She lay her head down on her arms after trying to start her Essay on Cheering Charms for the fifth time and listened to them all talking. She noticed numbly that the others hadn't asked if she was all right.
"Some things never change." She muttered out loud, by mistake.
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, thinking that Ginny was commenting on what she was talking about, which she wasn't, Ginny wasn't even listening to Hermione's excited chattering.
"Nothing. Just thinking out loud." Ginny said lifting her head up to face Hermione. She nodded and started talking again. This time Ginny listened.
"Anyway, as I was saying before Ginny interrupted, my parents bought me a book all about the Wizarding landmarks in London! Wouldn't it be absolutely wonderful if we could go on a small holiday and see all of them? I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem for us to arrange. They're all situated within walking distance of one another. We could make a week or two of it and we could buy souvenirs and we could—"
Ginny drowned her out and looked at the expressions on Harry and Ron's faces. They both looked as though they'd stopped listening ages ago. Ginny smiled, it didn't look as though Hermione had noticed the rudeness of the situation. Though she should really stop talking soon, Ginny's head was throbbing worse with each sentence she spoke.
"We could stay in the Leaky Cauldron, that wouldn't be a problem. Tom the innkeeper is very nice, he wouldn't mind having us around, I'm sure. So, what do you think?" she asked excitedly.
Ginny, feeling a particular twinge of nastiness was the first to comment. "I think that you should shut up. We don't care what we do for our holidays Hermione. To tell you the truth, it sounds pretty damn boring." Ginny said, looking at Hermione who was sitting with her mouth slightly open.
"Well I just thought—"
"You thought wrong." Ginny said, sitting up and receiving a nasty look from Ron.
"That was below the belt Ginny. Apologise."
"I don't have to do anything you say! Besides, you were thinking the same thing, if I hadn't said it, you would have." She said defiantly. She could tell by the look on Ron's face that she wasn't far from wrong.
Harry was looking at Hermione who was being rather quiet. When she looked up and saw Harry looking at her a tear rolled down her face, she swiped at it and gathered her things with lightning speed. She stood and cast an extremely hurt look at Ginny and positively fled. Harry stood and ran after her, catching her up soon and putting a comforting hand on her back as they walked.
"Good one Ginny. Why are you so bloody moody these days?" Ron asked, finally annoyed at his sister's behaviour.
"I am not moody!" Ginny yelled at him, livid. She turned to leave but thought better of it and smacked Ron across the face. "You git!" she said and left.
"My point exactly." Ron said nursing his cheek and taking off after Harry and Hermione.
"I am not moody!" Ginny muttered to herself as she walked around the grounds. "Not at all. What reason do I have to be moody? Urgh…my head hurts." She said holding her head gently and wincing when a stab of pain shot through it.
She hadn't followed the trio after she'd insulted Hermione. She figured she'd get over it, anyhow, it was just the truth, people shouldn't get so annoyed by the truth, just because they are too weak to voice their own opinions. I'm doing them a favour really. Ginny thought as she walked along. She was nearing Hagrid's Hut but she didn't feel like talking to the Half Giant at present. She let her feet lead her and she ended up on the outskirts of the forest. She looked around her; to see if anyone was watching and when she was sure the coast was clear she walked straight in. She wouldn't have looked before entering except for the fact that she wanted peace and didn't want some tattle tail going and telling anyone where she was. She walked around and was surprised to see how dark it got within a small matter of steps. She weaved her way through the trees and bramble.
She stood in a small clearing and soon heard what sounded like hoofs padding on the ground. She looked around but saw nothing. Then she felt it. Something wet and soft on her hand.
"Ahhh!" she screamed and ran from the forest as fast as she could. Once outside she looked down at her hand and saw that there was a green sticky looking substance on it. "Yeuch." She said as she leant down to wipe it on the grass that reached to the edge of the forest.
"What are you doing in the forest?" she heard a far too familiar voice ask.
"None of your business ferret." She said to the blonde boy who was standing to her left. He smirked at her though he didn't look as though he would move any closer to the forest than he already was. Ginny smirked back. "You're not scared are you? A big tough Malfoy like you?" she said indicating the forest.
"No! Of course not." He said indignantly though she smiled widely when he jumped at the sound of a passing owl.
"Of course not." Ginny said, mimicking him and walking away, towards the castle. Much to her annoyance he followed her.
"You know, you're different, what's gotten into you?" he asked, keeping pace with her.
"Why should I tell you?" she replied, looking at him sideways.
"It could come in…useful." He said and Ginny didn't even ask what he meant by 'useful', she really didn't want to know.
"Shove off Malfoy." She said as they walked into the Entrance Hall.
"Maybe I don't want too." He said, standing in front of her to block her path. Ginny sighed pointedly.
I said, shove off!" She said, pushing him roughly into the wall. She heard a muffled cry of pain and was satisfied and continued onto the Common Room. This time, with no followers.
In the Common Room Ginny went over to sit with Harry, Ron and Hermione. She plopped down noisily into an armchair sighing loudly.
"What a day! It's been hell." Ginny said and before she could continue Ron gave her a shrewd look then spoke.
"You're not welcome here." he said calmly, Ginny could tell that Hermione had calmed him down and told him not to yell and she was grateful because her head was still hurting.
"What? You're still dwelling on what I said? Get over it Hermione, it was just the truth. The truth hurts."
"So does what's coming out of your mouth lately!" Ron said angrily and Ginny glared at him.
"Oh and what, the things you say don't hurt Hermione? She's just used to it coming from you and not me. Is it a nice change?" Ginny asked nastily and she saw Hermione's eyes glisten again. "Oh come Hermione, be strong!" she said sarcastically and Ron finally blew his top.
"Get the hell out Ginny!" he said yelling at her and quite a few heads turned to watch the show, as it wasn't often that brother and sister fought.
"I don't know why I bothered coming inside!" Ginny yelled back in his face.
"Neither do I!" Ron hollered, standing up so that he could use his height as an advantage, or so he thought.
"I was only trying to apologise!" Ginny said, standing up to her own full height and watching Ron shrink back slightly, though only slightly.
"That was not…idiot. Just…go away Ginny!"
"Fine! Screw you all! Look after Hermione now won't you Ron? She might just give you a doggy bone for it!" Ginny said before turning on her heel and leaving the room in a huff, slamming the Portrait behind her to muffled shouts of "Watch it young lady!" from the Fat Lady. To which Ginny replied "Bite me!"
The occupants in the Common Room sat in silence, staring at the red head standing in the middle of the room, visibly looking as though he would strangle the first person to speak. Harry coughed nervously and Ron rounded on him.
"Something to say do you?" he asked, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Not at all mate. Might just…go…walk. Yeah, bye!" he said, practically running from the room.
Ron sat down next to Hermione and Ginny's words seemed to sink in because when he snuck a look at Hermione he blushed slightly though he moved closer to her and put a hand on hers and she jumped, looking at their hands, blankly, and looked into his face for an explanation.
"I am so sorry for what she just said. She's never done anything like that. I just don't understand it. I can't believe she'd do that to you either, you're her best friend." He said and Hermione shrugged but didn't say anything.
Ron could see the hurt in her eyes and could see that it would take some heavy apologising from Ginny to fix what she'd done. How he despised his sister at the moment.
Ginny stalked through the corridors, kicking anything in sight, and cursing when she hurt her toes. She was so riled up that even she didn't know what she was capable of. She walked and soon found herself by the same tree that the four of them had been sitting at a few hours earlier.
She looked up into the trees vast branches and grinned, the perfect tree for climbing. Feeling daring, she did just that. She climbed up as far as she could go and looked out through the top most branches at the view of Hogwarts. Looking from the ground, you wouldn't know that this tree went so high, though she suspected that it had some sort of magic encased in it. Soon after she climbed back down and sat on one of the lowest branches so that she could see anyone that might come looking for her, though she knew they wouldn't see her unless they looked hard.
She sat for only a few minutes before she heard approaching footsteps. Once she saw who was belonging to the legs she dropped one of her own out the tree.
After stuttering a half assed response to Ron's question of 'Something to say do you?' Harry had walked through the Castle, taking his time to get to the grounds as he figured that Ginny could do with a little cooling off time and his soul intention was to find her and ask what was going on. How could she have been so rude to Hermione, her best friend? Something was drastically wrong. There had to be. He thought as he walked, recalling how strange Ginny had been acting. She'd be shy and coy one minute, then the next she was telling the truth like there was no tomorrow, it was as though she didn't know about it either she—
Harry stopped suddenly for a foot had dropped right in front of his face.
"Hello Potter." A cool voice came from above that he instantly recognised as Ginny's.
"Come to check on me have you?" she asked, even cooler this time. "I didn't think Ron would want anyone to see if I was ok this time." She said, swinging her leg back and forth, Harry having to duck out from underneath it.
He quickly mapped out the branches and within seconds was sitting next to Ginny on her branch.
"What do you want?" she asked, as though his presence was a great annoyance to her. Though, he mused it probably was.
"To see what's wrong with you." He said shortly.
"Why does there have to be something wrong? I do something out of the ordinary and people think that there's something wrong. Maybe I've just changed."
"Oh you've changed alright." Harry said with a barking harsh laugh.
"Not a good change I take it by your attitude." She said, turning to look at him for the first time.
"Not exactly. What happened to the nice, polite, caring Ginny?" he asked her, chancing a smile.
"She's dead." Ginny said flatly and Harry frowned.
"I hope not." He said and this time it was Ginny's time to laugh.
"And why not? It's not like you ever noticed the quiet Ginny. You only are now because she's gone. We always want something we can't have." She ended in a fake singsong voice.
"Look Ginny, why'd you say that stuff to Hermione, she never did anything to hurt you." Harry said and soon wished he hadn't.
"Oh didn't she? What would you know?" Ginny muttered, thinking of how Hermione spoke to her less than what Ron did.
"More than you think." Harry said, looking down towards the ground.
"Oh? And what's that?" she countered, curious as to what his reply would be.
"That you aren't as awful as you're making out to be."
"You can't make that assumption, you don't know me. How'd you find me anyway?" Ginny asked, hoping that he'd just go away.
"I know you." Was his short reply to which Ginny laughed harshly again.
"Like hell you do!" she said staring at him with an amused look on her face.
"Like hell I don't." Harry answered.
"What do you know about me Harry? My favourite colour?" she asked sarcastically. "You don't know anything."
"I know that you don't think much of your friends, not due to the way you're treating them at the moment."
"That's not…that's not something about me!"
"No, it's not but if you want to keep your friends, I suggest you start treating them like the friends they are."
"What friends?" Ginny called as Harry leapt lightly to the ground. "I don't have friends! I only have people who are talking to me because I'm suddenly a different person!" she yelled as he started to walk away.
"Whatever Ginny, just sort out your priorities or you won't have anyone to cry too." He said and as he turned back to face her, Ginny made a particularly nasty face at him and he shrugged and continued his way back to the castle.
After deciding to take a flight around the Quidditch pitch to calm down, Ginny headed back to Gryffindor Tower for the second time that day, though she couldn't remember much of her day. All she could recall was doing her homework and getting hit in the head by something. She shrugged and gave the password to the Fat Lady and she spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting around a table closely together, talking quietly. She smiled and sat down next to them to which they promptly stood up and moved to another area in the Common Room. Ginny opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by laughter from the other people in the room. Why were they laughing? They were being so cold. She followed the others to the couch that they were sitting on and they moved—again! The laughing increased and Ginny couldn't take it anymore. Tears flowing down her pale cheeks she ran to the girls' staircase and straight up it and into her room, throwing herself onto her bed and drawing the curtains quickly. She could still hear the laughter echoing up the stairs. She put her hands over her ears to drown it out, crying so much that she wasn't sure she'd be able to stop…
Those people had been really awful! Not to mention her friends. Even Harry, how could he just up and walk away from her like that. Dimly she wondered if they were trying to teach her some sort of lesson, though what she had no idea. She cried herself to sleep and woke many times during the night to an awful dream of being laughed at. Each time she awoke she thought it had been just that, a dream but realised a second later that it had all been true.
For the next few days Ginny attended classes though she didn't speak to anyone. She was so quiet in Potions that even Snape couldn't complain because she followed out his instructions to the 't'. He then chose to spend his time nit picking the rest of Gryffindor about their Potions.
Ginny slipped slowly into a mild case of depression. Though when she felt almost happy again, someone would point and laugh at her. Normally this would have angered her but she was too upset to get angry at this point, it was as though she'd gone passed the anger stage. She didn't know what to do with herself anymore. Though things did seem to be improving, she could always account for her whereabouts now, not like a week ago, when she was halfway through a meal or some sort then she'd come too when she was sitting in the middle of a class that was three hours after breakfast. That had really scared her though it seemed to have stopped now. At least something was going right in Ginny's life and she wasn't getting those dizzy spells anymore.
Now if only she could get the rest of her life on track. She knew that her schoolwork was finally getting the attention it deserved, it was about time. After her lessons finished, she would go straight to her dorm room and stay there all night, working on homework.
One thought kept her sane through her days of solitary. At least things can't get any worse.
How wrong she was.
There ya go guys. I hope you liked it. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update but I have holidays now so I should get around to it more often.
I look forward to reading all of your wonderful reviews!
Nesserz.