DISCALIMER: Don't own itJ
A/N: This chapter will be six years later, when Ginny is ten. The next will be the summer before Ginny begins Hogwarts, and the chapter after will be at Hogwarts. Each year will only be a few chapters until Ginny's fourth year, which will be when the main plot happens. Thanks for reading. I'd love any feedback! Review!
Jinglez
Chapter 3:
Ginny's eyes opened up excitedly as she jumped out of bed. Draco was coming home from school today! She pushed off her down comforter and looked out of her window, sighing. It was still dark out. She looked at the clock near her bed, which read four thirty. Oh well, she thought indifferently, getting up and walking over to her wardrobe. The candles in the room lit immediately. She smiled.
Draco went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ginny would finally be going there as well this year, finally. She had been eager to go ever since she could remember. Ginny and Draco had always been very close, as they were just one year apart. Ginny had been most upset when Draco started Hogwarts last year. At least he didn't go to Durmstrang, though, which her father had wanted very much. If Draco had gone there, she couldn't even write letters almost every day, which she had always done faithfully. Of course, Draco was older and at school, so he thought he was too cool to write home all the time. He only wrote once every other week unless he needed something, and those letters had always been the highlight of Ginny's day.
Ginny and Draco weren't always the best of friends, though. They fought constantly when they were together. Also, Draco was protective of his sister, which annoyed Ginny to no end. He never let her do anything he thought was dangerous! But she didn't care- she always did things without him or her father knowing. Like stealing Draco's broom and riding around the Quidditch Pitch. Nothing was better than flying. And going into her father's Dark Arts room… even Draco wasn't brave enough to do something like that. But Ginny had been very hurt when Lucius had brought Draco into the room to show him secret stuff, and not Ginny, all because she was a little girl. She ended up spying on them and going down on her own. Then the alarms had gone off, though, and she'd run for her life, luckily not getting caught.
Ginny looked into her open wardrobe, pondering what to wear. Definitely wizard robes, and not a dress- she'd loved fancy dresses as a child and still enjoyed dressing up, but only on occasion. Unfortunately, there were a lot of occasions. She looked through her robes and settled on a pale blue, rather plain one. She'd just be going to King's Cross, so it wasn't really a big deal.
"Nolly! Nolly!" she yelled in a whisper to her favorite elf once she'd gotten dressed. She didn't want to wake anyone up- her parents would surely tell her to go back to bed, and bed was boring, and she couldn't sleep. The elf popped in a moment later. Ginny wondered vaguely how much sleep they needed- they never seemed tired, even in the middle of the night.
"Yes, Miss? Miss has called?" asked the elf. Ginny put a finger to her lips, and Nolly nodded.
"Nolly? Can you please do my hair now?" The elf nodded quietly.
"Of course. How is Miss wanting her hair today?" it asked, as Ginny sat down next to her vanity table.
"Um," thought Ginny. "How about- straight today? And do you think Mum would notice if I wore just a little bit of make-up?" The elf smiled at her favorite charge- the little girl, though never kind, per se, was the sweetest to take care of.
"Nolly is not thinking Mistress will notice- but just a very little." The Mistress, of course, had already given Nolly permission to let Ginny use a very small bit of make-up when she asked for it.
Ginny sat, looking into the mirror as Nolly washed, dried, and slowly smoothed and straightened her hair. It was getting quite long now, when straight- it hung silkily down her back, curling at the ends. It was a bright red, though not too vibrant. It had bits of blonde in it, actually. When Ginny was younger, she had always thought she was adopted or something- but she did have her mother's eyes and father's complexion. It was just her hair that was weird. She used to love the attention she got at public affairs ('Oh, my, where did she get that beautiful hair?'), but now it was quite annoying.
"Does Miss want her hair down or up?" asked Nolly, interrupting Ginny's thoughts.
"Half up, in by blue ribbon," said Ginny decisively. Her hair was done around five o'clock. Ginny sighed, bored, as Nolly disappeared with a loud crack. She thought back to what had been in the Daily Prophet last week. Harry Potter had saved the bloody sorcerer's stone- Draco had written home, most displeased. He and Harry Potter were enemies. Lucius advised against Draco so openly hating the boy, but Ginny decided Harry must really be awful, for Draco not being able to control his distaste. But Harry had destroyed the Dark Lord's only hope… maybe not only hope, but definitely the best hope. At least now her family knew he was not dead. Ginny shivered, wondering what it would be like when and if he returned to power. She knew by now that her father had played a prominent role in His inner circle, and had killed many people. But it was for the good of the Wizarding World that it had been done, he had explained to Ginny. Ginny wished she could've attended Hogwarts this year instead of next. It seemed so exciting- there had been a troll and the Dark Lord had been there. Next year would never be able to add up. But at least next year Slytherin would win the House Cup, she thought, scowling from what Draco had written a few days ago. It was all because of that stupid Mudblood-lover Dumbledore, and stupid Harry Potter and his bloody sidekicks.
An hour later, Ginny decided she could go downstairs. Her father and mother would probably be awake soon, though they didn't have to get Draco until four. She reached the Breakfast Room to see both of her parents at the table. Lucius was reading the paper as he ate breakfast, and Narcissa was sipping tea. "Good morning, sweetheart," said Lucius kindly as his daughter entered the room.
"Morning, Father; Mother," said Ginny, smiling. She had stopped using her pet names for them most of the time when Draco had- he'd been nine and she eight.
"Did you sleep well, dear?" asked Narcissa, who'd stopped being as affectionate as she'd been when they were very young when Draco began Hogwarts. She still loved them the same as she had then, but they were getting older and she decided to take a step back, as her mother had. It was now time for Draco to grow into manhood and Ginevra to become a young lady, which both children were doing perfectly, in Narcissa's eyes.
"Yes," said Ginny, taking a seat beside her father. "But I was very excited about Draco's return, so I kept waking up." She grinned. "So I suppose I didn't sleep well," she laughed. Lucius smiled tolerantly, and Narcissa laughed.
"Yes, I suppose none of us slept quite as well as was possible. We'll all be very happy to have Draco home for the summer.
"I agree- hopefully school did him good. Too bad there's that blasted law about underage magic- they should be able to do it in controlled conditions, don't you agree?" asked Lucius.
"Quite," said Narcissa seriously. "Oh, and Ginevra, dearest- we, er- have to dress as Muggles to King's Cross- I mean, we can't really create more trouble for the people who work at the Ministry…" she trailed off, annoyed.
"Dress as Muggles?" repeated Ginny, astonished. "Us? Is this a joke?"
"No, darling," sighed Lucius. "It's all part of the act. I'll be wearing a suit, at least, and your mother a skirt- but you may have to wear jeans. Is that all right, dear? I suppose you could wear a dress, but-"
"I'll wear jeans," sighed Ginny in a disappointing voice. She hated dressing as Muggles. All of them did. But at least jeans were a bit comfortable. Ginny would never choose to wear them, but they weren't completely horrible, she supposed. She had some comfortable Muggle shirts, too, though not all of them seemed completely appropriate.
"Mum?" asked Ginny after a moment. "Mother?"
"Yes?" asked Narcissa, looking up.
"Could I wear- oh, what was it called? The Muggle shirt without sleeves, and with thin straps?"
"Oh, I know what you mean," said Narcissa. "I suppose it'd be appropriate. Which one are you planning on?"
"The blue, sort of silky one- Wait!" said Ginny excitedly as a House Elf served her breakfast. "Maybe- could I wear the black pants that go with my black robe instead of jeans?" She liked jeans, but couldn't help it. Her robes were so much more comfortable.
"I suppose- yes, that actually would be a very good idea, darling," said Narcissa thoughtfully. "But you don't have to get changed until two-thirty or three. We'll leave at three-thirty."
"How will we be traveling?" asked Ginny curiously.
"Portkey," said Lucius. "You can't make a Portkey to Nine and three quarters, unfortunately, so we'll Portkey to right outside the station. Muggles never notice anything…" Ginny nodded.
"Sounds good."
That afternoon, Ginny was nearly bouncing with excitement of seeing her brother again. She hadn't seen him since Christmas! They took the portkey, a candlestick, from the Drawing Room. Ginny rarely had used Portkeys, and was rather nervous, as she usually fell down. But both her parents were holding onto her as the Portkey activated, and she was relieved to be on her feet as they landed. It was overcast outside the station, but was quite humid.
"Come, dears," said Lucius as they landed, pocketing the candlestick and walking briskly into the station. Ginny followed her parents, looking around excitedly. A Muggle child was pointing at them, telling something to its mother, who laughed and rolled her eyes. Inside, Ginny was amazed at the large crowd and their rather shocking appearances. They reached the brick wall between platforms nine and ten a few minutes later. "Ladies first," said Ginny's father, stepping aside for Narcissa and Ginny. Ginny was excited- she'd only gone through the wall twice and had absolutely loved it both times. She held her breath and began running, her mother walking quickly behind her. A moment later, she was on the other side of the barrier. Ginny laughed with joy. That was so fun! Going through a wall- honestly, it made her feel like a ghost or something.
Lucius arrived a moment later. The platform was filled with disguised witches and wizards, all awaiting their children's return. Ginny spotted some families she knew of. Mrs. Nott was here- and there were the Crabbes and Goyles. Ginny had never liked any of them much. And there were the Weasleys- yuck, and Mrs. Longbottom. Ginny scowled. She had only been a year old when her Aunt went to Azkaban, but she knew that 'Auntie Bewwa' was one of her first words and favorite people. Draco remembered her, but Ginny didn't, try as she might. She hated Longbottoms; that was all she knew. And there were the Fawcett's- they were Purebloods, too, but her family didn't associate with them. They were blood-traitors.
After a few moments, Lucius spotted the Zabini's. Ginny stood on her tip-toes as the Malfoys walked over. They reached the Zabini's, and Ginny squealed with excitement.
"Eira!" she yelled at the same time Eira yelled 'Ginny!' The best friends quickly embraced; they hadn't seen each other in a little bit over a month.
"Why don't you two go explore the platform until the train arrives," said Mrs. Zabini, kneeling down. Ginny and Eira nodded excitedly.
"Don't talk to anyone you shouldn't," called Narcissa as the girls hurried away.
"So how have you been?" asked Eira excitedly. She had long, dark brown hair that curled at the end and dark blue eyes. Her build was much like Ginny's; medium height, very thin, with long legs in proportion to the rest of their bodies.
"I've been good- very lonely, though," said Ginny.
"Me too!" sighed Eira. Her brother had gone to Hogwarts just like Ginny's. She was lucky, though- she had two more siblings- identical twin sisters, who were six. Ginny was envious that she had a big family. "I'm so glad Blaise is coming home today," continued Eira. "It's no fun being the oldest at home," she sighed.
"It's not fun being the only one, either," said Ginny seriously. "But I am so excited about Hogwarts in September- aren't you?"
"Of course!" exclaimed Eira. She then lowered her voice conspiratorially. "So, do you think you'll get a boyfriend your first year?" Ginny giggled.
"I don't know. Maybe. A good Slytherin pureblood," she laughed. Suddenly, though, the train could be seen. Ginny and Eira began jumping excitedly. "They're here!" shouted Ginny. They pushed through the crowds to the front of the platform as the train pulled up. A moment later, kids began piling out of the train. Eira and Ginny stood on tip-toe, waiting anxiously. After the first people out- all older students, three people climbed down the stairs. Ginny's smile faded. Harry Potter, a Weasley, and a girl- a Mudblood, by the looks of her. Since when was Harry Potter so amazing looking? Ginny only recognized him from a picture he'd had in the paper a few weeks ago. The Weasley next to him was laughing. He looked briefly at Ginny as they passed. Suddenly, Ginny's heart began racing. He looked away, but looked back at her a moment later. Why did he look so familiar? She shrugged it off as her brother, followed by Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, and some other girl stepped off the train. Ginny screamed happily, and Eira did the same as they attacked their brothers with hugs.
A moment later, Ginny felt a bit shameful- this was not how a Malfoy woman should act. She stepped back and then hugged Draco formally. "Draco! I missed you so much!" she exclaimed.
"Gin- I can't- breathe!" gasped Draco. Ginny stepped back and laughed. "You got taller," accused Draco. Ginny laughed.
"So did you!" she said. Draco then grinned at his friends.
"This is my sister, Gine- Genevieve Malfoy." Everyone nodded and smiled. Then Ginny and Eira stepped back to allow all the Hogwarts students to say good-bye. Once everyone began going their separate ways, Ginny hugged Draco again and said hello to Blaise. Ginny wondered why she couldn't be called Ginevra- she and Draco had talked about it before, but had never decided to ask their parents about it.
"So, Draco- how was Hogwarts? Was it amazing? How do you get sorted?" Ginny had a million questions which needed immediate attention. Draco laughed as they headed towards Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, completely ready for summer.
Jinglez
A/N: REVIEW! Thanks sooooooooooo much to:
Lolly6, Tsusetsu, FancyOrlando7787, and Jade Stellar for reviewing! :-D