Disclaimer: I am not JKR and I am not making any money whatsoever from this.
The Hogwart's Common Room
Chapter One: The Dementor
Ginny leaned out of the window of the Hogwarts Express and waved goodbye to her parents who looked worried, until the train turned a corner and they could no longer be seen. "I need to talk to you in private," she heard Harry whisper to Ron and Hermione.
"Go away, Ginny," said Ron.
"Oh, that's nice," said Ginny huffily, and she stalked off up the corridor wondering where to sit. Ron had been a wonderful brother all summer, while they were in Egypt, and she got along great with Hermione and she had been hoping that she would be included in the group's adventures this year. Maybe, it's for the best, I can barely say two words in front of Harry without blushing.
She had been trying very hard to act normal in front of the famous Harry Potter, but it was nearly impossible because she had a huge crush on him, the fact that he had saved her a couple of months earlier from death, didn't help, neither did the guilt that she had been helping the spirit of the man who'd killed his parents. As she thought this she felt her mood darkening and forcibly pushed away all thoughts of Tom and walked into a compartment where only one person sat.
She sat across from the blond girl and pulled out Beating the Bludgers from her bag, smelling a bit like tuna.
"Hello," she heard a dreamy voice call to her. She put down the book and looked up.
"Luna!" Ginny exclaimed, surprised to see her childhood friend. Although she had loved her brothers and she and Ron were nearly inseparable, her mother had felt that a young girl should have female friends and had taken her to visit Luna, the only other witch her age in Ottery St. Catchpole. "How was your summer?"
"It was okay, I helped Dad at the Quibbler and read a few books, not much else, how was your trip to Egypt?" She asked taking her wand and using it to hold her hair up in a loose bun.
"It was great! Bill took us to all the pyramids and Mum wouldn't let me go in one, because she said it was too scary, but later Bill snuck me in and it wasn't scary at all, it was a bit disgusting, though; people with extra heads and all." Ginny answered excitedly.
"Oooh, there weren't any spiders were there?" Luna asked worriedly.
"No. Ron is fine." Ginny said, trying to hold back a laugh, Luna had had a crush on Ron since they were seven and he'd "saved" her doll from drowning. Ginny had never had the heart to tell her that he'd been the one that had thrown it in and had merely been picking it up to throw it further in when it had floated back to shore.
"That's good." She said and when it seemed like they had nothing more to say, they both returned to their respective books and read until the food cart came by around noon.
"Anything off the cart, dears?" the plump witch asked.
"No thanks," said Ginny, she was saving the galleons she had been given this summer for something important; she wasn't sure quite what yet.
"Can I have some pumpkin pasties please and two chocolate frogs?" Luna asked.
"Of course, dear."
After the witch left Luna looked over at Ginny who had just realized how hungry she was and was eating her tuna sandwich, and handed over a chocolate frog, "Here, I know they're your favorites."
"Thanks." Ginny said grabbing it with a smile, she set it aside and finished her sandwich while Luna ate her Cauldron Pasties.
"Ready?" She asked when they were both done eating. They unwrapped their Chocolate Frogs and sat at one end of the compartment, set them on the floor and pulled out their wands, Luna's hair cascading down her back as she pulled her wand out of her hair.
"Animate" they yelled at the same time and their frogs raced down the floor, Luna's winning by an inch. "Whoo!" Luna yelled, grabbing her frog and biting into it. Ginny grabbed hers and savagely ripped the head off her frog, she returned to her seat and grabbed the Famous Wizards Card and handed it to Luna.
"Who is it?" She asked and waited holding her breath.
"Paracelsus" Luna answered, reading the back of the card.
"Yes!" Ginny yelled, throwing her fists in the air, "I already have that one! Who'd you get?" Luna, grabbed her own card from beside her and took it out, "Ptolemy" she answered.
"Aaw, I need that one, Ron and I have been trying to find it for years." Ginny said pulling her book out of her bag once again.
"I guess you'll just have to wait a few more years," Luna said importantly, grabbing her book also.
After reading for a few more minutes, Luna looked up and said, "I'm sorry."
"What?" Ginny asked confused, looking up from her book.
"I'm sorry." Luna repeated.
"What for?" Ginny asked patiently.
"For last year." Luna said. Ginny immediately felt her heart constrict as it did every time the topic was brought up.
"It wasn't your fault." She said through the lump in her throat.
"I should have noticed something was wrong, I'm your best-friend." Luna said quietly.
"Nobody could know, my brothers didn't know, I didn't know, and I was fine most of the year, after I had stopped using the Diary." Ginny said trying to stop her voice from shaking.
At that moment the compartment door opened and she looked up to see Draco Malfoy flanked by his toadies, he snorted disgustedly and closed the door again. She heard him moving down the corridor. Seeing that arrogant face angered her and she said viciously, "Look, Luna just forget it, I have, it's no one's fault, except for Lucius Malfoy's and he'll get his, just watch."
Luna's eyes widened and she nodded. "My father has been working on a piece on the Bunyip, it's been attacking people again and my father managed to get a picture of it." She said quickly, trying to change the subject.
Ginny smiled and noticed that the train had begun to slow down, "Do you think we are there yet?"
"We can't, it's too early," Luna said glancing at her watch.
"Then why've we stopped?" Ginny said gathering her things into her bag.
"I don't know." Luna said standing and looking out the window, "the storm's really bad outside, maybe a tree fell across the tracks or something and they are trying to remove it."
"I think I'm going to go find Ron," Ginny said standing. "Do you want to come?" She glanced and noticed Luna blushing.
"No. I'll just stay and read, this book on protective spells is fascinating." Luna said, suddenly the train was plunged into darkness. "Lumos" Luna said and there was a glow of light coming from Luna, and she placed her wand behind her ear the tip glowing inches from her face, she picked up the book and said "You better get going."
"Alright, bye." Ginny said shrugging as she walked out of the compartment, lighting her own wand, she hadn't found them when she neared the end of the train and the spell wore out just as she opened the door and ran into someone.
"Who's that?"
"Who's that?" Ginny asked defensively.
"Ginny?" She heard a familiar female voice ask. "Hermione?" She answered.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked her.
"I was looking for Ron -" She started.
"Come in and sit down –" She heard Ron say and she made her way inside and sat in the first seat, which was rather soft. "Not here!" said Harry hurriedly. "I'm here!"
She stood quickly and practically ran to the other end of the compartment, glad that it was too dark for anyone to see her blush. "Ouch!" said Neville as she stepped on his foot.
"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly. Then the room lit up and a tired looking man was sitting across from her holding flames in his hand. "Stay where you are." He stood and began moving towards the door when it suddenly opened on its own. In the doorway there was a figure in a dark cloak.
The figure began to draw in a long, slow, rattling breath and Ginny suddenly felt very cold. She was standing in the Chamber of Secrets, the basilisk was sitting in front of her and she was talking to it; she was standing outside of Myrtle's bathroom writing on the wall with paint; Tom standing over her…
"Ginny! Ginny! Are you okay?" She heard Ron's voice as if through a fog and suddenly the images stopped. She looked around and saw Harry lying on the floor of the compartment. She felt the train begin to move and she nodded. Ron looked at her skeptically and moved next to Hermione where she was trying to wake Harry up and slapped him.
Harry opened his eyes and Ron and Hermione helped him onto his seat.
"Are you okay?" Ron asked nervously.
"Yeah," Harry said. "What happened? Where's that – that thing? Who screamed?"
"No one screamed," said Ron, more nervously still.
"But I heard screaming –" Harry insisted and Ginny heard a loud snapping.
The man was breaking an enormous slob of chocolate into pieces. "Here," he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. "Eat it. It'll help."
"What was that thing?" he asked Lupin.
"A dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. "One of the dementors of Azkaban."
Hearing this Ginny froze with the slab of chocolate half way to her mouth, she'd heard of the dementors, but she'd never thought she would see one in person, they were horrible creatures that kept the prisoners in line, she'd always wondered how they did it but now she knew.
"It was horrible," said Neville, in a higher voice than usual, startling her from her thoughts. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"
"I felt weird," said Ron, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "Like I'd never be cheerful again…"
She remembered seeing Tom standing over her and gave a small sob; Hermione went over and put a comforting arm around her. "It's all right. Eat your chocolate; it'll make you feel better."
Ginny nodded biting into the rich chocolate looking up when she heard her name.
"-was shaking like mad though…" Ron was telling Harry. Hermione sensed her distress and pulled her into a hug. "It affected us all." They spent the rest of the ride like that and although Ginny remembered her vow to hate her when Ron had first written home about Hermione, Ginny couldn't help but be glad to have such good friends.
A/N: This is my first fan fiction and it came about when I kept complaining about everyone else's stories, so I decided to put my money where my mouth was and write my own. This chapter is almost completely from the book, but after this one, they'll be original. There is a plot, I swear, although sometimes you won't be able to tell, I'm trying to write a more of character development thing. How Draco and Ginny deal with each other mostly, after wards I'll try to write one for GoF and OotP.
