Chapter Six
The next couple of daysflew by for Ginny and before she knew it, it was time for her and Pansy to head to Pansy's place. A couple of day's earlier she had received an owl from her parents asking her what she planned to do for the holidays and until now she had let the owl go unanswered. It had taken a lot for her to get the owl to leave without a reply. Eventually she ended up tying a blank piece of parchment to its leg. Turning to her desk, she slowly made her way over and pulled out some parchment and a quill. Dipping it in the dark green inkwell on her desk she, began to write
Mum and Dad,
She scribbled this out quickly. It seemed too friendly, something she definitely was not feeling toward her family at the moment.
Arthur and Molly,
Once again she scribbled this out, too informal and unfeeling, she thought.
Eventually she finished the letter and it looked something like this:
Mum and Dad,
Arthur and Molly,
Family,
Those Who Don't Really Care
Muggle-loving Fools
Mother and Father,
Thankyou for your letter, it was very… heartfelt. I assure you that I have not been brainwashed by Draco or any of the other Slytherins as Ron and the others may be lead to believe. The Slytherins are my family now and as such I shall be spending the holidays at the Parkinson's with Pansy.
Ginevra
Reading over the letter Ginny sighed and began to make her way to the owlery. She had thought about using her owl, but decided against it. Using a school owl added just a bit of mystery. Suddenly she slipped in a pile of muck and ended up ungracefully sprawled out on the ground, looking into the face of the one person she had been trying to, rather successfully, avoid for the last couple of weeks.
"Draco," she stammered, unsure what to say.
"Gin," he replied reaching down to help her up. "Haven't seen you in a while."
"Yeah. Ummm… I've been… busy, with school stuff. Yeah," she lied quickly.
"Oh, I see." Draco muttered, nodding slowly.
Ginny took a deep breath. "Anyway, I've got a letter to owl. Talk to you later, ok?"
"Yeah, later." Draco stared at her for a second longer, before turning and walking away slowly.
Ginny almost ran into the owlery, her heart felt like it was going to explode. What was wrong with her? He was only Draco Malfoy? Or so she told herself.
Later that day, she was in her dorm when Pansy came rushing in. "Hi," she said, "still packing I see."
"Yeah," Ginny replied, looking at the mess around her, "I don't know what to take honestly. Plus, I don't have that much anyway." She said the last part looking down at the floor, trying to hide the blush that was slowly creeping up her face.
"I know!" Pansy exclaimed, holding her hands to her chest like a two year old that had just received candy, "Don't take anything at all."
"What?" Ginny looked at her like she had grown a second head. "I need clothes to wear, Pansy, I can't walk around naked all holidays."
"No silly," She laughed, shaking her head, "The first thing we'll do is go shopping. A whole new wardrobe is what you need. It'll cheer you up tenfold!"
"I couldn't possibly Pans. There is no way on this good earth that I could afford that!" Ginny said softly.
"Don't worry about it. I'll pay for the whole thing. Think of it as my Christmas present to you. Oh we will have so much fun Gin!" she shrieked.
The next couple of hours flew by with Pansy eventually convincing Ginny to let Pansy take her shopping, but only after a compromise on her part. That Ginny be allowed to take one change of 'comfortable' clothes with her. The bell rang signifying that the students had to gather in the Great Hall rang and Pansy and Ginny rang down to join their fellow students. Working their way to the front, they dodged glares from Ron and the others, and waited patiently for Flitch to lead them to the Express.
"Alright," he snarled. "This way to th' Express. Don't what to lose any of ya on th' way. So stick with ya friends, if ya have any of them." The walk to Hogsmeade was long and cold, the snow began falling in sheets as they rushed to the station.
"Come on. Hurry up. Don't want to be late, do ya?" Flitch spat, "Still a bit to go yet."
"I don't know why the old fool keeps him here. It's not like they couldn't find anyone else to do his job. He doesn't have any sort of magical talent. Everyone knows he's a Squib!" Pansy said to Ginny in between sharp breaths.
"Yeah, but you know what Dumbledore is like. He's probably taking pity on him. I just wish he would be nicer sometimes. It's not like it would be that hard. He's just jealous of us I bet, being able to do magic and all. Look we're almost there." Ginny pointed ahead.
Pansy sighed happily. "Oh thank god, I thought I'd die out here in the cold. I don't understand why we can't take the carriages."
"Doesn't matter now, we're here. Come on; let's find a decent compartment before all the good ones are taken." Ginny replied as she ushered Pansy onto the train.
They spent most of the trip talking about everything and anything from classes to boys and back again. Ginny had so many questions about Pansy house so they spent at least an hour talking about that. It didn't matter how many times Pansy assured her, Ginny was still convinced that she was going to get lost and no one would ever find her.
"Don't be silly Gin," Pansy said, "No ones has ever been lost for more that two days, and that was only the Minister for Magic when Mum and Dad hosted a Halloween party 5 years ago." She laughed at the memory. "Don't worry, the house elves know every corner of the house, you'll be fine."
"Still, you've lived there all your life. What if I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and I take a wrong turn and you never see me again?"
"Honestly Ginny, I don't know how many times I've told you. Our rooms have a connecting bathroom, you won't get lost. And if by some horrible twist of fate you do, there's a map in the house that will tell us where anyone is in the house. You'll be fine."
"Then why did no one find the Minister for two days if there's a map?" Ginny asked sceptically.
"Because," Pansy laughed, "No one wanted to."
Time flew by and the next thing Ginny knew, Pansy was nudging her awake and practically yelling at her.
"Ginny! Wake UP! We are almost there. Merlin, you could sleep through anything! I hope the dream was worth it." Pansy smiled down at her.
"It was." Was the only reply she got before the other girl jumped up and grabbed her coat before running out of the compartment onto the platform. "Ahh…" She said drawing a deep breath, "It feels good to be somewhere out of that school. It was so stuffy and boring there. Where to?" Ginny asked, turning to Pansy.
Pansy grinned at Ginny's unsure face. "Well, I thought we'd go home and since it's still only early, we could drop our stuff off and get started on your shopping."
"Ok," replied Ginny as she stifled a yawn. "Whatever you say boss," With a smile the two girls got into the awaiting car.
Collapsing on the huge bed that was hers for the next ten days Ginny sighed. She'd never known that there were some many shops in London. Looking around at the multitude of bags that lay at her feet she thought of the reactions she would get at school when she wore these clothes. 'School,' she thought thinking back to her dream on the train.
The halls were dark, only every second lantern was lit. 'Strange,' she thought, her eyes adjusting to the light. 'Must be something to do with the speech made at dinner. I remember something about the halls.' Humming a tune she had heard on Pansy's wireless she was thinking about her latest Potions essay. 'Snape really did go easier on the Slytherins' she thought when she suddenly fell over, only to be caught by a strong pair of arms. "Thanks," She began, staring into a mysterious pair of amber eyes, "I-"
That's all she could remember. Pansy had woken her before she got to finish her dream. 'I wonder who he is?' she thought. 'There's so much about that dream. Why weren't all the lanterns in the hall to the common room working? What the hell is a hellebore potion? I've never heard about it before.' Ginny shut her eyes once more, hoping to continue the dream and learn more about the boy with the bewildering amber eyes.
A/N: Hey guys, sorry this took so long. I did mean to get it up beforeI went on holidays, but i never got around to it and things have been busy as since i got back. Anyway, sorry its not that long, I'm gonna try and make the next one longer and i hope to get it up by x-mas. thanks - r&r!
- stars so bright