After a long shower of frantically scrubbing her body and still feeling completely dirty, Ginny made her way down to the Great Hall with the knowledge that her attacker was somewhere amongst all the happy faces. The thought of it made Ginny want to hide in her dormitory and cry, but she wasn't about to give him that satisfaction.
Upon entrance, Ginny put on a fake smile as she walked over to the Gryffindor house table, taking a seat next to Ron who was so intent on eating, he hadn't noticed his little sister had arrived.
"Good morning," Ginny greeted. Hermione, who was sitting opposite of Ron with her nose crammed in a book, looked up.
"Good morning, Ginny," Hermione beamed, closing her book.
"Mornin', Gin," said Ron, swallowing a mouthful of his breakfast. Ginny tucked her hair behind her ear and reached for a biscuit. Hermione's smile suddenly vanished, replaced by a startled look.
"Oh my goodness, Ginny, what happened?" she asked.
Ginny felt a sudden rush of panic. 'How could she possibly know?'
"Wh-what do you mean?" Ginny stammered, tensely.
"Your cheek," Hermione replied slowly, "What happened?"
Ginny reached up and felt a bump forming on the left side of Ginny's face. Ginny's mind raced as the image flashed before her.
Struggling, Ginny broke her right arm free from under his tight grasp and attempted to fight him off. She reached up to hit him, and felt her fingernails scrape against his skin. With the hand he had used to bind Ginny's arm with, he struck her with a closed fist with a mighty force, nearly knocking Ginny unconscious.
Ginny shook the image out of her mind.
"Oh! I…fell." she said.
"How?" asked Hermione.
"Umm, after my detention with Snape, I was running up the stairs when I tripped and fell. " Ginny lied.
"Looks like you fell pretty hard," said Ron, examining Ginny's cheek.
"Yeah. Yeah, I did. Clumsy me," Ginny gave a slight laugh. Hermione and Ron remained serious. "So where's Harry?" Ginny asked, hoping to change the subject. Hermione shrugged and looked over at Ron.
"He was still sleeping when I left. Came back pretty late last night." he said.
"Must have been really late, then. I was in the common room until 1 in the morning finishing up my weekend's homework and he never came." A grin spread across Ron's face as he looked up at Hermione.
"Just couldn't wait to do it, could you?" Hermione gave Ron a dirty look which caused Ron's grin to grow wider. Ginny, too cracked a small smile, then felt a hand grasp her shoulder. Ginny choked on a scream and spun around only to come face to face with…