She was, of course, prepared for a dramatic drop in attendance this year after death eaters swarmed Hogwarts at the end of the previous school year, but that could not prepare her for just how few seemed to have come. The new headmistress, Professor McGonagall, had sent out owls in mid-July with a letter confirming that the school would indeed remain open as long as there were students who wanted to attend. It would appear that not many wanted to, or more likely, that not many parents were willing to part with their children in the trying times upon them.
There was a time when Hogwarts was considered the safest place to be. Draco Malfoy had ruined that reputation with a fairly simple scheme to let Voldemort's supporters in, though truth be told, he worked himself ragged to carry out that "simple scheme."
Ginny sighed as she passed through yet another empty car, but movement ahead caught her attention. Thank Merlin, there actually are people on here besides me! She moved pointedly toward the car and grabbed the handle to open the door to the compartment without looking inside.
The door was already open before she realized that a platinum blonde was staring coolly at her. Ginny stopped quickly and for a moment just stared having been taken off guard. She was jolted back into reality when he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Are you going to stare at me all day, Weaslette, or is there a reason you barged in on me?" he asked in a flat voice.
Ginny glared and said bitingly, "No, I was looking for human life on this empty train and thought that I saw some in here. I guess I was wrong." She promptly turned and left, letting the door close with a clatter.
As she walked away, Ginny couldn't get over how dead his eyes looked. Hollow even. No one had ever accused Draco Malfoy of having feelings, but she expected to see something more after the death of his parents. She had read in the Daily Prophet that Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy had been attacked by Voldemort a few weeks after last term. The Order suspected it was because of Draco's failure to complete his mission. It was his punishment. Somehow Ginny didn't think that murdering his family, and probably Voldemort's top supporters, was a good way to make the boy more obedient. Frankly, she thought it was stupid, but then again she also thought that murder was a stupid waste as well, so none of it sat well with her. His continued stoniness was unexpected, though. He can't even let down his walls to properly mourn his parents, she thought. It's kind of sad, actually. Well, no it's not. He's heartless and… Her thoughts drifted off without any real conviction.
"Ginny!" As she walked through into the next car doing her continued search of the train, her head snapped up and she saw a cluster of people she recognized. An odd grouping of older students sat smiling in her direction: Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones, and a few younger students whose names she was unsure of but who she recognized as Ravenclaws.
"Thank goodness! Do you know there is nobody on the next six trains back?" she asked sinking into a seat and finally putting down the creatures and bags she had been carrying. She looked down at her arms to see the deep scratches that Crookshanks had dug into her arms and sighed.
Upon noticing Crookshanks and the owls, Neville asked, "So where are Harry, Ron and Hermione?" Ginny stared at her arms a moment longer in an unsuccessful attempt to calm her temper and come up with a decent excuse.
When she finally looked up and she noticed the odd look that Neville was giving her. "They-" and she stopped. She looked at Luna whose usually dreamy expression seemed grim. They all look as if they know something that I don't, she thought. "They aren't coming back this year." None of the older students looked surprised.
"I figured as much," stated Neville as he looked away out the window. "I guess it was just the three of them then?" he asked somewhat downcast. I know how you feel, Neville, Ginny thought. In her fourth year, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and herself had made a great team in the Department of Mysteries, and last year when the castle was under attack, the six had again all been there fighting. And yet, half of the group now sat on the train headed toward school while the other half was who-knows-where probably getting into all sorts of dangerous situations.
Luna was looking curiously at Ginny. "I thought I saw them get on the train," she said slowly.
"Yes, well, they got off just as quickly. Apparated, actually."
"Oh." There was a prolonged silence in which Ginny's anger, Neville's sadness, and Luna's… coherence, filled the air. No one else seemed to have anything to say. Susan looked interested, but she didn't really know any of them all that well though she had participated in the DA with them, so she stayed quiet. The young Ravenclaws didn't seem to be paying too much attention and just seemed grateful that there were other students nearby.
The rest of the train ride followed in similar fashion, though Luna asked about Bill and Fleur's wedding. The conversation perked up a bit here, because Ginny had truly enjoyed herself. All of her family, except that prat Percy, had gotten together and celebrated their life and happiness for a few short hours. They all danced and ate and were all around festive, but the night ended and the next day dawned as horrible as ever. Since then the tension had steadily mounted up until the present. The car went silent after Ginny's comment that the news the next day was filled with deaths, which put a damper on the celebratory atmosphere.
The odd silences were broken every now and then with a feeble attempt to start conversation that was usually batted away as quickly it was begun. Finally, Susan asked, "Who do you think will be there this year? I haven't seen hardly any students. I wonder how many of us there will be…"
"I'll bet there are no Slytherins," piped in Neville. "I'm sure their mummies and daddies are keeping them plenty busy."
"At least you won't have to deal with that awful Malfoy boy," added Luna.
"Actually," Ginny said glumly, "You will. He's on the train and he's as nasty as ever…" She thought back to his weird behavior in the car with Ron and Harry and wondered if she meant it. This news caused several groans and a snort of disbelief from Neville.
"After all that business last year he thinks he can just come back here like nothing happened? Not likely," Neville retorted. Ginny stared a moment at Neville wondering at this newfound animosity.
They finally arrived at the Hogsmeade Station and silently got off of the train. Ginny had to suppress a snort of exasperation and surprise when she saw just how many people got off of the train. About thirty from the looks of it.
"Firs' years over here," shouted a disgruntled looking Hagrid. No doubt he's just as disappointed with the turnout as the rest of us, Ginny thought. She moved quickly away from him so as not to let him ask her anything about the missing trio. She was surprised, actually, that no Order members had popped out of the shadows wondering where Harry was.
On the platform, all of the students looked around in search of people they knew and faces that were missing. A single boy stepped up to Hagrid to cross on boat to the castle. The others clamored into the carriages and made their way to school. Ginny couldn't help but notice Malfoy climbing silently into an empty carriage near the rear as she piled in with Luna, Neville, and Susan.
Ginny was one of the last to walk into the Great Hall and when she did, she let out the snort that she had held in earlier. The four long house tables were amazingly empty. There were no more than 10 students at each table and at the Slytherin table sat one student: Malfoy. Before Ginny made it to her seat, however, Professor McGonagall moved quickly toward her and ushered her out of the Hall.
"Where are they, Miss Weasley?"
Ginny sighed. She knew this would happen and that she was going to be the one to take the burden of the responsibility for "letting" them go,
"They apparated off of the train. They are going after him." She hoped that it would be good enough because her temper was slowly rising again and she felt it would be unwise to shout at the headmistress before she had even been there for a day.
"Are they completely mad?" she shouted throwing her hands into the air. "Where exactly did they go? What are they planning?" she asked grilling the young redhead.
And here it comes… " I don't know"
"What do you mean? Surely they told you something! Didn't you even try to stop them? Oh they'll be furious. Your mother! Oh honestly…"
Ginny had pretty much tuned her out expecting to be lectured, so she answered mechanically, "I don't know."
"What don't you know?" she snapped before pointing her back into the hall and heading toward her office at a brisk pace. That was bizarre. Surely I won't get off that easily?
She stepped back into the Great Hall and noticed Malfoy's eyes on her. What is he staring at? The great furry ferret. Honestly, its not as if I wanted to sit with him on the train. She glared at him until he looked away and she gracefully took her seat.
The professors at the head table shared significant looks between themselves and muttered, quietly shooting glances at the Gryffindor table every few moments. Hagrid was staring directly at Ginny, but she avoided his gaze. Of course, the students too were whispering. The trio was conspicuously missing and the new headmistress had left.
A few moments later, Professor McGonagall returned looking particularly flushed. A single first year trailed uneasily behind. At the front she pulled out the sorting hat and stool and beckoned the boy, Harrison O'Reilly, forward after a long song from the hat about inter-house unity and cooperation. The boy sat and was quickly sorted into Hufflepuff.
Once he was seated at his table and everyone was looking curiously at the staff table, Professor McGonagall stood behind a large podium. "I see that this year there will not be many of us. Of course, I expected our numbers to drop, but at any rate…" her voice trailed off. She cleared her throat and began again. "This is an unusual year indeed for us all. I must confess that I am disappointed that so many did not wish to join us. I am also afraid that I have been, as of yet, unable to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts, so the Professors Flitwick, Slughorn and I will rotate teaching that class." Of course no one wanted the job, Ginny thought, the post is absolutely cursed. Before it was considered jinxed, but now… Things had gotten out of hand with the last one murdering the headmaster.
After a few more announcements of little consequence that Ginny ignored fairly efficiently, the feast appeared on the tables. Never before had the response been so tame. Ginny didn't feel very hungry. The image of Ron stuffing everything he could get his hands on into his mouth reminded her that she was alone this year. Neville and Luna were nice and all, but she was never very close to them. She stared off into space and the rest of the evening seemed to trudge by. Even sleep came slowly that night. Her anger and hurt welled up so much that she couldn't focus on anything, including her body's need for rest.
Her brain kept wandering off to strange corners of her consciousness. At one moment she would be at Bill and Fleur's wedding. Harry, Ron and Hermione would disapparate with a pop. She would feel Malfoy's eyes watching her through the entire feast. She'd be in an empty train compartment. Hermione would be guilting her into doing her homework. Malfoy would be telling Ron to grown up. Harry would be breaking up with her at Dumbledore's funeral. Stupid Malfoy, she thought, I've thought of him twice in the last minute. Why can't that prat keep to himself and stay out of other peoples' thoughts. Why does he have to act so weird now. Why did he have to come back here. Maybe I'll send him a bat-bogey hex. But then she felt guilty for threatening the newly orphaned boy in her mind for the mere fact that she thought of him. Urgh, I thought about him. It's my fault. I should hex some sense into myself. She fell into an unsettling sleep involving Malfoy staring and the trio leaving her alone in a big empty castle. They are bigger prats than that ferret is.