A/N: Sorry to keep you all waiting! I've only got ideas and I don't really get them down until a couple weeks or so before I post the next chapter. Thanks to all my reviewers! It means a lot to me to know that people have been enjoying this story so far.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, just the plot!
Now, on with the story!
Forgotten
Chapter Three:
xXxXx
"You're sure you don't want me to go with you? I wouldn't put it past Filch to punish you using some of his old methods, after how close he was to getting Fred and George last year." Colin asked worriedly as the three friends walked down the darkened hallways, passing a random, flickering torch now and then.
"Colin, it's only about the fifth time you've asked her, and the third that you've mentioned Fred and George!" Kendra cried, exasperated, scuffing her shoes on the small, unnoticed crevices in the old floor. "I'm pretty sure her answer is still the same as it was five minutes ago. Besides, you already convinced her to let us practically chaperone her to his office."
"Well, you can never be too careful, especially these days. Plus, Ron would wring my neck if I let anything happen to you, Gin." He answered defensively, glancing suspiciously at the passing shadows of the sleepwalking ghosts.
Ginny rolled her eyes at the mention of her brother. He was none too happy when he found out about her second detention she was to serve tomorrow with Snape. Neither was Ginny, for that matter either, but at least he'd controlled his temper a bit and only warned her that she was dangling dangerously close to crossing the line, and that next time, he'd tell their mum. Harry had simply clapped her on the back, laughing, and congratulated her like the rest of Gryffindor.
She smiled slightly as she remembered her last conversation with Hermione, who had, unsurprisingly, also heard about the newest detention as well, and had been standing with Ron and Harry when the confrontation took place.
"Ginny, you practically assaulted Malfoy and Zabini! I'm not saying they didn't deserve it or anything, but you could have easily gotten expelled!" Hermione berated.
"Fine, I'll never do it again." Ginny answered resignedly.
"Yes you will! I don't believe that for a second!" Hermione cried.
"All the more reason this debate is pointless then!" Ginny had answered quickly with a grin.
She felt herself smirk, recalling Hermione's startled expression. As they neared the caretaker's office, which was just down one more staircase, she quickly checked herself. She wouldn't want to give him a head start on insults about her clothes.
"Gin," Kendra said, noticing her slightly slowed pace, "what's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing really, I just don't really feel up to listening to Filch's invectives tonight." She answered with a sigh.
"What do you mean?" Colin questioned, looking down the staircase anxiously. Filch always had a way of sneaking up on you when you least expected it. He saw nothing except the glaring torches, illuminating the closed door to his office.
"'My, my, someone's clothes are looking a bit worn out, hmm? Pity you can't afford new ones,'" Ginny said, mimicking Filch's raspy voice. "I swear he's as bad as Malfoy sometimes!" she complained. Kendra laughed and took Colin's arm, looking at his muggle wristwatch.
"Well, Gin, I think you're going to be late if you don't get a move on." She said, as she and Colin looped arms and headed in the other direction. Ginny looked longingly at them as she thought about the warm Gryffindor fire, and the big, comfy chairs surrounding it.
Finally, she made her way down the steps and walked the short distance to the door. Deciding she didn't want to get in trouble for being a couple seconds late, she quickly knocked and waited.
"Well, well, well. Ms. Weasley, pleasure to have you joining us." Filch welcomed. Ginny's eyes quickly scanned the room and noticed Mrs. Norris sitting on top of Filch's desk. Her yellow eyes seemed to look right through Ginny, making her feel a little self-conscience. She brushed that feeling aside; after all, Mrs. Norris was only a cat…right?
Looking past the cat, she noticed that Filch's office seemed particularly bleak that night. The floor was made of the same stone engraved in the walls, which always seemed bare in Ginny's mind, for it had no pictures or decorations whatsoever. It was at small moments like this, where she felt the slightest bit of pity for the man.
Of course, he usually ruined her mood with insults. Narrowing her eyes, she turned and looked determinedly at Filch, assured she could take anything he made her do.
"Your task tonight, Weasley, is quite simple. You're to polish the trophies." He said, pointing in the direction of the Trophy Room. Ginny grinned; she had done this plenty of occasions before and knew she could finish quickly enough, giving her the extra time needed to finish her Transfiguration homework.
"I'll have you know," Filch continued, upon seeing her smile, "that if it were up to me, you'd be making good use of my old chains." He said warningly, gesturing toward the infamous shackles hanging from the low ceiling.
Ginny's grin quickly turned to a serious look, surmising not to take her chances. She quickly strode to the Trophy Room and closed the door lightly behind her.
"Oh, bloody hell!" she cursed, upon seeing the mounds of trophies that greeted her site.
"Just got a new shipment in, seems we've missed a couple of awards over the last three years. Dumbledore just ordered those last week. You can thank Potter for at least half of those." Filch called through the door, laughing gleefully as she continued to curse.
'So much for finishing the Transfiguration homework,' she thought ruefully.
xXxXx
Colin awoke the next morning quite early, and as he opened his bed hangings and looked out the window, he could see the sun just barely peeking over the horizon. The orange and yellow hues contrasted greatly with the dark blue sky, as dusk slowly faded to morning. The lake glistened in anticipation for the day ahead, as the dew on the grass twinkled in the rising light.
'Be a great use of film,' he thought absently and put his feet on the plush, carpeted floor. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he stood and stretched before turning and going down to the Common Room. He made sure to close the door noiselessly, not wanting to wake his roommates, as Ginny often did when she woke up.
He and Kendra had gone for a walk around the lake after dropping Ginny off the night before. It'd been a while since they had talked and they clearly needed to catch up on each other's love lives. At least, that's what Kendra had stated to him as they had taken off their socks and shoes and planted their footprints in the cold sandbank by the lake.
Over the past years of knowing Ginny and Kendra, he became quite attached to the both of them. With Ginny, he could always count on a laugh, and completely sarcastic remarks. She was also very considerate of others.
Whereas with Kendra, Colin could be assured his secrets were safe with her. She was, furthermore, very observant and seemed to always know when something was wrong. The two had spent so much time chatting the previous night, that when they had gotten back, the Common room had been empty.
"Everything alright?" Colin had questioned Kendra softly, as she had quieted down somewhat since they entered the warm room. She had shuffled her feet slightly and looked down at her shoes once, seemingly pondering whether she should tell him something. Knowing his reputation for blurting out secrets, he could understand if she wasn't sure whether she wanted to tell.
"Come on, Ken," Colin had said, using the old nickname that always made her smile because of the manly reference the often came with the name. "You can trust me." She looked up thoughtfully,
"The problem is," she said, in thoughtful tone, "If I can't trust you, then I can't trust your statement that I can trust you. But thanks, you've been a big help!" she had finished with a mischievous grin before quickly going up to her dormitory.
Colin shook his head and smiled at the memory. She was acting so odd lately. He looked up sharply as he heard a noise. Without paying attention, he had unintentionally walked down the steps into the Common Room and to the center of the room.
Peering around the room, he looked toward the area the sound had originated from. To his surprise, he saw a mass of red curls occupying a desk, while a familiar female body lay hunched over books. Ginny was currently sleeping on top of her homework. Laughing, he walked over and gently prodded her awake.
"Ginny, dear," he said in a sickly sweet voice, "time to wake up!" He got a grumbled reply in response. He lowered his head to her ear, and whispered something he was quite sure would wake her up.
"What?" she squawked, jumping up and nearly colliding with Colin's body, "I've missed the Quidditch game? You've got to be kidding me!" Her wide, amber eyes took in the red and gold surroundings before finally noticing Colin, who was standing to the side chuckling. "Colin!" she cried tiredly, her voice cracking.
"Honestly, Gin, it works every time!" he replied still snickering. She was about to reply with, no doubt, a sarcastic remark to put him in his place, when he noticed her looking past him with a slightly strained grin.
"What works every time?" Kendra questioned, while yawning. Colin turned and took in her roused appearance. She was, like Colin, in her sleeping wear. Her hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail that had fallen out sometime during the night. The yellow, plaid, cotton pants she wore were rolled twice, but still managed to cover her feet entirely, while her slightly wrinkled white tank-top had risen, showing a bit of her stomach. Acknowledging his stare, Ginny nudged him lightly in the ribs. He grinned at her, before turning back to Kendra.
"Good morning, Ken!" he said brightly. She laughed slightly before yawing once again.
"It's practically the crack of dawn, Colin! Hardly a good thing." she huffed. "I only came down to wake up Ginny."
"Luckily for you, Colin found me first." Ginny answered, giving Colin a half-hearted glare. He simply smirked. "What?" she asked, frowning as he continued to smirk, "Something funny?" Kendra was now trying to muffle her laughter, but failed horribly as she let out a snort.
"You've got a bit of ink smudged on your face." Kendra supplied after a composing herself.
"Yes," added Colin, "I think it says something along the lines of, 'The transfiguration of a feather into a chair…' backwards." He said beaming at her. Ginny blushed slightly.
"Well, you don't look so hot yourself, Mister Creevy." She replied, gesturing at his hair, which was sticking out at odd angles. "And you," she continued, now talking to Kendra, "you might want to fix your shirt. Colin's been getting an eyeful." Kendra rolled her eyes and walked over to Ginny but fixed her shirt, embarrassed, and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to the staircase.
"We'll just go along and get dressed." She explained briefly to Colin.
"Right, just call if you need any help!" he offered jokingly, before sitting down to read over Ginny's essay, correcting the mistakes every now and then. The two girls hurried up the steps, giggling as they went. As they entered their dormitory, Kendra reached behind her to quietly close the door. Ginny beat her to it, though, and purposely slammed it shut with an evil smile.
"Gods, Gin, just a couple more minutes!" came some of the muffled replies of the other three girls in the room.
"Not a chance, ladies!" Ginny answered loudly, before getting attacked by thrown pillows. Kendra snorted very un-lady like before joining in the pillow fight as well. When all the girls were thoroughly awake, and the battle of feathers ended, they each slowly stood up and proceeded to get ready. After both Ginny and Kendra had showered, gotten dressed, and put on a touch of muggle makeup they found in their roommate Claire's trunk, they quickly went to the Common Room.
The two girls were both sporting their equally long hair in a braid. The little makeup they had on was also matched to perfection except the eye shadow. Ginny's was a honey-brown color, to match her eyes. Kendra's was an ocean-blue to match her eyes as well.
Upon entering the Common Room, they were greeted with the loud noise of students bustling about. Some were scurrying to finish up their last minute Potion's homework, like Ron. Others dashed about the room, in an almost frantic way, searching for their missing belongings, like Neville and Hermione, who were searching for Crookshanks. Still, though, others had found enough spare time to play just one last game of Exploding Snap, as was the case for Colin, Harry, Dean and Seamus.
Harry had just made a move that nearly caused his eyebrows to singe off. Colin evidently found this uproariously funny, and had fallen out of his chair, with Seamus not far behind him. Ginny laughed and started forward, intending on ending the game before the boys melted all of their hair off, when Kendra stopped her. Ginny turned and saw an apprehensive expression on her friend's face.
"Gin," she commenced, "there's something I've been meaning to tell you. If I don't tell you now, then I'll just burst!" Ginny was slightly worried, but at the same time excited about hearing a secret. It'd been a while since they shared gossip that was this important. She nodded her head, hinting at Kendra to continue. Kendra answered in silence.
"Just tell me, Kendra. You know I won't tell." Ginny begged. "Unless you ask me to that is." She added, giving her a wink.
"I like Colin!" Kendra blurted out. Ginny smiled, and hugged her friend excitedly.
"That's brilliant! Have you told him yet?" she questioned.
"You mean you're not terribly upset?" Kendra asked, shocked at Ginny's reaction.
"What on earth do you mean? Of course I'm not upset! Why would I be?" Ginny asked, slightly incredulous.
"Well, practically all of Gryffindor thinks you're mad about him. Then again, I did hear that from Lavender…" she trailed off, and looked hopefully at Ginny. Ginny gave her an encouraging smile and a little shove in Colin's direction. He and Harry had hurriedly finished their game, with Dean and Seamus already leaving, as the people in the Common Room had quickly dispersed for breakfast.
"Oh, go on, you! I'll just meet you two in the Great Hall. I need to go upstairs and get my books together and organized anyway." Ginny said lightly, with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. Kendra laughed and quickly walked over to Colin, who was about to come and get them, and whispered the usually dreaded words,
"We need to talk." Fortunately, this was going to be good news for Colin, though at the moment he looked slightly worried. The two looped arms and headed out of the portrait hole. Ginny took her time gathering her books, making sure to move slowly, for she was positive it would be some time before Kendra eventually did tell Colin what exactly was on her mind.
Finally, with only 15 minutes of breakfast left, Ginny figured that enough time had passed, and proceeded to make her way to the Great Hall. Upon leaving the Gryffindor Common Room, though, she found the hallways to be eerily quiet, opposed to the normal loud and boisterous atmosphere. She tightened her arms around her books and hurried down the hall. A shiver passed down her spine, and she felt as if someone was following her. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw that no one was there, but this did nothing to relieve her thoughts.
After about five minutes of repeatedly glancing behind her, she quickly dug her hand into her pocket and grasped for her wand. Her fingers were only met with the thin fabric of her robe. Something coursed through her veins, and she couldn't quite place the feeling. A second later, a single word flashed through her mind; fear.
"Looking for this?" an unfamiliar voice called. Ginny quickly turned and saw a tall, skinny girl, who had transferred from Durmstrang that year, holding her wand in a lazy fashion with her pale fingers. When she had been sorted, the hat had barely grazed over her raven hair before declaring the girl's new house, Slytherin. Thinking briefly, Ginny remembered her name. Tanith, which Kendra had quickly rooted back to meaning, Serpent Lady.
"Actually, no, that's not mine." Ginny answered, deciding that feigning ignorance would be the best tactic. Apparently she wasn't the best actress.
"Please, you're a horrible liar." Another voice scoffed upon entering her peripheral vision. It was the all too well known bodyguard of Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle. Pansy Parkinson then appeared next to Tanith, before walking the short distance to where Ginny stood.
"My, she has quite pretty hair, doesn't she Blaise?" Pansy said in a light tone. Ginny felt someone breathing on her neck and quickly whipped around to find the boy in question.
'Hardly a boy,' Ginny thought, seeing that he towered over her by a good six inches, but also proudly noting that he sported a small bruise above his eyebrow from where she had hit him.
"Yes," he agreed, glancing at Pansy. "She's always worn it long, though, hasn't she?" he questioned casually, his eyes flicking back to Ginny briefly. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Pity she won't be able to keep it." A new, but familiar voice said in mock-grievance. Ginny pivoted hastily to see Draco Malfoy staring at her with an impassive look on his face. Small scratch marks could just barely be seen from grating his face against the stone wall when she had pinned him. It was then that Ginny realized they had her trapped. She was in the middle of a circle of Slytherins, and she could only guess that they weren't there for some morning tea.
"Sod off, Malfoy!" she snarled, balling her hands into fists.
"I wouldn't talk to him like that, if I were you." Tanith warned in a sing-song voice, looking absently at her nails. Gregory, Blaise and Pansy chuckled darkly, while Draco merely smirked.
"Greg," Blaise started, "would you mind giving me a hand here?" he asked while reaching for Ginny. She quickly shoved him away from her and turned to run before being grabbed roughly from behind by Goyle around her waist.
"Get your hands off me, you wanker!" she shrieked, her arms and legs flailing, trying in vain to hit him. He simply laughed, his massive body trembling, and moved her so that she ended up facing Draco. With all the energy she could muster, Ginny attempted to kick him. Draco moved swiftly out of the way, though, resounding in Ginny hitting the stone wall rather hard. She cursed loudly as pain shot through her toes to her foot.
"Pansy, Tanith, would you two be a dear and kindly help take Weasley's hair out of that lovely braid." Draco asked, laughing at her continued efforts to free herself from Goyle's strong grip. The two girls responded immediately and pulled Ginny's hair loose from her hair tie.
"For a Gryffindor, she's got good taste." Pansy muttered, pocketing the ribbon.
"If you touch my hair, I swear-" Ginny started.
"You'll what, Weasley? I hardly think this is the time to be making idle threats." Blaise said calmly, gesturing at her current position. "Now then, Tanith, would you hand over her wand?" Surely they weren't about to let her go?
"Don't' get your hopes up, weasel. I'm only here to finish what you started." Draco stated upon seeing her hopeful expression. He quickly took the wand from Blaise's outstretched hand and brought it up to his face for further inspection. "Ah, yes, hair of a unicorn." He muttered, before twirling it in his fingers.
"Tanith, Pansy, go keep watch around the corner. Anyone heads this way, give a shout." Ordered Blaise, and then ran his hand through Ginny's tangled locks. "Much too long, wouldn't you agree Greg?" Ginny felt Goyle nod, and heard his chuckle.
"I'd say Weasley here could use a haircut." He suggested, looking towards Malfoy, who nodded in agreement.
"I'd be happy to help." He smirked.
"I swear I'll scream bloody murder." Ginny threatened darkly, though her voice trembled. From fear or anger, Malfoy wasn't sure. A cloud hovered over the sun outside briefly, and the light from the hallway became dimmer, seemingly casting a shadow over the four. Blaise's grip tightened around her hair, and her head was pulled in his direction.
Ginny opened her mouth to scream, only to be silenced with a swish of her wand, which was still in Malfoy's hand. Tears threatened to spill over as he brought the weapon closer and closer to her hair until it was touching. She bravely blinked them back and looked determinedly up at Malfoy. For a second, she could have sworn she saw guilt flare in his eyes, but dismissed the thought, for, as soon as she had seen it, it was gone. Leaning forward, he brought his mouth to her ear.
"You touch me, or Blaise, or any Slytherin ever again, and I'll chop it all off. Not one word of this to anyone, understand?" He threatened in a whisper, before gently placing the wand in her pocket, turning and walking away. "Come on, Goyle, let her go. We're about to miss breakfast." With that, Ginny was promptly dropped unceremoniously to the floor.
"But Draco-" Blaise started confused, but was silenced with a glare from him. With one last seemingly apologetic look, Malfoy departed.
Ginny let out a breath of relief she hadn't realized she had been holding. Blaise finally followed, giving her a smirk that chilled her to the bone. As they left, Ginny settled herself before finally going to the Great Hall. Wait till Colin and Kendra heard about this!
xXxXx
A/N: Wow! That was one suspenseful chapter, and rather long too. Hope everyone likes it! Thanks so much for reading this much of my story, haha. Look on my profile for previews. I'm trying to keep all my A/Ns short from now on, so here's my response to the fantastic reviewers!
Fleury : Thanks! I quite liked the advertisement as well.
Jade Summers : Thank you anyway, but I've already convinced one of my friends to beta for me. Ah, yes, the pains of having siblings. I've got two older ones : shudders : haha, but I hope this wasn't too long of a wait for you. I try to update once a month, around the same time. Glad you like the Rabid Canine idea!
The Unknown Weasley : I hope this one was also worth the wait. I understand that Draco has been quite cruel so far, but I'm trying to stick to his character. Though you will find that he has reason for the way he is…uh-oh! Foreshadow!
.spitxfire. : I know really! The way he acts in J.K. Rowling's books just makes me want to hit him upside the head, but thank God Ginny finally did something! This was a slightly darker chapter, but don't you worry, things will brighten up again.
Come on, you all know you're dying to review!
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Sunflour
