(Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They're J.K. Rowlings characters. As I said before, I only make a claim to Igor. Please review and tell me what you're thinking.)
Chapter Six: The Other Side of Ginny
"You reckon she's okay?" Ron asked George, his voice hitting a surprisingly high note on the word okay. Fred and George nodded in unison. Honestly, it was becoming unsettling for the twins to see so many of their relatives lying in hospital beds in the past year or so. 'First, it was dad, then Ron and Bill, and now, Ginny. I wonder who is next,' Fred thought morosely. He'd been drinking and partying, and now, he sat by his unconscious sister's side.
"It's terrible, you know, how it turned out," George commented. "I mean the wedding. It was a smashing hit until this."
"Yeah, until the Death Eaters came," Harry mumbled from behind the twins where he remained standing. Ron looked over at his friend, who'd been quiet since he'd entered the hospital. However, when he'd found Hermione and Ginny, Harry went bonkers, and Charlie had to restrain him from chasing down a couple of Death Eaters, who would've killed him instantly because he was acting rashly.
"It happens," Fred quietly said, realizing it did happen all the time now. It just happened they'd crashed their wedding this time. 'This,' Fred mused, 'probably, was unlucky for the Dark Lord's servants, since they confronted a house full of well-trained witches and wizards that were mostly members of the Order.'
"We should have been prepared," Harry muttered. 'I should've known, maybe they were after me,' Harry thought, loathing himself for letting harm come to his friends. He should've known; he should've protected them.
"Yeah, but no one got killed," Ron pointed out, his voice cracking on the word killed. 'Yeah, no one got killed,' Ron thought bitterly, but for him, the attack hithis home and his family. His sister and Hermione almost died, and if they had, Ron really didn't know what he would've done, but he would've done something drastic he assured himself.
"Go check on Hermione, and we'll stay with Ginny," Fred suggested to the two boys. Ron looked up at Harry, who gazed intently at Ginny, and Harry didn't appear he heard Fred at all.
"Harry, just go, mate, we'll stay here with her," George spoke up, deciding Harry had spent too much time in this room to be healthy for him. Ron stood up and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. For a moment, Harry didn't move, and his eyes remained transfixed on Ginny's brilliant ginger hair, but then, he turned and nodded deftly. Ron walked out of the room first, and Harry followed almost soundlessly like a phantom.
"Ron," Harry whispered as the doors closed behind them. "You see why I have to go? If I stay, they'll hunt people because of me."
"Yeah, then they'll get you because they'll be no one else there," Ron muttered under his breath, even though the glistening, white hallway appeared empty. "Don't be thick and run."
"I got to, you don't understand," Harry hissed under his breath, hoping Ron would understand. However, Ron frowned and shook his head.
"I do understand because you told me!" Ron shouted hoarsely, fed up with Harry insisting he had toleave. He'd almost not attended the wedding, and since the attack, his whining about being a burden doubled in intensity.
"What happened?" Ron and Harry stopped talking as they heard Charlie shout from the other side of a pair of doors that separated the particular wing in two. Then, the doors flung open, and Charlie ran threw. "Did you see Tonks?"
"She's awake?" Ron gaped.
"She just attacked us and ran off," Charlie explained as he rushed past the boys. Harry and Ron gazed with huge eyes at each other before charging off in the opposite direction. They raced down the hallway, which started to fill up with healers and other curious people coming out to see what happened.
"Tonks! Tonks!" Ron shouted as they bolted at top speed down the hospital ward. Ron turned to a nurse as they charged down the direction that Charlie told them Tonks might have fled. "Did you see a witch with red hair like this rush past here?" Ron asked as he yanked at his own hair.
"Why, yes dear, she gave me quite a scare, but I couldn't catch her," the witch told them airily, but that was all they needed to hear.
"Thanks!" Harry hollered as Ron and he thundered down the hospital wing, hoping they got to the door before Tonks did.
"Did a witch with ginger hair like this leave here?" Ron panted to the desk clerk as they reached the front door.
"What's her name? I don't know if we discharged a 'witch with ginger hair' or not unless I get a name," the clerk replied sarcastically.
"No, we think she's trying to escape," Harry explained. "She woke up and attacked some people that were by her bed."
"I didn't hear of that, but no, there's been nobody discharged in the last hour," the clerk said after skimming through a stack of papers. Ron groaned, trying to think where in the hospital Tonks went to, but realized they'd probably catch her anyway.
"Ron, she's a metamorphmagus!" Harry shouted. Ron spun around and met Harry's huge eyes before doing a complete three hundred sixty degree turn to look at the desk clerk again.
"Did anyone leave the hospital lately?" Ron asked nervously. The clerk rubbed his temples and pointed at the doors. Ron and Harry spun around, but only saw the normal hustle and bustle of people entering the hospital with odd injuries or leaving, most looking tired and weary.
"If your friend is a metamorphmagus, she could've left any time. You think I keep track of everyone that comes and goes?" the clerk snapped, and Ron and Harry exchanged troubled glances, knowing full well that they weren't going to catch Tonks. "Now, boys, would you kindly let me check these people in?"
"Sure, sure," Ron muttered as Harry and him plodded back up to the wing where Ginny and Hermione's rooms were located. They didn't say anything, both feeling slightly disappointed, and Harry personally felt disturbed that Tonks had attacked anyone in the Order. 'Why did she do that?' Harry wondered as they entered the hallway where several healers bustled around the halls.
"Aye!" Fred shouted as he walked out of Hermione's room. "I thought you went to see Hermione?"
"We didn't make it there," Ron replied shortly.
"Ginny woke up," Fred said anxiously. Ron's jaw fell open, but Harry dashed towards Ginny's room. 'What if she's like Tonks?' Harry desperately thought as he flung open the doors and thundered over to Ginny's bed.
"Ginny?" Harry panted, gasping right after he wheezed out her name. Ginny moaned about something and rolled over on her side. She groaned and rubbed her temples, and in the back of Harry's mind, he feared serious damage had been done to her.
"What?" Ginny muttered in a groggy voice. She lay there, just moaning and mumbling under her breath for a while, and Harry felt his heart pounding so hard he thought it might go through his chest.
"You're okay?" Harry asked hesitantly and held his breath. Ginny grumbled about feeling dirty and then looked up into Harry's eyes. She squinted and shook her head before looking around the room.
"What? No, I don't think so," Ginny hissed as she ran her hands through her hair and gasped. Harry watched, dumbfounded, as Ginny stroked the ends of her hair. "They're all split! I look horrid!"
"I'd say beautiful," Harry replied gently, trying to get Ginny to calm down, but she just let out an exasperated yell and threw her hands into the air. Then, she hopped out of the bed like a rabbit before Harry could stop her. 'No!' Harry panicked as he lunged between where Ginny stood and the door.
"I'm a peasant!" Ginny moaned as she looked herself over. 'She didn't attack anyone or escape,' Harry reassured himself as Ginny scrutinized her clothes and skin in a mirror. Harry blinked stupidly, trying to understand this profoundly new Ginny.
"Ginny!" Fred, George, and Ron shouted as they burst through the doors. Ginny didn't spare them a glance, but concentrated completely on her face, moaning as she counted all of her freckles.
"Ginny?" Ron asked awkwardly after the trio of brothersstopped behind Harry, who seemed deft to their entrance. Once again, Ginny ignored them as she observed her nails and compared their lengths.
"I feel horrible!" Ginny shouted in frustration as a couple tears rolled down her cheeks. Harry shuffled forward a couple steps, but then, Mrs. Weasley lunged through the gawking boys to throw her arms around Ginny.
"What are you doing!" Ginny hollered as Mrs. Weasley locked her in an all encompassing embrace. However, the mother didn't seem to notice Ginny's frantic plea as she kissed her daughter's forehead. However, the four boys became aware of the bitter anger that began to increase and distorther usually pleasantfeatures.
"Mum!" Ron shouted as Fred and George each grabbed one of their mother's arms and pulled her away from Ginny, who resembled a wet hornet now.
"Is . . . is she alright?" Bill panted and gasped for breath as he stormed through the door, almost immediately after his mother. 'She's acting how Fleur said Tonks acted,' Bill realized as he watched his sister fume and gnash her teeth which made her look a lot like her mum. However, it would've almost been comical if Mrs. Weasley weren't pleading with Ginny to calm down and begging her to give her a hug.
"Get a healer," Bill commanded Harry as he walked over to his mum and sister. Harry nodded deftly and sprinted out of the room and down the immaculate hallway until he spotted a healer coming out of another room.
"We need help!" Harry shouted as he caught his breath. The healer gave a quick nod as he promptly followed Harry back towards Ginny's room, where Bill managed to coax his mum and Ginny apart by a couple more feet.
"Why am I here? You didn't tell me that!" Ginny accused Bill and balked away from the healer as he strode over to her. "Don't touch me! I'm filthy enough!"
"You look fine, dear, and you can have a shower," Mrs. Weasley said hopefully, as if that might pacify Ginny. However, Ginny bawled up both fists until they turned white, and she pursed her lips so tightly she resembled a fish.
"Miss, you need to calm down," the healer said evenly, but Ginny fixed him with a glare like a serrated knife. However, this didn't seem to faze the healer as he passed through the melee towards Ginny, who planted her hand firmly on her hips.
"What kind of joke is this?" Ginny spat as she scanned the entire room with a fiery gaze. The healer, however, took her moment of lax concentration on him to draw his wand and stun her. After the healer put Ginny back into her bed, the tension in the room slackened like a wet cord.
"She's . . . my little girl," Mrs. Weasley moaned as she stood beside her unconscious daughter's bedside again. Bill walked over and placed a hand on his mum's shoulder. Ron, Harry, Fred, and George hung back by the door, however, too stunned to come close to the bed again. 'What happened to her?' Harry thought as he replayed the scenes of Ginny's rage again in his mind.
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Goyle held her close, feeling around the inside of her mouth with his tongue. With the onslaught of Goyle's saliva in her mouth, Ginny retaliated and kneed Goyle in the family jewels.
"Pig!" Ginny spat as she pulled herself out of Goyle's embrace. She gagged because she could still taste Goyle's breath in her mouth.
"Ooo," Goyle moaned from where he lay, curled up in the fetal position on the thick, emerald rug. Ginny didn't wait before rushing towards the portrait, her hair streaming behind her. She ignored the gasps from the other students that gaped at the scene which just occurred. 'I don't give a damn what they think! I don't care if I am supposed to be here! I'm leaving!' Ginny decided as she shoved open the portal into the damp hallway in the dungeons.
Ginny raced up the hallway, looking for something familiar. 'I want out of these hellish dungeons and far away from bloody Slytherin!' Ginny thought as she charged up several sets of moving staircases.
"Creevey!" Ginny shouted as she spotted Colin Creevey walking away from her down the corridor. 'Someone I know!' Ginny thought as she panted and caught her breath before shouting at Colin again. "Creevey!"
He turned around, but his face widened in horror at seeing Ginny. He scuttled onto a staircase before Ginny could catch him. 'Why did he do that?' Ginny thought hotly as she leaned against the wall before trudging down the corridor.
'Why did Colin run from me? I've never done anything to him,' Ginny mused over Colin's strange behavior as she ambled down the hallway. 'He's in my year, and he's always adored me,' Ginny remembered how Colin would always take her picture with that bloody camera of his because he thought, as Ginny remembered him saying, 'You're a perfect witch!'
"Password?"
Ginny blinked and stopped inches short of running into a wall. Ginny looked up at the familiar looking portrait of the Fat Lady, who had her arms crossed as she scrutinized Ginny. "Abstinence," Ginny said absent-mindedly.
"Dear, I think you're lost," the Fat Lady clucked at Ginny. Ginny frowned, disheartened that her password didn't work.
"I'm not lost," Ginny retorted as she glared at the Fat Lady. "Could you tell me the bloody password?"
"Hmm! Well, I don't give it out to snippy Slytherin girls," the Fat Lady said disdainfully as she stuck her nose up in the air at Ginny. "Go along. You're not great company, and I'll report that you're harassing Gryffindor students."
"I'm not! I am from Gryffindor!" Ginny screamed hysterically at the portrait. "I'm sick of everyone not believing me!"
"Young lady, control yourself!" The Fat Lady commanded Ginny. At that moment, Ginny heard giggling from around the corridor. She turned and watched Hannah Abbot, Millicent Bulstrode, and Mandy Brocklehurst turn the cornerwhilelaughing and talking with each other. She'd never seen those particular three girls together, and the sight of them enjoying each other's company caused Ginny's jaw to drop open so she resembled a frog trying to catch a bug.
"Toa . . . Weasley," Hannah started to say the password, but she stopped short, and her voice turned hostile when she saw Ginny. 'She looks so much colder than a moment ago,' Ginny realized as Hannah took a step in front of Millicent and Mandy. "Stooping to our level?"
"I . . . no, I want into the tower," Ginny sputtered as she met Hannah's gray-blue eyes that simmered with loathing. 'She's in Gryffindor,' Ginny realized with a start as she saw Hannah's Gryffindor badge. 'Millicent and Mandy must be in Gryffindor, too,' Ginny thought as her stomach gave another nauseous churn like she'd just eaten a Puking Pastille.
"You want in the tower?" Hannah asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow at the bewildered Ginny. "Yeah, sure, Weasley, I'll be glad to let a Muggle-born hater and Slytherin slut into our common room."
"But . . . why . . . why does no one bloody understand!" Ginny stuttered in unbelief. "That's not me! That's not bloody me!"
"Maybe she should see the healer," Millicent whispered timidly from behind Hannah. However, Hannah scowled and planted one hand on her hip while she whipped her wand out. She leveled it with Ginny's throat before Ginny could even think 'accio wand.'
"Get out of here," Hannah ordered sharply. Ginny flexed her fingers, debating whether she should just hex Hannah. 'No, then, they'll think . . . I don't know, but they'll think I'm really what they called me,' Ginny remembered Hannah's biting words, and then, briefly scanned the trio of girls again.
"No fighting! I'll turn all of you in, I swear it!" The Fat Lady reprimanded the four girls, and Hannah glanced up at her to argue the point. Ginny turned on her heals and dashed down the hallway and onto another set of moving stairs, taking the opportunity of Hannah's distraction to escape.
'Why? What did I ever do to Muggle-born wizards and witches?' Ginny wondered as she plodded down the stairway onto the next level. 'Hannah was really going to hex me,' Ginny thought, still partially loathing that she ran away. 'I should've explained, and told them I'd been attacked . . .'
"Weasley! Watch yourself!"
Ginny jolted backwards and stumbled over her heels, which flew over her head as she landed hard on her back. Ginny groaned and cursed her stiletto boots as she pushed herself up to see the speaker, who, to Ginny's shock, was none other than Neville Longbottom.
"Neville! I'm so glad to see you," Ginny wheezed as she forced herself to her feet. However, much to Ginny's anguish, Neville, too, drew his wand on her. 'He's taller, and looks, well, stronger,' Ginny observed Neville in the moments of silent tension between them.
"I can't say I return the favor," Neville replied shrewdly in a manor rather unlike the kind and bumbling boy Ginny knew. "Miss Weasley, I'd appreciate it very much if you'd please leave me alone today. I'm aware seeing me and hexing a 'stupid Hufflepuff vermin' would be an ideal day for you, but it's not for me."
"I . . . you're in Hufflepuff?" Ginny asked Neville as she read his badge, which did indeed say Hufflepuff. Beside it, Neville also wore a fancy silver P for Prefect. "I didn't call you . . ."
"Again, Miss Weasley, I'm on my way to the library after Potter gets out of the bathroom, so please, I must add my appreciation for a hex free day," Neville reiterated, and Ginny began to find his self-assuming manor annoying. 'He's like bloody Ernie MacMillan,' Ginny thought ruefully as she bit her lip, trying to think how to convince this overdriven Neville that she truly meant him no harm.
"I . . . I'm your friend! And Harry's!" Ginny shouted, remembering Neville mentioned Harry. 'Gods, if anyone believes me, it'll be Harry!' Ginny rallied her thoughts together in a burst of glee. "I'd never hurt you! Don't be thick, Neville! Whatever is doing this, fight it!"
"Weasley, have you gone mental?" a boy with dirt brown, matted down hair whispered from behind Neville.
"Harry!" Ginny shouted exuberantly as a shorter, plumper version of Harry turned the corner into their hallway.
"Well, chap, looks like she has," the Ernie like Neville replied sadly. However, Ginny gaped repeatedly at Harry, as if she'd never seen him before, which, in truth, she'd never seen him like this. "I personally think it all got to her, you know, and Malfoy's hex just made her loose her marbles, which means she might . . ."
"Do you remember all the summers at the Burrow? The Quidditch World Cup? How you saved me in the Chamber?" Ginny pleaded with Harry, who appeared as timid as the Neville she remembered, not the macho version barring Ginny from getting a step closer to Harry.
"Um . . ." Harry muttered, shooting flickering glances up at Ginny's eyes, but backing away in fear every time he met her forceful gaze. 'No, this can't be,' Ginny fought her head, refusing to believe what her mind concluded: Harry never loved her.
"Harry?" Ginny begged him again as she met the soft, timid hazel eyes. 'They, we were friends,' Ginny felt her insides collapse and become gooey and numb.
"Miss Weasley, you're acting ridiculous, although, I must say, it's a right good change," Neville added, talking more to Harry than to Ginny.
"Neville?" Ginny pleaded with Neville as she met his bright, glittering eyes. 'No, it's not the Neville I know,' Ginny realized and tried to keep her throat from knotting up like a badly tangled ball of yarn.
"Harry?" Ginny implored the mousey boy behind Neville. They met eyes, and Ginny couldn't swallow as tears formed in her eyes. 'They're not his eyes,' the realization became irrevocable in Ginny's mind. The hazel eyes gazing at her weren't Harry's eyes because, Ginny knew in her heart, this just wasn't her Harry.
"I think you should go to the Sir Chumway," Neville added resolutely, but Ginny spun around and ran pell-mell in the opposite direction, leaving the pair alone.
'This isn't real, this isn't right,' Ginny's thoughts swirled together in her head, yet ended up in the same spot. Her mind chased itself in circles, trying to find a loophole to the nightmare she'd fallen into. Ginny shoved open the door to one of the girl's restrooms and ducked inside, holding her tears back until she slammed the door behind her.
"Why won't anyone believe me!" Ginny hollered as tears clouded her vision. She kicked ruthlessly at some of the water pipes below the sinks. "I'm not lying! What's wrong with everyone!"
'A Muggle-born hater and Slytherin slut' Hannah's words came unbidden to Ginny's mind. Ginny slammed her fists onto the edge of the sink even though her hands bruised and pounded with pain.
"It's not me, it's not me, it's not me," Ginny repeated hoarsely. She stared into the mirror above the sink, which reflected the image of a girl that Ginny thought she knew, but whose face was distorted from crying and whose eyes were swollen with tears. Ginny wailed loudly and took a deep breath as she began to sob. She sunk down on the floor and leaned against the clammy wall as she tucked her knees to her chin.
'This can't be real,' Ginny thought bitterly as she wept in the deserted, slightly smelly bathroom. With blurry vision, Ginny stared down at the mold on the floor tiles beneath the sink where water dripped from a pipe.
"This is a nightmare," Ginny croaked as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. 'Colin, Hannah, Neville, and Harry . . .' Ginny thought of all four people, which caused her bawling to resume with greeter force. 'My friends are gone,' Ginny thought dismally as she rested her forehead against her knees. 'What happened?' Ginny asked herself.
Suddenly, Ginny realized she knew what did happen. She managed to swallow part of the concrete lump in her throat, which ended her moaning. She sniffled as she sat there and thought about how she'd stayed up with Hermione and Tonks. 'Then, we were attacked,' Ginny realized as she strung a couple ideas together. 'Tonks, Hermione, and I were there, not just me,' she realized as the thought of Tonks and Hermione being with her dawned in her mind like a golden sunrise after waking from a frightful dream.
'They're here with me, wherever here is,' Ginny told herself as she wiped her running nose on the back of her hand. 'I can find them, maybe, and maybe, we'll be okay,' Ginny felt hope planted deep inside herself again. However, she didn't move, deciding she didn't quite have the strength to venture forth and find Hermione and Tonks, yet.
'I don't want to see anyone else, though,' Ginny thought dismally of Harry and Neville. 'I can't take that again,' she realized as fresh tears brimmed in her eyes.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews, and I'm trying to get this up on MNFF. In the meantime, the AU is fun. I like to write it, and sorry this took an incredibly long time. SsoV will understand why (two sciences does make me crazy, huh?). Anyway, I hope this cleared Harry up along with other characters. Also, I'm not mean enough to leave Ginny with Goyle. I am mean (as I will prove later) but not THAT mean.
Next Chapter: Black in the White Place (Something Black isn't supposed to be at Hogwarts. :) Also, Hermione puts her mind together and finds sanity.)