Ginny's New Life
Chapter Two
A Waiting Surprise
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Hogwarts just didn't feel same without Ron and Harry. Ginny was glad to see that almost everyone from her year came back to finish. Hermione, Neville, Dean and Parvati Patil seemed to be the only Gryffindor's from Hermione's year to return. This was fine with Ginny because the more that came back would mean the more crowded her dorm would be.
The sorting feast went well. Even though it was funny seeing Professor McGonagall at the head of the staff table it was an enjoyable evening. Ginny and Hermione mostly kept to themselves and no one bothered them. Ginny was starting to think that maybe the year wouldn't be all bad and just maybe the only people she had to deal with would be the Slytherin's, this was something she was used to. Everything seemed somewhat normal until Professor McGonagall released dinner and everyone started heading to their common rooms.
"Hey Granger!" Came a sharp voice through the crowd of people.
Hermione and Ginny quickly turned to see Pansy Parkinson standing up on the Slytherin table's bench holding a copy of Witch Weekly. A clear, smiling photograph of Hermione graced the cover. The headline under the photograph read: "Granger, the Hero's Sidekick." Harry had done such a good job of shielding the four of them from public news that Ginny had almost forgot that Harry, Ron and Hermione were still making the front page of most publications.
Hermione walked over to Pansy and put her hands on her hips. "What do you want?"
Pansy replied, "Oh, how about an autograph from the famous know-it-all?"
Hermione snarled and ripped the magazine out of Pansy's' hands. "I wouldn't give you the pleasure." Hermione replied as she walked off, Pansy's magazine in tow.
Ginny, who was following close behind Hermione, noticed that people were pointing and talking about her as they headed for the Gryffindor tower. However not all of the whispering was bad, on the contrary only the Slytherin's seemed to have a problem, Ginny didn't find this surprising in the least. The fact that a large amount of the Slytherin students had Death Eaters for parents was common news. In fact Ginny found it surprising that they were daring to draw so much attention to themselves.
Hermione started to flip through the pages of the magazine as they ascended the stairs. "I'm going to choke Harry from hiding all the news from us. I didn't realize how much he had been until now. This article is a joke; none of this information about me is true!"
"Harry was only trying to protect you." Ginny replied quietly.
"Loser lurgy." Hermione said.
"No Hermione, he was just being Harry. That's what he does, he protects the ones he loves." Ginny said sternly.
"I know, that was the new password." Hermione said as she pointed to the now open portrait of the fat lady.
"Oh." Ginny said, laughing.
They crawled into the common room to see it already packed full of students. Most of who were greeting their old friends. The first years were being shown to their dorms by the Prefects. A noticed had been pinned to the bulletin board about the returning students that would be joining the seventh years in their rooms. It seems that they have expanded the rooms to fit more beds in.
As Hermione and Ginny made their way to the girl's staircase everyone was watching them. Many people took no shame in pointing in their direction and whispering to nearby people. One first year boy squeaked and ran away when Hermione said hello to him. And another fifth year girl gave Ginny a nasty look and didn't bother to look away when Ginny returned the look.
Ginny couldn't believe the nerve of some of these people. They didn't even bother to hide the fact they were talking about her. Were they actually upset that she was seeing Harry? Were they jealous or did they not think she was good enough for him? She really didn't care what they thought because Harry belonged to her and she knew it, that's all that mattered. Hermione and Ginny finally reached their perspective beds and sat down.
"Is it going to be like this all year?" Hermione asked.
"I'm afraid so, I feel like I'm not wanted. How does Harry deal with this all the time, it's stressful." Ginny replied.
"He's used to it, and I guess we will have to get used to it as well." Hermione said with a heavy sigh.
"If it helps any, we have each other this year we can ignore people together." Ginny said smiling.
"It does help Ginny, we can do this together." Hermione said as she stood up and went to her trunk. The moment she opened it she let out a squeal of delight. She picked up a small package and a letter that was sitting on top of her belongings. "It's from Ron, he left me something!"
Ginny rushed over to her trunk to see if Harry had followed suite. To her disappointment he hadn't. But she didn't want to make Hermione feel bad so she walked over to see what Ron had left her.
"All his note said was to use it well, let's see what it is." Hermione said as she put down the note and picked up the package. It turned out to be a bottle of invisible ink. Another note attached to the bottle said that he had a magic revealer that would only work on this ink. So Hermione could write him anything she wanted and no one could ever see it but him.
"Harry didn't leave you anything?" Hermione asked.
"No, but that's ok, I'm sure he will write me soon." Ginny said.
Just then a knock came from the door, when it opened a small girl who Ginny assumed was a second year, walked in holding a package. "Are you Ginny? This owl came to the window downstairs carrying this package."
Ginny ran forward, snatched the package out of her hands and ran back to her bed. She hastily opened the box and pulled out a letter.
Ginny,
I hope your return hasn't been too hard. I'm sure your getting more attention than you want. I know how that feels.
Please tell Hermione that I'm sorry I didn't tell her about the Witch Weekly article, I meant to but found all of my attention being spent on you.
I miss you so much, but I think this gift will help both of us.
Sirius gave these to me in my fifth year and I have never used them. I have the other one; just say my name and I will appear.
I love you.
Harry
Hermione leaned over Ginny's shoulders and watched as Ginny pulled out a large, silver plated hand mirror. Both of them looked at it curiously, Ginny rubbed the edges of it with her fingers. Hermione looked at her encouragingly.
"Go on Ginny, give it a try!" Hermione said with excitement.
Ginny looked at the mirror once more, help up to her face and clearly said, "Harry Potter."
The smooth glassy surface of the mirror suddenly went blurry. Violet colored swirls swam over the glass then as quickly as it started it stopped and in the mirror Ginny could see what must have been Harry's bedroom ceiling because the light that hung there was familiar.
Ginny pressed her face close to the surface and said softly, "Harry, Harry are you there."
Ginny could hear pounding footsteps coming towards the mirror. Then, as though someone was picking up the other mirror the room began to move, then flip and suddenly a smiling Harry was visible in the mirror.
"Ginny! You got my package, Hi Hermione." Harry said as he waved to Hermione who was standing behind Ginny.
"Hi Harry, well I'll leave you two alone." Hermione winked at Harry then went back to the unpacking of her trunk.
"Harry, these mirrors are amazing, how come you never told me about them?" Ginny asked.
Harry looked sadly back at Ginny, "Well, they were Sirius's and my dad's, but I think they would be happy to know that we are using them."
"Oh, I'm sorry Harry, but they are really interesting." Ginny smiled.
"So how was your first day back?" Harry asked.
"Well, it's hard to say until we start classes but the train ride was horrible and people are being nasty to us…so nothing new I guess." Ginny smiled. "But you just made the whole day ten times better Harry."
"I hope your day is better tomorrow, maybe we can talk more tomorrow night but we both need sleep, it's really late." Harry looked down at his watch. "It's after midnight Gin."
"Alright Harry, I'll talk to you tomorrow night." Ginny smiled, leaned down and kissed the mirror.
Harry looked around to make sure Ron was out of site then did the same. "I love you Ginny, good night."
"Good night Harry." Ginny said and the moment she did the purple swirls returned to the surface and Harry was gone.
Ginny tucked the mirror under her pillow, pulled her hangings closed and crawled into bed, still in her day clothes. Soon, sleep swept over her and visions of Harry swam through her mind. Several times through the night Ginny was sure she could hear the sound of Harry's voice drifting under her pillow but when she checked the mirror he wasn't there. This continued well into the morning.
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A/N: So far this story is turning out to be lots of fluff, sorry for those who don't like all the fluff but I think it's sweet.
