Drowning in Fixation
I do not own any of the characters made by the great JK. Rowling. Savvy?
Chapter 1
(I didn't want to add most of the events from HBP. Especially involving the death of Dumbledore. If you haven't read the book.. Oops.)
She sat in a compartment with Harry, Neville, and Luna. It had been three months since Harry had broken up with her. She didn't know how to act. She didn't know what to say. All she wanted was for the ground to suck her in and stay in the shadows. What she would give just to walk out of the compartment and find her friends. But wait..Did she have friends? That's all she asked herself during the summer: "Do I really have friends?" Even Hermione showed a slight difference in their relationship . . .
"Ginny," Harry said for the fifth time in one minute and taking her away from her thoughts.
"What?" she asked looking up confused. She hadn't looked up at anyone since they got on the train heading to Hogwarts for the new year.
"Are you ok?" he asked his emerald green eyes shining bright due to the sun hitting his face.
Ginny was to start her sixth year at Hogwarts. Maybe she hadn't really cared about starting school or maybe she was just confused about everything. Yeah, that was it. She was confused. She could hear whispering or so she thought it was whispering when in reality it was Harry talking to Ron who was busy eating.. A pumpkin pasty. And there was Hermione too, trying to reason with Ron that she was okay. That nothing was wrong; maybe Ginny was tired and needed time for herself.
"Gin, is everything okay?" Hermione asked.
Ginny looked up slowly and nodded. Everyone just stared at her. She got up and slowly walked to the nearest lavatory. She splashed her face with water and let the water run down her face. Her now scarlet red hair touched the small of her back. It had turned wavy during the summer making it a bit attractive. She could hear girls giggling and whispering. It was a voice she could recognize anywhere she went,
"Weasley, what are you doing there? Are you trying to wash your face away so no one will have to see you again?" sneered Pansy Parkinson, a stubby 7th year Slytherin with pitch black hair and dark brown eyes.
"Why don't you flush yourself in the toilet? Maybe then, your parents won't have to keep you at Hogwarts for the holidays. You'll be doing them a favor," Ginny shot back looking at Pansy through the mirror.
"What did you say to me!" Pansy said walking towards Ginny.
"You heard me," Ginny said turning around to face Pansy. "I'll do it myself. Maybe your dear Draco Malfoy will come and rescue you. That way, it'll show you if he cares or not."
Just as Pansy was about to lunge herself at Ginny, Hermione walked in with Luna, whose brilliant dirty blonde hair was tied up in a weird yet spellbinding bun. Literally, spellbinding.
"Excuse me. What's going on here? Ginny, go back to the compartment. I don't want to see you two fighting in here. Is that clear?" she said in her bossy tone.
"And who are you to tell me what to do..Mudblood? If it weren't for Dumbledore, you wouldn't be at Hogwarts," she leered.
"Well, aren't we all glad that Professor Dumbledore is here then? Because if it weren't for a Mudblood, as you said, who has top marks and is," points to the small pin on her school robes, "Head Girl, there would be a lot of blockhead "Purebloods," like yourself, running around Hogwarts doing whatever they please ruining it for everyone who wants to have an education. Now if you will, can you carry on and go to your compartments?"
Pansy blinked, hesitated a bit and finally pushed herself out of the lavatory along with her friends. Hermione placed her hands on her hips and looked around stopping to look at Luna who was staring at Hermione in amazement.
"What?" Hermione asked going over to the sink to wash her hands.
"That was entertaining," she said slowly.
"Yeah, well what can you do when there are a lot of people like her running around Hogwarts picking fights with people like Ginny?" she said shaking her hands dry.
They walked back to the compartment they were in, in silence. Hermione looked around but Ginny wasn't there. She left Luna along with everyone else in the compartment. She knew better than to take Ron with her in case she saw Ginny doing something that would make Ron stop the train and call all the Weasley's to settle the situation.
She walked down the corridor peering through the glass of every compartment door. She finally saw a patch of scarlet red hair flowing down. She carefully slid open the door to find Ginny engrossed in conversation with a sixth year Gryffindor boy, Colin Creevey.
"Oh, hello Colin," Hermione smiled.
"Herm-Hermione. Ho-how was your summer?" he asked stuttering a bit. Ginny got the impression Colin had a crush on Hermione.
"Oh, my summer was great actually. My parents and I went to the states for a while. We went to visit family of my mum that live in the states," she said smiling as if she were watching her vacation through a little screen in her head.
"That must-must've been fun," his voice cracked.
"Ginny, I was wondering where you were," she said turning her attention to Ginny who was stuffing some school books in her trunk.
"Well, I'm here, aren't I? Now you can run along and tell Ron, who I assumed put you up to looking for me or maybe Harry, that I'm fine," she said in a cold tone.
"Ginny, is something wrong? If you're having problems, you can always come to me. If you're bitter about what happened with Harry, please, feel free to tell me anything," she said in a motherly way.
"No, Hermione. There really isn't anything to talk about. And if I wanted to talk to you, I would go and talk to you," she said even more bitter.
Hermione blinked. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you at the feast," she said trying to keep her tears from falling down.
Ginny just stared at her. What was going on? This wasn't like her. Why was she treating her friend like this? She had to apologize.
"Hermione," Ginny said quickly before Hermione closed the compartment door.
"Yes?" Hermione said looking back at Ginny.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what go into me. I just really don't feel like talking about my problems. If I do, I'll go and talk to you, okay?" she said sweetly, which she really meant.
"That'd be great," she said smiling and going back to her compartment with Harry, Ron, Luna and Neville.
Colin just stared at Ginny who proceeded to staring out the window at the scenery in front of her. This year wasn't going to be so great and she already had a feeling. People would be staring at her and whispering saying, "That's Harry's ex girlfriend."
The trained stopped not a moment too soon. Ginny grabbed her Hogwarts hat and heaved her trunk dragging it behind her. She found an empty carriage in which Colin sat along with two other sixth year Gryffindors. The two girls in that same carriage stared at Ginny. All Ginny wanted to do was to get to the castle, have dinner, and go to sleep. Was that so much to ask?
"Hey, Ginny," one of the girls said.
"Hi," she said smiling forcefully.
There was an awkward moment of silence where everyone just looked at their fingers on their lap. A sweet smell filled the carriage. Not sweet.. Exotic, somewhat.
The carriage finally arrived at the front entrance of Hogwarts. She, along with everyone else, filed in the castle. She could hear the laughter and the mocking of the Slytherin students right behind her. If only she could make them disappear into nothingness.
She dared not to look back but she did. There in the midst of it all was Pansy and Draco. The most envied and despised couple at Hogwarts. Draco had his arm around her shoulders and was laughing with his friends. Pansy was talking to her friends. She turned back around and walked with Colin over to the Gryffindor table where some had already sat eager waiting for the sorting and dinner.
"Gin, come sit with us," yelled Ron over the loud bicker backer in the hall.
She shook her head no. Ron made a face and Hermione pulled him down placing a kiss on his cheek. Very un-Hermione-ish. He turned beet red.
Dumbledore welcomed everyone and the sorting began.
"Ginny," a dark haired girl said to Ginny the following morning, "What class do you have this morning?"
"Double potions. You?" she said to the dark haired girl whom Ginny knew as Juliya Sanz, a fellow sixth year Gryffindor and best friend.
"Same. Care to walk over to class together?" she asked kindly.
"Yeah, that'd be great," Ginny said grabbing her book bag and slinging across her chest smiling at Juliya.
"So, you didn't tell me how your brother is doing in Romania?" Juliya said with a mischievous smile on her face.
"Well, if you must know you nosey little thing, my brother is getting married," Ginny said. She sensed Juliya getting very jealous.
"What! No, why? He's going to ruin his life!" she sounded annoyed at the news.
"Listen, I've already saved you a seat at the wedding. I'm sure he'd enjoy seeing you scream at his face. He asked me about you, actually," Ginny smiled.
"Good. What did he say?" she said shivering. They had entered the dungeons.
"He asked me how you were doing in school and with boys. Asked if you were still pretty," she laughed. "Why are you shivering?"
"We're in the dungeons. So, what did you tell him?" Juliya asked taking a seat in back of the class.
"I told him you were doing good. You got a bit uglier, just kidding," she said the last part avoiding a book Juliya was about to hit her with, "I said you were beautiful as ever."
"Aww, so sweet. Bless your little heart. Hey, your hair got longer and wavy and.. A scarlet color," Juliya said acknowledging Ginny's hair.
"Yes, it did, didn't it? My mother said the same thing. I have a bone to pick with you. Where were you on the train? I looked for you and you weren't there," Ginny said.
"Oh, that. It was too late for me to send you another letter but I arrived today at Hogwarts. My little brother, James, was taken to St. Mungo's. My mother was hysterical so we had to send word to Dumbledore. He excused me," she said watching a sixth year Ravenclaw boy walk into class. "Oh, he's soo... soo.. Scrumptious," she said smacking her lips.
"Well, stop smacking your lips and open your book. Snape is about to walk in any minute," she muttered.
Followed by Snape was none other than Draco Malfoy. Why on earth would he be walking behind Snape? Maybe he would be assisting the class.
"Turn to page 489 and read the instructions on your book. Then, begin brewing the potion. Mr. Malfoy, a fellow seventh year Slytherin will be assisting the class," Snape said in a low yet menacing voice.
Ginny looked at Juliya who was busy muttering under her breath about cocky bastards like Malfoy.
"Let's go get a table next to each other so we can work on the potion," whispered Juliya to Ginny.
Most of the class was already starting to brew their potion. Malfoy kept an eye on everyone not forgetting to make someone mess up on their potion and watch Snape deduct points from either house, especially Gryffindor.
The rest of potions class everyone worked on brewing their potion which took almost the entire double period. Ginny managed to get it to its desired color but Snape still wasn't impressed. He didn't deduct points though. Instead he said,
"I would urge and suggest you work on your potions work instead of following Potter around snogging in between classes, Ms. Weasley."
"We don't snog, Professor. We don't do anything anymore," she said bitterly.
Snape's lip curled.
"I see Potter has found something better to do then," he said walking back to his desk.
Ginny bit her tongue. She didn't want to say anything she was going to regret. Juliya looked at Ginny who was busy shoving her schoolbooks forcefully into her school bag. Ginny's break wasn't as good either. Everyone was whispering about "Harry's Ex-Girlfriend."
"Ginny, just ignore them. It's not worth it. They just don't have anything better to do," Juliya said handing Ginny an apple. Ginny bit into it letting the juice drip down on her lap. She could feel a pair of eyes staring at her. Someone... someone, but who? She looked up and saw three pairs of eyes. Ron, Harry, Draco. Draco. Draco? Why would Draco be staring at a Weasley the way he was doing so right now?
Ron walked over to where Ginny was sitting at with Juliya.
"What are you doing, Gin?" he asked trying to keep his cool.
"Eating an apple. What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked.
"Being.. Being," he hesitated and then whispered, "Sexy."
Ginny snorted sending her glass of water flying down onto the wooden floor of the Great Hall. She went into fit of hysterical laughter. So did Juliya who had heard Ron's comment. Harry's emerald green eyes pierced Ginny's chocolate brown who had just glanced over at him while laughing.
"You're off your rocket, Ronald," Ginny laughed turning her attention back to her older brother.
"No, you're off yours. You've got to be serious. I was only eating an apple," she said defensively.
"While the entire male population at Hogwarts in the Great Hall is staring at you?" he said, his ears turning a violent shade of red.
And yes, he was right. Every male at Hogwarts, not including teachers, was staring at Ginny. His little sister, Ginevra Molly Weasley. She looked up after Ron left being ushered by Hermione back to his seat to calm down. Draco Malfoy was staring at her. Why?
