A/N: As always, thank you to my beta FalconHonour for beta-ing my work! Friday Updates :)
Hermione lounged in an eight person cabin on the train, stretching like a cat in the sun. "Second year!" she announced, excitedly to everyone in the compartment.
Hannah grinned, "I'm excited! We'll have a whole new bunch of people to meet this year."
Pansy smirked. " I'm excited we're not the youngest in the castle anymore."
"Speak for yourself," Blaise teased " My birthday's September 4th, so I've never been close to being the youngest in the castle, Miss August 5th. "
"And yet with the way you act, you'd think our ages were switched."
"Well my birthday is December 12th," said Hermione, "Which is a very nice birthday. It always snows."
Daphne grinned. "What are the chances? My birthday is December 12th as well!"
Hermione shoved her sister lightly, rolling her eyes.
"Look!" said Draco, pointing out the window towards the platform. And there it was. The Weasleys came scrambling through the Muggle entrance to the platform, one by one. "Why didn't they Floo in?" Draco asked. He didn't get an answer. The rest of the compartment just shook their heads in confusion.
Pansy grabbed the ledger they used for betting among themselves. "That's Percy Weasley, the twins, new girl Weasley…" She trailed off, waiting for Ron Weasley and Potter to come through the barrier. But they didn't. In fact, the Weasleys that were there only just made it onto the train in time. "Alright there, Draco!" said Pansy, "You owe Daphne five galleons."
Draco rolled his eyes before grabbing five galleons and handing it over to a smug looking Daphne. "By the way," she said, "I'm looking forward to beating all of you again this year."
Draco groaned. "No fair! I didn't know we'd be using Dobby for revenge!" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Oh, Mother and Father decided to seal off the platform with help from Dobby. He's also apparently going to be doing some other things this year. On a completely unrelated note, did you know that Potter got a warning from the Misuse of Magic office for blowing up his aunt?"
Hermione eyed the new first years with interest. She smiled when she saw Ginny and gave her a discreet wave. The red-headed girl smiled back strongly at her, seemingly much more confident than she had been in the bookstore.
Daphne nudged her arm. "Who are you looking at?"
"Ginny Weasley. I met her in Flourish and Blotts, and I've got a good feeling about her. Uncle Lucius said he would sponsor her if she got into Slytherin."
Daphne rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. You know he only said that to wind Mr. Weasley up. She's a Weasley, she'll be in Gryffindor."
"I'm not so sure," Hermione murmured, "I've got a feeling about her. Ten galleons?"
"Sure. Anyways, Potter and Weasley-Ron Weasley-still aren't here. And I asked Carrine about it when we got here, and she heard that they flew to school. Like in a car."
"I thought Muggle cars don't fly?"
"Yeah, but this one was probably altered by Arthur Weasley. I mean he's the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department-I don't think anyone else would know how to do it."
Hermione gasped, "Isn't that department for making sure people don't alter Muggle things with magic? Did Ron Weasley just make his father likely to lose his job?"
"Well, given Arthur Weasley created a flying car without telling the Ministry, and was then dumb enough to let his own son drop himself in it, he kind of brought it on himself," Pansy inserted. "I always say it's not illegal if you don't get caught."
"Pansy!"
"Well, I'm not wrong, am I?"
"Stop it," Daphne hissed, "The sorting's about to start."
The Sorting Hat began singing a song, something about the Founder's values and some long-winded story, but Hermione wasn't paying attention. She continued looking at the incoming first years, analyzing them. She knew a handful by name, and a few more by sight, but there were some that were complete strangers to her. This new year was a little on the small side, much like Hermione's class.
"Being in the middle of a war probably doesn't encourage you to start a family," Hermione thought to herself with a laugh. It was easy enough to work out, given the vastly different class sizes between the years. The fifth year class was more than double the size of Hermione's. The class of fourth years was about one and a half times bigger. Even the third years had about seven or eight more students than the second years. The new first year class was about the same size as her own, but she wouldn't be surprised if next year's first year class was much, much larger, maybe even the size of her year, due to the baby boom that had taken place after the war.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Professor McGonagall calling "ALTON, PAMELA!", who was sorted quickly into Ravenclaw.
Hermione twirled a strand of her hair as the sorting continued. Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryfindor, Ravenclaw...on and on it went. The first Slytherin was Kevin Bletchley, a cousin of Miles Bletchley, and he was followed by a pair of twins-Flora and Hestia Carrow. A red-faced Turner Higgs was sorted into Slytherin, which was met with uproarious cheers from the Slytherin table for getting the former Head Boy's nephew in their house. The next new members of Slytherin were Melissa Horton, Byron Miller, Cole Spencer and then Bronwyn Trigg. And then-
"WEASLEY, GINEVRA"
The red-haired girl looked cautiously confident as she walked up to the Sorting Hat and jammed it on her head, squeezing her eyes shut. And then there was silence.
There was silence for so long that people started murmuring. A Weasley that wasn't a clear-cut Gryffindor? That was almost unheard of!
"SLYTHERIN!" Cried the sorting hat. Ginny took the hat off her head amidst complete and utter silence. Professor McGonagall looked shocked. Professor Snape looked intrigued. Dumbledore's glasses had fallen off his nose.
In the din of silence, Hermione looked around. Her eyes locked with one of the Weasley twins across the room. He gave her a little smile, before he and his twin stood up and started whooping.
"Yeah, Ginny!" The cry echoed through the Great Hall.
Hermione looked at the girl, who was still standing by the Sorting Hat, looking a little more sure of herself, but still seeming nervous. Hermione got to her feet and started clapping. She was quickly joined by Draco and Daphne, then by Carrine and Thomas and Blaise and Theo, and then Pansy got onto her feet and started clapping as well. It spread and spread, until the entire Slytherin table was on their feet, clapping and cheering for Ginny Weasley.
Ginny broke into a wide smile and rushed to the Slytherin table as Hermione waved her over to sit between the second and first years.
"Hi," Ginny smiled, waving to the rest of the group. "I'm Ginny Weasley. If you call me Ginevra I'll hex your nose off, and set the twins on you."
She took a deep breath. "I get that I'm a Weasley and we've never really been sorted into Slytherin before. I get our families might not even get along, but I'm here to stay so get used to it. Alright?" She stared unflinchingly into each person's eyes, daring them to have a problem with her.
Pansy's eyes sparkled and she burst into laughter. "Oh, Hermione, I like her."
Throughout dinner, Ginny relaxed, and found herself enjoying everyone's company. Even Draco Malfoy's, which was something of a surprise, what with the whole Blood Feud between their families. He seemed pretty nice, considering, albeit a bit snarky, but he seemed like he would be a pretty good friend, at least in the long run. But the most interesting part was how he was obviously stupidly and ridiculously in love with Hermione Greengrass. She tucked that piece of information away in her brain as something to blackmail him with if he tried to back out of helping her just because she was a Weasley.
Not that she was going to ask to have the finest school supplies or robes made off the runway from Paris, like everyone else in Slytherin seemingly wore, but her books were horrendously out of date. Her History of Magic book that cut off before the turn of the 19th century for heaven's sake! Her Transfiguration book was missing entire sections because the pages had fallen out. Moreover, most of her robes used to be her mother's when she'd attended Hogwarts and were now holding together by the seams. Even her wand had been her grandmother's. Oh, it worked alright, she supposed, but everyone knew that if you wanted to be good, you needed to have your own wand. One that chose you. And her quills-even her quills were shabby, and worn around the edges, with nibs that had been warped by Ron's heavy handed writing, or Percy's stress nibbling.
She always felt a little bad when she complained inside her head about her worn items-almost like Ron, really, which was not her most favorite thing to think about-but sometimes it just felt unfair. Like when Dad bought a vintage Ford Angelina Muggle car for the sake of it, so he could tinker around with it. He had spent something like 1,500 galleons on the car, just before the end of last school year. Yet, when school-time rolled around, there was no money for supplies. And how Mum insisted on visiting Charlie and Bill at least once a year each, even if it was just her and Dad who went. There simply wasn't the money for it - not to visit two faraway countries each year, and then to buy any of the Weasleys new robes, especially not for Ginny, the youngest. She didn't own a single bit of clothing that wasn't at least quadruple her age.
It wasn't easy to feel guilty about these kinds of thoughts, after she'd begged Mum for just one new pair of school robes, just one that was all her own, and Mum had looked at her in the middle of Diagon Alley and said, "Ginevra! You know we don't have the money for that. You know better than to ask for those kinds of things!" Ginny always hated it when Mum called her Ginevra.
But if it led to her getting the first things of her life that were brand new and her very own, Ginny would very much make nice with the Malfoys, even though Dad came home from work complaining about Mr. Malfoy almost every day.
Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy had never done anything to her specifically, and they had been very nice to her in Diagon Alley, especially Mrs. Malfoy worrying over her after the brawl Dad and Mr. Malfoy had gotten into. Why, she'd even kissed her on the cheeks like Ginny always imagined the French did. She'd always dreamed of going to France, or somewhere faraway. She never got to visit Bill and Charlie when Mum and Dad went to visit them.
Mum had always wanted a girl. She had kept on trying and trying and trying, until Ginny had been born. Had more children than their family could afford with the spending habits of her parents, just to have a girl. And so Ginny always needed to be exactly what her mother wanted her to be. Mum wanted her to be just like her. Get married straight out of Hogwarts. Start a big family. Listen to Celestina Warbeck while she cooked something, with kids screaming and fighting in the next room over.
But Ginny wasn't even sure she wanted kids. Maybe one. But definitely no more than one.. She wanted to play Quidditch, professionally. She knew she could do it. After all, Charlie had been talent-spotted for England. He might have turned it down in favour of working with dragons in Romania, but he had taught Ginny everything she (and he) knew. Fred and George were fantastic beaters, and ace at flying, and she had played Quidditch with them more times than anyone could ever hope to count. Ginny was an excellent Chaser, if she did say so herself. Okay, maybe that was distorted because Ron was a poor Keeper at best, but when Bill came home and would play a game, he'd be Keeper, as he'd been on the Gryffindor team for a year or two back in Hogwarts, and Ginny still scored really well against him. That was the kind of thing that gave her hope that maybe, just maybe she could be more than what Mum wanted her to be. That she could be what she wanted to be. And Merlin-be-damned if she was going to let anyone get in her way. She would do anything to be whoever she wanted to be. Anything. Even get sorted into Slytherin, the House she wanted to be in, the House she fit in , instead of Gryffindor. Even though that might bring down Ron's wrath on her and maybe Percy's, and probably Mum and Dad's too. Even if it meant Harry Potter would dislike her, a thought that would've made her burst into tears six months ago.
Harry Potter. The Boy-Who-Lived. The boy with more cracks in his image with every day that passed. There was another large crack in his image following their Diagon Alley visit. She had seen his Gringotts account,, filled to the brim with glittering gold -and that wasn't even his main account. And then he got a brand new copy of all of Lockhart's books for free. And he kept them. As if he couldn't have afforded them himself. He had seen her tattered books, and had frowned at her in Flourish and Blotts, as if to say, "I'm sorry, that must really suck." yet he had done nothing about it. What's worse was that he had spent double the cost of her entire school supplies (although that wasn't saying much) on ice cream for him and Ron. But no. Harry Potter, who had stayed with them half of the summer, eating as much food as Ron and not once helping with the chores, didn't even think to buy her just one new book, or even pass down his school books from last year which were only a year old, as opposed to hers, which were decades old.
But what had caused the final break with Harry Potter? What had shattered his entire image, what had made Ginny-dare she say it-almost dislike him? It was after Flourish and Blotts. After Mr. Malfoy had offered to buy her new supplies.
Ron had looked at her and told her that she couldn't accept money from a Malfoy. She could never be sponsored by a Malfoy. Ginny had shouted back, screaming about how badly she wanted her very own wand. Just her wand. Just one thing that was hers. That was the final breaking point.
And why was that? It was because Harry Potter, defender of all that is good and righteous, stood back, and said nothing. He even nodded along to what Ron was saying. And with that nod, with that nothing, Ginny's heart had broken into a million pieces.
To make matters worse, when Mum had looked at her with disgust when Ginny had tried to defend Hermione and the Malfoys to her and Dad, right in front of the entire family, before the twins set off some fireworks in the other room, Ron and Harry had just stood by and glared at her.
Ginny had cried that night, that whole night. Hadn't gone down for dinner, hadn't let anyone into her room, not even the twins. And she vowed to herself that she would never ever idolize somebody who couldn't care less about her, never ever try and befriend someone who looked at her like there was something wrong with her, never ever try and impress a boy who had all the means to help her, just the littlest bit, and just stood there. Stood there and did nothing.
Hermione sat in the common room, waiting for the first year Slytherins to arrive. The common room was alight with arguments over the recent sorting.
"She's a Weasley! She can't stay."
"She got sorted into Slytherin, just like the rest of us!"
"She is the first female Weasley in generations and the seventh child. Seven is a magical number according to Professor Trelawney…"
"Oh shut up Maureen, we all know Divination is a load of shite-"
"It is not!"
"Is too!"
"Silence!" Snape shouted, and the room quieted immediately. "The first years are almost here. We will be discussing Miss Weasley then. "
As if on cue, the newest Prefects entered the common room, followed by the new Slytherins. Ginny Weasley walked in, shoulders set back and head held high.
Snape began, "It appears we have had a Weasley sorted into our house. I know that some of you may have… issues with Miss Ginevra Weasley, but I must remind you all that she is a Slytherin, and you must treat her as such." He cast a pointed look around the room.
"Ginny," Ginny said firmly, " Don't call me Ginevra."
"Or what?" came a third-year from the crowd.
Ginny's eyes narrowed, before she cast an absolutely vicious Bat-Bogey hex, causing the third-year to yelp in pain. Hermione's laugh rang out through the common room, before she turned to Daphne. "I told you I had a good feeling about her."
Pansy spoke loud enough for everyone to hear her, " I don't have a problem with her being in Slytherin, as long as she learns what she missed out on, growing up."
Ginny looked a bit confused, but nodded her head.
"You know, you can't make us lay off your brothers," said a sixth year.
Ginny snorted, "I know. Ron and Percy have nothing but bad things to say about you all, I can't imagine you just lying down and taking it. But Fred and George are great, if you just give them a chance."
"Good," said Draco, "Because I'm not planning on letting Weasley be a right wanker to Hermione without saying anything."
"Language," Hermione scolded.
As Professor Snape went on to list the house rules, Hermione watched Ginny carefully. Ginny was focused on Snape's words, drinking them in like a man drank water at a desert oasis. As Hermione looked over the girl, she felt a wave of sympathy wash over her. Her robes were terribly old, something you could easily tell just by looking at them, and her shoes were worn beyond belief. She began mentally penning a letter to Aunt Cissa asking her to whisk the poor girl out of school and take her shopping for some new robes and school supplies. If her robes were any indication of the state of what her parents had given her, she'd be eaten alive in the Snake Pit, Hermione and Pansy's support or not.
As Professor Snape's speech wrapped up, Ginny turned to Hermione and pointed at the cage in which Cheddar was racing around.
"Is that...Scabbers?"
"Yes and no," Hermione laughed. "I guess we have quite the story to tell you about that."
Ginny nodded, satisfied, and walked over to where the fifth year Prefects were rounding up the new first years. Hermione smiled at the girls back and sprang to her feet. She grabbed Draco by the arm, and dragged him out of the common room.
"Come on, we need to get to the Owlery. We have a letter to write."
I've been stuck with writer's block on Chapter 19 for ages, but I finally got the writing bug yesterday and was able to finish it up and then write Chapters 20 & 21 as well!
Reviews always brighten my day/week, so if you enjoyed the chapter, let me know!
Also! Check out some of my thoughts on the characters in my tumblr-just posted something that goes in depth into a bit of the psychology and motivations behind certain characters-especially Harry, for those of you who wonder why he sticks with Ron so much (Don't worry, I'm just as annoyed by it as you all are lol, but it's necessary for the plot)
As always, check me out on tumblr at allyficpics to see other fics that I recommend, as well as extra content, ideas, or musings about Snakes and Sunflowers!