Ginny came to laying on someone's lap with a hand comfortingly on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, Ron," Hermione said. "The fact that she hasn't woken is perfectly normal. In fact, the other option would be for her to wake up from a nightmare."
"But what if the dementor kissed her?" She heard Ron say.
"If she had, then Harry would have been too," Hermione said. "And he's perfectly fine."
"Shh!" Harry whispered above her. "You'll wake her before she's ready of we keep yapping."
The knowledge that she was laying in Harry's lap made her sit right up blushing.
"Oh!" Harry said. "Good, here, eat this." He was holding out a chunk of chocolate. "Professor Lupin said to give it to you when you woke up. It's supposed to help with Dementor Exposure."
Ginny took the chocolate and awkwardly sat in silence for the rest of the trip.
The welcoming feast and sorting went as expected. Dumbledore warned everyone about the dementors and introduced Professor Lupin as the DADA Professor, and Hagrid as the new Care of Magical Creatures Professor.
Classes were rather boring to Ginny. She was barely trying, yet was still getting Es on her assignments -- except in potions, thanks Snape. The only class that she was actually enjoying was in DADA where she was either practicing dueling against her classmates or learning obscure defensive spells. She was pretty sure she her year were meant to be learning defensive spells when encountering magic beasts, but Lupin seemed to think their methods of dueling would be just as effective.
All the other years seemed to love him too, even the first years, who were just learning to defend against non-magical animals.
Lucky for Ginny, her year was about to get a lot more interesting when she was paired with Luna Lovegood in double charms.
They were to cast the laughter charm on each other.
"Pfft, hahahaha!" Luna burst out before Ginny had even raised her wand.
"What?" Ginny asked. "I didn't even cast anything yet!"
"Sorry," Luna said. "But you just had the most determined look on your face."
"I did not!" Ginny protested.
"Did too," Luna giggled.
Ginny, however, had to admit that Luna was right. Not that she'd ever admit it.
"Thank you," Luna said to no one. "No, I said it to the Narrator."
"What??" Ginny asked confused.
"Oh," Luna sighed. "It's third limited. Oh well."
Ginny snorted at the antics of her partner.
Luna tended to come up to Ginny any time she could. They sat together at meals, and during breaks They either commandeered a study room, or joined what Luna called the Golden Trio; Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"Malfoy's really taking it too far this time," Ron said. "He's gotten Hagrid all muddled, and now we're being made to do his potion work for him?"
"Yeah!" Harry said. "And on top of that, Oliver's freaking out because he's got to rework our strategy for Hufflepuff!"
"Don't worry," Luna said. "Those two just have whrackspurts. They will get rid of them if you encourage them."
"We'll keep that in mind," Ron said dismissively.
"Trust me," Luna said. "It'll work."
"Which side are you going to support, Luna?" Hermione asked.
"Well, while it's less impressive than Slytherin and Gryffindor's, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have a rivalry." Luna explained. "I could only support Hufflepuff if it puts Ravenclaw in a better position."
"Why couldn't you just say you'll be supporting Gryffindor?" Ron asked Luna.
"Well, how else are the readers supposed to know about the Ravenclaw Hufflepuff rivalry?" Was all she said in reply.
Everyone was used to Luna saying things that didn't make any sense, so they didn't ask any further.
"I'm glad you consider me your friend, Ginerva." Luna said over breakfast one morning.
"When have I said you're my friend?" Ginny asked. "You just show up."
"But you do think of me as a friend, otherwise you'd have told me to leave by now."
"Well, yeah."
"Plus, the Chapter Title tells me."
