It was finally November.
Today was the second quidditch match of the season. Between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Unfortunately, Hufflepuff got beat by the more violent Slytherin team.
The weather had gotten quite cold as well and it had been close to a week since the whole career advice.
Ginny had pushed herself more into learning Occlumency and now spent 4 hours of her time on it. Waking up around 5am and sitting on her bed, breathing in and out and focusing as well as at night as well. It seemed like it was something that. Should be easy to get, but it really wasn't.
That was why there was only up to 8 Occlumency Masters in Britain, Dumbledore and Snape included. Of course, some people could do it, but there was a difference between knowing it and mastering it.
She spent her afternoons or free time either reading more on wandless magic, curse breaking introductions or hanging out with Luna when there was time.
Night, at around 9pm to 10 was spent around Blaise which was one of her most favorite time but they were rarely ever enough times though as they had different schedules.
Ginny sighed one morning in the middle of November as she woke up.
She didn't exactly feel okay. She felt kind of sick. Her head had a stinging pain to it.
She decided to shake it off and go for her classes.
Meeting Luna at the great Hall, she sat down, hunched as she rubbed at the increasing pain.
Luna looked at her concerned.
"Ginny? Are you okay?"
Ginny nodded as she pulled her plate with 2 toasts and poured herself a cup of pumpkin juice.
"Hm, yeah, I'm fine… I just have a teeny tiny headache. I'll be fine."
"are you sure? You didn't even pack your normal amount of food. Are you sure you're okay?"
Ginny sighed as she chewed her food. Luna meant well, but all the talk was getting to her.
"I'll be fine Luna, really. I just woke up on the wrong side it seems. What class do we have today?"
Luna stared at her once more before nodding.
"Well, we both have Charms class this morning"
Ginny nodded as she finished one toast and pushed her plate away. She didn't notice the concerned look Luna gave at that.
They soon finished and were on their way to class, Ginny's head hurting even more as voices echoed around her.
She finally decided that during lunch, after potions, she'd head to Pomphrey for some headache potions or something.
Charms class flew way too slow for Ginny. Her head ache blew to proportions that she couldn't focus in Flitwick's class. Her eyes were unable to focus, she could only see the silhouettes of people and Luna who was beside her had to help her keep her head up out of concern.
Once class was over and she groggily stood up, Flitwick walked over to them.
"Perhaps, you should take Miss Weasley to the infirmary Miss Lovegood"
She nodded as he promised to write a pass for their next classes and Luna helped her out of the class.
"Don't worry Ginny, we'll be at the infirmary soon. We'll find out exactly what is wrong with you, just stay with me"
But Ginny wasn't listening to what she was saying, as she fell to the ground, limp, ignoring Luna's shout of surprise.
She felt people rush over and someone pick her up bridal style, before she remembered nothing but the sweet call of darkness.
"Honestly Albus, she overworked her brain to the extent that she unlocked this.. talent! It's stupid it is! She could have over fried her mind and ended up in a coma, or like one of those cruciatus victims who are lost in their minds! I should be calling over mind healers I tell you!"
She heard madam Pomphrey ranting as she regained consciousness. Groaning as she felt her head hurt. At least not like before.
The conversation immediately stopped as she sat up a bit.
"Careful Miss Weasley. You've been asleep for a while now"
She opened her eyes and winced as bright light clouded her face. Squinting and her vision readjusting, she saw the headmaster and Poppy in the infirmary and in front of her.
"Good afternoon headmaster, madam Pomphrey"
The headmaster smiled while Pomphrey immediately started casting spells on her.
"Evening Miss Weasley, and how are you feeling?"
Dumbledore asked her kindly and she smiled.
"a bit better professor, though my head hurts"
Poppy huffed at that.
"Of course it would young lady! Learning the basics of Occlumency on your own. And without any teacher to aid you, what were you thinking?!"
Ginny was speechless at this.
"oh… uh, I just… It's one of the requirements I'm going to have for my curse breaking job… I thought it'd be a good idea to start learning now, rather than take a year to learn it and then begin the 1 year curse breaking training"
Poppy huffed once more.
"And you didn't think about the implications?? You were well on your way to frying your brain! You think meditating on Occlumency is the same as just meditating?? You're basically trying to unlock a part of your brain you haven't trained well enough for!"
Ginny could only stay quiet. She really didn't think Occlumency was that dangerous. She just thought the wizarding world of Britain was just lazy and that was why they had only about 8 masters of Occlumency. It was one thing to learn Occlumency. You could block your mind, hide emotions and sort through your memories, but for a master, you could do those things in even better ways, you could also learn legilimency, you could learn astral projection through the mind, you could even learn wandless magic if you really took the time to learn those things!
"be at ease miss Weasley, your brain is healing quite well"
Dumbledore smiled at her and she relaxed.
"so there's nothing wrong with me?" she asked hopefully and Poppy butted in
"nothing? EVERYTHING is wrong with you!"
Dumbledore and Ginny turned to stare at her and she blushed and mumbled.
"Sorry… I just got carried away"
Dumbledore chuckled amusedly.
"Well, nothing is negatively wrong with you per say, it's just that, you, miss Weasley, have done something quite extra ordinary, or, as Minerva would say, sheer dumb luck. You see, you managed to be healed at a time, an exact time when your mind unlocked a part of your brain that deals with Occlumency. You see, take cruciatus victims for an example. It affects both the body and the mind. But when the mind snaps, the curse unlocks all parts of their brains, their minds, that they get lost in it, with no way to come out, no way to get help. It gets all scrambled up. You were, unfortunately on your way there, as without a teacher, you knew not this things. But as you unlocked this potential, it is quite an advantage for you I have to say, as you unlocked it in a way, that you can become an Occlumency master if you do want to"
"What?"
"I'll let you rest now. Poppy will give you all the necessary potions and advise. But you are welcome to my office any time. Rest well my dear, and you should thank both Miss Lovegood and Mr. Zabini for bringing you here and on time for Poppy to stable your mind."
He nodded cheerily and hummed out of the room as Poppy gave her a headache numbing potion that was disgusting but with a hint of mint in it.
"good. That should do for about an hour as I expect you'll having visitors in some minutes."
Just in that moment though, the golden trio entered and Ginny smiled a bit. They might have been getting on her nerves recently, but it was still good to see them.
"Ginny! Are you alright??"
Ron spoke worriedly as Pomphrey walked into her inner room.
"I'm fine Ron, I just had a little Occlumency accident but I'll be fine."
Hermione looked at her worriedly while Harry just looked around awkwardly.
Ginny thought he looked rather cute like that, but suddenly remembered he left her for that bitch.
"Occlumency?"
"Hm? Oh yeah, I've been practicing it for quite some time now. It's one of the introductory skills I'm expected to have if I ever want to be a curse breaker."
The golden trio looked at her like she'd grown a third head and Ron spoke up.
"Curse breaker? What in Merlin's name are you talking about, I thought you wanted to be a quidditch star"
Ginny shrugged.
"Changed my mind a couple of months ago. Curse breaking has always been my top profession anyways, and I've told Bill all about it."
"Have you told mum?"
She winced.
"no, not yet, but I will"
Ron looked at her unconvincingly and she rolled her eyes.
"To be sure though, you're okay… right?"
She smiled at him. For all the numerous faults he had, he was still her brother who cared deep down even if he had an unfiltered mouth.
"Yeah. Pomphrey said I'd be out tomorrow morning"
Just then, the infirmary doors opened and 2 people walked in. Luna and Blaise.
Once Ron saw him, he glared and stood up, face red as a tomato and Ginny sighed.
"You! What the hell are you doing here??"
Blaise raised an eyebrow at him before ignoring him and walking to the other side of Ginny's bed where Luna sat, greeting the other members of the trio who didn't even deign to answer but we're just staring suspiciously at Blaise.
"Stay away from my sister I'm warning you!"
Ginny growled.
"And I'm warning you Ron! I don't care if you're my brother! Don't let me use the bat bogey hex on you!"
She seethed and he paled before gulping, trying to choose his battle wisely while Blaise just gave a small smirk.
Hermione kept staring at Blaise like he was some puzzle to fix and she'd fix it.
The trio eventually left and Luna turned to Ginny smiling.
"Hello best friend, how're you feeling now?"
Ginny chuckled and rolled her eyes.
"better. It seems I overstrained my mind studying Occlumency and now, I can definitely study it. But definitely not on my own. It's all so confusing, but basically I almost fried my brain"
Luna nodded seriously while Blaise just kept staring at her which made her conscious.
It seemed Luna noticed he wanted to talk to Ginny because she stood back up, dusting invisible dust from her skirt.
"well, I'll see you later then Ginny. I have to go hunt down a certain boyfriend of mine. I'll see you again this night."
And she skipped put. Satisfied her sister in all but blood was going to be just fine.
When she left, she hesitantly turned to Blaise.
"…hey"
Blaise looked at her amusedly.
"if you wanted to learn Occlumency so much you could have just asked"
She looked at him challengingly.
"Oh? And just who would have thought me??"
"you should remember there are 2 Occlumency Masters in this school alone. You do remember, right?"
He teased her and her ears became red and hot and he smirked. Bastard was doing it on purpose!
"Well I couldn't exactly ask them now could I?! Snape is just a smarmy git! And professor Dumbledore has more important things to do with his time! Besides… I didn't know Occlumency was that serious"
She mumbled and Blaise scoffed.
"Really? Why do you think Occlumency itself is a mastery once you master it? And why would people pay galleons to learn it if you could do that on your own??"
She raised her hands and put it down helplessly. She hadn't really known all those things. Shows what she knew. And now, Poppy would have sent a letter to her parents, Ron too. And she'd soon be in deep shit.
She sighed.
"I didn't really know okay?"
She rested her back on the beds railings, the pillow on her lap as she fiddled with the pillow case.
"You could have asked for help you know?"
She shrugged.
"Who'd have helped?"
"I would."
Her head immediately whipped to were he was. He was sat in a chair, looking as handsome as ever, his leg crossed over another as he looked majestic in the simple chair. His hair over one eye as he looked all over the infirmary before settling at her and she felt herself almost sigh.
"Why... Why would you, and how?"
He shrugged and he made it look so pristine.
"How? Well, as you know, most purebloods hire Occlumency teachers to teach their heirs or other children on the basics of Occlumency so they can protect their minds and secrets of the family. My Occlumency teacher is a family friend of the Zabini family. I could write to him and convince him to either write to you, or link you up with an Occlumency master. Why?"
He smirked here as he stood up and looked down at her.
"I guess because you intrigue me"
She didn't know why, but she blushed a bit.
"Oh"
He chuckled a bit before brushing his hand through her hair that fell by her face.
"Get some rest"
And just like that, he was out the door, hands in his pocket, leaving her alone in the quiet of the infirmary, to her wild and scrambled thoughts.