A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or any other related characters
Chalise (Silver Renaissance ) - Here is your secret Santa fic! I hope you enjoy this Ginny and Luna fic and Happy Holidays!
From Lyrrie
Word Count:1247
Ginny watched as everyone around her started getting on the train. She could hear people calling to each other, glad to see their friends again. She took a deep breath. This year was going to be the hardest. She'd thought last year was hard. She'd been a first year. She should have been making new friends, learning new things. She nearly laughed at that thought. She'd made a new friend who had in turn became her worst enemy and she had certainly learned a lot, just nothing that had been on the approved curriculum.
She snorted loudly thinking about how she should have been learning levitation spells and transfiguration. Instead, she'd been seduced by a voiceless diary, almost killed, and then saved by Harry. As if that wasn't enough, this year she had to deal with the fall out from everything.
She'd spent most of the summer locked in her room, trying to figure out who she really was without Tom's voice whispering in her ear. She would never admit she missed him, missed being something to someone. She shook those thoughts from her head. It was over. It was done. She was here now, he wasn't, they had won. She took another deep breath and finally climbed onto the train, hoping she could find an empty compartment.
She didn't want to talk to anyone, she knew what they'd want. She was sure they'd just ask her questions about last year. She didn't want to talk about last year, she didn't want to answer a million questions about what had happened. She honestly wanted to pretend it hadn't happened and start fresh, but she knew that wasn't an option.
She finally found an empty car at the very end of the train. The window was jammed slightly open, but she didn't mind. The breeze felt good. She stashed her trunk and slid into the red vinyl covered seat. She felt the train lurch beneath her. Soon she'd be at Hogwarts for her second year. Soon she'd have to face everyone staring at her. Maybe she'd get lucky and whoever the new defense professor was would be more interesting than the girl who had nearly died last year?
"Hello? Is it alright if I sit here?" a soft voice asked. Ginny looked over at the door. There was a girl standing there, a worried expression on her face and her trunk sitting at her feet. She was wearing a pair of paint splattered tights and a baggy oversized jumper with a picture of a unicorn on it. A pair of earrings dangled from her ears. Ginny thought they looked a lot like sunflowers.
"Um, sure, I guess so," Ginny answered, watching her enter the car and take a seat. The girl quickly stashed her trunk with Ginny's and gave the car a quick look over. She turned and smiled at Ginny.
"You look troubled, do the wackspurts have you?" she asked, studying Ginny's face. Ginny quickly wiped her mouth to make sure she didn't still have breakfast in the corners of her lips. She didn't.
"The what?" Ginny asked, blinking her brown eyes in confusion.
"They're tiny creatures that can cause moments of confusion, confuddlement, and general blahness. You look troubled by something, but since I don't see anything, it must be something invisible," she explained, nodding slightly. Ginny blinked a few more times. She'd never heard of a such a creature, but there was lot of things she didn't know. She wasn't about to dismiss the idea out of her own ignorance.
"Oh, no, I'm just thinking about this year. It's... well, last year didn't go so well for me," she answered after a moment, not quite wanting to say exactly what had happened. She was sure this girl knew everything already.
"Me either! I'm Luna."
"Ginny."
"Oh! You're the girl who opened the chamber. No, that's not quite right, is it? It wasn't really you, was it?" Luna asked, tilting her head to the side and giving Ginny a wide eyed look. Ginny felt a little bit better, at least Luna wasn't running screaming from the train car yet.
"It is and it isn't," Ginny answered truthfully. She hadn't wanted to talk about, but something about Luna made her feel like opening up, maybe just a little. Everyone always said talking about things helped. Luna nodded solemnly.
"Then does it affect anything now?" she asked. "Are you planning on doing it or not doing it again?" she asked, leaning on the edge of her seat slightly
"No! I want nothing to do with it or the basilisk inside of it," Ginny answered quickly.
"A basilisk? Those are really rare and very dangerous. I'd love to meet one," Luna commented. Ginny's eyes widened as she stared at Luna in horror.
"Why?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"Why not? Most people have never seen one and lived. They're very interesting creatures."
"It's dead," Ginny stated. Luna sighed and glanced out the window.
"It's for the best, I guess. I mean, if no one could control it and it started hurting people. Shame it couldn't be rehomed," she sighed. "Oh well. So, are you looking forward to classes?" she asked, changing the subject quickly as if she was sensing Ginny's discomfort.
"I think so? I didn't do too badly last year, but I guess I want a chance to prove myself," Ginny admitted.
"You'll do brilliantly, Ginny," Luna promised, flashing Ginny a huge smile. For a moment, Ginny believed her, that everything would be alright.
"You really believe that?" she asked.
"Of course I do, it's the truth. Just think, this whole year is ahead of us. There's all new things to learn, new people to meet... I already met you, so there's that," Luna commented. Ginny laughed.
"That's true. You did meet me, and this year, I'm certain none of my school supplies are cursed," she added. Luna nodded.
"Exactly. Who do you think they'll have teaching Defense this year? I don't think Mr. Lockhart was in any condition to return. Not that he was ever much of a teacher, everything he said about the creatures he claimed to have vanquished was completely wrong."
"I don't know, but whoever it is can't be worse then him," Ginny laughed, remembering how she'd heard about him releasing wild pixies in the classroom.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Luna replied, glancing back out the window. "It's starting to get dark out, we should get changed into our robes," she muttered.
Ginny nodded. They dressed quickly, each still having their own unique additions to their uniforms. Ginny had a red and gold barrette in her hair and Luna had a necklace made of butterbeer corks.
"It's for good luck," she explained, noticing Ginny staring at it. Slowly, Luna popped one of the corks off the cord and handed it to Ginny. "Here, just in case you need some luck this year," she explained. Ginny took it, studied it for a moment before slipping it in her pocket. She looked at Luna and smiled.
"I'm glad you decided to sit here," she stated.
"Me too, Ginny. Now, let's see what kind of madness Hogwarts has for us this year, not that we can't face it as long as we're together."
"Together," Ginny agreed, taking Luna's hand in hers as the train jerked to a stop and they joined the throng of students exiting into the coolness of the night.