Previously: Harry Potter suffered a nasty fall when a flock of Dementors showed up at the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff Quidditch match. Kali Black visited him during his stay at the hospital wing and offered to help him research the Grim. Following this event and thanks to Fred and George Weasley, Kali figured out a new way of getting under Professor Snape's skin. Unfortunately, Peeves interrupted her and threatened to reveal her plan for dealing with the secret the Hobgoblins are keeping from her.

Chapter Eleven:

Hobgoblins and Roosters

Ginny inhaled dust with every heaving sob.

It scratched her throat and sent her into one coughing fit after the next, her lungs burning and her eyes stinging. Her chest tightened as though her skin were shrinking, her ribcage curling inwards, as though slowly but surely, she were wasting into nothing.

Maybe it was for the best.

She wiped her nose on the tattered sleeve of her robes and opened the folded piece of parchment that someone had stuffed into her Transfiguration textbook.

'Dark witch go home!' it read.

The note crumpled between Ginny's clenched fingers, and she sobbed harder.

Ever since she had returned to school in September, people had been glaring at her in the hallways and calling her names as they shoved past her. Her roommates pretended she didn't exist, and most of her housemates did the same.

They blamed her for what had happened last year with the Muggle-borns and the Basilisk and Harry. Few knew all the facts, but that didn't matter. They thought she was a want-to-be Death Eater, an evil witch intent on killing the Boy Who Lived but too weak and pathetic to warrant anything other than disgust.

They wanted nothing to do with her, and she couldn't blame them. If she had the choice, she wouldn't want anything to do with herself either.

Last year had tainted her, leaving a dark stain on her soul that stank of corruption.

No matter how much Bill and her mother had tried to reassure her that none of it was her fault and no matter how much the rest of her family tried to pretend that it hadn't happened, it didn't help.

She had had her mind and body stolen from her by a force so evil that it had slowly drained the life from her. You-Know-Who had been in her head for a whole year. He'd seen her thoughts and imbued them with his own, and she hadn't been able to fight it.

If she'd been stronger and smarter, if she hadn't let him in, none of it would have happened. None of those Muggle-borns would have got hurt, Hagrid wouldn't have ended up in Azkaban, Harry wouldn't have had to put himself in danger to save her, and she wouldn't now have this gnawing feeling in her stomach that was eating her alive.

She cried until she couldn't any more, until numbness overtook her and she couldn't feel a thing. Then she lay there, alone and breathing in the dust.

Things had been better over the summer.

Far from Hogwarts, she had been able to forget about it all. She had gone to visit Bill in Egypt with the rest of her family, and she had spent endless days at the Burrow, swimming in the pond, exploring the orchard next to the house, and watching her brothers play Quidditch.

But when they had gone to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies, the dread had settled in her mind and had grown and grown as the 1st of September had drawn nearer.

When finally the time had come to board the train, she had stuck by Ron, Hermione, and Harry, hoping that their high spirits would dissipate her oncoming panic, but Ron had told her to go away, and her hope had shattered.

She had found an empty compartment in which to sit. Every time other students had popped their heads in, searching for seats, she had smiled and waved, but each had taken one look at her and changed their mind.

When the train had stopped, and the lights had gone out, she had made her way to where Ron and his friends sat, and when the Dementor had shown up … She had never felt so cold in her life.

Images had flashed through her mind—Hermione and all the other Muggle-borns dead on the floor; Harry bleeding out with a Basilisk fang embedded in his skin; You-Know-Who laughing as Ginny wrote one final message on the castle walls, this time using her own blood as it trailed down from her wrists …

The sounds of students in the corridor pulled her from her memories. The laughter and footsteps passed her classroom and didn't stop, didn't realise that Ginny was on the other side of that door. No one ever realised. No one knew where she was. No one cared.

She struggled to her feet and wiped away her tears. It wouldn't help. Her eyes were red from all her crying, her face blotchy and tear-stained, her hair lank and knotted, and her robes ripped, threadbare, and covered in dust.

She wished she knew more magic so that she could fix her appearance with a snap of her fingers, and no one would know she had been crying. But she didn't, so she rubbed her eyes, smoothed back her hair, and inhaled a steadying breath as she reached for the door handle.

The door swung open before her fingers could make contact.

She stumbled back, tripping over her feet, and landed on her backside with a jarring thud.

Someone swore and darted into the room. "I'm so sorry," they said, hands grabbing hold of Ginny's elbows and heaving her up.

She almost flinched. This was the first time someone had voluntarily touched her since the end of the holidays. She looked up, and her eyes froze on Kali Black. "I—I'm sorry."

Kali shook her head, the loose strands escaping from her ponytail flying around her face. "It was my fault. I shouldn't be opening doors like that."

"No one's supposed to be in here." Daphne Greengrass stood in the doorway, narrowed eyes shifting from Ginny to the otherwise empty classroom.

Ginny ducked her head and stared at the scuffed tips of her shoes. Kali's boots and Daphne's Mary Jane's stood between her and the door.

Panic rose in her chest and expanded like a balloon. No one had hurt her, not since last year, but Kali and Daphne were Slytherins. Kali was the daughter of a murderer and if the rumours were true, not a nice person.

Without raising her head, Ginny glanced to her left and right, but the only escape route was through the guarded door.

Her eyes caught on Kali's shape-shifting pet. The dog was the size of a Sphinx, and sharp teeth jutted from its open mouth.

"He won't hurt you if that's what you're worried about," Kali said.

To prove her words, the Daemon transformed into a tiny spotted feline that was too cute to look threatening. The air caught in Ginny's throat, and the Daemon changed again, this time into a rabbit, and then into a fennec fox, its ears twice the size of its head.

A tentative smile flitted onto Ginny's face. She hadn't smiled in months, tentative or otherwise. The stretch of unused muscles hurt, but she didn't stop.

"Perhaps a peacock would be more appropriate," Kali said when the Daemon changed into a wombat.

It glared at her and made a harsh rasping noise before turning into a peacock and flaunting its colourful tail.

From there, it turned into a harp seal and then, when Ginny's eyes felt like they were about to pop from her head, settled for the form of a Friesian horse. Its shiny black coat gleamed in the candlelight, and its long mane fell in artful curls down its neck.

Ginny raised a hand but thought better of it a second later and took a step back. The Daemon huffed and lowered its big head to her palm.

"What's your name?" Kali asked.

Ginny licked her dry lips. "Ginny. Ginny Weasley."

Kali returned the courtesy and introduced herself as though everyone in this castle didn't already know her name. "Kali Black." She tilted her head toward the doorway. "That's Daphne Greengrass, and the show-off is Pan."

"He's beautiful," said Ginny.

Pan whinnied and tossed his head.

Kali laughed. The sound made Ginny jump and had her wondering if Kali had heard about what had happened last year. She mustn't have. She wouldn't be laughing otherwise. "You've just made a friend," she said. "He likes you."

Kali stroked her hand along Pan's flank, and he moved his head to the side of Ginny's face.

Ginny almost burst into tears all over again, but when his whiskers brushed against her skin, she giggled instead. "That tickles."

She caught Kali looking her over, frowning at her tattered robes and unkempt appearance as well as her dull hair and reddened eyes. Ginny knew she wasn't looking her best. She knew that she had the look of someone who wasn't eating properly—because she wasn't—with bones that poked against pale and clammy skin. She felt like an emaciated troll next to Kali, who was tall and lithe with clean, shiny hair.

"Kali?" said Daphne, tearing Kali's attention away from Ginny. "We should go."

Kali's hand tightened around the strap of her bag, and she rolled her lip between her teeth.

She had changed out of her school robes. Her Muggle jeans had tears around the knees that looked only half done on purpose, and her shirt showed an inch of skin at her waist. Even Daphne's robes seemed a size too small. Ginny glanced from them to Kali's bulging satchel, from which an iron bowl stuck out.

"You don't have to," said Ginny. "I was just leaving. You can do—"

"Do what?" Daphne asked, a sharp edge sneaking into her quiet voice.

Kali raised a hand and smiled at her friend before turning back to Ginny. She rocked from her heels to her toes. "Why don't you stay?" she said. "We could use another set of hands."

"Kali." Daphne pushed back her rounded shoulders and raised her chin, looking for the first time like pure-blood nobility. "A word?"

Throwing Ginny a smile, Kali bounded over to Daphne.

Her hands moved when she spoke, but Daphne's stayed hidden within her sleeves. Daphne's posture lost some of its rigidity with every new smile Kali gave her. Her eventual sigh blew through the room like a gust of wind, and she stepped into the classroom, closing the door behind her.

"What—" Ginny cleared her throat. "What are you doing?"

Kali grinned, her eyes shining brighter than the torches on the wall. "A summoning ritual." Pan huffed, and she added, "You don't have to stay if you don't want to."

Ginny glanced at the no longer guarded door and back to Kali, who kept smiling like an excited child. "What are you summoning?"

"Hobgoblins." She set her bag on the floor and retied her hair. "One in particular. Hopefully."

Daphne scuffed her feet against the flagstones. "There's that word again."

Kali lifted her eyebrows. "Hobgoblins?"

"Hopefully." Daphne's gaze rose to Kali's. "How sure are you that this will work?"

"Pretty sure. Summoning rituals are difficult. They require a bunch of ingredients, plus a special bond, a personal item, or a name. So long as the Hobgoblin I met at the Leaky Cauldron gave me his real name, this will work."

"Hopefully."

Kali grinned, and Daphne sighed, but her lips twitched into a smile under the force of Kali's bouncing energy. It electrified the air around her like a thunderstorm, and Ginny's blood sang for it, rushing through her faster than it had in months and making her fingers shake.

"Do you want to help?" Kali asked, turning to Ginny.

Clenching her hands, Ginny checked the door again. Her mother's voice rang in her head with a list of reasons to leave this room, the first of which being that she'd caused enough trouble last year. Yet despite her mother's irate tone, Ginny nodded and basked in Kali's widening smile.

Kali dropped to her knees on the dusty floor and unpacked her bag. She set the iron bowl beside a dozen vials and jars, one of which sparkled and glowed.

"Are those fairy wings?" Daphne asked. Her lips curled at the state of the floor, but she sat down anyway and reached for the shiny jar. "Where did you get them?"

"Snape's ingredient cupboard."

Daphne yanked her hand away. "You stole from a professor?"

"Borrowed." Kali pulled an old book from her bag and flipped it open. "I have fairy wings at home. I'll replace what I took after the holidays."

"Couldn't we have waited until after the holidays to do this? To avoid you becoming a criminal?"

Kali shrugged and set the book between herself and Ginny. "Can you draw this pattern on the floor," she asked, pointing at the picture on the page and handing Ginny a piece of chalk.

While Ginny drew, Kali and Daphne mixed the ingredients into the iron bowl. Daphne wouldn't touch the fairy wings, and Kali wouldn't meet Daphne's accusing gaze. She hummed as she worked. It sounded like a lullaby, not one Ginny recognised, but it was a pretty tune. Ginny hesitated to interrupt it.

"Will a summoning work in Hogwarts?" she asked when the weight of Daphne's disapproval became too much. "You can't Apparate onto the grounds because of the protection charms around the castle, so …"

"It's a different kind of magic," said Kali. "Linked, but different. It wouldn't work if we were summoning a person because the Anti-Apparition Charm and all of Hogwarts' other defences are designed to affect humans. That's why the house-elves can still Apparate inside the castle."

She added the fairy wings to the bowl and finally looked back at Daphne. With the evidence of Kali's misdeed gone, Daphne pursed her lips and rolled her eyes but also shifted so that she no longer leaned away from the situation.

Ginny watched them move together, and her chest ached.

Wiping her hands on her trousers, Kali rose and pulled Daphne and Ginny to their feet. She drew a pack of matches from her pocket and looked at Daphne. "What do you think?"

"I have some concerns."

Kali laughed, nudged Daphne with her elbow, and lit a match. She threw it into the bowl, and the ingredients caught fire, puffing a sweet-smelling smoke. Ginny's drawing burned bright yellow and then black, the chalk turning to soot.

Nothing else happened.

Ginny looked around the classroom, Daphne fidgeted with her sleeves, and Kali rocked forwards.

"Maybe the fairy wings were out of date," said Daphne.

The fire jumped and the soot drawing flared. Ginny stumbled back. Kali caught her before she could fall, keeping a firm hold on her arm and Daphne's. A Hobgoblin stood in front of them. The top of its head reached Ginny's knee, but its tummy was twice as wide as hers.

Kali's grip on Ginny's arm eased. "Hello, Hob."

Hob's black eyes narrowed and his lip curled. "You."

"I want to apologise." She took a step forward and nudged Ginny and Daphne back before releasing them. "We left things on a misunderstanding last time."

"Your familiar attacked one of our young." His voice rasped like rocks and grated Ginny's ears.

Pan stood quietly in a corner, his dark coat blending with the shadows.

Kali smiled, but it stalled halfway to her cheeks. "Like I said. It was a misunderstanding. He didn't mean to frighten or hurt anyone." She crouched by her bag and took out a carton box that smelled of roast ham. "I have a gift."

She set the box on the floor and pushed it toward Hob, keeping out of reach of his claws.

His hackles rose, short hairs spiking into a fanned mohawk, which ran from the top of his head and disappeared beneath his coat. "A bribe."

Daphne shifted, and Ginny steeled the muscles in her legs to stop herself from taking a step back. Kali remained crouched at the Hobgoblin's level and raised her hands. "No," she said. "Not a bribe. I was in the wrong, and I owe you a recompense."

Hob paced to the left and to the right, his leathery face twisted into a scowl, his gaze going from Kali to the box. Ginny's heart battered against her ribcage. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and raised a hand to rub her chest. Hob's eyes snapped to her, and she froze.

Chasms widened into black holes, and he jumped back. His snout twitched, and his yellow fangs rasped against each other. "What is that?" he asked, his clenched jaw turning the words into a rockfall.

Kali glanced over her shoulder. "What is what?"

"That thing," Hob spat. "That stain dressed as a human child."

Dread lunged from Ginny's stomach to her throat. She stumbled back a step, choking for air that wouldn't reach her lungs. Kali stood and wrapped a hand around Ginny's wrist, her thumb drawing circles over Ginny's skin. She didn't turn away from Hob.

"That wasn't a nice thing to say."

"Not a nice thing to say." Hob scoffed. The tendons stood out in his neck, and his hands trembled. "Can you not see what's been inside her?"

"It isn't there any more."

Ginny's eyes snapped to the back of Kali's head.

"Dirty," Hob muttered. He started pacing again, his dark gaze fixed on Ginny, his ears shaking hard enough to turn the tinkling of his earrings into a harsh buzzing sound. "Dirty and dark, and that's the company you greet me with?"

"That's enough," said Kali.

Hob's eyes blazed at the ice in her tone.

Fabric brushed against Ginny's arm. She startled, but it was only Daphne, inching closer, her wand drawn. Ginny reached for her own wand, but her numb fingers fumbled, and it clattered to the floor. Hob's hissing turned into a growl, and he lunged.

Kali ducked, and Daphne shot a spell that covered the floor in front of Hob with a thin layer of ice. She pushed Ginny to the side as he slipped, arms windmilling and long toenails scrabbling for a firm footing.

"I don't want to fight," said Kali. "I just want to talk."

"Talk," Hob snarled. He dropped to all fours, claws breaking through the ice to keep himself still. "Is that why you're taking the care to apologise? Are you hoping that forgiveness will earn you the truth about your father?"

Kali swallowed. Ginny heard it over the drumming of her heart.

"The truth could help a lot of people, not just me," said Kali.

"No, no, no." His mouth twisted into a smile that bared all of his teeth. "Misbehaviour is not recompensed, and good actions done in the hope of a reward count for nothing at all. If you want your father's truth, you must find it yourself. I won't help you, and I will not forgive you."

The muscles in his legs strained against his dirty trousers, and he pounced.

Ginny screamed. Daphne whipped her wand around to aim at Hob but stumbled over Kali's bag and fell to her knees. Kali dodged out of Hob's way, and Pan cantered into the fray. He reared, but Hob swiped at him with claws the length of Ginny's fingers. Pan's hooves hit the ground and rattled the iron bowl.

An old de-gnoming memory rattled with it.

Ginny ran for the bowl.

She ignored the smouldering ingredients and the sting of hot metal against her palm and threw the dish at Hob's face. His howl drowned out the clatter as the bowl hit the ground, ashes and embers scattering over the floor. A burn spread over his cheek, skin reddening and blisters bubbling.

From her crouched position, Kali kicked him in the chest, sending him stumbling over the broken ice and back into Ginny's drawing. She grabbed a vial, dumped its powdery content on her palm, and blew it in Hob's direction.

Daphne scrambled over to her on all fours and brought her wand down like an executioner's axe. "Finite Incantatem!"

The pattern flared again, and Hob disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Heavy breaths filled the room.

"That could have gone better," said Kali.

Daphne laughed, the sound broken by her panting and her wide-eyed panic, which slowly faded from her face. Kali joined her with a shaky smile and pulled her to her feet. She picked up the bowl while she was at it and waved it at Ginny. "Good aim."

"What just happened?" Daphne asked.

"Fairy lore," Kali said. "The entire genome hates iron. Brownies, Pixies, Gnomes, Leprechauns … even Goblins won't touch the stuff for more than a few seconds." She tapped her fingers against the bowl and smiled at Ginny. "Clever."

Legs shaking, Ginny lowered herself onto the floor before they gave out. Her smile trembled, but it didn't hurt.

"How did you know to do that?" asked Daphne, she and Kali sitting cross-legged in front of Ginny.

"My mum chucked out an iron cauldron a few years ago. I dragged it outside for her, and she asked me to de-gnome the garden while I was out there. I still had flakes of rust on my hands when I caught the first one. It screamed and bit me." She showed them the crescent scar beneath her thumb. "I threw it, and it landed in the cauldron."

Kali flinched. "Did it survive?"

"Mum took it to St Mungo's." Ginny had insisted upon it. "It's the only Gnome that's allowed in the garden now."

Chin raised and brow creased, Daphne asked, "You have to de-gnome your own garden?"

Heat spread to Ginny's cheeks.

Kali elbowed Daphne as she shifted forward and took Ginny's hand in hers. She traced the healed bite mark and turned Ginny's hand so that it was palm up. "This doesn't hurt, does it?" she asked, examining the blotchy skin that had touched the hot bowl.

"I'm fine."

Kali's eyes went to Ginny's hair and trailed down to her chewed fingernails. "Have you had dinner?"

Ginny shook her head.

"We're heading that way now if you'd like to join us?"

Daphne frowned. "But we've already—"

Kali's hand on her knee silenced her.

Ginny wanted to refuse. She didn't want pity or hand-outs, but no one had been this nice to her in months. She nodded, and Kali grinned, and Ginny didn't feel so bad any more. When Kali helped Ginny up, one of her rings caught in a hole in Ginny's sleeve.

"What happened to your robes?" she asked, disentangling herself from them.

"My roommate's cat got stuck in our dorm the other day. I'd left my trunk open, and he shredded most of my clothes."

Kali stopped halfway to the door. "Your roommate hasn't offered to replace your stuff?"

Ginny shrugged and didn't answer. Of course, Jenna had done no such thing. When she had seen what her cat had done, she said that Ginny had only herself to blame and that it served her right.

Kali huffed and grabbed Ginny's hand. She dragged Ginny through the door and down a spiral staircase that landed them in the dungeons.

"Stay here a sec. I'll be right back," she said.

She and Daphne darted through a door that hadn't been there a second ago and that disappeared as soon as they were out of sight.

Pan had turned into a cat and wove between Ginny's legs. Before she could start worrying about being alone in the dungeons in front of the Slytherin common room, Kali returned with a heap of fabric in her hands.

"Where's Daphne?" Ginny asked.

"There's been too much excitement for her for one day. She went to bed. Here." She piled several sets of robes into Ginny's arms. "I've shot up about four inches since I bought these, but they should fit you."

Mouth open and eyes wide, Ginny looked from Kali to the robes and then back again. "I can't take these."

"Why not?"

Because they were nicer than anything she had ever owned. The fabric was thick and soft and surprisingly light. They looked like they'd been fitted for Kali, and they were probably more expensive than Ginny was comfortable knowing.

"I can't wear them any more," said Kali, "and I don't know anyone else who needs robes. If you don't take them, they're just going to take up space in my trunk."

Ginny's mouth opened on another protest, but Kali herded her into a bathroom, pushing her toward one of the stalls, and Ginny gave in. She changed into the robes and stepped back into the bathroom, enjoying how nice the fabric felt against her skin. They weren't at all scratchy like her old robes were.

"They're a bit long," said Kali. She drew her wand and muttered a spell. The bottom of the robes turned in on itself, shortening by a couple of inches. "That's better. What do you think?"

Ginny stared at Kali's smiling face, and her eyes started to sting. She pressed her lips together hard, but the tears slipped free regardless.

Kali's eyes went wide. "What's wrong?"

Ginny couldn't say anything through the sobs, so she waved her arms around instead, babbling incoherently as she gasped for breath.

Kali gave up on trying to understand her and pulled her into a hug. Ginny sobbed harder, sinking into the first comforting human touch she'd received since leaving home. She cried for a long time, and Kali let her. When finally Ginny calmed down enough to pull away, she tried to ignore Kali's worried gaze by rubbing her eyes.

When she lowered her hands, she found Kali bending down to pick up a piece of parchment from the floor. It took Ginny a moment to recognise it. She sprang forward, but it was too late. Kali had read the note, reaching the end as Ginny snatched it from her hands.

"Who gave you that?" Kali asked. Her voice was calm, but her usually clear grey eyes looked an awful lot like two angry storm clouds.

Ginny shrugged, stuffing the note into her pocket and looking anywhere but at Kali.

Kali took a step toward her and, with a finger under Ginny's chin, lifted Ginny's gaze to hers. "Ginny?"

"I don't know. I found it in one of my textbooks."

"Have you told anyone about it?" Ginny shook her head, and Kali sighed and stepped away from her. "You need to tell your Head of House."

"I don't want to cause a fuss. I'm sure Professor McGonagall has better things to worry about."

"She doesn't. This is bullying. It's wrong, and it won't go away if you do nothing." Frowning down at her shoes, Kali swiped her tongue over her lip and added, "Hiding from it doesn't help. Making yourself smaller to diminish the target on your back doesn't bother the people aiming at you. It only erases you."

Kali blinked hard, and Ginny took a moment to rearrange her thoughts on some of the interactions she had witnessed between Kali and other Slytherins. The cruel smiles and rigid posture shone in the new light of a role-reversal.

With a steeled jaw and burning eyes, Kali levelled Ginny with a stare that had her wanting to fidget. "Tell me you don't want to be erased."

She didn't. Not now. Not any more. Not in the face of Kali's anger-coated resolve. But she didn't want to make a scene either.

"I don't want …" She pushed the hair from her eyes and stood straighter. "I don't want the teachers to know about it."

She had caused enough trouble last year, and she didn't need to be called a snitch as well as a dark witch. It was enough to know that someone cared enough to get angry on her behalf, even if that person was a stranger.

Unblinking, Kali worried her bottom lip. Ginny's shoulder shook, but she didn't look away until Kali did. With a steeled jaw, Kali nodded and cast the robe shortening spell on the other two sets.

"Come over here," she said, pulling Ginny in front of the mirror. She took a paper towel and ran it under the tap. "Cold water helps bring down the redness."

She handed the damp cloth to Ginny and guided her hand to her blotchy face, letting her wash away the dust and dried tears. Kali brushed a strand of red hair behind Ginny's ear, took her wand out again and tapped the tip against the top of Ginny's head twice. Ginny's scalp tingled, and some of the life returned to her hair.

"Not as efficient as a shower, but it will do," said Kali, observing her work. "Feeling better?"

Ginny nodded. She wasn't sure what else to do or what she could say to express the extent of her gratitude, but the basics seemed like a good place to start. "Thank you, and I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"That Hobgoblin wouldn't help you because of me."

Leaning back against the row of sinks, Kali shook her head. "He wouldn't have helped me regardless. He was right about my ulterior motive." She tilted her head to the side, and her clouded eyes cleared. "But he was wrong about you."

Ginny stared down at the cracked tiles.

"I can't imagine what you went through," Kali said, "and how strong you must be to have survived it."

Ginny's throat tightened. "I'm not strong. If it weren't for me, none of that would have happened."

"I don't believe that. I think it would have happened, one way or another, eventually. If not to you, then to someone else, someone who wouldn't have made it to where you are now."

"I haven't done anything," she said, swallowing hard past the knot in her airway.

Kali knocked her shoulder against Ginny's. "You've got out of bed every day since. You've endured people's hate and distrust. You haven't given up yet. That's something, and it's something that makes you very strong and very brave."

Ginny's cheeks burned, but she let herself believe the compliment because Kali's voice was warm and sincere and trustworthy, and Ginny wanted to be better—needed to be better—than she thought she was. A weight lifted from her shoulders, and the tight band that had been compressing her chest vanished.

"Come on. I'm starving," said Kali. She held out her hand and pulled Ginny toward the door.

In the Great Hall, Kali sat at the Gryffindor table as though she belonged there. People stared. Ginny wasn't sure if it was because of her or because of the Slytherin in their midst, but either way, Kali ignored them and served Ginny a generous portion of lasagne. Ginny gorged herself on food, and Kali supplied most of the conversation, acting as a shield between Ginny and the world.

The next morning, Ginny sat by the lake, watching the sun rise over the distant mountains. It streaked the sky with greys and pinks that reflected off the lake's surface and bathed Hogwarts in a soft light.

Ginny wrapped her cloak tighter around herself and wiggled her cold backside against the frozen ground, but she didn't leave. She couldn't remember the last time she had watched a sunrise.

The fresh air felt as good as last night's meal had, like a healing balm spread over a burn, but a rooster's cry interrupted her tranquillity.

Her stomach lurched, and her head snapped toward the sound, dark memories returning with a vengeance. Her gaze landed on Hagrid's hut. It sat in the distance, as shabby and unassuming as ever, a line of smoke trailing from the crooked chimney and flickering candlelight shining from the windows.

The rooster crowed once more, and Ginny's heart battered against her chest. She wanted to go back to bed and bury herself beneath the covers, but she had promised herself that she would stop doing that, so instead, she got to her feet.

Her knees wobbled beneath her, but she forced one foot in front of the other, up the rocky bank and over the frost-covered grass until she stood in front of Hagrid's front door.

She stared and stared, unable to take those last few steps. White noise screeched in her ears, and her heart smashed against her ribcage in an unsteady drumbeat. Her shoes must have turned to lead because no matter how hard she tried to lift her feet, she could not. Her stomach rolled, and a ball of panic lodged itself in her throat. Her breathing came out in sharp, fast puffs that brought her little air.

The world went dark around the edges, but before it could disappear entirely, several booming barks and something scrabbling on the other side of the door had Ginny stumbling backwards. The white noise faded, and Ginny's mind cleared enough for her to wonder if she ought to run away.

"Back, Fang—back." Hagrid's voice rang out.

A moment later, the door swung open, revealing Hagrid's massive form, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.

Ginny felt like shrinking away, but she stood her ground even though she shook like a leaf.

Hagrid's bushy eyebrows scrunched together when he spotted her. "Yer Ron Weasley's sister, aren't yeh?"

Ginny nodded, still shivering as if from a bad cold.

"What's the matter?" Hagrid asked.

"I—I'm sorry." A sob carried the words from her mouth, and her eyes stung with fresh tears.

"Hey, now," said Hagrid in a voice far gentler than someone his size should have been capable of. "What're yeh sorry for?"

"Last year." She hiccoughed. "I'm sorry I killed your roosters and that you got sent to Azkaban because of me."

"Gallopin' Gorgon," said Hagrid. He hunkered down. Even kneeling, he was taller than her. The boarhound continued to wiggle in his arms, but he kept a firm hold on it. "That wasn't yer fault. Yeh hear me?"

Ginny squeezed her eyes shut and tried to stop more sobs from escaping, which only made them tear through her harder.

"I don' blame yeh for what happened, and neither does Ron or Hermione or Harry or any o' the others, so don' go blamin' yerself."

Ginny sniffled and peeked through the curtain of her hair to see Hagrid smiling at her. The expression lit up his dark eyes and deepened his crows' feet.

"Why don' yeh come in for a cup o' tea?"

Not trusting herself to speak, Ginny nodded. She followed Hagrid into his house and was introduced to Fang while Hagrid put the kettle on. The tea wasn't very good, and she almost broke a tooth on the scone he gave her, but she couldn't remember being this weightless in a long time.

A/N: I hope you've been keeping safe and that you enjoyed this chapter!

I can't decide if the section about Ginny's summer holidays and her reaction to the Dementors on the Hogwarts Express is necessary or not. On the one hand, it feels like exposition; on the other, it builds up her misery. What do you think?