The start of the second term of her second year was better than the start of the first term. Ginny was able to eat in the Great Hall without having a panic attack. The hallways, still as dark and foreboding as ever, with memories of her terrible first year in every nook and cranny, failed to beat her down. She had Luna with her, and she knew unequivocally where they stood with each other.
Occasionally, she also had Hermione. She was less available now that term had started up again. She was apparently taking every class available, which was crazy, but none of Ginny's business.
Surprisingly enough, even the bullies had backed off.
The first time the two second years had seen their three main tormentors, it felt as though all the air had been sucked out of the hallway. Ginny held her breath, and the scar on her arm ached horribly. She couldn't have breathed even she'd wanted to. Luna had held her hand so tight she'd felt her bones creak. The three girls all stared at them with varying expressions.
Worry. Confusion. Scorn.
Kim looked worried. Olivia looked confused. But Felicity, she had a nasty glare and a pinched mouth any time she passed Ginny or Luna in the hall.
But not a single one did anything. No jinxes, no insults. They were too cautious, it seemed, to start anything. Ginny and Luna decided to leave it alone as well, to see how long they could ride out the tension and enjoy a reprieve.
Neither Ginny or Luna expected it was over permanently, though. It wasn't peace they enjoyed during the winter; it was a ceasefire. Their own personal cold war.
Their free time, which had before been spent exploring, was now spent practicing and studying. They studied the particulars of the ritual they wanted to complete for Imbolc, ensuring they had everything perfect.
When their legs cramped up or their vision blurred from reading so many books, they took to the hallways they knew so well. They practiced dueling each other as they ran through the abandoned corridors, in preparation for the end of their paused hostilities with the bullies. The jinxes and hexes they read about, they would throw at each other until their arms were sore and their feet throbbed from casting and running. They were reluctant to learn anything too dangerous, but the image of Ginny's blood staining the white snow as the bullies looked on and jeered spurred them forwards.
But perhaps the most difficult thing they worked on was their meditation and Occlumency lessons. While Hermione's schedule was more hectic, the fact that she still wasn't speaking to either of her best friends meant she had the time to practice with Ginny and Luna.
They held their first session during their first week back to classes, during the one open period of time where all three of them were free. Hermione's schedule was mind boggling.
She had bustled into the room they'd set aside to meet in, all aflutter, parchment and books in her hands as she rushed to find a seat. It was nearing the end of Hermione's free block and was the tail end of Ginny and Luna's lunch. Hermione had said it was the only time that would work, as she had quite enough homework to do, and could really only spare a bit of time at the end.
"So, are we all set?" Hermione asked. The three girls were set up in what was likely an old classroom, more specifically what would have been the professor's dormitory. They had found some sort of sitting room or lounge area with a few furnishings left mostly intact against the ravages of time. There were a few couches and chairs in muted colors, with small foot rests and coffee tables to match. Everything was dusty and decrepit, but Hermione had gone on a rampage, muttering "Scourgify" and other spells that Ginny didn't catch until the room was nearly sterile.
"Yep!" Ginny and Luna chorused.
"So, from everything I read, it looks like the strongest Occlumency defense is the art of clearing the mind. When you think no thoughts, then there's nothing for the attacker or intruder to grasp onto. But not thinking at all is as difficult as not thinking of pink elephants, or white bears. It's called Ironic Process Theory, and is really rather fascinating."
Ginny cleared her throat. Hermione was wonderful but could be a bit scatterbrained. She'd pick up a thread she thought was interesting, and like a dog with a bone she'd go on and on if you didn't take it away.
"Anyways, the book suggested meditation to work towards a state of clear mind, which would work, except there's so many different kinds of meditation, and it's not really for everybody, and just sitting down and trying to do nothing is boring. Thankfully, my parents got me a few cassette tapes on meditation a while back, so I've a bit of a hint for us. Guided meditations!" Hermione exclaimed the last bit as though she was unveiling Merlin's own personal grimoire to them, showing them the greatest treasure they could possibly imagine.
Ginny just rolled her eyes. She had no idea how tape of all things could help you learn meditation. Stick a piece of paper to your forehead so you couldn't see? Tape your eyes shut? Tape yourself to the floor so when you got bored you couldn't get up?
"So I'm going to give you both instructions, and you'll follow them, and hopefully this will work a little better." And with that, she pulled out a piece of parchment, and began reading off of it.
"Take a moment to settle yourself. Let your body relax and focus on the sound of your breathing. Slowly, begin taking deeper breaths. Pull in more air through your nose until your chest is tight, and hold, then let out through your mouth. In. Hold. Out. In. Hold. Out. In. Hold. Out."
Ginny inhaled and exhaled in time with Hermione's words.
"Then slowly, while still focusing on your breathing, close your eyes. Keep focusing on taking deep breaths. In. Out. Feel the breath filling your lungs, holding it, and then let it out slowly. With each breath you take, you're bringing in new energy into your body, and expelling the bad energy with the out-breath. Slowly, let your breathing fall back into its natural rhythm, so that you aren't as focused on it. Instead, listen to the world around you. Notice all the things you can hear, and smell."
Ginny let go of her breathing and followed Hermione's instructions. She heard the sound of Luna's breath next to her, speeding up to a more natural rhythm, but becoming more shallow. She could smell the faint traces of dust and ink in the room, lurking beneath the sterile smell of Hermione's Scouring and Cleaning Charms.
Distantly, she heard the rumble of the castle. The low din of students and teachers walking and talking and writing and learning and living. It was like a background hum, and she tried to pick individual pieces out of it unsuccessfully. It was all an indistinct murmur. Just as she felt herself start to get distracted, her mind wandering away from listening to the noises around her, Hermione spoke up again.
"Bring your attention and focus away from the external, and instead to the internal. Notice how your body feels. Don't move, or change, but just notice how it feels as you sit. Start with your toes, and your feet. If they're uncomfortable, that's okay, just notice it and move on. If it's comfortable, that's okay too. Just notice, recognize, and move. Now your legs, and your knees. Slowly towards your hips, then your chest. It doesn't matter if it's tight or loose or anywhere in between, just take the time to be aware."
Hermione kept a low murmur up as she brought them through the rest of their body. Shoulders, arms, elbows, hands, fingers, neck, head. Ginny noticed each ache, each throb, each relaxed muscle. She hadn't ever gone over her body before, but it was different. A nice sort of different, but strange nonetheless.
"Now focus on your breathing again. Don't change how you're breathing, keep it in its natural rhythm, but pay attention to it. If it changes as you focus on it, that's okay, but try to just let yourself be. Don't focus on it, just recognize it. Your body knows how to breathe; just let it go."
Ginny's breaths were low and shallow, not too long and not too short. She was relaxed, as she focused on the rise and fall of her chest, how it felt as her lungs filled part way before releasing.
"And now, just let your thoughts wander. Don't focus on any one thing. Allow your stream of consciousness to follow the path it sets, running and burbling all the way down, never stopping. As each of your thoughts come, notice them, accept them, and then try to let them go. Don't focus, don't obsess, just let your thoughts come in and out as they please.
This is so different than the meditation I've tried before.
It's so much easier with a voice to listen to.
It's only a short while until our ritual. I wonder if Hermione will be able to join us.
I wonder how long it's been?
At that last thought, Ginny tried to viciously shove the thought away as her curiosity and worry over her inability to meditate caused her to become more and more nervous.
"If you find a thought is becoming too persistent, or your mind is hard to center as you let your thoughts come and go, instead focus on your breathing again for a short while to bring yourself back to center. Don't change your breathing, just pay attention to it and recognize it. Count each breathe, up to ten. Then try again to let your mind wander."
Ginny calmed, and focused on her breathing once again, before continuing to let her mind wander.
I wonder how long the bullies will be able to hold off.
I'm so glad my roommates bought the story about how I loved my diary.
"And whenever you're ready, no rush, you can slowly open your eyes."
Ginny stayed sitting down, and allowed her thoughts to flow around her, her mind less like the river Hermione had described, and more like a campfire. Small and contained, but flickering back and forth, with occasional sparks flying off in different directions.
Eventually, when she felt like she'd waited long enough, she opened her eyes to find Hermione holding two stacks of parchment, looking rather nervous.
"So? How did it go? Did it work better? Guided meditation is supposed to be a little easier for beginners, it certainly was for me, but I didn't want to assume, and-."
"That was quite lovely." Luna interrupted as she opened her eyes as well. "I think I should like to do that again."
"Me, as well. I've never even come that close to meditating before. I don't think I was meditating, exactly, but I think I got close! My mind never really stopped, but I've never even been able to sit for that long when I've tried in the past!" Ginny figured Hermione could use the encouragement. As Hermione's shoulders relaxed and her smile peeked through the frown on her face, Ginny gave herself a mental pat on the back.
"Well, sadly we won't have the time to meet often. And anyways, I wouldn't be able to participate if I was always the one doing the guiding. So, I took it on myself to do a bit of extra research, and I found a few charms that might help." She didn't look nearly as excited as she normally did when discussing new charms. Instead of a smile and bright eyes, she was still biting her lips and wasn't looking either Ginny or Luna in the eye. They didn't have the time to deal with Hermione's reticence; they all had class soon.
"Out with it, Hermione, what's the catch? It sounds like a dream come true."
"Well, it's a modified version of the Cantillation Charm. It reads, out loud, what I've written down on the paper. I just have to teach you the charm, and you'll be good to go; you'll have your own personal guided meditations, based on what I've written."
Hermione and Luna were both staring at her as Hermione explained her solution; as such, they both instantly noticed Ginny stiffen at the thought of magic reading out the written word to her. So many thoughts assaulted her as her instincts told her it was a terrible idea that her mind froze as still as her body.
There were two main thoughts warring in her head as she attempted to calm herself.
I can't trust talking paper! Fool me once, shame on them, fool me twice, shame on me!
But I'll be in control. And I NEED Occlumency. So that this doesn't ever happen to me again.
She took in a deep breath, held it, and let it out. All the tension she'd just released through the short meditation, which had been more than she'd realized, had coursed through her body again as she tightened up. She tried to let it all go with her breathing. She wasn't successful, really, but she did manage to reach a decision.
"How many times a day will we be meditating, based on your schedule?"
"Three. Morning, afternoon, and evening." Ginny just held out her hand for the parchments and shoved them a little too viciously into her bag.
"Thank you, Hermione." Ginny put as much emphasis into that as she could, because she truly meant it. She stared at Hermione until she looked up, and their eyes met, and Ginny gave a small smile. "I appreciate you doing all this work; Luna and I were nearly about to give up."
"You were about to give up. I had said no such thing. I thought we should try the other method in the book. Just continually legilimencing… legilimizing? Continue attacking each other until we naturally picked it up. It's supposed to be quite faster."
"And far more painful." Ginny rolled her eyes at Luna. "And not one of us is that desperate." Yet. Ginny added that part only to herself, silently.
The three girls each headed out at that point, chatting aimlessly before they headed to their next classes. They really were running a bit late.
It was a stroke of genius that had allowed their plans to celebrate Imbolc and engage in the seasonal ritual to be so successful. Hermione had had the foresight to ask Hagrid if they could have a bit of a party, just the three of them, with a bonfire. She had confided in him, saying that the three girls wanted a bit of time to themselves.
"With a few mostly fake tears about Harry and Ron still ignoring me, Hagrid was more than happy to let us use his garden patch! He even laughed when I told him, in the strictest of confidences of course, that we three girls had a bit of new magic we wanted to practice as well. He said he might even watch, if we didn't mind!"
Luna and Ginny were gobsmacked as she explained all this to them on their walk out to Hagrid's hut on January 31st, all their materials in hand. Picnic basket, carved sticks of yew, a few blankets to lay on. They didn't need a whole lot for their rather simplistic ritual.
It must have been clear how surprised they were based on their facial expressions alone, because Hermione began to back pedal.
"I feel a bit bad about the tiny bit of manipulation, of course, I'm not quite certain he knows enough to distinguish between Dark magical rituals, and old, forgotten, seasonal magical rituals, so I didn't tell him we were doing a ritual specifically, but it certainly wasn't a lie! Besides, if all goes according to plan, we'll be leaving him something of a gift! It'll all work out in the end."
"Hermione, don't take this the wrong way, but you frighten me a bit. In all honesty, you scare the bloody hell out of me. In the best possible way, of course!" Ginny threw up her hands and waved them as she tried to ensure Hermione didn't take it the wrong way.
Hermione laughed out loud, head back and full belly laughter. "Your brother said something similar, once. Almost exactly." She imitated Ron and quoted. "'She's scary. Brilliant, but scary.' Or, it was something like that anyways."
Hermione had a rather sad smile as she reminisced, so Ginny was going to let her just enjoy the silence and her memories as they walked. Luna had other ideas.
"You miss them? Even though you still see them every day?"
"It's not the same, just to see them. I miss talking to them. Sharing with them. Being with them, every step of the day. I've been rather absent this year, and even when I was around, we were always arguing about silly things. I just wish it would all go back to normal." Hermione let out a long sigh.
"Mmmm, I'm sure it will. Friendship like that doesn't just disappear, you know?"
"Oi! You lot are 'ere early. Nip inside for a cuppa tea, then?" Hagrid belted out as they came into view.
All three girls couldn't help but light up at the sight of him. Hagrid was just so kind and friendly, it was hard to think sad thoughts in his presence. They did take the time to enjoy a nice cup of tea with him, chatting aimlessly about nothing of importance until the sun had fully set.
Once the sun had set completely, the girls made their way out to the fire pit behind Hagrid's hut, and began their first ritual of the night.
Many of the rituals they could find had started with the gathering of firewood for the remainder of winter; not one of the girls had even considered any of those. The only way they'd find enough for the whole winter would be to venture further out than Hagrid's hut, and they weren't about to head in to the Forbidden Forest for firewood anytime soon. Not with dementors on the prowl.
Instead, they picked a ritual that had included choosing the best firewood, the pieces that would provide the largest fire. They scoured through the whole pile Hagrid had collected, and working in tandem, set up the foundations of a huge flame in the fire pit right outside Hagrid's hut. The book hadn't given any incantations in specific to light the fire, only vague references to an opening chant, and an offhand mention that the fire was lit 'with magic.'
All of the descriptions of rituals they had found were vague allusions, and had presupposed a certain amount of knowledge that none of them had about rituals. As a result, the girls had argued for days about what exactly was being described in each ritual, and all the possibilities for the specifics of each ritual before they finally settled on a compromise that made them all happy. They'd rolled the lighting of the fire into the ritual itself, making one large ritual composed of three sub rites.
Their fire pit set up, cold logs stacked against each other in an exact configuration, and a small area around it cleared of snow, they each approached, forming a loose circle. Just the barest edge of sunlight peeked out of the horizon, twilight in full effect, casting shadows across their space. They peered at each other through the murky silhouettes left by the dying light of the sunset until, by some unspoken agreement, they moved in tandem.
They circled the unlit fire pit counterclockwise, widdershins, each in identical plain black robes with no house crests or colors. After three silent rotations of the pit, they stood in silence for a moment or two, and then Ginny started the chant. The moment her mouth opened, the words slipping out as easy as breathing, they all began circling the pit again, this time in a clockwise, deosil, direction.
"A new day is born as the Sun descends
Now the days grow longer, and the Winter ends
On the following Morn, the Sun shall rise
Its power increasing, overtaking the Skies
It shall cover the Earth, a warming glow
Scouring shadows, so that new life may grow."
As they stalked around the barren pit, Ginny began to feel a familiar sense of weight leaning down on her. It was similar to the feeling she had experienced in Egypt, but more personal. It was the feeling she got when she was walking in the hallways and knew a bully was staring at her without having to look, just multiplied a hundred-fold.
Hair stood on edge, lining her neck and her arms. She had memorized the words to her chant so intensely over the past few weeks that they slipped out of her lips nearly without her realizing it.
The three girls paused, standing exactly where they had started. A few scant heartbeats passed between them, until they began to move again, the same direction, deosil. Luna added her voice to Ginny's for the second pass.
"A new day is born as the Sun descends
Now the days grow longer, and the Winter ends
On the following Morn, the Sun shall rise
Its power increasing, overtaking the Skies
It shall cover the Earth, a warming glow
Scouring shadows, so that new life may grow."
With each word she spoken, Ginny's hot breath frosted out into the Winter air. She could feel each thud, thud, thud of her footsteps as she swept around the desolate firewood sending a shiver straight up her legs and into her gut.
As she came to a sudden halt once more, it was as though electricity crackled silently between the three of them. Her eyes told her the firewood before her sat untouched and unmoved, devoid of any warmth. But she could swear she smelled smoke and tasted the ash in the air, could hear the crackling roar of the fire and feel the heat of the embers before her dancing over her skin. She could envision it so clearly in her mind's eye: the orange-red flames, the blackened ash of firewood, the grey stone circles making up the firepit alive with the dancing shadows from the firelight. The firewood before her sat cold, unused, but with potential.
None of the girls made eye contact with each other, or even acknowledged the other's presence. Each was lost in their own world, as they stared deeply into the unwoken wood, the fire-to-be, until again in sync they moved and chanted. Hermione's voice joined the chorus on their third and final clockwise turn.
"A new day is born as the Sun descends
Now the days grow longer, and the Winter ends
On the following Morn, the Sun shall rise
Its power increasing, overtaking the Skies
It shall cover the Earth, a warming glow
Scouring shadows, so that new life may grow."
They whirled around the cold logs, the stomp of their feet timed to the cadence of their voice, the three of them a choir unto themselves, singing out to the world. Ginny couldn't tell if she was whispering or shouting, couldn't barely hear the other two girls for the rushing in her ears. Everything was too sharp, too in focus, too big, too great.
Her mind floated as she moved, and she thought of nothing but the words on her lips and the feeling of her body. The sensations coursing through as she was hyper aware of her body were so strong she wanted to lose herself in them. Instead, she felt her mind notice each thought, each line of each verse as her mouth spoke it, and she recognized each one. Keeping them in order kept her in the present, kept her sufficiently focused to remember the next line clearly enough to say it consciously. Elsewise, she was sure she'd submit to the magic taking over her, the words being forced out her mouth of their own accord, and she knew she'd have lost herself to the whirlwind of magic and power.
All too soon, their chant ended, and their feet stilled. Standing in her original position, Ginny didn't want it to end, never wanted it to end, wanted to feel that sense of heat and pressure for as long as she lived. But she knew what was next, the release that was coming, and she yearned for that too.
Two things, diametrically opposed, mutually exclusive, and she desperately, achingly, longingly craved both of them.
Each witch raised her wand, high and up towards the logs, and in unison they sang:
"We call upon you! Arise! Become! Cleanse! INCENDIO!"
Ginny's world burst into light, bright white and yellow, searing red and orange, swirling up higher and higher. The sweat dripped down her spine, and it was all she could do to hold her wand aloft and focus. It scorched her skin as the heat seeped into her through her wand, scalding her from the outside in. It was pleasure and pain all wrapped up in one glorious explosion of heat.
As one, a few immeasurable moments later, the witches lowered their wands. They walked around the fire, burning bright, one last time going widdershins. The feeling didn't leave Ginny as they walked counterclockwise, but it became less overpowering. On the last footfall, she could finally think again. The chant no longer thundered in her ears or beat against her lips demanding to be spoken.
Each of them stepped away from the fire, and took a moment to come back to themselves. Ginny couldn't help but feel it was similar to their meditations. She let her mind wander as she stepped away from the ritual and mused on the fact that she had been single mindedly focused on the rite throughout the whole encounter. Like with her meditations, she always took a few moments at the end to just relax, to center herself, to refocus.
As they reconvened, the first words out of her mouth to Luna were "You were right. I don't even want to know what that would have been like if we hadn't been meditating all month. Even with that, I think I still almost lost it. I'm not sure I was really myself that whole time."
Luna was as serene as ever, sporting only a slight smile and a faint blush from the fire. Whether from the heat specifically, or from the ritual itself and the power they had called upon, Ginny wasn't sure.
"Of course. I'm usually right." Ginny just rolled her eyes at her friend.
"That was brilliant." Hermione was smiling as bright as Ginny had ever seen her, and unlike Luna her whole face was flush. "I've never experienced anything like it. It was like the tingle you get when you successfully cast a spell for the first time, but a hundred times stronger and along my whole body." She grabbed a strand of her hair and pulled it in front of her eyes with a frown. "I'm surprised I'm not more bushy."
Ginny and Luna cracked up at that, and through unspoken agreement each witch moved towards the picnic basket they had set up. It was filled with many of the traditional feast foods of Imbolc. Dumplings, colcannon, barmbrack, and bannocks made up most of their feast, but interspersed were a few dishes the girls were more used to seeing.
They first pulled out some blankets to lay on, so they weren't lying directly on the hard earth. Too many had been packed, because apparently house elves had never heard of the word 'moderation' before. Ginny left a pretty light blue colored blanket, and a pristine white sheet inside, preferring to use the fuzzy plaid blankets that had been packed instead.
As Ginny set down the blankets, she eyed the hard-packed earth surrounding the fire pit. She couldn't tell for certain, but it seemed as though there was more space between the edge of the fire pit and where the snow sat than what the three girls had cleared away. Had some snow melted during the ritual? If so, she hadn't noticed, and now she couldn't tell for sure.
The food all came out of the basket piping hot, and bottles of warmed butterbeer were passed around. The three girls lazed and ate while basking in the heat of the fire, coming down off the intense feelings from their magical workings.
Later on, none of them would be able to say who had kicked off the conversation first, but soon they were all joking and laughing about their classes.
Luna continued to give Hermione funny looks every now and again when Hermione mentioned certain classes, but Ginny paid it no mind. Her colcannon was too good, and the butterbeer too sweet to worry about it. Eventually, after one long round of laughter, Hermione asked a question.
"Where in the world did you get all this food? Did you make it yourselves?"
"Well, the kitchens of course. Where else would one get food?" As always, Luna was matter of fact in her answer.
Hermione's mouth made a slight 'o' before she sucked in a lip and bit it as she thought. "Who makes all our food? Only, I can't believe I've never thought about it before. For the life of me I can't recall it in Hogwarts: A History. Does Hogwarts employ a chef, or a cooking staff? Are there magical implements to prepare the food? I know your Mum, Ginny, prepares all her food herself, but is that true of all witches and wizards? Are there pots and pans that have enchantments and charms on them to know exactly how long to cook something? I suppose it would get to be rather like Sorcerer's Apprentice quite quickly if everything was enchanted."
Ginny and Luna just shared a smile as Hermione rambled away. They had quickly gotten used to her penchant of speaking her mind quite freely. They had wondered once whether her mind was just a non-stop series of questions.
"The house elves are the cooking staff, I suppose. Though I'm not sure what their wages are like, if they get any. So, I don't know if they'd be considered 'staff,' as such." Luna answered first.
"Also, what in Merlin's name is the Sorcerer's Apprentice? Being called a Sorcerer fell out of fashion ages ago, no one does it anymore. And I think apprenticeships fell out of fashion even earlier?"
"No, don't you have to be taken on as an Apprentice to get a Mastership in a specific field after Hogwarts?"
"Wait, really? People consider studying past their NEWTS? I thought that was a myth!"
"Could we focus, please?" Hermione interrupted them. "Sorcerer's Apprentice is part of an old Muggle film, Fantasia, where Mickey Mouse steals his master's magic hat, and uses its powers to make everything turn alive so he doesn't have to clean anything. But that's not important. What are house elves? And what do you mean about them not getting paid?"
"Who is Mickey, and why is he a Mouse? Or is Mouse his surname? What an odd surname. Also, why would he steal a cursed hat? Hermione, you really need to take Ginny and I into the Muggle world and show us all the things we're missing out on. Muggle's interpretations of magic must be fascinating. We should go to the film-place and see Fantasia! Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful?"
"The house elves. Not receiving payment. Are they a magical creature of some sort?" Hermione managed to look both determined and smug as she said that; magical creatures always trumped Luna's interest in anything else.
"You know, I'm not sure? My first guess would have been magical Being, but based on how smart some of those creature in your Care of Magical Creatures class were, according to your description, I'm not sure. I'd have to find out what the specific rules are. Regardless, they can speak and think and read and write, so I think it's safe to assume they're Beings."
"Even if they do have something of a one-track mind." Ginny muttered.
"Well why wouldn't they be getting paid, then?" Hermione seemed to be getting more and more distraught as the conversation went on, tugging on locks of her hair and winding them up tighter and tighter.
"Well, because lots of families don't pay the ones that work for them. I think it's supposedly an insult in their culture? But Headmaster Dumbledore has always been a progressive sort of fellow, or so Daddy has always said. Paying them seems like the kind of thing he might do?" Luna seemed to offer that last bit as a peace offering, hoping to head off Hermione's incoming rant. Hermione seemed to take it as such, because instead of becoming apoplectic, she instead became morose.
"But… that's so terrible."
"Cheer up, Hermione. We can always find some books about their culture and read up a bit. And worst comes to worst, there's, like, a gazillion of them down in the kitchens. We can always just go talk to them later. At the very least, you'll get to thank them for our feast." Ginny wouldn't look forward to reading books about house elves, but she'd bring it up and power through it if it meant cheering up Hermione.
Hermione perked up at that. Ginny had noticed she seemed to be in a better mood when there was a plan of action available to solve her problems.
"Now, tell us about this Muggle-Film-Place where you're taking us to see a magical mouse? Is Mickey at all like Babbitty Rabbitty?" Ginny much preferred Luna's jump back to that conversation; way more fun, far less depressing.
Hermione just rolled her eyes. "I've no idea who Babbitty Rabbitty is, but he might be like Bugs Bunny. Yes, fine, I'll take you both to the cinema. But I doubt they'd be playing Fantasia, it came out in the '40's I think. We probably have the VHS at home. I'll take you both to see some other film over the summer."
Warm as the fire was, Ginny still noticed the shiver go through Hermione as she spotted the gleam in Luna's eyes.