It was just after dinner, and Ginny wasn't wandering the halls with Luna or Roni for a change. Instead, she stood before her bed, having a staring contest. Not with her dorm mates, for they weren't around. Not with herself or a mirror, either. There were no pets around, Ron's hysteria leading everyone to be more circumspect about crating their cats and other companions. No, she was having a staring contest with a book.
A sleek book bound in a soft black leather. It mocked her from its position on her bed, where she'd left it. It called to her, both enticing and terrifying all at once, and she both craved it and detested it.
"You can do it, Ginny. You do it every night. Nothing bad has happened so far, has it? You don't even have to worry about it yet. You have to meditate first. Who knows how long that will take?"
Ginny sat down on the opposite side of her bed with crisscrossed legs, across from the book on her pillow, and she tapped the meditation parchment Hermione had given her at dinner. She was on a new guided meditation, now, having successfully completed the old one. The same skills were still used, but now she had more challenges to accomplish.
She had moved on to visualization techniques with this newest parchment, the image of a warm ray of sunshine filling her body from the tip of her toes to the top of her head. Unlike Hermione and Luna, however, she still did the more regular meditation, clearing the mind, and breathing based exercise as well, to aid in her memory.
All too soon her meditation came to an end, and with it she had run out of excuses. The book still laid in the same exact spot, mocking her. She sighed, forcefully unclenched her fingers, and reached out towards the book.
"One man's trash is another man's treasure." She murmured to herself. It hadn't made any sense, those weeks ago when Luna had declared it in the courtyard. It still didn't make any real sense now, but she refused to let herself be defined by her experiences with Tom. She would not be merely his trash, left behind and discarded. She would be her own treasure, and that meant overcoming her fears.
As she picked up the book, she flicked through the pages from end to front. As she got nearer to the front, the pages morphed from empty, blank, inviting, to full of looping cursive penmanship.
Her writing, still on the page. Not sucked in, not dissolved. No other handwriting either, nothing but the ink she'd formed into words and applied to the parchment. She flipped through again, from front to back until she landed on the next blank page and began her nightly entry.
'Dear Diary,
Are you there, Tom?'
Ginny paused, as she always did, and waited. Her breath was held tightly, and her fingers trembled. When she had first started writing, she had waited a full 10 minutes before she was able to convince herself the diary wasn't a trap. Now, she only waited a minute or two. She let out a sigh when she was convinced no one would be writing back to her in her diary.
She still did it every night, even though no one ever wrote back.
'Guess not. Good. Unexpectedly, today was NOT just another boring day, Diary. I know it's been an interesting week, since the bullying picked up again. Like I said, though, the bullies have been pretty tame, comparatively. I suppose once they realized we wouldn't rat them out to the Professors, they thought we were fair game again, but they still know they crossed a line. Or at least, they know that Felicity went too far with that Severing Charm. The other two have mostly kept her in check, and we're back to petty Tripping Jinxes and name calling. Luna and I do our best to give it back to them, but we just aren't strong enough yet, you know?
Anyways, I'm getting distracted. Today was even more exciting. Well, maybe exciting isn't the right word. Luna and I were walking around on our free period, after Lunch, and we saw two Slytherins in our year taunting somebody. We couldn't see who it was, but we've both been cornered enough to know how terrible it is. We couldn't help ourselves - we stepped in to help!
Diary, I know I said a couple weeks ago that Luna and I were getting discouraged by how soundly the Ravenclaws always out-spelled us, but I don't feel so bad about it anymore! Those two Slytherins were in our year, and we creamed them! Just a quick wham, bam, boom! Luna and I didn't even break a sweat. Sure, we can't do the Summoning Charm, or reliably cast the Disarming Charm, but I can cast a Tripping Jinx, and I'm real good at kicking a wand out of someone's hand.
But that's not even the best part! We took out those two snakes and expected to see some scared Hufflepuff firstie getting teamed up against. But it wasn't! It was Roni, our new friend! She's been spending time with us almost every day, ever since we found her in that courtyard. The look on Luna's face, dear Merlin I'll cherish it forever! Some dark haired older Slytherin came waltzing around the corner then, calm and fancy as you please, and looked at everything for a second, all of us just standing or laying there. Then he was all like "Come along, Veronica." And she went with him! She didn't even say thank you! Although, she did shoot us a smile. Maybe Luna and I will take her out on another adventure. That boy didn't seem especially nice.
Anyways, that's all that happened today. I'm going to start my meditation journal now. Thanks for listening, Diary.'
Ginny flipped the page and put the date at the top once more. Her quill sat, resting on the parchment of the notebook, a spot of ink slowly growing as she battled with herself.
Her fingers tensed, and she hitched a breath. One long stroke. Two short strokes.
Quick and choppy, she forced her hand to move the ink along the page as she wrote the words which by now were so familiar to her.
'I dreamed again. Not during the meditation, thankfully. I was able to get through the whole exercise without restarting. And this is the first one I've had in almost two weeks. I had them almost every night when we first started, so I think I might finally be making progress!
But I had a vision today during lunch. It was quick, thank Merlin, and nobody noticed. It was just a flash of sitting where Tom sat, staring at the Headmaster with seething hatred. I think it was Headmaster Dumbledore's laugh that triggered it. It was almost identical to the one in the vision. I want to say it's hard to imagine hating someone as much as I felt hate for the Headmaster in that moment, but I don't know if that's true. I think I might hate Tom that much, for what he did to me. I'm not sure."
The words slid out of her mind and down through her quill faster and easier the longer she wrote. The barrier she held up bent under her momentum, until she'd written down everything she wanted to say.
As always, although it was so hard to start, she felt lighter after writing it down. Like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she could take in a deep breath for the first time in forever.
She whispered out a quick "Nox," popped open the curtains of her bed, and slid the diary on to her night stand. Only one of her dorm mates was still up, with her curtains open as well and a small candle lighting her reading. Ginny gave the girl, Clair, a smile and a wave, before she closed her curtains again. A quick "Silencio" was the last thing she muttered before she drifted off into sleep.
It was a week or so later when Ginny was finally able to put a name to the dark-haired boy who had taken Veronica back to her Common Room. Roni had stuck to them like spellotape ever since the incident. They'd gone from spending time together every few days, to every single day. Luna had been ecstatic when, on the third day after the 'saving,' it was Roni who had sought them out first and asked what they three were doing that afternoon.
Slowly, but surely, Roni was incorporated in to their adventures and wanderings around the castle. It wasn't always the three of them; their schedules didn't always align. But Roni and Ginny got along well enough, and Ginny always saw Luna smiling after the two of them spent time together alone, so it seemed to be working out well. Roni hadn't met Hermione yet, but Hermione was busier than anyone she'd ever met, even Percy, so she didn't push it.
As they spent time together every day that week, Ginny slowly started to learn Roni's little hidden signals. Ginny was sure that Luna had seen it first, but every time Luna called her Roni, the girl would instantly get up in a huff. Luna would ignore her, and Ginny would intervene, and by the end of it all Roni would sport a small smile. Barely noticeable, it was just an upturn of the tips of her lips and a sparkle in her eye.
The barmy girl enjoyed arguing with them. She'd insult them and call them both crazy, but she went and explored every nook and cranny they showed her. Her look of disgust at her robes when they got dirty were McGonagall level scary, but she still continued to get traverse forgotten dusty corridors. She called them names and told them they were crazy every step of the way, but still, she came.
At one point Ginny was sure the little firstie was only staying with them out of some sort of sense of pity. Roni took every excuse to constantly lecture them on their poor grammar, and manners, and every individual infraction they incurred.
Ginny would forever treasure the gobsmacked look on her face when Luna finally decided to stick it to her.
They'd been eating at the Gryffindor table during a lunch they all shared, and Luna was doing her level best to stack peas into a tower. She was informing everyone within listening distance she was attempting to recreate a wizarding version of the Leaning Tower of 'Pea'-sa.
"Luna, it's impolite to play with your food." Roni scrunched up her face as she informed Luna she was being rude for what must be the millionth time.
"I'm not playing, I'm working. Obviously. This is serious business. I could get awards for this. Although, they do say that if you do what you love you'll never work a day in your life."
"Do you love wizarding architecture?" Ginny asked, just to be contrary.
"Merlin, no! Most of it is dreadfully boring. If all wizarding architecture was like the Burrow, then maybe, but most of it is like the Ministry."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "The Burrow is more spell than building at this point."
"Fine. I'll amend my statement. Food is for eating, not for playing or working or anything else that isn't eating."
"Well poo on you."
"Ginny, you should really sit up straight, and keep your elbow off the table. You might accidentally stick the sleeves of your robes in a dish, or somebody's plate."
Ginny whipped her head to Luna quick as she could to preemptively shut down her smirk. "Not a word outta' you, missy. Not. A. Word."
"I haven't said anything." Luna smirked, as Ginny knew she would. Damn her. "What kind of friend would you take me for if I mentioned to our Roni, here, that you once put your elbow straight in a butter dish because you were making goo-goo eyes at Harry Potter? I'd be a terrible friend."
"See! This is why manners are important! If you had good manners, then that wouldn't have happened. It would have been ingrained into you to not do that, and you wouldn't have made a fool of yourself when Harry Potter was at your house!"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "We do have good manners at my house. Me Mum is always on us about washing up and 'no feet on the table!' an' what-not." Ginny smiled as she saw the girl scrunch up her nose again at Ginny's poor grammar and forced slang. Impersonate Seamus Finnegan, annoy the poor firstie. Worked every time.
"Those aren't good manners, that's just basic decency. You two wouldn't know good manners if they knocked politely at your door 15 minutes before a party began and asked to be let in with a gift for the house."
Luna tilted her head and closed her eyes for a few moments, and it was like her whole demeanor changed. She lifted her head up from where she'd continued to work on her wizarding Leaning Tower of 'Pea'-sa, and straightened up. Her posture was just as good as Roni's, if not quite as natural.
Eyes still closed, Luna began rearranging her plate and fork and knives, her goblet of pumpkin juice, the bread she'd been sopping up soup with, everything to be in a particular order that Ginny couldn't fathom or understand. She picked up her knife and fork, and in the most dainty action Ginny had ever seen, watched Luna eat her lunch. Luna then turned her head at the neck and inclined it to Roni.
Upon closer inspection, Ginny realized Luna's place setting was identical to Roni's.
For just a few moments, Roni's face was a picture of pure shock. Her jaw slightly open, her eyes big and wide, Ginny would cherish the adorable look on her face forever. Then, Roni furrowed her brow in what looked to be intense thought. "If you know the proper way to do it, why wouldn't you? 'The key note of simple folks is bad manners.' That's what my Mum always says. She also says if I'm ever anything, I'd best not be simple."
"My Mum made me read lots of books on manners when I was young. I read one by a woman named Emily Post. She said that 'Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.' That's why I think you have good manners, Roni. Not because you know how to properly say hello to someone, or which fork to use, but because you care about me. You care about how people will look at me or talk about me. You care about what they'll think of me. But I don't care, not so much, not anymore. Because I've got Ginny, and because I've got you."
Luna beamed at her, in the way that only Luna could, and the girl ducked her head and went back to her food.
The three of them left lunch that day, and Ginny stepped in the way of a Tripping Jinx sent their way that was likely to hit Roni. She stumbled a bit and laughed it off.
"Whoops! Sorry, tripped over my own shoe." She sent a glare back around her, and saw Felicity and Olivia shooting her a vicious grin.
Whatever they did, Luna and Ginny weren't about to let their new friend be the subject of their own personal bullies. It seemed to them like she had enough to deal with in Slytherin.
So, when Roni came up to them the two weeks after they'd saved her with a nervous look on her face, Ginny and Luna were instantly alert. More older students, maybe? Worse, had their own bullies gotten to her while they weren't around? Ginny would swat down as many baby snakes (although were they really babies if they were her own age?) or defend against as many 'Claws as she needed to for this tiny girl with perfect posture and impeccable manners who was quickly becoming her close friend.
Although that really wasn't what she or Luna needed right at this particular day. They were only about two weeks out from their ritual on March 20st, which they'd been planning for months now. They still had so much work to do. Researching their runes, choosing the appropriate runes, picking a location on the grounds they wouldn't be disturbed, memorizing their lines. They didn't have time to fight! They'd fight if they had to, though, for Roni; she was their friend now.
As it turned out, Roni didn't need them to fight anyone for her. She managed to shock them, instead, with what she was really looking for them for.
"I regret to inform you that we shall no longer be able to associate with each other. I appreciate your time over the past few weeks, and your aid against those unsavory members of my house, who were overeager in showing me what it means to be a Slytherin." Her voice quavered as she spoke, but her lips were firm. Her eyes shone, and though they weren't quite wet, they were close.
Ginny wanted to tear into her. How dare she throw their friendship back in their faces? They'd showed her some of their best hidden places and favorite spots among the castle! Not all of them, and certainly not the best ones, but more than a few! She and Luna had even been thinking of inviting her to join in the next ritual they had planned.
Well, not the next ritual, the one coming up in March, but the next one after that which they would do, the one that they'd invite Hermione to as well. Probably sometime over the summer.
Ginny could admit that the tears the small girl refused to shed as she stoically stood before them likely meant she didn't want to stop being their friend, but rather was being pressured into it. But still! She shouldn't have given in so easily!
Right as Ginny was about to tear into her, she was interrupted by the sound of Luna's laughter. Not even a small giggle or chuckle, Luna let out loud peals of humor. It shocked both Ginny and Roni into silence. They stood in confusion as Luna wiped a fake tear from her eye, and said "Oh, Roni, that's a good joke. We all know you love Ginny and I too much to ever really stop hanging out or exploring with us. If it's the nargles that are bothering you, don't worry too much about them. Ginny and I are working on it, we promise."
"Her name is Veronica Fawley. I'll assume she's given you leave to use her first name, but I'd thank you not to call her by a diminutive. There's little chance you could be that familiar after so short a time."
Ginny saw the same dark-haired boy from weeks ago turn the corner and lean casually against the wall. He was the one who'd taken her back to their Common Room after Ginny and Luna had saved her from her fellow Slytherins. He crossed his arms over his chest, and his dark hair was swept neatly back. His casual confidence, his easy stature, and the dark undercurrent of potential violence he seemed to exude combined nicely with his pressed robes with green and silver trim to give off a startling image. Ginny had a brief moment to think 'Tom' before she looked at the boy closer, and latched on to the first difference she saw.
His eyes were blue.
Tom's eyes were dark, so deep a brown as to almost be black. This boy wasn't Tom. Dark hair, confidence, and Slytherin robes were all superficial similarities. Over and over she repeated to herself 'This boy is not Tom.'
With that acknowledgement, she was able to look past the way he held himself and examine him more critically. His robes hid it well, but he was too tall and too thin, like a weed that had only just realized it was Spring and had shot up too quickly. He was taller than Tom would have been, and his robes fit him better; not only were they brand new, something Tom had never had in his seven years at Hogwarts, they were probably tailored to hide how slight he was. His blue eyes were soft They weren't piercing or striking like so many other blue-eyed people she'd seen, but gentle and faded.
"Who, Roni here?" Luna asked interrupting Ginny's musings. "But she likes her name! Veronica is so long and cumbersome, but Roni fits her perfect. Isn't that right, Roni?"
Ginny wanted to just throw her hands up in defeat. Because of course Luna would get into an argument about something as silly as this girl's nickname, which truthfully the girl never even agreed to! Ginny was pretty sure she didn't actually mind, if the small smiles as she defended that her name was 'Veronica' was any indication, but she wasn't sure. She felt a pang of guilt at the thought that maybe Veronica was actually upset with them, maybe really didn't want them around or to call her by a nickname.
While Luna and the dark-haired boy had a staring contest, Ginny took the opportunity to look down more closely at Roni; Luna could take care of herself, and she didn't need Ginny to back her up in something as easy as a contest of will. Ginny had to trust that.
The firstie was almost shaking, her fingers clenched up tight into fists, her eyes screwed shut. Ginny wanted to give her some kind of encouragement, but held back. Roni could make the decision on her own; or maybe Veronica would make it. Either way, Ginny would wait.
The four of them stood there for a few moments, waiting for the young first year to come to a conclusion. Ginny was content to wait as long as she needed to, but apparently the Slytherin boy wasn't.
"Well, Veronica? Is this true?" His eyes never left Luna's as he spoke.
"Yes." Ginny lightly noticed Luna's nearly inaudible sigh of relief. "I told them they could call me that."
Well then. Not only was she choosing them, she was lying for them too. That was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise. Luna was all bright smiles and Ginny let a small one slip out as well. They were both shocked, though, when the girl continued.
"You can… you can call me Roni as well, if you'd like, Theodore." The small brunette girl trembled as she stared resolutely at the floor, and Ginny could see the shine was back in her eyes as she stood there. She didn't turn around to look at the older Slytherin. The boy, Theodore, narrowed his eyes at the young girl's back. He flicked a quick glance towards Ginny and Luna, then looked back at Roni.
He sighed and brought a hand to rub at his forehead. He looked far older than he should have in that moment, and where Ginny had been sure he'd been a third year before, now she couldn't tell at all. He looked like a 5th year stressed out with OWL exams looming around the corner as he rubbed away a headache.
"Then you may call me Theo, I suppose. You will be back in the Common Room at least a half hour before curfew this evening, and every evening after, do you understand… Roni?"
The girl spun on her toes, light and quick as a ballerina, and stared at the older boy.
"Theo?" she wavered.
He just gave her a short nod, then kicked himself away from the wall before stalking down the hallway, around the corner.
"Goodbye, Theo! It was wonderful to meet you!" Luna called after him, waving furiously in the air. "Be careful of potential cave ins in the secret tunnels! Spring is coming, and we might have to be cautious of Migrating Rock Beetles!"
The boy stopped and peered over his shoulder at her. Only his head swiveled as his body stayed still, and he let out a tightly controlled "You may address me as Theodore, or not at all. Be thankful I allow you even that courtesy."
He swept away again, his robes billowing behind him as he moved down the hall.
"Not quite as impressive as Professor Snape, but still rather good. Do you think he'd teach me how to make my robes billow like that?" Luna pondered.
Roni just laughed and lunged at Ginny and Luna to gather them in to a hug. The pat on the back she received from Ginny was apparently enough permission to let loose the whole story.
"Malfoy said I couldn't hang out with you anymore, and Pansy said I'd have to pick between you two and all of Slytherin, and I'd have picked you, I swear, but in the beginning of the year Professor Snape said that House loyalty always came first, and I didn't want the bullies to be any worse to me, and I'd have missed you, I would've, I promise, but you've been so nice to me and my dorm mates were always so mean and I see how those Ravenclaws are already mean to you and I didn't want you to have to deal with my housemates too, because that wouldn't be fair, but I didn't want to stop being your friend, I didn't, and you can call me Roni, it's okay, I don't even mind so long as I still get to be your frie-eh-eh-eh-ehhhhnd."
Roni's story spilled out like an avalanche, and Ginny wasn't sure that she even took a breath the whole way through. Her words turned into sobs as her emotions overcame her. Bawling into their hug, Roni took large gasping breaths as she broke down in tears.
"It's okay Roni, we're still your friends!" Luna patted her on the head. "No more tears, now. It was all just a big misunderstanding."
The brunette girl sniffled, pushed her long, tangled locks out of her face, and looked up at them with her soft green eyes, once more puffy with tears. "Do you promise? We're still friends, even though I said we weren't?"
Ginny gave her a smile and tightened their hug. "Of course we are, Roni. You just said we're allowed to call you Roni! If you finally giving in to Luna's nickname isn't a sign of friendship, I don't know what is." She paused for a moment, before she continued tentatively. "Are you sure that's okay? It's only, we never really asked you if it was alright. You're our friend, we should respect it if you say not to call you that."
"Of course it's alright, she's our friend! Friends call each other nicknames."
"I wasn't asking you, Luna, I was asking Roni."
"It's… its really okay." The girl paused, wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe, and took a deep breath. "When I was little, I had a friend."
And isn't that a sad start to a story, Ginny thought to herself.
"We met at the playground, and had a good time, and it was wonderful. I brought her home with me, and Mum didn't like how dirty we were. I'd been wearing a new dress and she said I'd ruined it. The girl didn't know good manners either, and my Mum didn't like her. The girl called me Roni. She was my best friend; my only friend. I wasn't allowed to play with her anymore, and my Mum refused to let anyone call me Roni ever again."
She looked up at them, with tear stained cheeks, and smiled a watery smile. "I like it when you call me Roni. I'm not allowed to let people call me that, my Mum said, and all the Pureblood etiquette books said so too, but even when I told you not to you did anyways. It was like we were really friends."
"Of course we are!" Ginny exclaimed. "I can only imagine how terrible that must have been. At least Veronica is a pretty name. I'd have died of shame if my Mum only let people call me Ginevra." Ginny shivered at the thought and basked in the warm chuckling of her two friends. She let their laughter balm her heart, before she asked a question she wasn't sure she wanted the answer to. "What about Malfoy and Pansy, though? Won't they still go after you?"
"No, not if Theodo-. Theo. Not if Theo tells them not to. He's my cousin, I guess, and if he says I can hang out with you, then I can hang out with you. Family trumps House, generally."
"Wait, are you one of those Fawley's?" Luna asked as her eyebrows shot up and her eyes went wide.
"You guess?" Ginny asked at the same time.
"My Dad is. But, uhm." She looked around nervously, before she whispered "My Mum isn't. At all."
"What are you two talking about now? How do you not know if he's your cousin or not?" Ginny interrupted them.
"Fawley is one of those silly Pureblood families that managed to make their way into that dumb Pureblood Directory at the turn of the century. I had thought the main Fawley line that was considered to still be 'Sacred Twenty Whatever" only had a daughter, and that she had married… oh. She married Thaddeus Nott. But she was still an only child; how are you related to Theo?"
"She wasn't an only child." Roni murmured. "She had a twin brother. His name was Leonard Fawley. His sister was Annabel Nott, nee Fawley. Leonard is my father; he was disowned and blasted off the tapestries and registers."
"Why was he disowned?"
"For marrying my Mum. She's a Muggle."
The three of them sat in the silence that followed, and Ginny wasn't sure what to say. The only sound was the light whistle of the wind rattling against the window of the hallway. Eventually, the only thing that she could think to say was the question that was burning to come out as she thought back on all the little details she'd learned about Roni since they'd met.
"Your Mum is really a Muggle?!"
Roni's shoulders hunched, and Ginny wasn't sure why she suddenly looked so defensive.
"Yeah. I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be too nice and brave to care about blood status?" The words left her lips like a whip crack, sharp and condemning.
"What? No, I don't care about that!" Ginny hurried to say. "It's just, well… You have better manners than me! And my Mum tried everything short of Charming the manners into me. Did your Dad teach you?"
"Ah, no. Not exactly. My Mum thinks manners are important. Like, the most important thing in the whole word. So, when she realized I was a witch, and that the wizarding world might have different manners, she made Dad buy all the books he could on manners and she made me read them back to front, over and over and over. I could probably recite Madame Xenia's Rules and Regulations for the Young Pureblood Lady in my sleep."
"Eugh." Was Luna's initial response. "That was easily the worst of all the books I've ever read. If I ever wanted to burn a book, which I never will because Hermione would kill me for it, it'd be that one." She paused, tapping a finger against her lips, then let out a cheshire smile. "Well, next time Ginny sticks her foot in her mouth, you can be sure to correct her. Don't worry, she'll pretend to get mad, but she'll really appreciate it."
"Don't you start, Luna, you know your manners are just as bad as mine."
"Yes, but I choose to ignore the rules, as I proved at lunch the other day; you just can't remember them."
As the girls continued to bicker, they wrapped their arms around Roni and dragged her along on their next exploratory adventure. There were still so many places to find!
Having been given 'permission' by the older Slytherin, Roni stuck even closer to them, like a permanent Sticking Charm to her previous spellotape. Generally, this didn't make much of a difference in Ginny and Luna's everyday routine. When it was convenient, Roni would spend time with them in the library or exploring the castle, or at the Gryffindor table during lunch. She went from a common fixture in their lives to a constant one. Up until her inclusion with them, she hadn't spent much time outside of the dungeons. Now that she was officially 'allowed' to be their friend, they were clueing her in to the best and most interesting places they'd found, the ones they'd been saving until they knew her better.
"You've already met Zelma." Luna explained to her. "She prefers to go by Mutiny. She was the captain of the ship on the tapestry you hid behind."
"She's got some of the best stories of any portrait we've met so far." Ginny chimed in.
"But she doesn't give out quests." Luna said the word reverently, like it was the best thing she'd ever uttered. Luna and Ginny then rebuffed every attempt Roni made to find out what in the world they meant by 'quests.'
The girls were climbing up a staircase tucked out of the way on the third floor. It had been hard to find, as the doorway looked innocuous enough to be nothing more than a broom cupboard. Ginny was convinced that it had a Notice-Me-Not Charm permanently cast on it, it was so easy to overlook. They trudged along, step by step, while Roni's patience visibly wore away.
"How long is this dumb staircase?"
"Longer than I'd like." Ginny muttered.
"Just long enough!" Luna said brightly, talking over Ginny.
The Slytherin girl let out a mournful, exasperated sigh as they continued on. Eventually, they reached a heavy wooden door with large iron straps across it. Luna reached up and rapped her knuckles against the door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A few moments passed, and the landing they were standing at was filled with a guttural, rasping, angry noise. Roni covered her ears.
"What in Merlin's name is that?!" Roni shrieked.
"May we come in?" Luna inquired, once the sound wound down.
It started back up again, piercing all their ears.
"NO!" was the raspy shout that punctuated the ending of the strange noise. Ginny just smiled and leaned over to whisper to Roni.
"That's Gobbledegook." Roni's eyes went wide at the revelation.
"Is there a goblin in there?!" she squeaked. "They eat witches like me for dinner! Crabbe and Goyle said so!"
"And you believed them?" Ginny asked, incredulous at the mere idea.
"It's just me: Luna! And Ginny's here too! We have a new friend to introduce you to! Please, won't you let us in?"
The Gobbledegook rang out again, hissing and spitting and angry as ever. "LEAVE ME ALONE YOU WRETCHED THINGS."
Luna sighed, in a put-upon way. "You leave me no choice, I suppose. I tried to be polite." She smoothed her robes, cleared her throat, then very firmly looked at the door. The sound that came out of her mouth most closely resembled the sounds "Gurglatt," but was entirely too raspy and mangled to be called a real word.
The door squealed open to reveal a plain, bare room, lit only by a single window. No decorations adorned the plain stone walls, and there was only a single piece of furniture in the space: a podium, or perhaps a stand, settled right next to the window. Even with just that, it was still cramped. Sat atop the stand was a large, grotesque piece of what Ginny could only very charitably call art. A bronze bust, dusty and ignored, stared menacingly at them. A small wrinkled head, with a sharp pointed nose, and beady little eyes. Ears too long and pointed, and fangs instead of teeth which were bared back into a growl.
"Hello, Karthuk! It's wonderful to see you today." Luna greeted the animated bust.
"Have you found the treasures in the room I told you about?" the goblin's beady eyes seemed to shine, and Ginny wasn't at all positive that it was a trick of the light from the window.
"Well, no," Ginny began, before the statue interrupted.
"Then leave." The bust growled. "I don't want you here. Get out and leave me in peace!" He began growling again in what Ginny was pretty sure was Gobbledegook, but might have just been gibberish. She wasn't entirely sure of the difference.
"I told you to leave and not come back until you'd finished our deal! Yet for some reason, you keep visiting me."
"But Karthuk, we moved you closer to the window, so you could see down into the courtyard like you asked! I thought we were friends now?" Luna put on a huge pout as she said this.
"No! That was part of our deal! You moved me closer so I could see all the wand-holding children bully each other and hurt each other with their precious sticks, and I would consider telling you about a secret place in the castle."
The bust's face was expressive as he spoke, eyebrows moving and jaw working as he growled. Ginny privately thought this was actually the most expressive goblin she'd ever met. Most of the ones at Gringotts, at least the ones she'd seen, were all quite stoic, especially in comparison.
"If you're not here to tell me you've upheld your end of the bargain, then why are you here?" A raised eyebrow and a show of fangs accompanied his question. "Do you need a reminder on the details? Any treasures you find in the room, you need to bring to Gringotts and bring me with it! Don't you back out on me now, whelp! Untrustworthy witches, the lot of you, I knew it! You've probably found it and have come to gloat about backstabbing me!" He descended again into growls and guttural murmurs. Ginny just rolled her eyes. This bust wasn't worth the trouble, in her opinion, although the fact that they'd been given a quest was pretty cool.
She leaned over to Roni and whispered to her as Luna continued to try and cajole more information out of the bust. "It was hard, but we eventually found an old copy of Hogwarts, A History that talked about him. Karthuk snuck into Hogwarts a long time ago, nobody knows exactly what for. All they knew was that he was looking for something, and when the Headmaster at the time found him snooping around, he killed him. Claimed he 'feared for the safety of the students,' or something like that."
Roni gave the bronze statue a look as Ginny said that and murmured "He is rather gruesome. I'd be afraid of him, if I saw him sneaking about the castle. Don't know that I'd go straight to killing him, though. Seems a tad drastic."
"Yeah, we agreed. Anyways, a little while goes by, and a new Headmaster is brought in. Gold-something-or-other. Goldfinch, maybe? Doesn't matter. This new Headmaster was big on Goblin rights. Thought it was terrible what the last headmaster did, so asked Gringotts to send them a portrait of the guy to hang up in remembrance and friendship. Only, the goblins don't do portraits like we do, what with the lack of wands."
Ginny gestured towards the bust. "Nobody's better at magical metalsmithing though. Don't ask me how they did it without a wand, but they did. Sent this bust over, and everything was fine. Then the next headmaster came in, some woman who had fought in the last goblin rebellion. Hated goblins, obviously, so she shoved him up here in this tower. He's been here, alone, ever since. You think he'd be nicer to company given how lonely he must be, but all he ever does is shout at us."
"And Luna speaks Gobbledegook?" The quiet girl finally asked. "That's how we got in?"
"I'm learning!" Luna, who had been arguing with Karthuk about how she wouldn't be going back on their deal while Ginny explained the situation to Roni, answered for herself. "Karthuk is teaching me."
"I am teaching you nothing, you foolish girl! You haven't even managed to get into the secret room I told you of, how could you possibly be smart enough to understand my great and noble language?!"
"It's not our fault we can't get in! We found those two books you told us about. They both said the exact same thing: the secret entrance is supposed to be beyond the seventh suit of armor. But that hallway doesn't HAVE a seventh suit of armor! It was hard enough work just to find the hallway. It's only on the fourth floor on Thursdays, which the book didn't say anything about. Who knows where it is the rest of the time? So, we came back to you for another hint." Luna lit up her face with a smile and eyes as big as the moon as she begged the bust for help.
The goblin only sneered at her. "I knew you were too stupid to find it. This is why you can't trust witches."
"I don't think he wants to help us, Luna, maybe we should just leave him be?" Veronica suggested.
"Fine. I was hoping he'd want to get whatever treasure he thinks is there back to Gringotts more than he wanted to spite us, but I guess not. Don't you worry, Karthuk, we'll find it eventually. Even if it takes our whole time at Hogwarts! Then we'll send the treasure to the bank, and we'll take you back too, and then you'll teach us Gobbledegook properly and be our friend." She gave one last blinding smile and a wave as they all trudged out the door. They were followed by more shouts and screams and yowls from the bust.
"What a pleasant fellow." Roni said as they trudged back down the staircase.
"Eh, he's not the rudest thing we've met. You should meet the painting of the wizard who got Transfigured into a Jarvey. His wife keeps Transfiguring him back and forth, and I can't tell if he's more rude as a wizard, or as a Jarvey."
Ginny was about to reply that the wizard was definitely more rude when he was a wizard, rather than a Jarvey, when she heard footsteps behind them in the hallway. It was almost instinct, at this point, to be wary of any sudden noises while wandering around or walking between classes. She turned quickly, and her stomach knotted up at the sound that echoed around her. She'd know that laugh anywhere: Kim. The ringleader of their three favorite people in Hogwarts
"Take Roni and run." Ginny murmured to Luna. Most times when their bullies went after them, Roni knew it was happening, but there were enough people in the crowds that Ginny or Luna could take the hex or jinx by walking in to it, to ensure that Roni never got hit. But all alone in this hallway? Ginny didn't want to risk it.
Luna had paused as well and gone pale at the sound of the Ravenclaw's cackling. Roni, bless her heart, hadn't noticed anything unusual. Or at least, she hadn't until Ginny had said something. The young first year Slytherin craned her neck backwards and saw the girls turning the corner. When they saw the three girls standing there, they made a show of stopping to laugh loudly while pointing at the three of them. Roni seemed to square up against Ginny.
"Run with us! You can't beat them alone," she hissed.
"You're right." Ginny gave wan smile. "But they're also faster than us. I'll keep their attention while you two get out of here."
Ginny heard a mutter that sounded distinctly like "Stubborn Gryffindors" as her two friends fled down the hallway. She wasn't entirely sure if it was Roni or Luna who'd said it.
She rolled her shoulders and plastered a wide grin on her face. This was going to be terrible. The girls had largely been content with petty nonsense since they'd come back after the Christmas hols, at least once they'd started up again. With the increased security, this was the first time they'd found either herself or Luna alone without any Professors around since their last big fight.
Her shoulder twinged from where her scar still sat, an ugly red that glared at her every morning and every night.
As they came closer, Ginny realized it wasn't the three girls she was expecting. Kim was there of course, as was Felicity, but Olivia was missing. In her place was Marietta Edgecombe.
Ginny swore to herself, but kept her smile painted to her face, straining against the scowl that threatened to break out in its place.
Marietta was a vicious girl, more physically minded in her assault than Olivia or Kim. Ginny knew for a fact that she'd walk away with boils or pimples whenever Marietta was involved; Marietta didn't care much for insults or words. In Ginny's mind, the only redeeming thing about Marietta was that she didn't make her as uncomfortable as Felicity did. Marietta was never quite that eager, never had that same hunger in her eyes that Felicity sometimes got when Ginny or Luna took a particularly bad fall from a Tripping Jinx. Instead, the bullying seemed almost like something just to pass the time, or maybe was just a way to practice the jinxes and hexes she'd read about on a live target.
She saw Kim narrow her eyes down the hallway at the retreating forms of Luna and Roni, then whisper something to Felicity. The blonde girl started forwards, to follow Ginny's friends. Ginny tensed. She had to keep them focused on her.
"How you doing, ladies?" Her mouth opened of its own accord, words spilling out with what felt like no input from her. "Haven't seen you in a while. I've missed you, you know." She smirked then, a nasty and condescending visage overtaking her face. She recalled one of the many times Tom had taken her into his memories. He'd shown her himself sneering at one of the firsties during the year he was made Prefect, how he had shown her the importance of fear and respect, how they were intertwined. She remembered vividly how he'd also acted that way one of his first weeks in Slytherin to an older student, had shown her the danger of going off halfcocked against opponents stronger than yourself.
Her fingers clenched in her hand, making a fist to ease some of the tension as she compared herself to him. She did all she could to keep her concern and fear and her entire maelstrom of emotions contained within her fist, covered by the edge of her robes' sleeves. A difficult task considering her robes were getting a bit short on her. They may not have been hand-me-downs from her brothers, but they were still second hand and didn't fit perfectly.
"Oh look, it thinks it can talk to us." Kim giggled. Felicity huffed out a snort of laughter, while Marietta tittered along. Then her face lit up. "Oh, look at Jitters, girls! She's so excited to see us she's already shaking."
"Or maybe she's scared." sneered Felicity. "You know what she's like."
"Mm, you're right. This is Jitters that we're talking about, after all."
Ginny's eyes flicked back and forth, wary as she watched them encroach closer and closer. She almost didn't bother when Marietta started twirling her wand, as Ginny couldn't hear her saying any words or incantations to go with the spell. In Ginny's mind, there was no way a third year could possibly cast silently; it was just to intimidate her, to throw her off.
Too late, she noticed Marietta's lips moving slightly. She attempted to dodge, to jump, to move out of the way however she could, but her body was too slow, and she had noticed too late. She felt her feet trip over themselves as she'd been trying to move backwards out of the way. The spell took the path of least resistance, and her momentum kept itself steady, flinging her backwards as her legs flew up into the air.
She turned as she fell and ducked her head. Her shoulder impacted the stone with a smack, but she didn't lay long. She rolled and attempted to pull her wand out of the pockets of her robe.
Stupid, stupid, stupid of her to not have pulled it out right away. She wasn't fast enough and didn't manage to get it out before she heard the shout of another spell.
"Trahereos!"
Ginny's body was grasped, as though by invisible hands, which began to pull at her. Slowly at first, but with more intensity. Her head was pulled up from the top of her neck, her arms were pulled out to the side by her palms, and her feet pulled down by her toes. For a brief moment it felt almost pleasant, like a humongous stretch first thing in the morning.
Then the stretching continued.
It pulled and pulled, just slightly beyond what was comfortable. Not painful, not yet, but she knew it was coming soon. She kept expecting a sharp sudden jerk of pain as she was stretched beyond her limit, but it never came. She strained against her instincts to tense, tried to relax her body against the magical grip she was subjected to.
She wanted to close her eyes, to help her focus on relaxing, but knew it would only make the pain more pronounced. Instead she kept them open, to better focus on the three girls before her. Anything to keep the slowly growing uncomfortable sensation at bay, in the furthest recesses of her mind rather than at the forefront.
"Marietta!" Kim squealed. "Was that a silent jinx? I didn't know you could do that!"
"I can't. Not really. I'm working on it, see, but I'm not quite there yet. I can do a few with just a whisper now though. Don't have to shout the spells out any longer." She blushed. "But forget about that. Felicity!"
"Hm?" the girl in question asked. Her wand was held aloft, held vaguely in Ginny's direction, firm and steady in her grip.
"What is that spell? Where'd you learn it?!"
Her grin was almost feral as she responded. "It's called the Stretching Curse."
Both other girls gasped in response. "That sounds like a real curse, not that baby nonsense they taught us in first year so we could learn what a counter-curse is. The Leg-Locker Curse barely qualifies as a curse. It's more a jinx, or a hex at most."
"I know! And we aren't supposed to start on real curses until our OWL year. I mean, we aren't even supposed to start learning how to properly do counter-curses until next year. How'd you learn it?" Marietta looked begrudgingly impressed.
"My Mum bought me defense books like I asked for, for Christmas. Doubt she even looked at what was in them. This was in one of them. Talked about how you can use it to just lightly stretch somebody, but you've got complete control of the curse if you want it."
Ginny felt her body slacken and her muscles relax as the strain lessened and the pulling stopped tugging at her limbs so insistently. She watched, in morbid fascination, as Felicity explained the curse. She was so casual; this whole scene before her felt surreal, as though they were discussing nothing more surprising than the weather, while she was stretched out before them on the ground in pain.
"See, so long as you keep your arm steady, you keep a connection with the curse. You can slacken it" she turned the wand one way, and Ginny felt the pressure loosen even more, so much it almost wasn't even noticeable "or you can tighten it." She grinned again as she twisted the wand sharply in the other direction.
Ginny had refused, until that point, to let out any sounds. Not a whimper, not a peep. She refused to give them the satisfaction. But as Felicity rotated her wand, Ginny let out a sharp pained shout as her body was pulled viciously outwards. She couldn't help but close her eyes as the pain in her body threatened to overtake her. It coursed through her body and invaded her mind as slowly the only thought she had was a low keening wail of it hurts it hurts it hurts.
As quickly as it started, it stopped. Ginny laid on the ground, too afraid to pull her arms or legs inwards, in fear she might be hit with the curse again and the force of being pulled out so far might damage them. Before she had a chance to register it, she was bombarded by spell after spell after spell.
She intimately knew the feel of a Stinging Hex, so knew exactly what the three spells were that hit her face. She distantly wondered who she'd ask this time to brew the Shrinking Solution for her; she'd avoid the infirmary at all costs.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Ginny's blood ran cold at the sound. She knew that voice. Professor Snape stood over them, looming above her with a sneer upon his face. His nose too large, and his hair limp with grease, given that he was upside down and her eyes were swelled so fully she couldn't barely see, he looked like a vulture staring down at its carrion. She bit her swollen lip in an attempt to keep from laughing at the image, the pain making her delirious.
"Oh Professor! It's just awful." Kim's voice fluttered out, all sugar and sweetness. It sickened Ginny to listen to it; it disgusted her even more how many Professors fell for it.
"Is it?" Snape asked archly.
"We found her like this just lying in the middle of the floor! We were trying to figure out if it would be safe to brew her a Shrinking Solution ourselves, or if we should take her to the infirmary."
"Yes, what a difficult conundrum. Take her directly to where there are Shrinking Solutions brewed by myself, or Madame Pomfrey, and have the situation resolved in less than an hour. Or, conversely, spend at least four hours attempting to brew your own concoction without any supervision. Do remember, I have seen your lab work and graded your essays for my class. All three of you." He paused. "In case you were wondering, you should definitely have taken her to the infirmary."
Ginny couldn't help but let out a giggle, although it sounded more like a moan from the pain she still felt thrumming through her limbs and swelling on her face.
"And you, Miss Weasley, should know better than to tamper with potions without supervision." There was another pause. "You three are still here?" The soft voice sneered, an evil malicious thing which put the scorn in her tormentors' voices from earlier to shame, and Ginny heard the scampering of feet fade into the distance.
"I suppose you added protea to your Swelling Solution when attempting to brew it without my permission? Or perhaps you merely added too many dried nettles, thinking you might make it more potent? Balance is important, in the sacred art of brewing. This is why dunderheaded students shouldn't be allowed to brew outside my supervision. If I had my way, you wouldn't brew at all. If you add too many nettles, you may as well just add fennel to the solution, which as I doubt you know, would be disastrous. Pick yourself up off the floor, and get back to your Common Room, Miss Weasley. Madame Pomfrey may take pity on you, but I hope she does not, so that you might learn from your mistakes."
She heard his footsteps as he walked away, leaving her there on her own, fading slightly. He stopped short, however, to give her one last thought.
"At least now your face matches your hair, Miss Weasley."