Year 2 || -1993-
"Lucretia, aren't you a beauty. You could've been so much more if it weren't for me. Don't forget child. Never forget your roots."
"Are they mad? They must have gone off the rails! Dementors of all things! Just wait until my father hears about this one! Gordon Bennett, what were those blooming berks thinking!?"
Ginny was shivering, pressing herself between Hester and Draco, who was ranting about the Dementors that boarded the train moments ago.
"Enough Draco!" Flora snapped from where she was in front of Ginny. Instantly he quieted down,
"Are you okay Ginny?" It was quiet, everyone worrying about the girl who hadn't said a word since the new defense teacher warded the Dementor away.
"They show your darkest moments," Ginny said quietly as she looked up, "So why can't I remember mine, and why was a man I don't know in it? Speaking to me?"
They were in their usual compartment, in their pajamas, snacks all around them. No one could laugh, because no one understood what had happened, and no one could make her feel better.
"Percy?" Ginny was standing next to the Gryffindor table, enduring glares for one sole reason. "Congratulations on getting head-boy this year. That must be a honor I can't imagine." she smiled hesitantly at Percy who looked just as shocked as she felt. Slowly he smiled back at her,
"You'll get there one day, just remember that you need to do whatever you have to to accomplish your dream Gin, shouldn't be too hard with your ambition." They shared one last smile before they parted ways. They didn't talk until the end of term.
Ginny excelled at Potions. Of course the Gryffindors thought it was favoritism, but once again she had the best grades in her year. One person dared to call her a know-it-all, a Ravenclaw that she had upstaged. He was withering on the floor in potions due to the effects of a bat-bogey hex while she continued to work on her potion.
As the Slytherins snickered, Ginny could've sworn she saw professor Snape's lips twitch into a smile before assigning a detention and deducting ten points for class disruption.
She found a dog at Hogsmeade. She wasn't supposed to go but Draco mentioned her being able to get out, said Pansy heard it off of her twin brothers. She went and laughed as a 'ghost' tormented Draco before she pulled him away smiling.
"Even if we could afford it, I don't think I like the fact that ghosts are attacking my friends, especially since they are acting like minging gits." she said loudly as Harry appeared underneath his cloak. They went to Honeydukes and Zonkos, but then she saw this large black shaggy dog as a man yelled about a Grim. Pansy and Blaise helped her sneak him down to the entrance in Honeydukes while Draco distracted the owner of the shop. They named him Titus.
She stayed with Draco for Christmas. They left Titus in the Slytherin Common room, knowing he'd be safe to roam. Ginny told Hester about her Dementor-induced memory earlier on the train, so Hester naturally told the compartment. Now she stood next to Draco and Pansy outside of Draco's fathers' study. She had a feeling she might not like the outcome.
She might not be a Weasley. That would explain why she was the only girl, why the memory was someone she didn't know or didn't remember, why she was a Slytherin instead of a Gryffindor. She didn't want to be different anymore, surely thus was all a lie. She was a Weasley, she had to be!
The return to the castle was a quiet affair as the compartment went about their usual routine of sleeping. Ginny felt no energy to talk, or even think, all she wanted to do was go home and demand the truth. But... if it was all true...
Was the Burrow even her home anymore?
Sirius Black has been seen inside the castle. Everyone slept in the Great Hall, and she made sure that she could see her brothers from the circle that formed around her so naturally. She noticed that Fred and George would look over in her direction every so often, and they noticed her too. They fell asleep knowing that nothing still changed. This time that made the year a little easier.
Left, duck, dodge a buldger, pass, circle around, catch and dip, and shoot!
"Alright everyone come on down!" Flint waited for everyone to dismount their brooms before he continued, "Malfoy we're keeping you as Seeker, Pucey is keeping his position as chaser, Yaxley and Westley will be our beaters. Now Urquart i'm giving you a chance, don't blow it keeper. Weasley, You're the last chaser."
Instantly sounds of protests made themselves present, until Snape glared at everyone from behind Flint's back. "Dismissed."
She says hi to a few older Slytherins as she walks the halls every day. Sometimes they nod, other times they say hi, but they always respond in either form. Perhaps that was why when one day she said hi to Adrian Pucey, she was so startled -er well confused would be a better term- that his response would be a wink. Unsure weather it were a friendly wink or something more she brushed it off. That is until she noticed him do it every time he saw her.
"He must like you!" commented a Fourth year that she could not remember the name of.
"That's ridiculous, he's just being polite!" Ginny exclaimed with a blush that kept getting redder and redder.
"That doesn't mean you don't want him to like you." remarked fifth year Julia Fawcett as she leaned over so the three girls could have some privacy in the bustling common room. At that moment Adrian walked in and did a sweep of the room. When his eyes met Ginny's he gave a lopsided smile and threw her a wink, not unnoticed by the older girls, before walking over to Marcus and the quidditch beaters.
"Well, one things for sure," Julia started. "If you don't bag him quick Emmy and I might just have to have a go."
As Ginny groaned loudly and dropped her head on the table in front of her, she heard the girls burst into giggles. What concerned her even more was the deep laugh coming from the other side of the room. Lifting her head, she saw Adrian was now chuckling at her with a smirk on his face. Ginny hid her warm cheeks with her Charms book, Why was it always her making a fool of herself?
Titus went missing for a while before she managed to track him down. He was howling at the Whomping Willow during a full moon one night, she had to pull him away before they both got caught. When Flint catches her coming in through the common room, he asks why she's still awake when it's well past midnight. She doesn't know how to tell him that she can't sleep.
She makes an excuse and goes to Draco's dorm to drop off Titus when she decides that tomorrow, she'll tell them that she's having nightmares tomorrow. She doesn't see either of the elder Slytherins the next day, and the day after she chickens out. She doesn't want anyone to know she still dreams of being possessed by Tom.
Ron was attacked. Sirius Black was over his bed with a knife. Ginny went to make sure he was alright, but Ron wouldn't have any of it.
"Go away you slimy snake, for all I know you let him in to begin with!"
The whole hall heard, the teachers didn't do anything about it until Professor Snape gives Ron a detention, and Ginny knew that they were suspicious of her house too. She slowly walked back to her spot at the breakfast table as Draco and Blaise glared at Ron. He was always thickheaded if she really thought about it.
She walks up to Marcus Flint after breakfast one day and asks for a word concerning a personal matter. It's what every Slytherin is to say when not in the common room, as so no secrets are spilt past the walls. Marcus said goodbye to Yaxley and led Ginny to the common room where she explained her nightly troubles. Marcus listened intently, making sure he had everything right before- "Now i'm glad you came to me about this but I think this is slightly above us Ginny, We might need to go to Professor Snape or Madam Pomfrey about this." Ginny nodded, expecting for him to have to report her Nightmares
When he escorted her to Professor Snape, he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She quickly explained everything, just as she did with Marcus before Professor Snape dismissed Marcus and took her to the Infirmary Wing. She stayed there for the day before she was allowed to go back to her dorm with the order to come back if the nightmares continue. She didn't speak up a week later when the nightmares came back worst than they had been before.
If she really was a slimy snake then it must be true, she couldn't be a Weasley. Now as she thought about what she would rather be, being a Snake was a lot better when the house was misunderstood and-
She was making excuses. The dog was an animagus. The dog was Sirius Black. Sirius Black was innocent but that didn't matter. She brought Titus into the castle. She brought Sirius Black into the castle. Ron was right about her.
Slytherin Lost the house cup, but won the Quidditch cup. Ginny didn't complain or cheer, and that worried Hester and the twins. They noticed her absence during the night, they noticed the bags that grew heavier with each night that passed, they even took her to the hospital wing. She stayed there for the rest of the week until the train came to pick the students up.
Molly freaks out when she hears that Ginny was the one to let Sirius in.
"It doesn't matter if he is innocent, your brother could have been killed! He was a madman for all we knew and you let him in! What on earth possessed you to let a dog, a strange one looking like a grim no less, into the castle!?"
Ginny didn't answer.
"Molly!" Her father cried out in alarm.
Ginny wanted to cry, tears were pooling and her mother was looking at her in horror. She could see her brothers at the table looking around at each other in shock. Ginny let out a sob and turned on her heel, she needed to get out. She ran past the Lovegood's, past the Diggory's, and even past the Fawcett's before she even begun to realize how far she had actually gone.
Her legs ached as she pushed them to go faster, her mind raced, and her breath was uncontrolled. When she finally collapsed, she is in a field outside the opposite side of Ottery St Catchpole, just a little way from Longbottom Manor. That was where she stayed, laying in the dirt as she stared unseeingly into the sky.
That is where Neville finds her the next morning, just as the sun is beginning to rise. He doesn't question her or make her get up, he just sits and waits until her sobs that haven't stopped quiet into hiccups. Then he holds her in a hug until the hiccups become lost and small, quiet sniffles take their place. When she finally is silent, he asks if she's ready to go back. It's noon and she shakes her head so he just nods politely and waits. When they finally do return to Longbottom Manor, it's nearly ten in the evening and Neville's grandmother refuses to let her go home that night.
Maybe it's Ginny's red eyes and tear stains, or Neville's Angry expression but Ginny smiles shakily and follows her to the room she and Luna shared on their younger sleepovers. She falls asleep wondering why those sleepovers ever stopped.
"We should have never taken you in, Blacks were always bad blood!"
She was a Black. A direct one, not one who married into the family like Lucretia black did. Her father was a full Black.. So who was he and why wasn't he taking care of her?
That summer she hung out with Hester at the burrow. Molly was reluctant, but Arthur seemed to understand that she needed to see her friends. They talked, fantasizing about their dream homes, and stayed up all night doing the others hairs.
For once Ginny felt normal, and it didn't stop when a funeral came crashing through. Ginny and Hester got dresses brand new, and though she felt guilty, Ginny didn't feel an ounce of sadness for the newly deceased couple. Instead she and Hester sought out Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Cedric Diggory.
The group chatted and joked until it was time to go home, and afterwards they sent owls frequently. Cedric became an honorary Slytherin when he tripped someone to avoid Hester's questions about him and Cho Chang.
Another update! Are you excited? This is honestly going so much better than i had planed xD
Q&A:
IWishUCouldGoAway: Thank you love! I appreciate your comment and I hope you love this chapter!