Chapter 9 – The Return of Saint Potter

A week after the kidnap of Arthur Weasley, Harry Potter returned to Hogwarts. He had completed his search for another Horcrux, destroying it in the process. All that was left was the bit of soul left in Lord Voldemort to destroy, and then the wizarding world would be free from his rage and terror.

Harry walked into the great hall that morning, after having apparated into Hogsmeade. Every head turned to stare at him as he walked over to his table.

Ron and Hermione looked up at him and gave him faint smiles. Ginny just stared into her plate of eggs and kippers. Across the hall, Draco sat, blinking in disbelief. He had not thought the boy would return, especially not so soon. He did not know what Harry had set out to do in his absence from school, but he knew that it had had something to do with the Dark Lord, which of course would have been quite dangerous for Harry to be off alone.

The trio whispered amongst them as Harry received stares from the surrounding tables, including the one with the staff members.

Taking his seat next to his friends, Harry quietly told of his findings to Ron and Hermione. He told them he had found the locket, but that he would explain later. There were too many people around..

Ginny sat idly, listening to Harry converse with her brother and friend, but silently wishing she could go back to the common room and curl up by the fireplace. Either that or hide behind a pile of homework in the library. Either would suffice.

The remainder of breakfast was spent filling Harry in on what had happened while he had been absent. Ron told him of his father's kidnapping, and of finding Ginny in Malfoy's embrace that same night. The first telling brought shock and anger into Harry's eyes, the second brought only discomfort.

Harry was more than aware that Ginny had grown up and was capable of making her own mature decisions. It had taken him all summer to realize that no matter what he said to Ginny, she would always do what she wanted, not what he thought was best for her. This made it obvious to Harry that they just were not meant to be.

At this point, he was proud of her for making a choice, despite the fact that it was Malfoy. However, he was a tad bit jealous that she was spending time with the Slytherin boy instead of with the Dream Team. They had always been a group, and it was only now becoming clear that even though their group was like a small family, the family members were sometimes in need of a vacation, to be independent, and to do things on their own.

After breakfast, the students made their way to the morning classes, not paying attention to their teachers. They were all, Gryffindor and the other houses, eager to hear of Harry's trip and what he had done during his absence from the school. For the most part, he stayed quiet, not telling anyone anything, unless their names were Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

By lunchtime, Harry had been to Headmistress McGonagall's office, and had discussed with her, and key members of the Order, exactly what had happened to him, and not just the basic story he had revealed to his close friends.

Dinnertime came around and Ginny had decided to work in the library, instead of staying in the common room or eating in the hall. She had known all along that she would end up there, as was her daily routine ever since that first time with Draco Malfoy. However, for the past week, since her father's kidnap, she had stayed clear of the library, not wanting to spend time with anyone, not even the boy who had comforted her when she had needed a friend.

She sat down at the usual table, and began going through her homework, just for show. Every few minutes she would look up, expecting the blond-haired boy to walk through the library doors towards their table.

He never came.

Ginny wondered what might be the problem, but never stopped to think of that day she had gone back to her common room after the meeting with the headmistress instead of going to the library to meet Draco. Had she thought of that, she would know exactly why the boy who occupied her thoughts so much was nowhere near the fourth floor of the castle.

In truth, Draco had no reason to be upset; he was merely overreacting as people often do. He had jumped to conclusions, instead of stopping to think of exactly why Ginevra had not been able to meet him in the library, and why she had not surfaced all week. Now, Ginny was doing the same thing; she was starting to assume the worst, that maybe Draco knew something she did not, and was trying to avoid her. That maybe he was starting to think that spending time with the littlest Weasley was not such a good thing after all.

Draco felt betrayed. People had always been somewhere when they said they would be, and that was just the way life worked for him. Despite the way people treated him this year, he had at least counted on Ginny to be reliable. That is what she had been to him since the start of the term. She was reliable and friendly; ever the good-hearted Gryffindor that she was supposed to be. All that had changed, however, when she had not shown up in the library for a whole week.

He had always had distaste for anything Gryffindor, but since Ginny had made her first appearance in his life this year, he knew that not all Gryffindors were bad, just like he was living proof that not all Slytherins were bad, either. This was starting to slip his mind, just as the house prejudices were creeping back into Ginny's, too.

Ginny waited in the library until its closing time. She collected her things, and marched back to her common room, with her head held high.

Humph, she though indignantly, That Malfoy has not changed as much I thought. He's just the same prat he's always been, just paler and more nervous.

She continued thinking along those lines as she finished her walk and entered the Gryffindor common room. She walked right past Harry and Hermione, and past Ron who was playing a game of Wizard's Chess with Dean Thomas. She stalked past Neville Longbottom who was doing Herbology homework in front of the fire, and headed straight for the sixth year dormitories.

Ginny threw her book bag on her bed and closed the curtains around her, and with a flick and swish and a silencing spell later, she was now left with the comfort of her own presence.

She cried into her pillow, all the while not knowing why Draco's absence had such an effect on her. She had not even realized that they had gone from being acquaintances to friends in such a short time, and were on the way to becoming closer than that, but were now at a roadblock due to each of their misconceptions of the other.

She spent the night crying herself to sleep, as she had done all week.