A few weeks later, Ginny was finally finding herself in the swing of things. She spent most of her time around Septimus. Tom was usually hanging about somewhere, but he was a hard person to keep track of especially when he wished to be alone. She enjoyed Septimus' company quite a bit though. He seemed to go out of his way to be around her to keep her entertained. Dolohov's dislike for her seemed to have grown into a fervent hatred not that she really minded that. He didn't actively seek out her company which was definitely fine by her.
When she had earned the seeker position on the Slytherin Quidditch team, Septimus had used some of his shadier contacts to smuggle in quite a bit of firewhiskey and they all had quite a big hurrah for the three newest Slytherin quidditch players. The Quidditch team was lively enough. She had learned at the tryout that Dolohov was a beater on the Slytherin team, but she figured she could avoid bludgers well enough since he sure as hell didn't act like he would go out of his way to protect her from one. She had caught the snitch cleanly in her first practice, but the second it had taken a couple hours and she could tell how irritated Tom was by the end. The two other chasers who had been chosen were best friends, two fourth years who were quite determined to show Tom that they could if not match his skill with a quaffle, compliment it.
Though she had endured the jeers at the beginning of try-outs, she showed quickly that just because she was a girl didn't mean she didn't belong out on the pitch. She had always had a rather physical way of playing quidditch, one had to hold their own with six brothers around. Septimus however was gradually learning that the hard way as they practiced more together, him helping her practice going after the snitch with coverage from someone bigger and stronger than her.
On this particular day, quidditch practice had just let out. Tom and Dolohov sat in the stands just watching them. Tom had a calculating look on his face while Dolohov just scoffed at her style for the most part. Professor Slughorn had gotten her a rather nice broom, a cannon of course, but very, very high end for these times. Ginny had proceeded to add a few charms to the wood to make it a bit faster than it had been.
"Oi Anton, didn't you say she was too small to play Slytherin quidditch," Septimus asked, whirling around and watching Ginny speed off towards a golden fleck in the distance after dealing a pretty harsh slam to his side. "I'm getting my arse kicked up here, little help?"
"Stop being such a bloody pansy," Dolohov suggested sourly.
"Very eloquent my friend, very eloquent," Septimus nodded. Ginny whirled around catching the snitch in her small palm and flying it back to hand it to Tom with a bow.
"You pick things up quickly," he told her, no hint of compliment or even reproach.
"Septimus here's taught me a few things," she said as she landed on the stands and dismounted the new broom. Septimus smirked doing a loop in the air before following her lead and setting his broom aside. While they were both still in their practice quidditch robes, black with Slytherin scarves, Tom and Dolohov were both in simple school robes as they had changed after practice and stowed away their brooms.
"Like... Expelliarmus!" Septimus said, turning to her with his wand pointed directly at her. Her wand went shooting from her pocket and she went flying back into Tom from the force of the spell, who caught her and then grabbed her wand out of the air pointing it at Septimus.
"Touche, my lord," Septimus laughed with a deep bow. Ginny grabbed her wand from Tom and then jumped up a few rows, wand flickering between Tom and Septimus with joking vigilance. Septimus lunged for her and she found herself grabbed around the middle and hefted up into the air. She tried to turn her wand on him but Septimus disarmed her in one smooth wrist motion. Septimus set her on her feet a moment later and she snatched her wand back from him again, chuckling lightly and sitting down a few rows above where Tom and Dolohov sat. She leaned back and looked up at the clouds a small smile coming to her face. She looked out over the pitch as Septimus sat beside her. The grass bent with the wind, rippling as if it were water on the surface of the lake.
Ginny frowned as she saw someone walking onto the pitch on the other side. She sat up as she recognized the red scarves on black robes and Septimus' eyes followed hers, smile fading and eyed darkening considerably. He stood and jumped the few steps down to stand in front of Tom. "My lord?" Septimus muttered. Ginny looked down at Tom, eyes keen on the dark flashes that shot through his eyes. He inclined his head in what seemed like consent. Dolohov grabbed Ginny's broom and Septimus picked up his own. Ginny stood quickly as they took off in the direction of what looked like half of the Gryffindor quidditch team.
"Tom? Tom what are they doing?" she demanded. Tom remained silent. "I thought you of all people would be more mature than... than this. You're supposed to be Head Boy," she growled at him, turning and running off. She took the stairs two at a time on her way down the the ground at a full sprint. She saw wands out and tore across the pitch, drawing her own. She shouted a spell, and slowed holding her wand with both hands as a bright white light broke from her wand, shooting directly to the ground between Septimus and the advancing Felton Potter. A large purple dome-like shape grew from the spot the white light hit, forming a huge barrier that hit both Felton and Septimus sending them flying. Both landed on the backs, leaving about ten meters between them.
"Stop it... stop it right this instant!" she ordered.
"Gin, stay out of this," Septimus and Felton said at the exact moment.
"Shut it Potter. She's no business of yours," Dolohov snapped, walking to her and stepping in front of her solidly. Okay, that had surprised her. She stared at the back of his head unable to speak due to simple shock. Since when did Dolohov care to protect her, to act as if she was one of his own... was she? Did that mean she really was a Slytherin? Did that mean she was, if not his friend, his comrade?
"Antonin..." she muttered in confusion after a moment.
"Think she'll fall in with the rest of you do you? Just wait until she sees what you truly are, what you do!" Felton spat at Septimus. Ginny's blood ran cold as Septimus raised his wand to the now unarmed, and scrawnier form that was Felton Potter, the weapon pointed directly between his eyes.
The girl pushed Dolohov aside and ran at Septimus, tackling him to the ground, her wand completely forgotten as she simply reacted. He grabbed her roughly and moved quickly, pinning her by the shoulders beneath him. His heavy weight kept her from moving, not that she would try it now, when her friend looked so fiercely upon her. His eyes were terrifying, dark grey pools as piercing as his future nephews would become. She couldn't help the shudder that went through her, unsure what it was... fear perhaps?
"What are you doing?" he snapped. Her mind set a quick simple excuse coming to her mind.
"I'm keeping your stupid arse from getting expelled Septimus Prince," she snapped, pushing his chest hard, not that it moved him. "Can we just go, please?" she asked, using the most irritated-sounding voice she could muster.
Septimus, whose wand had not left his hand, stood quickly, pulling her up with him by her wrist. She lifted her shaking hand and touched it to her forehead, bringing it back to see blood on her fingers. She must have hit her head on something or other. It was only a small cut however.
"Antonin," Septimus gritted out, jerking his head as he took a firmer grip on Ginny's small wrist, pulling her after their other companion.
"Next time, tell Riddle to come himself rather than sending you to do his dirty work. I thought the Prince were supposed to be one of the noble families of the wizarding world," Felton called after him. Ginny felt Septimus stiffen, but he kept walking. Ginny watched his face and it seemed that it actually hurt him to do so. Because she asked... He kept walking because she had asked him if they could leave.
"Where'd Tom go?" Ginny muttered.
"Antonin?" Septimus said.
"Right, I'll go find him. He probably headed back to the castle," Dolohov said. Septimus pulled her along behind him, leading her down a few flights of stairs until they were what she guessed as in a room directly beneath the pitch. He pushed her in the direction of a chair which she sat in obediently. He placed her wand on the table beside her. She could only wonder how he had gotten a hold of it this time, but this was nothing like their playful fighting before. He was a Slytherin to the core. She knew that.
"Gin, you don't understand what is going on do you?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper as he paced back and forth. "We... we are on the eve of a revolution, one that..." he trailed off, and looked around the room, grabbing a chair not far from hers. He pulled it very close and stared at her for a few moments. His knees bumping the outsides of hers as his face hovered maybe a couple feet from hers through the darkness.
"Grindelwald is at the height of his power and Tom..."
"Tom isn't allied to him is he?" Ginny asked, not expecting something like that.
"No, Gin, but..." he trailed off, as if he couldn't find the words. "Merlin, you're so like a child," he muttered, his eyes softening as he ran a shaking hand through his hair. "How you were ever placed in Slytherin, I could not tell," he whispered. Her shoulders stiffened and she clasped them in front of her. She knew that she was and had always been a Gryffindor to the core. She had learned though... learned that sometimes Slytherin was the only way. Maneuvering was a part of it all. Lies were a necessity of life. She came to understand it all the more time she spent in this time that could be so much more innocent and yet sometimes just as dark as her own. She bent her head.
"Tell me..." he whispered, in an unfamiliar tone. "Tell me what it is that makes you so... so accepting. You were nearly killed by muggles but somehow you find good in them."
Ginny looked up at him slowly, tears forming in her eyes. She had not expected such a question from Septimus. He never spoke of muggles or muggleborns. She had almost thought him neutral on the subject, but then Tom was the closest thing to a best friend he had... he even called him 'my lord' and she could tell that from him it wasn't in jest though it seemed a joke for many of the other Slytherins. She stared at him for a long moment, but found his gaze unwavering.
"Everyone... everyone has good in them. No matter whether they were blessed with all we have or not," she whispered, reaching slowly and picking up her wand, placing it across her lap. "Are we so much better because we have this," she said, waving her wand from the opposite end as if it were a mere trinket. "Are we better simply because we can feel the true magic of everything around us in the trees and the earth. We were born to something that is greater than us, but can't you just begin to think that it is our ability to see through their eyes that makes us truly human? They bleed just as we do. They love, they live, and they lose just as we do."
Septimus stood quickly, his chair falling back. She thought for a moment he was going to yell at her, curse her, but she noticed the slight shaking of his hand and the pained expression in his eyes before he started pacing the room, as if it would help him to work his mind around everything. He seemed angry, confused, and sad all at the same time. She read it all clearly as if she had known him her whole life.
"Septimus," she whispered. "I'm not afraid of them anymore. I have no family anymore. They're all gone, dead and lost to me forever, but I can live on for them can't I? I can try to make it right. I just want to live Septimus. I just want to live and be remembered," Ginny said. "And not as some... failure, not as someone who couldn't do enough, who failed. I want to be that person that made the world a little bit better."
Septimus stopped pacing and turned to look at her. She didn't look up at his face as he walked to her, tears tracking down her cheeks. She watched him kneel, but kept her eyes on his feet too afraid to look up, that he might read in her face all the pain that she shouldn't have experienced in her life as an orphan. Suddenly she gasped as she was pulled from her chair, and her face met with a soft fabric, the scent of dirt, grass, and potions ingredients invading her senses as a pair of arms held her tightly. She felt overwhelmed as sobs took her. "I'll remember you, Gin Wesley. I promise you that." She let her own arms go around him and gripped tightly to the back of his robes when she heard those words, so close to something one of her friends might have said to her.
Septimus Prince was her friend. No matter that she wasn't supposed to be here, wasn't supposed to have lived in this time, she had created a bond with this person, this one person that would not break. Tom Riddle or not, she would not be forgotten, because he was there and he had promised her. She relaxed into his strong embrace, just letting herself cry for once not crying alone, not facing the pain alone. She felt so small, so insignificant, but at the same time, so important... at least to him, her friend.