Chapter One: Bad First Day
A/N: 4/27/2020 - What you are about to read is a thorough overhaul of a fanfiction originally published July 2006, last updated January 2007. It was, as I say in my archived Author's Notes, my first real fanfiction. In six months I wrote twenty-two chapters, but did not manage to finish the story. Tonight… I begin the process of drawing it all to a conclusion. You'll know the chapter has been updated if there's a note from 2020 at the top!
7/7/2006 - This is my first fanfiction, of course sporting my favorite Harry Potter ship: Draco/Ginny. I sadly have no idea what I'm doing with this, so please bear with me as I wing it.
"Careful, Weasley, you keep blundering like that, Potter may not be interested in you anymore!" An all too familiar voice sneered down at the redhead sprawled on the floor in the hallway. The crowd of Slytherins around them snickered, none more audible than Pansy Parkinson. The drippy girl was currently hanging all over Malfoy.
Ginny's face turned bright red. What a great way to start my first day as a sixth year, huh? Still can't get the bloody rumors to stuff themselves. She glared up at the pinched face of the prick who tripped her, brown eyes flashing dangerously. "Old news, ferret boy."
Malfoy's lip curled into his trademark sneer as he lifted one shiny, black-shod foot and brought it down hard on Ginny's bag. There was an unmistakable crunch, which seemed to satisfy him for he turned away to leave. The onlookers tittered gleefully as they trailed after him down to the dungeons. Ginny suppressed a groan and just hoped it wasn't too messy, before stuffing the dislodged supplies back in. She rushed after the group, arriving just in time for her Potions class.
Unfortunately, when it came to the Potions master, 'just in time' meant two nights of detention scrubbing school cauldrons of the grime that had been boiled on and left to rot for a few years. Such a letdown, considering she had been his best student the previous year.
She pulled out a roll of cheap parchment and dug around for her favorite quill. Charlie had brought it back from Romania especially for her. Great. That git must have it. Rolling her eyes in exasperation, she settled for the bent one squirreled away at the bottom of the bag. It was drenched in ink, along with almost everything else.
By lunch, Ginny could easily say that today had not been her best. She was disappointed to find that her preferred quill wasn't anywhere to be seen after Potions, and in addition to the ink incident, she'd realized last minute that she had forgotten her Transfiguration book. In running up to the girl's dormitory to get it, she'd left her wand on the bed, which had resulted in five more points being taken. Come Charms, she had been paired with a troublesome Slytherin boy who kept making the goblet of wine they were supposed to be turning into cheese tip itself over on her. After the seventh time drenching her lap, she'd given up hope of completely removing the stain from her gray uniform skirt.
Ginny plopped down between Hermione and Seamus, who were seated across from Harry and Ron. She reached for the bowl of salad and started loading up her plate, snapping at anyone who dared to ask why her hands were more ink than skin.
Ron and Harry exchanged perplexed looks, shrugging. It wasn't worth having their heads bitten off to find out.
After scarfing several bites, Ginny hurried out of the Great Hall in the hopes of ensuring that she had everything she needed for Arithmancy before heading off to the library. She intended to spend her free period there, working on the three-foot essay Snape had assigned on Billywig stings. When the staircase she was on gave a great lurch and began to move, she let out a frustrated growl. Her irritation mounted as she waited for it to creak its way back to the landing she needed, whereupon she was ambushed by Peeves. He was busily spraying first years with icy water, then dumping flour on their heads by the sackful. She ducked one, only to receive a direct blow to the head by another she hadn't noticed. Grumbing, she stomped up to the portrait of the Fat Lady, and bit out the password (Dancing Dungbombs) before clambering through. A pair of second years nearly fell out of their seats when they saw her, but Ginny took no notice. Just what she hadn't wanted, to waste her precious free period on taking a shower.
Later, when everyone had finished their dinner, Dumbledore rose and announced that he wished to see all prefects in the adjoining chamber. Oh bugger, well that explains why everyone's been so sodding rude today, Ginny thought sourly as she realized she'd neglected to pin her badge on that morning. As Head Girl and another of Gryffindor's prefects, Hermione and Ron stood up with her. Together, they had to fight against the swarm of students headed in the opposite direction, eager for bed. Ginny felt like collapsing in bed herself, but managed to rally with the reassurance that it was just one little meeting.
Once inside, Ginny looked around to see if there was anyone she knew. Colin, Hermione and Ron were from Gryffindor of course, and she was good friends with both Luna and Terry Boot from Ravenclaw. She also recognized a couple of sixth year Hufflepuffs from Herbology. The rest were students she didn't recognize, save for one steel-eyed, puffed-up ponce she was not too keen on seeing.
Bloody git.. Can't imagine why they'd want him for Head Boy, Ginny thought to herself spitefully. Malfoy caught her glaring at him and smirked, eyebrows raised. Shooting him one last look to kill, she turned her attention to Dumbledore, who was passing out assignment sheets. Ginny glanced down at hers and was glad to see that her first patrol wasn't until Wednesday, leaving her two glorious nights to catch up on her rest.
Back in the common room, Ginny threaded her way between the armchairs and sofas scattered about the room, heading for the stairs to the girl's dormitory. Hurriedly, she got ready for bed before collapsing onto the duvet, falling almost immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep.
A/N: 2006 - Sorry for the lack of dialogue and whatnot..again..first attempt. I promise to try to make it more interesting! Please R&R!
2020 - Wow that was super painful. So many run-on sentences to break apart, hackneyed phrases to replace… To be fair, I was only thirteen when I started this!