REVISED!

Chapter 2

I stood in front of the barrier to Platform 9 and ¾ dreading the moment I'll have to walk through it. I knew what would be before me when I step through; tears, red eyes, people wanting to comfort and wanted to be comforted. I didn't want to face any of that. I just wanted to be locked in my room again.

"Ginny, lets go." Mum's voice broke through my reverie. She stood by the barrier, waiting for me to go through. I could see how hard this was on her. The pain was etched on her face. But she had to be here for her youngest child. She had to be here for me.

I stood staring at the barrier for another moment and finally walked up to it. When no one was watching I slowly slid through the barrier and onto Platform 9 and ¾.

Before I stepped onto the Platform, I expected tears and pain. When I stood on the Platform, it was different that what I expected. No one was bawling, no one was wailing, no one rushed up to me. A few of the parents to rush to my mom and a few patted me on the back, but no one rushed up to me specifically.

The Platform use to be a happy and loud place, whether it was going away with your friends or coming home to your family. Now it was quiet and sullen. There weren't any loud bursts of laughter. No one shouting hello to a friend on the other side. No one was hanging out the windows kissing their parents goodbye.

I saw cliques of friends talking in low voices. I saw people glancing my way when they thought I wasn't looking. I saw pain in almost everyone's faces. I saw Lavender Brown. I hadn't seen Lavender since the funeral and she was a mess there. Hermione wasn't even taking it that hard, well at least not on the outside. On the Platform she was the only one that was openly crying. It wasn't loud crying, but just silent tears rolling down her cheeks. I saw her friends surrounding her, putting their arms around her, comforting her.

I turned away from that group and saw Luna Lovegood. She was sitting on a bench by herself, hugging her newspaper to her chest. I knew that she had grown attached to Ron the years that she knew him. No one knew about it but me. She didn't even know that I knew about it. It was obvious if you really watched her. Luna also had tears in her eyes but every time they escaped her eyes she quickly wiped them away so that no one would know she was crying. I was suddenly overcome with sadness and wanted to go over there and comfort her. But I didn't, I couldn't.

Again I turned away from the tears.

"Ginny, I have to go." I turned around and saw my mum with tears flowing from her eyes. "I thought I could handle this, but I can't. I'm sorry. Have a nice school year honey, and don't forget to write."

I nodded, understanding her pain. I knew she wouldn't be able to last. I wondered why she even came. I hugged my mum and we stood there for a few moments, not wanting to let go of each other.

"I love you mum," I whispered in her ear before I let go. She smiled at me and kissing me on the cheek before she walked away.

I stared at my mum's retreating back before I too turned away and started walking toward the train, pushing my cart with me. I half-expected people to come up to me and console me, but they didn't. I was half glad of that. I lugged my trunk onto the train and started searching for an empty compartment. I wasn't going to share a compartment, I was determined of that.

I finally found a compartment at the end of the train. I pushed my trunk into the compartment and started struggling to put it above the seats. Having done nothing but sit in my room and flip through magazines and other various books, I was quite weak. Just when I started considering leaving the trunk on the ground, I felt the end lift up. With this extra help, I managed to get the trunk in the section above the seats. I turned around to see who my helper was.

I almost laughed out loud with the irony of it all. Who else would be my helper except the very person I didn't want to see or talk to. Who else but Harry Potter?

We stood staring at each other for a few minutes. Actually it was me glaring at him and him staring at me with big puppy dog eyes. I wasn't going to break the silence. I was going to stare at him with this death glare. I was just praying looks could kill.

"Ginny, I-" Harry started off, but I wasn't going to let him talk.

"Get out of my compartment," I said coldly, narrowing my eyes and crossing my arms.

"But I-" Harry started again.

"I don't want to talk you, so get out. Now," I said again, turning away from him.

"Why won't you talk to me?" Harry asked quickly, worrying I was going to cut him off again. I ignored him, praying he was going to go away.

Harry didn't talk again but I could still feel his presence in the room. I heard him sigh and open the compartment door.

"I'm sorry Ginny, I really am. I'm sorry," Harry said, stepping out of the compartment and closing the door.

After a few moments of silence, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes again. I lay down across the seats and the tears started to flow.

Was I going to lose everyone I loved? Was I going to have no friends by time I reached Hogwarts? I had lost Ron, Hermione hated me, I hated Harry, and I kept pushing everyone away. Why? Was I really as strong as I thought I was or was it something else?

I could still feel the tears rolling down my cheeks. They weren't stopping, they weren't slowing down. Where were these coming from? I never cry, never.

Before Hermione came to my house, the last time I cried was Ron's funeral at the beginning of the summer. I couldn't help but cry, then. Everyone else was crying. I barely cried when it happened but at the funeral it was different. But when I saw his body lying in the casket, it just hit me. It was final.

Like a sledgehammer in the stomach, I had realized that my brother was dead. My favorite brother was dead. The brother that would bring me knick-knacks from Hogwarts. The one that would tell me all the little tricks to get me through school. The brother that told me all about the adventures he had, the ones that I didn't go one. He was the brother that stood up for me in my second year, the one that was willing to go down in the Chamber of Secrets for me. He didn't care if he met the snake; he would go down there no matter what, just for me. Fred and George didn't do that.

I curled up in a ball, tears still rolling down my cheeks. Memories rushed back to me as I tried to fight them all. Slowly, with the hum of the engine beneath me and the faint rocking of the train, I fell asleep with memories flashing in mind.

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I awoke from my slumber with loud voices in the halls and clamoring outside. As I slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, I was mildly surprised that no one had joined me in my compartment. Knowing that my hair was a disaster, I took a hair band from my wrist and put my hair up. I quickly pulled on my trunk to get it down so I could get my robes. I was running late and started to become frantic. This was not a good way to start the school year.

I pulled on my trunk one last time and it came tumbling down. I quickly jumped out of the way of its weight, emitting a scream as it crashed to the floor and burst open.

"This is just not my day," I muttered as I quickly flipped the trunk right side up and started throwing clothes in it. I finally found my robes near the bottom of the trunk. I quickly pulled them on over top the clothes I had on. I didn't have time to change into my uniform.

I heard the door slid open as I started squishing all my clothes in the trunk to make them fit. I looked up and saw Draco Malfoy staring at me with a surprise expression. It quickly turned to a sneer.

"Having trouble?" He snickered as he watched me struggle with closing my trunk. I was kind of surprised that he spoke to me like that. I had expected everyone to be nice to me and sensitive, but here was Draco Malfoy acting no different to me than the first day he had first met me. It was kind of a relief that someone was going to treat me normal.

"No, actually, I'm doing just fine. Thanks though," I said breezily, snapping my trunk close.

"What's going on here?" The lady that pushed the snack cart asked, walking up to the door.

"My trunk burst open," I explained.

"Well what are you standing here for, young man?" she asked Draco. "Help the young lady get her trunk with all the other baggage."

Draco rolled his eyes but bent over and lifted one end of the trunk. I lifted the other. With the help of Draco, we got my trunk with all the other baggage in no time. The platform was empty, save for one carriage, and it was being held open by Crabbe. Inwardly, I groaned. Draco moved swiftly toward the carriage. Quickly I weighed my choices; ride the carriage with a bunch of Slytherins, walk up to the castle, or stay here till the end of the year. I seriously considered walking up to the castle, but then I remembered that it would be a very long walk.

I quickly ran over to the carriage before Crabbe could close it. I held the door open as I looked inside the carriage. Inside sat Draco, his henchmen, Crabbe and Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson. I smiled weakly as they gave me a look of disgust, or at least that's what Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle gave me. I'm not quite sure what Draco's look was. It looked a lot like mild surprise. I quickly squeezed in beside Draco, closing the door. I didn't trust Crabbe and Goyle enough not to strangle me if I sat by them and I'm pretty sure Pansy would hex me just for being me if I sat next to her. Draco had least had some sort of self control. At least I hoped so.

I moved as far away as possible from Draco and the other passengers as the carriage started moving.

Right now the only thing that made me just a little bit happy was that I knew at least one group of people weren't going to be running up to me to give me a big hug. That's what I wanted, wasn't it? Just to be treated normal? I didn't want the comfort or the hugs of people. I just wanted to be treated normally and not different because my brother had died. At least some people understood that.