Chapter 7

"It's not fair," I cried as Anna slowly rubbed my back in a soothing, circular motion. Anna sat on my bed in the dorm while I was lying in her lap, bawling my eyes out. I wiped my nose as a fresh tears started to roll out down my cheeks again.

Anna stayed quiet and continued to rub circles on my back. I didn't know if it was because she didn't know what to say or because she wanted to let me talk incase I decided to become mute the next day. I didn't really care, I just appreciated the silence.

"What's her problem anyways?" I questioned to the silent Anna. "She's a Slytherin, but that doesn't mean she has to be so inconsiderate." I saw Anna nod slowly out of the corner of my eye. "Ok, true I should've expected it out of her," I contradicted myself. "I guess I was just expecting everyone to be really sympathetic and careful about what they say. I was even expecting it out of the Slytherins but I guess I was wrong. I should've expected it. I'm so stupid."

"You're not stupid Ginny," Anna said, quietly.

"Wow, she talks," I said sarcastically.

"Ginny, I'm trying to be your friend here. Stop being so mean," Anna said, taking her hand off of my back.

"I'm sorry." I really meant it this time. I was truly sorry for the way I had treated her. She is my friend; the only friend that understands me. I had just poured my soul out to her and she understood and this is the way I treat her? I really need to work on my people skills.

"It's ok, but you need to try and be nicer. The people that care about you are trying to help you but you keep pushing them away. It hurts Ginny," Anna said. This time it was my turn to remain silent.

After another minutes of lying down on Anna's lap, I finally sat up. We had both missed DADA and we could hear students downstairs being as loud and boisterous as ever.

"I'm sorry," I said again, referring to everything I had ever done.

"You already said that," Anna reminded me.

"Yeah, but this time I'm being truly sincere and I mean it for everything I've ever said and any way I've ever acted. I'm sorry," I said, wiping my face. Anna stood up and wrapped her arms around me. Slowly I did the same.

"Come on, lets go see what we missed in DADA," Anna said, pulling on my arm.

"Actually," I started, pulling my arm out of her grip. "I'm going to go take a shower or something." Anna stared at me, concern written all over her face. I smiled at her, trying to reassure her. "Just a shower, don't worry, I'm not going to drown myself." A smile slowly creeped up on her lips.

"Ok, I'll wait downstairs for you, then we can go get some food or something," Anna said, walking toward the door.

"I am pretty hungry," I said, rubbing my stomach. The mention of food reminded me of my not-as-big-as-it-usually-is lunch.

Anna smiled and opened the door and then glanced back at me. "Are you sure you're going to be ok? I mean, I can always go up to all the Slytherins and hex them; I learned quite a few over the summer," Anna offered.

"I'll be fine, stop worrying," I said, grabbing a bathrobe out of my trunk. I smiled at Anna one last time and went into the bathroom, into my safe haven.

When I came out of the shower, I didn't hear any noise coming from downstairs which led me to believe that it was suppertime. The grumbling in my stomach was a pretty good sign too. I sighed and quickly rummaged through my trunk for something to wear. I silently hoped I wasn't keeping Anna from her food. She can get kind of cranky when she's hungry.

I pulled out a pair of jeans and t-shirt and quickly put them on. I rapidly rung out my hair and then dashed out the door. I raced down the stairs to find an empty common room, save for a few students who apparently had already eaten.

"Anna told me to tell you that she was hungry and couldn't wait for you," a small voice piped up from my left. I looked down and saw a small first year staring up at me with big, watery eyes. I mustered the nicest smile I could and thanked her.

Some friend Anna was. She said she would wait and she didn't. True, she did get really cranky when she was hungry. She could've at least told me herself. A knock on the door would have sufficed.

I walked out of the common room, my stomach kindly reminding me of its need for food. Holding my stomach, I trudged down the corridor wishing there was a quicker way to the Great Hall.

I was so concentrated on trying not to keel over from hunger pains, that I didn't really watch where I was going that much. I've walked these corridors so much that I knew their patterns and had memorized where to go on what days involuntary. I had lost the need to concentrate on such walks. It was a waste of time when I had better things to think about, for instance, how I was going to survive without food until I made it to the Great Hall.

So since I wasn't paying attention that much, I ran straight into something, or more like someone. Well, I thought it was someone. It was build like someone. But of course it wasn't someone. It was a statue of armor that had decided to park itself right in the middle of the hallways. Sometimes I wish these statues of armor didn't have such a hilarious personality.

So here I was, lying on the floor, wondering if it should get up or not. It really was quite useless to go all the way to the Great Hall now. Supper was probably over and Anna probably didn't think of me soon enough to save me food. I was doomed to die of starvation in a school hallway. This is how pathetic my life had become.

"Are you ok?" a curious voice asked, breaking into my thoughts. I slowly opened my eyes and immediately experience déjà vu. Candle light framed the person's face from behind, making it almost impossible to be able to make out their features. I was suddenly taken back to that moment in Diagon Alley when I had run into that wall of muscle. I never did find out who that guy was. Now I was laying down on the ground in almost the exact same instance. The glowing head in the hallway did kind of resemble the one from Diagon Alley.

"Are you ok?" the mysterious person asked again.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ok," I said, slowly sitting up. When I sat up a pounding in my head occurred and I winced at the pain.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." I looked up and saw that the mysterious person was none other than the oh so famous Draco Malfoy.

My luck can be so great sometimes.

"Are you sure?" he asked, taking my hand uninvited and pulling me to my feet. My vision sway when I was on my two feet and I slowly began to rock. Draco put his hands on my shoulders to steady me. "You don't look ok."

"I'm ok," I assured him, shrugging off his hands and moving to the wall. I leaned against and closed my eyes until I thought it was safe to say that my vision wasn't swaying anymore. An awkward silence slowly passed between us as I stood against the wall trying to regain my balance and Draco awkwardly shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"I actually wanted to talk to you," Draco started off after an agonizing minute of silence. I raised my eyebrow in confusion. Draco looking for me? Most likely just to torture me some more. "I'm sorry."

I made a grab at the wall to steady myself. I was that shocked. The high and might Draco saying 'I'm sorry'? The world must be coming to an end.

"For what?" I questioned after the shock had slowly settled in.

"For what Pansy had said. It was way out of line and it shouldn't have been said," Draco explained, keeping his gaze on the floor.

"Yeah, well, I should've have expected it out of you guys," I said, glaring at the wall across from me.

"That's a big generalization," Draco said, looking up at me. "Not all of the Slytherins are like that. We aren't all like Pansy."

"You might not have said it but how many times have you wanted to say something along those lines just to torture me and see me cry?" I questioned. I could feel the tears creeping up in the corners of my eyes.

"Never!" Draco retaliated. "I've never wanted to say something like that. I might be a jerk sometimes-"

"Sometimes?" I laughed. "More like all time."

"I'm trying to make an apology here," Draco said through clenched teeth.

"You already said 'I'm sorry' so just leave already," I said, wishing he would listen to me and actually leave.

"I would never want to hurt you like that," Draco said quietly and then turned away.

The words slowly registered and I watched as he walked away. What did he mean by that?

I gave up thinking about it and slowly stood up off of the wall. I started to walk down the hallway in the opposite direction when my vision started to sway again. I reached out for the wall but all I got was air. I blinked, hoping it would go away, but my vision just became more blurred. As I swayed on the spot I slowly began to feel myself fall backwards.