A/N: Thank you so much to reviewers! I love you all. Mid-January. Ginny is nervous about saying sorry, but, suddenly, apologizing is the least of her problems. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I am not lucky enough to as smart as to invent these characters myself. They are not mine. Too bad. –pout-
The Stone Speaks
Chapter Twenty-Four: Scream, Girl, No-one Will Hear You
GINNY
Sorry. I didn't mean to
Ginny crossed it out, and tried again. I'm sorry for getting – No. She anxiously chewed the nib of her quill. She felt terrible about being so angry at Draco. If he didn't try to kill himself, then she was being really unreasonable. And if he did, the only friend he had in the world avoiding him wouldn't help matters. I'm sorry that I was so horrible to you. No. The only sound in the common room was the snuffle of Neville's heavy breathing, and the scratching of Ginny's quill, only broken by an occasional sigh of exasperation at her own stupidity. Are you okay?
The entire page was covered with crossed-out I'm sorrys; it was now really obvious how much she was beating herself up about it. "Damn it," Ginny muttered, and she scrunched up her piece of paper, and threw it blindly over her shoulder, trying to get it into the fire, but not really knowing where it was going.
"Hey – Ginny, what are you doing?" Neville asked from across the room. "I keep getting hit by random pieces of paper."
Ginny sighed again. "Neville, give me an idea for how to start an apology letter," she said, reaching for another piece of parchment and re-dipping her quill in her ink-pot.
"Er… how about 'sorry'?" Neville suggested.
"Tried that. Didn't work."
"Oh." Neville stood, snapped his Herbology revision book shut and walked across to Ginny. "Why are you writing an apology letter, anyway?"
"Oh, I don't know, Neville – maybe to apologize to someone?" she said sarcastically, casting him a withering look. "Genius, Nev, genius."
"Sorry," Neville mumbled, sticking his hands in his pockets.
"See?" Ginny cried, frustratedly scrunching her hands into fists. "Even you're better at it than me!" She groaned, and smacked her head forewards onto the desk, causing her ink-pot to tip over. "Great," she moaned, and sat up.
"Scourgify," said Neville, pointing his wand at the blue mess spreading across Ginny's scrap of parchment. "Do you want to borrow my ink-pot?"
"Thanks," said Ginny, crumpling up the piece of parchment and chucking in the general direction of the Gryffindor hearth as Neville Summoned his ink-pot and set it on the desk. "So, any ideas?"
Neville shrugged. "I always mess up things with people. I just usually say sorry and explain what I did wrong," he said.
Ginny looked up at him in a new light. "Neville… thanks," she said softly, and gave a small smile. "I'm always sort of mean to you, but… you're probably the nicest person in Gryffindor."
Neville blushed. "You don't mean that," he said lamely, "I'm not nicer than Harry."
Ginny's expression hardened. "You're definitely nicer than Harry," she said with a humourless laugh. "Anyway, just… thanks." Neville nodded with a smile, and returned to his book, leaving Ginny to turn and draw another piece of parchment.
Draco,
Sorry. I didn't mean what I said – well, I did, but it's not true. I want to say that I wish I could wind back the past few weeks and just… live it again. As your friend. As your best friend. That's if you'll accept this, that is. And if you don't, I can hardly blame you… Lavender Brown has new competition for the Queen Bitch of Hogwarts award (guess who the key candidate is?), let's just say. Basically, I'm sorry.
Sincerely
From
Love, Ginny x
Ginny looked down at the letter. It seemed repentant enough, though the x-ed out 'sincerely' and 'from' did look a bit stupid. She supposed that she could try 'Scourgify', but she didn't want to risk destroying the whole letter. She shrugged, folded it carefully, and handed it to Pigwideon.
The small owl was, technically, Ron's, but since Ginny had named it, he wouldn't mind her using it… right? "Take this to Draco Malfoy," said Ginny quietly, so that Neville wouldn't hear. Pigwidgeon hooted excited, and flung himself towards the half-open window.
Ginny followed the tiny owl's flight until he was out of sight, and then stood to close the window. Flowers were pushing their way through the semi-frozen ground; it was a beautiful sight. She fished her time-table out of her pocket and scanned through it for her next lesson. Seeing Professor Binns' name, she scooped up her bag, and, with a "bye Neville", proceeded to the History of Magic classroom.
Pushing open the door, and taking her usual seat, Ginny hoped that this lesson would be more interesting or she'd have to charm her eyes so that she couldn't close them again.
"Hello, students… please, Mr. Cadligh, close the blinds…" droned Professor Binns; Colin Creevey stood and closed them (everyone was, by now, used to their new names. Ginny was Ms. Webster), "we will be watching a slide-show of the Goblin War newspaper headlines… tell me if anyone can see a problem with biased or sensitive headlines…"
Ginny rolled her eyes, and pulled out her notebook and a quill. Biased opinions on Goblin Wars in the 14th Century Newspapers, she scrawled, and looked up expectantly. Click… click… click… pictures crawling past, Ginny scratching down each headline and a personal opinion – will this lesson never end? – and then a heavy thump on the window.
Ginny glanced over at it, and saw a dazed-looking Pidwidgeon staggering across the windowsill outside. God, we're on the fourth floor; he's going to fall off, she suddenly panicked. What will Ron think if I borrowed his owl without permisson and killed it?! She looked nervously at Professor Binns, before sliding out of her chair, crouching, and scuttling across to the window.
"Ohmigod, look at it!"
"He's so cute!"
"Is that Ginny's owl?"
Ginny ignored the whispers around her that were steadily growing in volume, and unclipped the window. She snatched Pigwidgeon up and raced back to her desk, hiding the small owl inside her cloak. Back in her chair, Ginny hissed to the owl, "Be quiet," and then stuffed him in her bag. As he hooted quietly but indignantly, she saw a coil of parchment wrapped around his leg.
Draco replied? She had just been expecting for Pidwidgeon to deliver the message and return, and then for Draco to explain himself the next time he saw her. Heart pounding with the anticipation of what the response might say, she bent, dug her hand into her bag and pulled out a thin strip of yellowed parchment. On it were the words, in tiny, minute writing, Ten o'clock. Outskirts of the Forest, behind Hagrid's Hut. By the old oak with the face.
Ginny didn't know what she wanted to do; blush, pale, sigh, groan, complain, jump for joy… they all seemed like the wrong thing to do. Instead, she coiled the parchment around her finger, and then slipped it into her pocket.
9:45pm
Ginny lay silently on top of her bed-sheets, listening for anything except the snores of the other sixth-year Gryffindor girls. No-one seemed to be awake, so Ginny sat up and, cross-legged on her blankets, checked that she had everything she needed. Her wand, the piece of paper, her dark clothes… and then, around her neck, the black pendant. All present and correct.
She stuffed her pillow under her blanket to make it look as though she was there, and then climbed out through the thick red bed-curtains, drawing them tightly behind her. She touched the necklace lightly, and then tiptoed from the Gryffindor tower. Ginny had never really been outside after hours before, except for sometimes sneaking out with Harry for a kiss in the dark tower, and she found the moonlight pouring through the tall windows and spilling across the stone floor slightly creepy.
Ginny stole down the Entrance Halls stairs and, trying not to let the grand doors creak, left the building. A tiny voice nagged in her head, Ginny, you shouldn't be doing this! Lord Voldemort is nearby, and you're going to meet a Death Eater, with no-one else, in the dark. Not really very sensible. "Shut up," Ginny told the voice, "you're as bad as Ron."
The grounds were even worse. The cold air cut through Ginny, making her shiver, and she pulled her black jacket tighter around her. Every rustle of grass seemed like an animal following her, and she began getting jumpy and scared. The Forbidden Forest was drawing closer, and she had to admit that the thought of waiting there for Draco was not high on her to-do list. A light was still on in Hagrid's little wooden cabin, and Ginny had to run past it quickly so that she wasn't seen through a window; Hagrid didn't see a fleeing redhead, but Fang did, and he barked madly. However, when Hagrid reached the window, nothing was there…
There was the old oak, and Ginny could see the smiling face carved into the trunk. She stood at the there; it was cold, damp, and nearly pitch-black. "Lumos," she whispered. The tip of her wand glowed for a moment, and then lit up in an orb of bright light. The sudden contrast of brightness hurt Ginny's eyes for a second, but she got used to it, and peered around the Forest. Silence… a minute passed… another… time was dragging very slowly, but even she knew that she had been there for a long time. She pulled out a small clock from her black combat-trousers pocket and squinted at the numerals around the edge. 10:10pm. Draco was late.
"La-la-la," Ginny sang softly, for want of something to keep her mind off of the penetrating dark all around her. Half-way through the chorus of the Weird Sisters' new hit 'Supernatural', a heavy rustling of trees and a crunching of leaves reached Ginny's ears. She stopped dead, and pointed her wand around.
"Draco?" she called nervously, feeling her heart begin to beat faster. There was a terrible silence, with only the occasional crackle of someone (or something, a frightened voice said in the back of her mind) moving. "Draco – is that you?" Nothing replied, but the thing – person! Ginny corrected herself hastily, it's not a thing! It's Draco, trying to scare me! But hell, it's working – paused, as if it had finally noticed that someone else was nearby.
"Draco – Draco, this isn't f-funny," Ginny said, fighting to keep her voice steady. No-one replied. The crunching came louder and louder; she swung her wand around to the source of the steps, and saw the vague outline of something. There was no doubting it anymore – it was a something.
Ginny gave a frightened squeak. "Nox," she whispered, and the light on the end of her wand went out. She stood, totally still, her wand hanging uselessly in her hand, hoping that perhaps it hadn't seen her. The shape was moving closer. It was large, and Ginny could see the little light there was glinting off grey, shaggy fur.
It was looking as though it might walk away when it suddenly turned and stared right into Ginny's face with piercing red eyes like glowing crimson jewels. Okay, it's seen me. She couldn't breathe, her heart had been going very fast, but now she had no heart, it had just stopped beating altogether. She took a slow step back – mistake. Her trainers crunched on a twig, and the creature's lips curled back, baring large, flat teeth for crushing, and two long, curved fangs, for … tearing, Ginny finished silently, and she found that she was shaking uncontrollably.
"Draco," she said fearfully, hoping that he was close enough to rescue her like the chivalrous knight he often pretended to be when opening doors for her. This one word caused a snarl from the beast, and, without thinking, without realizing that the creature would be much, much faster than her, she turned and ran.
Sprinting full-out, as fast as she could, the necklace pounding against her neck, hair spinning out behind her with every, her heart starting again and trying to break free from her ribcage, madly beating like a drum, almost in sync with her flurried footsteps. Each stride took up land, leaping over logs and rocks, weaving through bushes. A small part of her brain was vaguely aware that she was getting deeper into the Forbidden Forest and that she had no idea where she going, but a larger part of her brain was screaming, RUN!!
Which part would you listen to?
Ginny had never run as fast in her life, and she was marvelling at how she hadn't tripped on a root yet. Yet, said the annoying voice in her head, give it time. You'll fall and then it'll eat you. "Shut up!" she shrieked at the voice, moving faster. However, it was right, because a moment later, she continued forwards, but her foot did not. The ground was flying up towards her, and she landed, hard, on the cold dirt.
She thought of screaming for Hagrid, or Draco, or anyone, but she had gone to watch some Muggle movies with Hermione once, and a catch-phrase from a film about some Muggles going to the moon came back to her: No-one will hear you scream. She was far away from Hogwarts, far away from Hagrid's Hut, and far away from where Draco had probably stood her up. She could yell all she wanted; no-one would come.
Soundlessly, Ginny hauled her foot from the hole it had dropped into, and, hearing a furious pounding of paws as something raced after her, crawled towards a tree trunk and pressed herself flat against it, hoping that the beast would run right past her.
It did, but then thundered to a halt, and Ginny could hear it sniffing, taking in huge amounts of air as it searched for her scent. Her breath coming very fast, she shuffled around the edge of the tree, and began crawling furiously away. There was a dip in the land, with fallen trees and rocks nearby… she slid down into the dip and wriggled under a rock, trying to get as far away from the outside Forest.
There was total silence apart the crunching of footsteps, and then it dawned on Ginny that she was very far into the Forbidden Forest. Even if she could get away, she would never be able to run back to Hogwarts before the beast got her. Panic flooded her, and her heart was beating faster than ever. Harry was always a hero when he didn't need to be – but when he was needed, where was he? Fast asleep in bed, that's where.
"Oh God," Ginny whispered, and, for the second time in a month, felt as though she might cry. The snuffling and rustling of footsteps was growing closer, and Ginny saw a large, hairy paw set foot outside of her hiding place. She began shuffling backwards desperately, trying to get out of the other side, but she was too big to squeeze through. Lying flat on her stomach, she tried to army-crawl, but it was still… too… tight…
A pair of smouldering scarlet eyes stared at Ginny, and a long, scarred nose was pushed down the dip. She screamed as it snarled, inches away from her face, and she began clawing madly at the dirt to get away – pain was ripping through her arm, through her waist, through her legs, and then suddenly she was out, into past the rock, and she squirmed out of the dip. Zigzagging through the path of fallen trees and rocks, tearing through a thorny bush; blood dripped down her fingers but she didn't care, she was running for her life again, she didn't know where, she didn't know how she expected to survive: and then a thought came to her. She stopped, glanced over her shoulder to see how much time she had before the creature caught up, pointed her wand to her throat, whispered "Sonorus", sucked a deep breath… "DRACO!"
A/N: DUN DUN DUN!! My first cliff-hanger. Please review and tell me what you think!! XD