Chapter 6: Noticing

A crash, a smash, and the door flew open. A girl of 15 with blonde curly hair fell through the now wide open door. Her small form tumbled over the forgotten blanket on the floor. No cry of anguish escaped her mouth but rather, extreme giggles.

"I'm okay. I am okay," She breathed as she got up. "Well if I wasn't awake before, that fall sure did the trick." She scanned the space and finally rested her eyes on Draco. "Oh hello there…" Ginny quickly got up to help the poor clumsy of a girl up. She stood a few inches shorter than Ginny and possessed magnificently blue eyes that had a wonderfully youthful and happy sparkle in them. The fair skinned girl with scattered freckles over the bridge of her nose was Bella Cabot, a spunky 5th year also in the house of Gryffindor.

Draco didn't like the company that fell into the room…. so… gracefully so he moved to get up. He tried to get out but this… girl was in his way.

Bella rolled her blue eyes and gasped, "Oh PARDON me, am I in your highness' way?" She made a low bow as he slid past her. "Thank you for your help when I fell!" she yelled after him. "Stupid prat.." she mumbled under he nose.

"Now really Bella…" Ginny started to say.

"Well I never thought I'd see the day when you of all people wanted to defend him. The guy has no manners whatsoever and that high and mighty air of his is really starting to bother me…" Bella retorted.

"He has manners. He just… doesn't make them known that often is all," Ginny simply answered sitting down and placing the blanket on the seat before someone killed themselves.

"Oh really? And how, may I ask, did you stumble upon them… no pun intended there…" Bella asked smiling as she sat down and crossed her legs, waiting to receive and answer. "and please do make the story as scandalous as possible."

Ginny then told her how the beginning of her train ride went and how she happened to share a compartment with a family sworn enemy.

"So that's all it takes huh?" Bella asked examining her hand. She had chipped a nail when she fell.

"Excuse me?" Ginny asked, taken aback by the statement.

"All a boy needs to do is cover you and give you some candy and you're positively smitten with him huh? Well Ginny, I didn't think you were so easy." Her little friend said, tilting her head and batting her eyes.

"Easy! I certainly am not! And I am not "smitten" with him. I despise him. I loath him. He cannot love, nor show emotion. Yet every once in a while he surprises people by acting very… nicely. I find that interesting. I am merely observing his character," Ginny answered, quite flustered. How preposterous for her to think she fancied him. Honestly any idiot could see there was nothing there…

It seemed like forever, well not really, but they finally arrived at Hogwarts. "Yes, how dandy, a chance to be ignored by hundreds of people instead of just seven", Ginny grumbled to herself.

"Stop that!" Snapped Bella, "You are putting a damper on my return and I am not enjoying it."

"Well EXCUSE ME!" Ginny replied mockingly, giving a short bow and walking off.

"Now really! Is the drama necessary?" Bella yelled after her friend.

As she entered the entrance hall with the happy flocking mob of students, Ginny ducked out to the left instead of the right and headed up the stairs. She stood above the masses, people watching. She like standing on the side and wondering what people were doing and where they were going. She didn't like gossip per say but she liked making up fantastic stories of where someone was going. She stood there for minutes, with her head in her hand, looking out at nothing in particular, eyes glazed over with a look of thought in them. How she wished she had one of the interesting lives she made up in her head for her fellow students. To dash about meeting people in secret. Anything would do anything that would wake her up a bit. She didn't like the way she was always perceived. The quiet Weasley, Ron's little sister, what's-her-name. It wasn't fair how everyone in her family had their shining moment. Her two oldest brothers everyone knew. Fred and George were legends in school. Even Ron was known for that great save he made back in his 5th year when they played the Slytherins. Not to mention he was friends with famous Harry Potter. And what was she? The girl that was lured in by Tom Riddle, the little girl that needed to be saved all the time. The little girl no one noticed.

As Ginny stood there staring at nothing, not noticing that most the students had managed to get through the Great Hall doors, someone cleared their throat and said, "Shouldn't you be in there enjoying the night Ginny?"

Have you ever been snapped back to reality by a sudden voice when you thought you were alone? It almost made Ginny jump over the railing. It is that scary. You don't even know where it came from. Imagine a cat when it's been drop kicked into the air. That's the face Ginny got when she heard him speak.

"Harry you just cut my life down by 5 years…" Ginny gasped as she clung to the banister.

"Sorry. I didn't think I'd scare you so bad. Is everything okay? I mean first the train and now you're camping out here during the feast? What's wrong?" Harry asked genuinely concerned.

"I'm surprised anyone noticed."

"Of course we noticed!"

"There's nothing wrong. I promise. But why are you out here? It's not every day you see Harry Potter skipping a meal…" Ginny commented while giving a sly smirk.

Harry just gave her one of his grins. "I'm not skipping any food! You're kidding me? No I just came out to find you. Now come on before Ron eats everything and moves onto gnawing the benches."

As the two neared the great oak doors, Ginny gave Harry a quick hug and said, "Thank you."

Harry gave her a squeeze but was a bit confused. "For what?"

"Noticing me."