CHAPTER EIGHT

Being sorted into Slytherin had never been on Ginny's to-do list; when the sorting hat, all wise words and 'You'll do great things in Slytherin' style encouragement, bellowed out her three-syllable-doom, Ginevra Molly Weasley had felt all of her dreams crumble. Gone, was the companionship of her brothers. Gone, were the proud words of her mother as she joined the ranks of the courageous. Standing before a sea of surprised or neutral faces, Ginny felt lost. From her left, where Gryffindor sat, came a lone boo, Fred. Her other brothers joined in, and several of their fellow Gryffindors followed their lead, a chorus of disapproval. Hot tears of shame stung at the back of her eyes, she was a Weasley, Weasleys always went to Gryffindor. But Weasleys rarely showed as much cunning and ambition as she did, the sorting hat's words reverberated in her mind. With trembling legs, she approached the Slytherin table, most of whom seemed startled but clapped politely nonetheless. Their welcome was practically silent in comparison to the Gryffindor ruckus. Suddenly, there was a loud whoop from the Slytherin table, and the volume increased tenfolds, a boy with bright eyes, hidden behind large frames, and wild hair had stood, clapping her with as much volume as his small frame could muster, Harry Potter, her cheeks flushed uncomfortably. From around him, several other students stood up, their voices adding to his own in their friendly welcome, even Draco Malfoy was cheering, though she doubted there was any real happiness from the blonde boy at her sorting, she knew how Malfoys felt about Weasleys.

Astoria Greengrass was making the loudest noise of them all, and Ginny felt a rush of thankfulness towards the pretty girl who had befriended her on the Hogwarts express. She gestured to an empty seat beside her, and Ginny absently wondered if the girl had saved it specifically for her, knowing she would join Slytherin before she had even considered it, she slid into the chair gratefully. Her cheeks were as bright as her hair, and she stared determinately at the table before her, lest she start crying. The rest of the sorting passed by in a blur, and suddenly, a feast materialised before her. She could barely bring herself to eat anything, her stomach tying painful knots. Astoria glanced at her worriedly, but didn't comment, talking instead to their fellow first years and occasionally attempting to coax her into conversation. Finally, the meal was over and they were escorted back to their common room by two prefects. The room was awe inspiring, dark and mysterious, any other time Ginny would have followed her fellow first years to press their faces against the glass of the window in awe, but instead, she merely remained stood where she was, feeling small and helpless fore the prefects. When they had regained the attention of the first years, one of the prefects, a girl with perfectly curled brown hair, began to speak,

"You have been sorted into Slytherin house due to your cunning, your ambition, and your intelligence. Despite what some may say, to be in Slytherin is an honour." The girl's eyes flicked to Ginny, so fast she almost missed it, "We have standards to uphold, and there are rules that you must follow if you want to remain amongst us. Rule number one: Maintain your grades, we expect excellence from our students, sloppy work will be punished. Rule number two: All arguments between yourself and fellow Slytherins must be kept within the house, there is no fighting outside of these walls, to the other houses, we must maintain a united front." Ginny watched the girl with wide eyes, focusing on the rules that were clearly so vital, when a piece of paper, balled up was pressed into her hand. She glanced behind her to see a sea of neutral faces, whoever passed her the note wasn't visible. She opened it quietly, to see two neatly printed words, blood traitor. Her eyes burned and she stared, transfixed, barely hearing the prefect's final comment of, "Keep your language clean outside of the common room, it does no good to go around shouting 'mudblood', whatever your beliefs." these final words broke what little self restraint she had remaining, a tear trickled down Ginny's cheek before she could stop it. The prefect glanced at her, almost sympathetic, but continued as though she hadn't seen it. Ginny's fellow first years began to snicker from behind her and she gulped, hopelessly trying to swallow back the sobs that were steadily rising. A small hand slid into her own, and Ginny glanced to her left, Astoria. The girl was looking ahead, focused on the prefect as she gave directions to the dormitories, and only the clenching of her jaw alerted Ginny to the girl's awareness of her state. The moment the prefect finished talking, Ginny found herself dragged from the mocking eyes of her housemates.

Astoria pulled both of them onto Ginny's bed, shutting the curtains around them, she pulled out her wand, muttering

"Muffliato." at the curtains before she turned to the red-haired girl,

"What was that?" Ginny asked, voice rough,

"It was a sound muffling spell so the others can't hear us, you need to calm down." said the girl, staring at Ginny, "take a deep breath and stop crying." Ginny complied, drawing in a shuddering breath and trying to suppress her tears, once she had sufficiently stifled her tears, Astoria began to speak, "Being in Slytherin is not a bad thing," she said, dark eyes serious, "and despite what you may think, not everyone here is bad." Ginny opened her mouth to protest,

"I don't think-" but Astoria cut her off,

"Oh please, you're a Weasley, I wouldn't be surprised if you were raised knowing the names of all the possible Death-Eater's children." she took the girl's silence as confirmation and continued, "But you need to forget everything that you've been taught right now, because it will only hurt you in the long run. Now, answer me honestly, how much do you know about Pureblood customs?' she asked, Ginny stared at her, confused,

"Nothing, really, my parents said it was outdated and never told me anything about it." she answered finally, Astoria nodded,

"Outdated, maybe, but in Slytherin, it's important. I didn't say anything when we first met, but you're not meant to refer to people by their first name without their permission." Ginny flushed,

"Sorry." she said, realising she had been overfamiliar with the only friend she had, Astoria shook her head,

"Don't worry about it, I would have told you if I didn't want to ally with you, that's what first names mean, that you have each other's backs, friends really. But with other members of our house, you've got to be more careful, I will look into books about pureblood customs for you, if you want. There are probably some in the library we can check out tomorrow, but until then, just try and be as formal as possible with everyone." Ginny nodded, and Astoria continued, "As for the crying, Ginny, that can't happen again. Showing weakness is never acceptable in Slytherin, you can probably get away with it this once, but you mustn't make a habit of it." Ginny nodded shakily, and the girl patted her shoulder sympathetically, "I guess this is really overwhelming for someone raised in a Gryffindor household, will your family be angry?" she asked, Ginny shrugged,

"Maybe, I'm not sure. I'll have to wait and see, I'm more worried about my brothers, they'll see this as the ultimate betrayal." now that her tears were out of the way, Ginny felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, "Thank you, for your help, Astoria, I would have really freaked out if you hadn't…" she trailed of uncomfortably, and her friend nodded,

"It's fine, what are friends for?" she asked, tossing a lock of glossy black hair over her shoulder, "Anyway, goodnight, Ginny." Astoria pulled open the curtains, and clambered off her bed, "Just remember what I said."

"I will," Ginny responded, "Goodnight Astoria." Ginny lay in bed staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours, but was likely only minutes, before sleep dragged her under. She awoke as her watch hit six-forty, and rolled from her blanket cocoon, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Glancing back at her bed, she noticed a book lying at the end, untouched despite her restless sleeping. She picked it up, it was a moderately sized green hard-back, written on the front, in gold letters, were the words, 'Pureblood Customs,' she flipped open the front cover, wondering if Astoria had somehow managed to get her a book overnight, when a note fell out.

Dear Ms Weasley,

I am a member of your house, and I know this might seem strange, but I am

only trying to help. This book will teach you pureblood customs, which are a necessity

in Slytherin house. If you follow the rules in the book, then you will do fine. I ask you to

avoid reading this in public, as you will reveal me as the person who helped you to my friends.

This could make things difficult for me. Good luck in Slytherin.

A friend

Her eyes scanned the neat handwriting, and a smile pulled at her lips, it seemed that Astoria wasn't her only ally in Slytherin house.

"What's that?" asked said girl, curiously, having just opened her curtains, fully clothed. Ginny passed her the note, and the girl scanned it with her dark eyes before glancing at the book with a smile, "I guess we don't have to go to the library then." she said, Ginny nodded,

"Don't tell anyone about this, okay?" she asked, Astoria nodded in acceptance,

"No problem, you need to get ready, breakfast is soonish, bathroom's down the hall." she said, Ginny nodded, grabbing a towel and a change of clothes before making her way down to the bathroom. She showered quickly and pulled on her uniform, hands fumbling slightly over her Slytherin tie. She emerged from the shower cubicle and was startled to see a girl standing by one of the sinks. She was very pretty, with long brown hair which fell in elegant ringlets, she glanced at Ginny, snorted, then went back to examining her appearance. Ginny ignored her, making her way to the door to return to the dormitory. Her hand was just closing around the door handle when the girl said,

"I guess that Slytherin is letting in any riff-raff off the street nowadays." this stopped Ginny short,

"I'm sorry?' she asked, the girl glanced at her,

"You should be." she said carelessly,

"I have just as much of a right to be here as you do, whatever your name is." Ginny said angrily,

"It's Ca-"

"Did I say I wanted your name? No. You haven't made a good first impression, and I have no interest in learning who you are." Her tone was sharp, Ginny had been raised fighting with her brothers like cats and dogs, if there was one thing she knew how to deal with, it was conflict. The girl opened her mouth to respond, but whatever she was planning on saying was cut off by the slamming of the door, as Ginny left the room. Once outside, Ginny took a deep breath and composed herself, before returning to her room. She greeted Astoria as she entered, before sitting in front of the mirror and beginning to plait her hair, her long braid snaked down her shoulder, and Astoria looked up in interest,

"How do you do that?" she asked, "I'm awful with hair." Ginny tied off her braid before standing and gesturing to the seat she had just vacated,

"I can do the same for you, if you want?" she asked, Astoria nodded eagerly, and slid into the seat. Ginny allowed her fingers to dance through the girl's dark locks. When she was done, the girl admired her hair with a smile,

"Thanks!" she cried, "Now we match." she glanced at her watch, "Breakfast is in about half an hour, I'm going to read for a bit." Ginny decided to do the same, sliding onto her bed and pulling out her new book, 'Pureblood Customs." remembering the note's warning to hide the book, she pulled a removable cover off her transfiguration text book, successfully hiding the book's true identity. She called out to Astoria as her watch hit 7:50, and the two of them wandered down to meet the prefects, who were to escort them to breakfast. As they were lead through the loops and twists of the Hogwarts halls, Ginny wondered how she would ever learn her away around.

They entered the great hall through two large doors, and the enchanted ceiling illuminated the room with cheerful sunlight. She followed Astoria to two available seats, and as she sat, she realised with a lurch that she was sat painfully close to Harry Potter and his friends. The boy was talking in hushed whispers with three of his friends, their heads were close together and she mentally compared them to her twin brothers as they planned a prank. She pried her eyes away from the boy, and spooned some breakfast onto her plate, her lack of sustenance from the previous day hitting her full force. Astoria nudged her as Snape approached, handing out timetables. The man passed her hers without comment, before continuing on his way, as he went around to the other side of the table, the man sneered slightly, before passing Harry his schedule, the boy took it carelessly, muttering a thanks to the man without casting him a second glance. He scanned the paper with wary eyes before he let out a groan, pressing his head into his arms on the table. Beside him, Draco Malfoy glanced at his timetable, before grinning and patting his friend on the shoulder sympathetically. Ginny couldn't help but notice how different the blonde boy seemed, to the sneering figure she had met in Flourish and Blotts and she wondered if it was Ron who had inspired such a reaction. The two began began to bemoan having Defence as their first class, when Astoria spoke up,

"Um, why is defence a bad thing?" she asked, the two boys glanced at her, any Ginny marvelled at the girl's ease at joining a conversation, "Gilderoy Lockhart is meant to be an amazing wizard…"

"Listen here, short stuff." Malfoy sneered, he pointed a pale finger at Astoria, Ginny worried for half a second that he was genuinely angry at her friend, but Astoria seemed relatively comfortable, so she forced herself to relax, "I don't know who you've been talking to, but Lockhart is a complete- Daphne!" The boy focused on Daphne Greengrass, who Ginny had met on the train, his character transformation taking her by surprise completely, it was almost as though the Malfoy heir was scared of her.

"Hello Draco, you've been talking to my sister, I see." she said,

"Your sister!" he squeaked, glancing at Astoria in panic, Ginny's head shot up as she heard Harry laugh, the boy's eyes danced as he sniggered, and she felt her face warm automatically,

"Yeah, Daphne, Draco was telling me what he thought of Lockhart."

"He's a fraud." Ginny heard the words leave her mouth before she registered them, Harry- no, Potter (second names only, she reminded herself) had his bright green eyes focused on her, and she momentarily forgot the words in her mouth. Her face reddened in embarrassment, and she glanced away.

"What do you mean?" asked a boy with dark, curly hair. Ginny vaguely recognised him as one of Potter's friends, she reluctantly pulled out several Lockhart books from her bag, flipping the pages, she showed them the dates in the books. She had read all of her texts, determined to beat her brother's grades,

"Lockhart's stories all overlap, the dates don't add up and he talks about things that don't exist, like, a spell to cure werewolves and stuff." she said, it was common sense, and she was surprised more people hadn't noticed the gaping holes in the man's tales.

"I knew it." Draco sneered, for a moment, Ginny thought it was directed at her, but the boy was no longer even looking at her, much to her relief, "Just wait until my father hears about this, that'll teach him not to force Harry into photoshoots." the table resumed it's previous chatter, before Astoria clambered to her feet,

"We best be getting to class, come on, Ginny." she said, Ginny followed her from the hall, taking a final forlorn glance in Harry's direction. She remembered stories from her childhood about the young hero, he was the object of much discussion in the Weasley household, and he fascinated her, her brother wasn't wrong to say that she had developed a crush on him, but seeing him amongst his friends alerted her to how little she actually knew him. Their first class was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. They were several minutes early and were the first to enter the classroom, a large tabby cat was sat at the front of the room. They slid into two seats in the back of the room, Ginny grabbed the window seat, allowing her somewhere to gaze, as Astoria sat down, the dark haired girl let out a sigh,

"I spoke to him…" she said, Ginny furrowed her brow,

"Who?" she asked, Astoria rolled her eyes,

"Draco Malfoy!" she said, "I'm going to marry that boy." she tilted her head back, a smile playing on her lips, "I just know it."

"Why?" asked Ginny, whilst not unpleasant, she didn't see why someone would want to marry Malfoy, of all people. Astoria seemed affronted by the question,

"Why?" She parroted, "Because he's perfect." The dark haired girl refused to say any more as students began to file into the room, taking up seats. She flushed crimson when the large tabby transformed into their Professor McGonagall, "Do you think she heard?" she asked, slightly panicked. Ginny told her that she doubted it, though she privately didn't think the teacher could have missed their words, they weren't exactly quiet. Their first class was interesting, Professor McGonagall was a good teacher, and Ginny felt a rush of delight to be the first person to turn her matchstick into a needle. Astoria peered at her work in slight jealousy,

"How did you do that?" Ginny tried to explain, and watched her friend attempt the spell. Their hard work was rewarded as Astoria's matchstick flickered and finally became a needle. They were awarded five points each for their work, the Transfiguration teacher gracing them with a rare nod of approval as she passed. The two left her lesson in high spirits, before loosing all of their energy as they filed into History of Magic, something Ginny promptly decided was the worst class ever, the professor being unbelievably boring. Their day passed well, potions being a silent affair, where Snape pretended she didn't exist whilst focusing all his ire at Colin Creevey, a boy in Gryffindor who shared their class, the boy failed a pop quiz at the beginning of the lesson, and was clearly the teacher's new verbal punching bag.

It was only at the after dinner that Ginny's day took a turn for the terrible. Her brothers, Fred, George, Ron and Percy Weasley stood waiting for her by the doors as she exited. She told Astoria to head on without her, and allowed herself to be lead to an unused classroom to talk to her siblings. She had always been close with her brother Ron, but the moment they were out of sight of other students, the youngest of her brothers stepped away from her as though she had the plague.

"Ginny, what are you doing?" asked Percy, his dark eyes, so unlike the blue orbs of her other brothers, glaring down on her accusingly, "First you get sorted into Slytherin, then-"

"You hang out with Death Eaters in training like Malfoy." Ron butted in, the boy's eyes were angry as he glared at her and Fred and George seemed to be waiting for her to offer an excuse for her behaviour. She had hoped for them to ask about her welfare, check to see if she was alright, not quiz her on the company she was keeping. She felt herself stiffen and clenched her jaw, she understood their distrust, hell, mere days ago she had been of a similar mindset, but it was still unpleasant to be at the receiving end of their judgment.

"Not all Slytherins are Death Eaters in training, you know?" she snapped, "Or have you forgotten that Harry Potter, who defeated the Dark Lord is in Slytherin, too?" Ron's expression darkened further,

"Potter is in a category of his own, he's practically a Dark Lord in training." Ginny's back straightened as she opened her mouth to retort, but Fred beat her to it,

"Whilst Ronny here is over-exaggerating, Potter is a nasty little git." he said, rolling his eyes at his brother's dramatics.

"We just don't want you to get involved with the wrong sorts of people, Gin…" said George, bright eyes concerned, Ginny felt her resolve soften.

"I'm not." she replied, "I don't mind Slytherin, I have Astoria, she's the best." a rush of fondness shot through her at the thought of the girl who was promptly becoming her closest friend.

"Astoria Greengrass?" said Ron incredulously,

"The Greengrasses are a very dangerous family." Percy agreed, "It would be best if you steered clear of them." Ginny's anger slammed back full force.

"What right do you have, telling me who I can and can't be friends with?" she brandished her wand threateningly, and her brothers eyed it warily, they knew better then to underestimate her.

"As your elder brothers-" said Percy imperiously,

"The same brothers who booed my sorting?" she sneered.

"We are sorry about that, Ginny…" Fred said, looking distinctly uncomfortable, "It was a stupid joke and we didn't mean for everyone to join in."

"Yeah, we're really sorry." George said. Ginny's sneer only grew,

"Well act like you're sorry, don't try and dictate who I hang out with."

"Wipe that look of your face!" Ron snapped, "You've been a Slytherin for one and a half days and already you're starting to look like Malfoy."

"Well you've been in Gryffindor for a year and one and a half days and you still look like a snivelling little-"

"Ginny." cut off Percy, "That's enough!"

"You're right." she sassed, "It is enough." she turned and stalked from the room, anger simmering just under her skin. She stomped to the Slytherin dormitories, almost surprised she found her way there without incident. It was almost curfew. With a huff, she stomped to her dormitory, she paused outside the door and took a deep breath before quietly opening it. The room was dark, her dorm-mates clearly already asleep. Ginny made her way purposefully towards her trunk, she needed to vent. Over the summer, her mother had purchased her a diary, leaving it amongst her stuff quietly, as her mother often did. Small, inconspicuous gifts were common from Molly Weasley, who doted upon her only daughter. Ginny had written in it over the summer, delighted and surprised to find that it wrote back, taking the form of a boy called Tom Riddle. During the past few days leading to her sorting, she had been too excited to touch the black notebook, but now, with anger burning her fingertips, she threw it open, planning on telling her pen-friend all her woes. She touched her quill to the paper and that was the last thing she remembered.

The next day, Ginny awoke in her bed, fully clothed. She must have fallen asleep whilst writing, she couldn't quite recall. She tugged off her robes, planning on changing into a clean uniform after a shower, but what she saw made her freeze. Her school shirt, previously pristine white, had a large red stain on it, paint? Ginny ran a hand through her hair, confused, before something caught between her fingers, a feather, now she was looking, there were more clinging to her cloak. She stared at them, baffled, before reaching out to grab her shirt; bringing the fabric to her nose, she took in a deep breath. It smelled metallic, bringing forth memories of scabbed knees and rusty keys, blood. She dropped the soft material, and watched as it fell to the floor with a gently thwump, how…? Her stomach churned anxiously, before she quickly walked down to the bathrooms. Her face greeted her in the mirror, she looked the same as ever. She tilted her head to the left, to the right, there. A red smear on her neck, more blood. She jumped into the shower, trying to scrub off the stain. Fear made her movements fast and frantic, where had it come from? The hot water calmed her frazzled senses, though the worry still lingered. Eventually she was calm enough to return to her room. She balled up her shirt, pushing it to the bottom of her trunk, before writing with a trembling hand:

Dear Tom

I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there. There's blood on me too. I'm afraid.


Yay, it's what you've all been waiting for, a Ginny POV chapter. I hope you guys liked this, please review, thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far, your comments have been really interesting!

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