Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this chapter.

Chapter 3: How Embarrassing…

Early the next morning, just as the first rays of sunshine would have been peeking in on the other students, Ginny opened her eyes, shivering with cold.

I guess dungeons really are dark and cold. I don't even get to see the sun down here…

She flung back her covers and sat up, careful of the top bunk. She stretched out and flopped back on the bed. Today would be her first day of classes. She glanced at her watch on her nightstand. It read 8:30.

8:30! I'm going to miss breakfast!!

Ginny sprang up from bed, forgetting the top bunk and banging her head painfully on the edge of it. She stepped onto the ice cold pavement without thinking and yelped before sitting back on the bed and pulling on her fuzzy slippers. She rushed into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and hair in a rush, not bothering with her usual 100 brush strokes. When she finished washing her face she rushed back into her dorm room and pulled her robes off the chair by her bed, pausing only long enough to think a very profound Ick! At the color green that once again made an appearance. She dressed hurriedly and raced up the stairs to the common room only to realize she'd forgotten her shoes. She cursed loudly and ran back to her room and pulled them on, grabbing her bag from the bed post where she'd forgotten it. Once again she raced up the steps to the common room. She was almost through the portrait hole when she heard Malfoy behind her, laughing rudely. She turned to see what he found so funny and saw he was looking at her. She stopped, looked down at herself, and in horror, realized she had her shirt inside out and her shoes on the wrong feet. She left, her face burning in embarrassment, and ran to the nearest bathroom to fix the problem.

Before she left the bathroom she checked everything she could think of to make sure she was in order. Then she calmly walked to the great hall. That's when she remembered her watch on the nightstand. She sighed and gave herself a mental kick for forgetting it. She'd have to rely on the schools clocks now. She quickly looked around for a clock and checked the time. 8:50.

Not good. I have Transfiguration with McGonagall first period. That's all the way on the other side of school.

Ginny ran to the nearest table and grabbed a piece of buttered toast and ran in the direction of her class.

She scooted through the door just in time and slid into the only empty seat left. All the other first years were busy scribbling notes down into their books and Ginny looked to the blackboard at the front of the room to see what they were doing. She quickly pulled out her book and turned to the directed page and got to work. She thought it odd that professor McGonagall wasn't in class, but didn't notice the odd cat on her desk. 10 minutes into class McGonagall jumped from the desk and turned back into her normal form. Ginny jumped nearly a foot from her chair.

Great! After the morning I've had so far, my first class is taught by a Cat lady…

"Something wrong Ginny?" McGonagall asked.

"No professor, just doing the assignment on the board."

"Well you were staring at me like I'd grown a second head. Surely you're familiar with transfiguration when your brothers George and Fred like to transfigure things for their amusement."

"Oh… well yes, but not with people transforming themselves into animals ma'am."

"I see. Well you will most certainly be familiar with it by the time you leave this class at the end of term."

Ginny only nodded and turned her eyes back to her book, blushing furiously. It seems her first day was going to be one filled with embarrassment and self inflicted suffering.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After her last class before lunch, Ginny headed to the library. She wanted to see what other kinds of books they might have available. She was thinking about the way she'd messed up the potion in Snape's class and then fallen off her broom in Madame Hooch's class. Her day was not going the way she'd planned. Then, as if he showed up to personally make matters worse for her, she bumped into Malfoy and fell on her bum. He just looked down at her, sneering.

"Watch where you're going, Weasley. No one wants your filth on their new robes."

Ginny chose to keep her mouth shut just this once as she picked herself and her books up off the floor and started toward the library again. Malfoy had other plans. He stepped in her way to stop her.

"What's the matter, Weasley? Cat got your tongue or have you turned mute."

Again, Ginny kept her mouth closed and turned to walk around him, and again he stepped in her path.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, Mudblood."

That was it. Ginny looked into his eyes with a glare that would have ignited flames had it been able to.

"I am NOT a Mudblood. My family's ancestry is just as pure as yours Malfoy. Now get out of my way."

She shoved him aside and walked on to the library, trying hard to ignore him.

"You might as well be one, the way your father obsesses over Muggles."

Ginny closed her eyes and continued walking, trying hard not to cry. She knew her father liked Muggle things, but she liked that about him. It made him who he was and he had fun trying to figure out what each thing could be used for.

When she reached the library, she walked straight to the romance section and looked for a few good books she could take with her to read at night after she'd finished her homework. She found about 5 books and took them to the desk to check out. After they were stamped with return dates, she made her way to the great hall and walked to her table, sitting on the end, as far from Malfoy as possible.

I think I really hurt her with what I said…Good. She doesn't belong in Slytherin anyways. And why should she be happy when I'm not. Malfoy thought to himself, seeing where Ginny sat. But something inside him sunk a little at the obvious hurt he'd caused her. He shook it off and turned instead to pick on another Slytherin first year while he ate.

Ginny could hear Malfoy making fun of some other new year and she ignored it, eating ravenously, having missed breakfast.

After more embarrassing falls and screw ups, Ginny made her way tiredly to the Slytherin dorms. She was so bummed out she didn't even notice the color green around her or remember her plans to redecorate her bed. "Wheezlebub" she said to the portrait, not even bothering to look the dark man in the face as she said it. The picture swung aside and she climbed through the portrait hole. She didn't stop in the common room, instead choosing to spend the afternoon in her room doing homework. Malfoy noticed her walking past and almost called out another insult but the look on her face stopped her.

There's no way I upset her THIS much…there must be something else going on with her today. Probably PMS or some other girl thing.

He shrugged it off and turned back to Crabbe and Goyle. Ginny climbed onto her bed and pulled out her potions book and started working on the homework Professor Snape had assigned. When she finished his assignment, she started finishing her homework for Professor McGonagall. Flight class was quickly becoming her favorite. It was the only one that she didn't have homework for. She checked the clock when she finished her other assignments and sighed. 9:30.

Maybe I'll just turn in early tonight. I'm not really in the mood for any more reading. Today was just terrible and a good night's sleep should help me forget it.

Meanwhile…

I wonder what she's doing right now…What had her so bothered today? It can't have been what I said to her in the hall. Wait. Why do I care? She's a filthy Weasley. Dad would go nuts, if he isn't already…

Malfoy was lying in his bed staring at the ceiling. He couldn't help feeling sorry for what he'd said to Ginny about her father.

It's not like she can control what her father does for a living anymore than I can control the fact that my father works for Lord Voldemort. I'll make it up to her somehow…she is, after all, in Slytherin house…The hat is never wrong.

And with that, he fell asleep. Ginny appeared in a lot of his dreams that night and for the first time since he was a little boy, he smiled in his sleep.

A/N: So? What do you think?! I know it took me FOREVER to get this one up but I got busy. College is not easy xD

So anyways please review! I'll try to get the next chapter up asap.