Coming to the end of her fourth year at Hogwarts, Ginny had reached the top of her year, and was still striving for more. Although by now it was more out of habit than for any real ambition. She didn't pay attention to the muggle world (though her father did try to force it on her), nor the wizarding world, or anything outside of Hogwarts and her studies. She barely payed attention to the gossip at Hogwarts, but her roommates frequently stayed up at night discussing this rumour or that couple that she had little choice in the matter, unless she wanted to sleep downstairs in the Gryffindor common room. But that would also mean a chance encounter with Harry, and she didn't want to risk it. Her fourteen year old anger and hate was a lot harder to control than her twelve year old anger and hate had been. Avoiding at all costs was the best, and sometimes when she believed people were going to talk about him she charmed her ears so that she would be deaf to their gossiping voices. The charm was only able to work for a little while, though, otherwise Ginny would have it permanently on, with the exception of the teachers, of course. She wanted to hear them, just not anyone else.

And her status had gotten worse. Not only did silence seem to constantly follow her like a shadow, except of course for her gossiping roommates and the loud cacophony that the Great Hall meals usually entailed, but now emotions seemed to fade from the room. A steady uneasiness spread through the students when the quiet, remote, study-obsessed girl entered the room. She instilled in them a kind of fear, or wariness, of her. She was more than odd, she was just plain weird. If she were the nobody she used to be, she would be ignored, but now everyone was blatantly aware of her presence and existence. No one could do anything about it, of course, for she was a model student with near perfect marks (some even whispered that she was better than Hermione in the year above them), but people kept their distance. No one wanted to be in association with her anymore, and to give people a reason to feel this way, rumours were made up.

"I heard that she got hit really bad on the head down in that chamber, you remember that?" some whispered after Ginny had vanished from their sights.

"Bah, the chamber is old news, I heard that the reason she is like...you know...is because she met a wizard who bewitched her to act this way – he wants her to help him when she gets out of school, and she needs to be the best of the best. Help him with what, nobody knows, but it can't be good if he has had to bewitch her," others murmured in reply to the theory.

"It's not really her, but an expelled student using the polyjuice potion..."

"She was driven mental after a visit to St Mungo's, but they let her out on good behaviour as long as she wouldn't talk to anyone and focused on her studies, and they keep an eye on her through the paintings..."

"Poisoned by someone...haven't caught them yet..."

"She saw death, that's what I reckon..."

"Attacked in the Forbidden Forest, never been the same since..."

Round and round the explanations went, getting further and further away from the truth. Her family, the ones still at Hogwarts, always tried to stand up for by saying that there was nothing wrong. But then, of course, this only brought on another round of rumours, now to do with family.

"I think that maybe them Weasley's did something to her, and are trying to cover it up..."

"Maybe the twins did something horrible, and Ginny saw it, and they have enchanted her to keep her mouth shut! I BET that's it! Always up to no good..."

Any attempt to fix it was futile, and the only ones that seemed to mind was Fred, George and Ron. Sometimes, even Hermione, but she had never really known Ginny that well. Never had the chance, as Ginny's hatred for Harry stopped her from trying to be a friend. She had no choice with Ron – he was her family, after all – but Hermione wasn't, and therefore she didn't have to bother. Hermione mainly stood up for her out of obligation to Ron.

In any case, as time went by and Ginny progressed through her schooling, her reputation grew worse and worse.

She was no longer a nobody, but a somebody that should be avoided at all costs. Of course, no one actually asked her why she was the way she was, and Ginny was completely glad that they didn't, but they were happy to live in their assumptions and speculate.

I mean, speculating was half the fun, and if they were told the real reason, what fun would that be?

So people continued speculating, and Ginny continued being Ginny, but things had far from levelled out to a regular state. For Ginny, there was only decline, although she couldn't see it.

She saw her marks getting higher, and her studies getting better, she couldn't see what was really happening.

All the emotion, the regret, the pain, the shame, the hate, that she had pushed down and suppressed through her studies was festering deep inside her. The nightmares grew worse, and she saw people at Hogwarts dying – all those faces disappearing one by one, and soon Ginny was living off as little sleep as was possible. Of course, she didn't attribute this to anything bad, not as an omen (she never believed in Divination, or fate, or any of that prediction junk) and so she continued thinking everything was as it always had been.

When it wasn't.

Far from it.