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". . . suppose you're free to go, Miss Weasley. Miss Weasley?" Ginny looked up at Madam Pomfrey and nodded. She hadn't slept well so the Nurse had been unwilling to let her go earlier. Ginny had insisted that she wanted to get back to a normal routine, despite the bumps and bruises and her tossing and turning in the hospital bed. She knew her brothers were waiting for her outside the Hospital Wing, and would fuss over her more than ten Madam Pomfreys, so she wasn't in danger of hurting herself any further, nor was she in danger of overworking herself so soon after getting out of the Hospital Wing. She pulled on her robe over her school skirt and jumper, and wandered out of the ward with the sound of the Nurse's disapproving sniffs in her ears.
The first class that morning was mind-numbingly boring, and made her head ache. It almost made her wish she was still in the hospital... almost. Why did she have to have double History of Magic so early in the morning? In fact, why did she have to attend History of Magic at all? She decided that for that morning, she didn't have to take it, and in the break between the two hour-long lectures, she grabbed her belongings and left the classroom, swinging her bag onto her back and ignoring the yells from the classmates who saw her leave. She didn't really care if they told Professor Binns that she was skiving. She just didn't want to be there, where it was easy to fall asleep and have those nightmares again.
The first place she went to was the Gryffindor Common Room, jogging lightly up the vast amount of stairs and muttering the password to the Fat Lady, ignoring the painting when she asked whether she had any classes or not. The Common Room was, thankfully, empty when she strode into it, firing her bag onto a chair by the fire and plonking herself down beside the bag. She felt tired but restless, ready to fall asleep but wide awake at the same time. Her neck and temples ached, and her stomach was still slightly nauseous. When she shut her eyes she could still see the great ball of orange fire tearing its way through the deck of the ship, and she could feel her feet leaving the ground, followed closely by the sensation of flying backwards without being able to control what was happening. Reliving the experience reminded her of how helpless she had been, how utterly out of control she had been of the situation. She didn't even know how it had happened, nor did she really want to know. What mattered was that it didhappen, and that it would disturb her dreams for months to come.
Her eyes flew open again when a small part of her mind told her that she was drifting off again, and she sat forward, scowling. She didn't want to sleep, that was the reason she had left Professor Binns' class. She hauled herself out of the comfortable chair, raced up to the dormitory to put her bag on her bed, and swung her cloak around her shoulders before running back down the stairs and back out of the Common Room, thinking only of keeping herself awake.
She kept up a brisk, steady pace as she made her way back down the stairs, ignoring the ache that grew in her thighs from running down so many stairs. She needed to keep herself awake, and the best way to do that was to walk around. The best place to walk was out on the Grounds, where it was cold and quiet. The cold would keep her alert, which was what she needed. She wouldn't let herself be tired right now.
The Entrance Hall was blissfully empty when she finally reached it, panting slightly and feeling a slight ache in her legs. The sooner she got outside, the better. The few people that wandered around the Entrance Hall went ignored as Ginny tried to get through the doors as fast as she could without actually running, but she slowed when she heard a familiar voice call her name. When she turned to face Harry, who was leaving the Great Hall, her memories flashed back to the morning before, when she had woken up cradled in his arms and had nearly thrown up in his lap. A rush of affection filled her as she remembered the look of concern on his face, and she smiled at him as he reached her, scanning her face with his beautiful green eyes. "Madam Pomfrey let you out?" She nodded slowly, choosing not to tell him that she had had to convince the Nurse to let him go.
"Don't you have class now?" The question surprised her, considering she wasn't the only one standing in the Entrance Hall during class hours. Since he was a year above her, they didn't know each other's timetables, so she could very easily lie to him about leaving History of Magic. Which she did, by shaking her head mutely. She felt a little bad for lying to him twice in the space of five minutes, but she didn't want Harry telling Ron or Hermione that she was skipping class, she'd get a lecture from Hermione and the usual stuttery worried ramble from Ron. It wasn't what she wanted to hear from either of them, so lying to Harry was her best option. He didn't look convinced, looking at her through slightly narrowed eyes. Time to change the subject, Ginny.She thought to herself, before opening her mouth to speak. "Why aren't you in class? If you aren't busy we could go for a walk?" she cursed herself silently for not sounding more flirty, and for the hopeful note that entered her voice when she asked about the walk. Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice, and shrugged at her, motioning that she should take the lead and start walking. She felt a little rush of triumph, and finally left the castle with Harry close behind her.
Five minutes later, Ginny was cursing herself for choosing to leave the Common Room at all, and dragging Harry with her outside. The wind howled around the grounds, and was bitterly cold, making her shiver uncontrollably. An awkward silence had descended on the pair, and Ginny wished she didn't feel so braindead around him. Say something witty! Nothing came to mind, unless she made a joke about the fact that she had dragged him out into the cold for no particular reason. Which probably wasn't a good idea, considering he didn't look comfortable or warm as it was. She was an idiot for wanting to get out of the Castle in the first place, especially so soon after being washed up on the shore of the Lake.
She shouldn't have thought about the Lake. Her eyes automatically flickered towards it. It sparkled in the weak, cold morning sun, and it almost looked like nothing had happened there worth noting. Except the few lumps of wood that remained of the ship, the Lake looked almost peaceful. Pretty, even. She made her way towards it without even thinking, letting Harry follow her if he wanted. It was only when she tripped on a lump of wood that she realised she had reached the waters edge. There was grit under her shoes, and it crunched when she walked. She was dimly aware of Harry standing beside her, holding her hand and mumbling soothing nothings awkwardly, as if he didn't really know how to comfort her but was going to make a good stab at trying. She squeezed his hand slightly and gazed out at the water, with the charred remnants of the ship still floating on it, unsure what she was doing there but she didn't want to leave.
She started when Harry's hand left hers, and she turned to look at him. He had spotted something on the miserable excuse for a beach, and was running towards it. She lagged behind, not sure if she wanted to see what it was that had caught Harry's attention. She broke into a run and joined him when she realised what it was. There was a boy lying on the grit, half immersed in water, as if he had tried to crawl up onto the shore and had given up when the upper half of his body left the water. He was lying on his stomach, his eyes were closed. . . and he was naked, apart from a few heavy-looking necklaces made from what looked like seaweed and smooth coloured stones. She caught herself looking him up and down, taking in pale, smooth skin, like fresh milk, a long, lithe body, slight but a slight hint of muscle here and there. From what she could see he had a flat, toned stomach, a few grazes, and when her gaze trailed lower, she blushed and brought her eyes back up to his face, which was handsome in a pale, pointy kind of way. He had a strong jawline and a straight nose, high cheekbones and his hair was as fair as his skin, almost unnaturally white. As much in love as she was with Harry, she was still able to appreciate that this boy was attractive, and probably wouldn't say no to a romantic encounter.
Harry's voice distracted her from eyeing up the strange boy, and reminded her that he was lying unconscious on the shore of the Lake without a stitch of clothing, and he was covered in scrapes and bruises. Harry was taking off his cloak and covering the boy with it, ordering Ginny to run back and get help. Which she promptly did, racing back to the castle as fast as she could and approached the first non-student she saw, gabbling about finding someone wounded by the Lake, probably left over from the wreck of the explosion. After that everything was a bit hazy, there was a lot of running around, answering questions, following Madam Pomfrey back up to the Hospital wing so she and Harry could answer questions about the state the boy was in. No questions were asked about why neither of the students were in class, which Ginny was thankful for, though she spotted Madam Pomfrey glaring at her a few times, as if she knew that Ginny had skipped class. She made her excuses and left the Hospital Wing as soon as possible, leaving Harry and the professors to talk to the boy when he woke up.