"What's your problem?" the student asked the figure perched on a stone windowsill. Huntsgirl did not even dignify that with any sort of acknowledgement. "You've got some nerve, threatening a guest of Dumbledore's like that."
"I am the Headmaster's guest as well, in case you didn't know." The masked girl answered. She turned her head towards the student. A red-haired girl, with freckles on her cheeks, uniform in black, crimson and gold. One of the foolishly gutsy ones, just great.
"That still doesn't excuse what you're doing."
"And what are you planning to do about it? Dumbledore knows of our ways and he is smart enough to not intervene. You're mistaking me for someone you can push around, little girl."
A ginger eyebrow rose at that, the Griffindor now standing in a defensive posture, hands crossed over her chest. "Little girl? Sorry, but by the looks of it, I'm pretty sure that we're around the same age."
"You know nothing, you silly witch." Huntsgirl scoffed and to the student's surprise, jumped down from the window, landing right in front of her. "Do you even know anything of the Huntsclan? What we do? Our purpose?" The uncertain frown on the girl's face told her well enough. "What's your name?"
"Ginny Weasley." The red-haired girl answered, eyes wary and jaw tense. She did not take her eyes off the large blue eyes she could see through her mask. Brave little one, indeed. "What's yours?"
"Huntsgirl."
Ginny frowned at that. "No, I mean your real name. That can't be the only one you have."
"That's the only one you need to know. It is meant to show my purpose." Huntsgirl then removed one of her gloves. Her hand was small, the shape of her fingers slender and feminine, but her nails were not in the least; her skin did not look soft, bearing fresh scratches and old scars. As she opened her palm for Ginny to see, the intricate snake-like shape coiling around her wrist was hard to miss. The dark pink form finished at the center of her open hand in the unmistakable shape of a dragon's head, mouth open and snarling, looking ready to lunge. The masked figure was silent as she let Ginny's eyes roam over the strange mark on her skin. Once her gaze lifted toward the other girl, Huntsgirl noticed her eyes were bright brown, clear and sharp.
"A tattoo?" Ginny asked uncertainly.
"A birthmark." she answered, fingers tightening over her palm, hand taking the shape of a fist. "It's what makes me part of the Huntsclan. It shows my destiny, to destroy the dragons and all other magical creatures." Those warm brown eyes were looking at her like they were trying to fit the pieces of a dangerous puzzle. And she seemed to have come to her own conclusions, despite Huntsgirl's attempt to steer it the way she wanted to.
"Do you have anybody with you?"
"What do you mean?" The question had caught her off guard and dread threatened to freeze in her veins.
"You look like… You have this look in your eyes." Ginny paused, grasping for words." It's not like you're insane. You don't look like someone who wants to murder without reason, to start a fight without a reason. Is your family part of this clan as well?"Huntsgirl tightened her fist.
"My clan is my family. They took me in and trained me since I was a baby."She could not get anything else past her lips, struggling to make it seem like she didn't know, like she wasn't still furious that she had been lied to for all her life, that her family was in fact alive somewhere and that she had a twin sibling and that they had loved her.
"Oh." Ginny felt like there was something more behind the short answer, but tactfully did not pry any further. "Any friends?"
The masked girl's shoulders slumped just a fraction at that. (Just one, she thought to herself.) "Friends are a burden. The Huntsclan sees them as a mere liability." And it was true, in fact.
"But what do you think?" Damn it, the girl was persistent and clever.
Huntsgirl looked her dead in the eye as she responded. "I have more important things to worry about than looking for friends. And that thing is" she put her glove back on in one fluid, determined motion "big, red and scaly". As she started walking down the corridor away from the girl, she couldn't help but stop for a moment and turn her head back towards the girl. "I like your hairclips."
Ginny could only blink in surprise, suddenly remembering the accessories she had placed in her hair earlier in the morning. She then found herself alone in the corridor.