The last day of the year at Hogwarts.

GINNY XI

Ginny looked at the content of her trunk. Everything was in place. Her robes, her books, her cauldron, what was left of her potions' ingredients. Her telescope was carefully folded and stowed. She was glad that Tom Riddle's diary wasn't there.

With a push, Ginny shut her trunk, then leaned to lock it. Everything else she owned, she wore it, from her robe to her wand. She looked around. The dormitory was empty. All the other girls she shared it with were already gone. Ginny would be the last one to leave.

She thought about everything that had happened this year. This wasn't at all how she had pictured her first year at Hogwarts. Last summer, she was all excited to walk in her brothers' footsteps and study at this school like everyone in her family had before. Today, on the last day of her first year, her excitement quite receded. Within her first year, the wagon of the Hogwarts Express in which she travelled was left behind, she almost made no friends, she ended under the control of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and opened the Chamber of Secrets. Four students, a cat and a ghost were Petrified by her fault, and she almost died.

The last days of the year had been better. There had been the feast, first and foremost. She was even able to speak and laugh with Harry on this occasion. Seeing everyone who was Petrified coming back, especially Hermione, filled her with joy. Hagrid's return was wonderful as well. She went to see him the day after the feast and apologized for his roosters she killed and for sending him to Azkaban. He had hugged her so tight that she thought he broke a bone or two. But it didn't matter in Ginny's eyes. What mattered the most was that he forgave her.

That wasn't the case for everybody. She tried to apologize to the Ravenclaw student, to the Hufflepuff boy, and also to Colin. The first didn't really accept her apology, he just ignored her, and the rest of his team behaved likewise. In Hufflepuff, the boy said he forgave her, but he didn't sound like he meant it, and many of his comrades didn't look like they wanted to forgive her either. Some even seemed to be scared by her. This was also the case for Colin, who did everything to avoid her for the rest of the year.

Ginny didn't manage to make many friends this year, but it had gotten worse now that everyone knew, mostly by deduction, that she was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets. There was even a Hufflepuff in her Herbology course who blamed her for letting everyone believe that Harry was Slytherin's heir. The worse part about her accusations was that they were true.

Despite all this, Ginny left Hogwarts somewhat happy. No one had died. Everyone who was Petrified was back to normal. And she still had her brothers. Fred and George still teased her, but in a much gentler way during the remaining of the year. Percy gave her quite a sermon about what she should have done instead of writing in Tom Riddle's diary, but afterwards he was always very kind with her. Ron was also very protective of her, sometimes too much to her taste, to the point it got annoying, but she had to admit it was good to have a big brother ready to protect you. Hermione also forgave her. And then, there was Harry.

The day after the feast, Ginny was sitting alone in the common room. Everyone stayed away from her. She was all alone in her corner. Dumbledore didn't tell that it was her that Tom Riddle controlled to open the Chamber of Secrets. He only said at the feast that a student was manipulated by a magical object full of dark magic into doing this, but news and rumors spread fast, and soon everyone knew it was Ginny that he had been talking about. As a result, everyone avoided her. Well, everyone except Harry. He had come to see her and offered to play a game of Exploding Snap with her. Ginny had only nodded to say that she accepted. The feast had been over, and she was shy again in his presence. Things had gotten better though, since Ron, Fred, George, and even Hermione and Percy joined them a little while later. Ginny even laughed when Fred taunted her by saying he was sorry they interrupted her first date with Harry.

It was a chance that her brothers, Harry and Hermione forgave her. Without them, she didn't know what she would have done. Despite feeling sad and still guilty about what she did, she almost felt that the year ended in a better way than it began. At the same time, she felt guilty about feeling that way, after everything she did.

Giving a last look at the dormitory, with a mixture of relief and longing, she grabbed her trunk and left the place. She pulled the trunk with her two hands to the stairs. Down in the common room, her brothers, Harry and Hermione were waiting for her. Each one of them had already brought their stuff down the stairs. Ginny was last.

"Wait, I'm coming," Hermione said when she saw Ginny up the stairs. The two girls carried Ginny's trunk down the stairs.

"So, nobody's forgotten anything?" Percy asked once the girls were down the stairs. He didn't leave them time to answer. "Very good. Let's head to the train. It's leaving soon."

The common room was almost empty. Ginny took a last look at it before they walked through the entrance. Then she watched the portrait of the Fat Lady closing behind them. She bowed her head in a sign of farewell. As she waved her hand, Ginny almost tumbled into a wall.

"Careful, little sister," George said. "Keep the clumsiness for Harry. No need for other causes."

She reddened on the spot. At least, George was kinder than usual when he said it. If Harry heard it, he didn't seem to bother with it. He kept walking forward, for which Ginny was glad. Right now, she didn't feel any longer the need for Harry to notice her. It was plain that he knew she existed, considering the events of the last days. All that was left was her desire for him not to see her in a compromising situation, like when she blushed in this very moment. It already weighed down upon her much less than before.

They walked across the corridors and stairs of Hogwarts, meeting the path of other students who were gathering in the Entrance Hall, waiting for carriages to conduct them at Hogsmeade Station. They met by chance a group of Hufflepuff students. Among them was Justin Finch-Fletchley. He came to speak to Harry.

"Anything planned for summer, Harry?" he asked.

"Not really. Just to rest, I guess, after everything that happened," Harry replied. Ginny felt a lump in her stomach. It was because of her that this year had been so horrible.

"I'm not sure if I'll rest at all," Justin said. "I mean, after spending so much time in Petrification, I just want to do something of all the time I have now. Hannah told me you play football during summer."

"Yes. I can't really play Quidditch outside of Hogwarts."

"A shame. I used to play me too, but I stopped when I arrived at Hogwarts. Your have a favourite team?"

"Liverpool," Harry replied.

Justin made a grimace. "Manchester United."

The two boys started a not so serious debate about the virtues of each team, to Ron's bewilderment, who looked at Harry as if it was the first time they met.

"Mental," Ron sighed. Ginny, on her side, retained a giggle.

Hermione was speaking with two girls from the same group of Hufflepuffs. Another boy named Ernie tried to engage the conversation with Ron, but it didn't last long. Ginny had the distinct impression that the stout boy shortened his conversation with Ron after he spotted her.

Ginny climbed into the same coach as Fred, George and Ron. Harry and Hermione went into another with Justin, with who Harry was still engaged in a conversation on a sport Ginny didn't understand, and the girl with red hair who Hermione was talking to.

The coaches led them to Hogsmeade Station, where they disembarked. Their group said goodbye to the Hufflepuffs. Fred, George, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny found a compartment for themselves in the last wagon.

"I hope the wagon is not going to detach again," Ginny said. The end of the year had gone smoothly so far, and she had no wish for it to turn untrue in the last hours before they got back home.

"I doubt it," Harry said. "Dobby wanted to stop me from coming to Hogwarts, not to leave it."

Ginny wasn't sure about the link between the house-elf and the Hogwarts Express, but she didn't ask further questions. Just before the train left, Harry was looking through the window and cried out.

"It's Hagrid."

He, Ron and Hermione ran out of the wagon. Ginny remained inside with Fred and George. From the window, she couldn't hear what Hagrid told them, but she saw Harry, Ron and Hermione both hugging the tall gamekeeper, then running back to the train as the doors were closed and it was beginning to move forward.

"What did he want?" Fred and George asked together.

"To say goodbye," Harry, Ron and Hermione said at the very same time. The six of them went on laughing.

They soon started playing Exploding Snap. To the game's explosions, Fred and George added the explosions of their last Filibuster Fireworks. As they did it and really had fun, Ginny realized how much she would miss Hogwarts during summer. They wouldn't get to use magic while being on vacation. Professor McGonagall was very clear with them about it. Ginny regretted that she couldn't at least try to show her parents what she learned to do. She didn't want them to think she only spent the year under an evil diary's influence and that she learned nothing.

When the sweet trolley passed by, Harry bought a lot of candies for all of them. Ginny rushed onto the Cauldron Cakes. Later, as Harry, Ron and Hermione practiced disarming each other, something at which Harry seemed to be the best of the three, Ginny took an absence to go to the toilets. She had to wait, for someone was already using them. The girl who occupied them took her time, and Ginny grew impatient. She drummed the door at some point. The girl on the other side said she was almost done. Despite this, she needed a few additional minutes to get out. When she did, Ginny had the unpleasant surprise to find herself face to face with a girl she already met a few times.

"Sorry for taking so much time," the girl began. "I..."

Her eyes then grew wider when she saw Ginny. This was one of the players from the Ravenclaw team who gave her a cold shoulder when she tried to apologize for their player who got Petrified. The black-haired girl was the Seeker for their team. Ginny didn't know why, but she didn't like this girl. In the very least, she didn't instill any trusting feeling for Ginny.

"Well... I'm on my way, anyway... The toilets are free..."

The girl walked away hurriedly. Ginny decided to ignore her, used the toilets, then went back to the compartment she shared with her brothers and friends.

They continued playing Exploding Snap for the rest of the journey. Ginny also tried to disarm Ron, and uncontrollably blushed each time Harry tried to give her some advice. Though she had to admit she jumped out of joy when she managed to disarm her brother at the very end of the journey. The rest of the time, Ron tried to convince Harry that the Chudley Cannons were the best Quidditch team of all time, while Hermione read. Ginny wondered how she managed to read with so many explosions and animated discussions all around her.

At the very end of the trip, Harry asked Ginny what it was that Percy didn't want her to tell anybody. Ginny finally revealed that Percy had a girlfriend, another Prefect from Ravenclaw, Penelope Clearwater. She surprised them kissing in an empty classroom one day. She asked Fred and George to not tease him, but their assurances didn't seem very genuine in her eyes. She hoped that Percy wouldn't blame her too much for revealing the truth.

As the train slowed down, everyone pulled their trunks. They were the first to get out on the platform. Both Ginny's parents were waiting for them. It hadn't been that long since they saw each other, but her mother and her father hugged her very tightly. Harry, on his side, joined his own mother. Hermione was not far from them. Ginny didn't see her parents in the crowd. They all proceeded to the barrier that would lead them to King's Cross.

"You can come and stay at my parents' for a few days if you want, Harry," she heard Hermione say, "but it will have to be before July 15. We're leaving for a long tour in France, and I won't be back before the end of August."

"We'll arrange something," Mrs Lily said.

"You'll have to spend a few more days without me cooking, Mom," Harry warned.

"I think I will survive."

"You will?"

They both laughed while Harry was pinched on the top of his head, right before his mother ruffled his hair. For the first time since a long moment, Ginny envied Hermione. Once they were on the other side of the barrier though, a conversation between Ron and Harry lifted up her spirit.

"I'll have you come at the Burrow some time in August," Ron told him.

"That works for me," Harry replied. He looked at his mother who nodded.

Well, she would see Harry again this summer. She just had to make sure she wouldn't knock everything down and blush every time he looked at her the next time they met. As Mrs Lily said, the best you can do is to learn lessons from what happened this year.

And another year is over.

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Next chapter: Harry