Hey Y'all, here I am ...again...don't get your hopes up I will probably not upload every day but I am uploading at the rate at which I am translating, and it just happened that I decided to procrastinate and not study for my GCSEs, totally should start btw. OK so here is the next chapter.
Disclaimer: This story, plot or characters do not belong to me, they belong to JK Rowling and the original writer is EmPotter. I am just translating from Italian to English.
Finally at Hogwarts
The end of the holidays came much sooner than what Ginny Weasley would have liked, though the girl couldn't wait for the first of September. On one hand, she would have been sorry to see Harry Potter only rarely in the Great Hall for breakfast, lunch or dinner, but on the other side ... life at Hogwarts Castle called!
So the first of September came and it took God's hand to be able to leave.
Everyone had so much to do: Mrs Weasley was busy with food, with school accessories, running here and there in search of socks and quills scattered around the house; Ginny looked at herself in the mirror whenever she could to fix her red hair that seemed to have a life of its own; the boys ran up and down the house; Percy nearly fell from the third floor because of the twins, and Mr Weasley almost got his neck broken.
As if the day brought bad luck!
They had crossed the garden and back three times, once because of George who had forgotten the Filibuster fireworks, the second because of Fred who had forgotten his beloved broom, and the third because Ginny had forgotten her diary.
She was almost ashamed of herself: she had left him to muffle under her bed!
Finally on the way… Percy had nagged and shouted through the whole trip, swearing to strangle them all for having compromised his career as Prefect, but he had nothing to complain at that moment, having already disappeared at the barrier running like crazy, followed by his father and the twins.
"I'm going with Ginny, you two come after us"
Ginny was too used to crossing the barrier at King's Cross to really worry about running into it. She still remembers that she had almost done it when Fred and George dragged her through the wall while she screamed at the top of her voice, making the Muggles at the station turn towards their direction. Eventually, she found out that it was not so bad but it was too late: it had already caused a situation.
Mrs Weasley grabbed her daughter's hand and together they emerged onto platform nine and three quarters.
The Hogwarts Express puffed: they only had two minutes. Ginny hugged her mother tightly and kissed her father several times before stepping on the scarlet train with her trunk, and looked out of the window of the train with her brothers.
"We'll miss you, honey!" her mother was saying, clutching a handkerchief in her fist. "Be good when you're at Hogwarts and write to us, alright? Don't get caught up with those fools Fred and George!"
"HEY!" they shouted in unison.
There was a whistle and after a few seconds, the train began to move slowly.
"Percy, I leave Ginny to you!"
"Everything is under control, mom, you know it!" the boy answered, pleased with himself.
"Ginny, be good and do not get in trouble like those two!"
Ginny kept nodding and waving, along with Fred and George (Percy had preferred to make a quick salute and disappear towards the tail of the train), until their parents became two red dots in the distance. The twins drew back from the window, but Ginny remained for a while to enjoy the warm summer breeze caressing her rosy cheeks, as she thought about how the trip would be, what would she be doing, and especially in the company of whom.
"So, would you find another place?"
Came the harmonious voice of Percy, threatening the twins in a very low voice to get out of the way. He was already wearing his Hogwarts uniform, shining with Gryffindor colours of red and gold. His chest was too far out for his beloved Prefect badge to be seen, and his hair made him look like a pompous prat. And then, quite impossibly ... he showed one of his real smiles.
Ginny leaned over her brother and noticed that he was in the company of a pretty girl, who was certainly Ravenclaw, judging by her bronze and blue Prefect brooch, thick and long brown curls and very clear and shining eyes.
The twins beamed, winking at the girl, while Percy narrowed his eyes in two slits.
"Would you two find another place?" he repeated with more emphasis.
"Yes, sir!" exclaimed the twins, and Percy looked pleased that he had not made a fool of himself because of the twins, in the presence of his companion, friend, or companion Prefect she was.
"Can we go?" the girl asked politely.
"Absolutely, Penelope"
The twins laughed hysterically.
"You two go into your compartment!" Percy growled, then gently turned to Ginny. "and you too, find a compartment and make friends with other children: if someone's bothering you I would be on patrol in the corridor and ... Oh, I'm sorry, something wrong? I'm a Prefect!" he added to a boy who was walking down that corridor.
"I'm just looking for my friends", he answered dryly.
Ginny shot a glance at her brothers and the girl named Penelope, then, dragging her heavy trunk she started toward the train's tail, struggling through the compartments full of cheerfully chatting students.
After a couple of minutes, when the girl decided that she could not make it anymore with her baggage, luck decided to help her: right there-there was compartment almost empty, occupied only by a pale, skinny, mouse-coloured boy who was looking out from the window with a smile on his lips.
Ginny knocked and entered.
"Er ... excuse me, can I sit there?" the girl asked shyly, glancing at the small seat. "I arrived late at the station and ... there weren't seats anymore"
"Oh sure, sit down!" the boy exclaimed joyfully, jumping up immediately.
He helped Ginny hoist her trunk on the rack, then sat down in front of her and stared at her curiously.
"I too arrived late," he declared. "So I was alone and left in here, how lucky that you arrived!"
The girl laughed.
"Anyway I'm Ginny Weasley"
"Colin Creevey, a pleasure to m ..."
The door of the compartment opened, interrupting what would have been a handshake between the two children, and Percy emerged into the compartment in an almost inquisitive manner with Penelope, who looked rather impatient and seemed to be already tired of it of that go-and-come from the hallway behind Percy Weasley.
"How's it going, little sister, all right? Do you need help?"
"I'm fine," she replied irritably.
"Oh dear, we thought you were on patrol in the corridors, not in this compartment!"
George suddenly appeared with his twin.
"Mom just told you to keep an eye on her only if something happens," said Fred, jabbing him.
"Go into your own compartment, you two!" Percy ordered immediately, but the twins, with a mischievous and very accomplice look, took him by the arms and dragged him out of the compartment, under the amused gaze of Ginny and Colin, and though Penelope was trying to be serious, she broke out laughing in the face of her patrol companion.
Who knows what the twins had in mind ... maybe they would throw him into the bathroom, set up a spell that gets Percy stuck in there and return to London ahead of time. Or they would threaten him to go and be the Prefect somewhere else ... it was all to see as soon as they arrived at Hogsmeade station.
"STOP!" Percy screamed like a little girl, while the twins dragged him. "'ET ME GO! I SAID LET ME GO! I WILL REPORT YOU AGAIN EVEN BEFORE THE SCHOOL STARTED AND BEFORE YOU CAN ..."
Penelope closed the compartment door with a thump but the two first years were still laughing.
"My brothers"
"How cool!" Colin commented when he had finished giggling. "They're a real hoot!"
"The first no, I assure you: Percy is already in his sixth year and is twins always make fun of him because he is mum's perfect boy" Ginny informed him, with slightly raised eyebrows. "Percy is a fairly ambitious guy ... I think he wants to make a career, to become famous because he is always locked in his room and only seen at meals"
"It will be fun to have three brothers like them, though"
"Six, I have six brothers," Ginny politely corrected him. "Bill is the eldest and I adore him, he's the only one who understood me ... I say understood because he finished school and moved to Egypt: he works for Gringotts"
"The wizard's bank?"
"Precisely!" she confirmed. "Then there is Charlie who has also moved out but not in Egypt, he's in Romania. His job is wonderful, he studies dragons. Then there is Percy, and then the twins: they are the symbol of disasters of the family. They're in the fourth year at Hogwarts and everyone loves them. Then there's Ron, who's in his second year, and then there's me, the only girl among so many boys, "she concluded.
"Oh, wow!"
"It's fun to have six brothers like them because they're hilarious, but the bad thing is that they don't make me part of anything because I'm a girl", Ginny explained rather melodramatically, "and then it is very difficult to get to their standards, because they have done everything before me, but I always put it all in. Always if my parents do not forbid me to do something" she added a giggle.
She thought of her mother, who forbade her every time for Quidditch with the others, or do anything else that boys did- which she adored doing just because she grew up with them. Fortunately, she was still young, because if she continued like this she would soon be rebellious, tired of that behaviour. Molly Weasley had to thank heaven that Ginny was still a girl of eleven, carefree and unaware.
"Anyway, do you have any brothers?"
"Yes, just one: Dennis," said Colin. "I was very sorry to leave him without me but Hogwarts called, I knew I was different, because I could do things that other children could not and when I told my parents, who are Muggles, they wanted to send me to a psychologist but when the letter arrived from a professor explaining my situation they changed their mind"
Ginny laughed.
"In your family, are they all wizards?"
"Yes, but I think I have an uncle who is an... accountant? Yes, but we never see him"
"So you already know everything about Hogwarts!" Colin replied excitedly. "tell me, please"
"So, Hogwarts ..."
And so little Ginny set out to explain to Colin Creevey everything she knew about Hogwarts the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: the origins, the four founders, the four houses that took their name and taught their values, the subjects you had to study, and Quidditch, which Colin declared to be taking little interest in, as it was already so much that he could be doing with both feet on the ground, let alone in flight.
The boy, for his part, explained to Ginny several things about Muggles, and she was very interested in things like the Muggle camera, which she tried with pleasure, and discovered that it did not throw any black smoke, but also discovered with disappointment that the photos do not seem like they are moving. She had expected to see her and Colin swayed in and out of the camera, instead, they remained motionless, petrified on paper.
How strange!
Every minute they spent together, Ginny felt more and more affectionate to that strange and cheerful little boy with a passion for photography and hoped with all her heart that for him it was the same.
Also, the two had a blast trying sweets of all kinds they had bought from the old witch's trolley. Colin even tasted a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean so orange-yellow coloured that Ginny would not have swallowed it even for galleons of gold: it smelled of vomit and made her reach.
"Chocolate Frogs ... they're not real frogs are they?" Colin asked, after swallowing a strawberry flavoured bean to adjust the taste of the previous one.
"Oh no, it's just a spell," she explained cheerfully. "in every pack there is a famous witch and wizard, I have about ... uhm ... two hundred, and I am missing Agrippa and Morgana. The twins have already finished the collection for a while and Ron has five hundred but he has never found Agrippa, I swear that if I find it I will not exchange: I've been looking for it for centuries!"
Colin chuckled, then unwrapped the Chocolate Frog and pulled out a little figure, with his mouth wide open in amazement.
"You said that! You said it was moving!" he exclaimed excitedly, watching Hengist of Woodcroft sneezing.
"Yes, I had ... then you did not believe me?"
"No, I had a hundred percent trust in you!" the boy grinned.
"Of course!" Ginny snorted, throwing a Chocolate Frog on his head.
"Do you want to declare war?"
Then, in response to her attack, Colin threw a white jelly with orange spots.
They started a war: Ginny had almost never had so much fun.
It was twilight by now and Ginny had napped for a little while, her head resting in her hands. She stared with half-closed eyelids at the dense, thick landscape running outside the window, listening to the loud rattling of the Hogwarts Express. Colin, on the other hand, seemed quite restless, as if he couldn't remain sitting for a minute longer.
In fact, when the train slowed, he was the first to shoot up, even bumping his head beneath the little rack. But he did not pay attention to it, quickly grabbing his robe and urging the girl to hurry up, catapulted out of the compartment.
In five minutes: Hogsmeade station.
A cool female voice echoed in the train and Ginny noticed that Percy was trying to persuade, with a threatening expression on his face, first-year boys to enter their compartment until the train had stopped completely.
"Get out of here, there's my brother"
Ginny pushed Colin into another cart, where Percy's shadow wasn't seen. However, it was full of malignant-looking bigger boys with the same grim expression: they were laughing and shoving unfortunate kids like the little Weasley and Colin.
"Be careful how you talk to me, brat, I have the purest blood!" a shrieking voice snapped out, which Ginny recognized with horror as that of Draco Malfoy. "Unlike yours which I think really needs to be disinfected"
The boys laughed; others, like Ginny, frowned.
"What does it mean to have pure blood?" Colin asked, astonished.
"It's like I told you before: Salazar Slytherin did not want Muggle's children and Half-Bloods to share magical knowledge," the girl explained as she tried to get out of that wagon. "So guys like you are called ... well ... mudbloods ... It's horrible! Whoever laughed at that will have no doubt which house they'll end up in"
"Is it considered a disgrace?"
"Yes, for the purebloods... but only the Slytherins consider it a disgrace"
The train stopped short and there was the pandemonium: big Slytherin boys shoved the little ones to let them pass, others instead pushed them directly against the windows of the train, others like Draco Malfoy and his friends were stuck in what was a fight to get off the train. Ginny could hear the boy's voice so close to her ear that she shuddered.
"I would love to know who died!" Malfoy declared irritably. "Oh, look ... Look there ... I thought I saw a snail that overtook you all, you first years, why don't you get up from your feet?"
There were giggles as he pushed the first-year kids who fell forward.
Ginny planted her feet on the ground with a huge force: she had no intention of falling in front of a band of wildernesses and she did not want Draco Malfoy to jostle her to get out of the train before those poor students who were before him.
"Damn it, move ... oh, look who we have here!" the boy exclaimed mockingly, while Ginny turned to him, frowning. "the last lentil of the W... Weasel ... Weasley family, right?"
Two very stout and troll-like boys giggled loudly at this like idiots, while a girl with hard features and a pug's face squealed in delight. Ginny realized that many Slytherins were listening, and some even seemed to be her age.
"What do you want?" she asked grumpily as she walked slowly toward the exit through the traffic.
"What could I ever want from you, Weasley?" he said. "What could I ever want from someone who runs in a school of magic with second-hand clothes?"
"You ... ugly ..." Ginny panted, red with rage, trying to defend herself, but right now the first-year kids moved and the girl lost sight of the impertinent snake.
She jumped off the train, her sight covered by burly Hogwarts students, and swore in a low voice: Malfoy seemed to have camouflaged himself with all the crowd that was there.
"First years! First years over here!"
Ginny spotted the tall figure of Hagrid, the giant Hogwarts gamekeeper who was a friend of her family, and also who had broken her father and Lucius Malfoy apart while they argued. She approached him with Colin trotting beside her unaware of the train clash with Malfoy.
Hagrid seemed to recognize her because he gave her a greeting.
"Do you know him?" asked Colin intrigued.
"Oh yes, he's a family friend!" chirped Ginny cheerful, forgetting about the incident on the train.
"First year! Little Ginny Weasley, eh? All right? Well ... Are you all here? Come on, follow me!"
The boys followed Hagrid along a steep and narrow path and Ginny almost stumbled and risked lying on the ground at the feet of the other kids: she hoped with all her heart that another beautiful fall would not happen, indeed, yet another situation to make a fool of herself. Slipping and stumbling, they continued to follow the giant uncomfortably because of that dark and gloomy landscape, and nobody seemed to find the descent amusing, except for a thin girl, with very long hair that was almost dirty blond, on which rested a pair of huge coloured glasses, and big, blue, protruding eyes that sent out sparks in the darkness: she seemed calm and proceeded in leaps. Some pointed at her and laughed loudly, but she gave no sign of embarrassment.
"Did you see the ... that one?" Ginny asked Colin in a barely audible whisper.
"Yes ..." Colin answered, trying not to laugh.
"Pay attention to where you put your feet!" Hagrid warned them. "In a moment: the first overview of Hogwarts!"
Ginny leaned over, almost elbowing in the crowd of students, and then there it was. Hogwarts. Majestic and imposing, it overlooked a large black lake: the windows shone, the towers rose high, and the kids had no breath to describe all that.
Magical, most likely.
Hagrid pointed to small boats and Ginny wondered if he would be able to get into one of those, then saw him get into a boat much larger than the little boats that they had reserved for the students.
"Not more than four per boat!" Hagrid called as the first years climbed into the boats.
Colin immediately got on the first boat in front of him and helped Ginny, who seemed very hesitant and did not trust the water from the pond accident with her brothers, to get inside. The two were followed by the strange girl, who had put the coloured glasses on her eyes and looked like a big shiny insect, and another girl who looked incredibly like the poor unfortunate soul that Ginny had injured the feet of ... if it was not her. ..
"Everyone on board? Well ... let's go!"
The boats broke away in unison from the shore and slid across the black lake. As they approached the opposite bank, Hogwarts Castle towered increasingly imposingly.
When they arrived at their destination, they walked a little further, then went up a stone stairway before crowding in front of a huge oak door that seemed to be the only entrance to the school.
Hagrid raised his giant fist and knocked: Ginny felt waves of emotion running through her whole body.
The doors opened immediately and there stood a woman with hair tied in a high bun: she was tall and thin, wore a long emerald green dress, and bore a rather severe frown. Ginny understood that it was Professor McGonagall, the famous woman to fill the entire population of Hogwarts students with homework.
"It's her who explained to my parents about me..." Colin whispered.
"Professor McGonagall is very strict," the little Weasley croaked.
"The First-year students, professor," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid, as always, I'll take them inside"
Professor McGonagall opened the front door and the children widened their eyes, amazed by so much grandeur and beauty. Ginny thought that even her house could easily enter the castle entrance without any problem.
She led them forward, towards a large door but did not open it. Instead, she turned, facing them.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said. "The banquet at the beginning of the year will take place in the Great Hall in a very short time but before you take a seat you will be sorted in your Houses through the sorting four Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Here your success will earn points for your house, while any rule violation will cause you to lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup. The sorting ceremony will start in a very short time."
Colin adjusted his cloak collar and Ginny nervously smoothed her hair.
Wherever she turned, she saw that no one breathed, and everyone tried to nervously adjust their hair or anything else that belonged to the clothes, except for the strange blond-haired girl who looked around curiously: the glasses were hanging from her throat like a necklace.
"Get in line and follow me" ordered the teacher.
McGonagall opened the door and a view of the Great Hall leapt into the eyes of the children.
The Weasleys had always described Hogwarts as a great castle, and above all, they had described the Great Hall as the brightest and most fantastic room, but never could the girl have imagined such a room. The Great Hall looked as majestic as the entire castle, lit by thousands of candles suspended in mid-air under the enchanted ceiling that reflected the sky outside- blue and full of stars, the four tables clapped (Ginny easily recognised Fred and George revelling and Percy scolding them severely).
At the back of the room there sat the teachers, and among them, there was Albus Dumbledore, characterized by a thick, long, white beard that seemed to shed light all around, as if it gave off a kind of shining aura.
"But this is the sky that's outside!"
"Yes, it's a spell," the little girl Ginny had met in Diagon Alley shyly informed them, her head turned to the ceiling. "is written in the book Hogwarts- a History"
"What's that?" said Colin.
"Percy read it," Ginny muttered as she stepped shyly between the tables of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw who all had their eyes on them. "It's a monstrous book, it's as big as a brick ... I would never dream of reading a page"
They stopped near the teacher's table in front of which Professor McGonagall placed a stool with a patched-up, worn-out hat on top that seemed to have been there for years (which it probably has). A large tear in the hat spread even further until it assumed the size of a large mouth, like that of Hagrid, and what was the Talking Hat began to sing:
And here we are all at Hogwarts, nice to talk but I'm a hat!
All dirty, worn out, patched up and old, I'm sorry if I might seem a bit fat.
But remember that you do not judge by appearance,
because I will smother you in the four houses of excellence:
If you will end up at Gryffindor,
I am sure that you have courage and audacity in every pore.
Or maybe it's your life in Hufflepuff,
loyal and patient, here the wickedness can't bluff.
Maybe you're wise and you know Gump's law,
and you will find your people in Ravenclaw.
Or maybe to Slytherin, my boy,
if you are astute and ambitious, here you won't find anyone that will annoy.
Now, let's see, if you go to Godric's house, from wild moor,
of Salazar, Helga or Rowena, I won't be wrong I assure.
What are you waiting? put me on your head instantly!
Trust me, you're in safe hands even though I am a bit weighty.
As soon as the Talking Hat had finished the song, the hall burst into a thunderous applause, obviously led by the twins who were too excited to stay still. The teachers cheered politely as some kids, smiled radiantly at all who looked at them, like Colin. Ginny was too excited to do anything, the weird girl was calm, and the one that was called Demelza (if Ginny's memory did not deceive her) seemed utterly embarrassed in the presence of all those people.
"We only have to try the hat!"
"Oh, but we just have to put the Talking Hat on the head!"
"And I who believed what ..."
"For god's sake, did your parents not tell you?" blurted a child, exasperatedly.
"I think they are Muggle-born, Astoria," a little boy muttered, turning his back to them.
Ginny stared at them in disgust, then looked over the heads of the others, unable to think of anything more sensible.
"When I call your name, you will come forward, you will sit on the stool here, I will put the Sorting Hat on your head and you will be sorted into your houses," announced Professor McGonagall, her dark eyes now on a list. "Barlow, Alice!"
A smiling little girl with long black hair stepped out confidently and audaciously toward the stool as if she had no fear of anything in that Great Hall, and the professor put her hat on her head.
"Gryffindor!"
Alice Barlow flipped her dark hair and reached the end of the table on the left, which was left empty for the first years.
"Bennet, Grace"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Creevey, Colin"
Colin glanced at Ginny then trotted to the stool: Professor McGonagall had just put the Sorting Hat onto his head, and it had barely touched his head when it cried out ...
"Gryffindor!"
"Coote, Ritchie"
"Gryffindor!"
Ginny noticed that sometimes the hat immediately called out the house where the kids should have gone while other times it took too long. For example, the boy just called had been sitting more than a minute on the stool.
"Gray, Annie"
"Black, Crow!"
"Greengrass, Astoria"
The girl who had scolded others for not knowing that they should just try the hat was immediately sorted into the Slytherins, along with another pair of mean-looking girls.
"Lovegood, Luna"
The blonde emerged from the crowd dreamily and sat gracefully on the stool, elegantly tidying her clothes. The Sorting Hat took no more than three seconds to sort Lovegood Luna in the Ravenclaws.
Ginny was beginning to get nervous but meanwhile, the sorting flowed fast.
"Probisher, Victoria!"
A girl with blond hair and several copper reflections, she advanced with a radiant smile on her lips towards the Sorting Hat, which took a few seconds before declaring her House of belonging: Gryffindor.
Then it was the turn of "Robins, Demelza" who, after a minute, was also taken by the Gryffindors.
The sorting went on, the Hat called ... again ... and again ... then only Ginny remained.
"Weasley, Ginevra!"
Fred and George clapped ahead of time, and several students giggled loudly: McGonagall frowned, squaring them one by one, then calmly put the Sorting Hat on Ginny's flaming hair.
Ginny had always wanted to be sorted into her true house, and now what is happening to her? Her heart was beginning to seriously sway, and she seriously envied the first girl that had been sorted out and Victoria Probisher for all the audacity of making a steady progress towards her fate.
Her whole family had ended up in Gryffindor because they had courage for nerves and chivalry ... but she? She felt very reckless for all those times that her mother kept her from getting involved, she was just trying to see how much she was worth. The Hufflepuffs were loyal and Ginny was, but she was not patient, that word could be excluded from her dictionary. In Ravenclaws were shining brilliant, intelligent pupils ... every time she returned from school she never wanted to open a book: she was not very fond of knowledge, if not for things that were particularly interesting. Slytherin ... and if it went to Slytherin? Death would have been preferable.
"Ah, a Weasley!" whispered the Talking Hat in her head: it seemed to have listened to all her messed up thoughts and Ginny jumped in fright. "I know exactly where to place you"
"Not Slytherin, I would prefer to die ... I would die rather than be a Slytherin ..."
Ginny felt her hair quiver as if the Hat was giggling. She squeezed the stool tightly.
"Gryffindor!"
It all happened so quickly that Ginny blinked and she was over at the Gryffindor table along with her brothers.
Fred and George, this time, got up on the benches to celebrate for their little sister and Ginny heard Percy scream at them like mad about "the rules that had to be respected in the presence of teachers and the Headmaster of a School of Magic and Sorcery".
Ginny reached the table to the left and slipped between Fred and Colin on a bench.
"Well done, little sis, that was great!" Percy congratulated pompously.
It was over!
Later, she would also write to her parents.
She wondered if Harry Potter had witnessed her sorting ... if he had been looking at her this whole time ...
"Welcome to new students!" Albus Dumbledore began with energy, rising from his chair, "and welcome back, to our old friends at a new school year here at Hogwarts! Well, now is not the time for notices ... so let's tuck in: start the feast!"
Dumbledore did not sit down but left the Great Hall, under the eyes of students and teachers, followed by Professor McGonagall. And they were in a hurry, seeing by the way they went out and skipped dinner. Many people looked around but no one seemed particularly worried: they all plunged their heads into the gold plates that exhibited dishes of all kinds. Ginny had never seen anything like this in her life, even though her mother was a very good cook and she always cooked a lot of stuff.
"But why were they in such a hurry?" Colin asked curiously while stuffing himself with food.
"Hey, Percy ..." Ginny said, and her brother, who was right in front of her, turned immediately. "How come to Dumbledore and McGonagall just left the hall?"
"Ah, it's because of those two irresponsible ones none other than Ron and Harry!" he snapped.
"So that's true?"
Ginny winced at the feeling of unnatural frost: a ghost with a ruff had just crossed her body. A ghost with a ruff ... but then was that Almost-Headless-Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor? Her brothers had described him to her, and this couldn't be anyone but him.
"Unfortunately, yes, Sir Nicholas"
"Who is Harry? You didn't tell me you had a brother named Harry ... or is he your cousin?"
"Sorry," Ginny replied with a strange twinkle in her brown eyes. "Harry Potter is my brother Ron's best friend"
She stopped eating, with her fork in the air, and her eyes lit up completely: Harry Potter ... he had seen her all that time ... he had watched her while she was wearing the Talking Hat ... that was heaven!
Ginny shook her back into reality and noticed that Colin gasped.
"AND YOU DID NOT TELL ME SO?" he shrieked. "Oh heaven ... Harry Potter ... I read so much about him ... the only one who survived the attack of the evilest wizard of all time ... quoted in Great Wizards of the Twentieth century.. oh heaven! "
Ginny would have liked to laugh on one occasion, but at that moment she had just realized that Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall had hurried out of the Great Hall because of Ron and Harry. And Ron and Harry were not there, the girl did not see them. Looking back, she had not even seen them on platform nine and three quarters ... not even in Hogwarts' Express ... could something have happened right under their noses without anyone noticing?
"But what happened to Percy?"
"I have never envied anyone as I envy them!" Fred intervened.
"Them?" urged the girl.
"They ... oh you say, George!"
"Ron and Harry have ... oh you say, Percy!"
"They missed the train and to come here to Hogwarts they flew without permission the car that Dad had secretly enchanted!" he said in one breath, and Ginny spilt all her pumpkin juice onto the table, causing the little black-haired girl and what appeared to be her partner to scream.
"Oh, that will be trouble at the ministry!"
"He will talk about it for years!" a dark boy with rasta curls, sitting next to George, intervened. "Are you his little sister?" he added looking at Ginny, who felt her cheeks turn into a furnace.
"Yes, she's Ginny," Fred said absently. "Ginny, this is Lee Jordan: the friend we talked about so much"
The girl smiled sheepishly as she shook hands with Lee Jordan.
"Who knows what their punishment will be ..." George mumbled, moving his tuft of red hair from his eyes.
"Can someone be expelled for such things?" asked Hermione Granger, Ron and Harry's best friend, who was listening to their conversation, and sat between a round-faced boy and Lee Jordan.
"Oh, sure!" promptly replied Percy. "They really deserve it, both of them! Stealing the car from Dad to come here… What the hell did they have in mind? They could have sent an owl to Hogwarts... oh there will be trouble at the Ministry! "
"I agree with you," Hermione said immediately, and Percy looked rather pleased. "They could have sent a message to the teachers through owl and instead they preferred to get into trouble"
"There will be just trouble at the Ministry ..." repeated Percy thoughtfully.
"Will they expel them?" Hermione asked restlessly.
"No, I do not think so," said Fred.
"Why not?"
"Those two always get away"
The first year Gryffindors had followed Percy to the entrance of the Gryffindor Tower: he had shown them the way but Ginny had couldn't remember anything after several corridors and doors. Fortunately, Percy was her brother! She could ask for the way whenever she wanted, unlike the other children. They climbed upstairs, looking adoringly at the paintings whispering to each other, pointing them... turning hidden doors and tapestries ... and they went up again until they were facing the big picture of an old lady dressed all in pink, the Fat Lady, that Ginny had heard about so much.
The password was Caput Draconis and the first-year kids entered climbing through the picture (someone needed a good push) and entered their Common Room.
The Common Room of Gryffindor was all red and gold, welcoming, round, and full of soft sofas and armchairs. Percy pointed to the girls for a door leading to their dorm while he pointed to another to the boys.
"Then there ..." Colin yawned loudly. "See you tomorrow for breakfast?"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow. Goodnight!"
"Goodnight"
Ginny climbed the spiral staircase that led to the girls' dormitories and opened the door on which was written 'First-year students'. Inside there were five four-poster beds with red curtains, and all four girls had pyjamas and chatted happily. The girl did not remember their names very well, apart from Demelza Robins and... no, she did not remember them.
Demelza looked at her and smiled encouragingly.
"Hi," he said. "We clashed at Diagon Alley, remember?"
"Yes ..." Ginny answered, blushing in the cheeks area. "Demelza Robins, right?"
"Exactly, Ginny Weasley," she said.
"I am Vicky Probisher, my pleasure!"
The girl had blonde hair and blue-grey eyes, a good bearing and a voice too loud. She approached Ginny and shook her hand with energy as if she wanted to give her courage to get closer because the little Weasley was still standing under the arch of the door like a cod. The other two girls did not seem to want to approach but they did, almost snubbing and looking at her from head to toe but with a smile.
"Alice Barlow, I was the first to be sorted into Gryffindor!" she exclaimed as if that was a great thing and Ginny smiled, not knowing what else to do, and especially what to say otherwise...
"Pleasure!"
Alice was very pretty: she had long black hair and bright green eyes that looked incredibly like Harry Potter's, and then she was very tall and shapely for an eleven-year-old girl.
"I'm Rose Owen!"
"Ginny Weasley" repeated the little girl
Rose Owen, on the other hand, was not as skinny as the other two but she was also very shapely: she had short brown hair and intense blue eyes: on her hair, she wore a kind of band that matched the colour of her eyes.
After these presentations, Ginny walked over to her bed near the window and put her pyjamas in a way that made her look like a zombie because she was very tired from the trip and her stomach was bursting from the feast. She wanted to write a letter to her parents ... she wanted to write to Tom Riddle in her diary but he just could not do it.
In two minutes she fell in deep sleep.
So yeah that's the end of the chapter. You just met the people Ginny will spend all her school years with, obviously not everyone but some good friends and enemies are there. Again the original fan fiction is in the following link:
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~Hope you liked it ~
~`Ermory`~
Edited by: Helena Hansilton