Protocol: We do not own this. The character and story belong to (Unfortunately) JK Rowling and the og fanfic is called "Sono Ginny Weasley e questa e' la mia storia" it is originally in Italian and can be found on EFPfanfic. The translator is Ermory and the editor is Helena.
Welcome home!
The next day, Molly put them all to work: equipped with masks and Doxycide they tackled the hideous Doxy infestation in the Grimmauld drawing room. Ginny and her mother didn't talk much, especially after what she had learned from Hermione, which was to say, nothing new at all. Except that apparently, Voldemort was after something, something he didn't have last time. Knowing this, Ginny no longer wanted to talk to her mother, her father, Sirius, or her brothers and everyone who hadn't lifted a finger to get her to stay with them. If nothing was going to be said, then what was the point for brutally throwing her out of the room and causing a panic?
As days passed and the housework piled onto them more and more. Harry didn't seem willing to talk to the others either, but one news cheered him up and made him forget his captivity at Grimmauld Place: his victory at the Ministry trial for practicing underage magic. In other news, Ron and Hermione have been made the new Gryffindor Prefects, much to everyone's delight— and surprise, as far as Ron's choice was concerned.
Did we really say delight? Now that Ron was guarding the corridors, his sister and Michael could no longer be together for long, wandering around Hogwarts after class, so they had to be very careful. Obviously, having a friend in Hermione as a prefect had advantages too.
There was a celebration the night before they got back to Hogwarts, then as the clock struck ten Molly immediately sent them upstairs to sleep.
"Girls, girls— wake up!"
The commanding voice of the matron woke them up, but Ginny had the impression that she had only just fallen asleep at that moment. Maybe it was because she had eaten too much and kept tossing and turning in bed with the molasses pie mumbling in her belly, or perhaps the dark house made it seem like perpetual night ... but she just knew she was still sleepy, so immediately sank back down with her face in the pillow.
"No, Ginny, don't go back to sleep! So many things need to be done before you leave ... Hermione dear, are you awake?" she continued to speak to them, pacing the room picking up dirty clothes, leaving a pile of clean clothes on a chair, and opened the bedroom window to let in annoying rays of sunlight, which would surely get her daughter up.
"Mum, close that window..." she mumbled sleepily as Hermione got out of bed and stretched. Her mother, in response, pulled the sheets off her and disappeared from the room, slamming the door and startling her daughter, still more than halfway asleep.
"Er ... better get up," Hermione ventured, then gave a long yawn.
"She hates me! Ever since I yelled at her that time, but it was her fault ... I can't be blamed for reacting like that!" Ginny exclaimed, getting irritated again, sitting up on the bed and pulling the sheets back over her pale, thin legs.
How much would she have liked to go visit the beach or maybe take a swim in the Burrow's pond to tan her legs. She would be a ball of mozzarella next to her friends. Indeed, she who was already very fair skinned would have looked like the little sister of Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost. Luckily, her uniform skirt was long and her blue socks were just as long, so she wouldn't make too much of a fuss.
"It will pass, and you should let it pass too," Hermione retorted.
"Mmh ... don't go back to sleep, there's so much to do before leaving and blah blah blah" the girl mimicked her, hoping that her mother was not listening to their conversation at the door; Hermione giggled loudly, then a splash of water from Ginny drowned out her giggles. "Since when do we have much to do before going to the station? Oh yes, I woke up with a bad mood this morning. And it's all my mother's fault!"
"Don't brood!" Hermione chided cheerfully.
The two friends hurried to get ready and Ginny noticed that in the chair next to her bed was a pile of new things her mother had bought her: finally, she would own a non-second-hand school uniform ... and even the robe was new, shiny black and not at all worn! It seemed this year was going to be quite eventful in every sense, if she hadn't felt it the moment she had set foot in the headquarters.
Molly opened the door and handed clean shoes to the two girls, before—
"Take off that shirt immediately!" she barked at her daughter.
"What ..." Ginny was quite puzzled: it was a shirt her mother bought for her, of the Holyhead Harpies, her daughter's favorite Quidditch team and about which she had heard so much from the girl.
"You are crazy, Ma. Seriously, this house is not good for you!"
"Ginny, we're going to a station full of Muggles ... are we going to throw security to the wind?" and she left.
"Secrecy from Muggles is important," said Hermione sternly, immediately pulling her friend's shirt off and placing it carefully in her trunk while Ginny pulled on a large t-shirt that used to belong to Bill. "Even though," she hastened to continue, "they can't understand much from that shirt. You could keep it on, but you know how your mother is ... and Mad-Eye too. He would have wanted you to change it as well."
"Fine ... do I look Muggle enough?"
"Yes, that looks about right."
"I'd hope so!" Ginny snapped thinking of her mother and stepping off the landing, closely followed by Hermione.
"Locomotor trunk!" it was heard from the floor above but neither paid much attention.
"I really hope so, if she doesn't like this one either— AAAARGH!"
"What is happening?"
"GINNYYYYYYYYY!"
Hermione tried to grab her friend, but Ginny was already tumbling like a snowball down the two flights of stairs leading to the kitchen, knocked over by the two trunks Fred and George had charmed to fly down the stairs. How had they not noticed the twins spelling their trunks? Probably they were too busy thinking about shirts and Muggle safety. Ginny felt her head ablaze as she tumbled again; warm blood dripped from her neck where her skin had made contact with a broken step.
Then with a final thud the girl found herself lying at the feet of Molly and Sirius, who helped her back on her feet. Hermione ran down the stairs to check on her friend and the twins immediately followed, apologizing over and over to their sister for having charmed the trunks.
"YOU SPELLED THE TRUNKS?" the woman screamed, more menacing than ever as she stared down Fred and George.
"Yes, but we didn't think that ..."
"... YOU WOULD HIT HER AND SEND HER ROLLING DOWN TWO FLIGHTS OF STAIRS?"
"Mum, we didn't mean to!"
"How many times do I have to tell you NOT to use magic for nonsense?" Molly yelled desperately as she took a menacing step forward towards her children, while Sirius still held a dizzy Ginny firmly in his arms. "BUT YOU ... NEVER! NEVER LISTEN TO ME AND SEE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"
Of course, Mrs. Black wouldn't be herself if she didn't join in with her screams.
"MUDBLOODS! WEREWOLVES! TRAITORS AND THIEVES!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"YOU COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY, YOU IDIOTS!" the other gave her a strong hand, also screaming at the top of her lungs.
"FILTHY HALF-BREEDS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS—"
"Shut up, horrid witch!" Sirius demanded in exasperation.
"ABOMININATIOOOON! SHAME OF MY FLEEEESH!"
"The mistress is very angry, yes," gloated Kreacher, trotting towards the entrance of the horrendous show was being held, where everyone was looking at Ginny who seemed all groggy and not very conscious. "The mistress is angry because that killer of a traitorous son helps the blood traitor who fell down the stairs ... ha! That little rogue fell down the stairs, ha-ha-ha!"
"You will make a killer of me if you don't disappear immediately!" Sirius snapped grumpily but Kreacher kept giggling. "KREACHER, YOU WILL GET OUT OF HERE IMMEDIATELY OR I WILL MURDER" he added, almost roaring.
"I'm leaving, master. Kreacher lives to serve the noble House of Black ... yuck!" said the house elf and walked away from.
Ginny stood still as her mother patched her up; she was setting her ribs and the little gash in her neck, while Fred and George breathed down her neck to make sure they didn't break their sister, still muttering their apologies. But Ginny almost laughed at the situation: after all, it had been exciting to tumble down two flights of stairs. What were they worried about? The original Order of the Phoenix had fought against Voldemort ... What was a little cut on the neck?
"What's going on here?" Mad-Eye asked, just Apparating onto the top step with Tonks. Hermione had gone upstairs to let the others know that Ginny was fine, all fixed up by her mother, followed by the twins who wanted to escape the crime scene quickly.
"Did you get hurt?" Tonks asked worriedly.
"An accident, an accident ..."
"Accident, huh? What did I always say, and wasn't I right? Constant vigilance!"
"You're right, Mad-Eye. But that's enough, mum ... I'm fine!" Ginny broke free from her mother's grasp and hurried away from her before he could make her war wounds disappear with one careful movement of her wand. "These cuts above are visible and I want to keep them, so anyone who sees me thinks I wrestled with someone before going to the station!" she added with a note of madness in her voice, delighted at the very idea.
Tonks and Sirius burst out laughing; Mad-Eye nodded smugly and said, "Little Auror behavior, I'd say!"
"Auror? Don't put any strange ideas in her mind, this one is crazy!" Molly exclaimed, pressing her hands to her mouth and watching her daughter double up in laughter along with Tonks and Sirius, making jokes one after the other. "In these two years I don't recognize you anymore! I don't know which way to take you! Before it was easy, but now you are causing me more trouble than Fred and George. Of course, it is their outlaw influence that makes you like this! similar to them! "
Ginny stopped laughing, and her mouth dropped open.
"And I thought I had had a female daughter ... and instead? Seven boys!"
There was a moment of silence before everyone started laughing again.
"I'm not the little princess you wanted me to be, mom!" Ginny protested, no trace of laughter on her face. She was serious, and now was the time to tell her mother that she was exactly like she was, and she didn't want to change for anyone in the world. "I am like that, I don't want to be the little princess who wants to be saved but I want to be the one who saves people. If you know what I mean ... and Auror's career has always fascinated me. I hope the twins have understood the lesson. .. my vigilance is not constant enough! " she added, and she walked over to the kitchen to eat something good before leaving, leaving the adults in awe.
"You have a fire to tame, Molly," said Mad-Eye.
"Tame? Let the flames blaze!" Sirius retorted, looking pleased with the girl.
"Let's go ... if we move we can save a seat for them too"
"Quite right!"
Cursing herself for that very stupid thing she had done, Ginny pushed her way through the various compartments of the train looking for an empty one where she could sit with Harry and still be with him. Yes, she had given up on her friends for him ... she was surely mad as hell! Maybe it was just pain, or jealousy because she didn't want to leave the boy at the mercy of his most ardent admirers of his ... or nothing, just a friendly gesture for someone who was now part of her family. Definitely, it had been a friendly gesture and Michael Corner would have waited very well.
They walked further, and in the last carriage they met Neville Longbottom.
"Hi, guys ... it's full everywhere, I can't find a seat!" Neville said, panting from the effort of holding his wayward toad Oscar with one hand and dragging the heavy trunk out of the way with the other.
"What are you saying? Here is only Luna Loony Lovegood!" Ginny said happily, who had crept past Neville to spy on the adjacent compartment. He muttered something that sounded confusingly that he didn't want to bother anyone. "Don't be silly, she's fine!" the girl added, with a chuckle.
Ginny slid the compartment door open with the two boys at her heels.
"Hi, Luna. Can we sit here?" she asked.
Luna Lovegood, always very lonely and with very few true friends, looked up from the window and stared at them all with the usual bulging eyes that gave her an air of perennial surprise, the Butterbeer cap necklace visible around her neck and the wand tucked behind the left ear. Ginny, who was used to the oddities of her Care of Magical Creatures classmate, didn't have the perfect idiotic expression of the two boys, who looked at Luna Lovegood as if she were crazy. And she most likely she really was, crazy.
Luna nodded and Ginny thanked her, dragging her trunk into her compartment with difficulty.
"Give it to me, I'll do it ..." Harry told her politely, forcing the girl to sit down to deal with the trunks alone. Neville hurried to help him and together they hoisted the three trunks on the trunk holder and took their places too, under the surprised gaze of the blond-haired girl.
After Ginny engaged in a short conversation involving the various introductions of each of her friends, complete with embarrassed songs hummed by Luna and a couple of equally embarrassed (if not worse) moments that would have made even Severus Snape want to bursting out laughing, the compartment door swung open, unfortunately just as Neville's Mimbulus Mimbletonia had begun spraying an acid-green liquid: Stink-stink.
"Hi, Harry ... uh ... is this a bad time?" Cho Chang asked, having eyes only for the boy.
The real question is, what the hell are you doing in my compartment? Ginny thought crossly, turning threateningly towards Cho's direction and thanking whoever had let her in at that very bad moment, so at least she would have left quickly and would not have bothered her in their compartment.
"Oh, hello ..." Harry replied flatly, visibly embarrassed and with all the air of wanting to evaporate.
"I thought I'd come by and say hello ... then goodbye!" muttered Cho red-faced and almost literally ran away.
Ginny was quite beaming and she immediately jumped on her, to comfort those who were all covered in Stinky Stink.
"It doesn't matter, we can get rid of this stuff quickly," she said perky, hastily pulling out her wand and enjoying Cho Chang's non-presence. It was what she wanted ... and she got it fast. Really very strange life, huh? She coughed and uttered the spell: "Scourgify!" which worked instantly.
"Sorry ..." Neville whispered again, in a very small voice.
Ginny wanted so much to thank him, but she almost cursed herself for thinking badly about Cho Chang for just a moment. I mean, she hadn't done anything to her ... why all this adversity towards a Ravenclaw whose name she barely knew? Ginny convinced herself for the umpteenth time that Harry was not at all the cause that had almost led her to kick Cho in the backside and decided to change the subject.
The minutes passed in a hurry and the boys spent their time eating sweets bought by the little woman in the cart and exchanging chocolate stickers, with Luna occasionally lifting her eyes from the magazine and observing them dreamily. Meanwhile, Ginny thought it was absolutely enjoyable to spend time with Harry and Neville, but as there was still no confidence she had with her friends or siblings it was quite difficult to make conversation, especially if a boy was just the boy for which she had had a huge crush as a young girl. Sure, Harry wasn't indifferent to her but her crush was over now!
"Hey, you can't take my Morgana without giving me anything in return!" Ginny protested making a face at Harry, who giggled loudly and raised his hands in surrender, then fixed his gaze on her stickers.
"All right ... what do you want?" he asked, still with that amused smile.
Ginny tried not to look at his full lips and her green eyes, and then with all the strength she had in her body and with her cheeks that were gradually turning a very delicate pale pink, she muttered: "Could you give me Merlin, indeed .. . you have to!" she laughed, making another grimace.
"Agreed!" the boy smiled, handing her the Merlin figurine.
Time passed like this, until Ron and Hermione peeped into their compartment. They informed them of the various Prefects who had been chosen, pausing mainly to make fun of and insult the Slytherin ones, but Ron seemed less than enthusiastic to explain the work that had once belonged to his brothers and was only attentive to food. . Once Hermione made a fool of Luna Lovegood by calling her father's newspaper junk, everyone decided it was best to change and get off the train as it was about to stop at Hogsmeade station.
"Did you already know that nutcase who reads that bad journal of the Quibbler, right?" Hermione asked sternly under her breath, while she had come out of the compartment and was running a finger over her prefect badge to polish it further.
Ginny laughed, then replied, "Very true, she's in my year but Ravenclaw and ... man, what a blunder you did!" she giggled, pressing her hands to her mouth as the train finally stopped; Ron also came out of the compartment and shook Hermione to alert her of the student surveillance.
"Not funny! Ah wait ... hold Crookshanks for me," she said, and she walked away with Ron.
Luna, Neville and Harry emerged from the compartment and Ginny grabbed the latter by the sleeve of his tunic, starting to haul him quickly out because they were blocking the passage; trying to make their way through the crowd, all the teens could not wait to reach the carriages and finally be home to enjoy a nice New Year banquet. Ginny, who was having a hard time holding Crookshanks in her arms, managed to lose sight of the others in the crowd ... but in return she was able to take a look at the work of the Prefects: everyone was doing their duty, everyone except ... Malfoy and that total cow Parkinson, who were really awful to first year kids and abused their position.
They had balls, especially that bleached blond! Ginny craned her neck forward and saw that her traveling companions were all next to a carriage waiting for her, including Luna Lovegood. Hardly resisting the temptation to throw a grandiose Bat-Bogey Hex at the Slytherin Prefects, the girl ran towards them to join them.
"I'm glad to see you all!"
"I thought you forgot about us, your old friends ..." Christopher muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and making an annoyed grimace. He was always pretty good at the grimaces of those who want to be offended.
"But how could I? I just explained the situation to you," Ginny replied, throwing her arms around her friend's neck even though he was sitting at the table.
"That's better!" Christopher retorted and his statement was followed by giggles.
"You'll also have to explain to us why you didn't answer our letters," Ritchie added, sticking his tongue out.
"Right! I will have written you a thousand without having any answers!" gave him a hand Vicky, who looked really offended as she tossed her long, now grown blonde hair back.
"I'm sure she had good reasons for it," said the usual Demelza, smiling shyly.
"I sent you the photos ... have you at least seen them?" Colin asked.
"There's a picture where Ritchie and I are lovely, aaah!" William sighed, twisting a rebellious curl that had fallen over his eyes.
"I read all the letters and saw all the photos ... but I couldn't really answer them," the girl murmured sadly, thinking of her mother's threats if someone found their headquarters due to the constant letters that were sent out. And that would have been a real tragedy, because not only would they discover the Order of the Phoenix but also the place where Sirius was forced to hide.
"Yes, later you tell us everything. Although I would so much want to hear this story now ..." Vicky muttered sulkily, staring at her friend and blinking languidly. But obviously she realized that her friend was not one of her suitors to bribe, so she hastened to say: "But I can very well wait! So, you want to know the news? Anthony spoke to me for the first time since we broke up , but I think he did it on Michael's orders. In fact he told me that Michael was waiting for you in his carriage but he saw that you were busy with Potter and did not want to call you "
"Did he say so?" Ginny laughed, finding the situation highly ridiculous.
"Yes, and I must say ... well ... you should have warned him that you were with Harry Potter," her friend said quietly, almost intimidated.
"But ... how could I have told him while avoiding an absurd scene?" said Ginny helplessly, glancing at the Ravenclaw table and noticing that Michael carefully avoided looking at her, clinging and all excited to talk to Cho Chang. The redhead suddenly felt a strange sense of jealousy, and she made up her mind that she really should have warned her boyfriend about her, with or without a jealous scene.
"But what if she didn't want to spend the trip with Michael?" Demelza retorted, her friend hissing at her.
"Don't be silly!" Vicky horrified, giving a small applause to the newcomers who were gradually approaching the Sorting Hat to be sorted into the various houses of Hogwarts. "Ginny is with Michael, why wouldn't she want to spend time with him?"
Yeah, she was with Michael ... but why had she preferred to be with Harry and ignore her boyfriend? She was wrong, but only then did she realize how stupid she actually had been: she should have immediately run into her boyfriend's arms, and instantly leave Harry with Neville and Luna Lovegood. But why did she always get it all wrong? Why did she persist in keeping up with an impossible guy, the same guy she had that famous crush on? Because she ... she was silly, terribly tempted. But tempted by what? She just wanted to do a friend a favor and not leave him alone. But that was just what she thought of in her very twisted mind.
"Why ..." Demelza began sternly, but Ginny cut her off.
"The Sorting!" she exclaimed quickly, and leaned forward making conversation with Christopher, Ritchie and William while Colin and his little brother chatted gleefully to the ghost of Gryffindor, who was always quite optimistic about newcomers. Ginny told herself it was good that there were friends like hers that she needed so badly at that moment: Demelza seemed to have understood more than she had understood herself.
Then the Sorting Hat started humming the sorting song, a very long song for the students' tastes.
In times of old, when I was new,
And Hogwarts barely started,
The founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted.
United by a common goal,
They had the selfsame yearning
To make the world's best magic school
And pass along their learning.
"Together we will build and teach"
The four good friends decided.
And never did they dream that they
Might some day be divided.
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friendships fail?
Why, I was there, so I can tell
The whole sad, sorry tale.
Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those
Whose ancestry's purest."
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose
Intelligence is surest."
Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those
With brave deeds to their name."
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot
And treat them just the same."
These differences caused little strife
When first they came to light.
For each of the four founders had
A house in which they might
Take only those they wanted, so,
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning just like him.
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor.
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest
and taught them all she knew,
Thus, the houses and their founders
Maintained friendships firm and true.
So Hogwarts worked in harmony
For several happy years,
But then discord crept among us
Feeding on our faults and fears.
The Houses that, like pillars four
Had once held up our school
Now turned upon each other and
Divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
Must meet an early end.
What with duelling and with fighting
And the clash of friend on friend.
And at last there came a morning
When old Slytherin departed
And though the fighting then died out
He left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
Were whittled down to three
Have the Houses been united
As they once were meant to be.
And now the Sorting Hat is here
And you all know the score:
I sort you into Houses
Because that is what I'm for.
But this year I'll go further,
Listen closely to my song:
Though condemned I am to split you
Still I worry that it's wrong,
Though I must fulfil my duty
And must quarter every year
Still I wonder whether sorting
May not bring the end I fear.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For our Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes.
And we must unite inside her
Or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you...
Let the Sorting now begin.
Then, there was the Sorting but the kids' minds were still in the sorting song.
"The hat exaggerated with song ... right?" Ritchie asked puzzled as Dumbledore kicked off the celebration.
"Whatever!" William answered with a raised eyebrow, staring at the hat's mouth-like tear as it closed and starting to poke around with food as all the students were doing. Ginny could not understand the very long song of the Sorting Hat, but a tap from Demelza distracted her from the Hat and forced her to eat the dishes of that evening.
"French fries ... I don't like them," Vicky muttered, passing the plate full of French fries to a hungry William.
"Hey, why only Will? I want those fries too!" Ginny protested cheerfully, stealing a potato chip from her friend's plate and exchanging a smiling look with the latter ... finding herself very close to his face.
Of course, they had made peace at the end of the year but neither of them dared to talk to each other as before or maybe turn into topics like the famous kiss, so they were very formal between them even if they were always very good friends. The girl hoped with all her heart that William had gotten over the crush, because another year without talking to him would be like a second torture.
"Returning to the song, who ...?"
"Demelza, eat first and then talk about it," Christopher retorted, handing her the roast meat.
"Why do you always have to pop my bubble?" snorted the girl snatching the plate from his hand, with the shadow of a smile. But without any desire to shut up and eat, she continued the speech that her friend had interrupted: "I was saying before Chris interrupted, who knows if the Hat has ever given advice in a song at the beginning of the year. he just defines the various characteristics of each house ... it's strange, isn't it? "
"I guess," Ginny retorted, her mouth full of food to add more.
"It used to happen very often when we were in difficult times" intervened Nearly-Headless-Nick, looking at all of them, but above all at a very curious Demelza, and looking at the food on the table with an expression that was anything but cheerful .
"It's done it before, then?" Ritchie asked curiously.
"Yes, and since it's in Dumbledore's office he knows more than all of us put together. And of course, his advice is always the same: stick together," the ghost went on very seriously, and Ginny felt compelled to say something pungent to everyone who had glared at Harry in the train.
"Well, I think it will be a little difficult to stick together when there are idiots who don't have the slightest idea of what is happening or rather ... they deny it!" she threw in contemptuously, her mouth still full of that delicious food and fries with mayonnaise.
"Chew, dear. A family habit, right?" Nick chuckled.
The kids continued to gorge themselves like crazy and tried all those delicacies on the table, then Dumbledore got up to give his usual start-of-year speech and the students quickly stopped eating the sweets, even though Ritchie almost had to cut William's fingers to prevent him from taking the third serving of a big and tasty chocolate cake, which looked even better than it already was in his mouth.
"Well, now that we are all digesting another splendid banquet I would like to inform you that this year we have two changes in the teaching body!" Dumbledore announced, always very energetically. "We are very happy to greet Professor Grubbly-Plank again, who will teach Care of Magical Creatures. And we are delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" he added.
Everyone raised their heads to see the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor: tiny, squat and had something that made her look horribly like a pink toad, as she gave everyone a broad smile like a little girl who had been given a big lollipop.
"She works at the Ministry ..." Demelza whispered in a choked voice, and she began to frantically stomp her foot on the ground.
She smiled too much and worked at the Ministry: that was not a good sign, definitely no, no.
"As usual, our Mr. Filch asked me to remind you ..."
"Hem hem!" the new professor Umbridge cleared her throat loudly and everyone stared at her with wide eyes, starting to whisper to each other: no one had ever interrupted Dumbledore during his speech and it was obvious that this woman did not know at all how things were going at Hogwarts.
"What does she want to do?" Vicky whispered open-mouthed in bewilderment.
"Thank you Headmaster, for your kind words of welcome," the new teacher said in an annoying and affected tone, rising from the table as if she were ready to give a speech. "And what a great delight to see your bright happy faces smiling at me! I'm sure we will all become ... very good friends"
Ginny raised her eyebrows, exchanging alarmed glances with her friends.
"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance," Professor Umbridge continued, smiling disgustingly affable but her tone had changed a little: she was serious and very professional, like a Ministry chick. so to speak. "Progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged ... we preserve what must be preserved, we perfect what must be perfected and we cut where we find habits that must be abolished," she concluded, giving a strange, prying chuckle.
She sat down again in her place at the teachers' table and Dumbledore clapped, out of respect for the new arrival. Many teachers followed her example solely out of education and out of respect for Dumbledore, but many students did not join them because they did not have the slightest idea what that woman had meant, interrupting the Headmaster and making a somewhat ambiguous speech. Umbridge didn't seem bothered by the fact that hardly anyone was applauding, in fact, she seemed pleased to have succeeded in her intent and to have surprised the teachers.
"Thank you Professor Umbridge, it was deeply enlightening. So, as I was saying ..."
"Enlightening?" Christopher repeated, scratching his head in full confusion.
"Is it possible to know who sent her to us here at Hogwarts?" William muttered, still glaring at the woman suspiciously.
"That cardigan is hideous!" Vicky declared, pretending to throw up on the Gryffindor table.
"Forget that candy pink sweater ..." Ritchie muttered, but he was barely trying to hold back a laugh.
"You said she's from the Ministry, right?" Ginny asked Demelza, who had finished stamping her foot furiously on the ground and was looking down as if she didn't want to make eye contact with the woman. "Well, there is only one logical explanation for this: the Ministry is meddling in the business of Hogwarts!"
Her friends stared at her, almost frightened by what she had said, but she might even take it o the bank as far as she was concerned. She was sent by Fudge, what other logical explanation was there? Obviously, only that. Demelza coughed loudly, and Christopher immediately decided to tackle thorny subjects such as those that should not be touched in a Great Hall full of students.
"Well ... welcome home, my friends!" he exclaimed, trying to bring joy.
"Michael ..." the girl whispered, tugging on the sleeve of her uniform.
"Oh!" the boy was frightened, because his girlfriend had appeared right in front of him outside the door of the Great Hall and had made him jump with fear of her. The students continued to chat happily among themselves as they left the hall to reach their dorms but Ginny absolutely had to talk to Michael, there and now.
"I have to talk to you"
"I'm very tired ... and I have no desire to talk"
"But it's important!" Ginny exclaimed urgently as she dragged the boy behind a nearby tapestry. "Hey ... but do you want to listen to me or at least look at me? What the hell did I do to you?" escaped her, when she saw that he did not even look at her ... and immediately regretted asking that silly and useless question: she would have thrown herself headlong into the wall if it weren't for the fact that the pain at the end she would have felt it herself. "Okay, I was wrong not to warn you that I didn't spend time with you. I was wrong, okay? And I'm really sorry, but don't think badly. I mean, Harry ... he was alone and I couldn't leave him. ! "
"It seems that Potter must always have company, and if you keep him company I don't like it," Michael muttered sourly.
"But Michael!" Ginny objected desperately, grabbing his face in her hands and forcing the boy to look into her eyes. "He is part of my family, he spent the whole holidays with us ... I couldn't leave him!"
"He would have done it," the boy said without preamble, and there was no meanness in his tone ... only truth.
Ginny had been wrong a lot with Michael and she was continuing to make mistakes and insinuate disjointed and misplaced words in an ambiguous speech only to be forgiven by the boyfriend that she had beautifully ignored all the way to Hogwarts. She was still making mistakes, and at that moment she couldn't think of anything to say anymore. Would Harry abandon her? Yeah, he wouldn't have cared a damn if Ginny spent the trip alone as long as he had Ron and Hermione with him. Was this really the sad truth? Ginny didn't know, she didn't know if Harry would be there for her but right now she didn't want to hear groundless accusations against him.
"We're friends, he would have done the same for me and that's it!"
"Friends?"
"Yes, we're friends," Ginny repeated, not knowing where she wanted to go with the boy.
"You liked him, and don't give me absurd stories because I know you liked him" Michael replied accusing her.
"Okay, I liked him ... but now I have you! Let's not fight, Michael!"
"All right..."
Michael leaned over the girl to give her a passionate and angry kiss on her lips, then turned his back on her with pride and walked towards the Ravenclaw Tower, mulling over that little fight and what she had done to him. Yes, that really could be called a big and scary welcome home.
Author's corner
Hello everyone!
I enjoyed the initial part a lot, writing it was really fun also because I imagined the scenes in front of my eyes and I just laughed like a fool in front of the PC ... and this is very very very serious. So, I hope you enjoy the chapter, even if the second part (the journey with Luna) is not very exciting but I had to put it because I had to write about the feelings and what Ginny felt when she left Michael for Harry.
A big kiss!
T/N
And again the new chapter comes… a bit late lol, forgot i didn't translate this fully until today lol, gonna go on a translate spiel after my exam on the 12, i plan to translate up to chapter 45 after my exam on the 12th, but don't worry guys, i got you. Helena will upload the fully edited version, the only thing not edited in this chapter is the last paragraph or so with Michael.
Hope y'all had a happy easter!
~Ermory