Chapter 9

"Everyone accounted for? Everyone got everything? Alright, let's head out!" Mr. Weasley instructed as the group made their way out the front door. Ginny had her trunk and broom in tow, as well as a few of Hermione's extra bags that she'd added after much resistance from Hermione. Ginny felt a sense of sadness as she looked back at the Burrow one last time. She knew she'd be back soon enough for Christmas, but it had been such an exceptionally good summer at home, and it was hard moving on from it so abruptly. She was looking forward to the school year ahead though, and was hoping that the positivity and good fortune that occurred for her over the summer would continue into her time at Hogwarts.

Once everyone had gotten all of their luggage onto the Hogwarts Express, they waved goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley from the windows of the train. Mrs. Weasley waved vigorously at them, letting her tears flow freely, while Mr. Weasley gave them a big smile as he put an arm supportively around his wife. Once the Hogwarts Express started to move, Fred and George left to join a compartment with their friend Lee Jordan, and the four went off to find their own compartment.

"How's this one?" Harry asked as they came across the first empty compartment. They stored their luggage up on the racks overhead and sat down, Harry and Ron on one side, Ginny and Hermione on the other. They chatted lightly for a while, discussing the upcoming term, as the English countryside flew past them outside their window. Harry, Ginny, and Ron spoke excitedly about the fast-approaching Quidditch tryouts, and Hermione listened. The trolley came and went with Harry getting his usual haul for the compartment. They were nearly through all of their sweets when a pale, pointed face flanked by two large bodies appeared at the compartment door, opening it.

"Potter… Weasley… Granger… Little Weasley…" drawled Draco Malfoy, a snide Slytherin boy in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's year.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry snapped, aggressively. Ginny noted that Harry typically tried to be at the very least cordial with just about all of their classmates, except for Malfoy.

"Nothing with you, Potter. This involves Little Weasley here…" Malfoy smirked as he looked at Ginny. Ginny narrowed her eyes, staring the older boy down.

"Yeah? What do you want?" Ginny asked, matching Harry's tone.

"Well… I heard a rumor… About something that happened at the Quidditch World Cup…" Malfoy spoke slowly, tauntingly. Ginny could feel Hermione looking at her.

"Oh yeah? What did you hear?" Ginny challenged.

"I heard that you had a certain… Interest… In the Veela…" Malfoy's eyes glinted nastily as he revealed this.

"And? So what if I did?" Ginny spoke as confidently as she could. She could feel Harry and Ron staring at her now, but could no longer feel Hermione's gaze.

"So what if you did? Hmm… Well… If you did have interest in the Veela… That would make you… A filthy little dy– "

- BANG -

Before anyone could react, Hermione had punched Malfoy hard in the face, causing him to fall backwards against the walls of the compartment across the aisle. His pseudo-bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle, reacting one second behind, went to charge into the foursome's compartment, but Harry and Ron were already at their feet, wands drawn.

"Go on, try us!" Ron invited. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to know they were outmatched by Ron and Harry, so they backed down and went to help up an irate Malfoy.

"My father will hear about this!" Malfoy spat as he got to his feet, clutching his nose.

"Yes, please tell your father that a girl punched you in the face! And make sure he knows she was a Muggle-born as well! I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear it!" Hermione jeered, holding her ground, maintaining the barrier that she'd created between Malfoy and Ginny.

Malfoy looked around at all of them before skulking away furiously, trying to stop the blood gushing from his nose. Crabbe and Goyle lumbered after him.

"Hermione…" Ron started. "That was bloody brilliant!" Hermione gave him a tight grin before sitting down next to Ginny, who was staring at her. "But what was he going on about? What about you and the Veela?" he looked at his sister. The girls looked at one another, before Ginny sighed and spoke up.

"The Veela affected me as they affected you Ron…"

"What – What do you mean they affected you?" Ron stammered.

"Ron…" Harry cautioned.

"Wait, did you know about this?" Ron turned on Harry.

"Yeah, I did." Harry replied.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Ron demanded.

"Well Ron, it wasn't mine to tell." Harry looked at Ginny, giving her a small, warm smile. Ron looked between Harry and Ginny, and then focused on Hermione.

"You didn't tell me either?"

"No, Ronald, of course I didn't. Just look at how you're reacting!" Hermione snapped at Ron.

"Well… I'm just in shock is all! I don't care that you fancy girls Gin. It would just be nice to know who I should be intimidating when I see people hanging around you!" Ron maintained definitively.

"Excuse me?" Ginny asked, exasperated.

"How am I supposed to know who to protect you from if I don't know who's going to be trying to snog you?"

"Protect me? How about you don't do any of that, Ronald, and I can decide for myself who I will and will not be snogging!" Ginny shouted, her face slowly turning the color of her hair. "I don't need your protection!"

"Yeah Ron… Clearly, she has Hermione for that, just ask Malfoy." Harry chuckled. This broke the tension a bit for the group as they all allowed themselves a laugh at Malfoy's expense. They all settled into a comfortable silence when suddenly Ginny broke it.

"If Malfoy knows, should I assume that everyone else does as well?" She looked around at the group, searching for a sign of reassurance that she hadn't unknowingly been outed to the entire school. No one responded, or knew what to say really.

"Uh.. Hi Ginny!" Demelza Robins, a girl who had been in Ginny's dormitory in Gryffindor for the past three years, was standing at the compartment door. "Colin and Ritchie were wondering if you'd like to join us in our compartment? So uh… Would you like to?" The girl gave a small nervous smile to the redhead.

"Hi Demelza! Sure thing, just give me a few minutes to wrap up with our conversation, okay?"

"Sounds great, see you in a few!" The girl beamed and strode away towards her own compartment. Ginny turned back towards the others to continue their conversation and was met with three different reactions. Harry was giving her a knowing, sly grin, Ron's mouth was hanging open slightly, his eyebrows knitted together in disbelief, and Hermione's face was passive, showing very little emotion at all. "What?" Ginny asked the group.

"Well… I think it's safe to say that people do in fact know about you Ginny," Harry explained with a laugh.

"What do you mean? Demelza's a friend, and a dormmate. I'm friends with Colin and Ritchie too, why wouldn't they invite me to sit with them?" Ginny asked, perplexed.

"This is just great! My little sister is going to get more action than I am this year!" Ron exclaimed, throwing up his hands.

"Ron!" scolded Hermione. "Ginny, I'm sure you're right. It's just friends inviting another friend to join them in their compartment. Don't overthink it, okay?"

"Okay… Thanks Hermione…" Ginny got up, and left the compartment after giving the boys a hesitant look.

"More action than me… My little sister…" she heard Ron mumble as she walked down the aisle, looking for the compartment that contained her friends. The further Ginny walked, the more she felt like people were looking at her. And not just people, but girls. As she passed more and more compartments, she was getting more and more smiles from girls. Ginny smiled back uncertainly and continued her journey until she found the compartment of Gryffindors that she was looking for.

"Ginny! It's so great to see you! How was your summer? Mine was great! And guess what? My younger brother will be attending Hogwarts this year as a first year! Isn't that great?" her friend Colin Creevey rattled off.

"Oi! Give her a chance to sit don't, won't you?" Ritchie Coote chuckled as he motioned to the seat across from him, next to Demelza. Ginny sat down and shot Ritchie a look of thanks before addressing Colin.

"That's great Colin! What's your brother's name?"

"Dennis! He's so excited to be here. We weren't sure if he'd be coming to Hogwarts as well, but then sure enough, this summer he received his letter! We're hoping he'll be in Gryffindor with me! I guess Hufflepuff wouldn't be so bad though, might be a good place for him, really. So, how was your summer? I heard you went to the Quidditch World Cup, how was that?" Ritchie and Demelza exchanged pained looks as Ginny sat there, processing the last part of Colin's ramble.

"You heard that I went to the Quidditch World Cup?" Ginny asked, plainly. Colin froze, realizing his mistake.

"Uh… I uh… Yes…" he stammered in response. Ginny looked around at Ritchie and Demelza.

"So… You've all heard?" They slowly nodded their heads. Ginny let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through her hair.

"Ginny… No one cares about what's going around about you. At least, not in a negative way…" Demelza said softly. Ginny turned to look at the girl, trying to gauge if she was telling the truth or if she was just trying to make her feel better in the moment. She felt that she was telling her the truth, and Demelza had always been nothing but honest with her, so really, she had no reason to believe she'd be lying here. She did notice as well how nice Demelza's eyes were. Light grey, but deep and kind, and very much looking into Ginny's bright brown eyes. Ginny blinked and looked away. Taking in a deep breath and letting out a long exhale, Ginny chose internally to try her best to let this go and not concern herself with what others thought about her.

"So, how was everyone's summer?" she inquired. The group chatted at length about how they each had spent their respective summers. Ritchie had grown an inch or two and had been mostly working at his father's store. Demelza had split her break between her mum out in Cornwall and her dad up in Herefordshire. Colin didn't seem to really have done much of anything, but still had nearly two hundred photos that he made Ginny look through. Eventually, the topic of conversation circled back around to Ginny and the revelation at the Quidditch World Cup.

"So… Who do you fancy, then?" Ritchie asked her outright.

"Who do I fancy? I just found this out about myself Ritchie, I don't fancy anyone." Ginny responded.

"Aw come on Ginny, there's no one that's ever caught your eye before? I for one have noticed how beautiful many of the girls are, just in Gryffindor alone! In fact, just the other day I was thinking about how truly beautiful the majority of the girls in Gryffindor are, and – "

"Colin… Shut it. Just for a second, alright mate?" Ritchie cut Colin off as another rambling anecdote was threatening. Colin nodded.

"She doesn't have to fancy anyone you guys. Just let her be, alright?" Demelza gave Ginny a supportive look, and Ginny gave her an appreciative smile in return, grey eyes meeting brown once again. During this exchange, Hermione appeared at the compartment door.

"Am I interrupting?" Hermione asked, looking directly at Demelza.

"Hey Hermione! No, of course not. What's up?" Ginny inquired of the older girl.

"You've been gone for a while, so I brought you your trunk and broom." Hermione pushed the trunk into the compartment and handed Ginny the Comet 260. "That's all. I'll be going, we'll be arriving soon." Her eyes never left Demelza's until she turned to leave the four young Gryffindors. Demelza glanced at Ginny, confused. Ginny shrugged, thinking nothing of it. The four threw on their robes and cleaned up the compartment a bit before they felt the Hogwarts Express slow to stop. Eagerly, they exited their compartment. They had arrived at Hogwarts.