The beginning of the year for Ginny.

GINNY III

Ginny woke up all excited on the Friday of her first week. Today would be her first flying lesson. She dressed up for the day and went to the Great Hall to take her breakfast, alone.

Ginny spent most of her time alone. She didn't make many friends yet since the day she arrived. The girls who shared their dormitory with her were more acquaintances than anything else. She had her brothers, but Fred and George had their own circle of friends, Percy was too busy with his work and his duties as a Prefect, and Ron spent most of his time with Harry and Hermione. So she couldn't spend time with Fred, George and Percy, and she avoided spending some with Ron because Harry was almost always with him.

When she arrived in the Great Hall, she froze at the sight of the three friends together. She sat on the nearest spot she could find at Gryffindor's table, far away from them, and took some toasts and porridge. Despite this, she couldn't stop herself from looking at Harry, Ron and Hermione. Ginny had quickly seen for herself that they were inseparable. They even went to the library to make their homeworks together. There didn't seem to be a lot of moments when Harry was alone. She looked at Hermione who was talking with Harry about something that Ginny couldn't discern among all the other noises in the Great Hall. She wished she could talk to him as easily as she did.

At the staff table, Ginny saw some of her teachers. Professor McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor House, was there discussing with Professor Flitwick, the Head of Ravenclaw House. Ginny already attended their respective classes this week, Transfiguration on Monday, Charms on Wednesday. She noticed Madam Hooch, the flying teacher with whom she would take her first lesson this afternoon, engaged in a discussion with Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher. There was also Professor Snape, the Potions Master. He ate alone on his side, not talking to anybody. Ginny had one class with him so far, and she hoped the future classes in this subject would go more quickly. This teacher was execrable, and seemed angry after half the school, except the Slytherin students, who he favoured since he was Head of the house. Finally, there was Professor Lockhart, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, with whom she would have a class this morning. He was by far the most relaxed of the teachers.

Ginny headed to her first course as soon as she finished her breakfast, struggling to carry the ton of books she required. As she left, a burst of laughs came from around the place where Fred and George were sitting. In all this, Ginny felt invisible. No one seemed to notice her. She had been eager to come to Hogwarts, but now most of the excitement had already left to leave the place to another feeling, much less positive. She got lost on her way to her first class, and arrived in Defence Against the Dark Arts late. It was a common course with Ravenclaw, and she ended up sitting next to the strange girl she met on Diagon Alley since there was no other place.

"Hello Ginny," she said. So she remembered her name.

"Hi Luna." She wasn't sure if this was really her name. If it wasn't, the girl didn't show any sign of it. She looked lost in her thoughts once again, looking at the ceiling of the classroom.

Despite being late, Ginny was lucky enough because Professor Lockhart arrived much later. Ginny had already placed her books in a pile on her desk. Those were the books that Harry gave her at Flourish and Blotts. It was at this moment she found the courage, without thinking about what she was doing, to say something in his presence for the first time. But for now, she had a class with Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Welcome, everyone. First-years? Everyone is there? Everyone listens to me? Perfect. Let me introduce myself. Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award. You all bought complete sets of my books? Perfect."

Ginny got the distinct impression that Professor Lockhart didn't really care whether his students answered his questions or not. She proved to be wrong an instant later when he gave them a quiz to complete within thirty minutes. He took their answers to his questions very seriously. Each question was about himself, like his favourite color, his favourite animal, or his favourite tale out of all those he told in his books. Ginny had no idea about the answer to over half of them. Luna didn't seem to bother answering at all as she continued to stare at the ceiling while Ginny struggled to answer the questions. The result was a very disappointed teacher. They then spent the entire course reading passages of Break with a Banshee.

Ginny left the class rather disappointed at the end of the morning. This was absolutely not how she imagined a course in Defence Against the Dark Arts. She heard people complaining about how Professor Lockhart left them to fight against Cornish pixies during their first lesson. Harry and Ron were among them. She thought it might at least funny, but Lockhart didn't seem to consider that first-years were ready for that kind of things.

None of her courses were quite what she imagined. Transfiguration involved hours of writing down instructions before they actually tried to perform the spell they were learning. Charms involved a little more practice. Astronomy involved reviewing charts for long times before looking at the skies with a telescope. History of Magic involved hours remaining still while copying the words of a ghost teacher. Herbology meant spending all their time in a hot and damp greenhouse, observing and taking care of plants that even Ginny found strange, despite the fact she grew up in a wizarding family.

Lunch was a quiet business. Ginny then went excitedly to the flying lesson. She had great hopes for this one.

Ginny arrived in advance, much before most of the other students. She didn't want to miss anything about it. She already had a lot of experience with flying, including how she arrived at Hogwarts this year, and she hoped that at least she would performed well in this subject. Gryffindors shared this class with Hufflepuffs. The teacher, Madam Hooch, who was also the referee during Quidditch matches, arrived on the grounds and immediately told them to stand next to a broomstick. Ginny recognized that most of them were Shooting Stars, the same model Ron used at home. They may be a bit newer when compared to Ron's.

"Everyone is in place?" their teacher asked, walking through their ranks and checking all of them quickly. "Now extend your right hand over your broom. And say Up!"

"UP!"

Everyone shouted at the same time. Ginny was almost surprised that her own broomstick jumped into her hand right away. She nearly laughed out of joy. In the meantime, her comrades needed a second, a third, a fourth try to get their broom into their hands. Sometimes ten attempts or more were necessary before the broomstick slowly rose.

"Good, everyone is holding his broomstick," their teacher continued. "Now, mount them." Ginny did so, the movement being natural after all these years. "Show me how you grip your broomstick. I want you to hold it tight."

The teacher then went from one student to another, showing each how to position himself and grip the handle. When Madam Hooch reached Ginny, she hoped that she did everything all right.

"You' got to sit closer to the middle, Miss Weasley." Ginny realized that indeed she sat much closer to the tail. Perhaps it was because of how she flew to Hogwarts at the beginning of the week. Normally, she positioned herself well enough. She advanced. "A little more. Very good. Now your grip." Madam looked closer to her hands. "Good distance between yours hands, but you must grip the handle farther from your body. Let me show you." Madam Hooch seized her fists and brought them a little farther from Ginny's body. "Very good now. Stay in that position."

That position didn't seem natural for Ginny. It felt uncomfortable. She was afraid that her arms would work too much if she stayed like that. But Madam Hooch told her it was the right grip, so she remained in this position. The professor addressed them again when she was done with the last student.

"Now, I'm going to blow my whistle. When I do, you must kick off the ground, hard." Ginny already knew that. She did it so often and saw her brothers do it so many times that it was like a second nature to her. "You will then keep your broom steady, rise a few feet. Then you will lean forward slightly to carefully come back on the ground. Questions?" There were none. "On my whistle then. Three... Two... One..."

Ginny felt a rush of excitement go through her body. She didn't think she waited for the whistle to actually blow before she took flight. She and the broom rose in the air together. Slowly, she climbed and took altitude. She made it.

"Miss Weasley! What are you doing? I said only a few feet!"

Ginny realized she had kept climbing. She was probably seven feet over the ground. She leaned forward and went back to the ground immediately. She landed a little too abruptly to her taste.

"Well, that was a nice first try, although some of you didn't get in the air at all. We're going to try again. And don't climb too high this time. Nothing more than four feet," Madam Hooch said on an imperious voice, obviously addressing Ginny.

Ginny hadn't really noticed the others the first time she flew. The next attempts, she made sure to not climb too high, but it became boring as a result. She knew how to fly. She could do so much more than just hover. She noticed that many of her comrades had not only failed to take flight on their first attempt, but also failed on their second, third, and even fourth attempt. For Ginny, it was just too easy. After a moment, Madam Hooch gave the students leave to hover over the ground, at a maximum altitude of five feet, for as long as they could. Ginny did just that.

She looked at the other students struggling to maintain their broomsticks in the air and at the same altitude, while she managed to do it for periods that could last ten minutes or more. She even surprised the others looking at her with envy or admiration. It was good to be the best in something.

The flying lesson didn't last long though. Friday afternoon was usually a free period for students. They only remained on the school grounds for about an hour. Ginny wished it had lasted longer. She reluctantly gave up her broomstick at the end of the lesson. Madam Hooch at least complimented her before she left.

Ginny now had the whole afternoon free. However, she didn't know what to do of it. She had not made any friends yet, and her brothers were all either working or in class right now. She wasn't sure if they would want to spend time with her for now, anyway. She felt lonely. Far away, she noticed the hut where she knew Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper, was living, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Ginny listened many times to Fred and George's tales about how they wandered into the Forest, and about how they failed sometimes, stopped by Hagrid himself. But she also remembered Harry and Ron discussing about him during summer. She knew they had the habit to visit Hagrid.

The first time Ginny met Hagrid was at Hogsmeade station. It was obvious he and Harry knew each other very well. She knew he was a very big man, but she didn't realize how big and tall he actually was. He looked like a giant. She was a little afraid of him, truth be told. It had nothing to do with him being scary, not at all. He seemed very kind, and if Harry was his friend, then... It was just his appearance.

Carefully, Ginny walked towards the hut. The door was closed. The windows were too high for her to see inside. Maybe Harry was there right now. Her heart was beating far too quickly. She looked at the high trees where the Forest began. Then her attention was grabbed by huge pumpkins in the garden. These were bigger than all those she had ever seen before. They were the size of boulders. How could pumpkins grow so huge?

She took her eyes off them and tried to look through the windows again. She approached. Maybe she would see something. Then the door opened.

"What are you doing here?" the giant who came out asked her. He didn't sound threatening, but Ginny was a little afraid all the same.

"I'm just... looking around," she answered.

"Looking around?"

"Yes. I'm... I'm looking around. I just arrived." She couldn't say the real reason why she came here. She felt red coming to her ears. She needed to focus the conversation on something else. She turned to the first thing that came to her mind. "You have very big pumpkins."

The giant smiled widely all of a sudden. "Aren't they?" He came to stand next to her and showed her his garden. "They should have more than enough time to grow before the Halloween feast."

These things would grow further. How big would they be in two months? "How did you do?"

The giant seemed hesitant all of a sudden. He even reddened a little. It reminded Ginny of herself. "I've been... giving them a bit of help."

"You've done good work," she said, hoping it would make him less embarrassed.

"Thanks." He looked very happy about her compliment, and Ginny felt a smile coming to her lips. "You are Ron's sister, aren't you? The one who arrived with Harry on a broomstick?"

Ginny wished she didn't redden again. Only mentioning that caused her discomfort. "Yes. My name is Ginny."

"I know."

She then heard a dog yelping, and a giant black dog came out of the hut to lobber against her robe.

"Don't worry. Fang doesn't bite," Hagrid said to reassure her. But she barely heard him.

She stroked the fur of the dog named Fang, and she laughed when he tried to lick her face. Ginny had always liked animals. Dogs were not her favourites, but this one seemed quite playful.

"He seems to like you," Hagrid commented, laughing a little as well as Ginny took the face of the dog into her hands, widely smiling. He looked so happy, so kind. He was a little bit like his master, big but kind. "Hey, if you want Ginny, you can come inside. I'll make you some tea and biscuits."

Ginny accepted. A moment later, she was sitting in a chair the size of a bed, with a cup of tea the size of a bowl. She almost broke her teeth when she tried to eat a biscuit, but the tea was good.

"So, Ginny, you like your time at Hogwarts so far?" Hagrid asked her. Ginny was still patting Fang under the table.

"Yes." It was a half-truth. "We had our first flying lesson this afternoon."

"Ah. Please tell me no one broke a bone this year."

"No," she replied. "Some people fell off their broomstick, but they were always only a few feet from the ground."

"Good. Because last year, Neville broke his wrist. The poor boy. He must have been at least ten feet in the air when he fell."

"Neville Longbottom?" Ginna asked.

"Yes. Harry, Ron and Hermione were there. And then this Draco Malfoy tried to steal something the poor Neville had lost on the ground." Malfoy. He was the Slytherin with blond hair she crossed on Diagon Alley and who accused Harry of enjoying being a celebrity. She hated him. "In some way, it didn't do him any service. He flew up, and Harry went after him. Malfoy tried to get rid of what he stole from Neville and Harry caught it just before it reached the ground. Professor McGonagall saw him. That's how he got his position on Gryffindor's team. In some way, Malfoy did him service."

Ginny had read about it on one of Ron's letters at the time. Though she didn't know it was Professor McGonagall who saw Harry do it. She thought it was another teacher, maybe Madam Hooch, and that she was so impressed by his skills that she decided not to punish him. Ginny struggled to imagine the severe woman who took care of Transfiguration classes reward a student for breaking the rules. Not that she complained about it. She wouldn't have seen Harry playing Quidditch if it wasn't for that.

"No, we didn't have any accident. We didn't fly high enough." She resisted the temptation of telling him she was very good at flying and why. She had heard Ron say one day that Hagrid could never keep a secret. She didn't want him to tell her brother that she was stealing his broomstick to fly on it, or else she would never be able to fly again when at home.

"Good thing. I heard some of your comrades who flew to come to Hogwarts weren't as lucky. Two of them managed to crash into my garden. I still don't understand how they ended up there. The light of the castle show very well they should have gone in the other direction. They crashed directly into one of my pumpkins."

Ginny laughed so hard at the thought that she accidentally spit on her robe some of the tea she just drank. She imagined a student in his seventh year, legs in the air, his head in one of the giant pumpkins.

"Well, I didn't," she said, feeling positively mischievous for once.

"Oh no. I'll never forget when you arrived. I never thought I would see Harry arrive in this way. His father, okay, he liked to impress the gallery. But Harry?" Hagrid laughed. "You were lucky to fly there with him."

Ginny drank again, hoping the huge cup would hide the colors that she knew appeared on her face.

"By the way," Hagrid continued. She hoped he didn't only seem to not notice the red on her face. "If you ever see Harry, tell him to come and visit me soon."

"Okay," Ginny answered very quickly. She would have to talk to Harry for that. She didn't know if she would be able to do it.

About an hour later, Ginny headed back to the castle. Her robe, already second-hand, was now in a more pitiful state due to Fang's drool and the tea she spilled on it. She thought she heard people laughing at her while she journeyed to the Gryffindor common room. She walked with her head high, trying to look as if she didn't care, but in reality she did. She went straight to her dormitory after she gave the password to the Fat Lady and changed her clothes before dinner. The dormitory was empty, luckily. She still had time before dinner. She took her diary, sat on her bed and began to write in it.

"Hello, Tom."

Hello, Ginny. It's been some time since we last spoke.

"It was only last evening."

I guess that as a diary, I don't have a very good notion of time.

"I'm sorry, Tom."

I was just joking, Ginny. It's always a pleasure to speak with you. If we can call that speaking since we are writing.

Ginny smiled. "I got my first flying lesson today."

Wasn't that the one you were the most excited for?

"Yes. It went very well. But they don't let us fly over a few feet. It's far too easy. I was bored very quickly."

I'm sure they will give you greater challenges soon.

"I hope. For now, it's the only course where I think I could really have fun. In the other classes, we must write down instructions for hours before we get to actually practice spells. The Potions Master is cruel with us. And our professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts is more interested in himself than in actually teaching us anything. We spend his classes reading the books he wrote himself."

This man seems to have no problem of self-esteem.

Ginny smiled again at the joke. "You're funny, Tom."

For a diary, this is a huge accomplishment. I think I will not have self-esteem problems for a while.

Ginny laughed again. "I went to visit Hagrid today."

Tom took some more time than usual to answer. Hagrid?

"Yes, he's the gamekeeper here. A very tall man, and big. Very kind too. He invited me to take a cup of tea. You should see the size of the glasses he's using."

Tall and big, I suppose?

"Correct. He's also a friend of Harry."

Harry? Again? In case you didn't notice, I just winked.

Ginny smiled sadly. The diary was the only to who she dared to speak about her feelings. "I went to Hagrid in the hopes that he would be there. It was stupid. What were the odds that he would be there at this hour?"

I really thought that after journeying with him on the same broomstick for over a hundred miles, you wouldn't be so shy around him.

"I hoped me too, but I can't help it." She sighed before she continued to write. "Every time he's there, it's like I'm no longer myself. I cannot do anything correctly. I cannot talk."

You really love him, do you?

"Yes." It felt good to admit it to someone, even if it was just a diary.

Tell me more about him. I'd like to better know the boy my best friend is in love with.

Ginny began to tell him everything she knew about Harry, from what everyone knew on him and how he defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, to the smallest anecdotes and details she witnessed with her own eyes. She needed hours to fill Tom about everything. She was so absorbed in their conversation that she forgot to go in the Great Hall for dinner.

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