Sardonic Slytherin, Eh?

Ginny had spent most of the morning before breakfast looking for the Library. Her school in Canada hadn’t been nearly this big; all this space intimidated her. She wanted to finish her letter to Ciel, and couldn’t seem to find anywhere deserted. It was about 7:55 when she finally did find the massive place, and had just settled down and started to write when a rather odd thing interrupted her.

“Miss Weasley, welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!” Ginny looked up, startled, and nearly screamed, as a big pair of grey eyes appeared not an inch from her own face.

She held a hand to her heart and took a deep breath. “Er, hello.” The house elf smiled crookedly and held out his hand. Cautiously she took it. “How did you know my name?”

The elf looked a bit nervous for a moment and twiddled with the little bobble on his small knitted hat. “Dobby has heard many students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry talking about Miss Weasley! They alls like to meet you!”

Ginny raised an eyebrow just as a bigger human hand reached out and wretched the house elf’s hand away from hers.

“Dobby!” She heard the guy say. “Much as I’m sure Virginia would like your company, we have matters to discuss.”

The house elf nodded very quickly. “Yes, yes of course Harry Potter!” He said before scurrying off and disappearing out the Library doors.

Harry sat down beside her and held out his hand. “I’m Harry.” Almost as cautiously as if she were taking Dobby’s hand, she shook Harry’s.

“Yeah, I figured as much. I’m Ginny.”

“Yes, I figured as much as well. You’re the new student here.” He smiled a big smile and let go of her hand before settling down in the chair. “So how do you find Hogwarts?” He asked. Ginny tried not to look too impatient as she scribbled down a few more lines. She really wanted to finish her letter to Ciel.

“I’ve only been here a eight hours and half a night,” she pointed out and looked down at her letter, before signing her name.

Harry looked over at it, before speaking. “Who’s the letter to?”

“My friend,” Ginny said stiffly and folded it carefully before placing it in an envelope, licking the seal, and stuffing it in her bag.

“Oh,” he said, looking slightly disconcerted.

“Yeah. I have to go,” Ginny said before standing up and giving him a half smile.

“Right. See you soon. . . I hope,” he said with a wink.

Ginny brushed her hair out of her face, secretly rolled her eyes and walked out of the library.

*

For the first time since she arrived, Ginny felt lonely. Not only did she feel lonely, she felt completely and utterly abandoned. The fact that she was in another country, herself, away from her friends was just starting to sink in, and she was afraid that at any moment she’d burst into tears.

And that is just what happened. . .

It was the middle of Potions, on her second day at Hogwarts. She was working with a dark, handsome boy named Blaise, completing an Immortality Potion, when it happened. The crying started with a sob, followed by a sniffle, and eventually tears began pouring down her cheeks.

Blaise looked at her, surprised and apparently very uncomfortable. He put down his vial of dragon milk and awkwardly patted her on the shoulder. The whole class curiously looked up from their cauldrons, and the girls softened.

“Psst. . .” whispered Pansy Parkinson to all the Slytherin girls. “It must be that time of month again.”

They all nodded. “What do we do?” One girl asked. Pansy scratched her head for a moment as if in deep thought. She then quickly looked over at Ginny and excitedly turned back to the other girls.

“Let’s do what she’s doing.” At that moment, Pansy emitted a loud wail, before collapsing on her stool. Her partner looked at her strangely, just as a tall brunette right behind her grabbed a handkerchief from her purse and noisily began blowing her nose and dabbing her eyes.

Seconds later, spontaneously, every other Slytherin girl began to cry.

The Hufflepuffs, of whom were the joint class, looked at Professor Snape for help. He looked completely lost. A minute or two later, the Slytherin girls were secretly stealing glances at Ginny to see if she’d stopped crying.

At that moment, Ginny looked up from her crying, sniffled softly as she dabbed at her eyes, and slowly began stirring the potion counter-clockwise. The rest of the girls flicked their fake tears off their cheeks and continued working on their potions without another word of explanation.

Somehow the experience wasn’t as humiliating as it should’ve been.

*

“I heard tell, from a secret source, that something particularly interesting happened in Potions today,” someone whispered from behind her, and settled down at the table beside Ginny.

“Yeah well. . . So?” Ginny asked as she poured gravy onto her potatoes.

“I had a headache and was in the Infirmary getting an Ache Antidote. I missed it all,” Draco said, leaning back into his chair. He paused a moment before saying, “what are you doing?”

Ginny looked over at him. “Looking for the beef. Where is it?”

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. “There’s none tonight.”

She sat back down in her chair, mouth wide open. “No beef?”

He nodded. Huffing, Ginny stood up from the bench, grabbed her bag and began making her way to the doors. Draco could’ve sworn he’d heard her say, “no beef, my arse. . .”

“Bacon?” Draco offered with a hint of sarcasm. Slowly, to his surprise, Ginny turned around and settled back down. She helped herself to a large portion of back bacon. As she stuffed her mouth, Ginny began to explain the Potions situation.

“It was weird,” she continued, “when all the girls started crying,” she said before swallowing her food and finishing it all off with a glass of pumpkin juice.

“We Slytherins are loyal to each other,” said Draco. “They wanted to save your foreigner behind.”

Ginny slung her bag over her shoulder and began walking out the Great Hall with her new acquaintance. “Um, sure. . .” She said as Harry Potter waved enthusiastically to her from the Gryffindor table. She unsurely waved her fingers at him and turned back to Draco. “He kind of creeps me out.”

Draco smirked and casually put an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry. He creeps me out too.”

Ginny shrugged his arm off and made her way up the stairs to the girls’ dormitory.

 “‘Night,” she called over her shoulder.

Draco sighed and slumped into the chair. “‘Night.”

*

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys. If any of you would be willing to beta for me, please email me at ruby_sky@mindless.com.