Chapter Text
Chapter One: The New Normal
She knew she was dreaming. It was too bright and happy. The birds were singing. Her laughter was echoing as she ran. She was letting him chase her. She thought it only seemed right after years of chasing him. She gasped as she reached a cliff’s edge and had to stop.
‘Oh, now that is just cheating’ she tried to pout but he shook his head and pulled her towards him.
‘I still win though’ he said as he caressed her cheek and kissed her. He tasted like treacle tart and smelt of home and broom polish. He pulled away and smiled at her. She smiled back before he doubled over in pain, clutching his forehead.
‘You gotta get out of here… he is coming. You can’t be here!’ he said to her and tried to fight the pain.
‘No! I’m not going. Please’ she begged but he grabbed her and not in the loving way he had just done moments before.
‘I’m serious, Ginny, you have to go!’
‘And I’m serious, Harry, I’m staying’ there was the sound of a high, cold laugh. She heard calls of her name but she was falling back off the cliff, down towards the bottom….. Falling… falling…
Awake.
Ginny instantly felt cold. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw the clock said 06:23am. The calendar next to it, which she had been crossing off the dates, showed it was the 1st September. She went into the drawer in her bedside table, pulled out a small leather book. She had six day tally marks. She started a new one. 31 days. 31 days since…
She sniffed, refusing to cry and jumped out of bed to cross off the date on the calendar. She gathered it with the book and put it in her bag.She then picked up Crookshanks who was on her chair muttering something about getting food, put her slippers and dressing gown on and headed downstairs.
Her mother was busy making food and her dad was reading the morning newspaper. She put Crookshanks down at the food and water her mum had put down for then sat down herself. She grabbed the jug of orange juice on the table and poured herself a glass.
‘Snape has been made headmaster,’ Mr Weasley said with a sigh.
‘No surprise there then’ Ginny replied before taking a sip of her drink.
‘Education is compulsory as we expected. Luckily the death eaters believed that Ron is… ‘
‘No they don’t, they are just making us sweat’ she cut across, in a quiet and bitter tone.
‘Ginny, I know you didn’t agree with the idea but this is Ron’s life we are talking about. We have to protect him,’ Mr Weasley said to her in a strict tone.
‘Oh yeah, of course, let’s all worry about Ron whilst in the meantime, let’s send Ginny to school where she is a prime target and fair game for anyone to take a swing at’ she proclaimed and threw herself back in her chair with her head in her hands.
‘Do not talk to your father like that’ Mrs Weasley said from the kitchen.
‘No, Molly, she’s right… I don’t want to send you back there. I don’t. But we have to. We’ll get in trouble. It will bring them here. We have to carry on as normal’ Mr Weasley leaned across the table and took her hand.
‘Whilst we are on the topic of school and things, is there anything else you want to tell us? You have been awfully quiet since the wedding. Is it just you missing your brother?’ Mrs Weasley said as she put a rack of toast down.
‘What are you talking about?’ Ginny replied and crossed her hands.
‘Well, you have been very taken with Harry ever since you were a child and I didn’t know if you were still harboring feelings for him after all this time. You can’t let a one-sided crush…’
‘What? Kill me, Mum? No, I won’t be doing that again’ Ginny leaned forward to take some slices of toast. Mrs Weasley opened her mouth to speak but her husband put his hand up to stop her. She sighed and excused herself to go and feed the chickens.
‘What is it? What is troubling you?’ Mr Weasley asked once Mrs Weasley was out of ear shot.
‘It isn’t one-sided anymore, Daddy. It is complicated but it isn’t one-sided’ she choked, sounding broken and like a child.
‘Oh darling, I did wonder, you seemed so close’ he rushed around the table and hugged her tightly as she told him about the break up and how she knew it was the right thing but it did not make it any less painful.
‘Please, don’t tell Mum, she’ll overreact. I don't know what I’m gonna do. He might have broken up with me but people at school, they know. They’ll talk’ she exhaled deeply and looked up at the ceiling, trying to stop herself from crying.
‘I’m sure not everyone…’
‘Trust me, when the Chosen One goes out with someone, everyone knows’ she said with a sad smile.
‘Keep your head down. It is going to be okay. I’ll make sure of it. I know you’ll miss him but it will work out in the end’
‘I love him, Daddy, I do and I never got to tell him’ she cried and it was inevitable, the tears fell.
‘I’m sure he knows, I’m sure he does’ Mr Weasley replied and hugged her again.
The trip to Kings Cross was a quiet one. Fred and George had come with Bill. Ginny felt like she was being suffocated but she knew it was her brother's way of dealing with everything. They all hugged her tightly as they said goodbye to her on the platform.
‘Now you listen, if it gets too much, you tell us and we’ll hide you. I don’t care what the rules are. You’re more important,’ Fred said so that only her and George heard.
‘Fred is right, sis. We’ll happily fight some Death Eaters. The tossers’ George added and gave her a reassuring nudge. She smiled then hugged them again before hugging her parents.
‘Remember what I said. We’ll see you at Christmas, ' Mr Weasley said. She nodded and headed towards the train. She quickly found Neville and Luna and they went to find a carriage.
The train set off and they made idle chit chat when the door opened and in walked Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode and Daphne Greengrass.
‘Well if it isn’t the almost Squib, the freak… and Potter’s whore’ Pansy said with a sneer.
‘Get out, now’ Ginny hissed at her.
‘Aww what’s wrong, Weasley? We heard Potter dumped you. What happened? Did he get bored of you? Did he start fucking the Mudblood?’ Millicent chimed in. Ginny concluded she was a female Crabb.
‘Shut the fuck up and get out!’ Ginny jumped up and pulled out her wand.
‘Oh, you think you can take us, Weasley? What are you gonna do? Charm us into sluts too?’ Pansy asked and raised an eyebrow.
‘That would imply that boys would actually want you. Aren’t you still following Malfoy around like a lost puppy hoping he’ll love you?’ Luna replied and stood up herself.
‘Don’t talk to me like that. Who do you think you are talking to?’ Pansy narrowed her eyes and moved her wand towards Luna.
‘I won’t ask you again, GET OUT’ Ginny went to make a shove at Pansy but Millicent had jumped in front. She pushed Luna out of the way then made a grab at Ginny’s hair before throwing the redhead’s wand to the floor. Painfully. She pulled it hard. Neville tried to get in between but Pansy pushed him out of the way.
‘What are you gonna do, Longbottom? Hit a girl?’ she laughed and shot a jinx at him. Millicent, who was a lot bigger than Ginny pulled her towards the window and slammed her face hard against the glass. Daphne, who had been quiet the whole time, was keeping Luna restrained on the floor.
Millicent pulled Ginny’s hair back and then slammed her against the window again whilst Pansy moved around to the side of her.
‘This is how it is going to be, Weasley. You’re mine now. Any wrong move and I’ll be there to crush you. You have been left all alone for me to play with. No more brothers, Potter and Granger to protect you’
‘I don’t need them!’ Ginny cried and tried to move her hands but Millicent grabbed them.
‘Awww, poor little girl all on her own. I think someone is overdue a visit to the Chamber of Secrets’ Pansy laughed. She motioned to Millcent to turn her around who then let go of Ginny’s hair and instead grabbed her throat.
‘Watch your back, Weasley. I will end you’ Pansy stepped away and Millicent punched Ginny hard in the ribs who fell and crumpled down the window.
‘No, Parkinson, you watch your back!’ she cried as they left and held her side.
Luna quickly got to her feet to help Ginny and they could see Neville was holding a bloody nose. Something told them this was only the start.
‘You never did tell us what happened with Harry’ Neville said after a moment as he held a hanky to his nose.
‘You heard her. He dumped me. He… never mind. It was just a bit of fun. Summer fling’ Ginny quickly lied. She did not want to lie to her best friends but she figured, if they believed it, others would follow.
‘You don’t have a summer fling with someone who you have been in love with since they saved your life!’ exclaimed Neville with a shake of the head.
‘Well that is all it was to him, nothing serious. Now leave it’
‘Come off it, mate. He was saying your name in your sleep for months. He kissed you in front of everyone after final’ Neville sighed.
‘Wait, he was? How many months?’ She quickly shook her head ‘No, never mind. It is done now. Over. Finished’
Neville and Luna did not press the subject anymore. Ginny winced as she moved to sit next to Luna. Her ribs felt like they were on fire. She had never felt pain like it before. No, she lied. She had. She had felt it all summer. It was then she concluded the events of the summer, Harry leaving her, the conversation she had overheard between him and Ron on his birthday, everything, it was like being punched in the ribs over and over again.