Ginny Weasley and the Heir of Slytherin

Ginny's Choice

Ginny didn't think she had ever felt more scared in her life. Not after she had had that flying accident which left her lying flat on the ground for seemingly hours. Not when she ran downstairs to see Harry inside her house for the first time. Not... well, her Sorting was a close call. She had been pretty scared she wouldn't end up in Gryffindor.

For a moment, Ginny felt strangely certain that she had done this. But how did she know that? Just the fact that the paint was on her robes didn't prove anything. She could have come across the real perpetrator by accident and he or she could have put a Memory Charm on her. Maybe paint got splashed on her in the struggle. And why would Ginny do something like this anyway? She didn't like Mrs. Norris very much, but this was taking it a bit far. Besides, how could she have forgotten doing something like this? You forgot what you were doing while you were wandering around absent-mindedly not while you were murdering cats and vandalizing school hallways.

But she knew how it would look if she were seen standing there. She imagined what would happen if someone were to walk up and see her there right then. She would stand there, rooted to the spot and trying to look innocent while her eyes begged them to believe she hadn't done this. Would they believe her? She was only a first year, but she did have the paint on her robes and she didn't exactly have the greatest alibi. And if she had done it, she would still be standing there, trying to look innocent and beg with her eyes that she hadn't done it. Either way, it would look the same.

That was when she heard voices nearing her — the voices of Harry, Ron and Hermione! She couldn't let Harry see her like this, looking like she had taken up a career as a butcher. It was bad enough that he already undoubtedly thought she was the most bashful little girl in all the world. What would he think of her after seeing this?

It was too much for her to face. Ginny made her decision.

She wrapped her cloak around herself to hide her dirtied clothes and sprinted away from that horrible spot as fast as her legs could carry her. Her heart pounded — she felt like she was doing the wrong thing, but there was no turning back now. Once she had put a fair amount of distance between herself and that terrible scene, she stopped on a higher floor and felt herself start to panic.

What should she do now? Hot tears stung her eyes. She didn't know and she felt so scared and confused. And she couldn't even go to anyone for help. After all, she could hardly claim innocence having run away from the scene of the crime. Now she would have to live with that choice and that meant handling this all on her own. Well, she could be brave, couldn't she? She was in Gryffindor, after all. But Ginny didn't feel very brave at the moment — her body couldn't stop shaking and silent tears were pouring down her face. A small part of her even wished she could be held in her mother's arms as though she were five years old again.

Well, one thing was for sure — she couldn't just remain standing there. If she was going to hide what had happened to her, she should be trying to think of something to do about the clothes she was wearing. Ginny took off running again, heart thumping uncontrollably, until she found a bathroom. She tried to wash the paint out of her clothes as best she could without taking them off, but it didn't really come out. She was able to get the paint off her trembling hands, but never felt totally confident that she had gotten it out completely. Had her hands always looked that red?

After deciding she had gotten as much of the paint out as she ever would, Ginny ran all the way up to her thankfully deserted dormitory. Then Ginny realized why it must be deserted — everyone was at the Halloween feast right now! But somehow she didn't feel very hungry. With a start, she noticed how dark it was outside and it struck her that she must have lost her memory for hours this time. There was no denying that this was definitely serious now.