𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐲 ᵍⁱⁿⁿʸ ʷᵉᵃˢˡᵉʸ

first impressions

the train station of 9 ¾ had always been a place full of longing for ginny. each year when she was younger she had longed to step on board with her brothers as they went on to have their great adventures. on her first year, she had stepped onto the platform wishing for her life at school to be just as exciting as ron's. slowly, as she got older, every time she stepped on the platform, she longed only to turn around and walk away as a feeling of dread fell upon her.

the worst part about this year though was that what she longed for was right at her fingertips. if she decided that hogwarts was not for her, her mother would indulge her this year. because this year she was scared. molly weasley was never a rational person, but it was worse when she was scared. she would let ginny stay home and create a bubble wrap prison at the burrow, under the pretense that this was all ginny's choice.

she could flee the trap that was hogwarts only to run to the one that was her mother.

"excited?" ron nudges her side, smiling brightly.

ginny doesn't grace him with an answer, instead looking at harry out of the corner of her eye. he was usually always excited for a new year at hogwarts, despite all the horrors he faced there. she imagined he must have a horrible home life to be so joyful to go back to the place he almost died in every year.

this year though, harry seemed more distracted than anything. perhaps he was still mourning sirius' death. he still had that look of sadness that wore him down, making his shoulders slump forward.

"ginny!" someone yells and she looks up, forcing a smile on her face as she sees dean thomas. her boyfriend.

"hey dean," she says, leaving her family to sort things out. if she stayed any closer, she was sure ron would murder dean right there right now.

"how was your summer?" dean asks, taking her hand into his.

it was so cold and clammy.

"fine. the usual. my family alone the first month then hermione and harry join us for august," she shrugs, feeling strangely uncomfortable.

dean glares at nothing like he always does when harry's brought up in a conversation with her. ginny used to find it funny, but it was starting to get on her nerves. didn't he trust her? she wasn't a cheater, and besides, harry was not interested in her (ginny suspected he was rather into blonds, but maybe she was misinterpreting the looks he would send ferret boy).

"want to sit with me on the train?" dean asks, as they step onto the vehicle. "seamus won't mind."

but ginny isn't listening anymore. a girl had caught her eye from a few compartments away. her hair was dark as it framed her dark angular face and she smiled, and her eyes sparkled with... ginny wasn't sure what, but merlin did that look to make her want to find out.

she can feel the warmth rolling off the girl in waves, but it wasn't the comforting warmth that she was used to. it was the sort of warmth that could start a fire from a mile away, that could burn your skin off your bones if you got too close. it was violent, dangerous, and... exciting.

"that's felecité léandre," dean says, looking in the direction ginny was staring at. "i think she's in your year."

ginny watches as felecité walks confidently down the hallway of the train, not even glancing at those who stare at her. instinctively, ginny let go of dean's hand, about to take a step toward her.

"she's new, right? i should go introduce myself..."

dean scoffs. "she's bad news. haven't you heard? it was in tabloids. she got expelled from beauxbatons because she tried to kill a girl until she committed suicide. she's crazy. faye has a cousin in france who was two years above her, and she said that in her second year she ripped someone's eye out with a butter knife. and she's practically prejudiced french wizarding royalty."

ginny stops in her tracks, turning back to face her boyfriend.

"what?"

"don't tell me you've never heard of her?" dean gapes. "i'm muggleborn and even i know. french wizarding world used to have monarchs and her family is the last surviving line of them. they're pretty much the most powerful, pure, and rich family of the francophone wizarding world, probably richer than the blacks and the malfoys combined. come on gin, how could you be that stupid?"

ginny's ears turn pink as her sight flashes red with anger. she clenches her hands into fists, trying to calm herself down.

"i'm not stupid. it's just... my family is very wizarding britain oriented, okay?" she snaps, breathing in shakily.

"fine. whatever," he shrugs. "the point is—"

"oof!" ginny exclaims as someone rams into her, causing her to stumble harshly into dean's arms. "watch where you're..." she trails off as she notices who exactly fell into her.

felecité léandre simply raises her perfect eyebrows at her, opening her mouth.

"you were saying something, no? it would be best if you continued unless you were just wasting your breath and my time." despite her being french, her voice has not a hint of an accent in it. ginny could listen to her talk for all eternity. she had that kind of voice.

"i-i- was going to... say..." ginny stutters over her words, trying to grapple onto her fading confidence.

"she was going to say that you should watch where you're going," dean says, huffing angrily.

"really?" felecité says slowly, as if she really had to taste the words before spitting them out. "do you talk for her now?"

"no!" ginny exclaims quickly, before backtracking. "i mean, he's right, but he doesn't speak for me."

"good," she smiles, showing off her almost glaringly bright teeth. "that would be a pity, as i imagine a pretty mouth like yours says pretty words."

a shiver ran up ginny's spine as felecité walks away.

JE PARLE

tbh have been procrastinating with this for forever so i just need to get it out of my drafts

it's very crappy and extremely short and will probably be rewritten in the future so sorry

other chapters will be better but i just can't find the energy to write it. mentally drained rn and i need to get back to writing my will byers story and finally getting around to my james potter one.