The Older Potter // HP Older Sister

25

C H A P T E R  25

Ginny woke up that morning, she expected to be in her bed with her favorite patchwork quilt covering her. Instead she woke up in a warm four-poster bed with crimson hangings.

She sat bolt-up right and crawled over to the front of her bed to her trunk where her robes were.

She barely paid any attention to any of the other girls who were getting up as well; focused only on getting downstairs to class.

Not even the sight of her second-hand robes made her smile fade as she gathered all her books, parchment, wand, ink and quills and stuffed them into her bag. She was just about to head down to the common room when she spotted the corner of her diary sticking out from under her pillow.

Smiling, Ginny reached over and pocketed it. She knew that she wouldn't be able to write to Tom until after class, but just the idea of caring it around was comforting.

She headed down through the common room, through the portrait hole, and down the stairs to the Great Hall. At least until she got lost.

It was a good thing that she got up so early. It took her forever to finally find her way down to the ground floor and walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. She went skipping to the Gryffindor table and took the seat she had last night before looking around at all the food on the table. She smiled at the glorious array of breakfast and her mouth began to water.

There were every kind of prepared eggs that you could think of, perfectly cooked toast, crispy bacon, thick porridge, at least a dozen different flavored jams every few feet, warm and fluffy pancakes, waffles, French toast and every fruit under the sun.

Suddenly feeling hungrier than she had been in weeks, she loaded her plate until it was overflowing and ate to her heart's content. When she finished her first helping and reached out for more bacon—Harry, Ron and Hermione had walked in, Hermione clearly looking upset with her two friends.

Ginny smiled, having a good idea to what she was upset about. It's not everyday that your best friends fly a car to school... and crash it into a Whomping Willow. She watched as Ron sulkily sat down, ignoring what appeared to be a lecture from Hermione.

After a while, she gave up trying to tell them off and just went back to reading her book as Harry seemed to be unusually interested in his toast.

Ginny looked up and gasped with pleasure to see the hundreds of owls swooping in carrying mail and search for their owners.

She watched them all happily for a few minutes until she noticed a very old, grey owl carrying a large, red envelop. She squinted up at it, but she recognized that tired looking bird anywhere. It was Errol carrying a Howler. Oh, no. She looked over at her brother who hadn't noticed it yet and didn't look up until Errol fell out of the air bounced off the other boy's head and land in Hermione's jug—spraying milk and feathers everywhere.

She watched as Ron, looking embarrassed, pulled the bird out of the goblet and stared in horror at the Howler. Not that she blamed him—if she got one of those, she'd be running out of the Hall as fast as she could. She watched as Hermione said something to him as she gently stroked Errol's wet feathers and Ron pointed to the slightly smoking Howler.

She saw another boy whisper something to Ron, his expression clearly telling her that he knew what it was and most likely urging him to get it over with. Harry and Hermione both looked at them confused as the boy covered his ears and Ron bravely opened the Howler.

Knowing what was coming, she copied the boy's example and covered her own ears as her mother's furious voice started screaming—a hundred times louder than normal.