Short Change Hero

Chapter 12: Fear The Fever

Chapter Twelve

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked

"She looked at me, and this is what she said,

Why do you do this to yourself,

And I said,

Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked,

Ain't nothing in this world for free,

No I can't slow down,

I can't hold back,

Though you know I wish I could,

No there ain't no rest for the wicked,

Until we close our eyes for good..."

Ain't no rest for the wicked by Cage the Elephant

Friday September 27th, 1996

Just outside the Gryffindor commons room- Five minutes after six pm

Ginny stood still, crossing her arms with a sniffle followed by a choke of a hallow laugh as she gradually started descending the staircase. After yet another fight with her boyfriend Dean Thomas, she could not decide why she was still with him, especially if he did not trust her around Harry at all. Relationships involved trust and understanding, but most of all, love, which she unfortunately didn't think she knew the feeling.

Huffing aloud she looked down at her wrist watch gasping when she realized she was late to the dinner party and most likely a right mess from her tears. Cursing softly, Ginny quickly made her way through the empty halls but stopped just outside a girl's lavatory where she could check her small amount of makeup she had wore for the occasion. Once inside she looked her reflection of her puffy red eyes, slightly smeared mascara and her hair slightly askew.

'Ginny Weasley. Trust you to make a mess of yourself before seeing... Harry...' she thought to herself, rolling her eyes as she realized she had been thinking about how Harry would see her, and not about Dean. Scoffing slightly, she reached for her small handbag to take out her wand and fix her ghastly appearance before anyone, not just Harry, saw her.

When she approved of her look once more, she sighed seeing that is was now eight minutes after six as she shoved her wand inside her handbag and made her way to exit the loo. Just as she stepped into the threshold, she literally stumbled into someone who had been standing there.

"My goodness, I am so sorry. Honestly didn't see you there, my apologies." She explained to the boy that stood before her with a smile and a soft chuckle. Looking down at his house robes, she noticed the emerald green stitching of Slytherin, which confused her greatly, for him to be here on this floor, after all classes were finished for the day.

"No, that's quite alright. I've been looking for you actually, you're somewhat of a difficult person to find, Ginny Weasley." he wondered tilting his head to his right while giving her a lopsided smirk and then taking a step forward. An uneasy feeling tugged at her gut as she took two steps backwards into the loo, but shortly after he began to follow her inside.

"W-What are you doing? This is the girl's lavatory, you need to get out of here, now." She barked feeling for the zipper upon her bag in attempts to retrieve her wand but he had stopped her by a flick of his fingers causing her bag to fly across the room. Gasping, Ginny swallowed the lump of fear tied in her throat backing up and into the cold tile wall behind her. Stopping just before her, she watched the boy mumble something just under his breath as then he reached inside his dress robes for his wand.