Ginny

Lunch

*A/N: Hey all! Thank you so much for commenting on my last chapter even though I took a three-year hiatus! I love to hear what you guys have to say, and what you are thinking throughout the chapter so please please please continue to do so. I really appreciate every single person who reads these. Thank you so much for taking the time to read, and I hope you enjoy!*

"You're late." Was the warm greeting Ginny received upon her arrival.

"Sorry. We had a spot of trouble with the car on the way here." This was a lie; there had been no trouble with the car. Ginny simply did not want to leave Percy. Her idiot brother, who she had relentlessly hated for the past year, kept her glued to the tattered seat of a car. 

"Right, I assume you can find your way to your dormitory, it's getting quite late." Professor McGonagall spoke rather tensely.

Ginny searched for something to say to cut through the thick air that was prevalent. Nothing quite came to mind as she scanned the damp corridor they stood staunchly together in, faces too close for comfort. She nodded curtly and started her walk to the Gryffindor common room. 

She had never been particularly close with Professor McGonagall but their interactions had always been more pleasant than what she had just experienced. She had known arriving back at Hogwarts that it would not be the same place she had spent her childhood dreaming of, but the stark reality of what she was about to experience was setting in. She needed some sort of game plan, and she had none. She had to find Neville and Luna, they needed to talk. She made a mental note to include Colin Creevey in the conversation as well, he had always been overly enthusiastic about Dumbledore's army.

Ginny nearly bumped into the portrait of the Fat Lady when she realized she had no clue what this year's password was, she had barely made it through the feast on the first day of classes. Even if  someone had told her she was sure it had changed by now. She racked her brain, but there was absolutely nothing. Without a clue what the password was, she didn't dare wake up the Fat Lady who was snoring so loudly she resembled the ghoul Ron dressed up as himself in an attempt to fool the ministry.

"Shit" Ginny muttered to herself. 

It was just late enough that stragglers from dinner would have already headed back, and Ginny was sure she would be stuck outside the common room until dawn without taking some action. After a few deep breaths, she tapped lightly on the frame of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" The Fat Lady mumbled, clearly not fully awake yet. 

"So, I actually have forgotten it, as I just got back from being rather ill," Ginny mumbled hoping the Fat Lady would go easy on her. The only other time Ginny had forgotten the password was when she was a first year and she never heard the end of it, not from the Fat Lady herself or Percy who scolded her for being irresponsible.

"Don't do it again Weasley" She said, still clearly half in her own dream world. The portrait swung open revealing the common room and Ginny shuffled inside. 

The common room was teeming with people, no one seemed to be inside their dorms. Students spilled out across every inch of the circular room, with a roaring fire as their backdrop. The common room looked exactly as it had every year since Ginny had first walked through its door, the familiarity soothed her. At least some things remained the same. 

The room was so lively that only a few people glanced up to acknowledge Ginny as she stepped through the threshold. Quickly she scanned the room. Her eyes landed on Neville, he seemed to be holding court in the corner to a small audience. She stepped closer to hear what he was saying. 

"It does hurt rather bad but it's no big deal, really, not the worst thing that can happen to a person." Neville trailed off.

It was clear he was referencing his arm which was bandaged poorly against his body in a makeshift sling, his eye was also rather puffy. Despite the obvious physical ailments that he seemed to be suffering from Ginny was most surprised by the gaggle of young girls seated around him clinging onto his every word. Most were younger students Ginny barely recognized but they all seemed to know Neville and be very concerned about his arm and eye.

Ginny shifted slightly dragging her shoes against the wooden floor hoping to make enough noise to draw Neville's attention from the floor that he was staring so aggressively at. The slightest squeak resulted and Neville immediately shot his eyes toward Ginny, it was obvious he was looking for any out of the conversation he was holding.

"Bloody hell, thank Merlin!" Neville announced immediately stepping from his chair and propelling toward Ginny. 

As he stepped closer he lowered his voice, the group of girls strained their necks to listen, "I heard you got hurt." He said looking Ginny up and down repeatedly a concerned look splashed across his face. 

"Well, it seems like I'm not the only one." She breathed, very aware they now held half of the common rooms' attention. She hadn't had the chance to reply further before she could feel someone at her shoulder.

"Ginny, good to have you back, lunch tomorrow? I think lunch tomorrow would be a good time to catch up, on things." The voice was commanding, strong, and assertive, Ginny didn't have to turn around to know it was Dean Thomas, and she understood perfectly what he was doing. 

"Yes. That sounds like a plan for the three of us." 

People who had previously been so invested in the conversation they hoped was going to take place between the group now turned back to their friends uninterested in the lunch plans that were being hashed out.

The group stood in a sort of semi-circle all not wanting to say anything more, for obvious reasons. The tension was high and at that moment Ginny realized how alone she felt. Despite standing next to two people she was friends with and clearly trusted she became fully aware of how connected her Hogwarts experience was to her brothers. On almost every level the friendships she held at school were a direct result of her brothers, she wasn't sure how she felt about this now that she was standing here alone.

"I will see you at lunch tomorrow. For lunch, tomorrow." She said in a voice that would not have been easily recognized as her own had Dean and Neville not watched it escape her lips. It was much too formal, robotic almost.

They both simply nodded and parted ways, Neville circumnavigating the group of girls who were tailing him at a distance, Dean back to Seamus who looked like he was having a rather horrible time with whatever homework he was working on.

Ginny decided to take her trunk up to her room and call it a night, after all, she had lunch to look forward to. Clunking her trunk up the stairs she stood outside her dorm room door. She could hear her three roommates inside chatting away.

"Bloody hell." Ginny thought to herself. She was a sixth year at Hogwarts and had roomed with the same three girls every year but had never bothered to bond with them other than the common pleasantry, she always had her brothers and Harry & Hermione to fall back on. 

"Damn it," She mumbled, "This is going to be the worst part"